Prairie Flowers Part 33

"Ba Goss! A'm lak A'm see you scare wan tam'! You bet A'm ride wan hondre mile to laff on you. You git de dam' fine 'oman. Now you got to mak' her, w'at you call, de happiness. Bye-m-bye, Ol' Bat, she git to ol' to ride de range--to cook. Den A'm joos' stay 'roun' an' look aftaire _les enfants_. A'm show um how to ride, an' shoot, an' t'row de rope--joos' so good lak de _pere_ kin do, _ah voila_!"

Janet fled precipitously for the cabin, and as Bat mounted Cinnabar's horse and headed out onto the trail, the Texan turned to Grimshaw: "Slip over to McWhorter's tomorrow, Ca.s.s," he invited--"I'd like to have you there."

Grimshaw hesitated just a moment: "You're sure you want me? You ain't askin' me just so I won't feel--left out? An' how about the others? How about yer--wife? She never has had no time for us horse-thieves."

The Texan smiled: "She's learnt a lot in the last couple of hours, Ca.s.s.

If you ain't at the weddin' she'll be the most disappointed one of all."

"All right, boy--I'll come. I got to be goin' now." He ran his fingers over his stubby beard, "Sure is goin' to be h.e.l.l to shave."

As the Texan swung from his horse, a feminine shriek of joy directed his attention toward the cabin, where in the doorway Alice and Janet stood locked in each other's embrace--laughing, crying, talking all at once, while Endicott smilingly beckoned to Tex.

"Oh, you darling!" Alice was saying, "I'm so glad! I picked you for him the moment I laid eyes on you--and then I nearly spoiled it all by my eulogy."

"But--" stammered Janet, "what about the other girl--the one from the East--that you were going to invite out? You said she was beautiful--and--and adorable and--you were just going to _make_ her marry him!"

"From the East!" Alice exclaimed, "I'm sure I didn't say anything about the East. I said there was a girl friend of mine--and I did say she was beautiful and adorable--and she is--and I said I was going to invite her to come and make me a long visit--and I _did_ invite her--before she left the room in a huff--and went tearing off into the bad lands to find her lover----"

Janet smothered the rest of the sentence in kisses: "Well, anyway--you didn't make her marry him," she said, "because she intended to marry him anyway--if she could get him to ask her!"

A couple of hours later while the three women were in the cabin preparing supper, Tex, and Endicott, and Cinnabar sat outside and talked and listened to the sounds of laughter that floated through the door.

"Look at old Whiskers comin'," said Tex, indicating a horseman who appeared around the corner of the barn.

Cinnabar chuckled: "Whiskers! Why man, that's yer new dad! That's old Colin McWhorter--an' if you don't make a hit with him, believe me--he'll cut your head off!"

The huge Scotchman dismounted, nodded and addressed Cinnabar Joe: "Ha'

ye seen my daughter?" Before Cinnabar could answer the girl herself rushed from the door and threw herself into the big man's arms: "Theer, theer, wee la.s.s, ha' they hurt ye? Ye're face is red like the fire-weed!

I'll----"

"No! No! Dad! I'm--so happy! I'm--I'm going to be married tomorrow! I want you to meet my--Mr. Benton--Tex! And, oh Dad--you'll just love him!

I knew it was all a mistake--about that horrid hand-bill--here are Mr.

and Mrs. Endicott--they know him well--and Cinnabar and his wife have known him for years."

McWhorter stood glaring at Tex who returned him look for look. "Was it for thot I looked after her a' her life--educated her--thot she sh'ud marry a common cowpuncher!"

The Texan stepped directly before him and reaching up a finger tapped the irate man's breast: "Look here, old timer. I'm a common cowpuncher, just as you say--but, at that, I don't take off my hat to any sheep-man!

You an' I are goin' to be big friends, once we get strung out. I like you already. I've got you sized up for one of the biggest hearted old specimens on the range. But, at that, you like to get your growl in--an'

get it in first. Well--you've growled--an' you haven't fooled no one--nor scairt no one. If you want a little further dope on me here goes. I'm from Texas--come from good enough folks down there so they haven't been able to beat the Old Man for Congress in twenty years. I've be'n somethin' of a black sheep--but the black's wearin' off in spots.

I've got as good an education, I reckon, as anyone here--an' a d.a.m.n sight better one than I need in my business. I walk on my hind legs an'

eat with a fork. I've got a job--eighty bucks a month, an'

found--foreman of the Y Bar outfit, over across the river. Some day I expect to own an outfit of my own!" He ceased suddenly, and reaching out, drew the girl from her father's arms and held her to his side, "An'

last of all--an' as far as I can see, the only thing that really matters--I love this little girl----"

"Los.h.!.+ Lad!" cried the old Scot, his eyes a-twinkle. "Ye fair talk me off my feet! 'Tis na wonder she took ye--ye ne'er gi' her a chance to say no!"

"Supper's ready!" called Jennie, from the interior of the cabin, and it was a merry company indeed, that filed in and took their places at the table--extended for the occasion by means of planks carried in from Cinnabar's unfinished stable.

"I've just bought an outfit, over on the other side," said Endicott, when the last vestige of Jennie's pies had disappeared from the plates, and the thick cups had been filled with black coffee. "And Cinnabar, do you know where I could find a foreman?"

"On the other side!" exclaimed the Texan. "You! Didn't know there was an outfit for sale over there! What is it, Win--sheep, or cattle?"

"Cattle."

Cinnabar shook his head.

Endicott continued, "He must be capable, sober, understand the cattle business, and--married."

"Don't know no one that would quite fill the bill," grinned Cinnabar Joe.

"Hey, Win," cut in Tex, "how would I do? I'm capable of some things--sometimes. I've got Cinnabar, here, for a witness that upon certain occasions I've be'n sober. I understand the cow business or old Dad Colston wouldn't of made me foreman--an' tomorrow, everyone here's goin' to be witnesses that I'm married! How about it--don't that fill the bill?"

Endicott laughed: "I guess that fills the bill, Tex," he said. "You're hired!"

"But--what outfit did you buy, Win?"

"The Y Bar," answered Endicott, "and Colston told me that if I couldn't find you for foreman, I'd sure be out of luck."

"The Y Bar!" Tex reached over and grasped Endicott's hand. "Boss--you've got the best outfit in Montana!"

"Not--boss--Tex. What you meant was 'Partner.' You see I forgot to mention that the man who accepted the position would have to accept a half-interest in the outfit--his time and his experience--against my money." A dead silence followed the words--a silence broken a moment later by the sound of Janet, sobbing softly against her father's shoulder--and by the big Scotchman's rumbling words: "Theer, theer, wee la.s.sie--theer, theer."

AN EPILOGUE

The ceremony that took place the following afternoon in the McWhorter cabin was impressive in its extreme simplicity.

At the conclusion of the wedding feast, McWhorter arose, pa.s.sed into his own room, and returned a moment later with a bottle of wine, which he held to the sunlight: "'Tis auld," he said, reverently, "an' of famous vintage. Its mate was drunk years ago at my ain' weddin' in Sco'lan'. I ha' saved this--for _hers_." Very carefully he broke the seal, and withdrew the cork, and poured a little of the precious liquid into each thick gla.s.s: "We will drink," he said, solemnly, "to the health an'

prosperity of--my children!" They drank, and the old Scotchman divided the remaining wine as before. "An' now, Meester Endicott can ye not propose us a toast?"

Endicott rose and allowed his eyes to travel slowly over the upturned faces about him. He began to speak: "Here we are--we and our women--a cattleman, and a sheep-man; a minister of the gospel, and a horse-thief; an ex-bartender, a half-breed, and a Harvard man who until a year ago was of the strictest and most hide-hound sect of the New Englanders--and as Ca.s.s Grimshaw so aptly phrased it yesterday--'We are all friends together.' Let us drink--to the wonderful free-masonry of the cow-country!"