The Plow-Woman Part 60

"You were doing the white thing by that little sister. That makes it all the sweeter."

"She was afraid I'd scold," still through tears.

"_You_ scold!"

"I would. I felt different about soldiers--then."

He took a deep breath. "They're handy to have around," he said.

"She's afraid Mr. Fraser'll find out what she said about you."

"He won't. He might get a notion she didn't know her own mind yet! He might--well, as Kippis says, ''E's bloomin' 'ot-'eaded,' the little beggar!"

"She don't know I told you. It'd bother her if----"

"That's between you and me, Dallas." He drew her near.

"Yes."

"Yes, _John_," promptingly.

"Yes, John."

The morning-glory vines on the lattice reached up and out; brushed by the wind, they made a sheltering veil. He drew her closer. He lifted her face to his by a smoothing caress of her hair. He kissed her.

"My dearest! My splendid girl!"

He shook his head roguishly at her. "So wild, she was, with the bit in her teeth. And now--she eats right out of my hand."

Then, roguish no longer, he lifted her two hands, turned them--palms up--and touched them with his lips.

"Ah, dear, there must be no more going-it-alone. I want to take care of you after this. We won't wait, will we?"

"No."

"Just the minute a minister can be reached?"

"Yes."

"I've a mind to bribe Mike into taking us up to Bismarck after breakfast!"

"You're too sick." Her face was grave, her eyes watched him anxiously.

"All night I thought about you: How I went running off when I heard that shot. Oh, suppose, _suppose_----"

"I'll be over this in a day. And I know you went because you had to.

Don't I know you weren't afraid? Don't I know why you left Marylyn behind at the trees? Dallas--you're a wife for a man out here!"

She coloured under his praise.

"There'll be other things coming up to fight," he went on. "That's the beauty of this West--it keeps you busy. But we'll be together to make the fight. I don't ask anything more."

After a time, they walked to the top of the steps.

Across the river, at the centre of the yellow bend, it stood--the squat shack.

"Dear little home!" she said.

"You wouldn't like to leave it. You can go to Bismarck, you know, or East, or anywhere."

"I'd rather stay."

"We'll stay--right over there. Then, when the town comes, and it gets too populous--if you like, and if Marylyn's not at this post--we'll go farther up, to open country again."

"We'll take your share of the Clark herd," she said.

"I've got a _fine_ little saddle-mare for you," he said.

Somebody entered the parlour behind them--two somebodies, hand in hand.

"Dallas," called one, meekly.

"Lounsbury," hailed the other.

The storekeeper went in, Dallas with him. "Bless your sweet hearts," he said when he faced the couple. "Marylyn, you rested? Fraser, you look idiotically happy."

"I'm not alone," retorted the lieutenant. "I'd hate to describe you this minute, your face beaming through all that lint."

"Save yourself the trouble, here, before my future wife."

Fraser turned to Marylyn. "Phew! But we're important! Listen to him!"

"Dallas wants to get back to the shack. Can a' ordinary, everyday trooper look after the finest two-year-old and the finest team in Dakota? Not by a long shot! And I'm not going to let her go alone,"

soberly, "after what's happened. Can't take any more chances."

Fraser sobered too. "Nothing to fear any more," he said. "When Mike's men were getting the boat off, down below, they found--him."

A moment's silence.

"They think he tried to cross and couldn't. There he was, tangled up in some willows, poor devil."

"That ought to explain some things to the Captain," said Lounsbury, in a low voice.

"Yes. And it will satisfy the K. O., I'm pretty sure. An officer's not to be blamed so much for things going wrong when the traitor's practically within the lines. The K. O. himself could have had that fire."

"Well, Dallas." Lounsbury was cheery again. "You and Marylyn own the Bend, sure enough."

There was a knock at the door. Then, with a great show of backing and coughing, young Jamieson appeared.

"Frank," said Lounsbury, "quit your nonsense and tell us about the other side. Did the scout find anything?"