Down the Mother Lode [20]
richly-decked young Englishman.
"My father and mother, sir, are very ill. I was going after a doctor, but I am tired out. I can go no further. Oh, could one of you go on to Angel's, whilst I rest with some lady of your town?"
Harry was apparently speechless from the thrall of her fresh young beauty, because it was Bob who answered.
"You certainly can, Miss! Grizzley Bob's word on that. Where'd you come from?"
"From Roundtree's, sir," timidly. Bob had turned to call orders through the open door and the girl gasped as the strong, manly profile of the unscarred half of his face was turned toward her. Bull-doze licked her white fingers, and she stooped to pat his ugly head so that the long curls at her temple might hide her face from the look in Hal's bold eyes.
"Hey, Antelope Bill, saddle that ewe-necked cayuse of yours and vamoose, pronto, after the doctor. Plug Hat Pete, you've got the best cabin in town. We'll want it for the lady."
"Help yourself, Grizzley," answered the gambler. "It is a privilege."
"I am to stay with Mrs. - Pete?" asked Becky, anxiously.
"Child, you're a-going to be as safe as if there was a lady in this law-evadin' camp; which there isn't, exceptin' your own sweet and lovely self."
"Oh!"
"You're a-going to have old Bull-doze watchin' inside the cabin and ten decent and sober men watchin' outside it and nothin' short of a messenger from up-skies could touch one pretty, red-gold curl on your proud little head."
"Bob, I'll take her home to her mother," spoke up Harry who had never once taken his bold gaze from the girl.
"No, you won't take her home to her mother, neither!"
Beckey was strangely comforted by the protective drawl of the big man's voice. Accustomed as she had grown to the rapid transitions of the West, she realized the fallacy of her first impression from his appearance. That night laid the foundation of her regard for him, which was deeper than a mere surface appeal, and which was never to waver.
* * * * *
"H'm," snorted Cornish Jack, shuffling a greasy pack of cards in Sick Jimmie's place and watching two men go by, "that's the most willin' pair on the gulch! Bob, he's willin' to do all the work, an' Handsome Harry, he's willin' to let 'im. Fine house Bob's just built. Must of cost a heap."
"They say that Miss Beckey and her mother are going to live in it," answered Plug Hat Pete. "I'll raise you ten."
"Handsome Harry's bin a-dancin' round that gal ever since they moved here, six months ago."
"Yes, and the look in her eyes in another direction, is plainly to be read." The implication was lost on Cornish Jack.
"Ol' Bob, he does all he can to throw 'em together. Air ye goin' to the house warmin' tonight?"
"Certainly," said The Senator. "Particularly if we manage to keep old Tommy Norton and Black Joe from getting intoxicated, so there will be a pair of fiddlers on the gulch. Tommy, on such occasions, always has an attack of religion which precludes the possibility of his assisting at any profane scene of mirth, and Joe falls into a deep sleep from which nothing can rouse him for twenty-four hours."
"There's Antelope back. I hear his roan."
"Well, who do you think I met down around the curve of Blackjack Hill? That gal o' Bob's on her pinto and that sneakin' Handsome Harry on his black mustang, ridin' full-bent-for-leather!"
The men rushed with one accord to Bob's cabin, where he sat before his fireless hearth.
"We al'ays knew he was a sneakin' thief, but you wouldn't hear nothin' agin him. Took all the bags of gold dust from your claim, too, didn't he?"
"Now, boys, that isn't fair to call him a thief. He was my partner and what was mine was his, and a man has a right to take his own wherever he finds it."
"But the gal?" asked a chorus of voices.
"That girl wasn't in any way bound to me, and you can't expect a pretty creature like her to care for such a beauty as I am, when there's a fellow like Handsome Harry around. It don't stand to reason."
"Come, fellows," said Poker Bill, "if Bob's satisfied I reckon we
"My father and mother, sir, are very ill. I was going after a doctor, but I am tired out. I can go no further. Oh, could one of you go on to Angel's, whilst I rest with some lady of your town?"
Harry was apparently speechless from the thrall of her fresh young beauty, because it was Bob who answered.
"You certainly can, Miss! Grizzley Bob's word on that. Where'd you come from?"
"From Roundtree's, sir," timidly. Bob had turned to call orders through the open door and the girl gasped as the strong, manly profile of the unscarred half of his face was turned toward her. Bull-doze licked her white fingers, and she stooped to pat his ugly head so that the long curls at her temple might hide her face from the look in Hal's bold eyes.
"Hey, Antelope Bill, saddle that ewe-necked cayuse of yours and vamoose, pronto, after the doctor. Plug Hat Pete, you've got the best cabin in town. We'll want it for the lady."
"Help yourself, Grizzley," answered the gambler. "It is a privilege."
"I am to stay with Mrs. - Pete?" asked Becky, anxiously.
"Child, you're a-going to be as safe as if there was a lady in this law-evadin' camp; which there isn't, exceptin' your own sweet and lovely self."
"Oh!"
"You're a-going to have old Bull-doze watchin' inside the cabin and ten decent and sober men watchin' outside it and nothin' short of a messenger from up-skies could touch one pretty, red-gold curl on your proud little head."
"Bob, I'll take her home to her mother," spoke up Harry who had never once taken his bold gaze from the girl.
"No, you won't take her home to her mother, neither!"
Beckey was strangely comforted by the protective drawl of the big man's voice. Accustomed as she had grown to the rapid transitions of the West, she realized the fallacy of her first impression from his appearance. That night laid the foundation of her regard for him, which was deeper than a mere surface appeal, and which was never to waver.
* * * * *
"H'm," snorted Cornish Jack, shuffling a greasy pack of cards in Sick Jimmie's place and watching two men go by, "that's the most willin' pair on the gulch! Bob, he's willin' to do all the work, an' Handsome Harry, he's willin' to let 'im. Fine house Bob's just built. Must of cost a heap."
"They say that Miss Beckey and her mother are going to live in it," answered Plug Hat Pete. "I'll raise you ten."
"Handsome Harry's bin a-dancin' round that gal ever since they moved here, six months ago."
"Yes, and the look in her eyes in another direction, is plainly to be read." The implication was lost on Cornish Jack.
"Ol' Bob, he does all he can to throw 'em together. Air ye goin' to the house warmin' tonight?"
"Certainly," said The Senator. "Particularly if we manage to keep old Tommy Norton and Black Joe from getting intoxicated, so there will be a pair of fiddlers on the gulch. Tommy, on such occasions, always has an attack of religion which precludes the possibility of his assisting at any profane scene of mirth, and Joe falls into a deep sleep from which nothing can rouse him for twenty-four hours."
"There's Antelope back. I hear his roan."
"Well, who do you think I met down around the curve of Blackjack Hill? That gal o' Bob's on her pinto and that sneakin' Handsome Harry on his black mustang, ridin' full-bent-for-leather!"
The men rushed with one accord to Bob's cabin, where he sat before his fireless hearth.
"We al'ays knew he was a sneakin' thief, but you wouldn't hear nothin' agin him. Took all the bags of gold dust from your claim, too, didn't he?"
"Now, boys, that isn't fair to call him a thief. He was my partner and what was mine was his, and a man has a right to take his own wherever he finds it."
"But the gal?" asked a chorus of voices.
"That girl wasn't in any way bound to me, and you can't expect a pretty creature like her to care for such a beauty as I am, when there's a fellow like Handsome Harry around. It don't stand to reason."
"Come, fellows," said Poker Bill, "if Bob's satisfied I reckon we