/ tm$B LIBRARY 
 
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 ALL BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS 
 ADDRESSED TO 
 
 HENRY STRONG, 
 
 SOLE AGENT, 
 
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 NEW YORK CITY. 
 
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 A LONE S*TAR BO-PEEP 
 
 OTHER TALES 
 
 TEXAN RANCH LIFE 
 
 BY 
 
 HOWARD SEELY 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 W. L. MERSHON & CO. 
 
 1885.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1885, 
 
 BY 
 E. H. SEELY, JR. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
 W. L. MERSHON & Co., 
 
 Printers, Electrotypers and Binders, 
 RAHWAY, N. J.
 
 TO 
 
 ANDREW F. UNDERHILL, 
 
 IN TESTIMONY 
 
 OF 
 
 A FRIENDSHIP OF YEARS.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. A LONE STAR BO-PEEP, . . . i 
 
 II. THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA, ... 75 
 
 III. THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO, . . . m 
 
 IV. AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK, . . .141 
 V. A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS, . . . 175 
 
 VI. A WANDERING MELIBCEUS, . . . 204 
 
 VII. A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN, .... 235 
 
 VIII. THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. . . 253
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 I. 
 
 DAY was just breaking on the Chadbourne 
 Trail. The pale mists, surprised by rosy Au- 
 rora, were scampering in hurried dishabille across 
 its wavering outline, tearing their trailing night- 
 robes upon the thorny mesquites and scatter- 
 ing filmy draperies in its live oak aisles. A 
 few faint stars, through fleecy cloud-rifts, still 
 twinkled tearfully, and but a moment ago the 
 waning moon, that had languished in the west- 
 * ern heaven, had lain a pale face upon the slop- 
 ing shoulder of a great divide and wearily sunk 
 to rest within its somber bosom. There is a 
 dewy freshness in the air ; a strong, damp, 
 earthy odor ; then on the wings of a gentle 
 breeze fragrant forerunner of morning the 
 scent of a thousand wild-flowers swinging their
 
 2 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 perfumed censers in worship of the coming 
 sun. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the shadowy vistas of the dim 
 shrubbery, vague, indistinct forms seem moving. 
 They flit to and fro with a skulking and stealthy 
 movement ; they seem alert, uneasy, restless 
 the ghosts of incarnate suspicion. Suddenly 
 they are off in a body with a precipitate haste 
 that is ludicrous in its apparent cowardice. 
 
 Immediately and sharply to the right comes 
 a quick, startled sound like that made by a 
 stone shaken violently in some metal vessel. 
 The sounds increase and seem associated with 
 the movement of some impeded and lumbering 
 animal. An oath ! a shot ! The sulphurous 
 suggestion of man and gunpowder! While 
 after a silence more apparent from the recent 
 explosion, during which the rising orb comes 
 proudly up the horizon, a large pecan motte, 
 now visible, and from which the recent disturb 
 ances have proceeded, resounds with shrieks 
 and barks, as if all Bedlam were let loose the 
 impotent cries of Texan coyotes. They die 
 away down the wind. The silence now and the 
 sunlight hold sway. 
 
 Within the still, dim precincts of this motte,
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 3 
 
 the skeleton of a denuded cow-pen stretches its 
 emaciate length. A cooking-stove, lidless, 
 doorless, broken-legged, stares with uncompro- 
 mising effrontery at the encroaching light. 
 Garments that have survived their usefulness, 
 scattered here and there, like uniforms of the 
 fallen, lend their additional aid to the general 
 air of discomfiture. Civilization seems to have 
 encountered Nature and suffered defeat. Thus 
 desolate, since a remote " round-up," has this 
 live-stock Andersonville remained. It was left 
 for Mr. Faye Howe to revisit its belligerent 
 remindings and speculate upon its analogies. 
 
 I am not over-confident that the gentleman 
 was alive to these. Mr. Howe was out of 
 humor. Mr. Howe was sleepy. The languor 
 of disturbed dreams clouded his otherwise acute 
 perceptions. At the precise moment that he 
 dawns upon the reader's consciousness, his 
 bearing is unobservant, his attitude uncon- 
 sidered. The details of his bivouac are in a 
 sense martial, without its vigilance. Enveloped 
 in his .gray blanket and with his head in the 
 hollow of his saddle, he appears lost in the 
 embraces of the drowsy god. But the pres- 
 ence of his recently discharged revolver, and at
 
 4 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 a few yards' distance the already stiffening car- 
 cass of a coyote betray evidences of recently 
 aroused energy. The only object at present 
 gifted with volition, however, seems his belled 
 and hoppled light sorrel from certain "cold 
 gravy " resemblances denominated " Oscar 
 Wilde " Mr. Howe's remote and sarcastic pro- 
 test against England's sufficiently recent inflic- 
 tion. Mr. Faye Howe is an American, and does 
 not consider his country or its government a nec- 
 essarily dangerous experiment. He is as yet 
 serenely unaware that he can derive any enlight- 
 enment political from the "other side." Mr. 
 Faye Howe is not a snob ; he is not a toady. 
 Mr. Faye Howe is, nevertheless, between 
 twenty-six and twenty-seven. 
 
 For the next hour or so the neighboring soli- 
 tude suffers little change. The hampered mus- 
 tang with its unmelodious accompaniment pur- 
 sues the ancient and equine occupation of 
 Nebuchadnezzar with an occasional snort of 
 satisfaction. A peripatetic chaparral-cock, with 
 the unexplainable weakness of that bird for 
 morning calls, had perched upon a pinnacle of 
 the neighboring cow-pen, and, turning his wise 
 head upon one side, speculated for some min-
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 5 
 
 utes with gratuitous gravity and the air of a 
 puzzled physician, upon the laziness of his 
 extemporized patient ; and then departed upon 
 his customary rounds. In the meantime, the 
 beams of the long arisen sun shot through the 
 branches of the overhanging pecans and heated 
 the blonde head of the sleeper uncomfortably. 
 He turned uneasily. Later several acute 
 twinges made him conscious that he was an 
 obstacle to a caravan of pilgrim ants, which held 
 their inflexible line of march across his recum- 
 bent body. He rose to a sitting posture with 
 significant haste. Still heavy with the dews of 
 sleep, Mr. Howe became nevertheless aware 
 of a pattering, clicking sound, made by suc- 
 cessive objects dropping from the surrounding 
 air. Staggering to his feet, he instinctively 
 . sought the carcass of the dead coyote. It was 
 covered with the already present and constantly 
 arriving hosts of the burying beetle. A grim, 
 flapping shadow intruded itself for a second 
 upon its sun-steeped outline. He raised his 
 eyes. A turkey-buzzard with gory crest looked 
 down in ghoul-like sedateness from a limb 
 above. The speedy burial service of Southern 
 latitudes was already in progress.
 
 6 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 With a dejection of manner, aggravated, no 
 doubt, by an empty stomach, Howe busied 
 himself in the preparation of a primitive 
 repast. An adjacent pool of water, of which 
 the encircling pecans were an infallible index, 
 assisted him in hasty ablutions somewhat per- 
 functory under the circumstances. Refreshed 
 by these sketchy efforts, he rekindled the em- 
 bers of his dying fire, cut a forked stick of the 
 mesquite, and toasted some strips of bacon 
 from a piece tied up in a sack behind his saddle. 
 The odor of the broiling morsels stimulated an 
 appetite already whetted by the balsamic air 
 of the wilds. With the aid of a loaf of bread, 
 and some cool water dipped from the neighbor- 
 ing pool with the brim of his sombrero, he 
 accomplished a hearty because hungry re- 
 past. The completion of this meal, the observ- 
 ant buzzard, now reinforced by several contem- 
 plative comrades, awaited with a patient eti- 
 quette which his presence enforced. Then 
 saddling, with incongruous haste, his satirically 
 entitled steed, this solitary wayfarer sprang 
 into his stirrups, and rode carelessly away from 
 his sylvan bed-chamber and breakfast-room, 
 without even a casual survey of what he left 
 behind him.
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 7 
 
 II. 
 
 AS Mr. Howe emerged from the shelter of the 
 pecan motte, and rode out upon the plain, 
 a sense of exuberant health made him bestride 
 his muscular horse with a feeling of elation. 
 A short ride brought him to the line of the 
 Trail, into which he at once turned, and for a 
 few moments pursued his way between its mes- 
 quite fringes with preoccupied thoughtfulness. 
 Doubtless few of his whilom companions would 
 have recognized in this sun-tanned and centaur- 
 riding wanderer a certain aspirant for collegiate 
 honors of a few years previous. Yet such was 
 he. A critical inspection developed the fact 
 that his garments albeit conventional and of 
 the traditional type did not set upon him with 
 -the habitude of a frontiersman. Aside from their 
 newness, there was a lack of intimacy between 
 them and the limbs of their wearer which at 
 once obtruded itself, and which the fact that 
 garments are regarded by the true native as a 
 species of highly lacerated cuticle, was emi- 
 nently calculated to overcome. However, a 
 certain careless freedom, and withal a reckless- 
 ness of mien, were not without explaining the
 
 8 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 present geographical position of the gentleman, 
 and there was an easy adaptability in his genial 
 face, quite in keeping with his surroundings. 
 The faint scent of the wild verbena, mingled 
 with the more brooding odor of buffalo-clover, 
 steeped his senses as he quickened his horse's 
 pace. Prairie-dogs, with the impudence of pig- 
 mies in their strongholds, barked at him as he 
 passed, or suddenly disappeared in their bur- 
 rows with a gurgling murmur of disapprobation 
 at his invading progress.. A crazy " killdee," 
 screaming with the occasional aimlessnessof an 
 itinerant vender, ran before him upon the right, 
 and with commendable counterfeiting of help- 
 lessness attempted to decoy him from her young. 
 A jackass rabbit, plunging wildly from a neigh- 
 boring bush, limped painfully away with its 
 customary mendacity, and then turned and 
 stared at him from under exaggerated ears. In 
 emphatic derision of its hypocrisy, Howe put 
 spurs to the intrepid " Oscar," compelling the 
 shameless cripple to an exhibition of speed 
 which disclosed its pitiful deception, and well 
 nigh frightened into convulsions the would-be 
 redoubtable " mule-ear." 
 
 After a prolonged and exhilarating canter
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 9 
 
 that drove the blood into the browned cheeks 
 of the rider, he checked his horse with the per- 
 fumed breezes thrilling his pulses. As he did 
 so, a lumbering gray owl of the horned species 
 slipped from a neighboring live oak and flapped 
 heavily away. Howe drew reign mechanically. 
 Looking up into the near top of the dwarf tree 
 from his elevated position, he espied a capa- 
 cious nest in a secure fork, from which point of 
 vantage two pairs of wondering eyes blinkingly 
 regarded him. He immediately dismounted, 
 tethered his horse by the lariat which hung 
 from the pommel of his saddle, and proceeded 
 to climb the tree. Arriving at the nest, he saw 
 what he had before conjectured two juvenile 
 owls, partly fledged, and regarding him, with 
 grotesque wisdom, from the midst of surround- 
 ing debris the bones of moles and prairie- 
 dogs, of tender years, purveyed for their delec- 
 tation by their solicitous parents. In that 
 spirit of dissent from the proclivities of ani- 
 mate nature which had actuated him all the 
 morning, Howe, after a few moments of 
 amused inspection, selected the most promis- 
 ing specimen of owldom and deposited him in 
 the capacious pocket of his ducking-cloth jacket.
 
 io A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 Not an instant too soon, though ; for the above- 
 mentioned solicitous sire and mother, return- 
 ing in company at this critical moment, at- 
 tempted to interpose a forcible but unavailing 
 remonstrance, as the triumphant thief slipped 
 down the tree. 
 
 "Say Mister wot ye got?" panted a 
 mischievous voice behind him. 
 
 I mention it with regret, but candor compels 
 it, that Mr. Howe gave a very violent start. 
 
 If there are any circumstances under which 
 one is justified in deeming himself secure from 
 the fair, it would seem that such might be real- 
 ized upon the bald prairies x>f the South-west : 
 and yet, anomalous as it may appear, encount- 
 ers with a proverbially curious sex are not ab- 
 solutely unknown. The vastness of the sur- 
 roundings, the loneliness of the solitudes impart 
 a feeling of isolation from feminine fascinations 
 a security against observation, so that the 
 first impulse of surprise suggests an attack or 
 at best an intrusion. He faced abruptly around. 
 Seeing his evident amazement, his interrogator 
 gave vent to a long, loud, extravagant but not 
 unmusical explosion of laughter, accented by 
 hilarious gestures of delight.
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. II 
 
 Howe entered upon a critical survey. The 
 object of his scrutiny might be fairly said to 
 challenge feminine classification. What he 
 saw was a small figure so phenomenally clad in 
 garments of either sex, that indecision as to 
 gender was pardonable, to say the least. She 
 had evidently been running, and her present 
 merriment was heightened by the fact that she 
 was quite out of breath. Her feet and ankles 
 were bare, and somewhat scratched with the cat- 
 daw and cactus, but they were very small 
 feet and ankles for all that. She wore a dress 
 exhibiting similar signs of suffering from thorns, 
 and through a diversity of three-cornered rents 
 disclosing a red petticoat. Her hands did not 
 appear, but a heavy hunting jacket, buttoned 
 .negligently about delicate little shoulders, and 
 with several inches of superfluous sleeve, op- 
 pressed rather than clad two slender arms, in- 
 creasing the general air of incongruity and dis- 
 comfort. A broad sombrero of felt, heavily 
 adorned with tarnished silver lace and addi- 
 tionally encumbered by a strap-band with double 
 thong and buckles conveying the impression 
 of some primitive variety of cranial torture 
 formed her decidedly cumbrous head gear.
 
 12 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 And yet the face that appertained to this 
 much be-clothed picture of health was quaint 
 and pretty. A pair of very roguish black eyes 
 were discreetly presided over by long, fringing 
 lashes. A braid of black hair, loosened by her 
 recent activity, struggled from beneath her 
 hat and fell upon her shoulder. The observant 
 eye of Mr. Faye Howe detected a revolver 
 worn rather ambitiously beneath the coat. 
 With almost a sigh for a fastidious taste, fos- 
 tered in feminine matters by past promenade 
 concerts, he decided that she was about sixteen 
 and unquestionably a very pretty young woman. 
 
 She suddenly regained her composure and 
 spoke with damaging abruptness. 
 
 *' Don't ye reckon yer 'shamed o' yerself 
 robbin' birds'-nests? " she asked boldly. 
 
 Somewhere in the depths of Howe's slumber- 
 ing conscience there lurked a faint sense of 
 shame for his present predicament. He tacitly 
 acquiesced. 
 
 " Why did ye go to do it, then ? " she in- 
 quired with the air of a privileged mentor. 
 
 " To give to you," he replied with a conciliat- 
 ing smile, finding his tongue at once in the 
 fabrication of this entertaining falsehood.
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 13 
 
 This put a new construction on the case 
 which the girl was quick to perceive. Gallantry, 
 of however doubtful a character, is always 
 appreciated by the artful sex. She was ap- 
 peased but not convinced. 
 
 Dropping her chin suddenly, she exhibited to 
 the gentleman's view a blank desert of hat, and 
 appeared to commune with a precocious judg- 
 ment beneath it. Finally raising her face 
 again, and releasing her questioning eyes from 
 their discreet, mourning fringes, "Will ye 
 will ye swear ye saw me?" she demanded 
 with ridiculously solemn emphasis. 
 
 Mr. Howe was not at all positive that the cir- 
 cumstances demanded the gravity of an oath. 
 He betrayed the weakness of his former position 
 by an apparent reluctance to commit perjury. 
 
 " Reckon not ! " she decided. " But will ye 
 jest naturally give it to me anyhow? "dis- 
 closing an entreating circle of pearl that was 
 not to be resisted. 
 
 Something in the swooning fringes of those 
 weeping lashes, the dewy freshness of the red 
 lips, suggested to the young man the idea of 
 compensation. I say suggested'^.. The gentle- 
 man had at one time been a law-student; he
 
 14 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 had then been, for the time being, inclined to 
 doubt the material existence of compensation. 
 However, he still recognized it ideally. I sub- 
 mit, too, that it seemed really an age since he 
 had enjoyed the osculatory privileges of female 
 society. Actuated by a realizing sense of 
 this fact he made bold to declare his fell 
 design. 
 
 " I do not mind bestowing it upon one condi- 
 tion." 
 
 " How ? " 
 
 He started. His ear was so sensitive to the 
 sound of his own name. 
 
 " Well ?" with some mischief. 
 
 " What did ye jest get to say ? " 
 
 " I said you could have the owl on one con- 
 sideration." 
 
 "Wot's thet?" 
 
 " A kiss," very grimly, as if inviting her to 
 a law-suit. 
 
 The girl retreated with feminine shyness ; her 
 hands, with difficulty asserting themselves from 
 the long sleeves, made haste to cover her pre- 
 sumably coveted mouth, as if in anticipation of 
 more practical advances. " No ! thank ye ! " 
 she replied with awkward politeness. " I don't
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 1$ 
 
 go much on makin' free with perfect strangers. 
 Ye may keep yer ornery owl," she added. 
 
 Howe had just reached the same conclusion ; 
 he was provokingly ironical in reference to her 
 second sentence. Howbeit, he experienced that 
 enchantment which distance is said to lend to 
 unattainable objects. 
 
 Notwithstanding her recent disparaging com- 
 ment, the girl still regarded the owl with incon- 
 sistent longing. 
 
 Ho\ve confined his attention to a perusal 
 of her rustic attractions. 
 
 "Who are ye and where ye goin'?" she 
 finally demanded with charming directness. 
 
 11 My name's Howe, and I'm on the road," 
 he replied vaguely, exhibiting that Northern 
 ^privacy in personal matters unsympathized 
 with by the Southern temperament. 
 
 " Hope ye'll git thar;" she responded cheer- 
 fully. 
 
 The gentleman thanked her for her good 
 wishes with an amused sarcasm, which was lost, 
 however, on its recipient. 
 
 " Wot's the name o' yer pony?" she said, 
 returning to the charge. 
 
 It happened that Mr. Faye Howe was trem-
 
 16 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 bling on the verge of a sneeze. He was aware 
 of the Greek augury. He thought he would 
 sacrifice his politeness as a gallant to his classic 
 superstition. Besides, he was in Texas. If his 
 border-life had inculcated in the gentleman a 
 certain discretion which made him exclusively 
 addicted to indulging his forcible rhetoric in 
 the privacy of his own company, its influence 
 upon his code of social etiquette was appar- 
 ently not so salutary. He permitted himself the 
 rude privilege, and did not find it necessary to 
 apologize, but he attempted to say " Oscar " at 
 the same moment. 
 
 "Hoss-car!" she exclaimed with scorn. 
 " Tears to me ye ain't naturally got much taste. 
 Why didn't ye call him ' Sittin' Bull ' or 
 1 Standin' Buf'lo'? 'Pears to me men ain't 
 worth the flippin' a pecan a-namin' things. 
 There's Rube Smart's got two lovely mustangs, 
 he calls ' Snipe ' and ' Bunch,' as ef he reckoned 
 one was a bird, and t'other a boil." 
 
 The girl regarded him with unqualified 
 contempt and seemed surprised that he did 
 not wither beneath it, but remarked very 
 calmly, 
 
 " I presume you would have called my horse
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 17 
 
 1 Pansy ' or ' Daisy '" this, in malicious irony 
 of feminine christening. 
 
 An imperfect education in the repartee of the 
 border was not without assisting her in braving 
 the deductions of Mr. Howe's logic. She eyed 
 the mustang coolly and critically with the air 
 of a haughty connoisseur. I must admit with 
 grief for his aesthetic title, that his coat was 
 somewhat sun-cured and weather-beaten, and, 
 moreover, quite guiltless of grooming. 
 
 " No ! " she said, " pardner, I skursely 
 reckon' I cud. 'Pears as I'd call him ' Quid ' 
 or ' Terbacker.' " 
 
 Faye Howe lost his gravity at this sally, and 
 the young lady's scorn thawed a trifle at the 
 recognized compliment to her humor. 
 
 "Tell ye wot I reckon I'll do," she finally 
 said. 
 
 " What?" with exaggerated expectancy. 
 
 " I'll play ye fer thet thar critter," indicating 
 the owl by a disparaging wave of the hand. 
 
 " What will you put up against it ? " inquired 
 Howe with well feigned caution, though heartily 
 amused. 
 
 The girl hesitated, glanced again at the owl, 
 sighed, and immediately decided.
 
 1 8 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 " My six-shooter," drawing the formidable 
 weapon. 
 
 "Done!" with a violent air of business. 
 "What shall it be?" 
 
 " Poker," she said with easy familiarity, pro- 
 ducing a woe-begone pack of cards from the 
 side pocket of her coat. 
 
 The owl and revolver were placed side by 
 side subject to the dictum of chance. The 
 cards were cut and dealt in grave silence. The 
 girl's cheeks flushed and her eyes gleamed with 
 excitement. 
 
 " Two cards," she said with gratifying per- 
 functoriness. 
 
 Mr. Howe expressed himself as satisfied with 
 his hand. 
 
 She scowled. 
 
 "Two pair aces up!" said Howe. 
 
 " Full hand ! " she shouted, triumphantly 
 appropriating the spoils. 
 
 The gentleman acquiesced with an extrava- 
 gant sigh of regret. Then he took the initiative 
 in questioning. 
 
 "I suppose you can handle this?" he said, 
 taking up the revolver an old-fashioned, muz- 
 zle-loading Colt's " six-shooter."
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 19 
 
 " Right smart ! " she said without looking- up ; 
 she had become absorbed in lavish caresses of 
 the recently acquired owl. 
 
 " Let me see you shoot," Howe requested, 
 handing it over. 
 
 The girl accepted the weapon mechanically, 
 and looked around for a mark. She espied an 
 empty tomato-can, probably discarded by some 
 traveling teamster. She pointed it out to 
 Howe. 
 
 " Watch ! " she quietly remarked, raising the 
 heavy weapon .calculatingly in both her small 
 hands. Howe did watch with amused in- 
 terest. 
 
 The startling report of the heavy arm fol- 
 lowed, and as the smoke drifted to one side, the 
 -can was seen to have changed its position with 
 visible damage. 
 
 Mr. Faye Howe was correspondingly awed 
 and appreciative. 
 
 " Bravo ! Where did you learn to shoot ! " he 
 exclaimed approvingly. 
 
 " Oh ! Pop and me practices reg'lar 'bout the 
 ranch.*' 
 
 " The ranch ? Where's that ? " 
 
 "'Bout a mile north o' here," she replied,
 
 20 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 indicating the line by jerking the thumb of her 
 right hand over her shoulder, while she still 
 caressed her lugubrious pet with her left. 
 
 "Who lives there?" 
 
 " Me and Pop." 
 
 "Who's 'me' ?" 
 
 11 Do you mean what's my name ? " 
 
 Howe nodded. 
 
 " Penelope Natchez," she answered. 
 
 "What does your father do?" 
 
 " What does he do? " with round, amazed 
 eyes. " Where ye bin, stranger? Guess you're 
 a ' tender-foot.' " 
 
 " We're in equal ' fix,' sweetness," responded 
 the collegian, apostrophizing the little bare and 
 thorn-scratched feet. 
 
 The girl looked at him embarrassedly, and 
 said in an instant, " Thet's plum a-plenty o' 
 thet." 
 
 Mr. Howe made a mental note to avoid com- 
 parisons in the future. 
 
 " Well," she resumed, after a silence, evidently 
 protracted for its effect as a moral lesson, " if 
 you're so powerful ignorant, my Pop is land- 
 agent and sheep-raiser for Concho Co." 
 
 The gentleman reflected that she probably
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 21 
 
 shared the peculiarities of a charming but in- 
 accurate sex in matters of business. Concho Co. 
 being as large as the State of Rhode Island, it 
 was extremely unlikely that " Pop " monopolized 
 the sheep-industry for that extent of territory. 
 Howbeit, he looked wise and said nothing. 
 
 " Thar's part of 'em," she explained, pointing 
 out a small flock at a distance of several 
 hundred yards. . At times during the recent 
 conversation, Howe had fancied he heard the 
 bleating of sheep and lambs, but the sounds had 
 come so faintly against the wind that he believed 
 himself mistaken. 
 
 "Yersee," she said, drawing nearer to him 
 and becoming suddenly confidential, " Pop's 
 went down to Eden this morning to a trial; 
 he's a lawyer and has been county-judgesure 
 'nuff. Bill Darcy's comin' up for shootin' a 
 fejjer, an' they couldn't get 'long no how with- 
 out Pop. I promised him I'd herd them sheep 
 while he's away, because our herder's left. It's 
 somethin' I don't generally do," she concluded 
 apologetically. 
 
 This lucid explanation was not without in- 
 terest to Howe. It happened that he was in 
 quest of this very same Judge Natchez in ref-
 
 22 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 erence to a disputed land-title. In view of her 
 recent charming confidences, he briefly de- 
 veloped these facts to Miss Penelope. 
 
 " Reckon ye'd better stop at the ranch to- 
 night," she said, when he had finished. " Pop'll 
 be back by sun-down. Ye can lunch with me 
 under thet live oak, ef ye care to over yonder" 
 pointing to a tree rather larger in its general 
 outline than the prevailing type of tliat dwarf 
 caricature of an apple-tree. It was distant 
 about a hundred yards. 
 
 " But my sheep's strayin' ! Throw 'em in, 
 Flo ! " she screamed to a black and white shep- 
 herd-dog that now disclosed herself in their 
 neighborhood, and had been doing double duty 
 in her mistress' absence. 
 
 " Go 'round 'em ! " gesticulating with a cir- 
 cular wave of the hand. 
 
 The intelligent brute looked knowingly at 
 her a moment, and then trotting off, made a 
 wide detour to intercept the stragglers. But 
 there was now a commotion among the loudly 
 lamenting flock, and a disturbed bleating came 
 distinctly to the ear. 
 
 " Does thet ' Hoss-car ' o' yours 'buck,' Mr. 
 Howe ? " inquired Miss Penelope.
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 23 
 
 The gentleman felt a certain pride in dis- 
 claiming for his mustang that customary Texan 
 characteristic. 
 
 " Reckon I'll hev to borrer him, then," she 
 said, loosing the tethered pony, springing into 
 the saddle, and throwing her knee over its 
 Mexican pommel; "I'll meet ye over by thet 
 tree." And she rode away like the wind with 
 an Amazonian abandon quite in keeping with 
 her general manner. 
 
 Bidden thus to an Arcadian repast and de- 
 prived of his horse, there was nothing for Faye 
 Howe to do but to follow her instructions. He 
 set out for the appointed rendezvous, but being 
 possessed of some curiosity to note the pre- 
 cision of her recent shot, turned first in the 
 direction of the unfortunate can. Doubtless, 
 he proceeded with less than his customary 
 caution, for he was immediately afterward 
 startled violently by a peculiar warning, very 
 similar to the rapid uncoiling of a broken clock- 
 spring a sound never forgotten by one who 
 has heard it under dangerous circumstances. 
 Bewildered by its muffled character, he sprang 
 suddenly to one side, and stepped right upon 
 an enormous rattle-snake. Almost identical in
 
 24 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 color with the " curly mesquite " grass in its 
 neighborhood, it lay coiled ready to spring. 
 He shrank back with an exclamation of horror 
 but was too late. The reptile darted forward, 
 with a movement of its head like successive, 
 rapid blows of a tack-hammer. With a sickening 
 shudder the gentleman felt himself bitten in the 
 little finger of his right hand. 
 
 He staggered, ghastly pale, to the live oak 
 distant but a few yards and fell, rather than 
 sat down, beneath its shade. He was faint 
 with agony. Cold beads of perspiration like 
 a death damp started upon his forehead. A 
 foot-fall struck his ear ; he raised his head in a 
 blind, dazed fashion. The girl was already 
 returning, holding the owl. 
 
 "Wot's up?" she queried, her quick eyes 
 noting the feebleness of his attitude. 
 
 " Bitten! " he gasped, trying to smile in the 
 presence of the weaker sex presumably. It 
 was a ghastly failure that smile. 
 
 The girl became a heroine with Columbine 
 suddenness. The owl, projected from his airy 
 perch, described a bewildered parabola. She 
 was kneeling beside him. 
 
 "Quick! strip up yer shirt sleeve !" she
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 25 
 
 cried, tearing the band from her heavy hat. 
 She wrapped the leathern thong about his mus- 
 cular fore-arm, and slipping the straps in the 
 buckles, applied this rude tourniquet with an 
 excited, nervous strength that made him wince. 
 She produced a small pistol-flask and some 
 matches. " Show me ! " she said imperatively. 
 
 Mr. Faye Howe obeyed. His little finger, 
 his wrist his whole hand and fore-arm, up to 
 the leathern bandage, were so swollen they 
 might have done justice to Goliath of Gath. 
 
 Dropping to a sitting posture, she deposited 
 her sombrero in her lap, and grasping his wrist 
 firmly, she laid the hand upon the thick felt. 
 
 Have you ever seen a woman fumble and 
 flounder with a powder flask ? This Texan 
 heroine deposited two charges upon the bite, 
 as deftly as she handled her needle when she 
 cared to. She struck a lucifer. Howe gave a 
 gesture of disapproval. 
 
 " Grit yer teeth ! " she said coolly. She 
 dropped the match. A flash ; a sizzling sput- 
 ter ; a puff of white smoke. Mr. Faye Howe 
 yelled of course. 
 
 " Thar ! " she said, with a sigh of relief, " I 
 reckon that'll naturally fetch it."
 
 26 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 After which exhibition of decision, feminine 
 nerves betrayed themselves; she trembled 
 violently and looked a little faint. However, 
 she was spared the observance of this by her 
 companion. He began to be taken with a con- 
 vulsive shuddering. Summoning her courage 
 again, the girl began to pull and tug at the 
 pocket of her coat. She finally extricated a 
 reluctant, colossal, flat bottle. It was despond- 
 ently full. She uncorked it. 
 
 " Drink ! " she said simply. " Scotch whisky ! 
 yer life depends on it ! " 
 
 Howe took a long pull at the flask. 
 
 " Don't stop ! " she cried. " There's heaps 
 more ! I've got it hid at the ranch. Lucky 
 I kep' this from Pop last night," she solilo- 
 quized. " I was afeard he was 'lowin to get 
 outside of this, so as to clear Darcy. It's most 
 too pop'lar with Pop. Reckon by this time," 
 she added confidentially, as if to her bare feet, 
 " ther' wouldn't been nothin' in it but the 
 smell, if he'd been bit. 'Pears he's been bit 
 reg'lar every evenin' lately." Then she turned 
 to Howe and said sternly, " Why don't ye 
 drink ? " 
 
 Thus adjured, Howe made a laudable effort
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 27 
 
 to diminish the contents of the flask. Pene- 
 lope watched him anxiously. 
 
 "Yer must drink it all," she protested, "and 
 then " looking at him slyly, as if to note the 
 impression made by her bibulous advice "and 
 then yer must begin on the dimmy-john. 
 Stop ter take breath ; throw yer head back ; 
 shut yer eyes, and let her June ; the objek is 
 ter get the pizen drunk." After which graphic 
 medical treatise, she subsided with a solicitous 
 gravity in her eloquent black eyes. 
 
 The contents of the flask were seriously 
 diminishing. Howe felt no exaltation from the 
 liquor. It was the antagonism of the virus. 
 
 " Ye must get home," Penelope suddenly 
 said in anxiety. 
 
 " Home?" said Howe, wanderingly. 
 
 "Yes to the ranch." 
 
 She picked up the unfortunate owl, which, 
 from its apparent distress, had not even yet 
 regained its wonted equanimity. 
 
 " Come," she said, shaking the lethargic gen- 
 tleman, " tumble irrto yer saddle while there's 
 time." 
 
 He mechanically obeyed her. She called to 
 her dog to " throw her sheep together." Tak-
 
 28 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 ing the lariat of the impassive " Oscar," who 
 had been an apparently aesthetic and stupid 
 spectator of her previous efforts for his unfor- 
 tunate master, she drove the bleating flock 
 before her and set out for the ranch. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE nest-building of the Texan is not char- 
 acterized by that air of luxurious refine- 
 ment which once obtained among older 
 Southern states. The humble dwelling of the 
 "ex-judge, land-agent, and sheep-farmer, I regret 
 to say, was not an exception. Notwithstanding 
 that wealth of ability which his varied pursuits 
 might seem to imply, mechanical art interposed 
 but an obscure and feeble shield between him 
 and the inclemency of the weather. This may 
 have been owing to a stoical indifference to 
 climatic changes, but I am inclined to refer it 
 to a certain carelessness, and implicit faith in 
 nature, quite in keeping with the Texan temper- 
 ament. The idea of carelessness was strength- 
 ened in the mind of the casual visitor by 
 marked shiftlessness in material surroundings,
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 29 
 
 and by apparently impotent efforts to discard 
 articles of departed utility. The surface of the 
 bald prairie, which undulated like a beach of 
 sand upon the borders of the ranch, exhibited 
 the same disreputable curiosities that are some- 
 times found on the shore of the sea. Tin cans, 
 empty bottles, soleless boots, broken crockery, 
 hats, shameless in their battered exterior 
 all in absurd attitudes of vagrancy covered 
 the desecrated face of virgin solitude. The 
 forlorn emblems of ephemeral adornment were 
 all persistently and uninterestingly masculine. 
 It is with embarrassment that I admit, that 
 there were other articles, unmistakably femi- 
 nine. 
 
 'Among a heap of deer-horns, bleached and 
 weather-crumbling, an object gaunt and desti- 
 tute of grace intruded itself. Lying thus amid 
 the debris of ambitious, natural head-gear, its 
 vertebrate outline might have been taken for 
 the wasted skeleton of the animal to which the 
 smaller antlers once belonged, but a more criti- 
 cal eye declared it to be unquestionably a 
 discarded "long-bustle" Familiar and privi- 
 leged intimacy with the feminine details of 
 ranches makes me conscious of an unfortunate
 
 30 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 ability to dilate upon still more intricate devel- 
 opments of the gentler sex, but I forbear. 
 Suffice it to say, that such articles as were thus 
 gratuitously and generously offered to exam- 
 ination, Avere explored and appreciated by 
 sundry wild-cattle. In the inquiring search of 
 the salt-starved prairie-kine, these unlaundried 
 waifs received minute dental and even masti- 
 catory attention. 
 
 The ranch itself had been rather injudiciously 
 built at the junction of two creeks, and on a 
 very slight knoll in a small encircling clump of 
 live oaks their ever-green quality offering thus 
 a feeble but perennial shade. It was of adobe 
 and undoubtedly picturesque. Its capacity for 
 comfort at certain seasons was apparently 
 beneath the attention of its owner. The roof 
 from within afforded occasional astronomical 
 opportunities, and a pane of glass in the soli- 
 tary window was rendered uselessly opaque by 
 the intervention of an old felt hat. Howbeit, 
 it was not altogether unprepossessing. 
 
 It had once been the apartment of the 
 accomplished Judge, but as the flight of time 
 marked a growing maturity in Penelope, the 
 legal gentleman had exhibited a chivalric
 
 A LO'NE STAR BO-PEEP. 31 
 
 courtesy in retiring to the less pretentious, but 
 equally leaky, cover of a tent, pitched just out- 
 side. This, with enforced retreats at odd 
 times to the kitchen a long, low structure, 
 built of slabs and graced with a small cooking- 
 stove formed the father's sleeping quarters, 
 and comprised his somewhat sad attempt at 
 house-keeping. The whole was encircled by a 
 slight rail-fence. 
 
 The chivalric retirement of the Judge from 
 Miss Penelope's room, was, however, tempered 
 by signs of his intermittent presence. A 
 meager array of the resources of Texan juris- 
 prudence in the shape of three debilitated law- 
 books, covered with dust, and secured from 
 perusal by over-topping feminine "gimcracks," 
 was supplemented by an ample commentary 
 sanctioned by one Lynch J. to whom frontier 
 ideas of exact justice apparently necessitated 
 more assiduous reference. Briefly, the wall in 
 the neighborhood of the scant law-library sug- 
 gested an arsenal. It was literally frescoed 
 with munitions of war shot-guns, " Winches- 
 ters," carbines, pistols, revolvers, and bowies, 
 were included in this suggestive display of the 
 swift retribution that waits upon crime. It is
 
 32 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 not too much to say, that, with the exception of 
 several articles of apparel, discreetly veiled by 
 an overhanging strip of calico, they formed 
 almost the only details of this modest attempt 
 at house-furnishing. There was, however, one 
 other prominent piece of furniture. A low 
 bed, somewhat shaky in its underpinning, and 
 exhibiting that peculiar sketchiness in make-up 
 of which the interior, and, in fact, the tout 
 ensemble of this caricature of mechanical art 
 prevailingly partook. 
 
 Mr. Faye Howe was, at present, occupying 
 it. A demi-john rested upon the floor. Pene- 
 lope, tin cup in hand, with a grim resolve in 
 her pretty features and a general atmosphere 
 of perfunctory dosing, was seated near him. It 
 is only the grave exigency of his recent mis- 
 fortune which constrains me to admit that the 
 gentleman was, at present, hopelessly inebriated. 
 At the interesting moment of his introduction 
 the laudable and unremitting attentions of 
 Miss Natchez had accomplished this unfortu- 
 nate but necessary result. 
 
 Yet, whether it is to be attributed to the 
 potency of the poison or to his naturally strong 
 head, I somehow feel it necessary to say, by
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 33 
 
 way of apology, that he had not succumbed 
 without a struggle. 
 
 Had Penelope been interested in drunken- 
 ness as a purely psychical study, it is to be be- 
 lieved that, at successive stages, her experi- 
 mental efforts would have been amply reward- 
 ed. But she was eminently practical, and ig- 
 nored details. Serene in the achievement of 
 her purpose, attendant symptoms were disre- 
 garded. The phenomena attributable to alco- 
 holic excess are almost infinite. The ardent 
 devotion of some temperaments when intoxi- 
 cated is worthy of a higher inspiration. I 
 think I am safe in saying that, whatever possi- 
 bilities liquor may induce, Mr. Howe achieved 
 them all. He had been hilarious, maudlin, 
 affectionate, even endearing. He was now 
 feebly interjectional and mildly incoherent. 
 His naturally retentive memory, excited by his 
 potions, constrained him at first to entertain 
 Miss Natchez with a lengthy rehearsal of ac- 
 knowledged vocal abilities. He sang solos, 
 duets, trios his intoxicated judgment even 
 tempting him to grapple with a quartet. This 
 proving a lamentable failure especially as he 
 evinced a disposition to carry all the parts at
 
 34 4 LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 once he relapsed into college-glees, and event- 
 ually into a madly whirling drinking-chorus. 
 
 Awakening to a realizing sense of his prox- 
 imity to beauty, he exhausted the resources of 
 sentiment and an unusually rich vocabulary 
 upon the astonished maiden. He called her 
 "his flower," "his life," "his dream," "his 
 'brooding sweetness,'" his "ecstatic affinity." 
 He was evidently near the clouds at this point. 
 He even instituted comparisons, and drawing 
 from the bosom of his blowse the carte-de-visite 
 of a most fashionably-dressed young lady, ex- 
 pressed his unhesitating preference for the 
 natural charms of his bizarre nurse. These 
 vehement efforts were associated with certain 
 familiarities of gesture and caress, which Pene- 
 lope repelled with commendable coyness, but 
 with a manifest feebleness, prompted, no 
 doubt, by her feminine consciousness of the 
 fact that his critical discernment was sadly 
 blunted by the frequency of his libations. In 
 the end, worn out by his violent exertions, Mr. 
 Faye Howe became helplessly comatose. Miss 
 Penelope Natchez picked up the picture that 
 had fallen from his nerveless fingers. She 
 abandoned herself to a long and careful study
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 35 
 
 of its attractions. Having concluded which, 
 with the disparaging comment that she " didn't 
 go much on sich fine-haired and furbelowed 
 gals as thet," she heaved a deep sigh, and with 
 a tender glance at the recumbent Howe, ruth- 
 lessly appropriated it. 
 
 It was now night. " Pop " had not come 
 home. With some forebodings for her sires 
 present physical condition, she essayed to allay 
 her filial anxiety by renewed efforts for the 
 comfort of Howe. Now that he was entirely 
 unconscious, she lavished a wealth of tender- 
 ness upon him ; she lifted his head and de- 
 posited it in her lap ; she passed her hands cares- 
 singly over the blonde beard, and softly 
 smoothed his thin hair; she talked to him coo- 
 ingly, in a sympathetic, pitying fashion, depre- 
 cating his misfortune, and sincerely grateful 
 for her prompt presence. And then, as time 
 slipped away into the small hours, and the 
 moonlight that mysterious foe of woman 
 filtered through the well-ventilated .roof and fell 
 upon her ; and the mocking-birds those melo- 
 dious extollers of Luna's demoralizing tenden- 
 cies beguiled her with their song, she grew 
 suddenly lonely ; her head drooped, her black
 
 36 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 mane touched his forehead, and she kissed him. 
 And the half-fledged but vigilant owlet, as if by 
 this seal he recognized her now inalienable title 
 to his chance-ownership, attested it by a soft 
 " Hoo-o ! Hoo-o-o ! " that sent the hot blood 
 dancing over the girl's temples, as though a 
 cloud of witnesses were conscious of her weak- 
 ness. But Mr. Faye Howe dreamed that the 
 fashionable lady watched over his sleep. 
 
 IV. 
 
 n^HE following morning, as Judge Natchez, 
 A who comprehended under one large hat-brim 
 so much of the professional ability of Concho 
 County, turned his face homeward, there was 
 an air of dejection about his bearing, and a 
 flavor of delinquency in the swift canter into 
 which he at once lashed his unambitious pony. 
 It is very likely that this gloomy exterior was 
 the outcome of certain reverses, professional 
 and pecuniary, that the gentleman had recently 
 sustained. Notwithstanding copious draughts 
 of that inspiration, which, according to Miss 
 Natchez, " Pop " was wont to imbibe, his earn-
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 37 
 
 est eloquence in behalf of his client was unap- 
 preciated, and Bill Darcy had been sentenced 
 to be hung. And the legal gentleman's efforts 
 to drown his chagrin in the enticements of 
 " Mexican Monte," during the previous even- 
 ing, or more precisely, to " even up with the 
 Almighty," as he profanely remarked, on sitting 
 down to the deal board, had unfortunately re- 
 sulted in the loss of his retainer and counsel- 
 fee, consisting of the sum of twenty-five dol- 
 lars cask and a diamond pin his client's title 
 to this last article being entirely limited to 
 the ostentatious wearing of the gem. 
 
 There was a pathetic terseness in his sum- 
 mary of his woes to the proprietor of the Eden 
 Saloon. 
 
 " Busted, Jim, mental, moral and physical. 
 ' Hang me up ' for better luck, and recooperate 
 my failin' powers with a ' stone-fence '." 
 
 It was apparently impossible for human nature 
 to resist this appeal. The drink was speedily 
 placed before him by the gentlemanly proprie- 
 tor, who mixed it himself in the easy freedom 
 of shirt-sleeves and tilted cigar. 
 
 Having deposited this ominous beverage in 
 his stomach with the air of one assuming the
 
 38 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 carriage of unusually heavy freight, Natchez 
 departed. Howbeit, it was the second section 
 of stone-wall which he had that morning assim- 
 ilated. He mixed the other himself, and meas- 
 ured the whisky on the " two-finger " princi- 
 ple having lost the middle and third digit 
 down at San Antonio in a little difference of 
 opinion between a legal scholar and himself 
 about the law of mayliem. This slight mutila- 
 tion, however, he was unwilling should destroy 
 the consistency of his original method. 
 
 I may remark parenthetically at this point, 
 that the gentlemanly proprietor of the Eden 
 Saloon, as aggregating in his collective indi- 
 viduality the functions of hotel-proprietor, 
 bar-keeper, and gambler, typified in the mind 
 of Penelope the Serpent of Biblical Story, with 
 the general outlines of w r hose disreputable 
 advice to confiding womanhood and subsequent 
 depressing influence upon mankind in general, 
 she was mistily familiar. The gentleman was 
 accordingly despised with the customary inten- 
 sity of a discriminating sex when reprehensible 
 qualities are unquestionably labeled. So that, 
 one would have imagined primd facie a seem- 
 ing inconsistency in the despondency with
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 39 
 
 which the legal Adam dashed through the nar- 
 row street of this frontier travesty of Paradise. 
 
 An hour later he chanced upon" a black- 
 browed Hercules, lying listlessly upon the 
 prairie, and gazing with a scowl at some very 
 fine cattle grazing in a fertile hollow. The man 
 was attired in the unmistakable clothes of his 
 calling. There were the heavy, wide, leathern 
 leggings extending to the waist, giving the 
 wearer, when erect, the appearance of walking 
 in an immense mail-bag. There were the knee- 
 boots with heels so extravagantly high, and 
 placed at such an absurd angle, that a Parisi- 
 enne in the day of Louis Quinze would have 
 screamed with delight and cheerfully acqui- 
 esced in so admirable a contrivance for destroy- 
 ing the eyesight. This gentleman avoided any 
 such tendency by living in the saddle. When 
 he decided to walk which he rarely did he 
 strongly personified in gait that inelegant bird 
 the goose. It was the American cow-boy, 
 par excellence, with a certain smartness of exte- 
 rior, which suggested the approving criticism 
 of the fair. 
 
 A small tent stood near him, sharing by its 
 general air of relaxation in the despondency
 
 40 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 which seemed rampant that morning. The 
 necessary conveniences and utensils of his tent 
 were strewn in reckless and crippled confusion 
 about their recumbent owner. This ill-favored 
 nomad seemed to be lying amid rheumatic and 
 despondent household gods. 
 
 What was there in the sight of those mag- 
 nificent cattle to occasion that scowl ? It was 
 simply a question of " cow-brands." He was 
 in despair of any possible method by which 
 that " wine-glass " label could be converted with 
 the assistance of a red-hot iron into his own 
 suspiciously involved trade-mark. This is Air. 
 Rube Smart " cow-puncher." 
 
 Intuitively recognizing a sympathetic spirit, 
 the Judge checked his horse. 
 
 " H-h-howdy ! " the " stone-fence " rather 
 than the Judge remarked. The man, recogniz- 
 ing the bibulousness of his salute, raised 
 his eyes in surly inquiry and replied, 
 " Howdy ! " 
 
 " Bo-oo-'ful mornin' ! " 
 
 The man shrugged his shoulders and ungra- 
 ciously accepted the weather's serenity. The 
 peculiarly rocky character of the Judge's cups 
 had not com'municated their insensibility to his
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 41 
 
 perceptions. He was conscious of a lack of 
 spontaneity in the dialogue. 
 
 " Wash up ? Wash lates' newsh fro* Wash- 
 ington ? " he queried with judicial concern, and, 
 I grieve to say, with occasional Texan-judicial 
 articulation. 
 
 " Bill Darcy's sentenced ter swing," said the 
 cow-boy. The peculiar quality of ironical exag- 
 geration by which the Judge's inadequate 
 defense was rendered a national matter, was 
 keenly felt by its recipient through his spirit- 
 uous disguise. His effusiveness was quenched. 
 
 ''Wash feller 'shpec' 'shgot five mur'hers an' 
 dead nigger 'ghin 'm," he retorted. 
 
 "Judge," said his gloomy auditor with 
 affected concern, "I reckon you'd better pull 
 yer freight fer hum ; this sun's a heap too hot 
 fer yer head, and I don't reckon ther's room 
 enough roun' here fer ye. I'd recommen' yer 
 ter put right smart o' water on that law-box 
 o' your'n when yer git thar. What's more," he 
 continued, "thet Penelope" he alluded to 
 Miss Natchez as though she suggested antelope, 
 with the attributes of which he was unques- 
 tionably more familiar " thet Penelope o' 
 your'n needs yer protectin' care. * I seen her,
 
 42 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 yesterday, totin' a fine-haired feller up to yer 
 ranch. Looked kinder caved in, blank him ! " 
 he concluded, with a lowering look. The 
 Judge did not inquire into the origin of his 
 friend's profanity. He was oppressed with 
 graver personal misgivings. 
 
 " I reckon thar's whar my whisky's been 
 junein' ! " Apparently sobered by the gravity of 
 this decision he wheeled his horse, and rode off 
 without thanking his informant. 
 
 V. 
 
 WHEN Mr. Faye Howe first opened his 
 blood-shot blue eyes on the morning 
 after his sanitary debauch, a demoralized sen- 
 sation of dull pain oppressed his bewildered 
 consciousness. His digestive apparatus seemed 
 to have experienced abnormal distention and 
 subsequent disastrous collapse. His head was 
 the only bodily organ which appeared to be 
 still subject to inflation, and his mouth and 
 throat he was morally convinced, had usurped 
 the functions of the descent to Avernus. He 
 lay perfectly still, overwhelmed with the idea
 
 A LO.VE STAR BO-PEEP. 43 
 
 that the present colossal proportions of his 
 cranium required all the space of Penelope's 
 airy boudoir for their accommodation, and that 
 the slightest change of position would release 
 a throbbing engine in his skull, and involve its 
 very sensitive walls in crushing ruin. By what 
 species of inspiration he had engineered his 
 gigantic head-piece through the narrow door- 
 way was a problem beyond the present avail- 
 able resources of his whisky-steeped intellect. 
 He was still feebly pondering upon the impos- 
 sibilities of this achievement, when Penelope 
 dawned upon him through the portal, so 
 ambitiously transformed from the Bohemian 
 toilet of yesterday, that failure of recognition 
 by him, in his present shattered condition, 
 might have been pardonable. She was con- 
 sistently feminine in her attire, but extrava- 
 gantly arrayed in finery of a faded and filmy 
 texture. Nevertheless, a certain witchery 
 about the tout ensemble, and an agreeable odor 
 of buffalo-clover with which her hair and anti- 
 quated corsage were adorned, made its impres- 
 sion upon Howe, who /ielded her the homage 
 of a sex more appreciative of effect than detail 
 in matters of dress. He was not without
 
 44 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 glimpses of the damsel's possibilities in appro- 
 priate attire. 
 
 "Howdy?" she said, in a sprightly tone. 
 " How ye makin' out ? " with a sympathy of 
 manner which her grammar would scarcely 
 convey. 
 
 Howe thanked her, and exhibited a diffidence 
 about expatiating upon his sensations, feeling 
 a man's incapacity to do the subject complete 
 justice without the assistance of profane 
 rhetoric. He ventured, however, to photo- 
 graph his hygienic degradation by facial 
 pantomime. 
 
 " Prezackly ! " she exclaimed with demure 
 eyelashes, but mentally charmed by the con- 
 trast between his silence and her sire's unhal- 
 lowed inspirations after indiscreet libations to 
 Silenus. She displayed at once a savory bowl 
 and large spoon, which she had hitherto held 
 behind her. 
 
 " I reckoned ye'd be just naturally starved 
 arter yesterday," she said, "so I jes' killed a 
 pullet and made ye some chicken broth. Yer 
 hand's better, Mr. Howe. Tell ye, honey, ye 
 had a clus call sure 'nuff." 
 
 Forthwith a prairie Hebe began to min-
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 45 
 
 ister to the famished capacity of a blonde 
 Bacchus. 
 
 Meanwhile, her respected parent, having 
 struck a most uncompromising, homeward bee- 
 line since his last cheerful information, was 
 just rising the divide which overlooked his 
 ranch. As he crossed the string of water-holes 
 which formed the line of the creek, he was 
 instantly cognizant of the fact, that although 
 the qualifications of the day for pasturage were 
 admirable, his sheep were still imprisoned in 
 their primitive brush-pen, and were solacing 
 their appetites on the haystack which he had 
 prudently provided against the advent of 
 dreaded " Northers." This being the last link 
 in the chain of misfortunes which had lately 
 oppressed him, he at once entered into hearty 
 and blasphemous rivalry of the much-afflicted 
 Job, who I cheerfully submit was fairly 
 successful in exhausting the poetic possibilities 
 of profanity. 
 
 It is with reluctance Jhat I refrain from tran- 
 scribing this Homeric indulgence in epithet. 
 For I certainly appreciate how necessary it is to 
 the interpretation of character, and to the por-
 
 46 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 trayal of an exceptional felicity of expression. 
 I concede, however, for the reader's enlighten- 
 ment, that he threw grave and unsanctified 
 doubts on the origin of himself and Penelope, 
 and in a surprisingly short s.pace of time 
 involved his entire genealogical line in unques- 
 tionable discredit, making all this contingent 
 upon certain conditions of which he had present 
 ocular proof. 
 
 After which charming effort he executed a 
 wild war-dance in his stirrups in evidence of an 
 exhausted vocabulary, took out a large, black 
 plug of tobacco and bit off a triangular quarter 
 of it, and then charged headlong upon his 
 . abode. 
 
 It would, perhaps, be reasonable to presume 
 after the late explosion, and the additional 
 revelation of the recently absorbed virtues of 
 his demi-john and flat bottle both of which 
 rested in odoriferous emptiness outside his hos- 
 pitable door that the Judge girded his loins to 
 do battle with the presumed whisky absorbent. 
 But he did not. The education of the Judge 
 must be remembered ; it was legal and rhetor- 
 ical, with that contempt for physical proficiency 
 which the cultivation of the intellect frequently
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 47 
 
 implies. In the exchange of professional 
 billingsgate or personal repartee, he excited 
 the admiration and applause of Concho Co. 
 This natural gift for fluent invective was, per- 
 haps, assisted in no slight degree by the fact 
 that he was very deaf, and his feelings, being, 
 therefore, spared the damaging reflections of 
 his opponents, permitted his untrammeled in- 
 tellect to rise calm and clear to every verbal 
 emergency. His peculiar mental attitude was 
 thus superior to the employment of brute 
 force, and when an array of adverse circum- 
 stances intruded themselves upon his normally 
 serene exterior, he was prone to invite Divine 
 attention to his wrongs in the irreverent manner 
 we have indicated. The Judge, by tempera- 
 ment, and Mr. Howe, by experience, were con- 
 sistent in this regard. 
 
 But on the present occasion, whatever verbal 
 collation he had reserved for Mr. Faye Howe, 
 he was apparently prevented from offering to 
 his notice, partly by his instant recognition 
 of his familiar features', and partly by that ap- 
 parent interest in his daughter which he 
 detected in the gentleman's face as he entered 
 the room. He recognized in him a very good
 
 48 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 client ; he was aware of his plethoric bank- 
 account. This was the first occasion on which 
 the Northerner had honored his legal adviser 
 by visiting him at his own abode ; and the 
 father's imaginative temperament and fond 
 parental heart were at once inspired with air- 
 castle tendencies for the possible future of Miss 
 Penelope. 
 
 His greeting, therefore, although subdued in 
 utterance, was earnest and genuine. The Judge 
 prevailingly adopted a mildness of intonation 
 in ordinary conversation ; it was effective as ex- 
 pressive of his utter hopelessness of hearing 
 his own voice. 
 
 I may as well acquaint the reader, at this 
 point, with the fact that the gentleman was of 
 unquestionable birth and breeding. He was the 
 son of a former governor of the State of Vir- 
 ginia, and Penelope's mother had been a lady 
 .of patrician beauty and social attraction ; but 
 the War, that comprehensive apology for much 
 Southern shamelessness of destitution, was here 
 sincere. The feebler feminine nature despaired 
 and died ; the stronger masculine one survived 
 and accepted alcoholic consolation. When, 
 therefore, the degenerate gentleman of a once
 
 A LOME STAR BO-PEEP. 49 
 
 golden age learned of the narrow escape of his 
 guest, and the heroic treatment extended by his 
 daughter, his pale, intellectual, and still hand- 
 some features expressed both parental pride 
 and sympathetic solicitude. 
 
 Neither am I prepared to admit that the ap- 
 parent dearth of alcoholic refreshment detracted 
 at all from his natural joy at unmistakable 
 symptoms of convalescence. Let those who 
 doubt, experience Southern hospitality. 
 
 " Penelope will bring you around in a day or 
 two," he said cheerfully ; " make yourself per- 
 fectly at home and as comfortable as you can 
 under the circumstances. "Meanwhile, you 
 say you have certain matters of business " the 
 critical reader observes that the Judge had that 
 easy adaptability which enabled him to vary his 
 dialect to suit his auditor, and his present utter- 
 ance gave evidence of the recollection of social 
 privileges, once enjoyed and by no means for- 
 gotten "we can consider them at our leisure." 
 
 To which Howe a Northerner, remember, 
 and notwithstanding his serious invalidism, 
 replied : 
 
 " Why not now ? It's the old matter that 
 dispute about water-privileges between Smart
 
 50 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 and myself. The season is dry, and there is 
 barely enough for my six thousand sheep. He 
 insists upon watering his cattle on my range." 
 
 " Is thet all ? " said the legal gentleman, 
 relapsing into border slang immediately, and 
 giving fiery advice which, hitherto, he had sel- 
 dom followed. " Is thet all ? Wai, I've looked 
 up thet matter an' yer * files' is all straight ; 
 give him ' notice to quit ; ' ef he dont ' bluff,' 
 shove half a dozen cartridges inter yer ' Win- 
 chester,' freeze ter yer water-hole, and stand off 
 him and his cussed cattle." 
 
 VI. 
 
 A FORTNIGHT of the halcyon weather of a 
 Texan spring had passed away days of 
 sunshine, of fragrance, of bird-song the blos- 
 soming of Nature's heart in earth, and air, and 
 sky days uneventful, but, ah me ! full of a cer- 
 tain novel and blissful fascination for Miss 
 Natchez. She was leaning dejectedly over the 
 narrow railing of the ranch, her drooping eye- 
 lashes giving her face a quaint suggestion of 
 heavy mourning. There had been no abate-
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 5 1 
 
 ment of the glad weather ; the air was tremu- 
 lous with the melody of rival mocking-birds 
 which flickered in black and white plumes from 
 tree to tree, and filled the embowering live 
 oaks with their delirious ventriloquism. Her 
 cause of grief was entirely subjective ; the sun- 
 shine of Mr. Faye Howe's presence had faded 
 from her horizon. 
 
 There had been hours of Arcadian colloquy, 
 of equestrian companionship, of pastoral sheep- 
 tending and sheep-seeking with this Lone Star 
 Bo-peep. There had even been sentimental 
 moments of generous rivalry, devoted to the 
 perforation of tin tomato-cans at ten paces 
 with the " six-shooter." It would seem that 
 the " abomination of desolation" was left as* 
 the result of this target-practice. 
 
 Howbeit, although at times given to reverie 
 and a day dreaming that was new to her, she 
 was full of a certain energy attributable, perhaps, 
 to the awakening spring. . But the Judge, who 
 was himself a victim of the " dumb-ager," and, 
 on days consecrated to mental communion and 
 suppressed " shakes," had an invalid's acute 
 perceptions, " allowed thet he never reckoned 
 the 'spring fever' so obstrep'rous."
 
 52 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 A sudden conviction of the untidiness of the 
 ranch oppressed her, and by incessant practice 
 in the hurling of missiles, she removed its en- 
 circling debris to a point too remote for ocular 
 disapprobation. 
 
 Then she lost her apparent taste for veiling 
 her sex in masculine raiment. With the aid of 
 some old fashion-plates, and an ingenuity with 
 her needle at which the sterner sex stands 
 aghast, she accomplished toilettes ontrt but 
 effective, from relics of her mother's finery 
 religiously preserved by her father. The Judge 
 had his failings ; he had also his ideals. Not- 
 withstanding great powers of fascination for a 
 proverbially confiding sex, he never found it in 
 his heart, nor in his wildest dreams believed it 
 possible, to duplicate Mrs. Natchez. 
 
 Her dress-making over, Penelope developed 
 marvels of cleanliness, and entered upon a cam- 
 paign against her luxuriant but tangled mane. 
 She possessed among her treasures a cracked 
 and bilious mirror. Before this mendacious 
 detractor she passed unlimited time in the 
 industrious combing and effective arrangement 
 of her raven tresses. It is interesting, as an 
 instance of the intuition of woman, that she
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 53 
 
 merely pursued the man-demoralizing tactics 
 of the famous " Lorelei," of \vhose entirely 
 poetic existence she was blissfully in ignor- 
 ance. 
 
 Finally, having carefully prepared the sinews 
 of feminine warfare in the formal manner above 
 described, she drew the picture of the unfor- 
 tunately fashionable" young lady from the 
 humiliation of the chimney, affixed it to a 
 tree with a small " bowie," and being geo- 
 graphically prevented from annihilation of the 
 lady by pure personal charm, engaged in vin- 
 dictive and unerring target-practice upon it 
 with a more effective but no more remorseless 
 weapon. 
 
 But I think it was in her treatment of the 
 owl that she most palpably acknowledged the 
 presence of Cupid. She possessed a small 
 menagerie of native pets with which her hith- 
 erto undeveloped affections, had been content. 
 In small wooden cages she had immured at va- 
 rious stages of adolescence, a dove, a mocking- 
 bird, a prairie-dog, a diminutive jackass-rabbit. 
 A somewhat lively fancy in the detection 
 of resemblances had impelled her to baptize 
 these captives with the titles of certain of her
 
 54 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 many admiring suitors. She shared the 
 Homeric fascinations of the model wife of 
 Ulysses. The dove and the mocking-bird 
 were cow-men of mild and languishing senti- 
 mentality in feminine matters Nature's car- 
 pet-knights the one given to playing cooing 
 ballads on horse-back with a cracked guitar, 
 and the other offensive tlfrough a servile sem- 
 blance of devotion, at spasmodic intervals, 
 on a reedy accordion. The marmot was Mr. 
 James Wily the gambler ; the jack-rabbit was 
 Mr. Rube Smart the " cow-puncher." 
 
 But the owl, the owl ! was nameless, typi- 
 cal of that evasive silence which woman pre- 
 serves in amatory matters of a serious complex- 
 ion. Howbeit, the desperate devotion with 
 which she sacrificed before this silent, feathered 
 altar might have encouraged the ancient Pythag- 
 oras in his doctrine of metempsychosis. 
 
 She decorated him with ribbons and gar- 
 lands ; she ignored his indifference ; she quailed 
 before the staring scrutiny of those great 
 eyes, as if she believed that behind them lurked 
 the remembrance of her osculatory weakness. 
 Penelope had hitherto enjoyed the reputation of 
 uniform tenderness toward dumb animals, but,
 
 A LONE STAR* BO-PEEP. 55 
 
 in her efforts to satisfy the exorbitant appetite 
 of Minerva's bird, she traversed many miles 
 and stained her immaculate record with the 
 blood of slaughtered innocents. In the unself- 
 ish inthrallment of her absorbing passion, I am 
 even fearful that a dearth of provision might 
 have turned her predatory intentions to her 
 former pets. The teeming life of the wilds 
 spared her this additional guilt, but the ignored 
 four suffered the diet of departed fascination. 
 
 One morning an accommodating teamster 
 jumped down from his box-seat in his " prairie- 
 schooner," and deposited in her trembling fin- 
 gers a billet-doux ; she devoured its contents 
 with eager eyes. It was simply an invitation 
 to a ball to take place that evening at Eden, 
 but it was from Howe, and its effect was alarm- 
 ing. 
 
 She became earnestly grave and set about 
 appalling formalities ; she filled the clothes- 
 boiler of the ranch and heated it to a danger- 
 ous temperature ; she removed all the interior 
 furnishings of her father's tent, tightened its 
 cords, and rendered it nearly opaque ; she de- 
 posited within it her most elaborate toilette 
 and an ambitious wash-tub. Then taking her 
 "six-shooter," she chastely retreated within its
 
 56 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 precincts, and tied down the canvas opening 
 from within. This modern Diana recognized 
 the efficiency of powder and ball against a pos- 
 sible Actaeon. When she reappeared the effect 
 was dazzling in the extreme. 
 
 That the ball was held in a vacant store 
 owned by Jim Wily; that it was illuminated 
 by an unpardonable extravagance in tallow-dips, 
 perched upon laths tacked to empty shelves ; 
 that the Mite of Eden danced in full equipment 
 but in the affluence of " boiled shirts " ; and 
 that the social sub-stratum, from every availa- 
 ble window and loop-hole, availed themselves 
 of a view of the festivities in which they were 
 not invited to participate, but which they en- 
 deavored to cloud by the diabolical tobacco- 
 smoke under which they veiled their slighted 
 feelings, is a matter of memory among the in. 
 habitants of the frontier town. But how Miss 
 Penelope Natchez was its pervading charm, how 
 she outshone by her bewildering appearance 
 the much be-toileted fair; how she compelled 
 admiration by flatly refusing to dance with Jim 
 Wily, while not hesitating to grace his enter- 
 tainment with the effulgence of her presence ; 
 how she danced square dances with all her
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 57 
 
 many admirers, but how there was a tendency 
 to monotony in waltzing with Mr. Faye Howe, 
 was reported at great length by the ornate 
 editor of the Eden Advertiser, whose extrava- 
 gant periods afforded significant evidence of 
 the height to which a single privileged quad- 
 rille had exalted him. We have lost our copy of 
 this gifted sheet or we could not forbear tran- 
 scribing. But while Penelope and Faye were 
 approximating to a condition of plastic infatu- 
 ation at this crowning social event of the 
 frontier season, there were two who departed 
 with far different feelings : Mr. Jim Wily in 
 expressive indignation ; and Mr. Rube Smart in 
 the embrace of the " green-eyed monster." 
 
 VII. 
 
 AN exceptionally hot and dry summer 
 brought with it a train of disasters to the 
 stock-men of Concho Co. The pitiless heavens 
 denied rain ; the baked plain was opulent with 
 crumbling dust; the water in the stagnant pools 
 evaporated to mere dimples of silver in the 
 starved cheeks' of the brown prairie. The
 
 58 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 grass withered and died before the hot breath 
 of the sirocco. An acrid smoke by day which 
 smarted the eyes, and an ominous glow in the 
 heavens at night, were Nature's telegrams of a 
 more fearful destroyer the prairie fire. It 
 was a season of great discouragement and ter- 
 rible loss, and the tempers and deeds of men 
 harmonized perfectly with their material sur- 
 roundings. 
 
 The relations of Mr. Howe and Mr. Smart 
 were necessarily belligerent. The former's ap- 
 parent progress in the affections of Miss Natchez 
 effectually settled that. Throughout the long, 
 dry season Rube's stock drank the water of 
 the Northern gentleman's " range " by the 
 hogshead : at first, under his armed surveil- 
 lance ; afterward, with the familiar effrontery of 
 habit. At last, when a further continuance of 
 this would have left his own woolly flocks to 
 famish, Howe laid aside his customary caution, 
 filled the magazine of his "Winchester," and 
 getting the " first drop " upon his persistent 
 foe, coolly assured him of speedy conversion 
 into a human colander, if he did not desist in- 
 stant er. There was a steely glitter in Howe's 
 usually mild blue eye, aside from the advan-
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 59 
 
 tage of his attitude, which was convincing. 
 Mr. Rube Smart accepted the resistlessness 
 of the gentleman's logic. He quietly with- 
 drew. 
 
 This did not prevent him, however, from 
 emptying his own carbine and " six-shooter " on 
 occasional dark nights into the crowded sheep- 
 pens of the Northerner. The dastardly cow- 
 ardice of this act was apparently visited with 
 retribution, for Rube's stock few in number 
 and mostly acquired by conversion, both literal 
 and legal died by tens and scores. His 
 encounter with the Northerner had sufficiently 
 convinced him that open combat was not the 
 most efficient method for revenge. 
 
 Assisted by Jim Wily, who still rankled, 
 and by Texan rum of phenomenally bad 
 quality, he developed a scheme, worthy of the 
 brain from which it emanated and the liquor 
 by which it was inspired. Briefly, his plan was 
 to " pop the question " to Miss Penelope, and 
 in the event of her probable refusal, to pop 
 her very charming person into a covered buggy 
 and forcibly elope. It is hardly necessary to 
 say that all this was to be done in the absence 
 of her father. Mr. Jim Wily kindly offered to
 
 60 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 accommodate his friend with the necessary 
 vehicle. He was not aware that Howe, during 
 the entire summer, had maintained a brave 
 fight against feminine fascinations ; notwith- 
 standing a hermit's isolation, and the absolute 
 cessation of epistolary hostilities from the 
 fashionably dressed young lady. He did not 
 know either, that the poor little namesake of 
 the illustrious exemplar of Greek conjugal 
 fidelity was in despair of ever hearing from the 
 faithless Howe again, and destitute of any con- 
 solation save her owl, now arrived at muscular 
 maturity, and apparently anxious to emulate 
 the gentleman by flying away. 
 
 The early fall was at hand, and the rain, so 
 long withheld, charged impatiently upon the 
 exhausted earth, with a fury that left a misty 
 haze in the air, like the ghost of a fierce engage- 
 ment. Amid the violent storm, which had 
 prevailed intermittently for five days, Judge 
 Natchez, returning from the settlement of a 
 local dispute in a neighboring town, received 
 the news of the cow-boy's designs upon his 
 daughter from a transient guest of Jim Wily, 
 who had overheard a conversation through the
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 6 1 
 
 sheeting partition of his primitive sleeping- 
 apartment. A Texan hotel is an ambitious 
 rival of the famous Whispering-Gallery. 
 
 There was no outburst of profanity on this 
 occasion. He received the details of the plot 
 in that silence which makes intense emotion so 
 awe-inspiring ; but the sorry mount of the 
 Judge soon realized that he had never before 
 experienced the possibilities of flagellation nor 
 his -own powers to overcome space. In the 
 height of this mad ride, he saw through the 
 encircling mist a buggy, achieving a very com- 
 fortable rate of speed along the trail-road 
 between himself and his next neighbor, and 
 proceeding in the direction of the ranch. His 
 face paled ; the line of his jaw showed through 
 the tense skin ; his knees smote the sides of 
 his horse ; but slipping his right arm free from 
 the sleeve of his " slicker," he drew a self- 
 cocking Colt's revolver the gift of a grateful 
 client, and rode on to intercept him with the 
 sternness of fate. 
 
 Rube Smart for he it was seeing the 
 Judge, and recognizing him immediately, 
 reined in his horse with his left hand, and, 
 leaning out of the buggy, allowed his right to
 
 62 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 drop mechanically to his hip. The gesture 
 indicated the locality of a weapon not a self- 
 cocker but equally speedy in the gentleman's 
 hands. He had long ago filed the notches in the 
 tumbler of the lock, and was wont to discharge 
 it by the mere leverage of his powerful thumb 
 upon the hammer. 
 
 A rent in the " slicker" of the horseman dis- 
 closed his masked design. Frontier etiquette 
 recognizes no distinction between the drawing 
 of a weapon and its actual discharge ; the one 
 implies the other. There \vere two almost sim- 
 ultaneous reports from within hand-shaking dis- 
 tance. A frantic horse, riderless, and with leap- 
 ing stirrups, dashed wildly away in the direction 
 of the ranch. A buggy, from the spinning wheels 
 of which the water flew, went careering madly 
 over the water-soaked prairie. The avenging 
 father and his victim lay dead, with the rain 
 pelting upon their ghastly faces. 
 
 And even at that moment, Penelope, await- 
 ing anxiously at the window her sire's return, 
 marveled how much the coursing drops upon 
 the pane resembled tears.
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 63 
 
 VIII. 
 
 A BOUT the time of the occurrence of the trag- 
 I~V edy mentioned in the last chapter, Mr. Faye 
 Howe seated at the stove of the hospitable 
 Macpherson, a genial Scot whose store was at 
 once post-office and general base of supplies for 
 the town of Eden was engaged in contempla- 
 tion of his steaming boots, and in cynical med- 
 itation upon the inconstancy of woman. The 
 ring of native Texans around this red-hot dis- 
 penser of comfort, was practical in its lamen- 
 tations over the danger of" rises " in the water- 
 holes and creeks. At each lull in the conver- 
 sation, the expectorant hiss of the assailed stove 
 seemed at once to deride and'threaten their fears. 
 Mr. Howe was feeling classical on this occa- 
 sion ; he was silent, and supported his own expe- 
 rience with the riper judgment of Virgil : 
 " Varium et mutabile femina ! " The immedi- 
 ate predisposing cause of so much mental com- 
 munion and this Latin summary was probably 
 the receipt that morning of the wedding-cards 
 of the young lady who has occupied photo- 
 graphic prominence in these pages. Not that
 
 64 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 Mr. Howe was particularly sensitive to the 
 somewhat marked flavor of the lady's social 
 etiquette, but because he reflected with par- 
 donable disparagement upon the apparent read- 
 iness with which she had hitherto acknowledged, 
 in notes of superlative perfume and tinted 
 paper, certain gifts of jewelry which his prodi- 
 gal generosity had in time past felt called upon 
 to tender. It was perfectly human and natu- 
 ral, under the circumstances, that he should 
 dwell with gratified malice upon the far-from- 
 flattering portrait he had formerly drawn of 
 the gentleman who had recently felt called 
 upon to accept such grave responsibilities. It 
 was perhaps the epistolary reflection which led 
 him to dwell with gratified contrast upon the ' 
 apparent sincerity of Miss Penelope's attach- 
 ment. Howe was thoroughly conscious of cer- 
 tain billets-doux, which albeit ungrammatical 
 and crippled in orthography were genuine and 
 unperfumed. A lack of self-prejudice in per- 
 sonal matters made him execrate himself for 
 failure to acknowledge these gratuitous pledges. 
 After this condemnatory introspection he 
 walked to the window. Outside it was raining 
 heavily.
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 65 
 
 As he stood gazing out at the pouring rain, he 
 was struck by the attitude of resigned fatalism 
 exhibited by his patient steed. The gentle- 
 man was conscious of entertaining a peculiar 
 sentiment for this animal. It was not affection, 
 for Howe was singular in this, that he had 
 never been able to love anything which did not 
 first exhibit toward him marked evidence of 
 attachment. Whatever "Oscar" was, he was 
 not demonstrative. He had been first attracted 
 to him by that stern practicality which obtains 
 in matters of horse-flesh his record for speed 
 and endurance. The mustang had been victor 
 in many a prairie " scrub-race," and his fame 
 as a swimmer of unfordable rivers had gone 
 abroad through the county. Later, Howe had 
 come to respect him for his keen instincts. 
 Entering the state with Northern enterprise 
 and that lack of woodcraft proverbial of a 
 "tenderfoot," a carelessness in riding over his 
 boundless " range " had often compelled him 
 to resort to a compass situated in that long 
 barrel head, to prevent passing the night on 
 the bald prairie. Then, a philosophical sub- 
 mission to the inevitable ; a stolid patience of 
 misfortune ; withal, a serene indifference of
 
 66 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 fate had compelled respect. He fancifully 
 believed that the horse reciprocated the senti- 
 ment, and that he had faith in his master besides. 
 This had induced him on one occasion to record 
 a vehement oath that death alone should part 
 them. 
 
 The equine embodiment of so much good 
 sense and appreciation had been the recent 
 recipient of unusual consolation with him. 
 He had just stored away for future assimilation 
 six quarts of Texan oats of a quality which he 
 had hitherto doubted the state's capacity to 
 produce. But his acquaintance with that cov- 
 eted article was remote his regular dietary 
 luxury being " corn in the cob " and his brave 
 heart, although it inhabited no elegant exterior, 
 was correspondingly cheered. Notwithstand- 
 ing an unusual accentuation of head and tail- 
 droop to the rainy weather of which he, in 
 common with humanity had, of late, experi- 
 enced an entire sufficiency it was merely in 
 calm recognition of the unalterableness of nat- 
 ural forces. " Oscar " was a pronounced fatal- 
 ist. It is quite possible that certain reasoning 
 sentimentalists might have argued from the 
 humility of his attitude a possible prayer of
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 6f 
 
 thankfulness for an unprecedented " square 
 meal." This is entirely a mistake. Mr. Howe 
 glanced over the almost grotesque points of 
 the faithful animal. His ambitious shoulders 
 and unusually long fore-legs suggested the 
 giraffe. Latterly he was mildly inclined to 
 slope. One might have been pardoned in 
 imagining that Nature had contemplated a 
 camelopard, but, having perfected the heart 
 first, was unwilling to place it in the anatomy 
 of any creature except the next to man the 
 horse. As the gentleman dwelt upon an equine 
 courage that was almost manly, and accepted 
 his suggestion of dripping boot-leather, he was 
 appalled at the sarcasm of calling him " Oscar 
 Wilde." Why was it? He distinctly saw the 
 animal raise his head and look him full in the 
 face. 
 
 A man, pale with excitement, at this moment 
 ran into the store, and announced that he 
 had just found Judge Natchez and Rube 
 Smart lying dead upon the prairie. The door 
 slammed violently. Mr. Howe was gone. 
 
 As he loosened the lariat of his mustang he 
 was prompted to look again into his intelligent 
 eyes. What was it he saw there ? Who knows !
 
 68 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 Yet as he settled himself in his Mexican saddle, 
 he felt that sublime consciousness of the privi- 
 leged equestrian that horse and master were 
 in accord. 
 
 That ride through flying mud, through 
 splashing water, over the wet prairie ! Here 
 and there swollen pools along the way had 
 overflowed the trail in blank and treacherous 
 sheets through which his horse dashed with the 
 fury of an angry billow, leaving the track of 
 their fierce progress outlined in flying spray and 
 hurrying curves of bubble and foam. At times 
 the yielding soil of the beaten track forced him 
 to break his way amid chaparral and copse, and 
 through thin files of mesquite and live oak, 
 standing like storm-beaten sentinels in silent 
 gray, the panting of his laboring steed, the 
 cadence of plunging hoof-beats swept by un- 
 challenged. As he rode on without whip or 
 spur, and felt the resistless energy of those 
 grand muscles, playing like an engine beneath 
 him, he was filled with admiration for his noble 
 horse. 
 
 His watch told him that the obscured sun 
 was but "an hour high" as he passed the 
 pecan motte and the dismantled cow-pen lying
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 69 
 
 hidden within its depths. The line of water- 
 holes that he had formerly known was brim- 
 ming with water, and Nature's chalices seemed 
 eager to burst their emerald cups and overflow 
 the intervening space. He thought of the ranch 
 at the junction of the two creeks so negli- 
 gently placed. He thought of the orphan-ed 
 Penelope. He might yet be too late ! 
 
 Just as he descended the gaunt divide which 
 sloped gently down to the now visible dwelling, 
 he heard a noise before him, like the wind 
 sighing through thick foliage. He knew it in- 
 stinctively and caught his breath ; the line of 
 water-holes was a foaming creek. Only to his 
 horse's knees as he dashed through it, but he 
 was aware of the danger in those latitudes, and 
 shuddered as he galloped up the little rise and 
 into the live oak clump. Throwing his mus- 
 tang's bridle over a neighboring post, he 
 ran to the door of the ranch. He knocked. 
 No reply. He knocked again louder. Silence 
 still. With frontier politeness he turned 
 the knob and entered the young lady's bed- 
 chamber. 
 
 The room was twilight dim. Penelope had 
 thrown herself upon the bed and lay asleep. As
 
 70 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 he entered she opened her eyes wearily, and 
 rose with a sudden flush. 
 
 " Why, Faye ! " was all she said. 
 
 He took the little, brown hands in both his 
 own. 
 
 " The creeks are rising, dear ; I have come to 
 saye you ! " 
 
 She ran to the window and cast a startled 
 look without ; she threw open the door and 
 saw the long flats about the smaller " branch " 
 submerged and threatening ; she came back to 
 him with a pallor in her face that Howe had 
 never seen there before. He smiled reassuringly. 
 
 " Do not despair," he said. " My sorrel is 
 outside. Are you ready ? " 
 
 " One moment ! " the girl answered, grasping 
 the sombrero dusty with neglect and an old 
 rubber-coat of her father's. She threw them on 
 hastily and ran out into the storm. Howe was 
 left in the little room. 
 
 Penelope ran to her little cages ; she freed 
 the dove and the mocking-bird, which availed 
 themselves of the privilege. Hesitating a 
 second, she finally drew the confining barriers 
 for the prairie-dog and jack-rabbit ; they cow- 
 ered in their open prisons. Catching up the
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 71 
 
 full-plumaged owl, the faithful little arms 
 attempted to carry him to the horse. The 
 ungrateful wretch fluttered fiercely, broke from 
 her tender clasp,- and flapped heavily away. She 
 returned to Howe, who was waiting in the sad- 
 dle. 
 
 He turned his heavy box-stirrup outward a 
 little and reached his right hand to her. Pene- 
 lope put a trusting little foot on his ; she 
 mounted behind him. Two confiding arms 
 were thrown around him. I wot the behavior 
 of the gentleman was in marked contrast to 
 that of the fugitive owl ; he displayed no dis- 
 position to escape that gentle pressure. Thus 
 they rode out in the brief Southern twilight. 
 
 As they descended the slight rise, his heart 
 sank as he saw the larger creek: it was running 
 with the fierceness of a turbulent river, the 
 current setting with the trend of its valley bed, 
 and, therefore, not always in the middle of the 
 stream. The roaring waters were plunging up 
 the slight declivity foot by foot. He glanced 
 back the lesser branch and its encircling flats 
 were moving rapidly, the tremendous volume 
 of water cutting them off in the rear. The 
 only chance of permanent safety Faye Howe
 
 72 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 knew was in the great divide, stretching before 
 him dimly like a despairing hope. Something 
 of the desperation of the coming struggle was 
 in him, as he turned in his saddle. 
 
 " Little one," he said, throwing a strong arm 
 around her in the gathering twilight, " it is far 
 far worse than I thought. Your father has not 
 returned. Look at me, darling ! He never will, 
 he never can. Shall it be mine to take a wife 
 with me to the other side?" 
 
 He felt the pretty brown arms tighten their 
 clasp ; a little head- sank upon his shoulder. 
 There came to his listening ear a whisper fra- 
 grant with its memories of buffalo clover: 
 
 " Faye, I reckon so!' 
 
 He had not hitherto detected the latent 
 poetry of this peculiar Texan idiom. 
 
 " Oscar," who had halted upon the sloping 
 declivity as sternly as if carved in stone, im- 
 mediately shivered and gave a loud snort ; it 
 struck both ominously. Howe leaned forward 
 over his strong neck and patted the animal's 
 ear, very much as an operator taps his tele- 
 graphic key. It was an old familiar gesture, 
 understood between them both. The mustang 
 sprang forward and was soon breasting the
 
 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 73 
 
 hurrying flood, but sinking* deeper than when 
 the water first swirled around him. Howe dis- 
 engaged himself from his stirrups, and whisper- 
 ing to Penelope slipped from the saddle, swing- 
 ing off by the girth. She took his place. 
 
 And now the rushing, turbulent river began 
 to bring down on its current fragments of creek- 
 margin and grassy debris. A snake swam past 
 them in tortuous fright. Small sticks of timber 
 drifted sideways with the boiling flood, or shot 
 swiftly past, flying like darts end-on. The raw- 
 hide-bound cow-pen was breaking up and giving 
 way. Swimming thus on his horse's left, hold- 
 ing on by the saddle-girth, and shielding with 
 his own body the tender limbs of her who was 
 to be his bride, Howe shuddered as he thought 
 of the great pecans. At that instant he heard 
 a loud crash up the creek : his fears were pro- 
 phetic. 
 
 Already under the lee of the great divide he 
 was feeling a rising joy in his heart, when he 
 noticed an uneasy movement of his mustang's 
 head. He strained his eyes through the gloom, 
 but could see nothing. Just as he felt his 
 horse's fore-feet strike the submerged prairie- 
 bottom, a dark, ominous shape, swinging irre-
 
 74 A LONE STAR BO-PEEP. 
 
 sistibly with the cnrrent on a fulcrum caused 
 by the resisting bank, struck the brave head of 
 the noble steed with the force of a thunderbolt. 
 The stricken neck bowed mutely before the great 
 destroyer, and with a single convulsive sigh the 
 doomed animal yielded up his life. The trunk 
 of a huge pecan that had caught in aside eddy 
 drifted slowly past and out into the rush of the 
 whirling creek, like some black and sullen 
 leviathan. The eternal decree of Fate was 
 done ! But Penelope and Faye, left thus in 
 the rapidly shoaling water, were saved. The 
 North and South clasped hands at last.
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 FjESPONDENCY was rampant at San Saba. 
 L' Even at the Crossing, where solemn 
 pines and ascetic hemlocks hung breathlessly 
 above the silent river, and threatened with 
 suicidal tendencies its cloistered gloom, an 
 atmosphere of discontent infected the reflec- 
 tive traveler. As he drew near town, this 
 impression deepened. There was a long line of 
 heavily saddled horses in front of the " Pasear 
 House " that had neighed, and bit and kicked 
 one another dejectly since early morning. Its 
 querulous proprietor in spite of these apparent 
 signs of patronage was seated idly upon the 
 front gallery in an attitude of hopeless hypo- 
 chondria. Unfortunately the opinion of his 
 guests was skeptical. " Baitin' buzzards," the 
 blacksmith had remarked to an appreciative 
 audience about his anvil, attracted thither by
 
 76 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 the brilliancy of his professional and profane 
 pyrotechnics, and sympathizing with him in the 
 manifest intent to include the daily bill of fare 
 at the Pasear House in his scathing comment- 
 ary. 
 
 The steps about Hackett's Grocery were 
 impassable, in consequence of their freight of 
 long-booted humanity devoted to gloomy 
 whittling and expectoration. The only hilar- 
 ity available was to be found in the saloons ; and 
 this, being born of alcohol, was uncertain and 
 spasmodic. Joe Treddle, who spent most of 
 his time in making trips on his bicycle between 
 his harness-shop and the bar of the " Two 
 Brothers," as he mounted for the thirteenth 
 pilgrimage, diffused a gloom among the assem- 
 bled spectators that not even unremitting devo- 
 tion, since sunrise, to a beverage retailed under 
 the suggestive title of the " Tanglefoot Persua- 
 der," seemed likely to dissipate. It was not 
 only -the regularity of Joe's potations, but his 
 manner of approaching them, that secured for 
 him the distinction of being the " fastest man 
 in the settlement." 
 
 But I hasten to record that the cause of this 
 universal dejection was neither political nor
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 77 
 
 pecuniary. Since the last election for sheriff, 
 when the rival candidates had settled the 
 unpleasantness of a trifling discrepancy in the 
 returns by an interchange of personal compli- 
 ments and " six shooters " at the " Two Broth- 
 ers," and satisfactorily established the claims of 
 the party most proficient in the use of his 
 weapon, the harmony of public feeling had been 
 undisturbed by the sacred privilege of the ballot. 
 Although in other respects a frontier commu- 
 nity, this cheerful application of the modern 
 doctrine of " survival of the fittest " was at 
 once recognized as convenient and indisputa- 
 ble. 
 
 Nor was the commercial outlook less flatter- 
 ing. The season had been a prosperous one 
 for stock, and the market prices of wool and 
 cattle never so generally satisfactory. But 
 it would seem that there were grievances 
 beyond the local remedies of municipal seren- 
 ity and flush times. Miss Cordelia Delancey 
 was engaged to be married, and the day for the 
 wedding was at hand. As half the inhabitants 
 of the town of San Saba and the surrounding 
 country had been either ardent admirers of 
 Miss Delancey, or unsuccessful suitors for the
 
 78 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 lady's hand, disappointment and despair were 
 epidemic. 
 
 It does not necessarily follow that Miss 
 Delancey was either peri or paragon. That she 
 was unquestionably attractive, no one who 
 came within range of her eloquent brown eyes, 
 brilliant color, and fascinating manners could 
 reasonably gainsay. That she was a decided 
 brunette, and that she felt in her own heart a 
 proud consciousness that this fact alone made 
 her more than a match for a dozen sickly and 
 sentimental blondes, were also apparent to the 
 ordinary observer. But when the curious 
 visitor, who had had pulse quickened and 
 imagination fired by tales of this wild rose 
 of the valley, completed .his critical inventory 
 of her charms, it was with a conviction that he 
 had met other maidens equally irresistible. 
 Perhaps, had he remained longer, he might 
 have been less positive. For Miss Cordelia 
 possessed the advantage of an unattractive envi- 
 ronment, and graced a circle to which the 
 application of the epithet " ornamental " was 
 the language of gallantry rather than fact. 
 And there is abundant testimony that she 
 improved upon acquaintance. It is said that
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 79 
 
 few were able to resist her deprecatory man- 
 ner of saying " Now, Mr. Treddle ! " ; that her 
 " Yes Sirs," were delicious in their implied 
 flattery of her auditor; that her very exclam- 
 ationsthe peculiarly feminine one of " Why, 
 goodness gracious ! " were so musical and 
 thrilling that they encouraged her less attract- 
 ive neighbors in a surprising wealth of inter- 
 jection ; and that even the pangs of despised 
 love and ultimate rejection lost much of their 
 bitterness by the delicacy of her refusal. 
 
 All this may be readily imagined ; for Miss 
 Delancey possessed that rare feminine accom- 
 plishment of retaining the friendship of her 
 unsuccessful suitors, and the town rang with 
 her praises. She appeared judiciously to curb 
 the ardent advances of the enamored, to com- 
 pel a subdued and chastened attitude of 
 devotion, and from serene and inaccessible 
 heights to smile sweetly upon the respectful 
 admiration she elicited. 
 
 She had the indispensable requisite of the 
 successful actress. In a settlement unused to 
 dramatic influences, Miss Cordelia Delancey 
 unquestionably "drew" And as she peered 
 through the shutters of her little room above
 
 8o THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 the front gallery, on her bridal morning, Miss 
 Delancey really could not remember, when, to 
 adopt still further the forcible language of the 
 boards she had not had a "full house." She 
 could not remember when the little rail fence 
 across the road had not been picturesque with 
 tethered horses, and the front gallery equally 
 picturesque with their owners in every attitude 
 of hopeless and inthralling passion. 
 
 And as she reflected thus although it was 
 her bridal morning I fear she heaved a tender 
 little sigh a mere ghost of regret, to be sure, 
 but even so reluctantly does the feminine mind 
 resign the thought of dominion. For those 
 "serene and inaccessible heights," above alluded 
 to, were now effectually scaled. At least it is 
 not six weeks since Miss Delancey acknowledged 
 as much ; first, to the young ranchman, Mr. 
 Ridge Johnson, tall, blue-eyed, and blonde- 
 mustached the living counterpart of Cordelia 
 on a certain eventful evening in June, when the 
 moon, half veiled in clouds, swung low over the 
 pines above the river, and when, to the eyes of 
 the young man upon the front gallery, the pale 
 face, over which the shadows of the honey- 
 suckle drifted, seemed quite as heavenly as the
 
 THE M YS TER Y OP SA AT SA BA. Si 
 
 planet. And second, to old man Delancey 
 rough, unlettered, and profane, but not the 
 least of his daughter's admirers in the staring, 
 truthful sunlight of the following morning, 
 when with crest somewhat lowered, and her 
 brave, brown ey.es a little downcast, she had 
 presented the gallant of her choice. 
 
 " An' so ye reckons to git married, Cordy ; to 
 turn loose an' quit the ole man ; " remarked 
 her father mournfully, as the eyes that had 
 dwelt mutely upon his daughter's face while 
 she was speaking, wandered away to the river, 
 and seemed to gather a vague trouble as he 
 gazed. " Wai, I don't say I ain't been ex- 
 pectin' of it, darter ; I ain't a-goin' to 'low but 
 wot it's nateral an' womanlike, an' dad-blamed 
 ef ye ain't hed a sight o' temptation too, with all 
 the boys 'twixt here and Paint Rock cavortin' 
 'round an' keepin' yer kempeny. But nowthet 
 ye've actooally made a ch'ice " he paused, 
 for a certain tremor in the voice, entirely incon- 
 sistent with his usual rough manner, had made 
 his daughter raise her beautiful eyes to his 
 " now thet ye've actooally made a ch'ice, it 
 ain't in me to say thet it don't take the ole 
 man pretty nigh."
 
 8 2 . Tlf MYSTERY OP SAAT SABA. 
 
 " Why you dear, old, blessed father ! " ex- 
 claimed Miss Delancey affectionately, taking 
 the old man by the lapels of his ducking jacket, 
 and by this peculiarly feminine style of bondage 
 endeavoring to peer into the dull eyes that 
 resolutely avoided hers, " you dear, old, 
 blessed, stupid father ! You don't suppose 
 Cordy's going to leave you for good and all ? " 
 
 Whether old Delancey recognized in this 
 womanly appeal the familiar sophistry by which 
 an artful sex attempts to disguise the harshness 
 of existing facts, is debatable, but he evaded 
 the issue by suddenly shifting his ground. 
 
 " An* this yer's the shrimp, Cordy, thet you've 
 picked out at last, after all thepiany playin' an' 
 goin's on ez hez been into this yer house 
 sence I built it ? " he inquired, facing abruptly 
 round with critical practicality, and bringing his 
 disparaging eyes suddenly to bear upon the 
 embarrassed fianct, as if he were a discreditable 
 bullock, or an unpromising sheep ; " this yer's 
 the light-haired shrimp, arter Joe Treddle, an' 
 Blacksmith George, an' Storekeeper Hackett, 
 an' the proprietor of the Pasear, an' all the rest 
 of the likely chaps ez hez been cracked arter 
 you the last six year."
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 83 
 
 " Wai, dad-burn me fur a tenderfoot, ef gals 
 ain't ez cur'ous an' onsartin ez a Government 
 mule the best onto 'em, an* thet air a fact ! 
 
 " Howsomever," he added, after inspecting 
 the abashed young man with pensive delibera- 
 tion and wide-mouthed astonishment " ef yer 
 taste, Cordy, runs to sorrels an' light colored 
 cattle, I ain't a-goin' to gainsay it. It's you ez 
 is a-gettin' married an' not me, thank God ! " 
 (This pious utterance was probably due to a 
 vivid recollection of the infelicity of his own 
 marital experience with the now deceased Mrs. 
 Delancey.) " I was allus tuk with bays and 
 ches'nuts myself, but ef you've laid off to marry 
 this yer cream-colored hoss, I reckon I'll stan' 
 by yer. Them 5,000 head o' steers I promised 
 ye an' the Big Brady Ranch is your'n when- 
 ever ye want 'em, so it don't matter much how 
 the young feller is heeled, I reckon. Now I 
 look at him, he's likelier than I reckoned at 
 fust, an' arter all, ye can't allus tell a critter by 
 his color. Shake, son ! " 
 
 And extending a heavy hand to the astounded 
 prospective son-in-law, the old man welcomed 
 him with a characteristic grip, and the betrothal 
 received the paternal sanction.
 
 $4 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 This was only six weeks ago, and now the 
 wedding was imminent. Social events pro- 
 ceed with rapid strides upon the frontier, where 
 towns spring up in a night like the palace of 
 Aladdin. Howbeit, Miss Delancey did not 
 hasten to pour the tidings of her engagement 
 into the ear of confiding womanhood, as her 
 more highly civilized sister would probably have 
 done. A disposition to mutual confidence in 
 matters of the heart, indulged in at the mature 
 age of ten, and resulting in premature advertise- 
 ment among the gossips of the little town, had 
 made her skeptical in reference to feminine 
 oaths of secrecy. On the contrary, she kept 
 the story of her new-found happiness strictly 
 to herself. But the spectacle of Mr. Ridge 
 Johnson's mustang, nervously pawing the earth 
 in solitude before the little rail-fence, and the 
 conventional "Not at home," that social 
 falsehood which penetrates even the sincerity 
 of the frontier, soon awakened San Saba to a 
 realization of the disquieting truth. 
 
 Strange to say, the first definite information 
 came from old Delancey. This was when, after 
 mature deliberation, he remembered that he 
 " hed a brother back in Virginny who was the
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 85 
 
 father o' two darters thet 'lowed to sling more 
 style than any gals in the States, an' he jest 
 nat'rally reckoned now thet hed turn loose an' 
 show 'em." It was then that the demon of 
 social rivalry entered the bosom of Delancey, 
 and he resolved upon issuing " invites to the 
 weddin" This was no easy task in a com- 
 munity where the etiquette of the process was 
 overlooked in the completeness of the result. 
 Assisted by the editor of the "San Saba 
 Criterion," the following statement was pre- 
 pared after much thought and study : 
 
 MR. REUBEN DELANCEY 
 
 AT HOME, 
 At 9:30 A.M. April 20, 1880. 
 
 San Saba, Texas. 
 Miss Cordelia Delancey. Mr. Ridge Johnson. 
 
 When this indefinite announcement of the 
 impending ceremony printed by the obliging 
 editor upon pink letter-paper flew North, and 
 surprised the two ultra-fashionable young ladies 
 for whose confusion it had been evolved, its 
 effects were not alarmingly disastrous. 
 
 Miss Jessie Delancey playing tennis with 
 another fashionable young creature of the
 
 86 THE MYSTER Y OF SAN SABA. 
 
 opposite sex, who rivaled her in a costume 
 more appropriate for surf-bathing than any other 
 obvious use said she " didn't doubt her Uncle 
 Rube was home, and she hoped he'd stay there." 
 Miss Flora, lazily reclining in a hammock upon 
 the broad veranda, remarked that it was " really 
 too early in the morning for them to expect her 
 to call on the old gentleman under the circum- 
 stances," and dismissed the matter languidly in 
 true society fashion. 
 
 Howbeit, old Delancey, thousands of miles 
 away upon the frontier, reflected none the less 
 complacently upon the convincing proof of 
 social prestige he had been able to send his 
 brother's children. 
 
 " I reckon thet'll start 'em," he remarked to 
 Miss Cordelia one afternoon, after a long inter- 
 val devoted to profound reverie and involuntary 
 chuckling. " When them gals of Bob's gets 
 that yer invite I sent 'em, they'll be right smart 
 of a dust. I kin see yer cousin Flo, who air 
 old enough, Cordy, to be yer mother, and who 
 war scarin' all the young fellers by carryin' sich 
 heavy sail afore I left the States I kin see her 
 jest a-tearin' her hair an' a-snatchin' herself 
 bald-headed from this yer gallery. As fur
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 87 
 
 Jessie, she ain't no 'count nuther, but she'll be 
 tol'ble riled, I reckon. And what ails them 
 children anyway, Cordy ? They don't seem to 
 take with the boys, nohow. Bob's done well 
 'nuff, but they hain't. An' ef I ain't hed no 
 political honors nur wanted none, I kin buy 
 thet father o' their'n out and twenty like him. 
 I'd jest nat'rally like to know what they air 
 a-gittin' at." 
 
 But if old Delancey's imagination was unre- 
 liable in estimating the grief of his nieces, 
 there was no disputing its accuracy in matters 
 of material prosperity. Plain in appearance, 
 simple in manner as even the humblest of the 
 many cow-boys he employed, none but an eye 
 skilled in detecting the austerities of the 
 frontier cattle-king would have known him for 
 one of the wealthiest in the State. Yet such 
 was he. 
 
 The Big Brady Ranch, already alluded to, 
 lying just fifty miles from San Saba, comprised 
 200,000 acres of grazing land, well stocked and 
 well watered, and stretching away in rolling bil- 
 lows of prairie without let or limit. It was so 
 vast in extent that it would have taken old 
 Delancey used as he was to the saddle four
 
 88 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 days of hard riding to encompass his pos- 
 sessions. Within its limitless confines were 
 many a hidden cafton and unexplored valley, 
 where, beneath the staring sun or tremulous 
 starlight, the buffalo-clover wasted its brooding 
 incense on the empty air, and the mock-bird 
 poured out its mad melody to such mute wit- 
 nesses as the hardy live oak or thorny mesquite 
 alone ; spots, where the wandering herds that 
 flecked that chartless, emerald sea seldom pen- 
 etrated, and the foot of man never; vast green 
 silences, overhung by endless blue, and cloud- 
 less sylvan solitude, which the wild verbena 
 embroidered with its pale amethyst, and where 
 poppyworts spilled their cups of crimson and 
 gold, and no sound, save the incessant bark of 
 the marmot, the melancholy pipe of upland plo- 
 ver, or the gloomy howl of the coyote, broke the 
 lonely monotony. 
 
 And these boundless acres, with 5,000 head 
 of the stock that roamed them, were to be 
 Cordelia's. It is probable that this fact had its 
 weight, and considerably augmented the grief 
 of the practical community into which old man 
 Delancey burst one long summer afternoon 
 with the pink harbingers of the impending
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. . 89 
 
 wedding. Land upon the Big Brady was worth 
 two dollars an acre ; cattle were selling at 
 thirty dollars a head ; the eligible male popula- 
 tion of San Saba performed a simple sum in 
 mental arithmetic, and resigned itself to indis- 
 criminate despair. 
 
 Miss Delancey had not contemplated the dis- 
 tribution of invitations to her wedding. Being 
 uneducated in that refined cruelty of older civ- 
 ilizations, which sends the rejected suitor the 
 announcement that he is forestalled by a more 
 fortunate rival, she would have spared her late 
 admirers the somewhat marked flavor of mod- 
 ern etiquette. No such scruples actuated her 
 sire. After the example of Holy Writ albeit 
 unconsciously he went forth into the high- 
 ways and hedges, and personally bade to the 
 wedding. Nor were the recent aspirants to 
 the hand of his daughter slighted in this gen- 
 erous hospitality. 
 
 " I hope ye'll all come, an' hev a gin'ral tear 
 'round," he said with great liberality of manner, 
 as he distributed the last of his social favors 
 among the bibulous patrons of the " Two 
 Brothers." 
 
 " There'll be no end o' fun, and Cordy an'
 
 90 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 me allows, in course, there's to be no hard 
 feelin's among the chaps ez she's left out. 
 Everythin's fair in love and brandin' cattle. 
 Don't care ef I do, Joe, on this festive occasion. 
 My reg'lar pizen," he remarked cheerfully to the 
 bartender, on being requested by Mr. Treddle 
 to emulate him in his persistent patronage. 
 " Ez I'm on this yer subjek," he said easily, 
 resting one elbow on the bar and turning his 
 dull eyes on his attentive auditors " I may as 
 well let on that I means to do things up in 
 shape while I'm 'bout it, by givin' of a bar- 
 becue, an' out o' respect fur ole times 
 ' Whisky'll be free in the back room/" This 
 generous announcement a tribute to the 
 method by which old Delancey had laid the 
 foundation of his fortune when a mere country 
 storekeeper in a neighboring settlement was 
 received with applause and acclamation. 
 
 The long anticipated morning dawned in 
 brilliant apotheosis of crimson and gold upon 
 the eastern horizon, that later grew into the 
 effulgent sun. As the long lances of light 
 slipped above the summits of the low hills, 
 and shivered themselves in a dazzling sortie 
 upon the glittering landscape, signs of prepara-
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 91 
 
 tion were visible about the " Delancey House." 
 The posts of the front gallery were wreathed 
 and garlanded with mistletoe from the neigh- 
 boring valleys, and the spacious frame-house 
 wore an air of unusual hospitality. The Texan 
 barbecue, in its incipient stages, was exem- 
 plified by large fires on the level in front of the 
 dwelling, and an ox roasting whole. Around 
 these beacons of coming good cheer, the vol- 
 unteer cooks of the locality busied themselves 
 and bustled. Early as was the hour the guests 
 were arriving, and the clanking of spurs and the 
 creaking of expostulatory wheels startled the 
 still morning air. A long ride of fifty miles lay 
 before bride and bridegroom ; for, in conse- 
 quence of the need of supervision at the Big 
 Brady Ranch, their future home was to be the 
 terminus of the customary wedding trip. 
 
 Within the ample parlors the country side 
 from far and near assembled conspicuous 
 among which, the disconsolate contingent of 
 the fair Cordelia's suitors, fortified against out- 
 ward expression by repeated draughts of that 
 panacea for human ills already advertised as 
 available in the back room awaited expect- 
 antly the coming of the bride.
 
 92 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 She came presently. Certainly no fairer had 
 the morning dawned over the San Saba hills 
 than Cordelia upon that enraptured audience, 
 blushing as the conscious East, with brown 
 eyes, swept on either cheek by downcast lashes, 
 and leaning on the arm of her blonde Hype- 
 rion. So radiant was her lovely presence, that 
 notwithstanding the precautionary measures 
 against expressive emotion above alluded to, 
 a very audible and alcoholic sigh was exhaled 
 from various quarters of the room, and Joe 
 Treddle, with an involuntary gesture of des- 
 pair, left the room abruptly, and spent the time 
 occupied by the ceremony in solitary commun- 
 ion with the counter-irritant in the back room. 
 
 The brief rites by which matrimony is solemn- 
 ized upon the frontier were quickly over, and 
 the fair Cordelia was resigned to the congratu- 
 lations of admiring friends. It was hardly ten 
 o'clock by old Delancey's shagreen-cased watch, 
 when, escorted to the gate with much effusive 
 demonstration, she took her seat in the square, 
 light carriage in waiting, and as Mr. Ridge 
 Johnson gathered up the reins and cracked his 
 whip, a shower of rice, and several antiquated 
 slippers of frontier pattern, accompanied the
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 93 
 
 happy couple part way upon their wedding 
 journey. The exuberant guests, having dis- 
 charged their congratulatory duties with well 
 counterfeited zeal, devoted themselves imme- 
 diately with greater zest to the substantial good 
 cheer awaiting them upon the front lawn. 
 Throughout the long afternoon the fierce sun 
 brooded over a noisy, convivial, and perspiring 
 throng ; but Reuben Delancey, busying him- 
 self in profuse hospitality toward his many 
 guests albeit a little unsteady upon his pins 
 from repeated toasting of the bride was con- 
 scious of an overmastering feeling of bereave- 
 ment and loss that resisted even repeated stimu- 
 lation ; and once the old man found himself in 
 a corner of his grounds, gazing vacantly in the 
 direction of the River Crossing, and dashing a 
 tear or two from his shaggy lashes with his 
 hirsute hand. 
 
 Toward nightfall black clouds came troop- 
 ing over from the west, obscuring the drooping 
 sun, and later a thunderstorm of unusual vio- 
 lence descended upon guests and host. As 
 they fled from its fury into the spacious man- 
 sion, and listened to the crash of the lurid 
 bolts that cleft the startled air, and the sharp
 
 94 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 fusillade of the driving rain, a strange fancy 
 that the elements were in sympathy diffused 
 itself in the minds of all. It was at once as 
 if Nature reciprocated and reproduced the tears 
 of the father, and the imprecations of the re- 
 jected suitors over the recent union. 
 
 A week elapsed a week of peculiarly depress- 
 ing weather, even in that monotonous and level 
 landscape. A cold, shroud-like mist clung 
 about the shoulders of the low hills that at 
 night slipped down their flanks, and stole with 
 ghostly footfall through the damp and dreary 
 town. All day long the leprous sycamores 
 about the stagnant pools were restless as with 
 a nervous dread, and the sallow willows con- 
 vulsed, distracted, and hysterical. In the leaden 
 atmosphere the somber ranks of evergreen at 
 the Crossing seemed like mourners bending 
 reverently above an enormous grave, and the 
 rush of the writhing river, far below, came like 
 a smothered sob from the black abyss. 
 
 And then, one day, a horseman spurred his 
 laboring steed into the foaming current, scram- 
 bled breathless and dripping up the steep 
 opposite bank, and dashed rapidly away over 
 the flat road to the Delancey house. It was
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 9$ 
 
 Delancey's old and experienced foreman, and 
 he brought with him a strange story. There 
 had been no arrival of the expected bride and 
 bridegroom at the Big Brady Ranch. 
 
 For a brief interval the mind of the fond 
 father was occupied with surmise and conject- 
 ure of some possible mishap. "Thet 'ar dad- 
 burned mustang ' Bolero ' might have slipped 
 his hobbles an' lit out in the night across 
 country," he ruminated. " But even so, they 
 cud ha' footed it to Brady," was his instant 
 reflection. 
 
 By degrees the puzzled expression with 
 which he had received the news gave way to 
 one of uneasiness, and then of absolute anx- 
 iety, until, grasping his heavy cow-hat and rid- 
 ing-whip, he sprang up behind his foreman, and 
 together they galloped to the " Pasear." 
 
 A hurried consultation with its querulous 
 proprietor followed. But as that worthy had 
 not yet emerged from his hygienic slough of 
 despond, it did not contribute to alleviate his 
 apprehension, and when the untimely ringing 
 of the great hotel bell startled the scattered 
 guests a few minutes later, a general alarm 
 speedily spread throughout the village. From
 
 96 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 far and near, as at the beat of an alarming 
 drum, the men assembled : the blacksmith 
 bearing a red hot iron, hastily plucked from the 
 forge ; Hackett with the cheese-knife, with which 
 he had been serving a customer, still redolent 
 of its employment ; Joe Treddle, hopelessly 
 drunk upon a reeling and erratic bicycle, 
 bringing up an inglorious rear with a disas- 
 trous "header." 
 
 The story was soon told. In that country 
 of quick resolve and instant execution, decision 
 was not wanting. Although the " Wild Rose " 
 had been plucked by the hand of another, she 
 still held for all a subtle and vicarious charm. 
 Even his spirituous disguise did not conceal the 
 solicitude of Joe Treddle. 
 
 " Mish Cordy nosh shone hup," hiccoughed 
 the irresponsible Joe, " nosh at 'ome wass 
 maar wass maar, ole man ? She 'ere, boys, 
 lesh fine 'er thash was mus' do ri' 'way no 
 time loosh I shay, mus' fine 'er rish hoff! " 
 
 A shout of approbation drowned this maudlin 
 logic. By noon, a motley cavalcade, armed to 
 the teeth, heavy-spurred, and big-sombreroed, 
 had left the town behind them, and were away 
 upon the trail. Far in front, pale, rigid, and
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 97 
 
 staring-eyed, the father, mounted upon a fleet 
 mustang, followed the faint and fading' tracks ; 
 and far in the rear, rubicund, relaxed, and 
 bleared, but still potent, struggling onward 
 with a common purpose, Joe Treddle reeled in 
 his saddle. 
 
 Little heart have I to follow them on that des- 
 pairing search ; to recount that agonizing quest 
 through valley and cafton. Skills it little now 
 the telling, how, traced through yielding 
 sand and resisting gravel, the trail grew fainter, 
 fainter, until, washed by recent rains and 
 woven with the hoof-prints of countless stock, 
 it vanished altogether ; nor later, when the in- 
 telligent scrutiny with which the search began 
 gave way to fortuitous inquiry and chance re- 
 connoitering over that inland ocean, how the 
 blank desert waste rang with cracking "Win- 
 chesters " and exploding " Colts," fired in 
 signal. Seven days, from dawn to twilight, they 
 sought the Wild Rose of San Saba. Seven 
 nights, beneath a delirious and gibbous moon, 
 the uncertain curtain of the night was rent with 
 the red flashes and shattering reports of fire- 
 arms, and the leaping flames of torch and pine- 
 knot frightened the gaunt coyote from afar
 
 98 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 But the grim stillness gave no answering sign. 
 The undulating prairie billows rolled away 
 against the vague horizon ; the live oaks 
 stretched their sturdy limbs to heaven, and the 
 drooping mesquites bent their heads in ominous 
 salutation. The vast, measureless, illimitable 
 solitude was reticent of its agonizing secret still. 
 
 When at last, worn out with ineffectual in- 
 quiry and fruitless effort, the mounted throng 
 dispersed, none but the heart-broken father was 
 left behind at the Big Brady Ranch. A faint 
 hope feeble, despairing, still kept him on his 
 quest. The earliest throb of the morning star 
 found him in the saddle, and the startled jack- 
 rabbit, plunging wildly from its form, beheld 
 him up and away. When a fortnight later, 
 pale, leaden-eyed, dejected a mere emaciated 
 ghost of the bustling, energetic old man that 
 had regaled them a month since he rode 
 slowly into San Saba, it was understood that 
 he too had abandoned the search. 
 
 And so the weeks passed ; summer lapsed 
 into autumn the long harrow of the wild goose 
 dragged ceaselessly across gray skies, and their 
 dusky squadrons were jubilantly discordant in 
 creek and meadow ; autumn faded into winter
 
 THE M YS TER Y OF SAN SABA. 99 
 
 the sudden Northers swept down from Kansas 
 with their ice pageantry and blinding sleet ; and 
 still no word, no sign. Meanwhile, the faint 
 hope that still flickered in the bosom of the 
 bereaved old man faded also, and gave place 
 to helpless despair. He had changed pitifully 
 with the failing year. His dull eyes always 
 irresponsive were now vacant and wandering; 
 the sturdy shoulders were bowed beneath their 
 weight of grief ; the hair of late years streaked 
 with gray had grown nearly white. Every 
 thing about him bore the imprint of his absorb- 
 ing sorrow. 
 
 When the spring opened, he bade farewell 
 forever to town-life, and, parting from his asso- 
 ciates with a perfunctory shake of the hand, 
 betook him to his ranch upon the Big Brady. 
 Here, with no society save the rough men 
 he employed, three long, monotonous years 
 dragged by. As he grew older, he lost his frank 
 hospitality, and becoming more than ever en- 
 grossed in the business of stock-raising, grew 
 querulous and crabbed. It was as if the calamity 
 that had overtaken him, had made him distrust- 
 ful of all things. He essayed the somewhat 
 dangerous experiment of running sheep and
 
 1 06 THE M YSTER Y OF SAN SA BA . 
 
 cattle side by side, and his enormous range was 
 now pasturing ten thousand Merino sheep. 
 
 In the mean time the slow years had wrought 
 their changes in the village of San Saba. The 
 proprietor of the " Pasear" had been at last 
 absorbed by his hygienic slough, and slept 
 peacefully in the little cemetery by the river, 
 beneath the funereal pines. The blacksmith and 
 the storekeeper had taken other Roses to 
 themselves albeit less lovely and less besought 
 and were now rejoicing in a juvenile parterre 
 of buds and blossoms. Joe Treddle finding 
 the pursuit of harness-making incompatible 
 with his incessant patronage of the Two Broth- 
 ers had turned his attention to politics with 
 gratifying success. After an unusually vinous 
 canvass, he was elected County Judge, and the 
 Concho Circuit became at once famous for 
 incoherent articulation and dubious legal pre- 
 cedent. 
 
 As the judicial dignity grew upon him, he 
 proved the healing powers of time by selecting 
 a widow with whom to share the honors of his 
 new condition. His lady's assumption of the 
 title of Mrs. Judge Treddle was none the less 
 emphatic from the fact that she had commenced
 
 THE M YS TER Y OF SA N SABA. I o i 
 
 her social career as cook in a sheep-camp. Per- 
 haps it was his helpmate's knowledge of this 
 industry that led his Honor eventually to 
 undertake it. When the sheep-men began to 
 organize the better to protect their interests 
 the popularity of the genial Judge enabled 
 him to secure the additional distinction of 
 " Delegate from Concho Co., for the Prevention 
 of Scab." It was this additional responsibility 
 which sent him once a year to Austin, to rep- 
 resent with maudlin rhetoric before the " Wool 
 Growers' Convention," the urgency of keeping 
 in quarantine all diseased flocks ; it was this 
 which invariably impelled him, on the way 
 back, to purchase sheep at a suspiciously low 
 figure and drive them recklessly through the 
 country in furtherance of the truth of his 
 remarks ; and it was the possession of a homi- 
 cidal negro as herder whom the Judge's legal 
 authority had enabled him to acquit already of 
 several murders that had hitherto prevented 
 the sheep-men of Concho Co. from forcibly 
 opposing his triumphant and pastoral return. 
 Altogether the rise of the genial judge into 
 power and prominence had been peculiarly 
 brilliant and edifying.
 
 102 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 It was a bright, clear day at the Big Brady 
 Ranch. The westering sun was lording it as 
 usual over the stifling landscape, warping that 
 spacious structure into sharp crepitation, and 
 causing the pine boards to exude a tearful and 
 resinuous remonstrance from the fierceness of 
 its oppression. The small, red lizards that were 
 wont, during the long hours of the afternoon to 
 seek the shadow of its eastern eaves, were 
 enjoying an unusual immunity from molesta- 
 tion. The hands were all away upon the range. 
 Only old Delancey, in a corner of the ample 
 dooryard, busy in doctoring certain ailing ewes 
 of his " hospital flock," was left behind to 
 appreciate the general loneliness and desola- 
 tion. 
 
 When, therefore, the clicking of the ranch- 
 gate, and the rattling of a windlass, bore evidence 
 that some strolling cow-boy was availing him- 
 self of the refreshment of the well, he strolled 
 over to the curb with weary steps and a gruff 
 "Howdy." 
 
 " How's stock over on Maverick ? " he 
 inquired, recognizing the new comer, and sit- 
 ting down negligently upon a neighboring nail- 
 keg.
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 103 
 
 " Jes' tol'ble ! " replied the cow-boy a blonde 
 Hercules, encumbered by the huge leggings of 
 his calling, "jes' tol'ble! I reckon I counted 
 nigh onto seven likely calves 'twixt here and 
 the fork all dead from screw-worm." 
 
 " I wanter know! " ejaculated old Delancey 
 with despondency appropriate to the intelli- 
 gence, "/ wanter know ! 'Pears like ez ef 
 every thin' this yer season war dad-burned an* 
 dod-rotted ! I lost nine steers this brandin' from 
 them 'ere 'tarnal flies ; them Febooary lambs 
 was all pizened on laurel swelled up, by thun- 
 der and snakes ! keeled over, an' died without a 
 blate an' now here's the calves a-goin' ! It 
 do seem," he went on with increasing impa- 
 tience, " as ef thet thar devil from hell war into 
 things, an' thet air a fact ! 'Pears like ez ef 
 the only thing I hev to be thankful fur is thet 
 I ain't got the scab, and thet air suthin', when 
 they tell me they're jest a drappin' down in 
 McCulloch Co. like manner into the wilderness." 
 
 " An' ye won't be outer thet long, nuther," 
 responded the gloomy cow-boy, ignoring De- 
 lancey's theology. " Ez I kem across thet 
 strip of purrara over by Yoho'sthismornin' an 
 hour afore sun, I reckon I seen thet thar Jedge
 
 104 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 Treddle, jest back from Austin, a-drivin' the 
 scabbiest flock o' sheep I ever seed right across 
 yer range. The Jedge an' his woman were in 
 a hack, an' thet bloody nigger o' his'n an' a 
 greaser on horseback were a-junein' 'em along 
 over the western divide. The sheep was plum 
 red with scab, and a-layin' down every minit 
 and a-scratchin'. If them big wethers o' your'n 
 come within a mile o' there, they'll ketch it, 
 sartin." ' 
 
 Old Delancey sprang up at this information, 
 livid with rage and trembling with passion. 
 
 " Wot's thet yer sayin' ? " he screamed. " Is 
 thet thar drunken Joe Treddle comin' 'cross my 
 range, spite'n all I've tole him, an' Hackett jes' 
 sendin' me word he's all out o' thet sheep-dip ! 
 Here, Jack! Rube! Aleck! saddle ' Bother- 
 'em ' an' load them ' Winchesters ' right 
 smart ! " 
 
 Then remembering that he was alone on the 
 ranch, he stopped abruptly. 
 
 Howbeit, the news was too urgent to allow 
 him to be long silent. After some moments 
 devoted to picturesque and sulphurous char- 
 acterization of Judge Treddle's genealogy, and 
 a forcible expression of preference for being that
 
 7 'II E M YS TER Y OF SAN SABA. 105 
 
 instant where patience and persistence in his 
 blasphemous vocabulary would doubtless land 
 him eventually, he hurriedly loaded his " Win- 
 chester " and " six-shooters," saddled his mus- 
 tang, and calling to his cow-boy informant, set 
 out for the scene of his animadversions. 
 
 After a long gallop over the rolling prairie, 
 he overtook the legal gentleman and his woolly 
 cohorts, slowly journeying westward. It was 
 indeed as the cow-boy had said. The frantic 
 sheep dragged their wretched bodies wearily 
 along, stopping ever and anon to lie down and 
 roll, or to bite and tear their mangy fleeces. 
 Shaking with passion, Delancey rode up. 
 
 " Howdy!" exclaimed the genial Judge, ex- 
 tending an uncertain hand -and a more or less 
 inebriated person from the hack. " Fac' ish 
 I'se glad shee yer, D'lanshey I am, thash fac' ! 
 Git down ! git down ! git in the hack ! " 
 
 Ignoring this cordial invitation and the beam- 
 ing presence of Mrs. Treddle, seated impres- 
 sively by the side of her bibulous spouse, De- 
 lancey broke out : 
 
 " I reckon I've hed jest 'bout all I care fur 
 o' this yer bizness, Jedge jes 'bout all I care fur. 
 Do you call this sort o' thing neighborly, driv-
 
 106 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 ing scabby sheep over my range without givin' 
 me warnin' ? " 
 
 " Wai, no ! " said the judicial presence, smil- 
 ing benignly from the hack, and striving in vain 
 to bring his swaying body face to face with the 
 emergency. " Can't shay zhackly nayboorly 
 thash fac' ! shame time, D'lanshey, we'sh ole 
 fren's you'n me's ole fren's git down ! wass 
 maar? them sheep's all ri' ! wass maar? lesh 
 ha' drink." 
 
 And the Judge produced a black bottle from 
 under the seat, and held it out with unsteady 
 fingers and maudlin hospitality toward De- 
 lancey. 
 
 But the old man was now beyond alcoholic 
 propitiation. 
 
 "Look here! Judge Treddle," he almost 
 screamed, " this yer thing hez got to stop right 
 here, d'ye understand ? right here ! or there'll 
 be a differ. It'll cost me nigh onto three thou- 
 sand dollar to dip my sheep, an' ef they git the 
 scab I'll hev the money outer yer hide, or I'll 
 die fust! What's more," he added ominously, 
 laying a heavy hand on the handle of a re- 
 volver, " ef you or any o' yer outfit is on my 
 range by sun-up to-morrer mornin', ye'll stay
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 107 
 
 there fur cullinders fur cullinders, d'ye under- 
 stand ? " he shrieked. 
 
 With which graphic simile of the direness of 
 the vengeance that awaited the intruding party, 
 he subsided. Judge Treddle received the edict 
 with effusion, 
 
 " All ri' ! D'lanshey, ole boy ! Hoo-roar ! 
 hoo-roar ! ! Talksh like book thash law ! " he 
 said, beaming down upon his wife with judicial 
 dignity. "D'lanshey a'mos' lawyher thash 
 fac' ! " 
 
 Then suddenly changing his expression and 
 leaning from the vehicle with a drunken leer, 
 
 " Don't you reckon yoosh besher be gittin' 
 back to ransh ? " 
 
 All the pent up wrath of Delancey blazed up 
 and burst forth at this implied suggestion of 
 ordering him off his own range. In an instant 
 he had drawn a revolver. A wild, murderous 
 desire to shoot the drunken trespasser dead in 
 his tracks, surged through his brain. The next 
 moment the long, blue barrel of a " Winchester " 
 in the hands of the homicidal black, whose 
 eyes were rolling with excitement, stayed his 
 hand. 
 
 " I'se got you, Mass' D'lancey ! I'se got you
 
 108 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 
 
 sure nuff ! " grinned the homicide, covering the 
 old man with the rifle. 
 
 Delancey recognized the logic of the situa- 
 tion ; he restored his weapon to its holster. 
 Without a word he wheeled his mustang 
 sharply around and galloped off, followed by 
 the cow-boy. 
 
 But not without malediction or anathema. 
 As his fleet pony put rod upon rod between 
 him and the trespassers, the enormity of their 
 transgression found vent in the resources of a 
 forcible if not a strictly elegant vocabulary. 
 Amid a wealth of lurid metaphor and graphic 
 invective, the cow-boy gathered that they 
 were both upon the brink of revolting and 
 indiscriminate bloodshed of the most appalling 
 kind. 
 
 Thus riding rapidly the old man still breath- 
 ing out threatenings and slaughter they came 
 suddenly upon a thorny chaparral, into which, 
 without pausing to skirt it, they furiously 
 dashed. For a few moments nothing was 
 heard save the plunging and rearing of their 
 horses, as they burst their way through the 
 thick and tangled underbrush, when all at once 
 old Delancey 's mustang sank suddenly to the
 
 THE MYSTERY OF SAN SABA. 109 
 
 ground, throwing him violently from the saddle. 
 He was on his feet in an instant, cursing the 
 luckless brute which had stepped into a marmot 
 burrow and slipped her shoulder. An omin- 
 ous flapping of wings caused both to lookup. 
 Suddenly the form of the old man became fixed 
 and rigid, his bloodshot eyes, set and staring. 
 In this attitude he remained motionless, with 
 outstretched hand pointing through the thicket. 
 The eyes of his companion followed the ges- 
 ture. 
 
 There, in a small opening beyond, weather- 
 beaten and bedraggled its hangings moldy 
 and torn its wheels rusty and crumbling 
 with one shattered door hanging helplessly 
 from a broken hinge a square, light carriage 
 was dimly visible. Both rushed to the spot. 
 It needed not the peculiar fashion of the side- 
 lamps ; the tattered corduroy cushions ; the 
 heavy harness, dry and hard from exposure to 
 the weather, lying like the folds of an anaconda 
 about a heap of whitened, equine bones, to 
 identify that ruined conveyance. The mind of 
 Delancey leaped at once to a realization of the 
 awful and overwhelming truth. A neighboring 
 live oak, smitten into desolate ruin by the
 
 1 1 6 THE M YSTER Y OF &AN SABA. 
 
 ruthless thunderbolt ; the shivered door ; the 
 gloomy buzzards, perched like unclean spirits 
 of disaster upon adjacent boughs, were all 
 unmistakable witnesses of an appalling doom. 
 When, at length, they summoned courage to 
 disturb the ruins of that four-wheeled sepul- 
 cher, the evidences of universal death were 
 not many but indisputable. A heavy riding- 
 boot, shrunken and distorted ; a rein hanging 
 over the dashboard, just as it had fallen from 
 the nerveless hand that held it ; a tattered 
 glove and ribbon ; some shreds of clothing; and 
 a few moldering bones that the prowling 
 wolves and birds of prey had spared, were all 
 that remained of the Wild Rose and her hus- 
 band.
 
 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 
 
 IT was hot upon the South Brady. The advent 
 of an early Texan spring had been unusually 
 aggressive. To the dwellers by the narrow line 
 of creek, the daily lances of the sun seemed to 
 charge relentlessly upon the scanty foliage that 
 fringed and dotted the little valley. They 
 pierced the thorny corslets of the mesquites 
 and forced from the arms of the live oaks the 
 dusky pennons they had borne triumphantly 
 in the face of blustering Northers. Only the 
 birds seemed jubilant over the forward season. 
 The mocking-birds, indeed, wantoned from 
 spray to spray, filling the air with their delirious 
 ventriloquism, and the sentinel scissor-tail bared 
 his rosy bosom joyfully to the invading sun- 
 light ; but the flocks at noon sought the feeble 
 shade complainingly ; the prairie-dogs depre- 
 cated the heat in shrill barks from their many
 
 112 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 
 
 burrows ; even the rattlesnakes resigned all 
 communion with nature, save at evening or 
 early dawn. 
 
 Apparently, the enervating influences of the 
 weather were appreciated by the proprietors 
 themselves. Although the lambing season was 
 near at hand, they were not visible around the 
 ranch nor in the neighboring sheep-pens. All 
 work in preparation for that busy time seemed 
 to have been suspended or abandoned. The 
 primitive brush inclosure had been subdivided 
 into many small corrals by thin partitions antl 
 wicket gates ; a few narrow cribs, made of criss- 
 crossed rails, awaited the occupancy of refrac- 
 tory ewes. Several newly-fashioned shepherds' 
 crooks leaned against the gate, and a bundle of 
 rustic paint-brands lay in a corner. All human 
 responsibility for these industrious efforts was 
 evidently hidden from view in the little cabin. 
 
 Indeed, the laziness of its occupants sug- 
 gested apathy. The " Cook " lay asleep in a neg- 
 ligfa oi apparel and attitude quite shameless and 
 characteristic. The " Oracle," who was recog- 
 nized by that title as a reluctant authority upon 
 the sheep question, was engaged in cutting up 
 a plug of " natural leaf," preparatory to filling
 
 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 113 
 
 his pipe. The " Deacon " a sobriquet inspired 
 by the gentleman's customary reticence was 
 listlessly cracking and eating pecans upon the 
 doorstep. By the single narrow window the 
 " Old Man " a synonym of seniority rather 
 than age was occupied in the perusal of a 
 recently received letter. A general atmos- 
 phere of passive lassitude pervaded the group. 
 
 "Well, boys," said the Old Man, with a sigh, 
 as he slowly folded his letter and replaced it in 
 its envelope, " I reckon she 's likely to pay us a 
 visit." 
 
 " Who 's she ? " inquired the Oracle, striking 
 a match. 
 
 " My daughter Kate." 
 
 Evidently the reply caused his auditor some 
 surprise, for he allowed his match to go out. 
 
 " Wh-a-t ! " said he, with a stare of amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 " Here, Cook ! brace up and have some style 
 about you ! Don't you hear that lovely woman 
 is going to visit the ranch? " 
 
 The individual thus roughly addressed sat up, 
 lazily rubbing his eyes. 
 
 " The Old Man's daughter's coming down," 
 explained the Oracle.
 
 t!4 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 
 
 " Nice accommodations and surroundings for 
 a lady," replied the Cook, in a sarcastic tone. 
 " Pleasant landscape," he added, with a dejected 
 wave of the hand toward the open door. 
 
 The Oracle raised his eyes at the gesture. 
 A wild steer, engaged in satisfied mastication 
 of a pair of ducking overalls lately discarded by 
 the speaker, monopolized the near vista. 
 
 " That's what I said in my last," retorted the 
 Old Man, apologetically. " I told her I reck- 
 oned a sheep-camp weren't naturally no kind o' 
 place for her this time o' year ; but women is 
 onsartin, and Kate's bound to come. She says 
 she's lonely up to Paint Rock, and ain't got no 
 society at this season on account of the ' round- 
 ups,' and thet we needn't sling on any extra 
 style on her account." 
 
 " Don't you suppose you could persuade her 
 to postpone this trip of hers until I can get to 
 see my tailor?" inquired the Oracle, gazing 
 despondently at his ragged frontier dress. 
 
 "Or until I've finished my regular six weeks' 
 washin', said the Cook, with a rueful glance at 
 the wash-tub, on which he had recently sus- 
 pended hostilities. 
 
 The Deacon said nothing, but quietly raised
 
 THREE STREP HO NS OF CONCHO. 115 
 
 one foot, and introduced the yawning side of a 
 mendicant boot into the dialogue. 
 
 " No," said the Old Man, with an air of resig- 
 nation. " I reckon she 'lows to come, and the 
 only thing we can do is to make the best of it. 
 We'll hev to quit campin' out in this yer 
 room and fix it up for her accommodation. 
 You boys kin raise thet thar tent thet's out in 
 the barn, and I'll do my sleepin', I reckon, in 
 the kitchen. We'll try an' make out some- 
 how." 
 
 " But how do you reckon a young lady'll 
 stand washin' in a tin basin, and livin* on bacon 
 and beans?" suggested the Cook. 
 
 " Wai," said the Old Man, slowly, " ef a gal 
 will come whar she ain't wanted, and can't stand 
 it arter she gets thar, why, she's got to, thet's 
 all." 
 
 Having delivered himself of this logical state- 
 ment, with the air of a judge pronouncing a de- 
 cision from which there can be no appeal, this 
 inconsiderate father raised himself upon a pair 
 of legs, wofully rheumatic and uncompromising 
 at the knees, and picking up his battered hat, 
 stumped pensively away upon these animated 
 stilts in the direction of the sheep-pen.
 
 Ii6 THREE STREP HO NS OF CONCH 0. 
 
 The trio left behind regarded the situation 
 with cynical disfavor. Each individual, being 
 thoroughly conscious of the degradation of his 
 own garments, took an ironical pleasure in 
 gratuitous concern for the wardrobe of his 
 friends. The Cook devoted himself to the 
 washing of his dishes, and the clearing away of 
 a sketchy repast, of which they all had recently 
 partaken, after gravely expressing the hope that 
 the Oracle would avoid shocking the finer feel- 
 ings of their prospective guest by sewing up 
 various rents in his apparel. The peculiar 
 quality of the Cook's solicitude was somewhat 
 heightened by the fact that he was himself re- 
 joicing in the untrammeled freedom of a net- 
 ting shirt. The Deacon's forebodings for the 
 Oracle were apparently of a moral character. 
 
 " I'd recommend ye," said he, for the first 
 time breaking his silence, and addressing that 
 individual, "to be more particular hereafter 
 about cussin' when yer bringin' in them late 
 ewes about sun-down. I can always tell where 
 ye are by the brimstone comin' down the 
 wind." 
 
 " Deacon," said the Oracle very solemnly, with 
 a disparaging finger directed to the gentle-
 
 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO, nj 
 
 man's vagabond feet, " it always went against 
 me to take the advice of a man whose boots 
 were laughing at him." 
 
 Howbeit, a generous rivalry prevailed among 
 them to make themselves and their abode 
 presentable to the eyes of a critical and fas- 
 tidious sex. It is not written, the degree of 
 discomfort men will cheerfully endure, pro 
 vided the poverty of their surroundings be not 
 exposed to feminine scrutiny. The daughter 
 of the Old Man had hitherto occupied in the 
 minds of all a mythical existence. He had 
 never alluded to her but once before, and then 
 in such a vague and general way as to provoke 
 a pardonable skepticism in his auditors. It was 
 at the last shearing a time when the entire 
 
 " outfit " at the ranch was overburdened with 
 
 
 
 work that the Old Man had suddenly devel- 
 oped an untoward desire to visit his daughter, 
 and had persisted in adhering to it in spite of all 
 efforts to persuade him to the contrary. 
 
 Upon his return to the camp, a slight and 
 ironical cross-examination to which he had 
 been subjected by his partners, had been sus- 
 tained by that worthy with commendable for- 
 titude, and by degrees the occurrence had been
 
 1 1 8 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 
 
 forgotten amid the monotonous duties of their 
 daily lives. Roused now by his sudden an- 
 nouncement into spasmodic anxiety for out- 
 ward appearances, they developed a surprising 
 energy. 
 
 A slight inspection of the externals of 
 American sheep-ranches is calculated to impress 
 the observer unfavorably. It would seem 
 that civilized man, as he retrogrades toward 
 barbarism, develops attributes common to 
 lower animal life. To leeward of these arks of 
 human progress are found degraded articles of 
 ephemeral adornment, so shamelessly aban- 
 doned as to suggest the discarded sloughs of 
 some hitherto unclassified reptilian. A life, so 
 near to nature's heart, apparently imbues its 
 beneficiaries with unexampled charity, for a 
 reckless prodigality is shown in the contribu- 
 tion of cast-off clothing. An exceptional im- 
 munity from the privileges of female society 
 had made the gentlemen of the South Brady 
 phenomenal in this regard, and a commendable 
 prudence in the manipulation of a querulous 
 wheelbarrow, was necessary to remove, these 
 gratuitous donations to a remote locality. Ap- 
 propriate attention was also devoted to an ap-
 
 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 119 
 
 parent ubiquity on the part of empty tin cans, as 
 imparting to the surrounding landscape a 
 vagrant picnic suggestion. 
 
 But it was to the interior of the little cabin 
 that their efforts at rejuvenation were most 
 directed. An endeavor was manifest on the 
 part of the ranchmen to eradicate all traces of 
 former masculine occupancy. In this they 
 perhaps followed a latent impulse of the sterner 
 sex to idealize woman in proportion as her per- 
 sonality is less frequent. Howbeit, the gradual 
 accumulations of masculine debris were all 
 satisfactorily removed, and the walls cleared of 
 a picturesque and warlike tenantry. A small 
 cot-bed was reared in one corner, and every 
 possible effort made contributory to personal 
 comfort. And then the hand of utility was 
 superseded by that of art, and the Oracle's 
 taste for decoration was displayed. The rude 
 interior was illuminated by the flash of birds' 
 wings ; and the plumage of green-winged teal, 
 and red-shafted flicker, and prairie bird-of- 
 paradise vied with one another in imparting to 
 the room a gay and bizarre appearance. Two 
 pairs of small deer antlers were furnished by 
 the Cook and securely fastened to the walls
 
 1 20 THREE STREPHOXS OF CONCHO. 
 
 a species of hat and clothes-rack much affected 
 upon the frontier ; and when the neighboring 
 valleys had contributed several knots of wild 
 verbena and buffalo-clover, their faint perfume 
 seemed already anticipatory of feminine pres- 
 ence. 
 
 But I think it was in personal matters that 
 the gentlemen most palpably acknowledged the 
 speedy advent of the Old Man's daughter. This 
 was evinced by extraordinary solicitude and in 
 a manner entirely characteristic of each. The 
 Cook although the recipient of unusual license 
 in costume at the hands of his companions on 
 account of the peculiarly trying nature of his 
 duties had of late been given over to unpar- 
 donable abandon. This apparent shameless- 
 ness had resisted all appeal or criticism on 
 the part of his associates, but now yielded 
 gracefully in favor of their prospective visitor. 
 Impelled by that inevitable law of extremes 
 which attends all social revolutions, his subse- 
 quent decorum of dress even went so far as to 
 adopt a small paper cap, which he invariably 
 wore while attending to all matters of the 
 cuisine. A surprising daintiness also possessed 
 him in the preparation of articles for the table.
 
 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 121 
 
 Appetites upon the frontier are too keen to 
 be fastidious. He who caters to them feels that 
 he has but two requisites to fulfill. If meals 
 are forthcoming at the appointed hour, and in 
 sufficient quantity to appease the customary 
 vacuum, there is little complaint. A conscious- 
 ness of this fact, together with the somewhat 
 tedious character of the gentleman's labors, had 
 made him of late quite careless and perfunc- 
 tory. But now the beans must be carefully 
 assorted and frequently washed ; the bacon was 
 invariably treated to a hot-water bath before 
 frying a process hitherto omitted, ostensibly 
 for fear of destroying the flavor, and the pro- 
 portions of soda and shortening in the prepara- 
 tion of bread were scrupulously adhered to. 
 
 In consequence of these efforts the monoto- 
 nous viands developed a refinement and relish 
 hitherto unknown. 
 
 At the same time the position of the Cook, as 
 chief magistrate of the domestic bureau at the 
 ranch, encouraged him to introduce certain inno- 
 vations in table etiquette characteristic of 
 his political bias for civil service reform. He 
 required the performance of ablutions before 
 presentation at table, and endeavored to make
 
 122 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 
 
 this measure popular by himself setting the 
 example. The gentlemen were also urged to 
 adopt the revived conventionalism of wearing 
 coats at meals,the Deacon being publicly request- 
 ed not to eat with his knife ; and then, having 
 with infinite pains succeeded in manufacturing 
 a set of napkins out of apiece of cotton " sheet- 
 ing," this social mentor, from his position at the 
 head of the festive board, requested their sub- 
 sequent use, and an entire discontinuance of the 
 former demoralizing habit of improvising nap- 
 kins of their trowsers' legs as imparting an alto- 
 gether untidy personal appearance. 
 
 The preliminaries resorted to by the Oracle 
 were entirely those of dress, and were limited 
 to the rather ostentatious wearing of a highly 
 starched and boldly checked pink shirt, inflict- 
 ing upon the beholder by the ambitious roll of 
 its collar, an unusually long and bilious neck. 
 Unremitting attention, however, to a guitar that 
 had long hung neglected above his couch, and 
 by its. vagabond appearance and relaxed and 
 broken strings seemed to argue the decadence 
 of Euterpe's worship at the ranch, together 
 with repeated calls upon a certain "Jennie," to 
 await the " rolling by " of seemingly distressing
 
 7^1 REE STREPHONS OF CONCH O. 123 
 
 " clouds," and an apparent desire to inflict the 
 superfluous fact that there was* a "lovely little 
 spot down in Southern Tennessee," were not 
 without filling his companions with forebodings 
 that the Oracle was contemplating a serenade. 
 As the musical efforts of the Oracle were not 
 attended with that harmony which the melo- 
 dious instrument might seem to imply, a feeling 
 of mild despondency at this juncture pervaded 
 the camp. 
 
 Whatever change in mode of life was con- 
 templated by the Deacon seemed to be entirely 
 restricted to personal cleanliness. That reti- 
 cent individual at once developed a tendency 
 to bathe twice a day and rigidly adhered to it. 
 As his performance of this ceremony was quite 
 public, his comrades were divided between 
 skepticism and alarm as to what course he 
 would elect upon the arrival of their guest, but 
 eventually came to regard his idiosyncrasy as a 
 peculiar propitiatory observance. Having dis- 
 carded his mendicant boots for a more present- 
 able pair, he proceeded to grace his left foot 
 with a large silver spur, which, in spite of 
 abundant ridicule, he thereafter persisted in 
 wearing. Whether he affected this singular
 
 124 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 
 
 appendage because he fancied that it gave him 
 a general flavor of the cavalier, or whether he 
 adopted it as a means of urging forward future 
 dilatory ewes, was a matter of ungratified 
 curiosity at the little camp, for on this subject 
 the Deacon preserved his customary reticence. 
 
 In such characteristic fashion were their 
 various preparations made. And then, as if in 
 recognition, there slipped benignly through the 
 gates of Dawn a succession of days so mild and 
 calm, filling the flowering prairie with a joy so 
 beatific, a peace so infinite, that it rested 
 upon their labors, like Heaven's benediction, 
 and at the close of one of these perfect days, an 
 equestrian footfall startled the dwellers by the 
 little creek, and rushing from their humble 
 cabin they beheld a lovely apparition framed 
 against the golden sunset. So gracefully this 
 apparition sat her horse, so lovely did she look 
 in the hush of the gloaming, that, I wot, it was 
 with a feeling akin to worship that the men un- 
 covered, and beheld her spring from her horse, 
 crying, " Well, father, I reckon I've got here 
 at last!" 
 
 And there was little doubt she had. For 
 when they had overcome the first awkwardness
 
 THREE STREPttONS OP 
 
 of their meeting with a proverbially bewilder* 
 ing sex, and it had further transpired that this 
 divinity was dangerously gracious ; that she 
 was charmed with the result of their efforts in 
 her behalf; and that in a manner thoroughly 
 superficial and maidenlike she declared im- 
 mediately that she believed ranching must 
 be " just too lovely for any thing " these rude 
 bachelors of Concho County straightway fell to 
 adoring her, each after his separate fashion. I 
 know not how to account satisfactorily for this 
 singular idolatry. Perhaps their long exemption 
 from feminine influences made the gentlemen 
 unusually susceptible. But I have to record 
 that, in her radiant presence, they were speedily 
 overcome with a sense of their entire unworthi- 
 ness to consort with so charming a creature ; 
 that the young lady was not slow to perceive 
 her ascendency; and that, after the manner of 
 Circe of old, the siren soon transformed them 
 into abject and willing slaves. 
 
 It was not long before " Miss Kate," as they 
 all called her, began to blight the sociability of 
 her attendant knights. Hitherto there had 
 been a remarkable unanimity of feeling in the 
 little camp, and much good humor and a
 
 J26 THREE STREP HO xs OF coxciio. 
 
 general tolerance of individual foibles had pre- 
 vailed. Now, however, in proportion as she 
 lavished the charm of her society upon one or 
 another of the trio, its favored recipient 
 incurred the envy and criticism of the neglected 
 two. 
 
 " I come along by the buck-pen to-day,'* re- 
 marked the Deacon to the Cook, in one of those 
 outbursts of confidence which were rare with 
 him, "and there I seen somethin' thet done me 
 good. You know how musical the Oracle hez 
 been lately. Well, he was a-singin' thet duet 
 of Miss Kate's from the ' Muskrat ' or somethin' 
 or other, an' a-blatin' to her about how much 
 he liked herdin' sheep, and she was a-replyin' 
 very sweet about how particular fond she was 
 of tendin' turkeys, and all the while thet 
 McCarthy buck was a sort o' sniffin' the air and 
 pawin' a little, ez ef he reckoned it disturbed 
 his peace of mind ; and then, when they got 
 down to thet wind-up, where they were givin' 
 their imitations of the critters they admire, I 
 seen him put his head down and step back a 
 few paces, an' I kno\\*ed what was comin'. 
 Well, my boy, I'm a tenderfoot ef he didn't 
 take the Oracle plum aft just when he was
 
 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 127 
 
 a-reachin' fur high C, and lifted him clean 
 over three sheep. I nearly broke my heart 
 laughin'." 
 
 Although the merriment of both Cook and 
 Deacon seemed to argue that both regarded the 
 Oracle's mishap as a species of retribution for 
 an unwarrantable monopoly of the young 
 lady's attractions, yet my duty as a veracious 
 chronicler compels me to state, that the Deacon 
 eventually consulted the Oracle in reference to 
 certain conversations which the Cook was wont 
 to hold with this coveted Miss, while he was 
 occupied in the prosaic employment of washing 
 dishes, and that it was a matter of grief to each 
 as an unconscious index of preferment that 
 on one occasion the condescending goddess 
 had actually assisted hinri in this menial occupa- 
 tion. Similarly, when the Deacon developed a 
 tendency to cull fresh wild-flowers morning 
 after morning, and to place them in a vase as a 
 votive offering to the fair one, the opinion pre- 
 vailed with both masculine critics that he was 
 altogether too bold and officious. 
 
 But the tendency to disunion on the part of 
 the partners was speedily checked by a circum- 
 stance that called for a concentration of forces.
 
 128 THREE STREPHOXS OF COXCHO. 
 
 A visit to the neighboring sheep-pen in the gray 
 dawn one week after the arrival of the dis- 
 quieting element revealed the fact that their 
 flock had been increased by forty new arrivals 
 during the previous night. These callow inno- 
 cents were shivering in the early morning air, 
 and with plaintive bleats accepting the misery 
 of infancy in all the despondency that young 
 lambs exhibit. Their worthy mothers evi- 
 dently bewildered by the similarity of their 
 various progeny were in the customary agonies 
 of doubt as to which one of the awkward un- 
 fortunates was her particular property. One 
 and all, however, exhibited that proud elevation 
 of the head and intractable obstinacy which 
 only the maternal ewe can successfully affect, 
 and with which she invariably sees fit to signal- 
 ize her acceptance of the higher responsibilities 
 of life. 
 
 In short, from calm, methodical sheep they 
 had been transformed into anxious, nervous, 
 and panic-stricken mothers, and were clamorous 
 for assistance in their emergencies. All was 
 complaint and confusion. Here two stubborn 
 ewes had resolved to contest the ownership of 
 one grotesque infant, and it needed the sagacity
 
 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 129 
 
 of King Solomon to detect the impostor, while 
 the poor foundling of the recreant ran helplessly 
 hither and yon, meeting the scorn and rebuffs 
 of all respectable sheep. Here, a good mother 
 divided her affections over a pair of pretty 
 twins, and there, bereavement was attended with 
 loud lamentation, and in a remote corner of the 
 pen " Rachel, mourning for her children, 
 refused to be comforted." 
 
 Apparently the Arcadian life of a sheep-ranch 
 was at an end, and more serious labors awaited 
 these Strephons of the frontier. Something of 
 the sternness of this conviction was upon them, 
 as the partners threw aside their coats and sprang 
 into the pens. Then, indeed, was displayed the 
 superior intelligence of man. The young lambs 
 and their mothers were all " cut out " carefully 
 from the main herd, and segregated in one of 
 the small pens; while the bleating flock poured 
 from the brush barriers, and went forth under 
 the care of dog and herder for the pasturage of 
 the day. One of the twins was " blanketed " 
 with the hide of the dead lambkin and placed 
 in a crib with the lamenting mother, until 
 such time as she decided to accept it as the 
 offspring she had lost. Such ewes as were dis-
 
 13 THREE STREP HO XS OF CONCHO. 
 
 posed to ignore the claims of parentage were 
 tethered to various trees, and their lambs placed 
 beside them, that in the solitude of their com- 
 panionship they might be taught to forget their 
 idiosyncrasies. So that it was upon a busy and 
 bustling camp that Miss Kate dawned later 
 an immaculate vision of starched serenity 
 dainty-cuffed, snowy- collared, and with an 
 amused curiosity in her brilliant eyes. 
 
 And here she was made acquainted with her 
 own share in their labors, for the Old Man had 
 decided that she must pay the penalty of her 
 visit by taking charge of the buck-herd from 
 day to day. In vain his younger associates 
 protested, and advised that the young lady 
 should have company ; their gallantry was un- 
 availing against the deductions of the Old 
 Man's logic. 
 
 And so it happened that, an hour later, an 
 erect and graceful shepherdess, equipped 
 against the admiration of the ardent sun with a 
 gaudy parasol, and additionally armed with a 
 fantastic crook, fared out upon the prairie with 
 the solemn husbands of the flock. I wot their 
 ovine majesties were entirely unaccustomed to 
 the tutelage of so charming a Bo-peep, but their
 
 THREE STREP HO NS OF CON C HO. 131 
 
 grave deportment betrayed nothing of the 
 charm of novelty. They appeared to accept 
 Miss Kate as an unnecessary, albeit a very pic- 
 turesque fact ; and, after they had thrown her 
 into " unpicturesque hysterics," by an apparent 
 disagreement as to whether their route lay up 
 or down creek, and which they proposed to de- 
 cide by a reverberating cannonade against one 
 another's skulls, they were as serious in 
 demeanor, and as pre-occupied with their own 
 affairs, as these discreet and masculine sheep 
 are wont to be. So that when the young lady 
 had tired of noting their general resemblance 
 to a lot of old hook-nosed Rabbis, the novelty 
 of tending them began to pall, and she was 
 driven first to her book, and eventually to 
 gathering wild-flowers, from an absolute dearth 
 of any appreciative object to exercise feminine 
 arts upon. 
 
 And here she exhibited the customary 
 nervousness of a sensitive and discriminating 
 sex, for at every turn Miss Kate was apparently 
 fearful of hidden terrors, with which her femi- 
 nine imagination peopled the surrounding 
 wilds, and every rustle of the short prairie grass 
 was deprecated with certain shivers and forced
 
 132 THREE STREP HOKS OF COKCHO. 
 
 retreats presumably apprehensive of those 
 " horrid snakes " which, since the misfortune of 
 Mother Eve, have been so terrifying to her 
 many daughters. When, therefore, she had 
 thankfully escaped the bristling horror of an 
 inoffensive horned-toad, that skittered * trem- 
 ulously away at her approach, she was obliged 
 to run the gauntlet of a brilliant lizard actu- 
 ally two and one-half inches in length that 
 regarded her with glittering eyes and palpitat- 
 ing throat from an adjacent stone, and two 
 chattering prairie-dogs, which appeared to re- 
 sent the gaudiness of the young lady's parasol. 
 And so it came to pass that Miss Kate, 
 with this parasol advanced like a shield, and 
 her crook poised and aggressive a rosy, 
 but defiant Amazon, very much out of 
 breath, and with one of her dark tresses 
 escaping from her hat and dancing upon her 
 shoulder encountered an animal more dan- 
 gerous than any she had yet met, but one with 
 
 * The "horned toad " of Texas has, in a state of healih, a 
 quick, darting movement. Such specimens as we see here are 
 usually half or entirely starved, and have no vitality. They 
 never hop.
 
 THREE STREP HO NS OF CONCHO. 133 
 
 which she was far better qualified by bounteous 
 nature to contend. 
 
 For there, recumbent and solitary in a little 
 grassy hollow, was the Oracle, gazing vacantly 
 up into the blue sky, where a gray hawk a 
 mere soaring speck in the limitless ether was 
 wheeling slowly heavenward. Undoubtedly 
 Miss Kate recoiled with a little scream of 
 astonishment, and expressed her great surprise 
 at finding him thus idle when his associates 
 were so busy at the ranch ; whereupon it ap- 
 peared that the Oracle had been in quest of 
 the horses, as was his daily habit, and, being 
 somehow unable to find them, had thrown 
 himself down to rest a few moments before 
 proceeding further. Accordingly, when this 
 careful maiden had accounted satisfactorily for 
 the present whereabouts of the young man, she 
 became entirely oblivious of the necessity of 
 future movement on his part, and sitting down 
 beside him, challenged him with feminine in- 
 consistency to an Arcadian tete-a-tete, in the 
 course of which she expressed herself with a 
 surprising wealth of superlative as completely 
 carried away by the poetry of the ranching life. 
 And then it appeared how different was the
 
 134 THREE STKKPI10XS OF COX C HO. 
 
 Oracle's view ; how he had had five years of 
 this tedious experience, and was heartily sick 
 and tired of it ; how he was alone in the world 
 and destitute of sympathy at which point 
 Miss Kate being rash enough to offer hers, she 
 was immediately informed, with all the ardor 
 of a Southern temperament, that it lay in her 
 power to dissipate all this misery and to make 
 the Oracle the happiest of men. 
 
 It is my duty to state at this juncture that 
 when Miss Kate was thus confronted with the 
 havoc her charms had wrought, she was seized 
 with contrition, and experienced that remorse 
 which her sex are unaccustomed to develop 
 until too late for practical purposes. Yet I 
 can not entirely exonerate her from all blame. 
 
 A lady of her attractions, and who had been 
 accustomed to note the demoralizing tendencies 
 of her arts whenever she chose to smile upon 
 the masculine portion of frontier society, should 
 certainly have refrained from exerting her fas- 
 cinations upon the inexperienced ranchman. 
 Now that the mischief was done, she impressed 
 upon the Oracle as kindly as she could the 
 impossibility of his request, and then was 
 suddenly overwhelmed with grave misgivings
 
 THREE STREPHENS OF CONCHO. 135 
 
 for the welfare of her neglected sheep, and left 
 the discomfited gentleman quite abruptly. But 
 once out of his presence, the regretful beauty 
 was overcome by a surprising gayety and by 
 fits of uncontrollable laughter which she was 
 fain to explain at intervals throughout the 
 afternoon in bursts of confidence to her indif- 
 ferent flock. 
 
 With few interruptions and extraordinary 
 success the labors of the ranchmen of Concho 
 County were prosecuted. It is with pleasure 
 that I record, as an instance of the refining 
 power of woman, that these labors were unac-* 
 companied by the customary profanity. It 
 will be perhaps difficult for me to impress my 
 civilized reader with the edifying quality of 
 that morality which could resist the tempta- 
 tions of the time. They have not known the 
 trials and perplexities of the lambing season. 
 But when I assure them that it is customary 
 for sheepmen to compress within these short 
 six weeks the entire profanity of the year, and 
 testify that during this privileged season I have 
 myself detected grave elders of the Church, and 
 even frontier gentlemen of the clerical profes- 
 sion, voicing their wrath in opprobrious epithets,
 
 136 THKEE STREPHONS OF CON C HO. 
 
 and hurling lurid contumely upon certain refrac- 
 tory ewes, I trust I may convey some slight 
 notion of the phenomenal character of their 
 forbearance. Yet even in this blameless fashion 
 days and weeks flew by, and Miss Kate's visit 
 was drawing to a close. 
 
 It was then that our lovely Urania became 
 disagreeably conscious that the Cook had ex. 
 changed his. functions for those of a sighing 
 Strephon. His customary loquacity was gone; 
 his culinary efforts were mechanical and unsuc- 
 cessful ; the bacon was invariably burned and 
 the bread inexcusably sour. Given over to 
 " flashes of silence," he was moody and 
 distraught. 
 
 Personally experienced in noting the ravages 
 of the tender passion in the sterner sex, Miss 
 Kate viewed the emergency with manifest fore- 
 boding, and endeavored to avert the impending 
 crisis by avoiding him, and showing a marked 
 preference for the society of the reserved and 
 diffident Deacon. It chanced, however, that on 
 a certain rainy day the lady found it necessary 
 to seek the cheering warmth of the kitchen 
 fire, and there, after a long and depressing 
 silence, the Cook, who was engaged in setting
 
 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 137 
 
 the table, asked her, in a sadly despondent 
 tone, if she had ever noticed how lonely a 
 knife looked without a fork being placed beside 
 it. Miss Kate, with a boding feeling of alarm, 
 was coldly unconscious of this characteristic of 
 cutlery. 
 
 " I reckon it's just thet way I look, for it's 
 certainly the way I feel, Miss Kate," said he, 
 "when you're away with them sheep on the 
 range. A month ago I wouldn't have thought 
 it possible, but now, unless I can get a glimpse 
 of your purty face, I'm as soggy as bread with- 
 out 'east, and as flat as beans without salt. 
 Lookin' at it by an' large, I reckoned the best 
 thing for me to do was to jest naturally state 
 the case to you, for, if you've no objection to 
 pull in double-harness why one-quarter of 
 them sheep's mine, and we'll start a ranch to. 
 morrow on our own account." He raised his 
 eyes, which had been cast down embarrassedly, 
 but Miss Kate had ungraciously fled, leaving 
 him staring with the knife-box in his hand. 
 
 The lady absented herself from dinner that 
 day on the plea of lack of appetite, but in the 
 seclusion of her little room was visited by the 
 same unaccountable merriment that had seized 
 Jier on another occasion.
 
 138 THREE STREP H ON S OF CONCHO. 
 
 Late that night, as Miss Kate was about to 
 retire, she discovered an uncommonly large 
 bouquet upon her little table, and a small slip 
 of paper protruding from the petals of a flam, 
 ing cactus that seemed to her apprehensive fancy 
 to typify the ardent devotion of the sender. 
 Hurriedly seizing this she read the following 
 letter, which, from the many blots that covered 
 it, and the painfully cramped nature of the 
 handwriting, suggested great labor as well as 
 embarrassment in its composition : 
 
 "SWEETEST MISS I've been puttin off 
 speakin to you about suthin thet hez botherd 
 me fur a right smart chance, an somehow I 
 never cud git to say it to you yet. I spoke to 
 the old man about you yesterday and he like 
 to kill himself alaughin, so I didnt quite make 
 him out, but reckon it tickled him. I sorter 
 suspicioned youd ketch on from the bokays 
 for I wouldnt botherd so much fur eny other 
 gal an I reckon yer the peartest in all Concho 
 an ye seem to be tuk with sheep-ranchin so I 
 reckon ye know what I mean now an if your 
 agreeable please ware thet purple dress an thet 
 big white collar that makes you look just like 
 an angell, an I am yours. DEACON." 
 
 It is needless to say that the young lady ap^
 
 THREE STREPHONS OF CONCHO. 139 
 
 peared to be afflicted with mental obliquity in 
 regard to the meaning of this vague epistle, but, 
 as a precautionary measure, appeared in an en- 
 tirely different dress at breakfast the following 
 day. 
 
 It was toward sundown, several days after 
 this, that Miss Kate as demure now as she was 
 pretty requested her three suitors to accom- 
 pany her to the top of a neighboring " divide," 
 whither she had of late been wont to repair, 
 and from which the road to Paint Rock was 
 plainly visible. As they toiled up the ascent 
 her manner was eager and her face flushed ancl 
 expectant. Soon after their arrival they per- 
 ceived a horseman approaching them at a gal- 
 lop. As he drew near it was apparent, from the 
 unmistakable clothes of his calling, that he was 
 a handsome cow-man, evidently returning from 
 some remote " round-up." After the fashion of 
 those knights of the rein, he did not check his 
 speed until almost upon them, when his skilled 
 hand threw his mustang upon his haunches, and, 
 dismounting, he approached them rather myster- 
 iously from out the cloud of dust that hungabove 
 the fury of his sudden halt. But the three part- 
 ners were shocked to see Miss Kate throw herself
 
 140 THREE STREPHONS OF COXCHO. 
 
 with a cry of joy into the arms of this gallant 
 equestrian, and completely stunned by her 
 instantly presenting him to the trio as her 
 absent husband. In a surprisingly short space 
 of time the reunited couple were left alone 
 upon the hill. 
 
 But, half-way down the descent, the Oracle 
 stopped and laid a hand upon the rugged 
 shoulder of each of his companions, and gazed 
 into their humiliated eyes. 
 
 " To think, boys to think thet for the last 
 six weeks thet ornery Old Man has been takin' 
 on in private, and quietly playin' this hull out- 
 fit thefs what jest naturally gets me / "
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 TT was the close of the Spring " round-ups." For 
 1 weeks past the hollow valleys had resounded 
 with angry bellow and hurrying hoof. The 
 organized bands of horsemen that with goad- 
 ing shout and swinging lariat had pressed the. 
 flying squadrons of the plains were all disbanding 
 and breaking up. The last calf had been roped 
 and branded ; the last drifting estray cut out and 
 turned back into his own territory. Left to 
 themselves at last, the tortured, panic-stricken 
 cattle dispersed in straggling troops along the 
 river-bottoms, or panting sought the shade and 
 security of the higher hills. 
 
 It was indirectly due to this fact that the 
 little town of Paint Rock, on the afternoon 
 of May 5, 1883, was the scene of excep- 
 tional hilarity. Not that its usually quiet and
 
 142 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 well-behaved inhabitants took part or shared at 
 all in the present excitement. A long contem- 
 plated picnic had absorbed its feminine attrac- 
 tions, and apparently levied largely upon its 
 masculine resources. The present levity was to 
 be attributed entirely to the irruption of a dis- 
 cordant and unusual element. For the past 
 fortnight stray bands of cow-boys had been 
 dropping into the little frontier town, until on 
 the afternoon in question its single narrow 
 street was unpleasantly vocal with these 
 knights of the rein. It would seem that the 
 available remainder of its citizens was needed 
 to represent the two prominent business inter- 
 ests of the locality. Within the popular pre- 
 cincts of his seductive saloon, Mr. James Wily 
 dispensed alcoholic consolation over his narrow 
 bar, and held out the fascinations of civilization 
 in the musical click of billiard balls and the 
 ominous rattle of other ivory that was not 
 spheroidal. 
 
 " Yer see how it is," explained " Kickapoo 
 Dick," to the unsuspecting spouse whom he had 
 lately wedded, and who had discovered certain 
 parti-colored discs in the pocket of his ducking 
 jacket, " When a feller plays a game of bil-
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 143 
 
 lards, he hez the privilege o' takin' a drink or 
 gettin' a check. Now /allers takes a check." 
 
 At the upper end of the village the rival 
 establishment of Hackett's furnishing store, 
 apparently possessed an equal attraction in the 
 prominent display of revolvers, leathern leg- 
 gings, knee-boots, sombreros, " slickers," and 
 other frontier articles of utility and adornment. 
 Both did a flourishing business, and their inco- 
 herent and effusive patrons in the expressive 
 vernacular of Paint Rock, were engaged in 
 " running the town." 
 
 Doubtless this peculiar enterprise of the 
 Texan cow-boy possessed little interest for Mr. 
 Josh Blunt. He had officiated at too many 
 performances of like nature to find their details 
 either novel or engrossing. When, therefore, 
 the eccentric gentlemen in the billiard-saloon 
 evinced a disposition to begin the festivities 
 with a wild and grotesque war-dance, accom- 
 panied by an opening overture of six-shooters 
 discharged at different points of the compass, 
 but chiefly, with a becoming disregard for other 
 occupants of the premises, into the ceiling 
 overhead, he languidly detached either elbow 
 from the bar in which attitude he had been
 
 144 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 absorbed in throwing dice and quietly passed 
 from the room. Neither did the equestrian 
 accomplishments of several of his brethren who 
 were' engaged in the ostentatious breaking of a 
 wild mustang engross his attention, and he 
 beheld one of them ride the pony up a flight of 
 steps and into the main room of a furnished 
 house with the same pensive unconcern. 
 
 Apparently in search of excitement, he 
 strolled listlessly through the village, and event- 
 ually into the store of Hackett. Here he 
 gravely resisted the hospitality of a large paint- 
 sign which the enterprising proprietor had hung 
 out in generous rivalry of the lower establish- 
 ment, and whose flaming capitals had hitherto 
 engrossed the immediate attention of all callers. 
 " Whisky Free in the Back Room " was the 
 purport of this popular announcement. Here, 
 with the same imperturbable gravity, he beheld 
 Rube Smart purchasing a one-hundred-dollar 
 saddle, and strapping it carefully upon a lean, 
 broken-winded broncho of the value of twenty- 
 five ; others exhibiting the customary solicitude 
 in the purchase of expensive hats and boots, and 
 displaying a corresponding contempt for cloth- 
 ing intermediate parts of the body ; and noted
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 145 
 
 variously, with the sneer of a superior philos- 
 ophy, that unpardonable extravagance which, 
 in the American cow-boy, is the inevitable 
 accompaniment of excessive stimulation. And 
 here he received an answer to a note which he 
 had dispatched earlier in the afternoon, the 
 receipt of which caused him to look graver than 
 ever. 
 
 The fact was, the expectations of Mr. Josh 
 Blunt had just been severely dashed. He had 
 confidently set aside this particular afternoon 
 for a long meditated call upon Miss Flo Brooks, 
 a local belle. With due deference to the de- 
 mands of Texan etiquette, and in entire accord- 
 ance with the established precedents of fron- 
 tier society, he had given notice of his purpose 
 by a preliminary note. I think that Mr. Josh 
 Blunt was dimly aware that the terms in which 
 he couched his intention were not particularly 
 happy. That, as he laid down his pen, he was 
 struck by the resemblance borne by his rude 
 handwriting to an erratic assortment of cow- 
 brands, I am quite positive. However, a con- 
 sciousness of the fact that his former essays in 
 chirography had been limited to the branding 
 of his cattle and camp equipments with his
 
 146 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 characteristic label 3. X. C, and that his im- 
 plements had been respectively a hot iron and 
 a jack-knife, may have made his own criticism 
 of his efforts peculiarly generous and charitable. 
 " C. U. BY. 3." was the terse and somewhat 
 rebus-like expression of Mr. Blunt's laconics. 
 
 But however legible had been the announce- 
 ment of the gentleman's purpose, its import 
 was apparently unavailing. The message was 
 returned with the information that Miss Brooks 
 was not at home that afternoon, and Mr. Blunt 
 was correspondingly chagrined and disconsolate. 
 Who had the boy seen ? Only Old Man Brooks, 
 who was setting out trees in his door-yard. Did 
 he know definitely where Miss Flo had gone? 
 No! Old Brooks definitely didn't; all he could 
 say was that Miss Flo had disappeared imme- 
 diately after dinner, and as her pony was gone 
 from the barn, he " reckoned she'd took a ride 
 somewhar." Mr. Blunt must call again. 
 
 Accustomed to note the freedom that charac- 
 terized Miss Brooks's movements, Mr. Blunt did 
 not feel called upon to express himself in regard 
 to Old Brooks's ignorance of his daughter's 
 whereabouts, or to advert disparagingly upon 
 his many short-comings as a parent. In com-
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 147 
 
 mon with the rest of the eligible youth of the 
 locality, Mr. Blunt had long ago arrived at the 
 conclusion that if Old Brooks attempted any 
 innovations in parental government, or any in- 
 fringements of personal liberty, he would have 
 his hands full in enforcing them. Miss Flo was 
 known to have a mind of her own, and to be 
 tenacious of keeping it. The wife of Old 
 Brooks a faded " specimen of Texan efflor- 
 escence " after a few vain attempts in the 
 way of suggestion and precept, had resigned 
 in despair. Left to the inadequate care of her 
 father, she was accredited with the distinguish- 
 ing accomplishment of *' running the old 
 man." 
 
 Perhaps she had very little to run. Old 
 Brooks was a cheerful example of thriftless 
 good fortune. As an instance of the pecuniary 
 reward that awaits persistent endeavor, he was 
 not a success. He was a native of the State, 
 and in his early life had accepted the easy, 
 shiftless, vagabond life of a frontier tramp. He 
 had bloomed and blossomed with the prairie 
 grasses, and apparently with as little effort. An 
 overweening confidence in the enticements of 
 " Mexican Monte "absorbed his scanty earnings,
 
 148 AN EPISODE OF P AIN'T ROCK. 
 
 and the acceptance of Paint Rock whisky as & 
 fortifier against pecuniary loss had at one 
 time threatened to abbreviate his "gilded and 
 ephemeral existence." But a day of triumph 
 dawned. In one short hour of marvelous 
 luck, Brooks absorbed the capital and broke 
 the bank of the " Blue Goose Saloon." I have 
 not space to dilate upon the round of fashion- 
 able dissipation with which Brooks saw fit to 
 signalize his phenomenal good fortune. Suffice 
 it that at the end of a week most of the in- 
 habitants of Paint Rock being in consequence 
 in a state of depressed alcoholism he awoke 
 to a consciousness of disorganized nerves, and 
 the decease of the ruined gambler who had 
 sought surcease of sorrow in suicide. In a fit 
 of remorse Brooks buried the professional 
 gentleman, and invested the sum left from his 
 convivial exploits in a herd of cattle. If, in 
 accordance with natural laws, this investment 
 had quadrupled in value, Brooks had little 
 more than impulse to thank for his present 
 wealth. But with the assumption of social im- 
 portance and position as a cattle owner, he dis- 
 carded his dissipated habits. Not so for a long 
 period, his primitive method of housekeeping,
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 149 
 
 or his frontier style of dress. It had not 
 occurred to Brooks that bacon and beans as an 
 article of diet, or rawhide and red-flannel as an 
 external covering, were inconsistent with his 
 rank as the richest cattle man in Concho County. 
 He received his first intimations on this head 
 from his aging wife and maturing daughter. 
 Acting by an inspiration from that quarter, he 
 had erected a commodious frame house, fur- 
 nished it sumptuously, and somewhat suspi- 
 ciously accepted some of the comforts of a 
 growing civilization ; but he still resisted all 
 attacks upon his conventional raiment as an 
 infringement of an inherent prerogative. This 
 singular obstinacy was a matter of deep grief to 
 the shoddy sensibilities of Mrs. Brooks. 
 
 " Yer jest blightin' Flora's prospects and 
 killin' the rest of the furniture by yer ornery 
 an' permiskiss appearance," she had remarked 
 to him on one occasion. As the catalogue of 
 Miss Flo's suitors had hitherto included only 
 illiterate cow-men, Mrs. Brooks's remonstrance 
 seemed scarcely pertinent. Indeed, the aspir- 
 ing tendencies of mother and daughter had 
 obtained for them the distinction of being 
 " stuck-up." This social attitude was visited
 
 150 AN EPISODE OF PAIXT ROCK. 
 
 with appropriate resentment by their female 
 neighbors. 
 
 " Ef thet woman o' Old Brooks allows to 
 lord it over me by slingin' style," said Mrs. 
 Judge Treddle, as she stretched a temporary 
 clothes-line between the posts of her front-gal- 
 lery, " I reckon I'll remind her o' what she 
 was onct. 'Pears she's clean forgot that she an' 
 me took in washin' when this yer town was 
 only a camp. An' the airs o' thet Flo o' her'n, 
 with her starched petticoats and embroidered 
 flounces, a reckonin' herself a heap better nor 
 my Clorinder, along o' her Galveston eddica- 
 tion, an' novel readin', and sendin' out her duds 
 to git washed ! I ain't naterally no patience 
 with her for a lazy, stuck-up piece!" 
 
 Whereupon the indignant matron, with much 
 exaggeration of effort and appropriate derisive 
 pantomime, exhibited herself at the washtub 
 to the gaze of her former laundry assistant, 
 when she took her customary afternoon ride, 
 and hung up her entire contribution to that 
 lady's fading memory, in flapping and humiliat- 
 ing testimony upon the front porch. 
 
 All these peculiarities of his Dulcinea's 
 family were familiar to Mr. Josh Blunt, as he
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK, \ 5 1 
 
 accepted his disappointment, and lounged 
 slowly back to the Blue Goose Saloon. All at 
 once it occurred to him that he would have an 
 early opportunity of meeting his fair one. He 
 was reminded first of an impending " hop " at 
 the residence of Old Brooks, and second of his 
 degraded corporal condition. It occurred to 
 him that his appearance might be improved 
 and his feelings benefited by the luxury of a 
 bath. He was so impressed by this reflection 
 that he communicated it to the gentlemanly 
 proprietor of the Blue Goose. 
 
 " My Christian friend," said that gentleman, 
 walking to the doorway, and comprehending 
 Blunt's unwashed exterior and the remote land- 
 scape in a single glance of paternal solicitude, 
 "yonder is the Concho River, and here's a piece 
 of soap ! Perhaps from gin'ral appearances it 
 might improve you to take advantage of both. 
 Far be it from me to prevent any hankerin' o' 
 yours for thet kind of refreshment, but I keeps 
 no bathin' establishment ! " 
 
 With which cheerful avowal he resumed his 
 duties at the bar, and the astonished Mr. Blunt 
 leaped into his saddle and galloped away. 
 
 Meanwhile, the missing Camilla of his affeg-
 
 152 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 tions, mounted upon her little pony, was scour- 
 ing the long levels that led to the Ford, very 
 picturesque in her pretty riding-dress, very 
 animated in demeanor, and very rosy with 
 exercise. An hour before the arrival of Mr. 
 Blunt's missive she had slipped quietly to the 
 barn in the rear of her father's house, and 
 " cinching " the saddle-girths of " Pansy " with 
 her own pretty, trembling fingers, dashed away 
 over the trackless prairie with a careless free- 
 dom that betrayed her familiarity with her 
 surroundings. Indeed, in an aesthetic sense, it 
 was a matter of regret that there was no appre- 
 ciative spectator to carry away with him the 
 memory of her charming presence. From the 
 wild verbenas which an inspiration peculiarly 
 feminine had led her to twine among the dark 
 tresses of her imperious little head, to the 
 shapely, well-booted foot that peeped occasion- 
 ally from the plunging skirts of her habit, she 
 was very bewildering in a locality where that 
 epithet could not with safety be applied to the 
 majority of her sex. But if she escaped the 
 admiration of a society perhaps too extrava- 
 gant in its appreciation of feminine charms, 
 there were other animate critics unusually
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 153 
 
 voluble. It seemed to Miss Flo that she had 
 never known the prairie-dogs so enthusiastic, 
 applauding her in pigmy hosts, with monoto- 
 nous encore, from their many burrows, or sitting 
 speechless, bolt upright, and with protesting 
 fore-paws acknowledging her many fascinations. 
 A monkish chaparral-bird who was out that 
 afternoon on his regular parochial calls was 
 constrained to mount the trunk of a fallen tree 
 and survey her admiringly as she passed. After 
 which he hurried away, shaking his grave head 
 beneath its cowl, as if he were more than 
 usually impressed with the vanity of all earthly 
 things. And even when she neared the river, 
 a heavy, lumbering owl, slipping from the 
 shady depths of a pecan, was fain to express his 
 surprise in a soft " Hoo-oo ! " of inquiry a 
 question which he had never, hitherto, felt 
 called upon to ask by daylight. 
 
 I think Miss Flo was glad to reach her ren- 
 dezvous. Certainly her manner was eager, 
 although about her moist, red lips there was a 
 playful petulance that was, perhaps, as danger- 
 ous as it was fascinating. The spot where she 
 had halted was singularly picturesque and charm- 
 ing. It was a little hollow in the river's margin,
 
 154 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 embowered among the mesquites whose scanty 
 shade was supplemented by clinging creepers 
 and trailing vines. Within its leafy circle a 
 jubilant spring that brawled over a ledge of 
 rocks, and dripped its crystal overflow into a 
 rocky basin held out a promise of coolness 
 and quiet amid a flickering half-light of spray 
 and shadow, particularly grateful after the fierce 
 glare without. Through a rift in the foliage, 
 the broad, sluggish Concho glistened in the 
 sunlight, and sparkled away in slow moving 
 shallows, over which a fish-hawk, intent upon his 
 finny prey, was tremulously poised. And away 
 on the farther bank, a motte of huge pecans, 
 standing like giant sentinels over the dwarfed 
 landscape, filled the eye with remote vistas in 
 their shady, twilight aisles. 
 
 It was very still. Sitting quietly in her 
 saddle, Miss Flo could hear distinctly the shout 
 of some of the picnickers on the farther shore, 
 and even catch a glimpse of a fluttering ribbon, 
 or the gathered skirts of some curious rambler 
 against the painted bluffs beyond, still pictur- 
 esque with the uncouth record of a fleeting 
 race. 
 
 Indeed the little frontier village had its
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 155 
 
 memories of the warlike Apaches. But their 
 familiar frescoes had little interest for the fair 
 equestrienne. 
 
 Her quick eyes wandered rapidly and dis- 
 appointedly up and down the river. Then she 
 turned them listlessly upon objects within her 
 bower. Here they encountered other hiero- 
 glyphics equally rude, but modern in character. 
 From the nature of these sculptured legends, 
 this sequestered spot seemed to suggest a tryst. 
 There was the likeness of a rude heart upon 
 the opposite tree; grievously transfixed by the 
 archery of Cupid. And lower down were 
 certain letters and initials, united by the curving 
 brace with which youthful sentimentalists are 
 wont to indicate mutual affinity. 
 
 Suddenly a plaintive murmur was wafted 
 from the opposite shore. Miss Flo raised her 
 head with a slight start. The dim spaces of 
 the remote pecans were filled with white, tum- 
 bling, flocculent masses that surged against their 
 trunks, and ran nervously along the river's 
 margin. A rising flush crimsoned her tell-tale 
 cheeks, and half unconsciously she murmured 
 the single word " Sheep! " 
 
 The shrinking, timid herd recoiled from the
 
 156 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 brink, exhibiting a feminine coyness about 
 wetting their dainty buskins. At last a horse- 
 man made his way slowly through the dividing 
 throng, leading by a confining rope a reluctant 
 ewe whose bell tinkled fitfully as if in remon- 
 strance and alarm. Still seated in the saddle, 
 he plunged into the shallows, dragging behind 
 him his timorous charge. A wail of deprecation 
 rose from the woolly spectators upon the shore. 
 Then they developed a solicitude and sympathy 
 peculiarly ovine, running anxiously from point 
 to point, and impatiently chiding the receding 
 captor. A few of the boldest ventured into the 
 pebbly shoals ; their example was instantly 
 followed by others who thronged behind them. 
 Ahd first a trembling, swaying, pontoon-like 
 barrier was stretched across the silent river ; and 
 then an irregular, surging host, deprecating the 
 discomforts of this enforced paddling. 
 
 Hidden within her leafy covert that concealed 
 her brilliant eyes and heightened color, Miss 
 Brooks scrutinized carefully the approaching 
 horseman. He appeared to be a strong, well- 
 made Englishman, with a good-humored face 
 that had lost something of its ruddy complexion 
 before the fierce sun of southern latitudes. Not
 
 A tf EPJS ODE OF PA INT RO CA\ 1 5 7 
 
 until he had dismounted and was bending com- 
 passionately over the discomfited ewe which 
 seemed to have absorbed an unnecessary amount 
 of water in her enforced fording and was quite 
 faint and dripping, did the young lady betray 
 her presence. At this juncture she coughed 
 slightly and waved a small handkerchief. The 
 young man looked up, caught sight of the 
 fluttering signal, and, with an exclamation of 
 pleasure, sprang again into the saddle and rode 
 hurriedly into the bower. 
 
 I have a reluctance about transcribing the 
 particulars of the meeting -that took place 
 within those sacred precincts. As a matter of 
 fact, however, a contemplative raven that was 
 lazily sunning himself in an adjacent tree-top, 
 had his finer feelings shocked by the informality 
 of the young lady's greeting, and the enthusi- 
 astic advances of her companion. There was a 
 certain novelty, too, about the proceedings, aris- 
 ing from the fact that the tete-a-tete was eques- 
 trian, and that there seemed to be an occult 
 sympathy between their mustangs, who pressed 
 their heaving flanks together, while their riders 
 leaned across in their saddles, and exchanged 
 certain salutes and caresses, that, to the mind
 
 158 . AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 of the somber and solitary ascetic upon the limb 
 above, appeared entirely inconsistent with con- 
 fidential communication. He croaked his dis- 
 gust and flew away. 
 
 Then there were murmurs too, and hand pres- 
 sures, preliminary to a not overwise conversa- 
 tion, but which, perhaps, the sincerity of expres- 
 sion pardoned. In the course of which there 
 were certain vague references to Galveston that 
 probably accounted for this surprising intimacy, 
 and the disclosure that a Mr. Percy Russell 
 was just from Abilene with 2,000 head of Cali- 
 fornia yearlings, and on his way to his newly 
 purchased ranch upon Upper Kickapoo. Inci- 
 dental to all this, a little episode occurred, 
 which had the boding raven remained to see 
 it might have possibly disarmed his former 
 scruples. 
 
 Having possessed himself of one of Miss 
 Flo's small hands, he slipped a glittering cir- 
 clet upon a dimpled finger with a light, caress- 
 ing touch. He was still holding these dimpled 
 fingers in his own, when there was a sudden 
 crash in the underbrush, the jingling of spurs, 
 the snort of a hurrying steed, and a burly 
 figure, surmounted by a swarthy, scowling face,
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAhVT ROCK. 159 
 
 grasping the reins in his left hand, and a bar 
 of yellow soap in his right, burst abruptly into 
 the inclosure. He gave the surprised couple a 
 hurried, confused stare ; grew suddenly white ; 
 and dashed fiercely away before they had time 
 to change their position. Both uttered a 
 forced laugh and glanced embarrassedly at one 
 another. A silence followed, so long as to be 
 both painful and distressing. 
 
 The pathos of love's communion seemed to 
 have been dissipated by this rude interruption. 
 Miss Flo soon bethought her of returning home, 
 and Mr. Russell was reminded that his herds- 
 men were arriving with the stragglers and de- 
 linquents of his flock. 
 
 " Mind that you come to the 'hop' at the 
 house, to-morrow night, dear ! " was her part- 
 ing injunction. " And dress just as you did at 
 the 'Assemblies ' in Galveston," she added with 
 feminine impulse ; " I'm so sick of these frontier 
 costumes ! " 
 
 Then there was a very pretty, momentary 
 tableau, during which Miss Flo's slightly aqui- 
 line profile was outlined against a manly bosom, 
 and then the hurrying footsteps of her horse 
 were heard in the distance.
 
 160 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 Before noon of the next day there were 
 rumors in Paint Rock that an unpleasant en- 
 counter had taken place at the river. These 
 were necessarily vague, but sufficiently definite 
 to awaken lively anticipations in a community 
 where trifling social differences were often at- 
 tended with sanguinary details. Mr. Josh 
 Blunt had returned from his bathing trip, 
 without the bar of soap, but with no visible 
 signs of an ameliorated condition ; and his 
 garments exhibited signs of suffering from 
 thorns that were probably but a mild prototype 
 of his more deeply lacerated feelings. Im- 
 mediately upon his return he had plunged into 
 unusual convivial excess, and, when somewhat 
 maudlin, had indulged in certain sarcastic and 
 defiant reflections, in which the recurring 
 phrases of " bloody Britisher," " bleeding John 
 Bull," together with frequent reiteration of 
 the statement that an inordinate amount of 
 blood was necessary to efface the recollection 
 of some unpardonable wrong, seemed to argue 
 a speedy gratification of the curiosity of his 
 auditors. It was at this time that his intoxi- 
 cated judgment led him to dictate an indignant 
 letter to Miss Brooks, through the intervention
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 161 
 
 ot Kickapoo Dick as amanuensis a profound 
 conviction insinuating itself even through his 
 spirituous disguise that the language of symbols 
 was entirely inadequate to the emergency. 
 
 " It seems to pint as ef things might be lively 
 up to Old Brooks's to-night," remarked that gen- 
 tleman to Mr. Wily, as he recruited himself 
 from his labors at his genial bar. " Josh hez 
 been sharpenin' thet bowie of his'n in a pensive, 
 sighin' sorter way, ever since he got back, yes- 
 tiddy, and whisky don't seem to improve him 
 none. He allows to hevin' a strong pussonal 
 bias agin the English shrimp from Abilene 
 thet bought my ranch. Reckon it'd pay you 
 to make a short call." 
 
 It was a hot night. The cool Gulf breezes 
 that at that season are wont to take long 
 rambles inland, visiting the odorous prairie with 
 a refreshing coolness which is the prevalent 
 charm of a Texan night, preferring to linger 
 that evening in the embrace of the booming 
 coast. There was an ominous glow in the sky, 
 and all along the Northern horizon were 
 sudden flashes of light that, at times, burst 
 upon the eye in twisted corselets of fire, and 
 gleaming links of chain lightning. Such stars
 
 162 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 as were visible were feeble and furtive, save 
 where the planet Mars blazed with an angry 
 flush above the dark outline of the painted 
 bluffs beyond. 
 
 Lights twinkled in the Blue Goose Saloon, 
 where business was unusually brisk in view of 
 the coming festivity, and where the obliging 
 proprietor, in the easy freedom of shirt sleeves 
 and tilted cigar, attended to the many wants 
 of his customers. The violent ringing of the 
 bell of room No. 8 interrupted his labors. 
 
 "John!" called Mr. Wily from behind the 
 bar, " see what that English snipe is yankin* 
 his bell about ! " The individual addressed 
 disappeared up the narrow stairway. 
 
 "Well, what is it? Cocktails?" he inquired 
 perfunctorily, when the man reappeared a few 
 minutes later. " Cocktails ! " retorted the man 
 ruefully, " nary time ! He allows thet it dis- 
 agrees with him to hev the profile of former 
 hoccupants starin' hat 'im from hoff the pillow 
 don't yer know ! And thet ef he's goin' to 
 sleep thar to-night, yer must change the pillow- 
 case." 
 
 This fastidiousness raised a laugh in the bar- 
 room.
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 163 
 
 " Tell him to pin his hankercher onto the 
 pillow, and thet we don't make no provision 
 for tenderfoots," responded the proprietor 
 cheerfully. 
 
 The man departed with the message. But 
 a violent jingling of the bell again recalled 
 him. 
 
 " Well what now ? " inquired Mr. Wily with 
 an air of resignation. 
 
 " He's howlin' fur water now, and towels ! " 
 gasped his breathless servant. 
 
 "Humph! Ain't thar no window-curtain in 
 No. 8? "inquired the puzzled landlord. "Is 
 it possible he don't know thet thar's a tin 
 basin down in the bar-room, an' other toylet 
 articles allus provided for the guests o' this yer 
 Hotel?" he added impatiently. "Git! you 
 idgit ! he's playin' yer! " 
 
 But there were other demands, rapid, vehe- 
 ment, and persistent, culminating in the request 
 for a better light. 
 
 " Tell that gilt-edged son of a Juke," screamed 
 the now infuriated proprietor, " thet the 
 electric light's out of order, the telephone's 
 broke, and the telegraph operator is out, just 
 now, on a little pasear, but if it'll gratify him,
 
 164 AN EPISODE OF PA1XT kGCfa 
 
 we'll send to New York by the next steamer 
 for all the modern improvements ! Ask him ef 
 he's aware thet he's in Texas, on the frontier, 
 and only three years behind the Ingins ! Tell 
 him," he added with withering sarcasm, " thet 
 sence he wants the airth for fifty cents, we'll 
 engage it as soon as we can get the refusal, and 
 while we're about it we'll hev it fried and sent 
 up to his room." 
 
 But his eloquence was stopped by the appear- 
 ance of his exacting guest, enveloped in a long 
 English ulster that swept to his heels, and with 
 an opera hat surmounting his audacious head. 
 
 Mr. James Wily leaned against the bar for 
 support; his guests recoiled in dismay; and 
 Kickapoo Dick, with an assumption of exag- 
 gerated alarm, played for a moment nervously 
 with the handle of his revolver. 
 
 " Wai, dern my skin! " exclaimed the former 
 audibly as the faultless figure passed out, 
 " thet black nail kag hat is what thet feller had 
 in that leather-case ; I packed it up to his 
 room very careful, reckonin' it might possibly 
 be his duelin' pistols." 
 
 The commodious mansion of Old Brooks 
 was brilliantly illuminated, and its smiling
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK, 165 
 
 proprietor, conspicuous in a recently purchased 
 red-shirt, and with his ingenuous features 
 shining from ablutions unusually thorough, 
 received his guests in the front-hall with awk- 
 ward and labored cordiality. 
 
 Prudent preparations for the coming festivity 
 had been made. The Brussels carpet, imported 
 at great expense from Galveston, had been 
 taken up in the parlors, and the modern furni- 
 ture carefully removed. " Jest to give the 
 boys an opportunity to turn loose and sling 
 their spurs a little," he confidentially explained 
 to the first arrival. The mantel-shelves were 
 occupied by a processional torch-light parade 
 of tallow candles inserted in lager beer bottles, 
 and the posts of the front gallery on which the 
 folding doors of the ball-room opened, sup- 
 ported several parti-colored Japanese lanterns. 
 The village school-master presided at the melo- 
 deon, and the violinist, who had come forty 
 miles that day with the up-stage from Menard, 
 was seriously rosining his bow. The invited 
 guests, affluent in white shirts and aggressive in 
 equipment as regards the masculine portion, 
 and timid, blushing, and overburdened with 
 ribbons and sentiment in their feminine con-
 
 1 66 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK, 
 
 tingent but all exhibiting that awkward pre- 
 occupation which characterizes individuals to 
 whom social events are only an episode, were 
 dispersed about the room, or apparently glued 
 to its blank walls, when a flutter of excitement 
 was caused by the entrance of Miss Flo, very 
 simply and tastefully dressed in white, and 
 leaning on the arm of Percy Russell, who was 
 in full evening dress. Then the hum of con- 
 versation was hushed by the voice of Old 
 Brooks, who had advanced to the center of the 
 room. 
 
 " And now, boys, wade in, and don't stop to 
 consider shoe-leather," remarked that genial 
 host with informal hospitality, "Every thing's 
 ready for ye. Thar's whisky and cigars in the 
 supper-room for them that wants 'em, and cards 
 and social convarse for them as don't dance. 
 Likewise a music-box on the settin' room table 
 that winds up and may amuse them ez hezn't 
 seen one of them nateral tune-grinders. I 
 trust ye'll all act ez though ye was to hum, 
 and jist naturally enjoy yourselves." 
 
 And even with this easy introduction, the 
 fiddle squeaked, the melodeon wheezed a son- 
 orous accompaniment, and the festivities began.
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 167 
 
 It was a gala night in the history of Paint 
 Rock. Whether owing to a social spirit 
 engendered by the opening speech of the genial 
 Brooks, or attributable to the more potent 
 influences of the supper-room, the mirth and 
 fun were soon fast and furious. Legs that in the 
 saddle were supple and elastic, but in the meas- 
 ures of the dance wofully uncompromising and 
 erratic, whirled in the waltz and chasseed in 
 the quadrille. A few scions of the plains, car- 
 ried away by enthusiasm, undertook certain 
 ambitious steps and gambols which, regarded 
 as inspirations acquired from a study of the 
 habits of frolicsome calves, were faithful and 
 painstaking, but did not contribute to the grace 
 or decorum of the occasion. 
 
 The festivities were at their height, and the 
 dancers engaged in the performance of a fron- 
 tier favorite, wherein the taste of both sexes 
 was displayed and an opportunity afforded of 
 "bowing to the wittiest, dancing with the pret- 
 tiest, and swinging the one loved best," and the 
 fiddler, absorbed in the calling of his figures 
 and carried away by his own harmony, with 
 rapt eyeballs and the grimaces of the natural 
 performer, was executing solitary pirouettes on
 
 1 68 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 his own account, to the demoralization of some 
 of the audience, when there was a shout, a mut- 
 tered imprecation, the sound of a fierce, 
 momentary scuffle, and a man writhing fiercely 
 in the grasp of another who brandished a gleam- 
 ing bowie, struggled into the center of the room. 
 It needed but a glance to distinguish Blunt 
 and Russell. But the latter, how changed ! His 
 dress-coat torn, his immaculate linen rumpled 
 and soiled, his face bloodless and convulsed by 
 the desperation of effort with which he re- 
 strained the other from using the knife. 
 
 A dozen hands separated the combatants. 
 The frightened guests gathered about the 
 excited group. Then followed words of explan- 
 ation and remonstrance, that ceased as Old 
 Man Brooks addressed the belligerent couple in 
 a tone of querulous disapproval. 
 
 " It's playin' it rather low down upon me an' 
 my family, gentlemen," he began rather feebly. 
 " Is this yer an Abilene shindig that ye must 
 come cavortin' round with bowie-knives?" he 
 inquired of Blunt with a sudden access of energy. 
 
 That individual vouchsafed no reply. His 
 eyes glanced hurriedly past his interlocutor; 
 lighted up with a baleful fire as they rested
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 169 
 
 upon his late antagonist ; and remarking, " Six- 
 shooters ! on sight ! " he turned on his heel 
 suddenly and left the ball-room. 
 
 The music rose again but the spirit of festiv- 
 ity was broken. A more exciting topic pos- 
 sessed the minds of all. Guests, collected hi 
 little groups, discussed the recent incident, and 
 rumor flew from lip to lip. Not a few departed 
 altogether. 
 
 In the crowded supper-room, Kickapoo Dick, 
 seated luxuriously cigar in mouth, related the 
 details of the late unpleasantness to a breath- 
 less circle. 
 
 " The facts is simple, boys," said that gentle- 
 man, rising above the trammels of grammar in 
 the sincerity of his narration, " Me an' Josh 
 settin' here smokin', passin' the bottle, and 
 chattin' keerless and free. In comes thet 
 English shrimp thet bought my ranch an' 
 . lights a segar on his own account. Josh looks 
 up, sees English shrimp, strikes an attitude and 
 says ' ^4 gar song ! dern me! Here, waiter, 
 parse me them biscuits ! ' English shrimp 
 looks insulted and fetches him one with thet 
 accordion hat o' his'n. Josh draws immejet an* 
 reckons to pin him, an' the rest yer knows."
 
 1 70 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 In a corner of the front gallery, where the 
 waning light of a delirious moon filtered through 
 the clinging tendrils of a Virginia creeper, a pale 
 face and two white arms were raised appealingly 
 to some one hidden in the shadow. 
 
 " I'm so frightened, dear ! " said a soft voice. 
 " What will you do? " 
 
 " I fear there is but one way out of it," came 
 sadly from the shadow. 
 
 " You mean that you must fight ? " asked the 
 soft voice tremblingly. 
 
 " I do," was the quiet answer. 
 
 " Oh, Percy! Percy!" sobbed the voice de- 
 spairingly, as a cloud drifted over the moon and 
 the corner of the gallery was enveloped in 
 darkness. 
 
 Long before daylight the next morning the 
 little village of Paint Rock was astir. A con- 
 sciousness of the fact that two of its visitors 
 were to "look for one another" at daybreak, 
 made the usually tranquil slumbers of its in- 
 habitants disturbed and restless. When it was 
 understood that this inquiring search was to be 
 prosecuted in the long, tangled swale that 
 stretched for half a mile at the foot of the 
 bluffs which gave the town its name, there were 
 early pilgrimages in that direction,
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 17 J 
 
 It was a gray and ghostly dawn. Pale mists, 
 rising from the river, were caught in the spread- 
 ing branches of the pecans, or drifted lazily 
 across the line of cliffs, whose grotesque figures 
 and diabolical devices, streaked with carmine 
 and vermilion, stared in the truthful light of 
 early morning. With the first rays of the sun 
 voices were heard on opposite sides of the 
 swale. 
 
 " Make sure work of him, Josh ! This foreign 
 capital is ruinin' the country ! " remarked Kick- 
 apoo Dick as he pressed a pair of regulation 
 " Colts" into the hands of his principal. 
 
 " Don't fret yourself," retorted the other 
 coolly. " I'll take care o' all thet." 
 
 On the other side, Old Brooks was parting 
 from Percy Russell with much warmth and 
 feeling. 
 
 " How's yer narves, my boy ? " he inquired 
 anxiously. " Won't ye irrigate before ye start 
 in?" producing a black bottle from the 
 side pocket of his ducking jacket. " Wai, 
 tastes differ," he soliloquized, as Russell re- 
 fused the proffered liquor. " Perhaps yer better 
 without it. Howsomever, I done all my early 
 fightin' on this yer sort of inspiration," he
 
 172 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 added, indulging in personal reminiscence. 
 " Keep straight across by the sun. Line him 
 ef ye can, boy, and shoot smart, for he's right 
 peart with a six-shooter, Josh is." 
 
 With this encouraging advice he stepped 
 aside, and the Englishman disappeared in the 
 thick shrubbery. 
 
 Hours passed. The serried lances of the sun 
 pierced the tangled thicket, but betrayed no 
 sign of life in its silent depths. Overhead 
 from the blue empyrean a pair of hawks called 
 shrilly to one another, and wove their soaring 
 circles. Perched on the jutting crags above, 
 and outlined against the horizon, the spectators 
 watched and waited in breathless expectation. 
 Bets were freely offered and taken on the result. 
 Six-shooters and silver watches, Mexican spurs 
 and ivory-handled bowies staked with a free- 
 dom inconsistent with the value usually put 
 upon those articles, indicated the absorbing 
 excitement. Slowly the hours dragged along. 
 The lengthened strain was beginning to tell on 
 the audience. What must be its effect upon th-e 
 participants ? At last the sun, towering at the 
 meridian, sent the shadows .northward. " The 
 odds are even," was the general comment as 
 they shifted their positions,
 
 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 173 
 
 What was that ? A shot surely, but so far 
 away it sounded like the mere popping of a 
 cork. A faint wreath of smoke rose and drifted 
 away far to the right. 
 
 The crowd upon the ledge brightened up and 
 listened. Ten minutes passed. Then, there 
 being no repetition, the excitement flagged. The 
 more elevated positions were abandoned ; pipes 
 were lighted ; some were playing cards. Slowly 
 the sun sank and the shadows lengthened. 
 
 At length a shout from Kickapoo Dick 
 dropped the cards from the players' fingers. 
 
 A figure, splashed with mud, torn with the 
 thicket, was visible on the trail nearest the river. 
 // was the Englishman. 
 
 With shouts and exclamations of surprise, 
 the men hurried down the sides of the bluff 
 eager for the news. What were the particulars ? 
 Had he killed him at the first fire? With 
 astonishment they heard his reply. He had 
 not seen Blunt since the night before. 
 
 Not seen him ? Had he not heard that shot ? 
 Yes, he had heard the shot, and turned in its 
 direction, but had seen nothing. His pistols 
 were undischarged. 
 
 They waited until the next morning and then
 
 174 AN EPISODE OF PAINT ROCK. 
 
 began to search for him. They sought him all 
 that day and the next, pushing their inquiry 
 far into the night with lantern and torch. Not 
 until a gathering flock of buzzards proved an 
 infallible compass upon that emerald sea were 
 their labors rewarded. Then, with no mark of 
 blade or bullet, they found him seated with 
 his back against a bowlder, but so swollen and 
 ghastly in death as to be almost unrecognizable. 
 His revolver, with one chamber discharged, was 
 by his side. 
 
 11 Rattlers ! " said Kickapoo Dick, kicking the 
 stubby carcass of a snake, the head of which 
 had been neatly severed by a bullet.
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 SHE was certainly very charming. Amid all 
 the discomforts and annoyances of our 
 journey, I think we were unanimous upon that 
 point. In fact we had grown to regard as the 
 only pleasant feature of that long ride the time 
 spent in little innocent gallantries toward our 
 fair fellow-traveler by way of alleviating its 
 tiresome monotony for her. 
 
 But our attentions were preferred as simply 
 an expression of that reverence which a dis- 
 criminating sex feels called upon to pay in the 
 presence of a beautiful woman. For we had 
 learned that she was looking for her husband, 
 and our polite rivalry was therefore neither self- 
 ish nor personal. 
 
 So that when the Doctor loaned her his only 
 copy of Byron to read, it was looked upon as 
 a graceful and becoming tribute to her fas- 
 Reprinted by courtesy of Mrs. Frank Leslie.
 
 176 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 cinations, and when the Judge anticipated us in. 
 extending the courtesy of his traveling shawl, 
 he was regarded rather as one who cheerfully 
 embraced the opportunity of adjusting its 
 woolen folds to certain soft and seductive fem- 
 inine curves, than as one who thereby suffered 
 any personal inconvenience. 
 
 After the handsome gentleman in black, with 
 the luxuriant corn-colored beard, had barked 
 his finger slightly in a gallant attempt to adjust 
 a refractory window in the stage door, her ten- 
 der solicitude and soft, feminine sympathy per- 
 vaded the coach with so extravagant a senti- 
 ment that I think she might have called upon 
 the company collectively for the shedding of 
 unlimited blood in her behalf, and unquestion- 
 ably found it forthcoming. 
 
 We had been staging it since earjy morning 
 between Belton and Lampasas, and had barely 
 progressed more than half way. The vehicle 
 in which we traveled had the generic quality, 
 that is, it was frowsy, dingy and ill-conditioned, 
 with something of the " dreariness of premature 
 decay superadded." 
 
 It had the average number of decrepit springs 
 below, that squeaked and protested, and the
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 177 
 
 customary quota of leathern straps above, that 
 swayed and beckoned in a spectral fashion 
 amid the half-light of the dim interior, as 
 we bumped, and jounced, and jolted on our 
 way. 
 
 The roads had been heavy, and had dis- 
 charged us at regular intervals from our seats 
 inside, to plod and flounder onward beside the 
 laboring conveyance a wretched crew of grum- 
 bling pedestrians, under whose weary feet the 
 mud rolled up and accumulated, until, to those 
 compelled to carry this reluctant freight, they 
 seemed to divide between them the entire soil 
 of the State. 
 
 There is nothing which in quality can compare 
 with Texan mud. It is a thing sui generis. 
 It appears to be a compound of clay, india-rub- 
 ber, molasses, and glue. It exhausts the im- 
 passioned rhetoric of the exasperated wayfarer, 
 and inspires the hardened teamster with possi- 
 bilities in profanity of which he has never 
 dreamed. 
 
 " Nothin' but swarin' got me outer them ruts 
 onct," said " Belton Joe," the driver, as he 
 punched the black mud that had accumulated 
 between the spokes, with a long cart-rung
 
 1 7 8 A $TA GE-COA Cff ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 " nothin' but out an' out swarin', sure! The 
 coach was stuck ; my whip was wore down ter 
 the stock ; the off mare hed broke a trace ; and 
 thet thar leader, ' Snipe,' was layin' down in the 
 harness, when I jes' rared up and invented a 
 cuss thet brought every thin' up stiff and standin'. 
 I may say," he added, reflectively, as he bit 
 off a'triangular quarter of a large plug of tobacco 
 " I may say I histed 'em out by sheer con- 
 densed cussin'. Perhaps now some on ye might 
 like to hear what I sed ? " 
 
 But as the difficulties of the journey had al- 
 ready stimulated Joe to an ambitious display 
 of acknowledged powers in that direction, there 
 was an apparent reluctance on the part of his 
 auditors to any further rehearsal. 
 
 Perhaps our fair passenger appreciated our 
 feelings, and had a feminine intuition that her 
 presence alone restrained us from a hearty at- 
 tempt to emulate the driver. Howbeit, at this 
 juncture her lovely head appeared at the win- 
 dow, and, with a gracious nod and smile, she 
 said : 
 
 " I imagine, gentlemen, by this time you 
 agree with General Phil." 
 
 " Why, what about General Phil ? " inquired
 
 A STA GE-COA CH ENCHANTRESS. 179 
 
 the Doctor, as he kicked a discouraging mud- 
 boat against the spokes of the wheel. 
 
 " What ! Haven't you heard what General 
 Phil Sheridan said, after a month of deploying 
 cannon down in the Southern country ? " 
 
 Alt were ignorant. 
 
 " Why, he said, gentlemen," replied the fair 
 face, after a moment of delicious indecision 
 " he said, ' If he owned Hell and Texas, he'd 
 live in Hell and rent out Texas.' " 
 
 Of course we were all a little shocked at 
 this, but our laughter was none the less uproar- 
 ious. 
 
 " Gad ! " exclaimed an effusive passenger to 
 the Judge, as he loitered behind to conceal his 
 astonishment. " Isn't she a June-bug ? " 
 
 " Young man," said the Judge, severely, 
 stopping short in his tracks, and drawing up his 
 portly figure to its full height, the more to im- 
 press his auditor " young man, you should 
 be ashamed ashamed, sir, of giving utterance 
 to that sentiment ! The idea of your compar- 
 ing woman the loveliest conception of the 
 Almighty, the sublimest creature that the In. 
 finite Being has created, sir to a disgusting 
 bug, sir! "
 
 l8o A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 The Judge, it should be said, who, as a 
 former resident of the State of Kentucky, had a 
 strong, chivalrous, and even romantic admi- 
 ration for the sex, had himself fallen in the rear 
 of the coach to recover his equanimity after 
 the fair one's recent effort of memory. 
 
 However, when he had pensively gathered a 
 few wild flowers by the roadside, including a 
 flaming blossom of the prickly-pear, and had 
 presented them to the lady with marked em- 
 pressement, the incident was forgotten ; and 
 when she had taken advantage of one of the 
 long halts to ingratiate herself with the driver, 
 and, climbing forward, so fascinated Belton Joe 
 by a charming badinage of her own that he sur- 
 rendered the reins temporarily into her keeping, 
 we were all infected with the general infatua- 
 tion. 
 
 The Judge, at this point, being entirely 
 overcome, quoted Tennyson, and said so much 
 about some one's " looking so lovely as she 
 swayed the reins with dainty finger tips," and 
 discoursed so eloquently upon the possibility 
 of " wasting his whole heart in one kiss upon 
 some one's perfect lips," that we grew appre- 
 hensive, fearing that even his legal lore might
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 181 
 
 not restrain him from an ambitious attempt to 
 play the part of Launcelot. 
 
 But after a few minutes more of wayfaring, 
 during which the road began obviously to mend, 
 we all returned to the coach, and I, yielding to 
 an overmastering impulse, assisted in restor- 
 ing the descending Guinevere to her former 
 position. 
 
 After this we proceeded once more in our 
 capacity of passengers, and regarded one an- 
 other with the half-patient, half-bored expres- 
 sion of compulsory travelers. 
 
 Then some brilliant genius proposed playing 
 cards. 
 
 " Well, gentlemen," said the affable Doctor, 
 producing a pack from his portmanteau, " what 
 shall it be ? " 
 
 " Euchre ! I reckon," said the Judge, slyly, 
 after a long and careful scrutiny of the lady 
 from under his shaggy brows. 
 
 " Oh, dear, no," said the fair one, looking up 
 from her book and sitting up immediately. 
 " Now, don't say ' euchre ' out of deference to 
 me. Why bless you ! I know the men all hate 
 it, and 1 think ' poker ' is twice as nice. Play 
 poker by all means i I always have the love- 
 liest hands ! "
 
 1 82 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 A silence followed this audacious speech. 
 How were we to interpret it ? Were we to 
 understand that she contemplated playing and 
 intended thus to give us the hint ? The em- ' 
 barrassment was general ; the Doctor became 
 absorbed in the gloomy landscape ; the gentle- 
 man with the corn-colored beard nursed his 
 recently injured finger with renewed solici- 
 tude. 
 
 -At length the Judge mustered up courage, 
 and said : 
 
 " But you know, my dear madam, we play a 
 stiff game and give no quarter. It's only last 
 night, at the hotel back in Belton, that my 
 friend, the Doctor here, took sixty-eight dol- 
 lars out of a single ' jack-pot.' " 
 
 This pecuniary statement apparently failed 
 to strike terror into the fair passenger. 
 
 "Well," she retorted, with a charming smile, 
 " can't you lower your * ante ' a little, pray, on 
 account of your company? You gentlemen 
 are certainly unwilling to have it said that you 
 kept a lady looking on by playing over her 
 head." 
 
 Apparently this implied compliment to their 
 gallantry carried conviction to the hearts of her
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 183 
 
 masculine hearers, for the game was imme- 
 diately made and proceeded without further 
 comment. 
 
 It was not an interesting game. Owing to 
 the jolting of the coach, and the fact that the 
 cards were not a " poker-pack," there were 
 afforded occasional stray glimpses of player's 
 hands that deprived it of much of the possi- 
 bilities of " bluff." 
 
 But I mention it, with the mortification of a 
 sex that apparently regards proficiency in poker 
 as a species of prerogative, that Victory, 
 throughout that long December afternoon, was 
 persistently a feminine goddess. Nor shall I 
 soon forget the astonishment of the Doctor a 
 cool and skillful player when, after raising his 
 fair vis-a-vis to the extent of the limit, and 
 finally throwing up four queens in a spirit of 
 delicate courtesy, he discovered that his gal- 
 lantry was forestalled by a quartet of aces. 
 
 Only once did an incident occur'that in any 
 sense alleviated our chagrin. This was when 
 the effusive passenger, gathering up his cards 
 eagerly after a fresh deal, unguardedly ex- 
 claimed that he would " bet his immortal soul " 
 upon his present hand. Whereupon the lady,
 
 1 84 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 with great gravity, immediately " anted " a 
 compensatory nickel and "called " him. 
 
 The players were recovering from the convul- 
 sions into which this ironical episode had 
 thrown them, when there was a subdued ex- 
 clamation from the driver, and all the avail- 
 able heads of the party were thrust from adja- 
 cent windows. 
 
 A magnificent buck had just crossed the 
 road, and was tripping leisurely away through 
 the scanty and dwarfed shrubbery. Revolvers 
 were immediately produced by all hands, and 
 a sharp and straggling fusillade followed at once 
 from the windows of the coach, with the 
 usual result among such pitiable marksmen, 
 that their firing seemed to take the form of a 
 running commentary upon the animal's ca- 
 pacity of speed, and was apparently so regarded 
 by the deer, for he started, took a neighboring 
 bush with inimitable grace, and was gone like 
 a flash. 
 
 Our enthusiastic sportsmen now withdrew 
 the protruding portions of their anatomy into 
 the interior of the coach, apparently with the 
 expectation of finding its female occupant 
 in a dead faint but were correspondingly
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 185 
 
 awed to find her erect and animated, peer- 
 ing at them eagerly through the blue 
 wreaths of smoke and pungent odor of 
 gunpowder that filled the vehicle, and inquir- 
 ing eagerly whether the buck was down. 
 
 " Down ! " echoed the Judge, with a rueful 
 expression. " No, not exactly down ; but hit 
 hard, madam, hit hard ! I saw him stagger 
 sort of sideways just as I got it in on him with 
 my last barrel, and the way he shook his * flag ' 
 when he jumped thar, made me know I'd 
 fetched him." 
 
 The effect of this shameless mendacity upon 
 the feminine face before him was apparently not 
 convincing. She smiled scornfully, and there 
 was a marked superciliousness about her dainty 
 eyelids. 
 
 " I don't believe any of you can half shoot," 
 she finally exclaimed, with charming directness. 
 " I'll wager now that I can beat you all." 
 
 Saying which, she produced from a pocket of 
 her dress a small Derringer, and took aim at a 
 little tree by the roadside. 
 
 The revolver cracked, and a splinter of bark 
 flew from the sapling's side. The coach re- 
 sounded with plaudits and bravos.
 
 1 86 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 When this modern Diana had restored the 
 weapon with a triumphant grace and heightened 
 color, she settled back comfortably in her 
 corner with an air of having said, " Now you 
 see why I'm traveling alone, and that I'm 
 perfectly competent to take care of myself,' 
 closed her eyes dreamily, and actually went 
 to sleep. 
 
 The coach jolted, the awed and observing 
 men glanced at one another, the atmosphere of 
 the dim interior seemed charged with re- 
 pressed admiration. 
 
 For, as I have said at the outset, she was cer- 
 tainly very- charming. Albeit very plainly 
 clad in a light-gray traveling dress, over which 
 she wore a long, belted, brown ulster, her clear, 
 cream complexion and brilliant color seemed to 
 need none of the accessories of dress. 
 
 At present the saucy brown eyes, that had 
 so inthralled her fellow-travelers, were veiled 
 by the blue-veined lids whose jetty fringes 
 swept her flushed little cheeks, and seemed to 
 mourn over them quaintly. 
 
 Her red lips were parted slightly in slumber, 
 and the short upper one curled like a dainty 
 rose-leaf, exposing the brilliant little teeth, that 
 seemed to guard them.
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 187 
 
 I remember that, as I gazed at the flower-like 
 mouth, I reflected with passing cynicism how 
 " every rose has its thorn " ; but when I noted 
 how the wealth of her brown hair seemed to 
 overburden the drooping, gracious head that 
 swayed and nodded from side to side, I was 
 ashamed of the reflection. 
 
 She had passed one plump and symmetrical 
 arm through a strap that partially supported 
 her against the jolt of the vehicle, and her two 
 little feet, pushed resolutely out before her, and 
 almost defiantly crossed, seemed to give her at 
 once an air of courage and abandon that was 
 not the least of her fascinations. 
 
 " Who's that she said she was lookin' for ? " 
 inquired the Judge in an awed whisper, turn- 
 ing upon us a face that ill concealed the ad- 
 miration of a previous long and steadfast 
 scrutiny. 
 
 " Her husband, I believe," replied the Doc- 
 tor, with a very perceptible sigh. 
 
 " \ wonder, gentlemen," musingly returned 
 the legal representative of old Kentucky " I 
 wonder now, naturally, whether he's a fighting 
 man." 
 
 " Ef he ain't," said the effusive gentleman,
 
 1 88 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 whom the Judge had formerly rebuked for in- 
 elegant admiration " ef he ain't, he isn't fit to 
 have her, that's all." 
 
 Evidently his last remark was more popular 
 than his previous comment, for the judge 
 nodded approvingly. 
 
 Presently he expanded his chest with an air 
 of authority, and looked around upon his 
 auditors as if he were addressing a jury. 
 
 " Why, gentlemen," said he, in an emphatic 
 staccato, " if it had pleased the Almighty to 
 app'int me the terrestrial guardeen of that be- 
 wilderin' occupant of the back seat, it would 
 have taken six yoke of Texan steers and a 
 sheriffs posse to have got me away from her 
 loveliness long enough to swear a witness 
 long enough to swear a witness ! Yes, sir by 
 gad, sir." 
 
 Having thus demonstrated the superior 
 claims of blooming womanhood to those of 
 Texan jurisprudence, he relapsed into solemn 
 silence. 
 
 But here there was a cynical chuckle from 
 the front seat, and Belton Joe was observed to 
 be laughing quietly to himself. 
 
 " What's that she's givin' ye ? " he asked, ab-
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 189 
 
 ruptly, turning in his seat and looking in at the 
 window. 
 
 " Who ? " inquired the Judge, with some 
 austerity. 
 
 " Party back seat inside," answered the 
 driver, professionally. 
 
 " Says she's traveling looking for her hus- 
 band." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " responded the cynic. " Same 
 game, I see." 
 
 " Do you know any thing of this lady? " in- 
 quired the Judge, solemnly. 
 
 " Wai," said Belton Joe, expectorating 
 thoughtfully upon the axle as he reined up his 
 laboring team, " ef hevin' her for a passenger 
 for the last eighteen months, and no good 
 comin' of it, is knowin' her, I reckon I does. 
 Ef bein' able to swar my Bible oath ez to 
 what her pertickler bizness is, ridin' on this 
 yer road, I allow thet I don't. But it's allus 
 the same old dodge. Allus lookin' for her 
 husband ; allus chipper as a jay-bird and sassy 
 ez a chipmunk, with her shootin' off thet 
 little ' Deranger ' and hittin' her mark, too, 
 durn me ! " 
 
 " Don't you reckon she's got any husband ? " 
 inquired the Judge, with growing interest.
 
 Igo A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 " Wai, no," said Belton Joe, with a provok- 
 ing wink; "I reckon I'm scarcely young 
 enough to swaller thet jest yet. Some year 
 ago, when I didn't know a brake from awhiffle- 
 tree, or a leader from a wheel-hoss, p'r'aps 
 yer might hev sugar-coated me to thet extent ; 
 but, hevin' hed some slight opportunity sence 
 of lookin' at life by an' large, I reckon ye'll hev 
 to excoose me." 
 
 " Well, what do you reckon, then ? " said the 
 Judge, impatiently, and apparently being in 
 some haste to abandon the idea that the young 
 lady was a species of frontier Evangeline. 
 
 " Wot do I reckon ? " said Belton Joe. " Oh ! 
 I allows, in course, thet she's a widder a 
 widder with a taste fur travelin' thet she's 
 nat'rally keerless and free, an' thet her lettin' 
 on to hevin' some feller she's tied to is a dodge 
 to keep the men at a distance thet's what I 
 allows." 
 
 Saying which he whipped up his horses, and 
 apparently discharged his mind of all further 
 conjecture. 
 
 The coach sank again into the "monotonous 
 cry of tired springs," and the creaking of com- 
 plaining axles. Its occupants were apparently
 
 A STA GE-COA CH ENCHANTRESS. 1 9 1 
 
 lost in reverie. The road was growing more 
 lonely and the shadows were lengthening. The 
 slant sunbeams of the declining sun shot 
 through the window and sought me out upon 
 the middle seat. 
 
 I retreated into the shadow. Here with my 
 head reclining at ease, and the graceful sway- 
 ing little figure before me, I abandoned myself 
 to my own thoughts and fancies. 
 
 As a literary man and a regular contributor 
 to the " Brady Bugle," I had encouraged and fos- 
 tered my natural taste for romance, and my 
 feelings on the present occasion partook of that 
 quality. 
 
 Perhaps the pressing necessity for copy for 
 the week's issue, precipitated my train of 
 thought. 
 
 Howbeit, I found myself weaving a poetic 
 wreath of associations and fancies about the 
 unconscious figure over whose shapely curves 
 the flecked sunlight danced and played. I was 
 inclined to doubt the skeptical convictions of 
 "Belton Joe the more as the truthful influences 
 of slumber relaxed and softened the bewitching 
 features. 
 
 " Deception," said I, " lurking behind those
 
 192 A STA GE- CO A CH EN CHAN TRESS. 
 
 languishing eyelashes, dwelling upon those 
 coral lips, or hiding in the dimples of those 
 cheeks ? Perish the thought ! " 
 
 There is no telling at what conclusion I 
 might have arrived ; for, discarding all damag- 
 ing reflections, I was drawing upon my imagi- 
 nation for facts, and making flattering forays 
 in the " dim epistolary region of sentiment," 
 when the sudden stoppage of the coach, and 
 the sound of voices in altercation, suddenly 
 recalled me to the present and the practical. 
 
 "Hands up, and tumble out here!" said a 
 gruff voice. 
 
 At the same moment a pair of six-shooters 
 were thrust in at the window. 
 
 " The first man that makes a motion or drops 
 his hand dies ! " the voice continued. 
 
 I started and looked up. A hard, resolute 
 face, accenting the cold fires of two steel-gray 
 eyes, was visible behind the cocked revolvers. 
 
 The passengers, to a man, accepted the re- 
 sistless logic of the situation, and the fair in- 
 spirer of my recent dreams, being thus violently 
 restored to consciousness, exhibited a sur- 
 prising development of the imitative faculty 
 of her sex.
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. \<)$ 
 
 Covered by the revolvers, which were held 
 in dangerous proximity to our heads and in- 
 creased our nervous haste we speedily extri- 
 cated ourselves from the coach. 
 
 Here, notwithstanding our trepidation, we 
 perceived in the gathering twilight the figure 
 of an accomplice stationed at a narrow point 
 of the road a few rods in advance of the 
 vehicle, evidently anticipating any stampede 
 on the part of the driver. 
 
 " Form a line, with your hands up," con- 
 tinued our informal drill-sergeant, still dis- 
 agreeably practical with his cocked revolvers. 
 
 In spite of the peril of our present position, 
 there was something indescribably ludicrous 
 in this marshaling of panic-stricken passengers 
 into a compulsory awkward squad. 
 
 But the stern deductions of the situation fol- 
 lowed too quickly to encourage merriment. 
 
 " Empty yer pockets of money and valu- 
 ables ! " said our grim captor. " Look out for 
 'em now, Jack ! " he shouted sharply to his 
 accomplice. " If they make a break, let 'em 
 have it ! " 
 
 We silently obeyed, throwing down our 
 worldly availables at the robber's feet with a
 
 194 A STAGE-COACH ENCIfANTRESS. 
 
 reckless prodigality, and a suggestion of idol- 
 atry which might possibly have amused an 
 observer not pecuniarily interested. 
 
 There was an irony of implied complicity in 
 the bandit's methods that was peculiarly gall- 
 ing to the despoiled. 
 
 The ceremony was soon completed, this un- 
 susceptible road agent even going so far as to 
 accept a plump purse from the fair passenger, 
 after which he added insult to injury by at- 
 tempting to converse with her. 
 
 The innate chivalry of our party rebelled at 
 this. We could stand being robbed, but this 
 direct contempt for social etiquette was at- 
 tended by immediate expressions of disap- 
 probation. 
 
 In the same processional manner, ai)d under 
 the same unpleasant surveillance, we were 
 escorted to our former seats, after which a 
 gleam of fun lighted the stony eyes of the foot- 
 pad, as he thanked us for submitting so grace- 
 fully, and, ironically doffing his hat, ejaculated 
 
 There was a certain benedictory flavor about 
 this Spanish form of dismissal which, under 
 the circumstances, was painfully irrelevant.
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 195 
 
 Our indignation at the bandit's delicate 
 courtesy was in no sense lessened by the dis- 
 covery, as we passed, that the dreaded accom- 
 plice had been improvised out of a hat, an old 
 coat, a pair of trowsers and a forked sapling, 
 which ingenious combination in the insincerity 
 of the waning light bore a marked resemblance 
 to a human figure. 
 
 The rhetoric of the party at this point was 
 turbulent and impassioned, and 'ended in forci- 
 ble denunciation of Belton Joe. 
 
 " P'raps ye'll reckon to drive four hosses and 
 be able to give warnin' o' road-agints," said that 
 worthy imperturbably. " Ef so, I'd like to go 
 along with yer." 
 
 The effusive gentleman's reply, if violent, 
 had at least the merit of sincerity. He forci- 
 bly suggested the advisability of the driver's 
 journeying in a direction remote and unattain- 
 able, and expressed complete skepticism with 
 reference to his future well-being. 
 
 Only the Judge displayed his customary 
 equanimity. Quietly raising the cushion of 
 the seat on which he sat, he took from a rent 
 in its inner lining a plethoric wallet, and placed 
 it complacently in the breast pocket of his coat
 
 196 A STAGE-COACH ENCHAKT&ESS. 
 
 Whereat the charming figure on the back 
 seat, which had during the recent confusion 
 displayed the feminine virtues of silence and a 
 snowy handkerchief, brightened up at once, 
 and congratulated him. 
 
 It was a very despondent and discordant 
 company that a half-hour later drove up at the 
 Cosmopolitan Hotel, Lampasas. 
 
 Notwithstanding its ambitious title, the 
 querulous proprietor was thrown into a tem- 
 porary panic by the irruption of so many 
 guests at one time ; and the enforced doubling 
 up of the occupants of the primitive hostelry, 
 which was immediately ordered, argued un- 
 favorably for our accommodation during the 
 night. 
 
 Neither were our depressed feelings alleviated 
 in any sense by a singular notice which was 
 posted on the walls, and stared conspicuously 
 at us as we were conducted to our several 
 
 " Lowngers and Setters not Aloud on the 
 Stares." 
 
 The orthographic ambiguity of this abstract 
 statement haunted me for several days.
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 197 
 
 The additional discovery that our apartments 
 were not furnished with lamps, and that all 
 demands of the toilet were expected to be met 
 by a tin wash-basin and a frouzy brush and 
 comb in the bar-room, increased our discomfort. 
 
 Nevertheless, the spirit of gallantry was not 
 quite crushed within us. We importuned the 
 distressed landlord on the part of our fair com- 
 panion, and finally succeeded in obtaining for 
 her a hysterical hanging-lamp, that looked as if 
 it would explode upon trifling provocation, and 
 a delf wash-basin and water-pitcher, so pitifully 
 handleless and broken-lipped as to entirely 
 counteract the refreshing effect of the some- 
 what perfunctory ablutions they reluctantly 
 afforded. 
 
 The Doctor dispatched to her assistance a 
 small toilet-case which he luckily happened to 
 have among his luggage, to which act of hos- 
 pitality the Judge humanely added that of his 
 pocket-flask, with the additional information 
 that it was genuine Kentucky " Blue Grass." 
 
 It is probable that the sincerity of the Judge's 
 belief in the potency of this article as a forti- 
 fier against pecuniary loss overbalanced his 
 usual delicate discernment in feminine matters.
 
 198 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 Nor was our respect for the fair one lessened 
 when the last contribution was presently re- 
 turned, to all appearances intact. 
 
 When we were finally summoned to supper 
 by the ringing of a revolving bell, elevated 
 upon a lofty derrick outside the hotel, and 
 giving an impression of gratuitous public hos- 
 pitality which the character of the viands 
 alone could excuse, and had endeavored to 
 satisfy the cravings of a long day's ride with 
 the customary "yellow-ochre" biscuits and 
 gravy-swimming bacon that were shoved at us 
 through a long slit in the wainscot, on the 
 other side of which these culinary triumphs 
 were evidently achieved, the sentiment that our 
 general discomfort had been sensibly aggravated 
 was universal. 
 
 Not caring to join the group of natives who 
 gathered dejectedly in the bar-room, about a 
 red-hot box-stove, at which they vindictively 
 spat, apparently in expressive criticism upon 
 the recent meal, we soon retired. 
 
 A discretionary caution, fostered, no doubt, 
 by a bird's-eye view of my quarters taken by 
 daylight, led me to discard my pillow, as hav- 
 ing been too privileged in its intimacy with a
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 199 
 
 previous occupant of the room, and to adopt 
 one extemporized of my boots rolled up in my 
 trowsers an expedient with which my frontier 
 experience had long since made me familiar. 
 
 After a very brief interval of unconscious- 
 ness I awoke to a realizing sense of undigested 
 biscuits and a dyspeptic insomnia, aggravated 
 by my miserable surroundings. 
 
 It was a wild and gloomy night. I could hear 
 the wind outside buffeting the shaky structure, 
 charging the crazy shutters that opened on the 
 gallery, and communicating the violence of its 
 assault to the canvas partitions which insured 
 to the mutual confidences of guests of the Cos- 
 mopolitan Hotel the general privacy of a whis- 
 pering gallery. 
 
 Lying broad awake and staring at the night 
 in utter hopelessness of sleep, I was abandoning 
 myself to despair, and possibly to anathema, 
 when I was diverted by the footsteps of two 
 belated revelers of Lampasas, evidently enter- 
 ing the next room, and about to go to bed. 
 
 At such times the most trivial details of our 
 neighbors are interesting, and I listened to the 
 hurried dragging of the bedclothes from the 
 bedstead, preliminary to the preferred camping-
 
 200 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 
 
 out upon the floor a peculiarity of Texan 
 lodgers which probably accounts for the gen- 
 eral poverty of hotel bed-furnishings in the 
 State with the satisfaction of novelty after my 
 previous monotonous vigil. 
 
 Then followed the kicking off of the lodgers' 
 boots, and immediately afterward, from the 
 stretching out of cramped limbs, the probable 
 settling of the occupants upon their lowly 
 couches. 
 
 The early rising of the native Texan is appar- 
 ently inconsistent with an extensive night toilet. 
 After a short interval one of the men said, with 
 the air of renewing an interrupted conversa- 
 tion : 
 
 " Wai, ez thet the only place ye've been to, 
 to-day ? " 
 
 " No," replied the second, " I've been over to 
 Centrefitt." 
 
 " Ez thet so ? Wot ev they done with Jack 
 Bender?" 
 
 Second Voice (ominously) " Hung him ! " 
 
 "Sho!" 
 
 " Fact ! " 
 
 " How'd he take it?" 
 
 " Cool."
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 20 1 
 
 " Were you thar ? " 
 
 "You bet! " 
 
 " Did he make any confession squeal at 
 all?" 
 
 " Nary ! said he'd like to ketch thet wife of 
 Jim White's, thet he fust met travelin' on the 
 stage-coach, who got him soft on her, and then 
 inter robbin' the mails." 
 
 First Voice " Who'd he mean ? " 
 
 Second Voice " Didn't ye never see her?" 
 
 " No ; wot's she like ? " 
 
 u Oh, she's a brewnette, putty as a picture, 
 an' smarter nor a whip." 
 
 " Wot's she got ter do with it ? " 
 
 " Wai, she's a sorter pal o' Jim's; travels 
 round, yer know, and keeps an eye to the pas- 
 senger's valoobles, an' I reckon saves the ne- 
 cessity of divyin' ' up, bein' his wife, ye know." 
 
 First Voice " Jack didn't hev nothin' to 
 say about Jim, eh? " 
 
 Second Voice " Nothin'." 
 
 First Voice " Didn't leave no dyin' words, 
 nor any thin* ? " 
 
 Second Voice " Wai, yes he did too." 
 (A laugh.) " Left a sorter crittercism on beer 
 drinkin'. He was lookin* sorter glum and the
 
 202 A STAGE-COACH EXCII AX TRESS. 
 
 hangman an accommodatin' sort o' cuss, out- 
 side o' his habit o' tyin' patent neck-ties asked 
 him ef he couldn't do nothin' fur him. Jack 
 sez : 
 
 " 'Yes, I'd like a glass o' beer 'fore I go.' 
 
 " They brought it. Jack stood up, blowed the 
 foam off it, and drank it. The hangman, bein' 
 a pryin' shrimp, sez : 
 
 " ' Jack, I wanter ax ye one question.' 
 
 " * Sartin,' sez Jack. 
 
 " ' Jes' tell me why ye blowed the foam off 
 thet yer beer, jest now.' 
 
 "'Wai,' says Jack, reflectin' like, 'it's on- 
 healthy! 
 
 " They strung him up the next minit." 
 
 The humor of this ante mortem statement of 
 the unfortunate Jack seemed to affect both 
 narrator and auditor, for from that time for- 
 ward nothing but subdued laughter filtered 
 through the partition. 
 
 Later, however, their deep drawn breathing 
 seemed to imply that it had an additional 
 soporific quality. Possibly its effect upon my 
 wakefulness may have been somewhat similar ; 
 for after a long interval, for which I was unable 
 to account by any positive train of thought, I
 
 A STAGE-COACH ENCHANTRESS. 203 
 
 was aroused by what appeared to me to be the 
 rustle of a woman's skirt in the narrow hallway. 
 Eventually, however, I attributed it to the 
 wind in the passage, and, turning upon my 
 rude pillow, soon after fell asleep. 
 
 We waited the appearance of the fair one for 
 some time at breakfast the next morning, and 
 finaHy the Doctor was deputed to represent her 
 admirers, and knock at her door. 
 
 To his astonishment the door was open, and 
 the fair occupant of the bedroom missing. 
 
 So also was " Panhandle," the fleetest horse 
 in the hotel proprietor's stables ; and so also 
 as the enthusiastic Judge discovered later was 
 the plethoric wallet containing five thousand 
 dollars in bank notes and checks, which he had 
 so shrewdly rescued from the robbery of the 
 day before. 
 
 I concluded that there must have been an- 
 other interested listener to the mysterious dia- 
 logue of the previous night.
 
 A WANDERING MELIBOEUS. 
 
 HE came to the ranch in a traveling " prairie 
 schooner," a long, lank, bilious-looking 
 individual, with hollow cheeks, deep, cavernous 
 eyes, and a general flavor of despondency and 
 gloom. He was still redolent of the town, and 
 there was something so pretentious and aggres- 
 sive about his stiff, narrow-brimmed Derby hat, 
 his uncompromising city clothes, and his dread- 
 fully soiled, but highly starched, Piccadilly col- 
 lar, that he at once offended the frontier tastes 
 of careless ranchmen. 
 
 The teamster beckoned to our foreman, and 
 with an air of delivering questionable freight, 
 became mysterious and confidential. 
 
 " I've brought ye out suthin'," said he, 
 "which I reckon ye'll hev to brand ter form 
 any opinion onter. 'Tain't no use guessin'. 
 I've been figgerin* on him ever sence I picked
 
 A WANDERING MELIB&US. 205 
 
 him up, an' I ain't decided yet whether he's 
 a cur'osity or a drivelin' idjit, but I reckon 
 it's both. Mebbe ye better put a bell onto him 
 an' hobble him to onct, for he's thet gone here, 
 (rubbing his forehead dubiously) thet he's 
 likely to break loose an' give ye trouble. Sez 
 he's goin' inter the sheep bizness. I wouldn't 
 wonder ef he's been runnin' * foot-loose' down 
 at Tyler, an' hez got mooney over some gal ez 
 he's been keepin' kempeny with. Enyway he's 
 give me an earfull thet I don't reckon to git 
 over by the time I git back. Don't let him git 
 away with ye. Adios ! G'lang! " 
 
 And with a portentous wink, diabolical in its 
 implied necessity of caution, he whipped up his 
 jaded mules which were of the class inclined 
 to lean back in the traces and think, as if 
 debating whether a permanent halt were not 
 advisable and disappeared in the cloud of 
 dust that veiled their refractory departure. 
 
 Meanwhile the new arrival had become sud- 
 denly invertebrate, and with both his long arms 
 hitched over the gate of the ranch, had ap- 
 parently hung himself up in a state of mental 
 and physical collapse. He was gazing gloomily 
 after the vanishing wagon. The suggestiveness
 
 ao6 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 
 
 of his attitude provoked the criticism of the 
 camp. 
 
 " What's gone with that tramp ? " inquired 
 the " Oracle," who was thus recognized as a 
 reluctant authority upon the sheep-question, 
 and was disposed to be suspicious of all new- 
 comers. 
 
 "Your complexion I guess," replied our 
 medical authority, who believed the Oracle to 
 be suffering from torpidity of the liver, and 
 was piqued at his refusal to submit to treat- 
 ment. 
 
 " More likely he's struck some of those 
 lightnin' pills you were mixin' the other night," 
 retorted the Oracle. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the medical gentleman's 
 acquaintance with the healing art was empirical 
 rather than scientific. Having imported from 
 the States a small medicine chest and an ac- 
 companying treatise, his diagnosis of a disorder 
 was apt to be faulty and imperfect. Notably 
 so in one particular instance. Since the Oracle 
 had discovered that Menard was treating him 
 for scurvy, when he was in reality suffering 
 from weak eyes, he had been mildly skeptical 
 in regard to the latter's knowledge. His com-
 
 A WANDERING MELlB&US. 207 
 
 munication of this trifling error to his com- 
 panions had well-nigh relegated the practice 
 of medicine at the ranch to the position of 
 the lost arts. 
 
 But here was the longed for opportunity. 
 Menard had already saddled his nose with the 
 professional spectacles, and was deep in the 
 perusal of attendant symptoms. 
 
 " Looks sorter gone in the epigastric region ; " 
 he muttered to himself, " yaller as saffron; 
 eyes holler and fishy ; shouldn't wonder if his 
 pulse might be feeble, and his tongue's coated, 
 I'll bet a dollar against two bits. It's a sure 
 case ! Blue mass five pills at bed-time, and 
 Turkey rhubarb first thing in the morning. 
 Here, Deacon, bring me out that medicine- 
 chest ! " 
 
 But the individual addressed was busy prose- 
 cuting inquiries in regard to the new-comer on 
 his own account. 
 
 "What's that you've got hung up on the 
 gate?" he inquired demurely of the foreman. 
 "Somethin' new you've been inventin' for 
 scarin' coyotes? Don't believe it'll work; 
 hasn't movement enough. You can't expect to 
 make any headway with a prairie-wolf, Ridge,
 
 2o 8 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 
 
 unless you show some signs of life. I sup- 
 posed you had savy enough for that." 
 
 Ridge Johnson preserved his customary 
 gravity. 
 
 "Ye better go a little light on that feller, 
 Deak! " he responded " he's a tenderfoot from 
 Tyler! come out with some gilt-edged notions 
 about the sheep business. I want a herder out 
 in " lone camp" up at the upper pecan-motte. 
 You just give me a couple of weeks, and I'll 
 get the flies off him." 
 
 It did not appear what the above expression 
 implied, nor how this presumably desirable re- 
 sult was to be attained, but we all had suffi- 
 cient confidence in our foreman to possess our 
 souls in patience. 
 
 In the meantime, the medical gentleman had 
 approached the dejected figure by the gate, 
 and was apparently about to commence hos- 
 tilities. 
 
 "You're feelin' a trifle caved-in," he said 
 pleasantly, but with a kind of professional de- 
 liberation ; " your mouth tastes like a swill- 
 barrel, and your appetite's gone back on ye. 
 You don't sleep reg'lar, and things is on a gen- 
 eral strike. You'd sell yourself out at a pretty
 
 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 209 
 
 low figure, and take yer pay in parseley and 
 onions ; so you jest naturally reckoned to come 
 out here and take a brace. Young man, you've 
 got a large and level head ! " 
 
 The man raised his lugubrious face to Me- 
 nard's, mourned over him with his dreary, hope- 
 less eyes, and said in a sepulchral voice, 
 
 " Yer right, pardner, I did." 
 
 " I say, you've struck it," replied Menard, 
 delightedly ; " you've run up against jest the 
 right party. I'll have you a new man in twenty- 
 four hours." 
 
 The man looked up again with a shade/of 
 interest in his face, and placing his hand on his 
 chest, asked anxiously : 
 
 " P'raps ye'll allow to hevin' hed a sorter 
 heaviness here thet smokin' didn't reach an* 
 feedin' wouldn't satisfy? A kind o* feelin' as 
 ef ye'd lost half o' yerself, and yer inside was 
 goin' inter gin'ral bankrupsy ? " 
 
 " Exactly ! " said the gratified doctor " that's 
 bile!" 
 
 " Wha a at ? " said the man, with a stare 
 ''you come off, pardner it's love ! " 
 
 " Love ? " echoed Menard, in amazement 
 "Young man, you deceive yourself. It's all
 
 210 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 
 
 due to your liver. You see, it's been gettin' 
 too high-toned for the rest of your body. 
 You've been livin' pretty free, an' your diet has 
 jest filled it up with conceit, and it reckons now 
 to lay by, and see how you'll make it go with- 
 out it. What you want to do, my friend, is to 
 submit yourself to me. I've got a patent pill 
 in there, that'll make you think 
 
 " Ye jest oughter get to see her," broke in 
 the man vacantly, entirely ignoring Menard's 
 graphic statement of the alarming condition of 
 his domestic economy " ye jest oughter get to 
 see her ! the sweetest, prettiest, lovin'est cree- 
 tur ye ever set yer two eyes on. And Lord 
 love ye ! no end o' style. Why, when me an' 
 her useter walk out on Main Street of a Sun- 
 day arternoon, the way fellers useter turn 
 roun' and stare, was a reg'lar show. And high- 
 toned too, you bet ! She's the niece of an ex- 
 Guv'ner of the State. I useter say to her 
 ' Mirandy,' sez I, ' thet a top-notch and A. i. 
 girl like you should get gone on such a chap ez 
 me is what gits me ! ' An' she useter say to 
 me 'William Henry' she allus went fur my 
 hull name thet's Mirandy ' it was yer height 
 an' yer gin'ral shape that fust got away with
 
 A IV A NDERINC ME LIB (EUS. 2 1 1 
 
 The Doctor turned away in disgust. 
 
 "Aren't ye gettin' about tired of importin' 
 these desperate characters and professional 
 dead-beats from the southern country?" he 
 inquired of the foreman. "The last man you 
 had was wanted down at San Antone for horse- 
 stealin', and I wouldn't insure this new invoice 
 against any bad spell of weather. Just look at 
 him ventilatin' himself out thar on thet fence, 
 and invitin' the attention of every enterprisin' 
 buzzard. The first good ' Norther ' we have will 
 freeze him up so stiff we won't have any use 
 for him except to stop the gap in a brush- 
 pen." 
 
 But the conviction was so general that the 
 Doctor was right for once, that discussion was 
 out of the question, and Menard walked deject- 
 edly away to his tent. Being a punctiliously 
 honorable man, it did not occur to him to en- 
 tertain the camp with the gentleman's own 
 theory of his despondent condition. He pre- 
 ferred to regard it in the light of a privileged 
 communication probably induced by dyspep- 
 sia and as such to be held inviolate by an as- 
 pirant in his learned profession. 
 
 Later he had an opportunity of noting the
 
 MELIBCEUS. 
 
 alarming waste of tissue presumably due to this 
 morbid activity of the affections. 
 
 This was at dinner, when in common with us 
 all, he lamented the frequency with which our 
 guest passed his plate, and the surprising facil- 
 ity with which the four staples of ranch-life 
 bread, bacon, beans, and stewed-apples disap- 
 peared to fill an insatiable vacuum. Indeed, 
 the capacity of William Henry Smack, as it 
 recurs to me at this remote epoch, is a subject 
 for unhallowed meditation. That appears to 
 have been the infelicitous title with which his 
 unfortunate sponsors decided to honor the 
 planet. From association with his collapsed 
 personality, it gave you a disagreeable impres- 
 sion that they had started him fairly and then 
 run him into something his appetite, the Ora- 
 cle suggested. It was even thoughtfully recom. 
 mended to me by this sardonic joker, who sat 
 next to William Henry at table, and had been 
 amusing himself by depositing various indigest- 
 ible articles in the neighborhood of his 
 plate, and watching him successively reject 
 them to start him on the dried apple sack> 
 and then kindly suggest hot water as an assist- 
 ant to digestion. But although during his
 
 A WA N BERING ME LIB (EUS. 213 
 
 short sojourn with us, Smack frequently re- 
 paired to me for advice, I do not recall that he 
 ever confessed to any gastric, disturbance; 
 
 It was shortly after this phenomenal meal 
 that I first attracted his attention and invited 
 his confidence. I was at that time suffering an 
 unhallowed martyrdom a martyrdom that re- 
 curs upon the frontier with the regularity of a 
 repeating cycle attended by burned fingers, 
 outraged patience and occasional profanity. I 
 was taking my turn as cook. Over an abyss of 
 steaming dish-water, and a discouraging waste 
 of disorganized plates, knives, and forks, I ex- 
 tended to him the hand of sympathy, and an 
 unusually clean portion of flour-sack, and invited 
 his cooperation in the agreeable task of wiping 
 dishes. 
 
 He had been prowling aimlessly about the 
 ranch with his hands in his pockets, but I re- 
 gret to say, with a seeking-whom-he-may-de- 
 vour expression on his melancholy visage that 
 was apparently visited by my associates with 
 ill-favor and exclusion. I am a sympathetic man. 
 It occurred to me that there was nothing 
 particularly prepossessing about such an intro- 
 duction to sheep-farming as Mr. Smack hacj
 
 2-14 A WANDERING ME LIB (BUS. 
 
 received. It did not occur to me that there 
 was any thing sufficiently prepossessing about 
 Mr. Smack to warrant any other state of facts. 
 But I resolved to waive this on the score of hu- 
 manity. I little knew what was in store for me. 
 
 " I reckon, now, you fellers left a heap o' 
 society back there in the States," he began, as 
 he unguardedly accepted a red-hot dish in his 
 naked hand. 
 
 I nodded a tacit assent. 
 
 "Any gals?" he inquired, shifting the dish 
 rapidly from one hand to the other, and 
 alternately snapping his fingers. 
 
 In the midst of my anxiety for the future of 
 our big platter, a vision of dear Leonora, as 
 she appeared when bidding me adieu at 
 the steamer's wharf, flashed across my excited 
 consciousness and faded utterly, as the dish 
 caromed on the table suddenly, glanced to the 
 floor, and dispersed in far reaching and magnifi- 
 cent ruin. 
 
 " It's the only one on the ranch," I remarked 
 ungraciously, as he gazed hopelessly upon the 
 glittering fragments. 
 
 " Haven't ye got any strayteener? " he in- 
 quired absently.
 
 A WA NDERING ME LIB (EUS. 215 
 
 This was adding insult to injury suggesting 
 the possession of such an article to persons 
 only two years behind the Indians. I retaliated 
 sharply. 
 
 " Why Lord love ye ! " he said, seeing my 
 evident disgust, " ye can get it at any street 
 corner down in Tyler! " 
 
 " My Christian friend," said I, in a blaze of 
 wrath, "when you get out in * lone camp' 
 on the bald prairie, with no company but your 
 dog, a six-by-nine tent, and a ' wet Norther ' 
 howling down from Kansas at the rate of sixty 
 miles an hour, it will perhaps occur to you 
 that you can't go to the corner grocery every 
 time you're out of matches and soap." 
 
 For some minutes the dish-washing pro- 
 gressed in silence. 
 
 At length, raising his head slowly, after long 
 and apparently earnest cogitation, 
 
 "Got any picters?" he inquired. 
 
 "Pictures of what?" I asked with some 
 acerbity of tone suggestive of the perishability 
 of crockery. 
 
 " Of them Eastern gals o' yours," he replied 
 solemnly. 
 
 Again, a vision of the absent Leonora, with
 
 2 1 6 A WANDERING MELIB(E US. 
 
 her faultless features and fashionable attire, 
 rescued from oblivion by Eastern photography, 
 and hidden from vulgar scrutiny in the re- 
 motest recesses of my trunk, came vividly 
 before me. 
 
 I modestly acknowledged the possession of a 
 few. 
 
 "Light or dark-complected?" said my cross- 
 examiner. 
 
 " All colors," I retorted with shameless 
 mendacity. 
 
 " I want to know ! " he ejaculated in amaze- 
 ment, and with an apparent willingness to be- 
 lieve that there might be types of beauty of a 
 character unknown to him; "I want to 
 know ! 
 
 " Wai ! Mirandy's light, an' I jes' nat'rally 
 get my notions on thet subject from her. She 
 is a honey-cooler, pardner, and don't you for- 
 get it. When she togs out and takes to 
 promenadin' you better reckon she paints the 
 hull town red. Some day, when you've got a 
 plenty of time, I'd like to put her picter up 
 agin the best gals you can show, and see 
 Mirandy walk away with the outfit. I'll read 
 ye all her letters too, and show ye what a
 
 A WA ND BRING ME LIB (E US. 217 
 
 writer she is. Thar ! Cast yer eye over thet 
 yer ! How does thet strike ye ? " 
 
 And he threw down upon the table a tin-type 
 of the siren who had inspired the previous 
 harangue. 
 
 I wish the reader might have seen Mirandy. 
 Being ignorant myself of the precise amount 
 of feminine charm necessary to impart a 
 sanguinary coloring to the average Texan town, 
 I can not, of course, express the opinion that 
 the young lady met the requirements. But if 
 the zeal of the artist, in atoning for the neutral 
 tints of his art by embellishing her natural 
 graces with highly rouged cheeks, a green 
 feather, a pink bow, and the crowning triumph 
 of old-gold gaiters, were insufficient to the task, 
 ah, me ! I fear this feeble pen had best not 
 attempt to do justice to this social paragon. 
 Perhaps I may better convey the extravagance 
 of my own appreciation, by expressing a faint 
 hope that the photographer escaped with his 
 instrument intact. I recollect that the Oracle, 
 before whom her charms were paraded on a later 
 occasion, remarked to me in confidence that he 
 " should like to have that face to stamp tubs 
 of butter." But the Oracle was given to sar-
 
 2 1 8 A IV A ND BRING ME LIB (E US. 
 
 casm, and the idea of butter upon a frontier 
 ranch was so wildly imaginative, that it is pos- 
 sible some latent compliment to the worshiped 
 Mirandy may have been intended. 
 
 It was early spring in the little valley. There 
 were signs of resurrection in the levels and on 
 the divides. The sentinel mesquites timidly 
 displayed their emerald epaulettes, and gave 
 glimpses of their summer uniform, as if still 
 reluctant to appear on dress-parade ; but the 
 bold live oaks threw off their faded fatigue- 
 jackets, and challenged Nature in full panoply. 
 Already a delicate housing of green enamel 
 decked the gaunt flanks of the distant hills. 
 The sunny slopes were glad with waving color 
 and springing grasses. The ravages of winter 
 were repaired by the coy visits of blue lupins, 
 poppy worts of red and orange, and the rarer 
 glories of the golden helianthus. Over gay 
 corollas of every tint and shade, the red- 
 bird flashed, the scissor-tail piloted his trail- 
 ing plumes, and the southern nightingale 
 that mad ventriloquist in white and sable 
 mocked and wantoned. In the mellow light of 
 lengthening days, and on the mighty trunks of 
 majestic pecans, the flaming yellow-hammer
 
 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 219 
 
 was busy with his undertaking, and the burial 
 of the dead season was announced in the dim 
 aisles by the repeated knocking of his dismal 
 mallet. 
 
 And then the stern spirit of the dying mon- 
 arch entered his protest, and forbade the 
 ceremony. The ghost of his troubled greatness 
 stirred in the North, struggling back in an 
 ominous cloud, that suddenly spread and hid 
 the frightened heavens with gray. The icy 
 gasps of the indignant Shade came quick and 
 fast, blighting the early promise of spring, and 
 sending the thermometer down thirty degrees 
 in as many minutes. And with them came a 
 host of avenging spirits shrieking winds, 
 hurrying rain, and blinding sleet, that locked 
 the borders of the shallow creeks ; clapped an 
 icy mail on the northward bark of trees and 
 bushes ; caught and crystallized drooping flower 
 and budding spray, and drove the bleating stock 
 to the shelter of corrals, and their shivering 
 shepherds to the protection of yellow "slick- 
 ers." 
 
 The branches bowed and broke with their 
 weight of fringing icicles ; bereavement sad- 
 dened the wretched birds ; destruction was in
 
 220 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 
 
 the air ; and the stark landscape lay white and 
 ghastly in the pallor of its desolation. 
 
 But during the rigor of this untimely Norther, 
 fate was yet kind to William Henry. Either a 
 growing compassion for Mirandy's woful knight, 
 or more probably, a manifest reluctance to in- 
 trust a flock of giddy yearlings to the tutelage 
 of so painful a tenderfoot, restrained our fore- 
 man from initiating him unkindly into the 
 mysteries of his new vocation. Throughout 
 the gloomy, dismal days the coziest corner of 
 the kitchen-stove was occupied by this rare and 
 delicate exotic of the interior. 
 
 Of course this tendency to take root, and 
 blossom in perpetual reminiscence of Mirandy, 
 was met with unkindly criticism, and even on 
 some occasions with impolite objurgation. It 
 was generally believed that he had overheard 
 the Doctor's prediction of his possible utility 
 at this disagreeable season, and that he resolved 
 to forestall him by inhabiting localities of 
 perpetual thaw. 
 
 I am afraid that even my sympathetic nature 
 grew weary pf Mr. Smack. After I had learned 
 that he was a tanner by trade, and had gotten 
 over my surprise that devotion to his profession
 
 A WA NDERING MELIBCE US. 2 2 1 
 
 had left him so unaccountably with this " per- 
 ennial virginity of the affections," a continuous 
 rehearsal of the various phenomena which at- 
 tended the appearance of the absent goddess 
 ' upon the public streets of Tyler lost somehow 
 its power of diversion. Perhaps my feelings 
 may have been influenced by observing that 
 any assistance in my labors from William 
 Henry was invariably attended by culinary dis- 
 aster, or mortality in the cupboard, and if I re- 
 frained from any open allusion to his custom- 
 ary seat, I fear that a v/armer locality than the 
 kitchen-stove was the direct wish of my inner 
 consciousness. 
 
 But it was gratifying to witness the devices 
 to which my associates would resort to decoy 
 him from his corner and to destroy his statuesque 
 repose. The Doctor had an elaborate inven- 
 tion for catching quail which consisted of an 
 old salt-sack and a tallow candle, and, calling 
 him one day into his tent, he promised that if 
 on the first mild night, William Henry would 
 engage to hold this lighted candle in front of 
 the aperture of the sack, surprising results might 
 be attained that would redound to an im- 
 provement of the larder the monotony of
 
 222 A WANDER i XG MELIB&US. 
 
 which Mr. Smack had already alluded to, but 
 with no appreciative diminution of consump- 
 tive capacity. Then the Oracle, who was an 
 authority on sheep matters, explained very 
 minutely the uses of the crook, telling this 
 guileless innocent that in catching a sheep the 
 curving portion must be applied to the lower 
 jaw, and by a dexterous movement of the op- 
 erator the animal laid upon his back ; but that 
 when bare-handed, the ears were the coveted 
 objects of attack. 
 
 And I have an amusing recollection of how 
 the Deacon, on one occasion, exhibited, for his 
 absorbed inspection, an extensive assortment of 
 variety actresses, informing him that they were 
 the portraits of young ladies who, in better 
 days, had succumbed to his delusive arts, and 
 being base enough to assert afterwards that the 
 munificent graces of a certain song and dance 
 artiste had for the time being staggered his 
 faith in the ideal charms of Mirandy. 
 
 I think, however, I am myself responsible for 
 first opening his eyes to the austerities of life 
 upon the frontier. It had been decided that I 
 should have his companionship during those 
 hours when a sensitive man is presumably most
 
 A WANDERING MELIB&US. 223 
 
 fastidious in matters of companionship. The 
 shelter, hitherto sacred to Morpheus and my- 
 self, was a small tent, pitched upon a lonely 
 hillside, in the neighborhood of a primitive 
 brush-pen, where the flock, that in future was to 
 engage the attention of William Henry, was 
 also accustomed to pass the night. 
 
 On the evening of the Norther's advent, I 
 lighted a little dark lantern that I sometimes 
 carried, and prepared to resort to my quarters. 
 Being in no very amiable mood at the prospect 
 before me, I resolved to try the nerves of my 
 prospective bed-fellow, and drawing the slide of 
 my lantern and slipping it under my long 
 " slicker," I called him from the seclusion of the 
 stove, and strode out into the night. 
 
 It was pitch dark not even the caverns of 
 Erebus can hope to rival the blackness of a 
 Norther's night. It is immoral in its quality, 
 and in its effect upon the rhetoric of the way- 
 farer. And through the gloom, the fiery darts 
 of the sleet splinter and sting, and the mad 
 blasts howl with the fury of fiends. 
 
 Such being the case, I must confess it was 
 with malice aforethought that, as we fared on 
 together, I expressed a cheerful hope that he
 
 224 A WANDERING MELTB&VS. 
 
 would not fall into the well, which with that 
 sublime confidence in animate and inanimate 
 nature peculiar to Texas, is generally left guilt- 
 less of environment. There was no reply to 
 this, but I am quite sure I detected a slight 
 gasp at the prospect of such a possibility. 
 
 Shortly after, Mirandy's champion going 
 astray in the gloom, and missing the echo of 
 my accompanying step, became so unpleasantly 
 vocal, that I was forced to display my light to 
 silence him. Joining forces again, we pro- 
 ceeded in company until we reached the tent. 
 
 Being desirous of exhibiting a unique and 
 beautiful effect, I unmasked my lantern in the 
 direction of the pen, and invited his attention. 
 The far reaching rays of light were reflected 
 from the eye-balls of the sheep, glancing in 
 every direction over a gleaming pavement of 
 orbs, and flashing upon us in globes of fire. 
 And here I know not what panic seized Mr. 
 Smack, but with a wild cry of alarm, he dashed 
 the lantern from my hand and ran off into the 
 night, shouting and screaming at the top of his 
 lungs. The immediate result of which was a 
 startling irruption of the occupants of the 
 ranch, armed with "six-shooters," and bearing
 
 A WANDERING MELIB(EUS. 22$ 
 
 lantern and torch, in anticipation of a violent 
 attack on the part of coyotes. 
 
 For three days the pitiless javelins of the 
 sleet beleaguered hill and hollow with storm 
 and assault. For three days the incautious 
 heads of early risers, striking against the slop- 
 ing roof-trees of their tents, were startled by 
 the crepitant recoil, and the hurrying crash of 
 the hurtling avalanche which followed. For 
 three days the tortured Winter writhed and 
 raved in its delirium, moaning through the 
 hollow valleys, and tossing in impotent fury its 
 cramped and stiffened limbs. Then came the 
 stillness of death. The sun looked through 
 the rifted clouds and saw the wasted form of 
 the fallen monarch lying in its last sleep. 
 Every bush and shrub and tree was bowed to 
 the earth as with the weight of a mighty grief. 
 And then from out the heart of the benign 
 Mother, a deep emotional whisper reassured 
 her children ; their cares dissolved and slipped 
 away, and spring was welcomed anew, but 
 between smiles and tears. 
 
 Mr. Smack was no sharer in the general 
 enthusiasm at the ranch. A lengthy consulta- 
 tion with our foreman, relative to the locality
 
 2<z6 A WANDERING ME LI BOLUS. 
 
 of his future labors, seemed to have accented 
 his habitual melancholy. It is possible that 
 the prospect of a month's sheep herding, in the 
 solitude of his own society, may have uncon- 
 sciously aggravated the remoteness of Mirandy. 
 After a patient and long-suffering perusal of 
 the correspondence of that beloved maiden, I 
 had become skeptical in regard to her high 
 social position. There was an originality in 
 orthography, and an absence of punctuation 
 about her efforts, which I had not hitherto 
 detected in the nieces of senators and govern- 
 ors. Possibly the epistolary style of the first 
 families may have deteriorated. 
 
 In a moment of irritation over her reiterated 
 fascinations and accomplishments, I had mali- 
 ciously inquired how he came to deprive him- 
 self of such excellence. His reply, I fear, 
 embodies the experience of many a gilded 
 youth, and has the glamour of a too prevalent 
 popular fallacy. It seems that Mirandy's 
 refined taste in jewelry and surprising sacchar- 
 ine longings absorbed his weekly salary, and 
 he had resorted to a sheep-camp for the 
 accumulation of a fortune wherewith to embark 
 upon the matrimonial sea. I could not repress
 
 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 227 
 
 a sigh as I realized how enormous would be his 
 harvest of blighted hopes. 
 
 city clerks ! plying a ready and facile 
 quill, beware how you entertain the chimera of 
 sudden wealth in the far West ! Unless your 
 pockets are heavy with the shekels of past 
 gains, and you have the requisite cash and 
 experience with which to invest just as you 
 may at home, if haply ye be so circumstanced 
 seek not to penetrate this arcana of hardship 
 and disappointment. Remember that over a 
 dreary waste of fried bacon and corn-dodger, 
 and amid grievous solitude, will this experience 
 come to you, and that the prospect of becom- 
 ing a capitalist, upon twenty dollars a month, 
 is remote even upon the frontier. 
 
 1 did not witness the departure of William 
 Henry for the upper pecan-motte, but I am 
 informed that he pulled himself together, and 
 with the air of an heroic general rallying panic- 
 stricken troops, set out in pursuit of his flying 
 cohorts. I believe the Deacon said something 
 about a rapid degeneration of the flock to 
 nothing but hides and hoofs, if he continued to 
 herd upon the full gallop, but the Deacon had 
 a sick headache that day, and at such times his 
 judgment was jaundiced.
 
 228 A WANDERIKG MEL1B&.US. 
 
 The following morning, while making my 
 customary early pilgrimage from my sleeping 
 apartment to the kitchen, I noticed a peculiar 
 demonstration upon the western horizon. It 
 was unlike any thing in movement I had yet 
 witnessed. There were certain suggestions of 
 the windmill about it, but I knew that we had 
 perfected no such method of irrigation. There 
 seemed to come to my ears from the depths of 
 this mystery a feeble halloo. With much 
 straining of my eyes, I at last perceived that it 
 was William Henry, swinging his boots by their 
 straps like a pair of erratic Indian clubs. He 
 had evolved this unique signal as a species of 
 decoy for me. I repaired to the spot. 
 
 But if his signal was unique, what shall I say 
 of his appearance ? Certainly no damsel but 
 fair Bettina, or that " maiden all forlorn" who 
 espoused the modern tramp of the nursery 
 legend, would have ever dreamed of accepting 
 his escort. 
 
 He was in his stocking feet ; his smart city 
 suit was in ribbons ; I hesitate to record how 
 many cruel stabs that immaculate Derby had 
 sustained from the thorns of the mesquite. It 
 was at once ludicrous and pitiful to hear him
 
 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 229 
 
 describe, how, while following his flock in full 
 cry, he had stumbled in a marmot burrow, and 
 sat down upon an aggressive cactus. 
 
 " It's no use ! " he exclaimed, as I regarded 
 him in breathless awe; "I'm goin' to quit! 
 They've been junein' me sence yesterday 
 mornin', all over the bald prairie, an' last night I 
 didn't get a wink o' sleep listenin' to the 
 coyotes. Some wild cows got into my tent 
 yesterday, eat up my grub, and made a stampin' 
 ground of the hull bizness. I've been as hun- 
 gry as a prairie dog, and as lonely as a turtle 
 on a log, all night." 
 
 " Couldn't you occupy your mind in thinking 
 of that girl of yours?" I inquired with mali- 
 cious irony. 
 
 " That's jest it!" he shrieked, with a des- 
 pondent wave of the boots " I've been fig- 
 gerin' how on earth I'm ever goin' to get a let- 
 ter from her 'way out here, an' mebbe, all the 
 while, some one o' them julery sharps is cut- 
 tin' me out. I reckon I'll go hum. Ye needn't 
 pay me nothin'. It's no use ! I tell ye, Fin 
 goin to quit / " 
 
 And out of respect for his accident, he de- 
 scended slowly upon his knees, and attempted
 
 230 A WANDERING MELIBCFUS. 
 
 the perilous feat of drawing on his boots while 
 in that position. 
 
 I expostulated with him for a long time, urg- 
 ing that our foreman had gone to town, and 
 that it was impossible to pen the sheep and let 
 them starve during the day. At last upon my 
 promising that, if he would continue to herd 
 until Johnson's return, I would come up to 
 camp and spend the night with him, he reluct- 
 antly consented. I returned to the ranch. 
 
 It was a cool, pleasant evening, when I 
 started with " Top " a favorite sheep-dog to 
 fulfill my promise. The Milky Way hung high 
 in heaven, and the air was full of the shrill 
 chirp of crickets, and the cry of cicadae. The 
 fragrant odors of the season were abroad again, 
 and came sweetly from the damp wings of 
 night. But I needed all the consolations of the 
 time. A series of misfortunes, beginning with 
 burnt beans, and culminating in the discovery 
 of Dr. Menard, lost in the perusal of his medi- 
 cal treatise, and seated absently upon a rising 
 batch of bread which I had laboriously pre- 
 pared after a new receipt, had wrought their 
 accepted havoc upon my outraged feelings. 
 
 As I drew near the lone camp, the moon
 
 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 231 
 
 lifted a pale crescent above the tops of the 
 great pecans, illuminating with silver the gaunt 
 outlines of a large cow-pen that stretched 
 beneath them. Startled by my approach, the 
 sheep stampeded into the shadows of their 
 roomy barrier, and a frightened bevy of quail 
 whirred across my path. The white tent 
 gleamed through the dim spaces of the trees, 
 like an odd transparency. 
 
 " I made up my mind ye was goin' back on 
 me ! " remarked William Henry grimly, as I 
 entered. 
 
 " How are you ? " I inquired vaguely, throw- 
 ing myself into a corner and pillowing my head 
 upon a sack of coffee. 
 
 " Most dead," he replied cheerfully. 
 
 " How did your sheep herd to-day ? " 
 
 " About as near like a lot of crazy mules as 
 they could convenient." 
 
 "Any trouble from wolves?" 
 
 " I reckon they'll be on hand, as soon as I 
 make for bed." 
 
 " Hungry? " said I, exhibiting a large basket. 
 
 " Jest starvin'," he replied. 
 
 " Did it ever occur to you, William ? " said I, 
 as he attacked the provender with both hands,
 
 232 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 
 
 " that in business as in love there is no suc- 
 cess with a faint heart?" 
 
 " How far is it from here to Paint Rock ? " he 
 inquired, evading the issue. 
 
 "Thirty-five miles." 
 
 " Which way? " 
 
 " Due west," I said, giving him the line. 
 
 "And San Saba?" 
 
 " About sixty off here ! 
 
 " I hope, however," said I, " that you are 
 not contemplating the journey on foot, for the 
 chances are, that with your inexperience of the 
 country, you would lose your way and perish 
 miserably." 
 
 He did not reply, but lay knocking his heels 
 together and caressing " Top." Subsequently, 
 when he artfully intruded a thread-bare subject 
 by insinuating a love-letter that I already knew 
 by heart, I wrapped myself in my blanket and 
 went calmly to sleep. 
 
 We awoke betimes the next morning, and 
 after a primitive repast, released the imprisoned 
 sheep. As I stood looking at them graz- 
 ing away in beautiful company-front, and with 
 the far-reachir.g wings of their slowly moving 
 column stretching over the flowering prairie in
 
 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 233 
 
 admirable order, I was impressed that they 
 were the best herding yearlings I had ever 
 seen. 
 
 " Do you mind lending me this dog?" said 
 William Henry, "they run so, you know." 
 
 More out of compassion for his loneliness 
 than any other reason, I consented. We parted 
 company on the next divide. I never saw him 
 again. 
 
 For when our foreman returned at noon and 
 visited the lone camp, he found the sheep bleat- 
 ing in the pen ; the collapsed tent flying in the 
 wind ; the sticky equipment of that early break- 
 fast broiling in the sun. But all traces of food, 
 or dog, or William Henry, were irrevocably 
 
 I think of him tenderly yet. Time has con- 
 soled me for the loss of my dog, and a dearth 
 of correspondence on the part of Leonora has 
 made me more charitable in my estimate of his 
 trials. There are times, when, over a tranquil 
 pipe, and under the witchery of moonlight, the 
 memory of his soulful devotion affects me with 
 the pathos of knight-errantry. And if, perchance, 
 within some wooded copse or thorny chaparral, 
 the bleaching bones of this misguided and warir
 
 234 A WANDERING MELIBCEUS. 
 
 dering Meliboeus of the South nave found no 
 mourners save the hooting owl and gaunt coy- 
 ote, I have, at least, the consciousness of having 
 warned him, and his untimely fate is but the 
 sad sequel of his own temerity. 
 
 But I do not like to think of him thus. I 
 prefer rather to reflect upon the ubiquity of 
 wandering teamsters and their attendant mules. 
 And oft, before my fancy, rises a picture of a 
 respectable tanner, with children playing around 
 his knees, and a father's pride illuminating his 
 hollow eyes, and by his side a grave and quiet 
 matron, in whose subdued appearance you 
 might seek in vain, for traces of the saccharine 
 tastes and jewel-loving extravagance of the be- 
 loved Mirandy.
 
 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 
 
 r PHE sun was setting on the Maverick valley. 
 1 As I walked to the door of the ranch, a few 
 Parthian arrows from his declining bow 
 splintered themselves among the dusky tops of 
 the live oaks. There was a faint pink glow all 
 around the horizon that on its western threshold 
 lingered in feathery flecks of crimson and gold. 
 The brief twilight of Texan latitudes was al- 
 ready hastening through the thin files of mes- 
 quite that stood like straggling pickets before 
 the windows of the little cabin. A silence was 
 falling over the hushed landscape "vast, 
 measureless, complete." 
 
 Certainly I had some excuse for the sudden 
 loneliness that fell upon me. It was the first 
 time in my border life that I had been left upon 
 the trackless prairie, solitary and alone. The 
 annual shearing was just over. But an hour
 
 236 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 
 
 before our entire " outfit" had departed for a 
 general merry-making at a distant frontier town. 
 As I had volunteered in accepting the position 
 of cook during the past three weeks, and for 
 that period had labored to fill a recurrent and 
 appalling vacuum in eighteen able-bodied men, 
 my efforts had naturally been somewhat debili- 
 tating. Amid that exuberance of society in 
 which solitude seems a myth, I had declined 
 conviviality and elected repose. I was left 
 behind as custodian of the ranch. 
 
 But as I stepped from the door for the pur- 
 pose of penning the buck-herd, I was beginning 
 to regret my choice. I realized that I a 
 " tenderfoot " with only a three months' resi- 
 dence in the state was alone upon an area of 
 fifty thousand acres without let or limit; that 
 my nearest neighbor was five miles away, over 
 a chartless, emerald sea, to be traversed only by 
 aid of that shifting guide, the sun; that my 
 only companions in this primitive wilderness 
 were thirty-five Merino bucks of contemplative 
 and exclusive tendencies ; a shepherd-dog which 
 was immaturely effusive and slobberingly de- 
 monstrative upon being addressed as "Miss 
 Flo" ; and an ebony cat that inflicted a mangy
 
 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. Ztf 
 
 and somewhat dissipated exterior under the 
 sobriquet of " Miss Emma." A dearth of the con- 
 solations of female society apparently inspires 
 the native Texan to a courteous acknowledg- 
 ment of the sex of domestic pets. 
 
 When, therefore, I had driven the horned 
 contingent of my associates into their rude 
 brush-pen, and had fastened the hurdle-gate, I 
 stood leaning against it and seriously regarding 
 them. It did not add to the cheerfulness of 
 my surroundings to notice that they bore an 
 unmistakable resemblance to a company of 
 hook-nosed Jews; that their knees were sprung 
 with the rheumatism of age; that their eyes 
 were rheumy and inflamed ; and that they ap- 
 peared to be unusually afflicted that evening 
 with snuffles and chronic catarrh. Besides, 
 they were so fresh from the shears, that the air 
 of venerable wisdom which their faces arro- 
 gated, seemed to be caricatured by the rest of 
 their bodies. They were so repulsive in 
 appearance, that I at once dubbed the most 
 disreputable specimen, " Fagin," a baptismal 
 inspiration that eventually achieved popularity. 
 Then, with that hypocrisy which characterizes 
 man when lonely, I began to. patronize my
 
 238 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 
 
 much abused dog and even the feline antique ; 
 for both had accompanied me in my pastoral 
 duties. After which I walked back to the 
 ranch. Here I encountered another dubious 
 object that in my then dejected condition struck 
 me as almost ominous. This was a pet lizard 
 which, for the past month, had inhabited the 
 neighboring kitchen a long, low structure with 
 a canvas roof and which was now perched 
 upon the door-step. But " Tommy" was on 
 the present occasion very much out of luck. 
 He was not under the most favorable circum- 
 stances a prepossessing object. He was brick- 
 red, covered with polka-dots of black, and had 
 a diabolical leer about the eye. " Tommy," 
 however, had now unaccountably lost his tail, 
 and was obviously so humiliated and dispirited, 
 that he unconsciously infected and aggra-vated 
 my own melancholy. 
 
 I opened the door of the kitchen into which 
 he immediately dived and hid his diminished 
 lizardship from view. Entering the little cabin, 
 and acting from a feeling of generous hospitality 
 that must have struck both as phenomenal, I 
 invited the companionship of " Miss Flo" and 
 " Miss Emma." Then I lighted the lamp, and
 
 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 23$ 
 
 drawing the solitary chair of the apartment to 
 a convenient distance, picked up a volume of 
 Macaulay's Essays (for we were fortunately 
 blessed with an abundance of literature), and 
 disposed myself to read. I remember thinking, 
 as I settled myself into a comfortable position, 
 that I would make amends for my enforced 
 isolation by profound literary culture, and 
 rather pluming myself upon how much benefit 
 I should derive from this prairie course of 
 study. But I certainly made little progress 
 that evening. I found myself singularly un- 
 able to concentrate my attention. I was 
 oppressed by an indefinable feeling of dread 
 that at last culminated in a nervous sensation 
 of being observed. I threw aside my book in 
 disgust and endeavored to account for it. 
 
 It was now pitch dark outside. I was sitting 
 at a little desk that, from the poverty of our 
 household furniture, was obliged to perform 
 manifold duties. To-night it was somewhat 
 overburdened with frontier bric-a-brac, conspic- 
 uous among which was a large Colt's revolver 
 and cartridge-belt. I perceived that, as I sat, I 
 was directly in line with the two windows of 
 the ranch one on the south, the other on the
 
 240 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 
 
 north side of the house. Partly from a feeling 
 of caution which one acquires on the frontier, 
 and partly from this nervousness I could not 
 explain, I shifted my chair around against the 
 wall until I faced the southern window. In 
 effecting this change of position, I succeeded 
 in treading on Miss Emma, and discommoding 
 Miss Flo, who, after looking at me in a grieved 
 fashion, accommodated herself in another 
 quarter with the usual canine philosophy and 
 circumlocution. 
 
 As I tilted my chair against the door and as- 
 sumed an aggressive attitude towards the op- 
 posite window, I noticed a few drops of water 
 upon the panes, and was then for the first time 
 aware that it was raining. A moment after a 
 vivid flash of lightning illuminated the darkness 
 without, opening up phosphorescent vistas in 
 the mesquites with startling suddenness. Brief 
 as was the interval for observation, it was suffi- 
 cienf to confirm my suspicions. Amid the loud 
 reverberations of the thunder-clap that followed, 
 I was confident that I had seen a man lurking 
 in the scanty shrubbery outside. 
 
 I cannot describe how much I was discon- 
 certed by this discovery. I was alone in a wild and
 
 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 241 
 
 lawless country, where a man might be attacked 
 and murdered without a chance of succor. I 
 was in a lighted room whose unshuttered win- 
 dows stared into the black night so glaringly, 
 that practically I was as defenseless to an 
 enemy hid in the darkness without, as if shut in 
 a glass case. As this thought leaped to my 
 brain, I suddenly extinguished the light and 
 groped for the revolver and cartridge-belt, re- 
 solving to make as determined a stand as possi- 
 ble. Securing both, I buckled on the belt and 
 backed against the door, in order to resist any 
 forcible entrance. In this defiant attitude I 
 waited, the storm continuing to rage with- 
 out. 
 
 A Texan thunderstorm is at all times awe- 
 inspiring. I do not think I ever lived a more 
 thrilling existence than during the brief inter- 
 val I crouched in the darkness of that little 
 cabin, which was incessantly lighted by the blue 
 flashes that seemed to leap from window to 
 window, and which shook tremulously under 
 the crash of the shattering reports that fol- 
 lowed one another in quick succession. My 
 excitement reached its height, when, during 
 one of these sudden illuminations, I perceived
 
 242 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 
 
 pressed against the pane and peering into the 
 room, a wild, red face, with long, gray beard 
 and disheveled hair streaming in the wind. 
 The apparition, seen by the lurid light, was so 
 malevolent, that I think I was only prevented 
 from firing at it by the brief interval of the 
 flash. When the lightning gleamed again, the 
 face was gone, and I was certain now I could 
 hear some one groping his way along the side 
 of the house, evidently supporting himself in 
 that way against the charging gusts of wind 
 and sharp fusillade of the driving rain. At the 
 same time Miss Flo became uneasy, and, at 
 last, barked loudly. 
 
 " Hulloa, here ! " shouted a gruff voice. 
 
 I hastily relighted the lamp, and opened the 
 door in some trepidation. 
 
 There entered a tall figure, so gratuitously 
 limp and bedraggled with rain as to be almost 
 grotesque ; so worn with travel, and with such 
 an utter weariness of life in the eyes, as to be 
 really pathetic. The clothes that he wore 
 were torn and abraded, exposing a sub-stratum 
 of red flannel at the knees, which, gave him a 
 ludicrous suggestion of having worn himself 
 down to the quick from the excess of his devo-
 
 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 243 
 
 tions. His shrunken pantaloons encroached 
 upon the calves of his legs, and, as he was with- 
 out stockings, this lack of intimacy with his 
 hob-nailed shoes exposed a pair of very gaunt 
 and reluctant ankles. His beard and hair were 
 long, straggling, and unkempt, and were sur- 
 mounted by an extravagant slouch hat of the 
 frontier pattern. Running over the scant de- 
 tails of my former apparition, I mentally classi- 
 fied him at once as a " border tramp." But I 
 was lonely that evening and disposed to be 
 polite. I therefore offered him the only chair 
 in the room, stretched myself upon the low bed, 
 and calmly awaited developments. 
 
 " Good evening," he said, in a rather husky 
 but pleasant voice, as he lapsed into the chair. 
 Then he took off his broad hat with a swirl of 
 spattering rain-drops, wiped his forehead with a 
 red bandana handkerchief, ruminated a few 
 minutes, replaced his hat, and finally producing 
 a pipe and a plug of tobacco, began slowly cut- 
 ting up and crumbling the latter the usual 
 frontier preliminaries to a smoke. 
 
 I watched his movements with absorbing 
 interest. He reminded me so forcibly of pic- 
 tures of the lamented John Brown, that I was
 
 244 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 
 
 more than ever inclined to accept the " singu- 
 lar conflicting conditions of that martyr's soul 
 and body," as exemplified in the popular 
 song. 
 
 When he had finally lighted his pipe and 
 emitted several curling rings of smoke, this 
 singular figure vouchsafed the information 
 that he had come across country in the hope 
 of assisting us in shearing. I informed him 
 that we had just finished that day for the sea- 
 son. He seemed to experience some regret at 
 this, and for a time smoked on in silence. At 
 length, his eyes happening to fall upon my 
 relinquished volume, he took it up, glanced 
 over it hastily, and laid it down again. 
 
 "You have been reading Macaulay?" he 
 said. I assented in some surprise. 
 
 " Ah ! " said my strange guest,- " A wonder- 
 ful man ! a wonderful man, that same Mac- 
 aulay! What a genius, what learning, what a 
 noble style he had, to be sure ! " 
 
 Then throwing his head back and narrowing 
 his wild eyes, he suddenly broke out : 
 
 " ' An acre in Middlesex is worth a principal- 
 ity in Utopia; the smallest actual good is 
 better than the most magnificent promises of
 
 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 245 
 
 impossibilities; the wise man of the Stoics 
 would, no doubt, be a grander object than a 
 steam engine. But there are steam engines. 
 And the wise man of the Stoics is yet to be 
 born. A philosophy which should enable a 
 man to feel perfectly happy when in agonies of 
 pain may be better than a philosophy that can 
 assuage pain. But we know that there are 
 remedies that will assuage pain ; and we know 
 that the ancient sages liked the toothache as 
 little as their neighbors.' " 
 
 I sat up at this effort of memory in some 
 amazement. For the past three months, hav- 
 ing associated with individuals whose vocabu- 
 laries hardly ventured beyond the possibilities 
 of "right smart" and "away over yonder," 
 I was somewhat startled, I admit. 
 
 "Are you a native of the state, sir? " I asked 
 with great respect. 
 
 " No," replied he, turning full upon me for 
 an instant those singular eyes of his, " I am, 
 like yourself, a Northerner." 
 
 " Let me offer you a better pipe," I said, 
 pointing out to him the case containing my 
 best meerschaum. "You will find some excel- 
 lent ' Cavendish ' in that jar,"
 
 246 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 
 
 He gave me a quick glance, as if apprecia- 
 tive of my hospitality, but declined, saying 
 that long habit had given him a preference for 
 the natural leaf. 
 
 "What is your college?" he suddenly 
 asked, as I was filling a pipe preparatory to 
 joining him. 
 
 "Yale," I answered with the pardonable 
 pride of all sons of that alma mater, and 
 yours ? " 
 
 " I seldom mistake a collegian," remarked 
 my incongruous visitor " ' Infandum, Re- 
 gina,jubes renovare dolor em! I hail from Dart- 
 mouth." 
 
 I had made the inquiry more from politeness 
 than any other motive, and yet, at the moment 
 of my speaking, it flashed across me that he 
 must be college-bred. Now that I was assured 
 of it, I felt a sincere regret in seeing one who 
 had enjoyed such advantages, at such wretched 
 odds with fortune. He must have divined 
 what passed through my mind, for he glanced 
 hurriedly and half sadly, as it seemed to me 
 over his forlorn garments, and then raising his 
 eyes to mine, and with a gleam of humor lurk- 
 ing beneath his shaggy brows, said,
 
 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 247 
 
 " And, pray, sir, how came a gentleman of 
 your education and intelligence down in this 
 God-forsaken country?" 
 
 I smiled, and attributed my advent to the 
 adventurous spirit of the nineteenth century, 
 for want of a better reason. He took my 
 answer in the spirit in which it was given, and 
 appeared in a sense to be relieved by it, as if 
 it established a bond of union between us, it 
 struck me. But he resisted all inquiries of 
 mine into his antecedents or past history, meet- 
 ing my hints and questions with adroit evasion 
 and skillful changes of the subject. 
 
 And so, in the quiet night for the rain had 
 now ceased, and the moon, riding high, silvered 
 the wan landscape, and fringed the dripping 
 foliage with flashing gems we drifted back to 
 the topic with which we began and talked of 
 literary themes. It has been my privilege to 
 converse with not a few cultured and learned 
 men, and to enjoy the society of some of the 
 most brilliant of modern conversationalists, but 
 as I sat and listened that evening to the words 
 that fell from the lips of this frontier bohemian, 
 it seemed to me that my acquaintance with the 
 nature of true eloquence had just begun. It
 
 248 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 
 
 was "like reading Homer by flashes of light- 
 ning." What a wealth of bold imagery, of 
 keen appreciation, of suggestive analogy, of 
 marvelous insight was there ! And what a 
 treasure house of memory ! And when he 
 finally lapsed into monologue, and indulging 
 in a rhapsody upon the wonders of Milton, 
 quoted from " Paradise Lost " by paragraph 
 and page, I thought of Macaulay's boast that 
 if the great poet's immortal epic should by any 
 chance be lost to men, he might hope to re- 
 produce it ; and my admiration for the attain- 
 ments of the man swept over me in one vast 
 wave of wonder. And then, as I lay there, 
 listening to his deep voice which had grown 
 singularly rich and sonorous, as if in sympathy 
 with the dignity of those grand periods, pon- 
 dering what strange chance or force of circum- 
 stance had compelled this incongruous being 
 to such surroundings, his form suddenly dilated, 
 his lips parted as if in terror, his eyes became 
 fixed on vacancy and staring, and with a sudden 
 spring to his feet, he stood erect and menacing. 
 " Avaunt ! " he cried, gazing with a wild and 
 frenzied stare into the empty air, " Avaunt ! 
 and quit my sight ! Begone, I say ! Think'st
 
 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 249 
 
 thou to dog my footsteps always ? To hound 
 me to the day of my dath ? Back ! Back ! 
 G-r-r-rhr ! Take your grip from off my neck ! 
 A vaunt ! " 
 
 He dashed his hands to his throat, clutching 
 it wildly, and striding to the door, flung it wide 
 open, glaring long and fiercely out into the 
 quiet night with a frenzied and hunted expres- 
 sion. Then he came slowly back to the table, 
 tottering feebly and muttering incoherently, 
 threw himself into his chair, and covering his 
 haggard face with both his trembling hands, 
 shuddered and gasped alternately. Great beads 
 of agony stood upon his brow. 
 
 I was so startled by this sudden outburst 
 that I could only stare and sit speechless. When 
 he first rose I was under the impression that it 
 was to give greater force to some terrific denun- 
 ciation. Not until he tore open the door 
 did I realize that it was the hallucination of 
 illness, and even then my consternation was so 
 great as to deprive me of all power to act or 
 speak. 
 
 The paroxysm soon passed. Meanwhile, I 
 had poured some brandy into the cup of my 
 pocket-flask, and offered it to him. He drank
 
 250 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 
 
 it with a feverish eagerness. By degrees the 
 stimulant seemed to overcome his nervous ap- 
 prehension. He sat for a long time with 
 listless, leaden eyes. Then he rose wearily and 
 asked, in a humble, deprecating fashion, if there 
 were any place where he might sleep that night. 
 
 There was something so piteous, so unutter- 
 ably wretched in this appeal, coming from one 
 whose wonderful discourse had so delighted me, 
 that I was indescribably touched. " Surely," 
 said I to myself, " such abilities as I have recog- 
 nized this night shall not be without shelter." 
 I instantly placed my bed at his disposal. After 
 much remonstrance and reluctance, I, at last, 
 got him to bed, and he laid himself down with 
 a long, low, agonizing sigh the sigh of one to 
 whom life is weariness and existence a burden. 
 
 As I stepped to the table near which he had 
 been sitting, I observed a small tin box, some- 
 thing like a tobacco-box, lying in his empty 
 chair. I picked it up mechanically. Such a 
 singular odor rose from this box that I was 
 tempted to open it almost unconsciously. It 
 was half full of a grayish brown drug. I ex- 
 amined it curiously. Opiiim ! 
 
 I glanced toward the bed. He was lying
 
 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN, 251 
 
 apparently in a heavy sleep. I closed the lid 
 of the box and placed it quietly beside him. 
 Full of conjecture for the past of the unfortu- 
 nate being who occupied my bed, I wrapped 
 myself in my blanket and lay down beneath 
 the window. There was no sound in the quiet 
 night save the occasional long howl of the 
 coyote from the hill. For a long time I lay 
 awake, pondering over the singular conversation 
 of the evening and its startling denouement. I 
 wondered if his hallucination could be directly 
 traced to opium, and what strange misfortune 
 could have placed him under the thrall of the 
 deadly drug. And then my thoughts recurred 
 to his quotation from Macaulay " But we know 
 that there are remedies that will assuage pain." 
 What was the pain, or what the sorrow ? 
 
 Unconsciously in my long reverie I had 
 turned toward him. He was sleeping peace- 
 fully in the wan light. The pale moon, looking 
 coyly over the crest of a western divide, stole 
 through the files of sentinel mesquites in a long 
 pencil, and rested like a ghostly arm upon his 
 breast. I thought, " The sister of Apollo has 
 him in her keeping;" arrd I fell asleep. But 
 in the morning, the hands folded upon the
 
 252 A FRONTIER BOHEMIAN. 
 
 breast were pulseless and cold ; the face was 
 waxen and still ; and, hushed in the fearful 
 calm of life's great mystery, the old man eloquent 
 was dead.
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 
 
 THE times were hard at Brady City. Never 
 within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, 
 it appeared, had there been so little doing. 
 From the briefless office of Judge Natchez the 
 legal luminary of the Concho Circuit to the 
 editorial sanctum of the "Weekly Bugle," 
 the universal criticism was that of commer- 
 cial inactivity and financial dullness. "A 
 disheartening paralysis of the local indus- 
 tries, attended with a most deplorable sus- 
 pension of home credit, is epidemic in our 
 midst," wrote the gifted editor of the latter 
 journal, in that inflated rhetoric with which its 
 readers were familiar. As it was known that the 
 editorial signature, in common with those of all 
 former bibulous patrons, had been recently 
 erased from the credit-slate of the " Morning Call 
 Saloon, "this melancholy comment was currently 
 supposed to have a narrower personal bearing.
 
 254 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRA&Y. 
 
 But of the truth of the editorial dictum there 
 was no question. The five small shops which 
 comprised the " local industries" of the rising 
 town of Brady wore an air of abandonment 
 and desertion. There was an unwonted gloom 
 at the saddlery, and an atmosphere of neglect 
 about the two groceries that ministered to the 
 famished capacities of its citizens. The musical 
 clink of the blacksmith's anvil was rare and 
 intermittent. Even the judgment of Mr. James 
 Wily, that keen student of frontier taste and 
 character, was at last in error. The attractive 
 edifice which, in the interests of his profession 
 and a refined aesthetic taste, he had reared to the 
 goddess, Chance, stood closed and untenanted. 
 The fascinating wheel of fortune, that had so 
 delusively lured the ingenuous sympathies and 
 hard-earned dollars of the inhabitants of Brady 
 in the pursuit of suddenly acquired wealth, with- 
 held its customary whirl. The seductive billiard 
 table, brilliant with mahogany and mother of 
 pearl, that had once proved so irresistible to 
 the casual visitor, stood draped and silent before 
 the gilded bar, and affected the disconsolate 
 proprietor as might the presence of an enshroud- 
 ed corpse. And the ruined speculator him-
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRADY. 255 
 
 self after many efforts to alleviate matters by 
 a judicious display of " free lunches and fancy 
 drinks" in his palace was constrained to 
 abandon the scene of his financial losses with a 
 depleted pocket-book and a damaged reputation. 
 It will be seen, too, that this commercial stag- 
 nation was alleged to have its origin in social 
 reform. Brady City had recently experienced 
 a temperance revival. The wave of popular en- 
 thusiasm that had borne the most prominent 
 of its citizens out of the depths of alcoholic 
 melancholia into the shoals of " Total Absti- 
 nence," had passed on to other, and, haply, more 
 urgent towns, leaving behind it the prosaic 
 record of regretted pledges, broken vows, and 
 the disorganized nerves and irritable tempers 
 that attest the despotism of undue stimulation. 
 The last " horrible example " removed from 
 their midst ; the pleading eloquence of the re- 
 claimed inebriate no longer urging them by 
 precept and a brass-band ; Brady City was ex- 
 periencing the pangs of regret, and the dangers 
 of reaction. A feeling, that the recent step 
 toward moral regeneration had been hasty and 
 ill-considered, was beginning to possess the 
 despondent community.
 
 256 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRADY. 
 
 " Many things contributed to bring about this 
 yer disgraceful state of things ; " apologetically 
 explained Jed Smalley, a reclaimed votary of 
 Bacchus, to the astounded stage-driver who had 
 stopped at the " Hotel " for his customary 
 refreshment " they jest ketched us between 
 sheriff elections and snake stirrin' in the spring. 
 They wasn't any votin' to be done ; the rattlers 
 was all under ground ; thet mistake o' the bar- 
 keeper of the * Two Brothers,' along o' confusin' 
 powdered sugar for cocktails w r ith the strickenine 
 he bought for killin' coyotes, hed a depressin' 
 effect on the old soakers ; an' altogether Brady 
 whisky seemed to be a drug in the market. 
 Then ole Joe Ferguson he 'had 'em agin',' and 
 was liable to be took bad reg'lar and afore 
 folks, and them temperance sharps, they jest 
 ketched onter him to onct as a shinin' speciment 
 of ' Rum done it.' It was too much for the 
 boys, and this yer town hez been de-looged and 
 drown-dfo/ with cold water ever sence." 
 
 Nor was the reclaimed Jedediah alone in his 
 despondent opinion. 
 
 " I hold," remarked Jackson Sands to a travel- 
 ing drummer in the rear room of his grocery, 
 tapping a large hogshead impressively to enforce
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRAD K 257 
 
 his proposition, " thet a leetle o' this yer stuff 
 are pow'ful in cementin' trade and strikin' a 
 bargain. It war useless to attempt any bizness 
 on the frontier 'ithout a nip now and then, jest 
 to limber up like, the wheels of honest and 
 fa'r dealin'. It stimmerlates the acquisition of 
 goods and chatties, and relieves the stringency 
 of the money market. The bottom hez dropt 
 out of groceries, my friend, sence the recent 
 crisis." 
 
 The Sheriff, also, who, in the unaccustomed 
 leisure that had overtaken him in the dis- 
 charge of his usually arduous duties, had 
 dropped in upon the proprietor for a short call, 
 added his testimony to the general com- 
 mentary. 
 
 " I tuck down my six-shooter from the nail 
 where it's been hangin' ever sence this cyclone 
 of cussed foolishness concluded to strike this 
 yer unfortunet settlement, and I'm a jack-rabbit, 
 ef ther wasn't an inch o' rust and vardygrease 
 all 'round the caps. There haint been a row or 
 a spree for the last month thet I've hed any 
 chance to take a hand in. Even the cow-boys 
 hev got it ! I was up in Menard last week at thet 
 hangin', an' I stopped at Yoho's ranch.
 
 258 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 
 
 ' Wot's up?' sez I, observin' them engaged in 
 brandin'. They hed a large S. O. T. on the 
 side of the nearest heifer. I supposed they war 
 amusin' themselves with the critter, and I larfed 
 accordin'. But I reckon ther wasn't a kid 
 mor'n so high but could hev kerried me back- 
 hum without a habus coppiis when they said 
 them cows was now all * Sons of Temperance! 
 It's my opinion, thet ef this yer brain-softenin' 
 continners, it's high time, gentlemen, fur a 
 loonytic commission to set on the inhabitants 
 of this yer county." 
 
 Upon a community so circumstanced and 
 commiserated, the darkness of a dreary spring 
 day was now closing in. A northerly gale had 
 been working its exasperating will upon dis- 
 tressed humanity since early morning rattling 
 the windward shutters and casements, harrying 
 rickety barns and outbuildings, charging the 
 patient stock whose monotonous bells gave the 
 single, narrow street the ludicrous suggestion 
 of a junk emporium, and bullying the unfortu- 
 nate wayfarer with a pertinacity that provoked 
 the usual profanity. 
 
 And, indeed, the condition of the roads made 
 such license not altogether unpardonable. Mud
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRAD Y. 259 
 
 beset the trails and choked the wheels of pro- 
 gression throughout the Brady Valley not the 
 ordinary complacent and self-satisfied mud that 
 infests the highways in early spring but an 
 uncompromising, aggressive, and ambitious 
 mire that aspires to the qualities of molasses 
 and glue mud that rolls up under the boots of 
 the pedestrian and demands recognition mud 
 that is determined to get on in the world 
 whether he does or not, and, to that end, plays 
 perpetual " cut behind " with the floundering 
 legs of the struggling wayfarer the genius and 
 abiding despotism of Mud. 
 
 Supper was just over at the forlorn " Hotel " 
 where the varied talent of the little settlement 
 was wont to repair for rest and refreshment. 
 The weary lodgers, having disposed of the cus- 
 tomary ration of scorched " sow-belly" and 
 chrome yellow biscuits, settled themselves 
 about the open fire-place in the " office," which, 
 in the absence of alcoholic refreshment, 
 held out a feeble and vicarious consolation to 
 the outer man. All chewed tobacco and ex- 
 pectorated violently from morbid sympathy. 
 A few of the more philosophical took addi- 
 tional refuge in smoking. Indeed the prospect
 
 260 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 
 
 was in no sense cheering or exhilarating. No 
 print or gayly colored lithograph illuminated 
 the blank walls over which the solitary kerosene 
 lamp shed a flickering and uncertain gleam. A 
 leaky tin wash-basin and frouzy brush and 
 comb, that imposed upon the present company 
 some semblance of the virtue of tidiness, hung 
 as if in faint protest upon the opposite wall. 
 A dirty towel, bearing upon its face evidences of 
 undue familiarity with the features of its last 
 patron, depended from a nail in the corner. 
 Meanwhile the wind, increasing in fury with 
 the approach of night, renewed its boisterous 
 aggression upon the shaky tenement. At 
 times a wayward gust, making a burglarious at- 
 tempt by way of the chimney, swept down and 
 brightened the embers of the fire. There it 
 surprised the most prominent of the society of 
 Brady. Four citizens, already alluded to, were 
 among those present the Judge, Jed Smalley, 
 the Editor, and the Sheriff. 
 
 They had been sitting around the fire in 
 every attitude of complete and irremediable 
 dejection the Editor, perhaps, the most shat- 
 tered and disconsolate of the group. They 
 were moody, peevish, and distraught. The
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 261 
 
 subject of their thoughts and meditations was 
 the all-absorbing but depressing, theme of Tem- 
 perance. 
 
 Every expedient within the ingenuity of the 
 circle had been resorted to, to dispel the gloom 
 to which hard times and a dearth of spirits 
 conspired. 'Jed Smalley, who had recently 
 returned from a trip to Austin, had regaled 
 his auditors with a lengthy description of 
 a banquet he had attended where "there 
 was seven different styles of drinks all settin' 
 'round each feller's plate in different colored 
 glasses. And I settin' thar," added Jed, with 
 grim irony " passin' myself off fur a temper- 
 ance advocate, and otherwise doin' the holy 
 horror bizness." 
 
 As the staple liquor at Brady had been con- 
 fined to "4<>rod whisky," retailed in beer- 
 mugs, a flattering appreciation of the phe- 
 nomenal character of Jed's forbearance per- 
 vaded his audience. 
 
 "They's an Englisher down thar," continued 
 Jed, "hez invented a new kind o' drink, he calls 
 a 'pick-me-up ' the vartues of which, after a 
 mild racket, they allow to be tremenjus. He 
 warrants it to lift a feller quietly out o' bed,
 
 262 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY 
 
 put on his clothes fur him, and land him down 
 stares with an appeytite fur breakfast." 
 
 The astonishing efficacy of this beverage 
 provoked some interest and curiosity among 
 his auditors. 
 
 Hereupon, Judge Natchez excited some fee. 
 ble merriment by ringing up the bilious pro- 
 prietor and ordering " extra dry champagne " 
 for every body present in a large and munificent 
 manner, and then countermanding his absent- 
 mindedness. But even this ironical tribute to 
 a gilded past lost somehow its power of 
 diversion. 
 
 Then the conversation degenerated into 
 personalities. 
 
 " The editor of the ' Menard Boomerang ' 
 allows that they didn't shet you off 'n yer licker 
 none too soon, Buck," said the Sheriff, quietly 
 raising his eyes from the revolver he had been 
 oiling by the light of the fire, and addressing 
 the representative of the " Bugle." " He sez he's 
 seen traces of alcoholic mane-yer in yer editor- 
 ials, ever sence thet ' Snake Leader ' o' your'n 
 ye wrote last spring." 
 
 As the article alluded to was a facetious one 
 upon the alarming increase of the rattlesnake
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRAD Y. 263 
 
 in the frontier counties, the sarcasm was not 
 without its effect upon the Editor. 
 
 " Any one engaged, like thet Menard idjit, in 
 editing waste paper, devoted to cow-brands and 
 'patent outsides,' is not morally or mentally 
 responsible for his vagaries," returned the jour- 
 nalist loftily, rising and knocking the ashes 
 from his pipe, and repairing to his overcoat 
 with an excited, nervous manner that had 
 increased since he had forsworn the " flowing 
 bowl." 
 
 The eyes of the assembled company followed 
 him with a singular fascination that could only 
 be ascribed to preconcert of some kind. 
 
 As the editorial hand plunged into a side- 
 pocket, in search of the coveted " natural leaf," 
 a huge rat sprang from its recesses, scampered 
 across the floor, and after several attempts to 
 escape, disappeared in a hole in the hearth- 
 stone. The Editor recoiled with an oath and 
 a sudden pallor. 
 
 " Did ye see thet rat, boys ! " he exclaimed, 
 turning to the group by the fireside with tremu- 
 lous eagerness. 
 
 "Who said anythin' about a rat? What 
 rat?" returned various members of the 
 company.
 
 264 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRADY. 
 
 "Why, thet rat thet jest jumped out o' my 
 pocket ? Didn't ye see him ? Big as a jack- 
 rabbit and grayer than a badger ran right over 
 those delicate feet of the Judge's," said the 
 Editor, endeavoring to screen his anxiety under 
 the guise of facetiousness. 
 
 " How long is it, Buck, sence you've agreed 
 to 'touch not nor to handle'?" inquired the 
 lawyer with a provoking wink at his auditors. 
 
 The journalist's face paled visibly with 
 dreaded apprehension. 
 
 "Oh! come off, Judge!" he returned rather 
 feebly, and with a restless hand clutching his 
 scraggly beard, as he recognized the reluctance 
 of the rest of the company to acknowledge his 
 recent visitor " there was a big rat in my 
 pocket ran right over my hand when I reached 
 down for my plug o' terbacker a big feller 
 long ez thet 'Deranger' o' Jed Smalley's. 
 I thought he hed me bit thar ! Why what's 
 gone with you feller's eyes?" 
 
 But here the excited Editor was met by a 
 dry comment from the practical Smalley a 
 frontier philosopher in his way who brought 
 to the settlement of every emergency the test 
 of hard common sense.
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRAD Y. 265 
 
 "Wotever's gone with 'em, Buck, we'd be 
 certingly better off without any, than to be 
 fashionin' stray snakes, an' rats, and sich like 
 varmin ez them optics o' your'n is continner'ly 
 springin' on an unsuspectin' community." 
 
 A roar of approval greeted this sally. Where- 
 upon the man of letters deserted by his 
 assembled companions, and despairing of sup- 
 port turned a sharp corner. 
 
 "Well, you fellers are mighty easy taken in," 
 he said, forcing a ghastly grin upon his pallid 
 countenance. " Did ye reckon I really did see 
 anythin ' ? I was foolin' yer. Ther wasn't any 
 rat ! " 
 
 Whereat a chorus of laughter so loud, so 
 shrill, so derisive, and sardonic, disclosed the 
 poverty of the subterfuge, and proclaimed the 
 double humiliation of a detected falsehood and 
 a successful practical joke. 
 
 The company had barely recovered from the 
 outburst of merriment into which the recent 
 incident had thrown them, when the sound of 
 hoof-beats outside, and a sharp " Whoa ! " an- 
 nounced a new arrival. The creaking door 
 opened suddenly, and a tall figure, projected by 
 the roaring blast behind it, like a bolt from a 
 catapult, shot forward into the room,
 
 266 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 
 
 It was a figure well known in Brady the 
 broad shoulders, sturdy limbs, and strong feat- 
 ures, almost Semitic in their sallow thought- 
 fulness, revealed Ebenezer Wilkins, the most 
 popular ranchman in Concho Co. 
 
 " Is thet you, * Snoozer' ? " exclaimed Judge 
 Natchez, making use of a popular parody upon 
 the new comer's Christian name, and shifting 
 slightly upon the rough bench for his accom- 
 modation. 
 
 " What there is left of me ! " returned the 
 figure, stalking gloomily to the fire " but as 
 near as I can get to it without muscular profan- 
 ity that isn't much ! Do you have these 
 blows regular in Brady, or is this one made to 
 order by an outraged Providence for a town 
 where an honest traveler can't beg or steal a 
 drink? " 
 
 A groan from the benches testified that he 
 had struck a tender chord. 
 
 "Well, how are ye, 'Snoozer,' my boy?" 
 reiterated the legal gentleman, gracefully waiv- 
 ing the recent shaft and answering for the 
 rest. "We ain't sot eyes on you for an 
 age ! " 
 
 "About as well as a man can be who hasn't
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRADY. 267 
 
 been on speakin* terms with his stomach for 
 the last ten days," returned " Snoozer" gloomily, 
 bestowing a copious baptism of nicotine and a 
 hypocritical grimace upon the hissing coals by 
 way of attesting his alarming physical condi- 
 tion. " I rather allowed to come up here and 
 brace up by a change of diet." 
 
 " Reckon ye won't get nothin' but sawdust . 
 then," returned the Sheriff, who had desisted 
 from oiling his weapon and now slipped it in 
 its holster " ye may not know it, my boy, but 
 the town of Brady is a busted community a 
 reg'lar stampin' ground for jack-rabbits, profes- 
 sional dead-beats, and bummers ! " 
 
 A dead silence followed this scathing com- 
 mentary. 
 
 " I learn, " finally observed Mr. Wilkins 
 punctuating his discourse by renewed expec- 
 toration upon the coals, expressive of a fine 
 contempt " thet a band of escaped idjits have 
 struck this yer town, feebly disguised as tem- 
 perance reformers ; that the poppylation of this 
 village hez riz, and with one fell swoop taken 
 away from an enlightened community the most 
 priceless gift of a free and undivided republic 
 the privilege for which our ancestors fit, and
 
 268 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 
 
 bled, and died the freedom and consolation of 
 the social glass ; that the hull community hez 
 been kerflummuxed by a tornado of reform, 
 and," he added with withering sarcasm 
 " thet the only comfort left to a white man 
 is thet he is not included among its citizens." 
 
 This severe arraignment was received by his 
 audience in the same stony silence. 
 
 After a few moments of pensive and gloomy 
 meditation, the self-constituted mentor re- 
 sumed : 
 
 " What I hev just obsarved is ' hearsay ' only, 
 and I trust not to be relied on by any reason- 
 in' bein', but from the general shiftlessness of 
 this crowd," he added darkly, throwing his eyes 
 about him, " I hev my suspicions that ' Mr. R. 
 E. Morse ' hez been among ye." 
 
 " And suppose," remarked the Editor nerv- 
 ously and avoiding the suddenly concentrated 
 gaze of his auditor " ye find this yer report 
 to be a fact what personal criticism hev you 
 got to make ! " 
 
 "What personal criticism ! " echoed " Snoozer," 
 in unfeigned disgust " none, sir ! none what- 
 ever, sir ! To a community thus flyin' in the 
 face of Providence, and blightin' the breath o'
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 269 
 
 trade, I hev nothin' to say. It's beyond me to 
 do the subject justice. " 
 
 He rose to his feet with a gesture of throwing 
 up a bad hand at cards. 
 
 "But," remarked the Editor, growing bolder, 
 as if inspired by the sound of his own voice 
 "suppose the harm bein' done what remedy do 
 you propose ? " 
 
 "What remedy!" replied " Snoozer " with 
 renewed solemnity, gazing thoughtfully around 
 the dejected circle," Wai, a quiet, orderly, and 
 thorough application of the art of modern 
 suicide is abo.ut the only remedy that I allow to 
 quite fit the urgency of the present crisis. 
 When men git thet beside themselves thet they 
 go to work in cold blood to take away the 
 blessin's provided for alleviatin' the hardships 
 of the frontier, there isn't but one remedy. Let 
 every man take his six-shooter and walk quietly 
 out of town as ef he was goin' on a little pasear. 
 It spares the town the expense of onnecessary 
 burial, keeps the buzzards busy, and saves the 
 coroner any trouble with his verdict." 
 
 "Your treatment of the situation is heroic 
 and self-sacrificing, but not likely to become 
 popular," remarked the Editor with dignity.
 
 2 70 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 
 
 " The suggestion which we require from you is 
 something that will alleviate the present des- 
 pondency." 
 
 " Well then, I should think a ball a real, 
 live temperance ball one of them soul-stirrin', 
 maddenin', dissipated 'tears', with refresh- 
 ments of hard tack and ' lemming soda', is about 
 what you require," said " Snoozer" with ill- 
 concealed sarcasm. " And I trust you may all 
 hev the strength o' soul to resist the tempta- 
 tions of the occasion," he added with gloomy 
 irony. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said the Judge, turning to the 
 company suddenly with that persuasive and 
 convincing manner which was so telling with 
 local juries "your floor-manager presents you 
 his good wishes for the coming festivity." 
 
 And even by this subtle stroke was the proj- 
 ect started, and amid deafening cheers and the 
 wildest enthusiasm, the Temperance Ball at 
 Brady was successfully inaugurated. 
 
 Late that night, after much exciting discus- 
 sion and comment, Mr. Wilkins drew the 
 Sheriff into a side-room it having been decided 
 that this officer should act as his assistant in 
 the duties of floor-manager and pinning that
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 271 
 
 small individual against the wall in the grasp 
 of his muscular hand, addressed him in a 
 sepulchral whisper. 
 
 " Ike Mosely, have you been fool enough to 
 sign this yer pledge ? " 
 
 " Look a-here ! " retorted the Sheriff, writhing 
 in the gripe of his co-laborer ; " how long hev 
 I been sheriff o' this yer town and county ? " 
 
 "Three years, I reckon." 
 
 " And what's my record ? " 
 
 " Bang up ! " 
 
 " Wai then, do you reckon thet the feller thet 
 walked in on Jim White in the back room of 
 the ' Two Brothers/ down at Saby, an' tuck his 
 six-shooters away from him, an' waltzed him 
 into the county jail without eny possy, done 
 thet on vichy or salser apparent ? Do ye sup- 
 pose thet when I raided Jim Wily's ' monte 
 game ' in the ( Blue Goose Saloon,' I went 
 into trainin' aforehand on cold water an' sponge 
 bathin' to git my narves steady? No, sir! 
 How do you reckon I done them things? Wai, 
 I allow thet two-thirds was grit, but the other 
 third, ' Snoozer, ' was whisky." 
 
 " All right ! " said Mr. Wilkins with a sigh of 
 relief, producing a large wicker-flask which he
 
 27 2 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRADY. 
 
 uncorked and handed silently to his companion. 
 "Here's suthin' I laid in over to the ranch 
 last year, when I was down in Austin, because 
 I anticipated a liquor famine. It's prime mess, 
 Ike. Drink hearty, and success to the ' Tem- 
 perance Ball'." 
 
 As if encouraged by the prospective festivity, 
 a new era dawned upon Brady City. That 
 night, the boisterous wind that had bedeviled 
 the settlement intermittently for a fortnight, 
 was stricken into a bewildered awe and quiet. 
 In that suddenly capricious climate, the sun, so 
 long withheld, rose smilingly the next morn- 
 ing upon the level plains, and looked down 
 benignly from an azure and cloudless heaven. 
 The bare branches of mesquite, but thinly veiled 
 in green, exhaled a faint odor, and the humbler 
 vegetation raised its tendrils appealingly in the 
 breathless air. In the quiet, serene atmosphere 
 all athrob with the warm pulses of the com- 
 ing spring nature lay as if adream in the 
 trembling hope of resurrection, and basked in 
 blissful and ineffable calm. 
 
 Jed Smalley appears to have faintly realized 
 this and delivered himself accordingly. 
 
 ''It's jest for all the world, as ef nature had
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRADY. 273 
 
 been on a ' bender ' for the past three weeks, 
 and had ended up with a quiet '.tf ///,"' he 
 remarked to Judge Natchez with tender and 
 regretful alcoholic reminiscence. 
 
 The effect upon the editor of the " Weekly 
 Bugle " was radically different. His rejuvenated 
 emotions took refuge in the composition of 
 unusually metrical prose. 
 
 " Muse of the many twinkling feet ! whose 
 charms have filled our citizens with soft alarms ; 
 Terpsichore ! for thee, at length, we're ready, 
 and earnestly invite you up to Brady," 
 began a subsequent ambitious editorial, hold- 
 ing in dangerous proximity the genius of 
 Byron and Blivins. 
 
 " In testimony of the renewed prosperity 
 which has resulted from the temperance move- 
 ment in our thriving community," continued 
 that article, with a mendacity intended for 
 its effect upon neighboring frontier towns ? 
 " it has been decided to hold a temper- 
 ance ball in the Pavilion built by the gen- 
 erous hand of our respected townsman, Mr. 
 James Wily, and dedicated to the entertain- 
 ment of his fellow citizens. As it is intended' 
 that this brilliant affair of the frontier season
 
 274 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 
 
 shall be characterized by unusual decorum, 
 cow-boys and sheep-men are requested not to 
 present themselves in any other disguise than 
 that of sobriety. No liquor will be sold on the 
 premises, and gentlemen will be expected not 
 to smoke on the floor of the ball-room as 
 formerly. It is announced by Mr. Ebenezer 
 Wilkins and Mr. Ike Mosely, floor-managers, 
 that they have in preparation a beverage of 
 their own decoction known as ' Temperance 
 Mead,' which will sufficiently allay thirst. The 
 well-known ability of these gentlemen is a suf- 
 ficient guaranty for the perfection of the 
 arrangements. The Brady Post brass band 
 has been engaged for the occasion." 
 
 The immediate effect of this extravagant 
 editorial appears to have been palliative of the 
 falsehood with which it began. It was in a 
 sense prophetic. The announcement of a 
 " ball " upon the frontier is, at all times, danger- 
 ous to the live-stock interests. But a " tem- 
 perance ball " was entirely subversive of all 
 order and business method. It was more than 
 a novelty ; it was a phenomenon ; and it pro- 
 voked the wildest excitement. Had an earth- 
 quake visited the " ranges " and " ranches "
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRADY. 275 
 
 of the plains, they could not have been left 
 more desolate of humanity. Sheep were left 
 to roam recklessly abroad without their herd- 
 ers ; the cattle " drifted " free. For scores of 
 miles around, men poured into Brady City on 
 horseback. But business, in consequence of 
 this sudden irruption of custom, fairly boomed. 
 And the cause of this absurd recklessness and 
 foolish abandonment of capital was woman , 
 lovely woman ! an exotic upon the frontier. 
 
 The night of the ball had come. The 
 " Wily Pavilion " was a blaze of light. Within, 
 the Brady Post band consisting of four brass 
 pieces in all the pageantry of faded military 
 facings and burnished instruments, glowed from 
 the height of a small, elevated platform upon 
 the numerous assemblage, and their leader 
 a small, red-faced man glowed also, but in 
 scarlet rivalry of his orchestra, and wiped his 
 fevered brow. Without, through the dark and 
 gloomy night, a large "prairie-schooner" con- 
 veyed, by oft repeated trips, the fair ones of the 
 village from their respective habitations to the 
 chance-consecrated bower of this frontier Terp- 
 sichore. Already some of the most celebrated 
 had arrived. Seated upon the uncushioned
 
 276 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 
 
 benches in a remote corner of the ball-room 
 as yet unvisited by the fascinating but disquiet- 
 ing members of a dangerous sex they lingered 
 an eager and fluttering bevy, and were as criti- 
 cal and communicative behind their fans, and 
 withal as deadly in their way, as the aggressive 
 contingent opposite, which, heavily spurred 
 and revolver-belted, awaited in solemn and 
 awkward expectancy the signal for the ball to 
 begin. 
 
 In the midst of this blooming parterre, Miss 
 Penelope Natchez, the youthful but irresistible 
 daughter of the accomplished Judge already 
 a terrific heart-breaker among these equestrian 
 gallants lifted her head coyly, like a wild 
 verbena among more advanced and complacent 
 Texan flora. It was her first ball. Miss 
 "Flo" Brooks, intrenched neatly and simply 
 in a Galveston toilet, darted superb defiance 
 with feminine intuition of a possible future 
 rival. And Miss Clorinda Stebbins, outrageous 
 and overpowering in green and pink, bristled 
 with envy of both, like an extravagant prickly 
 pear. 
 
 Outside the gleaming Pavilion, while all 
 was thus astir with expectation within, two
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRADY. 277 
 
 men were standing near an unfinished rear- 
 gallery engaged in conversation. 
 
 "What's gone with you, 'Snoozer'? " said 
 the voice of Ike Mosely. "Ye don't reckon to 
 peg out, do yer ? What do ye mean by sayin* 
 ye'll stay out here ? " 
 
 " Shoosh ! " replied another voice, unmis- 
 takable in spite of its disguise. " Ish besher 
 off here ! Shee besher, tell ye ! Danshin' ! 
 Moosick ! Ike ! tell 'em I'm sick shuddenly 
 ill ! Don't shay anythin' 'bowsh ' temperansh 
 mead ' ! Ike ! I sh-a-y, I-ke ! " 
 
 But Ike Mosely was off with an oath of 
 disgust. 
 
 Into the room, heeling heavily to leeward 
 like a diminutive ship in a heavy gale, rushed 
 the Sheriff. Passing rapidly to the foot of the 
 band-stand, he spoke hurriedly to the leader and 
 wheeled rapidly upon the audience. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," he began, bringing 
 down his flat hand upon the platform, as if to 
 'take it in charge' "Mr. 'Snoozer* Wilkins 
 bein' sick and outside tuck sudden and im- 
 mejet, ye understand hez depootized me to 
 start this thing, an' I hereby does it." Then 
 smiling blandly, bending forward like a man
 
 278 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY, 
 
 about to take a fatal plunge, and waving his 
 hands with a sudden spread-eagle accompani- 
 ment, 
 
 " In the name of Concho Co. and the Lone 
 Star State, this Temperance Ball is declared 
 open." 
 
 The ball opened forthwith. 
 
 How, and with whom the partners danced ; 
 what strange steps were cut by the men whose 
 waltzing at times resembled that of jerky and 
 disorganized marionettes ; how elaborate were 
 the curtsies of the ladies, and with what grace 
 and universal self-denial they accepted the 
 Terpsichorean advances of every careering 
 Centaur, I omit from diffidence, but not without 
 regret. An instantaneous photograph alone 
 could fitly portray the highly thrilling scene. 
 I omit also with equal delicacy, how Mr. 
 " Snoozer " Wilkins, in his efforts to adequately 
 realize the gayety within, succeeded in falling 
 through the flooring of the unfinished gallery 
 in the rear, and, being plucked therefrom by 
 eager and sympathetic hands after turning 
 around several times gravely upon the floor of 
 the ball-room as if to get his bearings, and ex- 
 hibiting thereby an elaborate assortment of
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRAD Y. 279 
 
 shavings and sawdust acquired in his descent 
 bore down finally upon Mrs. Judge Treddle and 
 waltzed with her with a preoccupation of man- 
 ner that dignified the action as a serious business 
 pursuit. 
 
 After this the " temperance mead " was an- 
 nounced supper being politely overlooked 
 with customary frontier forgetfulness. 
 
 That the ladies declared against this beverage 
 from the first, sniffed at it, and rejected it, is 
 beyond question. That the men hailed it, and 
 partook, as if it were the ambrosia of the gods, 
 is equally indisputable. But that, having so 
 hailed it, and so partaken, they eventually 
 yielded to its insidious influences, was also soon 
 apparent. 
 
 At this point Miss Flo Brooks declared to 
 her neighbor that she " reckoned there was 
 something in that mead " from the first, but when 
 Buck Blivins asked her for the fifth time that 
 evening to marry him, entirely ignoring the 
 near presence of Mrs. Blivins herself, and 
 within easy hearing of two other highly appre- 
 ciative young ladies, she was " quite sure of 
 it." 
 
 Miss Clorinda Stebbins hereupon requested
 
 280 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 
 
 her stepfather who was attempting a frontier 
 can-can with " Kickapoo Dick" to take her 
 home at once with which request, my knowl- 
 edge of that gentleman in convivial matters 
 compels me to record that he was loth to com- 
 ply. And when Mr. Rube Smart absently drew 
 his " six-shooter " from his belt and shot out the 
 top light in the ball-room, the entire feminine 
 bevy agreed with Miss Brooks. 
 
 But if diffidence restrainsme from detailingthe 
 early events of that memorable evening, how 
 can I bring myself to paint the developments 
 after the ladies had retired. Indeed the pro- 
 ceedings were of so hearty and sincere a charac- 
 ter that I deemed it wise myself to retire at an 
 early hour. And if I may judge from the per- 
 forated exterior of the whilom abode of Chance 
 the next morning, and the suggestive confusion 
 that reigned within, there was a commendable 
 prudence in my decision, to say the least. I 
 am assured, however, by a friend, who was not 
 so prudent, and who points with singular pride 
 to a bullet-wound indicative of the effect 
 of " temperance mead " upon a frank and 
 demonstrative nature, that there was a 
 candor and directness about the festivities
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 281 
 
 which, in frontier life, I have witnessed on other 
 less noteworthy occasions. There appears to 
 have been an impression at first that the musi- 
 cians had not reached that point of exaltation 
 which was deemed fitting and" proper under the 
 circumstances ; and with the aid of a gallon tin 
 measure, repeatedly filled and generously prof- 
 fered, they succeeded so well in achieving that 
 point, that the music grew fainter and fainter, 
 until a rotund gentleman, who resided within 
 an equatorial trumpet, with a general sugges- 
 tion of encircling himself with melody, eventu- 
 ally succumbed, and falling from the platform, 
 rolled upon the floor, where he lay an interest- 
 ing wreck within his brazen periphery. 
 
 At this point the music ceased, and deeds 
 began. There was a pleasing torch-light 
 parade ostensibly in derision of the temper- 
 ance movement highly edifying to the spec- 
 tator, and apparently enjoyed by those who 
 participated. Certain groups, in remote cor- 
 ners, still pursued the mazes of the dance, 
 assisted evidently by some sublunary orchestra 
 known only to themselves. And strolling list- 
 lessly about, a few more abstracted and lonely 
 revelers put out an occasional lamp or lantern
 
 282 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 
 
 with a target practice that was diligent and un- 
 remitting. 
 
 And it was at about this witching hour of this 
 genial frontier revel the ball-room being only 
 lighted by a single sputtering lamp that Mr. 
 Buck Blivins, leader of the rank and file of the 
 ironical temperance column highly excited 
 and diffuse with his potations, encountered an 
 unknown figure in the dim light and near the 
 doorway. He immediately recoiled with a sur- 
 prise that was caromed forcibly down the reel- 
 ing line. 
 
 " Is thet you you bloomin' Menard ink- 
 slinger ? " he inquired, in amazement. 
 
 " I reckon ! " came slyly from the doorway. 
 
 " Wai, then, git ready, for now's yer time to 
 be lookin* out fur traces o alcoholic mane-yer / " 
 
 A feeble and wavering six-shooter was in. 
 stantly raised, and what appeared to be an 
 effort to bombard both sides of the Pavilion 
 immediately occurred. 
 
 Its effect was instantaneous. In vain Judge 
 Natchez, with commendable courage, sprang 
 toward the two men with a threatening gesture 
 and a voice of remonstrance. The last light 
 vanished, snuffed by a wandering bullet from
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRAD Y. 283 
 
 the editorial hand. Column, dancers, and 
 strollers, as if by preconcerted signal, sank to 
 the ground, and amid Stygian darkness a wild 
 and delightfully indefinite skirmish at once 
 began. 
 
 Strange to say, no one was killed. For fif- 
 teen minutes there was much shooting, abund- 
 ant smoke, and considerable impotent effort to 
 improvise a barricade of empty benches. A 
 breathless silence ensued. Then a general 
 stampede more or less protracted during the 
 next half hour from various emergencies. But 
 that Providence which seems to guard the in- 
 ebriated imbecile was present even here. 
 
 Several men were seen around town the next 
 morning with bandaged arms and halting limbs. 
 For some weeks there were a few interesting 
 invalids and crippled " transients " to be seen 
 in the " Morning Call Saloon," which had again 
 somewhat hazardously resumed its credit-slate 
 to a certain spasmodic custom. And Jed 
 Smalley alleges that the Editor, whom he stum- 
 bled over, crawling in crippled and serpentine 
 picturesqueness from the Pavilion at an early 
 hour of the morning, had only one bullet hole 
 in his back, and this he regarded as a kindly
 
 284 THE TEMPERANCE BALL A T BRADY. 
 
 memento of the precautionary tactics of the 
 " Menard Boomerang." 
 
 But perhaps the true frontier attitude on 
 "Total Abstinence" was conveyed by Mr. 
 James Wily in a remark professionally deliv- 
 ered six weeks later. He had been leaning 
 over his polished mahogany bar, conspicuous 
 among his highly gilded mirrors and colored 
 glasses by the absence of coat and collar, and 
 smoking a huge border Havana at an astro- 
 nomical angle that probably indicated the 
 point to which his fortunes were now tending. 
 
 Below him the polished ivory spheres shot, 
 and smote one another musically. The wheel 
 of fortune had its throng of worshipers, and 
 about a green table, ominous for certain paste- 
 board studies in red and black, was the usual 
 cluster of awe-struck faces. 
 
 The eyes of the proprietor were speculative 
 and dreamy. They were recalled to practical 
 considerations by the entrance of the Sheriff. 
 
 " I'll allow ye don't reckon to interfere with 
 this satisfactory state of things, Ike?" re- 
 marked Mr. Wily, setting out his largest 
 decanter. 
 
 " Wai, no ! p'r'aps not seein* you're slingin'
 
 THE TEMPERANCE BALL AT BRADY. 285 
 
 so much style, and doin' sich a ' nice, clean 
 business/ " responded Mosely with a humor- 
 ous twinkle. 
 
 " What's become o' the ' Snoozer ' ? " 
 " Wai, ye see," said the Sheriff, tossing off his 
 liquor "he hed so much pussonal attention 
 directed to him along o' introducin' thet tem- 
 perance bev'rage o' his'n, an' bein', as it were, 
 laid out afore it got in its work on the major- 
 ity, thet he's retired from public life for the 
 present, an' is herdin' all alone by hisself over 
 on the Big Brady." 
 
 " Humph ! he needn't 'a' done thet ! " replied 
 Mr. Wily incredulously " I set him down fur 
 bein' jest naturally the peartest feller I've 
 struck. Look at them billiards! See thet 
 'Monte lay out' ! I tell you, Mosely, it's 
 nothin' short of a miracle, and the only good / 
 ever seen come out of a temperance move- 
 ment." 
 
 THE END.
 
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