United States or Lithuania ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Wade then recalled and recounted the remarks that had passed between him and Jack; and he did not think he missed them very far. He had a great curiosity to see how Belllounds would take them, and especially the young man's scornful rejection of a sincerely offered friendship. All the time Wade was talking he was aware of Columbine watching him, and when he finished it was sweet to look at her.
"Wade, you ain't agoin' to start thet tellin' hell-bent happenin's to come hyar at White Slides?" interrupted Belllounds, plaintively. "No, I reckon I've no hunch like that now," responded Wade, seriously. "But I was about to say that if Smith is in on any rustlin' of cattle he'll be hard to catch, an' if he's caught there'll be shootin' to pay. He's cunnin' an' has had long experience.
Your old dad will sure be glad to see you bust the round-up to-day and I reckon the outfit to-morrow." "You insolent cowpuncher!" shouted Belllounds, growing beside himself with rage. "If you don't shut up I'll bust your face." "Shut up!... Me? Nope. It can't be did. This is a free country, Buster Jack."
"Bill Belllounds an' he needs a hunter," soliloquized Bent Wade, with gloomy, penetrating eyes, seeing far through the red embers. "That will suit me an' change my luck, likely. Livin' in the woods, away from people I could stick to a job like that.... But if this White Slides is close to the old trail I'll never stay."
Wade divined then that Moore was aware of what he himself knew about Jack Belllounds. And to his love for Moore was added an infinite respect. "I won't unless Collie forces me to," he said, significantly. This was the critical moment, and suddenly Wade answered to it without restraint. He leaped up, startling Columbine. "Wils, you call me pard, don't you? I reckon you never knew me.
But I reckon the boys will stay, exceptin', mebbe, Wils. An' it'll be jest as well fer him to leave." "It's not good business to send away your best cowboy. I've heard you complain lately of lack of men." "I sure do need men," replied Belllounds, seriously. "Stock gettin' more 'n we can handle. I sent word over the range to Meeker, hopin' to get some men there.
"Some of them die, an' Collie's one that will, if she ever marries Jack." "If!... Wal, she's goin' to." "We don't agree," said Wade, curtly. "Are you runnin' my family?" "No. But I'm runnin' a large-sized if in this game. You'll admit that presently.... Belllounds, you make me mad. You don't meet me man to man. You're not the Bill Belllounds of old.
His action then, violent and vivid as it was, did not reveal any more than his face. But the cowboys showed amaze, and something more. They fell straightway to gambling, sharper and fiercer than before, actuated now by the flaming spirit of this son of Belllounds. Luck, misleading and alluring, favored Jack for a while, transforming him until he was radiant, boastful, exultant.
And here she was self-contained, ready for some nameless shock and uplift, which she divined was coming as she had divined the change in Belllounds. Then he stripped back the blanket, disclosing Wade's face. Columbine thrilled to the core of her heart.
"Say, do you know hounds?" queried Belllounds, eagerly. "Yes. Was raised where everybody had packs. I'm from Kentucky. An' I've run hounds off an' on for years. I'll tell you " Belllounds interrupted Wade. "By all that's lucky! An' last, can you handle guns? We 'ain't had a good shot on this range fer Lord knows how long. I used to hit plumb center with a rifle. My eyes are pore now.
Word Of The Day