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"'Tain't likely," said Smoky scornfully. "I'd bet my boots on you every time." "They may do fer me," said Ransom slowly, "and, if so " "I'll watch out for Mints," said Smoky very fervently. Presently Mintie joined them and, sitting down, began to darn some stockings. Apparently she was engrossed with her work, but Smoky stared at her, noticing that her fingers trembled.
"Wal, I'm hanged! Is there another Sharp besides mine in these yere hills?" "I dessay. I heard one shot myself, 'bout two hours ago." "Guess it was one o' them derned squatters." "Curse 'em!" said Ransom. He spat upon the ground and walked into the abode. Smoky nodded reflectively. Supper was not a particularly cheery meal. Mintie, usually a nimble talker, held her tongue.
"Read it," commanded the young lady. "Let's get it over an' done with. Then, mebbe, I'll help ye to rechristen the durned thing." Emboldened by this gracious speech, Smoky began in a nasal, drawling voice "I've wandered far I've wandered wide " "Ananias!" said Mintie. "You was born in these yere foothills, and raised in 'em; and you've never known enough to git out of 'em." "Git out of 'em?"
Then he grinned pleasantly. "Reckon a perfect gen'leman 'd take the hint and clear out. But I ain't a perfect gen'leman. What in thunder ails the girl?" It was nearly seven when Pap Ransom reached his corral. Smoky had milked the cow and fed the pigs. In the kitchen Mintie was frying some potatoes and stirring the big pot full of beans and bacon.
Might give 'other feller a show, but there's trouble as only kin be settled with shootin' irons." "That's so" said Mintie savagely. After supper Mintie retired to the kitchen to wash up. Ransom put a jar of tobacco on the table, two glasses, and some whisky. "Any call for ye to ride home to-night?" "None," said Smoky. "Reckon ye'd better camp here, then." Smoky nodded and muttered
"Pity you ain't," said Mintie, without looking up. Ransom, who had conducted his courting upon Western principles, rose up slowly and disappeared. Left alone with his beloved, the young man blushed and held his tongue. "You think a heap o' the old man?" he hazarded, after an interminable pause. "I do. He's a man, is Pap." "Meanin'?" "Anything you please." "You mean that I ain't a man?"
Smoky, his hands loosed, seized Mintie in his arms, as the moon slipped discreetly behind a cloud. He was a remittance man, who received each month from his father, a Dorset parson, a letter and a cheque.
I never knowed that I keered for him till to-night." She pointed at Smoky, who remarked deprecatingly "I allus allowed you was a daughter o' the Golden West." "If you ain't goin' to hang me," said Mintie, "don't you think you'd better skip?" She laughed scornfully, and the men, without a word, skipped.
A few months after this we received a letter from Mintie Berry, the anxious wife, for whom we succeeded in raising enough to reunite the long separated couple, saying that their happy reunion was the result of favors from their many friends, to whom they returned grateful thanks, while they praised the Lord for the blessing. I received a letter, July 4, 1859, from poor Calvin Fairbanks.
"Wal," replied Smoky, more cautiously, "they ain't been monkeyin' with me; but if they did " "If they did ?" drawled Mintie, with her elbows on the table and her face between her hands. "If they cut my fence as they've cut yours, and, after doo warnings, kep' on trespassin' and makin' trouble, why then, by Gosh! I'd shoot.
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