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Then he smoothed out the wrinkles, and read slowly, studying over each pencil-written, ill-spelled word, every crease and stain leaving an impression upon his brain: "SAN JUAN, COL., DEC. 12, 1904. "Deer Miss: I see your name agin in a Denver paper what Bill brought out frum town ternight, an read thar that you wus goin ter play a piece in Chicago.
"You kin come along to us, and stay right along, if you're comfortable. Nice beds we 'ave, and a good 'ot dinner in the middle uv the day. You kin take yer breakfast with us. Better come along to 'er ternight." "Thanks, I will," grunted Cleek in reply, and dug Dollops in the ribs, just to show him how pleased he was with the arrangement. And so the evening passed.
Come ter ther bank termorrer at openin' time and I'll pay ye off." The mountaineer's face fell into a scowl of resentment. To be rebuffed was galling enough. To be relegated to a servile status was unendurable, yet he refashioned his expression at once into a smile. "Thar hain't no tormentin' haste, Alexander," he assured her evenly. "Any time'll do any time at all, but I'm leavin' town ternight."
"Hit's too late now ter cry over spilt milk," declared Joyce with a burr in his voice. "Later on we'll handle our own traitors right now thar's another task thet won't suffer no delay." He paused, scowling, then enlightened his hearers briefly: "We warn't ready ter finish up this matter yit but now we hain't got no choice. Hit's ternight or never.
"Boys always rob melon-patches, so I don't see why girls shouldn't. When shall we do it, Mr. McNutt?" "There ain't any moon jest now, an' the nights is dark as blazes. Let's go ternight." "It's a bargain," declared Patsy. "We will come for you in the surrey at ten o'clock, and all drive together to the back of Brayley's yard and take all the melons we want."
Old Jim's nigh ter death an' we don't need ter bother with him; Hump Doane kin wait one blow's done fell on him already but thar's yit another man thet won't never cease ter dog us whilst he lives, an' thet's Parish Thornton so ternight we aims ter hang him."
The only remarks he volunteered in all that time were, 'Hev a peppermint, miss! Dew now-fine thing for carARRH, peppermints, and, 'Powerful lot o' jump-grasses round here ternight. Yep. "But there is a love affair going on here. It seems to be my fortune to be mixed up, more or less actively, with elderly love affairs. Mr. and Mrs. Irving always say that I brought about their marriage. Mrs.
"Bad luck ter see them sort," he volunteered, solemnly. "Blame glad it warn't me es see it, an' I don't know as I keer much right now 'bout keepin' company with ye fer very long. However, I reckon if either of us calculates on doin' much ridin' ternight, we better stop foolin' with ghosts, an' go ter saddlin' up."
"Durned if prison life don't take all the sand out o' a feller," he said cheerfully. "Blame me, but ye move as if ye wus 'bout half dead. But I reckon, Cap, if ye cud manage ter git out o' yere ternight, an' take some news ter Lee thet I've picked up, he'd 'bout make both of us ginerals. 'Speed, Malise, speed! The dun deer's hide on fleeter foot was never tied."
"Oh, it's a sure go, Cap, an' I reckon as how maybe Lee's whole army hangs on one of us gittin' out o' yere ternight. "'Where, where was Roderick then? One blast upon his bugle horn Were worth a thousand men." That he meant every word he spoke I felt convinced, and his enthusiasm was contagious.
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