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Updated: May 24, 2025
She had tried to dissuade Uncle Jep and Aunt Martha from making the trip to Lazette today, but, for reasons which she would not have admitted and did not admit, even to herself she had not argued very strongly. And she had watched them go with mingled regret and satisfaction; two emotions that persisted in battling within her until they brought the disquiet that had flushed her cheeks.
Wonderingly, she sank into a chair near him. "You're sure thinkin' of marryin' Masten, girl?" he said. "Yes," she declared firmly. "Well, then I've got to tell you," said Uncle Jepson decisively. "I've been puttin' it off, hopin' that you'd get shet of that imp of Satan, an' I wouldn't have to say anything." "Uncle Jep!" she protested indignantly.
Aunt Martha looked at him over the rims of her spectacles, wonderment in her gaze perhaps a little belligerence. "Jep Coakley," she said severely, "you're always runnin' down the women! What on earth do you live with one for? What are the women doin' now, that you are botherin' so much about?" He gravely took her by the arm and pointed out of a window, from which Ruth and Randerson could be seen.
In the town of Toyah, twenty miles west of Pecos, a gentleman named Jep Clayton set the local spring styles in six-shooters and bowie knives, and settled the hash of anybody who ventured to question them. A reckless bully, he ruled the town as if he owned it. One day John McCullough, Allison's brother-in-law and ranch foreman, had business in Toyah.
"It fell off my neck an' got tangled in the knot." "Then you know!" she exclaimed. "Sure," he said, grinning; "Uncle Jepson told me." "I think Uncle Jep has been your right hand man all through this," she charged. "Why shouldn't he be?" he retorted. And she could give him no reason why it should have been otherwise. "It was a rather mean trick to play on me," she charged pretending indignation.
"Jep Coakley, you mind your own business!" rebuked Aunt Martha sharply, looking severely at Uncle Jepson over the rims of her spectacles. "Don't you mind him, honey," she consoled, putting an arm around the girl as Uncle Jepson went away, chuckling. "Why, girl," she went on, smiling at Ruth's crimson face, "you don't blame him, do you?
Two days later a lone horseman rode into Toyah, stopped at Youngbloods' store, tied his horse, and went in. Approaching the group of loafers curled up on boxes at the rear of the store, he inquired: "Can any of you gentlemen tell me if a gentleman named Clayton, Jep Clayton, is in town, an' where I can find him?" They replied that he had been in the store an hour before and was probably near by.
They were talking pleasantly; their liking for each other seemed to be mutual. Ruth was delighted, but Uncle Jepson had frowned several times when looking at them. "I cal'late them two critters'll bear a heap of watchin'," he said now. "They don't look honest." "Jep," said Aunt Martha before Ruth could speak, "you're always criticising folks."
I suppose they were glad to see the new owner. Perhaps they haven't seen a lady in a long time." "There's ways of showin' gladness," contended Uncle Jepson. "I cal'late if I wanted to compliment a girl, I wouldn't look at her like I wanted to carry her off to the mountains." "Jep, they're only cowboys they don't know any different," remonstrated Aunt Martha.
Aunt Martha looked, long and intently. And when she finally turned to Uncle Jepson, her face was radiant, and she opened her arms to him. "Oh, Jep!" she exclaimed lowly, "ain't that wonderful!" "I cal'late I've been expectin' it," he observed. The meeting between Catherson and Randerson had taken the edge off Catherson's frenzy, but it had not shaken his determination.
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