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Updated: June 5, 2025
Lance, looking out across the crowd, caught Belle's glance and nodded toward the schoolhouse. Belle hurried away to find the musicians and set them playing, and a few couples strayed after her. But there were men who stayed, pushing, elbowing to see what would happen when Lance Lorrigan loosened his hold on the Jumpoff man. Lance did not loosen his hold, however.
Over this emergency she felt that he had unspokenly set a flag of truce. His attitude depressed her. "There are just two things to do," he said, laying the saddle at her feet. "You may ride that livery horse back home, and I'll come along to-morrow and pick him up and take him in with me to Jumpoff; or you can let me go down to the ranch and bring up a gentle horse, and you can ride that home.
She would not have been Belle Lorrigan if she had permitted a quiver in her voice, yet it made Lance thoughtful. "Honey, I don't blame you for going. I expect we are awful rough and you'd notice it, coming from civilized folks. But you know, don't you, that the Lorrigans never spoiled your party for you? It it just happened that the Jumpoff crowd brought whisky out from town.
This young rooster from college licked a dozen or so, and then took the schoolma'am and drove clear to Jumpoff with her, and licked everybody in town before he left. Sa-ay, it musta been some dance, all right! "Then here comes the funny part.
He who had spent nearly all of his life on the Devil's Tooth ranch knew that he was not wanted. They did not want him to know that he was not wanted, and by their very effort to hide it did they betray themselves. "Didn't go to Jumpoff after all, dad," Lance remarked idly, a rising inflection turning the phrase into a question. Tom grunted and got up to go.
I came mighty near going gunning after the man that stole my team, let me tell you and I would have, if Tom hadn't found your horse tied up to the fence and guessed you'd gone to take Mary Hope home. But I must say, honey, you never followed any short cut!" This was much easier than Lance had expected, so he made shift to laugh, though it hurt his lip cruelly. "Had to take her to Jumpoff, Belle.
He had not taken the trouble to cleanse the cut thoroughly, but had wrapped his handkerchief around the hand and gone glumly on with his work. Now, on the third day, Mary Hope had become frightened at the discoloration of the wound and the way in which his arm was swelling, and had begged him to let her drive him to Jumpoff where he could take the train to Lava and a doctor.
He was in the mood to live up to the Lorrigan reputation when he swung off the train at Jumpoff, but no man crossed his trail. So Lance carried with him the full measure of his rage against Mary Hope and the Devil's Tooth, when he rode out of Jumpoff on a lean-flanked black horse that rolled a wicked eye back at the rider and carried his head high, looking for trouble along the trail.
"Jumpoff is not much of a town," said the girl and laughed to hide how close she was to tears. Young Tom caught his breath. He had thought that women had only two forms of laughter, the giggle of youth or the cackle of age. He had never dreamed that a woman could laugh like a mountain stream gurgling down over the rocks.
But his story sounded matter-of-fact and honest. He had ridden past Squaw Butte the night after Tom Lorrigan was accused by Douglas. Yes, he knew it was that night, because next day he heard about the fuss over at Devil's Tooth. He had been on his way from Jumpoff and had cut across country because he was late.
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