"It sure sounds good," said Sandy. "Seems like this Mrs. Keith must be a pritty fine woman to think of takin" Molly into her own home. I reckon Molly must have changed a good deal. I"d be inclined to put it this way; if Molly cottons to the idea, let her hop to it."
"Mirandy ain"t brought over the b.u.t.ter yet," put in Mormon, with a glance at his partners that was half shamefaced. "Why not git her opinion? Takes a woman to understand a woman. She"d sabe this letter a heap bettern" we c"ud."
Sam winked covertly at Sandy and shoved his tongue in his cheek.
"That"s a good idea, Mormon," said Sandy.
"Never did find out jest what happened to that last wife of your"n, did ye, Mormon?" asked Sam.
"Never did."
"That"s too bad."
"Why?"
"Gen"ral principles." Sam said no more but took out his harmonica, ever in one hip pocket, and crooned into it. A jiggly-jazz edition of _Mendelssohn"s Wedding March_ strained through the curtains of Sam"s drooping mustache.
"Speakin" wide, the weddin" cake of matrimony has been mostly mildewed for me," said Mormon reflectively, "but there was one thing about my last wife I sure admired. Uncommon thing in woman an" missin" in some men."
Sam, eager for chaffing, fell.
"What was that, Mormon? I heerd she was a good cook."
"It warn"t her cookin", though that was prime when she was in the humor.
But she sure c"ud attend to her own business, an" there"s d.a.m.n few can do that. Sandy"s one of the few. I can"t call another to mind jest now."
Sam grinned.
"You sure had me that time, ol" hawss. An" the mildew on the weddin"
cake warn"t none of yore fault. That sort of pastry"s too rich for me to tackle. I used to wonder why they allus put frostin" on weddin" cake. I reckon it"s a warnin"--or else sarcasm."
"Ef you ever git roped thataway, Sam, you"re goin" to fall high an"
hard," said Mormon. "You"ll come to consciousness hawg-tied an"
branded."
"That the way it was with you?"
"Yep. I"ve allus had an affinity fo" the s.e.x. I ain"t like Sandy. Nature give him an instinct ag"in" "em, as pardners. He was bo"n lucky."
But Sandy had gone out. Sam and Mormon trailed him and saw him walking toward the cottonwood grove with Grit at his heels.
"He thinks a heap of Molly," opined Sam. "I reckon he sure hates to lose her, if he is woman-shy. "Course Molly was jest a kid. But I don"t fancy she"ll take the back-trail once she gits mixed up with the Keith outfit."
"I ain"t so plumb sure of that," returned Mormon. "Molly"s bo"n an" bred with the West in her blood. She"ll allus hear the call of the range, like a colt that"s stepped wild. He"ll drink at the tank, but he ain"t forgettin" the water-hole."
Sam glanced at Mormon curiously. It wasn"t often Mormon showed any touch of what Sam characterized as poetical.
Sandy, under the cottonwoods where the spring bubbled, so near the old prospector"s grave that perhaps the old-miner lying there could, in his new affinities with Nature, hear its flow, was thinking much the same thing Mormon had expressed, hoping it might be true, chiding himself lest the thought be selfish.
A granite block stood now as marker for Patrick Casey"s resting-place, carved with the words that Mormon had chalked on the wooden headstone. A railing outlined the grave, and the turf within it was kept short and green. Sandy squatted down and rolled a cigarette, smoking it as he sat cross-legged. Grit, as was his custom, leaped the railing lightly and lay down above the dust of his dead master, head couched on paws, turned a little sidewise, his grave eyes surveying Sandy.
"Miss her, ol" son? So do I. Mebbe she"ll come back to see us-all. She sure did seem to belong."
Memories of Molly flickered across the screen of his mind: Molly beside her father by the broken wagon, climbing to get the cactus blossom for his cairn; Molly at the grave; Molly giving him the gold piece; the wild ride across the pa.s.s and the race for the train and a recollection that was freshest of all, one he had not mentioned to his partners; the touch of Molly"s lips on his as he had bade her good-by. The kiss had not been that of a child, there had been a magic in it that had thrilled some chord in Sandy that still responded to that remembrance. He never dwelt on it long, it brought a vague reaction always, stirred that strange instinct of his that had branded him as woman-shy, kept him clean. Part of it was intuitive desire for freedom of will and action, as the wild horse shies at even the shadow of a halter that may mean bondage, however pleasant. Part of it was reverence for woman, deep-seated, a hazy, never a.n.a.lyzed feeling that this belief might be disappointed.
Miranda, alone in the flivver, a new car of her own, bought with money paid by Keith for her claim, was at the ranch-house when Sandy returned.
Miranda and young Ed Bailey, accepting Westlake"s advice, had sold for cash, getting fifteen thousand dollars to divide between them, refusing more glittering offers of stock. It was a windfall well worth their endeavor and they were amply satisfied. Young Ed had promptly gone to Agricultural College, putting in part of his money to buy new stock and implements for his father"s ranch, in which he now held a half partnership. Miranda, Mormon and Sam were talking about this when Sandy came up.
"It sure made a man of young Ed overnight," said the spinster. "He thought it out all by himse"f an" nigh surprised us off our feet. He was sort of ganglin", more ways than one, an" we feared the money "ud go to his head. Which it did, as a matter of fact, but it was a tonic, "stead of actin" like an intoxicant. We"re plumb proud of him.
"Mr. Westlake was over day before yesterday," she went on. "Goin" on through to the East fo" a consultation with Mr. Keith an" his crowd.
Said to say he was mighty sorry he c"udn"t git out to the Three Star, but he only had a couple of hours before his train. He says things is boomin" up to Casey Town. There"s been some good strikes, one in the claim nex" but one to ours. Keith"s goin" to start things whirlin", I reckon."
"Mebbe he"ll see Molly," suggested Sam. "Though of course she ain"t to Keith"s house yet."
"How"s that?" asked the spinster eagerly.
"We are waitin" fo" Sandy to show you the letter," said Sam.
Miranda read the letter through twice, folded it and held it in her lap for a few moments.
"Want my opinion on it?" she asked finally.
"Yes," said Sandy. "If the mines are goin" to produce big she"ll likely be rich. She went east to git culchured up. Seems like the school idea might not have been the best, after all."
"I don"t know. I don"t rightly git the motive back of this writin". It ain"t been sent without one. Mebbe she"s just taken a fancy to Molly, mebbe she"s a woman that likes to do kind things and thinks Molly"ll pay well for bein" taken up. I don"t mean in money but, if Molly didn"t have a show of bein" rich, an" warn"t pritty, which she is, I ain"t certain Mrs. Keith "ud be so eager. I guess it"s all right but, somehow, it don"t hit me as plumb sincere. Still ... I reckon my opinion is like that gilt hawss top of Ed"s barn," she ended with a smile. "It was set up too light, I reckon, an" it was allus shiftin", north, south, east an" west, when you c"udn"t feel a breath of wind on the level. I ain"t got a thing to pin it to, but I feel there"s something back of it, like a person"s rheumatic spot"ll ache when rain"s comin"."
"You"d vote ag"in" it?" asked Sandy.
"No-o. I w"udn"t."
"I figgered on puttin" it up to Molly."
"That"s a good idee. An", as her guardeen, I"d suggest that Mrs. Keith lives up to that half-promise of hers an" make it a condition she brings Molly out here inside of six months. That"ll give time for a fair trial an" you can see right then fo" yoreself how it"s workin". Long"s she goin" to have teachers she can"t lose much."
"That"s a plumb fine idee," said Mormon, looking triumphantly at his partners.
It ran with Sandy"s own wishes and he subscribed to it. Sam endorsed it as well, and a letter was sent east that night, containing the proviso of Molly"s return and another that Molly should bear all her own expenses of tuition and living. All this to hang upon Molly"s own desire to make the change.
When Molly"s letter came there appeared no doubt as to her willingness.
She admitted that she had been sometimes "lonesome" at the school. One page was devoted to her antic.i.p.ations of coming back to visit Three Star:
I may stay; there are lots of new and lovely things here, but I miss the mountains and the range terribly. Also Grit.
Please tell him I have not forgotten him. You might draw cards to see who will kiss him on the end of the nose--for me. It is a very nice nose. High man out.
Lovingly, MOLLY.
P. S. There are three other people I miss just as much as I do Grit, but, being quite grown up, I can not send them the same message, though it would be awfully funny to see you delivering it to each other. Maybe, when I come, I"ll be so glad to see you, I"ll do it myself. M.
"I"ll kiss no dawg," declared Sam. "I like a dawg first-rate, like I do a hawss, on"y not so much, but I"m a h.e.l.l-singed son of a horned-toad if I"d ever kiss one."