He looked down at his faded woolen shirt and lifted his hand to his greasy sombrero. "Oh, no! I can"t do that."
She laughed. "You ought to be able to stand it if I can. I"d be rather proud of having "Black Mose" in my carriage."
"I guess not," he said. There was a cadence in these three words to which she bowed her head. She surrendered her notion quickly.
"Come down to the Palace with me."
"All right, I"ll do that," he replied without interest.
"Meet me there in half an hour."
"All right."
"Good-by till then."
He did not reply but took her extended hand, while the young fellow in the postal cage grinned with profound appreciation. After the princess went out this clerk said, "Pard, you"ve struck it rich."
Mose turned and his eyebrows lowered dangerously. "Keep to your letter punchin", young feller, and you"ll enjoy better health."
Those who happened to be standing in the room held their breath, for in that menacing, steady glare they recognized battle.
The clerk gasped and stammered, "I didn"t mean anything."
"That"s all right. You"re lately from the East, or you wouldn"t get gay with strangers in this country. See if there is any mail for Mose Harding--or Harry Excell."
"Sorry, sir--nothing for Mr. Harding, nothing for Mr. Excell."
Mose turned back to the desk and scrawled a short letter to Jack Burns asking him to let him know at once where Mary was, and whether it would be safe for him to visit her.
As he went out in the street to mount his horse the marshal met him again, and Mose, irritated and hungry, said sharply:
"See here, pardner, you act most cussedly like a man keeping watch on me."
The marshal hastened to say, "Nothing of the kind. I like you, that"s all. I want to talk with you--in fact I"m under orders from the princess to help you get a job if you want one. I"ve got an offer now. The Express Company want you to act as guard between here and Canon City.
Pay is one hundred dollars a month, ammunition furnished."
Mose threw out his hand. "I"ll do it--take it all back."
The marshal shook hands without resentment, considering the apology ample, and together they sauntered down the street.
"Now, pardner, let me tell you how I size up the princess. She"s a good-hearted woman as ever lived, but she"s a little off color with the women who run the church socials here. She"s a rippin" good business woman, and her luck beats h--l. Why last week she bought a feller"s claim in fer ten thousand dollars and yesterday they tapped a vein of eighty dollar ore, runnin" three feet wide. She don"t haff to live here--she"s worth a half million dollars--but she likes mining and she likes men. She knows how to handle "em too--as you"ll find out. She"s hail-fellow with us all--but I tell ye she"s got to like a feller all through before he sees the inside of her parlor. She"s stuck on you.
We"re good friends--she come to call on my wife yesterday, and she talked about you pretty much the hull time. I never saw her worse bent up over a man. I believe she"d marry you, Mose, I do."
"Takes two for a bargain of that kind," said Mose.
The marshal turned. "But, my boy, that means making you a half owner of all she has--why that last mine may go to a million within six months."
"That"s all right," Mose replied, feeling the intended good will of the older man. "But I expect to find or earn my own money. I can"t marry a woman fifteen years older"n I am for her money. It ain"t right and it ain"t decent, and you"ll oblige me by shutting up all such talk."
The sheriff humbly sighed. "She is a good deal older, that"s a fact--but she"s took care of herself. Still, as you say, it"s none o" my business.
If she can"t persuade you, I can"t. Come in, and I"ll introduce you to the managers of the National----"
"Can"t now, I will later."
"All right, so long! Come in any time."
Mose stepped into a barber shop to brush up a little, for he had acquired a higher estimate of the princess, and when he entered the dining room of the Palace he made a handsome figure. Whatever he wore acquired distinction from his beauty. His hat, no matter how stained, possessed charm. His dark shirt displayed the splendid shape of his shoulders, and his cartridge belt slanted across his hip at just the right angle.
The woman waiting for him smiled with an exultant glint in her half-concealed eyes.
"Sit there," she commanded, pointing at a chair. "Two beers," she said to the waiter.
Mose took the chair opposite and looked at her smilelessly. He waited for her to move.
"Ever been East--Chicago, Washington?"
"No."
"Want to go?"
"No."
She smiled again. "Know anything about mining?"
"Not a thing."
She looked at him with a musing, admiring glance. "I"ve got a big cattle ranch--will you superintend it for me?"
"Where is it?"
She laughed and stammered a little. "Well--I mean I"ve been thinking of buying one. I"m kind o" tired of these mining towns; I believe I"d like to live on a ranch, with you to superintend it."
His face darkened again, and she hastened to say, "The cattle business is going to boom again soon. They"re all dropping out of it fast, but _now_ is the time to get in and buy."
The beer came and interrupted her. "Here"s to good luck," she said. They drank, and as she daintily touched her lips with her handkerchief she lifted her eyes to him again--strange eyes with lovely green and yellow and pink lights in them not unlike some semi-precious stones.
"You don"t like me," she said. "Why won"t you let me help you?"
"You want a square-toed answer?" he asked grimly, looking her steadily in the eyes.
She paled a little. "Yes."
"There is a girl in Iowa--I make it my business to work for her."
Her eyes fell and her right hand slowly turned the mug around and around. When she looked up she seemed older and her eyes were sadder.
"That need make no difference."
"But it does," he said slowly. "It makes all the difference there is."