A TRIP AND TROUBLE AHEAD
Before Dallas reached the end of her furrow she knew that, for at least some days to come, her work on the plowed strip must cease. Far and wide, frontiersmen may have heard of the railroad"s coming, and their first move would be, perhaps had been, a rush to the land-office to file upon quarter-sections touching the survey. And so, no hour dared be wasted before her father started on his long-deferred trip. The claim on the peninsula--the claim which the storekeeper had named as the terminus of the proposed line, as the probable site for a new town--must at once be legally theirs.
When the mules were turned eastward again, Dallas brought them up for a breathing spell and, going apart a little distance, sat down, her knees between her hands. A short s.p.a.ce of time had made incredible changes in their plans, in the possibilities of their prairie home. Before the cutting of the last two sods, there had stretched ahead only a succession of uneventful years, whose milestones would be the growing record of beeves and bushels. But now--she could not have credited her senses had it not been for a glimpse of Lounsbury"s horse, industriously cropping beside the lean-to.
She looked across at the shack, squatting on a gentle rise at the centre of the claim as if it had fled there for refuge out of the gra.s.sy sea whose dry waves lapped up to its very door. Its two small windows, looking riverward, the narrow door of warped lumber between, and the shock roof of meadow-gra.s.s held down by stones, gave it the appearance of a grotesque human head that was peering from out the plain. As Dallas, for the first time, noted the curious resemblance, the shack seemed to smile back at her--a wise, rea.s.suring smile.
A moment later the north wind hooded the sky with clouds, putting the bend in gloom. She got to her feet and hastened toward the plow. So brief had been her meeting with the storekeeper that, immediately following it, his features had escaped her. Now she recalled them, and thought she recalled that, when he had accosted her, they had worn a mocking expression. What if her father, in his sudden excitement and concern, should tell Lounsbury that the claim was not yet filed upon!
should confide in this stranger, who might then take advantage of the ignorance, age and crippled condition of the section-boss! Hurriedly, she unhitched Ben and Betty, hung their bridles on the hames, and turned the team loose to graze. Then she started homeward, with Simon close upon her heels, and as she crossed the cloud-darkened claim, she glanced again at the shack. Its windows were in shadow, its door almost obscured. There was a smirk on its twisted face.
But when, entering the house, she met Lounsbury"s kind, level look, the distrust she had felt unconsciously vanished.
He was seated astride a bench to the left of the fireplace, his hat flung down in front of him, his shoulders against the wall, his booted legs thrust out restfully across the floor. Dallas, seeing him out of the saddle for the first time, was struck by his splendid length, next by his heaviness--a round, but muscular, heaviness that she had never noted in a Texan. Leaning back with folded arms, he showed, however, despite his weight and rotundity, the pliance and the litheness of the Westerner. His hair was dark and thick and worn in a careless part, his throat was bronzed above the lacings of his shirt, his face clean-shaven, somewhat square--yet full--and set with blue eyes that showed an abiding glint of merriment.
If Dallas, as she crossed the sill, formed, with the swift keenness of the plainswoman, a new and truer estimate of Lounsbury, he, saluting cordially, failed not to measure her. The dirt-floored shack, part.i.tioned by Navajo blankets and furnished with unplaned benches, was a background totally unsuited to Marylyn"s delicate beauty; but for the elder daughter of the section-boss, its very rude simplicity seemed strangely fine and fitting.
Many women had come under the storekeeper"s notice during his frontier life: Roughly reared women of pure ways who toiled and bore with the patience of beasts; the women of the army, matching, in dress and habits, those he had known as a boy; and, last of all, the kind that always follows in the track of soldier, scout and gambler. Yet never before on the sundown side of the Mississippi had he seen one who possessed, along with the reserve a lonely bringing-up enjoins, the dignity and poise that are counted the fruits of civilisation.
"It"s good blood," he said to himself, "and"--with a glance at the section-boss--"it"s from the mother"s side."
Lancaster, at that moment, was truly anything but a picture of repose.
His season of delight over the morning"s news had been brief, and was now succeeded by thorough disquiet. He hobbled to and fro, from the hearth, where hung a pail of fragrant coffee, to the farther front window. Lounsbury remarked his evident worry and, not understanding it, bent down inquiringly toward Marylyn.
She was seated on a buffalo robe before the fire, zealously tending the coffee. As she felt the storekeeper"s look upon her, she glanced up, and, meeting his eyes, something other than the firelight swept her throat, neck and brow with crimson touch.
"There"s no fretting in that quarter," was Lounsbury"s mental comment.
He turned on the bench to face Dallas.
She was standing quietly beside the warped door, her arms hanging tensely at her side, her chin up, her eyes gazing straight at him. And in them, as well as in her whole att.i.tude, Lounsbury read determination and anxiety.
"What"s the matter, I wonder," he thought. He leaned toward her, resting an elbow on the bench. "You"re getting ready for spring seeding, Miss Lancaster," he said.
"Yes."
The section-boss giggled nervously. "Ef th" town was right here, it would n" make no difference t" Dallas. Ah"ll bet she"ll spen" th" winter sh.e.l.lin" cawn fer plantin", an" pickin" c.o.c.kle outen th" wheat." He fell to tugging at his goatee.
Again there was silence. Then, with a deep breath, Dallas straightened to speak. It was borne to her of a sudden that they were in need--of one in whom they might confide, of one from whom good advice might come; she felt impelled to tell this stalwart young man, whose eyes read kindness and whose face read right, who seemed to bear them nothing but good-will, that they had not filed the claim. And then----
The fire crackled cosily, the blackened pail steamed from the cross-piece. Lounsbury spread out his hands before the blaze. "I wish I lived on a quarter, like you folks," he said. "I hate the d.i.c.kering in a store. Been at it ten years. Was in the fur business, at first--bought from the Indians and the skin-hunters up and down. Well, the country got into my blood. You get the West, you know, and it"s the only disease out here that you can"t shake. So I"ve stayed, and I guess I"ll keep a-staying. But sometimes I get a notion to throw my stores up and go into the cow business or farming."
Dallas sank back, checked, not by Lounsbury"s words, but by her father.
The section-boss, one hand behind a hairy ear, was glowering at the storekeeper. "Eh, what?" he asked suspiciously.
"I say I"ve a notion to take up some land," repeated Lounsbury. "Right east of you wouldn"t be a bad idea. The soil"s wonderful hereabouts. No stumps, no stones, and the loam"s thick. Look in the coulee--you can see there how far it is to the clay. That"s why she wore down so deep----"
"Thet arroyo?"
"Yes. I believe I"ll just pick out a quarter near it. Could plant a store anyway, when the track comes."
"Yas, certainly," said Lancaster. He pa.s.sed Dallas, giving her a helpless, apprehensive stare. "But, shucks! Ah wouldn" be in sech a tarnel hurry, ef Ah was you. Spring"s plenty o" time."
Lounsbury swung round sharply. "Spring!" he exclaimed in amazement. "I hope that hasn"t been your plan, sir. A man can"t file too soon."
Dallas leaned toward Lounsbury again, and her lips parted. But a quick, peremptory gesture from her father interrupted. "Mar"lyn," he cried, his eyes warning the elder girl, "look out fer thet coffee; it"s a-bilin"
over."
And Dallas saw that her father did not trust the storekeeper--perhaps feared him--and that he did not wish his own neglect to be known.
But a hint of the state of affairs at the shack had already entered Lounsbury"s mind. As Marylyn rose to pour the coffee, he quickly changed the subject. "Fort "s a quiet place, these days," he observed, accepting a cup. "Wonder when the troops"ll be back."
The section-boss sipped at his saucer. "Ah don" carry on no dealin"s with Yankee soldier trash," he answered curtly. "They keep they side o"
th" river, an" we-all keep ourn."
Lounsbury laughed. "Well," he said, "you"ll find when the redskins get nasty that the army blue looks pretty good."
The other shrugged.
The storekeeper tapped the holster hanging upon a thigh. "I carry a pop-gun regular." He set down the cup, pulled at his boot-legs and arose.
"Ah reckon Ah c"n hol" my own, sah." Lancaster"s pride was touched.
"No doubt of it," a.s.sured the younger man, preparing to go. "I hope," he continued, "that you"ll call on me at any time--if you need more provisions, say."
Lancaster did not misunderstand the offer of credit. "Thank y"," he replied stiffly, "but we certainly got "nough t" las" through."
Lounsbury remembered how small--compared with the orders of other wintering settlers--was the Lancaster stock; and thought, too, how likely it was that every pa.s.serby would be fed with true Southern hospitality, thus diminishing the supply. But he refrained from making any further suggestion. He bade the family good-by, lingering a little at parting beside the younger girl.
"Miss Marylyn," he said, "before another winter you"ll be the belle of the town of Lancaster."
She put her hand in his bashfully.
"And, Miss Dallas?" His voice entreated a little.
"I hope you"ll be the biggest storekeeper," she said.
To Lounsbury"s surprise, he saw a trace of fun lurking in her eye. "Ah!
you"ve forgiven me!" he declared triumphantly.
But she made no answer as she turned away.
The next moment he was galloping toward the coulee crossing.
Marylyn watched him go. When, having disappeared into the ravine, he came into sight again on the farther side, he turned in his saddle and saw her. He took off his hat and waved it. She answered with a farewell signal, and stood, looking after him, until distance dwarfed horse and rider to a dot.
On the storekeeper"s departure, the shack became a scene of action.
Lancaster gave over walking the floor and collected bedding for a journey. Marylyn was called in to prepare a box of food for her father--potatoes from the coals of the fireplace, cured pig-meat from the souse-barrel, bread, and a jug of coffee. While Dallas caught the mules, gave them some grain and a rubbing-down with straw wisps, and greased the wagon wheels. All being made ready, the section-boss took leave of his daughters, urging them to keep within the next day when the surveyors came up, and to deny his going. Then, with Ben and Betty at a smart trot, he set off for Bismarck and the land-office.
When he was gone, the squat shack on the bend became vigilant.