The Ramblin' Kid Part 10

"Breakfast's ready anyhow," Old Heck added.

"And Skinny ain't shaved or powdered his face yet--" Chuck laughed; "these lovers ought to fix themselves up better!"

"Shut up, you blamed idiot, ain't you got no respect?" Parker said as they turned toward the house.

"Listen at Parker, he's one of them, too," Chuck continued; "this is his day to be a sweetheart to the widow!"

"I'd rather have Skinny's job," Bert said with a snicker, "I'd be afraid of Ophelia--"

"Why?"

"She acts too gentle to start with"--"

"Give her time," Charley suggested, "she'll bu'st loose when she gets better acquainted!"

"Her and Old Heck got pretty well introduced last night, holding hands the way they did, and--"

"Dry up," Old Heck interposed with a foolish grin, "and come on to breakfast!"

Carolyn June and Ophelia were charmingly fresh and interesting in dainty blue and lavender morning gowns. A bowl of roses, plucked by Ophelia from the crimson rambler by the south window, rested in the center of the table. The cowboys saw the flowers and exchanged glances. Old Heck and Skinny blushed.

Carolyn June noticed the vacant place at her right.

"Th' Ramblin' Kid ain't up yet," Skinny volunteered.

"Then the storm did drive him to shelter, after all?" Carolyn June asked with the barest trace of contempt in her voice.

"I wouldn't hardly say that," Bert Lilly remarked, holding his cup for Sing Pete to fill with coffee; "--he brought in the Gold Dust maverick."

"Yes," Chuck said with mock gravity, "it was quite an undertaking--he sprinkled salt on her tail--"

"How clever!" Ophelia exclaimed, looking interested, "and is that the way they catch--mavericks?" stumbling over the unusual word.

"Chuck's joking," Parker said; "he always was foolish--"

"Uncle Josiah," Carolyn June asked suddenly, "can you take Ophelia to Eagle b.u.t.te to-day?"

"I--Parker can," Old Heck answered, "if he can drive the car. Still there are probably some pretty bad washouts--"

Ophelia looked quickly at Old Heck, interested by the note she detected in his voice.

"I--I--got some work to do," he continued, "if you could wait till to-morrow"--addressing the widow--"I could more than likely go myself--"

"I guess I can handle the car all right," Parker said, looking significantly at Old Heck; "the roads will be dried up in a little while."

"It's Parker's day anyhow and he don't want to miss--" Chuck started to say.

"After breakfast," Old Heck interrupted, scowling at the cowboy, "Chuck and Pedro had better both ride-line on the upper pasture. The cattle probably went against the fence in the storm last night and knocked off a lot of wire. Of course, Skinny will have to stay here," he added, "and the rest of us, except Parker, ought to look after the fences in the east bottoms--from the looks of the river this morning a lot of posts and wire must be washed out."

"Whoever gets up the saddle horses had better catch them in the pasture corral," Parker declared, "it won't do to turn them in with that wild filly and Captain Jack."

"I think I shall go see that wonderful filly," Carolyn June said as they left the table, "she may be the particular broncho I will want to ride--"

"Not much," Old Heck objected, "these outlaws ain't exactly the kind of horses for women to fool with. You can use Old Blue. He's gentle."

"Did I tell you I wanted a 'gentle horse'?" Carolyn June asked with a bit of impatience.

"No, but I figured that was the kind you'd need on account of being raised back east--"

"Well, I am going to see the Gold Dust maverick," Carolyn June said with emphasis, "and if she suits me I'll--I'll ride her!"

"I'll go with you," Skinny offered as Carolyn June stepped from the kitchen door and started toward the circular corral.

"Never mind!" she spoke shortly, "--you can go catch 'Old Blue'

and"--with scorn in her voice--"if he's able to walk, maybe it will be safe for me to ride him to the end of the lane and back--Ugh! 'Old Blue!' The very name sounds as if he was dead!"

"Old Blue's a good horse," Skinny protested, "--we work him on the hay derrick--"

But Carolyn June was gone, walking rapidly across the open ground in the direction of the corral in which the Ramblin' Kid had turned Captain Jack and the Gold Dust filly.

"Jumpin' eats!" Bert exclaimed as the cowboys started toward the stable, "didn't the young one show her teeth sudden?"

"Skinny's going to have his hands full if he don't look out," Charley Saunders remarked sagely. "Still that kind ain't as dangerous as the ones that act plumb gentle like the widow has acted so far."

"Any female is treacherous," Chuck observed grimly. "They're just like cinch-binders--you can't tell when they're going to rare up and fall over backwards!"

"I'll bet Ophelia turns out to be a W.C.T.U. or something," Bert predicted solemnly.

"If she does it's all off with the Quarter Circle KT, because Parker and Old Heck are both in love already," Charley said as they rounded the corner of the barn.

Carolyn June gave a gasp of admiration as she stepped up to the circular corral and saw the Gold Dust maverick closely.

"Oh, you beauty! You adorable beauty!" she breathed.

Captain Jack and the filly were near the fence next to the shed. Carolyn June pa.s.sed in between the low building and the corral to be closer to the horses. The sky was cloudless and a wonderful liquid blue; the sun glistened on the rich, golden, brown sides of the mare and made her coat s.h.i.+ne like delicate satin. When Captain Jack and the filly saw Carolyn June they stood for a moment as rigid as though cast in bronze, heads held high, eyes fixed curiously yet without fear on the slender girlish figure.

Captain Jack took a step forward in a half-challenging way. The maverick stood perfectly still.

"You beauty," the girl repeated, "you wonderful golden beauty! You are going to be my horse--I'm going to ride you--_just you_--"

"You'll get you're neck broke if you do!" a voice, deliberate and of peculiar softness, said behind her.

Carolyn June turned, startled, toward the shed from where the voice had come. She knew, even before she looked, that the speaker was the Ramblin' Kid. Evidently he had just awakened. He had not risen and still lay stretched on the ground, his head resting on the saddle he had used for a pillow. Carolyn June could not help wondering how long he had been lying there studying her back. The thought confused her. In spite of her efforts at self-control a slow flush crept over her cheeks. The Ramblin'

Kid saw it and the faintest hint of a smile showed on his lips--or was the suggestion of amus.e.m.e.nt in the twinkling glance of his eyes? Carolyn June could not tell. The subtlety and queerly humble impudence of it filled her with anger.

While she looked into his eyes Carolyn June appraised the physical appearance of the Ramblin' Kid. Certainly he was not handsome, sprawling there in his rough clothing. She knew his age was somewhere near her own, perhaps he was a year, surely no more than that, older than herself. Yet there was an expression about the face that suggested much experience, a sort of settled maturity and seriousness. His mouth, Carolyn June thought, showed a trace of cruelty--or was it only firmness? The teeth were good. If he stood up her own eyes would have to angle upward a trifle to look into his and if hers were brown the Ramblin' Kid's were positively black--yes, she would say, a brutal, unfathomable black, penetrating and hard. His cheeks were smooth and almost sallow they were so dark, and she could tell there was not an ounce of flesh save tough sinewy muscle on his body. He was fully dressed except for the white weather-beaten Stetson lying beside the saddle and the chaps and spurs kicked off and tossed with the bridle and rope near by on the ground. A dark woolen s.h.i.+rt open at the throat, blue overalls faded and somewhat dingy, black calfskin boots on a pair of feet that could not have been larger than sixes, comprised his attire.

So this was the Ramblin' Kid, Carolyn June thought. Someway she had pictured him a blue-eyed, yellow-haired sort of composite Skinny Rawlins, Chuck, Bert Lilly, Charley Saunders all in one and with the face of a boy in the teens!