Prairie FlowersHendryx, James B. (James Beardsley)
General
Prairie Flowers
Hendryx, James B. (James Beardsley)
Western stories
"Ba Goss! A'm lak A'm see you scare wan tam'! You bet A'm ride wan
hondre mile to laff on you. You git de dam' fine 'oman. Now you got to
mak' her, w'at you call, de happiness. Bye-m-bye, Ol' Bat, she git to
ol' to ride de range--to cook. Den A'm joos' stay 'roun' an' look
aftaire _les enfants_. A'm show um how to ride, an' shoot, an' t'row de
rope--joos' so good lak de _pere_ kin do, _ah voila_!"
Janet fled precipitously for the cabin, and as Bat mounted Cinnabar's
horse and headed out onto the trail, the Texan turned to Grimshaw: "Slip
over to McWhorter's tomorrow, Cass," he invited--"I'd like to have you
there."
Grimshaw hesitated just a moment: "You're sure you want me? You ain't
askin' me just so I won't feel--left out? An' how about the others? How
about yer--wife? She never has had no time for us horse-thieves."
The Texan smiled: "She's learnt a lot in the last couple of hours, Cass.
If you ain't at the weddin' she'll be the most disappointed one of all."
"All right, boy--I'll come. I got to be goin' now." He ran his fingers
over his stubby beard, "Sure is goin' to be hell to shave."
As the Texan swung from his horse, a feminine shriek of joy directed his
attention toward the cabin, where in the doorway Alice and Janet stood
locked in each other's embrace--laughing, crying, talking all at once,
while Endicott smilingly beckoned to Tex.
"Oh, you darling!" Alice was saying, "I'm so glad! I picked you for him
the moment I laid eyes on you--and then I nearly spoiled it all by my
eulogy."
"But--" stammered Janet, "what about the other girl--the one from the
East--that you were going to invite out? You said she was
beautiful--and--and adorable and--you were just going to _make_ her
marry him!"
"From the East!" Alice exclaimed, "I'm sure I didn't say anything about
the East. I said there was a girl friend of mine--and I did say she was
beautiful and adorable--and she is--and I said I was going to invite her
to come and make me a long visit--and I _did_ invite her--before she
left the room in a huff--and went tearing off into the bad lands to find
her lover----"
Janet smothered the rest of the sentence in kisses: "Well, anyway--you
didn't make her marry him," she said, "because she intended to marry him
anyway--if she could get him to ask her!"
A couple of hours later while the three women were in the cabin
preparing supper, Tex, and Endicott, and Cinnabar sat outside and talked
and listened to the sounds of laughter that floated through the door.
"Look at old Whiskers comin'," said Tex, indicating a horseman who
appeared around the corner of the barn.
Cinnabar chuckled: "Whiskers! Why man, that's yer new dad! That's old
Colin McWhorter--an' if you don't make a hit with him, believe me--he'll
cut your head off!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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