The Lions of the Lord: A Tale of the Old WestWilson, Harry Leon
General
The Lions of the Lord: A Tale of the Old West
Wilson, Harry Leon
Historical fiction; Latter Day Saint pioneers -- Fiction; Western stories
“Oh, yes, I will fancy you, kind sir,
And I will be your Honey-O,
If you swear by the sword that hangs by your side
I shall never want for money-O.”
The singer seemed to be making his way slowly. Far up the trail, she
had one fleeting glimpse of a man on a horse, and then he was hid again
in the twilight of the pines. But the music came nearer:—
“Then she put on her high-heeled shoes,
All made of Spanish leather-O,
And she put on her bonnie, bonnie brown, And they rode off together-O.
“Soon after that, her lord came home
Inquiring for his lady-O,
When some of the servants made this reply,
She’s a-gone with the Gypsy Davy-O.
“Then saddle me my milk-white steed,
For the black is not so speedy-O,
And I’ll ride all night and I’ll ride all day
Till I overtake my lady-O.”
She stood transfixed, something within her responding to the hidden
singer, as she had once heard a closed piano sound to a voice that sang
near it. Soon she could get broken glimpses of him as he wound down the
trail, now turning around the end of a fallen tree, then passing behind
a giant spruce, now leaning far back while the horse felt a way
cautiously down some sharp little declivity. The impression was
confused,—a glint of red, of blue, of the brown of the horse, a figure
swaying loosely to the horse’s movements, and then he was out of sight
again around the big rock that had once fallen from high up on the side
of the cañon; but now, when he came from behind that, he would be
squarely in front of her. This recalled and alarmed her. She began to
pick a way over the boulders and across the trail that lay between her
and the edge of the pines, hearing another verse of the song, almost at
her ear:—
“He rode all night and he rode all day,
Till he came to the far deep water-O,
Then he stopped and a tear came a-trickling down his cheek,
For there he saw his lady-O.”
Before she could reach a shelter in the pines, while she was poised for
the last step that would take her out of the trail, he was out from
behind the rock, before her, almost upon her, reining his horse back
upon its haunches,—then in another instant lifting off his
broad-brimmed hat to her in a gracious sweep. It was the first time she
had seen this simple office performed outside of the theatre.
She looked up at him, embarrassed, and stepped back across the narrow
trail, her head down again, so that he was free to pass. But instead of
passing, she became aware that he had dismounted.
When she looked up, he was busily engaged in adjusting something about
his saddle, with an expression of deepest concern in his blue eyes. His
hat was on the ground and his yellow hair glistened where the band had
pressed it about his head.
“It’s that latigo strap,” he remarked, in a tone of some annoyance.
“I’ve had to fix it every five miles since I left Kanab!” Then looking
up at her with a friendly smile: “Dandy most stepped on you, I reckon.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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