X.
In the still black night and with no guide other than the dimly-lightedlantern which she carried, the Girl had started for home--a bit ofshelter in the middle of a great silence, a little fortress in thewilderness, as it were, with its barred doors and windows--on the top ofCloudy Mountain. To be sure, it was not the first time that she hadfollowed the trail alone: Day and night, night and day, for as long,almost, as she could remember, she had been doing it; indeed, she hadwatched the alders, oaks and dwarf pines, that bordered the trail, growyear by year as she herself had grown, until now the whispering of themountain's night winds spoke a language as familiar as her own; butnever before had she climbed up into the clean, wide, free sweep of thisunbounded horizon, the very air untainted and limitless as the skyitself, with so keen and uncloying a pleasure. But there was a newsignificance attached to her home-coming to-night: was she not toentertain there her first real visitor?
At the threshold of her cabin the Girl, her cheeks aglow and eyes asbright, almost, as the red cape that enveloped her lithe, girlishfigure, paused, and swinging her lantern high above her head so that itslight was reflected in the room, she endeavoured to imagine what wouldbe the impression that a stranger would receive coming suddenly uponthese surroundings.
And well might she have paused, for no eye ever rested upon a moreconglomerate ensemble! Yet, withal, there was a certain attractivenessabout this log-built, low, square room, half-papered with gaudypaper--the supply, evidently, having fallen short,--that was asunexpected as it was unusual.
Upon the floor, which had a covering of corn sacks, were many beautifulbear and wolf skins, Indian rugs and Navajo blankets; whileoverhead--screening some old trunks and boxes neatly piled up high inthe loft, which was reached by a ladder, generally swung out of theway--hung a faded, woollen blanket; from the opposite corner there fellan old, patchwork, silk quilt. Dainty white curtains in all theircrispness were at the windows, and upon the walls were many rare andweird trophies of the chase, not to mention the innumerable picturesthat had been taken from "Godey's Lady Book" and other periodicals ofthat time. A little book-shelf, that had been fashioned out of a box,was filled with old and well-read books; while the mantel that guardedthe fireplace was ornamented with various small articles, conspicuousamong which were a clock that beat loud, automatic time with a brassyresonance, a china dog and cat of most gaudy colours, a whisky bottleand two tumblers, and some winter berries in a jar.
There were two pieces of furniture in the room, however, which wereplaced with an eye to attract attention, and these the Girl prized mosthighly: one was a homemade rocking-chair that had been made out of abarrel and had been dyed, unsuccessfully, with indigo blue, and hadacross its back a knitted tidy with a large, upstanding, satin bow; theother was a homemade, pine wardrobe that had been rudely decorated byone of the boys of the camp and in which the Girl kept her dresses, andwas piled up high towards the ceiling with souvenirs of her trip toMonterey, including the hat-boxes and wicker basket that had come wellnigh to loading down the stage on that memorable journey.
But it was upon her bed and bedroom fixings that the greatest attempt atdecoration had been made; partitioning off the room, as it were, and atthe same time forming a canopy about the bed, were curtains of cheap,gaudy material, through the partings of which there was to be had aglimpse of a daintily-made-up bed, whose pillows were made conspicuousby the hand-made lace that trimmed their slips, as was the bureau-cover,and upon which, in charming disarray, were various articles generallyincluded in a woman's toilet, not to mention the numberless strings ofcoloured beads and other bits of feminine adornment. A table standing inthe centre of the room was covered with a small, white cloth, whilefalling in folds from beneath this was a faded, red cotton cover. Thetable was laid for one, the charlotte "rusks" and "lemming"turn-over--each on a separate plate--which Nick had been commissioned toprocure, earlier in the evening, from the Palmetto restaurant, loomingup prominently in the centre; and on another plate were some chippedbeef and biscuits. A large lamp was suspended from the ceiling in thecentre of the room and was quaintly, if not grotesquely, shaded; whileother lamps flanked by composition metal reflectors concentrated lightupon the Girl's bureau, the book-shelf and mantel, leaving the remainderof the room in variant shadow.
All in all, what with the fire that was burning cheerily in the grateand the strong odour of steaming coffee, the room had a soft glow andhome-like air that was most inviting.
In that brief moment that the Girl stood in the doorway reviewing herpossessions, a multitude of expressions drifted across her countenance,a multitude of possibilities thrilled within her bosom. But however muchshe would have liked to analyse these strange feelings, she resisted theinclination and gave all her attention to the amusing scene that wasbeing enacted before her eyes.
For some time Billy Jackrabbit had been standing by the table lookinggreedily down upon the charlotte russes there. He was on the point ofputting his finger through the centre of one of them when Wowkle--theIndian woman-of-all-work of the cabin, who sat upon the floor before thefire singing a lullaby to the papoose strapped to its cradle on herback--turning suddenly her gaze in his direction, was just in time toprevent him.
"Charlotte rusk--Palmetto rest'rant--not take," were her warning words.
Jackrabbit drew himself up quickly, but he was furious at interferencefrom a source where it was wholly unexpected.
"Hm--me honest," he growled fiercely, flashing her a malignant look.
"Huh?" was Wowkle's monosyllabic observation delivered in a gutturaltone.
All of a sudden, Jackrabbit's gaze was arrested by a piece of paperwhich lay upon the floor and in which had been wrapped the charlotterusses; he went over to it quickly, picked it up, opened it andproceeded to collect on his finger the cream that had adhered to it.
"Huh!" he growled delightedly, holding up his finger for Wowkle'sinspection. The next instant, however, he slumped down beside her uponthe floor, where both the man and the woman sat in silence gazing intothe fire. The man was the first to speak.
"Send me up--Polka. Say, p'haps me marry you--huh?" he said, coming tothe point bluntly.
Wowkle's eyes were glued to the fire; she answered dully:
"Me don't know."
There was a silence, and then:
"Me don't know," observed Jackrabbit thoughtfully. A moment later,however, he added: "Me marry you--how much me get give fatha--huh?"
Wowkle raised her narrowing eyes to his and told him with absoluteindifference:
"Huh--me don't know."
Jackrabbit's face darkened. He pondered for a long time.
"Me don't know--" suddenly he began and then stopped. They had beensilent for some moments, when at last he ventured: "Me give fatha fourdolla"--and here he indicated the number with his two hands, the fingerwith the cream locking those of the other hand--"and one blanket."
Wowkle's eyes dilated.
"Better keep blanket--baby cold," was her ambiguous answer.
Whereupon Jackrabbit emitted a low growl. Presently he handed her hispipe, and while she puffed steadily away he fondled caressingly thestring of beads which she wore around her neck.
"You sing for get those?" he asked.
"Me sing," she replied dully, beginning almost instantly in soft, nasaltones:
"My days are as um grass"--
Jackrabbit's face cleared.
"Huh!" he growled in rejoicement.
Immediately Wowkle edged up close to him and together they continued inchorus:
"Or as um faded flo'r, Um wintry winds sweep o'er um plain, We pe'ish in um ho'r."
"But Gar," said the man when the song was ended, at the same time takinghis pipe away from her, "to-morrow we go missionary--sing like hell--getwhisky."
But as Wowkle made no answer, once more a silence fell upon them.
"We pe'ish in um ho'r," suddenly repeated Jackrabbit, half-singing,half-speaking the words, and rising quickly started for the door.
At thetable, however, he halted and inquired: "All right--go missionaryto-morrow--get marry--huh?"
Wowkle hesitated, then rose, and finally started slowly towards him.Half-way over she stopped and reminded him in a most apathetic manner:
"P'haps me not stay marry to you for long."
"Huh--seven monse?" queried Jackrabbit in the same tone.
"Six monse," came laconically from the woman.
In nowise disconcerted by her answer, the Indian now asked:
"You come soon?"
Wowkle thought a moment; then suddenly edging up close to him shepromised to come to him after the Girl had had her supper.
"Huh!" fairly roared the Indian, his coal-black eyes glowing as helooked at her.
It was at this juncture that the Girl, after hanging up her lantern on apeg on the outer door, broke in unexpectedly upon the strange pair oflovers.
Dumbfounded, the woman and the man stood gaping at her. Wowkle was thefirst to regain her composure, and bending over the table she turned upthe light.
"Hello, Billy Jackrabbit!" greeted the Girl, breezily. "Fixed it?"
"Me fix," he grunted.
"That's good! Now git!" ordered the Girl in the same happy tone that hadcharacterised her greeting.
Slowly, stealthily, Jackrabbit left the cabin, the two women, though fordifferent reasons, watching him go until the door had closed behind him.
"Now, Wowkle," said the Girl, turning to her with a smile, "it's for twoto-night."
Wowkle's eyelashes twinkled up inquisitorially.
"Huh?"
"Yep."
Wowkle's eyes narrowed to pin-points.
"Come anotha? Never before come anotha," was her significant comment.
"Never you mind." The Girl voiced the reprimand without the twitching ofan eyelid; and then as she hung up her cape upon the wardrobe, sheadded: "Pick up the room, Wowkle!"
The big-hipped, full-bosomed woman did not move but stood in all herstolidness gazing at her mistress like one in a dream; whereupon theGirl, exasperated beyond measure at the other's placidity, rushed overto her and shook her so violently that she finally awakened to theimportance of her mistress' request.
"He's comin' now, now; he's comin'!" the Girl was saying, when suddenlyher eyes were attracted to a pair of stockings hanging upon the wall;quickly she released her hold on the woman and with a hop, skip and ajump they were down and hid away in her bureau drawer.
"My roses--what did you do with them, Wowkle?" she asked a trifleimpatiently as she fumbled in the drawer.
"Ugh!" grunted Wowkle, and pointed to a corner of the bureau top.
"Good!" cried the Girl, delightedly, as she spied them. The next instantshe was busily engaged in arranging them in her hair, pausing only totake a pistol out of her pocket, which she laid on the edge of thebureau. "No offence, Wowkle," she went on thoughtfully, a moment later,"but I want you to put your best foot forward when you're waitin' ontable to-night. This here company o' mine's a man o' idees. Oh, he knowseverythin'! Sort of a damme style."
Wowkle gave no sign of having heard her mistress' words, but kept righton tidying the room. Now she went over to the cupboard and took down twocups, which she placed on the fireplace base. It was while she was inthe act of laying down the last one that the Girl broke in suddenly uponher thoughts with:
"Say, Wowkle, did Billy Jackrabbit really propose to you?"
"Yep--get marry," spoke up Jackrabbit's promised wife without lookingup.
For some moments the Girl continued to fumble among her possessions inthe bureau drawer; at last she brought forth an orange-coloured satinribbon, which she placed in the Indian woman's hands with her prettiestsmile, saying:
"Here, Wowkle, you can have that to fix up for the weddin'."
Wowkle's eyes glowed with appreciation.
"Huh!" she ejaculated, and proceeded to wind the ribbon about the beadsaround her neck.
Turning once more to the bureau, the Girl took out a small parcel doneup in tissue paper and began to unwrap it.
"I'm goin' to put on them, if I can git 'em on," she said, displaying apair of white satin slippers. The next instant she had plumped herselfdown upon the floor and was trying to encase her feet in a pair ofslippers which were much too small for them. "Remember what fun I madeo' you when you took up with Billy Jackrabbit?" suddenly she asked witha happy little smile. "What for? sez I. Well, p'r'aps you was right.P'r'aps it's nice to have someone you really care for--who belongs toyou. P'r'aps they ain't so much in the saloon business for a woman afterall, and you don't know what livin' really is until--" She stoppedabruptly and threw upon the floor the slipper that refused to give toher foot. "Oh, Wowkle," she went on, taking up the other slipper, "it'snice to have someone you can talk to, someone you can turn your heartinside out to."
At last she had succeeded in getting into one slipper and, rising, triedto stand in it; but it hurt her so frightfully that she immediately sankdown upon the floor and proceeded to pat and rub and coddle her foot toease the pain. It was while she was thus engaged that a knock came uponher cabin door.
"Oh, Lord, here he is!" she cried, panic-stricken, and began to dragherself hurriedly across the room with the intention of concealingherself behind the curtain at the foot of the bed; while Wowkle, withunusual celerity, made for the fire-place, where she stood with her backto the door, gazing into the fire.
The Girl had only gotten half-way across the room, however, when a voiceassailed her ears.
"Miss, Miss, kin I--" came in low, subdued tones.
"What? The Sidney Duck?" she cried, turning and seeing his head pokedthrough the window.
"Beg pardon, Miss; I know men ain't lowed up here nohow," humblyapologised that individual; "but, but--"
Vexed and flustered, the Girl turned upon him a trifle irritably with:
"Git! Git, I tell you!"
"But I'm in grite trouble, Miss," began The Sidney Duck, tearfully. "Theboys are back--they missed that road agent Ramerrez and now they'retaking it out of me. If--if you'd only speak a word for me, Miss."
"No--" began the Girl, and stopped. The next instant she ordered Wowkleto shut the window.
"Oh, don't be 'ard on me, Miss," whimpered the man.
The Girl flashed him a scornful look.
"Now, look here, Sidney Duck, there's one kind o' man I can't stand, an'that's a cheat an' a thief, an' you're it," said the Girl, laying greatstress upon her words. "You're no better'n that road agent Ramerrez,an'--"
"But, Miss--" interrupted the man.
"Miss nothin'!" snapped back the Girl, tugging away at the slippers; indesperation once more she ordered:
"Wowkle, close the winder! Close the winder!"
The Sidney Duck glowered at her. He had expected her intercession on hisbehalf and could not understand this new attitude of hers toward him.
"Public 'ouse jide!" he retorted furiously, and slammed the window.
"Ugh!" snarled Wowkle, resentfully, her eyes full of fire.
Now at any other time, The Sidney Duck would have been made to paydearly for his words, but either the Girl did not hear him, or if shedid she was too engrossed to heed them; at any rate, the remark passedunnoticed.
"I got it on!" presently exclaimed the Girl in great joy. Nevertheless,it was not without several ouches and moans that, finally, she stoodupon her feet. "Say, Wowkle, how do you think he'll like 'em? How dothey look? They feel awful!" she rattled on with a pained look on herface.
But whatever would have been the Indian woman's observation on thesubject of tight shoes in general and those of her mistress inparticular, she was not permitted to make it, for the Girl, now hobblingover towards the bureau, went on to announce with sudden determination:
"Say, Wowkle, I'm a-goin' the whole hog! Yes, I'm a-goin' the wholehog," she repeated a moment later, as she drew forth various bits offinery from a chest of drawers, with which she proceeded to adornherself before the mirror. Taking out first a lace shawl of bold design,she drew it ov
er her shoulders with the grace and ease of one who makesit an everyday affair rather than an occasional undertaking; then shetook from a sweet-grass basket a vividly-embroidered handkerchief andsaturated it with cologne, impregnating the whole room with its strongodour; finally she brought forth a pair of long, white gloves and beganto stretch them on. "Does it look like an effort, Wowkle?" she asked,trying to get her hands into them.
"Ugh!" was the Indian woman's comment at the very moment that a knockcame upon the door. "Two plates," she added with a groan, and startedfor the cupboard.
Meanwhile the Girl continued with her primping and preening, her handsflying back and forth like an automaton from her waist-line to herstockings. Suddenly another knock, this time more vigorous, moreinsistent, came upon the rough boards of the cabin door, which, finally,was answered by the Girl herself.