CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE LORRIGAN VIEWPOINT
I have said that much depends upon one's point of view. Mary Hope'sviewpoint was not shared by the Devil's Tooth. They had one of theirown, and to them it seemed perfectly logical, absolutely justifiable.
They heard all about the Fourth of July picnic and dance, to be heldat Cottonwood Spring and in the schoolhouse of their own building.Immediately they remembered that Cottonwood Spring was on Lorriganland, that Lorrigan money had paid for the material that went into theschoolhouse, that Lorrigan labor had built it, Lorrigan generosity hadgiven it over to the public as represented by Mary Hope Douglas andthe children who came to her to be taught. In their minds loomed thefact that Lorrigan money had bought books for the school, and that TomLorrigan himself had paid close to four hundred dollars for thepiano.
They heard that invitations were being sent broadcast, that a crowdwas coming from Pocatello, from Lava, from Jumpoff--invited to comeand spend a day and night in merry-making. Yet no invitation came tothe Devil's Tooth ranch, not a word was said to them by Mary Hope, nota hint that they were expected, or would be welcome.
Belle met Mary Hope in the trail one day, just a week before theFourth. Mary Hope was riding home from school; Belle was driving outfrom Jumpoff. It is the custom of the outland places for acquaintancesto stop for a bit of friendly conversation when they meet, sincemeetings are so far between. But, though Belle slowed the pintos to awalk, Mary Hope only nodded, said, "How do you do," and rode on.
"She looked guilty," Belle reported wrathfully to Tom and the boys atthe supper table. "Guilty as sin. She seemed to be afraid I was goingto ask her if I couldn't come to her dance. The little fool! Does shethink for a minute I'd _go?_ She hasn't so much as thanked you forthat piano, Tom. She hasn't said one word."
"Well, I didn't put my name and _ad_-dress on it," Tom palliated theingratitude while he buttered a hot biscuit generously. "And therewasn't any name on the books to show who bought 'em. Maybe shethinks--"
"I don't care what she thinks! It's the way she acts that counts.Everybody in Jumpoff has got invitations to her picnic and dance. Theysay it's to pay us for the piano--and they think she's doing somewonderful stunt. And we're left out in the cold!"
"We never was in where it was right warm, since I can remember," saidAl. "Except when we made it warm ourselves."
"Sam Pretty Cow was saying yesterday--" and Duke repeated a bit ofgossip that had a gibe at the Lorrigans for its point. "He got it overto Hitchcocks. It come from the Douglases. I guess Mary Hope don'twant nothing of us--except what she can get out of us. We been a goodthing, all right--easy marks."
Duke had done the least for her and therefore felt qualified to saythe most. His last sentence did its work. Tom pulled his eyebrowstogether, drew his lip between his teeth and leaned back in his chair,thinking deeply, his eyes glittering between his half-closed lids.
"Easy marks, ay?" he snorted. "The Lorrigans have been called plentyof things, fur back as I can remember, but by the humpin' hyenas, theynever was called easy marks before!"
That was Tom's last comment on the subject. Belle, not liking the lookon his face, because she knew quite well what it portended, passed himtwo kinds of preserves and changed the subject. Al and Duke presentlyleft for the bunk house. Mary Hope's party and her evident intentionto slight the Lorrigans was not mentioned again for days.
But Tom's wrath was smoldering. He was not hasty. He waited. Hehimself met Mary Hope in the trail one day, lifted his hat to herwithout a word and rode on. Mary Hope let him go with a chilly nod anda murmured greeting which was no more than an empty form. Certainlyshe did not read Tom's mind, did not dream that he was thinking of thepiano,--and from an angle that had never once presented itself toher.
So, now that you see how both were justified in their opinions, asformed from different points of view, let me tell you what happened.
Mary Hope had her picnic, with never a thunderstorm to mar the day.Which is unusual, since a picnic nearly always gets itself rainedupon. She had sent out more than a hundred invitations--tickets twodollars, please--and there were more who invited themselves and had tobe supplied with tickets cut hastily out of pasteboard boxes that hadheld sandwiches.
Mary Hope was jubilant. Mother Douglas, as official hostess, movedhere and there among the women who fussed over the baskets andplacated with broken pieces of cake their persistent offspring. MotherDouglas actually smiled, though her face plainly showed that it wasquite unaccustomed to the expression, and tilted the smile downward atthe corners. Mother Douglas was a good woman, but she had had littlein her life to bring smiles, and her habitual expression was one ofmournful endurance.
It was sultry, and toward evening the mosquitoes swarmed out of thelush grass around the spring and set the horses stamping and movingabout uneasily. But it was a very successful picnic, with all thechatter, all the gourmandizing, all the gossip, all the childishromping in starched white frocks, all the innocuous pastimes that oneexpects to find at picnics.
Mary Hope wondered how in the world they were all going to find roominside the schoolhouse to dance. She had been frugal in the matter ofmusic, dreading to spend any money in hiring professional musicians,lest she might not have enough people to justify the expense. Now shewished nervously that she had done as Lance Lorrigan had done, andbrought musicians from Lava. Of course, there had been no piano whenLance gave his party, which was different. She herself meant to play,and Art Miller had brought his fiddle, and Jennie had volunteered to"chord" with him. But, Mary Hope felt much nervous apprehension lestthese Pocatello and Lava people should think it was just Scotchstinginess on her part.
Late in the afternoon a few of the ranchers rode hastily homeward to"do the chores," but the Lava and Pocatello crowd remained, and beganto drift up to the schoolhouse and drum on the piano that was actuallygoing to pay for itself and free Mary Hope's pride from its burden.
By sundown a dozen energetic couples were waltzing while aPocatello dentist with a stiff, sandy pompadour chewed gum and playedloudly, with much arm movement and very little rhythm; so verylittle rhythm that the shuffling feet frequently ceased shuffling,and expostulations rose high above his thunderous chords.
By dusk the overworked ranch women had fed the last hungry mouth andput away the fragments of home-baked cakes and thick sandwiches, andwere forming a solid line of light shirtwaists and dark skirts alongthe wall. The dance was really beginning.
As before, groups of men stood around outside and smoked and slappedat mosquitoes--except that at Lance's party there had been nomosquitoes to slap--and talked in undertones the gossip of the ranges.If now and then the name of Lorrigan was mentioned, there was noLorrigan present to hear. At intervals the "floor manager" would cometo the door and call out numbers: "Number one, and up to and includingsixteen, git your pardners fer a two-step!" Whereupon certain menwould pinch out the glow of their cigarettes and grind the stubs intothe sod under their heels, and go in to find partners. With thatcrowd, not all could dance at once; Mary Hope remembered pridefullythat there had been no dancing by numbers at the party Lance Lorrigangave.
What a terrible dance that had been! A regular rowdy affair. And thiscrowd, big as it was, had as yet shown no disposition to rowdyism. Itsurely did make a difference, thought Mary Hope, what kind of peoplesponsored an entertainment. With the Devil's Tooth outfit as theleaders, who could expect anything but trouble?
Then she caught herself thinking, with a vague heaviness in her heart,how Lance had taken her away from that other dance; of that long,wonderful, silent ride through the starlight; how careful he had beenof her--how tender! But it was only the way he had with him, she laterreminded herself impatiently, and smiled over her shoulder at thewhirling couples who danced to the music she made; and thought of themoney that made her purse heavy as lead, the money that would wipe outher debt to the Lorrigans,--to Lance, if it really were Lance who hadbought the piano.
A faint sound came to her th
rough the open window, the rattle of awagon coming down the hill in the dark. More people were coming to thedance, which meant more money to give to the Lorrigans. Mary Hopesmiled again and played faster; so fast that more than one young manshook his head at her as he circled past, and puffed ostentatiously,laughing at the pace she set. She had a wild vision of other danceswhich she would give--Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, NewYear's--and pay the Lorrigans for everything they had done; for thebooks, for the schoolhouse, everything. She felt that then, and thenonly, could she face Lance Lorrigan level-eyed, cool, calm, feelingherself a match for him.
The rattle of the wagon sounded nearer, circled the yard, came in atthe gate. Mary Hope was giving the dancers the fastest two-step shecould play, and she laughed aloud. More people were coming to thedance, and there might not be coffee and sandwiches enough atmidnight,--she had over three hundred dollars already.
The dancers whirled past, parted to right and left, stopped all atonce. Mary Hope, still playing, looked over her shoulder--into thedark, impenetrable gaze of Tom Lorrigan, standing there in his workingclothes, with his big, black Stetson on his head and his six-shooterin its holster on his hip. Behind him Mary Hope saw Al and Duke andBelle, and behind them other Devil's Tooth men, cowboys whom she onlyknew slightly from meeting them sometimes in the trail as she rode toand from school. The cowboys seemed to be facing the other way,holding back the crowd near the door.
Mary Hope looked again into Tom's face, looked at Belle. Her fingersstrayed uncertainly over the keys, making discords. She half rose,then sat down again. The room, all at once, seemed very still.
"I'm sorry to disturb yuh," Tom said, touching his hat brim andlifting his eyebrows at her, half smiling with his lips pulled to oneside, like Lance--oh, maddeningly like Lance!--"but I've come afterthe piano."
Mary Hope gasped. Her arms went out instinctively across the keyboard,as if she would protect the instrument from his defaming touch.
"I'll have to ask yuh to move," said Tom. "Sorry to disturb yuh."
"I--I'm going to pay for it," said Mary Hope, finding her voice faintand husky. She had an odd sensation that this was a nightmare. She haddreamed so often of the dance and of the Lorrigans.
"I paid for it long ago. I bought the piano--I've come after it."
Mary Hope slid off the stool, stood facing him, her eyes very blue.After all, he was not Lance. "You can't have it!" she said. "I won'tlet you take it. I'm raising money to pay you for it, and I intend tokeep it." She reached for her purse, but Tom restrained her with agesture.
"It ain't for sale," he said, with that hateful smile that always madeher wonder just what lay behind it. "I own it, and I ain't thinking ofselling. Here's the shipping bill and the guarantee and all; I brought'em along to show you, in case you got curious about whose piano itis. You see the number on the bill--86945. You'll find it tallies withthe number in the case, if you want to look. Pete, Ed, John, take itand load it in the wagon."
"Well, now, see here! This is an outrage! How much is the darn thingworth, anyway? This crowd is not going to stand by and see a raw deallike this pulled off." It was the Pocatello dentist, and he was verymuch excited.
"You saw a raw deal, and stood for it, when you saw the Lorriganscold-shouldered out of the dance," Belle flashed at him. "We've stoodfor a lot, but this went a little beyond our limit."
"We're not going to stand for anything like this, you know!" Anotherman--also from Lava--shouldered his way up to them.
"Git outa the way, or you'll git tromped on!" cried Pete over hisshoulder as he backed, embracing the piano and groping for handholds.
The Lava man gripped Pete, trying to pull him away. Pete kicked backviciously with a spurred heel. The Lava man yelled and retreated,limping.
Just how it happened, no two men or women afterward agreed in thetelling. But somehow the merrymakers, who were merry no longer, wentback and back until they were packed solidly at the sides and nearthe door, a few squeezing through it when they were lucky enough tofind room. Behind them came four of the Devil's Tooth men withsix-shooters, looking the crowd coldly in the eyes. Behind these camethe piano, propelled by those whom Tom had named with the tone ofauthority.
The crowd squeezed closer against the wall as the piano went pastthem. There was not so much noise and confusion as one would expect.Then, at the last, slim, overworked, round-shouldered Mother Douglas,who had done little save pray and weep and work and scold all herlife, walked up and slapped Belle full on the cheek.
"Ye painted Jezebel!" she cried, her eyes burning. "Long have I wantedto smack ye for your wickedness and the brazen ways of ye--ye paintedJezebel!"
Blind, dazed with anger, Belle struck back.
"Don't you touch my mother! Shame on you! Shame on you all! I didnaask you for your favors, for any gifts--and you gave them and then youcome and take them--" This was the voice of Mary Hope, shrill withrage.
"You gave a dance in a house built for you by the Lorrigans, onLorrigan land, and you danced to the music of a Lorrigan piano--andthe Lorrigans were not good enough to be asked to come! Get outa myway, Hope Douglas--and take your mother with you. Call _me_ a paintedJezebel, will she?"
The piano was outside, being loaded into the wagon, where Riley sat onthe seat, chewing tobacco grimly and expectorating copiously, withoutregard for those who came close. Outside there was also much clamor ofvoices. A lantern held high by a Devil's Tooth man who had a gun inthe other, lighted the platform and the wagon beside it.
At the last, Tom Lorrigan himself went back after the stool, and theroom silenced so that his footsteps sounded loud on the empty floor.He looked at Mary Hope, looked at her mother, looked at the huddled,whispering women, the gaping children. He swung out of his course andslipped one arm around Belle and so led her outside, the stoolswinging by one leg in the other hand.
"A painted Jezebel!" Belle said under her breath when they wereoutside the ring of light. "My God, Tom, think of that!"
Mary Hope had never in her life suffered such humiliation. It seemedto her that she stood disgraced before the whole world, that there wasno spot wherein she might hide her shame. Her mother was weepinghysterically because she had been "slappit by the painted Jezebel" andbecause Aleck was not there to avenge her. The Pocatello and Lavacrowd seemed on the point of leaving, and were talking very fast inundertones that made Mary Hope feel that they were talking about her.The rattle of the Lorrigan wagon hauling the piano away, the click ofthe horses' feet as the Devil's Tooth riders convoyed the instrument,made her wince, and want to put her palms over her ears to shut outthe sound of it.
But she was Scotch, and a Douglas. There was no weak fiber that wouldlet her slump before this emergency. She went back to the littleplatform, stood beside the desk that held the globe and thedictionary and a can of flowers, and rapped loudly with the ruler fromthe Pocatello hardware store. By degrees the room ceased buzzing withexcited talk, the shuffling feet stood still.
"I am very sorry," said Mary Hope clearly, "that your pleasurehas--has been interrupted. It seems there has been a misunderstandingabout the piano. I thought that I could buy it for the school, and forthat reason I gave this dance. But it seems--that--I'm terribly sorrythe dance has been spoiled for you, and if the gentlemen who boughttickets will please step this way, I will return your money."
She had to clench her teeth to keep her lips from trembling. Her handsshook so that she could scarcely open her handbag. But her purposenever faltered, her eyes were blue and sparkling when she looked outover the crowd. She waited. Feet scuffled the bare floor, voiceswhispered, but no man came toward her.
"I want to return your money," she said sharply, "because without thepiano I suppose you will not want to dance, and--"
"Aw, the dickens!" cried a big, good-natured cowpuncher with asun-peeled nose and twinkly gray eyes. "I guess we all have dancedplenty without no piano music. There's mouth harps in this crowd, andthere's a fiddle. Git yore pardners for a square dance!" And under hisbreath, to h
is immediate masculine neighbors he added: "To hell withthe Lorrigans and their piano!"
Mary Hope could have hugged that cowpuncher who hastily seized herhand and swung her into place as the first couple in the first set.
When the three sets were formed he called the dance figures in asonorous tone that swept out through the open windows and reached theears of the Lorrigans as they rode away.
"_Honor_ yore pardner--and the lady on your _left!_ _Join_ eight hands, an' a-circle to the _left!_ Break an _Indian_ trail home in the Indian _style_, with the lady in the _lead!_ Swing the lady _behind_ you once in a while!-- The lady _behind_ you once in a while!-- _Now_ your pardner, and go hog _wild!_"
The fiddle and two mouth harps were scarcely heard above the rhythmicstamping of feet, the loud chant of the caller, who swung Mary Hopeclear of the floor whenever he put his arm around her.
"A--_second_ couple out, and a-cir-cle _four!_ _Lay_-dees do ce _do!_ _You_ swing me, an' I'll swing _you_-- And _we'll_ all dance in the same ole _shoe!_
"_Same_ four on to the _next!_--dance the ocean _wave!_ The _same_ ole boys, the _same_ ole trail, _Watch_ that possum walk the _rail!_ _Cir_-cle six, and a-do ce _do!_ Swing, _every_ one swing, and a--promenade _home!_"
"_Who_ wants a piano? Couldn't hear it if yuh' had it!" he cried,while the twelve couples paused breathless. Then he wiped his facefrankly and thoroughly with his handkerchief, caught Mary Hope's handin his, lifted his voice again in his contagious sing-song:
"_Cir_-cle eight, till you get straight! _Swing_ them ladies, like swingin' on a _gate!_ _Left_ foot up, and-a-right foot _down_-- _Make_ that big foot jar the _ground!_ Prom-e-_nade!_ _Swing_ yore corner, if you ain't too _slow!_ _Now_ yore pardner, and around you _go!_ For the--_last_ time--and a-_long_ time-- _You_ know where, and a-I don't _care!_"
The dance was saved by the big cowpuncher with the peeling nose andthe twinkly gray eyes. Mary Hope had never seen him before that day,but whenever she looked at him a lump came in her throat, a warm rushof sheer gratitude thrilled her. She did not learn his name--two orthree men called him Burt, but he seemed to be a stranger in thecountry. Burt saved her dance and kept things moving until the skywas streaked with red and birds were twittering outside in thecottonwoods.
She wanted to thank him, to tell him a little of her gratitude. Butwhen she went to look for him afterwards he was gone, and no oneseemed to know just where he belonged. Which was strange, when youconsider that in the Black Rim country every one knows everybody.