CHAPTER XI.--THE HAWKES FAMILY.
Breathless and flushed with exercise the other girls now dropped intotheir seats. The hot, crowded room, the dust raised by the shuffling ofmany feet on the floor and the strange company rather bewildered them.Only Nancy had really enjoyed the experience, because Jim was anexcellent dancer; and he had guided her carefully through the mazes ofthe jigging two-step.
But there was to be further entertainment before they might be allowedto stroll out under the stars and breathe in the fresh air. A Mexicancowboy with a broad crimson sash around his waist, a border ofbright-colored fringe edging the side of his trousers and jingling spurson his high-heeled boots, danced a wild fandango to a Spanish tune witha throbbing accompaniment on the guitar, which seemed to grow faster andfaster as he struck his heels on the floor.
Then the music stopped and two Indians appeared. One of them squatted onthe floor and began beating monotonously on a small kind of a drum ortom-tom. The other Indian in full regalia began dancing slowly in acircle, stooping low as if he were hiding from his prey which he wouldpresently pounce upon and destroy utterly. He was a barbaric andwar-like figure and the girls unconsciously shrunk back as he danced bythem. Gradually the dance grew wilder and the steps quicker. The Indiangave a strange bird-like cry, and for the fraction of a moment paused infront of Billie. With another cry that had a familiar sound he flashed ablack glance of hatred into her face and was gone.
Again Billie thought she recognized a likeness. She turned herbewildered eyes downward, her face flushing with embarrassment. There inher lap was a long, grayish feather.
"What's this for?" she demanded, turning to Barney McGee.
"I reckon it's a complimentary souvenir for you, Miss Billie," repliedthe ranchman. "It's one of Hawkeseye's jokes, a quill from a hawk'swing."
"Hawkeseye," repeated Billie.
"Oh, yes, we call him that for fun. His name is Buckthorne Hawkes. Heain't all Injun, you know. He's really the Missus' brother, but he cancertainly fix himself up to look as much like a full-blooded Indian buckas if he had just come from the reservation."
"Was he ever a peddler?" Billie asked.
Barney laughed.
"He's a graduate of Carlyle University," he answered. "He's come outWest to teach school."
In the meantime, Elinor had been led by Tony Blackstone into thecourtyard, where they sat down on a bench. Overhead the stars gleamedwith incredible brilliancy, partly because the stars from a Westernplain seem infinitely larger and grander than they do anywhere else, andpartly because they gazed at them from the depths of a small darkcourtyard.
"Perhaps Miss Campbell would not like to have me leave the--theballroom," said Elinor, not knowing how to designate the dining room inits present use.
"It's only a step away," said Tony Blackstone, "and we can't talk inthere very well. You remind me of--of an English girl I once knew, andit would be just common charity to talk to me a little."
"Are you homesick, then?" asked Elinor.
"Sometimes. If anything happens to remind me of--of my other home."
"Then you are not happy here?" the young girl demanded quickly, as ifthis were a confirmation of her suspicions.
"There are times when I am happy," he said. "When I am riding at nightacross the plains on a horse that goes like the wind. It is wonderfulthen, especially when the moon is full. I can almost forget that I havean identity at such times."
There was a long pause. Elinor hardly knew what to say, and she watchedthe young man gravely. That he was deeply moved by the memories her ownface had conjured up she could plainly see. His lips twitchedconvulsively and he clenched his hands as if he were trying to choke thethoughts that would rise in his mind. Why had he come away from home andlost himself in this distant place?
They sat thus for some time watching the stars silently. A sympathy hadsprung up between them and they seemed to have known each other for along time.
"What was her name?" she asked at last in a low voice.
"Elinor," he burst out. "Elinor, the same as yours," and he turned hisface away.
Perhaps he was crying. Elinor never knew, although it seemed strange fora big splendid cowboy to shed tears.
"I'm so sorry for you," she said kindly, and laid her hand on his arm, agreat piece of condescension for her. "Touch-me-not" was a nick-namegiven her long ago by her friends.
"Oh, Elinor, Elinor," he exclaimed, taking her hand in his, "if youcould only understand what the sight of your face and the sound of yourvoice mean to me! If you could only know what I have lost by my folly,my wretched, miserable folly!"
"Aren't you ever going back?" she asked, and she did not withdraw herhand.
"It's too late now," he said. "She hates me--they all hate me!"
"Are you sure?" she persisted.
"Perfectly certain."
"Elinor, dear, I think you had better come back, now," called MissCampbell, who never let her girls out of her sight for long.
"Is Blackstone your real name?" Elinor asked as they paused before thedoor of the dancing room.
"My real name," he replied, "is Algernon Blackstone de WilloughbyWinston."
Elinor repeated the names after him and buried them deep in her mind.
A Virginia reel was forming and Mrs. Steptoe has asked as an especialfavor if the young ladies would not dance. Nancy had given her hand toJim for the dance. It was the third time she had bestowed this honorupon him, and with unconcealed joy he stood at the top of the line readyto lead off. Billie was dancing with Barney McGee. Mary had acceptedBrek Steptoe as a partner and Elinor, with Algernon Blackstone deWilloughby Winston now joined the line.
There were only three or four other women including Mrs. Steptoe, andfor the rest, cowboys and ranchmen danced together with perfect goodnature.
How strange it seemed to Miss Campbell, her four girls dancing amongthese queer people. No wonder the other dancers forgot the figures ofthe reel while they drank in the picture of their fresh young faces. Itwas to them as if a garden of roses had suddenly sprung up in thedesert.
"Down the center," called the musician. "Now, right and left allaround."
The fiddle whined. The guitar thrummed passionately. Miss Campbell'shead was in a whirl.
"Ought we to have taken the risk of this visit?" she kept saying. "Whenone is traveling one must have experiences," her thoughts continued."Besides, what harm can come of it? They are rough, kindly people, andhave taken so much trouble to give us this entertainment. But I reallydon't care for all this noise and dust. I hope I shall never go toanother one."
The little lady leaned her head wearily against the wall and closed hereyes. An arm slipped around her waist. It was Elinor, who having dancedher turn had quietly joined her. Her partner had disappeared in thecourtyard.
The two women exchanged meaning glances. The noisy dance, the jinglingspurs of the cowboys as the dancers came down the middle, and anoccasional loud laugh did not appeal to Elinor either.
"We must excuse ourselves, dear," Miss Campbell was saying, whensuddenly the courtyard resounded with a loud cry.
"You insufferable, black-livered hound," came the voice of AlgernonBlackstone de Willoughby Winston, "if I catch you sneaking around hereagain with your knives, I'll throw you out to the coyotes."
The dance continued, and only one dancer dropped out. Either they hadnot heard the disturbance, or else such disturbances were too common tonotice. It was, consequently, Rosina Steptoe alone, with face aflame andeyes snapping like two little wells of fire, who signed to her partnerand approached the doorway. She was too angry to notice how near MissCampbell and Elinor were sitting to the open door.
"Tony, how dare you speak to my brother like that," she hissed into thecourt. "I told you before I wouldn't have it."
"Nonsense, Rosina, your brother deserves a good thrashing for histricks. I just caught his arm as he was about to throw this dagger intothe room."
"It was only a little joke, Rosy," whined her brother
.
"Joke be hanged," broke in the Englishman, "how dare you attempt tofrighten these ladies by such a joke. Try it again and I'll keep myword."
"Don't you be so interferin' with the Hawkes family," cried Rosinashrilly.
Miss Campbell rose. The dance was just reaching a climax with its finalright and left all round. She beckoned to the girls.
"If you don't mind, Mrs. Steptoe, I think we'll say good-night. We'vehad a long day. The entertainment has been most delightful."
Rosina became humble under the gaze of the elegant little woman.
"I will show you to your rooms," she said meekly.
They bade the company a general good night, and it was not long beforethey had locked themselves into their bedrooms, and following MissCampbell's instructions, had pushed the heaviest piece of furniture inthe room against each door.