V
The work on the mill was pushed, and in spite of the usual amountof unforeseen delays, it was ready for work by the latter part ofSeptember. The official opening was set for thetwenty-seventh--Miss Mattie's birthday--and the village ofFairfield was invited to a picnic to be held at the mill in honorof the occasion. It is needless to say that the FairfieldStrawboard Mfg. Co. did the thing up in shape. Waggons loadedwith straw, and drawn by four-horse teams, went the rounds of thevillage, collecting the guests. It is doubtful if Fairfield wasever more surprised than at the realisation of how much there wasof her--using the pronoun out of respect to the majority--"when shewas bunched," as Red said. You would not have believed thatstraggling, lonesome-looking place held so many people. As Redcould discover no means in the town's resources to provide a mealfor three hundred people it was necessarily a basket party, whichstruck Mr. Saunders as being grievously like a Swede treat. Hemade up for it in a measure by having barrels of lemonade and cideron tap at the grounds--stronger beverages being barred--and byhiring a quartette of strings "clear from town."
At half-past two on a resplendent but hot September afternoon thecaravan started for the mill grounds, the women dressed in the mostun-picnicky costumes imaginable, and the men ostentatiously at easein their store clothes. Everyone was in the best of spirits, keenfor the excitement and pleasure that was sure to mark the occasion.
Red rode old Buckskin, who had succumbed to the inevitable, andonly "jumped around a little," as Red put it, on being mounted. Itwas pretty lively "jumping around," but perhaps Mr. Saunders foundsome satisfaction in sitting perfectly at his ease, smoking hiscigarette, while Buck jumped and Fairfield admired. And, at anyrate, Buck had legs of iron, and the wind of a locomotive, carryingRed all day, and willing to kick at anything which bothered himwhen night came. He was a splendid beast through and through, fromforelock to tail-tip, but he had learned who was his master andobeyed him accordingly.
It was a five mile ride, mostly under the shade of fine old trees.The road wound around the hills; here and there a break in thearboreal border showed views of rolling country, well-shaped andpleasing, winding up grassy slopes in groves of verdure. Of coursemost of the freshness of leaf was past, yet the modest gray-greengave a silvery sheen to the landscape that brought it into unity.
One member of the party felt that his heart was very full as helooked at it. That was Lettis. "Blast the old office!" he keptsaying to himself. "Blast its six dingy windows, and the clock atthe end! Doesn't this look good, and doesn't it smell good, dustand all?" and then he'd howl at the horses in sheer exuberance ofgood feeling, making the mild old brutes put a better foot of it tothe front.
Red cantered up beside his waggon. "Well, Lettis," he said, "herewe go for the opening overture, with the full strength of thecompany--we're great people this day, ain't we?" And the big mansmiled like a pleased big boy.
"Oh, what a bully old fellow you are!" thought Lettis as he lookedat him. Lettis was thinking of other qualities than flesh, but thephysical Red Saunders on horseback was deserving of a glance fromanybody; the massive figure so well poised; the clear cut, proudprofile; the shapely head with its crown of red-gold hair; the easygrace of him by virtue of his strength--it would be a remarkablecrowd in which Chanta Seechee Red couldn't pass for a man. He wasevery inch of that from the ground up.
Lettis had come to bow down to him in adoration, with all anaffectionate boy's worship. To those eyes Red was just right, inevery particular. Likewise to Miss Mattie, who even now wasfilling her eyes with him, from behind the vantage of abroad-brimmed straw hat.
At last the whole party disembarked at the flat before the mill,and made ready for the official starting of the machinery. The bigdoors were thrown open, so that the company could see within whileresting outside in the shade, and under the cooling influence ofwhat breeze there was. The mill was officially started. Redclimbed the bank to the flume, and raised the gate. The crowdcheered as the imprisoned waters leapt to freedom with a hollowroar, raising in pitch as the penstock filled and the wheels beganto go round. Speech was called for, and the vigorously protestingRed forced to the front by his former friends, Demilt and Lettis.Thus betrayed by those he trusted, Red made the best of it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, fellow citizens!" said he. "The mill is nowopen to all comers. We hope to make this thing a success; we hopeto see every horny-handed, hump-backed farmer in the country rosinthe soles of his moccasins, and shove his plough through twice asmuch ground as he ever did before, and if he comes here with hisplunder, we'll give him a square shake. We'll pay him as much aswe dast, and not let him in on the ground floor, so he can crawlout through the coal-hole, as is sometimes done. Now, everybodyrun away and have a good time, for I don't like to talk this yappiany more than you like to hear it. Kola geus! By-bye!"
It was a very successful picnic. They spent the afternoon inwandering around in the usual picnic fashion, developing appetites,until it occurred to Red to liven the performance by showing themthe art of roping, as practiced upon an old cow found in the woods.As a spectacle it was a failure. The combined efforts of all thehooting small boys could not make that cow run; she even stretchedher neck toward Red, as though saying, "Hurry up with yourfoolishness. I have a cud to chew and can't stand here idle allday." So Red galloped by and threw the noose over her head as anexhibition of how the thing was done, rather than how it ought tobe done. Nevertheless, picnic parties are not hypercritical in thematter of amusement, and the feat received three encores. The lasttime he missed his cast through overconfidence. Whereat the oldcow tossed her head and tail in the air, and tore off at anelephantine gallop, with a bawl that sounded to Red mightily likederision.
"Durned if she ain't laughing at me!" he cried. But as a matter offact, it was a hornet and its unmistakable sting that injected thisactivity into her system.
It was all very pleasant to Miss Mattie, as one's first picnic inmany years should be. She enjoyed the crisp green sod, the greattrees standing around, park-like, with the sunlight falling betweentheir shade like brilliant tatters of cloth-of-gold; while from thenear distance came the tiny shouting of cool waters. They had acamp-fire at night, making the moonlight still more mysterious andremote by contrast. The quartette of strings played for the earsof those who cared to listen and for the legs of those who chose totake chances on tripping their light fantastic toes over tree rootsin the grass.
Red loved music, and he loved the night. The poetic side of hismemories of watching the Dipper swing around Polaris, while he sungthe cows to sleep, came back to him. In his mind he saw the vastprairie roll on to infinity; saw the mountains stand out, a worldof white peaks, rising from a sea of darkness. Again he heard theplaintive shrilling of an Indian whistle, or the song of the laddown creek made tuneful and airy by the charm of distance.
"Having a good time, Mattie?" he asked, with a smile.
"The best I ever had, Will," she answered, smiling back unsteadily.Poor lady! The size of an occasion is so many standards, whetherthe standard be inches or feet, or miles. Miss Mattie's events hadbeen measured in hundredths of an inch, and it took a good many ofthem to cover so small an action as a successful picnic on abeautiful night. Her eyes were humid; her mouth smiled and droopedat the corners alternately. Red felt her happiness with a keensympathy, and as he looked at her, suddenly she changed in hiseyes. Just what the difference was he could not have told; norwhether it was in her or in him. A sudden access of feeling,undefinable, unplaceable, but strong, possessed him. There is acritical temperature in the life of a man, when no amount ofpressure can ever make the more expansive emotions assume thecalmer form of friendship. There was something in Miss Mattie'seye which had warmed Red to that degree, but he didn't know it. Heonly knew that he wanted to sit rather unnecessarily close besideher, and that he would be sorry when it came time to go home. Andhe was very silent.
During the drive back to the house he spoke in monosyllable
s; hewent straight to the barn with Lettis afterward, and made noattempt to take the usual frank and hearty good-night kiss.
"You're as glum as an oyster!" said Lettis, when they reached theirquarters. "What's the matter, old man?"
"I don't know, Let; I feel kind of quiet, somehow."
"Sick? Or something go wrong?"
"No; nothing of the kind; it's just sort of an attack of stillness,but I feel durn good."
Lettis laughed. "If it wasn't you, Red, I'd say you were in love,"he said.
It was well the barn was dark; or he would have seen a changewonderful to behold come over the ex-puncher's face. "The lad hashit it," he said to himself in astonishment; aloud he grunted"hunh" scornfully, and aroused himself for an unnecessary joke ortwo.
Miss Mattie had noticed the "attack of stillness" and immediatelytried to fasten the blame upon herself. What had she done? Shecouldn't recall anything. She remembered she had said somethingabout the way his hair looked with the moon shining on it; perhapshe had taken offence at that; the remark was entirelycomplimentary, but sometimes people are touchy about such things;still that was not the least like Cousin Will. She must have saidor done something though--what could it be? Oh what a pitifulmemory that could not recollect an injury done to one's bestfriend! She tossed and wondered over it for a long time before atlength she tell asleep.
Red also looked up at the roof, and took account of stock. Hisface was radiant in the dark. "If I could only pull that off!" hethought. "I must seem an awful rough cuss to her, though; allright for a cousin, but it's different when you come to the otherproposition. My Jiminy! I'll take a chance in the morning andfind out anyhow!" said he, and, eased in mind by the decision ofaction, he too shook hands with Morpheus and was presently dreaming.
It had never occurred to Red Saunders that he was afraid ofanybody. He even chuckled, when he got Lettis out of the way witha plausible excuse the next morning. Then he strode briskly intothe house, his question on his lips in a plump out-and-out form.
Miss Mattie looked at him with her slow smile. "What is it?" sheasked.
Red swallowed his question whole. "I--I wanted a little hot waterto shave with," said he. Then a fury took hold of him. "What thedevil am I lying like this for?" he thought. He exhorted himselfto go on and say what he had to say like a man; but the other RedSaunders refused to do anything of the sort. He took the cup ofhot water most abjectly and fled from the house. He had to shavethen, and in his hurry and indignation he turned the operation intoa clinic. "Oh Jiminy! Look at that!" he cried, as the razoropened up another part of the subject. "There's a slit an inchlong! If I keep on at this gait, I won't have face enough to saygood morning, let alone what I want to do. What ails me? Whatails me? Why should I be scart of the nicest woman God ever built?Now by all the Mormon Gods! I'll post right into the house and saymy little say as soon as these cuts stop bleeding!"
Cob-webs stopped the cuts, and other cob-webs stopped Red Saunders,late of the Chanta Seechee ranch; two hundred and fifty pounds ofthe very finest bone and muscle. And the cob-webs held him,foaming and boiling with rage and disgust, calling himself all theyaller pups he could think of, but staying strictly within the safelimits of the barn. It was a revelation to the big man, and not apleasant one. How was he to know that the most salient point ofhis apparent cowardice was nothing less worthy than respect for thewoman's purity? That if he would stop swearing long enough to getat the springs of his action, he would find that he hesitatedbecause the new light on the matter made huge shadows of the slipsin the career of a strong, lawless, untrained but sorely temptedman? He knew nothing of the sort, and the funniest of comediestook place in the barn. He would reach the sensible stage. "Pah!All foolishness. Go? Of course he'd go, and this very minute, andhave the thing done with, good or bad"; he was quite amused at hisformer conduct--until he reached the door. Then he'd skip nimblyback again, with a hot feeling that somebody was watching him,although a careful inspection through the crack of the doorrevealed no one.
Red discovered another thing that afternoon, which was that themore nervous you are the more nervous you get. He groaned inperfect misery: "Ohoho! That I should have seen the day when I wasafraid to ask anybody anything. What's come over me anyhow? It'sthis darn country, I believe--'tain't me," then he stopped short."What you saying, Red?" he queried. "Why don't you own up like aman!" The fact that it had a funny side struck him, and helaughed, half forlornly, and half in thorough enjoyment. Hesuddenly sobered down. "She's worth it, anyway," said he. "She'sthe best there is, and I ought to feel kind of leery of theoutcome--Well--Now, I guess I won't say anything till there's adownright good chance. I see I didn't savvy this kind of businesslike I thought I did. 'Twouldn't be no kind of manners to step upto a lady and shout, 'I'd like to have you marry me, if you feelyou've got the time!' That don't go no more than a Chinaman onroller-skates. Your work is good, Red, but it's a little lumpy inspots; them two left feet bother you; you're good in your place,but you'd better build a fence around the place--damn the luck!Smotheration! I think she likes me, all right, but when it comesto more'n that--oh, blast it, I'll just have to wait for a realgood chance; now come, old man, get four feet on the ground anddon't roll your eyes, take it easy till the chance comes."
Little he knew the chance was coming up the street at that moment.He only saw Miss Mattie step out into the bed of flowers, her facelooking unusually pretty and youthful under the big straw hat, andstart to reduce the weeds to order. She glanced around as thoughin search of some one, and Red felt intuitively that the one washimself.
"Here's where I ought to act as if I wore long pants," said he;"now, what's to hinder me from going out there and get a-talking?"And then he sat down hastily, more disgusted than ever, and smotethe air with his fist. "You'd think the nicest, quietest womanthat ever lived was a wild beast, the way I act; yes sir, youwould!"
Meantime the chance drew nearer. It was not a pleasant lookingopportunity. Its eyes, full of dread and dreadful, peeped out frombeneath a brush of matted hair; a tough, ropy foam hung from itsmouth. If you put as much of that foam as would go on the point ofa pin in an open cut, you would have an end that your worst enemywould shudder at. For this was the most horrifying of dangerousanimals--a mad dog. Poor brute! As he came shambling down theroad, he was the grisly mask of tragedy.
It was near noon, intensely hot, and the street of Fairfield wasdeserted. No one saw the dog, and if his occasional rattling,strangling howl reached any ears, they were dead to its meaning.He was unheeded until he lurched through the gate which Lettis hadleft open, as usual, and spinning around in a circle gave voice tohis cry.
It brought Miss Mattie to her feet in an unknown terror; it broughtRed from the barn in a full cognizance--he had heard that soundbefore, when a mad coyote landed in a cabin-full of fairly strongnerved cowmen, and set them screeching like hysterical women beforea chance shot ended him.
Red saw the brute jump toward Miss Mattie. Instantly his hand flewto his hip, and as instantly he remembered there was nothing there.Then with great, uneven leaps he sprang forward. "Keep your handsup, Mattie, and don't move!" he screamed. "Let him chew the dress!For God's sake, don't move!"
She turned her white face toward his, and through the dimness ofsight from his straining efforts, he saw her try to smile, as sheobeyed him to the letter, and without a sound. "O, brave girl!" hethought, and threw the ground behind him desperately.
At twenty feet distance he dove like a base-runner, and his handsclosed around the dog's neck. Over they went with the shock of theonset, and before they were still, the hands had finished theirwork. A clutch, and a snap, and it was done.
The dog lay quivering. Red rose to his knees wondering at thehumming in his head. His wits came back to him sharply.
"Did he bite you, Mattie?" he cried. But she had already caughthis hands and was looking at them, with a savage eagerness onewould not have believed to be in her.
r /> "There is no mark," she said, suddenly weak, "he didn't touch you?"
"Answer me when I speak to you!" shouted Red, beside himself. "Didhe bite you?"
She answered him with a sob "No." And then his question askeditself, and answered itself, although, again, he did not know it.He gathered her up in his arms, kissed her like one raised from thedead, and swore and prayed and thanked God all in the same breath.
His old imperious nature came back with the relief. "Here!" saidhe, putting her away for a moment. "Take off that dress--thatslime on there's enough to kill a hundred men--take it right off."
Miss Mattie started blindly to obey, then stopped. "Not here,Will--I'll go in the house," she said.
"You'll take it off right here and now," said Red, "and I'll burnit up on the spot. I'd ruther have forty rattlesnakes around thanthat stuff--off with it. This is no child's play, and I don't carea damn what the old lady next door thinks."
Miss Mattie slipped off her outer skirt, and stood a second,confused and dainty. She took flight to the house, running aslithely as a greyhound.
"By Jingo!" said Red in admiration.
"Let's see you bring another woman that can run like that!"
He gathered some hay and piled it on the dress, firing the heap.
Then he turned to his antagonist. "Poor old boy! Hard luck, eh?But I had to do it," he said, and gave him decent interment at theend of the garden; washed his hands carefully and went into thehouse on pleasanter duties.
"I'll ask her now, by the great horn spoon!" said he, valiantly.
Miss Mattie was in a curious state of mind. There was an aftereffect from the fright, which made her tremble, and a remembranceof Cousin Will's actions which made her tremble more yet. When sheheard him coming she started to fly, although now clothed beyondreproach, but her knees deserted her, and she was forced to sinkback in her chair. Red came in whistling blithely--vaingloriousman!
He had _his_ suspicions, generated by the peculiar fervour MissMattie had shown in regard to his hands.
"Mattie," quoth he, "I'm tired of living out there in the barn--Iwant a respectable house of my own."
"Yes, Will," replied Miss Mattie, astonished that he should choosesuch a subject at such a time.
"Yes," he continued, "and I want a wife, too. You often said you'dlike to do something for me, Mattie; suppose you take the job?"
How much of glancing at a thing in one's mind as a beautifulimprobability will ever make such a cold fact less astonishing?Miss Mattie eyed him with eyes that saw not; speech was strickenfrom her.
Red caught fright. He sprang forward and took her hand. "Couldn'tyou do it, Mattie?" said he. There was a world of pleading in thetone. Miss Mattie looked up, her own honest self; all the littlefeminine shrinkings left her immediately.
"Ah, but I _could_, Will!" she said. Lettis came up on the stoopunheard. He stopped, then gingerly turned and made his way back ontip-toe, holding his arms like wings.
"Well, by George!" he murmured, "I'll come back in a little while,when I'll be more welcome."
He spoke to Red in strong reproach that night, in the barn. "Younever told me a word, you old sinner!" said he.
"Tell you the honest truth, Let," replied Red earnestly, looking upfrom drawing off a boot, "I didn't know it myself till you told meabout it."
They talked it all over a long time before blowing out the light,but then the little window shut its bright eye, and the only lifethe mid-night stars saw in Fairfield was Miss Mattie, her elbow onthe casement, looking far, far out into the tranquil night, andthinking mistily.
THE END