The Ramblin'' Kid

  CHAPTER XVIII

  A SHAME TO WASTE IT

  In Old Heck's eyes was a set, determined look when he came out of thecourt-house and stepped up to the Clagstone "Six" in which he had leftOphelia a few moments before. The end of a long yellow envelopeprotruded from the side pocket of his coat. His face was flushed and hishand trembled slightly as he opened the door of the car and climbed intothe front seat beside the widow. He pressed his foot on the "starter,"threw the clutch into gear and turning the car about drove slowly towardthe home of Reverend Hector R. Patterson, Eagle Butte's only residentclergyman.

  He did not speak until the car stopped at the gate of the littleunpainted parsonage beside the white, weather-boarded church.

  "Wait a minute," he said as Ophelia started to get out of the Clagstone"Six," "maybe I'll go in with you!"

  "Splendid," the widow replied, settling again against the cushions. "I'dbe delighted to have you come along and I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Pattersonwould be glad to see you!"

  "Well, it--it"--Old Heck stammered, not knowing how to begin what hewanted to say--"it--it all depends on you! Here"--he said abruptly as abright thought came to him--"read that and--and--tell me what you thinkabout it!" at the same time pulling the yellow envelope from his pocketand handing it to Ophelia.

  With a questioning lift of her eyebrows the widow drew the folded,official-looking document from the envelope.

  "Why, it's a--it's a--" she started to say and stopped confused, hercheeks blazing crimson.

  "It's a marriage license--" Old Heck said, coming to her rescue, "--madeout for you and me. I--I--didn't know what to tell the clerk when heasked me how old you was--so I just guessed at it!"

  The widow looked shyly down at the names written on the document.

  The license granted "Ophelia Cobb, age _twenty-three_, of Hartville,Connecticut, and Josiah Alonzo Heck, age forty-eight, of Kiowa County,Texas," the right to marry.

  Ophelia's actual years were thirty-nine!

  From under drooping lashes she glanced up suspiciously into the earnestgray eyes beside her. She saw that Old Heck had been sincere in his"guess."

  "But--but--"

  "I know it's kind of unexpected," Old Heck interrupted nervously,"--perhaps I had ought to have said something about it first, but, well,I figured I'd go on and get the license and show that my intentions wasgood and--and--sort of risk the whole thing on one throw! It alwaysseemed like there was something missing at the Quarter Circle KT," hewent on, his voice grown softer and trembling a bit, "and--and when youcame I--I--found out what it was--"

  Ophelia sat silently with downcast eyes, her pulse racing, the licenseunfolded on her lap, while she bit uncertainly at the tip of the fingerof her glove.

  "I--I--know I ain't very good-looking or--or--anything," Old Heckcontinued, "but I thought maybe you--you--liked me a little--enoughanyhow to get married--that is if you--. Oh-h--thunder, Ophelia!" heexclaimed in despair, feeling that he was hopelessly floundering,"I--I--love you! Please let's use that license! Let's use it right away--to-day--and get it over with!" he urged as the widow still hesitated.

  "But--I--I'm not suitably dressed--" she stammered.

  "I think that dress you've got on is the prettiest goods I ever saw inmy life," he interrupted, looking adoringly at the clinging summerfabric caressing Ophelia's shapely form, "I always did think it would beawful appropriate for us to--to--get married in!" he finishedpleadingly.

  "But--Carolyn June and--and--Parker--" Ophelia murmured.

  At the mention of Parker, Old Heck started while a look of anguish cameinto his eyes. So she loved Parker! That was why she was so backward, hethought. Well, the Quarter Circle KT foreman was a littlebetter-looking, maybe, and some younger! He couldn't blame her.

  His head dropped. For a moment Old Heck was silent, a dull, sickeninghurt gripping his heart. A deep sigh escaped from his lips. He reachedover and picked up the license.

  "I--I--guess I made a mistake," he said numbly. "We'll just--just--tearthis thing up and forget about it!"

  Ophelia looked demurely up at him, her mouth twitching. One small glovedhand slipped over and rested on the strong brown fingers that held thelicense. Roses flamed over the full round throat and spread their blushto her cheeks. Her eyes were like pools of liquid blue:

  "Don't tear it--it--up!" she whispered with a little laugh--a laugh thatsent the blood leaping, like fire, through Old Heck's veins, "it--itwould be a shame to waste it!"

  For an instant Old Heck was dazed. He looked at her as if he could notbelieve he had heard aright. Suddenly a wave of undiluted happinessswept over him.

  "Ophelia!" he cried huskily. "Oh, Ophelia!" and the minister's threesmall sons, pausing in their play in the grassless yard at the side ofthe house, while they watched the beautiful car standing in front ofthe parsonage gate, saw the owner of the Quarter Circle KT, in broaddaylight, on the principal residence street of Eagle Butte, before theeyes of the whole world--if the whole world cared to look--throw hisarms around the plump lady sitting beside him and press one long,rapturous kiss on her moist, unresisting lips!

  A moment later Ophelia and Old Heck, both much embarrassed buttremulously happy, stepped inside the door of the parsonage.

  They were driving away from the minister's house--going to theOccidental Hotel for a little all-by-their-ownselves "weddingluncheon"--before either thought of the matter concerning which Opheliahad desired to see the clergyman's wife.

  "Gee whiz!" Old Heck exclaimed, "you forgot that consultation orwhatever it was with Mrs. Patterson to start your woman's suffrage'movement'--"

  "To start my what?"

  "Your 'woman's rights,' 'female voter's organization'--or whatever itis!" Old Heck explained, a new-born tolerance in his voice. "I didn'tmean to interfere with your political activities--"

  Ophelia threw back! her head, while a ripple of laughter trilled outabove the purr of the Clagstone "Six."

  "Why, my dear--dear--Old Boy!" she cried, "I am not engaged in'political activities,' or 'suffragette movements!' Of course," shecontinued archly, "I believe women ought to be allowed to vote--if theyhaven't intelligence enough for that they haven't brains enough to begood 'pardners' with their husbands--"

  "By gosh, you're right!" Old Heck agreed, "I never thought of it thatway before!"

  "And," she continued, "naturally I shall vote whenever the opportunitycomes, but I'm not an 'Organizer' for anything of that kind. Mrs.Patterson and I are going to organize the wives, sisters andsweethearts, in Eagle Butte, into a club for the study of 'Scientificand Efficient Management of the Home!' We think we should be asproficient in those arts--and which we believe are peculiarly womanlyfunctions--as the men are in the direction of the more strenuousbusiness affairs in which they themselves are engaged."

  "So that's what you're an 'Organizer' for?" Old Heck queried while aradiant contentment spread over his face.

  "That is it," Ophelia said simply, adding with a most becomingheightening of color, "it is so we will be--will be--better wives!"

  "My Gawd!" Old Heck breathed fervently. "My Gawd! The Lord has been goodto me to-day!"

  While Old Heck and Ophelia were in Eagle Butte getting married, Skinnyand Carolyn June had been riding line on the upland pasture fence. Theyhad just returned to the Quarter Circle KT, unsaddled their horses,turned them into the pasture, gone to the house and stopped a moment onthe front porch to watch the glow in the west--the sun was dipping intoa thundercap over the Costejo Mountains--when the Clagstone "Six" rolleddown the grade and up to the string of poplars before the house.

  "Gee, we thought you two had eloped!" Carolyn June laughed as the coupleclimbed out of the car and came, rather bashfully, in at the gate. OldHeck and Ophelia looked at each other guiltily.

  "We did come darn near it!" Old Heck chuckled, plunging at once into thetask of breaking the news. "We got married--I reckon you'd call that thenext thing to eloping!"

  "Got married?" Skinny and Carolyn June cried together.
r />   "Who--who--got married?" Skinny repeated incredulously.

  "Ophelia and me," Old Heck answered with a sheepish grin but proudly."Who else did you think we meant? We just thought," he continued by wayof explanation, "we'd go ahead and do it kind of private and save a lotof excitement and everything!"

  Carolyn June threw her arms around Ophelia and kissed her.

  "Good-by, chaperon," she laughed With a half-sob in her throat,"h--hello, 'Aunt.'" Then she strangled Old Heck with a hug that made himgasp.

  "What the devil--are you trying to do--choke me?"

  "Well, by thunder, Old Heck!" Skinny finally managed to ejaculate, "itwas the sensiblest thing you ever done! I--I've--been"--with a sidelonglook at Carolyn June--"kind of figuring on doing it myself!"

  Carolyn June saw the expression in Skinny's eyes. A pained look cameinto her own. She had known, for a long while, that sooner or laterthere would have to come an understanding between this big, overgrown,juvenile-hearted cowboy and herself. She resolved then that it shouldcome quickly. Further delay would be cruel to him. Besides, she was sickof flirtations. Her disappointment in the character of the Ramblin' Kid,her realization of his weakness, when he had gotten, as she believed,beastly drunk at the moment so much depended on him the day of thetwo-mile sweepstakes, had hurt deeply. Somehow, even his magnificentride and the fact that, in spite of his condition, he won the race, hadnot taken the sting away. She had thought the Ramblin' Kid wasreal--rough and crude, perhaps, but all man, rugged-hearted and honest.Sometimes she wondered if the queer unexplainable antagonism betweenherself and the sensitive young cowboy had not, in a measure, beenresponsible for his sudden moral breaking down. The thought caused herto lose some of that frivolity that inspired the dance and the wildflirtations she carried on that night with all the cowboys of theQuarter Circle KT. After all, these plain, simple-acting men of therange were just boys grown big in God's great out-of-doors where thingsare taken for what they seem to be. No wonder an artless look fromsophisticated brown eyes swept them off their feet!

  She made up her mind to disillusion Skinny at once.

  After supper the quartette gathered in the front room.

  "Come on, Skinny," Carolyn June said with forced gaiety, "let us take awalk. That pair of cooing doves"--with a playfully tender glance atOphelia and Old Heck--"wish nothing so much as to be permitted to'goo-goo' at each other all by their little lonelies!"

  Bareheaded she and Skinny strolled out the front gate and along the roadthat led up to the bench. At the top of the grade they sat down, side byside, on a large boulder that hung on the brink of the bench. TheQuarter Circle KT lay before them--restful and calm in the shadows ofearly evening. The poplars along the front-yard fence stood limp in thesilent air. Across the valley the sand-hills were mellowing with thecoming softness of twilight. Up the river, to the west, beyond EagleButte, a summer thunder-cloud was climbing higher and higher into thesky. In the direction of Dry Buck, far toward the northwest, a fog ofdust was creeping along the horizon, gradually approaching the uplandpasture. Skinny saw it.

  "By golly," he cried, "that's either Parker and the boys coming in withthe cattle--or else it's a band of sheep! It surely can't be'woollys'--they never get over in there! If it's our outfit, though,they've got through quicker than they figured!"

  A few moments later the dim bulk of the "grub-wagon" appeared, milesaway, slowly crawling toward the Quarter Circle KT.

  For a time Skinny and Carolyn June were silent.

  Skinny's hand crept slyly across the rock and found the pink fingers ofCarolyn June. She did not draw away.

  "Carolyn June," he whispered haltingly, "Carolyn June--I--Old Heck andOphelia have got married--let's you and--and--"

  "Please, Skinny, don't say it!" she interrupted, her voice trembling."I--I know what you mean! It hurts me. Listen, Skinny"--she hurried on,determined to end it quickly--"maybe you will despise me, but--I likeyou, truly I do--but not _that_ way! I don't want to grieve you--I wishus to be just good friends--that's why I'm telling you! Let's befriends, Skinny--just friends--we can't be any more than that--"

  Skinny understood. A dull, throbbing pain tightened about his throat.His fingers gripped Carolyn June's hand an instant and then relaxed. Thewhole world seemed suddenly blank.

  "Can't you--won't you--ever--ca--care?" he asked in a voice filled withdespair.

  "I do care, boy," she replied softly, "I do care--but not that way! Oh,Skinny," she exclaimed, wishing to make it as easy as possible for thesentimental cowboy at her side, "maybe I have done wrong to let you goahead, but, well, I found out--I guessed the 'arrangements'--how you hadbeen chosen to make 'love' to me and how Parker and Uncle Josiah were todivide Ophelia between them. Perhaps that is why I have flirted so--justto punish you all! Truly, Skinny, I'm sorry. Please don't hate melike--like--the Ramblin' Kid does!" she finished with a shaky littlelaugh.

  "He--don't hate you," Skinny answered dully, "at least I don't think th'Ramblin' Kid hates you--or anybody. And you knowed all the time that Iwas getting paid to make love to you? Well, I was," he added chokingly,"but I'd have done it for nothing if I'd had the chance!"

  "Yes, Skinny," she replied, "I knew--I know--and I don't blame you!"

  "I don't blame you, either," he said humbly, "it was a--a--excuse me,Carolyn June--a damned mean trick to frame up on you and Ophelia thatway--but we didn't know what to do with you! I reckon," he continued inthe same despairing tone, "I was a blamed fool!"

  For a long moment they sat silent.

  "Carolyn June," Skinny finally said, a sigh of resignation breaking fromhis lips, "I'll be what you said--just a good friend--I always will bethat to you! But before we start in, do you mind if I--if I--go up toEagle Butte and get--drunk!"

  In spite of herself she laughed. But in it was a tenderness almostmother-like.

  "Poor disappointed, big boy," she answered and her eyes filled, "if itwill make you happy, go ahead and get--get--drunk, 'soused,' allover--just this once!"

  With only a passing pang Carolyn June was willing for Skinny to getdrunk--to do the thing she had been scarcely able to forgive in theRamblin' Kid!

  For an instant she wondered why.

  A half-hour later Skinny and Carolyn June went silently down the gradeto the ranch house. They had gone up the hill--lovers; theyreturned--"good friends"--and such they would always be.

  * * * * *

  It was nearly ten o'clock when Sing Pete stopped the grub-wagon at thebunk-house; Pedro wrangled the saddle cavallard into the pasture belowthe barn; Parker and the cowboys jogged their bronchos to the stabledoor and the Ramblin' Kid, riding the Gold Dust maverick--Captain Jackat her heels--rode to the circular corral, jerked the saddle from thefilly's back and turned the little roan stallion and the outlaw mareinside the corral.

  Old Heck and Skinny heard the commotion and went out to where Parker andthe cowboys were unsaddling their horses.

  "Well, you got through, did you?" Old Hack questioned casually.

  "Yes," Parker replied, "we've got the beef critters in I guess--they'rein the upland pasture. There are seven hundred and ninety, I think itis, that'll do for the market."

  "That's pretty good," Old Heck answered with satisfaction. "We'll pushthem right on into Eagle Butte to-morrow or next day and ship them. Thecars will be in to-night, the agent said. I'm sending them to Chicagothis time. I'd like to see you, private, a minute, Parker!" he finishedabruptly.

  "What do you want?" Parker asked suspiciously, as he followed Old Heckaround the corner of the barn.

  "It's about Ophelia--" Old Heck began.

  Parker's heart leaped and then dropped with a sickening foreboding ofsomething disagreeable. The widow, he thought instantly, had told OldHeck about that darned fool proposal of marriage and was going to insiston him coming across and making good! There was no way out.

  "I--I--reckon I'll have to do it if she's determined," Parker stuttered;"but--aw, hell--I must have been crazy--"

>   "Who's determined on what?" Old Heck asked, puzzled by the queer jumblecoming from the lips of the Quarter Circle KT foreman, "and how crazy?"

  "Ophelia determined on marrying me!" Parker blurted out.

  "Ophelia marry _you_?" Old Heck exclaimed. "Marry you! She can't! Herand me have already done it. We got married to-day--that was what Iwanted to tell you!"

  Momentarily a pang of regret shot through Parker's heart. It was quicklyfollowed by a sense of relief.

  "You--you--and Ophelia married?" he stammered.

  "We sure are," Old Heck answered positively. "We done it to-day!"

  Suddenly Parker determined to "cover up."

  "My, lord!" he half-groaned, pretending terrible grief, "this is awful!It--it--come so sudden--but there ain't no hard feelings, Old Heck!I--I--wish you both joy and happiness!"

  "Darned if that ain't white of you, Parker!" Old Heck exclaimed,immensely relieved. "I won't forget it! When you and the boys take themsteers to Chicago, stay over a week or so and have a good time and countit in on expenses!"

  Parker turned his head and in the darkness winked solemnly at a yellowstar above the peak of Sentinel Mountain.

  He and Old Heck started toward the house.

  "Hey, you fellows!" Old Heck called, pausing and turning toward the barnwhere the cowboys were putting away their saddles, "when you get throughall of you come on up to the house! Ophelia and me's married and thebride is waiting to be congratulated!"

  "Good lord," Charley gasped, "hear that, fellers? Old Heck said him andthe widow's married!"

  "Gosh!" Chuck laughed, "it must have been a jolt to Parker! I bet hisheart's plumb bu'sted!"

  As soon as their saddles were put away the cowboys hurried toward thehouse. They met the Ramblin' Kid, crossing from the circular corral tothe bunk-house.

  "Come on," Bert called to him, "Old Heck and Ophelia's gone and gotmarried! We're going up to the house to sympathize with the widow!"

  "I ain't needed," the Ramblin' Kid answered with a careless laugh. "Youfellers can take my 'love' to th' afflicted couple!"

  After the cowboys had gone to the house Skinny went and got Old PieFace. Stopping at the stable, he saddled the pinto and strolled over tothe bunk-house. The Ramblin' Kid was lying stretched on his bed. Skinnyrolled the white shirt carefully into a bundle and wrapped a newspaperaround it.

  "What you goin' to do?" the Ramblin' Kid asked.

  "I'm goin' to town!" Skinny answered shortly. "I'm going up to EagleButte and get on a hell of a drunk--if I can get hold of any boot-legwhisky--Carolyn June and me have bu'sted up on our love-making!"

  "Going to get drunk, are you?" the Ramblin' Kid queried with a note ofscorn in his voice, "an' forget your sorrows?"

  "Yes," Skinny retorted, "I'm going to get drunk as you was the day ofthe race!"

  "Drunk as I was th' day of th' race?" the Ramblin' Kid repeatedquizzically. "Oh, hell, yes--now I understand--" pausing, while a smilecurled his lips.

  "Yes," Skinny retorted again. "Where'd you get yours that day?"

  "Never mind," was the answer. "I guess I'll go to Eagle Butte with you!You'll need somebody to ride herd on you while you're snortin' around.Anyhow, I feel like goin' on a tear myself--not a drunk--a man's adarned fool that'll let any woman make a whisky barrel out of him! But Igot an itchin' for a little poker game or somethin'. Wait till I getCaptain Jack!"

  "Where's Skinny and th' Ramblin' Kid?" Old Heck asked after he andParker and the cowboys were at the house and the first flush ofembarrassment had passed.

  Carolyn June thought she knew where Skinny was, but did not answer.

  "I don't know what's become of Skinny," Parker said. "Th' Ramblin' Kid'sprobably out mopin' somewhere. I think he's getting ready to 'ramble'again--he's been acting plumb despondent ever since the Rodeo in EagleButte!"

  Carolyn June stepped to the door. Dimly through the darkness she sawtwo riders pass up the grade that led to the bench and turn their horsesto the west, toward Eagle Butte, and ride straight into the outflungshadow of the thunder-storm--from which now and then leaped jaggedflashes of lightning--and which was rolling from the Costejo Mountainsacross the Kiowa range in the direction of the Quarter Circle KT.

  Silent and with a heavy heart she turned away from the door.