Jessamie, that was Miss Johnston's real name, had been ridin' one o'
the Colonel's high-breds, an' again orders at that; but the Colonel was
purty comfortable like at the upshot. Bill was fitted out with a
pedigree an 'a bank account what made him a parlor guest purty much
everywhere he went, an' on top o' that it tickled the Colonel a heap to
have things ironed out by the bull pup himself.
I didn't much suppose when I see that sorrowful pup pikin' back the
track that he was doomed to achieve prominence an' fame, but Fate had
him entered on her book all right, an' he made so everlastin' good that
it wouldn't have surprised me a mite if they'd have run him for
Governor.
You just bet your life the other feller never got him again! Why they'd
'a' had to bring the whole standin' army to filch that dog away from
Bill after the big doin's. Out here in Wyoming it's a test of
class--owners of one of Cupid's pups are first-class, others belong to
the herd.
It was two weeks after the accident that us four--countin' Kid
Porter--was sittin' in exactly the same place back of the shack; only
this time, Bill was pullin' the pup's ears. Bill hadn't spent overly
much time with us the last fortnight, an' we were talkin' it all over,
when hanged if we didn't hear the thud of hoofs again, an' I reckon we
all turned blue.
Cupid himself appeared a shade disgusted at the prospect of an encore.
He had only just shed his bandages, an' the flap on his lid was still
too tender to scratch, so that you can't hardly blame him for takin'
the narrow view of it. We jumped around the corner of the house, but
the' was two riders this time, an' while they was spinnin' along at a
purty merry clip, they had control of the hosses all right. Both of 'em
was girls, an' one of 'em was Jessamie. When I see who the other was, I
felt as though I was standin' on the outer edge of a fleecy cloud. It
was Barbie. I ducked back around the corner of the house.
Bill, he ran down an' helped his lady to alight, while Barbie flopped
herself off her mount an' ran up to Cupid. Oh, they know a heap, dogs
do. Cupid took just one look in her eyes, an' when she squatted down on
her knees, he tried to get into her lap an' they made a heap o' fuss
over each other. I could tell by her eyes that Jessamie felt a shade
jealous, 'cause Cupid hadn't quite forgiven her for slightin' him at
the first. I was watchin' 'em through a chink in the shack and I was
feelin' purty glum myself, to think that Barbie would spend all that
time on a dog an' never give one little inquiry about me.
Well, they examined the spot where Cupid had made his tackle, an' the
dent in the earth where the hoss an' Jessamie had lit, an' then they
meandered up to the house to see just how helpless we'd been, aside
from Cupid.
"Well, you all had a share in it;" Barbie was sayin' as they neared the
shack. "Cupid did the actual work, you trained him for it, and Higinson
had the kind of a nerve that don't melt under fire."
"Sure thing," sez Bill, "I own up that I was plumb petrified, an' Cupid
wasn't carin' much one way or the other; but Hank Higinson never lost
his self-possession a second,"--this was all bosh, 'cause I was purty
nigh stampeded, an' that's the simple truth.
"Where is he?" sez Barbie. "I want to see him an' then I can tell just
about how much he could do on his own hook."
I was feelin' a sight better. I saw exactly how it was. Bill an' all
the rest o' the fellers had done exactly what I had hinted at an'
hadn't divulged my identity, an' Barbie hadn't the slightest idea that
I was in the state. Those people who know precisely the right time to
disobey orders, are a big help to humanity; but they're mighty scarce.
Bill, he opened the door of the shack, an' sez, "Come on out. Hank, a
lady wants to be introduced to you."
I stepped to the door feelin' wonderful bashful, but when Barbie saw
me, she went several different colors an' shouts:
"Happy, Happy Hawkins! What on earth do you mean by bein' here?"
Her voice was trembly an' accusin' an' reproachful an' glad an' a lot
of other things; an' I found it mighty hard to come back with a joke,
quick enough to suit me. I felt sort o' flighty, with her big dark eyes
lookin' into me, an' while I was stutterin' she opened up on me an'
give me a good old-fashioned scoldin'--an' I felt dandy. Bill, he was
troubled some with startin' eyes. Jessamie was breedy all right, but
compared to Barbie, she looked like a six o' suit alongside the queen
o' trumps.
"Why," sez Barbie, turnin' to Jessamie, "everything always goes right
when Happy's present. I might have known from your description that it
was Happy who saw the only way--"
"Oh, pshaw, now," sez I, breakin' in, "I didn't do a blasted thing.
Cupid here was the master workman on this job, while Bill--"
"That's all true enough," sez Barbie, "you have the gift of hidin'
yourself in your work; but I can see you just the same."
It was certainly comfortin' to hear the way she went on about it; but
it was a little too cold-blooded for my nerves, 'cause I hadn't done a
thing this time but make one small suggestion; so we finally
compromised by admittin' that now an' again, I was picked out to be the
nail on the finger of Fate. Sometimes I rather think that comes purty
close to hittin' me.
Jessamie had graduated from the university where Barbie was goin', at
the close of Barbie's first year. They had met, an' remembered each
other; an' as soon as the news of the doin's had reached the Diamond
Dot, of course Barbie piked over to make a call. The outcome was that
when the Colonel sent out a man to take my place, I rode back to the
Diamond Dot with Barbie, an' it was mighty good to be there again.
Jabez give me a good firm hand-shake, an' didn't rub it in about the
silkworms; so that everything just slid along as smooth as joint-oil,
an' I had a good opportunity to estimate the benefit of Barbie's
schoolin'. She was a heap more changed than I had supposed at first;
the' was a way she had of holdin' her head an' walkin' an' talkin',
that showed me quick enough that money spent on her edication wasn't
nowise wasted.
But she went back to her last year soon after this, intendin' to be the
best maid at Jessamie's weddin'. This weddin' was a curious thing an'
opened my eyes purty wide to the ways of women. I'd 'a' been willin' to
bet my saddle that the one man she never would marry, was Bill; but she
owned up herself that she had made up her mind to marry him the first
night they met. She wasn't quite sure of it until him an' her had the
fall-out over Cupid, and that settled it. She said a man who had the
spunk to stick up for his dog the way Bill did would be a purty handy
kind to have around the house, an' she was just tryin' him out to see
how far he'd go. She was actually fond of dogs all the time, especially
bulldogs. A girl-baby three years old could have fooled Methusaleh in
his prime, an' that means after he'd had about six hundred years of
experience. She's a wonderful invention, woman.
All the while before Barbie left, she was tryin' to plan out what use
she was goin' to put her edication to. Sometimes she was minded to go
on the stage, at others lawyerin' looked good to her, but most of the
time she seemed to think that a female doctor would come nearer fittin'
her than anything else.
Me an' Jabez worried about it a heap; but we was wise enough to hide
it. We knew that Barbie carted around at all times what they call a
spirit of combativity, which fattened on opposition, an' we preferred
to let her scrap it out with herself, hopin' that what she finally
decided on would be all for the best.
Jabez said good-bye at the edge of the ranch, while I drove her over to
Webb Station. I kind o' fought shy of Danders 'cause it seemed to me
that the' was always some kind of a job waitin' for me there, an'
Barbie had left me a heap of work for that winter. "Have you learned
anything yet?" she asked me, after the train had pulled into sight an'
we was shakin' hands.
"Not a thing for certain," sez I. "I've stumbled onto several rumors,
but they always went out. Do you still study over it much, Barbie?"
"Never a day goes by but what I study over it," sez she. "There isn't
anything I wouldn't give to know about my mother--all about her."
"Are you sure, Barbie?" said I.
She thought hard a minute, an' then she threw back her head an' looked
into my eyes. "Yes," she said, in a low tone, "I'd give
everything--even the love and respect I feel for my father."
I gave a little shiver. "Barbie," I sez, "I don't think you'll ever
have to pay that high a price. I never saw your Dad cruel in cold
blood, an' he's purty just."
"Oh, I would rather die than find out that he'd ever been cruel to my
mother; but I do want to know about her; and some day I will." She
squeezed my hand hard and her eyes were wet with tears when she stepped
on the train; but she tried to smile, she sure did.