The marriage feast was indeed an epoch-making event in the county. It
resembled a barbecue and was quite as inclusive. Distinctions of the
social sort were few in Arapahoe County. Cattle-rustlers and sheepmen
were debarred, of course, but aside from these unfortunates practically
the whole population of men, women, children, and babies assembled in
the Kettle Hole Ranch grove. The marriage was to be "_al fresco_," as
the Limone _Limerick_ repeated several times.
Blondell found it a hard day, for what with looking after the roasting
ox and the ice and the beer, he was almost too busy to say hello to his
guests. Fan had contrived to get a clean shirt on him by the trick of
whisking away his old one and substituting a white one in its place. He
put this on without realizing how splendid it was, but rebelled flatly
at the collar, and by the time the ox was well basted his shirt was
subdued to a condition which left him almost at ease with himself.
Fan received the people at the door of the shack--her mother being too
busy in the preparation for dinner to do more than say "Howdy?" to those
who deliberately sought her out; but Fan was not embarrassed or wearied.
It was her great day--she was only a little disturbed when George
Adelbert fled to his room for a little relief from the strain of his
position, for he lacked both her serenity of spirit and her physical
health.
Once Lester would have enjoyed the action and comment of these people as
characters in a play, but now the knowledge that he was about to sink to
their level and be nailed there filled him with a fear and disgust which
not even the radiant face and alluring body of his bride could conceal
or drive out. These lumbering ranchers, these tobacco-chewing, drawling
lumpkins, were they to be his companions for the rest of his life? These
women with their toothless, shapeless mouths, these worn and weary
mothers in home-made calico and cheap millinery, were they to be the
visitors at his fireside? What kind of woman would they make of Fan?
By one o'clock the corrals were full of ponies and the sheds and yards
crowded with carriages all faded by the pitiless sun and sucked dry by
the never-resting wind of the plain.
Meanwhile the young women had set long tables in the back yard and
covered them with food--contributed chicken, home-made biscuit, cake,
and pie, while the young fellows had been noisily working at
constructing a "bowery" for the dance which was to follow the ceremony
at three. And at last Fan raised a bugle-call for "_dinner!_" and they
all came with a rush.
The feast did not last long, for every one was hungry and ate without
permitting delay or distraction. Nearly all remarked on having had a
very early breakfast, and they certainly showed capacity for not merely
beef and beer, but pie and ice-cream, and when they shoved back, and
lighted the cigars which Lester had provided with prodigal hand, they
all agreed that the barbecue was "up to the bills."
The ceremony at three was short, almost hurried, so great was the bustle
about the house and yard. Fan wore no veil and George Adelbert made no
change from the neat sack-suit which he had put on at rising. At the
close of the clergyman's blessing he was called upon for a second time
to pump the hard hands and stringy arms of his neighbors as they filed
by to bid them both a hearty God-speed.
After this painful procession was ended Fan dragged him away to the
bower where the young folks were already dancing with prodigious
clatter. "How young she is!" he exclaimed, as he saw her mix with the
crowd of tireless, stamping, prancing cowboys.
As the dance went on he grew furious with her lack of reserve, her
indelicacy. Her good-natured laughter with the men who crowded about her
familiarly was a kind of disloyalty. She seemed at times to be
exchanging doubtful jests with them; and at last, to protect her from
the results of her own fatuity, he danced with her himself--danced
almost incessantly, notwithstanding the heat and the noise.
At sunset they all returned to the tables and ate up what remained of
the ox and the pies.
Lester was well enough acquainted with these rough youths to know that
some deviltry was preparing, and, already furious with his bride and
distrustful of the future, his self-command at last gave way. Drawing
Fan away from the crowd he said, tenderly:
"I've had enough of this! I'm having Aglar harness the buckskins into
the red cart, and I want you to go to the house and pack a few
things--we're going to Limone and catch the early train for Denver."
"We can't do that, Dell; we got to stay here and feed this gang once
more."
"Oh, hang the gang! I'm sick of them. Get ready, I tell you! Who cares
what these beggars think?"
She laughed. "You're jealous of them." Then, rising to his passion, she
answered, "All right; I'll sneak some clothes into a bag and we'll slide
out and leave the gang."
A half-hour later they stole away toward the back of the garden and out
upon the prairie, where a Mexican was holding a spirited team. Fan was
giggling so hard that she was barely able to lift the valise which she
carried in her hand.
"Don't you tell," she said to the Mexican. "If they ask, say we went to
Holcombe."
"All right. I _sabe_," the Mexican replied. Even as he spoke the music
in the bower ceased and voices were heard in question.