Honoré Willsie

“ Yet it is right that it should come to us swiftly. Life is so short. We have no time to waste.”
A slow flush showed through the delicate tan of Miriam’s cheeks. After a moment, during which her lower lip quivered, she answered, “Yes, we have no time to waste.”
“I am very happy,” Hugh said slowly. Then they sat in a silence that was unbroken until Hugh brought the launch into a pool that lay behind a giant butte. They did not disembark at once, but sat for a moment after Hugh had snubbed the boat to a convenient boulder, contemplating the beauty of the scene. ”

“ You never must distrust it. Promise me, Hugh.”
“I promise you, Miriam,” said Hugh, his low voice hardly audible above the rushing river.
It was sunset when they tied to the bank of the river behind The Lariat, and Miriam went at once to the Indian Massacre. There was still an hour before supper, and Pink, relieved of duty in the book store, undertook to provide entertainment for this solitary guest.
“This is the most wonderful country in the world,” he said. “But you can’t get these folks in Fort Sioux to realize it. They don’t see nothing but mining and ranching.” ”

“ Miriam nodded. Then she said slowly, “It’s very wonderful to love one’s work as you do. I’d almost say it was the greatest gift the gods can bestow. But such love should lead somewhere.”
“I don’t see why it should lead anywhere but to itself.” Hugh was watching Miriam with painful intensity. ”

“ Jessie says she’s the self- and husband-supporting woman I’ve been looking for all these terrible years.”
Johnny pushed his sombrero to the back of his head and with a flash of his beautiful teeth offered Hugh a cigarette.
Hugh lighted the cigarette and proceeded awkwardly to wrap the spurs. “I suppose Jess is putting Magpie through her paces.”
“U-huh! She’s made more of a hit than all the he-guides put together. All the men want to take riding lessons, but so far she’s run this Miss Page as favorite. Women being queer.”
“Queer is the word,” agreed Hugh. ”

“ Your gift is the priceless gift of personality. Something vivid and fine that people get quite without your willing it to be so.”
Hugh was feeling more and more collapsed. He looked at Miriam with the old expression of baffled weariness. Principal Jones cleared his throat. Neither Miriam nor Hugh heard him. The old man looked from one to the other with keen scrutiny, waited a moment in the unembarrassed silence, then, quite unheeded, tip-toed out of the shop. ”

“ Pink laughed. “He’d be as ugly as a wolverine and try to fight it. But what could he do? Progress can’t stop because the trail happens to cross a burying ground, can it?”
Miriam turned thoughtful eyes from Pink to the stove. ”

“ You can hoof it to every house in Fort Sioux in an hour.”
“I want the car. I’m going with some dignity.”
Pink glared at his wife helplessly. She was so small, so persistent, so full of schemes and plans. It was the schemes and plans that always routed and finally dominated Pink. He was born to a planless scheme of life. He was a congenital herdsman; a rider of the plains, where time and urgency do not exist.
“I’m waiting, Pink,” said Mrs. Morgan.
Pink muttered something under his breath, rose slowly, and without looking at Hugh, followed his wife out of The Lariat. ”

“ As a matter of fact, she doesn’t love me at all.”
“I believe that Johnny Parnell cares a great deal about Jessie, and it seems to me she could easily care about him,” suggested Miriam.
Hugh nodded absently. Jessie had long since ceased to trouble or interest any but the outer surface of his existence. He was gazing now at the new-made trail that etched the canyon wall beyond the butte. Miriam’s eyes followed his.
“We made that trail this spring,” said Hugh. “It’s very rough, but you can climb it. I’ll tell you about the cave to which it leads before we start.” ”

“ Then he paused, suddenly cognizant of his great loneliness, of his great hunger, of the direction in which he was drifting. He knew now that in his need he could turn to this woman as a thirsting traveler turns to a spring in the desert. ”

“ She’s some woman. An old hand at handling men. Not a flirt, you understand. O no! Something finished about her method that I can’t sabe! Now, Jessie, bless her, you always know exactly what she’s doing to you, and that she’s too lazy to do very much. But not this other one! Me—I prefer Jessie. But not knocking Miss Page. It’s just that after being brought up to the Standard Breds, you wouldn’t know exactly how to go about gentling an Arabian. And that’s not knocking Jessie, either. You know how I stand about Jess. I’ve never made any bones of it.”
Hugh nodded and Johnny rambled on. ”

“ I’ll never get Pink Morgan out of the chair till I do.”
“What’s the trouble?” asked Hugh, nodding toward the shabby Webster beside the cash register.
“Pink says petrified wood ain’t wood. He sets up to know a lot because you're his son-in-law. He and Principal Jones has argued for an hour and I’m sick of it. A school teacher is always long-winded and Pink is as hard to run down as a coyote. ”

“ He leaned against the counter, watching Hugh set down “1 Copy Elsie's Holidays,” in a small, copperplate hand. Fred never ceased to find delight in the meticulous accuracy and care which marked all that Hugh did.
Hugh looked up from the account book. “Do you think the claims are worth it, Fred?”
The older man pulled at the ubiquitous piece of plug. “Well,” he said, carefully, “I opine that the Old Sioux Tract is going to be rich prospecting in your line for a good many years. The dude ranch is one of the best in this section whether it’s worked for dudes or four-legged critters. ”