Honoré Willsie

“ Hugh eyed his old friend keenly, realizing that in his own way and his own time the Indian would tell him something he considered important.
“Most times, Fort Sioux folks, they no try go up river canyon in winter. Too hard work. You remember, they say you heap fool last year, maybe get killed working in cave in winter?”
“I remember,” said Hugh. “Keep out of it for a minute, Fred,” as the little man muttered impatiently.
“But this year,” Red Wolf went on imperturbably, “folks they go up river, they find no snow on your trail to cave, they go in cave.” ”

“ The big snows that arrived with December prevented any one from the outlying ranches from visiting Fort Sioux, and except for Principal Jones and Red Wolf, The Lariat was unpatronized. The old Indian’s efforts to cheer Hugh up were unceasing. Not a week passed that he did not come prowling into the shop with some curious memento of the tribe and carry on a long, haggling barter for a book. The trading was, to say the least, unique and was the only bright spot in the long month. Hugh always carried on the negotiations himself, for the old Sioux openly scorned doing business with Fred. ”

“ Every man at the table had known the former owner of The Lariat. Old Charley Whitson, the chairman, had ridden herd for Bookie before the old ranch had been turned over to dudes. John Houghton had purloined a brood mare, three cows and a bull from Bookie thirty years before and had thus gotten a start in life. Fred had told this to Hugh in the month just passed. And there was not a man among them who had not visited the wise old man who had dreamed dreams in The Lariat. ”

“ That’s too much!” cried Hugh. “Come on, Red Wolf. I’m going up there. Fred, you watch the store.”
“Who helped save that critter? Was it Red Wolf?” shouted Fred “Let him mind shop!”
A look of pleased surprise came to Red Wolf’s eyes. “I sell ’em books,” he said. “You take Fred. He go in cave with you.”
Hugh nodded, strapped on his gun, and pulled on his mackinaw.
“Now, Red Wolf,” said Fred, impressively, “don’t sell anything. Just take orders for ’em. You don’t sabez how to sell books. See! You just let folks tell you what they want. ”

“ Jessie did not reply, and with a desire for speech upon him as strong as hitherto had been the desire for silence, Hugh went on.
“Life is too short to be so filled with mistakes. My mistakes have been more than yours. But, at least at first, I was not mistaken about the importance of love in a man’s life and work. Or a woman’s. If you had loved me, your love would have weaned you from your mother and have made a big woman of you. And now it’s too late. It’s too late. We learn all of it when we are too old to enjoy the results of our enlightenment. ”

“ Not for one moment did he propose to lose his self-control. “Is this answer final?” he asked quietly.
Whitson looked around the table. “I guess it is, son. As far as I’m concerned, I’m sorry it has to be so. I was fond of Bookie, and as near as I can judge you are extra prime quality yourself, in spite of your job. But business and politics can’t mix with science.”
Hugh rose slowly “I think I ought to warn you,” he said, “that this is only the beginning of my fight.” ”

“ It was a feeling so strong that what embittered his deathbed was the realization that he had not done his limit for Wyoming. I don’t blame him myself for not doing more. He was a clean-handed man. He stood for civic decency and enforced it at the gun point if necessary. He believed he couldn’t mix in state politics without dirtying his hands. He did all he could for Wyoming up to that point.”
Again Hugh stopped while he drew on the deeps within. And still his auditors, angered though they may have been, made no attempt to interrupt Hugh’s low-voiced monologue. ”

“ I believe that I can turn it to such noble usage that it will satisfy all Uncle Bookie's hurts—as to Duncan, as to my mother, as to me. Force the Eastern Electric Corporation to build its dam elsewhere, gentlemen. Let me make a monument to Uncle Bookie of the Old Sioux Tract.”
Old Whitson heaved a great sigh. “Those were the days! Men was men in those days. ”

“ And it looks as if ill luck were pursuing me here, too.”
“What’s happened, Hughie?”
“Red Wolf reports that some one has broken into the cave where I’d left the triceratops, and from what he says, I think they’ve wantonly destroyed the specimen. We’re going up there.” Hugh spurred Fossil and rode off abruptly.
A small boy, standing on the bridge watching the chaos of ice in the river, waited until Hugh had crossed, then put his hands to his mouth and shouted lustily, “Gray stallion! O gray stallion!” ”

“ Grafton, the Eastern Corporation’s man, says the only other feasible point to build the dam is fifteen miles on up the Roaring Chief. He says what with the frightful difficulty that would be added in transportation costs—it’s a god-awful spot to reach from the railroad—and in the doubling of the size of the dam as would have to be done at that point, it would more than double the cost of the project, and it’s not to be thought of. ”

“ They had and they said it at considerable length Hugh made no attempt to follow the details of their arguments. He was convinced that they had been bought and paid for. When each member had said his say, the chairman turned to Hugh:
“Sorry, Stewart. You’ve given us a pretty good idea of how you feel and how old Bookie felt. But to go up against this Eastern Electric Corporation so it would give up building the Fort Sioux dam would be about the most unpopular thing this commission could do in this state.” ”