Billy Gee

“ Warburton puzzled over the matter for hours. He began to ask himself if it were not just possible that there existed a clandestine love affair between Dot and Billy Gee. Because of his intimate knowledge of Lex’s movements in the case, Warburton was certain that Sangerly had gone to San Francisco to interview the girl and had found her in possession of the outlaw’s loot. This, he reasoned, would explain her telegram that she had something of importance to tell him. Love alone could have moved Billy Gee to part with twenty thousand dollars, was the sheriff’s firm conviction. ”

“ He smiled at her vehement defense of the girl. “I don’t think we will have occasion to go that far in the matter, Mother Liggs,” he said reassuringly. “As I was driving in from the ranch it struck me that, confronted with what evidence we have and more that we’ll get, showing that Miss Huntington presumably aided him, Billy Gee will confess—make a clean breast of everything, rather than have her incriminated. Any man would, out of a sense of gratitude, if for no other reason.” ”

“ He saw them himself. Didn't you see the gnomes sitting on a rock, Chops, and didn't they make faces at you because you were running away?" persisted the fat boy.
Billy nodded weakly, moistening his lips with his tongue and swallowing a lump in his throat. Such a hopeless expression of fright appeared on his face that the boys, unable to contain their mirth longer, uttered shouts of laughter, in which the dignified Professor joined. ”

“ But there was something sad in her voice as she said it, and something white about the look she wore that made him sure she was not going to the part of New York where Mark Carter lived.
Billy accepted it with a sigh. Things were getting pretty dry around Sabbath Valley for him. He didn't seem to get his pep back as fast as he had expected. For one thing he worried a good deal, and for another the doctor wouldn't let him play baseball nor ride a bicycle yet for quite a while. He had to go around and act just like a “gurrull!” Aw Gee! ”

“ But so did Billy, for looking out the window in the direction of the parsonage he had sighted the big Shafton car stopping before the door that morning. “Aw Gee!” he said. “That sissy-guy again? Now, how'm I gonta get rid of him this time? Gee! Just when Mark's gettin' well too! If life ain't just one thing after another!” ”

“ Are we all sissies, to let the girls butt in, to let the high-brows whip us into knuckling to the teachers like kindergarten kids? You, Bill Bennett, what do you say to that?”
“What’s the matter with the Kid?” asked Charley Harper, called “Redtop” because of his hair. “I thought he rather liked Billy.”
“Don’t you know? Billy’s copped his girl.” Sis Jones winked knowingly.
“Gee! Not the Fish?”
“Yep. Kid wouldn’t have cared if it had been Sally or Belle, they’re both dead gone on him; but Fishie’s different.”
“So that’s—”
“Go on, Billy! Answer him!” cried several of Jim’s opponents. ”

“ The boys watched the intelligent animals, as of their own accord they rounded up a bunch here and there that they had observed straying from the main herd, working the sheep back to their fellows quietly and without in the least appearing to disturb them.
"What kind of sheep is that over there?" asked Chunky, pointing.
"That's no sheep. That's Billy," answered Mr. Simms.
"Who's he?"
"The goat. You've no doubt heard of a bell wether?"
"I have," spoke up Tad.
"That's what Billy is. He leads the sheep. They will follow a leader almost anywhere. ”

“ The men were to walk out singly, leaving their arms in the cave. There was no need to caution Willie Jones as to what would follow the least sign of treachery. He knew without being told. Grim Rangers were standing on one side so that they should have a clear shooting space in front of them. Billy McKay stood directly facing the opening, as if for the purpose of tempting one of those desperate men in there to take a shot at him. None had the pluck to try it.
Jones was the first one out. He was manacled and searched. One by one the bandits emerged until every man was a prisoner. ”

“ None wholly understood Captain Billy. Perhaps that was one of the reasons for his success in his perilous calling.
"Well, I promised to give you boys some lessons in revolver shooting," he said, tossing the reins to Tad who had come forward to take the pony. "Who can put a hole through my sombrero?" cried the Ranger sending his broad-brimmed Mexican hat spinning up into the air.
A flash and a bang followed almost on the instant. The Pony Rider Boys howled. The shot had been fired by Professor Zepplin and he had drilled a hole right through the Ranger's sombrero. ”

“ Once they thought Chunky was going to fall off and put a sudden end to their fun, but he soon righted himself, whereupon he tightened the grip of hands and legs.
By this time the goat was mad all through. He seemed bent now upon doing all the damage he could.
"Stop that! Want to run me down!" shouted Ned, grabbing a tree as the outfit swept by him, the goat uttering a sharp bleat and Chunky a howl of protest.
All at once Billy headed for the kitchen department. Old Hicks saw him coming and with a few quick hops got out of the way. ”

“ Pinkeye nibbled at the grass a few seconds. It did not seem to satisfy the animal, for the sheep had worked it pretty well down ahead of him. So Pink-eye went to sleep, and Tad found himself nodding so persistently that he forced himself to get up and walk back and forth a few paces each way.
"I am getting to be as much of a sleepy head as Chunky is," he smiled. "That goat ride was the funniest thing I ever saw. I wonder where Billy took himself to. He's a wise goat. I actually believe he had more fun out of putting the camp to the bad than the rest of us experienced in watching him." ”

“ It was one thing for a woman to befriend a stranger, taken ill on her doorstep, and quite another for her to entertain him indefinitely after he was able to be up and about. Matters reached a climax on the opening day of the Hardin County Fair.
Miss Gee, as usual, had entered Bonnie Prince in the contest for “the best harness gelding driven to a buggy, the driver being accompanied by a lady.” When she dashed into the ring, head and reins held high, a thin, pale little man with large sunken eyes and sloping shoulders sat beside her. ”

“ Nobody but God could have arranged things and balanced them up like that. Talk about any of us improving things in this world! If we'd only learn to mind our own business as well as God minds His."
But very few besides Grandma Wentworth understood Billy and his livery barn. Even Joe Baldwin failed to see just what Billy was doing in his droll, unconscious, warm-hearted way. Still Joe liked Billy. In fact, everybody liked Billy. And he was welcomed everywhere and nowhere more than in George Hoskins' blacksmith shop. ”

“ At every mile that George travelled his mind and heart gained a better balance by quick degrees. He was sorry to be parted from his mother and Betty, but he was at a time of life when he must try his own strength, and he was the better for it. He stopped at the same taverns that he had halted at when with Lord Fairfax. Billy proved himself to be an excellent hostler as well as valet, and George did not mean to forget mentioning to his mother, when he should have an opportunity of sending a letter, how extremely useful Billy was. ”

“ How they beat the air with their hats in time to their lusty shouts! And how the throngs above cheered and clapped in answer, until they almost split their throats—and did split their gloves—especially when the black-gowned seniors swept into view.
And when the curving line of black had become one solid mass of humanity that filled the bowl from side to side, the vast throng seated themselves, and a great hush fell while the Glee Club sang.
Young Hartwell proved to be a good speaker, and his ringing voice reached even the topmost tier of seats. Billy was charmed and interested. ”

“ Like Madam Washington, George was a natural disciplinarian, and himself capable of great labor of mind and body, he exacted work from everybody. But Billy was an exception to this rule. It is not in the human heart to be altogether without weaknesses, and Billy was George's weakness. When his mother would declare the boy to be the idlest servant about the place, George could not deny it; but he always left the room when there were any animadversions on his favorite, and could never be brought to acknowledge that Billy was not a much-injured boy. ”

“ The yellow rose of sunrise touched Cascades and Olympics alike with a splendor he had not before recognized, and lighted the vast reaches between ranges with a clear thin radiance not seen in southern lands.
Billy’s heart ached with this new fulness of life. Visions undreamed before opened his eyes to his own manhood; and the impulse came to put this experience into rhythm,—the impulse that touches every normal young creature. Some may not have the wit to fix it on paper, but all sing the song. ”

“ He could not wait for time to develop his intellect, but he crowded things and wore out the patience of his father, a learned savant, who was president of a livery stable in Chicago.
One day Billy ran across the grand hailing sign, which is generally represented as a tapeworm in the beak of the American eagle, on which is inscribed "E Pluribus Unum." Billy, of course, asked his father what "E Pluribus Unum" meant. He wanted to gather in all the knowledge he could, so that when he came out west he could associate with some of our best men. ”

“ The Watermelon flushed hotly, but she was not looking, and when he spoke he spoke carelessly enough. "You would get used to it," said he. "You can get used to anything. Father used to say that the idea of hell for all eternity was an absurdity—you were sure to get used to it and then it wouldn't count any more as a punishment."
"I suppose that's so," agreed Billy. "But how do you know? You weren't ever a tramp, were you, Jerry?"
"A tramp, kid, is the only man in America to-day, besides the millionaire, who is his own master. ”

“ The next day Miss Gee rented her house furnished, sold her beloved Bonnie Prince, and by the end of the week they were on their way to Arizona.
FOR a long time Purdyville knew Miss Gee no more. The town grew and prospered; the many seeds of reform she had planted bore a rich harvest, but no one thought of her in connection with them.
Almost two years after her departure Dr. McLean had received a post card from Mr. Lukins. It bore this message:
“Wish to advise you of the arrival of a little son. Mother and child doing well. Own health poorly.” ”

“ He first passes it to two or three for close inspection, and then reads aloud:
“B. W. is endowed with altogether extraordinary talents. He has a large amount of curiosity, and often butts into other people’s business.”
“That I do,” chuckles Billy, “though I butt into them quite as much and as often as into their affairs!”
“He was born on the continent.”
[75] “Right again,” shouts Billy, though the crowd think he is merely bleating, but we who understand goat language know much better. ”

“ Prue said good-by to them with real feeling, and most of them threw out their chests and were very gruff and rude because they were sorry to leave. Prue understood. They were kind-hearted men, after all, these rough pioneers. Billy remembered for almost two years how she looked when she said that, which was extraordinary for Billy. He had led so varied a life as pony-express rider, stage-driver, scout, Indian, bronco-buster, hunter, and trapper, that he had little room in his memory for anything short of bloodshed or a triumph for himself. ”

“ Billy laughed happily.
“If it was, he can't say anything,” she reassured her. “He's done the same thing himself—and so have I.”
“HE has done it!”
“Yes. It was at his home last Thanksgiving. It was then that he found out—about my improvising.”
“Oh-h!” Marie's eyes were wistful. “And he cares so much now for your music!”
“Does he? Do you think he does?” demanded Billy.
“I know he does—and for the one who makes it, too.”
“Nonsense!” laughed Billy, with pinker cheeks. “It's the music, not the musician, that pleases him. Mr. Cyril doesn't like women.”
“He doesn't like women!” ”

“ Anyway it will be better if I’m not seen with you till the Kid’s mad cools off.”
She started across the deck but he detained her. “Erminie! Did you promise Jim you’d come—come here with—”
“No, Billy, he took it for granted. I laughed and let it go so, for that was my game then. But—oh, Billy! I’ve fumbled everything! And it’s going to be hard for you when I was trying to make it—”
“Never mind me. I can fight my own battles.”
The steamer bumped the wharf, lurching the standing ones against one another; and the merry confusion of disembarking drove all serious matters to cover of silence. ”

“ It’s difficult to think of Billy as an angel, isn’t it, Miss Verity, but I can assure you he looked like one, then! He was so happy in his ‘job,’ and because he was happy he took peace and happiness with him, and left them behind him. And then you called him, and the ‘job’ went to the wall. The old folk sit and wait for him, night after night, and he does not come. There is one old woman he used to call his mother, who puts up her wrinkled hands and cries as the hours go by——” He took a quick step to her side, his voice breaking into passionate contrition. ”