The Argosy, December 1905 — page 154: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

132 agreement until the ditches were fin- ished. It was only a matter of three more days of hard toil. At the end of that time, they could carry their case to any court in the territory, and he’d be there to answer them. Just at present the question with him was to shoot or not to shoot. It was for them to say. In the mean time every man could lay down his own arms— or take the consequence. All of which was set forth not in this cold-blooded English, but in virulent Mexican patois, larded with English profanity more or less picturesque and appealing to the class of men with whom Ardsley was dealing. All the rest of the day, and the next and the next, Ardsley and Bill and the girl in the gray habit rode up and down, up and down, the ditch banks with guns drawn; and on the morning of the fourth day the sheriff and his posse came upon the scene, having heard ru- mors of riot and force and bloodshed, only to find the water running smoothly through the finished ways, and a girl in gray, surrounded by an able body-guard of cowboys, paying off an entirely amiable army of Greasers. And Ramsey ? Ah, what the Mexicans said Ramsey and his fine plan to help each and every one of them annex some of old Carter’s wealth was almost as lurid and picturesque as Ardsley’s epic which broke up the first and last Greaser strike in Arizona. It was a great time while it lasted, but there followed a reaction, when Neva Carter went back to the bedside of her father, and looked in vain for a gleam of recognition in his dull eyes, for even a responding pressure to her handcelasp. The specialists brought from Denver shook their heads. A _ sanitarium where he could be made comfortable until the end—that was all they could suggest. Neva shook her head. She must stay here—and carry out-her father’s am- bitious plans, and he also must stay with a trained nurse where she could watch over him and know that he was tenderly cared for. Then the specialists drove of THE ARGOSY. away in a cloud of dust, and out of it appeared Ardsley. He looked pityingly at the girl and cleared his throat. “It’s no use to tell you Tm sorry, but I’ve got to hike out to-day for the hills. I presume you will send for your aunt to stay here with you, and the nurse will be some company. I’ve met some really jolly good girls among those nurses!” : She shook her head. “No, I don’t want aunty. I want you. You'll have to send Shorty out in charge of the round-up, and stay here—to run things.” The old assurance was gone, Despite her assumption of authority as head of her father’s affairs, her voice was strangely supplicatory. Under the table, where she could not see the vise-like grip, Ardsley clasped his hands tightly. “You mean that you want me to run things here—everything—for your father? ” “No,” she said quietly. “I want you to run them for me!” The man rose and walked over to the window. The eight-day clock ticked until it throbbed in his ear somewhat like the beats of a trip-hammer, so in- tense was the silence. After some hesita- tion, he said, without turning, quietly but distinctly: “God knows, I owe you that much service. All [ am—all I have to-day, I owe to you—and that is just the reason why I cannot take anything more. Don’t you understand? I can’t stay here with you—I’m not strong enough—and you can find a dozen men who could run things better—and—well, it would be hell for me.” He felt a touch on his arm and turned abruptly. She was looking straight up at him, a- light in her eyes such as he had never seen there before. ““ Do—do you dislike me as much as that ? ” For an instant he hesitated, then he took her in his arms, and the last of his theories—that financial equality should control marriage—tumbled like a card- house at the foot of the great happiness which he had found. Go NOOK (C@