Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 303 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

; at i rn 4" - ¥ A " a > yi on . = ----— — =— _— + - * = ° — — 6 CHAPTER VI. THE LAST QUIET EVENING. Sue laughed a low luugh of great content, as she answered him: “Did you suppose that I had been married all this age, and not come to know the sound of your horse, among a hundred others? The say, women, in the North, learn to know their husbands’ footsteps. I never had a chance to do that, because | seldom find you on foot; but every man bas his own style of riding, I sup- pose; and that’s how I recognize your horse, no matter if you have a different one, every night.” hen, as they walked at te house, with bis arm around added, softly: “T know you did not intend to stay away from me, all night. It would be the first time, since we have been married, if you had, dear.” ‘Oh, you're getting too exacting,” he said, in a playful tone. ‘‘ Suppose I have to do it, what then? You would not forbid me from going to my business, would you?’ ‘Your old political business can wait,” she said, witha pout. ‘‘I wish there was no such a thing as politics in the worlc.” ““So do I, dear,” he said, with a slight sigh; “but what is one to do, when his friends insist -on his standing for an office he does not want, and would be —_ to be excused from? They do not know how to protect their own rights, and have set me up as their champion.” oan had got to the broad piazza, by this time, but still Diana seemed in no hurry to go in, as she stood there, in the moonlight, with her busband’s arm round her waist. Very silly, of course; but then they were in Texas, and the ardor of a three months’ bride- groom, had not had time to cool before the ad- vent of the first ‘‘ Norther.” The house was full of people, for the voice of the singer was not yet silent, and Diana pro- bably was too polite to walk in and disturb her. As she stood on the piazza, the song ended, and Tom observed: ‘‘Helen is in very good voice, to-night. Is any one there, Di?” Diana tossed her head, as she said: “Yes, Punch, and Limpy, and the rest of that crowd of intellectual gentlemen, with the eupbonious names. One won’t move, because the other won’t; and if I were Helen, I'd send the whole of them packing.’’ Tom laughed. ‘‘You selfish little thing! Do you want ‘Helen to throw away all her chances because you have got a husband? She has the best right to get married anyway, Di, for she is the oldest.” Di made no answer, for she was listening to the people inside, and heard the voice of Deaf Smith 9 ‘‘Thankee, Miss Collingsworth. Them old songs warms one’s blood. That ‘ere ‘Bonny Blue Flag’ is a right sweet song, ain’t it?” Diana giggled as she listened, and whispered ere mi e the wrong music open On purpose. That man never will emit that he is deaf.” toward the r waist, she Then they heard the voice of her sister in the | room saying, slowly and distinctly: ‘‘It is a very sweet song, Mr, Smith.” “ And then, thar’s that ‘ Maryland, my Mary- land,’ I used ter like that amazin’, in the old times,” the deaf rancher pursued, tranquilly. ‘“T wish ye’d sing that jest fur onc’t, Helen.” piens pinched her husband’s arm as she whis- pered: ‘‘ There, now, I suppose you think he’d make a very nice husband; wouldn't he, sir?” Tom Field made no answer; and she went on, in her low, cooing tones: “In fact, I think m Helen for the rest. marriage has spoiled he has often said to me that she would marry at.once, if sbe could only get a husband like I have. I wonder how it was you never took to Helen, Tom? She’s ever so much nicer than I am; isn’t she?’ Tom pressed her arm to his, as he said: *‘ She can hardly fisb for compliments as well as some people I know, Di.” _ “No; but seriously, I mean it, Tom, She is not a bit less—less—well—” “ Prettier than you, you mean?” ‘‘ No—well—never mind that. But I mean that she sings and I don’t; she plays and I don’t; she is a good cook and an excellent housekeeper, and I used to hate housekeeping—” Do you hate it now?” asked Tom, suddenly interrupting her. Diana laughed as she said: ‘* No, it’s y, very funny; but I’m getting pore it ever so much now, and trying ever so ‘hard, But thatis not what I meant. I meant that before I was married I knew nothing in eine, Weer UECeR how to ride and shoot a little, an at sort of thing, which are not femi- pine ) nts at all, And yet, some- how, though Helen was ever so superior to me, you let her , and fell in love with me, dear.” e ended by squeezing his arm, as they walked to and fro on the end of the piazza, away from the lizh's of the parlor, where the _ yauchcrs were crowding to coffer their incense nto feet of the remaining daughter of the judge. Tom laughed as he heard the artless speech of his wife, and his heart swelled with tender- ness, He felt unusually happy that night, and long afterward patent ‘ He had been happy before, but never realized it so much as that night, when he had just been in a place where danger had been great, in case he had made a mistake. The return from Satanstown, and the clamor of the drunken ruffians that composed the major portion of its inhabitants, to the peace and quiet solitude of the ranch was so grateful that he felt, as he had never felt be- fore, that bis lines had fallen in very pleasant places. He pressed his young wife to bis heart again, out in the seclusion of the shaded piazza, where the vines shut them in from observation, and there was no one to pry, and whispered: ‘“‘Why did I go and fall in love with you, dear? That reminds me of a little song.” “Then you shall sing it for me this very night,” she said eagerly, for if there was one thing she was proud of, it was her busband’s voice, though it was only an ordinary tenor, with batytone notes in the lower register. ‘(Come in and sing. The boys will be delight- ed, and it will give Helen an opportunity to escape. Then she dragged him into the parlor of the house, and the ranchers all jumped up as soon as they saw him, as she had known they would, and n to wonder what had brought him back. elen Collingsworth, who had been sit- ting at the piano with a look on her face as if she was, as Di had said, secretly bored by the homage she was receiving, turned round smiling to welcome ber brother-in-law, and kissed him before them all, to the great jealousy and vexa- tion of the crowd, who had no idea that she did it for the express purpose of driving them away if she could. Then Di began to tell how ‘‘Tom had got a new song, and she wanted him to sing it,” and the ranchers, who were very proud of their comrade, thongh they could not help being jealous when they saw him kissed by the prettiest girl in the county, joined in the re- quest, and Tom sung as follows: WHY DO I LOVE YOU? Out by the orchard, the birds are calling; Gayly the the tasseled corn waves in the breeze: Over the clover-field shadows are falling; Full of the humming of bees. What do the bees murmur down in the clover? What are the birds singing, as they fly over? ‘Top Notch Tom, the Cowboy Outlaw. | any man in this room, afore the war, when I usedter live in York; but give me the old bumbly ballads, we all loved, arter ail. Hum, Sweet Hum’sta right sweet old song, ain’t it, Tom?” : ‘Tt is,’ said Tom, slowly, “‘ Far better than anything I could sing, Smith. Glad you liked it.” Deaf Smith rubbed bis bands with great. satisfaction, as he observed: “I’m a-gittin’ to byar better, every pay, boys; and mebbe, some day, I’ll astonish ye all, when I git aout that old fiddle, I used ter play on, and give ye some of the old chunes.” ‘“‘ What?’ asked Helen, facing the deaf ranch- er, so that be could see her lips distinctly. “Can you play the violin?” Deaf Smith nodded; but a sorrowful expres~- sion swept over bis face, as he said: ‘Not now, I’m afeard, Miss Helen. I kin feel the strings, as well as ever, but I kin play when they’re chuned fur me; and I ain’t got the ear [ had, onst, when I o’u’d tell the pitch ofa note ot fine as gree a man ye see’'d. No; I wo t try to play now. Then he bahet himself, briskly, to add: “ And byar we air, a-keepin’ up the family to all haours, and we got to ride bum. Good- night, Miss Helen, Good-night, Mrs. Field. Glad to see the old man come back safe again. Had lively times in taown to-day—” Here he wag. warned, by the faces of his friends, that he was treading on forbidden ground, and he added hastily: ‘That is, nothen partic’ler, of course; but the boys had a lively time, ye know. Drive money bad to he spent, and | reckon it’s abaout all gone, and the boys ready to go to work again,’”” CHAPTER VIL THE ENGLISH OVERSEER. THE head-quarters of the Glasgow Cattle Company, where their men were boarded and where the overseer resided, consisted of a huge structure built of logs, in a style that put the ordinary jog ones to shame; for it embodied the fancy of a famous Eastern architect. The basement was of the rough limestone of the county, left as rough as nature meant it, on purpose to give it a rusticair, and the super- structure, on this base, went up two more stories, with all sorts of quaint surprises in the shape of oriel windows and balconies; gables with the ends of the face-logs projecting; rustic-work ve- randas; log chimneys and bark coverings to the roof; while, inside, the appliances of modern civilization were freely displayed to any visitor who might be attracted to enter. But visitorsat the Glasgow Cattle Company’s ranch were few and far between; for the social Hark, and sweet Nature's voice you will discover, | position of the overseer, since the cutting of the Calling in aceents like these: “Why do I love you so, darling, darling? Why does my heart give a bound when you're near? way does it sink, when you're gone from me, dar- ng‘ What is it makes you so dear? “Truly I cannot tell, darling, darling,” Warbles the bird to her mate on the tree. “Only one answer I make to my darling: ‘ Never forget to love me.’ Love is enough for itself, dear, and therefore, ‘Seek not to ask of the why and the wherefore; All that I know is, that all that I care for, Finds its sole being in thee. Why do I love you so, darling, darling? Why does my heart give a bound, when you're near? Why does it sink, when you’re gone from me, darling? What is it makes you so dear?” The rude rancbers listened respectfully, but the applause they gave would have been muc louder if the song had been sung by Helen Col- lingsworth, who smiled as she beard it, and gave her sister a look, as if she knew what it meant; for Tom had a gift of scribbling poetr and music, which no one but the girls knew of, and which he hid carefully from all the rest of the world. Deaf Smith applauded as loud as the rest, and then cried out, with an emphatic thump on his e: ““T’ll back Tom Field ag’in’ any man in the caounty to take the music aout of the old thing with the strings—what d’ye call it—a pianny. He kin jest warble ‘Hum, Sweet Hum,’ like a bird, and that’s more’n any other man in the caounty kin say, Punch; ain’t it?” Punch nodded, for no one contradicted Deaf Smith, or insinuated, in any way, that be could not hear everything that was said. He made out a t deal by watching the lips of the people he met, and he bad been watching Tom as he sung, with the utmost attention, for he went on; “Folks thinks I’m alittle hard of hearin’, and I won’t deny that I don’t hyar ez well ez I used ter, when I were a boy; but I ec’u’d tell what you was a singin’, as well as if I'd bad it squealed inter my ear, Tom. You was a-sing- ing ‘Hum Sweet Hum’ and I defy any man in the room to beat ye at it.” The respect everybody showed to Deaf Smith, on account of his infirmity, could not prevent a smile; but he did not notice it, as be went on: “They may talk abaout the Eyetal- ian opery, and I’ve beerd as much o’ that as ; | ; fences, was one of complete isolation in the county. The ranchers hated him, and no one would go to see him; while he, after an effort to make friends with Judge Collingsworth, on account of his two pretty daughters, had subsided into his solitude, though not before he had got into @ quarrel with the judge and eaused him to be shot at by one of his hired desperadoes, of the name of Tomlinson, who had subsequently been killed in fair fight by Top Noteh Tom, The day after the general fight at Satans- town, Mr. Berkeley, the overseer, was standing by the front veranda, ready to mount bis horse and ride off to inspect the ranch, when he saw aman coming from the direction of the town whom he knew, from his uniform, to be one the company’s servants. These men, under the guise of cowboys, were really, desperadoes gathered from all the neigh- boring counties of Texas, whence they were generally fugitives from justice, for homicides of all degrees of excusability or non-excusabil- ity ; and they had been originally sworn into the service of the county or State as special consta- bles for the proteetion of the company’s prop- erty from the supposed danger in which it lay, of outrage at the bands of the ranchers of Sa- tanta county. Since the cutting of the fences, however, the ranchers had succeeded in getting from a judge of one of the State courts, an injunction, which revented the company from erecting any more farbed-wire fences, pending the determination of a suit, brought against the company in the neme of all the ranchers of the district over which they claimed sway, The certificates of the special constables had been revoked at the same time: and the only advantage possessed by the “‘red hats,” was the fact that they exceeded in numbers the force that. any individual rancber could bring against them, at least three to one, and the whole body of ranchers was thus compelled to stand tegether, in resist the encroachments of the corporation that threatened their very existence, The man that Berkeley saw, coming fron: Satanstown, was a messenger he had left be- hind bim, to communicate with Mr. Belshazzar’ Levy, in case be wished to send word to the ranch; for Mr. Levy was the company’s law- yer, and, moreover, their candidate for Assem- ly, as the overseer could not run bimself, being yet an alien to the country, and giving no signs of an intention to become a citizen, GOMmichboo 3 > |