Part 28 (1/2)

”I'll come over and arrange things in the rooms, of course,” Sheila acquiesced.

And so, when Casey awaited the coming of the train which bore his guests, it was with the knowledge that his rough-and-tumble, quarters had been made as presentable as possible.

Wade and his party descended, attended by an obsequious porter laden with bags, and in a moment Casey was shaking hands.

”And so this is your country!” said Mrs. Wade eying her surroundings rather dubiously. In her heart she was appalled at the prospect of pa.s.sing several weeks in such a place.

”Well, some of it isn't mine,” he laughed. ”I wish it were. This is only the makings, Mrs. Wade. Wait a few years. Now, here's what we do.

We have dinner at the hotel. Afterward we drive out to the ranch where you are all to stay.”

Wade and his wife protested. They couldn't think of it. Clyde said nothing. Casey appealed to her.

”What do you say Miss Burnaby? Will you brave the discomforts of a shack in the dry belt?”

”I'm in the hands of my friends,” she laughed.

”That includes me,” said Casey. ”Everything's fixed for you. This is my stamping ground, and I'm boss. What I say goes.” He introduced Mr.

Quilty, who was hovering in the background, and chuckled as that garrulous gentleman proceeded to unwind an apparently endless welcome.

”I like him,” Clyde whispered.

”Pure gold,” said Casey, and created a diversion. He helped Quilty deposit the bags in the station.

”Thon's a fine gyurrl,” said the latter, with a jerk of his thumb toward the platform.”

”Right,” Casey replied.

”Oh, trust a quiet devil like yourself to pick wan out,” said the little station agent. ”I was the same meself, whin I was more younger nor what I am now. I fell dead in love with a fine, big gyurrl be th'

name iv--iv--dom'd if I don't forget the name iv her, onless it was Mary or Josephine--no, thim came afther. What th' divil are ye laughin'

at? Annyways, me an' this gyurrl that I loved that I forget the name iv, was strollin' wan night be moonlight, d'ye see me, now? And we come to where there was a stump risin' maybe two fut clear iv th'

ground--ye'll wonder what th' stump had to do wid ut, but listen--and I stopped and put me arrm around her waist--or tried to; for a fine circ.u.mferenshus waist she had. Faix, a wan-arrmed man'd've been up against it intirely wid her--and I sez to her, 'Lena'--that was her name, Lena, I remimber now, and she was a Swede--'Lena,' I sez, 'luk at the moon!' 'Ay see him,' she sez. 'Turn yer sweet face a little more to the southeast,' I sez, that bein' to'rd the stump I mintioned before; an' when I had her at the right angle I made a lep up on the stump and kissed her. Faix, and the same was a forced play, me bein' the height I am, and her over six fut. 'I love yez,' I sez; 'say yez love me!'”

”Well, what did she say?” asked Casey, as Mr. Quilty paused for breath.

”She concealed her feelin's,” Mr. Quilty replied sadly. ”She said, 'Ay tenk ve go home now. Ay don't vant no feller vat have to mek love med a step-ladder!' And afther that, mind ye, what does she do but take up wid another little divil wid no legs at all, havin' lost them under a shuntin' ingin. But his artfulness is such that he gets extra-long imitation wans, like stilts, to do his coortin' on. An', though he looks like a cross bechune a sparrow and a crane and has to carry an oil can when he walks or else creak like a stable door in Janooary, she marries him and keeps him in luxury be takin' in was.h.i.+n' for the camps.

And so, ye see, though I had stood on wan stump to kiss her, ivery time he done the likes he had to stand on _two_!”

”Corney,” said Casey gravely, ”you are an awful liar.”

”I will not be insulted by yez,” Mr. Quilty retorted with equal gravity. ”I will consider the soorce from which ut comes. G'wan out of here, before I do yez injury.”

Immediately after dinner Casey brought up his road team, two wiry, slas.h.i.+ng chestnuts. The Wades occupied the rear seat. Clyde sat beside Casey. The horses started with a rush that brought a gasp from Mrs.

Wade. Clyde involuntarily caught the seat rail.

”It's all right,” Casey a.s.sured them. ”A little fresh, that's all. They know they're going home. It's their way of saying they're glad. You, d.i.c.k--you, Doc! Behave, behave!” He had them in hand, checking their impatience to an easy jog, holding them fretting against the bit. ”I'll let them out in a mile or two. Do you know horses, Miss Burnaby?”

”A very little. I ride and drive; but I like quiet animals.”