Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 09 - Sudden Makes War(1942) (45 page)

 
          
“You
are the meanest man I ever met,” she began. “You save my life, restore my
uncle’s property after he has used you badly, and even bring back something the
loss of which grieved me deeply—my mother’s portrait, and you refuse to accept
a word of thanks. Why have you always disliked me? I couldn’t help being the
daughter of a Trenton.”

 
          
The
curious mixture of indignation and gratitude made her so provokingly pretty
that he had hard work to refrain from putting his arms about her and telling
the truth—that he didn’t care if she was the daughter of the Devil himself.

 
          
“I
was afraid.” He saw she did not comprehend, and went on. “Afraid I’d get too
fond o’ you, so I tried to build a barrier between us.”

 
          
“And
it had to be barbed wire?” she said.

 
          
“Yeah,
but I found out that barbed wire won’t keep thoughts from strayin’, an’ is
liable to hurt those who handle it.

 
          
The
soft dark eyes faced his bravely for an instant and then dropped. “I learned
that too—Dan,” she murmured.

 
          
It
was quite a time before she had an opportunity to speak again, and, as she
strove to rearrange her hair, it was a truly feminine remark:

 
          
“I
expect I look a sight; I don’t know what you must think of me.”

 
          
“I
think yo’re the most beautiful girl in Arizona,” he told her.

 
          
“Only
in Arizona, Dan?” she teased.

 
          
“Arizona
is my world,” he replied.

 
          
“Mine
too,” she whispered, and brought about another interlude.

 
          
**

 
          
Sudden
and Yorky were paying a final visit to the Pool of the Pines, for—as Dan had
predicted—Trenton’s inducements and pleas had proved vain as his own. They had
enjoyed their swim, and Nigger was waiting. The boy’s expression was woebegone.

 
          
“I’ll
be missin’ yer, Jim. Wish I c’d come too,” he said, for about the twentieth
time.

 
          
“So
do I, but it’s too chancy,” the puncher replied. `Best yu should stay here,
learn yore job, an’ get them bellows o’ yourn sound again. Then, mebbe, when
I’m free, yu an’
me’ll
go take a look at the country
somewheres.”

 
          
Yorky’s
eyes shone at the prospect. “Gee! Jim, that’d be
swell
,”
he breathed.

 
          
“So
long, son,” Sudden said, as he swung into the saddle. “Keep outa trouble, but
if that ain’t possible, see it through.”

 
          
The
boy watched the black horse and its rider until they were blotted out by a mist
which was not of Nature’s making; there was an unaccustomed lump in his throat.

 
          
“Just
th’ greatest guy—ever,” he told the silence.

 
          
The
End