CHAPTER XIII--THE PARTY AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE
The bear fight and the runaway together so disturbed the minds of thepicnicking party in the canyon that nobody objected to the suggestion ofan early return to the ranch-house. Ruth was secretly much troubled inher mind over the mysterious individual who had killed the bear. She hadnot seen her rescuer's face; but she wondered if Mary Cox had seen it?
The girls never did get to the top of the natural bridge. Jib and theboys in trying to trace the stranger had gone over the summit; but theydid not tarry to look around. The girls and Ricardo got supper,immediately after which they set out on the return drive.
Jib insisted upon holding the lines over the backs of the team that hadrun away--and he saw that Mary Cox rode in that vehicle, too. But The Foxshowed no vexation at this; indeed, she was very quiet all the way toSilver Ranch. She was much unlike her usual snappy, sharp-tongued self.
But, altogether, the party arrived home in very good spirits. Thewonders of the wild country--so much different from anything theEasterners had seen before--deeply impressed Ruth and her friends. Theroutine work of the ranch, however, interested them more. Not only Tomand Bob, but their sisters and the other girls, found the free,out-of-door life of the range and corral a never-failing source ofdelight.
Ruth herself was becoming a remarkably good horsewoman. Freckles carriedher many miles over the range and Jane Ann Hicks was scarcely more boldon pony-back than was the girl from the Red Mill.
As for the cowboys of the Silver outfit, they admitted that the visitorswere "some human," even from a Western standpoint.
"Them friends o' yourn, Miss Jinny," Jimsey said, to Old Bill's niece,"ain't so turrible 'Bawston' as some tenderfoots I've seen." ("Boston,"according to Jimsey, spelled the ultra-East and all its "finicky" ways!)"I'm plum taken with that Fielding gal--I sure am. And I believe old Ike,here, is losin' his heart to her. Old Lem Dickson's Sally better bat hereyes sharp or Ike'll go up in the air an' she'll lose him."
It was true that the foreman was less bashful with Ruth than with any ofthe other girls. Ruth knew how to put him at his ease. Every spare hourBashful Ike had he put in teaching Ruth to improve her riding, and asshe was an early riser they spent a good many morning hours canteringover the range before the rest of the young people were astir at SilverRanch.
It was on one of these rides that Bashful Ike "opened up" to Ruth uponthe subject of the red-haired school-teacher at the Crossing.
"I've jest plumb doted on that gal since she was knee-high to a Kansashopper-grass," the big puncher drawled. "An' she knows it well enough."
"Maybe she knows it too well?" suggested Ruth, wisely.
"Gosh!" groaned Ike. "I _gotter_ keep her reminded I'm on the job--say,ain't I? Now, them candies you bought for me an' give to her--what do yous'pose she did with 'em?"
"She ate them if she had right good sense," replied Ruth, with a smile."They were nice candies."
"I rid over to Lem's the next night," said Ike, solemnly, "an' thatleetle pink-haired skeezicks opened up that box o' sweetmeats on thecounter an' had all them lop-eared jack-rabbits that sits around herpa's store o' nights he'pin' themselves out o' _my_ gift-box. Talkerbout castin' pearls before swine!" continued Bashful Ike, in deepdisgust, "_that_ was suah flingin' jewels to the hawgs, all right. Them'ombres from the Two-Ten outfit, an' from over Redeye way, was stuffin'down them bonbons like they was ten-cent gumdrops. An' Sally never atea-one."
"She did that just to tease you," said Ruth, sagely.
"Huh!" grunted Ike. "I never laid out to hurt her feelin's none. Dunnowhy she should give me the quirt. Why, I've been hangin' about her an'tryin' to show her how much I think of her for years! She must know Iwanter marry her. An' I got a good bank account an' five hundred head o'steers ter begin housekeepin' on."
"Does Sally know all that?" asked Ruth, slyly.
"Great Peter!" ejaculated Ike. "She'd oughter. Ev'rybody else in thecounty does."
"But did you ever ask Sally right out to marry you?" asked the Easterngirl.
"She never give me a chance," declared Ike, gruffly.
"Chance!" gasped Ruth, wanting to laugh, but being too kind-hearted todo so. "What sort of a chance do you expect?"
"I never git to talk with her ten minutes at a time," grumbled Ike.
"But why don't you _make_ a chance?"
"Great Peter!" cried the foreman again. "I can't throw an' hawg-tie her,can I? I never can git down to facts with her--she won't let me."
"If I were a great, big man," said Ruth, her eyes dancing, "I surelywouldn't let a little wisp of a girl like Miss Dickson get away fromme--if I wanted her."
"How am I goin' to he'p it?" cried Ike, in despair. "She's jest as sassyas a cat-bird. Ye can't be serious with her. She plumb slips out o' myfingers ev'ry time I try to hold her."
"You are going to the dance at the schoolhouse, aren't you?" asked Ruth.
"I reckon."
"Can't you get her to dance with you? And when you're dancing can't youask her? Come right out plump with it."
"Why, when I'm a-dancin'," confessed Ike, "I can't think o' nawthin' butmy feet."
"Your feet?" cried Ruth.
"Yes, ma'am. They're so e-tar-nal big I gotter keep my mind on 'em allthe time, or I'll be steppin' on Sally's. An' if I trod on her jestwunst--wal, that would suah be my finish with her. She ain't got that redhair for nawthin'," concluded the woeful cowpuncher.
Ike was not alone at the Silver Ranch in looking forward to the party atthe schoolhouse. Every man who could be spared of the --X0 outfit("Bar-Cross-Naught") planned to go to the Crossing Saturday night. Sucha rummaging of "war-bags" for fancy flannel shirts and brilliant tieshadn't occurred--so Old Bill Hicks said--within the remembrance of thepresent generation of prairie-dogs!
"Jest thinkin' about cavortin' among the gals about drives them 'ombresloco," declared the ranchman. "Hi guy! here's even Jimsey's got a bran'new shirt on."
"'Tain't nuther!" scoffed Bud. "Whar's your eyes, Boss? Don't youreckernize that gay and festive shirt? Jimsey bought it 'way back whenMis' Hills' twins was born."
"So it's as old as the Hills, is it?" grunted Mr. Hicks. "Wal, he ain'tworn it right frequent in this yere neck o' woods--that I'll swear to!An' a purple tie with it--Je-ru-sha! Somebody'll take a shot at him inthat combination of riotin' colors--you hear me!"
The girls too were quite fluttered over the prospect of attending theparty. Helen had agreed to take her violin along and Bob offered to helpout with the music by playing his harmonica--an instrument without whichhe never went anywhere, save to bed or in swimming!
"And I can't think of anything more utterly sad, Bobbie," declared hissister, "than your rendition of 'the Suwanee River' on that samemouth-organ. When it comes to your playing for square dances, I fear youwould give our Western friends much cause for complaint--and many ofthem, I notice, go armed," she continued, significantly.
"Huh!" sniffed Bob. "I guess I don't play as bad as all that. Busy Izzycould dance a jig to my playing."
"That's what I thought," responded Madge. "You're just about up toplaying jig-tunes on that old mouth-organ."
Just the same, Bob slipped the harmonica into his pocket. "You never cantell what may happen," he grunted.
"It'll be something mighty serious, then, Bobbie, if it necessitates thebringing forth of that instrument of torture," said his sister, bound tohave the last word.
At dusk the big automobile got away from Silver Ranch, surrounded by agang of wall-eyed ponies that looked on the rattling machine about askindly as they would have viewed a Kansas grain thrasher. The visitorsand Jane Ann all rode in the machine, for even Ruth's Freckles wouldhave turned unmanageable within sight and sound of that touring car.
"That choo-choo cart," complained Bud, the cowboy, "would stampede abattalion of hoptoads. Whoa, you Sonny! it ain't goin' tuh bite yuh."This to his own half-crazy mount. "Look out for your Rat-tail, Jimsey,or that yere purple necktie will bite the dust, as they sa
y in thestorybooks."
The hilarious party from Silver Ranch, however, reached the Crossingwithout serious mishap. They were not the first comers, for there werealready lines of saddle ponies as well as many various "rigs" hitchedabout Lem Dickson's store. The schoolhouse was lit brightly withkerosene lamps, and there was a string of Chinese lanterns hung abovethe doorway.
The girls, in their fresh frocks and furbelows, hastened over to theschoolhouse, followed more leisurely by their escorts. Sally Dickson, aschief of the committee of reception, greeted Jane Ann and her friends,and made them cordially welcome, although they were all some yearsyounger than most of the girls from the ranches roundabout.
"If you Eastern girls can all dance, you'll sure help us out a wholelot," declared the brisk little schoolmistress. "For if there's anythingI do dispise it's to see two great, hulking men paired off in a reel, ora 'hoe-down.' And you brought your violin, Miss Cameron? That's fine!You can play without music, I hope?"
Helen assured her she thought she could master the simple dance tunes towhich the assembly was used. There were settees ranged around the wallsfor the dancers to rest upon, and some of the matrons who had come tochaperone the affair were already ensconced upon these. There was a buzzof conversation and laughter in the big room. The men folk hung aboutthe door as yet, or looked in at the open windows.
"Did that big gump, Ike Stedman, come over with you-all, Miss Fielding?"Sally Dickson asked Ruth, aside. "Or did he know enough to stay away?"
"I don't believe Mr. Hicks could have kept him on the ranch to-night,"replied Ruth, smiling. "He has promised to dance with me at least once.Ike is an awfully nice man, I think--and so kind! He's taught us all toride and is never out of sorts, or too busy to help us out. We'tenderfoots' are always getting 'bogged,' you know. And Ike is rightthere to help us. We all like him immensely."
Sally looked at her suspiciously. "Humph!" said she. "I never expectedto hear that Bashful Ike was so popular."
"Oh, I assure you he is," rejoined Ruth, calmly. "He is developing intoquite a lady's man."
Miss Dickson snorted. Nothing else could explain her method ofemphatically expressing her disbelief. But Ruth was determined that thehaughty little schoolmistress should have her eyes opened regardingBashful Ike before the evening was over, and she proceeded to put intoexecution a plan she had already conceived on the way over from SilverRanch.
Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch; Or, Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys Page 13