Books: Happy Hawkins

R >> Robert Alexander Wason >> Happy Hawkins

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CHAPTER NINETEEN

BARBIE MAKES A DISCOVERY

Jessamie, that was Miss Johnston's real name, had been ridin' one o'
the Colonel's high-breds, an' again orders at that; but the Colonel
was purty comfortable like at the upshot. Bill was fitted out with a
pedigree an 'a bank account what made him a parlor guest purty much
everywhere he went, an' on top o' that it tickled the Colonel a heap
to have things ironed out by the bull pup himself.

I didn't much suppose when I see that sorrowful pup pikin' back the
track that he was doomed to achieve prominence an' fame, but Fate
had him entered on her book all right, an' he made so everlastin'
good that it wouldn't have surprised me a mite if they'd have run
him for Governor.

You just bet your life the other feller never got him again! Why
they'd 'a' had to bring the whole standin' army to filch that dog
away from Bill after the big doin's. Out here in Wyoming it's a test
of class--owners of one of Cupid's pups are first-class, others
belong to the herd.

It was two weeks after the accident that us four--countin' Kid
Porter--was sittin' in exactly the same place back of the shack;
only this time, Bill was pullin' the pup's ears. Bill hadn't spent
overly much time with us the last fortnight, an' we were talkin' it
all over, when hanged if we didn't hear the thud of hoofs again, an'
I reckon we all turned blue.

Cupid himself appeared a shade disgusted at the prospect of an
encore. He had only just shed his bandages, an' the flap on his lid
was still too tender to scratch, so that you can't hardly blame him
for takin' the narrow view of it. We jumped around the corner of the
house, but the' was two riders this time, an' while they was
spinnin' along at a purty merry clip, they had control of the hosses
all right. Both of 'em was girls, an' one of 'em was Jessamie. When
I see who the other was, I felt as though I was standin' on the
outer edge of a fleecy cloud. It was Barbie. I ducked back around
the corner of the house.

Bill, he ran down an' helped his lady to alight, while Barbie
flopped herself off her mount an' ran up to Cupid. Oh, they know a
heap, dogs do. Cupid took just one look in her eyes, an' when she
squatted down on her knees, he tried to get into her lap an' they
made a heap o' fuss over each other. I could tell by her eyes that
Jessamie felt a shade jealous, 'cause Cupid hadn't quite forgiven
her for slightin' him at the first. I was watchin' 'em through a
chink in the shack and I was feelin' purty glum myself, to think
that Barbie would spend all that time on a dog an' never give one
little inquiry about me.

Well, they examined the spot where Cupid had made his tackle, an'
the dent in the earth where the hoss an' Jessamie had lit, an' then
they meandered up to the house to see just how helpless we'd been,
aside from Cupid.

"Well, you all had a share in it;" Barbie was sayin' as they neared
the shack. "Cupid did the actual work, you trained him for it, and
Higinson had the kind of a nerve that don't melt under fire."

"Sure thing," sez Bill, "I own up that I was plumb petrified, an'
Cupid wasn't carin' much one way or the other; but Hank Higinson
never lost his self-possession a second,"--this was all bosh, 'cause
I was purty nigh stampeded, an' that's the simple truth.

"Where is he?" sez Barbie. "I want to see him an' then I can tell
just about how much he could do on his own hook."

I was feelin' a sight better. I saw exactly how it was. Bill an' all
the rest o' the fellers had done exactly what I had hinted at an'
hadn't divulged my identity, an' Barbie hadn't the slightest idea
that I was in the state. Those people who know precisely the right
time to disobey orders, are a big help to humanity; but they're
mighty scarce.

Bill, he opened the door of the shack, an' sez, "Come on out. Hank,
a lady wants to be introduced to you."

I stepped to the door feelin' wonderful bashful, but when Barbie saw
me, she went several different colors an' shouts:

"Happy, Happy Hawkins! What on earth do you mean by bein' here?"

Her voice was trembly an' accusin' an' reproachful an' glad an' a
lot of other things; an' I found it mighty hard to come back with a
joke, quick enough to suit me. I felt sort o' flighty, with her big
dark eyes lookin' into me, an' while I was stutterin' she opened up
on me an' give me a good old-fashioned scoldin'--an' I felt dandy.
Bill, he was troubled some with startin' eyes. Jessamie was breedy
all right, but compared to Barbie, she looked like a six o' suit
alongside the queen o' trumps.

"Why," sez Barbie, turnin' to Jessamie, "everything always goes
right when Happy's present. I might have known from your description
that it was Happy who saw the only way--"

"Oh, pshaw, now," sez I, breakin' in, "I didn't do a blasted thing.
Cupid here was the master workman on this job, while Bill--"

"That's all true enough," sez Barbie, "you have the gift of hidin'
yourself in your work; but I can see you just the same."

It was certainly comfortin' to hear the way she went on about it;
but it was a little too cold-blooded for my nerves, 'cause I hadn't
done a thing this time but make one small suggestion; so we finally
compromised by admnittin' that now an' again, I was picked out to be
the nail on the finger of Fate. Sometimes I rather think that comes
purty close to hittin' me.

Jessamie had graduated from the university where Barbie was goin',
at the close of Barbie's first year. They had met, an' remembered
each other; an' as soon as the news of the doin's had reached the
Diamond Dot, of course Barbie piked over to make a call. The outcome
was that when the Colonel sent out a man to take my place, I rode
back to the Diamond Dot with Barbie, an' it was mighty good to be
there again.

Jabez give me a good firm hand-shake, an' didn't rub it in about the
silkworms; so that everything just slid along as smooth as joint-
oil, an' I had a good opportunity to estimate the benefit of
Barbie's schoolin'. She was a heap more changed than I had supposed
at first; the' was a way she had of holdin' her head an' walkin' an'
talkin', that showed me quick enough that money spent on her
edication wasn't nowise wasted.

But she went back to her last year soon after this, intendin' to be
the best maid at Jessamie's weddin'. This weddin' was a curious
thing an' opened my eyes purty wide to the ways of women. I'd 'a'
been willin' to bet my saddle that the one man she never would
marry, was Bill; but she owned up herself that she had made up her
mind to marry him the first night they met. She wasn't quite sure of
it until him an' her had the fall-out over Cupid, and that settled
it. She said a man who had the spunk to stick up for his dog the way
Bill did would be a purty handy kind to have around the house, an'
she was just tryin' him out to see how far he'd go. She was actually
fond of dogs all the time, especially bulldogs. A girl-baby three
years old could have fooled Methusaleh in his prime, an' that means
after he'd had about six hundred years of experience. She's a
wonderful invention, woman.

All the while before Barbie left, she was tryin' to plan out what
use she was goin' to put her edication to. Sometimes she was minded
to go on the stage, at others lawyerin' looked good to her, but most
of the time she seemed to think that a female doctor would come
nearer fittin' her than anything else.

Me an' Jabez worried about it a heap; but we was wise enough to hide
it. We knew that Barbie carted around at all times what they call a
spirit of combativity, which fattened on opposition, an' we
preferred to let her scrap it out with herself, hopin' that what she
finally decided on would be all for the best.

Jabez said good-bye at the edge of the ranch, while I drove her over
to Webb Station. I kind o' fought shy of Danders 'cause it seemed to
me that the' was always some kind of a job waitin' for me there, an'
Barbie had left me a heap of work for that winter. "Have you learned
anything yet?" she asked me, after the train had pulled into sight
an' we was shakin' hands.

"Not a thing for certain," sez I. "I've stumbled onto several
rumors, but they always went out. Do you still study over it much,
Barbie?"

"Never a day goes by but what I study over it," sez she. "There
isn't anything I wouldn't give to know about my mother--all about
her."

"Are you sure, Barbie?" said I.

She thought hard a minute, an' then she threw back her head an'
looked into my eyes. "Yes," she said, in a low tone, "I'd give
everything--even the love and respect I feel for my father."

I gave a little shiver. "Barbie," I sez, "I don't think you'll ever
have to pay that high a price. I never saw your Dad cruel in cold
blood, an' he's purty just."

"Oh, I would rather die than find out that he'd ever been cruel to
my mother; but I do want to know about her; and some day I will."
She squeezed my hand hard and her eyes were wet with tears when she
stepped on the train; but she tried to smile, she sure did.

CHAPTER TWENTY

RICHARD WHITTINGTON ARRIVES

Well, that winter rolled by without a break. Me an' Jabez had just
about learned how to take each other, an' we didn't stretch our
harness to the snappin' point. Bill Andrews had finally got tol'able
well acquainted with me also, an' was able to savvy that while peace
was my one great desire, the' was some prices that I wouldn't pay
for it.

We was all het up when the graduation day finally came, an' we
didn't do a lick of work on the ranch; just gathered around the
ranch buildin's, polishin' up her harness an' hosses, an' talkin'
about her in hushed voices. She had won honors an' medals an' one
thing or another until I reckon we felt purty much as Mrs.
Washington did when she was cleanin' house to welcome the father of
his country after he had showed England where to reset the boundery
stakes.

Barbie had wrote us that she was goin' to cut out a string of
invitations as long as your arm and pike right out for home as soon
as she had finished her part of the program, an' we weren't able to
do a tap until she arrived. At first I was minded to drive down
after her, an' then I decided that it would be better for me to stay
at home an' line up the boys in some sort of style to receive her.
Spider Kelley went after her and as soon as they hove in sight I had
all the punchers charge down an' shoot their guns off in the air.
They was wearin' their gaudiest raiment an' shoutin' their heads
off, an' she owned up herself that it topped anything she ever saw
in the East. She stood up in the buckboard an' took off her hat an'
swung it about her head and shouted, "Boys, you're just bully--every
one of you!" an' say, the' wasn't a puncher on the Diamond Dot that
wouldn't have given up his hide to make her a pair o' ridin' gloves.
Jabez had waited back at the ranch house an' he was tremblin' when
we left him to ride down an' meet her.

Here she was, comin' back for the last time with all the learnin' of
the earth packed away in her head, an' niched up with more degrees
than a thermometer; but it hadn't changed her heart, not one grain;
an' when she saw the home buildin's with ol' Mount Savage sittin' up
on his throne an' all the little peaks bowin' before him, like pages
to a king, she jes' threw out her arms as though she would take in
the whole outfit in one big hug, an' her eyes filled up with tears
as she sez, "Oh, Dad. I love it! I love every inch of it, every line
of it, every shade of it; an' I've hungered an' thirsted for it all
these years--an' for you, Dad, for you most of all."

Well, you should have seen Jabez. Beam? Why, I reckon you could have
lit a cigar on his face, an' he fluttered around like a hen with one
chicken an' that one a duck. He couldn't quite believe that it was
all true and that he was actually awake. He had worried so long
about her cuttin' into some new game as soon as her schoolin' was
done that he hardly dared rejoice for fear it would wake him up; but
it didn't take her long to begin enjoyin' her old freedom again. It
took us some longer to adjust ourselves to her, however.

Now she hadn't changed such an awful sight, an' yet the' was
somethin' about her 'at made you feel like touchin' your hat when
she issued an order. Not that she was uppity nor nothin'; she
rambled around playin' with the colts an' the calves, an' rompin'
with the dogs, an' fairly stackin' up the whole place in little
heaps. An' she rustled up her old sombrero an' leggin's just as
though she had never set a hoof off the range. Still, the' was
somethin' about her you couldn't quite put your finger on; but which
you knew in your heart was there all the time, awaitin' till she
made up her mind to call it out; like a handful o' regulars givin'
dignity to a scrawny two by twice fort in the Injun country.

We took up our ridin' again, an' just as I was gettin' used to it,
along comes a feller lookin' about two thirds starved. His clothes
was ragged an' soiled, he had forgot his baggage, he was on foot
(an' when I say on foot, I don't only mean that he was dispensin'
with the luxury of a pony; he was also unemcumbered with soles to
his boots), but he had indoor hands, a back as straight as an
Injun's, an' a way of flingin' up his head an' drawin' down his
brows when you spoke to him sudden, which proved 'at trampin' was
only a sideline with him. He put in an application as cook for the
home gang.

Ol' Cast Steel looked into him: examined his eyes, his hands, an'
the way he carried his head. Then he spoke kind o' slow an' drawly.
"Cook?" sez he. "We'll, I'd be willin' to bet 'at you've stayed up
till three o'clock a heap more times'n you have ever arose at this
wholesome hour. What can you cook?"

Well, the feller he laughed, an' sez, "You win. I own up 'at I ain't
no cook, nor I ain't no cow puncher; but my pension has stopped an'
my appetite is still runnin'. I never yet recall readin' no notice
of any cook what died of starvation."

Jabez grinned. "I don't ask no man about his past," sez he. "No man
knows nothin' about his future. As for the present, you can help
with the cookin'. Flap Jack is due for his bender, week after next,
an' if you can learn the trade by that time you'll come in handy."

'Twas the first time I ever heard of Cast Steel vary his hirin'
speech; so I knew 'at he too had the feller spotted for a stray; but
he rolled up his sleeves an' started to peel spuds for the evenin'
slum. He said that his name was Richard Whittington, an' while he
didn't talk overly extensive about himself, he wasn't nowise offish
nor snarly. He did his work up to the limit too, an' even of Flap
Jack didn't complain as much as he generally did whenever he was
furnished with a little extra help. The peculiar thing was the way
'at Barbie treated him. She came down to the cook shack soon after
he landed, with a lot of Jabez' old clothes an' a pair of boots,
'cause anything in distress got to her heart by the shortest cut.
She came lopin' along with about fifteen dogs, whistlin' an' hummin'
an' sort o' dancin' up in the air like a young angel; but the minute
she saw him she sobered up, an' after he had thanked her, which he
did in book langwidge, she simply pulled down the blinds an' locked
the door. It was mighty curious an' set us all to talkin', 'cause
she treated us feliers just as friendly as the rest of the stock;
but Dick made a bad impression right at the start, an' we kept our
eyes on him for the first crooked move.

He was a restless feller, was Dick, allus askin' questions about
breeds an' fencin' an' winter feeds an' marketin'. Said he liked to
have somethin' to study about when his hands was workin'. Barbie
left one of her books out in the wagon-shed one day an' Dick found
it. He curled right up on a cushion an' begun to read. That was the
very day 'at Flappy was to start off on his periodical, an' he had
made all his preparations so that everything would be in apple-pie
order. When dinner went by an' no deputy showed up he ground out
several canticles of profanity; but when supper time hove in sight
and nairy a report from the substitute hash-herder, he fairly stood
on tiptoe an' screamed his woes into what they call the wel-kin; an'
you can bet that Flappy made her welk all right.

He had been training for this jag for full three months, an' the
thirst he had built up was somethin' for the whole ranch to be proud
of; an' all the boys was full of sympathy an' interest, an' wanted
him to have every show in the world. They wanted his mind to be
utterly free from care, so that he could give his full attention to
tackin' up a Diamond Dot record that would arouse the envy of the
entire West, an' Flappy was in fine shape to do it.

We all started out to find Dick, whether he was still hidin' around
the ranch or had started to hike; but it was Barbie herself who
found him. She came racin' along with a herd of dogs, friskin' an'
rompin' the same as they was; but when she came onto Dick readin'
her book she simmered down immejet. When he looked up an' saw her he
seemed like a feller wakin' up out of a dream. It didn't break on
him all at once; but when it did, he looked as guilty as a sheep-
herder. He stood up an' bowed an' helt out the book an' stammered,
an' all in all, it was painful to watch 'em. None of us was able to
figger out why they acted this way ever time they happened to meet;
but they did.

Well, after he'd apologized a couple o' chapters she told him 'at
she was nearly through with the book, an' if he'd come up to the
house after supper she'd he glad to let him take it. After supper up
he went to the house an' sent ol' Mellisse in for it. When he got it
he went back to the cook-shack an' stayed up all night readin' it.
One of the boys what got in about two o'clock said 'at he was just
about half through with it the second time when he came along. Books
is the same as opium to some folks. After that Barbie used to send
him down books purty often, an' he used to get a world of comfort
out of 'em.

One afternoon when Dick was cookin' up a stew Jabez came out an' sat
on a cracker-box talkin' to him. He allus seemed to have a likin'
for Dick, an' used to chat with him right consid'able. This
afternoon he got to spreadin' himself about how much money the place
handled every year an' how much the' was invested in it, an' what a
great thing the cattle industry was to the entire country. Jabez had
his vanities all right, an' he used to parade 'em occasional an' got
a heap o' comfort out of 'em. Dick went along seasonin' an' addin'
an' stirrin' an' not seemin' to pay a mite of attention, until
finally Jabez got tired of appreciatin' himself, an' sez, "Well,
what do you think of this little plant anyway?"

"Do you like the scenery around here, or do you have to live here on
account of your health?" sez Dick, sort of unconcerned like.

Jabez looked at him about a minute to kind of get the drift of his
remark, an' then he sez, "What do you mean by that?"

"Why," sez Dick, "you ain't makin' two percent profit, an' I was
just wonderin' what you stayed here for--if it wasn't for somethin'
else beside the filthy looger."

Jabez, he jumps to his feet an' goes all through it again, tellin'
all he has took in an' all he has paid out; while Dick kept
attendin' to his pots an' pans the same as if he was stone deaf.
Jabez rattled on an ended up with: "An' this here ranch has the best
water an' the best range an' the best shelter of any ranch in the
state. What do you think of that?" "Why, I think it all the more
reason why it should pay a business profit," drawls Dick. "Only last
week I heard you complainin' somethin' fierce because you had to put
up for a new freight-wagon. The great trouble with you is that you
don't have no system. You need a manager, a man who takes an
interest in modern progress, a man who sees that the rest o' the men
pay a profit. I don't mean a foreman, you got plenty o' them. I mean
a business man. You ain't no business man; you don't like it."

Well, Jabez was stupefied. He'd never had no wage-earner dump advice
on him before, an' here was a tramp, as you might say, who started
in by telling him that what he really needed was some one to run his
business for him. He didn't fly up through. He just rose an' gave
Dick a searchin' look, an' then he meandered up to the house; an'
you could tell by the very droop of his shoulders that what he was
doin' was thinkin'.

The upshot of it was that when Flappy was hauled out to the ranch
the next week, an' as soon as he got so he could tell fire from
water, Dick fitted up an office in the North wing; an' about fifteen
minutes afterward we all felt the difference. From that on
everything ran like a round-up. Dick didn't boss none, he just
pointed out the best way, an' we did it. All those answers we had
told him about calves an' winter hay an' such-like had simply gone
in one ear--an' stuck to the inside of his mental gearing. He
discovered that Jabez had been stuck for further orders on most of
his supplies, an' had allus managed to win the bottom price whenever
it came his turn to make a sale.

Well, Dick was a perpetual surprise party. You could tell by the
color of his skin that he was an indoor man; but he sat a hoss like
a cow puncher, an' as soon as he got things runnin' to suit him on
our place he got to makin' side trips to the other ranches. He would
spend two hours talkin' about the weather; but at the end o' that
time, he knew more about a man's outfit than the owner himself. Then
he ordered out a lot of stock papers, an' the first thing we knew,
we was askin' him questions about things 'at we'd allus supposed we
savvied from tail to muzzle. He seemed to like me more'n the rest,
an' chose me out to be his ridin' pal an' what he called an A. D.
Kong, which was simply the French for messenger boy; but Dick never
unloaded a lot of talk about himself. You wouldn't notice it, but he
allus managed to have the other feller do most o' the talkin'.

When winter came he took a trainload o' cattle clear to Chicago an'
brought back twenty bulls--dandies! Big white-faced fellers with
pool-table backs an' stocky legs, an' they sure made the other stuff
look like the champion scrubs of creation. No one in our parts had
ever seen such cattle, an' for the rest of the winter we helt a fair
an' booked enough orders for calves to make a man nervous. Jabez had
gone along, an' it must have ganted him consid'able to heave out the
wampum for that bunch; but you should have seen him swell up when
folks got to talkin' about 'em. He was game though, an' gave Dick
the credit. He thought Dick was the whole manuver by this time.

Barbie an' Dick had got over givin' antelope starts every time they
met; but they wasn't what you would call friendly by a long ways.
Dick had worn a rough lookin' beard when he first arrived; but
afterward he had trimmed it to a point, an' it made him look some
like a doctor. His ears were set tight to his head, an' he had a
proud nose; but it was his hands an' his eyes that set him apart.
His hands were fair size but white, an' they stayed white. They had
a nervous way of fussin' around with things whenever he got to
thinkin'; but after all, the thing that was the final call was his
eyes. They were bright an' set in under heavy brows; but they never
seemed tryin' to bend you, like some eyes do, they just seemed so
completely sure of what they saw, an' they seemed to have seen so
much beforehand, that a feller was tempted to stick to the truth in
front of 'em--even when it wasn't altogether convenient. Dick was
the first cold-blooded man I ever liked, an' he was sure cold-
blooded at this period.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

HAPPY MAKES A DISCOVERY

Now dogs an' Barbie was allus exceedin' intimate. Dogs just doted on
her, an she recipercated full measure; but she had one dog what was
only a dog by what they call an act of courtesy. It must 'a' weighed
fully two pounds, an' had bushy hair at that. It had a bark to it
like one o' these intellectual dolls what can say Ma-maa, Ma-maa,
but the critter was as proud o' this bark as though it shook all the
buildin's on the place. The blame thing wasn't physically able to
inflict much more damage than a mosquito, but it was full as
bloodthirsty, an' it had took a keen disregard for Bill Andrews.

Bill Andrews was still the foreman, an' one day he was on his way to
the office to make a report to Dick when this imitation dog came
sailin' around the corner an' took a grab at his leg. He had a
brand-new pair of pants on, an' they was outside his boots. You know
how corduroy tears when the dye has been a bit too progressive.
Well, the pup loosened up a piece like a section of pie. Bill
Andrews lost his Christian fortitude, give that toy muff a kick that
landed him fifteen feet--an' Barbie came around the corner, an' Dick
came out of the office at the same time.

The poor little pup was a-layin' on his back yelpin' like a love-
sick bob-cat; a white rage came over me an' I pulled out my gun; but
before I could use it Dick had sailed into him without a word. Bill
Andrews was too flustered to pull his own gun, so he put up his
hands, but it didn't do no good. Dick caught him under the chin, an'
the back of his head struck the ground several moments before his
feet arrived. It was a beautiful blow; I never seen a neater. I
don't reckon Barbie ever did either; 'cause as soon as she had
gathered up the pup she walked up to Dick an' sez, "I want to thank
you for this, an' to say that I am in your debt to the extent of any
favor what's in my power." Course Dick was locoed the same as usual.
His face looked like the settin' sun, an' he couldn't pump out a
word to save him. Them two found it mighty hard to overcome the
first prejudice they'd felt again each other.

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