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its name about twenty-five yards off. There must have been a dozen rigs around
the place, mostly buckboards, but there was oneDearborn wagon, a surrey and an
army ambulance among them.
As for riding stock, there looked to be forty or fifty horses under saddle. I
wouldn't have believed there were that many people in the country but, as I
was to discover, it was just like other western communities and some of the
folks had been riding all day to get there. Parties, dances and box dinners
were rare enough to draw a crowd at any time.
Saddler was just pulling up. On the seat beside him was a thin, tired-looking
woman whom I discovered was his wife. Also beside him, a lean but
heavy-shouldered man was dismounting. "Klaus," Fuentes whispered. "He gets
forty a month."
When opportunity offered, I glanced at him. He was no one I knew, but he was
wearing a gun and, unless I was mistaken, had another under his coat but
tucked behind his belt.
Somebody was tuning up a fiddle, and there was a smell of coffee on the air.
Suddenly, somebody said, "Here comes the major!"
He came in a surrey, spanking new, polished and elegant, surrounded by six
riders. In the surrey itself were Ann, beautifully but modestly gowned, and
the man who had to be the major ... tall, square-shouldered, immaculate in
every sense.
He stepped down,then helped his daughter to the ground. With them was another
couple, equally well-dressed, but whose faces I could not see in the dim
light. I knew none of the riders with them, but they were well set-up,
square-shouldered men with the look of the cavalry about them.
Standing back in the shadows as I was, ArmTimberly could not see me as she
went in, and I was just as pleased. I'd dug out an expensively tailored black
broadcloth suit I had, and was wearing my Sunday-go-to-meetin' boots, polished
and fine. I also wore a white shirt and a black string tie.
Ann was beautiful. No getting around it, she was beautiful and composed, and
as she swept into the schoolhouse you had no doubt thatSomebody had arrived.
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Her manner, I decided, would have been neither more nor less had she been
entering the finest home inCharleston ,Richmond orPhiladelphia .
Yet she was only in the door when somebody let out a whoop in the near
distance and there was a rush of hoofs. A buckboard wheeled up, coming in at a
dead run and skidding to a halt with horses rearing. And as the buckboard
halted, a man leaped from a horse and caught the driver as she dropped from
her seat.
The man caught her and swung her around before putting her down, but
immediately, and without looking back at either man or rig, she strode for the
door.
I caught a glimpse of dark auburn hair, of green, somewhat slanted eyes, a
few freckles over a lovely nose, and I heard somebody inside say, "Here'sChina
!"
She swept into the schoolhouse, only a step behind AnnTimberly , and I
followed, pushing among the crowd, taking my time. Somebody, I noticed, was
caring for her team, but the big man who had lifted her from the buckboard was
right behind me.
As he started to push me aside, I said over my shoulder, "Take it easy.
She'll still be there when you get there."
He looked down at me. Now I am two inches over six feet and weigh usually
about an even one-ninety, although my weight is often judged to be less, but
beside this man I was a shadow. He was at least four or five inches taller,
and he weighed a good fifty pounds more. And he was not used to anybody
standing in his way.
He looked again, and started to push me aside. I was half-facing him now and
as he stepped quickly forward, my instep lifted under his moving ankle and
lifted the leg high. Off-balance, he tottered and started to fall. It needed
only a slight move toward him to keep him off-balance. He fell with a thud,
and instantly I bent over him. "Sorry. Can I help you?"
He stared up at me, uncertain as to just what had happened, but I was looking
very serious and apologetic, so he accepted my hand and I helped him up.
"Slipped," he muttered. "I must've slipped."
"We all do that occasionally," I said, "if we've had one too many."
"Now, see here!" he broke in. "I haven't been "
But I slipped away into the crowd and walked down the length of the room. As
I reached the end I turned and found myself looking into the eyes of China
Benn. She was across the room but she was looking at me, suddenly, seriously,
as if wondering what manner of man I was.
Fuentes moved over beside me. "What happened, amigo?"
"He was shoving too hard," I said, "and I guess he slipped."
Fuentes took out a cigar. His eyes were bright with amusement. "You live
dangerously, amigo. Is it wise?"
On a long table at the end of the room were stacked the box lunches the girls
had packed, their names carefully hidden. It was simple enough. A box would be
held up by an auctioneer and the bidding would begin, the box going to the
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highest bidder. And the buyer of the box would then eat dinner with the girl
who prepared it.
Naturally, there was a good deal of conniving going on. Some of the girls
always succeeded in tipping off the men they wished to buy their boxes as to
just which ones they were. Knowing this, other cowhands, ranchers or
storekeepers from the town would sometimes deliberately bid up a box to raise
more money ... the proceeds always going for some worthy cause ... or simply
to worry the man who wanted the box.
There was also a good deal of pride in having one's box bring a high price.
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