Justin Wingate, Ranchman

by John Harvey Whitson

  CHAPTER XII

  CHANGING EVENTS

  Among those who were first to welcome Justin on his return to ParadiseValley were Steve and Pearl Harkness. They came to Clayton's withtheir little daughter, of whom they were proud. They made their callin the evening. Harkness was clad in new brown over-alls and jacket ofthe same material, and looked too big for them. Mrs. Harkness rustledin a dress of real China silk, whose shade of red made her round redface seem even hotter and redder than it was, Helen was fluffy inwhite skirts that stood out like those of a ballet dancer. Clayton inhis dusty snuff-colored clothing, and Justin in his business suit ofchecked gray were insignificant figures compared with Pearl Harknessand her daughter.

  "Now, Helen, what was it I told you to do?" said Pearl, lifting aplump round finger and shaking it at Helen, as soon as Harkness hadfinished his boisterous greetings.

  Helen hesitated, and Pearl catching her up deposited her in Justin'slap.

  "Now, what was it I told you to do?"

  Then Helen remembered. Putting her chubby arms about Justin's neck andleaning hard on his breast, while she squeezed to the utmost of herstrength, she said:

  "I love you, Justin; I love you!"

  Justin clasped her tightly in his strong arms.

  "I love you, too!" he declared, and kissed her.

  Standing by while he held Helen thus, Pearl, with a touch that wasalmost motherly, pushed the clustering dark locks back from hisforehead, revealing the scar of a burn. She gave it a little love pat.

  "You won't mind?" she said, and to Justin's surprise her voice chokedwith a sudden rush of tears. "You seem almost like my own boy, Justin.You weren't much more than a boy, you know, when you first came to theranch; and I can't help remembering how you got that scar. I wanted tosee if it had gone away any."

  Harkness coughed suspiciously.

  "If you ever git married, and your wife pulls out so much of your hairthat you're bald-headed, that scar's goin' to show," he said.

  Pearl caught Helen out of Justin's lap, with sudden agitation.

  "Helen, you're getting dirt all over Justin's nice new clothes!" Withbare plump hand she brushed away some infinitesimal specks whichHelen's shoes had left. "I ought to have looked at her shoes before Iput her up there! Why didn't you tell me to, Steve? Helen, you'llnever be a lady, unless you keep your shoes clean."

  "All them heroes and hero-wines of Pearl's keeps their shoes fereverspick an' span an' shinin'," said Harkness. "People always do, you'llnotice, in books; at least them she reads about do. She was readin' abook yisterday, and I looked at the picture of the hero. He had bootson that come to his thighs, and they'd jist been blacked. And thewomen in them books wear more fine clothes than you could find in amilliner's shop."

  "Clothes aren't found in a milliner's shop, Steve!" Pearl corrected,as she settled Helen firmly on her feet and proceeded to spread outthe fluffy white skirts. "Justin will think you don't know anything."

  Helen, escaping from her mother's clutches, and apparently glad toescape, made straight for Harkness, who caught her up, planted on hercheek a resounding kiss, and then plumped her down astride of one bigknee. Pleased by this preference, his face was radiant.

  "Justin," his eyes shone with enthusiasm and delight, "there ain'tanything like bein' married. Try it. I used to think I was havin' fun,cuttin' round skittish and wild like a loose steer on the range; thisain't fun, mebbe, it's comfort."

  "From what I hear, Justin intends to try it one of these days," saidPearl, with a questioning look. "Don't you think he is, DoctorClayton? You're hearing things like that, aren't you?"

  Clayton laughed, and glanced at Justin's flushing face.

  "I can't say what his intentions are, but if they concern a certainyoung lady I could name, they have my hearty approval."

  "Yet it does seem almost like marrying relatives," said Pearl. "Ican't get used to that yet. I had a cousin that married anothercousin; and their children--well, you just ought to see theirchildren!"

  "Monkeys, air they?" said Harkness.

  "Monkeys! Why, Steve, they're plum fools! They don't know enough tocome into the house when it rains."

  "This would be a good country fer 'em to live in, then; don't rainhere more'n one't in a year, and I reckon they could strain theirintellects enough to git a move on 'em that often."

  He looked at Justin.

  "Speakin' of this country and rain, we're reckonin', Pearl and me,that we'll take up farmin', fer a change; think it might be healthyfer our pocket book. I've had notice from Davison to quit, the firstof the month. I told him I'd quit to-morrow, if it suited him and hehad a man to put in my place; that if he didn't think I was earnin'all the good money I got and a little bit more, I did, and I stoodready to go on short notice, or without any notice at all. I've knowedit was comin' this good while, and I've been gittin' ready fer it.Davison and Fogg air sellin' off a good many cattle. The rest they'regoin' to throw onto the mesa, an' water at the water holes of thePurgatoire; the gover'ment is orderin' down the fences, and it wouldtake an army of cowboys to hold the cattle off the crops, with themfences gone."

  Clayton was interested.

  "Do you think of farming here in the valley?" he asked.

  "Yes, we're figgerin' on buyin' Simpson's place; it's well up towardthe head of the ditch, and if any water comes we're reckonin' thatwill give us a whack at it. Simpson's made me an offer to sell. I'mjist waitin' to see what's goin' to turn up here in the ditch line."

  "I tell him he'll wait round till it's too late," said Pearl. "Foggwill buy that land before he knows it; he's buying up farmseverywhere, for himself and Davison."

  She turned to Justin with a smile.

  "I've been wondering if you wouldn't get married and settle down tofarming, too; you never liked ranching."

  Pearl was as much of a match-maker as any dowager of her favoritenovels.

  "Pearl won't never be satisfied until that weddin' comes off," saidHarkness. "These women air bound to have a weddin' happenin' aboutone't in so often, er they ain't happy; if it can't be their ownweddin', another woman's will do. The weddin's of a neighborhood airwhat keeps the old maids alive, I reckon; they live ferever, ye know,drawin' happiness out of other women's marriages."

  "I'm not an old maid!" Pearl asserted with spirit.

  "No; I happened along!"

  Before Mr. and Mrs. Harkness departed that evening, Dicky Carroll,galloping by, stopped for a few moments.

  "I've got a job over at Borden's," he announced to Harkness. "He'll bea better man to git along with than Davison, anyway; so I'm kinderglad to go. And if I stay round hyer longer I'll be tempted to shootBen full of handsome little holes; he's been meaner than a polecat tome ever sense that election."

  Then he shook hands with Justin and Clayton, who had come out into theyard. The moonlight revealed him in full cowboy attire, with his ropecoiled at the saddle bow.

  "They're sayin', Justin, that you helped to bu'st the cattle biznessround hyer. I ain't believin' it; but if you did, what's the dif?There'll be plenty of ranches fer as long a time as I'm able tostraddle a pony and sling a rope, ranches back where the farmers can'tgo. When I can't ride a horse any longer I'll quit cow-punchin' and goto playin' gentleman like Ben. From the fine clothes he wears I judgethere's money in it. Well, so long; luck to all of you!"

  Fogg did not vary from his custom, when he visited Paradise Valley. Hecame over to Clayton's, and sat in the little study, in the chair heloved, which, though big, was now almost too small for him. He put hisfat hands on the arms of the chair, stretched out his fat legs, andwith his watch chain shining like a golden snake across his bigstomach, talked as amiably and laughed as loudly as ever.

  Lemuel Fogg believed that it is better to bend before the storm thanto be broken by it. The government at Washington had heard from thefarming settlers and irrigationists of the West. Many states hadspoken that winter, and their voice had been as one. The agriculturalelement, feeble and scorned at first, was becoming a p
ower. Congress,heeding its voice, was beginning to devise ways and means by whichvast areas of public land hitherto thought fit only for grazing, iffor that, could be watered by irrigation. Even the East, long hostilebecause it did not want more rich Western lands opened to compete withEastern agriculture, held modified opinions. The order of the landdepartment for the removal of the illegal fences on the public domainwas to be enforced, and the fences had begun to come down. Seeing thehand of fate, Fogg and Davison had sold some of their cattle, werecontracting their grazing area, and had begun to take thought of otherthings.

  "We'll go with the tide," said Fogg, whom Davison followed in mostthings pertaining to matters of business, for Fogg's success had beenphenomenal. "What do we care whether it's cattle or something else, ifwe can get money out of it? Never buck against the government; it'stoo strong, and you'll get into trouble. We'll turn farmer; we'llirrigate."

  So Fogg and Davison were increasing their already considerableholdings of land in Paradise Valley, by purchases from settlers andfrom the mortgage companies. It was reported that in some placesranchmen secured land by inducing their cowboys to settle onquarter-sections and so obtain title from the government. Fogg andDavison would not do that. Not because they were too scrupulous, butbecause they were too wise. It would be an unpleasant thing to behaled into court for land swindling by the government agents who wereordering down the fences.

  While thus securing the land, they had quietly obtained a controllinginterest in the irrigating canal which the settlers had constructed.It was owned by a stock company; and before the farmers knew what wasoccurring it was to all intents and purposes in the possession ofDavison and Fogg.

  "It begins to look as though you were right, Justin, and that I waswrong, up there in Denver," said Fogg, sliding his fingers along hiswatch chain and beaming on Justin. "I couldn't see it then, but itreally looks it; anyway, your side seems to be winning out, and Ididn't think it could."

  "I thought I was right," Justin declared, with vigorousaggressiveness.

  "Yes, I know you did; but I thought you was wrong, and of course I hadto oppose you. But, anyway, it's all right now; we're going to make itall right. Some few of the farmers are kicking because Davison and Ihave got control of the ditch, but they'll live to bless the day thething happened. We'll strengthen their dam and enlarge the canal andlaterals and furnish plenty of water. Where they watered ten acreswe'll water hundreds. We've got the money to do it with, and theyhadn't; that's the difference."

  His shining watch chain rose and fell on his heaving stomach, as hetalked. Looking at it, Justin could almost fancy it had been wroughtof that gold which Fogg, with heavy but nimble fingers, gathered fromeven the most unpromising places. Fogg seemed almost a Midas.

  Fogg did not take his departure before midnight, but when he went hewas in a very good humor with himself and all the world.