That Girl Montana

by Marah Ellis Ryan

  CHAPTER V.

  AT SINNA FERRY.

  "It has been young wolves, an' bears, an' other vicious pets--every formedthing, but snakes or redskins, and at last it's that!"

  "Tush, tush, captain! Now, it's not so bad. Why, I declare, now, I waskind of pleased when I got sight of her. She's white, anyway, and she'sright smart."

  "Smart!" The captain sniffed, dubiously. "We'll get a chance to see aboutthat later on, Mrs. Huzzard. But it's like your--hem! tender heart to havea good word for all comers, and this is only another proof of it."

  "Pshaw! Now, you're making game, I guess. That's what you're up to,captain," and Mrs. Huzzard attempted a chaste blush and smile, andsucceeded in a smirk. "I'm sure, now, that to hem a few neckties an' sichlike for you is no good reason for thinking I'm doing the same for everyone that comes around. No, indeed; my heart ain't so tender as all that."

  The captain, from under his sandy brows, looked with a certain air ofsatisfaction at the well rounded personality of Mrs. Huzzard. His vanitywas gently pleased--she was a fine woman!

  "Well, I mightn't like it so well myself if I thought you'd do as much forany man," he acknowledged. "There's too many men at the Ferry who ain'tfit even to eat one of the pies you make."

  Mrs. Huzzard was fluting the edge of a pie at that moment, and lookedacross the table at the captain, with arch meaning.

  "Maybe so; but there's a right smart lot of fine-looking fellows amongthem, too; there's no getting around that."

  The unintelligible mutter of disdain that greeted her words seemed tobring a certain comfort to her widowed heart, for she smiled brightly andflipped the completed pie aside, with an airy grace.

  "Now--now, Captain Leek, you can't be expecting common grubbers of men tohave all the advantages of manners that you've got. No, sir; you can't.They hain't had the bringing up. They hain't had the schooling, and theyhain't had the soldier drills to teach them to carry themselves likegentlemen. Now, you've had all that, and it's a sight of profit to you.But don't be too hard on the folks that ain't jest so finished like asyou. There's that new Rivers girl, now--she ain't a bad sort, though it isqueer to see your boy Dan toting such a stranger into camp, for he neverdid seem to take to girls much--did he?"

  "It's not so easy to tell what he's taken to in his time," returned thecaptain, darkly. "You know he isn't my own boy, as I told you before. Hewas eight years old when I married his mother, and after her death he tookthe bit in his own teeth, and left home. No great grief to me, for hewasn't a tender boy to manage!" And Captain Leek heaved a sigh for themartyrdom he had lived through.

  "Oh, well, but see what a fine man he's turned out, and I'm sure no ownson could be better to you," for Mrs. Huzzard was one of the large,comfortable bodies, who never see any but the brightest side of affairs,and a good deal of a peacemaker in the little circle where she had takenup her abode. "Indeed, now, captain, you'll not meet many such finefellows in a day's tramp."

  "If she'd even been a real Indian," he continued, discontentedly, "itwould have been easier to manage her--to--to put her in some positionwhere she could earn her own living; for by Dan's words (few enough, too!)I gather that she has no money back of her. She'll be a dead weight on hishands, that's what she'll be, and an expensive savage he'll find her, I'llprophesy."

  "Like enough. Young ones of any sort do take a heap of looking after. Butshe's smart, as I said before, and I do think it's a sight better to makeroom for a likely young girl than to be scared most to death with youngwolves and bears tied around for pets. I was all of a shiver at night onaccount of them. I'll take the girl every time. She won't scratch an' clawat folks, anyway."

  "Maybe not," added the captain, who was too contented with his discontentto let go of it at once. "But no telling what a young animal like that maydevelop into. She has no idea whatever of duty, Mrs. Huzzard, or of--ofveneration. She contradicted me squarely this morning when I made somecomment about those beastly redskins; actually set up her ignoranceagainst my years of service under the American flag, Mrs. Huzzard. Yes,madame! she did that," and Captain Leek arose in his wrath and trampedtwice across the room, halting again near her table and staring at her asthough defying her to justify that.

  When he arose, one could see by the slight unsteadiness in his gait thatthe cane in his hand was for practical use. His limp was not adeformity--in fact, it made him rather more interesting because of it;people would notice or remember him when nothing else in his personalitywould cause them to do so.

  For Captain Alphonso Leek was not a striking-looking personage. His blueeyes had a washed-out, querulous expression. His sandy whiskers had theappearance of having been blown back from his chin, and lodged just infront of his ears. An endeavor had been made to train the outlyingportions of his mustache in line with the lengthy, undulating "muttonchops;" but they had, for well-grounded reasons, failed to connect, andthe effect was somewhat spoiled by those straggling skirmishers, bristlingwith importance but waiting in vain for recruits. The top of his head hadgot above timber line and glistened in the sun of early summer thatstreamed through the clear windows of Mrs. Huzzard's back room.

  But as that head was generally covered by a hat that sported a cord andtassel, and as his bulging breastbone was covered by a dark-blue coat andvest, on which the brass buttons shone in real military fashion--well, allthose things had their weight in a community where few men wore a coat atall in warm weather.

  Mrs. Huzzard, in the depths of her being, thought it would be a fine thingto go back to Pennsylvania as "Mrs. Captain," even if the captain wasn'tas forehanded as she'd seen men.

  Even the elegant way in which he could do nothing and yet diffuse an airof importance, was impressive to her admiring soul. The clerical whiskersand the military dress completed the conquest.

  But Mrs. Huzzard, having a bit of native wisdom still left, knew he wasa man who would need managing, and that the best way was not to let hisopinion rule her in all things; therefore, she only laughed cheerily athis indignation.

  "Well, captain, I can't say but she did flare up about the Indians, whenyou said they were all thieves and paupers, stealing from the Government,and all that. But then, by what she says, she has knowed some decent onesin her time--friends of hers; an' you know any one must say a good wordfor a friend. You'd do that yourself."

  "Maybe; I don't say I wouldn't," he agreed. "But I do say, the friendswould not be redskins. No, madame! They're no fit friends for a gentlemanto cultivate; and so I have told Dan. And if this girl owns such friends,it shows plainly enough that the class she belongs to is not a high one.Dan's mother was a lady, Mrs. Huzzard! She was my wife, madame! And it isa distress for me to see any one received into our family who does notcome up to that same level. That is just the state of the case, and Imaintain my position in the matter; let Dan take on all the temper helikes about it."

  The lady of the pies did not respond to his remarks at once. She had anidea that she herself might fall under the ban of Captain Leek'sdiscriminating eyes, and be excluded from that upper circle of chosenhumanity to which he was born and bred. He liked her pies, her flap-jacks,and even the many kinds of boiled dinners she was in the habit ofpreparing and garnishing with "dumplings." So far as his stomach wasconcerned, she could rule supreme, for his digestion was of the best andher "filling" dishes just suited him. But Lorena Jane Huzzard had read inthe papers some romances of the "gentle folk" he was fond of speaking ofin an intimate way. The gentle folk in her kind of stories always hadtitles, military or civil, and were generally English lords and ladies;the villains, as generally, were French or Italian. But think as she mightover the whole list, she could remember none in which the highbred scionof blue blood had married either a cook or a milliner. One might marry themilliner if she was very young and madly beautiful, but Lorena Jane wasneither. She remembered also that beautiful though the milliner orbailiff's daughter, or housekeeper's niece might be, it was only thevillain in high life who married her. Then the marriage always turned out
at last to be a sham, and the milliner generally died of a broken heart.

  So Mrs. Huzzard sighed and, with a thoughtful face, stirred up the batterpudding.

  Captain Leek had given her food for reflection of which he was littleaware, and it was quite a little while before she remembered to answer hisremarks.

  "So Mr. Dan is showing temper, too, is he? Well--well--that's a pity. He'sa good boy, captain. I wouldn't waste my time to go against him, if I wasyou, and there he is now. Good-morning, Mr. Dan! Come right in! Breakfastover, but I'll get you up a bite at any time, and welcome. It does seemright nice for you to be back in town again."

  Overton entered at her bidding, and smiled down from his tall stature tothe broad, good-natured face she turned to him.

  "Breakfast! Why, I'm thinking more about dinner, Mrs. Huzzard. I was up inthe hills last night, and had a camp breakfast before you city folks werestirring. Where's 'Tana?"

  A dubious sniff from Captain Leek embarrassed Mrs. Huzzard for a moment.She thought he meant to answer and hesitated to give him a chance. But thesniff seemed to express all he wanted to say, and she flushed a little atits evident significance.

  "Well, what's the matter now?" demanded the younger man, impatiently,"where is she--do you know?"

  "Oh--why, yes--of course we do," said Mrs. Huzzard hurriedly. "I didn'tmean to leave you without an answer--no, indeed. But the fact is, thecaptain is set against something I did this morning, but I do hope youwon't be. Whatever they know or don't know in sussiety, the girl wasignorant of it as could be when she asked to go, and so was I when I lether. That's the gospel truth, and I do hope you won't have hard feelingagainst me for it."

  He came a step nearer them both, and looked keenly from one to theother--even a little threateningly into the watchful eyes of CaptainLeek.

  "Let her go! What do you mean? Where--Out with it!"

  "Well, then, it was on the river she went, in one of them tiltuppy Indianboats that I'm deathly afraid of. But Mr. Lyster, he did promisefaithfully he'd take good care of her. And as she'd seemed a bitlow-spirited this morning, I thought it 'ud do her good, and I part toldher to run along. And to think of its being improper for them to gotogether--alone! Well, then, I never did--that's all!"

  "Is it?" and Overton drew a long breath as of relief and laughed shortly."Well, you are perfectly right, Mrs. Huzzard. There is nothing wrong aboutit, and don't you be worried into thinking there is. Max Lyster is agentleman--didn't you ever happen to know one, dad? Heavens! what a sinneryou must have been in your time, if you can't conceive two young folksgoing out for an innocent boat ride. If any 'sky pilot' drifts up thisway, I'll explain your case to him--and ask for some tracts. Why, man,your conscience must be a burden to you! I understand, now, how it comes Ifind your hair a little scarcer each time I run back to camp."

  He had seated himself, and leaning back, surveyed the irate captain asthough utterly oblivious of that gentleman's indignation, and then turnedhis attention to Mrs. Huzzard, who was between two fires in her regretthat the captain should be ridiculed and her joy in Overton's commendationof herself. The captain had dismayed her considerably by a monologue onetiquette while she was making the pies, and she had inwardly hoped thatthe girl and her handsome escort would return before Overton, for vaguewomanly fears had been awakened in her heart by the opinions of thecaptain. To be sure, Dan never did look at girls much, and he was as"settled down" as any old man yet. The girl was pretty, and there was abit of mystery about her. Who could tell what her guardian intended herfor? This question had been asked by Captain Leek. Dan was veryclose-lipped about her, and his reticence had intensified the mysteryregarding his ward. Mrs. Huzzard had seen wars of extermination startedfor a less worthy reason than pretty Montana, and so she had done somequiet fretting over the question until 'Tana's guardian set her free fromworries by his hearty words.

  "Don't you bother your precious head, or 'Tana's, with ideas of what rulespeople live by in a society of the cities thousands of miles away," headvised her. "It's all right to furnish guards or chaperons where peopleare so depraved as to need them."

  This with a turn of his eyes to the captain, who was gathering himself upwith a great deal of dignity.

  "Good-morning, Mrs. Huzzard," he said, looking with an unapproachable airacross Dan's tousled head. "If my stepson at times forgets what is due agentleman in your house, do not fancy that I reflect on you in theslightest for it. I regret that he entertains such ideas, as they aretotally at variance with the rules by which he was reared. Good-morning,madame."

  Mrs. Huzzard clasped her hands and gazed with reproach at Overton, but atthe same time she could not repress a sigh of relief.

  "Well, now, he is good-natured to take it like that, and speak sobeautiful," she exclaimed, admiringly; "and you surely did try any man'spatience, Mr. Dan. Shame on you!"

  But Dan only laughed and held up his finger warningly.

  "You'll marry that man some day, if I don't put a stop to this littlemutual admiration society I find here on my return," he said, and caughther sleeve as she tried to pass him. "Now don't you do it, Mrs. Huzzard.You are too nice a woman and too much of a necessity to this camp for anyone man to build up a claim for you. Just think what will happen if you domarry him! Why, you'll be my stepmother! Doesn't the prospect frightenyou?"

  "Oh, stop your nonsense, Mr. Dan! I declare you do try a body's patience.You are too big to send to bed without your supper, or I vow I'd try itand see if it would tame you any. The captain is surely righteous mad."

  "Then let him attend to his postoffice instead of interfering with yourgood cooking. Jim Hill said yesterday he guessed the postoffice had movedto your hotel, and the boys all ask me when the wedding is to be."

  She blushed with a certain satisfaction, but tossed her head provokingly.

  "Well, now, you can just tell them it won't be this week, Mr. Dan Overton;so you can quit your plaguing. Who knows but they may be asking the sameabout you, if you keep fetching such pretty girls into camp? Oh, I guessyou don't like bein' plagued any more than other folks."

  For Overton's smile had vanished at her words, and a tiny wrinkle creptbetween his brows. But when she commented on it, he recovered himself, andanswered carelessly:

  "But I don't think I will keep on bringing pretty girls into camp--thatis, I scarcely think it will grow into a steady habit," he said, and mether eyes so steadily that she dismissed all idea of any heart interest inthe girl. "But I'd rather 'Tana didn't hear any chaff of that sort. Youknow what I mean. The boys, or any one, is like enough to joke about it atfirst; but when they learn 'for keeps,' that I'm not a marrying man,they'll let up. As she grows older, there'll be enough boys to bother herin camp without me. All I want is to see that she is looked after right;and that's what I'm in here to talk about this morning."

  "Well, now, I'm right glad to help you all I can--which ain't much, maybe,for I never did have a sight of schooling. But I can learn her themilliner trade--though it ain't much use at the Ferry yet; but it'salways a living, anyway, for a woman in a town. And as to cookin' andbakin'--"

  "Oh, yes; they are all right; she will learn such things easily, I think!But I wanted to ask about that cousin of yours--the lady who, you said,wanted to come out from Ohio to teach Indians and visit you. Is shecoming?"

  "Well, she writes like it. She is a fine scholar, Lavina is; but I kind o'let up on asking her to come after I struck this camp, for she always heldher head high, I hear, and wouldn't be noways proud of me as a relation,if she found me doing so much downright kitchen work. I hain't seen hersince she was grow'd up, you know, and I don't know how she'd feel aboutit."

  "If she's any good, she'll think all the more of you for having pluck totackle any honest work that comes," said Overton, decidedly. "We alldo--every man in the settlement. If I didn't, I wouldn't be asking you tolook after this little girl, who hasn't any folks--father or mother--tolook after her right. I thought if that lady teacher would just settledown here, I would make it wo
rth her while to teach 'Tana."

  "Well, now, that would be wise," exclaimed Mrs. Huzzard, delightedly. "An'I'll write her a letter this very night. Or, no--not to-night," she added,"for I'll be too busy. To-night the dance is to be."

  "What dance?"

  "Well, now, I clean forgot to tell you about that. But it was Mr. Lysterplanned it out after you left yesterday. As he's to go back East in a fewdays, he is to give a supper and a dance to the boys, and I just thoughtif they were going to have it, they might as well have it right and soit's to be here."

  Overton twisted his hat around in silence for a few moments.

  "What does 'Tana think of it?" he asked, at last.

  "She? Why, land's sakes! She's tickled a heap over it. Indeed, to go backto the commencement, I guess it was to please her he got it up. At least,that's the way it looked to me, for she no sooner said she'd like to see adance with this crowd at the Ferry than he said there should be one, and Ishould get up a supper. I tell you that young chap sets store by thatlittle girl of yours, though she does sass him a heap. They're afine-looking young couple, Mr. Dan."

  Mr. Dan evidently agreed, for he nodded his head absently, but did notspeak. He did not look especially pleased over the announcement of thedance.

  "Well, I suppose she's got to learn soon or late whom to meet and whom tolet alone here," he said at last, in a troubled way, "and she might aswell learn now as later. Yet I wish Max had not been in such a hurry. Andhe promised to take good care of her on the river, did he?" he added,after another pause. "Well, he's a good fellow; but I reckon she can guidehim in most things up here."

  "No, indeed," answered Mrs. Huzzard, with promptness, "I heard her saymyself that she had never been along this part of the Kootenai Riverbefore."

  "Maybe not," he agreed. "I'm not speaking of this immediate locality. Imean that she has good general ideas about finding ways, and trails, andmeans. She's got ideas of outdoor life that girls don't often have, Ireckon. And if she can only look after herself as well in a camp as shecan on a trail, I'll be satisfied."

  Mrs. Huzzard looked at him as he stared moodily out of the window.

  "I see how it is," she said, nodding her head in a kindly way. "Sinceshe's here, you're afraid some of the folks is most too rough to teach hermuch good. Well, well, don't you worry. We'll do the best we can, and thatdead partner o' yours--her father, you know--will know you do your best;and no man can do more. I had a notion about her associates when I let hergo out on the river this morning. 'Just go along,' thought I, 'if you getinto the way of making company out of real gentlemen, you'll not be solike to be satisfied with them as ain't--"

  "Good enough," Dan assented, cheerily. "You have been doing a littlethinking on your own account, Mrs. Huzzard? That's all right, then. I'llknow that you are a conscientious care-taker, no matter how far out on atrail I am. There's another thing I wanted to say; it's this: Just you lether think that the help she gives you around the house more than pays forher keeping, will you?"

  "Why, of course I will; and I'm willing enough to take her company inchange for boarding, if that's all. You know I didn't want to take themoney when you did pay it."

  "I know; that's all right. I want you to have the money, only don't lether know she is any bill of expense to me. Understand! You see, she saidsomething about it yesterday--thought she was a trouble to me, or somesuch stuff. It seemed to bother her. When she gets older, we can talk toher square about such things. But now, till she gets more used to thethought of being with us, we'll have to do some pious cheating in thematter. I'll take the responsibilities of the lies, if we have to tellany. It--it seems the only way out, you see."

  He spoke a little clumsily, as though uttering a speech preparedbeforehand and by one not used to memorizing, and he did not look at Mrs.Huzzard as he talked to her.

  But she looked at him and then let her hand fall kindly on his shoulder.She had not read romances for nothing. All at once she fancied she hadfound a romance in the life of Dan Overton.

  "Yes, I see, as plain as need be," she said. "I see that you've broughtcare for yourself with that little mischief in her Indian dress; an' youtake all the care on your shoulders as though it was a blessed privilege.And she's never to know what she owes you. Well, there's my hand. I'm yourfriend, Dan Overton. But don't waste your days with too much care aboutthis new pet you've brought home. That's all I've got to say. She'll neverthink more of you for it. Girls don't; they are as selfish as youngwolves."