by Saran Essex
They had given the hill its name because a wide creek strewn with pebbles wound its way across the range land a few feet away from where Leroy and Emmett were sitting in the rocks. Feeling tired from the heat of the sun, they began to close their eyes and doze off. But they had only been dozing for about five minutes when they were abruptly brought back to awareness by the drumming of hoofbeats. They opened their eyes and slowly stood up.
They felt rather sluggish as they stepped out of the rocks and looked round. To their right they saw two riders cantering through the grass and bushes, heading roughly towards them. They were still about a hundred yards away, but as they got closer, Emmett became very excited as he realized who they were. One of them was Annie Baxter, the daughter of Caleb’s brother, Jeremiah, and the girl he felt increasingly attracted to. The other rider was Annie’s friend, Maria Powell. Maria’s family had their homestead in the valley, and Maria would sometimes help Annie in the eating house.
Emmett’s face was beaming with joy as he hurried forwards to shout out to the two ladies. He wasn’t sure if they had seen him and Leroy, but they heard him shout, looked over and then rode towards him. Annie was smiling as she and Maria reined in their horses close to where Emmett was standing. Both young ladies were dressed in riding skirts and plaid cotton blouses.
Emmett helped Annie down from her horse, and they both stood smiling fondly at each other as Leroy approached them. Leroy went over to Maria to help her dismount, but she declined his help and got down from her horse by herself. She was an independent kind of woman. She had long, black wavy hair and blue eyes, and was as good-looking as Annie, though not as demure or as fond of household tasks. Annie was quite happy doing household chores such as sewing and baking, and although Maria sometimes liked to help her with the cooking in the eating house, she much preferred being with horses and looking after livestock.
Emmett and Annie stood smiling affectionately at each other for another moment, then he asked her why she and Maria were out riding over the northern range of Caleb’s ranch lands. He secretly hoped she had been looking for him.
Annie told Emmett that her parents had asked her and Maria to ride over to Caleb’s ranch house with a message from them.
A rosy glow seemed to touch Annie’s cheeks as Emmett still smiled lovingly at her. She continued talking and said, ‘My parents are holding a dance at the eating house in four days’ time, and they asked us to ride over to see Uncle Caleb and to invite him and anyone who works for him to the dance . . .’ and she added almost coyly, ‘Uncle Caleb told us that you two were out here on the northern range. . . .’
Dances were held regularly at Browns Hole for all and any occasion, and almost everyone in the valley was invited. Emmett took hold of Annie’s arm after she had finished speaking, and the two of them began to walk away together. They obviously wanted to be alone with each other for a little while.
Smiling to himself at Emmett’s happiness, Leroy sat down in the rocks again. Maria sat down beside him, and although she kept her glance away from him, he noticed a slightly troubled look appear on her face. Not many people would have noticed it, but Leroy was very perceptive, especially to other people’s troubles.
‘Is anything wrong?’ he asked her.
Maria mumbled something about not wanting to talk about it. She had known Leroy for nearly two years, and she knew him to be a very friendly and helpful person, but she was reluctant to talk to him about what was troubling her.
Leroy said gently, ‘Tell me what’s wrong, and maybe I can help?’
He genuinely wanted to help, and this was obvious in his voice.
Maria looked at him: she found it hard to resist his charm, and the look in his eyes compelled her to trust him, but she felt a little embarrassed about what was worrying her. She had to look away from him as she said rather hesitantly, ‘It’s the dance at the eating house to celebrate Annie’s mother’s birthday. . . .’ She broke off and didn’t say anything else.
‘What about the dance?’ Leroy asked quietly.
Maria still looked away from him as she said, ‘I feel like I’m letting Annie down if I don’t go, but I ain’t any good at dancing. . . .’ she stopped speaking, and turned to look at him a little sheepishly, as though wondering if he would laugh at her – but he didn’t, and she continued, ‘I ain’t got no sense of timing, I can never dance to the music’s rhythm . . . at the last dance that I went to in the valley . . .’ her voice dropped low, ‘Most folks laughed at me. . . .’
Leroy had a sensitive side to his nature, and even though, on the outside, Maria appeared to be a strong woman who never let anything worry her, he could understand how it would upset her to be laughed at. He felt like giving her a hug to comfort her, but stopped himself in time. He knew that Maria was not the kind of girl who liked a fuss.
‘Can’t Annie help you with your dancing?’ he asked.
‘She has tried,’ Maria sighed, ‘And I don’t want to let her down by not going to the dance, but I don’t want to be laughed at again. . . .’
Leroy tried to think of something he could do to help her. He smiled happily as an idea came to him.
‘I know a few dances,’ he told her cheerily, ‘I can help you learn to do the steps in time to the music!’
He was not a great dancer, but he knew most of the basic steps. He stood up and lightly pulled Maria to her feet, ‘And I’ll start helping you right now!’
Maria began to protest, but he took her arm and led her away from the rocks and on to a patch of fairly smooth ground just in front of them; then he drew her into his arms and started to do a few waltz steps with her. He hummed out the tunes while dancing with her.
She was very awkward on her feet, Leroy soon discovered as he danced with her, and she had been right about having no sense of timing, but he smiled encouragingly and hummed out the tunes as they danced.
After doing the waltz with her, Leroy danced her through some steps to the polka, and then to some square dances that he knew – but Maria still could not get any sense of timing, and eventually, after treading all over Leroy’s feet, she pulled away from him, and sat back down in the rocks, looking very dejected.
Leroy tried to cheer her up, saying, ‘I’ve danced with worse dancers than you, honestly I have. . . .’
Maria refused to look at him.
Emmett and Annie came back to join them just as Leroy was trying to persuade Maria to dance with him again, and the three of them talked her into having another try. Leroy and Emmett both danced with her in turn, and they whistled and hummed the tunes as they danced, but she still had trouble dancing the steps in time to the music.
Finally she stepped away from the two men, and said with a slight tremor in her voice, ‘It’s no use, I’ll never get the timing of the steps right, I’m always going to look like a clumsy fool when I’m dancing, so I’ll just stay away from the dance. . . .’
Annie went up to her and gave her a hug, and murmured some words of comfort. Leroy almost said to Maria that most folks at the dance would be too busy drinking and enjoying themselves to notice what she was doing, but he changed his mind, and instead tried to think of another way to help her.
He smiled, and his eyes twinkled with enthusiasm as an idea came to him. He called out happily to Maria, ‘You won’t have to stay away from the dance. . . .’
He looked from Emmett to Annie with eagerness still shining in his eyes, and said, ‘If we can get someone to play the dance music for us while we three do the dance steps with Maria, I think it’ll help her to get more of a sense of rhythm.’
Maria’s face brightened for a moment, but then she pointed out that the dance was in four days’ time.
‘That’s more than enough time,’ Leroy assured her with a smile, ‘Now all we have to do is find someone who can play the fiddle or some other musical instrument.’
Leroy could play the harmonica reasonably well, and he suggested to the others that he played the harmonica while Emmett danced with Mari
a if no one else could be found to play the music. Emmett, Annie and Maria did not look too impressed by his suggestion. They had heard Leroy play the harmonica on previous occasions, and he didn’t always get the notes right.
Leroy saw their doubting faces – it was obvious they had little faith in his harmonica playing. ‘Well, OK,’ he said, then asked the girls, ‘Do you two know of anyone in the valley we could ask to play the dance music for us?’
The two girls were quiet for a few minutes as they tried to think of someone in Browns Hole who played the fiddle or banjo. Then they both suddenly smiled at the same time as they remembered something, but it was Annie who burst out excitedly to Leroy, ‘I think I do know someone! There’s a man who works here on Uncle Caleb’s ranch who plays the fiddle, he’s played for the diners in our eating-house a few times, and I’m sure you must know him – he’s called Lonzo and he’s very good. . . .’
Leroy’s face changed at her words, and Emmett laughed.
The sky was darkening, and the daytime heat had cooled a little as Lonzo sat alone reading in the library room at Caleb’s ranch house. He had been busy breaking in and training horses for most of the day, and was now relaxing with a book. Caleb had told him that he could have the next two days free from work, and he was looking forward to doing some riding that would take him miles away from the ranch. He enjoyed riding alone and exploring new territory.
For over a week he had spent time reading alone in the library. Leroy had not spoken to him since the wrestling contest, and had avoided him as much as possible, and as Lonzo thought about Leroy Parker, he smiled. The friendly and fearless Leroy had managed to impress Lonzo in a way that no one had done for a long time, and Lonzo had also detected in Leroy a kindred spirit. They were as different as two men could possibly be, Lonzo thought to himself, and yet they were very similar.
Lonzo smiled again as he thought about the other thing he had recently noticed about Leroy Parker. Leroy had a sensitive side. Lonzo had been made aware of this because of the way that Leroy had avoided him and refused to speak to him after he had snapped so viciously at the young man following the wrestling contest.
Lonzo was still thinking about Leroy when he heard the movement of the latch to the outside door of the library, and then the door opened. A brief smile flickered in Lonzo’s eyes when Leroy entered the room.
Leroy stood back by the door, looking slightly uncomfortable. He cleared his throat, and said in an unusually curt voice, ‘I want to ask you something. . . .’
Lonzo grinned, ‘So,’ he said, ‘I take it this means that you are talking to me now, and that you’ve stopped avoiding me and sulking.’
Leroy said with slight irritation, ‘I admit that I have been avoiding you and not speaking to you, but I don’t sulk!’
Lonzo’s grin broadened, ‘So what do you want to ask me?’
Leroy suddenly felt that this was a big mistake. Emmett had offered to be the one to ask Lonzo for his help in assisting Maria with her dancing, but Leroy had said that he would do it – he had to speak to Lonzo again sometime, but right now, he was wishing that he had let Emmett do the asking.
Seeing Leroy’s hesitation, Lonzo said, ‘I promise I won’t bite!’
Leroy took a deep breath, and said that he was not asking for himself, but for Annie’s friend, Maria Powell.
Lonzo was no longer grinning as he said, ‘Go on. . . .’
‘The thing is . . .’ Leroy began in as cheerful a tone as he could, ‘Maria wants to be able to dance reasonably well at the dance being held at the eating house in four days’ time, and she needs some help with her dancing. . . .’ he paused, and Lonzo stared at him blankly.
Undaunted by Lonzo’s apparent lack of interest, Leroy continued speaking, and trying to keep his voice cheerful, explained that he, Emmett and Annie wanted to help Maria learn to do the dance steps in time to the music, and that they were hoping that Lonzo would be willing to play the dance music for them on his fiddle.
When Leroy had finished speaking, Lonzo just stared impassively at him. Lonzo did not have much sensitivity in his nature, and Maria’s problem with dancing did not seem that important to him – but he did feel a kind of liking for the spirited Maria, and he also realized that Leroy had pushed aside a lot of hurt and angry feelings to ask for his help, and he respected that.
Rather hesitantly, Leroy said as Lonzo stared at him, ‘Maybe you could meet us on the northern range tomorrow morning. . . !’
Lonzo just carried on looking at Leroy, and gave no reply. He wasn’t going to refuse to help Leroy and Maria, but he enjoyed teasing Leroy.
When Lonzo did not say anything, Leroy could feel his annoyance starting to surface, and he turned to leave.
‘Hey, Parker,’ Lonzo called him back, ‘You haven’t heard my answer yet!’
Leroy swung round to face him, and said fiercely, ‘My name is Leroy, you might try using it sometime!’
Leroy very rarely lost his temper, but he felt suddenly infuriated by Lonzo’s indifferent attitude, and the fact that Lonzo seemed so determined not to become his friend.
Lonzo grinned somewhat mockingly; ‘OK,’ he said, ‘Leroy,’ and he emphasized the name, ‘You haven’t heard my answer yet!’
Leroy tried to control the fury that was welling up inside him, but his voice was full of raw emotion as he said, ‘Why do you always insist on treating me like some kind of a fool?’ and turned his head away.
Lonzo’s mocking grin disappeared. He had never meant to evoke such anger and emotion in Leroy, and he felt almost sorry.
Lonzo said quietly, ‘I can assure you, Leroy Parker, that treating you like some kind of a fool has never been my intention.’
Leroy took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, then turned back to stare curiously at Lonzo. He could sense that Lonzo had meant what he said, and he was surprised that Lonzo had let his unfeeling mask slip.
Lonzo very quickly realized that he had let his hard, impassive demeanour weaken for a second, and he felt embarrassed that he had allowed this to happen; trying to cover up his discomfort, he said harshly, ‘What’s in it for me?’
‘What?’ Leroy murmured.
‘If I do play the fiddle for you,’ Lonzo’s voice was still harsh, ‘What’s in it for me?’
Slowly Leroy began to smile; he was starting to feel more like his usual amiable self, and suggested: ‘You’d be helping Maria. . . .’
‘I don’t see anything in that for me,’ Lonzo stated coldly.
‘Well,’ Leroy said genially, ‘Maria is a friend of Annie and Annie’s family, and you’ve played the fiddle for Annie and her family in their eating house a few times, so if you help Maria, you’ll be helping Annie and her family, in a way. . . .’
Lonzo snorted, ‘I got paid for playing the fiddle in the eating house. I didn’t do it to help Annie and her family!’
‘Oh!’ Leroy said with a knowing grin. He would have to try a different incentive: ‘In that case, how about I buy all your drinks at the dance that Jeremiah and Dinah are holding in four days’ time?’
Lonzo appeared to think it over. Leroy watched him, hoping that Lonzo would allow him another glimpse of the real man beneath the uncaring façade.
Lonzo suddenly smiled. It wasn’t his usual smug kind of a smile: it was a smile that lit up his whole face, and made him look so much younger. ‘It’s a deal!’ he stated.
Leroy was pleasantly surprised to see the way Lonzo’s features had softened with the huge smile on his face.
‘You should do that more often,’ he remarked.
‘What?’ Lonzo was puzzled.
‘Smile like that, it makes you look almost human!’
After that, Leroy turned and left the library – but he was smiling as he went, and he felt an odd, warm glow inside him. He had seen a glimpse of the real Lonzo beneath the unfeeling mask, and he knew that he had been right in thinking that Lonzo was not as aloof and uncaring as he liked to make out he was.
Inside the
library room, Lonzo was also smiling. Leroy Parker had somehow made a small dent in his hard-hearted armour, and for the first time in a long time, he felt as if he had met someone he could trust.
CHAPTER 6
The following morning, Leroy and Emmett awoke with the early light of dawn, but the bunk bed opposite to their own beds where Lonzo slept was unoccupied: clearly Lonzo was already up and about, and they hadn’t heard him get up and leave the bunkhouse. Marvin Kilbey was still slumbering noiselessly in his bed.
Emmett was impatient for them to get started on their ride to the northern range – he was eager to see Annie again – but Leroy insisted on making them some breakfast in the cook shack. He fried some bacon slices in a pan on the hotplate of the wood-burning stove, and they sat down at the table to eat.
Leroy had told Emmett about the deal he had made with Lonzo the previous night in the library; Emmett, wondering about the deal, looked across at Lonzo’s empty bed and said, ‘I guess Lonzo must have woken up and galloped off somewhere before it was even light.’
‘Yeah,’ Leroy nodded, ‘But he knows where to meet us.’
Emmett grinned, amused at Leroy’s confidence in Lonzo. ‘So you think he meant it when he made that deal with you last night about helping Maria. . . .’
‘He meant it all right,’ Leroy said with a smile.
It was still quite early in the morning, but the sun was already warm and bright as Leroy and Emmett rode out to the northern range of the Baxter ranch land. The two men didn’t find Lonzo waiting for them near to Creek Hill, nor was there was any sign of Annie and Maria, but they did find that a few head of cattle had strayed away from the main herd and were grazing too close to a chain of hills on the edge of the range, and were therefore at risk from predators. They spent over an hour herding the straying cattle away from the hills and back to the safer Baxter grazing land. They spent another two or three hours checking over the range land for other strays, and herding them back, away from the hills.
