After their exit, Buffalo Bill appeared again, and the crowd grew quiet. “And now,” he said, “we introduce the world’s most dramatic trick rider. I give you, ladies and gentlemen, Miss Laurie Winslow—!”
Sam had gasped at the sight of the young woman who came out like an explosion on a beautiful horse. “Look at that,” he said. “Ain’t she something?” When Cody did not speak, Novak twisted his head and saw that his friend was staring at the trick rider and seemed absolutely stunned. Novak studied him for a moment, then said, “What’s the matter, Jim?”
Cody blinked his eyes, shook his head, and said, “Nothing. She—looks like a girl I used to know.”
But as Laurie went through her act, Cody’s mind flashed back to those days in Wyoming when they had ridden together—this girl dressed in silver and white. The memories were more painful than he could imagine. He stood there watching her move on and off a horse, in perfect rhythm to the hoof beats of the great black gelding. There was a great beauty in her motions, and he swallowed hard as he thought of the times they had shared together—and of the ride they had taken beside the river. The memories inevitably brought other memories of his family and of the ranch and the men he’d been so close to back home. He almost rose and left the arena, but then realized this would look strange to Sam. He kept his seat, applauding automatically when Laurie’s act was over.
Sam shook his head with admiration. “I never saw anybody that could ride like that. Look—” he interrupted himself, “looks like we’re gonna have another act.” The climax of the show re-created Buffalo Bill’s desperate dual with Yellow Hand. It was played out in tense pantomime, broken only by grunts and blows, as the star and the formidable Cheyenne from the Snake River reservation lunged at each other and grappled, their wicked knives slashing. A collective gasp went up when Buffalo Bill pretended to thrust his blade into the Indian’s rib cage, and his opponent shouted and buckled. Then Buffalo Bill bent over the body of his vanquished foe, and as he came up with the victim’s war bonnet in one hand and what appeared to be his scalp in the other, the band jumped in with a victory song that blew the audience to its feet, applauding and shouting.
As the thundering applause finally died down, the final parade began to file into the arena. Indians and cavalrymen who had died in certain acts resurrected themselves to join their fellow performers. At last Buffalo Bill claimed the grounds alone for a bellowing, “Hail and farewell!” And with a final wave of his hat, he cantered back the way he had entered, accompanied by a brassy salute thrown up by the band.
Cody had kept his eyes fixed on Laurie as she took her place in the grand parade, and then a desire to see her up close overwhelmed him. He didn’t mean to speak to her, just to see her. “Come on, Sam. Let’s get a closer look at—some of the Indians.”
The two men joined the milling crowd, most of whom were leaving the arena. But they left the stream of spectators and pressed their way toward where the cowboys had gathered to speak to some of the onlookers. Cody saw the gleaming white and silver of Laurie’s costume as she stood beside a solemn-looking Indian, both of them listening as a man introduced his two small children. He was moving quickly to one side to get a better look at her, when suddenly a hand grasped his arm and pulled him around. Instinctively, he pulled back, jerking his arm free, and faced a rather short, heavyset individual who wore a bowler hat. “Take your hands off me!” Cody said at once.
The broad man reached into his pocket, pulled out something, and held it out in his hand, then said in a gruff tone, “St. Louis Police Department.”
Cody stared at the silver badge, then lifted his eyes. His heart began beating faster, but he let none of that show in his face. “Police Department? What’s the trouble, Officer?”
“My name’s Winfield,” the bulky individual said. “Sergeant Winfield. Like to have you come along to the station with me.”
Cody allowed anger to show in his face. “What for?”
“Just to have a little talk.” But when he saw the resistance on the face of the young man, he reached under his coat and pulled out a snub-nosed pistol. “Don’t even think about running for it. You wouldn’t get far.”
Cody looked at the gun and stared, knowing all was lost. But he bluffed it out anyway. “What are you arresting me for?”
“You’re not under arrest,” Winfield said. A small crowd had gathered around, and the silence seemed to spread out as they watched the bulky man with the gun. Some thought it was part of the show, but none were quite sure. Winfield did not look like a wild west performer. “I’ve seen your face on a poster somewhere. A wanted poster,” Winfield said. He hesitated, then went on, “I can’t remember where. Some place out west. You’ll have to come down to the station.”
And then he shifted quickly as Sam Novak made a quick move. “Out west?” said Novak. He laughed. “He’s never been out west in his whole life, have you, Jim?”
“Not likely,” Cody said at once.
“What’s your name?”
“Logan. Jim Logan. My friend is right. I’ve never been out west in my whole life.”
“You’ll have to come down to the station. We’ll settle it there. If I’m wrong,” Winfield hesitated and shrugged his bulky shoulders, “I’ll buy you a steak dinner as an apology. But if I’m not, I can’t let you get away.” Then, when Cody tensed up, he tilted the pistol up and said, “Don’t try it, son. You can’t go anywhere.”
At that moment, a voice said, “Jim, where have you been? Colonel Cody is furious!”
Laurie had seen the crowd gathering, had come forward out of curiosity—and had been stunned to recognize Cody! Instantly she had grasped the situation and just as quickly formed a plan.
Winfield looked around at the young woman he had seen a few minutes earlier riding a horse and performing unbelievable tricks. As she came near, he instinctively touched his hat and blinked in surprise, for the woman had gone straight to the young man he had stopped. She had not even looked at the policeman, and her body was stiff with anger as she demanded, “Are you drunk again?”
“Why, no—” Cody managed to stumble, “I ain’t had hardly a drop.” His eyes were fixed on Laurie, but he seemed to be caught in some sort of weird performance, in which he himself was also on the outside watching it all. He saw the crowd gathered around the bulky policeman, the beautiful girl in the silver and white riding costume—and himself standing there foolishly. Instantly, he knew that she was out to save him, for though she allowed nothing to show on her face except anger, he realized she was playing a role and inviting him to join her.
Laurie began berating him and was interrupted by Winfield, who said, “Miss, you know this man?”
Laurie wheeled around and appeared to see him for the first time. Her eyes dropped to the gun, then looking up in mock anger, demanded, “Who are you? What are you doing with my brother?”
“Your brother?” answered the officer in surprise.
“Yes. What’s he been doing? Are you a policeman?”
“Yes, miss, I am.”
Disgust crossed Laurie’s face, and she shook her head. “Well, what is it? Was he drunk or bothering some woman again?”
Winfield began to grow uncomfortable. The crowd was growing all the time, and he had received a lecture about false arrest from the chief only the previous week. “Well, miss, I thought he looked like a face I saw on a poster. A wanted man somewhere out in Montana, like that.”
Laurie laughed harshly. “That’s a joke!” She looked up at Cody and shook her head in disgust. “He’s never been farther west than Missouri.”
“He’s your brother, you say? Does he work for the show?”
“As little as he can,” Laurie said in disgust. “He cleans up after the horses—when he’s not drunk, that is.”
Winfield tried one last strategy. “I thought your name was Winslow, and his name’s Logan.”
“Winslow is my stage name.” She smiled sourly and shrugged. “Who’d come to see a star named
Petunia Logan?”
A smile touched the policeman’s face, and he reholstered his gun. “Can you get someone to vouch for him? That he works for the show and that he’s your brother?”
“ ’Course I can.” She looked up and saw Mac McGonigal. “Mac, tell this officer about this worthless man.”
McGonigal had been watching all this carefully and had seen Laurie’s quick rescue of the young man. “Sure, Officer, that’s her brother all right—but no more like her than a buzzard’s like a canary!” He shrugged his shoulders, adding, “I hate for you to go see Colonel Cody because he’d fire this no good, and then Miss Petunia here, she’d have to pay all his bills.”
Winfield gave up, saying, “Well, looks like I made a mistake. Sorry.”
He turned and left, and Laurie said at once to Cody, “Come on with me!”
Instantly she turned, and Cody followed her through the crowd, which began dispersing, murmuring about what had happened. Mac McGonigal came at once to stand in front of Sam, and with a slight wink of his left eye, said, “Well, you’re with Jim Logan, I take it?” And when the young man nodded slowly, he said, “You come along with me while them two gets things sorted out.” He turned and limped away, and Novak shrugged his shoulders and followed him.
Cody kept pace with Laurie as she threaded her way through the crowd and led him to the exit. When they got outside and away from the crowd, she turned and he saw her face was very pale. She said somewhat unsteadily, “Come this way.”
Cody was breathing in shallow breaths, his nerves tingling. The near tragedy had shaken him, and he knew that he would never have surrendered to the policeman. He would have turned and tried to get away and probably would have died in the attempt. The encounter with his past made him see how vulnerable he was, but he said nothing; he simply walked along beside her.
Reaching her tent, Laurie drew the flap, looked inside, and said with relief, “Nobody here. Come inside.” As soon as they were inside, she took a deep breath. Her voice was shaky as she whispered, “Cody, I can’t believe it’s you!”
Cody stared at her, shaking his head. “You saved my life, Laurie, but you may have gotten yourself in trouble. If that policeman checks, he’ll find out that I don’t really work for the show.”
“Don’t worry, we’re pulling out tonight. This was the last performance. He’d have to catch up with us and I doubt if he’d do that.” Laurie noticed that her hands were trembling, and to hide it she said, “Sit down, Cody.” He took the cot indicated, while she sat down on the other. “Tell me about it. Where’ve you been? What are you doing here tonight?”
Quickly, Cody sketched his history since his escape, ending by saying, “Why, I just came more or less by accident to the show. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw you.”
Laurie listened hard, then asked urgently, “Cody, have you ever written your folks?”
“No. What good would it do?”
“Why, they’re worried sick about you! I write them once in a while. Your mother needs to know where you are.”
“What could they do about it?” He hesitated, then shook his head. “Next time you write just tell them to consider me as dead.”
“They’ll never do that,” she said adamantly, shaking her head. She fell silent, and Cody allowed his glance to take in her face. He had forgotten how very black her hair was, how clear her dark eyes, and how smooth her skin. Faintly, he said, “Laurie, you’re a star.”
A flush touched her cheek, and she laughed shortly. “No! Nothing like that. Buffalo Bill’s the star—I’m just a trick rider.” And then she got up and took two paces to the left and back again to the right. Several times she changed direction. He sat there and watched her, and finally got up and said, “Well, I guess that policeman’s gone.”
“Cody, you can’t go on like this!”
“I don’t have much choice,” he shrugged.
“You need to join the show.”
If she had suggested he leap over the moon, he could not have been more surprised. “Join the show? How could I do that?”
Laurie had seized on the idea that had flashed across her mind, and at once began speaking rapidly. “It can be done. Don’t you see, Cody?” Unconsciously, she reached up and touched his chest. “You’d be moving all the time. Nobody pays any attention to cowboys. Oh, they look on them as actors, sort of, but we’d be moving every two or three days. We’re even going to Europe, I understand.”
She spoke quickly, convincingly, but at last Cody said, “But I couldn’t do anything with a show like this.”
“We’ll see about that,” Laurie said, and a smile touched her lips. “You sit right here. No—you’d better not. I’ve got my roommate coming in.” She thought hard, yet could think of no safer place. “If she comes in, just tell her you’re a friend of mine, and I’ve gone to talk to Mr. Cody about a job. Better not tell her you’re my brother. We’ll leave that story behind.”
“But, Laurie—”
But she had already turned, saying, “You wait right here.” Leaving the tent, she quickly made her way back to the arena, where she saw Bill Cody lounging over a table, talking to Nate Salsbury. Moving very close, she said, “Mr. Cody, may I speak with you for a moment?”
Cody looked up, surprised, but said, “Why, of course. Excuse us, will you, Nate?”
At once, Laurie said, “Mr. Cody, I’ve got a friend that’s in trouble.”
“Trouble?” the colonel asked, interested. “What kind of trouble?”
Laurie hesitated, then decided the truth, or part of it, was best. “He’s in trouble with the law. But, it’s all a mistake; he’s innocent.”
Cody considered her for a moment, then moved to put his arm around her. “Why, Laurie, I can see you’re real bothered about this,” he said smoothly.
Instantly, she withdrew from his grasp. “Mr. Cody,” she said firmly, “you don’t need to worry about me. I just need help for my friend.”
“What kind of help?” Cody asked, not at all affronted by her refusal. He had expected as much.
“If you could just give him a job taking care of the horses, pulling the tent down, anything. If I could be with him, I think I could help him.”
A shrewd look came into Cody’s eyes and he stroked his goatee, saying, “Well, I thought you were going to leave the show.” He hesitated, thinking hard. “Now if you’d promise to stay with me, I think we might work something out for your friend. But you’d have to promise to stay for at least a year.”
Laurie hesitated but knew she had no choice. “Yes. I’ll do it.”
“All right. What’s his name?”
“Jim Logan.” She saw interest flicker in Cody’s eyes, but was feeling the urgency of the moment. “I’ll go tell him, and thank you, Mr. Cody.”
“Don’t thank me,” Cody said with a smile. “I got what I want, and you got what you want. We won’t let a little thing about the law bother us, will we now, Laurie?”
Laurie turned at once and went back to the tent. When she stepped inside, she opened her mouth to give Cody the news and discovered that Leona had entered and was talking excitedly to Cody. As always, a new man interested her, and she turned to Laurie, saying, “I’ve just been talking to Jim, telling him all about what a naughty girl you are.”
“Well, you’ll have lots of time to talk. Come along, Jim, I’ve got things to tell you.”
As they left the tent, Leona’s voice followed them out, “I’ll be seeing you, Jim. Don’t be a stranger now!”
When they were outside the tent, Laurie turned to him and said, “It’s all right. I got you a job working for the show.”
“Doing what?” Then he instantly said, “It doesn’t matter. It’ll be better than what I’m doing now.” Suddenly he remembered Sam and said, “What about my friend? He’s done a lot for me.”
Laurie hesitated, then said, “Oh, there’s so many hands working that Mr. Cody never notices how many. We’ll get him on somehow too. You’d bett
er go tell him. We’ll be leaving on the Dixie Queen tomorrow morning, and we still have to work most of the night to get the show loaded.”
“We’ll go back to our hotel and get our stuff,” Cody said. He turned to leave, then swung back to her. “Laurie,” he said quietly, “I really don’t think you ought to do this. You’re putting yourself in danger, and I’d hate to see anything happen to you.”
Laurie flushed and looked down, then she lifted her eyes to his. Her soft lips curled upward in a smile and she said, “Maybe you’ll do as much for me sometime. You would, wouldn’t you, Cody?”
Cody Rogers was feeling a strange stirring inside. He thought it might be the relief from the narrow escape he had, but there was, he knew, more to it than that. He reached his hand out, and she instinctively put hers out for him to take. Her hand, he felt, was strong and firm, and he squeezed it gently, then did something he had never done in his life. He brought it up to his lips, kissed it, and said, “I thank you, Laurie. I’ll always be in your debt.”
Embarrassed by what he had done, he whirled and dashed out toward the arena, looking for Novak.
Laurie stood stock-still as a rosy flush began on her neck and washed up over her face. She stared after him, then touched her hand gently and said under her breath, “Cody—!”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
End of the Dixie Queen
A shudder ran through the Dixie Queen as her paddles caught and churned the brown waters of the Mississippi into a froth. As soon as the boat left the shore, most of the show people went wearily to bed. Loading the show had taken most of the night, and everyone needed to catch a few hours sleep. Cody and Sam, however, stood at the stern watching the huge paddles as they cut into the water.
“Well, I’m about as tired as I ever want to be,” Sam muttered wearily. “I didn’t know show business was so much work!”
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