Her Prairie Knight

by B. M. Bower

  CHAPTER 7. Beatrice's Wild Ride.

  "Well, are we all ready?" Dick gathered up his reins, and took criticalinventory of the load. His mother peered under the front seat to bedoubly sure that there were at least four umbrellas and her waterproofraglan in the rig; Mrs. Lansell did not propose to be caught unawares ina storm another time. Miss Hayes straightened Dorman's cap, and toldhim to sit down, dear, and then called upon Sir Redmond to enforce thecommand. Sir Redmond repeated her command, minus the dear, and then rodeon ahead to overtake Beatrice and Keith, who had started. Dick climbedup over the front wheel, released the brake, chirped at the horses, andthey were off for Lost Canyon.

  Beatrice was behaving beautifully, and her mother only hoped to heavenit would last the day out; perhaps Sir Redmond would be able to extractsome sort of a promise from her in that mood, Mrs. Lansell reflected,as she watched Beatrice chatting to her two cavaliers, with the mostdecorous impartiality. Sir Redmond seemed in high spirits, which arguedwell; Mrs. Lansell gave herself up to the pleasure of the drive witha heart free from anxiety. Not only was Beatrice at her best; Dorman'smood was nothing short of angelic, and as the weather was simplyperfect, the day surely promised well.

  For a mile Keith had showed signs of a mind not at ease, and at last hemade bold to speak.

  "I thought Rex was to be your saddle-horse?" he said abruptly toBeatrice.

  "He was; but when Dick brought Goldie home, last night, I fell in lovewith him on sight, and just teased Dick till he told me I might have himto ride."

  "I thought Dick had some sense," Keith said gloomily.

  "He has. He knew there would be no peace till he surrendered."

  "I didn't know you were going to ride him, when I sold him to Dick. He'snot safe for a woman."

  "Does he buck, Mr. Cameron? Dick said he was gentle." Beatrice had seena horse buck, one day, and had a wholesome fear of that form of equineamusement.

  "Oh, no. I never knew him to."

  "Then I don't mind anything else. I'm accustomed to horses," saidBeatrice, and smiled welcome to Sir Redmond, who came up with them atthat moment.

  "You want to ride him with a light rein," Keith cautioned, clinging tothe subject. "He's tenderbitted, and nervous. He won't stand for anyjerking, you see."

  "I never jerk, Mr. Cameron." Keith discovered that big, baffling,blue-brown eyes can, if they wish, rival liquid air for coldness. "Irode horses before I came to Montana."

  Of course, when a man gets frozen with a girl's eyes, and scorchedwith a girl's sarcasm, the thing for him to do is to retreat until theatmosphere becomes normal. Keith fell behind just as soon as he coulddo so with some show of dignity, and for several miles tried to convincehimself that he would rather talk to Dick and "the old maid" than not.

  "Don't you know," Sir Redmond remarked sympathetically, "some of theseWestern fellows are inclined to be deuced officious and impertinent."

  Sir Redmond got a taste of the freezing process that made him change thesubject abruptly.

  The way was rough and lonely; the trail wound over sharp-nosed hills andthrough deep, narrow coulees, with occasional, tantalizing glimpses ofthe river and the open land beyond, that kept Beatrice in a fever ofenthusiasm. From riding blithely ahead, she took to lagging far behindwith her kodak, getting snap-shots of the choicest bits of scenery.

  "Another cartridge, please, Sir Redmond," she said, and woundindustriously on the finished roll.

  "It's a jolly good thing I brought my pockets full." Sir Redmond fishedone out for her. "Was that a dozen?"

  "No; that had only six films. I want a larger one this time. It is aperfect nuisance to stop and change. Be still, Goldie!"

  "We're getting rather a long way behind--but I fancy the road is plain."

  "We'll hurry and overtake them. I won't take any more pictures."

  "Until you chance upon something you can't resist. I understand allthat, you know." Sir Redmond, while he teased, was pondering whetherthis was an auspicious time and place to ask Beatrice to marry him. Hehad tried so many times and places that seemed auspicious, that the manwas growing fearful. It is not pleasant to have a girl smile indulgentlyupon you and deftly turn your avowals aside, so that they fall flat.

  "I'm ready," she announced, blind to what his eyes were saying.

  "Shall we trek?" Sir Redmond sighed a bit. He was not anxious toovertake the others.

  "We will. Only, out here people never 'trek,' Sir Redmond. They 'hit thetrail'."

  "So they do. And the way these cowboys do it, one would think they werecouriers, by Jove! with the lives of a whole army at stake. So I fancywe had better hit the trail, eh?"

  "You're learning," Beatrice assured him, as they started on. "A year outhere, and you would be a real American, Sir Redmond."

  Sir Redmond came near saying, "The Lord forbid!" but he thought betterof it. Beatrice was intensely loyal to her countrymen, unfortunately,and would certainly resent such a remark; but, for all that, he thoughtit.

  For a mile or two she held to her resolve, and then, at the top of along hill overlooking the canyon where they were to eat their lunch, outcame her kodak again.

  "This must be Lost Canyon, for Dick has stopped by those trees. I wantto get just one view from here. Steady, Goldie! Dear me, this horse doesdetest standing still!"

  "I fancy he is anxious to get down with the others. Let me hold him foryou. Whoa, there!" He put a hand upon the bridle, a familiarity Goldieresented. He snorted and dodged backward, to the ruin of the pictureBeatrice was endeavoring to get.

  "Now you've frightened him. Whoa, pet! It's of no use to try; he won'tstand."

  "Let me have your camera. He's getting rather an ugly temper, I think."Sir Redmond put out his hand again, and again Goldie dodged backward.

  "I can do better alone, Sir Redmond." The cheeks of Beatrice were red.She managed to hold the horse in until her kodak was put safely in itscase, but her temper, as well as Goldie's, was roughened. She hatedspoiling a film, which she was perfectly sure she had done.

  Goldie felt the sting of her whip when she brought him back into theroad, and, from merely fretting, he took to plunging angrily. Then, whenBeatrice pulled him up sharply, he thrust out his nose, grabbed the bitin his teeth, and bolted down the hill, past all control.

  "Good God, hold him!" shouted Sir Redmond, putting his horse to a run.

  The advice was good, and Beatrice heard it plainly enough, but sheneither answered nor looked back. How, she thought, resentfully, was oneto hold a yellow streak of rage, with legs like wire springs and a neckof iron? Besides, she was angrily alive to the fact that Keith Cameron,watching down below, was having his revenge. She wondered if he wasenjoying it.

  He was not. Goldie, when he ran, ran blindly in a straight line, andKeith knew it. He also knew that the Englishman couldn't keep withingunshot of Goldie, with the mount he had, and half a mile away--Keithshut his teeth hard together, and went out to meet her. Redcloud layalong the ground in great leaps, but Keith, bending low over his neck,urged him faster and faster, until the horse, his ears laid closeagainst his neck, did the best there was in him. From the tail of hiseye, Keith saw Sir Redmond's horse go down upon his knees, and get uplimping--and the sight filled him with ungenerous gladness; Sir Redmondwas out of the race. It was Keith and Redcloud--they two; and Keithcould smile over it.

  He saw Beatrice's hat loosen and lift in front, flop uncertainly, andthen go sailing away into the sage-brush, and he noted where it fell,that he might find it, later. Then he was close enough to see her face,and wondered that there was so little fear written there. Beatrice wasplucky, and she rode well, her weight upon the bit; but her weight wasnothing to the clinched teeth of the horse; and, though she had knownit from the start, she was scarcely frightened. There was a good deal ofthe daredevil in Beatrice; she trusted a great deal to blind luck.

  Just there the land was level, and she hoped to check him on the slopeof the hill before them. She did not know it was moated like a castle,with a washout
ten feet deep and twice that in width, and that whatlooked to her quite easy was utterly impossible.

  Keith gained, every leap. In a moment he was close behind.

  "Take your foot out of the stirrup," he commanded, harshly, and thoughBeatrice wondered why, something in his voice made her obey.

  Now Redcloud's nose was even with her elbow; the breath from hiswide-flaring nostrils rose hotly in her face. Another bound, and he hadforged ahead, neck and neck with Goldie, and it was Keith by her side,keen-eyed and calm.

  "Let go all hold," he said. Reaching suddenly, he caught her around thewaist and pulled her from the saddle, just as Redcloud, scenting danger,plowed his front feet deeply into the loose soil and stopped dead still.

  It was neatly done, and quickly; so quickly that before Beatrice hadmore than gasped her surprise, Keith lowered her to the ground and slidout of the saddle. Beatrice looked at him, and wondered at his face, andat the way he was shaking. He leaned weakly against the horse and hidhis face on his arm, and trembled at what had come so close to thegirl--the girl, who stood there panting a little, with her wonderful,waving hair cloaking her almost to her knees, and her blue-brown eyeswide and bright, and full of a deep amazement. She forgot Goldie, anddid not even look to see what had become of him; she forgot nearlyeverything, just then, in wonder at this tall, clean-built young fellow,who never had seemed to care what happened, leaning there with his facehidden, his hat far hack on his head and little drops standing thicklyupon his forehead. She waited a moment, and when he did not move, herthoughts drifted to other things.

  "I wonder," she said abstractedly, "if I broke my kodak."

  Keith lifted his head and looked at her. "Your kodak--good Lord!" Helooked hard into her eyes, and she returned the stare.

  "Come here," he commanded, hoarsely, catching her arm. "Your kodak! Lookdown there!" He led her to the brink, which was close enough to set himshuddering anew. "Look! There's Goldie, damn him! It's a wonder he'son his feet; I thought he'd be dead--and serve him right. And you--youwonder if you broke your kodak!"

  Beatrice drew back from him, and from the sight below, and if she werefrightened, she tried not to let him see. "Should I have fainted?"She was proud of the steadiness of her voice. "Really, I am very muchobliged to you, Mr. Cameron, for saving me from an ugly fall. You did itvery neatly, I imagine, and I am grateful. Still, I really hope I didn'tbreak my kodak. Are you very disappointed because I can't faint away?There doesn't seem to be any brook close by, you see--and I haven't myer--lover's arms to fall into. Those are the regulation stage settings,I believe, and--"

  "Don't worry, Miss Lansell. I didn't expect you to faint, or to show anyhuman feelings whatever. I do pity your horse, though."

  "You didn't a minute ago," she reminded him. "You indulged in a bit ofprofanity, if I remember."

  "For which I beg Goldie's pardon," he retorted, his eyes unsmiling.

  "And mine, I hope."

  "Certainly."

  "I think it's rather absurd to stand here sparring, Mr. Cameron. You'llbegin to accuse me of ingratitude, and I'm as grateful as possible forwhat you did. Sir Redmond's horse was too slow to keep up, or he wouldhave been at hand, no doubt."

  "And could have supplied part of the stage setting. Too bad he wasbehind." Keith turned and readjusted the cinch on his saddle, though itwas not loose enough to matter, and before he had finished Sir Redmondrode up.

  "Are you hurt, Beatrice?" His face was pale, and his eyes anxious.

  "Not at all. Mr. Cameron kindly helped me from the saddle in time toprevent an accident. I wish you'd thank him, Sir Redmond. I haven't thewords."

  "You needn't trouble," said Keith hastily, getting into the saddle."I'll go down after Goldie. You can easily find the camp, I guess,without a pilot." Then he galloped away and left them, and wouldnot look back; if he had done so, he would have seen Beatrice's eyesfollowing him remorsefully. Also, he would have seen Sir Redmond glareafter him jealously; for Sir Redmond was not in a position to know thattheir tete-a-tete had not been a pleasant one, and no man likes to haveanother fellow save the life of a woman he loves, while he himself islimping painfully up from the rear.

  However, the woman he loved was very gracious to him that day, and formany days, and Keith Cameron held himself aloof during the rest of thetrip, which should have contented Sir Redmond.