Prairie Flowers

by James B. Hendryx

  PRAIRIE FLOWERS

  by

  JAMES B. HENDRYX

  Author of_"The Gun Brand," "The Promise," "The Texan,"__"The Gold Girl," etc._

  A. L. Burt CompanyPublishers New YorkPublished by arrangement with G. P. Putnam's Sons

  Copyright, 1920byJames B. Hendryx

  Made in the United States of America

  BY JAMES B. HENDRYX

  The Promise The Gun BrandThe Texan The Gold GirlPrairie Flowers SnowdriftConnie Morgan in Alaska Connie Morgan with the MountedConnie Morgan in the Lumber Camps Connie Morgan in the Fur Country

  This edition is issued under arrangement with the publishersG. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK AND LONDONThe Knickerbocker Press, New York

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE

  A PROLOGUE 1

  I.--AN ANNIVERSARY 9

  II.--KANGAROO COURT 18

  III.--THE STAGE ARRIVES 29

  IV.--Y BAR COLSTON TALKS 38

  V.--ALICE TAKES A RIDE 50

  VI.--AT THE RED FRONT 60

  VII.--THE TEXAN "COMES A-SHOOTIN'" 68

  VIII.--THE ESCAPE 81

  IX.--ON THE RIVER 93

  X.--JANET MCWHORTER 107

  XI.--AT THE MOUTH OF THE COULEE 120

  XII.--IN TIMBER CITY 130

  XIII.--A MAN ALL BAD 143

  XIV.--THE INSURGENT 156

  XV.--PURDY MAKES A RIDE 163

  XVI.--BIRDS OF A FEATHER 171

  XVII.--IN THE SCRUB 182

  XVIII.--THE TEXAN TAKES THE TRAIL 188

  XIX.--AT MCWHORTER'S RANCH 197

  XX.--AT CINNABAR JOE'S 209

  XXI.--THE PASSING OF LONG BILL KEARNEY 219

  XXII.--CASS GRIMSHAW--HORSE-THIEF 229

  XXIII.--CINNABAR JOE TELLS A STORY 239

  XXIV.--"ALL FRIENDS TOGETHER" 253

  XXV.--JANET PAYS A CALL 267

  XXVI.--THE OTHER WOMAN 276

  XXVII.--SOME SHOOTING 288

  XXVIII.--BACK ON RED SAND 304

  AN EPILOGUE 314

  Prairie Flowers

  A PROLOGUE

  The grey roadster purred up the driveway, and Alice Endicott thrust the"home edition" aside and hurried out onto the porch to greet her husbandas he stepped around from the garage.

  "Did the deal go through?" she asked, as her eyes eagerly sought theeyes of the man who ascended the steps.

  "Yes, dear," laughed Endicott, "the deal went through. You see beforeyou a gentleman of elegant leisure--foot-loose, and unfettered--free toroam where the gods will."

  "Or will not," laughed his wife, giving him a playful hug. "But, oh,Win, aren't you glad! Isn't it just grand to feel that you don't have togo to the horrible, smoky old city every morning? And don't the softair, and the young leaves, and the green grass, and the nesting birdsmake you _crazy_ to get out into the big open places? To get into asaddle and just ride, and ride, and ride? Remember how the sun looked asit rose like a great ball of fire beyond the miles and miles of openbench?"

  Endicott grinned: "And how it beat down on us along about noon until wecould fairly feel ourselves shrivel----"

  "And how it sank to rest behind the mountains. And the long twilightglow. And how the stars came out one by one. And the night camedeliciously cool--and how good the blankets felt."

  The man's glance rested upon the close-cropped lawn where the gracklesand robins were industriously picking up their evening meal. "You lovethe country out there--you must love it, to remember only the sunrises,and the sunsets, and the stars; and forget the torture of long hours inthe saddle and that terrific downpour of rain that burst the reservoirand so nearly cost us our lives, and the dust storm in the bad lands,and that night of horrible thirst. Why those few days we spent inMontana, between the time of the wreck at Wolf River and our wedding atTimber City, were the most tumultuously adventurous days of our lives!"

  His wife's eyes were shining: "Wasn't it awful--the suspense and theexcitement! And, yet, wasn't it just grand? We'll never forget it aslong as we live----"

  Endicott smiled grimly: "We never will," he agreed, with emphasis. "Aman isn't likely to forget--things like that."

  Alice seated herself upon the porch lounge where her husband joinedher, and for several minutes they watched a robin divide a fat wormbetween the scrawny necked fledglings that thrust their ugly mouthsabove the edge of the nest in the honeysuckle vine close beside them.

  "It was nearly a year ago, Win," the girl breathed, softly; "ouranniversary is just thirteen days away."

  "And you still want to spend it in Timber City?"

  "Indeed I do! Why it would just break my heart not to be right there inthat ugly little wooden town on that day."

  "And you really--seriously--want to live out there?"

  "Of course I do! Why wouldn't anyone want to live there? That's realliving--with the wonderful air, and the mountains, and the boundlessunfenced range! Not right in Timber City, or any of the other towns, buton a ranch, somewhere. We could stay there till we got tired of it, andthen go to California, or New York, or Florida for a change. But wecould call the ranch home, and live there most of the time. Now that youhave closed out your business, there is no earthly reason why we shouldlive in this place--it's neither east nor west, nor north, norsouth--it's just half way between everything. I wish we would hear fromthat Mr. Carlson, or whatever his name is so we could go and look overhis ranch the day after our anniversary."

  "His name is Colston, and we have heard," smiled Endicott. "I got wordthis morning."

  "Oh, what did he say?"

  "He said to come and look the property over. That he was willing tosell, and that he thought there was no doubt about our being able toarrange satisfactory terms."

  "Oh, Win, aren't you glad! You must sit right down after dinner andwrite him. Tell him we'll----"

  "I wired him this afternoon to meet us in Timber City."

  "Let's see," Alice chattered, excitedly, "it will take--one night toChicago, and a day to St. Paul, and another day and night, and part ofthe next day--how many days is that? One, two nights, and two days and ahalf--that will give us ten days to sell the house and pack thefurniture and ship it----"

  "Ship it!" exclaimed the man. "We better not do any shipping till we buythe ranch. The deal may not go through----"

  "Well, Mr. What's-his-name don't own the only ranch in Montana. If wedon't buy his, we'll buy another one. You better see that Mr.Schwabheimer tomorrow--he's wanted this place ever since we bought it,and he's offered more than we paid."

  "Oh, it won't be any trouble to sell the house. But, about shipping thefurniture until we're sure----"

  Alice interrupted impetuously: "We'll ship it right straightaway--because when we get it out there we'll just have to buy a ranch toput it in!"

  Endicott surrendered with a gesture of mock despair: "If that's the wayyou feel about it, I guess we'll have to buy. But, I'll give you fairwarning--it will be up to you to help run the outfit. I don't knowanythi
ng about the cattle business----"

  "We'll find Tex! And we'll make him foreman--and then, when we get allsettled I'll invite Margery Demming out for a long visit--I've pickedout Margery for Tex--and we can put them up a nice house right nearours, and Margery and I can----"

  "Holy Mackerel!" laughed Endicott. "Just like that! Little things don'tmatter at all--like the fact that we haven't any ranch yet to invite herto, and that she might not come if you did invite her, and if she didcome she might not like the country or Tex, or he might not like her.And last of all, we may never find Tex. We've both written him a half adozen times--and all the letters have been returned. If we had some ham,we'd have some ham and eggs, if we had some eggs!"

  "There you go, with your old practicability! Anyhow, that's what we'lldo--and if Tex don't like her I'll invite someone else, and keep oninviting until I find someone he does like--and as for her--no one couldhelp loving the country, and no one could help loving Tex--so there!"

  "I hope the course of their true love will run less tempestuously thanours did for those few days we were under the chaperonage of the Texan,"grinned the man.

  "Of course it will! It's probably very prosaic out there, the same as itis anywhere, most of the time. It was a peculiar combination ofcircumstances that plunged us into such a maelstrom of adventure. Andyet--I don't see why you should hope for such a placid courtship forthem. It took just that ordeal to bring out your really fine points.They were there all the time, dear, but I might never have known theywere there. Why, I've lived over those few days, step by step, a hundredtimes! The wreck, the celebration at Wolf River--" she paused andshuddered, and her husband took up the sequence, mercilessly:

  "And your ride with Purdy, and Old Bat thrusting the gun into my handand urging me to follow--and when I looked up and saw you both on therim of the bench and saw him drag you from your horse--then the mad dashup the steep trail, and the quick shot as he raised above the sagebrush--and then, the fake lynching bee--only it was very real to me as Istood there in the moonlight under that cottonwood limb with a nooseabout my neck. And then the long ride through the night, and the meetingwith you at the ford where you were waiting with Old Bat----"

  "And the terrible thunder storm, and the bursting reservoir, and thedust storm in the bad lands," continued the girl. "Oh, it was all so--sohorrible, and yet--as long as I live I will be glad to have lived thosefew short days. I learned to know men--big, strong men in action--whatthey will do--and what they will not do. The Texan with hisdevil-may-care ways that masked the real character of him. And you,darling--the real you--who had always remained hidden beneath the veneerof your culture and refinement. Then suddenly the veneer was knocked offand for the first time in your life the fine fibre of you--the real_stuff_ you are made of, got the chance to assert itself. You stood thetest, dear--stood it as not one man in a hundred who had lived yourprosaic well-ordered life would have stood it----"

  "Nonsense!" laughed the man. "You're grossly prejudiced. You were inlove with me anyway--you know you were. You would have married me intime."

  "I was not! I wasn't a bit in love with you--and I wouldn't have marriedyou ever, if it hadn't been for the test." She paused suddenly, and hereyes became serious, "But Win, Tex stood the test too--and he really didlove me. Do you know that my heart just aches for that boy, out thereall alone in the country he loves--for he _is_ of different stuff thanthe rest of them. He likes the men--he is one of them--but he wouldnever choose a wife from among their women, and his big heart is justyearning for a woman's love. I shall never forget the last time I sawhim--in that little open glade in the timber. He had lost, and he knewit--and he stood there with his arm thrown over the neck of his horse,staring out over the broad bench toward the mountains that showedhazy-blue in the distance. He was game to the last fibre of him. Hetried to conceal his hurt, but he could not conceal it. He spoke highlyof you--said you were a _man_--and that I had made no mistake in mychoice--and then he spoke the words that filled my cup of happiness tothe brim--he told me that you had not killed Purdy--that there was noblood on your hands--and that you were not a fugitive from the law.

  "Win, dear--we must find him--we've got to find him!"

  "We'll find him--little girl," answered her husband as his arm stoleabout her shoulders; "I'm just as anxious to find him as you are--_andin ten days we will start_!"