It was not delicate flattery, but Boone was quick at judging his listener's capacity, and it pleased Miss Steel--the more so because a certain Scandinavian damsel was her princ.i.p.al rival in the question of comeliness. She drew herself up a little, while Boone smiled whimsically. "You know it is true," he said.

The man had always interested me. He was at home anywhere, and his tongue equally adept at broad prairie raillery or finely modulated English. Yet one could see that there was a shadow upon him.

"You need have no compunction, Ormesby. I really made only one successful attempt at housebreaking in my life," he said. "Do you accept the offer?"

"Yes, with many thanks; though I don't quite see why you make it in writing," I said. "There are, however, a good many other things I don't comprehend just now, and sometimes I feel that I am being moved here and there blindly to suit other persons' unknown purposes. The position does not please me."

Boone laughed. "There is something in the fancy. You are the king's bishop, and I'm not sure that as yet even the players quite know their own game. Of course you are aware that Lane holds a power of attachment against you?"

"At present there is nothing but the prairie sod to attach, though I don't see why he does not at once grab as much as he is ent.i.tled to of that," I said. "If I get enough time I may be able to pay him off after harvest."

"I hope you will," was Boone's answer; and, changing the topic, he entertained us with the quaintest anecdotes.

Some time had pa.s.sed since that evening, and spring had come suddenly, when I commenced my plowing. Hitherto little wheat had been grown so far West, but the soil was good, and I knew that sooner or later there would be grain elevators in Crane Valley. Though the sub-soil was still frozen, the black clods that curled in long waves from the mold-board's side were steaming under the April sun; and as I tramped down the quarter-mile furrow my spirits rose with the freshness of the spring. It was good to be up and doing again, and the coming months of strain and effort would help me to forget. Thorn and Steel, who were also plowing, shouted jests as they pa.s.sed, and it was with a contentment long strange to us we rested at noon. Some distance divided the breaking from the house, and we lay on the warm gra.s.ses, basking in the radiance of the cloudless sun over our simple meal.

The whole prairie was flooded with it, the air sweet and warm, and we recommenced our task with pulses which throbbed in unison with that of reawakening nature. The long months of darkness and deathlike cold had gone, green blades presaging the golden ears would soon shoot upwards from every furrow, and one drank in the essence of hope eternal in every breath of air. Anxiety faded into insignificance, and one rejoiced in the mere possession of physical strength, while the tender greenness checkering the frost-nipped sod testified again that seed time and harvest should not fail so long as the world rolled onward from darkness into light.

We came home more cheerful than we had been for months, but I felt an instinctive foreboding when I saw Cotton talking to Sally beside the corral fence. She was apparently bantering him, but there was satisfaction in his face, as, after some jests of hers, he glanced at the stripes on his sleeve.

"I guess he's much too proud to look at you. They've made him a corporal!" said Sally.

There was a contrast between us. Spring plowing is not cleanly work, and the mire which clung about our leggings had also freely spattered our old jean overalls. Cotton was immaculate in new uniform, and sat, a trim, soldierly figure, on his freshly caparisoned horse.

"Here is a note for you from Bonaventure," he said. "I was riding in to the railroad with some dispatches and to bring out our pay when Miss Haldane asked me to give it to you."

I saw a faint sparkle in Sally's eyes at the mention of Bonaventure, as I said: "It was very good of you to ride so far round. Your superiors are punctilious, are they not?"

"With the exception of Mackay, who's away, they don't leave one much discretion," said the corporal. "Still, I have time to spare, and don't suppose anybody will be much the wiser. In any case, Miss Haldane said the note was urgent, and--though having to call at the reservation I might have pa.s.sed this way on my homeward journey--I came at once."

The missive brought a frown to my face. "Our hired men are busy, and Corporal Cotton will kindly take you this," it ran. "Father, who went East for a day or two, writes me to let you know immediately that Lane is coming over shortly to attach your horses and cattle."

I saw at once that if the money-lender seized our working beasts in the midst of plowing, when n.o.body had a team to spare, our prospects of a harvest would be ruined. However, I reflected with grim satisfaction that the beasts were not mine, and that every man is ent.i.tled to protect the property entrusted to him. "Read that," I said, pa.s.sing it to Thorn.

"You had better start after supper and let the South-side boys know.

I'll warn the others, and it strikes me that Lane will have his work cut out to drive off a single head."

We had forgotten the bearer of the message, though once or twice I heard Sally's voice and Cotton's laugh; but on turning towards the house I saw he had backed his horse away from the corral and was somewhat dubiously regarding the fence. Sally leaned against it watching him with an a.s.sumption of ironical admiration.

"I'll see that you keep your promise if I win," he said; and the girl laughed mockingly.

"If you don't I'll try not to cry over you," she retorted; and I guessed the madcap had made some wager with him that he could not leap the fence. Sally afterwards declared penitently that she never fancied he would attempt it; but I could see by the lad's face he meant to take the risk.

"Your horse is not fresh enough, and you'll certainly break your neck!"

I shouted.

Cotton glanced over his shoulder, then gathered up his bridle, while, as I ran towards him, Sally's heart must have failed her, for she called out: "Don't! I'll pay forfeit!"

We were both too late. The corporal had touched the beast with the spurs, and man and horse were flying towards the tall and well-braced fence. I held my breath as I watched, for I had nailed the birch poles home securely, and had not much faith in the beast's leaping powers. It launched itself into the air, then there was a crash, and the top rail flew into splinters, while horse and rider parted company. The former, after rolling over, scrambled to its feet, but the uniformed figure smote the ground with a distressful thud and lay very still. Sally screamed, and must have climbed the fence, for when we had run around by the slip rails she was bending over the limp figure stretched upon the sod. Her eyes were wide with terror.

"He is dead, and I have killed him," she said.

I bent down with misgivings, for Cotton did not move, and there was something peculiar about his eyes. "Can you hear us? Are you badly hurt?" I asked.

"What's that?" he answered drowsily; and I gathered courage, remembering symptoms noticeable in similar cases; but Thorn had administered a dose of prohibited whisky before he became intelligible. I was not wholly sorry for Sally, but seeing that she had been sufficiently punished, I said: "There are no bones broken, and his pulse is regaining strength."

Cotton's scattered senses were evidently returning, for he looked up, saying: "I'm only shaken, Miss Steel, and I won the bet. Don't be in a hurry, Ormesby; I hardly fancy I could get up just yet."

We waited several minutes, then, forcibly refusing Miss Steel's a.s.sistance, carried him into the house and laid him on a makeshift couch in our general-room. His color was returning, but his face was awry with pain, and, so he expressed it, something had given way inside his back.

It was a dismal termination to an inspiriting day, and the old depression returned with double force as I glanced at the untasted meal on the table, at Lucille Haldane's note, and around the disordered room.

Sally looked badly frightened, Steel very grim, and Cotton seemed to be suffering.

"It will pa.s.s presently, and you had better get your supper," he said.

"I must try to eat a morsel, for I have a long way to ride to-night."

"You are not going to move off that couch until morning at least," I said. But the corporal answered: "I simply must. Is the horse all right?"

"Doesn't seem much the worse," said Steel; and Sally held a teacup to the corporal's lips, and afterwards coaxed him very prettily to eat a little. Seeing this, the rest of us attacked the cold supper, for we had duties that must be attended to. Returning to the house some little time later, I found that Sally had disappeared and Cotton was standing upright. He moved a few paces, and then halted, leaning heavily on the table, while his face grew gray with pain.

"Lie down at once. You are not fit to move," I said.

"It means degradation and heaven knows what besides unless I can reach the depot to-night," he said. "Mackay is away, and the other man's a cast-iron martinet, while I have just got my stripes and a hint of something better. You see we are not supposed to undertake private errands when under definite orders, and there are special reports and a receipt for the pay in my wallet."

He made another attempt to reach the door, then staggered, and, grasping his arm, I settled him with some difficulty once more on the couch. "You are right. There's nothing left but to face the inevitable," he said, trying to check a groan.

I forgot my own anxieties in my regret. "I am very sorry this should have happened," I said. "You were far too generous; but can't one of us take in the papers and get the money?"

Cotton tried to smile, though his fingers twitched. "Miss Haldane asked me; and it would be no use. They wouldn't give you the money, and if they did, how would that get over the fact that I'm lying here helpless?

Why couldn't it have happened on the return journey?"

"Did you tell Miss Haldane you were running a risk?" I asked.

"Would one naturally do so when she asked a favor?" he answered, with a trace of indignation.

It was of course absurd of Corporal Cotton, but I felt very sorry for him when he laid his head down with a groan, and I subsequently surmised that Sally had overheard part, at least, of the conversation, for when the lad, who had perhaps not wholly recovered from the weakness of the shock, sank into sleep, she called me.

"It's all my fault, and I'll never forgive myself; but I never guessed he'd rush the fence," she said. "They couldn't put him in prison?"

"They might turn him out of the service, which, in his eyes, would be worse," I answered dryly. "It should be a lesson to you, Sally. You can't help being pretty, but that is no reason why you should so often lead some unfortunate man into difficulties."

Sally's penitent expression vanished, and there was a flash in her eyes.

"You are so foolish, all of you, and I guess you needn't look wise, Harry Ormesby. He is perhaps a little worse than the rest--and that's why one likes him. When he wakes, you and Charlie have just got to take those tight things off him and put him in your berth. If anybody wants him the next day or two they'll have to tackle me."

We did so presently, and, after seeing that our patient was comfortable, Sally returned, wearing his uniform tunic. "How does this fit me?" she asked.

Steel looked angry, and I grew thoughtful. n.o.body who knew her was, as a rule, astonished at Sally's actions, but she asked the question soberly, with no trace of mischief.

"Do you wish me to say that you would look well in anything?" I asked.

"I don't. You can tell lies enough when you trade horses," she answered tartly. "It's a plain question--how does this thing fit me?"