| Show I The F Female emale of f His Species BY FREDERICK L COWLES Don Dont st stop P In Denver too long after atter you cash your check Tom Dont drink with strangers and keep away from the e variety theatres I advised as aa 1 I handed Tom Graham the check for tOr 1000 in payment for tor his Prospect the Bald Hornet I had taken a n fancy taney to the youthful of or the mine mite and felt it my duty f Tp warn arn him against tho the pitfalls of ot the modern Jericho Dont you worry about bout me Mr rr Bradford I j guess I can look out for tor the money mone all right he hw answered earn estly it means a good deal to me I never had as much before in my life Ufe and I dont guess no darned domed Gra ham that ever lived did They were all aU poor my dad his dad and his dad If a Graham ever got any money he keep It Why hy I had once he went on and It in jest Jest naturally it In worked hard for tor It too Then he paused examined the buckle on my horses bridle closely and added Irrelevantly irrelevantly vantly You get g t no slouch of oC a u bargain on the Horn for a thousand I 1 Itell Itell tell you youIt youIt youIt It looks like a fair prospect we are satisfied If It you are What are re you going to td t do with tho the price Do he said a dreamy look com coming coming coming ing Into his eyes Do Why I am going to get twenty acres of at land un under under under der a ditch down on the where I come from and go to raising alfalfa al fa Ita Its a sure crop and theres more money mony in It than hay I know because I 1 have ranched before dna right down there too where I saved up the I 1 was telling you 01 about Did it in two years and paid a pretty stiff rent I tell teU you Ml Mt Bradford those were the happiest days daysI I ever see all aU filled tilled with sunshine and horses and things like that Instead of at powder smoke and a hole In the ground l 1 lt p this I want to get back to It d stay sta back I am tired of hammer hammering hammering ing lug a drill all day and amI thinking and thinking like you do In a tunnel After all aU a farm tarm Is the only place for a white man to live Jive I guess you are right about that Tom I said though I 1 dont care to live on one myself But nut If iC you liked farming so well why did you quit Oh I wanted a change he stam stammered stammered stammered with reddening face You see sec I was going to get married and then I and that th tt always breaks a fel fellow fellow fellow low up you know Seems like hes hos got to pull up stakes nothing else will do him I did dill and up here thought Id 11 try a hand at prospecting kinder wanted to be alone You know how it Is Not exactly from personal experience experIence experience ence tell teU me about it itOh ItOh ity Oh there aint much to tell teU it y fault except my being be being beIng ing a fool Graham She kinder changed her mind in all and married another follow fellow more fIore suited to her than me He was educated way up and she had two terms In a convent herself They were both It was all right you understand I aint kicking It was well enough for tor us to think lots of or o each other when we were growing up together kids Is liable to do that and andI I 1 guess it was all aU right for us to get engaged when wa a n little older natural and I If the Gulf Gult road built through here that spring we would a sure enough got married but it did so there aint any use talking about it itI ItI I r dont understand Tom I J said sympathetically How did the th building build buildIng building Ing of a railroad interfere with your marriage Easy enough it brought In a lot of college fellows to lay la out the tho road different from us you know and one of ot them John Cameron boarded a aspell aspell spell at her house He was a little bit the niftiest thing you OU ever saw He lIe know how to wear war his clothes and whiskers and he could talk Ann Arbor like a book and play pia the piano why h could claw Ivory most as good as 1 f Ind Inti Tom himself When he and Nel got to playing duets I knew It was nil all off with me He in the house three weeks until she quit calling me no Tom Why I tell you the tirs time I 1 ever over heard her hor say Mr Gra Graham Graham Graham ham I 1 looked around trying to locate the geezer and then It came with a jolt that she Rhe meant roe me m and you bet bt that than r hurt some but I say anything then thought Id wait awhile Im a little bit slow being a Graham But one evening I r made up my mind It had to come and I might as well face the music Nellie I says it ft strikes me you aint caring as much for my little game ame as you OU used to get getting ting a little tired of it It and would cash cashour your our chips if It It for the looks of things Am Ain I right or am I 1 wrong I dont understand you Mr Graham she said kinder huffy hurty like you use so much slang Its difficult for one to arrive ar arrive arrive rive at your meaning sometimes You have so much trouble before John Cameron came here Nellie I says But you OU know what I mean all allright allright right and you understand the rules of the game Lets dont pretend any anything anything anything thing now Its too late for that You know that there anything in the world I do to make you happy Now No if it you OU want me to Dull pull out and leave him a clear field all you got to do doIs dois doIs Is to say so Well says she perhaps oh Tom I dont want to hurt your feelings dont you see how different everything is I know lenow Nellie 1 says everything Is different but me mc and my friendship for you I dont think we ever had the nerve to call it anything else Just friendship I Itom am going but I 1 will always be your friend Dont forget that I dont think I 1 ever saw her any nicer to me than she was after I told her that Before Belore I went she kinder threw out something about a new pi piano piano piano ano as the old one was pretty badly used up so I 1 four out of or my five hundred for a new one ono as a present to her and lit out for the mines She married Cameron and I 1 guess lives east now Frank Davis wrote me the other day da that the old Francis place is for sale and I 1 guess this thousand will just about buy it I 1 have always had an idea Id like to own it fl I want to t fix It up and make it look kinder homey home for she may come bacK some day to take a peek at it and Iguess I Iguess Iguess guess she would kinder appreciate Its being kept up Women are more sen than men about such things and generally you OU know I 1 understand Tom I said as I 1 shook hands with him I feel safer about bout you ou taking care of ot your our money now that I 1 know your our plans Let me know when you OU get settled and If it the mine pans out well we may ma help you toward stocking your our ranch Goodby So long he cried with a wave of at athis his hat as he swung off of down the road and that was the last I saw of him for fora a month I think It was just about a month after that when I overtook him trudging up Berthoud pass with a miners outfit on his back Being mounted I gave him a lift with his things to tho the top ton of the pass nass where we made our camp for the night It was evident he was too poor to buy a apack apack apack pack mule and I was curious to know how he could have gotten away with his money In so short a time but wait waited waited waited ed for him to tell his story In his own way for I felt sure there was a story After supper as we sat smoking our pipes In silence by the campfire he finally finall said tentatively Little surprised to see me today you Some thought you were ranching It down on the it it he said blowing a cloud cloudo of o smoke Only place for a white man manto manto manto to live Its bound to come after a awhile awhile awhile while I was pretty prett close to it the last time I saw you I It looked like a go you OU had the price all right so 50 Dont look much like It now though do I INot INot INot Not much What kind of a game was it No game at all Whisky He shook his head Women ramen I queried a little puzzled for he never struck me as that kind of ot a boy boyOne bo One and a kid Ah a confidence game No Xo I 1 what I was up against aga all aU the time but the money had to go I am a fool come of a fool family but I aint none sorry about this though Then he con continued continued continued all the while carefully refilling his pipe keeping his face turned from fromme fromme fromme me Do you mind my telling you OU something about her that time up on the dump of at the Bald Hornet Yes why Oh nothing much only she was in Denver too Where do you spose I II saw aw her herI I the slightest idea At the Palace The Palace I 1 echoed in astonish astonishment astonishment astonishment ment for the Palace was an variety theatre of ot the worst type What on earth was she doing In such sucha a place as that I 1 thought she married a civil engineer She did only he engineering much for drinks down there He was the professor and she was doing two turns Professor two turns I repeated mystified by br his slang Yes piano player you know and she done two dancing turns on the stage carried a spear in the last act In spite of the paint and short dress dr ss and things like that I knew her the minute she came came on the stage and I thought Id fall off cf my chair when sl F commenced to sing about mothe grave and she looked so much like she meant it that I just felt I 1 would have to have a little talk with her and get the thing straight I 1 know how to get to where she was and figured and figured on It until I saw some of ol the other ladies working the boxes Thinks I to myself my ticket Ill hire a box and catch her when she comes around and I 1 lid did What hat do you mean by working the boxes Tom I asked Thought you said you had been in Denver he answered looking at me in quiet disapproval I have only I am afraid I missed the Palace Tell TeIl me about It Well the lady performers after they do their turn little acts song dance and so on you know make a around around around round of the boxes in ins their show clothes to push wine for the house They get a per cent The whole upper story gallery Is a n row of boxes and ande the e fellows fellows f sit up there and order wine Well Yell she got around after a while and come to me We talked on for a while finally final I 1 asked In a kinder offhand way what her name might be the good of ot names in a place like this she says But if you really want to know Its Maud laud DeLaney De DeLaney DeLancy Laney Lancy Buy another bottle and lets drink to it yours Never you mind about my name just now non I says looking at her painted eyewink ers So your name In Maud faud DeLaney is It Maud DeLaney funny tunny Yes its Maud DeLaney she says up like she used to some sometimes sometimes sometimes times a little red showing under the white paint on her face I dont see anything funny tunny about it I 1 think its a pretty name dont you Oh yes Its pretty enough but But what she says Oh nothing I 1 says I was only thinking Dont nobody thinks here they would go mad if it they did Just then the wine came cam in All Allright AllrIght Allright right Maud DeLaney I 1 says We Ve wont do any more thinking I guess gu ss you are arc right about the mad part of it Your name is all right Its quite be becoming becoming becoming coming to t you but DUt I am just down from the hills where they dont sport such highfalutin names nor dresses like you OU have on I 1 was thinking awhile ago how I 1 used to like old fashioned common names Nellie Francis for Instance It leti drink to Nellie Neme Francis She sprung to her feet and then began to tremble so that she had to hold on to the wine table ta table table ble to stand up In the name of heaven she whimpered what do you mean Who Vho are you that speaks of Nellie Neme Francis Never mind Nellie I 1 says feeling sorry for her I am your friend always your friend don dons forget that thatAh thatAh thatAh Ah I 1 know you OU now Tom Graham Gra Graham Graham ham you cant fool me any more the last thing you told me be before before fore tore you ou went away she said drawing In her breath and showing her prett teeth like she used to but there was something about the set of her lips that made her look vIcious like an angry coyote Yes I says I am Tom Graham the same old fool tool Tom and I 1 cant understand un understand understand you being in this dive with such clothes on What kind of a man did you marry marTY anyway that stands for a thing like this just It it Tom she says sas Its him I 1 cant help it deed I 1 cant he makes me do it and I 1 am so tired of it all that I 1 am Just ready to drop He drinks and carries on awful and an swears my you believe how that man swears now right before Sadie and she is picking it up too Sadie adie is our little girl Tom 5 years old and just as cute and pretty as she can be looks like I did I guess though John says I look like a Piute Flute squaw now You will see her In a few tew min minutes minutes minutes utes she does a white turn with me in ina ina ina a coon song and Lacey gives us a dollar a week extra for it it T r dont look like a Plute Piute squaw do I Tom I 1 look lo k good to you dont I And the way she rolled up her calcimined eyes e es at me kinder kind lovin like just made me sick Well I 1 gazed at her painted up and spangled over like a Piute Plute squaw sure enough and I felt like getting down on my knees right there thero and thanking the Lord for being good and saving me from the likes of her I bought another bottle of wine and let her run on with her talk because I wanted to kill my calf love stone dead Why I tell you there anything too sacred for that woman to dig up and make a fuss over but she thought she was doing It all right she know how I 1 felt After a awhile while she got to fixing my necktie and picking the threads off on of my coat and fool tool things like that wanted to know where Id been and what Id been doing When I 1 told her herI I was going back to Trinidad to buy the old ranch she squeezed out a tear or two that she hap hail to dry with little pats of at her handkerchief you bet she dare to wipe the enameling on that face and said My you must be awful rich Tom I wish I had married you instead of at John Hes as mean to tome tome tome me as he can be and abuses me terrible when he Is drunk He slapped me on the mouth the other day until It bled because I lost my temper a little and tried to choke him him all over you never can cantell cantell tell what he Is going to do next He says Its all my fault that Im no lady and never had bad the first instincts of one that my vanity Jealousy and disposition has brought him down to this and and a lot of ot other things like that that you ou know and I 1 know aint so Why Tom old man Lacey have him here a minute If it It for tor me Instead of being thank thankful thankful ful for it U It hes hea Jealous and eats up aw awful awful awful ful about It Then she cried In real earnest but forget to pat with her tier handkerchief instead of rub Final Finally ly she got to talking about old times on the ranch down there and the things I used to do for her and blamed if she ask me to run off at with her right there and then Said we we could go to Chicago and London and all aU sorts of places But I said I 1 guessed I good enough for her not to mention the fact her husband might object But that her a bit she only thought it was bashfulness and went right on making up a Jim Dandy plan until the came In to tell her it was time for the kid and her herto herto herto to go on Say Sa you ought to rave Have seen that kid It was the daintiest st prettiest little lit JIt little tle tie thing that ever happened It had a little nose that kinder wrinkled when It laughed and hair ex exactly exactly exactly like wire gold in white quartz When Nellie brought that kid up to the box to see me and it put its arms around my neck and amI struck me for a nickel I wilted and stood pat to do anything that included it I care for |
