Show l M I DUDE WOMAN WOMA I aIrD II I I II PETER B. B KYNE s SE twice v cc gOin o S Q ight fc THE STORY THUS FAR Mary t I 1 erland uland Is lured to Arizona by the adt advertisements ad ot t a of the Wagon Wheel dude ranch operated by Ma and Pa Burdan Dardan She Is met at the station by Len Henley I who tells her the ranch Is II out of business o and I who takes her her- herto to Phoenix Here he be herides rides ides the bronc Mad Hatter In a rodeo and wins three thousand for lor Mary fromi from Irom i a B o his hi dad who had bad bet against Len Ham Sam his has bought the Burdan notes from the a ahe nd bank and feels that Wagon Wac-on Wheel Is now he his but Mary has bought an equity In It She re hires re-hires hires Ma and Pa Burdan and andI I fo takes up on the ranch fighting the Wade m gang gan who after some losses sell their land to Ham and arc are released from prison on promise of 01 leaving the country O CHAPTER iT Presently she heard the complaint in af f tired hungry thirsty cattle up wi the mesa The drive was home T In tn about ten minutes a group of ua Norsemen rode down off the mesa Into the little valley where the headquarters headquarters head head- I In quarters stood and down past the n dude house to the horse corral corral all all pJ 5 t but out Len Henley who dismounted and gave his reins to Lundy while he strode stiffly over to the young mistress mistress mistress mis mis- tress of the Wagon Wheel waiting m in the colonnade to receive him His face carried a patina of dust N aked raked with sweat and little runnels sub sub- subSequent subsequent lad aad been eroded through it by sequent perspiration his clothing lf q was dirty and torn his leather chaps 1 fa scratched his shirt and trousers Y I dark with dust and perspiration She I aught caught the sour odor of his tired unwashed body and sweat-soaked sweat NT lothing as he stepped up hat in in sand land and murmured very formally Good evening Miss S Sutherland therland E She extended her hand in wel- wel Cp ome some and he accepted it eagerly and held field it while his eyes bloodshot lr from om the glare of the pitiless August g Sun jun reflected from the parched arth devoured her He swallowed twice twice- and said the dress I Ir you wore that night at the Phoenix Country Club L He had remembered and the knowledge that he had completely disorganized her plan to be the calm ind gracious hostess Leonardo Youre so lovely Don went on and Im I'm so happy to be out gut Ut of your dog You were never in it she managed mant man man- r aged to answer I 11 I I was was cruel cruel to S t you you but but I never meant it it I I-I I I clawed you a little I sent you youa 11 a i message to make believe I didn't rare thought rare thought it might help you out outthought outthought outthought thought too if I hurt you a little you you wouldn't stop thinking of me meI I I didn't want to be forgotten forgotten- and men men forget forget Her eyes were going moist and she knew it With a gallant effort I she he said aloud and cheerfully Do sit down Don Leonardo and rest your weary bones while I see if I cant can't rustle you up a drink She darted into the house and met Margaret Margaret Mar far garet aret Maxwell and Don Hamilton entering the living room from the patio Hes in the colonnade Margaret Margaret Margaret Mar Mar- garet she gasped and fled to her room She had herself hersell in hand in five minutes and came bravely out Don Leonardo too had had time to reorganize reorganize re re- organize himself after the shock of meeting her and was chatting with his father and Margaret She stooped beside his chair picked up a ow-bell ow and jangled it and instantly instant instant- ly as if responding to the summons summons summons sum sum- mons of Aladdin's lamp a lathy I dusky genii appeared with a silver tray on which reposed four mint juleps juleps juleps ju ju- leps in tall lovely old frosted silver goblets Both Henleys stood up to accept their juleps both bowed to the ladies and both said How But Len Henley added to Mary To your beautiful eyes my dear and she went out of control again She thought There he stands dog dirty natural easy unashamed of the garments of labor grateful that he has labor to perform Hes He's so wonderful Hes He's a man She contrasted contrasted contrasted con con- him with Joe Blanding and smiled a little and Don Leonardo thought the smile was for him and his somber glance brightened You seem seem to have done things to the Wagon Wheel Mary he observed ob ob- served This is certainly a dude ranch now Pedro showed me those two wonderful artesian wells you drilled I always had an idea one might get an artesian wellI wellI well I HI have so much water Mary managed to answer that I can afford afford afford af af- ford to waste it running it in open ditches which saves me a great deal of money I had planned to put into concrete pipe for an underground underground underground under under- ground irrigation system lose quite a lot of water this year from saturation but presently presently presently pres pres- the ditch will silt up and seal the pores of the earth as it were and next year you'll only lose through evaporation Don Leonardo turned to his father What if anything has happened to the Wade Vade boys Did you mix that bitter brew for them No uNo by son I didn't have to The knowledge they'd been caught cold with the goods by their own father an three reliable witnesses witnesses witnesses wit wit- nesses nesses an the realization they was all out o o 0 luck with me on their trail that I had enough political pull to get the general attorney-general o 0 the state to as special prosecutor tor the powered high-powered criminal lawyer lawyer lawyer law law- Id I'd hire instead o 0 yer depend in on ona ona ona a cow-country cow attorney sent the boys into a huddle with the result that when I swore out warrants warrants warrants war war- rants chargin em with grand theft the mornin after Hank got them into his his' jail they clamored to git it over with if they pleaded guilty an saved the county the cost of a trial maybe the judge would go goeasy goeasy goeasy easy on em So that mornin they had their preliminary examination in the police court an was remanded remand remand- ed for trial in the Superior Court It HIt was Saturday an the Superior Court was closed the court bein been in session over at the Apache Club try- try in a case in equity wit to-wit If a aman aman aman man picks up a full house consisting of three dirty deuces an a pair o 0 fours if the man on his left raises be before ore the draw an another man meets him an back raises an an everybody everybody everybody ev ev- else drops out except the dealer which is the judge an if the man on his left stands pat an the theman theman theman man that stays calls for one card an the dealer meets the back raise before the draw an raises a an the man that stands pat meets him an raises an the man that draws one card raises him what's the answer Is the feller that's pat bluffin has he got a flush a straight or a full house And did the feller feHer that drew one card fill in an inside straight or a tailed bob-tailed flush or has he a full house or four of a kind or is he bluffin The judge decides to find out so he throws away his fours fours- an draws another deuce So he I i meets the bets already made an raises five dollars for only a fool will ignore four of a kind even if they are deuces His Honor is in two twenty-two dollars when hes he's called an an loses the pot to four treys I Murder most foul his son murmured mur mur- Well Miss Sutherland when are you leavin us for New York I Some time tinge this winter Ill I'll runback run runback runback back to see some shows But Ill I'll I be back for Christmas here Cant Can't stay away too long or Ill I'll get in Dutch with the Spirit of the Hassy- Hassy ampa And why do you address me meas meas meas as Miss Sutherland You used to call me Dude Because you aint a dude no nomore nomore nomore more an me an Len knows it We Ve was you steal some cattle cattle cattle cat cat- I i tle back one mornin a week ago an anso anso anso so we seen you baptized in the new I faith Mary flushed with pride I wasn't I quite certain I had become an Arizonan Arizonan Arizonan Ari- Ari until my mother came out I in May to see to it that I got rid of the Wagon Wheel and returned home to take as she expressed it my rightful position in the world I didn't argue with her because one should never argue with a woman woman woman wom wom- an- an Hear Hear Le Len Henley mur mur- Ill remember that Go on I merely bought a motion picture i projector and ran about three hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred feet of film I had taken of you and me Don Leonardo in the parade parade parade pa pa- rade to the rodeo grounds last J January January Janu Janu- anu- anu ary and your ride on Mad Hatter You may recall that I was a little bit crazy about you that day so when Mad Hatter had kicked you within an inch of your life I dropped down from my box into the arena picked you up and wept over you and kissed you Finally I rode off with you in the ambulance and ambulance and the camera man I had engaged to make a pictorial record of your last ride just kept on grinding Ham Henley commenced a soft howling an imitation of a brokenhearted brokenhearted brokenhearted broken broken- hearted dog Mother warned me there had never been any bronco busters in inthe inthe I the Sutherland family that all the women in her clan and all those in I Imy my fathers father's had always managed to marry gentlemen and if I married married married mar mar- ried a bronco buster busier shed she'd disown me and disinherit me So in case caseI I should be disowned 3 and nd disinherit disinherit- ed cd I had to o have a place to hide rude my shame and I decided to keep the Wagon Wheel Whee If Id I'd been present when she said that Ham Tiam Henley declared Id HId have told her about the Henley family family fam ily He lifted the tall silver goblet and studied it I HI got a dozen silver goblets like this one he said with the same crest Maybe if we traced your proud line back to Jamestown Virginia around the year 1615 wed we'd run into kin The first fast Henley in America brought them goblets an a solid silver service Its It's been hocked a few times but we always managed to git it out agin an keep keepit it in the family I daresay said Mary your ancestor was seeking a place where he couldn't be ordered around I Youre right The King o 0 England England England Eng Eng- I land an him had a fallin falln out so he left two jumps ahead o 0 the sheriff Spoke out of his turn didn't he Don Hamilton He did In fact that's a habit us Henleys has to the present day I spoke out o 0 my turn here a few months back back back- You dont don't have to admit error Mary reminded him in order to tobe tobe tobe be forgiven And nine times out of often often often ten you would have been speaking words of wisdom wisdom out out of your turn I happened to be the odd number Well anyhow if Id I'd been present when your mother spoke her piece me an her would most certainly have tangled Id I'd ha told her something something some some- thing about the Henleys but since she aint here to receive my blast Ill I'll tell you We got a record for good citizenship that sort o 0 nullifies our social short comins Henleys has shed their blood in every war this thi country has has fought none none none- of us has ever been in jail for dishonesty or immorality we aint spawned no wits half-wits nor fancy women an weve we've put food in the mouths o 0 the hungry sheltered the homeless an wiped away the tears o 0 the un un- un happy Were We're rough an tough an proud of it more it-more more particular since were we're back where we started with started with witha a gentleman His eyes brimmed and he put his hand on Lens Len's shoulder My son he said with profound t tenderness the woman dont don't live that can turn up her nose at you Don Leonardo and Mary were sitting sitting sitting sit sit- ting in the semi-darkness semi of the colonnade watching the bats flying around and Don Leonardo had his guitar which Margaret had brought out to him From time to time he picked out an air on it Down at the other end of the colonnade his father and Margaret sat discussing matters that conc concerned themselves only Suddenly Don Leonardo commenced commenced commenced com com- picking out a plaintive melody melody melody mel mel- ody in a minor key practiced it five minutes and sang I loved my love by the I loved my love and she loved me When I lost my love by the Hassy Hassy- ampa I thought the Spirit had swindled me Oh Oh Oh The naughty little scamp Swindled me down by the Hassy- Hassy amp But I wonder if he wonders now how I feel As I sit beside her at the Wagon Wheel Oh night of love oh wondrous night Kiss me darling and hold me ti ti- ti After about two minutes of silence Ham Henley explained it to Mar Mar- garet The dude short-circuited short him he said THE END |