OCR Text |
Show £32, was giving him orders. So one day I said do something, andhe said do it yourself, and first thing you know we were into it, just a scrambling around in the dust and sliding all over that fool hill and swinging for all we was worth. Blacky let us go on for a while, said he figgered we'd get it out of our system, but I think he got a big kick out of it, us two bioodying each other up. But even after he stopped us we was still plenty mad so Blacky said he'd look after things, why didn't we go down to town and work some of the poison out. So we washed off and rolled up some clean duds and tied 'em on our saddles and rode down to Ridgeway -- toofcus four or five hours and I don't think we said a word to each other the whole way. "Well, my Aunt Lois was living there then. Reuel had a little sort of a general store and was getting ready to go broke again, so we stopped there and had a bath, first time in a month, and ate some good cooking for a change. Then we got a bottle -- no, we each got one: we weren't gonna be friends about nothing -- and off we went to the dance at the i schoolhouse. Those dances up there got pretty wild in those days." "Still do," said Henry. "Yeah, well, that's what you go to dances for, feel your oats. And John and I, we was scratchy as a couple of bob-cats. John found a girl right off, he always did, but I'd gone after one that turned out to have a boyfriend. He didn't take to me and he had a couple of friends standing at his elbow, so I hollared for John." Henry smiled: "But he was mad at you and didn't come." "Oh no, he came running. You nave to stand up for your friends. Turned out to be quite a fi;i'nt, three on tT.;o." "Who won?" I asked. He gave me a grin. "Well, we'd been practicing, so I guess we did." "Did you get the girl too?" said ilenry. "Now ain't that just like a '-irl, soon as I blooded up her boyfriend she |