Page:Caroline Lockhart--The Fighting Shepherdess.djvu/34

 was familiar with the type, though this particular individual was unknown to him.

" Howdy! " The cowboy let the reins slip through his fingers so his horse could feed, and sagged sidewise in the saddle.

" How are you, sir? " There was nothing in the dignified restraint of the Major^s response to indicate that his vocal cords ached for exercise and he was fairly quivering in his eagerness for an ear to talk into. There was a silence in which he removed a nose bag, bridled and shoved a horse against the tongue.

" Back, can't ye ! "

"Nooned here, I reckon?"

The Major thought of his chickenless handout and his face clouded.

" I et a bite."

" Thought maybe you was in trouble when I first see you."

" Had a hot box, but I don't call that trouble." He added humorously: " I can chop my wagon to pieces and be on the road again in twenty minutes, if I got plenty of balin' wire."

The cowboy laughed so appreciatively that the Major inquired ingratiatingly:

"I bleeve your face is a stranger to me, ain't it? "

" I don't mind meetin' up with you before. I've just come to the country, as you might say."

The Major waited for further information, but since it was not forthcoming he ventured:

" What might I call your name, sir? "

The cowboy shifted his weight uneasily and hesitated. He said finally while the red of his shiny sun-blistered face deepened perceptibly: