Page:Caroline Lockhart--The Fighting Shepherdess.djvu/36

 "Wouldn't them alkali bogs breeding' a billion * no- see' ems ' a second be kind of a drawback? " inquired Teeters tentatively.

" That'll all be drained, covered with sile and seeded down in lawns," replied the Major quickly. " In two year that spot'U be bloomin' like the Garden of Eden.

" I've got to be movin'," the Major continued. " I'm on my way from a cornerstone layin' at Buffalo Waller to a barbecue at No Wood Crick. I'm kind of an orator," he added modestly.

" And I got about three hundred head of calves to drag to the fire, if I kin git my rope on 'em," said Teeters, straightening in the saddle.

The Major asked in instant interest:

" Oh, you're workin' for that wealthy eastern outfit?"

"Don't know how wealthy they be, but they're plenty eastern," Teeters replied dryly.

" I was thinkin' I might stop over night with 'em and git acquainted. The Scissors Outfit can't be more'n fifteen mile out of my way, and it'll be a kind of a change from the Widder Taylor's, whur I stop generally."

The cowboy combed the horse's mane with his fingers in silence. After waiting a reasonable time for the invitation which should have been forthcoming, the Major inquired :

"They're sociable, ain't they?"

" They ain't never yit run out in the road and drug anybody off his horse," replied Teeters grimly. " They charge four bits a meal to strangers."

" What? " Surely his ears had deceived him.

Inspired by the Major's dumbfounded expression, the cowboy continued : "They have their big meal at night and call it dinner, and they wash their hands at the table when they git done