Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/147

 of her erstwhile friends had become merely contemptuous amusement. She saw now that she was laughed at for her gift.

Nan had no thought that the coming dance would interest Ben, who looked down superciliously upon all things Mexican; but in this she was mistaken.

Pleasures were few and fifty miles was only a scamper when there were music and a dance at the end.

The date of the baile had hardly been set before, in some mysterious fashion, every cowboy in the L.X. outfit knew it, though he carefully refrained from mentioning it until negotiations for certain needed articles of wearing apparel were entered into and the deal consummated. The first to act was Joe Brindell, who took more than a passing pride in his personal appearance upon occasions of the kind. On the whole he considered himself rather a "dressy" person when the function warranted it.

Sauntering up to Kansas Ed he inquired with elaborate carelessness:

"Have you ever thought of sellin' that pink shirt of yourn, Kansas?"