Page:The purple pennant (IA purplepennant00barb).pdf/47

Rh at the opposite window than upon it appeared the silhouette of as cowboyish a cowboy as ever rode through sage-brush! Evidently the light was in the center of the room and the occupant was standing between light and window, standing so that for a brief moment his figure was thrown in sharp relief against the shade, and Perry, staring unbelievingly, saw the black shadow of a broad felt hat whose crown was dented to a pyramid shape, a face with clean-cut features and a generous mustache and, behind the neck, the knot of a handkerchief! Doubtless the flannel shirt was there, too, and, perhaps, the leather cuffs properly decorated with porcupine quills, but Perry couldn't be sure of this, for before he had time to look below the knotted bandana the silhouette wavered, lengthened oddly and faded from sight, leaving Perry for an instant doubtful of his vision!

"Now what do you know about that?" he murmured. "A regular cowboy, by ginger! What's he doing over there, I wonder. And here I was thinking about him! Anyway, about cowboys! Gee, that's certainly funny! I wish I could have seen if he wore a revolver on his hip! Maybe he'll come back."

But he didn't show himself again, although Perry sat on in the darkness of his little room for the