Page:West of Dodge (1926).pdf/134

 on the station platform to-night, but it isn't altogether a railroad affair. Charley Burnett appears to be chief of the enterprise, with railroad coöperation."

"There'll be kegs of beer, as always."

"I don't know. Are kegs of beer the usual trimmings?"

"Everybody drunk toward the end. They begin to use pick-handles about the sixth keg; they lay the wounded out in rows."

"I suppose I'd better get ready for a busy night, then."

"Yes, there's always a lot of repairing to be done after a railroad dance. It's fun to watch them till the pick-handles begin to fly."

"Will you come down and stand on the sidelines?"

"Maybe I'll ride down after it gets a good start, and look on a while."

"I hoped you'd let me come for you. There's a moon; it would be a pleasant walk."

"You'll be needed every minute. They carve one another up horribly sometimes. No, I'd better ride down. I'll find you, if you're not socially or professionally engaged. The young ladies on wheels may be giving you a giddy time."

"My energies must be reserved for the hour of pick-handles," he said, pleased beyond anything to hear her speak that way, that lightly bantering, yet subtly disparaging way, of the buxom lasses of the boarding-train. The family feeling could not be carried as far as all that, he knew.

They were near the post office, lagging to prolong the walk, in which there was so much to say, it seemed, and so little said.

"Dr. Hall, why don't you carry a gun?" Elizabeth