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Page 24
"No," replied the ranchman, looking from one of his guests to the
other.
"Why, he started three hours ahead of us!" explained Parenthesis.
With a challenging note in his tones, as if his word was
disputed, the host answered: "Well, he ain't showed up."
The little group had become silent. Arizona was in a period of
unrest. Rumors of another Apache uprising were growing stronger
each day. Then Payson was successful, and, therefore, despised
by less fortunate men ever eager for a quarrel.
After a moment's thought Sage-brush brushed aside his fears and
brightened up his comrades with the remark: "Mebbe he rid over
to Florence station to get a present for Miss Echo. He said
somethin' about gettin' an artickle from Kansas City."
"Mebbe so," agreed Allen, eager to cast out any forebodings.
"It's time," he continued, "he wuz turnin' up, if this weddin's
to be pulled off by the clock."
"Has the Sky Pilot got here yet?" asked Sage-brush.
"No," replied Allen. "He's started, though. There's one thing
sartin, we can't tighten up the cinches till the bridegroom gits
here."
The absence of Jack Payson and the failure of the minister to
arrive aroused the suspicions of Sage-brush. Coming closer to
Allen, he smiled knowingly, and, speaking in a confidential tone,
asked:
"Say, Jim, they ain't figgerin' on gittin' away on the sly-like,
are they?"
Show Low interrupted with the explanation: "You see, we're goin'
to decorate the wagon some."
The suggestion that any one connected with Allen Hacienda would
ride in anything on wheels, except the driver of the chuck-wagon
out on round-up, aroused the indignation of the old cattleman.
For him the only use to which a wheeled vehicle drawn by a horse
should be put was to haul materials that could not be packed on a
horse.
"They ain't using any wagon!" he fairly shouted; "they're goin'
away in the leather."
The idea of carrying out the traditions of the horse in Pinal
County even to a wedding-journey tickled the boys immensely.
Slapping one another on the back and nodding their heads in
approbation, they shouted: "That's the ticket. Hooray!"
"This ain't no New York idea, where the bride and groom hits the
life-trail in a hired hack," cried Fresno.
Allen's feelings apparently were not yet fully soothed. Turning
to Sage-brush, he said: "Wheels don't go in my family. Why, her
ma and me were married on hossback. The preacher had to make a
hurry job of it, but it took."
"Hush, now," was Parenthesis' awed comment.
"For her pop was a-chasin' us, and kept it up for twenty miles
after the parson said 'Amen.'"
"Did he ketch you?" asked Fresno, with great seriousness.
"He sure did," answered Allen, with a twinkle in his eye, "an'
thanked me for takin' Josephine off his hands."
The boys laughed. The joke was upon themselves, as they had
expected to hear a romantic story of earlier days.
When the laughter had subsided, Show Low suggested: "If we can't
decorate the wagon, let's put some fixin's on the ponies."
The proposal was received with more whoops, shouting, and
yipping. They waltzed about the smiling rancher.
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