The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-08-07
BY II. g. cASFIELD.

So. as the spring-round-up was ende'
and the branding done. and nothing e
manned TO bother folks except the screw
| ffy. they thought TO have n dance. The
| boss OF the Bar c outfit said they eoulC
have his new hide-house Five of the bOyi
volunteered to ride all over JEFF Davi,
County and tell the girls. 1t was easy {.
get a fiddler o. two from Stockton. Tn,
cook II Bar c held himself TO be compe
tent to throw together enough jerked beef
dried apple cookies and black coffee g
feed forty regiments. The married wo-
men would come. not only for the looks OF
the thing. but TO tread a few measures
themselves. There hadn't been an all
county dance in JET Davis County since
the Chisholm women. who belonged to old
'Iank" Chisholm, OF the Circle o brand
went back East, and that was five years
ago.
Minnie Scott. daughter OF Buck Scott
OF the Diamond , ranch. would be there
She was the belle OF all Northwestern
Texas, gray-cyed and clear skinned
plump and merry. frank-hearted and ten
der. Zeke Trimble rode fence for Bar
and Bill Raglan broke horses for the Run
ming W people Zeke was a bony chap.
with not much TO say at the best of times.
Nobody thought that he stood mucn
chance with Raglan, who was a strong.
hlack-eyed fellow, with taste for sed
sashes, red-tOpped boots. ivory-handled
six-shoOters. and gay hOrsefesh. He could
pick the guitar a bit and ride to lay over
anything between FL Paso and Browns
vile, and his tongue went freely. whether
he talked to leather leggings or petticoats.
Ii was like him to ride twenty miles to the
Diamond place and ask Miss Minnie for
the pleasure Of her company TO tie ball,
and 1t was like Miss Minnie TO tell him
that she intended 10 go with her pa and
ma in the new carriage her pa had bought
In Santone. 1t was still more like her to
manage some sort Of hint to Trimble that
he might take her to the dance If he
wanted to. OF course he nearly fell off
his horse; II tickled him So That was the
way the trouble began, and it lasted for
months.
Old Buck" Scott and Mrs Scott came
10 the dance in the new carriage all right
enough. but their daughter rode a pacing
paint pony and Trimble rode with her
They got to the Bar hide-house just as
dark fell. Already there was a crowd in
side. and two fiddlers were playing ''Old
Zip Coon" for the opening quadrille. Miss
Minnie dropped her riding skirt from her
almost as soon as she hit the ground.
Zeke put his six-shooter into corner,
where there was a pile of them. and they
were half way around i'm Ladies TO the
right and gents To the left before pa and
ma got 10 the door. Miss Minnie looked
about her shyly for the red head and
black eyes of Raglan, but she did not see
them Later in the night she made bold
TO ask one of the Running w men about
him. He said that Raglan had left the
ranch the day before bound for Stockton.
and would not get back for a week.
at were easier than ropin' a blind helf-
er ter know wat sent him off, Miss Min
ME" the man said with a grin. "He
heerd tibet Zeke was still hard at work
cuttin'-out an it made him look sickish"
Miss Scott raised her head haughtily
and blushed 'Mr. Raglan's affairs are
not mine" she said. II asked for him
merely from curiosity. 1 don't know what
you mean" Miss Scott had been to school
in Austin.
Trimble had sense, and he knew that it
was his time to throw his rope when the
maverick was straight ahead Of him and
in the open. He quadrilled with the girl
and Waited with her and lanced and
schottisched and mazurkaed and polkaed
A little after midnight he get her into a
corner, the other folks being mostly
at the far end of the room. and
whispered TO her, his yellow mustache
close to her little ear. She turned pale
while he was whispering, then looked up
at him and gave him her right hand
Anybody looking at them would have