Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-03-05
CHAPTER VIII


precipitate, hair-trigger sort of
creature, lovely little package of
all sorts of unmanageable impulses,
she must have marked in Cole Co.
dy's startled expression that he was
no whit less amazed to see her here
than she was to see him. But she
happened to be a girl who did her
major thinking, when thinking
seemed indicated, after the act in
stead of before. "Well!" said little
Miss Ann Lee. "Of all things! If
you think for one single minute, Mr..
Cody, that either my aunt or myself
has anything whatever to say to
you, you are sadly mistaken. Come,
Auntie, let's go in the house. It's
nicer in there"
GOOD morning, Mr.. Cody" said
Aunt Jenifer, smiling friendliwise.
Lovely morning, amt it?"
You're right" he told her enthu-
siastically. Take this morning just
as it is, you couldn't beat it with
ten foot pole. The suns shining,
notice? And the sky is as blue as
anything. That's the way it ought
to be. The air, now, it's all shot
full OF sunshine, and you can smell
the pines and the green grass; and
you just get Whit of wood smoke
out of the chimneys, dropping down
lazy-like because on still morning
like this, with no wind blowing"
Coming, Aunt Jenifer?" asked a
cool, misunderstanding Ann Lee.
Whether Aunt Jenifer exactly
tipped Mr.. Cody a sly wink, or
whether perhaps she merely squint-
ed an eye against the sun, looking
his way, is question. Not much
of question, perhaps, yet there is
room for argument.
She said meekly to her niece with
out in the least looking meek, Com
ing, my pet" and followed along
to the door which Ann was holding
open.
Just minute there!" Cody
called after them. "Me, too. I'm
coming in!''
Il don't think you have any bust
ness here, Mr.. Cody" Ann said
crisply. you are not invited and
you are not coming in. And never
want to see you again. Do you un-
derstand? Or must I say it again?"
Can you get it through your
head,' said a very rude William
Cole Cody, that you and I, far
apart as the poles in everything
else, agree right up. to the hilt on
one thing? That we never want to
see each other any more than we
have to, and let's hope that today
wipes the slate clean. Just the same
I am coming in, and am going to
stay for spell, and
Like fun you are!" Ann cried
angrily. And, stepping swiftly back
ward, she slammed the door in his
face.
He set his hand to the latch lust
in time to hear her drop the oaken
bar into place. He swore gently
under his breath, scratched his
head, jerked his hat forward and
STROBE purposefully along the corri-
dor edging the patio. hunting for
another door. He found it Just in
time to have it slammed, good and
hard. He FASTENED his step and
heard light steps running So he,
too, ran.
The next door was already fas-
tened. He wasted no time at all
on it-those doors at the Hacienda
Estrada, made long and long ago
of good, honest oak two inches thick,
asked for a battering ram when
hospitality was not at home-but
spun on his heel and dashed for the
kitchen end of the house. Little
Ann Lee, hearing him, ran, too, as
swift and agile as anyone of the
three little pigs who we're not wish
full for call from the wolf, but the
long-hgged Cody was ahead of her
by several safe yards.
He burst into the kitchen and halt
ed there, briefly triumphant, while
he could hear the staccato tapping
of her racing feet.
They looked at each other across
the room. Cody showed his hat back,
set his hands on his hips, lifted his
chin at her and gave her look as
good as a slap. She came to a
dead halt.
"You get out" she cried in an
anger that made her beautiful for
any man, not likewise angry, to
gaze upon.
Some other time" said Cody,
very brittle with her.
Behind Ann Lee, Aunt Jenifer ap-
peared. She wasn't laughing; she
wasn't even exactly smiling. Yet a
man some degrees less than blind
could have told that she was having
the time of her life.
Ann Lee, close to her wits end,
remembered the recent visit of the
amiable Mr.. Calhoun Roundtree, re-
membered in flash the gift he had
made her. There on the kitchen
table, in the middle of the room,
between her and the detestable Mr..
Cody, was Calls Colt AS! What more