But I'm not going to be. For Heaven's sake,
Winthrop, for once in your life, do something you oughtn't to do!"
"All right," laughed the man with a gesture of surrender. "And for the
rope throwing contest I'll pick the other."
"What other?" The girl's eyes strayed past the little wooden buildings
of the town to the clean-cut rim of the bench.
"Why the other who rode after your handkerchief. The fellow who
lassoed the honourable Mayor and was guilty of springing the pun."
The girl nodded with her eyes still on the skyline. "Oh, yes. He
seemed--somehow--different. As if people amused him. As if everything
were a joke and he were the only one who knew it was a joke. I could
_hate_ a man like that. The other, Mr. Purdy, hates him."
The man regarded her with an amused smile: "You keep a sort of mental
card index. I should like to have just a peep at my card."
"Cards sometimes have to be rewritten--and sometimes it really isn't
worth while to fill them out again. Come on, let's go. People are
beginning to gather for the fun and I want a good seat. There's a
lumber pile over there that'll be just the place, if we hurry."
In the Headquarters saloon Tex Benton leaned against the end of the bar
and listened to a Bear Paw Pool man relate how they took in a bunch of
pilgrims with a badger game down in Glasgow.
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