I figured yeh
wouldn't have no ridin' outfit along so I loant a sideways saddle offen
a friend of mine which his gal usta use before she learnt to ride
straddle. The horse is hern, too, an' gentle as a dog. Here I'll give
yeh a h'ist." The lead-horse nickered softly, and reaching up, the
girl stroked his velvet nose.
"He's woman broke," repeated the cowboy, and as Alice looked up her
eyes strayed past him to the window of the coach where they met
Endicott's steady gaze.
The next moment Purdy was lifting her into the saddle, and without a
backward glance the two rode out across the flat.
The girl was a devoted horsewoman and with the feel of the horse under
her, her spirits revived and she drew in a long breath of the fragrant
night. There was a living tang to the air, soft with the balm of June,
and as they rode side by side the cowboy pointed toward the east where
the sharp edge of the bench cut the rim of the rising moon. Alice
gasped at the beauty of it. The horses stopped and the two watched in
silence until the great red disc rose clear of the clean-cut sky-line.
About the wreck torches flared and the night was torn by the clang and
rattle of gears as the great crane swung a boxcar to the side. The
single street was filled with people--women and men from the wagons,
and cowboys who dashed past on their horses or clumped along the wooden
sidewalk with a musical jangle of spurs.
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