With the same easy assurance that he had
flung his loop about the shoulders of the Mayor of Wolf River he had
carried off the honours of the tournament, insulted Purdy to his face,
dictated to the deputy sheriff, and planned and carried out the release
of Endicott from the grip of the law. And what was most surprising of
all, never had he shown a trace of the boorish embarrassment or
self-consciousness which, up to the moment of his brutal attack upon
her, had characterized the attitude of Purdy. And the girl realized
that beneath his picturesque slurring and slashing of English, was a
familiarity with words that had never been picked up in the cow-country.
Endicott tossed down his wood, and Alice could not help but notice the
sorry appearance of the erstwhile faultlessly dressed gentleman who
stood collarless and unshaven, the once delicately lined silk shirt
filthy with trail dust, and the tailored suit wrinkled and misshapen as
the clothing of a tramp. She noted, too, that his movements were
awkward and slow with the pain of overtaxed muscles, and that the stiff
derby hat he had been forced to jam down almost to the tops of his ears
had left a grimy red band across his forehead. She smiled as her eyes
swept the dishevelled and uncouth figure.
"I am glad," said Endicott with asperity, as he brushed the dirt and
bits of bark from his coat, "that you find the situation so humorous.
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