06 - The Log of a Cowboy: A Reminiscent Night

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter six of The Log of a Cowboy by Andy Adams.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. A reminiscent
night on the ninth morning we made our second start
from the Indian Lakes, an amusing incident occurred during the
last night of our camp at these water holes. Coyotes

(00:22):
had been hanging around our camp for several days, and
during the quiet hours of the night, the scavengers of
the plain had often ventured in near the wagon in
search of scraps of meat or anything edible. Rod Wheat
and Ash Borrowstone had made their beds down some distance
from the wagon, and the coyotes, as they circled round

(00:42):
the camp, came near their beds, and in sniffing about
awoke barrow stone. There was no more danger of attack
from these cowards than from field mice, but their presence
annoyed Ash, and as he dared not shoot, he threw
his boots at the varmints. Imagine his chagrin the next
morning to find that one boot had landed among the

(01:04):
banked embers of the camp fire and was burned to
a crisp. It was looked upon as a capital joke
by the outfit as there was no telling when we
would reach a store where he could secure another pair.
The new trail, after bearing to the westward for several days,
turned northward, paralleling the old one, and a week later

(01:27):
we came into the old trail, over one hundred miles
north of the Indian Lakes. With the exception of one
thirty mile drive without water. No fault could be found
with the new trail. A few days after coming into
the old trail, we passed Mason, a point where trail
herds usually put in for supplies. As we passed during

(01:47):
the middle of the afternoon, the wagon and a number
of the boys went into the burg Quince. Forrest and
Billy Honeyman were the only two in the outfit for
whom there were any letters, with the exception of a
letter from Lovell, which was common property. Never having been
over the trail before and not even knowing that it
was possible to hear from home, I wasn't expecting any letter,

(02:11):
but I felt a little twinge of homesickness that night
when Honeyman read us certain portions of his letter, which
was from his sister. Forrest's letter was from a sweetheart,
and after reading it, a few times he burnt it,
and that was all we ever knew of its contents,
for he was too foxy to say anything even if
it had not been unfavorable. Borrowstone swaggered around camp that

(02:35):
evening in a new pair of boots which had the
lone stars set in filigree work in their red tops.
At our last camp at the Lakes, the rebl and
Eye his partners had been shamefully beaten in a game
of seven up by Bull Durham and John Officer, and
we had demanded satisfaction in another trial around the fire.

(02:56):
That night, we borrowed maccann's lantern, and by the aid
of it and the camp fire, had an abundance of
light for our game. In the absence of a table,
we unrolled a bed and sat down Indian fashion over
a game of cards in which all friendship ceased. The Outfit,
with the exception of myself, had come from the same neighborhood,

(03:17):
and an item in Honeyman's letter causing considerable comment was
a wedding which had occurred since the Outfit had left.
It seemed that a number of the boys had sparked
the bride in times past, and now that she was married,
their minds naturally became reminiscent over old sweethearts. The way
I make it out, said Honeyman in commenting on the news,

(03:39):
is that the girl had met this fellow over in
the next county while visiting her cousins the year before.
My sister gives it as a horseback opinion that she'd
been engaged to this fellow nearly eight months. Girls, you know,
savvy each other that way. Well, it won't affect my
appetite any if all the girls I know get married
while I'm gone. You certainly have never experienced a tender passion,

(04:04):
said Fox quarter Knight to our horse wrangler, as he
lighted his pipe with a brand from the fire. Now
I have. That's the reason why I sympathize with these
old bows of the bride. Of course, I was too
old to stand any show on her string, and I
reckon the fellow who got her ain't so powerful much
except his veneering and being a stranger, which was a

(04:27):
big advantage, to be sure. If she took a smile
to this stranger, no other fellow could check her with
a three quarter rope and a snubbing post. I've seen
girls walk right by a dozen good fellows and fawn
over some scrub My experience teaches me that when there's
a woman in it, it's haphazard pot luck, with no

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telling which way the cat will hop. You can't play
any system, and merit cuts little figure in general results, fox,
said Durham, while officer was shuffling the cards. Here are
seems well oiled and working keen to night. Suppose you
give us that little experience of yours in love affairs.

(05:07):
It will be a treat to those of us who
have never been in love and won't interrupt the game
A particle cut loose, won't you. It's a long time back,
said quarter Knight meditatively, and the scars have all healed,
so I don't mind telling. I was born and raised
on the border of the Bluegrass region in Kentucky. I
had the misfortune to be born of poor but honest parents,

(05:30):
as they do in stories. No hero ever had the
advantage of me in that respect. In love affairs, however,
it's a high card in your hand to be born rich.
The country around my old home had good schools, so
we had the advantage of a good education. When I
was about nineteen, I went away from home one winter
to teach school, a little country school about fifteen miles

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from home. But in the Old States, fifteen miles from
home makes you a dead rank strain. The trustee of
the township was shucking corn. When I went to apply
for the school. I simply whipped out my peg and
helped him shuck out a shock or two. While we
talked over school matters, the dinner bell rang and he

(06:14):
insisted on my staying for dinner with him. Well, he
gave me a better school than I had asked for.
Better neighborhood, he said, and told me to board with
a certain family who had no children. He gave his reasons,
but that's immaterial. They were friends of his, so I
learned afterwards. They proved to be fine people. The woman

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was one of those kindly souls who never know where
to stop. She planned and schemed to marry me off
in spite of myself. The first month that I was
with them, she told me all about the girls in
that immediate neighborhood. In fact, she rather got me unduly excited.
Being a youth and somewhat verdant, she dwelt powerful heavy

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on a girl who lived in a big brick house
which stood back of the road some distance. The girl
had gone to school at a seminary for young ladies
near Lexington, studied music and painting, and was way up
on everything. She described her to me as black eyed
with raven tresses, just like you read about in novels.

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Things were rocking along nicely when a few days before Christmas,
a little girl who belonged to the family who lived
in the brick house brought me a note one morning.
It was an invitation to take supper with him the
following evening. The note was written in a pretty hand
and the name signed to it. I'm satisfied now it
was a forgery. My landlady agreed with me on that point.

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In fact, she may have mentioned it first. I never
ought to have taken her into my confidence like I did,
but I wanted to consult her. Showed her the invitation
and asked her advice. She was in seventh heaven of
delight and had me answer it at once. Accept the
invitation with pleasure and a lot of stuff that I
never used before. She had been young once herself. I

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used up five or six sheets of paper in writing
the answer, spoilt one after another, and the one I
did send was a flat failure compared to the one
I received. Well. The next evening, when it was time
to start, I was nervous and uneasy. It was nearly
dark when I reached the house, but I wanted it
that way, say, But when I knocked on the front

(08:27):
door of that house, it was with fear and trembling.
Is this mister quarter Knight? Inquired a very affable lady
who received me. I knew I was one of old
Man quarter Knight's seven boys, and admitted that that was
my name, though it was the first time any one
had ever called me mister. I was welcomed, ushered in

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and introduced. All around. There were a few small children
whom I knew, so I managed to talk to them.
The girl whom I was being braced against was not
a particle overrated, but sustained the Kentucky reputation for beauty.
She made herself so pleasant and agreeable that my fears

(09:08):
soon subsided. When the man of the house came in,
I was cured entirely. He was gruff and hearty, opened
his mouth and laughed deep. I built right up with him.
We talked about cattle and horses until supper was announced.
He was really sorry I hadn't come earlier so as
to look at a three year old colt that he

(09:28):
set a heap of store by. He showed him to
me after supper with the lantern. Fine colt too. I
don't remember much about the supper, except that it was fine,
and I came near spilling my coffee several times. My
hands were so large and my coat sleeves so short.
When we returned from looking at the colt, we went

(09:49):
into the parlor. Say, fellows, it was a little the
nicest thing that I ever went against, carpet that made
you think you were going to bog down. Every step
springy like Marshland, and I was glad I came. Then
the younger children were ordered to retire, and shortly afterward
the man and his wife followed suit. When I heard

(10:12):
the old man throw his heavy boots on the floor
in the next room, I realized that I was left
all alone with her charming daughter. All my fears of
the early part of the evening tried the crowd on
me again, but were calmed by the girl who sang
and played on the piano with no audience but me.
Then she interested me by telling her school experiences and

(10:34):
how glad she was that they were over. Finally, she
lugged out a great, big family album and sat down
beside me on one of these horsehair sofas. That album
had a class bonnet a buckle of pure silver, same
as these eighteen dollar bridles. While we were looking at
the pictures, some of the old Varmints had fought in

(10:55):
the Revolutionary War, so she said, I noticed how close
we were sitting together. Then we sat farther apart after
we had gone through the album, one on each end
of the sofa, and talked about the neighborhood, until I
suddenly remembered that I had to go. While she was
getting my hat and I was getting away. Somehow she

(11:15):
had me promise to take dinner with them on Christmas.
For the next two or three months, it was hard
to tell if I lived at my boarding house or
at the brick. If I failed to go, my landlady
would hatch up some errand and send me over. If
she hadn't been such a good woman, I'd never forgive
her for leading me to the sacrifice like she did.

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Well about two weeks before school was out, I went
home over Saturday and Sunday. Those were fatal days in
my life. When I returned on Monday morning, there was
a letter waiting for me. It was from the girl's mamma.
There had been a quilting in the neighborhood on Saturday,
and at this meet of the local gossips somewhat had

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hinted that there was liable to be a wedding as
soon as school was out. Mamma was present and neither
admitted nor denied the charge. But there was a woman
at this quilting who had once lived over in our
neighborhood and felt it her duty to enlighten the company
as to who I was. I got all this later
from my Landlady law Me said, this woman, folks round

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here in this section think our teacher is the son
of that big farmer who raises so many cattle and horses.
Why I've known both families of those quarter knights for
nigh on the thirty years. Our teacher is one of
Old John Fox's boys, the Irish quarter knight who lived
up near the salt lick on dough Run. They were

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always so poor that the children never had enough to eat,
and hardly half enough to wear. This plain statement of
facts fell like a bombshell on Mamma. She started a
private investigation of her own, and her verdict was in
that letter. It was a center's shot. That evening when
I locked the schoolhouse door, it was for the last time,

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for I never unlocked it again. My landlady, dear old
womanly soul, tried hard to have me teach the school
out at least, but I didn't see it that way.
The cause of education in Kentucky might have gone straight
to eternal hell before i'd have stayed another day in
that neighborhood. I had enough money to get to Texas

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with And here I am. When a fellow gets it
burnt into him like a brand that way, once it
lasts him quite a while, he'll feel his way next time.
That was rather a raw deal to give a fellow,
said officer who had been listening while playing cards. Didn't
you ever see that girl again? No, nor you wouldn't

(13:46):
want to either if that letter had been written to you.
And some folks claimed that seven is a lucky number.
There were seven boys in our family, and nery one
ever married. That experience of Foxes, remarked honeyman after a
short silence is almost similar to one I had before
Luvelin Flood adopted me. I worked for a horseman down

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on the oasis. Every year he drove up the trail
a large herd of horse stock. We drove to the
same point on the trail each year, and I happened
to get acquainted up there with a family that had
several girls in it. The youngest girl in the family
and I seemed to understand each other fairly well. I
had to stay at the horse camp most of the time,

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and in one way or another, did not get to
see her as much as I would have liked. When
we sold out the herd, I hung around for a
week or so and spent a month's wages showing her
the cloud with the silver lining. She stood at all
easy too. When the outfit went home, of course I
went with them. I was banking pretty strong. However, the

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next year, if there was a good market in horses,
I'd take her home with me. I had saved my
wages and rustled around, and when we started up the
trail next year, I had forty horses on my own
in the herd. I had figured they would bring me
a thousand dollars, and there was my wages. Besides. When

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we reached this place, we held the herd out twenty
miles so some time before I got into town to
see the girl. But the first time I did get
to see her, I learned that an older sister of hers,
who had run away with some renegade from Texas a
year or so before, had drifted back home lately with
tears in her eyes and a big, fat baby boy

(15:31):
in her arms. She warned me to keep away from
the house, for men from Texas were at a slight
discount right then in that family. The girl seemed to
regret it and talked reasonable, and I thought I could
see encouragement. I didn't crowd matters, nor did her folks
forget me when they heard that Byler had come in
with a horse herd from the Nuisis. I met the

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girl away from home several times during the summer, and
learned that they kept hot water on tap that scald
me if I ever dared to show up. One son
in law from Texas had simply surfeeded that family. There
was no other vacancy. About the time we closed out
and were ready to go home, there was a Caluman's
ball given in this little trail town. We stayed over

(16:17):
several days to take in this ball, as I had
some plans of my own. The girl was at the ball,
all easy enough, but she warned me that her brother
was watching me. I paid no attention to him and
danced with her right along, begging her to run away
with me. It was obviously the only play to make,
but the more I swayed her, the more she'd fuse.

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The family was on the prod bigger than a wolf,
and there was no use reasoning with them. After I
had had every dance with her for an hour or so,
her brother coolly stepped in and took her home. The
next morning, he felt at his duty as his sisters
protect her to hunt me up and inform me that
if I ever spoke to his sister again, he'd shoot

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me like a dog. Is that a bluff or do
you mean it for a real play, I inquired politely.
You'll find that it will be real enough, he answered angrily.
Well now that's too bad, I answered. I'm really sorry
that I can't promise to respect your request, But this
much I can assure you any time that you have

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the leisure or want to shoot me, Just cut looseier dog,
But remember this one thing, that it will be my
second shot. Are you sure he wasn't running a blazer yourself?
Or is the wind merely rising? Inquired Durham, while I
was shuffling the cards for the next deal. Well, if
I was, I hung up my gentle honk before his

(17:45):
eyes and ears and gave him free license to call it.
The truth is I didn't pay any more attention to
him than I would to an empty bottle. I reckon
the girl was all right, but the family were these
razor backed barnyard savages. It makes me hot under the collar.
Yet when I think of it, they'd have lawed me
if I had. But I ought to have shot him

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and checked the breed. Why didn't you run off with her,
inquired Fox dryly. Well, of course, a man of your
nerve is always capable of advising others. But you see,
I'm strong on the breed. Now. A girl can't show
her true colors like the girl's brothers did, But get
her in the harness once and then she'll show you
the white of her eye, balk and possibly kick over

(18:30):
the wagon tongue. No, I believe in the breed Blood'll
tell I worked for a cowman, once, said bull, irreverently,
and they told it on him that he lost twenty
thousand dollars the night he was married. How gambling, I inquired. No,
the woman he married claimed to be worth twenty thousand dollars,

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and she never had a cent spade's trump. No, hearts,
replied the rebel. I used to know a foreman up
in DeWitt County, Honest John Glenn, they called him. He
claimed the only chance he ever had to marry was
a widow, and the reason he didn't marry her was
he was too honest to take advantage of a dead man.

(19:12):
While we paid little attention to the wind or weather,
this was an ideal night, and we were laggered and
seeking our blankets. Yarn followed Yarn, for nearly every one
of us, either from observation or from practical experience, had
a slight acquaintance with a great mastering passion. But the
poetical had not been developed in us to an appreciative degree,

(19:34):
So we discussed the topic under consideration, much as we
would have done horses or cattle. Finally, the game ended
a general yawn went the round of the loungers about
the fire. The second guard had gone on, and when
the first rode in, Joe Stalling's halting his horse and
passing the fire, called out sociably that Muley Steer, the

(19:57):
white four year old, didn't like the bed down amongst
the others, so I let him come out and lay
down by himself. You'll find him over on the far
side of the herd. You all remember how wild he
was when we first started. Well, you can ride within
three feet of him tonight and he'll grunt an act
sociable and never offer to get up. I promised him

(20:18):
that he might sleep alone as long as he was good.
I just love a good steer. Make down our bed, partner.
I'll be back as soon as I pick at my horse.
End of chapter six