The Samuelsons

: The Gold Girl

Patty retired that night with her thoughts in a whirl. So, it was Monk

Bethune who, all along, had been plotting to steal the secret of her

father's strike? Monk Bethune, with his suave, oily manner, his

professed regard for her father, and his burning words of love! Fool

that she couldn't have penetrated his thin mask of deceit! It all

seemed so ridiculously plain, now. She remembered the flash of

distrust that her fi
st meeting with him engendered. And, step, by

step, she followed the course of his insidious campaign to instill

himself into her good graces. She thought of the blunt warning of Vil

Holland when he told her that her father always played a lone hand,

and his almost scornful question as to whether her father had told her

of his partnership with Bethune. And she remembered her defiance of

Holland, and her defense of Bethune. And, with a shudder, she

recollected the moments when, in the hopelessness of her repeated

failures, she had trembled upon the point of surrendering to his

persuasive eloquence.



With the villainous scheming of Bethune exposed, her thoughts turned

to the other, to her "guardian devil of the hills." What of Vil

Holland? Had she misjudged this man, even as she had so nearly become

the dupe of Bethune? She realized now, that nearly everyone with whom

she had come into contact, distrusted Bethune, and that they trusted

Vil Holland. She realized that her own distrust of him rested to a

great extent upon the open accusations of Bethune, and the fact that

he was blunt to rudeness in his conversations with her. If he were to

be taken at his neighbors' valuation, why was it that he watched her

comings and goings from his notch in the hills? Why did he follow her

about upon her rides? And why did he carry that disgusting jug? She

admitted that she had never seen him the worse for indulgence in the

contents of the jug, but if he were not a confirmed drunkard, why

should he carry it? She knew Bethune hated him--and that counted a

point in his favor--now. But it did not prove that he was not as bad

as Bethune. But why had Bethune told Microby that he would get that

picture if he had to kill her and Vil Holland? What had Vil Holland

to do with his getting the picture! Surely, Bethune did not believe

that Vil Holland shared her secret! Vil Holland must be lawless--the

running of the sheep herder out of the hills was a lawless act. Why,

then, were such men as Thompson and the Reverend Len Christie his

friends? This question had puzzled her much of late, and not finding

the answer, she realized her own dislike of the man had waned

perceptibly. Instinctively, she knew that Len Christie was genuine.

She liked this "Bishop of All Outdoors," who could find time to ride a

hundred miles to cheer a sick old man; who would think to bring

pencils and drawing paper to a little boy who roamed over the

hillsides with a piece of charcoal, searching for flat rocks upon

which to draw his pictures; and who sang deep, full-throated ballads

as he rode from one to the other of his scattered hill folk, upon his

outlandish pinto. Surely, such men as he, and the jovial,

whole-hearted Thompson--men who had known Vil Holland for

years,--could not be deceived.



"Is it possible I've misjudged him?" she asked herself. And when at

last she dropped to sleep it was to plunge into a confused jumble of

dreams whose dominant figure was her lone horseman of the hills.



Patty resolved to keep her promise to Christie and ride over to the

Samuelson ranch, before she started to work out the directions of her

father's map. "I may be weeks doing it if I continue to be as dumb as

I have been," she laughed. "And when I get started I know I'll never

want to stop 'til I've worked it out."



Immediately after breakfast she saddled her horse and returning to the

cabin, picked up the little oiled silk packet that contained

photograph and map. Where should she hide it? Her glance traveled from

the locked trunks to the loose board in the floor. Each had been

searched time and again. "Whoever he is, he'd think it was funny that

I decided all at once to hide the map, when I've been carrying it with

me so persistently," she muttered. Her eyes rested upon the little

dressing table. "The very thing!" she cried. "I'll leave it right out

in plain sight, and he'll think I forgot it." Her first impulse was to

remove the thin gold chain but she shook her head: "No, it will look

more as if I'd just slipped it off for the night if I leave the chain

on. And besides," she smiled, "he ought to get some gold for his

pains." With a last glance of approval at the little packet lying as

if forgotten upon the dressing table, she closed the door and headed

down the creek.



It was evident to Patty, upon reaching the Watts ranch that Microby

Dandeline had not carried out her threat to "tell ma" about the

shaking. For the mountain woman was loquaciously cordial as usual:

"Decla'r ef hit hain't yo', up an' a-ridin' fo' sun-up! Yo' shore

favor yo' pa. He wus the gittin'est man--Yo'd a-thought he wus ridin'

fer wages, 'stead o' jest prospectin'. Goin' down the crick, to-day,

eh? Well, I don't reckon yo' pa's claim's down the crick, but yo'

cain't never tell. He wus that clost-mouthed--I've heard him an' Watts

set a hour, an' nary word between the two of 'em. 'Pears like they's

jest satisfied to be a-lightin' matches an' a-puffin' they pipes.

Wimmin folks hain't like thet. They jest nachelly got to let out a

word now an' then, 'er bust--one."



"Microby Dandeline!" there was a sudden rush of bare feet upon the

wooden floor, and Patty caught a flick of calico and a flash of bare

legs as the girl disappeared around the corner of the barn.



"Land sakes! Thet gal acts like she's p'ssessed! She tellin' whut a

nice time she had to yo' place las' evenin', an' then a-runnin' away

like she's wild as a hawrk. Seems like she's a-gittin' mo' triflin'

every day----"



"Sence Monk Bethune's tuk to ha'ntin' this yere crick so reg'lar,"

interrupted Watts, who stood leaning against the door jamb.



"'T'aint nothin' agin Mr. Bethune, 'cause he's nice to Microby,"

retorted the woman; "I s'pose 'cordin' to yo' idee, he'd ort to cuss

her an' kick her aroun'."



"Might be better in the long run, an' he did," opined the man,

gloomily.



"Where's yo' manners at? Not sayin' 'howdy'?" reminded his wife.



"I be'n a-fixin' to," he apologized, "yo' lookin' mighty peart this

mawnin'." A cry from the baby brought a torrent of recrimination upon

the apathetic husband: "Watts! Watts! Looks like yo' ort to could look

after Chattenoogy Tennessee, that Microby Dandeline run off an' left

alone. Like's not she's et a nail thet yo' left a han'ful of on the

floor thet day yo' aimed fer to fix me a shelft."



"She never et no nail," confided the man, as he returned a moment

later carrying the infant. "She done fell out the do' an' them hens

wus apeckin' her. She's scairt wuss'n hurt."



"Well," smiled Patty. "I must go. Tell Microby to come up to my cabin

right soon. I'd like to have a talk with her."



"Might an' yo' pa's claim 'ud be som'ers up the no'th branch,"

suggested the woman. "He rid that-a-way sometimes, didn't he, Watts?"



"I'm not prospecting to-day. I'm going over to see the Samuelsons. Mr.

Samuelson is sick."



"Law, yes! I be'n a-aimin' fer to git to go, this long while. I heern

it a spell back, an' Mr. Christie done tol' us over again. They do say

he's bad off. But yo' cain't never tell, they's hopes of 'em gittin'

onto they feet agin right up 'til yo' hear the death rattle. Yo' tell

Miz Samuelson I aim to git over soon's I kin. I'll bring along the

baby an' a batch o' sourdough bread, an' fix to stay a hull week.

Watts'll hev to make out with Microby an' the rest. Yo' tell Miz

Samuelson I say not to git down in the mouth. They all got to die

anyhow. An' 'taint so bad, onct it's over an' done. But lots of 'em

gits well, too. So they hain't no call to do no diggin' right up to

the death rattle--an' even then they don't allus die. Ol' man Rink,

over on Tom's Hope, back in Tennessee, he rattled twict, an' come to

both times, an' then, couple days later, he up an' died on 'em 'thout

nary rattle. So yo' cain't never tell--men's thet ornery, even the

best of 'em."



Christie's prediction that Patty would like Mrs. Samuelson proved to

be conservative in the extreme. From the moment the slight gray-haired

little woman greeted her, the girl felt as though she were talking to

an old friend. There was something pathetic in the old lady's cheerful

optimism, something profoundly pathetic in the endeavor to transform

her bit of wilderness into some semblance to the far-away home she had

known in the long ago. And she had succeeded admirably. To cross the

Samuelson threshold was to step from the atmosphere of the cow-country

and the mountains into a region of comfort and quiet that contrasted

sharply with the rough and ready air of the neighboring ranches. The

house itself was not large, but it was built of lumber, not logs. The

long living room was provided with tastefully curtained casement

windows, and rugs of excellent quality took the place of the

inevitable carpet upon the floor. A baby grand piano projected into

the room from its niche beside the huge log fireplace, and bookcases,

guiltless of glass fronts, occupied convenient spaces along the wall,

their shelves supporting row upon row of good editions. It was in

this room, looking as though she had stepped from an ivory miniature,

that the mistress of the house greeted Patty.



"You are very welcome, my dear. Mr. Samuelson and I were deeply

grieved to hear the sad news of your father. We used to enjoy his

occasional brief visits."



"How is Mr. Samuelson?" asked Patty, as she pressed the little woman's

thin, blue-veined hand.



"He seems better to-day."



The girl noted the hopeful tone of voice. "Is there anything I can

do?" she asked.



"Not a thing, thank you. Mr. Samuelson sleeps a good part of the time,

and Wong Yie is a wonderful nurse. But, come, you must have luncheon.

I know you will want to refresh yourself after your long ride. The

bathroom is at the head of the stairs. I'll take a peep at my invalid

and when you are ready we'll see what Wong Yie has for us."



Patty looked hungrily at the porcelain tub--"A real bathroom!" she

breathed, "out here in the mountains--and books, and a piano!"



Mrs. Samuelson awaited her at the foot of the stair and led the way to

the dining room. When she was seated at the round mahogany table she

smiled across at the old lady in frank appreciation.



"It seems like stepping right into fairyland," she said. "Like the old

stories when the heroes and heroines rubbed magic lamps, or stepped

onto enchanted carpets and were immediately transported from their

miserable hovels to castles of gold inhabited by beautiful princes and

princesses."



The old lady's eyes beamed: "I'm glad you like it!"



"Like it! That doesn't express it at all. Why, if you'd lived in an

abandoned sheep camp for months and prepared your own meals on a

broken stove, and eaten them all alone on a bumpy table covered with a

piece of oilcloth, and taken your bath in an icy cold creek and then

only on the darkest nights for fear someone were watching, and read a

few magazines over and over 'til you knew even the advertisements by

heart--then suddenly found yourself seated in a room like this, with

real china and silver, and comfortable chairs and a luncheon

cloth--you'd think it was heaven."



Patty was aware that the old lady was smiling at her across the table.

"If I had lived like that for months, did you say? My dear girl, we

lived for years in that little shack--you can see it from where you

sit--it's the tool house, now. Mr. Samuelson built it with his own

hands when there weren't a half-dozen white men in the hills, and

until it was completed we lived in a tepee!"



"You've lived here a long time."



"Yes, a long, long time. I was the first white woman to come into this

part of the hill country to live. This was the first ranch to be

established in the hills, but we have a good many neighbors now--and

such nice neighbors! One never really appreciates friends and

neighbors until a time--like this. Then one begins to know. A long

time ago, before I knew, I used to hate this place. Sometimes I used

to think I would go crazy, with the loneliness--the vastness of it

all. I used to go home and make long visits every year, and then--the

children came, and it was different." The woman paused and her eyes

strayed to the open window and rested upon the bold headland of a

mighty mountain that showed far down the valley.



"And--you love it, now?" Patty asked, softly, as she poured French

dressing over crisp lettuce leaves.



"Yes--I love it, now. After the children came it was all different. I

never want to leave the valley, now. I never shall leave it. I am an

old woman, and my world has narrowed down to my home, and my

valley--my husband, and my friends and neighbors." She looked up

guiltily, with a tiny little laugh. "Do you know, during those first

years I must have been an awful fool. I used to loathe it all--loathe

the country--the men, who ate in their shirt sleeves and blew into

their saucers, and their women. It was the uprising that brought me to

a realization of the true worth of these people--" The little woman's

voice trailed off into silence, and Patty glanced up from her salad to

see that the old eyes were once more upon the far blue headland, and

the woman's thoughts were evidently very far away. She came back to

the present with an apology: "Why bless you, child, forgive me! My old

wits were back-trailing, as the cowboys would say. You have finished

your salad, come, let's go out onto the porch, where we can get the

afternoon breeze and be comfortable." She led the way through the

living-room where she left the girl for a moment, to tiptoe upstairs

for a peep at the sick man. "He's asleep," she reported, as they

stepped out onto the porch and settled themselves in comfortable

wicker rockers.



"What was the uprising?" asked Patty. "Was it the Indians? I'd love to

hear about it."



"Yes, the Indians. That was before they were on reservations and they

were scattered all through the hills."



A cowboy galloped to the porch, drew up sharply, and removed his hat.

"We rode through them horses that runs over on the east slope an'

they're all right--leastways all the markers is there, an' the bunches

don't look like they'd be'n any cut out of 'em. But, about them white

faces--Lodgepole's most dried up. Looks like we'd ort to throw 'em

over onto Sage Crick."



The little woman looked thoughtful. "Let's see, there are about six

hundred of the white faces, aren't there?"



"Yessum."



"And how long will the water last in Lodgepole?"



"Not more'n a week or ten days, if we don't git no rain."



"How long will it take to throw them onto Sage Creek?"



"Well, they hadn't ort to be crowded none this time o' year. The four

of us had ort to do it in three or four days."



The old lady shook her head. "No, the cattle will have to wait. I

want you boys to stay right around close 'til you hear from Vil

Holland. Keep your best saddle horses up and at least one of you stay

right here at the ranch all the time. The rest of you might ride

fences, and you better take a look at those mares and colts in the big

pasture."



The cowboy's eyes twinkled: "I savvy, all right. Guess I'll take the

bunk-house shift myself this afternoon. Got a couple extry guns to

clean up an' oil a little."



"Whatever you do, you boys be careful," admonished the woman. "And in

case anything happens and Vil Holland isn't here, send one of the boys

after him at once."



The other laughed: "Guess they ain't much danger, if anything happens

he won't be a-ridin' right on the head of it." The cowboy gathered up

his reins, dropped them again, and his gloved fingers fumbled with his

leather hat band. The smile had left his face.



"Anything else, Bill?" asked Mrs. Samuelson, noting his evident

reluctance to depart.



"Well, ma'am, how's the Big Boss gittin' on?"



"He's doing as well as could be expected, the doctor says."



The cowboy cleared his throat nervously: "You know, us boys thinks a

heap of him, an' we'd like fer him to git a square deal."



"A square deal!" exclaimed the woman. "Why, what in the world do you

mean?"



"About that there doc--d'you s'pect he savvys his business?"



"Of course he does! He's considered one of the best doctors in the

State. Why do you ask?"



"Well, it's this way. When he was goin' back to town yesterday I laid

for him. You see, the Old Man--er, I mean--you know, ma'am, the Big

Boss, he's a pretty sick man--an' it looks to us boys like things had

ort to break pretty quick, one way er another. So, I says, 'Doc, how's

he gittin' on?' an' the doc he says, jest like you done, 'good as

could be expected.' When you come right down to cases, that don't tell

you nothin'. So I says, 'that's 'cordin' to who's doin' the expectin'.

What we want to know,' I says, 'is he goin' to git well, er is he

goin' to die?' 'I confidently hope we're going to pull him through,'

he comes back. 'Meanin', he's goin' to git well?' I says. 'Yes,' he

says. 'Fer how much?' I asks him. I didn't have but thirty-five

dollars on me, but I shook that in under his nose. You see, I wanted

to find out if the fellow would back his own self up with his money.

'What do you mean?' he says. 'I mean,' I informs him, 'that money

talks. Here's the Missus payin' you good wages fer to cure up the Old

Man. You goin' to do it, an' earn them wages, or ain't you? Here's

thirty-five dollars that says you can't cure him.'"



The corners of the old lady's mouth were twitching behind the

handkerchief she held to her lips: "What did the doctor say?" she

asked.



"Tried to laugh it off," declared the cowboy in disgust. "But I

reminds him that this here ain't no laughin' matter. 'D'you s'pose,' I

says, 'if the Old Man told me: "Bill, there's a bad colt to bust," or

"Bill, go over onto Monte's Crick, an' bring back them two-year-olds,"

do you s'pose I wouldn't bet I could do it? They's plenty of us here

to do all the "confidently hopin'" that's needed. What you got to do

is to git busy with them pills an' make him well,' I says, 'or quit

an' let someone take holt that kin.'" The man paused and regarded the

woman seriously. "What I'm gittin' at is this: If this here doc ain't

got confidence enough in his own dope to back it with a bet, it's time

we got holt of one that will. Now, ma'am, you better let me send one

of Jack Pierce's kids to town to see Len Christie an' tell him to git

the best doc out here they is. I'll write a note to Len on the side

an' tell him to tell the doc he kin about double his wages, 'cause the

rest of the boys feels just like I do, an' we'll all bet agin him so't

it'll be worth his while to make a good job of it." He paused,

awaiting permission to carry out his plan.



The little woman explained gravely: "Doctors never bet on their cases,

Bill. It isn't that they won't back their judgment. But because it

isn't considered proper. Doctor Mallory is doing all any mortal man

can do. He's a wonderfully good doctor, and it was Len Christie,

himself, that recommended him."



The cowboy's eyes lighted: "It was? Well, then, mebbe he's all right.

I never had no time fer preachers 'til I know'd Len. But, what he says

goes with me--he's square. I don't go much on no doctor, though.

They're all right fer women, mebbe, an' kids. I believe all the Old

Man needs right now to fix him up good as ever is a big stiff jolt of

whisky an' bitters." The cowboy rode away, muttering and shaking his

head, but not until he was well out of sight round the corner of the

house did the little woman with the gray hair smile.



"I hope Doctor Mallory will understand," she said, a trifle

anxiously, "I have some rather trying experiences with my boys, and if

Bill has gone and insulted the doctor I'll have to get Jack Pierce to

go to town and explain."



"This Bill seems to just adore Mr. Samuelson," ventured Patty. "Why

his voice was almost--almost reverent when he said 'the Old Man.'"



The little lady nodded: "Yes, Bill thinks there's no one like him. You

see, Bill shot a man, one day when--he was not quite himself. Over in

the Blackfoot country, it was, and Vil Holland knew the facts in the

case, and he rode over and told Mr. Samuelson all about it, and they

both went and talked it over with the prosecuting attorney, and with

old Judge Nevers, with the result that they agreed to give the boy a

chance. So Mr. Samuelson brought him here. That was five years ago.

Bill is foreman of this outfit now, and our other three riders are

boys that were headed the same way Bill was. Vil Holland brought one

of them over, and Bill and Mr. Samuelson picked up the other two--and,

if I do say it myself," she declared, proudly, "there isn't an outfit

in Montana that can boast a more capable or loyal, or a straighter

quartet of riders than this one."



As Patty listened she understood something of what was behind the

words of Thompson and Len Christie, when they had spoken that day of

"Old Man" Samuelson. But, there was something she did not understand.

And that something was--Vil Holland. Everybody liked him, everybody

spoke well of him, and apparently everybody but herself trusted him

implicitly. And yet, to her own certain knowledge, he did carry a jug,

he did follow her about the hills, and he did tell her to her face

that when she found her father's claim she would have a race on her

hands, and that if she were beaten she would have to be satisfied with

what she would get.



But Vil Holland, his comings and his goings were soon forgotten in the

absorbing interest with which Patty listened as her little gray-haired

hostess recounted incidents and horrors of the Indian uprising, the

first sporadic depredations, the coming of the troops, and finally the

forcing of the belligerent tribes onto their reservations.



It had been Patty's intention to ride back to her cabin in the

evening, but Mrs. Samuelson would not hear of it. And, indeed the girl

did not insist, for despite the fact that she had become thoroughly

accustomed to her surroundings, the anticipation of a dinner prepared

and served by the highly efficient Wong Yie, in the tastefully

appointed dining room, with its real silver and china, proved

sufficiently attractive to overcome even her impatience to begin the

working out of her father's map. And the realization fully justified

the anticipation. When the meal was finished the two women had talked

the long evening away before the cheerful blaze of the wood fire, and

when at last she was shown to her room, the girl retired to luxuriate

in a real bed of linen sheets and a box mattress.



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