" He dropped the heavy
stirrup with a vicious slap, and swung to his seat. "If Phil's a-goin'
to keep up the way he's startin', we'll sure have a pleasant little ol'
ride to Skull Valley. Oh, Lord! but I wisht I was a professor of them
there exteticks, or somethin' nice and gentle like, jest for to-day,
anyhow."
Patches laughed. "Think you could qualify, Curly?"
The cowboy grinned as they rode off together. "So far as I've noticed
the main part of the work, I could. The shade of them walnut trees at
the home ranch, or the Pot-Hook-S front porch, an' a nice easy rockin'
chair with fat cushions, or mebby the buckboard onct in a while, with
Kitty to do the drivin'--Say, this has sure been some little ol' rodeo,
ain't it? I ain't got a hoss in my string that can more'n stand up, an'
honest to God, Patches, I'm jest corns all over. How's your saddle feel,
this mornin'?"
"It's got corns, too," admitted Patches. "But there's Phil; we'd better
be riding."
All that day Phil kept to himself, speaking to his companions only when
speech could not be avoided, and then with the fewest possible words.
That night, he left the company as soon as he had finished his supper,
and went off somewhere alone, and Patches heard him finding his bed,
long after the other members of the outfit were sound asleep.
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