CHAPTER VIII.

THE DANCE.

"Ain't it lovely, Ora?" and 'Tana danced past Ora Harrison, the doctor's

pretty daughter, as if her feet had wings to them. And as Ora's bright

face smiled an answer, it was clear that the only two young girls in the

settlement were enjoying Lyster's party to the full.

For it was a pronounced success. Every "boy" invited was there in as much

of festive outfit as circumstances would allow. All the "family" people

were there. And the presence of Doctor Harrison--the only "professional"

man in the town--and his wife and daughter gave a stamp of select society

to the gathering in Mrs. Huzzard's rooms.

Mrs. Huzzard beamed with pleasure at the great success of it all. She

would have liked to dance, too, and refused most unwillingly when Lyster

tried to persuade her. But a supercilious glance from the captain made her

refusal decided. The doubt as to whether ladies in "sussiety" ever did

dance after forty years, and one hundred and sixty-three pounds weight,

deterred her. Now, if the captain had asked her to dance, she would have

been more assured.

But the captain did not; and, after a while, he was not to be seen. He had

vanished into the little back sitting room, and she was confident he was

engaged in his innocent pastime of a friendly game of cards with the

doctor.

"Go and dance with 'Tana, or that nice little girl of the doctor's,"

she said to Lyster, when he was trying to inveigle her into a

quadrille--"that's the sort of partner for you."

"But 'Tana has disappeared mysteriously; and as Miss Ora is 'bespoke,' I

can't dance with her unless I want a duel with her partner."

"'Tana disappeared! Well, now, I haven't seen her for two dances," said

Mrs. Huzzard, looking around searchingly, "though I never missed her till

this minute."

"Beg pardon, ma'am," said a voice at her elbow; "but is it the--the young

lady with the white dress you are looking for?"

"Yes, it is," answered Mrs. Huzzard, and turned around to face the

speaker, who was an apologetic-looking stranger with drab-colored chin

whiskers, and a checkered shirt, and a slight impediment in his speech.

"Well, ma'am, I saw her go into that room there quite a spell ago," and he

nodded toward the back sitting room. "She hasn't passed out again, as I've

seen."

Then, as Mrs. Huzzard smiled on him in a friendly way, he ventured

further:

"She's a very pretty girl, as any one can see. Might I ask her name?"

"Oh, yes! Her name is Rivers--Miss Tana Rivers," said Mrs. Huzzard. "You

must be a stranger in the settlement?"

"Yes, ma'am, I am. My name is Harris--Jim Harris. I come down from the

diggings with Mr. Overton this morning. He allowed it would be all right

for me to step inside, if I wanted to see the dancing."

"To be sure it is," agreed Mrs. Huzzard, heartily. "His friends are our

friends, and civil folks are always right welcome."

"Thank, you, ma'am; you're kind, I'm sure. But we ain't just friends,

especial. Only I had business in his line, so we picked up acquaintance

and come into camp together; and when I saw the pretty girl in white, I

did think I'd like to come in a spell. She looks so uncommon like a boy I

knew up in the 'big bend' country. Looks enough like him to be a twin; but

he wasn't called Rivers. Has--has this young lady any brothers or cousins

up there?"

"Well, now, as for cousins, they are far out, and we hain't ever talked

about them; but as for brothers or sisters, father or mother, that she

hasn't got, for she told me so. Her pa and Mr. Dan Overton they was

partners once; and when the pa died he just left his child to the

partner's care; and he couldn't have left her to a squarer man."

"That's what report says of him," conceded the stranger, watching her with

guarded attention. "Then Mr. Overton's partner hasn't been dead long?"

"Oh, no--not very long; not long enough for the child to get used to

talking of it to strangers, I guess; so we don't ask her many questions

about it. But it troubles her yet, I know."

"Of course--of course; such a pretty little girl, too."

Then the two fell into quite a pleasant chat, and it was not until he

moved away from beside her, to make room for the doctor's wife, that Mrs.

Huzzard observed that one arm hung limply beside him, and that one leg

dragged a little as he walked. He was a man who bore paralysis with him.

She thought, while he was talking to her, that he looked like a man who

had seen trouble. A weary, drawn look was about his eyes. She had seen

dissipated men who looked like that; yet this stranger seemed in no ways a

man of that sort. He was so quiet and polite; and when she saw the almost

useless limbs, she thought she knew then what that look in his face

meant.

But there were too many people about for her to study one very

particularly, so she lost sight of the stranger, Harris, and did not

observe that he had moved near the door of the sitting room, or that the

door was open.

But it was; and just inside of it Lyster stood watching, with a certain

vexation, a game of cards played there. The doctor had withdrawn, and was

looking with amusement at the two players--'Tana and Captain Leek. The

captain was getting the worst of it. His scattered whiskers fairly

bristled with perplexity and irritation. Several times he displayed bad

judgment in drawing and discarding, because of his nervous annoyance,

while she seemed surprisingly skillful or lucky, and was not at all

disturbed by her opponent's moods. She looked smilingly straight into his

eyes, and when she exhibited the last winning hand, and the captain dashed

his hand angrily into the pack, she waited for one civil second and then

swept the stakes toward her.

"What! Don't you want to play any more, captain?" she asked, maliciously.

"I would really like to have another dance, yet if you want revenge--"

"Go and dance by all means," he said, testily. "When I want another game

of poker, I'll let you know, but I must say I do not approve of such

pastime for young ladies."

"None of us would, if in your place, captain," laughed the doctor. "And,

for my part, I am glad I did not play against her luck."

The captain mumbled something about a difference between luck and skill,

while 'Tana swept the money off the table and laughed--not a pleasant

laugh, either.

"One--two--three--four!--twenty dollars--that is about a dollar a minute,

isn't it?" she asked provokingly. "Well, captain, I guess we are square up

to to-night, and if you want to open another account, I'm ready."

She spoke with the dash and recklessness of a boy. Lyster noticed it

again, and resented it silently. But when she turned, she read the

displeasure in his eyes.

"Oh, it's you, is it?" she inquired airily. "Is it time for our dance? You

see, the captain wanted some amusement, and, as the doctor was nearly

asleep over the cards, I came in and helped them out."

"Beautifully," agreed the doctor.

But Lyster borrowed no cheeriness from their smiles.

"I think it is our dance," Lyster observed. "And if you will come--"

"Certain," she said, with a nod; but at the door she paused. "Won't you

keep this money for me?" she asked. "I've no pocket. And just put a five

in a locked pocket 'for keeps,' please; I owe it to you."

"To me? You won that five."

"No, I didn't; I cheated you," she whispered. "Keep it, please do."

She pushed the money into his hand. One piece of it fell and rolled to the

feet of the stranger, who leaned carelessly against the doorway, but in

such a position that he could easily see into the sitting room.

He stooped and picked up the money.

"Yours, miss?" he said, courteously, and she smilingly reached out her

hand for it--the hand on which Overton's gift, the strange ring,

glittered.

The paralytic stranger barely repressed an exclamation as he noticed it,

and from it his eyes went swiftly, questioningly, to the girl's face.

"Yes, it's mine," she said, with a nod of thanks. Then she smiled a little

as she saw where his attention was given. "Are you wondering if the snakes

you see are the result of odd drinks? Well, they are not; they are of

metal and won't hurt you."

"Beg pardon, miss. Guess I did look at your pretty ring sharp; and it is

enough to make a man shake if he's been drinking. But a little drink will

do me a long time."

Then Lyster and the girl passed on, the girl smiling at the little

exchange of words with the stranger. But Lyster himself was anything but

well pleased at the entire affair. He resented the fact that he had found

her there gambling, that she had shown such skill, that she had turned to

the seedy-looking stranger and exchanged words, as men might do, but as a

girl assuredly should not do. All these things disturbed him. Why, he

could scarcely have told. Only that morning she had been but a little

half-savage child, who amused him by her varying moods and sharp speech.

But to-night, in her graceful white gown, she seemed to have grown taller

and more womanly and winsome. The glances and homage of the most

acceptable youths about revealed to him the fact that she was somewhat

more than the strong swimmer or clever canoeist. She was deemed charming

by others, in a very different fashion than he had thought of her, and she

appeared rather too conscious of the fact. He fancied that she even

delighted in letting him see that others showed deference to her, when

he had only that day teased her as carelessly as he would have teased a

boy into a rage.

Then to stop and jest like that with the insignificant stranger by the

door! Mr. Lyster said a bad word in his mind, and decided that the

presuming masculinity of the settlement would be allowed few chances for

favors the remainder of the evening. He intended to guard her himself--a

formidable guard for the purpose, as a man would need a good deal of

self-reliance to try for favor if so handsome a personality as Lyster's

was an opponent.

But the rather shabby stranger, standing by the inner door, scarcely

noticed the noticeable young fellow. All his attention was given to the

girl who had spoken to him so frankly. She passed on and did not observe

his excessive interest. But his eyes lighted up when he heard her voice

speaking to him, and his face flushed with color as he stroked his beard

with his well hand and gazed after her.

"So this is where the trail begins, is it?" he whispered to the trembling

hand at his lips. "Well, I would have looked for it many another place

before commencing with a partner of Mr. Dan Overton--law-and-order man. He

must have gulled this whole territory beautifully to have them swear by

him as they do. And 'Monte' is his _protegee_! Well, Miss--or Mr.

Monte--whichever it is--your girl's toggery is more becoming than the

outfit I saw you wear last; but though your hair is a little darker, I'd

swear to you anywhere--yes, and to the ring, too. Well, I think I'll rest

my weary body in this 'burgh' for a few weeks to come. If the devil hasn't

helped his own, and cheated me, this partner--Mr. 'Rivers'--is yet alive

and in the flesh. If so, there is one place he will drift sooner or later,

and that is to this young gambler. And then--then death will be no sham

for him, for I will be here, too."

To 'Tana--jubilant with her victory over her instinctive antagonist, the

captain--all the evening was made for her pleasure, and she floated in the

paradise of sixteen years; and the world where people danced was the only

world worth knowing.

"I will be good now--I can be as good as an angel since I've got even with

the captain."

She whispered those words to Lyster, whose hand was clasping hers, whose

arm was about her waist, as they, drifted around the rather small circle,

to a waltz played on a concertina and a banjo.

She looked up at him, mutely asking him to believe her. Her desire for

revenge satisfied, she could be a very good girl now.

It was just then that Overton, who stood outside the window, glanced in

and saw her lovely upturned face--saw the red lips move in some pouting

protest, to which Lyster smiled but looked doubtfully down at her. To the

man watching them from without, the two seemed always so close--so

confidential. At times he even wondered if Lyster had not learned more

than himself of her life before that day at Akkomi's camp.

All that evening Dan had not once entered the room where they danced, or

added in any way to their merry-making. He had stood outside the door most

of the time, or sometimes rested a little way from it on a store box,

where he smoked placidly, and inspected the people who gathered to the

dance.

All the invited guests came early, and perfect harmony reigned within. A

few of the unsavory order of citizens had sauntered by, as though taking

note of the pleasures from which they were excluded. But it was not

until almost twelve o'clock--just after Overton had turned away from

watching the waltz--that a pistol shot rang out in the street, and several

dancers halted.

Some of the men silently moved to the door, but just then the door was

opened by Overton, who looked in.

"It was only my gun went off by accident," he said, carelessly. "So don't

let me stampede the party. Go on with your music."

The stranger, Harris, was nearest the door, and essayed to pass out, but

Overton touched him on the arm.

"Not just yet," he said hurriedly. "Don't come out or others will follow,

and there'll be trouble. Keep them in some way."

Then the door closed. The concertina sobbed and shrieked out its notes,

and drowned a murmur of voices on the outside. One man lay senseless close

to the doorstep, and four more men with two women stood a little apart

from him.

"If another shot is fired, your houses will be torn down over your heads

to-morrow," said Overton, threateningly; "and some of you will not be

needing an earthly habitation by that time, either."

"Fury! It is Overton!" muttered one of the men to another. "They told us

he wasn't in this thing."

"What for you care?" demanded the angry tones of a Dutch woman. "What

difference that make--eh? If so be as we want to dance--well, then, we go

in and dance--you make no mistake."

But the men were not so aggressive. The most audacious was the senseless

one, who had fired the revolver and whom Overton had promptly and quietly

knocked down.

"I don't think you men want any trouble of this sort," he remarked, and

ignored the women entirely. "If you've been told that I'm not in this,

that's just where some one told you a lie; and if it's a woman, you should

know better than to follow her lead. If these women get through that door,

it will be when I'm an angel. I'm doing you all a good turn by not letting

the boys in there know about this. No religion could save you, if I turned

them loose on you; so you had better get away quiet, and quick."

The men seemed to appreciate his words.

"That's so," mumbled one.

And as the other woman attempted a protest, one of the men put his hand

over her mouth, and, picking her up bodily, walked down the street with

her, she all the time kicking and making remarks of a vigorous nature.

The humor of the situation appealed to the delicate senses of her

companions, until they laughed right heartily, and the entire tone of the

scene was changed from a threat of battle to an excuse for jollity. The

man on the ground reeled upward to his feet with the help of a shake from

Overton.

"Where's my gun?" he asked, sulkily.

Blood trickling from a cut brow compelled him to keep one eye shut.

"Overton has it," explained one of his friends. "Come on, and don't try

another racket."

"I want my gun--it was him hit me," growled the wounded one, whose spirits

had not been enlivened by the spectacle the rest had witnessed.

"You are right--it was him," agreed the other, darkly; "and if it hadn't

been for breaking up the dance, I guess he'd a-killed you. Come on. You

left a ball in his arm by the looks of things, and all he did was to knock

you still. He may want to do more to-morrow. But as you have no gun,

you'd better wait till then."

The door had been opened, and the light streamed out. Men talked in a

friendly, jovial fashion on and about the doorstep. They saw the forms

moving away in the shadows, but no sign of disturbance met them.

Overton stood looking in the window at the dancers. The waltz was not yet

finished, and 'Tana and Lyster drifted past within a few feet of him. The

serenity of their evening had not been disturbed. Her face held all of

joyous content--so it seemed to the watcher. She laughed as she danced;

and hearing the music of her high, girlish tones, he forgot for a time the

stinging little pain in his arm, until his left hand, thrust into his coat

pocket, slowly filled with blood. Then Dan turned to the man nearest him.

"If Doctor Harrison is still in there, would you do me the favor of asking

him to come outside for a few minutes?" he asked, and the man addressed

stepped closer.

"There is a back way into the house. Hadn't you better just step in that

way, and have him fix you up? He's in the back room, alone, smoking."

Overton turned with an impatient exclamation, and a sharp, questioning

look. It was the half-paralyzed stranger--Harris.

"Oh, I ain't interfering!" he said, amiably. "But as I slipped out through

the back door before your visitors left, I dropped to the fact that you

had some damage done to that left arm. Yes, I'll carry any message you

like to your doctor, for I like your nerve. But I must say it's thankless

work to stand up as a silent target for cold lead, just so some one else

may dance undisturbed. Take an old man's advice, sonny, do some of the

dancing yourself."