第76章

"'Thar's a heap of hand-shakin' an' well-wishin' goin' on; mothers an' sisters, an' sweethearts is kissin' us good-bye; an' while thar's some hilarity thar's more sobs.It's not, as I looks back'ard, what you-alls would call a gay affair.

"'While all this yere love an' tears is flowin', thar's a gent--he's our Captain--who's settin' off alone in his saddle, an' ain't takin'

no hand.Thar's no sweetheart, no mother, no sister for him.

"'No one about Warwhoop knows this yere party much; more'n his name is Bent.He's captain with the Gov'nor's commission, an' comes from 'way-off yonder some'ers.An' so he sets thar, grim an' solid in his saddle, lookin' vague-like off at where the trees meets the sky, while the rest of us is goin' about permiscus, finishin' up our kissin'.

"'"Ain't he got no sweetheart to wish goodbye to him?" asks a girl of me."Ain't thar no one to kiss him for good luck as he rides away?""'This yere maiden's name is Sanders, an' it's a shore fact she's the prettiest young female to ever make a moccasin track in West Tennessee.I'd a-killed my pony an' gone afoot to bring sech a look into her eyes, as shines thar when she gazes at the Captain where he's silent an' sol'tary on his hoss.

"'No," I replies, "he's a orphan, I reckons.He's plumb abandoned that a-way, an' so thar's nobody yere to kiss him, or shake his hand.""'This yere pretty Sanders girl--an' I'm pausin' ag'in to state she's a human sunflower, that a-way--this Sanders beauty, I'm sayin', looks at this party by himse'f for a moment, an' then the big tears begins to well in her blue eyes.She blushes like a sunset, an' walks over to this yere lone gent.

"'Mister Captain," she says, raisin' her face to him like a rose, "I'm shore sorry you ain't got no sweetheart to say 'good-bye;' an'

bein' you're lonesome, that a-way, I'll kiss you an' say adios myse'f.""'Will you, my little lady?" says the lonesome Captain, as he swings from his saddle to the ground by her side; an' thar's sunshine in his eyes.

"'I'll think of you every day for that,"he says, when he kisses her, "an' if I gets back when the war's done, I'll shorely look for you yere.""'The little Sanders girl--she is shorely as handsome as a ace full on kings--blushes a heap vivid at what she's done, an' looks warm an' tender.Which, while the play is some onusual an' out of line, everybody agrees it's all right; bein' that we-alls is goin' to a war, that a-way.

"'Now yere,' goes on Enright, at the same time callin' for red-eye all 'round, ' is what youalls agrees is a mighty romantic deal.

Yere's a love affair gets launched.'

"'Does this yere lone-hand gent who gets kissed by the Sanders lady outlive the war?' asks Texas Thompson, who has braced up an' gets mighty vivacious listenin' to the story.

"'Which he shorely outlives that conflict,' replies Enright.'An'

you can gamble he's in the thick of the stampede, too, every time.Iwill say for this yere Captain, that while I ain't with him plumb through, he's as game a sport as ever fought up hill.He's the sort which fights an goes for'ard to his man at the same time.Thar's no white feathers on that kind; they's game as badgers.An' bad.'

"'Which if he don't get downed none,' says Texas Thompson, 'an' hits Tennessee alive, I offers ten to one he leads this yere Sanders female to the altar.'

"'Which you'd lose, a whole lot,' says Enright, at the same time raisin' his whiskey glass.

"'That's what I states when I trails out on this yere romance.

Females is frivolous an' plumb light of fancy.This Captain party comes back to Warwhoop, say, it's two years an' a half later, an'

what do you-alls reckon? That Sanders girl's been married mighty nigh two yzars, an' has an infant child as big as a b'ar cub, which is beginnin' to make a bluff at walkin.'

"'Now, on the squar', an' I'm as s'prised about it as you be--I'm more'n s'prised, I'm pained--I don't allow, lookin' over results an'

recallin' the fact of that b'ar-cub infant child, that for all her blushin', an' all her tears, an' kissin' that Captain party good-by that a-way, that the Sanders girl cares a hoss-h'ar rope for him in a week.An' it all proves what I remarks, that while females ain't malev'lent malicious, an' don't do these yere things to pierce a gent with grief, their 'ffections is always honin' for the trail, an' is shorely prone to move camp.But, bless 'em! they can't he'p it none if their hearts be quicksands, an' I libates to 'em ag'in.'

"Whereat we-alls drinks with Enright; feelin' a heap sim'lar.

"'Whatever becomes of this yerc pore Captain party?' asks Faro Nell.

"'Well, the fact about that Captain,' replies Enright, settin' down his glass, 'while the same is mere incident, an' don't have no direct bearin' on what I relates; the fact in his case is he's wedded already.Nacherally after sayin' "howdy!" to the little Sanders girl, an' applaudin' of her progeny--which it looks like he fully endorses that a-way--this yere Captain gent hits the trail for Nashville, where his wife's been keepin' camp an' waitin' for him all the time."'