128CHAPTER XIII
WITH HAY HOOKS
It is no more than right that the first kiss should be forgiven, especially if no one is to blame, and Wilhelmina forgave him very sweetly; but there was a wild, hunted look in Wunpost’s bold eyes and he wondered what would happen next. Something had come over him very suddenly and made him forget the restraint which all ladies, even in overalls, laid upon him; and when their hands had touched some great force had drawn them together and he had kissed her before she knew it. But instead of resisting she had yielded for a moment, and then pushed him away very slowly; and he still remembered, like part of a dream, her heart beating against his breast. But it was all over now, and she was toying with the field-glasses which he had brought from the city as a present.
“Isn’t it wonderful,” she said, “how we first came together? And the first place I looked for when you gave me these glasses was that wash where you made your two fires.”
“If you’d had them then,” ventured Wunpost at last, “you’d’ve been able to see me plain.”
“Yes,” she sighed, “but I found you anyhow. 129Doesn’t it seem a long time ago? And it was only the end of last May.”
“Something doing every minute,” burst out Wunpost gaily, “say, I’ve found two mines this summer! What did old Eells think of the Stinging Lizard? I hooked him right on that–he’ll be careful what he grabs next time. And when he jumps the next claim of mine I reckon he’ll sink a few feet before he builds any more ten thousand dollar roads!”
He chuckled and ran his hand through his tumbled hair, which always stood straight on end, but Billy was looking at him curiously.
“Mr. Eells was up to see us,” she said at last, “and he claims you salted that mine. And he even told Father that you located it up our canyon just on purpose so we could use his road!”
“And what did you say?” inquired Wunpost teasingly. “Didn’t I tell you, right here, I was going to do it?”