“He’s not thinking of cows just at present,� Roy remarked in a low voice to Nell. “See him watch Norine!�
Then Nick put his instrument to his lips and began to blow; slowly at first, then faster. Norine took up the dance.
Nick must have been thinking of the moon, for it was real music that came from that cheap mouth-organ. As the strains of “Rory O’More� floated out into the night air, the ranch house disappeared and, to the girl’s mother, even the silvered prairie, and Norine was dancing upon the grassy heath of Ireland. Mrs. Moore stood in the doorway, a proud look in her eye, her head swaying from side to side, her foot gently tapping the doorsill. This was her girl that was dancing!
CHAPTER XIV
GUS COMES HOME
Roy and Teddy were showing the two girls around the X Bar X the next morning.
“Here is where the bronco-busters do their stuff,� announced Teddy, when they came to the corral. “Rad Sell, who’s out on the range just at present, is one of the best leather-stickers we’ve got on the place.�
“Oh, Teddy, I wish we could see him tame a wild horse! Don’t you, Nell?â€� Ethel asked, eyes wide with curiosity. “Of course we’ve seen it done many times in the moving pictures, but—â€�
Teddy laughed heartily.
“When Rad climbs aboard some of those fresh ponies, he doesn’t stay in one place long enough to have a picture taken of him. How about it, Roy?�
“That’s right,� his brother agreed. “Remember the time he broke Tiger? First they tore around the corral like a cyclone. Then, all of a sudden, Tiger took a look at the fence, pulled back, and the next second he was over and running wild for the mountains. That was before dad had this other rail put on. No horse in the world could jump it now.�