Jim watched Polly uneasily as she came from the dressing tent and stopped to gaze at the nearby church steeple. The incongruity of the slang, that soon came from her delicately formed lips, was lost upon him as she turned her eyes toward him.
“Say, Jim,” she said, with a Western drawl, “them's a funny lot of guys what goes to them church places, ain't they?”
“Most everybody has got some kind of a bug,” Jim assented; “I guess they don't do much harm.”
“'Member the time you took me into one of them places to get me out a the rain, the Sunday our wagon broke down? Well, that bunch WE butted into wouldn't a give Sell's Brothers no cause for worry with that show a' theirn, would they, Jim?” She looked at him with withering disgust. “Say, wasn't that the punkiest stunt that fellow in black was doin' on the platform? You said Joe was only ten minutes gettin' the tire onto our wheel, but say, you take it from me, Jim, if I had to wait another ten minutes as long as that one, I'd be too old to go on a-ridin'.”
Jim “'lowed” some church shows might be better than “that un,” but Polly said he could have her end of the bet, and summed up by declaring it no wonder that the yaps in these towns was daffy about circuses, if they didn't have nothin' better an' church shows to go to.
One of the grooms was entering the lot with Polly's horse. She stooped to tighten one of her sandals, and as she rose, Jim saw her sway slightly and put one hand to her head. He looked at her sharply, remembering her faintness in the parade that morning.
“You ain't feeling right,” he said uneasily.
“You just bet I am,” Polly answered with an independent toss of her head. “This is the night we're goin' to make them rubes in there sit up, ain't it, Bingo?” she added, placing one arm affectionately about the neck of the big, white horse that stood waiting near the entrance.
“You bin ridin' too reckless lately,” said Jim, sternly, as he followed her. “I don't like it. There ain't no need of your puttin' in all them extra stunts. Your act is good enough without 'em. Nobody else ever done 'em, an' nobody'd miss 'em if you left 'em out.”
Polly turned with a triumphant ring in her voice. The music was swelling for her entrance.