CHAPTER IX
THE RIDE UP THE BOW
Having once agreed to the proposal of a ride up the Bow, the doctor lost no time in making the necessary preparations. Half an hour later he found himself in the stable consulting with Billy. His mood was gloomy and his language reflected his mood. Gladly would he have escaped what to him, he felt, would be a trying and prolonged ordeal. But he could not do this without exciting the surprise of his friends and possibly wounding the sensitive girl whom he would gladly give his life to serve. He resolved that at all costs he would go through with the thing.
“I'll give her a good time, by Jingo! if I bust something,” he muttered as he walked up and down the stable picking out his mounts. “But for a compound, double-opposed, self-adjusting jackass, I'm your choice. Lost my first chance. Threw it clean away and queered myself with her first shot. I say, Billy,” he called, “come here.”
“What's up, Doc?” said Billy.
“Kick me, Billy,” said the doctor solemnly.
“Well now, Doc, I—”
“Kick me, Billy, good and swift.”
“Don't believe I could give no satisfaction, Doc. But there's that Hiram mule, he's a high class artist. You might back up to him.”