“This is rather embarrassing,” he told Marion. “I start to say something to you, when this fool horse goes off across the country. I’d rather be thrown off than to have my conversation interrupted every time.”
“But you’re learning,” declared Marion.
“I hope so,” dubiously.
“Jimmy, does it mean so much to you—to be a cowboy?”
Jimmy reined his horse back into the road, clutched his hat just in time to save it, and nodded violently.
“You bet! Say, it means an awful lot to me, Marion. Darn it, the more I think about it, the more it means.”
Marion did not question him any further, as they rode down the main street of Blue Wells. Marion dismounted at the sheriff’s office, but Jimmy rode on to the Oasis hitch-rack, where he had seen several AK horses tied.
At the Oasis bar he found Johnny Grant, Eskimo Swensen, Oyster Shell and Tex Alden. Johnny fell upon him with a war-whoop of joy and dragged him to the bar, while Eskimo and Oyster pounded him on the shoulders and examined his scalp, much in the way of a pair of monkeys, gibbering the while.
Tex turned away without speaking and walked outside, while the AK gang leaned Johnny against the bar and demanded loudly of the bartender that he work fast. They questioned Jimmy about the shooting at the Double Bar 8, and his progress as a cowpuncher. In fact, the questions came too fast for Jimmy to answer. But after the second drink he managed to catch his breath, and told them some of the happenings. But he would not drink any more.
“I’ve got to ride back to the ranch,” he told them solemnly. “I brought Miss Taylor to town, and she is down at the jail, visiting with her folks.”