Page:Laughing Boy-1929.djvu/42

wd 30 LAvuGHING Boy read her face, that her slimness was deceptive; strength came forth from her. ‘Now, for ten cents, I go.’ He blinked. ‘I save that to get rid of you to- night, perhaps.’ ’ ‘I do not dance to-night. There is trouble, a bad thing. I come from far away.’ He thought he had better not ask questions. ‘To-morrow there will be horse-racing, a chicken- pull, perhaps.’ ‘And you have a fine horse to race, black, with a white star and a white sock.” He grunted as- tonishment. She smiled. ‘You are a good jeweler, they say. You made that bow-guard. You sold Red Man's belt to the American, they say, for sixty-five dollars.’ ‘You are like an old wife, trying to find out about everything a man is doing.’ ‘No, I am not like an old wife.’ They looked at each other for a long time. No, she was not like an old wife. Blood pounded in his ears and his mouth was dry. He pulled at the end of his dead cigarette. At length, ‘You should stay for the racing. There will be fine horses, a beautiful sight.’ ‘I shall stay, perhaps.’ Her rising, her ascent of the rock, were all one quick motion. She never looked back. He stayed,