Читать книгу Buffalo Bill's Ruse; Or, Won by Sheer Nerve - Ingraham Prentiss - Страница 6

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Buffalo Bill had not been in the lonesome house on the big mesa an hour before he heard a roaring shout near the stables. It drew him to the open window, and when he looked out he beheld Pizen Kate.

She had sighted Nick Nomad, and was making for him, waving her big umbrella round her head as if it were a lasso with which she meant to effect his capture.

“Run away from me, will ye?” she was bellowing. “Abandon me, yer lawful and lovin’ wedded wife, will ye? Well, you’ll perceive the sinfulness of yer sinful ways before I git through with you, you bet! You’ll know fer certain that I’m Pizen Kate, of Kansas City, and a lady that’s not to be trifled with.”

For a moment Buffalo Bill was too astonished for mirth; then he broke into a roar of laughter. Leaving the window, he descended quickly to the ground, and made his way out to where Pizen Kate was tongue-lashing her recreant spouse. She was still at it when the scout arrived.

“Me washin’ fer you, and laborin’ fer you; and then you cuttin’ right out and runnin’ away from me! Is that the way fer a man to conduct himself toward the wife of his bosom? Answer me that, you dried-up mummy, you pestiferous weasel! Why don’t you answer me?”

Nomad had backed into a corner of the adobe wall that formed part of the horse inclosure, and was defending his face with his hands from the jabbing umbrella.

“Yes, yes!” he admitted.

“Wasn’t I a true and lovin’ wife to ye?”

“Yes.”

“And you run away from me when I was workin’ fer ye?”

“Don’t!” he pleaded. “Don’t hit me in ther face with thet! Great snakes! Yes; I’m willin’ ter admit ter anything. I’m all sorts of critters that ye can think up, and more throwed in. But don’t poke me in the eye with thet.”

“I’ve a notion to ram it down yer throat and open it up inside of ye!” she threatened.

“Waal, it’d make me look fatter, ef ye did!” he declared. “Hold on—hold on! Thet thar is my arm you’re peelin’ the skin off of. Let up, can’t ye?”

“Why did you do it?” she demanded.

“I—I——”

“I ast you why did ye do it?”

“I couldn’t live with ye, and that’s a fact!” he sputtered, hopping about to evade her blows.

“Couldn’t live yith yer lovin’ and lawful wife?”

“You was too strenuous fer me, and yer temper was too peppery. So I thought I’d slide.”

Latimer had appeared, drawn by the noise.

“And there’s the feller that you went away with!” she said to Nomad. “Don’t say he ain’t, fer I know. Thet’s ther dashin’ galoot that called hisself Persimmon Pete. You got stuck on him there in Kansas City, and lit out with him. Don’t say it ain’t so, er I’ll poke the p’int of this umbreller inter yer innards! Don’t say it ain’t so!”

“Waugh! I ain’t sayin’ that it ain’t so.”

“Then it is so? I knowed it was. And he lied to me in ther town, when I charged him with it. And he knowed you was out here; and out here he rid, to meet ye. I seen him go, and I follered him. Oh, I understand ye! You can’t fool Pizen Kate. Ain’t it so?”

“Anything’s so, when you says it is,” said Nomad.

She shook her umbrella at Buffalo Bill. “You lied to me there in the town!” she vociferated. “You said you wasn’t Persimmon Pete, and you perfessed that you didn’t know nothing about where my ole man was! Now, what do ye say to that? When you left Eldorado I follered ye. And here I find you two together. What do ye say to that? Answer me!”

The scout was laughing too much to reply as quickly as she wished, and this made her rave the more.

“You are mistaken,” he said finally.

“You don’t know this man?”

“Oh, yes, I know him.”

“He ain’t my lawful, wedded husband?”

“I don’t know that he isn’t, of course. It only surprises me.”

“Surprises ye, does it? Well, when I think of it, it surprises me, too. To think that I should ’a’ married a walkin’ shadder of a man like that, a living mummy that grins and acts like a baboon; and then that he should run away frum me, when I stood ready to lavish all my wifely love on him. Yes, it surprises me, too.” She glared at the scout. “Why did you tell me that you wasn’t Persimmon Pete?”

“Because I am not.”

“What!” she shrieked. “You deny it?”

“Don’t deny anything, Buffler!” wailed Nomad. “It’ll be wuss fer ye. Admit everything she says. If she asks me ain’t I the man in the moon, I’m saying ‘yes’ to her every time.”

“You are married to her?” said the scout.

“Waugh! Buffler, she made me do it!”

“If you ain’t Persimmon Pete,” she demanded of the scout, “who aire ye?”

“My name is Cody. Sometimes I’m called Buffalo Bill.”

“And that’s another lie!” she declared. “I know ye. You’re Persimmon Pete. But I’ll tell ye now, that I’m goin’ to take this man back with me, and he’ll live with me as my lovin’ husband, er I’ll kill him.”

Nomad contrived to escape out of his corner while the infuriated woman talked with the scout and with Latimer, and when he had accomplished that he sprinted round the end of the wall.

She gave chase immediately; and when she found that he had hid himself somewhere, she began to search for him, vowing that she would not rest until she had forced him to return with her to her home in Kansas City. She repeated her threat, as she made her furious search.

“If he don’t go back with me, and live with me as my lovin’ husband, I’ll kill him. There ain’t goin’ to be no pore-deceived-and-weepin’-woman business with me now, you bet! I ain’t that kind of a hairpin! I’m a woman that knows her rights and is willin’ to fight fer ’em. And if he thinks he can hide, and that I’ll soon go away and leave him, why, then he is mightily mistaken.”

“Your hostler seems to have got into a good deal of trouble,” the scout remarked to Latimer, as they returned to the house together, leaving Pizen Kate hunting for Nick Nomad.

“Cody,” said Latimer, “that is the most absurd episode I ever saw, or knew about. I’m afraid that new hostler is a great rascal, in spite of what you informed me about him.”

A little later the scout saw Nomad running toward the house. Pizen Kate was not in sight. Apparently, Nomad had found a chance to get out of his hiding place unobserved by her, and was making tracks for the security of the big building.

Buffalo Bill hurried through the hall and swung the front door open to admit him.

“Cody, is she comin’?” Nomad panted.

The scout glanced out. “I think not.”

“Then, Cody,” he lowered his voice, “come into thet room over thar, fer I want a talk with ye. Fasten ther door, so that she can’t git in. And don’t let Latimer know about it. Jes’ a few minutes’ talk with ye, in thet room over thar.”

He ran on toward the door of the room indicated.

The scout stayed, in obedience to his request, to bar the outer door against the ferocious Pizen Kate. He occupied but a minute of time in doing it, and then followed on to the room, through whose door he had seen Nomad vanish. But when he entered the room Nomad was not there.

“Nomad!” he called, looking about.

There was no reply.