Читать книгу The Rover Boys at Big Horn Ranch: or, The Cowboys' Double Round-Up - Stratemeyer Edward - Страница 8

“What kind of a party is it, Martha?”

“I don’t know, except that it’s somewhere out of town and some of the girls and fellows are going to the place in sleighs. I wasn’t asked to go, and I got the information in a roundabout way.”

“Then Ruth hasn’t said anything to you about it?”

“Not a word. But I’m sure she received this Lester Bangs’ invitation.”

“And you think she may accept it?”

“I hope not, Jack. Because I don’t like Bangs. He wears such showy clothing and jewelry.”

“That’s the reason we call him Brassy – he is brassy in looks and brassy in manner. He’s just as much of a hot-air bag as Tommy Flanders,” went on the young captain, referring to an arrogant youth who the summer before had pitched for Longley Academy and been knocked out of the box.

“Isn’t it queer, he put me in mind of Flanders?” whispered Martha. “I hope you don’t have any trouble with him, Jack.” And then, as some of the others came closer, the private conversation had to come to an end.

While in the moving picture theater Jack sat with Ruth beside him. They occasionally spoke about the scenes presented to them and also about school matters in general, but not one word was said by either about the party Martha had mentioned.

“Mr. Falstein certainly gets good pictures,” remarked the girl, when the performance had come to an end and the crowd of young people was moving out of the theater. “They’re just as good as one can see in the big cities.”

“They’re the same thing, only he gets them a little later,” answered Jack.

“I like the comic pictures better than anything,” declared Andy. “I hate those serious ones. They’re generally so awfully mushy.”

“Why, Andy Rover, how you talk!” cried Alice Strobell. “I think that picture they showed today of Life in a Big City was perfectly grand.”

“Especially where the heroine sobbed herself to sleep over the sewing machine in her garret room,” went on Andy, with a snicker. “Wasn’t that just the tear-bringer?”

“I don’t care! It was just as true to life as it could be,” answered Alice sturdily.

“Well, maybe,” was the airy return of the fun-loving Rover. “Come to think of it, I never did run a sewing machine in a garret room with the snow blowing through a busted window. I’d rather sit in the shade of the old apple tree reading a good book and getting on the outside of some ripe pears,” he continued, and at this there was general laughter.

As was their custom, the young folks drifted from the theater to a nearby candy and ice-cream establishment. Here they split up into various groups at some tables in the rear. Of course, the boys insisted on treating the girls, and there was quite a discussion over what each would have. Martha and Mary had paired off with Gif and Spouter, and Fred and the twins were with some of the other girls, and this left Ruth and Jack by themselves.

Several times the young captain wanted to bring the conversation around to the question of the party that had been mentioned. But every time he checked himself.

“What were you going to say?” questioned Ruth, when he caught himself once. “You act as if you had something on your mind of special importance, Jack.”

“Not at all! Not at all!” he returned hastily. “How are you getting along with your studies, Ruth? Do your eyes interfere much with them?”

“Not a great deal. But, of course, I have to be more or less careful. But I’m doing finely, so the teachers say.”

“We’re going to have an election of officers soon,” continued the young captain. “Some of the fellows are urging me to run for major of the battalion. Ralph Mason is going to drop out, you know.”

“Oh, Jack! why don’t you run?”

“Do you want me to run, Ruth?”

“Why, of course! if there’s any chance of getting it, and I don’t see why there shouldn’t be,” she returned quickly.

Her manner was so intimate that once again he was on the point of mentioning the party. But then he shut his teeth hard and pretended to be interested in something taking place at the other tables.

“Don’t you think you could win the election if you tried?” Ruth continued, after looking at him questioningly for a moment.

“Oh, I guess I’d have as good a chance as any one in command. Of course, there are a number of other officers who would have as good a chance as I’d have. But I’m not altogether sure that I want to be major. If I held that office Colonel Colby would expect me to toe the mark all the time just as an example to the others. Even as it was, he didn’t like to have me as a captain and Fred as a lieutenant mixed up in that snowball affair.”