Hearts Desire | Page 9

cow puncher! He
took to his horse, 'course he did, and not one of us thought of ridin'.
Who'd ever think a man would ride up here at all, let alone at night?
Come on, fellers, we might as well go home."
"Well, I'm pleased to have met you, gentlemen," said Anderson,
lighting a philosophic pipe, "and I don't mind walking back with you.
It's a trifle lonesome in the hills after dark. Why didn't you tell me you
were coming up?" He grinned with what seemed to us bad taste.
When we got down across the foot-hills and into the broad white street
of Heart's Desire, we espied a dark figure slowly approaching. It
proved to be Tom Osby, who later declared that he had found himself
unable to sleep. He had things in his pockets. By common consent we
now turned our footsteps across the arroyo, toward the cabin where
dwelt the family from Kansas.
The house of the man from Leavenworth was lighted as though for
some function. There were no curtains at the windows, and even had
there been, the shock of this spectacle which went on before our eyes
would have been sufficient to set aside all laws and conventions. With
hands in pockets we stood and gazed blankly in at the open window.
There was a sound of revelry by night. The narrow Mexican fireplace
again held abundance of snapping, sparkling, crooked pinon wood. The
table was spread. At its head sat the next postmaster; near him a lately
sorrowful but now smiling lady, his wife, the woman from Kansas. The
elder daughter was busy at the fire. At the right of the man from
Leavenworth sat none less than Curly, the same whose cow pony, with
bridle thrown down over its head, now stood nodding in the bright
flood of the moonlight of Heart's Desire. At the side of Curly was the
Littlest Girl from Kansas, and she was looking into his eyes.
It was thus that the social compact was first set on in the valley of

Heart's Desire.
A vast steaming fragrance arose from the bowl which stood at the head
of the table. In the home of the girl from Kansas there was light,
warmth, comfort, joy. It was Christmas, after all.
"By the great jumpin' Jehossophat!" said Tom Osby, "them's our
oysters!"
"And to think," mused Dan Anderson, softly, as we turned away,--"we
fried ours!"

CHAPTER III
TRANSGRESSION AT HEART'S DESIRE
_Beginning the Cause Celebre which arose from Curly's killing the Pig
of the Man from Kansas_
A great many abdomens have been injured in the pastime known as the
"double roll." Especially has this been the case with persons not native
to the land of Heart's Desire or the equivalent thereof. Even those born
to the manner, and possessed of the freedom of a vast landscape whose
every particular was devoted to the behoof of any man seized with a
purpose of attaining speed and efficiency with firearms, did not always
reach that smoothness and precision in the execution of this personal
manoeuvre which alone could render it safe to themselves or
impressive to the beholder. The owner of this accomplishment was
never apt to find himself much crowded with company, in the way
either of participants or spectators. Yet the art was a simple and
harmless one, pertaining more especially to youth, enthusiasm, and the
fresh air of high altitudes, which did ever evoke saltpetreish
manifestations.
The evolution of the "double roll" is executed by taking a
six-shooter--let us hope not one of those pitiful toys of the East--upon

each forefinger, each weapon so hanging balanced on the trigger-guard
and the trigger itself that it shall be ready to turn about the finger as
upon a pivot, and shall be ready for instant discharge, the thumb
cocking the weapon as it turns; yet so that it shall none the less be
discharged only when the muzzle of the weapon is pointed away from
the operator's person and not toward it.
It is best for the ambitious to begin this little sport with an empty
weapon. Thus one will readily observe that the click of the hammer is
all too often heard before the whirl of the gun is fairly under way, and
while the muzzle is pointed midway of the operator's person; the
weight of the heavy gun being commonly sufficient to pull back the
trigger and so discharge the piece. When the ambitious soul has learned
to do this "roll" with one empty gun, he may try it with two empty guns.
If he finds it possible thus to content himself, it will perhaps be all the
better for him. To stand upright, with a gun in each hand, even an
empty gun, and so revolve the