aring with laughter. Through the window-glass of our Pullman the thud
of their mischievous hoofs reached us, and the strong, humorous curses
of the cow-boys. Then for the first time I noticed a man who sat on the
high gate of the corral, looking on. For he now climbed down with
the undulations of a tiger, smooth and easy, as if his muscles flowed
beneath his skin. The others had all visibly whirled the rope, some of
them even shoulder high. I did not see his arm lift or move. He appeared
to hold the rope down low, by his leg. But like a sudden snake I saw the
noose go out its length and fall true; and the thing was done. As the
captured pony walked in with a sweet, church-door expression, our train
moved slowly on to the station, and a passenger remarked, "That man
knows his business."

But the passenger's dissertation upon roping I was obliged to lose, for
Medicine Bow was my station. I bade my fellow-travellers good-by, and
descended, a stranger, into the great cattle land. And here in less than
ten minutes I learned news which made me feel a stranger indeed.

My baggage was lost; it had not come on my train; it was adrift
somewhere back in the two thousand miles that lay behind me. And by way
of comfort, the baggage-man remarked that passengers often got astray
from their trunks, but the trunks mostly found them after a while.
Having offered me this encouragement, he turned whistling to his
affairs and left me planted in the baggage-room at Medicine Bow. I stood
deserted among crates and boxes, blankly holding my check, hungry and
forlorn. I stared out through the door at the sky and the plains; but
I did not see the antelope shining among the sage-brush, nor the great
sunset light of Wyoming. Annoyance blinded my eyes to all things save
my grievance: I saw only a lost trunk. And I was muttering half-aloud,
"What a forsaken hole this is!" when suddenly from outside on the
platform came a slow voice: "Off to get married AGAIN? Oh, don't!"

The voice was Southern and gentle and drawling; and a second voice came
in immediate answer, cracked and querulous. "It ain't again. Who says
it's again? Who told you, anyway?"

And the first voice responded caressingly: "Why, your Sunday clothes
told me, Uncle Hughey. They are speakin' mighty loud o' nuptials."

"You don't worry me!" snapped Uncle Hughey, with shrill heat.

And the other gently continued, "Ain't them gloves the same yu' wore to
your last weddin'?"

"You don'