er father, she had found her
mother, an' she was about to meet--her lover. I saw the Sioux Injuns
doin' the dance once, where they tie thongs through their breast
muscles an' circle around a pole. Every now an' again they'd fling back
their full weight on the thongs, an' their faces would light with
savage joy. That was the kind of joy I felt when I saw Barbie's face.

Her mother smiled into Jim's eyes when he came in, an' Jabez stood up
an' held out his hand. "Do you want to marry her?" he said.

"That's the only wish I have," sez Jim.

"Then she's yours, an' I thank God she's got a true man," sez Jabez,
puttin' Barbie's hand into Jim's. I turned my face away.

The first thing I knew I felt a hand on my shoulder an' another hand
taken' hold of mine. I turned an' looked down into Barbie's face, but I
couldn't bear the light in her eyes. I turned my face away again--an'
my lips were tremblin', the blasted traitors.

But she turned me around until my eyes looked down into hers, an' they
were swimmin' in tears. Her little soft hand clasped my big rough one,
tight an' warm, an' her voice was husky as she whispered, "You--you
won't care much, will you, Happy?"

"No, Barbie," I sez between my set teeth, "not much"; an' by God, I
smiled.

"An', Happy," she went on, "my home will allus be your home, an'
anything that is mine is yours; but my heart ain't mine, ol' pal; an'
so--an' so we can't help it."

"No," I sez, an' I was back in the saddle again this time. "No, little
gel, we can't help it; but we can allus make the best of it; so I vote
that we don't disappoint the crowd; but go on an' have a weddin'."

She backed away from me a little, while her face took the color of a
rose, an' her eyes went to the floor; an' then I turned to Jabez an'
said: "Jabez, I've took a mighty sight off you in my time without ever
puttin' up one little squeal; but if you send this gang away to-night
without a weddin', why, I quit you for good."

The' was all so wrought up that I was about the steadiest in the room;
an' in about two minutes I had 'em lined up, an' the crowd back in
place an' Friar Tuck in full regimentals under the tissha paper bell.

Before we could begin, however. Jabez mounted on a chair an' said in a
new, soft voice: "Friends, in all my life I never told but one black
lie. I may have spoken falsely through ignorance, or to spare sorrow to
my child; but I never fought through the temptation but once, an' got
whipp