“Shore, boss, I can't help thet,” drawled the cowboy. “It's good old Texas stock.”
He did not appear shamefaced now, but just as cool, easy, clear-eyed, and lazy as the day Helen had liked his warm young face and intent gaze.
“Texas! You fellars from the Pan Handle are always hollerin' Texas. I never seen thet Texans had any one else beat--say from Missouri,” returned Al, testily.
Carmichael maintained a discreet silence, and carefully avoided looking at the girls.
“Wal, reckon we'll all call you Las Vegas, anyway,” continued the rancher. “Didn't you say my niece sent you to me for a job?”
Whereupon Carmichael's easy manner vanished.
“Now, boss, shore my memory's pore,” he said. “I only says--”
“Don't tell me thet. My memory's not p-o-r-e,” replied Al, mimicking the drawl. “What you said was thet my niece would speak a good word for you.”
Here Carmichael stole a timid glance at Bo, the result of which was to render him utterly crestfallen. Not improbably he had taken Bo's expression to mean something it did not, for Helen read it as a mingling of consternation and fright. Her eyes were big and blazing; a red spot was growing in each cheek as she gathered strength from his confusion.
From the glance the old rancher shot from the cowboy to the others of his employ it seemed to Helen that they were having fun at Carmichael's expense.
“Yes, sir, I did,” suddenly replied the cowboy.
“A-huh! All right, here's my niece. Now see thet she speaks the good word.”
Carmichael looked at Bo and Bo looked at him. Their glances were strange, wondering, and they grew shy. Bo dropped hers. The cowboy apparently forgot what had been demanded of him.
Helen put a hand on the old rancher's arm.
“Uncle, what happened was my fault,” she said. “The train stopped at Las Vegas. This young man saw us at the open window. He must have guessed we were lonely, homesick girls, getting lost in the West. For he spoke to us--nice and friendly. He knew of you. And he asked, in what I took for fun, if we thought you would give him a job. And I replied, just to tease Bo, that she would surely speak a good word for him.”
“Haw! Haw! So thet's it,” replied Al, and he turned to Bo with merry eyes. “Wal, I kept this here Las Vegas Carmichael on his say-so. Come on with your good word, unless you want to see him lose his job.”