IN THE OLD WEST 87 



relish for mush and molasses; hominy and johnny- 

 cakes failed to excite his appetite. Deer and tur- 

 keys ran by him unscathed ; he didn't know, he 

 said, whether his rifle had hind-sights or not. He 

 felt bad, that was a fact; but what ailed him he 

 didn't know." 



Mary Brand — Mary Brand — Mary Brand! 

 the old Dutch clock ticked it. Mary Brand! his 

 head throbbed it when he lay down to sleep. 

 Mary Brand! his riflelock spoke it plainly when 

 he cocked it, to raise a shaking sight at a deer. 

 Mary Brand, Mary Brand! the whip-poor-will 

 sang it instead of her own w^ell-known note; the 

 bull-frogs croaked it in the swamp, and mosquitoes 

 droned it in his ear as he tossed about his bed 

 at night, wakeful, and striving to think what 

 ailed him. 



Who could that strapping young fellow who 

 passed the door just now be going to see? Mary 

 Brand : Mary Brand. And who can big Pete Her- 

 ring be dressing that silver-fox skin so carefully 

 for? For whom but Mary Brand? And who is 

 it that jokes and laughs and dances with all the 

 *' boys " but him ; and why ? 



Who but Mary Brand: and because the love- 

 sick booby carefully avoids her. 



'' And Mary Brand herself — what is she like? " 



*' She's some now ; that is a fact, and the big- 

 gest kind of punkin at that," would have been the 

 answer from any man, woman, or child in the 



