THEM TWO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20075, 12 October 1928, Page 7

THEM TWO.

(A NEW ZEALAND STORY).

BY E. MARY GURNEY.

" Bot you won't," said Bill, scornfully. " Same to you, with a coloured border," returned Larry, laconically. " If there's a bigger fool 'an Larry—or Bill—on this earth," interrupted George, "I'd like to sec 'im!" " Look in a glass," suggested Bill, unkindly. Davo Riceyman sighed patiently, and tho Ridge's latest development—freckled and red-haired—sputtered in its coffee, so George knew there was a joke somewhere. He turned on the freckled one sourly. " You'vo no moro manners than your blanky cows," ho began, but Dave, waving a pencil over a much thumbed envelope, broke in with a weary, " Oh—for heaven's sake, shut up! That's ten. Pity we can't muster a dozen —" "We can, an' wo will," murmured Larry gently. " How ?" demanded Dave, suspiciously. " We got every darn hoof that's worth takin' down on the list now—" " Yell ?" said Larry. " Delight—an' the Lord send she don't kill someone," droned Dave. " Blighty—tho pigeon-toed runt, George's broken-winded 010 crock, Pug's Emma, Harry's Blaze, Bill'ti imertation pedigree, an' tho boss's Dainty an' Step Dance." " An' Alice, an' Satan," murmured Larry. " Yeh," agreed Dave, bleakly. "Go on. Let's take Quick Silver, an' make a go of it!" Quick Silver is Silver Step's successor. He's a full brother to Silver Step—and as like him as a pea out of the same pod—both in looks and temperament. Larry said, " Alice is a bird —once he gets going,' an' I'm takin' him—" "Just so you can show off!" snarled Dave, unhappily. " You know as well as I do that Blaze—an' Blue Dragoon can both jump circles round him! The blinkin' Maori screw!"

" He'll look real fancy, with Larry's Mexican saddle, and the imertation Navajo —reg'lar circus!" opined George, sarcastically.

Larry said exactly nothing; but Bill gave a sudden snort of laughing that made Dave look apprehensive. " I've a darn good mind to send the pair of you across to Norsewood for that mob o' steers," he said, gloomily. " Bill and Larry looked at each other, and said exactly nothing. It was a disconcerting way they had. Dave's list comprised the entries from the Ridgo for the horse events in the Blackburn annual sports meeting. Three of the horses you know —Delight, Blighty, and Slippery Dick. Of the others, Emma is my own mount —I'm Pug! She's stocky, undistinguished, willing, reliable, entered for turning, flag race, and maiden jump. (Which later she enters every year—and once, some years ago, she got a consolation prize. She's a good tryer). Harry Windmore's Blaze—a big, upstanding black, with a wild eye and a great white scar on his near shoulder, that 1 gives him his name, has won the open jump two years in succession, and is considered by everyone but Bill and Larry to be a suro thing. Larry thinks Alice, the skewbald colt, broken two months ago, and consisting mainly of nerves and vice, will win easily if only he gets sufficiently scared, while Bill is pinning his faith to Blue Dragoon—a three-year-old roan, sired by the deceased Silver Step. His dam was a

leggy, goose-rumped roan, with a slipped hip, .and a generous eye, set in a lean, thoroughbred head. Bill picked her up for a song at a horse sale, and got the old man's permission to run her with tho brood mares.

Blue Dragoon was the result, and he was a regular picture, with his mother's lean head and generous eye. The two thoroughbreds were nice, cleanlimbed, unpretentious beasts, which had both won a red ribbon once, and never onco looked like repeating the performance. Even Larry wasn't sanguine about Delight. She jumped like a stag, but she was liable to buck herself into a blue fit on every possible—and impossible—occasion, « t • « ■ George said, scathingly, " My hat, yon two fatheads look like a blinkin' side show!" Dave glowered helpleslsy, and the freckled boy walked round them, viewed them from every angle, and remarked, " Blimy" in accents of amazed envy. Harry and I said nothing. Remarks were superfluous. j Dave said, heavily,, " Yon ' two cows ! can ride in front, or behind} but yon aint' goin' to ride with us." His face was absolutely scarlet with suppressed emotion. *" Weo, modest, crimson-tipped flower," Bill murmured, as he and Larry led off, with their quartet of mounts. The rest of U3 followed at a respectful distance, goggling helplessly, half embarrassed, half joyously expectant. Arrived at the entrance gate, the fun started. A large crowd collected, and hung round passing audible remarks. Thoy blocked the gate, and thoroughly upset the already peeved gatekeeper. "If you're a blinkin* sideshow," ho told Bill and Larry, " you ought to have been on your pitch five hours ago. Where's your tent ?" Bill looked at him, and he wilted. Bill's like that. Even in his assinino get-up, ho had only to produce tho look, and the world made way. Ten-gallon hats, fringed leather leggings, fringed gauntlets, high-heeled boots, blue shirts, red neckerchiefs, spurs, quirts— Bill's service revolvers rammed into real holsters—Larry even had his precious rifle slung to his Mexican saddle, and they bptli had lassos coiled on tho horns, and . Navajo blankets. Tom Mix and tho rest of thorn simply weren't in it. Crossing the grounds to the horse stand tho crowd grew to embarrassing proportions—sido shows, swings and roundabouts gave up their quota —were suddenly utterly desorted for the exciting and novel spectacle of two genuine, all-wool cowboys. I'll say for tho pair of them, they wore two superb actors, for, ii: they felt embarrassed neither of them batted so much as an eyelash—just rode on, wooden-faced and impassive as if tho crowds didn't oven exist. Blighty reared gracefully. Dragoon danced and plunged. Delight bucked wickedly, and Alico went clean off tho handle. A kid with a red balloon on a long striug started it. The kid fell over, and let tho thing go; and it blew under Alice's feet, and tho string wound round his oil hind fetlock. There was the very deuce to play, and if Larry Craig had set out with an idea of finding the limelight, lie found it on the spot. What with Delight, and her temper, and tho brown and white fury in a blind panic, Larry had his hands fulL Delight followed tho demented Alico with amazing cunning, but she bucked all tho while, and sho bit everything within reach, including tho übiquitous Satan, a chunk out of Step Dance, and half tho fringe oft Bill's right legging..

(COPYRIGHT.)

Author of the " Peter" storic3.

It took about half an hour to restore poacci; and then Satan was missing. An organised search located him holding up tho refreshment tent. That cost ten bob. |

As far as tho side shows wcro concerned, the whole show must have been a complete washout; for everything, including a lot who were old enough to know better, spent the day trailing Larry and Bill. As a side show, they would havo been the success of the season. As members of a private party, they wore a complete failure. The rest of us avoided them as if they had the plague; but_ the brutes took a perversa delight in trailing and cornering either one or another of tho Ridge party. ' . They bailed Dave up by the chopping ring, and surrounded him for about halt an hour, by tho end of which time ho was all but frothing at tho mouth; so they let him go, and worried George till he went to ground in tho bar, and got! absolutely blotto with rago and bad hcer. Tho committee, egged on by the side show owners, finally sent two constables after them; but it'wasn't many minutes before they had the guardians of tho law absolutely paralytic, and enlisted as firm allies. Blue Dragoon won both the Maiden and the Open Jump; and in the latter event, Larry had to throw Alice to prevent him bolting and running amok in the crowd. Alice came over the first three jumps with his head up, and his eyes fairly glaring from their sockets; but ho ran'off the he n coop, slogged his head down, with the bit in his teeth, and went fairly loco. Larry yanked right, and then left, but Alice had got a bulldog grip on the bit, and Larry could nob shift it; so, at the last minute, he threw all his weight on one rein, and flopped the mad skewbald upside down. It broke the silly brute's panic, and all but broke Larry's neck; and the crowd cheered him to tho echo. Larry's innings! Bill got h.is, some twenty minutes later. Every locality has it's character, even if it is only an oldest identity. Aarou Josephs belonged to Blackburn. Nobody, knew how old he was, because as long as anyono could remember, he had always looked just the same—six feet odd, rugged, pig-eyed, flat nosed, with a beard like a, patriarch. Ho was not exactly religious, but hci held that if God had 'meant men to have motors, ho'd havo created 'em; and ho, stuck to the old horse 'till it died. Then, he got a new one. Ho only got it a few days before <ha sports; and directly the thing heard tho band it started to cake walk. It wa3 a great raw-boned brute —sort of spring-carter that could be hogged and dressed to look like a heavy-weight hunter; and it had just enough breed about it to make it silly. Well, the fool beast ramped round on the end of it's rope all day; and old Josephs, three-parts pickled and the rest silly, managed, with help nearly as stewed as himself, to get it safely between tho shafts again, to get in safely between the) the seat, that was the stone end. The spring carter bucked once or twice, spilled old Josephs over the back, and lit out for the most densely packed spot in the grounds—the chopping ring. Bill and Larry were riding in from, the last event, Bill on Blighty, Larry ont the everlasting Alice! Alice immediately had a mind to join the stampede, and it took Larry all his time to convince hint that it wasn't neccflsary, but Bill—none of us had even guessed that he coulcl use a rope with any cowboy—unhitched the rope from the pummel of his Mexican saddle, swnng it twice, and made as neat a cast as you could wish to see._ Tho spring-carter was well into his stride, and it looked like sudden death for a few; but Bill's rope sailed straight and true, landing squarely over tho carter's big, ugly head. If Bill had had a trained pony, lha rest would have been easy, but Llighty had absolutely no notion of the game. Bill had a good grip on' him, but, even' so, when the shock came, it jerljeo Blighty to his knees; but Bills voice and his horsemanship saved tho day, and after a few snorts and plunges, Blighty stuck to it like the good, honest little horse he was. _ As to the spring-carter, it turned him clean over, cart and all, and before it had, time to so much as squeal, the hefty, lads* from the chopping ring were all over it—and that was that. Bill anxs Larry got quite an oration as they left. The * rest of us sneaked out the back way, but as we went we heard the fool crowd bawling: "Windy Ridge!,. Whfifc price Windy Ridge? Send the Pota. back, Ridgo!" and a lot more rot. _ Bill, sporting the two pots and thirty pounds cash, murmured softly," as wo took the homeward trail: " Ah —take tlie cash in hand—" " Quite," agreed Larry, and added sot* prisingly. " Also—"

Make xhe moat of •what you yet may Before you, too, into the dust descend; Dust into dust, and tinder dußt to lie, Sans wine, satis song, sans singer—and sand end '"Hold your tongues!" bawled Davo, suddenly vicious. "If I have any more! of your foolery to-day Fll sack the of youf" Bill and Larry looked at each ' other as they swung into the trail that leads into the sunset. They sniffed the soft vrind and laughed as men laugh when they find life pood, and they said exactly nothing, but disappeared down the road in cloud of wild spirits and dust; and George, thinking of Dave's empty threat, said morosely: " There's times when Dare talks like a blinkin' fool." " Oh, look in the glass and ask vounself!" snarled Dave. Ginger giggled.