The Jeweled Spur (25 page)

Laurie hesitated, then said, “Oh, there’s so many hands working that Mr. Cody never notices how many. We’ll get him on somehow too. You’d better go tell him. We’ll be leaving on the
Dixie Queen
tomorrow morning, and we still have to work most of the night to get the show loaded.”

“We’ll go back to our hotel and get our stuff,” Cody said. He turned to leave, then swung back to her. “Laurie,” he said quietly, “I really don’t think you ought to do this. You’re putting yourself in danger, and I’d hate to see anything happen to you.”

Laurie flushed and looked down, then she lifted her eyes to his. Her soft lips curled upward in a smile and she said, “Maybe you’ll do as much for me sometime. You would, wouldn’t you, Cody?”

Cody Rogers was feeling a strange stirring inside. He thought it might be the relief from the narrow escape he had, but there was, he knew, more to it than that. He reached his hand out, and she instinctively put hers out for him to take. Her hand, he felt, was strong and firm, and he squeezed it gently, then did something he had never done in his life. He brought it up to his lips, kissed it, and said, “I thank you, Laurie. I’ll always be in your debt.”

Embarrassed by what he had done, he whirled and dashed out toward the arena, looking for Novak.

Laurie stood stock-still as a rosy flush began on her neck and washed up over her face. She stared after him, then touched her hand gently and said under her breath, “Cody—!”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

End of the Dixie Queen

A shudder ran through the
Dixie Queen
as her paddles caught and churned the brown waters of the Mississippi into a froth. As soon as the boat left the shore, most of the show people went wearily to bed. Loading the show had taken most of the night, and everyone needed to catch a few hours sleep. Cody and Sam, however, stood at the stern watching the huge paddles as they cut into the water.

“Well, I’m about as tired as I ever want to be,” Sam muttered wearily. “I didn’t know show business was so much work!”

“I guess if you’re a star you don’t have to work so much,” Cody grinned. Then he glanced toward the deck that held the staterooms and shook his head. “No, that’s not right. Everybody works—even Colonel Cody.” He stood there silently, enjoying the roll of the ship as it chugged through the water. “I always liked boats. Planned to run away from home when I was fifteen and go to sea. Never made it though.”

Sam straightened his back wearily and groaned, “I guess we better get to bed. I found out we’ll be unloading tomorrow at Cairo, Illinois.”

“How long will we be there?” Cody asked. He had worked mostly with the horses and had made a good impression on the horse handlers as a whole.

Sam grimaced. “One day—and then we get to do this all over again. Sometimes it makes me wish I hadn’t decided to see this here country!”

The two broke off and found their places, which amounted to two bed rolls thrown on some straw down behind the area that held the stock. They went to sleep instantly and only awoke when the hands began groaning and calling to one another a little after sunup. Wearily they got to their feet, brushed the straw out of their hair, and then discovered that breakfast was available. Making their way to one of the dining rooms where the hired hands ate in shifts, they downed a huge breakfast of bacon, eggs, grits, pancakes, and mugs of black coffee. Afterward, they went up on the deck, to the bow this time, and watched the
Dixie Queen
as it forged downriver. As they stood there, one of the cowboys, whose name they couldn’t remember, came up. “I’m Con Groner,” he said, nodding his head. “Your name’s Logan, I hear.”

“That’s right. Jim Logan.” Cody shrugged his shoulders. “All my life, I wished I had a good name, like Duke, or Studs, something better than Jim, and something better than Logan, too.”

“Well, a man hasn’t got much say about a name—unless he changes it,” said Groner as he stood there.

Cody remarked lightly that he was likely to do that someday just to get rid of it, then stood there talking to Groner, who seemed interested in the pair. Sam quickly took over and began describing some of his adventures in the past, and Groner listened patiently. “Where you from, Logan?”

Instantly Cody said, “Grew up in Kansas, flattest place on the face of the earth.” He began putting Kansas down, saying, “The best thing would be to dig a hole and make a lake out of it. Then all the dirt next door would be a mountain.” Groner smiled briefly, inquired about his family, then moved away.

“A little too curious, ain’t he, Cody?”

“Oh, just friendly, I guess,” answered Cody, leaning on the rail. The two moved around the ship, fascinated by it, for neither of them had ever been on a large riverboat.

Finally, at noon they pulled into Cairo, and Buffalo Bill appeared, his big voice booming: “All right, let’s get this
stock unloaded!” He spotted the two and said, “Can’t think of your names.” When they told him, he nodded and said, “You give a hand with the horses and the buffalo.” His eyes were thoughtful as he studied Cody, and he asked, “You making it all right so far?”

“Sure,” Cody said quickly. “Been wanting to thank you for the job.”

Buffalo Bill grinned, then inquired, “You’ve known Miss Laurie a long time, I take it?”

“Oh, for a while,” Cody shrugged evasively. “Our folks were close to each other.”

The bearded showman nodded thoughtfully, then moved away yelling directions to the stock handlers. Cody went to help unload the stock, while Sam was recruited by Johnny Baker to help with the equipment.

“These hosses don’t like boats,” Buck Bronson complained mournfully. He towered over Cody but seemed friendly enough.

Cody grinned at him. “Well, if they give us any trouble, you can just pick one up and carry him off, Buck. You’re big enough to do it.”

Bronson laughed heartily and shook his head. “I hope it don’t come to that, Logan.” Staring across the runway he added, “I guess everybody’s out of the way. We can get these hosses and buffalo off now.”

Several of the cowboys helped, but others had gone ahead, so they were shorthanded. Cody had been given a small bay named Jack, and it was a pleasure to be in the saddle again. He slapped the horse on the neck, then whispered, “Come on, Jack. We’re gonna be real close.”

He rode the horse off the gangplank, then stood waiting as the rest of the animals were led out. Some of the horses stepped off steadily. One or two, apparently new at this, were wild-eyed and jittery. When they were all finally disembarked, half of the crew left.

Buck groaned mournfully, “Now them blasted woollies!
Sometimes I wish every one of them buffalo would drop dead!” He glanced over at Cody, saying, “Watch yourself, Logan. They either don’t cause no trouble at all, or they don’t do nothin’ else.”

Cody, who had never seen a buffalo at close range, was fascinated by the huge animals. They moved forward, prodded by cowboys, and seemed placid enough. Then, as the last of them stepped off, one of them, a huge bull, suddenly snorted fiercely and plunged away.

“Look out! Old Thunder’s loose!” somebody cursed. The animal was picking up speed, and without thinking, Cody whipped the lariat from off the saddle and spurred Jack forward, whispering, “Come on, boy—” Before the horse had gone two paces, Cody had made a loop. Two more paces and he flipped the noose in between the front legs of the huge buffalo, then took two quick turns of the lariat around the saddle horn. The buffalo stepped into it, and Cody’s horse was yanked forward as the huge bull hit the end. The beast turned one flip and landed heavily on the ground with an audible grunt. Buck went forward at once and threw his rope so the animal was snug by the neck. Con Groner did the same. Cody slipped off his horse and waited to see if his mount was trained to hold. When he discovered he was, he moved forward, removed the loop, and hastily stepped away from the buffalo. “Okay, let him up.”

When the animal was up on his feet and had tried the ropes a couple of times, he went along placidly enough. Johnny Baker, who was called the Cowboy Kid, was standing there with Buffalo Bill himself. The two had been talking about the show, apparently, and now Baker said, “That’s a pretty neat trick. Seen some good ropers, but nothin’ to beat that.”

Buffalo Bill nodded in agreement. “Anybody can drop a loop over a critter’s head, but to grab one foreleg—” He shook his head and asked suddenly, “Did you do that on purpose, Logan? Or was it just an accident?”

Cody pulled his rope in, made a loop, and said, “I usually catch what I want to.”

Buffalo Bill instantly said, “Catch Buck’s hat, then.” He nodded toward the huge cowboy who had started away, leading Thunder. And at once, almost instantly, the rope snaked out of Cody’s hand, forming a very small loop. It closed around the hat, and Cody jerked it off with a flick of his wrist.

“Hey!” Buck shouted. He turned around and saw the owner of the show and Johnny Baker laughing at him.

Cody retrieved the hat, dusted it off, and spurred forward. “The boss wanted me to show off a little. You’re not sore, are you, Buck?”

“No. That’s a pretty good trick. Maybe you’d better give me a few pointers. But mostly I think I’d rather shoot ’em than put a rope on ’em.”

Cody laughed and turned, then heard his name being called. Buffalo Bill gestured to him, and he spurred Jack back to stand beside the two. “You know any tricks with that rope of yours?” said Bill, looking up at the young man.

“A few,” Cody shrugged.

“Well,” Buffalo Bill said quickly, “we’ve got to get this show on the road, into Cairo, and set up. But I want to talk to you later. Maybe we can use you in the show.”

“All right,” Cody said and turned.
Wouldn’t it be something,
he thought,
if I turned out to be a star!

The rest of the day went by like a blur. Cody learned more about how to move the stock around. Timing was everything, and he had to learn when to take them into the arena and when to retrieve them. He even took part in a fake stage robbery as one of the hold-up men with a handkerchief across his nose, firing blank bullets. He enjoyed it tremendously, and when the show was over, he joined in the arduous labor of breaking the show down. It was after three o’clock before they had gotten all the stock and equipment back on the
Dixie Queen.
Sam went to bed at once, but the excitement of the day had awakened Cody. He had the unusual ability
of staying up all night and never seemed to miss the sleep—though two nights in a row gave him problems. He walked around the deck, enjoying the silence as the boat slid along the brown water, and was startled when a voice close beside him said, “Hi, Jim.”

He turned and saw Leona Aimes in the darkness. She came out of the shadow of the bulkhead to stand beside him, leaning on the rail. “How do you like it?”

“Like it? Like what?”

“Traveling with the show.” Then she laughed, a pleasing, musical laugh. “I guess it’s nothing more than hard work unless you’ve got an act.”

Cody ordinarily would have said little, but the day had excited him and he began to talk to her. She was a pretty girl, on the verge of beauty. Her best feature was a pair of bold green eyes—which she knew how to use on men effectively. Cody could see them faintly by the glow of the light from the pilothouse. “Maybe I’ll be a star,” he shrugged with a grin. “Colonel Cody wants me to do a little fancy roping.”

Leona leaned closer to him so that her arm pressed against his. She smiled up at him and said, “Can I have your autograph, Mr. Logan?”

He laughed, and for the next ten minutes the two stood there chatting. He soon discovered that she’d had a hard life, and only when she had found her place in the show had she had any kind of security. The talk of her past seemed to trouble her, and she veered the conversation away from it.

Cody said, “I guess it’s late. I better get some sleep.”

“You can sleep when you’re old,” she said. “Besides, we won’t have to get up till noon tomorrow if we don’t want to. We’re headed straight for New Orleans, and that’ll take a couple of days.” She put her hand on his arm and stroked it, the touch of it running through him. “What’s the matter? You don’t like to talk to me?”

Cody was uncertain of himself. Some women he knew about—but this one was a puzzle. She caught his glance and
was pleased to have his attention. She was a woman who had to have the notice of men, and her lips were soft as she smiled up at him. “You’re trying to figure me out, aren’t you, Jim? Nothing complicated about me—I’m just a woman who intends to have a good time. That’s what life’s all about, isn’t it?”

“Well, I guess there might be a little more to it than that,” Cody said wryly. “Like work, doing your job, things like that.”

“Time to think about that later,” she said. She had a way of looking up at a man and parting her lips slightly. She made an enticing picture and knew it. When she saw the look he gave her, she laughed. “I’m bold, aren’t I?” Her grip tightened on his arm, and she demanded softly, “Why is it all right for a man to chase a woman—but not the other way around?”

“Just the way it is, I guess,” said Cody, feeling a bit awkward.

“Not with me.” She looked up at him again, reached up, and stroked his cheek. “When I like a man, I like him, Jim.”

Cody was alarmed and tried to make a joke out of it. “You remember,” he smiled, “I’ve seen you shoot, Leona. I guess if a man got out of line, you’d shoot him.”

Leona reached over and pulled him around till he faced her. “Well,” she whispered, “we won’t know until you try it, will we?”

And without another word, she reached out, put her hands behind his neck, and pulled him down, kissing him firmly. She pressed her body against him, and almost involuntarily his arms went around her, and for a moment the two clung together. Despite her boldness, there was a softness and a freshness about her lips, and yet at the same time he knew that she had her desires even as he had his. Finally, she pulled her head back. An enigmatic smile curved her lips, and her eyes were half-shut. “Wait till we get to New Orleans. I’ll show you the town.”