It turned out he seemed to take her little attempt at humor seriously?
"Now, why'd anyone do that?" he asked, "Ain't like no one's comin' down here. Too far off th' road, an' all them brambles."
"Justus..." she was about to enlighten him but he wasn't done as both of them now sloshed out of the water.
"Ya really think this'd make a good swimmin' hole?" Justus looked back at the water, then to Constance. "Not like it's big enough fer much swimmin', an' later in th' year, I reckon it's mostly dried out."
"No, no I do not. That was an attempted joke on my part, guess it fell flat," she sighed.
"Though I simply cannot believe there is no good place for folks to take a swim in a beautiful territory such as this," she added. The water made her layered clothing feel like it weighed a ton.
"So, how 'bout we find a place ta have that nice picnic?"he now asked. So he still wanted this picnic?
Truth was she did too, for one thing she was hungry. However...
"I am not gonna sit like this and picnic. Alright you're a cowboy, I take it you can make a fire? Because we need to dry these clothes out, a fire will have to do the job. Then while they're drying, we can eat some. And you can tell me all about yourself, your childhood, how you became a cowpoke, what are your dreams for the future. I'm anticipating it will be some tale," she declared.
Pretty much completely soaked through, Justus looked up at the young woman and frowned. "Now, why'd anyone do that?" he asked, taking her seriously. "Ain't like no one's comin' down here. Too far off th' road, an' all them brambles."
Sighing, he shook his head and struggled to his feet, then slogged out of the creek. "Ya really think this'd make a good swimmin' hole?" Skeptical, he looked back at the water, then to Constance. "Not like it's big enough fer much swimmin', an' later in th' year, I reckon it's mostly dried out."
It occurred to him that this may have ruined their picnic, depending on Constance. She might want to go home and get cleaned up. As for himself, as long as he was with her, he didn't care how wet he was, and besides, it wouldn't effect the food at all!
"So, how 'bout we find a place ta have that nice picnic?" This wasn't a nice place!
Flo and her sister Pat had, at one point in their lives, had to take care of their invalid Grandfather, and the girl was more than capable of getting a man undressed and into his nightshirt. She overtly averted her gaze, of course, when his 'kidney prodder' was exposed, but her peripheral vision told her that the man, who must have only actually been in his early 50s, was not wanting in the wedding night department.
Yes, take away the stove-pipe hat and the spectacles, ignore the hair, white with worry (or an-ill spent youth) and Mr Priest was not as decrepit as one first assumed. The next thing that happened proved his virility was still, if not rampant, then a force in his life.
It had been so long. Yes, so long since he'd been prone in front of a young woman --- and such a young woman. Her commanding manner caused a strange feeling of surrender in the Mr. Priest Esq. He enjoyed the feeling it gave him and it ultimately led to a rush of blood to "parts south", as he liked to refer to his "Excalibur."
Flo stooped down to pick up the fallen Bible and noticed that a photograph had fallen out. Once she had goggled at it for a second or two, mouth gaping, she recovered her wits enough to bounce to the bed and sit beside him, showing him her find.
"Oh, Mister Priest, what a devout bookmark you have... it is a portrait of Pharoah's Daughter, is it not, bathing in the Nile just before finding Moses in the Bullrushes?" She had never seen such a portrait before in her life, but she flattered herself that her own derriere was as plump and shapely as the model in the carte de visite image.
"Oh THAT!" he answered her, bemusedly. "It's a good bookmark, that one. I picked up that one in a seedy shop in New York City, a few years ago. I consider it artwork, my dear."
She has seen a secret of his, and he began to throb.
"Please. Let us get the nightshirt on," he suggested.
Constance was looking down into the water and where the baby's leg was caught in the wet rocks. she didn't actually concentrate on Justus, just tensely awaited his signal.
"THREE!"
And they both then heaved to move that rock, as hard as they could. It moved, the moose foot swung out! Yes! Justus shouldered the creature to allow it to leave the unfamiliar rocks for solid ground and it raced away. Success! As the baby raced toward mama, Constance's estactic joy was interrupted when Justus fell backward also and splashed full into the cold river water.
In a heartbeat, he sat up, shaking water from his eyes, looking around frantically. "Constance!"
"I'm right here, you get water in your eyes in your little bath?" she grinned.
"What I don't understand is why they don't build some steps along this bank to better enable folk to get in and out,"she stated as if she was dead serious about that.
"I don't doubt that for a moment, Elias. You would be at the top of the list, and it is long." Bradley said, with a touch of a smile. "What is perplexing to me is that there is no land office in town that would handle such transactions. Dealing with a banker can be throwing away money for his commission on the property."
"Agreed, Elias, and swindler or not, he knows you, so perhaps with a letter from you requesting a list of lots, or, maybe there is only a map showing vacant sections, plots, or parcels, or which would be better, infinitely better for what we have in mind, buying up as nedmuch land as possible," Carson explained. "I seriously doubt that any land to the four points of the compass has been mapped. A simple check at the clerks office should reveal what is owned and what is not. Also, what is mapped out in any of the areas I have mentioned. A note authorizing me to act on your behalf would allow me to see such maps as are available."
"I will do that, and maybe we can shut down anyone from getting in ahead of us." Elias said. "\To the south of town is where I believe the well to do will want to live, though to the north? Fine country all around us."
Next on the list was Addy Chappel. Being a one-room school, every child knew every other child, so when he saw Weedy in the front of the Chappel's cottage, he grinned and picked up his pace a little faster.
"Hey, Weedy! Yer Maw to home?" He called out, "Got a message for her about the Founders Day thing, she's wanted up there to the newspaper office for a meetin' about it."
He caught up to where Weedy was, "Guess there's news about it. Did'ja know Marshal Guyert wired the Chinese in San Francisco about fireworks? Real sky rockets an' all sorts'a stuff like that. Gonna be a big deal fer sure!"
"Yes, of course, my apologies." Speed offered. "But when you have time, stop by the office, lest you're riding out after you do what's necessary." The man interested him; he saw something that just might benefit Kalispell. Be it a deputy in town or maybe the County Sheriff. There was a strong sense of justice in what the man believed, and the least he could do was talk with this fellow and offer it to him.
If the man took the job with him, then it would be night work, which, before Mister Boyd's nocturnal forays, had been a quiet job for the most part. He would have to wait and see if Shintaro Takahashi was even considering settling there or not, but to ask would do no harm.
"Passionate isn't exactly what I would call it but it does serve a purpose. It will stop Ben from pursuing Miss Bowen...at least for now."
Arabella just shook her head. "Well, don't let him find out you're trying to stop 'em sparkin'!" she advised. "That'll make him crave the forbidden fruit even more!"
And after her on stage antics as Mother Eve, Arabella should know all about forbidden fruit!
Looking at the watch she carried in her skirt pocket, she took a deep breath and spoke in a loud voice, "Everybody, back to work. I want everyone involved in the cave scene to take their places."
Arabella sighed and went off to stand in the wings, singing Come, Where My Love Lies Dreaming to herself in her trilling soprano voice .
As he was leaving the house Shintaro spotted the Marshal as he wrapped up dispersing the crowd. He paused when the Marshal spotted him and came his way.
"You are most kind to offer," Shintaro responds with a slight blow. "But now isn't the best time. With my wife's murder avenged, there are things I need to tend to ensure her spirit can rest."
"The hard part might be getting the chance to interview the elusive Mister Steelgrave." Phin said, "Going out to the Everegreen might not be the healthiest tack to take. But then catching him in town is nigh onto impossible, he's here so seldom."
"I don't think he would do anything to harm you. He would know that we here in town would know that you had gone out there. Besides, you want an interview with him, and he likes to be the center of attention, and an interview in the paper would go to a lot of people." Leah told him, "And, it is an opportunity for him to make himself look good to all of your readers. What do you think, Mason? I mean, I believe that it would be safe enough."
