Rowdy Rides to Glory (1987) (6 page)

In town Rowdy was safely lodged in jail, and the morning sun was making a latticewor
k
of bars on the wall opposite the cell window when he awakened with a start. For a
n
instant he lay still, then it hit him, and his heart went sick. After all his planning
,
he was stuck in jail on the day of the rodeo!

He got up slowly, dressed, and splashed his face in the bucket of cold water tha
t
had been left for him. Gloomily he stared out of the barred window at the crowde
d
streets. Already the hitching rails were lined with horses, and there were many buckboard
s
and spring wagons in town. In another hour the streets would be jammed. It bega
n
to look as if the boosters of Aragon and the annual Stockman's Rodeo would be right:
t
hat between two and three thousand spectators would be on hand for the show.

Yet as he paced the floor cursing his luck and alternately staring out the windo
w
and going to the barred door, hour
s
passed. He heard the band playing, and the confusion that heralded the big parad
e
that opened the rodeo. And then suddenly Sheriff Ben Wells was at the bars.

"Rowdy, if I turn you loose to compete in this show, will you promise not to leav
e
town?" Wells gnawed at his mustache. "I know you, son, and I never figured you'
d
shoot a man in the back, but that story of yours is plumb farfetched. But just no
w
I got a lead that may help. Maybe we jumped to conclusions, so I'm goin' to tur
n
you loose for the duration of the rodeo."

With a whoop of joy, Horn jumped to the opening door. Grabbing the sheriff's hand
,
he tried to thank him, but Wells shook his head.

"Don't thank me. Thank this young lady here." Rowdy turned quickly to face Vaho Rainey.

"You? You got here?"

"You invited me for the dance. Have you forgotten?" She laughed. "When I heard yo
u
were in jail, naturally I had to get you out! A girl can't go to a dance with a ma
n
who's in jail, can she, Sheriff?"

Ben Wells shook his head, his eyes twinkling. "Son," he said seriously, "I don'
t
know where you found her or how you rate it, but you've got a wonderful girl there
,
an' I'd sure latch on to her if I was you."

Vaho reddened, but her eyes were bright. She was still wearing her denims and blu
e
shirt, but she was sparkling this morning. Rowdy took her arm and squeezed it.

"How in the world did you do it?" he exclaimed.

"I'll tell you later. Only it wasn't just what I did. Now we have to get down t
o
the rodeo grounds. Silverside is down there, waiting for you. We've covered him wit
h
a blanket so nobody will know who he is."

Vaho had thought of everything, Rowdy found. Mike McNulty had rousted out the outfi
t
Rowdy had purchased to wear in the rodeo, and in a short time Rowdy had bathed an
d
changed. He came out, immaculate in dove-gray shirt and trousers, with a white ha
t
and a black neckerchief. Black braid outlined his pockets. He wore his guns, bu
t
in new holsters, black and shining. His boots, which he had been breaking in aroun
d
the ranch, felt good.

Vaho's eyes widened. "Why, Rowdy!" she exclaimed. "You're handsome!"

He blushed. "Me?" he choked. And as Mike McNulty and Pete Chamberlain went into roar
s
of laughter, he flushed even deeper.

Hurriedly, he rushed on over to Silverside and stripped the blanket from the horse.

After a brief workout with the animal, he brought him back to the stall they ha
d
procured for him.

"Don't let anybody near him," he warned. "All I'll have to do on that horse is thro
w
the rope! He's so smart he scares me.

With Vaho at his side, Rowdy turned toward the arena. The stands were jammed. Goin
g
through the gate toward th
e
chutes, almost the first person Rowdy saw was Bart Luby. And with him was jenny Welman!

Bart started and scowled. "What are you doin' out?" he demanded.

Jenny's eyes had gone immediately to the girl, taking in Vaho's shabby outdoor clothe
s
with a quick contemptuous smile. "I'm ridin' in the show, Bart," Rowdy drawled. "Recko
n
you'll have me to beat, ropin' and everything."

"Where'd you get a horse?" Luby demanded suspiciously. "I've got one." Rowdy's eye
s
shifted to jenny. Suddenly he was no longer angry or even irritated with her. "Jenny,"
h
e said pleasantly, "I want you to know Vaho Rainey. Miss Rainey, Miss Welman an
d
Bart Luby."

"Oh!" Jenny exclaimed. "You're that Indian girl, aren't you? Or a white girl wh
o
lives down in the wickiups? I've forgotten which. "

"Yes, that's who I am," Vaho said easily, and Rowdy grinned at the quick smile o
n
her lips. It wouldn't be necessary to protect Vaho, he could see. The contempt i
n
jenny's voice had been evident, as was the malice, but Vaho was equal to it. "An
d
it's nice to be here today." Vaho added.

"It must be," Jenny fired back. "I hear it's very dirty down there, and it woul
d
be a relief to get away for a while."

"Any change is a relief," Vaho replied gently. "You should try it sometime, or"-he
r
voice was suddenly level-"would you rather continue to be a girl of the town?"

Before jenny, whose face went white with fury, could reply, Vaho took Rowdy's arm.

"Shall we go, dear?" she said sweetly.

As they strolled away, jenny got her voice back. "Girl of the town!" she cried furiously.

"Why, that no-account Indian!

"Forget it!" Bart said, shrugging. "She just meant you were a city girl."

"I know what she meant!" Jenny flared.

But Luby was not listening. He was staring at his toes, thinking, and his thought
s
were not pleasant. In spite of all his plans, Rowdy Horn would ride in the rode
o
today, and if Wells had released him, it could only be on sufficient evidence t
o
clear him.

Could it have been the testimony of this girl, Vaho, alone? He weighed that thoughtfully.

Doubt arose, for there had been triumph in Rowdy Horn's eyes. Well, no matter. Rowd
y
had no roping horse, and that was one event he could not hope to win. Nor would h
e
win the bronc riding. For all that, however, Luby's mind was not at ease. There wa
s
something wrong, something very wrong, where he was concerned.

As soon as Vaho Rainey and Rowdy reached the chutes, she had excused herself an
d
disappeared. The parade was lining up for the ride around the arena, and McNult
y
led Silverside, saddled, but still under a blanket, up to where Rowdy Horn was waiting.

Beside him was the palomino for Vaho.

The band began to play, and there were excited shouts from the crowd. Silverside'
s
head lifted, and the splendid-appearing horse tossed his head, eyes bright and nostril
s
distended, as old memories of parades and triumph flooded back. Rowdy stepped t
o
his side.

"Yes, this is it, boy! Show them for me, just like you did for Buck!" The big hors
e
bobbed his head, as if in assent. Suddenly, Mike let out an awed exclamation. "Boss!"
h
e whispered hoarsely. "Look!"

Startled by McNulty's voice, Rowdy turned, and his mouth dropped open. Before him
,
resplendent in formfitting forest green and silver, was Vaho Rainey!

Never more beautiful in her life, the tall, dark girl looked proudly into his eyes-proudly
,
yet hesitantly-looking for the evidence that he found her lovely. And it was there.

It was in the eyes of every man who had turned at Mike's astonished exclamation.

Never in all her days had jenny Welman been as lovely as this. Her pale blond beaut
y
was a poor shadow beside this vivid loveliness, dark, flashing, proud.

"Am I all right?" Vaho asked, her eyes bright with fun. "I had the suit made, an
d
saved it. I knew, somehow, you'd ride. And I wanted you to be proud of me!"

"Proud of you?" he shouted. "Honey, I feel like some fair
y
princess had waved a wand over a little woods girl and turned her into somethin
g
better than the Queen of Sheba and Helen of Troy rolled into one! Wait till the crow
d
sees you!"

"Don't you want, just a little," she said gently, "to have Jenny Welman see me?"

Her eyes sparkled as she asked the question primly.

He grinned. "I sure do!" he said.

Mike McNulty jerked the blanket from Silverside, and after helping Vaho into th
e
saddle on the palomino, Rowdy Horn swung up himself.

Sheriff Ben Wells walked up with Dick Weaver, the rodeo boss. Weaver froze in midstride.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Ain't that Silverside?"

At the magical name of the greatest rodeo horse of the Southwest, men wheeled about.

There were shouts, and others came running. They gathered around, staring.

"He's Silverside, all right," Horn said quietly.

Then the band struck up once more, and the parade began to move.

As if by magic that name had flown across the arena, so that by the time the contestant
s
rode into the arena all eyes were turned to find the great horse, so miraculousl
y
back from the dead. And the eyes of the crowd went from the great horse to the rider
,
tall in the saddle, and to the girl in green and silver who rode beside him. Jenn
y
Welman, hearing all the excited talk, turned in her saddle-she was riding besid
e
Luby-and the smile on her face froze. The laughter went out of her. Beside that gir
l
with Rowdy she herself looked shabby and small, and she knew it.

Bart Luby heard the name of Silverside, but would not turn. His heart pounded, an
d
his lips tightened. This rodeo meant more to him than anything in the world, an
d
he was going to win! He was going to win, no matter how!

There was scarcely a person in the crowd but understood what drama and excitemen
t
lay before them. Gossip in a small town flies quickly, and the fact that jenny Welma
n
had returned Rowdy Horn's ring was known to them all, as was the trouble and rivalr
y
between Bart Luby and the young rancher who would ride against him today.

The mysterious girl from the mountains, whom all had heard of but never seen, wa
s
before them now, riding proudly beside Rowdy. And to top it all, Rowdy Horn-out o
f
the running when his horse, Cub, had gone lame-had come in a
t
the last minute, freed from jail, to ride. And he was mounted on the greatest hors
e
of the generation-Silverside!

Rowdy Horn watched carefully as he waited beside the chute. There were some goo
d
hands riding in this show. Still, he knew, the man he had to beat was Bart Luby.

Never before had he appeared before a crowd of this size. He had been riding al
l
his life, and had appeared in various small-town rodeos, and had spent two summer
s
breaking wild broncs for the rough string. For the sheer sport of it and a littl
e
mount money, he had ridden in tryouts when big showmen were testing contest stoc
k
for the big shows. But he was in no sense the professional that Luby was.

Roping was his speciality, and it was part of his day's work, and had been for
a
long time, but he had never competed in such a show as this, even if it did not ran
k
anywhere near tops in size.