The two men went into the cabin.An hour later they reappeared,accompanied by the girl.Wilfred was still seated obediently on the rock,but at sight of them he rose with a gay laugh and advanced.
Come over here in the shade,Willock called,as he strode toward a grassy bank that sloped up to a line of three cedar trees of interlocked branches.Come over here and know her.This is our gal.
Lahoma looked at the young man with grave interest,taking note of his garments and movements as she might have examined the skin and actions of some unknown animal.Bill Atkins also watched him,but with suspicious eye,as if anticipating a sudden spring on his ward.
Set down,said Willock,sinking on the grass.The last man up is the biggest fool in Texas!
Lahoma and Wilfred instantly dropped as if shot,at the same time breaking into unexpected laughter that caused Willock's beard to quiver sympathetically.Bill Atkins,sour and unresponsive,stood as stiffly erect as possible,aided no little in this obstinate attitude by the natural unelasticity of age.
The young man exclaimed boyishly,still smiling at the girl,We're friends already,because we've laughed together.
Yes,cried Lahoma,and Brick is in it,too.That's best of all.
I ain't in it,cried Bill Atkins so fiercely that the young man was somewhat discomposed.
Now,Bill,exclaimed the girl reprovingly,you sit right down by my side and do this thing right.She explained to the young man,Bill Atkins has been higher up than Brick,and he knows forms and ceremonies,but he despises to act up to what he knows.Sit right down,Bill,and make the move.There was something so unusual in the attitude of the blooming young girl toward the weather-beaten,forbidding-looking man,something so authoritative and at the same time so protecting,at once the air of a superior who commands and who shelters from the tyranny of others--that Wilfred was both amused and touched.