English short stories | “Jimmy Hayes and Muriel” by O. Henry | Learn English through story

Jimmy Hayes and Muriel by O Henry 1 supper was over and there had fallen upon the camp the silence that accompanies the rolling of corn husk cigarettes The Water Hole Shone from the dark earth like a patch of Fallen Sky kyotes yelped dull thumps indicated the rocking horse movements of the hobbled Ponies as they moved to Fresh grass a halft troop of the frontier Battalion of Texas Rangers were distributed about the fire a well-known sound the fluttering and scraping of chaparal against wooden stirrups came from the thick brush above the camp the Rangers listened cautiously they heard a loud and cheerful voice call out reassuringly brace up Muriel old girl we're most there now been a long ride for ye ain't it Ye Old anti deluvian handful of animated carpet tack hey now quit a trying to kiss me don't hold on to my neck so tight this here paint hos ain't any too shooted let me tell you he's liable to dump us both off if we don't watch out 2 minutes of waiting brought a tired paint pony single footing into Camp a gangling youth of 20 l in the saddle of the murial whom he had been addressing nothing was to be seen hi fellows shouted the rider cheerfully this here's a letter Fair Lieutenant Manning he dismounted unsaddled dropped the coils of his Stak rope and got his hobbles from the saddle horn while Lieutenant Manning in command was reading the letter the newcomer rubbed solicitously at some dried mud in the loops of the hobbles showing a consideration for the four legs of his Mount boys said the lieutenant waving his hand to the Rangers this is Mr James Hayes he's a new member of the company Captain McAn sends him down from El Paso the boys will see that you have some supper Hayes as soon as you get your Pony hobbled the recruit was received cordially by the Rangers still they observed him shrewdly and with suspended judgment picking a comrade on the border is done with 10 times the care and discretion with which a girl chooses a sweetheart on your sidekicker nerve loyalty aim and coolness your own life may depend many times after a hearty supper Haze join the smoke about the fire his appearance did not settle all the questions in the minds of his brother Rangers they saw simply a loose lank youth with toe colored sunburned hair and a berry Brown ingenuous face that wore a quizzical good-natured smile fellows said the new ranger I'm going to introduce to you a lady friend of mine ain't never heard anybody call her a beauty but you'll all admit she's got some fine points about her come along Muriel he held open the front of his blue flannel shirt out of it crawled a horned frog a bright red ribbon was tied jauntily around its spiky neck it crawled to its owner's knee and sat there motionless this here Muriel said Hayes with an oratorical wave of his hand has got qualities she never talks back she always stays at home and she's satisfied with one red dress for every day and Sunday to look at that blame insect said one of the Rangers with a grin I've seen plenty of them horny frogs but I never knew anybody to have one for a side partner does the blame thing know you from anybody else take it over there and see said Hayes the Stumpy little lizard known as the horned frog is harmless he has the hideousness of the prehistoric monsters whose reduced descendant he is but he is gentler than the dove the ranger took Muriel from Hay's knee and went back to his seat on a roll of blankets the captive twisted and clawed and struggled vigorously in his hand after holding it for a moment or two the ranger set it upon the ground awkwardly but swiftly the Frog worked its four oddly moving legs until it stopped close by haz's foot well dang my hide said the other Ranger the little cuss knows you never thought them insects had that much sense two Jimmy Hayes became a favorite in the Ranger camp he had an endless store of good nature and a mild perennial quality of humor that is well adapted to Camp life he was never without his horn frog in the bosom of his shirt during rides on H his knee or shoulder in Camp under his blankets at night the ugly little beast never left him Jimmy was a humorist of a type that prevails in the rural South and West unskilled in originating methods of amusing or in witty conceptions he had Hit Upon A comical idea and clung to it reverently it had seemed to Jimmy a very funny thing to have about his person with which to amuse his friends a tame horned frog with a red ribbon around its neck as it was a happy idea why not perpetuate it the sentiments existing between Jimmy and the Frog cannot be exactly determined the capability of the horned frog for lasting affection is a subject upon which we have had no symposiums it is easier to guess Jimmy's feelings Muriel was his Chef wit and as such he cherished her he caught flies for her and shielded her from Sudden northers yet his care was half selfish and when the time came she repaid him a thousandfold other murials have thus overbalanced the light attentions of other jimmies not at once did Jimmy Hayes attain full Brotherhood with his comrades they loved him for his Simplicity and drollness but there hung above him a great sword of suspended judgment to make marry in Camp is not all of a Ranger's life there are horse thieves to Trail desperate criminals to run down braavos to battle with Bandits to Route out of the chaparal peace and order to be compelled at the muzzle of a six shooter Jimmy had been most generally a cow puncher he said he was inexperienced in Ranger methods of warfare therefore the Rangers speculated apart and solemnly as to how he would stand fire for let it be known the honor and pride of each Ranger company is the individual bravery of its members for two months the Border was quiet the Rangers LED listless in Camp and then bringing Joy to the rusting Guardians of the frontier Sebastiano salar an eminent Mexican Desperado and cattle Thief crossed the Rio Grande with his gang and began to lay waste the Texas side there were indications that Jimmy Hayes would soon have the opportunity to show his medal the Rangers patrolled with alacrity but solder's men were mounted like linar and were hard to catch one evening about Sundown the Rangers halted for supper after a long ride their horses stood panting with their saddles on the men were frying bacon and boiling coffee suddenly out of the brush Sebastiano salar and his gang dashed upon them with blazing six shooters and high-voiced yells it was a neat surprise the Rangers swore in annoyed tones and got their Winchesters busy but the attack was only a spectacular dash of the purest Mexican type after the florid demonstration the Raiders galloped away yelling down the river the Rangers mounted and pursued but in less than two miles the ponies labored so that Lieutenant Manning gave the word to abandon the Chase and return to the camp then it was discovered that Jimmy Hayes was missing someone remembered having seen him run for his Pony when the attack began but no one had set eyes on him since morning came but no Jimmy they searched the country around on the theory that he had been killed or wounded but without success then they followed after solder's gang but it seemed to have disappeared Manning concluded that the Wy Mexican had recrossed the river after his theatric farewell and indeed no further depredations eam him were reported this gave the Rangers time to nurse a soreness they had as has been said the pride and honor of the company is the individual bravery of its members and now they believe that Jimmy Hayes had turned coward at the whiz of Mexican bullets there was no other deduction Buck Davis pointed out that not a shot was fired by solders gang After Jimmy was seen running for his horse there was no way for him to have been shot no he had fled from his first fight and afterward he would not return aware that the scorn of his comrades would be a worse thing to face than the muzzles of many rifles so Manning's Detachment of McLean's company Frontier Battalion was gloomy it was the first blot on its escuin never before in the history of the service had a ranger shown the white feather all of them had like Jimmy Hayes and that made it worse days weeks and months went by and still that little cloud of unforgotten cowardice hung above the camp three nearly a year afterward after many camping grounds and many hundreds of miles guarded and defended Lieutenant Manning with almost the same Detachment of men was sent to a point only a few miles below their Old Camp on the river to look after some smuggling there one afternoon while they were riding through a dense mosquet flat They Came Upon a patch of open hog wallow Prairie there they rode upon the scene of an Unwritten tragedy in a big hog wallow lay the skeletons of three Mexicans their clothing alone served to identify them the largest of the figures had once been Sebastiano salar his great costly Sombrero heavy with gold ornamentation a hat famous all along the Rio Grande lay there pierced by three bullets along the ridge of the hog wallow rested the rusting Winchesters of the Mexicans all pointing in the same direction the Rangers rode in that direction for 50 yards there in a little depression of the ground with his rifle still bearing upon the three lay another skeleton it had been a battle of extermination there was nothing to identify the solitary Defender his clothing such as the elements had left disting isable seemed to be of the kind that any ranchman or cowboy might have worn some cow puncher said Manning that they caught out alone good boy he put up a Dandy scrap before they got him so that's why we didn't hear from Don Sebastiano anymore and then from beneath the weather-beaten rags of the dead man there wriggled out a horned frog with a faded red ribbon around its neck and sat upon the shoulder of its long quiet Master mutely it told the story of the UNT Youth and the Swift paint pony how they had outstripped all their comrades that day in the pursuit of the Mexican Raiders and how the boy had gone down upholding the honor of the company the ranger troop heard it close and a simultaneous wild yell arose from their lips the Outburst was at once a durge an apology an Epitaph and a peon of Triumph a strange requium you may say over the body of a fallen comrade but if Jimmy Hayes could have heard heard it he would have understood