Chapter Seventeen
"Where have you two been?" Slim asked when they caught up with each other fifteen minutes later.
"We took a little walk while you were looking at the cattle," Cam told him. "Mike has something to show you."
"Look at this! I won a ribbon!" the youngster said excitedly.
"Where did you win that Tiger?" Jess asked.
"He won the corn husking contest," Cam answered for Mike.
"You did? That's great Mike!" Slim exclaimed.
"I husked thirty-two ears of corn," the boy said proudly.
"The second place winner husked thirty-one," Cam told them. "Mike was just a little faster than they were."
"Good for you, Tiger," Jess congratulated his ward. "Aunt Daisy will be proud of you."
"Aunt Daisy will be proud of him for what?" That venerable lady asked as she and Hannah caught up with them.
"Our Mike won the corn husking contest, Daisy," Slim told her.
"He husked thirty-two ears of corn, Mrs. Cooper. The next closest competitor husked thirty-one."
"That's wonderful dear," Daisy praised him.
"Now we have to find something for Slim and Jess to do besides poking fun at Scottish cattle," Cam said.
"No you don't," Slim said. "I know that look in your eye. It usually spells mischief."
"How can you tell Slim?" Jess asked his partner. "Far as I can tell she has that same look on her face all the time."
"She's got that wide eyed innocent look on her face," Slim said. "That always means trouble."
What Slim never realized, for he was usually preoccupied at the time, was that this was the same look Jess would have on his face just before he made some comment that would have his partner chasing after him. Cam hadn't know Jess for very long but some people would think they'd known each other for years - they were so often alike in their thinking.
"When's lunch? I'm hungry," Mike said.
"Lunch is when the chicken is ready and that should be pretty soon" Cam told him with a smile.
"Small boys, and some big boys, are always hungry," Hannah said with a smile and a meaningful look at the three young men.
"Mother!" Gordon was outraged for himself and the others.
Hannah just laughed at him.
"My dear child, if your father hadn't been making such a good living with his practice, we'd have owed the General Store - and half the farmers in Evergreen - a fortune trying to keep you and your brothers fed.
"I sometimes think it's the same with my three," Daisy chuckled. "But we have two milk cows and a flock of chickens and they go hunting now and then so we can have venison as a change from beef and chicken. Plus Slim buys, or trades, for ham and pork."
The group walked along checking the merchandise for sale. There were books, clothing, hats, hand tooled belts and wallets. There were ribbons and yarn and bolts of silk and satin.
Many vendors sold food - a fact not missed by the ever hungry Mike and Jess. The ladies made them wait, afraid they would ruin their appetites for lunch.
"Hey look! They've got stilt walkers this year."
"They make old Hard Rock, here, look short", Jess said as they saw several that were indeed a foot taller than Slim who wasn't exactly short.
"If they make me look short, you must look like a midget," Slim retorted.
"Enough of that," Hannah scolded. "Behave yourselves."
"Yes, Ma," they all chorused.
"And I thought Mike was the child in this group," Cam quipped.
"Oh, no, dear," Daisy told her. "Slim and Jess can be children too."
"Such a bad influence on my pal," Cam giggled.
Mike, meanwhile was studying the stilt walkers.
"How do they do that?" he asked. The Japanese folks who had found him, after his parents' murders, had been entertainers, but none of them were stilt walkers.
"It takes a lot of practice," Cam told him. "Practice, patience and balance. I can do it for short distances. Jamie taught me."
"That one that's dressed like Uncle Sam, looks familiar," Mike told her.
'He does?" Cam grinned. "Who do you think he is?" she asked.
"I think that's your friend, Mr. Morse."
"Why don't you ask him if he is?"
Mike went over to the man who pretended not to notice him at first.
"What's this all about Cam?" Gordon asked.
"We saw Mr. Morse, yesterday, when we were getting ready to leave for home. He told Mike
he'd give him a special prize if he recognized him at the fair." She grinned, "Unless I'm greatly mistaken he's just won his prize."
The youngster came running back to his companions with an enormous grin on his face and a brightly painted toy that would come to be known as a yo-yo in his hand.
"It was Mr. Morse and he says I'm the first one to recognize him and this is my prize!" Mike was so excited that he didn't stop to take a breath until he finished telling them what had happened.
His guardians laughed and ruffled his hair.
"Let's see that," Slim said. 'Hey this is a nice looking bandalore. Do you know how to use it?"
"No, but you can show me can't ya?"
"Sorry, Mike. I never was any good with them."
"Jess?"
"Sorry, Mike. I've never even seen one before."
"Cam?"
"Not me, pal. Bandalores are one of those things I've never mastered."
The boy's face fell.
"There is someone here who can help you." Cam told the disappointed youngster.
Mike's folks hadn't been much for toys and, since they were always working - or on the move - they hadn't had time to teach him about such things even if they had bought one for him.
"There is?" Mike's face lit up. "Who?"
"Gordy," was the reply. "He's always been good with them. He tried to teach me but I never could get the hang of it."
"As I recall, Cameron Blair Ramsay," that gentleman said, "you lost your temper and threw it halfway down the street."
"Yeah, well it drove me crazy - and you wouldn't stop teasing me about how good you were and how bad I was! The idea was to make you chase it."
"Which I did and brought it home, cleaned it up and tried several more times to teach you how to use it."
"Mr. McAllister? Can you teach me how to use this?"
"Sure, Mike," Gordon said. "On one condition. You have to stop calling me Mr. McAllister. "You can call me Mr. Gordon or Mr. Gordy if you want. We're friends and Mr. McAllister is too formal among friends."
"Mr. Gordon sounds like a good compromise," Hannah said. She knew that Slim, Jess and Daisy were teaching the boy to have good manners and probably, though he called Slim and Jess by their first names, wouldn't approve of him calling Gordon by his first name. Slim and Jess were his guardians but they were like big brothers to him."
Gordon took the bandalore from Mike and proceeded to show the boy the basics.
"Once you get good at that I'll show you how to do some easy tricks with it," he promised.
The group continued to walk along toward the barbecue area. They didn't get very far as some of Gordon's friends surrounded them clamoring for the three men to enter the three legged race which was about to start.
"We have guests this week. I don't want them to think I'm deserting them."
"Oh, go on," Slim said laughing. "Go ahead and enter."
"I will if you will," Gordon countered.
"What do you say, Jess? Shall we give them a run for their money?"
Jess looked doubtful. He'd never seen a three-legged race before and had no idea of what was involved. Slim was taking an awful lot for granted.
"Go on," Daisy said. "Have some fun. Enter the race."
Before he could protest - or ask any questions Slim had him by the arm and was pulling him toward the starting line where a large group of men and boys were milling about getting lined up. Slim, caught up in the challenge, eagerly signed himself and Jess up. When he approached his partner with a piece of rope, Jess became very touchy,.
"What's that for?" he asked suspiciously.
"To tie our legs together. What do you think?"
"Tie our legs together?"
"Why else would they call it a three-legged race?" Slim asked him.
"I don't know," Jess told him. "I've never seen one, let alone been in one."
"You're kidding!" Slim was stunned.
"No I ain't kidding. We didn't have time for fun when I was growing up and gunfighters don't usually get invited to things like this unless it's to show off."
"Oh." Slim was a little taken aback but enthusiasm and the challenge from Gordon and his friends spurred him on.
"It's easy Jess. We use this rope to tie your left leg to my right, or you right to my left. Then when the race starts we try to beat the others to the finish line.
"I don't know about that," Jess said uneasily. "You're a lot taller than I am. I don't see how it can work. And I got two left feet besides."
"Where's your sense of adventure?"
"Well, okay, but don't say I didn't warn you."