Thunder sat imminent upon the missionary's brow. Many were to be at his mercy soon.
But for us he had sunshine still. "I am truly sorry to be turning you upside down," he said
importantly. "But it seems the best place for my service." He spoke of the tables pushed
back and the chairs gathered in the hall, where the storm would presently break upon the
congregation. "Eight-thirty? he inquired.
This was the hour appointed, and it was only twenty minutes off. We threw the unsmoked
fractions of our cigars away, and returned to offer our services to the ladies. This amused
the ladies. They had done without us. All was ready in the hall.
"We got the cook to help us," Mrs. Ogden told me, "so as not to disturb your cigars. In
spite of the cow-boys, I still recognize my own country."
"In the cook?" I rather densely asked.
"Oh, no! I don't have a Chinaman. It's in the length of after-dinner cigars."
"Had you been smoking," I returned, "you would have found them short this evening."
"You make it worse," said the lady; "we have had nothing but Dr. Mac Bride."
"We'll share him with you now," I exclaimed.
"Has he announced his text? I've got one for him," said Molly Wood, joining us. She
stood on tiptoe and spoke it comically in our ears. "'I said in my haste, All men are liars.'"
This made us merry as we stood among the chairs in the congested hall.
I left the ladies, and sought the bunk house. I had heard the cheers, but I was curious also
to see the men, and how they were taking it. There was but little for the eye. There was
much noise in the room. They were getting ready to come to church,--brushing their hair,
shaving, and making themselves clean, amid talk occasionally profane and continuously
diverting.
"Well, I'm a Christian, anyway," one declared.
"I'm a Mormon, I guess," said another.
"I belong to the Knights of Pythias," said a third.
"I'm a Mohammedist," said a fourth; "I hope I ain't goin' to hear nothin' to shock me."
