“Gentlemen, please do not get obstreperous.  You shall have all the dancing you want.  Ladies, please be patient; the music that is to follow is such as has never been heard at a dance in this part of the country.  Mr. Clay Whipple, of the Moon Valley Ranch, and Mr. Billy Sudden, of the Dumb-bell Ranch, will play the violin and piano respectively.  Both of them are cow-punchers, so don’t take any liberties with them, or some one will get hurt.”

There was such cheering that the roof almost went off as Clay hunted up a violin and tuned it.

Then began a waltz such as they had never heard, and in a moment the floor was covered with dancers, the officers in their uniforms, and the ladies in their light dresses, adding beauty to the scene.  But the finest-looking couple on the floor was Stella and the leader of the broncho boys.

Just before the dance began Bud approached Stella, and said: 

“See that gal over thar?  Ther one with ther corn-silk bang?  She is mine, an’ I’m goin’ ter dance this with her; see?  She’s ther kind o’ girl I admire.  She’s shore corn-fed, an’ some woman.”

“Don’t you know who that is?” asked Stella.

“‘Deed an’ I don’t, but I soon will.  Who is she?”

“That’s Sophy Cozak, from over on the Bohemian prairie.  She’s rich, Bud.”

“I don’t care nothin’ erbout thet.  She’s shaped up jest erbout right.  Yaller hair, and soft as feathers.  Watch my smoke.”

Bud sauntered over to the girl, who was really pretty and fat and pink.  Apparently he was talking his usual nonsense to her, for she smiled, then arose from her chair, and went sailing around the room, Bud’s partner in the waltz, and every time they passed Ted and Stella in the waltz Bud winked at them.

Later, however, he met the irate escort of the girl, when he took her back to her seat, and they glared at one another for a moment; then the escort walked off, leaving Bud master of the situation.

After this came the “sour-dough” quadrille, in which only old-timers were permitted to dance, and Bud led it with Mrs.  “Cow” Suggs to the tune of “Turkey in the Straw.”

But finally, as the ball was drawing to a close, Ted heard Stella utter a slight scream, and saw her trying to draw her hand away from a young fellow, whose back was turned to him.

He was across the room in an instant, and had the fellow by the shoulders and swung him around.  It was Wiley Creviss, who had been drinking.

“What has this cur been doing?” asked Ted.

“He insisted on dancing with me, and when I told him I would not, he said he’d make me,” answered Stella.  “Then he caught hold of me, and I suppose I cried out, although I didn’t mean to.  That is what comes of wearing these clothes.  If I’d had on my others, I’d have had my gun with me.”

Ted had heard enough.  There was a window close by, which was about ten feet above the sidewalk.  Ted rushed the struggling and cursing Creviss toward it, and by sheer strength lifted him to the sill and threw him out.