Mrs. Nuckles made her appearance on the river bank in a short time.

Then the minister shouted:  “We’ll begin by readin’ the nineteenth chapter of Matthew.”

He shouted the chapter and the usual queries, knelt and prayed and pronounced them man and wife.

The young man and woman walked to the cabin and put their horses in its barn, where they found an abundance of hay and oats.  They rapped at the cabin door but got no response.  They lifted its latch and entered.

A table stood in the middle of the room set for two.  On its cover of spotless white linen were plates and cups and saucers and a big platter of roasted prairie chickens and a great frosted cake and preserves and jellies and potato salad and a pie and a bottle of currant wine.  A clock was ticking on the shelf.  There were live embers in the fireplace and wood in the box, and venison hanging in the chimney.

The young soldier looked about him and smiled.

“This is wonderful!” he exclaimed.  “To whom are we indebted?”

“You don’t think I’d bring you out here on the plains and marry you and not treat you well,” Bim laughed.  “I warned you that you’d have to take what came and that the hospitality would be simple.”

“It’s a noble and benevolent conspiracy that has turned this cabin into a Paradise and brought all this happiness upon me,” he said as he kissed her.  “I thought it strange that Mr. Nuckles should be on hand at the right moment.”

“The creek was a harder thing to manage,” she answered with a smile.  “I told my messenger to see that the gate of the reservoir was opened at four o’clock.  So, you see, you had to marry or swim.  Now I’ve made a clean breast of it.  I felt sure something would happen before you got back from Milwaukee.  I was plum superstitious about it.”

The young man shook with laughter and said:  “You are the new woman born of the democracy of the West.”

“I began to fear that I should be an old woman before I got to be Mrs. Needles.”

“Whose house is this?” he asked in a moment.

“It is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lukins.  Their land near Chicago is now used for a cattle yard and slaughter-house and is paying them a good income.  They moved here some time ago.  He looks after the reservoir.  Mrs. Lukins is a famous cook as you will see.  We can stay here as long as we want to.  We shall find everything we need in the well, the chimney, the butt’ry and the cellar.  And here is the wedding supper all ready for us and I as hungry as a bear.”

“In the words of Mrs. Lukins ‘it is very copasetic,’ and I begin to feel that I have made some progress in the study of Bim Kelso.  Come, let’s have our supper.”

“Not until you have broiled a piece of venison.  It will take a lot of food to satisfy me.  I’ll get the cream and butter out of the well and make a pot of coffee.  Hurry up, Harry, I’m starving.”