.

ANDY GREEN'S NEW ACQUAINTANCE.
Andy Green, chief prevaricator of the Happy Family of the Flying U--and not ashamed of either title or connection--pushed his new Stetson back off his untanned forehead, attempted to negotiate the narrow passage into a Pullman sleeper with his suitcase swinging from his right hand, and butted into a woman who was just emerging from the dressing-room.

He butted into her so emphatically that he was compelled to swing his left arm out very quickly, or see her go headlong into the window opposite; for a fullsized suitcase propelled forward by a muscular young man may prove a very efficient instrument of disaster, especially if it catches one just in the hollow back of the knee.

The woman tottered and grasped Andy convulsively to save herself a fall, and so they stood blocking the passage until the porter arrived and took the suitcase from Andy with a tip-inviting deference.
Andy apologized profusely, with a quaint, cowpunchery phrasing that caused the woman to take a second look at him.

And, since Andy Green would look good to any woman capable of recognizing--and appreciating--a real man when she saw him, she smiled and said it didn't matter in the least.
That was the beginning of the acquaintance.