The Company of the Noble Seven was the dominant social force in the Swan
Creek country. Indeed, it was the only social force Swan Creek knew.
Originally consisting of seven young fellows of the best blood of
Britain, "banded together for purposes of mutual improvement and social
enjoyment," it had changed its character during the years, but not
its name. First, its membership was extended to include "approved
colonials," such as Jack Dale and "others of kindred spirit," under
which head, I suppose, the two cowboys from the Ashley Ranch, Hi Keadal
and "Bronco" Bill--no one knew and no one asked his other name--were
admitted. Then its purposes gradually limited themselves to those of a
social nature, chiefly in the line of poker-playing and whisky-drinking.
Well born and delicately bred in that atmosphere of culture mingled with
a sturdy common sense and a certain high chivalry which surrounds the
stately homes of Britain, these young lads, freed from the restraints
of custom and surrounding, soon shed all that was superficial in their
make-up and stood forth in the naked simplicity of their native manhood.
The West discovered and revealed the man in them, sometimes to their
honor, often to their shame. The Chief of the Company was the Hon. Fred
Ashley, of the Ashley Ranch, sometime of Ashley Court, England--a big,
good-natured man with a magnificent physique, a good income from home,
and a beautiful wife, the Lady Charlotte, daughter of a noble English
family.
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