The rancher and the mail-order bride

During the days of the American Frontier there was a successful rancher out west who had grown wealthy through a lot of hard work and some shrewd business dealings. He was known as a hard man with few weaknesses and, being such, he had little patience for weakness in others. He was getting past middle age and had accomplished all of the goals that he had set for himself, so he decided to find a woman with whom he could share the fruits of his labor and who could be a companion to him in his twilight years. But being the rugged frontier, the only unattached women were soiled doves of ill repute. It was unacceptable for a man of his social standing to marry a whore, so he did what men of his day did in his situation - he wrote back east for a mail order bride. After months of correspondence with several different women he finally settled on one that suited him. He sent her a marriage proposal and she sent back her acceptance. They set a date and she boarded a train. He met her at the train station upon her arrival where they introduced themselves and exchanged pleasantries. Having become briefly acquainted, they walked across to the Justice of the Peace and were quickly married while the porter loaded the woman's luggage into the rancher's wagon. The newlyweds then left town and headed to the ranch on a particularly hot day in June. A few miles outside of town, the horse pulling the wagon swayed a bit and then stumbled. The rancher pulled up on the reigns, hopped down from the wagon, walked in front of the horse, and stared hard into its eyes for a moment before raising a solitary finger and saying in a firm tone "THAT'S ONCE." He got back into the wagon and headed off again. They had gone only a mile further when the horse swayed and stumbled again. Once again the old rancher jumped down from the wagon, approached the horse, and stared hard into its eyes before raising two fingers and admonishing the horse "THAT'S TWICE." He climbed back into the wagon, snapped the reigns and headed off towards the ranch. The horse did well for the next three or four miles but then fatigue and the unrelenting heat got the better of him and he swayed yet again, stumbled mightily, almost fell, and nearly caused the wagon to tip over. The rancher, noticeably agitated now, said through gritted teeth "DAMMIT, THAT'S THREE TIMES!" He reached under the seat of the wagon, pulled out a shotgun, walked up to the horse, put the barrel up to its head and pulled the trigger, dropping the animal stone dead on the ground. The woman was aghast at witnessing such a thing and exclaimed "WHY did you do THAT?!" The rancher said "Honey, that horse weren't no good, but don't you worry your pretty little head none, it's not even five miles to the ranch from here, we can just walk the rest of the way and I can carry most of the luggage." His new bride was unsatisfied with this answer and began to loudly voice her displeasure - "Five Miles! In this heat!?! I'm wearing a brand new dress! How could you be so inconsiderate?! She went on and on. The rancher stood there and listened to her until she had finished browbeating him. Then he stared hard into her eyes for a moment before raising a solitary finger...