Desert Gold
by
Zane Grey
Part 2 out of 7
through the dark, winding lanes walled by thorns. Mercedes horse
often balked and had to be coaxed and carefully guided. Dick
concluded that Ladd was making a wide detour. The position of
certain stars grown familiar during the march veered round from
one side to another. Dick saw that the travel was fast, but by
no means noiseless. The pack animals at times crashed and ripped
through the narrow places. It seemed to Gale that any one within
a mile could have heard these sounds. From the tops of knolls or
ridges he looked back, trying to locate the mesas where the light
had danced and the dog had barked alarm. He could not distinguish
these two rocky eminences from among many rising in the background.
Presently Ladd let out into a wider lane that appeared to run
straight. The cowboy mounted his horse, and this fact convinced
Gale that they had circled back to the road. The march proceeded
then once more at a good, steady, silent walk. When Dick consulted
his watch he was amazed to see that the hour was till early. How
much had happened in little time! He now began to be aware that
the night was growing colder; and, strange to him, he felt something
damp that in a country he knew he would have recognized as dew.
He had not been aware there was dew on the desert. The wind blew
stronger, the stars shone whiter, the sky grew darker, and the moon
climbed toward the zenith. The road stretched level for miles, then
crossed arroyos and ridges, wound between mounds of broken
ruined rock, found a level again, and then began a long ascent.
Dick asked Mercedes if she was cold, and she answered that she
was, speaking especially of her feet, which were growing numb.
Then she asked to be helped down to walk awhile. At first she was
cold and lame, and accepted the helping hand Dick proffered. After
a little, however, she recovered and went on without assistance.
Dick could scarcely believe his eyes, as from time to time he stole
a sidelong glance at this silent girl, who walked with lithe and
rapid stride. She was wrapped in his long coat, yet it did not hide
her slender grace. He could not see her face, which was concealed
by the black mantle.
A low-spoken word from Ladd recalled Gale to the question of
surroundings and of possible dangers. Ladd had halted a few yards
ahead. They had reached the summit of what was evidently a high
ridge which sloped with much greater steepness on the far side.
It was only after a few more forward steps, however, that Dick
could see down the slope. Then full in view flashed a bright
campfire around which clustered a group of dark figures. They
were encamped in a wide arroyo, where horses could be seen grazing
in black patches of grass between clusters of trees. A second look
at the campers told Gale they were Mexicans. At this moment Lash
came forward to join Ladd, and the two spend a long, uninterrupted
moment studying the arroyo. A hoarse laugh, faint yet distinct,
floated up on the cool wind.
"Well, Laddy, what're you makin' of that outfit?" inquired Lash,
speaking softly.
"Same as any of them raider outfits," replied Ladd. "They're
across the line for beef. But they'll run off any good stock. As
hoss thieves these rebels have got 'em all beat. That outfit is
waitin' till it's late. There's a ranch up the arroyo."
Gale heard the first speaker curse under his breath.
"Sure, I feel the same," said Ladd. "But we've got a girl an'
the young man to look after, not to mention our pack outfit.
An' we're huntin' for a job, not a fight, old hoss. Keep on your chaps!"
"Nothin' to it but head south for the Rio Forlorn."
"You're talkin' sense now, Jim. I wish we'd headed that way long
ago. But it ain't strange I'd want to travel away from the border,
thinkin' of the girl. Jim, we can't go round this Greaser outfit
an' strike the road again. Too rough. So we'll have to give up
gettin' to San Felipe."
"Perhaps it's just as well, Laddy. Rio Forlorn is on the border
line, but it's country where these rebels ain't been yet."
"Wait till they learn of the oasis an' Beldin's hosses!" exclaimed
Laddy. "I'm not anticipatin' peace anywhere along the border,
Jim. but we can't go ahead; we can't go back."
"What'll we do, Laddy" It's a hike to Beldin's ranch. An' if we
get there in daylight some Greaser will see the girl before Beldin'
can hide her. It'll get talked about. The news'll travel to Casita
like sage balls before the wind."
"Shore we won't ride into Rio Forlorn in the daytime. Let's slip
the packs, Jim. We can hid them off in the cactus an' come back
after them. With the young man ridin' we--"
The whispering was interrupted by a loud ringing neigh that whistled
up from the arroyo. One of the horses had scented the travelers
on the ridge top. The indifference of the Mexicans changed to
attention.
Ladd and Lash turned back and led the horses into the first opening
on the south side of the road. There was nothing more said at the
moment, and manifestly the cowboys were in a hurry. Gale had to
run in the open places to keep up. When they did stop it was
welcome to Gale, for he had begun to fall behind.
The packs were slipped, securely tied and hidden in a mesquite
clump. Ladd strapped a blanket around one of the horses. His
next move was to take off his chaps.
"Gale, you're wearin' boots, an' by liftin' your feet you can beat
the cactus," he whispered. "But the--the--Miss Castaneda,
she'll be torn all to pieces unless she puts these on. Please
tell her--an' hurry."
Dick took the caps, and, going up to Mercedes, he explained the
situation. She laughed, evidently at his embarrassed earnestness,
and slipped out of the saddle.
"Senor, chapparejos and I are not strangers," she said.
Deftly and promptly she equipped herself, and then Gale helped
her into the saddle, called to her horse, and started off. Lash
directed Gale to mount the other saddled horse and go next.
Dick had not ridden a hundred yards behind the trotting leaders
before he had sundry painful encounters with reaching cactus arms.
The horse missed these by a narrow margin. Dick's knees appeared
to be in line, and it be came necessary for him to lift them high and
let his boots take the onslaught of the spikes. He was at home
in the saddle, and the accomplishment was about the only one he
possessed that had been of any advantage during his sojourn in the West.
Ladd pursued a zigzag course southward across the desert, trotting
down the aisles, cantering in wide, bare patches, walking through
the clumps of cacti. The desert seemed all of a sameness to
Dick--a wilderness of rocks and jagged growths hemmed in by
lowering ranges, always looking close, yet never growing any nearer.
The moon slanted back toward the west, losing its white radiance,
and the gloom of the earlier evening began to creep into the washes
and to darken under the mesas. By and by Ladd entered an arroyo,
and here the travelers turned and twisted with the meanderings
of a dry stream bed. At the head of a canyon they had to take
once more to the rougher ground. Always it led down, always it
grew rougher, more rolling, with wider bare spaces, always the
black ranges loomed close.
Gale became chilled to the bone, and his clothes were damp and cold.
His knees smarted from the wounds of the poisoned thorns, and his
right hand was either swollen stiff or too numb to move. Moreover,
he was tiring. The excitement, the long walk, the miles on miles
of jolting trot--these had wearied him. Mercedes must be made of
steel, he thought, to stand all that she had been subjected to and
yet, when the stars were paling and dawn perhaps not far away,
stay in the saddle.
So Dick Gale rode on, drowsier for each mile, and more and more
giving the horse a choice of ground. Sometimes a prod from a
murderous spine roused Dick. A grayness had blotted out the waning
moon in the west and the clear, dark, starry sky overhead. Once
when Gale, thinking to fight his weariness, raised his head, he saw
that one of the horses in the lead was riderless. Ladd was carrying
Mercedes. Dick marveled that her collapse had not come sooner.
Another time, rousing himself again, he imagined they were now
on a good hard road.
It seemed that hours passed, though he knew only little time had
elapsed, when once more he threw off the spell of weariness. He
heard a dog bark. Tall trees lined the open lane down which he
was riding. Presently in the gray gloom he saw low, square houses
with flat roofs. Ladd turned off to the left down another lane,
gloomy between trees. Every few rods there was one of the squat
houses. This lane opened into wider, lighter space. The cold air
bore a sweet perfume--whether of flowers or fruit Dick could not
tell. Ladd rode on for perhaps a quarter of a mile, though it seemed
interminably long to Dick. A grove of trees loomed dark in the
gray morning. Ladd entered it and was lost in the shade. Dick
rode on among trees. Presently he heard voices, and soon another
house, low and flat like the others, but so long he could not see
the farther end, stood up blacker than the trees. As he dismounted,
cramped and sore, he could scarcely stand. Lash came alongside.
He spoke, and some one with a big, hearty voice replied to him.
Then it seemed to Dick that he was led into blackness like pitch,
where, presently, he felt blankets thrown on him and then his
drowsy faculties faded.
IV
FORLORN RIVER
WHEN Dick opened his eyes a flood of golden sunshine streamed in
at the open window under which he lay. His first thought was one
of blank wonder as to where in the world he happened to be. The
room was large, square, adobe-walled. It was littered with saddles,
harness, blankets. Upon the floor was a bed spread out upon a
tarpaulin. Probably this was where some one had slept. The sight
of huge dusty spurs, a gun belt with sheath and gun, and a pair
of leather chaps bristling with broken cactus thorns recalled to
Dick the cowboys, the ride, Mercedes, and the whole strange adventure
that had brought him there.
He did not recollect having removed his boots; indeed, upon second
thought, he knew he had not done so. But there they stood upon
the floor. Ladd and Lash must have taken them off when he was so
exhausted and sleepy that he could not tell what was happening.
He felt a dead weight of complete lassitude, and he did not want to
move. A sudden pain in his hand caused him to hold it up. It was
black and blue, swollen to almost twice its normal size, and stiff
as a board. The knuckles were skinned and crusted with dry blood.
Dick soliloquized that it was the worst-looking hand he had seen
since football days, and that it would inconvenience him for some
time.
A warm, dry, fragrant breeze came through the window. Dick caught
again the sweet smell of flowers or fruit. He heard the fluttering
of leaves, the murmur of running water, the twittering of birds,
then the sound of approaching footsteps and voices. The door at
the far end of the room was open. Through it he saw poles of peeled
wood upholding a porch roof, a bench, rose bushes in bloom, grass,
and beyond these bright-green foliage of trees.
"He shore was sleepin' when I looked in an hour ago," said a voice
that Dick recognized as Ladd's.
"Let him sleep," came the reply in deep, good-natured tones. "Mrs.
B. says the girl's never moved. Must have been a tough ride for
them both. Forty miles through cactus!"
"Young Gale hoofed darn near half the way," replied Ladd. "We
tried to make him ride one of our hosses. If we had, we'd never
got here. A walk like that'd killed me an' Jim."
"Well, Laddy, I'm right down glad to see you boys, and I'll do all
I can for the young couple," said the other. "But I'm doing some
worry here; don't mistake me."
"About your stock?"
"I've got only a few head of cattle at the oasis now, I'm worrying
some, mostly about my horses. The U. S. is doing some worrying,
too, don't mistake me. The rebels have worked west and north as
far as Casita. There are no cavalrymen along the line beyond
Casita, and there can't be. It's practically waterless desert. But
these rebels are desert men. They could cross the line beyond the
Rio Forlorn and smuggle arms into Mexico. Of course, my job is to
keep tab on Chinese and Japs trying to get into the U.S. from
Magdalena Bay. But I'm supposed to patrol the border line. I'm
going to hire some rangers. Now, I'm not so afraid of being shot
up, though out in this lonely place there's danger of it; what I'm
afraid of most is losing that bunch of horses. If any rebels come
this far, or if they ever hear of my horses, they're going to raid
me. You know what those guerrilla Mexicans will do for horses.
They're crazy on horse flesh. They know fine horses. They breed
the finest in the world. So I don't sleep nights any more."
"Reckon me an' Jim might as well tie up with your for a spell,
Beldin'. We've been ridin' up an' down Arizona tryin' to keep out
of sight of wire fences."
"Laddy, it's open enough around Forlorn River to satisfy even an
old-time cowpuncher like you," laughed Belding. "I'd take your
staying on as some favor, don't mistake me. Perhaps I can persuade
the young man Gale to take a job with me."
"That's shore likely. He said he had no money, no friends. An'
if a scrapper's all you're lookin' for he'll do," replied Ladd, with
a dry chuckle.
"Mrs. B. will throw some broncho capers round this ranch when
she hears I'm going to hire a stranger."
"Why?"
"Well, there's Nell-- And you said this Gale was a young American.
My wife will be scared to death for fear Nell will fall in love
with him."
Laddy choked off a laugh, then evidently slapped his knee or
Belding's, for there was a resounding smack.
"He's a fine-spoken, good-looking chap, you said?" went on Belding.
"Shore he is," said Laddy, warmly. "What do you say, Jim?"
By this time Dick Gale's ears began to burn and he was trying to
make himself deaf when he wanted to hear every little word.
"Husky young fellow, nice voice, steady, clear eyes, kinda proud,
I thought, an' some handsome, he was," replied Jim Lash.
"Maybe I ought to think twice before taking a stranger into my
family," said Belding, seriously. "Well, I guess he's all right,
Laddy, being the cavalryman's friend. No bum or lunger? He must
be all right?"
"Bum? Lunger? Say, didn't I tell you I shook hands
with this boy an' was plumb glad to meet him?" demanded Laddy,
with considerable heat. Manifestly he had been affronted.
"Tom Beldin', he's a gentleman, an' he could lick you in--
in half a second. How about that, Jim?"
"Less time," replied Lash. "Tom, here's my stand. Young Gale can
have my hoss, my gun, anythin' of mine."
"Aw, I didn't mean to insult you, boys, don't mistake me," said Belding.
"Course he's all right."
The object of this conversation lay quiet upon his bed, thrilling and
amazed at being so championed by the cowboys, delighted with
Belding's idea of employing him, and much amused with the quaint
seriousness of the three.
"How's the young man?" called a woman's voice. It was kind and
mellow and earnest.
Gale heard footsteps on flagstones.
"He's asleep yet, wife," replied Belding. "Guess he was pretty
much knocked out....I'll close the door there so we won't wake him."
There were slow, soft steps, then the door softly closed. But the
fact scarcely made a perceptible difference in the sound of the
voices outside.
"Laddy and Jim are going to stay," went on Belding. "It'll be like
the old Panhandle days a little. I'm powerful glad to have the
boys, Nellie. You know I meant to sent to Casita to ask them.
We'll see some trouble before the revolution is ended. I think
I'll make this young man Gale an offer."
"He isn't a cowboy?" asked Mrs. Belding, quickly.
"No."
"Shore he'd make a darn good one," put in Laddy.
"What is he? Who is he? Where did he come from? Surely you must
be--"
"Laddy swears he's all right," interrupted the husband. "That's
enough reference for me. Isn't it enough for you?"
"Humph! Laddy knows a lot about young men, now doesn't he,
especially strangers from the East?...Tom, you must be careful!"
"Wife, I'm only too glad to have a nervy young chap come along.
What sense is there in your objection, if Jim and Laddy stick up
for him?"
"But, Tom--he'll fall in love with Nell!" protested Mrs. Belding.
"Well, wouldn't that be regular? Doesn't every man who comes
along fall in love with Nell? Hasn't it always happened? When
she was a schoolgirl in Kansas didn't it happen? Didn't she have
a hundred moon-eyed ninnies after her in Texas? I've had some
peace out here in the desert, except when a Greaser or a prospector
or a Yaqui would come along. Then same old story-- in love with Nell!"
"But, Tom, Nell might fall in love with this young man!" exclaimed
the wife, in distress.
"Laddy, Jim, didn't I tell you?" cried Belding. "I knew she'd say
that....My dear wife, I would be simply overcome with joy if Nell
did fall in love once. Real good and hard! She's wilder than any
antelope out there on the desert. Nell's nearly twenty now, and
so far as we know she's never cared a rap for any fellow. And
she's just as gay and full of the devil as she was at fourteen.
Nell's as good and lovable as she is pretty, but I'm afraid she'll
never grow into a woman while we live out in this lonely land.
And you've always hated towns where there was a chance for
the girl--just because you were afraid she'd fall in love. You've
always been strange, even silly, about that. I've done my best
for Nell--loved her as if she were my own daughter. I've changed
many business plans to suit your whims. There are rough times
ahead, maybe. I need men. I'll hire this chap Gale if he'll stay.
Let Nell take her chance with him, just as she'll have to take
chances with men when we get out of the desert. She'll be all
the better for it."
"I hope Laddy's not mistaken in his opinion of this newcomer,"
replied Mrs. Belding, with a sigh of resignation.
"Shore I never made a mistake in my life figger'n' people," said
Laddy, stoutly.
"Yes, you have, Laddy," replied Mrs. Belding. "You're wrong about
Tom....Well, supper is to be got. That young man and the girl will
be starved. I'll go in now. If Nell happens around don't--don't
flatter her, Laddy, like you did at dinner. Don't make her think
of her looks."
Dick heard Mrs. Belding walk away.
"Shore she's powerful particular about that girl," observed Laddy.
"Say, Tom, Nell knows she's pretty, doesn't she?"
"She's liable to find it out unless you shut up, Laddy. When you
visited us out here some weeks ago, you kept paying cowboy
compliments to her."
"An' it's your idea that cowboy compliments are plumb bad for
girls?"
"Downright bad, Laddy, so my wife says."
"I'll be darned if I believe any girl can be hurt by a little sweet
talk. It pleases 'em....But say, Beldin', speaking of looks, have you
got a peek yet at the Spanish girl?"
"Not in the light."
"Well, neither have I in daytime. I had enough by moonlight.
Nell is some on looks, but I'm regretful passin' the ribbon to the
lady from Mex. Jim, where are you?"
"My money's on Nell," replied Lash. "Gimme a girl with flesh an'
color, an' blue eyes a-laughin'. Miss Castaneda is some peach,
I'll not gainsay. But her face seemed too white. An' when she
flashed those eyes on me, I thought I was shot! When she stood
up there at first, thankin' us, I felt as if a--a princess was round
somewhere. Now, Nell is kiddish an' sweet an'--"
"Chop it," interrupted Belding. "Here comes Nell now."
Dick's tingling ears took in the pattering of light footsteps,
the rush of some one running.
"Here you are," cried a sweet, happy voice. "Dad, the Senorita
is perfectly lovely. I've been peeping at her. She sleeps like--like
death. She's so white. Oh, I hope she won't be ill."
"Shore she's only played out," said Laddy. "But she had spunk
while it lasted....I was just arguin' with Jim an' Tom about Miss
Castaneda."
"Gracious! Why, she's beautiful. I never saw any one so
beautiful....How strange and sad, that about her! Tell me more,
Laddy. You promised. I'm dying to know. I never hear anything
in this awful place. Didn't you say the Senorita had a sweetheart?"
"Shore I did."
"And he's a cavalryman?"
"Yes."
"Is he the young man who came with you?"
"Nope. That fellow's the one who saved the girl from Rojas."
"Ah! Where is he, Laddy?"
"He's in there asleep."
"Is he hurt?"
"I reckon not. He walked about fifteen miles."
"Is he--nice, Laddy?"
"Shore."
"What is he like?"
"Well, I'm not long acquainted, never saw him by day, but I was
some tolerable took with him. An' Jim here, Jim says the young
man can have his gun an' his hoss."
"Wonderful! Laddy, what on earth did this stranger do to win you
cowboys in just one night?"
"I'll shore have to tell you. Me an' Jim were watchin' a game of
cards in the Del Sol saloon in Casita. That's across the line.
We had acquaintances--four fellows from the Cross Bar outfit,
where we worked a while back. This Del Sol is a billiard hall,
saloon, restaurant, an' the like. An' it was full of Greasers.
Some of Camp's rebels were there drinkin' an' playin' games.
Then pretty soon in come Rojas with some of his outfit.
They were packin' guns an' kept to themselves off to one side.
I didn't give them a second look till Jim said he reckoned
there was somethin' in the wind. Then, careless-like,
I began to peek at Rojas. They call Rojas the 'dandy rebel,' an'
he shore looked the part. It made me sick to see him in all that
lace an' glitter, knowin' him to be the cutthroat robber he is.
It's no oncommon sight to see excited Greasers. They're all crazy.
But this bandit was shore some agitated. He kept his men in a
tight bunch round a table. He talked an' waved his hands. He was
actually shakin'. His eyes had a wild glare. Now I figgered that
trouble was brewin', most likely for the little Casita garrison.
People seemed to think Campo an' Rojas would join forces to oust
the federals. Jim thought Rojas's excitement was at the hatchin'
of some plot. Anyway, we didn't join no card games, an' without
pretendin' to, we was some watchful.
"A little while afterward I seen a fellow standin' in the restaurant
door. He was a young American dressed in corduroys and boots,
like a prospector. You know it's no onusual fact to see prospectors
in these parts. What made me think twice about this one was how
big he seemed, how he filled up that door. He looked round the
saloon, an' when he spotted Rojas he sorta jerked up. Then he
pulled his slouch hat lopsided an' began to stagger down, down the
steps. First off I made shore he was drunk. But I remembered he
didn't seem drunk before. It was some queer. So I watched that
young man.
"He reeled around the room like a fellow who was drunker'n a lord.
Nobody but me seemed to notice him. Then he began to stumble over
pool-players an' get his feet tangled up in chairs an' bump against tables.
He got some pretty hard looks. He came round our way, an' all of a sudden
he seen us cowboys. He gave another start, like the one when
he first seen Rojas, then he made for us. I tipped Jim off that
somethin' was doin'.
"When he got close he straightened up, put back his slouch hat,
an' looked at us. Then I saw his face. It sorta electrified yours
truly. It was white, with veins standin' out an' eyes flamin'--a
face of fury. I was plumb amazed, didn't know what to think.
Then this queer young man shot some cool, polite words at me an' Jim.
"He was only bluffin' at bein' drunk--he meant to rush Rojas, to
start a rough house. The bandit was after a girl. This girl was
in the hotel, an' she was the sweetheart of a soldier, the young
fellow's friend. The hotel was watched by Rojas's guards, an'
the plan was to make a fuss an' get the girl away in the excitement.
Well, Jim an' me got a hint of our bein' Americans--that cowboys
generally had a name for loyalty to women. Then this amazin'
chap--you can't imagine how scornful--said for me an' Jim to watch him.
"Before I could catch my breath an' figger out what he meant by
'rush' an' 'rough house' he had knocked over a table an' crowded
some Greaser half off the map. One little funny man leaped up like
a wild monkey an' began to screech. An' in another second he was
in the air upside down. When he lit, he laid there. Then, quicker'n
I can tell you, the young man dove at Rojas. Like a mad steer on the
rampage he charged Rojas an' his men. The whole outfit went
down--smash! I figgered then what 'rush' meant. The young fellow
came up out of the pile with Rojas, an' just like I'd sling an empty
sack along the floor he sent the bandit. But swift as that went
he was on top of Rojas before the chairs an' tables had stopped
rollin'.
"I woke up then, an' made for the center of the room. Jim with me.
I began to shoot out the lamps. Jim throwed his guns on the crazy
rebels, an' I was afraid there'd be blood spilled before I could get
the room dark. Bein's shore busy, I lost sight of the young fellow
for a second or so, an' when I got an eye free for him I seen a
Greaser about to knife him. Think I was some considerate of the
Greaser by only shootin' his arm off. Then I cracked the last lamp,
an' in the hullabaloo me an' Jim vamoosed.
"We made tracks for our hosses an' packs, an' was hittin' the San
Felipe road when we run right plumb into the young man. Well, he
said his name was Gale--Dick Gale. The girl was with him safe an'
well; but her sweetheart, the soldier, bein' away without leave, had
to go back sudden. There shore was some trouble, for Jim an' me
heard shootin'. Gale said he had no money, no friends, was a
stranger in a desert country; an' he was distracted to know how
to help the girl. So me an' Jim started off with them for San
Felipe, got switched, and' then we headed for the Rio Forlorn."
"Oh, I think he was perfectly splendid!" exclaimed the girl.
"Shore he was. Only, Nell, you can't lay no claim to bein' the
original discoverer of that fact."
"But, Laddy, you haven't told me what he looks like."
At this juncture Dick Gale felt is absolutely impossible for him
to play the eavesdropper any longer. Quietly he rolled out of bed.
The voices still sounded close outside, and it was only by effort
that he kept from further listening. Belding's kindly interest,
Laddy's blunt and sincere cowboy eulogy, the girl's sweet eagerness
and praise--these warmed Gale's heart. He had fallen among simple
people, into whose lives the advent of an unknown man was welcome.
He found himself in a singularly agitated mood. The excitement,
the thrill, the difference felt in himself, experienced the preceding
night, had extended on into his present. And the possibilities
suggested by the conversation he had unwittingly overheard added
sufficiently to the other feelings to put him into a peculiarly receptive
state of mind. He was wild to be one of the Beldings rangers. The idea
of riding a horse in the open desert, with a dangerous duty to
perform, seemed to strike him with an appealing force. Something
within him went out to the cowboys, to this blunt and kind Belding.
He was afraid to meet the girl. If every man who came along fell
in love with this sweet-voiced Nell, then what hope had he to
escape--now, when his whole inner awakening betokened a change of
spirit, hope, a finding of real worth, real good, real power in
himself? He did not understand wholly, yet he felt ready to ride,
to fight, to love the desert, to love these outdoor men, to love
a woman. That beautiful Spanish girl had spoken to something
dead in him and it had quickened to life. The sweet voice of an
audacious, unseen girl warned him that presently a still more
wonderful thing would happen to him.
Gale imagined he made noise enough as he clumsily pulled on his
boots, yet the voices, split by a merry laugh, kept on murmuring
outside the door. It was awkward for him, having only one hand
available to lace up his boots. He looked out of the window.
Evidently this was at the end of the house. There was a flagstone
walk, beside which ran a ditch full of swift, muddy water. It made
a pleasant sound. There were trees strange of form and color to
to him. He heard bees, birds, chickens, saw the red of roses and
green of grass. Then he saw, close to the wall, a tub full of
water, and a bench upon which lay basin, soap, towel, comb, and
brush. The window was also a door, for under it there was a step.
Gale hesitated a moment, then went out. He stepped naturally,
hoping and expecting that the cowboys would hear him. But nobody
came. Awkwardly, with left hand, he washed his face. Upon a nail
in the wall hung a little mirror, by the aid of which Dick combed
and brushed his hair. He imagined he looked a most haggard
wretch. With that he faced forward, meaning to go round the corner
of the house to greet the cowboys and these new-found friends.
Dick had taken but one step when he was halted by laugher and the
patter of light feet.
From close around the corner pealed out that sweet voice. "Dad,
you'll have your wish, and mama will be wild!"
Dick saw a little foot sweep into view, a white dress, then the
swiftly moving form of a girl. She was looking backward.
"Dad, I shall fall in love with your new ranger. I will--I have--"
Then she plumped squarely into Dick's arms.
She started back violently.
Dick saw a fair face and dark-blue, audaciously flashing eyes.
Swift as lightning their expression changed to surprise, fear,
wonder. For an instant they were level with Dick's grave questioning.
Suddenly, sweetly, she blushed.
"Oh-h!" she faltered.
Then the blush turned to a scarlet fire. She whirled past him,
and like a white gleam was gone.
Dick became conscious of the quickened beating of his heart. He
experienced a singular exhilaration. That moment had been the
one for which he had been ripe, the event upon which strange
circumstances had been rushing him.
With a couple of strides he turned the corner. Laddy and Lash
were there talking to a man of burly form. Seen by day, both
cowboys were gray-haired, red-skinned, and weather-beaten, with
lean, sharp features, and gray eyes so much alike that they might
have been brothers.
"Hello, there's the young fellow," spoke up the burly man. "Mr.
Gale, I'm glad to meet you. My name's Belding."
His greeting was as warm as his handclasp was long and hard.
Gale saw a heavy man of medium height. His head was large
and covered with grizzled locks. He wore a short-cropped mustache
and chin beard. His skin was brown, and his dark eyes beamed with
a genial light.
The cowboys were as cordial as if Dick had been their friend for years.
"Young man, did you run into anything as you came out?" asked Belding,
with twinkling eyes.
"Why, yes' I met something white and swift flying by," replied Dick.
"Did she see you?" asked Laddy.
"I think so; but she didn't wait for me to introduce myself."
"That was Nell Burton, my girl--step-daughter, I should say," said
Belding. "She's sure some whirlwind, as Laddy calls her. Come,
let's go in and meet the wife."
The house was long, like a barracks, with porch extending all the
way, and doors every dozen paces. When Dick was ushered into a
sitting-room, he was amazed at the light and comfort. This room
had two big windows and a door opening into a patio, where there
were luxuriant grass, roses in bloom, and flowering trees. He heard
a slow splashing of water.
In Mrs. Belding, Gale found a woman of noble proportions and
striking appearance. Her hair was white. She had a strong,
serious, well-lined face that bore haunting evidences of past
beauty. The gaze she bent upon him was almost piercing in its
intensity. Her greeting, which seemed to Dick rather slow in
coming, was kind though not cordial. Gale's first thought, after
he had thanked these good people for their hospitality, was to
inquire about Mercedes. He was informed that the Spanish girl
had awakened with a considerable fever and nervousness. When,
however, her anxiety had been allayed and her thirst relieved, she
had fallen asleep again. Mrs. Belding said the girl had suffered
no great hardship, other than mental, and would very soon be
rested and well.
"Now, Gale," said Belding, when his wife had excused herself to
get supper, "the boys, Jim and Laddy, told me about you and the
mix-up at Casita. I'll be glad to take care of the girl till it's
safe for your soldier friend to get her out of the country. That
won't be very soon, don't mistake me....I don't want to seem
over-curious about you--Laddy has interested me in you--and
straight out I'd like to know what you propose to do now."
"I haven't any plans," replied Dick; and, taking the moment as
propitious, he decided to speak frankly concerning himself. "I
just drifted down here. My home is in Chicago. When I left school
some years ago--I'm twenty-five now--I went to work for my father.
He's--he has business interests there. I tried all kinds of inside
jobs. I couldn't please my father. I guess I put no real heart in
my work. the fact was I didn't know how to work. The governor
and I didn't exactly quarrel; but he hurt my feelings, and I quit.
Six months or more ago I came West, and have knocked about from
Wyoming southwest to the border. I tried to find congenial work,
but nothing came my way. To tell you frankly, Mr. Belding, I
suppose I didn't much care. I believe, though, that all the time I
didn't know what I wanted. I've learned--well, just lately--"
"What do you want to do?" interposed Belding.
"I want a man's job. I want to do things with my hands. I want
action. I want to be outdoors."
Belding nodded his head as if he understood that, and he began
to speak again, cut something short, then went on, hesitatingly:
"Gale--you could go home again--to the old man-- it'd be all right?"
"Mr. Belding, there's nothing shady in my past. The governor would
be glad to have me home. That's the only consolation I've got.
But I'm not going. I'm broke. I won't be a tramp. And it's up
to me to do something."
"How'd you like to be a border ranger?" asked Belding, laying a
hand on Dick's knee. "Part of my job here is United States Inspector
of Immigration. I've got that boundary line to patrol--to keep out
Chinks and Japs. This revolution has added complications, and
I'm looking for smugglers and raiders here any day. You'll not
be hired by the U. S. You'll simply be my ranger, same as Laddy
and Jim, who have promised to work for me. I'll pay you well,
give you a room here, furnish everything down to guns, and the
finest horse you ever saw in your life. Your job won't be safe
and healthy, sometimes, but it'll be a man's job--don't mistake me!
You can gamble on having things to do outdoors. Now, what do
you say?"
"I accept, and I thank you--I can't say how much," replied Gale,
earnestly.
"Good! That's settled. Let's go out and tell Laddy and Jim."
Both boys expressed satisfaction at the turn of affairs, and then
with Belding they set out to take Gale around the ranch. The
house and several outbuildings were constructed of adobe, which,
according to Belding, retained the summer heat on into winter,
and the winter cold on into summer. These gray-red mud habitations
were hideous to look at, and this fact, perhaps, made their really
comfortable interiors more vividly a contrast. The wide grounds
were covered with luxuriant grass and flowers and different kinds
of trees. Gale's interest led him to ask about fig trees and
pomegranates, and especially about a beautiful specimen that
Belding called palo verde.
Belding explained that the luxuriance of this desert place was
owing to a few springs and the dammed-up waters of the Rio Forlorn.
Before he had come to the oasis it had been inhabited by a Papago
Indian tribe and a few peon families. The oasis lay in an arroyo
a mile wide, and sloped southwest for some ten miles or more.
The river went dry most of the year; but enough water was stored
in flood season to irrigate the gardens and alfalfa fields.
"I've got one never-failing spring on my place," said Belding. "Fine,
sweet water! You know what that means in the desert. I like this
oasis. The longer I live here the better I like it. There's not a spot
in southern Arizona that'll compare with this valley for water or
grass or wood. It's beautiful and healthy. Forlorn and lonely,
yes, especially for women like my wife and Nell; but I like it....And
between you and me, boys, I've got something up my sleeve. There's
gold dust in the arroyos, and there's mineral up in the mountains.
If we only had water! This hamlet has steadily grown since I took
up a station here. Why, Casita is no place beside Forlorn River.
Pretty soon the Southern Pacific will shoot a railroad branch out
here. There are possibilities, and I want you boys to stay with
me and get in on the ground floor. I wish this rebel war was
over....Well, here are the corrals and the fields. Gale, take a
look at that bunch of horses!"
Belding's last remark was made as he led his companions out of
shady gardens into the open. Gale saw an adobe shed and a huge
pen fenced by strangely twisted and contorted branches or trunks
of mesquite, and, beyond these, wide, flat fields, green--a dark,
rich green--and dotted with beautiful horses. There were whites
and blacks, and bays and grays. In his admiration Gale searched
his memory to see if he could remember the like of these magnificent
animals, and had to admit that the only ones he could compare with
them were the Arabian steeds.
"Every ranch loves his horses," said Belding. "When I was in the
Panhandle I had some fine stock. But these are Mexican. They
came from Durango, where they were bred. Mexican horses are
the finest in the world, bar none."
"Shore I reckon I savvy why you don't sleep nights," drawled Laddy.
"I see a Greaser out there--no, it's an Indian."
"That's my Papago herdsman. I keep watch over the horses now
day and night. Lord, how I'd hate to have Rojas or Salazar--any
of those bandit rebels--find my horses!...Gale, can you ride?"
Dick modestly replied that he could, according to the Eastern
idea of horsemanship.
"You don't need to be half horse to ride one of that bunch. But
over there in the other field I've iron-jawed broncos I wouldn't
want you to tackle--except to see the fun. I've an outlaw I'll
gamble even Laddy can't ride."
"So. How much'll you gamble?" asked Laddy, instantly.
The ringing of a bell, which Belding said was a call to supper,
turned the men back toward the house. Facing that way, Gale
saw dark, beetling ridges rising from the oasis and leading up to
bare, black mountains. He had heard Belding call them No Name
Mountains, and somehow the appellation suited those lofty,
mysterious, frowning peaks.
It was not until they reached the house and were about to go in
that Belding chanced to discover Gale's crippled hand.
"What an awful hand!" he exclaimed. "Where the devil did you
get that?"
"I stove in my knuckles on Rojas," replied Dick.
"You did that in one punch? Say, I'm glad it wasn't me you hit!
Why didn't you tell me? That's a bad hand. Those cuts are full
of dirt and sand. Inflammation's setting in. It's got to be
dressed. Nell!" he called.
There was no answer. He called again, louder.
"Mother, where's the girl?"
"She's there in the dining-room," replied Mrs. Belding.
"Did she hear me?" he inquired, impatiently.
"Of course."
"Nell!" roared Belding.
This brought results. Dick saw a glimpse of golden hair and a
white dress in the door. But they were not visible longer than
a second.
"Dad, what's the matter?" asked a voice that was still as sweet
as formerly, but now rather small and constrained.
"Bring the antiseptics, cotton, bandages--and things out here.
Hurry now."
Belding fetched a pail of water and a basin from the kitchen. His
wife followed him out, and, upon seeing Dick's hand, was all
solicitude. Then Dick heard light, quick footsteps, but he did
not look up.
"Nell, this is Mr. Gale--Dick Gale, who came with the boys last
last night," said Belding. "He's got an awful hand. Got it punching
that greaser Rojas. I want you to dress it....Gale, this is my
step-daughter, Nell Burton, of whom I spoke. She's some good
when there's somebody sick or hurt. Shove out your fist, my boy,
and let her get at it. Supper's nearly ready."
Dick felt that same strange, quickening heart throb, yet he had
never been cooler in his life. More than anything else in the
world he wanted to look at Nell Burton; however, divining that
the situation might be embarrassing to her, he refrained from
looking up. She began to bathe his injured knuckles. He noted
the softness, the deftness of her touch, and then it seemed her
fingers were not quite as steady as they might have been. Still,
in a moment they appeared to become surer in their work. She
had beautiful hands, not too large, though certainly not small,
and they were strong, brown, supple. He observed next, with
stealthy, upward-stealing glance, that she had rolled up her sleeves,
exposing fine, round arms graceful in line. Her skin was brown--no,
it was more gold than brown. It had a wonderful clear tint. Dick
stoically lowered his eyes then, putting off as long as possible
the alluring moment when he was to look into her face. That would
be a fateful moment. He played with a certain strange joy
of anticipation. When, however, she sat down beside him
and rested his injured hand in her lap as she cut bandages,
she was so thrillingly near that he yielded to an irrepressible
desire to look up. She had a sweet, fair face warmly tinted with
that same healthy golden-brown sunburn. Her hair was light gold
and abundant, a waving mass. Her eyes were shaded by long,
downcast lashes, yet through them he caught a gleam of blue.
Despite the stir within him, Gale, seeing she was now absorbed
in her task, critically studied her with a second closer gaze.
She was a sweet, wholesome, joyous, pretty girl.
"Shore it musta hurt?" replied Laddy, who sat an interested spectator.
"Yes, I confess it did," replied Dick, slowly, with his eyes on
Nell's face. "But I didn't mind."
The girl's lashes swept up swiftly in surprise. She had taken his
words literally. But the dark-blue eyes met his for only a fleeting
second. Then the warm tint in her cheeks turned as red as her
lips. Hurriedly she finished tying the bandage and rose to her
feet.
"I thank you," said Gale, also rising.
With that Belding appeared in the doorway, and finding the
operation concluded, called them in to supper. Dick had the use
of only one arm, and he certainly was keenly aware of the shy,
silent girl across the table; but in spite of these considerable
handicaps he eclipsed both hungry cowboys in the assault upon
Mrs. Belding's bounteous supper. Belding talked, the cowboys
talked more or less. Mrs. Belding put in a word now and then,
and Dick managed to find brief intervals when it was possible
for him to say yes or no. He observed gratefully that no one
round the table seemed to be aware of his enormous appetite.
After supper, having a favorable opportunity when for a
moment no one was at hand, Dick went out through the yard,
past the gardens and fields, and climbed the first knoll. From that
vantage point he looked out over the little hamlet, somewhat to
his right, and was surprised at its extent, its considerable number
of adobe houses. The overhanging mountains, ragged and darkening,
a great heave of splintered rock, rather chilled and affronted him.
Westward the setting sun gilded a spiked, frost-colored, limitless
expanse of desert. It awed Gale. Everywhere rose blunt, broken
ranges or isolated groups of mountains. Yet the desert stretched
away down between and beyond them. When the sun set and Gale
could not see so far, he felt a relief.
That grand and austere attraction of distance gone, he saw the
desert nearer at hand--the valley at his feet. What a strange gray,
somber place! There was a lighter strip of gray winding down
between darker hues. This he realized presently was the river
bed, and he saw how the pools of water narrowed and diminished
in size till they lost themselves in gray sand. This was the rainy
season, near its end, and here a little river struggled hopelessly,
forlornly to live in the desert. He received a potent impression
of the nature of that blasted age-worn waste which he had divined
was to give him strength and work and love.
V
A DESERT ROSE
BELDING assigned Dick to a little room which had no windows but
two doors, one opening into the patio, the other into the yard on
the west side of the house. It contained only the barest necessities
for comfort. Dick mentioned the baggage he had left in the hotel
at Casita, and it was Belding's opinion that to try to recover his
property would be rather risky; on the moment Richard Gale was
probably not popular with the Mexicans at Casita. So Dick bade
good-by to fine suits of clothes and linen with a feeling that,
as he had said farewell to an idle and useless past, it was just
as well not to have any old luxuries as reminders. As he possessed,
however, not a thing save the clothes on his back, and not even
a handkerchief, he expressed regret that he had come to Forlorn
River a beggar.
"Beggar hell!" exploded Belding, with his eyes snapping in the
lamplight. "Money's the last thing we think of out here. All
the same, Gale, if you stick you'll be rich."
"It wouldn't surprise me," replied Dick, thoughtfully. But he was
not thinking of material wealth. Then, as he viewed his stained
and torn shirt, he laughed and said "Belding, while I'm getting
rich I'd like to have some respectable clothes."
"We've a little Mex store in town, and what you can't get there
the women folks will make for you."
When Dick lay down he was dully conscious of pain and headache,
that he did not feel well. Despite this, and a mind thronging
with memories and anticipations, he succumbed to weariness
and soon fell asleep.
It was light when he awoke, but a strange brightness seen through
what seemed blurred eyes. A moment passed before his mind worked
clearly, and then he had to make an effort to think. He was dizzy.
When he essayed to lift his right arm, an excruciating pain made
him desist. Then he discovered that his arm was badly swollen,
and the hand had burst its bandages. The injured member was red,
angry, inflamed, and twice its normal size. He felt hot all over,
and a raging headache consumed him.
Belding came stamping into the room.
"Hello, Dick. Do you know it's late? How's the busted fist
this morning?"
Dick tried to sit up, but his effort was a failure. He got about
half up, then felt himself weakly sliding back.
"I guess--I'm pretty sick," he said.
He saw Belding lean over him, feel his face, and speak, and then
everything seemed to drift, not into darkness, but into some region
where he had dim perceptions of gray moving things, and of voices
that were remote. Then there came an interval when all was blank.
He knew not whether it was one of minutes or hours, but after it
he had a clearer mind. He slept, awakened during night-time, and
slept again. When he again unclosed his eyes the room was sunny,
and cool with a fragrant breeze that blew through the open door.
Dick felt better; but he had no particular desire to move or talk
or eat. He had, however, a burning thirst. Mrs. Belding visited
him often; her husband came in several times, and once Nell slipped
in noiselessly. Even this last event aroused no interest in Dick.
On the next day he was very much improved.
"We've been afraid of blood poisoning," said Belding. "But my
wife thinks the danger's past. You'll have to rest that arm for
a while."
Ladd and Jim came peeping in at the door.
"Come in, boys. He can have company--the more the better--if it'll
keep him content. He mustn't move, that's all."
The cowboys entered, slow, easy, cool, kind-voiced.
"Shore it's tough," said Ladd, after he had greeted Dick. "You
look used up."
Jim Lash wagged his half-bald, sunburned head, "Musta been more'n
tough for Rojas."
"Gale, Laddy tells me one of our neighbors, fellow named Carter, is
going to Casita," put in Belding. "Here's a chance to get word to
your friend the soldier."
"Oh, that will be fine!" exclaimed Dick. "I declare I'd forgotten
Thorne....How is Miss Castaneda? I hope--"
"She's all right, Gale. Been up and around the patio for two days.
Like all the Spanish--the real thing--she's made of Damascus
steel. We've been getting acquainted. She and Nell made friends
at once. I'll call them in."
He closed the door leading out into the yard, explaining that he
did not want to take chances of Mercedes's presence becoming
known to neighbors. Then he went to the patio and called.
Both girls came in, Mercedes leading. Like Nell, she wore white,
and she had a red rose in her hand. Dick would scarcely have
recognized anything about her except her eyes and the way she
carried her little head, and her beauty burst upon him strange and
anew. She was swift, impulsive in her movements to reach his
side.
"Senor, I am so sorry you were ill--so happy you are better."
Dick greeted her, offering his left hand, gravely apologizing for
the fact that, owing to a late infirmity, he could not offer the
right. Her smile exquisitely combined sympathy, gratitude,
admiration. Then Dick spoke to Nell, likewise offering his hand,
which she took shyly. Her reply was a murmured, unintelligible
one; but her eyes were glad, and the tint in her cheeks threatened
to rival the hue of the rose she carried.
Everybody chatted then, except Nell, who had apparently lost her
voice. Presently Dick remembered to speak of the matter of getting
news to Thorne.
"Senor, may I write to him? Will some one take a letter?...I
shall hear from him!" she said; and her white hands emphasized
her words.
"Assuredly. I guess poor Thorne is almost crazy. I'll write to
him....No, I can't with this crippled hand."
"That'll be all right, Gale," said Belding. "Nell will write for
you. She writes all my letters."
So Belding arranged it; and Mercedes flew away to her room to
write, while Nell fetched pen and paper and seated herself beside
Gale's bed to take his dictation.
What with watching Nell and trying to catch her glance, and
listening to Belding's talk with the cowboys, Dick was hard put
to it to dictate any kind of a creditable letter. Nell met his
gaze once, then no more. The color came and went in her cheeks,
and sometimes, when he told her to write so and so, there was a
demure smile on her lips. She was laughing at him. And Belding was
talking over the risks involved in a trip to Casita.
"Shore I'll ride in with the letters," Ladd said.
"No you won't," replied Belding. "That bandit outfit will be
laying for you."
"Well, I reckon if they was I wouldn't be oncommon grieved."
"I'll tell you, boys, I'll ride in myself with Carter. There's
business I can see to, and I'm curious to know what the rebels
are doing. Laddy, keep one eye open while I'm gone. See the
horses are locked up....Gale, I'm going to Casita myself. Ought
to get back tomorrow some time. I'll be ready to start in an
hour. Have your letter ready. And say--if you want to write
home it's a chance. Sometimes we don't go to the P. O. in a month.
He tramped out, followed by the tall cowboys, and then Dick was
enabled to bring his letter to a close. Mercedes came back, and
her eyes were shining. Dick imagined a letter received from her
would be something of an event for a fellow. Then, remembering
Belding's suggestion, he decided to profit by it.
"May I trouble you to write another for me?" asked Dick, as he
received the letter from Nell.
"It's no trouble, I'm sure--I'd be pleased," she replied.
That was altogether a wonderful speech of hers, Dick thought,
because the words were the first coherent ones she had spoken
to him.
"May I stay?" asked Mercedes, smiling.
"By all means," he answered, and then he settled back and began.
Presently Gale paused, partly because of genuine emotion, and
stole a look from under his hand at Nell. She wrote swiftly, and
her downcast face seemed to be softer in its expression of
sweetness. If she had in the very least been drawn to him-- But
that was absurd--impossible!
When Dick finished dictating, his eyes were upon Mercedes, who
sat smiling curious and sympathetic. How responsive she was!
He heard the hasty scratch of Nell's pen. He looked at Nell.
Presently she rose, holding out his letter. He was just in time
to see a wave of red recede from her face. She gave him one
swift gaze, unconscious, searching, then averted it and turned
away. She left the room with Mercedes before he could express
his thanks.
But that strange, speaking flash of eyes remained to haunt and
torment Gale. It was indescribably sweet, and provocative of
thoughts that he believed were wild without warrant. Something
within him danced for very joy, and the next instant he was
conscious of wistful doubt, a gravity that he could not understand.
It dawned upon him that for the brief instant when Nell had met
his gaze she had lost her shyness. It was a woman's questioning eyes
that had pierced through him.
During the rest of the day Gale was content to lie still on his bed
thinking and dreaming, dozing at intervals, and watching the
lights change upon the mountain peaks, feeling the warm, fragrant
desert wind that blew in upon him. He seemed to have lost the
faculty of estimating time. A long while, strong in its effect
upon him, appeared to have passed since he had met Thorne. He
accepted things as he felt them, and repudiated his intelligence.
His old inquisitive habit of mind returned. Did he love Nell?
Was he only attracted for the moment? What was the use of worrying
about her or himself? He refused to answer, and deliberately gave
himself up to dreams of her sweet face and of that last dark-blue glance.
Next day he believed he was well enough to leave his room; but Mrs.
Belding would not permit him to do so. She was kind, soft-handed,
motherly, and she was always coming in to minister to his comfort.
This attention was sincere, not in the least forced; yet Gale felt
that the friendliness so manifest in the others of the household
did not extend to her. He was conscious of something that a
little thought persuaded him was antagonism. It surprised and
hurt him. He had never been much of a success with girls and
young married women, but their mothers and old people had generally
been fond of him. Still, though Mrs. Belding's hair was snow-white,
she did not impress him as being old. He reflected that there
might come a time when it would be desirable, far beyond any
ground of every-day friendly kindliness, to have Mrs. Belding be
well disposed toward him. So he thought about her, and pondered
how to make her like him. It did not take very long for Dick to
discover that he liked her. Her face, except when she smiled,
was thoughtful and sad. It was a face to make one serious. Like
a haunting shadow, like a phantom of happier years, the
sweetness of Nell's face was there, and infinitely more of beauty
than had been transmitted to the daughter. Dick believed Mrs.
Belding's friendship and motherly love were worth striving to win,
entirely aside from any more selfish motive. He decided both would
be hard to get. Often he felt her deep, penetrating gaze upon
him; and, though this in no wise embarrassed him--for he had no
shameful secrets of past or present--it showed him how useless it
would be to try to conceal anything from her. Naturally, on first
impulse, he wanted to hide his interest in the daughter; but he
resolved to be absolutely frank and true, and through that win or
lose. Moreover, if Mrs. Belding asked him any questions about his
home, his family, his connections, he would not avoid direct and
truthful answers.
Toward evening Gale heard the tramp of horses and Belding's hearty
voice. Presently the rancher strode in upon Gale, shaking the
gray dust from his broad shoulders and waving a letter.
"Hello, Dick! Good news and bad!" he said, putting the letter in
Dick's hand. "Had no trouble finding your friend Thorne. Looked
like he'd been drunk for a week! Say, he nearly threw a fit. I
never saw a fellow so wild with joy. He made sure you and Mercedes
were lost in the desert. He wrote two letters which I brought.
Don't mistake me, boy, it was some fun with Mercedes just now.
I teased her, wouldn't give her the letter. You ought to have seen
her eyes. If ever you see a black-and-white desert hawk swoop
down upon a quail, then you'll know how Mercedes pounced upon
her letter...Well, Casita is one hell of a place these days. I
tried to get your baggage, and I think I made a mistake. We're
going to see travel toward Forlorn River. The federal garrison
got reinforcements from somewhere, and is holding out. There's
been fighting for three days. The rebels have a string of flat
railroad cars, all iron, and they ran this up within range of the
barricades. They've got some machine guns, and they're going to lick
the federals sure. There are dead soldiers in the ditches, Mexican
non-combatants lying dead in the streets--and buzzards everywhere!
It's reported that Campo, the rebel leader, is on the way up from Sinaloa,
and Huerta, a federal general, is coming to relieve the garrison.
I don't take much stock in reports. But there's hell in Casita, all right."
"Do you think we'll have trouble out here?" asked Dick, excitedly.
"Sure. Some kind of trouble sooner or later," replied Belding,
gloomily. "Why, you can stand on my ranch and step over into
Mexico. Laddy says we'll lose horses and other stock in night raids.
Jim Lash doesn't look for any worse. But Jim isn't as well
acquainted with Greasers as I am. Anyway, my boy, as soon as you
can hold a bridle and a gun you'll be on the job, don't mistake me."
"With Laddy and Jim?" asked Dick, trying to be cool.
"Sure. With them and me, and by yourself."
Dick drew a deep breath, and even after Belding had departed he
forgot for a moment about the letter in his hand. Then he unfolded
the paper and read:
Dear Dick,--You've more than saved my life. To the end of my
days you'll be the one man to whom I owe everything. Words fail
to express my feelings.
This must be a brief note. Belding is waiting, and I used up most
of the time writing to Mercedes. I like Belding. He was not
unknown to me, though I never met or saw him before. You'll be
interested to learn that he's the unadulterated article, the real
Western goods. I've heard of some of his stunts, and they made
my hair curl. Dick, your luck is staggering. The way Belding spoke
of you was great. But you deserve it, old man.
I'm leaving Mercedes in your charge, subject, of course, to advice
from Belding. Take care of her, Dick, for my life is wrapped up
in her. By all means keep her from being seen by Mexicans. We
are sitting tight here--nothing doing. If some action doesn't come
soon, it'll be darned strange. Things are centering this way.
There's scrapping right along, and people have begun to move.
We're still patrolling the line eastward of Casita. It'll be
impossible to keep any tab on the line west of Casita, for it's
too rough. That cactus desert is awful. Cowboys or rangers
with desert-bred horses might keep raiders and smugglers from crossing.
But if cavalrymen could stand that waterless wilderness, which I doubt much,
their horses would drop under them.
If things do quiet down before my commission expires, I'll get
leave of absence, run out to Forlorn River, marry my beautiful
Spanish princess, and take her to a civilized country, where, I
opine, every son of a gun who sees her will lose his head, and
drive me mad. It's my great luck, old pal, that you are a fellow
who never seemed to care about pretty girls. So you won't give
me the double cross and run off with Mercedes--carry her off,
like the villain in the play, I mean.
That reminds me of Rojas. Oh, Dick, it was glorious! You didn't
do anything to the Dandy Rebel! Not at all! You merely caressed
him--gently moved him to one side. Dick, harken to these glad
words: Rojas is in the hospital. I was interested to inquire.
He had a smashed finger, a dislocated collar bone, three broken
ribs, and a fearful gash on his face. He'll be in the hospital for
a month. Dick, when I meet that pig-headed dad of yours I'm
going to give him the surprise of his life.
Send me a line whenever any one comes in from F. R., and inclose
Mercedes's letter in yours. Take care of her, Dick, and may the
future hold in store for you some of the sweetness I know now!
Faithfully yours,
Thorne.
Dick reread the letter, then folded it and placed it under his pillow.
"Never cared for pretty girls, huh?" he soliloquized. "George, I
never saw any till I struck Southern Arizona! Guess I'd better make
up for lost time."
While he was eating his supper, with appetite rapidly returning
to normal, Ladd and Jim came in, bowing their tall heads to enter
the door. Their friendly advances were singularly welcome to
Gale, but he was still backward. He allowed himself to show that
he was glad to see them, and he listened. Jim Lash had heard from
Belding the result of the mauling given to Rojas by Dick. And Jim
talked about what a grand thing that was. Ladd had a good deal
to say about Belding's horses. It took no keen judge of human
nature to see that horses constituted Ladd's ruling passion.
"I've had wimmen go back on me, but never no hoss!" declared
Ladd, and manifestly that was a controlling truth with him.
"Shore it's a cinch Beldin' is agoin' to lose some of them hosses,"
he said. "you can search me if I don't think there'll be more
doin' on the border here than along the Rio Grande. We're just
the same as on Greaser soil. Mebbe we don't stand no such chance
of bein' shot up as we would across the line. But who's goin' to
give up his hosses without a fight? Half the time when Beldin's
stock is out of the alfalfa it's grazin' over the line. He thinks
he's careful about them hosses, but he ain't."
"Look a-here, Laddy; you cain't believe all you hear," replied
Jim, seriously. "I reckon we mightn't have any trouble."
"Back up, Jim. Shore you're standin' on your bridle. I ain't goin'
much on reports. Remember that American we met in Casita,
the prospector who'd just gotten out of Sonora? He had some
story, he had. Swore he'd killed seventeen Greasers breakin'
through the rebel line round the mine where he an' other Americans
were corralled. The next day when I met him again, he was drunk,
an' then he told me he'd shot thirty Greasers. The chances are
he did kill some. But reports are exaggerated. There are miners
fightin' for life down in Sonora, you can gamble on that. An' the
truth is bad enough. Take Rojas's harryin' of the Senorita, for
instance. Can you beat that? Shore, Jim, there's more doin' than
the raidin' of a few hosses. An' Forlorn River is goin' to get hers!"
Another dawn found Gale so much recovered that he arose and looked
after himself, not, however, without considerable difficulty and
rather disheartening twinges of pain.
Some time during the morning he heard the girls in the patio and
called to ask if he might join them. He received one response,
a mellow, "Si, Senor." It was not as much as he wanted,
but considering that it was enough, he went out. He had not
as yet visited the patio, and surprise and delight were in store
for him. He found himself lost in a labyrinth of green and
rose-bordered walks. He strolled around, discovering that the
patio was a courtyard, open at an end; but he failed to discover
the young ladies. So he called again. the answer came from the
center of the square. After stooping to get under shrubs and
wading through bushes he entered an open sandy circle, full of
magnificent and murderous cactus plants, strange to him. On the
other side, in the shade of a beautiful tree, he found the girls.
Mercedes sitting in a hammock, Nell upon a blanket.
"What a beautiful tree!" he exclaimed. "I never saw one like
that. What is it?"
"Palo verde," replied Nell.
"Senor, palo verde means 'green tree,'" added Mercedes.
This desert tree, which had struck Dick as so new and strange
and beautiful, was not striking on account of size, for it was
small, scarcely reaching higher than the roof; but rather because
of its exquisite color of green, trunk and branch alike, and owing
to the odd fact that it seemed not to possess leaves. All the tree
from ground to tiny flat twigs was a soft polished green. It bore
no thorns.
Right then and there began Dick's education in desert growths;
and he felt that even if he had not had such charming teachers
he would still have been absorbed. For the patio was full of
desert wonders. A twisting-trunked tree with full foliage of
small gray leaves Nell called a mesquite. Then Dick remembered
the name, and now he saw where the desert got its pale-gray color.
A huge, lofty, fluted column of green was a saguaro, or giant
cactus. Another oddshaped cactus, resembling the legs of an
inverted devil-fish, bore the name ocatillo. Each branch
rose high and symmetrical, furnished with sharp blades
that seemed to be at once leaves and thorns. Yet another
cactus interested Gale, and it looked like a huge, low
barrel covered with green-ribbed cloth and long thorns. This was
the bisnaga, or barrel cactus. According to Nell and Mercedes,
this plant was a happy exception to its desert neighbors, for it
secreted water which had many times saved the lives of men. Last
of the cacti to attract Gale, and the one to make him shiver, was
a low plant, consisting of stem and many rounded protuberances of
a frosty, steely white, and covered with long murderous spikes.
From this plant the desert got its frosty glitter. It was as
stiff, as unyielding as steel, and bore the name choya.
Dick's enthusiasm was contagious, and his earnest desire to learn
was flattering to his teachers. When it came to assimilating
Spanish, however, he did not appear to be so apt a pupil. He
managed, after many trials, to acquire "buenos dias" and "buenos
tardes," and "senorita" and "gracias," and a few other short terms.
Dick was indeed eager to get a little smattering of Spanish, and
perhaps he was not really quite so stupid as he pretended to be.
It was delightful to be taught by a beautiful Spaniard who was so
gracious and intense and magnetic of personality, and by a sweet
American girl who moment by moment forgot her shyness. Gale
wished to prolong the lessons.
So that was the beginning of many afternoons in which he learned
desert lore and Spanish verbs, and something else that he dared
not name.
Nell Burton had never shown to Gale that daring side of her
character which had been so suggestively defined in Belding's
terse description and Ladd's encomiums, and in her own audacious
speech and merry laugh and flashing eye of that never-to-be-forgotten
first meeting. She might have been an entirely different girl.
But Gale remembered; and when the ice had been somewhat broken
between them, he was always trying to surprise her into her real self.
There were moments that fairly made him tingle with expectation.
Yet he saw little more than a ghost of her vivacity, and never
a gleam of that individuality which Belding had called a devil.
On the few occasions that Dick had been left alone with her
in the patio Nell had grown suddenly unresponsive and
restrained, or she had left him on some transparent pretext.
On the last occasion Mercedes returned to find Dick staring
disconsolately at the rose-bordered path, where Nell had evidently
vanished. The Spanish girl was wonderful in her divination.
"Senor Dick!" she cried.
Dick looked at her, soberly nodded his head, and then he laughed.
Mercedes had seen through him in one swift glance. Her white hand
touched his in wordless sympathy and thrilled him. This Spanish
girl was all fire and passion and love. She understood him, she
was his friend, she pledged him what he felt would be the most
subtle and powerful influence.
Little by little he learned details of Nell's varied life. She had
lived in many places. As a child she remembered moving from
town to town, of going to school among schoolmates whom she
never had time to know. Lawrence, Kansas, where she studied for
several years, was the later exception to this changeful nature
of her schooling. Then she moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, from
there to Austin, Texas, and on to Waco, where her mother met and
married Belding. They lived in New Mexico awhile, in Tucson,
Arizona, in Douglas, and finally had come to lonely Forlorn River.
"Mother could never live in one place any length of time,"
said Nell. "And since we've been in the Southwest she has never
ceased trying to find some trace of her father. He was last heard
of in Nogales fourteen years ago. She thinks grandfather was lost
in the Sonora Desert....And every place we go is worse. Oh, I love
the desert. But I'd like to go back to Lawrence--or to see
Chicago or New York--some of the places Mr. Gale speaks of....
I remember the college at Lawrence, though I was only twelve.
I saw races--and once real football. Since then I've read magazines
and papers about big football games, and I was always fascinated
....Mr. Gale, of course, you've seen games?
"Yes, a few," replied Dick; and he laughed a little. It was on
his lips then to tell her about some of the famous games in which
he had participated. But he refrained from exploiting himself.
There was little, however, of the color and sound and cheer, of
the violent action and rush and battle incidental to a big college
football game that he did not succeed in making Mercedes and Nell
feel just as if they had been there. They hung breathless and
wide-eyed upon his words.
Some one else was present at the latter part of Dick's narrative.
The moment he became aware of Mrs. Belding's presence he remembered
fancying he had heard her call, and now he was certain she had
done so. Mercedes and Nell, however, had been and still were
oblivious to everything except Dick's recital. He saw Mrs. Belding
cast a strange, intent glance upon Nell, then turn and go silently
through the patio. Dick concluded his talk, but the brilliant
beginning was not sustained.
Dick was haunted by the strange expression he had caught on Mrs.
Belding's face, especially the look in her eyes. It had been one
of repressed pain liberated in a flash of certainty. The mother
had seen just as quickly as Mercedes how far he had gone on the
road of love. Perhaps she had seen more--even more than he dared
hope. The incident roused Gale. He could not understand Mrs.
Belding, nor why that look of hers, that seeming baffled, hopeless
look of a woman who saw the inevitable forces of life and could
not thwart them, should cause him perplexity and distress. He
wanted to go to her and tell her how he felt about Nell, but fear
of absolute destruction of his hopes held him back. He would wait.
Nevertheless, an instinct that was perhaps akin to self-preservation
prompted him to want to let Nell know the state of his mind.
Words crowded his brain seeking utterance. Who and what he was,
how he loved her, the work he expected to take up soon, his longings,
hopes, and plans--there was all this and more. But something checked
him. And the repression made him so thoughtful and quiet, even
melancholy, that he went outdoors to try to throw off the mood.
The sun was yet high, and a dazzling white light enveloped valleys
and peaks. He felt that the wonderful sunshine was the dominant
feature of that arid region. It was like white gold. It had
burned its color in a face he knew. It was going to warm his blood
and brown his skin. A hot, languid breeze, so dry that he felt his
lips shrink with its contact, came from the desert; and it seemed
to smell of wide-open, untainted places where sand blew and strange,
pungent plants gave a bitter-sweet tang to the air.
When he returned to the house, some hours later, his room had been
put in order. In the middle of the white coverlet on his table
lay a fresh red rose. Nell had dropped it there. Dick picked it
up, feeling a throb in his breast. It was a bud just beginning
to open, to show between its petals a dark-red, unfolding heart.
How fragrant it was, how exquisitely delicate, how beautiful
its inner hue of red, deep and dark, the crimson of life blood!
Had Nell left it there by accident or by intent? Was it merely
kindness or a girl's subtlety? Was it a message couched elusively,
a symbol, a hope in a half-blown desert rose?
VI
THE YAQUI
TOWARD evening of a lowering December day, some fifty miles west
of Forlorn River, a horseman rode along an old, dimly defined trail.
From time to time he halted to study the lay of the land ahead.
It was bare, somber, ridgy desert, covered with dun-colored
greasewood and stunted prickly pear. Distant mountains hemmed
in the valley, raising black spurs above the round lomas and the
square-walled mesas.
This lonely horseman bestrode a steed of magnificent build,
perfectly white except for a dark bar of color running down the
noble head from ears to nose. Sweatcaked dust stained the long
flanks. The horse had been running. His mane and tail were laced
and knotted to keep their length out of reach of grasping cactus
and brush. Clumsy home-made leather shields covered the front
of his forelegs and ran up well to his wide breast. What otherwise
would have been muscular symmetry of limb was marred by many a
scar and many a lump. He was lean, gaunt, worn, a huge machine
of muscle and bone, beautiful only in head and mane, a weight-carrier,
a horse strong and fierce like the desert that had bred him.
The rider fitted the horse as he fitted the saddle. He was a young
man of exceedingly powerful physique, wide-shouldered, long-armed,
big-legged. His lean face, where it was not red, blistered and peeling,
was the hue of bronze. He had a dark eye, a falcon gaze, roving
and keen. His jaw was prominent and set, mastiff-like; his lips
were stern. It was youth with its softness not yet quite burned
and hardened away that kept the whole cast of his face from being
ruthless.
This young man was Dick Gale, but not the listless traveler, nor the
lounging wanderer who, two months before, had by chance dropped
into Casita. Friendship, chivalry, love--the deep-seated, unplumbed
emotions that had been stirred into being with all their incalculable
power for spiritual change, had rendered different the meaning of
life. In the moment almost of their realization the desert had
claimed Gale, and had drawn him into its crucible. The desert
had multiplied weeks into years. Heat, thirst, hunger, loneliness,
toil, fear, ferocity, pain--he knew them all. He had felt them
all--the white sun, with its glazed, coalescing, lurid fire; the
caked split lips and rasping, dry-puffed tongue; the sickening
ache in the pit of his stomach; the insupportable silence, the
empty space, the utter desolation, the contempt of life; the weary
ride, the long climb, the plod in sand, the search, search, search
for water; the sleepless night alone, the watch and wait, the
dread of ambush, the swift flight; the fierce pursuit of men wild
as Bedouins and as fleet, the willingness to deal sudden death,
the pain of poison thorn, the stinging tear of lead through flesh;
and that strange paradox of the burning desert, the cold at night,
the piercing icy wind, the dew that penetrated to the marrow, the
numbing desert cold of the dawn.
Beyond any dream of adventure he had ever had, beyond any wild
story he had every read, had been his experience with those
hard-riding rangers, Ladd and Lash. Then he had traveled alone
the hundred miles of desert between Forlorn River and the Sonoyta
Oasis. Ladd's prophecy of trouble on the border had been mild
compared to what had become the actuality. With rebel occupancy
of the garrison at Casita, outlaws, bandits, raiders in rioting
bands had spread westward. Like troops of Arabs, magnificently
mounted, they were here, there, everywhere along the line; and if
murder and worse were confined to the Mexican side, pillage and raiding
were perpetrated across the border. Many a dark-skinned raider bestrode
one of Belding's fast horses, and indeed all except his selected white
thoroughbreds had been stolen. So the job of the rangers had
become more than a patrolling of the boundary line to keep Japanese
and Chinese from being smuggled into the United States. Belding
kept close at home to protect his family and to hold his property.
But the three rangers, in fulfilling their duty had incurred risks
on their own side of the line, had been outraged, robbed, pursued,
and injured on the other. Some of the few waterholes that had
to be reached lay far across the border in Mexican territory.
Horses had to drink, men had to drink; and Ladd and Lash were not
of the stripe that forsook a task because of danger. Slow to
wrath at first, as became men who had long lived peaceful lives,
they had at length revolted; and desert vultures could have told
a gruesome story. Made a comrade and ally of these bordermen,
Dick Gale had leaped at the desert action and strife with an
intensity of heart and a rare physical ability which accounted for
the remarkable fact that he had not yet fallen by the way.
On this December afternoon the three rangers, as often, were
separated. Lash was far to the westward of Sonoyta, somewhere
along Camino del Diablo, that terrible Devil's Road, where many
desert wayfarers had perished. Ladd had long been overdue in a
prearranged meeting with Gale. The fact that Ladd had not shown
up miles west of the Papago Well was significant.
The sun had hidden behind clouds all the latter part of that day,
an unusual occurrence for that region even in winter. And now,
as the light waned suddenly, telling of the hidden sunset, a cold
dry, penetrating wind sprang up and blew in Gale's face. Not at
first, but by imperceptible degrees it chilled him. He untied his
coat from the back of the saddle and put it on. A few cold drops
of rain touched his cheek.
He halted upon the edge of a low escarpment. Below him the
narrowing valley showed bare, black ribs of rock, long, winding
gray lines leading down to a central floor where mesquite and
cactus dotted the barren landscape. Moving objects, diminutive
in size, gray and white in color, arrested Gale's roving sight.
They bobbed away for a while, then stopped. They were antelope,
and they had seen his horse. When he rode on they started once
more, keeping to the lowest level. These wary animals were often
desert watchdogs for the ranger, they would betray the proximity
of horse or man. With them trotting forward, he made better time
for some miles across the valley. When he lost them, caution once
more slowed his advance.
The valley sloped up and narrowed, to head into an arroyo where
grass began to show gray between the clumps of mesquite. Shadows
formed ahead in the hollows, along the walls of the arroyo, under
the trees, and they seemed to creep, to rise, to float into a veil
cast by the background of bold mountains, at last to claim the
skyline. Night was not close at hand, but it was there in the east,
lifting upward, drooping downward, encroaching upon the west.
Gale dismounted to lead his horse, to go forward more slowly. He
had ridden sixty miles since morning, and he was tired, and a not
entirely healed wound in his hip made one leg drag a little. A
mile up the arroyo, near its head, lay the Papago Well. The need
of water for his horse entailed a risk that otherwise he could
have avoided. The well was on Mexican soil. Gale distinguished
a faint light flickering through the thin, sharp foliage. Campers
were at the well, and, whoever they were, no doubt they had
prevented Ladd from meeting Gale. Ladd had gone back to the
next waterhole, or maybe he was hiding in an arroyo to the eastward,
awaiting developments.
Gale turned his horse, not without urge of iron arm and persuasive
speech, for the desert steed scented water, and plodded back to the
edge of the arroyo, where in a secluded circle of mesquite he halted.
The horse snorted his relief at the removal of the heavy, burdened
saddle and accoutrements, and sagging, bent his knees, lowered himself
with slow heave, and plunged down to roll in the sand. Gale poured the
contents of his larger canteen into his hat and held it to the horse's nose.
"Drink, Sol," he said.
It was but a drop for a thirsty horse. However, Blanco Sol rubbed
a west muzzle against Gale's hand in appreciation. Gale loved the
horse, and was loved in return. They had saved each other's lives,
and had spent long days and nights of desert solitude together.
Sol had known other masters, though none so kind as this new one;
but it was certain that Gale had never before known a horse.
The spot of secluded ground was covered with bunches of galleta
grass upon which Sol began to graze. Gale made a long halter of
his lariat to keep the horse from wandering in search of water.
Next Gale kicked off the cumbersome chapparejos, with their flapping,
tripping folds of leather over his feet, and drawing a long rifle
from its leather sheath, he slipped away into the shadows.
The coyotes were howling, not here and there, but in concerted
volume at the head of the arroyo. To Dick this was no more reassuring
than had been the flickering light of the campfire. The wild desert
dogs, with their characteristic insolent curiosity, were baying men
round a campfire. Gale proceeded slowly, halting every few steps,
careful not to brush against the stiff greasewood. In the soft
sand his steps made no sound. The twinkling light vanished
occasionally, like a Jack-o'lantern, and when it did show it seemed
still a long way off. Gale was not seeking trouble or inviting
danger. Water was the thing that drove him. He must see who
these campers were, and then decide how to give Blanco Sol a drink.
A rabbit rustled out of brush at Gale's feet and thumped
away over the sand. The wind pattered among dry, broken stalks
of dead ocatilla. Every little sound brought Gale to a listening
pause. The gloom was thickening fast into darkness. It would be
a night without starlight. He moved forward up the pale, zigzag
aisles between the mesquite. He lost the light for a while, but the
coyotes' chorus told him he was approaching the campfire. Presently
the light danced through the black branches, and soon grew into
a flame. Stooping low, with bushy mesquites between him and the
fire, Gale advanced. The coyotes were in full cry. Gale heard
the tramping, stamping thumps of many hoofs. The sound worried
him. Foot by foot he advanced, and finally began to crawl. The
wind favored his position, so that neither coyotes nor horses could
scent him. The nearer he approached the head of the arroyo, where
the well was located, the thicker grew the desert vegetation. At
length a dead palo verde, with huge black clumps of its parasite
mistletoe thick in the branches, marked a distance from the well
that Gale considered close enough. Noiselessly he crawled here and
there until he secured a favorable position, and then rose to peep
from behind his covert.
He saw a bright fire, not a cooking-fire, for that would have been
low and red, but a crackling blaze of mesquite. Three men were
in sight, all close to the burning sticks. They were Mexicans
and of the coarse type of raiders, rebels, bandits that Gale
expected to see. One stood up, his back to the fire; another sat
with shoulders enveloped in a blanket, and the third lounged in
the sand, his feet almost in the blaze. They had cast off belts
and weapons. A glint of steel caught Gale's eye. Three short,
shiny carbines leaned against a rock. A little to the left, within
the circle of light, stood a square house made of adobe bricks.
Several untrimmed poles upheld a roof of brush, which was partly
fallen in. This house was a Papago Indian habitation, and a month
before had been occupied by a family that had been murdered or
driven off by a roving band of outlaws. A rude corral showed
dimly in the edge of firelight, and from a black mass within came
the snort and stamp and whinney of horses.
Gale took in the scene in one quick glance, then sank down at the
foot of the mesquite. He had naturally expected to see more men.
But the situation was by no means new. This was one, or part of
one, of the raider bands harrying the border. They were stealing
horses, or driving a herd already stolen. These bands were more
numerous than the waterholes of northern Sonora; they never camped
long at one place; like Arabs, they roamed over the desert all the
way from Nogales to Casita. If Gale had gone peaceably up to this
campfire there were a hundred chances that the raiders would kill
and rob him to one chance that they might not. If they recognized
him as a ranger comrade of Ladd and Lash, if they got a glimpse
of Blanco Sol, then Gale would have no chance.
These Mexicans had evidently been at the well some time. Their
horses being in the corral meant that grazing had been done by
day. Gale revolved questions in mind. Had this trio of outlaws
run across Ladd? It was not likely, for in that event they might
not have been so comfortable and care-free in camp. Were they
waiting for more members of their gang? That was very probable.
With Gale, however, the most important consideration was how
to get his horse to water. Sol must have a drink if it cost a fight.
There was stern reason for Gale to hurry eastward along the trail.
He thought it best to go back to where he had left his horse and
not make any decisive move until daylight.
With the same noiseless care he had exercised in the advance, Gale
retreated until it was safe for him to rise and walk on down the
arroyo. He found Blanco Sol contentedly grazing. A heavy dew
was falling, and, as the grass was abundant, the horse did not
show the usual restlessness and distress after a dry and exhausting day.
Gale carried his saddle blankets and bags into the lee of a little
greasewood-covered mound, from around which the wind had
cut the soil, and here, in a wash, he risked building a small fire.
By this time the wind was piercingly cold. Gale's hands were numb
and he moved them to and fro in the little blaze. Then he made
coffee in a cup cooked some slices of bacon on the end of a stick,
and took a couple of hard biscuits from a saddlebag. Of these
his meal consisted. After that he removed the halter from Blanco
Sol, intending to leave him free to graze for a while.
Then Gale returned to his little fire, replenished it with short
sticks of dead greasewood and mesquite, and, wrapping his
blanket round his shoulders he sat down to warm himself and to
wait till it was time to bring in the horse and tie him up.
The fire was inadequate and Gale was cold and wet with dew.
Hunger and thirst were with him. His bones ached, and there was
a dull, deep-seated pain throbbing in his unhealed wound. For days
unshaven, his beard seemed like a million pricking needles in his
blistered skin. He was so tired that once having settled himself,
he did not move hand or foot. The night was dark, dismal, cloudy,
windy, growing colder. A moan of wind in the mesquite was
occasionally pierced by the high-keyed yelp of a coyote. There
were lulls in which the silence seemed to be a thing of stifling,
encroaching substance--a thing that enveloped, buried the desert.
Judged by the great average of ideals and conventional standards
of life, Dick Gale was a starved, lonely, suffering, miserable
wretch. But in his case the judgment would have hit only externals,
would have missed the vital inner truth. For Gale was happy with
a kind of strange, wild glory in the privations, the pains, the perils,
and the silence and solitude to be endured on this desert land.
In the past he had not been of any use to himself or others;
and he had never know what it meant to be hungry, cold, tired,
lonely. He had never worked for anything. The needs of the day
had been provided, and to-morrow and the future looked the same.
Danger, peril, toil--these had been words read in books and papers.
In the present he used his hands, his senses, and his wits. He
had a duty to a man who relied on his services. He was a comrade,
a friend, a valuable ally to riding, fighting rangers. He had spend
endless days, weeks that seemed years, alone with a horse, trailing
over, climbing over, hunting over a desert that was harsh and hostile
by nature, and perilous by the invasion of savage men. That horse
had become human to Gale. And with him Gale had learned to know
the simple needs of existence. Like dead scales the superficialities,
the falsities, the habits that had once meant all of life dropped
off, useless things in this stern waste of rock and sand.
Gale's happiness, as far as it concerned the toil and strife, was
perhaps a grim and stoical one. But love abided with him, and it
had engendered and fostered other undeveloped traits--romance
and a feeling for beauty, and a keen observation of nature. He
felt pain, but he was never miserable. He felt the solitude, but
he was never lonely.
As he rode across the desert, even though keen eyes searched for
the moving black dots, the rising puffs of white dust that were
warnings, he saw Nell's face in every cloud. The clean-cut mesas
took on the shape of her straight profile, with its strong chin and
lips, its fine nose and forehead. There was always a glint of gold
or touch of red or graceful line or gleam of blue to remind him of
her. Then at night her face shone warm and glowing, flushing and
paling, in the campfire.
To-night, as usual, with a keen ear to the wind, Gale listened as
one on guard; yet he watched the changing phantom of a sweet face in
the embers, and as he watched he thought. The desert developed and
multiplied thought. A thousand sweet faces glowed in the pink and white
ashes of his campfire, the faces of other sweethearts or wives that had
gleamed for other men. Gale was happy in his thought of Nell,
for Nell, for something, when he was alone this way in the
wilderness, told him she was near him, she thought of him, she
loved him. But there were many men alone on that vast
southwestern plateau, and when they saw dream faces, surely for
some it was a fleeting flash, a gleam soon gone, like the hope
and the name and the happiness that had been and was now no
more. Often Gale thought of those hundreds of desert travelers,
prospectors, wanderers who had ventured down the Camino del
Diablo, never to be heard of again. Belding had told him of that
most terrible of all desert trails--a trail of shifting sands. Lash
had traversed it, and brought back stories of buried waterholes,
of bones bleaching white in the sun, of gold mines as lost as were
the prospectors who had sought them, of the merciless Yaqui and
his hatred for the Mexican. Gale thought of this trail and the men
who had camped along it. For many there had been one night, one
campfire that had been the last. This idea seemed to creep in
out of the darkness, the loneliness, the silence, and to find a
place in Gale's mind, so that it had strange fascination for him.
He knew now as he had never dreamed before how men drifted into
the desert, leaving behind graves, wrecked homes, ruined lives,
lost wives and sweethearts. And for every wanderer every campfire
had a phantom face. Gale measured the agony of these men at their
last campfire by the joy and promise he traced in the ruddy heart
of his own.
By and by Gale remembered what he was waiting for; and, getting
up, he took the halter and went out to find Blanco Sol. It was
pitch-dark now, and Gale could not see a rod ahead. He felt his
way, and presently as he rounded a mesquite he saw Sol's white
shape outlined against the blackness. The horse jumped and wheeled,
ready to run. It was doubtful if any one unknown to Sol could ever
have caught him. Gale's low call reassured him, and he went on
grazing. Gale haltered him in the likeliest patch of grass and
returned to his camp. There he lifted his saddle into a protected
spot under a low wall of the mound, and, laying one blanket on
the sand, he covered himself with the other and stretched himself
for the night.
Here he was out of reach of the wind; but he heard its melancholy
moan in the mesquite. There was no other sound. The coyotes
had ceased their hungry cries. Gale dropped to sleep, and slept
soundly during the first half of the night; and after that he seemed
always to be partially awake, aware of increasing cold and damp.
The dark mantle turned gray, and then daylight came quickly. The
morning was clear and nipping cold. He threw off the wet blanket
and got up cramped and half frozen. A little brisk action was all
that was necessary to warm his blood and loosen his muscles, and
then he was fresh, tingling, eager. The sun rose in a golden blaze,
and the descending valley took on wondrous changing hues. Then
he fetched up Blanco Sol, saddled him, and tied him to the thickest
clump of mesquite.
"Sol, we'll have a drink pretty soon," he said, patting the splendid
neck.
Gale meant it. He would not eat till he had watered his horse.
Sol had gone nearly forty-eight hours without a sufficient drink,
and that was long enough, even for a desert-bred beast. No three
raiders could keep Gale away from that well. Taking his rifle in
hand, he faced up the arroyo. Rabbits were frisking in the short
willows, and some were so tame he could have kicked them. Gale
walked swiftly for a goodly part of the distance, and then, when he
saw blue smoke curling up above the trees, he proceeded slowly,
with alert eye and ear. From the lay of the land and position of
trees seen by daylight, he found an easier and safer course that
the one he had taken in the dark. And by careful work he was enabled
to get closer to the well, and somewhat above it.
The Mexicans were leisurely cooking their morning meal. They
had two fires, one for warmth, the other to cook over. Gale had
an idea these raiders were familiar to him. It seemed all these
border hawks resembled one another--being mostly small of build,
wiry, angular, swarthy-faced, and black-haired, and they wore
the oddly styled Mexican clothes and sombreros. A slow wrath
stirred in Gale as he watched the trio. They showed not the
slightest indication of breaking camp. One fellow, evidently the
leader, packed a gun at his hip, the only weapon in sight. Gale
noted this with speculative eyes. The raiders had slept inside
the little adobe house, and had not yet brought out the carbines.
Next Gale swept his gaze to the corral, in which he saw more than
a dozen horses, some of them fine animals. They were stamping
and whistling, fighting one another, and pawing the dirt. This
was entirely natural behavior for desert horses penned in when they
wanted to get at water and grass.
But suddenly one of the blacks, a big, shaggy fellow, shot up his
ears and pointed his nose over the top of the fence. He whistled.
Other horses looked in the same direction, and their ears went up,
and they, too, whistled. Gale knew that other horses or men, very
likely both, were approaching. But the Mexicans did not hear the
alarm, or show any interest if they did. These mescal-drinking
raiders were not scouts. It was notorious how easily they could
be surprised or ambushed. Mostly they were ignorant, thick-skulled
peons. They were wonderful horsemen, and could go long without
food or water; but they had not other accomplishments or attributes
calculated to help them in desert warfare. They had poor sight,
poor hearing, poor judgment, and when excited they resembled
crazed ants running wild.
Gale saw two Indians on burros come riding up the other side
of the knoll upon which the adobe house stood; and apparently
they were not aware of the presence of the Mexicans,
for they came on up the path. One Indian was a Papago. The other,
striking in appearance for other reasons than that he seemed to be
about to fall from the burro, Gale took to be a Yaqui. These
travelers had absolutely nothing for an outfit except a blanket
and a half-empty bag. They came over the knoll and down the path
toward the well, turned a corner of the house, and completely
surprised the raiders.
Gale heard a short, shrill cry, strangely high and wild, and this
came from one of the Indians. It was answered by hoarse shouts.
Then the leader of the trio, the Mexican who packed a gun, pulled
it and fired point-blank. He missed once--and again. At the third
shot the Papago shrieked and tumbled off his burro to fall in a
heap. The other Indian swayed, as if the taking away of the
support lent by his comrade had brought collapse, and with the
fourth shot he, too, slipped to the ground.
The reports had frightened the horses in the corral; and the vicious
black, crowding the rickety bars, broke them down. He came plunging
out. Two of the Mexicans ran for him, catching him by nose and
mane, and the third ran to block the gateway.
Then, with a splendid vaulting mount, the Mexican with the gun
leaped to the back of the horse. He yelled and waved his gun, and
urged the black forward. The manner of all three was savagely
jocose. They were having sport. The two on the ground began to
dance and jabber. The mounted leader shot again, and then stuck
like a leech upon the bare back of the rearing black. It was a vain
show of horsemanship. Then this Mexican, by some strange grip,
brought the horse down, plunging almost upon the body of the
Indian that had fallen last.
Gale stood aghast with his rifle clutched tight. He could not
divine the intention of the raider, but suspected something brutal.
The horse answered to that cruel, guiding hand, yet he swerved and bucked.
He reared aloft, pawing the air, wildly snorting, then he plunged down upon
the prostrate Indian. Even in the act the intelligent animal tried to
keep from striking the body with his hoofs. But that was not possible.
A yell, hideous in its passion, signaled this feat of horsemanship.
The Mexican made no move to trample the body of the Papago.
He turned the black to ride again over the other Indian. That
brought into Gale's mind what he had heard of a Mexican's hate
for a Yaqui. It recalled the barbarism of these savage peons,
and the war of extermination being waged upon the Yaquis.
Suddenly Gale was horrified to see the Yaqui writhe and raise a
feeble hand. The action brought renewed and more savage cries
from the Mexicans. The horse snorted in terror.
Gale could bear no more. He took a quick shot at the rider. He
missed the moving figure, but hit the horse. There was a bound,
a horrid scream, a mighty plunge, then the horse went down, giving
the Mexican a stunning fall. Both beast and man lay still.
Gale rushed from his cover to intercept the other raiders before
they could reach the house and their weapons. One fellow yelled
and ran wildly in the opposite direction; the other stood stricken
in his tracks. Gale ran in close and picked up the gun that had
dropped from the raider leader's hand. This fellow had begun to
stir, to come out of his stunned condition. Then the frightened
horses burst the corral bars, and in a thundering, dust-mantled
stream fled up the arroyo.
The fallen raider sat up, mumbling to his saints in one breath,
cursing in his next. The other Mexican kept his stand, intimidated
by the threatening rifle.
"Go, Greasers! Run!" yelled Gale. Then he yelled it in Spanish.
At the point of his rifle he drove the two raiders out of the camp.
His next move was to run into the house and fetch out the carbines.
With a heavy stone he dismantled each weapon. That done, he set out
on a run for his horse. He took the shortest cut down the arroyo,
with no concern as to whether or not he would encounter the raiders.
Probably such a meeting would be all the worse for them, and they
knew it. Blanco Sol heard him coming and whistled a welcome, and
when Gale ran up the horse was snorting war. Mounting, Gale rode
rapidly back to the scene of the action, and his first thought, when
he arrived at the well, was to give Sol a drink and to fill his canteens.
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