diff options
Diffstat (limited to '14367-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/14367-h.htm | 9009 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/001.png | bin | 0 -> 97701 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/006.png | bin | 0 -> 14527 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/007.png | bin | 0 -> 2745 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/008.png | bin | 0 -> 3004 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/009.png | bin | 0 -> 3844 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/020.png | bin | 0 -> 2200 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/031.png | bin | 0 -> 10197 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/032.png | bin | 0 -> 3493 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/043.png | bin | 0 -> 6217 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/044.png | bin | 0 -> 2206 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/077.png | bin | 0 -> 6786 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/078.png | bin | 0 -> 2916 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/087.png | bin | 0 -> 7293 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/088.png | bin | 0 -> 3086 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/111.png | bin | 0 -> 6791 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/112.png | bin | 0 -> 3350 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/129.png | bin | 0 -> 8675 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/130.png | bin | 0 -> 2484 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/137a.png | bin | 0 -> 351 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/137b.png | bin | 0 -> 445 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/138a.png | bin | 0 -> 547 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/138b.png | bin | 0 -> 602 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/155.png | bin | 0 -> 1614 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/156.png | bin | 0 -> 3089 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/168.png | bin | 0 -> 3075 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/177.png | bin | 0 -> 5099 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/178.png | bin | 0 -> 2850 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/181.png | bin | 0 -> 2585 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/193.png | bin | 0 -> 3577 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/194.png | bin | 0 -> 2708 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/235.png | bin | 0 -> 6293 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/236.png | bin | 0 -> 3371 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/255.png | bin | 0 -> 3393 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/257.png | bin | 0 -> 8566 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/258.png | bin | 0 -> 3104 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/277.png | bin | 0 -> 2025 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/278.png | bin | 0 -> 2824 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/294.png | bin | 0 -> 2685 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/307.png | bin | 0 -> 3328 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/313.png | bin | 0 -> 3662 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/319.png | bin | 0 -> 12405 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/320.png | bin | 0 -> 2392 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/326.png | bin | 0 -> 3968 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/329.png | bin | 0 -> 4445 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/334.png | bin | 0 -> 1423 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/342.png | bin | 0 -> 898 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/343.png | bin | 0 -> 996 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/345.png | bin | 0 -> 10847 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_01.png | bin | 0 -> 33365 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_02.png | bin | 0 -> 24276 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_03.png | bin | 0 -> 32088 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_04.png | bin | 0 -> 27683 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_05.png | bin | 0 -> 29544 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_06.png | bin | 0 -> 32873 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_07.png | bin | 0 -> 43336 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_08.png | bin | 0 -> 17490 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_09.png | bin | 0 -> 27691 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_10.png | bin | 0 -> 32384 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_11.png | bin | 0 -> 33675 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_12.png | bin | 0 -> 40085 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_13.png | bin | 0 -> 31411 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_14.png | bin | 0 -> 42318 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_15.png | bin | 0 -> 24487 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14367-h/images/chapter_16.png | bin | 0 -> 25470 bytes |
65 files changed, 9009 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/14367-h/14367-h.htm b/14367-h/14367-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c40dc3 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/14367-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9009 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content= +"HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st February 2004), see www.w3.org" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of When A Man's A Man, by Harold +Bell Wright.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .par { float: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: -6%; + margin-right: -12%; + TEXT-ALIGN: center } + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14367 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/001.png" width="70%" alt="" +title="" /> +<br /></div> +<div> +<h1>WHEN A MAN'S<br /> +A MAN</h1> +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>HAROLD BELL WRIGHT</h2> +<h4>GROSSET & DUNLAP<br /> +PUBLISHERS -- NEW YORK</h4> +<h5>By arrangement with D. Appleton-Century Co.</h5> +<h5>1916</h5> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>TO MY SONS</h3> +<h4>GILBERT AND PAUL NORMAN</h4> +<h5>THIS STORY OF MANHOOD<br /> +IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED<br /> +BY THEIR FATHER</h5> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><i>Acknowledgment</i></h2> +<p>It is fitting that I should here express my indebtedness to +those Williamson Valley friends who in the kindness of their hearts +made this story possible.</p> +<p>To Mr. George A. Carter, who so generously introduced me to the +scenes described in these pages, and who, on the Pot-Hook-S ranch, +gave to my family one of the most delightful summers we have ever +enjoyed; to Mr. J.H. Stephens and his family, who so cordially +welcomed me at rodeo time; to Mr. and Mrs. Joe Contreras, for their +kindly hospitality; to Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Stewart, who, while this +story was first in the making, made me so much at home in the +Cross-Triangle home-ranch; to Mr. J.W. Cook, my constant companion, +helpful guide, patient teacher and tactful sponsor, who, with his +charming wife, made his home mine; to Mr. and Mrs. Herbert N. Cook, +and to the many other cattlemen and cowboys, with whom, on the +range, in the rodeos, in the wild horse chase about Toohey, after +outlaw cattle in Granite Basin, in the corrals and pastures, I rode +and worked and lived, my gratitude is more than I can put in words. +Truer friends or better companions than these great-hearted, +outspoken, hardy riders, no man could have. If my story in any +degree wins the approval of these, my comrades of ranch and range. +I shall be proud and happy. H.B.W.</p> +<div class="blockquot">"CAMP HOLE-IN-THE-MOUNTAIN"<br /> +NEAR TUCSON, ARIZONA<br /> +APRIL 29, 1916</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/006.png" width="60%" alt="" +title="" /></div> +<div class="center"> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<td>CHAPTER</td> +<td> </td> +<td>PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_I">AFTER THE CELEBRATION</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">11</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_II">ON THE DIVIDE</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">23</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_III">IN THE BIG PASTURE</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">35</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">AT THE CORRAL</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">47</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_V">A BIT OF THE PAST</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">81</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">THE DRIFT FENCE</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">91</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">THINGS THAT ENDURE</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">115</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CONCERNING BRANDS</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">133</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_IX">THE TAILHOLT MOUNTAIN +OUTFIT</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">159</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_X">THE RODEO</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">181</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XI">AFTER THE RODEO</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">197</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XII">FRONTIER DAY</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">239</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">IN GRANITE BASIN</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">261</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">AT MINT SPRING</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">281</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XV">ON CEDAR RIDGE</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">297</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI.</a></td> +<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">THE SKY LINE</a></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">323</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/007.png" width="10%" alt="" +title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_01.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/008.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>here is a land where a man, to live, must be a man. It is a land +of granite and marble and porphyry and gold—and a man's +strength must be as the strength of the primeval hills. It is a +land of oaks and cedars and pines—and a man's mental grace +must be as the grace of the untamed trees. It is a land of +far-arched and unstained skies, where the wind sweeps free and +untainted, and the atmosphere is the atmosphere of those places +that remain as God made them—and a man's soul must be as the +unstained skies, the unburdened wind, and the untainted atmosphere. +It is a land of wide mesas, of wild, rolling pastures and broad, +untilled, valley meadows—and a man's freedom must be that +freedom which is not bounded by the fences of a too weak and timid +conventionalism.</p> +<p>In this land every man is—by divine right—his own +king; he is his own jury, his own counsel, his own judge, +and—if it must be—his own executioner. And in this land +where a man, to live, must be a man, a woman, if she be not a +woman, must surely perish.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/009.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p>This is the story of a man who regained that which in his youth +had been lost to him; and of how, even when he had recovered that +which had been taken from him, he still paid the price of his loss. +It is the story of a woman who was saved from herself; and of how +she was led to hold fast to those things, the loss of which cost +the man so great a price.</p> +<p>The story, as I have put it down here, begins at Prescott, +Arizona, on the day following the annual Fourth-of-July celebration +in one of those far-western years that saw the passing of the +Indian and the coming of the automobile.</p> +<p>The man was walking along one of the few roads that lead out +from the little city, through the mountain gaps and passes, to the +wide, unfenced ranges, and to the lonely scattered ranches on the +creeks and flats and valleys of the great open country that lies +beyond.</p> +<p>From the fact that he was walking in that land where the +distances are such that men most commonly ride, and from the many +marks that environment and training leave upon us all, it was +evident that the pedestrian was a stranger. He was a man in the +prime of young manhood—tall and exceedingly well +proportioned—and as he went forward along the dusty road he +bore himself with the unconscious air of one more accustomed to +crowded streets than to that rude and unpaved highway. His clothing +bore the unmistakable stamp of a tailor of rank. His person was +groomed with that nicety of detail that is permitted only to those +who possess both means and leisure, as well as taste. It was +evident, too, from his movement and bearing, that he had not sought +the mile-high atmosphere of Prescott with the hope that it holds +out to those in need of health. But, still, there was a something +about him that suggested a lack of the manly vigor and strength +that should have been his.</p> +<p>A student of men would have said that Nature made this man to be +in physical strength and spiritual prowess, a comrade and leader of +men—a man's man—a man among men. The same student, +looking more closely, might have added that in some +way—through some cruel trick of fortune—this man had +been cheated of his birthright.</p> +<p>The day was still young when the stranger gained the top of the +first hill where the road turns to make its steep and winding way +down through scattered pines and scrub oak to the Burnt Ranch.</p> +<p>Behind him the little city—so picturesque in its mountain +basin, with the wild, unfenced land coming down to its very +dooryards—was slowly awakening after the last mad night of +its celebration. The tents of the tawdry shows that had tempted the +crowds with vulgar indecencies, and the booths that had sheltered +the petty games of chance where loud-voiced criers had persuaded +the multitude with the hope of winning a worthless bauble or a +tinsel toy, were being cleared away from the borders of the plaza, +the beauty of which their presence had marred. In the plaza +itself—which is the heart of the town, and is usually kept +with much pride and care—the bronze statue of the vigorous +Rough Rider Bucky O'Neil and his spirited charger seemed +pathetically out of place among the litter of colored confetti and +exploded fireworks, and the refuse from various "treats" and +lunches left by the celebrating citizens and their guests. The +flags and bunting that from window and roof and pole and doorway +had given the day its gay note of color hung faded and listless, as +though, spent with their gaiety, and mutely conscious that the +spirit and purpose of their gladness was past, they waited the hand +that would remove them to the ash barrel and the rubbish heap.</p> +<p>Pausing, the man turned to look back.</p> +<p>For some minutes he stood as one who, while determined upon a +certain course, yet hesitates—reluctant and +regretful—at the beginning of his venture. Then he went on; +walking with a certain reckless swing, as though, in ignorance of +that land toward which he had set his face, he still resolutely +turned his back upon that which lay behind. It was as though, for +this man, too, the gala day, with its tinseled bravery and its +confetti spirit, was of the past.</p> +<p>A short way down the hill the man stopped again. This time to +stand half turned, with his head in a listening attitude. The sound +of a vehicle approaching from the way whence he had come had +reached his ear.</p> +<p>As the noise of wheels and hoofs grew louder a strange +expression of mingled uncertainty, determination, and something +very like fear came over his face. He started forward, hesitated, +looked back, then turned doubtfully toward the thinly wooded +mountain side. Then, with tardy decision he left the road and +disappeared behind a clump of oak bushes, an instant before a team +and buckboard rounded the turn and appeared in full view.</p> +<p>An unmistakable cattleman—grizzly-haired, +square-shouldered and substantial—was driving the wild +looking team. Beside him sat a motherly woman and a little boy.</p> +<p>As they passed the clump of bushes the near horse of the +half-broken pair gave a catlike bound to the right against his +tracemate. A second jump followed the first with flash-like +quickness; and this time the frightened animal was accompanied by +his companion, who, not knowing what it was all about, jumped on +general principles. But, quick as they were, the strength of the +driver's skillful arms met their weight on the reins and forced +them to keep the road.</p> +<p>"You blamed fools"—the driver chided good-naturedly, as +they plunged ahead—"been raised on a cow ranch to get scared +at a calf in the brush!"</p> +<p>Very slowly the stranger came from behind the bushes. Cautiously +he returned to the road. His fine lips curled in a curious mocking +smile. But it was himself that he mocked, for there was a look in +his dark eyes that gave to his naturally strong face an almost +pathetic expression of self-depreciation and shame.</p> +<p>As the pedestrian crossed the creek at the Burnt Ranch, Joe +Conley, leading a horse by a riata which was looped as it had +fallen about the animal's neck, came through the big corral gate +across the road from the house. At the barn Joe disappeared through +the small door of the saddle room, the coil of the riata still in +his hand, thus compelling his mount to await his return.</p> +<p>At sight of the cowboy the stranger again paused and stood +hesitating in indecision. But as Joe reappeared from the barn with +bridle, saddle blanket and saddle in hand, the man went reluctantly +forward as though prompted by some necessity.</p> +<p>"Good morning!" said the stranger, courteously, and his voice +was the voice that fitted his dress and bearing, while his face was +now the carefully schooled countenance of a man world-trained and +well-poised.</p> +<p>With a quick estimating glance Joe returned the stranger's +greeting and, dropping the saddle and blanket on the ground, +approached his horse's head. Instantly the animal sprang back, with +head high and eyes defiant; but there was no escape, for the +rawhide riata was still securely held by his master. There was a +short, sharp scuffle that sent the gravel by the roadside +flying—the controlling bit was between the reluctant +teeth—and the cowboy, who had silently taken the horse's +objection as a matter of course, adjusted the blanket, and with the +easy skill of long practice swung the heavy saddle to its +place.</p> +<p>As the cowboy caught the dangling cinch, and with a deft hand +tucked the latigo strap through the ring and drew it tight, there +was a look of almost pathetic wistfulness on the watching +stranger's face—a look of wistfulness and admiration and +envy.</p> +<p>Dropping the stirrup, Joe again faced the stranger, this time +inquiringly, with that bold, straightforward look so characteristic +of his kind.</p> +<p>And now, when the man spoke, his voice had a curious note, as if +the speaker had lost a little of his poise. It was almost a note of +apology, and again in his eyes there was that pitiful look of +self-depreciation and shame.</p> +<p>"Pardon me," he said, "but will you tell me, please, am I right +that this is the road to the Williamson Valley?"</p> +<p>The stranger's manner and voice were in such contrast to his +general appearance that the cowboy frankly looked his wonder as he +answered courteously, "Yes, sir."</p> +<p>"And it will take me direct to the Cross-Triangle Ranch?"</p> +<p>"If you keep straight ahead across the valley, it will. If you +take the right-hand fork on the ridge above the goat ranch, it will +take you to Simmons. There's a road from Simmons to the +Cross-Triangle on the far side of the valley, though. You can see +the valley and the Cross-Triangle home ranch from the top of the +Divide."</p> +<p>"Thank you."</p> +<p>The stranger was turning to go when the man in the blue jumper +and fringed leather chaps spoke again, curiously.</p> +<p>"The Dean with Stella and Little Billy passed in the buckboard +less than an hour ago, on their way home from the celebration. +Funny they didn't pick you up, if you're goin' there!"</p> +<p>The other paused questioningly. "The Dean?"</p> +<p>The cowboy smiled. "Mr. Baldwin, the owner of the +Cross-Triangle, you know."</p> +<p>"Oh!" The stranger was clearly embarrassed. Perhaps he was +thinking of that clump of bushes on the mountain side.</p> +<p>Joe, loosing his riata from the horse's neck, and coiling it +carefully, considered a moment. Then: "You ain't goin' to walk to +the Cross-Triangle, be you?"</p> +<p>That self-mocking smile touched the man's lips; but there was a +hint of decisive purpose in his voice as he answered, "Oh, +yes."</p> +<p>Again the cowboy frankly measured the stranger. Then he moved +toward the corral gate, the coiled riata in one hand, the bridle +rein in the other. "I'll catch up a horse for you," he said in a +matter-of-fact tone, as if reaching a decision.</p> +<p>The other spoke hastily. "No, no, please don't trouble."</p> +<p>Joe paused curiously. "Any friend of Mr. Baldwin's is welcome to +anything on the Burnt Ranch, Stranger."</p> +<p>"But I—ah—I—have never met Mr. Baldwin," +explained the other lamely.</p> +<p>"Oh, that's all right," returned the cowboy heartily. "You're +a-goin' to, an' that's the same thing." Again he started toward the +gate.</p> +<p>"But I—pardon me—you are very kind—but +I—I prefer to walk."</p> +<p>Once more Joe halted, a puzzled expression on his tanned and +weather-beaten face. "I suppose you know it's some walk," he +suggested doubtfully, as if the man's ignorance were the only +possible solution of his unheard-of assertion.</p> +<p>"So I understand. But it will be good for me. Really, I prefer +to walk."</p> +<p>Without a word the cowboy turned back to his horse, and +proceeded methodically to tie the coiled riata in its place on the +saddle. Then, without a glance toward the stranger who stood +watching him in embarrassed silence, he threw the bridle reins over +his horse's head, gripped the saddle horn and swung to his seat, +reining his horse away from the man beside the road.</p> +<p>The stranger, thus abruptly dismissed, moved hurriedly away.</p> +<p>Half way to the creek the cowboy checked his horse and looked +back at the pedestrian as the latter was making his way under the +pines and up the hill. When the man had disappeared over the crest +of the hill, the cowboy muttered a bewildered something, and, +touching his horse with the spurs, loped away, as if dismissing a +problem too complex for his simple mind.</p> +<p>All that day the stranger followed the dusty, unfenced road. +Over his head the wide, bright sky was without a cloud to break its +vast expanse. On the great, open range of mountain, flat and valley +the cattle lay quietly in the shade of oak or walnut or cedar, or, +with slow, listless movement, sought the watering places to slake +their thirst. The wild things retreated to their secret hiding +places in rocky den and leafy thicket to await the cool of the +evening hunting hour. The very air was motionless, as if the +never-tired wind itself drowsed indolently.</p> +<p>And alone in the hushed bigness of that land the man walked with +his thoughts—brooding, perhaps, over whatever it was that had +so strangely placed him there—dreaming, it may be, over that +which might have been, or that which yet might be—viewing +with questioning, wondering, half-fearful eyes the mighty, untamed +scenes that met his eye on every hand. Nor did anyone see him, for +at every sound of approaching horse or vehicle he went aside from +the highway to hide in the bushes or behind convenient rocks. And +always when he came from his hiding place to resume his journey +that odd smile of self-mockery was on his face.</p> +<p>At noon he rested for a little beside the road while he ate a +meager sandwich that he took from the pocket of his coat. Then he +pushed on again, with grim determination, deeper and deeper into +the heart and life of that world which was, to him, so evidently +new and strange. The afternoon was well spent when he made his +way—wearily now, with drooping shoulders and dragging +step—up the long slope of the Divide that marks the eastern +boundary of the range about Williamson Valley.</p> +<p>At the summit, where the road turns sharply around a shoulder of +the mountain and begins the steep descent on the other side of the +ridge, he stopped. His tired form straightened. His face lighted +with a look of wondering awe, and an involuntary exclamation came +from his lips as his unaccustomed eyes swept the wide view that lay +from his feet unrolled before him.</p> +<p>Under that sky, so unmatched in its clearness and depth of +color, the land lay in all its variety of valley and forest and +mesa and mountain—a scene unrivaled in the magnificence and +grandeur of its beauty. Miles upon miles in the distance, across +those primeval reaches, the faint blue peaks and domes and ridges +of the mountains ranked—an uncounted sentinel host. The +darker masses of the timbered hillsides, with the varying shades of +pine and cedar, the lighter tints of oak brush and chaparral, the +dun tones of the open grass lands, and the brighter note of the +valley meadows' green were defined, blended and harmonized by the +overlying haze with a delicacy exquisite beyond all human power to +picture. And in the nearer distances, chief of that army of +mountain peaks, and master of the many miles that lie within their +circle, Granite Mountain, gray and grim, reared its mighty bulk of +cliff and crag as if in supreme defiance of the changing years or +the hand of humankind.</p> +<p>In the heart of that beautiful land upon which, from the summit +of the Divide, the stranger looked with such rapt appreciation, +lies Williamson Valley, a natural meadow of lush, dark green, +native grass. And, had the man's eyes been trained to such +distances, he might have distinguished in the blue haze the red +roofs of the buildings of the Cross-Triangle Ranch.</p> +<p>For some time the man stood there, a lonely figure against the +sky, peculiarly out of place in his careful garb of the cities. The +schooled indifference of his face was broken. His self-depreciation +and mockery were forgotten. His dark eyes glowed with the fire of +excited anticipation—with hope and determined purpose. Then, +with a quick movement, as though some ghost of the past had touched +him on the shoulder, he looked back on the way he had come. And the +light in his eyes went out in the gloom of painful memories. His +countenance, unguarded because of his day of loneliness, grew dark +with sadness and shame. It was as though he looked beyond the town +he had left that morning, with its litter and refuse of yesterday's +pleasure, to a life and a world of tawdry shams, wherein men give +themselves to win by means fair or foul the tinsel baubles that are +offered in the world's petty games of chance.</p> +<p>And yet, even as he looked back, there was in the man's face as +much of longing as of regret. He seemed as one who, realizing that +he had reached a point in his life journey—a divide, as it +were—from which he could see two ways, was resolved to turn +from the path he longed to follow and to take the road that +appealed to him the least. As one enlisting to fight in a just and +worthy cause might pause a moment, before taking the oath of +service, to regret the ease and freedom he was about to surrender, +so this man paused on the summit of the Divide.</p> +<p>Slowly, at last, in weariness of body and spirit, he stumbled a +few feet aside from the road, and, sinking down upon a convenient +rock, gave himself again to the contemplation of that scene which +lay before him. And there was that in his movement now that seemed +to tell of one who, in the grip of some bitter and disappointing +experience, was yet being forced by something deep in his being to +reach out in the strength of his manhood to take that which he had +been denied.</p> +<p>Again the man's untrained eyes had failed to note that which +would have first attracted the attention of one schooled in the +land that lay about him. He had not seen a tiny moving speck on the +road over which he had passed. A horseman was riding toward +him.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_02.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/020.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>ad the man on the Divide noticed the approaching horseman it +would have been evident, even to one so unacquainted with the +country as the stranger, that the rider belonged to that land of +riders. While still at a distance too great for the eye to +distinguish the details of fringed leather chaps, soft shirt, short +jumper, sombrero, spurs and riata, no one could have mistaken the +ease and grace of the cowboy who seemed so literally a part of his +horse. His seat in the saddle was so secure, so easy, and his +bearing so unaffected and natural, that every movement of the +powerful animal he rode expressed itself rhythmically in his own +lithe and sinewy body.</p> +<p>While the stranger sat wrapped in meditative thought, unheeding +the approach of the rider, the horseman, coming on with a long, +swinging lope, watched the motionless figure on the summit of the +Divide with careful interest. As he drew nearer the cowboy pulled +his horse down to a walk, and from under his broad hat brim +regarded the stranger intently. He was within a few yards of the +point where the man sat when the latter caught the sound of the +horse's feet, and, with a quick, startled look over his shoulder, +sprang up and started as if to escape. But it was too late, and, as +though on second thought, he whirled about with a half defiant air +to face the intruder.</p> +<p>The horseman stopped. He had not missed the significance of that +hurried movement, and his right hand rested carelessly on his +leather clad thigh, while his grey eyes were fixed boldly, +inquiringly, almost challengingly, on the man he had so +unintentionally surprised.</p> +<p>As he sat there on his horse, so alert, so ready, in his cowboy +garb and trappings, against the background of Granite Mountain, +with all its rugged, primeval strength, the rider made a striking +picture of virile manhood. Of some years less than thirty, he was, +perhaps, neither as tall nor as heavy as the stranger; but in spite +of a certain boyish look on his smooth-shaven, deeply-bronzed face, +he bore himself with the unmistakable air of a matured and +self-reliant man. Every nerve and fiber of him seemed alive with +that vital energy which is the true beauty and the glory of +life.</p> +<p>The two men presented a striking contrast. Without question one +was the proud and finished product of our most advanced +civilization. It was as evident that the splendid manhood of the +other had never been dwarfed by the weakening atmosphere of an +over-cultured, too conventional and too complex environment. The +stranger with his carefully tailored clothing and his +man-of-the-world face and bearing was as unlike this rider of the +unfenced lands as a daintily groomed thoroughbred from the +sheltered and guarded stables of fashion is unlike a wild, untamed +stallion from the hills and ranges about Granite Mountain. Yet, +unlike as they were, there was a something that marked them as kin. +The man of the ranges and the man of the cities were, deep beneath +the surface of their beings, as like as the spirited thoroughbred +and the unbroken wild horse. The cowboy was all that the stranger +might have been. The stranger was all that the cowboy, under like +conditions, would have been.</p> +<p>As they silently faced each other it seemed for a moment that +each instinctively recognized this kinship. Then into the dark eyes +of the stranger—as when he had watched the cowboy at the +Burnt Ranch—there came that look of wistful admiration and +envy.</p> +<p>And at this, as if the man had somehow made himself known, the +horseman relaxed his attitude of tense readiness. The hand that had +held the bridle rein to command instant action of his horse, and +the hand that had rested so near the rider's hip, came together on +the saddle horn in careless ease, while a boyish smile of amusement +broke over the young man's face.</p> +<p>That smile brought a flash of resentment into the eyes of the +other and a flush of red darkened his untanned cheeks. A moment he +stood; then with an air of haughty rebuke he deliberately turned +his back, and, seating himself again, looked away over the +landscape.</p> +<p>But the smiling cowboy did not move. For a moment as he regarded +the stranger his shoulders shook with silent, contemptuous +laughter; then his face became grave, and he looked a little +ashamed. The minutes passed, and still he sat there, quietly +waiting.</p> +<p>Presently, as if yielding to the persistent, silent presence of +the horseman, and submitting reluctantly to the intrusion, the +other turned, and again the two who were so like and yet so unlike +faced each other.</p> +<p>It was the stranger now who smiled. But it was a smile that +caused the cowboy to become on the instant kindly considerate. +Perhaps he remembered one of the Dean's favorite sayings: "Keep +your eye on the man who laughs when he's hurt."</p> +<p>"Good evening!" said the stranger doubtfully, but with a hint of +conscious superiority in his manner.</p> +<p>"Howdy!" returned the cowboy heartily, and in his deep voice was +the kindliness that made him so loved by all who knew him. "Been +having some trouble?"</p> +<p>"If I have, it is my own, sir," retorted the other coldly.</p> +<p>"Sure," returned the horseman gently, "and you're welcome to it. +Every man has all he needs of his own, I reckon. But I didn't mean +it that way; I meant your horse."</p> +<p>The stranger looked at him questioningly. "Beg pardon?" he +said.</p> +<p>"What?"</p> +<p>"I do not understand."</p> +<p>"Your horse—where is your horse?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes! Certainly—of course—my horse—how +stupid of me!" The tone of the man's answer was one of half +apology, and he was smiling whimsically now as if at his own +predicament, as he continued. "I have no horse. Really, you know, I +wouldn't know what to do with one if I had it."</p> +<p>"You don't mean to say that you drifted all the way out here +from Prescott on foot!" exclaimed the astonished cowboy.</p> +<p>The man on the ground looked up at the horseman, and in a droll +tone that made the rider his friend, said, while he stretched his +long legs painfully: "I like to walk. You see +I—ah—fancied it would be good for me, don't you +know."</p> +<p>The cowboy laughingly considered—trying, as he said +afterward, to figure it out. It was clear that this tall stranger +was not in search of health, nor did he show any of the +distinguishing marks of the tourist. He certainly appeared to be a +man of means. He could not be looking for work. He did not seem a +suspicious character—quite the contrary—and +yet—there was that significant hurried movement as if to +escape when the horseman had surprised him. The etiquette of the +country forbade a direct question, but—</p> +<p>"Yes," he agreed thoughtfully, "walking comes in handy +sometimes. I don't take to it much myself, though." Then he added +shrewdly, "You were at the celebration, I reckon."</p> +<p>The stranger's voice betrayed quick enthusiasm, but that odd +wistfulness crept into his eyes again and he seemed to lose a +little of his poise.</p> +<p>"Indeed I was," he said. "I never saw anything to compare with +it. I've seen all kinds of athletic sports and contests and +exhibitions, with circus performances and riding, and that sort of +thing, you know, and I've read about such things, of course, +but"—and his voice grew thoughtful—"that men ever +actually did them—and all in the day's work, as you may +say—I—I never dreamed that there <i>were</i> men like +that in these days."</p> +<p>The cowboy shifted his weight uneasily in the saddle, while he +regarded the man on the ground curiously. "She was sure a humdinger +of a celebration," he admitted, "but as for the show part I've seen +things happen when nobody was thinking anything about it that would +make those stunts at Prescott look funny. The horse racing was +pretty good, though," he finished, with suggestive emphasis.</p> +<p>The other did not miss the point of the suggestion. "I didn't +bet on anything," he laughed.</p> +<p>"It's funny nobody picked you up on the road out here," the +cowboy next offered pointedly. "The folks started home early this +morning—and Jim Reid and his family passed me about an hour +ago—they were in an automobile. The Simmons stage must have +caught up with you somewhere."</p> +<p>The stranger's face flushed, and he seemed trying to find some +answer.</p> +<p>The cowboy watched him curiously; then in a musing tone added +the suggestion, "Some lonesome up here on foot."</p> +<p>"But there are times, you know," returned the other desperately, +"when a man prefers to be alone."</p> +<p>The cowboy straightened in his saddle and lifted his reins. +"Thanks," he said dryly, "I reckon I'd better be moving."</p> +<p>But the other spoke quickly. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Acton, I +did not mean that for you."</p> +<p>The horseman dropped his hands again to the saddle horn, and +resumed his lounging posture, thus tacitly accepting the apology. +"You have the advantage of me," he said.</p> +<p>The stranger laughed. "Everyone knows that 'Wild Horse Phil' of +the Cross-Triangle Ranch won the bronco-riding championship +yesterday. I saw you ride."</p> +<p>Philip Acton's face showed boyish embarrassment.</p> +<p>The other continued, with his strange enthusiasm. "It was great +work—wonderful! I never saw anything like it."</p> +<p>There was no mistaking the genuineness of his admiration, nor +could he hide that wistful look in his eyes.</p> +<p>"Shucks!" said the cowboy uneasily. "I could pick a dozen of the +boys in that outfit who can ride all around me. It was just my +luck, that's all—I happened to draw an easy one."</p> +<p>"Easy!" ejaculated the stranger, seeing again in his mind the +fighting, plunging, maddened, outlawed brute that this boy-faced +man had mastered. "And I suppose catching and throwing those steers +was easy, too?"</p> +<p>The cowboy was plainly wondering at the man's peculiar +enthusiasm for these most commonplace things. "The roping? Why, +that was no more than we're doing all the time."</p> +<p>"I don't mean the roping," returned the other, "I mean when you +rode up beside one of those steers that was running at full speed, +and caught him by the horns with your bare hands, and jumped from +your saddle, and threw the beast over you, and then lay there with +his horns pinning you down! You aren't doing that all the time, are +you? You don't mean to tell me that such things as that are a part +of your everyday work!"</p> +<p>"Oh, the bull doggin'! Why, no," admitted Phil, with an +embarrassed laugh, "that was just fun, you know."</p> +<p>The stranger stared at him, speechless. Fun! In the name of all +that is most modern in civilization, what manner of men were these +who did such things in fun! If this was their recreation, what must +their work be!</p> +<p>"Do you mind my asking," he said wistfully, "how you learned to +do such things?"</p> +<p>"Why, I don't know—we just do them, I reckon."</p> +<p>"And could anyone learn to ride as you ride, do you think?" The +question came with marked eagerness.</p> +<p>"I don't see why not," answered the cowboy honestly.</p> +<p>The stranger shook his head doubtfully and looked away over the +wild land where the shadows of the late afternoon were +lengthening.</p> +<p>"Where are you going to stop to-night?" Phil Acton asked +suddenly.</p> +<p>The stranger did not take his eyes from the view that seemed to +hold for him such peculiar interest. "Really," he answered +indifferently, "I had not thought of that."</p> +<p>"I should think you'd be thinking of it along about supper time, +if you've walked from town since morning."</p> +<p>The stranger looked up with sudden interest; but the cowboy +fancied that there was a touch of bitterness under the droll tone +of his reply. "Do you know, Mr. Acton, I have never been really +hungry in my life. It might be interesting to try it once, don't +you think?"</p> +<p>Phil Acton laughed, as he returned, "It might be interesting, +all right, but I think I better tell you, just the same, that +there's a ranch down yonder in the timber. It's nothing but a goat +ranch, but I reckon they would take you in. It's too far to the +Cross-Triangle for me to ask you there. You can see the buildings, +though, from here."</p> +<p>The stranger sprang up in quick interest. "You can? The +Cross-Triangle Ranch?"</p> +<p>"Sure," the cowboy smiled and pointed into the distance. "Those +red spots over there are the roofs. Jim Reid's place—the +Pot-Hook-S—is just this side of the meadows, and a little to +the south. The old Acton homestead—where I was born—is +in that bunch of cottonwoods, across the wash from the +Cross-Triangle."</p> +<p>But strive as he might the stranger's eyes could discern no sign +of human habitation in those vast reaches that lay before him.</p> +<p>"If you are ever over that way, drop in," said Phil cordially. +"Mr. Baldwin will be glad to meet you."</p> +<p>"Do you really mean that?" questioned the other doubtfully.</p> +<p>"We don't say such things in this country if we don't mean them, +Stranger," was the cool retort.</p> +<p>"Of course, I beg your pardon, Mr. Acton," came the confused +reply. "I should like to see the ranch. I may—I +will—That is, if I—" He stopped as if not knowing how +to finish, and with a gesture of hopelessness turned away to stand +silently looking back toward the town, while his face was dark with +painful memories, and his lips curved in that mirthless, +self-mocking smile.</p> +<p>And Philip Acton, seeing, felt suddenly that he had rudely +intruded upon the privacy of one who had sought the solitude of +that lonely place to hide the hurt of some bitter experience. A +certain native gentleness made the man of the ranges understand +that this stranger was face to face with some crisis in his +life—that he was passing through one of those trials through +which a man must pass alone. Had it been possible the cowboy would +have apologized. But that would have been an added unkindness. +Lifting the reins and sitting erect in the saddle, he said +indifferently, "Well, I must be moving. I take a short cut here. So +long! Better make it on down to the goat ranch—it's not +far."</p> +<p>He touched his horse with the spur and the animal sprang +away.</p> +<p>"Good-bye!" called the stranger, and that wistful look was in +his eyes as the rider swung his horse aside from the road, plunged +down the mountain side, and dashed away through the brush and over +the rocks with reckless speed. With a low exclamation of wondering +admiration, the man climbed hastily to a higher point, and from +there watched until horse and rider, taking a steeper declivity +without checking their breakneck course, dropped from sight in a +cloud of dust. The faint sound of the sliding rocks and gravel +dislodged by the flying feet died away; the cloud of dust dissolved +in the thin air. The stranger looked away into the blue distance in +another vain attempt to see the red spots that marked the +Cross-Triangle Ranch.</p> +<p>Slowly the man returned to his seat on the rock. The long +shadows of Granite Mountain crept out from the base of the cliffs +farther and farther over the country below. The blue of the distant +hills changed to mauve with deeper masses of purple in the shadows +where the canyons are. The lonely figure on the summit of the +Divide did not move.</p> +<p>The sun hid itself behind the line of mountains, and the blue of +the sky in the west changed slowly to gold against which the peaks +and domes and points were silhouetted as if cut by a graver's tool, +and the bold cliffs and battlements of old Granite grew coldly gray +in the gloom. As the night came on and the details of its structure +were lost, the mountain, to the watching man on the Divide, assumed +the appearance of a mighty fortress—a fortress, he thought, +to which a generation of men might retreat from a civilization that +threatened them with destruction; and once more the man faced back +the way he had come.</p> +<p>The far-away cities were already in the blaze of their own +artificial lights—lights valued not for their power to make +men see, but for their power to dazzle, attract and +intoxicate—lights that permitted no kindly dusk at eventide +wherein a man might rest from his day's work—a quiet hour; +lights that revealed squalid shame and tinsel show—lights +that hid the stars. The man on the Divide lifted his face to the +stars that now in the wide-arched sky were gathering in such +unnumbered multitudes to keep their sentinel watch over the world +below.</p> +<p>The cool evening wind came whispering over the lonely land, and +all the furred and winged creatures of the night stole from their +dark hiding places into the gloom which is the beginning of their +day. A coyote crept stealthily past in the dark and from the +mountain side below came the weird, ghostly call of its mate. An +owl drifted by on silent wings. Night birds chirped in the +chaparral. A fox barked on the ridge above. The shadowy form of a +bat flitted here and there. From somewhere in the distance a bull +bellowed his deep-voiced challenge.</p> +<p>Suddenly the man on the summit of the Divide sprang to his feet +and, with a gesture that had he not been so alone might have seemed +affectedly dramatic, stretched out his arms in an attitude of +wistful longing while his lips moved as if, again and again, he +whispered a name.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/031.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_03.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/032.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>n the Williamson Valley country the spring round-up, or "rodeo," +as it is called in Arizona, and the shipping are well over by the +last of June. During the long summer weeks, until the beginning of +the fall rodeo in September, there is little for the riders to do. +The cattle roam free on the open ranges, while calves grow into +yearlings, yearlings become two-year-olds, and two-year-olds mature +for the market. On the Cross-Triangle and similar ranches, three or +four of the steadier year-round hands only are held. These repair +and build fences, visit the watering places, brand an occasional +calf that somehow has managed to escape the dragnet of the rodeo, +and with "dope bottle" ever at hand doctor such animals as are +afflicted with screwworms. It is during these weeks, too, that the +horses are broken; for, with the hard and dangerous work of the +fall and spring months, there is always need for fresh mounts.</p> +<p>The horses of the Cross-Triangle were never permitted to run on +the open range. Because the leaders of the numerous bands of wild +horses that roamed over the country about Granite Mountain were +always ambitious to gain recruits for their harems from their +civilized neighbors, the freedom of the ranch horses was limited by +the fences of a four-thousand-acre pasture. But within these miles +of barbed wire boundaries the brood mares with their growing +progeny lived as free and untamed as their wild cousins on the +unfenced lands about them. The colts, except for one painful +experience, when they were roped and branded, from the day of their +birth until they were ready to be broken were never handled.</p> +<p>On the morning following his meeting with the stranger on the +Divide Phil Acton, with two of his cowboy helpers, rode out to the +big pasture to bring in the band.</p> +<p>The owner of the Cross-Triangle always declared that Phil was +intimately acquainted with every individual horse and head of stock +between the Divide and Camp Wood Mountain, and from Skull Valley to +the Big Chino. In moments of enthusiasm the Dean even maintained +stoutly that his young foreman knew as well every coyote, fox, +badger, deer, antelope, mountain lion, bobcat and wild horse that +had home or hunting ground in the country over which the lad had +ridden since his babyhood. Certain it is that "Wild Horse Phil," as +he was called by admiring friends—for reasons which you shall +hear—loved this work and life to which he was born. Every +feature of that wild land, from lonely mountain peak to hidden +canyon spring, was as familiar to him as the streets and buildings +of a man's home city are well known to the one reared among them. +And as he rode that morning with his comrades to the day's work the +young man felt keenly the call of the primitive, unspoiled life +that throbbed with such vital strength about him. He could not have +put that which he felt into words; he was not even conscious of the +forces that so moved him; he only knew that he was glad.</p> +<p>The days of the celebration at Prescott had been enjoyable days. +To meet old friends and comrades; to ride with them in the contests +that all true men of his kind love; to compare experiences and +exchange news and gossip with widely separated neighbors—had +been a pleasure. But the curious crowds of strangers; the throngs +of sightseers from the, to him, unknown world of cities, who had +regarded him as they might have viewed some rare and little-known +creature in a menagerie, and the brazen presence of those unclean +parasites and harpies that prey always upon such occasions had +oppressed and disgusted him until he was glad to escape again to +the clean freedom, the pure vitality and the unspoiled spirit of +his everyday life and environment. In an overflow of sheer physical +and spiritual energy he lifted his horse into a run and with a +shrill cowboy yell challenged his companions to a wild race to the +pasture gate.</p> +<p>It was some time after noon when Phil checked his horse near the +ruins of an old Indian lookout on the top of Black Hill. Below, in +the open land above Deep Wash, he could see his cowboy companions +working the band of horses that had been gathered slowly toward the +narrow pass that at the eastern end of Black Hill leads through to +the flats at the upper end of the big meadows, and so to the gate +and to the way they would follow to the corral. It was Phil's +purpose to ride across Black Hill down the western and northern +slope, through the cedar timber, and, picking up any horses that +might be ranging there, join the others at the gate. In the +meanwhile there was time for a few minutes rest. Dismounting, he +loosed the girths and lifted saddle and blanket from Hobson's +steaming back. Then, while the good horse, wearied with the hard +riding and the steep climb up the mountain side, stood quietly in +the shade of a cedar his master, stretched on the ground near by, +idly scanned the world that lay below and about them.</p> +<p>Very clearly in that light atmosphere Phil could see the trees +and buildings of the home ranch, and, just across the sandy wash +from the Cross-Triangle, the grove of cottonwoods and walnuts that +hid the little old house where he was born. A mile away, on the +eastern side of the great valley meadows, he could see the home +buildings of the Reid ranch—the Pot-Hook-S—where Kitty +Reid had lived all the days of her life except those three years +which she had spent at school in the East.</p> +<p>The young man on the top of Black Hill looked long at the Reid +home. In his mind he could see Kitty dressed in some cool, simple +gown, fresh and dainty after the morning's housework, sitting with +book or sewing on the front porch. The porch was on the other side +of the house, it is true, and the distance was too great for him to +distinguish a person in any case, but all that made no difference +to Phil's vision—he could see her just the same.</p> +<p>Kitty had been very kind to Phil at the celebration. But Kitty +was always kind—nearly always. But in spite of her kindness +the cowboy felt that she had not, somehow, seemed to place a very +high valuation upon the medal he had won in the bronco-riding +contest. Phil himself did not greatly value the medal; but he had +wanted greatly to win that championship because of the very +substantial money prize that went with it. That money, in Phil's +mind, was to play a very important part in a long cherished dream +that was one of the things that Phil Acton did not talk about. He +had not, in fact, ridden for the championship at all, but for his +dream, and that was why it mattered so much when Kitty seemed so to +lack interest in his success.</p> +<p>As though his subconscious mind directed the movement, the young +man looked away from Kitty's home to the distant mountain ridge +where the night before on the summit of the Divide he had met the +stranger. All the way home the cowboy had wondered about the man; +evolving many theories, inventing many things to account for his +presence, alone and on foot, so far from the surroundings to which +he was so clearly accustomed. Of one thing Phil was sure—the +man was in trouble—deep trouble. The more that the +clean-minded, gentle-hearted lad of the great out-of-doors thought +about it, the more strongly he felt that he had unwittingly +intruded at a moment that was sacred to the stranger—sacred +because the man was fighting one of those battles that every man +must fight—and fight alone. It was this feeling that had kept +the young man from speaking of the incident to anyone—even to +the Dean, or to "Mother," as he called Mrs. Baldwin. Perhaps, too, +this feeling was the real reason for Phil's sense of kinship with +the stranger, for the cowboy himself had moments in his life that +he could permit no man to look upon. But in his thinking of the man +whose personality had so impressed him one thing stood out above +all the rest—the stranger clearly belonged to that world of +which, from experience, the young foreman of the Cross-Triangle +knew nothing. Phil Acton had no desire for the world to which the +stranger belonged, but in his heart there was a troublesome +question. If—if he himself were more like the man whom he had +met on the Divide; if—if he knew more of that other world; if +he, in some degree, belonged to that other world, as Kitty, because +of her three years in school belonged, would it make any +difference?</p> +<p>From the distant mountain ridge that marks the eastern limits of +the Williamson Valley country, and thus, in a degree, marked the +limit of Phil's world, the lad's gaze turned again to the scene +immediately before him.</p> +<p>The band of horses, followed by the cowboys, were trotting from +the narrow pass out into the open flats. Some of the band—the +mothers—went quietly, knowing from past experience that they +would in a few hours be returned to their freedom. Others—the +colts and yearlings—bewildered, curious and fearful, followed +their mothers without protest. But those who in many a friendly +race or primitive battle had proved their growing years seemed to +sense a coming crisis in their lives, hitherto peaceful. And these, +as though warned by that strange instinct which guards all wild +things, and realizing that the open ground between the pass and the +gate presented their last opportunity, made final desperate efforts +to escape. With sudden dashes, dodging and doubling, they tried +again and again for freedom. But always between them and the haunts +they loved there was a persistent horseman. Running, leaping, +whirling, in their efforts to be everywhere at once, the riders +worked their charges toward the gate.</p> +<p>The man on the hilltop sprang to his feet. Hobson threw up his +head, and with sharp ears forward eagerly watched the game he knew +so well. With a quickness incredible to the uninitiated, Phil threw +blanket and saddle to place. As he drew the cinch tight, a shrill +cowboy yell came up from the flat below.</p> +<p>One of the band, a powerful bay, had broken past the guarding +horsemen, and was running with every ounce of his strength for the +timber on the western slope of Black Hill. For a hundred yards one +of the riders had tried to overtake and turn the fugitive; but as +he saw how the stride of the free horse was widening the distance +between them, the cowboy turned back lest others follow the +successful runaway's example. The yell was to inform Phil of the +situation.</p> +<p>Before the echoes of the signal could die away Phil was in the +saddle, and with an answering shout sent Hobson down the rough +mountain side in a wild, reckless, plunging run to head the, for +the moment, victorious bay. An hour later the foreman rejoined his +companions who were holding the band of horses at the gate. The big +bay, reluctant, protesting, twisting and turning in vain attempts +to outmaneuver Hobson, was a captive in the loop of "Wild Horse +Phil's" riata.</p> +<p>In the big corral that afternoon Phil and his helpers with the +Dean and Little Billy looking on, cut out from the herd the horses +selected to be broken. These, one by one, were forced through the +gate into the adjoining corral, from which they watched with uneasy +wonder and many excited and ineffectual attempts to follow, when +their more fortunate companions were driven again to the big +pasture. Then Phil opened another gate, and the little band dashed +wildly through, to find themselves in the small meadow pasture +where they would pass the last night before the one great battle of +their lives—a battle that would be for them a dividing point +between those years of ease and freedom which had been theirs from +birth and the years of hard and useful service that were to +come.</p> +<p>Phil sat on his horse at the gate watching with critical eye as +the unbroken animals raced away. "Some good ones in the bunch this +year, Uncle Will," he commented to his employer, who, standing on +the watering trough in the other corral, was looking over the +fence.</p> +<p>"There's bound to be some good ones in every bunch," returned +Mr. Baldwin. "And some no account ones, too," he added, as his +foreman dismounted beside him.</p> +<p>Then, while the young man slipped the bridle from his horse and +stood waiting for the animal to drink, the older man regarded him +silently, as though in his own mind the Dean's observation bore +somewhat upon Phil himself. That was always the way with the Dean. +As Sheriff Fellows once remarked to Judge Powell in the old days of +the cattle rustlers' glory, "Whatever Bill Baldwin says is mighty +nigh always double-barreled."</p> +<p>There are also two sides to the Dean. Or, rather, to be +accurate, there is a front and a back. The back—flat and +straight and broad—indicates one side of his +character—the side that belongs with the square chin and the +blue eyes that always look at you with such frank directness. It +was this side of the man that brought him barefooted and penniless +to Arizona in those days long gone when he was only a boy and +Arizona a strong man's country. It was this side of him that +brought him triumphantly through those hard years of the Indian +troubles, and in those wild and lawless times made him respected +and feared by the evildoers and trusted and followed by those of +his kind who, out of the hardships and dangers of those turbulent +days, made the Arizona of to-day. It was this side, too, that +finally made the barefoot, penniless boy the owner of the +Cross-Triangle Ranch.</p> +<p>I do not know the exact number of the Dean's years—I only +know that his hair is grey, and that he does not ride as much as he +once did. I have heard him say, though, that for thirty-five years +he lived in the saddle, and that the Cross-Triangle brand is one of +the oldest irons in the State. And I know, too, that his back is +still flat and broad and straight.</p> +<p>The Dean's front, so well-rounded and hearty, indicates as +clearly the other side of his character. And it is this side that +belongs to the full red cheeks, the ever-ready chuckle or laugh; +that puts the twinkle in the blue eyes, and the kindly tones in his +deep voice. It is this side of the Dean's character that adds so +large a measure of love to the respect and confidence accorded him +by neighbors and friends, business associates and employees. It is +this side of the Dean, too, that, in these days, sits in the shade +of the big walnut trees—planted by his own hand—and +talks to the youngsters of the days that are gone, and that makes +the young riders of this generation seek him out for counsel and +sympathy and help.</p> +<p>Three things the Dean knows—cattle and horses and men. One +thing the Dean will not, cannot tolerate—weakness in one who +should be strong. Even bad men he admires, if they are +strong—not for their badness, but for their strength. +Mistaken men he loves in spite of their mistakes—if only they +be not weaklings. There is no place anywhere in the Dean's +philosophy of life for a weakling. I heard him tell a man +once—nor shall I ever forget it—"You had better die +like a man, sir, than live like a sneaking coyote."</p> +<p>The Dean's sons, men grown, were gone from the home ranch to the +fields and work of their choosing. Little Billy, a nephew of seven +years, was—as Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin said +laughingly—their second crop.</p> +<p>When Phil's horse—satisfied—lifted his dripping +muzzle from the watering trough, the Dean walked with his young +foreman to the saddle shed. Neither of the men spoke, for between +them there was that companionship which does not require a constant +flow of talk to keep it alive. Not until the cowboy had turned his +horse loose, and was hanging saddle and bridle on their accustomed +peg did the older man speak.</p> +<p>"Jim Reid's goin' to begin breakin' horses next week."</p> +<p>"So I heard," returned Phil, carefully spreading his saddle +blanket to dry.</p> +<p>The Dean spoke again in a tone of indifference. "He wants you to +help him."</p> +<p>"Me! What's the matter with Jack?"</p> +<p>"He's goin' to the D.1 to-morrow."</p> +<p>Phil was examining the wrapping on his saddle horn +with—the Dean noted—quite unnecessary care.</p> +<p>"Kitty was over this mornin'," said the Dean gently.</p> +<p>The young man turned, and, taking off his spurs, hung them on +the saddle horn. Then as he kicked off his leather chaps he said +shortly, "I'm not looking for a job as a professional +bronco-buster."</p> +<p>The Dean's eyes twinkled. "Thought you might like to help a +neighbor out; just to be neighborly, you know."</p> +<p>"Do you want me to ride for Reid?" demanded Phil.</p> +<p>"Well, I suppose as long as there's broncs to bust somebody's +got to bust 'em," the Dean returned, without committing himself. +And then, when Phil made no reply, he added laughing, "I told Kitty +to tell him, though, that I reckoned you had as big a string as you +could handle here."</p> +<p>As they moved away toward the house, Phil returned with +significant emphasis, "When I have to ride for anybody besides you +it won't be Kitty Reid's father."</p> +<p>And the Dean commented in his reflective tone, "It does +sometimes seem to make a difference who a man rides for, don't +it?"</p> +<p>In the pasture by the corrals, the horses that awaited the +approaching trial that would mark for them the beginning of a new +life passed a restless night. Some in meekness of spirit or, +perhaps, with deeper wisdom fed quietly. Others wandered about +aimlessly, snatching an occasional uneasy mouthful of grass, and +looking about often in troubled doubt. The more rebellious ones +followed the fence, searching for some place of weakness in the +barbed barrier that imprisoned them. And one, who, had he not been +by circumstance robbed of his birthright, would have been the +strong leader of a wild band, stood often with wide nostrils and +challenging eye, gazing toward the corrals and buildings as if +questioning the right of those who had brought him there from the +haunts he loved.</p> +<p>And somewhere in the night of that land which was as unknown to +him as the meadow pasture was strange to the unbroken horses, a man +awaited the day which, for him too, was to stand through all his +remaining years as a mark between the old life and the new.</p> +<p>As Phil Acton lay in his bed, with doors and windows open wide +to welcome the cool night air, he heard the restless horses in the +near-by pasture, and smiled as he thought of the big bay and the +morrow—smiled with the smile of a man who looks forward to a +battle worthy of his best strength and skill.</p> +<p>And then, strangely enough, as he was slipping into that +dreamless sleep of those who live as he lived, his mind went back +again to the stranger whom he had met on the summit of the Divide. +If he were more like that man, would it make any +difference—the cowboy wondered.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/043.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_04.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/044.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>n the beginning of the morning, when Granite Mountain's +fortress-like battlements and towers loomed gray and bold and grim, +the big bay horse trumpeted a warning to his less watchful mates. +Instantly, with heads high and eyes wide, the band stood in +frightened indecision. Two horsemen—shadowy and mysterious +forms in the misty light—were riding from the corral into the +pasture.</p> +<p>As the riders approached, individuals in the band moved +uneasily, starting as if to run, hesitating, turning for another +look, maneuvering to put their mates between them and the enemy. +But the bay went boldly a short distance toward the danger and +stood still with wide nostrils and fierce eyes as though ready for +the combat.</p> +<p>For a few moments, as the horsemen seemed about to go past, hope +beat high in the hearts of the timid prisoners. Then the riders +circled to put the band between themselves and the corral gate, and +the frightened animals knew. But always as they whirled and dodged +in their attempts to avoid that big gate toward which they were +forced to move, there was a silent, persistent horseman barring the +way. The big bay alone, as though realizing the futility of such +efforts and so conserving his strength for whatever was to follow, +trotted proudly, boldly into the corral, where he stood, his eyes +never leaving the riders, as his mates crowded and jostled about +him.</p> +<p>"There's one in that bunch that's sure aimin' to make you ride +some," said Curly Elson with a grin, to Phil, as the family sat at +breakfast.</p> +<p>On the Cross-Triangle the men who were held through the summer +and winter seasons between the months of the rodeos were considered +members of the family. Chosen for their character, as well as for +their knowledge of the country and their skill in their work the +Dean and "Stella," as Mrs. Baldwin is called throughout all that +country, always spoke of them affectionately as "our boys." And +this, better than anything that could be said, is an introduction +to the mistress of the Cross-Triangle household.</p> +<p>At the challenging laugh which followed Curly's observation, +Phil returned quietly with his sunny smile, "Maybe I'll quit him +before he gets good and started."</p> +<p>"He's sure fixin' to make you back the decision of them contest +judges," offered Bob Colton.</p> +<p>And Mrs. Baldwin, young in spirit as any of her boys, added, +"Better not wear your medal, son. It might excite him to know that +you are the champion buster of Arizona."</p> +<p>"Shucks!" piped up Little Billy excitedly, "Phil can ride +anything what wears hair, can't you, Phil?"</p> +<p>Phil, embarrassed at the laughter which followed, said, with +tactful seriousness, to his little champion, "That's right, kid. +You stand up for your pardner every time, don't you? You'll be +riding them yourself before long. There's a little sorrel in that +bunch that I've picked out to gentle for you." He glanced at his +employer meaningly, and the Dean's face glowed with appreciation of +the young man's thoughtfulness. "That old horse, Sheep, of yours," +continued Phil to Little Billy, "is getting too old and stiff for +your work. I've noticed him stumbling a lot lately." Again he +glanced inquiringly at the Dean, who answered the look with a +slight nod of approval.</p> +<p>"You'd better make him gentle your horse first, Billy," teased +Curly. "He might not be in the business when that big one gets +through with him."</p> +<p>Little Billy's retort came in a flash. "Huh, 'Wild Horse Phil' +will be a-ridin' 'em long after you've got your'n, Curly +Elson."</p> +<p>"Look out, son," cautioned the Dean, when the laugh had gone +round again. "Curly will be slippin' a burr under your saddle, if +you don't." Then to the men: "What horse is it that you boys think +is goin' to be such a bad one? That big bay with the blazed +face?"</p> +<p>The cowboys nodded.</p> +<p>"He's bad, all right," said Phil.</p> +<p>"Well," commented the Dean, leaning back in his chair and +speaking generally, "he's sure got a license to be bad. His mother +was the wickedest piece of horse flesh I ever knew. Remember her, +Stella?"</p> +<p>"Indeed I do," returned Mrs. Baldwin. "She nearly ruined that +Windy Jim who came from nobody knew where, and bragged that he +could ride anything."</p> +<p>The Dean chuckled reminiscently. "She sure sent Windy back where +he came from. But I tell you, boys, that kind of a horse makes the +best in the world once you get 'em broke right. Horses are just +like men, anyhow. If they ain't got enough in 'em to fight when +they're bein' broke, they ain't generally worth breakin'."</p> +<p>"The man that rides that bay will sure be a-horseback," said +Curly.</p> +<p>"He's a man's horse, all right," agreed Bob.</p> +<p>Breakfast over, the men left the house, not too quietly, and +laughing, jesting and romping like school boys, went out to the +corrals, with Little Billy tagging eagerly at their heels. The Dean +and Phil remained for a few minutes at the table.</p> +<p>"You really oughtn't to say such things to those boys, Will," +reproved Mrs. Baldwin, as she watched them from the window. "It +encourages them to be wild, and land knows they don't need any +encouragement."</p> +<p>"Shucks," returned the Dean, with that gentle note that was +always in his voice when he spoke to her. "If such talk as that can +hurt 'em, there ain't nothin' that could save 'em. You're always +afraid somebody's goin' to go bad. Look at me and Phil here," he +added, as they in turn pushed their chairs back from the table; +"you've fussed enough over us to spoil a dozen men, and ain't we +been a credit to you all the time?"</p> +<p>At this they laughed together. But as Phil was leaving the house +Mrs. Baldwin stopped him at the door to say earnestly, "You will be +careful to-day, won't you, son? You know my other Phil—" She +stopped and turned away.</p> +<p>The young man knew that story—a story common to that land +where the lives of men are not infrequently offered a sacrifice to +the untamed strength of the life that in many forms they are daily +called upon to meet and master.</p> +<p>"Never mind, mother," he said gently. "I'll be all right." Then +more lightly he added, with his sunny smile, "If that big bay +starts anything with me, I'll climb the corral fence pronto."</p> +<p>Quietly, as one who faces a hard day's work, Phil went to the +saddle shed where he buckled on chaps and spurs. Then, after +looking carefully to stirrup leathers, cinch and latigos, he went +on to the corrals, the heavy saddle under his arm.</p> +<p>Curly and Bob, their horses saddled and ready, were making +animated targets of themselves for Little Billy, who, mounted on +Sheep, a gentle old cow-horse, was whirling a miniature riata. As +the foreman appeared, the cowboys dropped their fun, and, mounting, +took the coils of their own rawhide ropes in hand.</p> +<p>"Which one will you have first, Phil?" asked Curly, as he moved +toward the gate between the big corral and the smaller enclosure +that held the band of horses.</p> +<p>"That black one with the white star will do," directed Phil +quietly. Then to Little Billy: "You'd better get back there out of +the way, pardner. That black is liable to jump clear over you and +Sheep."</p> +<p>"You better get outside, son," amended the Dean, who had come +out to watch the beginning of the work.</p> +<p>"No, no—please, Uncle Will," begged the lad. "They can't +get me as long as I'm on Sheep."</p> +<p>Phil and the Dean laughed.</p> +<p>"I'll look out for him," said the young man. "Only," he added to +the boy, "you must keep out of the way."</p> +<p>"And see that you stick to Sheep, if you expect him to take care +of you," finished the Dean, relenting.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the gate between the corrals had been thrown open, and +with Bob to guard the opening Curly rode in among the unbroken +horses to cut out the animal indicated by Phil, and from within +that circular enclosure, where the earth had been ground to fine +powder by hundreds of thousands of frightened feet, came the +rolling thunder of quick-beating hoofs as in a swirling cloud of +yellow dust the horses rushed and leaped and whirled. Again and +again the frightened animals threw themselves against the barrier +that hemmed them in; but that fence, built of cedar posts set close +in stockade fashion and laced on the outside with wire, was made to +withstand the maddened rush of the heaviest steers. And always, +amid the confusion of the frenzied animals, the figure of the +mounted man in their midst could be seen calmly directing their +wildest movements, and soon, out from the crowding, jostling, +whirling mass of flying feet and tossing manes and tails, the black +with the white star shot toward the gate. Bob's horse leaped aside +from the way. Curly's horse was between the black and his mates, +and before the animal could gather his confused senses he was in +the larger corral. The day's work had begun.</p> +<p>The black dodged skillfully, and the loop of Curly's riata +missed the mark.</p> +<p>"You better let somebody put eyes in that rope, Curly," remarked +Phil, laconically, as he stepped aside to avoid a wild rush.</p> +<p>The chagrined cowboy said something in a low tone, so that +Little Billy could not hear.</p> +<p>The Dean chuckled.</p> +<p>Bob's riata whirled, shot out its snaky length, and his trained +horse braced himself skillfully to the black's weight on the rope. +For a few minutes the animal at the loop end of the riata struggled +desperately—plunging, tugging, throwing himself this way and +that; but always the experienced cow-horse turned with his victim +and the rope was never slack. When his first wild efforts were over +and the black stood with his wide braced feet, breathing heavily as +that choking loop began to tell, the strain on the taut riata was +lessened, and Phil went quietly toward the frightened captive.</p> +<p>No one moved or spoke. This was not an exhibition the success of +which depended on the vicious wildness of the horse to be +conquered. This was work, and it was not Phil's business to provoke +the black to extremes in order to exhibit his own prowess as a +rider for the pleasure of spectators who had paid to see the show. +The rider was employed to win the confidence of the unbroken horse +entrusted to him; to force obedience, if necessary; to gentle and +train, and so make of the wild creature a useful and valuable +servant for the Dean.</p> +<p>There are riders whose methods demand that they throw every +unbroken horse given them to handle, and who gentle an animal by +beating it about the head with loaded quirts, ripping its flanks +open with sharp spurs and tearing its mouth with torturing bits and +ropes. These turn over to their employers as their finished product +horses that are broken, indeed—but broken only in spirit, +with no heart or courage left to them, with dispositions ruined, +and often with physical injuries from which they never recover. But +riders of such methods have no place among the men employed by +owners of the Dean's type. On the Cross-Triangle, and indeed on all +ranches where conservative business principles are in force, the +horses are handled with all the care and gentleness that the work +and the individuality of the animal will permit.</p> +<p>After a little Phil's hand gently touched the black's head. +Instantly the struggle was resumed. The rider dodged a vicious blow +from the strong fore hoofs and with a good natured laugh softly +chided the desperate animal. And so, presently, the kind hand was +again stretched forth; and then a broad band of leather was deftly +slipped over the black's frightened eyes. Another thicker and +softer rope was knotted so that it could not slip about the now +sweating neck, and fashioned into a hackamore or halter about the +animal's nose. Then the riata was loosed. Working deftly, silently, +gently—ever wary of those dangerous hoofs—Phil next +placed blanket and saddle on the trembling black and drew the cinch +tight. Then the gate leading from the corral to the open range was +swung back. Easily, but quickly and surely, the rider swung to his +seat. He paused a moment to be sure that all was right, and then +leaning forward he reached over and raised the leather blindfold. +For an instant the wild, unbroken horse stood still, then reared +until it seemed he must fall, and then, as his forefeet touched the +ground again, the spurs went home, and with a mighty leap forward +the frenzied animal dashed, bucking, plunging, pitching, through +the gate and away toward the open country, followed by Curly and +Bob, with Little Billy spurring old Sheep, in hot pursuit.</p> +<p>For a little the Dean lingered in the suddenly emptied corral. +Stepping up on the end of the long watering trough, close to the +dividing fence, he studied with knowing eye the animals on the +other side. Then leisurely he made his way out of the corral, +visited the windmill pump, looked in on Stella from the kitchen +porch, and then saddled Browny, his own particular horse that +grazed always about the place at privileged ease, and rode off +somewhere on some business of his own.</p> +<p>When the black horse had spent his strength in a vain attempt to +rid himself of the dreadful burden that had attached itself so +securely to his back, he was herded back to the corral, where the +burden set him free. Dripping with sweat, trembling in every limb +and muscle, wild-eyed, with distended nostrils and heaving flanks, +the black crowded in among his mates again, his first lesson +over—his years of ease and freedom past forever.</p> +<p>"And which will it be this time?" came Curly's question.</p> +<p>"I'll have that buckskin this trip," answered Phil.</p> +<p>And again that swirling cloud of dust raised by those thundering +hoofs drifted over the stockade enclosure, and out of the mad +confusion the buckskin dashed wildly through the gate to be +initiated into his new life.</p> +<p>And so, hour after hour, the work went on, as horse after horse +at Phil's word was cut out of the band and ridden; and every horse, +according to disposition and temper and strength, was different. +While his helpers did their part the rider caught a few moments +rest. Always he was good natured, soft spoken and gentle. When a +frightened animal, not understanding, tried to kill him, he +accepted it as evidence of a commendable spirit, and, with that +sunny, boyish smile, informed his pupil kindly that he was a good +horse and must not make a fool of himself.</p> +<p>In so many ways, as the Dean had said at breakfast that morning, +horses are just like men.</p> +<p>It was mid-afternoon when the master of the Cross-Triangle again +strolled leisurely out to the corrals. Phil and his helpers, +including Little Billy, were just disappearing over the rise of +ground beyond the gate on the farther side of the enclosure as the +Dean reached the gate that opens toward the barn and house. He went +on through the corral, and slowly, as one having nothing else to +do, climbed the little knoll from which he could watch the riders +in the distance. When the horsemen had disappeared among the +scattered cedars on the ridge, a mile or so to the west, the Dean +still stood looking in that direction. But the owner of the +Cross-Triangle was not watching for the return of his men. He was +not even thinking of them. He was looking beyond the cedar ridge to +where, several miles away, a long, mesa-topped mountain showed +black against the blue of the more distant hills. The edge of this +high table-land broke abruptly in a long series of vertical cliffs, +the formation known to Arizonians as rim rocks. The deep shadows of +the towering black wall of cliffs and the gloom of the pines and +cedars that hid the foot of the mountain gave the place a sinister +and threatening appearance.</p> +<p>As he looked, the Dean's kindly face grew somber and stern; his +blue eyes were for the moment cold and accusing; under his grizzled +mustache his mouth, usually so ready to smile or laugh, was set in +lines of uncompromising firmness. In these quiet and well-earned +restful years of the Dean's life the Tailholt Mountain outfit was +the only disturbing element. But the Dean did not permit himself to +be long annoyed by the thoughts provoked by Tailholt Mountain. +Philosophically he turned his broad back to the intruding scene, +and went back to the corral, and to the more pleasing occupation of +looking at the horses.</p> +<p>If the Dean had not so abruptly turned his back upon the +landscape, he would have noticed the figure of a man moving slowly +along the road that skirted the valley meadow leading from Simmons +to the Cross-Triangle Ranch.</p> +<p>Presently the riders returned, and Phil, when he had removed +saddle, blanket and hackamore from his pupil, seated himself on the +edge of the watering trough beside the Dean.</p> +<p>"I see you ain't tackled the big bay yet," remarked the older +man.</p> +<p>"Thought if I'd let him look on for a while, he might figure it +out that he'd better be good and not get himself hurt," smiled +Phil. "He's sure some horse," he added admiringly. Then to his +helpers: "I'll take that black with the white forefoot this time, +Curly."</p> +<p>Just as the fresh horse dashed into the larger corral a man on +foot appeared, coming over the rise of ground to the west; and by +the time that Curly's loop was over the black's head the man stood +at the gate. One glance told Phil that it was the stranger whom he +had met on the Divide.</p> +<p>The man seemed to understand that it was no time for greetings +and, without offering to enter the enclosure, climbed to the top of +the big gate, where he sat, with one leg over the topmost bar, an +interested spectator.</p> +<p>The maneuvers of the black brought Phil to that side of the +corral, and, as he coolly dodged the fighting horse, he glanced up +with his boyish smile and a quick nod of welcome to the man perched +above him. The stranger smiled in return, but did not speak. He +must have thought, though, that this cowboy appeared quite +different from the picturesque rider he had seen at the celebration +and on the summit of the Divide. <i>That</i> Phil Acton had +been—as the cowboy himself would have said—"all togged +out in his glad rags." This man wore chaps that were old and +patched from hard service; his shirt, unbuttoned at the throat, was +the color of the corral dirt, and a generous tear revealed one +muscular shoulder; his hat was greasy and battered; his face grimed +and streaked with dust and sweat, but his sunny, boyish smile would +have identified Phil in any garb.</p> +<p>When the rider was ready to mount, and Bob went to open the +gate, the stranger climbed down and drew a little aside. And when +Phil, passing where he stood, looked laughingly down at him from +the back of the bucking, plunging horse, he made as if to applaud, +but checked himself and went quickly to the top of the knoll to +watch the riders until they disappeared over the ridge.</p> +<p>"Howdy! Fine weather we're havin'." It was the Dean's hearty +voice. He had gone forward courteously to greet the stranger while +the latter was watching the riders.</p> +<p>The man turned impulsively, his face lighted with enthusiasm. +"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "but that man can ride!"</p> +<p>"Yes, Phil does pretty well," returned the Dean indifferently. +"Won the championship at Prescott the other day." Then, more +heartily: "He's a mighty good boy, too—take him any way you +like."</p> +<p>As he spoke the cattleman looked the stranger over critically, +much as he would have looked at a steer or horse, noting the long +limbs, the well-made body, the strong face and clear, dark eyes. +The man's dress told the Dean simply that the stranger was from the +city. His bearing commanded the older man's respect. The stranger's +next statement, as he looked thoughtfully over the wide Land of +valley and hill and mesa and mountain, convinced the Dean that he +was a man of judgment.</p> +<p>"Arizona is a wonderful country, sir—wonderful!"</p> +<p>"Finest in the world, sir," agreed the Dean promptly. "There +just naturally can't be any better. We've got the climate; we've +got the land; and we've got the men."</p> +<p>The stranger looked at the Dean quickly when he said "men." It +was worth much to hear the Dean speak that word.</p> +<p>"Indeed you have," he returned heartily. "I never saw such +men."</p> +<p>"Of course you haven't," said the Dean. "I tell you, sir, they +just don't make 'em outside of Arizona. It takes a country like +this to produce real men. A man's got to be a man out here. Of +course, though," he admitted kindly, "we don't know much except to +ride, an' throw a rope, an' shoot, mebby, once in a while."</p> +<p>The riders were returning and the Dean and the stranger walked +back down the little hill to the corral.</p> +<p>"You have a fine ranch here, Mr. Baldwin," again observed the +stranger.</p> +<p>The Dean glanced at him sharply. Many men had tried to buy the +Cross-Triangle. This man certainly appeared prosperous even though +he was walking. But there was no accounting for the queer things +that city men would do.</p> +<p>"It does pretty well," the cattleman admitted. "I manage to make +a livin'."</p> +<p>The other smiled as though slightly embarrassed. Then: "Do you +need any help?"</p> +<p>"Help!" The Dean looked at him amazed.</p> +<p>"I mean—I would like a position—to work for you, you +know."</p> +<p>The Dean was speechless. Again he surveyed the stranger with his +measuring, critical look. "You've never done any work," he said +gently.</p> +<p>The man stood very straight before him and spoke almost +defiantly. "No, I haven't, but is that any reason why I should +not?"</p> +<p>The Dean's eyes twinkled, as they have a way of doing when you +say something that he likes. "I'd say it's a better reason why you +should," he returned quietly.</p> +<p>Then he said to Phil, who, having dismissed his four-footed +pupil, was coming toward them:</p> +<p>"Phil, this man wants a job. Think we can use him?"</p> +<p>The young man looked at the stranger with unfeigned surprise and +with a hint of amusement, but gave no sign that he had ever seen +him before. The same natural delicacy of feeling that had prevented +the cowboy from discussing the man upon whose privacy he felt he +had intruded that evening of their meeting on the Divide led him +now to ignore the incident—a consideration which could not +but command the strange man's respect, and for which he looked his +gratitude.</p> +<p>There was something about the stranger, too, that to Phil seemed +different. This tall, well-built fellow who stood before them so +self-possessed, and ready for anything, was not altogether like the +uncertain, embarrassed, half-frightened and troubled gentleman at +whom Phil had first laughed with thinly veiled contempt, and then +had pitied. It was as though the man who sat that night alone on +the Divide had, out of the very bitterness of his experience, +called forth from within himself a strength of which, until then, +he had been only dimly conscious. There was now, in his face and +bearing, courage and decision and purpose, and with it all a glint +of that same humor that had made him so bitterly mock himself. The +Dean's philosophy touching the possibilities of the man who laughs +when he is hurt seemed in this stranger about to be justified. Phil +felt oddly, too, that the man was in a way experimenting with +himself—testing himself as it were—and being altogether +a normal human, the cowboy felt strongly inclined to help the +experimenter. In this spirit he answered the Dean, while looking +mischievously at the stranger.</p> +<p>"We can use him if he can ride."</p> +<p>The stranger smiled understandingly. "I don't see why I +couldn't," he returned in that droll tone. "I seem to have the +legs." He looked down at his long lower limbs reflectively, as +though quaintly considering them quite apart from himself.</p> +<p>Phil laughed.</p> +<p>"Huh," said the Dean, slightly mystified at the apparent +understanding between the young men. Then to the stranger: "What do +you want to work for? You don't look as though you needed to. A +sort of vacation, heh?"</p> +<p>There was spirit in the man's answer. "I want to work for the +reason that all men want work. If you do not employ me, I must try +somewhere else."</p> +<p>"Come from Prescott to Simmons on the stage, did you?"</p> +<p>"No, sir, I walked."</p> +<p>"Walked! Huh! Tried anywhere else for a job?"</p> +<p>"No, sir."</p> +<p>"Who sent you out here?"</p> +<p>The stranger smiled. "I saw Mr. Acton ride in the contest. I +learned that he was foreman of the Cross-Triangle Ranch. I thought +I would rather work where he worked, if I could."</p> +<p>The Dean looked at Phil. Phil looked at the Dean. Together they +looked at the stranger. The two cowboys who were sitting on their +horses near-by grinned at each other.</p> +<p>"And what is your name, sir?" the Dean asked courteously.</p> +<p>For the first time the man hesitated and seemed embarrassed. He +looked uneasily about with a helpless inquiring glance, as though +appealing for some suggestion.</p> +<p>"Oh, never mind your name, if you have forgotten it," said the +Dean dryly.</p> +<p>The stranger's roaming eyes fell upon Phil's old chaps, that in +every wrinkle and scar and rip and tear gave such eloquent +testimony as to the wearer's life, and that curious, self-mocking +smile touched his lips. Then, throwing up his head and looking the +Dean straight in the eye, he said boldly, but with that note of +droll humor in his voice, "My name is Patches, sir, Honorable +Patches."</p> +<p>The Dean's eyes twinkled, but his face was grave. Phil's face +flushed; he had not failed to identify the source of the stranger's +inspiration. But before either the Dean or Phil could speak a shout +of laughter came from Curly Elson, and the stranger had turned to +face the cowboy.</p> +<p>"Something seems to amuse you," he said quietly to the man on +the horse; and at the tone of his voice Phil and the Dean exchanged +significant glances.</p> +<p>The grinning cowboy looked down at the stranger in evident +contempt. "Patches," he drawled. "Honorable Patches! That's a hell +of a name, now, ain't it?"</p> +<p>The man went two long steps toward the mocking rider, and spoke +quietly, but with unmistakable meaning.</p> +<p>"I'll endeavor to make it all of that for you, if you will get +off your horse."</p> +<p>The grinning cowboy, with a wink at his companion, dismounted +cheerfully. Curly Elson was held to be the best man with his hands +in Yavapai County. He could not refuse so tempting an opportunity +to add to his well-earned reputation.</p> +<p>Five minutes later Curly lifted himself on one elbow in the +corral dust, and looked up with respectful admiration to the quiet +man who stood waiting for him to rise. Curly's lip was bleeding +generously; the side of his face seemed to have slipped out of +place, and his left eye was closing surely and rapidly.</p> +<p>"Get up," said the tall man calmly. "There is more where that +came from, if you want it."</p> +<p>The cowboy grinned painfully. "I ain't hankerin' after any +more," he mumbled, feeling his face tenderly.</p> +<p>"It said that my name was Patches," suggested the stranger.</p> +<p>"Sure, Mr. Patches, I reckon nobody'll question that."</p> +<p>"Honorable Patches," again prompted the stranger.</p> +<p>"Yes, sir. You bet; Honorable Patches," agreed Curly with +emphasis. Then, as he painfully regained his feet, he held out his +hand with as nearly a smile as his battered features would permit. +"Do you mind shaking on it, Mr. Honorable Patches? Just to show +that there's no hard feelin's?"</p> +<p>Patches responded instantly with a manner that won Curly's +heart. "Good!" he said. "I knew you would do that when you +understood, or I wouldn't have bothered to show you my +credentials."</p> +<p>"My mistake," returned Curly. "It's them there credentials of +yourn, not your name, that's hell."</p> +<p>He gingerly mounted his horse again, and Patches turned back to +the Dean as though apologizing for the interruption.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon, sir, but—about work?"</p> +<p>The Dean never told anyone just what his thoughts were at that +particular moment; probably because they were so many and so +contradictory and confusing. Whether from this uncertainty of mind; +from a habit of depending upon his young foreman, or because of +that something, which Phil and the stranger seemed to have in +common, he shifted the whole matter by saying, "It's up to Phil +here. He's foreman of the Cross-Triangle. If he wants to hire you, +it's all right with me."</p> +<p>At this the two young men faced each other; and on the face of +each was a half questioning, half challenging smile. The stranger +seemed to say, "I know I am at your mercy; I don't expect you to +believe in me after our meeting on the Divide, but I dare you to +put me to the test."</p> +<p>And Phil, if he had spoken, might have said, "I felt when I met +you first that there was a man around somewhere. I know you are +curious to see what you would do if put to the test. I am curious, +too. I'll give you a chance." Aloud he reminded the stranger +pointedly, "I said we might use you if you could ride."</p> +<p>Patches smiled his self-mocking smile, evidently appreciating +his predicament. "And I said," he retorted, "that I didn't see why +I couldn't."</p> +<p>Phil turned to his grinning but respectful helpers. "Bring out +that bay with the blazed face."</p> +<p>"Great Snakes!" ejaculated Curly to Bob, as they reached the +gate leading to the adjoining corral. "His name is Patches, all +right, but he'll be pieces when that bay devil gets through with +him, if he can't ride. Do you reckon he can?"</p> +<p>"Dunno," returned Bob, as he unlatched the gate without +dismounting. "I thought he couldn't fight."</p> +<p>"So did I," returned Curly, grimly nursing his battered face. +"You cut out the horse; I can't more'n half see."</p> +<p>It was no trouble to cut out the bay. The big horse seemed to +understand that his time had come. All day he had seen his mates go +forth to their testing, had watched them as they fought with all +their strength the skill and endurance of that smiling, boy-faced +man, and then had seen them as they returned, sweating, trembling, +conquered and subdued. As Bob rode toward him, he stood for one +defiant moment as motionless as a horse of bronze; then, with a +suddenness that gave Curly at the gate barely time to dodge his +rush, he leaped forward into the larger arena.</p> +<p>Phil was watching the stranger as the big horse came through the +gate. The man did not move, but his eyes were glowing darkly, his +face was flushed, and he was smiling to himself mockingly—as +though amused at the thought of what was about to happen to him. +The Dean also was watching Patches, and again the young foreman and +his employer exchanged significant glances as Phil turned and went +quickly to Little Billy. Lifting the lad from his saddle and +seating him on the fence above the long watering trough, he said, +"There's a grandstand seat for you, pardner; don't get down unless +you have to, and then get down outside. See?"</p> +<p>At that moment yells of warning, with a "Look out, Phil!" came +from Curly, Bob and the Dean.</p> +<p>A quick look over his shoulder, and Phil saw the big horse with +ears wickedly flat, eyes gleaming, and teeth bared, making straight +in his direction. The animal had apparently singled him out as the +author of his misfortunes, and proposed to dispose of his +arch-enemy at the very outset of the battle. There was only one +sane thing to do, and Phil did it. A vigorous, scrambling leap +placed him beside Little Billy on the top of the fence above the +watering trough.</p> +<p>"Good thing I reserved a seat in your grandstand for myself, +wasn't it, pardner?" he smiled down at the boy by his side.</p> +<p>Then Bob's riata fell true, and as the powerful horse plunged +and fought that strangling noose Phil came leisurely down from the +fence.</p> +<p>"Where was you goin', Phil?" chuckled the Dean.</p> +<p>"You sure warn't losin' any time," laughed Curly.</p> +<p>And Bob, without taking his eyes from the vicious animal at the +end of his taut riata, and working skillfully with his trained +cow-horse to foil every wicked plunge and wild leap, grinned with +appreciation, as he added, "I'll bet four bits you can't do it +again, Phil, without a runnin' start."</p> +<p>"I just thought I'd keep Little Billy company for a spell," +smiled Phil. "He looked so sort of lonesome up there."</p> +<p>The stranger, at first amazed that they could turn into jest an +incident which might so easily have been a tragedy, suddenly +laughed aloud—a joyous, ringing laugh that made Phil look at +him sharply.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon, Mr. Acton," said Patches meekly, but with +that droll voice which brought a glint of laughter into the +foreman's eyes and called forth another chuckle from the Dean.</p> +<p>"You can take my saddle," said Phil pointedly. "It's over there +at the end of the watering trough. You'll find the stirrups about +right, I reckon—I ride with them rather long."</p> +<p>For a moment the stranger looked him straight in the eyes, then +without a word started for the saddle. He was half way to the end +of the watering trough when Phil overtook him.</p> +<p>"I believe I'd rather saddle him myself," the cowboy explained +quietly, with his sunny smile. "You see, I've got to teach these +horses some cow sense before the fall rodeo, and I'm rather +particular about the way they're handled at the start."</p> +<p>"Exactly," returned Patches, "I don't blame you. That fellow +seems rather to demand careful treatment, doesn't he?"</p> +<p>Phil laughed. "Oh, you don't need to be too particular about his +feelings once you're up in the middle of him," he retorted.</p> +<p>The big bay, instead of acquiring sense from his observations, +as Phil had expressed to the Dean a hope that he would, seemed to +have gained courage and determination. Phil's approach was the +signal for a mad plunge in the young man's direction, which was +checked by the skill and weight of Bob's trained cow-horse on the +rope. Several times Phil went toward the bay, and every time his +advance was met by one of those vicious rushes. Then Phil mounted +Curly's horse, and from his hand the loop of another riata fell +over the bay's head. Shortening his rope by coiling it in his rein +hand, he maneuvered the trained horse closer and closer to his +struggling captive, until, with Bob's co-operation on the other +side of the fighting animal, he could with safety fix the leather +blindfold over those wicked eyes.</p> +<p>When at last hackamore and saddle were in place, and the bay +stood trembling and sweating, Phil wiped the perspiration from his +own forehead and turned to the stranger.</p> +<p>"Your horse is ready, sir."</p> +<p>The man's face was perhaps a shade whiter than its usual color, +but his eyes were glowing, and there was a grim set look about his +smiling lips that made the hearts of those men go out to him. He +seemed to realize so that the joke was on himself, and with it all +exhibited such reckless indifference to consequences. Without an +instant's hesitation he started toward the horse.</p> +<p>"Great Snakes!" muttered Curly to Bob, "talk about nerve!"</p> +<p>The Dean started forward. "Wait a minute, Mr. Patches," he +said.</p> +<p>The stranger faced him.</p> +<p>"Can you ride that horse?" asked the Dean, pointedly.</p> +<p>"I'm going to," returned Patches. "But," he added with his droll +humor, "I can't say how far."</p> +<p>"Don't you know that he'll kill you if he can?" questioned the +Dean curiously, while his eyes twinkled approval.</p> +<p>"He does seem to have some such notion," admitted Patches.</p> +<p>"You better let him alone," said the Dean. "You don't need to +kill yourself to get a job with this outfit."</p> +<p>"That's very kind of you, sir," returned the stranger +gratefully. "I'm rather glad you said that. But I'm going to ride +him just the same."</p> +<p>They looked at him in amazement, for it was clear to them now +that the man really could not ride.</p> +<p>The Dean spoke kindly. "Why?"</p> +<p>"Because," said Patches slowly, "I am curious to see what I will +do under such circumstances, and if I don't try the experiment now +I'll never know whether I have the nerve to do it or not." As he +finished he turned and walked deliberately toward the horse.</p> +<p>Phil ran to Curly's side, and the cowboy at his foreman's +gesture leaped from his saddle. The young man mounted his helper's +horse, and with a quick movement caught the riata from the saddle +horn and flipped open a ready loop.</p> +<p>The stranger was close to the bay's off, or right, side.</p> +<p>"The other side, Patches," called Phil genially. "You want to +start in right, you know."</p> +<p>Not a man laughed—except the stranger.</p> +<p>"Thanks," he said, and came around to the proper side.</p> +<p>"Take your time," called Phil again. "Stand by his shoulder and +watch his heels. Take the stirrup with your right hand and turn it +to catch your foot. Stay back by his shoulder until you are ready +to swing up. Take your time."</p> +<p>"I won't be long," returned Patches, as he awkwardly gained his +seat in the saddle.</p> +<p>Phil moved his horse nearer the center of the corral, and shook +out his loop a little.</p> +<p>"When you're ready, lean over and pull up the blindfold," he +called.</p> +<p>The man on the horse did not hesitate. With every angry nerve +and muscle strained to the utmost, the powerful bay leaped into the +air, coming down with legs stiff and head between his knees. For an +instant the man miraculously kept his place. With another vicious +plunge and a cork-screw twist the maddened brute went up again, and +this time the man was flung from the saddle as from a gigantic +catapult, to fall upon his shoulders and back in the corral dust, +where he lay still. The horse, rid of his enemy, leaped again; then +with catlike quickness and devilish cunning whirled, and with +wicked teeth bared and vicious, blazing eyes, rushed for the +helpless man on the ground.</p> +<p>With a yell Bob spurred to put himself between the bay and his +victim, but had there been time the move would have been useless, +for no horse could have withstood that mad charge. The vicious +brute was within a bound of his victim, and had reared to crush him +with the weight of heavy hoofs, when a rawhide rope tightened about +those uplifted forefeet and the bay himself crashed to earth. +Leaving the cow-horse to hold the riata tight, Phil sprang from his +saddle and ran to the fallen man. The Dean came with water in his +felt hat from the trough, and presently the stranger opened his +eyes. For a moment he lay looking up into their faces as though +wondering where he was, and how he happened there.</p> +<p>"Are you hurt bad?" asked the Dean.</p> +<p>That brought him to his senses, and he got to his feet somewhat +unsteadily, and began brushing the dust from his clothes. Then he +looked curiously toward the horse that Curly was holding down by +the simple means of sitting on the animal's head. "I certainly +thought my legs were long enough to reach around him," he said +reflectively. "How in the world did he manage it? I seemed to be +falling for a week."</p> +<p>Phil yelled and the Dean laughed until the tears ran down his +red cheeks, while Bob and Curly went wild.</p> +<p>Patches went to the horse, and gravely walked around him. Then, +"Let him up," he said to Curly.</p> +<p>The cowboy looked at Phil, who nodded.</p> +<p>As the bay regained his feet, Patches started toward him.</p> +<p>"Here," said the Dean peremptorily. "You come away from +there."</p> +<p>"I'm going to see if he can do it again," declared Patches +grimly.</p> +<p>"Not to-day, you ain't," returned the Dean. "You're workin' for +me now, an' you're too good a man to be killed tryin' any more +crazy experiments."</p> +<p>At the Dean's words the look of gratitude in the man's eyes was +almost pathetic.</p> +<p>"I wonder if I am," he said, so low that only the Dean and Phil +heard.</p> +<p>"If you are what?" asked the Dean, puzzled by his manner.</p> +<p>"Worth anything—as a man—you know," came the strange +reply.</p> +<p>The Dean chuckled. "You'll be all right when you get your +growth. Come on over here now, out of the way, while Phil takes +some of the cussedness out of that fool horse."</p> +<p>Together they watched Phil ride the bay and return him to his +mates a very tired and a much wiser pupil. Then, while Patches +remained to watch further operations in the corral, the Dean went +to the house to tell Stella all about it.</p> +<p>"And what do you think he really is?" she asked, as the last of +a long list of questions and comments.</p> +<p>The Dean shook his head. "There's no tellin'. A man like that is +liable to be anything." Then he added, with his usual philosophy: +"He acts, though, like a genuine thoroughbred that's been badly +mishandled an' has just found it out."</p> +<p>When the day's work was finished and supper was over Little +Billy found Patches where he stood looking across the valley toward +Granite Mountain that loomed so boldly against the soft light of +the evening sky. The man greeted the boy awkwardly, as though +unaccustomed to children. But Little Billy, very much at ease, +signified his readiness to help the stranger to an intimate +acquaintance with the world of which he knew so much more than this +big man.</p> +<p>He began with no waste of time on mere preliminaries.</p> +<p>"See that mountain over there? That's Granite Mountain. There's +wild horses live around there, an' sometimes we catch 'em. Bet you +don't know that Phil's name is 'Wild Horse Phil'."</p> +<p>Patches smiled. "That's a good name for him, isn't it?"</p> +<p>"You bet." He turned and pointed eagerly to the west. "There's +another mountain over there I bet you don't know the name of."</p> +<p>"Which one do you mean? I see several."</p> +<p>"That long, black lookin' one. Do you know about it?"</p> +<p>"I'm really afraid that I don't."</p> +<p>"Well, I'll tell you," said Billy, proud of his superior +knowledge. "That there's Tailholt Mountain."</p> +<p>"Indeed!"</p> +<p>"Yes, and Nick Cambert and Yavapai Joe lives over there. Do you +know about them?"</p> +<p>The tall man shook his head. "No, I don't believe that I +do."</p> +<p>Little Billy lowered his voice to a mysterious whisper. "Well, +I'll tell you. Only you mus'n't ever say anything 'bout it out +loud. Nick and Yavapai is cattle thieves. They been a-brandin' our +calves, an' Phil, he's goin' to catch 'em at it some day, an' then +they'll wish they hadn't. Phil, he's my pardner, you know."</p> +<p>"And a fine pardner, too, I'll bet," returned the stranger, as +if not wishing to acquire further information about the men of +Tailholt Mountain.</p> +<p>"You bet he is," came the instant response. "Only Jim Reid, he +don't like him very well."</p> +<p>"That's too bad, isn't it?"</p> +<p>"Yes. You see, Jim Reid is Kitty's daddy. They live over there." +He pointed across the meadow to where, a mile away, a light +twinkled in the window of the Pot-Hook-S ranch house. "Kitty Reid's +a mighty nice girl, I tell you, but Jim, he says that there needn't +no cow-puncher come around tryin' to get her, 'cause she's been +away to school, you know, an' I think Phil—"</p> +<p>"Whoa! Hold on a minute, sonny," interrupted Patches +hastily.</p> +<p>"What's the matter?" questioned Little Billy.</p> +<p>"Why, it strikes me that a boy with a pardner like 'Wild Horse +Phil' ought to be mighty careful about how he talked over that +pardner's private affairs with a stranger. Don't you think so?"</p> +<p>"Mebby so," agreed Billy. "But you see, I know that Phil wants +Kitty 'cause—"</p> +<p>"Sh! What in the world is that?" whispered Patches in great +fear, catching his small companion by the arm.</p> +<p>"That! Don't you know an owl when you hear one? Gee! but you're +a tenderfoot, ain't you?" Catching sight of the Dean who was coming +toward them, he shouted gleefully. "Uncle Will, Mr. Patches is +scared of an owl. What do you know about that; Patches is scared of +an owl!"</p> +<p>"Your Aunt Stella wants you," laughed the Dean.</p> +<p>And Billy ran off to the house to share his joke on the +tenderfoot with his Aunt Stella and his "pardner," Phil.</p> +<p>"I've got to go to town to-morrow," said the Dean. "I expect you +better go along and get your trunk, or whatever you have and some +sort of an outfit. You can't work in them clothes."</p> +<p>Patches answered hesitatingly. "Why, I think I can get along all +right, Mr. Baldwin."</p> +<p>"But you'll want your stuff—your trunk or grip—or +whatever you've got," returned the Dean.</p> +<p>"But I have nothing in Prescott," said the stranger slowly.</p> +<p>"You haven't? Well, you'll need an outfit anyway," persisted the +cattleman.</p> +<p>"Really, I think I can get along for a while," Patches returned +diffidently.</p> +<p>The Dean considered for a little; then he said with +straightforward bluntness, but not at all unkindly, "Look here, +young man, you ain't afraid to go to Prescott, are you?"</p> +<p>The other laughed. "Not at all, sir. It's not that. I suppose I +must tell you now, though. All the clothes I have are on my back, +and I haven't a cent in the world with which to buy an outfit, as +you call it."</p> +<p>The Dean chuckled. "So that's it? I thought mebby you was +dodgin' the sheriff. If it's just plain broke that's the matter, +why you'll go to town with me in the mornin', an' we'll get what +you need. I'll hold it out of your wages until it's paid." As +though the matter were settled, he turned back toward the house, +adding, "Phil will show you where you're to sleep."</p> +<p>When the foreman had shown the new man to his room, the cowboy +asked casually, "Found the goat ranch, all right, night before +last, did you?"</p> +<p>The other hesitated; then he said gravely, "I didn't look for +it, Mr. Acton."</p> +<p>"You didn't look for it?"</p> +<p>"No, sir."</p> +<p>"Do you mean to say that you spent the night up there on the +Divide without blankets or anything?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sir, I did."</p> +<p>"And where did you stop last night?"</p> +<p>"At Simmons."</p> +<p>"Walked, I suppose?"</p> +<p>The stranger smiled. "Yes."</p> +<p>"But, look here," said the puzzled cowboy, "I don't mean to be +asking questions about what is none of my business, but I can't +figure it out. If you were coming out here to get a job on the +Cross-Triangle, why didn't you go to Mr. Baldwin in town? Anybody +could have pointed him out to you. Or, why didn't you say something +to me, when we were talking back there on the Divide?"</p> +<p>"Why, you see," explained the other lamely, "I didn't exactly +want to work on the Cross-Triangle, or anywhere."</p> +<p>"But you told Uncle Will that you wanted to work here, and you +were on your way when I met you."</p> +<p>"Yes, I know, but you see—oh, hang it all, Mr. Acton, +haven't you ever wanted to do something that you didn't want to do? +Haven't you ever been caught in a corner that you were simply +forced to get out of when you didn't like the only way that would +get you out? I don't mean anything criminal," he added, with a +short laugh.</p> +<p>"Yes, I have," returned the other seriously, "and if you don't +mind there's no handle to my name. Around here I'm just plain Phil, +Mr. Patches."</p> +<p>"Thanks. Neither does Patches need decorating."</p> +<p>"And now, one more," said Phil, with his winning smile. "Why in +the name of all the obstinate fools that roam at large did you walk +out here when you must have had plenty of chances to ride?"</p> +<p>"Well, you see," said Patches slowly, "I fear I can't explain, +but it was just a part of my job."</p> +<p>"Your job! But you didn't have any job until this +afternoon."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, I did. I had the biggest kind of a job. You see, +that's what I was doing on the Divide all night; trying to find +some other way to do it."</p> +<p>"And do you mind telling me what that job is?" asked Phil +curiously.</p> +<p>Patches laughed as though at himself. "I don't know that I can, +exactly," he said. "I think, perhaps, it's just to ride that big +bay horse out there."</p> +<p>Phil laughed aloud—a hearty laugh of good-fellowship. +"You'll do that all right."</p> +<p>"Do you think so, really," asked Patches, eagerly.</p> +<p>"Sure; I know it."</p> +<p>"I wish I could be sure," returned the strange man +doubtfully—and the cowboy, wondering, saw that wistful look +in his eyes.</p> +<p>"That big devil is a man's horse, all right," mused Phil.</p> +<p>"Why, of course—and that's just it—don't you see?" +cried the other impulsively. Then, as if he regretted his words, he +asked quickly, "Do you name your horses?"</p> +<p>"Sure," answered the cowboy; "we generally find something to +call them."</p> +<p>"And have you named the big bay yet?"</p> +<p>Phil laughed. "I named him yesterday, when he broke away as we +were bringing the bunch in, and I had to rope him to get him +back."</p> +<p>"And what did you name him?"</p> +<p>"Stranger."</p> +<p>"Stranger! And why Stranger?"</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't know. Just one of my fool notions," returned Phil. +"Good-night!"</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/077.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_05.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/078.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>he next morning Mr. Baldwin and Patches set out for town.</p> +<p>"I suppose," said the Dean, and a slightly curious tone colored +the remark, "that mebby you've been used to automobiles. Buck and +Prince here, an' this old buckboard will seem sort of slow to +you."</p> +<p>Patches was stepping into the rig as the Dean spoke. As the +young man took his seat by the cattleman's side, the Dean nodded to +Phil who was holding the team. At the signal Phil released the +horses' heads and stepped aside, whereupon Buck and Prince, of one +mind, looked back over their shoulders, made a few playful attempts +to twist themselves out of the harness, lunged forward their +length, stood straight up on their hind feet, then sprang away as +if they were fully determined to land that buckboard in Prescott +within the next fifteen minutes.</p> +<p>"Did you say slow?" questioned Patches, as he clung to his +seat.</p> +<p>The Dean chuckled and favored his new man with a twinkling +glance of approval.</p> +<p>A few seconds later, on the other side of the sandy wash, the +Dean skillfully checked their headlong career, with a narrow margin +of safety between the team and the gate.</p> +<p>"I reckon we'll get through with less fuss if you'll open it," +he said to Patches. Then to Buck and Prince: "Whoa! you blamed +fools. Can't you stand a minute?"</p> +<p>"Stella's been devilin' me to get a machine ever since Jim Reid +got his," he continued, while the horses were repeating their +preliminary contortions, and Patches was regaining his seat. "But I +told her I'd be scared to death to ride in the fool +contraption."</p> +<p>At this Buck and Prince, in a wild riot of animal strength and +spirit, leaped a slight depression in the road with such vigor that +the front wheels of the buckboard left the ground. Patches glanced +sidewise at his employer, with a smile of delighted appreciation, +but said nothing.</p> +<p>The Dean liked him for that. The Dean always insists that the +hardest man in the world to talk to is the one who always has +something to say for himself.</p> +<p>"Why," he continued, with a burst of honest feeling, "if I was +ever to bring one of them things home to the Cross-Triangle, I'd be +ashamed to look a horse or steer in the face."</p> +<p>They dashed through a patch of wild sunflowers that in the +bottom lands grow thick and rank; whirled past the tumble-down +corner of an old fence that enclosed a long neglected garden; and +dashed recklessly through a deserted and weed-grown yard. On one +side of the road was the ancient barn and stable, with sagging, +weather-beaten roof, leaning walls and battered doors that hung +dejectedly on their rusty and broken hinges. The corral stockade +was breached in many places by the years that had rotted the posts. +The old-time windlass pump that, operated by a blind burro, once +lifted water for the long vanished herds, was a pathetic old wreck, +incapable now of offering drink to a thirsty sparrow. On their +other hand, beneath the wide branches of giant sycamores and +walnuts, and backed by a tangled orchard wilderness, stood an old +house, empty and neglected, as if in the shadowy gloom of the +untrimmed trees it awaited, lonely and forlorn, the kindly hand of +oblivion.</p> +<p>"This is the old Acton homestead," said the Dean quietly, as one +might speak beside an ancient grave.</p> +<p>Then as they were driving through the narrow lane that crosses +the great meadow, he indicated with a nod of his head group of +buildings on the other side of the green fields, and something less +than a mile to the south.</p> +<p>"That's Jim Reid's place. His iron is the Pot-Hook-S. Jim's +stock runs on the old Acton range, but the homestead belongs to +Phil yet. Jim Reid's a fine man." The Dean spoke stoutly, almost as +though he were making the assertion to convince himself. "Yes, sir, +Jim's all right. Good neighbor; good cowman; square as they make +'em. Some folks seem to think he's a mite over-bearin' an' +rough-spoken sometimes, and he's kind of quick at suspicionin' +everybody; but Jim and me have always got along the best kind."</p> +<p>Again the Dean was silent, as though he had forgotten the man +beside him in his occupation with thoughts that he could not +share.</p> +<p>When they had crossed the valley meadows and, climbing the hill +on the other side, could see the road for several miles ahead, the +Dean pointed to a black object on the next ridge.</p> +<p>"There's Jim's automobile now. They're headin' for Prescott, +too. Kitty's drivin', I reckon. I tell Stella that that machine and +Kitty's learnin' to run the thing is about all the returns that Jim +can show for the money he's spent in educatin' her. I don't mean," +he added, with a quick look at Patches, as though he feared to be +misunderstood, "that Kitty's one of them good-for-nothin' butterfly +girls. She ain't that by a good deal. Why, she was raised right +here in this neighborhood, an' we love her the same as if she was +our own. She can cook a meal or make a dress 'bout as well as her +mother, an' does it, too; an' she can ride a horse or throw a rope +better'n some punchers I've seen, but—" The Dean stopped, +seemingly for want of words to express exactly his thought.</p> +<p>"It seems to me," offered Patches abstractedly, "that education, +as we call it, is a benefit only when it adds to one's life. If +schooling or culture, or whatever you choose to term it, is +permitted to rob one of the fundamental and essential elements of +life, it is most certainly an evil."</p> +<p>"That's the idea," exclaimed the Dean, with frank admiration for +his companion's ability to say that which he himself thought. "You +say it like a book. But that's it. It ain't the learnin' an' all +the stuff that Kitty got while she was at school that's worryin' +us. It's what she's likely to lose through gettin' 'em. This here +modern, down-to-the-minute, higher livin', loftier sphere, +intellectual supremacy idea is all right if folks'll just keep +their feet on the ground.</p> +<p>"You take Stella an' me now. I know we're old fashioned an' slow +an' all that, an' we've seen a lot of hardships since we was +married over in Skull Valley where she was born an' raised. She was +just a girl then, an' I was only a kid, punchin' steers for a +livin'. I suppose we've seen about as hard times as anybody. At +least that's what they would be called now. But, hell, <i>we</i> +didn't think nothin' of it then; we was happy, sir, and we've been +happy for over forty year. I tell you, sir, we've lived—just +lived every minute, and that's a blamed sight more than a lot of +these higher-cultured, top-lofty, half-dead couples that marry and +separate, and separate and marry again now-a-days can say.</p> +<p>"No, sir, 'tain't what a man gets that makes him rich; it's what +he keeps. And these folks that are swoppin' the old-fashioned sort +of love that builds homes and raises families and lets man and wife +work together, an' meet trouble together, an' be happy together, +an' grow old bein' happy together—if they're swoppin' all +that for these here new, down-to-date ideas of such things, they're +makin' a damned poor bargain, accordin' to my way of thinkin'. +There is such a thing, sir, as educatin' a man or woman plumb out +of reach of happiness.</p> +<p>"Look at our Phil," the Dean continued, for the man beside him +was a wonderful listener. "There just naturally couldn't be a +better all round man than Phil Acton. He's healthy; don't know what +it is to have an hour's sickness; strong as a young bull; clean, +honest, square, no bad habits, a fine worker, an' a fine thinker, +too—even if he ain't had much schoolin', he's read a lot. +Take him any way you like—just as a man, I mean—an' +that's the way you got to take 'em—there ain't a better man +that Phil livin'. Yet a lot of these folks would say he's nothin' +but a cow-puncher. As for that, Jim Reid ain't much more than a +cow-puncher himself. I tell you, I've seen cow-punchers that was +mighty good men, an' I've seen graduates from them there +universities that was plumb good for nothin'—with no more +real man about 'em than there is about one of these here wax +dummies that they hang clothes on in the store windows. What any +self-respectin' woman can see in one of them that would make her +want to marry him is more than I've ever been able to figger +out."</p> +<p>If the Dean had not been so engrossed in his own thoughts, he +would have wondered at the strange effect of his words upon his +companion. The young man's face flushed scarlet, then paled as +though with sudden illness, and he looked sidewise at the older man +with an expression of shame and humiliation, while his eyes, +wistful and pleading, were filled with pain. Honorable Patches who +had won the admiration of those men in the Cross-Triangle corrals +was again the troubled, shamefaced, half-frightened creature whom +Phil met on the Divide.</p> +<p>But the good Dean did not see, and so, encouraged by the other's +silence, he continued his dissertation. "Of course, I don't mean to +say that education and that sort of thing spoils every man. Now, +there's young Stanford Manning—"</p> +<p>If the Dean had suddenly fired a gun at Patches, the young man +could not have shown greater surprise and consternation. "Stanford +Manning!" he gasped.</p> +<p>At his tone the Dean turned to look at him curiously. "I mean +Stanford Manning, the mining engineer," he explained. "Do you know +him?"</p> +<p>"I have heard of him," Patches managed to reply.</p> +<p>"Well," continued the Dean, "he came out to this country about +three years ago—straight from college—and he has sure +made good. He's got the education an' culture an' polish an' all +that, an' with it he can hold his own among any kind or sort of men +livin'. There ain't a man—cow-puncher, miner or anything +else—in Yavapai County that don't take off his hat to +Stanford Manning."</p> +<p>"Is he in this country now?" asked Patches, with an effort at +self-control that the Dean did not notice.</p> +<p>"No, I understand his Company called him back East about a month +ago. Goin' to send him to some of their properties up in Montana, I +heard."</p> +<p>When his companion made no comment, the Dean said reflectively, +as Buck and Prince climbed slowly up the grade to the summit of the +Divide, "I'll tell you, son, I've seen a good many changes in this +country. I can remember when there wasn't a fence in all Yavapai +County—hardly in the Territory. And now—why the last +time I drove over to Skull Valley I got so tangled up in 'em that I +plumb lost myself. When Phil's daddy an' me was youngsters we used +to ride from Camp Verde and Flagstaff clean to Date Creek without +ever openin' a gate. But I can't see that men change much, though. +They're good and bad, just like they've always been—an' I +reckon always will be. There's been leaders and weaklin's and just +betwixt and betweens in every herd of cattle or band of horses that +ever I owned. You take Phil, now. He's exactly like his daddy was +before him."</p> +<p>"His father must have been a fine man," said Patches, with quiet +earnestness.</p> +<p>The Dean looked at him with an approving twinkle. "Fine?" For a +few minutes, as they were rounding the turn of the road on the +summit of the Divide where Phil and the stranger had met, the Dean +looked away toward Granite Mountain. Then, as if thinking aloud, +rather than purposely addressing his companion, he said, "John +Acton—Honest John, as everybody called him—and I came +to this country together when we were boys. Walked in, sir, with +some pioneers from Kansas. We kept in touch with each other all the +while we was growin' to be men; punched cattle for the same outfits +most of the time; even did most of our courtin' together, for +Phil's mother an' Stella were neighbors an' great friends over in +Skull Valley. When we'd finally saved enough to get started we +located homesteads close together back there in the Valley, an' as +soon as we could get some sort of shacks built we married the girls +and set up housekeepin'. Our stock ranged together, of course, but +John sort of took care of the east side of the meadows an' I kept +more to the west. When the children came along—John an' Mary +had three before Phil, but only Phil lived—an' the stock had +increased an' we'd built some decent houses, things seemed to be +about as fine as possible. Then John went on a note for a man in +Prescott. I tried my best to keep him out of it, but, shucks! he +just laughed at me. You see, he was one of the best hearted men +that ever lived—one of those men, you know, that just +naturally believes in everybody.</p> +<p>"Well, it wound up after a-while by John losin' mighty nigh +everything. We managed to save the homestead, but practically all +the stock had to go. An' it wasn't more than a year after that till +Mary died. We never did know just what was the matter with +her—an' after that it seemed like John never was the same. He +got killed in the rodeo that same fall—just wasn't himself +somehow. I was with him when he died.</p> +<p>"Stella and me raised Phil—we don't know any difference +between him and one of our own boys. The old homestead is his, of +course, but Jim Reid's stock runs on the old range. Phil's got a +few head that he works with mine—a pretty good bunch by +now—for he's kept addin' to what his father left, an' I've +paid him wages ever since he was big enough. Phil don't say much, +even to Stella an' me, but I know he's figurin' on fixin' up the +old home place some day."</p> +<p>After a long silence the Dean said again, as if voicing some +conclusion of his unspoken thoughts: "Jim Reid is pretty well +fixed, you see, an' Kitty bein' the only girl, it's natural, I +reckon, that they should have ideas about her future, an' all that. +I reckon it's natural, too, that the girl should find ranch life +away out here so far from anywhere, a little slow after her three +years at school in the East. She never says it, but somehow you can +most always tell what Kitty's thinkin' without her speakin' a +word."</p> +<p>"I have known people like that," said Patches, probably because +there was so little that he could say.</p> +<p>"Yes, an' when you know Kitty, you'll say, like I always have, +that if there's a man in Yavapai County that wouldn't ride the +hoofs off the best horse in his outfit, night or day, to win a +smile from her, he ought to be lynched."</p> +<p>That afternoon in Prescott they purchased an outfit for Patches, +and the following day set out for the long return drive to the +ranch.</p> +<p>They had reached the top of the hill at the western end of the +meadow lane, when they saw a young woman, on a black horse, riding +away from the gate that opens from the lane into the Pot-Hook-S +meadow pasture, toward the ranch buildings on the farther side of +the field.</p> +<p>As they drove into the yard at home, it was nearly supper time, +and the men were coming from the corrals.</p> +<p>"Kitty's been over all the afternoon," Little Billy informed +them promptly. "I told her all about you, Patches. She says she's +just dyin' to see you."</p> +<p>Phil joined in the laugh, but Patches fancied that there was a +shadow in the cowboy's usually sunny eyes as the young man looked +at him to say, "That big horse of yours sure made me ride some +to-day."</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/087.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_06.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/088.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>he education of Honorable Patches was begun without further +delay. Because Phil's time was so fully occupied with his +four-footed pupils, the Dean himself became the stranger's teacher, +and all sorts of odd jobs about the ranch, from cleaning the pig +pen to weeding the garden, were the text books. The man balked at +nothing. Indeed, he seemed to find a curious, grim satisfaction in +accomplishing the most menial and disagreeable tasks; and when he +made mistakes, as he often did, he laughed at himself with such +bitter, mocking humor that the Dean wondered.</p> +<p>"He's got me beat," the Dean confided to Stella. "There ain't +nothin' that he won't tackle, an' I'm satisfied that the man never +did a stroke of work before in his life. But he seems to be always +tryin' experiments with himself, like he expected himself to play +the fool one way or another, an' wanted to see if he would, an' +then when he don't he's as surprised and tickled as a kid."</p> +<p>The Dean himself was not at all above assisting his new man in +those experiments, and so it happened that day when Patches had +been set to repairing the meadow pasture fence near the lower +corrals.</p> +<p>The Dean, riding out that way to see how his pupil was +progressing, noticed a particularly cross-tempered shorthorn bull +that had wandered in from the near-by range to water at the house +corral. But Phil and his helpers were in possession of the premises +near the watering trough, and his shorthorn majesty was therefore +even more than usual out of patience with the whole world. The +corrals were between the bull and Patches, so that the animal had +not noticed the man, and the Dean, chuckling to himself, and +without attracting Patches' attention, quietly drove the +ill-tempered beast into the enclosure and shut the gate.</p> +<p>Then, riding around the corral, the Dean called to the young +man. When Patches stood beside his employer, the cattleman said, +"Here's a blamed old bull that don't seem to be feelin' very well. +I got him into the corral all right, but I'm so fat I can't reach +him from the saddle. I wish you'd just halter him with this rope, +so I can lead him up to the house and let Phil and the boys see +what's wrong with him."</p> +<p>Patches took the rope and started toward the corral gate. "Shall +I put it around his neck and make a hitch over his nose, like you +do a horse?" he asked, glad for the opportunity to exhibit his +newly acquired knowledge of ropes and horses and things.</p> +<p>"No, just tie it around his horns," the Dean answered. "He'll +come, all right."</p> +<p>The bull, seeing a man on foot at the entrance to his prison, +rumbled a deep-voiced threat, and pawed the earth with angry +strength.</p> +<p>For an instant, Patches, with his hand on the latch of the gate, +paused to glance from the dangerous-looking animal, that awaited +his coming, to the Dean who sat on his horse just outside the +fence. Then he slipped inside the corral and closed the gate behind +him. The bull gazed at him a moment as if amazed at the audacity of +this mere human, then lowered his head for the charge.</p> +<p>"Climb that gate, quick," yelled the Dean at the critical +moment.</p> +<p>And Patches climbed—not a second too soon.</p> +<p>From his position of safety he smiled cheerfully at the Dean. +"He came all right, didn't he?"</p> +<p>The Dean's full rounded front and thick shoulders shook with +laughter, while Señor Bull dared the man on the gate to come +down.</p> +<p>"You crazy fool," said the Dean admiringly, when he could speak. +"Didn't you know any better than to go in there on foot?"</p> +<p>"But you said you wanted him," returned the chagrined +Patches.</p> +<p>"What I wanted," chuckled the Dean, "was to see if you had nerve +enough to tackle him."</p> +<p>"To tell the truth," returned Patches, with a happy laugh, +"that's exactly what interested me."</p> +<p>But, while the work assigned to Patches during those first days +of his stay on the Cross-Triangle was chiefly those odd jobs which +called for little or no experience, his higher education was by no +means neglected. A wise and gentle old cow-horse was assigned to +him, and the Dean taught him the various parts of his equipment, +their proper use, and how to care for them. And every day, +sometimes in the morning, sometimes late in the afternoon, the +master found some errand or business that would necessitate his +pupil riding with him. When Phil or Mrs. Baldwin would inquire +about the Dean's kindergarten, as they called it, the Dean would +laugh with them, but always he would say stoutly, "Just you wait. +He'll be as near ready for the rodeo this fall as them pupils in +that kindergarten of Phil's. He takes to ridin' like the good Lord +had made him specially for that particular job. He's just a +natural-born horseman, or I don't know men. He's got the sense, +he's got the nerve, an' he's got the disposition. He's goin' to +make a top hand in a few months, if"—he always added with +twinkling eyes—"he don't get himself killed tryin' some fool +experiment on himself."</p> +<p>"I notice just the same that he always has plenty of help in his +experimentin'," Mrs. Baldwin would return dryly, which saying +indicted not only the Dean but Phil and every man on the +Cross-Triangle, including Little Billy.</p> +<p>Then came that day when Patches was given a task that—the +Dean assured him—is one of the duties of even the oldest and +best qualified cowboys. Patches was assigned to the work of +fenceriding. But when the Dean rode out with his pupil early that +morning to where the drift fence begins at the corner of the big +pasture, and explained that "riding a fence" meant, in ranch +language, looking for breaks and repairing any such when found, he +did not explain the peculiarities of that particular kind of +fence.</p> +<p>"I told him to be sure and be back by night," he chuckled, as he +explained Patches' absence at dinner to the other members of the +household.</p> +<p>"That was downright mean of you, Will Baldwin," chided Stella, +with her usual motherly interest in the comfort of her boys. "You +know the poor fellow will lose himself, sure, out in that wild +Tailholt Mountain country."</p> +<p>The boys laughed.</p> +<p>"We'll find him in the morning, all right, mother," reassured +Phil.</p> +<p>"He can follow the fence back, can't he?" retorted the Dean. +"Or, as far as that goes, old Snip will bring him home."</p> +<p>"If he knows enough to figger it out, or to let Snip have his +head," said Curly.</p> +<p>"At any rate," the Dean maintained, "he'll learn somethin' about +the country, an' he'll learn somethin' about fences, an' mebby +he'll learn somethin' about horses. An' we'll see whether he can +use his own head or not. There's nothin' like givin' a man a chance +to find out things for himself sometimes. Besides, think what a +chance he'll have for some of his experiments! I'll bet a yearling +steer that when we do see him again, he'll be tickled to death at +himself an' wonderin' how he had the nerve to do it."</p> +<p>"To do what?" asked Mrs. Baldwin.</p> +<p>"I don't know what," chuckled the Dean; "but he's bound to do +some fool thing or other just to see if he can, and it'll be +somethin' that nobody but him would ever think of doin', too."</p> +<p>But Honorable Patches did not get lost that day—that is, +not too badly lost. There was a time, though—but that does +not belong just here.</p> +<p>Patches was very well pleased with the task assigned to him that +morning. For the first time he found himself trusted alone with a +horse, on a mission that would keep him the full day in the saddle, +and would take him beyond sight of the ranch house. Very bravely he +set out, equipped with his cowboy regalia—except the riata, +which the Dean, fearing experiments, had, at the last moment, +thoughtfully borrowed—and armed with a fencing tool and +staples. He was armed, too, with a brand-new "six-gun" in a spick +and span holster, on a shiny belt of bright cartridges. The Dean +had insisted on this, alleging that the embryo cowboy might want it +to kill a sick cow or something.</p> +<p>Patches wondered if he would know a sick cow if he should meet +one, or how he was to diagnose the case to ascertain if she were +sick enough to kill.</p> +<p>The first thing he did, when the Dean was safely out of sight, +was to dismount and examine his saddle girth. Always your real king +of the cattle range is careful for the foundation of his throne. +But there was no awkwardness, now, when he again swung to his seat. +The young man was in reality a natural athlete. His work had +already taken the soreness and stiffness out of his unaccustomed +muscles, and he seemed, as the Dean had said, a born horseman. And +as he rode, he looked about over the surrounding country with an +expression on independence, freedom and fearlessness very different +from the manner of the troubled man who had faced Phil Acton that +night on the Divide. It was as though the spirit of the land was +already working its magic within this man, too. He patted the +holster at his side, felt the handle of the gun, lovingly fingered +the bright cartridges in his shiny belt, leaned sidewise to look +admiringly down at his fringed, leather chaps and spur ornamented +boot heels, and wished for his riata—not forgetting, +meanwhile, to scan the fence for places that might need his +attention.</p> +<p>The guardian angel who cares for the "tenderfoot" was good to +Patches that day, and favored him with many sagging wires and +leaning or broken posts, so that he could not ride far. Being +painstaking and conscientious in his work, he had made not more +than four miles by the beginning of the afternoon. Then he found a +break that would occupy him for two hours at least. With rueful +eyes he surveyed the long stretch of dilapidated fence. It was +time, he reflected, that the Dean sent someone to look after his +property, and dismounting, he went to work, forgetting, in his +interest in the fencing problem, to insure his horse's near-by +attendance. Now, the best of cow-horses are not above taking +advantage of their opportunities. Perhaps Snip felt that +fenceriding with a tenderfoot was a little beneath the dignity of +his cattle-punching years. Perhaps he reasoned that this man who +was always doing such strange things was purposely dismissing him. +Perhaps he was thinking of the long watering trough and the rich +meadow grass at home. Or, perhaps again, the wise old Snip, feeling +the responsibility of his part in training the Dean's pupil, merely +thought to give his inexperienced master a lesson. However it +happened, Patches looked up from his work some time later to find +himself alone. In consternation, he stood looking about, striving +to catch a glimpse of the vanished Snip. Save a lone buzzard that +wheeled in curious circles above his head there was no living thing +in sight.</p> +<p>As fast as his heavy, leather chaps and high-heeled, +spur-ornamented boots would permit, he ran to the top of a knoll a +hundred yards or so away. The wider range of country that came thus +within the circle of his vision was as empty as it was silent. The +buzzard wheeled nearer—the strange looking creature beneath +it seemed so helpless that there might be in the situation +something of vital interest to the tribe. Even buzzards must be +about their business.</p> +<p>There are few things more humiliating to professional riders of +the range than to be left afoot; and while Patches was far too much +a novice to have acquired the peculiar and traditional tastes and +habits of the clan of which he had that morning felt himself a +member, he was, in this, the equal of the best of them. He thought +of himself walking shamefaced into the presence of the Dean and +reporting the loss of the horse. The animal might be recovered, he +supposed, for he was still, Patches thought, inside the pasture +which that fence enclosed. Still there was a chance that the +runaway would escape through some break and never be found. In any +case the vision of the grinning cowboys was not an attractive one. +But at least, thought the amateur cowboy, he would finish the work +entrusted to him. He might lose a horse for the Dean, but the +Dean's fence should be repaired. So he set to work with a will, +and, finishing that particular break, set out on foot to follow the +fence around the field and so back to the lane that would lead him +to the buildings and corrals of the home ranch.</p> +<p>For an hour he trudged along, making hard work of it in his +chaps, boots, and spurs, stopping now and then to drive a staple or +brace a post. The country was growing wilder and more broken, with +cedar timber on the ridges and here and there a pine. Occasionally +he could catch a glimpse of the black, forbidding walls of Tailholt +Mountain. But Patches did not know that it was Tailholt. He only +thought that he knew in which direction the home ranch lay. It +seemed to him that it was a long, long way to the corner of the +field—it must be a big pasture, indeed. The afternoon was +well on when he paused on the summit of another ridge to rest. It, +seemed to him that he had never in all his life been quite so warm. +His legs ached. He was tired and thirsty and hungry. It was so +still that the silence hurt, and that fence corner was nowhere in +sight. He could not, now reach home before dark, even should he +turn back; which, he decided grimly, he would not do. He would ride +that fence if he camped three nights on the journey.</p> +<p>Suddenly he sprang to his feet, waving his hat, hallooing and +yelling like a madman. Two horsemen were riding on the other side +of the fence, along the slope of the next ridge, at the edge of the +timber. In vain Patches strove to attract their attention. If they +heard him, they gave no sign, and presently he saw them turn, ride +in among the cedars, and disappear. In desperation he ran along the +fence, down the hill, across the narrow little valley, and up the +ridge over which the riders had gone. On the top of the ridge he +stopped again, to spend the last of his breath in another series of +wild shouts. But there was no answer. Nor could he be sure, even, +which way the horsemen had gone.</p> +<p>Dropping down in the shade of a cedar, exhausted by his +strenuous exertion, and wet with honest perspiration, he struggled +for breath and fanned his hot face with his hat. Perhaps he even +used some of the cowboy words that he had heard Curly and Bob +employ when Little Billy was not around After the noise of his +frantic efforts, the silence was more oppressive than ever. The +Cross-Triangle ranch house was, somewhere, endless miles away.</p> +<p>Then a faint sound in the narrow valley below him caught his +ear. Turning quickly, he looked back the way he had come. Was he +dreaming, or was it all just a part of the magic of that wonderful +land? A young woman was riding toward him—coming at an easy +swinging lope—and, following, at the end of a riata, was the +cheerfully wise and philosophic Snip.</p> +<p>Patches' first thought—when he had sufficiently recovered +I from his amazement to think at all—was that the woman rode +as he had never seen a woman ride before. Dressed in the divided +skirt of corduroy, the loose, soft, gray shirt, gauntleted gloves, +mannish felt hat, and boots, usual to Arizona horsewomen, she +seemed as much at ease in the saddle as any cowboy in the land; +and, indeed, she was.</p> +<p>As she came up the slope, the man in the shade of the cedar saw +that she was young. Her lithe, beautifully developed body yielded +to the movement of the spirited horse she rode with the unspoiled +grace of health and youth. Still nearer, and he saw her clear +cheeks glowing with the exercise and excitement, her soft, brown +hair under the wide brim of the gray sombrero, and her dark eyes, +shining with the fun of her adventure. Then she saw him, and +smiled; and Patches remembered what the Dean had said: "If there's +a man in Yavapai County who wouldn't ride the hoofs off the best +horse in his outfit to win a smile from Kitty Reid, he ought to be +lynched."</p> +<p>As the man stood, hat in hand, she checked her horse, and, in a +voice that matched the smile so full of fun and the clean joy of +living greeted him.</p> +<p>"You are Mr. Honorable Patches, are you not?"</p> +<p>Patches bowed. "Miss Reid, I believe?"</p> +<p>She frankly looked her surprise. "Why, how did you know me?"</p> +<p>"Your good friend, Mr. Baldwin, described you," he smiled.</p> +<p>She colored and laughed to hide her slight embarrassment. "The +dear old Dean is prejudiced, I fear."</p> +<p>"Prejudiced he may be," Patches admitted, "but his judgement is +unquestionable. And," he added gently, as her face grew grave and +her chin lifted slightly, "his confidence in any man might be +considered an endorsement, don't you think?"</p> +<p>"Indeed, yes," she agreed heartily, her slight coldness +vanishing instantly. "The Dean and Stella told me all about you +this afternoon, or I should not have ventured to introduce myself. +I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Patches," she finished with a +mock formality that was delightful.</p> +<p>"And I am delighted to meet you, Miss Reid, for so many reasons +that I can't begin to tell you of them," he responded laughing. +"And now, may I ask what good magic brings you like a fairy in the +story book to the rescue of a poor stranger in the hour of his +despair? Where did you find my faithless Snip? How did you know +where to find me? Where is the Cross-Triangle Ranch? How many miles +is it to the nearest water? Is it possible for me to get home in +time for supper?" Looking down at him she laughed as only Kitty +Reid could laugh.</p> +<p>"You're making fun of me," he charged; "they all do. And I don't +blame them in the least; I have been laughing at myself all +day."</p> +<p>"I'll answer your last question first," she returned. "Yes, you +can easily reach the Cross-Triangle in time for supper, if you +start at once. I will explain the magic as we ride."</p> +<p>"You are going to show me the way?" he cried eagerly, starting +toward his horse.</p> +<p>"I really think it would be best," she said demurely.</p> +<p>"Now I know you are a good fairy, or a guardian angel, or +something like that," he returned, setting his foot in the stirrup +to mount. Then suddenly he paused, with, "Wait a minute, please. I +nearly forgot." And very carefully he examined the saddle girth to +see that it was tight.</p> +<p>"If you had remembered to throw your bridle rein over Snip's +head when you left him, you wouldn't have needed a guardian angel +this time," she said.</p> +<p>He looked at her blankly over the patient Snip's back.</p> +<p>"And so that was what made him go away? I knew I had done some +silly thing that I ought not. That's the only thing about myself +that I am always perfectly sure of," he added as he mounted. "You +see I can always depend upon myself to make a fool of myself. It +was that bad place in the fence that did it." He pulled up his +horse suddenly as they were starting. "And that reminds me; there +is one thing you positively must tell me before I can go a foot, +even toward supper. How much farther is it to the corner of this +field?"</p> +<p>She looked at him in pretty amazement. "To the corner of this +field?"</p> +<p>"Yes, I knew, of course, that if I followed the fence it was +bound to lead me around the field and so back to where I started. +That's why I kept on; I thought I could finish the job and get +home, even if Snip did compel me to ride the fence on foot."</p> +<p>"But don't you know that this is a drift fence?" she asked, her +eyes dancing with fun.</p> +<p>"That's what the Dean called it," he admitted. "But if it's +drifting anywhere, it's going end on. Perhaps that's why I couldn't +catch the corner."</p> +<p>"But there is no corner to a drift fence," she cried.</p> +<p>"No corner?"</p> +<p>She shook her head as if not trusting herself to speak.</p> +<p>"And it doesn't go around anything—there is no field?" +Again she shook her head.</p> +<p>"Just runs away out in the country somewhere and stops?"</p> +<p>She nodded. "It must be eighteen or twenty miles from here to +the end."</p> +<p>"Well, of all the silly fences!" he exclaimed, looking away to +the mountain peaks toward which he had been so laboriously making +his way. "Honestly, now, do you think that is any way for a +respectable fence to act? And the Dean told me to be sure and get +home before dark!"</p> +<p>Then they laughed together—laughed until their horses must +have wondered.</p> +<p>As they rode on, she explained the purpose of the drift fence, +and how it came to an end so many miles away and so far from water +that the cattle do not usually find their way around it.</p> +<p>"And now the magic!" he said. "You have made a most +unreasonable, unconventional and altogether foolish fence appear +reasonable, proper and perfectly sane. Please explain your coming +with Snip to my relief."</p> +<p>"Which was also unreasonable, unconventional and altogether +foolish?" she questioned.</p> +<p>"Which was altogether wonderful, unexpected and delightful," he +retorted.</p> +<p>"It is all perfectly simple," she explained. "Being +rather—" She hesitated. "Well, rather sick of too much of +nothing at all, you know, I went over to the Cross-Triangle right +after dinner to visit a little with +Stella—professionally."</p> +<p>"Professionally?" he asked.</p> +<p>She nodded brightly. "For the good of my soul. Stella's a famous +soul doctor. The best ever except one, and she lives far +away—away back east in Cleveland, Ohio."</p> +<p>"Yes, I know her, too," he said gravely.</p> +<p>And while they laughed at the absurdity of his assertion, they +did not know until long afterward how literally true it was.</p> +<p>"Of course, I knew about you," she continued. "Phil told me how +you tried to ride that unbroken horse, the last time he was at our +house. Phil thinks you are quite a wonderful man."</p> +<p>"No doubt," said Patches mockingly. "I must have given a +remarkable exhibition on that occasion." He was wondering just how +much Phil had told her.</p> +<p>"And so, you see," she continued, "I couldn't very well help +being interested in the welfare of the stranger who had come among +us. Besides, our traditional western hospitality demanded it; don't +you think?"</p> +<p>"Oh, certainly, certainly. You could really do nothing less than +inquire about me," he agreed politely.</p> +<p>"And so, you see, Stella quite restored my soul health; or at +least afforded me temporary relief."</p> +<p>He met the quizzing, teasing, laughing look in her eyes blankly. +"You are making fun of me again," he said humbly. "I know I ought +to laugh at myself, but—"</p> +<p>"Why, don't you understand?" she cried. "Dr. Stella administered +a generous dose of talk about the only new thing that has happened +in this neighborhood for months and months and months."</p> +<p>"Meaning me?" he asked.</p> +<p>"Well, are you not?" she retorted.</p> +<p>"I guess I am," he smiled. "Well, and then what?"</p> +<p>"Why, then I came away, feeling much better, of course."</p> +<p>"Yes?"</p> +<p>"I was feeling so much better I decided I would go home a +roundabout way; perhaps to the top of Black Hill; perhaps up Horse +Wash, where I might meet father, who would be on his way home from +Fair Oaks where he went this morning."</p> +<p>"I see."</p> +<p>"Well, so I met Snip, who was on his way to the Cross-Triangle. +I knew, of course, that old Snip would be your horse." She smiled, +as though to rob her words of any implied criticism of his +horsemanship.</p> +<p>"Exactly," he agreed understandingly.</p> +<p>"And I was afraid that something might have happened; though I +couldn't see how that could be, either, with Snip. And so I caught +him—"</p> +<p>He interrupted eagerly. "How?"</p> +<p>"Why, with my riata," she returned, in a matter-of-fact tone, +wondering at his question.</p> +<p>"You caught my horse with your riata?" he repeated slowly.</p> +<p>"And pray how should I have caught him?" she asked.</p> +<p>"But—but, didn't he <i>run</i>?"</p> +<p>She laughed. "Of course he ran. They all do that once they get +away from you. But Snip never could outrun my Midnight," she +retorted.</p> +<p>He shook his head slowly, looking at her with frank admiration, +as though, for the first time, he understood what a rare and +wonderful creature she was.</p> +<p>"And you can ride and rope like that?" he said doubtfully.</p> +<p>She flushed hotly, and there was a spark of fire in the brown +eyes. "I suppose you are thinking that I am coarse and mannish and +all that," she said with spirit. "By your standards, Mr. Patches, I +should have ridden back to the house, screaming, ladylike, for +help."</p> +<p>"No, no," he protested. "That's not fair. I was thinking how +wonderful you are. Why, I would give—what wouldn't I give to +be able to do a thing like that!"</p> +<p>There was no mistaking his earnestness, and Kitty was all +sunshine again, pardoning him with a smile.</p> +<p>"You see," she explained, "I have always lived here, except my +three years at school. Father taught me to use a riata, as he +taught me to ride and shoot, because—well—because it's +all a part of this life, and very useful sometimes; just as it is +useful to know about hotels and time-tables and taxicabs, in that +other part of the world."</p> +<p>"I understand," he said gently. "It was stupid of me to notice +it. I beg your pardon for interrupting the story of my rescue. You +had just roped Snip while he was doing his best to outrun +Midnight—simple and easy as calling a taxi—'Number Two +Thousand Euclid Avenue, please'—and there you are."</p> +<p>"Oh, do you know Cleveland?" she cried.</p> +<p>For an instant he was confused. Then he said easily, "Everybody +has heard of the famous Euclid Avenue. But how did you guess where +Snip had left me?"</p> +<p>"Why, Stella had told me that you were riding the drift fence," +she answered, tactfully ignoring the evasion of her question. "I +just followed the fence. So there was no magic about it at all, you +see."</p> +<p>"I'm not so sure about the magic," he returned slowly.</p> +<p>"This is such a wonderful country—to me—that one can +never be quite sure about anything. At least, I can't. But perhaps +that's because I am such a new thing."</p> +<p>"And do you like it?" she asked, frankly curious about him.</p> +<p>"Like being a new thing?" he parried. "Yes and No."</p> +<p>"I mean do you like this wonderful country, as you call it?"</p> +<p>"I admire the people who belong to it tremendously," he +returned. "I never met such men before—or such women," he +finished with a smile.</p> +<p>"But, do you like it?" she persisted. "Do you like the +life—your work—would you be satisfied to live here +always?"</p> +<p>"Yes and No," he answered again, hesitatingly.</p> +<p>"Oh, well," she said, with, he thought, a little bitterness and +rebellion, "it doesn't really matter to you whether you like it or +not, because <i>you</i> are a man. If you are not satisfied with +your environment, you can leave it—go away somewhere +else—make yourself a part of some other life."</p> +<p>He shook his head, wondering a little at her earnestness. "That +does not always follow. Can a man, just because he is a man, always +have or do just what he likes?"</p> +<p>"If he's strong enough," she insisted. "But a woman must always +do what other people like."</p> +<p>He was sure now that she was speaking rebelliously.</p> +<p>She continued, "Can't you, if you are not satisfied with this +life here, go away?"</p> +<p>"Yes, but not necessarily to any life I might desire. Perhaps +some sheriff wants me. Perhaps I am an escaped convict. +Perhaps—oh, a thousand things."</p> +<p>She laughed aloud in spite of her serious mood. "What +nonsense!"</p> +<p>"But, why nonsense? What do you and your friends know of +me?"</p> +<p>"We know that you are not that kind of a man," she retorted +warmly, "because"—she hesitated—"well, because you are +<i>not</i> that sort of a man."</p> +<p>"Are you sure you don't mean because I am not man enough to make +myself wanted very badly, even by the sheriff?" he asked, and Kitty +could not mistake the bitterness in his voice.</p> +<p>"Why, Mr. Patches!" she cried. "How could you think I meant such +a thing? Forgive me! I was only wondering foolishly what you, a man +of education and culture, could find in this rough life that would +appeal to you in any way. My curiosity is unpardonable, I suppose, +but you must know that we are all wondering why you are here."</p> +<p>"I do not blame you," he returned, with that self-mocking smile, +as though he were laughing at himself. "I told you I could always +be depended upon to make a fool of myself. You see I am doing it +now. I don't mind telling you this much—that I am here for +the same reason that you went to visit Mrs. Baldwin this +afternoon."</p> +<p>"For the good of your soul?" she asked gently.</p> +<p>"Exactly," he returned gravely. "For the good of my soul."</p> +<p>"Well, then, Mr. Honorable Patches, here's to your soul's good +health!" she cried brightly, checking her horse and holding out her +hand. "We part here. You can see the Cross-Triangle buildings +yonder. I go this way."</p> +<p>He looked his pleasure, as he clasped her hand in hearty +understanding of the friendship offered.</p> +<p>"Thank you, Miss Reid. I still maintain that the Dean's judgment +is unquestionable."</p> +<p>She was not at all displeased with his reply.</p> +<p>"By the way," she said, as if to prove her friendship. "I +suppose you know what to expect from Uncle Will and the boys when +they learn of your little adventure?"</p> +<p>"I do," he answered, as if resigned to anything.</p> +<p>"And do you enjoy making fun for them?"</p> +<p>"I assure you, Miss Reid, I am very human."</p> +<p>"Well, then, why don't you turn the laugh on them?"</p> +<p>"But how?"</p> +<p>"They are expecting you to get into some sort of a scrape, don't +you think?"</p> +<p>"They are always expecting that. And," he added, with that droll +touch in his voice, "I must say I rarely disappoint them."</p> +<p>"I suspect," she continued, thoughtfully, "that the Dean +purposely did not explain that drift fence to you."</p> +<p>"He has established precedents that would justify my thinking +so, I'll admit."</p> +<p>"Well, then, why don't you ride cheerfully home and report the +progress of your work as though nothing had happened?"</p> +<p>"You mean that you won't tell?" he cried.</p> +<p>She nodded gaily. "I told them this afternoon that it wasn't +fair for you to have no one but Stella on your side."</p> +<p>"What a good Samaritan you are! You put me under an everlasting +obligation to you."</p> +<p>"All right," she laughed. "I'm glad you feel that way about it. +I shall hold that debt against you until some day when I am in +dreadful need, and then I shall demand payment in full. +Good-by!"</p> +<p>And once again Kitty had spoken, in jest, words that held for +them both, had they but known, great significance.</p> +<p>Patches watched until she was out of sight. Then he made his way +happily to the house to receive, with a guilty conscience but with +a light heart, congratulations and compliments upon his safe +return.</p> +<p>That evening Phil disappeared somewhere, in the twilight. And a +little later Jim Reid rode into the Cross-Triangle dooryard.</p> +<p>The owner of the Pot-Hook-S was a big man, tall and heavy, +outspoken and somewhat gruff, with a manner that to strangers often +seemed near to overbearing. When Patches was introduced, the big +cattleman looked him over suspiciously, spoke a short word in +response to Patches' commonplace, and abruptly turned his back to +converse with the better-known members of the household.</p> +<p>For an hour, perhaps, they chatted about matters of general +interest, as neighbors will; then the caller arose to go, and the +Dean walked with him to his horse. When the two men were out of +hearing of the people on the porch Reid asked in a low voice, +"Noticed any stock that didn't look right lately, Will?"</p> +<p>"No. You see, we haven't been ridin' scarcely any since the +Fourth. Phil and the boys have been busy with the horses every day, +an' this new man don't count, you know."</p> +<p>"Who is he, anyway?" asked Reid bluntly.</p> +<p>"I don't know any more than that he says his name is +Patches."</p> +<p>"Funny name," grunted Jim.</p> +<p>"Yes, but there's a lot of funny names, Jim," the Dean answered +quietly. "I don't know as Patches is any funnier than Skinner or +Foote or Hogg, or a hundred other names, when you come to think +about it. We ain't just never happened to hear it before, that's +all."</p> +<p>"Where did you pick him up?"</p> +<p>"He just came along an' wanted work. He's green as they make +'em, but willin', an' he's got good sense, too."</p> +<p>"I'd go slow 'bout takin' strangers in," said the big man +bluntly.</p> +<p>"Shucks!" retorted the Dean. "Some of the best men I ever had +was strangers when I hired 'em. Bein' a stranger ain't nothin' +against a man. You and me would be strangers if we was to go many +miles from Williamson Valley. Patches is a good man, I tell you. +I'll stand for him, all right. Why, he's been out all day, alone, +ridin' the drift fence, just as good any old-timer."</p> +<p>"The drift fence!"</p> +<p>"Yes, it's in pretty bad shape in places."</p> +<p>"Yes, an' I ran onto a calf over in Horse Wash, this afternoon, +not four hundred yards from the fence on the Tailholt side, +fresh-branded with the Tailholt iron, an' I'll bet a thousand +dollars it belongs to a Cross-Triangle cow."</p> +<p>"What makes you think it was mine?" asked the Dean calmly.</p> +<p>"Because it looked mighty like some of your Hereford stock, an' +because I came on through the Horse Wash gate, an' about a half +mile on this side, I found one of your cows that had just lost her +calf."</p> +<p>"They know we're busy an' ain't ridin' much, I reckon," mused +the Dean.</p> +<p>"If I was you, I'd put some hand that I knew to ridin' that +drift fence," returned Jim significantly, as he mounted his horse +to go.</p> +<p>"You're plumb wrong, Jim," returned the Dean earnestly. "Why, +the man don't know a Cross-Triangle from a Five-Bar, or a +Pot-Hook-S."</p> +<p>"It's your business, Will; I just thought I'd tell you," growled +Reid. "Good-night!"</p> +<p>"Good-night, Jim! I'm much obliged to you for ridin' over."</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/111.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_07.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/112.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>hen Kitty Reid told Patches that it was her soul sickness, from +too much of nothing at all, that had sent her to visit Mrs. Baldwin +that afternoon, she had spoken more in earnest than in jest. More +than this, she had gone to the Cross-Triangle hoping to meet the +stranger, of whom she had heard so much. Phil had told Kitty that +she would like Patches. As Phil had put it, the man spoke her +language; he could talk to her of people and books and those things +of which the Williamson Valley folk knew so little.</p> +<p>But as she rode slowly homeward after leaving Patches, she found +herself of two minds regarding the incident. She had enjoyed +meeting the man; he had interested and amused her; had taken her +out of herself, for she was not slow to recognize that the man +really did belong to that world which was so far from the world of +her childhood. And she was glad for the little adventure that, for +one afternoon, at least, had broken the dull, wearying monotony of +her daily life. But the stranger, by the very fact of his belonging +to that other world, had stimulated her desire for those things +which in her home life and environment she so greatly missed. He +had somehow seemed to magnify the almost unbearable commonplace +narrowness of her daily routine. He had made her even more +restless, disturbed and dissatisfied. It had been to her as when +one in some foreign country meets a citizen from one's old home +town. And for this Kitty was genuinely sorry. She did not wish to +feel as she did about her home and the things that made the world +of those she loved. She had tried honestly to still the unrest and +to deny the longing. She had wished many times, since her return +from the East, that she had never left her home for those three +years in school. And yet, those years had meant much to her; they +had been wonderful years; but they seemed, somehow—now that +they were past and she was home again—to have brought her +only that unrest and longing.</p> +<p>From the beginning of her years until that first great crisis in +her life—her going away to school—this world into which +she was born had been to Kitty an all-sufficient world. The days of +her childhood had been as carefree and joyous, almost, as the days +of the young things of her father's roaming herds. As her girlhood +years advanced, under her mother's wise companionship and careful +teaching, she had grown into her share of the household duties and +into a knowledge of woman's part in the life to which she belonged, +as naturally as her girlish form had put on the graces of young +womanhood. The things that filled the days of her father and +mother, and the days of her neighbors and friends, had filled her +days. The things that were all in all to those she loved had been +all in all to her. And always, through those years, from her +earliest childhood to her young womanhood, there was Phil, her +playmate, schoolmate, protector, hero, slave. That Phil should be +her boy sweetheart and young man lover had seemed as natural to +Kitty as her relation to her parents. There had never been anyone +else but Phil. There never could be—she was sure, in those +days—anyone else.</p> +<p>In Kitty's heart that afternoon, as she rode, so indifferent to +the life that called from every bush and tree and grassy hill and +distant mountain, there was sweet regret, deep and sincere, for +those years that were now, to her, so irrevocably gone. Kitty did +not know how impossible it was for her to ever wholly escape the +things that belonged to her childhood and youth. Those things of +her girlhood, out of which her heart and soul had been fashioned, +were as interwoven in the fabric of her being as the vitality, +strength and purity of the clean, wholesome, outdoor life of those +same years were wrought into the glowing health and vigor and +beauty of her physical womanhood.</p> +<p>And then had come those other years—the maturing, ripening +years—when, from the simple, primitive and enduring elements +of life, she had gone to live amid complex, cultivated and largely +fanciful standards and values. In that land of Kitty's birth a man +is measured by the measure of his manhood; a woman is ranked by the +quality of her womanhood. Strength and courage, sincerity, honesty, +usefulness—these were the prime essentials of the man life +that Kitty had, in those years of her girlhood, known; and these, +too, in their feminine expressions, were the essentials of the +woman life. But from these the young woman had gone to be educated +in a world where other things are of first importance. She had gone +to be taught that these are not the essential elements of manhood +and womanhood. Or, at least, if she was not to be deliberately so +taught, these things would be so ignored and neglected and +overlooked in her training, that the effect on her character would +be the same. In that new world she was to learn that men and women +are not to be measured by the standards of manhood and +womanhood—that they were to be rated, not for strength, but +for culture; not for courage, but for intellectual cleverness; not +for sincerity, but for manners; not for honesty, but for success; +not for usefulness, but for social position, which is most often +determined by the degree of uselessness. It was as though the +handler of gems were to attach no value whatever to the weight of +the diamond itself, but to fix the worth of the stone wholly by the +cutting and polish that the crystal might receive.</p> +<p>At first, Kitty had been excited, bewildered and fascinated by +the glittering, sparkling, ever-changing, many-faceted life. Then +she had grown weary and homesick. And then, as the months had +passed, and she had been drawn more and more by association and +environment into the world of down-to-dateism she, too, began to +regard the sparkle of the diamond as the determining factor in the +value of the gem. And when the young woman had achieved this, they +called her education finished, and sent her back to the land over +which Granite Mountain, gray and grim and fortress-like, with its +ranks of sentinel bills? keeps enduring and unchanging watch.</p> +<p>During those first glad days of Kitty's homecoming she had been +eagerly interested in everything. The trivial bits of news about +the small doings of her old friends had been delightful. The home +life, with its simple routine and its sweet companionship, had been +restful and satisfying. The very scenes of her girlhood had seemed +to welcome her with a spirit of genuineness and steadfastness that +had made her feel as one entering a safe home harbor after a long +and adventurous voyage to far-away and little-known lands. And +Phil, in the virile strength of his manhood, in the simple bigness +of his character, and in his enduring and unchanging love, had made +her feel his likeness to the primitive land of his birth.</p> +<p>But when the glad excitement of those first days of her return +were past, when the meetings with old friends were over and the +tales of their doings exhausted, then Kitty began to realize what +her education, as they called it, really meant. The lessons of +those three years were not to be erased from her life as one would +erase a mistake in a problem or a misspelled word. The tastes, +habits of thought and standards of life, the acquirement of which +constituted her culture, would not be denied. It was inevitable +that there should be a clash between the claims of her home life +and the claims of that life to which she now felt that she also +belonged.</p> +<p>However odious comparisons may be, they are many times +inevitable. Loyally, Kitty tried to magnify the worth of those +things that in her girlhood had been the supreme things in her +life, but, try as she might, they were now, in comparison with +those things which her culture placed first, of trivial importance. +The virile strength and glowing health of Phil's unspoiled +manhood—beautiful as the vigorous life of one of the wild +horses from which he had his nickname—were overshadowed, now, +by the young man's inability to clothe his splendid body in that +fashion which her culture demanded. His simple and primitive views +of life—as natural as the instinct which governs all +creatures in his God-cultivated world—were now unrefined, +ignoble, inelegant. His fine nature and unembarrassed intelligence, +which found in the wealth of realities amid which he lived abundant +food for his intellectual life, and which enabled him to see +clearly, observe closely and think with such clean-cut directness, +beside the intellectuality of those schooled in the thoughts of +others, appeared as ignorance and illiteracy. The very fineness and +gentleness of his nature were now the distinguishing marks of an +uncouth and awkward rustic.</p> +<p>With all her woman heart Kitty had fought against these +comparisons—and continued to make them. Everything in her +nature that belonged to Granite Mountain—that was, in short, +the product of that land—answered to Phil's call, as +instinctively as the life of that land calls and answers Its mating +calls. Everything that she had acquired in those three years of a +more advanced civilization denied and repulsed him. And now her +meeting with Patches had stirred the warring forces to renewed +activity, and in the distracting turmoil of her thoughts she found +herself hating the land she loved, loathing the life that appealed +to her with such insistent power, despising those whom she so +dearly esteemed and honored, and denying the affection of which she +was proud with a true woman's tender pride.</p> +<p>Kitty was aroused from her absorption by the shrill boyish yells +of her two younger brothers, who, catching sight of their sister +from the top of one of the low hills that edge the meadow bottom +lands, were charging recklessly down upon her.</p> +<p>As the clatter and rumble of those eight flying hoofs drew +nearer and nearer, Midnight, too, "came alive," as the cowboys say, +and tossed his head and pranced with eager impatience.</p> +<p>"Where in the world have you been all the afternoon?" demanded +Jimmy, with twelve-year-old authority, as his pony slid to a halt +within a foot or two of his sister's horse.</p> +<p>And, "We wanted you to go with us, to see our coyote traps," +reproved Conny—two years younger than his brother—as +his pinto executed a like maneuver on the other side of the excited +Midnight.</p> +<p>"And where is Jack?" asked the young woman mischievously, as she +smilingly welcomed the vigorous lads.</p> +<p>"Couldn't he help?"</p> +<p>Jack was the other member of the Reid trio of boys—a lusty +four-year-old who felt himself equal to any venture that interested +his brothers.</p> +<p>Jimmy grinned. "Aw, mama coaxed him into the kitchen with +something to eat while me and Conny sneaked down to the corral and +saddled up and beat it."</p> +<p>Big sister's dark eyebrows arched in shocked inquiry, "<i>Me</i> +and Conny?"</p> +<p>"That is, Conny and I," amended Jimmy, with good-natured +tolerance of his sister's whims.</p> +<p>"You see, Kitty," put in Conny, "this hero coyote traps pin' +ain't just fun. It's business. Dad's promised us three dollars for +every scalp, an' we're aimin' to make a stake. We didn't git a +blamed thing, to-day, though."</p> +<p>Sister's painful and despairing expression was blissfully +ignored as Jimmy stealthily flicked the long romal at the end of +his bridle reins against Midnight's flank.</p> +<p>"Gee!" observed the tickled youngster, as Kitty gave all her +attention to restraining the fretting and indignant horse, "ol' +Midnight is sure some festive, ain't he?"</p> +<p>"I'll race you both to the big gate," challenged Kitty.</p> +<p>"For how much?" demanded Jimmy quickly.</p> +<p>"You got to give us fifty yards start," declared Conny, leaning +forward in his saddle and shortening his reins.</p> +<p>"If I win, you boys go straight to bed to-night, when it's time, +without fussing," said Kitty, "and I'll give you to that oak bush +yonder."</p> +<p>"Good enough! You're on!" they shouted in chorus, and loped +away.</p> +<p>As they passed the handicap mark, another shrill, defiant yell +came floating back to where Kitty sat reining in her impatient +Midnight. At the signal, the two ponies leaped from a lope into a +full run, while Kitty loosed the restraining rein and the black +horse stretched away in pursuit. Spurs ring, shouting, entreating, +the two lads urged their sturdy mounts toward the goal, and the +pintos answered gamely with all that they had. Over knolls and +washes, across arroyos and gullies they flew, sure-footed and +eager, neck and neck, while behind them, drawing nearer and nearer, +came the black, with body low, head outstretched and limbs that +moved apparently with the timed regularity and driving power of a +locomotive's piston rod. As she passed them, Kitty shouted a merry +"Come on!" which they answered with redoubled exertion and another +yell of hearty boyish admiration for the victorious Midnight and +his beautiful rider.</p> +<p>"Doggone that black streak!" exclaimed Jimmy, his eyes dancing +with fun as they pulled up at the corral gate.</p> +<p>"He opens and shuts like a blamed ol' jack rabbit," commented +Conny. "Seemed like we was just a-sittin' still watchin' you go +by."</p> +<p>Kitty laughed, teasingly, and unconsciously slipped into the +vernacular as she returned, "Did you kids think you were +a-horseback?"</p> +<p>"You just wait, Miss," retorted the grinning Jimmy, as he opened +the big gate. "I'll get a horse some day that'll run circles around +that ol' black scound'el."</p> +<p>And then, as they dismounted at the door of the saddle room in +the big barn, he added generously, "You scoot on up to the house, +Kitty; I'll take care of Midnight. It must be gettin' near supper +time, an' I'm hungry enough to eat a raw dog."</p> +<p>At which alarming statement Kitty promptly scooted, stopping +only long enough at the windmill pump for a cool, refreshing +drink.</p> +<p>Mrs. Reid, with sturdy little Jack helping, was already busy in +the kitchen. She was a motherly woman, rather below Kitty's height, +and inclined somewhat to a comfortable stoutness. In her face was +the gentle strength and patience of those whose years have been +spent in home-making, without the hardness that is sometimes seen +in the faces of those whose love is not great enough to soften +their tail. One knew by the light in her eyes whenever she spoke of +Kitty, or, indeed, whenever the girl's name was mentioned, how +large a place her only daughter held in her mother heart.</p> +<p>While the two worked together at their homely task, the girl +related in trivial detail the news of the neighborhood, and +repeated faithfully the talk she had had with the mistress of the +Cross-Triangle, answering all her mother's questions, replying with +careful interest to the older woman's comments, relating all that +was known or guessed, or observed regarding the stranger. But of +her meeting with Patches, Kitty said little; only that she had met +him as she was coming home. All during the evening meal, too, +Patches was the principal topic of the conversation, though Mr. +Reid, who had arrived home just in time for supper, said +little.</p> +<p>When supper was over, and the evening work finished, Kitty sat +on the porch in the twilight, looking away across the wide valley +meadows, toward the light that shone where the walnut trees about +the Cross-Triangle ranch house made a darker mass in the gathering +gloom. Her father had gone to call upon the Dean. The men were at +the bunk-house, from which their voices came low and indistinct. +Within the house the mother was coaxing little Jack to bed. Jimmy +and Conny, at the farther end of the porch, were planning an +extensive campaign against coyotes, and investing the unearned +profits of their proposed industry.</p> +<p>Kitty's thoughts were many miles away. In that bright and +stirring life—so far from the gloomy stillness of her home +land, where she sat so alone—what gay pleasures held her +friends? Amid what brilliant scenes were they spending the evening, +while she sat in her dark and silent world alone? As her memory +pictured the lights, the stirring movement, the music, the +merry-voiced talk, the laughter, the gaiety, the excitement, the +companionship of those whose lives were so full of interest, her +heart rebelled at the dull emptiness of her days. As she watched +the evening dusk deepen into the darkness of the night, and the +outlines of the familiar landscape fade and vanish in the +thickening gloom, she felt the dreary monotony of the days and +years that were to come, blotting out of her life all tone and +color and forms of brightness and beauty.</p> +<p>Then she saw, slowly emerging from the shadows of the meadow +below, a darker shadow—mysterious, formless—that +seemed, as it approached, to shape itself out of the very darkness +through which it came, until, still dim and indistinct, a horseman +was opening the meadow gate. Before the cowboy answered Jimmy's +boyish "Hello!" Kitty knew that it was Phil.</p> +<p>The young woman's first impulse was to retreat to the safe +seclusion of her own room. But, even as she arose to her feet, she +knew how that would hurt the man who had always been so good to +her; and so she went generously down the walk to meet him where he +would dismount and leave his horse.</p> +<p>"Did you see father?" she asked, thinking as she spoke how +little there was for them to talk about.</p> +<p>"Why, no. What's the matter?" he returned quickly, pausing as if +ready to ride again at her word.</p> +<p>She laughed a little at his manner. "There is nothing the +matter. He just went over to see the Dean, that's all."</p> +<p>"I must have missed him crossing the meadow," returned Phil. "He +always goes around by the road."</p> +<p>Then, when he stood beside her, he added gently, "But there is +something the matter, Kitty. What is it? Lonesome for the bright +lights?"</p> +<p>That was always Phil's way, she thought. He seemed always to +know instinctively her every mood and wish.</p> +<p>"Perhaps I was a little lonely," she admitted. "I am glad that +you came."</p> +<p>Then they were at the porch, and her ambitious brothers were +telling Phil in detail their all-absorbing designs against the +peace of the coyote tribe, and asking his advice. Mrs. Reid came to +sit with them a-while, and again the talk followed around the +narrow circle of their lives, until Kitty felt that she could bear +no more. Then Mrs. Reid, more merciful than she knew, sent the boys +to bed and retired to her own room.</p> +<p>"And so you are tired of us all, and want to go back," mused +Phil, breaking one of the long, silent periods that in these days +seemed so often to fall upon them when they found themselves +alone.</p> +<p>"That's not quite fair, Phil," she returned gently. "You know +it's not that."</p> +<p>"Well, then, tired of this"—his gesture indicated the +sweep of the wide land—"tired of what we are and what we +do?"</p> +<p>The girl stirred uneasily, but did not speak.</p> +<p>"I don't blame you," he continued, as if thinking aloud. "It +must seem mighty empty to those who don't really know it."</p> +<p>"And don't I know it?" challenged Kitty. "You seem to forget +that I was born here—that I have lived here almost as many +years as you."</p> +<p>"But just the same you don't know," returned Phil gently. "You +see, dear, you knew it as a girl, the same as I did when I was a +boy. But now—well, I know it as a man, and you as a woman +know something that you think is very different."</p> +<p>Again that long silence lay a barrier between them. Then Kitty +made the effort, hesitatingly. "Do you love the life so very, very +much, Phil?"</p> +<p>He answered quickly. "Yes, but I could love any life that suited +you."</p> +<p>"No—no," she returned hurriedly, "that's not—I +mean—Phil, why are you so satisfied here? There is so little +for a man like you."</p> +<p>"So little!" His voice told her that her words had stung. "I +told you that you did not know. Why, everything that a man has a +right to want is here. All that life can give anywhere is +here—I mean all of life that is worth having. But I suppose," +he finished lamely, "that it's hard for you to see it that +way—now. It's like trying to make a city man understand why a +fellow is never lonesome just because there's no crowd around. I +guess I love this life and am satisfied with it just as the wild +horses over there at the foot of old Granite love it and are +satisfied."</p> +<p>"But don't you feel, sometimes, that if you had greater +opportunities—don't you sometimes wish that you could live +where—" She paused at a loss for words. Phil somehow always +made the things she craved seem so trivial.</p> +<p>"I know what you mean," he answered. "You mean, don't the wild +horses wish that they could live in a fine stable, and have a lot +of men to feed and take care of them, and rig them out with fancy, +gold-mounted harness, and let them prance down the streets for the +crowds to see? No; horses have more sense than that. It takes a +human to make that kind of a fool of himself. There's only one +thing in the world that would make me want to try it, and I guess +you know what that is."</p> +<p>His last words robbed his answer of its sting, and she said +gently, "You are bitter to-night, Phil. It is not like you."</p> +<p>He did not answer.</p> +<p>"Did something go wrong to-day?" she persisted.</p> +<p>He turned suddenly to face her, and spoke with a passion unusual +to him. "I saw you at the ranch this afternoon—as you were +riding away. You did not even look toward the corral where you knew +I was at work; and it seemed like all the heart went clear out of +me. Oh, Kitty, girl, can't we bring back the old days as they were +before you went away?"</p> +<p>"Hush, Phil," she said, almost as she would have spoken to one +of her boy brothers.</p> +<p>But he went on recklessly. "No, I'm going to speak to-night. +Ever since you came home you have refused to listen to me—you +have put me off—made me keep still. I want you to tell me, +Kitty, if I were like Honorable Patches, would it make any +difference?"</p> +<p>"I do not know Mr. Patches," she answered.</p> +<p>"You met him to-day; and you know what I mean. Would it make any +difference if I were like him?"</p> +<p>"Why, Phil, dear, how can I answer such a question? I do not +know."</p> +<p>"Then it's not because I belong here in this country instead of +back East in some city that has made you change?"</p> +<p>"I have changed, I suppose, because I have become a woman, Phil, +as you have become a man."</p> +<p>"Yes, I have become a man," he returned, "but I have not +changed, except that the boy's love has become a man's love. Would +it make any difference, Kitty, if you cared more for the life +here—I mean if you were contented here—if these things +that mean so much to us all, satisfied you?"</p> +<p>Again she answered, "I do not know, Phil. How can I know?"</p> +<p>"Will you try, Kitty—I mean try to like your old home as +you used to like it?"</p> +<p>"Oh, Phil, I have tried. I do try," she cried. "But I don't +think it's the life that I like or do not like that makes the +difference. I am sure, Phil, that if I could"—she hesitated, +then went on bravely—"if I could give you the love you want, +nothing else would matter. You said you could like any life that +suited me. Don't you think that I could be satisfied with any life +that suited the man I loved?"</p> +<p>"Yes," he said, "you could; and that's the answer."</p> +<p>"What is the answer?" she asked.</p> +<p>"Love, just love, Kitty—any place with love is a good +place, and without love no life can satisfy. I am glad you said +that. It was what I wanted you to say. I know now what I have to +do. I am like Patches. I have found my job." There was no +bitterness in his voice now.</p> +<p>The girl was deeply moved, but—"I don't think I quite +understand, Phil," she said.</p> +<p>"Why, don't you see?" he returned. "My job is to win your +love—to make you love me—for myself—for just what +I am—as a man—and not to try to be something or to live +some way that I think you would like. It's the man that you must +love, and not what he does or where he lives. Isn't that it?"</p> +<p>"Yes," she answered slowly. "I am sure that is so. It must be +so, Phil."</p> +<p>He rose to his feet abruptly. "All right," he said, almost +roughly. "I'll go now. But don't make any mistake, Kitty. You're +mine, girl, mine, by laws that are higher than the things they +taught you at school. And you are going to find it out. I am going +to win you—just as the wild things out there win their mates. +You are going to come to me, girl, because you are +mine—because you are my mate."</p> +<p>And then, as she, too, arose, and they stood for a silent moment +facing each other, the woman felt his strength, and in her woman +heart was glad—glad and proud, though she could not give all +that he asked.</p> +<p>As she watched him ride away into the night, and the soft +mystery of the darkness out of which he had come seemed to take his +shadowy form again to itself, she wondered—wondered with +regret in the thought—would he, perhaps, go thus out of her +life? Would he?</p> +<p>When Phil turned his horse into the meadow pasture at home the +big bay, from somewhere in the darkness, trumpeted his challenge. A +low laugh came from near by, and in the light of the stars Phil saw +a man standing by the pasture fence. As he went toward the shadowy +figure the voice of Patches followed the laugh.</p> +<p>"I'll bet that was Stranger."</p> +<p>"I know it was," answered Phil. "What's the matter that you're +not in bed?"</p> +<p>"Oh, I was just listening to the horses out there, and +thinking," returned Patches.</p> +<p>"Thinking about your job?" asked Phil quietly.</p> +<p>"Perhaps," admitted the other.</p> +<p>"Well, you have no reason to worry; you'll ride him all right," +said the cowboy.</p> +<p>"I wish I could be as sure," the other returned doubt fully.</p> +<p>And they both knew that they were using the big bay horse as a +symbol.</p> +<p>"And I wish I was as sure of making good at my job, as I am that +you will win out with yours," returned Phil.</p> +<p>Patches' voice was very kind as he said reflectively, "So, you +have a job, too. I am glad for that."</p> +<p>"Glad?"</p> +<p>"Yes," the tall man placed a hand on the other's shoulder as +they turned to walk toward the house, "because, Phil, I have come +to the conclusion that this old world is a mighty empty place for +the man who has nothing to do."</p> +<p>"But there seems to be a lot of fellows who manage to keep +fairly busy doing nothing, just the same, don't you think?" replied +Phil with a low laugh.</p> +<p>"I said <i>man</i>'," retorted Patches, with emphasis.</p> +<p>"That's right," agreed Phil. "A man just naturally requires a +man's job."</p> +<p>"And," mused Patches, "when it's all said and done, I suppose +there's only one genuine, simon-pure, full-sized man's job in the +world."</p> +<p>"And I reckon that's right, too," returned the cowboy.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/129.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_08.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/130.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>few days after Jim Reid's evening visit to the Dean two cowboys +from the Diamond-and-a-Half outfit, on their way to Cherry Creek, +stopped at the ranch for dinner.</p> +<p>The well-known, open-handed Baldwin hospitality led many a +passing rider thus aside from the main valley road and through the +long meadow lane to the Cross-Triangle table. Always there was good +food for man and horse, with a bed for those who came late in the +day; and always there was a hearty welcome and talk under the +walnut trees with the Dean. And in all that broad land there was +scarce a cowboy who, when riding the range, would not look out for +the Dean's cattle with almost the same interest and care that he +gave to the animals bearing the brand of his own employer.</p> +<p>So it was that these riders from the Tonto Flats country told +the Dean that in looking over the Cross-Triangle cattle watering at +Toohey they had seen several cases of screwworms.</p> +<p>"We doped a couple of the worst, and branded a calf for you," +said "Shorty" Myers.</p> +<p>And his companion, Bert Wilson, added, as though apologizing, +"We couldn't stop any longer because we got to make it over to +Wheeler's before mornin'."</p> +<p>"Much obliged, boys," returned the Dean. Then, with his +ever-ready jest, "Sure you put the right brand on that calf?"</p> +<p>"We-all ain't ridin' for no Tailholt Mountain outfit this +season," retorted Bert dryly, as they all laughed at the Dean's +question.</p> +<p>And at the cowboy's words Patches, wondering, saw the laughing +faces change and looks of grim significance flash from man to +man.</p> +<p>"Anybody seen anything over your way lately?" asked the Dean +quietly.</p> +<p>In the moment of silence that followed the visitors looked +questioningly from the face of Patches to the Dean and then to +Phil. Phil smiled his endorsement of the stranger, and "Shorty" +said, "We found a couple of fresh-branded calves what didn't seem +to have no mothers last week, and Bud Stillwell says some things +look kind o' funny over in the D.1 neighborhood."</p> +<p>Another significant silence followed. To Patches, it seemed as +the brooding hush that often precedes a storm. He had not missed +those questioning looks of the visitors, and had seen Phil's +smiling endorsement, but he could not, of course, understand. He +could only wonder and wait, for he felt intuitively that he must +not speak. It was as though these strong men who had received him +so generously into their lives put him, now, outside their circle, +while they considered business of grave moment to themselves.</p> +<p>"Well, boys," said the Dean, as if to dismiss the subject, "I've +been in this cow business a good many years, now, an' I've seen all +kinds of men come an' go, but I ain't never seen the man yet that +could get ahead very far without payin' for what he got. Some time, +one way or another, whether he's so minded or not, a man's just +naturally got to pay."</p> +<p>"That law is not peculiar to the cattle business, either, is it, +Mr. Baldwin?" The words came from Patches, and as they saw his +face, it was their turn to wonder.</p> +<p>The Dean looked straight into the dark eyes that were so filled +with painful memories, and wistful desire. "Sir?"</p> +<p>"I mean," said Patches, embarrassed, as though he had spoken +involuntarily, "that what you say applies to those who live +idly—doing no useful work whatever—as well as to those +who are dishonest in business of any kind, or who deliberately +steal outright. Don't you think so?"</p> +<p>The Dean—his eyes still fixed on the face of the new +man—answered slowly, "I reckon that's so, Patches. When you +come to think about it, it <i>must</i> be so. One way or another +every man that takes what he ain't earned has to pay for it."</p> +<p>"Who is he?" asked the visitors of Curly and Bob, as they went +for their horses, when the meal was over.</p> +<p>The Cross-Triangle men shook their heads.</p> +<p>"Just blew in one day, and the Dean hired him," said Bob.</p> +<p>"But he's the handiest man with his fists that's ever been in +this neck of the woods. If you don't believe it, just you start +something," added Curly with enthusiasm.</p> +<p>"Found it out, did you?" laughed Bert.</p> +<p>"In something less than a minute," admitted Curly.</p> +<p>"Funny name!" mused "Shorty."</p> +<p>Bob grinned. "That's what Curly thought—at first."</p> +<p>"And then he took another think, huh?"</p> +<p>"Yep," agreed Curly, "he sure carries the proper credentials to +make any name that he wants to wear good enough for me."</p> +<p>The visitors mounted their horses, and sat looking appraisingly +at the tall figure of Honorable Patches, as that gentleman passed +them at a little distance, on his way to the barn.</p> +<p>"Mebby you're right," admitted "Shorty," "but he sure talks like +a schoolmarm, don't he?"</p> +<p>"He sure ain't no puncher," commented Bert.</p> +<p>"No, but I'm gamblin' that he's goin' to be," retorted Curly, +ignoring the reference to Patches' culture.</p> +<p>"Me, too," agreed Bob.</p> +<p>"Well, we'll all try him out this fall rodeo"; and "better not +let him drift far from the home ranch for a while," laughed the +visitors. "So long!" and they were away.</p> +<p>Before breakfast the next morning Phil said to Patches, "Catch +up Snip, and give him a feed of grain. You'll ride with me +to-day."</p> +<p>At Patches' look of surprise he explained laughingly, "I'm going +to give my school a little vacation, and Uncle Will thinks it's +time you were out of the kindergarten."</p> +<p>Later, as they were crossing the big pasture toward the country +that lies to the south, the foreman volunteered the further +information that for the next few weeks they would ride the +range.</p> +<p>"May I ask what for?" said Patches, encouraged by the cowboy's +manner.</p> +<p>It was one of the man's peculiarities that he rarely entered +into the talk of his new friends when their work was the topic of +conversation. And he never asked questions except when alone with +Phil or the Dean, and then only when led on by them. It was not +that he sought to hide his ignorance, for he made no pretenses +whatever, but his reticence seemed, rather, the result of a curious +feeling of shame that he had so little in common with these men +whose lives were so filled with useful labor. And this, if he had +known, was one of the things that made them like him. Men who live +in such close daily touch with the primitive realities of life, and +who thereby acquire a simple directness, with a certain native +modesty, have no place in their hearts for—to use their own +picturesque vernacular—a "four-flusher."</p> +<p>Phil tactfully did not even smile at the question, but answered +in a matter-of-fact tone. "To look out for screw-*worms, brand a +calf here and there, keep the water holes open, and look out for +the stock generally."</p> +<p>"And you mean," questioned Patches doubtfully, "that <i>I</i> am +to ride with you?"</p> +<p>"Sure. You see, Uncle Will thinks you are too good a man to +waste on the odd jobs around the place, and so I'm going to get you +in shape for the rodeo this fall."</p> +<p>The effect of his words was peculiar. A deep red colored +Patches' face, and his eyes shone with a glad light, as he faced +his companion. "And you—what do you think about it, Phil?" he +demanded.</p> +<p>The cowboy laughed at the man's eagerness. "Me? Oh, I think just +as I have thought all the time—ever since you asked for a job +that day in the corral."</p> +<p>Patches drew a long breath, and, sitting very straight in the +saddle, looked away toward Granite Mountain; while Phil, watching +him curiously, felt something like kindly pity in his heart for +this man who seemed to hunger so for a man's work, and a place +among men.</p> +<p>Just outside the Deep Wash gate of the big pasture, a few cattle +were grazing in the open flat. As the men rode toward them, Phil +took down his riata while Patches watched him questioningly.</p> +<p>"We may as well begin right here," said the cowboy. "Do you see +anything peculiar about anything in that bunch?"</p> +<p>Patches studied the cattle in vain.</p> +<p>"What about that calf yonder?" suggested Phil, leisurely opening +the loop of his rope. "I mean that six-months youngster with the +white face."</p> +<p>Still Patches hesitated.</p> +<p>Phil helped him again. "Look at his ears."</p> +<p>"They're not marked," exclaimed Patches.</p> +<p>"And what should they be marked?" asked the teacher.</p> +<p>"Under-bit right and a split left, if he belongs to the +Cross-Triangle," returned the pupil proudly, and in the same breath +he exclaimed, "He is not branded either."</p> +<p>Phil smiled approval. "That's right, and we'll just fix him now, +before somebody else beats us to him." He moved his horse slowly +toward the cattle as he spoke.</p> +<p>"But," exclaimed Patches, "how do you know that he belongs to +the Cross-Triangle?"</p> +<p>"He doesn't," returned Phil, laughing. "He belongs to me."</p> +<p>"But I don't see how you can tell."</p> +<p>"I know because I know the stock," Phil explained, "and because +I happen to remember that particular calf, in the rodeo last +spring. He got away from us, with his mother, in the cedars and +brush over near the head of Mint Wash. That's one of the things +that you have to learn in this business, you see. But, to be sure +we're right, you watch him a minute, and you'll see him go to a +Five-Bar cow. The Five-Bar is my iron, you know—I have a few +head running with Uncle Will's."</p> +<p>Even as he spoke, the calf, frightened at their closer approach, +ran to a cow that was branded as Phil had said, and the cow, with +unmistakable maternal interest in her offspring, proved the +ownership of the calf.</p> +<p>"You see?" said Phil. "We'll get that fellow now, because before +the next rodeo he'll be big enough to leave his mother, and then; +if he isn't branded, he'll be a maverick, and will belong to +anybody that puts an iron on him."</p> +<p>"But couldn't someone brand him now, with their brand, and drive +him away from his mother?" asked Patches.</p> +<p>"Such things have been known to happen, and that not a thousand +miles from here, either," returned Phil dryly. "But, really, you +know, Mr. Patches, it isn't done among the best people."</p> +<p>Patches laughed aloud at his companion's attempt at a simpering +affectation. Then he watched with admiration while the cowboy sent +his horse after the calf and, too quickly for an inexperienced eye +to see just how it was done, the deft riata stretched the animal by +the heels. With a short "hogging" rope, which he carried looped +through a hole cut in the edge of his chaps near the belt, Phil +tied the feet of his victim, before the animal had recovered from +the shock of the fall; and then, with Patches helping, proceeded to +build a small fire of dry grass and leaves and sticks from a +near-by bush. From his saddle, Phil took a small iron rod, +flattened at one end, and only long enough to permit its being held +in the gloved hand when the flattened end was hot—a running +iron, he called it, and explained to his interested pupil, as he +thrust it into the fire, how some of the boys used an iron ring for +range branding.</p> +<p>"And is there no way to change or erase a brand?" asked Patches, +while the iron was heating.</p> +<p>"Sure there is," replied Phil. And sitting on his heels, cowboy +fashion, he marked on the ground with a stick.</p> +<div class="figright"><img src="images/137a.png" width="20%" alt="" +title="" /></div> +<div class="figleft"><br /> +<img src="images/137b.png" width="30%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p>"Look! This is the Cross-Triangle brand:--; and this:--, the +Four-Bar-M, happens to be Nick Cambert's iron, over at Tailholt +Mountain. Now, can't you see how, supposing I were Nick, and this +calf were branded with the Cross-Triangle, I could work the iron +over into my brand?"</p> +<p>Patches nodded. "But is there no way to detect such a +fraud?"</p> +<p>"It's a mighty hard thing to prove that an iron has bees worked +over," Phil answered slowly. "About the only sure way is to catch +the thief in the act."</p> +<p>"But there are the earmarks," said Patches, a few moments later, +when Phil had released the branded and marked calf—"the +earmarks and the brand wouldn't agree."</p> +<div class="figright"><img src="images/138a.png" width="30%" alt="" +title="" /></div> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/138b.png" width="40%" alt="" +title="" /></div> +<p>"They would if I were Nick," said the cowboy. Then he added +quickly, as if regretting his remark, "Our earmark is an under-bit +right and a split left, you said. Well, the Four-Bar-M earmark is a +crop and an under-bit right and a swallow-fork left." With the +point of his iron now he again marked in the dirt. "Here's your +Cross-Triangle:--; and here's your Pour-Bar-M:--."</p> +<p>"And if a calf branded with a Tailholt iron were to be found +following a Cross-Triangle cow, then what?" came Patches' very +natural question.</p> +<p>"Then," returned the foreman of the Cross-Triangle grimly, +"there would be a mighty good chance for trouble."</p> +<p>"But it seems to me," said Patches, as they rode on, "that it +would be easily possible for a man to brand another man's calf by +mistake."</p> +<p>"A man always makes a mistake when he puts his iron on another +man's property," returned the cowboy shortly.</p> +<p>"But might it not be done innocently, just the same!" persisted +Patches.</p> +<p>"Yes, it might," admitted Phil.</p> +<p>"Well, then, what would you do if you found a calf, that you +knew belonged to the Dean, branded with some other man's brand? I +mean, how would you proceed?"</p> +<p>"Oh, I see what you are driving at," said Phil in quite a +different tone. "If you ever run on to a case, the first thing for +you to do is to be dead sure that the misbranded calf belongs to +one of our cows. Then, if you are right, and it's not too far, +drive the cow and calf into the nearest corral and report it. If +you can't get them to a corral without too much trouble, just put +the Cross-Triangle on the calf's ribs. When he shows up in the next +rodeo, with the right brand on his ribs, and some other brand where +the right brand ought to be—you'll take pains to remember his +natural markings, of course—you will explain the +circumstances, and the owner of the iron that was put on him by +mistake will be asked to vent his brand. A brand is vented by +putting the same brand on the animal's shoulder. Look! There's one +now." He pointed to an animal a short distance away. "See, that +steer is branded Diamond-and-a-Half on hip and shoulder, and +Cross-Triangle on his ribs. Well, when he was a yearling he +belonged to the Diamond-and-a-Half outfit. We picked him up in the +rodeo, away over toward Mud Tanks. He was running with our stock, +and Stillwell didn't want to go to the trouble of taking him +home—about thirty miles it is—so he sold him to Uncle +Will, and vented his brand, as you see."</p> +<p>"I see," said Patches, "but that's different from finding a calf +misbranded."</p> +<p>"Sure. There was no question of ownership there," agreed +Phil.</p> +<p>"But in the case of the calf," the cowboy's pupil persisted, "if +it had left its mother when the man owning the iron was asked to +vent it, there would be no way of proving the real ownership."</p> +<p>"Nothing but the word of the man who found the calf with its +mother, and, perhaps, the knowledge of the men who knew the +stock."</p> +<p>"What I am getting at," smiled Patches, "is this: it would come +down at last to a question of men, wouldn't it?"</p> +<p>"That's where most things come to in, the end in this country, +Patches. But you're right. With owners like Uncle Will, and Jim +Reid, and Stillwell, and dozens of others; and with cowboys like +Curly and Bob and Bert and 'Shorty,' there would be no trouble at +all about the matter."</p> +<p>"But with others," suggested Patches.</p> +<p>"Well," said Phil slowly, "there are men in this country, who, +if they refused to vent a brand under such circumstances, would be +seeing trouble, and mighty quick, too."</p> +<p>"There's another thing that we've got to watch out for, just +now," Phil continued, a few minutes later, "and that is, +'sleepers'. We'll suppose," he explained, "that I want to build up +my, bunch of Five-Bars, and that I am not too particular about how +I do it. Well, I run on to an unbranded Pot-Hook-S calf that looks +good to me, but I don't dare put my iron on him because he's too +young to leave his mother. If I let him go until he is older, some +of Jim Reid's riders will brand him, and, you see, I never could +work over the Pot-Hook-S iron into my Five-Bar. So I earmark the +calf with the owner's marks, and don't brand him at all. Then he's +a sleeper. If the Pot-Hook-S boys see him, they'll notice that he's +earmarked all right, and very likely they'll take it for granted +that he's branded, or, perhaps let him go anyway. Before the next +rodeo I run on to my sleeper again, and he's big enough now to take +away from the cow, so all I have to do is to change the earmarks +and brand him with my iron. Of course, I wouldn't get all my +sleepers, but—the percentage would be in my favor. If too +many sleepers show up in the rodeo, though, folks would get mighty +suspicious that someone was too handy with his knife. We got a lot +of sleepers in the last rodeo," he concluded quietly.</p> +<p>And Patches, remembering what Little Billy had said about Nick +Cambert and Yavapai Joe, and with the talk of the visiting cowboys +still fresh in his mind, realized that he was making progress in +his education.</p> +<p>Riding leisurely, and turning frequently aside for a nearer view +of the cattle they sighted here and there, they reached Toohey a +little before noon. Here, in a rocky hollow of the hills, a small +stream wells from under the granite walls, only to lose itself a +few hundred yards away in the sands and gravel of the wash. But, +short as its run in the daylight is, the water never fails. And +many cattle come from the open range that lies on every side, to +drink, and, in summer time, to spend the heat of the day, standing +in the cool, wet sands or lying in the shade of the giant sycamores +that line the bank opposite the bluff. There are corrals near-by +and a rude cook-shack under the wide-spreading branches of an old +walnut tree; and the ground of the flat open space, a little back +from the water, is beaten bare and hard by the thousands upon +thousands of cattle that have at many a past rodeo-time been +gathered there.</p> +<p>The two men found, as the Diamond-and-a-Half riders had said, +several animals suffering from those pests of the Arizona ranges, +the screwworms. As Phil explained to Patches while they watered +their horses, the screwworm is the larva of a blowfly bred in sores +on living animals. The unhealed wounds of the branding iron made +the calves by far the most numerous among the sufferers, and were +the afflicted animals not treated the loss during the season would +amount to considerable.</p> +<p>"Look here, Patches," said the cowboy, as his practiced eyes +noted the number needing attention. "I'll tell you what we'll do. +We'll just run this hospital bunch into the corral, and you can +limber up that riata of yours."</p> +<p>And so Patches learned not only the unpleasant work of cleaning +the worm-infested sores with chloroform, but received his first +lesson in the use of the cowboy's indispensable tool, the +riata.</p> +<p>"What next?" asked Patches, as the last calf escaped through the +gate which he had just opened, and ran to find the waiting and +anxious mother.</p> +<p>Phil looked at his companion, and laughed. Honorable Patches +showed the effect of his strenuous and bungling efforts to learn +the rudiments of the apparently simple trick of roping a calf. His +face was streaked with sweat and dust, his hair disheveled, and his +clothing soiled and stained. But his eyes were bright, and his +bearing eager and ready.</p> +<p>"What's the matter?" he demanded, grinning happily at his +teacher. "What fool thing have I done now?"</p> +<p>"You're doing fine," Phil returned. "I was only thinking that +you don't look much like the man I met up on the Divide that +evening."</p> +<p>"I don't feel much like him, either, as far as that goes," +returned Patches.</p> +<p>Phil glanced up at the sun. "What do you say to dinner? It must +be about that time."</p> +<p>"Dinner?"</p> +<p>"Sure. I brought some jerky—there on my saddle—and +some coffee. There ought to be an old pot in the shack yonder. Some +of the boys don't bother, but I never like to miss a feed unless +it's necessary." He did not explain that the dinner was really a +thoughtful concession to his companion.</p> +<p>"Ugh!" ejaculated Patches, with a shrug of disgust, the work +they had been doing still fresh in his mind. "I couldn't eat a +bite."</p> +<p>"You think that now," retorted Phil, "but you just go down to +the creek, drink all you can hold, wash up, and see how quick +you'll change your mind when you smell the coffee."</p> +<p>And thus Patches received yet another lesson—a lesson in +the art of forgetting promptly the most disagreeable features of +his work—an art very necessary to those who aspire to master +real work of any sort whatever.</p> +<p>When they had finished their simple meal, and lay stretched full +length beneath the overhanging limbs of the age-old tree that had +witnessed so many stirring scenes, and listened to so many +camp-fire tales of ranch and range, they talked of things other +than their work. In low tones, as men who feel a mystic and +not-to-be-explained bond of fellowship—with half-closed eyes +looking out into the untamed world that lay before them—they +spoke of life, of its mystery and meaning. And Phil, usually so +silent when any conversation touched himself, and so timid always +in expressing his own self thoughts, was strangely moved to permit +this man to look upon the carefully hidden and deeper things of his +life. But upon his cherished dream—upon his great +ambition—he kept the door fast closed. The time for that +revelation of himself was not yet.</p> +<p>"By the way, Phil," said Patches, when at last his companion +signified that it was time for them to go. "Where were you +educated? I don't think that I have heard you say."</p> +<p>"I have no education," returned the young man, with a laugh +that, to Patches, sounded a bitter note. "I'm just a common +cow-puncher, that's all."</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon," returned the other, "but I thought from the +books you mentioned—"</p> +<p>"Oh, the books! Why, you see, some four years ago a real, +honest-to-goodness book man came out to this country for his +health, and brought his disease along with him."</p> +<p>"His disease?" questioned Patches.</p> +<p>Phil smiled. "His books, I mean. They killed him, and I fell +heir to his trouble. He was a good fellow, all right—we all +liked him—might have been a man if he hadn't been so much of +a scholar. I was curious, at first, just to see what it was that +had got such a grip on him; and then I got interested myself. About +that time, too, there was a reason why I thought it might be a good +thing for me; so I sent for more, and have made a fairly good job +of it in the past three years. I don't think that there's any +danger, though, of the habit getting the grip on me that it had on +him," he reflected with a whimsical grin. "It was our book friend +who first called Uncle Will the Dean."</p> +<p>"The title certainly fits him well," remarked Patches. "I don't +wonder that it stuck. I suppose you received yours for your +riding?"</p> +<p>"Mine?"</p> +<p>"'Wild Horse Phil,' I mean," smiled the other.</p> +<p>Phil laughed. "Haven't you heard that yarn yet? I reckon I may +as well tell you. No, wait!" he exclaimed eagerly. "We have lots of +time. We'll ride south a little way and perhaps I can show +you."</p> +<p>As they rode away up the creek, Patches wondered much at his +companion's words and at his manner, but the cowboy shook his head +at every question, answering, simply, "Wait."</p> +<p>Soon they had left the creek bed—passing through a rock +gateway at the beginning of the little stream—and were riding +up a long, gently sloping hollow between two low but rugged ridges. +The crest of the rocky wall on their left was somewhat higher than +the ridge on their right, but, as the floor of the long, narrow +hollow ascended, the sides of the little valley became +correspondingly lower. Patches noticed that his companion was now +keenly alert and watchful. He sat his horse easily, but there was a +certain air of readiness in his poise, as though he anticipated +sudden action, while his eyes searched the mountain sides with +eager expectancy.</p> +<p>They had nearly reached the upper end of the long slope when +Phil abruptly reined his horse to the left and rode straight up +that rugged, rock-strewn mountain wall. To Patches it seemed +impossible that a horse could climb such a place; but he said +nothing, and wisely gave Snip his head. They were nearly at the +top—so near, in fact, that Phil could see over the narrow +crest—when the cowboy suddenly checked his horse and slipped +from the saddle. With a gesture he bade his companion follow his +example, and in a moment Patches stood beside him. Leaving their +horses, they crept the few remaining feet to the summit. Crouching +low, then lying prone, they worked their way to the top of a huge +rounded rock, from which they could look over and down upon the +country that lies beyond.</p> +<p>Patches uttered a low exclamation, but Phil's instant grip on +his arm checked further speech.</p> +<p>From where they lay, they looked down upon a great mountain +basin of gently rolling, native grass land. From the foot of that +rocky ridge, the beautiful pasture stretches away, several miles, +to the bold, gray cliffs and mighty, towering battlements of +Granite Mountain. On the south, a range of dark hills, and to the +north, a series of sharp peaks, form the natural boundaries.</p> +<p>"Do you see them?" whispered Phil.</p> +<p>Patches looked at him inquiringly. The stranger's interest in +that wonderful scene had led him to overlook that which held his +companion's attention.</p> +<p>"There," whispered Phil impatiently, "on the side of that hill +there—they're not more than four hundred yards away, and +they're working toward us."</p> +<p>"Do you mean those horses?" whispered Patches, amazed at his +companion's manner.</p> +<p>Phil nodded.</p> +<p>"Do they belong to the Cross-Triangle?" asked Patches, still +mystified.</p> +<p>"The Cross-Triangle!" Phil chuckled. Then, with a note of +genuine reverence in his voice, he added softly, "They belong to +God, Mr. Honorable Patches."</p> +<p>Then Patches understood. "Wild horses!" he ejaculated +softly.</p> +<p>There are few men, I think, who can look without admiration upon +a beautifully formed, noble spirited horse. The glorious pride and +strength and courage of these most kingly of God's +creatures—even when they are in harness and subject to their +often inferior masters—compel respect and a degree of +appreciation. But seen as they roam free in those pastures that, +since the creation, have never been marred by plow or +fence—pastures that are theirs by divine right, and the sunny +slopes and shady groves and rocky nooks of which constitute their +kingdom—where, in their lordly strength, they are subject +only to the dictates of their own being, and, unmutilated by human +cruelty, rule by the power and authority of Nature's +laws—they stir the blood of the coldest heart to a quicker +flow, and thrill the mind of the dullest with admiring awe.</p> +<p>"There's twenty-eight in that bunch," whispered Phil. "Do you +see that big black stallion on guard—the one that throws up +his head every minute or two for a look around?"</p> +<p>Patches nodded. There was no mistaking the watchful leader of +the band.</p> +<p>"He's the chap that gave me my title, as you call it," chuckled +Phil. "Come on, now, and we'll see them in action; then I'll tell +you about it."</p> +<p>He slipped from the rock and led the way back to the saddle +horses.</p> +<p>Riding along the ridge, just under the crest, they soon reached +the point where the chain of low peaks merges into the hills that +form the southern boundary of the basin, and so came suddenly into +full view of the wild horses that were feeding on the slopes a +little below.</p> +<p>As the two horsemen appeared, the leader of the band threw up +his head with a warning call to his fellows.</p> +<p>Phil reined in his horse and motioned for Patches to do the +same.</p> +<p>For several minutes, the black stallion held his place, as +motionless as the very rocks of the mountain side, gazing straight +at the mounted men as though challenging their right to cross the +boundary of his kingdom, while his retainers stood as still, +waiting his leadership. With his long, black mane and tail rippling +and waving in the breeze that swept down from Blair Pass and across +the Basin, with his raven-black coat glistening in the sunlight +with the sheen of richest satin where the swelling muscles curved +and rounded from shadow to high light, and with his poise of +perfect strength and freedom, he looked, as indeed he was, a prince +of his kind—a lord of the untamed life that homes in those +God-cultivated fields.</p> +<p>Patches glanced at his companion, as if to speak, but struck by +the expression on the cowboy's face, remained silent. Phil was +leaning a little forward in his saddle, his body as perfect in its +poise of alert and graceful strength as the body of the wild horse +at which he was gazing with such fixed interest. The clear, deeply +tanned skin of his cheeks glowed warmly with the red of his clean, +rich blood, his eyes shone with suppressed excitement, his lips, +slightly parted, curved in a smile of appreciation, love and +reverence for the unspoiled beauty of the wild creature that he +himself, in so many ways, unconsciously resembled.</p> +<p>And Patches—bred and schooled in a world so far from this +world of primitive things—looking from Phil to the wild +horse, and back again from the stallion to the man, felt the spirit +and the power that made them kin—felt it with a, to him, +strange new feeling of reverence, as though in the perfect, +unspoiled life-strength of man and horse he came in closer touch +with the divine than he had ever known before.</p> +<p>Then, without taking his eyes from the object of his almost +worship, Phil said, "Now, watch him, Patches, watch him!"</p> +<p>As he spoke, he moved slowly toward the band, while Patches rode +close by his side.</p> +<p>At their movement, the wild stallion called another warning to +his followers, and went a few graceful paces toward the slowly +approaching men. And then, as they continued their slow advance, he +wheeled with the smooth grace of a swallow, and, with a movement so +light and free that he seemed rather to skim over the surface of +the ground than to tread upon it, circled here and there about his +band, assembling them in closer order, flying, with ears flat and +teeth bared and mane and tail tossing, in lordly fury at the +laggards, driving them before him, but keeping always between his +charges and the danger until they were at what he evidently judged +to be, for their inferior strength, a distance of safety. Then +again he halted his company and, moving alone a short way toward +the horsemen, stood motionless, watching their slow approach.</p> +<p>Again Phil checked his horse. "God!" he exclaimed under his +breath. "What a sight! Oh, you beauty! You beauty!"</p> +<p>But Patches was moved less by the royal beauty of the wild +stallion than by the passionate reverence that vibrated in his +companion's voice.</p> +<p>Again the two horsemen moved forward; and again the stallion +drove his band to a safe distance, and stood waiting between them +and their enemies.</p> +<p>Then the cowboy laughed aloud—a hearty laugh of clean +enjoyment. "All right, old fellow, I'll just give you a whirl for +luck," he said aloud to the wild horse, apparently forgetting his +human companion.</p> +<p>And Patches saw him shorten his reins, and rise a little in his +stirrups, while his horse, as though understanding, gathered +himself for a spring. In a flash Patches was alone, watching as +Phil, riding with every ounce of strength that his mount could +command, dashed straight toward the band.</p> +<p>For a moment, the black stallion stood watching the now rapidly +approaching rider. Then, wheeling, he started his band, driving +them imperiously, now, to their utmost speed, and then, as though +he understood this new maneuver of the cowboy, he swept past his +running companions, with the clean, easy flight of an arrow, and +taking his place at the head of his charges led them away toward +Granite Mountain.</p> +<p>Phil stopped, and Patches could see him watching, as the wild +horses, with streaming manes and tails, following their leader, who +seemed to run with less than half his strength, swept away across +the rolling hillsides, growing smaller and smaller in the distance, +until, as dark, swiftly moving dots, they vanished over the sky +line.</p> +<p>"Wasn't that great?" cried Phil, when he had loped back to his +companion. "Did you see him go by the bunch like they were standing +still?"</p> +<p>"There didn't seem to be much show for you to catch him," said +Patches.</p> +<p>"Catch him!" exclaimed Phil. "Did you think I was trying to +catch him? I just wanted to see him go. The horse doesn't live that +could put a man within roping distance of any one in that bunch on +a straightaway run, and the black can run circles around the whole +outfit. I had him once, though."</p> +<p>"You caught that black!" exclaimed +Patches—incredulously.</p> +<p>Phil grinned. "I sure had him for a little while."</p> +<p>"But what is he doing out here running loose, then?" demanded +the other. "Got away, did he?"</p> +<p>"Got away, nothing. Fact is, he belongs to me right now, in a +way, and I wouldn't swap him for any string of cow-horses that I +ever saw."</p> +<p>Then, as they rode toward the home ranch, Phil told the story +that is known throughout all that country.</p> +<p>"It was when the black was a yearling," he said. "I'd had my eye +on him all the year, and so had some of the other boys who had +sighted the band, for you could see, even when he was a colt, what +he was going to be. The wild horses were getting rather too +numerous that season, and we planned a chase to thin them out a +little, as we do every two or three years. Of course, everybody was +after the black; and one day, along toward the end of the chase, +when the different bands had been broken up and scattered pretty +much, I ran onto him. I was trailing an old gray up that +draw—the way we went to-day, you know, and all at once I met +him as he was coming over the top of the hill, right where you and +I rode onto him. It was all so sudden that for a minute he was +rattled as bad as I was; and, believe me, I was shaking like a +leaf. I managed to come to, first, though, and hung my rope on him +before he could get started. I don't know to this day where the old +gray that I was after went. Well, sir; he fought like a devil, and +for a spell we had it around and around until I wasn't dead sure +whether I had him or he had me. But he was only a yearling then, +you see, and I finally got him down."</p> +<p>Phil paused, a peculiar expression on his face. Patches waited +silently.</p> +<p>"Do you know," said the cowboy, at last, hesitatingly, "I can't +explain it—and I don't talk about it much, for it was the +strangest thing that ever happened to me—but when I looked +into that black stallion's eyes, and he looked me straight in the +face, I never felt so sorry for anything in my life. I was sort of +ashamed like—like—well, like I'd been caught holding up +a church, you know, or something like that. We were all alone up +there, just him and me, and while I was getting my wind, and we +were sizing each other up, and I was feeling that way, I got to +thinking what it all meant to him—to be broken and +educated—and—well—civilized, you know; and I +thought what a horse he would be if he was left alone to live as +God made him, and so—well—" He paused again with an +embarrassed laugh.</p> +<p>"You let him go?" cried Patches.</p> +<p>"It's God's truth, Patches. I couldn't do anything else—I +just couldn't. One of the boys came up just in time to catch me +turning him loose, and, of course, the whole outfit just naturally +raised hell about it. You see, in a chase like that, we always +bunch all we get and sell them off to the highest bidder, and every +man in the outfit shares alike. The boys figured that the black was +worth more than any five others that were caught, and so you +couldn't blame them for feeling sore. But I fixed it with them by +turning all my share into the pot, so they couldn't kick. That, you +see, makes the black belong to me, in a way, and it's pretty +generally understood that I propose to take care of him. There was +a fellow, riding in the rodeo last fall, that took a shot at him +one day, and—well—he left the country right after it +happened and hasn't been seen around here since."</p> +<p>The cowboy grinned as his companion's laugh rang out.</p> +<p>"Do you know," Phil continued in a low tone, a few minutes +later, "I believe that horse knows me yet. Whenever I am over in +this part of the country I always have a look at him, if he happens +to be around, and we visit a little, as we did to-day. I've got a +funny notion that he likes it as much as I do, and, I can't tell +how it is, but it sort of makes me feel good all over just to see +him. I reckon you think I'm some fool," he finished with another +short laugh of embarrassment, "but that's the way I feel—and +that's why they call me 'Wild Horse Phil'."</p> +<p>For a little they rode in silence; then Patches spoke, gravely, +"I don't know how to tell you what I think, Phil, but I understand, +and from the bottom of my heart I envy you."</p> +<p>And the cowboy, looking at his companion, saw in the man's eyes +something that reminded him of that which he had seen in the wild +horse's eyes, that day when he had set him free. Had Patches, too, +at some time in those days that were gone, been caught by the riata +of circumstance or environment, and in some degree robbed of his +God-inheritance? Phil smiled at the fancy, but, smiling, felt its +truth; and with genuine sympathy felt this also to be true, that +the man might yet, by the strength that was deepest within him, +regain that which he had lost.</p> +<p>And so that day, as the man from the ranges and the man from the +cities rode together, the feeling of kinship that each had +instinctively recognized at their first meeting on the Divide was +strengthened. They knew that a mutual understanding which could not +have been put into words of any tongue or land was drawing them +closer together.</p> +<p>A few days later the incident occurred that fixed their +friendship—as they thought—for all time to come.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/155.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_09.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/156.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>hil and Patches were riding that day in the country about Old +Camp. Early in the afternoon, they heard the persistent bawling of +a calf, and upon riding toward the sound, found the animal deep in +the cedar timber, which in that section thickly covers the ridges. +The calf was freshly branded with the Tailholt iron. It was done, +Phil said, the day before, probably in the late afternoon. The +youngster was calling for his mother.</p> +<p>"It's strange, she is not around somewhere," said Patches.</p> +<p>"It would be more strange if she was," retorted the cowboy +shortly, and he looked from the calf to the distant Tailholt +Mountain, as though he were considering some problem which he did +not, for some reason, care to share with his companion.</p> +<p>"There's not much use to look for her," he added, with grim +disappointment. "That's always the way. If we had ridden this range +yesterday, instead of away over there in the Mint Wash +country—I am always about a day behind."</p> +<p>There was something in the manner and in the quiet speech of the +usually sunny-tempered foreman that made his companion hesitate to +ask questions, or to offer comment with the freedom that he had +learned to feel that first day of their riding together. During the +hours that followed Phil said very little, and when he did speak +his words were brief and often curt, while, to Patches, he seemed +to study the country over which they rode with unusual care. When +they had eaten their rather gloomy lunch, he was in the saddle +again almost before Patches had finished, with seemingly no +inclination for their usual talk.</p> +<p>The afternoon, was nearly gone, and they were making their way +homeward when they saw a Cross-Triangle bull that had evidently +been hurt in a fight. The animal was one of the Dean's much-prized +Herefords, and the wound needed attention.</p> +<p>"We've got to dope that," said Phil, "or the screwworms will be +working in it sure." He was taking down his riata and watching the +bull, who was rumbling a sullen, deep-voiced challenge, as he +spoke.</p> +<p>"Can I help?" asked Patches anxiously, as he viewed the powerful +beast, for this was the first full-grown animal needing attention +that he had seen in his few days' experience.</p> +<p>"No," returned Phil. "Just keep in the clear, that's all. This +chap is no calf, and he's sore over his scrap. He's on the prod +right now."</p> +<p>It all happened in a few seconds.</p> +<p>The cowboy's horse, understanding from long experience that this +threatening mark for his master's riata was in no gentle frame of +mind, fretted uneasily as though dreading his part in the task +before them. Patches saw the whirling rope leave Phil's hand, and +saw it tighten, as the cowboy threw the weight of his horse against +it; and then he caught a confused vision—a fallen, struggling +horse with a man pinned to the ground beneath him, and a wickedly +lowered head, with sharp horns and angry eyes, charging straight at +them.</p> +<p>Patches did not think—there was no time to think. With a +yell of horror, he struck deep with both spurs, and his startled, +pain-maddened horse leaped forward. Again he spurred cruelly with +all his strength, and the next bound of his frenzied mount carried +him upon those deadly horns. Patches remembered hearing a sickening +rip, and a scream of fear and pain, as he felt the horse under him +rise in the air. He never knew how he managed to free himself, as +he fell backward with his struggling mount, but he distinctly saw +Phil regain his saddle while his horse was in the very act of +struggling to its feet, and he watched with anxious interest as the +cowboy forced his excited mount in front of the bull to attract the +beast's wicked attention. The bull, accepting the tantalizing +challenge, charged again, and Patches, with a thrill of admiration +for the man's coolness and skill, saw that Phil was coiling his +riata, even while his frightened horse, with terrific leaps, +avoided those menacing horns. The bull stopped, shook his head in +anger over his failure, and looked back toward the man on foot. But +again that horse and rider danced temptingly before him, so close +that it seemed he could not fail, and again he charged, only to +find that his mad rush carried him still further from the helpless +Patches. And by now, Phil had recovered his riata, and the loop was +whirling in easy circles about his head. The cow-horse, as though +feeling the security that was in that familiar motion of his +master's arm, steadied himself, and, in the few active moments that +followed, obedient to every signal of his rider, did his part with +almost human intelligence.</p> +<p>When the bull was safely tied, Phil went to the frightfully +injured horse, and with a merciful bullet ended the animal's +suffering. Then he looked thoughtfully at Patches, who stood gazing +ruefully at the dead animal, as though he felt himself to blame for +the loss of his employer's property. A slight smile lightened the +cowboy's face, as he noticed his companion's troubled thought.</p> +<p>"I suppose I've done it now," said Patches, as though expecting +well-merited censure.</p> +<p>Phil's smile broadened. "You sure have," he returned, as he +wiped the sweat from his face. "I'm much obliged to you."</p> +<p>Patches looked at him in confused embarrassment.</p> +<p>"Don't you know that you saved my life?" asked Phil dryly.</p> +<p>"But—but, I killed a good horse for the Dean," stammered +Patches.</p> +<p>To which the Dean's foreman returned with a grin, "I reckon +Uncle Will can stand the loss—considering."</p> +<p>This relieved the tension, and they laughed together.</p> +<p>"But tell me something, Patches," said Phil, curiously. "Why +didn't you shoot the bull when he charged me?"</p> +<p>"I didn't think of it," admitted Patches. "I didn't really think +of anything."</p> +<p>The cowboy nodded with understanding approval. "I've noticed +that the man to tie to, in sudden trouble, is the man who doesn't +have to think; the man, I mean, who just does the right thing +instinctively, and waits to think about it afterwards when there's +time."</p> +<p>Patches was pleased. "I did the right thing, then?"</p> +<p>"It was the only thing you <i>could</i> do to save my life," +returned Phil seriously. "If you had tried to use your +gun—even if you could have managed to hit him—you +wouldn't have stopped him in time. If you had been where you could +have put a bullet between his eyes, it might have worked, +but"—he smiled again—"I'm mighty glad you didn't think +to try any experiments. Tell me something else," he added. "Did you +realize the chance you were taking for yourself?"</p> +<p>Patches shook his head. "I can't say that I realized anything +except that you were in a bad fix, and that it was up to me to do +something quick. How did it happen, anyway?" He seemed anxious to +turn the conversation.</p> +<p>"Diamond stepped in that hole there," explained Phil. "When he +turned over I sure thought it was all day for me. Believe me, I +won't forget this, Patches."</p> +<p>For another moment there was an embarrassed silence; then +Patches said, "What puzzles me is, why you didn't take a shot at +him, after you were up, instead of risking your neck again trying +to rope him."</p> +<p>"Why, there was no use killing a good bull, as long as there was +any other way. It's my business to keep him alive; that's what I +started in to do, wasn't it?" And thus the cowboy, in a simple word +or two, stated the creed of his profession, a creed that permits no +consideration of personal danger or discomfort when the welfare of +the employer's property is at stake.</p> +<p>When they had removed saddle and bridle from the dead horse and +had cleaned the ugly wound in the bull's side, Phil said, "Now, Mr. +Honorable Patches, you'd better move on down the wash a piece, and +get out of sight behind one of those cedars. This fellow is going +to get busy again when I let him up. I'll come along when I've got +rid of him."</p> +<p>A little later, as Phil rode out of the cedars toward Patches, a +deep, bellowing challenge came from up the wash.</p> +<p>"He's just telling us what he'll do to us the next chance he +gets," chuckled Phil. "Hop up behind me now and we'll go home."</p> +<p>The gloom, that all day had seemed to overshadow Phil, was +effectually banished by the excitement of the incident, and he was +again his sunny, cheerful self. As they rode, they chatted and +laughed merrily. Then, suddenly, as it had happened that morning, +the cowboy was again grim and silent.</p> +<p>Patches was wondering what had so quickly changed his +companion's mood, when he caught sight of two horsemen, riding +along the top of the ridge that forms the western side of the wash, +their course paralleling that of the Cross-Triangle men, who were +following the bed of the wash.</p> +<p>When Patches directed Phil's attention to the riders, the cowboy +said shortly, "I've been watching them for the last ten minutes." +Then, as if regretting the manner of his reply, he added more +kindly, "If they keep on the way they're going, we'll likely meet +them about a mile down the wash where the ridge breaks."</p> +<p>"Do you know them?" asked Patches curiously.</p> +<p>"It's Nick Cambert and that poor, lost dog of a Yavapai Joe," +Phil answered.</p> +<p>"The Tailholt Mountain outfit," murmured Patches, watching the +riders on the ridge with quickened interest. "Do you know, Phil, I +believe I have seen those fellows before."</p> +<p>"You have!" exclaimed Phil. "Where? When?"</p> +<p>"I don't know how to tell you where," Patches replied, "but it +was the day I rode the drift fence. They were on a ridge, across a +little valley from me."</p> +<p>"That must have been this same Horse Wash that we're following +now," replied Phil; "it widens out a bit below here. What makes you +think it was Nick and Joe?"</p> +<p>"Why, those fellows up there look like the two that I saw, one +big one and one rather lightweight. They were the same distance +from me, you know, and—yes—I am sure those are the same +horses."</p> +<p>"Pretty good, Patches, but you ought to have reported it when +you got home."</p> +<p>"Why, I didn't think it of any importance."</p> +<p>"There are two rules that you must follow, always," said the +cowboy, "if you are going to learn to be a top hand in this +business. The first is: to see everything that there is to see, and +to see everything about everything that you see. And the second is: +to remember it all. I don't mind telling you, now, that Jim Reid +found a calf, fresh-branded with the Tailholt iron, that same +afternoon, in that same neighborhood; and that, on our side of the +drift fence, he ran onto a Cross-Triangle cow that had lost her +calf. There come our friends now."</p> +<p>The two horsemen were riding down the side of the hill at an +angle that would bring about the meeting which Phil had foreseen. +And Patches immediately broke the first of the two rules, for, +while watching the riders, he did not notice that his companion +loosened his gun in its holster.</p> +<p>Nick Cambert was a large man, big-bodied and heavy, with sandy +hair, and those peculiar light blue eyes which do not beget +confidence. But, as the Tailholt Mountain men halted to greet Phil, +Patches gave to Nick little more than a passing glance, so +interested was he in the big man's companion.</p> +<p>It is doubtful if blood, training, environment, circumstances, +the fates, or whatever it is that gives to men individuality, ever +marked a man with less manhood than was given to poor Yavapai Joe. +Standing erect, he would have been, perhaps, a little above medium +height, but thin and stooped, with a half-starved look, as he +slouched listlessly in the saddle, it was almost impossible to +think of him as a matured man. The receding chin, and coarse, +loosely opened mouth, the pale, lifeless eyes set too closely +together under a low forehead, with a ragged thatch of dead, +mouse-colored hair, and a furtive, sneaking, lost-dog expression, +proclaimed him the outcast that he was.</p> +<p>The big man eyed Patches as he greeted the Cross-Triangle's +foreman. "Howdy, Phil!"</p> +<p>"Hello, Nick!" returned Phil coldly. "Howdy, Joe!"</p> +<p>The younger man, who was gazing stupidly at Patches, returned +the salutation with an unintelligible mumble, and proceeded to roll +a cigarette.</p> +<p>"You folks at the Cross-Triangle short of horses?" asked Nick, +with an evident attempt at jocularity, alluding to the situation of +the two men, who were riding one horse.</p> +<p>"We got mixed up with a bull back yonder," Phil explained +briefly.</p> +<p>"They can sure put a horse out o' the game mighty quick +sometimes," commented the other. "I've lost a few that way myself. +It's about as far from here to my place as it is to Baldwin's, or +I'd help you out. You're welcome, you know."</p> +<p>"Much obliged," returned Phil, "but we'll make it home all +right. I reckon we'd better be moving, though. So long!"</p> +<p>"Adios!"</p> +<p>Throughout this brief exchange of courtesies, Yavapai Joe had +not moved, except to puff at his cigarette; nor had he ceased to +regard Patches with a stupid curiosity. As Phil and Patches moved +away, he still sat gazing after the stranger, until he was aroused +by a sharp word from Nick, as the latter turned his horse toward +Tailholt Mountain. Without changing his slouching position in the +saddle, and with a final slinking, sidewise look toward Patches, +the poor fellow obediently trailed after his master.</p> +<p>Patches could not resist the impulse to turn for another look at +the wretched shadow of manhood that so interested him.</p> +<p>"Well, what do you think of that pair?" asked Phil, breaking in +upon his companion's preoccupation.</p> +<p>Patches shrugged his shoulders much as he had done that day of +his first experience with the screwworms; then he said quietly, "Do +you mind telling me about them, Phil?"</p> +<p>"Why, there's not much to tell," returned the cowboy. "That is, +there's not much that anybody knows for certain. Nick was born in +Yavapai County. His father, old George Cambert, was one of the kind +that seems honest enough, and industrious, too, but somehow always +just misses it. They moved away to some place in Southern +California when Nick was about grown. He came back six years ago, +and located over there at the foot of Tailholt Mountain, and +started his Four-Bar-M iron; and, one way or another, he's managed +to get together quite a bunch of stock. You see, his expenses don't +amount to anything, scarcely. He and Joe bach in an old shack that +somebody built years ago, and they do all the riding themselves. +Joe's not much force, but he's handier than you'd think, as long as +there's somebody around to tell him what to do, and sort of back +him up. Nick, though, can do two men's work any day in the +year."</p> +<p>"But it's strange that a man like Nick would have anything to do +with such a creature as that poor specimen," mused Patches. "Are +they related in any way?"</p> +<p>"Nobody knows," answered Phil. "Joe first showed up at Prescott +about four years ago with a man by the name of Dryden, who claimed +that Joe was his son. They camped just outside of town, in some +dirty old tents, and lived by picking up whatever was lying around +loose. Dryden wouldn't work, and, naturally, no one would have Joe. +Finally Dryden was sent up for robbing a store, and Joe nearly went +with him. They let him off, I believe, because it was proved pretty +well that he was only Dryden's tool, and didn't have nerve enough +to do any real harm by himself. He drifted around for several +months, living like a stray cur, until Nick took him in tow. Nick +treats him shamefully, abuses him like a beast, and works him like +a slave. The poor devil stays on with him because he doesn't know +what else to do, I suppose."</p> +<p>"Is he always like we saw him to-day?" asked Patches, who seemed +strangely interested in this bit of human drift. "Doesn't he ever +talk?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, he'll talk all right, when Nick isn't around, or when +there are not too many present. Get off somewhere alone with him, +after he gets acquainted a little, and he's not half such bad +company as he looks. I reckon that's the main reason why Nick keeps +him. You see, no decent cow-puncher would dare work at Tailholt +Mountain, and a man gets mighty lonesome living so much alone. But +Joe never talks about where he came from, or who he is; shuts up +like a clam if you so much as mention anything that looks like you +were trying to find out about him. He's not such a fool as he +looks, either, so far as that goes, but he's always got that +sneaking, coyote sort of look, and whatever he does he does in that +same way."</p> +<p>"In other words," commented Patches thoughtfully, "poor Joe must +have someone to depend on; taken alone he counts no more than a +cipher."</p> +<p>"That's it," said Phil. "With somebody to feed him, and think +for him, and take care of him, and be responsible for him, in some +sort of a way, he makes almost one."</p> +<p>"After all, Phil," said Patches, with bitter sarcasm, "poor +Yavapai Joe is not so much different from hundreds of men that I +know. By their standards he should be envied."</p> +<p>Phil was amazed at his companion's words, for they seemed to +hint at something in the man's past, and Patches, so far as his +reticence upon any subject that approached his own history, was +always as silent as Yavapai Joe himself.</p> +<p>"What do you mean by that?" Phil demanded. "What sort of men do +you mean?"</p> +<p>"I mean the sort that never do anything of their own free wills; +the sort that have someone else to think for them, and feed them, +and take care of them and take all the responsibility for what they +do or do not do. I mean those who are dependents, and those who +aspire to be dependent. I can't see that it makes any essential +difference whether they have inherited wealth and what we call +culture, or whether they are poverty-stricken semi-imbeciles like +Joe; the principle is the same."</p> +<p>As they dismounted at the home corral gate, Phil looked at his +companion curiously. "You seem mighty interested in Joe," he said, +with a smile.</p> +<p>"I am," retorted Patches. "He reminds me of—of some one I +know," he finished, with his old, self-mocking smile. "I have a +fellow feeling for him, the same as you have for that wild horse, +you know. I'd like to take him away from Nick, and see if it would +be possible to make a real man of him," he mused, more to himself +than to his companion.</p> +<p>"I don't believe I'd try any experiments along that line, +Patches," cautioned Phil. "You've got to have something to build on +when you start to make a man. The raw material is not in Joe, and, +besides," he added significantly, "folks might not understand."</p> +<p>Patches laughed bitterly. "I have my hands full now."</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/168.png" width="50%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p>The next morning the foreman said that he would give that day to +the horses he was training, and sent Patches, alone, after the +saddle and bridle which they had left near the scene of the +accident.</p> +<p>"You can't miss finding the place again," he said to Patches; +"just follow up the wash. You'll be back by noon—if you don't +try any experiments," he added laughing.</p> +<p>Patches had ridden as far as the spot where he and Phil had met +the Tailholt Mountain men, and was thirsty. He thought of the +distance he had yet to go, and then of the return back to the +ranch, in the heat of the day. He remembered that Phil had told +him, as they were riding out the morning before, of a spring a +little way up the small side canyon that opens into the main wash +through that break in the ridge. For a moment he hesitated; then he +turned aside, determined to find the water.</p> +<p>Riding perhaps two hundred yards into that narrow gap In the +ridge, he found the way suddenly becoming steep and roughly strewn +with boulders, and, thinking to make better time, left his horse +tied to a bush in the shadow of the rocky wall, while he climbed up +the dry watercourse on foot. He found, as Phil had said, that it +was not far. Another hundred yards up the boulder-strewn break in +the ridge, and he came out into a beautiful glade, where he found +the spring, clear and cold, under a moss-grown rock, in the deep +shade of an old gnarled and twisted cedar. Gratefully he threw +himself down and drank long and deep; then sat for a few moments' +rest, before making his way back to his horse. The moist, black +earth of the cuplike hollow was roughly trampled by the cattle that +knew the spot, and there were well-marked trails leading down +through the heavy growth of brush and trees that clothed the +hillsides. So dense was this forest growth, and so narrow the +glade, that the sunlight only reached the cool retreat through a +network of leaves and branches, in ever-shifting spots and bars of +brightness. Nor could one see very far through the living +screens.</p> +<p>Patches was on the point of going, when he heard voices and the +sound of horses' feet somewhere above. For a moment he sat silently +listening. Then he realized that the riders were approaching, down +one of the cattle trails. A moment more, and he thought he +recognized one of the voices. There was a low, murmuring, whining +tone, and then a rough, heavy voice, raised seemingly in anger. +Patches felt sure, now, that he knew the speakers; and, obeying one +of those impulses that so often prompted his actions, he slipped +quietly into the dense growth on the side of the glade opposite the +approaching riders. He was scarcely hidden—a hundred feet or +so from the spring—when Nick Cambert and Yavapai Joe rode +into the glade.</p> +<p>If Patches had paused to think, he likely would have disdained +to play the part of a hidden spy; but he had acted without +thinking, and no sooner was he concealed than he realized that it +was too late. So he smiled mockingly at himself, and awaited +developments. He had heard and seen enough, since he had been in +the Dean's employ, to understand the suspicion in which the owner +of the Four-Bar-M iron was held; and from even his few days' work +on the range in company with Phil, he had come to understand how +difficult it was for the cattlemen to prove anything against the +man who they had every reason to believe was stealing their stock. +It was the possibility of getting some positive evidence, and of +thus protecting his employer's property, that had really prompted +him to take advantage of the chance situation.</p> +<p>As the two men appeared, it was clear to the hidden observer +that the weakling had in some way incurred his master's +displeasure. The big man's face was red with anger, and his eyes +were hard and cruel, while Joe had more than aver the look of a +lost dog that expects nothing less than a curse and a kick.</p> +<p>Nick drank at the spring, then turned back to his companion, who +had not dismounted, but sat on his horse cringing and frightened, +trying, with fluttering fingers, to roll a cigarette. A moment the +big man surveyed his trembling follower; then, taking a heavy quirt +from his saddle, he said with a contemptuous sneer, "Well, why +don't you get your drink?"</p> +<p>"I ain't thirsty, Nick," faltered the other.</p> +<p>"You ain't thirsty?" mocked the man with a jeering laugh. +"You're lying, an' you know it. Get down!"</p> +<p>"Hones' to God, Nick, I don't want no drink," whimpered Joe, as +his master toyed with the quirt suggestively.</p> +<p>"Get down, I tell you!" commanded the big man.</p> +<p>Joe obeyed, his thin form shaking with fear, and stood shrinking +against his horse's side, his fearful eyes fixed on the man.</p> +<p>"Now, come here."</p> +<p>"Don't, Nick; for God's sake! don't hit me. I didn't mean no +harm. Let me off this time, won't you, Nick?"</p> +<p>"Come here. You got it comin', damn you, an' you know it. Come +here, I say!"</p> +<p>As if it were beyond his power to refuse, the wretched creature +took a halting step or two toward the man whose brutal will +dominated him; then he paused and half turned, as if to attempt +escape. But that menacing voice stopped him.</p> +<p>"Come here!"</p> +<p>Whimpering and begging, with disconnected, unintelligible words, +the poor fellow again started toward the man with the quirt.</p> +<p>At the critical moment a quiet, well-schooled voice interrupted +the scene.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon, Mr. Cambert!"</p> +<p>Nick whirled with an oath of surprise and astonishment, to face +Patches, who was coming leisurely toward him from the bushes above +the spring.</p> +<p>"What are you doin' here?" demanded Nick, while his victim slunk +back to his horse, his eyes fixed upon the intruder with dumb +amazement.</p> +<p>"I came for a drink," returned Patches coolly. "Excellent water, +isn't it? And the day is really quite warm—makes one +appreciate such a delightfully cool retreat, don't you think?"</p> +<p>"Heard us comin' an' thought you'd play the spy, did you?" +growled the Tailholt Mountain man.</p> +<p>Patches smiled. "Really, you know, I am afraid I didn't think +much about it," he said gently. "I'm troubled that way, you see," +he explained, with elaborate politeness. "Often do things upon +impulse, don't you know—beastly embarrassing sometimes."</p> +<p>Nick glared at this polite, soft-spoken gentleman, with +half-amused anger. "I heard there was a dude tenderfoot hangin' +'round the Cross-Triangle," he said, at last. "You're sure a hell +of a fine specimen. You've had your drink; now s'pose you get +a-goin'."</p> +<p>"I beg pardon?" drawled Patches, looking at him with innocent +inquiry.</p> +<p>"Vamoose! Get out! Go on about your business."</p> +<p>"Really, Mr. Cambert, I understood that this was open +range—" Patches looked about, as though carefully assuring +himself that he was not mistaken in the spot.</p> +<p>The big man's eyes narrowed wickedly. "It's closed to you, all +right." Then, as Patches did not move, "Well, are you goin', or +have I got to start you?" He took a threatening step toward the +intruder.</p> +<p>"No," returned Patches easily, "I am certainly not +going—not just at present—and," he added thoughtfully, +"if I were you, I wouldn't try to start <i>anything</i>."</p> +<p>Something in the extraordinary self-possession of this +soft-spoken stranger made the big man hesitate. "Oh, you wouldn't, +heh?" he returned. "You mean, I s'pose, that you propose to +interfere with my business."</p> +<p>"If, by your business, you mean beating a man who is so unable +to protect himself, I certainly propose to interfere."</p> +<p>For a moment Nick glared at Patches as though doubting his own +ears. Then rage at the tenderfoot's insolence mastered him. With a +vile epithet, he caught the loaded quirt in his hand by its small +end, and strode toward the intruder.</p> +<p>But even as the big man swung his wicked weapon aloft, a hard +fist, with the weight of a well-trained and well-developed shoulder +back of it, found the point of his chin with scientific accuracy. +The force of the blow, augmented as it was by Nick's weight as he +was rushing to meet it, was terrific. The man's head snapped back, +and he spun half around as he fell, so that the uplifted arm with +its threatening weapon was twisted under the heavy bulk that lay +quivering and harmless.</p> +<p>Patches coolly bent over the unconscious man and extracted his +gun from the holster. Then, stepping back a few paces, he quietly +waited.</p> +<p>Yavapai Joe, who had viewed the proceedings thus far with gaping +mouth and frightened wonder, scrambled into his saddle and reined +his horse about, as if to ride for his life.</p> +<p>"Wait, Joe!" called Patches sharply.</p> +<p>The weakling paused in pitiful indecision.</p> +<p>"Nick will be all right in a few minutes," continued the +stranger, reassuringly. "Stay where you are."</p> +<p>Even as he spoke, the man on the ground opened his eyes. For a +moment he gazed about, collecting his shocked and scattered senses. +Then, with a mad roar, he got to his feet and reached for his gun, +but when his hand touched the empty holster a look of dismay swept +over his heavy face, and he looked doubtfully toward Patches, with +a degree of respect and a somewhat humbled air.</p> +<p>"Yes, I have your gun," said Patches soothingly. "You see, I +thought it would be best to remove the temptation. You don't really +want to shoot me, anyway, you know. You only think you do. When you +have had time to consider it all, calmly, you'll thank me; because, +don't you see, I would make you a lot more trouble dead than I +could possibly, alive. I don't think that Mr. Baldwin would like to +have me all shot to pieces, particularly if the shooting were done +by someone from Tailholt Mountain. And I am quite sure that 'Wild +Horse Phil' would be very much put out about it."</p> +<p>"Well, what do you want?" growled Nick. "You've got the drop on +me. What are you after, anyway?"</p> +<p>"What peculiar expressions you western people use!" murmured +Patches sweetly. "You say that I have got the drop on you; when, to +be exact, you should have said that you got the drop <i>from</i> +me—do you see? Good, isn't it?"</p> +<p>Nick's effort at self-control was heroic.</p> +<p>Patches watched him with an insolent, taunting smile that goaded +the man to reckless speech.</p> +<p>"If you didn't have that gun, I'd—" the big man began, +then stopped, for, as he spoke, Patches placed the weapon carefully +on a rock and went toward him barehanded.</p> +<p>"You would do what?"</p> +<p>At the crisp, eager question that came in such sharp contrast to +Patches' former speech, Nick hesitated and drew back a step.</p> +<p>Patches promptly moved a step nearer; and his words came, now, +in answer to the unfinished threat with cutting force. "What would +you do, you big, hulking swine? You can bully a weakling not half +your size; you can beat a helpless incompetent like a dog; you can +bluster, and threaten a tenderfoot when you think he fears you; you +can attack a man with a loaded quirt when you think him unable to +defend himself;—show me what you can do <i>now</i>."</p> +<p>The Tailholt Mountain man drew back another step.</p> +<p>Patches continued his remarks. "You are a healthy specimen, you +are. You have the frame of a bull with the spirit of a coyote and +the courage of a sucking dove. Now—in your own +vernacular—get a-goin'. Vamoose! Get out! I want to talk to +your superior over there."</p> +<p>Sullenly Nick Cambert mounted his horse and turned away toward +one of the trails leading out from the little arena.</p> +<p>"Come along, Joe!" he called to his follower.</p> +<p>"No, you don't," Patches cut in with decisive force. "Joe, stay +where you are!"</p> +<p>Nick paused. "What do you mean by that?" he growled.</p> +<p>"I mean," returned Patches, "that Joe is free to go with you, or +not, as he chooses. Joe," he continued, addressing the cause of the +controversy, "you need not go with this man. If you wish, you can +come with me. I'll take care of you; and I'll give you a chance to +make a man of yourself."</p> +<p>Nick laughed coarsely. "So, that's your game, is it? Well, it +won't work. I know now why Bill Baldwin's got you hangin' 'round, +pretendin' you're a tenderfoot, you damned spy. Come on, Joe." He +turned to ride on; and Joe, with a slinking, sidewise look at +Patches, started to follow.</p> +<p>Again Patches called, "Wait, Joe!" and his voice was almost +pleading. "Can't you understand, Joe? Come with me. Don't be a dog +for any man. Let me give you a chance. Be a man, Joe—for +God's sake, be a man! Come with me."</p> +<p>"Well," growled Nick to his follower, as Patches finished, "are +you comin' or have I got to go and get you?"</p> +<p>With a sickening, hangdog look Joe mumbled something and rode +after his master.</p> +<p>As they disappeared up the trail, Nick called back, "I'll get +you yet, you sneakin' spy."</p> +<p>"Not after you've had time to think it over," answered Patches +cheerfully. "It would interfere too much with your <i>real</i> +business. I'll leave your gun at the gate of that old corral up the +wash. Good-by, Joe!"</p> +<p>For a few moments longer the strange man stood in the glade, +listening to the vanishing sounds of their going, while that +mirthless, self-mocking smile curved his lips.</p> +<p>"Poor devil!" he muttered sadly, as he turned at last to make +his way back to his horse. "Poor Joe! I know just how he feels. +It's hard—it's beastly hard to break away."</p> +<p>"I'm afraid I have made trouble for you, sir," Patches said +ruefully to the Dean, as he briefly related the incident to his +employer and to Phil that afternoon. "I'm sorry; I really didn't +stop to think."</p> +<p>"Trouble!" retorted the Dean, his eyes twinkling approval, while +Phil laughed joyously. "Why, man, we've been prayin' for trouble +with that blamed Tailholt Mountain outfit. You're a plumb wonder, +young man. But what in thunder was you aimin' to do with that +ornery Yavapai Joe, if he'd a' took you up on your fool +proposition?"</p> +<p>"Really, to tell the truth," murmured Patches, "I don't exactly +know. I fancied the experiment would be interesting; and I was so +sorry for the poor chap that I—" he stopped, shamefaced, to +join in the laugh.</p> +<p>But, later, the Dean and Phil talked together privately, with +the result that during the days that followed, as Patches and his +teacher rode the range together, the pupil found revolver practice +added to his studies.</p> +<p>The art of drawing and shooting a "six-gun" with quickness and +certainty was often a useful part of the cowboy's training, Phil +explained cheerfully. "In the case, for instance, of a mixup with a +bad steer, when your horse falls, or something like that, you +know."</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/177.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_10.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/178.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>s the remaining weeks of the summer passed, Patches spent the +days riding the range with Phil, and, under the careful eye of that +experienced teacher, made rapid progress in the work he had chosen +to master. The man's intense desire to succeed, his quick +intelligence, with his instinct for acting without hesitation, and +his reckless disregard for personal injury, together with his +splendid physical strength, led him to a mastery of the details of +a cowboy's work with remarkable readiness.</p> +<p>Occasionally the two Cross-Triangle riders saw the men from +Tailholt Mountain, sometimes merely sighting them in the distance, +and, again, meeting them face to face at some watering place or on +the range. When it happened that Nick Cambert was thus forced to +keep up a show of friendly relations with the Cross-Triangle, the +few commonplaces of the country were exchanged, but always the +Tailholt Mountain man addressed his words to Phil, and, save for +surly looks, ignored the foreman's companion. He had +evidently—as Patches had said that he would—come to +realize that he could not afford to arouse the cattlemen to action +against him, as he would certainly have done, had he attempted to +carry out his threat to "get" the man who had so humiliated +him.</p> +<p>But Patches' strange interest in Yavapai Joe in no way lessened. +Always he had a kindly word for the poor unfortunate, and sought +persistently to win the weakling's friendship. And Phil seeing this +wondered, but held his peace.</p> +<p>Frequently Kitty Reid, sometimes alone, often with the other +members of the Reid household, came across the big meadow to spend +an evening at the neighboring ranch. Sometimes Phil and Patches, +stopping at the Pot-Hook-S home ranch, at the close of the day, for +a drink at the windmill pump, would linger a while for a chat with +Kitty, who would come from the house to greet them. And now and +then Kitty, out for a ride on Midnight, would chance to meet the +two Cross-Triangle men on the range, and so would accompany them +for an hour or more.</p> +<p>And thus the acquaintance between Patches and the girl grew into +friendship; for Kitty loved to talk with this man of the things +that play so large a part in that life which so appealed to her; +and, with Phil's ever-ready and hearty endorsement of Patches, she +felt safe in permitting the friendship to develop. And Patches, +quietly observing, with now and then a conversational +experiment—at which game he was an adepts—came to +understand, almost as well as if he had been told, Phil's love for +Kitty and her attitude toward the cowboy—her one-time +schoolmate and sweetheart. Many times when the three were together, +and the talk, guided by Kitty, led far from Phil's world, the +cowboy would sit a silent listener, until Patches would skillfully +turn the current back to the land of Granite Mountain and the life +in which Phil had so vital a part.</p> +<p>In the home-life at the Cross-Triangle, too, Patches gradually +came to hold his own peculiar place. His cheerful helpfulness, and +gentle, never-failing courtesy, no less than the secret pain and +sadness that sometimes, at some chance remark, drove the light from +his face and brought that wistful look into his eyes, won Mrs. +Baldwin's heart. Many an evening under his walnut trees, with +Stella and Phil and Curly and Bob and Little Billy near, the Dean +was led by the rare skill and ready wit of Patches to open the book +of his kindly philosophy, as he talked of the years that were past. +And sometimes Patches himself, yielding to temptation offered by +the Dean, would speak in such vein that the older man came to +understand that this boy, as he so often called him, had somewhere, +somehow, already experienced that Gethsemane which soon or +late—the Dean maintains—leaves its shadow upon us all. +The cowboys, for his quick and genuine appreciation of their skill +and knowledge, as well as for his unassuming courage, hearty good +nature and ready laugh, took him into their fellowship without +question or reserve, while Little Billy, loyal ever to his ideal, +"Wild Horse Phil," found a large place in his boyish heart for the +tenderfoot who was so ready always to recognize superior wisdom and +authority.</p> +<p>So the stranger found his place among them, and in finding it, +found also, perhaps, that which he most sorely needed.</p> +<p>[Illustration:]</p> +<p>When rodeo time came Patches was given a "string" of horses and, +through the hard, grilling work that followed, took his place among +the riders. There was no leisurely roaming over the range now, with +only an occasional short dash after some animal that needed the +"iron" or the "dope can;" but systematically and thoroughly the +thirty or forty cowboys covered the country—mountain and mesa +and flat, and wash and timbered ridge and rocky pass—for many +miles in every direction.</p> +<p>In this section of the great western cattle country, at the time +of my story, the round-ups were cooperative. Each of the several +ranchers whose cattle, marked by the owner's legally recorded +brand, ranged over a common district that was defined only by +natural boundaries, was represented in the rodeo by one or two or +more of his cowboys, the number of his riders being relative to the +number of cattle marked with his iron. This company of riders, each +with from three to five saddle horses in his string, would assemble +at one of the ranches participating in the rodeo. From this center +they would work until a circle of country within riding distance +was covered, the cattle gathered and "worked"—or, in other +words, sorted—and the animals belonging to the various owners +disposed of as the representatives were instructed by their +employers. Then the rodeo would move to another ranch, and would so +continue until the entire district of many miles was covered. The +owner or the foreman of each ranch was in charge of the rodeo as +long as the riders worked in his territory. When the company moved +to the next point, this loader took his place in the ranks, and +cheerfully received his orders from some comrade, who, the day +before, had been as willingly obedient to him. There was little +place in the rodeo for weak, incompetent or untrustworthy men. Each +owner, from his long experience and knowledge of men, sent as his +representatives the most skillful and conscientious riders that he +could secure. To make a top hand at a rodeo a man needed to be, in +the truest sense, a man.</p> +<p>Before daylight, the horse wrangler had driven in the saddle +band, and the men, with nose bags fashioned from grain sacks, were +out in the corral to give the hard-working animals their feed of +barley. The gray quiet of the early dawn was rudely broken by the +sounds of the crowding, jostling, kicking, squealing band, mingled +with the merry voices of the men, with now and then a shout of +anger or warning as the cowboys moved here and there among their +restless four-footed companions; and always, like a deep undertone, +came the sound of trampling, iron-shod hoofs.</p> +<p>Before the sky had changed to crimson and gold the call sounded +from the ranch house, "Come and get it!" and laughing and joking in +friendly rivalry, the boys rushed to breakfast. It was no dainty +meal of toast and light cereals that these hardy ones demanded. But +huge cuts of fresh-killed beef, with slabs of bread, and piles of +potatoes, and stacks of hot cakes, and buckets of coffee, and +whatever else the hard-working Chinaman could lay his hands on to +satisfy their needs. As soon as each man reached the utmost limit +of his capacity, he left the table without formality, and returned +to the corral, where, with riata or persuasion, as the case +demanded, he selected from his individual string of horses his +first mount for the day.</p> +<p>By the time the sun was beginning to gild the summit of old +Granite Mountain's castle-like walls, and touch with glorious color +the peaks of the neighboring sentinel hills, the last rider had +saddled, and the company was mounted and ready for their foreman's +word. Then to the music of jingling spurs, tinkling bridle chains, +squeaking saddle leather, and the softer swish and rustle and flap +of chaps, romals and riatas, they rode forth, laughing and joking, +still, with now and then a roaring chorus of shouting comment or +wild yells, as some half-broken horse gave an exhibition of his +prowess in a mad effort to unseat his grinning rider.</p> +<p>Soon the leader would call the name of a cowboy, known to be +particularly familiar with the country which was to be the scene of +that day's work, and telling him to take two or three or more men, +as the case might be, would direct him to ride over a certain +section, indicating the assigned territory by its natural marks of +valley or flat or wash or ridge, and designating the point where +the cattle would first be brought together. The cowboy named would +rein his horse aside from the main company, calling the men of his +choice as he did so, and a moment later with his companions would +be lost to sight. A little farther, and again the foreman would +name a rider, and, telling him to pick his men, would assign to him +another section of the district to be covered, and this cowboy, +with his chosen mates, would ride away. These smaller groups would, +in their turn, separate, and thus the entire company of riders +would open out like a huge fan to sweep the countryside.</p> +<p>It was no mere pleasure canter along smoothly graded bridle +paths or well-kept country highways that these men rode. From +roughest rock-strewn mountain side and tree-clad slope, from +boulder-piled watercourse and tangled brush, they must drive in the +scattered cattle. At reckless speed, as their quarry ran and turned +and dodged, they must hesitate at nothing. Climbing to the tops of +the hills, scrambling catlike to the ragged crests of the ridges, +sliding down the bluffs, jumping deep arroyos, leaping brush and +boulders, twisting, dodging through the timber, they must go as +fast as the strength and endurance of their mounts would permit. +And so, gradually, as the sun climbed higher above the peaks and +crags of Old Granite, the great living fan of men and horses +closed, the courses of the widely scattered riders leading them, +with the cattle they had found, to the given point.</p> +<p>And now, the cattle, urged by the active horsemen, came +streaming from the different sections to form the herd, and the +quiet of the great range was broken by the bawling of confused and +frightened calves, the lowing of anxious mothers, the shrill, +long-drawn call of the steers, and the deep bellowing of the bulls, +as the animals, so rudely driven from their peaceful feeding +grounds, moved restlessly within the circle of guarding cowboys, +while cows found their calves, and the monarchs of the range met in +fierce combat.</p> +<p>A number of the men—those whose mounts most needed the +rest—were now left to hold the herd, or, perhaps, to move it +quietly on to some other point, while the others were again sent +out to cover another section of the territory included in that +day's riding. As the hours passed, and the great fan of horsemen +opened and closed, sweeping the cattle scattered over the range +into the steadily growing herd, the rodeo moved gradually toward +some chosen open flat or valley that afforded a space large enough +for the operations that followed the work of gathering. At this +"rodeo ground" a man would be waiting with fresh mounts for the +riders, and, sometimes, with lunch. Quickly, those whose names were +called by the foreman would change their saddles from dripping, +exhausted horses to fresh animals from their individual strings, +snatch a hasty lunch—often to be eaten in the +saddle—and then, in their turn, would hold the cattle while +their companions followed their example.</p> +<p>Then came the fast, hot work of "parting" the cattle. The +representatives from one of the ranches interested would ride in +among the cattle held by the circle of cowboys, and, following +their instructions, would select such animals bearing their +employer's brand as were wanted, cutting them out and passing them +through the line of guarding riders, to be held in a separate +group. When the representatives of one owner had finished, they +were followed by the men who rode for some other outfit; and so on, +until the task of "parting" was finished.</p> +<p>As the afternoon sun moved steadily toward the skyline of the +western hills, the tireless activity of men and horses continued. +The cattle, as the mounted men moved among them, drifted about, +crowding and jostling, in uneasy discontent, with sometimes an +indignant protest, and many attempts at escape by the more restless +and venturesome. When an animal was singled out, the parting +horses, chosen and prized for their quickness, dashed here and +there through the herd with fierce leaps and furious rushes, +stopping short in a terrific sprint to whirl, flashlike, and charge +in another direction, as the quarry dodged and doubled. And now and +then an animal would succeed for the moment in passing the guard +line, only to be brought back after a short, sharp chase by the +nearest cowboy. From the rodeo ground, where for long years the +grass had been trampled out, the dust, lifted by the trampling +thousands of hoofs in a dense, choking cloud, and heavy with the +pungent odor of warm cattle and the smell of sweating horses, +rising high into the clear air, could be seen from miles away, +while the mingled voices of the bellowing, bawling herd, with now +and then the shrill, piercing yells of the cowboys, could be heard +almost as far.</p> +<p>When this part of the work was over, some of the riders set out +to drive the cattle selected to the distant home ranch corrals, +while others of the company remained to brand the calves and to +start the animals that were to have their freedom until the next +rodeo time back to the open range. And so, at last—often not +until the stars were out—the riders would dismount at the +home corrals of the ranch that, at the time, was the center of +their operations, or, perhaps, at some rodeo camping ground.</p> +<p>At supper the day's work was reviewed with many a laugh and jest +of pointed comment, and then, those whose horses needed attention +because of saddle sores or, it might be, because of injuries from +some fall on the rocks, busied themselves at the corral, while +others met for a friendly game of cards, or talked and yarned over +restful pipe or cigarette. And then, bed and blankets, and, all too +soon, the reveille sounded by the beating hoofs of the saddle band +as the wrangler drove them in, announced the beginning of another +day.</p> +<p>Not infrequently there were accidents—from falling +horses—from angry bulls—from ill-tempered steers, or +excited cows—or, perhaps, from a carelessly handled rope in +some critical moment. Horses were killed; men with broken limbs, or +with bodies bruised and crushed, were forced to drop out; and many +a strong horseman who rode forth in the morning to the day's work, +laughing and jesting with his mates, had been borne by his grave +and silent comrades to some quiet resting place, to await, in long +and dreamless sleep, the morning of that last great rodeo which, we +are told, shall gather us all.</p> +<p>Day after day, as Patches rode with these hardy men, Phil +watched him finding himself and winning his place among the +cowboys. They did not fail, as they said, to "try him out." Nor did +Phil, in these trials, attempt in any way to assist his pupil. But +the men learned very quickly, as Curly had learned at the time of +Patches' introduction, that, while the new man was always ready to +laugh with them when a joke was turned against himself, there was a +line beyond which it was not well to go. In the work he was, of +course, assigned only to such parts as did not require the skill +and knowledge of long training and experience. But he did all that +was given him to do with such readiness and skill, thanks to Phil's +teaching, that the men wondered. And this, together with his +evident ability in the art of defending himself, and the story of +his strange coming to the Cross-Triangle, caused not a little talk, +with many and varied opinions as to who he was, and what it was +that had brought him among them. Strangely enough, very few +believed that Patches' purpose in working as a cowboy for the Dean +was simply to earn an honest livelihood. They felt +instinctively—as, in fact, did Phil and the Dean—that +there was something more beneath it all than such a +commonplace.</p> +<p>Nick Cambert, who, with Yavapai Joe, rode in the rodeo, +carefully avoided the stranger. But Patches, by his persistent +friendly interest in the Tailholt Mountain man's follower, added +greatly to the warmth of the discussions and conjectures regarding +himself. The rodeo had reached the Pot-Hook-S Ranch, with Jim Reid +in charge, when the incident occurred which still further +stimulated the various opinions and suggestions as to the new man's +real character and mission.</p> +<p>They were working the cattle that day on the rodeo ground just +outside the home ranch corral. Phil and Curly were cutting out some +Cross-Triangle steers, when the riders, who were holding the +cattle, saw them separate a nine-months-old calf from the herd, and +start it, not toward the cattle they had already cut out, but +toward the corral.</p> +<p>Instantly everybody knew what had happened.</p> +<p>The cowboy nearest the gate did not need Phil's word to open it +for his neighbor next in line to drive the calf inside.</p> +<p>Not a word was said until the calves to be branded were also +driven into the corral. Then Phil, after a moment's talk with Jim +Reid, rode up to Nick Cambert, who was sitting on his horse a +little apart from the group of intensely interested cowboys. The +Cross-Triangle foreman's tone was curt. "I reckon I'll have to +trouble you to vent your brand on that Cross-Triangle calf, +Nick."</p> +<p>The Tailholt Mountain man made no shallow pretense that he did +not understand. "Not by a damn sight," he returned roughly. "I +ain't raisin' calves for Bill Baldwin, an' I happen to know what +I'm talkin' about this trip. That's a Four-Bar-M calf, an' I +branded him myself over in Horse Wash before he left the cow. Some +of your punchers are too damned handy with their runnin' irons, Mr. +Wild Horse Phil."</p> +<p>For a moment Phil looked at the man, while Jim Reid moved his +horse nearer, and the cowboys waited, breathlessly. Then, without +taking his eyes from the Tailholt Mountain man's face, Phil called +sharply:</p> +<p>"Patches, come here!"</p> +<p>There was a sudden movement among the riders, and a subdued +murmur, as Patches rode forward.</p> +<p>"Is that calf you told me about in the corral, Patches?" asked +Phil, when the man was beside him.</p> +<p>"Yes, sir; that's him over there by that brindle cow." Patches +indicated the animal in question.</p> +<p>"And you put our iron on him?" asked Phil, still watching +Nick.</p> +<p>"I did," returned Patches, coolly.</p> +<p>"Tell us about it," directed the Dean's foreman.</p> +<p>And Patches obeyed, briefly. "It was that day you sent me to fix +the fence on the southwest corner of the big pasture. I saw a bunch +of cattle a little way outside the fence, and went to look them +over. This calf was following a Cross-Triangle cow."</p> +<p>"Are you sure?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sir. I watched them for half an hour."</p> +<p>"What was in the bunch?"</p> +<p>"Four steers, a Pot-Hook-S bull, five cows and this calf. There +were three Five-Bar cows, one Diamond-and-a-Half and one +Cross-Triangle. The calf went to the Cross-Triangle cow every time. +And, besides, he is marked just like his mother. I saw her again +this afternoon while we were working the cattle."</p> +<p>Phil nodded. "I know her."</p> +<p>Jim Reid was watching Patches keenly, with a quiet look now and +then at Nick.</p> +<p>The cowboys were murmuring among themselves.</p> +<p>"Pretty good work for a tenderfoot!"</p> +<p>"Tenderfoot, hell!"</p> +<p>"They've got Nick this trip."</p> +<p>"Got nothin'! Can't you see it's a frame-up?"</p> +<p>Phil spoke to Nick. "Well, are satisfied? Will you vent your +brand?"</p> +<p>The big man's face was distorted with passion. "Vent nothin'," +he roared. "On the word of a damned sneakin' tenderfoot! +I—"</p> +<p>He stopped, as Patches, before Phil could check the movement, +pushed close to his side.</p> +<p>In the sudden stillness the new man's cool, deliberate voice +sounded clearly. "I am positive that you made a mistake when you +put your iron on that calf, Mr. Cambert. And," he added slowly, as +though with the kindest possible intention, "I am sure that you can +safely take my word for it without further question."</p> +<p>For a moment Nick glared at Patches, speechless. Then, to the +amazement of every cowboy in the corral, the big man mumbled a +surly something, and took down his riata to rope the calf and +disclaim his ownership of the animal.</p> +<p>Jim Reid shook his head in puzzled doubt.</p> +<p>The cowboys were clearly divided.</p> +<p>"He's too good a hand for a tenderfoot," argued one; "carried +that off like an old-timer."</p> +<p>"'Tain't like Nick to lay down so easy for anybody," added +another.</p> +<p>"Nick's on to something about Mr. Patches that we ain't next +to," insisted a third.</p> +<p>"Or else we're all bein' strung for a bunch of suckers," offered +still another.</p> +<p>"You boys just hold your horses, an' ride easy," said Curly. "My +money's still on Honorable Patches."</p> +<p>And Bob added his loyal support with his cheerful "Me, too!"</p> +<p>"It all looked straight enough," Jim Reid admitted to the Dean +that evening, "but I can't get away from the notion that there was +some sort of an understanding between your man an' that damned +Tailholt Mountain thief. It looked like it was all too quiet an' +easy somehow; like it had been planned beforehand."</p> +<p>The Dean laughingly told his neighbor that he was right; that +there was an understanding between Patches and Nick, and then +explained by relating how Patches had met the Tailholt Mountain men +that day at the spring.</p> +<p>When the Dean had finished the big cowman asked several very +suggestive questions. How did the Dean know that Patches' story was +anything more than a cleverly arranged tale, invented for the +express purpose of allaying any suspicion as to his true +relationship with Nick? If Patches' character was so far above +suspicion, why did he always dodge any talk that might touch his +past? Was it necessary or usual for men to keep so close-mouthed +about themselves? What did the Dean, or anyone else, for that +matter, really know about this man who had appeared so strangely +from nowhere, and had given a name even that was so plainly a +ridiculous invention? The Dean must remember that the suspicion as +to the source of Nick's too rapidly increasing herds had, so far, +been directed wholly against Nick himself, and that the owner of +the Four-Bar-M iron was not altogether a fool. It was quite time, +Reid argued, for Nick to cease his personal activities, and to +trust the actual work of branding to some confederate whose +movements would not be so closely questioned. In short, Reid had +been expecting some stranger to seek a job with some of the ranches +that were in a position to contribute to the Tailholt Mountain +outfit, and, for his part, he would await developments before +becoming too enthusiastic over Honorable Patches.</p> +<p>All of which the good Dean found very hard to answer.</p> +<p>"But look here, Jim," he protested, "don't you go makin' it +unpleasant for the boy. Whatever you think, you don't know any more +than the rest of us. If we're guessin' on one side, you're guessin' +on the other. I admit that what you say sounds reasonable; but, +hang it, I like Patches. As for his name—well—we didn't +use to go so much on names, in this country, you know. The boy may +have some good reason for not talkin' about himself. Just give him +a square chance; don't put no burrs under his saddle +blanket—that's all I'm askin'."</p> +<p>Jim laughed. The speech was so characteristic of the Dean, and +Jim Reid loved his old friend and neighbor, as all men did, for +being, as was commonly said, "so easy."</p> +<p>"Don't worry, Will," he answered. "I'm not goin' to start +anything. If I should happen to be right about Mr. Honorable +Patches, he's exactly where we want him. I propose to keep my eye +on him, that's all. And I think you an' Phil had better do the +same."</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/193.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_11.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/194.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>s the fall rodeo swept on its way over the wide ranges, the last +reluctant bits of summer passed, and hints of the coming winter +began to appear The yellow glory of the goldenrod, and the gorgeous +banks of color on sunflower flats faded to earthy russet and brown; +the white cups of the Jimson weed were broken and lost; the dainty +pepper-grass, the thin-leafed grama-grass, and the heavier bladed +bear-grass of the great pasture lands were dry and tawny; and the +broom-weed that had tufted the rolling hills with brighter green, +at the touch of the first frost, turned a dull and somber gray; +while the varied beauties of the valley meadows became even as the +dead and withered leaves of the Dean's walnut trees that, in +falling, left the widespread limbs and branches so bare.</p> +<p>Then the rodeo and the shipping were over; the weeks of the late +fall range riding were past—and it was winter.</p> +<p>From skyline to skyline the world was white, save for the dark +pines upon the mountain sides, the brighter cedars and junipers +upon the hills and ridges, and the living green of the oak brush, +that, when all else was covered with snow, gave the cattle their +winter feed.</p> +<p>More than ever, now, with the passing of the summer and fall, +Kitty longed for the stirring life that, in some measure, had won +her from the scenes of her home and from her homeland friends. The +young woman's friendship with Patches—made easy by the fact +that the Baldwins had taken him so wholly into their +hearts—served to keep alive her memories of that world to +which she was sure he belonged, and such memories did not tend to +make Kitty more contented and happy in Williamson Valley.</p> +<p>Toward Phil, Kitty was unchanged. Many times her heart called +for him so insistently that she wished she had never learned to +know any life other than that life to which they had both been +born. If only she had not spent those years away from +home—she often told herself—it would all have been so +different. She could have been happy with Phil—very +happy—if only she had remained in his world. But +now—now she was afraid—afraid for him as well as for +herself. Her friendship with Patches had, in so many ways, +emphasized the things that stood between her and the man whom, had +it not been for her education, she would have accepted so gladly as +her mate.</p> +<p>Many times when the three were together, and Kitty had led the +talk far from the life with which the cowboy was familiar, the +young woman was forced, against the wish of her heart, to make +comparisons. Kitty did not understand that Phil—unaccustomed +to speaking of things outside his work and the life interests of +his associates, and timid always in expressing his own +thoughts—found it very hard to reveal the real wealth of his +mind to her when she assumed so readily that he knew nothing beyond +his horses and cattle. But Patches, to whom Phil had learned to +speak with little reserve, understood. And, knowing that the wall +which the girl felt separated her from the cowboy was built almost +wholly of her own assumptions, Patches never lost an opportunity to +help the young woman to a fuller acquaintance with the man whom she +thought she had known since childhood.</p> +<p>During the long winter months, many an evening at the +Cross-Triangle, at the Reid home, or, perhaps, at some neighborhood +party or dance, afforded Kitty opportunities for a fuller +understanding of Phil, but resulted only in establishing a closer +friendship with Patches.</p> +<p>Then came the spring.</p> +<p>The snow melted; the rains fell; the washes and creek channels +were filled with roaring floods; hill and ridge and mountain slope +and mesa awoke to the new life that was swelling in every branch +and leaf and blade; the beauties of the valley meadow appeared +again in fresh and fragrant loveliness; while from fence-post and +bush and grassy bank and new-leaved tree the larks and mocking +birds and doves voiced their glad return.</p> +<p>And, with the spring, came a guest to the Cross-Triangle +Ranch—another stranger.</p> +<p>Patches had been riding the drift fence, and, as he made his way +toward the home ranch, in the late afternoon, he looked a very +different man from the Patches who, several months before, had been +rescued by Kitty from a humiliating experience with that same +fence.</p> +<p>The fact that he was now riding Stranger, the big bay with the +blazed face, more than anything else, perhaps, marked the change +that had come to the man whom the horse had so viciously tested, on +that day when they began together their education and work on the +Cross-Triangle Ranch.</p> +<p>No one meeting the cowboy, who handled his powerful and wild +spirited mount with such easy confidence and skill, would have +identified him with the white-faced, well-tailored gentleman whom +Phil had met on the Divide. The months of active outdoor life had +given his tall body a lithe and supple strength that was revealed +in his every movement, while wind and sun had stained his skin that +deep tan which marks those who must face the elements every waking +hour. Prom tinkling bridle chain and jingling spur, to the coiled +riata, his equipment showed the unmistakable marks of use. His +fringed chaps, shaped, by many a day in the saddle, to his long +legs, expressed experience, while his broad hat, soiled by sweat +and dust, had acquired individuality, and his very +jumper—once blue but now faded and patched—disclaimed +the tenderfoot.</p> +<p>Riding for a little way along the top of the ridge that forms +the western edge of the valley, Patches looked down upon the red +roofs of the buildings of the home ranch, and smiled as he thought +of the welcome that awaited him there at the close of his day's +work. The Dean and Stella, with Little Billy, and Phil, and the +others of the home circle, had grown very dear to this strong man +of whom they still knew nothing; and great as was the change in his +outward appearance and manner, the man himself knew that there were +other changes as great. Honorable Patches had not only acquired a +name and a profession, but in acquiring them he had gained +something of much greater worth to himself. And so he was grateful +to those who, taking him on trust, had helped him more than they +knew.</p> +<p>He had left the ridge, and was half way across the flat toward +the corrals, when Little Billy, spurring old Sheep in desperate +energy, rode wildly out to meet him.</p> +<p>As the lad approached, he greeted his big friend with shrill, +boyish shouts, and Patches answered with a cowboy yell which did +credit to his training, while Stranger, with a wild, preliminary +bound into the air, proceeded, with many weird contortions, to give +an exhibition which fairly expressed his sentiments.</p> +<p>Little Billy grinned with delight. "Yip! Yip! Yee-e-e!" he +shrilled, for Stranger's benefit. And then, as the big horse +continued his manifestations, the lad added the cowboy's +encouraging admonition to the rider. "Stay with him, Patches! Stay +with him!"</p> +<p>Patches laughingly stayed with him. "What you aimin' to do, +pardner"—he asked good-naturedly, when Stranger at last +consented to keep two feet on the ground at the same +time—"tryin' to get me piled?"</p> +<p>"Shucks!" retorted the youngster admiringly. "I don't reckon +anything could pile you, <i>now</i>. I come out to tell you that we +got company," he added, as, side by side, they rode on toward the +corrals.</p> +<p>Patches was properly surprised. "Company!" he exclaimed.</p> +<p>Little Billy grinned proudly. "Yep. He's a man—from way +back East somewhere. Uncle Will brought him out from town. They got +here just after dinner. I don't guess he's ever seen a ranch +before. Gee! but won't we have fun with him!"</p> +<p>Patches face was grave as he listened. "How do you know he is +from the East, Billy?" he asked, concealing his anxious interest +with a smile at his little comrade.</p> +<p>"Heard Uncle Will tell Phil and Kitty."</p> +<p>"Oh, Kitty is at the house, too, is she?"</p> +<p>Billy giggled. "She an' Phil's been off somewheres ridin' +together most all day; they just got back a while ago. They was +talkin' with the company when I left. Phil saw you when you was +back there on the ridge, an' I come on out to tell you."</p> +<p>Phil and Kitty were walking toward their horses, which were +standing near the corral fence, as Patches and Little Billy came +through the gate.</p> +<p>The boy dropped from his saddle, and ran on into the house to +tell his Aunt Stella that Patches had come, leaving Sheep to be +looked after by whoever volunteered for the service. It was one of +Little Billy's humiliations that he was not yet tall enough to +saddle or bridle his own horse, and the men tactfully saw to it +that his mount was always ready in the morning, and properly +released at night, without any embarrassing comments on the +subject.</p> +<p>Patches checked his horse, and without dismounting greeted his +friends. "You're not going?" he said to Kitty, with a note of +protest in his voice. "I haven't seen you for a week. It's not fair +for Phil to take advantage of his position and send me off +somewhere alone while he spends his time riding over the country +with you."</p> +<p>They laughed up at him as he sat there on the big bay, hat in +hand, looking down into their upturned faces with the intimate, +friendly interest of an older brother.</p> +<p>Patches noticed that Kitty's eyes were bright with excitement, +and that Phil's were twinkling with suppressed merriment.</p> +<p>"I must go, Patches," said the young woman. "I ought to have +gone two hours ago; but I was so interested that the time slipped +away before I realized."</p> +<p>"We have company," explained Phil, looking at Patches and +deliberately closing one eye—the one that Kitty could not +see. "A distinguished guest, if you please. I'll loan you a clean +shirt for supper; that is, if mother lets you eat at the same table +with him."</p> +<p>"Phil, how can you!" protested Kitty.</p> +<p>The two men laughed, but Phil fancied that there was a hint of +anxiety in Patches' face, as the man on the horse said, "Little +Billy broke the news to me. Who is he?"</p> +<p>"A friend of Judge Morris in Prescott," answered Phil. "The +Judge asked Uncle Will to take him on the ranch for a while. He and +the Judge were—"</p> +<p>Kitty interrupted with enthusiasm. "It is Professor Parkhill, +Patches, the famous professor of aesthetics, you know: Everard +Charles Parkhill. And he's going to spend the summer in Williamson +Valley! Isn't it wonderful!"</p> +<p>Phil saw a look of relief in his friend's face as Patches +answered Kitty with sympathetic interest. "It certainly will be a +great pleasure, Miss Reid, especially for you, to have one so +distinguished for his scholarship in the neighborhood. Is Professor +Parkhill visiting Arizona for his health?"</p> +<p>Something in Patches' voice caused Phil to turn hastily +aside.</p> +<p>But Kitty, who was thinking how perfectly Patches understood +her, noticed nothing in his grave tones save his usual courteous +deference.</p> +<p>"Partly because of his health," she answered, "but he is going +to prepare a series of lectures, I understand. He says that in the +crude and uncultivated mentalities of our—"</p> +<p>"Here he is now," interrupted Phil, as the distinguished guest +of the Cross-Triangle appeared, coming slowly toward them.</p> +<p>Professor Everard Charles Parkhill looked the part to which, +from his birth, he had been assigned by his over-cultured parents. +His slender body, with its narrow shoulders and sunken chest, frail +as it was, seemed almost too heavy for his feeble legs. His thin +face, bloodless and sallow, with a sparse, daintily trimmed beard +and weak watery eyes, was characterized by a solemn and portentous +gravity, as though, realizing fully the profound importance of his +mission in life, he could permit no trivial thought to enter his +bald, domelike head. One knew instinctively that in all the +forty-five or fifty years of his little life no happiness or joy +that had not been scientifically sterilized and certified had ever +been permitted to stain his super-aesthetic soul.</p> +<p>As he came forward, he gazed at the long-limbed man on the big +bay horse with a curious eagerness, as though he were considering a +strange and interesting creature that could scarcely be held to +belong to the human race.</p> +<p>"Professor Parkhill," said Phil coolly, "you were saying that +you had never seen a genuine cowboy in his native haunt. Permit me +to introduce a typical specimen, Mr. Honorable Patches. Patches, +this is Professor Parkhill."</p> +<p>"Phil," murmured Kitty, "how can you?"</p> +<p>The Professor was gazing at Patches as though fascinated. And +Patches, his weather-beaten face as grave as the face of a wooden +Indian, stared back at the Professor with a blank, open-mouthed and +wild-eyed expression of rustic wonder that convulsed Phil and made +Kitty turn away to hide a smile.</p> +<p>"Howdy! Proud to meet up with you, mister," drawled the typical +specimen of the genus cowboy. And then, as though suddenly +remembering his manners, he leaped to the ground and strode +awkwardly forward, one hand outstretched in greeting, the other +holding fast to Stranger's bridle rein, while the horse danced and +plunged about with reckless indifference to the polite intentions +of his master.</p> +<p>The Professor backed fearfully away from the dangerous looking +horse and the equally formidable-appearing cowboy. Whereat Patches +addressed Stranger with a roar of savage wrath.</p> +<p>"Whoa! You consarned, square-headed, stiff-legged, squint-eyed, +lop-eared, four-flusher, you. Whoa, I tell you! Cain't you see I'm +a-wantin' to shake hands with this here man what the boss has +interduced me to?"</p> +<p>Phil nearly choked. Kitty was looking unutterable things. They +did not know that Patches was suffering from a reaction caused by +the discovery that he had never before met Professor Parkhill.</p> +<p>"You see, mister," he explained gravely, advancing again with +Stranger following nervously, "this here fool horse ain't used to +strangers, no how, 'specially them as don't look, as you might say, +just natural like." He finished with a sheepish grin, as he grasped +the visitor's soft little hand and pumped it up and down with +virile energy. Then, staring with bucolic wonder at the +distinguished representative of the highest culture, he asked, "Be +you an honest-to-God professor? I've heard about such, but I ain't +never seen one before."</p> +<p>The little man replied hurriedly, but with timid pride, +"Certainly, sir; yes, certainly."</p> +<p>"You be!" exclaimed the cowboy, as though overcome by his +nearness to such dignity. "Excuse me askin', but if you don't mind, +now—what be you professor of?"</p> +<p>The other answered with more courage, as though his soul found +strength in the very word: "Aesthetics."</p> +<p>The cowboy's jaw dropped, his mouth opened in gaping awe, and he +looked from the professor to Phil and Kitty, as if silently +appealing to them to verify this startling thing which he had +heard. "You don't say!" he murmured at last in innocent admiration. +"Well, now, to think of a little feller like you a-bein' all that! +But jest what be them there esteticks what you're professor +of—if you don't mind my askin'?"</p> +<p>The distinguished scholar answered promptly, in his best +platform voice, "The science or doctrine of the nature of beauty +and of judgments of tastes."</p> +<p>At this, Stranger, with a snort of fear, stood straight up on +his hind legs, and Professor Parkhill scuttled to a position of +safety behind Phil.</p> +<p>"Excuse me, folks," said Patches. "I'm just naturally obliged to +'tend to this here thing what thinks he's a hoss. Come along, you +ornery, pigeon-toed, knock-kneed, sway-backed, wooly-haired excuse, +you. You ain't got no more manners 'n a measly coyote."</p> +<p>The famous professor of aesthetics stood with Phil and Kitty +watching Patches as that gentleman relieved the dancing bay of the +saddle, and led him away through the corrals to the gate leading +into the meadow pasture.</p> +<p>"I beg pardon," murmured the visitor in his thin, little voice, +"but what did I understand you to say is the fellow's name?"</p> +<p>"Patches; Honorable Patches," answered Phil.</p> +<p>"How strange! how extraordinarily strange! I should be very +interested to know something of his ancestry, and, if possible, to +trace the origin of such a peculiar name."</p> +<p>Phil replied with exaggerated concern. "For heaven's sake, sir, +don't say anything about the man's name in his hearing."</p> +<p>"He—he is dangerous, you mean?"</p> +<p>"He is, if he thinks anyone is making light of his name. You +should ask some of the boys who have tried it."</p> +<p>"But I—I assure you, Mr. Acton, I had no thought of +ridicule—far from it. Oh, very far from it."</p> +<p>Kitty was obliged to turn away. She arrived at the corral in +time to meet Patches, who was returning.</p> +<p>"You ought to be ashamed," she scolded. But in spite of herself +her eyes were laughing.</p> +<p>"Yes, ma'am," said Patches meekly, hat in hand.</p> +<p>"How could you do such a thing?" she demanded.</p> +<p>"How could I help doing it?"</p> +<p>"How could you help it?"</p> +<p>"Yes. You saw how he looked at me. Really, Miss Reid, I couldn't +bear to disappoint him so cruelly. Honestly, now, wasn't I exactly +what he expected me to be? I think you should compliment me. Didn't +I do it very well?"</p> +<p>"But, he'll think you're nothing but a cowboy," she +protested.</p> +<p>"Fine!" retorted Patches, quickly. "I thank you, Miss Reid; that +is really the most satisfactory compliment I have ever +received."</p> +<p>"You're mocking me now," said Kitty, puzzled by his manner.</p> +<p>"Indeed, I am not. I am very serious," he returned. "But here he +comes again. With your gracious permission, I'll make my exit. +Please don't explain to the professor. It would humiliate me, and +think how it would shock and disappoint him!"</p> +<p>Lifting his saddle from the ground and starting toward the shed, +he said in a louder tone, "Sure, I won't ferget, Miss Kitty; an' +you kin tell your paw that there baldfaced steer o' his'n, what +give us the slip last rodeo time, is over in our big pasture. I +sure seen him thar to-day."</p> +<p>During the days immediately following that first meeting, Kitty +passed many hours with Professor Parkhill. Phil and his cowboys +were busy preparing for the spring rodeo. Mrs. Baldwin was wholly +occupied with ministering to the animal comforts of her earthly +household. And the Dean, always courteous and kind to his guest, +managed, nevertheless, to think of some pressing business that +demanded his immediate and personal attention whenever the visitor +sought to engage him in conversation. The professor, quite +naturally holding the cattleman to be but a rude, illiterate and +wholly materialistic creature, but little superior in intellectual +and spiritual powers to his own beasts, sought merely to +investigate the Dean's mental works, with as little regard for the +Dean's feelings as a biologist would show toward a hug. The Dean +confided to Phil and Patches, one day when he had escaped to the +blacksmith shop where the men were shoeing their horses, that the +professor was harmlessly insane. "Just think," he exploded, "of the +poor, little fool livin' in Chicago for three years, an' never once +goin' out to the stockyards even!"</p> +<p>It remained, therefore, for Kitty—the only worshiper of +the professor's gods in Williamson Valley—to supply that +companionship which seems so necessary even to those whose souls +are so far removed from material wants. In short, as Little Billy +put it, with a boy's irreverence, "Kitty rode herd on the +professor." And, strangely enough to them all, Kitty seemed to like +the job.</p> +<p>Either because her friendship with Patches—which had some +to mean a great deal to Kitty—outweighed her respect and +admiration for the distinguished object of his fun, or because she +waited for some opportunity to make the revelation a punishment to +the offender, the young woman did not betray the real character of +the cowboy to the stranger. And the professor, thanks to Phil's +warning, not only refrained from investigating the name of Patches, +but carefully avoided Patches himself. In the meantime, the +"typical specimen" was forced to take a small part in the table +talk lest he betray himself. So marked was this that Mrs. Baldwin +one day, not understanding, openly chided him for being so "glum." +Whereupon the Dean—to whom Phil had thoughtfully +explained—teased the deceiver unmercifully, with many +laughingly alleged reasons for his "grouch," while Curly and Bob, +attributing their comrade's manner to the embarrassing presence of +the stranger, grinned sympathetically; and the professor +himself—unconsciously agreeing with the cowboys—with +kindly condescension tried to make the victim of his august +superiority as much at ease as possible; which naturally, for the +Dean and Phil, added not a little to the situation.</p> +<p>Then the spring rodeo took the men far from the home ranch, and +for several weeks the distinguished guest of the Cross-Triangle was +left almost wholly to the guardianship of the young woman who lived +on the other side of the big meadows.</p> +<p>It was the last day of the rodeo, when Phil rode to the home +ranch, late in the afternoon, to consult with the Dean about the +shipping. Patches and the cowboys who were to help in the long +drive to the railroad were at Toohey with the cattle. While the +cowboys were finishing their early breakfast the next morning, the +foreman returned, and Patches knew, almost before Phil spoke, that +something had happened. They shouted their greetings as he +approached, but he had no smile for their cheery reception, nor did +he answer, even, until he had ridden close to the group about the +camp fire. Then, with a short "mornin', boys," he dismounted and +stood with the bridle reins in his hand.</p> +<p>At his manner a hush fell over the little company, and they +watched him curiously.</p> +<p>"No breakfast, Sam," he said, shortly, to the Chinaman. "Just a +cup of coffee." Then to the cowboys, "You fellows saddle up and get +that bunch of cattle to moving. We'll load at Skull Valley."</p> +<p>Sam brought his coffee and he drank it as he stood, while the +men hurriedly departed for their horses. Patches, the last to go, +paused a moment, as though to speak, but Phil prevented him with a +gruff order. "Get a move on you, Patches. Those cars will be there +long before we are."</p> +<p>And Patches, seeing the man's face dark and drawn with pain, +moved away without a word.</p> +<p>"Great snakes," softly ejaculated Curly a few moments later, as +Patches stooped to take his saddle from where it lay on the ground +beside Curly's. "What do you reckon's eatin' the boss? Him an' the +Dean couldn't 'a' mixed it last night, could they? Do you reckon +the Dean crawled him about somethin'?"</p> +<p>Patches shook his head with a "Search me, pardner," as he turned +to his horse.</p> +<p>"Somethin's happened sure," muttered the other, busy with his +saddle blanket. "Sufferin' cats! but I felt like he'd poured a +bucket of ice water down my neck!" He drew the cinch tight with a +vigorous jerk that brought a grunt of protest from his mount. +"That's right," he continued, addressing the horse, "hump yourself, +an' swell up and grunt, damn you; you ought to be thankin' God that +you ain't nothin' but a hoss, nohow, with no feelin' 'cept what's +in your belly." He dropped the heavy stirrup with a vicious slap, +and swung to his seat. "If Phil's a-goin' to keep up the way he's +startin', we'll sure have a pleasant little ol' ride to Skull +Valley. Oh, Lord! but I wisht I was a professor of them there +exteticks, or somethin' nice and gentle like, jest for to-day, +anyhow."</p> +<p>Patches laughed. "Think you could qualify, Curly?"</p> +<p>The cowboy grinned as they rode off together. "So far as I've +noticed the main part of the work, I could. The shade of them +walnut trees at the home ranch, or the Pot-Hook-S front porch, an' +a nice easy rockin' chair with fat cushions, or mebby the buckboard +onct in a while, with Kitty to do the drivin'—Say, this has +sure been some little ol' rodeo, ain't it? I ain't got a hoss in my +string that can more'n stand up, an' honest to God, Patches, I'm +jest corns all over. How's your saddle feel, this mornin'?"</p> +<p>"It's got corns, too," admitted Patches. "But there's Phil; we'd +better be riding."</p> +<p>All that day Phil kept to himself, speaking to his companions +only when speech could not be avoided, and then with the fewest +possible words. That night, he left the company as soon as he had +finished his supper, and went off somewhere alone, and Patches +heard him finding his bed, long after the other members of the +outfit were sound asleep. And the following day, through the trying +work of loading the cattle, the young foreman was so little like +himself that, had it not been that his men were nearly all +old-time, boyhood friends who had known him all his life, there +would surely have been a mutiny.</p> +<p>It was late in the afternoon, when the last reluctant steer was +prodded and pushed up the timbered runway from the pens, and +crowded into the car. Curly and Bob were going with the cattle +train. The others would remain at Skull Valley until morning, when +they would start for their widely separated homes. Phil announced +that he was going to the home ranch that night.</p> +<p>"You can make it home sometime to-morrow, Patches," he finished, +when he had said good-by to the little group of men with whom he +had lived and worked in closest intimacy through the long weeks of +the rodeo. He reined his horse about, even as he spoke, to set out +on his long ride.</p> +<p>The Cross-Triangle foreman was beyond hearing of the cowboys +when Patches overtook him. "Do you mind if I go back to the +Cross-Triangle with you to-night, Phil?" the cowboy asked +quietly.</p> +<p>Phil checked his horse and looked at his friend a moment without +answering. Then, in a kindlier tone than he had used the past two +days, he said, "You better stay here with the boys, and get your +night's rest, Patches. You have had a long hard spell of it in this +rodeo, and yesterday and to-day have not been exactly easy. +Shipping is always hell, even when everybody is in a good humor," +he smiled grimly.</p> +<p>"If you do not object, I would really like to go," said Patches +simply.</p> +<p>"But your horse is as tired as you ought to be," protested +Phil.</p> +<p>"I'm riding Stranger, you know," the other answered.</p> +<p>To which Phil replied tersely, "Let's be riding, then."</p> +<p>The cowboys, who had been watching the two men, looked at each +other in amazement as Phil and Patches rode away together.</p> +<p>"Well, what do you make of that?" exclaimed one.</p> +<p>"Looks like Honorable Patches was next," commented another.</p> +<p>"Us old-timers ain't in it when it comes to associatin' with the +boss," offered a third.</p> +<p>"You shut up on that line," came sharply from Curly. "Phil ain't +turnin' us down for nobody. I reckon if Patches is fool enough to +want to ride to the Cross-Triangle to-night Phil ain't got no +reason for stoppin' him. If any of you punchers wants to make the +ride, the way's open, ain't it?"</p> +<p>"Now, don't you go on the prod, too," soothed the other. "We +wasn't meanin' nothin' agin Phil."</p> +<p>"Well, what's the matter with Patches?" demanded the +Cross-Triangle man, whose heart was sorely troubled by the mystery +of his foreman's mood.</p> +<p>"Ain't nobody <i>said</i> as there was anything the matter. Fact +is, don't nobody <i>know</i> that there is."</p> +<p>And for some reason Curly had no answer.</p> +<p>"Don't it jest naturally beat thunder the way he's cottoned up +to that yellow dog of a Yavapai Joe?" mused another, encouraged by +Curly's silence. "Three or four of the boys told how they'd seen +'em together off an' on, but I didn't think nothin' of it until I +seen 'em myself when we was workin' over at Tailholt. It was one +evenin' after supper. I went down to the corral to fix up that +Pedro horse's back, when I heard voices kind o' low like. I stopped +a minute, an' then sort o' eased along in the dark, an' run right +onto 'em where they was a-settin' in the door o' the saddle room, +cozy as you please. Yavapai sneaked away while I was gettin' the +lantern an' lightin' it, but Patches, he jest stayed an' held the +light for me while I fixed ol' Pedro, jest as if nothin' had +happened."</p> +<p>"Well," said Curly sarcastically, "what <i>had</i> +happened?"</p> +<p>"I don't know-nothin'—mebby."</p> +<p>"If Patches was what some o' you boys seem to think, do you +reckon he'd be a-ridin' for the Cross-Triangle?" demanded +Curly.</p> +<p>"He might, an' he mightn't," retorted two or three at once.</p> +<p>"Nobody can't say nothin' in a case like that until the +show-down," added one. "I don't reckon the Dean knows any more than +the rest of us."</p> +<p>"Unless Patches is what some of the other boys are guessin'," +said another.</p> +<p>"Which means," finished Curly, in a tone of disgust, "that we've +got to millin' 'round the same old ring again. Come on, Bob; let's +see what they've got for supper. That engine'll happen along +directly, an' we'll be startin' hungry."</p> +<p>Phil Acton was not ignorant of the different opinions that were +held by the cattlemen regarding Honorable Patches. Nor, as the +responsible foreman of the Cross-Triangle, could he remain +indifferent to them. During those first months of Patches' life on +the ranch, when the cowboy's heart had so often been moved to pity +for the stranger who had come to them apparently from some painful +crisis in his life, he had laughed at the suspicions of his old +friends and associates. But as the months had passed, and Patches +had so rapidly developed into a strong, self-reliant man, with a +spirit of bold recklessness that was marked even among those hardy +riders of the range, Phil forgot, in a measure, those +characteristics that the stranger had shown at the beginning of +their acquaintance. At the same time, the persistent suspicions of +the cattlemen, together with Patches' curious, and, in a way, +secret interest in Yavapai Joe, could not but have a decided +influence upon the young man who was responsible for the Dean's +property.</p> +<p>It was inevitable, under the circumstances, that Phil's attitude +toward Patches should change, even as the character of Patches +himself had changed. While the foreman's manner of friendship and +kindly regard remained, so far, unaltered, and while Phil still, in +his heart, believed in his friend, and—as he would have +said—"would continue to back his judgment until the +show-down," nevertheless that spirit of intimacy which had so +marked those first days of their work together had gradually been +lost to them. The cowboy no longer talked to his companion, as he +had talked that day when they lay in the shade of the walnut tree +at Toohey, and during the following days of their range riding. He +no longer admitted his friend into his inner life, as he had done +that day when he told Patches the story of the wild stallion. And +Patches, feeling the change, and unable to understand the reason +for it, waited patiently for the time when the cloud that had +fallen between them should lift.</p> +<p>So they rode together that night, homeward bound, at the end of +the long, hard weeks of the rodeo, in the deepening gloom of the +day's passing, in the hushed stillness of the wild land, under the +wide sky where the starry sentinel hosts were gathering for their +ever-faithful watch. And as they rode, their stirrups often +touching, each was alone with his own thoughts. Phil, still in the +depth of his somber mood, brooded over his bitter trouble. Patches, +sympathetically wondering, silently questioning, wished that he +could help.</p> +<p>There are times when a man's very soul forces him to seek +companionship. Alone in the night with this man for whom, even at +that first moment of their meeting on the Divide, he had felt a +strange sense of kinship, Phil found himself drifting far from the +questions that had risen to mar the closeness of their intimacy. +The work of the rodeo was over; his cowboy associates, with their +suggestive talk, were far away. Under the influence of the long, +dark miles of that night, and the silent presence of his companion, +the young man, for the time being, was no longer the responsible +foreman of the Cross-Triangle Ranch. In all that vast and silent +world there was, for Phil Acton, only himself, his trouble, and his +friend.</p> +<p>And so it came about that, little by little, the young man told +Patches the story of his dream, and of how it was now shattered and +broken.</p> +<p>Sometimes bitterly, as though he felt injustice; sometimes +harshly, as though in contempt for some weakness of his own; with +sentences broken by the pain he strove to subdue, with halting +words and long silences, Phil told of his plans for rebuilding the +home of his boyhood, and of restoring the business that, through +the generosity of his father, had been lost; of how, since his +childhood almost, he had worked and saved to that end; and of his +love for Kitty, which had been the very light of his dream, and +without which for him there was no purpose in dreaming. And the man +who rode so close beside him listened with a fuller understanding +and a deeper sympathy than Phil knew.</p> +<p>"And now," said Phil hopelessly, "it's all over. I've sure come +to the end of my string. Reid has put the outfit on the market. +He's going to sell out and quit. Uncle Will told me night before +last when I went home to see about the shipping."</p> +<p>"Reid is going to sell!" exclaimed Patches; and there was a +curious note of exultation in his voice which Phil did not hear. +Neither did Phil see that his companion was smiling to himself +under cover of the darkness.</p> +<p>"It's that damned Professor Parkhill that's brought it about," +continued the cowboy bitterly. "Ever since Kitty came home from the +East she has been discontented and dissatisfied with ranch life. I +was all right when she went away, but when she came back she +discovered that I was nothing but a cow-puncher. She has been fair, +though. She has tried to get back where she was before she left and +I thought I would win her again in time. I was so sure of it that +it never troubled me. You have seen how it was. And you have seen +how she was always wanting the life that she had learned to want +while she was away—the life that you came from, Patches. I +have been mighty glad for your friendship with her, too, because I +thought she would learn from you that a man could have all that is +worth having in <i>that</i> life, and still be happy and contented +<i>here</i>. And she would have learned, I am sure. She couldn't +help seeing it. But now that damned fool who knows no more of real +manhood than I do of his profession has spoiled it all."</p> +<p>"But Phil, I don't understand. What has Parkhill to do with +Reid's selling out?"</p> +<p>"Why, don't you see?" Phil returned savagely. "He's the supreme +representative of the highest highbrowed culture, isn't he? He's a +lord high admiral, duke, or potentate of some sort, in the world of +loftiest thought, isn't he? He lives, moves and has his being in +the lofty realms of the purely spiritual, doesn't he? He's +cultured, and cultivated, and spiritualized, until he vibrates +nothing but pure soul—whatever that means—and he's +refined himself, and mental-disciplined himself, and soul-dominated +himself, until there's not an ounce of red blood left in his +carcass. Get him between you and the sun, after what he calls a +dinner, and you can see every material mouthful that he, has +disgraced himself by swallowing. He's not human, I tell you; he's +only a kind of a he-ghost, and ought to be fed on sterilized +moonbeams and pasteurized starlight."</p> +<p>"Amen!" said Patches solemnly, when Phil paused for lack of +breath. "But, Phil, your eloquent characterization does not explain +what the he-ghost has to do with the sale of the Pot-Hook-S +outfit."</p> +<p>Phil's voice again dropped into its hopeless key as he answered. +"You remember how, from the very first, Kitty—well—sort +of worshiped him, don't you?"</p> +<p>"You mean how she worshiped his aesthetic cult, don't you?" +corrected Patches quietly.</p> +<p>"I suppose that's it," responded Phil gloomily. "Well, Uncle +Will says that they have been together mighty near every day for +the past three months, and that about half of the time they have +been over at Kitty's home. He has discovered, he says, that Kitty +possesses a rare and wonderful capacity for absorbing the higher +truths of the more purely intellectual and spiritual planes of +life, and that she has a marvelously developed appreciation of +those ideals of life which are so far removed from the base and +material interests and passions which belong to the mere animal +existence of the common herd."</p> +<p>"Oh, hell!" groaned Patches.</p> +<p>"Well, that's what he told Uncle Will," returned Phil stoutly. +"And he has harped on that string so long, and yammered so much to +Jim and to Kitty's mother about the girl's wonderful +intellectuality, and what a record-breaking career she would have +if only she had the opportunity, and what a shame, and a loss to +the world it is for her to remain buried in these soul-dwarfing +surroundings, that they have got to believing it themselves. You +see, Kitty herself has in a way been getting them used to the idea +that Williamson Valley isn't much of a place, and that the cow +business doesn't rank very high among the best people. So Jim is +going to sell out, and move away somewhere, where Kitty can have +her career, and the boys can grow up to be something better than +low-down cow-punchers like you and me. Jim is able to retire +anyway."</p> +<p>"Thanks, Phil," said Patches quietly.</p> +<p>"What for?"</p> +<p>"Why, for including me in your class. I consider it a +compliment, and"—he added, with a touch of his old +self-mocking humor—"I think I know what I am +saying—better, perhaps, than the he-ghost knows what he talks +about."</p> +<p>"It may be that you do," returned Phil wearily, "but you can see +where it all puts me. The professor has sure got me down and +hog-tied so tight that I can't even think."</p> +<p>"Perhaps, and again, perhaps not," returned Patches. "Reid +hasn't found a buyer for the outfit yet, has he?"</p> +<p>"Not yet, but they'll come along fast enough. The Pot-Hook-S +Ranch is too well known for the sale to hang fire long."</p> +<p>The next day Phil seemed to slip back again, in his attitude +toward Patches, to the temper of those last weeks of the rodeo. It +was as though the young man—with his return to the home ranch +and to the Dean and their talks and plans for the work—again +put himself, his personal convictions and his peculiar regard for +Patches, aside, and became the unprejudiced foreman, careful for +his employer's interests.</p> +<p>Patches very quickly, but without offense, found that the door, +which his friend had opened in the long dark hours of that lonely +night ride, had closed again; and, thinking that he understood, he +made no attempt to force his way. But, for some reason, Patches +appeared to be in an unusually happy frame of mind, and went +singing and whistling about the corrals and buildings as though +exceedingly well pleased with himself and with the world.</p> +<p>The following day was Sunday. In the afternoon, Patches was +roaming about the premises, keeping at a safe distance from the +walnut trees in front of the house, where the professor had +cornered the Dean, thus punishing both Patches and his employer by +preventing one of their long Sunday talks which they both so much +enjoyed. Phil had gone off somewhere to be alone, and Mrs. Baldwin +was reading aloud to Little Billy. Honorable Patches was left very +much to himself.</p> +<p>From the top of the little hill near the corrals, he looked +across the meadow at exactly the right moment to see someone riding +away from the neighboring ranch. He watched until he was certain +that whoever it was was not coming to the Cross-Triangle—at +least, not by way of the meadow lane. Then, smiling to himself, he +went to the big barn and saddled a horse—there are always two +or three that are not turned out in the pasture—and in a few +minutes was riding leisurely away on the Simmons road, along the +western edge of the valley. An hour later he met Kitty Reid, who +was on her way from Simmons to the Cross-Triangle.</p> +<p>The young woman was sincerely glad to meet him.</p> +<p>"But you were going to Simmons, were you not?" she asked, as he +reined his horse about to ride with her.</p> +<p>"To be truthful, I was going to Simmons if I met anyone else, or +if I had not met you," he answered. Then, at her puzzled look, he +explained, "I saw someone leave your house, and guessed that it was +you. I guessed, too, that you would be coming this way."</p> +<p>"And you actually rode out to meet me?"</p> +<p>"Actually," he smiled.</p> +<p>They chatted about the rodeo, and the news of the +countryside—for it had been several weeks since they had +met—and so reached the point of the last ridge before you +come to the ranch. Then Patches asked, "May we ride over there on +the ridge, and sit for a while in the shade of that old cedar, for +a little talk? It's early yet, and it's been ages since we had a +pow-wow."</p> +<p>Reaching the point which Patches had chosen, they left their +horses and made themselves comfortable on the brow of the hill, +overlooking the wide valley meadow and the ranches.</p> +<p>"And now," said Kitty, looking at him curiously, "what's the +talk, Mr. Honorable Patches?"</p> +<p>"Just you," said Patches, gravely.</p> +<p>"Me?"</p> +<p>"Your own charming self," he returned.</p> +<p>"But, please, good sir, what have I done?" she asked. "Or, +perhaps, it's what have I not done?"</p> +<p>"Or perhaps," he retorted, "it's what you are going to do."</p> +<p>"Oh!"</p> +<p>"Miss Reid, I am going to ask you a favor—a great +favor."</p> +<p>"Yes?"</p> +<p>"You have known me now almost a year."</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"And, yet, to be exact, you do not know me at all."</p> +<p>She did not answer, but looked at him steadily.</p> +<p>"And that, in a way," he continued, "makes it easy for me to ask +the favor; that is, if you feel that you can trust me ever so +little—trust me, I mean, to the extent of believing me +sincere."</p> +<p>"I know that you are sincere, Patches," she answered, +gravely.</p> +<p>"Thank you," he returned. Then he said gently, "I want you to +let me talk to you about what is most emphatically none of my +business. I want you to let me ask you impertinent questions. I +want you to talk to me about"—he hesitated; then finished +with meaning—"about your career."</p> +<p>She felt his earnestness, and was big enough to understand, and +be grateful for the spirit that prompted his words.</p> +<p>"Why, Patches," she cried, "after all that your friendship has +meant to me, these past months, I could not think any question that +you would ask impertinent Surely you know that, don't you?"</p> +<p>"I hoped that you would feel that way. And I know that I would +give five years of my life if I knew how to convince you of the +truth which I have learned from my own bitter experience, and save +you from—from yourself."</p> +<p>She could not mistake his earnestness and in spite of herself +the man's intense feeling moved her deeply.</p> +<p>"Save me from myself?" she questioned. "What in the world do you +mean, Patches?"</p> +<p>"Is it true," he asked, "that your father is offering the ranch +for sale, and that you are going out of the Williamson Valley +life?"</p> +<p>"Yes, but it is not such a sudden move as it seems. We have +often talked about it at home—father and mother and I."</p> +<p>"But the move is to be made chiefly on your account, is it +not?"</p> +<p>She flushed a little at this, but answered stoutly. "Yes. I +suppose that is true. You see, being the only one in our family to +have the advantages of—well—the advantages that I have +had, it was natural that I should—Surely you have seen, +Patches, how discontented and dissatisfied I have been with the +life here! Why, until you came there was no one to whom I could +talk, even—no one, I mean, who could understand."</p> +<p>"But what is it that you want, or expect to find, that you may +not have right here?"</p> +<p>Then she told him all that he had expected to hear. Told him +earnestly, passionately, of the life she craved, and of the sordid, +commonplace narrowness and emptiness—as she saw it—of +the life from which she sought to escape. And as she talked the +man's good heart was heavy with sadness and pity for her.</p> +<p>"Oh, girl, girl," he cried, when she had finished. "Can't +you—won't you—understand? All that you seek is right +here—everywhere about you—waiting for you to make it +your own, and with it you may have here those greater things +without which no life can be abundant and joyous. The culture and +the intellectual life that is dependent upon mere environment is a +crippled culture and a sickly life. The mind that cannot find its +food for thought wherever it may be planed will never hobble very +far on crutches of superficial cults and societies. You are leaving +the substance, child, for the shadow. You are seeking the fads and +fancies of shallow idlers, and turning your back upon eternal +facts. You are following after silly fools who are chasing bubbles +over the edge of God's good world. Believe me, girl, I +know—God! but I do know what that life, stripped of its +tinseled and spangled show, means. Take the good grain, child, and +let the husks go."</p> +<p>As the man spoke, Kitty watched him as though she were intently +interested; but, in truth, her thoughts were more on the speaker +than on what he said.</p> +<p>"You are in earnest, aren't you, Patches?" she murmured +softly.</p> +<p>"I am," he returned sharply, for he saw that she was not even +considering what he had said. "I know how mistaken you are; I know +what it will mean to you when you find how much you have lost and +how little you have gained."</p> +<p>"And how am I mistaken? Do I not know what I want? Am I not +better able than anyone else to say what satisfies me and what does +not?"</p> +<p>"No," he retorted, almost harshly, "you are not. You +<i>think</i> it is the culture, as you call it, that you want; but +if that were really it, you would not go. You would find it here. +The greatest minds that the world has ever known you may have right +here in your home, on your library table. And you may listen to +their thoughts without being disturbed by the magpie chatterings of +vain and shallow pretenders. You are attracted by the pretentious +forms and manners of that life; you think that because a certain +class of people, who have nothing else to do, talk a certain +jargon, and profess to follow certain teachers—who, nine +times out of ten, are charlatans or fools—that they are the +intellectual and spiritual leaders of the race. You are mistaking +the very things that prevent intellectual and spiritual development +for the things you think you want."</p> +<p>She did not answer his thought, but replied to his words. "And +supposing I am mistaken, as you say. Still, I do not see why it +should matter so to you."</p> +<p>He made a gesture of hopelessness and sat for a moment in +silence. Then he said slowly, "I fear you will not understand, but +did you ever hear the story of how 'Wild Horse Phil' earned his +title?"</p> +<p>She laughed. "Why, of course. Everybody knows about that. Dear, +foolish old Phil—I shall miss him dreadfully." "Yes," he said +significantly, "you will miss him. The life you are going to does +not produce Phil Actons."</p> +<p>"It produced an Honorable Patches," she retorted slyly.</p> +<p>"Indeed it did <i>not</i>," he answered quickly. "It +produced—" He checked himself, as though fearing that he +would say too much.</p> +<p>"But what have Phil and his wild horse to do with the question?" +she asked.</p> +<p>"Nothing, I fear. Only I feel about your going away as Phil felt +when he gave the wild horse its freedom."</p> +<p>"I don't think I understand," she said, genuinely puzzled.</p> +<p>"I said you would not," he retorted bluntly, "and that's why you +are leaving all this." His gesture indicated the vast sweep of +country with old Granite Mountain in the distance.</p> +<p>Then, with a nod and a look he indicated Professor Parkhill, who +was walking toward them along the side of the ridge skirting the +scattered cedar timber. "Here comes a product of the sort of +culture to which you aspire. Behold the ideal manhood of your +higher life! When the intellectual and spiritual life you so desire +succeeds in producing racial fruit of that superior quality, it +will have justified its existence—and will perish from the +earth."</p> +<p>Even as Patches spoke, he saw something just beyond the +approaching man that made him start as if to rise to his feet.</p> +<p>It was the unmistakable face of Yavapai Joe, who, from behind an +oak bush, was watching the professor.</p> +<p>Patches, glancing at Kitty, saw that she had not noticed.</p> +<p>Before the young woman could reply to her companion's derisive +remarks, the object which had prompted his comments arrived within +speaking distance.</p> +<p>"I trust I am not intruding," began the professor, in his small, +thin voice. Then as Patches, his eyes still on that oak bush, stood +up, the little man added, with hasty condescension, "Keep your +seat, my man; keep your seat. I assure you it is not my purpose to +deprive you of Miss Reid's company."</p> +<p>Patches grinned. By that "my man" he knew that Kitty had not +enlightened her teacher as to the "typical cowboy's" real +character.</p> +<p>"That's all right, perfessor," he said awkwardly. "I just seen a +maverick over yonder a-piece. I reckon I'd better mosey along an' +have a closer look at him. Me an' Kitty here warn't talkin' nothin' +important, nohow. Just a gassin' like. I reckon she'd ruther go on +home with you, anyhow, an' it's all right with me."</p> +<p>"Maverick!" questioned the professor. "And what, may I ask, is a +maverick?"</p> +<p>"Hit's a critter what don't belong to nobody," answered Patches, +moving toward his horse.</p> +<p>At the same moment Kitty, who had risen, and was looking in the +direction from which the professor had come, exclaimed, "Why, +there's Yavapai Joe, Patches. What is he doing here?"</p> +<p>She pointed, and the professor, looking, caught a glimpse of +Joe's back as the fellow was slinking over the ridge.</p> +<p>"I reckon mebby he wants to see me 'bout somethin' or other," +Patches returned, as he mounted his horse. "Anyway, I'm a-goin' +over that-a-way an' see. So long!"</p> +<p>Patches rode up to Joe just as the Tailholt Mountain man +regained his horse on the other side of the ridge.</p> +<p>"Hello, Joe!" said the Cross-Triangle rider, easily.</p> +<p>The wretched outcast was so shaken and confused that he could +scarcely find the stirrup with his foot, and his face was pale and +twitching with excitement. He looked at Patches, wildly, but spoke +in a sullen tone. "What's he doin' here? What does he want? How did +he get to this country, anyhow?"</p> +<p>Patches was amazed, but spoke calmly. "Whom do you mean, +Joe?"</p> +<p>"I mean that man back there, Parkhill—Professor Parkhill. +What's he a-lookin' for hangin' 'round here? You can tell him it +ain't no use—I—" He stopped suddenly, and with a +characteristic look of cunning, turned away.</p> +<p>Patches rode beside him for some distance, but nothing that he +could say would persuade the wretched creature to explain.</p> +<p>"Yes, I know you're my friend, all right, Patches," he answered. +"You sure been mighty friendly ter me, an' I ain't fergettin' it. +But I ain't a-tellin' nothin' to nobody, an' it ain't a-goin' to do +you no good to go askin' him 'bout me, neither."</p> +<p>"I'm not going to ask Professor Parkhill anything, Joe," said +Patches shortly.</p> +<p>"You ain't?"</p> +<p>"Certainly not; if you don't want me to know. I'm not trying to +find out about anything that's none of my business."</p> +<p>Joe looked at him with a cunning leer. "Oh, you ain't, ain't +you? Nick 'lows that you're sure—" Again he caught himself. +"But I ain't a-tellin' nothin' to nobody."</p> +<p>"Well, have <i>I</i> ever asked you to tell me anything?" +demanded Patches.</p> +<p>"No, you ain't—that's right—you sure been square +with me, Patches, an' I ain't fergettin' it. Be you sure 'nuf my +friend, Patches? Honest-to-God, now, be you?"</p> +<p>His question was pitiful, and Patches assured the poor fellow +that he had no wish to be anything but his friend, if only Yavapai +Joe would accept his help.</p> +<p>"Then," said Joe pleadingly, "if you mean all that you been +sayin' about wantin' to help me, you'll do somethin' fer me right +now."</p> +<p>"What can I do, Joe?"</p> +<p>"You kin promise me that you won't say nothin' to nobody 'bout +me an' him back there."</p> +<p>Patches, to demonstrate his friendliness, answered without +thought, "Certainly, I'll promise that, Joe."</p> +<p>"You won't tell nobody?"</p> +<p>"No, I won't say a word."</p> +<p>The poor fellow's face revealed his gratitude. "I'm obliged to +you, Patches, I sure am, an' I ain't fergettin' nothin', either. +You're my friend, all right, an' I'm your'n. I got to be a-hittin' +it up now. Nick'll jest nachally gimme hell for bein' gone so +long."</p> +<p>"Good-by, Joe!"</p> +<p>"So long, Patches! An' don't you get to thinkin' that I'm +fergettin' how me an' you is friends."</p> +<p>When Patches reviewed the incident, as he rode back to the +ranch, he questioned if he had done right in promising Joe. But, +after all, he reassured himself, he was under no obligation to +interfere with what was clearly none of his business. He could not +see that the matter in any possible way touched his employer's +interests. And, he reflected, he had already tried the useless +experiment of meddling with other people's affairs, and he did not +care to repeat the experience.</p> +<p>That evening Patches asked Phil's permission to go to Prescott +the next day. It would be the first time that he had been to town +since his coming to the ranch and the foreman readily granted his +request.</p> +<p>A few minutes later as Phil passed through the kitchen, Mrs. +Baldwin remarked, "I wonder what Patches is feeling so gay about. +Ever since he got home from the rodeo he's been singin' an' +whistlin' an' grinnin' to himself all the time. He went out to the +corral just now as merry as a lark."</p> +<p>Phil laughed. "Anybody would be glad to get through with that +rodeo, mother; besides, he is going to town to-morrow."</p> +<p>"He is? Well, you mark my words, son, there's somethin' up to +make him feel as good as he does."</p> +<p>And then, when Phil had gone on out into the yard, Professor +Parkhill found him.</p> +<p>"Mr. Acton," began the guest timidly, "there is a little matter +about which I feel I should speak to you."</p> +<p>"Very well, sir," returned the cowboy.</p> +<p>"I feel that it would be better for me to speak to you rather +than to Mr. Baldwin, because, well, you are younger, and will, I am +sure, understand more readily."</p> +<p>"All right; what is it, Professor?" asked Phil encouragingly, +wondering at the man's manner.</p> +<p>"Do you mind—ah—walking a little way down the +road?"</p> +<p>As they strolled out toward the gate to the meadow road, the +professor continued:</p> +<p>"I think I should tell you about your man Patches."</p> +<p>Phil looked at his companion sharply. "Well, what about +him?"</p> +<p>"I trust you will not misunderstand my interest, Mr. Acton, when +I say that it also includes Miss Reid."</p> +<p>Phil stopped short. Instantly Mrs. Baldwin's remark about +Patches' happiness, his own confession that he had given up all +hope of winning Kitty, and the thought of the friendship which he +had seen developing during the past months, with the realization +that Patches belonged to that world to which Kitty +aspired—all swept through his mind. He was looking at the man +beside him so intently that the professor said again uneasily:</p> +<p>"I trust, Mr. Acton, that you will understand."</p> +<p>Phil laughed shortly. "I think I do. But just the same you'd +better explain. What about Patches and Miss Reid, sir?"</p> +<p>The professor told how he had found them together that +afternoon.</p> +<p>"Oh, is that all?" laughed Phil.</p> +<p>"But surely, Mr. Acton, you do not think that a man of that +fellow's evident brutal instincts is a fit associate for a young +woman of Miss Reid's character and refinement."</p> +<p>"Perhaps not," admitted Phil, still laughing, "but I guess Kitty +can take care of herself."</p> +<p>"I do not agree with you, sir," said the other authoritatively. +"A young woman of Miss Reid's—ah—spirituality and +worldly inexperience must always be, to a certain extent, injured +by contact with such illiterate, unrefined, and, I have no doubt, +morally deficient characters."</p> +<p>"But, look here, Professor," returned Phil, still grinning, +"what do you expect me to do about it? I am not Kitty Reid's +guardian. Why don't you talk to her yourself?"</p> +<p>"Really," returned the little man, "I—there are reasons +why I do not see my way clear to such a course. I had hoped that +you might keep an eye on the fellow, and, if necessary, use your +authority over him to prevent any such incidents in the +future."</p> +<p>"I'll see what I can do," answered Phil, thinking how the Dean +would enjoy the joke. "But, look here; Kitty was with you when you +got to the ranch. What became of Patches? Run, did he, when you +appeared on the scene?"</p> +<p>"Oh, no; he went away with a—with a maverick."</p> +<p>"Went away with a maverick? What, in heaven's name, do you mean +by that?"</p> +<p>"That's what your man Patches said the fellow was. Miss Reid +told me his name was Joe—Joe something."</p> +<p>Phil was not laughing now. The fun of the situation had +vanished.</p> +<p>"Was it Yavapai Joe?" he demanded.</p> +<p>"Yes, that was it. I am quite sure that was the name. He belongs +at Tailend Mountain, I think Miss Reid said; you have such curious +names in this country."</p> +<p>"And Patches went away with him, you say?"</p> +<p>"Yes, the fellow seemed to have been hiding in the bushes when +we discovered him, and when Miss Reid asked what he was doing there +your man said that he had come to see him about something. They +went away together, I believe."</p> +<p>As soon as he could escape from the professor, Phil went +straight to Patches, who was in his room, reading. The man looked +up with a welcoming smile as Phil entered, but as he saw the +foreman's face his smile vanished quickly, and he laid aside his +book.</p> +<p>"Patches," said Phil abruptly, "what's this talk of the +professor's about you and Yavapai Joe?"</p> +<p>"I don't know what the professor is talking," Patches replied +coldly, as though he did not exactly like the tone of Phil's +question.</p> +<p>"He says that Joe was sneaking about in the brush over on the +ridge wanting to see you about something," returned Phil.</p> +<p>"Joe was certainly over there on the ridge, and he may have +wanted to see me; at any rate, I saw him."</p> +<p>"Well, I've got to ask you what sort of business you have with +that Tailholt Mountain thief that makes it necessary for him to +sneak around in the brush for a meeting with you. If he wants to +see you, why doesn't he come to the ranch, like a man?"</p> +<p>Honorable Patches looked the Dean's foreman straight in the +eyes, as he answered in a tone that he had never used before in +speaking to Phil: "And I have to answer, sir, that my business with +Yavapai Joe is entirely personal; that it has no relation whatever +to your business as the foreman of this ranch. As to why Joe didn't +come to the house, you must ask him; I don't know."</p> +<p>"You refuse to explain?" demanded Phil.</p> +<p>"I certainly refuse to discuss Joe Dryden's private +affairs—that, so far as I can see, are of no importance to +anyone but himself—with you or anyone else. Just as I should +refuse to discuss any of your private affairs, with which I +happened, by some chance, to be, in a way, familiar. I have made +all the explanation necessary when I say that my business with him +has nothing to do with your business. You have no right to ask me +anything further."</p> +<p>"I have the right to fire you," retorted Phil, angrily.</p> +<p>Patches smiled, as he answered gently, "You have the right, +Phil, but you won't use it."</p> +<p>"And why not?"</p> +<p>"Because you are not that kind of a man, Phil Acton," answered +Patches slowly. "You know perfectly well that if you discharged me +because of my friendship with poor Yavapai Joe, no ranch in this +part of the country would give me a job. You are too honest +yourself to condemn any man on mere suspicion, and you are too much +of a gentleman to damn another simply because he, too, aspires to +that distinction."</p> +<p>"Very well, Patches," Phil returned, with less heat, "but I want +you to understand one thing; I am responsible for the +Cross-Triangle property and there is no friendship in the world +strong enough to influence me in the slightest degree when it comes +to a question of Uncle Will's interests. Do you get that?"</p> +<p>"I got that months ago, Phil."</p> +<p>Without another word, the Dean's foreman left the room.</p> +<p>Patches sat for some time considering the situation. And now and +then his lips curled in that old, self-mocking smile; realizing +that he was caught in the trap of circumstance, he found a curious +humor in his predicament.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/235.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_12.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/236.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>gain it was July. And, with the time of the cattlemen's +celebration of the Fourth at hand, riders from every part of the +great western cow country assembled in Prescott for their annual +contests. From Texas and Montana, from Oklahoma and New Mexico and +Wyoming, the cowboys came with their saddles and riatas to meet +each other and the men of Arizona in friendly trials of strength +and skill. From many a wild pasture, outlaw horses famous for their +vicious, unsubdued spirits, and their fierce, untamed strength, +were brought to match their wicked, unbroken wills against the +cool, determined courage of the riders. From the wide ranges, the +steers that were to participate in the roping and bull-dogging +contests were gathered and driven in. From many a ranch the fastest +and best of the trained cow-horses were sent for the various cowboy +races. And the little city, in its rocky, mile-high basin, upon +which the higher surrounding mountains look so steadfastly down, +again decked itself in gala colors, and opened wide its doors to +welcome all who chose to come.</p> +<p>From the Cross-Triangle and the neighboring ranches the cowboys, +dressed in the best of their picturesque regalia, rode into the +town, to witness and take part in the sports. With them rode +Honorable Patches.</p> +<p>And this was not the carefully groomed and immaculately attired +gentleman who, in troubled spirit, had walked alone over that long, +unfenced way a year before. This was not the timid, hesitating, +shamefaced man at whom Phil Acton had laughed on the summit of the +Divide. This was a man among men—a cowboy of the +cowboys—bronzed, and lean, and rugged; vitally alive in every +inch of his long body; with self-reliant courage and daring +hardihood written all over him, expressed in every tone of his +voice, and ringing in every note of his laughter.</p> +<p>The Dean and Mrs. Baldwin and Little Billy drove in the +buckboard, but the distinguished guest of the Cross-Triangle went +with the Reid family in the automobile. The professor was not at +all interested in the celebration, but he could not well remain at +the ranch alone, and, it may be supposed, the invitation from Kitty +helped to make the occasion endurable.</p> +<p>The celebration this year—the posters and circulars +declared—was to be the biggest and best that Prescott had +ever offered. In proof of the bold assertion, the program promised, +in addition to the usual events, an automobile race. Shades of all +those mighty heroes of the saddle, whose names may not be erased +from the history of the great West, think of it! An automobile race +offered as the chief event in a Frontier Day Celebration!</p> +<p>No wonder that Mrs. Manning said to her husband that day, "But +Stan, where are the cowboys?"</p> +<p>Stanford Manning answered laughingly, "Oh, they are here, all +right, Helen; just wait a little and you will see."</p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Manning had arrived from Cleveland, Ohio, the +evening before, and Helen was eager and excited with the prospect +of meeting the people, and witnessing the scenes of which her +husband had told her with so much enthusiasm.</p> +<p>As the Dean had told Patches that day when the cattleman had +advanced the money for the stranger's outfit, the young mining +engineer had won a place for himself amid the scenes and among the +people of that western country. He had first come to the land of +this story, fresh from his technical training in the East. His +employers, quick to recognize not only his ability in his +profession but his character and manhood, as well, had advanced him +rapidly and, less than a month before Patches asked for work at the +Cross-Triangle, had sent him on an important mission to their mines +in the North. They were sending him, now, again to Arizona, this +time as the resident manager of their properties in the Prescott +district. This new advance in his profession, together with the +substantial increase in salary which it brought, meant much to the +engineer. Most of all, it meant his marriage to Helen Wakefield. A +stop-over of two weeks at Cleveland, on way West, from the main +offices of his Company in New York, had changed his return to +Prescott from a simple business trip to a wedding journey.</p> +<p>At the home of the Yavapai Club, on top of the hill, a clock +above the plaza, a number of Prescott's citizens, with their +guests, had gathered to watch the beginning of the automobile race. +The course, from the corner in front of the St. Michael hotel, +followed the street along one side of the plaza, climbed straight +up the hill, passed the clubhouse, and so away into the open +country. From the clubhouse veranda, from the lawn and walks in +front, or from their seats in convenient automobiles standing near, +the company enjoyed, thus, an unobstructed view of the starting +point of the race, and could look down as well upon the crowds that +pressed against the ropes which were stretched along either side of +the street. Prom a friendly automobile, Helen Manning, with her +husband's field glasses, was an eager and excited observer of the +interesting scene, while Stanford near by was busy greeting old +friends, presenting them to his wife and receiving their +congratulations. And often, he turned with a fond look and a merry +word to the young woman, as though reassuring himself that she was +really there. There was no doubt about it, Stamford Manning, strong +and steady and forceful, was very much in love with this girl who +looked down into his face with such an air of sweet confidence and +companionship. And Helen, as she turned from the scene that so +interested her, to greet her husband's friends, to ask him some +question, or to answer some laughing remark, could not hide the +love light in her soft brown eyes. One could not fail to see that +her woman heart was glad—glad and proud that this stalwart, +broad-shouldered leader of men had chosen her for his mate.</p> +<p>"But, Stan," she said, with a pretty air of disappointment, "I +thought it was all going to be so different. Why, except for the +mountains, and those poor Indians over there, this might all be in +some little town back home. I thought there would be cowboys riding +about everywhere, with long hair and big hats, and guns and +things."</p> +<p>Stanford and his friends who were standing near laughed.</p> +<p>"I fear, Mrs. Manning," remarked Mr. Richards, one of Prescott's +bank presidents, "that Stanford has been telling you wild west +stories. The West moves as well as the East, you know. We are +becoming civilized."</p> +<p>"Indeed you are, Mr. Richards," Helen returned. "And I don't +think I like it a bit. It's not fair to your poor eastern +sight-seers, like myself."</p> +<p>"If you are really so anxious to see a sure enough cowboy, look +over there," said Stanford, and pointed across the street.</p> +<p>"Where?" demanded Helen eagerly.</p> +<p>"There," smiled Stanford, "the dark-faced chap near that +automobile standing by the curb; the machine with the pretty girl +at the wheel. See! he is stopping to talk with the girl."</p> +<p>"What! That nice looking man, dressed just like thousands of men +that we might see any day on the streets of Cleveland?" cried +Helen.</p> +<p>"Exactly," chuckled her husband, while the others laughed at her +incredulous surprise. "But, just the same, that's Phil Acton; 'Wild +Horse Phil,' if you please. He is the cowboy foreman of the +Cross-Triangle Ranch, and won the championship in the bronco riding +last year."</p> +<p>"I don't believe it—you are making fun of me, Stanford +Manning."</p> +<p>Then, before he could answer, she cried, with quick excitement, +"But, Stan, look! Look at the girl in the automobile! She looks +like—it is, Stan, it is!" And to the amazement of her husband +and her friends Mrs. Manning sprang to her feet and, waving her +handkerchief, called, "Kitty! Oh, Kitty—Kitty Reid!"</p> +<p>As her clear call rang out, many people turned to look, and then +to smile at the picture, as she stood there in the bright Arizona +day, so animated and wholesomely alive in the grace and charm of +her beautiful young womanhood, above the little group of men who +were looking up at her with laughing admiration.</p> +<p>On the other side of the street, where she sat with her parents +and Professor Parkhill, talking to Phil, Kitty heard the call, and +looked. A moment later she was across the street, and the two young +women were greeting each other with old-time schoolgirl enthusiasm. +Introductions and explanations followed, with frequent feminine +exclamations of surprise and delight. Then the men drew a little +away, talking, laughing, as men will on such occasions, leaving the +two women to themselves.</p> +<p>In that eastern school, which, for those three years, had been +Kitty's home, Helen Wakefield and the girl from Arizona had been +close and intimate friends. Indeed, Helen, with her strong womanly +character and that rare gift of helpful sympathy and understanding, +had been to the girl fresh from the cattle ranges more than a +friend; she had been counsellor and companion, and, in many ways, a +wise guardian and teacher.</p> +<p>"But why in the world didn't you write me about it?" demanded +Kitty a little later. "Why didn't you tell me that you had become +Mrs. Stanford Manning, and that you were coming to Prescott?"</p> +<p>Helen laughed and blushed happily. "Why, you see, Kitty, it all +happened so quickly that there was no time to write. You remember +when I wrote you about Stan, I told you how poor he was, and how we +didn't expect to be married for several years?"</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"Well, then, you see, Stan's company, all unexpectedly to him, +called him to New York and gave him this position out here. He had +to start at once, and wired me from New York. Just think, I had +only a week for the wedding and everything! I knew, of course, that +I could find you after I got here."</p> +<p>"And now that you are here," said Kitty decisively, "you and Mr. +Manning are coming right out to Williamson Valley to spend your +honeymoon on the ranch."</p> +<p>But Helen shook her head. "Stan has it all planned, Kitty, and +he won't listen to anything else. There is a place around here +somewhere that he calls Granite Basin, and he has it all arranged +that we are to camp out there for three weeks. His company has +given him that much time, and we are going just as soon as this +celebration is over. After that, while Stan gets started with his +work, and fixes some place for us to live, I will make you a little +visit."</p> +<p>"I suppose there is no use trying to contend against the rights +of a brand-new husband," returned Kitty, "but it's a promise, that +you will come to me as soon as your camping trip is over?"</p> +<p>"It's a promise," agreed Helen. "You see, that's really part of +Stanford's plan; I was so sure you would want me, you know."</p> +<p>"Want you? I should say I do want you," cried Kitty, "and I need +you, too."</p> +<p>Something in her voice made Helen look at her questioningly, but +Kitty only smiled.</p> +<p>"I'll tell you all about it when there is more time."</p> +<p>"Let me see," said Helen. "There used to be—why, of +course, that nice looking man you were talking to when I recognized +you—Phil Acton." She looked across the street as she spoke, +but Phil had gone.</p> +<p>"Please don't, Helen dear," said Kitty, "that was only my +schoolgirl nonsense. When I came back home I found how impossible +it all was. But I must run back to the folks now. Won't you come +and meet them?"</p> +<p>Before Helen could answer someone shouted, "They're getting +ready for the start," and everybody looked down the hill toward the +place where the racing machines were sputtering and roaring in +their clouds of blue smoke.</p> +<p>Helen caught up the field glasses to look, saying, "We can't go +now, Kitty. You stay here with us until after the race is started; +then we'll go."</p> +<p>As Helen lowered the glasses Stanford, who had come to stand +beside the automobile, reached out his hand. "Let me have a look, +Helen. They say my old friend, Judge Morris, is the official +starter." He put the field glasses to his eyes. "There he is all +right, as big as life; finest man that ever lived. Look, Helen." He +returned the glasses to his wife "If you want to see a genuine +western lawyer, a scholar and a gentleman, take a look at that +six-foot-three or four down there in the gray clothes."</p> +<p>"I see him," said Helen, "but there seems to be some thing the +matter; there he goes back to the machines. Now he's laying down +the law to the drivers."</p> +<p>"They won't put over anything on Morris," said Stanford +admiringly.</p> +<p>Then a deep, kindly voice at his elbow said, "Howdy, Manning! +Ain't you got time to speak to your old friends?"</p> +<p>Stanford whirled and, with a glad exclamation, grasped the +Dean's outstretched hand. Still holding fast to the cattleman, he +again turned to his wife, who was looking down at them with smiling +interest. "Helen, this is Mr. Baldwin—the Dean, you +know."</p> +<p>"Indeed, I ought to know the Dean," she cried, giving him her +hand. "Stanford has told me so much about you that I am in love +with you already."</p> +<p>"And I"—retorted the Dean, looking up at her with his blue +eyes twinkling approval—"I reckon I've always been in love +with you. I'm sure glad to see that this young man has justified +his reputation for good judgment. Have they got any more girls like +you back East? 'Cause if they have, I'll sure be obliged to take a +trip to that part of the world before I get too old."</p> +<p>"You are just as Stan said you were," retorted Helen.</p> +<p>"Uncle Will!" cried Kitty. "I am ashamed of you! I didn't think +you would turn down your own home folks like that!"</p> +<p>The Dean lifted his hat and rumpled his grizzly hair as though +fairly caught. Then: "Why, Kitty, you know that I couldn't love any +girl more than I do you. Why, you belong to me most as much as you +belong to your own father and mother. But, you +see—honey—well, you see, we've just naturally got to be +nice to strangers, you know." When they had laughed at this, Kitty +explained to that Dean how Mrs. Manning was the Helen Wakefield +with whom she had been such friends at school, and that, after the +Mannings' outing in Granite Basin, Helen was to visit Williamson +Valley.</p> +<p>"Campin' out in Granite Basin, heh?" said the Dean to Stanford. +"I reckon you'll be seein' some o' my boys. They're goin' up into +that country after outlaw steers next week."</p> +<p>"I hope so," returned Stanford. "Helen has been complaining that +there are no cowboys to be seen. I pointed out Phil Acton, but he +didn't seem to fill the bill; she doesn't believe that he is a +cowboy at all."</p> +<p>The Dean chuckled. "He's never been anything else. They don't +make 'em any better anywhere." Then he added soberly, "Phil's not +ridin' in the contest this year, though."</p> +<p>"What's the matter?"</p> +<p>"I don't know. He's got some sort of a fool notion in his head +that he don't want to make an exhibition of himself—that's +what he said. I've got another man on the ranch now," he added, as +though to change the subject, "that'll be mighty near as good as +Phil in another year. His name is Patches. He's a good one, all +right."</p> +<p>Kitty, who, had been looking away down the street while the Dean +was talking, put her hand on Helen's arm. "Look down there, Helen. +I believe that is Patches now—that man sitting on his horse +at the cross street, at the foot of the hill, just outside the +ropes."</p> +<p>Helen was looking through the field glasses. "I see him," she +cried. "Now, that's more like it. He looks like what I expected to +see. What a fine, big chap he is, isn't he?" Then, as she studied +the distant horseman, a puzzled expression came over her face. +"Why, Kitty!" she said in a low tone, so that the men who were +talking did not hear. "Do you know, that man somehow reminds +me"—she hesitated and lowered the glasses to look at her +companion with half-amused, half-embarrassed eyes—"he reminds +me of Lawrence Knight."</p> +<p>Kitty's brown, fun-loving eyes glowed with mischief. "Really, +Mrs. Manning, I am ashamed of you. Before the honeymoon has waned, +your thoughts, with no better excuse than the appearance of a poor +cow-puncher, go back to the captivating charms of your old +millionaire lover. I—"</p> +<p>"Kitty! Do hush," pleaded Helen.</p> +<p>She lifted her glasses for another look at the cowboy.</p> +<p>"I don't wonder that your conscience reproves you," teased +Kitty, in a low tone. "But tell me, poor child, how did it happen +that you lost your millionaire?"</p> +<p>"I didn't lose him," retorted Helen, still watching Patches. "He +lost me."</p> +<p>Kitty persisted with a playful mockery. "What! the great, the +wonderful Knight of so many millions, failed, with all his +glittering charms, to captivate the fair but simple Helen! Really, +I can't believe it."</p> +<p>"Look at that man right there," flashed Helen proudly, +indicating her husband, "and you can believe it."</p> +<p>Kitty laughed so gaily that Stanford turned to look at them with +smiling inquiry.</p> +<p>"Never mind, Mr. Manning," said Kitty, "we are just reminiscing, +that's all."</p> +<p>"Don't miss the race," he answered; "they're getting ready again +to start. It looks like a go this time."</p> +<p>"And to think," murmured Kitty, "that I never so much as saw +your Knight's picture! But you used to like Lawrence Knight, didn't +you, Helen?" she added, as Helen lifted her field glasses again. +And now, Mrs. Manning caught a note of earnest inquiry in her +companion's voice. It was as though the girl were seeking +confirmation of some purpose or decision of her own.</p> +<p>"Why, yes, Kitty, I liked Larry Knight very much," she answered +frankly. "He was a fine fellow in many ways—a dear, good +friend. Stanford and I are both very fond of him; they were college +mates, you know. But, my dear girl, no one could ever consider poor +old Larry seriously—as a man, you know—he is +so—so utterly and hopelessly worthless."</p> +<p>"Worthless! With—how many millions is it?"</p> +<p>"Oh, Kitty, you know what I mean. But, really dear, we have +talked enough about Mr. Lawrence Knight. I'm going to have another +look at the cowboy. <i>He</i> looks like a real man, doesn't he? +What is it the Dean called him?"</p> +<p>"Patches."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes; what a funny name—Patches."</p> +<p>"Honorable Patches," said Kitty.</p> +<p>"How odd!" mused Helen. "Oh, Stan, come here a minute. Take the +glasses and look at that cowboy down there."</p> +<p>Stanford trained the field glasses as she directed.</p> +<p>"Doesn't he remind you of Larry Knight?"</p> +<p>"Larry Knight!" Stanford looked at her in amazement. "That +cow-puncher? Larry Knight? I should say <i>not</i>. Lord! but +wouldn't fastidious, cultured and correct old Larry feel +complimented to know that you found anything in a common +cow-puncher to remind you of him!"</p> +<p>"But, here, take your glasses, quick; they are going to start at +last."</p> +<p>Even as Helen looked, Judge Morris gave the signal and the first +racing car, with a mighty roar, leaped away from the starting +point, and thundered up the street between the lines of the +crowding, cheering people. An instant more, and Helen Manning +witnessed a scene that thrilled the hearts of every man, woman and +child in that great crowd.</p> +<p>As the big racing car, gathering speed at every throb of its +powerful motor, swept toward the hill, a small boy, but little more +than a toddling baby, escaped from his mother, who, with the +excited throng, was crowding against the rope barrier, and before +those whose eyes were fixed on the automobile noticed, the child +was in the street, fairly in the path of the approaching machine. A +sudden hush fell on the shouting multitude. Helen, through the +field glasses, could see even the child's face, as, laughing +gleefully, he looked back when his mother screamed. Stricken with +horror, the young woman could not lower her glasses. Fascinated, +she watched. The people seemed, for an instant, paralyzed. Not a +soul moved or uttered a sound. Would the driver of the racing car +swerve aside from his course in time? If he did, would the baby, in +sudden fright, dodge in front of the machine? Then Helen saw the +cowboy who had so interested her lean forward in his saddle and +strike his spurs deep in the flanks of his already restless horse. +With a tremendous bound the animal cleared the rope barrier, and in +an instant was leaping toward the child and the approaching car. +The people gasped at the daring of the man who had not waited to +think. It was over in a second. As Patches swept by the child, he +leaned low from the saddle; and, as the next leap of his horse +carried him barely clear of the machine, they saw his tall, lithe +body straighten, as he swung the baby up into his arms.</p> +<p>Then, indeed, the crowd went wild. Men yelled and cheered; women +laughed and cried; and, as the cowboy returned the frightened baby +to the distressed mother, a hundred eager hands were stretched +forth to greet him. But the excited horse backed away; someone +raised the rope barrier, and Patches disappeared down the side +street.</p> +<p>Helen's eyes were wet, but she was smiling. "No," she said +softly to Kitty and Stanford, "that was <i>not</i> Lawrence Knight. +Poor old Larry never could have done that."</p> +<p>It was a little after the noon hour when Kitty, who, with her +father, mother and brothers, had been for dinner at the home of one +of their Prescott friends, was crossing the plaza on her way to +join Mr. and Mrs. Manning, with whom she was to spend the +afternoon. In a less frequented corner of the little park, back of +the courthouse, she saw Patches. The cowboy, who had changed from +his ranch costume to a less picturesque business garb, was seated +alone on one of the benches that are placed along the walks, +reading a letter. With his attention fixed upon the letter, he did +not notice Kitty as she approached. And the girl, when she first +caught sight of him, paused for an instant; then she went toward +him slowly, studying him with a new interest.</p> +<p>She was quite near when, looking up, he saw her. Instantly he +rose to his feet, slipped the letter into his pocket, and stood +before her, hat in hand, to greet her with genuine pleasure and +with that gentle courtesy which always marked his bearing. And +Kitty, as she looked up at him, felt, more convincingly than ever, +that this man would be perfectly at ease in the most exacting +social company.</p> +<p>"I fear I interrupted you," said the young woman. "I was just +passing."</p> +<p>"Not at all," he protested. "Surely you can give me a moment of +your busy gala day. I know you have a host of friends, of course, +but—well, I am lonely. Curly and Bob and the boys are all +having the time of their lives; the Dean and mother are lunching +with friends; and I don't know where Phil has hidden himself."</p> +<p>It was like him to mention Phil in almost his first words to +her. And Kitty, as Patches spoke Phil's name, instantly, as she had +so often done during the past few months, mentally placed the two +men side by side.</p> +<p>"I just wanted to tell you"—she hesitated—"Mr. +Patches—"</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon," he interrupted smiling.</p> +<p>"Well, Patches then; but you seem so different somehow, dressed +like this. I just wanted to tell you that I saw what happened this +morning. It was splendid!"</p> +<p>"Why, Miss Reid, you know that was nothing. The driver of the +car would probably have dodged the youngster anyway. I acted on the +impulse of the moment, without thinking. I'm always doing something +unnecessarily foolish, you know."</p> +<p>"The driver of the car would more likely have dodged into the +child," she returned warmly. "And it was fortunate that some one in +all that stupid crowd could act without taking time to think. +Everybody says so. The dear old Dean is as pleased and proud as +though you were one of his own sons."</p> +<p>"Really, you make too much of it," he returned, clearly +embarrassed by her praise. "Tell me, you are enjoying the +celebration? And what's the matter with Phil? Can't you persuade +him to ride in the contest? We don't want the championship to go +out of Yavapai County, do we?"</p> +<p>Why must he always bring Phil into their talk? Kitty asked +herself.</p> +<p>"I am sure that Phil knows how all his friends feel about his +riding," she said coolly. "If he does not wish to gratify them, it +is really a small matter, is it not?"</p> +<p>Patches saw that he had made a mistake and changed easily to a +safer topic.</p> +<p>"You saw the beginning of the automobile race, of course? I +suppose you will be on hand this afternoon for the finish?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, I'm on my way now to join my friends, Mr. and Mrs. +Stanford Manning. We are going to see the finish of the race +together."</p> +<p>She watched his face closely, as she spoke of her friends, but +he gave no sign that he had ever heard the name before.</p> +<p>"It will be worth seeing, I fancy," he returned. "At least +everybody seems to feel that way."</p> +<p>"I am sure to have a good time, anyway," she returned, "because, +you see, Mrs. Manning is one of my very dearest girl friends, whom +I have not seen for a long time."</p> +<p>"Indeed! You <i>will</i> enjoy the afternoon, then."</p> +<p>Was there a shade too much enthusiasm in the tone of his reply? +Kitty wondered. Could it be that his plea of loneliness was merely +a conventional courtesy and that he was really relieved to find +that she was engaged for the afternoon?</p> +<p>"Yes, and I must hurry on to them, or they will think I am not +coming," she said. "Have a good time, Patches; you surely have +earned it. Good-by!"</p> +<p>He stood for a moment watching her cross the park. Then, with a +quick look around, as though he did not wish to be observed, he +hurried across the street to the Western Union office. A few +moments later he made his way, by little-frequented side streets, +to the stable where he had left his horse; and while Kitty and her +friends were watching the first of the racing cars cross the line, +Patches was several miles away, riding as though pursued by the +sheriff, straight for the Cross-Triangle Ranch.</p> +<p>Several times that day, while she was with her eastern friends, +Kitty saw Phil near by. But she gave him no signal to join them, +and the cowboy, shy always, and hurt by Kitty's indifference, would +not approach the little party without her invitation. But that +evening, while Kitty was waiting in the hotel lobby for Mr. and +Mrs. Manning, Phil, finding her alone, went to her.</p> +<p>"I have been trying to speak to you all day," he said +reproachfully. "Haven't you any time for me at all, Kitty?"</p> +<p>"Don't be foolish, Phil," she returned; "you have seen me a +dozen times."</p> +<p>"I have <i>seen</i> you, yes," he answered bitterly.</p> +<p>"But, Phil, you could have come to me, if you had wanted +to."</p> +<p>"I have no desire to go where I am not wanted," he answered.</p> +<p>"Phil!"</p> +<p>"Well, you gave no sign that you wanted me."</p> +<p>"There was no reason why I should," she retorted. "You are not a +child. I was with my friends from the East. You could have joined +us if you had cared to. I should be very glad, indeed, to present +you to Mr. and Mrs. Manning."</p> +<p>"Thank you, but I don't care to be exhibited as an interesting +specimen to people who have no use for me except when I do a few +fool stunts to amuse them."</p> +<p>"Very well, Phil," she returned coldly. "If that is your +feeling, I do not care to present you to my friends. They are every +bit as sincere and genuine as you are; and I certainly shall not +trouble them with anyone who cannot appreciate them."</p> +<p>Kitty was angry, as she had good reason for being. But beneath +her anger she was sorry for the man whose bitterness, she knew, was +born of his love for her. And Phil saw only that Kitty was lost to +him—saw in the girl's eastern friends those who, he felt, had +robbed him of his dream.</p> +<p>"I suppose," he said, after a moment's painful silence, "that I +had better go back to the range where I belong. I'm out of place +here."</p> +<p>The girl was touched by the hopelessness in his voice, but she +felt that it would be no kindness to offer him the relief of an +encouraging word. Her day with her eastern friends, and the +memories that her meeting with Mrs. Manning had aroused, convinced +her more than ever that her old love for Phil, and the life of +which he was a part, were for her impossible.</p> +<p>When she did not speak, the cowboy said bitterly, "I noticed +that your fine friends did not take quite all your time. You found +an opportunity for a quiet little visit with Honorable +Patches."</p> +<p>Kitty was angry now in earnest. "You are forgetting yourself, +Phil," she answered with cold dignity. "And I think that as long as +you feel as you do toward my friends, and can speak to me like this +about Mr. Patches, you are right in saying that you belong on the +range. Mr. and Mrs. Manning are here, I see. I am going to dine +with them. Good-by!" She turned away, leaving him standing +there.</p> +<p>A moment he waited, as though stunned; then he turned to make +his way blindly out of the hotel.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/255.png" width="50%" alt="" title="" /> +<br /></div> +<p>It was nearly morning when Patches was awakened by the sound of +someone moving about the kitchen. A moment he listened, then, +rising, went quickly to the kitchen door, thinking to surprise some +chance night visitor.</p> +<p>When Phil saw him standing there the foreman for a moment said +nothing, but, with the bread knife in one hand and one of Stella's +good loaves in the other, stared at him in blank surprise. Then the +look of surprise changed to an expression of questioning suspicion, +and he demanded harshly, "What in hell are <i>you</i> doing +here?"</p> +<p>Patches saw that the man was laboring under some great trouble. +Indeed, Phil's voice and manner were not unlike one under the +influence of strong drink. But Patches knew that Phil never +drank.</p> +<p>"I was sleeping," he answered calmly. "You woke me, I suppose. I +heard you, and came to see who was prowling around the kitchen at +this time of the night; that is all."</p> +<p>"Oh, that's all, is it? But what are you here for? Why aren't +you in Prescott where you are supposed to be?"</p> +<p>Patches, because he saw Phil's painful state of mind, exercised +admirable self-control. "I supposed I had a perfect right to come +here if I wished. I did not dream that my presence in this house +would be questioned."</p> +<p>"That depends," Phil retorted. "Why did you leave Prescott?"</p> +<p>Patches, still calm, answered gently. "My reasons for not +staying in Prescott are entirely personal, Phil; I do not care to +explain just now."</p> +<p>"Oh, you don't? Well, it seems to me, sir, that you have a devil +of a lot of personal business that you can't explain."</p> +<p>"I am afraid I have," returned Patches, with his old +self-mocking smile. "But, look here, Phil, you are disturbed and +all wrought up about something, or you wouldn't attack me like +this. You don't really think me a suspicious character, and you +know you don't. You are not yourself, old man, and I'll be hanged +if I'll take anything you say as an insult, until I know that you +say it, deliberately, in cold blood. I'm sorry for your trouble, +Phil—damned sorry—I would give anything if I could help +you. Perhaps I may be able to prove that later, but just now I +think the kindest and wisest thing that I can do for us both is to +say good-night."</p> +<p>He turned at the last word, without waiting for Phil to speak, +and went back to his room.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/257.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_13.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/258.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>n the other side of Granite Mountain from where Phil and Patches +watched the wild horses that day, there is a rocky hollow, set high +in the hills, but surrounded on every side by still higher peaks +and ridges. Lying close under the sheer, towering cliffs of the +mountain, those fortress-like walls so gray and grim and old seem +to overshadow the place with a somber quiet, as though the memories +of the many ages that had wrought their countless years into those +mighty battlements gave to the very atmosphere a feeling of solemn +and sacred seclusion. It was as though nature had thrown about this +spot a strong protecting guard, that here, in her very heart, she +might keep unprofaned the sweetness and strength and beauty of her +primitive and everlasting treasures.</p> +<p>In its wild and rugged setting, Granite Basin has, for the few +who have the hardihood to find them, many beautiful glades and +shady nooks, where the grass and wild flowers weave their lovely +patterns for the earth floor, and tall pines spread their soft +carpets of brown, while giant oaks and sycamores lift their +cathedral arches to support the ceilings of green, and dark rock +fountains set in banks of moss and fern hold water clear and cold. +It was to one of these that Stanford Manning brought his bride for +their honeymoon. Stanford himself pitched their tent and made their +simple camp, for it was not in his plan that the sweet intimacy of +these, the first weeks of their mated life, should be marred, even +by servants. And Helen, wise in her love, permitted him to realize +his dream in the fullness of its every detail.</p> +<p>As she lay in the hammock which he had hung for her under the +canopy of living green, and watched him while he brought wood for +their camp fire, and made all ready for the night which was drawing +near, she was glad that he had planned it so. But more than that, +she was glad that he was the kind of a man who would care to plan +it so. Then, when all was finished, he came to sit beside her, and +together they watched the light of the setting sun fade from the +summit of Old Granite, and saw the flaming cloud-banner that hung +above the mountain's castle towers furled by the hand of night. In +silence they watched those mighty towering battlements grow cold +and grim, until against the sky the shadowy bulk stood mysterious +and awful, as though to evidence in its grandeur and strength the +omnipotent might and power of the Master Builder of the world and +Giver of all life.</p> +<p>And when the soft darkness was fully come, and the low murmuring +voices of the night whispered from forest depth and mountain side, +while the stars peered through the weaving of leaf and branch, and +the ruddy light of their camp fire rose and fell, the man talked of +the things that had gone into the making of his life. As though he +wished his mate to know him more fully than anyone else could know, +he spoke of those personal trials and struggles, those +disappointments and failures, those plans and triumphs of which men +so rarely speak; of his boyhood and his boyhood home life, of his +father and mother, of those hard years of his youth, and his +struggle for an education that would equip him for his chosen life +work; he told her many things that she had known only in a general +way.</p> +<p>But most of all he talked of those days when he had first met +her, and of how quickly and surely the acquaintance had grown into +friendship, and then into a love which he dared not yet confess. +Smilingly he told how he had tried to convince himself that she was +not for him. And how, believing that she loved and would wed his +friend, Lawrence Knight, he had come to the far West, to his work, +and, if he could, to forget.</p> +<p>"But I could not forget, dear girl," he said. "I could not +escape the conviction that you belonged to me, as I felt that I +belonged to you. I could not banish the feeling that some +mysterious higher law—the law that governs the mating of the +beautifully free creatures that live in these hills—had mated +you and me. And so, as I worked and tried to forget, I went on +dreaming just the same. It was that way when I first saw this +place. I was crossing the country on my way to examine some +prospects for the company, and camped at this very spot. And that +evening I planned it all, just as it is to-night. I put the tent +there, and built our fire, and stretched your hammock under the +tree, and sat with you in the twilight; but even as I dreamed it I +laughed at myself for a fool, for I could not believe that the +dream would ever come true. And then, when I got back to Prescott, +there was a letter from a Cleveland friend, telling me that Larry +had gone abroad to be away a year or more, and another letter from +the company, calling me East again. And so I stopped at Cleveland +and—" He laughed happily. "I know now that dreams do come +true."</p> +<p>"You foolish boy," said Helen softly. "To think that I did not +know. Why, when you went away, I was so sure that you would come +for me again, that I never even thought that it could be any other +way. I thought you did not speak because you felt that you were too +poor, because you felt that you had so little to offer, and because +you wished to prove yourself and your work before asking me to +share your life. I did not dream that you could doubt my love for +you, or think for a moment that there could ever be anyone else. I +felt that you <i>must</i> know; and so, you see, while I waited I +had my dreams, too."</p> +<p>"But don't you see, girl," he answered, as though for a moment +he found it hard to believe his own happiness, "don't you see? +Larry is such a splendid fellow, and you two were such friends, and +you always seemed so fond of him, and with his wealth he could give +you so much that I knew I never could give—"</p> +<p>"Of course, I am fond of Larry; everyone is. He has absolutely +nothing to do in the world but to make himself charming and +pleasant and entertaining and amusing. Why, Stan, I don't suppose +that in all his life he ever did one single thing that was +necessary or useful. He even had a man to help him dress. He is +cultured and intellectual, and bright and witty, and clean and +good-natured, possessing, in fact, all the qualifications of a +desirable lap dog, and you can't help liking him, just as you would +like a pretty, useless pet."</p> +<p>Stanford chuckled. She had described Lawrence Knight so +accurately.</p> +<p>"Poor old Larry," he said. "What a man he might have been if he +had not been so pampered and petted and envied and spoiled, all +because of his father's money. His heart is right, and at the +bottom he has the right sort of stuff in him. His athletic record +at school showed us that. I think that was why we all liked him so +in spite of his uselessness."</p> +<p>"I wish you could have known my father, Stan," said Helen +thoughtfully, as though she, too, were moved to speak by the wish +that her mate might know more of the things that had touched her +deeper life.</p> +<p>"I wish so, too," he answered. "I know that he must have been +fine."</p> +<p>"He was my ideal," she answered softly. "My other ideal, I mean. +From the time I was a slip of a girl he made me his chum. Until he +died we were always together. Mother died when I was a baby, you +know. Many, many times he would take me with him when he made his +professional visits to his patients, leaving me in the buggy to +wait at each house—'to be his hitching post'—he used to +say. And on those long rides, sometimes out into the country, he +talked to me as I suppose not many fathers talk to their daughters. +And because he was my father and a physician, and because we were +so much alone in our companionship, I believed him the wisest and +best man in all the world, and felt that nothing he said or did +could be wrong. And so, you see, dear, my ideal man, the man to +whom I could give myself, came to be the kind of a man that my +father placed in the highest rank among men—a man like you, +Stan. And almost the last talk we had before he died father said to +me—I remember his very words—'My daughter, it will not +be long now until men will seek you, until someone will ask you to +share his life. Keep your ideal man safe in your heart of hearts, +daughter, and remember that no matter what a suitor may have to +offer of wealth or social rank, if he is not your ideal—if +you cannot respect and admire him for his character and manhood +alone—say no; say no, child, at any cost. But when your ideal +man comes—the one who compels your respect and admiration for +his strength of character, and for the usefulness of his life, the +one whom you cannot help loving for his manhood alone—mate +with him—no matter how light his purse or how lowly his rank +in the world.' And so you see, as soon as I learned to know you, I +realized what you were to me. But I wish—oh, how I +wish—that father could have lived to know you, too."</p> +<p>For some time they watched the dancing camp fire flames in +silence, as though they had found in their love that true oneness +that needs no spoken word.</p> +<p>Then Stanford said, "And to think that we expected to wait two +years or more, and now—thanks to a soulless +corporation—we are here in a little less than a year!"</p> +<p>"Thanks to no soulless corporation for that, sir," retorted +Helen with spirit. "But thanks to the brains and strength and +character of my husband."</p> +<p>Two of the three weeks' vacation granted the engineer had passed +when Mrs. Manning, one afternoon, informed her husband that as the +ordained provider for the household it was imperative that he +provide some game for their evening meal.</p> +<p>"And what does Her Majesty, the cook, desire?" he asked. +"Venison, perhaps?"</p> +<p>She shook her head with decision. "You will be obliged to go too +far, and be gone too long, to get a deer."</p> +<p>"But you're going with me, of course."</p> +<p>Again she shook her head. "I have something else to do. I can't +always be tagging around after you while you are providing, you +know; and we may as well begin to be civilized again. Just go a +little way—not so far that you can't hear me call—and +bring me some nice fat quail like those we had day before +yesterday."</p> +<p>She watched him disappear in the brush and then busied herself +about the camp. Presently she heard the gun, and smiled as she +pictured him hunting for their supper, much as though they were two +primitive children of nature, instead of the two cultured members +of a highly civilized race, that they really were. Then, presently +she must go to the spring for water, that he might have a cool +drink when he returned.</p> +<p>She was half way to the spring, singing softly to herself, when +a sound on the low ridge above the camp attracted her attention. +Pausing, she looked and listened. The song died on her lips. It +could not be Staford coming so noisily through the brush and from +that direction. Even as the thought came, she heard the gun again, +a little farther away down the narrow valley below the camp, and, +in the same moment, the noise on the ridge grew louder, as though +some heavy animal were crashing through the bushes. And then +suddenly, as she stood there in frightened indecision, a +long-horned, wild-eyed steer broke through the brush on the crest +of the ridge and plunged down the steep slope toward the camp.</p> +<p>Weak and helpless with fear, Helen could neither scream nor run, +but stood fascinated by the very danger that menaced +her—powerless, even, to turn her eyes away from the frightful +creature that had so rudely broken the quiet seclusion of the +little glade. Behind the steer, even as the frenzied animal leaped +from the brow of the hill, she saw a horseman, as wild in his +appearance and in his reckless rushing haste as the creature he +pursued. Curiously, as in a dream, she saw the horse's neck and +shoulders dripping wet with sweat, as with ears flat, nose +outstretched, and nostrils wide the animal strained every nerve in +an effort to put his rider a few feet closer to the escaping +quarry. She even noted the fringed leather chaps, the faded blue +jumper, the broad hat of the rider, and that in his rein hand he +held the coil of a riata high above the saddle horn, while in his +right was the half-opened loop. The bridle reins were loose, as +though he gave the horse no thought; and they took the steep, +downward plunge from the summit of the ridge without an instant's +pause, and apparently with all the ease and confidence that they +would have felt on smooth and level ground.</p> +<p>The steer, catching sight of the woman, and seeing in her, +perhaps, another enemy, swerved a little in his plunging course, +and, with lowered head, charged straight at her.</p> +<p>The loop of that rawhide rope was whirling now above the +cowboy's head, and his spurs drew blood from the heaving flanks of +the straining horse, as every mad leap of the steer brought death a +few feet nearer the helpless woman.</p> +<p>The situation must have broken with frightful suddenness upon +the man, but he gave no sign—no startled shout, no excited +movement. He even appeared, to Helen, to be as coolly deliberate as +though no thought of her danger disturbed him; and she recognized, +even in that awful moment, the cowboy whom she had watched through +the field glasses, that day of the celebration at Prescott. She +could not know that, in the same instant, as his horse plunged down +from the summit of the ridge, Patches had recognized her; and that +as his hand swung the riata with such cool and deliberate +precision, the man was praying—praying as only a man who sees +the woman he loves facing a dreadful death, with no hand but his to +save her, could pray.</p> +<p>God help him if his training of nerve and hand should fail now! +Christ pity him, if that whirling loop should miss its mark, or +fall short!</p> +<p>His eye told him that the distance was still too great. He +must—he <i>must</i>—lessen it; and again his spurs drew +blood. He must be cool—cool and steady and sure—and he +must act now—NOW!</p> +<p>Helen saw the racing horse make a desperate leap as the spurs +tore his heaving sides; she saw that swiftly whirling loop leave +the rider's hand, as the man leaned forward in his saddle. +Curiously she watched the loop open with beautiful precision, as +the coils were loosed and the long, thin line lengthened through +the air. It seemed to move so slowly—those wickedly lowered +horns were so near! Then she saw the rider's right hand move with +flashlike quickness to the saddle horn, as he threw his weight +back, and the horse, with legs braced and hoofs plowing the ground, +stopped in half his own length, and set his weight against the +weight of the steer. The flexible riata straightened as a rod of +iron, the steer's head jerked sideways; his horns buried themselves +in the ground; he fell, almost at her feet. And then, as the cowboy +leaped from his horse, Helen felt herself sinking into a soft, +thick darkness that, try as she might, she could not escape.</p> +<p>Still master of himself, but with a kind of fierce coolness, +Patches ran to the fallen steer and securely tied the animal down. +But when he turned to the woman who lay unconscious on the ground, +a sob burst from his lips, and tears were streaming down his +dust-grimed cheeks. And as he knelt beside her he called again and +again that name which, a year before, he had whispered as he stood +with empty, outstretched arms, alone, on the summit of the +Divide.</p> +<p>Lifting her in his arms, he carried her to the hammock, and +finding water and a towel, wet her brow and face; and all the +while, in an agony of fear, he talked to her with words of +love.</p> +<p>Overwrought by the unexpected, and, to him, almost miraculous +meeting with Helen—weak and shaken by the strain of those +moments of her danger, when her life depended so wholly upon his +coolness and skill—unnerved by the sight of her lying so +still and white, and beside himself with the strength of his +passion—the man made no effort to account for her presence in +that wild and lonely spot, so far from the scenes amid which he had +learned to know and love her. He was conscious only that she was +there—that she had been very near to death—that he had +held her in his arms—and that he loved her with all the +strength of his manhood.</p> +<p>Presently, with a low cry of joy, he saw the blood creep back +into her white cheeks. Slowly her eyes opened and she looked +wonderingly up into his face.</p> +<p>"Helen!" he breathed. "Helen!"</p> +<p>"Why, Larry!" she murmured, still confused and wondering. "So it +<i>was</i> you, after all! But what in the world are you doing here +like this? They told me your name was Patches—Honorable +Patches."</p> +<p>Then the man spoke—impetuously, almost fiercely, his words +came without thought.</p> +<p>"I am here because I would be anything, do anything that a man +could be and do to win your love. A year ago, when I told you of my +love, and asked you to be my wife, and, like the silly, pampered, +petted fool that I was, thought that my wealth and the life that I +offered could count for anything with a woman like you, you laughed +at me. You told me that if ever you married, you would wed a man, +not a fortune nor a social position. You made me see myself as I +was—a useless idler, a dummy for the tailors, a superficial +chatterer of pretty nothings to vain and shallow women; you told me +that I possessed not one manly trait of character that could compel +the genuine love of an honest woman. You let me see the truth, that +my proposal to you was almost an insult. You made me understand +that your very friendship for me was such a friendship as you might +have with an amusing and irresponsible boy, or a spoiled child. You +could not even consider my love for you seriously, as a woman like +you must consider the love of a strong man. And you were right, +Helen. But, dear, it was for me a bitter, bitter lesson. I went +from you, ashamed to look men in the face. I felt myself +guilty—a pitifully weak and cowardly thing, with no right to +exist. In my humiliation, I ran from all who knew me—I came +out here to escape from the life that had made me what I +was—that had robbed me of my manhood. And here, by chance, in +the contests at the celebration in Prescott, I saw a man—a +cowboy—who possessed everything that I lacked, and for the +lack of which you had laughed at me. And then alone one night I +faced myself and fought it out. I knew that you were right, Helen, +but it was not easy to give up the habits and luxury to which all +my life I had been accustomed. It was not easy, I say, but my love +for you made it a glorious thing to do; and I hoped and believed +that if I proved myself a man, I could go back to you, in the +strength of my manhood, and you would listen to me. And so, +penniless and a stranger, under an assumed name, I sought useful, +necessary work that called for the highest quality of manhood. And +I have won, Helen; I know that I have won. To-day Patches, the +cowboy, can look any man in the face. He can take his place and +hold his own among men of any class anywhere. I have regained that +of which the circumstances of birth and inheritance and training +robbed me. I have won the right of a man to come to you again. I +claim that right now, Helen. I tell you again that I love you. I +love you as—"</p> +<p>"Larry! Larry!" she cried, springing to her feet, and drawing +away from him, as though suddenly awakened from some strange spell. +"Larry, you must not! What do you mean? How can you say such things +to me?"</p> +<p>He answered her with reckless passion. "I say such things +because I am a man, and because you are the woman I love and want; +because—"</p> +<p>She cried out again in protest. "Oh, stop, stop! Please stop! +Don't you know?"</p> +<p>"Know what?" he demanded.</p> +<p>"My—my husband!" she gasped. "Stanford Manning—we +are here on our honeymoon."</p> +<p>She saw him flinch as though from a heavy blow, and put out his +hand to the trunk of a tree near which they stood, to steady +himself. He did not speak, but his lips moved as though he repeated +her words to himself, over and over again; and he gazed at her with +a strange bewildered, doubting look, as though he could not believe +his own suffering.</p> +<p>Impulsively Helen went a step toward him. "Larry!" she said. +"Larry!"</p> +<p>Her voice seemed to arouse him and he stood erect as though by a +conscious effort of will. Then that old self-mocking smile was on +his lips. He was laughing at his hurt—making sport of himself +and his cruel predicament.</p> +<p>But to Helen there was that in his smile which wrung her woman +heart. "Oh, Larry," she said gently. "Forgive me; I am so sorry; +I—"</p> +<p>He put out his hand with a gesture of protest, and his voice was +calm and courteous. "I beg your pardon, Helen. It was stupid of me +not to have understood. I forgot myself for the moment. It was all +so unexpected—meeting you like this. I did not think." He +looked away toward his waiting horse and to the steer lying on the +ground. "So you and Stanford Manning—Good old Stan! I am glad +for him. And for you, too, Helen. Why, it was I who introduced him +to you; do you remember?"</p> +<p>He smiled again that mirthless, self-mocking smile, as he added +without giving her time to speak, "If you will excuse me for a +moment, I will rid your camp of the unwelcome presence of that +beast yonder." Then he went toward his horse, as though turning for +relief to the work that had become so familiar to him.</p> +<p>She watched him while he released the steer, and drove the +animal away over the ridge, where he permitted it to escape into +the wild haunts where it lived with its outlaw companions.</p> +<p>When he rode back to the little camp Stanford had returned.</p> +<p>For an hour they talked together as old friends. But Helen, +while she offered now and then a word or a remark, or asked a +question, and laughed or smiled with them, left the talk mostly to +the two men. Stanford, when the first shock of learning of Helen's +narrow escape was over, was gaily enthusiastic and warm in his +admiration for his old friend, who had, for no apparent reason but +the wish to assert his own manhood, turned his back upon the ease +and luxury of his wealth to live a life of adventurous hardship. +And Patches, as he insisted they should call him, with many a +laughing jest and droll comment told them of his new life and work. +He was only serious when he made them promise to keep his identity +a secret until he himself was ready to reveal his real name.</p> +<p>"And what do you propose to do when your game of Patches is +played out?" Stanford asked curiously.</p> +<p>For an instant they saw him smiling mockingly at himself; then +he answered lightly, "Try some other fool experiment, I +reckon."</p> +<p>Stanford chuckled; the reply was so like the cowboy Patches, and +so unlike his old friend Larry Knight.</p> +<p>"As for that, Stan," Patches continued, "I don't see that the +game will ever be played out, as you say. Certainly I can never now +go back altogether to what I was. The fellow you used to know in +Cleveland is not really I, you see. Fact is, I think that fellow is +quite dead—peace be to his ashes! The world is wide and there +is always work for a man to do."</p> +<p>The appearance of Phil Acton on the ridge, at the spot where the +steer, followed by Patches, had first appeared, put an end to their +further conversation with Lawrence Knight.</p> +<p>"My boss!" said that gentleman, in his character of Patches the +cowboy, as the Cross-Triangle foreman halted his horse on the brow +of the hill, and sat looking down upon the camp.</p> +<p>"Be careful, please, and don't let him suspect that you ever saw +me before. I'll sure catch it now for loafing so long."</p> +<p>"I know him," said Stanford. Then he called to the man above, +"Come on down, Acton, and be sociable."</p> +<p>Phil rode into camp, shook hands with Stanford cordially, and +was presented to Mrs. Manning, to whom he spoke with a touch of +embarrassment. Then he said, with a significant look at Patches, +"I'm glad to meet you people, Mr. Manning, but we really haven't +much time for sociability just now. Mr. Baldwin sent me with an +outfit into this Granite Basin country to gather some of these +outlaw steers. He expects us to be on the job." Turning to Patches, +he continued, "When you didn't come back I thought you must have +met with some serious trouble, and so trailed you. We've managed to +lose a good deal of time, altogether. That steer you were after got +away from you, did he?"</p> +<p>Helen spoke quickly. "Oh, Mr. Acton, you must not blame Mr. +Patches for what happened. Really, you must not. No one was to +blame; it just happened—" She stopped, unable to finish the +explanation, for she was thinking of that part of the incident +which was known only to herself and Patches.</p> +<p>Stanford told in a few words of his wife's danger and how the +cowboy had saved her.</p> +<p>"That was mighty good work, Patches," said Phil heartily, +"mighty good work. I'm sorry, Mr. Manning, that our coming up here +after these outlaws happened at just this time. It is too bad to so +disturb you and Mrs. Manning. We are going home Friday, however, +and I'll tell the boys to keep clear of your neighborhood in the +meantime."</p> +<p>As the two Cross-Triangle men walked toward their horses, Helen +and Stanford heard Phil ask, "But where is that steer, +Patches?"</p> +<p>"I let him go," returned Patches.</p> +<p>"You let him go!" exclaimed the foreman. "After you had him +roped and tied? What did you do that for?"</p> +<p>Patches was confused. "Really, I don't know."</p> +<p>"I'd like to know what you figure we're up here for," said Phil, +sharply. "You not only waste two or three hours visiting with these +people, but you take my time trailing you up; and then you turn +loose a steer after you get him. It looks like you'd lost your head +mighty bad, after all."</p> +<p>"I'm afraid you're right, Phil," Patches answered quietly.</p> +<p>Helen looked at her husband indignantly but Stanford was +grinning with delight.</p> +<p>"To think," he murmured, "of Larry Knight taking a dressing-down +like that from a mere cowboy foreman!"</p> +<p>But Patches was by no means so meek in spirit as he appeared in +his outward manner. He had been driven almost to the verge of +desperation by the trying situation, and was fighting for +self-control. To take his foreman's rebuke in the presence of his +friends was not easy.</p> +<p>"I reckon I'd better send you to the home ranch to-night, +instead of Bob," continued Phil, as the two men mounted their +horses and sat for a moment facing each other. "It looks like we +could spare you best. Tell Uncle Will to send the chuck wagon and +three more punchers, and that we'll start for the home ranch +Friday. And be sure that you get back here to-morrow."</p> +<p>"Shall I go now?"</p> +<p>"Yes, you can go now."</p> +<p>Patches wheeled his horse and rode away, while Phil disappeared +over the ridge in the direction from which he had come.</p> +<p>When the two cowboys were out of sight, Helen went straight to +her husband, and to Stanford's consternation, when he took her in +his arms, she was crying.</p> +<p>"Why, girl, what is it?" he asked, holding her close.</p> +<p>But she only answered between sobs as she clung to him, +"It—it's nothing—never mind, Stan. I'm just upset."</p> +<p>And Stanford quite naturally thought it was only a case of +nerves caused by the danger through which she had passed.</p> +<p>For nearly an hour, Patches rode toward the home ranch, taking +only such notice of his surroundings as was necessary in order for +him to keep his direction. Through the brush and timber, over the +ridges down into valleys and washes, and along the rock-strewn +mountain sides he allowed his horse to pick the way, and take his +own gait, with scarcely a touch of rein or spur.</p> +<p>The twilight hour was beginning when he reached a point from +which he could see, in the distance, the red roofs of the +Cross-Triangle buildings. Checking his horse, he sat for a long +time, motionless, looking away over the broad land that had come to +mean so much to him, as though watching the passing of the day.</p> +<p>But the man did not note the changing colors in the western sky; +he did not see the shadows deepening; he was not thinking of the +coming of the night. The sight of the distant spot that, a year +before, had held such possibilities for him, when, on the summit of +the Divide, he had chosen between two widely separated ways of +life, brought to him, now, a keener realization of the fact that he +was again placed where he must choose. The sun was down upon those +hopes and dreams that in the first hard weeks of his testing had +inspired and strengthened him. The night of despairing, reckless +abandonment of the very ideals of manhood for which he had so +bravely struggled was upon him; while the spirit and strength of +that manhood which he had so hardly attained fought against its +surrender.</p> +<p>When Stanford Manning had asked, "What will you do when your +game of Patches is played out?" he had said that the man whom they +had known in the old days was dead. Would this new man also die? +Deliberately the man turned about and started back the way he had +come.</p> +<p>In their honeymoon camp, that evening, when the only light in +the sky was the light of the stars, and the camp fire's ruddy +flames made weird shadows come and go in the little glade, Helen, +lying in the hammock, and Stanford, sitting near, talked of their +old friend Lawrence Knight. But as they talked they did not know +that a lonely horseman had stopped on the other side of the low +ridge, and leaving his horse, had crept carefully through the +brush, to a point on the brow of the hill, from which he could look +down into the camp.</p> +<p>From where he lay in the darkness, the man could see against the +camp fire's light the two, where the hammock was swung under the +trees. He could hear the low murmur of their voices, with now and +then a laugh. But it was always the man who laughed, for there was +little mirth in Helen's heart that night. Then he saw Stanford go +into the tent and return again to the hammock; and soon there came +floating up to him the sweet, plaintive music of Helen's guitar, +and then her voice, full and low, with a wealth of womanhood in +every tone, as she sang a love song to her mate. Later, when the +dancing flames of the camp fire had fallen to a dull red glow, he +saw them go arm in arm into their tent. Then all was still. The red +glow of the fire dimmed to a spark, and darkness drew close about +the scene. But even in the darkness the man could still see, under +the wide, sheltering arms of the trees, a lighter spot—the +white tent.</p> +<p>"Gethsemane," said the Dean to me once, when our talk had ranged +wide and touched upon many things, "Gethsemane ain't no place; it's +somethin' that happens. Whenever a man goes up against himself, +right there is where Gethsemane is. And right there, too, is sure +to be a fight. A man may not always know about it at the time; he +may be too busy fightin' to understand just what it all means; but +he'll know about it afterwards—No matter which side of him +wins, he'll know afterwards that it was the one big fight of his +life."</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/277.png" width="50%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_14.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/278.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>hen those days at Prescott were over, and Mr. and Mrs. Manning +had left for their camp in Granite Basin, Kitty Reid returned to +Williamson Valley reluctantly. She felt that with Phil definitely +out of her life the last interest that bound her to the scenes of +her girlhood was broken. Before many weeks the ranch would be sold. +A Prescott agent had opened negotiations for an eastern client who +would soon be out to look over the property; and Mr. Reid felt, +from all that the agent had said, that the sale was assured. In the +meantime Kitty would wait as patiently as she could. To help her, +there would be Helen's visit, and there was her friendship with +Professor Parkhill. It was not strange, considering all the +circumstances, that the young woman should give her time more +generously than ever to the only person in the neighborhood, except +Patches, perhaps, who she felt could understand and appreciate her +desires for that higher life of which even her own parents were +ignorant.</p> +<p>And the professor did understand her fully. He told her so many +times each day. Had he not given all the years of his little life +to the study of those refining and spiritualizing truths that are +so far above the comprehension of the base and ignoble common herd? +Indeed, he understood her language; he understood fully, why the +sordid, brutal materialism of her crude and uncultured environment +so repulsed and disgusted her. He understood, more fully than Kitty +herself, in fact, and explained to her clearly, that her desires +for the higher intellectual and spiritual life were born of her own +rare gifts, and evidenced beyond all question the fineness and +delicacy of her nature. He rejoiced with her—with a pure and +holy joy—that she was so soon to be set free to live amid the +surroundings that would afford her those opportunities for the +higher development of her intellectual and spiritual powers which +her soul craved. All this he told her from day to day; and then, +one afternoon, he told her more.</p> +<p>It was the same afternoon that Patches had so unexpectedly found +Helen and Stanford in their Granite Basin camp. Kitty and the +professor had driven in the buckboard to Simmons for the mail, and +were coming back by the road to the Cross-Triangle, when the man +asked, "Must we return to the ranch so soon? It is so delightful +out here where there is no one to intrude with vulgar commonplaces, +to mar our companionship."</p> +<p>"Why, no," returned Kitty. "There is no need for us to hurry +home." She glanced around. "We might sit over there, under those +cedars on the hill, where you found me with Mr. Patches that +day—the day we saw Yavapai Joe, you remember."</p> +<p>"If you think it quite safe to leave the vehicle," he said, "I +should be delighted."</p> +<p>Kitty tied the horses to a convenient bush at the foot of the +low hill, and soon they were in the welcome shade of the +cedars.</p> +<p>"Miss Reid," the professor began, with portentous gravity, "I +must confess that I have been rather puzzled to account for your +presence here that day with such a man as that fellow Patches. You +will pardon my saying so, I am sure, but you must have observed my +very deep interest in you. I also chanced to see you with him one +day in Prescott, in the park. You don't mind my speaking of +it?"</p> +<p>"Not at all, Professor Parkhill," Kitty returned, smiling as she +thought how ignorant the professor was of the cowboy's real +character. "I like Patches. He interests me very much; and there is +really no reason why I should not be friendly with him. Don't you +think that I should be kind to our cowboys?"</p> +<p>"I suppose so," the professor sighed. "But it hurts me to see +you have anything whatever in common with such a man. It shocks me +to know that you must, in any degree, come in touch with such +fellows. I shall be very glad, indeed, when you are free from any +such kindly obligations, and safe among those of your own +class."</p> +<p>Kitty found it very hard to reply. She did not wish to be +disloyal to Patches and her many Williamson Valley friends; nor did +she like to explain how Patches had played a part for the +professor's benefit, for she felt that by not exposing the +deception she had, in a way, been a party to it. So she said +nothing, but seemed to be silently weighing the value of her +learned companion's observations. At least, it so appeared to the +professor, and in her ready acceptance of his implied criticism of +her conduct he found the encouragement he needed for that which +followed.</p> +<p>"You must understand, Miss Reid, that I have become exceedingly +zealous for your welfare. In these months that we have been so much +together your companionship—your spiritual and intellectual +companionship, I should say—has come to be very dear to me. +As our souls have communed, I have felt myself uplifted and +inspired. I have been strengthened and encouraged, as never before, +to climb on toward the mountain peaks of pure intellectuality. If I +am not mistaken, you, too, have felt a degree of uplift as a result +of our fellowship, have you not?"</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed, Professor Parkhill," Kitty answered sincerely. +"Our talks together have meant much more to me than I can tell. I +shall never forget this summer. Your friendship has been a +wonderful influence in my life."</p> +<p>The little man moved uneasily and glanced timidly around. "I am +truly glad to know that our companionship has not been altogether +distasteful to you; I felt sure that it was not, but +I—ahem!—I am glad to hear your confirmation of my +opinion. It—ah—it enables me to say that which for +several weeks past has been weighing heavily on my mind."</p> +<p>Kitty looked at him with the manner of a trusting disciple +waiting for the gems of truth that were about to fall from the lips +of a venerable teacher.</p> +<p>"Miss Reid—ah—why need our beautiful and mutually +profitable companionship cease?"</p> +<p>"I fear that I do not understand, Professor Parkhill," she +answered, puzzled by his question.</p> +<p>He looked at her with just a shade of mild—very +mild—rebuke, as he returned, "Why, I think that I have stated +my thought clearly. I mean that I am very desirous that our +relation—the relation which we both have found so +helpful—should continue. I am sure that we have, in these +months which we have spent together, sufficient evidence that our +souls vibrate in perfect harmony. I need you, dear friend; your +understanding of my soul's desires is so sympathetic; I feel that +you so complement and fill out, as it were, my spiritual self. I +need you to encourage, to inspire, to assist me in the noble work +to which I am devoting all my strength."</p> +<p>She looked at him, now, with an expression of amazement. "Do you +mean—" she faltered in confusion while the red blood colored +her cheeks.</p> +<p>"Yes," he answered, confidently. "I am asking you to be my wife. +Not, however," he added hastily, "in the common, vulgar +understanding of that relation. I am offering you, dear friend, +that which is vastly higher than the union of the merely animal, +which is based wholly upon the purely physical and material +attraction. I am proposing marriage of our souls—a union, if +you please, of our higher intellectual and spiritual selves. I +feel, indeed, that by those higher laws which the vulgar, beastlike +minds are incapable of recognizing, we are already one. I sense, as +it were, that oneness which can exist only when two souls are mated +by the great over-soul; I feel that you are already +mine—that, I am—that we are already united in a +spiritual union that is—"</p> +<p>The young woman checked him with a gesture, which, had he +interpreted it rightly, was one of repulsion. "Please stop, +Professor Parkhill," she gasped in a tone of disgust.</p> +<p>He was surprised, and not a little chagrined. "Am I to +understand that you do not reciprocate my sentiment, Miss Reid? Is +it possible that I have been so mistaken?"</p> +<p>Kitty turned her head, as though she could not bear even to look +at him. "What you ask is so impossible," she said in a low tone. +"Impossible!"</p> +<p>Strive as she might, the young woman could not altogether hide +her feeling of abhorrence. And yet, she asked herself, why should +this man's proposal arouse in her such antagonism and repugnance? +He was a scholar, famed for his attainments in the world of the +highest culture. As his wife, she would be admitted at once into +the very inner circle of that life to which she aspired, and for +which she was leaving her old home and friends. He had couched his +proposal in the very terms of the spiritually and intellectually +elect; he had declared himself in that language which she had so +proudly thought she understood, and in which she had so often +talked with him; and yet she was humiliated and ashamed. It was, to +her, as though, in placing his offer of marriage upon the high, +pure ground of a spiritual union, he had insulted her womanhood. +Kitty realized wonderingly that she had not felt like this when +Phil had confessed his love for her. In her woman heart, she was +proud and glad to have won the love of such a man as Phil, even +though she could not accept the cowboy as her mate. On that very +spot which the professor had chosen for his declaration, Patches +had told her that she was leaving the glorious and enduring +realities of life for vain and foolish bubbles—that she was +throwing aside the good grain and choosing the husks. Was this what +Patches meant? she wondered.</p> +<p>"I regret exceedingly, Miss Reid," the professor was saying, +"that the pure and lofty sentiments which I have voiced do not seem +to find a like response in your soul. I—"</p> +<p>Again she interrupted him with that gesture of repulsion. +"Please do not say any more, Professor Parkhill. I—I fear +that I am very human, after all. Come, it is time that we were +returning to the house."</p> +<p>All through the remaining hours of that afternoon and evening +Kitty was disturbed and troubled. At times she wanted to laugh at +the professor's ridiculous proposal; and again, her cheeks burned +with anger; and she could have cried in her shame and humiliation. +And with it all her mind was distraught by the persistent question: +Was not the professor's conception of an ideal mating the +legitimate and logical conclusion of those very advanced ideas of +culture which he represented, and which she had so much admired? If +she sincerely believed the life represented by the professor and +his kind so superior—so far above the life represented by +Phil Acton—why should she not feel honored instead of being +so humiliated and shamed by the professor's—she could not +call it love? If the life which Phil had asked her to share was so +low in the scale of civilization; if it were so far beneath the +intellectual and spiritual ideals which she had formed, why did she +feel so honored by the strong man's love? Why had she not felt +humiliated and ashamed that Phil should want her to mate with him? +Could it be, she asked herself again and again, that there was +something, after all, superior to that culture which she had so +truly thought stood for the highest ideals of the race? Could it be +that, in the land of Granite Mountain, there was something, after +all, that was as superior to the things she had been taught as +Granite Mountain itself was superior in its primeval strength and +enduring grandeur to the man-made buildings of her school?</p> +<p>It was not strange that Kitty's troubled thoughts should turn to +Helen Manning. Clearly, Helen's education had led to no confusion. +On the contrary, she had found an ideal love, and a happiness such +as every true, womanly woman must, in her heart of hearts, +desire.</p> +<p>It was far into the night when Kitty, wakeful and restless, +heard the sound of a horse's feet. She could not know that it was +Honorable Patches riding past on his way to the ranch on the other +side of the broad valley meadows.</p> +<p>Weary in body, and with mind and spirit exhausted by the trials +through which he had passed, Patches crept to his bed. In the +morning, when he delivered his message, the Dean, seeing the man's +face, urged him to stay for the day at the ranch. But Patches said +no; Phil was expecting him, and he must return to the outfit in +Granite Basin. As soon as breakfast was over he set out.</p> +<p>He had ridden as far as the head of Mint Wash, and had stopped +to water his horse, and to refresh himself with a cool drink and a +brief rest beside the fragrant mint-bordered spring, when he heard +someone riding rapidly up the wash the way he had come. A moment +later, Kitty, riding her favorite Midnight, rounded a jutting +corner of the rocky wall of the bluff.</p> +<p>As the girl caught sight of him, there beside the spring, she +waved her hand in greeting. And the man, as he waved his answer, +and watched her riding toward him, felt a thrill of gladness that +she had come. The strong, true friendship that began with their +very first meeting, when she had been so frankly interested in the +tenderfoot, and so kindly helpful, and which had developed so +steadily through the year, gave him, now, a feeling of comfort and +relief. Wearied and worn by his disappointment and by his struggle +with himself, with the cherished hope that had enabled him to +choose and endure the hard life of the range brought to a sudden +end, with his life itself made so empty and futile, he welcomed his +woman friend with a warmth and gladness that brought a flush of +pleasure to Kitty's cheek.</p> +<p>For Kitty, too, had just passed through a humiliating and +disappointing experience. In her troubled frame of mind, and in her +perplexed and confused questioning, the young woman was as glad for +the companionship of Patches as he was glad to welcome her. She +felt a curious sense of relief and safety in his +presence—somewhat as one, who, walking over uncertain bogs or +treacherous quicksands, finds, all at once, the solid ground.</p> +<p>"I saw you go past the house," she said, when she reached the +spring where he stood awaiting her, "and I decided right then that +I would go along with you to Granite Basin and visit my friends the +Mannings. They told me that I might come this week, and I think +they have had quite enough honeymooning, anyway. You know where +they are camped, do you?"</p> +<p>"Yes," he answered. "I saw them yesterday. But, come! Get down +and cool off a bit. You've been riding some, haven't you?"</p> +<p>"I wanted to catch you as soon as I could," she laughed, as she +sprang lightly to the ground. "And you see you gained a good start +while I was getting Midnight saddled. What a pretty spot! I must +have a drink of that water this minute."</p> +<p>"Sorry I have no cup," he said, and then he laughed with the +pleasure of good comradeship as she answered:</p> +<p>"You forget that I was born to the customs of this country." +And, throwing aside her broad hat, she went down on the ground to +drink from the spring, even as he had done.</p> +<p>As the man watched her, a sudden thought flashed into his +mind—a thought so startling, so unexpected, that he was for +the moment bewildered.</p> +<p>"Talk about the nectar of the gods!" cried Kitty with a deep +breath of satisfaction, as she lifted her smiling face from the +bright water to look up at him. And then she drank again.</p> +<p>"And now, if you please, sir, you may bring me some of that +water-cress; we'll sit over there in the shade, and who cares +whether Granite Basin, the Mannings, and your fellow cow-punchers, +are fifteen or fifty miles away?"</p> +<p>He brought a generous bunch of the water-cress, and stretched +himself full length beside her, as she sat on the ground under a +tall sycamore.</p> +<p>"Selah!" he laughed contentedly. "We seem to lack only the book +of verses, the loaf and the jug; the wilderness is here, all right, +and that's a perfectly good bough up there, and, of course, you +could furnish the song; I might recite 'The Boy Stood on the +Burning Deck,' but, alas! we haven't even a flask and biscuit."</p> +<p>"What a pity that you should be so near and yet so far from +paradise!" she retorted quickly. Then she added, with a mischievous +smile, "It just happens that I have a sandwich in my saddle +pocket."</p> +<p>"Won't you sing? Please do," he returned, with an eagerness that +amused her.</p> +<p>But she shook her head reprovingly. "We would still lack the jug +of wine, you know, and, really, I don't think that paradise is for +cow-punchers, anyway, do you?"</p> +<p>"Evidently not," he answered. And at her jesting words a queer +feeling of rebellion possessed him. Why should he be condemned to +years of loneliness? Why must he face a life without the +companionship of a mate? If the paradise he had sought so hard to +attain were denied him, why should he not still take what happiness +he might?</p> +<p>He was lying flat on his back, his hands clasped beneath his +head, watching an eagle that wheeled, a tiny black speck, high +under the blue arch of the sky. He seemed to have forgotten his +companion.</p> +<p>Kitty leaned toward him, and held a sprig of water-cress over +his upturned face. "I haven't a penny," she said, "but I'll give +you this."</p> +<p>He sat up quickly. "Even at that price, my thoughts might cost +you too much. But you haven't told me what you have done with our +dear friend the professor? Haven't you a guilty conscience, +deserting him like this?"</p> +<p>Kitty held up both hands in a gesture of dismay. "Don't, +Patches, please don't. Ugh! if you only knew how good it is to be +with a <i>man</i> again!"</p> +<p>He laughed aloud in a spirit of reckless defiance. "And Phil is +over in Granite Basin. I neglected to tell you that he knows the +location of the Mannings' camp, as well as I."</p> +<p>Kitty was a little puzzled by the tone of his laughter, and by +his words. She spoke gravely. "Perhaps I should tell you, +Patches—we have been such good friends, you and +I—Phil—"</p> +<p>"Yes!" he said.</p> +<p>"Phil is nothing to me, Patches. I mean—"</p> +<p>"You mean in the way he wanted to be?" He helped her with a +touch of eager readiness.</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"And have you told him, Kitty?" Patches asked gently.</p> +<p>"Yes—I have told him," she replied.</p> +<p>Patches was silent for a moment. Then, "Poor Phil!" he said +softly. "I understand now; I thought that was it. He is a man among +thousands, Kitty."</p> +<p>"I know—I know," she returned, as though to dismiss the +subject. "But it simply couldn't be."</p> +<p>Patches was looking at her intently, with an expression in his +dark eyes that Kitty had never before seen. The man's mind was in a +whirl of quick excitement. As they had talked and laughed together, +the thought that had so startled him, when her manner of familiar +comradeship had brought such a feeling of comfort to his troubled +spirit, had not left him. From that first moment of their meeting a +year before there had been that feeling between them, of +companionship, a feeling which had grown as their acquaintance had +developed into the intimate friendship that had allowed him to +speak to her as he had spoken that day under the cedars on the +ridge. What might that friendship not grow into! He thought of her +desire for the life that he knew so well, and how he could, while +granting every wish of her heart, yet protect her from the shams +and falseness. And with these thoughts was that feeling of +rebellion against the loneliness of his life.</p> +<p>Kitty's words regarding Phil removed the barrier, as it were, +and the man's nature, which prompted him so often to act without +pausing to consider, betrayed him into saying, "Would you be +greatly shocked, Kitty, if I were to tell you that I am glad? That, +while I am sorry for Phil, I am glad that you have said no to +him?"</p> +<p>"You are glad?" she said wonderingly. "Why?"</p> +<p>"Because, now, <i>I</i> am free to say what I could not have +said had you not told me what you have. I want you, Kitty. I want +to fill your life with beauty and happiness and contentment. I want +you to go with me to see and know the natural wonders of the world, +and the wonders that men have wrought. I want to surround you with +the beauties of art and literature, with everything that your heart +craves. I want you to know the people whose friendship would be a +delight to you. Come with me, girl—be my wife, and together +we will find—if not paradise, at least a full and useful and +contented and happy life. Will you come, Kitty? Will you come with +me?"</p> +<p>As she listened her eyes grew big with wonder and delight. It +was as though some good genie had suddenly opened wide the way to +an enchanted laud. Then the gladness went swiftly from her face, +and she said doubtingly, "You are jesting with me, Patches."</p> +<p>As she spoke his cowboy name, the man laughed aloud. "I forgot +that you do not even know me—I mean, that you do not know my +name."</p> +<p>"Are you some fairy prince in disguise, Sir Patches?"</p> +<p>"Not a fairy, dear, and certainly not a prince; just a man, +that's all. But a man, dear girl, who can offer you a clean life, +an honored name, and all of which I have spoken. But I must tell +you—I always knew that I would tell you some day, but I did +not dream that it would be to-day. My name is Lawrence Knight. My +home is in Cleveland, Ohio. Your father can easily satisfy himself +as to my family and my own personal life and standing. It is enough +for me to assure you now, dear, that I am abundantly able to give +you all that I have promised."</p> +<p>At the mention of his name, Kitty's eyes grew bright again. +Thanks to her intimate friend and schoolmate, Helen Manning, she +knew much more of Lawrence Knight than that gentleman supposed.</p> +<p>"But, tell me," she asked curiously, trembling with suppressed +excitement, "why is Mr. Lawrence Knight masquerading here as the +cowboy Honorable Patches?"</p> +<p>He answered earnestly. "I know it must seem strange to you, +dear, but the simple truth is that I became ashamed of myself and +my life of idle uselessness. I determined to see if I could take my +place among men, simply as a man. I wanted to be accepted by men +for myself, for my manhood, if you like, and not because of +my—" he hesitated, then said frankly—"my money and +social position. I wanted to depend upon myself—to live as +other men live, by my own strength and courage and work. If I had +given my real name, when I asked for work at the +Cross-Triangle—someone would have found me out before very +long, and my little experiment would have failed, don't you +see?"</p> +<p>While he spoke, Kitty's excited mind had caught at many +thoughts. She believed sincerely that her girlhood love for Phil +was dead. This man, even as Patches the cowboy, with a questionable +shadow on his life, had compelled her respect and confidence, while +in his evident education and social culture he had won her deepest +admiration. She felt that he was all that Phil was, and more. There +was in her feeling toward him, as he offered himself to her now, no +hint of that instinctive repulsion and abhorrence with which she +had received Professor Parkhill's declaration of spiritual +affinity. Her recent experience with the Master of Aesthetics had +so outraged her womanly instincts that the inevitable reaction from +her perplexed and troubled mind led her to feel more deeply, and to +be drawn more strongly, toward this man with whom any woman might +be proud to mate. At the same time, the attractions of the life +which she knew he could give her, and for which she longed so +passionately, with the relief of the thought that her parents would +not need to sacrifice themselves for her, were potent factors in +the power of Lawrence Knight's appeal.</p> +<p>"It would be wonderful," she said musingly. "I have dreamed and +dreamed about such things."</p> +<p>"You will come with me, dear? You will let me give you your +heart's wish—you will go with me into the life for which you +are so fitted?"</p> +<p>"Do you really want me, Patches?" she asked timidly, as though +in her mind there was still a shadow of doubt.</p> +<p>"More than anything in the world," he urged. "Say yes. Kitty. +Say that you will be my wife."</p> +<p>The answer came softly, with a hint of questioning, still.</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>Kitty did not notice that the man had not spoken of his love for +her. There were so many other things for her to consider, so many +other things to distract her mind. Nor did the man notice that +Kitty herself had failed to speak in any way that little word, +which, rightly understood, holds in its fullest, deepest meaning, +all of life's happiness—of labor and accomplishment—of +success and triumph—of sacrifice and sorrow; holds, in its +fullest, deepest meaning, indeed, all of life itself.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_15.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/294.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>itty's friends were very glad to welcome her at their camp in +Granite Basin. The incident which had so rudely broken the +seclusion of their honeymoon had been too nearly a tragedy to be +easily forgotten. The charm of the place was, in some degree, for +them, lost, and Kitty's coming helped to dispel the cloud that had +a little overshadowed those last days of their outing.</p> +<p>It was not at all difficult for them to persuade Kitty to remain +longer than the one night that she had planned, and to accompany +them to Prescott. Prom Prescott, Stanford must go to the mines, to +take up his work, and to arrange for Helen's coming later, and +Helen would go home with Kitty for the visit she had promised. The +cowboys, who were returning to the Cross-Triangle Ranch, would take +Kitty's horse to her home, and would carry a message explaining the +young woman's absence, and asking that someone be sent to Prescott +with the clothing she would need in town, and that the Reid +automobile might be in Prescott in readiness to take the two young +women back to the ranch on the appointed day.</p> +<p>Kitty could not bring herself to tell even Helen about her +engagement to Lawrence Knight, or Patches, as she would continue to +call him until the time came for the cowboy himself to make his +true name and character known. It had all happened so suddenly; the +promises of the future were so wonderful—so far beyond the +young woman's fondest dreams—that she herself could scarcely +realize the truth. There would be time enough to tell Helen when +they were together at the ranch. And she was insistent, too, that +Patches must not interview her father until she herself had +returned home.</p> +<p>Phil and his cowboys with the cattle reached the Cross-Triangle +corrals the evening before the day set for Kitty and Helen to +arrive at the ranch on the other side of the valley meadows. The +Cross-Triangle men were greeted by the news that Professor Parkhill +had said good-by to Williamson Valley, and that the Pot-Hook-S +Ranch had been sold. The eastern purchaser expected by Reid had +arrived on the day that Kitty had gone to Granite Basin, and the +deal had been closed without delay. But Reid was not to give +possession of the property until after the fall rodeo.</p> +<p>As the men sat under the walnut trees with the Dean that +evening, discussing the incidents of the Granite Basin work, and +speculating about the new owner of the neighboring ranch, Phil sat +with Little Billy apart from the circle, and contributed to the +conversation only now and then a word or a brief answer to some +question. When Mrs. Baldwin persuaded the child that it was +bedtime, Phil slipped quietly away in the darkness, and they did +not see him again until breakfast the next morning. When breakfast +was over, the foreman gave a few directions to his men, and rode +away alone.</p> +<p>The Dean, understanding the lad, whom he loved as one of his own +sons, watched him go without a word or a question. To Mrs. Baldwin +he said, "Just let him alone, Stella. The boy is all right. He's +only gone off somewhere on the range to fight it out alone. Most +likely he'll put in the day watching those wild horses over beyond +Toohey. He generally goes to them when he's bothered about anything +or in trouble of any sort."</p> +<p>Patches, who had been sent on an errand of some kind to Fair +Oaks, was returning home early in the afternoon, and had reached +the neighborhood of that spring where he had first encountered Nick +Cambert, when he heard a calf bawling lustily somewhere in the +cedar timber not far away. Familiar as he now was with the voices +of the range, the cowboy knew that the calf was in trouble. The +call was one of fright and pain.</p> +<p>Turning aside from his course, he rode, rapidly at first, then +more cautiously, toward the sound. Presently he caught a whiff of +smoke that came with the light breeze from somewhere ahead on the +ridge along which he was riding. Instantly he rode into a thick +clump of cedars, and, dismounting, tied his horse. Then he went on, +carefully and silently, on foot. Soon he heard voices. Again the +calf bawled in fright and pain, and the familiar odor of burning +hair was carried to him on the breeze. Someone was branding a +calf.</p> +<p>It might be all right—it might not. Patches was unarmed, +but, with characteristic disregard of consequences, he crept softly +forward, toward a dense growth of trees and brush, from beyond +which the noise and the smoke seemed to come.</p> +<p>He had barely gained the cover when he heard someone on the +other side ride rapidly away down the ridge. Hastily parting the +bushes, he looked through to catch a glimpse of the horseman, but +he was a moment too late; the rider had disappeared from sight in +the timber. But, in a little open space among the cedars, the +cowboy saw Yavapai Joe, standing beside a calf, fresh-branded with +the Four-Bar-M iron, and earmarked with the Tailholt marks.</p> +<p>Patches knew instantly, as well as though he had witnessed the +actual branding, what, had happened. That part of the range was +seldom visited except by the Dean's cowboys, and the Tailholt +Mountain men, knowing that the Cross-Triangle riders were all at +Granite Basin, were making good use of their opportunities. The man +who had ridden away so hurriedly, a moment too soon for Patches to +see him, was, without doubt, driving the mother of the calf to a +distance that would effectually separate her from her +offspring.</p> +<p>But while he was so sure in his own mind, the Cross-Triangle +man—as it had so often happened before—had arrived on +the scene too late. He had no positive evidence that the animal +just branded was not the lawful property of Nick Cambert.</p> +<p>As Patches stepped from the bushes, Yavapai Joe faced him for a +moment in guilty astonishment and fear; then he ran toward his +horse.</p> +<p>"Wait a minute, Joe!" called Patches. "What good will it do for +you to run now? I'm not going to harm you."</p> +<p>Joe stopped, and stood hesitating in indecision, watching the +intruder with that sneaking, sidewise look.</p> +<p>"Come on, Joe; let's have a little talk about this business," +the Cross-Triangle man said in a matter-of-fact tone, as he seated +himself on a large, flat-topped stone near the little fire. "You +know you can't get away, so you might as well."</p> +<p>"I ain't tellin' nothin' to nobody," said Joe sullenly, as he +came slowly toward the Dean's cowboy.</p> +<p>"No?" said Patches.</p> +<p>"No, I ain't," asserted the Tailholt Mountain man stoutly. "That +there calf is a Four-Bar-M calf, all right."</p> +<p>"I see it is," returned the Cross-Triangle rider calmly. "But +I'll just wait until Nick gets back, and ask him what it was before +he worked over the iron."</p> +<p>Joe, excited and confused by the cool nerve of this man, fell +readily into the verbal trap.</p> +<p>"You better go now, an' not wait to ask Nick no fool questions +like that. If he finds you here talkin' with me when he gets back, +hell'll be a-poppin' fer sure. Me an' you are friends, Patches, an' +that's why I'm a-tellin' you you better pull your freight while the +goin's good."</p> +<p>"Much obliged, Joe, but there's no hurry. You don't need to be +so rushed. It will be an hour before Nick gets back, if he drives +that cow as far as he ought."</p> +<p>Again poor Yavapai Joe told more than he intended. "You don't +need to worry none 'bout Nick; he'll sure drive her far enough. He +ain't takin' no chances, Nick ain't."</p> +<p>With his convictions so readily confirmed, Patches had good +ground upon which to base his following remarks. He had made a long +shot when he spoke so confidently of the brand on the calf being +worked over. For, of course, the calf might not have been branded +at all when the Tailholt Mountain men caught it. But Joe's manner, +as well as his warning answer, told that the shot had gone home. +The fact that the brand had been worked over established also the +fact that it was the Cross-Triangle brand that had been changed, +because the Cross-Triangle was the only brand in that part of the +country that could be changed into the Four-Bar-M.</p> +<p>Patches, dropping his easy manner, and speaking straight to the +point, said, "Look here, Joe, you and I might as well get down to +cases. You know I am your friend, and I don't want to see you in +trouble, but you can take it from me that you are in mighty serious +trouble right now. I was hiding right there in those bushes, close +enough to see all that happened, and I know that this is a +Cross-Triangle calf, and that Nick and you worked the brand over. +You know that it means the penitentiary for you, as well as for +Nick, if the boys don't string you both up without any +ceremony."</p> +<p>Patches paused to let his words sink in.</p> +<p>Joe's face was ashy white, and he was shaking with fright, as he +stole a sneaking look toward his horse.</p> +<p>Patches added sharply, "You can't give me the slip, either; I +can kill you before you get half way to your horse."</p> +<p>Trapped and helpless, Joe looked pleadingly at his captor. "You +wouldn't send me up, would you, now, Patches?" he whined. "You an' +me's good friends, ain't we? Anyway he wouldn't let me go to the +pen, an' the boys wouldn't dast do nothin' to me when they +knew."</p> +<p>"Whom are you talking about?" demanded Patches. "Nick? Don't be +a fool, Joe; Nick will be there right alongside of you."</p> +<p>"I ain't meanin' Nick; I mean <i>him</i> over there at the +Cross-Triangle—Professor Parkhill. I'm a-tellin' you that +<i>he</i> wouldn't let you do nothin' to me."</p> +<p>"Forget it, Joe," came the reply, without an instant's +hesitation. "You know as well as I do how much chance Professor +Parkhill, or anyone else, would have, trying to keep the boys from +making you and Nick dance on nothing, once they hear of this. +Besides, the professor is not in the valley now."</p> +<p>The poor outcast's fright was pitiful. "You ain't meanin' that +he—that he's gone?" he gasped.</p> +<p>"Listen, Joe," said Patches quickly. "I can do more for you than +he could, even if he were here. You know I am your friend, and I +don't want to see a good fellow like you sent to prison for fifteen +or twenty years, or, perhaps, hanged. But there's only one way that +I can see for me to save you. You must go with me to the +Cross-Triangle, and tell Mr. Baldwin all about it, how you were +just working for Nick, and how he made you help him do this, and +all that you know. If you do that, we can get you off."</p> +<p>"I—I reckon you're right, Patches," returned the +frightened weakling sullenly. "Nick has sure treated me like a dog, +anyway. You won't let Nick get at me, will you, if I go?"</p> +<p>"Nobody can get at you, Joe, if you go with me, and do the +square thing. I'm going to take care of you myself, and help you to +get out of this, and brace up and be a man. Come on; let's be +moving. I'll turn this calf loose first, though."</p> +<p>He was bending over the calf when a noise in the brush caused +him to stand suddenly erect.</p> +<p>Joe was whimpering with terror.</p> +<p>Patches said fiercely, but in a low tone, "Shut up, and follow +my lead. Be a man, and I'll get you out of this yet."</p> +<p>"Nick will kill us sure," whined Joe.</p> +<p>"Not if I get my hands on him first, he won't," retorted +Patches.</p> +<p>But it was with a feeling of relief that the cowboy saw Phil +Acton ride toward them from the shelter of the timber.</p> +<p>Before Patches could speak, Phil's gun covered him, and the +foreman's voice rang out sharply.</p> +<p>"Hands up!"</p> +<p>Joe's hands shot above his head. Patches hesitated.</p> +<p>"Quick!" said Phil.</p> +<p>And as Patches saw the man's eyes over the black barrel of the +weapon he obeyed. But as he raised his hands, a dull flush of anger +colored his tanned face a deeper red, and his eyes grew dark with +passion. He realized his situation instantly. The mystery that +surrounded his first appearance when he had sought employment at +the Cross-Triangle; the persistent suspicion of many of the cowboys +because of his friendship for Yavapai Joe; his meeting with Joe +which the professor had reported; his refusal to explain to Phil; +his return to the ranch when everyone was away and he himself was +supposed to be in Prescott—all these and many other incidents +had come to their legitimate climax in his presence on that spot +with Yavapai Joe, the smouldering fire and the freshly branded +calf. He was unarmed, but Phil could not be sure of that, for many +a cowboy carries his gun inside the leg of his leather chaps, where +it does not so easily catch in the brush.</p> +<p>But while Patches saw it all so clearly, he was enraged that +this man with whom he had lived so intimately should believe him +capable of such a crime, and treat him without question as a common +cattle thief. Phil's coldness toward him, which had grown so +gradually during the past three months, in this peremptory +humiliation reached a point beyond which Patches' patient and +considerate endurance could not go. The man's sense of justice was +outraged; his fine feeling of honor was insulted. Trapped and +helpless as he was under that menacing gun, he was possessed by a +determination to defend himself against the accusation, and to +teach Phil Acton that there was a limit to the insult he would +endure, even in the name of friendship. To this end his only hope +was to trap his foreman with words, as he had caught Yavapai Joe. +At a game of words Honorable Patches was no unskilled novice. +Controlling his anger, he said coolly, with biting sarcasm, while +he looked at the cowboy with a mocking sneer, "You don't propose to +take any chances, do you—holding up an unarmed man?"</p> +<p>Patches saw by the flush that swept over Phil's cheeks how his +words bit.</p> +<p>"It doesn't pay to take chances with your kind," retorted the +foreman hotly.</p> +<p>"No," mocked Patches, "but it will pay big, I suppose, for the +great 'Wild Horse Phil' to be branded as a sneak and a coward who +is afraid to face an unarmed man unless he can get the drop on +him?"</p> +<p>Phil was goaded to madness by the cool, mocking words. With a +reckless laugh, he slipped his weapon into the holster and sprang +to the ground. At the same moment Patches and Joe lowered their +hands, and Joe, unnoticed by either of the angry men, took a few +stealthy steps toward his horse.</p> +<p>Phil, deliberately folding his arms, stood looking at +Patches.</p> +<p>"I'll just call that bluff, you sneakin' calf stealer," he said +coolly. "Now, unlimber that gun of yours, and get busy."</p> +<p>Angry as he was, Patches felt a thrill of admiration for the +man, and beneath his determination to force Phil Acton to treat him +with respect, he was proud of his friend who had answered his +sneering insinuation with such fearlessness. But he could not now +hesitate in his plan of provoking Phil into disarming himself.</p> +<p>"You're something of a four-flusher yourself, aren't you?" he +mocked. "You know I have no gun. Your brave pose is very effective. +I would congratulate you, only, you see, it doesn't impress me in +the least."</p> +<p>With an oath Phil snatched his gun from the holster, and threw +it aside.</p> +<p>"Have it any way you like," he retorted, and started toward +Patches.</p> +<p>Then a curious thing happened to Honorable Patches. Angry as he +was, he became suddenly dominated by something that was more potent +than his rage.</p> +<p>"Stop!" he cried sharply, and with such ringing force that Phil +involuntarily obeyed. "I can't fight you this way, Phil," he said; +and the other, wondering, saw that whimsical, self-mocking smile on +his lips. "You know as well as I do that you are no match for me +barehanded. You couldn't even touch me; you have seen Curly and the +others try it often enough. You are as helpless in my power, now, +as I was in yours a moment ago. I am armed now and you are not. I +can't fight you this way, Phil."</p> +<p>In spite of himself Phil Acton was impressed by the truth and +fairness of Patches' words. He recognized that an unequal contest +could satisfy neither of them, and that it made no difference which +of the contestants had the advantage.</p> +<p>"Well," he said sarcastically, "what are you going to do about +it?"</p> +<p>"First," returned Patches calmly, "I am going to tell you how I +happened to be here with Yavapai Joe."</p> +<p>"I don't need any explanations from you. It's some more of your +personal business, I suppose," retorted Phil.</p> +<p>Patches controlled himself. "You are going to hear the +explanation, just the same," he returned. "You can believe it or +not, just as you please."</p> +<p>"And what then?" demanded Phil.</p> +<p>"Then I'm going to get a gun, and we'll settle the rest of it, +man to man, on equal terms, just as soon as you like," answered +Patches deliberately.</p> +<p>Phil replied shortly. "Go ahead with your palaver. I'll have to +hand it to you when it comes to talk. I am not educated that way +myself."</p> +<p>For a moment Patches hesitated, as though on the point of +changing his mind about the explanation. Then his sense of +justice—justice both for Phil and +himself—conquered.</p> +<p>But in telling Phil how he had come upon the scene too late for +positive proof that the freshly branded calf was the Dean's +property, and in explaining how, when the foreman arrived, he had +just persuaded Joe to go with him and give the necessary evidence +against Nick, Patches forgot the possible effect of his words upon +Joe himself. The two Cross-Triangle men were so absorbed in their +own affair that they had paid no attention to the Tailholt Mountain +outcast. And Joe, taking advantage of the opportunity, had by this +time gained a position beside his horse. As he heard Patches tell +how he had no actual evidence that the calf was not Nick Cambert's +property, a look of anger and cunning darkened the face of Nick's +follower. He was angry at the way Patches had tricked him into +betraying both himself and his evil master, and he saw a way to +defeat the two cowboys and at the same time win Nick's approval. +Quickly the fellow mounted his horse, and, before they could stop +him, was out of sight in the timber.</p> +<p>"I've done it now," exclaimed Patches in dismay. "I forgot all +about Joe."</p> +<p>"I don't think he counts for much in this game anyway," returned +Phil, gruffly.</p> +<p>As he spoke, the foreman turned his back to Patches and walked +toward his gun. He had reached the spot where the weapon lay on the +ground, when, from the bushes to the right, and a little back of +Patches, who stood watching his companion, a shot rang out with +startling suddenness.</p> +<p>Patches saw Phil stumble forward, straighten for an instant, as +though by sheer power of his will, and, turning, look back at him. +Then, as Phil fell, the unarmed cowboy leaped forward toward that +gun on the ground. Even as he moved, a second shot rang out and he +felt the wind of the bullet on his cheek. With Phil's gun in his +hand, he ran toward a cedar tree on the side of the open space +opposite the point from which the shots came, and as he ran another +bullet whistled past.</p> +<p>A man moving as Patches moved is not an easy mark. The same man +armed, and protected by the trunk of a tree, is still more +difficult. A moment after he had gained cover, the cowboy heard the +clatter of a horse's feet, near the spot from which the shots had +come, and by the sound knew that the unseen marksman had chosen to +retire with only half his evident purpose accomplished, rather than +take the risk that had arisen with Patches' success in turning the +ambush into an open fight.</p> +<p>As the sound of the horse's swift rush down the side of the +ridge grew fainter and fainter, Patches ran to Phil.</p> +<p>A quick examination told him that the bullet had entered just +under the right shoulder, and that the man, though unconscious and, +no doubt, seriously wounded, was living.</p> +<p>With rude bandages made by tearing his shirt into strips Patches +checked the flow of blood, and bound up the wound as best he could. +Then for a moment he considered. It was between three and four +miles to the ranch. He could ride there and back in a few minutes. +Someone must start for a doctor without an instant's loss of time. +With water, proper bandages and stimulants, the wounded man could +be cared for and moved in the buckboard with much greater safety +than he could be carried in his present condition on a horse. The +risk of leaving him for a few minutes was small, compared to the +risk of taking him to the house under the only conditions possible. +The next instant Patches was in Phil's saddle and riding as he had +never ridden before.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/307.png" width="50%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p>Jim Reid, with Kitty and Helen, was on the way back from +Prescott as Kitty had planned. They were within ten miles of the +ranch when the cattleman, who sat at the wheel of the automobile, +saw a horseman coming toward them. A moment he watched the +approaching figure, then, over his shoulder, he said to the girls, +"Look at that fellow ride. There's something doin', sure." As he +spoke he turned the machine well out of the road.</p> +<p>A moment later he added, "It's Curly Elson from the +Cross-Triangle. Somethin's happened in the valley." As he spoke, he +stopped the machine, and sprang out so that the cowboy could see +and recognize him.</p> +<p>Curly did not draw rein until he was within a few feet of Reid; +then he brought his running horse up with a suddenness that threw +the animal on its haunches.</p> +<p>Curly spoke tersely. "Phil Acton is shot. We need a doctor +quick."</p> +<p>Without a word Jim Reid leaped into the automobile. The car +backed to turn around. As it paused an instant before starting +forward again, Kitty put her hand on her father's shoulder.</p> +<p>"Wait!" she cried. "I'm going to Phil. Curly, I want your horse; +you can go with father."</p> +<p>The cowboy was on the ground before she had finished speaking. +And before the automobile was under way Kitty was riding back the +way Curly had come.</p> +<p>Kitty was scarcely conscious of what she had said. The cowboy's +first words had struck her with the force of a physical blow, and +in that first moment, she had been weak and helpless. She had felt +as though a heavy weight pressed her down; a gray mist was before +her eyes, and she could not see clearly. "Phil Acton is +shot—Phil Acton is shot!" The cowboy's words had repeated +themselves over and over. Then, with a sudden rush, her strength +came again—the mist cleared; she must go to Phil; she must go +fast, fast. Oh, why was this horse so slow! If only she were riding +her own Midnight! She did not think as she rode. She did not +wonder, nor question, nor analyze her emotions. She only felt. It +was Phil who was hurt—Phil, the boy with whom she had played +when she was a little girl—the lad with whom she had gone to +school—the young man who had won the first love of her young +woman heart. It was Phil, her Phil, who was hurt, and she must go +to him—she must go fast, fast!</p> +<p>It seemed to Kitty that hours passed before she reached the +meadow lane. She was glad that Curly had left the gates open. As +she crossed the familiar ground between the old Acton home and the +ranch house on the other side of the sandy wash, she saw them. They +were carrying him into the house as she rode into the yard, and at +sight of that still form the gray mist came again, and she caught +the saddle horn to save herself from falling. But it was only a +moment until she was strong again, and ready to do all that Mrs. +Baldwin asked.</p> +<p>Phil had regained consciousness before they started home with +him, but he was very weak from the loss of blood and the journey in +the buckboard, though Bob drove ever so carefully, was almost more +than he could bear. But with the relief that came when he was at +last lying quietly in his own bed, and with the help of the +stimulant, the splendid physical strength and vitality that was his +because of his natural and unspoiled life again brought him back +from the shadows into the light of full consciousness.</p> +<p>It was then that the Dean, while Mrs. Baldwin and Kitty were +occupied for a few moments in another part of the house, listened +to all that his foreman could tell him about the affair up to the +time that he had fallen unconscious. The Dean asked but few +questions. But when the details were all clearly fixed in his mind, +the older man bent over Phil and looked straight into the lad's +clear and steady eyes, while he asked in a low tone, "Phil, did +Patches do this?"</p> +<p>And the young man answered, "Uncle Will, I don't know."</p> +<p>With this he closed his eyes wearily, as though to sleep, and +the Dean, seeing Kitty in the doorway, beckoned her to come and sit +beside the bed. Then he stole quietly from the room.</p> +<p>As in a dream Phil had seen Kitty when she rode into the yard. +And he had been conscious of her presence as she moved about the +house and the room where he lay. But he had given no sign that he +knew she was there. As she seated herself, at the Dean's bidding, +the cowboy opened his eyes for a moment, and looked up into her +face. Then again the weary lids closed, and he gave no hint that he +recognized her, save that the white lips set in firmer lines as +though at another stab of pain.</p> +<p>As she watched alone beside this man who had, since she could +remember, been a part of her life, and as she realized that he was +on the very border line of that land from which, if he entered, he +could never return to her, Kitty Reid knew the truth that is +greater than any knowledge that the schools of man can give. She +knew the one great truth of her womanhood; knew it not from text +book or class room; not from learned professor or cultured +associates; but knew it from that good Master of Life who, with +infinite wisdom, teaches his many pupils who are free to learn in +the school of schools, the School of Nature. In that hour when the +near presence of death so overshadowed all the trivial and +non-essential things of life—when the little standards and +petty values of poor human endeavor were as nothing—this +woman knew that by the unwritten edict of God, who decreed that in +all life two should be as one, this man was her only lawful mate. +Environment, circumstance, that which we call culture and +education, even death, might separate them; but nothing could +nullify the fact that was attested by the instinct of her +womanhood. Bending over the man who lay so still, she whispered the +imperative will of her heart.</p> +<p>"Come back to me, Phil—I want you—I need you, +dear—come back to me!"</p> +<p>Slowly he came out of the mists of weakness and pain to look up +at her—doubtfully—wonderingly. But there was a light in +Kitty's face that dispelled the doubt, and changed the look of +wondering uncertainty to glad conviction. He did not speak. No word +was necessary. Nor did he move, for he must be very still, and hold +fast with all his strength to the life that was now so good. But +the woman knew without words all that he would have said, and as +his eyes closed again she bowed her head in thankfulness.</p> +<p>Then rising she stole softly to the window. She felt that she +must look out for a moment into the world that was so suddenly new +and beautiful.</p> +<p>Under the walnut trees she saw the Dean talking with the man +whom she had promised to marry.</p> +<p>Later Mr. Reid, with Helen and Curly, brought the doctor, and +the noise of the automobile summoned every soul on the place to +wait for the physician's verdict of life or death.</p> +<p>While the Dean was in Phil's room with the physician, and the +anxious ones were gathered in a little group in front of the house, +Jim Reid stood apart from the others talking in low tones with the +cowboy Bob. Patches, who was standing behind the automobile, heard +Bob, who had raised his voice a little, say distinctly, "I tell +you, sir, there ain't a bit of doubt in the world about it. There +was the calf a layin' right there fresh-branded and marked. He'd +plumb forgot to turn it loose, I reckon, bein' naturally rattled; +or else he figgered that it warn't no use, if Phil should be able +to tell what happened. The way I make it out is that Phil jumped +him right in the act, so sudden that he shot without thinkin'; you +know how he acts quick that-a-way. An' then he seen what he had +done, an' that it was more than an even break that Phil wouldn't +live, an' so figgered that his chance was better to stay an' run a +bluff by comin' for help, an' all that. If he'd tried to make his +get-away, there wouldn't 'a' been no question about it; an' he's +got just nerve enough to take the chance he's a-takin' by stayin' +right with the game."</p> +<p>Patches started as though to go toward the men, but at that +moment the doctor came from the house. As the physician approached +the waiting group, that odd, mirthless, self-mocking smile touched +Patches' lips; then he stepped forward to listen with the others to +the doctor's words.</p> +<p>Phil had a chance, the doctor said, but he told them frankly +that it was only a chance. The injured man's wonderful vitality, +his clean blood and unimpaired physical strength, together with his +unshaken nerve and an indomitable will, were all greatly in his +favor. With careful nursing they might with reason hope for his +recovery.</p> +<p>With expressions of relief, the group separated. Patches walked +away alone. Mr. Reid, who would return to Prescott with the doctor, +said to his daughter when the physician was ready, "Come, Kitty, +I'll go by the house, so as to take you and Mrs. Manning home."</p> +<p>But Kitty shook her head. "No, father. I'm not going home. +Stella needs me here. Helen understands, don't you, Helen?"</p> +<p>And wise Mrs. Manning, seeing in Kitty's face something that the +man had not observed, answered, "Yes, dear, I do understand. You +must stay, of course. I'll run over again in the morning."</p> +<p>"Very well," answered Mr. Reid, who seemed in somewhat of a +hurry. "I know you ought to stay. Tell Stella that mother will be +over for a little while this evening." And the automobile moved +away.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/313.png" width="50%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p>That night, while Mrs. Baldwin and Kitty watched by Phil's +bedside, and Patches, in his room, waited, sleepless, alone with +his thoughts, men from the ranch on the other side of the quiet +meadow were riding swiftly through the darkness. Before the new day +had driven the stars from the wide sky, a little company of silent, +grim-faced horsemen gathered in the Pot-Hook-S corral. In the dim, +gray light of the early morning they followed Jim Reid out of the +corral, and, riding fast, crossed the valley above the meadows and +approached the Cross-Triangle corrals from the west. One man in the +company led a horse with an empty saddle. Just beyond the little +rise of ground outside the big gate they halted, while Jim Reid +with two others, leaving their horses with the silent riders behind +the hill, went on into the corral, where they seated themselves on +the edge of the long watering trough near the tank, which hid them +from the house.</p> +<p>Fifteen minutes later, when the Dean stepped from the kitchen +porch, he saw Curly running toward the house. As the older man +hurried toward him, the cowboy, pale with excitement and anger, +cried, "They've got him, sir—grabbed him when he went out to +the corral."</p> +<p>The Dean understood instantly. "My horse, quick, Curly," he +said, and hurried on toward the saddle shed. "Which way did they +go?" he asked, as he mounted.</p> +<p>"Toward the cedars on the ridge where it happened," came the +answer. "Do you want me?"</p> +<p>"No. Don't let them know in the house," came the reply. And the +Dean was gone.</p> +<p>The little company of horsemen, with Patches in their midst, had +reached the scene of the shooting, and had made their simple +preparations. From that moment when they had covered him with their +guns as he stepped through the corral gate, he had not spoken.</p> +<p>"Well, sir," said the spokesman, "have you anything to say +before we proceed?"</p> +<p>Patches shook his head, and wonderingly they saw that curious +mocking smile on his lips.</p> +<p>"I don't suppose that any remarks I might make would impress you +gentlemen in the least," he said coolly. "It would be useless and +unkind for me to detain you longer than is necessary."</p> +<p>An involuntary murmur of admiration came from the circle. They +were men who could appreciate such unflinching courage.</p> +<p>In the short pause that followed, the Dean, riding as he had not +ridden for years, was in their midst. Before they could check him +the veteran cowman was beside Patches. With a quick motion he +snatched the riata from the cowboy's neck. An instant more, and he +had cut the rope that bound Patches' hands.</p> +<p>"Thank you, sir," said Patches calmly.</p> +<p>"Don't do that, Will," called Jim Reid peremptorily. "This is +our business." In the same breath he shouted to his companions, +"Take him again, boys," and started forward.</p> +<p>"Stand where you are," roared the Dean, and as they looked upon +the stern countenance of the man who was so respected and loved +throughout all that country, not a man moved. Reid himself +involuntarily halted at the command.</p> +<p>"I'll do this and more, Jim Reid," said the Dean firmly, and +there was that in his voice which, in the wild days of the past, +had compelled many a man to fear and obey him. "It's my business +enough that you can call this meetin' off right here. I'll be +responsible for this man. You boys mean well, but you're a little +mite too previous this trip."</p> +<p>"We aim to put a stop to that thievin' Tailholt Mountain outfit, +Will," returned Reid, "an' we're goin' to do it right now."</p> +<p>A murmur of agreement came from the group.</p> +<p>The Dean did not give an inch. "You'll put a stop to nothin' +this way; an' you'll sure start somethin' that'll be more than +stealin' a few calves. The time for stringin' men up promiscuous +like, on mere suspicion, is past in Arizona. I reckon there's more +Cross-Triangle stock branded with the Tailholt Mountain iron than +all the rest of you put together have lost, which sure entitles me +to a front seat when it comes, to the show-down."</p> +<p>"He's right, boys," said one of the older men.</p> +<p>"You know I'm right, Tom," returned the Dean quickly. "You an' +me have lived neighbors for pretty near thirty years, without ever +a hard word passed between us, an' we've been through some mighty +serious troubles together; an' you, too, George, an' Henry an' +Bill. The rest of you boys I have known since you was little kids; +an' me and your daddies worked an' fought side by side for decent +livin' an' law-abidin' times before you was born. We did it 'cause +we didn't want our children to go through with what we had to go +through, or do some of the things that we had to do. An' now you're +all thinkin' that you can cut me out of this. You think you can +sneak out here before I'm out of my bed in the mornin', an' hang +one of my own cowboys—as good a man as ever throwed a rope, +too. Without sayin' a word to me, you come crawlin' right into my +own corral, an' start to raisin' hell. I'm here to tell you that +you can't do it. You can't do it because I won't let you."</p> +<p>The men, with downcast eyes, sat on their horses, ashamed. Two +or three muttered approval. Jim Reid said earnestly, "That's all +right, Will. We knew how you would feel, an' we were just aimin' to +save you any more trouble. Them Tailholt Mountain thieves have gone +too far this time. We can't let you turn that man loose."</p> +<p>"I ain't goin' to try to turn him loose," retorted the Dean.</p> +<p>The men looked at each other.</p> +<p>"What are you goin' to do, then?" asked the spokesman.</p> +<p>"I'm goin' to make you turn him loose," came the startling +answer. "You fellows took him; you've got to let him go."</p> +<p>In spite of the grave situation several of the men grinned at +the Dean's answer—it was so like him.</p> +<p>"I'll bet a steer he does it, too," whispered one.</p> +<p>The Dean turned to the man by his side. "Patches, tell these men +all that you told me about this business."</p> +<p>When the cowboy had told his story in detail, up to the point +where Phil came upon the scene, the Dean interrupted him, "Now, get +down there an' show us exactly how it happened after Phil rode on +to you an' Yavapai Joe."</p> +<p>Patches obeyed. As he was showing them where Phil stood when the +shot was fired the Dean again interrupted with, "Wait a minute. +Tom, you get down there an' stand just as Phil was standin'."</p> +<p>The cattleman obeyed.</p> +<p>When he had taken the position, the Dean continued, "Now, +Patches, stand like you was when Phil was hit."</p> +<p>Patches obeyed.</p> +<p>"Now, then, where did that shot come from?" asked the Dean.</p> +<p>Patches pointed.</p> +<p>The Dean did not need to direct the next step in his +demonstration. Three of the men were already off their horses, and +moving around the bushes indicated by Patches.</p> +<p>"Here's the tracks, all right," called one. "An' here," added +another, from a few feet further away, "was where he left his +horse."</p> +<p>"An' now," continued the Dean, when the three men had come back +from behind the bushes, and with Patches had remounted their +horses, "I'll tell you somethin' else. I had a talk with Phil +himself, an' the boy's story agrees with what Patches has just told +you in every point. An', furthermore, Phil told me straight when I +asked him that he didn't know himself who fired that shot."</p> +<p>He paused for a moment for them to grasp the full import of his +words. Then he summed up the case.</p> +<p>"As the thing stands, we've got no evidence against anybody. It +can't be proved that the calf wasn't Nick's property in the first +place. It can't be proved that Nick was anywhere in the +neighborhood. It can't be proved who fired that shot. It could have +been Yavapai Joe, or anybody else, just as well as Nick. Phil +himself, by bein' too quick to jump at conclusions, blocked this +man's game, just when he was playin' the only hand that could have +won out against Nick. If Phil hadn't 'a' happened on to Patches and +Joe when he did, or if he had been a little slower about findin' a +man guilty just because appearances were against him, we'd 'a' had +the evidence from Yavapai Joe that we've been wantin', an' could +'a' called the turn on that Tailholt outfit proper. As it stands +now, we're right where we was before. Now, what are you all goin' +to do about it?"</p> +<p>The men grinned shamefacedly, but were glad that the tragedy had +been averted. They were by no means convinced that Patches was not +guilty, but they were quick to see the possibilities of a mistake +in the situation.</p> +<p>"I reckon the Dean has adjourned the meetin', boys," said +one.</p> +<p>"Come on," called another. "Let's be ridin'."</p> +<p>When the last man had disappeared in the timber, the Dean wiped +the perspiration from his flushed face, and looked at Patches +thoughtfully. Then that twinkle of approval came into the blue +eyes, that a few moments before had been so cold and +uncompromising.</p> +<p>"Come, son," he said gently, "let's go to breakfast. Stella'll +be wonderin' what's keepin' us."</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/319.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/chapter_16.png" width= +"100%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p class="par"><img src="images/320.png" width="30%" alt="" /></p> +<p>efore their late breakfast was over at the Cross-Triangle Ranch, +Helen Manning came across the valley meadows to help with the work +of the household. Jimmy brought her, but when she saw that she was +really needed, and that Mrs. Baldwin would be glad of her help, she +told Jimmy that she would stay for the day. Someone from the +Cross-Triangle, the Dean said, would take her home when she was +ready to go.</p> +<p>The afternoon was nearly gone when Curly returned from the lower +end of the valley with a woman who would relieve Mrs. Baldwin of +the housework, and, as her presence was no longer needed, Helen +told the Dean that she would return to the Reid home.</p> +<p>"I'll just tell Patches to take you over in the buckboard," said +the Dean. "It was mighty kind of you to give us a hand to-day; it's +been a big help to Stella and Kitty."</p> +<p>"Please don't bother about the buckboard, Mr. Baldwin. I would +enjoy the walk so much. But I would be glad if Mr. Patches could go +with me—I would really feel safer, you know," she smiled.</p> +<p>Mrs. Baldwin was sleeping and Kitty was watching beside Phil, so +the Dean himself went as far as the wash with Helen and Patches, as +the two set out for their walk across the meadows. When Helen had +said good-by to the Dean, with a promise to come again on the +morrow, and he had turned back toward the house, she said to her +companion, "Oh, Larry, I am so glad for this opportunity; I wanted +to see you alone, and I couldn't think how it was to be managed. I +have something to tell you, Larry, something that I <i>must</i> +tell you, and you must promise to be very patient with me."</p> +<p>"You know what happened this morning, do you?" he asked gravely, +for he thought from her words that she had, perhaps, chanced to +hear of some further action to be taken by the suspicious +cattlemen.</p> +<p>"It was terrible—terrible, Larry. Why didn't you tell them +who you are? Why did you let them—" she could not finish.</p> +<p>He laughed shortly. "It would have been such a sinful waste of +words. Can't you imagine me trying to make those men believe such a +fairy story—under such circumstances?"</p> +<p>For a little they walked in silence; then he asked, "Is it about +Jim Reid's suspicion that you wanted to see me, Helen?"</p> +<p>"No, Larry, it isn't. It's about Kitty," she answered.</p> +<p>"Oh!"</p> +<p>"Kitty told me all about it, to-day," Helen continued. "The poor +child is almost beside herself."</p> +<p>The man did not speak. Helen looked up at him almost as a mother +might have done.</p> +<p>"Do you love her so very much, Larry? Tell me truly, do +you?"</p> +<p>Patches could not—dared not—look at her.</p> +<p>"Tell me, Larry," she insisted gently. "I must know. Do you love +Kitty as a man ought to love his wife?"</p> +<p>The man answered in a voice that was low and shaking with +emotion. "Why should you ask me such a question? You know the +answer. What right have you to force me to tell you that which you +already know—that I love you—another man's wife?"</p> +<p>Helen's face went white. In her anxiety for Kitty she, had not +foreseen this situation in which, by her question, she had placed +herself.</p> +<p>"Larry!" she said sharply.</p> +<p>"Well," he retorted passionately, "you insisted that I tell you +the truth."</p> +<p>"I insisted that you tell me the truth about Kitty," she +returned.</p> +<p>"Well, you have it," he answered quickly.</p> +<p>"Oh, Larry," she cried, "how could you—how could you ask a +woman you do not love to be your wife? How could you do it, Larry? +And just when I was so proud of you; so glad for you that you had +found yourself; that you were such a splendid man!"</p> +<p>"Kitty and I are the best of friends," he answered in a dull, +spiritless tone, "the best of companions. In the past year I have +grown very fond of her—we have much in common. I can give her +the life she desires—the life she is fitted for. I will make +her happy; I will be true to her; I will be to her everything that +a man should be to his wife."</p> +<p>"No, Larry," she said gently, touched by the hopelessness in his +voice, for he had spoken as though he already knew that his attempt +to justify his engagement to Kitty was vain. "No, Larry, you cannot +be to Kitty everything that a man should be to his wife. You +cannot, without love, be a husband to her."</p> +<p>Again they walked in silence for a little way. Then Helen asked: +"And are you sure, Larry, that Kitty cares for you—as a woman +ought to care, I mean?"</p> +<p>"I could not have asked her to be my wife if I had not thought +so," he answered, with more spirit.</p> +<p>"Of course," returned his companion gently, "and Kitty could not +have answered, 'yes,' if she had not believed that you loved +her."</p> +<p>"Do you mean that you think Kitty does not care for me, +Helen?"</p> +<p>"I <i>know</i> that she loves Phil Acton, Larry. I saw it in her +face when we first learned that he was hurt. And to-day the poor +girl confessed it. She loved him all the time, Larry—has +loved him ever since they were boy and girl together. She has tried +to deny her heart—she has tried to put other things above her +love, but she knows now that she cannot. It is fortunate for you +both that she realized her love for Mr. Acton before she had +spoiled not only her own life but yours as well."</p> +<p>"But, how could she promise to be my wife when she loved Phil?" +he demanded.</p> +<p>"But, how could you ask her when you—" Helen retorted +quickly, without thinking of herself. Then she continued bravely, +putting herself aside in her effort to make him understand. "You +tempted her, Larry. You did not mean it so, perhaps, but you did. +You tempted her with your wealth—with all that you could give +her of material luxuries and ease and refinement. You tempted her +to substitute those things for love. I know, Larry—I know, +because you see, dear man, I was once tempted, too."</p> +<p>He made a gesture of protest, but she went on, "You did not +know, but I can tell you now that nothing but the memory of my dear +father's teaching saved me from a terrible mistake. You are a man +now, Larry. You are more to me than any man in the world, save one; +and more than any man in the world, save that one, I respect and +admire you for the manhood you have gained. But oh, Larry, Larry, +don't you see? <i>'When a man's a man'</i> there is one thing above +all others that he cannot do. He cannot take advantage of a woman's +weakness; he cannot tempt her beyond her strength; he must be +strong both for himself and her; he must save her always from +herself."</p> +<p>The man lifted his head and looked away toward Granite Mountain. +As once before this woman had aroused him to assert his manhood's +strength, she called now to all that was finest and truest in the +depth of his being.</p> +<p>"You are always right, Helen," he said, almost reverently.</p> +<p>"No, Larry," she answered quickly, "but you know that I am right +in this."</p> +<p>"I will free Kitty from her promise at once," he said, as though +to end the matter.</p> +<p>Helen answered quickly. "But that is exactly what you must not +do."</p> +<p>The man was bewildered. "Why, I thought—what in the world +do you mean?"</p> +<p>She laughed happily as she said, "Stupid Larry, don't you +understand? You must make Kitty send you about your business. You +must save her self-respect. Can't you see how ashamed and +humiliated she would be if she imagined for a moment that you did +not love her? Think what she would suffer if she knew that you had +merely tried to buy her with your wealth and the things you +possess!"</p> +<p>She disregarded his protest.</p> +<p>"That's exactly what your proposal meant, Larry. A girl like +Kitty, if she knew the truth of what she had done, might even fancy +herself unworthy to accept her happiness now that it has come. You +must make her dismiss you, and all that you could give her. You +must make her proud and happy to give herself to the man she +loves."</p> +<p>"But—what can I do?" he asked in desperation.</p> +<p>"I don't know, Larry. But you must manage somehow—for +Kitty's sake you <i>must</i>."</p> +<p>"If only the Dean had not interrupted the proceedings this +morning, how it would have simplified everything!" he mused, and +she saw that as always he was laughing at himself.</p> +<p>"Don't, Larry; please don't," she cried earnestly.</p> +<p>He looked at her curiously. "Would you have me lie to her, +Helen—deliberately lie?"</p> +<p>She answered quietly. "I don't think that I would raise that +question, if I were you, Larry—considering all the +circumstances."</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/326.png" width="50%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p>On his way back to the Cross-Triangle, Patches walked as a man +who, having determined upon a difficult and distasteful task, is of +a mind to undertake it without delay.</p> +<p>After supper that evening he managed to speak to Kitty when no +one was near.</p> +<p>"I must see you alone for a few minutes to-night," he whispered +hurriedly. "As soon as possible. I will be under the trees near the +bank of the wash. Come to me as soon as it is dark, and you can +slip away."</p> +<p>The young woman wondered at his manner. He was so hurried, and +appeared so nervous and unlike himself.</p> +<p>"But, Patches, I—"</p> +<p>"You must!" he interrupted with a quick look toward the Dean, +who was approaching them. "I have something to tell +you—something that I must tell you to-night."</p> +<p>He turned to speak to the Dean, and Kitty presently left them. +An hour later, when the night had come, she found him waiting as he +had said.</p> +<p>"Listen, Kitty!" he began abruptly, and she thought from his +manner and the tone of his voice that he was in a state of nervous +fear. "I must go; I dare not stay here another day; I am going +to-night."</p> +<p>"Why, Patches," she said, forcing herself to speak quietly in +order to calm him. "What is the matter?"</p> +<p>"Matter?" he returned hurriedly. "You know what they tried to do +to me this morning."</p> +<p>Kitty was shocked. It was true that she did not—could +not—care for this man as she loved Phil, but she had thought +him her dearest friend, and she respected and admired him. It was +not good to find him now like this—shaken and afraid. She +could not understand. For the moment her own trouble was put aside +by her honest concern for him.</p> +<p>"But, Patches," she said earnestly, "that is all past now; it +cannot happen again."</p> +<p>"You do not know," he returned, "or you would not feel so sure. +Phil might—" He checked himself as if he feared to finish the +sentence.</p> +<p>Kitty thought now that there must be more cause for his manner +than she had guessed.</p> +<p>"But you are not a cattle thief," she protested. "You have only +to explain who you are; no one would for a moment believe that +Lawrence Knight could be guilty of stealing; it's ridiculous on the +face of it!"</p> +<p>"You do not understand," he returned desperately. "There is more +in this than stealing."</p> +<p>Kitty started. "You don't mean, Patches—you can't +mean—Phil—" she gasped.</p> +<p>"Yes, I mean Phil," he whispered. "I—we were +quarreling—I was angry. My God! girl, don't you see why I +must go? I dare not stay. Listen, Kitty! It will be all right. Once +I am out of this country and living under my own name I will be +safe. Later you can come to me. You will come, won't you, dear? You +know how I want you; this need make no change in our plans. If you +love me you—"</p> +<p>She stopped him with a low cry. "And you—it was you who +did that?"</p> +<p>"But I tell you we were quarreling, Kitty," he protested +weakly.</p> +<p>"And you think that I could go to you now?" She was trembling +with indignation. "Oh, you are so mistaken. It seems that I was +mistaken, too. I never dreamed that +you—nothing—nothing, that you could ever do would make +me forget what you have told me. You are right to go."</p> +<p>"You mean that you will not come to me?" he faltered.</p> +<p>"Could you really think that I would?" she retorted.</p> +<p>"But, Kitty, you will let me go? You will not betray me? You +will give me a chance?"</p> +<p>"It is the only thing that I can do," she answered coldly. "I +should die of shame, if it were ever known that I had thought of +being more to you than I have been; but you must go to-night."</p> +<p>And with this she left him, fairly running toward the house.</p> +<p>Alone in the darkness, Honorable Patches smiled mockingly to +himself.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/329.png" width="50%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p>When morning came there was great excitement at the +Cross-Triangle Ranch. Patches was missing. And more, the best horse +in the Dean's outfit—the big bay with the blazed face, had +also disappeared.</p> +<p>Quickly the news spread throughout the valley, and to the +distant ranches. And many were the wise heads that nodded +understandingly; and many were the "I told you so's." The man who +had appeared among them so mysteriously, and who, for a year, had +been a never-failing topic of conversation, had finally established +his character beyond all question. But the cattlemen felt with +reason, because of the Dean's vigorous defense of the man when they +would have administered justice, that the matter was now in his +hands. They offered their services, and much advice; they quietly +joked about the price of horses; but the Dean laughed at their +jokes, listened to their advice, and said that he thought the +sheriff of Yavapai County could be trusted to handle the case.</p> +<p>To Helen only Kitty told of her last interview with Patches. And +Helen, shocked and surprised at the thoroughness with which the man +had brought about Kitty's freedom and peace of mind, bade the girl +forget and be happy.</p> +<p>When the crisis was passed, and Phil was out of danger, Kitty +returned to her home, but every day she and Helen drove across the +meadows to see how the patient was progressing. Then one day Helen +said good-by to her Williamson Valley friends, and went with +Stanford to the home he had prepared for her. And after that Kitty +spent still more of her time at the house across the wash from the +old Acton homestead.</p> +<p>It was during those weeks of Phil's recovery, while he was +slowly regaining his full measure of health and strength, that +Kitty learned to know the cowboy in a way that she had never +permitted herself to know him before. Little by little, as they sat +together under the walnut trees, or walked slowly about the place, +the young woman came to understand the mind of the man. As Phil +shyly at first, then more freely, opened the doors of his inner +self and talked to her as he had talked to Patches of the books he +had read; of his observations and thoughts of nature, and of the +great world movements and activities that by magazines and books +and papers were brought to his hand, she learned to her surprise +that even as he lived amid the scenes that called for the highest +type of physical strength and courage, he lived an intellectual +life that was as marked for its strength and manly vigor.</p> +<p>But while they came thus daily into more intimate and closer +companionship they spoke to no one of their love. Kitty, knowing +how her father would look upon her engagement to the cowboy, put +off the announcement from time to time, not wishing their happy +companionship to be marred during those days of Phil's +recovery.</p> +<p>When he was strong enough to ride again, Kitty would come with +Midnight, and together they would roam about the ranch and the +country near by. So it happened that Sunday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. +Reid, with the three boys, were making a neighborly call on the +Baldwins, and Phil and Kitty were riding in the vicinity of the +spot where Kitty had first met Patches.</p> +<p>They were seated in the shade of a cedar on the ridge not far +from the drift fence gate, when Phil saw three horsemen approaching +from the further side of the fence. By the time the horsemen had +reached the gate, Phil knew them to be Yavapai Joe, Nick Cambert +and Honorable Patches. Kitty, too, had, by this time, recognized +the riders, and with an exclamation started to rise to her +feet.</p> +<p>But Phil said quietly, "Wait, Kitty; there's something about +that outfit that looks mighty queer to me."</p> +<p>The men were riding in single file, with Yavapai Joe in the lead +and Patches last, and their positions were not changed when they +halted while Joe, without dismounting, unlatched the gate. They +came through the opening, still in the same order, and as they +halted again, while Patches closed the gate, Phil saw what it was +that caused them to move with such apparent lack of freedom in +their relative positions, and why Nick Cambert's attitude in the +saddle was so stiff and unnatural. Nick's hands were secured behind +his back, and his feet were tied under the horse from stirrup to +stirrup, while his horse was controlled by a lead rope, one end of +which was made fast to Yavapai Joe's saddle horn.</p> +<p>Patches caught sight of the two under the tree as he came +through the gate, but he gave no sign that he had noticed them. As +the little procession moved slowly nearer, Phil and Kitty looked at +each other without a word, but as they turned again to watch the +approaching horsemen, Kitty impulsively grasped Phil's arm. And +sitting so, in such unconscious intimacy, they must have made a +pleasing picture; at least the man who rode behind Nick Cambert +seemed to think so, for he was trying to smile.</p> +<p>When the riders were almost within speaking distance of the pair +under the tree, they stopped; and the watchers saw Joe turn his +face toward Patches for a moment, then look in their direction. +Nick Cambert did not raise his head. Patches came on toward them +alone.</p> +<p>As they saw that it was the man's purpose to speak to them, Phil +and Kitty rose and stood waiting, Kitty with her hand still on her +companion's arm. And now, as they were given a closer and less +obstructed view of the man who had been their friend, Kitty and +Phil again exchanged wondering glances. This was not the Honorable +Patches whom they had known so intimately. The man's clothing was +soiled with dirt, and old from rough usage, with here and there a +ragged tear. His tall form drooped with weariness, and his unshaven +face, dark and deeply tanned, and grimed with sweat and dirt, was +thin and drawn and old, and his tired eyes, deep set in their dark +hollows, were bloodshot as though from sleepless nights. His dry +lips parted in a painful smile, as he dismounted stiffly and limped +courteously forward to greet them.</p> +<p>"I know that I am scarcely presentable," he said in a voice that +was as worn and old as his face, "but I could not resist the +temptation to say 'Howdy'. Perhaps I should introduce myself +though," he added, as if to save them from embarrassment. "My name +is Lawrence Knight; I am a deputy sheriff of this county." A slight +movement as he spoke threw back his unbuttoned jumper, and they saw +the badge of his office. "In my official capacity I am taking a +prisoner to Prescott."</p> +<p>Phil recovered first, and caught the officer's hand in a grip +that told more than words.</p> +<p>Kitty nearly betrayed her secret when she gasped, "But +you—you said that you—"</p> +<p>With his ready skill he saved her, "That my name was Patches? I +know it was wrong to deceive you as I did, and I regret that it was +necessary for me to lie so deliberately, but the situation seemed +to demand it. And I hoped that when you understood you would +forgive the part I was forced to play for the good of everyone +interested."</p> +<p>Kitty understood the meaning in his words that was unknown to +Phil, and her eyes expressed the gratitude that she could not +speak.</p> +<p>"By the way," Patches continued, "I am not mistaken in offering +my congratulations and best wishes, am I?"</p> +<p>They laughed happily.</p> +<p>"We have made no announcement yet," Phil answered, "but you seem +to know everything."</p> +<p>"I feel like saying from the bottom of my heart 'God bless you, +my children.' You make me feel strangely old," he returned, with a +touch of his old wistfulness. Then he added in his droll way, +"Perhaps, though, it's from living in the open and sleeping in my +clothes so long. Talk about horses, I'd give my kingdom for a bath, +a shave and a clean shirt. I had begun to think that our old friend +Nick never would brand another calf; that he had reformed, just to +get even with me, you know. By the way, Phil, you will be +interested to know that Nick is the man who is really responsible +for your happiness."</p> +<p>"How?" demanded Phil.</p> +<p>"Why, it was Nick who fired the shot that brought Kitty to her +senses. My partner there, Yavapai Joe, saw him do it. If you people +would like to thank my prisoner, I will permit it."</p> +<p>When they had decided that they would deny themselves that +pleasure, Patches said, "I don't blame you; he's a surly, +ill-tempered beast, anyway. Which reminds me that I must be about +my official business, and land him in Prescott to-night. I am going +to stop at the ranch and ask the Dean for the team and buckboard, +though," he added, as he climbed painfully into the saddle. "Adios! +my children. Don't stay out too late."</p> +<p>Hand in hand they watched him rejoin his companions and ride +away behind the two Tailholt Mountain men.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/334.png" width="20%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p>The Dean and Mrs. Baldwin, with their friends from the +neighboring ranch, were enjoying their Sunday afternoon together as +old friends will, when the three Reid boys and Little Billy came +running from the corral where they had been holding an amateur +bronco riding contest with a calf for the wild and wicked outlaw. +As they ran toward the group under the walnut trees, the lads +disturbed the peaceful conversation of their elders with wild +shouts of "Patches has come back! Patches has come back! Nick +Cambert is with him—so's Yavapai Joe!"</p> +<p>Jim Reid sprang to his feet. But the Dean calmly kept his seat, +and glancing up at his big friend with twinkling eyes, said to the +boys, with pretended gruffness, "Aw, what's the matter with you +kids? Don't you know that horse thief Patches wouldn't dare show +himself in Williamson Valley again? You're havin' bad +dreams—that's what's the matter with you. Or else you're +tryin' to scare us."</p> +<p>"Honest, it's Patches, Uncle Will," cried Littly Billy.</p> +<p>"We seen him comin' from over beyond the corral," said +Jimmy.</p> +<p>"I saw him first," shouted Conny. "I was up in the grand +stand—I mean on the fence."</p> +<p>"Me, too," chirped Jack.</p> +<p>Jim Reid stood looking toward the corral. "The boys are right, +Will," he said in a low tone. "There they come now."</p> +<p>As the three horsemen rode into the yard, and the watchers noted +the peculiarity of their companionship, Jim Reid muttered something +under his breath. But the Dean, as he rose leisurely to his feet, +was smiling broadly.</p> +<p>The little procession halted when the horses evidenced their +dislike of the automobile, and Patches came stiffly forward on +foot. Lifting his battered hat courteously to the company, he said +to the Dean, "I have returned your horse, sir. I'm very much +obliged to you. I think you will find him in fairly good +condition."</p> +<p>Jim Reid repeated whatever it was that he had muttered to +himself.</p> +<p>The Dean chuckled. "Jim," he said to the big cattleman, "I want +to introduce my friend, Mr. Lawrence Knight, one of Sheriff +Gordon's deputies. It looks like he had been busy over in the +Tailholt Mountain neighborhood."</p> +<p>The two men shook hands silently. Mrs. Reid greeted the officer +cordially, while Mrs. Baldwin, to the Dean's great delight, +demonstrated her welcome in the good old-fashioned mother way.</p> +<p>"Will Baldwin, I could shake you," she cried, as Patches stood, +a little confused by her impulsive greeting. "Here you knew all the +time; and you kept pesterin' me by trying to make me believe that +you thought he had run away because he was a thief!"</p> +<p>It was, perhaps, the proudest moment of the Dean's life when he +admitted that Patches had confided in him that morning when they +were so late to breakfast. And how he had understood that the man's +disappearance and the pretense of stealing a horse had been only a +blind. The good Dean never dreamed that there was so much more in +Honorable Patches' strategy than he knew!</p> +<p>"Mr. Baldwin," said Patches presently, "could you let me have +the team and buckboard? I want to get my prisoners to Prescott +to-night, and"—he laughed shortly—"well, I certainly +would appreciate those cushions."</p> +<p>"Sure, son, you can have the whole Cross-Triangle outfit, if you +want it," answered the Dean. "But hold on a minute." He turned with +twinkling eyes to his neighbor. "Here's Jim with a perfectly good +automobile that don't seem to be busy."</p> +<p>The big man responded cordially. "Why, of course; I'll be glad +to take you in."</p> +<p>"Thank you," returned Patches. "I'll be ready in a minute."</p> +<p>"But you're goin' to have something to eat first," cried Mrs. +Baldwin. "I'll bet you're half starved; you sure look it."</p> +<p>Patches shook his head. "Don't tempt me, mother; I can't stop +now."</p> +<p>"But you'll come back home to-night, won't you?" she asked +anxiously.</p> +<p>"I would like to," he said. "And may I bring a friend?"</p> +<p>"Your friends are our friends, son," she answered.</p> +<p>"Of course he's comin' back," said the Dean. "Where else would +he go, I'd like to know?"</p> +<p>They watched him as he went to his prisoner, and as, unlocking +the handcuff that held Nick's right wrist, he re-locked it on his +own left arm, thus linking his prisoner securely to himself. Then +he spoke to Joe, and the young man, dismounting, unfastened the +rope that bound Nick's feet. When Nick was on the ground the three +came toward the machine.</p> +<p>"I am afraid I must ask you to let someone take care of the +horses," called Patches to the Dean.</p> +<p>"I'll look after them," the Dean returned. "Don't forget now +that you're comin' back to-night; Jim will bring you."</p> +<p>Jim Reid, as the three men reached the automobile, said to +Patches, "Will you take both of your prisoners in the back seat +with you, or shall I take one of them in front with me?"</p> +<p>Patches looked the big man straight in the eyes, and they heard +him answer with significant emphasis, as he placed his free hand on +Yavapai Joe's shoulder, "I have only one prisoner, Mr. Reid. This +man is my friend. He will take whatever seat he prefers."</p> +<p>Yavapai Joe climbed into the rear seat with the officer and his +prisoner.</p> +<p>It was after dark when Mr. Reid returned to the ranch with +Patches and Joe.</p> +<p>"You will find your room all ready, son," said Mrs. Baldwin, +"and there's plenty of hot water in the bathroom tank for you both. +Joe can take the extra bed in Curly's room. You show him. I'll have +your supper as soon as you are ready."</p> +<p>Patches almost fell asleep at the table. As soon as they had +finished he went to his bed, where he remained, as Phil reported at +intervals during the next forenoon, "dead to the world," until +dinner time. In the afternoon they gathered under the walnut +trees—the Cross-Triangle household and the friends from the +neighboring ranch—and Patches told them his story; how, when +he had left the ranch that night, he had ridden straight to his old +friend Stanford Manning; and how Stanford had gone with him to the +sheriff, where, through Manning's influence, together with the +letter which Patches had brought from the Dean, he had been made an +officer of the law. As he told them briefly of his days and nights +alone, they needed no minute details to understand what it had +meant to him.</p> +<p>"It wasn't the work of catching Nick in a way to ensure his +conviction that I minded," he said, "but the trouble was, that +while I was watching Nick day and night, and dodging him all the +time, I was afraid some enthusiastic cow-puncher would run on to me +and treat himself to a shot just for luck. Not that I would have +minded that so much, either, after the first week," he added in his +droll way, "but considering all the circumstances it would have +been rather a poor sort of finish."</p> +<p>"And what about Yavapai Joe?" asked Phil.</p> +<p>Patches smiled. "Where is Joe? What's he been doing all +day?"</p> +<p>The Dean answered. "He's just been moseyin' around. I tried to +get him to talk, but all he would say was that he'd rather let Mr. +Knight tell it."</p> +<p>"Billy," said Patches, "will you find Yavapai Joe, and tell him +that I would like to see him here?"</p> +<p>When Little Billy, with the assistance of Jimmy and Conny and +Jack, had gone proudly on his mission, Patches said to the others, +"Technically, of course, Joe is my prisoner until after the trial, +but please don't let him feel it. He will be the principal witness +for the state."</p> +<p>When Yavapai Joe appeared, embarrassed and ashamed in their +presence, Patches said, as courteously as he would have introduced +an equal, "Joe, I want my friends to know your real name. There is +no better place in the world than right here to start that job of +man-making that we have talked about. You remember that I told you +how I started here."</p> +<p>Yavapai Joe lifted his head and stood straighter by his tall +friend's side, and there was a new note in his voice as he +answered, "Whatever you say goes, Mr. Knight."</p> +<p>Patches smiled. "Friends, this is Mr. Joseph Parkhill, the only +son of the distinguished Professor Parkhill, whom you all know so +well."</p> +<p>If Patches had planned to enjoy the surprise his words caused, +he could not have been disappointed.</p> +<p>Presently, when Joe had slipped away again, Patches told them +how, because of his interest in the young man, and because of the +lad's strange knowledge of Professor Parkhill, he had written east +for the distinguished scholar's history.</p> +<p>"The professor himself was not really so much to blame," said +Patches. "It seems that he was born to an intellectual life. The +poor fellow never had a chance. Even as a child he was exhibited as +a prodigy—a shining example of the possibilities of the race, +you know. His father, who was also a professor of some sort, died +when he was a baby. His mother, unfortunately, possessed an income +sufficient to make it unnecessary that Everard Charles should ever +do a day's real work. At the age of twenty, he was graduated from +college; at the age of twenty-one he was married to—or +perhaps it would be more accurate to say—he was married +<i>by</i>—his landlady's daughter. Quite likely the woman was +ambitious to break into that higher life to which the professor +aspired, and caught her cultured opportunity in an unguarded +moment. The details are not clear. But when their only child, Joe, +was six years old, the mother ran away with a carpenter who had +been at work on the house for some six weeks. A maiden aunt of some +fifty years, who was a worshiper of the professor's cult, came to +keep his house and to train Joe in the way that good boys should +go.</p> +<p>"But the lad proved rather too great a burden, and when he was +thirteen they sent him to a school out here in the West, ostensibly +for the benefit of the climate. The boy, it was said, being of +abnormal mentality, needed to pursue his studies under the most +favorable physical conditions. The professor, unhampered by his +offspring, continued to climb his aesthetic ladder to intellectual +and cultured glory. The boy in due time escaped from the school, +and was educated by the man Dryden and Nick Cambert."</p> +<p>"And what will become of him now?" asked the Dean.</p> +<p>Patches smiled. "Why, the lad is twenty-one now, and we have +agreed that it is about time that he began to make a man of +himself—I can help him a little, perhaps—I have been +trying occasionally the past year. But you see the conditions have +not been altogether favorable to the experiment. It should be easy +from now on."</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/342.png" width="20%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p>During the time that intervened before the trial of the Tailholt +Mountain man, Phil and Patches re-established that intimate +friendship of those first months of their work together. Then came +the evening when Phil went across the meadow to ask Jim Reid for +his daughter.</p> +<p>The big cattleman looked at his young neighbor with frowning +disapproval.</p> +<p>"It won't do, Phil," he said at last. "I'm Kitty's father, and +it's up to me to look out for her interests. You know how I've +educated her for something better than this life. She may think now +that she is willin' to throw it all away, but I know better. The +time would come when she would be miserable. It's got to be +somethin' more than a common cow-puncher for Kitty, Phil, and +that's the truth."</p> +<p>The cowboy did not argue. "Do I understand that your only +objection is based upon the business in which I am engaged?" he +asked coolly.</p> +<p>Jim laughed. "The <i>business</i> in which you are engaged? Why, +boy, you sound like a first national bank. If you had any business +of your own—if you was the owner of an outfit, an' could give +Kitty the—well—the things her education has taught her +to need, it would be different. I know you're a fine man, all +right, but you're only a poor cow-puncher just the same. I'm +speakin' for your own good, Phil, as well as for Kitty's," he +added, with an effort at kindliness.</p> +<p>"Then, if I had a good business, it would be different?"</p> +<p>"Yes, son, it would sure make all the difference in the +world."</p> +<p>"Thank you," said the cowboy quietly, as he handed Mr. Reid a +very legal looking envelope. "I happen to be half owner of this +ranch and outfit. With my own property, it makes a fairly good +start for a man of my age. My partner, Mr. Lawrence Knight, leaves +the active management wholly in my hands; and he has abundant +capital to increase our holdings and enlarge our operations just as +fast as we can handle the business."</p> +<p>The big man looked from the papers to the lad, then back to the +papers. Then a broad smile lighted his heavy face, as he said, "I +give it up—you win. You young fellers are too swift for me. +I've been wantin' to retire anyway." He raised his voice and +called, "Kitty—oh, Kitty!"</p> +<p>The girl appeared in the doorway.</p> +<p>"Come and get him," said Reid. "I guess he's yours."</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/343.png" width="20%" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p>Helen Manning was sitting on the front porch of that little +cottage on the mountain side where she and Stanford began their +years of home-building. A half mile below she could see the mining +buildings that were grouped about the shaft in picturesque +disorder. Above, the tree-clad ridge rose against the sky. It was +too far from the great world of cities, some would have said, but +Helen did not find it so. With her books and her music, and the +great out-of-doors; and with the companionship of her mate and the +dreams they dreamed together, her woman heart was never lonely.</p> +<p>She lowered the book she was reading, and looked through the +open window to the clock in the living-room. A little while, and +she would go down the hill to Stanford, for they loved to walk home +together. Then, before lifting the printed page again, she looked +over the wide view of rugged mountain sides and towering peaks that +every day held for her some new beauty. She had resumed her reading +when the sound of horses' feet attracted her attention.</p> +<p>Patches and Yavapai Joe were riding up the hill.</p> +<p>They stopped at the gate, and while Joe held Stranger's bridle +rein, Patches came to Helen as she stood on the porch waiting to +receive him.</p> +<p>"Surely you will stay for the night," she urged when they had +exchanged greetings, and had talked for a little while.</p> +<p>"No," he answered quietly. "I just came this way to say good-by; +I stopped for a few minutes with Stan at the office. He said I +would find you here."</p> +<p>"But where are you going?" she asked.</p> +<p>Smiling he waved his hand toward the mountain ridge above. "Just +over the sky line, Helen."</p> +<p>"But, Larry, you will come again? You won't let us lose you +altogether?"</p> +<p>"Perhaps—some day," he said.</p> +<p>"And who is that with you?"</p> +<p>"Just a friend who cares to go with me. Stan will tell you."</p> +<p>"Oh, Larry, Larry! What a man you are!" she cried proudly, as he +stood before her holding out his hand.</p> +<p>"If you think so, Helen, I am glad," he answered, and turned +away.</p> +<p>So she watched him go. Sitting there at home, she watched him +ride up the winding road. Now he was in full view on some rocky +shoulder of the mountain—now some turn carried him behind a +rocky point—again she glimpsed him through the +trees—again he was lost to her in the shadows. At last, for a +moment, he stood out boldly against the wide-arched sky—and +then he had passed from sight—over the sky line, as he had +said.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><br /> +<img src="images/345.png" width="60%" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14367 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/14367-h/images/001.png b/14367-h/images/001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ebc8fc --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/001.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/006.png b/14367-h/images/006.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c3dcb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/006.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/007.png b/14367-h/images/007.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee72415 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/007.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/008.png b/14367-h/images/008.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e67cd31 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/008.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/009.png b/14367-h/images/009.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8713d7e --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/009.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/020.png b/14367-h/images/020.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d34a98 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/020.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/031.png b/14367-h/images/031.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ca7561 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/031.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/032.png b/14367-h/images/032.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f39b75 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/032.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/043.png b/14367-h/images/043.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fdae124 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/043.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/044.png b/14367-h/images/044.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b91105 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/044.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/077.png b/14367-h/images/077.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..05795bb --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/077.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/078.png b/14367-h/images/078.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3c1e87 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/078.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/087.png b/14367-h/images/087.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..948fa6f --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/087.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/088.png b/14367-h/images/088.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1b014fa --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/088.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/111.png b/14367-h/images/111.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e492a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/111.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/112.png b/14367-h/images/112.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..988fbca --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/112.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/129.png b/14367-h/images/129.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..21e8736 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/129.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/130.png b/14367-h/images/130.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e6caef --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/130.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/137a.png b/14367-h/images/137a.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..81ce969 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/137a.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/137b.png b/14367-h/images/137b.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f45516a --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/137b.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/138a.png b/14367-h/images/138a.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d6c87f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/138a.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/138b.png b/14367-h/images/138b.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9fc6d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/138b.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/155.png b/14367-h/images/155.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6454017 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/155.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/156.png b/14367-h/images/156.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..105990f --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/156.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/168.png b/14367-h/images/168.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..13c1a08 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/168.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/177.png b/14367-h/images/177.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3cf2ce --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/177.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/178.png b/14367-h/images/178.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb7c8f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/178.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/181.png b/14367-h/images/181.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a18b0f --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/181.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/193.png b/14367-h/images/193.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..609008a --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/193.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/194.png b/14367-h/images/194.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..71fbeb5 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/194.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/235.png b/14367-h/images/235.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1ac0fb --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/235.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/236.png b/14367-h/images/236.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7788c50 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/236.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/255.png b/14367-h/images/255.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fa57315 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/255.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/257.png b/14367-h/images/257.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2e1702 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/257.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/258.png b/14367-h/images/258.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..99edf44 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/258.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/277.png b/14367-h/images/277.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9830014 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/277.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/278.png b/14367-h/images/278.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..105badb --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/278.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/294.png b/14367-h/images/294.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad38056 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/294.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/307.png b/14367-h/images/307.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cee9280 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/307.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/313.png b/14367-h/images/313.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f8b6be6 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/313.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/319.png b/14367-h/images/319.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6dba029 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/319.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/320.png b/14367-h/images/320.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c76027 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/320.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/326.png b/14367-h/images/326.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7698982 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/326.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/329.png b/14367-h/images/329.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5984b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/329.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/334.png b/14367-h/images/334.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..84a8645 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/334.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/342.png b/14367-h/images/342.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b27faaa --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/342.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/343.png b/14367-h/images/343.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..af295ea --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/343.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/345.png b/14367-h/images/345.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..459a2a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/345.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_01.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_01.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c936690 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_01.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_02.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_02.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c69b41 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_02.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_03.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_03.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5715917 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_03.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_04.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_04.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..11f8f7c --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_04.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_05.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_05.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5e6714 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_05.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_06.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_06.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..748e122 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_06.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_07.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_07.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3fd57b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_07.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_08.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_08.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..51e64be --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_08.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_09.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_09.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0cabefd --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_09.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_10.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_10.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b37f82 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_10.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_11.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_11.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..85a1e53 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_11.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_12.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_12.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..52651b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_12.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_13.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_13.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..75d9199 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_13.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_14.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_14.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..50698ef --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_14.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_15.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_15.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3442b51 --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_15.png diff --git a/14367-h/images/chapter_16.png b/14367-h/images/chapter_16.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..48b8bbc --- /dev/null +++ b/14367-h/images/chapter_16.png |
