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diff --git a/15502.txt b/15502.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58380fb --- /dev/null +++ b/15502.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9520 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Desert Valley, by Jackson Gregory + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Desert Valley + + +Author: Jackson Gregory + +Release Date: March 30, 2005 [eBook #15502] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DESERT VALLEY*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +THE DESERT VALLEY + +by + +JACKSON GREGORY + +Author of _The Bells of San Juan_, _Man to Man_ + +Hodder and Stoughton Limited London +Charles Scribner's Sons + +1921 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + THE DESERT + I A BLUEBIRD'S FEATHER + II SUPERSTITION POOL + III PAYMENT IN RAW GOLD + IV IN DESERT VALLEY + V THE GOOD OLD SPORT + VI THE YOUTHFUL HEART + VII WAITING FOR MOONRISE + VIII POKER AND THE SCIENTIFIC MIND + IX HELEN KNEW + X A WARNING AND A SIGN + XI SEEKING + XII THE DESERT SUPREME + XIII A SON OF THE SOLITUDES + XIV THE HATE OF THE HIDDEN PEOPLE + XV THE GOLDEN SECRET + XVI SANCHIA SCHEMES + XVII HOWARD HOLDS THE GULCH + XVIII A TOWN IS BORN + XIX SANCHIA PERSISTENT + XX TWO FRIENDS AND A GIRL + XXI ALMOST + XXII THE PROFESSOR DICTATES + XXIII THE WILL-O'-THE-WISP + XXIV THE SHADOW + XXV IN THE OPEN + XXVI WHEN DAY DAWNED + + + + +The Desert + +Over many wide regions of the south-western desert country of Arizona +and New Mexico lies an eternal spell of silence and mystery. Across +the sand-ridges come many foreign things, both animate and inanimate, +which are engulfed in its immensity, which frequently disappear for all +time from the sight of men, blotted out like a bird which flies free +from a lighted room into the outside darkness. As though in +compensation for that which it has taken, the desert from time to time +allows new marvels, riven from its vitals, to emerge. + +Though death-still, it has a voice which calls ceaselessly to those +human hearts tuned to its messages: hostile and harsh, it draws and +urges; repellent, it profligately awards health and wealth; inviting, +it kills. And always it keeps its own counsel; it is without peer in +its lonesomeness, and without confidants; it heaps its sand over its +secrets to hide them from its flashing stars. + +You see the bobbing ears of a pack-animal and the dusty hat and stoop +shoulders of a man. They are symbols of mystery. They rise briefly +against the skyline, they are gone into the grey distance. Something +beckons or something drives. They are lost to human sight, perhaps to +human memory, like a couple of chips drifting out into the ocean. +Patient time may witness their return; it is still likely that soon +another incarnation will have closed for man and beast, that they will +have left to mark their passing a few glisteningly white bones, +polished untiringly by tiny sand-chisels in the grip of the desert +winds. They may find gold, but they may not come in time to water. +The desert is equally conversant with the actions of men mad with gold +and mad with thirst. + +To push out along into this immensity is to evince the heart of a brave +man or the brain of a fool. The endeavour to traverse the forbidden +garden of silence implies on the part of the agent an adventurous +nature. Hence it would seem no great task to catalogue those human +beings who set their backs to the gentler world and press forward into +the naked embrace of this merciless land. Yet as many sorts and +conditions come here each year as are to be found outside. + +Silence, ruthlessness, mystery--these are the attributes of the desert. +True, it has its softer phases--veiled dawns and dusks, rainbow hues, +moon and stars. But these are but tender blossoms from a spiked, +poisonous stalk, like the flowers of the cactus. They are brief and +evanescent; the iron parent is everlasting. + + + + +Chapter I + +A Bluebird's Feather + +In the dusk a pack-horse crested a low-lying sand-ridge, put up its +head and sniffed, pushed forward eagerly, its nostrils twitching as it +turned a little more toward the north, going straight toward the +water-hole. The pack was slipping as far to one side as it had listed +to the other half an hour ago; in the restraining rope there were a +dozen intricate knots where one would have amply sufficed. The horse +broke into a trot, blazing its own trail through the mesquite; a parcel +slipped; the slack rope grew slacker because of the subsequent +readjustment; half a dozen bundles dropped after the first. A voice, +thin and irritable, shouted 'Whoa!' and the man in turn was briefly +outlined against the pale sky as he scrambled up the ridge. He was a +little man and plainly weary; he walked as though his boots hurt him; +he carried a wide, new hat in one hand; the skin was peeling from his +blistered face. From his other hand trailed a big handkerchief. He +was perhaps fifty or sixty. He called 'Whoa!' again, and made what +haste he could after his horse. + +A moment later a second horse appeared against the sky, following the +man, topping the ridge, passing on. In silhouette it appeared no +normal animal but some weird monstrosity, a misshapen body covered +everywhere with odd wart-like excrescences. Close by, these unique +growths resolved themselves into at least a score of canteens and +water-bottles of many shapes and sizes, strung together with bits of +rope. Undoubtedly the hand which had tied the other knots had +constructed these. This horse in turn sniffed and went forward with a +quickened pace. + +Finally came the fourth figure of the procession. This was a girl. +Like the man, she was booted; like him, she carried a broad hat in her +hand. Here the similarity ended. She wore an outdoor costume, a +little thing appropriate enough for her environment. And yet it was +peculiarly appropriate to femininity. It disclosed the pleasing lines +of a pretty figure. Her fatigue seemed less than the man's. Her youth +was pronounced, assertive. She alone of the four paused more than an +instant upon the slight eminence; she put back her head and looked up +at the few stars that were shining; she listened to the hushed voice of +the desert. She drew a scarf away from her neck and let the cooling +air breathe upon her throat. The throat was round; no doubt it was +soft and white, and, like her whole small self, seductively feminine. + +Having communed with the night, the girl withdrew her gaze from the sky +and hearkened to her companion. His voice, now remarkably eager and +young for a man of his years, came to her clearly through the clumps of +bushes. + +'It is amazing, my dear! Positively. You never heard of such a thing. +The horse, the tall, slender one, ran away, from me. I hastened in +pursuit, calling to him to wait for me. It appeared that he had become +suddenly refractory: they do that sometimes. I was going to reprimand +him; I thought that it might be necessary to chastise him, as sometimes +a man must do to retain the mastery. But I stayed my hand. The animal +had not run away at all! He actually knew what he was doing. He came +straight here. And what do you think he discovered? What do you +imagine brought him? You would never guess.' + +'Water?' suggested the girl, coming on. + +Something of the man's excitement had gone from his voice when he +answered. He was like a child who has propounded a riddle that has +been too readily guessed. + +'How did you know?' + +'I didn't know. But the horses must be thirsty. Of course they would +go straight to water. Animals can smell it, can't they?' + +'Can they?' He looked to her inquiringly when she stood at his side. +'It is amazing, nevertheless. Positively, my dear,' he added with a +touch of dignity. + +The two horses, side by side, were drinking noisily from a small +depression into which the water oozed slowly. The girl watched them a +moment abstractedly, sighed and sat down in the sand, her hands in her +lap. + +'Tired, Helen?' asked the man solicitously. + +'Aren't you?' she returned. 'It has been a hard day, papa.' + +'I am afraid it has been hard on you, my dear,' he admitted, as his +eyes took stock of the drooping figure. 'But,' he added more +cheerfully, 'we are getting somewhere, my girl; we are getting +somewhere.' + +'Are we?' she murmured to herself rather than for his ears. And when +he demanded 'Eh?' she said hastily: 'Anyway, we are doing something. +That is more fun than growing moss, even if we never succeed.' + +'I tell you,' he declared forensically, lifting his hand for a gesture, +'I know! Haven't I demonstrated the infallibility of my line of +action? If a man wants to--to gather cherries, let him go to a cherry +tree; if he seeks pearls, let him find out the favourite habitat of the +pearl oyster; if he desires a--a hat, let him go to the hatter's. It +is the simplest thing in the world, though fools have woven mystery and +difficulty about it. Now----' + +'Yes, pops.' Helen sighed again and saw wisdom in rising to her feet. +'If you will begin unpacking I'll make our beds. And I'll get the fire +started.' + +'We can dispense with the fire,' he told her, setting to work with the +first knot to come under his fingers. 'There is coffee in the thermos +bottle and we can open a tin of potted chicken.' + +'The fire makes it cosier,' Helen said, beginning to gather twigs. +Last night coyotes had howled fearsomely, and even dwellers of the +cities know that the surest safeguard against a ravening beast is a +camp-fire. For a little while the man strove with his tangled rope; +she was lost to him through the mesquite. Suddenly she came running +back. + +'Papa,' she whispered excitedly. 'There's some one already here.' + +She led him a few paces and pointed, making him stoop to see. Under +the tangle of a thin brush patch he made out what she had seen. But a +short distance from the spot they had elected for their camp site was a +tiny fire blazing merrily. + +'Ahem,' said Helen's father, shifting nervously and looking at his +daughter as though for an explanation of this oddity. 'This is +peculiar. It has an air of--of----' + +'Why, it is the most natural thing in the world,' she said swiftly. +'Where would you expect to find a camp-fire if not near a spring?' + +'Yes, yes, that part of it is all right,' he admitted grudgingly. 'But +why does he hold back and thereby give one an impression of a desire on +his part for secrecy? Why does he not come forward and make himself +known? I do not mean to alarm you, my dear, but this is not the way an +honest fellow-wayfarer should behave. Wait here for me; I shall +investigate.' Intrepidly he walked toward the fire. Helen kept close +to his side. + +'Hello!' he called, when they had taken a dozen steps. They paused and +listened. There was no reply, and Helen's fingers tightened on his +arm. Again he looked to her as though once more he asked the +explanation of her; the look hinted that upon occasion the father +leaned on the daughter more than she on him. He called again. His +voice died away echoless, the silence seeming heavier than before. +When one of the horses behind them, turning from the water, trod upon a +dry twig, both man and girl started. Then Helen laughed and went +forward again. + +Since the fire had not lighted itself, it merely bespoke the presence +of a man. Men had no terror to her. In the ripe fullness of her +something less than twenty years she had encountered many of them. +While with due modesty she admitted that there was much in the world +that she did not know, she considered that she 'knew' men. + +The two pressed on together. Before they had gone far they were +greeted by the familiar and vaguely comforting odours of boiling coffee +and frying bacon. Still they saw no one. They pushed through the last +clump of bushes and stood by the fire. On the coals was the black +coffee-pot. Cunningly placed upon two stones over a bed of coals was +the frying-pan. Helen stooped instinctively and lifted it aside; the +half-dozen slices of bacon were burned black. + +'Hello!' shouted the man a third time, for nothing in the world was +more clear than that whoever had made the fire and begun his supper +preparations must be within call. But no answer came. Meantime the +night had deepened; there was no moon; the taller shrubs, aspiring to +tree proportions, made a tangle of shadow. + +'He has probably gone off to picket his horse,' said Helen's father. +'Nothing could be more natural.' + +Helen, more matter-of-fact and less given to theorizing, looked about +her curiously. She found a tin cup; there was no bed, no pack, no +other sign to tell who their neighbour might be. Close by the spot +where she had set down the frying-pan she noted a second spring. +Through an open space in the stunted desert growth the trail came in +from the north. Glancing northward she saw for the first time the +outline of a low hill. She stepped quickly to her father's side and +once more laid her hand on his arm. + +'What is it?' he asked, his voice sharpening at her sudden grip. + +'It's--it's spooky out here,' she said. + +He scoffed. 'That's a silly word. In a natural world there is no +place for the supernatural.' He grew testy. 'Can I ever teach you, +Helen, not to employ words utterly meaningless?' + +But Helen was not to be shaken. + +'Just the same, it is spooky. I can feel it. Look there.' She +pointed. 'There is a hill. There will be a little ring of hills. In +the centre of the basin they make would be the pool. And you know what +we heard about it before we left San Juan. This whole country is +strange, somehow.' + +'Strange?' he queried challengingly. 'What do you mean?' + +She had not relaxed her hand on his arm. Instead, her fingers +tightened as she suddenly put her face forward and whispered defiantly: + +'I mean _spooky_!' + +'Helen,' he expostulated, 'where did you get such ideas?' + +'You heard the old Indian legends,' she insisted, not more than half +frightened but conscious of an eerie influence of the still loneliness +and experiencing the first shiver of excitement as she stirred her own +fancy. 'Who knows but there is some foundation for them?' + +He snorted his disdain and scholarly contempt. + +'Then,' said Helen, resorting to argument, 'where did that fire come +from? Who made it? Why has he disappeared like this?' + +'Even you,' said her father, quick as always to join issue where sound +argument offered itself as a weapon, 'will hardly suppose that a spook +eats bacon and drinks coffee,' + +'The--the ghost,' said Helen, with a humorous glance in her eyes, +'might have whisked him away by the hair of the head!' + +He shook her hand off and strode forward impatiently. Again and again +he shouted 'Hello!' and 'Ho, there! Ho, I say!' There came no answer. +The bacon was growing cold; the fire burning down. He turned a +perplexed face towards Helen's eager one. + +'It is odd,' he said irritably. He was not a man to relish being +baffled. + +Helen had picked up something which she had found near the spring, and +was studying it intently. He came to her side to see what it was. The +thing was a freshly-peeled willow wand, left upright where one end had +been thrust down into the soft earth. The other end had been split; +into the cleft was thrust a single feather from a bluebird's wing. + +Helen's eyes looked unusually large and bright. She turned her head, +glancing over her shoulder. + +'Some one was here just a minute ago,' she cried softly. 'He was +camping for the night. Something frightened him away. It might have +been the noise we made. Or--what do you think, papa?' + +'I never attempt to solve a problem until the necessary data are given +me,' he announced academically. + +'Or,' went on Helen, at whose age one does not bother about such +trifles as necessary data, 'he may not have run away at all. He may be +hiding in the bushes, listening to us. There are all kinds of people +in the desert. Don't you remember how the sheriff came to San Juan +just before we left? He was looking for a man who had killed a miner +for his gold dust.' + +'You must curb a proclivity for such fanciful trash.' He cleared his +throat for the utterance. He put out his hand and Helen hastily +slipped her own into it. Silently they returned to their own camp +site, the girl carrying in her free hand the wand tipped with the +bluebird feather. Several times they paused and looked back. There +was nothing but the glow of the dwindling fire and the sweep of sand, +covered sparsely with ragged bushes. New stars flared out; the spirit +of the night descended upon the desert. As the world seemed to draw +further and further away from them, these two beings, strange to the +vastness engulfing them, huddled closer together. They spoke little, +always in lowered voices. Between words they were listening, awaiting +that which did not come. + + + + +Chapter II + +Superstition Pool + +Physically tired as they were, the night was a restless one for both +Helen and her father. They ate their meal in silence for the most +part, made their beds close together, picketed their horses near by and +said their listless 'good nights' early. Each heard the other turn and +fidget many times before both went to sleep. Helen saw how her father, +with a fine assumption of careless habit, laid a big new revolver close +to his head. + +The girl dozed and woke when the pallid moon shone upon her face. She +lifted herself upon her elbow. The moonlight touched upon the willow +stick she had thrust into the sand at her bedside; the feather was +upright and like a plume. She considered it gravely; it became the +starting-point of many romantic imaginings. Somehow it was a token; of +just exactly what, to be sure, she could not decide. Not definitely, +that is; it was always indisputable that the message of the bluebird is +one of good fortune. + +A less vivid imagination than Helen's would have found a tang of +ghostliness in the night. The crest of the ridge over which they had +come through the dusk now showed silvery white; white also were some +dead branches of desert growth--they looked like bones. Always through +the intense silence stirred an indistinguishable breath like a shiver. +Individual bushes assumed grotesque shapes; when she looked long and +intently at one she began to fancy that it moved. She scoffed at +herself, knowing that she was lending aid to tricking her own senses, +yet her heart beat a wee bit faster. She gave her mind to large +considerations: those of infinity, as her eyes were lifted heavenward +and dwelt upon the brightest star; those of life and death, and all of +the mystery of mysteries. She went to sleep struggling with the +ancient problem: 'Do the dead return? Are there, flowing about us, +weird, supernatural influences as potent and intangible as electric +currents?' In her sleep she continued her interesting investigations, +but her dreaming vision explained the evening's problem by showing her +the camp-fire made, the bacon and coffee set thereon, by a very nice +young man with splendid eyes. + +She stirred, smiled sleepily, and lay again without moving; after the +fashion of one awakening she clung to the misty frontiers of a fading +dream-country. She breathed deeply, inhaling the freshness of the new +dawn. Then suddenly her eyes flew open, and she sat up with a little +cry; a man who would have fitted well enough into any fancy-free +maiden's dreams was standing close to her side, looking down at her. +Helen's hands flew to her hair. + +Plainly--she read that in the first flashing look--he was no less +astounded than she. At the moment he made a picture to fill the eye +and remain in the memory of a girl fresh from an Eastern City. The +tall, rangy form was garbed in the picturesque way of the country; she +took him in from the heels of the black boots with their silver spurs +to the top of his head with its amazingly wide black hat. He stood +against a sky rapidly filling to the warm glow of the morning. His +horse, a rarely perfect creation even in the eyes of one who knew +little of fine breeding in animals, stood just at its master's heels, +with ears pricked forward curiously. + +Helen wondered swiftly if he intended to stand there until the sun came +up, just looking at her. Though it was scarcely more than a moment +that he stood thus, in Helen's confusion the time seemed much longer. +She began to grow ill at ease; she felt a quick spurt of irritation. +No doubt she looked a perfect fright, taken all unawares like this, and +equally indisputably he was forming an extremely uncomplimentary +opinion of her. It required less than three seconds for Miss Helen to +decide emphatically that the man was a horrible creature. + +But he did not look any such thing. He was healthy and brown and +boyish. He had had a shave and haircut no longer ago than yesterday +and looked neat and clean. His mouth was quite as large as a man's +should be and now was suddenly smiling. At the same instant his hat +came off in his big brown hand and a gleam of downright joyousness +shone in his eyes. + +'Impudent beast!' was Helen's quick thought. She had given her mind +last night a great deal less to matters of toilet than to mystic +imaginings; it lay entirely in the field of absurd likelihood that +there was a smear of black across her face. + +'My mistake,' grinned the stranger. 'Guess I'll step out while the +stepping's good and the road open. If there's one sure thing a man +ought to be shot for, it's stampeding in on another fellow's honeymoon. +_Adios, senora_.' + +'Honeymoon!' gasped Helen. 'The big fool.' + +Her father wakened abruptly, sat up, grasping his big revolver in both +hands, and blinked about him; he, too, had had his dreams. In the +night-cap which he had purchased in San Juan, his wide, grave eyes and +sun-blistered face turned up inquiringly; he was worthy of a second +glance as he sat prepared to defend himself and his daughter. The +stranger had just set the toe of his boot into the stirrup; in this +posture he remained, forgetful of his intention to mount, while his +mare began to circle and he had to hop along to keep pace with her, his +eyes upon the startled occupant of the bed beyond Helen's. He had had +barely more than time to note the evident discrepancy in ages which +naturally should have started his mind down a new channel for the +explanation of the true relationship, when the revolver clutched +tightly in unaccustomed fingers went off with an unexpected roar. Dust +spouted up a yard beyond the feet of the man who held it. The horse +plunged, the stranger went up into the saddle like a flash, and the man +dropped his gun to his blanket and muttered in the natural bewilderment +of the moment: + +'It--it went off by itself! The most amazing----' + +The rider brought his prancing horse back and fought with his facial +muscles for gravity; the light in his eyes was utterly beyond his +control. + +'I'd better be going off by myself somewhere,' he remarked as gravely +as he could manage, 'if you're going to start shooting a man up just +because he calls before breakfast.' + +With a face grown a sick white, the man in bed looked helplessly from +the stranger to his daughter and then to the gun. + +'I didn't do a thing to it,' he began haltingly. + +'You won't do a thing to yourself one of these fine days.' remarked the +horseman with evident relish, 'if you don't quit carrying that sort of +life-saver. Come over to the ranch and I'll swap you a hand-axe for +it.' + +Helen sniffed audibly and distastefully. Her first impression of the +stranger had been more correct than are first impressions nine times +out of ten; he was as full of impudence as a city sparrow. She had sat +up 'looking like a fright'; her father had made himself ridiculous; the +stranger was mirthfully concerned with the amusing possibilities of +both of them. + +Suddenly the tall man, smitten by inspiration, slapped his thigh with +one hand, while with the other he curbed rebellion in his mare and +offered the explosive wager: + +'I'll bet a man a dollar I've got your number, friends. You are +Professor James Edward Longstreet and his little daughter Helen! Am I +right?' + +'You are correct, sir,' acknowledged the professor a trifle stiffly. +His eye did not rise, but clung in a fascinated, faintly accusing way +to the gun which had betrayed him. + +The stranger nodded and then lifted his hat for the ceremony while he +presented himself. + +'Name of Howard,' he announced breezily. 'Alan Howard of the old Diaz +Rancho. Glad to know you both.' + +'It is a pleasure, I am sure, Mr. Howard,' said the professor. 'But, +if you will pardon me, at this particular time of day----' + +Alan Howard laughed his understanding. + +'I'll chase up to the pool and give Helen a drink of real water,' he +said lightly. 'Funny my mare's name should be Helen, too, isn't it?' +This directly into a pair of eyes which the growing light showed to be +grey and attractive, but just now hostile. 'Then, if you say the word, +I'll romp back and take you up on a cup of coffee. And we'll talk +things over.' + +He stooped forward in the saddle a fraction of an inch; his mare caught +the familiar signal and leaped; they were gone, racing away across the +sand which was flung up after them like spray. + +'Of all the fresh propositions!' gasped Helen. + +But she knew that he would not long delay his return, and so slipped +quickly from under her blanket and hurried down to the water-hole to +bathe her hands and face and set herself in order. Her flying fingers +found her little mirror; there wasn't any smudge on her face, after +all, and her hair wasn't so terribly unbecoming that way; tousled, to +be sure, but then, nice, curly hair can be tousled and still not make +one a perfect hag. It _was_ odd about his mare being named Helen. He +must have thought the name pretty, for obviously he and his horse were +both intimate and affectionate. 'Alan Howard.' Here, too, was rather +a nice name for a man met by chance out in the desert. She paused in +the act of brushing her hair. Was she to get an explanation of last +night's puzzle? Was Mr. Howard the man who had lighted the other fire? + +The professor's taciturnity was of a pronounced order this morning. +Now and then as he made his own brief and customarily untidy toilet, he +turned a look of accusation upon the big Colt lying on his bed. Before +drawing on his boots he bestowed upon his toe a long glance of +affection; the bullet that had passed within a very few inches of this +adjunct of his anatomy had emphasized a toe's importance. He had never +realized how pleasant it was to have two big toes, all one's own and +unmarred. By the time the foot had been coaxed and jammed down into +his new boot the professor's good humour was on the way to being +restored; a man of one thought at the time, due to his long habit of +concentration, his emotion was now one of a subdued rejoicing. It +needed but the morning cup of coffee to set him beaming upon the world. + +Alan Howard's sudden call: 'Can I come in now, folks?' from across a +brief space of sand and brush, found Professor Longstreet on his knees +feeding twigs to a tiny blaze, and hastened Helen through the final +touches of her dressing. Helen was humming softly to herself, her back +to him, her mind obviously concentrated upon the bread she was slicing, +when the stranger swung down from his saddle and came forward. He +stood a moment just behind her, looking at her with very evident +interest in his eyes. + +'How do you like our part of the world?' he asked friendliwise. + +Helen ignored him briefly. Had Mr. Alan Howard been a bashful young +man of the type that reddens and twists its hat in big nervous hands +and looks guilty in general. Miss Helen Longstreet would have been +swiftly all that was sweet and kind to him. Now, however, from some +vague reason or clouded instinct, she was prepared to be as stiff as +the fanged stalk of a cactus. Having ignored him the proper length of +time, she replied coolly: + +'Father and I are very much pleased with the desert country. But, may +I ask just why you speak of it as your part of the world rather than +ours? Are we trespassing, pray?' The afterthought was accompanied by +an upflashing look that was little less than outright challenge. + +'Trespassing? Lord, no,' conceded Howard heartily. 'The land is wide, +the trail open at both ends. But you know what I meant.' + +Helen shrugged and laid aside the half-loaf. Since she gave him no +answer, Howard went on serenely: + +'I mean a man sort of acquires a feeling of ownership in the place in +which he has lived a long time. You and your father are Eastern, not +Western. If I came tramping into your neck of the woods--you see I +call it _yours_. Right enough, too, don't you think, professor?' + +'In a way of speaking, yes,' answered the professor. 'In another way, +no. We have given up the old haunts and the old way of living. We are +rather inclined, my dear young sir, to look upon this as our country, +too.' + +'Bully for you!' cried Howard warmly. 'You're sure welcome.' His eyes +came back from the father to rest upon the daughter's bronze tresses. +'Welcome as a water-hole in a hot land,' he added emphatically. + +'Speaking of water-holes,' suggested Longstreet, sitting back upon his +boot heels in a manner to suggest the favourite squatting position of +the cowboys of whom he and his daughter had seen much during these last +few weeks, 'was it you who made camp right over yonder?' He pointed. + +Helen looked up curiously for Howard's answer and thus met the eyes he +had not withdrawn from her. He smiled at her, a frank, open sort of +smile, and thereafter turned to his questioner. + +'When?' he asked briefly. + +'Last night. Just before we came.' + +'What makes you think some one made camp there?' + +'There was a fire; bacon was frying, coffee boiling.' + +'And you didn't step across to take a squint at your next-door +neighbour?' + +'We did,' said the professor. 'But he had gone, leaving his fire +burning, his meal cooking.' + +Howard's eyes travelled swiftly to Helen, then back to her father. + +'And he didn't come back?' + +'He did not,' said Longstreet. 'Otherwise I should not have asked if +you were he.' + +Even yet Howard gave no direct answer. Instead he turned his back and +strode away to the deserted camp site. Helen watched him through the +bushes and noted how he made a quick but evidently thorough examination +of the spot. She saw him stoop, pick up frying-pan and cup, drop them +and pass around the spring, his eyes on the ground. Abruptly he turned +away and pushed through a clump of bushes, disappearing. In five +minutes he returned, his face thoughtful. + +'What time did you get here?' he asked. And when he had his answer he +pondered it a moment before he went on: 'The gent didn't leave his +card. But he broke camp in a regular blue-blazes hurry; saddled his +horse over yonder and struck out the shortest way toward King Canon. +He went as if the devil himself and his one best bet in hell hounds was +running at his stirrups.' + +'How do you know?' queried Longstreet's insatiable curiosity. 'You +didn't see him?' + +'You saw the fire and the things he left stewing,' countered Howard. +'They spelled hurry, didn't they? Didn't they shout into your ears +that he was on the lively scamper for some otherwhere?' + +'Not necessarily,' maintained Longstreet eagerly. 'Reasoning from +the scant evidence before us, a man would say that while the stranger +may have left his camp to hurry on, he may on the other hand have just +dodged back when he heard us coming and hidden somewhere close by.' + +Again Howard pondered briefly. + +'There are other signs you did not see,' he said in a moment. 'The +soil where he had his horse staked out shows tracks, and they are the +tracks of a horse going some from the first jump. Horse and man took +the straightest trail and went ripping through a patch of mesquite that +a man would generally go round. Then there's something else. Want to +see?' + +They went with him, the professor with alacrity, Helen with a studied +pretence at indifference. By the spring where Helen had found the +willow rod and the bluebird feather, Howard stopped and pointed down. + +'There's a set of tracks for you,' he announced triumphantly. 'Suppose +you spell 'em out, professor; what do you make of them?' + +The professor studied them gravely. In the end he shook his head. + +'Coyote?' he suggested. + +Howard shook his head. + +'No coyote,' he said with positiveness. 'That track shows a foot four +times as big as any coyote's that ever scratched fleas. Wolf? Maybe. +It would be a whopper of a wolf at that. Look at the size of it, man! +Why, the ugly brute would be big enough to scare my prize shorthorn +bull into taking out life insurance. And that isn't all. That's just +the front foot. Now look at the hind foot. Smaller, longer, and +leaving a lighter imprint. All belonging to the same animal.' He +scratched his head in frank bewilderment. 'It's a new one on me,' he +confessed frankly. Then he chuckled. 'I'd bet a man that the gent who +left on the hasty foot just got one squint at this little beastie and +at that had all sorts of good reasons for streaking out.' + +A big lizard went rustling through a pile of dead leaves and all three +of them started. Howard laughed. + +'We're right near Superstition Pool!' he informed them with suddenly +assumed gravity. 'Down in Poco Poco they tell some great tales about +the old Indian gods going man-hunting by moonlight. _Quien sabe_, huh?' + +Professor Longstreet snorted. Helen cast a quick, interested look at +the stranger and one of near triumph upon her father. + +'I smell somebody's coffee boiling,' said the cattleman abruptly. 'Am +I invited in for a cup? Or shall I mosey on? Don't be bashful in +saying I'm not wanted if I'm not.' + +'Of course you are welcome,' said Longstreet heartily. But Howard +turned to Helen and waited for her to speak. + +'Of course.' said Helen carelessly. + + + + +Chapter III + +Payment in Raw Gold + +'You were merely speaking by way of jest, I take it, Mr. Howard,' +remarked Longstreet, after he had interestedly watched the rancher put +a third and fourth heaping spoonful of sugar in his tin cup of coffee. +'I refer, you understand, to your hinting a moment ago at there being +any truth in the old Indian superstitions. I am not to suppose, am I, +that you actually give any credence to tales of supernatural influences +manifested hereabouts?' + +Alan Howard stirred his coffee meditatively, and after so leisurely a +fashion that Longstreet began to fidget. The reply, when finally it +came, was sufficiently non-committal. + +'I said "_Quien sabe_?" to the question just now,' he said, a twinkle +in the regard bestowed upon the scientist. 'They are two pretty good +little old words and fit in first-rate lots of times.' + +'Spanish for "Who knows?" aren't they?' + +Howard nodded. 'They used to be Spanish; I guess they're Mex by now.' + +Longstreet frowned and returned to the issue. + +'If you were merely jesting, as I supposed----' + +'But was I?' demanded Howard. 'What do I know about it? I know horses +and cows; that's my business. I know a thing or two about men, since +that's my business at times, too; also something like half of that +about half-breeds and mules; I meet up with them sometimes in the run +of the day's work. You know something of what I think you call +auriferous geology. But what does either of us know of the nightly +custom of dead Indians and Indian gods?' + +Helen wondered with her father whether there were a vein of seriousness +in the man's thought. Howard squatted on his heels, from which he had +removed his spurs; they were very high heels, but none the less he +seemed comfortably at home rocking on them. Longstreet noted with his +keen eyes, altered his own squatting position a fraction, and opened +his mouth for another question. But Howard forestalled him, saying +casually: + +'I have known queer things to happen here, within a few hundred yards +of this place. I haven't had time to go finding out the why of them; +they didn't come into my day's work. I have listened to some +interesting yarns; truth or lies it didn't matter to me. They say that +ghosts haunt the Pool just yonder. I have never seen a ghost; there's +nothing in raising ghosts for market, and I'm the busiest man I know +trying to chew a chunk that I have bitten off. They tell you down at +San Juan and in Poco Poco, and all the way up to Tecolote, that if you +will come here a certain moonlight night of the year and will watch the +water of the pool, you'll see a vision sent up by the gods of the +Underworld. They'll even tell you how a nice little old god by the +name of Pookhonghoya appears now and then by night, hunting souls of +enemies--and running by the side of the biggest, strangest wolf that +human eyes ever saw.' + +Helen looked at him swiftly. He had added the last item almost as an +afterthought. She imagined that he had embellished the old tale from +his own recent experience, and, further, that Mr. Alan Howard was +making fun of them and was no adept in the science of fabrication. + +'They go further,' Howard spun out his tale. 'Somewhere in the desert +country to the north there is, I believe, a tribe of Hidden People that +the white man has never seen. The interesting thing about them is that +they are governed by a young and altogether maddeningly pretty goddess +who is white and whose name is Yahoya. When they come right down to +the matter of giving names,' he added gravely, 'how is a man to go any +further than just say, "_Quien sabe_?"' + +'That is stupid.' said Longstreet irascibly. 'It's a man's chief +affair in life to _know_. These absurd legends----' + +'Don't you think, papa,' said Helen coolly, 'that instead of taxing Mr. +Howard's memory and--and imagination, it would be better if you asked +him about our way from here on?' + +Howard chuckled. Professor Longstreet set aside his cup, cleared his +throat and agreed with his daughter. + +'I am prospecting,' he announced, 'for gold. We are headed for what is +known as the Last Ridge country. I have a map here.' + +He drew it from his pocket, neatly folded, and spread it out. It was a +map such as is to be purchased for fifty cents at the store in San +Juan, showing the main roads, towns, waterholes and trails. With a +blue pencil he had marked out the way they planned to go. Howard bent +forward and took the paper. + +'We are going the same way, friend,' he said as he looked up. 'What is +more, we are going over a trail I know by heart. There is a good +chance I can save you time and trouble by making it a party of three. +Am I wanted?' + +'It is extremely kind of you,' said Longstreet appreciatively. 'But +you are on horseback and we travel slowly.' + +'I can spare the time,' was the even rejoinder. 'And I'll be glad to +do it.' + +During the half-hour required to break camp and pack the two horses, +Alan Howard gave signs of an interest which now and then mounted almost +to high delight. He made no remark concerning the elaborate system of +water-bottles and canteens, but his eyes brightened as he aided the +professor in making them fast. When the procession was ready to start +he strode on ahead, leading his own horse and hiding from his new +friends the widening grin upon his face. + +The sun was up; already the still heat of the desert was in the air. +Behind the tall rancher and his glossy mare came Professor Longstreet +driving his two pack animals. Just behind him, with much grave +speculation in her eyes, came Helen. A new man had swum all +unexpectedly into her ken and she was busy cataloguing him. He looked +the native in this environment, but for all that he was plainly a man +of her own class. No illiteracy, no wild shy awkwardness marked his +demeanour. He was as free and easy as the north wind; he might, after +all, be likeable. Certainly it was _courtois_ of him to set himself on +foot to be one of them. The mare looked gentle despite her high life; +Helen wondered if Alan Howard had thought of offering her his mount? + +They had come to the first of the low-lying hills. + +'Miss Longstreet,' called Howard, stopping and turning, 'wouldn't you +like to swing up on Sanchia? She is dying to be ridden.' + +The trail here was wide and clearly defined; hence Longstreet and his +two horses went by and Helen came up with Howard. Hers was the trick +of level, searching eyes. She looked steadily at him as she said +evenly: + +'So her name is Sanchia?' + +For an instant the man did not appear to understand. Then suddenly +Helen was treated to the sight of the warm red seeping up under his +tan. And then he slapped his thigh and laughed; his laughter seeming +unaffected and joyous. + +'Talk about getting absent-minded in my old age,' he declared. 'Her +name did use to be Sanchia; I changed it to Helen. Think of my sliding +back to the old name.' + +Helen's candid look did not shift for the moment that she paused. Then +she went on by him, following her father, saying merely: + +'Thank you, I'll walk. And if she were mine I'd keep the old name; +Sanchia suits her exactly.' + +But as she hurried on after her father she had time for reflection; +plainly the easy-mannered Mr. Alan Howard had renamed his mare only +this very morning; as plainly had he in the first place called her +Sanchia in honour of some other friend or chance acquaintance. Helen +wondered vaguely who the original Sanchia was. To her imagination the +name suggested a slim, big-eyed Mexican girl. She found time to wonder +further how many times Mr. Howard had named his horse. + +They skirted a hill, dipped into the hollow which gave passageway +between this hill and its twin neighbour, mounted briefly, and within +twenty minutes came to the pool about which legends flocked. From +their vantage point they looked down upon it. The sun searched it out +almost at the instant that their eyes caught the glint of it. Fed by +many hidden springs it was a still, smooth body of water in the bowl of +the hills; it looked cool and deep and had its own air of mystery; in +its ancient bosom it may have hidden bones or gold. Some devotee had +planted a weeping willow here long ago; the great tree now flourished +and cast its reflection across its own fallen leaves. + +Helen's eyes dreamed and sought visions; the spot touched her with its +romance, and she, after the true style of youth, lent aid to the still +influences. Alan Howard, to whom this was scarcely other than an +everyday matter, turned naturally to the new and was content to watch +the girl. As for Longstreet, his regard was busied with the stones at +his feet, and thereafter with a washout upon a hill-side where the +formation of the hills themselves was laid bare to a scientific eye. + +'There's gold everywhere about here,' he announced placidly. 'But not +in the quantities I have promised you, Helen. We'll go on to the Last +Ridge country before we stop.' + +Howard turned from the daughter to consider the father long and +searchingly, after the way of one man seeking another's measure. + +'As a rule I go kind of slow when it comes to cutting in on another +fellow's play,' he said bluntly. 'But I'm going to chip in now with +this: I know that Last Ridge country from horn to tail, and all the +gold that's in it or has ever been in it wouldn't buy a drink of bad +whisky in Poco Poco.' + +The light of forensic battle leaped up bright and eager in Longstreet's +eyes. But Howard saw it, and before the professor's unshaken +positiveness could pour itself forth in a forensic flood the rancher +cut the whole matter short by saying crisply: + +'I know. And it's up to you. I've shot my volley to give you the +right slant and you can play out your string your own way. Right now +we'd better be moseying on; the sun's climbing, partner.' + +He passed by them, leading his mare toward a crease in the hills which +gave ready passage out of the bowl and again to the sweep of the +desert. Longstreet dropped in behind him, driving his two horses, +while Helen stood a little alone by the pool, looking at it with eyes +which still brooded. In her hatband was a bluebird feather; her +fingers rose to it reminiscently. A faint, dying breeze just barely +stirred the drooping branches of the willow; in one place the graceful +pendant leaves merged with their own reflections below, faintly +blurring them with the slightest of ripples. Here, in the sunlight, +was a languid place of dreams; by mellow, magic moonlight what wonder +if there came hither certain of the last remnants and relics of an old +superstitious people, seeking visions? And an old saw hath it, 'What +ye seek for ye shall find.' + +Helen looked up; already Howard had passed out of sight; already her +father's two pack horses had followed the rancher's mare beyond the +brushy flank of the hill and Longstreet himself would be out of her +sight in another moment. She turned a last look upon the still pond +and hurried on. + +Now again, as upon yesterday and the day before, the desert seemed +without limit about them. The hot sun mounted; the earth sweltered and +baked and blistered. Heat waves shimmered in the distances; the +distances themselves were withdrawn into the veil of ultimate distances +over which the blazing heat lay in what seemed palpable strata; +crunching rock and gravel in the dry water-courses burned through thick +sole-leather; burning particles of sand got into boots and irritated +the skin; humans and horses toiled on, hour after hour, from early +listlessness to weariness and, before noon, to parched misery. Even +Howard, who confessed that he was little used to walking, admitted that +this sort of thing made no great hit with him. During the forenoon he +again offered his mount to Helen; when she sought to demur and hoped to +be persuaded, he suggested a compromise; they would take turns, she, +her father and himself. By noon, when they camped for lunch and a two +hours' rest, all three had ridden. + +Barely perceptibly the sweeps about them had altered during the last +hour before midday. Here and there were low hills dotted occasionally +by trees, covered with sparse dry grass. Here, said Howard, were the +outer fringes of the grazing land; his cattle sometimes strayed as far +as this. The spot chosen for nooning was a suspicion less breathlessly +hot; there was a sluggish spring ringed about with wiry green grass and +shaded by a clump of mongrel trees. + +Helen ate little and then lay down and slept. Longstreet, his knees +gathered in his arms, his back to a tree, sat staring thoughtfully +across the billowing country before them; Howard smoked a cigarette, +stood a moment looking curiously down at the weary figure of the girl, +and then strode off to the next shade for his own siesta. + +'Rode pretty well all night,' he explained half apologetically to +Longstreet as he went. 'And haven't walked this much since last time.' + +Between two and three they started on again. It grew cooler; +constantly as they went forward the earth showed growing signs of +fertility and, here and there, of moisture guarded and treasured under +a shaggy coat of herbage. Within the first hour they glimpsed a number +of scattered cattle and mules; once Helen cried out at the discovery of +a small herd of deer browsing in a shaded draw. Then came a low +divide; upon its crest was an outcropping of rock. Here Howard waited +until his two companions came up with him; from here he pointed, +sweeping his arm widely from north to east and south of east. + +'The Last Ridge country, yonder,' he said. + +They saw it against the north-eastern horizon. From the base of the +hills on which they stood a broad valley spread out generously. +Marking the valley's northern boundary some half-dozen miles away, +thrown up against the sky like a bulwark, was a long broken ridge like +a wall of cliff, an embankment stained the many colours of the +south-west; red it looked in streaks and yellow and orange and even +lavender and pale elusive green. It swept in a broad, irregular curve +about the further level lands; it was carved and notched along its +crest into strange shapes, here thrusting upward in a single +needle-like tower, there offering to the clear sky a growth like a +monster toadstool, again notched into saw-tooth edges. + +'And here,' said Howard, his voice eloquent of his pride of ownership, +'my valley lands. From Last Ridge to the hills across yonder, from +those hills as far as you can see to the south, mile after mile of it, +it's mine, by the Lord! That is,' he amended with a slow smile under +Helen's amazed eyes, 'when I get it all paid for! And there,' he +continued, pointing this time to something white showing through the +green of a grove upon a meadow land far off toward the southern rim of +the valley, 'there is home. You'll know the way; I'm only twelve or +fifteen miles from the Ridge, and so, you see, we're next-door +neighbours.' + +To Helen, as she gazed whither his finger led, came a strange, +unaccustomed thrill. For the first time she felt the glory, and forgot +the discomfort, of the hot sun and the hot land. There was a man's +home; set apart from the world and yet sufficient unto itself; here was +a man's holding, one man's, and it was as big and wide as a king's +estate. She looked swiftly at the tall man at her side; it was his or +would be his. And he need not have told her; what she had read in the +timbre of his voice she saw written large in his eyes; they were bright +with the joy of possession. + +'Neighbours, folks,' he was saying. 'So let's begin things in +neighbourly style. Come on home with me now; stick over a day or so +resting up. Then I'll send a wagon and a couple of the boys over to +the ridge with you and they'll lend you a hand at digging in for the +length of your stay. It's the sensible thing,' he insisted +argumentatively as he saw how Longstreet's gaze grew eager for the +Ridge. 'And I'd consider it an honour, a high honour.' + +'You are extremely kind, sir,' said Longstreet hesitatingly. 'But----' + +'Come on,' cut in Howard warmly, his hand on the older man's shoulder. +'Just as a favour to me, neighbour. Everything's plain out our way; +nothing fancy. But I've got clean beds to sleep in and the kitchen +store-room's full and---- Why, man, I've even got a bathtub! Come +ahead; be a sport and take a chance.' + +Longstreet smiled; Helen watched him questioningly. Suddenly she +realized that she was a trifle curious about Alan Howard; bath and +clean beds did tempt her weary body, and besides there would be a +certain interest in looking in upon the stranger's establishment. She +wondered for the first time if there were a young Mrs. Howard awaiting +him? + +'How about it, Helen?' asked her father. 'Shall we accept further of +this gentleman's kindness?' + +'If we were sure,' hesitated Helen, 'that we would not be imposing----' + +So it was settled, and Howard, highly pleased, led the way down into +the valley. Making the gradual descent their trail, well marked now by +the shod hoofs of horses, wound into a shady hollow. In the heart of +this where there was a thin trickle of water Howard stopped abruptly. +Helen, who was close to him, heard him mutter something under his +breath and in a new tone of wrath. She looked at him wondering. He +strode across the stream and stopped again; he stooped and she saw what +he had seen; he straightened up and she saw blazing anger in his eyes. + +Here, no longer ago than yesterday, a yearling beef had been +slaughtered; the carcass lay half hidden by the bushes. + +'Now who the hell did that for me?' cried out the man angrily. 'Look +here; he's killed a beef for a couple of steaks. He's taken that and +left the rest for the buzzards. The low-down, hog-hearted son of a +scurvy coyote.' + +Helen held back, frightened at what she read in his face. Her father +came up with her and demanded: + +'What is it? What's wrong?' + +'Some one has killed one of his cows,' she whispered, catching hold of +his arm. 'I believe he would kill the man who did it.' + +Howard was looking about him for signs to tell whence the marauder had +come, whither gone. He picked up a fresh rib bone, that had been +hacked from its place with a heavy knife and then gnawed and broken as +by a wolf's savage teeth. He noted something else; he went to it +hurriedly. Upon a conspicuous rock, held in place by a smaller stone, +was a small rawhide pouch. It was heavy in his palm; he opened it and +poured its contents into his palm. And these contents he showed to +Longstreet and Helen, looking at them wonderingly. + +'The gent took what he wanted, but he paid for it,' he said slowly, 'in +enough raw gold to buy half a dozen young beeves! That's fair enough, +isn't it? The chances are he was in a hurry.' + +'Maybe,' suggested Helen quickly, 'he was the same man whose camp fire +we found. _He_ was in a hurry.' + +Howard pondered but finally shook his head. 'No; that man had bacon +and coffee to leave behind him. It was some other jasper.' + +Longstreet was absorbed in another interest. He took the unminted gold +into his own hands, fingering it and studying it. + +'It is around here everywhere, my dear,' he told Helen with his old +placid assurance. 'It is quite as I have said; if you want fish, look +for them in the sea; if you seek gold, not in insignificant quantities, +but in a great, thick, rich ledge, come out toward the Last Ridge +country.' + +He returned the raw metal to Howard, who dropped it into its bag and +the bag into his pocket. Silent now as each one found company in his +own thoughts, they moved down the slope and into the valley. + + + + +Chapter IV + +In Desert Valley + +The world is an abiding-place of glory. He who cannot see it dyed and +steeped in colourful hues owes it to his own happiness to gird up his +loins and move on into another of the splendid chambers of the vast +house God has given us; if the daily view before him no longer offers +delight, it is merely and simply because his eyes have grown accustomed +to what lies just before them and are wearied with it. For, after all, +one but requires a complete change of environment to quicken eye and +interest, to fill again the world with colour. Thus, put the man of +the sea in the heart of the mountains and he stares about him at a +thousand little things which pass unnoted under the calm eyes of the +mountaineer. Or take up the dweller of the heights and set him aboard +a wind-jammer bucking around the Horn and he will marvel at a sailor's +song or the wide arc of a dizzy mast. So Helen Longstreet now, lifted +from a college city of the East and set down upon the level floor of +the West; so, in the less nervous way of greater years, her father. + +The three were full two hours in walking from the base of the hills to +Howard's ranch headquarters. Continuously the girl found fresh +interests leaping into her quick consciousness. They waded knee-deep +in lush grass of a meadow into which Howard had brought water from the +hills; among the grass were strange flowers, red and yellow and blue, +rising on tall stalks to lift their heads to the golden sun. From the +grass rose birds, startled by their approach, one whirring away +voicelessly from a hidden nest, another, a yellow and black-throated +lark, singing joyously. They crossed the meadow and came up the +swelling slope of a gentle hill; upon its flatfish top were oaks; in +the shade of the oaks three black-and-white cows looked with mild, +approving eyes upon their three tiny black-and-white calves. With the +pictured memory unfading, Helen's eyes were momentarily held by an +eagle balancing against the sky; the great bird, as though he were +conscious that he held briefly centre stage, folded his wings and +dropped like a falling stone; a ground squirrel shrilled its terror +through the still afternoon and went racing with jerking tail toward +safety; the great bird saw the frantic animal scuttle down a hole and +unfolded its wings; again it balanced briefly, close to the ground; +then in a wide spiral reascended the sky. + +Came then wide fields with cattle browsing and drowsing; it was the +first time Helen had harkened to a bellowing bull, the first time she +had seen one of his breed with bent head pawing up grass and earth and +flinging them over the straight line of his perfect back; she sensed +his lusty challenge and listened breathlessly to the answering trumpet +call from a distant, hidden corral. She saw a herd of young horses, +twenty of them perhaps, racing wildly with flying manes and tails and +flaring nostrils; a strangely garbed man on horseback raced after them, +shot by them, heading them off, a wide loop of rope hissing above his +head. She saw the rope leap out, seeming to the last alive and endowed +with the will of the horseman; she heard the man laugh softly as the +noose tightened about the slender neck of one of the fleeing horses. + +'That's Gaucho,' said Howard. 'He's my horse breaker.' + +But already the girl's interests had winged another way. Within ten +steps they had come to a new view from a new vantage point. From some +trick of sweep and slope the valley seemed more spacious than before; +through a natural avenue in an oak grove they saw distinctly the still +distant walls of the ranch house; the sun touched them and they gleamed +back a spotless white. Helen was all eagerness to come to the main +building; from afar, here of late having seen others of its type, she +knew that it would be adobe and massive, old and cloaked with the +romance of another time; that even doors and windows, let into the +thick walls, would be of another period; that somewhere there would be +a trellis with a sprawling grape-vine over it; that no doubt in the +yard or along the fence would be the yellow Spanish roses. + +Below the house they came to the stable. Here Howard paused to tie the +three horses, but not to unpack or unsaddle. + +'I haven't anybody just hanging around to do things like this for me,' +he said lightly as he rejoined his guests. 'Not until I get the whole +thing paid off. What men I've got are jumping on the job from sun-up +to dark. I'll turn you loose in the house and then look after the +stock myself.' + +They passed several smaller outbuildings, some squat and +ancient-looking adobes, others newer frame buildings, all neatly +whitewashed. And then the home itself. Quite as Helen had +provisioned, there was a low wooden fence about the garden; over the +gateway were tangled rose vines disputing possession with a gnarled +grape; the walk from the gate was outlined with the protruding ends of +white earthen bottles, so in vogue in the southland a few years ago; a +wide, coolly-dark veranda ran the length of the building; through +three-feet-thick walls the doorways invited to further coolness. +Howard stood aside for them to enter. They found underfoot a bare +floor; it had been sprinkled from a watering pot earlier in the +afternoon. The room was big and dusky; a few rawhide-bottomed chairs, +a long rough table painted moss-green, some shelves with books, +furnished the apartment. At one end was a fireplace. + +Howard tossed his hat to the table and opened a door at one end of the +room. Before them was a hallway; a few steps down were two doors, one +on each hand, heavy old doors of thick slabs of oak, hand-hewn and with +rough iron bands across them, top and bottom, the big nail heads +showing. Howard threw one open, then the other. + +'Your rooms,' he said. 'Yours, Miss Helen, opens upon the bath. +You'll have to go down the hall to wash, professor. Make yourselves +free with the whole house. I'll feed the horses and be with you in +three shakes.' + +Before his boot heels had done echoing through the living-room it was +an adventure to Helen to peep into her room. She wondered what she was +going to find. Thus far she had had no evidence of a woman upon the +ranch. She knew the sort of housekeeper her father had demonstrated +himself upon occasions when she had been away visiting; she fully +counted upon seeing the traces of a man's hand here. But she was +delightfully surprised. There was a big, old-fashioned walnut bed +neatly made, covered in smooth whiteness by an ironed spread. There +was a washstand with white pitcher like a ptarmigan in the white nest +of a bowl, several towels with red bands towards their ends flanking +it. There was a little rocking-chair, a table with some books. The +window, because of the thickness of the wall, offered an inviting seat +whence one could look into the tangle of roses of the _patio_. + +'It is like a dream,' cried Helen. 'A dream come true.' + +She glanced into her father's room. It was like hers in its neatness +and appointments, but did not have her charming outlook. She was +turning again into her own room when she heard Howard's voice outside. + +'Angela,' he was calling, 'I have brought home friends. You will see +that they have everything. There is a young lady. I am going to the +stable.' + +She heard Angela's mumbled answer. So there was, after all, at least +one woman at the ranch. Helen awaited her expectantly, wondering who +and what she might be. Then through her window she saw Angela come +shuffling into the _patio_. She was an old woman, Mexican or Indian, +her hair grey and black in streaks, her body bent over her thumping +stick and wrapped in a heavy shawl. Never had Helen seen such +night-black, fathomless, inscrutable eyes; never had she looked upon a +face so creased and lined or skin so like dry, wrinkled parchment. + +Angela pounded across the floor looking like a witch with her great +stick, and waved a bony hand to indicate the bathroom. Catching her +first glimpse of Longstreet, who came to his daughter's door, she +demanded: + +'Your papa?' + +'Yes,' Helen answered her. + +'You frien's Senor Alan?' And when Helen, hesitating briefly, said +'Yes,' Angela asked: + +'You come from Santa Rita, _no_?' + +'No,' said Helen. 'From San Juan and beyond.' + +'You come far,' mumbled Angela. She scrutinized the girl keenly. Then +abruptly, 'Senor Alan got _muchos amigos_ to-day. Senor Juan Carr +comes; El Joven with him.' + +Helen asked politely who these two were Juan Carr and El Joven. But +the old woman merely shook her head and relapsed into silence frankly +studying her. The girl was glad of the interruption when Howard rapped +at the door. His arms were full of bundles. + +'I've brought everything I could find that looked like your and your +father's personal traps,' he informed her as he came in and put the +things down on the floor. 'I looked in at the kitchen and figure it +out we've got about twenty or thirty minutes before dinner. Come on, +Angela; give Miss Longstreet a chance to get ready.' + +Angela transferred her scrutiny to him; Howard laughed at her +good-humouredly, laid his hand gently on her shrunken shoulder and side +by side they went out. + +Helen went singing into her bath, her weary body rested by the thought +of coolness and cleanliness and a change of clothing. Little enough +did she have in the way of clothing, especially for an evening when she +was to meet still other strangers. But certain feminine trinkets had +come with her journeying across the desert, and a freshly laundered +wash dress and a bit of bright ribbon work wonders. When she heard +voices in the _patio_, that of Alan Howard and of another man, this a +sonorous bass, she was ready. She went to her father's door; +Longstreet was in the final stages of his own toilet-making, his face +red and shiny from his towelling, his sparse hair on end, his whole +being in that condition of bewildering untidiness which comes just +before the ultimate desired orderliness quite as the thick darkness +before the dawn. In this case the rose fingers of Aurora were Helen's +own, patting, pulling and readjusting. Within three minutes she +slipped her hand through the arm of a quiet scholarly looking gentleman +and together they paced sedately into the _patio_. + +Howard jumped up from a bench and dragged forward his friend John Carr, +introducing him to his new friends. And in employing the word friend +and repeating it, he spoke it as though he meant it. Here was a +characteristic of the man; he was ready from dawn until dark to put out +his big square hand to the world and bring the world home to his home +for supper and bed and all that both connote. + +But Helen's interest, at least for the flitting moment, was less for +him than for his friend; Howard she had known since dawn, hence hers +had been ample time to assign him his proper place in her human +catalogue. Now she turned her level eyes upon the new man. +Immediately she knew that if Alan Howard were an interesting type, then +no less so, though in his own way, was John Carr. A bigger man, though +not so tall; an older man by something like half a dozen years, but +still young in the eyes and about the clean-shaven mouth; a man with +clear, unwinking bluish-grey eyes and a fine head carried erect upon a +massive brown throat. Carr was dressed well in a loose serge suit; he +wore high-topped tan boots; his soft shirt was of good silk; his +personality exuded both means and importance. He glanced at Longstreet +and looked twice or three times as long at Longstreet's daughter. +Helen was quite used to that, and it was for no particular reason that +she felt her colour heighten a little. She slipped her hand through +her father's arm again and they went in to supper. Howard, having +indicated the way, clapped Carr upon the thick shoulders and the two +friends brought up the rear. + +Helen was still wondering where was the second guest; Angela had +distinctly mentioned Juan Carr and another she termed El Joven. Yet as +they passed from the _patio_ into the big cool dining-room with its +white cloth and plain service and stiff chairs, she saw no one here. +Nor did she find any answer in the number of places set, but rather a +confused wonder; the table was the length of the long room, and, at +least in so far as number of plates went, suggested a banquet. + +Howard drew out chairs at one end of the table so that the four sat +together. + +'The boys will be rolling in for supper in half an hour,' he explained. +'But you folks are hungry and will want to get to bed early, so we are +not waiting for them.' + +The 'boys' were, supposedly, the men he had working for him; there must +be close to a score of them. And they all ate at one table, master and +men and guests when he had them. + +'Who is El Joven?' asked Helen. + +Howard looked puzzled; then his face cleared. + +'Angela told you El Joven was here, too?' And to Carr: 'He came with +you, John?' + +Carr nodded. Howard then answered Helen. + +'That's Angela's pet name for him; it means The Youngster. It is +Barbee, Yellow Barbee the boys call him. He's one of John's men. They +say he's a regular devil-of-a-fellow with the ladies, Miss Helen. Look +out he doesn't break your heart.' + +Angela peered in from the kitchen and withdrew. They heard her +guttural utterance, and thereafter a young Indian boy, black of eyes, +slick of plastered hair and snow-white of apron, came in bringing the +soup. Howard nodded at him, saying a pleasant '_Que hay, Juanito_?' +The boy uncovered the rare whiteness of his splendid teeth in a quick +smile. He began placing the soup. Helen looked at him; he blushed and +withdrew hastily to the kitchen. + +Throughout the meal the four talked unconstrainedly; it was as though +they had known one another for a dozen years and intimately. +Longstreet, having pushed aside his soup plate, engaged his host in an +ardent discussion of the undeveloped possibilities of the Last Ridge +country; true, he had never set foot upon it, but he knew the last word +of this land's formation and geological construction, its life history +as it were. All of his life, he admitted freely, he had been a man of +scholarship and theory; the simplest thing imaginable, he held blandly, +was the demonstration of the correctness of his theories. Meantime +Helen talked brightly with John Carr and listened to Carr's voice. + +And a voice well worth listening to it was. Its depth was at once +remarkable and pleasing. At first one hearkened to the music of the +rich tone itself rather than to the man's words, just as one may thrill +to the profound cadences of a deep voice singing without heeding the +words of the song. But presently she found herself giving her rapt +attention to Carr's remarks. Here again was one of her own class, a +man of quiet assurance and culture and distinction; he knew Boston and +he knew the desert. For the first time since her father had dragged +her across the continent on his hopelessly mad escapade, Helen felt +that after all the East was not entirely remote from the West. Men +like Howard and his friend John Carr, types she had never looked to +find here, linked East and West. + +Juanito, with lowered, bashful eyes, brought coffee, ripe olives from +the can, potato salad, and thick, hot steaks. Soon thereafter the boys +began to straggle in. Helen heard them at the gate, noisy and eager; +for them the supper hour was diurnally a time of a joyous lift of +spirit. They clattered along the porch like a crowd of schoolboys just +dismissed; they washed outside by the kitchen door with much splashing; +they plastered their hair with the common combs and brushes and entered +the shortest way, by the kitchen. They called to each other back and +forth; there was the sound of a tremendous clap as some big open hand +fell resoundingly upon some tempting back and a roar from the stricken +and a gale of booming laughter from the smiter and the scuffle of boots +and the crashing of two big bodies falling. Then they came trooping in +until fifteen or twenty had entered. + +One by one Howard introduced them. Plainly none of them knew of +Helen's presence; all of their eyes showed that. Among them were some +few who grew abashed; for the most part they ducked their heads in +acknowledgment and said stiffly, 'Pleased to meet you,' in wooden +manner to both Longstreet and his daughter. But their noisiness +departed from them and they sat down and ate in business-like style. + +Never had Helen sat down with so rough a crowd. They were in shirt +sleeves; some wore leathern wrist guards; their vests were open, their +shirts dingy, they were unshaven and their hair grew long and ragged; +they brought with them a smell of horses. There was one man among them +who must have been sixty at the least, a wiry, stoop, white-haired, +white-moustached Mexican. There were boys between seventeen and +nineteen. There were Americans; at least one Swede; a Scotchman; +several who might have been any sort of mixture of southern bloods. +And among them all Helen knew at once, upon the instant that he +swaggered in, El Joven, Yellow Barbee. + +The two names fitted him as his two gloves may fit a man's hands; among +the young he was The Youngster, as among blondes he was Yellow Barbee. +His dress was extravagantly youthful; his boots bore the tallest heels, +he was full-panoplied as to ornate wristbands and belt and chaps as +though in full holiday attire; one might wager on the fact of his hat +on a nail outside being the tallest crowned, the widest brimmed. His +face was like a girl's for its smoothness and its prettiness; his eyes +were like blue flowers of sweet innocence; on his forehead his hair was +a cluster of little yellow ringlets. And yet he managed full well to +convey the impression that he was less innocent than insolent, a +somewhat true impression; for from high heels to finger-tips he was a +downright, simon-pure rascal. + +Yellow Barbee's eyes fairly invaded Helen's as he jerked her his bow. +They were two youngsters, and in at least, and perhaps in at most, one +matter they were alike: she prided herself that she 'knew' men, and to +Barbee all women were an open, oft-read book. + +Plainly Barbee was something of a favourite here; further, being a +visitor, he was potentially of interest to the men who had not been off +the ranch for matters of weeks and months. When Alan Howard and the +professor picked up their conversation, and again Helen found herself +monopolized by John Carr, from here and there about the table came +pointed remarks to Yellow Barbee. Helen, though she listened to Carr +and was never unconscious of her father and Howard, understood, after +the strange fashion of women, all that was being said about her. Early +she gathered that there was, somewhere in the world, a dashing young +woman styled the 'Widow.' Further, she had the quick eyes to see that +Barbee blushed when an old cattle-man with a roguish eye cleared his +throat and made aloud some remark about Mrs. Murray. Yes; Barbee the +insolent, the swaggering, the worldly-wise and conceited Barbee, +actually blushed. + +Though the hour was late it was not yet dark when the meal was done. +Somehow Howard was at Helen's side when they went to the living-room +and out to the front porch; Carr started with them, hesitated and held +back, finally stepping over for a word with an old Mexican. Helen +noted that Barbee had moved around the table and was talking with her +father. As she and Howard found chairs on the porch, Longstreet and +Barbee passed them and went out, talking together. + + + + +Chapter V + +The Good Old Sport + +The Longstreets remained several days upon Desert Valley Ranch, as the +wide holding had been known for half a century. Also John Carr and his +young retainer, Yellow Barbee, prolonged their stay. It appeared that +Carr had come over from some vague place still further toward the east +upon some matter of business connected with the sale of this broad +acreage; Carr had owned the outfit and managed it personally for a +dozen years, and now was selling to Alan Howard. It further devolved +that Barbee had long been one of Carr's best horsemen, hence a +favourite of Carr, who loved good horses, and that he had accompanied +his employer merely to help drive over to the ranch a small herd of +colts which had been included in the sale but had not until now been +delivered. Carr was a great deal with Howard, and Howard managed to +see a great deal of the Longstreets; as for Barbee, Helen met his +insolent young eyes only at mealtimes. + +'My business is over,' Carr confessed to Helen in the _patio_ the next +morning. 'There's no red tape and legal nonsense between Al and me. +To sell a ranch like this, when you know the other chap, is like +selling a horse. But,' and his eyes roved from his cigar to a glimpse +through an open door of wide rolling meadows and grazing stock, 'I +guess I'm sort of homesick for it. If it was to do over I don't know +that I'd sell it this morning.' + +Helen had rested well last night; this morning she had thrilled anew to +the world about her. She thought that she had never seen such a +sunrise; the day appeared almost to come leaping and shouting up out of +the desert; the air of the morning, before the heat came, was nothing +less than glorious. Her eyes were bright; there was the flush of +joyousness in her cheeks. + +'How a man could own this,' she said slowly, 'and then could sell +it----' She shook her head and looked at him half wonderingly. 'I +don't see how you could do it.' + +'You feel that way about it, too?' He brought his eyes back soberly to +his cigar. + +Howard, whose swinging stride Helen had learned to know already, came +out from the living-room, hat in hand, carrying a pair of spurs he had +been tinkering with. + +'What are you talking about?' he laughed. 'Somebody dead?' + +'Miss Longstreet was saying,' Carr said quietly, his eyes still grave, +'that she couldn't understand a man selling an outfit like this, once +he had called it his own.' + +'Good for you, Miss Helen,' cried Howard heartily. 'I am with you on +that. John, there, must have been out of his senses when he let me +talk him out of Desert Valley.' + +'I don't know but that I was,' said Carr. + +Howard looked at him swiftly, and swiftly the light in his eyes +altered. For Carr had spoken thoughtfully and soberly, and there was +no hint of jest in the man. + +'You don't mean, John,' said Alan, a trifle uncertainly, 'that you are +sorry you let go? That you are not satisfied----' + +Carr appeared to be considering the matter as though it were enwrapped +in his cigar. He took ample time in replying, so much time, in fact, +that Helen found herself growing impatient for his reply. + +'Suppose I were sorry?' he said finally. 'Suppose I were not +satisfied? Then what? The deal is made, and a bargain, old-timer, is +a bargain.' + +Now it was Howard's turn for silence and sober eyes. He looked +intently into his friend's face; then with a lingering affection across +his broad lands. + +'Not between friends,' he said. 'Not between friends like you and me, +John. I've hardly got my hooks into it; you had it long enough for it +to get to be a part of you. If you made a mistake in selling, if you +know it now----' He shrugged and smiled. 'Why, of course it doesn't +mean as much to me as to you, and anyway, it's yours until I get all my +payments made, and if you say the word----' + +'Well?' asked Carr steadily. + +'Why,' cried Howard, 'we'll frame a new deal this very minute and you +can take it over again!' + +'You'd do that for me, Al?' + +'You're damned well right, I would!' cried Howard heartily. And Helen +understood that for the moment at least he had forgotten that she was +present. + +A slow smile came into Carr's eyes. + +'That's square shooting, Long Boy.'--he spoke more impetuously than +Helen had thought the man could--'but I never went back on a play yet, +did I? I'm just sort of homesick for the old place, that's all. +Forget it.' He slapped Howard upon the shoulder, the two friends' eyes +met for a moment of utter understanding and he went on down to the +stable, calling back, 'I'm going to take the best horse you've +got--that would be Bel and no other--and ride. So long.' + +'So long,' answered Howard. + +Carr gone from sight, Howard stood musing a moment, unconscious of +Helen's wondering eyes upon him. Then he turned to her and began +speaking of his friend: big and generous and manly was Carr; a man to +tie to, and, though he did not say it in so many words, a man to die +for. He explained how Carr had taken the old Diaz ranch that had been +Spanish and then Mexican in its time and had made it over into what it +was, the greatest stock run north of the Rio Grande and west of the +Mississippi. Helen's interest was ready and sympathetic, and Howard +passed from one point to another until he had sketched the way in which +the ranch had been sold to him. And the girl, though she knew little +enough about business methods, was startled to learn how these two men +trusted each other. She recalled what Carr had said; between him and +Howard a deal involving many thousands of dollars was as simple a +matter as the sale of a horse. The two, riding together, had in a few +words agreed upon price and terms. They had returned to the house and +Howard had written a cheque for seven thousand dollars as first +payment; all of his ready cash, he admitted freely, saving what he must +keep on hand for ranch manipulation. There was no deed given, no deed +of trust, no mortgage. It was understood that Howard should pay +certain sums at certain specified dates; each man had jotted down his +memoranda in his own hand; the deal was made. + +'But,' gasped Helen, 'if anything unforeseen should happen? If--if he +should die? Or you? If----' + +'In any case there would be one of us left, wouldn't there?' he +countered in his off-hand way. 'Unless we both went out, and then what +difference? He has no one to look out for; neither have I. Besides,' +he laughed carelessly, 'John and I both plan on being on the job a good +fifty years from now. Come out here and I'll show you a real horse.' + +She went with him to the porch. Carr was leaving the stable, riding +Bel. Helen knew little enough of horseflesh and yet she understood +that here was an animal to catch anyone's eye; yes, and Carr, sitting +massive and stalwart in the saddle, was a man to hold any woman's. The +horse was a big, bright bay; mane and tail were like fine gold; the sun +winked back from them and from the glorious reddish hide. Carr saw +them and waved his hat; Bel danced sideways and whirled, and for an +instant stood upon his rear legs, his thin, aristocratic forelegs +flaying the air. Then came Carr's deep bass laugh; the polished hoofs +struck the ground and they were off, flashing away across the +meadowlands. + +'Some day,' said Helen, her eyes sparkling, 'I want to ride a horse +like that!' She turned to him, asking eagerly, 'Could I learn?' + +'If with all my heart I wanted to be a first-rate Philadelphia lawyer +or a third-rate San Francisco politician,' he announced with that +sweeping positiveness which was one of his characteristics, 'I'd +consider the job done to start with! All you've got to do is to want a +thing, want it hard, and it's as good as yours. Now, to begin with, +you love a horse. The rest is easy.' + +Helen saw her father, accompanied by young Barbee, emerge from behind +the stable, and sighed. + +'I don't believe you know what failure means,' she said. + +'There isn't any such bird,' he laughed at her. + +'Not really.' + +'Then,' her eyes still upon the pair talking together by the stable +door, 'dear old dad should find his gold-mine. He wants it with all +his heart, Heaven knows. And he has the faith that is supposed to move +mountains.' + +Howard scratched his head. Within the few hours he had come to like +the old professor, for Longstreet, though academic, was a +straight-from-the-shoulder type of man, one of no subterfuges. And yet +he did not greatly inspire confidence; he was not the type that +breathes efficiency. + +'Tell me about him,' Howard urged. 'What makes him so dead certain he +can nail his Golconda out here? I take it he has never been out this +way before, and that he doesn't know a whole lot of our part of the +country.' + +Confidence inspires confidence. Howard had hardly finished sketching +for her his own plans and hopes; he had gone succinctly and openly into +detail concerning his deal with John Carr. Now Helen, glad to talk +with some one, answered in kind. + +'The University elected a young president, a New Broom,' she said +bitterly. 'He is a man of more ambition than brains. His slogan is +"Young Men." He ousted father together with a dozen other men of his +age. I thought father's heart would be broken; he had devoted all of +the years of his life, all of his best work, to his University. But +instead he was simply enraged! Can you imagine him in a perfectly +towering rage?' + +Howard grinned. 'Go ahead,' he chuckled. 'He's a good old sport and I +like him.' + +'Well,' said Helen, without meeting his smile, 'father and I went into +business session right away. We had never had much money; father had +never cared for wealth measured in money; had always been richly +content with his professor's salary; had never saved or asked me to +save. When the thing happened, all we had in the world was a little +over seven hundred dollars. I was right away for economizing, for +managing, for turning to some other position. But father, I tell you, +was in a perfect rage. When I mentioned finances to him he got up and +shouted. "Money!" he yelled at me. "What's money? Who wants money? +It's a fool's game to get money; anybody can do it." When he saw that +I doubted he told me to pack up that very day and he'd show me; he'd +show the world. The new University man named him an old fogy, did he? +He'd show him. Didn't he know more than any other man living about +geology? About the making of the earth and the minerals of the earth? +Was it any trick to find gold? Not in the dribbles, but such a mine as +never a miner drove a pick into yet?' + +She sighed again and grew silent. Howard, toying idly with the spurs +in his hands, could at the moment find nothing to say. + +'Dear old pops,' she said more softly in a moment. 'I am afraid that +his heart-breaking time is coming now--when he learns that it isn't so +easy to find gold, after all.' + +'No,' said Howard slowly. 'No. It doesn't break a man's heart, for he +is always sure that it is coming the next day and the next and the +next. I've known them to go on that way until they died, and then know +in their hearts that they'd make a strike the next day--if only the +Lord would spare them twenty-four hours more.' + +'I wanted father to bank our money,' went on Helen, her eyes darkening. +'I wanted to go to work, to earn something. I can teach. But he +wouldn't hear of it. He said--he said that if the time had come when +he couldn't support his own daughter it was high time he was dead.' + +Howard nodded his understanding. 'He's a good sport, I tell you,' he +maintained warmly. 'And I like him. Who knows but that he may make +his ten-strike here after all? Or,' as he marked the droop of the +girl's mouth and understood how she must be thinking of how little was +left of their pittance, he added briskly, 'this is a better place than +the East any day; there are more chances. If a man is the right sort +there is always a chance for him. If you want to teach---- Well, +we've got schools out here, haven't we?' + +Helen's eyes rounded at him. 'Have you? Where?' + +'And bully good schools,' he insisted. 'There's the Big Springs school +not over ten miles off, over that way. You could have a job there +to-morrow, if you said the word.' + +Her eyes brightened. 'There is a vacancy, then?' + +'Well,' he admitted, 'I'm not so sure about that. There's a teacher +there, I believe. But,' and now it was his eyes that brightened, 'it +could be fixed somehow. Just leave it to John and me.' + +She laughed at him and all her gaiety came surging back. + +'Here I've been drawing a face a mile long,' she cried lightly, 'when +everything's all right as far as I can see in all directions. I am +going down to see what father is up to; he and Mr. Barbee look to me +like a couple of youngsters plotting trouble.' + +A look of understanding flashed between Yellow Barbee and Professor +Longstreet as the two came down from the ranch-house. Thereafter +Longstreet beamed upon his daughter while Yellow Barbee, his hat far +back upon the blonde cluster of curls, turned his insolent eyes upon +her. Helen, deeming him overbold, sought to 'squelch' him with a look. +Instead she saw both mirth and admiration shining in the baby-blue +eyes. She turned her back upon El Joven, who retaliated by turning his +back upon her and swaggering away into the stable, whistling through +his teeth as he went. Howard went with him for his horse. + +'Papa,' said Helen after the stern fashion which in time comes natural +to the girl with a wayward father, 'what are you two up to?' + +'My darling,' said Longstreet hurriedly, 'what do you mean?' + +'I mean you and that young scamp. He's bad, papa; bad all the way +through. And you, you dear old innocent----' + +Longstreet glanced hastily over his shoulder and then frowned at her. + +'You mustn't talk that way. He is a remarkably fine young fellow. We +are in a new environment, you and I, Helen. We are in Rome and must +learn something of the Romans. Now, Mr. Barbee----' + +'Is Roman all the way through!' sniffed Helen. 'You just look out that +he doesn't lead you into mischief.' + +In the stable Howard was saddling two horses, meaning to invite Helen +to begin her serious study now. He, too, was interested in the odd +friendship which seemed to be growing up so swiftly between two men so +utterly unlike. He turned to Barbee to ask a question and saw the +young fellow stoop and sweep up something that had fallen into the +straw underfoot. Howard's eyes were quick and keen; it was only a +flash, but he recognized a ten of spades. He turned back to the latigo +he was drawing tight. But before they left the stable he offered +carelessly: + +'What do you think of the professor, Barbee?' + +And Barbee answered joyously: + +'He's a reg'lar ring-tailed old he-devil, Al.' He winked brightly. +'One of these days him and me is going to drift down to Tres Pinos. +And, say, won't the town know about us?' + +'What do you mean?' demanded Howard sharply. + +Barbee considered him a thoughtful moment. Then he shrugged. + +'Oh, nothing,' he said. + + + + +Chapter VI + +The Youthful Heart + +To both Helen and her father, tarrying at Desert Valley Ranch, the +long, still, hot days were fraught with much new interest. Life was +new and golden, viewed from this fresh viewpoint. Helen had come +hitherward from her city haunts with trepidation; even Longstreet, +serenely optimistic regarding the ultimate crown of success to his +labour, was genuinely delighted. The days passed all too swiftly. + +As can in no way be held reprehensible in one of her age and maidenly +beauty and charm, Helen's interest had to do primarily with men, two +men. They, quite as should be in this land of novelty, were unlike the +men she had known. With each passing hour Helen came to see this more +clearly. She was a bright young woman, alert and with at least a +modicum of scientific mental attitude inherited from the machinery of +her father's brain. Like any other healthy young animal, she wanted to +know whys and wherefores and the like. + +The evening of their first day, alone in her room for an hour before +bed, she settled for herself the first difference between these men of +the desert fringes and the men she had known at home. To begin with, +she reviewed in mind her old acquaintances: there were a half-dozen +professors, instructors, assistants who called infrequently on her +father and whom she had come to know with a degree of familiarity. The +youngest of them had been twenty years older than Helen, and, whereas +her father was always an old dear, sometimes a hopeless and helpless +old dear, they were simply old fogies. They constituted, however, an +important department in her male friends; the rest were as easily +catalogued. They were the young college men--men in name only, boys in +actuality. They were of her own age or two or four years older or a +year younger. They danced and made mysterious references to the beer +they had wickedly drunk; they motored in their fathers' cars and played +tennis in their fathers' flannels when they fitted; no doubt they were +men in the making, but to judge them as men already was like looking +prematurely into the oven to see how the bread was doing; they were +still under-baked. So far they were playing with the game of life; +life, herself, had not yet taken them seriously, had not reached out +the iron hand that eventually would seize them by the back of the neck, +the slack of the trousers, and pitch them out into the open arena. + +Helen was considerably pleased with the result of her meditations: her +father's academic friends had held back behind college walls and thus +had never come out into the scrimmage that makes men; her own young +friends had not yet reached the time when they would buckle on their +armour and mount and talk lance in hand. Alan Howard and John Carr +were men who for a number of years had done man's work out in the open, +no doubt giving and receiving doughty blows. She considered Carr: he +had taken a monster outfit like Desert Valley and had made it over, in +his own image, like a god working. There were thousands of acres, she +had no idea how many. There were cattle and horses and mules; again +she thought of them only vaguely as countless. There were many men +obeying his orders, taking his daily wage. Carr had mastered a big job +and the job had made a masterly man of him. Then had come Alan Howard +with vision and determination and courage. He had expended almost his +last cent for a first payment upon the huge property; he was risking +all that he had gathered of the world's goods, he was out in the open +waging his battle like a young king claiming his heritage. Helen +clothed the act in the purple and gold of romance and thrilled at her +own picture. + +'After all,' she discovered, 'there _are_ different kinds of men and I +never knew men like these two.' + +Then, when she thought of Yellow Barbee, she sniffed. Barbee was about +her own age; she considered him a mere child and transparent. + +She had said good night to her father, but now suddenly in a mood for +conversation went out into the hall and tiptoed to his door. When +there came no response to her gentle tapping she opened the door and +discovered only darkness and emptiness. She was mildly surprised; +distinctly she had heard him go into his room and close his door and +she had not heard him go out again. + +There are men who, though they may live to be a hundred years old, keep +always the fresh heart of twenty. James Edward Longstreet was one of +them. He was a man of considerable erudition; he had always supposed +that the choice had lain entirely with him. He had always been amply +content with his existence, had genially considered that the whole of +the bright stream of life, gently deflected, had flowed through his +college halls and under his calm eyes. Now his youthful soul was in a +delightful turmoil; adventures had come to him, more adventures were +coming. Men like Barbee had given him the staunch hand of friendship; +they had welcomed him as an equal. And something until now untouched, +unguessed, that had lived on in his boy's heart, stirred and awoke and +thrilled. To-night, with a vague sense of guilt which made the +escapade but the more electric, while his daughter had imagined that he +was getting himself sedately into his long-tailed, sedate nightgown, he +was beaming warmly upon the highly entertained group of ranch hands +down in the men's bunk-house, whither, by the way, he had been led by +Barbee. + +There comes now and then to such an isolation as Desert Valley a boon +from the gods in the guise of a tenderfoot. But never tenderfoot, +agreed the oldest Mexican with the youngest Texan, like this one. They +sat lined in back-tilted chairs about the four walls and studied him +with eyes that were at all times appreciative, often downright grave. +His ignorance was astounding, his hunger for information amazing. He +was a man from Mars who knew all that was to be known in his own world +but brought into this strange planet a frank and burning curiosity. +Barbee's chaps delighted him; a hair rope awoke in his soul an +avaricious hunger for a hair rope of his own; commonplace ranch +matters, like branding and marking and breeding and weaning and +breaking, evoked countless eager questions. For so academic a man, the +strange thing about him was his attitude toward these day labourers; he +looked upon them as brothers; not only that, but as older brothers. He +forgot his own wisdom in his thirst to partake of theirs. He gave the +full of his admiration to a man whom he had seen that day cast a wide +loop of rope about the horns of a running steer. + +He was making discoveries hand over fist; perhaps therein lay a +sufficient reason why the man of science in him was fascinated. True, +those discoveries which he made were new only to him; yet one might say +the same of America and Columbus. For one thing, it dawned on him that +here was a new and excellent technical vocabulary; he stored away in +his brain strange words as a squirrel sticks nuts and acorns into a +hole. Hondo, tapaderos, bad hombre, tecolote, bronco, maverick, +side-winder--rapaciously he seized upon them as bits of the argot of +fairyland. He watched the expert roll the brown tube of a cigarette +and yearned for the skill; he observed tricks in riding, and there was +within him the compelling urge to ride like that; not a trifle escaped +his shark-eyes, be it the way the men combed their hair, mounted their +horses, or dragged their spurs. To-night and with unhidden elation he +accepted Barbee's invitation to 'set in and roll the bones' with them. +'Roll the bones!' When some day he went back home, the owner of the +'greatest little mine this side of the Rockies,' he'd work that off on +his old chum, Professor Anstruther. He drew up his chair to the table, +piled a jumble of coins in front of him and took into his hands the +enticing cubes. + +He did not think of it as gambling; he had never gambled, had never +wanted to. But he was all alive to join in the amusements of his new +friends, to be like them. After all, he was putting up as sorts of +markers a few five and ten-cent pieces with an occasional quarter or +half-dollar, and to him money had never had much significance. The +game was the thing and he found in it from the first a keen +mathematical interest. There were five dice; each dice with its six +surfaces had six different numbers. While he beamed into the veiled +eyes of the old Mexican he was figuring upon the various combinations +possible and the likelihood, the theory of chances, of a six or an ace +upon the second throw. From the jump the game fascinated him; it is to +be questioned, however, if ever before a man knew just the sort of +fascination which enthralled him. No matter who won or lost, when the +rolling cubes behaved in conformity with the mathematical laws, he +fairly sparkled. And in the end he lost only six or seven dollars and +did not in the least realize that he had lost a cent. When at last he +left to go to bed, all of the eyes in the room followed him. They were +puzzled eyes. + +'The old boy's all right,' said one man. It was Tod Barstow, an old +hand. And he added, nodding, 'He's a damn good loser.' + +Barbee chuckled and pocketed his small winnings. + +'That's what I'm playing him for, Toddy,' he admitted with his cheerful +grin. + +In the end the Longstreets went from Desert Valley straight on to the +nearest town, that of Big Run, only a dozen miles still east of the +ranch. The suggestion came from Longstreet himself, who had had a +picturesque account of the settlement from Barbee. + +'I estimate,' the professor announced at breakfast, 'that we shall be +the matter of two or three months at Last Ridge. What comforts we have +there will be the results of our own efforts. Now, though we have +brought with us certain of the absolute necessities, there is much in +the way of provision and sundries that we should have. Mr. Howard has +been so very considerate as to offer us a wagon and horses and even a +driver. I think, my dear, that we would do well to drive into Big Run, +which I understand is a progressive community with an excellent store. +We can get what we require there and the next day return to the Last +Ridge.' + +Only approval greeted his words. Howard, it appeared, had business in +Big Run and would make the trip with them; Carr judged that it was time +for him to be clearing out, and his way led through Big Run. So they +hurried through breakfast and started. + +Tod Barstow handled the reins of the four mules; beside him on the +high, rocking seat, sat Longstreet. During his sojourn on the ranch he +had acquired a big bright-red bandana handkerchief which now was +knotted loosely about his sun-reddened throat; the former crease in his +big hat had given place to a tall peak: he wore a pair of leather +wrist-cuffs which he had purchased from Barbee. Barstow grunted and +turned the grunt into a shrill yell directed at his mules; they knew +his voice and jammed their necks deep into their collars, taking the +road at a run. Longstreet, taken unawares, bounced and came +dangerously near toppling off the seat. Then with both hands he clung +to the iron guard-rod at the back of the seat and took his joy out of a +new mode of travel. + +Helen had elected to go on horseback. Howard had brought out for her a +pretty little mare, coal-black and slender-limbed, but sufficiently +gentle. Barbee, who had been watching, suddenly set his toe in his own +stirrup and went up into the saddle, racing on to overtake and pass the +wagon. Howard and Carr glanced swiftly at each other; then their eyes +went to the girl. Howard helped her to mount and reined in at her +right, Carr dropped into place at her left, and so, the three abreast, +they followed Barbee. + +They rode slowly, and now Howard, now Carr, told her of the points of +interest along the trail. When they crossed the lower end of the +valley and came to the top of the gentle slope extending along its +eastern edge, Helen made a discovery. All these latter days she had +thought of the desert as behind her, lying all to the westward. Now +she understood how the ranch was aptly named Desert Valley; it was a +freak, an oasis, a fertile valley with desert lands to east as well as +west, and to north and south. When they had ridden down the far slope +of the hills they were once more upon the edges of the solitudes of +sand-sweep and sand-ridge and cactus and mesquite and utter drought. +Every step their horses took carried them further into a land of arid +menace; at the end of the first hour it was difficult to imagine green +water-fields only a handful of miles away. + +'It's just the water that makes the difference,' Howard told her. +'Isn't it, John?' Carr nodded. 'If a man could get water to put on +this land that is burning our horses' fetlocks off right now, he'd have +all the crops and stock range he wanted. Why, the bigger part of +Desert Valley was like this before John took hold of it; he developed +the water, and I've gone on with his work, and look what we've got now!' + +'That makes your ranch all the more wonderful!' cried Helen. + +Howard's eyes glowed; she noted that they always did when he spoke thus +of Desert Valley or when she bespoke her hearty approval of his choice. +Something prompted her to turn swiftly to Carr; his head was down; he +was frowning at the horn of his saddle; Helen, not devoid of either +intuition or tact, changed the conversation. But not before she noted +that Howard, too, had looked toward his friend. + + +Big Run huddled among tall cottonwoods in a shallow hollow. It was +blessed with several clear, pure springs, its only blessing. It was +self-sufficient, impudent. About it on all sides was the sweep of grey +desert; in the shade of its cottonwoods, along its thicket of willows, +was a modicum of greenness and coolness; its ugly houses like toads +squatting in the shade had an air of jeering at the wastes of sand and +scrub. The place was old in years and iniquity. The amazing thing +connected with it was that its water could remain pure; one would have +thought that through the years even the deathless springs would have +been contaminated. Long ago it had been a Hopi camp; in their tongue +it was called the 'Half-Way between Here and There.' Later a handful +of treacherous devils from below the border had swooped down into the +cottonwood hollow. They had dissipated the Indian group, for the sake +of robbery and murder. They had squatted by the water-holes, +prototypes of the crooked buildings which now recalled them; they had +builded the town by the simple device of driving Indian labourers to +the task. White men subsequently had come, men of the restless foot, +lone prospectors, cattlemen. They had lodged briefly at the hotel +which necessity had called into being, had played cards in the adobe of +'Tonio Moraga, had quarrelled with the surly southerners, had now and +then shot their way out into the clear starlit night or had known the +cruel bite of steel, and in any case had left Big Run as they had found +it--a town oddly American in nothing whatever save its name, which had +come whence and how no man knew. + +First into town that morning rode Yellow Barbee; with no urge to linger +and a definite destination ahead, he always rode hard, his hat far +back, his blue eyes shining. He sent his lean roan on the run down the +crooked street among the crooked houses; he scattered a handful of +dirty ducks flopping and scuttling out of his way; he drew after him a +noisy barking of dogs, startled out of their sleep in the shade; he +brought his horse up with a sharp jerk of the reins before the +blue-and-white sign of the saloon; he was half out of the saddle when a +glimpse of something down the street altered his intention in a flash; +he wheeled his horse, and, with one stirrup flying wildly, his big hat +in his hand, his eyes on fire, he went racing back down the street and +again stopped with a jerk. This time the sign before him spelled +hotel. Leaving his horse to pant and fight flies, Yellow Barbee strode +in at the open door. + +Next came in due time Tod Barstow and the mule team and Longstreet. +They clattered along in clouds of high-puffed dust, harness jingling. +Barstow swung his leaders skilfully and narrowly around the broken +corners of old adobes and slammed on his brake before the store, that +is to say, half-way between saloon and hotel. He climbed down, +Longstreet after him. + +Finally came the loiterers, Helen and Carr and Howard. They noted +Barbee's roan at its hitching-rail; further they glimpsed through a +thirsty-looking dusty vine--that which Barbee had glimpsed before them. +Some one wearing cool, laundered white was out upon the side porch; +Barbee's voice, young and eager, low yet vibrant, bespoke Barbee's +proximity to the Someone. + +'The widow.' said Carr. He looked at Howard. 'I'll bet you a hat it's +Mrs. Murray, Al.' + +It was vaguely impressed upon Helen that a significance less casual +than the light words themselves lay in Carr's remark. She, too, looked +at Howard. There was a frown in his eyes. Slowly, as his look met +hers, a flush spread in his cheeks. Carr saw it and laughed amusedly. + +'Look out, Al,' he chuckled. 'She'll get you yet.' + +Now Howard laughed with him and the flush subsided. + +'John thinks he's a great little josher, Miss Helen,' he said lightly. +'No doubt you'll meet Mrs. Murray at lunch; you just watch the way she +looks at John Carr!--there's the professor waiting for us. John, I'll +lay you a bet of another hat!' + +'Well?' asked Carr. + +'I'll bet you Jim Courtot has turned up again.' + +But Longstreet had sighted them and was out in the road calling to +them, and Carr made no answer. + + + + +Chapter VII + +Waiting for Moonrise + +For upward of two hours Longstreet and Helen were at the store, making +their purchases. Carr said good-bye, promising to look them up at +their camp at the ridge by the time they should be ready for callers; +he shook hands warmly with the professor, and for a moment stood over +Helen, looking steadily into her eyes. She returned his regard frankly +and friendlily, but in the end flushed a little. When Carr went out, +Howard, saying that he would be back presently, went out with him. + +'Two bang-up, square-shooting gents!' cried Longstreet warmly. Helen +turned upon him in amazement. + +'Papa!' she gasped. 'Where on earth did you get that sort of talk?' + +Longstreet smiled brightly. + +'Haven't I told you, my dear.' he explained, 'that when in Rome one +should learn from the Romans?' + +He led the way to the counter. It was heaped high with all sorts of +merchandise, dry goods and groceries, and hardware--anything the +purchaser might desire from ham and bacon and tinned goods to shirts +and overalls, spurs and guns. Behind it stood the proprietor, a +slant-eyed, thievish-looking Mexican, while behind him were his untidy +shelves--a further jumble of commodities. He looked his approval at +the girl, his professional interest at the father. + +Longstreet frankly turned out the contents of his purse upon the +counter, his ready way of computing their resources and judging the +proper cash outlay for the present. The slant eyes grew narrower with +speculation. + +'One hundred and eighty-odd dollars,' he computed approximately. +'We'll spend about a hundred with you to-day, my friend.' + +'_Bueno, senor_,' agreed the Mexican. And he waved to his shelves. + +Helen, who knew only too well her father's carelessness in money +matters, was not satisfied with an approximate estimate of their +resources. She counted carefully. + +'You should have had nearer two hundred dollars, pops,' she told him +gently. 'Have you felt in all your pockets? I am afraid that you have +lost a five or ten-dollar piece.' + +He evaded. 'It's of no moment.' he said hastily. 'A few bucks one way +or the other won't plug a hole in a 'dobe wall. And this _hombre_ is +waiting.' + +This time Helen did not even gasp. Something had occurred to work +havoc with her father's accustomed fine academic speech. This smacked, +she thought, of the influence of Barbee. + +But soon she forgot this and with it the discrepancy in cash; she had +begun to purchase, to barter with the storekeeper, to fairly revel in +delights of camp preparations. For, after all, life was not all +seriousness, and here, offering itself for the morrow, was a rare lark. +A spice of recklessness entered the moment; the dollars went skipping +across the counter, and packages and boxes came heaped up in their +places. + +Howard looked in on them once; they did not see him. He went his way, +and still Longstreet made new suggestions and Helen and the Mexican +bargained. The first coolness of the late afternoon was stirring, the +broad sun had gone down, leaving the land in soft, grateful shadow, +something over a hundred dollars had been spent, when with a sigh Helen +put the residue of the family fortune into the old purse, and the +purse, though reluctantly, into her father's pocket. She did not want +to hurt his feelings now; but she really thought that once they were +settled in their new home, she ought to employ some tactful method of +acquiring custody. + +They went down the dusty street arm in arm and in gay spirits. Tod +Barstow had driven off to a stable somewhere; the goods were to be +called for to-morrow morning; now they could go down to the hotel, to +the chairs on the shady porch, and then to dinner. And, thought Helen, +with more than a flicker of interest, she would see the 'widow.' + +As though she were awaiting them, Mrs. Murray was on the porch. With +her was Barbee, who rose promptly and elaborately performed the +ceremony of introduction. + +'Mr. Longstreet,' he said formally, 'shake hands with my friend, Mrs. +Murray. Miss Longstreet, make you acquainted with my friend, Mrs. +Murray.' + +Mrs. Murray shook hands with them both, exclaiming brightly at her +delight. Then, as they all sat down, she and Helen considered each +other. Oddly, Helen had known all along that she would not like Mrs. +Murray; now, and after the first probing glance, she was prepared for +downright dislike. Longstreet, on the other hand, was obviously very +favourably impressed. Nor without more than a little to be said on his +side of the question. The woman was young, petite, dark and unusually +pretty. Her teeth flashed in engaging smiles, her eyes were large and +quick and bright; she was all vivacity; her glance could be at one +moment limpid, humid, haunting, and at the moment hold a gleam and +sparkle of mirth. Even Helen could find no fault with her little +travelling suit. + +Plain to be read by anyone with a claim to eyesight was Yellow Barbee's +devotion; equally plainly decipherable, thought Helen, was the fact of +Mrs. Murray's amusement at Barbee's infatuation. It meant nothing to +her; she was playing with him as, no doubt, she had played with many +another susceptible youngster. Helen was sure she read that in the +eyes which the young woman turned now and then upon the languishing +young cowboy. + +Presently Alan Howard put in his appearance, freshly shaven and shorn, +and they all went in together to supper. Helen was unaffectedly glad +to see him; she had seen all that she cared to see of Mrs. Murray and +something more than that of Barbee. Howard greeted Mrs. Murray +casually; she cried a friendly, 'Oh, hello, Al!' and he stepped to +Helen's side. Barbee hastened to place his big palm under Mrs. +Murray's elbow and steered her, after the approved fashion of the +community, in to the table. She allowed him the liberty; but while +Barbee's eyes devoured her face, Helen managed to mark that the 'widow' +was studying Alan Howard. + +At table Alan and Helen found a variety of subjects to interest them; +Mrs. Murray stared at them a moment, then shrugged her plump shoulders +and made Barbee transcendently happy and miserable by turns; Longstreet +ate his dried beef stew abstractedly. Barbee and Mrs. Murray, who +finished first, excused themselves and went back to the gathering dusk +of the porch, whence her light laughter came now and then trilling back +into the dining-room. + +'Who is she?' asked Helen, her eyes full upon Howard's. + +'Mrs. Murray?' He shrugged. 'That is all I know of her; or that anyone +I know knows of her. I don't fancy,' he added coolly, 'that you will +like her.' + +'I don't,' the girl announced briefly. + +'Mind you,' he hurried to continue, 'I don't know a blessed thing +against her. I just meant that I didn't think her your kind.' + +'Thank you,' Helen replied, accepting the statement as a satisfactory +compliment. He laughed. Then he looked toward the professor, whose +thoughts were plainly a thousand miles away. + +'I've caught an inspiration,' he said softly. + +'What is it?' smiled Helen. + +There'll be a moon in two or three hours. At best the accommodations +here are bad; rooms stuffy and close and hot. If you are not too +tired-----' + +He saw that she understood what he meant, and further that she gave her +glad acceptance. + +'It will be fun!' she told him. He even detected a something of +eagerness in her tone; he had already thought that it would be just he +and she this time--they two alone riding together out through the +glorious night, chaperoned only by the knowledge that somewhere in the +distance behind them the wagon jolted along. He wondered if she, too, +had thought of this? + +When the three at table finished and went out into the cool of the +porch they found only empty chairs; a half-silhouette showed where +Barbee leaned against a pepper tree by the roadside. Helen settled +herself comfortably, wandering if Mrs. Murray had re-entered the hotel +by some side door or if she had business elsewhere. Howard made the +suggestion of the return to Desert Valley. Longstreet hesitated, then +objected, saying that by now the store would be closed and that the +wagon was still to be loaded. + +'Tod Barstow will be up at the saloon, probably looking for a game of +cribbage,' said Howard. 'It will take me about three shakes to locate +him. The store will be open; old Mexican Pete lives in the back. I'll +have Tod hitch up at the first peep of the moon; he can load your stuff +on in twenty minutes.' + +Helen added her voice to Alan's. Longstreet's eyes travelled out to +the listless figure against the pepper tree. At the moment Barbee's +silhouette disengaged itself from the tree's shadowy trunk and started +up the road. + +'All right,' said Longstreet. 'But you needn't trouble about looking +up Barstow; I'd enjoy the walk. If you and Helen will wait here, I'll +see that the wagon is ready about moonrise.' And as though he had just +remembered an important engagement, he hurried away. + +They saw him overtake Barbee; they heard his cheerful voice, and then a +surly rejoinder from the boy. Then, far across the sky, a star fell +and their eyes went to it together and they fell silent. When the +brief silence was gone, and they talked in lowered voices, they had +both forgotten Longstreet and Barbee. And, for one, Alan Howard was in +no haste for the rising moon. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +Poker and the Scientific Mind + +Barbee, as he himself would have expressed it, was soured on life. At +least for the moment, and after all that is about all that life is, the +instant that it is passing. When Longstreet called to him he grunted +in disgust. He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and spat out +the cold stump of his cigarette. It was Barbee's natural way to swing +along with his hat far back, so that he might see the stars. Now his +hat brim was dragged low, and for Barbee the stars were only less +remote and frigid than a certain fickle woman. + +'I say, Barbee,' called the professor a second time. + +Barbee slumped on without turning, but growled over his shoulder: + +'Can't you leave a man alone?' + +Longstreet doubted his ears; the boy had been so friendly. He tried +hurriedly and in vain to recall some trifle in which perhaps, being +misunderstood, he had offended. During his mental uncertainty the +natural physical hesitancy had resulted in Barbee's gaining a lead of a +dozen steps. Hence when a white figure flitted out from the shadows to +the boy's side, Longstreet was not near enough to hear the whispered +words; the soft trill of a laugh he caught, to be sure, and immediately +recognized as Mrs. Murray's. Then she had drawn away from Barbee, +called good night and passed on to the hotel, so close to Longstreet +that her skirts brushed him. Barbee stood still watching her until she +disappeared under the porch vines. Longstreet came on to his side +then. They fell into step and again Barbee was swaggering with his old +buoyancy; again his hat was far back, and his eyes were on the stars. + +'Hello, old sport,' he said affably. 'Some night, ain't it?' + +To know why a man of the type of James Edward Longstreet should be +flattered at being called 'old sport' by one of the type of Yellow +Barbee is to understand human nature; Longstreet was utterly human. +The bonds of environment are bands of steel; the little boy that close +to threescore years ago was Johnny Longstreet had been restricted by +them, his growth had been that of a gourd with a strap about its +middle; he had perforce grown in conformity with the commands of the +outside pressure. Had he been born in Poco Poco and reared on a ranch, +it is at least likely that he would not have been a professor in an +Eastern university. Now that the steel girdles of environment were +stricken off it appeared that the youthful heart of him stimulated new +growth. As for heredity, environment's collaborator, both he and +Barbee were lineal descendants of father Adam and mother Eve. But, be +the explanation where it may, 'the everlasting miracle' was the same, +and the 'old sport' beamed as he would not have done had the University +of Edinburgh bestowed upon him a new degree. + +'Let's frolic a few,' suggested Barbee, with a sidelong glance. + +'I have some business to attend to,' said Longstreet eagerly. 'I'll +hurry through with it. Then--then I assure you that I shall be glad to +witness with you the--the gaiety of the--of the places of amusement +here.' + +He explained what his business was. + +'You stop at the store, then,' said Barbee. 'Tell Mexico Pete to have +your grub and truck ready; I'll mosey on up to the saloon and scare up +Tod and tell him about the team. I'll wait for you up there. And, +since we ain't got all night, suppose you shake a foot, pardner.' + +When a few minutes later Longstreet reached the adobe saloon of 'Tonio +Moraga, he found Yellow Barbee smoking a cigarette outside the deep-set +door. + +'Kind of quiet,' apologized the young fellow. 'But we'll look 'em +over.' + +He struck the door open with his shoulder and Longstreet followed him +into a big room sufficiently well lighted by a couple of hanging +kerosene lamps. At one side was an ancient, battered bar; behind the +bar a lazy Mexican in shirt sleeves; at one end Tod Barstow pouring the +cool contents of a pint bottle of some pinkish beverage directly from +the throat of the bottle into his own throat; lounging idly in chairs +of various interesting stages of dilapidation half a dozen men, all +dark-skinned, black of moustache and hair. Barstow's position +necessitated the fixing of his eyes upon the ceiling; all other +glances, ignoring Barbee, centred upon Longstreet. He was smiling and +eager. + +'Come alive, gents!' called Barbee genially. 'Stack up alongside the +bar and I'll buy! Moraga,' to the bartender, 'you know me. I got a +real bad case of alkali throat. Roll up, boys!--Say, wait a minute. +Moraga, meet my friend Longstreet.' Moraga showed many large white +teeth in a friendly smile and gave into Longstreet's keeping a small, +moist and very flabby hand. The other men, silently accepting the +invitation, came forward; Barbee introduced them all. Longstreet's was +the emotion of one being initiated into a new fraternity. + +They named their poison, in the parlance of the neighbourhood, and +stood to their glasses like so many valiant gunners. Longstreet, big +enough in his views of humanity, to look upon them as so many boyish +souls, beamed. Then he noted that they seemed to be waiting for +something, wondered what it might be, glanced over his shoulder, looked +back at them and understood. They were waiting for him. So he said +hastily, and in their own phrase: + +'Same thing.' + +Which, of course, brought down to his place on the bar a small glass +and a large bottle. He had never done a thing like this in all the +calm days of his existence, but now the deed came naturally enough. He +poured his glass and even echoed the other remarks of 'Here's how.' +When the fiery liquor arrived in his stomachical regions he realized +with perfect clarity that it was without doubt some newly invented +substitute for whisky; perhaps that jackass-brandy which he had heard +of. His emotion was twofold: he was glad that Helen was at the hotel +and he was determined not to repeat the dose. + +'That's the goods,' said Longstreet jocularly, trying to smack his lips. + +Barbee led the way to the nearest table and out of the nowhere brought +into the here a deck of cards. Longstreet was on the verge of +applauding when he noted that every one else accepted the act as a +matter of fact, and subsided into himself and into a chair at the same +moment. + +'Who'll make it four-cornered?' demanded Barbee. 'Short, but lively +while she lasts. Little old game, name of stud horse?' + +Two of the Mexicans, having hesitated and then looked to Barbee, came +forward and deposited themselves carelessly in the two chairs. Barbee +shuffled, cut, shuffled again and put the cards down. + +'Cut for deal,' he ordered. + +When each of the other men had leaned forward and lifted a sheaf of +cards, Longstreet divided the remainder. The deal went to Barbee. And +what is more, Longstreet understood why; Barbee showed the highest +card, a king. Longstreet straightened in his chair and his interest +grew; he went over in mind what he had learned at the ranch. A pair +beats a stiff, two pair beat a pair, threes beat two pair and so on. +It was simplicity itself and here was he, Professor Edward Longstreet, +measuring his judgment against that of Mexican Mendoza, Mexican Chavez +and Yellow Barbee, cowpuncher. Ready from the flip of the first card +to concede that these gentlemen had had a rather wider experience with +card-playing, none the less he realized the superiority of his +mentality, his greater intellectual training, and fully expected +something more than just an 'even break.' He concealed the faces of +his cards cannily and gave his scholarly brain entirely to a pleasant +task in mathematics. + +Through many years of training he was familiar with abstruse problems; +hence it may be forgiven him, if, at first blush, this form of poker +appeared simplicity itself. He reasoned thus: There were fifty-two +cards in the full deck; there were exactly four, neither more nor less, +of each ace, deuce, trey and so forth until one got to the king; there +were, also, just four men drawing cards; each man, if he played his +hand out, could draw five cards. All of this was data; it seemed as +though he had _x_ and _y_ given and was merely to find _z_. His eye, +as the game began, registered zest. + +He remembered former instructions: Each man's first card, dealt face +down, was to remain face down until the hand was played out; the owner +of that first card, and no other man, had the right to turn up the +corner and discover what it was. So when Barbee tossed his card to +him, Longstreet wasted no time in peeking at it. It was the ace of +clubs; not a better card in the deck! He lifted his face and beamed; +it was a good start. And this time the emotion registered in his frank +eye was that of a guileless old gentleman who has an ace in the hole. +There was no misreading that triumphant gleam. + +Again the cards fell gently from Barbee's practised hand, each of the +four faces up this time. Longstreet's was a king; he nodded his +acceptance and approval. All of the time his brain was busied with his +developing theory of chances: there were four aces, four kings in the +deck, and he already had one of each. There were four players in all; +there were fifty-two cards; it was unlikely that in this hand another +king should turn up. And no other king did; he had the high card. He +smiled warmly. + +'The high card bets,' drawled Barbee. + +'Oh!' exclaimed Longstreet. 'Yes, to be sure. Let me see.' + +His sparkling eye roved about the table. Barbee's exposed card was a +jack, one of the Mexicans had a ten and the other a four. Longstreet +felt both warmed with triumph and yet a little sorry for them. So he +did the kind thing by them and bet only a dollar. The two Mexicans +lifted their brows at him, looked to Barbee, and then with a splendid +show of nonchalance both came in. Barbee chinked his silver dollar +down upon the others and dealt the third card. Longstreet waited +breathlessly. + +This time there came to him another king, the king of spades, and his +little exclamation of genuine delight was a pretty thing to hear. But +the next second a look of frowning incredulity overspread his features; +the king of hearts fell to Chavez and the king of diamonds to Mendoza. +Barbee gave himself an ace. But it was not the ace that interested +Longstreet; his newly-born theory of chances was a trifle upset. That +three kings, when there were only three left in the deck, should come +one on the heels of another was a matter for reflection. But evidently +there was no time granted for readjustment of preconceived ideas. + +'Longstreet's the only man with a pair in sight,' said Barbee. 'It's +your bet again, Longstreet.' + +Longstreet hurriedly bet a dollar. Chavez, with a king and ten in +view, raised the bet four dollars. Mendoza withdrew his hand and his +attention and began rolling a cigarette, never once taking his eyes +from Longstreet's eager face. Barbee tossed in his five dollars, and +Longstreet was brought to realize that if he wished to remain in the +game it was in order for him to add another four dollars to his bet. +He did so without a moment's hesitation. And again he began his search +of the deathless underlying mathematical law of the game of stud poker. + +Meanwhile Barbee dealt the fourth card. When the fates had it that a +second ace fell to Longstreet's lot they should have been amply repaid +by the glowing smile that widened his good-humoured mouth. He now had, +and he realized to the full his strategic position in that no one else +could have his secret knowledge, a pair of kings _and_ a pair of aces. +The two biggest pairs in the deck! He looked with renewed interest at +the other cards. Chavez now had two tens exposed; before Barbee lay no +pair at all, just a jack, an ace and a five. There was but one more +card to be dealt. He could therefore count Barbee out of the running. +It remained to him and Chavez, and Chavez had only a pair of tens in +sight. + +'Your bet again, Longstreet,' Barbee reminded him. He started and bet +his dollar. Chavez repeated his earlier performance and raised the bet +four dollars. Barbee tossed away his cards; Longstreet noted the act +triumphantly, and nodded in the manner of a father approving the wise +act of a young untried son. + +'What you do, _senor_?' asked the Mexican. Longstreet withdrew his +eyes from Barbee and gave his attention to his antagonist, a half-bred +Mexican of low-grade mentality who was offering a duel of wits! He bet +the requisite four dollars. + +And now from Barbee's fingers came the last cards, one for Longstreet +and one for Chavez. Longstreet drew a queen and went into the silence +of deep meditation; to Chavez came a lowly seven. Longstreet needed no +prompting that it was time to bet; further he understood that this was +the last round, the final opportunity. He did not wait for the +customary raise of Chavez, but slipped five dollars into the pot and +sat back, beaming. + +Nor did the Mexican hesitate. He pushed out to the centre of the table +with slow brown fingers two twenty-dollar gold pieces. + +'You--you raise me?' asked Longstreet. + +'_Si, senor_. Tirty-fife _pesos mas_.' + +Longstreet curbed a desire to warn the man, to insist that he +reconsider. But in the end he kept his own counsel and made his +complementary bet of thirty-five dollars. + +'Call you,' he said quite in his best form. + +The Mexican extracted from the bottom of his cards the first one dealt +him face down and flipped it over carelessly. It was a ten; he had +three tens, and the professor's extremely handsome pairs of aces and +kings were as nothing. The Mexican's brown fingers drew the winnings +in toward him, Longstreet's fifty-one dollars among them. Longstreet +stared at him and at Barbee and at the treacherous cards themselves in +sheer bewilderment. + +It was not that he was shocked at the loss of a rather large sum of +money in his present circumstances; his brain did not focus on the +point. He was trying to see in what his advance theories had +miscarried. For certainly it had seemed extremely unlikely that Chavez +would have had three tens. Why, there were only four tens in the deck +of fifty-two, there were four men playing, there remained in the deck, +untouched, thirty-two cards---- + +'Deal 'em up,' said Barbee. 'Your deal, old boy.' + +'It lies entirely within the scope of conservative probability,' said +Longstreet blandly, his eyes carrying the look of a man who in spirit +is far away from his physical environment, 'that, after all, my data +were not sufficient.' + +'Talking to me?' said Barbee. He made a playful show of looking over +his shoulder to the invisible recipient of Longstreet's confidences; at +the moment a door behind him opened and a new face did actually appear. +Barbee's glance grew into a stare of surprise. Then he turned square +about in his chair again and snapped out: 'Deal, can't you?' Longstreet +saw that the boy's face was red; that his eyes burned malignantly. + +'Hello, Barbee,' said the man in the newly opened door. He came fully +into the room and closed the door after him. + +'Hello, Courtot,' answered Barbee colourlessly. + +With an effort Longstreet had withdrawn his analytic faculties from the +consideration of the recent problem that had been solved for him by the +cards themselves; now he was busied with collecting them, arranging +them and getting ready to shuffle. Among the amused eyes watching him +he was conscious of a pair of eyes that were not simply amused, the +eyes of Jim Courtot. He looked up and took stock of the new-comer, +impelled to something more exhaustive than a superficial interest by +that intangible but potent thing termed personality. This man who had +entered the room in familiar fashion through a back door and a rear +room, was of the magnetic order; were he silent in a gathering of +talking men he must have been none the less a conspicuous figure. And +not because of any unusual saliency of physical attributes; rather for +that emanation of personality which is like electricity--which, +perhaps, is electricity. + +He was tall, thin, very dark; his eyes were of beady blackness; he +affected the sombre in garb from black hat and dark shirt to darker +trousers and black boots. His face was clean-shaven; maybe he had just +now been shaving in the rear room. His age might have lain anywhere +between thirty-five and fifty. There are men like Jim Courtot, of dark +visages and impenetrable eyes, thin and sallow men, upon whom the +passing years appear to work all of their havoc early and then be like +vicious stinging things deprived of their stings. + +'For God's sake!' spoke up Barbee, querulously and nervously. 'Are you +going to shuffle all the spots off? Come alive, Longstreet.' + +Longstreet allowed Barbee to cut and began dealing. Jim Courtot, his +step quick but strangely noiseless, came to the table. His eyes were +for Barbee as he said quietly: + +'Just a little game for fun? Any objection if I kick in?' + +Barbee frowned. Further, he hesitated--and hesitation played but a +small part in El Joven's make-up. Finally he evaded. + +'Where've you been all this long time, Courtot?' he asked sullenly. +'The biggest game of six years was pulled off down in Poco Poco last +week and you wasn't there. I heard a man say you must be dead.' + +Courtot considered him gravely. Longstreet regarded the man, +fascinated. He did not believe that the man knew how to smile. To +imagine Jim Courtot laughing was to fancy a statue laughing. + +'When there's a big game pulled off and I'm not there, kid,' he +answered when he was good and ready to answer, 'it's because there's a +bigger game somewhere else. And I'm heeled to play in your little game +if you think you're man enough to take me on.' + +Barbee snarled at him. + +'Damn you,' he said savagely. + +Jim Courtot drew up his chair and sat down. There was a strange sort +of swiftness and precision in the man's smallest acts. Now he brought +from his hip pocket a handful of loose coins and set the heap on the +table before him. For the most part the coins were gold; he stood +ready to put into play several hundred dollars. + +'Heeled, kid,' he repeated. The voice was as nearly dead and +expressionless as a human voice can be; only the words themselves +carried his insolence. 'Please, can I play in your game?' + +To Barbee's youth it was plain challenge and, though he hated the man +with his whole soul, Barbee's youth answered hotly: + +'I'll take you on, Jim Courtot, any day.' + +Thereafter Courtot ignored Barbee. He turned to Longstreet and watched +him deal five cards face down. Then he appeared to lose interest in +everything saving his own hand. Longstreet dealt the second five +cards, faces up. They fell in the order of nine, four, jack, ace and, +to himself, a seven. He did not believe that the new player had seen +any but his own card. Barbee, to whose lot the ace had fallen, placed +his bet. There was bright bitter challenge in his eyes as he stared +across the table at Courtot. + +'Ten bucks to start her off,' he said shortly. + +Longstreet had supposed it customary to begin with a dollar; in his +mind, however, there was little difference between one and ten. +Therefore he made no remark and placed his own money in the pot. The +two Mexicans tossed their cards away. Courtot, looking at no one, and +without speaking, came in. Longstreet dealt a second round. Now +Courtot had two fours in sight; Barbee had two aces; Longstreet a king +and a seven exposed, but also a king hidden. When Barbee said, 'Twenty +bucks to play,' and said it viciously with a jeering stare at Courtot, +Longstreet began counting out his money. But before he had completed +the slow process the street door opened. + +It was Alan Howard. He stood a moment on the threshold, his look one +of sheer amazement. He had come looking for Professor James Edward +Longstreet, eminent authority upon certain geological subjects. Had +anyone told him that he would find his man playing stud poker with +Barbee and two Mexicans and Jim Courtot---- + +'Barbee!' he cried out angrily, coming on swiftly until he stood over +the table. 'What in hell's name do you mean by steering Longstreet +into a mess like this?' + +'What do _you_ mean?' retorted Barbee hotly. 'What business is it of +yours?' + +'I mean Jim Courtot,' cut in Howard shortly. 'You know better than to +drag any friend of mine into a game with him.' + +Courtot appeared calm and unconcerned. + +'The bet's made, gents,' he said briefly. 'Coming in, Longstreet?' + +Longstreet looked confused. Before he could frame his answer, Howard +made it for him. And he directed it straight to Courtot. + +'I haven't had time to tell Mr. Longstreet about all of the undesirable +citizens hereabouts,' he announced steadily. 'No, he's not coming in.' + +'I imagine you'll spill an earful when you get going, Alan,' said +Courtot. 'I'd like to listen in on it.' + +Straightway the two Mexicans rose and left the table. Barbee, though +he scorned to do so, pushed his chair back a little and kept his eyes +upon the faces of the two men. Longstreet went from confusion to +bewilderment. Howard considered the matter briefly; then, watching Jim +Courtot while he spoke, he said crisply: + +'Mr. Longstreet, you should get acquainted a bit before you play cards +out here. Jim Courtot there, who plans to rob you the shortest way, is +a crook, a thief, a dirty liar and a treacherous man-killer. He's +rotten all the way through.' + +A man does not fire a fuse without expecting the explosion. On the +instant that Jim Courtot's hand left his pile of coins, Alan Howard's +boots left the floor. The cattleman threw himself forward and across +the table almost with his last word. Courtot came up from his chair, a +short-barrelled revolver in his hand. But, before he was well on his +feet, before the short barrel had made its required brief arc, Howard's +blow landed. With all of his force, with all of the weight of his +body, he struck Jim Courtot square upon the chin. Courtot went over +backwards, spilling out of the chair that crumpled and snapped and +broke to pieces; his gun flew wide across the room. Howard's impetus +carried him on across the table so that he too fell, and across the +body of the man he had struck. But when Alan got to his feet, Jim +Courtot lay still and unconscious. And, for one, Longstreet thought +that he had seen manslaughter done; the man's look was of death. + +Howard picked up his hat and then what few of the scattered coins he +judged were Longstreet's. Then he took the gaping little man by the +arm and led him to the door. + +'Miss Helen wanted you,' he said as they passed outside. + +'Did you kill him?' Longstreet was shuddering. + +'No,' was the cool answer. 'But it looks as if I'd have to some day. +Better not say anything about this to Miss Helen.' + +'Good heavens, no!' ejaculated Longstreet. 'Not a word!' + + + + +Chapter IX + +Helen Knew + +Second only to her father's was Helen's eager interest in the world +about her. The ride back to Desert Valley through the rich moonlight +was an experience never to be forgotten. She and Howard alone in what +appeared an enchanted and limitless garden of silence and of slumber, +their horses' feet falling without noise as though upon deep carpets, +the bright moon and its few attendant stars working the harsh land of +the day over into a soft sweet country of subtle allurement--the +picture of all this was to spring up vivid and vital in many an idle +hour of the days to follow. Little speech passed between them that +night: they rode close together, they forgot the wagon which rocked and +jolted along somewhere far behind them; they were content to be content +without analysing. And at the end of the ride, when she felt Alan's +strong hands aiding her from her saddle, Helen sighed. + +The next morning early she and her father left Desert Valley, going +straight to the professor's destination in the Last Ridge country. +They did not see Howard, who had breakfasted and ridden away before +dawn, leaving with the kitchen boy a brief note of apology. The note +said that his business was urgent and that he would call to see them in +a day or so; further that Tod Barstow and Chuck Evans had orders to +haul their goods in the wagon for them and to help them pitch camp. + +Their departure was like a small procession. The wagon, carrying all +their household goods, went ahead. Longstreet's two pack-horses were +tied to the tail end of the wagon and trotted along with slack +tie-ropes. Behind them rode the Longstreets upon saddle-horses, which +Chuck Evans had brought to the house for them with his employer's +compliments. + +'Al said you was to ride this one, miss,' said Chuck Evans. + +It was the black mare on which Howard had ridden into their camp the +first morning--Sanchia or Helen. + +'What is her name?' asked Helen quite innocently when she had mounted. + +Chuck Evans grinned his characteristic happy grin. + +'Funny thing about that mare's name,' he conceded brightly. + +'What do you mean?' queried Helen. + +'Yesterday,' he explained, 'I heard Al talking to her down to the +stable. He does talk to a horse more'n any man I know, and what's more +they talk back to him. 'S a fact, miss. And what he said was, "Helen, +you little black devil, I wouldn't sell you for a couple million +dollars; no, not now." Calling her Helen, understand?' + +'Well?' asked the other Helen. + +'And,' went on Chuck Evans, 'that mare's been on the ranch six months +and never did I hear him call her another thing than Sanchia.' + +'Sanchia?' she repeated after him. 'What a pretty name!' And then, +more innocently than ever, 'I don't think I ever heard the name before. +She was named after somebody, I suppose?' + +'Sure,' laughed Chuck. 'After a certain lady known in these parts as +Mrs. Murray. Her name is Sanchia.' + +'Oh!' said Helen. + +'And,' continued Chuck, 'that ain't all. This morning, just like he +knew folks was going to ask her name, he tells me: "Say, Chuck; this +here mare's name, if anyone asks you, is Sweetheart. Don't it just +suit her?" he says. And when you come right down to it----' + +'Hey, Chuck,' called Tod Barstow from his high seat. 'Get a move on. +We better get started before it's hot.' + +So Chuck Evans departed and Helen sat straight in the saddle, her eyes +a little puzzled. When her father rode to her side she was adjusting a +bluebird's feather in her hatband. The feather, pointing straight up, +gave a stiff, almost haughty look to the young woman's headgear. + +They crossed the big meadow, wound for an hour among the little hills, +and then began a slow, gradual climb along a devious dusty road. Less +and ever less fertile grew the dry earth under them, more still and hot +and hostile the land into which they journeyed. In three hours, +jogging along, they came to Last Ridge. + +'There's only one spot up this way that's fit to live in for more'n an +hour at the stretch,' Barstow told them. 'There's a spring and some +shade there. We'll drive right under it, and from there up we'll have +to finish the job monkey-style.' + +He stopped his horses in a little flat, just under a steep wall of +reddish cliff. Here he and Chuck Evans unhitched and here the horses +were tethered. Helen looked about her curiously, and at first her +heart sank. There was nothing to greet her but rock and sweltering +patches of sand and gravelly soil, and sparse, harsh brush. She turned +and looked back toward the sweep of Desert Valley; there she saw green +fields, trees, grazing stock. It was like the Promised Land compared +with this bleak desolate spot her father had chosen. She turned to +him, words of expostulation forming. But his eyes were bright, his +look triumphant. He had already dismounted and was poking about here +and there, examining everything at hand from a sand-storm stratum at +the cliff's foot to loose dirt in the drifts and the hardy, wiry grass +growing where it could. Helen turned away with a sigh. + +From here the two Desert Valley men went forward on foot to show them +the spot which Alan Howard had chosen as the most likely site for a +camp. They walked to the end of the flat where the reddish, walls shut +in; here was an angle of cliff and in the angle was a cleft some three +or four feet wide. They passed into this and found that it offered a +steep, winding way upward. But the distance was not great, and in ten +minutes they had come to the top. Here again was a level space, a wide +tableland, offering less of the desert menace and hostility and +something more of charm and the promise of comfort. For a gentle +breeze stirred here, and off yonder were scattered pines and cedars and +in a clump of trees was a ring of verdure. They went to it and saw the +spring. It was but a sort of mud-hole of yellowish, thickish water. +But water it was, with green grass growing about it and with the shade +of dusty trees over it. Beyond were the strange-shaped uplands, +distant cliffs and peaks broken into a thousand grotesque forms, with +bands of colour in horizontal strata across them as though they had +been painted with a mighty brush. + +'What though I have never been here until this second?' cried +Longstreet triumphantly. 'I know it, all of it, every inch and +millimetre of it! I could have made a map of it and laid the colours +in. I have read of it, studied it--I have written of this country! +Having been right in everything else, am I to be mistaken in the matter +of its minerals? I said give me three months to find gold! Why, it's +a matter to wonder at if I don't locate my mine in three days!' + +The two men grinned readily. Before now they had heard men talk with +the gold fever upon them. + +'There's gold pretty near everywhere,' admitted Barstow, 'if a man can +make it pay. But right now I guess me and Chuck had better start +getting your stuff up the rocks. Suit you all right here for a camp?' + +Helen turned and looked toward the south. There, broad and fertile +below her, running away across the miles, were the Howard acres. She +even made out the clutter of head-quarters buildings. Somehow she +fancied that the sweep of homely view snatched from these bleak uplands +something of their loneliness. When her father announced that this was +just the spot he had longed for, Helen nodded her approval. Here for a +time was to be home. + + +Throughout the day and until dusk the four of them laboured, making +camp. Barstow and Evans lugged the various articles, boxes, rolls of +bedding, up through the cleft in the rocks. They had brought in the +wagon-bed some loose boards of various sizes; these they made into a +rough floor. At the four corners of the floor they erected studding of +two-by-four lumber. These they braced and steadied; they nailed other +lengths of two-by-four material along the tops, outlining walls; they +hacked and sawed and hammered and nailed to such advantage that in the +end they had the misshapen frame of a cabin, rafters and all. Then +over the rafters and along the sides they secured the canvas destined +for the purpose. Doors and windows were canvas flaps; the sheet-iron +stove was set up on four flat stones for legs; the stovepipe was run +through a hole in the roof. And when Chuck Evans and Tod Barstow, +amateurs in the carpenter's line, stood back and wiped the sweat off +their brown faces and looked with fond and prideful eyes at their +handiwork, Helen and her father were no whit less delighted. + +'If you want more room after a while,' said Barstow, 'it'd be easy to +tack more sheds on and run canvas over them, just the same as what we +done. Me and Chuck would come up most any time and lend a hand.' + +The breeze stiffened and the crazy edifice shivered. + +'I don't know as I'd make it much bigger,' said Evans. 'If a real blow +come on and the wind got inside--Say, Tod, how about a few guy ropes? +Huh?' + +Barstow agreed, and they brought what ropes they had in the wagon and +'staked her out, same as if she was a runaway horse,' as Chuck put it. +In other words, they ran one rope from the rear end of the ridge of the +house to the base of a conveniently-located pine tree; then they +secured the second rope to the other end of the ridge-pole and anchored +it to a big boulder. Meanwhile Helen opened some cans and made coffee +on the newly-adjusted stove and they sat on the grass by the spring and +made their evening meal. After which Barstow and Evans went down to +their wagon and returned to Desert Valley. And James Edward Longstreet +and his daughter sat alone upon their camp-stools in front of their new +abode and looked off across the valley and into the distances. + + +The day departed slowly, lingeringly. The soft night came little by +little, a misty veil floating into a hollow yonder, a star shining, the +breeze strengthening and cooling. Before the twilight was gone and +while one might look for miles across the billowing landscapes, they +saw a horseman riding down in the valley; he appeared hardly more than +a vague moving dot. And yet---- + +'It's Mr. Howard!' cried Helen. + +Longstreet withdrew his straining eyes and turned them wonderingly upon +his daughter. + +'How in the world do you know?' he asked. + +Helen smiled, a quiet smile of transcendent wisdom. + +'Oh, I just knew he'd come over.' she said. + + + + +Chapter X + +A Warning and a Sign + +John Carr made a special trip back to Desert Valley ranch for a word +with Howard. He rode hard and there was a look of anxiety in his eyes +when he came upon his friend smoking thoughtfully in the big +living-room of the ranch-house. It was late evening and a week after +the departure of Howard's guests. + +Howard dragged his boot heels down from the table top when he saw who +it was and jumped to his feet his hand outstretched. + +'Hello, John old boy,' he cried warmly. What's the good wind blowing +you over this way already?' + +Carr tossed his hat to the table, drew up a chair for himself and took +a cigar before he answered. Then it was quietly and earnestly. + +'Met up with Jim Courtot the other night, I hear?' he began. + +Howard nodded and waited, his look curious. + +'Well,' went on Carr, 'I wish you hadn't. He's a treacherous beast if +this man's land ever cradled one. He's looking for you, Al.' + +'He knows where to find me,' said Alan shortly. And then, 'Just what's +worrying you, Johnnie?' + +'I've known Jim for seventeen or eighteen years,' rejoined Carr. 'He's +a cold, hard, calculating and absolutely crooked proposition. During +that time I've never known him to go on a drunk more than two or three +times. And every time there was trouble.' + +'He's drinking now, then?' + +'He started in right after you got through with him the other night. +And he has been talking. There's no use being a fool!' he cut in +sternly as Alan shrugged his shoulders. 'Courtot doesn't talk to me, +but I've got straight what he has said. He talks to Moraga, and Moraga +talks to Barbee, and Barbee passes it on to me. He told Moraga that if +it was the last thing he did, he'd get you. And he is carrying a gun +every step he takes.' + +'The more a man talks, the less killing he does, I've noticed,' said +Howard. But his tone did not carry conviction. Carr frowned +impatiently. + +'He hasn't talked much. He was mad clean through when he made that +crack to Moraga. I tell you there's no use being a fool, Al.' + +'No. Guess you're right, John. Anyway, it was pretty decent of you to +ride over.' + +He got up and went into his bedroom. A moment later he came out +carrying a heavy Colt revolver in one hand, a box of cartridges in the +other. The gun was well oiled; the cylinder spun silently and easily; +the six chambers were loaded. He put the gun down on the table. + +'I'll ride heeled for a few days, anyhow,' he decided. 'I guess I can +shoot with Jim Courtot yet.' + +'Did you ever find out for sure that it was Jim the other time?' + +'Sure enough to suit me,' returned Howard. 'He was in town that night. +And it was his style of work to take a pot shot at a man out of the +dark.' + +'He's not exactly a coward,' warned Carr. + +'No, not a coward. But that's his kind of work, just the same. He +would go after a man just as he plays poker--simply to win the surest, +quickest, easiest way. Saw Sanchia Murray in town the same day he was +there. Are they working together again?' + +'I haven't seen either one of them. But I guess so. Barbee, poor kid, +is trailing after her all the time, and he comes back hating Courtot +worse and worse every day. Seen the Longstreets lately?' + +Howard admitted that he had. It was only a little way over, he +reminded Carr, an hour and a half ride or such a matter, and the old +boy was such a helplessly innocent old stranger, that it didn't seem +quite right to turn them adrift altogether. + +'The girl is a pretty thing.' said Carr. + +'Yes,' agreed Howard. 'Kind of pretty.' + +Carr looked at him steadily. And for absolutely no slightest, vaguest +reason in the wide world that he could think of, Alan Howard felt his +face going red. Carr's look probed deeper. Then, with common consent, +they turned to other subjects until bedtime. Nothing of business +matters passed between them, although both remembered that a +considerable payment was to fall due within ten days. + +In particular Howard had cause to remember. He had recently balanced +his books and had found that he had cut into his last five thousand +dollars. Therefore, meaning to pay on the nail, he had arranged a sale +of beef cattle. The range was heavily stocked, he had a herd in prime +condition, the market was fair, and his system called for a sale soon +and the purchase of some calves. Therefore the next morning, before +Carr was astir, Howard and several of his men were riding toward the +more remote fields where his beef herds were. Behind them came the +camp wagon and the cook. + +All day long he worked among his herds, gathering them, sorting them, +cutting out and heading back towards the home corrals those under +weight or in any way not in the pink of condition for the sale. His +men rode away into the distances, going east and south, disappearing +over the ridges seeking cattle that had strayed far. Howard changed +the horse under him four times that day, and the beast he freed long +after the stars were out was jaded and wet. In the end he threw +himself down upon the hot earth in the shade of the wagon and turned +his eyes toward the uplands of the Last Ridge. He had had no moment of +his own to-day, no opportunity to ride for a call on his new friends, +and now, after he rested a little and ate, he would go back to work +with his men, night-herding. For the rounded-up cattle were now a +great milling herd that grew greater as the night went on and other +lesser bands were brought in, a stamping, churning mass whose +deep-lunged bellowing surged out continuously across the valley +stretches and through the passes of the hills. + +To-morrow, thought Howard, he would ride toward the Last Ridge, taking +it upon himself to gather up the straggling stock there, and, purely +incidentally, he would look in upon the Longstreets. He had not seen +them for three days. But the night was destined to bring events to +alter his plans. In the first place, some of his cowboys whom he had +dispatched to outlying districts of the range to round up the cattle +there had not yet returned, and he and his men here were short-handed +in their task of night-herding the swelling numbers of restless +shorthorns. Howard, having had his supper, his cigarette and his brief +rest, was saddling his fifth horse to take his turn at a four-hour +shift, when he was aware that some one had ridden into camp. And then +came a voice, shouting through the din and the dark: + +'Hey, there. Where's Al?' + +'Here,' called Howard. 'Who is it?' + +'It's me,' and Barbee with jingling spurs came on. 'Special delivery +letter for you, old-timer.' + +Letters came rarely to Desert Valley, and Howard expected none. But he +put out his hand eagerly; he had no reason to think such a thing, but +none the less the conviction was upon him that Helen had written him. +His arm through his horse's bridle, he struck a match and took into his +hand a scrap of paper. As his peering eyes made out a sweeping, +familiar scrawl, he felt a disappointment quite as unreasonable as had +been his hope. It was unmistakably from the hand of John Carr, hastily +written in lead pencil upon the inner side of an old envelope and said +briefly: + + +'Better look out for Courtot, Al. He has left Big Run and is headed +out your way.--JOHN.' + + +Howard tore the paper to bits. + +'Where's Carr?' he asked quietly. 'Gone on back?' + +Barbee chuckled softly. + +'He was at your place last night, wasn't he? Well, he headed back and +got as far as Big Run. That's where I saw him late this afternoon when +he give me this for you. About that time I guess he changed his mind +about going home and shifted his trail. He's gone up that way.' + +The vague sweep of Barbee's arm indicated a wide expanse of country +lying to the north. When Howard was silent, the boy went on lightly +and perhaps a hint maliciously: + +'Get me? Gone to see how the professor and his girl are making out. +Keep your eye peeled, Al, or he'll beat you to it. Old John's a sure +heller with the women.' + +Howard snapped out a curt admonition to Barbee to mind his own business +and flung himself into the saddle. As he spurred away to the outer +fringe of his herd he was not thinking over-much of Carr's warning; +somehow Barbee's stuck closer in his mind. A spurt of irritation with +himself succeeded that first desire to slap the message-bearer's face. +For he knew within his heart that he resented Carr's making himself at +home at the Longstreet camp, and he knew that to-night he was an +unreasonable beast. Had not Carr once already ridden far out of his +way to warn him? Was there any reason in the wide world why Carr +should not this time send Barbee and himself ride on wherever it suited +him to go? At that moment Howard would have been glad than otherwise +to have Jim Courtot present himself. + +'Let him start something, damn him,' he growled savagely to himself, +'any time.' And he began wondering if now John Carr were sitting with +Helen and her father in front of their little home? Or if perhaps +Longstreet had gone in to his books, and Carr and Helen alone, sitting +quiet under the spell of the night, were looking out into the shining +world of stars? He cursed himself for a fool and an ingrate. Didn't +Carr have a man's right to ride where he chose? And had he not already +twice in twenty-four hours shown how clearly his thought and his heart +were with his friend? A revolver knocked at Howard's side. It was +there because John Carr had shown him its need. + +Howard's impulse was to stay away from Last Ridge for a little longer. +He reasoned that Carr would be invited to stay overnight and would +naturally accept the invitation. Why should he not? There is always +room in camp for one more, and no doubt both Helen and her father would +be glad of company to break their monotony and loneliness. But before +Howard had had time for more than an impulse there came the second +episode of the night to set him thinking upon other matters. + +As he rode he heard several voices and recognized them as those of his +own men. One guffawed loudly and there came the sound of his big hand +slapping his leg in his high delight; another swore roundly and +impatiently; a third was talking excitedly, earnestly. This third was +Sandy Weaver, an old hand, a little man characterized by his gentle +eyes and soft voice and known across many miles as an individual in +whom the truth did not abide. All up and down these fringes of the +desert he was known simply as Lying Sandy. + +'What's the excitement, boys?' demanded Howard. + +Sandy wheeled his horse, pressing close to his employer's side, and +burst into quick explanation. He had been working with Dave Terril +over on the east side; they had found only a handful of stock there, +and Sandy had left them to Dave, and in order to save time for the +morrow had circled the valley and combed over the north end, under the +Last Ridge cliffs. Just before dark he had made his discovery. His +horse had found it first, shying and sniffing and then trying to bolt; +Sandy was nothing if not circumstantial. + +'We've got some work to do to-night, Sandy.' cut in Howard shortly. +'If you've got anything to say, go to it.' + +'Haw!' gurgled Bandy O'Neil, recently from a California outfit, a man +with a large sense of mirth. 'He's got his prize ring-tailed dandy to +spring, Al. Don't choke him off or it'll kill him.' + +Sandy hearkened to neither of them, but hastened on. He described the +hidden sink in a boulder-ringed draw, the difficulty he had had in +bringing his horse to the scene and his own stupefaction. And when he +had done all of this with his customary detail he declared that he had +come upon a yearling bull, dead as a door nail and slaughtered after a +fashion that made Sandy's eyes widen in the starlight. + +'It's throat was just sure enough tore all to hell, Al,' he said +ponderously. 'Like something the size of an elephant had gone after +it. And I says to myself it must have been a wolf, and I go looking +for tracks. And, by the Lord, I found 'em! Tracks like a wolf and the +size of a dinner plate! And alongside them tracks, some other tracks. +And they was made by a man and he was barefooted!' + +Bandy O'Neil's roar of mirth was a sound to hearken to joyously from +afar. + +'And,' he cried, dabbing at his tears, 'Sandy would sure take a man by +the mit and lead him to the spot, only just then a big bird, size of +half a dozen ostriches, flops down and sinks its claws into that there +bull calf and flies right straight over the moon with it! Ain't that +what you said, Sandy?' + +'You're a fool, Bandy O'Neil, and always will be a fool,' muttered +Sandy Weaver stiffly. 'That same calf is laying right there now, and +if you don't believe it or Al don't believe it, I'll bet you a hundred +bucks and show you the place as fast as a horse can lay down to it.' + +He ran on with his tale, having the end yet to recount. He had headed +his cattle down to meet Dave Terril; he and Dave had swung in together +and moved still further south to herd in with the boys coming up from +that direction; and being within striking distance of the ranch-house, +Sandy had ridden there alone. + +'I wasn't sure but you might be there, Al,' he explained. 'And I +wanted to tell you what I saw. I rampsed right in and found somebody +waiting for you. Know who?' + +'Carr?' suggested Howard. + +'No, it wasn't. It was Jim Courtot. There wasn't anybody at the house +but old Angela and the Mex kid, and they let him in. He was setting +there waiting, and when I went in the door he come up standing and he +had his gun in his hand and it was cocked. And, Al, he looked mean.' + +There was a pause and a silence. Sandy Weaver might be lying, and then +again he might not. + +'I got nothing against Jim, and it didn't drop on me right then that he +was out to start a row. And, being full of what I saw up there, I +spilled him the yarn. And I wish you could have had a look into that +man's face! He's no albino to speak on, and yet when I got half-way +through he looked it. His face was as white as a rag and his eyes +bulged out like he was scared, and the sweat come out on his head and +all over, I guess, and he kept looking over his shoulder all the time +like the devil was after him. And when I showed him what I found on +the rock by the dead calf, he just asks me one question. He says, +"Sandy, what way was them tracks pointed?" And when I tells him it +looked like they was pointed this way--well, Jim was gone!' + +'You lying devil!' shouted Bandy hilariously. + +But Howard, wondering, demanded: + +'What was it you found on the rock, Sandy?' + +Sandy yanked it from his pocket. They crowded closer and some one +struck a match. It was a bit of buckskin, and in the buckskin was a +little heap of raw gold. + + + + +Chapter XI + +Seeking + +Alan Howard got a lantern from the wagon and said briefly to Sandy +Weaver: 'Show me the place.' For he knew that for once Weaver was not +lying. When together they came to the hollow where the dead calf lay +he dismounted, made a light and verified all that had been told him. +He saw dimly the track of the bare human foot where Sandy had left it +undisturbed; he passed from that to the other tracks. As his cowboy +had said, they resembled a wolf's but were unusually large. As Howard +noted for himself, the front feet had made the larger, deeper imprint; +the hind tracks were narrower, longer, less clearly defined. + +'It carries the bulk of its weight up forward,' he said thoughtfully. +'It would be heavy-chested, big-shouldered, slim in the barrel and +small in the hips. And it is the same It that made those other tracks +by Superstition Pool--where some gent was scared half out of his hide +and clean out of any desire to linger or eat supper.' + +'What's all that?' demanded Sandy. 'Seen tracks like that before?' + +Howard nodded and went back to his horse in silence. And silent he +remained during the ride back to camp, despite Sandy's chatter. For +already he had a vague theory and he was seeking stubbornly to render +that theory less vague. When they had ridden back to the herd he +singled out Chuck Evans and moved with him out of hearing of the others. + +'Chuck,' he said soberly, 'I've got a job for you. I've got to go on +with the herd to San Juan and I don't know just when I'll be back. +To-morrow you move the extra horses up into the hills; it's time, +anyway, to feed off the grass in the canons. And I want you to keep in +touch with the Longstreets. At night-time make your camp within +calling distance of theirs. And keep your eyes and ears open.' + +'I get you,' said Chuck, 'only I don't. What's going to hurt them?' + +'Nothing that I know of. But I want you on the job. I don't quite +like the idea of the old professor and his daughter being out there +alone.' And that was all the explanation he gave. + +The next afternoon the drive began. Sitting a little aside as his men +started the slow procession toward the San Juan trail, Howard watched +his carefully bred cattle go by and drew from the moment a full sense +of success achieved. As they crowded by in bellowing scores he +estimated that they were going to net him above ten thousand dollars, +and that every cent of that ten thousand was going to John Carr as a +worth-while payment upon Desert Valley. From his own funds in the bank +Howard would draw for the purchase of his calves and for running +expenses. He would be close-hauled again, but he would have earned a +long breathing spell. As the tail-enders pushed by him he dropped in +behind them to be engulfed in the rising clouds of dust and to do his +own part of his own work. + +The wagon had gone ahead to the place appointed for to-night's camp. +Since the herd was large, while days were hot and water-holes scarce, +Howard had planned the devious way by Middle Springs, Parker's Gulch, +the end of Antelope Valley, across the little hills lying to the north +of Poco Poco and on into San Juan by the chain of mud-holes where the +old Mexican corrals were. Hence, he counted upon being at least four +days on the road to San Juan. There his responsibilities would cease, +as there the buyers had promised to meet him, taking the herd on into +the railroad. + +During the days which followed he was as busy as a man should care to +be, for the task of moving a large herd across a dry and baking country +and through it all keeping the cattle in first-class condition, is no +small one. And busy in mind was he when the stars were out and camp +was pitched. He lay with his head on his saddle, his pipe in his +teeth, his thoughts withdrawn from his business of stock-selling and +centred elsewhere. The second night out the boys noted a change in Al +Howard; the third night they asked one another 'what had come over the +old man.' For whereas formerly his had always been the gayest voice +around the camp fire, his the tongue to spin a yarn or start a cowboy +ballad, now he withdrew after a silent supper and threw himself down on +the ground and stared at the stars, his thoughts his own behind the +locked guard of his shut teeth. + +'He's figgering on something--hard,' said Dave Terril. 'Might be about +Jim Courtot.' + +'Or them tracks,' suggested Sandy Weaver. 'The barefoot's and the +gigantic wolf.' + +'Or,' put in a chuckling voice from the shadows, 'a girl, huh? Having +took a good look at old man Longstreet's girl, I wouldn't blame Al +overmuch.' + +By the time the adobe walls of picturesque San Juan swam into view +across the dry lands Alan Howard had at least reshaped and clarified +his theory of the tracks, had made up his mind concerning Jim Courtot +and had dreamed through many an hour of Helen. As to Helen, he meant +to see a very great deal of her when he returned to Desert Valley. As +to Jim Courtot, he meant to end matters one way or another without any +great delay. For to a man of the type of Alan Howard the present +condition was unbearable. He knew that Courtot was 'looking for him'; +that Courtot had gone straight to the ranch-house and had sat down with +his gun in front of him, waiting for Howard's step on the porch; that +when the first opportunity arose Jim Courtot would start shooting. It +was not to his liking that Courtot should have things all his way. The +gambler would shoot from the dark, as he had done before, if he had the +chance. That chance might come to-night or a year from now, and +constant expectancy of this sort would, soon or late, get on a man's +nerves. In short, if Courtot wanted to start something, Howard fully +meant to have it an even break; if Courtot were looking for him he +could expedite matters by looking for Courtot. + +As to his theory of the tracks; he connected them, too, with Jim +Courtot. He knew that for the past three months Courtot had +disappeared from his familiar haunts; these were La Casa Blanca, Jim +Galloway's gambling-house in San Juan, and similar places in Tecolote, +Big Run, Dos Hermanos and San Ramon. He knew that only recently, +within the week, Courtot had returned from his pilgrimage; that he had +come up to Big Run from King Canon way. He knew that the man who had +fled Superstition Pool had turned out in the direction of King Canon, +and that that man might or might not have been Jim Courtot. Finally, +he had Sandy Weaver's word for it that Courtot went deathly-white when +he heard of the slain calf and the tracks, and that forthwith Courtot +had again disappeared. The imprint of a man's bare foot spelled an +Indian from the northern wastes, and Courtot, during the three months +of his disappearance, had had ample time to go far into the north. To +Howard it seemed a simple thing to imagine that Courtot had committed +some deed which had brought after him the unsleeping vengeance of a +desert Indian. + +In San Juan Howard found a representative of Doan, Rockwell and Haight, +the cattle buyers, awaiting him; and the same day the deal was +completed, a cheque placed in his hands and the cattle turned over to +the buyers' drivers. His men he dismissed to their own devices, +knowing that they would amuse themselves in San Juan, perhaps stir up a +fight with a crowd of miners, and thereafter journey homeward, fully +content. They were not to wait for him, as he had business to delay +him a day or so. From the corrals he went to the bank, placing his +cheque for collection with his old friend, John Engle. Thereafter, +while his horse rested and enjoyed its barley at the stables, he turned +to the Casa Blanca. For it was always possible that Jim Courtot was +there. + +As he stepped in at the deep, wide doorway Howard's hat was low-drawn, +its brim shading his eyes, and he was ready to step swiftly to right or +left, to spring forward or back, to shoot quickly if shooting were in +the cards. But he knew upon the moment that Courtot was not here. At +the bar were his own men ranged up thirstily; they saw him and called +to him and had no warning to give. So he passed on down the long room +until he stopped at a little table where three men sat. One of them, a +thick, squat fellow with a florid face and small mean eyes, looked up +at him and glowered. + +'Where's Courtot, Yates?' asked Howard coolly. + +Yates stared and finally shrugged. + +'Left town day before yesterday,' he replied shortly. + +'So he was here? I heard he wanted to see me. Know which way he has +gone?' + +Yates studied him keenly. Then again he lifted his ponderous shoulders. + +'He was looking for you,' he said, his meaning clear in the hardness of +his eyes. 'And, if you want to know, he's up Las Palmas way.' + +'That happens to be lucky,' Alan told him, turning away. 'I'm going up +there now to look at some calves in French Valley. If I happen to miss +him and you see him you can tell him for me that I'm ready to talk with +him any time.' + +He went out in dead silence. Many eyes followed him, many eyes which +when his tall form had passed through the door came back to other eyes +narrowed and thoughtful. For Alan Howard was well known here in San +Juan, and never before had a man of them seen him wearing a gun at his +hip. There were bets offered and taken before he was half-way to the +stable. His own men, hearing, were thoughtful and said nothing. All +except Bandy O'Neil, who smashed his big fist on the bar and stared +angrily into the florid face of Yates and cried out loudly that Jim +Courtot was a card sharp and a crook and that Jim Courtot's friends +were as Jim Courtot. Yates for the third time shrugged his thick +shoulders. But his look was like a knife clashing with the cowboy's. + +Though it was dusk when he resaddled and Las Palmas was twenty-five +miles away, Howard's impatience hastened him on. It appeared that +Courtot had made up his mind and, further, was publishing the fact +across a wide sweep of country. Then there was no going back for him +and Courtot, and like a man borne along in a swift current which +offered rapids ahead, he was afire to get them behind him. If Courtot +were still in Las Palmas he would find him to-night. + +But again, at the end of a tedious ride, he learned that the man he +sought had come and gone. No one knew just where, but at the one +lodging-house which the little settlement possessed, it was hinted that +Courtot had headed still further north, perhaps to Los Robles. Howard +went to bed that night wondering what it was that impelled the gambler +to this hurried travelling across the land. Was it something that +lured and beckoned? Was it something that drove and harassed? His +last thoughts were of the tracks he had seen by a dead calf and of the +tale Sandy Weaver had told. + +Early the next morning he rode out to French Valley for a look at Tony +Vaca's calves. They proved to be about what he had expected of them, +close to a hundred, of mixed breeding, but for the most part good +beef-making stock in fair condition and all under a year old. Vaca was +short of pasture this year, hence, he declared, forced to sell at a +bargain. Howard nodded gravely, considered briefly, and in ten minutes +bought the herd, agreeing to take them at ten per cent. less than +Tony's bargain price provided they were delivered in Desert Valley +within a week. + +Now all of his business of buying and selling was done and there +remained but to go home or to look further for Courtot. He rode back +into Las Palmas and breakfasted at the lunch counter. There he learned +that Courtot had probably gone on up to Quigley, another twenty-five +miles to the north-east. And, very largely because of the geographical +location of Quigley, Howard decided on the instant to continue at least +that far his quest. For, coming the way he had from his ranch, he had +described a wide arc, almost a semicircle, and by the same trail, +should he retrace it, was a hundred and fifty miles from Desert Valley. +But, if he went on to Quigley, a mining-town in the bare mountains, he +would be at the mouth of Quigley Pass, which led to a little-used trail +through the mountains and almost in a straight line across the arm of +the desert known locally as the Bad Lands. Though he had never crossed +these weary, empty miles, and though there were no towns and few +water-holes within their blistered scope, Howard judged that he could +save close to fifty miles of the return trip. So he slipped his foot +into the stirrup and swung out toward Quigley, hopeful of finding +Courtot and confident of a short cut home. + + + + +Chapter XII + +The Desert Supreme + +Considerably to his surprise Howard found absolutely no trace of +Courtot in Quigley. He inquired at the pool room, at the restaurant, +at the stable. No one had seen the gambler for several months. It +struck the cattleman as strange that a man should have ridden out of +Las Palmas, taking the Quigley trail, and not have come to Quigley. +Where else could a man go? On the west lay the desert, on the east the +Lava Mountains and beyond the desert again, and it was a far call to +any settlement or habitation. Even the sheepmen did not come up this +way; only the Quigley mines brought men here, and yet Courtot had not +come to Quigley. + +'He turned out somewhere,' mused Howard, 'the Lord knows what for or +where. But it's his business, and I'm going home.' + +He gave his horse an hour in the stable while he himself made ready for +his short cut across the Bad Lands. The preparations were simple; at +the store he bought a small pack of provisions, enough to last him +three or four days at a pinch and in case of accidents; he filled his +canteen; he spent half an hour with the grizzled old storekeeper, who +in his time had been a prospector and who knew the country hereabouts +as only an old prospector could know it. On a bit of wrapping-paper +the old fellow sketched a trail map that indicated the start through +the Pass, the general direction and the chief landmarks, the +approximate mileage and--here he was very exact and accompanied his +sketch with full verbal instructions--the few water-holes. + +'You can make it all right, Al,' he said when Howard slipped the paper +into his vest pocket. 'It's no trick for a man like you. But I +wouldn't send a tenderfoot in there, not unless I wanted to make him +over into a dead tenderfoot. And, mind you, every year some of them +water-holes dries up; the only ones you can count on for sure are the +ones I've marked with a double ring that way. So long.' + +'So long,' said Alan, and went for his horse. + +The forenoon was well advanced when he rode into the mouth of the +narrow pass which gives access, above the mines, into the Lava +Mountains and through them into the Bad Lands. In twenty minutes he +had entered a country entirely new to him. He looked about him with +interested eyes. Never, he thought as he pushed forward, had he known +until now the look of utter desolation. The mountain flanks were +strewn with black blocks and boulders of broken lava and were already +incredibly hot; underfoot was parched earth upon which it seemed that +not even the hardiest of desert grasses cared to grow; yonder the Bad +Lands stretched endlessly before him, blistering mounds of rock, +wind-drifted stretches of burning sand, dry gulches and gorges which +one's wildest imagining could not fill with rushing waters. Here and +there were growing things, but they were grey with desert dust and +looked dead, greasewood dwarfed and wind-twisted, iron-fanged cacti +snarling at the clear hot sky and casting no more shade than lean poles. + +'A man won't find his trail all cluttered up with folks in here,' +thought Howard. 'Wonder who was the last man to poke his fool nose +into this bake-oven. Whew, it's hot.' + +Hotter it grew and drier and, though such a thing had not seemed +possible, altogether more repellent and hostile to life. He climbed a +ridge to get his bearings and to locate in the grey distance the black +peak which the storekeeper had indicated on his map as the first +landmark and steering-point. He found it readily enough, a dozen miles +off to the south-west, and jogged down the gentle slope toward it, his +hat drawn low to shield his burning eyes. Within an hour the +impression obtruded itself upon his fancies that about him the world +was dead. He did not see a jack-rabbit or a slinking coyote or a bird; +not even a buzzard, that all but ubiquitous, heat-defying bundle of dry +feathers and bones, hung in the sky. Why should a rabbit come hither +where there was no herbage? Why a coyote when his prey shunned these +wastes? Why even the winged scavenger when all animal life fled the +Bad Lands? The man's spirit was oppressed and drooped under the +weariness of the weary land. + +It was a tedious day, and more than once he regretted that he had taken +this trail; for it seemed likely, as is so often the case, that the +long way round was the short way home. But he was in for it, and +plugged ahead, longing for the cool of evening. About noon he found +the first water-hole and, what was more, found water in it. It was +ugly, hot stuff, but his horse trotted to it with ears pricked forward +and nostrils a-twitch and drank long and thirstily. Thereafter, though +they came to other spots where there should be water, they found none +until after sunset. Howard drew off the saddle, gave his horse a +handful of barley and staked it out close to the spring. Then he made +his own dinner, had his smoke and threw himself down for a couple of +hours' rest and dozing. It was his intention to travel on in the night +to the next spring, which was some ten miles farther on and which, +because of its location in the centre of a cluster of hills already +clear against the skyline, he was sure he could not miss. It was one +of the map's double-ringed water-holes. + +His horse finished its drink and its barley. He heard it shake itself +as a horse does after its sweaty work is done. Without turning his +head he knew where it was going to lie down for a roll. Now he did +turn a little, seeing through the coming dimness of night the four legs +waving in air as the beast struggled to turn over on its back. It was +a new horse, one he had purchased some weeks ago with a number of +others and had not ridden until now; he recalled how, when a boy, he +had shared other youngsters' superstition in connexion with a horse +rolling. If it went clean over, it was worth a hundred dollars, if it +rolled back, another hundred, and so on. + +But this animal did not complete the one effort. Howard heard its +sudden terrified snort, saw it scramble wildly to its feet and go +plunging off to the end of its tether, knew that even the strong rope +had broken and the horse was running wild. And as the man jumped to +his feet he knew why. For before the snort of fear he had heard +another sound, one indescribable to him who has not heard it and +unforgettable and on the instant recognizable to him who has; that +quiet noise resembling as much as anything else the harsh rustling of +dead, bone-dry leaves. As he ran forward, Howard prayed in his heart +that the snake's fangs had not met in horseflesh. + +Because the light was not all gone and he knew just where to look, he +saw the rattler slipping away across the sand. He thrust his gun down +as close as he dared and with the first shot blew the sinister, flat +head off the ugly thick body. Then he went forward, calling soothingly +to his horse. + +Had it been any one of the horses he rode customarily, his voice might +have carried something of quiet to startled nerves. But as it was the +horse was frightened, it was free, it was running and the broken end of +the tie-rope, whipping at its heels, put fresh terror into it. Howard +saw it dimly as it crested a ridge a few hundred yards off; then its +vague shape was gone, swallowed up in the night. He hurried after it +over the ridge. The stars showed him empty spaces of billowy sand; +there were black spots marking hollows and nowhere his horse. But yet +he went forward hopefully or at least striving to retain his hope. He +had little liking for the plight that would be his were he set afoot +here in the heart of the Bad Lands. But at the end of upwards of an +hour of fruitless search he went back to the water-hole and his traps, +seeing the folly of further seeking now. He would have to camp here +until daybreak. Tomorrow he might find his horse and might or might +not recapture it; to-morrow he might see the poor beast lying dead and +horribly swollen; to-morrow he might find in the empty desert nothing +but emptiness. For to-night there was nothing better to do than make +his bed and go to sleep under the stars and thank God for food and +water. + +At the first pale glint of the new day he was astir. With sleep still +heavy in his eyes he hurried back to the ridge over which his horse had +gone. As he was pretty well prepared to expect, there was no horse in +sight. He waited for the light to brighten, probing with eager eyes +into the distances. Swiftly the sky filled to the coming day; the +shadows withdrew from the hollows, the earth stood forth, naked and +clearly revealed. Save for himself, feeling dwarfed in this immensity, +there was no living thing within the scope of his vision. He shook his +head and turned back to camp and breakfast, frowning grimly. He would +have to walk out of this mess, and like any twelve cattlemen out of a +dozen he had little love of walking. + +While he ate his morning meal he turned matters over in his mind. He +saw that he could look forward confidently to a couple of unpleasant +days. He did not anticipate any difficulty beyond that of the +irksomeness of being obliged to trudge something like fifty miles in +the sun. He knew that he would waste no end of time trying to track +the vanished horse across such a land as this; he saw only +foolhardiness in leaving the trail he had had picked out for him and, +with little food and no knowledge of water, turning out across an +utterly unknown land of forbidding desolation. He judged roughly that +Desert Valley was as near as Quigley. Hence, having filled his canteen +and tied his provisions into a bundle, he slung the two over his +shoulders, left his saddle where it was and turned his face toward the +home range. + +Despite his determination to get an ugly task over and done with, he +was a full four hours making the first ten miles. He walked as swiftly +as he might to take the full advantage of the lesser heat of the +earlier hours, but his way led him through loose sand, down into cuts +and gorges, up their steep sides, across fields of loose stones, which, +shifting underfoot, made his striving for haste a pure work of +Tantalus. At the end of the first hour the heat was already intense; +at the end of the second he felt that his skin was as dry as the desert +sands and that the moisture of his body was being sucked out of it by +the thirsty air and that at every stride the day grew drier and hotter. +Thirst clutched his throat, ached throughout his body, that thirst +which is like no other, desert thirst. Again and again he drank from +his canteen. When he ploughed up the slope of the little hills and +then down into their hollow to the double-ringed spring, his canteen +was half empty. And when at last he came to the spring itself he found +it as dry as a last year's seedpod. + +Until this instant the day's adventure had been merely the acme of +unpleasantness. Now something more sinister entered into it. He made +certain that he had found the place where the water-hole should be. +Then he sat down. His eyes were very grave. + +'If I don't play this hand right,' he told himself solemnly, 'I'll +never get out of this.' + +He found a few breast-high bushes and crawled into their thin shade and +lay down; before him he spread out the Quigley storekeeper's map. This +he studied with thoughtful eyes. The storekeeper had said it would be +no trick at all for a man like Howard to make the trip, but he had +meant Howard on horseback. On foot it became quite another matter. +The next spot where he should find water was some twenty miles ahead of +him; at the rate he had travelled this morning it would take him some +eight hours to come to it. Further, at the rate he had drank from his +canteen this morning, that canteen would be empty when he had gone half +the distance. Clearly, he must drink less water, just half what he had +drank during the last four hours. Clearly also, it would grow hotter +and he would want more instead of less water. Clearly again--and here +was the point of points--when he came to the twenty-mile-distant +water-hole, it too might be dry. And, after that, there was not +another spring for another twelve or fifteen miles. Yes, many things +were clear. + +He sat up and rolled a cigarette; he sat still while he smoked it. +Here was plainly a time for cool thinking; he would take all of the +time that he needed to be sure that he had decided correctly. For +later there might be no minute to squander. At present he had both +food and water. At present he could go on or turn back. There was +water where he had left his saddle; he could count on that positively +and could get to it before he had emptied his canteen. But, if instead +he went forward, there could be no turning back. He studied his map +again. So far as he could make out from it, it was as well to go on as +to retreat. So, putting his paper into his pocket he took up his food +and water, made certain of his bearings and went on. It was a gamble, +but a gamble his life had always been, and a fair gamble, an even +break, is all that men like Alan Howard ask. He realized with a full +measure of grimness that never until now had he placed a wager like +this one; he was betting heavily and he knew not against what odds that +at the end of twenty miles he would find water. + +Hour after hour he trudged on. His feet burned; they ached; his boots +made blisters and the blisters broke. Always he was thirsty with a +thirst which his whole supply of water could not have slacked and which +grew steadily more acute. Now and then he paused briefly and drank +sparingly. His bundle of food, small as it was, grew heavy; his feet +were heavy; only his canteen seemed to him lighter and lighter. A hot +wind rose, blowing direct into his face, flinging at him fine particles +of burning sand that sifted through his clothing and got into his +boots, torturing further his tortured feet; the wind seared his +eyeballs and threatened to blind him. He lifted his head, selected a +distant landmark, sought to shelter his eyes with the broad brim of his +hat and went on. + +Noon found him plunging down the steep bank of a dry gulch, a hideous +gash in the breast of the hideous land. He found a spot where there +was a little shade under a clump of bushes growing upon the bank's +edge. He ate a little of his dried beef; he treated himself to half a +dozen big, slow swallows of water; then he lay and rested for half an +hour. Again he rose; he moistened his mouth and lips, shut his teeth +hard together as he took the first step upon swollen feet; again he +wandered monotonously through a monotonous land. There was no wind now +save, infrequently, frolicsome little whirlwinds which danced about him +and were gone. When he found that their play angered him, that they +seemed to mock at his weariness and dying energies, he frowned. This +was no time and here was no place for nerves. + +In the late afternoon, after having laboured all day through a hell of +tedium and distress, he came to the water-hole. He marked it from afar +by its dusty willows; he wondered if this time he would find water. It +struck him that he must. He began to walk faster; he curbed a heady +desire to break into a run. As it was, he came slowly, steadily to the +spot. And there was no water. He would not believe it. He walked +along the line of willows, looking carefully everywhere. And not until +he had looked everywhere did he give up. Oddly, his compelling want at +the moment was less for a drink than for a smoke. He began rolling a +cigarette. Half-way through the brief task he desisted, returning the +thimbleful of tobacco to its sack. For the hot smoke would merely dry +out further his already dry mouth. + +He lay down in what shade he could find and estimated very carefully +the amount of water in his canteen. He weighed the vessel in his hand; +he unscrewed the top and held it so as to look into it. + +'I've got about three cupfuls,' he told himself. + +Again he studied his map. Again he ate sparingly and thereafter took a +sip of water. He screwed the top on quickly and tightly, jealous even +of a drop which might evaporate in this sponge-air. He stood up, +knowing that he must not loiter. For each second his thirst would +increase as the arid air took the moisture forth through the pores of +his body. Before he had moved a step forward he saw a man coming +toward him. He laughed outright, a laugh of suddenly relieved nerves +which had been very tense. That man would have water and would know +where other water was to be found. + +The man came neither from the direction of Quigley nor yet of Desert +Valley. Rather he was coming in from the north, would cut Howard's +trail almost at right angles. He was on foot. Howard wondered at +that. Further, the man had a strange way of walking. He was half +naked and about his head a dark cloth was tied. He trotted a few +steps, seemed to hesitate and balance, he came on head down. Something +seemed to get in the way of his feet; he stumbled, caught himself, +stumbled a second time and fell on his face. He got to his hands and +knees, slowly rose to his feet and came on, walking crazily. Then +Howard understood. The man was an Indian or a half-breed and he was +dying of thirst. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +A Son of the Solitudes + +Wonderingly Howard watched the man come on. For a moment he believed +that the new-comer had gone both mad and blind. For the roving eyes +were terrible to look into, black pools of misery, and the mouth was +distended and the stumbling feet did not turn aside for scrub-brush or +rock. From the waist up the gaunt coppery body was naked; of a ragged +pair of overalls held up by a rawhide thong one leg was gone; the feet +were bare. + +'Hey there, _companero_,' called Howard. 'Where are you going?' + +It was no longer a question of breed or Indian now. Despite the grime +that made a mask over the face the features were unmistakably those of +a pure-bred Hopi; the shape of the body that of the desert Indian. He +had the small shoulders, the thin arms and the powerful iron legs of +his people. He was passing only a dozen steps from Howard. He stopped +at the sound of the voice, stared wildly and then sagged on by. Howard +called again and then followed, bewildered. The Indian fell twice +before he came to the spot where there should be water. Here he went +down on his stomach, putting his face down as though to drink. Howard +heard him groan when the bleared eyes saw that instead of water there +was but blazing hot sand. The Indian made no other sound but merely +rolled over on his back and lay very still, eyes shut, jaw dropping, +hands lax at his sides. + +'You poor devil!' muttered Howard. + +He came to the prostrate figure. Now he noted that from the +string-belt there hung at one hip a little buckskin bag; it might have +held a handful of dried meat. Tied at the other hip was a bundle of +feathers that made gay colour against the grey monotony, feathers of +the bluebird, the redbird, blackbird and dove. Scabbardless, tied with +a bit of thong close to the feathers, was a knife with a long blade. + +The Indian's chest heaved spasmodically; his breath came in dry gasps. +Howard stooped over him and called to him softly. The eyes flew open +and, after a heavy gathering of the brows bespeaking the effort made, +focussed upon Howard's. + +'_Agua_,' pleaded the swollen lips. + +Howard took up a sardine tin, the contents of which he had eaten while +he rested, and, very careful not to spill a drop of the priceless +fluid, poured it half full from his canteen. Then he knelt and put an +arm about the gaunt body, lifting it a little, offering the water to +the broken lips. Now he noted that the cloth about the black head of +hair was stained with blood. + +He had expected the man to drink thirstily. Instead, manifesting a +display of will power such as the white man had never seen, the Indian +took the water slowly, held it a moment in his mouth, swallowed it drop +by drop. + +'More,' he said when the tin was emptied. + +Again Howard filled it. Now the Indian sat upright alone and drank. +Afterwards he looked at Howard with a long, piercing regard. A second +time he said 'More.' + +Howard with his finger indicated how low his water was. + +'Not much water, _companero_,' he said quietly. 'Pretty soon all gone.' + +'No more?' queried the Indian sharply. + +Howard poured out the third small tin; altogether he was giving the +poor devil only about a cupful when a quart would have been all +inadequate. Again the keen black eyes that seemed clearer now and like +a bird's probed at him. Again and as before, the Indian drank. + +'Me Kish Taka,' he announced slowly and with a certain dignity. 'Come +far, head hurt, much sick, much blood. Pretty soon, no water, die. +Now, pretty good.' + +Howard grunted. That a man in this fellow's shape should declare +himself as being 'pretty good' was worth any man's snort. He looked as +though he would be dead in ten minutes as he lay back and shut his +eyes. With his eyes still shut, the Indian spoke again: + +'You _sabe_ other water-hole?' + +'No. I found it dry.' + +'Kish Taka _sabe_ water-hole. Sleep now, damn tired, damn hot, head +sick. Sun go down, get cold, Kish Taka go there, you come, get water.' + +'Where?' demanded Howard quickly. 'How far?' For he was half inclined +to believe that if Kish Taka went to sleep now he would never wake. + +The long, thin arm pointed out to the south-west. + +'Not too far,' he said. 'Two big high mountain, some tree, water +there. Maybe twenty-five mile.' + +'Good God!' exclaimed Howard. 'Twenty-five miles! Might as well be a +thousand!' + +The Indian did not answer. He was breathing regularly, his lips were +closed. For five minutes Howard stood looking down upon him and then +he tiptoed a few yards away; Kish Taka was evidently asleep. Howard +set his canteen down in the shade of a bush, found another bush for +himself, and lay as the Indian was lying, on his back, relaxing his +body. He did not regret having shared his water with an Indian, but he +wondered why his destiny at this time of need had sent to him another +thirsty mouth. Further, he allowed himself to wonder soberly if he +would ever see his green fields again. He measured his chances with a +steady mind, and in the end his mouth grew sterner. + +'If I've got to cash in this way,' he muttered as his own sort of +prayer, 'I hope I can be as game about it as Kish Taka.' + +It struck him that in one thing the Indian was wise. It was as well to +rest now until after sunset and then to start on again in what coolness +the evening might afford. Further, it was not in him now to get up and +sling his canteen on his back and go on, leaving the fellow wayfarer +whom his fate had given him. He would try to sleep a little, though he +had little enough hope of coaxing the blissful condition of rest and +unconsciousness to him. But, physically tired, lulled by the great +stillness, it was but a few minutes when he, too, slept heavily. + + +He woke and sat up. The day had gone, the stars were out, the air was +cool against his cheek. He got to his feet and went to the spot where +he had left the Indian, half expecting to find the man dead. Instead +he found no man at all. He looked about him; there was light enough to +see objects at a considerable distance. The desert seemed, as it had +seemed all day, empty. He called and got no answer. It was obvious +enough that Kish Taka had rested, waked, gone on. + +'Got thirsty,' grunted Howard, 'and just trotted over to a spring only +twenty-five miles off for a drink! That's the Indian for you.' + +His own thirst sprang out upon him, clutching him by the throat. He +stepped to the bush where he had left his canteen and groped for it. +When he did not find it, he looked elsewhere, supposing that he had +made a mistake in the bush. When the truth dawned upon him his whole +body grew rigid, he stood motionless, even for a little his lungs +suspended their function. His hands clenched; for some reason and +apparently without any act of his will, they were lifted slowly until +they were above his head. Then they came down slowly until they were +at his sides, still clenched hard. It was his only gesture. He did +not speak aloud. Again he stood still. But through his heart and soul +and brain, sweeping upward and upward, came such a flood of rage as he +had never known. And with it, born of it, came rushing the frenzied +craving to kill. At last came his dry whisper: + +'I am going to last long enough to kill you, Kish Taka, and may God +damn your soul!' + +One hand took up his little bundle of food; the, other dropped to the +butt of his revolver. He went swiftly to the spot where he had left +the Indian whom he had thought half dead. He estimated again and with +great care the direction which the lean leathery hand had indicated as +the direction of water. Then, walking swiftly, he struck out into the +desert. Here was not the way to Desert Valley, not the way to Quigley. +But here was the path for one man to follow when he sought another man +who had wronged him. The fact that his chances of coming up with the +Indian were few did not deter the cattleman; the obscurity of night on +the desert did not give him halt or hesitation. The name of his wrath +burned high and hot in his brain and in its lurid light he saw his +desire fulfilled. Had one tried at the moment to reason with him, +Howard would have cursed him and gone on. His anger had spurted up in +a brain already mad with the torture of thirst. + +And yet that brain was clear enough to guide him in the way he would +go. He studied the stars, found the north and set his course +painstakingly. Presently he began to walk less hurriedly, bent +savagely upon reserving his strength. When there was some object ahead +set visibly against the skyline, a hillock or a clump of bushes, he +laid his course by it, checking again and again by the stars. When he +had walked an hour he stopped and rested, lighting a match to look at +his watch. He allowed himself exactly five minutes and floundered up +and went on again. Doggedly he sought to shut his mind to the pain +stabbing through his weary feet, to the constriction of his throat, to +the ache of his body so sorely and so long punished. When, had matters +been different, he might have cried out: 'God, for a drink!' he now +muttered dully, 'God, put him into my two hands !' + +The fine, delicate machinery of a human brain, like any man-made +mechanism of great nicety, may readily be thrown into confusion, its +exquisite balance disturbed, its functioning confounded. Thirst, +near-exhaustion, severe bodily distress and, on top of all, blood-lust +anger made Alan Howard over into another man. He was possessed, +obsessed. As the night wore on endlessly he created for himself +visions; he came a thousand times upon the Indian; he sank his fingers +and thumbs into a corded throat; he beat with his fists at the pulp of +a face. He grew accustomed to his own voice, muttering ceaselessly. +He heard himself praying as another man; the burden of his prayers was +always the same: 'Deliver him, O Lord, into mine hands.' He was half +mad for water and he cursed Kish Taka; he drove his body on when the +agonized muscles rebelled and, driving mercilessly, he cursed Kish Taka. + +Somehow the night passed and through it he staggered on. He fell as he +had seen the Indian fall; he recalled that the Indian had arisen and he +rose. Each time that he failed in something that he tried to do it was +as though an imp jeered and taunted him, calling to him: 'Ho! The +Indian is a better man. He is off there in the darkness, laughing at +you!' + +There came a time when he stumbled at every step, when he pitched +forward frequently and lay inert and had to gather his strength to get +up; when he wondered if he was going mad or if already he had gone mad; +when his thirst was a killing agony and he knew that it was in truth +killing him; when he crawled on his hands and knees up slight slopes; +when the stars danced and he frowned at them stupidly, seeking the +North Star, seeking to know which way led to Kish Taka. When the first +faint glint of dawn sweetened the air he was lying on his back; he +felt, rather than saw, that a new day was blossoming. He collected his +wandering faculties, fought with the lassitude which stole upon him +whenever his senses were not on the alert and sat up. And he would +have cried out aloud at what he saw were not his throat and mouth and +lips so dry that he was beyond calling out. For yonder, a blurred +moving shape came toward him. The shape was a man's, and he knew that +it was Kish Taka. + +Somehow he got to his feet, somehow he dragged his revolver out of its +holster, somehow he took a dozen tottering steps forward. He saw that +Kish Taka had seen him and had stopped; that the Indian carried his +canteen; that he was moving again. Howard lifted his gun, holding it +in both hands. He was afraid that even now his quarry would escape +him, that Kish Taka would run and that he could not follow. His +fingers found the trigger and pressed it as he sought to hold the +wavering muzzle steady. There was a loud report that seemed to tear +his brain to broken shreds, his arms dropped lax at his sides, the +revolver fell, its muzzle burying itself in the sand. His knees sagged +and he went down, settling slowly. As he fell he saw that Kish Taka +was running--but not away from him. Running like a deer was Kish Taka, +running straight to the fallen man. + +For the first time in his life, Howard fainted, The pink dawn went +black in his eyes, his brain reeled, the booming as of a distant surf +filled his ears and then unconsciousness engulfed him. When he, knew +anything at all it was that he was sitting up, that two thin brown arms +were about his body, that water was trickling down his throat. + + + + +Chapter XIV + +The Hate of the Hidden People + +When Alan Howard fully understood, he felt his face go red with shame. +There was in his soul something akin to timidity as he put his hand +forth for the hand of Kish Taka. And when the Indian nodded gravely +and gave his own hand, the white man's fingers locked about it hard. +Still East was East and West was West, and again had two strong men met +from the ends of earth. + +'I have horses and cows and houses and corn,' said Howard, speaking +slowly and simply that the Indian might understand clearly. 'What I +have is my brother's. When Kish Taka wants a friend, let him come down +into Desert Valley and call to Alan Howard.' + +The beady, bird-like eyes were void of expression as Kish Taka regarded +him steadily. The Indian did not so much as nod again. Like the +desert that had mothered him and his progenitors, he had the tricks of +silence and of inscrutability. + +From the few words which the Indian had spoken and from his own +suddenly altered estimate of his new companion, Howard came to +understand fully the amazing act which Kish Taka had performed during +the night. The Indian had been near the limits of his strength and +endurance when the white man had given him generously of his water. +Kish Taka had drank sparingly and, because he was desert-bred and +because the stock from which he was sprung was desert-bred, his bodily +strength had returned to him. He slept; Howard slept. But the Indian +woke, somewhat refreshed, in half an hour. He understood that in the +canteen there was not water for both. He promptly drank one of the two +remaining cupfuls, slung the canteen over his shoulder and struck off +swiftly for the twenty-five-mile-distant spring. + +Again, had he been other than a Hopi, less than the superb creature +that he was, the thing could not have been done. Down in Oraibi to-day +an Indian boy will run eighty miles in a day for ten dollars, and on +his return will run races for fun. The American desert has made him +just as it has made the thirstless cactus and the desert wolf. He is a +special creation, and Kish Taka was but doing the thing he knew. On +the run he drained the canteen; at the end of it he stopped and drank +and rested briefly. Then with full canteen he turned back to succour +and save the man who had befriended and saved him. So it came about +that he found Howard in time. + +All of that long hot day they sought to rest, lying inert in what scant +shade they could find, eating a few bits of dried beef, drinking their +water now and then. By the time that the first hint of coming coolness +crept into the air Howard sat up, somewhat refreshed and again eager to +be moving. He turned to the Indian with a question on his lips, for a +thought had come to him. + +'Do you know Jim Courtot?' he asked sharply. + +Kish Taka's eyes were veiled. + +'What man, Jeem Cour'?' he demanded expressionlessly. Then, with the +naivete of a child: 'Him your frien'?' + +Howard tapped the sagging holster at his hip. + +'For Jim Courtot I carry this.' he returned quietly. 'He wants to kill +me.' + +'Then,' said Kish Taka, and through the veils in his eyes fire flashed +and was gone, 'him better be quick! Me, Kish Taka, I kill Jeem Cour' +damn quick pretty soon.' + +Howard looked at him curiously, wondering just how the trails of the +gambler and the desert man had crossed and what wrong Courtot had done +the other. For he did not doubt that the sin had been Courtot's. + +'You have a big dog,' he said, still looking probingly into the beady +eyes. 'Big dog, big head, big shoulders, teeth like a wolf. Where is +he?' + +If Kish Taka wondered at his knowledge, no sign evidenced the fact. +His own teeth, white and strong as a wolf's, showed fleetingly, and +into his expression came merely a look of pride. + +'You my frien'--See!' With a swift gesture he whipped from his side +his long knife, pricked his arm so that a drop of blood came, set his +forefinger to the ruby drop and, leaning closer, touched the finger +point in the palm of Howard's hand. 'Kish Taka tell you true. No +other dog like the dog of Kish Taka! He run with Kish Taka, fight with +Kish Taka, hunt with Kish Taka--kill for Kish Taka! He smell out the +trail of the man not the frien' of Kish Taka. Now, Kish Taka say, +"Dog, go home." And he gone. Yonder.' He swept his long arm out +toward the north. + +'Far?' + +'Running,' answered Kish Taka, 'he go three day and night. Running he +come back, other three day and night.' + +From other added fragments Howard gathered something of a story: Kish +Taka and his brother, the dog with them, had come from 'where they +lived' far off to the north, seeking Jim Courtot. Yesterday Kish Taka +had sent his dog back across the wastes, carrying a message. The +message was in the form of a feather from his belt tied with a lock of +hair dipped in blood. The feather was grey, from a dove's wing, and +grey is symbolical of the Underworld with the Hopi; the hair was from +the head of Kish Taka's brother. The meaning was plain. The +explanation came stoically: Kish Taka pointed to the wound upon his own +head. Jim Courtot, more cunning than they had thought, had surprised +his pursuers, had even come out into the desert to take them unawares. +He had killed the other Indian from ambush, had wounded Kish Taka and +had fled. Now Kish Taka's tribesmen would understand and another +runner would come to take the place of him who had fallen. + +That the dog would understand to make the return across the desert to +'where they lived' was also explained. Each man there had his dog, +each man had his friend. These two men, kind to their two dogs, +caressed them, fed them, sheltered them. All other men in the tribe +abused these two beasts on sight, stoned them, drove them away. Hence +every dog had two masters whom he loved with all of the loyalty of a +dog heart and all other men he distrusted and feared and hated. Now, +in the desert, Kish Taka had but to drive his dog from him, shouting at +him, casting a stone at him, and the big brute to whom similar +experiences had come before out of as clear a sky, knew that he had a +friend in the distant camp, one friend only in the world, and as +straight as a dart made off to find him. In three days' time he would +be leaping and fawning upon his other master, sure of food and kind +words. And, when in turn that other master turned upon him and seized +a stick with which to beat him, he would know that Kish Taka would take +him into his arms and give him meat and water. For such things had he +known since he was a roly-poly puppy. + +There was but one matter further about which Howard wondered, and he +asked his question point-blank. Point-blank Kish Taka answered it. + +Jim Courtot, with lies in his mouth, had come to these desert folk +several months ago. He had tarried with them long, swearing that he +hated all white men, that he had killed a white and that the whites +would kill him, that he would spend his life with the Indians, teaching +them good things. In time they came to trust him. He learned of them +their secrets, he found where they hid the gold they used now and then +to barter with the white men in their towns, he saw their hidden +turquoises. Further, he wronged a maiden who was one day to come to +the _kiva_ of the headman, the Hawk Man, Kish Taka. The maiden now was +dead by her own hand; Courtot that night, full-handed with his +thievings, had fled; and always and always, until the end came, Kish +Taka would follow him. + +Howard heard and looked away through the growing dusk and saw, not the +scope of a dimming landscape, but something of the soul of Kish Taka. +He understood that the Indian had given his confidence freely and he +knew that it was, no doubt, the first and last time in his life that he +would so speak with a _bahana_. And it was because Howard had shared +his last water with him and was, therefore, 'brother.' Kish Taka was +an implacable hater; he would follow Jim Courtot until one of them was +dead. Kish Taka was a loyal friend, for the Hopi who will bare his +heart to a man will bare his breast for him. + +Further questions Howard did not ask, feeling that he had penetrated +already further into the man's own personal matters than he should have +done. He had heard tales such as all men hear when they come into the +influence of the desert south-west, wild tales like those he had +recounted about Superstition Pool to Helen and her father, wilder tales +about a people who dwelt on in the more northern and more bleak parts +of the desert. Lies, for the most part, he judged them, such lies as +men tell of an unknown country and other men repeat and embroider. +There were men whom he knew who maintained stoutly that the old Seven +Cities of Cibola were no dead myth but a living reality; that there +were a Hidden People; that they had strange customs and worshipped +strange gods and bowed the knee in particular to a young and white +goddess, named Yohoya; that they hunted with monster dogs, that they +had hidden cities scooped out centuries ago in mountain cliffs and that +they were incredibly rich in gold and turquoises. Lies, perhaps. And +yet a lie may be based upon truth. Here was a high-type Indian who +called himself Kish Taka, the Hawk Man; he hunted with such a dog; he +camped on the trail of a _bahana_ who had betrayed and robbed his +people. That _bahana_ was Jim Courtot. What had taken Jim Courtot +into that country? And now that he was back, Jim Courtot was flush. +And, when Sandy Weaver had mentioned certain tracks to him, he had +stared over his shoulder and turned white! Truly, there were many +questions to ask; but Howard refrained from asking them. + +'This Indian has played a white man's part to me,' he told himself. +'And his business is his own and not mine.' + +'Come,' said Kish Taka abruptly out of the silence into which they had +sunk. 'Cool now, we go.' + +They had but little water remaining in Howard's canteen, and Kish Taka +scorned carrying water for himself; but he had outlined the trail they +would take and appeared confident that they would not suffer from lack +of water. They struck out toward the south-east, the Indian swinging +along ahead, his body stooped a little forward, his thin arms hanging +loose at his sides. Several times Howard stopped to drink; the Indian +drank once only before their arrival at the spring. Here they rested +and ate. The night was already far advanced and glorious with its +blazing stars, and they did not tarry long. In half an hour they moved +on again. As day was breaking Kish Taka led the way up a steep-sided +mesa and, catching Howard's arm, pointed out toward the east. + +'Here we turn,' he explained. 'Not so far that way, maybe two hours, +we find more water. Then we go that way,' and he indicated that they +must bear off a little to the south, 'and more water. Then we sleep in +shade. Then at night, not too far, see your place.' + +It came about that all that Kish Taka had predicted was so. They found +water; they spent the long day in the shade of some stunted trees; they +ate all but a few scraps of their food; they went on again at sundown. +In the pink flush of another dawn they stood together on the uplands +back of Last Ridge and saw before them and below them the green of +Desert Valley. In the foreground, a thin wisp of smoke arose from the +spot where the Longstreets were camped. + +'Kish Taka go back now.' The Indian stood, arms folded across his +gaunt chest, eyes hard on Howard's. 'Back to the Bad Lands to sit +down. Soon Kish Taka's dog comes and with him a man. And while he +waits, Kish Taka will make many stones piled up on his brother.' + +He swung on his heel to go. But Howard caught at his arm. + +'Wait,' he said. 'Two things! One, where that fire is are two people. +An old man and a girl. They are my friends, Kish Taka.' + +Kish Taka nodded. + +'My frien's,' he said simply. + +'The other thing,' said Howard. 'Kish Taka, hungry, killed my calves. +He left gold. When again Kish Taka is hungry, let him kill as many +calves as he pleases. But let him keep his gold.' + +Again the Indian nodded. And this time Howard let him go. + +The Indian went back toward the Bad Lands, swift, silent, and in a +little was lost in the distance. He did not once turn. Howard +withdrew his eyes and sent them questing down toward the wisp of smoke. +His thoughts were wandering. And last they winged to Jim Courtot. + +'Jim Courtot,' he muttered under his breath, as though the man were +with him, and as he saw fancied visions of things to be, 'I have it in +my heart to be almost sorry for you.' + +Then he shrugged, filled his lungs with the fresh clean cool air which +rose up across the miles from his own pastures and set his feet into +the trail that would lead home--by way of the Longstreets. Now he +walked eagerly. In half an hour he had made his way down to the flat +upon which the canvas shanty stood. He came on, the fatigue gone from +a stride that was suddenly buoyant; there was a humorous glint in his +eyes as he counted upon surprising them; he would just say, casually, +that he had dropped in, neighbour-style, for breakfast. + +Then he saw Helen, her upturned, laughing face rosy with the +newly-risen sun. Before her, looking down into her eyes, was John +Carr. Howard came abruptly to a dead halt. They saw him, and Helen +called something to him. Again he came on, but the joyous spring had +gone out of his stride and he realized in a dull, strange fashion that +for the first time in his life he was not glad to see his old friend. + + + + +Chapter XV + +The Golden Secret + +'Good morning, Mr. Howard!' cried Helen gaily. Her cheeks were still +rosy, flushed, thought Howard quickly, less with the flood of the dawn +than with some sudden rush of blood stirred by something that Carr had +been saying. Then as she gave him her hand, inspired by the imp of the +moment, she ran on: 'You should have been here last night! Shouldn't +he, Mr. Carr? Sanchia was here!' + +'Mrs. Murray?' demanded Howard, wondering and therefore floundering +into Helen's trap. 'What was she doing here?' + +Helen appeared to be in the lightest of spirits this morning. Her +laughter was one of sheer joyousness. Her eyes were dancing as she +retorted: + +'Mrs. Murray? Who said Mrs. Murray? I was talking about Sanchia. Mr. +Chuck Evans rode her over last night, asking if we had seen you.' + +Howard bit his lip. Carr laughed. Then, seeing the look upon his +friend's face, he grew grave immediately and put out his own hand, +saying merely: + +'We wondered what had become of you, Al. And now to have you come in +from that direction--and on foot! What's happened?' + +'A side-winder scared my horse into breaking its tie-rope and leaving +me on foot. And I've had enough walking to last me seven incarnations. +Hello, Mr. Longstreet,' as he saw the professor step out of his canvas +house. Howard went forward to meet him, leaving John Carr with Helen. + +'Just the man I was wishing to see,' beamed Longstreet, shaking hands +enthusiastically. 'I was on the verge of taking up the matter with +your good friend Carr last night, but something prompted me to wait +until this morning, in hopes you would come. I--I seem to know you +better, somehow.' He lowered his voice confidentially. 'Those two out +there are just a couple of youngsters this morning. You and I will +have to be the serious brains of the occasion.' + +Howard glanced over his shoulder. Carr's broad back was turned to him, +Helen's eyes, glancing toward the shack, were sparkling. + +'Fire away,' he said colourlessly. 'What's in the wind?' + +'First thing--Had breakfast yet?' + +Oddly, Howard had no longer any appetite for coffee and bacon, though +he had hungrily swallowed his last bit of dried meat an hour ago. + +'Then,' said Longstreet eagerly, 'come in here where we can talk.' And +to Helen he called, 'My dear, I want a few words with Mr. Howard.' + +'Oh, we won't disturb you,' Helen laughed back at him. It struck +Howard that she would laugh at anything this morning. 'Mr. Carr and I +were just going up on the cliff for the view.' + +Longstreet came in and dropped the flap behind him. Then he stepped to +a shelf and took down a roll of paper which he spread upon the table. +Howard looking at it with lack-lustre eyes saw that it was a sort of +geological chart of the neighbourhood. Longstreet set his finger upon +a point where he had made a cross in red pencil. + +'It's there,' he announced triumphantly. + +Howard was thinking of the view from the cliff and failed to grasp the +other's meaning. + +'What's there?' he asked. + +'Gold, man!' cried Longstreet. 'Gold! Didn't I say it was as simple +as A B C to find gold here? Well, I've done it!' + +'Oh, gold.' And even yet Howard's interest was not greatly intrigued. +'I see.' + +Longstreet stared at him wonderingly. And then, suddenly, Howard came +to earth. Why, the thing, if true, was wonderful, glorious! With all +his heart he hoped it was true; for Longstreet's dear old sake, for +Helen's. He studied the map. + +'That would be right over yonder? About half a mile from here? In Dry +Gulch?' + +'Precisely. And it has been there since the time Dry Gulch was not dry +but filled with rushing waters. It has been there for any man to find +who was not a fool or blind. It rather looks,' and he chuckled, 'as +though it had been waiting since the Pliocene age for me.' + +'You are sure? You haven't just stumbled upon a little pocket----' + +Longstreet snorted. + +'I am going into the nearest fair-sized town right away,' he said +emphatically, 'to get men and implements to begin a moderate +development. It is a gold mine, my dear young sir--nothing else or +less. Here; look at this.' + +It was a handful of bits of quartz, brought up into the light from the +depths of a sagging pocket. The quartz indicated high-grade ore; it +was streaked and pitted with soft yellow gold. + +'By the Lord, you've got it!' cried Howard. He wrung Longstreet's hand +warmly. 'Good for you. You've got the thing you came for!' + +'One of the things,' Longstreet corrected him with twinkling eyes. + +'And the other?' + +'Another gold mine! As our young friend Barbee puts it, I'm all loaded +for bear this trip, partner!' + +'And you haven't told Miss Helen? Or Carr?' + +'Never a word. And for two very excellent reasons: _Imprimis_, they +both were poking fun at me last night; Helen said that I couldn't find +gold if it were in a minted twenty-dollar gold piece in my own pocket. +Now I am having my revenge on them; I'll show them! _Secundo_: Next +week comes Helen's birthday. I am going to give her a little surprise. +A gold mine for a birthday present isn't bad, is it?' + +Howard sat down to talk matters over, and since there was still coffee +and some bits of toast left he changed his mind about breakfast and ate +and drank while he listened to Longstreet. The university man had made +certain of the value of his discovery only last evening; it had +happened that Carr was staying over with them and therefore, while he +and Helen chatted about a great deal of nothing at all, Longstreet had +ample time to think matters over. To-day he meant to go into Big Run +and on into the county seat, which he had learned was but a few miles +further on and was a sizable town. There he would take on a small crew +of men and what tools and implements and powder would be needed for +uncovering his ledge and there he would attend to the necessary papers, +the proving up on his claim, matters upon which he was somewhat hazy. +The following day he would return and begin work. + +'I've got to go down by the ranch,' Howard told him. 'Then, if you +like, I can go on with you. It is possible I might be of service to +you. At least, I could steer you into the right sort of people.' + +Longstreet nodded vigorously. 'That's fine of you. And I won't say it +was not expected. Some day, perhaps, I can repay you for some of your +kindnesses to us. Now, if you are ready, I'll go and call Helen. And, +remember, not a word to them about our business.' + +'Miss Helen will go with us?' + +'I can hardly leave her out here alone, can I?' smiled Longstreet. +'And Mr. Carr said that he would have to leave this morning. While he +and Helen chat together, you and I can ride on ahead and talk. There +are any number of matters to discuss.' + +Howard hastily expressed his approval of the plan, and if his tone +lacked heartiness, Longstreet did not notice. + +'We are all going down to Desert Valley ranch,' Longstreet explained +when Helen and Carr came at his calling. 'From there we are going to +ride to Big Run and then on into San Ramon. I want to get some--some +tools and things there, to scratch around with, you know,' he +concluded, beaming with that expression that he wore when he had an ace +in the hole. Helen looked at him with keen suspicious eyes. + +'Papa is up to something underhanded,' she announced serenely. 'He +thinks that he can fool me when he pleases and--look at his face! What +is it, father?' + +'Never mind,' said Longstreet hastily. 'Just get yourself ready, my +dear. You'll ride with us, Mr. Carr?' + +Helen, always ready for a ride, hurried for her hat and gloves; now +from the end of the room, her eyes bright with mischief and hidden from +the men, she called: + +'Do come, Mr. Carr. I have to have some one to talk with, you know, +and papa and Mr. Howard never let me slip a word in sideways.' + +'She wasn't like this when we rode home in the moonlight the other +night,' thought Howard, considerably puzzled. 'What have I done, +anyway?' + +Carr did not give a direct answer. While he cut the end off a fresh +cigar, he suggested: + +'How about the horses? Al is on foot.' + +'That's easy,' Howard answered. 'Chuck Evans is herding a string up +this way and I can get one of them. Be back while you are getting +ready.' And over his shoulder to Carr, feeling vaguely that in his +heart he had been unreasonable and not quite loyal, 'Better come along, +John.' + +From the edge of the tableland he saw Evans down below. The cowboy saw +him and came at his signal. + +'So you're back, are you?' said Chuck. 'We'd begun to wonder if you'd +hit the trail for some other where. Special,' he added significantly, +'since it's been published kind of wide and large that you and Jim +Courtot was both packing shooting-irons.' + +'I haven't seen Courtot,' Howard told him carelessly, 'and I'm +beginning to believe that he has other calves to brand and has pretty +well forgotten all about me. I'm shy a horse, Chuck. Scare one up for +me to ride back to the ranch, will you?' + +By the time Chuck on his own horse had roped a mount for Howard the +little party was ready. They rode down into the valley four abreast +and across the fields to the ranch-house. Helen seemed a new creature +this morning, utterly tantalizing and not a little perverse. Howard +did not know what a proud and independent little person she was, nor +did he know that each day during the week she had expected him to ride +over, and had finally told herself point-blank that it did not matter +the least snap of her fingers whether he ever came or not. Naturally, +she did not know what had kept him away or that he had even wanted to +come. Now that she had heard his remark about a lost horse and a long +walk she was burning with curiosity. But that was another matter +hidden from Alan. + +She did remark the big revolver at his hip and when opportunity arose +mentioned it to Carr. Wasn't it rather strange, she wanted to know, +and even somewhat absurd that a man should go about armed like that? +Carr evaded and made a vague remark about a man riding across the Bad +Lands perhaps with money in his pocket. But John Carr was a blunt, +straightforward type of a man, little given to finesse in +circumlocution, and Helen fixed her frank, level gaze upon him and knew +that he was holding back something. Still higher rose her curiosity +about a man whom she did her feminine best to ignore this morning. + +Before they came to the ranch-house Helen and her father were riding +ahead, while the two friends dropped further and further back. Carr +listened with keen interest as Alan sketched the happenings of the last +few days. He whistled softly at what he learned of the man on the +trail of Jim Courtot. But he shook his head when Alan predicted that, +soon or late, Kish Taka would kill the gambler. + +'It's white man and Indian, Al,' he said. 'The thing always works out +the same way. Jim got one of the two of them, didn't he? Well, he'll +get the other. And what I know of the breed of your friend Kish Taka, +they're a pretty low-lived bunch and there'd be precious little harm +done if they killed each other.' + +But Alan shook his head. 'Kish Taka is a pretty deep shade of dark on +the outside, but he's white clean through under the hide of him. And +I've got it clear in my head that he'll never quit on the trail until +he's squared accounts with Courtot.' + +'By the way,' said Carr carelessly after a moment, 'the professor seems +all excited about something or other this morning. What's it all +about?' + +'What do you mean?' countered Howard. + +'Oh, nothing. Only from the way he grabbed on to you I fancied that he +had told you. I thought that if there were anything I could do for +him----' + +'No. There's nothing. He did tell me, but he asked me not to say +anything about it. I'll tell you as soon as I can, John. To-night, +maybe, or to-morrow.' + +'Oh,' said Carr. 'I didn't mean to stampede in on a secret.' He +turned to other matters and presently they fell silent, jogging along +together, their eyes for the most part upon the girl riding ahead of +them. + + +'Papa,' Helen was saying at her first opportunity, 'where has Mr. +Howard been?' + +'I have no idea, my dear,' said her father placidly. + +'What! You mean to tell me that you two have done all the talking you +have, and that he hasn't said a word about where he has been hiding +himself all this week?' + +'Not a word.' + +'H'm,' said Miss Helen, 'that's funny.' And then, 'Papa, do you know +if he has had trouble with anyone lately?' + +'What makes you ask that?' he queried uneasily, and Helen sat +straighter in the saddle and looked him full in the face. For now she +was positive that Alan had had trouble and that her father knew about +it. + +Longstreet hesitated. He had no desire to recount his experience at +Moraga's saloon in Big Run. He had judged himself fortunate since the +affair that Helen had been so absorbed in her new environment that she +had not thought to call upon him for an accounting of the family funds. +But even so, all along he had had a sort of fatalistic fear that in the +end she would know everything; she always did. + +'Well,' said Helen commandingly, 'tell me all about it.' + +'Eh?' He started guiltily. 'About what?' + +'About Mr. Howard's trouble with another man.' + +Then Longstreet told her what he must. How, while he was with Barbee, +a man named Jim Courtot had joined them. How Howard had happened +along, looking for him, and had said that Jim Courtot was no gentleman. +Ahem!--he had said it very emphatically, very. Longstreet did not +recall the exact terms employed, but their purport was that Courtot was +a crook and a--a man-killer. Courtot had whipped out a revolver, +Howard had hurled himself upon him and had knocked him down. Table and +chairs were overturned, and at first Longstreet thought that Courtot +was dead. He was still unconscious when they left. + +'Table?' said Helen. 'And chairs? Where were you? In whose house? +For this didn't happen at the hotel and there was no table in the +store.' + +'In the--the house of a man named Moraga, I believe,' Longstreet +answered hurriedly. + +Helen looked at him severely. + +'A saloon, wasn't it?' she asked, quite as a school teacher may put a +leading question to a squirming little boy. When he did not answer +immediately, Helen did not wait. + +'I think,' she informed him judicially, 'that it will be better for you +if I don't lose sight of you in these cattle and mining towns after +this. And it would be a better thing for Mr. Howard if he did not +frequent such places.' + +'But you sent him for me!' + +Helen merely sniffed at him. She was wondering if Jim Courtot really +were a man-killer? She shuddered. Then she set her brain to work upon +the name--Jim Courtot. It had a familiar ring; certainly she had heard +it before. She and her father rode on in silence. She could hear Alan +and Carr talking together again. Suddenly she remembered. It had been +that afternoon when they went to Big Run. The two men had spoken of +Mrs. Murray, remarking that she was in town. It had been Alan who had +said on the heels of this remark: + +'I'll bet you Jim Courtot has turned up again!' + +That was it! Sanchia Murray--Jim Courtot. What had the one to do with +the other? Had the enmity of the two men, Howard and Courtot, begun +over Sanchia Murray? + +When they came to the ranch-house and Alan was at her side to help her +to the ground, Helen said, 'No, thank you,' quite stiffly and slipped +down unaided. + + + + +Chapter XVI + +Sanchia Schemes + +Chance had it that the very first individual they saw in Big Run was +Sanchia Murray. She was in white and looked fresh and cool and girlish +and inviting as she sat idling upon the porch at the hotel. When she +saw them, she smiled engagingly. + +Only a minute ago as they turned into the hot, deserted street Alan +Howard had suggested: + +'We'd better have lunch at the hotel and ride on to San Ramon +afterwards.' Helen now told herself wisely that he had known Mrs. +Murray would be at the hotel. She turned to wave to John Carr, who had +said good-bye at the outskirts of Big Run; he claimed that he had been +away from home long enough and had some business waiting on his return. + +'He's perfectly splendid, don't you think, Mr. Howard?' Helen asked +brightly, quite as if she had not yet seen Sanchia. + +'Yes,' he rejoined warmly. 'He's the best friend a man ever had.' + +They dismounted, and Sanchia Murray was not to be ignored longer. She +hurried forward and gave both hands at the same time, one to Helen, one +to Longstreet. Howard, who held back a pace, fully occupying his own +hands with the reins of the three horses, she treated to a quick, +friendly nod. He turned away to the stable as the Longstreets and +Sanchia took chairs on the porch. Helen was cool but civil; she did +not like the woman and yet she had no sufficient cause to be downright +rude as she was inclined to be. Longstreet, on the other hand, as he +made himself comfortable, considered Sanchia Murray as nice and +friendly and pleasant. + +They chatted about this, that and the other thing, all inconsequential, +and Helen had to admit that Sanchia had her charm, that she was +vivacious and clever and pretty. Helen contented herself for the most +part with a quiet 'Yes' or 'No,' and sat back and made her judgments. +In the first place, Sanchia was no woman's woman, but the type to lead +a heedless man to make a fool of himself. In the second place, and +even when she was laughing, her dark eyes were quick and filled with a +look of remarkable keenness. And, finally, it appeared that she felt a +very strong interest in Longstreet. + +'She's nothing but a flirt,' thought Helen with something of disgust +and utterly without realization that she herself had come perilously +close to flirting with John Carr not so long ago--though of course with +ample reason! 'She'd look like that at any man, were he in +knee-breeches or as old as Dad.' + +Howard came, and presently they went into the darkened dining-room. +Sanchia was entertaining Longstreet with an account of her first coming +into this perfectly dreadful country, and so it came about that Helen +and Alan entered together and found chairs side by side. Since for the +greater part of the meal Sanchia monopolized the university man, Alan +and Helen were left largely to themselves. And, largely, they were +silent. He sought to engage her in talk some two or three times, found +her quiet and listless, and in the end gave up all attempt at +conversation. After lunch, while Mrs. Murray's tongue was still racing +merrily for the benefit of the professor, Howard succeeded in getting +Helen alone at the far end of the porch. + +'Look here, Helen,' he said after his outright style, 'what's the +matter? What have I done?' + +'_Helen_?' she repeated after him. + +'Oh, I beg your pardon, Miss Helen, or Miss Longstreet, or Your +Ladyship. That Helen just slipped out.' + +'So I noticed. Is it a little habit of yours calling girls by their +first names when----' + +'I don't know any girls,' he cut in vigorously. + +She lifted her brows at him. + +'How about Sanchia Murray? Isn't she----' + +'Damn Sanchia Murray,' he said savagely. + +'I'm talking about you! You and me.' + +Helen gasped. Either his oath shocked her or she gave a very excellent +imitation of a maiden thunder-stricken by such language as she had +never dreamed a man could employ. Certainly not a man who had the +slightest claim to the title of a gentleman. + +'I beg your pardon again,' muttered Howard. 'That's twice. And now +tell me, will you, what I've done?' + +Just what had he done? Helen had to think fast. He was tall and +straight and manly, he stood looking honestly into her eyes, he was +good to look upon and he struck her as very much of a man all the way +through. Further, he had said 'Damn Sanchia Murray,' quite as though +he meant it with all his heart. Just what had he done? + +'Are you going to tell me?' he was asking again. 'That's only fair, +you know.' + +'Don't you know?' countered Helen. She looked the part of a girl who +knows very well herself, but is in doubt whether or not she should +speak about it. + +'No,' he told her vigorously, 'honest to grandma, I don't. But I'm +sorry, just the same.' + +Then, all suddenly and with no premeditation, Helen smiled and Alan +Howard's heart grew warm. + +'Maybe sometime I'll tell you,' she informed him. 'If you didn't mean +it, we'll forget it now. And I'll try to believe that you didn't mean +anything.' + +He was considerably puzzled. He scratched his head and wondered. So +there was something, then, that he had done to offend her? Then he was +a low-lived dog and should have been choked to death. He couldn't know +that there was really nothing in the world wrong, and never had been +anything wrong; that merely Helen had been musing upon a mare's name, +and that she had missed him, and did not intend that he should know it, +and had resorted to the ancient womanly trick of smiling upon another +man. At least Howard was relieved. The day grew bright again and he +could find it in his heart to thank God for Sanchia Murray, who still +monopolized Helen's father. + +This monopoly was one which continued into the afternoon. For when +time came to ride on to San Ramon, Longstreet stated that Mrs. Murray +was going with them. It appeared that she had seen a most adorable hat +there in the milliner's window and had planned since early morning upon +riding over for it. So when Alan brought the other horses he led hers +with them, a beautiful white mare, glossy and well-groomed, trim as a +greyhound and richly accoutred in Mexican saddle and Spanish bit. Mrs. +Murray kept them waiting a moment, hardly more. Then she appeared +dressed in a distracting riding habit. They saw her leave an envelope +with the hotelkeeper; they did not hear her instructions. Then all +mounted, and again Howard had it in his heart to be grateful for +Sanchia. For now he and Helen rode together and far enough in advance +to be in a world by themselves. + +Until this moment Mrs. Murray had talked about nothing in the world +that mattered. But now, her eyes watchful, her manner that of one who +has waited long enough and is impatient, she said quickly: + +'You are still looking for your gold mine?' + +'Yes,' said Longstreet. 'Oh, yes.' + +But on the instant in his eye was that look of a man with the ace +buried. Perhaps Mrs. Murray had played poker; clearly she knew +something of poker faces. + +'You have found it!' she cried softly. 'Oh, I am so glad!' + +He looked at her wonderingly. + +'What makes you say that?' he stammered. + +'That I am glad? Why shouldn't I be? Why shouldn't every one be glad? +When one's friend--oh, but we are friends, dear Mr. Longstreet! There +is the one glorious thing to be said about this country, about all of +the West back from the railroads, that two persons don't have to know +each other a year to become real, true friends. For your sake and for +the sake of your wonderful daughter, am I not to be genuinely glad?' + +He had to wait to the end of the rushing words to correct her: + +'I meant, what made you say that I had found it?' + +She opened her big eyes at him like a baby. + +'But you have, haven't you? You came to find gold; you brought to bear +upon the situation your scientific knowledge instead of a prospector's +poor brain; and you have found gold, I am sure!' She smiled upon him +brightly as she concluded with a semblance of trustfulness and +artlessness: 'Tell me the truth; haven't you found it?' + +Suddenly he found himself hard beset. She had gauged him pretty +accurately and therefore had asked him the question pointedly. He must +either say yes or no; true, he might be rude to her and refuse an +answer, but that would be equivalent to an admission. If he said 'No,' +he would be lying. There was no other word for it. + +'Well?' persisted Sanchia. She still smiled, she was still extremely +kind and friendly, but it was plain that she would have her answer. + +Still he hesitated. What were his reasons for secrecy, after all? +Just to spring a surprise for Helen on her birthday. He had already +told Alan. A secret is a rather dull and stupid affair unless it is +shared. Mrs. Murray was all that was sympathetic; she would rejoice +with him. + +'I had not planned to say anything about it yet,' he began hesitatingly. + +'Oh!' she cried joyously. 'It's wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! I am +so glad! Tell me about it. All about it, every word.' + +Longstreet's smile answered her own. And, of course, he told. + +'Only,' he warned her, 'I am keeping it a secret for a little. Helen +doesn't know. Next week is her birthday. I am going to give it to her +then.' + +Mrs. Murray dropped her reins long enough to clap her gauntleted hands. +Then she elicited the whole story. She asked to be informed how he +knew he had really found gold; she expressed her child-like wonder at +his great wisdom; she was breathless with admiration after a fashion +which made him glow; and meantime she learned exactly where the place +was and saw his specimens. As she took them into her own hands her +eyes were lowered so that they were hidden; but when she looked up they +were shining. + +'Give me one of them, just one,' she pleaded. 'Won't you? I should so +dearly love to keep it for a souvenir of this happiness which is coming +to you.' She sighed. Then, in a faint, quiet little voice: 'Maybe I +am asking too much?' + +'No, no,' returned Longstreet stoutly. He selected the finest specimen +and presented it to her quite as a kind father might have given a stick +of candy to his little girl. 'It is very kind of you to rejoice with +us in the good fortune which is beginning to come our way. Just +beginning,' he added with grave assurance. + +'I'll have a locket made of it,' said Sanchia. Now for a little it was +Longstreet who did the talking. She grew thoughtful, nodding now and +then or answering absent-mindedly. + +'You'll begin work soon?' she asked abruptly. + +'Immediately. That's what I'm going into San Ramon to-day for. There +are certain necessary papers to be drawn, you know, in order to file +properly. Then I'm going to get some men and teams and explosives and +tools and begin development to-morrow.' + +More thoughtful still grew Sanchia, biting her lips, frowning, hiding +her eyes under her wide hat. Once she looked up quickly and studied +his eager face, her eyes keen and searching. Then, still watching him +for the slightest change of expression, she said: + +'Maybe I can be of assistance to you. You will be busy enough getting +your crew and implements. I know everybody in San Ramon; George +Harkness, at the court-house, is the man to arrange your papers and he +is an old friend of mine. I am going to see him anyway to-day, and if +you like I can have him do everything for you and send you your papers +next week. It requires several days, you know,' and by now her intent +regard had assured her that he knew absolutely nothing in the world +about it. + +Longstreet demurred. He wasn't certain that it could be done this way, +nor did he like the idea of imposing upon her. But, she told him +quickly, it _could_ be done; she had acted for another gentleman in +this capacity, Mr. Nate Kemble of the Quigley mines. She knew all +about it. As for imposition, she broke into a timid little laugh. + +'I am a rather helpless and, I am afraid, stupid sort of a little +woman,' she confessed. 'I have to make my own way in the world, and +this is one of the ways I do it. If, when everything is properly +concluded, you feel that I have really been of assistance and care to +send me a small cheque, just for services rendered, you understand, +why----' + +He saw the matter immediately in the desired light. + +'Then,' he told her heartily, 'I shall be delighted to have you see Mr. +Harkness for me. You are very kind, Mrs. Murray. And, as you say, I +can give my attention exclusively to the other end of the business. As +to the location of the spot so that the papers----' + +'Oh, that part is all right! I know just where the Dry Gulch is and so +will George when he looks it up on his maps. You won't have to worry +about that in the least.' + +Again Sanchia grew silent and thoughtful. Before them, side by side, +went Helen and Howard. She watched them and held her horse back so +that she and Longstreet would not come any closer to them. Finally she +made her second suggestion, watching as before the play of Longstreet's +expression. + +'You have told Mr. Howard?' + +'Yes. No one else.' + +'He understands that you wish to keep your secret from Helen?' + +'Yes.' + +'Then, suppose we do this: As we come into town I must leave you a +moment to ride by the milliner's and be sure that she holds that hat +for me; she lives on a side street. You can ride with the others to +the hotel, for you will have to stay all night there; it will be +impossible for you to get everything done before dark. And, after all, +maybe it would be better if you come with me to the court-house. I +want you at least to meet Mr. Harkness. I will attend to everything +for you; you can rejoin Helen and Mr. Howard. And I think he will +understand if you suggest that he stay with Helen at the hotel while +you ride down to the post office to mail a letter, let's say. I +wouldn't mention court-house,' she added, 'as Helen might guess.' + +During the remaining hour of jogging slowly through the sunshine, +Sanchia Murray elaborated her plans, all directed toward the double end +of hastening Longstreet's venture and keeping his secret from Helen. +She went into detail, secured his consent upon each point or swiftly +withdrew it to make another suggestion, and in the end awoke in him a +keen sense of her generosity. When they came to the first buildings of +the straggling town she waved her hand gaily, swung off into a side +street, and he rode on to overtake Alan and Helen. Once around a +corner Sanchia put spurs to her mare, struck the sweating shoulders +with her quirt and raced on her way through puffing clouds of dust and +barking dogs as though all leisureliness were gone before a sudden +vital need for haste. Before the party of three had come within sight +of the hotel she had swung down from her saddle at the back door of the +Montezuma House. And every one who knows San Ramon knows the +Montezuma, and every one who knows the place knows a house of sinister +reputation. + +At the hotel Howard dismounted first to give his hand to Helen. This +time she accepted it and even repaid him with a quick smile. +Longstreet, while Helen was dismounting, tipped the cattleman a sly +wink. It was meant to be full of meaning, but only succeeded in making +Howard wonder. + +'If you two will wait for me a moment,' said Longstreet, making a +perfectly transparent pretence of having nothing of importance on his +mind, 'I am going to ride over to the post office. It's just over +yonder. You'll be on the porch when I come back?' and without waiting +for a reply he clucked to his horse and trotted away. Helen looked +after him in surprise. + +'Papa's up to something he ought to leave alone,' she decided wisely. +She turned to remount. + +'We'd better follow him and----' + +Suddenly her expression altered. Her eyes softened and she added. + +'I know,' she added. 'No, we mustn't follow him. And he'll be gone an +hour.' + +'What is it?' wondered Alan. + +'I am not quite old enough to stop having birthdays,' she explained. +'He's just slipping off mysteriously as usual to buy something +expensive and foolish for me. He's just about the dearest old dad in +the world.' + +So they tied their horses and went into the cool of the shady porch. +Because they had matters of their own to talk about, they did not +concern themselves further with the eccentricities of a fond parent. +Meantime Longstreet, chuckling as he went, rode by the post office to +establish a sort of moral alibi and thence proceeded to the +court-house. He found it readily, a square, paintless, dusty building +upon a dying lawn. Sanchia looking flushed and hot, was waiting for +him under a tree in front. + +'Mr. Harkness is out,' she told him immediately. 'And as it happens, +there is no one in the office. But I have found where his assistant +is. He is Mr. Bates, and he has had a hard day, it seems, and is now +having a late lunch at the Montezuma House. We are to ride over there.' + +This satisfied him, and together they rode through the back street and +to the rear entrance of the gambling-house. Here they dismounted and +left their horses, Sanchia going before him. + +'We'll go in the back way,' she told him, 'as I do not care to come to +such places, and if I must come, I'd rather it wasn't known. Tongues +are so eager to wag when one is a woman deprived of a protector. The +men from the court-house sometimes come here for their meals.' + +She showed him the way under a long grape-vine arbour and to a door +which she opened. There was a dark, cool hall and another door opening +upon a small room in which they could see a man sitting at a table with +a cup of coffee and some sandwiches before him. + +'I don't know Mr. Bates personally,' whispered Sanchia. 'But he knows +who I am and will do quite as well as Mr. Harkness.' + +'You are Mr. Bates, aren't you?' she asked from the doorway. 'Mr. +Harkness's assistant?' + +The man at the table nodded. + +'Yes. Come in. You are Mrs. Murray? I have heard Harkness mention +you. If there is anything I can do for you?' His eye travelled slowly +to Longstreet. + +The man was not a pleasant type, thought Longstreet. He was swarthy +and squat and had an eye that slunk away from his visitors'. But it +appeared that he was kindly and eager to accommodate. He got up and +closed the door, and once, after they had begun talking, went on tiptoe +to open it again and peered out into the hall as though he suspected +that some one was listening. He seemed a broad-minded chap, waving +technicalities aside, assuring Longstreet that what he wanted done was +quite the simplest thing in the world. No, it was not necessary for +him to come in person to the office; Bates himself was authorized to +make the necessary entries and draw up the papers. Oh, yes; he knew +all about Dry Gulch. But he did not seem in the least excited about +the discovery; in fact, at the end of the conversation, he said dryly +that he feared that the mine would not pan out. Other men had thought +before now that they had found gold in the Last Ridge country, and +their findings had never amounted to anything. + +'I'll mail the papers to you at Big Run,' he said, rising at the end of +the interview. 'There will be a small fee which you may pay at your +convenience.' + +The three went out together. Bates waved a genial good-bye and strode +off toward the court-house. Suddenly Sanchia appeared restless, almost +feverish to be gone. + +'I must hurry back to the milliner's,' she said. 'Good-bye.' + +Longstreet, abruptly deserted by his two companions, mounted to return +to the hotel. But Sanchia suddenly came back to him. + +'I'd rather you didn't say anything about my helping you,' she said +hurriedly. 'I don't like the idea of coming to a place like the +Montezuma, even upon a business matter of urgency like yours. Mr. +Howard has such old-fashioned ideas, too, and he might misunderstand. +And even Helen---- You won't mention me at all, will you?' + +Again her smile was pleading, child-like. Longstreet assured her that +he would respect her wishes. + +'You can just say to Mr. Howard that you saw Bates and got everything +in shape,' she suggested. 'Good-bye.' + +She was gone, racing again, riding toward the milliner's--and, when +once out of Longstreet's sight, turning into the road beyond which led +to Big Run. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +Howard Holds the Gulch + +'Look at the mysterious gentleman!' said Helen, laughing, as her father +returned to them upon the hotel porch. Longstreet observed that she +appeared to be in the best of spirits. 'Look at the light in his eye! +Can't you just tell that he thinks he has a secret? Papa,' and she +squeezed his arm, 'won't you ever learn that with that face of yours +you couldn't hide what you are thinking to save your life?' + +For the second time that day Longstreet winked slyly at Howard. His +laughter, as gay as Helen's, bubbled up straight from his soul. + +'Helen,' he said as soberly as he might, 'I am afraid that we shall +have to leave you to your own devices for an hour or so. Mr. Howard +and I have a little business together.' + +'Oh,' said Helen. She studied her father's face gravely, then turned +toward Alan. She knew all along that her father was planning some sort +of birthday surprise for her, and now she could not but wonder what it +was that had called the cattleman in to Longstreet's aid. For the +thought of the two men really having business together struck her as +quite absurd. + +'I have been dying to be alone,' she said quickly. 'There is an +ice-cream shop across the street, and it's so much more comfortable on +a day like this not to have a man along counting the dishes you order. +Good-bye, business men,' and rather than be the one deserted she left +them and ran across the street, vanishing within the inviting door. + +'I have already arranged the matter of filing on my claim,' said +Longstreet, turning triumphantly to Howard. 'I saw Bates, George +Harkness's assistant, and he has undertaken to do everything +immediately.' + +'I know Bates. He's a good man, better for your work than Harkness +even.' He spoke without a great amount of interest in the subject, and +there was something of downright wistfulness in his look which had +followed Helen across the street. + +They walked a short block in silence. Longstreet, glancing at his +companion and noting his abstraction, was glad that there were no +questions to answer. After all, it was going to be very simple to keep +Mrs. Murray's name out of the whole matter. When they came to the +corner and he asked 'Which way?' Howard actually started. + +'Guess I was wool-gathering,' he grunted sheepishly. 'We go back this +way.' + +They retraced their steps half the way, crossed the quiet street and +turned in at a hardware store. Howard led the way to the tiny office +at the front, whose open windows looked out on the street. A +ruddy-faced man in shirt sleeves sat with his hands clasped behind his +head, his eyes thoughtful. Seeing his callers, he jumped to his feet. + +'Put her there, Al, old boy,' he called in a big, booming, good-natured +voice like a young bull's. 'Watched you go by and wondered if you +weren't coming in. Haven't seen you since old Buck was a calf. Where +you been keeping yourself?' His big smile widened. 'Courtot hasn't +got you hiding out, has he?' + +'So you've heard that Courtot stuff, too? Pony, this is a friend of +mine; Mr. Longstreet, Pony Lee.' While they shook hands Howard added: +'Lee here knows more about practical mining than any other foot-loose +stranger this side the Alleghanies.' + +'Draw it mild, Al,' laughed Lee. 'Glad to know you, Longstreet. Think +I've heard of you.' + +He indicated chairs and the three sat down. Longstreet, looking +curiously at the man, noted that whereas he was florid and jolly and +gave the impression at first almost of joviality, upon closer scrutiny +that which was most pronounced about him was the keen glint of his +probing grey eyes. He came to learn later that Pony Lee had the +reputation of being both a good fellow and a fighting man. + +'Longstreet wants to spin you a little yarn.' said Howard. 'And if you +will see him through, I imagine he's going to have a job open for you.' + +'Mine, of course?' suggested Lee. + +'Yes.' + +'Have a cigar,' invited Lee. He produced a box from a desk drawer. +'See if I can guess where it is. Other side of Big Run?' + +Howard nodded. + +'Who found it?' + +'I did,' answered Longstreet. 'Yesterday.' + +'Last Ridge country, then. H'm.' He rolled his cigar in his mouth +idly. Then he sat bolt upright and leaned forward. 'How many people +have you told about it already? A dozen?' + +It was little less than accusation, and Longstreet flushed. He was +opening his lips to answer stiffly when Howard spoke for him. + +'He is keeping it to himself. He has told no one but me.' + +Lee sank back in his chair, and when he spoke again it was in a +careless, off-hand manner. + +'Half an hour ago I saw Monte Devine. He came tearing down the street, +hell-bent-for-election. Down at the saloon on the corner he picked up +two men you know, Al. One of them was Jake Bettins and the other was +Ed True. The three hit the pike at a regular two-forty clip for the +Big Run road. Those birds don't go chasing around on a day like this +just to get sunburn, do they?' + +Howard frowned. 'Monte Devine?' he muttered, staring at Lee. But Lee, +instead of taking the trouble to give the necessary assurance again, +turned his eyes upon Longstreet. + +'Filed on your claim yet?' he demanded. + +'Yes,' retorted Longstreet, feeling inexplicably ill at ease and +shifting in his chair. 'Immediately.' + +'That's good,' grunted Lee. 'But I would be squatting on my diggings +with a shot-gun under my arm. Al, here, can tell you a few things +about Monte Devine and his crowd.' + +'Next to Lee,' said Howard, 'Devine knows the mining game from +hackamore to hoof. And he's a treacherous hound and a Jim Courtot man.' + +'You said it, boy,' grunted Pony Lee. 'He's all of that. And he's no +nickel shooter, either. If the game ain't big, he won't chip in.' + +'But,' continued Howard, 'I guess you've doped it up wrong, Pony. +Chances are they've got something else up their sleeves. They couldn't +possibly have dropped on to Longstreet's find.' + +For a full minute Lee's eyes bored into Longstreet's. Then he spoke +dryly: + +'As long's the desert wind blows, word of a strike will go with it. +Maybe I have got the wrong end of it.' He shrugged loosely. 'I've +done that sort of thing now and then. But I got one more thing to +spill. Sanchia Murray's in town. Or she was a little while ago.' + +Again he fixed his shrewd eyes upon Longstreet's tell-tale face, which +slowly reddened. Pony Lee grunted and at last lighted his cigar. +Howard, with a look of sheer amazement, stared at Helen's father. + +'You didn't tell Sanchia?' he gasped. + +They got their answer in a perfect silence. Lee laughed somewhere deep +down in his throat. Howard simply sat and stared. Then suddenly he +sprang to his feet and grasped Longstreet by both shoulders, jerking +him up out of his chair. + +'Tell me about it,' he commanded sternly. 'What did you tell her?' + +'Everything,' returned the bewildered college man. 'Why shouldn't I? +She promised not to say anything.' + +Howard groaned. + +'Oh, hell!' he muttered and turned away. But he came back and +explained quietly. 'She's as crooked as a dog's hind leg; she's +running neck and neck, fifty-fifty, with Jim Courtot and Monte Devine +on all kinds of deals--Come on. We've got to burn the earth getting +back to Big Run. We'll beat 'em to it yet.' + +'Wait a minute, Al,' called Lee softly. 'Let's get all the dope first. +You say, Mr. Longstreet, that you filed on your claim all right?' + +Longstreet began to flounder and half-way through his recital bogged +down helplessly. He had met Sanchia Murray, had gone with her to the +Montezuma House, had seen Mr. Bates there---- + +'What sort of a looking gent is this Mr. Bates?' quizzed Pony Lee +sharply. + +'A short man, dark, black moustaches----' + +Again Howard groaned. Lee merely smiled. + +'Recognize the picture, Al? She steered him right into Monte to fix +his papers! Well, by God!' + +His expression was one of pure admiration. In his mind Sanchia Murray +had risen to undreamed of heights--heights of impudence, but none the +less daring. He could see the coup in all of its brilliance. But not +so Howard. + +'We saw her leave a letter at the hotel in Big Run!' he cried out. He +was half-way to the door. 'She had the hunch then. By now Courtot and +Devine and the rest are in the saddles, if they are not, some of them, +already squatting on the job at Last Ridge! I'm on my way. Pony, come +alive. Chase over to the court-house; take Longstreet with you and +file on the claim if it isn't too late.' + +As his last words came back to them he was out on the street and +running. He knew within himself that it was too late. They would find +that Sanchia or one of her crowd had already visited Harkness's office. +Well, that was one thing; the other was to take possession. His boots +clattered loudly upon the echoing board sidewalk and men came out to +look after him. + +He came to his horse in front of the hotel, snatched the tie-rope loose +and went up into the saddle without bothering about the spurs hanging +over the horn. His horse plunged under him and in another moment horse +and rider were racing, even as Sanchia Murray's white mare had carried +her, out toward Big Run. + +He came as close to killing a horse that day as he had ever come in his +life. His face grew sterner as he flung the barren miles behind him +and higher and higher surged the bitterness in his heart. If +Longstreet had found gold, and he believed that he had, it would have +meant so much to Helen. He had seen how she did without little things; +he had felt that she was just exactly the finest girl in all of the +world; it had seemed to him only the right and logical thing that she +should own a gold mine. And now it was to go to Jim Courtot and +Sanchia Murray. Sanchia instead of Helen! At the moment he felt that +he could have choked the lying heart out of the woman's soft white +throat. As for Jim Courtot, already he and Howard hated each other as +perforce two men of their two types must come to do. Here again was +ample cause for fresh hatred; he drove his horse on furiously, anxious +to come upon Courtot, thanking God in his heart that he could look to +his enemy for scant words and a quick gun. There come to men at times +situations when the only solution is to be found in shooting a way out. +Now, more than ever before in his life, was Alan Howard ready for this +direct method. + +Arrived in Big Run he rode straight on until he came to Tony Moraga's. +Here, if anywhere in the settlement, he could hope to find his man. A +glance showed him one horse only at the rack, a lean sorrel that he +recognized. It was Yellow Barbee's favourite mount, and it struck him +that if there were further hard riding to be done, here was the horse +to satisfy any man. He threw himself from the saddle, left his own +horse balancing upon its trembling legs, and stepped into the saloon. + +Moraga was dozing behind his bar. Yellow Barbee sat slumped over a +table, his lean, grimy fingers twisting an empty glass. No one else +was in the room. + +'Courtot been here?' demanded Howard of Moraga. + +Moraga shook his head. Howard glanced toward Barbee. The boy's face +was sullen, his eyes clouded. He glowered at Moraga and, turning his +morose eyes upon Howard, snapped out: + +'Moraga lies. Jim was here a little while ago. He's just beat it with +a lot of his rotten crowd, Monte Devine and Bettins and True. They're +up to something crooked.' + +'I forgot.' Moraga laughed greasily. 'Jim was in the back room there +talking to Sanchia! Nice girl, no?' he taunted Barbee. + +'I'll kill you some day, Moraga,' cursed Barbee thickly. + +Howard turned back to the door. + +'I want your horse, Barbee,' he said quickly. 'All right?' + +'Go to it,' Barbee flashed out. 'And if you ain't man enough to get +Jim Courtot pretty damn soon, I am!' + +'Keep your shirt on, kid,' Howard told him coolly. 'And keep your +hands off. And for God's sake, stop letting that woman make a fool of +you.' + +Barbee cursed in his throat and with burning eyes watched the swing +doors snap after the departing cattleman. Howard, his anger standing +higher and hotter, threw himself to the back of Barbee's roan and left +Big Run riding furiously from the jump. He knew the horse; it could +stand the pace across the few miles and there was no time to lose. +There was scant enough likelihood as matters were of his coming to Last +Ridge before Courtot's crowd. But the men might have failed to change +to fresh horses; in that case his chance was worth something. And, +always, until a game be played out, it is anybody's game. + +As he rode out toward the Last Ridge trail his one thought was of Jim +Courtot. Little by little he lost sight of other matters. He had +fought with Jim Courtot before now; he had seen the spit of the +gambler's gun twice, he had knocked him down. Courtot had hunted him, +he had gone more than half-way to meet the man. And yet that which had +occurred just now had happened again and again before; he came seeking +Courtot, and Courtot had just gone. It began almost to seem that +Courtot was fleeing him, that he had no stomach for a face-to-face +meeting; that what he wanted was to step out unexpectedly from a +corner, to shoot from the dark. This long-drawn-out, fruitless seeking +baffled and angered. It was time, he thought, high time that he and +Jim Courtot shot their way out of an unendurable mess. At every +swinging stride of Barbee's roan he grew but the more impatient for the +end of the ride and the face of Jim Courtot. + +The broad sun flattened against the low hills and sank out of sight. +Dusk came and thickened and the stars began to flare out. Against the +darkening skyline before him the Last Ridge country reared itself +sombrely. A little breeze went dancing and shivering through the dry +mesquite and greasewood. His horse stumbled and slowed down. They had +come to the first of the rocky ground. He should be at the mouth of +Dry Gulch in half an hour. And there he would find the men he had +followed; they had beat him to it, for not a glimpse of them had he +had. They were, then, first on the ground. That was something, he +conceded. But it was not everything. + +At last he dismounted and tied his horse to a bush. About him were +thick shadows, before him the tall bulwark of the uplands. His feet +were in a trail that he knew. He went on up, as silently, as swiftly +as he could. Presently he stood on the edge of the same flat on which +the Longstreets had made their camp, though a good half-mile to the +east of the canvas shack. A wide black void across the plateau was Dry +Gulch. Upon its nearer bank, not a hundred yards from him, a dry wood +fire blazed brightly; he must have seen it long ago except that a +shoulder of the mountain had hidden it. It burned fiercely, thrusting +its flames high, sending its sparks skyward. In its flickering circle +of light he saw dark objects which he knew must be the forms of men. +He did not count them, merely prayed within his heart that Courtot was +among them, and came on. He heard the men talking. He did not listen +for words, since words did not matter now. He hearkened for a certain +voice. + +The voices broke off and a man stood up. When he was within a score of +paces of the fire Howard stopped. The man's thick squat form was +clearly outlined. Unmistakably this was Monte Devine. There were two +or three other forms squatting; it was impossible to distinguish a +crouching man from a boulder. + +'That you, Monte?' called Howard. + +'Good guess,' came Monte's heavy, insolent voice. 'You've got one on +me, though, pardner.' + +'Courtot here?' demanded Howard. + +Monte Devine laughed then. + +'Hello, Al,' he returned lightly. 'You and Jim sure play a great +little game of tag, don't you?' + +'He isn't here, then?' + +'Left an hour ago. There's just me and Bettins and True on the job. +Come on in and make yourself at home.' + +Howard came on slowly. Monte might be telling the truth, and then +again lying came easy to him. Every dark blot was searched out +suspiciously by Howard's frowning eyes. Again, having read what was in +Howard's mind, Monte laughed. + +'He ain't here, Al,' he insisted. 'You and him will have to make a +date if you ever get together.' + +The two other men rose from the ground and stood a little aside. No +doubt they were True and Bettins; still neither had spoken and in this +uncertain light either might be Courtot. + +'Hello, True,' said Howard shortly. True's voice answered him. +'Hello, Bettins,' he said, and it was Bettin's voice replying. + +'Where did Jim go?' he asked. + +'Search me,' retorted Monte Devine. Then, a hint of a jeer in his +voice, 'Going to stay out there in the dark all night? 'Fraid Jim'll +be hiding out waiting to pot you?' + +The other men laughed. + +'That's his sort of play,' muttered Alan coolly. + +He took his time to look about. Little by little the mystery shrouding +this and that object dissolved and showed him a rock or a bush. He +heard a snapping bit of brush off to the right and wheeled toward it. +It was a horse moving. He circled the fire and went to it. Beyond +were two other horses, only three in all. Then he shrugged his +shoulders and jammed his revolver angrily into its holster and came +back to the figures by the fire. + +'Longstreet is a friend of mine,' he said shortly. 'I am going to see +him through, Monte.' + +'Who's Longstreet?' demanded Monte. + +'I guess you know. He's the man who found gold up here yesterday. +He's the man Sanchia Murray brought to you at the Montezuma House. He +owns these diggings that you and Jim Courtot and your crowd are trying +to jump to-night. Better think it over and jump somewhere else, Monte.' + +Monte Devine appeared to be meditating. Howard's angry thoughts were +racing. Rage baffled was but baffled again. There seemed nothing +concrete that he could lay his hands on; again Jim Courtot had come and +gone. To drive the men off the land, even could he succeed in doing it +would so far as he could see be barren of any desired result. There +was a law in the country, and that law would see the man through who +had properly filed on his claim. And yet, for all that, his blood grew +hot at the thought of all of this riff-raff of Jim Courtot squatting +here upon that which by right was Helen's. + +'I reckon we'll stay and see it through,' said Monte at last. + +Howard turned and strode away. True laughed. But Howard had seen +something showing whitely just yonder in the black void of Dry Gulch. +There was the spot where Longstreet's claim lay. He went down into the +gulch and to the thing that he had seen dimly. It was a stake and a +bit of white paper thrust into the split, and showed him that the three +men had not mistaken the spot. Here, at last, was something concrete +upon which a man, hot with his anger, could lay his hands. He wrenched +it away and hurled it far from him. He saw another stake and another +and these like the first he snatched up and pitched wrathfully as far +as he could throw them. + +'That's something, if it isn't much,' he muttered to himself. + +The others had held back, watching him. He could hear them speaking +quickly among themselves, Bettins and True angrily. Monte's voice was +low and steady. But it was Monte who came on first. + +'Hold on there a minute,' called Howard sharply. 'I'm not asking any +company down here. Here I am going to stick until morning. By that +time, or I miss my guess, this neck of the woods will be full of people +who have heard that something's doing here. There'll be a handful of +your crowd, but there'll be twice as many square-shooters. You'll +stand back with the crowd and take your chance with what is left after +Longstreet gets his, or you'll play crooked and take another chance, +that of a long rope and a quick drop. Think it over, boys.' + +'Better clean out while you can, Al,' said Monte. His own voice had +sharpened. 'We're coming down to put them stakes back.' + +Howard withdrew half a dozen steps into the deeper shadows of the gulch. + +'Come ahead when you're ready,' he retorted. 'I can see you fine up +there against the skyline. Start it going any time, Monte.' + +His was the position of a man in desperate need for action and with +little enough scope for his desire. But he had the hope that +Longstreet and Pony Lee might possibly have been the first at the +court-house; were that to prove to be the case and were he on the +ground when they came in the morning, he would in the end have +prevented a tangle and the long delay and intricate trouble of +dispossessing Courtot's agents. Further, his mood was one in which he +would have been glad to have Monte 'start it going.' + +Monte and his companions spoke quietly among themselves a second time. +Then, with never another word to him, they withdrew and disappeared. +An immense silence shut down about him. He knew that they had not gone +far and that they would be heard from before long. For they were not +the men to let go so easily. But Monte Devine, plainly the brains of +the crowd, was a cool hand who played as safe a game as circumstances +allowed. + +He sat down with his back to a fallen boulder. He was thinking that +perhaps they were waiting for the dawn; by daylight they would have all +the best of it and might close in on him from three sides. But when +the night wind blowing up the gulch brought him the smell of dead +leaves burning, when he saw a quick tongue of flame on one bank and +then another, like a reflection in a mirror, on the other bank, he +understood. It was like a Monte Devine play. Presently the dry grass +would be burning all along the draw; the flames would sweep by him and +in their light he would stand forth as in the light of day. Then, if +there were a single rifle among the three men, he would have not so +much as a chance to fight. Even if they had nothing but revolvers, the +odds were all on their side. + +And it was like Jim Courtot's play, too, to clear out and leave his +agents to deal with the man he hated. All in the world that Courtot +ever wanted was to win; the means were nothing. If his enemy went down +by another man's bullet than his own, so much the better for Jim +Courtot, who had always enough to answer for as it was. + +'This belongs to Helen Longstreet,' Howard told himself steadily. 'I +am going to hold it for her if it's in the cards.' + +He withdrew a little further. Then, with a sudden inspiration, he +clambered silently up the sloping bank. The men who had lighted the +fires would have circled about to come upon him from the other side. +He was right. As he thrust his head above the top of the bank he saw +two figures running in the direction that he had judged they would +take. He pulled himself up. A loosened rock rolled noisily into the +gulch. They heard it and stopped. He knew when they saw him and knew +who they were as he heard them call to each other. They were Ed True +and Monte Devine. And Ed True, as he called, whipped out his revolver +and fired. + +'He's on this side, Bettins,' called Monte loudly. 'Take your time.' + +He had not fired nor had Howard. Ed True, however, lacked the cool +nerve and emptied his revolver. Monte cursed him for a fool. + +'You couldn't hit a barn that far off in this light,' he shouted. +'Take your time, can't you?' + +Howard's lips tightened. That was Monte Devine for you. Steady and +cool as a rock. + +'We've got the best of you, Al,' called Monte warningly. 'Better crawl +out while you got the chance.' + +'Go to hell!' Howard told him succinctly. And knowing that the man had +been right when he had said you couldn't hit a barn at that distance +and in that light, he came forward suddenly. For in a little the +burning grass would be behind him and outlined against it the target of +his body would be a mark for anybody to hit. + +Suddenly, having reloaded, True fired again. But he was not so hurried +now. He fired once and waited. This time the bullet had not flown so +far afield as the first shots; Howard heard its shrill cleaving of the +air. He saw that Monte was moving to one side. Again he understood +the man's intention. Monte planned to put him between two fires. +Howard jerked up his own gun. + +The two explosions came simultaneously, his and Monte's. There was a +brief silence. Plainly no bullet had yet found its mark. True fired +again. His bullet whined by and Howard realized that the man was +coming closer every time. He turned a little and, 'taking his time,' +as Monte was doing, answered True's fire. There was a little squeal of +pain from True, a grunt of satisfaction from Howard, a second shot from +Monte. Howard saw that True had spun about and fallen. He saw, +further, that Monte had come a step nearer and had stopped. In a +little Bettins would be to reckon with. It was still close enough for +a chance hit, too far for absolute accuracy. Walking slowly, realizing +that he had but four shots left and that those gone he would never be +given time to reload, Howard came half a dozen paces toward Monte +before he stopped. He heard True's groaning curse; a spat of flame +from where the man lay showed him that he was still to be counted on. +But his shooting would be apt to be wild and he must be forgotten until +Devine was dealt with. + +He was near enough to make out the gesture as Monte raised his arm. +And he was ready. Howard fired first; he saw the flare and heard the +report of Monte's gun and knew that he had missed. But Monte had not +missed. There was a searing pain across Howard's outer left arm, near +the shoulder. The pain came and was gone, like the flash of the gun; +remained only a mounting rage in Howard's brain. Three shots left and +three men still to fight. A shot for each man and none to waste, or +the tale would be told for Alan Howard. And there would be occasion +for Jim Courtot's jeering laugh tomorrow. + +Before the smoke had cleared from Monte's gun Howard leaped closer, and +at this close range fired. He saw Monte reel back. He knew that Ed +True was still shooting, but he did not care. Monte was stumbling, +saving himself from falling, straightening again, lifting his gun. But +before the swaying figure could answer the call of the cool brain +directing it, Howard sprang in upon him and struck with his clubbed +revolver. And Monte Devine, his finger crooking to the trigger as the +blow fell, went down heavily from the impact of the gun-barrel against +his head. Ed True emptied his cylinder and cursed and began filling it +again. + +Howard stood a moment over Monte Devine. Then he took up the fallen +revolver in his left hand and turned to True. + +'Chuck your gun to me, Ed,' he commanded sternly, 'or I'll get you +right next time.' + +True damned him violently. Then he groaned, and a moment later there +was the sound of his revolver hurled from him, clattering among the +stones. Howard took it up, shoved it into his pocket and turned toward +the gulch. While he sought for a sight of Bettins he hastily filled +the empty chambers of his own weapon. + +Now only he realized how brief a time had elapsed since Ed True's first +shot. The grass fire was blazing, but had crept up the draw only a few +feet. And Bettins had not yet had the time to come from the other +side, down into the gulch and up on this side. He saw Bettins; the man +was standing still staring toward his fallen companions. The fire +leaped higher, its light danced out in widening circles, touching at +last the spot where Howard stood, where Ed True and Monte Devine lay. + +'Well, Bettins?' called Howard abruptly. + +'What about you? Are you coming over?' + +Bettins was silent a moment. The light flickered on the gun in his +hand. Presently he raised his voice to inquire anxiously: + +'Hurt much, Monte? And you, True?' + +No answer from Monte. True shrieked at him: 'Come, over and plug him, +Bettins. For God's sake, plug the damn cowman.' + +Still Bettins hesitated. + +'Monte dead?' he demanded. + +'How the hell do I know?' complained True. + +'Come, plug him, Bettins.' + +This time Bettins' reply was lost in a sudden shout of voices rising +from the lower end of the flat. The vague forms of several horsemen +appeared; there came the thunderous beat of flying hoofs. Howard's +lips grew tight-pressed. True lifted himself on his elbow. + +'It's Jim coming back!' he called triumphantly. + +'This way, Jim!' + +But the answering shout, closer now, was unmistakably the voice of +Yellow Barbee. And with him rode half a dozen men and, among them a +girl. + +Chapter XVIII + +A Town is Born + +The fire, spreading and burning brightly now, shone on the faces making +a ring about Alan Howard and the two men lying on the ground. With +Yellow Barbee had come John Carr, Longstreet and Helen, and two of the +Desert Valley men, Chuck Evans and Dave Terril. They looked swiftly +from Howard to the two men whom he had shot, then curiously at Howard +again. + +'Jim Courtot, Al?' asked Carr, for Monte Devine's face was in shadow. + +Howard shook his head. + +'No such luck, John,' he said briefly. 'Just Monte Devine and Ed True. +Bettins is over yonder; he didn't mix in.' + +'I hope,' said Longstreet nervously, 'that you haven't started any +trouble on my account.' + +'No trouble at all,' said Howard dryly. Yellow Barbee laughed and went +to look at Devine. Ed True was still cursing where he had propped +himself up with his back to a rock. + +'This is apt to be bad business, Al.' It was John Carr speaking +heavily, his voice unusually blunt and harsh. 'I saw Pony Lee, and he +told me that Longstreet here hasn't a leg to stand on. Devine filed on +the claim; he and his men got here ahead of us; neither Miss Helen nor +I nor any one but you can go into court and swear that Longstreet ever +so much as said that he had made a find. I was hoping we would get +here before you started anything.' + +Howard looked at his friend in amazement. He knew that the discovery +was Longstreet's by right; to his way of thinking the simplest thing in +the world was to hold and to fight for the property of his friends. He +would have said that John Carr would have done the same thing were Carr +in his boots. He had taken another man's quarrel upon his own +shoulders to-night, and asked no questions; he had plunged into a fight +against odds and had gotten away with it and no help asked; the +fighting heat was still in his blood, and it seemed to him that his old +friend John Carr was finding fault with him. + +They had all dismounted by now. Longstreet had slid to the ground, let +go his horse's reins and was fidgeting up and down, back and forth, in +an access of nervous excitement. Now he began talking quickly, failing +to understand in the least what effect his rushing words would have on +the man who had taken up his fight. + +'The thing is of no consequence, not the least in the world. Come, let +them have it. It is only a gold mine, and haven't I told you all the +time that for me there is no difficulty in locating gold? I am sorry +all of this has happened. They're here first; they have filed on it; +let them have it.' + +Howard's face no longer showed amazement. In the flickering light his +mouth was hard and bitter, set in the implacable lines of stern +resentment. Between Carr and Longstreet they made it seem that he had +merely made a fool of himself. Well, maybe he had. He shrugged his +shoulders and turned away. + +'I know you did it for me,' Longstreet began, having a glimpse of the +bitterness in Alan's heart. + +'And you mustn't think----' + +Howard wheeled on him. + +'I didn't do it for you.' he snapped irritably. 'I tried the only way +I knew to help save the mine for Helen. We'd do it yet if you weren't +a pack of damned rabbits.' + +He pushed by and laid his hand on the mane of the horse Dave Terril +rode. + +'Give me your horse, Dave,' he said quietly. 'I'm on my way home. +You'll find Barbee's down under the cliff.' + +Dave Terril was quick to obey. But before his spurred boot-heel had +struck the turf Helen had came running through the men about Howard, +her two hands out, her voice thrilling and vibrant as she cried: + +'There is only one man among you, one real man, and that is Alan +Howard! He was not wrong; he was right! And no matter what happens to +the gold, I had rather have a man like Alan Howard do a thing like that +for me than have all of the gold in the mountains!' + +Her excitement, too, ran high, her words came tripping over one +another, heedless and extravagant. But Howard suddenly glowed, and +when she put her hands out to him he took them both and squeezed them +hard. + +'Why, God bless you, you're a brick!' he cried warmly. 'And, in spite +of the rest of 'em, I'm glad I did make a fool of myself!' + +From his wounded arm a trickle of blood had run down to his hand. +Helen cried out as she saw the smear across the sleeve of his shirt. + +'He's hurt!' she exclaimed. + +He laughed at her. + +'It would be worth it if I were,' he told her gently. 'But I'm not.' +He slipped his foot into the stirrup. 'Dave,' he said over his +shoulder, 'you and Chuck had better look at Monte. I don't know how +bad his hurt is. Do what ever you can for him. If I'm wanted, I'm at +the ranch.' + +But Helen, carried out of herself by the excitement of the moment and +unconscious that she was clinging to him, pleaded with him not to go +yet. + +'Wait until we decide what we are going to do,' she told him earnestly. +'Won't you, please?' + +'You bet I will!' he answered, his voice ringing with his eagerness to +do anything she might ask of him. 'If _you_ want me to stay, here I +stick.' + +He dropped the reins and with her at his side turned back to the +others. Already two men were kneeling beside Monte Devine. Chuck +Evans, who had got there first, looked up and announced: + +'He's come to, Al. He looks sick, but he ain't hurt much, I'd say for +a guess. Not for a tough gent like him. How about it, Monte?' + +Monte growled something indistinct, but when at the end of it he +demanded a drink of whisky his voice was both clear and steady. Chuck +laughed. Thereafter those who knew most of such matters looked over +both Monte's and Ed True's injuries and gave what first-aid they could. +It was Chuck's lively opinion that both gents were due for a little +quiet spell at a hospital, but that they'd be getting in trouble again +inside a month or so. + +'You can't kill them kind,' he concluded lightly. 'Not so easy.' + +They called to Bettins, but he held back upon the far side of the gulch +and finally withdrew and disappeared. Then Longstreet, who had been +restless but quiet-tongued for ten minutes, exclaimed quickly: + +'We must get these two men over to our camp right away, where we can +have better light, and put them into bed until a physician can be +summoned. Think of the horrible situation which would arise if they +died!' He shuddered. Then he turned to Howard and extended his hand. +His voice shook slightly as he said hurriedly: 'Old chap, don't think +that I don't appreciate what you have attempted for us; it was quite +the most amazingly splendid thing I ever heard of! But now, with +matters as they stand, there is nothing for us to do but withdraw. Let +them have the mine; it is blood-stained and ill-starred. I wouldn't +have a thing to do with it if they returned it to me.' + +'But, papa,' cried Helen hotly, 'just think! They have stolen it from +us, they have tried to murder----' + +'My dear,' cut in Longstreet sternly, 'I trust that you will say +nothing further about it. I have made up my mind; I am a man of the +world and an older and cooler mind than you. Leave this to me.' + +Howard heard her deep breath, slowly drawn, slowly expelled, and saw +her face looking white and tense; he knew that her teeth were set, that +her heart was filled with rebellion. But she made no answer, knowing +the futility of mere words to move her father in his present mood. +Instead, she turned away from him and looked out across the gulch along +both banks of which the fires were now raging. Nor did she turn again +while Monte and True were placed in the saddles which were to carry +them to the camp. + +'A moment, Mr. Longstreet,' said Howard, as they were starting. 'Am I +to understand that you absolutely refuse to make a fight for your own +rights?' + +'In this particular instance, absolutely!' said Longstreet emphatically. + +'Then,' pursued Howard, 'I have a suggestion to make. We are all +friends here: suppose that each one of us stakes out a claim just +adjoining the ones you have lost. Certainly they might have some +value.' + +But Longstreet shook his head impatiently. + +'I am through with the whole mess,' he declared, waving his hands. 'I +won't have a thing to do with it, and I won't allow Helen to touch it. +Further, the other claims would have no value in my eyes; the spot that +has been stolen from me is the only spot in the gulch that I would give +a dollar for. Come on, Helen.' + +'We'll follow you,' said Helen quietly. + +The others moved away. John Carr, who had not spoken since his first +words, stood hesitatingly looking at the two figures silhouetted +against the fire. Then he too moved away, going with the others and in +silence. + +'Tell me about it,' said Helen. She dropped down and sat with her chin +in her hands, her eyes moody upon the rushing flames. 'Just what +happened.' + +He sat by her and told her. His heart was still filled with his +bitterness and his voice told the fact. Presently she withdrew her +gaze from the gulch and turned it upon him; she had never seen him so +relentlessly stern. Almost he frightened her. Then she noticed again +the stain upon his shoulder and this time insisted upon helping him +make a bandage. With his knife she slit the shirt sleeve; together +they got a handkerchief bound about the wound. It was not deep nor was +it in any way dangerous, but Helen winced and paled before the job was +done. Then their eyes met and clung together and for a little while +they were silent, and gradually the colour came back into the girl's +cheeks. + +'Are you tired?' he asked presently. 'Or hungry? If not, and you care +to sit here with me for an hour or two, maybe a little more, I can +promise to show you a sight you will never forget.' + +'What is it?' she asked curiously, wondering if he meant a moonrise +over the far desert mountains. + +'It is the birth of a mining camp. For there will be one here before +morning.' + +'Surely not so soon? Who will know?' + +'Who?' he grunted disgustedly. 'Everybody! Down in San Ramon Pony Lee +knows; at the court-house it is known. Men give tips to their friends. +Courtot's crowd knows. Out here my men know; Carr and Barbee know. +Already there are a hundred men, maybe several times a hundred, who +know. And you may be sure that already they are coming like a train of +ants. Once gold has been uncovered the secret is out. Pony Lee swears +the desert winds carry the news.' + +Howard was entirely correct in his surmise, saving in the time he +judged they must wait. Less than an hour had passed and the grass fire +was still spreading with a fierce crackling sound and myriad sparks, +when the vanguard of the gold-seekers came. Helen and Howard heard +horses' hoofs, rattling stones, impatient voices, and withdrew a +hundred yards from the gulch and into the shadows of a ring of boulders. + +With the first came Bettins. His voice was the loudest, coming now and +then distinctly; he employed the name of Howard and cursed it; he said +something about his 'pals' Devine and True. A man to whom he was +talking laughed at him. Thereafter half a dozen forms swarmed down +into the gulch; the fire on either side of them was dying out along the +gulch's edge; they cursed its heat when it offended them, took +advantage of its light at all times, and more like ants than ever +appeared to be running back and forth foolishly and aimlessly. But, +apparently, Bettins got his stakes and his friends' back and the men +with whom he had returned hastily staked out their own claims, all +feverishly and by crude guesswork. There was perhaps not a man among +them who knew the first thing about mining. Helen watched them in +sheer fascination. Down there half in light, half in shadow, darting +this way and that, they were like little gnomes playing some wild game +of their own. + +'They act like madmen,' she whispered. 'They run about as if +everything had to be done in a minute.' + +'Between them the crowd down there don't own, I'd say, fifty dollars. +Each one is figuring that he has his chance to be a millionaire +to-morrow. And they know that more men are coming. That's the way men +think when they're in the gold rush. Look, there come some more!' + +This time there were three men. They broke into a run when they heard +voices; perhaps they had hoped to be first. Down into the bed of the +gulch they plunged; one of them slipped and rolled and cursed; men +laughed, and with the laughter dying in their throats broke off to yell +a warning to some one to keep his feet off a claim already staked out. +Within an hour after the return of Bettins there were a score of men on +the spot; again and again rose sharp words as every man, alert to +protect his own interests, was ready for a quarrel. They dragged +stones to mark their boundaries; they cut and hammered stakes, they +left their chosen sites now and then and altered their first judgments +and restaked somewhere else. They swarmed up the banks of the gulch on +both sides, they hastened back and forth, they staked everywhere. As +the time passed more and more came plunging into the orgy of gold until +at last the night was never quiet. Harsh words passed and once blows +were struck and a man went down and lay still. Another time there was +the report of a gun and a boom of many voices commanding order and that +quarrels be taken to a safe distance and out of the way of busy men. + +'It's dreadful,' whispered Helen. 'They're like wild animals.' + +'It's just the gold fever,' he returned. 'Poor devils! they are drunk +with their visions.' + +But Helen wondered if they were capable of visions. Down in the +shadow-filled sink they were to her imagination like so many swine +plunging into a monster trough. When Alan suggested, 'We've seen, and +now maybe we had better be going,' she rose without a word or backward +glance and went with him. But Howard, looking over his shoulder, saw +still other men coming. He himself began to wonder whence they had +come: by now, it seemed to him, both Big Run and San Ramon must have +emptied themselves like bags of wheat slashed with a knife. + +They walked swiftly until the din of the gold-seekers was lost to their +ears. Then slowly they strolled on, silence enwrapping them, Helen's +eyes wandering away to the glory of the stars, Howard's contented with +the girl's face. After a while Helen, feeling the intentness of his +look, turned toward him with a strange little smile which came and went +fleetingly. She stopped a moment, still looking at him. + +'Your country has done something to me,' she said thoughtfully, 'even +though I have been out here only a few weeks. For one thing, when I +first came I thought that I knew all about men and that they were +pretty much all alike. I am finding out that they are not at all alike +and that I don't understand them.' + +'No, they are not all alike, and some men are hard to make out, I +suppose,' he said when she paused. + +'Men are more violent than I thought men were nowadays,' she added. +'They are stronger; they are fiercer. I used to think that a girl was +a wretched little coward to be afraid of any man. Now I would be +afraid of many of them I have seen in this land that you like to call +your country.' + +He understood that in her brain had formed a vision of his fight with +Devine and Ed True, and that, blurring that image, she was still seeing +the picture of the dark forms rushing down into the gulch. She began +to move on again, and he went at her side making no reply and communing +with his own thoughts. She did not stop again until they came close to +the canvas-walled cabin and saw the light shining wanly through and the +shadows of the men inside. Then she lifted her face so that it was +clear to him in the starlight and said to him slowly: + +'I am going in and see if I can help with the wounded men now. I +should have gone at first, I suppose. Maybe there is something I can +do. You wouldn't want them to die, would you?' + +'No,' he returned, 'I would not want them to die.' + +In the silence which followed he could see that she was seeking to read +his face and that she was very, very thoughtful. + +'Tell me something,' she said abruptly. 'If one of them were Jim +Courtot--would you want him to die?' + +At the mention of Courtot's name she made out a quick hardening of his +mouth; she even saw, or fancied, an angry gathering of his brows. +To-night's work was largely the work of Jim Courtot, and because of it +Dry Gulch, which might have poured great heaps of gold at Helen's feet, +was being wrangled over by a hundred men. He thought of that and he +thought of other things, of how Courtot had fired on him from the dark +long ago, of how Courtot was hunting him after Courtot's own tenacious +fashion. + +'Why do you ask that?' he demanded sharply. + +She did not reply. Instead she turned from him and looked at the +stars. And then she withdrew her eyes and turned them toward the light +gleaming palely through the walls of canvas. But at last she lifted +her face again to Howard. + +'I'll go in now. And maybe I am tired after all. It has been a day, +hasn't it? And please know that I felt that you did the right thing +to-night, and that I don't know another man who would have been man +enough to do it. Good night.' + +'Good night,' he said, and watched her as she went into the house. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +Sanchia Persistent + +Thus, upon the barren flanks of Dry Gulch, a town was born. Mothered +by the stubborn desert that appears sterile and is not, it was a +sprawling, ungainly, ill-begotten thing. In the night it came; in the +dawn it grew; during the first day it assumed lustiness and an +insolence that was its birthright. And, like any welcome child, there +was a name awaiting it. Men laughed as the unceremonious christening +was performed. A half-drunken vagabond from no one knew where had +staked out his claim and drained his bottle. 'Here's lookin' at +Sanchia's Town!' he cried out, and smashed his bottle against a rock. + +It appeared that every one had heard the tale of Longstreet's discovery +and of Sanchia Murray's manoeuvre. They made high fun of Longstreet +and declared that Sanchia was a cool one. The mere fact that she was a +woman enlisted their sympathies in an affair wherein they had no +interest. They were doomed to second choice and deemed it as well for +Sanchia to have had first as any one. When a narrow-headed individual +remarked that he had heard that the widow was getting nothing out of +it, but that Courtot and his crowd had cheated her, they hooted and +jeered at him until he withdrew wondering at their insane attitude. It +was generally taken for granted that Sanchia Murray knew what she was +about. If she chose to hunt in couple with Jim Courtot, that was her +business. + +A town is something more than a group of men encamped. It connotes +many social facilities; first among which comes the store and, in +certain parts of the world, the saloon. Sanchia's Town was, upon the +first day, a town in these essentials. Shortly after dawn a string of +three six-horse teams crawled across the lowlands and, by a circuitous +way, to the camp. One wagon was heaped with bits of second-hand lumber +and a jumbled assortment of old tents and strips of canvas. In it, +also, were hammers, saws and nails. The two other wagons were filled +with boxes and bags--and kegs. There were two men to each team. +Arrived they gave immediate evidence that their employer had chosen +well. One of them, a crooked-eyed carpenter named Emberlee, directed, +hammer in hand. Before noon he had caused to grow up an architectural +monstrosity, hideous but sturdy. It was without floor, but it had +walls; wide gaps were doors and windows, but there was a canvas roof. + +While his five companions brought their parcels into the place, +Emberlee climbed aloft and nailed up a big board upon which his own +hand, as the wagon had jostled along, had painted a sign. It spelled: +JIM COURTOT'S HOUSE. Then he descended and began a hurried grouping of +certain articles upon shelves and in corners. By the time the camp was +ready for a noon meal the word had flown about that at Jim Courtot's +House one could get food, water and a widely-known substitute for +whisky. Meantime Tony Moraga had come: he stood behind a bar hastily +made of two planks set on packing cases and sold a tin cup of water for +twenty-five cents, a glass of liquor for fifty. There were calls for +both. Emberlee, plainly a jack-of-all-trades, began displaying his +wares. He offered dried meats, tinned goods, crackers, cheese and +other comestibles at several times desert prices. And he, too, chinked +many a silver dollar and minted gold piece into his cash-box, because +when men rush to gold diggings they are not likely to go empty-handed. +Shortly after noon the three wagons returned to Big Run for more +supplies. + +Obviously, though already Jim Courtot had departed from Dry Gulch when +Alan Howard came upon his agents, he was no less active than they with +rich gains in sight. It is to be doubted if the man slept at all +during the first three days and nights. He had made his own list of +foods and tobaccos and alcohols; he had selected men for his work. +Down in San Juan men said: 'Jim Courtot is playing his luck again.' +For though information was garbled long before it reached the mission +town, yet always it was understood that Jim Courtot was playing to win +heavily--he and Sanchia Murray. + +Those hours which, in Sanchia's Town, had been given over to frenzy and +the fury of feverish endeavour, had dragged by wearily and anxiously +for the inmates of Longstreet's half-mile-distant cabin. For both +Monte Devine and Ed True the night was one of bitter rage and pain. +Longstreet was gentle with them, bringing them water, asking them often +of their wants; Helen ministered to them silently, a strange new look +in her eyes. Often she went to the door and stood looking off into the +moonlit night, across the rolling hills and down into the wide sweep of +Desert Valley. Carr remained with them all night. It was as well to +be on hand, he suggested, if anything happened. He seemed scarcely +conscious of the presence of the two wounded men; tilted back in his +chair, smoking one cigar after another, he scarcely for an instant lost +sight of Helen. + +In the morning early there was the sound of hoofs and then men's +voices. It was Carr who went to the door. + +'It is Bettins and a couple of other men,' he said over his shoulder. +'Come for Devine and True, I guess.' And still without turning, he +demanded, 'Ready to go, Monte?' + +'Damn right,' said Monte. + +Between Carr and Longstreet, Monte shambled to the door. Here he was +turned over to his friends, who got him into his saddle. Then, +assisted as Monte had been, and cursing at every step, Ed True passed +through the door. The men outside accepted the two wounded men with +only a few low words; in another moment the five horses were carrying +their riders slowly toward Sanchia's Town. Carr returning saw the +whisk of Helen's skirt as she disappeared within the little room +partitioned off at the rear and knew that she had gone to fling herself +down upon her bed. He looked after her as though he still half hoped +she were coming back if only to say a belated 'good night.' Then he +and Longstreet made coffee and drank it perfunctorily. After breakfast +Carr left, saying that he would ride over to have a look at the new +camp, and would drop in again some time during the afternoon. + +'If I am not making a nuisance of myself,' he said as Longstreet +followed him to the door, 'I should like to see what I can of you +during the next few days. And of Miss Helen,' he added with utter +frankness and clear meaning. 'I have business which will call me back +East before long.' + +'Come as often as you can, my dear fellow,' invited Longstreet. But +his eyes had wandered toward the mining site which should have been +his, and his mind seemed to be less than half busied with Carr's words. +Carr, turning in the saddle, narrowed his eyes upon the university +man's face and, thinking that he had caught his thought, said bluntly: + +'It's an infernal shame. It's all yours by right, and----' + +'Oh,' cried Longstreet grandly, 'I'm not worrying about a little +diggings like that! Let them have it! Next time I'll show them a real +mine.' + +'Well, I wish you luck,' rejoined Carr. But there was no great +conviction in his tone, since in his mind there was little expectation +that lightning was going to strike twice in the same place. However, +the caution came to his lips involuntarily: 'If there is a next time, +I'd be mighty careful whom I told about it. It will pay you to look +out for that Murray woman.' + +Longstreet's face was puzzled and troubled. + +'It does begin to look as though she gave me the--the double cross, +doesn't it?' he said as though he were afraid he must believe the worst +of Sanchia Murray despite his wish in the matter. + +'It certainly does,' grunted Carr. 'She's absolutely no good. +Everybody knows it. Fight shy of her. Well, so long.' + +'So long,' repeated Longstreet absently. + +Carr rode away. Longstreet's eyes, following the galloping horse, were +still puzzled. 'I'm learning a thing or two,' he told himself soberly +as he went back into the cabin. Many times he nodded his head +thoughtfully. 'I've lived too long in another sort of world; now I am +coming to grips with real life, real men and women. There's a new set +of rules to grasp. Well,' and he straightened his thin body and a +flickering smile played over his lips, 'I can learn. As Barbee says of +stud poker: "You've got to set tight and keep your trap shut and your +eye peeled."' + +Helen slept soundly all morning. Longstreet dozed, studied the maps he +had made during the last week and pottered. At noon they lunched +together, neither having a great deal to say. Helen regarded her +father more than ever as a baby who ought to be scolded and lessoned; +still, like any doting mother, she found excuses for him and told +herself that he had been amply punished for his indiscretion. She, +too, opined that he had learned a lesson. Consequently she coddled him +to such an extent that Longstreet remarked the fact and began to wonder +just what Helen wanted now; no doubt she was going to ask something of +him and was preparing the way after the approved and time-honoured +custom. + +But the day wore on with never a favour asked. In the drowsy afternoon +Helen coaxed her father into her room and dropped the shades and +ordered him to sleep, telling him that he looked like a ghost of his +former rugged beauty. Then she sank down listlessly upon the doorstep, +brooding, her eyes wandering through the green fields of Desert Valley. +Her musings were disturbed by the clatter of shod hoofs across the +rugged plateau; she looked up quickly, her eyes brightening. Then she +saw that it was John Carr returning, and into her look there came an +expression much resembling that which had been so much to-day in her +father's--one of uncertainty. + +Carr staked out his horse before he came to her. Then he sat down on a +box near the doorstep and studied her gravely before he spoke. Helen +smiled. + +'You are thinking unpleasant things about some one,' she stated +quickly. 'Has the world turned into a terribly serious place all of a +sudden?' + +There was little levity in Carr's make-up at any time; just now his +speech was as sober as his look. + +'I am thinking about you and your father, to begin with,' he replied +gravely. 'I have been over yonder all day.' He swept out an impatient +arm toward Dry Gulch. 'They call it Sanchia's Town. And it is a town +already. I saw Nate Kemble there; he's the big man of the Quigley +Mines, and you see how long it has taken him to get on the spot. Your +father evidently made no mistake in his location. There's gold there, +all right!' + +Helen waited expectantly for him to go on. For certainly the fact that +her father had been able to find gold was no cause for Carr's frowning +eyes. + +'My blood has been boiling all day,' Carr blurted out angrily. +'Longstreet should be a rich man to-day and he has gained nothing. I +saw Nate Kemble pay one man ten thousand dollars for his claim; Kemble +wouldn't pay that if the thing were not worth a great deal more. +Kemble doesn't make many mistakes. Your father stumbled on to the +place and then he couldn't hold it. When do you think he will make +another discovery? And, if his lucky star should lead him aright +again, is he the man to cash in on his luck? Don't you see, Helen, +that James Edward Longstreet in this man's land is a fish out of water?' + +'I understand what you mean,' Helen nodded slowly. Again her look +wandered through the fields stretching out far below. 'And you are +right. I didn't want papa to come in the first place; now, as you say, +he is only wasting time.' She smiled a little tenderly. 'He is just a +dear old babe in the woods,' she concluded softly. + +Carr's approval of her mounted swiftly to admiration. They lowered +their voices and spoke at length of the professor and of what should be +done for him. They agreed perfectly that, while he was an unusually +fine technical man and an able instructor in matters of geological +theorizing, he was not the man to wander with a prospector's pick +across these rugged lands. + +'Even grant the extremely unlikely,' concluded Carr hastily as they +heard the subject of their discussion moving about in the cabin, 'and +admit that he may chance upon a second strike. What then? Why, +Sanchia and Devine and Courtot and a crowd of hangers-on have their +eyes on him. They'd oust him again with not the shadow of a doubt or a +second's hesitation.' + +Helen nodded and they went in together. + +Carr stayed on to supper. Longstreet looked rested from his nap, +bright and eager and as usual interested in everything in the world. +Carr had bought a new hat yesterday; Longstreet tried it on and +approved of it extravagantly. He asked what it cost and jingled his +few coins, admitting ruefully that he'd have to wait until he uncovered +his 'real mine.' Just the same, he proclaimed brightly, clothes did +help make the man, and inside a year when he was decked out entirely to +his own liking and a tenderfoot saw him, there would be no suspecting +that Longstreet was not a Westerner born and bred. He put the hat away +and sat down with them at the table. As he mentioned in such a +matter-of-fact way his intention of tarrying a year, Carr and Helen +glanced at each other significantly. And Carr after his direct fashion +opened his campaign. + +'There are other things than gold mines, and you were not made for this +country,' he said. 'What would you say to going back East if I showed +you the chance there to clean up more money than you'll ever see out +here? I have been thinking about you, and I know the place where +you'll fit in.' + +This was all news to Helen, and her look showed her eager interest. +Longstreet smiled and shook his head. + +'That's kind of you,' he said warmly. 'But I like it out here.' + +'But, papa,' cried Helen, 'surely you should hear Mr. Carr's +proposition! It is not merely kind of him; it is wonderful if he can +help us that way, and it is wise.' + +'No,' said Longstreet. 'Carr won't think me ungrateful. I told them +in the East that there was nothing simpler than the fact that a man +like me, knowing what I know, can discover gold in vast quantities. +First, it is universally conceded that the auriferous deposits +remaining untouched are vastly in excess of those already found and +worked. Second, all of my life I have made a profound study of +geognosy and geotectonic geology. Now, it is not only the money; money +I count as a rather questionable gift, anyway. But it is my own +reputation. What I have said I could do, I will do.' And though his +words came with his engaging smile, he seemed as firmly set in his +determination as a rock hardened in cement. + +Helen, who knew her father, sighed and turned from him to Carr. Then +her eyes wandered through the open door, across the flat lands and down +to the distant hills of Desert Valley. + +'I should not speak as I am going to speak,' Carr was saying, 'if +matters were not exactly as they are. To begin with, I take it that I +have been accepted as a friend. Hence you will forgive me if I appear +to presume and will know that I have no love of interfering in another +man's personal affairs. Then, I must say what I have to say now: in a +few days I am leaving you. I've got to go to New York.' + +'Oh,' said Helen. 'I am sorry.' + +'You are kind to me,' he acknowledged gravely. 'And I am sorry to go. +Unless you and your father will consent to come also. Now, I am going +to have my say--and, Mr. Longstreet, I hope you will forgive me if I am +assuming a privilege which is not mine. I take it that you have no +great amount of ready cash. Further, that your income has been that of +most college men, who are all underpaid--say, three or four or five +thousand a year. I have talked with Nate Kemble about you. His +concern is a tremendously big affair with head offices in New York. +Kemble is a friend of mine: I own stock in his company: he will +acknowledge, quite as I am prepared to acknowledge, that there is a +place for an expert of your type in the company. And the place will +pay you, from the jump, ten thousand dollars.' + +Helen fairly gasped. Despite her father's talk of the extravagant sums +he meant to wrest from the bowels of the earth, she had never dreamed +of so princely an income for them. Longstreet, however, merely shook a +smiling head. + +'You're a real friend, John,' he said. 'But here we stick. And, when +you come down to dollars and cents, I'll eat your new hat for you if I +can't make ten times your ten thousand in the first year.' + +Before such amazing confidence Carr stalled. But he did not give up; +it wasn't his habit of thought to relinquish anything which he had +undertaken. Still for a little he was silent, studying his man. Again +Helen was staring out through the open door. + +'Some one is coming,' she announced. Then, her tone quickening, 'It is +Mr. Howard; I knew he would be riding over before night. I know his +horse,' she explained hastily, flushing a trifle under Carr's eyes +which told her that he was surprised that she could tell who it was at +such a distance. 'It is the horse he rode the first time we ever saw +him. There is some one with him. It looks like----' + +She did not say whom it looked like. Carr and Longstreet looked out. +The second rider was a woman; her horse was not Sanchia Murray's white +mare, but none the less they all knew that with Alan Howard came +Sanchia. Carr's heavy brows gathered blackly. The flush died out of +Helen's face and her lips tightened. Longstreet sprang up and went to +the door. + +'If it is Mrs. Murray,' he called back, something like triumph in his +excited voice, 'and if she is coming here--why, then maybe there was a +mistake after all.' + +'She is not coming here!' cried Helen hotly. 'Papa, I will not have +that woman in the house. After the way she has cheated you, fooled +you, lied to you----' + +'Come, come, my dear,' chided Longstreet. 'No one must be judged and +condemned unheard. And remember that she is coming with Mr. Howard.' + +Helen looked hopelessly at Carr. There were times when she utterly +despaired of her father. But she could find comfort in the thought +that if that Sanchia woman sought to perpetrate any more of her +villainy and deceit, she was going to stand at her father's side +through all of it. Meantime the two riders came on swiftly. As they +drew up at the door Helen saw that Howard looked worried and ill at +ease and that Sanchia Murray's eyes were red as though with copious +weeping. Whereas Helen sniffed audibly. + +'The horrid cat,' she said. + +Sanchia began pouring out a torrent of confused words which Howard's +curt speech interrupted. As he lifted his hat his eyes were for Helen +alone: she flashed him a scornful look and turned away from him. Then +he turned to Longstreet. + +'Mr. Longstreet,' he said sharply, 'I want you to know my position in +this matter. As I was starting Mrs. Murray came to the ranch. I was +naturally astonished when she said that she was on her way to see you. +I had thought, from what has happened, that you would be the last man +in the world whom she would care to meet. She said, however, that she +must speak with you and that she hoped she could do something to right +matters. When she asked for a fresh horse I loaned her one. That,' he +concluded harshly, 'is all that I have to do with Sanchia Murray and +all that I want to do with her. The rest is up to you.' + +The spite in Sanchia's quick sidelong look was for Howard alone. + +'Alan is rather hard on me, I think,' she said quite simply as she +turned her eyes upon the three at the cabin door. 'Especially,' and +again she gave him that look for him alone, 'after what has been +between us. But I must not think of that now. Oh, Mr. Longstreet, if +you only knew how this thing has nearly killed me----' + +She broke off, hiding her face in her hands, her body swaying in the +saddle as though surely she would fall. Longstreet looked concerned. + +'Get down and come in,' he exclaimed. 'You are utterly exhausted. +Helen, my dear, a cup of coffee, quick. This poor lady looks as though +she hadn't slept or rested or eaten since we saw her last.' + +'How could I eat or rest or sleep?' cried Sanchia brokenly. 'After all +that has happened? Oh, I wish I were dead!' + +Helen did not budge for the coffee. Her eyes were blazing. Sanchia +slid down from the saddle and came to the door. Longstreet hastened to +her side and the two went in together. Helen, without looking toward +Howard, followed, determined that she would hear whatever it was that +Sanchia Murray had to say. + +'Come in, Howard,' Longstreet remembered to say. 'We're having supper. +Both you and Mrs. Murray will eat with us.' + +Sanchia bathed her eyes and they all sat down. When Howard looked +toward Helen she ignored him. Outside Carr had demanded, 'What in +hell's name made you bring that woman here?' and Alan had rejoined, 'I +couldn't stop her coming, could I?' And now the two had nothing to say +to each other. Longstreet, nervous and impatient for whatever +explanations were coming, fidgeted constantly until Sanchia began +speaking. + +'When I learned what had happened,' she said, 'I thought at first that +I could not live to endure it. I could have shrieked; I could have +killed myself. To think that I had been the cause of it all. Oh, it +was hideous! But then I knew that I must live and that I must seek +somehow to make reparation. All of my life, as long as I live, I shall +hope and try and work to undo what I have done.' + +She was watching them all through her handkerchief, which she was using +to dab her eyes; of Longstreet she never for an instant lost sight. +She saw the eagerness in his eyes and knew that it was an eagerness to +believe in her. She saw Helen's anger and contempt; she saw Carr's +black looks; she saw, too, how Howard kept his eyes always on Helen's +face, and she read what was so easy to read in them. It was her +business, her chief affair in life just now, to keep her two eyes wide +open; hence she saw, too, the look which Helen had flashed at the +cattleman. And while she observed all of this she was speaking +rapidly, almost incoherently, as though her one concern lay in the +tragic error she had made. Had she been less than a very clever woman +who had long lived, and lived well, by her wits, she must have found +the situation too much for her. But no one of her hearers, excepting +possibly the one chiefly interested, failed to do Sanchia Murray +justice for her cleverness. As it was, she did not fear the outcome +from the outset. + +She told how she had been so overjoyed at Longstreet's news; how, for +that dear child Helen's sake, she had rejoiced; how she had for a +little felt less lonely in sharing a secret meant for a wonderful +birthday surprise; how she had yearned to help in this glowing hour of +happiness. She had tried to help Mr. Longstreet with Mr. Harkness at +the court-house; she had learned that he was out of town; she had been +told that his assistant was at the Montezuma House. In spite of her +abhorrence of going to such a place she had gone, carried away by the +high tide of excitement. And there she had been tricked into +introducing Mr. Longstreet to no less a terrible creature than Monte +Devine. She hastened to add that she told Mr. Longstreet that she did +not know this man; he would bear her out in this; she too had been +tricked. But she would never, never forgive herself. + +'Nor,' said Helen's voice coldly, 'will I ever forgive you. Nor am I +the fool to believe all these tales. Maybe you can make a fool of my +father, but----' + +'Helen, Helen,' expostulated Longstreet sternly, 'you are being hasty. +At times like this one should seek to be kind and just.' + +Again Helen's sniff was audible and eloquent. + +'Do you mean,' she demanded, 'that you believe all of this nonsense?' + +'I mean, my dear, that one should be deliberate. Mrs. Murray has made +an explanation, she is plainly sick with grief at what has occurred. +She has ridden straight to us. What more could one do? When you are +older, my dear, and have seen more of life you will know that the world +sometimes makes terrible mistakes.' + +'You are so great-hearted!' sobbed Sanchia. 'So wonderful! There is +not another man in the world who would be even tolerant at a time like +this. And to think that it is you--you whom I have hurt.' Her sobs +overcame her. + +Helen flung herself angrily to her feet. + +'Papa,' she cried, 'can't you see, can't you understand that this woman +is determined to make a fool of you again? Hasn't she done it once +already? Oh, are you going to be just a little baby in her hands?' + +Sanchia lowered her handkerchief for a swift glance at Helen and then +at the other faces in the room. The sternness on Howard's and Carr's +faces did not greatly concern her, for she saw written across +Longstreet's countenance just about what she had counted on. And +Helen's words had simply succeeded in drawing his indignation toward +his daughter. Hence, wisely, Sanchia was content to be silent for a +spell. Matters seemed to be going well enough left alone. + +Helen had meant to run out of doors, to close her ears to this +maddening discussion. She felt that it was either that or deliberately +slap Sanchia Murray's face. Now, however, she sat down again, deciding +with a degree of acumen that Sanchia would prefer nothing to a +_tete-a-tete_ with Longstreet. + +'After all,' said Helen more quietly and with a look which was hard as +it flashed across Sanchia's face to Howard's and then on, 'threshing +all this over is valueless. Forgive her, father,' she went on +contemptuously, 'if either of you will feel better for it, and don't +detain her. We are going back East in a few days, anyway.' + +Howard stared at her wonderingly as Carr nodded his approval of the +speech. But Longstreet spoke with considerable emphasis. + +'Aren't you rather premature in your announcement, my dear? I am not +going back East at all.' + +There might have been no discussion of the matter had he ended there. +But seeing the various expressions called by his words to the faces +about the table, he added the challenge: + +'Why should I go? Haven't I already demonstrated that I know what I am +doing? Isn't this the place for me?' + +Helen answered him first and energetically. He should go, she cried +hotly, because he had demonstrated nothing at all save that he was a +lamb in a den of wolves. He was a university man and not a mountaineer +or desert Indian; he knew books and he did not know men; it was his +duty to himself and to his daughter to return home. The girl's colour +deepened and grew hot with her rapid speech, and Sanchia, sitting back, +watching and listening, lost never a word. Before Longstreet could +shape a reply John Carr added his voice to Helen's plea. He said all +that he had said once before to-day; he elaborated his argument, which +to him appeared unanswerable. When he had done, always speaking +quietly, he turned to Howard. + +'Don't you think I am right, Al?' he asked. + +'No!' replied Howard emphatically. 'I don't. Mr. Longstreet does know +his business. He has located one mine in this short time. It was not +chance; it was science. There is more gold left in these hills. Give +him time and a free swing, and he'll find it.' + +Carr appeared amazed. + +'I can't imagine what makes you talk like that, Al,' he said shortly. +'It's rather a serious thing with the Longstreets which way they move +now. You are deliberately encouraging him to buck a game which he +ought to leave to another type of man.' + +'Deliberately is the right word,' said Howard. 'And I can't quite +understand what makes you seek to discourage him and pack him off to +the East again.' + +Carr was silent. Sanchia's eyes, very bright, grew brighter with a +keen look of understanding. Very innocently she spoke. + +'Are you thinking of going East, too, Mr. Carr?' she asked. + +'Yes,' snapped Carr. 'I am. What of it?' + +'Oh, nothing,' said Sanchia. But she laughed. Then as Longstreet was +opening his mouth to make his own statement, she cut in, turning to +him, speaking directly to him, in some subtle way giving the impression +that she was quite oblivious of anyone but of him and herself. + +'You mustn't go,' she said softly. She studied his face and then put a +light hand on his arm. Helen stiffened. 'How shall I say all that I +feel here?' She gave an effective gesture as she pressed the other +hand against her own bosom. 'You have come into a land of nothing but +ignorance and into it you have brought the brain of a scholar. You +said, "I will find gold," and they laughed at you--and you found it! +It was not chance; Alan was right. It was the act of a man who knew. +This land has many kinds of men, Mr. Longstreet. It has no other man +like you. It needs you. You must stay!' + +'Oh,' said Helen. It was scarcely more than a gasp, and yet it bespoke +profound disgust. The woman was insufferable. Here, upon the top of +her treachery, was most palpable flattery. Surely her father would not +fail to see now the woman's true character; surely he must baulk at +such talk as this. But he was beaming again as though the clouds of a +storm had passed and the sunlight were streaming upon him; he rubbed +his hands together and spoke cheerfully. + +'Sanchia is right; Alan is right. These two understand me. I shall +show to the world that they have not misjudged me. I know my own +limitations. I am no superman. I have made blunders in my time. But +I do know my own work, and I am the only man here who does! In a way +Sanchia is right when she says that this country needs me. It does. +And I need it. We are going to stay, my dear.' + +Sanchia flashed Helen a look of triumph; her eyes, passing on to +Howard, held briefly a sparkle of malice. + +'Alan and I are very grateful to have your approval,' she said sweetly. +'Aren't we, Alan?' and again her look was for Helen and was triumphant. + +Helen pushed her plate away and for a second time rose abruptly. + +'I'll choke if I stay in here,' she said. And, with breast heaving, +she went to the door and out into the fading afternoon. Sanchia's +glance followed her and then returned placidly to the men. + +'The dear child is high-strung, and Heaven knows she has been through +enough to upset anyone,' she said condoningly. Then, 'Mr. Carr and +you, Alan, don't seem to be hungry any more. I would like a word with +Mr. Longstreet, and if you two went out to Helen perhaps you might +soothe her. Remember she is only a child after all.' + +Glad of the excuse to be gone, both men rose. As they went out they +saw how Sanchia was already leaning toward Longstreet, how her hand had +again found its way to his arm. Then they lost sight of her and saw +Helen standing upon the cliff edge looking off to the lowlands of the +south. In silence they joined her. + +'I don't know whether I love this country or hate it most,' Helen said +without withdrawing her troubled eyes from the expanse of Desert +Valley. The sun was down, the distances were veiled in tender shades, +pale greens of the meadowlands, dusky greys of the hills. 'If it were +only all like that; if there were only the glorious valley and the +peace of it instead of this hideous life up here!' + +It was in Alan Howard's heart to cry out to her, 'Come down into the +peace of it; it is all mine. Come down to live there with me.' It may +have been in John Carr's heart to whisper: 'It is mine until the last +cent is paid on it; if you love it so, there may still be the way to +get it back for you.' But neither man spoke his thought. The three +stood close together, the girl with troubled eyes standing between the +two friends, and all of their eyes searched into the mystery of the +coming dusk. + +From the cabin came the sound of a laugh. It was Longstreet's, and it +was like a pleased child's. + + + + +Chapter XX + +Two Friends and a Girl + +Howard and Carr rode down into the darkening valley side by side. The +silence of the coming dusk was no deeper than that silence which had +crept about them while the three stood upon the cliff's edge. +Longstreet's laugh had whipped up the colour into Helen's cheeks and +had lighted a battle fire in her eyes. She had whisked away from them +and gone straight back to the cabin, meaning to save her father from +his own artlessness and from the snare of a designing widow. She had +remembered to call out a breathless 'Good-night' without turning her +head. They had taken their dismissal together, understanding Helen's +tortured mood. Each man grave and taciturn, like two automatons they +buckled on their spurs, mounted and reined toward the trail. + +Then Howard had said merely: 'Come down to the ranch-house, John. I +want to talk with you.' And Carr had nodded and acquiesced. +Thereafter they were silent again for a long time. + +The coming of night is a time of vague veilings, of grotesque +transformations, of remoulding and steeping in new dyes. +Matter-of-fact objects, clear-cut during the day, assume fantastic +shapes; a bush may appear a crouching mountain cat; a rock may +masquerade as a mastodon. This is an hour of uncertainties. And +doubtings and questionings and uncertainties were other shadow shapes +thronging the demesnes of two men's souls. Silence and dim dusk +without, dim dusk and silence within. + +Once Howard, the lighter spirited of the two, sought to laugh the +constraint away. + +'Something seems to have come over us, John,' he said. But as he spoke +he knew that what he should have said was that something had come +between them. Further, he knew that Carr would have amended his words +thus in his own mind and that that was why he did not reply. He +recalled vividly how they three had stood on the cliff, he on Helen's +left, John on her right. He and John were friends; in the desert lands +friendship is sacred. Further, it is mighty, stalwart, godly, and all +but indomitable. They had shared together, fought together. One +friend would do to the uttermost for the other, would die for him. He +would rush into the other's fight, asking no questions, and if he went +down the chill of coming death would be warmed by the glow of conscious +sacrifice. The friendship of Howard and Carr had stood the many tests +of time. But only now had the supreme test come. Until to-day, either +of them in the generousness of his spirit would have stepped gladly +aside for the other. But now? A girl is not a cup of water that one +man, dying of thirst, may say of her to his friend: 'Take her.' Their +friendship was not changed; simply it was no longer the greatest thing +in life. The love of a man for a man, though it be strengthened by ten +thousand ties, is less than the love of a man for his chosen mate, +though to the other eyes and minds that love may be inexplicable. Set +any Damon and Pythias upon an isolated desert island, then into their +lives bring the soft eyes of a girl, and inevitably the day will dawn +when those eyes will look upon the death of a friendship. This +knowledge had at last become a part of the understandings of Alan +Howard and John Carr. + +'You are going East, John?' asked Howard when at length his spirit +sought a second time to shake off the oppression of the hour. + +Even these words came with something of an effort. He tried to speak +naturally. But behind his words were troops of confused thoughts; Carr +was going East, and had said nothing to him; if Carr left, what then of +Helen? Carr had tried to persuade the Longstreets to go with him. + +And to Carr the query sounded more careless, more lightly casual than +Howard had intended. His own thoughts were quick to respond though his +reply came after a noticeable hesitation. Alan did not appear to care +whether he went away or remained; he had not asked if this were to be a +brief absence or an indefinite sojourn. + +'Yes,' Carr's answer at last was short and blunt; 'I have business +there.' + +Carr thought that if Alan were interested he would ask naturally, as +one friend had always asked the other, to know more. Howard thought +that if Carr cared to speak of his own personal affairs he would do so. +Hence, while both waited, neither spoke. Perhaps both were hurt. +Certainly the constraint between them thickened and deepened in step +with the engulfing night; they could not see each other's faces, they +could not glimpse each other's souls. Both were baffled and into the +temper of each came a growing irritation. One thing alone they +appeared to have in common--the desire to come to the end of the ride. +Their spurs dipped and they raced along wordlessly. + +When Howard dismounted at the home corrals and began unsaddling, Carr +rode on to the house. + +'You're going to stay all night, John,' Howard called after him. 'Put +your horse in the barn.' + +But Carr swung down at the yard gate and tied his horse there. + +'Can't this time,' he said. 'I'll have to ride on, Al.' + +Thus each made his pretence, less to his friend than to himself, that +everything was all right. They sought to be natural and failed, and +knew that they had failed. Carr waited for Howard, smoking at the +gate; Howard hastened up to the house and went in. He struck a match, +lighted the table lamp and filled the pipe lying beside it. Carr +tossed his hat to the table and sat down. Their eyes roved about the +familiar room. Here were countless traces of both men; Carr had lived +here, Howard lived here now. Helen had been here, and she too had left +something to mark her passing. They both saw it. It was only a +bluebird's feather, but Alan had set it in a place of conspicuousness +just above the fireplace. Even into a room which had been home to +each, which they had held must always be home to both, something of +Helen came like a little ghost. + +'You'll have use for some money about now,' said Howard abruptly. He +drew out the table drawer; inside were scraps of paper, a fountain-pen, +a cheque-book and some old stubs. 'Time's up for a payment, too. I +sold a pretty fair string the other day.' + +'I could use a little cash,' Carr admitted carelessly. 'I've got in +pretty deep with the Quigley mining outfit. I made Longstreet a +proposition--I am a trifle short, I guess,' he concluded lamely. + +'I see,' responded Howard, whereas he saw nothing at all very clearly. +He busied himself with his pen, shook it savagely, opened his +cheque-book. 'Ten thousand this trip, wasn't it?' + +Carr hesitated. + +'I had figured on twelve five,' he said. 'Wasn't that the amount due +now?' + +Howard hunted through the back of the drawer and finally found a little +memorandum book. He turned through the pages upon which he had +scribbled notes of purchases of cattle and horses and of ranch +equipment, passed on to a tabulation of his men's wages, and finally +stopped at a page devoted to his agreement with his friend. + +'Here you are,' he said when he had found it. 'Ten thousand, due on +the eleventh of the month. I'm pretty near a week late on it, John,' +he smiled. + +Carr however had his own note-book with him; readily he found his own +entry. + +'I've set it down here as twelve thousand five hundred,' he said +quietly. 'You remember we talked over a couple of methods of payment, +Al. But,' and he snapped the rubber band about his book and dropped it +into his pocket, 'what's the odds? Let it go at ten.' + +'No,' said Howard. 'Not if you've counted on more.' A flush ran up +into his face and his eyes were inscrutable. He was conscious of being +in the absurd mood to note trifles; John had come with his memoranda, +John had meant to ask him for the money. 'I'd just as lief pay +twenty-five hundred extra now as at any time.' And with lowered head +and sputtering pen he wrote the cheque. + +'I don't want to inconvenience you, Al,' Carr accepted the cheque with +certain reluctance. 'Sure it's all right?' + +'Sure,' said Howard emphatically. He tossed the pen and book into the +drawer. Now the awkwardness of the silence upon them was more marked +than ever before. Carr tarried only a few minutes, during which both +men were ill at ease. Only an expressionless 'So long!' passed between +them when he got up to go. They might see each other again before Carr +went East; they might not. Howard went back to his chair at the table, +staring moodily at the bluebird feather. + + +Nothing of the instinct of a clerk had ever filtered into the habits of +Alan Howard. His system of books was simple. He set down in one place +the amounts which came in; in another place those expended. He added +and subtracted. He deposited his money in the bank and checked it out. +He must bank more when the last was gone. That was about all. It was +seldom that he knew just how far his assets were above his liabilities +or below. But to-night he knew that he had strained his account. He +had counted on paying ten thousand and had paid twelve thousand five +hundred. He turned first to his cheque-book, which had not been +balanced for a couple of months. No adept at figures he spilled much +ink, scratched out many calculations and went through them again, grew +hot and exasperated and finally before he got anywhere was in a mood to +damn everything that came under his hand. It was midnight when he had +assembled upon one sheet of paper an approximately truthful statement +of his financial condition. And then he sat back limply and lifted his +eyebrows and whistled. + +Within something less than thirty days he must take up a note which +Pony Lee held for a thousand dollars; Pony would want the money and had +said as much when he had advanced it. Then there were the calves, due +within the week, from French Valley; Tony Vaca was rushing them, was +selling at a very low figure and would want his money on the nail. +Well, he must have it. That was another seven hundred dollars. There +was another note held by Engle, down in San Juan. The banker might +extend it; he might not. It was for fifteen hundred dollars, and would +fall due within sixty days. On top of this were the running expenses: +the ranch was working full-handed, the men would want their wages a +week from Saturday: this was Tuesday. He turned to their accounts; +three or four of them had not drawn down last month. They would all +want their money when next pay-day came. He estimated the amount. In +the neighbourhood of seven hundred dollars. He totalled all of these +forthcoming payments. The aggregate was close to four thousand +dollars. And his cheque-book, balanced to date, indicated that he had +overdrawn to make the payment to Carr. He could have paid the ten +thousand and have had something over two thousand in cold cash to run +on; now he had not enough in the San Juan bank to make his own cheque +good. + +'If Carr had only been satisfied with the ten thousand,' he muttered. +'Or if he had given me warning ahead that he wanted the extra +twenty-five hundred. Now what?' + +None of these issues were clouded, and in due time he decided upon all +points. He gave up all thought of bed, made himself a pot of coffee +and sat up all night, devoting himself to details. The cheque he had +given Carr must be honoured; hence he must ride to-morrow to San Juan +to see Engle, the banker. He was only a few hundred dollars short +there and Engle would help him to balance the account. The fifteen +hundred he owed the bank on his personal note could no doubt be +extended if necessary. There remained the money for the calves, the +thousand due Pony Lee and another thousand to pay his men and for such +necessities as would arise. All of this he would talk over with Engle. +It might be that the bank would take a mortgage on his equity in Desert +Valley and advance a considerable sum on it. + +But he must not forget that the present crisis was not all to be +considered. Another year would bring the time of another payment to +Carr. In the meantime the ranch must be operated, it must be made to +pay. He had already planned on asking extensions from Engle; but it +did not enter his thought now to ask John Carr to wait. + +'I've got my work cut out for me,' said Howard grimly. 'I've got to +work like hell, that's all. I've got to carve down expenses, fire men +I can manage without, be on the job all the time to buy in stock cheap +wherever it can be got and unload for a quick turnover and some ready +cash. I've got to go in for more hay and wheat another season; the +price is up and going higher. And real soon, the chances are, I've got +to sell some more cows.' + +Before dawn he was at the men's bunk-house. He woke Chuck Evans and +told him to hurry into his clothes and come up to the house. When +Chuck came the two men sat down at the table, pencil and paper in +Howard's hand, Chuck's eyes keen upon his employer's set face. + +'I'm right down to cases, Chuck,' said Howard bluntly. 'I am in up to +my neck, and that's all there is to it. As soon as I get through with +you I am off to San Juan to see if there is any real money left in the +world. I'll be back as soon as I can. But you get busy while I'm +gone. First thing, here are five men you will have to give their time. +Tell them why; tell them there's always a job open for them here when +I've got the cash for pay-day. Then you and what's left will get your +necks into your collars and go to it, long hours and hard work until we +pull out. Get the boys out this morning for another round-up. Bring +in every hoof and tail that will size up for a decent sale. If you can +get time, ride down to San Ramon and see if there's a chance to sell a +string of mules to the road gang. That's about all this time; look for +me back in two or three days.' + +'All right, Al,' said Evans. 'So long.' He went to the door and +paused. He wanted to say something and didn't know just what to say or +how to say it. So he coughed and said again, 'Well, so long, Al,' and +went out. + +In the first flush of the dawn Howard rode away toward San Juan. He +turned in the saddle and looked back toward the Last Ridge country. He +fancied that he could make out the Longstreet cabin even when he knew +that his lover's desire was tricking his sense. He thought of Helen; +she would be sleeping now. He would not see her for several days. He +thought of John Carr; Carr would see her every day until he was forced +to go East. Carr had not confided in him when he expected to leave. +His eyes left the uplands lingeringly and wandered across the sweeping +fields of Desert Valley. He straightened in the saddle and his lungs +filled and expanded. The valley was his, his to work for, to struggle +and plan for, to make over as he would have it--to hold for Helen. For +Helen loved it no less than he loved it. And he loved Helen. + +'. . . One should be loyal to one's friends.' He held to that +stoutly, insistent and stubborn to play his part. Something had come +over him and Carr, or between them; but none the less he obstinately +sought to refuse to harbour thoughts which came again and again and +which always angered him with himself. There was the suspicion: 'Carr +was unfair in seeking to take Helen and her father away with him to the +East.' He told himself that that was Carr's right if Carr held it so. +There came the accusation: 'Carr had been hard on him last night.' He +told himself that it was easily granted that they had misunderstood +each other when, long ago, they had arranged for the payments; further, +that no doubt Carr, too, was hard up for cash. The thought suggested +itself: 'Carr had no right to berate him for allowing Sanchia to ride +to the Longstreet cabin.' Carr had spoken quickly, unthinkingly, and +they all were under stress. He would play fair and give a man his +due--and his thoughts switched to Helen and Carr was forgotten and, +with a half-smile on his lips, he rode on through the brightening +morning, dreaming of the ranch that should be when Helen came with him +to ride and their hands found each other and she whispered: 'I love it +and--it is ours!' + + +John Engle, the banker of San Juan, was something more than a banker. +Not only was he a fine, upstanding, broad-minded man; he was a man, no +longer in the first flush of youth, who had made himself what he was +and who from forty-five vividly recalled twenty-five. He had learned +caution, but he had known what it was to plunge head-first into deep +waters. That now, a man established, he no longer had to take long +chances, was due largely to the successes met in long chances taken +when all of life lay before him, inviting. When now Alan Howard came +to him in his office at the bank and put his case before him +straightforwardly and without evasion or reservation, he came to the +one man in the world who because of his position and his character +could best help him. + +'Take it slow, Alan,' said Engle quietly. 'I can give you the whole +day, if necessary. I've got to know just where you stand and just +which way you are headed before I can get anywhere.' + +He drew out his pad and very methodically began to set down figures as +the cattleman talked. Finally: + +'It's the bank's money, not my own, that I'll be advancing you, you +know. I am pretty well sewed up personally as usual. Consequently, +while I can see you over a few of the immediate bumps in your trail, I +can't give you all that you'll want. But I fancy you can get across +with it.' His keen eyes took fresh stock of the cattleman, marking the +assertive strength, the clean build, the erect carriage, the hard +hands, the lean jaw and finally the steady eyes which always met his +own. The personal equation always counts, perhaps with the banker more +than most men imagine, and John Engle found no sign of any +deterioration in the security offered by Alan Howard's personality. +'It's a good thing, anyway,' he went on, with the first hint of a +twinkle in his regard, 'for a youngster like you to have to scrap +things out after the old fashion. Not married yet, are you?' + +'No,' said Alan. + +Engle laughed. + +'But hoping to be? Well, it's time. That's a good ballast for a man. +Now, I've got this pretty straight, let's have your plans. You hope to +swing the ranch all right, or you wouldn't be calling on me. You're in +deep already and, of course, if it's a human possibility you've got to +swing it. What do you figure to do?' + +Howard during his long ride had considered his problem from all angles, +and now, leaning forward eagerly, told in detail what he had decided. +Engle, a rancher himself with broad experience, nodded now and then, +asked his few pertinent questions, made an occasional suggestion. Then +he rose to his feet and put out his hand. + +'Drop in and see us when you're in town and have the time,' he said +cordially. 'Mrs. Engle was speaking of you only the other day. You'll +want to be on your way now. I'll let you have five thousand on your +equity and let the other fifteen hundred ride with it, making one note +for sixty-five hundred. I think that if you work things right and hold +down expenses and make the sales and purchases and other sales you have +in mind, you'll get away with your deal. Just the same, my boy,' and +for an instant there came into his eyes the fighting look which had +been there frequently in the day when he fought out his own battles, +'you've got a man's-sized job on your hands.' + +'I know it,' said Alan. And when, the proper papers signed, he said +good-bye, his eyes brightened and he said directly: 'It's a great +thing, John Engle, to have a man's-sized man to talk things over with.' + +From his window Engle musingly watched the tall form go out to the +horse at the hitching-post and swing up into the saddle. + +'Now what's happened between him and John Carr?' he asked himself. And +without hesitation he answered his own question: 'A girl, I suppose. +Well, she ought to be a real girl to do that.' + +Howard, riding joyously back toward Desert Valley, thought first of +Helen. But not even Helen could hold all of his thoughts when at +length his horse's hoofs fell again upon the rim of Desert Valley Land. +Upon the bordering hills of the southern edge of the valley he drew +rein and sat, lost in thought. He saw herds feeding, and they were his +herds and he himself did not know their exact number. He must know; +the game was swiftly becoming one where pawns count. He saw a man +riding; it was his man, whom he must direct and pay. He saw water +running in one of his larger creeks, and thought how it too must be +made to work for him. Yonder were colts running wild; there were more +than he required at present. They must be broken; they could be sold. +He looked across empty acres, rich pasture lands void of grazing stock. +A slow, thoughtful frown gathered in his eyes; he must somehow put +stock into them, stock to be bought skilfully and sold skilfully. All +of this glorious sweep of country stretching to the four corners of the +compass was his, his very own, if he were man enough to go on with the +work to which he had somewhat lightly set his hand. He had loved it +always, since first he had come here as John Carr's guest. He loved +it now with a mounting passion. It flashed over him that when, at some +far-distant time, he should die, this was the one spot upon God's great +earth where he should want his ashes scattered on the little wind which +came down from the hills. It was a part of him and he a part of it. +And as he loved it and yearned for it utterly, so did Helen love it. + +'It is going to be mine and yours, my dear.' He spoke aloud, his voice +stern with his determination. 'For us to have and to hold.' + +And because of the thought and the knowledge of what lay ahead of him, +he knew that for the present he must forego that to which he had looked +forward all day. He must for a little postpone a ride to see Helen. +For already he foresaw the calls upon his time; short-handed, it was to +be work for him from long before day until long after dark. As he +started down the hill into the valley he saw a herd of cattle coming +from the north. He had a round-up on his hands to begin with, and it +was already beginning. + + + + +Chapter XXI + +Almost + +Long hours and hard work in the cattle country mean that a man slips +from his saddle into his bunk and to sleep, and from his bunk into his +saddle again, with only time to bolt his food and hot coffee +infrequently and at irregular intervals. Chuck Evans had obeyed +orders; the ranch was short-handed and the 'old-timers' remaining +cursed a little, to be sure, at the new order of things, but understood +and went to work. Howard, when he met them all at supper long after +dark, noted how their sunburned eyes turned upon him speculatively. +And he knew that in their own parlance every mother's son of them was +ready to go the limit if the old man set the pace. That night, when +the others trooped off to bed, he detained Chuck Evans and Plug Oliver +and Dave Terril for a brief conference. To them he gave in what detail +he could his latest plans. Also, since they were friends as well as +hired hands, he told them frankly of his difficulties and of his +success with Engle. When the men left him they had accepted his fight +as their own. + +The first man in the saddle the next day was Howard. He ordered the +tally taken of every head of stock on his ranch. This alone, since his +acres were broad and since his stock grazed free over thousands of +acres lying adjacent to Desert Valley on three sides, was a big task. +Already, during his absence, a number of the best of the beef cattle +had been moved to the meadowlands. He set a man to close-herd there; +he sent other men to bring in still other straying stock; he himself +judged every single head, cutting out those he deemed unfit; finally he +saw the growing herd driven down into the choicest of his meadow +grazing land to fatten. + +All of this required days. Between breakfast and supper every man with +the outfit changed his horse several times; Howard, the hardest rider +of them all, changed horses five times the first day. He and his men +showed signs of the strain they put upon their bodies; they were a +gaunt, lean-jawed, wild-eyed lot. There was little frolic left in them +when night came; they were short-spoken, prone to grow fierce over +trifles. But there was not a sullen or discontented man among them. +They took what came; they had known times of stress before; they could +look forward to a day to come of boisterous relaxation and money to be +spent in town. Though the subject had never been mentioned, they fully +understood that there would be a bonus coming and a glorious holiday. +They would see the old man through now: later he would square the +account. + +Eat, sleep and work; there was nothing else in their schedule. The +times when Howard had a few moments over a cigarette to think quietly +of Helen were times when he could not go to her: in the dimness of the +coming day when he was going out to saddle and she would still be +asleep; in the dark of the day ended when she would be going to bed. +But he held grimly to his task here, saying to himself that in a few +days he would ride to her and with something to say; wondering how she +would listen; sometimes aglow with his hope, sometimes fearing. And, +as he thought of her, so did he think often of John Carr. He did not +know if Carr had gone East or if still he were a daily guest at the +Longstreet home. Not a man of his riders had been beyond the confines +of the grazing lands; no one had come in from the outside. There was +no news. + +So a full week sped by. Then for the first time came both opportunity +and excuse for Howard to leave the ranch. Chuck Evans had ridden into +San Ramon to see if there were a market for a string of mules; he +brought back word that a teamster named Roberts in the new mining-camp +had been making inquiries. It seemed that he wanted high-grade stock +and had the money to pay for it. Everything was running smoothly on +the ranch, and Howard rode this time on his own errand. But, before +starting for Sanchia's Town, he slipped into the ranchhouse and shaved +and changed to a new shirt and chaps and recently blackened boots. +Thereafter he brushed his best black hat. Then from a bottom drawer of +his old bureau, where it was hidden under a pile of clothing, he +brought out a parcel which had come with him from a store in San Juan. + +As good a way as any to see Roberts in Sanchia's Town led by way of the +Longstreet camp on Last Ridge. Howard took the winding trail up which +his horse could climb to the plateau, and once on the level land came +swooping down on the well-remembered spot joyously. The spot itself +was hidden from him by the grove of stunted pines until he came within +a couple of hundred yards of it. Then he jerked his horse down to a +standstill and sat staring before him incredulously. The cabin was +gone quite as though there had never been a cabin there in all time. + +At first he wouldn't believe his eyes. Then swiftly his wonderment +altered to consternation. They had gone! Helen and her father had +gone. Carr had prevailed upon them; Howard had not come to see; by now +they were flying eastward upon the speeding overland train, or perhaps +were already in New York. + +The splendour of the day died; the joyousness went out of his heart; he +sat staring at the emptiness before him, then at the parcel in brown +paper clutched so foolishly in his hand. He looked all about him; +through the trees as though he expected to see Helen's laughing face +watching him; across the broken ridges beyond the flat; down into his +own valley. Down there, too, the glory had passed. When he had stood +here with Helen and they two had looked across the valley lands +together, it had been to him like the promised land. Now it was so +much dirt and rock and grass with cows and horses browsing stupidly +across all of it. + +For a long time he sat very still. Then his face hardened. + +'If she has gone, then I am going, too,' he told himself. 'And I am +going to bring her back.' + +He turned his horse and rode swiftly to Sanchia's Town. They would +have gone that way, on to Big Run, San Ramon and down to the railroad. +In such a case he would have word of them in the mining-camp. In his +present mood he required only a few minutes to come to the new +settlement. Had he been less absorbed in his own thoughts he must have +been amazed at what he saw about him. He had known men before now to +make towns upon dry bare ground and in a mere handful of days; not even +he, with his first-hand knowledge of such venturings, had ever seen the +like of Sanchia's Town. The spirit which had initiated it into the +world was still its driving spirit. It sprawled, it overflowed its +boundaries incessantly, it hooted and yelled and sang. It grew like a +formless mass lumped about fermenting yeast. Already there were shacks +and tents up and down both sides of Dry Gulch and strung along in the +gravelly bed. There were gambling-houses, monstrosities which named +themselves hotels and rooming-houses, stores, lunch counters. The +streets were crooked alleys; everywhere dust puffed up and thickened +and never settled; teams and jolting wagons and pack burros disputed +the congested way; there were seasoned miners, old-time prospectors, +going their quiet ways; there were tenderfeet of all descriptions. Not +less than five thousand human souls had already found their way to +Sanchia's Town and more were coming. + +In all of this to-day, Howard took scant interest. His major emotion +was one of annoyance. Among such a seething crowd where should he ask +of the Longstreets? He sat his horse in a narrow space between a lunch +counter and a canvas bar-room and stared about him. Then he saw that +the solitary figure perched upon a box before the lunch counter was +Yellow Barbee. He called to him quickly. + +Barbee's young eyes, which he turned promptly, were still eloquent of +an amorous joyousness within Barbee's young soul. He bestowed his +glance only fleetingly upon Howard, said a brief 'Hello, Al,' and +turned immediately to the cause of the obvious flutter in Barbee's +bosom. Howard expected to see Sanchia Murray behind the counter. +Instead he saw a young girl of a little less than Barbee's age, +roguish-eyed, black-haired, red-mouthed, plump and saucy. Her sleeves +were up; her arms were brown and round; there was flour on them. + +'Where are the Longstreets, Barbee?' asked Howard. + +'Gone,' announced Barbee cheerfully. And as though that closed the +matter to his entire satisfaction, he demanded: 'Come on, Pet; be a +good kid. Going with me, ain't you?' + +Pet laughed and thereafter turned up her pretty nose with obviously +mock disdain. + +'Dancing old square dances and polkas, I'd bet a stack of wheats,' she +scoffed. 'Why, there ain't any more real jazz in your crowd of +cow-hands than there is in an old man's home. What do you take me for, +anyway?' + +'Aw, come on,' grinned Barbee. 'You're joshing. If it's jazz you +want----' + +'Look here,' said Howard impatiently. 'I'm just asking a question, and +I'll get out of your way. Where did they go?' + +'Who?' asked Barbee. + +'The Longstreets.' + +'Dunno,' Barbee shrugged. Then, as an afterthought, 'Sanchia Murray +could tell you; she's been sticking tight to them. She's got a tent up +yonder, back of the Courtot House on the edge of town.' + +Howard hurried on. The lunch counter girl, following him with critical +eyes, demanded for him or anyone else to hear: + +'Who's your bean-pole friend, Kid?' + +But the answer Howard did not hear. He swung out to the side to be +free of the town and galloped on to Sanchia's tent, which he found +readily. Sanchia herself was in front of it, just preparing to saddle +her white mare. + +'Hello, Al,' she greeted him carelessly, though her eyes narrowed at +him speculatively. + +'Where have the Longstreets gone?' he asked without preliminary. + +'Back in the hills, Bear Valley way,' she replied, still scrutinizing +him. She marked the look of relief in his eyes and laughed cynically +and withal a trifle bitterly. 'On the Red Hill trail. Going to see +them?' + +'Yes.' He reined away, and then added stiffly, 'Thank you.' + +'Wait a minute,' she called to him. 'I'm just going up there myself. +You might saddle for me, and I'll ride with you.' + +He paused and looked her sternly and steadily in the eyes. His voice +was cold and his words were outspoken. + +'I had rather ride alone, and you know it. Further, after the way you +have tricked that man, I'd think you'd draw off and leave them alone. +You can't do a thing like that twice.' + +For an instant the look in her eyes was baffling. Then there shot +through the inscrutability of it a sudden gleam of malice that was like +a spurt of flame. It was the fire which before now Howard's attitude +had kindled there. + +'What you men see in that little fool, I don't know!' she cried hotly. +'What has she that I haven't? I could have made you the biggest man in +the country; I would have given everything and held nothing back. I am +even honest enough to say so, and I am not afraid to say so. And you +are stupid like every other man. Oh, I am done with the crowd of you!' +she broke out violently, half hysterically. 'Laugh at me, will you? +Turn your back on me, will you?' She paused and panted out the words. +'Why, if you came crawling to me now I'd spit on you. And, so help me +God, I'll ruin the last one of you and your precious flock of lambs +before I have done with you. If Jim Courtot can't do the trick, I'll +do for you first and Jim next.' + +He wheeled his horse and left her, groping wonderingly for an +explanation of her fury. He had not spoken with her above a score of +times in his life. He had merely been decent to her when, in the +beginning, it struck him that after all she was only a defenceless +woman and that men were hard on her. That his former simple kindness +would have awakened any serious affection had failed to suggest itself +to him. + +But swiftly he forgot Sanchia and her vindictiveness. She had +mentioned Courtot; for a little as he rode into the hills he puzzled +over Courtot's recurrent disappearances. He recalled how, always when +he came to a place where he might expect to find the gambler, he had +passed on. Here of late he was like some sinister will-o'-the-wisp. +What was it that urged him? A lure that beckoned? A menace that +drove? He thought of Kish Taka. There was a nemesis to dog any man. +Jim Courtot had dwelt with the desert Indians; he had come to know in +what savage manner they meted out their retributive justice. Was Kish +Taka still unsleeping, patient, relentless on Courtot's trail? Kish +Taka and his dog? + +But his horse's hoofs were beating out a merry music on the winding +trail that led toward the Red Hill country, and at the end of the trail +was Helen. Helen had not gone East. The frown in his eyes gave place +to his smile; the sunlight was again golden and glorious; the emptiness +of the world was replaced by a large content. + +'They just couldn't stand being so close to what they had lost,' he +argued. 'It was a right move to come up here.' + +He found the new camp without trouble. As he entered the lower end of +the tiny valley he saw the canvas-walled cabin at the farther end, +under the cliffs. He saw Helen herself. She was just stepping out +through the door. He came racing on to her, waving his hat by way of +greeting. He slipped down from the saddle, let his bundle fall and +caught both of her hands in his. + +After this long, unexplained absence Helen had meant to be very stiff +when, on some fine day, Alan Howard remembered to come again. But now, +under his ardent eyes, the colour ran up into her cheeks in rebellious +defiance of her often strengthened determination and, though she +wrenched herself free from him, something of the fire in his eyes was +reflected in hers. + +'Good afternoon, Mr. Cyclone,' she said quite as carelessly as his +sudden appearance permitted her vaguely disturbed senses. 'What are +you going to do? Run over me?' + +He laughed joyously. + +'I could eat you,' he told her enthusiastically. 'You look just that +good to me. Lord, but I'm hungry for the sight of you!' + +'That's nice of you to say so,' Helen answered. And now she was quite +all that she had planned to be; as coolly indifferent as only a girl +can be when something has begun to sing in her heart and she has made +up her mind that no one must hear the singing. 'But I fail to see why +this very excellent imitation of a man who hasn't seen his best friend +for a couple of centuries.' + +'It has been that long, every bit of it--longer.' + +Helen's smile was that stock smile to be employed in answer to an +inconsequential compliment paid by a chance acquaintance. + +'Three or four days is hardly an eternity,' she retorted. + +'Three or four days? Why, it's been over nine! Nearly ten.' + +She appeared both amazed and incredulous. Then she waved the matter +aside as of no moment. + +'I was going out to the spring for a drink,' she said. 'Will you wait +here? Father will be in soon.' + +'I'll come along, if there's room for two.' He picked up his parcel, +which Helen noted without seeming to note anything. 'Look here, +Helen,' as she started on before him to the thicket of willows, 'aren't +you the least little bit glad to see me?' + +'Why, of course I am,' she assured him politely. 'And papa was +wondering about you only this morning. Isn't it pretty here?' + +He admitted without enthusiasm that it was. He had not seen anything +but her. She had on a blue dress; she wore a wide hat; her eyes were +nothing less than maddening. He recalled the prettiness of Barbee's +new girl at the lunch counter; he remembered Sanchia's regular +features; these two were simply not of the same order of beings as +Helen. No woman was. He strode behind her as she flitted on up the +trail and felt thrilling through him an odd commingling of reverence, +of adoration, of infinite yearning. + +She came to the spring and stopped, watching him eagerly though she +pretended to be looking anywhere but at him. And for a moment Howard, +marvelling at the spot, let his eyes wander from her. The spring had +been cleaned out and rimmed with big flat rocks. About it, as though +recently transplanted here, were red and blue flowers. Just at hand +close to the clear pool was a delightful shade cast by a freshly +constructed shelter. And the shelter itself made him open his eyes. +Willow poles, with the leaves still green on them, had been set in the +soft earth. Across them other poles had been placed cunningly woven in +and out. Still other branches, criss-crossed above, and piled high +with foliage, offered a thick mat of verdure to shield one from the hot +rays of the sun. Within the elfin chamber was a rustic seat; +everywhere, their roots enwrapped in wet earth, were flowers. + +'It's wonderful!' he told her, and now his enthusiasm had been +awakened. 'And, of course it's your own idea and your own work.' + +'Oh my, no! It was John's idea and John made it!' + +'John?' + +'John Carr. He has been a perfect dear. Isn't he wonderful?' + +Yes, Carr was wonderful. But already Howard's enthusiasm had fled. + +'The leaves will wilt pretty soon,' he found fault in spite of himself. +He was a little ashamed even while he was speaking. 'The flowers will +die, and then----' + +Helen was already seated within, smiling, looking placid and +unconcerned. + +'By then,' she announced lightly, 'I'll be gone; so it won't matter.' + +'Gone?' he demanded sharply. 'Where?' + +'East. Mr. Carr has gone on ahead. We are to meet him in New York.' + +He sat down upon a rock just outside her door and made no attempt to +hide what was in his heart. He had thought to have lost her when he +came to the spot whence the cabin had vanished; he had found her here; +he was going to lose her again. . . . Helen's heart quickened at his +look, and she lowered her head, pretending to be occupied exclusively +with a thistle that had caught on her skirt, afraid that he would know. + +'Why are you going like this?' he asked suddenly. + +She appeared to hesitate. + +'I ought not to say anything against one of your friends,' she said +with a great show of ingenuousness. 'But, Mrs. Murray----' + +Explosively he cut her short. 'You know that she is not a friend of +mine and that she has never been and never will be a friend of mine. +Why do you say that?' + +She shrugged her shoulders and went on smiling at him. That smile +began to madden him; it appeared to speak of such an unruffled spirit +when his own was in tumult. + +'I beg your pardon, I'm sure. I was merely going to say that Mrs. +Murray shows too great an interest in papa. Of course I understand +her, and he doesn't. Dear old pops is a perfect child. She has +tricked him once; she seems to think him worth watching; she is +unbearable. So I am going to do the very natural thing and take him +away from her. Back where he belongs by the way; where we both belong.' + +'That is not true; you don't belong anywhere but here.' He began +speaking slowly, very earnestly and with little show of emotion. But +little by little his speech quickened, his voice was raised, his words +became vehement. 'You belong here. There is no land in the world like +this, just as there is no girl like you. Listen to me, Helen! For +your sake, for my sake--yes, and for your father's sake--you must stay. +You were speaking of him; let's think of him first. He is like a child +in that he has kept a pure, simple heart. But he is not without his +own sort of wisdom. He knows rocks and strata and geological +formation; he found gold once, and that was not just accident. He +lost, but he lost without a whimper. He is a good sport. He will find +gold again because it is here and he knows how to find it and where to +find it.' + +He paused, and Helen, though with no great show of interest and no +slightest indication of being impressed, waited for him to go on. + +'The fault in what has occurred is less his than mine. Knowing the +sort Sanchia Murray is, I should not have given her the opportunity +that day of a long talk alone with him. But,' his meaning was plain as +he caught and held her eye, 'I was in the mood to forget Sanchia Murray +and Professor Longstreet and every one else but the girl I was with.' + +Helen laughed lightly, again passing the remark by as a mere compliment +of the negligible order. + +'Don't do that, Helen,' he said gravely. She saw that a new sort of +sternness had entered into his manner. 'I have been working, working +hard not alone for myself but for you. Desert Valley has always been +to me the one spot in the world; you saw it and loved it, and since +then there is no money that would buy it from me. If it were really +mine! And I have been working night and day to make it mine. So that +some day----' + +She was not ready for this, and, though her colour warmed, she +interrupted swiftly: + +'You speak as though there were danger of losing it.' + +He explained, plunging into those matters which had absorbed his mind +during so many hard hours, telling her how he had paid Carr twelve +thousand and five hundred dollars when he had expected to pay only ten +thousand, how he had been obliged to ride to San Juan for money, of his +success with Engle, of his plans for sales, of cutting down his force +of men; all that he had done and all that he hoped to do. She caught +something of the spirit of the endeavour and leaned forward tense and +listening. + +'But surely Mr. Carr, being your best friend, would not have driven you +like this?' + +Howard did not answer directly. This hesitation, being unusual in him, +caught Helen's attention. + +'I imagine John needed the money,' he said quietly. 'I didn't say +anything to him about being short of cash. By the way, while in San +Juan I got this for you. I thought you'd like it.' + +He unwrapped the bundle. In it were a beautiful Spanish bit, richly +silvered and with headstall and reins of cunningly plaited rawhide, and +a pair of dainty spurs which winked gaily in the sunshine. Helen's +eyes sparkled as she put out her hand for them. Her rush of thanks he +turned aside by saying hastily: + +'I've got the little horse to go with them. I'd like mighty well to +give him to you. I don't know whether you can accept yet, but I'm +rounding up a lot of horses and when we get a rope on Danny I'm going +to lend him to you. To keep indefinitely, as long as you'll have him.' + +Long ago Helen's fancies had been ensnared by the big picturesque +ranch; long ago her heart had gone out to a fine saddle horse. No +longer did she seek to hold her interest in check; she asked him quick +questions about everything that he had overlooked telling her and +exclaimed with delighted anticipation when he suggested that she and +her father ride down and watch at the round-up. He'd have Danny ready +for her and would have ridden him enough to remind him that his long +frisky vacation was at an end. + +They were very close together and very happy just then, when a laughing +voice broke in upon their dreamings. + +'Isn't he the most adorable lover in the world? But look out for him, +my dear child. He nearly broke my heart once. Hello, Al! Sorry I +couldn't come up with you. But, you see, I followed as dose as I +could!' + +They had not heard Sanchia's horse, and Sanchia had drawn her own +deduction from the fact. Helen stiffened perceptibly, drawing slowly +back. Howard's face reddened to his anger. + + + + +Chapter XXII + +The Professor Dictates + +Sanchia was cool and bright and merry. She sat flicking at her +gleaming boot with her whip, and laughing. Helen, who had stood very +close to a great happiness, now shivered as though the day had turned +cloudy and cold. But she was still Helen Longstreet, her pride an +essential portion of the fibre of her being. Because she was hurt, +because suddenly she hated Sanchia Murray with a hatred which seemed to +sear her heart like a hot iron, she commanded her smile and hid all +traces of agitation and spoke with serene indifference. + +'Mr. Howard was telling me of the work on the ranch. Isn't it +interesting?' + +'So interesting,' laughed Sanchia, 'that no doubt the heartless +vagabond forgot to mention that he had just left me and that I had sent +word by him that I was coming?' + +'I don't believe you did say anything about it, did you?' Helen's +level regard was for Howard now; the red of anger still flared under +his tan and looked as much like guilt as anything else. 'Although,' +and again she glanced carelessly toward the trim form on the white +mare's back, 'we were speaking of you only a moment ago.' + +If Sanchia understood that nothing complimentary had been spoken of her +she kept the knowledge her own. + +'We just had a little visit together in the mining-camp,' she said, +veiling the look she bestowed upon Howard so that one might make +anything he pleased of it. 'Alan knows he'd better always run in and +see me first when he's been away for ten days at a stretch; don't you, +Boy?' + +For Howard the moment was nothing less than a section of purgatory. He +was no fine hand to deal with women; he stood utterly amazed at +Sanchia's words and Sanchia's attitude. He had not learned the trick +of saying to a woman, 'You lie.' He had a confused sort of impression +that the two girls were merely and lightly teasing him. But having +eyes that were keen and a brain which, though a plain-dealing man's, +was quick, he understood that somehow there was a stern seriousness +under all of this seeming banter. Single-purposed he turned to Helen; +bluntly he intended to tell how he had seen Sanchia and how he had left +her. + +But Helen's quick perception grasped his purpose, and in an anger which +included him as well as herself with Sanchia, she wanted no +explanations. It was enough for her that he had seen Sanchia Murray +first; that he had come direct from her. She left the new bridle and +spurs lying on the ground, passed swiftly by him and as she walked on +said carelessly: + +'If you both will excuse me a moment I must run into the house. I have +something to do before papa comes in.' + +Sanchia's face glowed triumphantly, and her triumph was clearly one of +sheer malevolence. Howard lifted his face to hers, letting her read +his blazing wrath. She only shrugged her shoulders. + +'I wish to God you were a man!' was all that he said. + +'I don't,' she rejoined coolly. 'It's a whole lot more fun being a +woman. Men are such fools.' + +She saw a tremor shake him from head to foot. He came a quick step +toward her, even laid a tense hand on her horse's mane as involuntarily +his other hand was lifted; for the instant a wild fear thrilled through +her. She thought that he was going to drag her from the saddle; she +had driven him hard, perhaps too hard. But she saw beyond him Helen +hurrying down the trail, she saw even that Helen was turning to glance +back. Resourceful in a crisis had Sanchia Murray always been; +resourceful now. She leaned forward, and, for Helen to see, patted the +rigid hand on her horse's neck. She laughed again as she saw that +Helen was almost running now; she could fancy that she had heard a gasp +catch in the girl's throat. + +'You'll keep your hands off my affairs, Mr. Alan Howard,' she said +evenly. 'Or I'll spoil every dream of your life.' + +He held back his answer, his throat working. He saw the forsaken spurs +and bridle near the bower which John Carr had constructed; he saw the +sunlight and shadow across the trail down which Helen had vanished. +Then, his own spurs clanking to his long strides, he too went down the +trail, his back and shoulders to Sanchia, stiff and belligerent. + +Helen was in the cabin, the door closed. He called, and she did not +answer. He could hear her within, rummaging about, evidently very busy +with something or other; had it not been for the little snatch of song +which came out to him he could have thought that she was in the grip of +a frenzy no less than that riding him. He rapped on the door and +called again. + +'Is that you, papa?' Helen's song was suspended briefly. + +'No,' answered Howard. 'Won't you let me have a word with you?' + +'I'd love to,' she rejoined. 'But I'm terribly busy just now. I'll be +out in a minute.' And again he heard her humming and stirring about. + +He tried to open the door. It was locked. He turned away and sat down +on the doorstep. + +'I'll wait here,' he told her. 'I'll wait all day and all night if I +have to.' + +But there is nothing harder than an indefinite waiting. He saw that +Sanchia still sat upon her white mare where he had left her, that her +head was bent, and she seemed to be in a profound study. Now and then +he heard Helen; she appeared to be re-arranging their scant +furnishings. Ten minutes passed. He called softly: + +'Aren't you coming out, Helen?' + +'Presently.' By now Helen had commanded and subdued her agitation +entirely to her own satisfaction. 'I know it seems rude, but I simply +_must_ get a few things done.' + +'What sort of things? Can't I help you?' + +'Help?' She laughed. 'Men are such funny animals when it is a matter +of helping indoors. + +Sanchia had just said men were such fools. Well, come right down to +it, he was rather inclined to accept the statement as largely true. +And women were so utterly beyond comprehension. + +'Anyway, can't I just come in and watch you?' + +He wondered why she should seem so highly amused. + +'In this little house you always seem about seven feet tall,' she +laughed at him. 'You'd be terribly in my way. And you haven't waited +half a day yet, let alone all night.' + +He saw that Sanchia had suddenly lifted her head and had jerked her +horse about in the trail. But she was not riding this way. She had +turned toward the cliffs and was waving her hand. Then he saw +Longstreet, grotesque in the various bits of Western accoutrement which +he had incorporated into his wardrobe, humorously militant as to +swinging revolver, miner's pick in hand, high-booted and red-shirted. + +'Your father is coming,' he offered. 'That Murray woman is going to +meet him.' + +Helen had paused in her activities. But he could not guess how her +expression had changed. 'That Murray woman,' as he spoke the words, +did sound convincing. Still she did not come out. She knew that it +would be a full ten minutes before Longstreet would make his way down +the steep slope and come to the cabin. She resumed her occupation and +remembered to accompany it with her tantalizing bit of song. Howard +began to hate that air whole-heartedly. + +The longest day has its end, the longest ten minutes fall something +short of an eternity. At length, walking side by side, leading the +white mare and chatting gaily, Longstreet and Sanchia approached the +house. Longstreet saw Howard and put out a friendly hand. + +'Glad to see you, my boy,' he called warmly. 'Helen and I have talked +of you every day; we've missed you like the very mischief. Where is +Helen, by the way?' + +'Inside,' Howard told him sombrely. 'Changing things around and making +them all over.' + +Helen opened the door. Howard wondered how she had found the time to +lay aside her hat, give a new effect to her hair and pin on those field +flowers. Her cheeks were only delicately flushed, her eyes were filled +with dancing lights. + +'Back again, pops?' She appeared to see only her father, though Howard +still had a foot on the step and Sanchia was fluttering close at his +elbow. 'And no new gold mine to-day!' It was quite as though a gold +mine were virtually an everyday occurrence. She patted his dusty +shoulder. + +'No,' said Longstreet lightly. 'No new mine to-day, my dear. But I'm +right; I'm getting all the signs I want and expected. To-morrow or +maybe the next day, we'll have it. I know right where it is. Take the +trail by----' + +'Papa,' said Helen hastily and a trifle impatiently, 'can't you ever +learn, even after you have been bitten? If you do stumble on anything, +I should think you would remember and not talk about it.' + +'But, my dear,' he expostulated, 'we are among friends.' + +'Are we?' Helen demanded coolly. 'We were among the same friends +before.' + +Longstreet looked frankly displeased, vaguely distressed. Sanchia was +listening eagerly, her eyes stony in their covetousness. Howard, +staring only at Helen, had hardly heard. + +'Well, well,' said Longstreet. 'I haven't found anything, so that's +all there is to to-day's tale, anyway.' He got his first view of the +cabin's interior. 'What in the world has happened in there?' he +demanded, in amazement. + +'Nothing,' answered Helen. 'I'm just packing; that's all.' + +'Packing, my dear? Packing what? And, pray, with what intention?' + +'Packing everything, of course. And with the intention of travelling.' + +Longstreet looked perplexed. He turned to both Howard and Sanchia as +though he suspected that they must share the secret. + +'If you'll come in, pops,' Helen informed him, 'we'll arrange for +everything. I wanted to get the worst of it done before you came, as +you're so frightfully upsetting when there's anything like this to be +done. Mr. Howard and Mrs. Murray,' she added, explaining sweetly, +'just ran in for a minute's call. They are both in a hurry, and we had +better not detain them.' + +Howard flushed. But his jaw muscles only bulged, and he did not +withdraw his foot from the doorstep. Sanchia bestowed upon the girl a +long searching look; it may have suggested itself to Sanchia's open +mind at that instant that Helen was likely to prove a more troublesome +factor than she had counted on. + +'If you don't mind,' Howard said with slow stubbornness, 'I'd like just +a few words with you and Miss Helen. Mrs. Murray came alone, and no +doubt would prefer to return alone.' + +Sanchia's eyes flashed and she bit her lip. Then, though her words +came quickly, they were smooth and quiet and had a note of bantering +laughter in them. + +'Dear me, we must all be tired and hungry like a lot of children who +have played too hard! We'll be quarrelling in another moment. But I +am not going to be so sensitive as to feel hurt and run off and cry; we +are too good friends for that, as you've just said, Mr. Longstreet. +And I did so want to ask you some questions; I sent right away for the +books you told me of, and I am simply mad over them. And I got one of +yours, too; the one on south-western desert formations. It is the most +splendid thing I ever read. But it is so erudite, so technical in +places. I was going to ask if you would explain certain parts of it to +me?' + +'Delighted to,' ejaculated Longstreet. His old beaming cheeriness +enwrapped him like a rosy mist. 'Come in, come in. And you, too, +Alan.' + +They entered, Sanchia with a sidelong look at Helen, Howard grave and +stubborn. Everything was in a state of confusion which Sanchia was +quick to mark, while Howard saw nothing of it. He saw only Helen +looking a far-off princess, cold and unapproachable. And only a few +minutes ago she had been just a winsome girl who leaned toward him, +whom he dared to hope he could gather up into his arms. + +Helen's expression was one of set determination. She breathed quickly +and deeply. Her anger rose that her two guests had overridden her +expressed wish. She watched her father hand Sanchia a chair. She saw +them sit down together at the table, Longstreet beginning to talk +largely upon his hobby, Sanchia encouraging him with her sympathetic +smile and her pertinent questions. It appeared that Sanchia had really +read and understood and was interested. + +'Papa,' said Helen quietly, though her voice shook a little, 'I suppose +that a time for very plain talking has come. We will never get +anywhere without it. I have shown Mrs. Murray as plainly as I could +that I don't trust her and further that I do not like her. She should +not come into my house. You should not ask her, if she has not enough +pride to refuse your invitation. Do you want me to go? Or will you +ask her to go?' + +Longstreet had not expected this, and for a moment was utterly at a +loss. He looked at his daughter in bewilderment; he turned from her to +Howard and finally to Sanchia herself as though for help. His face was +puckered up; he looked ridiculously as though he were on the verge of +tears. Sanchia had the effrontery to pat his arm and whisper: + +'Dear friend, that you should be distressed because of me.' + +But she did not offer to go. She sat still again and watched and +waited. + +'I have begun packing for both of us,' Helen went on. 'You should come +back home. If you refuse to go I shall have to go alone.' + +To her amazement her father appeared suddenly relieved. He had never +been parted from her for forty-eight hours consecutively since she +could remember; he had never seemed competent to get through the day +without her countless ministrations; he had leaned on her more than she +on him; and yet the stupefying certainty was that now his face cleared +and he actually smiled as he accepted her threat as a sensible solution +of the problem. + +'No doubt you are right, my dear,' he nodded vigorously. 'This is a +wild sort of country after all; it is hard for a girl, bred as you have +been. Perhaps if you went East it would be better. I could stay here; +I'd find my mine very soon; I'd take some one in with me in order to +raise a large sum of money immediately. And then, when I had builded a +fine home and had everything ready for you, you'd come back to me!' He +was carried away with his dream. He rubbed his hands together, and had +he been playing poker you would have known he held nothing less than a +royal flush. 'You always rise superior to the situation, my dear; +always.' + +But Helen's face would have indicated that the situation had mastered +her. Her own eyes filled with vexation; she dashed the tears aside and +her anger rose. Of all men in the world her father, with his gentle +innocence, could at times be the most maddening. And, withdrawn a +little behind her father, she saw Sanchia laughing into her +handkerchief. + +On the instant Helen had the clear vision to know that in this skirmish +she was defeated. She had thought her father would follow her; she +knew that she would not go without him. At least not yet. In a moment +her anger would get the best of her; she went quickly to the door and +outside. Howard came quickly behind her. + +'Helen,' he said harshly, 'you've got to listen to me.' + +'Well?' She whirled and confronted him, her body drawn up rigidly. +'What have you to say?' + +'You mustn't leave like this. You must stay.' + +'I am not going to leave,' she retorted. 'I am going to stay!' + +'But,' he began, at sea once more, 'I thought----' + +'Think what you please, Mr. Howard,' she told him hotly. 'But here's +one thing you don't have to speculate upon. I am not going to leave my +father in the hands of that Murray woman to do as she pleases with. +She can have whatever I don't want,' and he knew she meant Alan Howard, +'but I am not going to give her the satisfaction of having all of the +mines and horses in the world named after her.' + +The last came out despite her; she could have bitten her tongue to hold +back the words which came rushing forth with such vehemence. She did +not know what had put that thought into her mind at this crisis; +perhaps it had always been there. But it was this which had chief +significance for Howard. + +'I have a horse named Sanchia,' he said. 'The one I rode the first day +I saw you. You think that I named it after her?' + +'What if you did?' she demanded. 'Do you suppose that I care?' + +'That horse,' he went on steadily, 'I bought a long time ago from +Yellow Barbee. It was before I had so much as heard of Sanchia Murray. +He named the beast.' + +Helen's old familiar sniff was his answer. The matter, he was to know, +was of no moment to her. But she knew otherwise, and looked at him +swiftly hoping he had something else to say. + +'You've got to stay here,' he continued gravely. 'And we both know it. +I believe in your father and in his ultimate success. We must watch +over him, we must see that Mrs. Murray does not worm his secret out of +him again and steal what he finds. And you've got to know that when a +man loves a girl as I love you, he is not going to tolerate any further +interference from a lying, deceitful jade like that woman in there.' + +Helen laughed her disbelief. + +'I rode first of all to the place where your cabin used to stand,' he +went on, his big hat crumpled in his hands. 'You had left, and I was +afraid you had gone East. I rode into the mining-camp to get word of +you. I saw Barbee; he said that Sanchia Murray knew where you had +moved. I asked her. When she said she was coming up this way, I did +not wait for her. She appears to have it in for me; she hates you for +standing between her and your father. She knows that I love you, +and----' + +Longstreet was calling from the door, + +'Helen, I want you and Howard to come back. We must talk everything +over. Mrs. Murray has much to explain; she hates Jim Courtot and his +crowd, she is working against them instead of with them. Be fair, +young people; remember these words,' he paused, lifted his hand +oratorically and then made his statement with an unusually deep +gravity,--'Every one, though appearing guilty, must be given an +opportunity to prove himself innocent. That's it and that's fair: _the +opportunity to prove his innocence_.' He emphasized the words in +repeating them. 'That's all that I ask now. Please let's talk things +over.' + +Helen returned slowly to the cabin. + +'I must go back,' she said to Howard. 'After all, I must keep my head +and watch over papa every minute while she is with him.' + +'May I come in, too?' he asked gently. + +'Won't you believe me, Helen? And won't you let me help you?' + +She hesitated. Then she turned her head so that he could see her eyes. + +'I am apt to have my hands full,' she admitted. She even smiled a +little. 'Maybe there _will_ be work for both of us.' + +But when he sought to come to her side, she ran on ahead of him. The +face which she presented at the door for Sanchia's vision was radiant. +Even Sanchia was at a loss for the amazing alteration. How these two +could have come to an understanding in two minutes baffled her. But as +Howard presented his own face at the door there was no misdoubting that +he and Helen had travelled far along the road which she had thought to +close to them. + +'What in the world has happened?' Guarded as was the tongue of Sanchia +Murray it was human after all. + +Helen laughed merrily and gave her eyes for an instant to Howard's. +Then, lightly, to Sanchia: + +'We were just laughing over a story Alan was telling me. Yellow Barbee +has a new girl.' + +Sanchia understood, and her face went red. Howard merely knew that for +the first time Helen had called him Alan. Of trifles is the world made. + + + + +Chapter XXIII + +The Will-o'-the-Wisp + +For the hour, if for no longer, the tables plainly were turned upon +Sanchia. The high content which so abruptly had enveloped Helen and +Howard was comparable to the old magic armour of the fairy tales which +the fortunate prince found always at his time of need. Through it +venomed glance and bitter tongue might not pass; as Sanchia's anger +rose the two lovers looked into each other's eyes and laughed. Again +Sanchia bit her lips and sat back. + +'Dear old pops,' said Helen, going to her father's side and slipping +both arms about his neck, ruffling his scant hair and otherwise making +free with his passive person, thereby achieving the dual result of +coming between him and Sanchia and giving a joyous outlet to a new +emotion. 'I am not going to leave you, after all. And the West is the +nicest country in the world, too. And Alan and I were wrong to run off +and leave you as we did. We'll stay right with you now, and it will be +so much jollier that way; won't it, Mrs. Murray?' + +Longstreet patted her hand; Sanchia Murray measured her anew. + +'And I too,' ran on Helen, 'must take more interest in your work, your +books. Now that we live right on the spot where the things are, the +strata and eroded canons and--and relics of monster upheavals and +fossils of the Pliocene age and all that--it will be so much fun to +study about them, all together. Alan thinks so, I'm sure. Don't you +agree, Mrs. Murray?' + +Helen's eyes were dancing, Longstreet imagined with newly inspired +interest, Alan knew with the light of battle; Sanchia's eyes were +angry. The girl had stated her plan of campaign as though in so many +words. If time came when Longstreet had a second golden secret to +tell, she meant to hear it and to have Alan hear it at least not an +instant later than Mrs. Murray; thereafter, with odds two to one +against the widow, they should see what they would see. + +Sanchia did much thinking and little talking. She remained an hour. +During the last half-hour she developed a slight but growingly +insistent cough. Before she left she had drawn the desired query from +Longstreet. Oh, hadn't he noticed before? It had been coming on her +for a month. The doctors were alarmed for her--but she smiled bravely. +They had even commanded that she move away from the dust and noise of a +town; that she pitch a tent somewhere on the higher lands and live +out-doors all of the time. Helen saw what was coming before the actual +words were spoken. It was Longstreet who was finally led to extend the +invitation! Why didn't she move into a tent near them? And with a +look in which gratitude seemed blurred in a mist of tears, Sanchia +accepted. She would move to-morrow and pitch her tent right up there +near the spring. + +'If you don't mind, Helen dear?' she said. 'Your little summer house +by the spring may be sacred ground?' + +Promptly Helen made her a present of it. All that she wanted were some +things she had left there, a pair of spurs and a bridle; Sanchia was +perfectly welcome to the rest. + +They all went out together for Sanchia's horse. And Sanchia, accepting +the altered battle-ground to which Helen's tactics had driven her, +seeing that she was to have little opportunity of getting Longstreet +off to herself, began a straight drive at her main objective. She laid +an affectionate hand on his arm as though thrown upon that necessity by +the irregularities of the trail in which she had stumbled, and turned +the battery of her really very pretty eyes upon him. With her eyes she +said, boldly yet timidly: 'You splendid man, you have touched my heart! +You noble creature, you have made Sanchia Murray love you! Generous +man, you have come to mean everything to a poor little woman who is +lonely!' + +It is much to be said in a glance, but Sanchia had never travelled so +far on her chosen road of life if she had not learned, long ago, how to +put into a look all that she did not feel. And she did not stop with +the one look; again she appeared to stumble, again her eyelids +fluttered upward, her glance melted into his; again she flashed +sufficient message to redden Longstreet's cheeks and make his own eyes +burn with embarrassment. And since it was obvious that henceforward +the combat must be waged in the open, she did not await the unlikely +opportunity of some distant tete-a-tete to emphasize her intention. +Before she mounted she managed to allow the glowingly embarrassed man +to hold her two hands; and she told him whisperingly: + +'I would to God that you had come a few years earlier into the life of +Sanchia Murray!' She sighed and squeezed his hands. Then she smiled a +wan little smile. 'You have come to mean so much, oh, so much, in my +poor little lonely existence.' + +She mounted and rode away, waving her farewell, looking only at +Longstreet. They all saw how, before she reached the bend in the +trail, her handkerchief went to her eyes. Longstreet appeared +genuinely worried. + +'I am sorry for that little woman,' he said thoughtfully. + +'She's making love at you, papa,' laughed Helen, as though the matter +were of no moment but delightfully ridiculous. 'Fancy Sanchia Murray +falling in love with dear old pops!' + +He looked at her severely. + +'You should not speak lightly of such matters, my dear,' he chided her. +'Mind you, I am not admitting that there is any ground for such a +suspicion as you express.' + +'But if there were ground for it?' + +'Is there any reason why a pretty woman should not fall in love?' he +asked her stiffly. 'Further, is your father such a man that no woman +could care for him?' He stalked away. + +Helen gasped after him and was speechless. + + +In due course of time Howard recalled that there was a man named +Roberts, a teamster in Sanchia's Town; and that on the Desert Valley +ranch there were mules which should be sold; and that, though there was +a golden paradise here in Bear Valley, there remained a workaday world +outside the charmed confines where time was of the essence. He made +Helen understand that if he were to make good in his acquisition of the +cattle range he must be down there among his men and his herds during +every working hour of the day, but that the nights were his own. He +was to come up every night that it was possible. She was to guard her +father from Sanchia during the days; he was to seek to be on hand if +ever the golden news broke again; they two were to check the +adventuress' move. And Helen was to keep the spurs and bridle; she was +to take Danny not as a loan but as a gift, of which only they were to +know; she was to induce her father to ride down to the lower valley to +watch the round-up. Then, lingeringly and with many a backward look, +Alan Howard went on his way. + +He found his man and, while Howard sat sideways in the saddle and +Roberts whittled at a stick, they drove their bargain. The mules were +sold for two thousand dollars, if they were as Roberts remembered them +and as Howard represented them; Roberts would ride down the next day +for them and would pay six hundred dollars as the first payment and +thereafter not less than two hundred a month. Howard was satisfied. +He would have a little more cash for running expenses or for the +purchase of more stock if he could find another chance like that when +he had bought the calves from Tony Vaca in French Valley. + +The week rolled by, bursting with details requiring quick attention. +Danny was found, roped, saddled and bridled. Longstreet rode him, +delighting in the pony's high spirits, more delighted to see how he +'came around.' Gentled sufficiently and reminded that he was no longer +a free agent to fling up his heels at the wind and race recklessly +where he would, but that he was man's friend and servant, Danny was +presented to Helen. He ate sugar that she gave him; he returned bit by +bit the impulsive love which she granted him outright. In his new +trappings, to which Howard had added a saddle from his own stables, +Danny accepted his new honours like a thoroughbred. + +Helen rode him the day she and her father came down from the hills for +the round-up. Longstreet out-Romaned the Romans: his spurs were the +biggest, his yell when he circled a herd was the most piercing, his +borrowed chaps struck the eye from afar; his hat was a Stetson and +amazingly tall. Now and then, when his horse swerved sharply to head +off a racing steer, he came near falling. Once he did fall and rolled +wildly through the dust of a corral; but he only continued his +occupation with the more vim and was heard to shout over and over: +'It's the life, boys! It's the life!' + +Helen, often riding at Howard's side, saw how the herds were brought +down from the hills; how they were counted and graded; how the select +were driven into the fattest pasture lands. She watched the branding +of those few head that had escaped other round-ups. At first she +cringed back as she saw the hot iron and the smoke rising from the +hides and smelled the scorching hair and flesh. But she came to +understand the necessity and further she saw that little pain was +inflicted, that the victims though they struggled and bellowed were +soon grazing quietly with their fellows. And at last the time had come +when she had learned to ride. That was the supreme joy of the moment. + +To Howard, no less, was it a joy. He watched her race, with whip +whirling over her head, to cut off the lunging attempt at escape made +over and over by the wilder cattle; he saw that with every hour her +seat in the saddle became more secure; he read that she was not afraid. +He looked forward to long rides, just the two of them, across the +billowing sweep of Desert Valley, in the golden time when the title +rested secure with them, in the time when at last all dreams came true. + +Of any world outside their own happy valley they knew little. Sanchia +had pitched her tent near the Longstreet camp, but these days she was +left very much to herself. They did not pass through Sanchia's Town on +their way back and forth and knew and cared nothing of its activities. +The Longstreets, keenly interested in all that went forward on the +ranch, were persuaded to accept Howard's hospitality for three days and +nights. They rode early and late; there were the brief before-bedtime +talks together; Helen saw the bluebird feather and laughed about it; +she claimed it, but was in the end, after a deal of bantering argument, +content to leave it where it was. She allowed Howard to talk what she +branded as foolishness about certain alterations in the old house which +he prophesied would be necessary before long; she grew into the custom +of speaking of the room which she had occupied on her first visit to +the ranch as 'my room.' She was very happy and forgot that her father +was a troublesome childlike parent who fancied that he knew how to +discover gold mines. What did mere gold amount to, anyway? + +Then came the drive. The pick of the herd were to be moved slowly down +to San Juan. Howard had communicated with his former buyers, and they +were eager for more of his stock and at the former price. He wanted +Helen and her father to come with them. But Longstreet shook his head +smilingly. + +'I'm two-thirds cowboy now,' he chuckled. 'A few more days of this and +I'll be coming to you and asking for a job! It won't do, my boy. It +won't do. Especially at a time like this. You make your drive and +I'll make mine. And I'll bet you a new twenty-dollar hat that when you +get back I'll have found gold again.' + +So the Longstreets went back to Bear Valley and the drive began. +Howard started his cattle moving at three o'clock the next morning. +And almost from the beginning, although everything started +auspiciously, he encountered hardship. At ten o'clock that morning he +came upon a dead calf, its throat torn out as though by a ravening +monster wolf; a section of the flesh seemed to have been removed by a +sharp knife. That was nothing; to him it merely spelled Kish Taka, and +Kish Taka was his friend and welcome. But as he rode on, reflecting, +he read more in the omen. If Kish Taka were here, in the hills, then +somewhere near by Jim Courtot had passed. Then shortly after noon he +came upon what he knew must be the work of Jim Courtot. And he +surmised with rising anger that recently Courtot had seen Sanchia and +that again Courtot was Sanchia's right hand. Here was a little hollow; +on two sides were steep banks. Along these banks lay four big steers, +dead, a rifle bullet through each one. Already the buzzards were +gathering. + +Dave Terril came upon him and found him bending over one of the big +stiffening bodies. Howard's face was white, the deadly hue of rage. + +'Who done that for you, Al?' muttered Dave wonderingly. + +'Jim Courtot!' + +'Why don't you go get him, Al?' + +'Why don't I?' said Howard dully. + +Why did he not lay a fierce hand upon the wind that danced over the +hills? It was no more elusive than Jim Courtot. Why did not Kish +Taka, the eternally vigilant, come up with his prey? Nowhere in the +world is there so baffling a quarry as a hunted man. Jim Courtot +struck and vanished; he played the waiting game; he would give his +right hand for Howard's death, his left hand for the Indian's. But in +his heart, his visions his own, he was afraid. + +Before they came to Sunderberg's Meadows, where it had been arranged +that the herd was to pasture that night, they saw the wide-flung grey +films of smoke. Accident or hatred had fired the dry grass; flames +danced and sang their thin songs of burning destruction; the wide +fields were already black. Howard had bought and paid for the pasture +land; the loss was his, not Sunderberg's; Courtot, if Courtot it was, +or perhaps Monte Devine or Ed True, had been before him. Sanchia's +venom--for, be the hand of the agent whose it may, he recalled always +the look in Sanchia's eyes and the threat from Sanchia's lips--seemed +to travel with him and in front of him. His cattle browsed that night +on a rocky, almost grassless ground, making the best of what poor shrub +growths they could lay their dry tongues to. There was no water; the +pools lay in the heart of a smouldering tract too hot to drive across. + +When the cattle had rested, without waiting for full day Howard was +forced to start them on and to make a wide swerve out of his intended +direction to come soon to feed and water. Otherwise the drive would +become a tremendous misfortune and loss. His cattle would lose weight +rapidly under privation; they would when delivered in San Juan only +vaguely resemble the choice herd he had promised; scrawny and jaded, +under weight and wretched, their price would drop from the top to the +bottom of the scale. He would make for the San Doran place; Doran, +though no friend, would at least sell him hay; the figure would be +high, since Doran, no man better, knew when the other man was down and +in a ditch. But water and food must be had. + +Howard, toward noon, rode ahead to Doran's house. Doran was out in +front of his barn, breaking a team of colts, working one at the time +with a steady old mare, and in a hot and unpleasant mood. He saw +Howard and behind him the dust-clouds of an advancing herd. + +'Got any hay?' demanded Howard. + +'Two barns full,' said Doran. + +'Sell me enough to take care of my cows? Sunderberg's pastures were +burned out; I'm up against it for feed.' + +'Can't,' said Doran. 'Guess I'm sold out already for all I can let go.' + +Howard wondered who was buying up hay at this time and by the big +barnful. + +'A fellow came by here yesterday,' explained Doran, and took an option +on my whole lot.' His shrewd eyes gleamed. 'And at my own figure, +too! Which was four dollars the ton higher'n the market! That's going +a few, ain't it?' + +'Who was the man?' asked Howard. + +'Fellow named Devine. Know him?' + +Howard pondered swiftly. Then he demanded: 'Just an option? Mind +saying how much cash you got, Doran?' + +'Why, no. He said he was short of cash, but he slipped me twenty bucks +to tie the option. I'm expecting him back to-morrow or next day to +close the deal.' + +Howard sought swiftly to explain what Devine's play was; it was his +suspicion that the twenty dollars would be forfeited and that Doran's +hay would remain in his barns a thousand years if he waited for Devine +to come back for it. But Doran, though he seemed to reflect, was +stubborn. He hadn't a bale to sell, and that was all there was of it. +He even grinned behind Howard's departing back. + +The drive continued. Slowly the panting brutes were urged on; at every +water-hole and every trail-side pasture they were rested. In the +afternoon Howard found a rancher who could spare half a dozen bales of +hay; they were promptly purchased, opened and thrown to the herd; to +disappear instantly. That night camp was made on the upper courses of +the Morales Creek. It was less than satisfactory; it was better than +nothing. + +Thus the journey into San Juan required twice the time Howard had +counted upon. And when at last he and his men urged his lagging cattle +to the fringes of the village, he knew that the herd was in no +condition for an immediate delivery. He rode ahead and saw Engle at +the bank; from Engle he rented the best pasture to be had at hand and +bought hay; then, impatient at the enforced delay, he pitched camp and +strove in a week to bring back his stock to something of its former +condition. + +Alone, he rode that night into San Juan, his eyes showing the rage +which day after day had grown in his heart. His revolver loose in its +holster he visited first the Casa Blanca, Crook Galloway's old place of +sinister reputation. Some day he must meet Jim Courtot; might not that +time have arrived? God knew he had waited long enough. But Jim +Courtot was not to be found here; nor anywhere in San Juan, though +Howard sought him out everywhere. No, men told him; they had not laid +eyes upon Courtot since Howard had last sought him here. + +Finally the delivery was made at the local stock pens; the cattle +crowded through the narrow defile, were counted and weighed and paid +for. The purchasing agent looked at Howard curiously. + +'You had higher grade stuff last time,' he said. 'This bunch isn't in +the same class with the other shipment.' + +'Don't I know it?' Howard flared out at him, grown irritable here of +late. + +He took his cheque, banked it and left town, advancing his men a little +money and telling them to cut their holiday short. Then he saddled his +best horse and headed back for Desert Valley the shortest way. His +expenses had been far heavier than they should have been; his receipts +lower. He knew that look he would see in Sanchia's eyes when again +they met; he prayed that the time might come when he could come close +enough to Jim Courtot to read and answer his look. He thought of Kish +Taka, and for the first time with anger; Kish Taka should keep his +hands off. + + + + +Chapter XXIV + +The Shadow + +There was something awaiting Alan Howard at his ranch house that for a +little at least made him forget Sanchia and Courtot and hard climbs +ahead in the road he must travel. Tired as he was and dispirited when +he got home late that night he went to bed glowing with content. At +dawn he was in the saddle. The Longstreets, early risers as they had +grown to be, had only finished breakfast when he came racing into Bear +Valley, waving his hat to them and calling cheerily. A first frown +came when he saw that Sanchia Murray was breakfasting with them, but +the frown did not linger. + +'Good morning, everybody,' he greeted them. Helen, sitting in the sun +on the doorstep, got to her feet; her father came smiling out to shake +hands; even Sanchia, pushing her plate back, rose. She looked at him +searchingly, appearing to note and wonder at his gay mood. + +'No, I won't light down and have coffee with you,' he laughed at the +invitation. 'And I won't stop to eat, having devoured a day's rations +before I hit the saddle. No, there's nothing you can do for me, Mr. +Longstreet; there's nothing in the world I want.' Helen had given him +her hand; he held it a little before he would let it free and looked +straight down into her eyes and kept on laughing gaily as he declared +with certain unmistakable boldness: 'Right now I've got every blessed +thing in the wide world I want.' + +Sanchia said sharply: 'You must have been unusually successful in your +latest deal?' + +'It's the next deal I'm thinking of,' he told her lightly, letting her +have the words to ponder on if she liked. But he had scant time for +Sanchia and his eyes came back to Helen. 'I've got to ride into the +new camp to see Roberts,' he told her. 'He's seen my mules and is +buying. How would an early ride suit you? And I'll show you how easy +it is to collect six hundred dollars before most folks have had +breakfast!' + +'My, what a lot of money,' laughed Helen. 'Of course I'll come. You +know where I keep Danny. If you'll saddle for me I'll get ready and be +out in two minutes.' + +When they rode away down the trail together, Longstreet was smiling, +and Sanchia frowning after them. + +'She even eats with you?' queried Howard. + +'I just thank Heaven she hasn't brought her bed in yet,' answered +Helen. 'She is as transparent as a piece of glass, and yet dear old +pops lets her pile the wool over his eyes as thick as she pleases. I'm +just giving her plenty of rope,' she added philosophically. 'Do that, +and people always get tangled up first and then hang themselves next, +don't they?' + +'Give me plenty of rope!' he said eagerly. 'I'll just tie myself up, +hand and foot, and give you the end of the rope to hold.' + +She laughed at him, touched Danny with her new spurs and shot ahead. + +'You're nearly dying to tell me some good news,' she said when he had +come up with her again. 'Aren't you?' + +'I want to show you a letter I got when I came in last night. But I'd +just as soon think of handing it over to a whirlwind as to you at the +rate you are going.' + +They drew their horses down to a walk. From his pocket Howard took an +envelope; from the envelope brought forth a long blue slip of paper, +torn in two, and with a few words penned across the fragments in a big +running scrawl. He held the two pieces together for her to read; by +now the horses had stopped and, being old friends, were rubbing noses. +Helen read: + + +'Dear old Al: It took me a few days to see straight. Instead of +blocking your game, let me help whenever I can. Don't need this now; +won't have it. Take your time, Al. Good luck and so long. + +JOHN.' + + +'Turn it over!' cried Howard. + +Helen obeyed, only then fully understanding. It was a cheque for +twelve thousand five hundred dollars, signed by Alan Howard and payable +to the order of John Carr. Again she looked at the brief note; it was +dated, and the date was eight days old. Her face flushed suddenly; the +colour deepened. + +'He wrote that the day after I sent my telegram to him!' she cried +breathlessly. + +'Telegram?' + +'Yes.' She hesitated, then ran on swiftly: 'When Mr. Carr left I let +him think that maybe father and I would follow soon. I don't know that +I had been exactly what you men call square with Mr. Carr. I wanted to +be square with everyone. So I sent him a telegram, saying that we +appreciated his generosity but that we would stay here.' + +Howard studied the date on the fluttering paper and his mind ran back. + +'You sent that wire the day after I came back last time!' + +'And if I did?' She met his look serenely. + +'You did so because you cared----' + +But Helen laughed at him, and again Danny, touched with a sudden spur, +shot ahead down the trail. + +They clattered like runaway children into the crooked rocky street of +Sanchia's Town. Had their thoughts been less busied with themselves +and with a hint of a rosy future and with the bigness of the thing +which John Carr had done for them, they would have marked long ago that +here something was amiss. But it was only when they were fairly in the +heart of the settlement that they stopped abruptly to stare at each +other. Now there was no misunderstanding what had happened! Sanchia's +Town, that had been a busy, humming human hive no longer ago than +yesterday was this morning still, deserted, empty and dead. Those who +had rushed hitherward seeking gold were gone; be the explanation where +it might, shacks stood with doors flung wide; tents had been torn down, +outworn articles discarded, dumped helter-skelter into the road. The +atmosphere was like that of a circus grounds when the circus was moving +on, only a few things left for the last crew to come for. + +'It feels like a graveyard,' whispered Helen. 'What has happened?' + +'The old story, I suppose.' He turned sideways in the saddle, looking +about him for a sign of remaining life. 'It grew in the night; somehow +it has pinched out; the bottom has dropped out of it. Nate Kemble of +Quigley bought up two or three claims; I've a notion the rest were +worthless. Anyway, like many another of its kind, Sanchia's Town was +born, has lived and died like old Solomon Gundy.' + +Helen's face was that of one in deep study. + +'Papa was saying only day before yesterday,' she said thoughtfully, +'that this was going to happen. He said that was why he hadn't taken +the trouble to make a fight for his rights here. He said that Kemble +had bought up all of the land that was worth anything; and that he, +himself, had given Kemble the right tip. It begins to look as though +papa knew, doesn't it?' + +Howard nodded vigorously. + +'He knows gold mines and he knows gold signs,' he said positively. +'I've felt that all along. But----' + +'But,' she took the words out of his mouth, speaking hastily, 'he +doesn't know the first thing about people; about a woman like Sanchia +Murray. And now that he says he is going to locate his real mine and +we are leaving him with her----' + +'We mustn't be away too long,' he agreed. + +'Look. There's some one down there at the lunch counter; at least +there's a little smoke from the stovepipe. Shall we see who it is?' + +It was love among the ruins. Or, in other words, Yellow Barbee leaning +halfway across the lunch counter, toward the roguish-eyed, plump maid +who leaned slowly toward him. + +'Hello, Barbee,' called Alan. And when Barbee greeted him without +enthusiasm, he asked: 'What's happened to the town?' + +'Hit the slide,' said Barbee carelessly. 'Bottom fell through, I +guess, and at the same time somebody started a scare about gold being +found down toward Big Run. The fools,' he scoffed, 'piled out like +crazy sheep. You can find the way they went by a trail of old tin cups +and socks and such stuff dropped on the run.' + +'Roberts, the teamster, has gone, I suppose?' + +'He'll be back. Pet's old man is still packing his stuff and Roberts +is going to haul it this afternoon. I'm sticking along, helping pack,' +he grinned. Pet eyed him in high mock scorn. + +'A lot of help you are,' she told him. Barbee laughed. + +Howard and Helen were reining their horses about to leave when Barbee +came out into the road and put a detaining hand upon Howard's horse's +mane. + +'Saw Jim Courtot last night, Al,' he said quietly. + +'Here?' asked Howard quickly. So long had Courtot seemed the +embodiment of all that was elusive that it came with something of a +shock of surprise that any man had seen him. + +'Yes,' Barbee nodded. 'He's trailing his luck with that Murray woman +again. They're a bad outfit, Al; better keep your eye peeled.' + +Howard did not smile at Barbee's reference to Sanchia. He hardly +remarked it. + +'Tell me about Courtot,' he commanded. + +'Something's come over him,' said Barbee vaguely. 'He's different +somehow, Al; and I can't just get him. If he ain't half crazy he ain't +much more than half right. He's got a funny look in his eyes; he's as +nervous as a cat; he jumps sideways if you move quick. Last night I +thought he was going to break and run for cover at a little sound no +man would pay any attention to,' + +'What kind of a sound?' + +'Just a fool dog barking! Well, so long, Al. I got to help Pet do her +packing.' And winking his merry eye, Barbee turned back toward the +lunch counter. + +Howard and Helen rode again toward the hills. Across the girl's face a +shadow had fallen. Howard wondered if it were there because the odd +sadness of a forsaken town had tinged her spirit with its own weird +melancholy; or if she had been disturbed by word of Jim Courtot. +Barbee had spoken quietly, but Helen might have heard. They rode in +silence until Sanchia's Town was lost behind a ridge. Then Helen asked +steadily: + +'Is there no way out for you and Jim Courtot but the way of violence?' + +He sought to evade, saying lightly that it began to look as though he +and Courtot could no more meet than could spring and autumn. But when +she asked directly, 'What would happen if you did meet?' he answered +bluntly. His mood was not quarrelsome this morning; he wanted no +needless fight with any man. But if Jim Courtot stepped out into his +trail and began shooting . . . Well, he left it to her, what would +happen. Then he began to speak of Barbee and his new girl, of anything +that offered itself to his mind as a lighter topic. But Helen was in +no responsive mood. It seemed to her that a shadow had crept across +the sky; that the warmth had gone out of the sunlight. A fear crept +into her heart, and like many a baseless emotion grew into certainty, +that if Alan Howard and Jim Courtot came face to face it would be Alan +who fell. When she saw how straight and virile Howard sat in the +saddle; when she marked how full of life and the sheer joy of life he +was; when she read in his eyes something of his own dreams for the +future; when then she saw the gun always bumping at his hips, she +shivered as though cold. Her own senses grew sharpened; her fancies +raced feverishly. From every boulder, from every bend in the trail, +she feared to see the sinister face of Jim Courtot. + + + + +Chapter XXV + +In the Open + +There came that night a crisis. Half expected it had always been, and +yet after the familiar fashion of supreme moments it burst upon them +with the suddenness of an explosion. Howard and Helen were sitting +silent upon the cabin doorstep, watching the first stars. In Sanchia's +near-by tent a candle was burning; they could now and then see her +shadow as she moved restlessly about. Longstreet had been out all day, +prospecting. + +The first intimation the two star-gazers had of any eventful happening +was borne to them by Longstreet's voice, calling cheerily out of the +darkness below the cliffs. His words were simply 'Hello, everybody!' +but the whoop from afar was of a joy scarcely less than delirious. +Sanchia ran out of her tent, toppling over her candle; both Helen and +Howard sprang up. + +'He has found it!' cried Helen. 'Look at that woman. She is like a +spider.' + +Longstreet came on down the trail jauntily. Sanchia, first to reach +him, passed her arm through his and held resolutely to his side. As +they came close and into the lamp-light from the cabin door their two +faces hid nothing of their two emotions. Longstreet's was one of +whole-hearted triumph; Sanchia's of shrewdness and determination. + +'Now,' cried Longstreet ringingly, 'who says that I didn't know what I +was talking about!' It was a challenge of the victor, not a mere +question. + +Before any other reply came Sanchia's answer. + +'Dear friend,' she told him hurriedly, 'I always had faith in you. +When others doubted, I was sure. And now I rejoice in your happiness +as----' + +'Papa!' warned Helen. She ran forward to him. 'Remember and be +careful!' + +Longstreet went into the cabin. The others followed him. Sanchia did +not release his arm, though she saw and understood what lay in Helen's +look and Howard's. The main issue had arrived and Sanchia meant to +make the most of it. + +Longstreet put down his short-handled pick. Howard noted the act and +observed, though the impression at the time was relegated to the outer +fringes of his concentrated thought, that the rough head of the +instrument and even a portion of the handle looked rusty. Longstreet +removed from his shoulders his canvas specimen-bag. Plainly, it was +heavy; there were a number of samples in it, some as small as robins' +eggs, one the size of a man's two fists. He was lifting the bag to +dump its contents out upon the table when suddenly Howard pushed by +Sanchia and snatched the thing from Longstreet's hands. Longstreet +stared at him in astonishment; Sanchia caught at his coat. + +'Just a minute,' said Howard hastily. Even Helen wondered as he turned +and bolted out through the door and sped up the trail toward the +spring. Longstreet looked from the departing figure to his daughter +and then to Sanchia, frankly bewildered. Then all went to the door. +In a moment, Howard returned, the bag hanging limp over his arm, his +two hands filled with the fragments of rock which glistened in the +lamp-light. + +'I washed them off,' he said lightly. 'If there really is gold here we +can see it better with all the loose dirt off, can't we?' He put them +down on the table and stood back, watching Sanchia keenly. + +The fine restraint which, in her many encounters with the unexpected, +Sanchia had been trained so long and so well to maintain, was gone now +in a flash. Her eyes shone; a rich colour flooded her face; she could +not stop her involuntary action until she had literally thrown herself +upon the bits of quartz, snatching them up. For they were streaked and +seamed and pitted with gold, such ore as she had never seen. The +avarice gleaming in her eyes for that one instant during which she was +thrown off her guard was akin to a light of madness. + +But she had herself in hand immediately; she was as one who had slipped +slightly upon a polished floor but had caught herself gracefully from +falling. She thrust the rock into Longstreet's hands; she smiled upon +him; she made use of her old familiar gesture of laying her hand upon +his arm, as she hardly more than whispered: + +'Dear friend--and wonderful man--I am glad for your sake, so +tremendously glad. For now you have vindicated yourself before the +world. Now you have shown them all'--and in her flashing glance +Sanchia managed to include both Alan and Helen sweepingly with an +invisible horde whose bitter tongues had been as so many dogs yelping +at the excellent Longstreet's heels--'now you have shown them all that +you are the man I have always contended you were.' She crowded her +smile fuller of what she sought to convey than even she had ever risked +before as she murmured at the end, her tones dropping away like dying +music: 'This is a happy hour in the life of Sanchia Murray!' + +'There's truth there, if nowhere else,' cried Helen pointedly. 'Papa, +if you have stumbled on a real gold mine at last, aren't you wise +enough this time to keep still about it?' + +'That word "stumbled," my dear,' Longstreet told her with great +dignity, 'is extremely offensive to me at a moment like this. It is a +word which you have employed in this same connexion before to-day, yet +it is one to which I have always objected. In that sure progress which +marks the path a scientific brain has followed, there are no chance +steps. Surely my own daughter, after the evidence I have already +given----' + +'That isn't the point,' said Helen hurriedly. 'The only thing that +counts now is that you mustn't go shouting of it from the housetops.' + +'Am I shouting, my dear? Am I seeking the housetops?' His dignity +swelled. Also, it was clearly read in his unusually mild eyes that +Helen, in her excitement with her ill-chosen words, had hurt him. +Sanchia Murray, for one, who was older and of wider worldly experience +than Longstreet's other companions of the moment, and who surely knew +as much of human nature, saw something else in his clouded look. It +was an incipient but fast-growing stubbornness. Therefore Sanchia +closed her lips and watched keenly for developments. + +'There's a good old pops,' Helen cajoled. She slipped between him and +Sanchia, sending Howard a meaning look. She made use of certain of the +widow's own sort of weapon, putting her two round arms about her +father's neck. Before he quite understood what was happening to him, +she had managed to get him through the door which led to her room at +the rear, and to close the door after them and set her back to it. +Forthwith her cajolery was done with, and taking him by the two +shoulders Helen looked severely into his wondering eyes. + +She began speaking to him swiftly, but her voice lowered. She had +marked how Sanchia had sought to follow, how Howard had put his hand on +her arm and Sanchia had shown her teeth. The woman was in fighting +mood, and Helen from the beginning was a little afraid of what she +might succeed in doing. + +'Papa,' she said, 'anyone can see what that woman is after. She robbed +you once, and anyone can see that too. You are a dear old innocent +thing and she is artful and deceitful. You are not safe for a minute +in her hands; you must stay right in here until Mr. Howard and I can +send her away.' + +She felt Longstreet's body stiffen under her hands. + +'If you mean, my dear, that your father is a mere child; that he cannot +be trusted to know what is best; that you, a chit of a youngster, know +more of human nature than does he, a man of years and experience; +that----' + +'Oh, dear!' cried Helen. 'You are wonderful, pops, in your way. You +are the best papa in the world. But, after all, you are just a baby in +the claws--or hands of a designing creature like that hideous Sanchia. +And----' + +'And, my dear,' maintained Longstreet belligerently, the stubbornness +now rampant in his soul, 'you are mistaken, that is all. You and I +disagree upon one point; you condemn Mrs. Murray outright, because of +certain purely circumstantial evidence against her. That is the way of +hot-headed youth. I, being mature, even-minded and clear-eyed, +maintain that one accused must be given every opportunity to prove +himself innocent. When you say that Mrs. Murray is untrustworthy----' + +'I could _pinch_ you!' cried Helen. 'If she robs you again I--I----' +She could think of no threat of punishment sufficient unto the crime. +Suddenly she pulled the door open. 'Come in here,' she called to Alan. +And as he obeyed, leaving the baffled Sanchia without, Helen said +swiftly: 'See if you can't talk reason into papa. I'll keep _her_ out +there.' And she in turn passed out, again closing the door. + +'You little vixen!' Sanchia's cheeks were red with anger as, Helen's +manoeuvre complete, the girl stood regarding her with defiant eyes. +Sanchia's hands clenched and the resultant impression given forth by +her whole demeanour was that upon occasion the little widow might be +swept into such passionate rage that she was prone to resort to primal, +physical violence. Helen, though her own cheeks burned, smiled loftily +and made no answer. + +From beyond the closed door came Alan's eager voice. Sanchia bent +forward, straining her ears to hear; Helen, the light of battle flaring +steadily higher in her eyes, began suddenly to sing, the same little +broken snatches of song which not so long ago had irritated her +impatient lover and which now confused the words spoken beyond the door +and which made Sanchia furious. + +'Stand aside,' commanded Sanchia. 'I am going in.' + +Helen stood firm. Then she saw that Sanchia meant what she said. And, +on the table near the discarded pick, she saw Longstreet's big +revolver. She made a quick step forward, snatched it up in both hands +and pointed it directly at Sanchia's heaving breast. Now the colour +went out of Helen's face and it grew very white, while her eyes +darkened. + +'If you move a step toward that door,' she threatened, 'I am going to +shoot!' + +Sanchia sneered. Then she paused. And finally she laughed +contemptuously. + +'You little fool,' she whispered back, cautious that no syllable might +enter the adjoining room. 'I don't need to go rushing in there, after +all. And you know it. That stuff,' and she glanced briefly at the +rock on the table, 'got into my blood for a second. I'll take my time +now; and I'll get what I want.' + +As they stood in silence, Helen making no answer, they heard what the +men were saying. + +'--just this if nothing more,' came the end of Howard's entreaty. +'Don't tell Sanchia.' + +Promptly came the angry answer: + +'Mind your own business, young man! And, until you are asked for +advice, hold your tongue!' At the end of the command the door snapped +open and Longstreet popped into the room. + +Sanchia, her cool poise regained, made no step toward him but contented +herself by a slow comprehensive and sympathetic smile. Howard came +quickly to Helen, stooped to her and whispered: + +'I can't do a thing with him. But come outside with me a second; I +think I know what to do.' + +She flung down the heavy gun and went with him. Ten paces from the +cabin they stopped together. + +'Did you glimpse the specimens before I ran out to the spring with +them?' he asked sharply. She shook her head, her eyes round. + +'Do you have any idea,' he hurried on, 'just where your father has been +prospecting lately?' + +'Yes, I went with him for a walk two or three times during the last +week. He----' + +But he interrupted. + +'Has he shown any interest in a flat-topped hill about three miles +back? Where there is a lot of red dirt? They call it Red Dirt Hill.' + +'Yes!' Her tone quickened. 'That is why----' + +They had no time for complete sentences. + +'I saw the red dirt on his pick first; then on the rock. That is why I +washed it off, hoping that she had not seen. It's more than a fair +gamble, Helen, that your father's claim is on Red Hill.' + +Her hand was on his arm now; she did not know, but through all other +considerations to him this fact thrilled pleasurably. He put his own +hand over hers. + +'If Sanchia saw, too?' + +'I don't think that she did. Nor am I half sure that it would mean +anything to her. I know every foot of these hills; she doesn't. We'll +go in now and see what we can do. If your father does give it +away--well, then we'll play our hunch and try to beat her to it.' + +But though they had been out so brief a time, already Sanchia met them +at the door. Her eyes were on fire; her slight body seemed to dilate +with a joy swelling in her heart; she looked the embodiment of all that +was triumphant. Behind her, rubbing his two hands together, and +looking like a wilful and victorious child, was Longstreet. Sanchia +ran by them. In her hands, tight-clutched, was the finest specimen. + +'You haven't told her, papa! Oh, you haven't told her!' + +'And what if I have?' he snapped. 'Am I not a man grown that I am not +to----' + +Again no time for more than a broken sentence. + +'Will you tell us?' demanded Howard. + +'In due time,' came the cool rejoinder. 'When I am ready. I should +have told you to-night, had you trusted to me. Now I shall not tell +you a word about it until to-morrow.' + +They knew that Sanchia was going for her horse. Here was no time for +one to allow his way to be cluttered up with trifles. Howard turned +and ran to his own horse. They lost sight of him in the dark; they +heard pounding hoofs as he raced after Sanchia and by her; they heard +her scream out angrily at him as she was the first to grasp his +purpose. And presently at the cabin door was Howard again, calling to +Helen. She ran out. He was mounted and led two horses, her own and +Sanchia's white mare. + +'Hurry!' he called. 'We'll play my hunch and beat her to it yet.' + +Helen understood and scrambled wildly into her own saddle. She heard +Sanchia calling; she could even hear the woman running back toward +them. Then her horse jumped under her, she clutched at the horn of her +saddle to save herself from falling, and she and Howard were racing up +trail, Sanchia's mare led after them, Sanchia's voice screaming behind +them. + +They skirted the base of the cliffs for half a mile. Then Howard +turned Sanchia's horse loose, driving the animal down into a dark +ravine where there would be no finding it in the night-time. + +'It's only a chance,' he said, 'but then that's better than just +sitting and sucking our thumbs. We take the up-trail here.' + +They came out upon the tablelands above Bear Valley. There was better +light here; the trail was less narrow and steep; they could look down +and see the light in the cabin. + + +Later they were to know just what had been Sanchia Murray's quick reply +to their move. And then they were to know, too, where Jim Courtot's +hang-out had been during these last weeks in which he had seemed to +vanish. Sanchia, with a golden labour before her, had promptly turned +to her 'right hand.' On foot, since there was no other way, and +running until she was breathless and spent, she hurried across the +narrow valley, climbed the low hills at its eastern edge, and plunged +down into the ravine which was the head of Dry Gulch. Up the farther +side she clambered, again running, panting and sobbing with the +exertion she put upon herself, until she came to another broken +cliff-ridge. There she had stood calling. And, from a hidden hole in +the rocks, giving entrance to a cave, like a wolf from its lair, there +had come at her calling Jim Courtot. + + + + +Chapter XXVI + +When Day Dawned + +Upon the flat top of Red Dirt Hill, Howard and Helen drove their +stakes. Thereafter they made a little fire in the shelter of a tumble +of boulders and camped throughout the night under the blazing desert +stars. Were they right? Were they wrong? They did not know. In the +darkness they could make out little of the face of the earth about +them. Alan thought himself certain of one thing: that only near here +could it be likely that Longstreet should have broken off fragments of +stone with so plain a marking of red dirt on them. Helen merely knew +that her father had more than once climbed up here, though she had +laughed at him for seeking gold upon the exalted heights. To know +anything beyond this meagre and unsatisfying data, they must await the +dawn. + +The hours passed and Sanchia Murray did not come. Before now, they +estimated, she could have hurried here even though she came on foot; +before now, had she thought of it and had the patience, she might have +found Longstreet's horse. Yet she did not come. The fact made their +uncertainty the greater. They had ample opportunity to ask themselves +a hundred times if they had done the foolish thing in racing off here. +Should they have held by Sanchia? + +Toward morning it grew chill and they came closer together over their +little brush fire. They spoke in lowered voices, and not always of +Helen's father and of his gold. At times they spoke of themselves. +To-morrow Helen might be mistress of a bonanza; to-morrow she might be, +as she was to-night, a girl but briefly removed from pennilessness. As +the stars waxed and began at last to wane and the sky brightened, as +the still thin air grew colder at the first promises of another day, +they discussed the matter quietly. And it seemed that this was not the +only consideration in the world, nor yet even the chiefest. But---- + +'I can't come to you like a beggar-girl,' she whispered. + +'If I lost everything I had--and I could not lose everything since I +would go on loving you--would that make any difference, Helen?' + +She hesitated. 'You know,' she said quietly at last. + +So, when the pallid sky gave way to the rosy tints of the new day, they +knew everything, being richly wise in the wisdom of youth. Even it was +granted them to see the red earth about them and to know that Alan's +surmise had led them aright. Just yonder in a little hollow to which +the shadows clung longest, were the marks left by Longstreet's pick; +there was a tiny pit in which he had toiled exposing a vein of rock +from which he had chipped his samples; near the spot his location stake +and notice. Promptly they removed their own stakes, taking claims on +both sides of his. + +'We were right!' called Alan triumphantly. 'But how about Sanchia? He +told her and-----' + +'Look!' Helen caught his arm and pointed. + +Upon a neighbouring hill, by air-line not over half a mile from their +own, but almost twice that distance by the trail one must follow down +and up the rugged slopes, were two figures. Clearly limned against the +sky, they were like black outlines against a pink curtain. + +'That is Sanchia!' Helen was positive. 'There is a man with her. +It---- Do you think----' + +He did not know why she should think what he knew she did think; what +he himself was thinking. It was altogether too far to distinguish one +man from another. It might even be Longstreet himself. But he knew +that she feared it was Jim Courtot, to whom naturally Sanchia would +turn at a moment like this; and never from the first did he doubt that +it was Courtot. + +'It's some one of Sanchia's crowd,' he said with high assumption of +carelessness. 'But here is what I can't understand! Your father told +Sanchia; she has raced off and staked; and as sure as fate, they are on +the wrong hill! Sanchia wouldn't make a blunder like that!' + +Helen was frowning meditatively. She understood what Howard had in +mind, and she, too, was perplexed. + +'Do you know,' she cried suddenly, 'I think we have failed to do papa +justice!' + +'What do you mean?' + +'He never said outright that he had told her; he merely let us think +that he had. He never once said positively that he had faith in +Sanchia; he just said, over and over, that one accused should be given +a chance to prove his innocence! Now, supposing that he had led +Sanchia to think that his mine was over yonder on that other hill? He +would be risking nothing; and at the same time he would be giving her +that chance. No,' and it was a very thoughtful Helen who spoke, 'I +don't know that we have ever done dear old pops justice.' + +They stood, silent, watching the growing day and the two motionless +figures upon the other hill. Those figures, as the day brightened, +began to move about; plainly they were searching quite as Alan and +Helen had searched just now. They were making assurance doubly sure, +or seeking to do so. They disappeared briefly. Again they stood, side +by side, in relief against the sky. + +'That is Jim Courtot, I know it.' Helen's hands were tight-pressed +against her breast in which a sudden tumult was stirring. All of +yesterday's premonition swept back over her. 'You two will meet this +time. And then----' + +'Listen, Helen. I no longer want to meet Jim Courtot. I would be +content to let him pass by me and go on his own way now. But if he +does come this way, if at last we must meet---- Well, my dear,' he +sought to make his smile utterly reassuring, 'I have met Jim Courtot +before.' + +But her sudden fear, after the way of fear when there is an unfounded +dread at the bottom of it, gripped her as it had never done before; she +felt a terrified certainty that if the two men met it would be Alan who +died. She began to tremble. + +Far down in the hollow lying between Red Dirt Hill and the eminence +whereon stood Sanchia and Courtot, they saw a man riding. He came into +a clearing; had they not from the beginning suspected who it must be +they would have known Longstreet from that distance, from his +characteristic carriage in the saddle. No man ever rode like James +Edward Longstreet. And Courtot and Sanchia had seen him. + +He jogged along placidly. They could fancy him smiling contentedly. +Helen and Howard watched him; he was coming toward them. They glanced +swiftly across the ravine; there the two figures stood close together, +evidently conversing earnestly. The sun was not yet up. Longstreet +rode into a thickness of shadow and disappeared. In five minutes he +came into sight again. Courtot and Sanchia had not stirred. But now, +as though galvanized, they moved. Courtot leaped from his boulder and +began hurrying down into the canon, seeking to come up with the man on +the horse. Sanchia followed. Even at the distance, however, she +seemed slack-footed, like one who, having played out the game, knows +that it is defeat. + +'Papa is coming this way!--Jim Courtot is following him--in ten minutes +more----' + +She did not finish. Howard put his arms about her and felt her body +shaking. + +'You do love me,' he whispered. + +She jerked away from him. A new look was in her eyes. + +'Alan Howard,' she said steadily, 'I love you. With my whole heart and +soul! But our love can never come to anything unless you love me just +exactly as I love you!' + +'Don't you know----' + +'You do not know what it has meant to me, your shooting those two men +in papa's quarrel. But they lived and I have tried to forget it all. +If they had died, then what?' Her eyes widened. 'If you and Courtot +meet, what will happen? If he kills you, there is an end. If--if you +kill him, there is an end! Call it what you please, if it is not +murder, it is a man killing a man. And it is horrible!' + +Mystified, he stared at her. + +'What can I do?' he muttered. 'You would not have me run from him, +Helen? You do not want me to turn coward like that?' + +'If you kill him,' she told him, her face dead-white, 'I will never +marry you. I will go away to-morrow. If you would promise me not to +shoot him, I would marry you this minute.' + +He looked down into the ravine trail. Longstreet was appreciably +nearer. So was Courtot. Behind Sanchia lagged spiritlessly, seeming +of a mind to stop and turn back. He looked at Helen; she had had no +sleep, she was unstrung, nervous, distraught. He gnawed at his lip and +looked again toward Courtot. + +'If you love me!' pleaded Helen wildly. + +'I love you,' he said grimly. 'That is all that counts.' + +He waited until she looked away from him. Then silently he drew his +gun from its holster; the thing was madness, but just now there was no +sanity in the universe. He could not run; he must not kill Courtot. +He dropped the gun behind him and with the heel of his boot thrust it +away from him so that it fell into a fissure in the rock. He turned +again to watch Courtot coming on. + +The eerie light of uncertainty which is neither day nor night lay +across the hills. It was utterly silent. Then, the rattle of stones +below; horse and rider were so close that they could see Longstreet's +upturned face. Courtot was close behind him; Courtot looked up and +they could see his face. + +'You must go, now,' whispered Helen. 'You have promised me.' + +'I am keeping my promise,' he said sternly. 'But I am not going to run +from him. You would hate me for being a coward, Helen.' + +She looked at him, puzzled. Then she saw that the holster at his hip +was empty. + +'Oh,' cried Helen wildly, 'not that! You must kill him, Alan. I was +mad with fear. I----' + +Stopping the flow of her words there swept over her the paralyzing +certainty that it was useless to batter against fate; that a man's +destiny was not to be thrust aside by a woman's love. For out of the +silence there burst a sound which to her quivering nerves was fraught +with word of death; that sound which in countless human hearts presages +a death before the dawn--the long, lugubrious howling of a dog. It +seemed to her to burst out of the nothingness of the sky, to arise in +the void of an unseen ghostly world where spirit voices foretold the +onrush of destruction. + +Jim Courtot was hurrying up the slope. They saw him stop dead in his +tracks. He, too, seemed turned to stone by the sound. It came again, +the terrible howling of a dog, nearer as though the creature sped +across the hills on the wings of the quickening morning wind. Sanchia +stopped and began to draw back. Longstreet came on unconcernedly. + +A third time, and again nearer, came the strange baying. Courtot held +where he was, balancing briefly. Then they heard him cry out, his +voice strange and hoarse; he whirled about and began to run. He was +going down the trail now, running as a man runs only from his death, +stumbling, cursing, rising and plunging on. + +'Look!' Howard's fingers had locked upon Helen's arm. 'It is Kish +Taka!' + +She looked. Behind them, outlined against the sky, were a strange +pair. A great beast, head down, howling as it ran, that was bigger +than a desert wolf, and close behind it, gaunt body doubled, speeding +like an arrow, a naked man. They flashed across the open space and +sped down the steep slope of the ravine where, in the shadows, they +became mere ghost figures. + +'It is Kish Taka!' said Howard a second time. 'And again Kish Taka has +saved my life.' + +Dazed, the girl did not yet understand. She shivered and drew close to +her lover, stepping into his arms. He held her tight, and they turned +their fascinated eyes below. The speed of Jim Courtot in the grip of +his terror was great; but it looked like lingering leisure compared to +the speed of Kish Taka and his great hungering dog. And, now, behind +Kish Taka came a second dog, like the first; and behind it a second +man, like Kish Taka. + +If Jim Courtot remembered his revolver, it must have been to know that +not long would that stand between him and the two rushing, slavering +beasts and the two avenging Indians behind him. His one hope was his +hidden cave with its small orifice and concealed exit. And Jim Courtot +must have realized how small was his chance of coming to it. + +They saw him plunge on. The light slowly increased. They saw how the +dogs and men gained upon him. They lost sight of all down in the +ravine among the shadows. They saw Courtot again, still in the lead +but losing ground. They lost sight of him again. They heard a wild +scream, a gun fired, the howl of a dog. Another scream, tortured and +terrified. Then, in the passes of the hills, it was as still as death. + + +Longstreet, alone, had not seen all of this; the dogs had swept on, but +to him, deep in his own thoughts, they were but dogs barking as dogs +have a way of doing. Sanchia sat in a crumpled heap, her face in her +hands. Longstreet's face was smiling when he came to where his +daughter stood with her lover's arms tight about her. + +'I gave that woman her chance, and she was not innocent,' he announced +equably. 'I wanted to make sure, but I had my doubts of her, my dear. +Do you know,' he went on brightly, as though he were but now making a +fresh discovery of tremendous importance to the world, 'I am inclined +to believe that she is entirely untrustworthy! I first began to +suspect her when she appeared to be in love with me!' He came closer +and patted Helen's hand; his kindly eyes, passing over the stakes of +his claim, were gentle as he peered reminiscently across the dead +departed years. 'Why, no woman ever did that except your mother, my +dear!' + + +Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DESERT VALLEY*** + + +******* This file should be named 15502.txt or 15502.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/0/15502 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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