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diff --git a/29694-8.txt b/29694-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..977b057 --- /dev/null +++ b/29694-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12642 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure Trail, by Marah Ellis Ryan + +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 Treasure Trail + A Romance of the Land of Gold and Sunshine + +Author: Marah Ellis Ryan + +Illustrator: Robert Amick + +Release Date: August 15, 2009 [EBook #29694] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE TRAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: "I'll hit any trail with you--barring Mexican politics." +[Page 19]] + + + + +THE TREASURE TRAIL + +A ROMANCE OF THE LAND OF GOLD AND SUNSHINE + +By + +MARAH ELLIS RYAN + +Illustrated by Robert Amick + +Publishers Chicago + +A. C. McCLURG & CO. + +1918 + + + + +Copyright + +A. C. McCLURG & CO. + +1918 + +Published November, 1918 + +Copyrighted in Great Britain + + + + +To Kalatoka of the brown tent + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I KIT AND THE GIRL OF THE LARK CALL 1 + II THE RED GOLD LEGEND 15 + III A VERIFIED PROPHECY OF SEŅORITA BILLIE 54 + IV IN THE ADOBE OF PEDRO VIJIL 66 + V AN "ADIOS"--AND AFTER 73 + VI A DEAD MAN UNDER THE COTTONWOODS 90 + VII IN THE PROVINCE OF ALTAR 107 + VIII THE SLAVE TRAIL 124 + IX A MEETING AT YAQUI WELL 133 + X A MEXICAN EAGLET 144 + XI GLOOM OF BILLIE 161 + XII COVERING THE TRAIL 167 + XIII A WOMAN OF EMERALD EYES 186 + XIV THE HAWK OF THE SIERRAS 217 + XV THE "JUDAS" PRAYER AT MESA BLANCA 230 + XVI THE SECRET OF SOLEDAD CHAPEL 256 + XVII THE STORY OF DOŅA JOCASTA 288 + XVIII RAMON ROTIL DECIDES 300 + XIX THE RETURN OF TULA 328 + XX EAGLE AND SERPENT 346 + XXI EACH TO HIS OWN 360 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + "I'll hit any trail with you--barring Mexican + politics." _Frontispiece_ + "You poor kid, you have a hard time with the + disreputables you pick up." 76 + "No, Ramon! No!" she cried, and flung herself between + him and his victims. 280 + The Indian girl was steadily gaining on the German. 356 + + + + +THE TREASURE TRAIL + +CHAPTER I + +KIT AND THE GIRL OF THE LARK CALL + + +In the shade of Pedro Vijil's little brown adobe on the Granados +rancho, a horseman squatted to repair a broken cinch with strips of +rawhide, while his horse--a strong dappled roan with a smutty +face--stood near, the rawhide bridle over his head and the quirt +trailing the ground. + +The horseman's frame of mind was evidently not of the sweetest, for to +Vijil he had expressed himself in forcible Mexican--which is supposed +to be Spanish and often isn't--condemning the luck by which the cinch +had gone bad at the wrong time, and as he tinkered he sang softly an +old southern ditty: + + _Oh--oh! I'm a good old rebel, + Now that's just what I am! + For I won't be reconstructed + And I don't care a damn!_ + +He varied this musical gem occasionally by whistling the air as he +punched holes and wove the rawhide thongs in and out through the +spliced leather. + +Once he halted in the midst of a strain and lifted his head, +listening. Something like an echo of his own notes sounded very close, +a mere shadow of a whistle. + +Directly over his head was a window, unglazed and wooden barred. A fat +brown olla, dripping moisture, almost filled the deep window sill, but +the interior was all in shadow. Its one door was closed. The Vijil +family was scattered around in the open, most of them under the +_ramada_, and after a frowning moment of mystification the young +fellow resumed his task, but in silence. + +Then, after a still minute, more than the whisper of a whistle came to +him--the subdued sweet call of a meadow lark. It was so sweet it might +have been mate to any he had heard on the range that morning. + +Only an instant he hesitated, then with equal care he gave the +duplicate call, and held his breath to listen--not a sound came back. + +"We've gone loco, Pardner," he observed to the smutty-faced roan +moving near him. "That jolt from the bay outlaw this morning has +jingled my brain pans--we don't hear birds call us--we only think we +do." + +If he had even looked at Pardner he might have been given a sign, for +the roan had lifted its head and was staring into the shadows back of +the sweating olla. + +"Hi, you caballero!" + +The words were too clear to be mistaken, the "caballero" stared across +to the only people in sight. There was Pedro Vijil sharpening an axe, +while Merced, his wife, turned the creaking grindstone for him. The +young olive branches of the Vijil family were having fun with a horned +toad under the _ramada_ where gourd vines twisted about an ancient +grape, and red peppers hung in a gorgeous splash of color. Between +that and the blue haze of the far mountains there was no sign of +humanity to account for such cheery youthful Americanism as the tone +suggested. + +"Hi, yourself!" he retorted, "whose ghost are you?" + +There was a giggle from the barred window of the adobe. + +"I don't dare say because I am not respectable just now," replied the +voice. "I fell in the ditch and have nothing on but the Sunday shirt +of Pedro. I am the funniest looking thing! wish I dared ride home in +it to shock them all silly." + +"Why not?" he asked, and again the girlish laugh gave him an odd +thrill of comradeship. + +"A good enough reason; they'd take Pat from me, and say he wasn't safe +to ride--but he is! My tumble was my own fault for letting them put on +that fool English saddle. Never again for me!" + +"They are all right for old folks and a pacing pony," he observed, and +again he heard the bubbling laugh. + +"Well, Pat is not a pacing pony, not by a long shot; and I'm not +old folks--yet!" Then after a little silence, "Haven't you any +curiosity?" + +"I reckon there's none allowed me on this count," he replied without +lifting his head, "between the wooden bars and Pedro's shirt you +certainly put the fences up on me." + +"I'm a damsel in distress waiting for a rescuing knight with a white +banner and a milk-white steed--" went on the laughing voice in stilted +declamation. + +"Sorry, friend, but my cayuse is a roan, and I never carried a white +flag yet. You pick the wrong colors." + +Whereupon he began the chanting of a war song, with an eye stealthily +on the barred window. + + _Hurrah! Hurrah! For southern rights, hurrah! + Hurrah for the bonnie blue flag + That bears the single star!_ + +"Oh! _I_ know that!" the voice was now a hail of recognition. "Cap +Pike always sings that when he's a little 'how-came-ye-so'--and +_you're_ a Johnny Reb!" + +"Um! twice removed," assented the man by the wall, "and you are a +raiding Yank who has been landed in one of our fortresses with only +one shirt to her back, and that one borrowed." + +He had a momentary vision of two laughing gray eyes beside the olla, +and the girl behind the bars laughed until Merced let the grindstone +halt while she cast a glance towards the house as if in doubt as to +whether three feet of adobe wall and stout bars could serve instead of +a dueņa to foolish young Americans who chattered according to their +foolishness. + +There was an interval of silence, and then the girlish voice called +again. + +"Hi, Johnny Reb!" + +"Same to you, Miss Yank." + +"Aren't you the new Americano from California, for the La Partida +rancho?" + +"Even so, O wise one of the borrowed garment." The laugh came to him +again. + +"Why don't you ask how I know?" she demanded. + +"It is borne in upon me that you are a witch of the desert, or the +ghost of a dream, that you see through the adobe wall, and my equally +thick skull. Far be it for me to doubt that the gift of second sight +is yours, O seventh daughter of a seventh daughter!" + +"No such thing! I'm the only one!" came the quick retort, and the +young chap in the shade of the adobe shook with silent mirth. + +"I see you laughing, Mr. Johnny Reb, you think you caught me that +time. But you just halt and listen to me, I've a hunch and I'm going +to prophesy." + +"I knew you had the gift of second sight!" + +"Maybe you won't believe me, but the hunch is that you--won't--hold--the +job on these ranches!" + +"What!" and he turned square around facing the window, then laughed. +"That's the way you mean to get even for the 'seventh daughter' guess +is it? You think I can't handle horses?" + +"Nix," was the inelegant reply, "I know you can, for I saw you handle +that bay outlaw they ran in on you this morning: seven years old and +no wrangler in Pima could ride him. Old Cap Pike said it was a damn +shame to put you up against that sun-fisher as an introduction to +Granados." + +"Oh! Pike did, did he? Nice and sympathetic of Pike. I reckon he's the +old-time ranger I heard about out at the Junction, reading a red-fire +riot to some native sons who were not keen for the cactus trail of the +Villistas. That old captain must be a live wire, but he thinks I can't +stick?" + +"No-o, that wasn't Cap Pike, that was my own hunch. Say, are you +married?" + +"O seņorita! this is so sudden!" he spoke in shy reproof, twisting his +neckerchief in mock embarrassment, and again Merced looked toward the +house because of peals of laughter there. + +"You are certainly funny when you do that," she said after her +laughter had quieted down to giggles, "but I wasn't joking, honest +Indian I wasn't! But how did you come to strike Granados?" + +"Me? Well, I ranged over from California to sell a patch of ground I +owned in Yuma. Then I hiked over to Nogales on a little _pasear_ and +offered to pack a gun and wear a uniform for this Mexican squabble, +and the powers that be turned me down because one of my eyes could see +farther than the other--that's no joke--it's a calamity! I spent all +the _dinero_ I had recovering from the shock, and about the time I was +getting my sympathetic friends sobered up, Singleton, of Granados, saw +us trying out some raw cavalry stock, and bid for my valuable services +and I rode over. Any other little detail you'd like to know?" + +"N-no, only needed to know it wasn't Conrad the manager hired you, and +I asked if you were married because married men need the work more +than single strays. Adolf Conrad got rid of two good American men +lately, and fetches over Mexicans from away down Hermosillo way." + +"'Cause why?" asked the man who had ceased pretense of mending the +saddle, and was standing with back against the adobe. + +"'Cause I don't know," came petulant response. "I only had the hunch +when I saw you tame that outlaw in the corral. If he pulls wires to +lose _you_, I'll stop guessing; I'll know!" + +"Very interesting, seņorita," agreed the stranger reflectively. "But +if I have a good job, I can't see how it will give me aid or comfort +to know that you've acquired knowledge, and stopped guessing. When's +your time up behind the bars?" + +"Whenever my clothes get dry enough to fool the dear home folks." + +"You must be a joy to the bosom of your family," he observed, "also a +blessing." + +He heard again the girlish laughter and concluded she could not be +over sixteen. There was silence for a space while only the creak of +the grindstone cut the stillness. Whoever she was, she had given him a +brief illuminating vision of the tactics of Conrad, the manager for +the ranches of Granados and La Partida, the latter being the Sonora +end of the old Spanish land grant. Even a girl had noted that the +rough work had been turned over to a new American from the first +circle of the _rodeo_. He stood there staring out across the sage +green to the far purple hills of the Green Springs range. + +"You've fixed that cinch, what you waiting for?" asked the voice at +last, and the young fellow straightened up and lifted the saddle. + +"That's so," he acknowledged. "But as you whistled to me and the call +seemed friendly, it was up to me to halt for orders--from the lady in +distress." + +Again he heard the soft laughter and the voice. + +"Glad you liked the friendly call, Johnny Reb," she confessed. "That's +my call. If ever you hear it where there are no larks, you'll know who +it is." + +"Sure," he agreed, yanking at the cinch, "and I'll come a lopin' with +the bonnie blue flag, to give aid and succor to the enemy." + +"You will not!" she retorted. "You'll just whistle back friendly, and +be chums. I think my clothes are dry now, and you'd better travel. If +you meet anyone looking for a stray maverick, you haven't seen me." + +"Just as you say. _Adios!_" + +After he had mounted and passed along the corral to the road, he +turned in the saddle and looked back. He could see no one in the +window of the bars, but there came to him clear and sweet the field +bugle of the meadow lark. + +He answered it, lifted his sombrero and rode soberly towards the +Granados corrals, three miles across the valley. Queer little trick +she must be. American girls did not usually ride abroad alone along +the border, and certainly did not chum with the Mexicans to the extent +of borrowing shirts. Then as he lifted the bridle and Pardner broke +into a lope, he noted an elderly horseman jogging along across trail +on a little mule. Each eyed the other appraisingly. + +"Hello, Bub!" hailed the older man. "My name's Pike, and you're the +new man from California, hey? Glad to meet you. Hear your name's +Rhodes." + +"I reckon you heard right," agreed the young chap. "K. Rhodes at your +service, sir." + +"Hello! K? K? Does that K stand for Kit?" + +"Center shot for you," assented the other. + +"From Tennessee?" + +"Now you're a sort of family historian, I reckon, Mr. Pike," suggested +K. Rhodes. "What's the excitement?" + +"Why you young plantation stray!" and the older man reached for his +hand and made use of it pump-handle fashion with a sort of sputtering +glee. "Great guns, boy! there was just one K. Rhodes a-top of God's +green earth and we were pardners here in Crook's day. Hurrah for us! +Are you cousin, son, or nephew?" + +"My grandfather was with Crook." + +"Sure! I knew it soon as I laid eyes on you and heard your name; that +was in the corral with the outlaw Conrad had driven in for you to +work, it wa'n't a square deal to a white man. I was cussin' mad." + +"So I heard," and the blue eyes of the other smiled at the memory of +the girl's glib repetition of his discourse. "What's the great idea? +Aside from the fact that he belongs to the white dove, anti-military +bunch of sisters, Singleton seems quite white, a nice chap." + +"Yeh, but he's noways wise at that. He sort of married into the horse +game here, wasn't bred to it. Just knows enough to not try to run it +solo. Now this Dolf Conrad does know horses and the horse market, and +Granados rancho. He's shipped more cavalry stock to France than any +other outfit in this region. Yes, Conrad knows the business end of the +game, but even at that he might not assay as high grade ore. He is +mixed up with them too-proud-to-fight clique organized by old maids of +both sexes, and to show that he is above all prejudice, political or +otherwise, he sure is corraling an extra lot of Mex help this year. +I've _companeros_ I'd go through hell for, but Conrad's breed--well, +enough said, Bub, but they're different!" Mr. Pike bit off a chew of +black plug, and shook his head ruminatively. + +Rhodes looked the old man over as they rode along side by side. He was +lean, wiry and probably sixty-five. His hair, worn long, gave him the +look of the old-time ranger. He carried no _reata_ and did not look +like a ranchman. He had the southern intonation, and his eyes were +wonderfully young for the almost snowy hair. + +"Belong in the valley, Captain?" + +"Belong? Me belong anywhere? Not yet, son," and he smiled at his own +fancy. "Not but what it's a good enough corner when a man reaches the +settlin' down age. I drift back every so often. This ranch was Fred +Bernard's, and him and me flocked together for quite a spell. +Singleton married Bernard's widow--she's dead now these seven years. I +just drift back every so often to keep track of Bernard's kid, +Billie." + +"I see. Glad to have met you, Captain. Hope we can ride together often +enough for me to hear about the old Apache days. This land has fetched +out three generations of us, so it surely has some pull! My father +came at the end of his race, but I've come in time to grow up with the +country." + +Captain Pike looked at him and chuckled. K. Rhodes was about +twenty-three, tall, almost boyish in figure, but his shoulders and +hands suggested strength, and his mouth had little dents of humor at +the corners to mitigate the squareness of jaw and the heavy dark +brows. His black lashes made the deep blue of his eyes look purple. +Young he was, but with a stature and self-reliant manner as witness +of the fact that he was fairly grown up already. + +"Where'd you learn horses, Bub?" + +"Tennessee stock farm, and southern California ranges. Then this neck +of the woods seemed calling me, and I trailed over to look after a bit +of land in Yuma. I wasted some time trying to break into the army, but +they found some eye defect that I don't know anything about--and don't +more than half believe! I had some dandy prospecting plans after that, +but there was no jingling in my pockets--no outfit money, so I hailed +Singleton as an angel monoplaned down with the ducats. Yes sir, I had +all the dream survey made for a try at some gold trails down here, +going to take it up where the rest of the family quit." + +"You mean that, boy?" The old man halted his mule, and spat out the +tobacco, staring at Rhodes in eager anticipation. + +"I sure do. Reckon I've inherited the fever, and can't settle down to +any other thing until I've had one try at it. Did do a little placer +working in the San Jacinto." + +"And you're broke?" Mr. Pike's voice betrayed a keen joy in the +prospect. + +"Flat," stated K. Rhodes, eyeing the old gentleman suspiciously, "my +horse, saddle, field glass, and gun are the only belongings in +sight." + +"Ki-yi!" chirruped his new acquaintance gleefully, "I knew when I got +out of the blankets this morning I was to have good luck of some sort, +had a 'hunch.' You can bet on me, Bub; you've struck the right rail, +and I'm your friend, your desert _companero_!" + +"Yes, you sound real nice and friendly," agreed K. Rhodes. "So glad +I'm flat broke that you're having hysterics over it. Typical southern +hospitality. Hearty welcome to our city, and so forth, and so forth!" + +The old man grinned at him appreciatively. "Lord boy!--I reckon I've +been waiting around for you about ten year, though I didn't know what +your name would be when you come, and it couldn't be a better one! +We'll outfit first for the Three Hills of Gold in the desert, and if +luck is against us there we'll strike down into Sonora to have a try +after the red gold of El Alisal. I've covered some of that ground, but +never had a pardner who would stick. They'd beat it because of either +the Mexicans or the Indians, but _you_--say boy! It's the greatest +game in the world and we'll go to it!" + +His young eyes sparkled in his weathered desert face, and more than +ten years were cast aside in his enthusiasm. K. Rhodes looked at him +askance. + +"If I did not have a key to your sane and calm outlining of prospects +for the future, I might suspect loco weed or some other dope," he +observed. "But the fact is you must have known that my grandfather in +his day went on the trail of the Three Hills of Gold, and left about a +dozen different plans on paper for future trips." + +"Know it? Why boy, I went in with him!" shrilled Captain Pike. "Know +it? Why, we crawled out half starved, and dried out as a couple of +last year's gourds. We dug roots and were chewing our own boot tops +when the Indians found us. Sure, I know it. He went East to raise +money for a bigger outfit, but never got back--died there." + +"Yes, then my father gathered up all the plans and specifications and +came out with a friend about fifteen years ago," added Rhodes. "They +never got anywhere, but he sort of worked the fever off, bought some +land and hit the trail back home. So I've been fairly well fed up on +your sort of dope, Captain, and when I've mended that gone feeling in +my pocketbook I may 'call' you on the gold trail proposition. Even if +you're bluffing there'll be no come back; I can listen to a lot of +'lost mine' vagaries. It sounds like home sweet home to me!" + +"Bluff nothing! we'll start next week." + +"No we won't, I've got a job and made a promise, got to help clean up +the work here for the winter. Promised to take the next load of horses +East." + +"That's a new one," observed his new friend. "Conrad himself has +always gone East with the horses, or sent Brehmen, his secretary. But +never mind, Bub, the eastern trip won't take long. I'll be devilin' +around getting our outfit and when the chance comes--us for the Three +Hills of Gold!" + +"It listens well," agreed K. Rhodes, "cheeriest little _pasear_ I've +struck in the county. We'll have some great old powwows, even if we +don't make a cent, and some day you'll tell me about the mental kinks +in the makeup of our Prussian friend, Conrad. He sounds interesting to +me." + +Captain Pike uttered a profane and lurid word or two concerning Mr. +Conrad, and stated he'd be glad when Billie was of age. Singleton, and +therefore Conrad, would only have the management up to that time. +Billie would know horses if nothing else, and--Then he interrupted +himself and stared back the way he had come. + +"I'm a forgetful old fool!" he stated with conviction. "I meandered +out to take a look around for her, and I didn't like the looks of that +little dab of a saddle Conrad had put on Pat. You didn't see anything +of her, did you?" + +"What does she look like?" + +"A slip of a girl who rides like an Indian, rides a black horse." + +"No, I've seen no one," said the young chap truthfully enough. "But +who did you say your girl was?" + +"You'll find out if you hold your job long enough for her to be of +age," said Pike darkly. "She'll be your boss instead of Conrad. It's +Billie Bernard, the owner of Granados and La Partida." + +"Billie?" + +"Miss Wilfreda, if you like it better." + +But K. Rhodes said he didn't. Billie seemed to fit the sort of girl +who would garb herself in Pedro's shirt and whistle at him through the +bars of the little window. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE RED GOLD LEGEND + + +It took less than a week for Kit Rhodes to conclude that the girl +behind the bars had a true inspiration regarding his own position on +her ranches. There was no open hostility to him, yet it was evident +that difficulties were cleverly put in his way. + +Not by Philip Singleton, the colorless, kindly disposed gentleman of +Pike's description. But by various intangible methods, he was made to +feel an outsider by the manager, Conrad, and his more confidential +Mexican assistants. They were punctiliously polite, too polite for a +horse-ranch outfit. Yet again and again a group of them fell silent +when he joined them, and as his work was with the horse herds of La +Partida, that part of the great grant which spread over the border +into Sonora, he was often camped fifty miles south of the hacienda of +Granados, and saw no more of either the old prospector, or the +tantalizing girl of the voice and the whistle. + +Conrad, however, motored down two or three times concerning horses for +eastern shipment, but Rhodes, the new range capitan, puzzled +considerably over those flying visits, for, after the long drive +through sand and alkali, the attention he gave either herds or outfit +was negligible. In fact he scarcely touched at the camp, yet always +did some trifling official act coming or going to make record that he +had been there. + +The Mexicans called him El Aoura, the buzzard, because no man could +tell when he would swoop over even the farthest range of La Partida to +catch them napping. Yet there was some sort of curious bond between +them for there were times when Conrad came north as from a long +southern trail, yet the Mexicans were as dumb men if it was referred +to. + +He was a compactly built, fair man of less than forty, with thin +reddish brown hair, brows slanting downward from the base of the +nose, and a profile of that curious Teuton type reminiscent of a +supercilious hound if one could imagine such an animal with milk-blue +eyes and a yellow mustache with spiky turned-up ends. + +But Rhodes did not permit any antipathy he might feel towards the man +to interfere with his own duties, and he went stolidly about the range +work as if in utter forgetfulness of the dark prophecy of the girl. + +If he was to lose his new job he did not mean that it should be from +inattention, and nothing was too trifling for his notice. He would do +the work of a range boss twelve hours out of the day, and then put in +extra time on a night ride to the _cantina_ at the south wells of La +Partida. + +But as the work moved north and the consignment of horses for France +made practically complete, old Cap Pike rode down to Granados corrals, +and after contemplation of the various activities of Rhodes, climbed +up on the corral fence beside him, where the latter was checking off +the accepted animals. + +"You're a cheerful idiot for work, Bub," agreed the old man, "but what +the devil do you gain by doing so much of the other fellow's job? +Pancho Martinez wasn't sick as he played off on you; you're green to +these Mexican tricks." + +"Sure, I'm the original Green from Greenburg," assented his new +_companero_. "Pancho was only more than usually drunk last night, +while I was fresh as a daisy and eager to enlarge my geographic +knowledge, also my linguistics, Hi! Pedro! not the sorrel mare! Cut +her out!" + +"Linguistics?" repeated Pike impatiently. + +"Yeh, nice little woman in the cantina at La Partida wells. I am a +willing pupil at Spanish love songs, and we get along fine. I am +already a howling success at _La Paloma_, _La Golondrina_, and a few +other sentimental birds." + +"Oh, you are, are you?" queried Pike. "Well, take a warning. You'll +get a knife in your back from her man one of these fine nights, and +the song will be _Adios, adios amores_ for you!" + +"Nothing doing, Cap! We play _malilla_ for the drinks, and I work it +so that he beats me two out of three. I'm so easy I'm not worth +watching. Women don't fancy fools, so I'm safe." + +"Well, I'll be 'strafed' by the Dutch!" Pike stared at the young +fellow, frowning in perplexity. "You sure have me puzzled, Bub. Are +you a hopeless dunce by training or nature?" + +"Natural product," grinned K. Rhodes cheerfully. "Beauty unadorned. +Say Cap, tell me something. What is the attraction for friend Conrad +south of La Partida? I seem to run against a stone wall when I try to +feel out the natives on that point. Now just what lies south, and +whose territory?" + +The old man looked at him with a new keenness. + +"For your sort of an idiot you've blundered on a big interrogation +point," he observed. "Did you meet him down there?" + +"No, only heard his voice in the night. It's not very easy to mistake +that velvety blood-puddin' voice of his, and a team went down to meet +him. He seems to go down by another route, railroad I reckon, and +comes in by the south ranch. Now just what is south?" + +"The ranches of Soledad grant join La Partida, or aim to. There are no +maps, and no one here knows how far down over the border the Partida +leagues do reach. Soledad was an old mission site, and a fortified +hacienda back in the days of Juarez. Its owner was convicted of +treason during Diaz' reign, executed, and the ranches confiscated. It +is now in the hands of a Federal politician who is safer in +Hermosillo. The revolutionists are thick even among the pacificos up +here, but the Federals have the most ammunition, and the gods of war +are with the guns." + +"Sure; and who is the Federal politician? No, not that colt, +Marcito!" + +"Perez, Don José Perez," stated Pike, giving no heed to corral +interpolations. "He claims more leagues than have ever been reckoned +or surveyed, took in several Indian rancherias last year when the +natives were rounded up and shipped to Yucatan." + +"What?" + +"Oh, he is in that slave trade good and plenty! They say he is sore on +the Yaquis because he lost a lot of money on a boat load that +committed suicide as they were sailing from Guaymas." + +"A boat load of suicides! Now a couple of dozen would sound +reasonable, but a boat load----" + +"But it happened to every Indian on the boat, and the boat was full! +No one knows how the poor devils decided it, but it was their only +escape from slavery, and they went over the side like a school of +fish. Men, women, and children from the desert who couldn't swim a +stroke! Talk about nerve--there wasn't one weakling in that whole +outfit, not one! Perez was wild. It lost him sixty dollars a head, +American." + +"And that's the neighbor friend Conrad takes a run down south to see +occasionally?" + +"Who says so, Bub?" + +The two looked at each other, eyes questioning. + +"Look here, son," said Pike, after a little, "I'll hit any trail with +you barring Mexican politics. They all sell each other out as regular +as the seasons swing around, and the man north of the line who gets +tangled is sure to be victim if he stays in long enough." + +"Oh, I don't know! We have a statesman or two who flirted with Sonora +and came out ahead." + +"I said if he stayed in," reminded Pike. "Sure we have crooks galore +who drift across, play a cut-throat game and skip back to cover. The +border is lined with them on both sides. And Conrad----" + +"But Conrad isn't in politics." + +"N-no. There's no evidence that he is, but his Mexican friends are. +There are men on the Granados now who used to be down on Soledad, and +they are the men who make the trips with him to the lower ranch." + +"Tomas Herrara and Chico Domingo?" + +"I reckon you've sized them up, but remember, Kit, I don't cross over +with you for any political game, and I don't know a thing!" + +"All right, Captain, but don't raise too loud a howl if I fancy a +_pasear_ occasionally to improve my Spanish." + +The old man grumbled direful and profane prophecies as to things +likely to happen to students of Spanish love songs in Sonora, and then +sat with his head on one side studying Kit ruminatively as he made his +notes of the selected stock. + +"Ye know Bub, it mightn't be so bad at that, if you called a halt in +time, for one of the lost mine trails calls for Spanish and plenty of +it. I've got a working knowledge, but the farther you travel into +Sonora the less American you will hear, and that lost mine of the old +padres is down there along the ranges of Soledad somewhere." + +"Which one of the fifty-seven varieties have you elected to uncover +first?" queried Rhodes. "The last time you were confidential about +mines I thought the 'Three Hills of Gold' were mentioned by you." + +"Sure it was, but since you are on the Sonora end of the ranch, and +since you are picking up your ears to learn Sonoran trails, it might +be a good time to follow your luck. Say, I'll bet that every herder +who drifts into the _cantina_ at La Partida has heard of the red gold +of El Alisal. The Yaquis used to know where it was before so many of +them were killed off; reckon it's lost good and plenty now, but +nothing is hid forever and it's waiting there for some man with the +luck." + +"We're willing," grinned Kit. "You are a great little old dreamer, +Captain. And there is a fair chance I may range down there. I met a +chap named Whitely from over toward the Painted Hills north of Altar. +Ranch manager, sort of friendly." + +"Sure, Tom Whitely has some stock in a ranch over there--the Mesa +Blanca ranch--it joins Soledad on the west. I've always aimed to range +that way, but the lost mine is closer than the eastern sierras--must +be! The trail of the early padres was farther east, and the mine could +not well be far from the trail, not more than a day's journey by mule +or burro, and that's about twenty miles. You see Bub, it was found by +a padre who wandered off the trail on the way to a little branch +mission, or _visita_, as they call it, and it was where trees grew, +for a big alisal tree--sycamore you know--was near the outcrop of that +red gold. Well, that _visita_ was where the padres only visited the +heathen for baptism and such things; no church was built there! That's +what tangles the trail for anyone trying to find traces after a +hundred years." + +"I reckon it would," agreed Rhodes. "Think what a hundred years of +cactus, sand, and occasional _temblors_ can do to a desert, to say +nothing of the playful zephyrs. Why, Cap, the winds could lift a +good-sized range of hills and fill the baby rivers with it in that +time, for the winds of the desert have a way with them!" + +A boy rode out of the whirls of dust, and climbed up on the corral +fence where Rhodes was finishing tally of the horses selected for +shipment. He was the slender, handsome son of Tomas Herrara of whom +they had been speaking. + +"It is a letter," he said, taking a folded paper from his hat. "The +Seņor Conrad is having the telegraph, and the cars are to be ready for +Granados." + +"Right you are, Juanito," agreed Rhodes. "Tell Seņor Conrad I will +reach Granados for supper, and that all the stock is in." + +The lad whirled away again, riding joyously north, and Rhodes, after +giving final directions to the vaqueros, turned his roan in the same +direction. + +"Can't ride back with you, Cap, for I'm taking a little _pasear_ +around past Herrara's rancheria. I want to take a look at that bunch +of colts and size up the water there. I've a hunch they had better be +headed up the other valley to the Green Springs tank till rains +come." + +Captain Pike jogged off alone after some audible and highly colored +remarks concerning range bosses who assumed the power of the Almighty +to be everywhere the same day. Yet as he watched the younger man +disappear over the gray-green range he smiled tolerantly for, after +all, that sort of a hustler was the right sort of partner for a +prospecting trip. + +The late afternoon was a golden haze under a metal blue sky; afar to +the east, sharp edges of the mountains cut purple zig-zags into the +salmon pink of the horizon. The rolling waves of the ranges were +bathed in a sea of rest, and now and then a bird on the mesquite along +an arroya, or resting on branch of flaring occotilla would give out +the foreboding call of the long shadows, for the heart of the day had +come and gone, and the cooler air was waking the hidden things from +siesta. + +Kit Rhodes kept the roan at a steady lope along the cattle trail, +drinking in the refreshing sweetness of the lonely ranges after hours +of dust and heat and the trampling horse herds of the corrals. +Occasionally he broke into songs of the ranges, love songs, death +laments, and curious sentimental ditties of love and wars of old +England as still crooned in the cabins of southern mountains. + + _I had not long been married, + A happy, happy bride! + When a handsome trooper captain + Stepped up to our bedside, + "Rise up! rise up! young man," he said, + "And go along with me, + In the low, low lands of Holland + To fight for liberty._" + +The ancient song of the sad bride whose lover proved false in the +"low, low lands of Holland" trailed lugubriously along the arroya in a +totally irrelevant way, for the singer was not at all sad. He was +gaily alert, keen-eyed and watchful, keeping time to the long lope +with that dubious versification. + +"And they're at it again pretty close to the 'low, low lands of +Holland,' Pardner," he confided to the horse. "And when you and I make +a stake you'll go on pasture, I'll hit the breeze for Canada or some +other seaport, and get one whack at the Boche brown rat on my own if +official America is too proud to fight, for + + _Oh-h! oh-h! Oh-h! + In the low, low lands of Holland, + My love was false to me!_" + +Then, after long stretches of sand dunes, mesquite thickets, +occasional wide caņons where _zacatan_ meadows rippled like waves of +the sea in the desert air, he swung his horse around a low hill and +came in sight of the little adobe of Herrara, a place of straggly +enclosures of stakes and wattles, with the corral at the back. + +Another rider came over the hill beyond the corral, on a black horse +skimming the earth. Rhodes stared and whistled softly as the black +without swerving planted its feet and slid down the declivity by the +water tank, and then, jumping the fence below, sped to the little +_ramada_ before the adobe where its rider slid to the ground amid a +deal of barking of dogs and scattering of children. + +And although Kit had never seen the rider before, he had no difficulty +as to recognition, and on a sudden impulse he whistled the meadow-lark +call loudly enough to reach her ears. + +She halted at the door, a bundle in her hand, and surveyed the +landscape, but failed to see him because he at that moment was back of +a clump of towering prickly pear. And she passed on into the shadows +of the adobe. + +"That's the disadvantage of being too perfect, Pardner," he confided +to the roan, "she thinks we are a pair of birds." + +He turned at the corner of the corral and rode around it which took +him back of the house and out of range from the door, but the dogs set +up a ki-yi-ing, and a flock of youngsters scuttled to the corner of +the adobe, and stared as children of the far ranges are prone to stare +at the passing of a traveler from the longed-for highways of the +world. + +The barking of the dogs and scampering of the children evidently got +on the nerves of the black horse left standing at the vine-covered +_ramada_, for after a puppy had barked joyously at his heels he leaped +aside, and once turned around kept on going, trotting around the +corral after the roan. + +Rhodes saw it but continued on his way, knowing he could pick it up on +his return, as the Ojo Verde tank was less than a mile away. A boy +under the _ramada_ gave one quick look and then fled, a flash of brown +and a red flapping end of a sash, up the caņoncita where the home +spring was shadowed by a large mesquite tree. + +At first Rhodes turned in the saddle with the idea of assisting in the +catching of the black if that was the thing desired, but it evidently +was not. + +"Now what has that _muchacho_ on his mind that he makes that sort of +get-away after nothing and no pursuer in sight? Pardner, I reckon +we'll squander a valuable minute or two and gather in that black." + +He galloped back, caught the wanderer but kept right on without pause +to the trickle of water under the flat wide-spreading tree--it was a +solitaire, being king of its own domain and the only shade, except the +vine-covered _ramada_, for a mile. + +The startled boy made a movement as if to run again as Kit rode up, +then halted, fear and fateful resignation changing the childish face +to sullenness. + +"_Buenas tardes_, Narcisco." + +"_Buenas tardes_, seņor," gulped the boy. + +"I turned back to catch the horse of the seņorita for you," observed +Rhodes. "It is best you tie him when you lead him back, but first give +him water. Thirst is perhaps the cause he is restless." + +"Yes seņor," agreed the lad. "At once I will do that." But he held the +horse and did not move from his tracks, and then Rhodes noticed that +on the flat rock behind him was a grain sack thrown over something, a +brown bottle had rolled a little below it, and the end of a hammer +protruded from under the sacking. + +Ordinarily Rhodes would have given no heed to any simple ranch +utensils gathered under the shadow where work was more endurable, but +the fear in the face of the boy fascinated him. + +"Think I'll give Pardner a drink while I am about it," he decided, and +dismounted carelessly. "Got a cup that I can take my share first?" + +Narcisco had no cup, only shook his head and swallowed as if the +attempt at words was beyond him. + +"Well, there is a bottle if it is clean," and Rhodes strode awkwardly +towards it, but his spur caught in the loose mesh of the sacking, and +in loosening it he twisted it off the rock. + +Narcisco gasped audibly, and Rhodes laughed. He had uncovered a couple +of dozen empty whiskey bottles, and a tin pan with some broken glass. + +"What you trying to start up here in the caņon, Buddy?" he asked. +"Playing saloon-keeper with only the gophers for customers?" + +He selected a corked bottle evidently clean, rinsed and drank from +it. + +"Yes--seņor--I am here playing--that is all," affirmed Narcisco. "At +the house Tia Mariana puts us out because there is a new _niņo_--my +mother and the new one sleep--and there is no place to make a noise." + +"Oh," commented Rhodes, "well, let the black have a little water, and +lead him out of the way of mine. This gully isn't wide enough to turn +around in." + +Obediently the boy led the black to the sunken barrel catching seepage +from the barrel under the drip. Rhodes tossed the sack back to the +flat rock and noted an old canvas water bottle beside the heap, it was +half full of something--not water, for it was uncorked and the mouth +of it a-glitter with shimmering particles like diamond dust, and the +same powder was over a white spot on the rock--the lad evidently was +playing miller and pounding broken glass into a semblance of meal. + +"Funny stunt, that!" he pondered, and, smiling, watched the frightened +boy. "Herrara certainly is doing a bit of collecting _vino_ to have a +stock of bottles that size, and the poor kid's nothing else to play +with." + +He mounted and rode on, leaving Narcisco to lead the black to his +mistress. He could not get out of his mind the fright in the eyes of +the boy. Was Herrara a brute to his family, and had Narcisco taken to +flight to hide his simple playthings under the mistaken idea that the +horseman was his father returned early from the ranges? + +That was the only solution Rhodes could find to the problem, though he +milled it around in his mind quite a bit. Unless the boy was curiously +weak-minded and frightened at the face of a stranger it was the only +explanation he could find, yet the boys of Herrara had always struck +him as rather bright. In fact Conrad had promoted Juanito to the +position of special messenger; he could ride like the wind and never +forget a word. + +The shadows lengthened as he circled the little caņon of the Ojo Verde +and noted the water dripping from the full tanks, ideal for the colt +range for three months. He took note that Herrara was not neglecting +anything, despite that collection of bottles. There was no wastage and +the pipes connecting the tanks were in good condition. + +He rode back, care free and content, through the fragrant valley. The +cool air was following the lowering sun, and a thin mauve veil was +drifting along the hills of mystery in the south; he sang as he rode +and then checked the song to listen to the flutelike call of a lark. +His lips curved in a smile as he heard it, and with it came the +thought of the girl and the barred window of Vijil's adobe. + +She permeated the life of Granados just as the soft veil enwrapped the +far hills, and she had seemed almost as far away if not so mysterious. +Not once had he crossed her trail, and he heard she was no longer +permitted to ride south of the line. The vaqueros commented on this +variously according to their own point of view. Some of the Mexicans +resented it, and in one way or another her name was mentioned whenever +problems of the future were discussed. Singleton was regarded as +temporary, and Conrad was a salaried business manager. But on a day +to come, the seņorita, as her mother's daughter, would be their +mistress, and the older men with families showed content at the +thought. + +Rhodes never could think of her as the chatelaine of those wide +ranges. She was to him the "meadow-lark child" of jests and laughter, +heard and remembered but not seen. She was the haunting music of youth +meeting him at the gateway of a new land which is yet so old! + +Some such vagrant thought drifted through his mind as the sweet calls +of the drowsy birds cut the warm silence, now from some graceful palo +verde along a barranca and again from the slender pedestal of an +occotilla. + +"Lucky you, for you get an answer!" he thought whimsically. "Amble +along, Pardner, or the night witches get us!" + +And then he circled a little at the north of the caņon, and the black +horse, champing and fidgeting, was held there across the trail by its +rider. + +"We are seeing things in broad daylight, Pardner, and there ain't no +such animal," decided Rhodes, but Pardner whinnied, and the girl threw +up her hand. + +"This time I am a highwayman, the far-famed terror of the ranges!" she +called. + +"Sure!" he conceded. "I've been thinking quite a while that your term +must be about up." + +She laughed at that, and came alongside. + +"Didn't you suppose I might have my time shortened for good behavior?" +she asked. "You never even ride our way to see." + +"Me? Why, child, I'm so busy absorbing _kultur_ from your scientific +manager that my spare moments for damsels in distress are none too +plenty. You sent out nary a call, and how expect the lowest of your +serfs to hang around?" + +"Serf? That's good!" she said skeptically. "And say, you must love +Conrad about as much as Cap Pike does." + +"And that?" + +"Is like a rattlesnake." + +"Don't know that rattlesnake would be my first choice of comparison," +remarked Rhodes. "Back in Tennessee we have a variety beside which the +rattlesnake is a gentleman; a rattlesnake does his best to give +warning of intention, but the copperhead never does." + +"Copperhead! that's funny, for you know Conrad's hair is just about +the color of copper, dusty copper, faded copper--copper with tin +filings sifted through." + +"Don't strain yourself," laughed Rhodes. "That beautiful blondness +makes him mighty attractive to our Mexican cousins." + +"They can have my share," decided the girl. "I could worry along +without him quite awhile. He manages to get rid of all the likeable +range men _muy pronto_." + +Rhodes laughed until she stared at him frowningly, and then the +delicious color swept over her face. + +"Oh, _you_!" she said, and Rhodes thought of sweet peas, and pink +roses in old southern gardens as her lips strove to be straight, yet +curved deliciously. No one had mentioned to him how pretty she was; he +had thought of her as a browned tom-boy, but instead she was a +shell-pink bud on a slender stem, and wonder of wonders--she rode a +side-saddle in Arizona! + +She noticed him looking at it. + +"Are you going to laugh at that, too?" she demanded. + +"Why no, it hadn't occurred to me. It sort of looks like home to +me--our southern girls use them." + +She turned to him with a quick birdlike movement, her gray eyes +softened and trusting. + +"It was my mother's saddle, a wedding present from the vaqueros of our +ranches when she married my father. I am only beginning to use it, and +not so sure of myself as with the one I learned on." + +"Oh, I don't know," he observed. "You certainly looked sure when you +jumped that fence at Herrara's." + +She glanced at him quickly, curious, and then smiling. + +"And it was you, not the meadow lark! You are too clever!" + +"And you didn't answer, just turned your back on the lonely ranger," +he stated dolefully, but she laughed. + +"This doesn't look it, waiting to go home with you," she retorted. +"Cap Pike has been telling me about you until I feel as if I had known +you forever. He says you are his family now, so of course that makes +Granados different for you." + +"Why, yes. I've been in sight of Granados as much as twice since I +struck this neck of the woods. Your manager seems to think my valuable +services are indispensable at the southern side of this little +world." + +"So that's the reason? I didn't know," she said slowly. "One would +have to be a seventh son of a seventh son to understand his queer +ways. But you are going along home today, for I am a damsel in +distress and need to be escorted." + +"You don't look distressed, and I've an idea you could run away from +your escort if you took a notion," he returned. "But it is my lucky +day that I had a hunch for this caņon trail and the Green Springs, and +I am happy to tag along." + +They had reached Herrara's corral and Rhodes glanced up the little +gulch to the well. The flat rock there was stripped of the odd +collection, and Narcisco stood at the corner of the adobe watching +them somberly. + +"_Buenos tardes!_" called the girl. "Take care of the _niņo_ as the +very treasure of your heart!" + +"Sure!" agreed the lad, "_Adios_, seņorita." + +"Why the special guard over the treasure?" asked Rhodes as their +horses fell into the long easy lope side by side. "The house seems +full and running over, and _niņitas_ to spare." + +"There are never any to spare," she reminded him, "and this one is +doubly precious for it is named for me--together its saint and its two +grandmothers! Benicia promised me long ago that whether it was a boy +or a girl it would be Billie Bernard Herrara. I was just taking the +extra clothes I had Tia Luz make for him--and he is a little +black-eyed darling! Soon as he is weaned I'm going to adopt him; I +always did want a piccaninny for my own." + +Rhodes guided his horse carefully around a barranca edge, honeycombed +by gophers, and then let his eyes rest again on the lustrous confiding +eyes, and the rose-leaf lips. + +Afterward he told himself that was the moment he began to be bewitched +by Billie Bernard. + +But what he really said was--"Shoo, child, you're only a piccaninny +yourself!" and they both laughed. + +It was quite wonderful how old Captain Pike had managed to serve as a +family foundation for their knowledge of each other. There was not a +doubt or a barrier between them, they were "home folks" riding from +different ways and meeting in the desert, and silently claiming +kindred. + +The shadows grew long and long under the sun of the old Mexic land, +and the high heavens blazed above in yellows and pinks fading into +veiled blues and far misty lavenders in the hollows of the hills. + +The girl drew a great breath of sheer delight as she waved her hands +towards the fire flame in the west where the desert was a trail of +golden glory. + +"Oh, I am glad--glad I got away!" she said in a hushed half-awed +voice. "It never--never could be like this twice and we are seeing it! +Look at the moon!" + +The white circle in the east was showing through a net of softest +purple and the beauty of it caused them to halt. + +"Oh, it makes me want to sing, or to say my prayers, or--to cry!" she +said, and she blinked tears from her eyes and smiled at him. "I reckon +the colors would look the same from the veranda, but all this makes it +seem different," and her gesture took in the wide ranges. + +"Sure it does," he agreed. "One wants to yell, 'Hurrah for God!' when +a combination like this is spread before the poor meek and lowly of +the earth. It is a great stage setting, and makes us humans seem +rather inadequate. Why, we can't even find the right words for it." + +"It makes me feel that I just want to ride on and on, and on through +it, no matter which way I was headed." + +"Well, take it from me, seņorita, you are headed the right way," he +observed. "Going north is safe, but the blue ranges of the south are +walls of danger. The old border line is a good landmark to tie to." + +"Um!" she agreed, "but all the fascinating things and the witchy +things, and the mysterious things are down there over the border. I +never get real joy riding north." + +"Perhaps because it is not forbidden, Miss Eve." + +Then they laughed again and lifted the bridles, and the horses broke +into a steady lope, neck and neck, as the afterglow made the earth +radiant and the young faces reflected the glory of it. + +"What was that you said about getting away?" he queried. "Did you +break jail?" + +"Just about. Papa Singleton hid my cross-saddle thinking I would not +go far on this one. They have put a ban on my riding south, but I just +had to see my Billie Bernard Herrara." + +"And you ran away?" + +"N-no. We sneaked away mighty slow and still till we got a mile or two +out, and then we certainly burned the wind. Didn't we, Pat?" + +"Well, as range boss of this end of the ranch I reckon I have to herd +you home, and tell them to put up the fences," said Rhodes. + +"Yes, you will!" she retorted in derision of this highly improbable +suggestion. + +"Surest thing you know! Singleton has good reasons for restricting +your little pleasure rides to Granados. Just suppose El Gavilan, the +Hawk, should cross your trail in Sonora, take a fancy to Pat--for Pat +is some _caballo_!--and gather you in as camp cook?" + +"Camp cook?" + +"Why, yes; you can cook, can't you? All girls should know how to +cook." + +"What if I do? I have cooked on the camp trips with Cap Pike, but that +doesn't say I'll ever cook for that wild rebel, Ramon Rotil. Are you +trying to frighten me off the ranges?" + +"No, only stating the case," replied Rhodes lighting a cigarette and +observing her while appearing not to. "Quite a few of the girls in the +revolution camps are as young as you, and many of them are not doing +camp work by their own choice." + +"But I--" she began indignantly. + +"Oh yes, in time you would be ransomed, and for a few minutes you +might think it romantic--the 'Bandit Bride,' the 'Rebel Queen,' the +'Girl Guerrilla,' and all that sort of dope,--but believe me, child, +by the time the ransom was paid you would be sure that north of the +line was the garden spot of the earth and heaven enough for you, if +you could only see it again!" + +She gave him one sulky resentful look and dug her heel into Pat. He +leaped a length ahead of the roan and started running. + +"You can pretend you are El Gavilan after a lark, and see how near you +will get!" she called derisively and leaned forward urging the black +to his best. + +"You glorified gray-eyed lark!" he cried. "Gather her in, Pardner!" + +But he rode wide to the side instead of at the heels of Pat and thus +they rode neck and neck joyously while he laughed at her intent to +leave him behind. + +The corrals and long hay ricks of Granados were now in sight, backed +by the avenue of palms and streaks of green where the irrigation +ditches led water to the outlying fields and orchards. + +"El Gavilan!" she called laughingly. "Beat him, Pat,--beat him to the +home gate!" + +Then out of a fork of the road to the left, an automobile swept to +them from a little valley, one man was driving like the wind and +another waved and shouted. Rhodes' eyes assured him that the shouting +man was Philip Singleton, and he rode closer to the girl, grasped her +bridle, and slowed down his own horse as well as hers. + +"You'll hate me some more for this," he stated as she tried to jerk +loose and failed, "but that yelping windmill is your fond guardian, +and he probably thinks I am trying to kidnap you." + +She halted at that, laughing and breathless, and waved her hand to the +occupants of the car. + +"I can be good as an angel now that I have had my day!" she said. +"Hello folks! What's the excitement?" + +The slender man whom Rhodes had termed the yelping windmill, removed +his goggles, and glared, hopelessly distressed at the flushed, +half-laughing girl. + +"Billie--Wilfreda!" + +"Now, now, Papa Singleton! Don't swear, and don't ever get frightened +because I am out of sight." Then she cast one withering glance at +Rhodes, adding,--"and if you engage range bosses like this one no one +on Granados will ever get out of sight!" + +"The entire house force has been searching for you over two hours. +Where have you been?" + +"Oh, come along home to supper, and don't fuss," she suggested. "Just +because you hid my other saddle I went on a little _pasear_ of my own, +and I met up with this roan on my way home." + +Rhodes grinned at the way she eliminated the rider of the roan horse, +but the driver of the machine was not deceived by the apparent slight. +He had seen that half defiant smile of comradeship, and his tone was +not nice. + +"It is not good business to waste time and men in this way," he stated +flatly. "It would be better that word is left with the right ones when +you go over the border to amuse yourself in Sonora." + +The smile went out of the eyes of the girl, and she held her head very +erect. + +"You and Mr. Rhodes appear to agree perfectly, Mr. Conrad," she +remarked. "He was trying to show me how little chance I would stand +against El Gavilan or even the Yaqui slave traders if they ranged up +towards the border." + +"Slave traders?" repeated Conrad. "You are making your jokes about +that, of course, but the camp followers of the revolution is a +different thing;--everywhere they are ranging." + +The girl did not answer, and the car sped on to the ranch house while +the two horses cantered along after them, but the joyous freedom of +the ride had vanished, lost back there on the ranges when the other +minds met them in a clash. + +"Say," observed Rhodes, "I said nothing about Yaqui slave traders. +Where did you get that?" + +"I heard Conrad and his man Brehman talking of the profits,--sixty +pesos a head I think it was. I wonder how they knew?" + +Singleton was waiting for them at the entrance to the ranch house, +great adobe with a patio eighty feet square in the center. In the old +old days it had housed all the vaqueros, but now the ranchmen were +divided up on different outlying rancherias and the many rooms of +Granados were mostly empty. Conrad, his secretary Brehman, and their +cook occupied one corner, while Singleton and Billie and Tia Luz with +her brood of helpers occupied the other. + +Singleton was not equal to the large hospitality of the old days when +the owner of a hacienda was a sort of king, dispensing favors and +duties to a small army of retainers. A companionable individual he was +glad to meet and chat or smoke with, but if the property had been his +own he would have sold every acre and spent the proceeds in some city +of the East where a gentleman could get something for his money. + +Conrad had halted a moment after Singleton climbed out of the car. + +"I sent word to Rhodes to come up from La Partida because of the horse +shipment," he said looking across the level where the two riders were +just entering the palm avenue. "Because of that it would seem he is to +be my guest, and I have room." + +"Oh, we all have room, more room than anything else," answered +Singleton drearily, "but it will be as Billie says. I see Pike's nag +here, and she always wants Pike." + +The milky blue eyes of Conrad slanted towards Singleton in discreet +contempt of the man who allowed a wayward girl to decide the guests or +the housing of them. But he turned away. + +"The telephone will reach me if there is anything I can do," he said. + +Singleton did not reply. He knew Conrad absolutely disapproved of the +range boss being accepted as a family guest. Between Billie and +Captain Pike, who was a privileged character, he did not quite see how +he could prevent it in the case of Rhodes, although he was honestly so +glad to see the girl ride home safe that he would have accepted any +guest of the range she suggested. + +"Papa Phil," she said smiling up into his face teasingly, "I'm on my +native heath again, so don't be sulky. And I have a darling new +namesake I've been making clothes for for a month, and I'll tell you +all about him if you'll give Mr. Rhodes and me a good supper. He is +Cap Pike's family, and will have the south corner room; please tell +Tia Luz." + +And when Billie was like that, and called him "Papa Phil," and looked +up at him with limpid childish eyes, there was never much else to be +said. + +"I'll show Rhodes his quarters myself, and you make haste and get your +habit off. Luz has been waiting supper an hour. Today's paper reports +a band of bandits running off stock on the Alton ranch, and it is on +the Arizona side of the border. That should show you it is no time to +ride out of sight of the corrals." + +"Now, now! you know the paper raids aren't real raids. They'll have a +new one to get excited over tomorrow." + +She ran away to be petted and scolded and prayed for by Tia Luz, who +had been her nurse, and was now housekeeper and the privileged one to +whom Billie turned for help and sympathy. + +"You laugh! but the heart was melting in me with the fear," she +grumbled as she fastened the yellow sash over the white lawn into +which Billie had dashed hurriedly. "It is not a joke to be caught in +the raiding of Ramon Rotil, or any of the other accursed! Who could +think it was south you were riding? I was the one to send them north +in the search, every man of them, and Seņor Conrad looks knives at me. +That man thinks I am a liar, sure he does! and the saints know I was +honest and knew nothing." + +"Sure you know nothing, never could and never did, you dear old bag of +cotton," and Billie pinched affectionately the fat arm of Tia Luz and +tickled her under her fat chin. "Quick Luzita, and fasten me up. +Supper waits, and men are always raving wolves." + +She caught up a string of amber beads and clasped it about her throat +as she ran across the patio, and Kit Rhodes halted a moment in the +corridor to watch her. + +"White and gold and heavenly lovely," he thought as he rumpled his +crisp brown curls meditatively, all forgetful of the earnest attempts +he had just made to smooth them decorously with the aid of a damp +towel and a pocket comb. "White and gold and a silver spoon, and a +back seat for you, Kittie boy!" + +Captain Pike emerged from a door at the corner of the patio. He also +had damp hair, a shiny face, and a brand-new neckerchief with indigo +circles on a white ground. + +"Look at this, will you?" he piped gleefully. "Billie's the greatest +child ever! Always something stuck under the pillow like you'd hide +candy for a kid, and say,--if any of the outfit would chuck another +hombre in my bunk the little lady would raise hell from here to +Pinecate, and worse than that there ain't any this side of the +European centers of civilization. Come on in, supper's ready." + +Rhodes hesitated at the door of the dining room, suddenly conscious of +a dusty blouse and a much faded shirt. His spurs clink-clanked as he +strode along the tiling of the patio, and in the semi-twilight he felt +at home in the ranch house, but one look at the soft glow of the +shaded lamps, and the foot deep of Mexican needlework on the table +cover, gave him a picture of home such as he had not seen on the +ranges. + +Singleton was in spotless white linen, the ideal southern ranchman's +home garb, while the mistress of all the enticing picture was in white +and gold, and flushing pink as she met the grave appreciative gaze of +Rhodes. + +"H'lo little Santa Claus," chirruped Pike. "It's just the proper caper +to set off my manly beauty, so I'm one ahead of Kit who has no one to +garnish him for the feast--and it sure smells like some feast!" + +"Venison perhaps a trifle overdone, but we hope it won't disappoint +you," remarked Singleton. "Have this seat, Mr. Rhodes. Captain Pike +and Miss Bernard always chum together, and have their own side." + +"Rather," decided Pike, "and that arrangement reaches back beyond the +memory of mere man in this outfit." + +"I should say," agreed the girl. "Why, he used to have to toss me over +his head a certain number of times before I would agree to be strapped +in my high chair." + +"Yep, and I carpentered the first one, and it wasn't so bad at that! +Now child, if you will pass the lemons, and Kit will pass the decanter +of amber, and someone else will rustle some water, I'll manufacture a +tonic to take the dust out of your throats." + +"Everybody works but father," laughed Billie as the Chinaman sliced +and served the venison, and Tia Luz helped supply all plates, and then +took her place quietly at the lower end of the table and poured the +strong fragrant coffee. + +Rhodes spoke to her in Spanish, and her eyes lit up with kindly +appreciation. + +"Ah, very good!" she commented amicably. "You are not then too much +Americano?" + +"Well, yes, I'm about as American as you find them aside from the +Apache and Pima and the rest of the tribes." + +"Maybe so, but not gringo," she persisted. "I am scared of the Apache +the same as of El Gavilan, and today my heart was near to stop going +at all when we lose seņorita and that black horse--and I say a prayer +for you to San Antonio when I see you come fetch her home again." + +"Yes, the black horse is valuable," remarked Billie. "Huh! I might as +well be in a convent for all I get to see of the ranges these late +days. If anyone would grubstake me, I'd break loose with Cap here and +go prospecting for adventures into some of the unnamed ranges." + +"You see!" said Tia Luz. "Is it a wonder I am cold with the fear when +she is away from my eyes? I have lived to see the people who go into +the desert for adventure, and whose bare bones are all any man looks +on again! Beside the mountain wells of Carrizal my own cousin's +husband died; he could not climb to the tank in the hill. There they +found him in the moon of Kumaki, which is gray and nothing growing +yet." + +"Yes, many's the salt outfit in the West played out before they +reached Tinajas Altas," said Pike. "I've heard curious tales about +that place, and the Carrizals as well. Billie's father nearly cashed +in down in the Carrizals, and one of his men did." + +"But that is what I am saying. It was Dario Ruiz," stated Tia Luz. +"Yes, seņor, that was the time, and it was for the nameless ranges +they went seeking, and for adventures, treasure too; but--his soul to +God! it was death Dario was finding on that trail. Your father never +would speak one word again of the treasure of that old fable, for +Dario found death instead of the red gold, and Dario was _compadre_ to +him." + +"The red gold?" and Cap Pike's eyes were alight with interest. "Why, I +was telling Kit about that today, the red gold of El Alisal." + +"Yes, Seņor Capitan, once so rich and so red it was a wonder in Spain +when the padres are sending it there from the mission of Soledad, and +then witches craft, like a cloud, come down and cover that mountain. +So is the vein lost again, and it is nearly one hundred years. So how +could Dario think to find it when the padres, with all their prayer, +never once found the trail?" + +"I never heard it was near a mission," remarked Pike. "Why, if it had +a landmark like that there should be no trouble." + +"Yet it is so, and much trouble, also deaths," stated Tia Luz. "That +is how the saying is that the red gold of El Alisal is gold bewitched, +for of Soledad not one adobe is now above ground unless it be in the +old walls of the hacienda. All is melted into earth again or covered +by the ranch house, and it is said the ranch house is also neglected +now, and many of its old walls are going." + +"There are still enough left to serve as a very fair fortress," +remarked Singleton. "I was down there two years ago when we bought +some herds from Perez, and lost quite a number from lack of water +before the vaqueros got them to La Partida wells. It is a long way +between water holes over in Altar." + +"Sure," agreed Pike, "but if the old mine was near a mission, and the +mission was near the ranch of Soledad it should not be a great stunt +to find it, and there must be water and plenty of it if they do much +in cattle." + +"They don't these days," said Singleton. "Perez sold a lot rather than +risk confiscation, and I heard they did have some raids down there. I +thought I had heard most of the lost mine legends of western Sonora, +but I never heard of that one, and I never heard that Fred Bernard +went looking for it." + +The old woman lifted her brows and shrugged her shoulders with the +suggestion that Sonora might hold many secrets from the amicable +gentleman. But a little later, in an inquiry from Rhodes she +explained. + +"See you, seņor, Dario Ruiz was _compadre_ of Seņor Alfredo Bernard, +Americanos not understanding all in that word, and the grandfather of +Dario was major-domo of the rancho of Soledad at that time the Apaches +are going down and killing the people there. That is when the mine was +lost. On the skin of a sheep it was told in writing all about it, and +Dario had that skin. Sure he had! It was old and had been buried in +the sand, and holes were eaten in it by wild things, but Don Alfredo +did read it, and I was hearing the reading of it to Dario Ruiz, but of +what use the reading when that mine bewitched itself into hiding?" + +"But the writing? Did that bewitch itself away also?" demanded +Billie. + +"How could I be asking of that when Dario was dead down there in the +desert, and his wife, that was my cousin Anita, was crazy wild against +Don Alfredo the father of you! Ai, that was a bad time, and Don +Alfredo with black silence on him for very sorrow. And never again in +his life did he take the Sonora trail for adventures or old treasure. +And it is best that you keep to a mind like his mind, seņorita. He +grew wise, but Dario died for that wisdom, and in Sonora someone +always dies before wisdom is found. First it was two priests went to +death for that gold, and since that old day many have been going. It +is a witchcraft, and no blessing on it!" + +"Well, I reckon I'd be willing to cross my fingers, and take the +trail if I could get started right," decided Rhodes. "It certainly +sounds alluring." + +"I did go in once," confessed Pike, "but we had no luck, struck a +_temporale_ where a Papago had smallpox, and two dry wells where there +should have been water. My working pardner weakened at Paradones and +we made tracks for the good old border. That is no trail for a lone +white man." + +"But the writing, the writing!" persisted Billie. "Tia Luz, you are a +gold mine yourself of stories, but this one you never told, and I am +crazy about it! You never forget anything, and the writing you _could_ +not,--so we know you have the very words of that writing!" + +"Yes, that is true too, for the words were not so many, and where some +words had been the wild things had eaten holes. The words said that +from the mine of El Alisal the mission of Soledad could be seen. And +from the door of Soledad it was one look, one only, to the blue +caņoncita where the alisal tree was growing, and water from the gold +of the rose washed the roots of that tree." + +"Good God!" muttered Rhodes staring at the old lady who sat nodding +her head in emphasis until her jet and gold earrings were all +a-twinkle. "It was as easy as _that_,--yet no one found it?" + +"But seņor,"--and it was plain to be seen that Doņa Luz was enjoying +herself hugely as the center of all attention, "the two padres who +made that writing met their death at that place--and it was said the +_barbaros_ at last killed also the grandfather of Dario, anyway he did +die, and the women were afraid to tell even a new padre of that +buried writing for the cause that it must have been accursed when it +killed all people. That is how it was, and that mission was forsaken +after that time. A Spaniard came up from Sinaloa and hunted gold and +built Soledad hacienda where that mission had been in that old time, +but no one ever found any more of gold than the chickens always are +picking, a little here, a little there with a gravel in the craw. No +seņor, only once the red gold--red as flame--went out of Altar on a +mule to the viceroy in Mexico, and the padres never lived to send any +more, or see their brothers again. The men who dug that gold dug also +their grave. Death goes with it." + +"Ugh!" and Billie shivered slightly, and looked at Rhodes, "don't you +go digging it!" + +His eyes met hers across the table. It was only for an instant, and +then Billie got very busy with her coffee which she had forgotten. + +"Oh, I'd travel with a mascot to ward off evil," he said. "Would you +give me a bead from your string?" + +She nodded her head, but did not speak. No one noticed them, for Cap +Pike was telling of the old native superstition that the man who first +found an ore bed found no good luck for himself, though the next man +might make a fortune from it. + +"Why," he continued in evidence, "an Indian who finds even a vein of +special clay for pottery doesn't blaze a trail to it for anyone else. +He uses it if he wants it, because his own special guardian god +uncovered it for him, but if it is meant for any other man, that other +man's god will lead him to it when the time comes. That is how they +reason it out for all the things covered by old Mother Earth. And I +reckon the redder the gold the more secret the old _barbaros_ would be +about it, for gold is their sun-god medicine, or symbol, or +something." + +"With white priests scattered through Sonora for two centuries +one would suppose those old superstitions would be pretty well +eradicated," remarked Singleton. + +Doņa Luz glanced at him as at a child who must be let have his own +ideas so long as they were harmless, but Pike laughed. + +"Lord love you, Singleton, nothing eradicates superstition from +the Indian mind, or any other mind! All the creeds of the earth are +built on it, and a lot of the white ones are still alive and going +strong! And as for priests, why man, the Indian priests are bred of +those tribes, and were here before the white men came from Spain. It's +just about like this: If 'Me und Gott' and the U-boats took a notion +to come over and put a ball and chain on all of so-called free +America, there might be some pacifist mongrels pretend to like it, +and just dote on putting gilt on the chain, and kow-towing to that +blood-puddin' gang who are raising hell in Belgium. But would the +thoroughbreds like it? Not on your life! Well, don't you forget +there were a lot of thoroughbreds in the Indian clans even if some +of their slaves did breed mongrels! And don't forget that the ships +from overseas are dumping more scrub stock on the eastern shores right +now than you'll find in any Indian rancheria either here in Pima or +over in Sonora. The American isn't to blame for all the seventeen +dozen creeds they bring over,--whether political or religious, and I +reckon that's about the way the heads of the red clans feel. They are +more polite than we are about it, but don't you think for a moment +that the European invasion ever changed religion for the Indian +thoroughbred. No sir! He is still close to the earth and the +stars, and if he thinks they talk to him--well, they just _talk to +him_, and what they tell him isn't for you or me to hear,--or to sit +in judgment on either, if it comes to that! We are the outsiders." + +"Now, Cap," said Billie, "I'm going to take it away. It's too near +your elbow, and you have had a double dose for every single one you've +been handing out! You can take a rest until the others catch up. Tia +Luz, give him a cup of coffee good and strong to help get his politics +and religion straightened out." + +Pike laughed heartily with the rest of them, and took the coffee. + +"All right, dear little Buttercup. Any medicine you hand out is good +to me. But say, that dope about hidden ores may not be all Indian at +that, for I recollect that mountaineers of Tennessee had the same +hunch about coal veins, and an old lead vein where one family went for +their ammunition. They could use it and they did, but were mighty sure +they'd all be hoodooed if they uncovered it for anyone else, so I +reckon that primitive dope does go pretty far back. I'll bet it was +old when Tubal Cain first began scratching around the outcroppings by +his lonesomes." + +Conrad sauntered along the corridor and seated himself, flicking idly +some leather thongs he had cut out from a green hide with a curved +sheath knife rather fine and foreign looking. Singleton called him to +come in and have coffee, but he would not enter, pleading his +evil-smelling pipe as a reason. + +"It can't beat mine for a downright bachelor equipment," affirmed +Pike, "but I've scandalized this outfit enough, or thereabout, and +that venison has killed all our appetites until breakfast, so why hang +around where ungrateful children swat a man's dearest hobbies?" + +"If you think you'll get rid of me that way you had better think +again," said Billie. "I don't mind your old smokes, or any other of +your evil ways, so long as you and Tia Luz tell us more bewitched mine +stories. Say, Cap, wouldn't it be great if that old sheepskin was +found again, and we'd all outfit for a Sonora _pasear_, and----" + +"We would not!" decided the old man patting her hair. "You, my lady, +will take a _pasear_ to some highbrow finishing school beyond the +ranges, and I'll hit the trail for Yuma in a day or two, but at the +present moment you can wind up the music box and start it warbling. +That supper sure was so perfect nothing but music will do for a +finish!" + +The men drifted out in the corridor and settled into the built-in +seats of the plazita, though Rhodes remained standing in the portal +facing inward to the patio where the girl's shimmering white dress +fluttered in the moonlight beside the shadowy bulk of Tia Luz. + +He lit a cigarette and listened for the music box Pike had suggested, +but instead he heard guitar strings, and the little ripple of +introduction to the old Spanish serenade _Vengo a tu ventana_, "I come +to your window." + +He turned and glanced towards the men who were discussing horse +shipments, and possibilities of the Prussian sea raiders sinking +transports on the way to France, but decided his part of that +discussion could wait until morning. + +Tia Luz had lit the lamp in the _sala_, and the light streamed across +the patio where the night moths fluttered about the white oleanders. +He smiled in comical self-derision as he noticed the moths, but tossed +away the cigarette and followed the light. + +When Captain Pike indulged the following morning in sarcastic comment +over Kit's defection, the latter only laughed at him. + +"Shirk business? Nothing doing. I was strictly on the job listening to +local items on treasure trails instead of powwowing with you all over +the latest news reports from the Balkans. Soon as my pocket has a +jingle again, I am to get to the French front if little old U. S. +won't give me a home uniform, but in the meantime Doņa Luz Moreno is +some reporter if she is humored, and I mean to camp alongside every +chance I get. She has the woman at the _cantina_ backed off the map, +and my future Spanish lessons will be under the wing of Doņa Luz. Me +for her!" + +"Avaricious young scalawag!" grunted Pike. "You'd study African +whistles and clicks and clacks if it blazed trail to that lost gold +deposit! Say, I sort of held the others out there in front thinking I +would let you get acquainted with little Billie, and you waste the +time chinning about death in the desert, and dry camps to that +black-and-tan talking machine." + +Kit only laughed at him. + +"A record breaker of a moon too!" grumbled the old man. "Lord!--lord! +at your age I'd crawled over hell on a rotten rail to just sit +alongside a girl like Billie--and you pass her up for an old hen with +a mustache, and a gold trail!" + +Kit Rhodes laughed some more as he got into the saddle and headed for +the Granados corral, singing: + + _Oh--I'll cut off my long yellow hair + To dress in men's array, + And go along with you, my dear + Your waiting man to be!_ + +He droned out the doleful and incongruous love ballad of old lands, +and old days, for the absurd reason that the youth of the world in his +own land beat in his blood, and because in the night time one of the +twinkling stars of heaven had dropped down the sky and become a girl +of earth who touched a guitar and taught him the words of a Spanish +serenade,--in case he should find a Mexican sweetheart along the +border! + +For to neither of the young, care-free things, had come a glimmer of +fore-vision of the long tragic days, treasure trails and desert +deaths, primitive devotions and ungodly vengeance, in which the +threads of their own lives would be entangled before those two ever +heard the music of the patio again--together. + + _If in Holland fields I met a maid + All handsome fond and gay, + And I should chance to love her + What would my Mary say?_ + + _What would I say, dear Willie? + That I would love her too, + And I would step to the one side + That she might speak with you!_ + +"Yes, you would--not!" he stated in practical prose to no one in +particular. "Not if you were our girl, would she, Pardner?" + +Pardner tossed up his head in recognition of the comradeship in the +tone, and Kit Rhodes became silent, and rode on to the corrals, +happily smiling at some new thoughts. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A VERIFIED PROPHECY OF SEŅORITA BILLIE + + +That smile was yet with him when he saw the herd and the vaqueros +coming up from the water tanks, and noted Conrad and Tomas Herrara +talking together beside Conrad's automobile. + +The beat of the many hoofs prevented the two men from noting one horse +near them, and words of Conrad came to him clearly. + +"It has to be that way. You to go instead of Miguel. You have enough +English, you can do it." + +Tomas Herrara muttered something, evidently reluctance, for again +Conrad's words were heard. + +"But think of the _dinero_, much of money to you! And that fool swine +will not see what is under his nose. You can do it, sure you can! +There is no danger. The blame will be to him if it is found; my agent +will see to that. Not you but the gringo will be the one to answer the +law. You will know nothing." + +He spoke in Spanish rapidly, while both men watched the approaching +vaqueros. + +The smile had gone from Kit's face, and he was puzzled to follow the +words, or even trust his own ears. + +"_Bueno_," said Herrara with a nod of consent. "Since Miguel is +hurt----" + +"Whoa, Pardner," sang out Rhodes, back of them as he slid out of the +saddle. "Good morning, gentlemen. Do you say Miguel is hurt, Herrara? +How comes that?" + +The face of Herrara went a curious gray, and his lips blue and +apparently stiff for he only murmured, "_Buenas dias_, seņor," and +gulped and stared at Conrad. But the surprise of Conrad, while +apparent, was easily accounted for, and he was too well poised to be +startled unduly by any emergency. + +"Hah! Is it you, Rhodes, so early? Yes, Miguel is reported hurt over +Poso Verde way. Not serious, but for the fact that he was the one to +go with you on the horse shipment, and now another must go. Perhaps +his brother here." + +"Oh--ah--yes," assented Rhodes thoughtfully. He was not so old as +Conrad, and quite aware he was not so clever, and he didn't know their +game, so he strove as he could to hold the meaning of what he had +heard, and ended rather lamely: "Well, too bad about Miguel, but if +you, Tomas, are going instead, you had better get your war togs ready. +We start tonight from the Junction, and have three hours to get +ready." + +"Three hours only!" again Herrara seemed to weaken. To start in three +hours a journey into the unknown far East of the Americano was beyond +his imaginings. He shrugged his shoulders, tossed his hands outwards +in despair, and turned toward the barns. + +Conrad looked after him in irritation, and then smiled at Rhodes. He +had a rather ingratiating smile, and it the first time he had betrayed +it to Kit. + +"These explosive Latins," he said derisively. "I think I can make him +reasonable, and you go forward with your own preparations." + +He followed Herrara, leaving Kit staring after them wondering. His +glance then rested on the automobile, and he noted that it had not +merely come out of the garage for the usual work of the day. It had +been traveling somewhere, for the wheels were crusted with mud--mud +not there at sunset yesterday. And in that section of Pima there was +no water to make mud nearer than Poso Verde, and it was over there +Miguel Herrara had been hurt! + +He had only three hours, and no time to investigate. There were rumors +of smuggling all along the line over there, and strange conferences +between Mexican statesmen and sellers of Connecticut hardware of an +explosive nature. He recalled having heard that Singleton was from +Connecticut, or was it Massachusetts? Anyway, it was over there at the +eastern edge of the country somewhere, and it was also where plots and +counter plots were pretty thick concerning ammunition; also they were +more complicated on the Mexican border. He wondered if Singleton was +as simple as he looked, for he certainly was paying wages to a mixed +lot. Also it was a cinch to run any desirable contraband from Granados +across to La Partida and from there hellwards. + +He wondered if Singleton knew? But Singleton had a capable business +manager, while he, Rhodes, was only a range boss with the understanding +that he adjust himself to any work a white man might qualify for. + +The mere fact that once he had sat at the family table might not, in +Singleton's eyes, warrant him in criticizing an approved manager, or +directing suspicion towards him. He might speak to Pike, but he +realized that Pike was not taken very seriously; only welcomed because +Billie liked him, and because an American ranch usually had the open +door for the old timers of his caliber. + +Also Pike had told him plainly that he must not be expected to mix up +in the Mexican game for any reason whatsoever. + +"I reckon it's up to us, Pardner," he decided, as he called directions +to the different men loading the wagons with oats and barley for the +stock on the trail. There were three mule teams ready for the railroad +junction where the cars were waiting on the siding, or would be by +night. + +Some of the men were getting the mules straightened out in the harness +while others were roping horses in the corral. It would take most of +the home outfit to lead and drive them to the railroad, which meant +one lonely and brief period of hilarity at the only joint where +"bootleg" whiskey could be secured by the knowing, and a "movie" +theater could add to other simple entertainments for the gentle Juans +of the ranges. Neither Conrad nor Herrara were visible, and he +presumed the latter was making arrangements for the sudden and +unexpected departure from his family, but he knew he had not attempted +to ride home for a farewell greeting, because his horse still stood +near Conrad's automobile where he had first overheard that curious +conversation between the two men. + +After a leisurely breakfast Pike was meandering towards the stock +yard on his mule with the intent to trail along to the Junction with +the boys. Rhodes, catching sight of him, looked hopefully but +unsuccessfully for Singleton. The minutes were slipping by, and no +definite instructions had been given him concerning the three car +loads of horses. Did Conrad mean to leave every detail until the last +moment and make difficulties for the new man? Was that the way he got +rid of the Americans he didn't want? He recalled the prophecy of +Billie that he would not hold his job. Well, he would show her! + +With memories of the white and gold vision of the previous night, and +the guitar in the _sala_, and the moonlight touching all to +enchantment, he had fully decided that he would not only hold the job, +but on some future day he would be business manager. And he'd find +that lost mine or know the reason why, and he would---- + +For after all Kit Rhodes was only twenty-three and all of life ahead +of him for dreams! He was wondering what he could fetch back from the +East that would be acceptable to a witchy elf of a butterfly girl who +already had, to his simple estimate, all the requisites of a princess +royal. + +Juanito came loping past, and Rhodes asked for his father. + +"I am myself looking for him," said the boy. "He has there on his +horse all the things for Tio Miguel, but Miguel not coming, and I +wonder who goes? Maybe it will be me. What you think?" he asked +hopefully. + +Kit did not answer, for Juanito's mention of the articles for Miguel +brought from home by Tomas, and still fastened to the back of the +saddle, drew his attention to the articles tied there--some clothing +badly wrapped, a pair of black shoes tied together with brown strings, +and under them, yet plainly visible, a canvas water bag. + +There was nothing unusual in a water bag or a canteen tied back of any +saddle in the dry lands, it was the sensible thing to do, but Kit +found himself staring at this particular water bag stupidly, +remembering where he had seen it last. It had been only partly full +then, but now it was plump and round as if water-filled; yet one +glance told him it was not wet, and moreover, he had noted the day +before a hole in the side tied up in a hard knot by twine, and there +was the knot! + +Yet it might be a stock of _pinole_, parched corn, as evidence of +Miguel's forethought against privation on the long eastern trail. He +could think of several reasonable things to account for an old water +bag tied to a Mexican's saddle, but reason did not prevent his glance +turning to it again and again. + +The fear in Narcisco's eyes came back to him, and his attempt to cover +his harmless playthings at the coming of the unexpected American. He +wondered---- + +"Say, Bub, I've got ten dollars to invest in some little trinket for +Billie boy, and I want you to put it down in your jeans and invest it +in whatever it will cover," said Captain Pike at his elbow, clinking +the silver coin meditatively. "You'll have time to see plenty +attractive things for the money there in the streets of New York, or +Baltimore, or whichever of the dock towns you'll be heading for." + +Rhodes accepted the coin, absently frowning. + +"That's one of the dark secrets not yet divulged by this curious +management," he growled. "I'm to go, or so I was told, but have been +given no instructions. Where's Singleton?" + +"Just rounded up for breakfast." + +"Is he coming down here to the corrals?" + +"Not that I could notice. Pedro got in from the Junction with last +Sunday's papers, and he and Billie have the picture sheets spread +around, having a weekly feast." + +Kit strode over to his mount, and then halted, glancing towards the +house a half mile away, and then at the telephone poles along the wide +lane. + +"Say, there's a telephone somewhere down here at the works, connecting +with the hacienda, isn't there?" + +"Sure, in that hallway between the two adobes where the bunk house +ends and offices begin." + +Kit started briskly towards the long bunk house, and then turned to +Pike. + +"Do me a favor, Captain. Stay right there till I get back, and don't +let anyone take that Herrara horse away, or his load!" + +"All right, but load!--why, the spotted rat hasn't got a load for a +jack rabbit, load!" and Pike sniffed disdain at the little knobs of +baggage dangling from the rawhide strings. He didn't think the subdued +animal needed watching--still, if Kit said so---- + +At the same time Kit was calling the house, and hearing in reply a +soft whistle of the meadow lark, and then a girl's laugh. + +"Your music is good to listen to, Lark-child," he called back, "and +your ears are perfectly good at telling who's who, but this is a +strictly business day, and it is Mr. Singleton I need to speak with." + +"Still holding your job, or asking for your time?" came the mocking +voice. + +"You bet I'm holding my job, also I am on it, and want the boss." + +"Well, sometimes you know the boys call me the boss. What can we do +for you, Mr. Kit Rhodes?" + +"I'll use all three of my Spanish cuss words in a minute, if you don't +be reasonable," he thundered. + +"Is that a bribe?" came sweetly over the wire, and when he muttered +something impatiently, she laughed and told him it was not fair to use +another language when he had promised Spanish. + +"Listen to me, young lady, if I can't get Singleton on the wire I'll +get on a horse and go up there!" + +"And you listen to me, young man, it wouldn't do you a bit of good, +for just now he is nearly having a fit, and writing telegrams about +something more important than the horse corrals." + +"There is nothing more important this day and date," insisted Kit. + +"Well, if you were as strictly a white dove advocate as Papa Singleton +is, and as neutral, and then saw a full page Sunday supplement of your +pet picture fraulein, working for your pet charity and sifting poison +into hospital bandages and powdered glass in jellies for the soldiers +of the Allies, I reckon you would change your mind." + +"Powdered glass!--in _feed_!" repeated Kit, stunned at the words and +the sudden thought they suggested. "Great God, girl, you don't have +to go to the eastern papers for _that_! You've got the same trick +right here in Granados this minute! Why--damn you!" + +The receiver fell from his hand as a crushing blow was dealt him from +the door at his back. He heard a girl's scream in the distance as he +grappled with Conrad and saved himself a second blow from the +automobile wrench in the manager's hands. It fell to the tiles between +them, and Rhodes kicked it to one side as he struck and struck again +the white, furious face of Conrad. + +"The wrench! Tomas, the wrench! Give it to him! The Americano would +murder me!" shouted Conrad. + +Tomas had other things to think of. He had heard as much as Conrad of +the telephone discourse, and was aware of his pinto standing placidly +not fifty feet away, with all the damning evidence in the case tied to +the back of the saddle! + +Juanito, however, ran like a cat at his master's call and caught up +the wrench, but halted when Pike closed on his shoulder and pressed a +cold little circle of blue steel against his ribs. + +"Not this time, _muchacho_!" he shrilled, "drop it! This is a man's +game, and you're out." + +The men came running, and others attempted to interfere, but the +little old man waved the gun at them and ordered them to keep their +distance. + +"No crowding the mourners!" he admonished them gleefully. "I've a +hunch your man started it, and my man will finish it. I don't know +what it's about, Kit, but give him hell on suspicion! Go to it, +boy,--do it again! Who-ee!--that was a sock-dolager! Keep him off +you, Kit, he's a gouger, and has the weight. Give it to him standing, +and give it to him good! That's it! Ki-yi! Hell's bells and them +a-chiming!" + +For the finale of that whirl of the two striking, staggering, cursing +men, was unexpectedly dramatic. They had surged out into the open, but +Conrad, little by little and step by step, or rather stagger by +stagger, had given way before the mallet-like precision of the younger +man's fists until Kit's final blow seemed actually to lift him off his +feet and land him--standing--against the adobe wall. An instant he +quivered there, and then fell forward, glassy eyed and limp. + +Singleton's car came whirling down the lane. Billie leaped from it +before it stopped, and ran in horror to the prone figure. One of the +older Mexicans tried to ward her off from the sight. + +"No good, seņorita, it is the death of him," he said gently. "One +stroke like that on the heart and it is--_adios_!" + +"What in the name of God--" began Singleton, and Kit wiped the blood +from his eyes and faced him, staggering and breathless. + +"Get him water! Get busy!" he ordered. "I don't think he's done for, +not unless he has some mighty weak spot he should have had labelled +before he waded into this." + +The blood was still trickling from the cut in his head made by the +wrench, and he presented an unholy appearance as they stared at him. + +"I'll explain, Singleton, for I reckon you are white. I'll--after +while----" + +"You'll explain nothing to me!" retorted Singleton "If the man dies +you'll explain to a jury and a judge; otherwise you'd better take +yourself out of this country." + +Kit blinked at those who were lifting Conrad and listening to his +heart, which evidently had not stopped permanently. + +"But give me a chance, man!" persisted Rhodes. "I need some mending +done on this head of mine,--then I'll clear it up. Why, the evidence +is right here--powdered glass for the stock at the far end of the +trail--Herrara knows--Conrad's game--and----" + +He did not know why words were difficult and the faces moved in +circles about him. The blood soaking his shirt and blouse, and +dripping off his sleeve was cause enough, but he did not even know +that. + +"Take him away, Captain Pike," said Singleton coldly. "He is not +wanted any longer on either of the ranches. It's the last man I hire, +Conrad can do it in future." + +"Conrad, eh?" grunted Kit weakly, "you're a nice easy mark for the +frankfurter game,--you and your pacifist bunch of near-traitors! Why +man----" + +But Singleton waved him away, and followed the men who were carrying +Conrad to the bunk house. + +"All right, _all_ right! But take care you don't meet with a nastier +accident than that before you are done with this game!" he said +shaking his fist warningly after Singleton, and then he staggered to +his horse where Pike was waiting for him. + +He got in the saddle, and reeled there a moment, conscious of hostile, +watchful eyes,--and one girl's face all alone in the blur. + +"Say," he said, "I heard you scream. You thought it was you I swore +at. You're wrong there. But you are some little prophetess,--_you_ +are! The job's gone, and Herrara's got away with the evidence, and the +jig's up! But it wasn't you I cussed at--not--at--all! Come on, Pike. +This new ventilator in my head is playing hell its own way. Come +on--let's go by-bye!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN THE ADOBE OF PEDRO VIJIL + + +"There ain't no such animal," decided Kit Rhodes seated on the edge of +the bed in Pedro Vigil's adobe. His head was bandaged, his face a +trifle pale and the odor of medicaments in the shadowy room of the one +deep-barred window. "No, Captain, no man, free, white and twenty-one +_could_ be such a fool. Can't Singleton see that if Conrad's story was +true he'd have the constable after me for assault with intent to kill? +He's that sort!" + +"Well, Singleton thinks Conrad would be justified in having you +prosecuted, and jailed, and fined, and a few other things, but for the +reputation of Granados they let you down easy. You know it's _the_ +dovery for the Pass-up-the-fists of this section, and what the Arizona +papers would do would be comic if they ever got hold of the fact that +Singleton picked a new bird for the dove cage, and the dratted thing +changed before their eyes to a fractious game rooster swinging a right +like the hind leg of a mule! No, Bub, we're orderly, peaceable folks +around here, so for the sake of our reputation Singleton has prevailed +on his manager to be merciful to you, and Conrad has in true pacifist +spirit let himself be prevailed upon." + +"Which means," grinned Kit, "that I'm to be put off my guard, and done +for nicely and quietly some moonless night when I take the trail! And +he reports me either drunk or temporarily insane, does he? Well, when +the next time comes I'll change that gentleman's mind." + +"Shucks, Bub! Thank a fool's luck that your skull was only scratched, +and don't go planning future wars. I tell you we are peace doves +around here, and you are a stray broncho kicking up an undesirable +dust in our front yard. Here is your coin. Singleton turned it over to +me and I receipted for it, and we have enough between us to hit the +Sonora trail, and there's not a bit of use in your hanging around +here. You have no evidence. You are a stranger who ambled in, heard a +sensational newspaper report of anti-ally criminal intent, and on the +spot accused the highly respectable Granados rancho of indulging in +that same variety of hellishness! Now there is your case in a +nutshell, Bub, and you wouldn't get the authorities to believe you in +a thousand years!" + +"What about you?" + +"Oh, I have just little enough sense to believe your hunch is right, +but that won't get you anywhere. They think I'm loco too! I've an idea +there is a lot more and rottener activities down south of the line +with which our Teutonic peace arbitrator is mixed up. But he's been on +this job five years, all the trails are his, and an outsider can't get +a look-in! Now Miguel Herrara has been doing gun-running across the +border for someone, and Miguel was not only arrested by the customs +officer, but Miguel was killed two nights ago--shot with his own gun +so that it looks like suicide. Suicide nothing! His chief, whoever he +is, was afraid Miguel would blunder or weaken under government +persuasion, so Miguel was let out of the game. That case is closed, +and no evidence against anyone. I reckon everyone knows that the guns +and ammunition sneaked over is headed for Rancho Soledad. The owner of +Soledad, José Perez, is the valued friend of our nice little Conrad, +and it happens that Conrad left Granados this morning for that +direction, ostensibly to negotiate with the political powers of Sonora +concerning a military guard for La Partida in case revolutionary +stragglers should ride north for fresh saddle-horses. All appeals to +the neutral chair warmers at Washington wins us no protection from +that source;--they only have guns and men enough to guard some +cherished spots in Texas." + +"Well, if the Teuton is able for a trail I reckon he got nothing worse +in the scrap than I, even if he did look like a job for the +undertaker. That fellow travels on the strength of his belly and not +the strength of his heart." + +"So you say," observed Pike, grinning, "but then again there are +others of us who travel on nerve and gall and never get any further! +Just put this in your pipe, Bub, and don't forget it: Conrad is +_organised_ for whatever deviltry he is up to! There is no 'happen so' +in his schemes. He is a cog in some political wheel, and it's a +fifty-fifty gamble as to whether the wheel is German or Mexican, but +it is no little thing, and is not to be despised." + +"But I can't see how Singleton, if Singleton is square even----" + +"Singleton is a narrow gauge disciple of Universal Peace by +decree--which, translated, means plain damn fool. Lord, boy, if a pack +of prairie wolves had a man surrounded, would he fold his hands with +the hope that his peaceful attitude would appeal to their better +instincts or would he reach for a gun and give them protective pills? +The man of sense never goes without his gun in wolf land, but +Singleton--well, in peace times he could have lived a long lifetime, +and no one ever guessed what a weak sister he was, but he's sure out +of place on the border." + +"I'm tired wearing this halo," observed Rhodes, referring to the white +handkerchief around his head. "Also some of the dope you gave me seems +to be evaporating from my system, and I feel like hitting the Piman +breeze. Can we strike trail tomorrow?" + +"We cannot. Doņa Luz has been dosing out the dope for you--Mexican +women are natural doctors with their own sort of herbs--and she says +three days before you go in the sun. I've a notion she sort of let the +Mexicans think that you were likely to cash in, and you bled so like a +stuck pig that it was easy enough to believe the worst." + +"Perhaps that's why Conrad felt safe in leaving me outside of jail. +With Doņa Luz as doctor, and a non-professional like you as assistant, +I reckon he thought my chance of surviving that monkey wrench assault +was slim, mighty slim!" + +"Y--yes," agreed Pike, "under ordinary conditions he might have been +justified in such surmise, but that would be figuring on the normal +thickness of the normal civilized skull, but yours--why, Bub, all I'm +puzzling over now is how it happens that the monkey wrench was only +twisted a mite, not broke at all!" + +"You scandalous old varmint!" grinned Kit. "Go on with your weak-minded +amusements, taking advantage of a poor lone cripple,--refused by the +army, and a victim of the latest German atrocity! I suppose--I +suppose,"--he continued darkly, "everyone on and around Granados agrees +that I was the villain in the assault?" + +"I couldn't say as to that," returned Pike judicially. "Doņa Luz would +dose you, and plaster you, just the same if you had killed a half +dozen instead of knocking the wind out of one. She's pretty fine and +all woman, but naturally since they regard you as my _companero_ they +are shy about expressing themselves when I'm around--all except +Singleton--and you heard him." + +"Good and plenty," agreed Kit. "Say, I'm going to catch up on sleep +while I've a chance, and you rustle along and get any tag ends of +things needed for the trail. I'm going to strike for Mesa Blanca, as +that will take us up into the country of that Alisal mine. If we go +broke there is Mesa Blanca ranch work to fall back on for a grub +stake, but from what I hear we can dry wash enough to buy corn and +flour, and the hills are full of burro meat. We'll browse around until +we either strike it rich, or get fed up with trying. Anyway, +_Companero_, we will be in a quiet, peaceful pastoral land, close to +nature, and out of reach of Teuton guile and monkey wrenches. _Buenas +noches_, seņor. I'm asleep!" + +Pike closed the door, and went from the semi-dark of the adobe out +into the brilliant sunshine where Billie, with a basket, was waiting +under the _ramada_ with Merced, and Merced looked gloomy lest Pedro +should be blamed by Seņor Singleton for practically turning his family +out of the adobe that it might be given over to the loco Americano. + +"Tomorrow, can he go?" she asked hopefully. "Me, I have a fear. Not +before is the adobe here watched by hidden men at night, and that is +very bad! Because that he is friend to you I say to everybody that I +think the Americano is dying in our house, but today he talks, also he +is laughing. No more sick?" + +"No more sick, sure not, but it will be one more day. A man does not +bleed like a gored bull and ride the next day under a sky hot enough +to fry eggs. The tea of Doņa Luz drove off the fever, and he only +sleeps and talks, and sleeps again, but sick? Not a bit!" + +"Nor--nor sorry, I reckon?" ventured Billie. + +"Why, no child, not that I could notice. That scalawag doesn't seem to +have much conscience concerning his behavior." + +"Or his language!" she added. + +"Sure, that was some invocation he offered up! But just between pals, +Billie, you ought to have been in hearing." + +"I--I don't suppose he even remembers that I was," she remarked, and +then after a silence, "or--or even mentioned--us?" + +"Why, no, Billie. You made the right guess when you sized him up and +thought he couldn't hold the job. He certainly doesn't belong, Billie, +for this ranch is the homing nest of the peace doves, and he's just an +ungainly young game rooster starting out with a dare against the +world, and only himself for a backer. Honest,--if that misguided youth +had been landed in jail, I don't reckon there's anyone in Arizona with +little enough sense to bail him out." + +"Likely not," said Billie. "Well, there's the basket from Tia Luz, and +I might as well go home." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AN "ADIOS"--AND AFTER + + +Two days later in the blue clear air of the Arizona morning a sage hen +slipped with her young through the coarse grass by the irrigation +ditch, and a flock of quail raised and fluttered before the quick +rhythmic beat of a loping horse along the trail in the mesquite +thicket. + +The slender gallant figure of his rider leaned forward looking, +listening at every turn, and at the forks of the trail where a clump +of squat mesquite and giant sahuarro made a screen, she checked the +horse, and held her breath. + +"Good Pat, good horse!" she whispered. "They've got nothing that can +run away from us. We'll show them!" + +Then a man's quavering old voice came to her through the winding trail +of the arroya. It was lifted tunefully insistent in an old-time song +of the mining camps: + + _Oh, Mexico! we're coming, Mexico! + Our six mule team, + Will soon be seen, + On the trail to Mexico!_ + +"We made it, Pat!" confided the girl grimly. "We made it. Quiet +now--quiet!" + +She peered out through the green mesquite as Captain Pike emerged from +the west arroya on a gray burro, herding two other pack animals ahead +of him into the south trail. + +He rode jauntily, his old sombrero at a rakish angle, his eyes bright +with enthusiasm supplied by that which he designated as a morning +"bracer," and his long gray locks bobbed in the breeze as he swayed in +the saddle and droned his cheerful epic of the trail: + + _A--and when we've been there long enough, + And back we wish to go, + We'll fill our pockets with the shining dust + And then leave Mexico! + Oh--Mexico! + Good-bye my Mexico! + Our six mule team will then be seen + On the trail from Mexico._ + +"Hi there! you Balaam--get into the road and keep a-going, you ornery +little rat-tailed son-of-a-gun! Pick up your feet and travel, or I'll +yank out your back bone and make a quirt out of it! For----" + + _My name was Captain Kidd as I sailed + As I sailed, + My name was Captain Kidd, + As I sailed! + My name was Captain Kidd + And most wickedly I di-i-id + All holy laws forbid + As I sailed!_ + +The confessor of superlative wickedness droned his avowal in +diminishing volume as the burros pattered along the white dust of the +valley road, then the curve to the west hid them, and all was silence +but for the rustle of the wind in the mesquite and the far bay of +Singleton's hounds circling a coyote. + +But Pat pricked up his ears, and lifted his head as if feeling rather +than hearing the growing thud of coming hoofs. The girl waited until +they were within fifty feet, when she pursed up her lips and whistled +the call of the meadow lark. It sounded like a fairy bugle call across +the morning, and the roan was halted quickly at the forks of the +road. + +"Howdy, seņorita?" he called softly. "I can't see you, but your song +beats the birds. Got a flag of truce? Willing to parley with the +enemy?" + +Then she emerged, eyeing him sulkily. + +"You were going without seeing me!" she stated with directness, and +without notice of the quizzical smile of comradeship. + +"Certainly was," he agreed. "When I got through the scrap with your +disciple of _kultur_, my mug didn't strike me as the right decoration +for a maiden's bower. I rode out of the scrap with my scratches, +taking joy and comfort in the fact that he had to be carried." + +"There was no reason for your being so--so brutal!" she decided +austerely. + +"Lord love you, child, I didn't need a reason--I only wanted an +excuse. Give me credit! I got away for fear I'd go loco and smash +Singleton for interfering." + +"Papa Phil only did his duty, standing for peace." + +"Huh, let the Neutral League do it! The trouble with Singleton is he +hasn't brains enough to lubricate a balance wheel,--he can't savvy a +situation unless he has it printed in a large-type tract. Conrad was +scared for fear I'd stumbled on a crooked trail of his and would tell +the boss, so he beat me to it with the lurid report that I made an +assault on him! This looks like it--not!" and he showed the slashes in +his sombrero to make room for the blue banda around his head. "Suppose +you tell that Hun of yours to carry a gun like a real hombre instead +of the tools of a second-story man. The neighbors could hear a gun, +and run to my rescue." + +The girl regarded his flippancy with disapproval. + +"He isn't my Hun," she retorted. "I could worry along without him on +our map,--but after all, I don't know a single definite thing against +him. Anyway, it's decided I've got to go away somewhere to school and +be out of the ranch squabbles. Papa Phil thinks I get in bad company +out here." + +"Meaning me?" + +"Well, he _said_ Captain Pike was demoralizing to the youthful mind. +He didn't mention you. And Cap certainly did go the limit yesterday!" + +"How so?" + +"Well, he went to the Junction for his outfit stuff----" + +"Yes, and never showed up at the adobe until the morning star was in +the sky!" + +[Illustration: "You poor kid, you have a hard time with the disreputables +you pick up."] + +"I know," she confessed. "I went with him. We stayed to see a Hart +picture at the theater, and had the time of our young lives. At supper +I announced that I was going to adopt Cap as a grandfather,--and then +of course he had to go and queer me by filling up on some rank whiskey +he had smuggled in with the other food! My stars!--he was put to bed +singing that he'd 'Hang his harp on a willow tree, and be off to the +wars again'--You needn't laugh!" + +But he did laugh, his blue eyes twinkling at her recital. + +"You poor kid! You have a hard time with the disreputables you pick +up. Sure they didn't warn you against speaking to this reprobate?" + +"Sure nothing!" was the boyish reply. "I was to be docked a month's +spending money if I dared go near Pedro Vijil's adobe again while you +were there, which was very foolish of Papa Phil!" she added +judicially. "I reckon he forgot they tried that before." + +"And what happened?" + +"I went down and borrowed double the amount from old Estevan, the +trader at the Junction, and gave him an order against the ranch. Then +Cap and I sneaked out a couple of three-year-olds and raced them down +in the cottonwood flats against some colts brought down by an old +Sierra Blanca Apache. We backed our nags with every peso, and that old +brown murderer won! But Cap and I had a wonderful day while our coin +lasted, and--and you were going away without saying good-bye!" + +Kit Rhodes, who had blankly stated that he owned his horse and saddle +and little beyond, looked at the spoiled plucky heiress of Granados +ranches, and the laughter went out of his eyes. + +She was beyond reason loveable even in her boyish disdain of +restriction, and some day she would come back from the schools a very +finished product, and thank the powers that be for having sent her out +of knowledge of happy-go-lucky chums of the ranges. + +Granados ranches had been originally an old Spanish grant reaching +from a branch of the intermittent Rio Altar north into what is now +Arizona, and originally was about double the size of Rhode Island. It +was roughly divided into the home or hacienda ranch in Arizona, and La +Partida, the cattle range portion, reaching far south into Sonora. +Even the remnant of the grant, if intelligently managed, would earn an +income satisfactory for a most extravagant princess royal such as its +present chatelaine seemed to Rhodes. + +But he had noted dubiously that the management was neither intelligent +nor, he feared, square. The little rancherias scattered over it in the +fertile valleys, were worked on the scratch gravel, ineffective Mexic +method by the Juans and Pedros whose family could always count on +mesquite beans, and _camotes_ if the fields failed. There was seed to +buy each year instead of raising it. There was money invested in +farming machinery, and a bolt taken at will from a thresher to mend a +plow or a buggy as temporarily required. The flocks of sheep on the +Arizona hills were low grade. The cattle and horse outfits were south +in La Partida, and the leakage was beyond reason, even in a danger +zone of the border land. + +All this Kit had milled around and around many times in the brief +while he had ranged La Partida. A new deal was needed and needed +badly, else Wilfreda Bernard would have debts instead of revenue if +Singleton let things drift much longer. Her impish jest that she was +a damsel in distress in need of a valiant knight was nearer to truth +than she suspected. He had an idiotic hungry desire to be that knight, +but his equipment of one horse, one saddle, and one sore head appeared +inadequate for the office. + +Thus Kit Rhodes sat his horse and looked at her, and saw things other +than the red lips of the girl, and the chiding gray eyes, and the +frank regret at his going. + +It was more profitable not to see that regret, or let it thrill a man +in that sweet warm way, especially not if the man chanced to be a +drifting ranger. She was only a gallant little girl with a genius for +friendships, and her loyalty to Pike extended to Pike's chum--that was +what Rhodes told himself! + +"Yes," he agreed, "I was going without any tooting of horns. No use in +Cap Pike and me hanging around, and getting you in bad with your +outfit." + +"As if I care!" she retorted. + +"You might some day," he said quietly. "School may make a lot of +difference; that, and changed surroundings for a year or two. But some +day you will be your own manager, and if I'm still on the footstool +and can be of service--just whistle, seņorita." + +"Sure!" she agreed cheerfully. "I'll whistle the lark call, and you'll +know I need you, so that's settled, and we'll always be--be friends, +Trail-hunter." + +"We'll always be friends, Lark-child." + +"I wanted Cap Pike to let me in on this prospecting trip, wanted to +put in money," she said rather hesitant, "and he turned me down cold, +except for a measly ten dollars, 'smoke money' he called it. I reckon +he only took that to get rid of me, which I don't call friendly, do +you? And if things should go crooked with him, and he--well--sort of +needs help to get out, you'll let me know, won't you?" + +"Yes, if it seems best," he agreed, "but you won't be here; you'll be +shipped to a school, _pronto_!" + +"I won't be so far off the map that a letter can't reach me. Cap Pike +won't ever write, but I thought maybe you----" + +"Sure," agreed Rhodes easily. "We'll send out a long yell for help +whenever we get stuck." + +She eyed him darkly and without faith. + +"Wish I knew how to make that certain," she confessed. "You're only +dodging me with any kind of a promise to keep me quiet, just as Cap +did. I know! I'm jealous, too, because you're taking a trail I've +always wanted to take with Cap, and they won't let me because I'm a +girl." + +"Cheer up! When you are boss of the range you can outfit any little +_pasear_ you want to take, but you and I won't be in the same class +then, Lark-child." + +"Are you really going it blind, trailing with Cap into the Painted +Hills after that fascinating gold legend?" she demanded. "Or have you +some inside trail blazed for yourself? Daddy Pike is the best ever, +but he always goes broke, and if he isn't broke, he has a jug at his +saddle horn, so----" + +"Oh it's only a little jug this time, and he's had a fare-you-well +drink out of it with everyone in sight, so there's only one hilarious +evening left in the jug now. Just enough for a gladsome memory of +civilization." + +"Are you in deep on this prospect plan?" she persisted. + +"Well, not that you could notice. That is, I've got a three months' +job offered me down at Whitely's; that will serve the captain as +headquarters to range from until we add to our stake. Whitely is +rounding up stock for the Allies down Mesa Blanca way, and Pike will +feel at home there. Don't you worry, I'll keep an eye on Pike. He is +hilariously happy to get into that region with a partner." + +"I don't like it," she grumbled at him with sulky gray eyes. "Pedro +Vijil just came back from the south, and brought his sister's family +from San Rafael. They're refugees from the Federals because their men +joined Ramon Rotil, the rebel leader, and Merced is crying herself +crazy over the tales of war they tell. One of their girls was stolen, +and the mother and Tia Luz are both crying over that. So Papa Phil +says he's going to send me away where I won't hear such horrors. I +wish I was a man, and I'd join the army and get a chance to go over +and fight." + +"Huh!" grunted Rhodes skeptically, "some more of us had hopes! Our +army officers are both praying and cursing to get a chance to do the +same thing, but they are not getting it! So you and I, little girl, +will wait till some one pitches a bomb into that dovery on the +Potomac. Then we'll join the volunteers and swarm over after our +people." + +"Oh, yes, _you_ can! Men can do anything they like. I told you I was +jealous." + +"Never mind, Lark-child," he returned soothingly. "If I get over with +a gun, you can come along and toot a horn. There now, that's a +bargain, and you can practice tooting the lark's call until the time +comes." + +"I reckon I'll have plenty of time to toot myself black in the face +before you show up again at Granados," she prophesied ruefully, and he +laughed. + +"Whistle an' I'll come to you, Lassie," he said with sudden +recklessness, "and that's for _adios_, Billie." + +He held out his hand. + +"That's enough, Rhodes," said a voice back of them, and Singleton +walked forward. "When you got your time, you were supposed to leave +Granados. Is this what you've been hanging around for during the past +week?" + +Rhodes flamed red to his hair as he stared down at the elder man. + +"I reckon I'll not answer that now, Mr. Singleton," he said quietly. +"You may live to see you made a mistake. I hope you do, but you're +traveling with a rotten bunch, and they are likely to use a knife or a +rope on you any time you've played the goat long enough for them to +get their innings. I'm going without any grudge, but if I was an +insurance agent, trying to save money for my company, I'd sure pass +you by as an unsafe bet! Keep on this side of the line, Singleton, +while the revolution is whirling, and whatever you forget, don't +forget I said it! _Adios_, seņorita, and--good luck!" + +"Good luck, Kit," she half whispered, "and _adios_!" + +She watched him as he rode away, watched him as he halted at the turn +of the trail and waved his hand, and Singleton was quietly observing +her the while. She frowned as she turned and caught him at it. + +"You thought he waited here, or planned to--to meet me," she flared. +"He was too square to tell you the truth, but it was I rode out here +to say good-bye, rode out and held him up! But I did not reckon anyone +would try to insult him for it!" + +Her stepfather regarded her grimly. She was angry, and very near to +tears. + +"Time you had your breakfast," he observed, "and all signs indicate I +should have sent you East last year, and kept you out of the +promiscuous mixups along the border. It's the dumping ground for all +sorts of stray adventurers, and no place for a girl to ride alone." + +"He seemed to think I am as able to look after myself as you," she +retorted. "You aren't fair to him because you take the word of Conrad, +but Conrad lies, and I'm glad he got thrashed good and plenty! Now +I've got that off my mind, I'll go eat a cheerful breakfast." + +Singleton walked silent beside her back to where his horse was grazing +by the roadside. + +"Huh!" grunted the girl with frank scorn. "So you got out of the +saddle to spy? Haven't you some black-and-tan around the ranch to do +your dirty work?" + +"It's just as well to be civil till you know what you are talking +about," he reminded her with a sort of trained patience. "I came out +without my breakfast just to keep the ranchmen from thinking what Tia +Luz thinks. She told me I'd find that fellow waiting for you. I didn't +believe it, but I see she is not so far wrong." + +He spoke without heat or feeling, and his tone was that of quiet +discussion with a man or boy, not at all that of a guardian to a girl. +His charge was evidently akin to the horse ranch of Granados as +described by the old ranger: Singleton had acquired them, but never +understood them. + +"Look here," said his protégée with boyish roughness, "that Dutchman +sees everything crooked, especially if there's an American in range, +and he prejudices you. Why don't you wake up long enough to notice +that he's framing some excuse to run off every decent chap who comes +on the place? I knew Rhodes was too white to be let stay. I saw that +as soon as he landed, and I told him so! What I can't understand is +that you won't see it." + +"A manager has to have a free hand, Billie, or else be let go," +explained Singleton. "Conrad knows horses, he knows the market, and is +at home with the Mexicans. Also he costs less than we used to pay, and +that is an item in a bad year." + +"I'll bet we lose enough cattle to his friends to make up the +difference," she persisted. "Rhodes was right when he called them a +rotten bunch." + +"Let us hope that when you return from school you will have lost the +major portion of your unsavory vocabulary," he suggested. "That will +be worth a herd of cattle." + +"It would be worth another herd to see you wake up and show you had +one good fight in you!" she retorted. "Conrad has all of the ranch +outfit locoed but me; that's why he passes on this school notion to +you. He wants me out of sight." + +"I should have been more decided, and insisted that you go last year. +Heaven knows you need it badly enough," sighed Singleton, ignoring her +disparaging comment on his own shortcomings. And then as they rode +under the swaying fronds of the palm drive leading to the ranch house +he added, "Those words of your bronco busting friend concerning the +life insurance risk sounded like a threat. I wonder what he meant by +it?" + +The telephone bell on the Granados Junction line was ringing when they +entered the patio. Singleton glanced at the clock. + +"A night letter probably," he remarked. "Go get your coffee, child, +it's a late hour for breakfast." + +Billie obeyed, sulkily seating herself opposite Tia Luz--who was bolt +upright behind the coffee urn, with a mien expressing dignified +disapproval. She inhaled a deep breath for forceful speech, but Billie +was ahead of her. + +"So it was you! You were the spy, and sent him after me!" + +"_Madre de Dios!_ and why not?" demanded the competent Luz. "You +stealing your own horse at the dawn to go with the old Captain Pike. I +ask of you what kind of a girl is that? Also Mercedes was here last +night tearing her hair because of the girls, her sister's daughters, +stolen away over there in Sonora. Well! is that not enough? That Seņor +Kit is also too handsome. I was a fool to send the medicine with you +to Pedro's house. He looked a fine caballero but even a fine caballero +will take a girl when she follows after. _I_ know! And once in Sonora +all trails of a girl are lost. I know that too!" + +"You are all crazy, and I never saw him at Pedro's house, never!" said +the girl reaching for her coffee, and then suddenly she began to +laugh. "Did you think, did you make Papa Philip think, that I was +eloping like this?" and she glanced down at her denim riding dress. + +"And why not? Did I myself not steal out in a shift and petticoat the +first time I tried to run away with my Andreas? And beyond that not a +thing under God had I on but my coral beads, and the red satin +slippers of my sister Dorotea! She pulled my hair wickedly for those +slippers, and I got a _reata_ on my back from my grandmother for that +running away. I was thirteen years old then! But when I was nearly +sixteen we did get away, Andreas and I, and after that it was as well +for the grandmother to pay a priest for us, and let us alone. Ai-ji! +seņorita, I am not forgetting what I know! And while I am here in +Granados there must be nothing less than a grand marriage, and may the +saints send the right man, for a wrong one makes hell in any house!" + +Billie forgot her sulkiness in her joy at the elopements of Tia Luz. +No wonder she distrusted an American girl who was allowed to ride +alone! + +But in the midst of her laughter she was reminded that Singleton was +still detained at the telephone in the adjoining room, and that his +rather high-pitched tones betrayed irritation. + +"Well, why can't you give the telegram to me? Addressed to Conrad? Of +course if it's a personal message I don't want it, but you say it is a +ranch matter--and important. Horses? What about them?" + +Billie, listening, sped from the table to his side, and putting her +hand over the telephone, whispered: + +"If Brehman, the secretary, was here, they'd give it to him. They +always do." + +Singleton nodded to her, and grew decided. + +"See here, Webster, one of our men was hurt, and Brehman took his +place and went East with that horse shipment. Mr. Conrad had to go +down in Sonora on business, and I am the only one here to take his +place. Just give me the message as you would give it to the secretary. +But you'd better type a copy and send by mail that I can put it on +file. All right? Yes, go ahead." + +Billie had quickly secured paper and pencil, but instead of taking +them, Singleton motioned for her to write the message. + + Adolf Conrad, Granados Ranch, Granados Junction, Arizona. Regret + to report September shipment horses developed ailment aboard + vessel, fifty per cent dead, balance probably of no military use, + + OGDEN, BURNS & CO. + +Word by word Singleton took the message and word by word Billie wrote +it down, while they stared at each other. + +"Developed ailment aboard vessel!" repeated Singleton. "Then there was +something wrong on shipboard, for there certainly is not here. We have +no sick horses on the ranch, never do have!" + +"But these people?" and Billie pointed to the signature. + +"Oh, they are the men who buy stock for the Allies, agents for the +French. They paid for the horses on delivery. They are safe, +substantial people. I can't understand----" + +But Billie caught his arm with a gasp of horror and enlightenment. + +"Papa Phil! Think--_think_ what Kit Rhodes said! _'Ground glass in the +feed at the other end of the road! Conrad's game--Herrara knows!'_ +Papa Phil,--Miguel Herrara was killed--killed! And Conrad tried to +kill Kit! Oh he did, he did! None of the Mexicans thought he would get +well, but Tia Luz cured him. And Cap Pike never went out of sight of +that adobe until Conrad had left the ranch, and I know Kit was right. +I know it, I know it! Oh, my horses, my beautiful horses!" + +"There, there! Why, child you're hysterical over this, which is--is +too preposterous for belief!" + +"Nothing is too preposterous for belief. You know that. Everybody +knows it in these days! Is Belgium too preposterous? Is that record of +poison and powdered glass in hospital supplies too preposterous? In +_hospital_ supplies! If they do that to wounded men, why not to +cavalry horses? Why Papa Phil----" + +"Hush--hush--hush!" he said pacing the floor, clasping his head in +both hands. "It is too terrible! What can we do? What? Who dare we +trust to even help investigate?" + +"Well, you might wire those agents for particulars, this is rather +skimpy," suggested Billie. "Come and get some breakfast and think it +over." + +"I might wire the office of the Peace Society in New York to----" + +"Don't you do it!" protested Billie. "They may have furnished the +poison for all _you_ know! Cap Pike says they are a lot of traitors, +and Cap is wise in lots of things. You telegraph, and you tell them +that if the sickness is proven to have started in Granados, that we +will pay for every dead horse, tell them we have no sick horses here, +and ask them to answer, _pronto!_" + +"That seems rather reckless, child, to pay for all----" + +"I _am_ reckless! I am crazy mad over those horses, and over Conrad, +and over Kit whom he tried to kill!" + +"Tut--tut! The language and behavior of Rhodes was too wicked for +anyone to believe him innocent. He was a beastly looking object, and I +still believe him entirely in the wrong. This loss of the horses is +deplorable, but you will find that no one at Granados is to blame." + +"Maybe so, but you just send that telegram and see what we see!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A DEAD MAN UNDER THE COTTONWOODS + + +Billie was never out of hearing of the telephone all day, and at two +o'clock the reply came. + + PHILIP SINGLETON, Rancho Granados, Arizona. + + Kindly wire in detail the source of your information. No message + went to Granados from this office. No publicity has been given to + the dead horse situation. Your inquiry very important to the + Department of Justice. + + OGDEN, BURNS & CO. + +"Very strange, very!" murmured Singleton. "No matter how hard I think, +or from what angle, I can't account for it. Billie, this is too +intricate for me. The best thing I can do is to go over to Nogales and +talk to an attorney." + +"Go ahead and talk," agreed Billie, "but I'd answer that telegram +first. This is no township matter, Papa Phil, can't you see that?" + +"Certainly, certainly, but simply because of that fact I feel I should +have local advice. I have a legal friend in Nogales. If I could get +him on the wire----" + +An hour later when Billie returned from a ride, she realized Singleton +had gotten his friend on the wire, for she heard him talking. + +"Yes, this is Granados. Is that you, James? Yes, I asked them to have +you call me. I need to consult with you concerning a rather serious +matter. Yes, so serious I may say it is mysterious, and appalling. It +concerns a shipment of horses. Conrad is in Sonora, and this subject +can't wait--no, I can't get in touch with Conrad. He is out of +communication when over there--No, I can't wait his return. I've had a +wire from Ogden and Burns, New York--said Ogden and Burns--All right, +get a pencil; I'll hold the wire." + +There was a moment of silence, and if a telephonic camera had been +installed at Granados, Mr. Singleton might have caught a very +interesting picture at the other end of the wire. + +A middle-aged man in rusty black of semi-clerical cut held the +receiver, and the effect of the names as given over the wire was, to +put it mildly, electrical. His jaw dropped and he stared across the +table at a man who was seated there. At the repetition of the name, +the other arose, and with the stealthily secretive movement of a +coyote near its prey he circled the table, and drew a chair close to +the telephone. The pencil and paper was in his hand, not in that of +"James." That other was Conrad. + +Then the telephone conversation was resumed after Mr. Singleton had +been requested to speak a little louder--there seemed some flaw in the +connection. + +In the end Singleton appeared much comforted to get the subject off +his own shoulders by discussing it with another. But he had been +convinced that the right thing to do was to motor over to the Junction +and take the telegrams with him for consultation. He would start +about eight in the morning, and would reach the railroad by noon. Yes, +by taking the light car which he drove himself it would be an easy +matter. + +Billie heard part of this discourse in an absent-minded way, for she +was not at all interested as to what some strange lawyer in Nogales +might think of the curious telegrams. + +She would have dropped some of that indifference if she had been able +to hear the lurid language of Conrad after the receiver was hung up. +James listened to him in silence for a bit, and then said: + +"It's your move, brother! There are not supposed to be any mistakes in +the game, and you have permitted our people to wire you a victory when +you were not there to get the wire, and that was a mistake." + +"But Brehman always----" + +"You sent Brehman East and for once forgot what might happen with your +office empty. No,--it is not Singleton's fault; he did the natural +thing. It is not the operator's fault; why should he not give a +message concerning horses to the proprietor of the horse ranch?" + +"But Singleton never before made a move in anything of management, +letters never opened, telegrams filed but never answers sent until I +am there! And this time! It is that most cursed Rhodes, I know it is +that one! They told me he was high in fever and growing worse, and +luck with me! So you yourself know the necessity that I go over for +the Sonora conference--there was no other way. It is that Rhodes! Yes, +I know it, and they told me he was as good as dead--God! if again I +get him in these hands!" + +He paced the floor nervously, and flung out his clenched hands in +fury, and the quiet man watched him. + +"That is personal, and is for the future," he said, "but Singleton is +not a personal matter. If he lives he will be influenced to +investigation, and that must not be. It would remove you from +Granados, and you are too valuable at that place. You must hold that +point as you would hold a fort against the enemy. When Mexico joins +with Germany against the damned English and French, this fool mushroom +republic will protest, and that is the time our friends will sweep +over from Mexico and gather in all these border states--which were +once hers--and will again be hers through the strong mailed hand of +Germany! This is written and will be! When that day comes, we need +such points of vantage as Granados and La Partida; we must have them! +You have endangered that position, and the mistake won't be wiped out. +The next move is yours, Conrad." + +The quiet man in the habiliments of shabby gentility in that bare +little room with the American flag over the door and portraits of two +or three notable advocates of World Peace and the American League of +Neutrality on the wall, had all the outward suggestion of the small +town disciple of Socialism from the orthodox viewpoint. His manner was +carefully restrained, and his low voice was very even, but at his last +words Conrad who had dropped into a seat, his head in his hands, +suddenly looked up, questioning. + +"Singleton can probably do no more harm today," went on the quiet +voice. "I warned him it would be a mistake to discuss it until after +he had seen me. He starts at eight in the morning, alone, for the +railroad but probably will not reach there." He looked at his watch +thoughtfully. "The Tucson train leaves in fifty minutes. You can get +that. Stop off at the station where Brehman's sister is waitress. She +will have his car ready, that will avoid the Junction. It will be +rough work, Conrad, but it is your move. It is an order." + +And then before that carefully quiet man who had the appearance of a +modest country person, Adolf Conrad suddenly came to his feet in +military salute. + +"Come, we will talk it over," suggested his superior. "It will be +rough, yet necessary, and if it could appear suicide, eh? Well, we +will see. We--will--see!" + + * * * * * + +At seven in the morning the Granados telephone bell brought Singleton +into the patio in his dressing gown and slippers. And Doņa Luz who was +seeing that his breakfast was served, heard him express surprise and +then say: + +"Why, certainly. If you are coming this way as far on the road as the +Jefferson ranch of course we can meet there, and I only need to go +half way. That will be excellent. Yes, and if Judge Jefferson is at +home he may be able to help with his advice. Fine! Good-bye." + +When Doņa Luz was questioned about it later she was quite sure Mr. +Singleton mentioned no name, his words were as words to a friend. + +But all that day the telephone was out of order on the Granados line, +and Singleton did not return that night. There was nothing to cause +question in that, as he had probably gone on to Nogales, but when the +second day came and the telephone not working, Billie started Pedro +Vijil to ride the line to Granados Junction, get the mail, and have a +line man sent out for repairs wherever they were needed. + +It was puzzling because there had been no storm, nothing of which they +knew to account for the silent wire. The line was an independent one +from the Junction, and there were only two stations on it, the +Jefferson ranch and Granados. + +But Vijil forgot about the wire, for he met some sheep men from the +hills carrying the body of Singleton. They had found him in the +cottonwoods below the road not five miles from the hacienda. His car +he had driven off the road back of a clump of thick mesquite. The +revolver was still in his hand, and the right temple covered with +black blood and flies. + +There was nothing better to do than what the herders were doing. The +man had been dead a day and must be buried, also it was necessary to +send a man to Jefferson's, where there was a telephone, to get in +touch with someone in authority and arrange for the funeral. + +So the herders walked along with their burden carried in a _serape_, +and covered by the carriage robe. Pedro had warned them to halt at his +own house, for telephone calls would certainly gather men, who would +help to arrange all decently before the body was taken into the _sala_ +of Granados. + +There is not much room for conjecture as to the means of a man's +taking off when he is found with a bullet in his right temple, a +revolver in his right hand, and only one empty cartridge shell in the +revolver. There seemed no mystery about the death, except the cause of +suicide. + +It was the same evening that Conrad riding in from the south, +attempted to speak over the wire with Granados and got from Central +information that the Granados wire was broken, and Singleton, the +proprietor, a suicide. + +The coroner's inquest so pronounced it, after careful investigation of +the few visible facts. Conrad was of no value as a witness because he +had been absent in Magdalena. He could surmise no reason for such an +act, but confessed he knew practically nothing of Singleton's personal +affairs. He was guardian of his stepdaughter and her estate, and so +far as Conrad knew all his relations with the personnel of the estate +were most amicable. Conrad acknowledged when questioned that Singleton +did usually carry a revolver when out in the car, he had a horror of +snakes, and he had never known him to use a gun for anything else. + +Doņa Luz Moreno confused matters considerably by her statement that +Mr. Singleton was going to meet some man at the Jefferson ranch +because the man had called him up before breakfast to arrange it. +Later it was learned that no call was made from any station over the +wire that morning to Granados. There was in fact several records of +failure to get Granados. No one but Doņa Luz had heard the call and +heard Singleton reply, yet it was not possible that this communication +could be a fact over a broken wire, and the wire was found broken +between the Jefferson ranch and Granados. + +Whereupon word promptly went abroad among the Mexicans that Seņor +Singleton had been lured to his death by a spirit voice calling over a +broken wire as a friend to a friend. For the rest of her life Doņa +Luz will have that tale to tell as the evidence of her own ears that +warnings of death do come from the fearsome spirits of the shadowed +unknown land,--and this in denial of all the padres' godly discourse +to the contrary! + +A Mr. Frederick James of Nogales, connected with a group of charitable +gentlemen working for the alleviating of distress among the many +border exiles from Mexico, was the only person who came forward +voluntarily to offer help to the coroner regarding the object of the +dead man's journey to Nogales. Mr. James had been called on the +telephone by Mr. Singleton, who was apparently in great distress of +mind concerning mysterious illness and deaths of horses shipped from +Granados to France. A telegram had come from New York warning him that +the Department of Justice was investigating the matter, and the +excitement and nervousness of Mr. Singleton was such that Mr. James +readily consented to a meeting in Nogales, with the hope that he might +be of service in any investigation they would decide upon after +consultation. When Mr. Singleton did not keep the engagement, Mr. +James attempted to make inquiries by telephone. He tried again the +following morning, but it was only after hearing of the suicide--he +begged pardon--the death of Mr. Singleton, that he recalled the fact +that all of Singleton's discourse over the telephone had been unusual, +excitable to a degree, while all acquaintances of the dead man knew +him as a quiet, reserved man, really unusually reserved, almost to the +point of the secretive. Mr. James was struck by the unusual note of +panic in his tones, but as a carload of horses was of considerable +financial value, he ascribed the excitement in part to that, feeling +confident of course that Mr. Singleton was in no ways accountable for +the loss, but---- + +Mr. James was asked if the nervousness indicated by Mr. Singleton was +a fear of personal consequences following the telegram, but Mr. James +preferred not to say. He had regarded Mr. Singleton as a model of most +of the virtues, and while Singleton's voice and manner had certainly +been unusual, he could not presume to suspect the inner meaning of +it. + +The telegraph and telephone records bore out the testimony of Mr. +James. + +The fact that the first telegram was addressed to the manager, Mr. +Conrad, had apparently nothing to do with the case, since the +telegraph files showed that messages were about evenly divided in the +matter of address concerning ranch matters. They were often addressed +simply to "Granados Rancho" or "Manager Granados Ranch." This one +simply happened to be addressed to the name of the manager. + +The coroner decided that the mode of address had no direct bearing on +the fact that the man was found dead under the cottonwoods with copies +of both telegrams in his pocket, both written in a different hand from +his carefully clear script as shown in his address book. Safe in his +pocket also was money, a gold watch with a small gold compass, and a +handsome seal ring. Nothing was missing, which of course precluded the +thought of murder for robbery, and Philip Singleton was too mildly +negative to make personal enemies, a constitutional neutral. + +Billie, looking very small and very quiet, was brought in by Doņa Luz +and Mr. Jefferson of the neighboring ranch, fifty miles to the east. +She had not been weeping. She was too stunned for tears, and there was +a strangely ungirlish tension about her, an alert questioning in her +eyes as she looked from face to face, and then returned to the face of +the one man who was a stranger, the kindly sympathetic face of Mr. +Frederick James. + +She told of the telegrams she had copied, and of the distress of +Singleton, but that his distress was no more than her own, that she +had been crying about the horses, and he had tried to comfort her. She +did not believe he had a trouble in the world of his own, and he had +never killed himself--never! + +When asked if she had any reason to suspect a murderer, she said if +they ever found who killed the horses they would find who killed her +Papa Phil, but this opinion was evidently not shared by any of the +others. The report of horses dead on a transport in the Atlantic +ocean, and a man dead under the cottonwoods in Arizona, did not appear +to have any definite physical relation to each other, unless of course +the loss of the horses had proven too much of a shock to Mr. Singleton +and upset his nerves to the extent that moody depression had developed +into temporary dementia. His own gun had been the evident agent of +death. + +One of the Mexicans recalled that Singleton had discharged an American +foreman in anger, and that the man had been in a rage about it, and +assaulted Mr. Conrad, whereupon Conrad was recalled, and acknowledged +the assault with evident intent to kill. Yes, he heard the man Rhodes +had threatened Singleton with a nastier accident than his attempt on +Conrad. No, he had not heard it personally, as he was unconscious +when the threat was made. + +"It wasn't a threat!" interrupted Billie, "it was something different, +a warning." + +"A warning of what?" + +Billie was about to quote Kit's opinion concerning Singleton's ranch +force, when she was halted by a strange thing--for Billie; it was +merely the mild steady gaze of the quiet gentleman of the peaceful +league of the neutrals. There was a slight lifting of his brows as she +spoke of a warning; and then a slight suggestion of a smile--it might +have been a perfectly natural incredulous smile, but Billie felt that +it was not. The yellowish brown eyes narrowed until only the pupils +were visible, and warm though the day was, Billie felt a swift chill +over her, and her words were cautious. + +"I can't say, I don't know, but Kit Rhodes had no grudge against Papa +Phil. He seemed in some way to be sorry for him." + +She noted that Conrad's gaze was on the face of Mr. James instead of +on her. + +"Sorry for him?" + +"Y-yes, sort of. He tried to explain why, but Papa would not listen, +and would not make any engagement with him. Sent his money by Captain +Pike and wouldn't see him. But Kit Rhodes did not make a threat, he +did not!" + +Her last denial was directly at Conrad, who merely shrugged his +shoulders as if to dispose of that awkward phase of the matter. + +"It was told me so, but the Mexican men might not have understood the +words of Rhodes--he was in a rage--and it may be he did not mean so +much as he said." + +"But he didn't say it!" insisted Billie. + +"Very good, he did not, and it is a mistake of mine," agreed Conrad +politely. "For quite awhile I was unconscious after his assault, +naturally I know nothing of what was said." + +"And where is this man Rhodes to be found?" asked the coroner, and +Conrad smiled meaningly. + +"Nowhere,--or so I am told! He and a companion are said to have +crossed the line into Sonora twenty-four hours before the death of Mr. +Singleton." + +"Well, unless there is some evidence that he was seen later on this +side, any threat he might or might not have made, has no relation +whatever to this case. Is there any evidence that he was seen at, or +near, Granados after starting for Sonora?" + +No evidence was forthcoming, and the coroner, in summoning up, +confessed he was not satisfied to leave certain details of the case a +mystery. + +That Singleton had discharged Rhodes in anger, and Rhodes had, even by +intimation, voiced a threat against Singleton could not be considered +as having any bearing on the death of the latter; while the voice of +the unknown calling him to a meeting at Jefferson's ranch was equally +a matter of mystery, since no one at Jefferson's knew anything of the +message, or the speaker, and investigation developed the fact that the +telephone wire was broken between the two ranches, and there was no +word at Granados Junction Central of any message to Granados after +five o'clock the afternoon of the previous day. + +And, since Philip Singleton never reached the Jefferson ranch, but +turned his car off the road at the cottonwood caņon, and was found +with one bullet in his head, and the gun in his own hand, it was not +for a coroner's jury to conjecture the impulse leading up to the act, +or the business complications by which the act might, or might not, +have been hastened. But incomprehensible though it might seem to all +concerned there was only one finding on the evidence submitted, and +that was suicide. + +"Papa Phil never killed himself, never!" declared Billie. "That would +be two suicides in a month for Granados, and two is one too many. We +never had suicides here before." + +"Who was the other?" + +"Why, Miguel Herrara who had been arrested for smuggling, was searched +and his gun taken, and yet that night found a gun to kill himself with +in the adobe where he was locked up! Miguel would not have cared for a +year or two in jail; he had lived there before, and hadn't tried any +killing. I tell you Granados is getting more than its share." + +"It sure looks like it, little lady," agreed the coroner, "but +Herrara's death gives us no light or evidence on Singleton's death, +and our jurisdiction is limited strictly to the hand that held the +gun. The evidence shows it was in the hand of Mr. Singleton when +found." + +The Jeffersons insisted that Billie go home with them, as the girl +appeared absolutely and pathetically alone in the world. She knew of +no relatives, and Tia Luz and Captain Pike were the only two whom she +had known from babyhood as friends of her father's. + +The grandmother of Billie Bernard had been the daughter of a Spanish +_haciendado_ who was also an officer in the army of Mexico. He met +death in battle before he ever learned that his daughter, in the pious +work of nursing friend and enemy alike, had nursed one enemy of the +hated North until each was captive to the other, and she rode beside +him to her father's farthest northern rancho beyond the Mexican +deserts, and never went again to the gay circles of Mexico's capital. +Late in her life one daughter, Dorotea was born, and when Alfred +Bernard came out of the East and looked on her, a blonde Spanish girl +as her ancestresses of Valencia had been, the game of love was played +again in the old border rancho which was world enough for the lovers. +There had been one eastern summer for them the first year of their +marriage, and Philip Singleton had seen her there, and never forgot +her. After her widowhood he crossed the continent to be near her, and +after awhile his devotion, and her need of help in many ways, won the +place he coveted, and life at Granados went on serenely until her +death. Though he had at times been bored a bit by the changelessness +of ranch life, yet he had given his word to guard the child's +inheritance until she came of age, and had kept it loyally as he knew +how until death met him in the caņon of the cottonwoods. + +But the contented isolation of her immediate family left Billie only +such guardian as the court might appoint for her property and person, +and Andrew Jefferson, Judge Jefferson by courtesy, in the county, +would no doubt be choice of the court as well as the girl. Beyond that +she could only think of Pike, and--well Pike was out of reach on some +enchanted gold trail of which she must not speak, and she supposed she +would have to go to school instead of going in search of him! + +Conrad spoke to her kindly as she was led to the Jefferson car, and +there was a subtle deference in his manner, indicating his realization +that he was speaking--not to the wilful little maid who could be +annoying--but to the owner of Granados and, despite his five year +contract as manager, an owner who could change entirely the activities +of the two ranches in another year--and it was an important year. + +He also spoke briefly to Mr. James offering him the hospitality of the +ranch for a day of rest before returning to Nogales, but the offer was +politely declined. Mr. James intimated that he was at Conrad's service +if he could be of any practical use in the mysterious situation. He +carefully gave his address and telephone number, and bade the others +good day. But as he was entering his little roadster he spoke again to +Conrad. + +"By the way, it was a mistake to let that man Rhodes get over into +Sonora. It should be the task of someone to see that he does not come +back. He seems a very dangerous man. See to it!" + +The words were those of a kindly person interested in the welfare of +the community, and evidently impressed by the evidence referring to +the discharged range boss. Two of the men hearing him exchanged +glances, for they also thought that rumor of the threats should have +been looked into. But the last three words were spoken too softly for +any but Conrad to hear. + +The following week Billie went to Tucson with the Jeffersons and at +her request Judge Jefferson was appointed guardian of her person and +estate, after which she and the judge went into a confidential session +concerning that broken wire on the Granados line. + +"I'm not loco, Judge," she insisted, "but I want you to learn whether +that wire was cut on purpose, or just broke itself. Also I want you to +take up that horse affair with the secret service people. I don't want +Conrad to be sent away--yet. I'd rather watch him on Granados. I won't +go away to school; I'd rather have a teacher at home. We can find +one." + +"But, do you realize that with two mysterious deaths on Granados +lately, you might run some personal risk of living there with only +yourself and two women in the house? I'm not sure we can sanction +that, my child." + +Billie smiled at him a bit wanly, but decided. + +"Now Judge, you know I picked you because you would let me do whatever +I pleased, and I don't mean to be disappointed with you. Half the men +at the inquest think that Kit Rhodes did come back to do that +shooting, and you know Conrad and the very smooth rat of the Charities +Society are accountable for that opinion. The Mexican who dragged in +Kit's name is one of Conrad's men; it all means something! It's a bad +muddle, but Kit Rhodes and Cap Pike will wander back here some of +these days, and I mean to have every bit of evidence for Kit to start +in with. He suspected a lot, and all Granados combined to silence +him--fool Granados!" + +"But, just between ourselves, child, are you convinced Rhodes did not +make the statement liable to be construed into a threat against Mr. +Singleton?" + +"Convinced nothing," was the inelegant reply of his new ward. "I heard +him say enough to hang him if evidence could be found that he was +north of the line that morning, and that's why it's my job to take +note of all the evidence on the other side. The horses did not kill +themselves. That telegram concerning it did not send itself. Papa Phil +did not shoot himself, and that telephone wire did not cut itself! My +hunch is that those four things go together, and that's a combination +they can't clear up by dragging in the name of a man who never saw the +horses, and who was miles south in Sonora with Cap Pike when the other +three things happened. Now can they?" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN THE PROVINCE OF ALTAR + + + _There was a frog who lived in the spring: + Sing-song Kitty, can't yo' carry me, oh? + And it was so cold that he could not sing, + Sing-song Kitty, can't yo' carry me, oh? + Ke-mo! Ki-mo! Dear--oh my! + To my hi'--to my ho--to my----_ + +"Oh! For the love of Mike! Bub, can't you give a man a rest instead of +piling up the agony? These old joints of mine are creakin' with every +move from desert rust and dry camps, and you with no more heart in you +than to sing of springs,--cold springs!" + +"They do exist, Cap." + +"Uh--huh, they are as real to us this minute as the red gold that +we've trailed until we're at the tag end of our grub stake. I tell +you, Bub, they stacked the cards on us with that door of the old +Soledad Mission, and the view of the gold caņon from there! Why, +Whitely showed us that the mission door never did face the hills, but +looked right down the valley towards the Rio del Altar just as the +Soledad plaza does today; all the old Mexicans and Indians tell us +that." + +"Well, we've combed over most of the arroyas leading into the Altar +from Rancho Soledad, and all we've found is placer gravel; yet the +placers are facts, and the mother lode is somewhere, Cap." + +"Worn down to pan dirt, that's what!" grunted Pike. "I tell you these +heathen sit around and dream lost mission tales and lost mine lies; +dream them by the dozen to delude just such innocent yaps as you and +me. They've nothing else to do between crops. We should have stuck to +a white man's land, north into Arizona where the Three Hills of Gold +are waiting, to say nothing of the Lost Stone Cabin mine, lost not +twenty miles from Quartzite, and in plain sight of Castle Dome. Now +there is nothing visionary about _that_, Kit! Why, I knew an old-timer +who freighted rich ore out of that mine thirty years ago, and even the +road to it has been lost for years! We know things once did exist up +in that country, Kit, and down here we are all tangled up with +Mexican-Indian stories of ghosts and enchantments, and such vagaries. +I'm fed up with them to the limit, for everyone of them we listen to +is different from the last. We'll head up into the Castle Dome country +next time, hear me?" + +"Sure, I hear," agreed Kit cheerfully. "Perhaps we do lose, but it's +not so bad. Since Whitely sent his family north, he has intimated that +Mesa Blanca is a single man's job, and I reckon I can have it when he +goes--as he will. Then in the month we have scouted free of Whitelys, +we have dry washed enough dust to put you on velvet till things come +our way. Say, what will you bet that a month of comfort around Nogales +won't make you hungry for the trail again?" + +"A gold trail?" queried the weary and dejected Pike. + +"Any old trail to any old place just so we keep ambling on. You can't +live contented under cover, and you know it." + +"Well," decided Pike after a rod or two of tramping along the shaly, +hot bed of a dry arroya. "I won't bet, for you may be among the +prophets. But while you are about it, I'd be thankful if you'd +prophesy me a wet trail next time instead of skimpy mud holes where +springs ought to be. I'm sick of dry camps, and so is Baby Buntin'." + +"_'Oh, there was a frog lived in the spring!'_" chanted Kit +derisively. "Cheer up, Cap, the worst is yet to come, for I've an idea +that the gang of Mexican vaqueros we glimpsed from the butte at noon +will just about muss up the water hole in Yaqui caņon until it will be +us for a sleep there before the fluid is fit for a water bottle. _'Oh, +there was a frog lived in the spring!'_ Buntin' Baby, we'll fish the +frog out, and let you wallow in it instead, you game little dusty rat! +Say, Pike, when we load up with grub again we'll keep further west to +the Cerrado Pintado. I'll follow a hunch of my own next trip." + +The older man grunted disdain for the hunches of Kit, even while his +eyes smiled response to the ever-living call of youth. To Rhodes there +was ever a "next time." He was young enough to deal in futures, and +had a way with him by which friends were to be found for even unstable +venturings with no backing more substantial than a "hunch." + +Not that Kit was gifted with any great degree of fatal beauty--men are +not often pretty on the trail, unwashed, unshaven, and unshorn--added +to which their equipment had reached the point where his most +pretentious garment was a square of an Indian _serape_ with a hole in +the middle worn as a poncho, and adopted to save his coat and other +shirt on the hard trail. + +Cap Pike growled that he looked like a Mexican peon in that raiment, +which troubled Kit not at all. He was red bronze from the desert days, +and his blue eyes, with the long black lashes of some Celtic ancestor, +looked out on the world with direct mild approval. They matched the +boyish voice much given to trolling old-time ditties and sentimental +foolishness. + +He led the dappled roan over the wild dry "wash" where the sand was +deep and slippery, and the white crust of alkali over all. Before him +swayed the pack mules, and back of him Captain Pike sagged on the +little gray burro, named in derision and affection, the Baby Bunting +of the outfit. + +The jauntiness was temporarily eliminated from the old prospector. Two +months of fruitless scratching gravel when he had expected to walk +without special delay to the great legendary deposit, had taken the +sparkle of hope from the blue eyes, and he glanced perfunctorily at +the walls of that which had once been a river bed. + +"What in time do you reckon became of all the water that used to fill +these dry gullies?" he asked querulously. "Why, it took a thousand +years of floods to wash these boulders round, and then leave them high +and dry when nicely polished. That's a waste in nature I can't figure +out, and this godforsaken territory is full of them." + +"Well, you grouch, if we didn't have this dry bed to skip along, we +would be bucking the greasewood and cactus on the mesa above. So we +get some favors coming our way." + +"Skip along,--me eye!" grunted Pike, as the burro toiled laboriously +through the sand, and Kit shifted and stumbled over treacherous, +half-buried boulders. "Say, Kit, don't you reckon it's time for Billie +to answer my letter? It's over eight weeks now, and mail ought to get +in once a month." + +Rhodes grunted something about "mail in normal times, but these times +were not normal," and did not seem much interested in word from +Granados. + +He had not the heart, or else had too much, to tell the old man that +the letter to Billie never reached her. When Whitely went north he put +it in his coat pocket, and then changed his coat! Kit found it a month +later and held it, waiting to find someone going out. He had not even +mentioned it to Whitely on his return, for Whitely was having his own +troubles, and could not spare a man for a four day trip to mail. + +Whitely's folks lived north of Naco, and he had gone there direct +and returned without touching at Nogales, or hearing of the tragedy +at Granados. The latest news of the Mexican revolutions, and the +all-absorbing question as to whether the United States would or +would not intervene, seemed all the news the worried Whitely had +brought back. Even the slaughter of a dozen nations of Europe had +no new features to a ranchman of Sonora,--it remained just slaughter. +And one did not need to cross boundaries to learn of killings, for +all the world seemed aflame, and every state in Mexico had its own +wars,--little or big. + +Then, in the records of the tumultuous days, there was scarce space +for the press or people to give thought after the first day or two, to +the colorless life going out in mystery under the cottonwoods of +Granados, and no word came to tell Rhodes of the suspicion, only half +veiled, against himself. + +The ranch house of Mesa Blanca was twenty miles from the hacienda of +Soledad, and a sharp spur of the Carrizal range divided their grazing +lands. Soledad reached a hundred miles south and Mesa Blanca claimed +fifty miles to the west, so that the herds seldom mingled, but word +filtered to and from between the vaqueros, and Rhodes heard that Perez +had come north from Hermosillo and that El Aleman, (the German) had +made the two day trip in from the railroad, and had gone on a little +_pasear_ to the small rancherias with Juan Gonsalvo, the half-breed +overseer. The vaqueros talked with each other about that, for there +were no more young men among them for soldiers, only boys and old men +to tend the cattle, and what did it mean? + +The name of Rhodes was not easy for the Mexican tongue, and at Mesa +Blanca his identity was promptly lost in the gift of a name with a +meaning to them, El Pajarito, (the singer). Capitan Viajo, (the old +captain), was accepted by Pike with equal serenity, as both men were +only too well pleased to humor the Indian ranch people in any friendly +concessions, for back of some of those alert black eyes there were +surely inherited records of old pagan days, and old legends of golden +veins in the hills. + +The fact that they were left practically nameless in a strange +territory did not occur to either of them, and would not have +disturbed them if it had. They had met no American but Whitely since +they first struck Mesa Blanca. One month Kit had conscientiously stuck +to the ranch cares while Whitely took his family out, and Pike had +made little sallies into the hills alone. + +On Whitely's return he had made an errand to Soledad and taken Rhodes +and Pike along that they might view the crumbled walls of old Soledad +Mission, back of the ranch house. The ancient rooms of the mission +padres were now used principally as corrals, harness shop, and storage +rooms. + +The situation in itself was one of rare beauty;--those old padres +knew! + +It was set on a high plain or mesa, facing a wide valley spreading +miles away to the south where mother-of-pearl mountains were ranged +like strung jewels far against the Mexican sky. At the north, +slate-blue foothills lifted their sharp-edged shoulders three miles +away, but only blank walls of Soledad faced the hills, all portals of +the old mission appeared to have faced south, as did Soledad. The door +facing the hills was a myth. And as Rhodes stood north of the old +wall, and searched its thirty-mile circle, he could understand how +four generations of gold seekers had failed to find even a clue to the +wealth those unknown padres had looked on, and sent joyous evidence of +to the viceroy of the south. It would take years of systematic search +to cover even half the visible range. A man could devote a long +lifetime to a fruitless search there, and then some straying burro +might uncover it for an Indian herder who would fill his poncho, and +make a sensation for a week or two, and never find the trail again! + +"It's just luck!" said Kit thinking it all over as he tramped along +the arroya bed, "it either belongs to you, or it doesn't. No man on +earth can buy it and make it stay, but if it is yours, no man can keep +you from it entirely." + +"What the devil are you yammering about?" asked Pike grumpily. + +"Oh, I was just thinking of how Whitely exploded our little balloon of +hopes when he took us over to size up the prospects at Soledad. I +wonder if Perez has no white help at all around that place. We did not +even see the foreman." + +"He's a half-breed, that Juan Gonsalvo. The Indians don't like him. +He's from down Hermosillo way, and not like these Piman children of +nature. He and Conrad are up to some devilment, but Whitely thinks +Juan took the job, deluded as we are, with the notion that a gold mine +was sticking up out of the ground at the Soledad corrals, and it was +to be his find. You see, Bub, that story has gone the length of +Mexico, and even over to Spain. Oh, we are not the only trailers of +ghost gold; there are others!" + +The slanting sun was sending shadows long on the levels, and the hills +were looming to the east in softest tones of gray and amethyst; the +whitish green of desert growths lay between, and much of brown desert +yet to cross. + +"We can't make the foothills tonight even though there is an early +moon," decided Kit. "But we can break camp at dawn and make it before +the sun is high, and the water will hold out that long." + +"It will hold for Buntin' and the mules, but what of Pardner?" asked +the older man. "He's not used to this hard pan gravel scratching." + +"But he's thoroughbred, and he can stand it twelve hours more if I +can, can't you, old pal?" The tall roan with the dot of black between +the eyes returned his owner's caress by nosing his bare neck, and the +hand held up to smooth the black mane. + +"I'll be glad enough to see him safe across the border in old +Arizona," observed Pike. "I can't see how the herders saved him for +you at Mesa Blanca when their own stock was picked of its best for the +various patriots charging through the settlements." + +"Some way, Miguel, the Indian vaquero, managed it, or got his girl to +hide it out. Whitely confessed that his Indian cattlemen are the most +loyal he can find down here." + +"But it's not a white man's land--yet, and I'm downright glad he's +shipped his family north. There's always hell enough in Sonora, but +it's a dovecote to what it's bound to be before the end comes, and so, +it's no place for white men's wives." + +"Right you are! Say, what was it Whitely heard down in Sinaloa +concerning the Enchanted Caņon mine?" + +"Oh, some old priest's tale--the same dope we got with a different +slant to it. The gold nuggets from some shrine place where the water +gushed _muy fuerte_, by a sycamore tree. Same old nuggets sent out +with the message, and after that the insurrection of the Indians, and +the priests who found it never lived to get out. Why, Bub, that is +nearly two hundred years ago! Stop and think of the noble Castilians +going over Sonora with a fine tooth comb for that trail ever since and +then think of the nerve of us!" + +"Well, I'm nearer to it anyway than the Dutchman who trekked in from +the south last year with copies of the old mission reports as guide, +for the Yaquis killed him, and took his records, while they hide my +horse for me." + +"Huh! yes, and warn you to ride him north!" + +"Correct;--but Pike, it was a warning, not a threat! Oh, I'm coming +back all right, all right! That gold by the hidden stream sure has got +me roped and hog tied for keeps." + +Pike growled good-natured disdain of his confidence, and suggested +that the stream, which was probably only a measly mud hole, could have +dropped to purgatory in an earthquake tremor since those first old +mission days, or filled up with quicksand. + +"Right you are, Cap. That's a first-rate idea," agreed Kit the +irrepressible. "Next trip we'll start looking for streams that were +and are not; we're in the bed of one now for that matter!" + +"Somewhere ahead we should come into the trail south from Carracita," +observed Pike, "but I reckon you'd just as soon camp with Pard out of +sight of the trail." + +There was silence for a bit as they plodded on up the wide dry bed of +the river, and then Kit turned, glancing at the old man keenly. + +"I didn't fool you much when I called that gang 'vaqueros,' did I?" +he observed. "Well, they didn't look good to me, and I decided I'd +have to fight for my horse if we crossed trails, and--it wastes a lot +of time, fighting does." + +"No, you didn't fool me. You'd be seven kinds of an idiot to walk in +this gully of purgatory when you could ride safely on the mesa above, +so I guessed you had a hunch it was the friendly and acquisitive +patriots." + +"Pike, they were between us and the Palomitas rancherias of Mesa +Blanca or I'd have made a try to get through and warn the Indians +there. Those men had no camp women with them, so they were not a +detachment of the irregular cavalry,--that's what puzzles me. And +their horses were fresh. It's some new devilment." + +"There's nothing new in Sonora, son. Things happen over and over the +same." + +The shadows lengthened, and the blue range to the east had sharp, +black edges against the saffron sky, and the men plodding along over +sand and between boulders, fell silent after the little exchange of +confidence as to choice of trail. Once Kit left the gully and climbed +the steep grade to the mesa alone to view the landscape over, but slid +and scrambled down,--hot, dusty, and vituperative. + +"Not a sign of life but some carrion crows moving around in the blue +without flop of a wing," he grumbled. "Who started the dope that +mankind is the chosen of the Lord? Huh! we have to scratch gravel for +all we rake in but the birds of the air have us beat for desert travel +all right, all right!" + +"Well, Bub, if you saw no one's dust it must be that gang were not +headed for Palomitas or Whitely's." + +"They could strike Palomitas, and circle over to the east road without +striking Whitely's home corrals," said Kit thoughtfully. + +"Sure they could, but what's the object? If it's cattle or horses +they're after the bigger ranch is the bigger haul?" + +"Yes,--if it's stock they're after," agreed Kit somberly. + +"Why, lad, what--what's got you now?" + +"I reckon it's the damned buzzards," acknowledged the younger man. "I +don't know what struck me as I sat up there watching them. Maybe it's +their blackness, maybe it's their provender, maybe it was just the +loco of their endless drifting shadows, but for a minute up there I +had an infernal sick feeling. It's a new one on me, and there was +nothing I could blame it on but disgust of the buzzards." + +"You're goin' too shy on the water, and never knew before that you had +nerves," stated Pike sagely. "I've been there; fought with a pardner +once,--Jimmy Dean, till he had to rope me. You take a pull at the +water bottle, and take it now." + +Kit did so, but shook his head. + +"It touches the right spot, but it was not a thirst fancy. It was +another thought and--O Bells of Pluto! Pike, let's talk of something +else! What was that you said about the Sinaloa priest story of the red +gold? You said something about a new slant on the old dope." + +"Uh-huh!" grunted Pike. "At least it was a new slant to me. I've heard +over and over about uprising of Indians, and death of the two priests +who found their mine, but this Sinaloa legend has it that the Indians +did not kill the priests, but that their gods did!" + +"Their gods?" + +"Yeh, the special gods of that region rose up and smote them. That's +why the Indians barred out other mission priests for so long a spell +that no white man remembered just where the lost shrine of the red +gold was. Of course it's all punk, Bub, just some story of the heathen +sheep to hide the barbecuing of their shepherds." + +"Maybe so, but I've as much curiosity as a pet coon. What special +process did their gods use to put the friars out of commission?" + +"Oh, lightning. The original priests' report had it that the red gold +was at some holy place of the tribes, a shrine of some sort. Well, you +know the usual mission rule--if they can't wean the Indian from his +shrine, they promptly dig foundations and build a church there under +heavenly instructions. That's the story of this shrine of El Alisal +where the priests started to build a little branch chapel or _visita_, +for pious political reasons--and built it at the gold shrine. It went +down in the priests' letter or record as gold of rose, a deep red +gold. Well, under protest, the Indians helped build a shack for a +church altar under a great aliso tree there, but when lightning struck +the priests, killed both and burned the shack, you can see what that +manifestation would do to the Indian mind." + +Kit halted, panting from the heart-wearying trail, and looked Pike +over disgustedly. + +"Holy mackerel! Pike, haven't you _any_ imagination? You've had this +new side to the story for over a month and never even cheeped about +it! I heard you and Whitely talking out on the porch, but I didn't +hear this!" + +"Why, Bub, it's just the same old story, everyone of them have half a +dozen different sides to it." + +"But this one explains things, this one has logic, this one blazes a +trail!" declared the enthusiast. "This one explains good and plenty +why no Indian has ever cheeped about it, no money could bribe him to +it. Can't you see? Of course that lightning was sent by their wrathy +gods, of course it was! But do you note that place of the gold, and +place of the shrine where the water rises, is also some point where +there is a dyke of iron ore near, a magnet for the lightning? And that +is not here in those sandy mesas and rocky barrancas--it's to the west +in the hills, Pike. Can't you see that?" + +"Too far from the old north and south trail, Bub. There was nothing to +take padres so far west to the hills. The Indians didn't even live +there; only strayed up for nuts and hunting in the season." + +"Save your breath!" jeered Kit. "It's me to hike back to Mesa Blanca +and offer service at fifty dollars per, and live like a miser until we +can hit the trail again. I may find a tenderfoot to buy that valley +tract of mine up in Yuma, and get cash out of that. Oh, we will get +the finances somehow! I'll write a lawyer soon as we get back to +Whitely's--God! what's that?" + +They halted, holding breath to listen. + +"A coyote," said Pike. + +"No, only one animal screams like that--a wildcat in the timber. But +it's no wildcat." + +Again the sound came. It was either from a distance or else muffled +by the barrier of the hill, a blood-curdling scream of sickening +terror. + +A cold chill struck the men as they looked at each other. + +"The carrion crows knew!" said Kit. "You hold the stock, Pike." + +He quickly slipped his rifle from its case, and started up the knoll. + +"The stock will stand," said Pike. "I'm with you." + +As the two men ran upward to the summit and away from the crunching of +their own little outfit in the bed of the dry river, they were struck +by the sound of clatter of hoofs and voices. + +"Bub, do you know where we are?" asked Pike--"this draw slants south +and has brought us fair into the Palomitas trail where it comes into +the old Yaqui trail, and on south to hell." + +"To hell it is, if it's the slavers again after women," said Kit. +"Come quiet." + +They reached the summit where cacti and greasewood served as shield, +and slightly below them they saw, against the low purple hills, clouds +of dust making the picture like a vision and not a real thing, a line +of armed horsemen as outpost guards, and men with roped arms stumbling +along on foot slashed at occasionally with a _reata_ to hasten their +pace. Women and girls were there, cowed and drooping, with torn +garments and bare feet. Forty prisoners in all Kit counted of those +within range, ere the trail curved around the bend of a hill. + +"But that scream?" muttered Kit. "All those women are silent as death, +but that scream?" Then he saw. + +One girl was in the rear, apart from the rest of the group. A +blond-bearded man spurred his horse against her, and a guard lashed at +her to keep her behind. Her scream of terror was lest she be separated +from that most woeful group of miserables. The horse was across the +road, blocking it, as the man with the light beard slid from the +saddle and caught her. + +Kit's gun was thrown into position as Pike caught his hand. + +"_No!_" he said. "Look at her!" + +For the Indian girl was quicker far. From the belt of her assailant +she grasped a knife and lunged at his face as he held her. His one +hand went to his cheek where the blood streamed, and his other to his +revolver. + +But even there she was before him, for she held the knife in both +hands against her breast, and threw herself forward in the haze of +dust. + +The other guard dismounted and stared at the still figure on the +trail, then kicked her over until he could see her face. One look was +enough. He jerked the knife from the dead body, wiped it on her +_manta_, and turned to tie a handkerchief over the cheek of the +wounded horseman. + +Kit muttered an oath of horror, and hastily drew the field glass from +its case to stare at the man whose beard, a false one, had been torn +off in the struggle. It was not easy to re-adjust it so that it would +not interfere with the bandage, and thus he had a very fair view of +the man's features, and his thoughts were of Billie's words to Conrad +concerning slave raids in Sonora. Had Billie really suspected, or had +she merely connected his Mexican friends with reports of raids for +girls in the little Indian pueblos? + +Pike reached for the glass, but by the time he could focus it to fit +his eyes, the man had re-mounted, riding south, and there was only the +dead girl left there where she fell, an Indian girl they both knew, +Anita, daughter of Miguel, the major-domo of Mesa Blanca, whose own +little rancheria was with the Pimans at Palomitas. + +"Look above, Cap," said Kit. + +Above two pair of black wings swept in graceful curves against the +saffron sky--waiting! + +Rhodes went back to the outfit for pick and shovel, and when twilight +fell they made a grave there in the dusky caņon of the desert. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE SLAVE TRAIL + + +They camped that night in the barranca, and next morning a thin blue +smoke a mile away drew Kit out on the roan even in the face of the +heat to be, and the water yet to find. He hoped to discover someone +who had been more fortunate in escape. + +He found instead an Indian he knew, one whose gray hair was matted +with blood and who stood as if dazed by terror at sound of hoofs. It +was Miguel, the Pima head man of Mesa Blanca. + +"Why, Miguel, don't you know me?" asked Kit. + +The eyes of the man had a strange look, and he did not answer. But he +did move hesitatingly to the horse and stroked it. + +"_Caballo_," he said. "_Muy bueno, caballo._" + +"Yes," agreed Pardner's rider, "very good always." + +"_Si_ seņor, always." + +Kit swung from the saddle, and patted the old man's shoulder. He was +plainly dazed from either a hurt, or shock, and would without doubt +die if left alone. + +"Come, you ride, and we'll go to camp, then find water," suggested +Kit. "Camp here no good. Come help me find water." + +That appeal penetrated the man's mind more clearly. Miguel had been +the well-trusted one of the Indian vaqueros, used to a certain +dependence put upon him, and he straightened his shoulders for a +task. + +"_Si_ seņor, a good padrone are you, and water it will be found for +you." He was about to mount when he halted, bewildered, and looked +about him as if in search. + +"All--my people--" he said brokenly. "My children of me--my child!" + +Kit knew that his most winning child lay newly covered under the sand +and stones he had gathered by moonlight to protect the grave from +coyotes. + +But there was a rustle back of him and a black-eyed elf, little more +than a child, was standing close, shaking the sand from her hair. + +"I am hearing you speak. I know it is you, and I come," she said. + +It was Tula, the younger daughter of Miguel,--one who had carried them +water from the well on her steady head, and played with the babies on +the earthen floors at the pueblo of Palomitas. + +But the childish humors were gone, and her face wore the Indian mask +of any age. + +"Tell me," said Kit. + +"It is at Palomitas. I was in the willows by the well when they came, +Juan Gonsalvo and El Aleman, and strange soldiers. All the women +scream and make battle, also the men, and that is when my father is +hurt in the head, that is when they are taking my mother, and Anita, +my sister. Some are hiding. And El Aleman and Juan Gonsalvo make the +count, and sent the men for search. That is how it was." + +"Why do you say El Aleman?" asked Rhodes. + +"I seeing him other time with Don José, and hearing how he talk. Also +Anita knowing him, and scream his name--'Don Adolf!'--when he catch +her. Juan Gonsalvo has a scarf tied over the face--all but the eyes, +but the Don Adolf has the face now covered with hairs and I seeing +him. They take all the people. My father is hurt, but lives. He tries +to follow and is much sick. My mother is there, and Anita, my sister, +is there. He thinks it better to find them--it is his head is sick. He +walks far beside me, and does not know me." + +"You are hungry?" + +She showed him a few grains of parched corn tied up in the corner of +her _manta_. "Water I have, and roots of the sand." + +"Water," repeated Miguel mechanically. "Yes, I am the one who knows +where it comes. I am the one to show you." + +The eyes of the girl met Kit's gaze of understanding. + +"The hurt is of his head," she stated again. "In the night he made +speech of strange old-time things, secret things, and of fear." + +"So? Well, it was a bad night for old men and Indian girls in the +desert. Let's be moving." + +Tula picked up her hidden wicker water bottle and trudged on sandaled +feet beside Kit. Miguel went into a heap in the saddle, dazed, +muttering disjointed Indian words, only one was repeated often enough +to make an impression,--it was Cajame. + +"What is Cajame?" he asked the girl, and she gave him a look of +tolerance. + +"He was of chiefs the most great. He was killed for his people. He was +the father of my father." + +Kit tried to recall where he had heard the name, but failed. No one +had chanced to mention that Miguel, the peaceful Piman, had any claims +on famous antecedents. He had always seemed a grave, silent man, +intent only on herding the stock and caring for the family, at the +little cluster of adobes by the well of Palomitas. It was about two +miles from the ranch house, but out of sight. An ancient river hill +terminated in a tall white butte at the junction of two arroyas, and +the springs feeding them were the deciding influence regarding +location of dwellings. Rhodes could quickly perceive how a raid could +be made on Palomitas and, if no shots were fired, not be suspected at +the ranch house of Mesa Blanca. + +The vague sentences of Miguel were becoming more connected, and Kit, +holding him in the saddle, was much puzzled by some of them. + +"It is so, and we are yet dying," he muttered as he swayed in the +saddle. "We, the Yaqui, are yet dumb as our fathers bade. But it is +the end, seņor, and the red gold of Alisal is our own, and----" + +Then his voice dwindled away in mutterings and Rhodes saw that the +Indian girl was very alert, but watching him rather than her father as +she padded along beside him. + +"Where is it--Alisal?" he asked carelessly, and her velvet-black eyes +narrowed. + +"I think not anyone is knowing. It is also evil to speak of that +place," she said. + +"What makes the evil?" + +"Maybe so the padres. I no knowing, what you think?" + +But they had reached the place of camp where Cap Pike had the packs on +the animals, waiting and restless. + +"Well, you're a great little collector, Bub," he observed. "You start +out on the bare sand and gravel and raise a right pert family. Who's +your friend?" + +Despite his cynical comment, he was brisk enough with help when Miguel +slid to the ground, ashen gray, and senseless. + +"Now we are up against trouble, with an old cripple and a petticoat to +tote, and water the other side of the range." + +But he poured a little of the precious fluid down the throat of the +Indian, who recovered, but stared about vacantly. + +"Yes, seņor," he said nodding his head when his eyes rested on Rhodes, +"as you say--it is for the water--as you say--it is the end--for the +Yaqui. Dead is Cajame--die all we by the Mexican! To you, seņor, my +child, and El Alisal of the gold of the rose. So it will be, seņor. It +is the end--the water is there, seņor. It is to you." + +"That's funny," remarked Pike, "he's gone loony and talking of old +chief Cajame of the Yaquis. He was hanged by the Mexican government +for protesting against loot by the officials. A big man he was, +nothing trifling about Cajame! That old Indian had eighty thousand in +gold in a government bank. Naturally the Christian rulers couldn't +stand for that sort of shiftlessness in a heathen! Years ago it was +they burned him out, destroyed his house and family;--the whole thing +was hellish." + +The girl squatting in the sand, never took her eyes off Pike's face. +It was not so much the words, but the tone and expression she gave +note to, and then she arose and moved over beside her father. + +"No," she said stolidly, "it is his families here, Yaqui me--no Pima! +Hiding he was when young, hiding with Pima men all safe. The padre of +me is son to Cajame,--only to you it is told, you Americano!" + +Her eyes were pitiful in their strained eagerness, striving with all +her shocked troubled soul to read the faces of the two men, and +staking all her hopes of safety in her trust. + +"You bet we're Americano, Tula, and so will you be when we get you +over the border," stated Rhodes recklessly. "I don't know how we are +going to do it, Cap, but I swear I'm not going to let a plucky little +girl like that go adrift to be lifted by the next gang of raiders. We +need a mascot anyway, and she is going to be it." + +"You're a nice sort of seasoned veteran, Bub," admitted Pike dryly, +"but in adopting a family it might be as well to begin with a he +mascot instead of what you've picked. A young filly like that might +turn hoodoo." + +"I reckon I'd have halted for a sober second thought if it hadn't been +for that other girl under the stones down there," agreed Rhodes. "But +shucks!--with all the refugees we're feeding across the line where's +the obstacle to this one?" + +The old prospector was busy with the wounded head for the Indian and +had no reply ready, but shook his head ominously. Rhodes scowled and +began uncoiling a _reata_ in case it would be needed to tie Miguel in +the saddle. + +"We've got to get some hustle to this outfit," he observed glancing at +the sun. "It's too far to take them back to Whitely's, and water has +to be had. We are really nearer to Soledad!" + +The Indian girl came closer to him, speaking in a low, level manner, +strange and secretive, yet not a whisper. + +"He does know--and water is there at that place," she said. "In the +night I am hearing him speak all what the ancients hide. He no can +walk to that place, maybe I no can walk, but go you for the gold in +the hidden caņon. You are Americano,--strong,--is it not? A brave +heart and much of gold of rose would bring safe again the mother of me +and my sister! All this I listen to in the night. For them the gold of +rose by the hidden water is to be uncovered again. But see, his hands +are weak, his head is like the _niņo_ in the reed basket. A stronger +heart must find the way--it is you." + +Lowly, haltingly, she kept on that level-voiced decision. It was +evident that the ravings of her father through the long hours of the +dreadful night had filled her mind with his one desire: to dare the +very gods that the red gold might be uncovered again, and purchase +freedom for the Indians on the exile road to the coast. + +So low were her words that even Cap Pike, a rod away, only heard the +voice, but not the subject. It was further evident that she meant but +the one man to hear. Pike had white hair and to her mind was, like her +father, to be protected from responsibilities, but Rhodes loomed +strong and kind, and braced by youth for any task. + +Rhodes looked at her pityingly, and patted her head. + +"I reckon we're all a little loco, kid," he observed. "You're so +paralyzed with the hell you saw, and his ravings that you think his +dope of the gold is all gospel, but it's only a dream, sister,--a sick +man's fancy, though you sure had me going for a minute, plum +hypnotized by the picture." + +"It is to hide always," she said. "No man must know. No other eyes +must see, only you!" + +"Sure," he agreed. + +"You promising all?" + +"Sure again! Just to comfort you I promise that when I find the gold +of El Alisal I will use it to help get your people." + +"Half," she decided. "Half to you." + +"Half it is! You're a great little planner for your size, kid. Too bad +it's only a dream." + +Cap Pike rose to his feet, and gave a hand to Miguel, who reeled, and +then steadied himself gradually. + +"Most thanks, seņor," he whispered, "and when we reach the water----" + +They helped him into the saddle, and Rhodes walked beside, holding him +as he swayed. + +They passed the new-made grave in the sand, and Rhodes turned to the +girl. "Sister," he said, "lift two stones and add to that pile there, +one for you and one for your father. Also look around and remember +this place." + +"I am no forgetting it," she said as she lifted a stone and placed it +as he told her. "It is here the exile trail. I mark the place where +you take for me the Americano road, and not the south road of the +lost. So it is,--these stone make witness." + +"I'll be shot if I don't believe you _are_ old Cajames stock," said +Cap Pike staring at her, and then meeting the gaze of Rhodes in wonder +at her clear-cut summing up of the situation. "But he was a handful +for the government in his day, Bub, and I'm hornswaggled if I'd pick +out his breed for a kindergarten." + +The girl heard and understood at least the jocular tenor of his +meaning, but no glance in his direction indicated it. She placed the +second stone, and then in obedience to Rhodes she looked back the way +she had come where the desert growth crisped in the waves of heat. On +one side lay the low, cactus-dotted hillocks, and on the other the +sage green and dull yellow faded into the blue mists of the eastern +range. + +"I am no forgetting it, this place ever," she said and then lifted her +water bottle and trudged on beside Rhodes. "It is where my trail +begins, with you." + +Cape Pike grinned at the joke on the boy, for it looked as if the +Yaqui girl were adopting _him_! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A MEETING AT YAQUI WELL + + +Good luck was with them, for the water hole in Yaqui caņon had not +been either muddied or exhausted, evidence that the raiders had not +ranged that way. The sorry looking quartette fairly staggered into the +little caņon, and the animals were frantic with desire to drink their +fill. + +"I was so near fried that the first gallon fairly sizzled down my +gullet," confessed Cap Pike after a long glorious hour of rest under +the alamos with saturated handkerchief over his burning eyes. "That +last three mile stretch was hell's back yard for me. How you reckon +the little trick over there ever stood it?" + +The Indian girl was resting near her father, and every little while +putting water on his face and hands. When she heard the voice of Pike +she sat up, and then started quietly to pick up dry yucca stalks and +bits of brushwood for a fire. + +"Look at that, would you, Bub," commented Pike, "the minute she sees +you commence to open the cook kit she is rustling for firewood. That +little devil is made of whalebone for toughness. Why, even the burros +are played out, but she is fresh as a daisy after a half hour's +rest!" + +Rhodes noted that the excitement by which she had been swayed to +confidence in the morning had apparently burned out on the trail, for +she spoke no more, only served silently as generations of her mothers +of the desert had done, and waited, crouched back of her father, while +the men ate the slender meal of _carne seco_, _atole_, and coffee. + +Cap Pike suggested that she join them, but it was her adopted guardian +who protested. + +"We won't change their ways of women," he decided. "I notice that when +white folks try to they are seldom understood. How do we know whether +that attitude is an humble effacement, or whether the rank of that +martyred ancester exalts her too greatly to allow equality with white +stragglers of the range?" + +Cap Pike snorted disdain. + +"You'll be making a Pocahontas of her if you keep on that 'noble +Injun' strain," he remarked. + +"Far be it from me! Pocahontas was a gay little hanger-on of the +camps,--not like this silent owl! Her mind seems older than her years, +and just notice her care of him, will you? I reckon he'd have wandered +away and died but for her grip on him through the night." + +Miguel sank into sleep almost at once after eating, and the girl waved +over him an alamo branch as a fan with one hand, and ate with the +other, while Rhodes looked over the scant commissary outfit, reckoning +mouths to feed and distance to supplies. The moon was at full, and +night travel would save the stock considerably. By the following noon +they could reach ranches either west or north. He was conscious of the +eyes of the girl ever on his face in mute question, and while Pike +bathed the backs of the animals, and led each to stand in the oozy +drainage of the meager well, she came close to Kit and spoke. + +"You say it is a dream, seņor, and you laugh, but the red gold of El +Alisal is no dream. He, my father has said it, and after that, I, +Tula, may show it to you. Even my mother does not know, but I know. I +am of the blood to know. You will take him there, for it is a medicine +place, much medicine! He has said it to you, seņor, and that gift is +great. You will come, alone,--with us, seņor?" + +Kit smiled at her entreaty, patted her hair, and dug out a worn deck +of cards and shuffled them, slowly regarding the sleeping Indian the +while. + +"What's on your mind?" demanded Cap Pike, returning with his white +locks dripping from a skimpy bath. "Our grub stake is about gone, and +you've doubled the outfit. What's the next move?" + +"I'm playing a game in futures with Miguel," stated Kit, shuffling the +cards industriously. + +"Sounds loco to me, Bub," observed the veteran. "Present indications +are not encouraging as to futures there. Can't you see that he's got a +jar from which his mind isn't likely to recover? Not crazy, you know, +not a lunatic or dangerous, but just jarred from Pima man back to +Yaqui child. That's about the way I reckon it." + +"You reckon right, and it's the Yaqui child mind I'm throwing the +cards for. Best two out of three wins." + +"What the----" + +"Highest cards for K. Rhodes, and I hike across the border with our +outfit; highest cards for Miguel and my trail is blazed for the red +gold of Alisal. This is Miguel's hand--ace high for Miguel!" + +Again he shuffled and cut. + +"A saucy queen, and red at that! Oh, you charmer!" + +"You got to hustle to beat that, Bub. Go on, don't be stingy." + +Rhodes cut the third time, then stared and whistled. + +"The cards are stacked by the Indian! All three covered with war +paint. What's the use in a poor stray white bucking against that?" + +He picked out the cards and placed them side by side, ace, king and +queen of hearts. + +"Three aces could beat them," suggested Pike. "Go on Bub, shuffle them +up, don't be a piker." + +Rhodes did, and cut ten of clubs. + +"Not even the right color," he lamented. "Nothing less than two aces +for salvation, and I--don't--get--them!" + +A lonely deuce fell on the sand, and Rhodes eyed it sulkily as he +rolled a cigarette. + +"You poor little runt," he apostrophized the harmless two-spot. +"You've kicked me out of the frying pan into the fire, and a good +likely blaze at that!" + +"Don't reckon I care to go any deeper into trouble than what we've +found," decided Pike. "Ordinary Indian scraps are all in the day's +work--same with a Mexican outfit--but, Bub, this slave-hunting graft +game with the state soldiery doing the raiding is too strong a combine +for two lone rangers to buck against. Me for the old U. S. border, and +get some of this devilish word to the peace advocates at home." + +"They wouldn't believe you, and only about two papers along the border +would dare print it," observed Rhodes. "Every time a band of sunny +Mexicans loot a ranch or steal women, the word goes north that again +the bloodthirsty Yaquis are on the warpath! Those poor devils never +leave their fields of their own will, and don't know why the Americans +have a holy dread of them. Yet the Yaqui is the best worker south of +the line." + +"If he wasn't the price wouldn't be worth the slave trader's valuable +time," commented Pike. + +The Indian girl made a quick gesture of warning, just a sweep outward +of her hand along the ground. She didn't even look at them, but down +the arroya, the trail they had come. + +"_Caballos, hombres!_" she muttered in her throat. + +"The kid's right,--hear them!" said Rhodes, and then he looked at him, +and made a strange movement of eyes and head to direct the attention +back of her in the thicket of cactus and squat greasewood. He did not +look at once, but finally with a circular sweep of the locality, he +saw the light glint on a gun barrel along the edge of a little mesa +above them. + +"Nice friendly attention," he observed. "Someone sizing us up. Time to +hit the trail anyway, Cap;--to get through on the grub we have to +travel tonight." + +He rose and handed the water bottles to the girl to fill, while he +tightened cinches. + +"It's a long day's trip, Cap," he stated thoughtfully, "a long day out +to Carrizal, and a long one back to Mesa Blanca. I'll divide the dust +and the grub fifty-fifty, and you get out to some base of supplies. +I'd rather you'd take Pardner, and keep on going across the line. The +trail is clear from here for you, and enough water holes and +settlements for you to get through. I don't think Pardner would last +for the back trip, but you can save him by riding at night; the burro +and mule are best for us. Here's the dust." + +While Pike had been talking of crossing the border, Kit had been +rapidly readjusting the provision so that the old chap had enough to +carry him to the first settlement, and the gold dust would more than +pay for provision the rest of the way. + +"Why--say, Bub!" remonstrated Pike. "You're so sudden! I don't allow +to leave you by your lonesomes like this. Why, I had planned----" + +"There's nothing else to do," decided Rhodes crisply. "If you don't +beat it with Pardner, we'll lose him, sure! I'm going to take these +Indians back, and you can help most by waiting north of the line till +you hear from me. I'll get word to you at Granados. So, if there +should be any trouble with these visitors of ours, your trail is +clear;--savvy?" + +Two men rode into view in the bend of the arroya. A cartridge belt +across each shoulder, and one around each waist, was the most +important part of their equipment. + +"_Buenos dias_, seņors," said one politely, while his little black +eyes roved quickly over the group. "Is there still water to be found +in the well here? _Dios!_ it is the heat of hell down there in the +valley." + +"At your service, seņor, is water fresh drawn," said Rhodes, and +turned to the girl, "Oija, Tulita!--water for the gentlemen. You ride +far, seņor?" + +"From Soledad wells." + +"Yes, I know the brand," remarked Rhodes. + +"This is a good season in which to avoid too much knowledge, or too +good a memory, seņor," observed the man who had not spoken. "Many +herds will change hands without markets before tranquility is over in +Mexico." + +"I believe you, seņor, and we who have nothing will be the lucky +ones," agreed Rhodes, regarding the man with a new interest. He was +not handsome, but there was a something quick and untamed in his keen, +black eyes, and though the mouth had cruel hard lines, his tone was +certainly friendly, yet dominating. + +"What have you here?" he asked with a gesture toward Miguel. + +"My Indian who tried to save his women from slavers, and was left for +dead," stated Rhodes frankly. + +"And this?" + +He pointed to the girl filling again the water bottles. + +"She is mine, seņor. We go to our own homes." + +"Hum! you should be enlisted in the fights and become capitan, but +these would drop by the trail if you left them. Well, another time +perhaps, seņor! For the water many thanks. _Adios!_" and with wave of +the hand they clattered down the arroya. + +"Queer," muttered Rhodes, "did you catch that second chap signal to +the gun man in the cactus? He craw-fished back over the mesa and faded +away." + +"They didn't come for water alone--some scouten' party trailin' every +sign found," decided Pike. "I'll bet they had us circled before the +two showed themselves. Wonder who they are after?" + +"Anyway they didn't think us worth while gathering in, which is a +comfort. That second fellow looks like someone I've crossed trails +with, but I can't place him." + +"They'll place you all right, all right!" prophesied Pike darkly, "you +and your interesting family won't need a brand." + +Rhodes stared at him a moment and then grinned. + +"Right you are, Cap. Wouldn't it be pie for the gossips to slice up +for home consumption?" + +He kept on grinning as he looked at the poor bit of human flotsam whom +he had dubbed "the owl" because of her silence and her eyes. She +aroused Miguel without words, watching him keenly for faintest sign of +recovery. The food and sleep had refreshed him in body, but the mind +was far away. To the girl he gave no notice, and after a long +bewildered stare at Rhodes he smiled in a deprecating way. + +"Your pardon, Don José, that I outsleep the camp," he muttered +haltingly. "It is a much sickness of the head to me." + +"For that reason must you ride slowly today," stated Rhodes with quick +comprehension of the groping mind, though the "Don José" puzzled him, +and at first chance he loitered behind with the girl and questioned +her. + +"How makes itself that I must know all the people in the world before +I was here on earth?" she asked morosely? "Me he does not know, Don +José is of Soledad and is of your tallness, so----" + +"Know you the man who came for water at the caņon well?" he asked, and +she looked at him quickly and away. + +"The name of the man was not spoke by him, also he said a true word of +brands on herds--these days." + +"In these days?" reflected Rhodes, amazed at the ungirlish logic. "You +know what he meant when he said that?" + +"We try that we know--all we, for the Deliverer is he named, and by +that name only he is spoke in the prayers we make." + +Rhodes stared at her, incredulous, yet wondering if the dusty vaquero +looking rider of brief words could be the man who was called outlaw, +heathen, and bandit by Calendria, and "Deliverer" by these people of +bondage. + +"You think that is true;--he will be the deliverer?" + +"I not so much think, I am only remembering what the fathers say and +the mothers. Their word is that he will be the man, if--if----" + +"Well, if what?" he asked as she crossed herself, and dropped her +head. + +"I am not wanting to say that thing. It is a scare on the heart when +it is said." + +"I'd rather be prepared for the scare if it strikes me," he announced, +and after a thoughtful silence while she padded along beside him, she +lowered her voice as though to hide her words from the evil fates. + +"Then will I tell it you:--a knife in the back is what they fear for +him, or poison in his cup. He is hated by strong haters, also he makes +them know fear. I hearing all that in the patio at Palomitas, and old +Tio Polonio is often saying all saviors are crucified. How you +think?" + +Rhodes replied vaguely as to the wisdom of Tio Polonio, for the girl +was giving him the point of view of the peon, longing for freedom, yet +fatalistic as the desert born ever are. And she had known the rebel +leader, Ramon Rotil, all the time! + +He had no doubt but that she was right. Her statement explained the +familiar appearance of the man he had not met before, though he had +seen pictures in newspapers or magazines. Then he fell to wondering +what Ramon Rotil was doing in a territory so far from the troops, +and---- + +"Don José is one of the strong men who are hating him much," confided +the child. "Also Don José comes not north alone ever anymore, always +the soldiers are his guard. Tio Polonio tells things of these +soldiers." + +"What kind of things?" + +"They are killing boys like rabbits in Canannea,--pacifico boys who +could grow to Calendrista soldiers. Such is done by the guard of Don +José and all the friends of the Deliverer are killed with a quickness. +That is how the men of Don José Perez please him most, and in the +south there are great generals who work also with him, and his hand is +made strong, also heavy, and that is what Tio Polonio is telling us +often." + +When they reached the mouth of the little caņon of the Yaqui well +where the trails divide, Pike shook hands and climbed into the saddle +of Pardner. + +"It's the first time I ever took the easy way out, and left the fight +alone to a chum,--but I'll do it, Bub, because you could not make a +quick get-away with me tagging along. Things look murkier in this +territory every minute. You'll either have the time of your life, or +a headstone early in the game. Billie and I will put it up though we +won't know where you're planted. I don't like it, but the minutes and +water for the trail are both precious. Come out quick as you can. So +long!" + +Pardner, refreshed by cooling drink and an hour's standing in wet mud +of the well drainage, stepped off briskly toward the north, while +Rhodes lifted Tula to the back of the pack mule, and Miguel unheeding +all plans or changes, drooped with closed eyes on the back of the +little burro. The manager of the reorganized gold-search syndicate +strode along in the blinding glare of the high sun, herding them ahead +of him, and as Pike turned for a last look backward at a bend of the +trail, the words of the old darkey chant came to him on the desert +air: + + _Oh, there was a frog lived in the spring!_ + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A MEXICAN EAGLET + + +The silver wheel of the moon was rolling into the west when the Indian +girl urged the mule forward, and caught the bridle of the burro. + +"What is it, Tula?" asked Rhodes, "we are doing well on the trail to +Mesa Blanca; why stop here?" + +"Look," she said. "See you anything? Know you this place in the +road?" + +He looked over the sand dunes and scrubby desert growths stretching +far and misty under the moon, and, then to the rugged gray range of +the mountain spur rising to the south. They were skirting the very +edge of it where it rose abruptly from the plain; a very great gray +upthrust of granite wall beside them was like a gray blade slanted out +of the plain. He had noticed it as one of the landmarks on the road to +Mesa Blanca, and on its face were a few curious scratchings or +peckings, one a rude sun symbol, and others of stars and waves of +water. He recalled remarking to Pike that it must have been a prayer +place for some of the old tribes. + +"Yes, I know the place, when we reach this big rock it means that we +are nearing the border of the ranch, this rock wall tells me that. We +can be at Palomitas before noon." + +"No," she said, and got down from the mule, "not to Palomitas now. +Here we carry the food, and here we hide the saddles, and the mule go +free. The burro we take, nothing else." + +"Where is a place to hide saddles here?" and he made gesture toward +the great granite plane glistening in the moonlight. + +"A place is found," she returned, "it is better we ride off the trail +at this place." + +She did so, circling back the way they had come until they were +opposite a more broken part of the mountain side, then she began +deftly to help unsaddle. + +"Break no brush and make all tracks like an Apache on the trail," she +said. + +Miguel sat silent on the burro as if asleep. He had never once roused +to give heed to the words or the trail through the long ride. At times +where the way was rough he would mutter thanks at the help of Kit and +sink again into stupor. + +"I can't spare that mule," protested Kit, but she nodded her head as +if that had been all thought out. + +"He will maybe not go far, there is grass and a very little spring +below. Come now, I show you that hidden trail." + +She picked up one of the packs and led the burro. + +"But we can't pack all this at once," decided Kit, who was beginning +to feel like the working partner in a nightmare. + +"Two times," said Tula, holding up her fingers, "I show you." + +She led the way, nervous, silent and in haste, as though in fear of +unseen enemies. Rhodes looked after her irritably. He was fagged and +worn out by one of the hardest trails he had ever covered, and was in +no condition to solve the curious problems of the Indian mind, but the +girl had proven a good soldier of the desert, and was, for the first +time, betraying anxiety, so as the burro disappeared in the blue mist, +and only the faint patter of his hoofs told the way he had gone, Kit +picked up the saddle and followed. + +The way was rough and there was no trail, simply stumbling between +great jagged slabs hewn and tossed recklessly by some convulsion of +nature. Occasionally dwarfed and stunted brush, odorous with the faint +dew of night, reached out and touched his face as he followed up and +up with ever the forbidding lances of granite sharp edged against the +sky. From the plain below there was not even an indication that +progress would be possible for any human being over the range of +shattered rock, and he was surprised to turn a corner and find Tula +helping Miguel from the saddle in a little nook where scant herbage +grew. + +"No, not in this place we camp," she said. "It is good only to hide +saddles and rest for my father. Dawn is on the trail, and the other +packs must come." + +He would have remonstrated about a return trip, but she held up her +hand. + +"It must be, if you would live," she said. "The eyes of you have not +yet seen what they are to see, it is not to be told. All hiding must +be with care, or----" + +She made swift pantomime of sighting along a gun barrel at him, and +even in the shadows he could fancy the deadly half closing of her +ungirlish eyes. Tula did not play gaily. + +Tired as he was, Kit grinned. + +"You win," he said. "Let's hit what would be the breeze if this fried +land could stir one up." + +They plodded back without further converse, secured the packs, and +this time it was Rhodes who led, as there appeared no possible way but +the one they had covered. Only once did he make a wrong turn and a +sharp "s-st" from the girl warned him of the mistake. + +They found Miguel asleep, and Kit Rhodes would willingly have sunk +down beside him and achingly striven for the same forgetfulness, but +Tula relentlessly shook Miguel awake, got him on the burro, unerringly +designated the food bag in the dark, and started again in the lead. + +"I reckon you're some sort of Indian devil," decided Kit, shouldering +the bag. "No mere mortal ever made this trail or kept it open." + +Several times the towering walls suggested the bottom of a well, and +as another and another loomed up ahead, he gloomily prophesied an +ultimate wall, and the need of wings. + +Then, just as the first faint light began in the eastern heavens, he +was aware that the uneven trail was going down and down, zig-zagging +into a ravine like a great gray bowl, and the bottom of it filled with +shadows of night. + +The girl was staggering now with exhaustion though she would not +confess it. Once she fell, and he lifted her thinking she was hurt, +but she clung to him, shaking from weakness, but whispering, "_Pronto, +pronto!_" + +"Sure!" he agreed, "all the swiftness the outfit can muster." + +Curious odors came to him from the shadowy bowl, not exactly a +pleasing fragrance, yet he knew it--But his mind refused to work. As +the trail grew wider, and earth was under his feet instead of rock +slivers and round boulders, he discovered that he was leading the +burro, the grub sack over his shoulder, and with the other arm was +supporting the girl, who was evidently walking with closed eyes, able +to progress but not to guide herself. + +Then there was the swish-swish of grasses about their feet and poor +Bunting snatched mouthfuls as all three staggered downward. The light +began to grow, and somewhere in the shadowy bowl there was the most +blest sound known in the desert, the gurgle of running water! + +"We hear it--but we can't believe it--old Buntin'," muttered Kit +holding the burro from steady and stubborn attempts to break away, +"and you are just loco enough to think you smell it." + +Then suddenly their feet struck rock again, not jagged or slippery +fragments, but solid paving, and a whiff of faint mist drifted across +his face in the gray of the first dawn, and the burro craned his neck +forward at the very edge of a black rock basin where warm vapor struck +the nostrils like a soporific. + +The girl roused herself at a wordless exclamation from Rhodes, and +began automatically helping Miguel from the saddle, and stripping him +to the breechcloth. + +Kit's amazement startled him out of his lethargy of exhaustion. It was +light enough now to see that her eyes were bloodshot, and her +movements quick with a final desperation. + +"There!" she said and motioned towards a shelving place in the rock, +"there--medicine--all quick!" + +She half lifted the staggering, unconscious Indian, and Kit, +perceiving her intention, helped her with Miguel to the shallow edge +of the basin where she rolled him over until he was submerged to the +shoulder in the shallow bath, cupping her hands she scooped water and +drenched his face. + +"Why,--it's warm!" muttered Kit. + +"Medicine," said Tula, and staggered away. + +How Rhodes shed his own garments and slipped into the basin beside +Miguel he never knew, only he knew he had found an early substitute +for heaven. It was warm sulphur water,--tonic, refreshing and +infinitely soothing to every sore muscle and every frazzled nerve. He +ducked his head in it, tossed some more over the head and shoulders of +the sleeping Indian, and then, submerged to his arms, he promptly +drifted into slumber himself. + +He wakened to the sound of Baby Bunting pawing around the grub pack. +Hunger was his next conviction, for the heavenly rest in the medicine +bath had taken every vestige of weariness away. He felt lethargic from +the sulphur fumes, and more sleep was an enticing thought, yet he put +it from him and got into his clothes after the use of a handkerchief +as a bath towel. Miguel still slept and Kit bent over him in some +concern, for the sleep appeared curiously deep and still, the breath +coming lightly, yet he did not waken when lifted out of the water and +covered with a poncho in the shade of a great yucca. + +"I reckon it's some dope in these hot springs," decided Kit. "I feel +top heavy myself, and won't trouble him till I've rustled some grub +and have something to offer. Well, Buntin', we are all here but the +daughter of the Glen," he said, rescuing the grub sack, "and if she +was a dream and you inveigled me here by your own diabolical powers, +I've a hunch this is our graveyard; we'll never see the world and its +vanities again!" + +A bit of the blue and scarlet on a bush above caught his eye. It was +the belt of Tula, and he went upwards vaguely disturbed that he had +drifted into ease without question of her welfare. + +He found her emerging from a smaller rock basin, her one garment +dripping a wet trail as she came towards him. There was no smile in +her greeting, but a look of content, of achievement. + +"My father," she said, "he is----" + +"Sleeping beyond belief! good medicine sleep, I hope." + +She nodded her head comprehendingly, for she had done the impossible +and had triumphed. She looked at the sack of food he held. + +"There is one place for fire, and other water is there. Come, it is to +you." + +She struck off across the sun-bathed little grass plot to a jumble of +rock where a cool spring emerged, ran only a few rods, and sank again +out of sight. The shattered rock was as a sponge, so completely was +the water sucked downward again. Marks of burro's hoofs were there. + +"Baby Buntin' been prospecting while we wallowed in the dope bath," +said Kit. + +"Maybe so, maybe not," uttered the Indian child, if such she could be +called after the super-woman initiative of that forbidding trail. She +was down on her knees peering at the tracks in the one little wet spot +below the spring. + +"Two," she said enigmatically. "That is good, much good. It will be +meat." + +Then she saw him pulling dry grasses and breaking branches of scrub +growth for a fire, and she stood up and motioned him to follow. They +were in a narrow, deep ravine separated from the main one by the +miniature plain of lush grass, a green cradle of rest in the heart of +the gray hills. She went as directly upward as the broken rock would +permit, and suddenly he followed her into a blackened cave formed by a +great granite slab thrusting itself upwards and enduring through the +ages when the broken rock had shattered down to form an opposite wall. +And the cloud bursts of the desert had swept through, and washed the +sands clear, leaving a high black roof slanting upwards to the +summit. + +Tula moved ahead into the far shadows. He could see that beyond her +somewhere a ray of light filtered blue, but he halted at the entrance, +puzzled at the black roof where all the rock of the mountain was gray +and white except where mineral streaks were of reds and russets and +moldy greens. Then he put his hand up and touched the roof and +understood. Soot from ancient fires was discernible on his hand, +flakes of it fell to the floor, dry and black, scaling off under +pressure. The scales were thick and very old, like blackened moss. He +had seen blackened rock like that in other volcanic regions, but this +was different. + +"It is here," said Tula, and he followed the voice through a darker +shadowed bit of the way, then through the ray of light, and then---- + +The first thing he saw was the raised hearth of a rather pretentious +fireplace, or place of fire, for it resembled not at all the tiny +little cooking hearth of desert Indians. A stone hatchet lay beside +it, and, what was much more surprising, two iron instruments of white +man's manufacturing, a wedge and a long chisel. + +He picked up the chisel, weighed it in his hand, and looked at the +girl. He was now becoming accustomed to the dim light and could see +her eyes following his every movement with curious questioning. There +was a tiny frowning wrinkle between her brows as if serious matters +were being decided there. + +"It is here," she said again. "Maybe someone dies when a white friend +is shown the way--maybe I die, who knows?--but it is here--El Alisal +of the gold of the rose!" + +She made a little gesture and moved aside, and the chisel fell to the +stone floor with a clang as Kit shouted and dropped on his knees +before an incredible thing in the gray wall. + +That upthrust of the rock wall had strange variety of color, and +between the granite and the gray limestone there was a ragged rusty +band of iron as a note of contrast to the sprinkling of glittering +quartz catching the ray of light, but the quartz was sprinkled on a +six inch band of yellow--not the usual quartz formation with dots of +color, but a deep definite yellow held together by white crystals. + +"The red gold! it's the red gold!" he said feeling the yellow surface +instinctively. + +"Yes, seņor, it is the red gold of El Alisal, and it is to you," but +her eyes were watching him hungrily as she spoke. And something of +that pathetic fear penetrated his amazed mind, and he remembered. + +"No, Tula, only my share to me. I do the work, but the great share is +to you, that it may buy back your mother from the slavers of the +south." + +"Also my sister," said the girl, and for the first time she wept. + +"Come, come! This is the time for joy. The danger is gone, and we are +at rest beside this--why, it's a dream come true, the golden dream! +Come, help me cook that we may be strong for the work." + +She helped silently, fetching water and more sticks for the fire. + +There were many things to ask, but he asked no questions, only gazed +between bites and sups at the amazing facts facing him. + +"I've seen ores and ores in my time, but nothing like this!" he +exulted. "Why, I can 'high grade' mule loads of this and take it out +without smelting," and then he grinned at his little partner. "We just +struck it in time,--meat is mighty near done." + +"Plenty meat!" she said nodding her head wisely. "Burro, big burro, +wild burro! I see track." + +"Wild burro? Sure, that makes it simple till we rest up. You are one +great little commissary sergeant." + +He noted that the pitch of the roof towards the face of the mountain +carried the smoke in a sort of funnel to be sifted through high +unseen crannies of shattered rock above. All was dark in the end of +the gallery, but a perceptible draught from the portal bore the smoke +upward. + +"It's too good to be true," he decided, looking it over. "I'm chewing +bacon and it tastes natural, but I'm betting with myself that this is +a dream, and I'll wake up in the dope pond with my mouth full of +sulphur water." + +The girl watched him gravely, and ate sparingly, though parched corn +had been her only sustenance through the trail of the dreadful night. +Her poor sandals were almost cut from her feet, and even while jesting +at the unreality of it all, Kit was making mental note of her +needs--the wild burro would at least provide green hide sandals for +her until better could be found, and she had earned the best. + +He was amazed at her keenness. She did not seem to think, but +instinctively to feel her way to required knowledge, caring for +herself in the desert as a fledgling bird tossed by some storm from +the home nest. He remembered there were wild burros in the Sonora +hills, but that she should have already located one on this most +barren of mountains was but another unbelievable touch to the trail of +enchantment, and after a century of lost lives and treasure in the +search for the Indian mine, to think that this Indian stray, picked up +on a desolate trail, should have been the one to know that secret and +lead him to it! + +"Other times you have been here?" he asked as he poured coffee in a +tin for Miguel, and dug out the last box of crackers from the grub +pack. + +"Once I come, one time, and it was to make prayer here. It is mine to +know, but not my mother, not other peoples, only the father of me and +me. If I die then he show the trail to other one, not if I live. That +is how." + +"He surely picked the right member of his honorable family," decided +Kit. "Only once over the trail, once?" + +"I knowing it long before I see it," she explained gravely. "The +father of me make that trail in the sand for my eyes when I am only +little. I make the same for him in a game to play. When I make every +turn right, and name the place, and never forget--then he bring me, +for it is mine to know." + +"Sufferin' cats!" muttered Rhodes, eyeing her in wonder. "The next +time I see an Indian kid playing in the sand, I'll linger on the trail +and absorb wisdom!" + +"Come," she said, "you not seeing the one enchant look, the--how you +say?--the not believe look." + +"Well, take it from me, Cinderella, I'm seeing not believe things this +very now," announced Kit, giving a fond look towards that comforting +gleam of yellow metal bedding flecks of quartz. "I see it, but will +have to sleep, and wake up to find it in the same place before I can +believe what I think I see." + +With the food and drink for Miguel in his hands he had followed the +girl through the shadowed gallery of the slanting smoke-stained roof. +His eyes were mainly directed to the rock floor lest he stumble and +spill the precious coffee; thus he gave slight thought to the little +ravine up which she had led him to the cave which was also a mine. + +But as he stepped out into the sunlight she stood looking up into his +face with almost a smile, the first he had seen in her wistful tragic +eyes. Then she lifted her hand and pointed straight out, and the +"enchant look," the "not believe" look was there! He stared as at a +mirage for an incredulous moment, and then whispered, "Great God of +the Desert!" + +For a little space, a few rods only, the mountain dipped steeply, and +trickling water from above fell in little cascades to lower levels, +where a great jagged wall of impregnable granite arose as a barrier +along the foot of the mountain. + +But he was above the sharp outline of the huge saw with the jagged +granite teeth, and between the serrated edges he could look far across +the yellow-gray reaches of sand and desert growths. Far and wide was +the "not believe" look, to the blue phantom-like peaks on the horizon, +but between the two ranges was a white line with curious dots drifting +and whirling like flies along it, and smoke curling up, and---- + +Then it was he uttered the incredulous cry, for he was indeed viewing +the thing scarce to be believed. + +He was looking across the great Rancho Soledad, and the white line +against the sand was the wall of the old mission where the vaqueros +were herding a band of horses into the great quadrangle of the +one-time patio turned into a corral since the buildings on three sides +had melted down again into mother earth. + +He remembered riding around these lines of the old arches seeking +trace of that door of the legend,--the door from which the aliso tree +of the mine could be seen,--and there was nowhere a trace of a door. + +"Queer that every other part of the prospect developed according +to specifications and not the door," he grumbled whimsically. +"Cinderella, why have you hid the door in the wall from me?" + +She looked around uncertainly, not understanding. + +"No portal but it," she said with a movement of her head towards the +great slab forming a pointed arch against the mountain and shielding +the unbelievable richness there, "also El Alisal, the great tree, is +gone. This was the place of it; the old ones tell my father it was as +chief of the trees and stand high to be seen. The sky fire took it, +and took the padres that time they make an altar in this place." + +"Um," assented Kit, noting traces of ancient charcoal where the aliso +tree had grown great in the moisture of the spring before lightning +had decided its tragic finish, "a great storm it must have been to +send sky fire enough to kill them all." + +"Yes," said Tula quietly,--"also there was already another shrine at +this place, and the gods near." + +He glanced at her quickly and away. + +"Sure," he agreed, "sure, that's how it must have been. They destroyed +the aliso and there was no other landmark to steer by. White men might +find a thousand other dimples in the range but never this one, the +saw-tooth range below us has the best of them buffaloed. Come along, +Seņorita Aladdin, and help me with the guardian of the treasure. We've +got to look after Miguel, and then start in where the padres left off. +And you might do a prayer stunt or two at the shrine you mentioned. We +need all the good medicine help you can evoke." + +As they approached the pool where the faintest mist drifted above the +water warm from hidden fires of the mountain, Kit halted before he +quite reached the still form beside the yucca, and, handing the food +and drink to the girl, he went forward alone. + +He was puzzled afterward as to why he had done that, for no fold of +the garment was disturbed, nothing visible to occasion doubt, yet he +bent over and lifted the cover very gently. The face of Miguel was +strangely gray and there was no longer sign of breath. The medicine of +the sacred pool had given him rest, but not life. + +He replaced the blanket and turned to the girl;--the last of the +guardians of the shrine of the red gold. + +"Little sister," he said, "Miguel grew tired of the trails of a hard +land. He has made his choice to go asleep here in the place where you +tell me the gods are near. He does not want us to have sad hearts, for +he was very sad and very tired, and he will not need food, Tula." + +Her eyes filled with tears, but she made no reply, only unbound her +hair as she had seen mourning women do, and seated herself apart, her +face hidden in her arms. + +"No one is left to mourn but me, and I mourn!" she half chanted. "I +say it for the mother of me, and for my sister, that the ghosts may +listen. Happily he is going now from hard trails! He has chosen at +this place! Happily he has chosen, and only we are sad. No debt is +ours to pay at this place; he has chosen--and a life is paid at El +Alisal! Happily he will find the trail of the birds from this place, +and the trail of the clouds over the high mountain. No one is left to +mourn but me; and I mourn!" + +Rhodes understood no word of her lamentations, chanted now loudly, now +lowly, at intervals hour after hour that day. He set grimly to work +digging a grave in the lower part of the ravine, gathering dry grass +for lining as best he could to make clear to the girl that no lack of +care or honor was shown the last man of Cajame's stock. + +The work took most of the day, for he carried stone and built a wall +around the grave and covered it with slatelike slabs gathered from a +shattered upheaval of long ago. + +Tula watched all this gravely, and with approval, for she drew with +her finger the mark of the sun symbol on one of the slabs. + +"It is well to make that mark," she said, "for the sons of Cajame were +priests of the sun. The sign is on the great rock of the trail, and it +is theirs." + +With the chisel he carved the symbol as she suggested, glad to do +anything for the one mourner for the dead man who had offered the +treasure of the desert to him. + +"That is how he made choice," she said when it was marked plainly. +"Me, I think he was leading us on the night trail to this place--I +think so. He is here to guard the gold of El Alisal for you. That is +how it will be. He has made choice." + +Kit got away by himself to think over the unexpected situation. The +girl climbed to a higher point, seated herself, and continued her +chant of mourning. He knew she was following, as best she knew, the +traditional formalities of a woman for the death of a chief. He found +himself more affected by that brave fatalistic recital, now loud and +brave, now weirdly slow and tender, than if she had given way to +tempests of tears. A man could comfort and console a weeping stray of +the desert, but not a girl who sat with unbound hair under the yucca +and called messages to the ghosts until the sun,--a flaming ball of +fire,--sank beyond the far purple hills. + +And that was the first day of many days at the hidden treasure place +of the red gold. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +GLOOM OF BILLIE + + +The return of Captain Pike on Kit's horse was a matter of considerable +conjecture at Granados, but the old prospector was so fagged that at +first he said little, and after listening to the things Billie had to +tell him--he said less. + +"That explains the curious ways of the Mexicans as I reached the +border," he decided. "They'd look first at the horse, then at me, but +asked no questions, and told me nothing. Queer that no word reached us +about Singleton! No, it isn't either. We never crossed trails with any +from up here. There's so much devilment of various sorts going on down +there that a harmless chap like Singleton wouldn't be remembered." + +"Conrad's down at Magdalena now, but we seldom know how far he ranges. +Sometimes he stays at the lower ranch a week at a time, and he might +go on to Sinaloa for all we know. He seems always busy and is +extremely polite, but I gave him the adobe house across the arroya +after Papa Phil--went. I know he has the Mexicans thinking Kit Rhodes +came back for that murder; half of them believe it!" + +"Well, I reckon I can prove him an alibi if it's needed. I'll go see +the old judge." + +"He'll tell you not to travel at night, or alone, if you know +anything," she prophesied. "That's what he tells me. To think of old +Rancho Granados coming to that pass! We never did have trouble here +except a little when Apaches went on the warpath before my time, and +now the whole border is simmering and ready to boil over if anyone +struck a match to it. The judge hints that Conrad is probably only one +cog in the big border wheel, and they are after the engineer who turns +that wheel, and do you know you haven't told me one word of Kit +Rhodes, or whether he's alive or dead!" + +"Nothing to tell! We didn't find it, and he took the back trail with +an Indian girl and her daddy, and----" + +"An--Indian girl?" + +"Yes, a queer little kid who was in a lot of trouble. Her father was +wounded in one of the fracases they have down there every little +while. Nary one of us could give an address when we took different +trails, for we didn't know how far we'd be allowed to travel--the +warring factions are swarming and troublesome over the line." + +"Well, if a girl could stand the trail, it doesn't look dangerous." + +"Looks are deceptive, child,--and this isn't just any old girl! It's a +rare bird, it's tougher than whalebone and possessed of a wise little +devil. She froze to Kit as a _compadre_ at first chance. He headed +back to Mesa Blanca. I reckon they'd make it,--barring accidents." + +"Mesa Blanca? That's the Whitely outfit?" + +"Um!" assented Pike, "but I reckon Whitely's hit the trail by now. +There's no real profit in raising stock for the warriors down there; +each band confiscates what he needs, and gives a promissory note on an +empty treasury." + +"Well, the attraction must be pretty strong to hold him down there in +spite of conditions," said Billie gloomily. + +"Attraction? Sure. Kit's gone loco on that attraction," agreed the old +prospector, and then with a reminiscent light in his tired old eyes he +added, "I reckon there's no other thing so likely to snare a man on a +desert trail. You see, Billie-child, it's just as if the great God had +hid a treasure in the beginning of the world to stay hid till the +right lad ambled along the trail, and lifted the cover, and when a +fellow has youth, and health and not a care in the world, the search +alone is a great game--And when he finds it!--why, Billie, the +dictionary hasn't words enough to tell the story!" + +"No--I--I reckon not," said his listener in a small voice, and when he +looked around to speak to her again she had disappeared, and across +the patio Doņa Luz was coming towards him in no good humor. + +"How is it that poor little one weeps now when you are returned, and +not at other times?" she demanded. "Me, I have my troubles since that +day they find the Don Filipe shot dead,--_Jesusita_ give him rest! +That child is watching the Sonora trail and waiting since that day, +but no tears until you are come. I ask you how is the way of that?" + +Captain Pike stared at her reflectively. + +"You are a bringer of news, likewise a faithful warden," he observed. +"I'm peaceably disposed, and not wise to your lingo. Billie and me +were talking as man to man, free and confidential, and no argument. +There were no weeps that I noticed. What's the reason why?" + +"The saints alone know, and not me!" she returned miserably. "I think +she is scared that it was the Seņor Rhodes who shooting Don Filipe, +the vaqueros thinking that! But she tells no one, and she is unhappy. +Also there is reason. That poor little one has the ranchos, but have +you hear how the debts are so high all the herds can never pay? That +is how they are saying now about Granados and La Partida, and at the +last our seņorita will have no herds, and no ranchos, and no people +but me. _Madre de Dios!_ I try to think of her in a little adobe by +the river with only _frijoles_ in the dinner pot, and I no see it that +way. And I not seeing it other way. How you think?" + +"I don't, it's too new," confessed Pike. "Who says this?" + +"The Seņor Henderson. I hear him talk with Seņor Conrad, who has much +sorrow because the Don Filipe made bad contracts and losing the money +little and little, and then the counting comes, and it is big, very +big!" + +"Ah! the Seņor Conrad has much sorrow, has he?" queried Pike, "and +Billie is getting her face to the wall and crying? That's queer. +Billie always unloaded her troubles on me, and you say there was none +of this weeping till I came back?" + +"That is so, seņor." + +"Cause why?" + +"_Quien sabe?_ She was making a long letter to Seņor Rhodes in +Sonora,--that I know. He sends no word, so--I leave it to you, seņor, +it takes faith and more faith when a man is silent, and the word of a +killing is against him." + +"Great Godfrey, woman! He never got a letter, he knows nothing of a +killing. How in hell--" Then the captain checked himself as he saw the +uselessness of protesting to Doņa Luz. "Where's Billie?" + +Billie was perched on a window seat in the _sala_, her eyes were more +than a trifle red, and she appeared deeply engrossed in the pages of a +week-old country paper. + +"I see here that Don José Perez of Hermosillo is to marry Doņa Dolores +Terain, the daughter of the general," she observed impersonally. "He +owns Rancho Soledad, and promises the Sonora people he will drive the +rebel Rotil into the sea, and it was but yesterday Tia Luz was telling +me of his beautiful wife, Jocasta, who was only a little mountain girl +when he rode through her village and saw her first. She is still +alive, and it looks to me as if all men are alike!" + +"More or less," agreed Pike amicably, "some of us more, some of us +less. Doņa Dolores probably spells politics, but Doņa Jocasta is a +wildcat of the sierras, and I can't figure out any harmonious days for +a man who picks two like that." + +"He doesn't deserve harmony; no man does who isn't true--isn't true," +finished Billie rather lamely. + +"Look here, honey child," observed Pike, "you'll turn man hater if you +keep on working your imagination. Luz tells me you are cranky against +Kit, and that the ranches are tied up in business knots tighter than I +had any notion of, so you had better unload the worst you can think +of on me; that's what I'm here for. What difference do the Perez +favorites make to our young lives? Neither Dolores nor Jocasta will +help play the cards in our fortunes." + +Wherein Captain Pike was not of the prophets. The wells of Sonora are +not so many but that he who pitches his tent near one has a view and +greetings of all drifting things of the desert, and the shadowed star +of Doņa Jocasta of the south was leading her into the Soledad +wilderness forsaken of all white men but one. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +COVERING THE TRAIL + + +Each minute of the long days, Rhodes worked steadily and gaily, +picking out the high grade ore from the old Indian mine, and every +possible night he and the burro and Tula made a trip out to the foot +of the range, where they buried their treasure against the happy day +when they could go out of the silent desert content for the time with +what gold they could carry in secret to the border. + +For two days he had watched the Soledad ranch house rather closely +through the field glass, for there was more activity there than +before; men in groups rode in who were not herding. He wondered if it +meant a military occupation, in which case he would need to be doubly +cautious when emerging from the hidden trail. + +The girl worked as he worked. Twice he had made new sandals for her, +and also for himself in order to save his boots so that they might at +least be wearable when he got among people. All plans had been thought +out and discussed until no words would be needed between them when +they separated. She was to appear alone at Palomitas with a tale of +escape from the slavers, and he was carefully crushing and mashing +enough color to partly fill a buckskin bag to show as the usual fruits +of a prospect trip from which he was returning to Mesa Blanca after +exhausting grub stake and shoe leather. + +The things of the world had stood still for him during that hidden +time of feverish work. He scarcely dared try to estimate the value of +the ore he had dug as honey from a hollow tree, but it was rich--rich! +There were nuggets of pure gold, assorted as to their various sizes, +while he milled and ground the quartz roughly, and cradled it in the +water of the brook. + +By the innocent aid of Baby Bunting, two wild burros of the sierra had +been enticed within reach for slaughter, and, aside from the food +values, they furnished green hide which under Kit's direction, Tula +deftly made into bags for carrying the gold. + +All activities during the day were carefully confined within a certain +radius, low enough in the little caņon to run no risk in case any +inquisitive resident of Soledad should study the ranges with a field +glass, though Kit had not seen one aside from his own since he entered +Sonora. And he used his own very carefully every morning and evening +on the wide valley of Soledad. + +"Something doing down there, sister," he decided, as they were +preparing for the last trail out. "Riders who look like cavalry, +mules, and some wagons--mighty queer!" + +Tula came over and stood beside him expectantly. He had learned that a +look through the magic glasses was the most coveted gift the camp +could grant to her, and it had become part of the regular routine that +she stood waiting her turn for the wide look, the "enchant look," as +she had called it that first morning. It had become a game to try to +see more than he, and this time she mentioned as he had, the wagons, +and mules, and riders. And then she looked long and uttered a brief +Indian word of surprise. + +"Beat me again, have you?" queried Kit good humoredly. "What do you +find?" + +"A woman is there, in that wagon,--sick maybe. Also one man is a +padre; see you!" + +Kit took the glasses and saw she was right. A man who looked like a +priest was helping a woman from a wagon, she stumbled forward and then +was half carried by two men towards the house. + +"Not an Indian woman?" asked Kit, and again her unchildlike mind +worked quickly. + +"A padre does not bow his head to help Indian woman. Caballeros do not +lift them up." + +"Well I reckon Don José Perez is home on a visit, and brought his +family. A queer time! Other ranch folks are getting their women north +over the border for safety." + +"Don José not bring woman to Soledad--ever. He take them away. His men +take them away." + +It was the first reference she had made to the slavers since they had +entered the caņon, though she knew that each pile of nuggets was part +of the redemption money for those exiles of whom she did not speak. + +But she worked tirelessly until Kit would stop her, or suggest some +restful task to vary the steady grind of carrying, pounding, or +washing the quartz. He had ordered her to make two belts, that each of +them might carry some of the gold hidden under their garments. She had +a nugget tied in a corner of her _manta_, and other small ones +fastened in her girdle, while in the belt next her body she carried +all he deemed safe to weight her with, probably five pounds. At any +hint of danger she would hide the belt and walk free. + +His own belt would carry ten pounds without undue bulkiness. And over +three hundred pounds of high grade gold was already safely hidden near +the great rock with the symbols of sun and rain marking its weathered +surface. + +"A fair hundred thousand, and the vein only scratched!" he exulted. "I +was sore over losing the job on Billie's ranch,--but gee! this looks +as if I was knocked out in the cold world to reach my good luck!" + +In a blue dusk of evening they left the camp behind and started over +the trail, after Tula had carefully left fragments of food on the tomb +of Miguel, placed there for the ghosts who are drawn to a comrade. + +Kit asked no questions concerning any of her tribal customs, since to +do so would emphasize the fact that they were peculiar and strange to +him, and the Indian mind, wistfully alert, would sense that +strangeness and lose its unconsciousness in the presence of an alien. +So, when she went, after meals, to offer dregs of the soup kettle or +bones of the burro, she often found a bunch of desert blossoms wilting +there in the heat, and these tributes left by Kit went far to +strengthen her confidence. It was as if Miguel was a live partner in +their activities, never forgotten by either. So they left him on +guard, and turned their faces toward the outer world of people. + +Knowing more than he dare tell the girl his mind was considerably +occupied with that woman at Soledad, for military control changed over +night in many a province of Mexico in revolutionary days, and the time +at the hidden mine might have served for many changes. + +Starlight and good luck was on the trail for them, and at earliest +streak of dawn they buried their treasure, divided their dried burro +meat, and with every precaution to hide the trail where they emerged +from the gray sierra, they struck the road to Mesa Blanca. + +Until full day came Tula rode the burro, and slipped off at a ravine +where she could walk hidden, on the way to Palomitas. + +"Buntin'," said Kit, watching her go, "we'll have pardners and +pardners in our time, but we'll never find one more of a thoroughbred +than that raggedy Indian witch-child of ours." + +He took the slanting cattle trail up over the mesa, avoiding the wagon +road below, and at the far edge of it halted to look down over the +wide spreading leagues of the Mesa Blanca ranch. + +It looked very sleepy, drowsing in the silence of the noon sun. An old +Indian limped slowly from the corral over to the ranch house, and a +child tumbled in the dust with a puppy, but there was no other sign of +ranch activity. As he descended the mesa and drew nearer the corrals +they had a deserted look, not merely empty but deserted. + +The puppy barked him a welcome, but the child gave one frightened look +at Kit, and with a howl of fear, raced to the shelter of the portal +where he disappeared in the shadows. + +"I had a hunch, Babe, that we needed smoothing down with a currycomb +before we made social calls," confessed Kit to the burro, "but I +didn't reckon on scaring the natives in any such fashion as this." + +He was conscious of peering eyes at a barred window, and then the old +Indian appeared. + +"Hello, Isidro!" + +"At your service, seņor," mumbled the old man, and then he stared at +the burro, and at the bearded and rather desert-worn stranger, and +uttered a cry of glad recognition. + +"Ai-ji! It is El Pajarito coming again to Mesa Blanca, but coming with +dust in your mouth and no song! Enter, seņor, and take your rest in +your own house. None are left to do you honor but me,--all gone like +that!" and his skinny black hands made a gesture as if wafting the +personnel of Mesa Blanca on its way. "The General Rotil has need the +cattle, and makes a divide with Seņor Whitely and all go,--all the +herds," and he pointed east. + +Kit bathed his face in the cool water brought out by Valencia, +Isidro's wife, then unloaded the burro of the outfit, and stretched +himself in the shade while the women busied themselves preparing +food. + +"So General Rotil makes a divide of the cattle,--of Whitely's cattle? +How is that?" he asked. + +And the old Indian proceeded to tell him that it was true. The +Deliverer must feed his army. He needed half, and promised Whitely to +furnish a guard for the rest of the herd and help Whitely save them by +driving them to Imuris, where the railroad is. + +"He said enemy troops would come from the south and take them all in +one week or one month. He, Rotil, would pay a price. Thus it was, and +Seņor Whitely, and enough vaqueros, rode with the herds, and General +Rotil took the rest of the ranchmen to be his soldiers. Of course it +might be Seņor Whitely would some day return, who knows? And he left a +letter for the seņor of the songs." + +The letter corroborated Isidro's statements--it was the only way to +save any of the stock. Whitely thought there was a hundred or two +still ranging in the far corners, but time was short, and he was +saving what he could. The men were joining the revolutionists and he +would be left without help anyway. If Rhodes came back he was to use +the place as his own. If he could round up any more horses or cattle +on the range and get them to safety Isidro would find some Indians to +help him, and Whitely would divide the profits with him. + +"Fine!--divides first with the Deliverer, and next with me! Can't see +where that hombre gets off when it comes to staking his own family to +a living. But it's a bargain, and this is my headquarters until I can +get out. How long has Whitely and his new friends been gone?" + +"Four days, seņor." + +"Seen any stragglers of cattle left behind?" + +Isidro's grandson, Clodomiro, had found both horses and cattle and +herded them into far caņons; a man might ride in a circle for five +miles around the ranch house and see never a fresh track. Clodomiro +was a good boy, and of much craft. + +Dinner was announced for the seņor, and the women showed him welcome +by placing before him the most beautiful repast they could arrange +quickly, _chile con carne_, _frijoles_, _tortillas_, and a decanter of +Sonora wine--a feast for a king! + +After he had eaten, tobacco was brought him from some little hidden +store, and Isidro gave him the details of the slave raid of Palomitas, +and Sonora affairs in general. Kit was careful to state that he has +been prospecting in the mountains and out of touch with ranch people, +and it must be understood that all Isidro could tell would be news to +a miner from the desert mountains. And he asked if General Rotil also +collected stock from the ranch of Soledad. + +Whereupon Isidro told him many things, and among them the wonder that +Soledad had been left alone--the saints only knew why! And Juan +Gonsalvo, the foreman at Soledad, had helped with the slave raid, and +was known in Palomitas where they took girls and women and men as +well, even men not young! Miguel, the major-domo, was taken with his +wife and two daughters, the other men were young. The curse of God +seemed striking Sonora. A new foreman was now at Soledad, Marto +Cavayso, a hard man and,--it was said, a soldier, but he evidently got +tired of fighting and was taking his rest by managing the horse herds +of Soledad. + +"Doesn't look like rest to me," observed Kit. "The Soledad trail looks +pretty well kicked into holes, with wagons, mules, and horsemen." + +Isidro volunteered his opinion that work of the devil was going +forward over there. + +"Juan Gonsalvo and El Aleman were stealing women in Sonora, and +driving them the south trail for a price," he stated. "But what think +you would be the price for a woman of emerald eyes and white skin +carried up from the south under chains, and a lock to the chain?" + +"I reckon you are dreaming the lock and chain part of it, Isidro," +returned Kit. "Only murderers travel like that." + +"_Si_, it is so. There at Soledad it is heard. A killing was done in +the south and Soledad is her prison. But she is beautiful, and the men +are casting lots as to whose she shall be when the guard is gone south +again to Don José Perez." + +"Ah! they are Don José's men, are they? Then the prisoner is guarded +by his orders?" + +"Who knows? They tell that she is a lost soul, and fought for a knife +to kill herself, and the padre makes prayers and says hell will be +hers if she does. Elena, who is cook, heard him say that word, and +Elena was once wife to my brother, and she is telling that to +Clodomiro who makes an errand to take her deer meat, and hear of the +strangers. He saw the woman, her bracelets are gold, and her eyes are +green. The padre calls her Doņa Jocasta. I go now and give drink to +that burro and make him happy." + +"Jocasta, eh? Doņa Jocasta!" repeated Kit in wondering meditation. +"Doesn't seem possible--but reckon it is, and there are no real +surprises in Sonora. Anything could, and does happen here." + +He remembered Pike telling the story of Jocasta one morning by their +camp fire in the desert. She was called by courtesy Seņora Perez. He +had not heard her father's name, but he was a Spanish priest and her +mother an Indian half-breed girl--some little village in the sierras. +There were two daughters, and the younger was blond as a child of Old +Spain, Jocasta was the elder and raven dark of hair, a skin of deep +cream, and jewel-green eyes. Kit had heard three men, including +Isidro, speak of Doņa Jocasta, and each had mentioned the wonderful +green eyes--no one ever seemed to forget them! + +Their magnetism had caught the attention of Don José,--a distinguished +and illustrious person in the eyes of the barefoot mountaineers. No +one knew what Jocasta thought of the exalted padrone of the wide +lands, whose very spurs were of gold, but she knew there was scarce +wealth enough in all the village to keep a candle burning on the +Virgin's shrine, and her feet had never known a shoe. The padre died +suddenly just as Don José was making a bargain with him for the girl, +so he swept Jocasta to his saddle with no bargain whatever except that +she might send back for Lucita, her little sister, and other men +envied Perez his good luck when they looked at Jocasta. For three +years she had been mistress of his house in Hermosillo, but never had +he taken her into the wilderness of Soledad,--it was a crude casket +for so rich a treasure. + +Kit steeped in the luxury of a square meal, fell asleep, thinking of +the green-eyed Doņa Jocasta whom no man forgot. He would not connect a +brilliant bird of the mountain with that drooping figure he and Tula +had seen stumbling towards the portal of Soledad. And the statement of +Isidro that there had been a killing, and Doņa Jocasta was a lost +soul, was most puzzling of all. In a queer confused dream the killing +was done by Tula, and Billie wore the belt of gold, and had green +eyes. And he wakened himself with the apparently hopeless effort of +convincing Billie he had never forgotten her despite the feminine +witcheries of Sonora. + +The shadows were growing long, and some Indian boys were jogging +across the far flats. He reached for his field glass and saw that one +of them had a deer across his saddle. Isidro explained that the boys +were planting corn in a far field, and often brought a deer when they +came in for more seed or provisions. They had a hut and _ramada_ at +the edge of the planted land six miles away. They were good boys, +Benito and Mariano Bravo, and seldom both left the fields at the same +time. He called to Valencia that there would be deer for supper, then +watched the two riders as they approached, and smiled as they +perceptibly slowed up their broncos at sight of the bearded stranger +on the rawhide cot against the wall. + +"See you!" he pointed out to Kit. "These are the days of changes. Each +day we looking for another enemy, maybe that army of the south, and +the boys they think that way too." + +The boys, on being hailed, came to the house with their offering, and +bunkered down in the shadow with a certain shy stolidity, until Kit +spoke, when they at once beamed recognition, and made jokes of his +beard as a blanket. + +But they had news to tell, great news, for a child of Miguel had +broken away from the slavers and had hidden in the mountains, and at +last had found her way back to Palomitas. She was very tired and very +poor in raiment, and the people were weeping over her. Miguel, her +father, was dead from a wound, and was under the ground, and of the +others who went on she could tell nothing, only that Conrad, the +German friend of Don José, was the man who covered his face and helped +take the women. Her sister Anita had recognized him, calling out his +name, and he had struck her with a quirt. + +The women left their work to listen to this, and to add the memories +of some of their friends who had hidden and luckily escaped. + +"That white man should be crucified and left for the vultures," said +the boy Benito. + +"No," said the soft voice of Valencia, "God was sacrificed, but this +man is a white Judas; the death of God is too good for that man. It +has been talked about. He will be found some place,--and the Judas +death will be his. The women are making prayers." + +"It will soon be Easter," said Isidro. + +Kit did not know what was meant by a "Judas" death, though he did know +many of the church legends had been turned by the Indians into strange +and lurid caricatures. He thought it would be interesting to see how +they could enlarge on the drama of Judas, but he made no comment, as a +direct question would turn the Indians thoughtful, and silence them. + +They all appeared alert for the return of Rotil. No one believed he +had retired utterly from the region without demanding tribute from +Soledad. It was generally suspected that Perez received and held +munitions for use against the revolutionists though no one knew where +they were hidden. There were Indian tales of underground tunnels of +Soledad Mission for retreat in the old days in case of hostile +attacks, and the Soledad ranch house was built over part of that +foundation. No one at Soledad knew the entrance except Perez himself, +though it was surmised that Juan Gonsalvo had known, and had been the +one to store the mule loads and wagon loads of freight shipped over +the border before Miguel Herrara was caught at the work from the +American side. Perez was a careful man, and not more than one man was +trusted at one time. That man seemed marked by the angels for +accident, for something had always ended him, and it was no good +fortune to be a favorite of Don José--Doņa Jocasta was learning that! + +Thus the gossip and surmise went on around Rhodes for his brief hour +of rest and readjustment. He encouraged the expression of opinion from +every source, for he had the job ahead of him to get three hundred +pounds of gold across the border and through a region where every +burro was liable to examination by some of the warring factions. It +behooved him to consider every tendency of the genus homo with which +he came in contact. Also the bonds between them,--especially the +bonds, since the various groups were much of a sameness, and only +"good" or "bad" according to their affiliations. Simple Benito and his +brother, and soft-voiced motherly Valencia who could conceive a worse +death for the German Judas than crucifixion, were typical of the +primitive people of desert and sierra. + +"How many head of stock think you still ranges Mesa Blanca?" he asked +Isidro, who confessed that he no longer rode abroad or kept tally, +but Clodomiro would know, and would be in to supper. Benito and +Mariano told of one stallion and a dozen mares beyond the hills, and a +spring near their fields had been muddied the day before by a bunch of +cows and calves, they thought perhaps twenty, and they had seen three +mules with the Mesa Blanca brand when they were getting wood. + +"Three mules, eh? Well, I may need those mules and the favor will be +to me if you keep them in sight," he said addressing the boys. "I am +to round up what I can and remove them after Seņor Whitely, together +with other belongings." + +"Others, seņor?" asked Isidro. + +Rhodes took the letter from his pocket, and perused it as if to +refresh his memory. + +"The old Spanish chest is to go if possible, and other things of Mrs. +Whitely's," he said. "I will speak of these to your wife if the plan +can carry, but there is chance of troops from the south and--who +knows?--we may be caught between the two armies and ground as meal on +a _metate_." + +He thus avoided all detail as to the loads the pack animals were to +carry, and the written word was a safe mystery to the Indian. He was +making no definite plans, but was learning all possibilities with a +mind prepared to take advantage of the most promising. + +Thus the late afternoon wore on in apparent restful idleness after the +hard trail. The boys secured their little allowance of beans and salt, +and corn for planting, but lingered after the good supper of Valencia, +a holiday feast compared with their own sketchy culinary performance +in the _jacal_ of the far fields. They scanned the trail towards +Palomitas, and then the way down the far western valley, evidently +loath to leave until their friend Clodomiro should arrive, and Isidro +expected him before sunset. + +But he came later from towards Soledad, a tall lad with fluttering +ribbands of pink and green from his banda and his elbows, and a girdle +of yellow fluttering fringed ends to the breeze,--all the frank +insignia of a youth in the market for marriage. He suggested a gay +graceful bird as he rode rapidly in the long lope of the range. His +boy friends of the planted fields went out to meet him at the corral, +and look after his horse while he went in to supper. He halted to +greet them, and then walked soberly across the plaza where pepper +trees and great white alisos trailed dusk shadows in the early +starlight. + +"What _reata_ held you?" asked Isidro. "Has Soledad grown a place for +comradeship?" + +"No, seņor," said the lad passing into the dining room where two +candles gave him light in the old adobe room, "it is comradeship we do +not need, but it is coming to us." + +He seated himself on the wooden bench and his grandmother helped him +from a smoking plate of venison. He looked tired and troubled, and he +had not even taken note that a stranger was beside Isidro in the +shadows. + +"What nettle stings you, boy?" asked his grandfather sarcastically, +and at that he looked up and rose to his feet at sight of Rhodes. + +"Your pardon, seņor, I stumbled past like a bat blind in the light," +he muttered, and as he met Kit's eyes and recognized him his face lit +up and his white teeth gleamed in a smile. + +"The saints are in it that you are here again, seņor!" he exclaimed, +"and you came on this day when most needed." + +"Eat and then tell your meaning," said Isidro, but Clodomiro glanced +toward the kitchen, and then listened for the other boys. They were +laughing down at the corral. Clodomiro's horse had thrown one of +them. + +"With your permission, grandfather, talk first," he said and the two +men moved to the bench opposite, leaning over towards him as his voice +was lowered. + +"Today Marto Cavayso sent for me, he is foreman over there, and +strange things are going forward. He has heard that General Rotil +stripped Mesa Blanca and that all white people are gone from it. He +wants this house and will pay us well to open the door. It is for the +woman. They have played a game for her, and he has won, but she is a +wild woman when he goes near her, and his plan is to steal her out at +night and hide her from the others. So he wants this house. He offered +me a good gun. He offers us the protection of Don José Perez." + +"But--why--that is not credible," protested Kit. "He could not count +on protection from Perez if he stole the woman whom many call Seņora +Perez, for that is what they did call Doņa Jocasta in Hermosillo." + +"Maybe so," assented Clodomiro stolidly, "but now he is to be the +_esposo_ of a Doņa Dolores who is the child of General Terain, so +Marto says. Well, this Doņa Jocasta has done some killing, and Don +José does not give her to prison. He sends her to the desert that she +brings him no disgrace; and if another man takes her or sinks her in +the quicksands then that man will be helping Don José. That is how it +is. Marto says the woman has bewitched him, and he is crazy about her. +Some of the other men, will take her, if not him." + +Kit exchanged a long look with the old Indian. + +"The house is yours, seņor," said Isidro. "By the word of Seņor +Whitely, you are manager of Mesa Blanca." + +"Many thanks," replied Kit, and sat with his elbows on the table and +his hands over his eyes, thinking--thinking of the task he had set +himself in Sonora, and the new turn of the wheel of fortune. + +"You say the lady is a prisoner?" he asked. + +"Sure," returned Clodomiro promptly. "She broke loose coming through a +little pueblo and ran to the church. She found the priest and told him +things, so they also take that priest! If they let him go he will +talk, and Don José wanting no talk now of this woman. That priest is +well cared for, but not let go away. After awhile, maybe so." + +"She is bright, and her father was a priest," mused Kit. "So there is +three chances out of four that she can read and write,--a little +anyway. Could you get a letter to her?" + +"Elena could." + +Kit got up, took one of the candles from the table and walked through +the rooms surrounding the patio. Some of them had wooden bars in the +windows, but others had iron grating, and he examined these +carefully. + +"There are two rooms fit for perfectly good jails," he decided, "so I +vote we give this bewitched Don Marto the open door. How many guns can +we muster?" + +"He promised to give me one, and ammunition." + +"Well, you get it! Get two if you can, but at least get plenty of +ammunition. Isidro, will your wife be brave and willing to help?" + +The old Indian nodded his head vigorously and smiled. Evidently only a +stranger would ask if his Valencia could be brave! + +The two brothers came in, and conversation was more guarded until +Clodomiro had finished his supper, and gone a little ways home with +them to repay them the long wait for comradeship. + +When he came back Kit had his plans fairly settled, and had a brief +note written to Seņora Jocasta Perez, as follows: + + HONORED SEŅORA: + + One chance of safety is yours. Let yourself be persuaded to leave + Soledad with Marto. You will be rescued from him by + + AN AMERICAN. + +"I reckon that will do the trick," decided Kit. "I feel like a +blooming Robin Hood without the merry men,--but the Indians will play +safe, even if they are not merry. When can you get this to Elena?" + +"In time of breakfast," said Clodomiro promptly. "I go tonight, and +tomorrow night he steals that woman. Maybe Elena helps." + +"You take Elena a present from me to encourage that help," suggested +Kit, and he poured a little of the gold from his belt on the paper. +"Also there is the same for you when the lady comes safe. It is best +that you make willing offer of your service in all ways so that he +calls on none of his own men for help." + +"As you say, seņor," assented Clodomiro, "and that will march well +with his desires, for to keep the others from knowing is the principal +thing. She has beauty like a lily in the shade." + +"He tells you that?" asked Kit quizzically, but the boy shook his +head. + +"My own eyes looked on her. She is truly of the beauty of the holy +pictures of the saints in the chapel, but Marto says she is a witch, +and has him enchanted;--also that evil is very strong in her. I do not +know." + +"Well, cross your fingers and tackle the job," suggested Kit. "Get +what sleep you can, for you may not get much tomorrow night. It is the +work of a brave man you are going to do, and your pay will be a man's +pay." + +The eyes of the Indian boy glowed with pleasure. + +"At your service, seņor. I will do this thing or I will not see Mesa +Blanca again." + +Kit looked after Clodomiro and rolled another cigarette before turning +in to sleep. + +"When all's said and done, I may be the chief goat of this dame +adventure," he told himself in derision. "Maybe my own fingers need +crossing." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A WOMAN OF EMERALD EYES + + +At the first break of dawn, Rhodes was up, and without waiting for +breakfast walked over to the rancherias of Palomitas to see Tula. + +She was with some little girls and old women carrying water from the +well as stolidly as though adventure had never stalked across her +path. A whole garment had been given her instead of the tatter of rags +in which she had returned to the little Indian pueblo. She replied +briefly to his queries regarding her welfare, and when he asked where +she was living, she accompanied him to an old adobe where there were +two other motherless children--victims of the raiders. + +An old, half-blind woman stirred meal into a kettle of porridge, and +to her Kit addressed himself. + +"A blessing will be on your house, but you have too many to feed +here," he said "and the child of Miguel should go to the ranch house +of Mesa Blanca. The wife of Isidro is a good woman and will give her +care." + +"Yes, seņor, she is a good woman," agreed the old Indian. "Also it may +be a safe house for a maiden, who knows? Here it is not safe; other +raiders may come." + +"That is true. Send her after she has eaten." + +He then sought out one of the older men to learn who could be counted +on to round up the stray cattle of the ranges. After that he went at +once back to the ranch house, and did not even speak to Tula again. +There was nothing to indicate that she was the principal object of his +visit, or that she had acquired a guardian who was taking his job +seriously. + +Later in the day she was brought to Mesa Blanca by an elderly Indian +woman of her mother's clan, and settled in the quiet Indian manner in +the new dwelling place. Valencia was full of pity for the girl of few +years who had yet known the hard trail, and had mourned alone for her +dead. + +There was a sort of suppressed bustle about _la casa de Mesa Blanca_ +that day, dainties of cookery prepared with difficulty from the +diminished stores, and the rooms of the iron bars sprinkled and swept, +and pillows of wondrous drawnwork decorated the more pretentious bed. +To Tula it was more of magnificence than she had ever seen in her +brief life, and the many rooms in one dwelling was a wonder. She would +stand staring across the patio and into the various doorways through +which she hesitated to pass. She for whom the wide silences of the +desert held few terrors, hesitated to linger alone in the shadows of +the circling walls. Kit noted that when each little task was finished +for Valencia, she would go outside in the sunlight where she had the +familiar ranges and far blue mountains in sight. + +"Here it makes much trouble only to live in a house," she said +pointing to the needlework on a table cover. "The bowls of food will +make that dirty in one eating, and then what? Women in fine houses +are only as mares in time of thrashing the grain--no end and no +beginning to the work,--they only tread their circle." + +"Right you are, sister," agreed Kit, "they do make a lot of whirligig +work for themselves, all the same as your grandmothers painting +pottery that smash like eggshells. But life here isn't all play at +that, and there may be something doing before sleep time tonight. I +went after you so I would have a comrade I knew would stick." + +She only gazed at him without question. + +"You remember, Tula, the woman led by the padre at Soledad?" + +She nodded silently. + +"It may be that woman is captive to the same men who took your +people," he said slowly watching her, "and it may be we can save +her." + +"May it also be that we can catch the man?" she asked, and her eyes +half closed, peered up at him in curious intensity. "Can that be, O +friend?" + +"Some day it must surely be, Tula." + +"One day it must be,--one day, and prayers are making all the times +for that day," she insisted stolidly. "The old women are talking, and +for that day they want him." + +"What day, Tula?" + +"The Judas day." + +Kit Rhodes felt a curious creepy sensation of being near an unseen +danger, some sleeping serpent basking in the sun, harmless until +aroused for attack. He thought of the gentle domestic Valencia, and +now this child, both centered on one thought--to sacrifice a traitor +on the day of Judas! + +"Little girls should make helpful prayers," he ventured rather lamely, +"not vengeance prayers." + +"I was the one to make cry of a woman, when my father went under the +earth," she said. It was her only expression of the fact that she had +borne a woman's share of all their joint toil in the desert,--and he +caught her by the shoulder, as she turned away. + +"Why, Kid Cleopatra, it isn't a woman's work you've done at all. It's +a man's job you've held down and held level," he declared heartily. +"That's why I am counting on you now. I need eyes to watch when I have +to be in other places." + +"I watch," she agreed, "I watch for you, but maybe I make my own +prayers also;--all the time prayers." + +"Make one for a straight trail to the border, and all sentries +asleep!" he suggested. "We have a pile of yellow rock to get across, +to say nothing of our latest puzzling prospect." + +As the day wore on the latest "prospect" presented many complications +to the imagination, and he tramped the corridors of Mesa Blanca +wondering why he had seen but one side of the question the night +before, for in the broad light of day there seemed a dozen, and all +leading to trouble! That emerald-eyed daughter of a renegade priest +had proven a host in herself when it came to breeding trouble. She +certainly had been unlucky. + +"Well, it might be worse," he confided to Bunting out in the corral. +"Cap Pike might have tagged along to discourse on the general +tomfoolery of a partner who picks up a damsel in distress at every +fork of the trail. Not that he'd be far wrong at that, Baby. If any +hombre wanted to catch me in a bear trap he'd only need to bait it +with a skirt." + +Baby Bunting nodded sagaciously, and nuzzled after Kit who was +cleaning up the best looking saddle horse brought in from the Indian +herd. It was a scraggy sorrel with twitchy ears and wicked eyes, but +it looked tough as a mountain buck. Kit knew he should need two like +that for the northern trail, and had hopes that the bewitched Marto +Cavayso, whoever he was, would furnish another. + +He went steadily about his preparations for the border trail, just as +if the addition of an enchantress with green-jewel eyes was an every +day bit of good fortune expected in every outfit, but as the desert +ranges flamed rose and mauve in the lowering sun there was a restless +expectancy at the ranch house, bolts and locks and firearms were given +final inspection. Even at the best it was a scantily manned fort for +defense in case Mario's companions at dice should question his winning +and endeavor to capture the stake. + +"I shall go part way on the Soledad trail and wait what happens," he +told Isidro. "I will remain at a distance unless Clodomiro needs me. +There is no telling what tricks this Cavayso may have up his sleeve." + +"I was thinking that same thought," said the old Indian. "The men of +Perez are not trusted long, even by Perez. When it is a woman, they +are not trusted even in sight! Go with God on the trail." + +The ugly young sorrel ran tirelessly the first half of the way, just +enough to prove his wind. Then they entered a caņon where scrub +cottonwoods and greasebush gathered moisture enough for scant growth +among the boulders worn out of the cliffs by erosion. It was the +safest place to wait, as it was also the most likely place for +treachery if any was intended to Clodomiro. At either end of the pass +lay open range and brown desert, with only far patches of oasis where +a well was found, or a sunken river marked a green pasture in some +valley. + +When he wrote the note he had not thought of danger to Clodomiro, +regarding him only as a fearless messenger, but if the boy should +prove an incumbrance to Cavayso after they were free of Soledad, that +might prove another matter, and as old Isidro had stated, no one +trusted a Perez man when a woman was in question! + +He dismounted to listen and seek safe shadow, for the dusk had come, +and desert stars swung like brilliant lamps in the night sky, and the +white rocks served as clear background for any moving body. + +The plan was, if possible, to get the woman out with Clodomiro while +the men were at supper. The _manta_ of Elena could cover her, and if +she could walk with a water jar to the far well as any Indian woman +would walk, and a horse hid in the willows there----! + +It had been well thought out, and if nothing had interfered they +should have reached the caņon an hour earlier. If Clodomiro had failed +it might be a serious matter, and Kit Rhodes had some anxious moments +for the stolen woman while dusk descended on the caņon. + +He listened for the beat of horse hoofs, but what he heard first was a +shot, and a woman's scream, and then the walls of the caņon echoed the +tumult of horses racing towards him in flight. + +He recognized Clodomiro by the bare head and banda, and a woman bent +low beside him, her _manta_ flapping like the wings of a great bird as +her horse leaped forward beside the Indian boy. + +Back of them galloped a man who slowed up and shot backward at the +foremost of a pursuing band. + +He missed, and the fire was returned, evidently with some effect, for +the first marksman grunted and cursed, and Kit heard the clatter of +his gun as it fell from his hand. He leaned forward and spurred his +horse to outrun the pursuers. He was evidently Marto. + +Kit had a mental vision of fighting Marto alone for the woman at Mesa +Blanca, or fighting with the entire band and decided to halt the +leader of the pursuers and gain that much time at least for the woman +and Clodomiro. + +He had mounted at the first sound of the runaways, and crouching low +in the saddle, hid back of the thick green of a dwarfed mesquite, and +as the leader came into range against the white rock well he aimed low +and touched the trigger. + +The horse leaped up and the rider slid off as the animal sunk to the +ground. Kit guided his mount carefully along shadowed places into the +road expecting each instant a shot from the man on the ground. + +But it did not come, and he gained the trail before the other pursuers +rounded the bend of the caņon. The sound of their hoofs would deafen +them to his, and once on the trail he gave the sorrel the rein, and +the wild thing went down the gully like an arrow from a bow. + +He was more than a little puzzled at the silence back of him. The +going down of the one man and horse had evidently checked all +pursuit. Relieved though he was at the fact, he realized it was not a +natural condition of affairs, and called for explanation. + +The other three riders were a half mile ahead and he had no idea of +joining them on the trail. It occurred to him there was a possible +chance of taking a short cut over the point of the mesa and beating +them to the home ranch. There was an even chance that the rougher +trail would offer difficulties in the dark, but that was up to the +sorrel and was worth the trial. + +The bronco took the mesa walls like a cat, climbed and staggered up, +slid and tumbled down and crossed the level intervening space to the +corral as the first sound of the others came beating across the +sands. + +A dark little figure arose by the corral bars and reached for the +horse as he slipped from the saddle. + +"Quickly, Tulita!" he said, stripping saddle and bridle from its back, +"one instant only to make ourselves as still as shadows under the +walls of the house." + +Fast as he ran, she kept pace with him to the corridor where Isidro +waited. + +"All is well," he said briefly to the old man. "Clodomiro comes safe +with the seņora, and the man who would steal her was shot and lost his +gun. All has gone very well." + +"Thanks to God!" said the old Indian. "The stealing of women has ever +been a danger near, but luck comes well to you, seņor, and it is good +to be under the protection of you." + +"Open the door and show a light of welcome," said Kit. "Call your wife +and let all be as planned by us. I will be in the shadows, and a good +gun for safety of the woman if needed, but all will work well, as you +will see." + +The three riders came up to the portal before dismounting, and +Valencia went forward, while Isidro held high a blazing torch, and +Clodomiro dismounted quickly, and offered help to the woman. + +"My grandmother has all for your comfort, seņora," he said, "will it +please you to descend?" + +The man swung from the saddle, awkwardly nursing his right arm. + +"Yes this is a safe place, Doņa Jocasta," he declared. "It is all well +arranged. With your permission I may assist you." + +He offered his left hand, but she looked from him to Valencia, and +then to Clodomiro. + +"You are young to be a stealer of women;--the saints send you a whiter +road!" she said. "And you may help me, for my shoulder has a hurt from +that first shot of the comrade of this man." + +"No, seņora," stated her captor, "the evil shot came from no comrade +of mine. They did not follow us, those bandits--accursed be their +names! They were hid in the caņoncita and jumped our trail. But have +no fear, Doņa Jocasta, they are left behind, and it will be my +pleasure to nurse the wounds they have made." + +"Be occupied with your own," she suggested pointing to his hand from +which blood still dripped, "and you, mother, can show me the new +prison. It can be no worse than the others." + +"Better, much better, little dove," said Marto, who followed after +the two women, and glanced over their shoulders into the guest chamber +of the iron bars, "it is a bird cage of the finest, and a nest for +harmonies." + +Then to Valencia he turned with authority, "When you have made the +seņorita comfortable, bring the key of the door to me." + +"_Si_, seņor," said Valencia bending low, and even as the prisoner +entered the room, she changed the key to the outside of the door. +Marto nodded his approval and turned away. + +"Now this shirt off, and a basin of water and a bandage," he ordered +Isidro. "It is not much, and it still bleeds." + +"True, it does, seņor, and the room ordered for you has already the +water and a clean shirt on the pillow. Clodomiro, go you for a +bandage, and fetch wine to take dust out of the throat! This way, +seņor,--and may you be at home in your own house!" + +Unsuspecting, the amorous Marto followed the old man into the room +prepared. He grunted contemptuous satisfaction at evidences of comfort +extending to lace curtains hanging white and full over the one +window. + +"It is the time for a shirt of such cleanness," he observed, with a +grin. "_Jesusita!_ but the sleeve sticks to me! Cut it off, and be +quick to make me over into a bridegroom." + +The old man did as he was bidden, and when Clodomiro brought in a +woven tray covered with a napkin from which a bottle of wine was +discernible, Marto grinned at him. + +"It is a soft nest you found for me, boy," he said appreciatively, +"and when I am capitan I will make you lieutenant." + +"Thanks to you, seņor, and hasten the day!" + +Clodomiro assisted his grandfather, and stood aside at the door +respectfully as the old man passed out with his primitive supply of +salves and antiseptics, and only when all need of caution was ended +the boy smiled at the would-be Lothario, and the smile held a subtle +mockery as he murmured, "The saints send you a good night's sleep, +seņor, and a waking to health--and clearer sight!" + +"Hell and its blazes to you! why do you grin?" demanded the other +setting down the bottle from which he had taken a long and grateful +drink, but quick as a cat the boy pulled the door shut, and slipped +the bolt on the outside, and laughed aloud. + +"Not this night will you be bridegroom for another man's wife, seņor!" +he called. "Also it is better that you put curb on your curses,--for +the lady has a mind for a quiet night of sleep." + +Marto rushed to the curtained window only to find iron bars and the +glint of a gun barrel. Isidro held the gun, and admonished the +storming captive with the gentle fatalism of the Indian. + +"It is done under orders of the major-domo, seņor. There is no other +way. If your words are hard or rough to the ears of the lady, there is +a bullet for you, and a hidden place for your grave. This is the only +word to you, seņor. It is given me to say." + +"But--Gods, saints, and devils--hearken you to me!" stormed the man. +"This is a fool's joke! It can't go on! I must be back at sunrise--_I +must!_" + +"You will see many suns rise through these bars if the padrone so +pleases," murmured Isidro gently. "That is not for us to decide." + +"To hottest hell with your padrone and you! Bring him here to listen +to me. This is no affair of a man and a woman,--curse her witch eyes +and their green fires! There is work afoot,--big work, and I must get +back to Soledad. You know what goes over the trail to Soledad,--every +Indian knows! It is the cache of ammunition with which to save the +peon and Indian slave,--you know that! You know the revolutionists +must get it to win in Sonora. A trap is set for tomorrow, a big trap! +I must be there to help spring it. To you there will be riches and +safety all your life for my freedom--on the cross I will swear that. +I----" + +"Seņor, nothing is in my power, and of your traps I know nothing. I am +told you set a trap for a lady who is in grief and your own feet were +caught in it. That is all I know of traps," said Isidro. + +Kit patted the old man on the shoulder for cleverness, even while he +wondered at the ravings of the would-be abductor. Then he crept nearer +the window where he could see the face of the prisoner clearly, and +without the overshadowing hat he had worn on entrance. The face gave +him something to think about, for it was that of one of the men who +had ridden up to the Yaqui spring the day he had found Tula and Miguel +in the desert. How should this rebel who rode on secret trails with +Ramon Rotil be head man at Soledad for Rotil's enemy? And what was the +trap? + +"Look well at that man, Isidro," he whispered, "and tell me if such a +man rode here to Mesa Blanca with General Rotil." + +"No such man was here, seņor, but this man was foreman at Soledad +before the Deliverer came over the eastern range to Mesa Blanca. Also +the general and Don José Perez are known as enemies;--the friend of +one cannot be the friend of another." + +"True enough, Isidro, but that does not help me to understand the trap +set. Call your wife and learn if I can see the Doņa Jocasta." + +Tula had crept up beside them, and touched him on the arm. + +"She asks for you, and sadness is with her very much. She watches us +in fear, and cannot believe that the door is open for her." + +"If that is her only trouble we can clear it away for her, _pronto_," +he stated, and they entered the patio. + +"It is not her only trouble, but of the other she does not speak. +Valencia weeps to look at her." + +"Heavens! Is she as bad looking as that?" + +"No, it is another reason," stated the girl stolidly. "She is a caged +humming bird, and her wings have broken." + +Kit Rhodes never forgot that first picture of their kidnaped guest, +for he agreed with Clodomiro who saw in her the living representation +of old biblical saints. + +The likeness was strengthened by the half Moorish drapery over her +head, a black mantilla which, at sound of a man's step, she hurriedly +drew across the lower part of her face. Her left arm and shoulder was +bare, and Valencia bent over her with a strip of old linen for +bandage, but the eyes of Doņa Jocasta were turned half shrinking, half +appraising to the strange Americano. It was plain to her that +conquering men were merely the owners of women. + +"It is good you come, seņor," said Valencia. "Here is a wound and the +bullet under the skin. I have waited for Isidro to help but he is slow +on the way." + +"He is busy otherwise, but I will call him unless my own help will +serve here. That is for the seņora to say." + +The eyes of the girl,--she was not more,--never left his face, and +above the lace scarf she peered at him as through a mask. + +"It is you who sent messenger to save an unhappy one you did not know? +You are the Americano of the letter?" + +"At your service, seņora. May that service begin now?" + +"It began when that letter was written, and this room made ready," she +said. "And if you can find the bullet it will end the unhappiness of +this good woman. She weeps for the little bit of lead. It should have +struck a heart instead of a shoulder." + +"Ah, seņora!" lamented Valencia, "weep like a woman over sorrows. It +is a better way than to mock." + +"God knows it is not for me to mock!" breathed the soft voice +bitterly. "And if the seņor will lend you his aid, I will again be in +his debt." + +Without further words Kit approached, and Valencia drew the cover from +the shoulder and indicated where the ball could be felt. + +"I cannot hold the shoulder and press the flesh there without making +much pain, too much," stated Valencia, "but it must come out, or there +will be trouble." + +"Sure there will," asserted Kit, "and if you or Tula will hold the +arm, and Doņa Jocasta will pardon me----" + +He took the white shoulder in his two hands and gently traced the +direction of the bullet. It had struck in the back and slanted along +the shoulder blade. It was evidently fired from a distance and little +force left. Marto had been much nearer the pursuer, and his was a +clean cut wound through the upper arm. + +The girl turned chalky white as he began slowly to press the bullet +backward along its trail, but she uttered no sound, only a deep intake +of breath that was half a sob, and the cold moisture of sickening pain +stood in beads on her face. + +All of the little barriers with a stranger were forgotten, and the +shielding scarf fell away from her face and bosom, and even with the +shadowed emerald eyes closed, Kit Rhodes thought her the most perfect +thing in beauty he had ever seen. + +He hated himself for the pain he was forcing on her as he steadily +followed the bullet upward and upward until it lay in his hand. + +She did not faint, as he feared she might, but fell back in the chair, +while Valencia busied herself with the ointment and bandage, and Tula, +at a word from Kit, poured her a cup of wine. + +"Drink," he said, "if only a little, seņora. Your strength has served +you well, but it needs help now." + +She swallowed a little of the wine, and drew the scarf about her, and +after a little opened her eyes and looked at him. He smiled at her +approvingly, and offered her the bullet. + +"It may be you will want it to go on some shrine to a patron saint, +seņora," he suggested, but she did not take it, only looked at him +steadily with those wonderful eyes, green with black lashes, shining +out of her marble Madonna-like face. + +"My patron saint traveled the trail with you, Seņor Americano, and the +bullet is witness. Let me see it." + +He gave it into her open hand where she balanced it thoughtfully. + +"So near the mark, yet went aside," she murmured. "Could that mean +there is yet any use left in the world for me?" + +"Beauty has its own use in the world, seņora; that is why rose gardens +are planted." + +"True, seņor, though I belong no more to the gardens;--no, not to +gardens, but to the desert. Neither have I place nor power today, and +I may never have, but I give back to you this witness of your great +favor. If a day comes when I, Jocasta, can give favor in return, bring +or send this witness of the ride tonight. I will redeem it." + +"The favor is to me, and calls for no redemption," said Kit awkward at +the regal poise of her, and enchanted by the languorous glance and +movement of her. Even the reaching out of her hand made him think of +Tula's words, 'a humming bird,' if one could imagine such a +jewel-winged thing weighted down with black folds of mourning. + +"A caged humming bird with broken wings!" and that memory brought +another thought, and he fumbled the bullet, and gave the first steady +look into those emerald, side-glancing eyes. + +"But--there is a compact I should appreciate if Doņa Jocasta will do +me the favor,--and it is that she sets value on the life that is now +her very own, and, that she forgets not to cherish it." + +"Ah-h!" She looked up at him piteously a moment, and then the long +lashes hid her eyes, and her head was bent low. "Sinful and without +shame have I been! and they have told you of the knife I tried to +use--here!" + +She touched her breast with her slender ring-laden hand, and her voice +turned mocking. + +"But you see, Seņor Americano, even Death will not welcome me, and +neither steel nor lead will serve me!" + +"Life will serve you better, seņora." + +"Not yet has it done so, and I am a woman--old--old! I am twenty, +seņor, and refused of Death! Jocasta Benicia they named me. Jocasta +Perdida it should have been to fit the soul of me, so why should I +promise a man whom I do not know that I will cherish my life when I +would not promise a padre? Answer me that, seņor whose name has not +been told me!" + +"But you will promise, seņora," insisted Kit, smiling a little, though +thrilled by the sadness of life's end at twenty, "and as for names, if +you are Doņa Perdida I may surely name myself Don Esperenzo, for I +have not only hope, but conviction, that life is worth living!" + +"To a man, yes, and Mexico is a man's land." + +"Ay, it must be yours as well,--beautiful that thou art!" murmured +Valencia adoringly. "You should not give yourself a name of sadness, +for this is our Seņor El Pajarito, who is both gay and of honesty. +He,--with God,--is your protection, and harm shall not be yours." + +Doņa Jocasta reached out and touched kindly the bent head of the +Indian woman. + +"As you will, mother. With hope and a singer for a shield, even a +prison would not be so bad, El Pajarito, eh? Do you make songs--or +sing them, seņor?" + +"Neither,--I am only a lucky bluff. My old partner and I used to sing +fool things to the mules, and as we could out-bray the burros my Indio +friends are kind and call it a singing;--as easy as that is it to get +credit for talent in this beneficent land of yours! But--the compact, +seņora?" + +Her brows lifted wearily, yet the hint of a smile was in her eyes. + +"Yes, since you ask so small a thing, it is yours. Jocasta makes +compact with you; give me a wish that the life is worth it." + +"Sure I will," said Kit holding out his hand, but she shrunk +perceptibly, and her hand crept out of sight in the black draperies. + +"You have not, perhaps, ever sent a soul to God without absolution?" +she asked in a breathless hushed sort of voice. "No seņor, the look of +you tells me you have not been so unpardonable. Is it not so?" + +"Why, yes," returned Kit, "it hasn't been a habit with me to start +anyone on the angels' flight without giving him time to bless himself, +but even at that----" + +"No, no!" as he took a step nearer. "The compact is ours without +handclasp. The hand of Jocasta is the hand of the black glove, +seņor." + +He looked from her to the two Indians, the old woman kneeling beside +Jocasta and crossing herself, and Tula, erect and slender against the +adobe wall, watching him stolidly. There was no light on the subject +from either of them. + +"Pardon, I'm but a clumsy Americano, not wise to your meanings," he +ventured, "and beautiful hands look better without gloves of any +color." + +"It may be so, yet I have heard that no matter how handsome a headsman +may be, he wears a black mask, and hands are not stretched out to +touch his." + +"Seņora!" + +"Seņor, we arrive at nothing when making speech of me," she said with +a little sigh. "Our ride was hard, and rest is best for all of us. Our +friend here tells me there is supper, and if you will eat with me, we +will know more of how all this has come about. It is strange that you, +a lone Americano in this land, should plan this adventure like a +bandit, and steal not only the major-domo of Soledad, but the woman he +would steal!" + +"It was so simple that the matter is not worth words except as +concerns Clodomiro, who was the only one in danger." + +"Ah! if ever they had suspected him! You have not seen that band of +men, they are terrible! Of all the men of José Perez they are the +blackest hearts, and if it had not been for the poor padre----" + +"Tell me of him," said Kit who perceived she was willing enough to +speak plainly of all things except herself. "He is a good man?" + +"A blessing to me, seņor!" she asserted earnestly as they were seated +at the table so carefully prepared by Valencia. "Look you! I broke +away from those animals and in a little mountain village,--such a one +as I was born in, seņor!--I ran to the altar of the little chapel, and +that priest was a shield for me. Against all the men he spoke curses +if they touched me. Well, after that there was only one task to do, +and that was to carry him along. I think they wanted to kill him, and +had not the courage. And after all that I came away from Soledad +without saving him;--that was bad of me, very bad! I--I think I went +wild in the head when I saw the men play games of cards, and I to go +to the winner! Not even a knife for food would they give me, for they +knew----" + +She shuddered, and laid down quickly the knife she had lifted from +beside her plate, and glanced away when she found him regarding her. + +"It has been long weeks since I was trusted as you are trusting me +here," she continued quietly. "See! On my wrists were chains at +first." + +"And this Marto Cavayso did that?" demanded Kit as she showed her +scarred slender wrist over which Valencia had wept. + +"No, it was before Cavayso--he is a new man--so I think this was when +Conrad was first helping to plan me as an insane woman and have me put +secretly to prison, but some fear struck José Perez, and that plan +would not serve. In the dark of night I was half smothered in wraps +and put in an ox-cart of a countryman and hauled north out of the +city. Two men rode as guard. They chained me in the day and slept, +traveling only in the night until they met Cavayso and his men. After +that I remember little, I was so weary of life! One alcalde asked +about me and Cavayso said I was his wife who had run away with a gypsy +fiddler, and he was taking me home to my children. Of what use to +speak? A dozen men would have added their testimony to his, and had +sport in making other romance against me. They were sullen because +they thought I had jewels hid under my clothes, and Cavayso would not +let them search me. It has been hell in these hills of Sonora, Seņor +Pajarito." + +"That is easy to understand," agreed Kit wondering at her endurance, +and wondering at the poise and beauty of her after such experience. +There was no trace of nervousness, or of tears, or self-pity. It was +as if all this of which she told had been a minor affair, dwarfed by +some tragic thing to which he had no key. + +"So, Conrad was in this plot against you?" he asked, and knew that +Tula, standing back of his chair had missed no word. "You mean the +German Conrad who is manager of Granados ranches across the border?" + +"Seņor, I mean the beast whose trail is red with the blood of +innocence, and whose poison is sinking into the veins of Mexico like a +serpent, striking secretly, now here, now there, until the blood of +the land is black with that venom. Ay! I know, seņor;--the earth is +acrawl with the German lizards creeping into the shining sun of +Mexico! This so excellent Don Adolf Conrad is only one, and José Perez +is his target--I am the one to know that! A year ago, and Don José was +a man, with faults perhaps; but who is perfect on this earth? Then +came Don Adolf riding south and is very great gentleman and makes +friends. His home in Hermosillo becomes little by little the house of +Perez, and little by little Perez goes on crooked paths. That is true! +First it was to buy a ship for coast trade, then selling rifles in +secret where they should not be sold, then--shame it is to tell--men +and women were sold and carried on that ship like cattle! Not rebels, +seņor, not prisoners of battle,--but herdsmen and ranch people, poor +Indian farmers whom only devils would harm! Thus it was, seņor, until +little by little Don Adolf knew so much that José Perez awoke to find +he had a master, and a strong one! It was not one man alone who caught +him in the net; it was the German comrades of Don Adolf who never +forgot their task, even when he was north in the States. They needed a +man of name in Hermosillo, and José Perez is now that man. When the +whip of the German cracks, he must jump to serve their will." + +"But José Perez is a strong man. Before this day he has wiped many a +man from his trail if the man made him trouble," ventured Kit. + +"You have right in that, seņor, but I am telling you it is a wide net +they spread and in that net he is snared. Also his household is no +longer his own. The Indian house servants are gone, and outlaw +Japanese are there instead. That is true and their dress is the dress +of Indians. They are Japanese men of crimes, and German men gave aid +that they escape from justice in Japan. It is because they need such +men for German work in Mexico, men who have been taught German and +dare not turn rebel. Not an hour of the life of José Perez is free +from the eyes of a spy who is a man of crimes. And there are other +snares. They tell him that he is to be a governor by their +help;--that is a rich bait to float before the eyes of a man! His feet +are set on a trail made by Adolph Conrad,--He is trapped, and there is +no going back. Poison and shame and slavery and death have come upon +that trail like black mushrooms grown in a night, and what the end of +the trail will be is hid in the heart of God." + +"But your sympathy is with those women in slavery there in the south, +and not with the evil friend of José Perez?" asked Kit. + +"Can you doubt, seņor? Am I not as truly a victim as they? I have not +worked under a whip, but there are other punishments--for a woman!" + +Her voice dropped almost to a whisper, and she rested her chin on her +hand, staring out into the shadows of the patio, oblivious of them +all. Tula gazed at her as if fascinated, and there was a difference in +her regard. That she was linked in hate against Conrad gave the Indian +girl common cause with the jewel-eyed woman whose beauty had been the +boast of a province. Kit noticed it and was vastly comforted. The +absolute stolidity of Tula had left him in doubt as to the outcome if +his little partner had disapproved of his fascinating protégée. He +knew the thing she wanted to know, and asked it. + +"Seņora, the last band of Indian slaves from Sonora were driven from +the little pueblo of Palomitas at the edge of this ranch. And there +are sisters and mothers here with sick hearts over that raid. Can you +tell me where those women were sent?" + +"Which raid was that, and when?" asked Jocasta arousing herself from +some memory in which she had been submerged. "Pardon, seņor, I am but +a doleful guest at supper, thinking too deeply of that which sent me +here. Your question?" + +He repeated it, and she strove to remember. + +"There were many, and no one was told whence they came. It was +supposed they were war prisoners who had to be fed, and were being +sent to grow their own maize. If it were the last band then it would +be the time Conrad had the wound in the face, here, like a knife +thrust, and that----" + +"That was the time," interrupted Kit eagerly. "If you can tell us +where those people were sent you will prove the best of blessings to +Mesa Blanca this night." + +She smiled sadly at that and looked from him to Tula, whom she +evidently noted for the first time. + +"It is long since the word of blessing has been given to Jocasta," she +said wistfully. "It would be a comfort to earn it in this house. But +that band was not sent away,--not far. Something went wrong with the +boat down the coast, I forgot what it was, but there was much trouble, +and the Indians were sent to a plantation of the General Terain until +the boat was ready. I do not know what plantation, except that Conrad +raged about it. He and Don José had a quarrel, very terrible! That +wound given to him by a woman made him very difficult; then the +quarrel ended by them drinking together too much. And after that many +things happened very fast, and--I was brought north." + +"And the Indians?" + +"Seņor, I do not think anyone thought again of those Indians. They +are planting maize or cane somewhere along the Rio Sonora." + +Tula sank down weeping against the wall, while Valencia stroked her +hair and patted her. Doņa Jocasta regarded her curiously. + +"To be young enough to weep like that over a sorrow!" she murmured +wistfully. "It is to envy her, and not mourn over her." + +"But this weeping is of joy," explained Valencia. "It is as the seņor +says, a blessing has come with you over the hard road. This child was +also stolen, and was clever to escape. Her mother and her sister are +yet there in that place where the maize is planted. If the boat has +not taken them, then they also may get back. It is a hope!" + +"Poor little one! and now that I could make good use of power, it is +no longer mine," said Jocasta, looking at Kit regretfully. "A young +maid with courage to escape has earned the right to be given help." + +"She will be given it," he answered quietly, "and since your patience +has been great with my questions, I would ask more of this Cavayso we +have trapped tonight. He is raging of curious things there across the +patio. Isidro holds a gun on him that he subdue his shouts, and his +offer is of rich bribes for quick freedom. He is as mad to get back to +Soledad as he was to leave it, and he tells of a trap set there for +someone. It concerns ammunition for the revolutionists." + +"No, not for them, but for trade in the south," said Jocasta promptly. +"Yes, Soledad has long been the place for hiding of arms. It was the +task of Don Adolf to get them across the border, and then a man of +Don José finds a safe trail for them. Sometimes a German officer from +Tucson is of much help there in the north. I have heard Don José and +Conrad laugh about the so easily deceived Americanos,--your pardon, +seņor!" + +"Oh, we are used to that," agreed Kit easily, "and it is quite true. +We have a whole flock of peace doves up there helping the Hohenzollern +game. What was the officer's name?" + +"A name difficult and long," she mused, striving to recall it. "But +that name was a secret, and another was used. He was known only as a +simple advocate--James, the name; I remember that for they told me it +was the English for Diego, which was amusing to me,--there is no sound +alike in them!" + +"That's true, there isn't," said Kit, who had no special interest in +any advocate named James. "But to get back to the man in the cell over +there and the ammunition, may I ask if he confided to you anything of +that place of storage? I mean Cavayso?" + +"No, seņor; and for a reason of the best. He knows nothing, and all +his days and nights were spent searching secretly for the entrance to +that dungeon,--if it is a dungeon! He thought I should know, and made +threats against me because I would not tell. Myself, I think José +Perez tells no one that hiding place, not even Conrad, though Conrad +has long wanted it! I told Don José that if he told that he was as +good as a dead man, and I believe it. But now," and she shook her head +fatefully, "now he is sure to get it!" + +"But he swears he must get back to Soledad by sunrise for a trap is +set. A trap for whom?" persisted Kit. + +Doņa Jocasta shook her head uncomprehendingly. + +"God forbid he should get free to put those wolves on my track; then +indeed I would need a knife, seņor! He held them back from me on the +trail, but now he would not hold them back." + +"But the trap, seņora?" repeated the puzzled Kit. "That man was in +earnest,--dead in earnest! He did not know I was listening, his words +were only for an Indian,--for Isidro. Who could he trap? Was he +expecting anyone at Soledad?" + +Doņa Jocasta looked up with a little gasp of remembrance. + +"It is true, a courier did come two days ago from the south, and +Cavayso told me he meant to take me to the desert and hide me before +Don José arrived. Also more mules and wagons came in. And Elena +scolded about men who came to eat but not to work. Yes, they smoked, +and talked, and talked, and waited! I never thought of them except to +have a great fear. Yesterday after the lad brought me that letter I +had not one thought, but to count the hours, and watch the sun. But it +may be Cavayso told the truth, and that Don José was indeed coming. He +told me he had promised Perez to lose me in the Arroya Maldioso if in +no other way, and he had to manage that I never be seen again." + +"Arroya Maldioso?" repeated Kit, "I don't understand." + +"It is the great quicksand of Soledad, green things grow and blossom +there but no living thing can cross over. It is beautiful--that little +arroya, and very bad." + +"I had heard of it, but forgot," acknowledged Kit, "but that is not +the trap of which he is raving now. It is some other thing." + +Doņa Jocasta did not know. She confessed that her mind was dark and +past thinking. The ways of Don José and Conrad were not easy for other +men of different lives to understand;--there was a great net of war +and scheming and barter, and Don José was snared in that net, and the +end no man could see! + +"Have you ever heard that Marto Cavayso was once a lieutenant of +General Rotil?" Kit asked. + +"The Deliverer!" she gasped, leaning forward and staring at him. A +deep flush went over her face and receded, leaving her as deathly pale +as when the bullet had been forced from the white shoulder. Her regard +was curious, for her brows were contracted and there was domination +and command in her eyes. "Why do you say this to me, seņor? And why do +you think it?" + +Kit was astonished at the effect of his words, and quite as much +astonished to hear anyone of the Perez household refer to Rotil as +"the Deliverer." + +"Seņora, if you saw him ride side by side with Rotil, drinking from +the same cup in the desert, would you not also think it?" + +Tula rose to her feet, and moved closer to Kit. + +"I too was seeing them together, seņora," she said. "It was at the +Yaqui well; I drew the water, and they drank it. This man of the loud +curses is the man." + +Doņa Jocasta covered her eyes with her hand, and she seemed shaken. No +one else spoke, and the silence was only broken by the muffled tones +of Marto in the cell, and the brief bark of Clodomiro's dog at the +corral. + +"God knows what may be moving forward," she said at last, "but there +is some terrible thing afoot. Take me to this man." + +"It may not be a pleasant thing to do," advised Kit. "This is a man's +game, seņora, and his words might offend, for his rage is very great +against you." + +"Words!" she said with a note of disdain, and arose to her feet. She +swayed slightly, and Valencia steadied her, and begged her to wait +until morning, for her strength was gone and the night was late. + +"Peace, woman! Who of us is sure of a morning? This minute is all the +time that is ours, and--I must know." + +She leaned on Valencia as they crossed the patio, and Tula moved a +seat outside the door of Marto's room. Kit fastened a torch in the +holder of the brick pillar and opened the door without being seen, and +stood watching the prisoner. + +Marto Cavayso, who had been pleading with Isidro, whirled only to find +the barrel of another gun thrust through the carved grill in the top +of the door. + +"Isidro," said Kit, "this man is to answer questions of the seņora. If +he is uncivil you can singe him with a bullet at your own will." + +"Many thanks, seņor," returned Isidro promptly. "That is a pleasant +work to think of, for the talk of this shameless gentleman is poison +to the air." + +"You!" burst out Marto, pointing a hand at Jocasta in the corridor. +"You put witchcraft of hell on me, and wall me in here with an old +lunatic for guard, and now----" + +Bing! A bullet from Isidro's rifle whistled past Marto's ear and +buried itself in the adobe, scattering plaster and causing the +prisoner to crouch back in the corner. + +Jocasta regarded him as if waiting further speech, but none came. + +"That is better," she said. "No one wishes to do you harm, but you +need a lesson very badly. Now Marto Cavayso,--if that be your +name!--why did you carry me away? Was it your own doing, or were you +under orders of your General Rotil?" + +"I should have let the men have you," he muttered. "I was a bewitched +man, or you never would have traveled alive to see Soledad. Rotil? Do +not the handsome women everywhere offer him love and comradeship? +Would he risk a good man to steal a woman of whom José Perez is +tired?" + +"You are not the one to give judgment," said a strange voice outside +the barred window.--"That I did not send you to steal women is very +true, and the task I did send you for has been better done by other +men in your absence." + +Cavayso swore, and sat on the bed, his head in his hands. Outside the +window there were voices in friendly speech, that of Clodomiro very +clear as he told his grandfather the dogs did not bark but once, +because some of the Mesa Blanca boys were with the general, who was +wounded. + +Kit closed and bolted again the door of Cavayso, feeling that the +guardianship of beauty in Sonora involved a man in many awkward and +entangling situations. If it was indeed Rotil---- + +But a curious choking moan in the corridor caused him to turn quickly, +but not quickly enough. + +Doņa Jocasta, who had been as a reed of steel against other dangers, +had risen to her feet as if for flight at sound of the voice, and she +crumpled down on the floor and lay, white as a dead woman, in a faint +so deep that even her heartbeat seemed stilled. + +Kit gathered her up, limp as a branch of willow, and preceded by Tula +with the torch, bore her back to the chamber prepared for her. +Valencia swept back the covers of the bed, and with many mutterings of +fear and ejaculations to the saints, proceeded to the work of +resuscitation. + +"To think that she came over that black road and held fast to a heart +of bravery,--and now at a word from the Deliverer, she falls dead in +fear! So it is with many who hear his name; yet he is not bad to his +friends. Every Indian in Sonora is knowing that," stated Valencia. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE HAWK OF THE SIERRAS + + +"That is what we get, Tula, by gathering beauty in distress into our +outfit," sighed Kit. "She seems good foundation for a civil war here. +Helen of Troy,--a lady of an eastern clan!--started a war on less, and +the cards are stacked against us if they start scrapping. When Mexican +gentry begin hostilities, the innocent bystander gets the worst of +it,--especially the Americano. So it is just as well the latest +Richard in the field does not know whose bullet hit him in the leg, +and brought his horse down." + +Tula, who since their entrance to the civilized surroundings of Mesa +Blanca, had apparently dropped all initiative, and was simply a little +Indian girl under orders, listened impassively to this curious +monologue. She evidently thought white people use many words for a +little meaning. + +"The Deliverer says will you graciously come?" she stated for the +second time. + +"Neither graciously, gracefully or gratefully, but I'll arrive," he +conceded. "His politeness sounds ominous. It is puzzling why I, a mere +trifle of an American ranch hand, should be given audience instead of +his distinguished lieutenant." + +"Isidro and Clodomiro are talking much with him, and the man Marto is +silent, needing no guard," said Tula. + +"Sure,--Rotil has the whole show buffaloed. Well, let's hope, child, +that he is not a mind reader, for we have need of all the ore we +brought out, and can't spare any for revolutionary subscriptions." + +Kit followed Tula into the _sala_ where a rawhide cot had been placed, +and stretched on it was the man of Yaqui Spring. + +One leg of his trousers was ripped up, and there was the odor of a +greasewood unguent in the room. Isidro was beside him, winding a +bandage below the knee. A yellow silk banda around the head of Rotil +was stained with red. + +But he had evidently been made comfortable, for he was rolling a +cigarette and was calling Isidro "doctor." Two former vaqueros of Mesa +Blanca were there, and they nodded recognition to Kit. Rotil regarded +him with a puzzled frown, and then remembered, and waved his hand in +salute. + +"Good day, seņor, we meet again!" he said. "I am told that you are my +host and the friend of Seņor Whitely. What is it you do here? Is it +now a prison, or a hospital for unfortunates?" + +"Only a hospital for you, General, and I trust a serviceable one," Kit +hastened to assure him. "More of comfort might have been yours had you +sent a courier to permit of preparation." + +"The service is of the best," and Rotil pointed to Isidro. "I've a +mind to take him along, old as he is! The boys told me he was the best +medico this side the range, and I believe it. As to courier," and he +grinned, "I think you had one, if you had read the message right." + +"The surprises of the night were confusing, and a simple man could not +dare prophesy what might follow," said Kit, who had drawn up a chair +and easily fell into Rotil's manner of jest. "But I fancy if that +courier had known who would follow after, he would have spent the +night by preference at Soledad." + +"Sure he would,--hell's fire shrivel him! That shot of his scraped a +bone for me, and put my horse out of business. For that reason we came +on quietly, and these good fellows listened at the window of Marto +before they carried me in. It is a good joke on me. My men rounded up +Perez and his German slaver at Soledad today--yesterday now!--and when +we rode up the little caņon to be in at the finish what did we see but +an escape with a woman? Some word had come my way of a Perez woman +there, and only one thought was with me, that the woman had helped +Perez out of the trap as quickly as he had ridden into it! After that +there was nothing to do but catch them again. No thought came to me +that Marto might be stealing a woman for himself, the fool! Perez made +better time than we figured on, and is a day ahead. Marto meant to +hide the woman and get back in time. It's a great joke that an +Americano took the woman from him. I hope she is worth the trouble," +and he smiled, lifting his brows questioningly. + +"So that was the 'trap' that Marto raved and stormed to get back to?" +remarked Kit. "I am still in the dark, though there are some glimmers +of light coming. If Marto knew of that trap it explains----" + +"There were three others of my men on the Soledad rancho, drawing pay +from Perez. It is the first time that fox came in when we could spread +the net tight. To get him at another place would not serve so well, +for if Soledad was the casket of our treasure, at Soledad we make a +three strike,--the cattle, the ammunition, and Perez there to show the +hiding place! It is the finish of four months' trailing, and is worth +the time, and but for Marto running loco over a girl, there would have +been a beautiful quiet finish at Soledad ranch house last night." + +"But, if your men have Perez----" + +"Like that!" and Rotil stretched out his open hand, and closed it +significantly, with a cruel smile in his black, swift-glancing eyes. +"This time there is no mistake. For over a week men and stout mules +have been going in;--it is a _conducta_ and it is to take the +ammunition. Well, seņor, it is all well managed for me; also we have +much need of that ammunition for our own lads." + +"And it was done without a fight?" asked Kit. "I have heard that the +men picked for Soledad were not the gentlest band Seņor Perez could +gather." + +"We had their number," said Rotil placidly. "Good men enough, but with +their cartridges doctored what could they do? I sent in two machine +guns, and they were not needed. A signal smoke went up to show me all +was well, and in another minute I heard the horses of Marto and his +girl. He must have started an hour before Perez arrived. It is a trick +of Don José's that no one can count on his engagements, but this time +every hill had its sentinels for his trail, not anything was left to +chance." + +"And your accident?" asked Kit politely. + +"Oh, I was setting my own guards at every pass when the runaway woman +and men caught my ear and we took a short cut down the little caņon to +head them off. I knew they would make for here, and that houses were +not plenty--" he smiled as if well satisfied with the knowledge. "So, +as this was a friendly house it would be a safe bet to keep on +coming." He blew rings of smoke from the cigarette, and chuckled. + +"The boys will think a quicksand has swallowed us, and no one will be +sleeping there at Soledad." + +"Is there anything I can do to be of service," asked Kit. "I have a +good room and a bed----" + +But the chuckling of Rotil broke into a frank laugh. + +"No, seņor!" he said with humorous decision, watching Kit as he spoke, +"already I have been told of your great kindness in the giving of beds +and rooms of comfort. Why, with a house big enough, you could jail all +the district of Altar! Not my head for a noose!" + +Kit laughed awkwardly at the jest which was based on fact, but he met +the keen eyes of Rotil very squarely. + +"The Indians no doubt told you the reason the jail was needed?" he +said. "If a girl picks a man to take a trail with, that is her own +affair and not mine, but if a girl with chains on her wrists has to +watch men throwing dice for her, and is forced to go with the +winner--well--the man who would not help set her free needs a dose of +lead. That is our American way, and no doubt is yours, seņor." + +"Sure! Let a woman pick her own, if she can find him!" agreed Rotil, +and then he grinned again as he looked at Kit. "And, seņor, it is a +safe bet that this time she'll find him!--you are a good big mark, +not easily hidden." + +The other men smiled and nodded at the humor of their chief, and +regarded Kit with appreciative sympathy. It was most natural of course +for them to suppose that if he took a woman from Marto, he meant to +win her for himself. + +Kit smiled back at them, and shook his head. + +"No such luck for a poor vaquero," he confessed. "The lady is in +mourning, and much grief. She is like some saint of sorrows in a +priest's tale, and----" + +"The priests are liars, and invented hell," stated Rotil. + +"That may be, but sometimes we see sad women of prayers who look like +the saints the priests tell about,--and to have such women sold by a +gambler is not good to hear of." + +No one spoke for a little. The eyes of Rotil closed in a curious, +contemptuous smile. + +"You are young, boy," he said at last, "and even we who are not so +young are often fooled by women. Trust any woman of the camp rather +than the devout saints of the shrines. All are for market,--but you +pay most for the saint, and sorrow longest for her. And you never +forget that the shrine is empty!" + +His tone was mocking and harsh, but Kit preferred to ignore the sudden +change of manner for which there seemed no cause. + +"Thanks for the warning, General, and no saints for me!" he said good +naturedly. "Now, is there any practical thing I can do to add to your +comfort here? Any plans for tomorrow?" + +"A man of mine is already on the way to Soledad, and we will sleep +before other plans are made. Not even Marto will I see tonight, +knowing well that you have seen to his comfort!" and he chuckled again +at the thought of Marto in his luxurious trap. "My lads will do guard +duty in turn, and we sleep as we are." + +"Then, if I can be of no service----" + +"Tomorrow perhaps, not tonight, seņor. Some sleep will do us no +harm." + +"Then good night, and good rest to you, General." + +"Many thanks, and good night, Don Pajarito." + +Kit laughed at that sally, and took himself out of the presence. It +was plain that the Deliverer had obtained only the most favorable +account of Kit as the friend of Whitely. And as an American lad who +sang songs, and protected even women he did not know, he could not +appear formidable to Rotil's band, and certainly not in need of +watching. + +He looked back at them as the general turned on his side to sleep, and +one of his men blew out the two candles, and stationed themselves +outside the door. As he noted the care they took in guarding him, and +glanced at the heavy doors and barred windows, he had an uncomfortable +thrill at the conviction that it would serve as a very efficient +prison for himself if his new friends, the revolutionists, ever +suspected he held the secret of the red gold of El Alisal. It was a +bit curious that the famous lost mine of the old mission had never +really been "lost" at all! + +Isidro, looking very tired, had preceded him from the _sala_, as Kit +supposed to go to bed. The day and night had been trying to the old +man, and already it was the small hours of a new day. + +There was a dim light in the room of Doņa Jocasta, but no sound. Tula +was curled up on a blanket outside her door like a young puppy on +guard. He stooped and touched her shoulder. + +"The seņora?" he whispered. + +"Asleep, after tears, and a sad heart!" she replied. "Valencia thanks +the saints that at last she weeps,--the beautiful sad one!" + +"That is well; go you also to sleep. Your friends keep guard +tonight." + +She made no reply, and he passed on along the corridor to his own +rooms. The door was open, and he was about to strike a light when a +hand touched his arm. He drew back, reaching for his gun. + +"What the devil----" + +"Seņor," whispered Isidro, "make no light, and make your words in +whispers." + +"All right. What's on your mind?" + +"The seņora and the Deliverer. Know you not, seņor, that she is sick +with shame? It is so. No man has told him who the woman is he calls +yours. All are afraid, seņor. It is said that once Ramon Rotil was +content to be a simple man with a wife of his own choosing, but luck +was not his. It was the daughter of a priest in the hills, and José +Perez took her!" + +"Ah-h!" breathed Kit. "If it should be this one----" + +"It is so,--she went like a dead woman at his voice, but he does not +know. How should he, when Don José has women beyond count? Seņor, my +Valencia promised Doņa Jocasta you would save her from meeting the +general. That promise was better than a sleeping drink of herbs to +her. Now that the promise is made, how will you make it good?" + +"Holy smoke--also incense--also the pipe!" muttered Kit in the dark. +"If I live to get out of this muddle I'll swear off all entangling +alliances forevermore! Come into the kitchen where we can have a +fire's light. I can't think in this blackness." + +They made their way to the kitchen, and started a blaze with mesquite +bark. The old Indian cut off some strips of burro _jerke_ and threw +them on the coals. + +"That is better, it's an occupation anyway," conceded Kit chewing with +much relish. "Now, Isidro, man, you must go on. You know the land +best. How is one to hide a woman of beauty from desert men?" + +"She may have a plan," suggested Isidro. + +"Where is Clodomiro?" asked Kit, suddenly recalling that the boy had +disappeared. The old man did not answer; he was very busy with the +fire, and when the question was repeated he shook his head. + +"I do not know who went. If Tula did not go, then Clodomiro was the +one. They were talking about it." + +"Talking,--about what?" + +"About the German. He is caught at Soledad, and must not be let go, or +let die. All the Indians of Palomitas will be asking the Deliverer for +that man." + +"Isidro, what is it they want to do with him?" asked Kit, and the old +Indian ceased fussing around with a stick in the ashes, and looked up, +sinister and reproving. + +"That, seņor, is a question a man does not ask. If my woman tells me +the women want a man for Judas, I--get that man! I ask nothing." + +"Good God! And that child, Tula--" began Kit in consternation, and old +Isidro nodded his head. + +"It is Tula who asked. She is proving she is a woman; Clodomiro goes +for her because that is his work. Your white way would be a different +way,--of an alcalde and the word of many witness. Our women have their +own way, and no mistake is made." + +"But Rotil, the general,--he will not permit----" + +"Seņor, for either mother or grandmother the general had an Indian +woman. He has the knowing of these things. I think Tula gets the man +they ask for. She is wise, that child! A good woman will be chosen to +have speech with the Deliverer--when they come." + +"There is a thought in that," mused Kit, glancing sharply at the old +man. "Do they make choice of some wise woman, to be speaker for the +others? And they come here?" + +"That is how it is, seņor." + +"Then, what better way to hide Doņa Jocasta than to place her among +Indian women who come in a band for that task? Many women veil and +shroud their heads in black as she does. The music of her voice was +dulled when she spoke to Marto, and General Rotil had no memory of +having ever heard it. Think,--is there to be found an old dress of +your wife? Can it be done and trust no one? Doņa Jocasta is clever +when her fear is gone. With Tula away from that door the rest is easy. +The dawn is not so far off." + +"Dawn is the time the women of Palomitas will take the road," decided +Isidro, "for by the rising time of the sun the Deliverer has said that +his rest here is ended, and he goes on to Soledad where José Perez +will have a trembling heart of waiting." + +"Will they tell him whose trap he is caught in?" + +"Who knows? The Deliverer has plans of his own making. It was not for +idleness he was out of sight when the trap was sprung. He sleeps +little, does Ramon Rotil!" + +In a mesquite tree by the cook house chickens began to crow a +desultory warning. And Isidro proceeded to subtract stealthily a skirt +and shawl from wooden pegs set in the adobe wall where Valencia slept. +She startled him by stirring, and making weary inquiry as to whether +it was the time. + +"Not yet, my treasure, that fighting cock of Clodomiro crows only +because of a temper, and not for day. It is I will make the fire and +set Maria to the grinding. Go you to your sleep." + +Which Valencia was glad to do, while her holiday wardrobe, a purple +skirt bordered with green, and a deeply fringed black shawl, was +confiscated for the stranger within their gates. + +Thrusting the bundle back of an olla in the corridor he touched Tula +on the shoulder. + +"The seņor waits you in the kitchen," he muttered in the Indian +tongue, and she arose without a word, and went silent as a snake along +the shadowy way. + +It took courage for Isidro to enter alone the room of Doņa Jocasta, as +that was the business of a woman. But Kit had planned that, if +discovered, the girl should apparently have no accomplices. This +would protect Tula and Valencia should Rotil suspect treachery if an +occupant of the house should disappear. It would seem most natural +that a stolen woman would seek to escape homeward when not guarded, +and that was to serve as a reasonable theory. + +She slept with occasional shuddering sighs, as a child after sobbing +itself to sleep. That sad little sound gave the old Indian confidence +in his errand. It might mean trouble, but she had dared trouble ere +now. And there could not be continual sorrow for one so beautiful, and +this might be the way out! + +She woke with a startled cry as he shook her bed, but it was quickly +smothered as he whispered her name. + +"It is best you go to pray in the chapel room, and meet there the +women of Palomitas. Others will go to pray for a Judas; among many you +may be hidden." + +She patted his arm, and arose in the dark, slipping on her clothes. He +gave her the skirt and she donned that over her own dress. Her teeth +were chattering with nervous excitement, and when she had covered +herself with the great shawl, her hand went out gropingly to him to +lead her. + +As they did not pass the door of the _sala_, no notice was given them +by Rotil's guard. Mexican women were ever at early prayers, or at the +_metate_ grinding meal for breakfast, and that last possibility was +ever welcome to men on a trail. + +In the kitchen Kit Rhodes was seeking information concerning Clodomiro +from Tula, asking if it was true he would fetch the women of Palomitas +to petition Rotil. + +"Maybe so," she conceded, "but that work is not for a mind of a white +man. Thus I am not telling you Clodomiro is the one to go; his father +was what you call a priest,--but not of the church," she said hastily, +"no, of other things." + +Looking at her elfin young face in the flickering light of the hearth +fire, he had a realization of vast vistas of "other things" leading +backward in her inherited tendencies, the things known by his young +comrade but not for the mind of a white man,--not even for the man +whom Miguel had trusted with the secret of El Alisal. Gold might +occasionally belong to a very sacred shrine, but even sacred gold was +not held so close in sanctuary as certain ceremonies dear to the +Indian thought. Without further words Kit Rhodes knew that there were +locked chambers in the brain of his young partner, and to no white man +would be granted the key. + +"Well, since he has gone for them, there is nothing to say, though the +general may be ill pleased at visitors," hazarded Kit. "Also you and I +know why we should keep all the good will coming our way, and risk +none of it on experiments. Go you back to your rest since there is not +anything to be done. Clodomiro is at Palomitas by now, and you may as +well sleep while the dawn is coming." + +She took the strip of roasted meat he offered her, and went back to +her blanket on the tiles at the door of the now empty room. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE "JUDAS" PRAYER AT MESA BLANCA + + +Isidro was right when he said Ramon Rotil slept but little, for the +very edge of the dawn was scarce showing in the east when he opened +his eyes, moved his wounded leg stiffly, and then lay there peering +between half-shut eyelids at the first tint of yellow in the sky. + +"Chappo," he said curtly, "look beyond through that window. Is it a +band of horses coming down the mesa trail, or is it men?" + +"Neither, my General, it is the women who are left of the rancherias +of Palomitas. They come to do a prayer service at an old altar here. +Once Mesa Blanca was a great hacienda with a chapel for the peons, and +they like to come. It is a custom." + +"What saint's day is this?" + +"I am not wise enough, General, to remember all;--our women tell us." + +"Um!--saint's day unknown, and all a pueblo on a trail to honor it! +Call Fidelio." + +There was a whistle, a quick tread, and one of the men of Palomitas +stood in the door. + +"Take two men and search every woman coming for prayers--guns have +been carried under _serapes_." + +"But, General----" + +"Search every woman,--even though your own mother be of them!" + +"General, my own mother is already here, and on her knees beyond there +in the altar room. They pray for heart to ask of you their rights in +Soledad." + +"That is some joke, and it is too early in the morning for jokes with +me. I'm too empty. What have Palomitas women to do with rights in +Soledad?" + +"I have not been told," said Fidelio evasively. "It is a woman matter. +But as to breakfast, it is making, and the _tortillas_ already baking +for you." + +"Order all ready, and a long stirrup for that leg," said the general, +moving it about experimentally. "It is not so bad, but Marto can ride +fasting to Soledad for giving it to me." + +"But, my General, he asks----" + +"Who is he to ask? After yesterday, silence is best for him. +Take him along. I will decide later if he is of further use--I +may--need--a--man!" + +There was something deliberately threatening in his slow speech, and +the guards exchanged glances. Without doubt there would be executions +at Soledad! + +Rotil got off the cot awkwardly, but disdaining help from the guards +hopped to a chair against the wall between the two windows. + +Isidro came in with a bowl of water, and a much embroidered towel for +the use of the distinguished guest, followed by a vaquero with smoking +_tortillas_, and Tula with coffee. + +The general eyed the ornate drawnwork of the linen with its cobweb +fingers, and grinned. + +"I am not a bridegroom this morning, _muchachita_, and need no necktie +of such fineness for my beauty. Bring a plainer thing, or none." + +Tula's eyes lit up with her brief smile of approval. + +"I am telling them you are a man and want no child things, my +General," she stated firmly, "and now it proves itself! On the instant +the right thing comes." + +She darted out the door, bumping into Rhodes, and without even the +customary "with your permission" ran past him along the corridor, and, +suddenly cautious, yet bold, she lifted the latch of the guest room +where she had seen what looked to her like wealth of towels,--and felt +sure Doņa Jocasta would not miss one of the plainest. + +Stealthy as a cat she circled the bed, scarce daring to glance at it +lest the lady wake and look reproach on her. + +But she stepped on some hard substance on the rug by the wooden bench +where the towels hung, and stooping, she picked it up, a little wooden +crucifix, once broken, and then banded with silver to hold it solid. +The silver was beautifully wrought and very delicate, surely the +possession of a lady, and not a thing let fall by chance from the +pocket of Valencia. + +Tula turned to lay it carefully on the pillow beside the seņora, and +then stared at the vacant bed. + +Only an instant she halted and thrust her hand under the cover. + +"Cold,--long time cold!" she muttered, and with towel and crucifix she +sped back to the _sala_ where Rotil was joking concerning the +compliment she paid him. + +"Don't make dandies of yourselves if you would make good with a +woman," he said. "Even that little crane of a _muchacha_ has +brain,--and maybe heart for a man! She has boy sense." + +Kit, seeing her dart into the guest room, stood in his tracks watching +for her to emerge. She gave him one searching curious look as she sped +past, and he realized in a flash that his glance should have been +elsewhere, or at least more casual. + +She delivered the towel and retired, abashed and silent at the jests +of the man she regarded with awe as the god-sent deliverer of her +people. Once in the corridor she looked into Valencia's room, then in +the kitchen where Valencia and Maria and other women were hastening +breakfast, and last she sought Clodomiro at the corral. + +"Where did you take her, and how?" she demanded, and the youth, tired +with the endless rides and tasks of two days and nights, was surly, +and looked his impatience. "She, and she, and she! Always women!" he +grumbled. "Have I not herded all of them from over the mesa at your +order? Is one making a slow trail, and must I go herding again?" + +She did not answer, but looked past him at the horses. + +"Which did the seņora ride from Soledad?" she inquired, and Clodomiro +pointed out a mare of shining black, and also a dark bay ridden by +Marto. + +"Trust him to take the best of the saddle herd," he remarked. "Why +have you come about it? Is the seņora wanting that black?" + +"Maybe so; I was not told," she answered evasively. "But there is +early breakfast, and it is best to get your share before some quick +task is set,--and this day there are many tasks." + +The women were entering the portal at the rear, because the chapel of +the old hacienda was at the corner. There was considerable commotion +as Fidelio enforced the order to search for arms;--if the Deliverer +suspected treachery, how could they hope for the sympathy they came to +beg for? + +"Tell him there is nothing hidden under our rags but hearts of +sorrow," said the mother of Fidelio. "Ask that he come here where we +kneel to give God thanks that El Aleman is now in the power of the +Deliverer." + +"General Rotil does not walk, and there is no room for a horse in this +door. Someone of you must speak for the others, and go where he is." + +The kneeling women looked at each other with troubled dark eyes. + +"Valencia will be the best one," said an old woman. "She lost no one +by the pale beast, but she knows us every one. Marta, who was wife of +Miguel, was always mother and spoke for us to the padre, or anyone, +but Marta----" + +She paused and shook her head; some women wept. All knew Marta was one +who cried to them for vengeance. + +"That is true," said Valencia. "Marta was the best, but the child of +Marta is here, and knows more than we. She has done much,--more than +many women. I think the daughter can speak best for the mother, and +that the Deliverer will listen." + +Tula had knelt like the others, facing a little shelf on the wall +where a carven saint was dimly illuminated by the light of a candle. +All the room was very dark, for the dawn was yet but as a gray cloak +over the world, and no window let in light. + +The girl stood up and turned toward Valencia. + +"I will go," she said, "because it is my work to go when you speak, +but the Deliverer will ask for older tongues and I will come back to +tell you that." + +Without hesitation she walked out of the door, and the others +bent their heads and there was the little click-click of rosary +beads, slipping through their fingers in the dusk. Among the many +black-shawled huddled figures kneeling on the hard tiles, none +noticed the one girl in the corner where shadows were deepest, +and whose soft slender hands were muffled in Valencia's fringes. + +Kit stood until he noted that the searching for arms did not include +her, and then crossed the patio with Fidelio on his way to the +corrals. If the black mare of Doņa Jocasta could be gotten to the rear +portal, together with the few burros of the older women, she might +follow after unnoticed. The adobe wall at the back was over ten feet +high and would serve as a shield, and the entire cavalcade would be a +half mile away ere they came in range from the plaza. + +He planned to manage that the mare be there without asking help of any +Indian, and he thought he could do it while the guard was having +breakfast. It would be easy for them to suppose that the black was his +own. Thus scheming for beauty astray in the desert, he chatted with +Fidelio concerning the pilgrimage of the Palomitas women, and the +possibility of Rotil's patience with them, when Tula crossed the patio +hurriedly and entered the door of the _sala_. + +The general was finishing his breakfast, while Isidro was crouched +beside him rewinding the bandage after a satisfactory inspection of +the wound. The swelling was not great, and Rotil, eating cheerfully, +was congratulating himself on having made a straight trail to the +physician of Mesa Blanca; it was worth a lost day to have the healing +started right. + +He was in that complacent mood when Tula sped on silent bare feet +through the _sala_ portal, and halted just inside, erect against the +wall, gazing at him. + +"Hola! _Niņa_ who has the measure of a man! The coffee was of the +best. What errand is now yours?" + +"Excellency, it is the errand too big for me, yet I am the one sent +with it. They send me because the mother of me, and Anita, my sister, +were in the slave drive south, and the German and the Perez men +carried whips and beat the women on that trail." + +Her brave young heart seemed to creep up in her throat and choke her +at thought of those whips and the women who were driven, for her voice +trembled into silence, and she stood there swallowing, her head bent, +and her hands crossed over her breast, and clasped firmly there was +the crucifix she had found in the guest room. Little pagan that she +was, she regarded it entirely as a fetish of much potency with white +people, and surely she needed help of all gods when she spoke for the +whole pueblo to this man who had power over many lives. + +Rotil stared at her, frowning and bewildered. + +"What the devil,--" he began, but Isidro looked up at him and nodded +assent. + +"It is a truth she is telling, Excellency. Her father was Miguel, +once major-domo of this rancho. He died from their fight, and his +women were taken." + +"Oh, yes, that!--it happens in many states. But this German--who says +the German and Perez were the men to do it?" + +"I, Tula, child of Miguel, say it," stated the girl. "With my eyes I +saw him,--with my ears I heard the sister call out his name. The name +was Don Adolf. Over his face was tied a long beard, so! But it was the +man,--the friend of Don José Perez of Soledad; all are knowing that. +He is now your man, and the women ask for him." + +"What women?" + +"All the women of Palomitas. On their knees in the chapel they make +prayers. Excellency, it robs you of nothing that you give them a Judas +for Holy Week. I am sent to ask that of the Deliverer." + +She slid down to her knees on the tiles, and looked up at him. + +He stared at her, frowning and eyeing her intently, then chuckled, and +grinned at the others. + +"Did I not tell you she had the heart of a boy? And now you see it! +Get up off your knees, _chiquita_. Why should you want a Judas? It is +a sweetheart I must find for you instead." + +"I am not getting up," said Tula stolidly. "I am kneeling before you, +my General. See! I pray to you on the tiles for that Judas. All the +women are praying. Also the old women have made medicine to send El +Aleman once more on this trail, and see you,--it has come to pass! You +have him in your trap, but he is ours. Excellency, come once and see +all the women on their knees before the saint as I am here by you. We +make prayers for one thing:--the Judas for our holy day!" + +"You young devil!" he grinned. "I wish you were a boy. Here, you men +help me, or get me a crutch. I will see these women on their knees, +and if you don't lie----" + +With the help of Fidelio and a cane, he started very well, and nodded +to Kit. + +"You pick well, amigo," he observed. "She is a wildcat, and of +interest. Come you and see. _Por Dios!_ I've seen a crucifixion of the +Penitentes and helped dig the hidden grave. Also I have heard of the +'Judas' death on Holy Friday, but never before this has so young a +woman creature picked a man for it,--a man alive! Courage of the +devil!" + +Tula arose, and went before them across the plaza to the door of the +chapel. Kit knew this was the right moment for him to disappear and +get the black mare back of the wall, but Rotil kept chuckling to him +over the ungirlish request, and so pointedly included him in the party +that there seemed no excuse available for absenting himself. + +A flush of rose swept upward to the zenith heralding the sun, but in +the adobe room, with its door to the west, no light came, except by +dim reflection, and as Tula entered and the men stood at the +threshold, they blocked the doorway of even that reflection, and the +candle at the saint's shrine shone dimly over the bent heads of the +kneeling women. + +Rotil stood looking about questioningly; he had not expected to see +so many. Then at the sound of the click of the prayer beads, some +recollection of some past caused him to automatically remove his +wide-brimmed hat. + +"Mothers," said Tula quietly, "the Deliverer has come." + +There was a half-frightened gasp, and dark faces turned toward the +door. + +"He comes as I told you, because I am no one by myself, and he could +not know I was sent by you. I am not anyone among people, and he does +not believe. Only people of importance should speak with a soldier who +is a general." + +"No, _por Dios_, my boy, you speak well!" said Rotil, clapping his +hand on her shoulder, "but your years are not many and it cannot be +you know the thing you ask for." + +"I know it," asserted Tula with finality. + +An old woman got up stiffly, and came towards him. "We are very poor, +yet even our children are robbed from us--that is why we pray. Don +Ramon, your mother was simple as we, and had heart for the poor. Our +lives are wasted for the masters, and our women children are stolen +for the sons of masters. That is done, and we wish they may find ways +to kill themselves on the trail. But the man who drove them with whips +is now your man--and we mothers ask him of you." + +The wizened old creature trembled as she spoke, and scarce lifted her +eyes. She made effort to speak further, but words failed, and she +slipped to her knees and the beads slid from her nervous fingers to +the tiles. She was very old, and she had come fasting across the mesa +in the chill before the dawn; her two grandchildren had been driven +south with the slaves--one had been a bride but a month--and they +killed her man as they took her. + +Valencia came to her and wiped the tears from her cheeks, patting her +on the back as one would soothe a child, and then she looked at Rotil, +nodding her head meaningly, and spoke. + +"It is all true as Tia Tomasa is saying, seņor. Her children are gone, +and this child of Capitan Miguel knows well what she asks for. The +days of the sorrows of Jesus are coming soon, and the Judas we want +for that day of the days will not be made of straw to be bound on the +wild bull's back, and hung when the ride is over. No, seņor, we know +the Judas asked of you by this daughter of Miguel;--it is the pale +beast called El Aleman. For many, many days have we made prayers like +this, before every shrine, that the saints would send him again to our +valley. You, seņor, have brought answer to that prayer. You have him +trapped, but he belongs only to us women. The saints listened to us, +and you are in it. Men often are in prayers like that, and have no +knowing of it, seņor." + +Kit listened in amazement to this account of prayers to Mexican saints +for a Judas to hang on Good Friday! After four centuries of foreign +priesthood, and foreign saints on the shrines, the mental effect on +the aborigines had not risen above crucifixion occasionally on some +proxy for their supreme earthly god, or mad orgies of vengeance on a +proxy for Judas. The great drama of Calvary had taught them only new +forms of torture and the certainty that vengeance was a debt to be +paid. Conrad was to them the pale beast whipping women into +slavery,--and as supreme traitor to human things must be given a Judas +death! + +He shivered as he listened, and looked at the eyes of women staring +out of the dusk for the answer to their prayers. + +"_Por Dios!_" muttered Rotil, half turning to Kit, yet losing nothing +of the pleading strained faces. "Does your head catch all of that, +seņor? Can't women beat hell? And women breed us all! What's the +answer?" + +"In this case it's up to you, General," replied Kit. "I'm glad the +responsibility is not mine. Even as it is, women who look like these +are likely to walk through my dreams for many a night!" + +Rotil gloomed at them, puzzled, frowning, and at times the flicker of +a doubtful smile would change his face without lighting it. No one +moved or spoke. + +"Here!" he said at last, "this child and two women have spoken, but +there are over twenty of you here. Three out of twenty is no +vote--hold up your hands. Come, don't hang back, or you won't get +Judas! There are no priests here, and no spies for priests, and there +have been words enough. Show your hands!" + +Kit looked back into the darkest corner, wondering what the vote of +Jocasta would be; her mother was said to be Indian, or half Indian, +and her hatred of the German would help her understand these darker +tribal sisters. + +But in the many lifted hands her own could not be seen and he felt +curiously relieved, though it was no affair of his, and one vote +either way would weigh nothing. + +Rotil looked at the lifted hands, and grunted. + +"You win, _muchacha_," he said to Tula. "I think you're the devil, and +it's you made the women talk. You can come along to Soledad and fetch +their Judas back to them." + +"My thanks to you, and my service, Excellency," said Tula. "I will go +and be glad that I go for that. But I swear by the Body and Blood, and +I swear on this, that I only pay the debt of my people to El Aleman." + +She was helping old Tia Tomasa to her feet with one hand, and held up +the little crucifix to him with the other. She had noted that white +people make oath on a cross when they want to be believed, and she +wished with all her pagan heart to be believed by this man who had +been a sort of legendary hero to her many months before she had seen +his face, or dared hope he would ever grant favor to her--Tula! + +But whatever effect she hoped to secure by emphasizing her oath on the +Christian symbol, she was not prepared for the rough grasp on her arm, +or the harsh command of his voice. + +"Holy God!" he growled, "why do you thrust that in my face,--you?" + +"Excellency--I--" began Tula, but he shook her as a cat would shake a +mouse. + +"Answer me! How comes it in your hands?" + +"I found it, seņor--and did no harm." + +"When? Where?" + +"Why--I--I----" + +A note of warning flashed from some wireless across the girl's mind, +for it was no little thing by which Ramon Rotil had suddenly become a +growling tiger with his hand near her throat. + +"Where?" he repeated. + +"On a trail, seņor." + +"When?" + +"Three days ago." + +"Where?" + +"At the place where the Soledad trail leaves that of Mesa Blanca." + +Rotil stared at her, and then turned to Kit. + +"Do you know of this thing?" + +"No, General, I don't," he said honestly enough, "but these women have +many such----" + +"No," contradicted Rotil, "they haven't,--there's a difference." + +He had seized the crucifix and held it, while he scanned the faces, +and then brought his gaze back to Tula. + +"You will show me that place, and prove yourself, _muchacha_," he said +grimly. "There's something--something--Do you know, you damned young +crane, that I can have my men shoot you against the wall out there if +you lie to me?" + +"Yes, my General, but it is better to give lead to enemies--and not +friends. Also a knife is cheaper." + +"Silence! or you may get both!" he growled. "Here, look well--you--all +of you! Have any of you but this creature seen it?" + +He held it out, and Valencia, who was nearest, caught sight of it. + +"Ai! Tula!" she said in reproof, "you to take that when the poor----" + +Tula flashed one killing look at her, and Valencia stopped dead, and +turned an ashen gray, and Rotil watching! + +"Ah--ha! I thought it!" he jeered. "Now whose trick is it to make me a +fool? Come, sift this thing! You," to Valencia, "have looked on this +before. Whose is it?" + +"Seņor--I----" + +"So!" he said with a sort of growl in the voice, "something chokes +you? Look at me, not at the others! Also listen:--if a lie is told to +me, every liar here will go before a firing squad. Whose is this +crucifix?" + +Valencia's eyes looked sorrow on Tula, still under his hand, and then +on the wood and silver thing held up before her. The sun was just +rolling hot and red above the mountains, and Rotil's shaggy head was +outlined in a sort of curious radiance as the light struck the white +wall across the patio at his back. Even the silver of the crucifix +caught a glimmer of it, and to Valencia he looked like the warrior +padres of whom her grandmother used to tell, who would thunder hell's +terrors on the frightened neophytes until the bravest would grovel in +the dust and do penances unbelievable. + +That commanding picture came between her and Rotil,--the outlaw and +soldier and patriot. She stumbled forward with a pleading gesture +towards Tula. + +"Excellency, the child does no harm. She is a stranger in the house. +She has picked it up perhaps when lost by the seņora, and----" + +"What seņora?" + +"She who is most sorrowful guest here, Excellency, and her arms still +bruised from the iron chains of El Aleman." + +"And her name?" + +"Excellency, it is the woman saved from your man by the Americano +seņor here beside you. And,--she asked to be nameless while sheltered +at Mesa Blanca." + +"But not to me! So this is a game between you two--" and he looked +from Tula to Kit with sinister threat in his eyes, "it is then _your_ +woman who----" + +"Ramon--no!" said a voice from the far shadows, and the black shawled +figure stood erect and cast off the muffling disguise. Her pale face +shone like a star above all the kneeling Indians. + +"God of heaven!" he muttered, and his hand fell from the shoulder of +Tula. "You--_you_ are one of the women who knelt here for vengeance?" + +"For justice," she said, "but I was here for a reason different;--it +was a place to hide. No one helped me, let the child go! Give these +women what they ask or deny them, but send them away. To them I am +nameless and unknown. You can see that even my presence is a thing of +fear to them,--let them go!" + +He stared at her across those frightened dark faces. It was true they +drew away from her in terror; her sudden uprising was as if she had +materialized from the cold tiles of the chapel floor. Kit noted that +their startled eyes were wide with awe, and knew that they also felt +they were gazing on a beauty akin to that of the pictured saints. Even +the glimmer of the candle touching her perfect cheek and brow added to +the unearthly appearance there in the shadows. + +But Ramon Rotil gazed at her across a wider space than that marked by +the kneeling Indian women! Four years were bridged by that look, and +where the others saw a pale Madonna, he saw a barefooted child weaving +flowers of the mountain for a shrine where poverty prevented a +candle. + +He had sold maize to buy candles, and shoes for her feet, and she had +given him the little brown wooden crucifix. + +Once in the height of her reign of beauty in the hacienda of Perez, a +ragged brown boy from the hills had lain in wait for her under the +oleanders, and thrust a tightly bound package of corn husks into her +hand, and her maid regarded with amazement the broken fragments of a +wooden cross so poor and cheap that even the most poverty stricken of +the peons could own one, and her wonder was great that her mistress +wept over the broken pieces and strove to fit them together again. + +And now it lay in his hand, bound and framed in silver wires +delicately wrought. + +He had traveled farther than she during the years between, and the +memento of the past made him know it. + +"Ramon, let them go!" she repeated with gentle appeal. + +"Yes," he said, taking a deep breath as if rousing from a trance, +"that is best. Child--see to it, and have your way. Seņor, will you +arrange that the seņora has what comfort there is here? Our horses +wait, and work waits----" + +He saw Valencia go with protecting, outstretched hands to Jocasta, and +turned away. + +Jocasta never moved. To save her friends from his rage she had spoken, +and to her the big moment of humiliation dreamed of and feared had +come and been lived through. He had seen her on her knees among all +that brown herd made up of such women as his mother and her mother had +been. From mistress of a palace on an estate large as many European +kingdoms she had become an outcast with marks of fetters on her arms, +while he was knelt to as a god by the simple people of the ranges, and +held power of life and death over a wide land! + +Kit could not even guess at all the tempestuous background of the +drama enacted there in the chill of the chapel at sunrise, but the +clash of those two outlaw souls suddenly on guard before each other, +thrilled him by the unexpected. Rotil, profane, ruthless, and jeering, +had suddenly grown still before the face of a woman from whom he +turned away. + +"Late! An hour late!" he grumbled, hobbling back to the plaza. "What +did I tell you? Hell of women! Well, your damned little crane got what +she started after--huh! Why did she lie?" + +"Well, you know, General," said Kit doubtfully, "that the enmity +between you and José Perez is no secret. Even the children talk of it, +and wish success to you--I've heard that one do it! Doņa Jocasta is of +a Perez household, so it was supposed you would make prisoner anyone +of their group. And Tula--well, I reckon Tula listened last night to +some rather hard things the seņora has lived through at Soledad, and +knew she would rather die here than go back there." + +Kit realized he was on delicate ground when trying to explain any of +the actions of any of the black and tan group to each other, but he +sought the safest way out, and drew a breath of relief at his success, +for Rotil listened closely, nodding assent, yet frowning in some +perplexity. + +"Um! what does that mean,--rather die than go back?" he demanded. "No +one has told me why the lady has come to Mesa Blanca, or what she is +doing here. I don't see--What the devil ails you?" + +For Kit stared at him incredulous, and whistled softly. + +"Haven't you got it _yet_?" he asked. "Last night you joked about a +girl Marto stole, and we stole from him again. Don't you realize now +who that girl is?" + +"_Jocasta!_" + +It was the first time he had uttered her name and there was a low +terrible note in his voice, half choked by smothered rage. + +"But how could Marto,--or why should--" he began and then halted, +checked by various conflicting facts, and stared frowningly at Rhodes +who again strove to explain that of which he had little knowledge. + +"General, I reckon Marto was square to your interests about everything +but the woman Perez and Conrad sent north into the desert, and it was +Marto's job to see that she never left it alive. Evidently he did not +report that extra task to you, for he meant to save the woman for +himself. But even at that, General, you've got to give him credit. He +says she bewitched him, and he couldn't kill her, and he wouldn't let +the others have her. Also he risked a whale of a beating up, and some +lead souvenirs, in trying to save her, even if it was for himself. So +you see, Marto was only extra human, and is a good man. His heart's +about broke to think he failed you, and I'll bet he wouldn't fail you +again in a thousand years!" + +"Yes, you have the right of that," agreed Rotil. "I did not know; I +don't know yet what this means about Perez and--and----" + +"None of us do, General," stated Kit. "I heard Valencia say it must be +something only a confessor could know,--but it must be rather awful at +that! She was started north like an insane criminal, hidden and in +chains. She explains nothing, but General, you have now the two men at +Soledad who made the plan, and you have here Marto who was their +tool--and perhaps--at Soledad--" he paused questioning. + +"Sure! that is what will be done," decided Rotil. "See to it, you, +after we are gone. Bring Doņa Jocasta to Soledad with as much show of +respect as can be mustered in a poor land, your girl and Isidro's wife +to go along, and any comforts you can find. Yes, that is the best! +Some way we will get to the bottom of this well. She must know a lot +if they did not dare let her live, and Marto--well, you make a good +talk for him, straight too--Marto will go with me. Tell no one +anything. Make your own plans. By sunset I will have time for this +mystery of the chains of Doņa Jocasta. Be there at Soledad by +sunset." + +"At your command, General." + +Then Chappo and Fidelio helped their leader into the saddle. Marto, +crestfallen and silently anticipating the worst, was led out next; a +_reata_ passed around the saddle horn and circling his waist was +fastened back of the saddle. His hands were free to guide his horse, +but Chappo, with a wicked looking gun and three full cartridge belts, +rode a few paces back of him to see that he made no forbidden use of +them. + +Kit watched them ride east while the long line of women of Palomitas +took up the trail over the mesa to the north. Their high notes of a +song came back to him,--one of those wailing chants of a score of +verses dear to the Mexican heart. In any other place he would have +deemed it a funeral dirge with variations, but with Indian women at +sunrise it meant tuneful content. + +Kit listened with a shiver. Because of his own vagrant airs they had +called him "El Pajarito" when he first drifted south over Mexican +trails,--but happy erratic tunefulness was smothered for him +temporarily. Over the vast land of riches, smiling in the sun, there +brooded the threats of Indian gods chained, inarticulate, reaching out +in unexpected ways for expression through the dusky devotees at hidden +shrines. The fact that occasionally they found expression through some +perverted fragment from an imported cult was a gruesome joke on the +importers. But under the eagle of Mexico, whose wide wings were used +as shield by the German vultures across seas, jokes were not popular. +German educators and foreign priests with Austrian affiliations, saw +to that. The spiritual harvest in Mexico was not always what the +planters anticipated,--for curious crops sprung up in wild corners of +the land, as Indian grains wrapped in a mummy's robe spring to life +under methods of alien culturists. + +Vague drifting thoughts like this followed Kit's shiver of repulsion +at that Indian joy song over the promise of a veritable live Judas. On +him they could wreak a personal vengeance, and go honestly to +confession in some future day, with the conviction that they had, by +the sufferings they could individually and collectively invent for +Judas, in some vague but laudable manner mitigated the sufferings of a +white god far away whose tribulations were dwelt upon much by the +foreign priesthood. + +He sensed this without analysis, for his was not the analytical mind. +What brain Kit had was fairly well occupied by the fact that his own +devoted partner was the moving spirit of that damnable pagan _Come, +all ye_--drifting back to him from the glorified mesa, flushed golden +now by the full sun. + +Clodomiro came wearily up from the corral. The boy had gone without +sleep or rest until his eyes were heavy and his movements listless. +Like the women of Palomitas he also had worked overtime at the call of +Tula, and Kit wondered at the concerted activity--no one had held back +or blundered. + +"Clodomiro," he said passing the lad a cigarette and rolling one for +himself from good new tobacco secured from Fidelio, "how comes it that +even the women of years come in the night for prayers when you ride +for them? Do they give heed to any boy who calls?" + +Clodomiro gave thanks for the cigarette, but was too well bred to +light it in the presence of an elder or a superior. He smelled it with +pleasure, thrust it over his ear and regarded Rhodes with perfectly +friendly and apparently sleepy black eyes. + +"Not always, seņor, but when Tula sends the call of Miguel, all are +surely coming, and also making the prayer." + +"The call of Miguel? Why--Miguel is dead." + +"That is true, seņor, but he was head man, and he had words of power, +also the old Indians listened. Now Tula has the words, and as you +see,--the words are still alive! I am not knowing what they mean,--the +words,--but when Tula tells me, I take them." + +"_O Tippecanoe, and Tyler too!_" hummed Kit studying the boy. "What's +in a word? Do you mean that you take a trail to carry words you don't +understand, because a girl younger than you tells you to?" + +The boy nodded indifferently. + +"Yes, seņor, it is my work when it is words of old prayer, and Tula is +sending them. It would be bad not to go, a quicksand would surely +catch my horse, or I might die from the bite of a _sorrilla rabioso_, +or evil ghosts might lure me into wide _medanos_ where I would seek +trails forever, and find only my own! Words can do that on a man! and +Tula has the words now." + +"Indeed! That's a comfortable chum to have around--not! And have you +no fear?" + +"Not so much. I am very good," stated Clodomiro virtuously. "Some day +maybe I take her for my woman;--her clan talks about it now. She has +almost enough age, and--you see!" + +He directed the attention of Rhodes to the strips of red and green and +pink calico banding his arms, their fluttering ends very decorative +when he moved swiftly. + +"Oh, yes, I've been admiring them. Very pretty," said Kit amicably, +not knowing the significance of it, but conscious of the wide range +one might cover in a few minutes of simple Sonora ranch life. From the +tragic and weird to the childishly inane was but a step. + +Clodomiro passed on to the kitchen, and Kit smoked his cigarette and +paced the outer corridor, striving for plans to move forward with his +own interests, and employ the same time and the same trail for the +task set by Ramon Rotil. + +Rotil had stated that the escort of Doņa Jocasta must be as complete +as could be arranged. This meant a dueņa and a maid at least, and as +he had bidden Tula have her way with her "Judas," it surely meant that +Tula must go to Soledad. Very well so far, and as Rotil would +certainly not question the extent of the outfit taken along, why not +include any trifles Tula and he chanced to care for? He remembered +also that there were some scattered belongings of the Whitely's left +behind in the haste of departure. Well, a few mule loads would be a +neighborly gift to take north when he crossed the border, and Soledad +was nearer the border! + +It arranged itself very well indeed, and as Tula emerged from the +patio smoothing out an old newspaper fragment discarded by Fidelio, +and chewing _chica_ given her by Clodomiro, he hailed her with joy. + +"Blessed Indian Angel," he remarked appreciatively, "you greased the +toboggan for several kinds of hell for us this day of our salvation, +but your jinx was on the job, and turned the trick our way! Do you +know you are the greatest little mascot ever held in captivity?" + +But Tula didn't know what "mascot" meant, and was very much occupied +with the advertisement of a suit and cloak house in the old Nogales +paper in which some trader at the railroad had wrapped Fidelio's +tobacco. It had the picture of an alluring lady in a dress of much +material slipping from the shoulders and dragging around the feet. To +the aboriginal mind that seemed a very great waste, for woven material +was hard to come by in the desert. + +She attempted an inquiry concerning that wastefulness of Americanas, +but got no satisfactory reply. Kit took the tattered old paper from +her hand, and turned it over because of the face of Singleton staring +at him from the other side of the page. It was the account of the +inquest, and in the endeavor to add interest the local reporters had +written up a column concerning Singleton's quarrel with the range +boss, Rhodes,--and the mysterious disappearance of the latter across +the border! + +There was sympathetic mention made of Miss Wilfreda Bernard, heiress +of Granados, and appreciative mention of the efficient manager, +Conrad, who had offered all possible assistance to the authorities in +the sad affair. The general expression of the article was regret that +the present situation along the border prevented further investigation +concerning Rhodes. The said Rhodes appeared to be a stranger in the +locality, and had been engaged by the victim of the crime despite the +objections of Manager Conrad. + +There followed the usual praise and list of virtues of the dead man, +together with reference to the illustrious Spanish pioneer family from +whom his wife had been descended. It was the first time Kit had been +aware of the importance of Billie's genealogy, and remembering the +generally accepted estimates of Spanish pride, he muttered something +about a "rose leaf princess, and a Tennessee hill-billy!" + +"It's some jolt, two of them!" he conceded. + + _Twinkle, twinkle little star, + How I wonder what you are!_ + +"They say bunches of stars and planets get on a jamboree and cross +each other's trail at times, and that our days are rough or smooth +according to their tantrums. Wish I knew the name of the luminary +raising hell for me this morning! It must be doing a highland fling +with a full moon, and I'm being plunked by every scattered spark!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE SECRET OF SOLEDAD CHAPEL + + +It took considerable persuasion to prevail upon Doņa Jocasta that a +return to Soledad would be of any advantage to anybody. To her it was +a place fearful and accursed. + +"But, seņora, a padre who sought to be of service to you is still +there, a prisoner. In the warring of those wild men who will speak for +him? The men of Soledad would have killed him but for their +superstitions, and Rotil is notorious for his dislike of priests." + +"I know," she murmured sadly. "There are some good ones, but he will +never believe. In his scales the bad ones weigh them down." + +"But this one at Soledad?" + +"Ah, yes, seņor, he spoke for me,--Padre Andreas." + +"And a prisoner because of you?" + +"That is true. You do well to remind me of that. My own sorrows sink +me in selfishness, and it is a good friend who shows me my duty. Yes, +we will go. God only knows what is in the heart of Ramon Rotil that he +wishes it, but that which he says is law today wherever his men ride, +and I want no more sorrow in the world because of me. We will go." + +Valencia had gone placidly about preparations for the journey from +the moment Kit had expressed the will of the Deliverer. To hesitate +when he spoke seemed a foolish thing, for in the end he always did the +thing he willed, and to form part of the escort for Doņa Jocasta +filled her with pride. She approved promptly the suggestion that +certain bed and table furnishings go to Soledad for use of the seņora, +and later be carried north to Mrs. Whitely, whose property they were. + +As capitan of the outfit, Kit bade her lay out all such additions to +their state and comfort, and he would personally make all packs and +decide what animals, chests, or provisions could be taken. + +This was easier managed than he dared hope. Clodomiro rode after mules +and returned with Benito and Mariano at his heels, both joyously +content to leave the planting of fields and offer their young lives to +the army of the Deliverer. Isidro was busy with the duties of the +ranch stock, and there was only Tula to see bags of nuggets +distributed where they would be least noticed among the linen, Indian +rugs, baskets and such family possessions easiest carried to their +owner. + +He marked the packs to be opened, and Tula, watching, did not need to +be told. + +The emotions of the night and the uncertainty of what lay ahead left +Rhodes and Doņa Jocasta rather silent as they took the trail to the +gruesome old hacienda called by Doņa Jocasta so fearful and accursed. +Many miles went by with only an occasional word of warning between +them where the way was bad, or a word of command for the animals +following. + +"In the night I rode without fear where I dare not look in the +sunlight," said Jocasta drawing back from a narrow ledge where stones +slipped under the hoofs of the horses to fall a hundred feet below in +a dry caņon. + +"Yes, seņora, the night was kind to all of us," returned Kit politely. +"Even the accidents worked for good except for the pain to you." + +"That is but little, and my shoulder of no use to anyone. General +Rotil is very different,--a wound to a soldier means loss of time. It +is well that shot found him among friends for it is said that when a +wolf has wounds the pack unites to tear him to pieces, and there are +many,--many pesos offered to the traitor who will trap Rotil by any +lucky accident." + +"Yet he took no special care at Mesa Blanca." + +"Who knows? He brought with him only men of the district as guard. Be +sure they knew every hidden trail, and every family. Ramon Rotil is a +coyote for the knowing of traps." + +She spoke as all Altar spoke, with a certain pride in the ability of +the man she had known as a burro driver of the sierras. For three +years he had been an outlaw with a price on his head, and as a rebel +general the price had doubled many times. + +"With so many poor, how comes it that no informer has been found? The +reward would be riches untold to a poor _paisano_." + +"It might be to his widow," said Doņa Jocasta, "but no sons of his, +and no brothers would be left alive." + +"True. I reckon the friends of Rotil would see to that! Faithful +hearts are the ones he picks for comrades. I heard an old-timer say +the Deliverer has that gift." + +She looked at him quickly, and away again, and went silent. He +wondered if it was true that there had been love between these two, +and she had been unfaithful. Love and Doņa Jocasta were fruitful +themes for the imagination of any man. + +Valencia was having the great adventure of her life in her journey to +Soledad, and she chattered to Tula as a maiden going to a marriage. +Three people illustrious in her small world were at once to be +centered on the stage of war before her eyes. She told Tula it was a +thing to make songs of,--the two men and the most beautiful woman! + +When they emerged from the caņon into the wide spreading plain, with +the sierras looming high and blue beyond, the eyes of Kit and Tula +met, and then turned toward their own little camp in the lap of the +mother range. All was flat blue against the sky there, and no +indications of caņon or gulch or pocket discernible. Even as they drew +nearer to the hacienda, and Kit surreptitiously used the precious +field glasses, thus far concealed from all new friends of the desert, +he found difficulty in locating their hill of the treasure, and +realized that their fears of discovery in the little caņon had been +groundless. In the far-away time when the giant aliso had flourished +there by the caņon stream, its height might have served to mark the +special ravine where it grew, but the lightning sent by pagan gods had +annihilated that landmark forever, and there was no other. + +The glint of tears shone in the eyes of Tula, and she rode with +downcast eyes, crooning a vagrant Indian air in which there were bird +calls, and a whimpering long-drawn tremulo of a baby coyote caught in +a trap, a weird ungodly improvisation to hear even with the shining +sun warming the world. + +Kit concluded she was sending her brand of harmony to Miguel and the +ghosts on guard over the hidden trail.--And he rather wished she would +stop it! + +Even the chatter of Valencia grew silent under the spell of the girl's +gruesome intonings,--ill music for her entrance to a new portal of +adventure. + +"It sounds of death," murmured Doņa Jocasta, and made the sign of the +cross. "The saints send that the soul to go next has made peace with +God! See, seņor, we are truly crossing a place of death as she sings. +That beautiful valley of the green border is the _sumidero_,--the +quicksands from hidden springs somewhere above," and she pointed to +the blue sierras. "I think that is the grave José meant for me at +Soledad." + +"Nice cheerful end of the trail--not!" gloomed Kit strictly to +himself. "That little imp is whining of trouble like some be-deviled +prophetess." + +Afterwards he remembered that thought, and wished he could forget! + +Blue shadows stretched eastward across the wide zacatan meadows, and +the hacienda on the far mesa, with its white and cream adobe walls, +shone opal-like in the lavender haze of the setting sun. + +Kit Rhodes had timed the trip well and according to instruction of the +general, but was a bit surprised to find that his little cavalcade was +merely part of a more elaborate plan arranged for sunset at Soledad. + +A double line of horsemen rode out from the hacienda to meet them, a +rather formidable reception committee as they filed in soldier-like +formation over the three miles of yellow and green of the spring +growths, and halted where the glint of water shone in a dam filled +from wells above. + +Their officer saluted and rode forward, his hat in his hand as he +bowed before Doņa Jocasta. + +"General Rotil presents to you his compliments, Seņora Perez, and +sends his guard as a mark of respect when you are pleased to ride once +more across your own lands." + +"My thanks are without words, seņor. I appreciate the honor shown to +me. My generalissimo will answer for me." + +She indicated Kit with a wan smile, and her moment of hesitation over, +his title reminded him that no name but El Pajarito had been given him +by his Indian friends. That, and the office of manager of Mesa Blanca, +was all that served as his introduction to her, and to Rotil. With the +old newspaper in his pocket indicating that Kit Rhodes was the only +name connected with the murder at Granados, he concluded it was just +as well. + +The guard drew to either side, and the officer and Kit, with Doņa +Jocasta between them, rode between the two lines, followed by Tula and +Valencia. Then the guard fell in back of them, leaving Clodomiro with +the pack animals and the Indian boys to follow after in the dust. + +Doņa Jocasta was pale, and her eyes sought Kit's in troubled question, +but she held her head very erect, and the shrouding lace veil hid all +but her eyes from the strangers. + +"Seņor Pajarito," she murmured doubtfully. "The sun is still shining, +and there are no chains on my wrists,--otherwise this guard gives much +likeness to my first arrival at the hacienda of Soledad!" + +"I have a strong belief that no harm is meant to you by the general +commanding," he answered, "else I would have sought another trail, and +these men look friendly." + +"God send they be so!" + +"They have all the earmarks,--and look!" + +They were near enough the hacienda to see men emerge from the portal, +and one who limped and leaned on a cane, moved ahead of the others and +stood waiting. + +"It is an honor that I may bid you welcome to your own estate, Doņa +Jocasta," he said grimly. "We have only fare of soldiers to offer you +at first, but a few days and good couriers can remedy that." + +"I beg that you accept my thanks, _Commandante_," she murmured lowly. +"The trail was not of my choosing, and it is an ill time for women to +come journeying." + +"The time is a good time," he said bluntly, "for there is a limit to +my hours here. And in one of them I may do service for you." + +His men stood at either side watching. There were wild tales told of +Ramon Rotil and women who crossed or followed his trail, but here was +the most beautiful of all women riding to his door and he gave her no +smile,--merely motioned to the Americano that he assist her from the +saddle. + +"The supper is ready, and your woman and the priest will see that care +is given for your comfort," he continued. "Afterwards, in the +_sala_----" + +She bent her head, and with Kit beside her passed on to the inner +portal. There a dark priest met her and reached out his hand. + +"No welcome is due me, Padre Andreas," she said brokenly. "I turned +coward and tried to save myself." + +"Daughter," he returned with a wry smile at Kit, and a touch of cynic +humor, "you had right in going. The lieutenant would have had no +pleasure in adding me to his elopement, and, as we hear,--your stolen +trail carried you to good friends." + +Kit left them there and gave his attention to space for the packs and +outfit, but learned that the general had allotted to him the small +corral used in happier days for the saddle horses of the family. There +was a gate to it and a lock to the gate. Chappo had been given charge, +and when all was safely bestowed, he gave the key to the American. + +The brief twilight crept over the world, and candles were lit when Kit +returned to the corridor. Rotil was seated, giving orders to men who +rode in and dismounted, and others who came out from supper, mounted +and rode away. It was the guard from a wide-flung arc bringing report +of sentinels stationed at every pass and water hole. + +Padre Andreas was there presenting some appeal, and to judge by his +manner he was not hopeful of success. Yet spoke as a duty of his +office and said so. + +"What is your office to me?" asked Rotil coldly. "Do your duty and +confess him when the time comes if that is his wish. It is more than +he would have given to her or the foreman who stored the ammunition. +Him he had killed as the German had Miguel Herrara killed on the +border,--and Herrara had been faithful to that gun running for months. +When man or woman is faithful to José Perez long enough to learn +secrets, he rewards them with death. A dose of his own brew will be +fit medicine." + +"But the woman,--she is safe. She is----" + +"Yes, very safe!" agreed Rotil, sneering. "Shall I tell you, pious +Father, how safe she is? The cholo who took food to Perez and that +German dog has brought me a message. See, it is on paper, and is clear +for any to read. You--no not you, but Don Pajarito here shall read it. +He is a neutral, and not a padre scheming to save the soul of a man +who never had a soul!" + +Kit held it to the light, read it, and returned it to Rotil. + +"I agree with you, General. He offers her to you in exchange for his +own freedom." + +"Yes, and to pay for that writing I had him chained where he could see +her enter the plaza as a queen, if we had queens in Mexico! You had an +unseen audience for your arrival. The guard reports that the German +friend of Perez seems to love you, Don Pajarito, very much indeed." + +"Sure he does. Here is the mark of one of his little love pats with a +monkey wrench," and Kit parted his hair to show the scar of the +Granados assault. "I got that for interfering when he was trying to +kill his employer's herds with ground glass in their feed." + +"So? no wonder if he goes in a rage to see you riding as a lady's +caballero while he feels the weight of chains in a prison. This world +is but a little place!" + +"That is true," said Padre Andreas, "regarding Kit, for the story of +the horses was told to me by Doņa Jocasta here in Soledad!" + +"How could that be?" demanded Rotil. "Is it not true you met the lady +first at Mesa Blanca?" + +"As you say," said Kit, alert at the note of suspicion, "if the lady +knows aught of Granados, it is a mystery to me, and is of interest." + +"Not so much a mystery," said the priest. "Conrad boasted much when +glasses were emptied with Perez on the Hermosillo rancho, and Doņa +Jocasta heard. He told the number of cavalry horses killed by his men, +also the owner of that ranch of Granados who had to be silenced for +the cause." + +"Thanks for those kind words, Padre," said Kit. "If Doņa Jocasta has a +clear memory of that boasting, she may save a life for me." + +"So?" said Rotil speculatively. "We seem finding new trails at +Soledad. Whose life?" + +"The partner of a chum of mine," stated Kit lightly, as he did some +quick thinking concerning the complications likely to arise if he was +regarded as a possible murderer hiding from the law. "My own hunch is +that Conrad himself did it." + +"Have you any idea of a trap for him?" + +"N-no, General, unless he was led to believe that I was under guard +here. He might express his sentiments more freely if he thought I +would never get back across the border alive." + +"Good enough! This offer from Perez is to go into the keeping of Doņa +Jocasta. You've the duty of taking it to her. We have not yet found +that ammunition." + +"Well, it did cross the border, and somebody got it." + +"He says it was moved to Hermosillo before Juan Gonsalvo, the +overseer, died." + +"Was shot, you mean, after it was cached." + +"Maybe so, but he offers to trade part of it for his liberty, and +deliver the goods north of Querobabi." + +"Yes, General,--into the bodies of your men if you trust him." + +Rotil chuckled. "You are not so young as you look, Don Pajarito, and +need no warning. It is the room next the _sala_ where I will have +Perez and Conrad brought. The seņora can easily overhear what is said. +It may be she will have the mind to help when she sees that offer he +made." + +"It would seem so, yet--women are strange! They go like the padre, to +prayers when a life is at stake." + +"Some women, and some priests, boy," said the dark priest. "It may be +that you do not know Doņa Jocasta well." + +This remark appeared to amuse Rotil, for he smiled grimly and with a +gesture indicated that they were to join Doņa Jocasta. + +She was rested and refreshed by a good supper. Valencia and Elena, the +cook, had waited upon her and the latter waxed eloquent over the +stupendous changes at Soledad from the time of Doņa Jocasta's supper +the previous day. Many of the angry men had been ready to start after +Marto who had cheated them, when a courier rode in with the word that +Don José and Seņor Conrad were close behind. Then the surprise of all +when Don José was captured, and it was seen that Elena had been +cooking these many days, not for simple vaqueros, but for some +soldiers of the revolution by which peace and plenty was to come to +all the land! It was a beautiful dream, and the Deliverer was to make +it come true! + +Tula sat in the shadow against the wall, like some slender Indian +carving, mute and expressionless while the eyes of the woman rolled as +the two old friends exchanged their wonder tales of the night and day! +Elena made definite engagement to be with the "Judas" trailers on the +dark Friday, and both breathed blessings on Rotil who had promised +them the right man for the hanging. + +It was this cheerful topic Kit entered upon with the written note from +Perez to the general. He had no liking for his task, as his eyes +rested on Doņa Jocasta, beautiful, resigned and detached from the +scene about her. He remembered what Rotil had said scoffingly of +saints lifted from shrines--a man never forgot that shrine was empty! + +"Mine is a thankless task, seņora, but the general decided you are the +best keeper of this," and he gave to her the scribbled page torn from +a note book. + +She took it and held it unread, looking at him with dark tragic eyes. + +"I have fear of written words, seņor, and would rather hear them +spoken. So many changes have come that I dread new changes. No matter +where my cage is moved, it is still a cage to me," she said +wistfully. + +"I've a hunch, Doņa Jocasta, that the bars of that cage are going to +be broken for you," ventured Kit, taking the seat she indicated, "and +this note may be one of the weapons to do it. Evidently Seņor Perez +has had some mistaken information concerning the stealing of you from +here;--he thought it was by the general's order. So mistaken was he +that he thought you were the object of Rotil's raid on Soledad, and +for his own freedom he has offered to give you, and half his stock of +ammunition, to General Ramon Rotil, and agree to a truce between their +factions." + +"Ah! he offers to make gift of me to the man he hates," she said after +a long silence. "And the guns and ammunition,--he also surrenders +them?" + +"He offers--but it is written here! Since the guns, however, have been +taken south, he cannot give them; he can only promise them, until such +time----" + +"Ho!" she said scornfully. "Is that the tale he tells? It is true +there are guns in the south, but guns are also elsewhere! He forgets, +does José Perez,--or else he plays for time. This offer," and she +referred to the note, "it is not written since we arrived--no. It was +written earlier, when he thought I was held by that renegade far in +the desert." + +"I reckon that is true, seņora, for after receiving it, Rotil had him +chained in a room fronting the plaza that he might see you enter +Soledad with honors." + +"Ramon Rotil did that?" she mused, looking at the note thoughtfully, +"and he gives to me the evidence against José? Seņor, in the Perez +lands we hear only evil things and very different things about Rotil. +They would say this paper was for sale, but not for a gift. And--he +gives it to me!" + +Kit also remembered different things and evil things told of Rotil, +but they were not for discussion with a lady. He had wondered a bit +that it was not the padre who was given the message to transmit, yet +suddenly he realized that even the padre might have tried to make it a +question of barter, for the padre wanted help for his priestly office +in the saving of Perez' soul, and incidentally of his life. + +"Yes, seņora, it seems a free-will offering, and he said to tell you +it would be in the room adjoining this that Perez would be questioned +as to the war material. Rotil's men have searched, and his officers +have questioned, but Perez evidently thinks Rotil will not execute +him, as a ransom will pay much better." + +"That is true, death pays no one--no one!" + +Her voice was weighted with sadness, and Kit wondered what the cloud +was under which she lived. The padre evidently knew, but none of +Rotil's men. It could not be the mere irregularity of her life with +Perez, for to the peon mind she was the great lady of a great +hacienda, and wife of the padrone. No,--he realized that the sin of +Doņa Jocasta had been a different thing, and that the shadow of it +enveloped her as a dark cloak of silence. + +"It is true, seņora, that death pays no one, except that the death of +one man may save other lives more valuable. That often happens," +remarked Kit, with the idea of distracting her from her own woe, +whatever it was. "It might have seemed a crime if one of his nurses +had chucked a double dose of laudanum into Bill Hohenzollern's baby +feed, but that nurse would have saved the lives of hundreds of +thousands of innocents, so you never can tell whether a murderer is a +devil, or a man doing work of the angels." + +"Bill?" Evidently the name was a new one to Doņa Jocasta. + +"That's the name of the Prussian pirate of the Huns across the water. +Your friend Conrad belongs to them." + +"My friend! My _friend_, seņor!" and Doņa Jocasta was on her feet, +white and furious, her eyes flaming hatred. Kit Rhodes was appalled at +the spirit he had carelessly wakened. He remembered the statement of +the priest that he evidently did not know the lady well, and realized +in a flash that he certainly did not, also that he would feel more +comfortable elsewhere. + +"Seņora, I beg a thousand pardons for my foolishness," he implored. +"My--my faulty Spanish caused me to speak the wrong word. Will you not +forgive me such a stupid blunder? Everyone knows the German brute +could not be a friend of yours, and that you could have only hatred of +his kind." + +She regarded him steadily with the ever ready suspicion against an +Americano showing in her eyes, but his regret was so evident, and his +devotion to her interests so sincere, that the tension relaxed, and +she sank back in her chair, her hand trembling as she covered her eyes +for a moment. + +"It is I who am wrong, seņor. You cannot know how the name of that man +is a poison, and why absolution is refused me because I will not +forgive,--and will not say I forgive! I will not lie, and because of +the hate of him my feet will tread the fires of hell. The padre is +telling me that, so what use to pray? Of what use, I ask you?" + +Kit could see no special use if she had accepted the threat of the +priest that hell was her portion anyway. + +"Oh, I would not take that gabble of a priest seriously if I were +you," he suggested. "No one can beat me in detesting the German and +what he stands for, but I have no plans of going to hell for it--not +on your life! To hate Conrad, or to kill him would be like killing a +rattlesnake, or stamping a tarantula into the sand. He has been let +live to sting too many, and Padre Andreas tells me you heard him boast +of an American killing at Granados!" + +"That is true, seņor, and it was so clever too! It was pleasure for +him to tell of that because of clever tricks in it. They climbed poles +to the wires and called the man to a town, then they waited on that +road and shot him before he reached the town. The alcalde of that +place decided the man had killed himself, and Conrad laughed with José +Perez on account of that, because they were so clever!" + +"They?" queried Kit trying to prevent his eagerness from showing in +his voice. "Who helped him? Not Perez?" + +"No, seņor, in that sin José had no part. It was a very important man +who did not appear important;--quite the other way, and like a man of +piety. His name, I am remembering it well, for it is Diego,--but said +in the American way, which is James." + +"Diego, said in the American way?" repeated Kit thoughtfully. "Is he +then an American?" + +"Not at all, seņor! He is Aleman _commandante_ for the border. His +word is an order for life or death, and José Perez is of his circle. +The guns buried by Perez are bought with the German money; it is for +war of Sonora against Arizona when that day comes." + +"Shucks! that day isn't coming unless the Huns put more of a force +down here than is yet in sight," declared Kit, "but that 'Diego' +bothers me. I know many James',--several at Granados, but not the sort +you tell of, seņora. Will you speak of that murder again, and let it +be put on paper for me? I have friends at Granados who may be troubled +about it, and your help would be as--as the word of an angel at the +right hour." + +"A sad angel, seņor," she said with a sigh, "but why should I not help +you to your wish since you have guarded me well? It is a little thing +you ask." + +The Indian women at the far end of the _sala_ had lowered their +voices, but their gossip in murmurs and expressive gestures flowed on, +and only Tula gave heed to the talk at the table of wars and guns, and +secrets of murder, and that was no new thing in Sonora. + +One door of the _sala_ opened from the patio, and another into a room +used as a chapel after the old adobe walls of the mission church had +melted utterly back into the earth. Rotil had selected it merely +because its only window was very high, an architectural variation +caused by a wing of the mission rooms still standing when Soledad +hacienda was built. A new wall had been built against the older and +lower one which still remained, with old sleeping cells of the +neophytes used as tool sheds, and an unsightly litter of propped or +tumbling walls back of the ranch house. + +The door from the _sala_ was slightly ajar, and the voice of Fidelio +was heard there. He asked someone for another candle, and another +chair. And there was the movement of feet, and rearrangement of +furniture. + +Rotil entered the _sala_ from the patio, and stood just inside, +looking about him. + +With a brief word and gesture he indicated that Elena and Valencia +vacate. At Tula he glanced, but did not bid her follow. He noted the +folded paper in the hand of Doņa Jocasta, but did not address her; it +was to Kit he spoke. + +"The door will be left open. I learn that Conrad distrusts Perez +because he paid German money, and shipped the guns across the border, +but Perez never uncovered one for him. They are badly scared and ready +to cut each other's throats if they had knives. Doņa Jocasta may +overhear what she pleases, and furnish the knives as well if she so +decides." + +But Doņa Jocasta with a shudder put up her hand in protest. + +"No knife, no knife!" she murmured, and Rotil shrugged his shoulders +and looked at Kit. + +"That little crane in the corner would walk barefoot over embers of +hell to get a knife and get at Conrad," he said. "You have taste in +your favorites, seņor." + +He seemed to get a certain amusement in the contemplation of Kit and +Tula; he had seen no other American with quite that sort of addition +to his outfit. Kit was content to let him think his worst, as to tell +the truth would no doubt lose them a friend. It tickled the general's +fancy to think the thin moody Indian girl, immature and childlike, was +an American's idea of a sweetheart! + +Voices and the clank of chains were heard in the patio, and then in +the next room. + +"Why bring us here when your questions were given answer as well in +another place?" demanded a man's voice, and at that Doņa Jocasta +looked at Rotil. + +"Yes, why do you?" she whispered. + +He stared at her, frowning and puzzled. + +"Did I not tell you? I did it that you might hear him repeat his +offer. What else?" + +"I--see," she said, bending her head, but as Rotil went to the door, +Kit noted that the eyes of Doņa Jocasta followed him curiously. He +concluded that the unseen man of the voice was José Perez. + +Then the voice of Conrad was heard cursing at a chain too heavy. Rotil +laughed, and walked into the chapel. + +"I can tell you something, you German Judas!" he said coldly. "You +will live to see the day when these chains, and this safe old chapel, +will be as a paradise you once lived in. You will beg to crawl on your +knees to be again comfortably inside this door." + +"Is that some Mexican joke?" asked Conrad, and Rotil laughed again. + +"Sure it is, and it will be on you! They tell me you collect girls in +Sonora for a price. Well, they have grown fond of you,--the Indian +women of Sonora! They say you must end your days here with them. I +have not heard of a ransom price they would listen to,--though you +might think of what you have to offer." + +"Offer?" growled Conrad. "How is there anything to offer in Sonora +when Perez here has sent the guns south?" + +"True, the matter of ransom seems to rest with Seņor Perez who is +saving of words." + +"I put the words on paper, and sent it by your man," said Perez. "What +else is there to say?" + +"Oh, that?" returned Rotil. "My boys play tricks, and make jokes with +me like happy children. Yes, Chappo did bring words on paper,--foolish +words he might have written himself. I take no account of such things. +You are asked for the guns, and I get foolish words on paper of a +woman you would trade to me, and guns you would send me." + +"Well?" + +"Who gives you right to trade the woman, seņor?" + +"Who has a better right? She belongs to me." + +"Very good! And her name?" + +"You know the name." + +"Perhaps, but I like my bargains with witness, and they must witness +the name." + +"Jocasta--" There was a slight hesitation, and Rotil interrupted. + +"She has been known as Seņora Jocasta Perez, is it not so?" + +"Well--yes," came the slow reply, "but that was foolishness of the +peons on my estates. They called her that." + +"Very good! One woman called Jocasta Perez is offered to me in trade +with the guns. José Perez, have you not seen that the Doņa Jocasta +Perez is even now mistress of Soledad, and that my men and I are as +her servants?" + +Jocasta on the other side of the door strangled a half sob as she +heard him, and crept nearer the door. + +"Oh, you are a good one at a bargain, Ramon Rotil! You try to pretend +the woman cannot count in this trade, but women always count,--women +like Jocasta!" + +"So? Then we will certainly take count of the woman--one woman! Now to +guns and ammunition. How many, and where?" + +"At Hermosillo, and it will take a week." + +"I have no week to waste, and I do not mean the guns at Hermosillo. +You have five minutes, José Perez. Also those playful boys are +building a nice warm fire for the branding irons. And you will both +get a smell of your own burning hides if I wait longer for an +answer." + +"Holy God!" shouted Conrad. "Why burn me for his work? From me the +guns have been hid as well as from you;--all I got was promises! They +are my guns,--my money paid, but he is not straight! Here at Soledad +he was to show me this time, but I think now it was a trick to murder +me as he murdered Juan Gonsalvo, the foreman who stored them away for +him." + +"Animal!" growled Perez. "You have lost your head to talk of murders +to me! Two murders at Granados are waiting for you, and it is not far +to ship you back to the border! Walk with care, seņor!" + +"You are each wasting time with your truth telling," stated Rotil. +"This is no time to count your dead men. It is the count of the guns I +want. And a sight of the ammunition." + +"Give me a guide to Hermosillo, and the price of guns can be got for +you." + +"It is not the _price_ of guns I asked you for, it is guns,--the guns +Conrad and Herrara got over the border for you. Your time is going +fast, José Perez." + +"They are not to be had this side of Hermosillo, send me south if you +want them. But it is well to remember that if an accident happens to +me you never could get them,--never! I alone know their hiding +place." + +"For that reason have I waited for your visit to Soledad,--you and +your carts and your pack mules," stated Rotil. "Do not forget that +Marto Cavayso and other men of mine have been for weeks with your +ranchmen. Your pack train comes here empty, and means one thing +only--they came for the American guns! Your minutes are going, seņor, +and the branding irons are getting heat from the fire. One more +minute!" + +"Write the figures of the ransom, and grant me a messenger to +Hermosillo. You have the whip hand, you can make your price." + +"But me? What of _my_ ransom?" demanded Conrad. "My money, and my time +paid for those guns--I have not seen one of them this side of the +border! If no guns are paid for me, money must be paid." + +"No price is asked for you. I told you the women have named no +ransom." + +"Women? That is foolishness. It is not women for whom you hold me! He +has turned traitor, has Perez! He wants me sent back across the border +without that price of the guns for his mushroom government! He has +told his own tales of Herrara, and of Singleton, and they are +lies--all lies!" + +"But what of the tale of Diego, said in the American way?" asked Kit +stepping inside the room. + +"Diego! Diego!" repeated Conrad and made a leap at Perez. "You have +sold me out to the Americans, you scum! James warned me you were scum +of the gutters, and now----" + +The guard caught him, and he stood there shaking with fury in the dim +light. Perez drew away with a curse. + +"To hell with you and James and your crew on the border," he growled. +"I care nothing as to how soon the damned gringos swing you both. When +you Germans want to use us we are your 'dear brothers.' When we +out-trick you, we are only scum, eh? You can tell your _commandante_ +James that I won the game from him, and all the guns!" + +"My thanks to you, General Rotil, that I have been allowed to hear +this," said Kit, "also that I have witness. I'd do as much for you if +the chance comes. Two men were killed on the border by Conrad under +order of this James. Herrara was murdered in prison for fear he would +turn informer about the guns. Singleton was murdered to prevent him +investigating the German poisoning of cavalry horses. The German swine +meant to control Granados rancho a few months longer for their own +purposes." + +"_Meant_ to?" sneered Conrad. "You raw cub!--you are playing with +dynamite and due for a fall. So is your fool country! Though Perez +here has lost his nerve and turned traitor to our deal, that is only a +little puff of wind against the bulwarks of the Fatherland! We will +hold Granados; we will hold the border; and with Mexico (not this +crook of the west, but _real_ Mexico) we will win and hold every +border state and every Pacific coast state! You,--poor fool!--will +never reach Granados alive to tell this. You are but one American in +the Indian wilderness, and you are sure to go under, but you go +knowing that though James and I die, and though a thousand more of us +die, there will be ten thousand secret German workers in America to +carry on our plan until all the world will be under the power of the +Prussian eagle! You,--who think you know so much, can add _that_ to +finish your education in Sonora, and carry it to hell with you!" + +His voice, coldly contemptuous at first, had risen to a wrathful +shriek as he faced the American and hurled at him the exultance of the +Teuton dream. + +"I certainly am in great luck to be your one American confessor," +grinned Kit, "but I'll postpone that trip as long as possible. I +reckon General Rotil will let the padre help me make note of this +education you are handing out to me. A lot of Americans need it! Have +I your permission, General?" + +"Go as far as you like," snapped Rotil. "They have used up their time +limit in scolding like old women. Perez, I wait for the guns." + +"Send me to Hermosillo and I will recover enough for a ransom," said +Perez. + +Rotil regarded him a moment through half-closed, sinister eyes. + +"That was your last chance, and you threw it away. Chappo, strip him; +Fidelio, fetch the branding irons." + +Perez shrank back, staring at Rotil as if fascinated. He was striving +to measure the lengths to which the "Hawk of the Sierras" would go, +and a sudden gleam of hope came into his eyes as Padre Andreas held +up a crucifix before Chappo, waving him aside. + +"No, Rotil,--torture is a thing for animals, not men! Hell waits for +the sinner who----" + +"Hell won't wait for you one holy minute!" snapped Rotil. "Get back +with the women where you belong; there is men's work to do here." + +He caught the priest by the arm in an iron grip and whirled him +towards the _sala_. The man would have fallen but for Kit who caught +him, but could not save the crash of his head against the door. Blood +streamed from a cut in his forehead, and thus he staggered into the +room where Doņa Jocasta stood, horror-stricken and poised for flight. + +But the sight of the blood-stained priest, and the sound of a strange, +half animal cry from the other room, turned her feet that way. + +"No, Ramon! No-_no_!" she cried and sped through the door to fling +herself between him and his victims. + +Her arms were stretched wide and she halted, almost touching him, with +her back to the chained man towards whom she had not glanced, but she +could not help seeing the charcoal brazier with the red-hot branding +irons held by Fidelio. The gasping cry had come from Conrad by whom +the brazier was set. + +Ramon Rotil stared at her, frowning as if he would fling her from his +path as he had the priest. + +"No, Ramon!" she said again, still with that supplicating look and +gesture, "send them out of here,--both these men. I would smother and +die in a room with that German beast. You will not be sorry, Ramon +Rotil, I promise you that,--I promise you by the God I dare not +face!" + +[Illustration: "No, Ramon! No!" she cried, and flung herself between him +and his victims.] + +"Ho!" snarled Perez. "Is the priest also her lover that she----" + +"Send the German out, and let José Perez stay to see that I keep my +promise," she said letting her arms fall at her side, but facing Rotil +with an addition of hauteur in her poise and glance. "The price he +will pay for the words he has spoken here will be a heavy price,--one +he has risked life to hold! Send that pale snake and your men outside, +Ramon." + +Perez was leaning forward, his face strained and white, watching her. +He could not see her face, but the glimpse of hope came again into his +eyes--a woman might succeed with Rotil where a priest would fail! + +Rotil, still frowning at her, waved his hand to Chappo and Fidelio. + +"Take him away," he said, "and wait beyond." + +The shuffling movement and clank of chains was heard, but she did not +turn her head. Instead she moved past Rotil, lifted a candle, and went +towards the shrine at the end of the room. + +A table was there with a scarf across it, and back of the table three +steps leading up to a little platform on which were ranged two or +three mediocre statues of saints, once brilliant with blue and scarlet +and tinsel, but tarnished and dim from the years. + +In the center was a painting, also dark and dim in which only a halo +was still discernible in the light of the candle, but the features of +the saint pictured there were shadowed and elusive. + +For a moment she knelt on the lower step and bent her head because of +those remnants of a faith which was all she knew of earthly hope,--and +then she started to mount the steps. + +"The curse of God shrivel you!" muttered Perez in cold fury--"come +down from there!" + +Without heed to the threat, she moved the little statues to right or +left, and then lifted her hand, resting it on the wooden frame of the +painting. + +"Call the Americano," she said without turning. "You will need a man, +but not a man of Altar. Another day may come when you, Ramon, may have +need of this house for hiding!" + +Rotil strode to the door and motioned Kit to enter, then he closed +both doors and gave no heed to Perez, crouched there like a chained +coyote in a trap. + +"Come down!" he said again. "You are in league with hell to know of +that. I never gave it to you! Come down! I meant to tell after he had +finished with Conrad--I mean to tell!" + +"He waited too long, and spoke too much," she said to Rotil. "Keep +watch on him, and let the Americano give help here." + +Kit mounted the step beside her, and at her gesture took hold of the +frame on one side. She found a wedge of wood at the other side and +drew it out. The loosened frame was lifted out by Kit and carried down +the three steps; it was a panel a little over two feet in width and +four in height. + +"Set it aside, and watch José Perez while General Rotil looks within," +she said evenly. + +Rotil glanced at Perez scowling black hate at her, and then turned to +Jocasta who held out the candle. + +"It is for you to see,--you and no other," she said. "You have saved a +woman he would have traded as a slave, and I give you more than a +slave's ransom." + +He took the candle and his eyes suddenly flamed with exultation as her +meaning came to him. + +"_Jocasta!_" he muttered as if scarce believing, and then he mounted +the step, halted an instant in the panel of shadow, and, holding the +candle over his head, he leaned forward and descended on the other +side of the wall. + +"You damned she-wolf of the hills!" growled Perez with the concentrated +hate of utter failure in his voice. "I fed you, and my money covered +your nakedness, and now you put a knife in my neck and go back to +cattle of the range for a mate! You,--without shame or soul!" + +"That is true," she said coldly. "You killed a soul in the _casita_ of +the oleanders, José Perez, and it was a dead woman you and the German +chained to be buried in the desert. But even the dead come back to +help friends who are faithful, José,--and I am as the dead who walk." + +She did not look at him as she spoke, but sank on her knees before the +dark canvas where only the faint golden halo gave evidence of some +incarnated holiness portrayed there. Her voice was low and even, and +the sadness of it thrilled Kit. He thought of music of sweet chords, +and a broken string vibrating, for the hopelessness in her voice held +a certain fateful finality, and her delicate dark loveliness---- + +Rotil emerged from the doorway of the shrine and stood there, a +curious substitute for the holy picture, looking down on her with a +wonderful light in his face. + +"Your ransom wins for you all you wish of me,--except the life of one +man," he said, and with a gesture indicated that Kit help her to her +feet. He did so, and saw that she was very white and trembling. + +Rotil looked at Perez over her head, and Perez scowled back, with all +the venom of black hate. + +"You win!--but a curse walks where she walks. Ask her? Ask Marto of +the men she put under witchcraft! Ask Conrad who had good luck till +she hated him! If you have a love, or a child, or anything dear, let +her not look hate on them, for her knife follows that look! Ask her of +the knife she set in the heart of a child for jealousy of Conrad! Ai, +general though you are, your whole army is not strong enough to guard +you from the ill luck you will take with the gift _she_ gives! She is +a woman under a curse. Ha! Look at her as I say it, for you hear the +truth. Ask the padre!" + +Kit realized that Perez was launching against her the direst weight of +evil the Mexican or Indian mind has to face. Though saints and heaven +and hell might be denied by certain daring souls, the potency of +witchcraft was seldom doubted. Men or women accused of it were shunned +as pariahs, and there had been known persons who weakened and dwindled +into death after accusation had been put against them. + +He thought of it as she cowered under each separate count of the curse +launched against her. She bent like a slender reed under the strokes +of a flail, lower and lower against his arm, but when the deadly voice +flung the final taunt at her, she straightened slowly and looked at +Rotil. + +"Yes, ask the padre--or ask me!" she said in that velvet soft voice of +utter despair. "That I sent an innocent soul to death is too true. To +my great sorrow I did it;--I would do it again! For that my life is +indeed a curse to me,--but his every other word a lie!" + +Then she took a step forward, faltered, and fell back into the +outstretched arm of Kit. + +"Take Seņora Perez to the women, and come back," said Rotil. Kit noted +that even though he moved close, and bent over the white unconscious +face, he did not touch her. + +"Seņora Perez!" repeated Perez contemptuously. "You are generous with +other men's names for your women! Her name is the Indian mother's +name." + +"Half Indian," corrected Rotil, "and her naming I will decide another +time." + +Kit returned, and without words proceeded to help replace the holy +picture in its niche. In the struggle with the padre, a chunk of adobe +had been knocked from the wall near the door, and he picked it up, +crumbling it to a soft powder and sprinkled it lightly over the steps +where foot prints were traceable in the dust. + +Rotil who had gone to the door to recall the guard, halted and watched +him closely. + +"Good!" he said. "You also give me a thought concerning this animal; +he will bark if he has listeners, and even the German should not +hear--one never knows! I need a cage for a few hours. You have been a +friend, and know secret things. Will you lock him in your own room and +hold the key to yourself?" + +"Surest thing you know," answered Kit though with the uncomfortable +certainty that the knowledge of too many secret things in Mexico was +not conducive to long life for the knower. "I may also assure you that +Marto is keen on giving you honest service that his one fault may be +atoned for." + +"He will get service," stated Rotil. "You saved me a good man there, +amigo." + +He flung open the door of the corridor and whistled for the guard. + +"Remove this man and take your orders from Capitan----" He halted, and +his eyes narrowed quizzically. + +"It seems we never were introduced, amigo, and we know only your joy +name of the singer, but there must be another." + +"Oh, yes, there's another, all right," returned Kit, knowing that +Conrad would enlighten Rotil if he did not. "I'm the hombre suspected +of that Granados murder committed by Conrad,--and the name is +Rhodes." + +"So? Then the scolding of these two comrades gives to you your freedom +from suspicion, eh? That is good, but--" He looked at Kit, frowning. +"See here, I comprehend badly. You told me it was the friend of your +_compadre_ who was the suspected one!" + +"Sure! I've a dandy partner across the border. He's the old man you +saw at Yaqui Spring, and I reckon I'm a fairly good friend of his. +He'd say so!" + +Rotil's face relaxed in a grin. + +"That is clever, a trick and no harm in it, but--have a care to +yourself! It is easy to be too clever, and on a trail of war no one +has time to learn if tricks are of harm or not. Take the warning of a +friend, Capitan Rhodes!" + +"You have the right of it, General. I have much to learn," agreed Kit. +"But no man goes abroad to shout the crimes he is accused of at +home,--and the story of this one is very new to me. This morning I +learned I was thought guilty, and tonight I learn who is the criminal, +and how the job was done. This is quick work, and I owe the luck of it +to you." + +"May the good luck hold!" said Rotil. "And see that the men leave you +alone as the guard of Perez. I want no listeners there." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE STORY OF DOŅA JOCASTA + + +Ramon Rotil stood a long minute after the clank of chains ceased along +the corridor; then he bolted the outer door of the chapel, and after +casting a grim satisfied smile at the screen of the faded canvas, he +opened the door of the _sala_ and went in. + +Valencia was kneeling beside Doņa Jocasta and forcing brandy between +the white lips, while Elena bustled around the padre whose head she +had been bathing. A basin of water, ruby red, was evidence of the fact +that Padre Andreas was not in immediate need of the services of a +leech. He sat with his bandaged head held in his hands, and shrank +perceptibly when the general entered the room. + +Doņa Jocasta swallowed some of the brandy, half strangled over it, and +sat up, gasping and white. It was Tula who offered her a cup of water, +while Valencia, with fervent expressions of gratitude to the saints, +got to her feet, eyeing Rotil with a look of fear. After the wounded +priest and the fainting Jocasta emerged from the chapel door, the two +women were filled with terror of the controlling spirit there. + +He halted on the threshold, his eyes roving from face to face, +including Tula, who stood, back against the wall, regarding him as +usual with much admiration. One thing more he must know. + +"Go you without," he said with a gesture towards the two women and the +priest. "I will speak with this lady alone." + +They all moved to the door, and after a moment of hesitation Tula was +about to follow when he stopped her. + +"You stay, girl. The Doņa Jocasta may want a maid, but take yourself +over there." + +So Tula slipped silently back into the niche of the window seat where +the shadows were deepest, and Rotil moved towards the center table +dragging a chair. On the other side of the table was the couch on +which Jocasta sat, white and startled at the dismissal of the woman +and priest. + +"Be composed," he said gentling his tone as one would to soothe a +child. "There are some things to be said between us here, and too many +ears are of no advantage." + +She did not reply; only inclined her head slightly and drew herself +upright against the wall, gathering the lace _rebosa_ across her bosom +where Valencia had unfastened her garments and forgotten them in her +fear. + +"First is the matter of my debt to you. Do you know in your own mind +how great that is?" + +"I--count it as nothing, seņor," she murmured. + +"That is because you do not know the great need, and have not made +count of the cases of rifles and ammunition." + +"It is true, I never looked at them. Juan Gonsalvo in dying blamed +José Perez for the shot. It was fired by another hand,--but God alone +knows! So Juan sent for me, and José never knew. The secret of Soledad +was given to me then, but I never thought to use it, until----" + +She ceased, shuddering, and he knew she was thinking of the +blood-stained priest whirled into her presence. Fallen though the +state of the priesthood might be in Mexico, there were yet women of +Jocasta's training to whom an assault on the clergy was little less +than a mortal sin. He knew that, and smiled grimly at the remembrance +of her own priestly father who had refused her in honest marriage to a +man of her mother's class, and was busily engaged haggling over the +gift price of her with José Perez when death caught him. The +bewildered girl was swept to the estate of Perez without either +marriage or gift, unless one choose to consider as gift the shelter +and food given to a younger sister and brother. + +All this went through his mind as she shrank and sighed because he had +tossed a priest from his way with as slight regard as he would the +poorest peon. She did not even know how surely the destiny of her +mother and her own destiny had been formed by a priest's craft. She +would never know, because her mind would refuse to accept it. There +were thousands like her because of their shadowed inheritance. +Revolution for the men grew out of that bondage of women, and Rotil +had isolated moments when he dreamed of a vast and blessed freedom of +the land--schools, and schools, and more schools until knowledge would +belong to the people instead of to the priests! + +But he knew it was no use to tell thoughts like that to women; they +were afraid to let go their little wooden saints and the jargon of +prayers they did not understand. The mystery of it held them! + +Thus brooded Rotil, unlearned driver of burros and general of an army +of the people! + +"We will forget all but the ammunition," he said. "It is as food to my +men, and some of them are starving there to the east; with ammunition +food can be commandeered. I knew the guns were on Soledad land, but +even a golden dream of angels would not have let me hope for as much +as you have given me. It is packed,--that room, from floor to roof +tiles. In the morning I take the trail, and there is much to be done +before I go. You;--I must think of first. Will you let me be your +confessor, and tell me any wish of your heart I may help you to?" + +"My heart has no wish left alive in it," she said. "There have been +days when I had wish for the hut under the palms where my mother +lived. A childish wish,--but other wishes are dead!" + +"There is no going back," he said, staring at the tiles, and not +looking at her. "It is of future things we must think. He said +things--Perez did, and you----" + +"Yes!" she half whispered. "There is no way but to tell of it, but--I +would ask that the child wait outside. The story is not a story for a +girl child, Ramon." + +He motioned to Tula. + +"Outside the door, but in call," he said, and without a word or look +Tula went softly out. + +There was silence for a bit between them, her hands were clasped at +full length, and she leaned forward painfully tense, looking not at +him, but past him. + +"It is not easy, but you will comprehend better than many," she said +at last. "There were three of us. There was my little brother Palemon, +who ran away last year to be a soldier--he was only fourteen. José +would not let me send searchers for him, and he may be dead. Then +there was only--only Lucita and me. You maybe remember Lucita?" + +Her question was wistful as if it would help her to even know he +remembered. He nodded his head in affirmation. + +"A golden child," he said. "I have seen pictured saints and angels in +great churches since the days in the hills, but never once so fair a +child as little Lucita." + +"Yes, white and gold, and an angel of innocence," she said musingly. +"Always she was that, always! And there was a sweetheart, Mariano +Avila, a good lad, and the wedding was to be. She was embroidering the +wedding shirt for Mariano when--God! God!" + +She got up suddenly and paced the floor, her arms hugging her +shoulders tight as if to keep from sobbing. He rose and stood +watching, but uttered no word. + +After a little she returned to the couch, and began to speak in a more +even tone. + +"There is so much to tell. Much happened. Conrad was driving José to +do many things not at first in their plans. Also there was more +drinking,--much more! It was Conrad made plans for the slave raids. He +no longer asked José's permission for anything; he gave command to the +men and José had to listen. Only one secret thing was yet hidden from +him, the hiding place of the guns from the north. José said if that +was uncovered he might as well give up his ranchos. In his heart he +could not trust Conrad. Each had a watch set on the other! Juan got +his death because he made rendezvous with the German. + +"That is how it was when the slave raid was made north of here, and +the most beautiful Indian girl killed herself somewhere in this desert +when there was no other way to escape the man;--the scar on the face +of Conrad was from her knife. It was a bad cut, and after that there +was trouble, and much drink and mad quarrels. Also it was that time +Juan Gonsalvo was shot and died from it. Juana, his sister, came in +secret for me while he could yet speak, and that was when----" + +She halted, closing her eyes as if to shut out some horror. He thought +she shrank from remembrance of how the secret of Soledad was given to +her, for Juan must have been practically a dead man when he gave it +up. After a moment she went on in the sad tone of the utterly +hopeless. + +"I speak of the mad quarrels of those two men, Ramon, but it was never +of that I had fear. The fear came each time the quarrel was done, and +they again swore to be friends, for in the new 'friend hours' of +drinking, strange things happened, strange wagers and strange gifts." + +Again she paused, and this time she lifted her eyes to Rotil. + +"Always I hated the German. I never carried a blade until after +his eyes followed me! He tried to play the prince, the great +gentleman, with me--a girl of the hills! Only once he touched my +hand, and I scoured it with sand afterwards while José laughed. But +the German did not laugh,--he only watched me! Once when José was +in a rage with me Conrad said he could make of me a great lady in his +own land if I would listen. Instead of listening I showed him my +knife. After that God only knows what he told against me, but José +became bitter--bitter, and jealous, and spies always at my back! + +"So Lucita and Mariano and I made plans. They were to marry, and we +three would steal away in secret and cross the border. That was +happiness to plan, for my life--my life was hell, so I thought! But I +had not yet learned what hell could be," she confessed drearily. + +"Tell me," he said very gently. Those who thought they knew "El +Gavilan," the merciless, would not have recognized his voice at that +moment. + +"No, I had not learned," she went on drearily. "I thought that to +carry a knife for myself made all safe--I did not know! I told you +Juana Gonsalvo came for me very secretly to hear the last words of +Juan. But I did not tell you we lived in the _casita_, little Lucita +and I. It is across a garden from the hacienda, and was once a +priest's house; that was in the days of the mother of José. It is very +sweet there under the rose vines, and it was sanctuary for us. When +José and the German had their nights of carouse we went there and +locked ourselves in. There were iron bars on the high windows, and +shutters of wood inside, so we were never afraid. I heard Conrad tell +José he was a fool not to blow it up with dynamite some day of fiesta. +It was the night after their great quarrel, and it was a terrible +time. They were pledging friendship once more in much wine. Officers +from the town were at the hacienda with women who were--well, I would +not go in, and José was wild. He came to the _casita_ and called +threats at me. I thought the German was with him, for he said Conrad +was right, and the house would be blown up with the first dynamite he +could spare,--but threats were no new thing to us! I tried to soothe +little Lucita by talk of the wedding, and all the pretty bride things +were taken out of the chest and spread on the bed; one _rebosa_ of +white I put over her shoulders, and the child was dancing to show me +she was no longer afraid----! + +"That was when Juana came to the window. I knew her voice and opened +the door. I did not want Lucita frightened again, so I did not let her +know a man was dying--only that a sick person wanted me for a +little--little minute, and I would be back. + +"I knew Juan Gonsalvo had been killed because he had been trusted far +enough,--I knew it! That thought struck me very hard, for I--I might +be the next, and I wanted first to send those two children happily out +of reach of sorrow. Strange it is that because she was first, the very +first in my heart, I went out that door in the night and for the first +time left her alone! But that is how it was; we had to be so +quick--and so silent--and it was her hand closed the door after us, +her hand on the bolt! + +"Juan Gonsalvo had only fought for life until he could see me, and +then the breath went. No one but I heard his whispers of the door of +the picture here in Soledad. He told me his death was murder, and his +last word was against Perez. It was only minutes, little minutes I +was there, and the way was not far, but when I went back through the +garden the door of the _casita_ stood wide and light streamed out! I +do not know how I was sure it was empty, but I was, and I seemed to go +dead inside, though I started to run. + +"To cross that garden was like struggling in a dream with bands about +my feet. I wake with that dream many nights--many!--I heard her before +I could reach the path. Her screams were not in the _casita_, but in +the hacienda. They were--they were--terrible! I tried to go--and then +I knew she had broken away--I could see her like a white spirit fly +back towards the light in the open door. The man following her tripped +in some way and fell, and I leaped over him to follow her. We got +inside and drew the bolt. + +"Then--But there are things not to be told--they belong to the dead! + +"Perez came there to the door and made demands for Conrad's +woman,--that is how he said it! He said she had gone to Conrad's +apartment of her own will and must go back. Lucita knelt at my feet in +her torn bridal garment and told how a woman had come as Juana had +come, and said that I wanted her. The child had no doubt, she +followed, and--and it was indeed to that drunken beast they took her! + +"José was also drunk, crazy drunk. He told me to stand away from that +door for they were coming in, also that he had made gift of Lucita to +his friend, and she must be given up. Then they began to fire guns in +the lock! It seemed a long, long time she held to me there and begged +me to save her, but it could not have been.... The lock gave way, and +only the bolt held. I clasped her close to me and whispered telling +her to pray, but I never took my eyes off the door. When I saw it +shaking, I made the sign of the cross over her, and the knife I had +carried for myself found her heart quickly! That is how I took on me +the shadow of murder, and that is why the priest threatens me with the +fires of hell if I do not repent--and I am not repenting, Ramon." + +"By God, no!" he muttered, staring into her defiant eyes. "That was a +fine thing, and your mother gave good blood to her children, Jocasta. +And then----?" + +"I laid her on the bed among her bridal laces, all white--white! Over +her breast I folded her still hands, and set a candle at her head, +though I dared not pray! The door was giving way. + +"I pushed back the bolt, also I spoke, but it did not seem me! That is +strange, but of a truth I did not know the voice I heard say: 'Enter, +her body is yours--and she no longer flees from you.' + +"'Ha! That is good sense at last!' said José, and Conrad laughed and +praised himself as a lover. + +"'I told you so!' he grunted. 'The little dear one knows that a nice +white German is not so bad!' + +"And again I heard the voice strange to me say, 'She knows nothing, +José--and she knows all!' + +"José stumbled in smiling, but Conrad, though drunk, stopped at the +door when he saw my hand with the knife. I thought my skirt covered it +as I waited for him--for the child had told me enough--I--I failed, +Ramon! His oath was a curious choked scream as I tried to reach him. +I do not know if it was the knife, or the dead girl on the bed made +him scream like that, but I knew then the German was at heart a +coward. + +"José was too strong for me, and the knife could not do its work. I +was struck, and my head muffled in a _serape_. After that I knew +nothing. + +"Days and nights went by in a locked room. I never got out of it until +I was chained hand and foot and sent north in a peon's ox-cart. Men +guarded me until Marto with other men waited for me on the trail. José +Perez could have had me killed, yes. Or he could have had me before +the judges for murder, but silence was the thing he most wanted--for +there is Doņa Dolores Terain yet to be won. He has sent me north that +the General Terain, her father, will think me out of his life. One of +the guards told an alcalde I was his wife, he was sure that story +would be repeated back to Hermosillo! These are days in Sonora when no +one troubles about one woman or one child who is out of sight, and we +may be sure he and Conrad had a well-made story to tell. He knows it +is now all over with me, that I have a hate of which he is afraid, so +he does not have me shot;--he only sends me to Soledad in the +wilderness where fighting bands of the revolution cross all trails, +and his men have orders that I am not to go out of the desert alive." + +"I see!" said Rotil thoughtfully, "and--it is all gone now--the love +of him?" + +"All the love in the world is gone, amigo," she said, looking away +from him through the barred window where the night sky was growing +bright from the rising moon. "I was a child enchanted by the glory of +the world and his love words. Out of all that false glitter of life I +have walked, a blackened soul with a murderer's hand. How could love +be again with me?" + +He looked at her steadily, the slender thing of creamy skin and +Madonna eyes that had been the Dream of Youth to him, the one devotee +at an altar in whom he had believed--nothing in the humanity of the +world would ever have faith of his again! + +"That is so, Jocasta," he said at last, "you are a woman, and in the +shadow. The little golden singing one is gone out of your life, and +the new music must be different! I will think about that for you. Go +now to your sleep, for there is work of men to be done, and the night +scarce long enough for it." + +He opened the door for her and stood with bent head as she passed. His +men lounging in the patio could see that manner of deference, and +exchanged looks and comments. To the victor belong the spoils in +Mexico, and here was a sweeping victory,--yet the general looked the +other way! + +"Child, accompany the seņora," he said kindly to Tula at the door. +"Chappo, bring Marto to see me. The new American capitan said he was a +man of value, and the lad was right. Work of importance waits for him +tonight." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +RAMON ROTIL DECIDES + + +Whatever the labors of Marto Cavayso for the night they appeared to +have been happy ones, for ere the dawn he came to Kit's door in great +good humor. + +"Amigo," he said jovially, "you played me a trick and took the woman, +but what the devil is that to hold a grudge for? My general has made +it all right, and we need help. You are to come." + +"Glad to," agreed Kit, "but what of this guard duty?" + +"Lock the door--there is but one key. Also the other men are not +sleeping inside the portal. It is by order of General Rotil." + +Perez awoke to glare at his false major-domo, but uttered no words. He +had not even attempted conversation with Kit since the evening before +when he stated that no Americano could fool him, and added his +conviction that the said Americano was a secret service man of the +states after the guns, and that Rotil was a fool! + +Kit found Rotil resting in the chapel, looking fagged and spent. + +"Marto is hell for work, and I had to stay by," he grumbled with a +grin. "Almost I sent for you. No other man knows, and behold!" + +Stacked on either side were packing cases of rifles and ammunition, +dozens and dozens of them. The dusty canvas was back in its place and +no sign to indicate where the cases had come from. + +"It is a great treasure chest, that," stated Rotil, "and we have here +as much as the mules can carry, for the wagons can't go with us. But I +want every case of this outside the portal before dawn comes, and it +comes quick! It means work and there are only three of us, and this +limp of mine's a trouble." + +"Well," said Kit, stripping off his coat, "if the two of you got them +up a ladder inside, and down the steps to this point I reckon three of +us can get them across that little level on record time. Say, your +crew will think it magic when guns and ammunition are let fall for you +by angels outside of the gate." + +"The thought will do no harm," said Rotil. "Also I am not sure but +that you speak true, and the magic was much needed when it came." + +They worked fast, and ere the first hint of dawn the cases were +stacked in imposing array on the plaza. And no sign by which they +could be traced. Rotil looked at them, and chuckled at the wonder the +men would feel. + +"It is time they were called, for it is a long trail, go you, Capitan, +and waken them, tell them to get ready the pack mules and get a +move." + +"All right, but if they ask questions?" + +"Look wise and say nothing! When they see the cases they will think +you either the devil or San Antonio to find what was lost in the +desert. It is a favor I am doing you, seņor." + +"Sure you are! If the Indians ever get the idea that I can win guns +from out the air by hokus-pokus, I will be a big medicine chief, and +wax fat under honors in Sonora. Head me to them!" + +Rotil had seen to it that though sentinels stood guard at Soledad, +none were near enough the plaza to interfere with work of the night, +and Kit found their main camp down by the _acquia_ a quarter of a mile +away. He gave orders as directed for the pack animals and cook wagon +over which a son of the Orient presided. That stolid genius was +already slicing deer meat for broiling, and making coffee, of which he +donated a bowl to Kit, also a cart wheel of a _tortilla_ dipped in +gravy. Both were joyously accepted, and after seeing that the men were +aroused from the blankets, he returned to the hacienda full of +conjecture as to the developments to be anticipated from the night's +work. That reserve stock of ammunition might mean salvation to the +revolutionists. + +Rain had fallen somewhere to the east in the night time, and as the +stars faded there were lines of palest silver and palest gold in the +grays of dawn on the mountains. As he walked leisurely up the slight +natural terrace to the plaza, he halted a moment and laughed aloud +boyishly at a discovery of his, for he had solved the century-old +riddle of the view of El Alisal seen from the "portal" of Soledad. The +portal was not anyone of the visible doors or gateways of the old +mission, it was the hidden portal of the picture,--once leading to a +little balcony under which the neophytes had gathered for the morning +blessing and daily commands of their superiors! + +That explained its height from the floor. The door had at some later +period been sealed, and a room built against it from the side towards +the mountain. In the building of the ranch house that old strong +walled section of the mission had been incorporated as the private +chapel of some pious ranchero. It was also very, very simple after one +knew of that high portal masked by the picture, and after one traced +the line of vision from the outside and realized all that was hidden +by the old harness room and the fragmentary old walls about it. He +chuckled to think of how he would astonish Cap Pike with the story +when he got back. He also recalled that Conrad had unburdened his +heart to him with completeness because he was so confident an American +never _could_ get back! + +He was speculating on that ever-present problem when he noted that +light shone yellow in the dawn from the plaza windows, and on entering +the patio it took but a glance to see that some new thing was afoot. + +Padre Andreas, with his head upholstered in strips of the table linen, +was pacing the patio reciting in a murmuring undertone, some prayer +from a small open volume, though there was not yet light enough to +read. Valencia was bustling into the room of Doņa Jocasta with an olla +of warm water, while Tula bore a copper tray with fruit and coffee. + +"This is of a quickness, but who dare say it is not an act for the +blessing of God?" the padre said replying in an absent-minded manner +to the greeting of Kit. + +"True, Padre, who can say?" agreed the latter politely, without the +slightest idea of what was meant. + +But Marto, who fairly radiated happiness since his reinstatement, +approached with the word that General Rotil would have him at +breakfast, for which time was short. + +"It is my regret that you do not ride with me, seņor," said Rotil as +he motioned him to a seat. "But there is work to be done at Soledad +for which I shall give you the word. I am hearing that you would help +recover some of the poor ones driven south from Palomitas, if they be +left alive!" + +"I am pledged to that, General," stated Kit simply. + +"Who has your pledge?" + +"A dead man who cannot free me from it." + +"By God!" remarked Rotil in a surprised tone. "By God, Don Pajarito, +that is good! And it may be when that pledge is kept, you may be free +to join my children in the fight? I make you a capitan at once, +seņor." + +"Perhaps, after----" + +"Sure,--after," agreed Rotil chuckling. "For I tell you there is work +of importance here, and when I am gone the thinking will be up to you! +What message did you give the muleteers?" + +"To bring the animals to the plaza, and pack for the trail all the +provisions found there." + +"Provisions is good! They will burn with curiosity. There could be fun +in that if we had time to laugh and watch them, but there is no time. +Marto!" + +Marto, on guard at the door, came forward. + +"Has the Seņor Don José Perez received my message for conference?" + +"Yes, my General. Except that he wished your messenger in hell, he +will be happy to join you according to order." + +"Good!" grinned Rotil, "it is well to conduct these matters with grace +and ceremony where a lady is concerned. Take him to the _sala_; it is +illuminated in his honor. Come, seņor, I want for witness an Americano +who is free from Sonora influence." + +"Am I?" queried Kit dubiously. "I'm not so sure! I seem all tangled up +with Sonora influences of all shades and varieties." + +Rotil's jocularity disappeared as he entered the sala where quill pen +and ink and some blank sheets from an old account book gave a +business-like look to the table where four candles made a radiance. + +Perez was there, plainly nervous by reason of the mocking civility of +Marto. His eyes followed Rotil,--questioning, fearful! + +The latter passed him without notice and seated himself at the table. + +"Call the padre," he said to Marto. But that was scarce needed as the +padre was hovering near the door waiting for the word. He seated +himself by the table at a motion from Rotil. + +The latter turned for the first time to Perez, and bestowed on him a +long, curious look. + +"They tell me, seņor, that you were about to take as bride a lovely +lady?" + +Perez frowned in perplexity. Evidently this was the last subject he +had expected to hear touched upon. + +"Perhaps so," he said at last, "but if this is a question of ransom we +will not trouble the lady. I will arrange your figures for that." + +"This is not a matter of figures, Seņor Perez. It is a marriage we are +interested in, and it is all well arranged for you. The padre here +will draw up the contract of marriage in the old form; it is better +than the manner of today. You will give him your name, the names of +your parents, the name of your parish and abode." + +"I will see you damned first!" + +"And, Padre," continued Rotil, giving no heed to that heartfelt +remark, "use less than one-third of the page, for there must be space +for the record of the bride, and below that the contract between the +happy two with all witnesses added." + +"If you think--" began Perez furiously. + +"I do not think; I know, seņor! Later you also will know," Rotil +promised with grim certainty. "This marriage is of interest to me, and +has been too long delayed. It is now for you to say if you will be a +bridegroom in chains, or if it please you to have the irons off." + +"This cannot be! I tell you a marriage is not legal if----" + +"Oh, seņor! Your experience is less than I thought," interrupted +Rotil, "and you are much mistaken,--much! We are all witnesses here. +Seņor Rhodes will be pleased to unfasten those heavy chains to oblige +the lady. The chains might not be a pleasant memory to her. Women have +curious prejudices about such things! But it must be understood that +you stand quiet for the ceremony. If not, this gun of mine will manage +it that you stay quiet forever." + +Perez stood up, baffled and beaten, but threatening. + +"Take them off, you!" he snarled, "though it is a hell of a +ransom,--and that woman will pay. Let no one forget that her pay will +be heavy!" + +"That paying is for afterwards!" decided Rotil airily, "but here and +now we men would see a wedding before we leave Soledad. Capitan +Rhodes, will you bring in Doņa Jocasta?" + +Kit, in some wonder, went on the errand, and found the women eager to +deck her with blossoms and give some joyous note to the wedding of the +dawn, but she sat cold and white with the flowers of the desert +springtime about her, and forbade them. + +"He terrifies me much in sending that word to wake me with this +morning," she protested. "I tell you I will kill myself before I live +one more day of life with José Perez! I told him all my heart in the +_sala_ last night, and it means not anything to Ramon Rotil;--he would +tie me in slavery to that man I hate!" + +"Seņora, I do not know what the general means, but I know it is not +that. His work is for your service, even though appearance is +otherwise." + +"You think that?" + +"I almost know it." + +"Then I go," she decided. "I think I would have to go anyway, but the +heart would be more heavy, _Santa Maria_!--but this place of Soledad +is strange in its ways." + +It was the first time he had seen her frightened, but her mouth +trembled, and her eyes sought the floor. + +He reached out and took her hand; it was terribly cold. + +"Courage, and trust Rotil," he said reassuringly. "When you sift out +the whole situation that is about all left to any of us here in the +desert." + +He led her along the corridor, the women following. Men with pack +animals were gathering in wonder around the cases in the plaza, and +through the portal they saw the impromptu bridal procession, and fell +silent. The Americano appeared to have a hand in every game,--and that +was a matter of wonder. + +As they entered, Padre Andreas was reading aloud the brief history of +Jocasta Benicia Sandoval, eldest daughter of Teresa Sandoval and +Ignatius Sanchez of Santa Ysobel in the Sierras. Padre Andreas had +balked at writing the paternity of children of Teresa Sandoval, but a +revolver in Rotil's hand was the final persuader. + +"This is to be all an honest record for which there are witnesses in +plenty," he stated. "Teresa Sandoval had only one lover,--even though +Padre Ignatius Sanchez did call her daughters nieces of his! But the +marriage record of Seņora Jocasta Sandoval shall have only truth." +Jocasta wrote her name to the statement as directed, and noted that +José had already signed. + +She did not look at him, but moved nearer to Rotil and kept her eyes +on the table. He noted her shrinking and turned to the priest. + +"Seņor," he said, "these two people will write their names together on +the contract, but this is a marriage without kisses or clasping of +hands. It is a civil contract bound by word of mouth, and written +promise, under witness of the church. Read the service." + +There was a slight hesitation on the part of Perez when asked if he +would take Jocasta Sandoval as wife, but the gun of Rotil hastened his +decision, and his voice was defiantly loud. Jocasta followed quietly, +and then in a benediction which was emptiest mockery, José Perez and +Jocasta Sandoval were pronounced man and wife. + +"May I now go?" she murmured, but the contract was signed by all +present before Rotil nodded to Kit. + +"You will have the honor of conducting the Doņa Jocasta Perez to +breakfast," he said. "The rest of us have other business here. Seņora, +will you do us the favor to outline to this gentleman the special +tasks you would like attention given at once. There are some Indian +slaves in the south for whom the Palomitas people ask help. You are +now in a position to be of service there, and it would be a good act +with which to establish a new rule at Soledad." + +"Thanks, General Rotil," she answered, rather bewildered by the +swiftness with which he turned over to her the duties devolving upon +her newly acquired position. "I am not wise in law, but what I can I +will do." + +"And that will be nothing!" volunteered Perez. "A woman of my name +will not make herself common in the markets or law courts,--to have +her Indian ancestry cast in my teeth!" + +"As to that," said Rotil humorously, "there is not so much! The father +of Teresa Sandoval was the priestly son of a marquise of Spain! only +one drop of Indian to three of the church in the veins of Seņora +Perez, so you perceive she has done honor to your house. You will +leave your name in good hands when God calls you to judgment." + +Kit noted the sudden tension of Perez at the last sentence, and a look +of furtive, fearful questioning in his eyes as he looked at Rotil, who +was folding the marriage contract carefully, wrapping it in a sheet +of paper for lack of an envelope. + +But, as squire of dames, Kit was too much occupied to give further +heed to business in the _sala_. Doņa Jocasta expressed silently a +desire to get away from there as soon as might be; she looked white +and worn, and cast at Rotil a frightened imploring glance as she clung +to Kit's arm. He thought he would have to carry her before they +crossed the patio. + +"When Ramon laughs like that--" she began and then went silent, +shuddering. Kit, remembering the look in the eyes of Perez, did not +care to ask questions. + +The older women went back to the kitchen to finish breakfast and +gossip over the amazing morning, but Tula remained near Doņa +Jocasta,--seeing all and her ears ever open. + +Padre Andreas followed, under orders from Rotil, who told him to do +any writing required of him by the Seņora Perez, and arrange for safe +couriers south when she had messages ready. His knowledge of villages +and rancheros was more dependable than that of the vaqueros; he would +know the names of safe men. + +Doņa Jocasta sighed, and looked from one to the other appealingly. + +"It is much, very much to plan for before the sun is showing," she +murmured. "Is there not some little time to think and consider?" + +"Even now the men of Ramon Rotil are packing the beasts for the +trail," said the priest, "and he wants all your plans and desires +stated before he goes east." + +"_My_ desires!" and her smile held bitterness as she turned to Kit. +"You, seņor, have never seen the extent of the Perez holdings in +Sonora. They are so vast that one simple woman like me would be lost +in any plans of change there. José Perez meant what he said;--no woman +can take control while he lives." + +"Still, there are some things a woman could do best," ventured Kit, +"the things of mercy;" and he mentioned the Palomitas slaves---- + +"That is true. Also I am in debt for much friendship, and this child +of Palomitas must have the thing she asks. Tell me the best way." + +"Learn from Perez which ranch of General Estaban Terain shelters the +political prisoners taken from the district of Altar," suggested Kit. +"Either Perez or Conrad can tell." + +Doņa Jocasta looked at the priest. + +"José Perez will hate you for this marriage, and we must seek safety +for you in some other place," she said kindly, "but you are the one +most able to learn this thing. Will it please you to try?" + +Padre Andreas went out without a word. In his heart he resented the +manner of the marriage ceremony, and scarce hoped Perez would be +acquiescent or disposed to further converse, and he personally had no +inclination to ask help of the General Rotil. + +He was surprised as he crossed the patio to see Perez, still free from +chains, walking through the portal to the plaza with Marto Cavayso +beside him. He was led past the ammunition cases, and the men in their +jubilant work of packing the mules. Far out up the valley to the north +a cloud of dust caught the red glow of sunrise, and the priest knew +the vaqueros with the Soledad cattle were already on the trail for the +main body of revolutionists in the field. + +Saddle horses were held a little apart in the plaza, and Padre Andreas +hastened his steps lest they mount and be gone, but Marto spoke to him +sharply. + +"Walk in front to do your talking," he suggested. "This gentleman is +not inviting company for his _pasear_." + +José Perez turned a startled, piercing look on the priest. + +"Did Rotil send you?" he demanded. + +"No, seņor, I came back to ask a simple thing concerning the Altar +people who went south for Yucatan. Can you give me the name of the +ranch where they are held?" + +"I can,--but I give nothing for nothing!" he said bitterly. "Already I +am caught in a trap by that marriage, and I will see that the +archbishop hears of your share in it. Nothing for nothing!" + +"Yet there may be some service I can give, or send south, for you," +said the priest. + +Perez regarded him doubtfully. + +"Yes--you might get a message to General Terain that I am a prisoner, +on my own estate--if Rotil does not have you killed on the road!" + +"I could try," agreed the priest. "I--I might secure permission." + +"Permission?" + +"It is true, seņor. I could not attempt it without the word of General +Rotil," announced Padre Andreas. "Of what use to risk the life of a +courier for no purpose? But I make a bargain: if you will tell which +ranch the Altar Indians were driven to I will undertake to get word +for you to a friend. Of course I can get the information from the +German if you say no." + +"Damn the German!" swore Perez. + +"Good Father," said Marto, "you halt us on the way to join the +advance, and we have no mind to take all the dust of the mule train. +Make your talk of fewer words." + +"Shall I go to the German?" repeated the priest. + +"No,--let him rot alone! The plantation is Linda Vista, and Conrad +lied to General Terain to get them housed there. He thought they were +rebels who raided ranches in Altar,--political prisoners. Take General +Terain word that I am a prisoner of the revolutionists, and----" + +"Seņor, the sun is too high for idle talk," said Marto briefly, "and +your saddle waits." + +The priest held the stirrup for José Perez, who took the courtesy as a +matter of course, turning in the saddle and casting a bitter look at +the sun-flooded walls of Soledad. + +"To marry a mistress and set her up as the love of another lover--_two_ +other lovers!--is not the game of a man," he growled moodily. "If it was +to do over, I----" + +"Take other thoughts with you," said Padre Andreas sadly, "and my son, +go with God!" + +He lifted his hand in blessing, and stood thus after they had turned +away. Perez uttered neither thanks nor farewell. + +The men, busy with the final packing, stared after him with much +curiosity, and accosted the priest as he paced thoughtfully back to +the portal. + +"Padre, is this ammunition a gift of Don José, or is it magic from the +old monks who hid the red gold of El Alisal and come back here to +guard it and haunt Soledad?" inquired one of the boldest. + +"There are no hauntings, and that red gold has led enough men astray +in the desert. It is best forgotten." + +"But strange things do come about," insisted another man. "Marto +Cavayso swore he had witchcraft put on him by the green, jewel eyes of +Doņa Jocasta, and you see that since she follows our general he has +the good luck, and this ammunition comes to him from God knows +where!" + +"It may be the Americano knows," hazarded the first speaker. "He took +her from Marto, and rides ever beside her. Who proves which is the +enchanter?" + +"It is ill work to put the name of 'enchantment' against any mortal," +chided the priest. + +"That may be," conceded the soldier, "but we have had speech of this +thing, and look you!--Doņa Jocasta rode in chains until the Americano +crossed her trail, and Don Ramon, and all of us, searched in vain for +the American guns, until the Americano rode to Soledad! Enchantment or +not, he has luck for his friends!" + +"As you please!" conceded the priest with more indifference than he +felt. The Americano certainly did not belong to Soledad, and the +wonder was that Ramon Rotil gave him charge of so beauteous a lady. +Padre Andreas could easily perceive how the followers of Rotil thought +it enchantment, or any other thing of the devil. + +Instinctively he disapproved of Rhodes' position in the group; his +care-free, happy smile ill fitted the situation at Soledad. Before the +stealing away of Doņa Jocasta she had been as a dead woman who walked; +her sense of overwhelming sin was gratifying in that it gave every +hope of leading to repentance, but on her return the manner of her +behavior was different. She rode like a queen, and even the marriage +was accepted as a justice! Padre Andreas secretly credited the heretic +Americano with the change, and Mexican girls put no such dependence on +a man outside of her own family,--unless that man was a lover! + +He saw his own influence set aside by the stranger and the rebel +leader, and with Doņa Jocasta as a firebrand he feared dread and awful +things now that Rotil had given her power. + +He found her with bright eyes and a faint flush in her cheeks over the +letter Kit was writing to the south. It was her first act as the wife +of José Perez, and it was being written to the girl whom Perez had +hoped to marry! + +Kit got considerable joy in framing her request as follows: + + To + Seņorita Dolores Terain, + Linda Vista Rancho, Sonora, + + HONORED SEŅORITA: + + As a woman who desires to secure justice and mercy for some poor + peons of our district of Altar, I venture to address you, to whom + womanly compassion must belong as does beauty and graciousness. + + This is a work for the charity of women, rather than debates in + law courts by men. + + I send with this the names of those poor people who were herded + south for slavery by Adolf Conrad, a German who calls himself + American. To your father, the illustrious General Terain, this man + Conrad represented these poor people as rebels and raiders of this + region. It is not true. They were simple peaceful workers on + little ranches. + + They were given shelter at your rancho of Linda Vista to work for + their food until they could be deported, but I send with this a + payment of gold with which to repay any care they have been, or + any debts incurred. If it is not enough, I pledge myself to the + amount you will regard as justice. + + Dear Seņorita, my husband, Don José, warns me that women cannot + manage such affairs, but we can at least try. Parents wait here + for sons and daughters, and little children wait for their + parents. Will you aid in the Christian task of bringing them + together quickly? + + At your service with all respect, + JOCASTA BENICIA PEREZ, + Soledad Rancho, Sonora. + +"But you write here of gold sent by messenger, seņor!--I have no gold, +only words can I send," protested Doņa Jocasta helplessly. + +"Ah, but the words are more precious than all," Kit assured her. "It +is the right word we have waited for, and you alone could give it, +seņora. These people have held the gold ransom while waiting that +word, and this child can bring it when the time is right." + +Doņa Jocasta regarded Tula doubtfully; she certainly gave no +appearance of holding wealth to redeem a pueblo. + +"You,--the little one to whom even the Deliverer listens?" she said +kindly. "But the wealth of a little Indian ranch would not seem riches +to this illustrious lady, the Doņa Dolores Terain." + +"Yet will I bring riches to her or to you, Excellencia, if only my +mother and my sister are coming again to Palomitas," said Tula +earnestly. + +"But whence comes wealth to you in a land where there is no longer +wealth for anyone?" + +Kit listened with little liking for the conversation after the padre +entered. It was a direct question, and to be answered with directness, +and he watched Tula anxiously lest she say the wrong thing. But she +told the straight truth in a way to admit of no question. + +"Long ago my father got gold for sacred prayer reasons; he hid it +until he was old; when he died he made gift of it to me that my mother +and sister buy freedom. That is all, Excellencia, but the gold is good +gold." + +She slipped her hand under her skirt and unfastened the leather +strings of the burro-skin belt,--it fell heavily on the tile floor. +She untied the end of it and poured a handful on the table. + +"You see, seņora, there is riches enough to go with your words, but +never enough to pay for them." + +"_Santa Maria!_" cried the amazed priest. "That is _red_ gold! In what +place was it found?" + +Tula laid her hand over the nuggets and faced him. + +"That secret was the secret of Miguel who is dead." + +"But--some old Indian must know----" + +Tula shook her head with absolute finality. + +"No old Indian in all the world knows that!" she said. "This was a +secret of the youth of Miguel, and only when old and dying did he +give it for his people. This I,--Tula, child of Miguel tell you." + +Padre Andreas looked from the girl to Kit and back again, knowing that +the death of Miguel was a recent thing since it had occurred after the +stealing of the women. + +"Where did your father die?" he asked. + +"In the hills of the desert." + +"And--who had absolving and burial of him?" + +"Absolving I do not know, but this man, his friend, had the making of +the grave," she said, indicating Kit, and the eyes of the priest +rested again on Kit with a most curious searching regard. Evidently +even this little Indian stray of the desert arrived at good fortune +under the friendship of the American stranger,--and it was another +added to the list of enchantings! + +"Ah," he murmured meaningly, "then this strange seņor also has the +knowing of this Indian gold? Is it truly gold of the earth, or +witches' gold of red clay?" and he went nearer, reaching his hand to +touch it. + +"Why all this question when the child offers it for a good Christian +use?" demanded Doņa Jocasta. "See, here is a piece of it heavy enough +to weigh down many lumps of clay, and north or south it will prove +welcome ransom. It is a miracle sent by the saints at this time." + +"Would the saints send the red gold of El Alisal to a heretic instead +of a son of the church?" he asked. "And this is that gold for which +the padres of Soledad paid with their lives long ago. There was never +such red gold found in Sonora as that, and the church had its own +claim on it;--it is mission gold!" + +"No, not now," said Tula, addressing Doņa Jocasta,--"truly not now! +They claimed it long ago, but the holding of it was a thing not for +them. Fire came out of the clouds to kill them there, and no one saw +them alive anymore, and no other priest ever found the gold. This much +is found by Miguel, for a dead man's promise!" + +"The girl speaks straight, seņora," ventured Kit. "I have already told +General Rotil of the promise, but no good will come of much talk over +the quality of gold for that ransom. To carry that message south and +bring back the women is a task for council, but outside these walls, +no tongue must speak of the gold, else there would be no safety for +this maid." + +"Yet a priest may ask how an Americano comes far from his home to +guard gold and a maid in Sonora?" retorted Padre Andreas. "Strange +affairs move these days in Altar--guns, ammunition, and the gold of +dead men! In all these things you have a say, seņor, yet you are but +young in years, and----" + +"Padre," interrupted Doņa Jocasta with a note of command, "he was old +enough to save this child from starvation in the desert, and he was +old enough to save me when even you could no longer save me, so why +object because he has guarded wealth, and means to use it in a way of +mercy? Heretic he may be, but he has the trust of Ramon Rotil, and of +me. Also it is forbidden to mention this belt or what it covers. I +have given my word, and this is no time to halt the task we have set. +It would better serve those lost people if you help us find a +messenger who is safe." + +It was the first time the new Seņora Perez assumed a tone of +authority at Soledad, and Kit Rhodes thanked his lucky stars that she +was arrayed with him instead of against him, for her eyes glowed green +lightning on the priest whose curiosity had gotten him into trouble. +Kit could not really blame him, for there was neither priest nor peon +of the land who had not had visions of conquest if only the red gold +of the Alisal should be conveniently stumbled upon! + +And Tula listened to the words of Doņa Jocasta as she would have +listened to a god. + +"I go," she said eagerly. "The trail it is strange to me, but I will +find that way. I think I find in the dark that trail on which the +mother of me was going!" + +Doņa Jocasta patted the hand of the girl, but looked at Kit. "That +trail is not for a maid," she said meaningly. "I came over it, and +know." + +"I think it is for me," he answered. "The promise was mine. I know +none of the people, but the names are written. It is eighty miles." + +"Three days." + +"More, double that," he said thoughtfully, and the eyes of Tula met +his in disapproval. It was the merest hint of a frown, but it served. +She could do the errand better than she could guard the rest of the +gold. If her little belt was lost it was little, but if his store +should be found it would be enough to start a new revolution in +Sonora;--the men of Rotil and the suspicious padre would unite on the +treasure trail. It was the padre who gave him most uneasiness, because +the padre was guessing correctly! The dream of a mighty church of the +desert to commemorate all the ruined missions of the wilderness, was +a great dream for the priest of a little pueblo, and the eyes of the +Padre Andreas were alight with keen,--too keen, anticipation. + +"I go," stated Tula again. "No other one is knowing my people." + +"That is a true word," decided Padre Andreas, "a major-domo of evil +mind at Linda Vista could take the gold and send north whatever unruly +vagabonds he had wished to be free from. Let the maid go, and I can +arrange to see her there safe." + +This kind offer did not receive the approval deserved. Kit wished no +man on the trail with Tula who knew of the gold, and Tula herself was +not eager to journey into unknown regions with a man of religion, who +had already learned from Valencia of the elaborate ceremony planned +for a "Judas day!" Little though Tula knew of churchly observances, +she had an instinctive fear that she would be detained in the south +too long to officiate in this special ceremony on which she had set +her heart. + +"Not with a priest will I go," she announced. "He would shut me in a +school, and in that place I would die. Clodomiro can go, or Isidro, +who is so good and knowing all our people." + +"That is a good thought," agreed Doņa Jocasta, who had no desire that +Padre Andreas meet the family of Terain and recount details of the +Perez marriage,--not at least until she had worn her official title a +little longer and tested the authority it gave her. "That is a good +thought, for I have no wish that my house be left without a priest. +Seņor Rhodes, which man is best?" + +But before Kit could answer Ramon Rotil stood in the door, and his +eyes went to the papers on the table. Tula had recovered her belt, and +fastened it under the _manta_ she wore. + +"So! you are working in council, eh?" he asked. "And have arrived at +plans? First your own safety, seņora?" + +"No, seņor,--first the bringing back of the people driven off by the +slavers. The letter is written; this child is to take it because the +people are her people, but a safe man is wanted, and these two I +cannot let go. You know José Perez, and his wife must not be without a +man of religion as guard, yet he alone would not save me from others, +hence the American seņor----" + +"Sure, that is a safe thought," and he took the seat offered by Kit. +But he shook his head after listening to their suggestions. + +"No. Isidro is too old, and Clodomiro with his flying ribbands of a +would-be lover, is too young for that trail. You want--you want----" + +He paused as his mind evidently went searching among his men for one +dependable. Then he smiled at Kit. + +"You saved me the right man, seņor! Who would be better than the +foreman of Soledad? Would it not be expected that Seņora Perez would +send the most important of the ranchmen? Very well then. Marto is +safe, he will go." + +"But Marto--" began Padre Andreas, when Rotil faced about, staring him +into silence. + +"Marto will return here to Soledad today," he said, and the face of +the priest went pale. It was as if he had said that the task of Marto +on the east trail would be ended. + +"Yes, Marto Cavayso has been at Hermosillo," assented Doņa Jocasta. +"He will know all the ways to arrive quickly." + +"That will be attended to. Will you, seņor, see to it that horse and +provision are made ready for the trail? And you, seņora? Soledad in +the wilderness is no good place for a lady. When this matter of the +slaves is arranged, will it please you to ride south, or north? Troops +of the south will be coming this way;--it will be a land of soldiers +and foraging." + +"How shall I answer that?" murmured Doņa Jocasta miserably. "In the +south José Perez may make life a not possible thing for me,--and in +the north I would be a stranger." + +"José Perez will not make trouble; yet trouble might be made,--at +first," said Rotil avoiding her eyes, and turning again to Kit. +"Seņor, by the time Marto gets back from the south, the pack mules +will be here again. Until they are gone from Soledad I trust you in +charge of Seņora Perez. She must have a manager, and there is none so +near as you." + +"At her service," said Kit promptly, "but this place----" + +"Ai, that is it," agreed Rotil. "North is the safer place for women +alone, and you--did you not say that on Granados there were friends?" + +"Why, yes, General," replied Kit. "My friend, Captain Pike, is +somewhere near, and the owner of Granados is a lady, and among us +we'll do our best. But it's a hard trip, and I've only one gun." + +"You will take your choice of guns, horses, or men," decided Rotil. +"That is your work. Also you will take with you the evidence of Seņora +Perez on that matter of the murder. The padre can also come in on +that,--so it will be service all around." + +Chappo came to the door to report that all was ready for the trail, +and Rotil stood up, and handed to Doņa Jocasta the marriage contract. + +"Consider the best way of protecting this until you reach an alcalde +and have a copy made and witnessed," he said warningly. "It protects +your future. The fortunes of war may take all the rest of us, but the +wife of Perez needs the record of our names; see to it!" + +She looked up at him as if to speak, but no words came. He gazed +curiously at her bent head, and the slender hands over the papers. In +his life of turmoil and bloodshed he had halted to secure for her the +right to a principality. In setting his face to the east, and the +battle line, he knew the chance was faint that he would ever see her +again, and his smile had in it a touch of self-derision at the +thought,--for after all he was nothing to her! + +"So--that is all," he said, turning away. "You come with me a little +ways, seņor, and to you, seņora, _adios_!" + +"Go with God, Ramon Rotil," she murmured, "and if ever a friend is of +need to you, remember the woman to whom you gave justice and a name!" + +"_Adios_," he repeated, and his spurs tinkled as he strode through the +patio to the portal where the saddle horses were waiting. The pack +mules were already below the mesa, and reached in a long line over the +range towards the caņon of the eastern trail. + +"You have your work cut out," he said to Kit. "For one thing, Marto +Cavayso will carry out orders, but you must not have him enter a room +where Doņa Jocasta may be. It would be to offend her and frighten him. +He swears to the saints that he was bewitched. That is as may be, but +it is an easy way out! When the pack mules come back, and Marto is +here, it is for you two to do again the thing we did last night. I may +need Soledad on another day, and would keep all its secrets. After you +have loaded the last of the guns it is best for you to go quickly. +Here is a permit in case you cross any land held by our men;--it is +for you, your family, and all your baggage without molestation. Seņora +Perez has the same. This means you can take over the border any of the +furnishings of Soledad required by the lady for a home elsewhere. The +wagons sent north by Perez will serve well for that, and they are +hers." + +"But if he should send men of his own to interfere----" + +"He won't," stated Rotil. "You are capitan, and Soledad is under +military rule. There is only one soul here over which your word is not +law. I have given the German Judas to your girl, and the women can +have their way with him. He is as a dead man; call her." + +There was no need, for Tula had followed at a discreet distance, and +from beside a pillar gazed regretfully after her hero, the Deliverer, +whom she felt every man should follow. + +"_Oija, muchacha!_" he said as Kit beckoned her forward, "go to +Fidelio. He is over there filling the cantins at the well. Tell him to +give you the key to the quarters of El Aleman, and hearken you!--I +wash my hands of him from this day. If you keep him, well, but if he +escapes, the loss is to you. I go, and not again will Ramon Rotil trap +a Judas for your hellishness." + +Tula sped to Fidelio, secured the key and was back to hold the stirrup +of Rotil as he was helped to the saddle. + +"If God had made me a man instead of a maid, I would ride the world as +your soldier, my General," she said, holding the key to her breast as +an amulet. + +"Send your lovers instead," he said, and laughed, "for you will have +them when you get more beef on your bones. _Adios_, soldier girl!" + +She peered up at him under her mane of black hair. + +"Myself,--I think that is true," she stated gravely, "also my lovers, +when they come, must follow you! When I see my own people safe in +Palomitas it may be that I, Tula, will also follow you,--and the help +of the child of Miguel may not be a little help, my General." + +Kit Rhodes alone knew what she meant. Her intense admiration for the +rebel leader of the wilderness had brought the glimmer of a dream to +her;--the need of gold was great as the need of guns, and for the +deliverer of the tribes what gift too great? + +But the others of the guard laughed at the crazy saying of the brown +wisp of a girl. They had seen women of beauty give him smiles, and +more than one girl follow his trail for his lightest word, but to none +of them did it occur that this one called by him the young crane, or +the possessor of many devils, could bring more power to his hand than +a regiment of the women who were comrades of a light hour. + +But her solemnity amused Rotil, and he swept off his hat with +exaggerated courtesy. + +"I await the day, Tulita. Sure, bring your lovers,--and later your +sons to the fight! While you wait for them tell Marto Cavayso he is to +have a care of you as if you were the only child of Ramon Rotil! I too +will have a word with him of that. See to it, Capitan of the roads, +and _adios!_" + +He grinned at the play upon the name of Rhodes, and whirled his horse, +joining his men, who sat their mounts and watched at a little +distance. + +Within the portal was gathered all those left of the household of +Soledad to whom the coming and the going of the revolutionary leader +was the great event of their lives, and all took note of the title of +"Capitan" and the fact that the Americano and the Indian girl had his +last spoken words. + +They had gone scarce a mile when Fidelio spurred his horse back and +with Mexican dash drew him back on his haunches as Kit emerged from +the corridor. + +"General Rotil's compliments," he said with a grin, "and Marto will +report to you any event requiring written record,--and silence!" + +"Say that again and say it slow," suggested Kit. + +"That is the word as he said it, Capitan, 'requiring the writing of +records, and--silence!'" + +"I get you," said Kit, and with a flourish and a clatter, Fidelio was +soon lost in the dust. + +Kit was by no means certain that he did "get" him. He felt that he had +quite enough trouble without addition of records and secrecy for acts +of the Deliverer. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE RETURN OF TULA + + +The sentinel palms of Soledad were sending long lines of shadows +toward the blue range of the Sierras, and gnarled old orange trees in +the ancient mission garden drenched the air with fragrance from many +petals. + +There had been a sand storm the day before, followed by rain, and all +the land was refreshed and sparkling. The pepper trees swung tassels +of bloom and the flaming coral of the occotilla glowed like tropic +birds poised on wide-reaching wands of green. Meadow larks echoed each +other in the tender calls of nesting time, and from the jagged peaks +on the east, to far low hills rising out of a golden haze in the west, +there was a great quiet and peace brooding over the old mission +grounds of the wilderness. + +Doņa Jocasta paced the outer corridor, watched somberly by Padre +Andreas on whom the beauty of the hour was lost. + +"Is your heart turned stone that you lift no hand, or speak no word +for the soul of a mortal?" he demanded. "Already the terrible women of +Palomitas are coming to wait for their Judas, and this is the morning +of the day!" + +"It is no work of mine, Padre," she answered wearily. "I am +sick,--here!--that the beast has been all these days and nights under +a roof near me. I know how the women feel, though I think I would not +wait, as they have waited,--for Good Friday." + +"It is murder in your heart to harbor such wickedness of thought," he +insisted. "Your soul is in jeopardy that you do not contemplate +forgiveness. Even though a man be a heretic, a priest must do his +office when it comes to a sentence of death. After all--he is a +human." + +"I do not know that," replied Doņa Jocasta thoughtfully, and she sank +into a rawhide chair in the shade of a pillar. "Listen, Padre. I am +not learned in books, but I have had new thoughts with me these days. +Don Pajarito is telling me of los Alemanos all over the world;--souls +they have not, and serpents and toads are their mothers! Here in +Mexico we have our flag from old Indian days with the eagle and the +snake. Once I heard scholars in Hermosillo talk about that; they said +it was from ancient times of sky worship, and the bird was a bird of +stars,--also the serpent." + +Padre Andreas lifted his brows in derision at the childishness of +Indian astrology. + +"Myself, I think the Indian sky knowers had the prophet sight," went +on Doņa Jocasta. "They make their eagle on the standard and they put +the serpent there of the reason that some day a thing of poison would +crawl to the nest of the eagle of Mexico to comrade there. It has +crawled over the seas for that, Padre, and the beak and claws and wing +of the eagle must all do battle to kill the head and the heart of +it;--for the heart of a serpent dies hard, and they breed and hatch +their eggs everywhere in the soil of Mexico. Seņor Padre, the Indian +women of Palomitas are right!--the girl Tula is a child of the eagle, +and her stroke at the heart of the German snake will be a true stroke. +I will not be one to give the weak word for mercy." + +Her gaze, through half-closed lids, was directed towards the far trail +of the caņon where moving dots of dark marked the coming of the +Palomitas women. A ray of reflected light touched the jewel green of +her eyes like shadowed emeralds in their dusky casket, and the priest, +constantly proclaiming the probable loss of her soul, could not but +bring his glance again and again to the wondrous beauty of her. She +had bloomed like a royal rose in the days of serene rest at Soledad. + +"If the heretic Americano gives you these thoughts which are not +Christian, it will be a day of good luck when you see the last of +him," was his cold statement as he watched her. "My mind is not well +satisfied as to his knowledge of secret things here in Sonora. The +Indians say he is an enchanter or Ramon Rotil would never have left +him here as capitan with you,--and that belt of gold----" + +"But it was not the belt of the Americano!" + +"No, but he _knows_! I tell you that gold is of the gold lost before +we were born,--the red gold of the padres' mine!" + +"But the old women are telling me that the gold was Indian gold long +before Spanish priests saw the land! Does the Indian girl then not +have first right?" + +"None has right ahead of the church, since all those pagans are under +the rule of church! They are benighted heathen who must come under +instruction and authority, else are they as beasts of the field." + +"Still,--if the girl makes use of her little heritage for a pious +purpose----" + +"Her intent has nothing to do with that secret knowledge of the +Americano!" he insisted. "Has he bewitched you also that you have so +little interest in a mine of gold in anyone of the arroyas of your +land?" + +She smiled at that without turning her head. + +"If a mountain of gold should be uncovered at Soledad, of what +difference to me? Would he let a woman make traffic with it? Surely +not." + +"He?" + +"José Perez,--who else?" + +Padre Andreas closed his eyes a moment and arose, but did not answer. +He paced the length of the corridor and back before he spoke. + +"It is for you to ask the Americano that the prisoner be given a +priest if he wants prayer," he said returning to their original +subject of communication. "It is a duty that I tell you this; it is +your own house." + +"Seņor Rhodes is capitan," she returned indifferently. "It is his task +to give me rest here to prepare for that long north journey. I do not +rest in my mind or my soul when you talk to me of the German snake, so +I will ask that you speak with Capitan Rhodes. He has the knowing of +Spanish." + +"Too much for safety of us," commented the priest darkly. "Who is to +say how he uses it with the Indians? It is well known that the +American government would win all this land, and work with the Indians +that they help win it." + +"So everyone is saying in Hermosillo," agreed Doņa Jocasta, "but the +American capitan has not told me lies of any other thing, and he is +saying that is a lie made by foreign people. Also--" and she looked at +him doubtfully, "the man Conrad cursed your name yesterday as a damned +Austrian whose country had cost his country much." + +"My mother was not Austrian!" retorted Padre Andreas, "and all my +childhood was in Mexico. But how did Conrad know?" + +"He told Elena it was his business to know such things. The Germans +help send many Mexican priests north over the border. He had the +thought that you are to go with me for some reason political of which +I knew nothing!" + +"I? Did _I_ come in willingness to this wilderness? From the beginning +to the end I am as a prisoner here;--as much a prisoner as is El +Aleman behind the bars! No horse is mine;--if I walk abroad for my own +health a vaquero ever is after me that I ride back with no fatigue to +myself! It is the work of the heretic Americano who will have his own +curse for it!" + +He fumed nervously over the unexpected thrust of Austrian ancestry, +and the beautiful eyes of Doņa Jocasta regarded him with awakened +interest. She had never thought of his politics, or possible +affiliations, but after all it was true that he had been stationed at +a pueblo where everything on wheels must pass coming north towards +the border, also that was a very small pueblo to support a padre, and +perhaps---- + +"Padre," she said after a moment, "but for the Americano you would be +a dead man. Think you what Ramon would have done to a priest who let a +vaquero carry me to the ranges! Also I came back to Soledad because +the Americano told me it was only duty and justice that I come for +your sake as Ramon has no liking for priests. You see, seņor, our +American capitan of Soledad is not so bad;--he had a care of you." + +"Too much a care of me!" retorted the priest. "Know you not that the +door of my sleeping room is bolted each night, and unbolted at dawn? +He laughs with a light heart, and sings foolishly,--your new +Americano; but under that cloak of the simple his plotting is not +idle!" + +"As to that, I think his light heart is not so light these days," said +Doņa Jocasta. "Two days now the Indian girl and Marto Cavayso could +have been back in Soledad, and he is looking, looking ever over that +empty trail. Before the sun was above the sierra today he was far +there coming across the mesa." + +"A man does not go in the dark to look for a trail," said Padre +Andreas meaningly. "He unbolted my door on his return, and to me he +looked as a man who has done work that was heavy. What work is there +for him to do alone in the hills?" + +"Who knows? A horse herd is somewhere in a caņon beyond. There are +colts, and the storm of yesterday might make trouble. The old father +of Elena says that storm has not gone far and will come back! And +while the Americano rides to learn of colts, and strays, he also +picks the best mules for our journey to the border." + +"Does he find the best mules with packs already on their backs in the +caņons?" demanded the padre skeptically. "From my window I saw them +return." + +"I also," confessed Doņa Jocasta amused at the persistence of +suspicion, "and the load was the water bags and _serape_! Does any but +a fool go into the wilderness without water?" + +"You cover him well, seņora, but I think it was not horses he went in +the night to count," said the priest sarcastically. "Gold in the land +is to him who finds it,--and I tell you the church will hear of that +red gold belt from me! Also there will be a new search for it! If it +is here the church will see that it does not go with American +renegades across the border!" + +"Padre, all the land speaks peace today, yet you are as a threatening +cloud over Soledad!" + +"I speak in warning, not threat,--and I am not the only cloud in the +sky. The women of vengeance are coming beyond there where the willows +are green." + +Doņa Jocasta looked the way he pointed, and stood up with an +exclamation of alarm. + +"Clodomiro! Call Clodomiro!" she said hurriedly, and as the priest +only stared at her, she sped past him to the portal and called the boy +who came running from the patio. + +She pointed as the priest had pointed. + +"They are strangers, they do not know," she said. "Kill a horse, but +meet them!" + +His horse was in the plaza, and he was in the saddle before she +finished speaking, digging in his heels and yelling as though leading +a charge while the frightened animal ran like a wild thing. + +Doņa Jocasta stood gazing after him intently, shading her eyes with +her hand. Women came running out of the patio and Padre Andreas stared +at her. + +"What new thing has given you fear?" he asked in wonder. + +"No new thing,--a very old thing of which Elena told me! That green +strip of willow is the edge of a quicksand where no one knows the +depth. The women are thinking to make a short path across, and the one +who leads will surely go down." + +The priest stared incredulous. + +"How a quicksand and no water?" he asked doubtfully. + +"There _is_ water,--hidden water! It comes under the ground from the +hills. In the old, old days it was a wide well boiling like a kettle +over a fire, also it was warm! Then sand storms filled that valley and +filled the well. It is crusted over, but the boiling goes on far +below. Elena said not even a coyote will touch that caņoncita though +the dogs are on his trail. The Indians say an evil spirit lives under +there, but the women of Mesa Blanca and Palomitas do not know the +place." + +"It should have a fence,--a place like that." + +"It had, but the wind took it, and, as you see, Soledad is a forgotten +place." + +They watched Clodomiro circle over the mesa trail and follow the women +down the slope of the little valley. It was fully three miles away, +yet the women could be seen running in fear to the top of the mesa +where they cast themselves on the ground resting from fright and +exertion. + +Quite enjoying his spectacular dash of rescue, Clodomiro cantered back +along the trail, and when he reached the highest point, turned looking +to the southeast where, beyond the range, the old Yaqui trail led to +the land of despair. + +He halted there, throwing up his hand as if in answer to some signal, +and then darted away, straight across the mesa instead of toward the +buildings. + +"Tula has come!" said Doņa Jocasta in a hushed voice of dread. "She +has come, and Seņor Rhodes is needed here. That coming of Tula may +bring an end to quiet days,--like this!" + +She sighed as she spoke, for the week had been as a space of restful +paradise after the mental and physical horrors she had lived through. + +In a half hour Clodomiro came in sight again just as Kit rode in from +the west. + +"Get horses out of the corrals," he called, "all of them. That trail +has been long even from the railroad." + +It was done quickly, and the vaqueros rode out as Clodomiro reached +the plaza. + +"_Tula?_" asked Kit. + +"Tula is as the living whose mind is with the dead," said the boy. +"Many are sick, some are dead,--the mother of Tula died on the trail +last night." + +"Good God!" whispered Kit. "After all that hell of a trail, to save no +one for herself! Where is Marto?" + +"Marto walks, and sick ones are on his horse. I go back now that Tula +has this horse." + +"No, I will go. Stay you here to give help to the women. Bring out +beds in every corridor. Bring straw and blankets when the beds are +done." + +Doņa Jocasta put out her hand as he was about to mount. + +"And I? What task is mine to help?" she asked, and Kit looked down at +her gravely. + +"Seņora, you have only to be yourself, gracious and kind of heart. +Also remember this is the first chance in the lands of Soledad to show +the natives they have not alone a padrona, but a protecting friend. In +days to come it may be a memory of comfort to you." + +Then he mounted, and led the string of horses out to meet the exiles. +While she looked after him murmuring, "In days to come?" + +And to the padre she said, "I had ceased to think of days to come, for +the days of my life had reached the end of all I could see or think. +He gives hope even in the midst of sadness,--does the Americano." + +Kit met the band where the trail forked to Palomitas and Mesa Blanca. +Some wanted to go direct to their own homes and people, while Marto +argued that food and rest and a priest awaited them at Soledad, and +because of their dead, they should have prayers. + +Tula said nothing. She sat on the sand, and caressed a knife with a +slightly curved blade,--a knife not Mexican, yet familiar to Kit, and +like a flash he recalled seeing one like it in the hand of Conrad at +Granados. + +She did not even look up when he halted beside her though the others +welcomed with joy the sight of the horses for the rest of the trail. + +"Tula!" he said bending over her, "Tula, we come to welcome you,--my +horse is for your riding." + +She looked up when he touched her. + +"Friend of me," she murmured wistfully, "you made me put a mark at +that place after we met in the first dawn,--so I was knowing it well. +Also my mother was knowing,--and it was where she died last night +under the moon. See, this is the knife on which Anita died in that +place. It is ended for us--the people of Miguel, and the people of +Cajame!" + +"Tula, you have done wonderful things, many deeds to make the spirit +of Miguel proud. Is that not so, my friends?" and he turned to the +others, travel-stained, sick and weary, yet one in their cries of the +gratitude they owed to Tula and to him, by which he perceived that +Tula had, for her own reasons, credited him with the plan of ransom. + +They tried brokenly to tell of their long fear and despair in the +strangers' land,--and of sickness and deaths there. Then the miracle +of Tula walking by the exalted excellencia of that great place, and +naming one by one the Palomitas names, forgetting none;--until all who +lived were led out from that great planting place of sugar cane and +maize, and their feet set on the northern way. + +When they reached this joyous part of the recital words failed, and +they wept as they smiled at him and touched the head of Tula tenderly. +Even a gorgeous and strange _manta_ she now wore was pressed to the +lips of women who were soon to see their children or their desolate +mothers. + +His eyes grew misty as they thronged about her,--the slender dark +child of the breed of a leader. The new _manta_ was of yellow wool and +cotton, bordered with dull green and little squares of flaming scarlet +woven in it by patient Indian hands of the far south coast. It made +her look a bit royal in the midst of the drab-colored, weary band. + +She seemed scarcely to hear their praise, or their sobs and prayers. +Her face was still and her gaze far off and brooding as her fingers +stroked the curved blade over and over. + +"An Indian stole that knife from the German after his face was cut +with it by her sister," said Marto Cavayso quietly while the vaqueros +were helping the weaker refugees to mount, two to each animal. "That +man gives it to her at the place where Marta, her mother, died in the +night. So after that she does not sleep or eat or talk. It is as you +see." + +"I see! Take you the others, and Tula will ride on my saddle," said +Kit in the same tone. Then he pointed to the beautifully worked +_manta_, "Did she squander wealth of hers on that?" + +Marto regarded him with an impatient frown--it seemed to him an ill +moment for the American joke. + +"Tula had no wealth," he stated, "we lived as we could on the fine +gold you gave to me for myself." + +"Oh yes, I had forgotten that," declared Kit in some wonder at this +information, "but _mantas_ like that do not grow on trees in Sonora." + +"That is a gift from the very grand daughter of the General Terain," +said Marto. "Also if you had seen affairs as they moved there at Linda +Vista you would have said as does Ramon Rotil, that this one is +daughter of the devil! I was there, and with my eyes I saw it, but if +I had not,--an angel from heaven would not make me believe!" + +"What happened?" + +"The Virgin alone knows! for women are in her care, and no man could +see. As ordered, I went to the gates of that hacienda very grand. +_Sangre de Christo!_ if they had known they would have strung me to a +tree and filled me with lead! But I was the very responsible vaquero +of Rancho Soledad in Altar--and the lizards of guards at the gate had +no moment of suspicion. I told them the Indian girl carried a letter +for the eyes of their mistress and the sender was Doņa Jocasta Perez. +At that they sent some messenger on the run, for they say the Doņa +Dolores is fire and a sword to any servant of theirs who is slow in +her tasks." + +"I heard she was a wonder of pride and beauty," said Kit. "Did you see +her?" + +"That came later. She sent for Tula who would give the letter to no +one,--not even to me. The guard divided their dinner with me while I +waited; if they were doing work for their general I was doing work for +mine and learned many things in that hour! At last Tula came walking +down that great stair made from one garden to another where laurel +trees grow, and with her walked a woman out of the sun. There is no +other word, seņor, for that woman! Truly she is of gold and rose; her +mother's family were of old Spain and she is a glory to any day!" + +"Did you feel yourself under witchcraft--once more?" queried Kit. + +"_Sangre de Christo!_ Never again! But José Perez had a good eye for +making choice of women,--that is a true word! So Doņa Dolores walked +down to the drive with that _manta_ over her arm, also a belt in her +hand,--a belt of gold, seņor, see!" + +To the astonished gaze of Kit Rhodes he drew from under his coat the +burro-skin belt he had directed the making of up there in the hidden +caņon of El Alisal. Marto balanced it in his hand appreciatively. + +"And there was more of it than this!" he exulted, "for the way on the +railroad was paid out of it for all the Indians. That is why we lost +two days,--our car was put on a side track, and for the sick it was +worse than to walk the desert." + +"Yes; well?" + +"Doņa Dolores got in a fine carriage there. _Madre de Dios!_ what +horses! White as snow on the sierras, and gold on all the harness! Me, +I am dreaming of them since that hour! They got in, Tula also in her +poor dress, and a guard told me to follow the carriage. It was as if +San Gabriel made me invitation to enter heaven! Twenty miles we went +through that plantation, a deep sea of cane, seņor, and maize of a +tree size,--the richness there is riches of a king. Guards were +everywhere and peons rode ahead to inform the major-domo, and he came +riding like devils to meet Doņa Dolores Terain. I am not a clever man, +seņor, but even I could see that never before had the lady of Linda +Vista made herself fatigue by a plantation ride there, and I think +myself he had a scare that she see too much! At the first when Doņa +Dolores had speech with him, it was easy to see he blamed me, and his +eyes looked once as if to scorch me with fire. Then she pointed to the +child beside her, and gave some orders, and he sent a guard with Tula +through another gate into a great corral where men and women were +packed like cattle. Seņor, I have been in battles, but I never heard +screams of wounded like the screams of joy I heard in that corral! +Some of these Indians dropped like dead and were carried out of the +gate that way as Tula stood inside and named the names. + +"When it was over that woman of white beauty told that manager to have +them all well fed, and given meat for the journey, for he would answer +to the general if any stroke of harm came to anyone of them on the +plantation of Linda Vista. Then she gave to my hand the belt of gold +to care for the poor people on the trail;--also she said the people +were a free gift to Doņa Jocasta Perez, and there was no ransom to +pay. Myself I think the Doņa Dolores had happiness to tell the +general, her father, that José Perez had a wife, for that plan of +marriage was but for politics. _Sangre de Christo!_ what a woman! When +all was done she held out the _manta_ to Tula, and her smile was as +honey of the mesquite, and she said, "In my house you would not take +the gift I offered you, but now that you have your mother, and your +friends safe, will you yet be so proud?" and Tula with her arms around +her mother, stood up and let the thing be put over her head as you +see, and that, Seņor Capitan, is the way of the strange _manta_ of +Tula." + +"And that?" queried Kit, indicating the belt. Marto smiled a bit +sheepishly and lowered his voice because the last of the horses were +being loaded with the homesick human freight, and the chatter, and +clatter of hoofs had ceased about them. + +"Maybe it is the _manta_, and maybe I am a fool," he confessed, "but +she told me to spend not one ounce beyond what was needed, for it was +to use only for these sick and poor people of hers. There was a good +game going on in that train,--and fools playing! I could have won +every peso if I had put up only a little handful of the nuggets. That +is why I think my general knew when he said she was the devil, for she +stood up in that straight rich garment of honor and looked at me--only +looked, not one spoken word, seņor!--and on my soul and the soul of my +mother, the wish to play in that game went away from me in that +minute, and did not come back! How does a man account for a thing like +that; I ask you?" + +Kit thought of that first night on the treasure trail in the mountain +above them, and smiled. + +"I can't account for it, though I do recognize the fact," he answered. +"It is not the first time Tula has ruled an outfit, and it is not the +_manta_!" + +Then he walked over and lifted her from the ground as he would lift a +child, she weighed so little more! + +"Little sister," he said kindly, "now that you are rested, you will +ride my horse to Soledad. Your big work is done for your people. All +is finished." + +"No, seņor,--not yet is the finish," she said shaking her head, "not +yet!" + +Kit felt uncomfortably the weight in his pocket of the key of Conrad's +room. He had made most solemn promise it would be guarded till she +came. He had studied up some logical arguments to present to her +attention for herding the German across the border as a murderer the +United States government would deal justice to, but after the report +of Marto concerning her long trail, and the death of her mother in the +desert, he did not feel so much like either airing ideas or asking +questions. He was rather overwhelmed by the knowledge that she had not +allowed even Marto to guess that the bag of gold was her very own! + +He took her on the saddle in front of him because she drooped so +wearily there alone, and her head sank against his shoulder as if +momentarily she was glad to be thus supported. + +"Poor little eaglet!" he said affectionately, "I will take you north +to Cap Pike, and someone else who will love you when she hears all +this; and in other years, quieter years, we will ride again into +Sonora, and----" + +She shook her head against his shoulder, and he stopped short. + +"Why, Tula!" he began in remonstrance, but she lifted her hand with a +curious gesture of finality. + +"Friend of me," she said in a small voice with an undertone of sad +fatefulness, "words do not come today. They told you I am not sleeping +on this home trail, and it is true. I kept my mother alive long after +the death birds of the night were calling for her--it is so! Also +today at the dawn the same birds called above me,--above _me_! and +look!" + +They had reached the summit of the valley's wall and for a half mile +ahead the others were to be seen on the trail to Soledad, but it was +not there she pointed, but to the northeast where a dark cloud hung +over the mountains. Its darkness was cleft by one lance of lightning, +but it was too far away for sound of thunder to reach them. + +"See you not that the cloud in the sky is like a bird,--a dark angry +bird? Also it is over the trail to the north, but it is not for +you,--_I_ am the one first to see it! Seņor, I will tell you, but I +telling no other--I think my people are calling me all the time, in +every way I look now. I no knowing how I go to them, but--I think I +go!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +EAGLE AND SERPENT + + +Marto Cavayso gave to Kit Rhodes the burro-skin belt and a letter from +Doņa Dolores Terain to the wife of José Perez. + +"My work is ended at the hacienda until the mules come back for more +guns, and I will take myself to the adobe beyond the corrals for what +rest there may be. You are capitan under my general, so this goes to +you for the people of the girl he had a heart for. Myself,--I like +little their coyote whines and yells. It may be a giving of thanks, or +it may be a mourning for dead,--but it sounds to me like an anthem +made in hell." + +He referred to the greeting songs of the returned exiles, and the +wails for the dead left behind on the trail. The women newly come from +Palomitas sat circled on the plaza, and as food or drink was offered +each, a portion was poured on the sand as a libation to the ghosts of +the lately dead, and the name of each departed was included in the +wailing chant sung over and over. + +It was a weird, hypnotic thing, made more so by the curious light, +yellow and green in the sky, preceding that dark cloud coming slowly +with sound of cannonading from the north. Though the sun had not set, +half the sky was dark over the eastern sierras. + +"The combination is enough to give even a sober man the jim-jams," +agreed Kit. "Doņa Jocasta is sick with fear of them, and has gone in +to pray as far from the sound as possible. The letter will go to her, +and the belt will go to Tula who may thank you another day. This day +of the coming back she is not herself." + +"Mother of God! that is a true word. No girl or woman is like that!" + +The priest, who had talked with the sick and weary, and listened to +their sobs of the degradation of the slave trail, had striven to speak +with Tula, who with head slightly drooped looked at him under her +straight brows as though listening to childish things. + +"See you!" muttered Marto. "That _manta_ must have been garb of some +king's daughter, and no common maid. It makes her a different thing. +Would you not think the padre some underling, and she a ruler giving +laws?" + +For, seated as she was, in a chair with arms, her robe of honor +reached straight from her chin to her feet, giving her appearance of +greater height than she was possessed of, and the slender banda +holding her hair was of the same scarlet of the broideries. Kit +remembered calling her a young Cleopatra even in her rags, and now he +knew she looked it! + +He was not near enough to hear the words of the priest, but with all +his energy he was striving to win her to some view of his. She +listened in long silence until he ceased. + +Then her hand went under her _manta_ and drew out the curved knife. + +She spoke one brief sentence, and lifted the blade over her head. It +caught the light of the hovering sun, and the Indians near enough to +hear her words set up a scream of such unearthly emotion that the +priest turned ashen, and made the sign to ward off evil. + +It was merely coincidence that a near flash of lightning flamed from +the heavens as she lifted the knife,--but it inspired every Indian to +a crashing cry of exultation. + +And it did not end there, for a Palomitas woman had carried across the +desert a small drum of dried skin stretched over a hollow log, and at +the words of Tula she began a soft tum-tum-tum-tum on the hidden +instrument. The sound was at first as a far echo of the thunder back +of the dark cloud, and the voices of the women shrilled their emphasis +as the drum beat louder, or the thunder came nearer. + +Kit Rhodes decided Marto was entirely correct as to the inspiration +back of that anthem. + +"_Sangre de Christo!_ look at that!" muttered Marto, who meant to turn +his back on the entire group, yet was held by the fascination of the +unexpected. + +Four Indian youths with a huge and furious bull came charging down the +mesa towards the corral. A _reata_ fastened to each horn and hind foot +of the animal was about the saddle horn of a boy, and the raging +bellowing creature was held thus at safe distance from all. The boys, +shouting with their joy of victory, galloped past the plaza to where +four great stakes had already been driven deep in the hard ground. To +those stakes the bull would be tied until the burden was ready for +his back--and his burden would be what was left of "Judas" when the +women of the slave trail got through with him! + +"God the father knows I am a man of no white virtues," muttered Marto +eyeing the red-eyed maddened brute, "but here is my vow to covet no +comradeship of aught in the shape of woman in the district of +Altar--bred of the devil are they!" + +He followed after to the corral to watch the tying of the creature, +around which the Indian men were gathered at a respectful distance. + +But Rhodes, after one glance at the bellowing assistant of Indian +vengeance, found himself turning again to Tula and the padre. That +wild wail and the undertone of the drum was getting horribly on his +nerves,--yet he could not desert, as had Marto. + +Tula sat as before, but with the knife held in her open hand on the +arm of the chair. She followed with a grim smile the careering of the +bull, then nodded her head curtly to the priest and turned her gaze +slowly round the corridor until she saw Rhodes, and tilted back her +head in a little gesture of summons. + +"Well, little sister," he said, "what's on your mind?" + +"The padre asks to pray with El Aleman. I say yes, for the padre has +good thoughts in his heart,--maybe so! You have the key?" + +"Sure I have the key, but I fetch it back to you when visitors start +going in, and--oh yes--there's your belt for your people." + +"No; you be the one to give," she said with a glance of sorrow +towards a girl who was youngest of the slaves brought back. "You, +amigo, keep all but the key." + +"As you say," he agreed. "Come along, padre, you are to get the +privilege you've been begging for, and I don't envy you the task." + +Padre Andreas made no reply. In his heart he blamed Rhodes that the +prisoner had not been let escape during the absence of the girl, and +also resented the offhand manner of the young American concerning the +duty of a priest. + +The sun was at the very edge of the world, and all shadows spreading +for the night when they went to the door of Conrad's quarters. Kit +unlocked the door and looked in before opening wide. The one window +faced the corral, and Conrad turned from it in shaking horror. + +"What is it they say out there?" he shouted in fury. "They call words +of blasphemy, that the bull is Germany, and 'Judas' will ride it to +the death! They are wild barbarians, they are----" + +"Never mind what they are," suggested Kit, "here is a priest who +thinks you may have a soul worth praying for, and the Indians have let +him come--once!" + +Then he let the priest in and locked the door, going back to Tula with +the key. She sat where he had left her, and was crooning again the +weird tuneless dirge at which Marto had been appalled. + +But she handed him a letter. + +"Marto forgot. It was with the Chinaman trader at the railroad," she +said and went placidly on fondling the key as she had fondled the +knife, and pitching her voice in that curious falsetto dear to Indian +ceremonial. + +He could scarce credit the letter as intended for himself, as it was +addressed in a straggling hand filling all the envelope, to Capitan +Christofero Rhodes, Manager of Rancho Soledad, District of Altar, +Sonora, Mexico, and in one corner was written, "By courtesy of Seņor +Fidelio Lopez," and the date within a week. He opened it, and walked +out to the western end of the corridor where the light was yet good, +though through the barred windows he could see candles already lit in +the shadowy _sala_. + +The letter was from Cap Pike, and in the midst of all the accumulated +horror about him, Kit was conscious of a great homesick leap of the +heart as he skimmed the page and found her name--"Billie is all +right!" + + How are you, Capitan? (began the letter). That fellow Fidelio rode + into the _cantina_ here at La Partida today. He asked a hell's + slew of questions about you, and Billie and me nearly had fits, + for we thought you were sure dead or held for ransom, and I give + it to you straight, Kit, there isn't a peso left on the two + ranches to ransom even Baby Buntin' if the little rat is still + alive, and that ain't all Kit: it don't seem possible that Conrad + and Singleton mortgaged both ranches clear up to the hilt, but it + sure has happened, every acre is plastered with ten per cent paper + and the compound interest strips it from Billie just as sure as if + it was droppin' through to China. When Conrad was on the job he + had it all blanketed, but now saltpeter can't save it without + cash. Billie is all right, but some peaked with worry. So am I. + But you cheer up, for I got plans for a hike up into Pinal County + for us three on a search for the Lost Dutchman Mine, lost fifty + years and I have a hunch we can find it, got the dope from an old + half breed who knew the Dutchman. So don't you worry about + trailing home broke. The Fidelio hombre said to look for you in + six days after Easter, and meet you with water at the Rio Seco, so + we'll do that. He called you capitan and said the Deliverer had + made you an officer; how about it? He let loose a line of talk + about your two women in the outfit, but I sort of stalled him on + that, so Billie wouldn't get it, for I reckon that's a greaser + lie, Kit, and you ain't hitched up to no gay Juanita down there. I + had a monkey and parrot time to explain even that Tula squaw to + Billie, for she didn't savvy--not a copper cent's worth! She is + right here now instructin' me, but I won't let her read this, so + don't you worry. She says to tell you it looks at last like our + old eagle bird will have a chance to flop its wings in France. The + pair of us is near about cross-eyed from watchin' the south trail + into Altar, and the east trail where the troops will go! She says + even if we are broke there is an adobe for you at Vijil's, and a + range for Buntin' and Pardner. Billie rides Pardner now instead of + Pat. + + I reckon that's all Kit, and I've worked up a cramp on this + anyway. I figured that maybe you laid low down there till the + Singleton murder was cleared up, but I can alibi you on that + O. K., when Johnny comes marchin' home! So don't you worry. + + Yours truly, + Pike. + +He read it over twice, seeking out the lines with _her_ name and +dwelling on them. So Billie was riding Pardner,--and Billie had a camp +ready for him,--and Billie couldn't savvy even a little Indian girl in +his outfit--_say!_ + +He was smiling at that with a very warm glow in his heart for the +resentment of Billie. He could just imagine Pike's monkey and parrot +time trying to make Billie understand accidents of the trail in +Sonora. He would make that all clear when he got back to God's +country! And the little heiress of Granados ranches was only an owner +of debt-laden acres,--couldn't raise a peso to ransom even the little +burro! Well, he was glad she rode Pardner instead of another horse; +that showed---- + +Then he smiled again, and drifted into dreams. He would let Bunting +travel light to the Rio Seco, and then load him for her as no burro +ever was loaded to cross the border! He wondered if she'd tell him +again he couldn't hold a foreman's job? He wondered---- + +And then he felt a light touch on his arm, and turned to see the +starlike beauty of Doņa Jocasta beside him. Truly the companionship of +Doņa Jocasta might be a more difficult thing to explain than that of +the Indian girl of a slave raid! + +Her face was blanched with fear, and her touch brought him back from +his vision of God's country to the tom-tom, and the weird chant, and +the thunder of storm coming nearer and nearer in the twilight. + +"Seņor!" she breathed in terror, "even on my knees in prayer it is not +for anyone to shut out this music of demons. Look! Yesterday she was a +child of courage and right, but what is she today?" + +She pointed to Tula and clung to him, for in all the wild chorus Tula +was the leader,--she who had the words of ancient days from the dead +Miguel. She sat there as one enthroned draped in that gorgeous thing, +fit, as Marto said, for a king's daughter, while the others sat in the +plaza or rested on straw and blankets in the corridor looking up at +her and shrilling savage echoes to the words she chanted. + +"And that animal,--I saw it!" moaned Doņa Jocasta. "Mother of God! +that I should deny a priest who would only offer prayers for that +wicked one who is to be tortured on it! Seņor, for the love of God +give me a horse and let me go into the desert to that storm, any +place,--any place out of sight and sound of this most desolate house! +The merciful God himself has forsaken Soledad!" + +As she spoke he realized that time had passed while he read and +re-read and dreamed a dream because of the letter. The sun was far out +of sight, only low hues of yellow and blue melting into green to show +the illumined path it had taken. By refraction rays of copper light +reached the zenith and gave momentarily an unearthly glow to the mesa +and far desert, but it was only as a belated flash, for the dusk of +night touched the edge of it. + +And the priest locked in with Conrad had been forgotten by him! At any +moment that girl with the key might give some signal for the ceremony, +whatever it was, of the death of the German beast! + +"Sure, seņora, I promise you," he said soothingly, patting her hand +clinging to him. "There is my horse in the plaza, and there is +Marto's. We will get the padre, and both of you can ride to the little +adobe down the valley where Elena's old father lives. He is Mexican, +not Indian. It is better even to kneel in prayer there all the night +than to try to rest in Soledad while this lasts. At the dawn I will +surely go for you. Come,--we will ask for the key." + +Together they approached Tula, whose eyes stared straight out seeing +none of the dark faces lifted to hers, she seemed not to see Kit who +stopped beside her. + +"Little sister," he said, touching her shoulder, "the padre waits to +be let out of the room of El Aleman, and the key is needed." + +She nodded her head, and held up the key. + +"Let me be the one," begged Doņa Jocasta,--"I should do penance! I was +not gentle in my words to the padre, yet he is a man of God, and +devoted. Let me be the one!" + +The Indian girl looked up at that, and drew back the key. Then some +memory, perhaps that kneeling of Doņa Jocasta with the women of +Palomitas, influenced her to trust, and after a glance at Kit she +nodded her head and put the key in her hand. + +"You, seņor, have the horses," implored Doņa Jocasta, "and I will at +once come with Padre Andreas." + +"_Pronto!_" agreed Kit, "but I must get you a _serape_. Rain may fall +from that cloud." + +She seemed scarcely to hear him as she sped along the patio towards +the locked door. Kit entered his own room for a blanket just as she +fitted the key in the lock, and spoke the padre's name. + +The next instant he heard her screams, and a door slam shut, and as he +came out with the blanket, he saw the priest dash toward the portal +leading from the patio to the plaza. + +He ran to her, lifting her from the tiles where she had been thrown. + +"Conrad!" she cried pointing after the flying figure. "There! Quickly, +seņor, quickly!" + +He jerked open the door and looked within, a still figure with the +face hidden, crouched by a bench against the wall. In two strides Kit +crossed from the door and grasped the shoulder, and the figure propped +there fell back on the tiles. It was the dead priest dressed in the +clothes of Conrad, and the horror of that which had been a face showed +he had died by strangulation under the hands of the man for whom he +had gone to pray. + +Doņa Jocasta ran wildly screaming through the patio, but the Indian +voices and the drum prevented her from being heard until she burst +among them just as Conrad leaped to the back of the nearest horse. + +"El Aleman! El Aleman!" she screamed pointing to him in horror. "He +has murdered the padre and taken his robe. It is El Aleman! Your Judas +has killed your priest!" + +Kit ran for his own horse, but with the quickness of a cat Tula was +before him in the saddle, and whirling the animal, leaning low, and +her gorgeous _manta_ streaming behind like a banner she sped after the +German screaming, "Judas! Judas! Judas of Palomitas!" + +And, as in the other chants led by her, the Indian women took up this +one in frenzied yells of rage. + +The men of the corral heard and leaped to saddles to follow the flying +figures, but Kit was ahead,--not much, but enough to be nearest the +girl. + +Straight as an arrow the fugitive headed for Mesa Blanca, the nearest +ranch where a fresh horse could be found, and Doņa Jocasta and some of +the women without horses stood in the plaza peering after that wild +race in the gray of the coming night. + +[Illustration: The Indian girl was steadily gaining on the German.] + +A flash of lightning outlined the three ahead, and a wail of utter +terror went up from them all. + +"Mother of God, the caņon of the quicksand!" cried Doņa Jocasta. + +"Tula! Tula! Tula!" shrilled the Indian women. + +Tula was steadily gaining on the German, and Kit was only a few rods +behind as they dashed down the slight incline to that too green belt +in the floor of the brown desert. + +He heard someone, Marto he thought, shouting his name and calling +"_Sumidero! Sumidero!_" He did not understand, and kept right on. +Others were shouting at Tula with as little result, the clatter of the +horses and the rumble of the breaking storm made all a formless chaos +of sound. + +The frenzied scream of a horse came to him, and another lightning +flash showed Conrad, ghastly and staring, leap from the saddle--in the +middle of the little valley--and Tula ride down on top of him! + +Then a rope fell around Kit's shoulders, pinioning his arms and he was +jerked from the horse with a thud that for a space stunned him into +semi-unconsciousness, but through it he heard again the pitiful scream +of a dumb animal, and shouts of Marto to the frenzied Indians. + +"Ha! Clodomiro, the _reata_! Wait for the lightning, then over her +shoulders! Only the horse is caught;--steady and a true hand, boy! +Ai-yi! You are master, and the Mother of God is your help! Run your +horse back,--run, curse you! or she will sink as he sinks! _Sangre de +Christo!_ she cuts the _reata_!" + +Kit struggled out of the rope, and got to his feet in time to see the +flash of her knife as she whirled to her victim. Again and again it +descended as the man, now submerged to the waist, caught her. His +screams of fear were curdling to the blood, but high above the German +voice of fear sounded the Indian voice of triumph, and from the +vengeful cry of "Judas! Judas! Judas of the world!" her voice turned +sharply to the high clear chant Kit had heard in the hidden caņon of +the red gold. It was as she said--there would be none of her caste and +clan to sing her death song to the waiting ghosts, and she was singing +it. + +As those weird triumphant calls went out from the place of death every +Indian answered them with shouts as of fealty, and in the darkness Kit +felt as if among a circle of wolves giving tongue in some signal not +to be understood by men. + +He could hear the sobs of men and boys about him, but not a measure of +that wild wail failed to bring the ever recurring response from the +brown throats. + +Marto, wet and trembling, cursed and prayed at the horror of it, and +moved close to Kit in the darkness. + +"Jesus, Maria, and José!" he muttered in a choked whisper, "one would +think the fathers of these devils had never been christened! _Sangre +de Christo!_ look at that!" + +For in a vivid sheet of lightning they saw a terrible thing. + +Tula, on the shoulders of the man, stood up for one wavering instant +and with both hands raised high, she flung something far out from her +where the sands were firm for all but things of weight. Then her high +triumphant call ended sharply in the darkness as she cast herself +forward. She died as her sister had died, and on the same knife. + +Doņa Jocasta stumbled from a horse, and clung to Kit in terror. +"Mother of God!" she sobbed. "It is as I said! She is the Eagle of +Mexico, and she died clean--with the Serpent under her feet!" + + * * * * * + +In a dawn all silver and gold and rose after the storm, there was only +a trace at the edge of the sand where two horses had carried riders to +the treacherous smiling arroya over which a coyote would not cross. + +And one of the Indian women of Palomitas tied a _reata_ around the +body of her baby son, and sent him to creep out as a turtle creeps to +that thing cast by Tula to the women cheated of their Judas. + +The slender naked boy went gleefully to the task as to a new game, and +spit in the dead face as he dragged it with him to his mother who had +pride in him. + +It was kicked before the women back over the desert to Soledad, and +the boys used it for football that day, and tied what was left of it +between the horns of the roped wild bull at the corral. The bellowing +of the bull when cut loose came as music to the again placid Indian +women of Palomitas. They were ready for the home trail with their +exiles. It had been a good ending, and their great holiday at Soledad +was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +EACH TO HIS OWN + + +A straggling train of pack mules followed by a six-mule wagon, trailed +past Yaqui Springs ten days later, and was met there by the faithful +Chappo and two villainous looking comrades, who had cleaned out the +water holes and stood guard over them until arrival of the ammunition +train. + +"For beyond is a dry hell for us, and on the other side the Deliverer +is circled by enemy fighters who would trap him in his own land. He +lies hid like a fox in the hills waiting for this you bring. Water +must not fail, and mules must not fail; for that am I here to give the +word for haste." + +"But even forty mule loads will not serve him long," said Kit +doubtfully. + +"Like a fox in the hills I tell you, Seņor Capitan,--and only one way +into the den! Beyond the enemy he has other supplies safe--this is to +fight his way to it. After that he will go like a blaze through dry +meadows of zacatan." + +Kit would have made camp there for the night, but Chappo protested. + +"No, seņor! Every drop in the sand here is for the mules of the army. +It is not my word, it is the word of my general. Four hours north you +will find Little Coyote well. One day more and at the crossing of Rio +Seco, water will be waiting from the cold wells of La Partida. It is +so arrange, seņor, and the safe trail is made for you and for +excellencia, the seņora. In God's name, take all your own, and go in +peace!" + +"But the seņora is weary to death, and----" + +"That is true, Capitan," spoke Doņa Jocasta, who drooped in the saddle +like a wilted flower. "But the seņora will not die, and if she does it +is not so much loss as the smallest of the soldiers of El Gavilan. We +will go on, and go quickly, see!--there is yet water in the cantin, +and four hours of trail is soon over." + +Ugly Chappo came shyly forward and, uncovered, touched the hem of her +skirt to his lips. + +"The high heart of the excellencia gives life to the men who fight," +he said and thrust his hand in a pocket fastened to his belt. "This is +to you from the Deliverer, seņora. His message is that it brought to +him the lucky trail, and he would wish the same to the Doņa Jocasta +Perez." + +It was the little cross, once sent back to her by a peon in bitterness +of soul, and now sent by a general of Mexico with the blessing of a +soldier. + +"Tell him Jocasta takes it as a gift of God, and his name is in her +prayers," she said and turned away. + +Clodomiro pushed forward,--a very different Clodomiro, for the +fluttering bands of color were gone from his arms and his hair--the +heart of the would-be bridegroom was no longer his. He was stripped as +for the trail or for war, and fastened to his saddle was the gun and +ammunition he had won from Cavayso who had gone quickly onward with +his detachment of the pack. + +But Clodomiro halted beside Chappo, regardless of need for haste on +the trail, and asked him things in that subdued Indian tone without +light, shade, or accent, in which the brown brothers of the desert +veil their intimate discourse. + +"There, beyond!" said Chappo, "two looks on the trail," and he pointed +west. "Two looks and one water hole, and if wind moves the sand no one +can find the way where we go. It is not a trail for boys." + +"I am not now a boy," said Clodomiro, "and when the safety trail of +the seņora is over----" + +But Chappo waved him onward, for the wagon and the pack mules, and +even little gray Bunting had turned reluctant feet north. + +Clodomiro had come from Soledad because Elena,--who never had been +out of sight of the old adobe walls,--sat on the ground wailing at +thought of leaving her old sick father and going to war, for despite +all the persuasions of Doņa Jocasta, Elena knew what she knew, and did +not at all believe that any of them would see the lands of the +Americano,--not with pack mules of Ramon Rotil laden with guns! + +"If Tula had lived, no other would have been asked," Rhodes had +stated. "But one is needed to make camp for the seņora on the +trail,--and to me the work of the packs and the animals." + +"That I can do," Clodomiro offered. "My thought was to go where Tula +said lovers of hers must go, and that was to El Gavilan. But this +different thing can also be my work to the safe wells of the American. +That far I go." + +Thus the three turned north from the war trail, and Clodomiro +followed, after making a prayer that the desert wind would hear, and +be very still, and fill no track made by the mules with the +ammunition. + +This slight discussion at the parting of the ways concerning two +definite things,--need of haste, and conserving of water,--left no +moment for thought or query of the packs of furnishings deemed of use +to Seņora Perez in her removal to the north. + +Doņa Jocasta herself had asked no question and taken no interest in +them. Stripped of all sign of wealth and in chains, she had ridden +into Soledad, and in comfort and much courtesy she was being conducted +elsewhere. How long it might endure she did not know, and no power of +hers could change the fact that she had been made wife of José +Perez;--and at any turn of any road luck might again be with his +wishes, and her estate fall to any level he choose to enforce. + +At dusk they reached the Little Coyote well, and had joy to find water +for night and morning, and greasewood and dead mesquite wood for a +fire. The night had turned chill and Clodomiro spread the _serape_ of +Doņa Jocasta over a heap of flowering greasewood branches. It was very +quiet compared with the other camps on the trail, and had a restful +air of comfort, and of that Jocasta spoke. + +"Always the fear is here, seņor," she said touching her breast. "All +the men and guns of Ramon Rotil did not make that fear go quiet. +Every caņon we crossed I was holding my breath for fear of hidden men +of José Perez! You did not see him in the land where he is strong; but +men of power are bound to him there in the south, and--against one +woman----" + +"Seņora, I do not think you have read the papers given to you by Padre +Andreas to put with the others given by General Rotil," was Kit's +quiet comment. He glanced toward the well where the boy was dipping +water into a wicker bottle. "Have you?" + +"No, seņor, it is my permit to be passed safely by all the men of +Ramon Rotil," she said. "That I have not had need of. Also there is +the record that the American murder at Granados was the crime of +Conrad." + +"But, seņora, there is one other paper among them.--I would have told +you yesterday if I had known your fear. I meant to wait until the +trail was ended, but----" + +"Seņor!" she breathed leaning toward him, her great eyes glowing with +dreadful question, "_Seņor!_" + +"I know the paper, for I signed it," said Kit staring in the leaping +blaze. "So did the padre. It is the certificate of the burial of José +Perez." + +"Seņor! _Madre de Dios!_" she whispered. + +"Death reached him on his own land, seņora. We passed the grave the +first day of the trail." + +Her face went very white as she made the sign of the cross. + +"Then he--Ramon----?" + +"No,--the general did not see Perez on the trail. He tried to escape +from Cavayso and the man sent a bullet to stop him. It was the end." + +She shuddered and covered her eyes. + +Kit got up and walked away. He looked back from where he tethered the +mules for the night, but she had not moved. The little crucifix was in +her hand, he thought she was praying. There were no more words to be +said, and he did not go near her again that night. He sent Clodomiro +with her _serape_ and pillow, and when the fire died down to glowing +ash, she arose and went to the couch prepared. She went without glance +to right or left--the great fear had taken itself away! + +Clodomiro rolled himself in a _serape_ not far from her place of rest, +but Kit Rhodes slept with the packs and with two guns beside him. From +the start on the trail no man had touched his outfit but himself. He +grinned sometimes at thought of the favorable report the men of Rotil +would deliver to their chief,--for the Americano had taken all +personal care of the packs and chests of Doņa Jocasta! He was as an +owl and had no human need of sleep, and let no man help him. + +The trail to the caņon of the Rio Seco was a hard trail, and a long +day, and night caught them ere they reached the rim of the dry wash +where, at long intervals, rain from the hills swept down its age-old +channel for a brief hour. + +Doņa Jocasta, for the first time, had left the saddle and crept to the +rude couch afforded by the piled-up blankets in the wagon; Clodomiro +drove; and Kit, with the mules, led the way. + +A little water still swished about in their water bottles, but not +enough for the mules. He was more anxious than he dared betray, for it +was twenty miles to the lower well of La Partida, and if by any +stroke of fortune Cap Pike had failed to make good--Cap was old, and +liable to---- + +Then through the dusk of night he heard, quite near in the trail +ahead, a curious thing, the call of a bird--and not a night bird! + +It was a tremulous little call, and sent a thrill of such wild joy +through his heart that he drew back the mule with a sharp cruel jerk, +and held his breath to listen. Was he going _loco_ from lack of +sleep,--lack of water,--and dreams of---- + +It came again, and he answered it as he plunged forward down a +barranca and up the other side where a girl sat on a roan horse under +the stars:--his horse! also his girl! + +If he had entertained any doubts concerning the last--but he knew now +he never had; a rather surprising fact considering that no word had +ever been spoken of such ownership!--they would have been dispelled by +the way she slipped from the saddle into his arms. + +"Oh, and you didn't forget! you didn't forget!" she whimpered with her +head hidden against his breast. "I--I'm mighty glad of that. Neither +did I!" + +"Why, Lark-child, you've been right alongside wherever I heard that +call ever since I rode away," he said patting her head and holding her +close. He had a horrible suspicion that she was crying,--girls were +mysterious! "Now, now, now," he went on with a comforting pat to each +word, "don't worry about anything. I'm back safe, though in big need +of a drink,--and luck will come your way, and----" + +She tilted her cantin to him, and began to laugh. + +"But it has come my way!" she exulted. "O Kit, I can't keep it a +minute, Kit--we did find that sheepskin!" + +"What? A sheepskin?" He had no recollection of a lost sheepskin. + +"Yes, Cap Pike and I! In the bottom of an old chest of daddy's! We're +all but crazy because it came just when we were planning to give up +the ranch if we had to, and now that you are here--!" her sentence +ended in a happy sigh of utter content. + +"Sure, now that I'm here," he assented amicably, "we'll stop all that +moving business--_pronto_. That is if we live to get to water. What do +you know about any?" + +"Two barrels waiting for you, and Cap rustling firewood, but I heard +the wagon, and----" + +"Sure," he assented again. "Into the saddle with you and we'll get +there. The folks are all right, but the cayuses----" + +A light began to blaze on the level above, and the mules, smelling +water, broke into a momentary trot and were herded ahead of the two +who followed more slowly, and very close together. + +Cap Pike left the fire to stand guard over the water barrels and shoo +the mules away. + +"Look who's here?" he called waving his hat in salute. "The patriots +of Sonora have nothing on you when it comes to making collections on +their native heath! I left you a poor devil with a runt of a burro, a +cripple, and an Indian kid, and you've bloomed out into a bloated +aristocrat with a batch of high-class army mules. And say, you're just +in time, and you don't know it! We're in at last, by Je-rusalem, we're +_in_!" + +Kit grinned at him appreciatively, but was too busy getting water to +ask questions. The wagon was rattling through the dry river bed and +would arrive in a few minutes, and the first mules had to be got out +of the way. + +"You don't get it," said Billie alongside of him. "He means war. We're +in!" + +"With Mexico? _Again?_" smiled Kit skeptically. + +"No--something real--helping France!" + +"No!" he protested with radiant eyes. "Me for it! Say, children, this +is some homecoming!" + +The three shook hands, all talking at once, and Kit and Billie forgot +to let go. + +"Of course you know Cap swore an alibi for you against that suspicion +Conrad tried to head your way," she stated a bit anxiously. "You +stayed away so long!" + +"Yes, yes, Lark-child," he said reassuringly, "I know all that, and a +lot more. I've brought letters of introduction for the government to +some of Conrad's useful pacifist friends along the border. Don't you +fret, Billie boy; the spoke we put in their wheel will overturn their +applecart! The only thing worrying me just now,--beautifullest!--is +whether you'll wait for me till I enlist, get to France, do my stunt +to help clean out the brown rats of the world, and come back home to +marry you." + +"Yip-pee!" shrilled Pike who was slicing bacon into a skillet. "I'm +getting a line now on how you made your other collections!" + +Billie laughed and looked up at him a bit shyly. + +"I waited for you before without asking, and I reckon I can do it +again! I'm--I'm wonderfully happy--for I didn't want you to worry over +coming home broke--and----" + +"Whisper, Lark-child. _I'm not!_" + +"What?" + +"Whisper, I said," and he put one hand over her mouth and led her over +to the little gray burro. "Now, not even to Pike until we get home, +Billie,--but I've come out alive with the goods, while every other +soul who knew went 'over the range'! Buntin' carries your share. I +knew you were sure to find the sheepskin map sooner or later," he lied +glibly, "but luck didn't favor me hanging around for it. I had to get +it while the getting was good, but we three are partners for keeps, +Buntin' is yours, and I'll divide with Pike out of the rest." + +Billie touched the pack, tried to lift it, and stared. + +"You're crazy, Kit Rhodes!" + +"Too bad you've picked a crazy man to marry!" he laughed, and took off +the pack. "Seventy-five pounds in that. I've over three hundred. +Lark-child, if you remember the worth of gold per ounce, I reckon +you'll see that there won't need to be any delay in clearing off the +ranch debts,--not such as you would notice! and maybe I might qualify +as a ranch hand when I come back,--even if I couldn't hold the job the +first time." + +"O Kit! O Cap! O me!" she whispered chantingly. "Don't you dare wake +me up, for I'm having the dream of my life!" + +But he caught her, drew her close and kissed her hair rumpled in the +desert wind. + +And as the wagon drew into the circle of light, that was the picture +Doņa Jocasta saw from the shadows of the covered wagon:--young love, +radiant and unashamed! + +She stared at them a moment strangely in a sudden mist of tears, as +Clodomiro jumped down and arranged for her to alight. Cap Pike looking +up, all but dropped the coffeepot. + +"Some little collector--that boy!" he muttered, and then aloud, "You +_Kit_!" + +Kit turned and came forward leading Billie, who suddenly developed +panic at vision of the most beautiful, tragic face she had ever seen. + +"Some collector!" murmured Cap Pike forgetting culinary operations to +stare. "Shades of Sheba's queen!" + +But Kit, whose days and nights of Mesa Blanca and Soledad had rather +unfitted him for hasty adjustments to conventions, or standardized +suspicion regarding the predatory male, held the little hand of Billie +very tightly, and did not notice her gasp of amazement. He went +forward to assist Doņa Jocasta, whose hesitating half glance about her +only enhanced the wonder of jewel-green eyes whose beauty had been +theme of many a Mexic ballad. + +For these were the first Americanos she had ever met, and it was said +in the south that Americanos might be wild barbaros,--though the seņor +of the songs---- + +The seņor of the songs reached his hand and made his best bow as he +noted her sudden shrinking. + +"Here, Doņa Jocasta, are friends of good heart. We are now on the edge +of the lands of La Partida, and this little lady is its padrona +waiting to give you welcome at the border. Folks, this is Seņora Perez +who has escaped from hell by help of the guns of El Gavilan." + +"Doņa Jocasta!" repeated Cap Pike standing in amazed incredulity with +the forgotten skillet at an awkward angle dripping grease into the +camp fire, but his amazement regarding personality did not at all +change his mental attitude as to the probable social situation. "Some +collector, Brother, but hell in Sonora isn't the only hell you can +blaze the trail to with the wrong combination!" + +Kit turned a silencing frown on the philosopher of the skillet, but +Billie went toward the guest with outstretching hands. + +"Doņa Jocasta, oh!" she breathed as if one of her fairy tales of +beauty had come true, and then in Spanish she added the sweet gracious +old Castillian welcome, "Be at home with us on your own estate, Seņora +Perez." + +Jocasta laid her hands on the shoulder of the girl, and looked in the +clear gray eyes. + +"You are Spanish, Seņorita?" + +"My grandmother was." + +"Thanks to the Mother of God that you are not a strange Americana!" +sighed Jocasta in sudden relief. Then she turned to her American +courier and guard and salvation over the desert trails. + +"I saw," she said briefly. "She is as the young sister of me who--who +is gone to God! Make yourself her guard forever, Don Pajarito. May you +sing many songs together, and have no sorrows." + +After the substantial supper, Kit heard at first hand all the veiled +suspicion against himself as voiced in the fragment of old newspaper +wrapped around Fidelio's tobacco, and he and Doņa Jocasta spread out +the records written by the padre, and signed by Jocasta and the +others, as witness of how Philip Singleton met death in the arroya of +the cottonwoods. + +"It is all here in this paper," said Jocasta, "and that is best. I can +tell the alcalde, yes, but if an--an accident had come to me on the +trail, the words on the paper would be the safer thing." + +"But fear on the trail is gone for you now," said Kit smiling at her +across the camp fire. Neither of them had said any word of life at +Mesa Blanca or Soledad, or of the work of Tula at the death. + +The German had strangled a priest, and escaped, and in ignorance of +trails had ridden into a quicksand, and that was all the outer world +need know of his end! + +The fascinated eyes of Billie dwelt on Jocasta with endless wonder. + +"And you came north with the guns and soldiers of Ramon Rotil,--how +wonderful!" she breathed. "And if the newspapers tell the truth I +reckon he needs the guns all right! Cap dear, where is that one José +Ortego rode in with from the railroad as we were leaving La Partida?" + +"In my coat, Honey. You go get it--you are younger than this +old-timer." + +Jocasta followed Billie with her eyes, though she had not understood +the English words between them. It was not until the paper was +unfolded with an old and very bad photograph of Ramon Rotil staring +from the front page that she whispered a prayer and reached out her +hand. The headline to the article was only three words in heavy type +across the page: "Trapped at last!" + +But the words escaped her, and that picture of him in the old days +with the sombrero of a peon on his head and his audacious eyes smiling +at the world held her. No picture of him had ever before come her way; +strange that it should be waiting for her there at the border! + +The Indian boy at sight of it, stepped nearer, and stood a few paces +from her, looking down. + +"It calls," he said. + +It was the first time he had spoken except to make reply since +entering the American camp. Doņa Jocasta frowned at him and he moved a +little apart, leaning,--a slender dark, semi-nude figure, against the +green and yellow mist of a palo verde tree,--listening with downcast +eyes. + +Doņa Jocasta looked from the pictured face to the big black letters +above. + +"Is it a victorious battle, for him?" she asked and Kit hesitated to +make reply, but Billie, not knowing reason for silence, blurted out +the truth even while her eyes were occupied by another column. + +"Not exactly, seņora. But here is something of real interest to you, +something of Soledad--oh, I _am_ sorry!" + +"What does it say,--Soledad?" + +"See!--I forgot you don't know the English!" + + * * * * * + +Troops from the south to rescue Don José Perez from El Gavilan at +Soledad turn guns on that survival of old mission days, and level it +to the ground. Soledad was suspected as an ammunition magazine for the +bandit chief, and it is feared Seņor Perez is held in the mountains +for ransom, as no trace of him has been found. + + * * * * * + +"Now you've done it," remarked Kit, and Billie turned beseeching eyes +on the owner of Soledad, and repeated miserably--"I _am_ so sorry!" + +But Doņa Jocasta only lifted her head with a certain disdain, and +veiled the emerald eyes slightly. + +"So!" she murmured with a shrug of the shoulder. "It is then a bandit +he is called in the words of the American newspaper?" + +Cap Pike not comprehending the rapid musical Spanish, leaned forward +fishing for a coal to light his pipe, noting her voice and watching +her eyes. + +"There you have it already!" he muttered to Kit. "All velvet, and mad +as hell!" + +Billie, much bewildered, turned to Kit as for help, but the slender +hand of Doņa Jocasta reached out pointing to the headlines. + +"And--this?" she said coldly. "It is, you say, not victorious for +Ramon Rotil, that--bandit?" + +"It says, seņora," hesitated Billie, "that he is hid in the hills, +and----" + +"That we know," stated Doņa Jocasta, "what other thing?" + +"'He has a wound and was carried by his men to one of his retreats, a +hidden place,'" read Billie slowly, translating into Spanish as she +went on. "That is all except that the Federals had to retreat +temporarily because a storm caused trouble and washed out a bridge +over which their ammunition train has to go. The place of the accident +is very bad. Timber and construction engineers are being rushed to +service there, but for a few days luck is with the Hawk." + +"So!--For a few days!" repeated Doņa Jocasta in the cool sweet voice. +"In a few days Ramon Rotil could cross Mexico. He is El Gavilan!" + +Things were coming too fast for Billie. She regarded the serenity of +Doņa Jocasta with amazement, and tried to imagine how she would feel +if enemy guns battered down the old walls of Granados, or--thought of +terror--if Kit should be held in the hills and tortured for ransom! + +"Speaking of floods," remarked Pike in amiable desire to bridge over +an awkward pause, "we've used half the water we brought, and need to +make a bright and early start tomorrow. Rio Seco is no garden spot to +get caught in short of water. Our La Partida mules are fresh as +daisies right off a month of range, but yours sure look as if they had +made the trip." + +"What does he say,--the old seņor?" asked Doņa Jocasta. + +Billie translated for her, whereupon she arose and summoned Clodomiro +by a gesture. + +"My bed," she said briefly, "over there," and she indicated a thicket +of greasewood the wagon had passed on their arrival. "Also this first +night of safety you will be the sentinel to keep guard that Seņor +Rhodes may at last have sleep. All the danger trail he had none." + +Cap Pike protested that he do guard duty, but the smile of Doņa +Jocasta won her way. + +"He is younger and not weary, seņor. It is good for him, and it +pleases me," she said. + +"The camp is yours," he agreed weakly, and against his better +judgment. He did not like Indians who were like "sulky slim brown dumb +snakes"; that was what he muttered when he looked at Clodomiro. In his +irritation at the Indian's silence it didn't even occur to him that he +never had known any snakes but dumb ones. + +But if the voice of Clodomiro was uncannily silent, his eyes spoke for +him as they followed Doņa Jocasta. Kit could only think of a lost, +homesick dog begging for the scent of the trail to his own kennel. He +said so to Billie as he made her bed in the camp wagon. + +"Cap and I will be right here at the hind wheels," he promised. +"Yes,--sure, I'll let the Indian ride herd for the night. Doņa Jocasta +is right, it's his turn, and we seem to have passed the danger line." + +"Knock wood!" cautioned Billie. + +So he rapped his head with his knuckles, and they laughed together as +young happy things do at trifles. Then he stretched himself for sleep +under the stars and almost within arm's reach of the girl--the girl +who had ridden to meet him in the night, the wonderful girl who had +promised to wait until he came back from France ... of course he could +get into the army _now_! They would need men too badly to turn him +down again. If there was a trifle of discrepancy in sight of his +eyes--which he didn't at all believe--he had the dust now, also the +nuggets, to buy any and all treatment to adjust _that_ little matter. +He had nearly four hundred pounds, aside from giving all he dared give +at once as Tula's gift to those women of the slave raid. After the +war was over he would find ways of again crossing over to the great +treasure chest in the hidden caņon. The little information Pike had +managed to convey to him about that sheepskin map told him that the +most important indications had been destroyed during those years it +had been buried for safe-keeping. The only true map in existence was +the one in his own memory,--no use to tell Pike and Billie that! He +could leave them in comfort and content, and when he got back from +France--He wondered how long it would last--the war. Hadn't the +greatest of Americans tried three years ago to hammer the fact into +the alleged brain pans of the practical politicians that the sooner +the little old United States made guns, and ships, and flying machines +for _herself_, the sooner she could help end that upheaval of hell in +Europe?... and they wouldn't listen! Listen?--They brought every ounce +of influence they could round up to silence those facts,--the +eternally condemned ostriches sticking their own heads in the sand to +blind the world to the situation! Now they were in, and he wondered if +they had even ten rounds of ammunition for the cartridge belts of the +few trained soldiers in service? They had not had even three rounds +for the showy grand review attempted in Texas not long since; also the +transportation had been a joke, some of the National Guards started, +but never did arrive--and France was a longer trail than Texas. God! +they should be ready to fight as the French were ready, in twelve +hours--and it would have to be months--a long unequal hell for a time +over there, but only one finish, and the brown rats driven back to +their den! After that the most wonderful girl would--would--would---- + +Then all the sleep due him on the sleepless trail settled over him +like a net weighted, yet very caressing, and the world war and the +wonderful girl drifted far away! + +Beyond, on the other side of the fire, and out of the circle of light, +Clodomiro bore the _serape_ of Doņa Jocasta, and made clear the place +for her couch. She had returned to the light of the fire and was +scanning again the annoying paper of the Americanos. Especially that +remembered face of the audacious eyes. They were different eyes in +these latter days, level and cynical, and sometimes cruel. + +"He calls," said Clodomiro again beside her. She had not heard him, +and turned in anger that he dare startle her. + +"Who does he call?" she asked irritably tossing aside the paper. + +"All Mexico, I think. All Mexico's heart," and he touched his breast. +"Me, I do not sleep. I do your work and when the end of the trail is +yours, I ask, Excellencia, that you send me back that I find him +again,--the Deliverer!" + +"What did Ramon Rotil ever do for you that you fret like a chained +coyote because his enemies are strong?" + +"Not anything, Excellencia. Me, he would not know if I told him my +name, but--he is the Deliverer who will help the clans. Also, _she_ +would go,--Tula. _Sangre de Christo!_ there would be no chain strong +enough to hold her back if his wounds cried for help." + +"If--his wounds cried for help!" repeated Doņa Jocasta mechanically. + +"It is true, Excellencia, El Gavilan was giving help to many people in +the lands he crossed. Now the many will forget, and like a hawk with +the weight of an arrow in his breast he will fly alone to a high nest +of the hills. Death will nest with him there some night or some day, +Excellencia. And the many will forget." + +"Quiet you!" ordered Doņa Jocasta angrily. + +Abashed, Clodomiro went silent, and with a murmured apology took +himself into the shadows. + +She lifted the pictured face barely discernible now in the diminished +light. + +"And--the many will forget!" she repeated irritably. "The boy has the +truth of it, but if _she_ had lived, so terribly wicked,--so lost of +God, I wonder if----" + +She lifted her face looking up at the still stars as if for light on a +thought, then flung her hands out despairingly and turned away to the +couch by the green bush of fragrant yellow bloom. + +But not to sleep. Long after the Americanos were wrapped in slumber a +little blaze sent glimmer of light through the undergrowth, and she +saw Clodomiro stretched beside the fire. He had tossed a bit of +greasewood on the coals that he might again study the face of El +Gavilan. + +She had heard him say that if no desert wind lifted the sand he could +follow to that hidden nest of the Hawk. It was very dark now except +for glimmer of stars through lacy, slow-drifting clouds,--there was no +wind. Later there would be a waning moon! Much of every waking life +is a dream, and her dreams were of the No Man's Land of the +desert,--the waterless trail from which she had been rescued for +peace! + +Twice during the night Kit roused from the depths sufficiently to +realize that sleep is one of the greatest gifts to man. Once Clodomiro +was stretched by the little fire inspecting the paper he could not +read, the second time he thought Baby Bunting was nosing around trying +to get close to human things. Both times he reached out his hands to +the precious packs beside which he slept on the trail. All were safe, +and he drifted again into a great ocean of slumber. + +He was wakened at dawn by the voice of Cap Pike, keyed high for an +ultra display of profanity. + +"By the jumping Je-hosophat, I knew it!" he shrilled. "That's your +latest collection, begod! I hoped he wouldn't, and knew he would! The +all-firedest finest pair of mules on Granados, and every water bag in +the outfit! Can you beat it?" + +At the first shout Kit jumped to his feet, his eyes running rapidly +over his pack saddle outfit. All was safe there, and as Billie lifted +her head and looked at him drowsily over the edge of the wagon bed he +realized that in the vital things of life all was well with his +world. + +"Let Sheba run your camp, and run it to hell, will you?" went on Cap +Pike accusingly. He was thrashing around among the growth back of +the Soledad outfit wagon where the mules had been tethered. +"Two--four--six, and Baby Buntin'--yes sir! Lit out by the dark of +the moon, and left neither hide nor hair,--" + +"Oh, be reasonable, Cap!" protested Kit. "Buntin' isn't gone--she's +right alongside here, waiting for breakfast." + +"You're shoutin' she's here; so is every dragged-to-death skate you +hit camp with! It's Billie's crackerjack mules, the pick of the ranch, +that the bare-legged greasy heathen hit the trail with! And every +water bag!" + +"Well," decided Kit, verifying the water statement by a glance at the +barrels, "no one is to blame. The boy didn't want to come this trail. +He stuck until we were over the rough of it, and then he cut loose. A +pair of mules isn't so bad." + +"Now, of course not!" agreed Cap sarcastically. "A mere A-number-one +pair of mules belonging to another fellow is only a flea bite to offer +a visitor for supper! Well, all _I_ got to say----" + +"Don't say it, Cap dear," suggested Billie. "The Indian was here +because of Doņa Jocasta, and _she_ can't help it! As she doesn't +understand English, she'll probably think you're murdering some of us +over here. Whist now, and put your muzzle on! We'll get home without +the two mules. I'll go and tell her that the hysterics is your way of +offering morning prayers!" + +She slipped away, laughing at his protests, but when a little past the +fire place she halted, standing very still, peering beyond at +something on the ground under the greasewood where the _serape_ of +Doņa Jocasta had been spread. No _serape_ or sleeper was there! + +Kit noted her startled pause, and in a few strides was beside her; +then, without a word, the two went forward together and he picked up +the package of papers laid carefully under the greasewood. He knew +without opening them what they were,--the records made for her safety, +and for his, in Soledad, place of tragedies. + +"They are the papers I was to put on record for her in case--Well, +I'll do it, and you'll take care of the copies for her, Billie, +and--and do your best for the girl if a chance ever comes. We owe her +a lot more than she will ever guess,--our gold come out of Mexico +under the guard arranged for her, and when I come back----" + +"But Kit," protested Billie, "to think of her alone with that thieving +Indian! He took flour and bacon too! And if she hopes to find her +husband----" + +"She doesn't," concluded Kit thoughtfully turning over the certificate +signed by the padre and him, of the husband's safe burial in the sands +of Soledad. He glanced at Billie in doubt. One never knew how safe it +was to tell things,--some things,--to a woman; also Billie was so +enchanted by Jocasta's sad beauty, and---- + +"No, I reckon she doesn't hope much along that line. She has probably +gone back to the wilderness for another reason,--one I never suspected +until last night. And Lark-child, we won't talk about that, not at +least till I return from the 'back of beyond' over there," and he +pointed eastward where shafts of copper light touched the gray veil of +the morning. + +After his first explosion of amazement Cap Pike regarded the +elopement, as he called it, very philosophically, considering his +disgust over lost mules and flour and bacon. + +"What did I tell you right here last night?" he demanded of Kit. "Soft +as velvet and hard as hell,--that's what I said! She looks to me like +a cross between a saint in a picture frame and a love bird in a tree, +and her eyes! Yet after all no man can reckon on that blood,--she is +only a girl of the hills down there, and the next we hear of her +she'll likely be leaden' a little revolution of her own." + +The young chap made no reply, but busied himself hastening a scant +breakfast in order that the worn mules be got to water before the +worst heat of a dry day. Also the losses to the culinary outfit did +make problems for the trip. + +Cap eyed him askance for a space, and then with a chuckle wilfully +misconstrued his silence and lowered his tone. + +"I don't blame you for feeling downhearted on your luck, Bub, for she +sure was a looker! But it's all in a lifetime, and as you ramble along +in years, you'll find that most any hombre can steal them, and take +them home, but when it comes to getting a permanent clinch on the +female affections----" + +Billie, who was giving a short ration of water to the burro, called +across to ask what Kit was laughing at in that hilarious way. She also +stated that she did not think it a morning for hilarity, not at all! +That wonderful, beautiful, mystery woman might be going to her death! + +After the packs were all on, Cap Pike swung the mules of the first +wagon into the home trail and passed over the mesa singing rakishly. + + _Oh-h! Biddy McGee has been after me, + Since I've been in the army!_ + +And Billie turned in the saddle to take a last look over the trail +where the woman of the emerald eyes had passed in the night. + +"All my life I have looked, and looked into the beautiful mirages of +the south desert wondering what would come out of it--and _she_ was +the answer," she said, smiling at Kit. "Tomorrow I'll feel as if it +was all a dream, all but the wonderful red gold, and you! Some fine +day we'll take a little _pasear_ down there, I'll follow that dream +trail, and----" + +"You will not!" decided the chosen of her heart with rude certainty. +"The dreams of that land of mirages are likely to breed nightmares. +You are on the right side of the border for women to stay. Our old +American eagle is a pretty safe bird to roost with." + +"Well," debated the only girl, "if it comes to that, Mexico also has +the eagle, and had it first!" + +"Yes, contrary child," he conceded, herding the mules into line, "so +it has,--but the eagle of Mexico is still philandering with a helmeted +serpent. Wise gamblers reserve their bets on that game, we can only +hope that the eagle fights its way free!" + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure Trail, by Marah Ellis Ryan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE TRAIL *** + +***** This file should be named 29694-8.txt or 29694-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/9/29694/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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. 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