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diff --git a/40600.txt b/40600.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f4a384a..0000000 --- a/40600.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13701 +0,0 @@ - OVER THE BORDER - - - - -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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - -Title: Over the Border - -Author: Herman Whitaker - -Release Date: August 27, 2012 [EBook #40600] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OVER THE BORDER *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net. - - - - - - OVER THE BORDER - - - A NOVEL - - BY - - - HERMAN WHITAKER - - - AUTHOR OF "THE SETTLER," "THE PLANTER," "THE PROBATIONER," Etc. - - - NEW YORK - GROSSET & DUNLAP - PUBLISHERS - - Published by Arrangement with Harper & Brothers - - - - - Books by HERMAN WHITAKER - - - OVER THE BORDER - THE PROBATIONER - THE SETTLER - THE PLANTER - THE MYSTERY OF THE BARRANCA - CROSS TRAILS - - - HARPER & BROTHERS NEW YORK - Established 1817 - - - Over The Border - Copyright, 1917, by Harper & Brothers - - - Printed in the United States of America - Published May, 1917 - - - - - TO - Jack London - IN MEMORY OF OLD FRIENDSHIP - - - - -[Illustration: GORDON SEIZED ILARIAN WITH HIS NAKED HANDS] - - - - -Contents - - - I: THE THREE BAD MEN OF LAS BOCAS - II: OVER THE BORDER - III: EVEN A RUSTLER HAS HIS TROUBLES - IV: THE TRAIL OF THE COLORADOS - V: THE "HACIENDA OF THE TREES" - VI: BULL TURNS NURSE - VII: THE RUSTLERS ARE ADOPTED - VIII: "THE LEOPARD'S SPOTS" - IX: A PARTY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES - X: WANTED--A HUSBAND - XI: GORDON'S DEBUT - XII: THE RECRUIT IS TRIED OUT--IN SEVERAL WAYS - XIII: AMERICAN RUSTLERS _VS._ MEXICAN RAIDERS - XIV: NEMESIS DOGS THE THREE--AND IS "DOGGED," IN TURN, BY LEE - XV: BULL AND THE WIDOW CONSPIRE - XVI: ONE MAN CAN TAKE A HORSE TO WATER, BUT-- - XVII: --BUT TWENTY CANNOT MAKE HIM DRINK - XVIII: THE "WIND" BLOWS CONTRARY - XIX: A KISS--ITS CONSEQUENCES - XX: SLIVER IS DULY CHASTENED - XXI: THE WIDOW TO THE RESCUE - XXII: LEE, TOO, IS CONFESSED - XXIII: IN WHICH THE WIDOW GOES AND SLIVER COMES - XXIV: UNDERSTANDING - XXV: LOVE AND BUSINESS - XXVI: A SETTLEMENT - XXVII: AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE - XXVIII: A "REQUISITION" - XXIX: TEMPTATION - XXX: THE OTHER HALF OF THE TRUTH - XXXI: "BRAINS WIN" - XXXII: TRAVAIL - XXXIII: THE DEATH IN THE NIGHT - XXXIV: ---------------------? - XXXV: WHY? - XXXVI: "IN THE MIDST OF LIFE--" - XXXVII: THE THREE--AGAIN - XXXVIII: FIRE - XXXIX: "VENGEANCE IS MINE" - XL: SLIVER "MAKES GOOD" - XLI: JAKE BETTERS THE "EXCHANGE" - XLII: BULL DREAMS A DREAM! - XLIII: THE LAST OF THE THREE BAD MEN - - - - -I: THE THREE BAD MEN OF LAS BOCAS - - -The Three had chosen their lair wisely. - -In the picturesque Spanish phrase, it "situated itself" midway of the -desert, the great Mexican desert that is more varied in its heated -monotony than a land of woods and fields and streams. Here it runs to -sparse grass land under upland _pinon_; there spreads over wide, clean -sands that reflect like burnished brass the intolerable glare of the -sun. Now it marches for leagues with the yuccas that fling crazed arms -and shrunken limbs like posturing dwarfs; again it is dotted with lonely -_mesas_, monolithic masses that raise orange and vermilion facades out -of a violet mirage. A magic land it is, made out of shattered rainbows, -girded with crimson-and-gold mountains that wear around their high -foreheads cooling bandages of snow; a land of deathless calms, cyclonic -storms, torrential rains, peopled only by the vultures that wheel -against the sky and the little golden dust-whorls which dance together -over its heated face. A country where dwells the very spirit of romance; -of which anything might be predicted and come to pass; therefore, as -before said, the very place for a lair. - -Secondly, the Three had shown a nice discrimination in the selection of -a site. Its capacities in the way of offense and defense would have -earned the instant commendation of a medieval baron, Mexican bandit, -revolutionist, or "movie" director in search of an ideal robber's roost. -Years ago a Yankee "prospector" with more faith than sense and money -enough to have left prospecting severely alone, had kept a raft of -_peones_ busy for the better part of two years ripping the heart out of -a mountain-top in a feverish search for fabulous gold. Rumors that still -linger in Sonora _jacales_ tell that the _gringo_ worked under the -direction of the spirits--or a spiritualist, which may or may not be -quite the same. The results--to wit, a huge gap in the mountain and an -abandoned adobe powder house, now serving as a residence for the Three -Bad Men--seem to favor the rumor. Spirits were never good miners. But -that is neither here nor there, the Three concerning themselves only -with the natural fortifications they thus inherited. - -The adobe stood well back in a semicircular gap, protected on three -sides by the curving walls of the excavation. Behind them, the mountain -dropped almost a thousand feet sheer, and the level bench in front of -the house could only be gained by a narrow path that fell like a yellow -snake down the steep slopes into thick chaparral. From its edge one -overlooked the vast reaches of the central Sonora desert, an ashen sea -of sage and mimosa shored in by far mountains that loomed dusky purple -or stood out stark yellow as they happened to lie to the sun. Since the -Yankee went back on his "controls," or they on him, a _sahuaro_ cactus -had raised its fluted barrel within the excavation, captaining a squad -of dwarf yuccas that poked grotesque arms in pathetic entreaty out of -the rubble. To these natural improvements the Three had added a -_ramada_, broad porch of poles and cornstalks, in the shade of which -they took their ease one hot nooning, two playing _pedro_ at a rough -wooden table while the third dozed and nodded with stool tilted back -against the adobe wall. - -It did not require more than a cursory glance to know the Three for -members of that sad colony which is doomed by its past to remain on the -wrong side of the Mexican border. Beginning with Sliver Smith, the -sleeper; his drowsy lids hid blue eyes that were hard as chips of agate -and exactly fitted his reckless face. Just now sleep had softened its -lines and brought a certain underlying good-nature. But for the mouth -and deep creases down each side of the nose, which bespoke passions -violent and unrestrained, one would have put him down now for that which -he had been--a cowman from the New Mexican ranges. - -The other two, however, really looked the "bad man." "Bull" Perrin, the -biggest and eldest, might have been especially cast by nature for the -part. Big, burly, black-visaged, and heavy-jowled, excessive drinking -had dyed his face out of all relation to the creamy skin the gods had -given him. The hot brown eyes under straight bushy brows bespoke a -cyclonic temper. But though Bull conveyed the impression of an "ugly -customer" at first sight, a physiognomist would have picked Jake Evers, -his partner, as a far more dangerous man. The cold, bleak sparks of eyes -in his lean, lantern-jawed face scintillated with cunning. But for a -certain humor that lurked about the corners of his mouth, his face would -have been utterly repulsive. - -Yet after granting their "badness," there was about them no taint of the -mean, rat-like wickedness of the city criminal. Their composite was of -strong impulses, misdirected forces gone to waste, of men cast by birth -in a wrong age. In the councils of a nation in the olden time, their -strength, ferocity, would have gained them power and place; here, out in -the desert, they exactly fitted their environment. As much as the horned -toad in the sand at Bull's feet, as much as the lizard that coursed -swiftly along the adobe wall above the sleeper's head; as much as the -_sahuaro_ and the tormented yucca, they belonged to the land. Its gold -glowed in their bronze. It were a safe bet that--horses and cattle not -being in question--they would, at a given emergency, live in the letter -of its best traditions. - -Looking at Bull and Jake as they sat at play, the former might be -likened to a grizzly; the latter to a tiger, alert, stealthy, cunning, -ferocious; qualities which sprang into evidence with startling -suddenness when a shrill burst of woman's scolding presently disrupted -the heated silence. - -Apparently the noise issued from a white cloud that hid the doorway; but -as this settled and cleared away, a buxom slattern of a Mexican girl -stood revealed. While flicking out the last dust of flour from an empty -sack she bitterly reviled the Three. Though delivered in Spanish, the -substance of her complaint was international and goes easily into -English. - -"Flojos! Lazy ones! how shall one cook without flour? The coffee, too, -is gone--and the sugar. Of lard or grease there is not a smear for the -pan. You must go forth, to-day." - -This was merely the text. While she enlarged thereon with copious -illustrations to prove their worthlessness as providers, the two men at -the table proceeded quietly with their play. It was the third that -finally interrupted the harangue with the irascibility of one aroused -from pleasant sleep. - -"Shut up, Dove!" - -In its literal sense the word stands for the most innocent of birds. But -she chose to take the opposite meaning of the sarcastic Spanish. - -"Si, senor! I am that or I should not be here now, cooking for three -beasts." After a comparison between them and the lower animals that -greatly favored the latter, she ran on with increasing heat: - -"'Dove,' indeed? Then where is my price? Where are they, the fine -clothes, the silks and satins and linen, the jewelry and laces you were -to gain for me? Was it by this I was bought?" She held out her dirty -black skirt. "I, that might be now sitting in the cantina of Ignacio -Flores at Las Bocas, selling aguardiente and anisette to his custom? Si, -senores, _where are they_, the velvets, ribands, and neck chains? I--" - -It was at this point that Jake displayed his quality. Swinging swiftly -around, he threw his knife, so hard and quickly that it stuck quivering -in the door lintel close to the girl's throat before she had time to -close her mouth. - -"Here! don't be so careless." Bull's bushy brows drew down over his -burning eyes in quick reproof. But his next remark proved that the -interference was not based on altruism. "If you croak her, who's to do -the cooking? Any corn left, Rosa?" - -Whereas Sliver's rude interruption had merely stimulated her tongue; -whereas, also, she had stuck out that member at Jake the instant she -made sure the knife had missed, she now caught her breath with a little, -frightened gulp. "Si, senor." - -"Then make some tortillas and serve them along with the jerky," he -called after her. "And bring us out a drink." - -At this Sliver, who had resumed his doze, sat up again. His lugubrious -exclamation, "Oh, _hell_!" caused the others to look up a moment later. -With an empty demijohn held upside down Rosa stood in the doorway. She -did not speak. But her tragic pose, vindictive nod, said quite plainly, -"Now will you go?" - -Neither did they speak. The situation was beyond revilings. Slowly Jake -picked up and pocketed the cards. Sliver rose to his feet. In single -file they marched down the path to find their horses. Indeed, they had -caught the animals, saddled up at the stable on the flat below and were -riding away through the chaparral before they recovered sufficiently to -attempt to fix the blame for the shortage. - -Sliver--who, by the way, had gained his nickname under the law of -opposites because he was short and stout--remembered that he had warned -them several times "notter hit it so hard." But his testimony lost force -by reason of certain "lone drinks" in the absorption of which he had, by -the others, been caught. Jake, on the other hand, had pleaded for more -liquor and less flour the last time they stocked up at Las Bocas. By -frank confession, moreover, he reduced the force of Sliver's charge that -he would never be satisfied with less liquor than "he ked swim in." - -"That's right. I never really seen at one time more whisky than I felt I -c'd drink." - -From this he went on with invectives against the wave of reform which, -by its sudden flooding of the "Territ'ries"--as he still called the -States of Arizona and New Mexico--might be held indirectly responsible -for his present thirst. "For a cowman, like Sliver here, it don't matter -so much, him being used to dry spells out on the range. But for a man -that's dealt faro in a s'loon for a spell of years with two fingers of -bourbon allus under his nose, it comes some bitter. Them was the golden -days. What a man made in beef cattle or gold was his'n to plank down on -a bar or place on a card. Till them pinch-faces from the Middle West -descended like locusts upon the lan', drought was unknown save by a few -fool prospectors that got themselves lost in the desert. Locusts? I -wrong 'em! A locust does live up to its natural instincts. Locusts is a -blessing compared to pinch-faces. Why--" But certain lengthy reflections -that established the place of the "Middle-Wester" beneath even the lowly -bedbug in the scale of creation, must give place to his conclusion. "Si, -senores! 'twas them druv' me to rustling. But for them I'd still be -living honest, dealing straight faro to all comers with on'y an -occasional turn from the bottom of the box for the good of the house." - -"Pity for you!" - -Bull's pithy comment was enlarged upon by Sliver. - -"An' you-all needn't to be howling so loud, either, about them dry -spells on the ranges. We allus had it in the bunk-houses an' 'twas a -poor cook that couldn't hide a keg in the chuck-wagon. As for your -faro--'twas to play the odd card you wolves dealt from the bottom that I -med my first rustle. But for you I'd be taking my copa right now out of -the cook's keg instead of dying of thirst in this lousy desert." - -There was real heat in the accusation, but the ex-gambler's lean, -leathery face merely split in a dry grin. - -"If your mother bred you a fool, don't blame me. The flea bit the dog, -the dog bit me; I kicked the dog an' killed the flea. Take a drink of -water, Sliver; it all works out in the end. You next, Bull. Which was -it--water, wine, or weemen?" - -"None of 'em." The big rustler shook his head. "Early piety did for me. -Prayers morning, noon, an' night; grace before meals; two long sermons -on Sundays, an' two hours, Sabbath-school, and what would you expect? I -was so well brought up I jest had to go wrong. But if we don't jog along -we won't make Las Bocas to-night." - -As Bull spurred on ahead, Sliver looked at Jake. "Say, he ain't exactly -what you-all 'd call frank in his conversings. If there's a thing he -don't know about us--well, 'tain't our fault. But him? When you come to -think of it did you ever hear him say how he kem to take up rustling?" - -The gambler shook his head. "In a gen'ral way--so gen'ral that I -couldn't tell jest how I got it--I've sorter gathered that he once -croaked a man. But whether 'twas before or after he took up the profesh -I couldn't say. In the natural order of things, a rustler's bound, -sooner or later, to down some prying fool. There's so many that try to -mix in his business. But if it was before, Bull done it--I'll bet you -the gent had it coming." - - - - -II: OVER THE BORDER - - -That night the Three put up at the _cantina_ in the little adobe town of -Las Bocas, where, by reason of occasional largesses to the leader of the -revolutionary faction that happened to be on top, a welcome was always -certain. Just now it was more particularly so because the present -_jefe-politico_, a Carranzista, varied his political activities by -acting as "fence" in the disposal of their plunder. - -In accordance with his advice, the following afternoon found them -approaching the American border at a point far west of their usual -sphere of operations. While they journeyed the sun slid down its western -slant till it hung like a smoky lamp in the far dust of the desert. -Behind them the sea of sage still ran off to distant mountains, but the -sunset glow washed its dust away, draping the land in a royal robe. -Ahead the grade was rising imperceptibly but steadily to a sparse grass -country where the sage, _palo verde_, and yucca gave place to huge -_sahuaros_ that strewed the plain with their fluted barrels like the -jade columns of some vast ruin. Among them roamed the flocks and herds -of a pink-walled _hacienda_ that nestled in a grove of lordly -cottonwoods. As they rode past, the Three noted with appraising glances -the sleek hides of a fine bunch of steers. - -"Dress a thousand pounds of beef apiece," Jake opined. - -"Worth eighty pesos, gold, on the hoof, in El Paso," Sliver yearningly -added. - -But their interest went no further--for reasons that appeared when, at -sundown, they rode past the concrete pillar that marked the -international boundary. Rustler that he was, drunkard and gambler, -utterly worthless if the reports current on the New Mexican ranges were -to be believed, Sliver's eye nevertheless lit up at the sight of it; the -glow on his hard face was not all sunset reflection. - -"The good old U.S.," he commented. "_Some_ country!" - -"He wasn't talking that way las' time we crossed." Jake winked at Bull. - -"Guess not. He was cussing Cristobel Columbo for ever having discovered -it." - -"That's right," Sliver admitted. "But I was what you-all might call in a -bit of a hurry with a squad of rangers streaking at my heels. Other -things being ekal--" - -"Which they ain't," Jake interrupted. "Mexico's good enough for me. -Mexico an' revolution! For I tell you right now that if Porfirio Diaz -was still boss, his rurales would have taken right holt where the -rangers left off. Instead of dangling from a pine on the American side, -we'd hev' finished with a fusillado on this. But with the government -switching every five minutes between Orozco, Villa, Huerta, Carranza, -an' the jefe-politicos an' governors slaughtering each other -between-whiles, it's nobody's business to look after us. We make our -little sneaks across the border an' return in peace an' quiet. So 'Viva -la revolucion!' That reminds me--where're you heading, Bull?" - -"Livingstone _rancho_ on the Little Stoney." - -"Say, but that's horses! Don't they run 'em into the corrals at night?" - -The big rustler nodded. "All the easier to find, an' after you once get -them moving it don't take three days to run 'em over the line. Besides, -Don Manuel tol' me at Las Bocas yesterday that the Carranzistas are -needing heavy horses for their artillery over on the Coast. He'll pay -fifty pesos apiece an' take his chance on a five-thousand-per-cent -profit after the old gentleman grabs the presidential chair." He -emphatically concluded, "_Horses_, you bet!" - -"Some risky, cutting 'em out?" Sliver, too, looked dubious. - -"Not as much as you think. Did you never have some flea-bitten son of a -gun rub down the bars while you slept plumb up against the corral an' -wake next morning to find nary a head in sight? A horse don't like a -corral any more'n a man loves prison. The bars once down, you kin trust -'em to soft-foot it out to the open. Why"--his grin at the remembrance -set a flash of good-nature in his hard face--"why, I've seen an old nag -look back at a colt that kicked the bars passing out just like he was -saying, 'You damn young fool! now you've upset the soup!' Leave it to -me. I'll work 'em out on foot while you sit tight an' hold my horse. -Moon's going to be jest about right, too. She'll be taking her first -peep about the time we get 'em out in the clear. It'll be a pipe, then, -to saddle up fresh beasts an' shoot 'em over the border." - - -The _rancho_ for which they were heading lay still two hours away, and -while they rode the _sahuaro_ pillars gave place in turn to _pinon_ and -juniper thinly strewn over rolling grassland. Before night settled down, -the wandering cattle-trails they had followed drew into the twin ruts of -a wagon-road. Their going was timed by the moon. But it stole out from -behind a low hill a trifle ahead of schedule. By its first dim radiance -they made out the dark mass of the _rancho_ buildings, house, corrals, -stables, in a swale between two hills. It was, however, dark enough for -their purpose, and, leaving his horse with the others, Bull went forward -on foot. - -It was nervous work, sitting there watching the buildings take form -under the waxing moon. Their strained senses took every sound, smell, -and sight; a dog's bark, click of horns as a steer scratched his -forehead on the top rail of a corral, the impatient pawing of a horse, -the warm cattle odor that floated on the night breeze. Dim, uncertain -shapes seemed to form and fade in the nearer gloom. They were nervous as -cats by the time a gun suddenly flashed under the dark porch of the -house. - -The croupy cough of a child plus the nervous fears of its mother did it. -Not that the woman saw Bull when she drew the curtain and peeped out. -But these days, with a new revolution breaking, as Jake put it, "every -five minutes" over the border, the American ranchers along the -international line slept always with an eye open for possible raids. So -far as Bull was concerned, her whisper was just as fatal as though she -had seen him. - -"Pa! get up! I'm sure there's some one out there!" - -Perhaps the rancher did see. Educated in objects moving through dusk, -his plainsman's eye may have noticed movement. Or perhaps he shot on -chance. In either case he was quickly informed by the roar and clatter -of hoofs that followed, for though Bull did not expect, now, to get away -with a single head, pursuit would be blinded and divided by stampeding -the beasts. Dropping the bars while the gun continued to flash its -staccato warnings, he started the animals out, leaped on the back of -one; as soon as it cleared the huddle, went shooting down the trail, -guiding the animal with the swing of his body. - -Unfortunately, the whim that governs a stampede moved the other beasts -to follow. So when the rancher and his men--in shirts and trousers, but -not one without a gun--pulled their mounts out of the stables, their -pursuit was guided by the distant thunder of hoofs. Neither did Bull's -quick change to his own beast divert the stampede. When the Three -galloped on, the scared animals still followed like dogs at their heels. - -"First time my prey ever chased me!" Jake laughed harshly, looking back -at the band. "If old man Livingstone don't follow too close we'll get -'em yet!" - -Bull shook his head. "Not with the moon sailing up to her full an' the -critters leaving a trail broad as a pike road. Listen to that!" - -A sharp report punctuated the thud and clatter of the stampede; the -first shot of a fusillade that grew hotter and hotter as the horses -trailed off right and left, leaving the rustlers more exposed. As yet -they were running in the shadow of a long hill where the light was poor. -But half a mile ahead lay an open plain unbroken by cover. - -"They'll shoot the lights outen us there!" Sliver prophesied. "Better -make a stan' while we can." - -"They _are_ getting sassy," Jake agreed, as a bullet whizzed under his -chin. "We'll have to teach 'em this ain't no turkey-shoot." - -The deciding word came, as usual, from Bull. "They'd surround an' hold -us for the posse. You ride on while I check 'em. If they try to round me -it'll be up to you to take 'em from the rear. Get behind so's they don't -see me turn." - -In the faint light his sudden whirl behind a bush went unnoticed. He had -already unshipped his rifle from the saddle slings, and through the -upper branches he took careful aim. A hundred yards away Livingstone was -coming at full gallop, about the same distance ahead of his men. Bull -waited till he could see the old fellow's hair, silver in the moonlight, -framing his angry red face. Once the sights lined up level between the -eyes. But muttering, "I ked sure spoil your beauty, but--I won't," Bull -lowered them to the horse's chest and fired. - -With the report the beast plunged forward, head and neck doubled under, -throwing his rider out in the clear. Though badly shaken, the old man -was up the next instant, and as he ran for cover his sudden change of -expression from anger to flustered surprise drew from Bull a grin. - -"Teach you not to get so fresh." - -At the crack of the rifle the others had also darted for cover, and as -their guns began to spit and flash from the chaparral along the -hillside, Bull laughed outright. "Not a rifle among 'em. Easy going! -Hasta luego, senores! Some other time!" - -One or two bolder spirits emerged from the chaparral as Bull rode out in -the open. But they scuttled back like rabbits as he swung in the saddle -with leveled rifle. Though they followed till the boundary pillar stood -out, two hours later, a shining silver shaft under the brilliant moon, -they preserved always a safe distance, and Bull denied Sliver's -suggestion to "chuck a volley" into the dim mass. - -"Kain't you leave your Uncle Samuel sleep? He ain't a-going to be moved -off his 'watchful waiting' by the loss of no horse, but if we go to -killing folks, he's sure going to take time to catch our goat b'twixt -revolutions." - -"To-morrow morning," Jake commented, grinning, "the morning papers will -be running scareheads an inch high about the 'Latest Border Outrage!' -Meanwhile we'll be jogging home--" - -"--without the horses," Bull dryly finished. - -"An' Rosa, back at the roost," Sliver added, "howling for coffee an' -flour an' grease." - -Which reminded Jake of their former argument: "I told you we orter ha' -bought more whisky. Nothing left but to ride back to Las Bocas an' hit -Don Miguel for credit." - - - - -III: EVEN A RUSTLER HAS HIS TROUBLES - - -Las Bocas was slowly stewing in its native filth when the Three sighted -it again at noon next day. - -In all the world nothing reflects its environment more faithfully than a -Mexican town. Southward, the great cities of Mexico and Guadalajara -testify with their stately cathedrals, ornate public buildings, -theaters, parks, and plazas, the flowering _patios_ of lovely and -luxurious homes, first to the richness of the central Mexican plateau, -secondly to the fact that in normal times all the wealth of the republic -drains to them. Oppositely, the northern towns with their squalid adobe -streets, overrun with a plague of dirty children, dogs, vultures, pigs; -desiccated by fierce heat, drowned by torrential rains; these in their -place and turn are eminently characteristic of the arid desert. Save -that it was a little smaller, a little dirtier, perhaps a little richer -in the variety of its stenches, Las Bocas might serve as the type of all -Mexican frontier towns. - -As the wind blew their way, the Three smelled it from afar. But usage -breeds indifference even to evil odors. If not actually homesome, the -fetor bespoke a possible drink. - -A quarter mile before entering the town they crossed the _arroyo_ that -gave it drink. Its waters also furnished an open-air laundry for two -brown girls who knelt by its edge, pounding their soiled linen on flat -boulders. These days of rampant revolution, a good girl had needs be -careful, and at sight of the Three, dusty, unkempt, bearded, and gaunt -from tire and travel, _gringos_ at that, the two leaped up and fled -toward the town. - -Grinning at their fright, Bull and Sliver would have ridden on, but -Jake, who never missed a trick, reined in his beast and began to examine -the laundry with the eye of a connoisseur. Though the remainder of her -be clad in rags, the humblest _peona_ will have her lace petticoat, and -the dozen or so pieces that were already spread out to dry on the -neighboring bushes were really very fine. - -"D'you allow to turn lady's maid?" Sliver spoke, as Jake bent to stuff -the lingerie into his saddle-bags. - -"Not till Rosa's had the refusal of it. This orter keep her satisfied -for at least a month." - -Grinning, the pair of rascals spurred their jaded beasts and overtook -Bull as he entered a narrow gut of a street that followed the -meanderings of the original cow-path to the _jefe's_ house, a plastered -adobe, limewashed in purple and gold, that faced the inevitable military -barracks across a sorry attempt at a plaza. - -If the small traders and artisans who constituted the bulk of the -population had been addicted to such flights of imagination, they might -have pictured the _jefatura's_ yawning gates as a huge gullet through -which, in normal times, their substance drained in taxes, fines, and -imposts to Mexico City, the nation's stomach, there to be consumed by a -hungry tribe of official hookworms. Now, of course, it was being -deflected into the private pocket of the dominant revolutionary chief. -Lacking the imagination, they cursed beneath their breath and waited -patiently till the next revolution should bring a new tyrant to avenge -them on the present oppressor. - -The latest incumbent was at lunch under the peppertree in the _patio_ -when the Three dismounted at the gates. Fat and sleek and brown, his -generally gross appearance was accentuated by pouched beady eyes, waxed -mustache, unhealthy, erupted skin. As he sat there, shoveling in -_frijoles_ and _chile_, even a _peon's_ slack imaginings could have -easily established a resemblance--if not between him and a hookworm, at -least, to some greedy parasite. The irritability, blind individualism, -offensive conceit, treachery, too common to Mexicans, lay hidden under -the usual veneer of Spanish courtesy. The embraces, backpattings, -effusive greetings with which he welcomed the Three would have graced -the reception of a favorite son. - -"Enter, amigos!" His welcome buzzed through the _patio_. "Sit down and -eat. Afterward we shall look over the horses. You have bestowed -them--where?" - -But when he learned of their failure, the scorpion showed through the -glaze of courtesy like a fly in amber. "_Carambar-r-r-aa_, senores!" His -read wagged in a nasty way. "I had counted on the horses--to save your -alive. On my desk lies a requisition from your gringo border police, -demanding your bodies. Que desgracia!" The spite that scintillated in -his beads of eyes gave his words sinister significance. "One would -dislike to do it, if 'twere only through hate of your Government. But -one has to account to his chiefs. Already they have inquired for you, -and always I made answer, 'These are good hombres, useful to our cause.' -But deeds count more than words. Horses for their artilleria would have -proved your worth. But now--" a second nasty wag told that their failure -left them as other _gringos_, to be despised, hated, persecuted. Having -given the impression time to sink in, he suggested, "But there must be -others? You will try again?" - -"No use." Bull's gloom emphasized the denial. "This is the second time -in a month that we've been chased across the border. They're looking for -us all along the line." - -"Si? Then must you go elsewhere. What of"--pausing, he looked cautiously -around--"what of this side? In central Chihuahua there are many -horse-ranchos, gringo ranches with fine blooded stock." - -"But--" - -The _jefe's_ shrug anticipated the objection. "Si, si! 'tis Mexico. That -is what I have always told my chief--'these hombres bother only the -gringo pigs.'" With a covert grin at the safe insult, he continued, "But -a gringo is a gringo, whether here or in your United States. If they be -despoiled, we shall not shed many tears. There will be a complaint, of -course, to and from your Government, and much writing between -departments. In the mean time we have the horses. So--" - -"But that's Valles's country, isn't it?" Jake put in. "He's a bad hombre -to fool with!" - -The _jefe_ turned on him his evil grin. "What if the gringo ranchers had -caught you last night? Hanging, amigo, is a dog's death. I would prefer -the fusilado of Valles's men." - -"What if he kicks to your people? Puts in a claim for our heads? You're -working together, ain't you?" - -Once again the _jefe_ looked around. "Listen, amigos! Between friends -one may show the truth. Already there is a cloud, a little cloud, no -bigger than a child's hand arisen between us and Valles. If the horses -are taken from a gringo _rancho_ in Valles's country, my chiefs will be -the better pleased. What they have Valles cannot get in the days when -the cloud grows big and black and bursts." - -Sliver, who understood more Spanish than he could speak, here nudged -Bull. "Ask him if he'll grub-stake the deal." - -"Ask nothing!" Bull's hot eyes shot brown fire. "You heard him rubbing -it into us, didn't you? If it wasn't that we need him I'd wring the -little brown adder's neck." He went on, suavely, in Spanish, "My amigo -questions me of the price. It will be the same--fifty pesos apiece, -senor?" - -Nodding, the _jefe_ glanced impatiently back at his lunch. He appeared -to have forgotten his invitation. Pleading an engagement, he bowed them -out through the gates, then returned to his gorging while, hungrier, and -even still thirstier, the Three rode down the street. - -Usually they were not averse to an exchange of glances, or a -flirtation--if the _hombre_ was not in sight--with the brown girls who -watched them from their doorways. But now their glances sought only the -_cantinas_, whose open bars displayed a tempting array of bottles. While -they looked their progress grew constantly slower, finally stopped in -front of one whose owner was taking his _siesta_ stretched out on the -bar. - -Jake looked from the sleeper to his companions, then at the bottles of -anisette and _tequila_ on the rough wooden shelves. "If he was drunk it -'u'd be easy--" As the Mexican disposed of the doubt, just then, by -opening one excessively sober eye, Jake desperately concluded, "Say, -kain't we raise the price among us?" - -Bull tapped his empty pockets. - -Sliver mourned, "All I've got is a Confederate five some one slipped me -during my last toot in El Paso. I've carried it sence for a lucky -piece." - -"An' lucky it is!" Jake extended an eager hand. "After this -revolutionary currency that's run off by the million on a newspaper -press, these greasers are crazy for gringo bills. What if it has got -Jeff Davis's picter on it? This fellow don't know him from Abe Lincoln. -All gringo bills look alike to him. He'll never know the diff." - -Neither did he. The note, when thrown with elaborate carelessness on the -bar, brought in exchange at current ratios thirty-two _pesos_ and some -_centavos_, along with three stiff _copas_. Deceived by the size of the -roll, the Three now proceeded to order from the _tienda_ behind the bar -coffee, sugar, maize, the grease of Rosa's desire, and other -necessaries. With half a dozen bottles of _tequila_, it made a goodly -pile on the counter, but the offer of the roll brought a second lesson -in finance--to wit, that cheap money buys few goods. After segregating -the _tequila_ from the groceries, the merchant explained with a bow and -shrug that the thirty-two dollars and some _centavos_ aforesaid -represented the value of either. - -From the groceries, the glances of the Three passed to the _tequila_; -then, with one accord, their hands went out and each closed on the neck -of a bottle. They were already outside when, looking back, Sliver -happened to catch the merchant's eye. - -He grinned, answering Sliver's wink. "Si, senores, this time you shall -drink with me." - -That which followed was quite accidental. While the Mexican was setting -out three glasses, Jake drew a pack of cards from his pocket and began -to throw two kings and an ace in the "three-card trick." So deftly he -did it that Sliver, who was really trying to pick the ace, failed half a -dozen times in succession. Their backs being turned, only Bull noticed -the Mexican's interest in the performance. Fascinated, he watched the -flying cards. - -"Looks easy, don't it?" Bull suggested. "Here, Sliver, give this hombre -a chance." - -Of course he succeeded, and, being Mexican, his conceit prodded him on -to try again. He could do it! He'd bet his _sombrero_, his horse, his -store, that he could do it every time! The Three being possessed of no -other stake, he finally wagered the pile of goods, which still stood on -the counter, against their bottles of _tequila_--and lost! In the course -of the next half-hour, being judiciously led on by occasional winnings, -there were added to the groceries six other bottles, the original -thirty-two _pesos_ and some _centavos_, a bolt of lace and linen for -Rosa; but for a large, greasy, and infuriated brown woman who charged -them suddenly from the rear of the store he would undoubtedly have lost -his all. Further acquisitions being balked by her unreasonable -interference with the course of nature as applied to fools, the Three -packed their winnings in the saddle-bags and rode on their way. - -As a rule a certain fairness is inherent in the externally masculine. -Even a Mexican expects to pay his losings, and, of his own impulse, the -_comerciante_ would probably have let things go with a shrug. But not so -his woman! The eternally feminine is ever a poor loser--perhaps because -she has usually no hand in the game--and as the Three rode off she let -loose an outcry that brought a gendarme running from around the corner. - -"It is that honest Mexicans are robbed by gringo thieves while thou art -lost in a siesta!" she assailed him. "After them, lazy one, and recover -our goods!" - -By her violence she might have lost her case. With an answer that was -quite ungentlemanly the gendarme had already turned to go, when the two -girls whom Jake had robbed of their lingerie came tearing up the street -and added their outcries to the woman's clamor. And now the Three were -surely out of luck. It chanced that for a week past this very gendarme -had been making sheep's eyes at the larger of the two girls, and now the -saints had sent this chance for him to gain her favor. - -"They stole thy--" Delicacy gave him pause; then, his natural -indignation increased by the nature of the robbery, he hot-footed it up -the street and overtook the Three. - -Ordinarily the arrest would have been accomplished with lofty Spanish -punctilio, but in his heat the gendarme allowed his zeal to exceed his -discretion, and thereby invited disaster. For as he seized Bull's -bridle, the rustler reached over, spread his huge hand flat over the -man's angry face, and sent him toppling backward into the kennel. He was -up, the next second, long gun in hand. But in that second Jake's bleak -eyes squinted along his gun, Sliver had him covered, Bull's rifle was -aimed from the hip. - -To give the Mexican policeman his due, he does not easily give up. If -one man cannot bring in a prisoner, ten may. If they fail, perhaps a -company can--or a regiment. The man's shrill whistle was really far more -dangerous than his absurd long gun. Instantly it was taken up on the -next street and the next; went echoing through the town till it finally -brought from the _carcel_ a squad on the run. - -By that time the Three had backed up against a wall and stood with -rifles leveled across the backs of their beasts. Every particle of human -kindness, humor, that had showed in their dealings with one another was -gone. Jake's long teeth were bared in a wolf grin. Sliver's reckless -face had frozen in stone. Bull's head and huge shoulders rose above his -breast, his face dark, imperturbable, fierce. Grim, silent, ferocious as -trapped wolves, they faced the squad which took cover while messengers -brought an officer and company from the barracks. - -Now it was really dangerous. The tragedy that lurks behind all Mexican -comedy might break at any moment. In its uniform, that ragged soldiery -set forth the history of three revolutions. The silver and gray of -Porfirio Diaz's famed _rurales_, the blue and red stripes or fatigue -linen of the Federal Army, even the _charro_ suits of Orozco's -Colorados, were all represented. But in spite of their motley the men -were all fighters, tried by years of guerrilla warfare. Their dark brown -faces showed only eager savagery. If it had depended on them, tragedy -would have burst forth there and then. But the word had to come from the -officer, who found himself looking down the barrels of three leveled -rifles. It took him just five seconds to make up his mind on this -fundamental truth--whoever else survived, he would die. The game was not -worth the candle! Very politely he addressed Bull. - -"Did I not see you, senor, at the jefatura just now?" - -With Bull's nod tragedy resolved into comedy. Swinging round on the -_comerciante_ and his woman, the officer pronounced on their complaint. -"They that gamble must expect to lose. Off, fool! before I throw thee in -carcel." - -Having driven in the moral with the flat of his saber across the -merchant's back, he next took up the complaint of the girls. "How know -ye that these be they that stole your garments? Only that they passed -while you were at the wash? Then back, doves, to your cotes! These be -friends of the jefe and no stealers of women's fripperies." - -Stiffly saluting the Three, he marched his ragged soldiery away. - -Five seconds thereafter the Three were again on their way--to the -_cantina_ where they usually put up. - -"All we've gotter do now," Sliver chuckled as they rode on down the -street, "is to rope a stray calf or a pig on the way home, an' Rosa'll -be fixed for a month." - -But, alas for Rosa! After they had stabled their horses and eaten, -followed one of those debauches that occur when men with natural -"thirsts" turn loose after a period of deprivation. During its course -they spent first the thirty-two _pesos_ and some _centavos_, drank up -their own _tequila_, finally bartered the groceries to buy still more -liquor for the rabble of _peones_ and brown girls that flocked to the -_cantina_ like buzzards to carrion. - -The "drunk" went through the customary stages from boisterous -conviviality, singing, loud boasting, quarreling, fighting. Three times -Sliver and Jake locked and rolled on the floor, tearing like tigers at -each other's throats, nor let go till pried apart by Bull. Worse, -because really terrible, was it to see the giant rustler, after the -other two had lapsed into sottish sleep, sitting with his broad -shoulders against the adobe wall, huge hands squeezing an imaginary -throat, while his drink-crazed brain rehearsed the details of some past -tragedy. Shortly thereafter he also rolled over in drunken sleep. - -As they lay there, crumpled, limp, breathing stertorously, there was -nothing edifying in the spectacle. It would be unfair to hint at a -likeness between them and the swine that snored in the kennel outside; -unfair to the swine, which never descend through drink from their -natural estate. Drunkards and outlaws, they were probably as low, at -that moment, as human beings ever go. Yet when they awoke, _sans_ -groceries, _sans tequila_, _sans_ money, but plus three splitting -headaches, they faced the situation with saving humor. - -"Tough on Rosa," Jake said, with a rueful grin. - -"If she's still there," Sliver doubted. "An' I'll bet a peppercorn to a -toothpick she ain't." - -"Chihuahua, now, or starve," Bull succinctly summed the situation. He -added, grinning, "Anyway, we'll travel light." - - - - -IV: THE TRAIL OF THE COLORADOS - - -Five days later the Three looked down from a mountain shoulder upon the -first and greatest of the Chihuahua _haciendas_. - -Far beyond the limit of sight its level ranges ran. From the crest of -the blue range in the distance, their glances would still have traveled -on less than half-way to the eastern limit. The Mexican Central train, -then running southward in the trough between two ranges thirty miles -away, had been speeding all day across lands whose ownership was vested -in one man. The half-score of towns, hundred villages, in its environs -were there only by his consent. Until the bursting of the first -revolution had sent him flying into El Paso with other northern -overlords, their thousands of inhabitants, shopkeepers, muleteers, -artisans, _peones_, drew by his grace the very breath of life. - -"Seems foolish even to think that one could own all that." - -Jake's glance wandered over the desert that laid off its shining -distances to the horizon. Here and there flat-topped _mesas_ uplifted -their chrome and vermilion facades from the dead flat. Very far away, -one huge fellow raised phantom battlements from the ghostly waters of a -mirage. It was altogether unlike their own Sonora desert. In place of -the familiar seas of sage, cactus and spiky yucca were thinly strewn -over a land whose unmitigated drought was accentuated by the parched -windings of waterless streams. Gold! gold! its shimmer was everywhere; -burned in the sand; in the dust whorls that danced with the little -winds; in the air that flowed like wine around the royal purple of -distant ranges. Lifeless, without sign of human tenancy, its solitary -reaches were infinite as the ocean. Yet man and his works were not so -very far away. Certain black specks that hovered or wheeled against the -blue of the sky a mile away served as a sign-post. - -"Vultures," Sliver pointed. "Must be something dead over there." - -"Or dying?" Bull questioned. "Otherwise the birds 'u'd settle. These -days it's as likely to be human as horse. We might ride down that way." - -And human it proved to be when, half an hour later, they rode out of -encircling cactus into an open space around a giant _sahuaro_. Head -fallen back so that his face was turned up to the torrid sun; relaxed, -limp as a rag, a man hung by his wrists that had been tied at the full -stretch of his arms around the _sahuaro's_ barrel. During the sixty -hours he had hung there without food or water the skin had shrunk till -it lay like scorched parchment on the bones of his face. In addition to -the vultures that hovered above, others hopped or fluttered over the hot -sands, or perched, patient as death itself, on the surrounding cactus. -Now and then a bolder scavenger hopped upon his shoulder. But a slow -roll of the head, sudden hiss of dry breath, would drive it away. At the -approach of the Three the evil creatures rose in a black cloud, filling -the air with the beat and swish of coffin wings. - -"He's white! a gringo!" Bull cried it while he hacked at the cords. - -"The poor devil!" Sliver spoke softly as he lifted and laid the poor, -limp body on his outspread coat. - -While he laved the shrunken face and Bull poured water, drop by drop, on -the man's swollen tongue, Jake carefully parted the swollen flesh of the -wrists and cut away the cords. - -If old man Livingstone, or other of the border ranchers who had suffered -through their raids, could have seen them at their merciful work, have -noted their gentleness, heard their sympathetic comment, they would -probably have refused the evidence of their own eyes. Though still too -weak to even raise his head, they brought the man in an hour to the -point where he was able, in whispers, to give an account of himself. - -He was a miner and his claim lay on a natural bench that jutted out from -the sheer wall of a great gulch in the mountains about a mile away. His -house, a hut of corrugated iron, stood with a few rough work buildings -up there. If he could only get to it, he'd be all right. - -And he soon did. Lifted by the others to the saddle in front of Bull and -cradled like a child in the rustler's great arms, he scarcely felt the -journey. Viewed as he hung on the _sahuaro_, dirty, bruised, shrunken by -fever and thirst, he might have been any age. But when laid on his bed, -washed, fed with a quick soup compounded by Sliver out of pounded jerky -and some pea meal he found on a shelf, he proved to be a typical -American miner of middle age--short gray beard, hawk profile, high -cheek-bones, eyes blue and hard as agate. By the time they had cooked -for themselves--for even if his condition had permitted, it was now too -late to go on--he had recovered his voice and told them all. - -"It was the 'Colorados' that tied me up. I knew them by the 'red hearts' -on the breasts of their charro jackets." - -Even up into their far corner of Sonora had penetrated something of the -terror associated with the name. Originally the "Colorados" had been -Orozco's soldiers. But when dispersed by the collapse of his revolution -against Madero they had split up into bands and overrun the northern -Mexican states. Because of their frightful cruelties they were shot by -the Carranzistas whenever caught. But though the spread of the latter -power was driving them farther south, they still made occasional raids. - -"But I was lucky to get off with that," he said, after describing the -beating that had preceded the tying-up. "They cut the soles off the feet -of two of my _peones_, then drove them, stark-naked, through spiky -chollas. When the poor devils fell, exhausted, they beat them to death -where they lay on the ground. Surely I was lucky, for if it hadn't been -that they thought I had money, and tied me up to make me confess, I'd -have got the same. They left me to raid some _rancho_, but swore they'd -come back." - -Riding in, they had passed the dead _peones_, and, bad man that he was, -Jake shuddered at the memory. "But why do you stay here, with that kind -of people running loose?" - -"Why do I stay?" The miner repeated the question, with heat. "The -American consul in Chihuahua is always asking that. Why does any man -stay anywhere? Because his living is there. We came here under treaties -that guaranteed our rights in the time of Diaz when this country had -been at peace for thirty years. Every cent I had was put into this mine, -and I'd worked it along to the point where it would pay big capital to -come in when that fanatic, Madero, turned hell loose. - -"At first we naturally expected that Uncle Sam would look after our -rights. But did he? Yes, by ordering us to get out--we that had invested -a thousand million dollars in opening up markets for a hundred million -dollars' worth a year of his manufactured products. Get out and have it -all go up in smoke the minute our backs were turned! - -"Luckily for me, I had no women folk to complicate the situation. But -most of the others had. We'd thought, of course, that the mistreatment -of one American woman would bring intervention, and so did the Mexicans -till the thing had been done again and again. Since then--know what that -Colorado leader replied when I threatened him with the vengeance of our -Government?" - -"'Your Government!' he sneered. 'We have killed your men, we have -ravished your women, we have exterminated your brats; will you tell me -what else we can do to make your Government fight?'" - -He concluded, with bitter sadness, "I was brought up to love and revere -the flag; to believe that an American citizen was safe wherever it -floated. But, men! I've seen it trampled in the mire, spat upon, defiled -by filthy _peones_, then spread in mockery over the dead bodies of -Americans who believed in its power to save." - -In Sonora and on the west coast, so far, foreigners had suffered -principally in their goods. But rumors and reports of excesses in the -central states had found their way westward; enough of them for the -Three to find all the miner had said quite easy of belief. - -"It sure puts Uncle Sam in rather a poor light," Jake agreed. "He don't -seem a bit like the old fellow that sent General Scott right through to -Mexico City." - -Bull's big head moved in an emphatic nod through a thick cloud of -tobacco smoke. "Looks like the old gent had lost his pep sence he put -the Apaches outer the scalping business an' got through spanking Johnny -Reb." - -Only Sliver, the optimist, stood by the accused. "Jest wait! D'you-all -know what's going to happen one o' these days? That same Uncle Sam, he's -mighty patient an' he's been handed a heap o' bad counsel; but one of -these days he's a-going to get mad. When he does--listen! he's a-going -to walk down to the Mexican line an' take a look at it with his nose all -crinkled up like he smelled something bad. 'Things ain't quite right -here!' he'll say, ca'm an' deliberate, that-a-way. Then he'll stoop an' -pick up that line, an' when he sots it down again--it 'ull be south of -Panama. Jest you-all wait an' see!" - -"'Wait? Wait?'" the miner sarcastically repeated. "Seems as though I'd -heard that before. Wait all you want. As for me--one thing I know. -Unless your Uncle Samuel crinkles his nose pretty soon, there'll be -darned few of us gringos left to see." - -"Why not watch from the other side?" - -"Watch hell!" The sudden firing of the hard agate eyes showed that, -despite his wounds and torture, his just grievance, sorrow, and -indignation over his fellows' wrongs, that despite all the indomitable -American spirit, the spirit that dared Indian massacres in the conquest -of the plains, the spirit of the Alamo which added Texas and California -to the Union, the spirit that preserved the Union itself from -disintegration, the fine old spirit of '76, still burned under all. -"Watch hell! As I told you, we came here under treaties that guaranteed -protection. We have a right to stay, and by God! we're going to stay! -To-morrow I'll get together my _peones_ and go right to it again; -only"--he observed a significant pause--"the next time the Colorados -come there'll be a machine-gun trained on 'em from up here on the bench. -All I ask is that the Lord sends me the same bunch again." - -In this stout frame of mind and recovered sufficiently to move about, -the Three left him next morning. Looking back from the mouth of the -gorge, they got a last glimpse of him between the towering walls, a -solitary figure on the edge of the bench. A wave of the hand and he -passed out of their lives--in person, but not in other ways. His was one -of the stray figures that stroll casually across the course of a life -and, in passing, deflect its course into alien channels. Not for nothing -had he suffered torture. That and his talk last night had sown in Bull, -at least, a certain leaven; the first fruits whereof showed in the -sudden, vicious thump with which he brought his big fist down on the -pommel as they rode along. - -"I was thinking of what that fellow said las' night," he replied to -Jake's questioning look. "To think, after that, we're out to rob our own -countrymen for the benefit of a rotten little greaser." - -"That's so." Sliver accepted the new point of view with his accustomed -alacrity. "Damned if I seen it that way afore." - -But Jake, always practical, sterilized this absurd sentimentality with a -sudden injection of rustler's sense. "Aw, come off! You fellows may be -out for Mexicans, but I'm for myself. We robbed our countrymen on the -other side of the line, an' what's wrong with robbing them on this? I -kain't see the diff. Business is business; we've gotter eat." - -"That's right, too." Sliver caught the sense of it. "We've sure gotter -eat." - -But Bull's face grew blacker. The Colorado's boast, "We've raped your -women, exterminated your brats," had aroused in him instincts older than -the race; the instinct that set the gorilla-like caveman with bristling -hair, grinning teeth, in the mouth of his cave; that sent the Saxon hind -at the throat of the Norse rover; the instinct that has animated the -entire line of men through eons of time to rise in defense of the tribal -women. - -He felt their soul agony, these tribeswomen of his, condemned to become -a prey of _peon_ bandits; and while the feeling swelled within him, his -black brow drew down over narrowed hot eyes. His huge frame quivered -with indignation as righteous as ever animated the best of the race in -the defense of a common cause. And yet-- - -Business was business, they had to eat! The feeling left untouched their -evil habit of life; compelled no immediate change of plan. - - -About midway of the afternoon the Three sighted the poles of the Mexican -Central Railway, a gray line of sticks running off in the distance. As -they drew nearer, a certain dark blur on the embankment resolved into -the rusted ironwork of a burned train. The line here ran almost due east -to round a mountain spur, and as they followed along it the rack and -ruin of three revolutions passed under their eyes. - -Linking burned trains, that occurred every few miles, long lines of -twisted rails writhed and squirmed in the ditch. The desiccated -carcasses of dead horses, small twig crosses that marked the graves of -their wild riders, ran continuously with the telegraph poles. Far beyond -their view they ran, those twisted rails, wrecks, carcasses, and -crosses, for ten thousand miles throughout the ramifications of the -_Nacional_ railroads, to the uttermost corners of Mexico; and typical of -the vast destruction was the burned station they came on at sundown. -Topping a black hill that rose abruptly from the plain behind it, a huge -wooden cross stood blackly out against the smoldering reds of the -evening sky, futile emblem of the simple faith that had relied upon it -to save the station. - -While the Three sat their horses and gazed at the ruin, a whistle -sounded, and out from the north steamed a troop-train, first of a dozen, -whose glaring headlights spaced off the dusk which was now falling like -a dusty brown blanket over the desert. - -As the first rolled past Jake swore softly and Sliver exclaimed in -surprise, for never before was seen such a sight. On it were packed some -thousand _peon_ soldiers, part of Valles's army on its way south to -pursue the merry trade that had wrought the prevailing destruction. -Unlike any other army, its guns, horses, munitions, and supplies were -loaded inside, while the soldiers rode with their women on top of -box-cars. - -In their motley uniforms, regulation khaki or linen alternating with -tight _charro_ suits and _peon_ cottons, they were exceedingly -picturesque, and not a man of them but was belted or bandoliered with at -least fifteen pounds of shining brass cartridges. - -Under shelters of cottonwood boughs or serapes stretched on poles, their -brown women crouched by clay cooking-pots, set over fires built on -earthen hearths within a ring of stones; so while the _frijoles_ and -_chile_ simmered and sent forth grateful odors, their lords gambled, -smoked, or slept. - -Nor did they lack music. On every car careless fellows sat with legs -dangling precariously over the edge, while they chanted in a high nasal -drone to the tinkling of a guitar. Ablaze with vivid color, scarlets, -violets, blues, yellows of the women's dresses and serapes, wreathed in -the faint blue smoke of cooking-fires, the trains flashed out of and -passed on into the brown dusk, while the guitar tinkled a subdued minor -to their roar and rattle. - -As the last rolled by a tall Texan rose alongside a machine-gun that was -set up on the car roof and yelled to the Three: "Come on, fellows! We're -going to belt hell out of the Federals at Torreon!" - -It was the trumpet call of adventure; Adventure, the mistress of men, -she who was largely responsible for their "rustlings," investing it, as -she did, with the fireglows of romance. Subtract the long rides through -hot dusks, sudden swoop on drowsy herds, the thunder of the stampede, -the fight, pursuit, take away all this and reduce the business to its -essence, plain thievery, and not one of the Three but would have turned -from it in disgust. - -If the train had stopped--perhaps their lives would have been deflected -into those roaring, revolutionary channels that led on to death in the -trenches outside Torreon. But it rolled on into the dusk, and as it -vanished their eyes went to a light that burst like a golden flower in -the window of a hut built of railroad ties. Five minutes thereafter they -were in full enjoyment of that hospitality which, such as it is, may be -had all over Mexico for "a cigarette and a smile." - -While eating they extracted from their host, a simple _peon_, all the -information necessary for the horse raid. To avoid "requisitions" -payable in revolutionary currency wet from the nearest newspaper press, -the _gringos hacendados_ had driven their animals into the mountain -pastures three-quarters of a day's ride east of the tracks. But omitting -the details of the long ride next day over plains where the scant grass -ran in sunlit waves ahead of the wind to the horizon, the history of the -raid may proceed from the moment the Three sighted the first horses in -the hollow of a shallow valley late the following afternoon. - -Even at the distance, almost a quarter-mile, they could see the -difference in size and condition between them and the common Mexican -scrubs. After long study through powerful binoculars that played about -the same part in their operations as a "jimmy" in those of a burglar, -Bull exclaimed his admiration, "_Some horses!_" - -"But--" Jake indicated five Mexicans who were herding the animals at a -fast trot down the valley, "we're out of luck." - -"Oh, I don't know." Bull handed him the glasses. "See what you make of -'em." - -"_Colorados!_" Jake spied at once the dreaded ensign, the red heart on -the blue _charro_ jacket. "It's the same outfit that tied up the miner, -too. Remember how he described the leader? 'About twice as tall as a -common Mexican'? That fellow's six-foot-two if he's an inch." - -"The gall of him," Sliver snorted. "What do you think o' that? After -_our_ horses! Well, they 'ain't got 'em yet. We'll jest ride along -behind the hill here an'--" - -But Jake, who was still gazing through the glasses, dryly interrupted. -"No, you bet he hain't. I've a hunch that the gent coming over the hill, -there, is the man that owns 'em." - -As yet the new-comer was unseen by the Colorados, and as, without pause, -he raced after them down the slope, Bull growled his admiration. "He's -sure got his nerve." - -"Mebbe he don't know they're Colorados." - -Perhaps Sliver was right. As the raiders' backs were turned, the daring -rider could not see the dreaded ensign. Or he may have thought that the -marauders would fly at the sight of him; intended to afford them -opportunity when he pulled his gun and fired. - -"Here comes his army!" Jake croaked. - -"Only a lad." - -Bull, who now held the glasses, made out both the youthful face, white -with anxiety, and the lithe swing of the young body in rhythm with the -galloping horse. The anxiety was justified, for as he also raced on down -the slope the Colorados swung in their saddles, let go a volley from -their short carbines, and dropped the first rider and horse in his -tracks. At the same moment the lad's hat, a soft slouch, blew off, -loosing a cloud of fair hair on the breeze. If it had not, a shrill -scream would still have proclaimed the rider's sex. - -"Hell!" Bull's astonishment vented itself in a sudden oath. "It's a -woman! a white girl--dressed in man's riding-togs!" - - - - -V: THE "HACIENDA OF THE TREES" - - -Strange is fate! From two points, perhaps the width of the world apart, -two lives begin their flow, and though their mutual currents be -deflected hither and thither by the winds of fortune, tides of chance, -yet will they eventually meet, coalesce, and roll on together like two -drops that join running in down a window-pane. - -Now between John Carleton, owner of some hundred thousand broad acres, -and the three rapscallions of Las Bocas the only possible relation would -appear to be that which could be established by a well-oiled gun. -Between them and Lee Carleton, his pretty daughter, any relation -whatever would appear still more foreign. Yet--but let it suffice, for -the present, that just about the time the Three had gained almost to the -_hacienda_ Carleton and his daughter had reined in their horses on the -crest of a grassy knoll that overlooked the buildings. - -A long pause, during which neither spoke, gives time for her portrait. -Rather tall for a girl and slender without thinness, her fine, erect -shoulders and the lines of her lithe body lost nothing by her costume; -riding-breeches of military cord, yellow knee-boots, man's cambric shirt -with a negligee collar turned down at the neck. Her features were small -and delicately cut; the nose piquant, slightly _retrousse_. Her eyes, -large and brown and widely placed under a low broad brow, vividly -contrasted with her fair skin and tawny hair. The face, as a whole, was -wonderfully mobile and expressive, almost molten in its swift response -to lively emotion. Just now, while she sat on gaze, it expressed that -curious yearning, half pathetic, that is born of deep feeling. - -"Oh, dad, isn't it beautiful!" - -The sweep of her small hand took in the range rolling in long sunlit -billows; but her eyes were on the _hacienda_--_Hacienda de los Arboles_, -named in the sonorous Spanish after the huge cottonwoods that lent it -pleasant shade. - -Built in a great square, its massive walls, a yard thick and twice the -height of a man, formed the back wall of the stables, adobe cottages, -storehouses, and granaries on the inner side. It also lent one corner to -the house which rose above it to a second story. Pierced for musketry, -with a watch-tower rising above its iron-studded gates, it was, in the -old days, a real fort. Besides the long row that followed the -meanderings of a dry water-course across the landscape, a cluster of -giant cottonwoods raised their glossy heads within the compound, shading -with checkered leafage the watering wells and house. Set amidst growing -fields of corn and wheat at the foot of a range that loomed in violet, -crimson, or gold, according to the hour, it was as pleasant a place as -ever a man looked upon and called his home. - -Carleton smiled as she added, "I'd hate to have been brought up in El -Paso or any other prosy American city." - -He might have replied that there were American cities she might find -less prosy than El Paso. But he was well content to have her think as -she did. - -His own gaze, overlooking the prospect, expressed the pride of -accomplishment with which men survey their completed work; nor was his -satisfaction less because the buildings themselves were not of his -creation. Coming here, sixteen years ago, with a nest-egg of two or -three thousand dollars, he had leased and let, bought and sold with -Yankee shrewdness; added acre to acre, flock to flock, until, at last, -he was in position to buy Los Arboles from a "land-poor" Spanish owner. - -To a man without imagination the fact that its foundations had been laid -almost four centuries ago by one of Cortes's _conquistadores_ might have -meant little. With Carleton it counted more than its broad acreage. From -a trove of old papers left by the former owner he had gathered many a -story of siege and battle, scandal and intrigue, consummated within its -massive walls. Instead of fairy-tales, he had told these to Lee during -her childhood, so that medieval atmosphere had penetrated her very -being. - -They seldom overlooked the _hacienda_, as now, without making some -observations anent its past. As in some vivid pageant, they saw the old -Dons, their _senoras_, _senoritas_, savage brown retainers, in the midst -of their fighting, working, loving, praying. By self-adoption, as it -were, Carleton, at least, had allied himself with them, had come to -think of himself as belonging to the family. - -"Great old fellows they were!" Though he spoke musingly, now, without -connection, she instantly caught his meaning, knew he was harking back. -"Great old chaps! I was looking into one of our land titles the other -day, and the records read in princely fashion. 'Between the rivers such -and such, of a width that a man may ride in one day,' that was a -favorite method of establishing boundaries. No paring of land like -cheese rinds; everything done by wholesale; no haggling over a few -square leagues." - -"And here comes one of them." Lee pointed her quirt at a horseman who -had just topped the opposite rise. "Doesn't he look it?" - -Surely he did. The _charro_ suit of soft tanned deerskin with its -_bolero_ jacket and tight pantaloons braided or laced with silver; the -lithe figure under the suit; dark, handsome face, great Spanish eyes -that burned in the dusk of a gold-laced _sombrero_; the fine horse and -Mexican saddle heavily chased in solid silver; the gold-hilted _machete_ -in its saddle sheath under the rider's leg, even the rope _riata_ coiled -around the solid silver pommel, horse, rider, and trappings belonged in -that pageant of the past. - -"It is Ramon Icarza," Carleton nodded. "He hasn't been here for a long -time." This he repeated in Spanish when the young man rode up. - -"Attending to the herds and the horses, senor. As with you, the most of -our _peones_ have run away to the wars. We have left only a few -_ancianos_ too feeble and stiff to be of much service. Still, with the -aid of the women we manage. That last requisition for the"--his shrug -was eloquent in its disdain--"_cause_. You paid it?" - -"Had to--or be confiscated." With a grin comical in its mixture of -amusement and anger, Carleton went on, "I raked up five thousand pesos -of Valles's money and took it to him myself. And what do you think he -said? 'I don't want that stuff. I can print off a million in a minute. -You must pay me in gold.'" - -Perhaps because humor has no place in the primitive psychology of his -race, Ramon received the news with a black frown. "The devil take him! -Yet you Americans are better treated than we, his countrymen. With us, -he takes all. Those poor Chihuahua comerciantes!" His hands and eyebrows -testified to Valles's scandalous treatment of the merchants. "First he -demands a contribution to the _cause_. Those who refuse are foolish, for -first he shoots them as traitors, then confiscates their goods. But the -poor devils who contribute, see you, fare little better; for with the -money he runs off a newspaper press he buys up the goods they have left. -In the old days we used to curse the locusts, senor; but they, at least, -left us our beasts and lands. Who would have thought, four years ago, -that you and the senorita here and my venerable father would be reduced -to become herders of cattle?" - -"Oh, but it's lots of fun!" Lee's happy laugh bespoke sincerity. "I love -it out here. They will never be able to get me back in the house. And -that reminds me that we're almost due there for lunch." - -"You'll stay, of course, Ramon?" Pointing to a couple of mares with -foals they had brought in from a distant part of the range, Carleton -added, "There's still another over in the next valley. If you will take -these along, I'll get her." - -Left to themselves, the young man and girl headed the mares toward the -_hacienda_, riding sufficiently in rear to check the sudden, aimless -boltings of the foals. The helplessness of the little creatures touched -the girl's maternal instinct, and though their stilts of legs, wabbly -knees, long necks, and big heads were badly out of drawing, she -exclaimed like a true mother over their beauty. - -"Oh, aren't they pretty!" - -Ramon agreed--as he would had she called upon him to admire a Gila -monster. Not that he had always followed her lead. Close neighbors--that -is, as neighboring goes in range countries where distance is reckoned by -the hundred miles--their childhood had compassed more than the usual -number of squabbles. Until the dawn of masculine instinct had bound him -slave to her budding beauty, they had upset the peace and dignity of -many a ceremonial visit by fighting like cat and dog. Lee knew, of -course, his mother and sister, and not until she had extracted the last -iota of family gossip did she bestow a sisterly inspection on himself -and clothes. Having passed favorably on the material, fit, and -trimmings, she reached for his _sombrero_. - -"You are quite the hacendado, now, Ramon, in that magnificent hat. Let -me look at it. What a beauty!" - -While she turned and twisted it, fingered the rich gold braid, examined -it with head slightly askew like a pretty bird, the natural glow -intensified in Ramon's big dark eyes; a wave of color flowed through the -gold of his skin. His mouth--too red and womanish for Anglo-Saxon -standards--drew into a tender smile. - -According to the canons of fiction, this was wrong. A man with a black -or brown skin must reserve his admiration for women of his race. Yet, -with singular disregard, for writer's law, Nature continued to weave for -Ramon her potent spells. The sunshine snared in Lee's hair, rose blush -of her skin, her womanly contours, the fine molding of her limbs, the -sweetness of youth, all the witcheries of form and color with which -Nature lures her creatures to their matings, affected the lad just as -powerfully as if he had been born north of the Rio Grande. - -On her part Lee ought to have resented his admiration. But here, again, -Nature utterly ignored "best seller" conventions. Brought up among -Mexicans, counting Ramon's sister her best friend, Lee felt no racial -prejudice. Wherefore, like any other young girl possessed of normal -health and spirits, she made the most of the situation. After -sufficiently admiring the hat, she tried it on. - -"How does it look?" - -As she faced him, saucily smiling from under the enormous brim, there -was no mistaking the "dare." Whether or no the custom obtains in Mexico, -Ramon caught the implication. - -"Pretty enough to--kiss!" - -With the word he reached swiftly for her neck, but caught only empty -air. Ducking with a touch of the spur, she shot from under his hand. - -The next second he was after her. Along the shallow valley for a -half-mile she led, then, whirling just as he rode alongside, she shot -back along the ridge. At the end he overtook her, and, anticipating her -whirl, caught her bridle rein. Leaning back, however, flat on her -beast's back, laughing and panting, she was still out of his reach; and -when he began to travel, hand over hand, along the bridle, she leaped -down on the opposite side and dodged behind a lone _sahuaro_. - -Sure of her now, he followed. But, dodging like a hare around the -_sahuaro_, she came racing back for the horses; might possibly have -gained them and made good her escape, if, glancing back over her -shoulder, she had not seen Ramon stumble, stop, then clasp his right -ankle. - -"Oh, is it sprained?" she cried, running back. Then, as, reaching -suddenly, he caught her, she burst out, "Cheat! oh, you miserable -cheat!" - -That all is fair in love and war, however, goes in all languages, and -while she punctuated the struggle with customary objections whereby -young maids enhance the value of a kiss, there was no anger in her -protests. Wrestling her back and down, he got, at last, the laughing -face upturned in the hollow of his arm; had almost reached her lips, -when, with force that sent Lee to the ground, he was seized and thrown -violently against the horse. - -In the excitement of the chase they had completely forgotten Carleton, -who had viewed its beginnings from the opposite ridge. By self-adoption -he had almost, as before said, identified himself with the Spanish -strain that had flowed for centuries through the _patios_ and compound -of Los Arboles. He had even come to think in Spanish; in custom and -manner was almost Mexican. But in moments of anger habit gives place to -instinct. The instinct that first formed and later preserved the tribe, -pride of race, overpowered friendship. In one second the young Mexican, -whom he had regarded for years almost as a son, was transmuted into the -despised "greaser" of the border. - -"You--you--" Choking with anger, eyes bits of blue flame, he strode at -Ramon, fist bunched to strike. - -But the blow did not fall, for, scrambling up again, Lee seized his arm -from behind. "Oh, dad! dad!" Despite his struggles, she clung like a -cat, defeating his efforts to shake her off. "Oh, dad! It was only a bit -of fun! all my fault! I put on his hat! Please don't!" - -If the young fellow had flinched, perhaps Carleton would have struck. -But, head erect, he quietly waited, and presently Carleton ceased -struggling. - -"All right! I'll let him go--this time. But, remember"--bringing his -clenched fist in a heat of passion into the palm of the other hand, he -glared at the young man--"remember! when this girl is kissed--it will be -by a man of her own breed. Get off my land!" After helping Lee to mount, -he vaulted into his own saddle and rode away, driving the mares and -foals before them. - -In accordance with before-mentioned precedents, Ramon ought to have -folded his arms and hissed a threat through gritted teeth. Instead, he -stood very quietly, his face less angry than sad, watching them go. His -little nod, in its firmness, would have become any young American; went -very well with his thought. - -"We shall see." - -Mounting, he rode away to the northward, and not till he had covered -many miles did he rein in his beast, so suddenly that it fell back on -its haunches. His dark face expressed vexation mixed with alarm. -"Maldito! I forgot to warn them that Colorados had been seen east of the -railroad. I must go back." - -On their part, Lee and her father rode on toward the _hacienda_. Though -he glanced at her from time to time, it was always furtively, for with a -man's dislike of scenes he made no reference to that which had just -passed. Nevertheless, it filled his mind. Man-like, he had watched her -develop into womanhood with scarcely a thought for her future. If he had -given the subject any consideration he would probably have concluded -that, sooner or later, she would choose a suitable mate from the -hundreds of American miners, railroad men, ranchers, and engineers that -had swarmed in the state of Chihuahua before the revolution. - -But with the clear vision of after sight he now saw that he had -unconsciously depended on the race pride which had just manifested -itself in himself to prevent her from contracting a mesalliance. Now, -with consternation, he faced the truth that racial pride is masculine; -contrary to both the feminine instinct and nature's scheme of things. - -"I was a fool!" he berated himself. "A damned fool! She will have to go -north--live in the States for a while." - -These and similar thoughts were whirling through his mind when they came -on a band of his horses at pasture under charge of an _anciano_, a -withered old _peon_, whose age and infirmities had estopped him from -joining the exodus to the wars. After cautioning the old fellow not to -allow the animals to stray too far, Carleton plunged again into deep -meditation. - -Had he not been thus preoccupied he would probably have long ago -discovered the five horsemen who were following at a distance, using the -natural cover afforded by the rolling land; for he always rode with a -powerful binocular in his holster, and often swept with it the prospect. -Several times the glass would have shown him a row of heads behind the -next ridge in rear. As it was, he had ridden to the crest of the rise -from which they had looked down on the _hacienda_ before habit asserted -itself. He had no sooner leveled the glasses than an exclamation burst -from his lips. "My God!" - -"What is it, dad?" Lee swung in her saddle, looking back at him. - -"Raiders! They are attacking Francisco! He has nothing but his staff! -He's fighting them like an old lion! My God, they're chopping him with -their machetes." It came out of him in staccato phrases. "Race in and -send out Juan, Lerdo, and Prudencia with rifles! Stay there! Don't dare -to follow!" - -Digging in his spurs, he galloped away. For a moment the girl hesitated. -Her eyes went to the _hacienda_, still half a mile away, then back to -her father racing madly down the slope. There was no time to go for -help! Loosening the pistol in her holster, she drove in her spurs and -galloped after. - -From Carleton's first appearance till the girl screamed all had passed -so quickly that the Three could only sit and gape. From their original -intent to rob Carleton it was a far cry to the reconstructed impulse to -succor and save him, and it speaks well for them that they accomplished -the revolution as soon as they did. - -The scream had not passed unnoticed by the Colorados. The leader, who -had turned to ride on, swung his beast, looked, then, as the girl -dropped from the saddle to her knees beside the wounded man, drove in -his spurs and galloped toward her. Heedless of her own danger, Lee was -trying to stanch with her handkerchief the bloodflow from Carleton's -chest, so lost in her agonized grief that she did not look up till the -Colorado leaped down and seized her. - -In this world there are savages who would have respected, for the time -at least, her white grief. But this was the man who had tortured the -miner and his _peones_; driven the latter naked through spiky cactus -after he had cut the soles off their feet. She sprang up when he seized -her, and as she fought bitterly, beating away his black, evil face with -her little fists, his strident laughter mingled with her wild sobbing -and carried to Bull behind the ridge. - -For three days this man's boast had rung in his brain: "We've killed -your men, outraged your women!" But though anger blazed within him, his -tone was icy cold. "Look after the others. I'll 'tend to him!" - -He had already pulled his rifle from the sling under his leg. Raising it -now, he lined the sights, the same sights that had directed a ball -through the brain of Livingstone's horse. While Lee writhed and twisted -in the Colorado's arms, he dared not shoot. He waited until, at the -double crack of his companions' rifles, two of the other Colorados -pitched headlong from their saddles. Then, as their leader paused to -look and, with a swift wrench, Lee tore loose and let daylight between -them, the rifle spoke, sent its bullet whistling through his brain. - -"Keep after them!" Bull called back as he rode on over the ridge. - -But already Jake and Sliver's rifles were barking like hungry dogs. -Trained to a hair in guerrilla warfare, the remaining Colorados had -spurred their beasts behind the horse herd. At the first shot the band -had stampeded, and now, urged on by the yells of the fugitives, who rode -crouched on their horses' necks, the scared animals coursed swiftly down -the valley. - -"The gall of them! _Our_ horses!" Repeating his former observation, -Sliver would have ridden after. - -But Jake caught his bridle. His bleak eyes were scintillating like -sunlit icicles. His lean, avid face quivered with subdued ferocity. -"Don't be a damn fool! They're only using 'em for cover! We'll shoot -along this side of the ridge an' catch 'em at the end of the valley!" - -Meanwhile Bull rode on down the slope. After a surprised stare that -showed her rescuers to be Americans, Lee had knelt again beside her -father. As before said, Bull was no beauty. His black beard, bushy -brows, hot red eyes, drink-blotched face, were of themselves sufficient -to frighten a woman. Yet when she looked up sympathy illumined his -countenance till it shone in her distressed sight as a clear lamp -radiating human feeling. Without fear or doubt she turned to him for -help. - -"It's my father! I'm afraid--Can't you do something?" - -So far Carleton had lain with his eyes closed. Now he opened them and -spoke in detached whispers as Bull knelt by his side. "You're--American. -I told her not to follow. Don't bother--with me. I'm shot--through lungs -and stomach--bleeding inside. Get Lee--back to the house." - -"Plenty of time," Bull soothed him. As a crackle of rifle-fire turned -loose in the distance, followed by sudden silence, he added, "That 'ull -be the last o' the Colorados. I'll fix you a bit, an' when my fellows -come back we'll jest pack you home." - -With a plainsman's skill in crude surgery, he tore up Carleton's shirt -to make a pad and bandage which he twisted with a stick till the -blood-flow stopped. This was no more accomplished before Jake and Sliver -rode up, driving the horses ahead. - -"They won't cut no more soles offen people's feet," Jake answered Bull's -questioning look. - -"Fine and dandy." Bull nodded. "You, Jake, rope a fresh horse outer the -band an' ride like hell to the railroad an' wire El Paso for a doctor." - -"No!" Lee eagerly suggested. "Wire the American Club at Chihuahua. These -dreadful days all gringos help one another." - -Freshly horsed, five minutes thereafter, Jake galloped away--but not -before, cold, crafty, laconic, dissolute gambler as he was, he had left -a comforting word in the girl's ear. "Don't you be skeered, Miss. I'll -bring out a doctor, if I have to ride inter El Paso an' raid a -hospital." - -As he went out of sight over the next roll Sliver, with the girl's aid, -lifted the wounded man up to Bull in the saddle. So for the second time -within three days did the giant rustler bear like a child in his arms a -_gringo_ victim of the Mexican revolution. To the leaven that had been -working within him was now added the most powerful influence that can be -brought to bear on a man--a woman's heartbroken sobbing. - - - - -VI: BULL TURNS NURSE - - -Passing over into the next valley, they came on the body of old -Francisco, hacked almost to bits. So far Lee had kept a strong grip on -herself. But now she burst out crying. - -"The poor fellow! He was faithful as a dog. We saw them cut him down, -and that caused dad to lose his head. Otherwise he would never have -tried to pursue them alone." - -"He was old--an' died a man's death," Bull offered her rough comfort. -"You couldn't wish him a better ending." - -It was man's reasoning, therefore contrary to her woman's feelings, yet -it helped to control her grief. She acquiesced at once when Bull -suggested that she ride ahead and prepare a room. - -By her departure Sliver was afforded an opportunity to get something off -his mind. After a glance at Carleton, who had relapsed again into -unconsciousness, he nodded at the horses. "Don't you allow I'd better -leave 'em here? After we get through with him we kin come back an'--" He -stopped, shuffled uneasily, under Bull's stare. - -"You're dead right! Don't trouble to say it. I'd steal the horses offen -a hearse." - -Bull's glance dropped again to the unconscious man. Then, very slowly, -he voiced his opinion, formed on frontier code: "Wait till he's well -enough to fight for his own. Till then--we leave him alone." - -Stepping at a lively gait, they passed in half an hour under the _patio_ -gateway. Within, arched _portales_ ran around three sides, supporting -the gallery of an upper story. From the red-tiled roof above a wonderful -creeper poured a cataract of green lace, so dense, prolific, that only -vigorous pruning kept it from burying the _portales_ beneath. In the -center rose a great _arbol de fuego_, "tree of fire," contrasting its -flaming blossoms with the rich greens of palms and bananas. - -They were met at the entrance by a flock of frightened brown women, -house servants, and _peonas_; for of the scores of men who had worked -for Carleton before the wars there were left only three withered -_ancianos_ to bear his body up the wide stone stairway to a room that -caught the fresh breeze from the mountains. - -Here Bull redressed the wounds. His skill, however, was only of the -surface. As it would require at least four days to bring a doctor even -from Chihuahua, he felt that unless Jake materialized one out of the dry -desert air Carleton would surely die. Nevertheless, he stoutly denied -the possibility to Lee during the two days that he shared her watch. - -Sliver, on his part, also did his best to cheer and comfort, relating -marvelous tales of accidents and illnesses that, by contrast, made -shooting through the lungs and stomach look smaller than a toothache. - -"You she'd have seen Rusty Mikel, Miss, the time his Bill-hoss turned a -flip-flop onto him. Druv' the pommel clean through his chest, it did. -Yet he was up an' around, lively as a bedbug by candle-light, in less 'n -five weeks." - -Surely without them the girl would not only have broken down, but her -father could never have survived to see the doctor, whose arrival was -announced by a rapid beat of hoofs the following evening. For Jake had -achieved the impossible, grabbed him, if not from midair, at least from -a revolutionary-hospital train that had stopped at the burned station to -bury its dead. - -The doctor was American. But even as he dismounted at the gate Bull -picked him for a "colonist." Just how, he himself could not have said. -His premature grizzle, unhealthy pallor, might have been due to -overwork. But a certain brooding quiet, seen only in those who have been -cut off for long periods from communication with their fellows, -impressed even Sliver. He remarked on it while they sat with Jake under -the _portales_ while he ate. - -"Say! but he's whitish. Looks like he'd done time." - -"He has," Jake nodded. "I had it from a Yankee machine-gunner in -Valles's army that had got himself shot through both arms an' was being -taken back to the base hospital with about a hun'red others. When I -landed at the burned station he was a-setting with his legs dangling out -of a box-car door, watching 'em bury his _companeros_ that had died on -the way. - -"'Gotter do it quick,' he says. 'They don't keep worth a darn in this -clime.' - -"He'd met Carleton once in Chihuahua, an' 'twas him that sent the doctor -an' tol' me about him while he was packing his grip. Seems that he'd -belonged to a gang that worked insurance frauds on American companies. -They'd insure some _peon_ that was about ready to croak, paying the -premiums themselves an' c'llecting the insurance after he cashed in. If -he lingered 'twas said that they hurried him. That was never quite -proved, most of 'em being too far gone to testify when they was -resurrected. But the doc had furnished the death certificate, an' as the -Mexicans ain't so particular about technicalities as our courts, he was -sentenced to be shot along with his pals. If he'd been Mexican they'd -have done it, too. But Diaz, who liked a bad gringo better than a good -greaser, commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. He'd actually -served twelve years--think of it, hombres! twelve years in a Mexican -jail before the revolutionists let him out to serve on their -hospital-trains." - -"Twelve years!" Sliver echoed it. "An' just for croaking a few Mex? He -orter ha' practised in New Mexico. They'd have give him a medal up -there." - -After Jake had eaten, the Three sat and smoked till the doctor came -down. While eating he made his report. "If I could do any good I'd stay. -But he will surely die to-night. It's going to be mighty hard on that -poor girl. Like most of us"--his glance took in all Three--"Carleton -didn't come down here for his health. It's bad form in Mexico to inquire -about a man's past. Nevertheless, it's pretty well known that he killed -the seducer of his wife and came here with the child when she was four -years old. She's never been away since, and has no kin that she knows -of. To run a hacienda, these days, is too big a job for a girl." - -His deep concern showed an underlying goodness. Genuine sadness weighted -his words when he gave his last orders from the saddle. "I've left an -opiate in case he suffers. He may regain consciousness, but don't be -deceived. It will be the last flare before the dark." - - -It happened at midnight. An hour before, Bull had put Lee out of the -room with gentle force to take needed rest. He had then moved his chair -to the door, which opened out on the _corredor_, to secure the free air -his rustler's lungs demanded. Across the compound he could see the -moon's pale lantern hanging in the branches of a yucca that upraised its -maimed and twisted shape on a distant knoll. Northward the mountains -loomed, dim and mysterious, in tender light that reduced the vivid -chromes and blues of lime-washed adobes in the compound to pale violet -and clear gold. - -_Gringo_ as he was, his people had lived under Carleton's hand fuller, -freer lives than their forebears had ever known under the Mexican -overlords, and, day or night, the _patio_ had never lacked a dozen brown -_peonas_ on their knees at their prayers to the saints. Under the _arbol -de fuego_ in the center of the _patio_ below three old crones had -erected a small altar, and its guttering candles now threw splashes of -gold up through the crimson dusk of the tree. Adding the human note -which, by contrast, accentuated the infinite mystery of that still -night, their mutterings rose up to Bull; bits of gossip sandwiched -between prayers. - -"Three crows perched here at sundown, Luisa. Thou knowest what that -means?" - -"Si; they were devils come for a soul." - -"'Tis a pity that all gringos are doomed to the flame. The senor was a -good master to us that had felt the iron fist of the Spaniard." - -"The senorita? She that is so sweet and good. Thinkest thou, Luisa, that -she also will be cast into hell?" - -"Not if my prayers can save, Pancha. Three great candles, at twenty -centavos the candle, have I burned on the altar of Guadalupe for her -soul's sake. There is yet time for her. But the poor senor--" her pause -doomed him. Nevertheless, with greater vigor they returned to their -prayers for his saving. - -The dim beauty of the night with its spread of moonlit plain, loom of -distant mountains, querulous supplication rising under cold stars, -combined to produce that awful sense of infinity that shrouds the riddle -of life. If Bull was incapable of philosophizing upon it, to translate -the feeling in thought, he still came under its sway. While it weighed -heavily upon him, there came a gasp and feverish mutter from the bed. - -In a second he was there. As he removed the shade from the candle he saw -Carleton's face lit by the last flare. Recognition and intelligence both -were there. - -"Where is--Lee? Sleeping? Don't wake her. Listen! She--must not--stay -here. Tell William Benson--he's rough and a bully--but honest and good. -Tell him to get a permit--from the revolutionists--to drive my cattle -and horses--across to the States. They will bring enough--to keep Lee -for many--a year. Be sure--" - -The halting voice suddenly failed. Even while Bull was reaching for a -stimulant the soul of the man passed out into the mystery beyond the -moonlit plains. - -For a while Bull stood looking down upon him. Then, very slowly, he made -toward the door that led to the girl's room. But as her tired face rose -before him he stopped and shook his head. "Let her finish her sleep." -Tiptoeing, instead, out to the gallery rail, he leaned down and softly -called the old women. - - - - -VII: THE RUSTLERS ARE ADOPTED - - -"Well, I reckon this about lets us out." - -The Three sat under the _portales_, heavily smoking. Bull puffed -meditatively at a strong old pipe. Between lungfuls Sliver toyed -absently with a cigarette. The necessities of dealing faro-bank had -trained Jake in the labial manipulations of his fat native cigar. As all -necessary readjustment could be made with the tongue or lips, his hands -were thrust deep in his pockets, a proof of profound mental -concentration. It was he who had spoken, and the "this" alluded to -Carleton's funeral, which had taken place the preceding day. - -It had been a quiet affair. William Benson, the nearest white neighbor, -happened to be in El Paso. Of a round dozen Mexicans of the better -class, eleven were wearily waiting on the other side of the border till -still another revolution should restore their territorial rights. The -Icarzas, Ramon and his father, a bewhiskered _hacendado_, attended, with -Isabel, the dusky beauty of the house. The Lovells, a small American -rancher and his two pretty daughters, represented the hundreds of -_gringos_, miners, ranchers, engineers, smelter men, who would have come -in normal times. So these, with Lee, Carleton's _peones_, and the Three, -had followed the rude ox-cart that bore him to the graveyard of a little -adobe church in the hills. Their duty in the premises being thus -consummated, the Three had resolved themselves into a committee on ways -and means. - -"Yes, I s'pose we'll have to move on." If not actually dismal, Sliver's -indorsement both expressed regret and invited contradiction. - -Bull did not speak. He was watching Lee and the Lovell girls, who had -just then stepped out of her room across the _patio_. Phyllis, the -younger, was to stay for a week, while Phoebe, the elder, returned home -with her father, who had just brought the horses to the gateway. As Lee -walked with her guests the length of the _patio_ she took with her the -sympathetic glances of the Three. - -Nature mercifully provides her own anesthesia, stunning the victims of -her catastrophes till the dangerous period of shock be passed. Later, -the sight of Carleton's riding-whip, spurs, or gloves, carelessly thrown -in a corner, would bring a violent recurrence of grief, set her -agonizing once more before the great blank wall of death. But just now -complete emotional exhaustion left her quiet and calm. Neither had she -made any attempt to bury her youth under the frowsy trappings of grief. -Even the black velvet riband she wore at her throat was purely -accidental, a natural trimming of her dress. - -Indeed, the other girls showed more outward sorrow. Though American -born, they were almost Spanish in their coloring, and their dusky eyes, -dark hair, rich cream skins provided a vivid foil for Lee's fairness. If -their eyes were swollen and nose tips chafed, the fact merely -accentuated their feminine charm. To the Three, deprived for years of -association with any but the lowest Mexican women, they swam in -sweetness and light. The graceful turn of a rounded neck, lift of a -smooth chin, flexure of a lithe waist aroused powerful memories. Like a -cleansing stream, the sweetness of their first young, cool loves swept -through their beings, purging them, for the moment, of shame and dross -and passion. - -"Adios, you fellows!" Lovell's friendly voice came floating back from -the gate. "Come and see us at San Miguel." - -It was the climax; the climax of a week during which, in place of -suspicion and distrust bred of the knowledge that every man's hand was -against them and theirs against every man, they had met only faith and -trust and friendship. The invitation instigated Sliver's muttered -exclamation: "Lordy! I'd like to! but--" - -"--it's no place for us." Bull nodded toward Lee. "It 'u'd be easier if -she was provided for. Think of her, alone here, an' a new revolution -breaking every other day!" - -"Pretty fierce," Jake coincided. "But if 'twas left to that young Mex at -the funeral yesterday--Ramon Icarza, wasn't that what they called him? -If 'twas left to him she'd soon be--" - -"--damned an' done for!" Sliver exploded. Hard eyes flashing, he added: -"Come to think of it, the son of a gun did behave sorter soft. No Mex -that was ever pupped is fit to even herd sheep for the little lady-girl. -Hell! if I thought she'd look twice his way, I'd croak him afore we -left." - -"It wouldn't be unnatural, she being raised here an' not knowing much -else." Bull's gloom was here pierced by a flash of thought. "I'll bet -you that's what her father dreaded when he said for Benson to try an' -get her up to the States. I wish the man was here so's I could tell him -afore we left." - -"Tol' her yet?" Sliver asked. - -Bull nodded. "Las' night. Said she hadn't given any thought, yet, to the -future." - -The two girls were now coming back from the gate. At first they made to -go down the opposite _portales_. Then Lee paused, gently disengaging her -arm from the other girl's waist, and came walking on alone. - -They rose and though she was, as before said, tall for a girl and well -formed, she appeared childlike by comparison with their crude bulk. They -felt it, and it drove in more keenly the sense of her loneliness. - -"Oh, shore!" with his customary impulsiveness, Sliver cut off her -attempts to thank them for their kindness. "We hain't done nothing worth -while." - -"Sliver's right." Jake's bleak eyes had grown almost soft. "You don't -owe us anything. All that's bothering us is--" - -"--that we kain't jest see how you're going to manage," Bull finished. -"Your father's idea--" He stopped. - -Her smooth white brow had drawn up into a thoughtful little frown. "It -isn't practicable. Valles would never permit us to drive horses across -the border. We have asked him once before. And if he would--" Her -sweeping hand took in the sunlit _patio_, the brown _criadas_ -soft-footing it along the _corredor_; the compound ablaze with barbaric -color; the _peonas_ gossiping in the shade at the well; all of that -medieval life that wraps Mexico in the sunshine of the past. "And if he -would--I could never be happy in the United States. I was brought up to -this. I'm part of it, and it of me," she concluded, with a firm little -nod. "I shall carry on my father's work." - -The Three looked at one another. Bull's troubled look, Jake's dubious -brows, Sliver's cough, all expressed their common doubt. "Can you do it, -Miss, alone?" - -"I sha'n't be altogether alone. Mr. Lovell and Mr. Benson will be here -to advise, and I shall hire an American foreman. If you--" she paused, -looking them over with sudden interest, then shook her head. "Of course, -that's absurd! You have your own business. But perhaps you might know -some one?" - -The Three looked at one another again, the same thought in the mind of -each. Well they knew how close they were to the end of their rope. As in -a cinematograph they saw Don Manuel, insolent and threatening; the -American border tightly closed; the _fusilado_ against a 'dobe wall that -would surely end their Mexican operations. Black as a thundercloud that -dark prospect stood out against the sunlit peace of the past week. Yet, -to do them justice, the girl's helpless situation affected them most. If -they paused, it was with the natural hesitation of men surveying a new -path. - -Jake spoke first. "To tell the truth, Miss, we ain't exactly what you'd -call rushed with business." - -"Like all of us--upset by the revolutions." She jumped to the natural -conclusion, "Were you--mining?" - -A picture of the lair on the bench of the abandoned mine flashed before -all Three. Not without truth was Bull's statement, "We ain't worked it -much, of late." - -"Peones all gone to the wars, I suppose?" - -A sudden memory of Rosa's desertion permitted Sliver to say, "The las' -we had left jest t'other day." - -Her pretty face brightened. "Then you mean to say that you are free for -the present?" - -That was exactly what they had! - -She went on, slowly: "I'll have to be frank. We own about a hundred and -sixty or seventy thousand acres of land. But we haven't been permitted -to sell any stock for two years, so have no ready cash. I don't know, -even, whether I could pay a regular wage. But if you would take what I -can scrape up and wait for the remainder till things quieten--" - -"Don't you be bothering about that, Miss," Bull broke in. "We'll stay, -an' when it comes that you don't need us any longer--" - -"--we ain't a-going to bust you with no claims for high wages," Sliver -concluded. "To tell you the truth, Miss, I'd be willing to work for my -board jest to feel at loose on a range ag'in." - -His enthusiasm brought her smile, and though it was but a wintry effort, -it still added warmth to her words. "Then--now you are _my_ men." - -The accent on the "my" unconsciously expressed the deepest lack of her -bereavement, the sudden check to the natural feminine instinct to own -and care for a man. The isolation of herself and her father amid an -alien brown people had undoubtedly tended to develop it in her to the -fullest. Though Carleton had grumbled, man-like, at her pretty tyrannies -in manners and modes, shirts and socks, he had, surreptitiously, hugely -enjoyed it. Now, the stronger for her sorrow, that dominant trait broke -loose on the devoted heads of the Three. - -"_My_ men!" It sealed their adoption. - -"Phyllis, come here!" She was eying them with that microscopic feminine -scrutiny that detects the minutest personal defect. Her gesture of -despair when the other girl came up was so lovingly insulting it could -not have been outdone by the best of mothers. "They are going to work -for me, so we'll have to care for them. Do you suppose we can _ever_ get -them to rights?" - -Phyllis wasn't quite sure, but as her interest while real was more -casual, she held out hope. "They'll look better, dear, after they're -washed and mended." - -That was too mild for Lee. Nothing but revolution, drastic and complete, -would satiate that hungry instinct. "No, they'll have to have new -things. The store is run down badly, but it will supply their present -needs." - -With something of the air of convicts arraigned before a stern judge the -Three listened to certain other frank comments upon their appearance. As -laid down, their reconstruction included shaves for Sliver and Jake, a -beard-trim for Bull, hair-cuts for all three. To this they meekly -agreed; took their new things with sheepish thanks when they were -brought from the store; endured all with resignation, if not -cheerfulness, up to the moment that she tried to quarter them in the -house. Then the last shreds of masculine independence asserted -themselves. They made a stand. - -"If it's all the same, Miss," Jake pleaded, "we'd sooner bunk down in -one of those empty adobes." - -Sliver supported the rebellion. "You see, Miss, we're that rough an' not -used to ladies' society--" - -"An' we smoke something dreadful," Bull added his bit. "You really -couldn't stan'--" - -"Oh, I wouldn't mind it a bit. I love tobacco smoke. It's half of -Mexico." - -Deprived of their last weapon, the Three could only stand and fidget -till Phyllis came to the rescue. Her interest, as aforesaid, being -founded merely on the general principles of loyalty to her sex, she -could afford to be generous. - -"They'll want to play cards and generally carry on," she whispered. "Men -always do. Let them sleep in the adobe and take their meals with you at -the house." - -A compromise thus effected, Lee marched the Three to their new abode. -But this was not the end. Just as they were about to settle therein she -turned loose upon them a veritable hornets' nest of brown _criadas_. All -afternoon they found themselves encircled, as it were, by clouds of -flying skirts, and when the flutter subsided the adobe stood scrubbed -and dusted and furnished with _catres_, bed-clothing, wash-stands, -chairs, and a table for the "cards and general carrying on." When the -invasion, brown and white, finally withdrew, and the suggested changes -in apparel and personal appearance were duly consummated, they were left -gazing with something of awe and a great deal of wonder at their -reconstructed selves. - -"You look almost human," Jake gave his opinion of Bull. "A touch with a -powder-puff an' I allow you might mash one o' them criadas." - -Catching himself up short, Sliver walked to the door to expectorate. -"It's dreadfully clean in here," he remarked, coming back. "But I reckon -we'll sorter get used to it. Now if we on'y had a bottle o' aguardiente -to hold a bit of a house-warming, it 'u'd--" - -Bull looked at him with sudden sternness. "Look here! We've got the care -of a young girl on our han's. There's going to be no boozing--at least -on the premises. When you feel you kain't stan' it any longer, light out -somewheres an' get it over." - -"That's right," Jake lent support to the moralities. "Though it sorter -looks to me like she'd adopted us." - -As a matter of fact, the girls' talk, walking back to the house, quite -favored the latter theory. While overseeing the housecleaning Lee had -obtained temporary surcease from her grief. She laughed softly at -Phyllis's remark, "Aren't they big and crude and funny?" - -"Helpless and clumsy as children. But just wait till I've had them a -month." - -"Won't it be a little difficult? They're grown up; can't be treated like -babies." - -"Not a bit." Lee laughed softly again. "If one of them misbehaves, I -shall quietly draw the attention of another to it. Mr. Jake will correct -Mr. Bull; and Mr. Sliver, Mr. Jake. If they were girls they'd see -through it at once. Being men, they'll feel quite perked up." - -Why they should have thought it so funny is hard to say. Perhaps their -merriment proceeded from that obscure source whence issues the -disappointment of a woman after she has molded masculine clay in her own -likeness, and wishes it back in all of its crudity again. In any case, -as they looked forward to that most delightful of feminine visions, a -crude man-animal, tamed and parlor broke, they laughed again. - - - - -VIII: "THE LEOPARD'S SPOTS" - - -It was not done with malice aforethought, for Sliver had not quite -reached the point where "he couldn't stan' it any longer." It just -happened. Heavy drinkers may be divided into three classes--to wit, the -sporadic, who break out in occasional wild debauches; the "steadies," -who sop, sop, sop all the time; and a third class which combines the -traits of the other two. Of the Three, Bull represented the first, Jake -the second, Sliver the last and worst. - -If Sliver had not ridden his horse along the crest of a certain hog's -back on the chance that the cattle he was hunting might be in the ravine -below, it might never have come to pass. If Napoleon Bonaparte, for -matter of that, hadn't developed indigestion at Waterloo; if Christopher -Columbus had followed the Church instead of the sea; if Julius Caesar -had been born a girl; if all the cats on all the famous fences of -history had happened to jump the other way--this world would be quite -different. So let it suffice that Sliver rode along the hog's back. - -At its end the ridge ran out on a wide bench from which Sliver looked -over the foot-hills, rolling tumultuously under a black blanket of -chaparral out to the tawny valleys of the _hacienda_ pastures. Below, he -could see a path that ran with a silver stream at the bottom of the -ravine. Its deep rut, no wider than the swing of a mule, marked it for -one of those ancient highways whose place had been usurped by the Diaz -railways. In its heyday the canon had rung with the tinklings of the -mule-trains that transported _aguardiente_, maize, tobacco, serapes, and -cloths between Mexico City and Santa Fe. But of that great traffic there -now remained barely enough to support the little _fonda_ that lay with -its mule _patio_ almost at Sliver's feet. - -Though no one was in sight, he set down certain moving black dots as -chickens, goats, or pigs. Thus assured of tenancy, and thinking that he -might pick up some news of his strays, he rode on down a trail that -zigzagged through the chaparral. - -Looking down from above, Sliver had noted the resemblance of the place -to the lair back on the miner's bench in Sonora. The _ramada_ of grass -and cornstalks might have been the same. Only that she was younger and -prettier, the Mexican girl who knelt before a _metate_ grinding -_tortilla_ paste could have passed for Rosa herself. Though Mexican -Indian, some vagrant Spanish strain had pushed up her brow, reduced her -cheek-bones, shortened her waist, and lengthened her limbs. Masses of -black hair framed her oval face. Her eyes were velvet pools; the nose -small and well shaped. Her bare arms tapered from fine shoulders to -small wrists, and if she followed Juno rather than Psyche in her -luxurious molding she was pliant as a willow, carried her shapely -poundage with an effect of slimness. - -If Sliver noted these desirable personal assets, his interest therein -disappeared after he had spied the sign, "Fonda," over the door. True, -the month which had now elapsed since they entered Lee's service had -not, however, been entirely "dry." At the close of each day's work the -Three took their _copa_ with the _ancianos_ at the _hacienda_ store in -the Mexican fashion. But the application of liquor in such medicinal -doses to a thirst like Sliver's was equivalent to the squirting of -gasolene upon a fire. Now, as he gazed at the sign, spirituous desires -flamed within him. It was with difficulty that his dry lips formed his -question to the girl. - -Was there a _copita_ of _aguardiente_ to be had? - -Nodding, she rose, and as she let down a small wooden door in the wall -Sliver's glance licked the rows of bottles within. - -_Tequila_, anisette, _aguardiente_, _mescal_, every variety of liquid -fire with which the Mexican _peon_ burns out his stomach, stood there in -deadly array. Beginning at one end, Sliver worked his way, during the -next two hours, along the row, and had just started back again when, -with some surprise, he noted a most curious phenomenon--to wit, the gray -hair and deep wrinkles the girl had suddenly acquired. Quite unaware -that she had resigned his thirst to her father, and was even then -vigorously rubbing _tortilla_ paste behind his back, he solemnly studied -this startling metamorphosis. Drunk as he was, his cowman's instinct had -kept him warned of the sun's declension. Sure, now, that he had had -enough, he paid his score, gravely addressing his host, meanwhile, -concerning his changed appearance. - -"You she'dn't do it. It's--hard on the nerves. Keep it up an'--you'll -drive your custom away." - -Having climbed into the saddle, he remained there because of that -merciful provision of nature by which a man may ride long after he has -lost the power to walk. Realizing his condition, he left the business of -going home to his horse. While it carried him down the canon and out -across the plains he concentrated his remaining energies on "The -Cowboy's Lament," howling its one hundred and one verses at the top of -his voice, sending warning of his coming a full mile ahead. - - -In the mean time Bull with Lee, Jake "on his lonely," had pursued the -search for the strays in other directions. It chanced that luck rode -with the former. Returning home at sundown, Jake saw them driving the -cattle along a shallow valley. - -During the month which had elapsed since her father's death Lee had -taken the only real panacea for grief--hard work. In addition to the -management of the house _criadas_, she exercised a feudal overlordship -over the _hacienda peones_. Besides hiring and letting, leasing of lands -on charges, she acted as judge in their squabbles, adviser in their -small affairs, comforter in trouble. In addition, her womanhood brought -extra duties. She had to godmother the babes, attend christenings, -doctor the sick, lend her patronage to the _bailes_ and _fiestas_. - -Most of these duties she discharged in the mornings. Afternoons she -donned her man's riding-togs and rode out with the Three, rounding up -strays, new-born calves, and foals. At nights her fair head might be -seen under a golden aureole lent by the lamp, while she mended or made -for them and herself. If it lacked the stimulation and color of city -life, it was, at least, a healthy and honest existence. Already it had -restored her shocked nerves, given back her roses. She had never been -prettier than when, reining in, she looked back at Jake as he came up! - -"We found them! _we_ found them!" Her pride in the fact provoked Jake's -smile. "They were up in the Canon del Norte. Whatever in the world is -that?" - -It might have been anything from the last puff of a worn-out calliope to -the yelp of a sick coyote, for at its best Sliver's voice rarely came -within a quarter of a mile of a specified tune, and an hour's steady -tearing into "The Cowboy's Lament" had not improved its tone. As the -raucous strains came floating down the wind Lee burst into a bubbling -little laugh. - -"Mr. Sliver isn't hardly what you could call a singer. Is he--often -taken like that?" - -They could have answered quite easily, Sliver's vocal efforts being ever -timed by his potations. Instead, they looked at each other in blank -disgust. Nor was answer necessary, for just then Lee dug in her spurs -and shot after a wild steer that had taken a sudden notion to go back to -the Canon del Norte. - -"Piously drunk!" Jake swore loudly, as soon as she passed beyond -earshot. "Wonder where he got it!" - -"Search me," Bull shrugged. "The question is how to stop him. You know -what to expect if he's loose an' drunk among all them _peonas_. You ride -on an' head him off. Don't stan' any nonsense. Bat him over the can if -nec'ssary." - -The admonition was not required, for Jake was always thorough. Neither -was it his habit to waste time on argument or persuasion. Having roped -Sliver, ten minutes thereafter, from behind a convenient bush, he gagged -and cinched him in his saddle, hustled him in by the back gate of the -compound, had him lashed to his _catre_ in their adobe before Lee and -Bull arrived. - -So far, all was well. Their real troubles began when at supper Bull -replied to Lee's inquiry concerning Sliver's absence that he "wasn't -feeling well." - -She jumped up at once. "Oh, the poor fellow! I must go and see what he -can eat!" - -A vivid mental picture of the "poor fellow," gagged and lashed to his -_catre_, filled them with consternation. Bull inwardly cursed himself -for not having reported Sliver absent. But while he floundered, beating -his brains for a second excuse, the crafty Jake supplied it. - -"I wouldn't--really, Miss." - -She stopped, half-way along the _portales_. He had spoken so earnestly. -"Why not? Is it--catching?" - -Bull would have replied in the affirmative, regardless of further -complications. Jake shook his head. "No, it's just chills an' fever, a -sorter constitutional ague he's taken with at this time o' the year. -But--well, Miss, it's this way, Sliver's that bashful, though you -mightn't think it to look at him, he'd die of shame if a young lady was -to see him in his bunk." - -She hesitated, then came back. "But--he ought to be looked after." - -"He has been." Jake clinched the victory. "A copa's the finest thing in -the world for chills. He's had a couple an' was sleeping like a babe -when we came in." - -She gave in with a sigh. "Then we won't wake him. But you must take him -a tray when you go out." - -But if her dominant instinct was thus, for the time, frustrated, it -broke out more violently the following morning. When Sliver would fain -have carried his aching head and sick stomach out to some secluded -portion of the range, to be wretched at his ease, Lee "shooed" him like -a sick chicken into a corner of the _patio_, there to be coddled and -doctored with slops and brews compounded by her brown maids, every -mother's daughter of whom had her own infallible "_remedio_." His real -contrition was made none the lighter by the veiled jestings of his -companions at meals. - -"Invalid looks a bit better," Jake would opine. - -"A week's careful nursing orter bring him around," Bull would add. Then -while prodding him with secret gibes, they ate with a zest that turned -his poor, burned-out stomach. - -That night, moreover, he furnished the text for a rude sermon after they -got him alone in the adobe. "I s'pose neither of you saints would ha' -stopped even to smell of it," he sarcastically inquired, after -confessing how and where he obtained the liquor. - -"'Tain't that," Bull admonished him. "I'm pretty near due for a bust -myself. But when it hits, you bet I'll go somewheres so's the sight of -my hoggishness ain't a-going to offend our girl. No, 'tain't that you -acquired a bun we're kicking at, but that you toted it back here." - -"You bet y'u," Jake added. "Next time you're took that-a-way, have 'em -hide your horse, then lie down with your nose in it an' don't budge till -you're through. Have you done, now, or is there anything out there you -forgot to drink?" - -"Through? Oh, Lordy! Lordy!" Sliver groaned. "My liver's burned right -out!" - -"Bueno!" Jake nodded his satisfaction. "Then if you've finished I'm free -to begin. My fingers has been itching to get into a game for a week. -That's where you fellows have me at a disadvantage. All you've gotter do -is to find a bottle, but mine's simply gotter have cards in it. I don't -get off short of El Paso. I reckon some of that important mining -business of our'n calls for my presence there day after to-morrow." - -"All right, get it over," Bull agreed, after a moment's rumination. -"Tell her at breakfast. She'll fix you up with the fare." - -"'Tell her at breakfast'?" Jake looked his scorn. "An' have her running -an' fixing me out with socks an' shirts an' things like I was going off -on honest business. Not on your life! When she looks at me, so amiable -and trustful, like she felt I was straight grain through an' through, I -simply kain't fix up my mouth for a good lie. No, you fellows can jest -give me all you've got. With any kind of luck it'll turn you big -interest. You can tell her that I left in the night so's to catch an -early train." - -So real was his feeling, he did rise and leave before daylight. But -thereby his moment of shame was merely postponed. - -When Jake arrived in El Paso--But the less said about his sojourn there -the better. His operations, which included the fleecing of some -cattlemen, would not make edifying reading. He may be picked up again at -the moment he was, as aforesaid, overtaken by shame, when Lee spied him, -a week later, coming through the _patio_ gateway. - -"Oh, you poor man!" she exclaimed at the sight of his haggard face. -"They must have worked you all night." - -"Which they did work me overtime," he confessed to Bull, in the adobe -that evening. "Five days an' most of the nights I sat inter one game. -Look at this!" - -The roll he held up contained two thousand and some odd hundreds of -American dollars. "When I seen how the luck was heading my way I pulled -a side partner into the game, for I saw what a chance it was to fatten -Miss Lee's hand. He was a-- - -"What are you crinkling your nose at?" he hotly demanded of Bull. "This -ain't no tainted money. I took it from some sports that had been buying -horses from Mexican raiders. Mebbe some of 'em came from this very -ranch. Anyway, in default of finding the real owners, who has a better -right to their money than the little girl?" - -"'Tain't that." Bull shook his head. "I was on'y thinking that I'd -liefer you tried to give it her than me. She don't look like she'd take -easily to charity." - -"_That so?_" Jake regarded him cynically. "Now kain't you jest hear me -a-saying, 'Please, Miss, will you please take this, you need it so bad?' -But is there any reason why she should object to us investing a couple -of thousand in horses?" - -"No; but she will." - -And Bull was right. When, next morning, Jake, speaking for the Three, -made his proposition, Lee shook her head. "It's only a question of time -before the revolutionists run off all the stock. Then where would be -your two thousand dollars?" - -"In the same box with yours--stowed safely away where we can't spend or -lose it, till Uncle Sam makes Mexico pay our claims," Jake argued. "The -risk we're willing to take, because we expect to buy cheap on that -account." - -At that she wavered; with a little more pressing, acceded. And thus by -devious ways did the blind god of chance atone for many a former error, -turning evil to good, if only for once. - - - - -IX: A PARTY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES - - -"Lady-girl's a-going to have a birthday." - -The remark issued from the blue tobacco reek that filled the bunk-house. -So thick it was the lamp on the table sent forth a feeble golden glimmer -that barely revealed the sketchy outlines of the Three stretched at ease -on their _catres_. But the title "Lady-girl," Sliver's especial name for -Lee, stamped the remark as coming from him. - -"That so?" Bull and Jake spoke in chorus. "How'd you know?" - -"She asked me to write a piece, t'other day, in her birthday-album, an' -looking through it I kem on her day." - -"She asked me, too," Jake admitted. "What did you write?" - -"'Roses is red, violets is blue; sugar is sweet, an' so air you.'" - -"A real nice piece, too," Jake commented upon this classic. "I like it -better 'n mine." Nevertheless, with the secret pride of your true poet, -he gave his own: - -Under pressure, Bull also admitted a descent into poetry. "I ked on'y -think of a verse that a girl once wrote in my sister's album when I was -a kid. 'Tain't near as good as yourn. - - "My pen is dull, my ink is pale; - My love for you will never fail." - -"I think it's pretty fine," the others commended the effort. - -After a thoughtful pause, consecrated by heavy smoking, Bull asked, "How -old is she, Sliver?" - -"Rising twenty, be the date." - -"Seems to me we orter raise a little hell in honor of the 'casion--if -it's on'y to keep her from feeling lonesome." - -"Little bit close on the funeral," Jake tentatively suggested. "Jest -about three months, ain't it?" - -"Yes, for a regular party. My idea was just to tip off the Lovells an' -have 'em drop in that day." - -"We might shoot things up a bit, too," Sliver began, but Jake cut him -off with utter scorn. - -"This ain't no cowman's jamboree. Girls don't like any shooting except -what they do with their own pretty mouths. A cake with candles 'u'd be -my idee." - -"'Cake'?" Sliver now returned the scorn. "Kain't you see these Mexican -dames baking a real, sure-enough birthday cake made out of raisins an' -curran's an' cit-tron peel, an' with spice fixin's to it? An enchilada -stuffed with store prunes 'u'd be the best they ked do." - -"Oh, I don't know." Bull poured the oil of quiet counsel on the troubled -waters. "What about Mrs. Mills?" - -He referred to the widow of an American rancher who, with the aid of her -young daughter and a few _peones_, had kept their _rancho_ going since -her husband's death. "If one of us was to ride over to-morrow I'll bet -you she'd fix up a cake, if 'twas only a three-layer chocolate. As for -candles, candles an' beer-factories are the main products of Mexico." - -Thus was the ball set rolling, not only for the party, but also toward -consequences unforeseen; and it received a second fillip when Bull -delivered his invitation to the Lovells at San Miguel midway of the -following afternoon. It chanced that Phoebe's _fiance_, a young mining -engineer, had arrived the preceding evening, bringing with him a friend, -a smelter man from El Paso. With the enthusiasm of youth they proceeded -to enlarge upon the plan after Bull rode on. - -"It would be a shame to leave out Isabel Icarza," Phyllis warmly -declared. "She and Lee have always been such good friends." - -Accordingly, a _mozo_ delivered an invitation at the _Hacienda del Sol_ -about the same time that Bull dismounted at the widow's _rancho_. - -The widow, a woman of thirty-five or six, whose comeliness indicated -former real beauty, fell at once for the plan. While Bull was eating -supper she began on the cake. Having met her but once before, he -developed a certain shyness. But if his communications with her bordered -on the formal, he yielded himself captive without reserve to Betty, her -small daughter. - -Though nearly thirteen, with the promise of being as pretty in her -flaxen whiteness as Lee herself, isolation had conserved, if anything, -the girl's childishness. Sitting on a chair opposite Bull, she prattled -happily while they both seeded raisins, questioning him with an artless -directness that sometimes proved embarrassing. - -Had he a father, mother, sister? Where did they live? What was his -business? Married? Why not? And when he returned the usual answer that -no one would have him she brought him to sudden and utter confusion. - -"Oh, I'm so glad! Mother would take you, I'm sure. I'd just love to have -you for my father. Will you please marry her, then she will never be -anxious or fearful again?" - -Her mother's merry laugh helped to cool Bull's blushes. "Don't be -specially insulted. She says that to every one." Then, brave little soul -though she was, she lifted a corner of the curtain that veiled an -ever-present fear. "It's true that I get sometimes terribly anxious. -Mexicans are lovely people when they're kept in their place. But since -Diaz was overthrown they're like a school of naughty children, let loose -without morality, discipline, or guidance to protect them from -themselves. Sometimes I think we ought to leave, but if we did the place -would be sacked and burned before we reached the railroad. So I'd rather -take the risk than be a pauper in the United States. But there, I'm -ungrateful talking this way instead of thanking Providence we've got -along so well." - -"That's the way to look at it, ma'am," Bull encouraged her. While a -wicked flash shot from under his black brows he added, "If any one -bothers you jest send for us." - -"Oo-oh, but you looked fierce then!" the child gave a delighted shudder. -"Do it again." Though a humorous twinkle sterilized the rehearsal, she -consoled herself with the reflection: "'Tisn't the same. But I'll bet -you're muy malo when you fight." - -"It's a good thing if he is." From the sink, where she was washing -currants, her mother surveyed with approval Bull's imposing bulk. "It -was a great relief when we heard that you and your friends were staying -with Lee." - -Later, when Bull's shyness had somewhat abated, she spoke more -intimately. From Ramon himself she had learned of his expulsion from Los -Arboles. "Ramon is a nice boy, yet no one could blame Mr. Carleton," she -said. "Yet what is Lee to do? Before the revolution she could have taken -her pick from scores of young Americans, but now they're all gone." -Laughing, she finished with a remark which was destined, later, to -produce unexpected results. "I guess we'll have to import her a -husband." - -Bull's heavy rumble echoed her laugh. It broke out again when Betty -cried out: "While you're at it get one for me. I simply won't marry a -greaser." - -Because of the unusual proceedings she was allowed to sit up. Caught -yawning while the cake was baking, she fled to Bull's knee, from which -strategic position she defeated her mother's best efforts to coax her to -bed. Whereafter she promptly celebrated her victory by falling asleep. -Curled against him in trustful comfort, she slept with her fair head -pillowed on his mighty chest till, the cake finished, he carried her to -bed. A _catre_ had been moved out for him under the _portales_. But -after silence and sleep descended on the house he sat for a long time on -its edge, softly musing, the warmth of the child's body enwrapping his -heart. Even Jake, whose sharp eyes had detected many an alien expression -on that scarred visage of late, would have wondered at its tenderness. - -Betty was still asleep when he mounted to leave next morning, but at the -beat of hoofs she came running, bare feet and legs flying under her -nightdress. Stooping, he swung her to the saddle before him. The -pressure of her warm arms around his neck, soft lips on his cheek, put a -thrill of earnestness into his farewell. - -"Remember, ma'am, we'll come whenever you call." - -A quarter-mile away he drew rein and looked back. Though smaller than -Los Arboles, the _rancho_ buildings grouped picturesquely in a pocket of -the foot-hills. The rich purple and crimson blossoms of a bougainvillea -vine that almost buried the house made a fine splash of color against -the golden adobe walls and tawny pastures. Drenched in sunlight, roofed -in by fleecy clouds sailing across the deep blue vault above, it seemed -the abode of peace. But not so did Bull see it. It loomed through a -dread mirage that squirmed with ugly fighting shapes. - -Shaking his big head, he spoke aloud. "'Tain't safe for them here, -'tain't safe!" - -So vivid was that dread feeling, presage of evil, the sweat broke on his -brow. Into his mind shot a vivid picture of the miner hanging limply -from the _sahuaro_, face turned up to the torrid sun. Around it, as in a -whirling nightmare, revolved all of the horrors, outrages, and murders -of three awful years. Turning, he shook his big fist at the northern -horizon in fierce rebuke of the political lethargy and executive -indifference on the other side of the border that had not only made the -long list of outrages possible, but almost set the seal of approval upon -it. Anger choked him. With the growl of a furious dog he turned again -and rode on. - - -It may be laid down as a general principle that a woman never forgets -and a man seldom remembers anniversaries. These tendencies are due to -the fact that a woman lives principally in the past and present, a man -in the future; while she observes past occasions, he creates new ones. -Whether she be looking forward with youthful joy, or looking back with -increasing regret, a woman specializes upon her birthdays. But, -accustomed to her father's bad memory, Lee had not expected any one to -remember; was accordingly astonished and pleased when, coming to -breakfast that morning, she found the table decorated with trailing -vines and a bouquet of wild flowers at her plate that had been picked by -Sliver. - -"Why--" she gave a little gasp. Then her shining glance accused the -Three, whose sheepish grins loudly proclaimed their guilt. "How _did_ -you know? What's this?" - -While she was unwrapping the tissue-paper in which Mrs. Mills had -wrapped the cake the Three looked on with eager expectance, and were -treated to a second bath of sunshine. "A _real_ cake! Where _did_ you -get it?" - -In a country where cakes, if not actually hanging on every tree, may be -either home-grown or plucked from the counter of any pastry cook, her -joy might have seemed exaggerated. But in that alien desert, stripped of -its substance to the bare hot bones by repeated revolutions, the -conjunction of a sure-enough cake with a girl's birthday verged on the -miraculous. Nor was Lee's pleasure lessened after she heard at what -pains it had been produced. - -It was, of course, merely the first of the day's surprises, some of -which were purely accidental, as when William Benson rode in at noon. As -a matter of fact, his visit pertained to a defensive alliance against -raiders, but, being warned in time, he straightway credited his visit to -the birthday. A bluff Englishman, almost as big as Bull, hot-tempered -and overbearing in manner, he fell with great joviality into the spirit -of the occasion; kissed and congratulated Lee with the license of old -friendship. His big, hearty laugh was resounding in the _patio_ when the -second irruption of the Lovells and their _fiances_--for Phyllis had -conquered the smelter man in record time--occurred midway of the -afternoon. And they were no more than settled under the _portales_ -before, like some rich, dusky bird, Isabel Icarza came floating under -the arched gateway into Lee's arms. - -"But you surely did not come alone?" Though that was exactly what she -might have done herself, Lee looked at her in horror. - -"Ah no, querida! Ramon escorted me, and will return to-morrow!" - -"You don't mean to say that he has--" Lee stopped, for she had caught, -just then, a glimpse of him riding away. - -"Your father--you remember--he thought--" - -Isabel stopped in her embarrassed explanations for, like a scared white -bird, Lee was flying through the gateway. Grabbing Isabel's horse from -the _anciano_ who was just about to lead it around to the compound, she -leaped into the saddle and went flying down the trail. - -Turning at the sound of hoofs, Ramon waited for her. It was the first -time they had met since the funeral, and though embarrassment would have -been quite natural, Lee's frank greeting put him at once at his ease. - -"You were going away--on my saint's day?" - -"It was out of respect for--" - -She cut off his apology. "Yes, yes, but father was angry and unjust that -day. He would have acknowledged it himself, had he lived. You must come -back, at once, with me." - -Not knowing the cause of her sudden flight, Bull had followed to the -gateway. As he stood there watching the two returning, Benson's voice -broke at his shoulder. - -"That's the hell of raising a girl in this country. I spoke often to -Carleton about it, but he was a lonely man and couldn't bear to have her -away. I suppose that he felt she was perfectly safe with him." - -Knowing him for Lee's sincere friend, Bull did not scruple to hand on -the information he had gained from Mrs. Mills. Benson received it with a -low, shocked whistle. - -"And the poor man had to meet death with that on his mind? She hasn't -seen Ramon since the funeral, you say? That speaks well for him. He -tried to go, just now, too. He's not half bad. But when it's a question -of marrying Lee, no Mexican need apply. But come on back in. She'll pick -out in a second that we're talking about them." - -During the lively chatter that whiled away the afternoon; at supper when -the cake appeared in a glory of radiant candles; while the young folks -laughed and chatted thereafter under the lighted _portales_, the two -stealthily watched Lee and Ramon. Sliver and Jake having retired early, -Bull and Benson engaged in an interminable game of poker which left them -free to discuss the proposed defensive alliance without neglecting their -watch. - -Before night fell the girls had distributed candles here and there among -the foliage which now transmuted their waxen gleam into a greenish -incandescence. Behind the creeper that fell in a cascade from the roof, -the lamplit _portales_ gleamed in half-circles of gold. The massed -cluster of a bougainvillea dripped clotted blood down the facade of the -gate arch. As the girls moved under the golden arches opposite, their -white dresses might easily have been the fluttering wings of giant -tropical moths, and, noting it, Benson paused in filling his hand. - -"It's like a beautiful stage setting." - -Bull's nod took in the bright faces, soft laughter, happy chatter. With -a slow, indulgent smile he musingly watched the secret glances between -the two pairs of lovers; artless subterfuges by which the girls achieved -small personal contacts. - -"Don't take much to make 'em happy, does it? A little laughter an' a -little song; plenty of chatter an' some pretty clothes; a baby to love -and a man to boss; 'tain't much, but Lordy, how many of 'em don't get -it. If men 'u'd on'y keep on admiring in their wives the things they -liked in their sweethearts, the divorce courts 'u'd go out of business. -If I had a daughter, I'd marry her to a boot-black that understood the -nature of women ahead of a merchant prince; for a man that says to his -wife at breakfast, 'Why, how pretty you look this morning!' is a-going -to get a reward that can't be bought with a million." - -Just then Phoebe Lovell's clear voice floated across the _patio_. "What -a lovely night! Let's go for a walk." - -"All right. Wait till I get a shawl." - -As the others moved off, Lee ran back into her room. They had passed -through the gateway when she came out again, except Ramon, who took the -shawl and threw it over her shoulders. For a few moments they stood -talking under the lamplit _portal_, and, though the conversation was -quite ordinary, the glow in his big dark eyes was sufficiently -revealing. As Lee's back was turned toward them, her face told nothing. -But just before they moved off she reached up and straightened the lapel -of Ramon's coat. - -Bull frowned. "D'you really think she's in love?" - -Benson shrugged. "When a girl fusses with a young man's clothes she -doesn't hate him." - -Bull broke a second frowning pause. "You've knowed her almost all her -life. Kedn't you put in a word?" - -The Englishman made a wry face. "I did, about six months ago, when I -first noticed this thing starting. But never again!" He laughed, a -little self-consciously. "I never had any one sauce me so in all my -life. Told me that it was none of my damn business; to go home and boss -my poor wife. Said that she preferred Mexicans to English, anyway. -Phe-e-ew! I never think of it, even now, without aching to spank her. -No, counsel wouldn't help her." - -"But she simply kain't be allowed to go ahead an' marry him." Bull's -coal eyes flashed with the old wicked gleam. "Before that I'd--lay for -him an' shoot him." - -Benson regarded him dryly. "Your plan has the advantage of finality, -but--it would lead to reprisals. Old Icarza stands well with Valles. If -anything happened to his beloved son we'd be wiped out so completely -there'd be no one left to mourn us. But why worry? We don't know for -sure whether she even loves him. Give me two cards. I raise you three -blues." - -For two hours thereafter the two played and talked, arranging a code of -smoke signals by day, beacons by night, to warn the _haciendas_. But -under it Bull's thought still revolved around Lee and her problem. The -party had returned from the walk, and Lee was shooing all her guests off -to bed before his brow cleared and he uttered a low chuckle. - -"What's the matter?" Benson looked up in surprise. - -"Oh, jest something I was thinking of. I raise you two reds." - -Not until Jake woke up when Bull entered the bunkhouse did his secret -thought find expression. "Sure I noticed it," he answered Jake's remark -concerning Lee's "likin' for that Mexican." "But leave it to me." - -"What d'you allow to do?" - -This time Bull laughed outright. "Mrs. Mills was saying, t'other day, -that we'd have to import a rival. 'Tain't sech a bad idea." - -"What d'you reckon to do--put an ad in the paper 'Wanted, a husband'?" - -"Never you mind," Bull quietly replied to the cynical comment. "I'm -going, to-morrow, up to El Paso." - - - - -X: WANTED--A HUSBAND - - -Departures are usually cheerless affairs, but the morning sun loosed a -flood of gold into the _patio_ where the party was in process of -dissolution. William Benson had left with Jake and Sliver, when they -went out on the range, so Bull sat and smoked alone. - -It was very pleasant there. His after-breakfast pipe was always the -sweetest of the day, and while puffing contentedly Bull observed with an -indulgent grin two small brown _criadas_, darting with needle and thread -and pins from room to room with first-aid-to-injured habits; the -transparent flirtations, stealthy glances after the girls came out; the -beauty of innocent sex, of youth in love--set his big rough heart aglow. -The girls, with keen instinct for honest feeling, felt it. The young -men, with natural respect for quiet power, admired his kindliness and -strength. Their farewells and invitations were hearty and sincere. - -"You've promised and promised and never come yet--that is, for a real -visit," Phoebe and Phyllis rebuked him. - -The young men earnestly charged him, "We look to you to take care of our -girls till we're in shape to look after them ourselves." - -Not till the Icarzas bid him good-by did that kindly glow fade. Even -when Isabel slid a small soft hand into his huge paw and turned on him -the full power of her big Spanish eyes while uttering lovely felicities, -he remained non-committal. He frowned hearing Lee accept an invitation -for a visit in the near future. But when she came in, after they left, -the hostile look had faded. - -"Oh, didn't we have a lovely time?" She patted his arm. "And it was all -due to you." - -"And now I'll take my pay. I want to go up to El Paso." - -"Oh, I'm so glad!" Darting into her room, she came running back with a -fat roll of bills. "I felt dreadfully, yesterday, because you and Mr. -Sliver and Mr. Jake had to wear your working-clothes. While you are in -El Paso I want you to buy a nice suit apiece." - -Now fine raiment, even of the vogue of the Western cow towns, was the -last thing in the world that Bull's heart desired. But she looked so -pretty in her earnestness, he found it hard to refuse. His laugh rumbled -through the _patio_. - -"Now that's real nice of you. But back up at the mine we've all got -store clothes to burn. One o' these days, when the work ain't so -pressing, Sliver kin ride over an' get 'em. Fifty'll be all I'll need." - -"Oh _dear_!" she gave in, with a little disappointed sigh. "I did want -to do something; you've all been so kind." - -But she made up for the disappointment by busy preparations for his -comfort. She packed her own suit-case with socks and clean shirts, then -bossed the job while her _criadas_ brushed and curried and sponged him. -After tying one of her father's cravats around his neck she turned him -round and round like a mother inspecting a school-boy, finally dismissed -him with a gentle pat. - -On the Mexican Central, trains were running, as Bull put it, "be how an' -when," but fortune favored him. Catching a mixed freight and passenger -at the burned station that midnight, he camped down on the rear platform -to avoid the fetor of unwashed bodies and tobacco smoke exhaled by the -mixture of _peones_, revolutionary soldiers, and fat Mexican -_comerciantes_ that jammed the only first-class car. When he fell asleep -he could make out the dim outlines of another form that evolved under -the light of the following morning into an American war correspondent. - -"'Morning, friend," he greeted Bull, cordially. "My name is Naylor. -Yours? Glad to meet you, Mr. Perrin. Now if you'll tip this water-bottle -for me, I'll do the same by you, and we can take off at least one layer -of dust and cinders." - -The operations placed them at once on terms that would have taken years -to establish in civilization's cultured circles. Before it was over, -Bull had learned that his companion was "on a little _pasear_ between -revolutionary battles," and had given, in return, some inkling of his -own affairs. The young fellow's lithe, spare figure, clean face, -fearless gray eyes, impressed him strongly, and while the train ambled -along through the scrubby desert of sand and cactus toward Juarez, he -eyed and estimated and measured him with a care that attracted, at last, -the other's attention. - -"Hey!" he demanded. "Is my nose out of plumb, or what?" - -Bull warded off offense with the truth. "I happened to be looking for a -man about your size. Any chance of your changing your job?" - -"That depends." The correspondent answered, breezily, but with caution. -"Without being what you could call wedded to this sandy, thirsty, -cutthroat business of Mexican revolutions, I like it better than -anything else in sight. But what's your lay? Ranching?" He repeated it -after Bull. "In central Chihuahua? Forget it, friend." - -Bull eyed him wistfully. He fitted so closely to specifications. -Finally, in desperation, he opened his simple heart; was explaining his -quest when the young fellow burst out laughing. - -"I beg your pardon." He raised a protesting hand against Bull's black -glower, then went on with sympathetic seriousness: "But you'll have to -admit that one doesn't see a man of your build every day in this -matrimonial business. So there's a damsel in distress, hey? That alters -the case. If it wasn't for a little girl up in San Francisco that I -expect to marry some day when I become very rich and famous, I'd try and -help you out, for I know just how you feel. It would be a damned shame -to have her throw herself away on a Mexican. But you've laid yourself -out some job. Not that you won't be able to find men, good-looking chaps -at that. But to get the right one calls for some picking and choosing. -But I tell you what I will do--I shall be up for a week and I'd love to -give you a hand." - -"Sure you kedn't tackle it yourself?" - -The young fellow denied the wistful appeal. "Hombre! a million wouldn't -release my girl's mortgage." - -With a regretful sigh Bull struck hands on the compact. While they were -talking the train had ambled through the brown adobe skirts of Juarez, -the squalid Mexican town across the Rio Grande, whence they were -presently shot by automobile over the international bridge into the -spacious bosom of El Paso's largest hotel. Bull had calculated to go -out, at once, on his search, but while they sat at breakfast there -descended upon them a host of reporters and correspondents, ravenous for -news and aching to dispense hospitality. - -"Might as well put it off till to-morrow, Diogenes." His friend had -already named Bull after the person who had such a deuce of a time -hunting an honest man among the grafters and ward heelers of ancient -Greece. "We'll devote to-day to the irrigation of our desiccated -systems, then go to it manana like hungry dogs. But safety first! Take a -ten out of your wad and give the rest to the clerk." - -Instead of one day, however, three passed during which Bull's huge bulk -upreared alongside a hundred bars. In all that time he never went to -bed, for, intensified by long abstinence, the outbreak proved unusually -virulent. Generally the conclusion of his debauches found him broke. -But, thanks to the correspondent's prevision, he awoke on the fourth -morning, in bed at the hotel, with the bulk of his money still in the -office safe. While he was draining the water-jug according to -time-honored precedents, his friend appeared in the doorway of the -adjoining room. His own head was swathed in a wet towel that almost hid -his rueful grin. - -"One never knows what one is starting. You certainly went the limit, -Diogenes. Are you quite sure you're through?" - -Bull nodded and put down the jug with a satisfied sigh. "It's a bit of a -strain, this fathering an' mothering a lone girl, a feller's gotter keep -so straight." He added, apologetically, "I was jest plumb ripe for a -bust, but I reckon this orter hold me for another three months." - -"Very well, then, let's get down to work. At intervals, while I could -still see, I kept one eye open for possibles. But it's like looking for -gold or diamonds; the supply doesn't touch the demand. The few prospects -all proved to have attachments in the shape of sweetheart or wife. Good -ones, I suppose, are so rare that the girls grab them at sight like -marked-down waists on a bargain-counter." - -After two days of vain search through the plazas and parks, hotel -lobbies, streets, and bars of El Paso, Bull was almost driven to the -same conclusion. Short men, tall men, thin men, broad men; some that -were ugly, others handsome; well and ill clad from all walks of -life--passed under his observation. The few he trailed were either -engulfed within the sacred precincts of some bank or met at the doors of -suburban bungalows and there warmly kissed by young and pretty wives. -Without fulfilling the specifications called for in the potential -husband, it would have been difficult enough to have enlisted an -ordinary ranch hand for service across the line. At the close of the -second day Bull reported as much to the correspondent when they met in -the hotel lobby. - -"Guess I'll have to give it up." - -"Now if _that_ was only free." The other bowed, just then, to a young -man who had just walked in from the street. "Look at him! Five-eleven in -his socks, hazel eyes, brown hair, good strong jaw, flat shoulders and -flanks, deep chest; walks the earth like he owned it. Some dresser, too. -That mixed plaid cost a hundred at his New York tailor's." - -"Some banker's son, I'll bet you," Bull grumbled. - -"That or better. I had a little chat with him this morning. A 'varsity -man by his accent and manner. Seemed to know the Mexican situation down -to the ground from the Wall Street end, so papa's probably a broker. -Holy snakes! Look at that! Neat work! Neat work!" - -Walking up to the counter, the young man had held out his -hand--evidently for the key of his room--while his indifferent gaze -traveled around the lobby. The clerk, who departed in no wise from the -casual specifications of his supercilious breed, glanced at the hand -contemptuously. Turning, the young man spoke. Then as, without glancing -up, the clerk answered, he snatched, hauled that superior person across -the counter, and slammed him down hard on the floor. Next, as they came -on, he felled one large door porter and three oversized bell-boys who -had answered the clerk's yell. This done, he waited, expectantly, -quietly surveying the wreck, the hazel eye admired by Naylor transmuted -into hard steel flecked with dots of brown light. - -Jaw, eyes, pose, all said, "Next!" But the "wreck" was complete. The -oversized bell-boys ran off to answer imaginary calls. An automobile -party at the door called for the porter's attention. Deserted, the clerk -swiftly retreated behind his counter, behind which, from a safe -distance, he issued defiant mutterings. With a slight nod that expressed -comprehension and satisfaction, Hazel-Eyes sauntered across the lobby -out into the street. - -All had passed in the time required for the correspondent to reach the -desk. He was back again in five seconds. "He's broke--owes two weeks' -room rent. Clerk told him to get out; hence the scrap. Diogenes, we're -in luck! Venus and Cupid are in the ascendant. He's our meat." - -Grabbing Bull's arm, he hustled him outside, where they spied the quarry -turning up a cross-street that led to the plaza. When he finally settled -down on an empty bench, the correspondent nudged Bull in the ribs. - -"Look at them!" He indicated the hundreds of men idling on the benches -or sprawled out on the turf. "Last refuge of the broke, home of the -out-of-works. That settles it. Bet you he hasn't the price of a meal. -But, say! he's plucky. The beggar is actually smiling." - -From the way in which the young fellow's glance wandered around the -assembled out-of-works, it was easy to see that he rather enjoyed the -novel situation. When Bull had noted and commented on the fact, the -correspondent went on: - -"Now, Diogenes, we must proceed with due regard for the traditions. When -grand dukes, princes, and caliphs in disguise befriend some worthy -person, they invariably begin by testing his honesty--see _Arabian -Nights_ and other authorities. Split a couple of tens off your wad and -drop them as you stroll past him. I'll stay here and watch lest he be -found wanting." - -Bull managed it, too, quite cleverly, scraping the bills out of his -pocket along with his tobacco-pouch. Watching closely, the correspondent -saw the young fellow look, pick them up, then run and tap Bull's -shoulder. Leaning back, he shook with silent laughter. - -"And they say romance is dead," his thought ran. "_Dead!_ while this -big, black giant stalks around like a knight of old seeking a perfect -husband for a girl he's known only a few weeks. Diogenes, my friend, Don -Quixote had nothing on you. Of all the lovely, fine pieces of idiocy -that ever helped to raise us out of the muck of commercialism, this is -the very finest. And wouldn't it be queer if it worked? It's almost too -good to be true, and yet--a girl that can move a man to do things like -that must be remarkably worth while. Quien sabe? Perhaps it will end -like all true romances, with a happy marriage." - -Till the two settled down side by side on a bench, the correspondent -watched. Then with a satisfied nod he rose and walked out of Bull's life -in the same casual way he had entered it; to return once more, however, -at a critical juncture, many months later. - -Thus left to his own devices, Bull carried on the campaign with -diplomacy quite foreign to his Goliath makeup. From thanks and casual -observations anent the weather, he led by gradual stages to labor -conditions as exemplified by the surrounding out-of-works. His simulated -astonishment when the young fellow claimed community with them was -remarkably well done. - -"_No-o-o!_" he protested. - -"Sure!" the other nodded. "I was turned out of my hotel only half an -hour ago." - -Quite in the fashion of grand dukes and caliphs, Bull still pretended -doubt. "Broke, mebbe, but you don't belong with these. What was it? -Wine, weemen, or cyards?" - -The young fellow grinned a little ruefully. "A woman, yes, but not in -the usual way. What would you think if I told you--But, pshaw! what's -the use? It would sound to you just like any other out-of-work -fairy-tale. Well, it may amuse you. If you really want to know, I'm -here, busted and broke, because I refused a hundred thousand dollars' -worth of gilt-edged securities and real estate." - -"A hundred thousand!" Bull's financial acquaintance having rarely risen -above the sixty-a-month class, he could not repress his surprise. - -"There, I told you. Nevertheless, it is true. I am here because I -refused a hundred thousand--with a girl attached." - -Bull's face fell. "I see. Folks wanted you to marry her an' you refused -beca'se you'd already picked one for yourself." - -The young man nodded. "Correct except in one or two particulars. I -disliked the girl so much that her money couldn't tempt me. As for the -one I'll marry, I haven't picked her yet. But I mean to when I'm taken -that way." - -Bull's face lit up with hope again as, with naive frankness, the young -fellow went into details; told how his father had set his heart on a -marriage that would unite the wealth of two families. The girl, an only -daughter, was desirable; pretty, accomplished, played, sang, and all -that! They had been brought up almost like brother and sister, and there -was the hitch! - -"For a fellow doesn't want to marry his sister," he explained. "I know -her so well she hasn't a surprise in her hand. When I hook up, it will -be with a girl that can bowl me over at first sight and keep me guessing -forever after. But the Relieving Officer"--he broke off, laughing at -Bull's puzzled look--"that's my name for my father. He was always coming -through when I got in debt at college, hence the title. He's a good old -scout, but obstinate as--as--" - -"--yourself?" Bull suggested. - -"Right-o! Well, you know what happens when the irresistible force hits -the immovable obstacle--something busts. That was me. Without even the -last check the stern parent presents to the undutiful son in melodrama, -I got. Of course the dear old gentleman wouldn't have me suffer. He -supposed I'd presently come home to partake of the fatted calf; and just -for fear that I might, I took my last money and bought a ticket West. So -here I am, without money and without friends. Add it up and subtract the -result--pick and shovel. I see them looming in the future." - -"Oh, shore!" The caliph--that is, Bull--was proceeding very cautiously. -"You'll get a job in some bank." - -"Don't believe it. You see, I'd just come home from Princeton and had no -commercial training. Anyway, I'd rather work in the open, ranching, or -something like that. If I had a little capital, I'd buy in. As I -haven't, I'm open for any kind of a job. But there, again, I've got no -experience further than the fact that I can ride a horse. I'm afraid -it's pick and shovel." - -The abused and hackneyed psychological moment had arrived! The net was -spread, the twigs limed, the cage door open! With great artfulness Bull -proceeded to shoo the bird inside. He knew of a job--in fact, it was on -the same _hacienda_ where he worked himself! Of course it had the -disadvantage of being located in Mexico, across the line where nothing -was certain but death and "requisitions"! And there was always the -chance of a scrap! He, Bull, wouldn't advise any one to try it that had -too strong a grip on this life, for there was no saying just when one -might be launched into "Kingdom Come." But for a man who liked action -and would take a fighting chance--so forth and so on. - -A disinterested listener would have thought these and kindred -inducements were eminently fitted to scare the bird away. If so--Bull -did not want him. But, sizing him for a lad of spirit with the romantic -outlook of his years, he counted on their appeal. Nor was he mistaken. -He had finished telling of Carleton's death at the hands of the -Colorados, and was relating the accidental manner in which he and his -_companeros_ had assumed the guardianship of Lee, when the young fellow -thrust out his hand. - -"Say, that's fine, old man! I'd be proud to have you take me in. My name -is Nevil--Gordon Nevil, at your service. When do we start?" - -"Whenever the train goes, an' that's be guess an' be God. It's billed to -pull out from Juarez this evening, but we'll be lucky if it leaves -before morning. But sometimes they do make a mistake an' start almost on -time. So we'll go aboard to-night." - -"What about clothes?" The recruit glanced down with distaste and dismay -at his fashionable tweeds. "I can't punch cows in these." - -"Hardly," Bull grinned. "You'd come out from your first bunch of pear -chaparral naked as on the day you were born. Come on an' we'll see about -an outfit." - -It was found without any trouble in a convenient Jew store, and Gordon -changed into it there and then. In cord riding-breeches, a brown army -shirt, shoes, and leather puttees, topped with a conical cowman's hat, -his length of limb, flat flanks, deep chest, appeared to even better -advantage. Bull's expression, looking him over, would have fitted a -match-making mama surveying a pretty daughter arrayed for her debut. His -comment, "You'll do," would have surprised the recipient could he have -divined all of its implications. - -Thoroughly satisfied, Bull was producing the money to pay, when Gordon -stopped him. "Here, you can't do that!" - -"But you're broke." - -"I still have these." He held out the tweeds. "How much boot do I get, -Father Abraham?" - -Already the Jew had felt with secret rumblings of the material, but he -stood for his tradition. "Only vot iss on your feet. These ain'd much -good. But you are a nice young veller. I make it an even trade." - -"You'll chuck in that pair of chaps?" - -With the customary grumblings that he would be ruined by his own -generosity, the Hebrew eventually complied. While his customers were -stowing away the _chaparros_ and a few extras in a slop-bag, he made out -a ticket for the suit, and pausing on their way out, their late owner -read the legend which announced to the world that it was to be had very -cheap for twenty-nine dollars and ninety cents. - -Gordon burst into a merry laugh. "Father Abraham isn't on to real -clothes. They stung me a hundred and ten for that in New York." - - - - -XI: GORDON'S DEBUT - - -Starting "be guess an' be God," the train left Juarez at five the next -morning. To avoid, as before, the jam in the one passenger-coach, Bull -had climbed with his recruit on top of a box-car. Thus, when awakened by -the jerk and rattle as the train plunged down and out of the first -"shoo-fly" around a burned bridge; Gordon saw his first dawn break over -the desert with a clear, fresh vision, intimacy of detail that could -never be obtained through a Pullman window. - -It was altogether different from the slow sunrises of his Eastern -experience. A puff of hot, dry wind shook the velvet curtains of night, -tossed and split them into shreds of black and crimson, suddenly -revealing a wall of burnished brass behind. As yet the desert slept in -purple shadow. But this paled to faint violet, then gray. As the sun -rolled up out of crimson mists, the land appeared in all of its -nakedness of hummocky sand a-bristle with cactus beard. There was also -revealed the first of the burned trains and twisted rails which, with -grave crosses and dead horses, were to run all day with the train, -startling evidence of the cyclonic passion that had devastated the land. - -"Destruction's the one kind of work a Mexican really enjoys," Bull -answered Gordon's question. "You orter see them at it. They run the loop -of a big steel chain under the rails, hitch it to a hundred-ton engine, -then go shooting down the track, ripping it up at twenty miles an hour, -spikes flying like sparks from a blacksmith's hammer. After cutting down -the telegraph-poles, they hitch to the wires an' yank a mile of it away -at a time. As wreckers, they can't be beat, for in four years they've -completely destroyed mills, factories, smelters, railroads, property -that took Porfirio Diaz and a thousand millions of foreign capital forty -years to build." - -"Are they still at it?" - -The sudden illumination of the young man's face so palpably expressed -hope that Bull had to grin. "Yes, farther south, where Valles is -fighting the Federals. But this is his base line and he looks after it -pretty close. Still"--his nod went beyond the distant mountains--"it's -pretty much all bandit out there. Now an' then they attack the trains. -There's allus a fifty-fifty chance for a scrap." - -"That isn't so bad." - -Bull grinned again as the young fellow turned with renewed interest to -the scenery. - -In comparison with the eons of time which have elapsed since man first -took to walking uprightly, his written history is as a lightning flash -in the night; civilization itself but a film over passions and instincts -violent and deep. Now that every bunch of cactus offered a possible -ambush, Gordon experienced a new sensation. Over the desert, vague as -its shimmering heat, invisible but real, settled that atmosphere of fear -in which primitive man, in common with all animals, lived and moved and -had his being. - -The wrecks occurred almost invariably near cuttings through shallow -sand-hills. From the cactus chaparral that clothed their tops, the -revolutionary lightnings had struck sometimes twice or thrice; and when -the train ran into one, Gordon would feel a prickling at the roots of -his hair. - -It was not fear. Some centuries ago his hair would have bristled like -the ruff of an angry dog. Through disuse it had lost the knack. But the -feeling was the same, the expectancy, repressed excitement of an animal -expecting attack. The veneer of home and college influences had peeled -away, leaving him the young male of the tribe, eager to prove himself by -deeds; the commonplace exit of the train on the other side left him -always slightly disappointed. Not till it finally ran out of the -hummocky sand into the far-reaching levels of the great Mexican -_haciendas_ did he lose hope and return to the contemplation of the -scenery as such. - -"I'm glad we're up here." From the engine, puffing away at the head of a -dozen intervening coal-cars, he looked back at the passenger-coach far -to their rear. "I wouldn't exchange this for a Pullman." - -"Well, don't imagine that you're traveling second-class," Bull grinned. -"I had to slip the conductor five pesos extra. But it's worth it. You'd -suffocate down in that car; not to mention the chance of some _peon_ -spitting in your face. By the way, if that ever happens to you, take it -an' grin. Sure!" He answered the young fellow's look of disgust. "That -is, unless you want to feel a knife in your belly. If you're German or -English, or b'long to any other nationality that looks after its people, -you might resent it an' get away. But, thanks to our Government's -policy, it's open season for Americans all the year round. They bag a -few, too, every so long." - -"Would _you_ stand for that?" - -Bull shrugged. "Kain't say, till I've been tried. But it's good advice, -nevertheless. Seeing, though, that you don't like it, you'd better be -toting a gun. Take one of mine till we get home. - -"Here, here!" he hastily struck down the barrel as Gordon drew a bead on -a telegraph-pole. "Valles shot eight of his own soldiers jest t'other -day for plugging insulators. Besides, it's waste. Every bullet is worth -a life--mebbe your own." - -"Maybe his own!" Again Gordon felt the prickling hair--in fact, as they -rattled and jerked along there was scarcely a mile of the road that -failed to produce it. Here it was a station, sacked, and burned, with a -few miserable _peonas_, ragged and half-starved, begging for _centavos_. -There a huddle of bones, residue of a hanged wire-thief, at the foot of -a telegraph-pole. A broken rifle-butt, rusted cartridge-clip, empty -brass shell, told with eloquent tongues stories of which Bull supplied -the details. - -Somewhere between these two stations a Mexican general, a prisoner of -war, had been thrust down between two cars and ground under the wheels! -That great adobe house with black windows staring like empty eye sockets -from the fire-scarred walls had been the home of a Spanish _hacendado_ -whose three lovely daughters had been carried off by raiders. Death and -torture, ravishments, farms laid waste, lives maimed and ruined, the -full tale of fire and sword belonged in the landscape. - -Yet to youth, egotistic masculine youth, even horrors may be romantic. -Awed pleasure inhered in the thought that he, so lately from Princeton, -the spoiled son of a wealthy father, was a possible subject for bandit -tortures! - -He found it all so fascinating that the day passed like an hour. Before -he was aware of it the sun's great red orb sank behind a huge black -mountain. The desert faded once more to gray, violet, purple. For a -while the oil smoke from the laboring locomotive laid miles of soft dark -pennon against a crimson sky. Then this also faded and left them -rattling along through heated dusk. Sprawled at length on the -running-board, the young fellow gazed up at the fiery desert stars, in a -luxury of content. He was lost to the world when the train stopped at -the station at midnight. - -"We'd better go right on," Bull said. "We'd get no sleep here for the -fleas, an' desert travel is easiest at night. By morning we'll be into -the grass country an' kin take a nap while the animals graze." - -With an additional horse hired from the Mexican station agent they moved -off at once and had passed into the range country before day broke over -its long grassy rolls. Breakfast, a nap, then three hours' more travel -brought them to the shallow valley where the Three first saw Lee and -Carleton charging the Colorados. Indeed, Bull was telling of it when, -just as on that other day, she came galloping over the opposite rise in -chase of a runaway mare with a colt at its side. _Riata_ swinging in -rhythm with her beast's stride, she shot down the slope, made her cast, -took a turn around the saddle-horn and brought the captive up skilfully -as any _vaquero_. - -"Pretty neat!" Gordon exclaimed. "That boy can ride!" - -"You bet you!" Eyes sparkling with pride, Bull slyly added, "Sliver -himself, that was born with a rope in his han', don't throw a better -loop than Miss Lee." - -"_What?_" As, sighting them just then, Lee swung her hat, emitting a -clear cowman's yell, her knotted hair fell down on her shoulders, Gordon -exclaimed, "Why, it--it _is_ a girl! In this country do they usually -wear--" - -"No more 'n they do in the Eastern States," Bull dryly filled in the -hiatus. "On one thing the Maine Methodist jines hands with the Mexican -Catholic--they both cover their weemen from chin to toe-p'ints. Ever -sence the revolution, Miss Lee's been doing vaquero's work, an' what -kind of a job d'you reckon she'd make of it going 'round in skirts? If -you don't mind, I'll ride on an' help her with that critter." - -The light that had flashed over the girl's face at the sight of Bull -spread into an illumination that included white teeth, mouth, and -sparkling eyes when he rode up. She thrust out her hand with an -impulsive feeling. - -"Oh, I'm _so_ glad you have come home! I missed you dreadfully." - -"_Home!_" And she was happy because he, "Bull" Perrin, the notorious -rustler, had returned _home_! Earth held no terror that could have sent -that tremble through his huge frame. It was with difficulty that he -controlled his voice. - -"Anything wrong? Sliver or Jake been misbehaving?" - -"Indeed, no!" She laughed, merrily. "They're like two old hens 'tending -an orphan chick. But--well, you know a girl, even as independent as I, -must have some one to lean on, and I was uneasy while you were gone." - -A dew of moisture quenched the brown fire in the giant's eyes. His -sudden seriousness issued from a vivid memory of his late debauch. -Whereas for twenty years past they had been matters of course to be -forgotten with the passing of the morning head, he now felt convicted of -sin. The shadow marked a resolution. - -He spoke very gently. "I hope that you'll allus feel that way." Then, -with mock sternness that covered deep emotion, he went on: "But what are -you doing out here on your lonely? Some one will get a wigging for -this." - -She laughed saucily up in his face. "Then it is due to me. I gave them -the slip. Who is--" She nodded toward Gordon, who had almost caught up. - -Bull briefly sketched his history. "Young chap I found dead broke in El -Paso. He's the right sort." Perhaps because he divined the probable -effect on her feminine psychology, he added: "He's from the -East--college man--wealthy family--turned out because he refused to -marry a fortune. I tol' him you'd likely hire him." - -"I would in ordinary times." She looked at Gordon, who had now reined -in. "But I cannot pay regular wages just now." - -"He's willing to wait, like us," Bull began. "He's--" - -"--out for experience," Gordon put in. "To tell the truth, Miss -Carleton, I am absolutely green. I doubt whether you'll find me worth my -board." - -He had doffed his hat and the attitude of respect accentuated the quiet -reserve of his tone and manner. After a thoughtful pause, during which -she took him in from top to toe in a quick, feminine survey, she broke -out with a comical little laugh. "If it wasn't so nice, it would be -ridiculous. While the gringos on other haciendas are simply streaking -for the border, you men insist on working here for nothing. Whatever is -the matter with you?" - -She may have read the answer in Gordon's eyes and resented the indignity -it offered her independence. Or the feeling underneath her sudden -stiffening may have rooted deeper. Be a young man ever so comely, a girl -ever so pretty, there will flash between them on first meeting the -subtle challenge of sex; instinctive defiance based through love's -history to the far time when every girl ran like a deer from a possible -lover and only gave in after he had proved his manhood by carrying her -off. It passed in a flash, for, noticing her stiffen, Gordon reduced his -gaze to respectful attention. - -Subtle as it was, Bull had still noticed the by-play. "Looks like she'd -taken a down on him." - -But even as the doubt formed in his mind it was removed by her laughing -comment: "I suppose I'll have to stand for it. But you must be starving. -Let us get on to the house." - -As they rode along, moreover, Bull noted certain swift, stealthy glances -with which she took complete census of Gordon's clean profile, strong -jaw, deep chest, flat flanks; signs of a secret and healthy curiosity. - -"She's a-setting up an' taking notice." He winked, as it were, at -himself. "I reckon, Bull, you kin leave the rest to natur'." - - - - -XII: THE RECRUIT IS TRIED OUT--IN SEVERAL WAYS - - -"Well, what do you-all think of him?" - -Bull's question emerged from the thick tobacco reek which invariably -mitigated the severity of their evening deliberations. - -It pertained, of course, to the new recruit, concerning whose merits or -demerits Jake and Sliver had reserved judgment during this, his first -week. When they had come from supper straight to the bunk-house, Gordon -had taken his pipe and gone for a stroll around the compound, which was -never more interesting than when clothed in the mystery of a hot brown -dusk. The lights and fires, like golden or scarlet blossoms; the soft -brown faces glimpsed in cavernous interiors by the rich glow of a -_brasero_; the women's subdued chatter; laughter wild and musical as the -cooing of wood-pigeons--all had for him perpetual fascination; and while -he sauntered here and there, looking, listening, the Three held session -on his case. - -"What do we think of him?" Jake slowly repeated the question. "It's a -bit soon to jedge, but if he's half as good as he looks, he orter do." - -Sliver, however, was more critical. "Too darned nice-looking fer me. I -hain't got much use for these pretty boys." - -"_Pretty_ yourself!" Bull swelled like a huge toad with indignation. "He -ain't no pretty boy! You-all orter ha' seen him clan up that hotel lobby -in El Paso." - -"A _ho_-tel clerk, an' some bell-hops!" Sliver sneered. "Why, a good -cowman 'u'd jest about as soon think of hitting a lady. 'Fore I allow -him even a look-in with Lady-girl, he's gotter show me. If you-all ain't -afraid he'll spoil, jest send him an' me out together to-morrow." - -"All right, senor, he's your meat." Bull's grin, provoked by a sudden -memory of the thwack with which the hotel clerk had hit the lobby floor, -was veiled by tobacco reek that reigned beyond the lamp's golden -glimmer. "Only, don't chew him. Kain't afford to have his scenery -damaged." - -"Nary a chew," Sliver agreed. "Twon't be necessary. I'll take him in two -swallows." - -In this wise was Gordon apprenticed to Sliver for the period of one day, -to learn, in course thereof, such lessons in cow and other kinds of -punching as it might bring forth. When they two rode out, armed -cap-a-pie as it were, with rifles, saddle _machetes_, and a brace of -Colt automatics, in addition to the usual cowman's fixings, it is -doubtful whether North America held a happier young man than he. Out of -the thousand and one lovers who had awakened to the knowledge that this -was their wedding-day, some might have been equally happy. But none more -so, for Gordon was also espoused--to Adventure, the sweetest bride of -real men. It may be safely stated that no bride ever surveyed her -trousseau with more satisfaction than Gordon displayed in his "chaps," -spurs, guns, and _riata_. - -This enthusiasm, however, he cloaked with a becoming nonchalance. He -wasn't in any hurry to tell all he knew. His few questions were to the -point, and between them he maintained a decent reserve. Also he adapted -himself quickly to new requirements. Sliver observed with satisfaction -that, after one telling, his pupil abandoned the Eastern, high-trotting, -park fashion in riding and settled down to a cowman's lope. In fact, so -quiet and biddable was he, Sliver began to feel secret qualms at the -course he had marked out for himself; had to steel his resolution with -thoughts of Lee. - -"'Twon't do to have no pretty boys pussy-footing around her," he told -himself. "He's gotter show me, an' if he don't--out he goes." - -Opportunity soon presented itself in the shape of a momentary relapse, -on Gordon's part, into the old habit of riding. Sliver seized it with -brutal roughness. - -"Hey! that milk-shake business may go with missies in pants that ride -the parks back East, but if you-all expect to work this range you'll -have to try an' look like a man." - -Gordon stared. It wasn't so much the words as the accent that -established the insult. Just as Bull had seen in El Paso, his hazel eyes -were suddenly transmuted into hard blue steel flecked with hot brown -specks. Sliver felt sure he was going to strike; experienced sudden -disappointment when he rode on. - -"_Santa Maria Marrissima Me!_" He swore to himself in sudden alarm. "Is -he a-going to swallow it?" But the next moment brought relief. Gordon -was rising in his stirrups with the regularity of a machine. - -With the quick instinct of sturdy manhood, Sliver sensed the motive, the -wise hesitancy of a new-comer in starting trouble. "Calculated it would -get him in wrong with Lady-girl. He's putting it up to me!" - -Even more loath, now, to push than he had been to begin the quarrel, -there was nothing left but to go on. So, riding alongside Gordon, he -began to deliver himself of a forcible opinion concerning his mode of -riding. "Why, you blankety, blank, blank of a blank--" - -The rest of it was cut off by a crack between the eyes that toppled him -out of the saddle. He was up again, hard eyes flashing, as Gordon leaped -down, and as he rushed, broad round body swaying above his short hairy -chaps, Sliver looked for all the world like a charging bear. - -A clever writer once described a terrific combat between two sailors in -two words, "Poor McNab!" Sliver was almost as terse in describing his -defeat to Bull and Jake that evening. - -"Gentlemen, hush! He leaned over as I took my holt, grabbed me round the -waist from behind, straightened, an' away I flew over his shoulder an' -kem down spread-eagled all over the grass, plumb knocked out." - -Returning to the combat: When Sliver gathered his shocked wits together -and sat up, Gordon stood looking down upon him, hands on his hips, -quiet, determined, yet with an inquisitive twinkle in his eye. - -Sliver answered the twinkle. "Say, that was sure a lallapaloo. I've -wrestled with bears an' once choked a cougar till he was gol-darned -anxious to quit. But I draw the line at earthquakes. If you-all 'll -please to tell how you done it, I'll shake han's an' call it squar'." - -"Done!" Gordon broke out in a merry laugh. "And I'll promise, on my -part, never to ride like that again." - -"For which I'll be greatly obliged; that hippity-haw, side-racking gait -does sure get on my nerves." - -Striking hands upon it, they mounted and rode on. - -They were heading for a mountain valley, enormous green bowl hemmed in -on all sides, that could only be reached by a single rough trail. -Watered by a running stream and knee-deep in lush grass, the difficulty -of approach and sequestration rendered it almost raider-proof. But as it -afforded pasture for barely a third of Lee's stock, it was their habit -to send the animals out in relays to remain under charge of an _anciano_ -for a week at a time. - -As they rode along, Sliver's secret satisfaction revealed itself in many -a stealthy glance. At first they expressed that feeling alone, but -presently there entered into them a leaven of doubt. Their way now led -along the foot of the hog's back from the crest of which Sliver had -obtained his first view of the _fonda_ on the other side, the discovery -of which caused his first lapse from grace. The slight doubt was -explained by the thought that accompanied his glance upward at the -ridge. - -"He's a fine upstan'ing lad an' kin take his own part. But that ain't -all. Supposing he drinks? We-all jest kedn't stan' for any young soak -around Lady-girl." - -In view of his own shortcomings, his grave shake of the head was rather -comical. Nevertheless, it was quite sincere; likewise his emendation: -"'Course we wouldn't have him no canting prig. He orter be able to take -his two fingers like a gentleman, then leave it alone." - -Reining in suddenly, he asked, "D'you ever take a drink?" - -Gordon looked surprised. "Why, yes, on occasion. But you don't mean to -say--" - -"Come on!" Sliver's manner was quite that of the "mysterious stranger" -of melodrama who demands absolute faith in those he is about to -befriend. It is feared, however, that both it and his thought, "It's a -fine chance to try him out," cloaked certain strong spirituous desires. - -Quarter of an hour's heavy scrambling up and down rutted cattle tracks -brought them out in the _fonda_ dooryard. From above Gordon had noted -its golden walls nestling beside the stream in a bower of foliage. His -eyes now went, first to the two _ancianos_, a wrinkled old man and -woman, who dozed in the shade of the _ramada_; then to the girl who -knelt by the stream pounding her soiled linen on its smooth boulders. -Though he knew Spain only through pictures, the tinkling bells of a -mule-train going up the canon added the last touch, vividly raised in -his mind the country inns of the Aragonian mountains. But for her darker -colors the girl with her shapely poundage might easily have been one of -their lusty daughters. She had risen at the sight of Sliver. With -unerring instinct she now walked inside, let down the wooden bar window, -and set out a bottle of _tequila_. - -Through all, her big dusky eyes never left Gordon. With what would have -been brazenness in a white girl she studied him. But her gaze was wide -and curious as the stare of a deer, and caused him no offense. When -their eyes met, she smiled, but, unskilled in the ways of her kind, he -missed both its invitation and question till Sliver put it in words. - -"She wants to know who you are an' all about you," he translated her -rapid Spanish, in which her small hands, satin arms and shoulders played -as large a part as her tongue. "She says her father an' mother are about -ready to cash in. If you'll stay here an' be her man, you'll stan' right -in line for the _fonda_." - -It was sprung so suddenly, Gordon gasped. "Cash in?--the _fonda_? Say! -You're fooling?" - -Sliver raised his right hand. "Take my oath!" - -"Then _she's_ fooling." - -"Nary!" Sliver grinned. "She's serious as a New England housewife in -chase of a bedbug." - -Now Gordon's merry laugh rang out. "Is this leap year, or does this sort -of thing go all the time down here? Her proposal calls for a priest, I -suppose, and a marriage license?" - -"Nary." Sliver grinned again. "Ladies of her class get along very nicely -without them artificial aids to marriage. All she wants is for you to -settle down here with her to housekeeping." - -"Why--but--" He still half believed that Sliver was joking; but, looking -at the girl, he saw for himself the smoldering flame in her dusky eyes. -This time his laugh was a little confused. "Please tell her that I'm -dreadfully sorry, that I appreciate the high compliment, and if it -wasn't for the fact that I don't expect to stay long in this country I -would give her nice offer my most distinguished consideration." - -Any further doubts that he might have entertained would have been -effectually dispersed by her dark disappointment when Sliver translated. -A touch of pity mingled with his amusement; moved him to add, "I hope -that you put it nicely." - -"Sure," Sliver breezily answered. "I told her that you said for her to -go to hell." - -"Oh, well"--Gordon recovered his breath again--"at least that puts the -whole business beyond further doubt." - -"Don't you believe it." Sliver gave a third and last grin. "She says -that you-all kin always find her here if you happen to change your -mind." - -"Now that's very nice." Really pleased under his amusement, Gordon -brought the little comedy to a graceful end. Unsnapping the leather -watch-fob that bore his initials worked in gold, he laid it in the -girl's hand. "A fellow doesn't get a proposal of marriage every day. -Tell her for a little remembrance." - -"And now for another drink." - -But as Sliver reached for the bottle Gordon seized his arm, and any -doubts as to his sobriety were removed then and there from the cowman's -mind. "You've had two already, and I'm not going to stand by and see you -burn your stomach out. Come on, gol darn you! or I'll hand you one." - -His smiling good humor removed the offense. Nevertheless, the curious -brown specks were floating again in the blue of his eye. - -Sliver knew the threat was real. "Just this one?" - -"Well, if you'll down it quick and come on." - -With feelings that had hovered between gratification at Gordon's -sobriety and regret for his own, Sliver drank, bade the girl "Adios," -and mounted again. Standing in the doorway, her glance followed them, -enwrapping Gordon's upright figure with its dark caress. Just as they -crossed the stream at the foot of the path, her face lit with sudden -remembrance. Turning at her call they saw her coming at a breathless -run. - -"Kain't bear the parting," Sliver interpreted the action. - -But his grin faded as he listened to her voluble talk. "She says that -four strange Mexicans stayed here last night. They didn't belong to this -country, an' they questioned her closely about the different haciendas. -They were 'specially curious about our horses. Us being gringos an' her -Mex, they naturally concluded she'd be ag'in us, and they would have -been right but for the fancy she's taken to you. So they opened right -up; asked all about the mountain pastures an' whether we kep' a close -guard. She says they was heading for there. While I go after 'em, you -ride like the mill tails o' hell an' bring out Bull an' Jake." - -That crude but strong expression accurately described Gordon's progress -homeward. While his beast scrambled like a cat up one side of the -ravine, slid like a four-footed avalanche down the other, and streaked -like a shooting star up and down the long earth rolls, he learned more -of horsemanship than during all his previous years. Lee, who saw him -coming from the upper gallery above the _patio_, nodded her approval. -Such haste, of course, had but one interpretation--raiders; and by the -time Gordon dashed into the compound she was already mounted and a fresh -beast waiting for him. - -"They are up in the Canon del Norte," she answered his inquiry for Bull -and Jake. "Come on!" - -"You are surely not thinking of--" - -Before he could finish, however, she shot under the gate arch; was off -at a speed that kept him galloping his hardest to keep her in sight. Not -until she slowed down on the rough trail that led into the canon, within -sight of Bull and Jake, who had just roped a foal for branding, did he -catch her. But it was just as well, for that which he would have said -came with more authority from the lips of Bull. - -"All right, Missy. There's on'y four, so you don't need to be skeered. -You kin go right back home with Gordon an' leave us to take keer of -them." - -"Indeed I won't!" she exclaimed, hotly. "I'm going, too! I am! I am!" -She cut off his remonstrance. "I am! I am! _I am!_" - -It was the first time their wills had clashed. Bull glanced at Jake, who -shook his head--not that he required support or intended to waste time -in fruitless argument. "You mean that?" His glance, grave with stern -disapproval, came back to Lee. - -It hurt her. But though her lips quivered, she answered, doggedly: "I -do! I _won't_ go back." - -"Very well. We've no time to waste. Ride on while I cut this foal -loose." But as she obeyed, with one flick of the wrist he roped her -above the elbows from behind. Then, in spite of angry protests that -ended in tears, he cinched her little feet from stirrup to stirrup. - -"Now take her home." Handing the lead rope to Gordon, he leaped into the -saddle and galloped after Jake. - -Till they disappeared, Lee looked after, wavering between anger and -tears. Tears won. Bowing her fair head, she wept unreservedly for fully -a minute. Realizing then that she was gaining nothing but swollen eyes -and a red nose, she stopped crying and turned to Gordon with a little -laugh. - -"Isn't this ridiculous? Please untie me." - -But now she found herself gazing into the sullen face of a young man -who, through her, had been cut out of a real fight. He shook his head. - -"You _won't_?" - -"No." - -"Why?" - -"You'd go after them." - -They looked at each other. Her eyes were now gleaming brightly above two -red spots; but he met their gaze with stubborn obstinacy. - -"You mean to say that you are going to take me home tied up like a veal -calf?" - -He nodded. - -Biting her lips, she looked at him again. "Do you realize, sir, that you -never set eyes on me till a week ago?" - -"Sure!" - -"Also that you are my hired man?" - -He nodded again. - -"Very well, you're fired! Now untie this rope, then get off my land!" - -But even this was turned against her. "I don't have to. I'm no longer -your servant. I'll get off your land, yes--after I've delivered you at -your home." - -If looks could kill, to use that hackneyed but still expressive term, he -would have died there and then. But they don't, and, masking his own -disappointment with a hypocritically cheerful whistle, he turned his -beast and rode down the canon, towing her behind. - -It was dreadfully humiliating, and, being a girl, she cried some -more--this time for sheer anger. But soon her tears dried and she fell -into deep musing. Soon a small smile restored its softness to her mouth. -Her voice, seductively pleasant, mingled with the tramp of hoofs. "Won't -you _please_ untie me? The rope is hurting my arms." - -He stopped, pulled her horse up alongside, and as he began to fumble -with the ropes she turned her head so that he could not see her smile. -It was transmuted into a flash of fury when, finding the rope a little -loose, he drew it tighter. - -"I thought you were a gentleman!" she shot it viciously at his back as -he rode on. "Gentlemen don't tie up ladies!" - -"Ladies don't fire men for obeying orders. You needn't think I'm -enjoying this. Just because you shoved in where you were not wanted, I -have to go back." - -She did not like that, either. What girl would? Once more she bit her -lip, yet, for all her anger, a touch of respect mingled with her -resentment. Concerned principally with his own disappointment, he rode -on without looking back and so missed the little persistent wriggles by -which she gradually freed one hand. Soon she was able, by leaning -forward, to reach and draw her saddle _machete_. Indeed, she worked with -such caution that he got his first warning when, with one slash, she cut -the rope between them. By the time he had swung his beast around she was -going like the wind back up the canon. - -Her mocking laughter came floating back. - - - - -XIII: AMERICAN RUSTLERS _VS._ MEXICAN RAIDERS - - -Shoving rapidly into the mountains, Sliver ascended with the trail in a -couple of hours through upland growth of _pinon_ and juniper to the -height of land, a pass riven by earthquake or subsidence between twin -jagged peaks, from where he overlooked the valley pasture. - -Like a great jade bowl, bisected by the silver line of a stream, its -wide green circle, miles in diameter, lay within a broad ring of purple -chaparral. Over its surface black dots were scurrying toward the corrals -at the northern end, and under Sliver's glass these resolved into horses -that were being rounded up by four Mexicans; for he could see their -peaked _sombreros_, tight _charro_ suits, even at that distance. Turning -the glass on the _jacal_, a rude hut of poles and grass thatch near the -corrals, he looked for Pedro, the _anciano_. - -"Poor old chap! they've sure got his goat." While clucking his -commiseration, however, he shifted the glass to a patch of white on a -near-by tree, and it immediately resolved into the old fellow's blouse -and _calzones_. "No, they've just tied him up. Then these ain't no -Colorados. It's Felicia's gang, all right, all right." He added, -chuckling, "Four nice little raiders in a pretty trap, along comes Jake -and Bull, then there was none." - -And trapped they were. Except where the stream slipped out over a -precipice between two narrow walls, the mountains rose sheer around the -Bowl, unscalable save where the trail rose by precarious zigzags to -where Sliver held the pass a thousand feet above. At few places was it -possible for two horsemen to ride abreast. At that point there was -barely room for one; if necessary, he could have held it, alone, against -a score. But it was not. Watching closely, he saw the raiders first -drive the horses into the corrals, then settle down for a _siesta_ in -the shade of the _jacal_. - -"Going to bring 'em up at sundown," he muttered, "in time to make the -first run by night." - -So certain he was of it that he did not scruple to take a sleep himself; -cat-napped, with occasional squints down into the valley up to the -moment that he was awakened by the hoof-beats of Jake and Bull's beasts. -The glass then showed the raiders working the horses out of the corrals. -As the herd thinned out to single file at the trail, one man took the -lead; a second and third fell in at even distances; the last brought up -the rear. - -"They know their business," Bull commented on the manoeuver. "It's -easier to keep 'em moving." He grimly added: "And easier for us. The -line will string out for a quarter-mile, so I'll go down that distance -an' hide in the chaparral. Let the last man pass me before you hold up -the first. Then, while one of you keeps him covered, t'other can take -away his tools. I'll keep 'em moving on up till you've got the other -three." - -While Jake took away and tied their horses, Bull gained his position. By -that time the leading raider had gained a like distance uphill and, -peeping, Bull watched the thin file of animals wriggling like a slow -black snake up the yellow trail. So clear was the air he could hear, -above the thud and scrape of hoofs, the raiders calling to one another. -Now they were directly beneath him; so close that he could plainly see -the leader's face, ugly, pock-marked. As he withdrew into the chaparral -Bull carried with him an irritatingly haunting remembrance. Somewhere, -though he could not place it, he had seen the man before! He was still -puzzling over it when Jake's command rang out in Spanish: - -"Hands up!" - -The leader looked and complied, persuaded by the black muzzles, wicked -eyes, that looked down from the rock above. The second and third men did -try to turn, but were blocked by the file of animals. An attempt to pass -would have sent them down, bounding from level to level to the floor of -the valley below. The fourth man swung his beast around only to find -himself looking into Bull's rifle. So while Jake covered the operation -from above and Bull from below, Sliver disarmed and bound the raiders. - -After the captives were arranged in line under a _copal_ tree upon a -little plateau, where the trail began to fall downhill on the other -side, Bull stood frowning down from his height on the man whose face had -aroused that haunting memory. "I've a hunch that I've seen this chap -afore." - -He would have been more certain of it had he noticed the fellow's look -of recognition and fear only a moment before. But now his ugly -countenance was veiled in that ox-like stolidity which a Mexican _peon_ -can so easily assume. He shook his head in dull negation to all of -Bull's questions. He did not come from any of the neighboring -_haciendas_! They had never met before! His _pais_ was far--it might -have been anywhere in a thousand-mile circle implied by the wave of his -hand. - -"Yet I could swear to him." Bull looked musingly at Sliver. -"Pock-marked, too. Where have I seen him afore?" - -Sliver shook his head. "Can't prove it be me. All _peones_ look like so -many peas in a pod; some mebbe a bit uglier than others; an' pock-marks -ain't no distinction with two-thirds of 'em pitted like a -nutmeg-grater." - -"That ain't the question before the house, neither," Jake put in. "All -I'm bothering about is whether to hang or shoot 'em. Hanging is what I -was brought up to, but shooting's more fashionable down here. I'd allow -they'd likely prefer it." - -"Shooting's too good for 'em." In a spasm of virtuous indignation, -Sliver shook his fist at the captives. "Hanging's slower an' hurts a -heap, an' if it gets about that the gent that meddles with our stock is -in for a slow, choking they ain't a-going to be near so careless." - -"There's something in that," Jake conceded. "An' this copal's got nice -stout limbs. We kin use their own riatas, an' that'll be what the -Tombstone editor used to call 'poetic justice.' Hanging goes." - -Bull was still staring at the raider, but, taking his consent for -granted, they proceeded to fit the _riatas_ around the prisoners' necks. -Jake had, indeed, thrown the slack of the last over a bough when there -came a rattle of stones and scrape of hoofs on the trail below. Grabbing -his rifle, he slid with Bull and Sliver, each behind a tree. One second -thereafter their guns were trained on the spot where the trail debouched -on the plateau. - - -Meanwhile, with Gordon in pursuit, Lee had led the race into the hills. -Her blood mare was the fleetest animal she owned and, had she chosen, -Gordon would have soon dropped out of sight. But she contented herself -with just holding a lead. - -Unaware of this, Gordon made repeated attempts to catch her with sudden -bursts of speed. Perfectly aware of it, on her part, she would wait till -his horse's head almost touched her leg, then shoot ahead with a little -laugh. Her face, looking back at him, was hard as her laugh--eyes bright -and shining, nose contemptuously tilted, mouth one scarlet line. - -To be defied, drawn on, mocked, and teased with low, derisive laughter -is not a situation that any man loves. But if thoroughly angry, mad -clear to the bone, Gordon's face revealed only dogged hope. For Chance -was riding with him. If Lee's beast slipped or tired. If she were a -second late with the spur. One of the three was fairly certain, and the -belief set a gleam in his eyes that caused her a quiver of apprehension. - -"Oh, he's mad enough to beat me!" she told it to herself. "I wonder if -he would." - -Nevertheless, every time she looked back at that dogged face she felt a -sense of security. With raiders at large, it was just as well to have -him around! The thought was in her mind when, with him only a few feet -behind, she shot over the edge of the last steep out upon the plateau. - -"Oh, my _goodness_!" It burst from her in sudden fright. - -The Three, of course, were out of sight. The natural droop of the -_copal's_ outer branches hid the halters, and she saw only the four -raiders, unevenly grouped, and three rifle-barrels aimed from behind the -tree. As she reined her beast back on its haunches Gordon swung his -animal sideways between her and the raiders, and, quite shamelessly, she -accepted the protection. - -"Beat it quick!" - -Already he had pulled his gun, and but for the fact that Bull just then -stepped out in the open the question of hanging or shooting would have -been decided for at least one of the thieves. As it was, his readiness -served one purpose--reduced the heat in Bull's eyes. - -"Put up your gun, Son, the job's done." Pointing at Lee, he sternly -inquired, "But what's _she_ doing here?" - -Now fright, plus Gordon's chivalrous behavior, had driven the last -vestige of anger out of Lee. She spoke before he could answer. "Don't -blame him. He did his best to take me in." - -"Then who shall I blame?" - -"Me!" The coals of her anger sent forth a last flash that was -immediately quenched by her mischievous smile. "Or blame yourself for -leaving me the machete. I wiggled and wiggled till one hand was free, -then cut the rope." - -Combined with the smile, her little illustrative wriggle completed his -rout. He turned to hide a grin, but was betrayed by his shaking -shoulders. Noting it, she flashed with feminine quickness from defendant -to accuser. She pointed at the halters. - -"_What are you going to do?_" - -Sliver and Jake had now come out. The former answered, "We was jest -about to bump 'em off, Miss." - -"What? _Hang_ them?" - -"Now look a-here, Lady-girl!" Sliver burst forth in indignant -remonstrance. "Didn't we catch 'em red-handed? An' d'you allow we're -a-going to let 'em loose to try again?" - -"But _hang_ them? Just for stealing? Of course, if they were Colorados, -but--" She stopped, clasping her hands in sudden fear. "Oh! they killed -him--poor Pedro?" - -"Nary; jes' tied him up," Sliver quickly reassured her. "I seen him -wiggling through the glass, an' the big thief, there, says they didn't -harm him." - -Sighing with sudden relief, she returned to the charge. "Then if they -spared _him_, why are you going to kill _them_?" - -"Look a-here, Missy," Bull now intervened. "'Twas agreed between Benson -an' all the hacendados to make an example of captured raiders. If you -once start letting 'em off, there won't be a head of stock left in all -this country at the end of a year. That was why I wanted you to go back, -an'--" - -"I'm glad that I didn't." - -Up to that moment the raiders had accepted the situation with Indian -stoicism. Two of them were still puffing cigarettes Sliver had placed in -their mouths while Jake adjusted the nooses. But their fatalism did not -preclude hope. Though Lee had spoken in English, the language of pity is -universal. They knew she was interceding, and now the fellow with the -pock-marked face loosed upon her a veritable torrent of Spanish. - -They were poor _hombres_ with families back in their _pais_ reduced to -the point of starvation by incessant revolutions. Of themselves they -would never have conceived this great wickedness! They had been tempted -to banditry by an evil one with the offer of a great price! For -themselves, they cared not! A few kicks, a gurgle or two, and there -would be an end! But their women? And the little _ninas_? These would be -left in continual suffering! - -Children? It drew instant response from dominant maternalism, the deep -instinct that caused Lee to tyrannize over the Three. Dismounting, she -began to question the prisoners concerning their families and women. -Their number, names, and sex? Were they good children? Had they been -duly christened by the priest? Their dispositions and traits? Thus and -so on till from a lynching-bee the occasion was in danger of lapsing -into a catechism. For, once started, the bandits were equally willing. -Oblivious of nooses and bonds, they plunged into family history and -reminiscence, reminding each other of this or that, and while they -related and recalled, the sullen hardness died out of their faces, -leaving them soft and human. - -Vividly, as in real life, Lee saw their corn-stalk _jacales_ with their -brown wives in the doorways looking anxiously from under shading hands -for their men's return; their small, nude children playing in the hot -dust. Here was little Pancho, who would some day be a great _vaquero_, -roping chickens and cats with a string _riata_, then dragging them, -captive, to the feet of chubby Dolores, who was, as her father swore by -the saints, sweet as the Infant in the arms of the Blessed Virgin. It -was then that she turned to the Three, her face aglow. - -"This man has three little girls. The others all have families. They -were driven to steal by want. Under the same circumstances any one of us -might have done the same thing. If you had and were caught, how would -you feel?" - -"_Under the same circumstances, they might have done the same thing!_" -She was looking at Bull, but as her glance returned at once to the -prisoners she did not see him flush. He looked at Jake, who looked at -Sliver, who looked away. - -A busy and useful present soon buries the memory of a doubtful past, and -beyond the pleasant span of to-day's existence the old rustler life of -yesterday loomed very far away. The fact that, by tacit consent, it was -now never mentioned among them had helped to bury it more completely. -But now, perhaps more vividly for the lapse, there rose in the mind of -each the spiteful bead eyes, scorpion utterances of Don Miguel in Las -Bocas, urging them to raid these very horses. Small wonder if they -looked away, or that, as their glances returned, they exchanged sheepish -grins. - -"Under the same circumstances," Bull answered, slowly and truthfully, -"_we-all 'u'd expect to hang_. But if you feel different"--his glance -interrogated Sliver and Jake--"it goes as you say. On'y, if you let 'em -go, we'll have to run 'em out of the country in fairness to the other -haciendas." - -"Of course." Lee joyfully accepted the compromise. "We'll take them home -now, and to-morrow Sliver and Jake can run them out." - -This settled, and while Sliver rode on down into the valley to free the -_anciano_, Bull and Jake cinched the thieves securely in their saddles. -Then, driving them and the horses ahead, with Lee and Gordon following, -they started down the trail. - -Now the spectacle of four men trussed for hanging is not to be seen -every day--let us say, on the streets of New York--and though Gordon had -looked on with breathless interest, he could hardly believe that the -business would have been carried to a conclusion. - -"Do you really think they would?" - -Lee looked at him in surprise. "Of course! You know Valles has issued -orders for hacendados to shoot raiders on sight; that is"--she added it -with a little sigh--"all but his own." - -Her tone was so casual, he felt convicted of vast and unlimited -greenness. But where, according to the lights under which he had been -raised, he ought to have suffered a severe revulsion, he actually -experienced a thrill. This juxtaposition of life and death, the violence -and quickness with which events rang their changes, somehow stripped -away the veils from the riddle of existence, reduced its complex terms -to their basic factors. Here in the mountains, desert, plains, they were -very simple--to eat well, sleep well, fight well, and die well, even as -these thieves, comprised the whole duty of man. The thrill recorded his -acceptance of the terms. - -While they were riding down and down the sun lowered its great crimson -orb till it hung, transfixed, on a distant peak. The mountain steeps -above, spurs, and ridges beneath, were washed in its dying crimson. Deep -purple filled the hollows; faint violet clothed the distant plains. Over -all a cloud-flecked sky spread its parti-colored glories. Mountain and -plain, canon and deep ravine, it was a scene infinitely wild, infinitely -beautiful, and as he looked over it all Gordon took his breath in a deep -sigh. - -"This is life! I hate to leave it." - -"Leave it?" If Lee's surprise was assumed, it was exceedingly well done. -She went on, with a low laugh: "Oh, I see! Papa wins out. The prodigal -will return to marry the beautiful heiress and live happy ever -afterward." - -"Who told you? Oh, Bull, of course. Now that comes of owning a blabbing -tongue. Confound him! Well, since you want to know, I won't. In my -present mood, New York is the last place in the world I want to see." - -"Then you have tired of us--_so_ soon?" - -"Or you of me? You forget--_I'm_ fired." - -She noted the subtle accent, and equally subtle was her reply. "Why, -yes, so you _were_." - -Then, looking at each other, they both laughed. - - - - -XIV: NEMESIS DOGS THE THREE--AND IS "DOGGED," IN TURN, BY LEE - - -Midnight saw the prisoners safely bestowed in a 'dobe that had served -the old Spaniard, Carleton's predecessor, for a jail. During the -remainder of the night the Three stood guard in turn and Gordon, who -relieved Sliver at daybreak, was still at the door when Lee came out of -her bedroom on the upper gallery. - -Goodness knows she was pretty enough in her man's riding-togs, but now a -flowing kimono added the softness and mystery a man loves best in a -woman. As she moved forward to the rail and stretched, looking off and -away to the mountains, the loose sleeves fell away and Gordon obtained a -distracting glimpse of polished arms, small white teeth, in a round red -mouth, all set in the blazing gold of her hair. Seeing him, she cut off -the yawn and smiled. - -"You must be dreadfully hungry." Her clear call floated across the -compound. "Come to breakfast. I'll send Miguel to keep watch." - -She was already seated at the table under the _portales_ when he came -in, and as he took his seat Maria, the smaller of the two house -_criadas_, reported the Three as being still lost in sleep. - -"The poor fellows!" Lee commented, distressfully. "They must be dead. -Don't awaken them." - -Thus, after the crowding events of the previous day, which included a -fist fight, proposal of marriage from one girl, wild chase after -another, a bandit raid and lynching-party, all rendered more impressive -by the dark ride through warm, mysterious night, Gordon now sat -_tete-a-tete_ with his pretty employer. - -The _patio_, with its arched _corredors_, cool as a grotto under -flooding greenery, the bird song, and exotic flowers; flame of the -_arbol de fuego_; glimpses in the crypt-like kitchen of a _criada_ down -on her knees rubbing _tortilla_ paste on a stone _metate_; the soft -stealth with which Maria moved around the table on nude feet; all these -helped to deepen those profound impressions. And while he watched Lee's -small hands fluttering like butterflies over the breakfast things, and -gained confirmatory glimpses of the polished whiteness of her arms, came -still others. - -Two brown girls, who stood twisting their skirts in the gateway, moved -forward at Lee's word. - -"They wish to take my advice about following their lovers to the wars," -she summed for him their Spanish. "I explained the risks of hunting them -among twenty thousand revolutionists, and advised them to wait till they -came home. But they say that is too indefinite. They may be killed, and -there is no one to marry them here but the _ancianos_, and they already -have wives. So they are going--to join the rag and bobtail in the wake -of the revolution." - -After the next client, a wrinkled old woman, had followed the girls out, -Lee burst out in merry laughter. "She was telling me of a miracle that -occurred at the funeral of her brother, who worked for William Benson. -It appears that he had only his dirty cotton calzones to be buried in, -so his wife begged a worn white suit from Mr. Benson. The poor old -fellow had been reduced by sickness to a rack of bones, and you could -have rolled him in it like a blanket. And here came the miracle! The -weather, you know, was exceedingly hot last week, and instead of burying -him at once they waited till some relatives from a distance had arrived. -And when the coffin was opened for them to take a last look--lo! the -miracle! - -"'For Saint Joseph,' she said, just now, 'had wrought a most wonderful -thing, senorita. Whereas Refugio had lain in the senor's clothes like a -nut in a withered shell, he was now so large and handsome they fitted -him like his skin!'" - -He laughed so heartily she was drawn on to tell him more, and pleased -herself thereby as much as him. For to be really happy, a girl must have -exercise for her tongue, and with all their genuine devotion the Three -offered but a limited field for conversation. Naturally laconic, their -communications touched principally upon flocks and herds; and holding, -as they did, the traditional frontier viewpoint concerning Mexicans--to -wit, that they ranked in the scale of creation below the Gila -monster--they shared neither her affection for, nor understanding of, -her brown retainers. - -But Gordon, with his quick and reciprocal feeling, made an ideal -listener. From the "miracle" she ran on with anecdotes and happenings, -some quaint, others amusing, several tragic, that revealed with a -vividness beyond the power of description the mixture of love and -treachery, simplicity and savagery, ignorance and idealism, religious -faith and gross superstition, that go into the making of a Mexican. -While she talked and he listened, there was established a community of -feeling which was destined to produce immediate results. - -"What is it, Maria?" Pausing, she looked up at the _criada_ who had just -carried the prisoners their breakfast. - -"They wish to speak to me," she translated the girl's answer, "alone. -They say it is very important." - -"Better let me go with you." Gordon rose. "I can wait outside." - -"Surely." She accepted, at once, his offer, and when, moreover, he -followed in after Miguel opened the prison door, she offered no -objection. - -Neither did the raiders--for reasons that quickly developed. "It matters -not, senorita." The man whose face had caused Bull such disturbance -shrugged his indifference when Lee explained that Gordon spoke no -Spanish. "'Tis of the others, your servants, I would speak." - -While crossing the compound she had puckered her smooth brow over the -mystery--without gaining any inkling to break the force of the -communication. While the fellow ran on, hands and shoulders helping out -his torrential Spanish, Gordon saw her expression pass through surprise, -incredulity, doubt, finally settle in deep concern, when, with emphasis -that carried conviction, the other three testified to the truth of their -fellow's words. - -"I-- Oh, do you know what they say?" Distressed, she turned to Gordon -with blind instinct for help. "I really don't know whether I ought to -tell you. It so dreadfully, pitifully concerns our poor friends. You -have been here such a short time, yet--I feel that you can be trusted. -They say--" - -But the tale, as elaborated and filled in by Gordon's cross-examination, -is best summed. Not for nothing had been Bull's "hunch." The haunting -face fitted the _charro_ who had held their horses that day at the -_jefe-politico's_ gate in Las Bocas. When the Three failed to return -with Carleton's horses, that astute person--the "wicked one" of -yesterday's talk--had sent out others. In return for the _senorita's_ -great kindness in saving their lives--but principally, if the truth be -known, because they feared to be sent out under convoy of Sliver and -Jake--they wished to make grateful return by warning her against these -evil ones; these wolves in sheep's clothing that had slunk into her -fold! Followed a recital of their border raids that lost nothing by -reason of the details being filled in from imagination! They were -terrible _hombres_! _Muy malo_! greatly desired by the _gringo_ police -for dreadful crimes! - -"Don't you suppose they are lying?" Gordon suggested. - -She shook her head. "Their story is too literal. When a _peon_ lies, he -goes the limit. Some terrible tale of atrocious murder and torture would -be the least; something beyond mere banditry, which is scarcely a crime -in their eyes. Then it is corroborated by a lot of little things. You -know they were riding my horses yesterday and were differently dressed, -yet this man described their horses and clothing as he saw them in Las -Bocas, just as they were the first day they came here. And do you -remember how they looked at one another yesterday when I said that any -of us might have done the same thing?" - -Gordon nodded. "They did look queer, and do you recall Bull's answer? -'Under the same circumstances, we-all 'u'd expect to hang.' He spoke so -slowly, looking at the others, and they both nodded." - -"Then see how they came here--started up, as it were, out of the ground. -In Mexico one doesn't ask strangers embarrassing questions. It would be -like throwing stones at random in a city of glass. But if they stay with -you, one generally learns something of their past. But theirs is wrapped -in mystery. I know no more of them than on the day they came. It is -probably true." - -Her tone was quiet, indeed so casual in its acceptance of the fact that -Gordon wondered. In El Paso he had been greatly impressed by the -knight-errantry of the Three in espousing the cause of a lonely girl. -During the last week he had seen for himself their simplicity of heart, -rough kindliness, genuine devotion; and now this land of surprises had -confounded him again with its juggler's changes of good and evil. These -kindly fellows were, after all, cattle-rustlers, but one remove from -bandits. - -To him it was a most astonishing situation. In New York, where folks -were sharply divided into the sheep and the goats, it would have been -easily solved; one would have merely rung for the police. But here, -where everything seemed to go by contraries, anything might happen. -Accordingly, he looked at her and waited. - -But she did not answer his unspoken question. She was looking at him, -yes, with wide, distressed eyes. But he felt, without understanding, -that she was looking across that queer situation. He had a sudden, vivid -suspicion that he was on trial in her mind instead of the Three. He was -certain of it when she spoke. - -"What would _you_ do?" - -Ten days ago he would undoubtedly have viewed the case under his -previous lights and have pronounced it one for the police. Now he -answered from the larger charity that belonged to the land: "You -remember what you said yesterday and repeated a moment ago--under the -same circumstances we might have done the same thing? It isn't what they -_were_; it's what they _are_ that counts." - -"Oh, I _knew_ you would say it!" She impulsively thrust out her hand, -and as the small, firm fingers locked with his in a strong grip, he knew -that not only had he emerged victorious, but also that his answer had -established between them a real bond. Eyes shining, she ran on: "They -saved my life, helped to nurse my father, have been so kind and good and -dear! If they had been the vilest criminals it would make no difference -to me. They are my people, my _men_!" - -"Of course they are!" Gordon cordially agreed. "Now what about these -fellows? What will you tell them?" - -Doubt clouded her shining enthusiasm. "I don't quite know. What do you -think would be best?" - -"The truth. If what they say is true, and we believe it is, they can't -be bluffed. But it won't do to have them believe you knew nothing of -this. I'd hint that though you were not acquainted with the details, you -were perfectly aware of your servants' past, but that they are now -leading honorable lives. Clinch it by adding that you hope they will do -half as well with their chance." - -"Fine!" Her face lit up again, and when, having put it all into Spanish -for the thieves, they went outside, she thanked him for the counsel. "I -knew you could help me. Now just one more thing--this is all between you -and me. No one else must ever know--especially them." - -"We'll forget it ourselves." - -Once more her small cool fingers locked with his, and, smiling brightly, -she went back to the house, leaving him to resume his guard till the -prisoners were taken away by Sliver and Jake. - -After they were gone there entered into Gordon's mind a small doubt. -Supposing the raiders talked? Spread their report of the Three through -the desert country? It remained, that little doubt, like a thorn in the -side till it was drawn by Sliver and Jake when they returned the -following night. - -"We'd calc'lated to hand 'em over to the vaqueros at Hacienda El Reposo, -an' have them chase 'em beyond their bounds," Jake explained. "But at -the railroad we ran into a Valles colonel that was drumming up recruits. -He grabbed 'em offen our hands that quick they hadn't time to kick." - -"By now," Sliver added, "they're three hundred miles south on their way -to death an' glory." - -"But the little girl mustn't know that," Bull's heavy bass rose in -caution. "She was that sot on returning 'em to their women and children, -it 'u'd half break her heart." - -"Not a whisper," the two agreed, but Sliver added, with a chuckle, "Alle -same, they'll stay put an' trouble her no more." - -Inwardly Gordon echoed it, "They'll trouble _you_ no more." - -While the others were away Bull had also been doing some thinking, and -after Gordon went out for his evening stroll through the compound he -laid the results before them. "Say, I've placed that chap." - -"Which chap?" - -"Fellow with the pock-marks. D'you remember the mozo that held our -horses at Don Miguel's gate?" - -"No-o-o--" Jake began, but with memory thus stimulated Sliver recalled -him. - -"Julius Seize-her! you're right!" As the possibilities of the late -situation flashed upon him he gave a low whistle. "What an escape! We've -had some close calls in our time, but none to beat it. 'Twas lucky he -didn't recognize us, for he'd sure have peached, an' I wouldn't have -Lady-girl to know for a cold million." - -"Nor me," Jake added. "But it ain't likely--now." - -"Thank God for that!" Sliver exclaimed it with almost religious fervor. -With deep thankfulness Bull repeated it in his mind. - - - - -XV: BULL AND THE WIDOW CONSPIRE - - -"Ain't that queer?" - -The Three were in full enjoyment of the noon smoke on the broad plank -bench in front of their 'dobe. Though Lee always encouraged them to -smoke in the house, they preferred it there--partly through a rooted -instinct that, no matter how cleverly she dissemble, woman is the -natural enemy of "Lady Nicotine," regarding her always as a formidable -rival; secondly, because, while sitting at ease, the life of the -compound passed under their eyes. Just now, when Sliver's remark broke -the hot noon silence, their attention was concentrated upon Gordon, who -sat in the doorway of a 'dobe opposite, playing with a chubby girl of -three, while its dark mother looked on with a pleased smile. - -"Ain't what queer?" Jake sent a stream of smoke rings writhing through -the warm air. "There's so many queer things down here I'll have to ask -you to come again." - -Sliver nodded at Gordon. "Ain't it odd how he cottons to them little -Mexes? To me they're no more' n little brown dogs. Did you know he sat -up night afore last with a sick one?" - -"No-o-o-o!" Jake's surprise knew no bounds. - -"He did. Kid had a sore throat that looked like diphtheria, an' he sat -there all night a-painting it with kerosene. Brought it 'round, too, he -did." - -"Kain't understan' it." Jake shook his head. "For my part, I'd sink the -country under water twenty minutes if I could, an' drown the hull brown -b'iling. But let me tell you, Son, them peculiar interests of his'n -ain't going to hurt him none with Missy. If there's anything a girl -likes in a man it's to see him make over kids. Marks him for a good -daddy, I s'pose, an' without actually reasoning it out that way it's -what they're all a-wanting." - -"Don't seem to have feazed her much as yet," Sliver grumbled. "Look at -him. A fine lad, straight an' strong an' true, eddicated an' well -raised; now where in hell ked you find a better match for Lady-girl? But -though he's been here two months, there's nothing doing. Sometimes I -ketch myself wishing he'd hand her a crack like he give me. It 'u'd make -her sit up an' take notice!" - -Jake approved the diagnosis. "They're real friendly--friendly as a brace -of bugs in a rug. She likes to chin with him. When he's telling, -evenings, about New York, an' university doings, her eyes shine like -clear wax candles, but 'tain't fer him. She's jest a-seeing an' a-doing -an' a-being what he's telling. Sure she likes him an' him her, but, as -you say--there's nothing doing." - -Bull ripped out an oath, but his feeling was so sincere, his -disappointment so deep, that the profanity was like unto a consecration. -"Makes me feel like knocking their damn young heads together." As, -rising, he tapped the ashes out of his pipe on his huge palm, he added: -"I've gotter ride out to the valley pastures this afternoon, an' while -I'm that far I'll jest go on an' have a word with Mrs. Mills. She's that -clever I'll bet you she'd have 'em hitched be this if she'd been here." - -"Say!" Sliver's nod followed Bull as he walked away. "Third time this -month--once beca'se he'd heard Betty was ailing; again 'cause it was -rumored raiders had been seen around her _rancho_; now beca'se he wants -advice. D'y' know, I believe it's the widow herself. Whoopee! kin you -think of it! Old Bull an' her an' domestic bliss an'--" - -"D'you reckon it's anything to josh about?" Jake sternly interrupted. "I -uster laugh at the very idee of living straight an' sorter scorn them as -did, but let me tell you, hombre, that after a man touches forty there -ain't a thing in the world left for him but a wife's smile across the -table an' children's hands clutching his knee." His bleak eyes, lean, -sarcastic face, had lit as to a vision. Now the illumination died and -left it even colder. "After the pleasant time we've had here, that old -hell an' ruin life looks like a bad dream. I've thought, sometimes, I'd -try to quit it. I would with jest half of Bull's natural goodness. But -I'm bad clean through to the bone. Why, I'm fixing even now, while I'm -talking, for a bust. My system's that dry I ked drink up a lake, an' my -fingers is itching to get into a game." - -"Me, too." Sliver, always reflective, took the color of Jake's mood. -"I'll soon be due for a night at the _fonda_." He added, with comical -pathos: "You bet, I'll go an' lie down to it again. But I do wish -Felicia, out there, would put in a better brand of p'ison. I suffer so -when I'm through." - -"Sure." Jake accepted the inevitable with fatalism that almost amounted -to satisfaction. "One of these days I'll take a tumble an' go back to -the old life till it's cut off by the sheriff's rope. But Bull--" - - -Seven hours of steady riding brought Bull to the rise from which, on his -first visit, he had looked back on the widow's _rancho_. The low sun -filled the pocket in the hills wherein the buildings stood with fluid -gold that set the chrome-yellow walls off in a blaze, fired the red -masses of the bougainvillea with deeper flame. It also set a glow on -Bull's face, revealing a softness, expectancy that could not be credited -altogether to his mission. A few yards to his right stood an old 'dobe -wall, relic of some former building, and so absorbed was he in his -musing that he never noticed a rifle-barrel projecting through a crack -till a voice broke the golden silence. - -"It will pay you, senor, to watch more carefully. One could shoot the -eyes out of you with perfect ease." - -As Bull turned quickly, a dark face rose above the old wall. Oval in -outline, the features, nose, brows, mouth, were all straight, -emphasizing its naturally cold expression. Strangest of all, investing -it with a weird, uncanny look, the eyes were blue. No hint of a smile -warmed its ruling bleakness when he answered Bull's question. - -"Si, the senora is there. Ride on, senor. I shall watch here for a -little while." - -Five minutes later, while Betty sat on Bull's knee, the widow explained -the apparition. "That was Terrubio, my Mexican foreman. He's very -faithful. Always he gets up and takes a look around two or three times -in the night, and he does as much work as two ordinary Mexicans. He used -to be a bandit in the old days; and once, when the rurales were hot on -his trail, he hid in an old stable of ours. We found him next morning, -almost shot to pieces. After I'd nursed him back to health Mr. Mills got -his pardon from Diaz on condition that he'd stay with us and behave. -That's over ten years ago. He's been with us ever since, and that old -bandit reputation of his has been our best protection." - -"That's fine, ma'am," Bull made hearty comment. "It takes a bad man to -scare a bad man. I'll feel easier for knowing this." - -The widow had already dismissed Terrubio's woman, who served as her -_criada_, for the night. Now while she bustled around preparing Bull's -supper he looked on with huge content, his glance, in its respect and -constancy, very like that of a mastiff. Several times, in passing, her -skirts brushed him, and at each slight contact he blushed and trembled. -Perhaps they were not quite accidental. At least she was fully aware of -the effect, for each time she turned quickly to hide a smile. When, at -last, she sat down with plump white arms folded on the table to watch -him eat, the glow on his face was certainly not due to his business, -though he introduced it then. - -"Two months he's been here, ma'am," he concluded his tale of woe, "an' -nary a thing doing." - -"Why, what did you expect?" Her pretty, plump figure shook with laughter -and Betty joined her childish merriment. "Did you think it would happen -in the first five minutes? Now just consider--what good would she ever -have of a man that would fall as easily as that? They talk of love at -first sight, but let me tell you that those are the kind that fall out -at second. It takes a slow horse for a steady pull and a slow man for a -lasting love. It's good that he isn't impressionable, for he'll go down -all the harder for it. And you yourself wouldn't have liked Lee to fall -in love with him at once. But she isn't that easy kind. The man that -gets her will have to win her. But tell me the symptoms. How do they -act?" - -Bull gave the diagnosis--they appeared to like each other! Were very -friendly! She liked to hear him talk! He couldn't think of anything -else! - -The widow had checked off each count with a little nod. Now she burst -out laughing. "Is that all? My goodness! Mr. Perrin, how blind you men -are! That isn't much to go on. Did you ever see him touch her, or she -him, accidental, as it were?" - -Recalling the effect of her brushing skirts, Bull blushed, and under the -stimulus of personal experience he divined the inwardness of the -question. "Sure! She was showing him how to hog-tie a steer t'other day. -It lashed out an' upset them an' for a minute they was that balled up -you kedn't tell t'other from which. Didn't seem a bit anxious to let go, -either." - -"That's favorable," the widow nodded thoughtfully. "Looking at it from a -distance, I should say what was needed is a little competition. It's the -life of love as well as trade. A man and a girl are like fire and tow. -They'll go along, nice as you please, till a little rivalry blows up -like a wind, then--up in a blaze they go. Has Ramon been at Los Arboles -since Mr. Nevil came?" - -"A couple of times. But Gordon was out with us on the range, an' Ramon -was gone afore we kem in." - -"It's a pity he hadn't been there. He'd feel the same about as we do, -and he wouldn't be human if he didn't try to cut Ramon out. Let me see." -She mused for a while, chin propped in her hands. Then her face lit up. -"I know! I'm having a birthday next week. I'll make a little party and -invite Ramon and Lee. You'll see to it that Gordon brings her here?" - -"But then Bull won't be able to come," Betty's small voice piped, -indignantly. "And you told me only yesterday that you weren't going to -ask any one but him." - -Now the widow blushed. But she braved it out. "So I did, dear, and I'd -rather have him. But when Lee's happiness is at stake we'll have to give -up our own pleasure. And you mustn't call him that. 'Tisn't respectful. -Say Mr. Perrin." - -"But Jake and Sliver do it, and he said I could--didn't you, Bull? -There, you see!" Thus triumphantly vindicated, she was proceeding with -further revelations. "Mother will be thirty-sev--" when the widow -clapped her hand over the small, traitorous mouth. - -She broke into a little, conscious laugh. "I know it's silly. But was -there ever a real woman that would own up to her age? I won't -acknowledge to a day over thirty." - -"And you look five years younger than that, ma'am," Bull gallantly -replied. - -He was paid, of course, with a brilliant smile, and, the conspiracy thus -consummated, they gradually drifted into one of those pleasant talks, -warm, intimate, communicative, which have been banished from the hectic, -electric cities, but still linger where the habitants of the mountains, -forest, desert, range, spend long evenings under the golden lamplight or -flickering fire-blaze. From news of their countryside, rumors of raids -and revolutions, neighborhood gossip, it passed on to a closer, more -personal note, touching their thoughts, hopes, aspirations. - -In the course of it Betty exercised her usual privilege and went to -sleep in Bull's arms. But though, when he retired, the warmth of the -soft child-body enwrapped, as before, his heart, his thoughts were not -of her. Long after the silence of midnight wrapped the dark house he -dismissed a waking dream with the brusque comment: - -"'Tain't for you, Bull. You killed all that years ago, with your own -hand." - -He repeated it next morning, looking back on the _rancho_ from the last -rise. "No, Son, 'tain't for you." - -At that moment Betty and her mother stood in the doorway watching his -distant figure, and had he been close enough to see and hear he might -have read denial of his thought in both the child's words and the -widow's reflective smile. Said reflection was due to a lively memory of -his sudden reddening when she had left her hand in his just a shade -longer than was necessary. She blushed, now, and cut off Betty's words -with a sudden squeeze. - -"Mother, I just know he's falling in love with you. Wouldn't it be nice -if he asked--" - - - - -XVI: ONE MAN CAN TAKE A HORSE TO WATER, BUT-- - - -The sun shone brightly on the morning of the widow's birthday. Not that -there was anything sensational in the fact. Except in the rainy season, -the sun always shines brightly in Chihuahua--altogether too brightly for -a white man's comfort, so while waiting for Lee, Gordon led their horses -into the shade of the 'dobe where dwelt his little playmate. Seated in -the doorway, under the pleased eyes of the brown mother, he was -initiating the chubby thing into the mysteries of "cat's cradle" with a -loop of string, when Lee came walking across from the house. - -At the sight of the two heads bent over the "cradle," the girl's face -lit up with a soft glow that was not belied by her mock severity. -"Hello, Brother! What are you doing to my godchild?" - -"Is this she?" Rising, he swung the child up on his shoulder. "I had -just about made up my mind to adopt her myself." - -"Let me see--" Lee's smooth brow achieved a thoughtful wrinkle. "She's -about one-fiftieth of it. You know I am padrina to all that have been -born here in the last fifteen years. But this is my favorite, and I -cannot suffer you to steal her allegiance as you tried the other night. -Oh, you needn't blush! Maria brought the news with my coffee. She was -loud in your praises. 'Don Gor-r-r-don sat with Refugio's sick babe all -night. What a husband for some happy senorita!'" - -"That was very nice of Maria." He laughed. "Only, I'm afraid there's -nothing doing. Girls of this size get me going, but after they grow -up--somehow I lose interest." - -It was an awesome confession to make to a girl whose mirror reflected -far more than the average of feminine looks. Like a stag of ten tines -that paws the forest mold in the pride of freedom, he had marked himself -for the slaughter. It was the due of her sex that his pride be humbled. -The soft glow changed to a gleam; but her attention was drawn just then -by the prattle of two children who, unaware of the proximity of the -parties of the first and second part, were conducting a make-believe -housekeeping around the corner. - -"Now I shall be Don Gor-r-r-don, and thou the senorita," came a voice, -gruff with masculine authority. "Only we be married." - -"But will they be married, Pancho?" piped a softer treble. - -"Si, that will they. Only an hour ago I heard thy mother and old 'Lupe -talking at the well. 'Is not Don Gor-r-r-don a fine man, and she a woman -with never a duenna to her name? 'Tis shocking, Amalia, but gringo blood -runs colder than Spanish; their ways are not ours. Yet, cold or hot, -this may not end without marriage.' This is what old 'Lupe said to thy -mother." - -Rich color swept from the roots of Lee's hair down to her neck. She -hastily hid it from the observation of the party of the first part; -then, remembering that his Spanish was still confined to a few jerky -sentences, she regained her composure. - -"Woman!" "Don Gor-r-r-don" was speaking again. "What is this--the -tortillas burned once more? Have I not told thee to be more sparing of -the wood I gain with my sweat? And this chile? 'Tis sour as swill, fit -only for swine." - -"Then it should suit thee very well," came the softer voice, with -unexpected spirit. - -"A-r-r-r-h!" It was an excellent imitation of the angry howl with which -Don Gor-r-r-don's father resented household rebellions. "Thou wouldst -answer me? Thy mouth is too big! Take this to fill it!" - -Followed a wail and as Lee rushed around the corner to the rescue, Don -Gor-r-r-don scuttled like a little pig under her arm and dived into the -house. Having comforted the small housewife, Lee returned to Gordon. - -"Panchito is not quite so afraid of girls as you," she teased him. "They -were playing house. Because the beans were not quite to his liking, he -handed Dolores one on the mouth." - -He laughed. "The young dog! At least he has a good working idea of the -proper relation of the sexes." - -This, indeed, was tempting Providence! The little gleam appeared again -and lingered till, taking her foot in one hand, he lifted her to the -saddle without perceptible effort, when it was wiped out by pleased -surprise. - -Strength and tenderness? Age-long experience has taught woman to value -these above all else in man! A skilful diagnostician--the widow, for -instance--would have noted and approved her unconscious content as they -rode out through the gates and followed the trail up and down the long -earth rolls. Sometimes, when the vagaries of travel forced him ahead, -her little stealthy glances were not nearly so unconscious; displayed a -curiosity both healthy and sincere. And when, as occurred quite -frequently, their frank interest was broken by a return of the little -gleam, the diagnostician would still have concurred. For it displayed -nothing more than the pride proper in a sex which has handled--and -mishandled--man, directed his policies and intrigues, set him at the -wars, made his peaces, used him as a catspaw to pull its private -chestnuts out of the fires of love and hate, while the poor, blinded -being imagined all the time that he was following his own ends. - -He "lost interest in them after they grew up." Indeed! Why, the -freshness of the morning, the creak and odor of hot leather, rhythmic -beat of hoofs, sunlit roll of pastures within the hedging mountains, all -the sights and sensations which he mistook for joy in the ride, were -nothing more than a setting for her lovely youth. The ebb and flow of -her color, easy flexures of her lithe body, counted as much in nature's -cosmogony as the rush of the winds, flush of sunset skies; only, as yet, -he did not know it. The "fire and tow" still lacked a "wind." - -They headed, at first, out on the trail which led through Lovell's -_rancho_ to the widow's; but presently Lee swerved toward the hills. "It -is rougher," she said, "with a few bits of stiff climbing, but both -shorter and prettier. It follows an old, old mule trail up a wooded -canon past a country _fonda_. There I'll show you the prettiest Mexican -girl in all Chihuahua." - -"At the _fonda_? Then I have seen her." - -Her quick look said quite plainly, "Oh, _you have_?" - -"Sliver took me there the day we caught the raiders. Pretty? I should -say!" He added, laughing, "She made me a very nice proposal of marriage, -adding the _fonda_ as an extra inducement." - -Her expression now said, "Oh, she _did_?" But as she looked away, he -failed to see it, got only her words, "And you had the heart to refuse?" - -"Sad to relate." - -"And you haven't even been to see her again?" - -"No time." - -She took her answer from his unconcern rather than the words. And yet, -as they rode along, she gave him little brooding looks that -expressed--perhaps not altogether disbelief so much as that rooted and -reasonable doubt which her sex invariably entertains when another woman -is in question. As they rode around the end of the spur and proceeded up -the canon her glances grew in frequency; finally settled in a stealthy -watch as they approached the _fonda_. - -"There's your beauty--attired like a bride for her groom." - -Lee nodded at Felicia, who was coming up from the stream with an _olla_ -of water gracefully poised on her head. For a cushion she had twisted a -handful of scarlet runners into a thick chaplet, and, escaping from -under the _olla_, half a dozen vivid tendrils streaked the black wavy -mass of her hair. With her velvet pools of eyes, satiny arms and -shoulders, pliant, shapely figure, she might have been a golden Hebe -bearing wine to Aztec gods. Small wonder if Gordon stared at the pretty -picture overmuch for his companion's taste. - -His interest undoubtedly instigated her addition, "Perhaps she hasn't -lost hope?" - -She did not, either, like his laugh, for it seemed just a bit conscious. -While drinking a glass of native concoction, barley water flavored with -seeds, she kept a stealthy watch that was none the less efficient -because masked by gay chatter with the old man and woman who came -hobbling out of the house. She saw not only the dark glance that -followed and enfolded Gordon in a lingering embrace, but as the girl -reached up, handing the glass, she caught a glimpse of Gordon's fob -dangling within the golden bosom at the end of a chain of beads. - -At first she recognized it only for an American-made trinket. But under -pretense of admiring the hand-made lace edging on the girl's chemisette, -she managed another peep and saw the leather worked with Gordon's -monogram in gold. - -"Ah, _ha_! senor!" - -Her mental ejaculation expressed on the surface only mischief. But under -it a deeper feeling moved like a stir of wind through sultry heat. Was -it the widow's "wind" fanning an unsuspected flame? Perhaps. At least -when, looking back after they rode on, she saw the same dark gaze -following, enwrapping Gordon, she was seized with sudden unhappiness. -Plainly as the day that dark gaze spoke: - -"I am yours!" - -After they had ridden on, out of sight, and her beast was scrambling -after Gordon's up the mule trail that rose in a series of zigzag -staircases, the little queer looks at his back asked a vital question. - - - - -XVII: --BUT TWENTY CANNOT MAKE HIM DRINK - - -When they rode in to the _rancho_ that afternoon, the "wind"--that is, -Ramon--had not yet "blown in"; so there were no complications to -interfere with the widow's first attempts at diagnosis of the "case." -She noticed at once that, instead of springing down and taking her and -Betty in one hug according to her fashion, Lee swung one leg over the -pommel, then sat, quietly waiting, till Gordon reached up and lifted her -across to the veranda. - -"Promising," she inwardly commented. - -A cold shower, that followed greetings and introductions, interfered -temporarily with the diagnosis, but after Lee had emerged, all pink and -white and cool, and had sat down to make her toilet in the widow's -bedroom, that lady pursued her investigations with the abrupt remark: - -"Ramon is coming." - -"Yes? Isabel too?" - -An imperceptible nod marked Mrs. Mills's belief that the indifference -was not assumed. She went on to mask her plot. "No, it was quite -accidental. I wrote some time ago to ask just where my line ran along -their eastern boundary, and Ramon replied that he would come over and -show me to-day." - -"Oh, I hope he does. Ramon is such a nice boy." - -She was now powdering her nose. The widow made mental comment. "Never -missed a dab. William Benson's a fool--though, of course, she may have -changed her mind." This she proceeded to find out. "Your new man seems -nice?" - -"He is." Followed a long description of Gordon's night vigil with the -child. She concluded with a characteristic reservation, "But--" - -"But what?" - -"He's been going to see Felicia at the _fonda_. Sliver took him there, -one day, and he says that he has never been again. But--she's wearing -his watch-fob in her bosom-- Yes, yes! I know! A _peona_ will beg the -shoes off any man's feet. She might easily have got it at one sitting. -But--" - -Her nod conveyed her feeling that, allowances having been generously -made, young men whose watch-fobs are found in _peonas_' bosoms, will -bear watching. "Of course that is nothing to me, and, as you say, he is -very nice. I like Bull better than any of them. Dear me! why isn't he -twenty years younger? Then I could marry him. Oh--" - -She paused, gazing at the widow, for, though the latter was exceedingly -subtle, the subtlety of one woman is plain print for another. A little -smile, sudden lighting of the eye! The widow stood betrayed. - -Lee jumped an enormous distance to her conclusion. "Oh, wouldn't that be -just too lovely! Is it--settled?" - -The widow, of course, shook her head. - -"But it will be." - -"How do you know?" She was quite willing to be convinced. - -"How do I know?" The words issued, delicately scented, from dabs of -powder. "Just as if it depended on _him_. Just as if any woman--who -hasn't a harelip--can't marry any man she wants." - -Thus turned, in a twinkling, from a diagnostician into a "case," Mrs. -Mills tried to cover her confusion with a little laugh. But it was so -self-conscious she might as well have made oral confession. Being an -honest person, she owned up with a hug. - -Meanwhile, having been captured by Betty as he emerged from his bedroom -dressed and refreshed by a cooling shower, Gordon was being subjected to -an equally keen if less discreet examination. - -Betty's major premise agreed marvelously with Lee's and was stated with -the startling directness of childhood after a prolonged survey of the -subject from different distances and points of view. "I like you--only -not so well as Bull. You're nicer-looking, but--" A long pause -emphasized more powerfully than words how woefully he fell short in -other ways. "I'm going to marry him when I grow up--that is, if mother -doesn't beat me to it!" - -"Any danger of that?" Gordon laughed. - -"You bet there is. Bull's dead in love with her, and she--of course, she -doesn't admit it, but _I know_." - -"Well, well, isn't that fine!" Gordon really meant it. "Congratulations, -I suppose, are not yet in order." - -"I should say _not_!" Betty's blue eyes widened with horror. "Don't you -_dare_! I'm not too big, yet, to be spanked"--she wriggled, -reminiscently--"and when mother's real mad she goes the limit. -Nevertheless, it's true." After a second calculating survey, she -concluded, "But if she grabs Bull, I _might_ marry you." - -"If you only will," he pleaded, "I'll be _so-o_ good! Can't we consider -ourselves engaged?" - -After a moment's thought she doubtfully shook her blond head. "No, I'm -afraid not." - -"Why?" - -"Because." - -"Because doesn't answer anything. If you reject me, I must know why." - -"Because I'd only be disappointed again." She added, with a little sigh: -"All the nice men are sure to be married before I grow up. You'll fall -in love with Lee." - -"_I?_ With _Lee_?" His real surprise showed how little that contingency -had occurred in his thought. Curiosity mingled with a touch of -apprehension colored his accent. "Now how do you figure that?" - -"Because you'd be a fool if you didn't." - -The answer, in its dread plainness, caused him to stare. "But--but, you -know, I am only her hired man?" - -"That wouldn't count--if she liked you." After another examination: "And -she might do worse. _Gee!_ if I were only a man!" - -"Yes?" he prompted. "If you were a man?" - -"I'd love her so hard she'd just have to give in. I'd--" - -But further revelations were just then cut off. Back in the bedroom her -mother had remembered the possibilities of that small, frank tongue. -Answering her call, Betty ran off, leaving Gordon, however, with -plentiful food for thought. - -During the last two months he had seen Lee--riding the range, a pretty -lad; presiding at meals, a still prettier girl, excessively feminine in -her care for himself and the Three; mothering her brown retainers; a -girl clean of mind, clear-eyed, wholesome as a breath of wind off the -sage. Yet, somehow, she had not stirred his pulses. He acknowledged it -with a touch of shame. What the deuce could be the matter? Was there -something wrong with his head? - -Presently he gained an inkling--he had been wearing another's colors! -She whom adventure claims has eyes for none else. The color and romance -of this land had fired his imagination, opened a whole world to his -view. Coral isles of the Pacific, palm-fringed and begirt with -thundering surf; copra and pearls, magic words; the head-hunters of the -Solomons; deep forests, quaint grass villages of Java and Borneo; the -inland rivers of China; Siberian steppes; rock temples of Tibet--these -and a thousand other names and places had juggled their terms in his -brain. Some day he would see them all, following adventure's trail! - -He had calculated to go it alone, but now began to wonder if that were -really necessary. A sympathetic companion doubles one's joy in beautiful -things! Come to think of it--Lee would fit very nicely in a Java forest! -He saw her fair hair, a golden aureole, shining in the dusk under giant -tropical fronds. She looked well, too, at the tiller of the -gasolene-launch in which he was wont to explore, in imagination, the -upper waters of the Hoang-ho! Now she was clasping her hands and holding -her breath in pleasure and awe at first sight of the Chinese Wall -dragging its massive stone coils over mountain and plain. Indeed, in the -course of the next half-hour they two explored the major part of the -earth's fair surface, and not a place in it all where Lee did not -belong. - -Subconsciously, propinquity and isolation had worked their customary -effects. If not actually in love, the young man was in a highly -dangerous, not to say inflammable, state of mind when, in the midst of -his dreamings, the weathered-oak door at the end of the _corredor_ swung -in and there, framed in its golden arch, bathed and powdered and fresh, -stood that flower of the ages, a modern girl! - -It cannot be denied that, given a decent superstructure, it's the -feathers that make the bird. Lines that not only stood the test of, but -actually triumphed over, Lee's severe man's riding-clothes, took a -billowy softness from a pretty voile gown. The silk orange stockings -under the ruffle harmonized with a narrow orange and black stripe in the -dress. The riband that bound her yellow curls in a girlish coiffure -rhymed again with a silk sweater of peacock-blue. A pair of white pumps, -that ran like frightened mice under the skirt completed a costume which, -without understanding, Gordon knew to be in excellent taste. - -"Why, Sister!" he returned her greeting of the morning. "What killing -clothes!" - -"Right, Brother!" she answered, in kind. "That's what they're for." - -Of course he threw up his hands. And of course she laughed. And of -course there was more of the perfectly foolish, but perfectly necessary, -badinage with which callow youth imitates its elders' wit. But under -all, behind his glow of admiration, Lee sensed new feeling. And she -reacted to it--though not altogether in a way that suited the widow, who -had followed her out. For if her color heightened, the dangerous gleam -still sparkled in her eye. - -"I wonder what she's up to?" The thought formed in Mrs. Mills's mind. - -She soon found out, for just then the "wind," alias Ramon, "blew in." - -"Oh! I'm _so_ glad to see you!" - -With a swish of skirts that spread a delicate odor of violet along the -_corredor_, Lee ran to meet him as he leaped from his horse. Then, -giving him both hands, she inquired after his father, mother, Isabel, -aunts, cousins--goodness knows! the category might have embraced every -one of his _peones_ if she had not been warned by the deepening of the -young fellow's rich color that it was about time to let go. - -"Just a bit too effusive," the widow made note. Aloud she broke in, "You -are forgetting Mr. Nevil, dear." - -"Oh, I beg your pardon!" But the glint in her eye took it back and she -managed the introductions with malicious skill. "Ramon, this is Mr. -Nevil, our latest acquisition." - -"Just as if he'd been a horse," the widow inwardly commented. To prevent -further mischief, she took Lee in to help her set the table. - -On first meeting, two women look in each other for possible enemies; two -men for possible friends. Ramon, with his gentle, deprecatory manner, -was so different from the Mexican of American fiction, skulking ever -with a knife behind a bush, that he came to Gordon as a revelation. His -great Spanish eyes glowing softly in the dusk under his huge gold-laced -_sombrero_; the _charro_ suit of soft leather that so finely displayed -his lithe build; his fine horse and silver-crusted saddle--made such a -figure as, in the prosaic East, is to be seen only on the stage. - -Gordon, on the other hand, with his frank, breezy manner, appealed just -as strongly to Ramon. After the exchange of cigarettes and a light they -settled down to a friendly chat. Naturally the conversation ran from -Gordon's impressions of the country to a review of its troubles, and in -course thereof he obtained an astonishing glimpse into the Mexican point -of view. - -"I do not know of myself," Ramon replied to his question concerning the -outcome, "but one could not listen to my father, who is old and wise, -without forming some opinions. No, senor, we shall never settle our -troubles ourselves--because, first, it isn't in us; second, we do not -try. Any settlement will have to come from the outside--but that we -should fight. You would have every Mexican in the country at your -throats. Even we, the Icarzas, and dozens of others who are now living -on your side of the border, all of us who would have so much to gain and -nothing to lose by a gringo occupation, would turn against you. Like -careless wives we should resent the intrusion of a neighbor to set in -order the house we are too lazy to clean ourselves. To tell the truth, -senor"--he concluded his frank opinion with a gentle shrug--"we should -fight any attempt on your part to limit our 'God-given right'--as your -political speakers would say--to cut one another's throats and run off -with one another's women as we have been doing for thousands of years. -We hated Diaz because he kept us from it. Since his overthrow we have -done our best to make up the arrears." - -So quietly was the analysis made, Gordon could not but laugh. "I think -your father must be a bit of a cynic." - -"No, senor." Ramon repeated the gentle shrug. "He merely knows us. In -your schools--I know this, for I spent a couple of years in one of your -big military academies--you teach that every American boy has a chance -to be President. This, of course, is foolish. In the average life of -your one hundred of millions, there can only be ten Presidents, so -forty-nine million, nine hundred and ninety thousand others of your men -have no chance at all. Now we do not teach that. We are simply born with -the belief that each one of us is going to be president, if he has to -kill all the others. Moreover, in actual practice, we cut without -scruple the throats of those who come between us and again what your -political speakers would call 'our God-appointed place.' As there are -many millions of us ingrained with this belief, some bloodshed is bound -to result. - -"Also my father knows you Yankees. You desire peace, not because it is -right, but in order that you may pursue your commercial wars. Between -our wars we are good friends, visit and love one another till the time -comes for another killing. But you pursue your commerce with absolute -ruth. Nothing, to you, the ruin of a competitor; nothing the crushing of -children's and women's lives in your sweat-shops and factories; no -principle of morality or humanity can stem the tide of your greed. Your -warfare is far more inhuman than ours; slays its tens of thousands to -our thousands; starves your children, debauches your women in a way that -is unknown with us. For when they are not hacking one another to pieces -our _peones_ live in rude comfort on the haciendas with enough to eat -and drink, no more work than they feel like doing, merriment enough in -their bailes and fiestas. No, we prefer our own wars; do not in the -least desire the slums, sweat-shops, rapacity, and greed that go with -your system." - -"In other words," Gordon suggested, "'you prefer the frying-pan to the -fire'?" - -For a moment Ramon looked mystified. Then, as he grasped the application -of the strange proverb, he laughed. "Exactly, senor. Why trade devils?" - -"So that is how you Mexicans feel?" Gordon commented on these strange -ideas after a thoughtful pause. "Then why did you ever let the -foreigners in? Now that a hundred thousand of them have invested -billions here under guarantees from Mexico to their respective -countries, you can never turn them out." - -Ramon's nod conceded the fact. Not now were the hands of time to be set -back. The evolutionary process which was sweeping his country from its -ancient foundations, laid in a pastoral age, into the vortex of a -detested commercialism, was not to be stayed. - -"Why did we do it? _We_ did not. It was the work of Porfirio Diaz. Lerdo -de Tejada, whom he overthrew, held to the Mexican idea, and would have -built a Chinese Wall around the country to keep the foreigners out. But -after him--Diaz, the Flood!" Flicking the ash carelessly from his -cigarette, he concluded, with a shrug: "No, we cannot throw them -out--now. Some day you gringos will swallow us up even as you swallowed -Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Alta California. But in the mean time--we -shall fight." - -From these lines the talk turned to more intimate things and, if let -alone, they would undoubtedly have become friends. But just then Lee -returned and plunged again into family gossip, cutting Gordon out. In -fact, she did it so completely that he looked up, surprised, when she -addressed him half an hour later. - -"We are going for a little walk. You may come--if you choose." - -He didn't _choose_! As the blue sweater and orange stockings moved off -alongside the _charro_ suit and jingling silver spurs, however, his face -displayed that mixture of exasperation and bewilderment that is common -to two creatures under the sun--to wit, a bull being played with the -_capa_ by a skilful _matador_ and a man under torture by a woman. - -When they disappeared around the corner, wrath surged within him. Here -the creature whom, less than an hour ago, he had elected to wander with -him through Java forests and on a personally conducted tour of China had -first flouted him openly, and was now throwing herself at the head of -a--well, a blanked, blanked Mexican! It was hard to swallow, and yet -under his wrath the "wind" was fanning another flame into quite a -respectable blaze. - -If he could have seen the celerity with which Lee replaced their -relations on the usual basis after she and Ramon passed from sight, -Gordon might have felt better. But he did not, and when they returned -almost an hour later she behaved just as badly, if not worse. Until the -going down of the sun, in biblical phrase, and then some, she flirted -shamelessly while Gordon exhibited, on his part, the customary phases. -In lack of another girl of flirting age, he concentrated his attentions, -at first, on Betty. But growing desperate as the evening wore on, he -started a flirtation with the widow, whose looks and years brought her -well within the limit. Being neither prim nor prudish, she, on her part, -threw herself into the fray with a certain enjoyment and helped him out. -But never for a moment was she deceived. - -"Flirting their young heads off against each other," she summed the -situation. - -With secret amusement she observed the dignity of Gordon's good-night at -the close of the evening, and the excessive cordiality of Lee's answer; -also the stiffness of the bows between the young men. - -A certain restraint in the girl's good-night to herself caused her -inward laughter. Nevertheless, she observed the scriptural injunction -not to let the sun go down on one's offense. She entered with Lee into -her bedroom, and, judging by the low laughter that escaped under the -door, she quickly removed it. Nevertheless, she was not prevented, -thereby, from a correct judgment of results. - -"On the whole honors were even," she mused while making her toilet. "I -wonder who will score to-morrow?" - -It was Lee. - -"I'm coming home later," she gave Gordon his orders, after breakfast. -"You can go now. Mr. Icarza will ride with me." - -There was nothing for it, of course, but to obey. Saddling up, he rode -away, but not before the widow had handed him a hastily scribbled note -that contained--at least so she said--the recipe for a liniment Terrubio -used on their horses which he had promised to Bull. - -Going back into the bedroom, she caught Lee watching Gordon behind the -curtains. "That's downright cruelty," she scolded. - -"Well?" Lee shrugged. "Didn't he say, yesterday morning, that he didn't -take any interest in girls after they grew up?" - -"But he does." - -Very illogically, but quite naturally, Lee answered, with a little -laugh, "I know it." - -Nevertheless her eyes softened as she watched the lonely figure--that -is, they softened until it turned from the beaten trail and headed on -the path by which they had come in. Then they flashed. "Oh, he's going -back by the _fonda_!" - -"Ah-ha!" the widow mused. "Now we shall see." - -She did, for having given Gordon barely time to pass from sight, Lee -routed out Ramon from a comfortable smoke, mounted, and rode after. - - - - -XVIII: THE "WIND" BLOWS CONTRARY - - -In the fundamentals of feeling poor humans are very much alike. - -A university training confers no immunity from jealousy, and as he rode -into the hills Gordon's thoughts exhibited all of the phases customary -with plowboys and professors who have been flouted and flirted and -flurried till they can hardly say whether they are standing on their -heads or their heels. He assured himself, of course, that he "didn't -give a damn"! and smoked a pipe to prove it. But after a few puffs the -pipe burned out in his hand, wasting its fragrance on the desert air. - -The flashes that fitfully broke his brooding again marked sudden -impulses to go back, punch Ramon's head, and lead Lee away by one pretty -ear. Mentally he twisted it till she cried out; whereupon he would let -go with the admonition, "There! that will teach you to behave!" - -Once he even turned to go back. But sanity intervened. He rode -on--madder than ever. Also--but, as before said, his thoughts and -feelings conformed to the universal type. Let it suffice that when, -hours later, he saw the _fonda_ lying like a cup of gold in the ravine -below he was in a highly reckless state. - -Up to that moment it is safe to say that no thought of Felicia had been -in his mind. But when suffering from injured pride, vanity, or love, -plowman and professor alike proceed to "take a hair of the dog that bit -them" by turning to the nearest maid. Of husbands that have been so -caught on the rebound, wives obtained, as it were, on a ricochet, the -number shall never be told! - -In accordance with this natural law, Felicia's pretty face now flashed -up before Gordon's eyes. His exclamation, "Aw, take a drink and forget -it!" might, metaphorically, be applied to the _fonda's_ liquors less -than to her. - -A _peona's_ life gravitates between her grinding at the _metate_ and -laundering on the river boulders, with spells of "drawnwork" between. -Having put out her "wash" and bathed herself in the stream, Felicia was -making her toilet before two inches of cracked mirror she had propped on -the lintel against the wooden bar shutter when Gordon came riding down -from above. - -From her smooth forehead, her cloud-black hair fell in dark waves around -a spotless chemisette whose low cut and lack of sleeves revealed the -satin-gold of her shoulders. Under the same circumstances a white girl -would, of course, have fled. But at the sight of him, alone, she spat -out a mouthful of hair-pins that interfered with her welcoming smile, -led his horse in under the shady _ramada_, then proceeded calmly with -her toilet. - -Toward both Sliver and Lee she had displayed a certain sullenness, the -dull resentment born of racial oppression, but now while she combed and -arranged her hair she flooded Gordon with smiles. And how she talked! -eyes, hands, body, shoulders, and tongue going together in a way that -would have given the most loquacious of white girls twenty yards start -out of a hundred and beaten her to the tape. - -The tongue Gordon could not understand. But the big eyes, small hands, -golden shoulders told in the language of the universe that she was -exceedingly glad! To a young man who had been recently flouted and -flattened, the nose of him held down, as it were, on the grindstone of a -girl's contempt, it was very soothing. He bathed in the subtle flattery. -Like a spring tonic, it percolated, a healing oil, through every pore of -his wounded vanity, restoring, revigorating his self-esteem. So he -looked on approvingly; even made admiring note of the perfect arms and -shoulders. - -Her toilet concluded, Felicia surveyed it a few inches at a time in the -cracked bit of mirror. Then letting down the wooden shutter, she filled -two _copas_ of anisette and, leaning on one shapely elbow, pledged him -in Spanish. - -"Salud y pesitos, senor!" (Health and a little money!) - -In clinking glasses, she touched his hand, but he did not find the -contact unpleasant; neither took alarm when she refused a _peso_ -note--even after he had filled and drunk again. - -A _peona_ refusing money? It was contrary to instinct and tradition! Had -he known that, or her private mind, he would have moved on; for he was -not only naturally shy with girls, but also responsible beyond his -years. But being absolutely ignorant of _peona_ nature, and in fine -fettle for sympathetic philandering, he leaned against the bar and -chatted as best he could, with his little Spanish helped out by signs. - -When she suggested that he would learn more quickly if he had a -_diccionario_ with "long hair" he laughed, but failed to catch the -personal application. Again, if, as on the former occasion, she had -repeated the offer made through Sliver, he would also have laughed. But -now that she was sure, or thought she was, of her game, she enwrapped -herself in a savage modesty; masked advances under alluring retreats. - -To tell the truth, as the anisette fulfilled its ordained purpose and -burned up his shyness in its consuming flame, he found the flirtation so -delightful that an hour slipped by unnoticed. During that time the -"long-haired _diccionario_" was in constant use. While her father and -mother dozed under the _ramada_ he consulted it about the scenery and -natural objects, trees, chickens, pigs; the path, stream, and hills. But -when, irresistibly, the range of his questions narrowed to nearer -objects--fingers, eyes, hair--the lesson passed the boundaries of -etymology into the domain of love. - -He was well over that border before he realized it--how far he did not -guess until, when he had asked playfully the Spanish for "kiss," the -_diccionario_ answered swiftly, not with the word, but with the action -to illustrate it. - - - - -XIX: A KISS--ITS CONSEQUENCES - - -If Gordon had happened to look behind him before riding on down into the -canon, he might have seen with the naked eye two black dots crawling -like flies along the high bare flank of a mountain far behind. Under a -binocular the flies would have resolved into Lee and Ramon. Further, in -that clear, dry atmosphere, a good telescope would have revealed both -the girl's worried expression and Ramon's glowing ardor. For just as the -"wages of sin is death," so the wages of flirtation--especially if the -party of the second part be of Latin blood--is apt to be disaster. Lee -was now reaping where she had sown, garnering in full measure, heaped up -and pressed down, last night's consequences. - -With a girl's keen intuition in such things, she had seen it coming and -had thought of turning back. But after her summary dismissal of Gordon, -that would have appeared ridiculous--besides, though she would not have -admitted it, there he was riding on to a rendezvous with that _dreadful_ -girl! How she regretted, now, the flirtation! How she berated herself -for sending him home! But, there being nothing else to do, she had -ridden rapidly, staving off the inevitable with a stream of excited -chatter--Ramon's family, _hacienda_ affairs, the scenery--while she -dodged like a chased rabbit she secretly wondered at herself. Supposing -this were six months ago? Say, on the morning she had put on his hat? -Would she have doubled and dodged? She knew better! She could not say, -herself, what her answer might have been! But she _did_ know that she -would have let him speak. - -If then, why not now? Was it Gordon? Her pride--bolstered by irritation, -for with a woman's illogic she charged her present plight to him--her -pride rose in arms at the thought! Nevertheless, it did not prevent her -from riding hard on his trail; nor from holding Ramon off with an effort -great as a physical strain. - -But it was all in vain. Her retreats, though real, were alluring as the -mock ones which, at that moment, Felicia was practising on Gordon. And -their effect was the same. Her efforts were as bags of sand piled to -check a rising torrent. Stayed for a time, it rose the higher; presently -leaped over and swept all before it. - -A remark of hers concerning his father's age precipitated the flood. -"Si, he has many years." Then, his dark, handsome face aglow, Ramon ran -on: "Yesterday he was saying that he would be content to pass could he -but see me settled with a wife. I told him it depended on"--he paused, -then added the _tu_ of lovers--"on _thee_. If--" - -"Oh, Ramon!" she pleaded, in wild distress. "_Please_--don't!" - -But the dam was gone! In terms that would seem extravagant in English, -but flowed naturally in the eloquent, rhythmic Spanish, he told his -love. Sunshine and star fire; moonlight and bird-song; the bloom of -spring flowers; loom of the mountains; wide spread of the desert--all -were she! Warmth, light, happiness, from her proceeded! She was his -universe. In her all beauty dwelt! And so on. To a girl who loved him, -it would have been delightful wooing. Six months ago she would have -listened, charmed; perhaps have been persuaded. But now--it filled her -with dismay. - -"Oh, you poor Ramon!" She held out her hand in remorse and pity, but -when, seizing it, he tried to draw her to him, she pulled away. "Oh no! -_no!_ Oh, what a miserable creature I am! Here I have played--" - -But she got no further. Realizing with sympathetic intuition that the -moment was unpropitious, he stopped her. "There is no hurry. I did not -intend to tell thee for a little while. But there is no harm done. Thou -hast always known it." - -"Oh yes." Tears dimming the blue eyes, she nodded. "Yes, but--" Then -realizing that argument would but reopen the case, she accepted the -compromise. "No, I won't answer now. Wait." - -"If there be any one else--" His brow drew down over somber, threatening -eyes. - -"Oh, there isn't!" She was conscious, herself, of over-emphasis. But she -repeated again. "There _isn't_, Ramon!" - -"Bueno!" His face cleared. "Then I am content." - -Now she was conscious of vast relief as though at the passing of -imminent danger. Relief from what? She refused to think. - -Content with her reassurance, he laughed and chatted again as they moved -on, but it was a miserable girl that rode beside him; one torn between -remorse and a dread curiosity concerning feelings which she obstinately -refused to examine. When, finally, they rode down into the canon, -curiosity and remorse both gave place to indefinite apprehension. -Without trying, she learned more of herself while they followed the -zigzag staircases down and down than she dared to contemplate. - -Their first view of the _fonda_ showed, of course, only the roof and -walls. But from the lower levels they sighted, first, Gordon's horse -tied to a post of the _ramada_, then the young man himself leaning at -ease across the bar. Ramon, who was riding ahead, obtained first view of -the "long-haired _diccionario_," which was now being consulted in the -matter of hair and eyes. - -"The senor seems to be enjoying himself." - -His laugh came floating back. Passing around the next turn, he did not -see Lee rein in her beast. Sitting her horse, still as a marble statue, -she watched from across the stream the girl's head go up and meet -Gordon's in a kiss. - -For a disinterested spectator the scene would have had vast interest. -The chrome-yellow walls of the _fonda_, toned under the eaves by Time's -green brush; the great shading trees through which the sun sent down a -greenish lace of light; the stream singing musically among its glazed -brown boulders; all formed a proper setting for the forest love which -knows no other sanction than that of the eye. The beauty and abandon of -it all would have thrilled the aforesaid disinterested spectator; have -carried a theater by storm. But Lee was neither disinterested nor an -audience--in the accepted sense. She saw only the abandon. Conscious of -a deathly chill at her heart, white as the aforesaid statue, she just -sat her beast. - -In taking the last turn, Ramon's horse dislodged a pebble, and as it -rolled down the bank and splashed in the stream Gordon broke the girl's -clasp. Ramon was still out of sight, and Gordon's glance of startled -inquiry rose to Lee sitting above, so still and quiet. - -"My God, she saw it!" - -Even as it flashed upon him he was convicted of a vast and sudden change -wrought in himself by the last twenty-four hours. Only yesterday he had -assured Lee, with sincerity, that he lost interest in grown-up girls. -Now, just because she had caught him in a little gallantry, the whole -world had gone to smithereens! - -"Competition is the life of love!" Mrs. Mills might have -added--sometimes its death. The "wind" had blown with a vengeance--from -opposite ways. Sitting above, Lee shook under its chill. Below, Gordon -shivered. Though only a few seconds passed before she rode on down and -joined Ramon in front of the _fonda_, it seemed to both a deathless age. - -After passing a pleasant word with Gordon, Ramon had called for a drink, -and till Felicia brought her a glass Lee sat quietly talking. But as the -girl looked up, revealing the soft glow in her great dusky eyes, Lee -stiffened and looked at Gordon. - -"I am glad that we overtook you. Senor Icarza has asked me to marry him. -You shall be first to congratulate us." - -Gordon's glance had risen to hers in wonder and consternation. Then--the -tricks fancy plays us! _Fonda_ and ravine faded into a glade in a Java -forest where the light broke down through giant fronds and twined a -golden aureole around her fair hair. From that great distance, without -recognizing it for his own, he heard a voice. - -"I wish you all happiness!" - -The crash of Lee's glass as she threw it among the stones brought him -back to the sight of her riding at full speed down the canon. - -Ramon was looking after her, transfixed with wonder. - -Gordon's practical Anglo-Saxon instinct was first to assert itself. He -spoke very quietly. "We'd better catch her before she breaks her neck." - - - - -XX: SLIVER IS DULY CHASTENED - - -Had Lee been really trying to break her neck, she could not have ridden -more recklessly. - -Where the mule path crossed and recrossed the stream, she took it in -successive leaps. Once from the crest of an abrupt declivity her beast -launched out like a flying bird, yet picked up its stride and flew on -full forty-five feet beyond. Unconsciously, she bent to avoid the oaks -that reached down gnarled hands to snatch her from the saddle. Possessed -by but one impulse, to escape, she raced down the canon and out upon the -plain. - -Had she given full rein to her feeling she would have galloped on and on -and on over the receding horizon into a strange world that knew naught -of her affairs. But as the violence of the exercise drew the blood from -her brain, responsibility resumed its sway. Of her own accord she -slackened speed and allowed Ramon, whose fast beast had outrun Gordon's, -to catch up. - -Taught, by long experience, to expect from her always the unexpected, he -had set the wild flight down as one of her customary pranks. "Little -Wicked One!" he called, coming up. "Have a care for my happiness if not -for your neck!" But when, in place of the shy confusion of a newly -engaged girl, she turned on him a face of cold distress, the glow faded -from his own. "Why, queridita? What--" - -"I want you to leave me now." She cut him abruptly off. - -His big eyes widened. "After raising me to heaven would you plunge me -in--" - -"Ah no, no!" She impulsively thrust out her hand. "You have earned far -more happiness than I shall ever be able to give. But--" - -"Si? But--" - -She gave him a little wan smile. "When you come to understand girls -better, you will never demand a reason. Men always know why they do a -thing, but girls act from feeling; most of the time without knowing the -cause." - -"But--" - -"Ramon," she looked at him with sweet severity, "if I had told you on -top of the mountain what I said back there--wouldn't you have been -content?" - -"Assuredly! It was only--" - -"Yes, yes! Now listen. I want you to go, now--and stay till I either -send or come. It won't be long--I promise." - -"Bueno," he shrugged. "Though minutes will be ages!" - -Her hand was still in his. After raising it to his lips, he swung his -beast, with a wave of the hand at Gordon in the distance, galloped off -to the north. - -His departure left her free to review the situation--with little -satisfaction. From every angle one fact stood out--in a moment of pique -she had engaged herself to a man who, no matter what might have been, -she now knew she could never love. Of course it was possible to break -it. But even in her desperation she never thought of that. - -"You flirted with him," she berated herself. "Led him on to an avowal; -accepted him out of spite. You are a mean, despicable, miserable -_thing_, and now you'll go through with it." - -It never occurred to her that, being so "mean and despicable" it might -be against Ramon's interest to inflict herself upon him. Having, with -her girl's illogic, made up her mind, she felt that peculiar sense of -comfort which men obtain from duty done and women from self-sacrifice. -She turned and looked back to see how that other criminal--the chief, if -unconscious, cause of it all--was getting along; and though he was too -far away for her to read his face, his bent head revealed a comforting -dejection. - -As a matter of fact, he was just as miserable as--as she could have -wished him to be. At first his thoughts and feelings had run in a -personal groove. At one fell swoop certain excursions into Java forests -and to the Chinese Wall, not to mention other desirable and lovely -places, had been swept into the discard of broken dreams. Never would -tropical sunbeams break down through giant fronds to twine that golden -aureole about a certain head! In consideration of his recent awakening -to her values as a traveling companion, he was just as sore and silly -and jealous as any young man could possibly be. And just as her -reflections had, in womanly fashion, turned to self-sacrifice, so his -rose, in masculine style, to high, moral grounds. - -"It's a damn shame!" he told himself. "Ramon seems a good sort, but--no -greaser is good enough for her!" While the bright, hard specks floated -up in his eye, he added, "And it isn't going to be." - -For a while he entertained a notion to catch up and cleanse himself by -open confession. But realizing that two glasses of anisette plus a -vagrant inclination--even if the latter were based on a sense of -injury--might not appeal to her woman's logic, he kept his distance. -Metaphorically, a quarter-mile of misery stretched between them, across -which the dejected droop of her shoulders, his hanging head, wirelessed -their hopelessness. - -"Poor girl!" he pitied her. - -"He's feeling terribly," she told herself, with mournful satisfaction. - -Nevertheless, when he came up after she drew rein a half-mile outside of -Los Arboles, her face was composed in the sweet gravity becoming to her -heroic mood. "Our friends"--she nodded toward the distant -buildings--"are quite prejudiced. For the present, I wish you would keep -it to yourself." - -He bowed with equal gravity, and they rode on in silence. - -At the sight of Bull, waiting for them at the _patio_ gate, Lee did -cheer up a little--partly because of a natural instinct to hide her -hurt, more largely from the sense of protection his presence always -gave. Sensitive in all that concerned her, however, he had caught both -the droop of her shoulders and Gordon's air of gloom. - -He was not to be deceived. "Been fighting. Wonder what it's all about." - -He learned, partially, when Gordon handed him the widow's recipe for -"liniment," after Lee had gone in and they were unsaddling at the -stable. It ran: - - "Dear Friend,--Sliver took Mr. Nevil to see Felicia at the - _fonda_ the other day, and Lee caught her wearing his watch-fob. - It made her so mad she flirted her head off with Ramon." In her - ignorance of later developments, she had concluded: "But there - is no harm done. She likes Mr. Nevil, and if you can just keep - him away from the _fonda_, I am sure things will turn out all - right." - -Bull read and reread the epistle a second and third time for his own -pleasure, regardless of its sense. In its reverent tenderness there was -something pathetic in the way he touched with his big forefingers the -signature "Your friend, Mary Mills." Gordon had almost finished caring -for the horses before Bull placed the note in his shirt pocket after -carefully wrapping it in a piece of newspaper. The ceremony completed, -he fished for further information. - -"Any one else there?" he inquired, nonchalantly. - -"Young Mexican," Gordon replied, with what, for him, was excessive -curtness. - -"Ramon Icarza, I reckon." Bull went innocently on: "He an' Miss Lee were -almost what you could call raised together. She thinks a good deal of -him--" - -"No reason why she shouldn't." - -Nevertheless, the tone caused Bull to duck behind Lee's horse to hide a -chuckle. "Jealous! green-cheese jealous. Mary--" he paused, reddening, -for never before in his thought had he used her given name. He repeated -it with lingering delight. "Mary--was right. We've sure stirred 'em up. -On'y we'll have to 'tend to Felicia at once." - -His mind thus made up, he proceeded to Felicia's solution with the -characteristic directness he gave to any problem. When, after supper -that evening, Gordon went straight to the bunk-house, Bull herded Jake -and Sliver into the stable to deliberate by lantern-light. - -"You-all never orter ha' taken him there," he charged Sliver. "Here we -go an' import this young fellow at no end of trouble an' expense, then -you herd him right into the arms of another girl." - -"Aw! she don't count." Sliver excused himself. "She's Mex an' wild -girl." He sagely added: "You see, I was that anxious to make sure he -didn't drink. We kain't have no young soaks 'round Lady-girl." - -His solicitude drew Jake's satirical grin. "You wasn't looking for a -drink yourself, heigh? As for her being Mex an' wild--you damn fool, -don't you know that at his age wild girls draws like wild honey. He's -be'n there once an' he'll go again." - -"If he ain't stopped," Bull qualified. - -"If he ain't stopped," Jake nodded. "An' it's up to you to do it." - -"But how?" Sliver's broad, round face struggled like a full moon in -clouds of helplessness. "How in the 'tarnal kin _I_ stop him?" - -"By 'quiring vested rights in the premises," Jake nodded sagely. "If you -marry her he kain't come 'round." - -"_Marry_ her? _Me?_ Marry a _Mex_?" Sliver almost yelled it. - -"That's what." While his thin lips parted in his characteristic wolf -grin, Jake went on: "Anyhow, what's your idee in shying an' rearing -this-a-way at domestic happiness wuss 'n a colt at flying paper? Why, -other men rush for it like 'twas--" - -"Sticky fly-paper," Sliver ungallantly supplied. "An' once they're -in--_good night_!" - -But Jake ignored the interruption. "You-all orter take shame to -yourself. Marriage is nature's most holy an' necessary ordinance. Don't -all the preachers tell it? An' what would become of the census without -it? But here, instead of accepting your lot with thankfulness an' -thanking your stars that a girl can be found that's damn fool enough to -take you, you-all go a-holding up your head an' howling like a hungry -coyote." - -While Jake thus orated, Sliver's expression of obstinacy was leavened by -fleeting hope. "If you b'lieve all that--what's the matter with you -marrying her yourself?" - -Jake's thin lips parted again in his sarcastic grin. "I've no calling -for it. You see I'm that soft by nat'er any woman could crush my tender -feelings. But one glance at your brutal count'nance would tell even a -blind man that your wife would be kep' in her place. Besides--was it me -that took Gordon up there?" - -"Quit your fooling," Bull interposed. Then, unconscious of the humor of -the situation, aware in his simplicity only of the danger to his -cherished plan, he faced Sliver. "Yes or no--will you do it?" - -"No, I'm da--" - -"You won't?" Bleak eyes pin-points of steel, teeth bared in a snarl, -knife flashing blue in the lantern-light, Jake sprang from the pile of -corn fodder on which he was sitting. "You upset the beans we put to -b'ile an' refuse to pick 'em up?" - -Almost as quickly Sliver's knife took the lantern gleam, and as they -circled, looking for an opening, the friendly habit of the last months -dropped away. They were again the rustlers, wild, fierce, united against -man and his law, but equally ready to fight among themselves. But before -they could close, Bull's bulk pushed in between. One shove of his great -hands sent them staggering back. - -"Cut it out! We can't stand for no blood-letting around Miss Lee." -Towering in the lantern-light, he turned to Sliver and laid down the -law. "You an' us have ridden an' fit together for many a year. So far -you've never failed us an' I don't believe you will. We brought this -young fellow in, as you know, to cut that damn Mexican out, an' you've -sp'iled our game by throwing him in Felicia's way. Now it's up to you. -If you make good--we go on. If you don't--there's the trail." - -He could not have taken better ground. Where threats would have provoked -only further obstinacy, the appeal won. While putting up his knife, -though, Sliver glared at Jake. - -"I'll knock your block off the first time I catch you alone on the -range." Addressing Bull, he went on: "Of course if it's to help -Lady-girl, you bet I'll go the limit. But what d'you-all expect? That -I'm a-going to cinch her with a priest an' license?" - -"That'd be more loving-like; she'd appreciate it, too." - -"Shut up, Jake! We don't care so long as you acquire enough title to -shoo Gordon off. Here's fifty pesos. For half that, old Antonio 'u'd -sell her along with his soul. You kin settle the details with him. Of -course you'll have to live out there for a whiles--mebbe till this Ramon -business is knocked out of Miss Lee's head." - -"What! An' cut out the range?" Sliver exclaimed in horror. "Me hang -around there a-selling aguardiente to _peones_?" - -"What's left after you get through," Jake began, but was cut off again. - -"No, we can arrange the work so there'll be plenty for you within easy -riding." - -"So's you won't be drug too far away during the honeymoon. She wouldn't -stan' for that." - -Though a model in force and brevity, Sliver's answer transcends print. -He wound up with the complaint: "All right, I'll go, but I see my -finish. I'll die on Felicia's grub." - -"Couldn't be any worse than Rosa's," Jake comforted. "You managed to -live on that." - - -With a certain resignation, but still grumbling, Sliver set out next -morning. To make sure that he followed program, Jake and Bull packed his -kit and even escorted him a mile or two on his way. Throughout all these -preliminaries, Sliver's mien was rather that of chief mourner at a -funeral than a groom on his way to his bride, and just before they left -him he even advanced a belated plea. - -"Don't you allow we ked get some one else?" - -"With all the men in the country off at the wars?" Bull shook his head. -"Besides, no _peon_ could hold her down. She needs a strong hand." - -"It's either you or Gordon," Jake added. "You'll have to sacrifice." - -Not until they turned homeward after his lone figure had faded behind -the next rise did they consider how the affair was to be broken to Lee. -"'Tain't going to be so dreadful easy," Bull frowned thoughtfully, "she -being a girl and prejudiced. She'd hardly cotton to sech primitive -nupt'als as Sliver is likely to consummate." - -"I she'd think not!" Jake looked his horror and scorn. "You'll make a -mess of it. Better leave it to me." - -Bull was quite willing, but though he had looked for some embroidery on -the bare facts, the woof of romance Jake wove through the warp of fact -at lunch that day made him choke on his food and gasp. A tale of secret -love and stealthy visitations, a reluctant lady gradually won, -ornamented with priests and licenses and other trimmings necessary for -feminine approval, were woven into a consistent narrative that proved -how much Bacchus gained and the Muses lost when Jake enlisted in the -former's service. - -"No, Missy, you ain't a-going to lose him," Bull answered, on his part, -Lee's troubled question. "He'll take care of things over that way." - -"Well--" Lee laughed, a little choked laugh, "I hope he'll be--happy." -Then becoming conscious of Gordon's gaze, she dropped her glance to her -plate. But not before he had read its meaning. - -"Why hadn't this happened a week ago!" - - - - -XXI: THE WIDOW TO THE RESCUE - - -Who shall interpret the feelings of a high-minded maid who is bent on -wrecking her own and two other lives through a mistaken sense of honor? - -Broadly, one might hint at rebellions sternly repressed, at doubts and -misgivings, secret tears, agonizings of spirit that affected Lee's flesh -during the next week till her roses paled, eyes grew dark and heavy. - -Not that she was altogether unhappy. A woman's life is her feelings, and -if they be sufficiently intense she obtains from their exercise a -certain mournful satisfaction--akin, no doubt, if a little paler, to the -ecstasies of a martyr. But into these innermost recesses, innocent -springs of the woman soul whence flow endless capacities for devotion -and self-sacrifice, into these it is not given to the eternally -masculine to enter. Accordingly, during the following week Gordon -perceived only a surface resignation that manifested itself toward him -in a quiet, sisterly manner. - -A blunt male, his psychology was much more simple, fluctuating between -desperation, depression, determination, and despair, the composite of -which showed on the surface as a decided case of the sulks. Yes, it has -to be set down that he followed the customary and unheroic masculine -precedent, returning for Lee's sisterly solicitude more than the average -brotherly brusqueness. - -Nature having neglected to insert a compensating balance in the feelings -of the eternally masculine, the poor fellow was utterly miserable. -Despite the fact that, up to a week ago, he had regarded Lee with -neutral friendliness, he now desired more desperately than ever to place -her in a certain Java forest adorned with the regalia of a honeymoon. -What is more to the point, under his sulks he was determined to do it. - -Summing them, he sulked and she grieved up to the moment that a _mozo_ -rode in, one day, with a package from Ramon. - -Though it held only a single flower, she easily read the message, "May I -come?" and though she returned a single line, "I'm coming to see Isabel -next week," the flower had done its work. - -The concrete fact behind its bloom emerged from mists of procrastination -and stared her boldly in the face. Its reflection set such misery in her -eyes that, without understanding, Gordon's sulks gave place to pity. -Bull, who knew even less, was moved to send a _mozo_ with a note to the -widow. - -Straight to the point the epistle ran: - - Dear Ma'am,--The young man, he's a-moping like a moulting - chicken an' Miss Lee's that peaked and pale and down-hearted - you'd hardly know her. T'other day a _mozo_ brought her some - sort of a package from Ramon, and ever since she's looked - wild-eyed and scared as a canary in fear of a cat. There's - something queer going on. It wouldn't take you more'n a minute - to find it out, and you owe us about a dozen visits, anyway. - Couldn't you take a day off and come? - -She came, of course, the good, kind soul, with Betty, under guard of -Terrubio and the bandit reputation which gained so much from his weird -eyes. The gods and goddesses willed it that they fell in with Gordon -returning to the _hacienda_ at the close of his day's work, and the -widow seized the opportunity like a skilful general. After permitting -Betty and Terrubio to ride on beyond earshot over the slopes that were -dyed a glowing apricot by the low sun, she opened on Gordon. - -"Now tell me all about it, young man." - -He looked at her, surprised, then laughed. "You mean all that I would -have said if I hadn't been ordered home that morning? All right. Of -course I don't have to tell you that I love you madly, and if it wasn't -for the fact that Bull would wring my neck, I should propose at once. -Really--" - -"Nice boy!" She laughed merrily. "To comfort your poor mother. It was -simply disgraceful the way you flirted with me, almost compromised me -with my own offspring. 'I was just ashamed of your dreadful behavior, -mama,' Betty told me, afterward, 'trying to take poor Lee's beau from -her.' Nevertheless, I found it very encouraging." - -"My mother?" He achieved an excellent example of that species of -cachinnation known as the "horse laugh." Then, with sincerity of accent -and feeling that caused her a little blush, he ran on: "My mother, -madam, is more than twenty-eight. Yes, I said twenty-eight. Add to that -eyes as clear and young as--" - -"Make it Lee's." - -"As Betty's. A fine, soft skin, pretty nose, figure--um! just right. -Why--" - -"Yes! yes!" She held up her hand, laughing. "But we mustn't waste time. -You know I'm on your side. Tell me--what happened?" - -"That's easy--she's engaged herself to Ramon." - -"What?" Her shriek of horror and surprise caused Betty and Terrubio to -look back. Her next question showed the keenness of her intuition. "Why, -whatever did _you_ do to her?" - -He told--of his anger, jealousy, pique, attempt to soothe his ruffled -vanity by flirting with Felicia. He told all with candor and humorous -insight into his own feelings that robbed the narrative of conceit. He -told even of the kiss and that Lee had seen it. "Though I don't see how -that could have anything to do with her engagement, for she announced it -the next second." - -"She sent him off within the next hour--with only a kiss of her -hand--hasn't seen him since--nor communicated with him till the other -day--has looked like a frightened bird ever since." She told off the -items with amused contempt. "How stupid men are! Why, it is plain as -day. He asked her to marry him, yes, on the way. How could she escape -after the way she had flirted? But she had either refused or held him -off. But when she saw you kiss--" - -"My God!" It burst on him. "What a fool I am! Why did I--" - -"Don't blame, yourself. She was more in fault. The question is--not what -is done, but what to do." - -"I had thought, at first, of quitting this to join Valles. It would be -lots of fun and I was so darned mad--" - -"And leave _her_ to _him_?" She looked a little scornful. "Why--" - -But he cut in. "You bet I won't! He'll never marry her--if I have to -carry her off." - -"And I'd help you do it," she warmly declared. "At present Ramon is all -right, and if you could put up, like preserves, so he'd keep, it -wouldn't be so bad. Yes, he's all right--but, so are the young of any -kind, a lamb or kid, little frog, tiny snake, and there's nothing cuter -in the whole world than a baby pig. But after it grows up--good Lord -deliver us! - -"And it's the same with Mexicans. They are the prettiest babies; nice -young men. Ramon, with his fine color and wonderful eyes, is too -handsome to live just now. But after a while he'll grow stout and lazy -from over-feeding and acquire pimples and blotches till his face looks -like a scorched hide. Right now he's so romantic he'd twang a guitar all -night under Lee's window. After a while she wouldn't be able to sleep -for his snores. Now he'd fly at her bidding. Later, she'd fly at his. -She would live behind bars while she was young; go without love in her -middle age, be tyrannized and bulldozed all the time." - -"But do you think she would _really_ do it?" - -"Indeed, yes! She's highly idealistic, and was trained by her father in -the old ideas. Now that she has given her word, it will take wild horses -to pull her from it--or wild men." - -After a sidelong glance that gave her the hard glint of his eyes above -the firm mouth, set jaw, she went on, with a little satisfied nod: "Now -listen! Ramon will be easier to handle. Being Mexican, he's sensitive as -a tarantula, irritable as a scorpion, jealous as a cat. Now that she's -promised, he will look upon her as his, body and soul, and if her glance -so much as strays in any one else's direction, he'll be ready to kill. -It ought to be quite easy to provoke him to the point where he will -either break the engagement or give her cause. In other words, you must -force him to play your hand." - -She continued, with a little deprecatory laugh: "I know it's a low-down -trick, but it may stave off something worse. Before he would let Lee -marry Ramon, I feel sure Mr. Perrin would kill him." - -A mischievous grin broke up Gordon's grimness. "So we are not altogether -disinterested. We could never stand to see Bull get in bad." - -She laughed softly, happily, looking away, and lapsed into silence which -endured while they rode up and over the last slope that laid the -_hacienda_ at their feet. - -Its walls and courts, _patio_, painted adobes, lay, a small city of gold -magnificently blazoned by the rich red brush of the setting sun. The -glossy crests of the shading cottonwoods flamed a deep apricot under a -sky that spread its glories of saffron, and cinnabar purple, and umber, -down over the horizon. All about them the pastures laid an undulating -carpet, violet in the hollows, crimson on the hills. From the stubby -chimneys soft smoke pennons trailed away till lost in the smoldering -dusk of the east. Up through the clear air came a soft cooing of woman -voices broken by laughter, low, sweet, infinitely wild. - -The widow lowered her voice in harmony with the peace of it all. "It is -a great prize." - -He nodded. "It's beautiful, but--I'd love her as much in rags." - -Noting the honest eyes, the widow believed, yet could not refrain from -teasing. "Yet--a week ago you hardly gave her a thought." - -He looked at her in naive wonder. "Isn't it queer--how sudden it gets -you?" - -She nodded. "That's the beauty of it." - - - - -XXII: LEE, TOO, IS CONFESSED - - -As, in the seclusion of Lee's bedroom that night, she and the widow sat -side by side, talking at each other in the wide mirror while making -their night toilets, a "movie-man" would have given his head to -reproduce the scene with its witcheries in the way of unbound hair, -filmy white, glimpses of polished shoulders. But in his absence these -may be left where they belong--behind the secure guard of Lee's oaken -door. Sufficient for the present is their conversation. - -"So we've engaged ourself, have we?" As with Gordon, Mrs. Mills went -straight to the bat. - -"Why--" Pausing with comb and one yellow curl held in midair, Lee looked -her utter surprise at the smiling face in the glass. "Mary Mills! -_whoever_ told you?" - -"This and these would be enough." The widow touched the girl's pale -cheeks and shadowed eyes. "But I caught your young man, coming in, and -made him confess. So we got mad--because he kissed another girl, and -took it out of him by engaging ourself on the spot? Oh, you little -fool!" - -Dropping the curl, Lee straightened and stiffened till she looked in the -filmy nightrobe like a cold and classic marble. "If it had been Phyllis -or Phoebe Lovell, or any other nice girl, I wouldn't have cared. But--a -peona." - -"Well, what of it?" Assured, now, of the truth of her surmises, the -widow went confidently forward. "She's mighty pretty." - -"But a _peona_! And you know _her_." - -"Yes, and I know _him_--better than you do. Now look here, my dear--" -Followed a little lecture on the creature, Man, that showed she had -profited by her married experience. "A man is a _man_ and there's no -sense in trying to have him anything else. When a girl loves, she -excludes, for the time at least, all others from her life. But a -man--while he may love one girl with all his strength, he can still see -beauty in others. Nature made him that way and we have simply got to -stand for it. Now if Gordon had been ten years older, I'd have allowed -you real reason. After thirty a man's kisses mean something. But at -Gordon's age they are thistledown and light as air, belong to vanity -rather than love. A young fellow is so proud of having kissed a pretty -girl that he swells up like a turkey gobbler and struts in his -self-esteem without thought for anything else. Then, you, yourself, are -mostly to blame. Why--" - -Next a little lecture on the sin of flirting, with appropriate personal -applications which were, however, interrupted by the person. "_You_ -didn't flirt with _him_, of course." - -"Goodness, child! don't bite me! I couldn't see the poor boy crushed -into the face of the earth. Now listen." After detailing Gordon's -confession, of the injured pride, anger, pique that he had tried to -solace in Felicia's smiles, she concluded, "But you--after driving him -to desperation go and make the vital mistake of your life." - -"And you think that was the way of it? That he didn't really _mean_ -anything?" - -"Didn't he tell me so himself?" - -"Well--" she pondered, looking at the widow in the glass, then suddenly -collapsed on the other's warm shoulder. "Oh, I'm so glad! I--I _hate_ -him!" - -The widow, being a woman, quite understood these contradictions. "Of -course you do." She gently fondled the fair head. "How much?" - -The head rose in order to execute a vehement nod. "I hate him so much -I--I could just _kill_ any other girl that tried to take him!" With a -wild sob the face burrowed again into the soft shoulder. - -"Well, they'll try, all right." - -The head rose again, startled eyes, big and brown, staring from the -glass. "Do you--really think so?" - -"What do you expect--a nice boy like that to mope and pine for the rest -of his life with ten million girls of marriageable age running loose in -the United States? What brought him here, anyway--bolting to escape one -girl's noose. Take my advice and rope him quick." - -"But I'm promised, now, to Ramon." - -"Call it off." - -"Oh no." Sitting up straight, she shook her head. "I cannot ruin his -life." - -"Hum!" The widow coughed. "You cannot ruin his life? So you intend to -bless it by devoting to his service affections that belong to another? -Also to cut him off from the greatest thing in the world--the real love -of some other woman? Ruin his life, indeed? Lee, I always credited you -with a little sense." - -"There is something in that." She snatched at the hope. "The best thing -is to tell him I don't love him and leave it to him to decide." - -"And he'll do it, have no fear!" The widow tossed her head. "Ramon's -nice, but he cannot rise above his race, and you know very well there's -neither reason nor justice nor the instinct of fairness in it. Fancy a -Mexican giving up a girl because she loves another! He'd resent even the -suggestion, take his revenge after marriage." - -The gleam of hope had died. She sighed. "I can try." - -"Oh, you little fool!" In her irritation the widow bestowed a smart slap -on the girl's shoulder. But she spoiled the moral effect the next second -by gathering her in her arms. "Don't you know that up in the States -girls take on a new beau every Saturday night and break the engagement -the following Sunday?" - -But the precedent produced only a second envious sigh. "I wish _I_ could -do it. I guess I wasn't brought up right." - -"'Tisn't training; it's heredity. You're your father over again; will go -your own way. I wash my hands of you." - - -That charitable process known as "washing one's hands of anybody" was, -however, the last thing Mrs. Mills was capable of. The assertion simply -marked a change of plan which, rising early next morning, she -inaugurated when she caught Bull on his way to the stables. - -Though he had sat next to her during the long pleasant evening that -followed supper last night, the others' presence had debarred private -communications. Content to hear her voice running with Lee's in happy -chatter--so content, indeed, that he forgot for the time being the -impending trouble--Bull had smoked furiously in the dusk till they -retired to bed. - -He listened, now, in silence while the widow told of Lee's engagement. -But the sudden lowering of his black brows was far more dangerous than -any threat. She laid her hand on his arm in sudden alarm. - -"Easy, my friend. Don't be too quick. She isn't married yet, and won't -be--if you leave it to me." - -More powerful than the plea was her gentle pressure. Apart from certain -accidental contacts, before mentioned, which had caused him such -pleasurable embarrassment, it was the first time she had actually -touched him. Big, burly, black giant that he was, he still trembled like -a school-girl; trembled so violently that she felt it and dropped both -her hand and her eyes. Transferring the embarrassment to herself, that -helped him mightily. He was the first to break a confused but happy -silence. - -"What do you want me to do?" - -"Nothing, just now, except to let Gordon ride with me a piece of the way -home." - -It was impossible to overlook his sudden disappointment. With -characteristic frankness she did not wait for him to tell it. "I'd -rather have you; there are so many things I want to consult you about. -Dear me!" Her little vexed face was very comforting; it expressed such -sincere feeling. "These young folks certainly do make one a lot of -trouble. Betty wanted you _so_ badly at my party--and so did I; but we -just had to ask Gordon to help Lee out. But I'm going to settle this -business right quick. And when it is all over--you will come and make us -a real visit, won't you?" - -Wouldn't he? His nod and effulgent grin expressed happiness in the -prospect beyond the powers of his slow tongue. Satisfied, she proceeded. - -"So let me have him this once. Lee is going to ride a few miles with us, -and before she comes back--" - -But the matter of her communication is covered by her talk with Gordon, -whom she caught coming out of the bunk-house five minutes later. - -"I argued with her half the night," she told him, walking along at his -side. "Goodness me, young man, you don't know what you are up against! -Such obstinacy! Lucky for you that it is balanced by a sweet temper and -strong sense of justice. All I gained was her promise to beg off from -Ramon. She plans to go over and see him some time this week, and if she -does--well, with Isabel loving her to death, the old man tendering sage -advice, and Ramon passionately pleading his cause, they'll have her to -the priest and married before she has time to think. She mustn't go." - -"But if she is so obstinate--" Gordon began. - -"I'll take care of that. I shall call on Ramon on the way home and -explain the true state of his lady's heart. Of course he'll raise Cain -and probably damn me for a black-hearted liar, but I can stand it. The -point is--he will come right over here. In the mean time you must get -busy. A declaration in hand is worth two suspected, and though I've -hinted very strongly that you are not altogether indifferent to her -sweet self, it will make Ramon's task ten times harder if she hears it -from your lips. Now listen!" - -The rest was plot, dark and devious. Lee had promised to ride with her a -few miles on the homeward journey, and Bull would detail him, Gordon, -for her escort. Coming back, he would have all the time in the world. - - - - -XXIII: IN WHICH THE WIDOW GOES AND SLIVER COMES - - -As thus arranged, the program was carried out after breakfast. Very -artfully Bull waited till the party was almost out of sight before he -sent Gordon galloping after. Even then the plot was endangered when, -turning at the sound of hoof-beats, Lee saw him coming. Her face clearly -expressed her determination to send him back, but in the nick of time -the widow spoke. - -"Oh, let him come! The poor fellow is suffering enough." - -Lee's nod and faint smile, riding on, revealed a queer mixture of -happiness and apprehension, which was wiped out by amused astonishment -when, just as Gordon came up, a lone figure hove in sight, coming from -the opposite direction. - -"Why--it's Sliver!" - -And Sliver it was--though difficult to recognize by reason of a complex -embroidery of scratches, bumps, and bruises. His own broad grin broke -through, however, when Lee inquired after his wife. - -"She was fine an' dandy when I seen her last, which, was in the shank of -the evening two nights ago." Lovingly fingering a huge bump that -occupied a central position in his altered scenery, he went into the -intimate details of his matrimonial venture. "Till then it had all been -lovely. She'd sorter cut up a bit, at first, me an her padre having -fixed up the match without any of her 'sistance. But after I'd given her -a fair larruping with a saddle strap, jest to show who wore the pants, -as the saying goes, she come right into camp; snuggled in like a kitten. -Sure, she behaved real domestic till Fernando, that hawk-nosed arriero -from San Ramon, blew in with his mules two nights gone. I orter 'a' -suspicioned him, he was that free in handing out drinks. But I -didn't--leastways not till Felicia laid me out with one whack of a -cordwood stick from behind. The rest I got from the mirror an' the padre -when I woke next morning and found him doctoring my map. She an' -Fernando had gone off together." - -"She's gone!" Lee gave a little hysterical laugh. "For good?" - -"An' then some--they're off to the wars." Gently massaging the bump, -Sliver added: "She'll stay there if she's wise. It'll be a 'tarnation -sight less risky than coming back. She was for cutting my throat, but -neither the padre nor Fernando would stan' for that, they being afraid -of 'The Black Devil' an' 'The Python,' which they call Bull an' Jake. -'For I knew, senor, that they would follow us to the ends of the earth -if any harm came to thee,' the old fellow tol'. But they made her free -of my map, an', as you see, she done a good job." - -"Oh, I'm so sorry! I must go back and care for your face." - -With Lee's exclamation the props trembled beneath the widow's plot, but -Sliver restored their stability. "It's cheap at the price. Many's the -man up home that gets as bad or worse an' is stuck, to boot, for -lawyer's fees an' al'mony. Don't you bother 'bout me, Lady-girl. All I -need is a bit of salve, an' Maria kin get me that." - -As Sliver rode on, the widow looked at Lee, who returned her meaning -glance. Neither looked at Gordon, who discreetly watched Betty. But the -thought was the same in the minds of all three. "Thank goodness, she's -gone." - -For a while Lee hesitated and debated whether, after all, she ought not -to go back, and she reined in, startled, when a long howl presently -drifted over the rise behind which Sliver had disappeared. A coyote, in -its death agony, might have equaled the sound. But as, presently, the -tortured notes resolved into the opening bars of "The Cowboy's Lament," -she giggled and rode on for another five miles. Sliver was happy! - -While Lee was kissing Betty good-by the widow managed to pass a whisper -to Gordon. "Now don't let her escape! And remember--look out for Ramon -to-morrow." - -He nodded and, looking back from behind the crest of the next rise, she -saw for herself how well he obeyed. Lee had made to get off at a gallop, -but had reined in when he spoke, and now they were riding side by side, -deep in earnest conversation. - -Nodding, the widow rode on, but stopped again for a last look while she -could still see over the rise. She was practically invisible when Lee -looked back, protesting, as Gordon grabbed her bridle and pulled her -beast alongside. Her pointing finger said, quite plainly: - -"They will see!" - -The widow gasped, for with one swift reach he snatched Lee out of the -saddle and set her before him. - - - - -XXIV: UNDERSTANDING - - -Had she heard the conversation which preceded that bold action, Mrs. -Mills would have been still more impressed. Determination is the natural -foe of diplomacy. Warned by one single, furtive glance that Lee intended -to make off, Gordon plunged at one smash through her fence of reserve. - -"Do you intend to keep that engagement?" - -Coming from a young man whom one hated so vindictively that one could -"just kill any other girl that tried to take him," the question was well -calculated to arrest attention. Neither was its force lessened by the -fact that it was _his_, not _hers_--perish the thought!--outrageous -conduct which had caused said engagement! - -The audacity of it caused her first to gasp, then draw rein and stare at -him in utter surprise; finally to ride slowly on while preparing an -answer that should not only wither him, there, in the saddle, but also -hide the tumult of fright and pleasure in her own breast. - -Her glance said, "You certainly have got your gall with you!" But her -answer was much more dignified, "By what right do you ask?" - -"The right of a man who loves you." - -It was a fine stroke; established at once his freedom to meddle with her -affairs. His right in the premises would have been upheld in any ancient -court of love. Though she tried to conceal it from herself, it was so -conceded by one girl's fluttering heart. As a matter of fact, she had -been aching for a week to hear him say it; yet, with that natural -cruelty which is displayed alike by cats and maids in torturing mice and -men, she proceeded to deny it. - -"Yes?" she raised cool brows. "Judging by what I saw in the canon--it -must be recent." - -She looked for him to wither, but--the fellow refused! He did not even -flinch. On the contrary, he just looked at her with shining earnestness; -sat his saddle so trim, erect, irritatingly handsome, that she couldn't -help taking notice. No, he was not to be side-tracked by such light -subterfuge! He swept it away with masculine bluntness. - -"I thought so myself--but now I know. It was all so strange, wonderful, -picturesque, this new life, that I was blinded. I knew that I liked you, -but never paused to analyze my feelings, and it wasn't till you shot -that announcement at me a week ago that I awoke--awoke to the fact that -all of it, the beauty, romance, centered on you. Since then, the life -and light have faded, leaving it drab and drear." - -This was not all. Laying it down, as it were, for his major premise, he -built thereon, worked, and enlarged, and embroidered while she played -with the coils of her _riata_. As an oratorical effort, it could not -compare with fire and passion, melodious swing of Ramon's rhythmical -Spanish. But what it lacked in eloquence it made up in sincere, vibrant -feeling. The stronger for its reserves, it was just such a talk any -honest young Anglo-Saxon might make to his lady-love. And if judged by -its effects, it must be regarded as successful, for long before he -finished two large tears made small splashes on her pommel. - -"When--when did you find this out?" - -She had intended it to be light, if not satirical; but the little -hesitation, helped out by a sympathetic quiver, basely betrayed her -hunger for more. - -Be certain she got it--in detail, not a thing left out. With a touch of -poetry, now, he told of his marvelous discovery on the morning they had -ridden over to the widow's together that the sunlight proceeded from her -hair; also the freshness of the morning, roll of tawny plains, breath of -the chaparral, all that was beautiful in creation. - -There was also some mention of the hair in connection with a certain -Java forest, with passing reference to the Chinese Wall and a voyage he -had intended to make up the great Asian rivers. Not having personal -experience in their navigation, said references were rather vague, but -her imagination abundantly supplied the requisite flora and fauna from -magazine articles and pictures. Porcelain towers, orchids, giant palms; -deep jungle temples; the crowded boat life of the Yangtse-Kiang, junks -and sampans with their cargoes of saffron-faced, slant-eyed Celestials, -men, women, and children--especially children--her imagination improved -on the lovely dreams she had so cruelly disrupted. He concluded with -that: - -"And you smashed it--all to smithereens." - -For a while she rode in silence. Apprehension and fright had given place -to sorrow that contended tumultuously with delight for possession of her -soul. "I'm sorry," she spoke at last. "_So_ sorry, but--you provoked -it." - -"Why! How?" - -He was reminded, of course, that he "lost interest in girls after they -grew up." She added, a little vindictively, "And _you_ didn't flirt with -Mrs. Mills?" - -"Only in self-defense. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, -isn't it?" - -But she denied this bit of ancient wisdom. "No, it isn't! And--and you -_kissed_ that dreadful girl! I--oh, I could have _killed_ you!" - -"Why?" - -She was looking at him now, and the compound of bright anger, pleading -and defiance, regret, love, hope, and despair that alternately flashed -and swam in the wet eyes gave sufficient answer. It was then he plucked -her from the saddle; crushed her to him with force that squeezed out, -for the moment, the anger, regret, despair, left only love and hope. - -Ensued the usual delirious moment when poor mortals conquer time and -eternity, set at naught the black riddle of existence. Her face buried -in his shoulder, his in her hair, they clung to each other while his -horse moved slowly forward and hers went careering on over the next -earth roll. - -Elsewhere on this globe some three thousand millions of souls were -coming and going on the ordinary business of life at trade, barter; -feasting or fasting; mourning or making merry; dying, some hundreds of -them, every second, to make way for a new spawn of life. Beyond the blue -loom of the mountains men were robbing and murdering, hunting one -another like beasts of the jungle in the name of this or that "cause"; -committing frightful infamies in the sacred name of love. Swaying hither -and thither, that tide of lust and carnage might sweep at any moment -over these sunlit plains. - -Yet, blind to it all, oblivious of the past and future, conscious only -of the present that had bloomed in sudden glory, sufficient to -themselves as the first man and woman in Eden, they rode forward lost in -an illumined dream. - -It lasted, that wonderful, bright ecstasy, until, turning up her face, -he made to kiss her. Then, by a thought of Ramon, was she abruptly -recalled to unpleasant realities. She laid a determined, if gentle, hand -over his mouth. - -"You mustn't." - -"Why?" - -"You forget--I am still engaged." - -"Why--so you are!" Laughing, he tried to dodge her hand, but desisted -when he saw she was in earnest. "You surely don't intend--" - -"No, indeed!" She read his thought. "I had believed, at first, that I -ought. But Mrs. Mills showed me how unfair it would be to marry Ramon -while--" - -"Say it." - -"While I loved _you_." - -For a girl who had just restated her engagement to another man, she -behaved most disgracefully during a long silence that was broken only by -the measured tread of the horse. Snuggling in closer, she re-entered -that illumined dream, and made no attempt to check the kisses he -showered on the soft palm of the restraining hand. It was, no doubt, -some realization of her misbehavior that caused her to sit up, -presently, and pull it away. - -"This won't do. For the present we'll have to behave like ordinary -persons." - -"But your horse is gone," he protested when she gently put away his arm. -"You can't walk." - -"No, but I can ride behind you in the Mexican fashion. Stop, while I -change." - -He would have preferred it as it was, but when, after mounting behind -him, she slid her arm about his waist, he had to concede the Mexican -habit its own delights. It was surely nice of her to allow him to cover -her hand. - -"The young people," she explained, "are not allowed to do this--only -husbands and wives." - -"Poor young people!" he pitied. "But, on the whole, quite right. It -would never do to have them cavorting over the country like this; too -much of a strain on the conventions. Indeed, I think we ought to conform -ourselves at once." - -"How?" Just as if she hadn't known what he meant. - -"Let's ride into San Carlos, get a license from the jefe and be married -at once?" - -The bold proposal drew only a soft laugh. "To think that, up to a week -ago, he didn't even see me--except as part of the scenery. No, amigo, -till to-morrow we are to be ordinary persons. Then I shall go and tell -Ramon." - -"And if he refuses?" - -"I shall break it myself." - -It was in his mind to say that she could not go alone. But he remembered -that Ramon would probably arrive at Los Arboles before she started. He -turned again to the delightful present. - -"And after that?" - -A little pressure at his waist made answer. - -Reaching behind, he drew her other arm forward till her hands clasped in -front, then squeezed his own elbows down tight over hers. Thus, -oblivious once more of the toiling billions, revolutionists beyond the -mountain's loom, they rode forward again in that illumined dream, two -foolish, happy souls at loose in the spheres. - - - - -XXV: LOVE AND BUSINESS - - -In those days of raids and "requisitions," the customary oversight of -the herds on the Chihuahua _haciendas_ had grown of necessity into a -system of patrols. At Los Arboles not a day passed without Gordon and -the Three describing a circle around the _hacienda_. - -Riding south after the others left, Bull had covered only a few miles -before he spied a lone horseman topping a distant ridge. As the rider -drew near the first indefinite outlines resolved into the square, hard -figure of William Benson. Scarcely a week had passed without a visit -from the Englishman. From the first he had accorded Bull the respect due -to his quiet strength. Later, this had developed into a real liking -which showed in the smile that wiped out, for the moment, his native -harshness. - -"Heard the news? The Carranzistas have given Valles a lovely trimming. -He didn't stop running till he reached El Oro." - -Bull's black brows rose. "We'd allus allowed Valles could whip twice his -weight in Carranzistas. So long as they keep on killing one another off, -we sh'd worry." - -Nodding, Benson went on. "Valles lost heavily in horses, and is looking -for fresh mounts. One of his colonels came to my place yesterday and -offered me a thousand pesos apiece for all I have." - -"_Gold?_" - -Benson's big mouth split in a sardonic grin. "Valles money, amigo, -beautifully printed on butcher paper. He must have used up all the -newspaper stocks in northern Mexico." - -"And you sold?" - -"I'd cut their throats first. It may come to that, but just now I see a -way--if not to pull even, at least to avoid complete loss. Between us we -can pretty nearly equip Valles with fresh mounts. The beggar has -gold--hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, in the El Paso banks, and -my idea is for us, you representing Lee, to go down to El Oro and offer -him all that we have for a low price in gold on condition that he permit -us to drive our other stock across the line. If he accepts, we then go -out of business till order is restored." - -"Fine idea!" Bull added. "Could you let Mrs. Mills in on it? She was -telling last night she didn't know where to turn for living expenses." - -Benson heartily agreed. "Only too glad!" - -"And when do you start?" - -"To-morrow night. There's a freight going down." - -"All right. Pity you hadn't come earlier. Mrs. Mills left only a couple -of hours ago. But I'll ride over this afternoon, get her written -authority, then meet you at the railroad." - -Riding back to Los Arboles, they perfected their plans. They were, -indeed, in sight of the buildings before Benson switched the -conversation to Lee. Her oldest and stanchest friend, it was his right -to know, and Bull told all, from his plotting with the widow down to the -disastrous ending in the sudden engagement. - -"The little spitfire!" Benson grinned. "Hello! What's that?" - -It was Lee's horse galloping down a distant slope toward the _hacienda_. -In that wild country a riderless beast generally bespoke tragedy. -Without a word they galloped off in the direction from which the beast -had come; rode at top speed until Benson, who had gained a lead, -suddenly reined in. - -A bunch of chaparral intervened, at first, between Bull and the object -at which the other was pointing. Then, rising in his stirrups, he saw -Lee and Gordon on the one horse; at least in Bull's sight it was a -horse. In that of the lovers, horses, plains, _haciendas_, and other -commonplaces of ordinary existence had vanished, leaving them -unconscious of time and space, proceeding magically through the -aforesaid illumined dream. - -Perhaps some touch of their feeling wirelessed across the intervening -space, for Benson's harshness melted, delight burst like sunlight -through Bull's truculence. - -"That's too good to spoil," Benson whispered. "Let them go by." - -They had passed over the next ridge before Bull spoke. "I tol' you Mrs. -Mills could do it. She's a right smart woman." - -"A fine woman!" Benson echoed. "I don't know what you are thinking -about. Now if I were single----" He burst out laughing at Bull's blush. -Instantly it was drowned in brighter scarlet. But this faded as Bull -noted the kindly twinkle in the other's eye. He shook his head in -deprecation. - -"What c'd a nice woman do with a bear like me?" - -"That's her business. I'm not denying that it would some job." Benson -critically surveyed Bull's great bulk. "But if there's anything in the -world a woman loves it is making a man over, like an old dress. After -she finishes, she generally realizes that she's spoiled the material and -wishes him back as he was. But in the mean time she has had her fun. -I'll bet Mary Mills is just itching to try her hand on you." - -"Do you really mean that?" Bull looked up with sudden hope--that quickly -died. He shook his big head. "She deserves something better. I'd only -spoil her life." - -Nevertheless, he relapsed into deep thought, returning only -monosyllables to Benson's talk. The little seed thus planted rooted deep -in his silence. - - -Strange is first love with its intense desire for purity! Cleanliness is -next to Godliness, and Godliness is Love. Thus Cleanliness must be next -of kin to Love. - -If this be doubted, observe a ten-year-old boy, self-convicted of -water-marks on his neck and soil in his ears enough to grow potatoes. -See him scrub himself with profuse use of soap till his countenance -shines so that it might serve as a mirror for the small charmer who has -ensnared his budding affections with her bright curls. Watch him, later, -a man grown, solicitous about his daily tub, careful of his raiment, -choice in cravats! Later his wife shall drive him with revilings to his -bath! Coming to cases, observe Gordon in the bunk-house after a cooling -shower, carefully arranging his tie on the bosom of a brand-new shirt. - -Now observe a girl, a vestal in purity, delicately perfumed, flowering -in her ribands and laces like a pretty bud. At some time all of them -earnestly desire that they had been born men. Yet one moment there is -when they are unfeignedly glad to be women. So Lee, who was perhaps even -a bit more boyish than the average, came to lunch in a soft white dress -with a flower at her throat, powdered and delicately perfumed, bright -hair framing happy eyes, every soft line and fold proclaiming her -womanhood. Like an emanation, soft and effulgent as moonlit mist, the -fullness of her content proceeded from her, wrapped her in a bright -atmosphere in the midst of which she softly brooded. Not that she was -silent. She laughed and talked; seriously discussed Benson's schemes. -But that was all of the surface. Behind the chatter she lived in the -enchantment of her dream. - -It was too marked to pass unnoticed. But if Bull and Benson saw the -clinging of glances, sensed the pulsing feeling, they observed with the -friendly indulgence of experience the young man's honest devotion, the -girl's shy happiness. During the long hour they sat talking after lunch, -no silly jest marred its beauty. Except for a greater kindliness of -manner, with delicacy quite foreign to his harsh exterior, Benson gave -no hint of his understanding up to the moment he rode away. - -Then for a brief moment Bull was taken into the dream. While Gordon went -for his horse, Lee packed his saddlebags with clean things for the -journey, and was giving him the usual last critical inspection. As he -stood smiling down on her, hugely pleased, her eyes rose from the tie -she was arranging to his; and as she read their sympathy and -intelligence, she clasped his neck and hid her face against his broad -breast. - -Until the beat of hoofs at the _patio_ gate announced Gordon's return, -he held her to him with one arm while the other hand gently patted her -shoulder. Neither spoke. Words would have told less. When she withdrew -and walked with him to the gate, she was soothed and comforted as any -girl that ever made a confidante of her mother. - -When she ran back after the quirt he had purposely left on the table, he -had time to pass a word to Gordon. "Remember, she don't leave this house -to go _anywhere_ alone!" - -Gordon nodded, and, satisfied, he rode away with Lee's last charge -floating after him, "Come home soon!" - -The words were still ringing in his ears, he still felt the firm, cool -clasp on his neck, when he drew rein at the first rise and looked back -at the _hacienda_. From one corner, where an _anciano_ had burned some -rubbish, rose a lazy pennon of smoke, but the brown girls, women, and -children who usually filled the compound with restless life were in full -enjoyment of the noon _siesta_. Within its bright walls, the place dozed -in the pleasant shade of its towering cottonwoods. - -Somehow the stillness recalled to Bull's mind the Spaniard's house he -had shown Gordon from the railroad--sacked, burned, its vacant windows -staring like empty eyes over the desert. His face clouded. He moved -uneasily in his saddle, but presently the golden peace that incited the -memory worked its own remedy. Jake and Sliver and Gordon were there, and -the place was still far beyond the surge and swirl of the revolution. - -"And I'll be home again in less than a week," he encouraged himself. - -Home! It recalled again Lee's words. He felt her clasp, thrilled at the -memory. He, "Bull" Perrin, the rustler! Around his neck that had been in -constant hazard of the halter for a dozen years, this fine, clean girl -had thrown her arms. His tender musing over the wonder would have -excited the scorn of a city man, _blase_ and stale from the constant -presence and attentions of pretty women. But it was sincere. While he -rode on over the hills and plains, the thought warmed his heart, -quickened the seed planted therein by Benson, freed his soul from the -bonds of his great humility. - -"Of course it's damn foolish for you even to think of it," he chid -himself. Nevertheless, he did, slowly, heavily, taking stock with minute -exactness of his own demerits. How great they were none knew better. The -rustling, of course, he had abandoned along with certain gross habits of -life. But the liquor? These periodical debauches? Was he strong enough -to conquer them? - -"If I c'd only ride into a town an' either leave it alone or take a -man's fair allowance," he mused. "But kin I? Mebbe with a fine little -woman like that to help me." But the next instant he shook his head. -"An' have her take the chance? No, no, hombre, you're crazy. You put all -that behind you by your own act years ago." - -Yet this conclusion did not end the argument. When, at sundown, he drew -rein at the accustomed spot and looked down on the _rancho_ buildings -now dyed a flaming apricot he took his breath deeply. With its -bougainvillea draping walls and porches in rich purple clusters, its -pretty _patio_ and outside kitchen garden, it was just such a home as -would fit the dreams of a common man. Instantly his mind filled in the -picture, the man and woman sitting after supper on the veranda, he with -his pipe and paper, a child on his knee, she with her sewing. A thousand -intimacies were supplied by his lonely, hungry soul, and when the -picture stood complete he burst out with a great resolve. - -"By God, I'll do it! You're a-going to walk like a man into town an' -come out without teching a drop!" - -From where he was sitting he usually could see--either Betty at play on -the veranda, her mother moving in and out, or Terrubio moving around the -stables. To-night silence wrapped the place. From the west, as on the -south where he sat, the land fell rapidly toward the _rancho_, and as he -rode forward, puzzled, the silence was explained. Over the western ridge -the widow, Terrubio, and Betty came riding, and reached the house just -as he rode up. - -"Though we brought bad news to his son," she explained the delay, "the -old Icarza would not permit us to leave till we had broken his bread. -How did Ramon take it? Just as I said he would--out came the Mex in in -all of its nasty selfishness, blind conceit. She was promised to him and -he would hold her to it! He'd kill any one who interfered. Goodness! you -never _saw_ such fireworks! He showed no trace of the real pride that -would have kept one of our boys from showing his hurt; and still less -consideration for Lee. It was"--she gave a little sniff of -disgust--"just sickening. I was almost sorry she couldn't have been -there, for it would have effectually cured her remorse. But she'll get -it to-morrow, for he's going over to plead his own cause." - -Unease swept Bull's dark visage. After a brief statement of his mission -he voiced his apprehension. "But if he's coming to-morrow, I don't know -but I orter go back." - -"Nonsense!" Mrs. Mills pooh-poohed the idea. "It's all fireworks--and -there's Sliver and Gordon and Jake." - -To which Betty added a direct command. "You are just going to stay here. -We haven't seen you for ever so long, and mama is just dying to tell you -her troubles." - -"Tea and trouble," the widow laughed. "A genuine woman's party." - -When he lifted and placed her with one swing on the veranda she allowed -one hand to remain on his shoulder, and he was not so ignorant of woman -nature as not to recognize the liking behind the action. While she -bustled around, adding dainties to the meal Terrubio's woman had ready, -he watched her with an expression that she, on her part, could not fail -to interpret. And whereas, on previous visits, she had managed all kinds -of accidental contacts, watched with mischievous delight for the effect, -she was now filled with pleasurable confusion that manifested itself in -an almost girlish shyness. - -When, afterward, they moved out upon the veranda, Bull's dream of an -hour ago was almost fulfilled. For Betty snuggled as usual in his arms, -while the widow busied herself with a bit of sewing--a fine excuse that -lent itself to the lowering of eyes, permitted stealthy glances. - -While they were at supper, the sun had slid down to the western horizon. -Pools of deep indigo now filled the hollows. Above them the plains ran, -a deep violet sea broken with apricot foam where the crests of the great -earth waves rolled high, ran off and away around the bases of gold and -crimson mountains. - -It was unearthly in its beauty, and while they could not have put their -feeling in words, it filled both with that sense of vastness before -which man in his littleness quails. Often the widow paused in her -sewing, and as Bull saw that infinite loneliness reflected in her face, -the big, simple soul of him melted with love and pity. Till the lights -faded and she no longer needed its excuse, she alternately sewed and -gazed; then when warm gloaming settled over all, wiped out the -loneliness with its friendly gloom, she recovered her voice. - -"Oh, I had almost forgotten." - -It was that which she had seen in the morning--to wit, Gordon snatching -Lee out of her saddle. - -"And oh, isn't it nice to think that she'll be settled, at last, with -that fine boy!" - -Happy in the conclusion, she began to sketch a picture of them settled -happily at Los Arboles. Her voice, as she ran on, took a little quiver -that powerfully expressed her own loneliness, inspired in Bull an -intense desire to seize and squeeze it out. Instead his arms tightened -around the child. - -"Not one marriage in a hundred turns out what it might be. But with the -exception, when respect, friendliness, affection, and a sense of duty -are reinforced by love--well, it's the nearest to heaven that poor -humans ever gain." She added, with a sigh: "Excepting that it gave me -this child, my own wasn't all that it might have been. She's been a joy -and comfort, but--in a few years more she'll be marrying, herself. Then -I'll be again alone." - -"Why did _you_ never marry?" Betty's small, soft voice stole out on the -darkness from the depths of Bull's embrace. - -The stock excuses rose to his lips--but did not pass, for through the -friendly gloaming he was aware of a rustle. His face turned toward it. - -"I never felt myself fit." - -"Why, that's just nonsense!" Betty indignantly declared. "Any woman that -wasn't a downright fool would be glad to have you. I know one that would -give her best shoes--" - -"Betty!" - -But the small rebel ran on, "Well, she would--even if I can't tell you -her name." - -Once more Bull faced a stir in the darkness. "I've led a hard, rough, -bad life. No decent woman would ever want me." - -Now he saw the dim whiteness of her face turning to him. Her quiet voice -took up the argument. "It's a thin, pinched nature that's always good. A -big, strong one is liable to be led astray by its own force before -wisdom comes to teach and chasten. In the long run I don't know but that -it gains by it in charity and loving-kindness. Wickedness of the flesh -doesn't count so much as wickedness of the heart; the inward vileness -that rots and corrupts; and I've seen as much of that in the churches as -among downright sinners." She concluded with the very words that Gordon -had used with Lee. "It isn't what you _were_, but what you _are_ that -counts." - -From a second warm silence issued Bull's vibrant rumble. "You think a -man that has lived hard has a right to speak, to a good woman--providing -he's put it all behind him?" - -Low, but confident and firm, her answer thrilled through the gloaming. -"I do, and--she'd _love_ to help him." - -Almost without his volition, Bull's huge paw stole out. He half hoped -she wouldn't see it. He had begun to withdraw it when, like a dim white -dove, her hand came fluttering and nested in his. - -Every life has its golden hour. That was Bull's, and, like a pearl -shining in the mire, it stood out from the blackness of his past life. -Though neither spoke, the peace and quiet, surety of perfect -understanding, settled upon them. When, presently, Betty resumed her -chatter, they listened or joined in. After she fell asleep they relapsed -again into happy silence; just sat like a shy boy and girl, hand in -hand, till she rose and carried the child off to her bed. - -To meet her, next morning, was to Bull something of an ordeal, but her -quiet smile restored at once the perfect understanding. Her sense of -proprietorship showed in the way she fussed over his coffee and eggs, -berated him for his lack of appetite. Her final inspection before he -left could not have been outdone in severity by Lee herself. But nothing -was said. She knew that he would speak in his own good time. - -Except that her hand clung a little in parting, it differed little from -their usual. "I shall look for you when you return." Her call after him -reiterated ownership. - -His answer confirmed it. "I shall come here, ma'am, straight from the -station." - -Indeed, the real parting came when, reining in at fifty yards, he looked -back over his shoulder. With both hands on Betty's shoulders, slightly -dejected, yet with her honest, level gaze sending out trust and hope, -she stood watching him go, as the race of wives and mothers have stood -throughout the generations. And just as, throughout time, the sight of a -woman's trust and child's faith have urged real men on to big deeds, so -the sight of them set the ex-rustler's heart swelling within him. As, -with a last wave of the hand, he turned again and rode on, the spirit -within him equaled in love and reverence that of an ancient -knight-errant starting out in pursuit of the Holy Grail. - - - - -XXVI: A SETTLEMENT - - -About the time Bull started, Lee and Gordon rose from the -breakfast-table under the Los Arboles _portales_. - -Perhaps with sympathetic intuition, for they exchanged an amiable grin, -Sliver and Jake had already passed out. It is true that Maria and -Teresa, the small brown _criadas_, were peeping from the crypt-like -depths of their kitchen. But even had she been aware of their vast -interest, Lee would not have withdrawn the hand which, as they rose, had -somehow tangled with Gordon's. Reflected and thrown up from the yellow -wall, the strong morning lights bathed the flesh of her arms, face, and -neck with suffused amber, wove a soft glow in the mesh of her hair. So -different from her usual boyish activity, her gentle quiet, combined -with the warm air, suffused lights, to create a dreamy spell. Goodness -knows how long they would have stood if Maria had not come out to clear -the table. - -Then Lee spoke. "Such sloth! This will never do if I am to go to El Sol -and return to-day. While I dress will you please get my horse?" - -When Gordon reached the stable Sliver had already gone, but Jake had -lingered to say a word. It was very much to the point. "Say! Bull tipped -me off as how the young greaser was likely to show up an' raise some -hell to-day. Don't you allow I'd better hang around?" - -He nodded, however, when Gordon explained the situation. "Missy don't -know he's coming, hey?--thinks she's going over there. Then they'll meet -on the way. Mebbe I'd better tag along." - -But to this Gordon's pride would not consent. "Don't you think I can -take care of her?" - -"No one better," Jake hastened to appease. "But, say! If he doesn't show -up, don't you let her go on over there--not if you have to rope an' drag -her home." - -"Like we did before?" He smiled at the memory. "This time I'll not leave -her the saddle machete." - -"Little bit too smart for you that time," Jake grinned in sympathy. -"Take care she don't spring a new one. She ain't so very slow." - -Nevertheless, in the face of his apparent acquiescence, while apparently -heading out on his usual beat, he whirled behind the first ridge and, -proceeding at a fast lope, had covered five miles of the way to El Sol, -the Icarzas' _hacienda_, by the time Lee came out. Slowing down, then, -he rode more leisurely, had covered another mile when, over the crest of -a ridge, he sighted Ramon coming at a gallop down the opposite slope. A -clump of mesquite and _palo verde_ afforded convenient cover. Forcing -his beast in, Jake stooped low and watched Ramon go by, so close that -his stirrup whipped the bushes. - -It had never been Jake's habit to notice Mexicans. But now he noted with -surprise the change in the young man's face. The lines deeply plowed -down the nose under the cheeks, the hardening of the red, womanish lips, -the vindictive black sparkle that had contracted his great dusky eyes -into burning black dots, added ten years to his age. - -"The Mex is souring in him," Jake inwardly commented. "That guinea's -liable to try an' hurt some one. Glad I came." - -Allowing Ramon to pass on, Jake then rode after, and so, progressing -from ridge to ridge, keeping always the height of land between them, was -less than fifty yards behind when, peeping over the crest, he saw Lee -and Gordon coming up the slope. - -Another bunch of chaparral afforded cover, and after tying his horse in -it, Jake crawled up to the ridge and looked over. - - -It was not without argument that Gordon had obtained Lee's consent to -accompany her. When she found him standing with two horses at the gate, -her brows rose in a troubled arch. - -He understood that she hesitated to accuse him of bad taste, and quoted -Bull's last orders to remove the impression. "He said that you were -never to ride alone." - -The responsibility being thus shifted, she felt able to speak. "It is -rather-- Really, I don't see how I can do anything else." - -"Why go at all? Why not write?" - -She shook her head. "I've known him since childhood--and have treated -him badly. I owe him an apology and it will have to come from my own -lips." - -It was reasonable enough from her point of view, but not from his. If -Ramon were an American he would have said, "Go, ahead; take your -medicine!" Being Mexican, discretion bade him remain. - -"At least let me ride with you part of the way. I will turn before you -reach El Sol." - -"Oh, that will be all right," she had conceded at once. - -He had felt certain, of course, that they would meet Ramon. But the -usual witcheries, sweep of the tawny earth-waves under the bright sun, -satisfying thud of hoofs on the trail, creak and smell of hot leather, -had combined to blind him to all but her presence. Now, before he could -turn, Ramon reined in before them. - -Like Jake, they noticed at once the sardonic furrows, set mouth, frown -above the glittering eyes. With his youth had vanished that veneer of -refinement which conceals natural Mexican grossness. Like veins in a -stratum revealed by a landslide, selfishness, conceit, violence, -revenge, lay exposed. With the natural instinct of good breeding, Gordon -had half turned to withdraw. But even if one glance at the passion-torn -face had not checked the impulse, it would have been killed when Lee -backed toward him. Shocked and a little afraid, she gazed at Ramon -before she spoke. - -"Are you ill? You look so--" - -"So it was true, what the senora told me yesterday!" He spoke in low, -strained tones. "It was true, though I did not believe; refused to -believe. But now I see. It is true that you used me as bait for your -fishing." - -"Ramon!" She raised her hand, but he switched suddenly from denunciation -to appeal. - -"No! it is not true! It cannot be! She lied! I will not believe it even -though you tell me yourself!" - -From this he ran on with an appeal, hysterical and disconnected, which -reflected as in a clear glass the nature of his love. In it was no -appreciation of the feminine personality with its delicacies of feeling, -refinements, inconsistencies, helplessness, all the illogicalities that -render it charming, as much or more than its faith and love. In terms of -blind egotism, it expressed only his passion and jealousy, fatuous -conceit. As in a clear glass, under a powerful light, he revealed -himself so that even a woman blinded by love could not have failed to -see. In the middle of it Gordon heard Lee take a long breath, and knew -it for thankfulness. Yet her relief did not kill her poignant regret for -the part she had played. - -She spoke softly, pityingly, when he stopped. "Ramon, I'm sorry. It was -wicked of me to draw you on. But to marry you would be far worse. What -can I do to make up?" - -He told, with anger and offense. She had promised to be his wife! It was -a betrothal! as binding in Mexican eyes as marriage! He had announced it -to his father, mother, sister, friends! His conceit cropped out again as -he pictured himself, jilted, in their eyes. Angered by his own -imaginings, he was growing abusive when she cut him quietly off. - -"I was on my way when we met, to own and ask pardon for my fault. I had -counted on our old friendship and your generosity to make it less -difficult. But I see, now, my error. There is nothing left but to bid -you good-by." - -Now came the ultimate revelation, that passion of furious jealousy which -drives the Mexican _peon_ to cut off the hands, slash the face and -breast, of his love. His eyes narrowed to shifting, insane sparks. Hand -raised, as though to strike, he spurred his beast forward. - -"You--you--" - -He got no further, for one hard dig of the spur shot Gordon's horse in -between. From English to Spanish the argument had run, but from Lee's -answers Gordon had gathered enough. Though slower, his beast was heavier -than Ramon's, and while forcing horse and rider sideways with a steady -pressure he issued his orders: - -"That's about enough for you! Get!" - -Ramon's hand flew to his saddle _machete_, but he did not draw, for -Gordon's had gone to his gun. Leg pressed against leg, they manoeuvered -their plunging beasts; without drawing a weapon fought the old fight of -the brown man and the white; the struggle which began when Cortes -imposed his will on the Aztec emperors; was continued by the Puritan -forefathers against the American Indian; which has been fought to the -same conclusion all over the world. And from the two faces--Gordon's -cold, hard-eyed, Ramon's distorted with black fury--the cause of that -inevitable ending might have been read. - -So close they were Gordon could see the palpitation of light from the -insane waverings of the other's eyeballs steady under a doubt. He felt -rather than saw the Mexican's sudden swift reach for his knife. Even -more swiftly he snatched, and with a sudden wrench of the other's wrist -sent the knife flying and bore him back flat in the saddle. For a moment -he held him, then with a powerful shove his horse sent Ramon's beast -stumbling sideways and broke the grip. Wheeling in a circle, Ramon faced -them again. - -So far Lee had looked on distressed. Now she spurred forward and caught -Gordon's arm. "Let him go!--please!" Her anger gone now, sorrow -quivering in her voice, she added, "You will, won't you, Ramon?" - -His fury, passion, wild jealousy had settled in dark calm. "Yes, I am -going _now_. But the next time--." He wheeled and galloped off. - -Till the tip of his _sombrero_ vanished behind the ridge Lee watched him -go, distress and relief mingling in a wintry smile. - -"Don't give him too much of your pity," Gordon consoled. "One -disappointment doesn't make much of a dent in such egotism as that. -After a while he'll find some pretty senorita to take him at his own -valuation." - -"I hope so." Her smile brightened. "Though I still feel guilty. But if -he hadn't behaved so ridiculously I should feel much worse." - -Gordon nodded toward the ridge. "You heard his threat. Do you suppose -he'll---" - -"Oh no!" Her hair flew in a cloud under her vigorous shake. "After he's -had time to cool off he'll forget and forgive. But just to think"--her -glance displayed an even mixture of mischief and reproach--"just to -think that all this trouble was caused by you kissing that horrid girl!" - -"Why--" he gasped, under the sudden attack. "Well, I'll be-- Say! Who -drove me to it with her disgraceful flirting?" - -"Did it make you feel _awfully_ bad?" - -"Did it?" The thought of his miserable unhappiness was still powerful -enough to cloud his face, and she noted it with a little quiver of -satisfaction. "Let's forget it." Snatching her hand, he worked his horse -in against hers and tried to draw her to him. "There's a momentous -question I wish to consult you about; one you refused to consider -yesterday. Will you--" - -But she pulled away. "Not yet. First there's something I want settled. -Was it really pique that--made you kiss her?" - -He wanted to laugh, but refrained, for under her smile he felt her -earnestness. "Nothing else." - -"You're sure?" - -"Sure!" - -"Cross your heart to die?" - -He performed that solemn and ancient function, and if she still -entertained a doubt she stuffed it away down in consciousness. - -"Very well." With a little sigh of content she let her head fall back on -his shoulder and a whisper escape from her upturned lips, "Now--you -may." - - -From his covert on the ridge Jake had observed the meeting, talk, -struggle, Ramon's retreat, also something which was hidden from the -lovers in the valley below--the fact that, after crossing the ridge, -Ramon had dismounted, pulled his rifle from the saddle slings, and -crawled back on hands and knees to the edge of Jake's covert. By that -time the little tilt concerning Felicia was over, and as Lee's head went -to Gordon's shoulder Ramon raised the rifle. - -A shot at that short distance would have pierced them both, but as -Ramon's eye dropped to the sights a sharp order issued from the covert, -"Throw up your hands! damn quick!" - -A quick, startled glance showed Ramon the lean, grim face through a -break in the chaparral. Not for nothing had the _peones_ named Jake "The -Python." In moments such as this his lean personality, deadly eye, -conveyed that very impression--of a snake coiled to strike. As Ramon's -hands went up, he stepped out and, crouching behind the ridge, took the -other's rifle and drove him downhill to his horse. - -Having extracted the cartridge both from the rifle and from the revolver -in Ramon's holster, he threw the weapon at his feet. "I reckon I orter -plug you, an' I would for two cents. It'd be set down to raiders, which -fixes it very nice. Sure, I reckon I orter do it, but if you've got a -few thinks to the contrary spit 'em out." - -It was no idle threat. The vicious gleam of the cold gray eye told that. -But in place of fear Ramon's face showed almost relief. "Very good, -senor. There is nothing you could do that would suit me better." - -The cold eye flickered. "Hell! you're too anxious. I couldn't make up my -mind to do it that quick--an' there's a few things I wanter find out. -For one, what's your idee in wanting to drill them young folks?" - -Ramon told--this time without the fireworks. - -Jake summed it briefly. "Promised you, then threw you down. That's hard -luck. But there's one thing you Mexes can never get into your hot -heads--the right of our little American queens to change their pretty -minds as often as they damn please without any gent's consent. You was -damn lucky that she ever give you a smile. If I conclude to change my -mind on plugging you, have it writ up large in your family tree that -oncet an American girl let herself be engaged to you for nearly five -minutes. Now supposing I refrain from my desire to make you into a -corpse, d'you reckon you could keep a promise and not make any attempt -on their lives?" - -While he was talking Ramon's face had stiffened in defiance. He shook -his head. But instead of anger, a small gleam of admiration lit Jake's -hard eyes. Raising his gun, he aimed full at the other's breast. - -"You have just two minutes to make up your mind." - -"One minute!" - -For a time it seemed as though he would have to shoot. But just before -the time expired, Ramon spoke. "For myself, I do not care. But I have an -old father and mother, whom my death would surely kill. I promise." - -"All right." Jake dropped the rifle in the hollow of his arm. "I allow -that I'm foolish for trusting a Mex, but the little Missy allus liked -you. On her account we'll take one chance. Here's your cartridge--only -don't load till you're off this range. An' remember"--a cold flash -emphasized the order--"after this our boundary is your dead-line. Cross -it again--you'll be shot like a panther, coyote, or other varmint." - -Returning to his horse, he watched the other mount and ride away. A -glance in the opposite direction showed him Lee and Gordon, going hand -in hand up the opposite slope. Till they had gained across to the next -valley he remained where he was. Then, riding in their rear, with a -sharp eye always behind, keeping the width of a valley between them, he -followed home. - - - - -XXVII: AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE - - -Riding steadily and hard, Bull made the railroad just as the sun dipped -and hung like a smoky lamp on the smoldering horizon. From a distance he -had spied Benson leaning in the doorway of the box-car which served the -Mexican agent for a telegraph station. The Englishman called to him -across the tracks. - -"There's a battle pending down the line. Troop-trains have been -streaking through all day carrying Valles's reserves from Chihuahua. Don -Pedro, here, says another is due to stop for water in half an hour. If -we hand the comandante a few compliments, he may take us along." - -"Half an hour?" Bull snorted. "That means half the night an' then some. -We'll have time for supper an' a sleep." - -But for once the railroad went back on all precedents. Just as the -crimson tip of the sun slid down behind a black-velvet mountain, the -train came puffing in loaded with the usual picturesque rag-and-bobtail -of brown soldiers, women, and children clustered like hiving bees on -top. - -"Must be yesterday's train a bit overdue," Bull defended his theory, as -the cars clicked by with slowing rhythm. "The comandante'll be in the -passenger-coach ahead. We'd better to mosey along an' brace him." - -But their passage was much more easily gained. A man who sat with legs -dangling from the open doorway of a box-car emitted a whoop. - -"Ole! Diogenes! Como le va! What of our matrimonial venture? How did it -pan out?" - -It was Naylor, the correspondent, Bull's friend and Cupid's aide. As his -car rolled slowly up, there hove in sight placards that announced the -titles of certain American papers in dignified Spanish that their oldest -subscribers would never have recognized. But there was nothing foreign -in the half-dozen of friendly faces that filled the doorway. From the -dignified visage, with its short, gray beard and trim mustache, of their -dean, down to the boyish face of a field photographer, all joined in a -composite welcoming grin. - -"Weekes, Mason, Martin, Roberts, Cummings." The correspondent breezily -ran off the names. "There were more before Santos-Coy, Valles's chief of -staff, stuck us all up against a wall the last time our government -clapped one of its hit-and-miss embargoes on munitions. Valles saved us, -but after that most of the fellows skipped out. So we have lots of room. -Come right up." - -A partition divided the car into kitchen and living-quarters. Bunks rose -in a tier of four at the end of the latter. Four more could be slept on -long lockers at each side of the table which was being set for supper by -the Chinese cook. From the oldest to the youngest, the correspondents -were on edge for the approaching battle. At supper their talk ran on its -possibilities. - -"If Valles is beaten again," Weekes, the gray-haired dean, summed the -conversation, "our government will throw another of its silly flip-flops -and turn him down. And then--" - -"--this corresponding job won't make good insurance." - -"And then--" the dean began again. - -"We'll hit for El Paso before Santos-Coy grabs us again." - -"And then"--the dean triumphed over interruptions--"God pity the poor -gringos in northern Mexico." - -Bull's friend nodded. "Valles's army will scatter into bands that will -rake the country with fine-tooth combs for the least bit of plunder. You -had better get your girl and her fellow, Diogenes, and come out with -us." - -Later, when they had all climbed up on the roof and sat watching the -oil-smoke from the laboring locomotive whirl and twist, then float away -and lay its great sable plumes against the rich reds and golds of the -evening sky, they gave expert opinion on Benson's mission. - -"If Valles wins, so do you," the dean opined. "He needs horses worse -than money, and, as you say, has slathers of it in the El Paso banks. -But if he loses--hit for the border at once. I saw him the other day -after the first defeat, and hell couldn't produce his equal. He was -crazy; a maniac; a tiger gone stark, staring, frothing mad. - -"And lose he will. How do I know?" He answered a challenge. "It's a mere -problem of mathematics, the first equation of which was worked out in -the battle the other day. Given two men of equal military ability, the -one with a trained mind is bound to win. The other fellow, as you know, -is a college man--a college man against a bandit." He turned to Bull and -Benson. "It's a cinch that he'll win. If I were you, gentlemen, I'd wait -the event." - -Benson shook his head. "If we see Valles now and strike a bargain, we -can get our cattle across the border before he's all in." - -"Good enough reasoning," the dean admitted. "But--ever since the first -defeat he's been in one of his towering rages. Even his own generals -hardly dare go near him." - -Benson shrugged; with British obstinacy he clung to his point. "It won't -be the first time I've seen him in his rages. He may be dangerous--to -Americans, but John Bull looks after his people and even Valles is -careful of how he flies in the old fellow's face. I shall go to see him -at once, and if he refuses--well"--his voice grew harsh and -menacing--"he'll hear the truth about himself." - -Not knowing him, the correspondents received it in silence. While they -smoked Benson went on in his hard, rough voice. "I tell you, amigos, -that your people have made a sad mess of this whole Mexican business. -For three years, now, you have been trying to apply the principles of -your Declaration of Independence to a race which won't have evolved to a -point where it has the faintest understanding of them for a thousand -years to come. You stand on your Monroe doctrine, but refuse to take up -its obligations and give alien nationals the protection you will not -allow their own government to extend. While your statesmen prattle about -the sacred right of revolution and Mexico's ability to settle her own -affairs, the country is overrun with bandits and mobs of pelados who are -killing off the decent people and destroying billions in property they -never created. - -"Bah!" he snorted his disgust. "Don't talk to me of republics. Do you -suppose that either England or Germany would have stood for the anarchy -which rules here? For centuries John Bull has been ruling brown peoples -and he knows his job. 'Be good and you'll be happy!' he tells them. If -they're not--they get it, hot and heavy, on the spot where it will do -most good. The brown man is all right in his place--which isn't on top -of the white man--but your government, so far, has failed to perceive -it." - -He went on from a pause: "Republics are incapacitated by nature in any -case for the job. They are too divided in their counsels--swayed to-day -by capital that will accept any dishonor rather than jeopardize its -revenues; to-morrow by sentimentalists who hold up hands of horror at -the very thought of war; governed most of the time by a ridiculous -yellow press. Individually, you Yanks are good people, but taken -collectively, as represented by your government and papers, you are -hypocritical, weak, hysterical, sentimental, without dignity or force. -You are grown fat with wealth, soft with luxury, too lazy and -indifferent to undertake your responsibilities abroad, and if you were -not, you lack the first essentials--centralized federal authority and -military strength to enforce your will. If you do anything here it will -be accidental--such as when the blowing up of the _Maine_ aroused one of -your periodical brainstorms, stung you into action. But in the mean time -the destruction of Mexico will be complete. There will be nothing left -of the civilization built up at such enormous pains by Diaz and which it -was your duty to maintain." - -Silence followed, the uncomfortable silence that attends the digestion -of unpalatable truth. While they talked, the cars had resolved into dim -masses that swayed and swung through hot dusk that was splashed, here -and there, with the red glow of charcoal cooking fires. On those -immediately ahead and behind, dim sombreroed figures still loomed in -half-gloom. The flash of a match occasionally set a dark face out in -startling relief. The tinkle of a guitar accompanying a high, nasal -_peon_ chant, mingled with the roar and rattle of wheels. For some time -its whine rose under the stars before the voice of the dean broke the -silence. - -"What you say is true--most of it. We have been tried in the balance and -found wanting. We've neglected our duty to the Mexicans and our own -people--that's the hell of it! But nations, like individuals, learn -their lessons through painful mistakes. We've had bad leadership and -worse counsels--so much of it that it would almost seem that we were -irrevocably stamped as incapable. But it's only a phase. Under it all -the heart of the people still beats sound and true. Sooner or later its -voice will be heard. And when it is--the bleating of the sentimentalists -will be drowned in the tramp of marching men." - -"You bet you!" It rolled out in chorus. - -"In the mean time," a voice added, "what's the matter with a little -drink?" - -Instantly the recumbent figures rose in a shadowy mass, and as its units -made their way down over the edge of the swaying car, the correspondent -jogged Bull's elbow. "Come along, Diogenes!" - -But though a flame, sudden and fierce, had leaped within him; though he -trembled under the intensity of his desire, he shook his head. "Thanks, -I'm not drinking." - -"Why--Diogenes? Whatever is the matter? If parental responsibilities do -this, damned if I know whether I'll ever dare to hook up--providing my -San Francisco girl ever consents. Is this straight?" - -"Straight." - -Warned, perhaps, by a certain earnestness, the other answered: "All -right, old man--only--if you change your mind, come on down." - -Bull made no answer, could not, for as he lay there, huge bulk stretched -out on the running-board, face turned up to the stars, every ounce of -his energy, even the bit that would have been used up in speech, was -consumed in the fight against the furious desire that brought the sweat -starting on his brow, shook him like a leaf. Out of the rack and bang of -the swinging cars, click and roar of the wheels, his ear presently -picked the clink of glasses. Out through the lamp-lit doorway floated -Benson's rough voice. - -"Well, here's to Uncle Sam! wishing him better counselors and quicker -understanding!" - -Bull heard no more, for he had rolled over, buried his face in his arms -to hide from his snuffing nostrils whiffs of spirits. Once he half rose, -looking toward the ladder. But, strengthening his resolution, there rose -in his mind just then a picture of Betty and her mother as he had seen -them at parting--her hands on the child's shoulders, stooped in slight -dejection, yet radiating faith and trust. - -Lying down again, he lay, hands clasped under his head, gazing up at the -fire of stars, while his mind traveled back to the _rancho_, lived over -and over again the slow, sweet hours of last night. Below, an undertone -to the roar of the speeding train, he now caught the hum of talk. But he -took no heed--even when it ceased. He dreamed on till a hand shook his -foot. - -"Aren't you coming down to bed?" - -"No; I reckon I'll lay out here. It's cooler." He did not acknowledge to -himself his fear of sniffing the spirituous odors. - -"All right, only don't roll off." The correspondent paused on his way -back to the ladder. "Say! did your friend mean what he said? Or was it -just talk?" - -When Bull answered with a sketch of Benson's violent temper, illustrated -by a few instances, the correspondent shook his head. "Well, don't let -him see Valles alone." Going down the ladder, he called back, "If you -should change your mind about the drink, you'll find the jug on the -table." - -Instantly it materialized in Bull's vision, a round stone jug and -glasses, as solid and real as though it stood within the reach of his -hand. Nor could he shut out the vision, as he had the odor, by burying -his face. With the cars swinging and swaying through the night, shut -out, it stood forth clearer than ever. He saw himself snatching out the -cork; felt the burning liquid coursing down his throat. - -"My God! why did I come? I'll never be able to stan' it!" - -The thought of the temptation, ever present, growing more powerful -through the coming days, gaining in strength while he grew weaker, -brought out of him a cry of dismay: "I'll never be able to stan' it!" -Then, very quickly, "I'll have to! If I don't--then I'm no fit man for -her!" - -The thought brought her face again in all its sweet wholesomeness. -Through the warm dusk, as it were beside him, he saw her hand fluttering -like a homing dove into his. He felt it lifting, raising him above his -temptation. The memory of its soft pressures strengthened and comforted. -Presently his fingers relaxed their convulsive grip on the -running-board. Exhausted, he fell asleep. - - - - -XXVIII: A "REQUISITION" - - -Slipping in over the patio wall, a golden sunbeam struck behind where -Gordon sat writing and flooded the _portales_ with topaz lights. From -the kitchen came the soft spat, spat of _tortillas_ in the course of -shapement between Teresa's palms, competing splash and flop of Maria's -cloth as she washed off the brown-tiled floor. No other sound disturbed -the morning freshness, for Gordon had risen early to get off a letter -with Lovell, who had dropped in last night on his way to El Paso to -attend Phoebe's wedding. - -So engrossed was he that a gentle agitation of the sheet which hung -across Lee's bedroom doorway on the gallery above passed unnoticed. The -rail hid from his view the small, bare feet, but he missed a glimpse of -white shoulder, flash of brown eyes under her hair's bright tousle, -round, red mouth opened in a yawn before, seeing him, she hastily -dropped the sheet. He did not see her even when she came out in kimono -and slippers and soft-footed it down the stone stairs at his back. -Though, sitting up on her heels, Maria looked on smiling, Gordon's first -notice came from the soft palms that slipped over his eyes. - -With loose treachery the kimono sleeves had slipped back and he could -feel the soft coolness of her forearms on his neck and cheeks; wherefore -it is not to be wondered at that he found difficulty in guessing whom -she might be. Jake, Sliver, Maria, Teresa, Lovell, the _ancianos_, he -was enumerating by name all the women, children, cats, and dogs of the -_hacienda_ when she cut him off. - -"Your stupidity is suspicious, sir. But it punishes itself. If you had -guessed right I might have given you a--" - -He took it--in triplicate, then pulled her down on his knee. "To my -father and mother," he replied to her question. "I thought it was about -time I dropped them a line--haven't written home since I came down." - -"What?" She uttered a small shocked scream. "You've let them suffer all -this time in suspense and alarm?" - -He looked up in innocent surprise. "Why should _they_ suffer? I didn't." - -_He hadn't?_ Her hands went up, appealing to the wide heavens against -such utter lack of imagination--but dropped again quickly, owing to a -second base treachery on the part of the sleeves. - -"Oh, you men! What fools women are ever to bother about you. _You_ -didn't suffer? _Oooooh!_" She pulled his ear till he yelled. "If you -ever dare to treat me like that!" - -"That would be impossible, for you see we shall always be together." - -After he had placed the customary seals on this affidavit of intent, she -asked: "But why this sudden plunge into correspondence--after such long -abstinence?" - -"To inform them," he replied, with great dignity, "of a certain -momentous change impending in my condition." - -"Oh, you are telling them about--_me_? May I see what you have written?" - -She could! And did! With one arm around his neck, heads so close that -his face was hidden in an aura of flying hair, she began. As her eyes -passed along the lines, her smooth cheek came harder and harder against -his. Her clasp on his neck tightened until, just before she sat up, it -had evolved into a bear hug. - -"Oh, what a liar they will think you!" - -"To guard against that, I want you to let me have the photo in the -silver frame on your writing-table. Seeing's believing." - -Of course she declared it "wasn't a bit like her" and the rest of it. -Nevertheless, she brought it and, having resumed her perch on his knee, -picked out the bad points and dwelt thereon while her eyes appealed for -the contradiction which he voluminously furnished. While he severally -and _in toto_ denied her scathing indictments and substituted therefor -panegyrics, she glowed radiantly and finally gave consent. - -"Only you are so blind. They'll hate me when they see it." - -"Trust dad for that!" he laughed. "He still has a soft spot for a pretty -damsel. When he sees this--well, he'll go straight out and buy a fatted -calf." - -"But your mother and sister? They'll never forgive me for taking you -from that other girl." - -"Wrong again! They weren't a bit anxious about it. It was all my -father--with his nonsense about rounding out fortunes. They'll love you -as much as I--no, that's impossible! But they'll love you, all right." - -A little thoughtful gleam now explained itself. "That other girl? You -never told me about her. Did you ever--kiss her?" - -"Lots of times." Laughing, he held her as she tried to break away. "At -parties, when I was a kid--and when we played 'post-office' and sich." - -"Never since you grew up?" - -"Never." - -"Oh, well," she sighed, "I suppose I'll have to forgive you since you -were so very small, and it's such a long time ago I'll really have -to--make up." - -Some of the arrears were paid right then. In fact, it was not until she -had demurred at paying all that he tapped the letter. "And now--what -about the date? Shall I tell that we will be married by the time they -receive it?" - -Her hair flew in a bright cloud under her vigorous shake. "Such -impatience! Aren't you happy?" - -"Happy?" His voice rang with sincerity. "Happier than I ever thought -possible, but--" - -"But--?" - -"I want to be happier still." - -He meant and thought it. But she with her woman's intuition knew this, -their love time, for what it was--the flowerage of their lives. Later -would come the ripe fruit--content mixed with the joys and sorrows that -form the substance of life; but then this hour would have passed -forever. Like all women, with whom love is always the great end, she -would have drained its last sweet essence. But like all women, she was -not at all displeased by his impatience. Presently she yielded to it. - -"After--after Bull comes home." - -In the course of the argument she had coiled up on his knees, and the -shy consent issued from the ambush of hair that hid her profile. Wrapped -in his arms, soft and warm, she lay in blissful content for some time -before he spoke. - -"If Bull were here now, we could have gone up with Lovell and have made -it a double marriage. Why, what's the matter?" - -She had sat up with a little shiver. "Oh no! I could never be happy in -one of those great hotels, huge human warrens!" Coiling up again, she -allowed him a peep into her girlish dreamings. "I never saw him, he who -was to be my all. His face was always dim, indefinite, as a bright moon -behind a cloud, but he felt--like you. In my visions he always took me -into the wilds--the hills, woods, canons, and it is there we must go. - -"It would be lovely if we could have taken horses and a pack-mule and -gone down the length of the Sierra Madres--at first alone, later -traveling with the arrieros up the mule trails to the snow-line, then -down on the other side through giant canons. We should have seen only -the simple folk of the country. But the revolution has made that -impossible. But this we can do--go to the priest and jefe of San Carlos, -who are both old friends of my father's, to be married, then ride -straight out to the mountain pasture and keep house there all by -ourselves till--till we feel like coming home. I will cook while you -look after the horses, and we can play that we are simple _peones_ and -be--oh, _so_ happy!" - -Nothing could have appealed to him more strongly. It was almost as good -as a Java forest! He wondered at himself. "How perfectly lovely! Why -didn't I think of that myself?" - -"You would have, in time. Oh!" She sprang from his knee at a stir and -tinkle of water. "Mr. Lovell is up. I must shoot up-stairs and dress." - -"You'll go out with me to-day?" he called after her. - -"No." She bent down over the rail to answer. "I promised Jake to go with -him to Canon del Norte to look at the colts." - -"Twice with him, twice with Sliver, and only once with me?" he -protested. "'Tisn't fair." - -But all that he gained was a little soft laugh that came floating out -from behind the sheet. - - -From his third of the wide circle which he, Jake, and Sliver now -described about the _hacienda_, Gordon came in at sundown to the rise -from which he and the widow had looked down on Los Arboles. It had -become his daily habit to pause there and look for Lee returning with -Sliver or Jake--and to-night he saw all three, small dots on the crests -of great earth waves--then to sit and muse while the declining sun -washed the wide world with its resplendence. - -As on that other evening, the hacienda lay with its walls, painted -adobes, _patio_, and compound aglow and plumed with soft smoke. As then, -the plains lay, an undulating carpet of crimson and violet away to the -burning hills. But--in place of soft woman voices, laughter low and -wild--there came floating up to him a frightened murmur broken by a cry. - -"Beast! she is but a child!" - -Startled, he looked more closely and now saw, first; half a dozen horses -standing with trailing bridles in the center of the compound; then as a -flash of brass caught the sunlight, their riders straggling among the -adobes. - -"Raiders!" he thought, then noting their khaki, he changed it to, -"_Revueltosos!_" - -A glance north and south would have shown him the others coming in at a -fast lope. But at the cry, thrilling in its human anguish, wild in its -panic, he was seized with excitement blind and savage as the blood fear -which turns a band of peaceful cattle into a snorting, bellowing herd. -Digging in his spurs, he shot down the slope, in through the back -compound gate just as a woman came staggering back through the doorway -of the nearest adobe, felled by a blow on the mouth. - -From within issued a wild, hysterical sobbing. At first Gordon's sight, -blinded by the bright sun, showed him only a convulsive movement in the -half-gloom, but as they swung back into the light of the doorway he saw -a slim brown girl struggling in the arms of a _revueltoso_. The elder -sister of his little playmate, she herself was but a child, but this -helped her no more than her heartbroken sobbing. - -"Senor! Senor! Pity of Mary!" - -At sight of the girl a cold shiver went down Gordon's spine. Blind, -breathless, choking, conscious only of a savage impulse to rend and -tear, he rushed in, tore the girl out of the man's arms, and threw him -violently against the wall. - -So savage was the impulse he had never thought to use a weapon till the -fellow reached for his long gun. Then, suddenly aware of death looming -imminent there in the half-gloom, he grabbed his automatic and fired, -aiming with the natural intuitive precision with which one points a -finger. He felt the rush of a body past him through the smoke. Then, -stepping to the door, he saw the man run a few steps, fall, and roll -over. - -Suddenly aware that he, Gordon Nevil, had killed a man, intensely -surprised at his lack of emotion, commonplace acceptance of the fact, he -stood with the smoking pistol in hand until, with a sudden rush, the -mother pushed him back in, then slammed and barred the door behind them. - -The next moment came a scurry of feet, and the door quivered under a -heavy shove. But it was not the varnished leaf of civilization, designed -to keep out conversation. Barred top and bottom and three inches thick, -it withstood a violent hammering. - -The instant she was released the girl had dived like a scared rabbit -under the canvas cot in the far corner and lay there, still as a mouse. -But, picking up the knife which the dead man had wrenched from her hand, -the dark mother ranged herself alongside Gordon. Though he understood -very little of her whispered Spanish, the gleaming intelligence of the -burning eyes, eloquent gestures, carried her meaning. - -"They say to bring fire and burn down the door." Her quick motion -simulated the lighting of a match, followed by the upleap of flame. -Whispering: "Tira! senor, tira! Shoot! Shoot!" she pointed at the -window. - -It was merely a square hole, flush with the thick wall on the outside, -and barred with heavy oaken staves, and the _revueltosos_ were hugging -the wall. Nevertheless, with a quick thrust of his weapon between the -bars Gordon fired two shots along the wall. Though the bullets flew at -random, there followed a quick scurry of feet. - -Watching from one side of the window, Gordon now saw the men working, in -swift rushes, around the corrals to the stables, from behind which they -could command his window. Indeed, he had no more than moved back -before--zip, plug! zip, plug! zip, plug! the bullets began to stream in -through the window and plump in the back wall. - -Presently, with a sharp, splitting ping! one pierced the door just above -the woman's shoulder. Reaching hastily, Gordon pulled her close against -him; then, standing against the thick wall between the door and window, -they waited--in deadly silence, for the fire had suddenly stopped. So -still it was, he could distinctly hear the woman's excited breathing and -an occasional sob under the bed. - -"Tempting me to look out," he read the silence. - -But he was wrong. A minute thereafter came a soft patter of nude feet -and the voice of Maria, the little _criada_, called through the bars: - -"It ess good now, senor, for you to come. Don Jake say for you help with -those evil ones." - -The instant he stepped outside the situation explained itself. Warned, -first by the firing, then by women who came running out to meet them, -"Don" Jake and Sliver had quietly made their dispositions. At the back -gate Sliver and two _ancianos_ now stood with leveled rifles. Two more -poked deadly snouts over the low _patio_ wall, Lee and Jake behind them. -And now they had leadership the women were swarming like brown hornets -out of the adobes, brandishing knives, cleavers, _machetes_, a -hysterical, dangerous mob. - -In accordance with their outlaw tactics, Jake and Sliver had both aimed -at the leader, and, cut off from escape, with still another enemy behind -him, he had taken the hint. Arms reversed, rifle muzzle resting on the -ground, he stood with his four companions. To give them their due, they -showed no fear. Half or whole bandit, ugly, black-browed, one of them -villainously pock-marked, the others with unhealthy erupted skins, they -rolled cigarettes while urging the excited women to greater frenzy with -evil jokes. - -"Drive back those women!" Jake called the moment Gordon appeared. "Then -bring the captain, or colonel, or general, whichever is what, over -here." - -Nodding in reply to Gordon's gesture, the leader followed him across the -compound. Of medium height, well formed, features aquiline and cleanly -cut, he was a perfect specimen of that tailor-made, detestably handsome -Mexican middle-class type. Conceit, insufferable vanity, bristled at the -ends of his curved mustache. How it could be associated with such -reckless hardihood as he now displayed must remain one of Nature's -mysteries, for, entering the patio, he took a seat under the portales -and addressed Jake with an authoritative air: - -"Now, senor, will you please explain why you have attacked a command of -General Valles?" - -"Yes, if you will explain, on your part, why a command of General Valles -attacked my people!" - -It was Lee that answered. She was wearing her man's riding-clothes, and -the man's surprise when she spoke told that he had taken her for a boy. -Now, with exaggerated courtesy that was far more offensive than his -first hardy insolence, he sprang up and offered her his chair. - -"I did not know"--his bold glance wandered over her costume--"you will -pardon me, senorita?" - -Though she flushed, Lee returned the stare. It was not the first time -that revolutionists had come with "requisitions" to Los Arboles. She -answered from experience. - -"You have a commission from General Valles?" - -He had. It ran in the usual form, setting forth in grandiose language -that the necessities of the revolution demanded all good citizens to -contribute their uttermost to the cause, authorizing the bearer, _el -capitan_ Santos, to seize and expropriate such goods, cattle, horses, or -other chattels according to his judgment, and to settle therefor with -his note of hand, payable after the revolution; signed in Valles's own -illiterate, crabbed hand and attested with a prodigious seal. - -Lee handed it back. "This seems to be in legal form. That being the -case"--she returned to the attack with a directness that drew from Jake -an appreciative nod "perhaps you will now answer why you attacked my -people!" - -"I know of no attack except"--the straight brows knit over a black flash -at Gordon--"when this man killed one of my men." - -Already Lee had gained the details from the women. She replied at once: -"He shot in self-defense--to save one of my girls." - -"Santa Maria!" His mustache drew up in a cynical grin. "What -foolishness! As though a good soldier should be shot because he ruffled -a dove. You Americanos take these _peonas_ too seriously, fill them with -ideas above their station. On our haciendas they are proud to gain a -soldado for a sweetheart." - -Could the thoughts of, say, Gordon, Jake, and Sliver have been examined -just then they would have shown, respectively, an intense desire on -Gordon's part to break the officer in two across his knee; a cool -calculation by Jake as to the possibility of "getting away with it" -should they find it necessary to kill the entire command. Sliver, still -holding a bead on the file of men, from his gaze, was ardently wondering -if he could send one bullet through all four heads. - -If the thoughts of the _peonas_--now gathered in a murmuring, -gesticulating mob that showed principally as glistening eyeballs rolling -like foam in a sea of brown faces along the wall--a composite of their -thought would have shown a mad passion to rend and maim, mutilate and -torture, bred of their natural savagery aggravated by centuries of -mistreatment under Spanish-Mexican rule. Out of which chaos of thought -and passion, vibrant and sweet with the strength and truth of a fine -nature aroused by base wrong, came Lee's voice: - -"_You_ say that? _You_, a follower of a man who was once himself a -_peon_, who boasts that his is the _peones'_ cause? _You_, his -representative, sneer because we treat like human beings these poor -creatures? If you _do_ represent him, then God help us, for we have -little but violence to expect from your cause." - -It was a fine chord, strongly struck, should have set in vibration the -strings of sympathy in any normal human being. Though he caught but -little of the Spanish, Gordon felt and glowed responsively. It aroused -even Jake, the cold and crafty, born hater of the _peon_ in all his -ways, to mutter: "You bet! they hain't got nothing coming from him!" But -in the nature of the Mexican, warped and blackened forever both by -training and by the vicissitudes of bandit war, it aroused only -surprise. Though his eye lit up, it was only in secret appreciation of -her beauty. It was to ingratiate himself, personally, in her favor that, -with a sudden reversal, he ran off with despicable glibness the -shibboleths of his "Cause." Surely they were fighting for the _peon_; to -obtain his rights and restore the public lands alienated by the -_hacendados_. - -"If my hombre did as you say," he concluded, "he earned his death. My -general would be the first to applaud it." With a gesture that dismissed -the killing lightly, as if it were that of a fly, he added: "So let us -say no more of that. My wish is to serve _you_!" - -Though again he did not understand the words, the grin that accompanied -them in its offensive mixture of conceit and admiration sent the angry -blood flooding Gordon's face. He was standing behind Lee, and, hearing -his quick breath, she put back her hand in a restraining gesture. - -"Leave him to me," she whispered. Then, looking the other straight in -the eye, she gave him his answer. "You wish to serve me? Very well, -senor, you may do so very easily--by removing yourself and your men off -my place." - -For a moment he looked at her, the offensive grin wiped out by surprise. -In turn, surprise gave way to sudden viciousness. "Si, senorita--after -you have produced two hundred horses, which is your share of the new -levy for equipment and supplies. Also"--another black flash went to -Gordon--"it will be my duty to take this man to my general." - -"Perhaps I had better go," Gordon whispered. "It may save you--" - -Lee cut him off without looking around. "And shoot him the moment you -get him outside the gates?" She quoted the Mexican law of "The escape." -"No, senor, I will be responsible for his safe-keeping and deliver him -with my own hands at your general's call." She added, after a -significant pause, "Along with the evidence of your own neglect in -permitting your men to attack my people." - -For a moment he looked nonplussed. Now and then, for the sake of -effect--especially upon meddlesome consuls--it was the fashion in the -revolutionary armies to shoot a few men for just such offenses; and one -could never be certain where the next lightning might strike. He -blinked, tried to pass it with a shrug; but suppressed fury showed -through his vicious look. - -"Very well, senorita, the matter shall be left to my general. But the -horses. These I must have at once." - -"Well, think you've got 'em, an' let it go at that!" - -While Jake muttered behind her, Lee stood thinking. Then out of her -meditation flashed a sharp question: "Were you at the hacienda of the -senor Benson last week?" - -The man's dark brows rose. "No, senorita. If there was a requisition -served there it must have been by el coronel Lopez." - -"When did you leave the cuartel general?" - -"Ten days ago. We have been working among the haciendas on the other -side of the railroad. But what difference does it make--" - -"A great deal." She gave a little nod. "Since you left headquarters the -senor Benson, with my manager, the senor Perrin, has gone with an offer -of all our horses on favorable terms to General Valles. So that matter -may also be left with him." - -"Which lets you out!" Jake, who had been fuming all this time in the -background, now burst out. "Now git! That's what I said--an' take your -dead hombre along." - -From his cold, bleak face, so dangerous in its vitriolic quiet, the -man's glance passed to Gordon, whose hand was on his gun, then to the -peonas who were now crowding the _patio_ gates. Everywhere his glance -fell amid a small sea of hot, brown faces flecked with a scum of -glittering, dangerous eyes. Accustomed to be met always with fawning -fear, defiance was a new experience, not easily assimilated. As his -glance returned to Jake and he felt the danger that loomed imminent -behind his cold truculence, the instinct of defiance wilted. With a -shrug he passed out into the compound through the lane the _peonas_ -opened. - -While he was assembling his command Jake leaned casually across the -_patio_ wall, his rifle in the hollow of his arm, beside him Lee and -Gordon, the latter now with a rifle. At the back gate Sliver and his -_ancianos_ still stood, wary and watchful. Wherefore, in spite of secret -mutterings, the intruders made quick business of it. - -As, with the dead man tied in his saddle and leading the horse, they -passed out under the _patio_ arch, the leader paused, bowed ironically, -then followed his men. - -"Saddle a fresh horse an' go after them," Jake ordered, when Sliver came -up. "Don't let 'em see you, but keep them in sight. After this we'll -have to keep one man circling the hills while the _ancianos_ keep watch -an' watch at the gates." - -With Lee, Gordon had moved out to the stage and stood watching the men -ride away. "I am sorry to have brought this on you," he said, in low -tones. In his ignorance of Mexican habits and treachery, he added, -"Perhaps it would have been better if I had gone with him." - -A hasty glance through the arch showed Sliver on his way to the stables. -Jake was shooing the _peonas_ back to their quarters with much language -and little ceremony. There was no one to see when, with a quick -movement, she threw one arm around his neck, pulled down his head, and -planted a swift kiss on his cheek. - -"I don't want to be widowed--before I'm married." - -At midnight Sliver brought in his report. "They've gone on to El Sol. -After dark I drew up so close that I almost ran into 'em when they -stopped suddenly at the other side of a ridge. Luckily my horse stood -quiet an' the air was so still I heard every word of their wrangling. -The captain he was fer coming back, but the others wouldn't hear of it. - -"'The damned gringos shoot straight,' I heard one of 'em say. 'Already -have they killed one of us, an' now they be ready. Also the horses are -tired an' we hungry. Let us go forward to Hacienda El Sol.' Then, after -some jawing, they moved on." - -"An' they won't come back," Jake commented on the report. "Not so long -as they kin find something that looks easier." - -Which was only half of the truth! - - - - -XXIX: TEMPTATION - - -Bull's eyes opened at dawn on a cloudless sky that lay like an inverted -pink bowl over desert so level and vast that the customary bordering -mountains showed only blue tips up above the horizon. He had been half -conscious of the cessation of movement during the night. Now silence, -the cool quiet of dawn, lay over the hot and drowsy earth. - -Sitting up, he saw on each side the brown adobe skirts of a desert town -enwrapping in their squalid embrace miles of troop-trains which stood in -the yards twelve deep and blocked the main line. Twenty thousand -_revueltosos_, at least, heaped the roofs. As yet the men lay huddled in -their bright serapes. But already the women were astir, lighting the -scene with a flash of brilliant skirts. From rude hearths built of earth -within a circle of stones a myriad thin, violet columns uprose and hung -straight as strings in the crystal air. - -"'Morning, Diogenes!" The correspondent's cheerful face poked up from -under the edge of the car. "Some picturesque, heigh? Who'd think, to -look at them sleeping so peacefully, that they were bent on the -destruction of another outfit like this less than ten miles away? But -that's your Mexican. With us war is a stern necessity to be shoved to a -quick conclusion. With him it is a pleasure. Day is to fight in, night -for sleep, noon for siesta, and he arranges his warfare accordingly. A -night attack would be considered discourteous; not at all according to -the Mexican Hoyle. At noon they quit, on the advanced posts, even visit -each other and exchange gossip and cigarettes. Whereafter, with a -cheerful, 'Adios, senor, it is time to begin fighting!' they return to -their respective lines and go to it again. A cheerful people in the -midst of their dirt and disorder." He added, thoughtfully, "I never see -them like this without thinking of them as a band of careless children -shrieking with laughter over the destruction they are wreaking with the -powerful weapons we placed in their hands." - -"Picturesque? Yes," he went on, from a pause. "But it's mighty hard on -the common people. Look at that!" - -He was pointing at a shriveled old woman who, with bony fingers, was -clawing the horse manure that had been pitched out of a car. - -"She's picking out the undigested corn to grind for her tortillas. Man!" -Eyes flashing to the inspiration, he ran on in a flush: "If our wise men -in Washington could only see that! Do you know what these armies are -doing? Riding the brood mares, eating the seed corn! _The seed corn and -the brood mares!_ You know what that means--famine! If I were a poet I'd -take her, that old hag scratching her living from the offal of Valles's -war horses--I'd take her for the symbol of Mexico--Mexico bleeding and -bludgeoned, ravished, outraged, oppressed. - -"It was hard to swallow, what your friend said last night, but it's -true. While the Washingtonians prate of principles, this country is fast -returning to its original condition of nomadic tribes warring -perpetually upon one another. Already--oh!" He descended to a homely but -vital conclusion. "They make me sick. God send us a _man_! A man with -sympathy and insight; understanding of this people's failings and -necessities. God send us another Lincoln!" - -"You bet it's hell!" In spite of the profanity Bull's laconic comment -was reverent in its essence as the most profound "Amen!" - -With a shrug Naylor threw off his earnestness; became again his cheerful -self. "I hear the Chinaman stirring. Come on down to breakfast." - -Stepping from the ladder, Bull's glance went, in spite of himself, to -the table. It was still there, just as he had pictured it, a squat stone -jug with glasses; and though, seating himself on a locker, he turned his -back, he was still acutely conscious of its presence. He did not look -when the Chinaman carried it back into the kitchen. But he knew, and his -sigh expressed more than relief. Moreover, both while he was eating and -when, later, he walked with Benson and the correspondents into the town, -it went with him, occupied always a corner of his mind. - -From the adobe outskirts the soldiers and their women were moving in -dirty streams of khaki and _peon mantas_ splashed with the flash of -brass, vivid reds, violets, and blues of soiled calico skirts, the loot -of a hundred towns. From a hundred painted streets the streams poured -into the plaza, the heart of the town, there to move and mass and melt -and mass again, a sweating, sweltering jam of brown humanity topped with -a scum of evil eyes, dark, unhealthy faces. In dribbles and trickles its -evil tide had flowed in from all over the land, and Benson's remark as -they came from a side street into the plaza was fully justified: - -"If you could just sink it for half a day a mile under the sea, this -would be a safer, cleaner land." - -Overpowering the stenches natural to a desert town, the sickening sweet -odor of carrion hung thick in the air. - -"More Mexican efficiency," the dean shrugged. "After the last scrap out -here in the hills they made a stab at burning the bodies. They'd pile -twenty or thirty in a heap, pour a bottle of kerosene over it, light the -soaked clothing, then walk off swelling with the consciousness of -hygienic duty well performed. Now when the wind blows this way--it's -hard on a white man, though the Mexicans don't seem to mind. Appeals to -the natural vulture in them, I suppose." - -While they stood watching before crossing to the shaded promenade, the -crowd opened behind them to permit the passage of a dozen men under -guard. All Spaniards, they ranged in age from the threescore and ten -years of a hawk-nosed old man to the twelve of his grandson. But one -thing they had in common, the dull, blue hue of mortal fear. In the -extremity of his terror the boy repeatedly stumbled and fell--to be -picked up and prodded on by a rifle-barrel. Heads hanging, fearful, and -hopeless, they shuffled through the crowd. - -"Ole, Enrico!" As they came opposite, Bull's friend hailed the officer -in command. - -After walking a few feet with him, he came back. "They're Spanish -storekeepers on the way to 'the place designated,' which is a -revolutionary euphemism for being shot. 'The place' is the cemetery -where they will be stood up against the wall. A nice little Mexican -refinement, eh, making a man's legs carry him to his own funeral? Their -crime? Respectability, most likely. They have either dallied in -contributing to the 'Cause,' been caught hiding their goods, or perhaps -have unreasonably refused some officer access to their daughters' beds. -Even in this country"--he spoke with bitter irony--"there are still men -to be found who draw the line at that. Or it may be simply that they are -Spanish. God knows, it's enough. Valles never forgets that he is a -_peon_. After the lapse of centuries he is visiting on their children's -children the violences offered by the Spanish conquerors to his Aztec -forebears. It may be poetic justice. A philosopher might find some -justification for it--if it were only a cause and effect. But"--his -pitying glance followed the stumbling boy--"it is rotten hard to watch." - -It was only the beginning of a series of sights and events that, while -running the gamut from acute tragedy to grim humor, revealed in flashing -glimpses the bandit tyrannies that were masquerading as government. As -the Spaniards disappeared, there came marching in their wake a group of -Carranzista prisoners, mostly women, captured and brought in from an -interior town. As they filed through the jeering crowd, a _revueltoso_ -would reach and snatch away a woman that pleased him without a protest -from the guards. Always she raised an outcry. But always she ceased at -the flash of a knife or as a heavy fist closed her mouth. Whereafter, -quietly sobbing, she would be dragged away by the hair or hand. - -"That isn't quite so bad." The correspondent nodded at one struggling -desperately with her captor. "She'll soon give in and dry her tears. In -one battle we took over five hundred women prisoners, and within -twenty-four hours they had all settled down to housekeeping with -Valles's soldiers. Four years of war whose fluctuations are recorded by -a change of husbands is bound to breed philosophy. For their kind it -doesn't matter so much. They have ceased to care. But the -others--daughters of the upper classes, reared in luxury, refined, many -of them educated in Europe--well, during the sack of Durango forty girls -of the upper classes committed suicide." - -After crossing the plaza, Benson and Bull left the correspondents and -turned down a side street where stood the British consulate. An old -Spanish mansion, with a great _patio_ and interior garden, its high -walls shut out even the murmur of the swarming humanity without. The -glass doors of the office opened upon a wide, tiled veranda beyond which -flowery paths ran under great trees that let down the brilliant sun -blaze in a greenish rain of light. Its peace and beauty accentuated by -contrast the drama of human misery that was in course in its quiet -demesne. - -As they sat waiting for the consul, they saw in the garden two nuns in -earnest conversation with an old, black-robed priest. - -"More victims of the 'Cause.'" After he had greeted them, the consul, a -bluff Englishman, nodded toward the group. "Valles has robbed churches, -seized their lands, shot the priests. He crowns it with--this. Last -spring he quartered one of his regiments in the nunnery of the order to -which these poor women belong. Now they are about to become mothers, and -came here to-day to ask the priest--who is himself a refugee whom I -saved from a mob that was stoning him to death outside--to ask -permission for themselves and others to end their desecration by -suicide. One would think that such experiences would kill in any human -being the belief in a righteous God. But the old fellow is made of good -stuff. Sticks right to his guns." - -Through the open doorway, in confirmation, the voice of the priest came -just then out of the quiet garden. Old and quavery it was with the -burden of his sorrow and years, yet firm in the faith: "The life He gave -none but He may take away. Why this terrible thing has befallen it is -not for us to say. His purposes are closed in mystery, beyond our sight. -It may be that we had grown proud; were swollen with self-righteousness; -puffed up with the vanity of good works. Or it may be your sacrifice was -necessary to scandalize the world of good people and bring these wicked -ones to their proper end? It may be"--he paused, shaking his old head, -tears coursing down his furrowed cheeks--"but it is not for us to -attempt answer when He chooses to put our faith to the test. I have -wished that He had seen fit to take me as I lay there under the stones -of the mob. But that was impious, a wicked thought. We can only wait -till His brightness pierces the veil of our mortal vision." - -Poor brides of Christ! condemned to bear into that wicked world the -children of furious lust! Yet, under their bitter sorrow, the leaven of -mother love had been at work. The younger, a sweet-faced girl of twenty -four or five, raised her pale, olive face. "And may we love them, our -babes, when they come?" - -The humanity set its reflection in the smile that overflowed the -wrinkled face with sympathy and understanding. "God is love, Sisters. He -would not wish otherwise." - -In their hope and consolation their quick looks at one another were -wonderfully revealing. Bending, they took his blessing, and walked -slowly away down the garden while he went back in the house. - -Bull had looked and listened with sympathy so acute as to be almost -pain. And yet--even while his gaze followed the nuns slowly down the -garden, he was conscious of a tray of liquors and glasses that stood on -a small side-table. On their way they had passed _cantina_ after -cantina, all thronged with half-drunken _revueltosos_, all exhaling a -thick reek of spirits that filled his thirsty nostrils, inflamed the -drink desire. Now, after refusing the consul's invitation, he walked out -on the veranda, and not till the bottles were recorked did he return in -time to hear the consul's conclusion on Benson's business. - -"As you say, he needs the horses, never more badly, but, again, he was -never in worse humor than he has been since his defeat. It wouldn't help -any for me to go with you, for I've been fighting him on other accounts -all this week. You know him, and I will provide you with a letter that -will secure your admittance." - -On the way back Bull ran again the gantlet of the _cantinas_. With -invisible hands they reached out to throttle his resolution. So powerful -was the temptation, he walked like a man in a dream, blind to externals; -seeing, hearing nothing till they brought up on the edge of the crowd -that blocked always the gates of Valles's headquarters--simple _peones_ -who waited patiently through the long, hot hours on the chance of -obtaining a glimpse of their hero, a _peon_ like themselves who had -abased the great _hacendados_, their taskmasters, confiscated their -lands, beaten their generals, trampled their pride in the dust. Though -he shouldered a path through for himself and Benson, he scarcely saw -them; had only a dim vision of a guard in the patio, of officers coming -and going up a wide stone stairway. Not till they were met by a -secretary, seated in an anteroom, and Benson spoke, did he awaken to -what was going on. - -"That's 'Matador' Fero, Valles's killer." Benson nudged him as a man -looked in through the open double doors of the next room and gave them a -suspicious stare. "He shot two hundred Federal prisoners, one afternoon, -in files of five, one bullet to a file, trying out a new high-power -rifle. Looks it, doesn't he?" - -He did. The hulking figure, gross jaw and mouth, small eyes, black, -piercing, cold as ice, all bespoke cruelty that was accentuated by his -colorless olive skin. Strolling back to his post behind Valles, whom -they could see sitting at a desk in the next room, he stood there -closely watching, both the American correspondents who were ranged -before the desk, and also the _revueltoso_ officers who lounged on the -window balconies. Not a hand stirred, foot moved, without his notice. - -Fierce beast that the "Matador" was, Bull's keen knowledge of men, -developed by years of hazard to an instinct, still set him down as less -dangerous than his master. In the latter a towering forehead, massive -upper head, indicated genius of the highest constructive order. But his -thick lips, repulsive mouth, great amber eyes that were never at rest, -sent always their sharp, suspicious glances darting hither and thither, -told why it had been perverted to destructive ends; proclaimed the -bandit _peon_, military dictator. He had stopped speaking when they -entered. Now he began again, and as he talked the heel of his hand -nervously tapped the table. Now and then, with a gush of savage feeling, -it would rise and fall with a bang. - -"You may tell your papers, senores, the reverse of the other day was -sustained by one of my generals. But to-morrow--you have seen my -reinforcements, twenty thousand brought down from Chihuahua?--to-morrow -I shall command. We shall drive the Carranzistas like dust before a hot -wind. And you can tell them"--he observed a sinister pause--"you may -tell them that I am not pleased with the countenance your government is -now giving the Carranzistas. So far I have been careful of American -lives and property in the country I control, but if your government -allies itself with my enemies--" His big fist struck the table with -force that emphasized the threatening flash of the darting eyes. - -Yet, pulsing with vindictive anger, the exhibition paled by contrast -with his furious attack on one of his own officers who came in as the -correspondents filed out. The fact that he had been wounded and had gone -on, alone, when his command refused to face a galling fire, made no -difference. Beast mouth stretched to a gorilla grin, every line of his -face writhing in an awful smile, Valles scored him with coarse insult -and seething invective while his hand toyed thirstily with the hilt of -his knife. - -Flushing and paling, the man stood with hanging head till an order -issued from the last furious burst. "Go, now, and shoot every tenth man -in your command. I will teach them that I am more to be feared than the -damned Carranzistas!" - -In the midst of it Bull nudged Benson. "Don't you allow we better leave -him cool for a while?" - -But the Englishman's obstinate jaw set hard. "I'm not afraid of him. -Besides"--the secretary stood again in the doorway--"it is too late." - -A curt nod marked Valles's recognition of Benson as they followed in. -Then, as his tigerish eyes took in Bull, they lit with quick -appreciation of his bulk, then went off again on their suspicious -questing. While Benson talked, he beat again a soft tattoo with the heel -of his hand; then, rising, he walked off into another room. - -The secretary followed, and through the closed door they caught the -harsh, throaty monotone. When it ceased the secretary came out. - -"My general says that all of your property is subject to requisition to -be paid for in legal currency issued by him as the chief of the -republican armies." - -"And he thinks we'll stand for that?" His eyes flashing under bent -brows, harsh face burning with anger, Benson stepped toward the door. -"I'll--" - -But as he moved the "Matador" stepped in between. Half a dozen lounging -officers, too, came hurrying from the balconies. - -"It would do no good, senor." The secretary's shoulders rose in a shrug. -"Wait a more favorable time." - -Benson stared down upon him, big fists clenched, face purple with -furious passion. Thinking he was about to strike, Bull put out his hand. -But, turning suddenly, Benson strode out of the room, throwing his -defiance back over his shoulder. - -"He can't bluff a British subject that way! He'll give me his answer -_himself_--and he'll give it _to-day_." - -As Bull followed out a hand touched his shoulder. Thinking it was the -secretary, he turned--then stood staring at the sentry on guard at the -door, who returned a sheepish grin. Though the face seemed familiar, he -did not recognize the man for one of the raiders Lee had saved from -hanging till he spoke. - -"Ah, senor, 'tis fine to see an old face. The senorita, she that saved -us from your just anger, she is well? Tell her that fine mercy was -defeated by the _revueltosos_ who took us from her servants. Ask if she -will in her great kindness have the general set us free that we may -return to our wives and babes in Las Bocas." - -In spite of his own stress, Bull could not but grin. "Was the jefe of -Las Bocas a better master than Valles?" - -"A master is always a master." The man shrugged. "But one's pais is -one's pais and the ninas, the flesh of one's body, blood of his blood, -cannot be forgotten. Thou wilt speak to her, senor?" - -The tear that trickled down his villainous face earned him a civil -answer. Though he knew the futility of it, Bull nodded. "Si, I will -speak." - -Below he found Benson shoving like an angry bull through the _peon_ -crowd. On its outskirts he turned and shook his fist at the building. - -"I'm going back to the consul--to tell him something that he'll take -better alone. Where shall I meet you?" - -"Here?" - -"No, I can't tell how long I may be. Make it after lunch at the car." - -Bull nodded. Then remembering the correspondent's warning, he called -after him, "I'd like to be there when you tackle him again." - -Nodding, Benson walked on. Left alone, Bull sat down on a bench in the -plaza. Already the drink desire was returned upon him. And as he sat -there, in the grip of his mortal weakness, three soldiers seated -themselves on the same bench and proceeded to pass a bottle of -_tequila_. - -Before he even saw it Bull's mutinous nostrils snuffed the odor. Looking -away, he tried to think, to recall the vision that strengthened and -cooled him in his hour of torture last night. But now, the stronger for -his long abstinence, that enormous desire inflamed his brain; enveloped -it in heated mists through which the pretty, wholesome faces loomed dim -and indefinite. And then-- - -After a curious glance up at the huge figure, the nearest soldier tapped -his arm. "You will drink with us, senor?" - -What it cost him to refuse and walk away! Men have gone down in history -as martyrs by the exercise of no more effort. But just as pressure -enough will snap a bone, as persistent fatigue will paralyze a muscle, -so the effort weakened his will, broke his resolution. Feeling curiously -weak, utterly exhausted, he stopped at the plaza corner and gazed at a -_cantina_ across the road. - -Even then he did not give in. Hands writhing behind his back, face one -purple suffusion, he circled and recircled the plaza half a dozen times -before he stopped at the same spot again. In that time desire has no -height he did not reach; passion no heat, hell no torture, he did not -endure. And while he stood watching the _cantina's_ roaring trade, -reluctant but conscious in his soul that the end was come, a hand -dropped with a hearty slap on his back. - -"Come on, Diogenes, you're just in time. We've discovered some beer, -good cold beer, down at the German Club. Counting the consul, there's -only two Dutchmen left in the town, but trust them to have their beer. -Don't waste time in astonishment. Come right along." - -In his mortal weakness Bull snatched at the straw. He could drink a -barrel of the thin Mexican stuff without knowing it--at least he felt he -could! But while, for an hour thereafter, they sat in a cool _patio_ -talking and sipping, the despised brew was still potent enough to loose -the mad rustler spirit that hearkened only to the voice of desire. - -When the correspondents left to file their despatches, he remained. - -"I'm waiting for Benson," he told them. "If you see him, tell him I'm -here." - -While they walked down the _patio_ and out through the bar into the -street, he sat nervously making rings with his beer-glass. Then, -trembling with eagerness, he called the waiter. - -"This stuff hasn't a kick in it. Bring me a bottle of whisky!" - - - - -XXX: THE OTHER HALF OF THE TRUTH - - -As they sat at breakfast Gordon's glance went repeatedly to Lee. Her -smile, soft and mischievous, told that she knew very well what was in -his mind, but she did not answer till the end of the meal. - -"I'm going to ride with Mr. Nevil to-day," she told Jake. - -Sliver's nod and grin outside expressed his opinion of the arrangement. -"It's a cinch," he chuckled. "'Cepting Lee Haskins and his Sal, I never -seen two folks more sot on each other." - -Jake evidenced a dry curiosity. "An' who in hell might they be?" - -"Folks I knew up in the Palo Verde country. They was stuck on each other -like two stamps at the end of a day's ride in a sweaty pocket; allus -that close up walkin', standin' or settin', you had to walk around 'em -twice to find the jine." - -"An' after they was married?" Jake questioned. - -Sliver scratched his head. "You-all mightn't believe it, but you c'd -have fired a charge of buckshot between 'em at long range without -hittin' either." - -Jake nodded. "I'd have allowed as much. But these ain't that kind. Did -you see how she deviled him all through breakfast? Well, she'll keep him -on aidge that-a-way all his life. He'll never get all at once; never -quite reach the end. They'll allus be something beyond." - -"Say!" Sliver looked at him in dumb wonder. "Fer an old bachelor you -know a heap. Where'd you learn it?" - -"Where any man learns it--from a woman." A shadow swept, for a moment, -the reckless face. "On'y--I didn't have sense enough to stay be my -teacher." - -Just then Gordon overtook them, but while helping them to saddle up--for -it was his day on guard--Sliver curiously watched Jake. When, moreover, -he mounted to the watch-tower above the gates and saw Lee and Gordon -ride away, the sight accentuated a new feeling, one of a vacancy in his -being which, so far, a long succession of fluffy, blondined ladies had -somehow failed to fill. - -Their strongly perfumed memory set his head wagging over that problem in -morals which has puzzled wiser heads. "Ain't Natur' the fickle jade, -a-setting a man to fall dead in love with one girl while he's still -terrible fond of two dozen? Why kedn't she a' b'en more single-minded?" - -His brooding over these inconsistencies was suddenly disrupted by a -flash of doubt, so pronounced as to be almost alarm. Lee and Gordon were -now silhouetted against the sky-line. They were, however, no longer at -correct riding distance. Eyes less keen than Sliver's could easily have -perceived they were holding hands. He drew the phenomenon to the -attention of Jake, who just then came riding from under the arch. - -"Say," he called down, "d'you allow it's all right for them two to go -off that-a-way by themselves?" - -Jake snorted. "Didn't she ride with you yesterday an' me the day afore?" - -"Yes, but she's our boss an'--well, they love each other a whole lot." - -"So that's what's biting you?" In one sentence Jake countered heavily on -the common view of things. "She kin ride with tough guys like you an' me -an' it's all right; but she mustn't go out with the man that loves her -more 'n anything on earth. Where's your sense?" - -Sliver feebly scratched his head in a vain effort to find it. Failing, -he made weak answer, "I was jest sorter thinking they orter, have a -chapperonny." Vanquished by Jake's disgusted snort, he withdrew and went -down to close the gates. - -Meanwhile Lee and Gordon held on their way. At the crest of the rise, -from where she and her father had overlooked the _hacienda_ on that last -fatal day, they reined in and looked back upon it lying like a huge -painted cup in the great gold saucer of the sun-scorched plains. As -then, the sweep of her hand took in the house, adobes, compound, giant -cottonwoods sweeping with the dry arroyo across the view, the range -rolling in bright billows to the far hills. - -Her cry was the same: "Oh, isn't it beautiful? Soon the rains will come -and turn everything green, but I like it best this way. Greens are to be -had anywhere, but these golds--that is Mexico." - -Stimulated by his responsive smile, just as she used to do with her -father, she began to dive into the past, relate the battles and sieges, -scandal and intrigue, recreate the vivid pageants of the old dons and -their savage brown retainers. If she had chosen the differential -calculus for her subject, he would have listened with pleasure to the -soft, eager voice. The lithe, graceful figure that gained so in ease and -grace of its flexures from her man's riding-clothes, the mobile face, -molten under the touch of emotion, would have illumined the heaviest -subject. But he was equally interested, plied her with questions when -she showed signs of stopping. - -"Oh, I'm so glad that you love it!" she sighed, happily. "It would have -been such a disappointment if you-- But that is so silly, because it -wouldn't have been you. Soon the rains will come, and in the long, dark -evenings after"--she went on with a little flourish--"I shall read you -stacks and stacks of the old letters and documents we found in an old -leather trunk. It will be lots of fun." - -Naturally they dipped into the future, building their own castles. Where -she left off, he began. "Wait till we get my old dad down here! A big -streak of romance crosscuts his business sense, and when he sees -this--well, he promised me a hundred thousand when I finally settled -down. After Uncle Sam steps in and puts an end to all this revolutionary -nonsense, we'll--" - -The reconstructed and beautiful Los Arboles that emerged from his -imaginings was inhabited by a contented peasantry, better paid, -healthier, and happier than the country had ever seen. What he forgot -she filled in till, from sheer lack of material, they came to a happy -pause. - -Business concluded and the Mexican millennium achieved, they turned to -their own pleasure. A certain Java forest was, of course, again lugged -in by the ears. She, however, did not appear to notice it was getting a -trifle shopworn, but enthused as brightly as though it were new goods -freshly displayed. And while they ran on, rebuilding their earthly -scheme of things according to their hearts' desire, the gods in -resentment of their presumption were forging the thunderbolts that were -to shatter it to bits. Unconscious of sharp eyes that were watching from -the heart of the chaparral thicket half a mile away, they presently -joined hands and rode on. - -At first the direction seemed to suit the watcher's purpose. After they -passed, he rode his horse out in the open and followed, keeping always -out of their sight. Even when, an hour later, Gordon circled toward the -mountains on his regular beat, the watcher followed. But when their -course began to bend to the south he laid on quirt and spurs and went -after them at a gallop. - -Turning at a call, Lee and Gordon saw him coming down a long slope, and, -as he drew nearer, she recognized the _mozo_ who had brought Ramon's -message from El Sol. - -"Que? Filomena?" - -As he answered, in rapid Spanish, sudden distress wiped out her -happiness. "Oh, Betty is ill!" she translated for Gordon. "Mary Mills -sent word to El Sol and asked them to send for me. Filomena can act as -my escort, so it won't be necessary for you--" She paused, anticipating -rebellion. - -It came. "Bull told me that you were not to ride alone. I wouldn't let -you, anyway." - -If she made a little face, she was still secretly pleased. "That's what -one gets for being a girl, but I suppose I'll have to put up with it." -Turning to the _mozo_, she gave him his orders in Spanish: "The senor -will go with me. You may ride on to Los Arboles and tell Don Sliver, the -gringo senor, where we have gone." - -Disconcertion showed through the man's _peon_ immobility. But with an -obsequious "Si, senorita!" he rode on, but stopped over the next rise, -dismounted, and crawled back to the crest on his belly. - -Lying there, he watched them riding in a direction that showed them to -be taking the short cut through the hills. Till they passed out of sight -he lay quietly. Then, after carefully clearing a patch of ground, he -built a small fire of the dry grass and twigs and covered it with the -succulent green leaves of a Spanish bayonet. - -Instantly there rose on the still air a dense smoke column. Till it -soared to its full height he waited. Then, alternately covering and -lifting his scrape from the fire, he sent a succession of great smoke -puffs rolling on high. Whereafter he stamped out the fire and, grinning, -mounted and rode away. - - -About that time Lee and Gordon were entering the ravine. A slight -embarrassment rose between them as they drew near the _fonda_. But in -place of Felicia's smooth, dark face the wrinkled, purblind visage of -old Antonio appeared at the bar window, where he was serving an -_arriero_ whose loaded mules cropped the lush grass along the stream. - -As they passed Lee looked quickly at Gordon. But meeting and reading her -glance, he laughed and raised his right hand in attestation. Disarmed, -she shook her finger, and the next minute their horses had scrambled -around the bend, past the spot whence she had looked down and seen the -kiss, into neutral territory. - -Half an hour put them at the head of the staircase from where, as on the -night they had brought home the raiders, they looked over spur and ridge -to the distant plains. Then it had all been washed in the crimson and -violet and gold of sunset. Now, beyond the black chaparral, that -undulated like a woman's mantle over the shoulders and breasts of the -hills, the plains lay to the eye, a sea of undulating gold flecked with -green isles, trees, and far fields of growing corn. Mountains and -plains, canon and ravine, it was just as wild, infinitely beautiful in -one mood as the other. - -"A wonderful land!" Gordon breathed it. - -Could his eyes have gone with the curving meridians over its length and -its breadth, have followed the dim, blue ranges in their course across -brazen deserts, to the deep forests, eternal snows of the Sierra Madres; -then ranged south across the great central plateau rich in cotton, corn, -and cane; have slid with lacy streams down the canons, streets of the -mountains that led into the tangled jungles where coffee and cocoa, -rubber and tobacco, palms and bananas, sage, rice, spices, flourish in -the languid tropics; could he have taken the land in its entirety, -richer in its beauty, variety of crops, fruits, plants, than the fabled -Garden of Eden--could he have done all this, even then imagination would -have fallen far below the reality. Yet he saw enough to stimulate him to -prophecy. - -"Some day, when all this petty revolutionary business is squelched, this -is going to be part of the greatest nation on earth." - -That set them planning again, and while they talked the largest army yet -brought forth by successive revolutions was in process of disintegration -but an eagle's flight away. Following battle and retreat across -sun-struck desert where thirst slew more than lead or steel, it was -scattering fiery chaff blown by cannon's blast over the face of the land -to set it aflame with minor disorders. Beyond the farthest blue range -columns of smoke marked the sites of a hundred burning _haciendas_. With -them, under the pitiless sky, rose the groans and cries of the wounded -and tortured, wailing of ravished women. - -In present ignorance of this, unconscious, again, of the keen eyes that -had spied the _mozo's_ signal and were now watching them from the -chaparral half a mile ahead, they rode on. - - -"Why waste good rope? One shoots him out of the saddle with ease." - -If the voices had not been pitched low, Lee and Gordon, now only a few -hundred yards away, might have heard the argument. - -She would easily have recognized Ramon's voice. "True, amigo, and I love -him less than thou; would kill him the quicker but for my promise to his -companero. While he held me under his rifle, I gave it--to make no -attempt on their lives." - -"A promise?" A low, hard laugh issued from the covert. "What is it but a -deadfall for one's enemy? If all those I have broken, to men killed, -women deceived, rise against me on the last day, Satan will be put to it -to find a hot enough corner in hell. But _I_ gave no promise--and he -killed Tomas, my man. If your stomach turns at the job, leave him to -me." - -"No, no!" Ramon's voice rose in quick protest. "His killing would still -be at my hands. Also"--the addition came in lower tones--"I would rather -he lived--to suffer the furies I have suffered when he thinks of her in -my arms. No, senor, we will rope him from behind." - -"Bueno! Have it thy--" A sharp hiss cut them off. - -Very cunningly they had taken up their positions at the head and foot of -a slippery steep where loose rubble bank and a narrow passage through -thick chaparral would allow only one horse to go down at a time. Ramon, -with two of the revolutionists, crouched above, while the leader, with -the others, hid at the foot. He had no more than gained back to his men -before Lee and Gordon appeared silhouetted against the sky above. - -She was in the lead, so close that Ramon could almost have touched her -stirrup as she looked back at Gordon. "I'll go down first. If I break my -neck you can pick up the remains." - -Really anxious, he watched her go slipping and sliding, most of the way -on her beast's haunches, but at every stumble she picked it up with -skilful use of the bridle. - -"Come on!" she called back, laughing. - -But before he could move, before she could even turn to look back, the -noose of a _riata_ writhed like a smoke ring out over the chaparral and -was drawn with a swift, hard pull around her arms. At the same moment a -man leaped and seized her bridle while the leader cinched her feet under -her horse's belly. - -"Run!" From above Gordon saw her white, desperate face turned over her -shoulder. "Run! Oh, _run_!" - -He could not--had he wished it. It happened so quickly that he had -barely time to use the spur, and if Ramon's cast had been made a second -sooner he would have been roped before his beast moved. As it was, the -loop settled diagonally across his left arm and right shoulder. The next -second he went flying backward out of the saddle and landed heavily. -While he was still in the air, however, his hand had gone to his gun. -Now he turned it loose downhill. - -That it would shoot nine shots in eight seconds was its maker's boast, -and the weapon proved it. Aware that he might kill Lee, but conscious -through his blind confusion that it might be worse, he emptied the clip, -shooting close to the ground. - -His aim, erratic enough, was rendered more so by the desperate tugging -of the revolutionists on the rope. Like spray from a swinging nozzle, -the bullets flew right and left, all but one, which went through the -leader's head. Then, a couple of whips of the rope caught the free arm -in against his body. - -At the foot of the hill the men were examining their fallen leader. "He -has killed him, el capitan! Cut his throat, the gringo swine!" - -Eyes glittering in his villainous, pock-marked face, one of them -snatched out his knife and came rushing uphill. - -Gordon knew it for the end, felt the chill of death. If he could only -have risen and fought them! But to lie there, bound and impotent, while -the knife was drawn across his throat! To pass out into the blackness -and leave Lee to face her fate! He struggled fiercely, striving to break -his bonds. As he relapsed in cold despair, Lee's voice, shrill in its -mortal terror, rang out: - -"If he is hurt, Ramon, I shall hate you forever!" - -To give him due, Ramon was already stepping forward. A sudden writhing, -like the first quiver of boiling water, passed over his face. He looked, -but without answer raised a warning hand. "The gringo is not to be -harmed, hombre." - -"But he has killed el capitan. Also he shot Tomas, our companero." - -"The fortune of war, amigo. I passed my word to one that held my own -life in the hollow of his hand." - -Gun in hand, he faced the revolutionist who stood fumbling his knife. -Out of the situation it appeared that only tragedy could issue. But in -all the world there is nothing more mercurial than the moods of a -_peon_. Behind them rose a coarse laugh. - -"Santisima Trinidad! why quarrel over a dead man, Ilarian? Hast thou -forgotten the ten strokes with the flat of his saber el capitan gave -thee for wasting rifle cartridges on rabbits before the fight of El Ojo? -As for Tomas--I owed him ten pesos. Also, there are now but four of us -to divide this senor's money." - -The argument reached down to their bandit instincts. "Bueno, Rafael, -bueno!" Another called: "Trust thee to see a peso through a dead man's -shirt. Put up thy knife, Ilarian. It was Tomas's throat it flashed at -last when he took Catalina, the pretty mestiza, away from thee." - -The fellow still stood, undecided. He had drawn the knife. Dislike to -back down kept him muttering and bristling like an angry dog till Ramon -pulled a roll of notes from his breast. - -"Here, hombre." - -The man's huge mouth split in a grin. In his eagerness to secure his -share, the fourth man came running uphill, dragging Lee's horse by the -bridle, and while they argued over the division and gambled for the last -odd note, she spoke in English. - -"I would never have thought to find you in alliance with bandits against -me. Why did you do it? It can only bring disaster." From which she ran -on, touching with all her strength and skill on the chords of -memory--their childhood, budding youth, incident, fond reminiscence, her -own faith in his goodness, pride in his honor. "And now would you -destroy it all? The respect and affection I have always had for you? And -what have you to gain by it? Surely not my love." - -She thought he was shaken. Looking into his face, she had been shocked -and astonished at the change wrought in a few days. Like mountain slopes -stripped of their verdure, burned down to the hard slag by volcanic -fires, so its softness and youth were gone, leaving in bold relief the -hard lines of passion and hate. For one moment a quiver shook its -grimness. But there was no softening of the burning eyes, for it took -out of bitter anger. - -"What have I to gain?" He threw up his head in defiance. "You! with love -or without it!" - -By its very unnaturalness his quiet was more ominous than his violent -outpourings of the other day. She took her breath in sudden fear. - -"Ramon, what are you going to do?" - -Danger inhered in a light shrug, with its defiance of consequences. -"Take you to San Angel--to be married, hard and tight, by jefe and -priest." - -"Oh, but they will not do it! They were friends of my father; have known -me from childhood--" - -"They are Mexican--would love to see you mate with me, a Mexican like -themselves. They will do as I say. If not"--his nod carried a sinister -significance--"so much the worse for you." - -Unable to believe, she stared down at him; as she looked into the -brilliant, hard eyes there was borne in upon her understanding of his -insane egotism. The veneer of softness, courtesy, lip service, burned -away; there was left only the animal fighting for the possession of its -mate. - -She bent her head in sudden shame. "Ramon, please take me home." - -"Yes, to _ours_." He snatched her bridle. "Come! already we have wasted -too much time." - -As they had spoken in English, Gordon heard all. Now he spoke. "You -stopped them killing me, but that would have been less wicked. Remember -she is no _peona_, but an American subject. For any mistreatment you -will be called to account by our government." - -"Your government?" Turning his head, Ramon spat aside in the dust. "Your -government? The Germans harried us for three years till we ran down and -hanged the murderers of their countrymen at Covodonga. In Guerrero a -villageful of people were shot for the murder of one Englishman. For the -massacre of its citizens at Torreon even the Chinese demanded and -obtained an indemnity of five million dollars. But your government--for -the murder of hundreds of its men, dishonor of scores of its women, it -has lodged--complaints. One more or less will not embarrass us--nor help -_you_. Come on, hombre!" - -As he moved off, leading Lee's beast, Gordon writhed in a last effort to -break his bonds. For the moment he was blinded by the rush of blood to -his straining eyeballs, but as his sight cleared he saw Lee looking -back. That womanly pity which transcends fear had lifted her for the -moment above her own terrors. Like a light filtering through a storm, -her smile gleamed wanly through the pale window of her distress. Then -the chaparral swallowed her, and he settled back in black despair. - -Though it was only a few seconds, it seemed an hour passed before a foot -swinging into his line of vision caused him to look up. The -revolutionists had finished dividing the money and were looking down at -him. - -"Going to cut my throat, now he's gone," Gordon read it--and did not -care. - -But he had failed to count on the streak of good humor that crosscuts -even a bandit nature. "We are the richer by a hundred pesos by him." -Ilarian, the fellow who had tried to cut his throat, grinned at the -others. "Let us lift him over there in the shade." - -"'Tis hard on thee, amigo," the fellow went on, after they moved him. -"'Tis hard to have thy girl snatched thus away. But have no -fear"--though he caught only an occasional word of Spanish, the -gestures, helped out by a gross leer, threw light brilliant as lightning -on his meaning--"we will avenge thee. These days the pretty ones go to -the strong. He has not got her yet. Adios--and better luck!" - -As, laughing loudly, they left him, all the romance that had colored, -for him, the Mexican revolutions, drained away, leaving him with clear, -cold vision to face its dread facts--the tragic realities even then in -course where the smoke columns rose, far away, under brazen skies. In -agony of fear for Lee that transcended physical torture he watched them -go. - - - - -XXXI: "BRAINS WIN" - - -Two days later Bull awoke from a wild nightmare through which drunken -faces, infuriated faces, maudlin women faces, had whirled in a mad -phantasmagoria, devil's dance of singing, drinking, swearing, fighting. -As though it were another, he dimly saw himself hurling men through a -window while glass crashed and furniture crumbled around him. More -clearly, a second picture stood out--of a big black rustler--to wit, -himself--set up against a wall before a firing-squad. He even saw the -rifles aimed, and yet--his brain cool and that enormous desire gone, he -lay in a little cell-like adobe room. Light streamed over the sheet -across the doorway, and as, rising, he looked out into the _patio_ of -the German Club he heard far off the boom of cannon punctuating the -staccato pulsations of rifle-fire. - -"The battle's on!" - -As the thought passed through his mind it was killed by sudden agony, -poignant, though mental, as physical pain. His great hands went up and -covered his face, but could not shut out despair. "My God! I've fallen -down!" - -Outside people were moving and talking. But he paid no heed; just stood, -face buried in his hands, till he recognized the "dean's" voice. - -"Well, come on, fellows! They're going to it again. Let's get out where -we can see." - -"I'll take a look at Diogenes first," came the voice of his friend. "You -chaps go on. I'll catch up." - -Bull dropped his hands, revealing bleared eyes and swollen face to the -correspondent's gaze. "Well! well! Up and bright as a cricket! You went -it some in El Paso, Diogenes; but--last night!" He shook his head in -mock reproof. - -"What did you do? What didn't you do? Drank up all the whisky here, then -went out and tried to dry up the cantinas. A few are still in -business--those you didn't break up. It took a troop to round you up. -They had you stuck against a wall when Enrico, my amigo, happened along. -Remembering that he had seen you with me, he brought you over here." - -"Well, I'm sorry! damned sorry that he did!" Bull shrugged. "On'y to be -shot, like a soldier, would be too good a death for me. My kind smother -in the gutter." - -His bitterness touched the other. "Look here, old man, don't take it so -hard. We all of us have our slips. The only thing to do is to get up and -go on again." - -Underneath his first lightness and present sympathy a heavier feeling -had made itself felt. Bull had stretched out again on the cot, and now, -as he stood looking down upon him, the correspondent's face grew grave. -Once he opened his lips; then, unconsciously, Bull opened the way. - -"Where's Benson?" He looked up. "Did he go again to Valles?" - -"Unfortunately, yes. His consul warned him against it--without avail. -What happened we can only guess. You know his temper; remember what he -said on the train. Perhaps he threatened Valles. He could not have done -much more, for he left his guns in the car with the Chinaman. 'So if the -son of a gun kills me,' he told him, 'the boys will know it for murder.' -He must have had a hunch, for he never came back." - -"Dead?" Bull broke a shocked silence. - -The other nodded. "They acknowledge it--say he tried to kill Valles, -which is, of course, all rot." - -Bull had leaped up. "Dead! And I did it! Drunken swine that I am! It's -no use." He waved away expostulations. "You yourself warned me not to -let him go alone!" He started out the door. - -"Here!" the correspondent seized him. "Where are you going?" - -"Out--to get drunk--get killed if I kin!" - -Though he waved like a blown leaf at the end of the club-like arm, the -correspondent stuck. "All right! all right! But what's your hurry? -You'll be a long time dead, old man. If you must get killed, come with -me." - -Through Bull's black despair flashed a sardonic gleam. "Humph! Stand on -a hill with a pair of glasses five miles off?" - -"Not on your life, hombre! When we interviewed him yesterday that's -exactly the crack Valles made about 'gringo correspondents' and -'long-distance reporting.' I'm going to show the beggar. It's me for the -outposts where folks get killed." - -Now, in his turn, Bull showed no concern. "Don't be a fool! You're paid -to get the news, not to do Valles's fighting." - -The change of positions was so swift, the correspondent could not -repress a grin. "What's sauce for Diogenes is sauce for me. If you have -a right to get yourself killed, so have I." - -The black shadow again wrapped Bull. "I've good reason. If I kin git -myself shot, like a man, I'm just that much ahead. But you--" - -"Aw, shut up! Do you think I am going to let that greasy bandit get away -with a crack like that? We're doing too much talking. Come on!" - -"I'd--" Bull hesitated. "I'd like to see--_his_ consul first. His -wife--she'd naterally like to know. She's in El Paso, just now, an' I -know her address." - -"We go past there. Then I want a minute with our consul. In case I don't -turn up, I wouldn't want my San Francisco girl to be wearing weeds too -long." - -Going out, Bull stopped at the bar. "You needn't to be scairt." He -answered the other's look. "My thirst's over--for a while. But I need a -bracer." Yet the half-glass of raw brandy he swallowed had a deadlier -significance. It marked the utter abandonment of hope, sealed his return -to the old life. - -Shortly thereafter the two entered the British consulate. With the quiet -of despair he listened while the consul talked. - -"I did my best to prevent Mr. Benson from going back, and thought I'd -succeeded. If it hadn't been that he was seen going in, he would simply -have disappeared. As it is, the cuartel general has given out several -stories. First, that he tried to shoot Valles; which is absurd, for he -carried no gun. Then that he was shot while trying to escape after being -placed under arrest. Lastly--to satisfy me and give his murder the -semblance of a military execution--that he was tried by drumhead -court-martial and fusiladoed for his attempt on the life of the general. -But of one thing I can assure you, Mr. Perrin"--he went on from a heavy -pause--"this does not end it. Already the particulars are entered upon -my records, and the British government never forgets. It may be one -year--it may be ten. But when peace is restored this business will come -up again. No matter how high the murderer may have risen, how low he may -have fallen, the case will never be dropped till there appears opposite -the name of William Benson in our archives, 'The murderer was brought to -justice.'" - -The quiet surety of his speech, based on a record of centuries among -wild peoples, made it impressive. Outside, the correspondent commented -thereon in his breezy fashion. - -"That's Johnny Bull for you, dignified, slow in speech, but surer than -hell! One of his subjects is killed in a far corner of Afghanistan. Up -goes a regiment and decimates the tribe--or a brigade, or an army, if -necessary; in which case, to offset the expense, the country becomes a -British province. Hombre! how long do you suppose it would take that fat -old fellow to settle this Mexican affray? Humph! He'd make shorter work -of these mushroom generals and sawdust presidents than he did of the -Hindu rajahs." - -In another way the scene at the American consulate was equally -impressive. When they entered the single little stuffy room, twelve feet -square and entered from an alley, that conserved the dignity of the -United States the consul looked up, then handed the correspondent a -letter. - -"Hum! Last call for Americans to get out of Mexico!" He coughed -ironically. "Know ye, all gringos, by these presents: Owing to the fact -that four hundred of you have been murdered, ravished, or tortured, and -in order to remove further temptation from the path of the gentle -Mexican, you are hereby ordered, without regard to your financial -ability, consideration for the lives you endanger in transit, or -property left behind, to return to your own country and thereby save -this department from further annoyance by your kicks and complaints! -Oyez! Oyez! Frankly," he turned to the consul, "what do you think of -it?" - -The consul shrugged his shoulders. "You wish to register?" - -His pen scratched in the silence for a while, setting down the -correspondent's name and commission. "Anybody else you wish to notify?" - -The pen scratched on in silence the name of the San Francisco girl. Then -he reached for the letter the correspondent handed. - -"To be sent, in case of your death. Now, Mr. Perrin?" - -The pen scratched Lee's name and address. - -"Anything to send?" - -"Nothing!" - -"Very well, gentlemen!" His superficial cheerfulness was denied by his -handshake--the sympathetic pressure of comrades under stress. "I shall -observe your wishes--if possible. Well--" His shoulders rose again. -"Hasta luego! Till we meet again." - -"A brave man in a weak place!" The correspondent rightfully placed him, -outside. "Now, Diogenes, for the front." - -An hour later, after a heart-bursting run on foot for the last -quarter-mile through small fountains of dust raised by shrapnel and -rifle-bullets, the pair gained the uttermost outpost, a low wall of -stones on the crest of a small hill that lay like a halved orange on the -flat of the desert. A mile eastward, from the crest of the other half, a -battery of French "threes" was spitting shrapnel with the feverish -energy of an angry cat. - -Between the hills ran a trench lined with thousands of revolutionists, -whose incessant fire shrouded the front in bluish haze that was shot -through and through with darting puffs. To the west and a quarter-mile -in the rear, a second battery occupied a smaller elevation, protecting -that flank. - -Of the enemy, thirty thousand Carranzistas, out there on the plain were -to be seen only lines of smoke that hung low over sand and chaparral in -a great half-moon, the tips of which extended beyond the Vallista -positions. But they could hear, too plainly, the twit! twit! of the -ceaseless leaden rain passing overhead. Now and then a bullet would -strike the wall with the sharp ring of a hammer on stone. Slipping -through an embrasure, one pierced the brain of a revolutionist. - -Seizing the dead man's rifle, Bull stepped into his place. - -It was not that he particularly desired to kill Carranzistas. He would -have shot Vallistas with equal will. But besides wringing a moment's -surcease from his black despair, the instant his eye fell to the sights -and he felt the familiar pressure of the butt, the old daredevil rustler -spirit revived. As on the night he fought off Livingstone and his -_vaqueros_ on the Little Stony, as on a hundred other occasions, every -other feeling was drowned in a heady lust for fight. Just as carefully -as though his life depended on it, he drew his beads on the lighter -puffs that peppered the distant smoke. Watching him load and fire, -grimly earnest, the sweat trickling in pale runlets down through the -dust on his face, the correspondent nodded his satisfaction. - -"Poor old Diogenes! But if he keeps busy he'll soon get over it." - -Drawing his own weapons, a pencil and pad, he sat down on a boulder and -began to take notes. And surely there was no lack of material. The -spitting guns, trenches crammed with brown, ant-like men, the crackling -rifle-fire, the desert shining like brass under the intolerable glare of -the sun beyond the smoke haze, formed the background for a queer mixture -of dirty comedy and squalid tragedy. - -A few yards away, behind a second short wall, a brown girl sat on her -heels patting out _tortillas_ while she gossiped with another girl, in -complete indifference to the bullets flying overhead. At least she was -indifferent until, glancing from the top stones, one upset her -coffee-pot and quenched her little cooking-fire. Then, pretty face -convulsed with rage, she shook her fist at the distant smoke-line while -screaming frightful curses. - -"Damned dogs of Carranzistas!" she finished with her last, spent breath. -"Wait! Wait for the Valles riders! Then there will be a scampering with -tails between the legs!" - -Her mishap had drawn a roar of laughter from the revolutionists. The -fellow that stood next to Bull now turned his grinning, sweaty face. -"Ole, Amalia! Bring me a drink and thou shalt have the knifing of my -first prisoner." - -Her coarse answer drew a second roaring laugh. Nevertheless, while -making it, she picked up her water-bottle. Less than a score of yards -separated the two walls, yet it afforded stage room for the tragedy that -burst in the middle of the comedy. For as she ran with a swift, -shuffling step across it, the bullet of an invisible enemy found its -mark; she collapsed in a heap. - -Bull, also, had looked around. Now, heedless of the correspondent's -yell: "Come back, you fool! She's dead! shot through the head!" he ran -out, picked up the poor creature and brought her behind the wall. - -As he laid her down the other girl came running across the bullet-swept -space and threw herself on the body with cries and lamentations. She was -not dead! She could not be dead, Amalia! the friend of her soul! For a -while she ran on in a passion of grief. Then, springing up, eyes -flashing white in her furious, distorted face, she flung her frantic -curses at the distant line. - -"Kill them, the damned Carranzistas! He who kills the most this day -shall be my lover!" - -"And here comes he that will do it!" The man on Bull's left touched his -shoulder. - -Up the hill behind them a battery was coming, stretched on a scrambling -gallop. Alongside the guns, urging the drivers on, a man rode a great -black stallion at the head of a cavalry detachment. Even at a distance -the harsh, monotonous voice rose above the rattle of the limbers, -rifle-fire, booming guns. - -"It's Valles!" - -As the correspondent pointed, looking back at Bull, the great black -horse launched out and shot up the hill. - -"Make way, hombres, for the guns!" - -Amber eyes aflame, brute mouth working, face quivering like shaken -vitriol, he was herding the men aside when his glance fell on the -correspondent. Then, though his face drew into a grin, comprehension -flashed in his hot eyes. - -"Ole, companero!" His wave of the hand took in all. "Hot work! but -nothing to that which is to come. Mira!" - -Following his pointing finger, they saw to the westward a great cloud of -dust, long, thick, and low, rolling in upon their right flank. -"Carranzista cavalry! But--look again!" - -Looking always to their front, they had seen nothing of the cavalry, -brigade after brigade, which was forming under cover of the hill to the -west and behind them. Ten thousand wild horsemen were in the mass. -Thousands of others were streaming out of the town. Big hands clutching -as though he had them already in his grasp, eyes again aflame, Valles -shook his fist at the distant dust. - -"Wait, my dear amigos los Carranzistas! Wait!" - -The guns just then topped the hill, and, sitting the great black horse -with reckless hardihood out in the open, indifferent to the whistling -bullets, he directed their emplacement. "To the left, hombres! a little -more! To the right! easy! not quite so much!" The last one set, he -rasped out a last command: "Bueno! Now shoot into the dust!" Then -followed by his staff he went galloping down the hill. - -"He bears a charmed life!" The man next Bull spoke again. "Out of a -hundred battles he has come with never a hurt." He added, with a wink, -"An' it was not always from his front the bullets came." - -Bull had looked on, brows bent in a heavy glower. Now the coal eyes lit -with a sudden inspiration. The man had turned again to his shooting. The -artillerymen were laying their guns. They fired just as Bull threw up -his rifle and drew a bead on the black horse and rider. Sweeping back, -the smoke blotted all out. As it cleared, and his eye dropped again to -the sights, the correspondent struck up the muzzle. - -"What are you trying to do?" - -"Justice on that grinning devil." - -"Good job no one saw you." A quick glance around showed the artillerymen -and revolutionists absorbed in their own work "Do you know what they -would have done to both of us--skinned us alive, boiled us in oil, or -something equally nice. Have a heart! If you don't care yourself, just -think what nice reading it would make for my San Francisco girl, 'Having -toasted him on one side, they then proceeded to fry the other.'" - -"I hadn't thought of that. But if I'd been alone--" - -He sent a black flash after the receding figure, then turned again to -his loophole. - -On his part the correspondent watched till Valles disappeared in the -massed cavalry below. Shortly thereafter it began to move, a huge, brown -blanket embroidered with the flashing gold and silver of guns and -sabers, _machetes_, accoutrements. For a while it was in full view. Then -the impalpable desert dust enveloped it in rolling clouds from which, -like the roar of distant surf, issued the thunder of pounding hoofs. -Like the rolling, twisting funnel of a cyclone, it swept toward that -other distant cloud, and when they met and merged the greater cloud -rolled backward, slowly at first, then with increasing speed. - -"Weekes was wrong!" It came out of the correspondent in an excited yell. -"He's smashed 'em to smithereens! Me for a wire at once!" But as the -cloud continued to sweep on he added a qualification, "That is, if -Valles stops and comes back." - -When, later, the cloud drew steadily down the horizon the doubt evolved -into criticism. "Whatever is he thinking of? There he's gone with all -the cavalry and left his flank exposed!" - -At intervals along the far blue haze the flash of cannon now broke with -greater frequency. The rifle-fire rivaled the rapid roll of a thousand -drums. Answering the "threes," shrapnel shell came on long, shrieking -curves and burst around them. In as many minutes one blew up the next -wall, killing half its defenders. A second disabled a gun. The man next -to Bull collapsed without a groan. - -Turning his glasses eastward, the correspondent saw men piling in heaps -where shrapnel was bursting on the edge of the trench. On the far hill -came the flash of explosions among the Valles guns. - -"Brains win! They were only playing with us, using less than a third of -their guns! They've drawn Valles off with a false retreat! Now they'll -flank us! My God! there they come!" - -From the chaparral, on their right, had burst a new, thick line of -smoke. Bullets were slipping like hail along their flank, tumbling men. -He leaped and caught Bull's arm. - -"Come on! Let's get while we can!" - -They could already see the Carranzistas, thousands of them, half-wild, -maniacal figures, looming through the smoke. Yet Bull shook his head. - -"Some chance for shooting now. Light out yourself." - -"Man! Valles is defeated!" The other seized and shook him. "Do you know -what that means? This army will be scattered throughout northern Mexico. -If you won't consider yourself, think of your girl! Are you going to -leave her to face this bandit rabble, stung by defeat, mad against -Americans?" - -Bull had turned on him with suppressed fury. But through the din and -smoke, into that hell of cries and groans, whistling, crashing shells, -there came to him first the old wistful vision of Mary and Betty Mills; -then the feel of Lee's soft, cool arms on his neck. Himself forgotten, -the lust of battle suddenly chilled, he shook with fear. - -"Come on!" - -Turning, he ran down the hill toward the chaparral where they had hidden -their horses, half a mile away. Coming in they had faced only the rain -of bullets curved over the hill. Now, from the flank, they came fast and -low, a heavy cross-fire. Yet while they ran breathlessly through the -dust under the merciless blaze of the sun the correspondent cracked his -jokes. - -"Consolation race! Odds a hundred to one!" he gasped. "Gosh! but that -chaparral is going faster the other way!" - -A few minutes later he dropped, almost on its edge. Yet even in that -dire moment he remained his cheerful self. - -"Shot in the leg! I always said that was the only way they'd ever get -me. Here's my notes, Diogenes! Give them to Weekes and tell him to chuck -'em on to the wires. Now, _run like hell_!" - -And Bull did "run like hell"--with the correspondent across his -shoulders, into the chaparral where the rain of bullets slacked; faded -out by the time he reached the horses. The bullet had gone through the -knee. All that he could do was to stop the bleeding with a handkerchief -twisted tight above. Then, with the correspondent lying forward in his -saddle, arms around his horse's neck, he headed for the town. - -As they rode, in their rear rose a huge, raucous voice, the charging -yell of the Carranzistas pouring in a brown flood over the trenches. -Followed the terrible roar of a rout--yells, shrieks, curses, victorious -shouts, scattering shots, occasional volleys. On the edge of the town it -caught and engulfed them, that mad rout. Helpless jetsam, they floated -above, a stream of wild, sweating faces, powder-grimed, bloody, flecked -with a yeast of glistening, fearful eyes, floated through the painted -adobe streets to the railroad yards. - -There fugitives were already piling by thousands on top of the trains -and increasing the confusion; there came, just then, a flash from the -hills they had left. Followed the shriek, rising crescendo of the shell, -then--the explosion smoke cleared, showing a splintered mass -be-spattered with mangled humanity that had been, a moment before, -sentient human beings. The Carranzistas were shelling the station with -Valles's own guns. - -"We're farther up!" the correspondent whispered through white, drawn -lips. "We bribed the engineer, last night, to pull us out on the main -line to insure our getaway." - -He spoke again, with an effort, when they had ridden another half-mile. -"That's queer. It stood about here, yet I don't see the placards. -Perhaps we have overshot." - -But as Bull made to turn a man slipped from the brake-rods under a car -ahead. "Here, senores! This way!" - -Just then, too, the door rolled back and the "dean" looked out. "Hurry -up! Ten minutes more and you would have been too late. The Gonzales -Brigada played discretion for the better part of valor and made a quick -sneak. We go next! We tore off the signs for fear they might cut us out. -We're traveling, for the present, incognito. You're hurt! Here, you -fellows, lift him in and shut the door quick!" - -After the correspondent had been laid in his bunk the "dean" turned to -Bull. "That chap outside has been here ever since yesterday morning, -looking for you. He said his business was muy importante, so the -Chinaman kept him fed. Perhaps you had better see what he wants." - -But when Bull looked out the man was gone. Also, just then, a welcome -accompaniment to the roar of the mad rout outside, came the groan, bang, -and rattle of cars starting in succession under the engine's tug. - - - - -XXXII: TRAVAIL - - -The instant she passed from Gordon's sight Lee's smile went out, -quenched by mortal fear. For years tales that defied by their black -horror exaggeration by even the fervid _peon_ minds had filtered into -Los Arboles, and, more vividly than Gordon, she realized her danger. - -It was not so much Ramon. At San Carlos she would have a fighting -chance; stood ready to match her woman's wit against his man's strength. -Her fear centered on the men. - -As, overtaking them, he rode by on the narrow path, Ilarian pressed -close against her. "Cheer up, little one! 'Tis the fighting cock that -wins his hen. 'Tis the way of the world, and what matter it so long as -she be won? 'Tis his turn now, but later 'twill be for thee to keep him -itching." - -Laughing hoarsely, he rode on, but in passing his rude fingers searched -the softness of her arm and she caught the bold look into her eyes of -his grinning fellow. Thereafter she felt their glances touching, -plucking at her like fumbling fingers. Now glowing with shame, again -frozen with terror, she endured it--to her it seemed hours before she -spoke to Ramon. - -"I'm afraid of those men. Can't you--send them away?" - -He shrugged. "You have more reason to be afraid of me." - -"You?" In spite of the deadly chill at her heart she managed a little -laugh. "That is impossible." - -"Why?" - -"Fear one's oldest friend?" Already, with intuitive guile, she was -laying the foundations of her defense. Though he looked at her with -quick suspicion, she returned the innocent eyes nature has given woman -for her chief protection. "For you--a man of whom I have known only -good? But these men fill me with fear." - -Suspicion clouded, for a moment, his eyes. Passing, it left his gloom -lighter. Reassurance softened his tone. "Don't be afraid. They will -leave us at San Carlos." - -"But, Ramon, it is now noon. If we ride hard we cannot get there before -dark." She shuddered at the thought. - -"You would rather we were alone?" - -"A thousand times." She returned to his gaze the same innocent eyes--and -once more his gloom lightened a shade. - -"They are going to San Carlos anyway, so I can hardly send them away. -But I am armed, and there is no necessity for you to be afraid. -Also--you said that the jefe and priest at San Carlos would refuse to -marry us. If so, these are the men who can help me compel." - -"Ramon!" she spoke with dread earnestness, "look quickly behind you!" - -He did, and his quick frown told that he was not pleased. Dismounting -under a pretext of cinching up his saddle, he motioned for the two men -behind to pass ahead. - -"You saw!" she said, riding on. "You are armed, but they are four to -one; may take you unawares. I ask only one thing. Keep my feet bound, -take any other precaution you choose, but unfasten my hands and--lend me -your knife." - -"To use on _me_, if you get the chance?" - -"Not on you nor them!" Her steady look carried her meaning. - -His glance went forward to the revolutionists, who broke out, just then, -in uproarious laughter. - -"If I thought--" His hand went to his gun, then fell again. "No! they -are rough and coarse, but they know well that my father is Valles's -friend; that if they lifted a hand against me he would flay them alive. -Really, there is no danger, yet--if it will make you less fearful. But -you promise--to return it, the knife, at San Carlos?" - -"I promise." - -"I never knew you to lie, and I--" His face lost a little of its -hardness. "I would prefer to be gentle." - -Leaning over, he unbound her arms, then gave her the case-knife that -hung at his hip. "I suppose I'm a fool," he said as she slid it under -her belt inside her shirt. - -"Indeed you are not!" she began, in a flush of relief. Then, as a -picture of Gordon lying bound on the trail rose to her mind, she turned -her head in fear that he might read the sudden impulse to slash the lead -rope and go galloping back. - -The certain knowledge that she would be overtaken checked the impulse. -Also, with a woman's self-abnegation, she comforted herself with the -thought that every mile she traveled lessened his hazard. She rode on -till certain whisperings between the revolutionists ahead brought her -again under fear that grew and reached its climax when, later in the -afternoon, they swung at right angles on to the San Carlos trail and -rode, now along the flank of a mountain, again through a wooded valley, -thence up and over a great hill, while the sun slid down behind them. -While they traveled dusk quenched the flaming peaks. The long shadows -drew together, enwrapping hill and valley in a thick veil through which -men and horses loomed as dark, sinister shapes. When they stopped, -suddenly, where a stream emerged from a wood, she shook with -apprehension. - -"The beasts are tired, senor, and this is a good place to camp," a voice -came back. - -"Oh, don't! Let us keep on!" she pleaded. - -"The animals are tired and must be fed," Ramon answered. "After they are -rested we will go on." - -As, dismounting, he began to untie her feet, she was seized again with a -wild impulse to turn and dash away in the dark. But even had it been -possible, just then a heap of dried grass and leaves flared up from a -match illuminating the woods and stream. Reaching up, Ramon lifted her -down and seated her close to the fire. - -Sitting there, she watched him unsaddle and hobble their beasts. Her -swift, uneasy glances showed the revolutionists doing the same. Yet--all -the fears of that long afternoon now concentrated in a cold horror. -Intuitively, she knew. When, his hands full of food he had unpacked from -his saddle-bags, Ramon came walking past the revolutionists toward her, -she broke out with a sudden scream: - -"Take care!" - -Too late! A pair of sinewy arms locked like brown snakes around him, -pinioning his arms to his body. As he went down, fighting madly, Lee -leaped up and ran. But already Ilarian and another man had started -toward her. Running her swiftest, straining madly with the beat of his -pursuing feet, like a drum in her ears, she had gained the edge of the -wood, was almost within its safe blackness, when she was seized and -pulled back with a wrench that tore the shirt away from one white -shoulder and threw her to the ground. - -She rose instantly on one knee, then paused at the sight of the brutish -face above. One hand clutching the torn shirt at her neck, eyes dark -lamps in a face of white horror, she crouched like an animal at bay -till, with a sudden snatch, he stooped and lifted her bodily. - -"No, no!" The snatch of the second man loosened the other's grip so that -she fell between them to the ground. "No, hombre, fair play between -companeros. We shall gamble for her. The winner, if he choose, can then -sell his chance." - -The fighting, writhing mass at the other side of the fire now -straightened out, and as they rose, leaving Ramon securely bound on the -ground, the other two added their protests. "Si, hombre, we will not -stand for that. She goes first to the winner, according to our custom. -Bring her back to the fire." - -To avoid their handling, she rose and walked herself. As she came where -the light fell on Ramon she saw that he had managed to struggle up on -his knees. Now he began to speak, pleading, arguing, threatening his -captors with the displeasure of their general. - -But he drew only jokes and laughter. "Valles?" Ilarian answered him. "He -was defeated by the Carranzistas, and has trouble enough to care for -himself. The requisition el capitan showed was made out months before -the battle. Had the senor, your father, been fool enough to fill it, we -should have taken the horses for ourselves." With a shove that sent -Ramon flat on his back, he added: "Lie down, hombre! For these many -years thou and thy fathers laid the whip on our backs. While we starved -they fed fat and made free with our women. Now it is for thee to watch -us at the eating and loving." - -Laughing, he caught Lee again with a sudden snatch, was forcing her head -back, when Rafael again interfered. "Hands off, hombre, till the cards -say she is thine!" - -"Si, muddle not the waters for our drinking," the others added. "Let us -eat, then get to the cards." - -"The bride? She must not go hungry at the wedding feast." The fourth man -offered her food. "Here, little one." - -Weak and faint, she was backing away, but stopped with a sudden -inspiration. "If I may share it with him?" - -"Seguro." Rising, the man dragged Ramon a few feet away and set him up, -back propped against a tree. "Only take care he bite not thy pretty -fingers." - -Laughing, he went back to the fire, leaving her to sit and watch their -feeding of meat and _tortillas_, with gulps of liquor from clay bottles. - -Between her and them yawned a gap in time wider than the centuries that -intervened between herself and her wode-stained ancestors running wild -in the woods of Britain. Their low, sloping foreheads, unbalanced heads -with all the weight below; their loose mouths, brute jaws, dark skin, -nature's infallible stigma of inferiority, pronounced them half a -million years behind her, the last-bloom of a higher race. - -In her a solitary youth had intensified the delicate fancies, -sensitiveness, timorous imaginings, shrinkings, and retreats that mark a -young girl's first reachings toward love. And now--her idealizations -were suddenly confronted with the caveman's brutal practice. Sitting -there, she endured a thousand tortures. Worse than their coarse jests -were their glances. She shrank under them in hot shame; to escape them -took the food they offered, moved over and knelt beside Ramon. - -He was sitting, head hanging, but as, now, he looked up the firelight -showed the sweat in beads on his brow. "_You_ bring _me_ food?" His -accent carried more than a thousand self-reproaches. - -She did not attempt consolation she did not feel. "Pretend to eat." She -spoke in English. "They are watching, now. But soon they will -gamble"--she shuddered, thinking of the stake--"will see only the cards. -I still have your knife. When the time serves I will cut you loose. -Their rifles are piled behind us with the saddles. They may shoot you -down from the fire. But to reach them is our only chance." - -He lowered his head to hide a sudden flash of hope. "I will do anything, -take any chance. Greater punishment no man could suffer than I am -enduring. But it has made me think--realize my blind selfishness. I can -only ask your forgiveness." - -"Now, companeros, the cards! Cut and shuffle for love!" A hoarse voice -came from the fire. - -While the first hand of a game she did not understand was being dealt -she watched the flying cards with dread interest; was still watching -when Ramon whispered: - -"I know that game. Five minutes will see it finished. By leaning a -little to one side, your body will cover my elbows. One cut will set -them free. I will still sit as I am, and when I whisper slash the riata -at my feet, then run! run into the depths of the woods. From here to San -Carlos is but a couple of leagues. Once there--with the jefe, you will -be safe." - -Ilarian's bellowing laugh rang out, just then, marking the close of the -first hand. "One to me, little one! Be not impatient. The luck is with -us. Soon we shall take a little pasear together." - -"If he wins again it will be over in a minute," Ramon whispered, while -the cards were fluttering around again. As the men bent over them, -thumbing their hands, he gave the word, "Now!" - -With two slashes she did it, one at his arms, the other at his feet. But -swift as was the movement, Rafael caught it in the tail of his eye. When -he turned she had dropped the knife in the grass and, though her heart -stood still, she resumed her pretense of feeding Ramon. As he watched -her the suspicion died out of the man's stare. He was just about to turn -again to the game when, as Ramon leaned forward to take the bite she was -offering, the severed _riata_ fell from his elbows. - -Given two men in a sudden juncture, the one with a definite plan wins -the lead. As the man jumped up, pointing, Ramon sprang, reached the -rifles, aimed and shot him down. The others looked up, startled, and as -he aimed again they pulled and fired. - -"Run, querida, run!" Ramon had called it, leaping up. As he collapsed on -the heap of saddles it issued again on his last dry whisper, "Run!" - -It had all happened while she was scrambling up. Naturally she turned -when Ramon fell and paused, horror-stricken. Not till the others were -almost upon her did she turn and run--too late. - -As, heart fluttering like that of a frightened quail, she ran for the -wood Ilarian seized her. Wildly beating the brutal, pock-marked face, -she writhed helplessly in his arms. - - - - -XXXIII: THE DEATH IN THE NIGHT - - -During the rest of the day, while the train rolled and rattled and -jolted its slow way over the heated face of the desert, the -correspondents stewed with Bull in their own juices in semi-darkness. At -intervals there would come a stop. With the mad, blind selfishness of -panic the _brigada_ Gonzales had burned the watering-tanks as they -passed. So those that followed had to draw for the engine with buckets -from wells. Also there were occasional rails to be replaced which, with -equal selfishness, they tore up again the moment the train passed over. - -When the sun finally set in a fiery conflagration and dusk brought some -cess of the heat the conductor came in with tales of wholesale -desertions from the _brigada_ Gonzales, and shortly thereafter began the -dispersion of their own men. As they approached familiar country, or -tempted by tales of rich loot to be taken from near-by _haciendas_, they -began to drop off in fives, fifties, tens. Of those that had kept the -corrugated-iron roof beating like a drum with their stampings and -shufflings throughout the afternoon, there remained only a single -solitary figure when, after dark, Bull climbed up on top to air his -choked lungs. - -As he sat down on the running-board the figure looked up, then moved -closer. "It is thee, senor?" - -Peering, Bull made out the face. It was the sentry who had spoken to him -at Valles's door. As his mind associated what the "dean" had said with -the recognition he spoke quickly. "The senor Benson? Didst thou see--" - -"Si, senor." His head moved in the gloom. In the rambling _peon_ fashion -he ran on: "'The close mouth admits no flies,' said Matador. 'Keep thine -shut and we shall make thee a captain to-morrow.'" - -"A captain of what, senor? Of ghosts? For I was not deceived. He that -was sentry when they killed the German? He became a captain? Also they -that helped to roast the Spaniard till he told where he had hidden his -gold? And the three that killed el presidente for Huerta? Captains and -majors and colonels were they--of the dead. Si, among the _revueltosos_ -it is become a saying, 'Be not a captain till thou hast grown -lieutenant's spurs.' Si, I knew that I should be dead before the eve of -another day, so I fled my guard, senor, and came straight to thee." - -Though he was on fire to hear, Bull knew better than to bring his crude -thought into confusion by interruption. While the train ambled along he -let the narrative take its own course. - -"'A captain?' said Matador!" His eloquent shoulders quivered in the -gloom. "Better to be a live mozo at the tail of Don Miguel's horses in -Las Bocas." - -From a second pause he ran on: "He came to the cuartel general, the -senor Benson, while I was sentry of the second watch at the door of my -general. He was in there, Valles, with a girl. I had seen her go -in--such a girl! tall and straight, with eyes misty as twin nights, -teeth white as bleached bone, hair thick and black as the pine forests -that clothe the Sierra Madras! Santisimo, senor! such a girl as one may -have when he has combed a country and taken first pick of its women! I -could hear her laughing in there when the senor Benson came striding up -the stairs. - -"I saw, when he drew near, that his face was flushed, but there was no -smell of liquor upon him. 'Twas the red of the great anger that burned -in his veins, kept his head shaking like that of a tormented bull. When -I barred the way he looked at me with eyes that snapped like living -sparks, shoved me aside into the corner with one sweep of his arm, -before I could stop him had opened the door and walked in--walked in, -senor, through the anteroom into the private office where Valles was at -play with the girl! - -"El Matador himself had warned me, 'Let no man pass!' But when I had -picked myself out of the corner and followed in, there he stood in front -of Valles, who had dropped the girl and leaped to his feet. Surprise and -fear showed on his face--the fear of bullet, knife, and poison that dogs -him everywhere. But it changed at once to a grin--the terrible grin his -people fear. His glance at me said, 'Stay!' and as I stood, waiting in -fear and trembling, he spoke with a voice that cut like a knife. - -"'It is my amigo, the senor Benson.' - -"Senor, I have seen his generals tremble when he spoke like that. Even -el Matador, tiger that he is, would slink before him like a whipped cat. -For all the pesos in all the world I would not have taken his place. Yet -that great Englishman stood before him solid and square as a stone; -answered with a voice of a hacendado in speech with a _peon_. - -"'I came to tell you, Valles'--just like that he spoke, senor, without -even a 'my general'--'I came to tell you that I do not take my answers -from secretaries. The offer I made you this morning was fair and square -and good business for both of us. It deserved more than a threat of -'requisitions.' You'll never get my horses that way--if I have to cut -their throats. If you want them, say so--yes or no.' - -"He got it, the 'no,' quick and hard. Then the great anger that was in -him burst forth like a river in flood. Like bear and tiger they -quarreled, the senor threatening Valles with the power and vengeance of -his government, Valles snarling defiance, their passions feeding each -other as brands burn together in a fire. - -"One other thing, and you will have a picture of it, senor--the two at -their furious talk, the girl against the wall behind Valles, one hand -held out, fear in her great eyes, and a fourth; for as they wrangled -there came a stir behind me. So quietly that I, whom he touched in -passing, did not hear, el Matador came into the room. One second he -stood, watching them from narrow eyes, then, slowly and quietly as a -snake slipping through grass, he drew up behind the senor. I have shot -men in this war. At home in Las Bocas I have drawn the knife in passion. -But the cold glittering of his eyes, slow snake crawl, chilled the blood -of me. - -"He had gained knifing distance when the senor roared in disgust. 'Bah! -Why do I waste words on a _peon_? My general, is it? I have had such -generals whipped on my place! General? A bandit _peon_ who steals horses -in place of the chickens with which he began his thieveries!' - -"'Bandit _peon_? Stealer of chickens?' This, senor, to Valles that had -killed a hundred men with his own hand before the wars ever began? The -yellow eyes of him seemed to leap out of his face. At the sight of him, -frothing like a mad tiger in lust to kill, the girl screamed, hiding her -face! At his belt hung pearl-jeweled pistols, the best of their kind. -But with the instinct of his old trade the hand of the butcher flew to -his knife. - -"They say that the senor tried to kill him. It is a lie! Even when the -knife flashed in his eyes he still stood at his distance, shaking his -big fist, growling his threats, angry but unafraid; so big, strong, -masterful, that Valles, even in his fury, hesitated. But not el Matador! -Looking back as she ran out of the room, the girl saw as I saw; screamed -aloud as the knife passed, once! twice! with a hiss and 'heigh! -splitting the backbone, piercing the heart." - -With that strong sense of the dramatic which makes the _peon_ a born -story-teller he stopped. For a moment the flash of a match lifted the -brown, hard face from the gloom under a tattered _sombrero_, lighting -the faded red of his blanket serape. Then they faded again into a dim, -huddled figure that swayed with the rack and swing of the cars. - -Bull had unconsciously suspended his breath. Now it expired in a sigh. -"His disposal. Know you aught of that?" - -The shrug quivered again in the darkness. "There is little more that I -saw. Across the body el Matador looked at me, and I chilled with the -sure knowledge that I should never see my ninas again. He even stepped, -then Valles spoke. - -"'This is a good hombre. He will help thee with--that!' He followed the -girl into the next room. - -"Between us, el Matador and I, we rolled the senor in serapes, binding -them with cords so that the face should not be seen by them that carried -him out to the secret place; and it was then that he spoke of my -captaincy. - -"'Go now to thy quarters, senor.' He clapped me on both shoulders. 'And -dream of the stars the morning sun will see flashing here.' - -"But lest I sleep too well, senor, I came from the cuartel here." - -For a full minute, while Bull chewed the bitter cud of remorse, the cars -racked on through the night. Then he spoke. "There is one in El Oro, the -consul Ingles, that would have given many pesos--not the currency of -Valles, but real pesos of silver and gold--for thee to set thy name to -this!" - -"Si!" His cigarette glowed in the midst of a shrug. "Of what use pesos, -even silver and gold, when the sight is darkened and the mouth shut? -When one may no longer see the ninas at play, watch the dancing of -girls? When the taste of good food is gone from the mouth, the feel of -warm liquor from the throat? He that betrays Valles will have no more -use of these." - -"But in El Paso," Bull urged, "one would be beyond the reach of his -hand. There, also, is a consul Ingles." - -"One's pais? The rise and set of sun across the desert beyond Las Bocas; -the chatter of the women at their washing by the stream; the soft -laughter of girls; one's children watching at dusk for the return--these -are not to be bought with pesos. One's pais is one's pais. To it one -always returns." - -"Si," Bull acknowledged the call, the most powerful in the feeling of a -Mexican. "But from El Paso one could go by the ferrocarril Americano. In -one day he could cross from El Paso to Nogales, thence south to Las -Bocas and live in plenty beyond the reach of Valles. And one's woman and -ninas--would smile the sweeter at the sight of a bulging pocket." - -The cigarette glowed again, this time without the shrug. "There is -something in that. Si, senor, I will do it!--go to the consul Ingles in -El Paso." - -Just then the Chinaman called for Bull to come down to supper. He was -not hungry, but he had food handed up for the man, who, after eating it, -rolled up in his serape and went to sleep. Then, while he snored and the -train racked slowly along the chain of fires, each a station that lay -like red beads on the desert's dark breast, Bull lay suffering agonies -of shame and remorse that grew more vivid as the miles lessened between -him and home. - -It was long after midnight before he fell into troubled sleep. When he -woke, at gray dawn, the revolutionist was gone. - -"Homesick and scared out!" Bull shrugged--and what did it matter? That -which was done was done! - -Nor was he the only deserter. All through the night the train had -dribbled away its evil freight in trickles that would spread through the -land till it was inundated with a flood of carnage, robbery, rape. Of -the clustering brown swarm on the roof there remained only a few dozens -scattered in heavy sleep throughout the train's length. - -Across the brightening east the mountains now laid a familiar pattern. -Beyond--the _patio_ and compound of Los Arboles were lying still and -gray under the dawn. Bull saw, with the distinctness of vision, the -sheet across Lee's doorway quiver under the breath of dawn. Then it -faded, gave place to the Mills _rancho_, equally still, equally silent; -its warm gold walls pale gray, the clustering bougainvilleas dark as -clotted blood. - -That feeling analogous to the chill of death which envelops a sleeping -house held him in thrall. While he gazed, there appeared on the veranda -the familiar vision. But he shut it out, tightly closing the eyes of his -mind. He turned his face to a dark dot, walls of the burned station, -that appeared to be moving toward him across the desert's grays. -Climbing down over the end, he passed through the Chinaman's kitchen -into the car. - -It was still dusk in there, but he could hear the deep breathing of -correspondents, sleeping heavily after the exhaustion of the hot night. -Quietly he gathered his belongings, had shoved open the door -sufficiently to pass out, when a whisper came from behind: - -"Adios, Diogenes!" - -Turning, he saw the correspondent leaning out of his bunk. - -"Don't take that little slip too seriously, old man," he whispered as -they shook hands. "Try again. If it wasn't for this"--he tapped his -knee--"I'd have helped you to get out your girl. But you'll make it all -right. Only don't dally. There's going to be hell to pay." - -The engine was whistling for the station. Though it did not stop, Bull -jumped and, if a bit shaken, landed unhurt. He was watching the train -recede, his hand still tingling, heart warmed by the strong pressure of -his friend's hand, when his name was called. - -"It is you, senor Perrin?" - -Drowsy and heavy-eyed from lost sleep, the Mexican agent stood in the -doorway of his box-car station. Anxiety and fear shadowed his face. - -"Wicked times, senor. Up and down the line they are robbing and -murdering, Valles's defeated soldados. Many gringos have been slain. -Early in the night a company of fifty dropped off here and are gone, mad -with hate, to loot the gringo haciendas." - -Appalled, Bull stared at the distant mountains. - - - - -XXXIV: ---------------------? - - -Left alone on the trail, Gordon suffered his own agonies--the poignant -anguishes of youth unmitigated by the fatalism or philosophy of -experience. Time and again his spirit rose in furious rebellion against -the frightful injustice of fate. Eyes starting with the strain, sweat -pouring from his brow, he rolled in successive paroxysms, vainly -striving to burst his bonds--only to subside each time into a coma of -utter despair. Then, as the very violence of his exertions cleared the -blood from his brain, he did that which an older head would have done at -first--lay still and began to think. - -How to get loose! There must be some way! He had once seen a prisoner in -a "movie" burn off his bonds with a fire of hay started by the coals -from his pipe. But if it were possible--outside of a "movie"--where were -the hay and pipe? An attempt to cut the _riata_ by abrasion on a stone -behind him produced only a sore on his wrists. Yet there must be some -way! If he could only loosen them by flexing and reflexing his muscles! -He stopped thinking, at this point, and lay staring downhill. - -His struggles had carried him to within a few feet of the dead -revolutionist. Before leaving, his followers had looted the body of its -guns, bandolier of cartridges, but had left the belt. Under the body -Gordon now caught a glimpse of his knife. - -To roll downhill was simple. With his butting shoulders, it was no trick -to move the body till the knife came up into position where he could -draw it with his teeth. But thereafter--a knife in the teeth could not -be used to free hands bound behind one's back! - -He looked about him. The problem was simple. If the knife could be held -firmly so that he could turn and rub the wrist-cords against the edge. -Presently his eye lit on the stump of a _palo verde_ that had been -bruised and split off by the slip of some passing beast. Working his way -over to it, he bent and carefully placed the horn handle in the split, -edge up, point resting at an angle of forty-five on the ground. Then, -shuffling around, he felt delicately till the razor edge came squarely -between his wrists. Very lightly, in mortal dread of a miscarriage, he -sawed, sawed, sawed until his hands suddenly split apart. One slash at -his ankles and he was upon his feet. - -His first thought was to run, wildly, madly, after Lee. Then his usual -good judgment resumed command. The revolutionists were mounted and had -an hour's start! He must have a horse! And with the thought there rose a -mental picture of the _arriero_ they had seen at the _fonda_. - -A general freighter, the fellow often brought cordwood and charcoal from -the mountains into Los Arboles, and in seasons of sickness and want Lee -had helped him and his family out. Undoubtedly he would be willing to -help. - -He started running up the steep and backward along the trail, and now -the fates relented and threw a piece of big luck in his way. For as he -came swinging along the flank of the mountain, a tinkle of bells rose -out of the canon; a black head shoved up from below; urged on by the -_arriero's_ sharp hisses and driving curses, three mules came scrambling -up out on the level. - -The sight of a man, breathless, dusty, and disheveled, running at top -speed with a naked knife in his hand, meant to the _arriero_ only one -thing. The celerity with which, slipping from the saddle, he trained his -rifle across the animal's back showed how he came to be still riding the -trails when mule-trains had been swept away by raids and "requisitions." -As he had seen Lee pass the _fonda_ with Gordon, one word, -"revolutionists," fully explained the situation, and though Gordon got -only about a third of his voluble Spanish, it was easy to understand his -clucks of commiseration. - -"Carried off! Tut! tut! tut! She that was so kind to the poor! supplied -remedies to my own ninas when they fell ill of a fever! Josefina will -cry her eyes out over this!" - -Neither did he stop with idle sympathy. While talking he pulled the -hitches and with one shove sent a cargo of pottery on his likeliest mule -crashing to the ground. Then, while hastily rigging a saddle out of -serapes and cord, he filled the air with crackling Spanish, larding his -questions with frightful oaths. - -"How many were they, senor? Six? And you shot one. Bueno! bueno! That -leaves us but two and a half apiece. Would that I might gut them all -with one flick of my knife! Take thou this." - -It was an old Colt with a barrel a foot long. Motioning to his own -riding-mule, he ran on: - -"You shall ride her, senor, for she is easier in her gait than the boats -of the sea. Some there are that will tip the nose at a mule for riding. -But in the mountains they will travel three miles to a horse's two. An -hour's start have they? Then by shoving hard we should come on them in -five, or less if they camp at dark." - -He had now finished his saddling. A stream of hisses plus a few pistol -cracks of his long mule-whip sent the remaining animals scampering back -down the ravine to the lush grass by the _fonda_, where old Antonio -would care for them. Then, springing up on the mule, he sat, rifle -across his arm, saddle _machete_ and knife close to his hand, black eyes -glittering under his _sombrero_, a wild, dangerous, bandit figure, ready -for the start. - -Thus, mounted on a mule instead of the gallant steed of fiction, did -Gordon go in pursuit. But that which the animal lacked in looks it made -up in utility. Justifying its owner's boast, it navigated steeps, slid -down into canons sure-footed as a goat, crawled like a fly up the -opposite walls, moved forward on the levels at a swift, easy, rocking -pace. To the eye of the great, scarlet-crested vulture, sailing on free -wing half a mile above, pursued and pursuers appeared as dust clouds, -now rising from the deep trough between two great earth waves, again -hovering like smoke on the crest of a hill. But by the bird it would -easily have been seen that as the hours slid by the second gained -steadily upon the first. - -Fast as the little beasts traveled, however, their pace appeared like an -insect's crawl when measured by Gordon's fears. Action, at first, -brought relief. Later he fell again a prey to anguish. The threat of the -revolutionists filled him with horror through which, as in a dreadful -nightmare, he saw Lee struggling frantically. Of Ramon he never even -thought. It was always the men. Yet he managed to hold himself in hand; -refrained from lashing the mule into the furious pace that would, while -killing it, have still lagged far behind his fears. - -And he had always at his side the _arriero_, with his repeated, "Do not -trouble, senor; they will keep traveling till dark!" to cheer him. - -The latter's sharp glance it was that picked out the sign where the -revolutionists had swung on to the San Carlos trail. His hawk eyes -found, just before sundown, dust rising like yellow smoke on the -opposite hills. When darkness covered the tossing earth with its solemn -veil it was he, again, that saw the first flare when the revolutionists' -fire blossomed like a red rose in the black heart of a valley. Lastly, -it was his knowledge of the country that made it possible for them, -after tying the mules at a safe distance, to crawl up until, gently -shoving the bushes aside, Gordon looked out and saw under the red light -of the fire the revolutionists at their gambling and Lee seated beside -Ramon. - -"One to me, little one," Ilarian's bellow just then rang out. "Be not -impatient. Soon we shall take a little pasear together." - -At the sight of Ramon, the _arriero's_ brows had gone up under the roots -of his hair, for, had he wished it, Gordon's Spanish would not have -permitted a full explanation. Now he touched Gordon, pointing. Nodding, -he nipped off a few leaves, then leveled the long Colt, aiming at the -nearest man. A glance to his right showed him the _arriero_ slowly -shoving his rifle-barrel through the leaves. Then, turning again to his -aim, he was just in time to see Lee slash Ramon's bonds. - -The next instant the latter sprang for the rifles. Lee was up and -standing almost in line with the man he had covered. He dared not shoot, -and in the next five seconds, before they could readjust themselves to -the rapid change, the situation had flashed into its final stage--Ramon -had fallen with one revolutionist; the others were rushing at Lee across -the firelit space. - -By that time Gordon had risen. As, standing, he fired from the edge of -the wood a second man fell forward upon his face. The _arriero's_ rifle -cracked sharply, and there remained only Ilarian. Swinging with Lee, -still in his arms, he faced Gordon charging across the firelit space. - -Usually Gordon could be depended upon to keep his head. But Lee's bitter -cry, the sight of her helplessness, combined with the awful strain of -the afternoon, produced in him a berserker rage. Teeth bared in a snarl, -his gun completely forgotten, he seized Ilarian with his naked hands -just as he dropped Lee; threw him with such violence that his feet rose -in the air and he struck shoulders first on the ground. Then, without -even a second glance, he lifted and gathered Lee in his arms. - -Fortunately, the _arriero_ not only kept his wits, but was working them -overtime. As, rolling over, Ilarian pulled and pointed his gun the -_arriero's_ second bullet plumped between his shoulders. - -It is doubtful whether Gordon heard the shot. His face in Lee's hair, -hers hidden in his breast, they remained without looking around even -when the _arriero_ spoke. - -"Warm work, senor!" - -Receiving no answer, he grinned and gently tapped the side of his nose. -"They are all that way--at first," he confided in the stars. "But wait -till the priest ties them so that neither can wriggle without the other. -Wait!" - -A cough also passing unnoticed, he walked over and knelt beside Ramon. -With a heavy shake of the head, he passed to the revolutionists. Three -were dead, but, though unconscious, Ilarian still breathed stertorously. - -"The worse for thee, amigo," the _arriero_ addressed him. "The old senor -Icarza will pay well to do thy killing with his own hands. By sunrise, -manana, I should have thee to him, and then"--he gave a little sinister -nod at the dead--"and then thou wilt be envying these." - -A glance at the lovers having shown them to be, to all intents and -purposes, still alone under the stars, he went off, shaking his head, to -bring up the mules. "Santa Maria Marisima! to think that I, also, was -once so foolish!" - -On his return he gathered up the arms, belts, knives, bandoliers of -cartridges, guns--it has to be written, also stripping the khaki coats -and riding-boots from the dead. "They will serve thee no more after the -old senor finishes," he addressed the unconscious Ilarian, as he tore -off his. - -While he was packing his loot in an orderly and methodical manner on the -mules a murmur of talk rose behind him. But as it was couched in English -he was saved from further reflections. - -"Oh--_dear!_" Lee's exclamations, partially smothered in a rough and -dirty shirt, still conveyed a curious mixture of confidence and fear, -regret, relief, sorrow, and happiness, hope and doubt. "Oh--_dear!_ I -used to be so independent and fearless. Now--I feel so weak." - -"Time you did." A hug mitigated the severity of the comment. "After this -perhaps you will let me do a little of your thinking?" - -"For a while." The shirt choked a little, perverse laugh. "Till I get -over it." - -"Very well, we are going on, right now, to be married in San Carlos." - -"Oh, but--" - -"No 'buts.' We'll take no more chances." - -She hesitated and--gave in. "Oh, isn't it nice to have some one decide -for you?" - -Had the _arriero_ been consulted he could have told a tale. But Gordon -quite believed it. He was raising her face to his when her eyes -distended with a sudden sorrow. - -"Oh, poor Ramon! Whatever are we thinking of?" - -Shocked at her own thoughtlessness, she turned. But the _arriero_ had -finished his packing, now stood beside Ramon. His shake of the head sent -her back into Gordon's arms, and as she sobbed on his shoulder the -_arriero_ took affairs into his own capable hands. - -"I shall take him home to the old senor, with this wicked one, and tell -him that he died in defense of thee." - -With the most careful planning, it could not have been managed better. -"They will never--know," she sobbed, more quietly. "And--at the end--he -was sorry." - - - - -XXXV: WHY? - - -While Bull stood on gaze at the distant mountains he shook with the -chill of a great fear. His question issued in a whisper so low and husky -that the agent took the meaning from his gesture toward the hills. - -"The bandits moved toward the senor Lovell's." He answered. "Praise the -saints! the senoritas are both in El Paso." - -"Then they'll go straight on to Mary's!" The last vestige of color -drained from Bull's face. - -Leaping the intervening mountains, imagination showed him that trickle -of foul humanity dribbling down upon the _rancho_. He saw Mary Mills on -the veranda, Betty pressed to her side. But in place of the hope and -trust of his previous visions pale horror sat on her face. Obliterating -the sweet wholesomeness that surrounded her like an aura, the dirty -dribble swept around her and the child. - -He turned to the agent. "My horse? Did they get him?" - -"No, senor, I had my mozo drive all the beasts into the chaparral." He -pointed eastward. "Come!" - -Half an hour later the _mozo_ shoved a shock head out of the chaparral -in answer to the agent's whistle, and five minutes thereafter Bull was -on trail, riding hard through a dread nightmare, insensible to the glare -of the sun, suffocating heat, conscious only of the terrors that coursed -through his mind. - -In these dread visions Lee had no part. She had Gordon and Sliver and -Jake! His fear centered on Mary Mills and her child. Often, in sudden -agony, he would dig in the spurs and rowel his beast into a mad gallop. -But always his better judgment checked the mad impulse. Reining in, he -would proceed at a gait that would keep the animal running to the end. -At least, he so rode until, passing into the grass country that -afternoon, he saw a tall smoke column rising on the shoulder of a -mountain ahead. - -He recognized it at once for one of the smoke signals arranged by Benson -to spread the news of a raid, and as he saw that it rose in direct line -with the widow's _rancho_ his fears crystallized around its slender -column. Beyond peradventure, the place had been attacked. Jaws clenched -till the bones stood out white through the flesh, black brows bent in -bitter desperation, he urged on his frothing beast. - - -Whether he came in from Los Arboles or the railroad, distance always -timed Bull's arrival at the _rancho_ with the lowering of the sun. As he -urged his jaded beast at a shambling trot over the last rise his shadow -lay long and black on the rich apricot glow of the slope. Long ago the -ominous cloud had died on the mountain's high shoulder; but, more -ominous still, a lighter column had risen in the foreground. Though -prepared, a hoarse sob unlocked his set jaws as he came in sight of the -place. - -The externals were the same--crimson and gold mountains encircling tawny -pastures. At this hour the widow's cattle were usually to be seen -forging slowly homeward across the sun-fired slopes. But now--in all the -wide prospect occurred no sign of man or beast. Swept of all life, -lonely and desolate, it ran off and away to the hills. - -The house? Instinctively Bull swept his hand across his eyes. But the -evil vision remained. In place of the bougainvillea draping all with -purple clusters, a shriveled black lace hung around the windows that -stared with fiery eyes from blackened walls. In agony of spirit that -shook him with tremblings more severe than those on the tired horse, -Bull rode on down the slope. Approaching, he caught first the crackle -and murmur of the flames that still leaped within the seared walls, then -a low wailing mixed with a feverish mutter of prayer. - -A wild rush of hope swept his being--to die the next moment when, -rounding the corner, he saw Terrubio's woman. On her knees, hands raised -in supplication, she was so absorbed in her prayers that she did not see -or heed him till he laid his hand on her shoulder. - -She did not start. Slowly, with the deliberation of a being shocked -beyond emotion, she turned her head and looked up in Bull's face. Though -she was still under thirty, hers had been the quick withering that -follows the early ripening of tropical countries. There was left only -the lingering beauty of great Spanish eyes; and in their depths, half -vacant, half wild, Bull saw, as in some brown pool, flitting reflections -of the horrors in his own mind. Lips moving without sound, she stared at -him for some seconds, then, suddenly clasping his knees, burst into a -passion of tears. - -At any other time Bull's dominant racial contempt would have caused him -to spurn her. Stooping now, he gently patted her head. Wise in his -sorrow, he waited for the passing of the first convulsion. - -"Aie!... Aie!" Soon she began to speak. "Aie! the poor senora ... and -the nina ... where were they? The mercy of God? Pity of the Virgin? Aie! -Aie! where were they?" - -A second convulsion choked her utterance, and once again Bull waited -with the patience of absolute despair; left her, as he had left the man -on the train, to tell the tale in her own way. - -"They came in from all sides, senor." Her hands swept the round of the -hills. "Only the old man, my father, that was out with the herds, -escaped. He it was who sent up the smoke from the mountains. The senora -was at breakfast with the nina in the patio when Terrubio, my man, came -running from the stables with the brown wolves hard on his heels. White -as the petals of the flower at her throat she was with her great fear. -But she shook it off, senor, went forward to meet them with smiles and -greetings. They must be hungry and tired! If they would rest for a while -she would serve them with her own hands! And she had the child speak to -them, trusting that her white youth might move in them some stir of -pity. Aie! Pity! The pity of the tiger for the lamb it holds between its -paws! Si, a white ewe in the midst of a ravening pack, she stood beating -them off with her smiles. - -"'Enter, senores, and be seated. Food shall be brought you at once.' -Thus she spoke them. - -"Because it served their wickedness, they swarmed in, that scum of -beasts, into the sala, the kitchen, swarmed through the house, till it -reeked with their evil presence. - -"At first they held some order. Not at once, even by their kind, are the -sanctities to be destroyed. In the days that Don Porfirio held them in -place a white woman was as high above them as the angels of light, so -their tradition held them for a little while. Their first awe, however, -soon became as a whet to their evil appetites. From rough jokes, bad -talk, they proceeded to worse--entered her bedroom and the child's, -broke open the locked drawers, looted and handled their clothing. - -"For that she did not care--not for anything, could she but keep the -child from their hands. To have her out of their sight, she left her -with me in my kitchen when she herself carried the food and waited upon -them. - -"'Get Betty away!' she had whispered to me. But the bandits had seen to -that. Two of them sat at my kitchen door eating while they kept guard. - -"Still she had hope--that, being fed and flattered and pleased with -their plunder, they would ride on their way. Even when, as she came and -went among them, they began to pluck at her with little pats and -pinches, she still clung to the hope; held them off as she could with -smiling reproof. But, beasts as they were, they took their bread from -her hand, and then--and then--how shall one tell it? - -"They demanded that the senorita Betty be brought in to wait on them. At -first they took the food she brought, patted her on the back, called her -'Linda' and other pet names. But soon they began to torment her also. At -last one beast pulled her on to his knee. - -"To me, in the kitchen, came the child's scream and the senora's bitter -cry. 'For the sake of your mothers, senores!' followed by the crash of -furniture, smash of crockery swept to the floor. - -"At the cry I ran to the doorway and saw Terrubio, my man, rush in at -the opposite door. The face of him was torn with the fury of hell! One! -Two! Three! He split their hearts with his knife, before he also went -down under a saber stroke and was hacked to bits as he lay on the -ground. From the meat-block I had snatched my fleshing knife. But as I -gained the doorway the guards took me from behind and threw me backward -upon the floor. As I lay there, fighting with both of them, the screams -of the child, desperate moaning of the mother, rang in my ears! Mercy of -God! Pity of the Virgin! Where were they? Where were they?" - -Covering her ears, as though to shut out the dreadful echoes, she -cowered at Bull's feet while shudder after shudder shook her frame. - -"Go on!" He stooped and shook her violently. "Go on!" - -She looked up, the tears streaming from her eyes. "I was wrong, senor. -One mercy was granted--death! They murdered them ... murdered them! -Angered by the death of their own men, they murdered them--the innocent -woman, sweet child!" - -"Yet you--escaped?" - -"Si. The two had left me for dead in the kitchen, and the fire was -almost upon me when I gained strength to rise and stagger out. Then, -they were gone--gone like the wolves that sneak into the forest after -they have slain the white heifer of the plains." - -Turning, Bull walked blindly to his horse and dropped his face on his -arms, propped upon the saddle. While he stood, trembling in every limb, -blind struggle filled his mind. - -The Mercy of God? Pity of the Virgin? Indeed, where were they? Where, in -a universe ruled by a just God, could one find justification for this -horror? "The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children to -the fourth generation," says the old Law; but where in Mary Mills's -blameless ancestry, where in their long line of honest merchants and -farmers, could one find the fault that demanded this terrible atonement? -And she--who had given forth only kindness, charity, mercy, throughout -her life? And Betty, spotless in her innocence as her new-born soul? -Where could one find the fault which called for their desecration? - -Not in these clear terms did Bull's thought run. Blind anguish kept him -straining as in the throes of a violent nausea. He did not think, he -felt--felt the frightful injustice beyond the explanation of any -doctrine; and, feeling, his whole being rose in revolt against it. - -While he stood, face buried in his arms, there forced upon his -consciousness a sound that rose above the woman's sobbing--the dry -murmur of the flames. Strange to say, it brought him a certain comfort. -They were gone, that pleasant, wholesome woman, sweet child, gone -forever beyond the blank wall that rises between the quick and the dead! -Surely they were gone! Yet--the corruption of the tomb, mold of the -grave, would never touch their flesh. Through the clean, white flames -they had passed into the original elements; and, wild man of the plains -that he was, born of free spaces, wide deserts, clean winds, he took -comfort in the thought. - -Next, intensifying, yet soothing his poignant anguish, there floated in -upon him a vision of the soft beauty of that last night. Again he saw -through the gloaming the infinite loneliness reflected in Mary Mills's -face. Again its dim whiteness turned toward him in the dusk. Like a -timid dove he saw her hand come fluttering into his. Then--with deep -thankfulness he realized it--now she would never know! never know how -far he had fallen below his resolves. - -Not for her, now, the pain of listening to his confession. His own did -enter into his thoughts. All that he had suffered, was now suffering, -was as naught. No anguish, physical or mental, could atone in his own -sight for his fall. If he could have restored her and the child as they -were yesterday, to go forward with a worthier man to happier destinies, -he would have done it, then turned and gone on his own dark and solitary -way. But that was impossible, and, being impossible, he hugged to his -breast the thought--now she would never know! - -From this his mind turned again in a dull way to the question, "Why?" He -had no skill in the philosophy of words. The doctrine that evil is -merely good out of place, that the ferocity which had brought this -terrible thing to pass had origin under the power that set the stars in -their courses, the suns on their ways, would never have appealed to him. -His mind turned to a nearer cause, and found it in what clearer minds -than his denounced as the slack policies of a government that had -utterly failed in its duties to its own--the government that, with the -purblindness of the mole, had intrigued with bandits, played fast and -loose with the fates, crowned its follies by permitting a barbaric -people to attempt the impossible task of guiding its own destinies. - -Raising his head, he turned his face of dark despair to the northward. -Then, with the truth of a simple vision that is not to be blinded by -diplomatic sophistries, with power beyond the wildest raving, his stern -nod placed the responsibility where he believed it belonged--across the -Rio Grande. - -"You done it!" His homely phraseology increased rather than lessened the -force of his indictment. "Yes, _you_ done it!" - -The woman had fallen again to her praying. Her mutter drew his -attention. Even in that moment of dire distress racial feeling was still -forceful enough to halt an impulse to kneel at her side. Instead he -knelt in mind. Head bowed, he stood beside her, a silent partner to -supplications which his keen sense of unworth prevented him from -sharing. - -When she broke into a second wild frenzy of cursing, arms raised to the -sky, he turned and walked away, his face set toward the mountains--and -revenge. - - - - -XXXVI: "IN THE MIDST OF LIFE--" - - -Out of the midst of these terrors and alarms, through the tragic night -that was sweeping over the land, broke a solitary beam of light, gleam -of romance that was destined to burn brightly for two love-illumined -days before obscured by gathering dangers. - -Just about the time that Bull, with the wounded correspondent in his -arms, was swept along the mad battle rout, Gordon and Lee reined in -their beasts and looked back and down on the little town of San Carlos -nestling in a valley below. Sequestered in the hills, far from the -railroad along which the red tides of revolution ebbed and flowed, it -had so far escaped the prevailing destruction. Its painted adobes glowed -like a great opal within the setting of warm-brown hills, as happy a -picture as bride and groom ever gazed upon, for, helped out by the wise -counsel of Lee's good friends, the _jefe_ and priest, Gordon had -prevailed. - -"These wicked days a young girl may not expect to hold her own," the -priest had advised. "Los Arboles needs a man's hardness." - -To which the _jefe_ had added his little joke, "Managing thee, nina, -will not be his lightest work." - -No doubt, because Cupid rides like a mad racer through the sunny lands, -taking bolts and bars, duennas and like obstacles in his stride, Mexican -law gives him pause at the last; places the bars so high that the -wildest of lovers must needs take breath. Ordinarily two weeks would -have been required to fulfil the forms; but where both law and church -are on Cupid's side--well, there is no country on earth where his -business receives greater despatch. Accordingly, from the church that -shoved its square gold tower out of the rainbow mass of the town Lee and -Gordon had ridden away, man and wife, an hour ago, to honeymoon, -according to her plan, in the great bowl of the mountain pastures. - -Now, as she looked back, a certain wistfulness crept into the girl's -expression; a shadow slight yet sufficient to attract Gordon's notice. -Working his beast alongside, he laid his arm across her shoulder. - -"I was thinking of the girl I left down there." She expressed the -feeling common to new-made wives in looking back on the place where they -have left their girlhood. "She meant well, but--was _so_ foolish. I was -just wondering if--if--" - -"Lee Nevil will be different from Lee Carleton." He helped her out. "If -she isn't the same contrary little tyrant that gave me my first taste of -heaven"--he paused, grinning--"and hell--" - -"You didn't make _me_ suffer, of course!" She flashed up in quite the -old manner. "The way you carried on with that _dreadful_ girl. But there -goes Lee Carleton again! and after the lecture I gave her this morning. -Yes, sir, I awoke her at dawn and gave her a real good talking to. -Henceforth she is to be kind and quiet and sympathetic, and never lose -her temper and--What are you laughing at? Don't you _want_ me to -reform?" - -"There! there!" Her distress was genuine, and he repressed a second -laugh. "If I thought there was the slightest chance of it, I'd--I'd -march you straight down the hill again and have the padre say the -service backward." Quite illogically he went on: "I, too, had a serious -hour with myself. I made up my mind--" - -He got no further, because of the small hand that closed his mouth. "Not -to change? Don't dare to say it!" - -Perhaps her alarm rooted in the age-long experience of woman that change -is the law for man. At any rate, she fought the very suggestion. - -"You won't, will you?" - -He assured her, of course, that he wouldn't--and believed it, no doubt. -So, this mighty business settled, each being duly bound to the other to -remain as they were and attempt no reforms, however well intended, they -turned their bright faces to the future; rode on, planning as they went -with the brilliant optimism of youth. While the dusty miles slid -underneath and the trail heaved them up and down over the mountains and -valleys, they built up and tore down and reconstructed. By the time, -midway of the afternoon, they looked down from the plateau into the -mountain pastures they had settled the revolution, placed the country on -a basis of peace from which it should never be moved thereafter. - -In this, the dry season, the giant bowl of jade was transmuted by -sun-scorched grasses into living amber bisected by a thin, green veining -along the stream. From its rim the trail dropped like a yellow snake in -many convolutions as it fell down, down, down into the chaparral. It -looked, and was, dangerous. A stone dislodged by Gordon's beast dropped -hundreds of feet sheer, then rebounded and plunged forward on a still -longer leap. Following its staircase windings, they had under their eyes -Pedro's _jacal_ in its little garden, splashed now with the vermilion of -ripening peppers. A white patch presently resolved into the _camisa_ and -_calzones_ of Pedro himself, and as they reined in at his door the old -fellow came out of the garden, his wrinkles and pouches drawn into a -welcoming grin. - -"He's really part of the scenery"--Lee communed aloud with -herself--"almost as much as that old dead tree. We might let him stay. -But, no!" She shook her head. "I don't want any human being here but -ourselves. Oh, I know! We'll send him in to Los Arboles with a note to -Sliver and Jake." - -Neither would she--after Pedro had saddled up and departed, have any -commerce with the _jacal_. "It isn't that it's dirty. Old Pedro is as -clean in his habits as any white man, and quite fussy over his -housekeeping. But it has been lived in. We'll camp by the stream at the -far end of the valley." - -She did borrow a few clay drinking and cooking bowls; also appropriated -a savory stew of _frijoles_ which Pedro had ready for supper, adding it -to the supplies they had brought from San Carlos. On his part Gordon -commandeered an old shot-gun. - -"What for?" Though he laughed, repeating her question, the glow in his -eye proved him at one with her in spirit. "To kill the meat for our -first meal, Mrs. Stone-Hatchet. Also protect you against the attack of -any saber-toothed tiger or dinosaurus that may be roaming at night in -this neck of the woods." - -"That will be fine!" Her hands being full of clay dishes, she could not -clap them; but her shining eyes supplied the applause. "The wood at the -end of the valley is alive with wild pigeon. They're just lovely broiled -over hot coals." - -"Broiled over hot coals?" he teased her. "Wild doves, the symbol of -love? What desecration!" - -"I don't care," she pouted. "One has to eat--and they're awfully good." - -Nevertheless, after they had pitched camp where the stream plunged down -a small rapid into a long, still pool, he shouldered the gun and went -after wild pigeon without compunction. - -After he departed she looked around and took a deep breath. - -It was all as it should be. In anticipation of their coming, a great oak -had spread a leafy carpet under its wide branches. It required only to -gather them and spread their serapes to form the softest of couches. -First she brought water and built a fire; then, after a shy glance -around, she followed down-stream to a spot where the pool curved into a -natural arbor of alders. When Gordon returned, half an hour later, with -a half-dozen pigeons he found her all red and rosy from her swim. - -"Your turn, Dirty Man," she rallied him. "Go and take your bath." - -When he came back she had the pigeons plucked and spitted on willow -wands. While he broiled them over hot coals she made the coffee and -served the _frijoles_ on golden husks of corn from Pedro's garden. -Nature supplied the other utensils--fingers for forks, their sharp young -teeth for knives, bits of _tortilla_ to scoop up the stew. Both in its -preparation and when, sitting side by side, they ate this, the first -meal of their wedded life, they were very quiet, lived in a dream; a -dream too happy for speech, in which the message of eye to eye was all -sufficient. There was little clearing away to do, but when he essayed to -help she took him by the shoulders and made him sit down. - -"Like a good hunter, you provided the meat. This is _my_ work. You can -watch and smoke." - -Fishing his papers and sack out of his shirt pocket, she rolled him a -cigarette with dexterity that demanded explanation. - -"I used to do it for my father. Not that I haven't tried." The -confession was nullified by a little sigh. "But it always makes me sick. -You don't know how I envy Maria and Teresa!" Lighting it, she took a -couple of small puffs, then passed it on. "I always tried to get Bull -and the boys to smoke in the house, but they seemed to prefer their own -quarters. I liked it even as a child. I would curl up in my father's den -and watch the smoke from his pipe while he read or wrote. Once, when he -went away for some weeks on a hard trip without me, I used to go into -his room and bury my face in his old smoking-jacket; it smelled so -tobaccery and strong and--_manny_. It gave me the oddest sense of -comfort and protection." - -Unconsciously, she had touched on the most powerful motive of sex, the -attraction of opposite qualities; the same that drew his gaze when, -rolling her sleeves above dimpled elbows, she began cleansing the few -utensils. He watched the fluttering small hands that invested even a -squat and grimy coffee-pot with esthetic values; the graceful bend of -the fair head as she peered into its depths to make sure it was really -clean; the soft flexures of her waist; the ease with which she rose or -relaxed like a small girl-child on widespread knees. Lastly, most -powerful of all, a certain shy quiet, the more noticeable because so -entirely different from her usual confidence. Her smile, catching his -eye, had a new grace, was set in flooding color. When, after cleansing -her hands at the stream, she came and stood looking down at the fire, he -rose with sympathetic understanding, holding out his hands. - -She came on a little run and thereafter--it was as she had wished it in -her girl's dreams--as far as dawn and dark from the conventional -marriage. Here only the ancient law prevailed--the law older than -theologies, custom, judicial sanctions, and the blessings of the church. -In the bubble and chatter of the stream through its worn brown boulders, -in the whisper of the wind among the grasses, in the lazy drift of pink -cloud toward the sunset behind the rim, in bird call and the evening -song of the insects, its sanctions were recited. - -In their absorption in each other, blind belief in the goodness of all -things, they were, no doubt, a scoff for the misogynist, spectacle for a -cynic. A scoff in their utter ignorance of the fact that all this glory, -supreme bliss, was merely an illusion, a rainbow mirage spread by Nature -to lure her human creatures on to perpetuate themselves in a world of -pain! A spectacle in their unconscious innocence of the _blase_ modern -viewpoint that examines Cupid through a microscope, tears away his -roseate veils, exposing him for a small licentiate. Surely a pair of -young fools! yet happy with that joy which cynic and misogynist may -never know; and--your real philosopher will admit it--most divinely in -accord with the scheme of things. - -Yes, perfectly unconscious of the fact that Nature, the cunning fowler, -had caught their feet in her lime, enmeshed them in her webs, they sat, -her fair head pillowed on his shoulder, watching while the crimson -lights faded through pink to steel gray; watched the first pale stars -wax and increase and lay their pattern of fire across the darkening -vault above; watched till night closed her doors and locked them in from -the rest of the world. - - -Life and Death, the two great Mysteries, each inscrutable as the other! -"In the midst of one we are in the other," and the friendly night that -wrapped the lovers in its dark bosom was troubled, far away, by the roar -of the fleeing trains. As these dribbled their foul freight in trickles -whose course across the land was marked as though by acid blight, -incendiary fires blossomed in the darkness. Rising, later, the moon -dropped a checker of dew-light down through the oak on the sleepers. It -also lit the march of Gonzales's bandits across the desert. - -Life and Death! Evil and Good! Inextricably mixed and, above it all, the -stars shedding their dear, cold light. Dawn broke with its customary -splendors of crimson and gold. Later the sun raised a red, friendly face -and peeped over the mountain rim at Lee and Gordon, happy in the -preparation of their breakfast. - -In ignorance of all the night had shrouded, that the sun now shone on, -of the horror even then in course a few miles away, they pursued their -second day, fished and swam, walked among the pasturing horses, had the -gayest of times concocting a tasty lunch out of their crude supplies. -Thereafter Gordon was lying in luxurious content, head pillowed on Lee's -knee, when he first spied a slender smoke column rising far away beyond -the rim. - -"Look!" - -Though he sat up, pointing, he did not comprehend till Lee cried out: -"It's the Millses' beacon! Oh, they are attacked! Get the horses! -Quick!" - - - - -XXXVII: THE THREE--AGAIN - - -Bull walked a few paces, then looked back at his horse. Its quivering -knees, long, slow shivers, told that it was beyond further service. He -returned to the woman. She had sunk into a second collapse, but she -looked up at his touch. - -"You heard them talking before--before--" - -"Si, senor, from our stables they had stolen three horses. I heard them -speaking of Los Arboles; that they would take all of its horses and sell -them at the border." - -Nodding, Bull went on his way afoot. But as, head bent, he passed the -ruined wall from behind which Terrubio had challenged him long ago a -voice called out, "Ole, senor!" - -Startled, Bull looked up, half expecting to see again the uncanny eyes, -weird cold face. But the faithful servitor was gone; gone with his loved -mistress--to wait on her, if such things be, beyond the consuming flame. -From behind the wall, leading his horse, hobbled old Rafael, the father -of the woman. - -"I had thought thee one of those wicked ones." The old fellow slapped -the butt of an old musket. "Once my finger tightened on the trigger, but -by the mercy of God I waited. Si, senor, I saw them go. After I sent up -the smoke I came back slowly, crawling along the valleys, keeping always -the height of land between us. Thus I gained so close that I counted -them when they passed; a full score, senor, and more, on their way by -the plains trail to Arboles. But the mistress and the nina, senor? They -did not harm--" - -He stopped, halted by Bull's look, then cried aloud while the tears -coursed down his wrinkled face. "The white ewe and the lamb! Gone! and -I, the old dog, am left? But so it was always. Death takes his pick of -the best! I would go after them, senor, those wicked ones; but of what -use, save to make a noise, is an old dog after the teeth are gone? The -biting must be done by stronger jaws; the running by fleeter feet. Take -thou my horse." - -Thus freshly mounted, Bull made such time that he climbed to the -smoldering beacon on the mountain's shoulder before daylight failed. -Below lay the valleys in mysterious pools from which long shadows issued -to crawl up the flaming hills. Westward the dying sun had left a crimson -wake, barred with black across the smoldering sky; a reflection, Bull -felt it, of the fiery blossom that glowed in one dark valley. The faint -stars weaving a wan embroidery across the trailing skirts of night, the -fading light, the first cool breath of the evening, all helped to -intensify the loneliness that clothed the obscure prospect. Yet in it -that loneliness, the stillness of great solitudes, wide oceans, Bull -sensed sympathy and peace; Nirvana, the peace of great worlds, planetary -systems swinging through space on their appointed ways. She! They! That -pleasant woman, lovely child, had been absorbed into, were part of it, -this peace that quieted his troubled spirit. - -He did not think this. Such philosophies were beyond him. But he felt -and, feeling, a hoarse sob rose in his throat. Bowing his dark face in -his hands, the big, black rustler shook in the throes of saving grief. -He did not hear the thud of approaching hoofs; saw nothing until with a -clatter of displaced stones Sliver and Jake came shooting out of the -sage. - - -Because of its position far out on the plains, the warning smoke had -been seen at Los Arboles long before its soaring column rose high enough -to be noticed by Gordon above the rim; in fact, Jake and Sliver gained -the forks of the Bowl trail while Gordon and Lee lacked still a mile of -the summit. As Pedro had delivered Lee's note the preceding evening, -Jake knew that the couple were there. After a moment's thought he voted -down Sliver's proposal to ride down for Gordon. - -"He'd come in handy. Kin shoot some an' his nerve's all right. But you -jes' kedn't shut her out. Better to leave them where she's safe." - -"That's right," Sliver had added. "An' it 'u'd shore be a shame to break -up their honeymoon." - -Accordingly, unaware that the pair were riding hard at their heels, Jake -and Sliver had held on until, as before said, they came shooting out on -Bull. He had whirled, hand on his gun, but it dropped when a cowman's -yell issued simultaneously from their throats. - -"Why, you dolgorned old son of a--" Sliver stopped as, riding closer, he -saw Bull's face. "Why, hombre! What--" - -Turning in his saddle, Bull pointed at the crimson blossom in the dark -valley below. He did not explain. With that keen intuition natural in -those who live alone in the wide spaces, they had read in his face that -which is denied to speech--the soul agony of a strong man. Given that -blossom of fire, their knowledge of Mexican raiders supplied the rest. - -"Murdered!... Mother and child!... Burned ... with the house!" - -To one skilled in the polished phrases which city folks hold in -readiness for all occasions, the manner in which the two received the -news might have appeared heartless. Jake looked off and away over the -darkening world. Sliver bit a chew off his plug, then fell to examining -a fray in his _riata_. When the latter finally spoke the aforesaid city -person would have been greatly shocked. - -"The poor damn kid!" - -"Hell, ain't it?" Jake's tone was quite indifferent. - -But Bull had seen Sliver gulping in an attempt to swallow the choking -lump in his throat; also the sudden moisture that quenched the cold, -snake sparkle in Jake's bleak eyes. These were all-sufficient. - -"They was heading for Los Arboles by the plains trail." After a long -silence he answered Jake's question concerning the raiders. "Must be -nearly there. My God! Miss Lee an'--" - -"They ain't there." Sliver hastened to relieve his anxiety. "They're--" -He was relieved from further explanation by a second clatter of hoofs. -Out of the gathering dusk came Lee and Gordon. - -Ever since they spied the smoke column, its dread possibilities had -weighed down the girl's spirit. But at the sight of Bull she forgot--for -the moment. Uttering a glad cry, she dismounted, was running to him, -hands outstretched, but suddenly halted, shocked by his look. - -"Why--what--" Following his pointing finger, she saw the fire. That, -their inaction, told all before he spoke. "Gone!--both!--burned with the -house!" Crying bitterly, she turned instinctively, as though to run to -Gordon. Then, recognizing a need greater than her own, she faced about -again and ran to Bull. - -"Oh, you poor, _poor_ man!" - -Grasping his big, hard hands, she pressed her wet face against his knee -while she sobbed out her sorrow and sympathy. Freeing one hand, Bull -gently stroked her hair. Nodding for Sliver and Gordon to follow, Jake -led them a few yards back up the trail; so there was none but Bull to -hear when she began to sob out a broken confession. - -"Oh, I feel--so wicked. While all this--was happening--I--I was--getting -married!" - -"Married?" - -"Yes--to Gordon." She ran on brokenly, giving him in bits the tale of -all that had happened since his departure--her abduction, Ramon's death, -Gordon's ultimatum. "He begged so hard--and the padre and the jefe -said--that I ought--and I wanted to, myself--and we were so happy -until--we saw the smoke. And now I--I feel like a criminal." - -"Then you needn't." He patted her shoulder. "The jefe was right. Never -again will you have more need of a man's strength." - -"But? At this time? While--" - -"How were you to know? An' remember how hard _she_ worked and wished to -bring this very thing about. 'Twould have filled her with joy to know -that it had come to pass. 'Deed, Missy, she does know an' is glad at -this very moment." With that mixture of rude faith and humility that -made his enormous strength incongruous, he went on: "Sure she knows an' -some day she'll tell you so herself. 'Twon't be for me to hear it. My -kind don't go where she is. But you will, an', mark me, the first thing -she'll tell will be how happy she was in your marriage." - -"Oh, if I thought she would!" - -"Be certain of it, child." The last lights had now gone out on the -highest peaks. Looking off and away into the gathering gloom, he recited -many a hope that Mary Mills had expressed. - -While he talked Lee's sobs diminished. She looked up when he finished. -"That makes me feel better. And _you_? You, too, think I did right?" - -She could see, through the gloom, his sadness lighten. "For what d'you -s'pose I brought him here?" - -"Not to marry _me_?" She gasped. In spite of the gravity of the moment, -her own real sorrow, she could not repress feeling natural in a girl -who, having made, as she supposes, her own free choice, finds that, from -the very beginning, her husband had been wished upon her. "Oh, if I'd -only known it!" She added, with loving illogic, "I'm _so_ glad that I -didn't." - -"That's fine." He patted her head. "It will be easier, now, if you have -to live for a while in the States." - -"_The States?_" she repeated. - -In a brief way, omitting mention of Benson's death--she had enough to -bear--he described the scattering of Valles's army, concluding, "They're -wild against Americans." He nodded at the fire. "The men that did this -are on the way to Arboles; must be almost there." - -"My poor people!" she broke out, in sudden distress. "Gordon! Come -here!" When, with Sliver and Jake, he emerged from the shadows she cried -it again: "Our poor, poor people! They are on their way--the raiders! To -Arboles! We must go--at once!" - -"Too late!" Bull spoke heavily. "Even an aeroplane couldn't get us there -in time." After, even more briefly, he had sketched for the others -recent events, he went on: "I came back to bring you and Mary and the -child out. For them it's too late, but you must go at once--you an' your -husband an' Sliver an' Jake." - -"And you?" Lee questioned. - -"I'm going on." The statement in its simplicity carried more -significance than the wildest vow of revenge. - -"Alone?" Lee again demanded. "And you think we'd go slinking home to the -States and leave you to face that band yourself?" - -"It's my quarrel, my work." His answer, steady and heavy, issued on the -darkness. "You are young and have your husband. Your future is all -ahead. Mine is most behind. You folks head at once for the border. With -Sliver an' Jake to guard you--" - -But here he ran against a second obstacle. Sliver's voice rose in the -darkness. "An' there's nothing I'd like better 'n to look after -Lady-girl. But I ain't so much of a fool that I don't know the store she -sets by you, Bull, that's been father an' mother to her, now, for nigh -on a year. So it don't go that-a-way. It's me for Arboles while you-all -hit with them for the States." - -"Good enough!" Jake's acid tones trembled through the gloom. "With a -small amendment. You're that young an' foolish, Sliver, it 'u'd be a -shame to cut you off--worse 'n the green grass that goes to the oven. So -it stan's like this--you-all go back; I go on." - -"No, you don't." Gordon's quiet voice interrupted. "At any other time -I'd feel diffident about putting in my oar. But these are our people. I -could never look my wife"--he felt her hand steal up into his--"I could -never look her in the face again if I stood for this. She ought to get -out at once, and if you fellows will see her to the border--" - -"They won't--till we all go," Lee broke in. "It's easy to see that -you've all made up your minds to stay--and you'll need me to hold the -horses. We'd better be getting on." - -"But, Missy--" Bull began. - -But already she had mounted. The clatter of her horse's hoofs returned -unmistakable answer. - - - - -XXXVIII: FIRE - - -Hitherto Bull had always ridden on Lee's right, but when the trail -permitted two to ride abreast he now, with instinctive delicacy, yielded -his old place to Gordon. In this order they rode along the flank of the -mountain, their hoofs beating a dark tattoo to the lower rhythm of -creaking leather, flapping holsters; rode on past the San Carlos trail, -the Bowl forks, had almost reached the head of the ravine above -Antonio's _fonda_ when Lee, who was riding ahead, reined in with an -exclamation. - -Out of the gloom that wrapped the plains below had burst a sudden glow -which gave birth, as they gazed, to a flower of flame that quivered and -swung under the breath of the night wind. It was too far away for them -to see the buildings; but, clearly as though they were looking down upon -it from the first rise, their minds filled in the picture; supplied the -flames roaring through the Arboles _patio_, bursting from doors and -windows, scaling the guard-house, running a scarlet race along the rows -of adobes. - -"My poor people!" Lee sat her horse and gazed. - -The shock of realization is often less than anticipation; its finality -strips away exaggeration. Down there everything Lee valued was going up -in flames--her wardrobe, jewelry, girlish treasures; household effects -and _hacienda_ stores; that which she valued most of all, the trove of -old Spanish manuscripts and letters, doubly dear because so intimately -connected with her father's memory. Surely a great loss! but if it -flashed up in her mind, regret was instantly wiped out by consuming -indignation--not at her personal loss; not that her loved home was being -destroyed under her eyes; but at that which it stood for; the malice, -ignorance, wantonness, irresponsibility which has lighted a thousand -such fires, would light a thousand more, laying waste all Mexico with -its cruelties and lusts. When Sliver's voice broke in the darkness -behind her his attempt at rude comfort came almost as a shock. - -"Never mind, Lady-girl. They kain't burn them yard-thick walls." - -"An' we left word for the _ancianos_ to drive the stock into the -mountains," Jake added. "Must ha' b'en cl'ar away long before they got -there." - -"It isn't that." She spoke so low that only Gordon caught her whisper. -"My poor girls! I would give all, place and stock, to make sure they -escaped." As that bitter indignation resurged within her she added: -"There's only one thing left. We must--" - -Bull's heavy voice completed it for her,--"catch 'em before daylight." - -While the horses slid and slipped down the steep trail his voice rose -above the scrape of hoofs, laying out his plan. After their long march -the raiders would undoubtedly camp at Arboles! The fire proved one -thing--they had broken open the store and drunk up the stock of -_aguardiente_! At dawn they would be found stretched in swinish sleep. -And then-- - -His surmise was reasonable, founded on probabilities, but subject to the -change of circumstance. As they rode on down a red glow in the black -bowels of the ravine grew into a fire that dyed a deeper chrome the -yellow walls of the _fonda_. It also restored a little color into the -bronze faces of a score of refugees from Arboles, women and children, -herded together like sheep around its blaze. - -When Lee rode into the firelight they gave tongue in a chorus of joy, -apprehension, every shade of feeling from fear to relief. From their -babble she gathered, first, that they had been warned by a _peon_ who -had run in from Lovell's _rancho_; second, that the _ancianos_ had -driven the horses into the mountain pasture and scattered the cattle -among the ravines. Finally, from out of their midst a lad was thrust -forward to tell his tale. - -He had been sent to hunt stragglers from the herds. Feeling tired, with -that _peon_ indolence which is not to be disturbed by mere rumors of -raiders, he had curled up in a bunch of chaparral and gone to sleep. -Awakened by voices, he had seen the raiders coming. Men of gigantic -stature and evil visage his excited fancy painted them, and among them -he recognized a _peon_ who had run away to the wars after being whipped -for some grossness by the senor Benson. So close did they pass, he heard -them quarreling among themselves. They appeared to be tired and downcast -over their poor luck in obtaining horses; and he, the boy, heard the -renegade's expressions of reassurance. - -"Si, senores. A few miles more and you will rest with the women at Los -Arboles. There we shall find the finest horses, bred by blooded -stallions, fit for a general to ride. Or if they have run them away for -safe-keeping, 'twill not serve, for I, Pedro Gonzales, know the secret -pasture in the great Bowl." - -Flaming up under fresh fuel while the lad talked, the firelight showed -the Three deep in reflection. The same thought was in their minds: a -vivid mental picture of the raiders from Las Bocas ascending the -precarious zigzags of the Bowl staircase. If these others could be -caught in the same way? Jake's remark expressed their joint conclusion. - -"It 'u'd be a _cinch_!" - -"Horses all tired out now, too," Sliver added. "If anythin' went wrong, -we'd have no getaway. Not that I'd care, but we kain't take no chances -with Lady-girl." - -Bull's word decided. He made his dispositions, sent the youth to sleep -out on the plains and bring early warning of the raiders' movements; -posted other sentries at intervals. Finally, he saw first to the horses, -that they were watered and fed and groomed; then to the serving of a -meal. - -He ate, but even his steady, methodical munching bespoke purpose, the -conserving of strength for his ends. As he sat, after the meal, gazing -into the fire, even Lee failed to discern much difference from his usual -self. But after the others, refugees and all, lay wrapped in their -serapes, dim, muffled figures under the red light of half a dozen fires, -he still sat, a somber figure in black outline against the glow. - -After Lee had cried herself to sleep he sat on. At midnight her -awakening eyes showed him still there. When she awoke again he was -gone--on the round of sentries. He returned before she fell asleep again -and sat on, staring into the fire, an ominous figure fraught with -danger. - - - - -XXXIX: "VENGEANCE IS MINE" - - -From the "hog's back" where Sliver had accidentally discovered Felicia -and the _fonda_, Lee, Gordon, and the Three watched a yellow dust cloud -rolling slowly across the plains. The occasional silver flash that -stabbed it through as the sun struck a saber or bayonet told that it -enveloped the raiders. Three hours ago Sliver had come galloping in from -a reconnaissance with the news of their advance. Instantly the refugees -had fled like frightened quail into the secret places of the hills. -After burying various bottles that contained the liquid abominations -wherewith he burned out the stomachs of his customers, Antonio had -followed. So for two hours the ravine had been untenanted. - -Even after the watchers sighted the dust, an hour passed before it -disappeared in the mouth of the ravine; for, as their few horses were -loaded down with loot, the raiders moved slowly. Another half-hour -dragged by before they appeared, filing like ragged ants up the path -along the silver stream. Sighting the _fonda_, they stopped, hastily -took cover behind some bushes, and held a hurried consultation. When the -file split and began to work its way through the chaparral on each side -of the ravine Jake interpreted the manoeuver. - -"Nobody home, amigos. Fooled this time." - -A hoarse yell presently confirmed his diagnosis. Its note changed almost -immediately to rage and disappointment, and presently a thin coil of -smoke issued from the doorway, followed by a bright flash of flame as -the fire licked up the dry thatch of the _ramada_. Like infuriated ants -the raiders ran next to fire the stables. They were within easy -rifle-shot and Sliver was drawing an experimental bead when Jake knocked -up his rifle. - -"One shot," he replied, to Sliver's grumble, "an' they'll go like a -flock of quail into the chaparral." - -Happening to glance at Bull just then, he nudged Sliver to look. - -On his knees, peering through a bush, the man looked for all the world -like some great animal, bear or black tiger, crouching for its prey. -Under dark brows, his coal eyes burned. Like some huge dog held in -leash, slow shivers coursed through his frame. Always the two had -recognized in him depths of feeling beyond them. The slow shake of the -head that passed between them expressed consciousness of a hurt beyond -their plumbing. They looked quickly away as Bull turned toward them. - -"Time to be moving. They'll be coming presently." - - -An hour later saw them all placed--Gordon in the chaparral at the top of -the trail; Bull, Sliver, and Jake at intervals of quarter of a mile down -the zigzag trail. - -"No shooting as they go down," Bull cautioned them. "Coming back, -they'll be among the horses without a chance to turn." - -The arrangement, while wise, was not altogether to Sliver's taste; he -grumbled to Jake as they moved on down to their places: "Fat chance for -us. He'll pick half of 'em off going up between him and Gordon, then -turn and plug the others. Any maverick that gets by to us will be that -riddled a bullet 'ull slip through him without t'eching." - -"Ain't it coming to him?" Jake scornfully questioned. "He's welcome to -my share--if it's any comfort. But listen, hombre--let me tell you that -the killing of every _revueltoso_ in Mexico ain't a-going to cure his -hurt." - -Leaving Sliver at his post, Jake moved on down, and after he also -disappeared in the chaparral silence spread a warm spell over valley and -mountain; golden, sunlit silence that was emphasized rather than broken -by the wild screech of a hawk. - -From above Gordon looked right down into the amber heart of the Bowl. -Almost beneath him, the _jacal_ rose like a doll's house out of the -vermilion splash of Pedro's ripe peppers. From it the green veining of -the stream ran through the tawny pastures that were spotted with black -dots, the feeding horses. Far down, just where the stream slipped out of -the Bowl, he could see the giant oak that marked their camp; and though -even his strong young eyes were unequal to the distance, imagination -supplied the ashes of their fire, the bed of leaves under the spreading -branches. - -Instantly he began reliving, tenderly reliving that happy day so -absorbed that he forgot for the moment the tragedy that had brought it -to a close. He did not notice a slight rustle in the chaparral nor catch -the gleam of peering eyes. Were it a raider, he had proved an easy prey. -But the eyes were soft; the hand that presently stole out of a bush and -shook his foot was small and white. Whirling, he came face to face with -Lee. - -"What are you doing here?" - -She placed her finger to her lip. "Hush! they are coming! I just -couldn't stand it, up there in the chaparral all alone. So I tied the -horses and--here I am." - -There was nothing that could be done--except to look stern. Reaching, he -pulled her down beside him, shook her a little, then spoiled the effect -by a kiss. Then, lying flat on their stomachs, they kept a joint watch -till the scrape of a hoof, rumble of voices, broke on the trail. - -Peeping cautiously, they saw a motley procession file on to the plateau. -Like the soldiers of Las Bocas, their clothing ran the gamut of the -service uniforms of Porfirio Diaz's army; the silver and gray of -_rurales_, red and blue of the infantry, variations from these of -cavalry and artillery, fatigue linen mixed in varying quantities with -_charro_ and _peon_ costumes. Accentuating this motley, their loose -gross mouths, blunt animal noses, lewd eyes in the midst of faces -swollen by last night's debauch, fully justified Gordon's judgment: - -"Gosh! what a gallows crew!" - -Weary and footsore after two days of heavy marching, neither their -appearance nor their spirits were improved by the fact that half of them -limped. Their voices had been raised in strident altercation. One -fellow's angry complaint carried across to Gordon and Lee. - -"The two gringo senoritas at the Lovell _rancho_, where were they?--fled -to El Paso. At the second we got what?--one woman, a child, and three -horses--and lost three men. At Los Arboles there were to be women, a -score at least, young and pretty; also a gringo girl with golden hair -and a skin of milk? And horses by the hundred, blooded beasts of fine -breeding? What got we?--an empty house! Thou art a pretty leader, -Filomena." - -"Si!" came a second growl. "And the _fonda_? 'Courage, senores,' he says -but two hours ago. 'In the barranca we shall find a _fonda_ with liquors -and a girl, none prettier in all Chihuahua.' And--" - -"Again an empty house!" - -By one and another it was kept up. "We limp like lame cats," the first -man spoke again. "If this business go like the first and there be no -horses--I know of one throat that will be cut." - -"And I of another!" The guide, an ugly, squat _peon_, turned on him with -a snarl. "Was it I that sent up the warning smoke? No? Then fasten your -tongue with your teeth. If you want women, they are to be had at San -Carlos, a few hours away, a fine town untouched by war." - -"Si, more marching," the first grumbler was beginning, when the other -cut him off. He had advanced to the edge of the plateau and stood -pointing down into the Bowl. - -"And horses, say you? There they are--scores! Si, hundreds! enough to -make us all rich when sold at the border." - -Success! the shibboleth of the modern world! Even among these scoundrels -it wrought the customary effect; turned malcontents into enthusiastic -friends. "Bueno!" He who had issued the sinister hint of cut throats was -the first to clap the guide on the back. "Bueno, amigo! thou art a -leader indeed. 'Twas no fault of thine that the white-skinned girl -escaped. I will slit the gizzard of the next that says it." - -On his part the guide swelled and ruffled in the flattering sunlight. "I -told ye. 'Leave it to Filomena,' said I. 'Leave it to him to show ye fat -booty.' Behold!" - -Also he assumed the airs and authority of real leadership. "The horses -we shall need to rope fresh mounts. Hide the stuff in the bushes till we -return. 'Twill be only for a couple of hours." - -Fired by the sight of the horses, the raiders fell feverishly to work -unloading their loot, which--Gordon noted it with satisfaction--was -largely provisions. Then, lameness and blisters forgotten, unaware of -the cold, fierce eyes watching from the bushes, they followed the -horsemen downhill, yelling and hooting, raising the echoes with snatches -of ribald song. - -A thin wisp of smoke above the _jacal_ followed by an explosive flash as -the dry thatch took fire announced their arrival at the bottom. From -above Gordon and Lee saw them move down the valley in a long line that -presently came sweeping back in a half-circle with the horses in its -belly. - -There followed half an hour of confusion at the corrals while mounts -were being roped. Yells, wild laughter, vile oaths, rose like a fetid -vapor out of the Bowl, fouling the clear sunlight, sweet warm air. Then -the massed animals began to move from the corrals and thin out to single -file at the foot of the trail. Just as Bull had foreseen, a raider -sandwiched in at intervals to keep them moving. As before, the watchers -looked down upon the thin file wriggling like a slow, black snake up and -around the trail's yellow convolutions. - -After an interminable time, it seemed to them, the head of the file rose -to Jake's post. Lying there, his long, thin body stretched at length in -the sage, narrowed eyes fixed on the first raider, Jake had never looked -more like "The Python" he appeared in _peon_ eyes. And he had the -serpent's patience. Though his finger played impatiently with his rifle -trigger, he watched man after man go by, waiting, waiting, for Bull's -shot above. Always cool, he did not give vent, like Sliver, to inward -grumblings as the file rose to him. - -"If 'twasn't for orders," he mentally harangued the first raider that -passed, "your black soul 'u'd be a-busting now on its way to hell!" - -High above, Gordon waited with equal impatience, his hazel eyes -transmuted once more into blue steel flecked with hot, brown lights. But -his imagination revealed to him much that was hidden from the prosaic -vision of the cowman. The clear, clean air that flowed like tawny wine -across the Bowl; dry whisper of the wind in the sage at his side; drift -of white cloud across the blue above; the hum of busy insects; slow -winding upward of the herd; it was all pastoral; stirred in his mind a -vagrant recollection of the peace and quiet of Gray's "Elegy." In place -of the thunders and lightnings, murky night, black rains with which -man's imaginings clothed, tragedy, nature had set the stage in sunlight -and flowers; invested it with Sabbath calm. Yet, the more powerfully for -that peaceful contrast, he felt--felt with savage joy--Death, the grim -angel, hovering above. - -With her girl's strong intuition, Lee shared his feeling. Just as the -wriggling black line rose up to Bull's station she leaned forward and -broke off a twig that might have interfered with Gordon's sighting. Yet, -in spite of a deep desire for vengeance, the retribution earned by a -black deed, she shuddered. As, propping himself on his elbow, Gordon -drew a bead on the leading raider she covered her eyes with her hands. - -And Bull? As the raiders had passed him on the way down every brute line -of their evil visages had seared itself on his brain--the beast mouths, -blunt noses, conical ears, gross cheek-bones; the sloping foreheads, in -the center of which his imagination placed a small, round, purplish -spot. Now, as they returned, his dark face in its implacable hate was -the face of Death itself--the Death Gordon and Lee felt hovering near. - -In the most tense moments, while the being is under shock of a tragic -emotion, the brain will sometimes play strange tricks, register trifles -too light for notice in normal times. As the first horse rounded the -bend below Bull recognized it for a mare that Lee sometimes rode; a -flighty, brainless creature, that would shy at its own shadow when -nothing better offered. - -About fifteen passed him before the head of the first raider showed -below. Instantly Bull's rifle flew up; the rifle that never missed, its -sights lined true on the spot, the purple spot of his imagination. But -the trigger did not fall. Passing on down, his glance had shown him that -the last two raiders were still below Jake's station. - -He lowered the rifle again, intending, as Sliver had divined, to let -three or four of the raiders go on up toward Gordon; and, with the -action, vengeance passed out of his hands. If there was anything in the -world the flighty mare preferred to shy at, it was a snake. Perhaps a -haunting memory of a bitten fetlock in her colthood was responsible for -the preference. Be that as it may, when with a dry staccato warning a -fat rattler raised its deadly head from bunched, glistening coils on the -edge of the path the mare whirled and darted madly downhill, leader in a -mad stampede. - -A hoarse yell marked the first raider's realization of his danger. With -spur and quirt, he tried to force his mount against the bank. But a -hatchet head intervened, the wedging body forced in between sent man and -beast sideways over the cliff. - -Springing up as the mare whirled, Gordon saw laid out directly beneath -the course of the stampede down and around the stony staircases. At -first it stood out clearly as in those cinema pictures of galloping men -taken from a height. Following the first man's cry came the wild yells -of the second and third. One! two! three! he saw them squeezed out over -the cliff; saw them strike the next level and bound off and over on a -longer leap; saw them turn, slowly in midair till the horses showed like -fat slugs above the men; saw the final crash and disappearance in the -chaparral below. But when his glance came back the crystal clearness was -gone, obscured by yellow dust cloud from the bowels of which men and -horses were ejected sideways as the stampede whirled on down. - -Of the thirty raiders, but one had a chance--he who brought up the rear. -But as he turned to run he came face to face with Jake, who had sprung -up to see. Instantly Jake raised his gun, but there came a roar and -rattle of stones and hoofs. Before he could fire the dust cloud -swallowed the man. Three minutes later it rolled down the last night to -the pastures. - -Over the Bowl silence fell again, golden, sunlit silence broken only by -the screech of the hovering hawk. As before, the wind whispered in the -sage, the clouds marched slowly across the blue fields above, the bees -went busily upon their ways; but in the mean time--when the dust settled -there remained, of the two hundred horses and thirty men, only the few -animals that spread out fanwise as they galloped across the level -bottoms. - -With the swiftness, sureness of a lightning stroke in the night it had -come, the doom--so swiftly that Lee and Gordon above, Jake and Sliver -below, could only stand and stare, doubting their eyes. And Bull-- - -The instant the mare turned his mind leaped to the inevitable -conclusion. With a roar, bellow of rage, inchoate, wild as the snarl of -a balked tiger, he threw his hands on high, rifle waving like a reed in -one great fist. Crash! lock, stock, and barrel, it flew in a thousand -pieces as he brought it down on a rock! From the bank he leaped down to -the trail, in his hot mind some mad idea of stopping the rush. But -already the stampede had passed. He ran a few yards, as though to -overtake and pull it back. But it swept on and down beyond his speed. -Stopping, then, arms raised skyward, fists clenched, teeth bared, eyes -glaring in the midst of his swollen, purple face, he stood, a towering -figure of furious despair. - -Into those few minutes were compressed all the agonies he had endured in -the last few weeks--his trial, temptations, failure, bitter -disappointment, tragic grief, crowned by this, the robbing of his just -revenge. Swelling with a sense of vast injustice, the injustice that -created the world on a scheme of struggle and pain, he turned maniacal -eyes to the sky; stood shaking his bunched fists while a terrible -blasphemy rose to his lips. But it never issued. For in the moment that -it seemed his reason must crack there came slipping into his hot mind, -like a cooling breath, the old vision--of Mary and Betty as on that last -night. - -In the sunlight that wrapped the valley, just as in the vast world -loneliness under the quiet stars, he sensed her presence. His arms -dropped, the mad light died. Bowing his dark face in his hands, he shook -again with the throes of silent grief--but only for a short space. -Presently he looked up, the old humility restored, its expression on his -lips. - -"'Twasn't for me. I wasn't fit. 'Twas taken out of my hands." - -Quiet now, he watched the horses careering over the bottoms. When at -last Sliver joined him he gave quiet orders: "Go down, you an' Jake, an' -collect up their guns--an' ammunition. Bring up fresh horses for all of -us an' a couple for the packs. We'll have to light out for the border at -once." - - - - -XL: SLIVER "MAKES GOOD" - - -By the time Sliver and Jake returned the sun hung like a red-hot ball in -the smoke of the horizon. Even if the horses had not been tired, it was -too late to start that night. Accordingly, after loading the raiders' -provisions, they rode on down into the ravine and used the glowing -embers of the _fonda_ for their camp-fire. - -To them, sitting there, by ones and twos and threes the refugees came -straggling in to gather for the night around their own fires. Going from -one to another, Lee and Gordon dealt comfort and advice. They were to -reap the standing corn and sow again for their own use in the secret -places of the mountains. The _hacienda_ cattle they could herd in the -canons of the lower hills. Thus, with plenty of milk for butter and -cheese, corn, and beans, their own chickens, goats, and pigs, they would -be able to live in rude comfort till the coming of peace permitted Lee's -return. - -"The knowledge that they will not suffer makes it easier to bear." - -Lee spoke, looking back at the brown faces enlivened by the ruddy glare -of the fires. But when, next morning, they crowded around her, old men, -women, young girls, and little children, mixing prayers, blessings, and -lamentations with their good-bys, she was less philosophical. She was -still weeping when she looked back at those that had followed her as far -as the mouth of the ravine. - -"Oh, if our government could only see them! Surely they would help." - -Gordon looked for another outburst when, later, they sighted ruined -Arboles from the very spot he and Mary Mills had overlooked it. How well -he remembered it! The walls and courts, _patio_, rainbow adobes, a small -city of gold magnificently blazoned by the red brush of the sinking sun; -the cottonwoods flaming a deep apricot under a sky that spread a canopy -of saffron and cinnabar, purple and umber and gold, down to the far -horizon; the soft smoke pennons trailing violet plumes off and away into -the smoldering dusk of the east; the cooing of woman voices broken by -laughter, low, sweet, infinitely wild. Now, roofless, windowless, its -blackened walls upreared in the midst of a wide, blurred smudge. Yet -though the contrast brought stinging tears to her eyes, Lee took it -calmly. - -"What does it matter? It can be rebuilt. But there are other -things"--her voice lowered and trailed away--"that can never be -replaced." - -They were both sad and sick at heart. Yet youth may not permanently be -cast down. When, riding on, they left the smoke-blacked ruin behind them -and passed from the dreary waste of burned pasture into golden plains -she began restoration. A native carpenter could replace every loved -beam; rebuild the massive old furniture just as it was. The _peones_ -would lime-wash the exterior in its usual rainbow color! Also, -restoration would give opportunity for remodeling and improvement. - -As she ran on Gordon sensed another motive; perceived that she was -striving to draw Bull out of his sorrow. Not a plan that did not include -him! A great fireplace, for use during the rains, was to have a -comfortable settle at one side, on which the Three could lounge and -smoke while basking in the blaze. Each was to have his own room. Thus -and so! Nor was her prattle without effect. Always sensitive where she -was concerned, Bull divined her motive, and, albeit with an effort great -as a physical strain, he responded, listened, and nodded acquiescence, -occasionally forced a smile. - -Only Sliver was fooled. "Say," he remarked to Jake, who rode with him in -the rear, "did you allow she'd have taken it so light?" - -But Jake, the keen, discerning critic, quickly opened his eyes. "Take it -light, you ----! ----! ----! ----!" The epithets, if printed, would -scorch a hole in the page. "Kain't you see she's grieving her little -heart out? She's doing it all for Bull." - -At any other time one of those epithets would probably have produced a -retort that would have tumbled Jake out of his saddle. But, -conscience-stricken, Sliver accepted all. With humility that was almost -pathetic, he actually put into words feeling that was, for him, quite -subtle. "'Tain't that I'd set in jedgment on Lady-girl, on'y--I reckon -it's so with all of us--I jes' kain't bear to see her say or do anything -that don't jes' fit." - -After a pause he went on: "About these plans o' her'n? If there warn't -no revolution, an' we ked stay along here without a break, an' they'd -destroy all the licker in the world an' forgit the art of making it, I -don't know but that we might live up to 'em. But I'm telling you, -hombre, it's been awful wearing an' I jes' know what a spell in El Paso -'ull do for me--I'll be that swinish I'll never dare to come near her -ag'in." - -When Jake had admitted like feelings Sliver continued: "Sure, under them -conditions, licker an' its makers being, so to say, put on the hog-train -an' run off the aidge of the earth, I'd hev' one chanst to make good. -But as 'tis, an' seeing that she's now settled with a fine young husband -an' kin get along very nicely, I'm sorter allowing that El Paso 'ull let -me out." While his eyes blinked guiltily and his lips quivered with -anticipatory thirst, he concluded, "Sure I'm that dry 'twon't take much -temptation for me to tell my troubles to a barkeep an' have him drown -'em in drink." - -"Nor me," Jake seconded. "Besides, my fingers is jes' itching to get -into a game." - -"Drink, cards, flat broke--back to rustling." Sliver laid down the law -of their being. "With me it runs like, the A-B-C." - -"I drink, you drink, he drinks, we drink," Jake chanted it _sotto voce_. -"If folks wasn't so onreasonable a feller might make an honest living. -But the best tinhorn that ever turned a card from the bottom is bound to -make a slip, an' when he does--whoosh! if he's lucky enough to make his -getaway, rustling's all that's left." - -"Bull?" Sliver nodded at the broad back ahead. "D'you allow he's a-going -to stay put?" - -Jake's shake of the head mixed doubt with concern. "If we meet up with -any Mex--we'll never get him away. He'll run amuck among 'em." - -Sliver's reckless eye lit with a fighting gleam. "An' the country's jes' -lousy with _revueltosos_? Hombre, it's a cinch! Not that I'd want it," -he hypocritically added, "Lady-girl being along. But if we do chance on -a few--hum! what's the exchange, jes' now, in Valles's money? Seven to -one, heigh? Well, we've three rifles apiece, counting the extras on the -pack-horses. One man with three rifles is as good as two men. Twice four -of us makes eight. At current exchange, one gringo for seven Mex, we -orter account for fifty-six." - -"There or thereabouts," Jake agreed. "But, as you say, Missy being -along, it's up to us to dodge 'em." - -"Five days?" Sliver hopefully repeated. "We'd jes' as well look out for -trouble." - - -Not till the morning of the third day did the "trouble" loom up over the -horizon. - -To avoid raiders along the railroad, Bull laid a course that would -strike the American border a hundred miles or so east of El Paso. -Confirming his judgment, they had seen during the first two days only a -few _peon_ herders, who scampered like rabbits at their approach. But -while it made for safety, the course he had laid out also carried them -away from water, the first necessity of desert travel. - -From the Los Arboles pastures they had passed, first, into a sparse -grass country dotted with _sahuaros_; thereafter into sage desert -sprinkled with limestone boulders and bounded by arid hills of the same; -a dry, inhospitable land, lifeless, without sign of human habitation, -its heated silence unbroken by the cry of animal or bird, tenanted only -by the dreary yucca that threw wild arms about like tortured dwarfs. -Toward the middle of the second day they had been forced to head almost -due west in search of the water that was to be had only near the -railroad. - -Dusk was falling when they--more correctly, the horses--found a small -_arroyo_. It was so late, and the animals tired, and in order that they -might drink their fill Bull took a chance and camped by the water. They -did not light a fire. They ate cold food in darkness. Before dawn, too, -they were in the saddle, by sunrise had placed nearly ten miles between -them and the water which, just there and then, was another name for -danger. As a matter of fact, Bull had not expected to get it without -fighting. He had not yet ceased marveling at their luck when the -"trouble" showed up in form of a line of _sombreros_ behind the peak of -a limestone ridge--unfortunately, to the eastward. - -Jake saw them first. At his sharp hiss Bull looked, and, driving the -pack-horses ahead, rode headlong for the next ridge. Looking back as -they rode, Gordon saw the line of _sombreros_ rise in correspondence as -the land fell off. Soon a head showed; then, almost simultaneously, the -ridge bristled with mounted men, a hundred at least, in bold relief -against the sky-line. - -"They've seen us!" - -As he called it a yell, strident, raucous, pierced the clatter of their -galloping hoofs. "Gringos! Mueran los gringos! Kill them!" - -A volley followed. But, fired from the saddle in movement, the bullets -chipped only a few twigs off the scenery. Scattering shots, too, flew -overhead; but, intent on overtaking them, the Mexicans in the main -wasted no time in shooting. They were only a couple of hundred yards -away when the four men dropped from their horses behind the crest of the -ridge. - -Differing speed had strung the pursuers out in a scattering column, and -Sliver grinned his delight at the arrangement. "Like bowling at the -county fair. Miss one, you've still a chance at the next behind. Set 'em -up again!" he yelled as, following their volley, two men and a horse -plunged forward on the ground. - -"A bit lower, Son," Bull quietly admonished Gordon. "Aim at the jine of -man an' horse. That gives you a seven-foot target." - -"One cigar, one baby down!" - -Sliver's second yell marked the fall of two more horses and another -man--shot by Bull out of his saddle. Aiming and firing with the deadly -accuracy bred by years of just such fighting against more sagacious -foes, they dropped the leaders as fast as they came on; in three minutes -had drawn a dead-line of men and horses across their front. And that -deadly practice told. Brave enough, after their lights, the raiders were -not accustomed to such shooting. In the revolutionary wars their own -practice, like that of their opponents, was to spring up out of a -trench, yell "_Viva Mexico!_" fire in the enemy's direction, and drop -back again, trusting to the god of war to find a billet for the bullet. -Turning, they raced back for the opposite ridge, spurred on by the -galling shooting that emptied two more saddles. - -Bull's black glance following them with longing that confirmed Jake's -diagnosis--he would have "run amuck among 'em" if left to himself. The -more steadily, perhaps, for his deadly thirst to kill, he had aimed and -fired with automatic precision. Withal, he had found time to note -Gordon's steady shooting. - -"You done fine, lad," he commented. "If there was only ourselves, I'd be -in favor of carrying it to 'em. But"--his glance went to Lee, who was -holding the horses--"we'll have to fall back. They've had their lesson -an' ain't a-going to try any more fool charges. Now they'll try an' -flank us. While Sliver an' Jake hold 'em, we'll run back to the next -ridge." - -But Gordon, flushed with his taste of battle, rebelled. "What's the -matter with me staying? You fellows care for me like three hens -scratching for an orphan chicken. I'm tired of this sheltered life." - -"'Sheltered life'?" Communing with himself, Jake glanced at the grisly -dead-line. "'Sheltered life,' an' him with two stretched out down -there." - -"Comes o' being married," Sliver added. "No married man has a right to -run with batchelders." - -"That's right," Jake approved. "It's up to you to look after your wife." - -"Well?" Gordon protested. "How can I do it better than by staying here?" - -"What?" Sliver looked scandalized. "Us take a chanst of her being -widowed after all the trouble we had getting her married? No, sir-ree! -Git out." - -"Come on, Son, you're delaying the game." Bull had already joined Lee. -His heavy command came floating up from below. Albeit with a shrug, -Gordon obeyed. - -The next commanding ridge lay nearly a mile away, and after the others -had started back toward it Jake nodded toward the enemy. "Bet you -they've split already an' are moving around us. Now if we do the same, -keeping well out of sight, we'll mebbe get another crack at 'em." - -And so it was. When, after a half-mile detour through limestone and sage -chaparral, the halves of the raiders' party showed in the open two -rifles opened in concert at points a mile apart; two more riderless -horses went scampering away before the others gained back to cover. From -the wide base of their triangle Jake and Sliver then came galloping back -and joined Bull at its apex; and thus they moved back and back, as the -nature of the country permitted, with no more danger than that of an -occasional bullet, fired at long range, singing overhead. - -While they retreated the sun blazed up in the east, rolled on around its -southerly course, superheating the dreary prospect till it glowed like -an oven. All that time Bull was looking anxiously for a cross-ridge -behind which they might swing their course to the north and east. But -with the regularity of the waves of the sea the ridges rolled on back in -unbroken succession toward the railroad. With the enemy spread widely -upon their flanks a turning movement was impossible. They could only -roll back with the limestone waves, trusting that the railroad would -bring forth no new enemy. - -Unfortunately the desert was growing rougher. Dry watercourses crosscut -the sage that now rose tall as a mounted man. The going was rendered -more difficult by outcroppings of limestone that sometimes raised an -impassable barrier, forcing a detour. Worst of all, the denser growths -permitted closer pursuit. At the last stand made by Jake and Sliver, -midway of the afternoon, bullets came spitting out of the sage less than -two hundred yards away. - -"If 'twas on'y black powder they was using," Sliver bitterly complained, -"we'd stan' some chance. A feller could bust into the middle of their -smoke." - -"You're onreasonable," Jake answered. He went on, sarcastically, quoting -from an editorial in the last American paper that had come to Los -Arboles: "In order that these here bandits kin exercise the 'sacred -right of revolution to reg'late their own internal affairs' your Uncle -Samuel has kindly supplied 'em with the latest smokeless cartridge. -Thanks to his benevolence, some one's going to get hurt pretty soon." - -He was right. A scattering volley, fired from that very ridge after they -evacuated it, overtook them in the hollow below and brought down -Sliver's horse. Hanging on to Jake's stirrup leather, he made the next -ridge, but one of the pack-animals had to be given to him and its load -abandoned. - -"An' this is on'y the beginning." Jake continued his remarks from the -next ridge. "The railroad's not far away, an' as I remember the country -hereabouts, she runs right out in the open, with nary a snitch of cover -for over twenty miles. There'll be nothing to stop 'em from shooting us -down by volleys at long range. So it all boils down to this--some one's -got to hold 'em at the next good stand while the others make their -getaway." - -They had been carrying two rifles apiece. Now Sliver quietly -appropriated Jake's extra weapon. "With three rifles I orter be good for -two hours." - -"When I said 'some one'"--Jake quietly repossessed himself of the -weapon--"I naterally allowed his name was Jake Evers. Git! before I bust -you over the head." - -"If 'twasn't for them"--Sliver's hard glance went out to the -chaparral--"there's nothing I'd like better 'n to take time to rub your -long hoss face in the dust." - -The threat, however, produced from Jake only his wolf grin. "You damned -fool! D'you know what's going to happen to the man that stays behind? -He's a-going to be what the society columns call 'the piece de -resistence' at a Mexican barbecure. There ain't a thing in the line of -torture that them bandits won't do to you." - -"You ked never stan' it." Sliver displayed great solicitude. "You're -getting along, Jake, an' your nerve ain't what it used to be." - -"You've said it." Jake's cold eye warmed. He placed a friendly hand on -Sliver's shoulder. "You're dead right, Son. I'm getting on. What's more, -I'm that dyed-in-the-wool with deviltry 'twon't hurt anybody when I -pinch out. But you're young yet. You'll--" - -"--hit El Paso an' go straight to the devil. You know it darned well. -We'll gamble for it." He spat on a pebble and threw it up. "Wet or dry, -which? Wet! I win!" - -"Jest my luck!" Jake's complaint was sincere as though, instead of death -or torture, life and fortune had been the hazard. "I don't have no -chance at all except with cards. What did I wanter go an' do that for, -anyway, an' me with a deck right here in my pocket?" - -"Too late!" Sliver pressed his triumph. "Now git!" - -But with his usual sagacity Jake had already picked the spot for the -stand. The next ridge rose so precipitously that Bull, Lee, and Gordon -were having difficulty in getting up its face. North and south, too, it -loomed even more inaccessible. - -"'Twill take them hours to go around it with you planted square in the -middle." - -Sliver's glance had gone to Lee, scrambling up the steep face of the -ridge, leading her horse. His hard face softened. "Don't tell -Lady-girl--that is, not jes' now. Let her think I'll make my getaway to -the northward. But some day, after she's safe in El Paso, you kin tell -her--that Sliver was on'y too damn glad to give his life for her'n." He -went on, dreamily: "'Course I knew it 'u'd be all off after I'd hit the -city. But I'd sorter thought, now an' then, that if the rangers didn't -get me too quick, some day I'd come back to Arboles, when her kids was -about hip-high, an' teach 'em to ride an' shoot. But that was jes' a -dream." - -Jake's glance had gone back to the cover that sheltered the -_revueltosos_, and, judged by the casuality of his nod, Sliver's request -might have concerned the purchase of a silk handkerchief or other -trifle. But he swallowed hard, spat viciously several times before he -could command speech; blushed, even then, at the softness of his tone. - -"Funny, ain't it? But that's just what I'd often thought myself. Sure -I'll tell her--if them devils don't down me on the next run. They're -damn close now, and they'll be up here before we're half-way across. -Against that limestone front we'll make some mark, an' with fifty of 'em -cracking at us it 'ull be the luck of hell if they don't down one or -both." - -Again he was right. While, ten minutes later, they struggled among the -boulders and brush at the foot of the ridge, the rifles began sputtering -behind them. Right and left, above and below, bullets chipped the rocks -or plumped in the dust; and just as their beasts rushed on a breathless -scramble up the last steep two found their mark--one through Sliver's -knee, the other dropped Jake's horse. - -Almost fainting from shock and pain, Sliver still clung to the neck of -his beast while, with Jake hanging on to a stirrup leather, it carried -him to safety. Lee, with the pack-animals, had already moved on, was a -full quarter-mile down the slope that fell easily to the great plain -traversed by the railroad. Miles away they could see--not the tracks; it -was too far away for that--a dark-velvet plume, smoke from an engine. -Bull and Gordon still lay answering the _revueltosos'_ fire. But Sliver -and Jake had ascended up a watercourse a hundred yards to the right, in -which the dead horse lay out of sight. - -"Hey!" Sliver hastily stopped Jake from calling Bull. "Let 'em go! -You'll never be able to tear Lady-girl away if she knows I'm hurt. You -kin take my horse; on'y lift me down first an' prop me up among the -rocks where I kin lie comfortable an' pump a gun." - -Having complied, Jake stood looking down upon him. For once in his -rough, hard life he was shaken out of his cold, gray self. Sliver, well -and hearty, fighting his lone fight was one thing. To leave him, -painfully wounded, was quite another. The memory of many a wild ride -with the dogs of the law hard on their heels; of desperate stands, -shoulder to shoulder, the rifle of each protecting the other; of daring -raids in the dark; of midnight diversions shared together; ay, even the -memory of many a drunken quarrel in which they had beaten each other -beyond identification and awakened next morning just as good friends; -all that had gone into the making of the rough loyalty which had bound -the "Three Bad Men of Las Bocas" closer than brothers--all this combined -in an emotion that revolted at desertion. - -"My _God_, hombre!" he broke out in protest. "I kain't leave you here, -wounded, to fall in the han's of them wolves!" - -"You kain't do nothing else!" Hard eyes flashing, Sliver went on: -"Didn't we gamble, jest now, for who was to stay? An' didn't I win? Now -you're trying to renig?" As he noted the sweat standing out on Jake's -brow, he went on more quietly: "Look at it sensible. What ked you-all do -with a wounded man? You'd on'y sign Lady-girl's death warrant. And don't -worry about them wolves. They ain't a-going to light no fires on my -belly nor burn my feet. If I don't get done up in the scrap--the last -bullet will be for myself." - -Also he turned an adamant face to a proposal that Jake should stay too. -"No, hombre, it's still over a hundred miles to the border, an' they -need you. There's nothing left for you but to take my horse an' git." - -It had all been said and done without strain, effort, or -self-consciousness; was entirely the expression of his hardy, careless -soul that had never known the vice of self-pity. But when Jake still -stood, his long, lean face working lugubriously in his attempts to hide -his grief, Sliver did that which, for him, was a miracle in -divination--entered into and felt the pain of another soul. - -"Oh, shore, hombre!" His face lit up with sympathy. "You orter be glad. -Ain't it better to die clean, this-a-way, than to choke slowly at the -end of some ranger's rope? Go on, now, an' catch up to 'em an' keep 'em -moving till night. With the least bit of luck, you'll pull through all -right." - - -As before said, not one iota of self-pity entered into Sliver's -consciousness. Apart from a heavy fever and dull ache, the broken knee -was behaving itself as well as could be expected and, after Jake's -departure, Sliver settled down to the business in hand; _i.e._, to -inflate to the limit the current exchange of one _gringo_ for seven -_revueltosos_. Reckless, hardened scamp that he was, his remark, -addressed to himself, had no reference to water, a canteen of which Jake -had left at his elbow. - -"Gosh, but I'd like a drink!" - -His grin and following chuckle were natural and unaffected. "You're -going to be a good boy from now on, Sliver. You've taken your last." - -Pulling his Colt's .45 from his belt, he laid it with the water-bottle. -"Handy for the funeral." He uttered a second grim chuckle. - -The two extra rifles he placed within easy reach on his left. Then he -lay quiet, hard blue eyes fixed on the opposite ridge--so quiet that a -lone vulture poised above swooped down, alighted, then hopped mournfully -away and stood poised on one leg, hopeful if disappointed. In recent -history so much firing had invariably brought food. - -From the first severe lesson when, from points a mile apart, the deadly -rifles picked them off, the _revueltosos_ had learned caution, only -advancing when they were certain the two had retired. Riding away, Jake -had exposed himself along the ridge; but, suspecting a trap, the -_revueltosos_ remained in hiding. Ten minutes elapsed before a couple of -_sombreros_ rose cautiously out of a clump of sage. - -"Stuck up on sticks." Sliver criticized their wabbly motion. - -After a real head appeared under them he waited. When the ridge suddenly -broke out in a rush of mounted men he waited. While they rode down into -the valley he waited. Not until they were involved in the labyrinth of -sage, watercourses, pit-holes, brush, and boulders beneath him, did he -draw his first bead. Then, so swiftly that it seemed to the -_revueltosos_ that they were facing the fire of several men, he emptied -the three rifles into the kicking, struggling, plunging line of horses -and men. Four saddles he made vacant there and then. He picked off two -more as the _revueltosos_ raced back over the opposite ridge. - -"Six added to three I got makes nine!" Sliver grunted. "A few more an' I -kin afford to cash in." - -He could see from where he lay for miles along the ridge, and as he -noted its front rising more steeply in both directions he chuckled his -satisfaction. - -"You ain't a-going to try an' pass through me ag'in," he addressed the -invisible foe. "An' you ain't going to leave me here. It'll take you an -hour to come around. Be that time Lady-girl will be ten miles away, with -night fast coming on. Jest to encourage you--" - -The shot he threw into the brush opposite was the first of a series -designed to keep the _revueltosos'_ attention upon himself, and when, -half an hour later, he glimpsed men without horses scaling the steep -face of the ridge nearly a mile away he knew that he had succeeded. - -"They reckon we're all here, trying to stick it out till night," he -correctly interpreted the movement. "It 'ull take 'em another half-hour -to find out." - -A glance in the other direction showed a second party emerging from the -brush beyond rifle-shot. While it crossed the valley and scaled the face -of the ridge he watched quietly. A little later he began throwing shots -in both directions along the ridge. - -"Not that I'm expecting to bag any of youse," he addressed the unseen -enemy. "But just to slow you up a bit an' let you know I'm here. When -you get there"--his glance took in scrub-clothed elevations that -commanded his post on both sides--"good-by an' _good_ night." - -Of all ordeals, there can be none more severe than to be called upon to -wait, wait, wait while an unseen enemy is closing in around. Yet Sliver -stood the test. If he felt the passage of time, it was because he -counted each minute, each second in yards--the hundreds, scores of yards -Lee and his friends were gaining on the pursuit. He had fought all day -in heat and dust and smoke; the grime of battle added to his grimness. -While he waited the sun rolled down the west, transmuting the scorched -slopes into a wonderland of cinnabar, sienna, crimson, ocher; a huge -oven aglow with the hot slag of creation. But its rich lights showed -neither fear nor softening in Sliver's face when, from the spot he had -long noted, a rifle spoke. - -It was the signal for a leaden rain that began to spatter the rocks -about him. It was now only a question of time. He knew it. But till that -time came he replied to the fire. He was aiming into the heart of a puff -of smoke when the death he had gambled so recklessly with these many -years claimed the stakes. - -He turned slightly sideways as his head collapsed on his outstretched -arm, and through the grime and powder smoke, in the rich evening lights, -his face showed with its hard lines all sponged out. - -Sliver, the outlaw, gambler, drunkard, horse-thief, turned up to the low -sun the quiet, peaceful face his mother had looked down upon as a child. - - - - -XLI: JAKE BETTERS THE "EXCHANGE" - - -By the time Jake caught up with the others that inner humane being, -whose occasional appearances caused him so much disconcertion, had -withdrawn within his usual cynical shell. His face, when Lee inquired -for Sliver, expressed surprise that she should have thought it worth -while to inquire. - -"_Him?_ Oh, he's back there a-holding 'em off while we gain a spell." - -Though delivered with masterly unconcern, his explanation did not -altogether relieve her anxiety. "But--how will he find us again?" - -Jake's shrug was fine in its indifference. "He'll play a lone han', -Missy; plug straight for the border. Being alone that-a-way, he'll -likely beat us to it." - -"You really think so?" - -"He'll be there to meet us." - -Jake's tone carried conviction even to Gordon. Only Bull was not -deceived. After the other two had ridden on he looked at Jake. A lift of -the eyebrow, slight shake of the head, touch of the forefinger to the -knee--he knew all. Thereafter each burst of rifle-fire, long pause, -explained itself. He saw Sliver waiting till the _revueltosos_ came out -in the open. The slow rhythm of later shots showed him firing along the -ridge. A sudden burst of sharpshooting at sundown, following silence, -explained themselves. His glance at Jake, the latter's slow shake of the -head, signaled then that all was over. - -While they were traveling down the long slope toward the railroad the -sun had lowered till they could see the telegraph-poles running, a sharp -black fence, across the smoldering sky. Southward a toy station rose -from the dead-flat plain under a velvet plume of smoke. Bull had laid -his course to cross the tracks miles ahead of it. By traveling all -night, they could then gain the mountains that bared iron teeth along -the western sky-line; but they would be no nearer the border than when -they began the fight that morning. - -The thought was strong in their minds when Jake leveled his range -glasses at the dark smoke plume. "Enjine an' five cars." - -He handed the glasses to Bull, and before the latter's keen sight the -lenses laid the familiar outlines, of a revolutionary train, a-bristle -on top with humanity. Even at the distance, the flash and flare of gay -_rebozos_ told they were mostly women, and that told all. "Nobody there -but women and wounded. Belongs to the gang that's chasing us." - -"A hundred miles to El Paso," Jake spoke. "Three days' horseback? Three -hours with that old mogul?" - -"Golly!" The idea fastened on Gordon. "Couldn't we?" In place of their -present plodding he saw the telegraph-poles, rocks, hills, flying past -as they sped northward in the engine. - -"On'y women and wounded?" Jake repeated it, musingly. - -"Dark in half an hour?" Bull added: "They kedn't tell us from their own. -'Course we should lose the horses." With his accustomed caution he read -the reverse of the shield. "If anything went wrong--we'd be left afoot -on the desert." - -"No worse than we are," Jake argued. "These beasts have been running -sence daylight; are clean plugged out. Even if they carry us across to -the mountains we're not sure of feed nor water--an' still a hundred -miles from the border." - -"But Sliver?" Lee protested. "We can't leave him." - -She was looking at Bull. He looked at Jake, who looked away, in his mind -a picture of Sliver dead among the rocks. Then with that readiness and -steadiness that had always filled poor Sliver with envy he lied to a -good end. "The last thing he tol' me, Missy, was not to wait. ''Twould -hinder me an' hinder you-all. I'll make my run alone.'" - -"Very well." Her sigh would have fitted an anxious mother who felt that -her boy would be safer under her own eye. "Very well, but I _do_ wish he -were here." - -Again Bull glanced at Jake, who once more looked away; but neither -spoke. - -While riding slowly forward Bull laid out their plan. "It 'ull be up to -you an' Missy," he told Gordon, "to take care of the engineer while Jake -an' me stan' off the crowd. She kin hold a gun to his head while you -pitch the stuff aboard." - -The sun had now set. The dusk thickened as they advanced and through its -warm curtain presently broke the distant gleam of cooking-fires. Some -were down on the tracks; others on the car-roofs built on rude hearths -of earth within stone circles. When Bull called a halt and surveyed the -scene through the glasses it presented the familiar spectacle of a -_revueltosos'_ train-camp: women bending over the fires; some on their -knees at the _metates_, others stirring their clay cooking-pots, all -gossiping at their work. Here and there a man's face showed in the fire -glow; but always an arm in a sling, crutch, or bandage explained his -presence there. Unsuspecting, believing that in those wide spaces the -railway presented the one avenue of attack, they kept no watch; were -stricken dumb when, half an hour thereafter, a stern command to hold up -their hands issued from the darkness beyond the firelight. Only one man -raised a gun, and as Bull's rifle spat he threw up his hands and plunged -headlong from the top of the car to the ground. - -Squatted, at supper, with his women by a fire under the lee of the -mogul, the Mexican engineer proved easy game. A poke in the side from -Gordon's gun emphasized his command to cut the engine off the train. -Trembling, the fellow obeyed and stood mute, shaking with fear, with -Lee's gun pressed into the nape of his neck, while Gordon pitched their -stuff into the cab. When, moreover, after firing a few warning shots -along the length of the train, Jake and Bull climbed aboard he opened -wide the throttle and sent the mogul spinning northward. - -The instant they started Gordon grabbed the fireman's shovel. "Here's -where I fulfil one of my kid ambitions." - -Looking back from the seat where she had climbed beside Bull to watch -the tracks ahead, Lee saw his face focused in brilliant red light as he -shoveled and raked the clinker off the bars. Jake, with his usual -caution, sat with the engineer; from whom he prodded valuable -information with the muzzle of his gun. - -His strident repetitions thereof carried above the roar and rattle of -the speeding engine across the cab. "He says the half of Valles's army -is scattered like pin feathers afore a north wind!... With what's left -he's making a las' stan' north of Chihuahua!... He still bosses all the -country from here to Juarez!... This outfit was out raiding haciendas to -supply the new base!" The next item of news he delivered with a cheer. -"Hooray! the line's open clean to the border! He don't know of any -trains being run to-night! Thinks we'll have a clear track!" - -Just then lights and the ruddy glow of fires flashed out as the engine -came spinning out of a cut through low hills. It was merely a section -gang, and as they sped past they obtained a glimpse of curious brown -faces. - -They suggested Bull's question, "Ask him if there's any revueltosos on -the way." - -"At La Mancha!" Jake yelled back. "About thirty miles this side of the -border!... Half of the brigada Gonzales is holding the town for Valles!" - -The _brigada_ Gonzales! The command that had furnished the murderers of -Mary Mills. A spasm of hate writhed over Bull's dark face. His big hands -clenched. He turned and looked out of the cab window till he regained -control of his voice. - -"Does he allow we kin run through there?" - -Jake nodded. "If we douse the headlight and race by afore they have time -to block us." - -Looking back, just then, at Gordon, now stripped to his undershirt and -growing sootier every minute, Lee heard the answer. She did not, -however, give it much thought. The hills and rocks that took on queer -shapes in the dim light of a rising moon, giant _sahuaros_ that went -slipping past like huge ghosts, the occasional fires and lights, -glimpses of strange brown faces, the rush and roar of the engine -speeding through mysterious night, held her senses. Yet it stuck in her -mind, came popping out when, as the engine rounded a sharp curve, the -headlight beam struck full on a sheaf of glittering wires. - -"Oh!" she called out in sudden alarm. "We ought to have cut the wires!" - -It was a vital error. Gordon's whistle expressed their joint dismay; but -Jake, with his intense practicability, recovered first. "Well, what's to -do--stop an' cut them?" - -Bull shook his head. "Too late! We've been running over an hour. Nothing -left but to take a chanst." - -Jake nodded. But presently he spoke again. "Chanst? If they pull up a -rail an' ditch us at La Mancha, I'd hardly call it a chanst with half of -the brigada Gonzales shooting us up from all around. We'd be pickled for -keeps." - -During their "rustler days" it had always been Jake's craft that pulled -them out of tight places. Habit held Bull silent till, after he had -spoken to the engineer, Jake went on: "He says the track runs two per -cent. down into La Mancha. We kin shut off steam an' pussy-foot it the -last few miles. So here's the dope. We drop you-all"--his glance took in -the others--"a mile this side of the station, give you two hours to go -around, then shoot ahead. If we get through, you-all strike a light an' -we'll stop and pick you up. If we don't--we don't. But you'll be less 'n -thirty miles from the border an' have all night to make your getaway." - -"But--" - -Gordon's objection, however, was nipped by Bull. "It goes." - -Lee, however, was not so easily silenced. Climbing down, she crossed the -wabbling cab with unsteady steps and caught Jake's arm. "Oh, don't take -the risk. We'll abandon the engine. Come with us!" - -Looking down into her face, Jake's bleak eyes were almost soft. He -gently patted her hand. "Now don't be jumping at conclusions, Missy. We -need the enjine to go on, but I ain't a-going to commit suicide. If the -tracks are blocked we'll back right off. Then I'll take to the bushes -an' follow you round." - -With that she had to be content. But, realizing the danger, she climbed -up and sat beside him while the mogul rolled and racked and plunged -forward through the night. She was still sitting there when, an hour -later, a headlight flashed up far away. - -"They've wired ahead!" Bull yelled across the cab. "Make him stop, Jake! -We'll take to the bushes here." - -"Oh! now you come with us!" Lee cried. - -But Jake's answer wiped out her happiness. "No, Missy, I'll pull 'em -along for a few miles while you-all make your getaway afore I drop off." - -Already the throttle was closed. Slowing under the brakes, the mogul -glided to a stop. Leaping down, Gordon caught the provisions, -ammunition, and rifles as Bull threw them down. Meanwhile Lee stood -looking up at Jake with wide, distressed eyes. - -"Come on, dear!" Gordon called up from below. - -"No time to waste." Bull touched her shoulder. - -Still she stood. "Oh, I hate to leave you. _Do_ come!" - -"Oh, shore!" Jake laughed, patting her cheek. "I'll jine you in a few -hours--or at El Paso, if I miss you here." - -Because of his cynical outer crust, she had given him, perhaps, the -least affection of the Three. But in the last few weeks she had sensed -beneath it his loyal human feeling. Now, trembling, she put out her -hand, then, reaching suddenly, she pulled down his head and kissed his -cheek. The next second she leaped from the cab into Gordon's arms. - -Bull had already jumped. Left alone, Jake stood still while the engineer -threw the reversing lever and opened the throttle. As the mogul began to -glide slowly backward he raised his hand and touched the spot her lips -had pressed. Perhaps it revived some memory of his boyhood, some -reverent memory of the days when other women than wantons had held him -in love and respect. His face was very soft; so soft and tender it would -never have been recognized by his dance-hall flames. - -The engine had moved back a hundred yards with increasing speed before -he even moved. Then just as ice spreads its frozen mask over pleasant -waters so the outer crust that hid the real Jake from the undiscerning -spread again over his lantern features. In sudden shame at being caught -by himself in such softness, he turned furiously upon the engineer. - -"What are you grinning at?" - -The man was not. He was far too much afraid. But though he asserted his -seriousness with profuse apologies, it made no difference to Jake. - -"The trouble with you, Alberto, ain't that you Mexicans are a dirty, -lying, thieving, murdering lot so much as you're too plumb ignorant to -know your betters when they chanst around. In that brown pudding you -call a face there ain't a gleam to show you're sensible of the honor -you've jest been paid. You don't know it, Alberto, an' you probably -never will, but take it from me that if you was president of this rotten -country 'twouldn't come near it. If I don't blow the top of your head -off during the next hour--which I likely will--you'll be able to tell it -to your descendants that a white girl once rode in your cab. If they're -smart they won't believe you. But it's the closest to fame you'll ever -get, so play it for all it's worth. Now listen, Alberto"--he shook his -finger in the engineer's frightened face--"if you ever expect to hand it -down to them descendants aforesaid, cut out them grins and get down to -business." - -Delivered in English, the harangue flew high over the Mexican's head. -But it did Jake lots of good. Having, as it were, palliated his shameful -emotions, he followed his own advice and turned to the business in hand. - -"How far is that enjine, Alberto?" He poked the question in with his -gun. - -"Five miles, senor." - -"Jest an enjine?" - -"No, senor, it rides too steadily. It draws two cars; no more or it -could not take the grade at this speed." - -"How long afore they catch us?" - -"Ten more miles, senor. They travel two to our one." - -"All right, slow up a bit." - -With hollow clank of drivers the mogul moved on at slackened speed until -less than half a mile intervened. It was running, of course, reversed, -and across the intervening space the headlights stared. When, obedient -to Jake's order, the throttle was thrown wide again the two engines ran -like giant insects through the night, one in chase of the other, -thundering across bridges, whizzing around curves, shooting through -cuts, chimneys spitting smoke and flame, headlights flashing defiance -like fiery eyes. - -All the while Jake timed the distance. "Cut her off a notch," he ordered -when the mogul began to gain. "I wanter draw 'em on as far as I kin." - -But out of the dim smoke that trailed behind the pursuing engine broke, -just then, a series of red flashes in furious staccato. The drumming -reports were drowned in the roar and clank of the racing engines; but -the hail of bullets that rattled and glanced from the mogul's side was -unmistakable. - -"Machine-guns!" Jake exclaimed. "Chuck her into high, Alberto!" As, -under a full head of steam, the engine picked up and ran through the -night like a frightened girl, he added: "Sheer accident, they hit us, -anyway. They kain't do it again." - -Proving his words, the next burst of firing went wide. Only one bullet -struck the cowcatcher, and, leaping like a horse from the spur, the -mogul launched in dizzy flight down grade; had drawn two miles ahead by -the time she took the next sharp curve. - -"Hold her at that," Jake ordered. - -But again he had failed to reckon with the wires, which, after blocking -their advance, now cut off retreat. Shortly thereafter came a flash of -light as the engine shot from a cut through the first of the series of -stations they had passed on their way up. - -In accordance with the inscrutable law which governs the location of -Mexican stations, it stood a half-mile from the little adobe town that -dragged its unclean, brown skirts across the tracks. If the inhabitants -thereof had been content to obey telegraphed orders to build an obstacle -and let it go at that, the mogul would probably have gone into the ditch -without a second's warning. But, desiring to see the smash, they had -lighted a huge fire alongside the tracks, and under its glare the pile -of ties, earth, and stones stood out plain as by day. Wheels grinding, -blue sparks shooting from the sanded rails, the mogul stopped within a -hundred yards. - -After he had closed the throttle and thrown on the brakes the engineer's -eye had gone to the cab door. Then it switched to the ugly, black muzzle -of Jake's gun. Releasing the brakes, he reversed and opened the -throttle. - -A sputter of musketry had followed the first yell of disappointment that -went up from the rabble of _peon_ watchers. Fired from ancient pieces, -however, the bullets fell short or rebounded like peas from the mogul's -sides. Picking up her stride, she outran their feeble pursuit in a -hundred yards. - -It was then that the engineer's voice rose in protest: "But, senor, we -shall run into the other train! Mira! Mira! it is now only a mile away!" - -Jake's eye measured the distance. Then, in dry soliloquy that, even if -it had not been couched in English, would still have gone over the -other's head, he spoke. "Do you know what a maquina loca is, Alberto? -You don't? You s'prise me." Scared out of his small wits, the poor devil -had not even answered. "It's the one great invention your pais has -produced. 'Twas first used by Mr. Orozco shortly after he graduated from -a mule's tail to be commander-in-chief of Madero's army. He designed it -for the extirpation of Huertistas that got to tagging after him like -these gents is trailing us. 'Twas very simple. He'd load up half a ton -of dynamite on an enjine cowcatcher an' turn her loose with the throttle -wide open jest where she'd catch a troop-train in a blind cut. Mighty -effective, it was, too. Some o' them Huertistas was so elevated above -their normal they hain't finished raining down yet. Of course we're shy -on the dynamite. But a forty-ton mogul careering along at sixty miles an -hour ain't to be despised. Anyway, we'll try it. At this gait we orter -catch 'em in the cut beyond the station. Hit her up." - -While talking he had not been idle. First he laid his rifle by the cab -door, ready to jump; then slipped over his head and shoulder the -bandoliers of cartridge-clips Gordon had left for him. Meanwhile the -Mexican's frightened glance swung between him and the tracks which were -slipping faster and faster under the mogul. Beyond the station a faint -glow, reflection from its headlight, marked the entrance of the -_revueltosos'_ train into the cut. In his mind the engineer's horror, -burning, mangling, scalding, fought for supremacy with his fear of -Jake--and won. Selecting the moment that the latter's two hands were -engaged with the bandoliers, the engineer crossed the cab in one leap -and plunged down and out. - -"You son of a gun!" Grabbing his rifle, Jake jumped after. - -But in the few seconds that elapsed between their leaps the mogul -carried Jake a hundred yards. A second to a bump and each roll as he -struck rebounded and turned over and over lost more time. A few more -were required before he picked himself up. Then his glance went after -the mogul, now shooting like a comet toward the cut from which the -_revueltosos'_ train had just emerged. In the glare of the headlights -each vividly illuminating the other, like two dragons breathing fire and -smoke, they flew at each other's throats. - -Came a yell! a crash! Then darkness, hazy with steam, wiped out all but -screams and agonized curses. - -"_God!_" It burst from Jake. "If Bull could on'y have been here!" - -Both while in the air and rolling over and over he had an impression -that he must have jumped almost on top of the engineer. But now, looking -around, he became aware--first, that he was standing directly opposite -the station; second, of a dark figure in the lighted doorway; third, of -a flash, pistol-crack, of a bullet singing by his ear; lastly of a -baker's dozen of other dark figures rushing at him from all around. - -In a pinch--how well Sliver and Bull had known it!--Jake could always be -counted upon to do the unexpected. Behind him stretched an open, moonlit -plain where he would be easily shot down or overtaken. Grabbing the bull -by the horns, he rushed straight at the figure in the doorway. Into its -dark midst went the butt of his rifle. Bang! he slammed the door, a -heavy, three-inch affair of oak that fitted against stone jambs and -lintels; was secured by iron swing-bars. As he dropped these in place -the panels quivered under the impact of many shoulders. Leaving the man -he had overthrown writhing and holding his middle, Jake crossed quickly -to the window. - -In readiness for just such contingencies, its iron grill had been set -out six inches to permit a raking fire along the wall, and shooting at -ten feet into the convulsive movement at the door Jake's first shot -dropped a man. As the others dodged around the corner a yell told of -another wounded. - -A smaller window commanded that side, and, crossing over, Jake raked the -fugitives in their flight with a galling fire till the last dim figure -disappeared in the brush. Then, after he had noted with satisfaction -that the window rose high above the ground, he turned to his captive, -who still lay groaning on the floor. - -"Git up!" - -Steel eyes and ugly pistol muzzle enforced the order. - -The man, a fat Mexican with a yellow, bilious face and small, beady -eyes, arose. "If you will only let me live, senor--" - -"Shut up!" Jake cut him off. "You're the station agent?" - -"Si, senor!" - -"What's in those boxes?" - -"Powder, senor, giant powder that was brought in by revueltosos from a -gringo mine. It is to be shipped on the train to-morrow to Valles, who -will have it made into bombs for use in his trenches." - -"Thought so." Jake grinned at the pile of boxes. "'Tain't no trick to -tell gringo dynamite. The markings fairly scream, 'Made in America!' So -Valles is going to make bombs of it? Well, well!" - -"Senor, you will--" - -"Now, Alberto, cut that out." Having thus transferred the cognomen from -the engineer to his present captive, Jake went on. "That precious -existence o' yourn depends altogether upon your paisanos outside. The -longer I hold 'em off the longer you live. Get it? Bueno! Now trot over -to the window. The second you see any one--yelp! If you don't--" He -tapped his gun significantly. - -The agent thus placed, he looked around the room, The blackened stone of -the walls told that it had already been burned in one or other of the -revolutions. He grinned again, noting that the original roof had been -replaced with laminated iron. "Kain't roast us out, anyway, Alberto." - -On the rough table a one-wick lamp shed light over the usual litter of a -small freight-office. These days there was little real business. Only a -few barrels and bundles stood with the dynamite against the back wall. -Crossing the room, Jake pried off the lids, then, while the agent -watched him with fearful eyes, he carried and piled the boxes in a solid -block close to the table. That done, he returned to the larger window. - -Beyond the tracks the plains ran off and away under the moonlight. -Northward a cloud of steam hung over the cut, cloaking the salvage of -dead and wounded from the wreck. From it issued an occasional cry, -command, mutter of voices. Raising his rifle, he sighted into the midst, -then dropped it again. - -"'Tain't square, shooting wounded." But there was no pity in his eyes. -His mouth drew into a hard grin as he muttered: "I'd like to know jest -how many I got! Must have been a tidy mess. Well, well! look who's -here!" - -It was a bullet that had flattened against the stone lintel. His quick -eye had picked the flash out of a bunch of chaparral a couple of hundred -yards away, and he searched the patch with sweeping muzzle emptying the -chamber along its front. Then he waited. But came no answer. - -"Afraid I've spoiled another of your colleagues." He turned to the -agent. "They ain't very keen, anyway. You Mexes like a sure thing. It's -a cinch they're not a-going to try anything till the moon goes down, an' -I simply kain't waste any more of my valuable time on them. You kin keep -watch, Alberto." - -Seating himself at the table, he produced the pack he always carried and -laid out the first cards in a game of solitaire. As he played game after -game Jake's brow puckered, the corners of his mouth loosened and -tightened again in accordance with the fluctuations of his luck. He -could not have been more interested, absorbed if, instead of playing -with fate on the edge of the grave, he were cleaning out cowboys in a -frontier bunk-house. - -In the eyes of the Mexican, watching fearfully, the cold, grim face -loomed in the yellow lamplight, a mask of terror. Yet his fright held -him the more closely to his work. Not a leaf stirred in the brush, puff -of dust raised under the night wind, without his notice; and while he -watched the darkening plains one second, the grim, hard face under the -gold of the lamp the next, Jake played steadily on, played till, having -compassed her circle, the moon rolled down to the horizon and hung -poised, a huge silver ball, on the tip of a far-off peak. - -Rising, then, he walked to the large window, threw the shutters and -looked out over the plains, dim and mysterious in the fading light. A -stir of movement, buzz of voices, told of the attack that was preparing -in the chaparral behind the station. The hard line of his mouth curled -in derision, but as his gaze traveled northward to where the black peak -now pierced the bright face of the moon its contempt faded. - -Lee's face, whitely anxious for him, was in his mind, the thrill of her -arms around his neck, when he murmured, "On'y thirty miles to the -border, a clean getaway." - -Ranging southward again, his glance brought up on the dim, dark range -that marked Sliver's last stand. Once more Jake saw him lying, face -turned up, among the rocks. But the vision brought no grief. His small -nod expressed merely approbation. Till the moon went out and darkness -settled over the plains he stood there, thinking; stood till, with a -sharp ping! a bullet whistled past his ear. Then, after closing the -shutters, he returned to the table--not any too soon; for as he sat down -and picked up the cards came the crash of a volley fired at short range, -the splitting and splintering of bullet-pierced shutters. - -Through all, as a rat in a corner might watch a cat, the agent had -watched him with deadly fascination. From the north window where he -stood it was but a step to the door. Apparently Jake did not notice him -take it, for he did not look up--even when the agent's hand touched the -upper bar. - -"If I was you, Alberto, I'd come away from there." - -The agent froze. But Jake had spoken in English. The hand went again to -the bar, was slowly lifting it when, following a second splintering -crash, he fell forward on his face with a hollow cough. - -"Through the lungs, I reckon." Jake looked down at the gross body, -writhing in its death agony. "I told you to keep away, Alberto." - -The man's last convulsive clutch had swung the upper bar clear of its -sockets, but Jake did not move. The lower bar still held and, standing -up, he watched the oaken panels quiver and split under heavy blows. With -rhythmic regularity came the crash of volleys fired point-blank into the -shutters. Bullets, too, were spitting through the side window--to strike -and flatten on the opposite wall. Over all, above the crash of -rifle-fire, thud of the beam they were using on the door, rose the roar -and howl of a blood-mad _peon_ rabble. - -"The hull town has come to the funeral," Jake muttered. "Well, they'll -see some wake." - -As the door crashed in he stooped and blew out the light. Darkness fell -through the room--darkness that pulsed with convulsive movement. Over -the body of the agent the leaders tripped and fell. Upon them others -piled in a heap, yet under the pressure of the howling crowd outside -still others streamed in. Above the oaths, curses, mad howls, rose yells -for some one to bring a light. - -Presently it came, a piece of engine waste soaked in alcohol at the end -of a stick; and when it did, the rolling eyeballs, furious faces, -vicious mouths, stood out for a second, writhing in murderous lust, then -set in sudden horror. - -For the bluish flare fell full on a grim figure, tall, lean, topped with -a hard face, steel-point eyes. The muzzle of Jake's gun touched the top -layer of powder. Cold, weird, satanic, he must have loomed in their -vision as the Evil One in whose existence they all believed. Paralyzed -by the impending doom, some stood staring. Others, screaming hoarsely, -fought in vain to beat back through the crowd. Till the last moment, -yes, till one hardier scoundrel raised a gun, Jake held them in torture, -then-- - -Both shots were wiped out by the tremendous explosion whose thunder and -red sky-flash were heard and seen by Bull fifteen miles away. - - - - -XLII: BULL DREAMS A DREAM! - - -After the mogul glided away, Bull, Lee, and Gordon crouched in the -sage-brush while the _revueltoso_ engine approached. With a roar it came -at them out of the night, its beam light shooting an angry glance ahead. -For a moment they saw it on the high railroad bank in black silhouette -against the moonlit sky; an engine and two box-cars that swung and -swayed under a heavy top load of soldiers beneath a luminous trail of -smoke. On the first car a machine-gun showed in skeleton outline on -spider legs. For a second the train loomed in their sight, then roared -past, leaving the moon staring down at them through a yellow cloud of -dust. - -Rising, Bull held a brief council. The eastern hills had swung in while -they traveled northward, now lay only a few miles away. - -"We'll gain into them a piece, then rest up for a couple of hours," he -said. "We kain't afford more. On foot, this-a-way, we'll have to travel -at night an' hide up during the day--unless we chance on a _rancho_ -where we kin steal horses! Of course, it's terrible on you, Missy. But -if you kin stan' it for a little longer--" He stopped as Lee shook, as -he thought, with a sob. - -It was, however, merely a little laugh strangled at birth by tire and -trouble. "It seemed so funny that I, with hundreds of horses of my own, -should have to turn rustler." With a little mothering pat that somehow -reversed their positions and brought him, the big, dark giant, under her -fostering care, she added: "Don't worry about me. If I could only make -you some coffee! Do something to justify my existence! Here, give me a -rifle. I can at least carry something." - -But Gordon took it from her. Bull shouldered the cartridges and -provisions. Then, like dim ghosts, they moved over the desert, winding -through sage, _palo verde_, stinkbrush, on their way to the obscure -hills. Though Lee pleaded, time and again, to carry something, they -obstinately refused--and it was well that they did. When Bull called a -halt, at last, on the crest of the first hill she stood weaving and -swaying until Gordon seated her on a flat rock. - -"Don't dare to move," he ordered, "till I get you something to eat." - -They had left of their own provisions only coffee, crackers, and salt -meat. But after "Alberto" cut off the engine Gordon had "requisitioned" -his _tortillas_ and chile stew--plenty for three. Once again Lee wished -she could make them coffee. Fire being impossible, her dominant instinct -still found a vent. While Gordon sat munching leathery _tortillas_ his -head was suddenly seized; with her wet handkerchief she washed the -engine soot off his face. - -Neither did Bull escape. "There!" Bestowing a little, loving box on -Gordon's ear, she turned on Bull. The cool, damp, soft hands seized and -washed and wiped his black visage just as though he had been a child. -Whereafter she gave a little sigh of satisfaction. - -"Well, you're _half_-clean, anyway." - -Like two boys they looked up at her through the dusk. Gordon had taken -his punishment with a grin. Now he paid for it with a kiss that drew -from Bull a grave smile. "Sleep, now, you kids," he admonished them. -"Two hours an' we'll have to be moving again." - -"You, too!" Lee insisted. - -Exhausted by days of riding and fighting, she and Gordon slid almost at -once into the deep, dreamless slumber of tired youth. Till the slower -rhythm of their breathing informed him of the fact, Bull lay quiet. -Then, rising stealthily, he stood over them, a dim giant figure guarding -their sleep while the moon sailed down to the mountains. Fifteen miles -to the southward Jake was playing his last lone "hand." He was in Bull's -mind when a distant rumble followed a flash that lit the night sky with -calcium red. - -"Something doing there." Though he could have no accurate knowledge, -Bull nevertheless put his intuition into words. "Bet you Jake had a -finger in it." - -Stooping, he awoke the sleepers, then shouldering the rifles and -provisions, led off in the gloom, leaving Gordon to help Lee. And she -needed it. The nap had left her sleepier than ever. Like a child aroused -in the night, she yawned, stretched; still her eyes would not open. - -Yet she made light of it. "My feet seem to belong to some one else. All -the time they are trying to go off by themselves. Outch!" - -It was the barbed thorn of a _nopal_, which hurt worse coming out than -it did going in; the first of a series. Indeed, "cat's claws" and -"crucifixion thorns" lay everywhere in prickly ambush. "Spanish bayonet" -scratched their shoes, scored their leather puttees. Now the sage would -rise high above their heads, then leave them to scramble in the open -among limestone boulders. Stripped to its bones by torrential rains of -the last season, the ground heaved and tossed in pits and hummocks. In -daylight it would have been heavy going. By night it was heart-breaking. -When, after an hour of it, Bull called a halt the two laid down at once; -in five seconds were fast asleep. - -This time he allowed only twenty minutes, then got them up and pressed -on again. So, alternately walking and sleeping, they gained ten miles to -the north and east before dawn burst, a red explosion, through the first -pale lights. - -Its weird illumination revealed the same dreary expanse of limestone and -scrub desert they had fought over the preceding day. It also showed Lee, -pale, tired, limping, but cheerful. - -She nodded when Bull proposed that they should keep on till sunrise. "To -be sure! We'll have all day to rest." - -"I didn't mean, though, for you to walk no more." Stooping suddenly, he -rose with her sitting on his shoulder. - -"Your weight ain't no more to me than a fly," he replied to her protest; -and while the weird red lights faded to amber washes and these -brightened into a fierce sunblaze, he carried her on to a _mesa_ that -raised its limestone face like the walls of an old castle from the -boulders and sage. - -"'Tain't safe to go on," he said, setting her down. "You'd think, to -look around, there wasn't a living thing within a hundred thousand -miles. But you never kin tell. The desert has eyes that see without -being seen; voices that tell of a stranger without being heard. -Sometimes it is a herder in search of strays; sometimes a rustler hiding -from the _rurales_; but there's always some one. We'll stop while it's -safe." - -He was right. Already they had been seen--by a _peon_ who had been -driven by the good looks of his woman to seek a harborage by a secret -spring from _revueltoso_ lovers. But the tale of their passing did not -go forth by him. Already he and his woman were trudging at the heels of -their burro deeper into the desert. But only twelve miles away -"Alberto," the engineer, was pointing out their footprints to the troop -of _revueltosos_ he had guided up the line. - -"Here it was they got off, el capitan. See the marks of their feet? -These little ones no larger than a child's are those of the woman." - -"A white girl, thou sayest?" the leader asked. - -"Si, senor, an Americana white as milk. Dressed she was in man's -riding-clothes that showed her very shapely. She will make the fine mate -for thee." - -"There should be _some_ pay." The _capitan_ went on, with a vile oath. -"Twenty of us, see you, mashed by the engine the gringo loosed upon us; -si, mashed to a pulp. As many more cleaned of hair and hide like pigs -come out of a scald. Slow roasting would have been the least I had dealt -that gringo. But he goes out like"--he blew out the match with which he -was lighting his cigarette--"this! and takes a hundred more of us with -him. Bueno!" His shrug accepted that which could not be undone. "They -are gone, our companeros, but we shall meet again--in hell. But these -others, the girl and her men, shall pay." - -At his order, his men, about a dozen, strung out on a line the units of -which rode a quarter-mile apart. Riding slowly, beating the country to -the north and east as they went, they approached Bull's limestone castle -just as the shortening shadows proclaimed high noon. - -After Lee and Gordon had eaten and lain down, Bull had built over them a -rough _ramada_ of sage-brush to protect them from the sun. Then, sitting -in the shadow, he had held his tireless watch. While the _revueltoso_ -line was still miles away his keen eyes picked up the individual dust -clouds that marked its units serpentining across the sage. He knew, yet -let them approach almost within rifle-shot before he woke up Gordon, so -carefully that Lee slept on. - -"There ain't many of 'em," he whispered. "We must make 'em sick at the -first shooting. I'm going to slip along the ridge to get that second -man. Let yourn come right to the foot of the bluff. Wait till you kin -see his eyes; then bust him where he's biggest." - -Yesterday's fighting had absorbed most of Gordon's thrills. But now, as -he lay looking down at the _revueltoso_ coming on a little, ambling jog, -he sustained a queer revulsion. Yesterday he had lain and loaded and -fired as steadily as any of the Three. But, somehow, this seemed -different--as different as a duel from a cavalry charge. His Anglo-Saxon -instinct for fair play revolted at this ambushing of a single man. When, -pausing at the foot of the bluff, the fellow looked up Gordon -experienced an absurd impulse to rise and shoot from the shoulder after -fair warning. - -But while he hesitated Lee turned in her sleep and sighed. It stiffened -him, that gentle sigh. A glance along the ridge showed Bull sighting -from behind a rock. Drawing his own bead, he fired. - -At the crack of the rifle Lee slid from under the _ramada_, startled and -wide-eyed, in time to see the man collapse in the saddle, then slide -headlong to the ground. Bull's man was also down, and as the riderless -horses threw up their heads and galloped away the dust clouds along the -sage whirled back and combined half a mile away. - -By that time Bull had returned, and as they moved on back he pointed at -a gap in a low range that drew its jagged line across the horizon. "That -is the Tejon Pass--about ten miles away. The American border is on'y -twelve beyond. Mexicans never fight in the dark. If we kin hold 'em till -then we'll have all night to climb through the Pass." - -They made a good gain while the _revueltosos_ were recovering from that -first sharp lesson. By the time the latter had described a wide circle -around the bluff Bull had taken up a second position on a smaller -elevation, and held it while Lee and Gordon retired still further. - -Thus began a repetition of the previous day's fighting--with this -disadvantage, lacking horses in open country devoid of the limestone -ridges that afforded natural barriers, and surrounded most of the time -with tall sagebrush, they had to keep up a constant fire, searching the -brush with their bullets to keep the _revueltosos_ from crawling up on -them. It was hot work, slow work, laborious work, growing all the time -more dangerous, for, following up in a wide circle, the _revueltosos_ -brought its ends around until, just before sundown, a shot fired -directly from their rear informed Bull that their investure was -complete. - -It was not, however, for long. While Gordon threw bullets around the -circle, checking its constriction, Bull crept through the sage till he -sighted, at last, a light smoke puff issuing from a bush. He aimed into -the middle of it and, following the crack of his rifle, a man leaped up, -then fell forward. - -So began again the retreats which continued while the lowering sun set -the Tejon range on fire above a desert of lavender and purple. At dusk a -huge, flat moon rose and hung like a polished shield on the horizon's -dark wall. Sailing on up, it flooded the desert with quiet radiance, -supplying light for their tired feet. As they journeyed the dim mass of -the range rose higher and higher till it blotted out the stars. Shortly -thereafter they entered the Pass. - -From its mouth a mule path wound up between high rocky walls, then fell, -hours later, into a narrow valley, where they found a spring and pool, -at which they refilled their water-bag. It was hard to leave. But after -they had drunk and washed the dust from their faces Bull hoisted Lee on -his shoulder again; with tireless strength carried her on up the trail -to a plateau almost at the height of land that overlooked the valley. So -tired was she Gordon had to keep her awake while she ate the dole of -crackers and salt meat, the last of their provisions. Then, gathering -her to him, he fell, with her, into dreamless sleep. - -Again, to please her, Bull had feigned sleep. Again he returned to his -ceaseless watch. Not since he left the train five nights ago had he -closed his eyes. Yet his mind functioned as usual. Just as his body was -accustomed to move, ride, walk under the heat of a desert sky, so his -thoughts flashed and faded in the sultry heat of his brain. If anything, -it was stimulated. His vision reached farther; he saw with crystal -perception, grasped mental conceptions beyond his normal. As he gazed -down on the sleeping pair his mind reached out beyond the danger of the -hour. - -Unconscious of his kindly scrutiny, the two slept on, Lee gathered in -the curve of Gordon's arm, fair head pillowed on his breast, both faces -turned up in the moonlight. Exhaustion had drained most of the girl's -color, and, the redder for it, the arched bow of her mouth showed under -the small nose, fine nostrils. The rounded oval of her cheeks, broad, -low brow, smooth throat gained delicacy by contrast with the heavier -mold of Gordon's features. His level brows, firm mouth, straight nose, -forehead broad and high above wide-spaced eyes, the good, square jaw, -supplied the masculine equivalent of her fineness. One face, as the -other, indicated quality, breeding. The girlish figure, well rounded in -spite of its litheness, complemented the rangy body, flat flanks, long -limbs, alongside which it lay so quietly. - -In their wholesome, healthy youth they were perfect as a double flower. -The man and the woman! given to him for a helpmeet in the Garden of -Eden; a helpmeet in joy and sorrow, love and fighting, in play and -earnest throughout the generations! The unconscious tenderness of that -age-long relation was expressed by his guarding arm, her soft -dependence; something of the feeling, mystery, and beauty of all past -loves enveloped them sleeping there. - -"Jes' naturally made for each other. Not once in a thousand do you get -such a pair." - -Bull's murmur was founded on truth, for he had seen enough of the world -to know of the misfits and mismatings, of the strong with the weak, of -health and disease, ugliness and sweetness; the sales of youth to -degenerate age; the chance matings of the slums that bring into the -world a wretched swarm to fill the hospitals and prisons. Once in a -thousand? Not once in a hundred thousand was Nature's intent so -completely fulfilled. - -To the greatly wise and the greatly simple are vouchsafed visions, and -to Bull, looking out over the dim plains, was given a dream. It began at -Arboles. Just as he had seen Lee sitting under the _portales_ many a -time, fair head inclined over a bit of mending for one or other of the -Three, he now saw her sewing and making for the small children that -tugged at her skirt, tried to climb her knee. Small replicas of herself -and Gordon, with the marvelous celerity of visions, they grew under -Bull's eyes into strong boys, healthy girls, whose shouts and laughter -raised the echoes in the _patio_. Now they were young men and women! He -saw the lads go forth and return proudly with young wives. He saw fine -young fellows come in to woo and win Lee's girls. - -With that the vision expanded till it embraced all the land. Under -forced peace, he saw the flood of immigration that had been arrested by -the revolutions rise again and pour in wider streams by rail and ship -into Mexico, now, in her turn, the melting-pot of the world. Ships -thronged her ports; over her rich bosom railroads spread their lace of -iron; and here, there, yonder, he saw Lee's children, always strong, -always upright, always considerable people among their neighbors. In -legislature, church, halls of state, they took place--at first a few -white faces among the brown; then, as time moved on and the brown race -drowned under the foreign inundation, whites among white, governors, -legislators, presidents of the Mexican United States, worthy peer of its -neighbor across the Rio Grande. - -It required hours for his slow visioning to arrive at this stately -consummation. In course thereof the moon sailed down to its setting in -the north, but while its dew-light still fell on the sleepers Bull's -gaze came back to them. - -Surely they were "fit," the chosen of Nature, ripe fruit of her age-long -process. Surely they and their children, the big-boned, cool-brained -children of the north, would displace the hotheads who now laid waste -the land with their lusts and passions. Not by war would it be brought -about so much as that commercial conquest which is more lasting and -complete. "Fit," morally and physically, in the fullest sense of the -term, yet down there in the valley, in the dark Pass beyond, men more -ruthless than the tiger, more cruel than the wolf, the "fit" of ten -thousand years ago, were waiting for daylight to renew the attempt on -their lives. - -It should not succeed! As Sliver had sworn to it--and died; as Jake had -sworn to it--and died; so Bull took oath. Also, with slow deliberation, -heavy practicability, he began his dispositions. First, he examined the -cartridge-belts, and his face darkened as he noted that two days of -heavy firing had almost exhausted their ammunition. There was left only -enough for one rifle; indeed, to fully charge Gordon's, he had to empty -his own. - -"Won't need it, anyway." - -Muttering it, he sent a satisfied glance around the plateau. All last -evening while they were climbing over the first heights into the valley, -then on up here, he had searched for just such a place. - -"No, I won't need it." - -Repeating it, he kneeled beside the sleepers and looked closely into -Lee's face, pale from exhaustion, but spirited as ever, and as sweet. He -knew it for the last time--just as Sliver had known it; as Jake. Like -Sliver, he would have loved to say farewell. But just as Sliver had -repressed the desire to save her pain so Bull sealed his self-denial -with a heavy shake of the head. - -"Twould on'y break them up an' do me no good." - -Very gently he woke up Gordon. "Don't wake her till I'm through telling. -It will soon be daylight. With it they'll be on top of us again. The -border's over there--on'y a few miles." With heavy steadiness he went on -with the last fine lie: "I'm keeping the bulk of the ammunition, an' -I'll stay here, for a whiles, to hold them off. But don't you wait for -me. She's well rested now; so keep going and going till you've crossed." - -Reaching up, Gordon took Bull's hand in a strong grip. "I suppose -there's no use asking you to let me stay?" - -"No." Bull shook his head. "An' if I would--she wouldn't! Now wake her -up." - -Sleep had revived her wonderfully. She chatted quite cheerfully while -making their last small arrangements. All day yesterday Bull had covered -their retreats, and there was nothing unusual in his staying behind. Yet -when, looking back as she and Gordon moved off, she saw Bull standing -there, perhaps with some presentiment she ran hastily back. - -"Oh, won't you come?" she pleaded. - -"Sure, come on!" Gordon seconded her plea. "We can fight and run like -yesterday." - -"Yes, _do_?" Through the dusk her eyes, distended with fear for him, -shone big and black in the dim whiteness of her face. In her dread -earnestness she seized his arm; tried to pull him along. "Oh, _won't_ -you come? I'm _so_ afraid. First it was Sliver, then Jake, now you. I'm -dreadfully afraid that something has happened to them--will happen to -you. And if it did--oh, what should I do? What _shall_ I do?" - -Her pallid face, earnest pleading, shook Bull like a leaf. For almost a -year now her slightest wish had been his law. If he had succeeded in -holding up his end in Torreon, to use his own phrase, "had walked in an' -come out again, sober, like a man," he might have given in; gone on in -her service. But, besides the deadly hurt that had slain in him the -desire for life, he knew himself; as Sliver had known himself; as Jake. - -She was crying now, head bowed on his arm, and small wonder. Through -events that had been enough to shatter nerves of iron she had borne -herself like a man. Even now she sobbed quietly, doing her best to -restrain her tears. "There! there!" Gathering her to him, Bull patted -her back gently, as though she had been a grieving child. "There! there! -In a few hours we'll be over the border, and 'twon't be long afore we'll -be back at Arboles, you an' Gordon an' me an' Sliver an' Jake." He said -more; drew a picture of them all in the full swing of the old life. -Then, with an assumption of cheerfulness that was remarkable because of -the pain it covered, he concluded: "So don't bother about me. There's -less risk here than in any of the stan's we made in the last three days. -I've got 'em all down below me an' there's on'y this trail. If they try -to come on, it 'ull be like shooting turkeys for a raffle. I'll hold 'em -jest for a whiles, then ketch up afore you reach the border. So run -along." - -"You're sure?" - -"Sure!" He had to swallow his heart to say it. - -"Remember," she called back, moving away, "I'll be on pins and needles -till you come." - -Strongly, with an accent she was afterward to remember, he made answer. -"I won't be here long." - -Till their dim figures vanished he watched them go. Then, empty rifle in -hand, he turned his face to the foe. - - - - -XLIII: THE LAST OF THE THREE BAD MEN - - -As before said, it was not the accidental juncture of distance and -fatigue that had caused Bull to stop for the last rest on the plateau. -From its edge the trail fell steeply down a watercourse between high -walls of shale into a rocky pocket, then climbed the opposite bank to a -lesser eminence. Huge boulders occurred all over the level. Launched -down the watercourse as through the bore of a giant stone cannon, they -could be depended upon to do terrible execution upon a file of mounting -men. - -After Lee and Gordon disappeared, using his rifle barrel for a lever, -Bull pried loose and rolled to the plateau edge over a dozen of the -largest. Before them he built an ambush of sage that would look, from -below, like ordinary chaparral. Whereafter, he sat down on a boulder and -looked out over the Pass, the rugged outlines of which were beginning to -form in the pale dawn. - -Than this hour, when day stirs in the womb of night, there is none so -fraught with a sense of imminence; presage of things to come, calamity -or joy, accomplishments and failure, disaster, triumph, defeat. For who -shall say what the day may bring forth? In far-off times the first -pallid lights had often revealed these very mountains shaken upon their -great bases; valleys suddenly buried under the green inundations of -rushing seas; cyclonic disturbances that have registered so strongly in -the racial consciousness of man that he may never watch without awe the -emergence of the new day from the baptism of dawn. As Bull sat, like a -man of the stone age in wait for a great cave bear, the feeling was -strong upon him. - -In such moments a man's whole life is apt to be thrown, like a cinema -drama, on the curtains of his mind. But Bull's reflections began with -his new birth at Los Arboles. Vividly there rose before him the golden -pastures rolling off and away to the mountains; in the foreground, -coming at full gallop down the opposite slope, fair hair floating on the -wind, he saw Lee following her father in chase of the Colorados. - -Next flashed up the sick-room, where she sat for long hours in mute -white fear on the opposite side of Carleton's death-bed. He saw her, -after the funeral, coming toward him through the _patio_ gateway, -swaying like a lily in a breeze, the whiter by contrast with Phyllis -Lovell's rich, dark beauty. - -Followed happier pictures. A slight smile marked a memory of her -diligence in his own reconstruction; her delight when her pains yielded -some small return in the way of an amended fault, correction remembered. -All of it, from the coming of Gordon, the pains and perplexities of -match-making, to the triumphal conclusion, moved slowly through his -thought; then, from the end, his mind returned and lingered with one -scene. - -Once again she was giving him her usual critical survey the morning he -started for Torreon. While he stood smiling with embarrassed pleasure -her eyes rose from the tie she was straightening to his. As she read -their sympathy and intelligence, the hands flew up around his neck, her -face buried itself in his breast. - -Now he was looking down on Arboles from the ridge, her last words still -in his ears, the thrill of her soft, cool arms still at his neck. Then, -as he turned and rode northward toward the Mills _rancho_, memory leaped -the gap in time and distance--he was sitting in the widow's kitchen, -Betty curled up on his knee, watching the compounding of Lee's birthday -cake. - -From that through the stages of their acquaintance down to the last -tender scene the night before he left for Torreon, Memory spread her -pictures. Again he was looking down on the house, almost hidden in the -bougainvillea whose crimson blossoms splashed the golden walls. Now he -was inside, living again that one perfect evening, Betty snuggled warm -in his arms, her mother sewing while the flooding sunset faded into -dusk. She was speaking, holding out hope for his regeneration. As always -in that vision, her hand came fluttering like a small white bird through -the dusk. Dark flashed into day. He was listening to the last words that -his ears would ever take from her lips; the words that confirmed her -ownership. - -"I shall expect you soon?" - -He heard, too, his own answer, "Sure, ma'am, I'll come straight to you." - -Again he was looking back at her, smiling over Betty's shoulder, -and--the bougainvillea shriveled into a lace of black around empty -windows that stared with fiery eyes from seared walls. - -In the intensity of his visioning the horrible denouement came almost -with the original shock. He sprang up with a groan of agony. - -While he had sat there, musing, the pallid first lights had grown and -strengthened, flared up in the crimson fires of sunrise. Beneath, the -rugged walls of the Pass flamed in apricot lights pitted with purple -shadows. Far down, just where the trail began to climb from a narrow -interior valley, came a silver flash as a scabbard took the first gleam -of the sun. - -It announced the _revueltosos_ of the _brigada_ Gonzales! Her murderers! -Answering it, the lines of sorrow, deep-plowed through his face, drew -into deeper furrows of hate. His coal-black eyes lit with a maniac -glitter. The knuckles of the hand that held his rifle-barrel like a -club, gleamed whitely through the skin. When, crouching suddenly, he -peered downward from behind a boulder at the file of horsemen now -wriggling like a loose-jointed snake along the narrow valley, he was -again the animal Sliver and Jake had seen looking down on the -_revueltosos_ in the _fonda_ canon. Big, black, burly, he looked more -like a bear than a man. - -If he had followed his own desire he would have waited and brought the -long fight to a conclusion there and then. But even the deadly hate that -sent slow shivers coursing through his huge frame was dominated by his -care for Lee. Time was the first consideration; time for the fugitives -to make good their escape. Though his rifle was empty, he still had his -revolver, a heavy Colt's .45. Having looked over his boulders and poised -them in balance with smaller stones, he passed down the water-course and -climbed to the crest of the opposite bank. - -Lying there, he looked down on the _revueltosos_ who had begun to climb -up through the chaparral. The mountainside fell off so steeply it was -impossible for them to deploy in line, and, knowing it, he sighted high -and fired. - -The bullet fell short, as he knew it would. But at the crack the -_revueltosos_ tumbled out of their saddles; the next second disappeared -with their horses in the sage. To them it was the reopening of the -"fight and run" of yesterday's warfare, and, taught by its lessons, they -moved cautiously up through the brush, seeking higher positions from -which to return his fire. - -Fully aware of their belief, Bull encouraged it by answering, at -intervals, the bullets that began to clip the rocks, plump in the dust -about him. But he husbanded his shots, firing only when, after a long -silence on his part, the foe came creeping on up. - -Six shots, fired quarter of an hour apart. To Bull they were mile-posts, -each recording a stage in Lee's advance toward safety. As clearly as -though he had been with them he saw her, tired, limping a little, but -moving steadily on with Gordon's help. And his imaginings ran with the -facts. Just about the time that he fired his last shot and ran back, -down into the gully and up the bore of his huge stone cannon to the -plateau above, Gordon sighted, far away on a rise, a speck of white that -marked the international boundary line, and moving dots that presently -grew into a United States cavalry patrol. - -Suspecting an ambush, the _revueltosos_ came forward slowly. Quarter of -an hour passed, indeed, before the first head poked up from behind the -opposite bank. Another quarter slid by; then, emboldened by the long -silence, three appeared in the open. - -"They have gone! Bring up the horses!" - -The leader's call, in Spanish, carried across to Bull. Also, while they -waited, he heard their conversation: - -"If Prudencia had sent in to La Mancha yesterday morning for more men, -we had caught them last night." - -"Si," came the answer. "But he wanted the girl for himself." - -"The swine!" The epithet was set in vile oaths. "But he is cured forever -of that complaint. Hombre! but they shoot well, these gringos. The -bullet took him squarely between the eyes." - -There was more of it--their present hope to run the _gringos_ down with -horses after they gained the levels beyond the Pass; the disposition -they would make of them after capture. Unaware of the glittering black -eyes only a hundred yards away, they talked on till a scrape of hoofs, -hubbub of voices on the other side of the ridge announced the arrival of -the horses. - -A minute thereafter they came riding in single file, slipping and -sliding, most of the time on their beasts' haunches, down into the rock -pocket below. At the bottom, the first man looked up a little nervously. -Then his voice rose up to Bull, crouching among the sage: - -"They are surely gone. Vamos!" - -A scraping of hoofs followed. But Bull was in no hurry. There was room -for all in the "bore." He waited. Till he caught the labored breathing -of the first beast he waited, then--with a sudden pry of the -rifle-barrel he launched the first boulder. One after the other, as fast -as he could pry them, he sent the others thundering after. Then, clubbed -rifle waving like a windblown reed above his head, eyes ablaze, teeth -bared, leaping and bounding like some mad gorilla, he shot into the -midst of the crushed, struggling mass of horses and men. He was in among -them almost before the last boulder struck down a horse in its rebound -from the opposite hill. - -For a few seconds all was hidden in a cloud of dust, from the bowels of -which rose the snorts of wounded horses, groans and yells. Then, as the -dust settled, Bull loomed up. Berserk as any Norseman that ever beat -time for his death chant with swinging sword, obedient only to the -primal instinct to kill, he swung his clubbed rifle, flailing out that -evil chaff, dropping them as they came on. - -And come they did, those that were able. Accustomed to war and wounds, -they ringed him so closely none dare shoot for fear of hitting his -fellow. They could only hack and stab with knives and _machetes_. Till -only two were left they fought him, and when they gave and ran back up -the hill Bull made no effort to follow. - -Running blood from a dozen wounds, he stood swaying drunkenly among the -dying and the dead, the ferocious, primal passion gone, evaporated with -the crimson mists that had veiled his sight. His hot brain had cooled -and cleared. He saw with wonderful clarity the golden sheen of the sand -and stones; subdued glow of the rock walls; the two _revueltosos_ -staring at him from the hillside above. One of them was raising his -rifle, but Bull took no heed. His eyes were lifted to a drift of white -cloud overhead. - -With such intensity did he stare, the second _revueltoso_ also looked -up, then crossed himself. Did he also see in the diaphanous vapors the -faint outlines of a woman and child? Clearly as in life Bull saw; -clearly as on that last night he heard Mary Mills's voice: - -"I shall expect you soon?" - -The _revueltoso_ was aiming, but Bull did not move. Exultantly his -answer rang out, "Sure, ma'am, I'll come straight to you." - -The rifle cracked and "Bull" Perrin, the last of the "Three Bad Men of -Las Bocas," collapsed in a heap. - - - THE END. - - - - - ZANE GREY'S NOVELS - - May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. - -THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS - - A New York society girl buys a ranch which becomes the center of - frontier warfare. Her loyal superintendent rescues her when she - is captured by bandits. A surprising climax brings the story to - a delightful close. - -THE RAINBOW TRAIL - - The story of a young clergyman who becomes a wanderer in the - great western uplands--until at last love and faith awake. - -DESERT GOLD - - The story describes the recent uprising along the border, and - ends with the finding of the gold which two prospectors had - willed to the girl who is the story's heroine. - -RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE - - A picturesque romance of Utah of some forty years ago when - Mormon authority ruled. The prosecution of Jane Withersteen is - the theme of the story. - -THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN - - This is the record of a trip which the author took with Buffalo - Jones, known as the preserver of the American bison, across the - Arizona desert and of a hunt in "that wonderful country of deep - canons and giant pines." - -THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT - - A lovely girl, who has been reared among Mormons, learns to love - a young New Englander. The Mormon religion, however, demands - that the girl shall become the second wife of one of the - Mormons-- Well, that's the problem of this great story. - -THE SHORT STOP - - The young hero, tiring of his factory grind, starts out to win - fame and fortune as a professional ball player. His hard knocks - at the start are followed by such success as clean - sportsmanship, courage and honesty ought to win. - -BETTY ZANE - - This story tells of the bravery and heroism of Betty, the - beautiful young sister of old Colonel Zane, one of the bravest - pioneers. - -THE LONE STAR RANGER - - After killing a man in self defense, Buck Duane becomes an - outlaw along the Texas border. In a camp on the Mexican side of - the river, he finds a young girl held prisoner, and in - attempting to rescue her, brings down upon himself the wrath of - her captors and henceforth is hunted on one side by honest men, - on the other by outlaws. - -THE BORDER LEGION - - Joan Randle, in a spirit of anger, sent Jim Cleve out to a - lawless Western mining camp, to prove his mettle. Then realizing - that she loved him--she followed him out. On her way, she is - captured by a bandit band, and trouble begins when she shoots - Kells, the leader--and nurses him to health again. Here enters - another romance--when Joan, disguised as an outlaw, observes - Jim, in the throes of dissipation. A gold strike, a thrilling - robbery--gambling and gun play carry you along breathlessly. - -THE LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS, By Helen Cody Wetmore and Zane Grey - - The life story of Colonel William F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill," as - told by his sister and Zane Grey. It begins with his boyhood in - Iowa and his first encounter with an Indian. We see "Bill" as a - pony express rider, then near Fort Sumter as Chief of the - Scouts, and later engaged in the most dangerous Indian - campaigns. There is also a very interesting account of the - travels of "The Wild West" Show. No character in public life - makes a stronger appeal to the imagination of America than - "Buffalo Bill," whose daring and bravery made him famous. - - Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York - - - - - NOVELS OF FRONTIER LIFE BY - WILLIAM MacLEOD RAINE - - HANDSOMELY BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. - - May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list. - -MAVERICKS. - - A tale of the western frontier, where the "rustler," whose - depredations are so keenly resented by the early settlers of the - range, abounds. One of the sweetest love stories ever told. - -A TEXAS RANGER. - - How a member of the most dauntless border police force carried - law into the mesquit, saved the life of an innocent man after a - series of thrilling adventures, followed a fugitive to Wyoming, - and then passed through deadly peril to ultimate happiness. - -WYOMING. - - In this vivid story of the outdoor West the author has captured - the breezy charm of "cattleland," and brings out the turbid life - of the frontier with all its engaging dash and vigor. - -RIDGWAY OF MONTANA. - - The scene is laid in the mining centers of Montana, where - politics and mining industries are the religion of the country. - The political contest, the love scene, and the fine character - drawing give this story great strength and charm. - -BUCKY O'CONNOR. - - Every chapter teems with wholesome, stirring adventures, replete - with the dashing spirit of the border, told with dramatic dash - and absorbing fascination of style and plot. - -CROOKED TRAILS AND STRAIGHT. - - A story of Arizona; of swift-riding men and daring outlaws; of a - bitter feud between cattle-men and sheep-herders. The heroine is - a most unusual woman and her love story reaches a culmination - that is fittingly characteristic of the great free West. - -BRAND BLOTTERS. - - A story of the Cattle Range. This story brings out the turbid - life of the frontier, with all its engaging dash and vigor, with - a charming love interest running through its 320 pages. - - Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York - - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OVER THE BORDER *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40600 - -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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