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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/502-h.zip b/502-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d49d1d --- /dev/null +++ b/502-h.zip diff --git a/502-h/502-h.htm b/502-h/502-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9ddb09 --- /dev/null +++ b/502-h/502-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,16367 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Desert Gold, by Zane Grey +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> + +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Desert Gold, by Zane Grey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Desert Gold + +Author: Zane Grey + +Posting Date: September 13, 2008 [EBook #502] +Release Date: April, 1996 +[Last updated: March 21, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESERT GOLD *** + + + + + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +DESERT GOLD +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A ROMANCE OF THE BORDER +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ZANE GREY +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap00">Prologue</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">Old Friends</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">Mercedes Castaneda</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">A Flight Into The Desert</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">Forlorn River</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">A Desert Rose</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">The Yaqui</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">White Horses</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">The Running of Blanco Sol</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">An Interrupted Siesta</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">Rojas</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">Across Cactus and Lava</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">The Crater of Hell</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">Changes at Forlorn River</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">A Lost Son</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">Bound In The Desert</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">Mountain Sheep</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">The Whistle of a Horse</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">Reality Against Dreams</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">The Secret of Forlorn River</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">Desert Gold</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +D E S E R T G O L D +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PROLOGUE +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<P> +A FACE haunted Cameron—a woman's face. It was there in the white +heart of the dying campfire; it hung in the shadows that hovered over +the flickering light; it drifted in the darkness beyond. +</P> + +<P> +This hour, when the day had closed and the lonely desert night set in +with its dead silence, was one in which Cameron's mind was thronged +with memories of a time long past—of a home back in Peoria, of a woman +he had wronged and lost, and loved too late. He was a prospector for +gold, a hunter of solitude, a lover of the drear, rock-ribbed +infinitude, because he wanted to be alone to remember. +</P> + +<P> +A sound disturbed Cameron's reflections. He bent his head listening. A +soft wind fanned the paling embers, blew sparks and white ashes and +thin smoke away into the enshrouding circle of blackness. His burro +did not appear to be moving about. The quiet split to the cry of a +coyote. It rose strange, wild, mournful—not the howl of a prowling +upland beast baying the campfire or barking at a lonely prospector, but +the wail of a wolf, full-voiced, crying out the meaning of the desert +and the night. Hunger throbbed in it—hunger for a mate, for +offspring, for life. When it ceased, the terrible desert silence smote +Cameron, and the cry echoed in his soul. He and that wandering wolf +were brothers. +</P> + +<P> +Then a sharp clink of metal on stone and soft pads of hoofs in sand +prompted Cameron to reach for his gun, and to move out of the light of +the waning campfire. He was somewhere along the wild border line +between Sonora and Arizona; and the prospector who dared the heat and +barrenness of that region risked other dangers sometimes as menacing. +</P> + +<P> +Figures darker than the gloom approached and took shape, and in the +light turned out to be those of a white man and a heavily packed burro. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello there," the man called, as he came to a halt and gazed about +him. "I saw your fire. May I make camp here?" +</P> + +<P> +Cameron came forth out of the shadow and greeted his visitor, whom he +took for a prospector like himself. Cameron resented the breaking of +his lonely campfire vigil, but he respected the law of the desert. +</P> + +<P> +The stranger thanked him, and then slipped the pack from his burro. +Then he rolled out his pack and began preparations for a meal. His +movements were slow and methodical. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron watched him, still with resentment, yet with a curious and +growing interest. The campfire burst into a bright blaze, and by its +light Cameron saw a man whose gray hair somehow did not seem to make +him old, and whose stooped shoulders did not detract from an impression +of rugged strength. +</P> + +<P> +"Find any mineral?" asked Cameron, presently. +</P> + +<P> +His visitor looked up quickly, as if startled by the sound of a human +voice. He replied, and then the two men talked a little. But the +stranger evidently preferred silence. Cameron understood that. He +laughed grimly and bent a keener gaze upon the furrowed, shadowy face. +Another of those strange desert prospectors in whom there was some +relentless driving power besides the lust for gold! Cameron felt that +between this man and himself there was a subtle affinity, vague and +undefined, perhaps born of the divination that here was a desert +wanderer like himself, perhaps born of a deeper, an unintelligible +relation having its roots back in the past. A long-forgotten sensation +stirred in Cameron's breast, one so long forgotten that he could not +recognize it. But it was akin to pain. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<P> +When he awakened he found, to his surprise, that his companion had +departed. A trail in the sand led off to the north. There was no +water in that direction. Cameron shrugged his shoulders; it was not +his affair; he had his own problems. And straightway he forgot his +strange visitor. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron began his day, grateful for the solitude that was now unbroken, +for the canyon-furrowed and cactus-spired scene that now showed no sign +of life. He traveled southwest, never straying far from the dry stream +bed; and in a desultory way, without eagerness, he hunted for signs of +gold. +</P> + +<P> +The work was toilsome, yet the periods of rest in which he indulged +were not taken because of fatigue. He rested to look, to listen, to +feel. What the vast silent world meant to him had always been a +mystical thing, which he felt in all its incalculable power, but never +understood. +</P> + +<P> +That day, while it was yet light, and he was digging in a moist +white-bordered wash for water, he was brought sharply up by hearing the +crack of hard hoofs on stone. There down the canyon came a man and a +burro. Cameron recognized them. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, friend," called the man, halting. "Our trails crossed again. +That's good." +</P> + +<P> +"Hello," replied Cameron, slowly. "Any mineral sign to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +They made camp together, ate their frugal meal, smoked a pipe, and +rolled in their blankets without exchanging many words. In the morning +the same reticence, the same aloofness characterized the manner of +both. But Cameron's companion, when he had packed his burro and was +ready to start, faced about and said: "We might stay together, if it's +all right with you." +</P> + +<P> +"I never take a partner," replied Cameron. +</P> + +<P> +"You're alone; I'm alone," said the other, mildly. "It's a big place. +If we find gold there'll be enough for two." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't go down into the desert for gold alone," rejoined Cameron, +with a chill note in his swift reply. +</P> + +<P> +His companion's deep-set, luminous eyes emitted a singular flash. It +moved Cameron to say that in the years of his wandering he had met no +man who could endure equally with him the blasting heat, the blinding +dust storms, the wilderness of sand and rock and lava and cactus, the +terrible silence and desolation of the desert. Cameron waved a hand +toward the wide, shimmering, shadowy descent of plain and range. "I +may strike through the Sonora Desert. I may head for Pinacate or north +for the Colorado Basin. You are an old man." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know the country, but to me one place is the same as another," +replied his companion. For moments he seemed to forget himself, and +swept his far-reaching gaze out over the colored gulf of stone and +sand. Then with gentle slaps he drove his burro in behind Cameron. +"Yes, I'm old. I'm lonely, too. It's come to me just lately. But, +friend, I can still travel, and for a few days my company won't hurt +you." +</P> + +<P> +"Have it your way," said Cameron. +</P> + +<P> +They began a slow march down into the desert. At sunset they camped +under the lee of a low mesa. Cameron was glad his comrade had the +Indian habit of silence. Another day's travel found the prospectors +deep in the wilderness. Then there came a breaking of reserve, +noticeable in the elder man, almost imperceptibly gradual in Cameron. +Beside the meager mesquite campfire this gray-faced, thoughtful old +prospector would remove his black pipe from his mouth to talk a little; +and Cameron would listen, and sometimes unlock his lips to speak a +word. And so, as Cameron began to respond to the influence of a desert +less lonely than habitual, he began to take keener note of his comrade, +and found him different from any other he had ever encountered in the +wilderness. This man never grumbled at the heat, the glare, the driving +sand, the sour water, the scant fare. During the daylight hours he was +seldom idle. At night he sat dreaming before the fire or paced to and +fro in the gloom. He slept but little, and that long after Cameron had +had his own rest. He was tireless, patient, brooding. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron's awakened interest brought home to him the realization that +for years he had shunned companionship. In those years only three men +had wandered into the desert with him, and these had left their bones +to bleach in the shifting sands. Cameron had not cared to know their +secrets. But the more he studied this latest comrade the more he began +to suspect that he might have missed something in the others. In his +own driving passion to take his secret into the limitless abode of +silence and desolation, where he could be alone with it, he had +forgotten that life dealt shocks to other men. Somehow this silent +comrade reminded him. +</P> + +<P> +One afternoon late, after they had toiled up a white, winding wash of +sand and gravel, they came upon a dry waterhole. Cameron dug deep into +the sand, but without avail. He was turning to retrace weary steps +back to the last water when his comrade asked him to wait. Cameron +watched him search in his pack and bring forth what appeared to be a +small, forked branch of a peach tree. He grasped the prongs of the +fork and held them before him with the end standing straight out, and +then he began to walk along the stream bed. Cameron, at first amused, +then amazed, then pitying, and at last curious, kept pace with the +prospector. He saw a strong tension of his comrade's wrists, as if he +was holding hard against a considerable force. The end of the peach +branch began to quiver and turn. Cameron reached out a hand to touch +it, and was astounded at feeling a powerful vibrant force pulling the +branch downward. He felt it as a magnetic shock. The branch kept +turning, and at length pointed to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Dig here," said the prospector. +</P> + +<P> +"What!" ejaculated Cameron. Had the man lost his mind? +</P> + +<P> +Then Cameron stood by while his comrade dug in the sand. Three feet he +dug—four—five, and the sand grew dark, then moist. At six feet water +began to seep through. +</P> + +<P> +"Get the little basket in my pack," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron complied, and saw his comrade drop the basket into the deep +hole, where it kept the sides from caving in and allowed the water to +seep through. While Cameron watched, the basket filled. Of all the +strange incidents of his desert career this was the strangest. +Curiously he picked up the peach branch and held it as he had seen it +held. The thing, however, was dead in his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"I see you haven't got it," remarked his comrade. "Few men have." +</P> + +<P> +"Got what?" demanded Cameron. +</P> + +<P> +"A power to find water that way. Back in Illinois an old German used +to do that to locate wells. He showed me I had the same power. I can't +explain. But you needn't look so dumfounded. There's nothing +supernatural about it." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean it's a simple fact—that some men have a magnetism, a force +or power to find water as you did?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. It's not unusual on the farms back in Illinois, Ohio, +Pennsylvania. The old German I spoke of made money traveling round +with his peach fork." +</P> + +<P> +"What a gift for a man in the desert!" +</P> + +<P> +Cameron's comrade smiled—the second time in all those days. +</P> + +<P> +They entered a region where mineral abounded, and their march became +slower. Generally they took the course of a wash, one on each side, +and let the burros travel leisurely along nipping at the bleached +blades of scant grass, or at sage or cactus, while they searched in the +canyons and under the ledges for signs of gold. When they found any +rock that hinted of gold they picked off a piece and gave it a chemical +test. The search was fascinating. They interspersed the work with +long, restful moments when they looked afar down the vast reaches and +smoky shingles to the line of dim mountains. Some impelling desire, not +all the lure of gold, took them to the top of mesas and escarpments; +and here, when they had dug and picked, they rested and gazed out at +the wide prospect. Then, as the sun lost its heat and sank lowering to +dent its red disk behind far-distant spurs, they halted in a shady +canyon or likely spot in a dry wash and tried for water. When they +found it they unpacked, gave drink to the tired burros, and turned them +loose. Dead mesquite served for the campfire. While the strange +twilight deepened into weird night they sat propped against stones, +with eyes on the dying embers of the fire, and soon they lay on the +sand with the light of white stars on their dark faces. +</P> + +<P> +Each succeeding day and night Cameron felt himself more and more drawn +to this strange man. He found that after hours of burning toil he had +insensibly grown nearer to his comrade. He reflected that after a few +weeks in the desert he had always become a different man. In +civilization, in the rough mining camps, he had been a prey to unrest +and gloom. But once down on the great billowing sweep of this lonely +world, he could look into his unquiet soul without bitterness. Did not +the desert magnify men? Cameron believed that wild men in wild places, +fighting cold, heat, starvation, thirst, barrenness, facing the +elements in all their ferocity, usually retrograded, descended to the +savage, lost all heart and soul and became mere brutes. Likewise he +believed that men wandering or lost in the wilderness often reversed +that brutal order of life and became noble, wonderful, super-human. So +now he did not marvel at a slow stir stealing warmer along his veins, +and at the premonition that perhaps he and this man, alone on the +desert, driven there by life's mysterious and remorseless motive, were +to see each other through God's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +His companion was one who thought of himself last. It humiliated +Cameron that in spite of growing keenness he could not hinder him from +doing more than an equal share of the day's work. The man was mild, +gentle, quiet, mostly silent, yet under all his softness he seemed to +be made of the fiber of steel. Cameron could not thwart him. +Moreover, he appeared to want to find gold for Cameron, not for +himself. Cameron's hands always trembled at the turning of rock that +promised gold; he had enough of the prospector's passion for fortune to +thrill at the chance of a strike. But the other never showed the least +trace of excitement. +</P> + +<P> +One night they were encamped at the head of a canyon. The day had been +exceedingly hot, and long after sundown the radiation of heat from the +rocks persisted. A desert bird whistled a wild, melancholy note from a +dark cliff, and a distant coyote wailed mournfully. The stars shone +white until the huge moon rose to burn out all their whiteness. And on +this night Cameron watched his comrade, and yielded to interest he had +not heretofore voiced. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardner, what drives you into the desert?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do I seem to be a driven man?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. But I feel it. Do you come to forget?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" softly exclaimed Cameron. Always he seemed to have known that. +He said no more. He watched the old man rise and begin his nightly +pace to and fro, up and down. With slow, soft tread, forward and back, +tirelessly and ceaselessly, he paced that beat. He did not look up at +the stars or follow the radiant track of the moon along the canyon +ramparts. He hung his head. He was lost in another world. It was a +world which the lonely desert made real. He looked a dark, sad, +plodding figure, and somehow impressed Cameron with the helplessness of +men. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron grew acutely conscious of the pang in his own breast, of the +fire in his heart, the strife and torment of his passion-driven soul. +He had come into the desert to remember a woman. She appeared to him +then as she had looked when first she entered his life—a golden-haired +girl, blue-eyed, white-skinned, red-lipped, tall and slender and +beautiful. He had never forgotten, and an old, sickening remorse +knocked at his heart. He rose and climbed out of the canyon and to the +top of a mesa, where he paced to and fro and looked down into the weird +and mystic shadows, like the darkness of his passion, and farther on +down the moon track and the glittering stretches that vanished in the +cold, blue horizon. The moon soared radiant and calm, the white stars +shone serene. The vault of heaven seemed illimitable and divine. The +desert surrounded him, silver-streaked and black-mantled, a chaos of +rock and sand, silent, austere, ancient, always waiting. It spoke to +Cameron. It was a naked corpse, but it had a soul. In that wild +solitude the white stars looked down upon him pitilessly and pityingly. +They had shone upon a desert that might once have been alive and was +now dead, and might again throb with life, only to die. It was a +terrible ordeal for him to stand alone and realize that he was only a +man facing eternity. But that was what gave him strength to endure. +Somehow he was a part of it all, some atom in that vastness, somehow +necessary to an inscrutable purpose, something indestructible in that +desolate world of ruin and death and decay, something perishable and +changeable and growing under all the fixity of heaven. In that +endless, silent hall of desert there was a spirit; and Cameron felt +hovering near him what he imagined to be phantoms of peace. +</P> + +<P> +He returned to camp and sought his comrade. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon we're two of a kind," he said. "It was a woman who drove me +into the desert. But I come to remember. The desert's the only place +I can do that." +</P> + +<P> +"Was she your wife?" asked the elder man. +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +A long silence ensued. A cool wind blew up the canyon, sifting the +sand through the dry sage, driving away the last of the lingering heat. +The campfire wore down to a ruddy ashen heap. +</P> + +<P> +"I had a daughter," said Cameron's comrade. "She lost her mother at +birth. And I—I didn't know how to bring up a girl. She was pretty +and gay. It was the—the old story." +</P> + +<P> +His words were peculiarly significant to Cameron. They distressed him. +He had been wrapped up in his remorse. If ever in the past he had +thought of any one connected with the girl he had wronged he had long +forgotten. But the consequences of such wrong were far-reaching. They +struck at the roots of a home. Here in the desert he was confronted by +the spectacle of a splendid man, a father, wasting his life because he +could not forget—because there was nothing left to live for. Cameron +understood better now why his comrade was drawn by the desert. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, tell me more?" asked Cameron, earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"It was the old, old story. My girl was pretty and free. The young +bucks ran after her. I guess she did not run away from them. And I was +away a good deal—working in another town. She was in love with a wild +fellow. I knew nothing of it till too late. He was engaged to marry +her. But he didn't come back. And when the disgrace became plain to +all, my girl left home. She went West. After a while I heard from +her. She was well—working—living for her baby. A long time passed. +I had no ties. I drifted West. Her lover had also gone West. In +those days everybody went West. I trailed him, intending to kill him. +But I lost his trail. Neither could I find any trace of her. She had +moved on, driven, no doubt, by the hound of her past. Since then I +have taken to the wilds, hunting gold on the desert." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's the old, old story, only sadder, I think," said Cameron; and +his voice was strained and unnatural. "Pardner, what Illinois town was +it you hailed from?" +</P> + +<P> +"Peoria." +</P> + +<P> +"And your—your name?" went on Cameron huskily. +</P> + +<P> +"Warren—Jonas Warren." +</P> + +<P> +That name might as well have been a bullet. Cameron stood erect, +motionless, as men sometimes stand momentarily when shot straight +through the heart. In an instant, when thoughts resurged like blinding +flashes of lightning through his mind, he was a swaying, quivering, +terror-stricken man. He mumbled something hoarsely and backed into the +shadow. But he need not have feared discovery, however surely his +agitation might have betrayed him. Warren sat brooding over the +campfire, oblivious of his comrade, absorbed in the past. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron swiftly walked away in the gloom, with the blood thrumming +thick in his ears, whispering over and over: +</P> + +<P> +"Merciful God! Nell was his daughter!" +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<P> +As thought and feeling multiplied, Cameron was overwhelmed. Beyond +belief, indeed, was it that out of the millions of men in the world two +who had never seen each other could have been driven into the desert by +memory of the same woman. It brought the past so close. It showed +Cameron how inevitably all his spiritual life was governed by what had +happened long ago. That which made life significant to him was a +wandering in silent places where no eye could see him with his secret. +Some fateful chance had thrown him with the father of the girl he had +wrecked. It was incomprehensible; it was terrible. It was the one +thing of all possible happenings in the world of chance that both +father and lover would have found unendurable. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron's pain reached to despair when he felt this relation between +Warren and himself. Something within him cried out to him to reveal +his identity. Warren would kill him; but it was not fear of death that +put Cameron on the rack. He had faced death too often to be afraid. +It was the thought of adding torture to this long-suffering man. All +at once Cameron swore that he would not augment Warren's trouble, or +let him stain his hands with blood. He would tell the truth of Nell's +sad story and his own, and make what amends he could. +</P> + +<P> +Then Cameron's thought shifted from father to daughter. She was +somewhere beyond the dim horizon line. In those past lonely hours by +the campfire his fancy had tortured him with pictures of Nell. But his +remorseful and cruel fancy had lied to him. Nell had struggled upward +out of menacing depths. She had reconstructed a broken life. And now +she was fighting for the name and happiness of her child. Little Nell! +Cameron experienced a shuddering ripple in all his being—the physical +rack of an emotion born of a new and strange consciousness. +</P> + +<P> +As Cameron gazed out over the blood-red, darkening desert suddenly the +strife in his soul ceased. The moment was one of incalculable change, +in which his eyes seemed to pierce the vastness of cloud and range, and +mystery of gloom and shadow—to see with strong vision the illimitable +space before him. He felt the grandeur of the desert, its simplicity, +its truth. He had learned at last the lesson it taught. No longer +strange was his meeting and wandering with Warren. Each had marched in +the steps of destiny; and as the lines of their fates had been +inextricably tangled in the years that were gone, so now their steps +had crossed and turned them toward one common goal. For years they had +been two men marching alone, answering to an inward driving search, and +the desert had brought them together. For years they had wandered alone +in silence and solitude, where the sun burned white all day and the +stars burned white all night, blindly following the whisper of a +spirit. But now Cameron knew that he was no longer blind, and in this +flash of revelation he felt that it had been given him to help Warren +with his burden. +</P> + +<P> +He returned to camp trying to evolve a plan. As always at that long +hour when the afterglow of sunset lingered in the west, Warren plodded +to and fro in the gloom. All night Cameron lay awake thinking. +</P> + +<P> +In the morning, when Warren brought the burros to camp and began +preparations for the usual packing, Cameron broke silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardner, your story last night made me think. I want to tell you +something about myself. It's hard enough to be driven by sorrow for +one you've loved, as you've been driven; but to suffer sleepless and +eternal remorse for the ruin of one you've loved as I have +suffered—that is hell.... Listen. In my younger days—it seems long +now, yet it's not so many years—I was wild. I wronged the sweetest +and loveliest girl I ever knew. I went away not dreaming that any +disgrace might come to her. Along about that time I fell into terrible +moods—I changed—I learned I really loved her. Then came a letter I +should have gotten months before. It told of her trouble—importuned +me to hurry to save her. Half frantic with shame and fear, I got a +marriage certificate and rushed back to her town. She was gone—had +been gone for weeks, and her disgrace was known. Friends warned me to +keep out of reach of her father. I trailed her—found her. I married +her. But too late!... She would not live with me. She left me—I +followed her west, but never found her." +</P> + +<P> +Warren leaned forward a little and looked into Cameron's eyes, as if +searching there for the repentance that might make him less deserving +of a man's scorn. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron met the gaze unflinchingly, and again began to speak: +</P> + +<P> +"You know, of course, how men out here somehow lose old names, old +identities. It won't surprise you much to learn my name really isn't +Cameron, as I once told you." +</P> + +<P> +Warren stiffened upright. It seemed that there might have been a +blank, a suspension, between his grave interest and some strange mood +to come. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron felt his heart bulge and contract in his breast; all his body +grew cold; and it took tremendous effort for him to make his lips form +words. +</P> + +<P> +"Warren, I'm the man you're hunting. I'm Burton. I was Nell's lover!" +</P> + +<P> +The old man rose and towered over Cameron, and then plunged down upon +him, and clutched at his throat with terrible stifling hands. The harsh +contact, the pain awakened Cameron to his peril before it was too late. +Desperate fighting saved him from being hurled to the ground and +stamped and crushed. Warren seemed a maddened giant. There was a +reeling, swaying, wrestling struggle before the elder man began to +weaken. The Cameron, buffeted, bloody, half-stunned, panted for speech. +</P> + +<P> +"Warren—hold on! Give me—a minute. I married Nell. Didn't you know +that?... I saved the child!" +</P> + +<P> +Cameron felt the shock that vibrated through Warren. He repeated the +words again and again. As if compelled by some resistless power, +Warren released Cameron, and, staggering back, stood with uplifted, +shaking hands. In his face was a horrible darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"Warren! Wait—listen!" panted Cameron. "I've got that marriage +certificate—I've had it by me all these years. I kept it—to prove to +myself I did right." +</P> + +<P> +The old man uttered a broken cry. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron stole off among the rocks. How long he absented himself or +what he did he had no idea. When he returned Warren was sitting before +the campfire, and once more he appeared composed. He spoke, and his +voice had a deeper note; but otherwise he seemed as usual. +</P> + +<P> +They packed the burros and faced the north together. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron experienced a singular exaltation. He had lightened his +comrade's burden. Wonderfully it came to him that he had also +lightened his own. From that hour it was not torment to think of Nell. +Walking with his comrade through the silent places, lying beside him +under the serene luminous light of the stars, Cameron began to feel the +haunting presence of invisible things that were real to him—phantoms +whispering peace. In the moan of the cool wind, in the silken seep of +sifting sand, in the distant rumble of a slipping ledge, in the faint +rush of a shooting star he heard these phantoms of peace coming with +whispers of the long pain of men at the last made endurable. Even in +the white noonday, under the burning sun, these phantoms came to be +real to him. In the dead silence of the midnight hours he heard them +breathing nearer on the desert wind—nature's voices of motherhood, +whispers of God, peace in the solitude. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<P> +There came a morning when the sun shone angry and red through a dull, +smoky haze. +</P> + +<P> +"We're in for sandstorms," said Cameron. +</P> + +<P> +They had scarcely covered a mile when a desert-wide, moaning, yellow +wall of flying sand swooped down upon them. Seeking shelter in the lee +of a rock, they waited, hoping the storm was only a squall, such as +frequently whipped across the open places. The moan increased to a +roar, and the dull red slowly dimmed, to disappear in the yellow pall, +and the air grew thick and dark. Warren slipped the packs from the +burros. Cameron feared the sandstorms had arrived some weeks ahead of +their usual season. +</P> + +<P> +The men covered their heads and patiently waited. The long hours +dragged, and the storm increased in fury. Cameron and Warren wet +scarfs with water from their canteens, and bound them round their +faces, and then covered their heads. The steady, hollow bellow of +flying sand went on. It flew so thickly that enough sifted down under +the shelving rock to weight the blankets and almost bury the men. They +were frequently compelled to shake off the sand to keep from being +borne to the ground. And it was necessary to keep digging out the +packs. The floor of their shelter gradually rose higher and higher. +They tried to eat, and seemed to be grinding only sand between their +teeth. They lost the count of time. They dared not sleep, for that +would have meant being buried alive. The could only crouch close to the +leaning rock, shake off the sand, blindly dig out their packs, and +every moment gasp and cough and choke to fight suffocation. +</P> + +<P> +The storm finally blew itself out. It left the prospectors heavy and +stupid for want of sleep. Their burros had wandered away, or had been +buried in the sand. Far as eye could reach the desert had marvelously +changed; it was now a rippling sea of sand dunes. Away to the north +rose the peak that was their only guiding mark. They headed toward it, +carrying a shovel and part of their packs. +</P> + +<P> +At noon the peak vanished in the shimmering glare of the desert. The +prospectors pushed on, guided by the sun. In every wash they tried for +water. With the forked peach branch in his hands Warren always +succeeded in locating water. They dug, but it lay too deep. At +length, spent and sore, they fell and slept through that night and part +of the next day. Then they succeeded in getting water, and quenched +their thirst, and filled the canteens, and cooked a meal. +</P> + +<P> +The burning day found them in an interminably wide plain, where there +was no shelter from the fierce sun. The men were exceedingly careful +with their water, though there was absolute necessity of drinking a +little every hour. Late in the afternoon they came to a canyon that +they believed was the lower end of the one in which they had last found +water. For hours they traveled toward its head, and, long after night +had set, found what they sought. Yielding to exhaustion, they slept, +and next day were loath to leave the waterhole. Cool night spurred +them on with canteens full and renewed strength. +</P> + +<P> +Morning told Cameron that they had turned back miles into the desert, +and it was desert new to him. The red sun, the increasing heat, and +especially the variety and large size of the cactus plants warned +Cameron that he had descended to a lower level. Mountain peaks loomed +on all sides, some near, others distant; and one, a blue spur, +splitting the glaring sky far to the north, Cameron thought he +recognized as a landmark. The ascent toward it was heartbreaking, not +in steepness, but in its league-and-league-long monotonous rise. +Cameron knew there was only one hope—to make the water hold out and +never stop to rest. Warren began to weaken. Often he had to halt. The +burning white day passed, and likewise the night, with its white stars +shining so pitilessly cold and bright. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron measured the water in his canteen by its weight. Evaporation +by heat consumed as much as he drank. During one of the rests, when he +had wetted his parched mouth and throat, he found opportunity to pour a +little water from his canteen into Warren's. +</P> + +<P> +At first Cameron had curbed his restless activity to accommodate the +pace of his elder comrade. But now he felt that he was losing +something of his instinctive and passionate zeal to get out of the +desert. The thought of water came to occupy his mind. He began to +imagine that his last little store of water did not appreciably +diminish. He knew he was not quite right in his mind regarding water; +nevertheless, he felt this to be more of fact than fancy, and he began +to ponder. +</P> + +<P> +When next they rested he pretended to be in a kind of stupor; but he +covertly watched Warren. The man appeared far gone, yet he had +cunning. He cautiously took up Cameron's canteen and poured water into +it from his own. +</P> + +<P> +This troubled Cameron. The old irritation at not being able to thwart +Warren returned to him. Cameron reflected, and concluded that he had +been unwise not to expect this very thing. Then, as his comrade +dropped into weary rest, he lifted both canteens. If there were any +water in Warren's, it was only very little. Both men had been enduring +the terrible desert thirst, concealing it, each giving his water to the +other, and the sacrifice had been useless. +</P> + +<P> +Instead of ministering to the parched throats of one or both, the water +had evaporated. When Cameron made sure of this, he took one more +drink, the last, and poured the little water left into Warren's +canteen. He threw his own away. +</P> + +<P> +Soon afterward Warren discovered the loss. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's your canteen?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The heat was getting my water, so I drank what was left." +</P> + +<P> +"My son!" said Warren. +</P> + +<P> +The day opened for them in a red and green hell of rock and cactus. +Like a flame the sun scorched and peeled their faces. Warren went +blind from the glare, and Cameron had to lead him. At last Warren +plunged down, exhausted, in the shade of a ledge. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron rested and waited, hopeless, with hot, weary eyes gazing down +from the height where he sat. The ledge was the top step of a ragged +gigantic stairway. Below stretched a sad, austere, and lonely valley. +A dim, wide streak, lighter than the bordering gray, wound down the +valley floor. Once a river had flowed there, leaving only a forlorn +trace down the winding floor of this forlorn valley. +</P> + +<P> +Movement on the part of Warren attracted Cameron's attention. Evidently +the old prospector had recovered his sight and some of his strength, +for he had arisen, and now began to walk along the arroyo bed with his +forked peach branch held before him. He had clung to the precious bit +of wood. Cameron considered the prospect for water hopeless, because +he saw that the arroyo had once been a canyon, and had been filled with +sands by desert winds. Warren, however, stopped in a deep pit, and, +cutting his canteen in half, began to use one side of it as a scoop. +He scooped out a wide hollow, so wide that Cameron was certain he had +gone crazy. Cameron gently urged him to stop, and then forcibly tried +to make him. But these efforts were futile. Warren worked with slow, +ceaseless, methodical movement. He toiled for what seemed hours. +Cameron, seeing the darkening, dampening sand, realized a wonderful +possibility of water, and he plunged into the pit with the other half +of the canteen. Then both men toiled, round and round the wide hole, +down deeper and deeper. The sand grew moist, then wet. At the bottom +of the deep pit the sand coarsened, gave place to gravel. Finally water +welled in, a stronger volume than Cameron ever remembered finding on +the desert. It would soon fill the hole and run over. He marveled at +the circumstance. The time was near the end of the dry season. +Perhaps an underground stream flowed from the range behind down to the +valley floor, and at this point came near to the surface. Cameron had +heard of such desert miracles. +</P> + +<P> +The finding of water revived Cameron's flagging hopes. But they were +short-lived. Warren had spend himself utterly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm done. Don't linger," he whispered. "My son, go—go!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he fell. Cameron dragged him out of the sand pit to a sheltered +place under the ledge. While sitting beside the failing man Cameron +discovered painted images on the wall. Often in the desert he had +found these evidences of a prehistoric people. Then, from long habit, +he picked up a piece of rock and examined it. Its weight made him +closely scrutinize it. The color was a peculiar black. He scraped +through the black rust to find a piece of gold. Around him lay +scattered heaps of black pebbles and bits of black, weathered rock and +pieces of broken ledge, and they showed gold. +</P> + +<P> +"Warren! Look! See it! Feel it! Gold!" +</P> + +<P> +But Warren had never cared, and now he was too blind to see. +</P> + +<P> +"Go—go!" he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron gazed down the gray reaches of the forlorn valley, and +something within him that was neither intelligence nor +emotion—something inscrutably strange—impelled him to promise. +</P> + +<P> +Then Cameron built up stone monuments to mark his gold strike. That +done, he tarried beside the unconscious Warren. Moments passed—grew +into hours. Cameron still had strength left to make an effort to get +out of the desert. But that same inscrutable something which had +ordered his strange involuntary promise to Warren held him beside his +fallen comrade. He watched the white sun turn to gold, and then to red +and sink behind mountains in the west. Twilight stole into the arroyo. +It lingered, slowly turning to gloom. The vault of blue black lightened +to the blinking of stars. Then fell the serene, silent, luminous desert +night. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron kept his vigil. As the long hours wore on he felt creep over +him the comforting sense that he need not forever fight sleep. A wan +glow flared behind the dark, uneven horizon, and a melancholy misshapen +moon rose to make the white night one of shadows. Absolute silence +claimed the desert. It was mute. Then that inscrutable something +breathed to him, telling him when he was alone. He need not have +looked at the dark, still face beside him. +</P> + +<P> +Another face haunted Cameron's—a woman's face. It was there in the +white moonlit shadows; it drifted in the darkness beyond; it softened, +changed to that of a young girl, sweet, with the same dark, haunting +eyes of her mother. Cameron prayed to that nameless thing within him, +the spirit of something deep and mystical as life. He prayed to that +nameless thing outside, of which the rocks and the sand, the spiked +cactus and the ragged lava, the endless waste, with its vast star-fired +mantle, were but atoms. He prayed for mercy to a woman—for happiness +to her child. Both mother and daughter were close to him then. Time +and distance were annihilated. He had faith—he saw into the future. +The fateful threads of the past, so inextricably woven with his error, +wound out their tragic length here in this forlorn desert. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron then took a little tin box from his pocket, and, opening it, +removed a folded certificate. He had kept a pen, and now he wrote +something upon the paper, and in lieu of ink he wrote with blood. The +moon afforded him enough light to see; and, having replaced the paper, +he laid the little box upon a shelf of rock. It would remain there +unaffected by dust, moisture, heat, time. How long had those painted +images been there clear and sharp on the dry stone walls? There were +no trails in that desert, and always there were incalculable changes. +Cameron saw this mutable mood of nature—the sands would fly and seep +and carve and bury; the floods would dig and cut; the ledges would +weather in the heat and rain; the avalanches would slide; the cactus +seeds would roll in the wind to catch in a niche and split the soil +with thirsty roots. Years would pass. Cameron seemed to see them, +too; and likewise destiny leading a child down into this forlorn waste, +where she would find love and fortune, and the grave of her father. +</P> + +<P> +Cameron covered the dark, still face of his comrade from the light of +the waning moon. +</P> + +<P> +That action was the severing of his hold on realities. They fell away +from him in final separation. Vaguely, dreamily he seemed to behold +his soul. Night merged into gray day; and night came again, weird and +dark. Then up out of the vast void of the desert, from the silence and +illimitableness, trooped his phantoms of peace. Majestically they +formed around him, marshalling and mustering in ceremonious state, and +moved to lay upon him their passionless serenity. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OLD FRIENDS +</H3> + +<P> +RICHARD GALE reflected that his sojourn in the West had been what his +disgusted father had predicted—idling here and there, with no +objective point or purpose. +</P> + +<P> +It was reflection such as this, only more serious and perhaps somewhat +desperate, that had brought Gale down to the border. For some time the +newspapers had been printing news of Mexican revolution, guerrilla +warfare, United States cavalry patrolling the international line, +American cowboys fighting with the rebels, and wild stories of bold +raiders and bandits. But as opportunity, and adventure, too, had +apparently given him a wide berth in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, he had +struck southwest for the Arizona border, where he hoped to see some +stirring life. He did not care very much what happened. Months of +futile wandering in the hope of finding a place where he fitted had +inclined Richard to his father's opinion. +</P> + +<P> +It was after dark one evening in early October when Richard arrived in +Casita. He was surprised to find that it was evidently a town of +importance. There was a jostling, jabbering, sombreroed crowd of +Mexicans around the railroad station. He felt as if he were in a +foreign country. After a while he saw several men of his nationality, +one of whom he engaged to carry his luggage to a hotel. They walked up +a wide, well-lighted street lined with buildings in which were bright +windows. Of the many people encountered by Gale most were Mexicans. +His guide explained that the smaller half of Casita lay in Arizona, the +other half in Mexico, and of several thousand inhabitants the majority +belonged on the southern side of the street, which was the boundary +line. He also said that rebels had entered the town that day, causing +a good deal of excitement. +</P> + +<P> +Gale was almost at the end of his financial resources, which fact +occasioned him to turn away from a pretentious hotel and to ask his +guide for a cheaper lodging-house. When this was found, a sight of the +loungers in the office, and also a desire for comfort, persuaded Gale +to change his traveling-clothes for rough outing garb and boots. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm almost broke," he soliloquized, thoughtfully. "The governor +said I wouldn't make any money. He's right—so far. And he said I'd be +coming home beaten. There he's wrong. I've got a hunch that something +'ll happen to me in this Greaser town." +</P> + +<P> +He went out into a wide, whitewashed, high-ceiled corridor, and from +that into an immense room which, but for pool tables, bar, benches, +would have been like a courtyard. The floor was cobblestoned, the +walls were of adobe, and the large windows opened like doors. A blue +cloud of smoke filled the place. Gale heard the click of pool balls +and the clink of glasses along the crowded bar. Bare-legged, +sandal-footed Mexicans in white rubbed shoulders with Mexicans mantled +in black and red. There were others in tight-fitting blue uniforms +with gold fringe or tassels at the shoulders. These men wore belts +with heavy, bone-handled guns, and evidently were the rurales, or +native policemen. There were black-bearded, coarse-visaged Americans, +some gambling round the little tables, others drinking. The pool +tables were the center of a noisy crowd of younger men, several of whom +were unsteady on their feet. There were khaki-clad cavalrymen +strutting in and out. +</P> + +<P> +At one end of the room, somewhat apart from the general meelee, was a +group of six men round a little table, four of whom were seated, the +other two standing. These last two drew a second glance from Gale. +The sharp-featured, bronzed faces and piercing eyes, the tall, slender, +loosely jointed bodies, the quiet, easy, reckless air that seemed to be +a part of the men—these things would plainly have stamped them as +cowboys without the buckled sombreros, the colored scarfs, the +high-topped, high-heeled boots with great silver-roweled spurs. Gale +did not fail to note, also, that these cowboys wore guns, and this fact +was rather a shock to his idea of the modern West. It caused him to +give some credence to the rumors of fighting along the border, and he +felt a thrill. +</P> + +<P> +He satisfied his hunger in a restaurant adjoining, and as he stepped +back into the saloon a man wearing a military cape jostled him. +Apologies from both were instant. Gale was moving on when the other +stopped short as if startled, and, leaning forward, exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Dick Gale?" +</P> + +<P> +"You've got me," replied Gale, in surprise. "But I don't know you." +</P> + +<P> +He could not see the stranger's face, because it was wholly shaded by a +wide-brimmed hat pulled well down. +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove! It's Dick! If this isn't great! Don't you know me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard your voice somewhere," replied Gale. "Maybe I'll recognize +you if you come out from under that bonnet." +</P> + +<P> +For answer the man, suddenly manifesting thought of himself, hurriedly +drew Gale into the restaurant, where he thrust back his hat to disclose +a handsome, sunburned face. +</P> + +<P> +"George Thorne! So help me—" +</P> + +<P> +"'S-s-ssh. You needn't yell," interrupted the other, as he met Gale's +outstretched hand. There was a close, hard, straining grip. "I must +not be recognized here. There are reasons. I'll explain in a minute. +Say, but it's fine to see you! Five years, Dick, five years since I +saw you run down University Field and spread-eagle the whole Wisconsin +football team." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't recollect that," replied Dick, laughing. "George, I'll bet you +I'm gladder to see you than you are to see me. It seems so long. You +went into the army, didn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did. I'm here now with the Ninth Cavalry. But—never mind me. +What're you doing way down here? Say, I just noticed your togs. Dick, +you can't be going in for mining or ranching, not in this God-forsaken +desert?" +</P> + +<P> +"On the square, George, I don't know any more why I'm here than—than +you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that beats me!" ejaculated Thorne, sitting back in his chair, +amaze and concern in his expression. "What the devil's wrong? Your old +man's got too much money for you ever to be up against it. Dick, you +couldn't have gone to the bad?" +</P> + +<P> +A tide of emotion surged over Gale. How good it was to meet a +friend—some one to whom to talk! He had never appreciated his +loneliness until that moment. +</P> + +<P> +"George, how I ever drifted down here I don't know. I didn't exactly +quarrel with the governor. But—damn it, Dad hurt me—shamed me, and I +dug out for the West. It was this way. After leaving college I tried +to please him by tackling one thing after another that he set me to do. +On the square, I had no head for business. I made a mess of +everything. The governor got sore. He kept ramming the harpoon into me +till I just couldn't stand it. What little ability I possessed deserted +me when I got my back up, and there you are. Dad and I had a rather +uncomfortable half hour. When I quit—when I told him straight out that +I was going West to fare for myself, why, it wouldn't have been so +tough if he hadn't laughed at me. He called me a rich man's son—an +idle, easy-going spineless swell. He said I didn't even have character +enough to be out and out bad. He said I didn't have sense enough to +marry one of the nice girls in my sister's crowd. He said I couldn't +get back home unless I sent to him for money. He said he didn't +believe I could fight—could really make a fight for anything under the +sun. Oh—he—he shot it into me, all right." +</P> + +<P> +Dick dropped his head upon his hands, somewhat ashamed of the smarting +dimness in his eyes. He had not meant to say so much. Yet what a +relief to let out that long-congested burden! +</P> + +<P> +"Fight!" cried Thorne, hotly. "What's ailing him? Didn't they call +you Biff Gale in college? Dick, you were one of the best men Stagg +ever developed. I heard him say so—that you were the fastest, +one-hundred-and-seventy-five-pound man he'd ever trained, the hardest +to stop." +</P> + +<P> +"The governor didn't count football," said Dick. "He didn't mean that +kind of fight. When I left home I don't think I had an idea what was +wrong with me. But, George, I think I know now. I was a rich man's +son—spoiled, dependent, absolutely ignorant of the value of money. I +haven't yet discovered any earning capacity in me. I seem to be unable +to do anything with my hands. That's the trouble. But I'm at the end +of my tether now. And I'm going to punch cattle or be a miner, or do +some real stunt—like joining the rebels." +</P> + +<P> +"Aha! I thought you'd spring that last one on me," declared Thorne, +wagging his head. "Well, you just forget it. Say, old boy, there's +something doing in Mexico. The United States in general doesn't +realize it. But across that line there are crazy revolutionists, +ill-paid soldiers, guerrilla leaders, raiders, robbers, outlaws, +bandits galore, starving peons by the thousand, girls and women in +terror. Mexico is like some of her volcanoes—ready to erupt fire and +hell! Don't make the awful mistake of joining rebel forces. Americans +are hated by Mexicans of the lower class—the fighting class, both +rebel and federal. Half the time these crazy Greasers are on one side, +then on the other. If you didn't starve or get shot in ambush, or die +of thirst, some Greaser would knife you in the back for you belt buckle +or boots. There are a good many Americans with the rebels eastward +toward Agua, Prieta and Juarez. Orozco is operating in Chihuahua, and +I guess he has some idea of warfare. But this is Sonora, a mountainous +desert, the home of the slave and the Yaqui. There's unorganized +revolt everywhere. The American miners and ranchers, those who could +get away, have fled across into the States, leaving property. Those +who couldn't or wouldn't come must fight for their lives, are fighting +now." +</P> + +<P> +"That's bad," said Gale. "It's news to me. Why doesn't the government +take action, do something?" +</P> + +<P> +"Afraid of international complications. Don't want to offend the +Maderists, or be criticized by jealous foreign nations. It's a +delicate situation, Dick. The Washington officials know the gravity of +it, you can bet. But the United States in general is in the dark, and +the army—well, you ought to hear the inside talk back at San Antonio. +We're patrolling the boundary line. We're making a grand bluff. I +could tell you of a dozen instances where cavalry should have pursued +raiders on the other side of the line. But we won't do it. The +officers are a grouchy lot these days. You see, of course, what +significance would attach to United States cavalry going into Mexican +territory. There would simply be hell. My own colonel is the sorest +man on the job. We're all sore. It's like sitting on a powder +magazine. We can't keep the rebels and raiders from crossing the line. +Yet we don't fight. My commission expires soon. I'll be discharged in +three months. You can bet I'm glad for more reasons than I've +mentioned." +</P> + +<P> +Thorne was evidently laboring under strong, suppressed excitement. His +face showed pale under the tan, and his eyes gleamed with a dark fire. +Occasionally his delight at meeting, talking with Gale, dominated the +other emotions, but not for long. He had seated himself at a table +near one of the doorlike windows leading into the street, and every +little while he would glance sharply out. Also he kept consulting his +watch. +</P> + +<P> +These details gradually grew upon Gale as Thorne talked. +</P> + +<P> +"George, it strikes me that you're upset," said Dick, presently. "I +seem to remember you as a cool-headed fellow whom nothing could +disturb. Has the army changed you?" +</P> + +<P> +Thorne laughed. It was a laugh with a strange, high note. It was +reckless—it hinted of exaltation. He rose abruptly; he gave the +waiter money to go for drinks; he looked into the saloon, and then into +the street. On this side of the house there was a porch opening on a +plaza with trees and shrubbery and branches. Thorne peered out one +window, then another. His actions were rapid. Returning to the table, +he put his hands upon it and leaned over to look closely into Gale's +face. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm away from camp without leave," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't that a serious offense?" asked Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"Serious? For me, if I'm discovered, it means ruin. There are rebels +in town. Any moment we might have trouble. I ought to be ready for +duty—within call. If I'm discovered it means arrest. That means +delay—the failure of my plans—ruin." +</P> + +<P> +Gale was silenced by his friend's intensity. Thorne bent over closer +with his dark eyes searching bright. +</P> + +<P> +"We were old pals—once?" +</P> + +<P> +"Surely," replied Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"What would you say, Dick Gale, if I told you that you're the one man +I'd rather have had come along than any other at this crisis of my +life?" +</P> + +<P> +The earnest gaze, the passionate voice with its deep tremor drew Dick +upright, thrilling and eager, conscious of strange, unfamiliar +impetuosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Thorne, I should say I was glad to be the fellow," replied Dick. +</P> + +<P> +Their hands locked for a moment, and they sat down again with heads +close over the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," began Thorne, in low, swift whisper, "a few days, a week +ago—it seems like a year!—I was of some assistance to refugees +fleeing from Mexico into the States. They were all women, and one of +them was dressed as a nun. Quite by accident I saw her face. It was +that of a beautiful girl. I observed she kept aloof from the others. +I suspected a disguise, and, when opportunity afforded, spoke to her, +offered my services. She replied to my poor efforts at Spanish in +fluent English. She had fled in terror from her home, some place down +in Sinaloa. Rebels are active there. Her father was captured and held +for ransom. When the ransom was paid the rebels killed him. The leader +of these rebels was a bandit named Rojas. Long before the revolution +began he had been feared by people of class—loved by the peons. +Bandits are worshiped by the peons. All of the famous bandits have +robbed the rich and given to the poor. Rojas saw the daughter, made off +with her. But she contrived to bribe her guards, and escaped almost +immediately before any harm befell her. She hid among friends. Rojas +nearly tore down the town in his efforts to find her. Then she +disguised herself, and traveled by horseback, stage, and train to +Casita. +</P> + +<P> +"Her story fascinated me, and that one fleeting glimpse I had of her +face I couldn't forget. She had no friends here, no money. She knew +Rojas was trailing her. This talk I had with her was at the railroad +station, where all was bustle and confusion. No one noticed us, so I +thought. I advised her to remove the disguise of a nun before she left +the waiting-room. And I got a boy to guide her. But he fetched her to +his house. I had promised to come in the evening to talk over the +situation with her. +</P> + +<P> +"I found her, Dick, and when I saw her—I went stark, staring, raving +mad over her. She is the most beautiful, wonderful girl I ever saw. +Her name is Mercedes Castaneda, and she belongs to one of the old +wealthy Spanish families. She has lived abroad and in Havana. She +speaks French as well as English. She is—but I must be brief. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, think, think! With Mercedes also it was love at first sight. My +plan is to marry her and get her farther to the interior, away from the +border. It may not be easy. She's watched. So am I. It was +impossible to see her without the women of this house knowing. At +first, perhaps, they had only curiosity—an itch to gossip. But the +last two days there has been a change. Since last night there's some +powerful influence at work. Oh, these Mexicans are subtle, mysterious! +After all, they are Spaniards. They work in secret, in the dark. They +are dominated first by religion, then by gold, then by passion for a +woman. Rojas must have got word to his friends here; yesterday his +gang of cutthroat rebels arrived, and to-day he came. When I learned +that, I took my chance and left camp. I hunted up a priest. He +promised to come here. It's time he's due. But I'm afraid he'll be +stopped." +</P> + +<P> +"Thorne, why don't you take the girl and get married without waiting, +without running these risks?" said Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"I fear it's too late now. I should have done that last night. You +see, we're over the line—" +</P> + +<P> +"Are we in Mexican territory now?" queried Gale, sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess yes, old boy. That's what complicates it. Rojas and his +rebels have Casita in their hands. But Rojas without his rebels would +be able to stop me, get the girl, and make for his mountain haunts. If +Mercedes is really watched—if her identity is known, which I am sure +is the case—we couldn't get far from this house before I'd be knifed +and she seized." +</P> + +<P> +"Good Heavens! Thorne, can that sort of thing happen less than a +stone's throw from the United States line?" asked Gale, incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"It can happen, and don't you forget it. You don't seem to realize the +power these guerrilla leaders, these rebel captains, and particularly +these bandits, exercise over the mass of Mexicans. A bandit is a man of +honor in Mexico. He is feared, envied, loved. In the hearts of the +people he stands next to the national idol—the bull-fighter, the +matador. The race has a wild, barbarian, bloody strain. Take +Quinteros, for instance. He was a peon, a slave. He became a famous +bandit. At the outbreak of the revolution he proclaimed himself a +leader, and with a band of followers he devastated whole counties. The +opposition to federal forces was only a blind to rob and riot and carry +off women. The motto of this man and his followers was: 'Let us enjoy +ourselves while we may!' +</P> + +<P> +"There are other bandits besides Quinteros, not so famous or such great +leaders, but just as bloodthirsty. I've seen Rojas. He's a handsome, +bold sneering devil, vainer than any peacock. He decks himself in gold +lace and sliver trappings, in all the finery he can steal. He was one +of the rebels who helped sack Sinaloa and carry off half a million in +money and valuables. Rojas spends gold like he spills blood. But he +is chiefly famous for abducting women. The peon girls consider it an +honor to be ridden off with. Rojas has shown a penchant for girls of +the better class." +</P> + +<P> +Thorne wiped the perspiration from his pale face and bent a dark gaze +out of the window before he resumed his talk. +</P> + +<P> +"Consider what the position of Mercedes really is. I can't get any +help from our side of the line. If so, I don't know where. The +population on that side is mostly Mexican, absolutely in sympathy with +whatever actuates those on this side. The whole caboodle of Greasers +on both sides belong to the class in sympathy with the rebels, the +class that secretly respects men like Rojas, and hates an aristocrat +like Mercedes. They would conspire to throw her into his power. Rojas +can turn all the hidden underground influences to his ends. Unless I +thwart him he'll get Mercedes as easily as he can light a cigarette. +But I'll kill him or some of his gang or her before I let him get +her.... This is the situation, old friend. I've little time to spare. +I face arrest for desertion. Rojas is in town. I think I was followed +to this hotel. The priest has betrayed me or has been stopped. +Mercedes is here alone, waiting, absolutely dependent upon me to save +her from—from.... She's the sweetest, loveliest girl!... In a few +moments—sooner or later there'll be hell here! Dick, are you with me?" +</P> + +<P> +Dick Gale drew a long, deep breath. A coldness, a lethargy, an +indifference that had weighed upon him for months had passed out of his +being. On the instant he could not speak, but his hand closed +powerfully upon his friend's. Thorne's face changed wonderfully, the +distress, the fear, the appeal all vanishing in a smile of passionate +gratefulness. +</P> + +<P> +Then Dick's gaze, attracted by some slight sound, shot over his +friend's shoulder to see a face at the window—a handsome, bold, +sneering face, with glittering dark eyes that flashed in sinister +intentness. +</P> + +<P> +Dick stiffened in his seat. Thorne, with sudden clenching of hands, +wheeled toward the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Rojas!" he whispered. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MERCEDES CASTANEDA +</H3> + +<P> +THE dark face vanished. Dick Gale heard footsteps and the tinkle of +spurs. He strode to the window, and was in time to see a Mexican +swagger into the front door of the saloon. Dick had only a glimpse; +but in that he saw a huge black sombrero with a gaudy band, the back of +a short, tight-fitting jacket, a heavy pearl-handled gun swinging with +a fringe of sash, and close-fitting trousers spreading wide at the +bottom. There were men passing in the street, also several Mexicans +lounging against the hitching-rail at the curb. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see him? Where did he go?" whispered Thorne, as he joined +Gale. "Those Greasers out there with the cartridge belts crossed over +their breasts—they are rebels." +</P> + +<P> +"I think he went into the saloon," replied Dick. "He had a gun, but +for all I can see the Greasers out there are unarmed." +</P> + +<P> +"Never believe it! There! Look, Dick! That fellow's a guard, though +he seems so unconcerned. See, he has a short carbine, almost +concealed.... There's another Greaser farther down the path. I'm +afraid Rojas has the house spotted." +</P> + +<P> +"If we could only be sure." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure, Dick. Let's cross the hall; I want to see how it looks from +the other side of the house." +</P> + +<P> +Gale followed Thorne out of the restaurant into the high-ceiled +corridor which evidently divided the hotel, opening into the street and +running back to a patio. A few dim, yellow lamps flickered. A Mexican +with a blanket round his shoulders stood in the front entrance. Back +toward the patio there were sounds of boots on the stone floor. Shadows +flitted across that end of the corridor. Thorne entered a huge chamber +which was even more poorly lighted than the hall. It contained a table +littered with papers, a few high-backed chairs, a couple of couches, +and was evidently a parlor. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercedes has been meeting me here," said Thorne. "At this hour she +comes every moment or so to the head of the stairs there, and if I am +here she comes down. Mostly there are people in this room a little +later. We go out into the plaza. It faces the dark side of the house, +and that's the place I must slip out with her if there's any chance at +all to get away." +</P> + +<P> +They peered out of the open window. The plaza was gloomy, and at first +glance apparently deserted. In a moment, however, Gale made out a +slow-pacing dark form on the path. Farther down there was another. No +particular keenness was required to see in these forms a sentinel-like +stealthiness. +</P> + +<P> +Gripping Gale's arm, Thorne pulled back from the window. +</P> + +<P> +"You saw them," he whispered. "It's just as I feared. Rojas has the +place surrounded. I should have taken Mercedes away. But I had no +time—no chance! I'm bound!... There's Mercedes now! My God!... Dick, +think—think if there's a way to get her out of this trap!" +</P> + +<P> +Gale turned as his friend went down the room. In the dim light at the +head of the stairs stood the slim, muffled figure of a woman. When she +saw Thorne she flew noiselessly down the stairway to him. He caught her +in his arms. Then she spoke softly, brokenly, in a low, swift voice. +It was a mingling of incoherent Spanish and English; but to Gale it was +mellow, deep, unutterably tender, a voice full of joy, fear, passion, +hope, and love. Upon Gale it had an unaccountable effect. He found +himself thrilling, wondering. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne led the girl to the center of the room, under the light where +Gale stood. She had raised a white hand, holding a black-laced +mantilla half aside. Dick saw a small, dark head, proudly held, an +oval face half hidden, white as a flower, and magnificent black eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Then Thorne spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercedes—Dick Gale, an old friend—the best friend I ever had." +</P> + +<P> +She swept the mantilla back over her head, disclosing a lovely face, +strange and striking to Gale in its pride and fire, its intensity. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor Gale—ah! I cannot speak my happiness. His friend!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mercedes; my friend and yours," said Thorne, speaking rapidly. +"We'll have need of him. Dear, there's bad news and no time to break +it gently. The priest did not come. He must have been detained. And +listen—be brave, dear Mercedes—Rojas is here!" +</P> + +<P> +She uttered an inarticulate cry, the poignant terror of which shook +Gale's nerve, and swayed as if she would faint. Thorne caught her, and +in husky voice importuned her to bear up. +</P> + +<P> +"My darling! For God's sake don't faint—don't go to pieces! We'd be +lost! We've got a chance. We'll think of something. Be strong! +Fight!" +</P> + +<P> +It was plain to Gale that Thorne was distracted. He scarcely knew what +he was saying. Pale and shaking, he clasped Mercedes to him. Her +terror had struck him helpless. It was so intense—it was so full of +horrible certainty of what fate awaited her. +</P> + +<P> +She cried out in Spanish, beseeching him; and as he shook his head, she +changed to English: +</P> + +<P> +"Senor, my lover, I will be strong—I will fight—I will obey. But +swear by my Virgin, if need be to save me from Rojas—you will kill me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mercedes! Yes, I'll swear," he replied hoarsely. "I know—I'd rather +have you dead than— But don't give up. Rojas can't be sure of you, or +he wouldn't wait. He's in there. He's got his men there—all around +us. But he hesitates. A beast like Rojas doesn't stand idle for +nothing. I tell you we've a chance. Dick, here, will think of +something. We'll slip away. Then he'll take you somewhere. +Only—speak to him—show him you won't weaken. Mercedes, this is more +than love and happiness for us. It's life or death." +</P> + +<P> +She became quiet, and slowly recovered control of herself. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly she wheeled to face Gale with proud dark eyes, tragic +sweetness of appeal, and exquisite grace. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor, you are an American. You cannot know the Spanish blood—the +peon bandit's hate and cruelty. I wish to die before Rojas's hand +touches me. If he takes me alive, then the hour, the little day that +my life lasts afterward will be tortured—torture of hell. If I live +two days his brutal men will have me. If I live three, the dogs of his +camp... Senor, have you a sister whom you love? Help Senor Thorne to +save me. He is a soldier. He is bound. He must not betray his honor, +his duty, for me.... Ah, you two splendid Americans—so big, so strong, +so fierce! What is that little black half-breed slave Rojas to such +men? Rojas is a coward. Now, let me waste no more precious time. I am +ready. I will be brave." +</P> + +<P> +She came close to Gale, holding out her white hands, a woman all fire +and soul and passion. To Gale she was wonderful. His heart leaped. +As he bent over her hands and kissed them he seemed to feel himself +renewed, remade. +</P> + +<P> +"Senorita," he said, "I am happy to be your servant. I can conceive of +no greater pleasure than giving the service you require." +</P> + +<P> +"And what is that?" inquired Thorne, hurriedly. +</P> + +<P> +"That of incapacitating Senor Rojas for to-night, and perhaps several +nights to come," replied Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, what will you do?" asked Thorne, now in alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll make a row in that saloon," returned Dick, bluntly. "I'll start +something. I'll rush Rojas and his crowd. I'll—" +</P> + +<P> +"Lord, no; you mustn't, Dick—you'll be knifed!" cried Thorne. He was +in distress, yet his eyes were shining. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take a chance. Maybe I can surprise that slow Greaser bunch and +get away before they know what's happened.... You be ready watching at +the window. When the row starts those fellows out there in the plaza +will run into the saloon. Then you slip out, go straight through the +plaza down the street. It's a dark street, I remember. I'll catch up +with you before you get far." +</P> + +<P> +Thorne gasped, but did not say a word. Mercedes leaned against him, +her white hands now at her breast, her great eyes watching Gale as he +went out. +</P> + +<P> +In the corridor Gale stopped long enough to pull on a pair of heavy +gloves, to muss his hair, and disarrange his collar. Then he stepped +into the restaurant, went through, and halted in the door leading into +the saloon. His five feet eleven inches and one hundred and eighty +pounds were more noticeable there, and it was part of his plan to +attract attention to himself. No one, however, appeared to notice him. +The pool-players were noisily intent on their game, the same crowd of +motley-robed Mexicans hung over the reeking bar. Gale's roving glance +soon fixed upon the man he took to be Rojas. He recognized the huge, +high-peaked, black sombrero with its ornamented band. The Mexican's +face was turned aside. He was in earnest, excited colloquy with a +dozen or more comrades, most of whom were sitting round a table. They +were listening, talking, drinking. The fact that they wore cartridge +belts crossed over their breasts satisfied that these were the rebels. +He had noted the belts of the Mexicans outside, who were apparently +guards. A waiter brought more drinks to this group at the table, and +this caused the leader to turn so Gale could see his face. It was +indeed the sinister, sneering face of the bandit Rojas. Gale gazed at +the man with curiosity. He was under medium height, and striking in +appearance only because of his dandified dress and evil visage. He wore +a lace scarf, a tight, bright-buttoned jacket, a buckskin vest +embroidered in red, a sash and belt joined by an enormous silver clasp. +Gale saw again the pearl-handled gun swinging at the bandit's hip. +Jewels flashed in his scarf. There were gold rings in his ears and +diamonds on his fingers. +</P> + +<P> +Gale became conscious of an inward fire that threatened to overrun his +coolness. Other emotions harried his self-control. It seemed as if +sight of the man liberated or created a devil in Gale. And at the +bottom of his feelings there seemed to be a wonder at himself, a +strange satisfaction for the something that had come to him. +</P> + +<P> +He stepped out of the doorway, down the couple of steps to the floor of +the saloon, and he staggered a little, simulating drunkenness. He fell +over the pool tables, jostled Mexicans at the bar, laughed like a +maudlin fool, and, with his hat slouched down, crowded here and there. +Presently his eye caught sight of the group of cowboys whom he had +before noticed with such interest. +</P> + +<P> +They were still in a corner somewhat isolated. With fertile mind +working, Gale lurched over to them. He remembered his many +unsuccessful attempts to get acquainted with cowboys. If he were to +get any help from these silent aloof rangers it must be by striking +fire from them in one swift stroke. Planting himself squarely before +the two tall cowboys who were standing, he looked straight into their +lean, bronzed faces. He spared a full moment for that keen cool gaze +before he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not drunk. I'm throwing a bluff, and I mean to start a rough +house. I'm going to rush that damned bandit Rojas. It's to save a +girl—to give her lover, who is my friend, a chance to escape with her. +When I start a row my friend will try to slip out with her. Every door +and window is watched. I've got to raise hell to draw the guards +in.... Well, you're my countrymen. We're in Mexico. A beautiful +girl's honor and life are at stake. Now, gentlemen, watch me!" +</P> + +<P> +One cowboy's eyes narrowed, blinking a little, and his lean jaw +dropped; the other's hard face rippled with a fleeting smile. +</P> + +<P> +Gale backed away, and his pulse leaped when he saw the two cowboys, as +if with one purpose, slowly stride after him. Then Gale swerved, +staggering along, brushed against the tables, kicked over the empty +chairs. He passed Rojas and his gang, and out of the tail of his eye +saw that the bandit was watching him, waving his hands and talking +fiercely. The hum of the many voices grew louder, and when Dick +lurched against a table, overturning it and spilling glasses into the +laps of several Mexicans, there arose a shrill cry. He had succeeded in +attracting attention; almost every face turned his way. One of the +insulted men, a little tawny fellow, leaped up to confront Gale, and in +a frenzy screamed a volley of Spanish, of which Gale distinguished +"Gringo!" The Mexican stamped and made a threatening move with his +right hand. Dick swung his leg and with a swift side kick knocked the +fellows feet from under him, whirling him down with a thud. +</P> + +<P> +The action was performed so suddenly, so adroitly, it made the Mexican +such a weakling, so like a tumbled tenpin, that the shrill jabbering +hushed. Gale knew this to be the significant moment. +</P> + +<P> +Wheeling, he rushed at Rojas. It was his old line-breaking plunge. +Neither Rojas nor his men had time to move. The black-skinned bandit's +face turned a dirty white; his jaw dropped; he would have shrieked if +Gale had not hit him. The blow swept him backward against his men. +Then Gale's heavy body, swiftly following with the momentum of that +rush, struck the little group of rebels. They went down with table and +chairs in a sliding crash. +</P> + +<P> +Gale carried by his plunge, went with them. Like a cat he landed on +top. As he rose his powerful hands fastened on Rojas. He jerked the +little bandit off the tangled pile of struggling, yelling men, and, +swinging him with terrific force, let go his hold. Rojas slid along +the floor, knocking over tables and chairs. Gale bounded back, dragged +Rojas up, handling him as if he were a limp sack. +</P> + +<P> +A shot rang out above the yells. Gale heard the jingle of breaking +glass. The room darkened perceptibly. He flashed a glance backward. +The two cowboys were between him and the crowd of frantic rebels. One +cowboy held two guns low down, level in front of him. The other had +his gun raised and aimed. On the instant it spouted red and white. +With the crack came the crashing of glass, another darkening shade over +the room. With a cry Gale slung the bleeding Rojas from him. The +bandit struck a table, toppled over it, fell, and lay prone. +</P> + +<P> +Another shot made the room full of moving shadows, with light only back +of the bar. A white-clad figure rushed at Gale. He tripped the man, +but had to kick hard to disengage himself from grasping hands. Another +figure closed in on Gale. This one was dark, swift. A blade +glinted—described a circle aloft. Simultaneously with a close, red +flash the knife wavered; the man wielding it stumbled backward. In the +din Gale did not hear a report, but the Mexican's fall was significant. +Then pandemonium broke loose. The din became a roar. Gale heard shots +that sounded like dull spats in the distance. The big lamp behind the +bar seemingly split, then sputtered and went out, leaving the room in +darkness. +</P> + +<P> +Gale leaped toward the restaurant door, which was outlined faintly by +the yellow light within. Right and left he pushed the groping men who +jostled with him. He vaulted a pool table, sent tables and chairs +flying, and gained the door, to be the first of a wedging mob to +squeeze through. One sweep of his arm knocked the restaurant lamp from +its stand; and he ran out, leaving darkness behind him. A few bounds +took him into the parlor. It was deserted. Thorne had gotten away +with Mercedes. +</P> + +<P> +It was then Gale slowed up. For the space of perhaps sixty seconds he +had been moving with startling velocity. He peered cautiously out into +the plaza. The paths, the benches, the shady places under the trees +contained no skulking men. He ran out, keeping to the shade, and did +not go into the path till he was halfway through the plaza. Under a +street lamp at the far end of the path he thought he saw two dark +figures. He ran faster, and soon reached the street. The uproar back +in the hotel began to diminish, or else he was getting out of hearing. +The few people he saw close at hand were all coming his way, and only +the foremost showed any excitement. Gale walked swiftly, peering ahead +for two figures. Presently he saw them—one tall, wearing a cape; the +other slight, mantled. Gale drew a sharp breath of relief. Thorne and +Mercedes were not far ahead. +</P> + +<P> +From time to time Thorne looked back. He strode swiftly, almost +carrying Mercedes, who clung closely to him. She, too, looked back. +Once Gale saw her white face flash in the light of a street lamp. He +began to overhaul them; and soon, when the last lamp had been passed +and the street was dark, he ventured a whistle. Thorne heard it, for +he turned, whistled a low reply, and went on. Not for some distance +beyond, where the street ended in open country, did they halt to wait. +The desert began here. Gale felt the soft sand under his feet and saw +the grotesque forms of cactus. Then he came up with the fugitives. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick! Are you—all right?" panted Thorne, grasping Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm—out of breath—but—O.K.," replied Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"Good! Good!" choked Thorne. "I was scared—helpless.... Dick, it +worked splendidly. We had no trouble. What on earth did you do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I made the row, all right," said Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"Good Heavens! It was like a row I once heard made by a mob. But the +shots, Dick—were they at you? They paralyzed me. Then the yells. +What happened? Those guards of Rojas ran round in front at the first +shot. Tell me what happened." +</P> + +<P> +"While I was rushing Rojas a couple of cowboys shot out the lamplights. +A Mexican who pulled a knife on me got hurt, I guess. Then I think +there was some shooting from the rebels after the room was dark." +</P> + +<P> +"Rushing Rojas?" queried Thorne, leaning close to Dick. His voice was +thrilling, exultant, deep with a joy that yet needed confirmation. +"What did you do to him?" +</P> + +<P> +"I handed him one off side, tackled, then tried a forward pass," +replied Dick, lightly speaking the football vernacular so familiar to +Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne leaned closer, his fine face showing fierce and corded in the +starlight. "Tell me straight," he demanded, in thick voice. +</P> + +<P> +Gale then divined something of the suffering Thorne had +undergone—something of the hot, wild, vengeful passion of a lover who +must have brutal truth. +</P> + +<P> +It stilled Dick's lighter mood, and he was about to reply when Mercedes +pressed close to him, touched his hands, looked up into his face with +wonderful eyes. He thought he would not soon forget their beauty—the +shadow of pain that had been, the hope dawning so fugitively. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear lady," said Gale, with voice not wholly steady, "Rojas himself +will hound you no more to-night, nor for many nights." +</P> + +<P> +She seemed to shake, to thrill, to rise with the intelligence. She +pressed his hand close over her heaving breast. Gale felt the quick +throb of her heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor! Senor Dick!" she cried. Then her voice failed. But her hands +flew up; quick as a flash she raised her face—kissed him. Then she +turned and with a sob fell into Thorne's arms. +</P> + +<P> +There ensued a silence broken only by Mercedes' sobbing. Gale walked +some paces away. If he were not stunned, he certainly was agitated. +The strange, sweet fire of that girl's lips remained with him. On the +spur of the moment he imagined he had a jealousy of Thorne. But +presently this passed. It was only that he had been deeply +moved—stirred to the depths during the last hour—had become conscious +of the awakening of a spirit. What remained with him now was the +splendid glow of gladness that he had been of service to Thorne. And +by the intensity of Mercedes' abandon of relief and gratitude he +measured her agony of terror and the fate he had spared her. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, Dick, come here!" called Thorne softly. "Let's pull ourselves +together now. We've got a problem yet. What to do? Where to go? How +to get any place? We don't dare risk the station—the corrals where +Mexicans hire out horses. We're on good old U.S. ground this minute, +but we're not out of danger." +</P> + +<P> +As he paused, evidently hoping for a suggestion from Gale, the silence +was broken by the clear, ringing peal of a bugle. Thorne gave a +violent start. Then he bent over, listening. The beautiful notes of +the bugle floated out of the darkness, clearer, sharper, faster. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a call, Dick! It's a call!" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +Gale had no answer to make. Mercedes stood as if stricken. The bugle +call ended. From a distance another faintly pealed. There were other +sounds too remote to recognize. Then scattering shots rattled out. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, the rebels are fighting somebody," burst out Thorne, excitedly. +"The little federal garrison still holds its stand. Perhaps it is +attacked again. Anyway, there's something doing over the line. Maybe +the crazy Greasers are firing on our camp. We've feared it—in the +dark.... And here I am, away without leave—practically a deserter!" +</P> + +<P> +"Go back! Go back, before you're too late!" cried Mercedes. +</P> + +<P> +"Better make tracks, Thorne," added Gale. "It can't help our +predicament for you to be arrested. I'll take care of Mercedes." +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, no," replied Thorne. "I can get away—avoid arrest." +</P> + +<P> +"That'd be all right for the immediate present. But it's not best for +the future. George, a deserter is a deserter!... Better hurry. Leave +the girl to me till tomorrow." +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes embraced her lover, begged him to go. Thorne wavered. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, I'm up against it," he said. "You're right. If only I can get +back in time. But, oh, I hate to leave her! Old fellow, you've saved +her! I already owe you everlasting gratitude. Keep out of Casita, +Dick. The U.S. side might be safe, but I'm afraid to trust it at +night. Go out in the desert, up in the mountains, in some safe place. +Then come to me in camp. We'll plan. I'll have to confide in Colonel +Weede. Maybe he'll help us. Hide her from the rebels—that's all." +</P> + +<P> +He wrung Dick's hand, clasped Mercedes tightly in his arms, kissed her, +and murmured low over her, then released her to rush off into the +darkness. He disappeared in the gloom. The sound of his dull +footfalls gradually died away. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the desert silence oppressed Gale. He was unaccustomed to +such strange stillness. There was a low stir of sand, a rustle of +stiff leaves in the wind. How white the stars burned! Then a coyote +barked, to be bayed by a dog. Gale realized that he was between the +edge of an unknown desert and the edge of a hostile town. He had to +choose the desert, because, though he had no doubt that in Casita there +were many Americans who might befriend him, he could not chance the +risks of seeking them at night. +</P> + +<P> +He felt a slight touch on his arm, felt it move down, felt Mercedes +slip a trembling cold little hand into his. Dick looked at her. She +seemed a white-faced girl now, with staring, frightened black eyes that +flashed up at him. If the loneliness, the silence, the desert, the +unknown dangers of the night affected him, what must they be to this +hunted, driven girl? Gale's heart swelled. He was alone with her. He +had no weapon, no money, no food, no drink, no covering, nothing except +his two hands. He had absolutely no knowledge of the desert, of the +direction or whereabouts of the boundary line between the republics; he +did not know where to find the railroad, or any road or trail, or +whether or not there were towns near or far. It was a critical, +desperate situation. He thought first of the girl, and groaned in +spirit, prayed that it would be given him to save her. When he +remembered himself it was with the stunning consciousness that he could +conceive of no situation which he would have exchanged for this +one—where fortune had set him a perilous task of loyalty to a friend, +to a helpless girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor, senor!" suddenly whispered Mercedes, clinging to him. "Listen! +I hear horses coming!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A FLIGHT INTO THE DESERT +</H3> + +<P> +UNEASY and startled, Gale listened and, hearing nothing, wondered if +Mercedes's fears had not worked upon her imagination. He felt a +trembling seize her, and he held her hands tightly. +</P> + +<P> +"You were mistaken, I guess," he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, senor." +</P> + +<P> +Dick turned his ear to the soft wind. Presently he heard, or imagined +he heard, low beats. Like the first faint, far-off beats of a drumming +grouse, they recalled to him the Illinois forests of his boyhood. In a +moment he was certain the sounds were the padlike steps of hoofs in +yielding sand. The regular tramp was not that of grazing horses. +</P> + +<P> +On the instant, made cautious and stealthy by alarm, Gale drew Mercedes +deeper into the gloom of the shrubbery. Sharp pricks from thorns +warned him that he was pressing into a cactus growth, and he protected +Mercedes as best he could. She was shaking as one with a severe chill. +She breathed with little hurried pants and leaned upon him almost in +collapse. Gale ground his teeth in helpless rage at the girl's fate. +If she had not been beautiful she might still have been free and happy +in her home. What a strange world to live in—how unfair was fate! +</P> + +<P> +The sounds of hoofbeats grew louder. Gale made out a dark moving mass +against a background of dull gray. There was a line of horses. He +could not discern whether or not all the horses carried riders. The +murmur of a voice struck his ear—then a low laugh. It made him +tingle, for it sounded American. Eagerly he listened. There was an +interval when only the hoofbeats could be heard. +</P> + +<P> +"It shore was, Laddy, it shore was," came a voice out of the darkness. +"Rough house! Laddy, since wire fences drove us out of Texas we ain't +seen the like of that. An' we never had such a call." +</P> + +<P> +"Call? It was a burnin' roast," replied another voice. "I felt low +down. He vamoosed some sudden, an' I hope he an' his friends shook the +dust of Casita. That's a rotten town Jim." +</P> + +<P> +Gale jumped up in joy. What luck! The speakers were none other than +the two cowboys whom he had accosted in the Mexican hotel. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on, fellows," he called out, and strode into the road. +</P> + +<P> +The horses snorted and stamped. Then followed swift rustling sounds—a +clinking of spurs, then silence. The figures loomed clearer in the +gloom.. Gale saw five or six horses, two with riders, and one other, at +least, carrying a pack. When Gale got within fifteen feet of the group +the foremost horseman said: +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon that's close enough, stranger." +</P> + +<P> +Something in the cowboy's hand glinted darkly bright in the starlight. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd recognize me, if it wasn't so dark," replied Gale, halting. "I +spoke to you a little while ago—in the saloon back there." +</P> + +<P> +"Come over an' let's see you," said the cowboy curtly. +</P> + +<P> +Gale advanced till he was close to the horse. The cowboy leaned over +the saddle and peered into Gale's face. Then, without a word, he +sheathed the gun and held out his hand. Gale met a grip of steel that +warmed his blood. The other cowboy got off his nervous, spirited horse +and threw the bridle. He, too, peered closely into Gale's face. +</P> + +<P> +"My name's Ladd," he said. "Reckon I'm some glad to meet you again." +</P> + +<P> +Gale felt another grip as hard and strong as the other had been. He +realized he had found friends who belonged to a class of men whom he +had despaired of ever knowing. +</P> + +<P> +"Gale—Dick Gale is my name," he began, swiftly. "I dropped into +Casita to-night hardly knowing where I was. A boy took me to that +hotel. There I met an old friend whom I had not seen for years. He +belongs to the cavalry stationed here. He had befriended a Spanish +girl—fallen in love with her. Rojas had killed this girl's +father—tried to abduct her.... You know what took place at the hotel. +Gentlemen, if it's ever possible, I'll show you how I appreciate what +you did for me there. I got away, found my friend with the girl. We +hurried out here beyond the edge of town. Then Thorne had to make a +break for camp. We heard bugle calls, shots, and he was away without +leave. That left the girl with me. I don't know what to do. Thorne +swears Casita is no place for Mercedes at night." +</P> + +<P> +"The girl ain't no peon, no common Greaser?" interrupted Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"No. Her name is Castaneda. She belongs to an old Spanish family, +once rich and influential." +</P> + +<P> +"Reckoned as much," replied the cowboy. "There's more than Rojas's +wantin' to kidnap a pretty girl. Shore he does that every day or so. +Must be somethin' political or feelin' against class. Well, Casita +ain't no place for your friend's girl at night or day, or any time. +Shore, there's Americans who'd take her in an' fight for her, if +necessary. But it ain't wise to risk that. Lash, what do you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's been gettin' hotter round this Greaser corral for some weeks," +replied the other cowboy. "If that two-bit of a garrison surrenders, +there's no tellin' what'll happen. Orozco is headin' west from Agua +Prieta with his guerrillas. Campo is burnin' bridges an' tearin' up +the railroad south of Nogales. Then there's all these bandits callin' +themselves revolutionists just for an excuse to steal, burn, kill, an' +ride off with women. It's plain facts, Laddy, an' bein' across the +U.S. line a few inches or so don't make no hell of a difference. My +advice is, don't let Miss Castaneda ever set foot in Casita again." +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like you've shore spoke sense," said Ladd. "I reckon, Gale, you +an' the girl ought to come with us. Casita shore would be a little +warm for us to-morrow. We didn't kill anybody, but I shot a Greaser's +arm off, an' Lash strained friendly relations by destroyin' property. +We know people who'll take care of the senorita till your friend can +come for her." +</P> + +<P> +Dick warmly spoke his gratefulness, and, inexpressibly relieved and +happy for Mercedes, he went toward the clump of cactus where he had +left her. She stood erect, waiting, and, dark as it was, he could tell +she had lost the terror that had so shaken her. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor Gale, you are my good angel," she said, tremulously. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been lucky to fall in with these men, and I'm glad with all my +heart," he replied. "Come." +</P> + +<P> +He led her into the road up to the cowboys, who now stood bareheaded in +the starlight. They seemed shy, and Lash was silent while Ladd made +embarrassed, unintelligible reply to Mercedes's thanks. +</P> + +<P> +There were five horses—two saddled, two packed, and the remaining one +carried only a blanket. Ladd shortened the stirrups on his mount, and +helped Mercedes up into the saddle. From the way she settled herself +and took the few restive prances of the mettlesome horse Gale judged +that she could ride. Lash urged Gale to take his horse. But this Gale +refused to do. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll walk," he said. "I'm used to walking. I know cowboys are not." +</P> + +<P> +They tried again to persuade him, without avail. Then Ladd started +off, riding bareback. Mercedes fell in behind, with Gale walking +beside her. The two pack animals came next, and Lash brought up the +rear. +</P> + +<P> +Once started with protection assured for the girl and a real objective +point in view, Gale relaxed from the tense strain he had been laboring +under. How glad he would have been to acquaint Thorne with their good +fortune! Later, of course, there would be some way to get word to the +cavalryman. But till then what torments his friend would suffer! +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to Dick that a very long time had elapsed since he stepped +off the train; and one by one he went over every detail of incident +which had occurred between that arrival and the present moment. +Strange as the facts were, he had no doubts. He realized that before +that night he had never known the deeps of wrath undisturbed in him; he +had never conceived even a passing idea that it was possible for him to +try to kill a man. His right hand was swollen stiff, so sore that he +could scarcely close it. His knuckles were bruised and bleeding, and +ached with a sharp pain. Considering the thickness of his heavy glove, +Gale was of the opinion that so to bruise his hand he must have struck +Rojas a powerful blow. He remembered that for him to give or take a +blow had been nothing. This blow to Rojas, however, had been a +different matter. The hot wrath which had been his motive was not +puzzling; but the effect on him after he had cooled off, a subtle +difference, something puzzled and eluded him. The more it baffled him +the more he pondered. All those wandering months of his had been +filled with dissatisfaction, yet he had been too apathetic to +understand himself. So he had not been much of a person to try. +Perhaps it had not been the blow to Rojas any more than other things +that had wrought some change in him. +</P> + +<P> +His meeting with Thorne; the wonderful black eyes of a Spanish girl; +her appeal to him; the hate inspired by Rojas, and the rush, the blow, +the action; sight of Thorne and Mercedes hurrying safely away; the +girl's hand pressing his to her heaving breast; the sweet fire of her +kiss; the fact of her being alone with him, dependent upon him—all +these things Gale turned over and over in his mind, only to fail of any +definite conclusion as to which had affected him so remarkably, or to +tell what had really happened to him. +</P> + +<P> +Had he fallen in love with Thorne's sweetheart? The idea came in a +flash. Was he, all in an instant, and by one of those incomprehensible +reversals of character, jealous of his friend? Dick was almost afraid +to look up at Mercedes. Still he forced himself to do so, and as it +chanced Mercedes was looking down at him. Somehow the light was +better, and he clearly saw her white face, her black and starry eyes, +her perfect mouth. With a quick, graceful impulsiveness she put her +hand upon his shoulder. Like her appearance, the action was new, +strange, striking to Gale; but it brought home suddenly to him the +nature of gratitude and affection in a girl of her blood. It was sweet +and sisterly. He knew then that he had not fallen in love with her. +The feeling that was akin to jealousy seemed to be of the beautiful +something for which Mercedes stood in Thorne's life. Gale then grasped +the bewildering possibilities, the infinite wonder of what a girl could +mean to a man. +</P> + +<P> +The other haunting intimations of change seemed to be elusively blended +with sensations—the heat and thrill of action, the sense of something +done and more to do, the utter vanishing of an old weary hunt for he +knew not what. Maybe it had been a hunt for work, for energy, for +spirit, for love, for his real self. Whatever it might be, there +appeared to be now some hope of finding it. +</P> + +<P> +The desert began to lighten. Gray openings in the border of shrubby +growths changed to paler hue. The road could be seen some rods ahead, +and it had become a stony descent down, steadily down. Dark, ridged +backs of mountains bounded the horizon, and all seemed near at hand, +hemming in the plain. In the east a white glow grew brighter and +brighter, reaching up to a line of cloud, defined sharply below by a +rugged notched range. Presently a silver circle rose behind the black +mountain, and the gloom of the desert underwent a transformation. From +a gray mantle it changed to a transparent haze. The moon was rising. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor I am cold," said Mercedes. +</P> + +<P> +Dick had been carrying his coat upon his arm. He had felt warm, even +hot, and had imagined that the steady walk had occasioned it. But his +skin was cool. The heat came from an inward burning. He stopped the +horse and raised the coat up, and helped Mercedes put it on. +</P> + +<P> +"I should have thought of you," he said. "But I seemed to feel warm... +The coat's a little large; we might wrap it round you twice." +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes smiled and lightly thanked him in Spanish. The flash of mood +was in direct contrast to the appealing, passionate, and tragic states +in which he had successively viewed her; and it gave him a vivid +impression of what vivacity and charm she might possess under happy +conditions. He was about to start when he observed that Ladd had +halted and was peering ahead in evident caution. Mercedes' horse began +to stamp impatiently, raised his ears and head, and acted as if he was +about to neigh. +</P> + +<P> +A warning "hist!" from Ladd bade Dick to put a quieting hand on the +horse. Lash came noiselessly forward to join his companion. The two +then listened and watched. +</P> + +<P> +An uneasy yet thrilling stir ran through Gale's veins. This scene was +not fancy. These men of the ranges had heard or seen or scented +danger. It was all real, as tangible and sure as the touch of +Mercedes's hand upon his arm. Probably for her the night had terrors +beyond Gale's power to comprehend. He looked down into the desert, and +would have felt no surprise at anything hidden away among the bristling +cactus, the dark, winding arroyos, the shadowed rocks with their +moonlit tips, the ragged plain leading to the black bold mountains. +The wind appeared to blow softly, with an almost imperceptible moan, +over the desert. That was a new sound to Gale. But he heard nothing +more. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Lash went to the rear and Ladd started ahead. The progress +now, however, was considerably slower, not owing to a road—for that +became better—but probably owing to caution exercised by the cowboy +guide. At the end of a half hour this marked deliberation changed, and +the horses followed Ladd's at a gait that put Gale to his best +walking-paces. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the moon soared high above the black corrugated peaks. The +gray, the gloom, the shadow whitened. The clearing of the dark +foreground appeared to lift a distant veil and show endless aisles of +desert reaching down between dim horizon-bounding ranges. +</P> + +<P> +Gale gazed abroad, knowing that as this night was the first time for +him to awake to consciousness of a vague, wonderful other self, so it +was one wherein he began to be aware of an encroaching presence of +physical things—the immensity of the star-studded sky, the soaring +moon, the bleak, mysterious mountains, and limitless slope, and plain, +and ridge, and valley. These things in all their magnificence had not +been unnoticed by him before; only now they spoke a different meaning. +A voice that he had never heard called him to see, to feel the vast +hard externals of heaven and earth, all that represented the open, the +free, silence and solitude and space. +</P> + +<P> +Once more his thoughts, like his steps, were halted by Ladd's actions. +The cowboy reined in his horse, listened a moment, then swung down out +of the saddle. He raised a cautioning hand to the others, then slipped +into the gloom and disappeared. Gale marked that the halt had been +made in a ridged and cut-up pass between low mesas. He could see the +columns of cactus standing out black against the moon-white sky. The +horses were evidently tiring, for they showed no impatience. Gale +heard their panting breaths, and also the bark of some animal—a dog or +a coyote. It sounded like a dog, and this led Gale to wonder if there +was any house near at hand. To the right, up under the ledges some +distance away, stood two square black objects, too uniform, he thought, +to be rocks. While he was peering at them, uncertain what to think, +the shrill whistle of a horse pealed out, to be followed by the +rattling of hoofs on hard stone. Then a dog barked. At the same +moment that Ladd hurriedly appeared in the road a light shone out and +danced before one of the square black objects. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep close an' don't make no noise," he whispered, and led his horse +at right angles off the road. +</P> + +<P> +Gale followed, leading Mercedes's horse. As he turned he observed that +Lash also had dismounted. +</P> + +<P> +To keep closely at Ladd's heels without brushing the cactus or +stumbling over rocks and depressions was a task Gale found impossible. +After he had been stabbed several times by the bayonetlike spikes, +which seemed invisible, the matter of caution became equally one of +self-preservation. Both the cowboys, Dick had observed, wore leather +chaps. It was no easy matter to lead a spirited horse through the +dark, winding lanes walled by thorns. Mercedes horse often balked and +had to be coaxed and carefully guided. Dick concluded that Ladd was +making a wide detour. The position of certain stars grown familiar +during the march veered round from one side to another. Dick saw that +the travel was fast, but by no means noiseless. The pack animals at +times crashed and ripped through the narrow places. It seemed to Gale +that any one within a mile could have heard these sounds. From the +tops of knolls or ridges he looked back, trying to locate the mesas +where the light had danced and the dog had barked alarm. He could not +distinguish these two rocky eminences from among many rising in the +background. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Ladd let out into a wider lane that appeared to run straight. +The cowboy mounted his horse, and this fact convinced Gale that they +had circled back to the road. The march proceeded then once more at a +good, steady, silent walk. When Dick consulted his watch he was amazed +to see that the hour was still early. How much had happened in little +time! He now began to be aware that the night was growing colder; and, +strange to him, he felt something damp that in a country he knew he +would have recognized as dew. He had not been aware there was dew on +the desert. The wind blew stronger, the stars shone whiter, the sky +grew darker, and the moon climbed toward the zenith. The road +stretched level for miles, then crossed arroyos and ridges, wound +between mounds of broken ruined rock, found a level again, and then +began a long ascent. Dick asked Mercedes if she was cold, and she +answered that she was, speaking especially of her feet, which were +growing numb. Then she asked to be helped down to walk awhile. At +first she was cold and lame, and accepted the helping hand Dick +proffered. After a little, however, she recovered and went on without +assistance. Dick could scarcely believe his eyes, as from time to time +he stole a sidelong glance at this silent girl, who walked with lithe +and rapid stride. She was wrapped in his long coat, yet it did not +hide her slender grace. He could not see her face, which was concealed +by the black mantle. +</P> + +<P> +A low-spoken word from Ladd recalled Gale to the question of +surroundings and of possible dangers. Ladd had halted a few yards +ahead. They had reached the summit of what was evidently a high ridge +which sloped with much greater steepness on the far side. It was only +after a few more forward steps, however, that Dick could see down the +slope. Then full in view flashed a bright campfire around which +clustered a group of dark figures. They were encamped in a wide +arroyo, where horses could be seen grazing in black patches of grass +between clusters of trees. A second look at the campers told Gale they +were Mexicans. At this moment Lash came forward to join Ladd, and the +two spent a long, uninterrupted moment studying the arroyo. A hoarse +laugh, faint yet distinct, floated up on the cool wind. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Laddy, what're you makin' of that outfit?" inquired Lash, +speaking softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Same as any of them raider outfits," replied Ladd. "They're across +the line for beef. But they'll run off any good stock. As hoss +thieves these rebels have got 'em all beat. That outfit is waitin' +till it's late. There's a ranch up the arroyo." +</P> + +<P> +Gale heard the first speaker curse under his breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, I feel the same," said Ladd. "But we've got a girl an' the +young man to look after, not to mention our pack outfit. An' we're +huntin' for a job, not a fight, old hoss. Keep on your chaps!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin' to it but head south for the Rio Forlorn." +</P> + +<P> +"You're talkin' sense now, Jim. I wish we'd headed that way long ago. +But it ain't strange I'd want to travel away from the border, thinkin' +of the girl. Jim, we can't go round this Greaser outfit an' strike the +road again. Too rough. So we'll have to give up gettin' to San +Felipe." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps it's just as well, Laddy. Rio Forlorn is on the border line, +but it's country where these rebels ain't been yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait till they learn of the oasis an' Beldin's hosses!" exclaimed +Laddy. "I'm not anticipatin' peace anywhere along the border, Jim. +But we can't go ahead; we can't go back." +</P> + +<P> +"What'll we do, Laddy? It's a hike to Beldin's ranch. An' if we get +there in daylight some Greaser will see the girl before Beldin' can +hide her. It'll get talked about. The news'll travel to Casita like +sage balls before the wind." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore we won't ride into Rio Forlorn in the daytime. Let's slip the +packs, Jim. We can hid them off in the cactus an' come back after +them. With the young man ridin' we—" +</P> + +<P> +The whispering was interrupted by a loud ringing neigh that whistled up +from the arroyo. One of the horses had scented the travelers on the +ridge top. The indifference of the Mexicans changed to attention. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd and Lash turned back and led the horses into the first opening on +the south side of the road. There was nothing more said at the moment, +and manifestly the cowboys were in a hurry. Gale had to run in the +open places to keep up. When they did stop it was welcome to Gale, for +he had begun to fall behind. +</P> + +<P> +The packs were slipped, securely tied and hidden in a mesquite clump. +Ladd strapped a blanket around one of the horses. His next move was to +take off his chaps. +</P> + +<P> +"Gale, you're wearin' boots, an' by liftin' your feet you can beat the +cactus," he whispered. "But the—the—Miss Castaneda, she'll be torn +all to pieces unless she puts these on. Please tell her—an' hurry." +</P> + +<P> +Dick took the chaps, and, going up to Mercedes, he explained the +situation. She laughed, evidently at his embarrassed earnestness, and +slipped out of the saddle. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor, chapparejos and I are not strangers," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Deftly and promptly she equipped herself, and then Gale helped her into +the saddle, called to her horse, and started off. Lash directed Gale +to mount the other saddled horse and go next. +</P> + +<P> +Dick had not ridden a hundred yards behind the trotting leaders before +he had sundry painful encounters with reaching cactus arms. The horse +missed these by a narrow margin. Dick's knees appeared to be in line, +and it became necessary for him to lift them high and let his boots +take the onslaught of the spikes. He was at home in the saddle, and +the accomplishment was about the only one he possessed that had been of +any advantage during his sojourn in the West. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd pursued a zigzag course southward across the desert, trotting down +the aisles, cantering in wide, bare patches, walking through the clumps +of cacti. The desert seemed all of a sameness to Dick—a wilderness of +rocks and jagged growths hemmed in by lowering ranges, always looking +close, yet never growing any nearer. The moon slanted back toward the +west, losing its white radiance, and the gloom of the earlier evening +began to creep into the washes and to darken under the mesas. By and +by Ladd entered an arroyo, and here the travelers turned and twisted +with the meanderings of a dry stream bed. At the head of a canyon they +had to take once more to the rougher ground. Always it led down, +always it grew rougher, more rolling, with wider bare spaces, always +the black ranges loomed close. +</P> + +<P> +Gale became chilled to the bone, and his clothes were damp and cold. +His knees smarted from the wounds of the poisoned thorns, and his right +hand was either swollen stiff or too numb to move. Moreover, he was +tiring. The excitement, the long walk, the miles on miles of jolting +trot—these had wearied him. Mercedes must be made of steel, he +thought, to stand all that she had been subjected to and yet, when the +stars were paling and dawn perhaps not far away, stay in the saddle. +</P> + +<P> +So Dick Gale rode on, drowsier for each mile, and more and more giving +the horse a choice of ground. Sometimes a prod from a murderous spine +roused Dick. A grayness had blotted out the waning moon in the west +and the clear, dark, starry sky overhead. Once when Gale, thinking to +fight his weariness, raised his head, he saw that one of the horses in +the lead was riderless. Ladd was carrying Mercedes. Dick marveled +that her collapse had not come sooner. Another time, rousing himself +again, he imagined they were now on a good hard road. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed that hours passed, though he knew only little time had +elapsed, when once more he threw off the spell of weariness. He heard +a dog bark. Tall trees lined the open lane down which he was riding. +Presently in the gray gloom he saw low, square houses with flat roofs. +Ladd turned off to the left down another lane, gloomy between trees. +Every few rods there was one of the squat houses. This lane opened +into wider, lighter space. The cold air bore a sweet perfume—whether +of flowers or fruit Dick could not tell. Ladd rode on for perhaps a +quarter of a mile, though it seemed interminably long to Dick. A grove +of trees loomed dark in the gray morning. Ladd entered it and was lost +in the shade. Dick rode on among trees. Presently he heard voices, +and soon another house, low and flat like the others, but so long he +could not see the farther end, stood up blacker than the trees. As he +dismounted, cramped and sore, he could scarcely stand. Lash came +alongside. He spoke, and some one with a big, hearty voice replied to +him. Then it seemed to Dick that he was led into blackness like pitch, +where, presently, he felt blankets thrown on him and then his drowsy +faculties faded. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FORLORN RIVER +</H3> + +<P> +WHEN Dick opened his eyes a flood of golden sunshine streamed in at the +open window under which he lay. His first thought was one of blank +wonder as to where in the world he happened to be. The room was large, +square, adobe-walled. It was littered with saddles, harness, blankets. +Upon the floor was a bed spread out upon a tarpaulin. Probably this +was where some one had slept. The sight of huge dusty spurs, a gun +belt with sheath and gun, and a pair of leather chaps bristling with +broken cactus thorns recalled to Dick the cowboys, the ride, Mercedes, +and the whole strange adventure that had brought him there. +</P> + +<P> +He did not recollect having removed his boots; indeed, upon second +thought, he knew he had not done so. But there they stood upon the +floor. Ladd and Lash must have taken them off when he was so exhausted +and sleepy that he could not tell what was happening. He felt a dead +weight of complete lassitude, and he did not want to move. A sudden +pain in his hand caused him to hold it up. It was black and blue, +swollen to almost twice its normal size, and stiff as a board. The +knuckles were skinned and crusted with dry blood. Dick soliloquized +that it was the worst-looking hand he had seen since football days, and +that it would inconvenience him for some time. +</P> + +<P> +A warm, dry, fragrant breeze came through the window. Dick caught +again the sweet smell of flowers or fruit. He heard the fluttering of +leaves, the murmur of running water, the twittering of birds, then the +sound of approaching footsteps and voices. The door at the far end of +the room was open. Through it he saw poles of peeled wood upholding a +porch roof, a bench, rose bushes in bloom, grass, and beyond these +bright-green foliage of trees. +</P> + +<P> +"He shore was sleepin' when I looked in an hour ago," said a voice that +Dick recognized as Ladd's. +</P> + +<P> +"Let him sleep," came the reply in deep, good-natured tones. "Mrs. B. +says the girl's never moved. Must have been a tough ride for them +both. Forty miles through cactus!" +</P> + +<P> +"Young Gale hoofed darn near half the way," replied Ladd. "We tried to +make him ride one of our hosses. If we had, we'd never got here. A +walk like that'd killed me an' Jim." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Laddy, I'm right down glad to see you boys, and I'll do all I +can for the young couple," said the other. "But I'm doing some worry +here; don't mistake me." +</P> + +<P> +"About your stock?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've got only a few head of cattle at the oasis now, I'm worrying +some, mostly about my horses. The U. S. is doing some worrying, too, +don't mistake me. The rebels have worked west and north as far as +Casita. There are no cavalrymen along the line beyond Casita, and +there can't be. It's practically waterless desert. But these rebels +are desert men. They could cross the line beyond the Rio Forlorn and +smuggle arms into Mexico. Of course, my job is to keep tab on Chinese +and Japs trying to get into the U.S. from Magdalena Bay. But I'm +supposed to patrol the border line. I'm going to hire some rangers. +Now, I'm not so afraid of being shot up, though out in this lonely +place there's danger of it; what I'm afraid of most is losing that +bunch of horses. If any rebels come this far, or if they ever hear of +my horses, they're going to raid me. You know what those guerrilla +Mexicans will do for horses. They're crazy on horse flesh. They know +fine horses. They breed the finest in the world. So I don't sleep +nights any more." +</P> + +<P> +"Reckon me an' Jim might as well tie up with your for a spell, Beldin'. +We've been ridin' up an' down Arizona tryin' to keep out of sight of +wire fences." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, it's open enough around Forlorn River to satisfy even an +old-time cowpuncher like you," laughed Belding. "I'd take your staying +on as some favor, don't mistake me. Perhaps I can persuade the young +man Gale to take a job with me." +</P> + +<P> +"That's shore likely. He said he had no money, no friends. An' if a +scrapper's all you're lookin' for he'll do," replied Ladd, with a dry +chuckle. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. B. will throw some broncho capers round this ranch when she hears +I'm going to hire a stranger." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there's Nell— And you said this Gale was a young American. My +wife will be scared to death for fear Nell will fall in love with him." +</P> + +<P> +Laddy choked off a laugh, then evidently slapped his knee or Belding's, +for there was a resounding smack. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a fine-spoken, good-looking chap, you said?" went on Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore he is," said Laddy, warmly. "What do you say, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +By this time Dick Gale's ears began to burn and he was trying to make +himself deaf when he wanted to hear every little word. +</P> + +<P> +"Husky young fellow, nice voice, steady, clear eyes, kinda proud, I +thought, an' some handsome, he was," replied Jim Lash. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe I ought to think twice before taking a stranger into my family," +said Belding, seriously. "Well, I guess he's all right, Laddy, being +the cavalryman's friend. No bum or lunger? He must be all right?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bum? Lunger? Say, didn't I tell you I shook hands with this boy an' +was plumb glad to meet him?" demanded Laddy, with considerable heat. +Manifestly he had been affronted. "Tom Beldin', he's a gentleman, an' +he could lick you in—in half a second. How about that, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"Less time," replied Lash. "Tom, here's my stand. Young Gale can have +my hoss, my gun, anythin' of mine." +</P> + +<P> +"Aw, I didn't mean to insult you, boys, don't mistake me," said +Belding. "Course he's all right." +</P> + +<P> +The object of this conversation lay quiet upon his bed, thrilling and +amazed at being so championed by the cowboys, delighted with Belding's +idea of employing him, and much amused with the quaint seriousness of +the three. +</P> + +<P> +"How's the young man?" called a woman's voice. It was kind and mellow +and earnest. +</P> + +<P> +Gale heard footsteps on flagstones. +</P> + +<P> +"He's asleep yet, wife," replied Belding. "Guess he was pretty much +knocked out.... I'll close the door there so we won't wake him." +</P> + +<P> +There were slow, soft steps, then the door softly closed. But the fact +scarcely made a perceptible difference in the sound of the voices +outside. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy and Jim are going to stay," went on Belding. "It'll be like the +old Panhandle days a little. I'm powerful glad to have the boys, +Nellie. You know I meant to sent to Casita to ask them. We'll see some +trouble before the revolution is ended. I think I'll make this young +man Gale an offer." +</P> + +<P> +"He isn't a cowboy?" asked Mrs. Belding, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore he'd make a darn good one," put in Laddy. +</P> + +<P> +"What is he? Who is he? Where did he come from? Surely you must be—" +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy swears he's all right," interrupted the husband. "That's enough +reference for me. Isn't it enough for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Humph! Laddy knows a lot about young men, now doesn't he, especially +strangers from the East?... Tom, you must be careful!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wife, I'm only too glad to have a nervy young chap come along. What +sense is there in your objection, if Jim and Laddy stick up for him?" +</P> + +<P> +"But, Tom—he'll fall in love with Nell!" protested Mrs. Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, wouldn't that be regular? Doesn't every man who comes along +fall in love with Nell? Hasn't it always happened? When she was a +schoolgirl in Kansas didn't it happen? Didn't she have a hundred +moon-eyed ninnies after her in Texas? I've had some peace out here in +the desert, except when a Greaser or a prospector or a Yaqui would come +along. Then same old story—in love with Nell!" +</P> + +<P> +"But, Tom, Nell might fall in love with this young man!" exclaimed the +wife, in distress. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, Jim, didn't I tell you?" cried Belding. "I knew she'd say +that.... My dear wife, I would be simply overcome with joy if Nell did +fall in love once. Real good and hard! She's wilder than any antelope +out there on the desert. Nell's nearly twenty now, and so far as we +know she's never cared a rap for any fellow. And she's just as gay and +full of the devil as she was at fourteen. Nell's as good and lovable as +she is pretty, but I'm afraid she'll never grow into a woman while we +live out in this lonely land. And you've always hated towns where there +was a chance for the girl—just because you were afraid she'd fall in +love. You've always been strange, even silly, about that. I've done +my best for Nell—loved her as if she were my own daughter. I've +changed many business plans to suit your whims. There are rough times +ahead, maybe. I need men. I'll hire this chap Gale if he'll stay. Let +Nell take her chance with him, just as she'll have to take chances with +men when we get out of the desert. She'll be all the better for it." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope Laddy's not mistaken in his opinion of this newcomer," replied +Mrs. Belding, with a sigh of resignation. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I never made a mistake in my life figger'n' people," said Laddy, +stoutly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you have, Laddy," replied Mrs. Belding. "You're wrong about +Tom.... Well, supper is to be got. That young man and the girl will be +starved. I'll go in now. If Nell happens around don't—don't flatter +her, Laddy, like you did at dinner. Don't make her think of her looks." +</P> + +<P> +Dick heard Mrs. Belding walk away. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore she's powerful particular about that girl," observed Laddy. +"Say, Tom, Nell knows she's pretty, doesn't she?" +</P> + +<P> +"She's liable to find it out unless you shut up, Laddy. When you +visited us out here some weeks ago, you kept paying cowboy compliments +to her." +</P> + +<P> +"An' it's your idea that cowboy compliments are plumb bad for girls?" +</P> + +<P> +"Downright bad, Laddy, so my wife says." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be darned if I believe any girl can be hurt by a little sweet +talk. It pleases 'em.... But say, Beldin', speaking of looks, have you +got a peek yet at the Spanish girl?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not in the light." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, neither have I in daytime. I had enough by moonlight. Nell is +some on looks, but I'm regretful passin' the ribbon to the lady from +Mex. Jim, where are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"My money's on Nell," replied Lash. "Gimme a girl with flesh an' +color, an' blue eyes a-laughin'. Miss Castaneda is some peach, I'll +not gainsay. But her face seemed too white. An' when she flashed +those eyes on me, I thought I was shot! When she stood up there at +first, thankin' us, I felt as if a—a princess was round somewhere. +Now, Nell is kiddish an' sweet an'—" +</P> + +<P> +"Chop it," interrupted Belding. "Here comes Nell now." +</P> + +<P> +Dick's tingling ears took in the pattering of light footsteps, the rush +of some one running. +</P> + +<P> +"Here you are," cried a sweet, happy voice. "Dad, the Senorita is +perfectly lovely. I've been peeping at her. She sleeps like—like +death. She's so white. Oh, I hope she won't be ill." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore she's only played out," said Laddy. "But she had spunk while it +lasted.... I was just arguin' with Jim an' Tom about Miss Castaneda." +</P> + +<P> +"Gracious! Why, she's beautiful. I never saw any one so beautiful.... +How strange and sad, that about her! Tell me more, Laddy. You +promised. I'm dying to know. I never hear anything in this awful +place. Didn't you say the Senorita had a sweetheart?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I did." +</P> + +<P> +"And he's a cavalryman?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Is he the young man who came with you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nope. That fellow's the one who saved the girl from Rojas." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Where is he, Laddy?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's in there asleep." +</P> + +<P> +"Is he hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon not. He walked about fifteen miles." +</P> + +<P> +"Is he—nice, Laddy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shore." +</P> + +<P> +"What is he like?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm not long acquainted, never saw him by day, but I was some +tolerable took with him. An' Jim here, Jim says the young man can have +his gun an' his hoss." +</P> + +<P> +"Wonderful! Laddy, what on earth did this stranger do to win you +cowboys in just one night?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll shore have to tell you. Me an' Jim were watchin' a game of cards +in the Del Sol saloon in Casita. That's across the line. We had +acquaintances—four fellows from the Cross Bar outfit, where we worked +a while back. This Del Sol is a billiard hall, saloon, restaurant, an' +the like. An' it was full of Greasers. Some of Camp's rebels were +there drinkin' an' playin' games. Then pretty soon in come Rojas with +some of his outfit. They were packin' guns an' kept to themselves off +to one side. I didn't give them a second look till Jim said he reckoned +there was somethin' in the wind. Then, careless-like, I began to peek +at Rojas. They call Rojas the 'dandy rebel,' an' he shore looked the +part. It made me sick to see him in all that lace an' glitter, knowin' +him to be the cutthroat robber he is. It's no oncommon sight to see +excited Greasers. They're all crazy. But this bandit was shore some +agitated. He kept his men in a tight bunch round a table. He talked +an' waved his hands. He was actually shakin'. His eyes had a wild +glare. Now I figgered that trouble was brewin', most likely for the +little Casita garrison. People seemed to think Campo an' Rojas would +join forces to oust the federals. Jim thought Rojas's excitement was +at the hatchin' of some plot. Anyway, we didn't join no card games, +an' without pretendin' to, we was some watchful. +</P> + +<P> +"A little while afterward I seen a fellow standin' in the restaurant +door. He was a young American dressed in corduroys and boots, like a +prospector. You know it's no onusual fact to see prospectors in these +parts. What made me think twice about this one was how big he seemed, +how he filled up that door. He looked round the saloon, an' when he +spotted Rojas he sorta jerked up. Then he pulled his slouch hat +lopsided an' began to stagger down, down the steps. First off I made +shore he was drunk. But I remembered he didn't seem drunk before. It +was some queer. So I watched that young man. +</P> + +<P> +"He reeled around the room like a fellow who was drunker'n a lord. +Nobody but me seemed to notice him. Then he began to stumble over +pool-players an' get his feet tangled up in chairs an' bump against +tables. He got some pretty hard looks. He came round our way, an' all +of a sudden he seen us cowboys. He gave another start, like the one +when he first seen Rojas, then he made for us. I tipped Jim off that +somethin' was doin'. +</P> + +<P> +"When he got close he straightened up, put back his slouch hat, an' +looked at us. Then I saw his face. It sorta electrified yours truly. +It was white, with veins standin' out an' eyes flamin'—a face of fury. +I was plumb amazed, didn't know what to think. Then this queer young +man shot some cool, polite words at me an' Jim. +</P> + +<P> +"He was only bluffin' at bein' drunk—he meant to rush Rojas, to start +a rough house. The bandit was after a girl. This girl was in the +hotel, an' she was the sweetheart of a soldier, the young fellow's +friend. The hotel was watched by Rojas's guards, an' the plan was to +make a fuss an' get the girl away in the excitement. Well, Jim an' me +got a hint of our bein' Americans—that cowboys generally had a name +for loyalty to women. Then this amazin' chap—you can't imagine how +scornful—said for me an' Jim to watch him. +</P> + +<P> +"Before I could catch my breath an' figger out what he meant by 'rush' +an' 'rough house' he had knocked over a table an' crowded some Greaser +half off the map. One little funny man leaped up like a wild monkey +an' began to screech. An' in another second he was in the air upside +down. When he lit, he laid there. Then, quicker'n I can tell you, the +young man dove at Rojas. Like a mad steer on the rampage he charged +Rojas an' his men. The whole outfit went down—smash! I figgered then +what 'rush' meant. The young fellow came up out of the pile with +Rojas, an' just like I'd sling an empty sack along the floor he sent +the bandit. But swift as that went he was on top of Rojas before the +chairs an' tables had stopped rollin'. +</P> + +<P> +"I woke up then, an' made for the center of the room. Jim with me. I +began to shoot out the lamps. Jim throwed his guns on the crazy +rebels, an' I was afraid there'd be blood spilled before I could get +the room dark. Bein's shore busy, I lost sight of the young fellow for +a second or so, an' when I got an eye free for him I seen a Greaser +about to knife him. Think I was some considerate of the Greaser by +only shootin' his arm off. Then I cracked the last lamp, an' in the +hullabaloo me an' Jim vamoosed. +</P> + +<P> +"We made tracks for our hosses an' packs, an' was hittin' the San +Felipe road when we run right plumb into the young man. Well, he said +his name was Gale—Dick Gale. The girl was with him safe an' well; but +her sweetheart, the soldier, bein' away without leave, had to go back +sudden. There shore was some trouble, for Jim an' me heard shootin'. +Gale said he had no money, no friends, was a stranger in a desert +country; an' he was distracted to know how to help the girl. So me an' +Jim started off with them for San Felipe, got switched, and' then we +headed for the Rio Forlorn." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I think he was perfectly splendid!" exclaimed the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore he was. Only, Nell, you can't lay no claim to bein' the +original discoverer of that fact." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Laddy, you haven't told me what he looks like." +</P> + +<P> +At this juncture Dick Gale felt it absolutely impossible for him to +play the eavesdropper any longer. Quietly he rolled out of bed. The +voices still sounded close outside, and it was only by effort that he +kept from further listening. Belding's kindly interest, Laddy's blunt +and sincere cowboy eulogy, the girl's sweet eagerness and praise—these +warmed Gale's heart. He had fallen among simple people, into whose +lives the advent of an unknown man was welcome. He found himself in a +singularly agitated mood. The excitement, the thrill, the difference +felt in himself, experienced the preceding night, had extended on into +his present. And the possibilities suggested by the conversation he +had unwittingly overheard added sufficiently to the other feelings to +put him into a peculiarly receptive state of mind. He was wild to be +one of the Belding rangers. The idea of riding a horse in the open +desert, with a dangerous duty to perform, seemed to strike him with an +appealing force. Something within him went out to the cowboys, to this +blunt and kind Belding. He was afraid to meet the girl. If every man +who came along fell in love with this sweet-voiced Nell, then what hope +had he to escape—now, when his whole inner awakening betokened a +change of spirit, hope, a finding of real worth, real good, real power +in himself? He did not understand wholly, yet he felt ready to ride, +to fight, to love the desert, to love these outdoor men, to love a +woman. That beautiful Spanish girl had spoken to something dead in him +and it had quickened to life. The sweet voice of an audacious, unseen +girl warned him that presently a still more wonderful thing would +happen to him. +</P> + +<P> +Gale imagined he made noise enough as he clumsily pulled on his boots, +yet the voices, split by a merry laugh, kept on murmuring outside the +door. It was awkward for him, having only one hand available to lace +up his boots. He looked out of the window. Evidently this was at the +end of the house. There was a flagstone walk, beside which ran a ditch +full of swift, muddy water. It made a pleasant sound. There were +trees strange of form and color to to him. He heard bees, birds, +chickens, saw the red of roses and green of grass. Then he saw, close +to the wall, a tub full of water, and a bench upon which lay basin, +soap, towel, comb, and brush. The window was also a door, for under it +there was a step. +</P> + +<P> +Gale hesitated a moment, then went out. He stepped naturally, hoping +and expecting that the cowboys would hear him. But nobody came. +Awkwardly, with left hand, he washed his face. Upon a nail in the wall +hung a little mirror, by the aid of which Dick combed and brushed his +hair. He imagined he looked a most haggard wretch. With that he faced +forward, meaning to go round the corner of the house to greet the +cowboys and these new-found friends. +</P> + +<P> +Dick had taken but one step when he was halted by laugher and the +patter of light feet. +</P> + +<P> +From close around the corner pealed out that sweet voice. "Dad, you'll +have your wish, and mama will be wild!" +</P> + +<P> +Dick saw a little foot sweep into view, a white dress, then the swiftly +moving form of a girl. She was looking backward. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad, I shall fall in love with your new ranger. I will—I have—" +</P> + +<P> +Then she plumped squarely into Dick's arms. +</P> + +<P> +She started back violently. +</P> + +<P> +Dick saw a fair face and dark-blue, audaciously flashing eyes. Swift as +lightning their expression changed to surprise, fear, wonder. For an +instant they were level with Dick's grave questioning. Suddenly, +sweetly, she blushed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh-h!" she faltered. +</P> + +<P> +Then the blush turned to a scarlet fire. She whirled past him, and +like a white gleam was gone. +</P> + +<P> +Dick became conscious of the quickened beating of his heart. He +experienced a singular exhilaration. That moment had been the one for +which he had been ripe, the event upon which strange circumstances had +been rushing him. +</P> + +<P> +With a couple of strides he turned the corner. Laddy and Lash were +there talking to a man of burly form. Seen by day, both cowboys were +gray-haired, red-skinned, and weather-beaten, with lean, sharp +features, and gray eyes so much alike that they might have been +brothers. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, there's the young fellow," spoke up the burly man. "Mr. Gale, +I'm glad to meet you. My name's Belding." +</P> + +<P> +His greeting was as warm as his handclasp was long and hard. Gale saw a +heavy man of medium height. His head was large and covered with +grizzled locks. He wore a short-cropped mustache and chin beard. His +skin was brown, and his dark eyes beamed with a genial light. +</P> + +<P> +The cowboys were as cordial as if Dick had been their friend for years. +</P> + +<P> +"Young man, did you run into anything as you came out?" asked Belding, +with twinkling eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, I met something white and swift flying by," replied Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"Did she see you?" asked Laddy. +</P> + +<P> +"I think so; but she didn't wait for me to introduce myself." +</P> + +<P> +"That was Nell Burton, my girl—step-daughter, I should say," said +Belding. "She's sure some whirlwind, as Laddy calls her. Come, let's +go in and meet the wife." +</P> + +<P> +The house was long, like a barracks, with porch extending all the way, +and doors every dozen paces. When Dick was ushered into a +sitting-room, he was amazed at the light and comfort. This room had +two big windows and a door opening into a patio, where there were +luxuriant grass, roses in bloom, and flowering trees. He heard a slow +splashing of water. +</P> + +<P> +In Mrs. Belding, Gale found a woman of noble proportions and striking +appearance. Her hair was white. She had a strong, serious, well-lined +face that bore haunting evidences of past beauty. The gaze she bent +upon him was almost piercing in its intensity. Her greeting, which +seemed to Dick rather slow in coming, was kind though not cordial. +Gale's first thought, after he had thanked these good people for their +hospitality, was to inquire about Mercedes. He was informed that the +Spanish girl had awakened with a considerable fever and nervousness. +When, however, her anxiety had been allayed and her thirst relieved, +she had fallen asleep again. Mrs. Belding said the girl had suffered +no great hardship, other than mental, and would very soon be rested and +well. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Gale," said Belding, when his wife had excused herself to get +supper, "the boys, Jim and Laddy, told me about you and the mix-up at +Casita. I'll be glad to take care of the girl till it's safe for your +soldier friend to get her out of the country. That won't be very soon, +don't mistake me.... I don't want to seem over-curious about you—Laddy +has interested me in you—and straight out I'd like to know what you +propose to do now." +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't any plans," replied Dick; and, taking the moment as +propitious, he decided to speak frankly concerning himself. "I just +drifted down here. My home is in Chicago. When I left school some +years ago—I'm twenty-five now—I went to work for my father. He's—he +has business interests there. I tried all kinds of inside jobs. I +couldn't please my father. I guess I put no real heart in my work. +The fact was I didn't know how to work. The governor and I didn't +exactly quarrel; but he hurt my feelings, and I quit. Six months or +more ago I came West, and have knocked about from Wyoming southwest to +the border. I tried to find congenial work, but nothing came my way. +To tell you frankly, Mr. Belding, I suppose I didn't much care. I +believe, though, that all the time I didn't know what I wanted. I've +learned—well, just lately—" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want to do?" interposed Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"I want a man's job. I want to do things with my hands. I want +action. I want to be outdoors." +</P> + +<P> +Belding nodded his head as if he understood that, and he began to speak +again, cut something short, then went on, hesitatingly: +</P> + +<P> +"Gale—you could go home again—to the old man—it'd be all right?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Belding, there's nothing shady in my past. The governor would be +glad to have me home. That's the only consolation I've got. But I'm +not going. I'm broke. I won't be a tramp. And it's up to me to do +something." +</P> + +<P> +"How'd you like to be a border ranger?" asked Belding, laying a hand on +Dick's knee. "Part of my job here is United States Inspector of +Immigration. I've got that boundary line to patrol—to keep out Chinks +and Japs. This revolution has added complications, and I'm looking for +smugglers and raiders here any day. You'll not be hired by the U. S. +You'll simply be my ranger, same as Laddy and Jim, who have promised to +work for me. I'll pay you well, give you a room here, furnish +everything down to guns, and the finest horse you ever saw in your +life. Your job won't be safe and healthy, sometimes, but it'll be a +man's job—don't mistake me! You can gamble on having things to do +outdoors. Now, what do you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"I accept, and I thank you—I can't say how much," replied Gale, +earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"Good! That's settled. Let's go out and tell Laddy and Jim." +</P> + +<P> +Both boys expressed satisfaction at the turn of affairs, and then with +Belding they set out to take Gale around the ranch. The house and +several outbuildings were constructed of adobe, which, according to +Belding, retained the summer heat on into winter, and the winter cold +on into summer. These gray-red mud habitations were hideous to look +at, and this fact, perhaps, made their really comfortable interiors +more vividly a contrast. The wide grounds were covered with luxuriant +grass and flowers and different kinds of trees. Gale's interest led +him to ask about fig trees and pomegranates, and especially about a +beautiful specimen that Belding called palo verde. +</P> + +<P> +Belding explained that the luxuriance of this desert place was owing to +a few springs and the dammed-up waters of the Rio Forlorn. Before he +had come to the oasis it had been inhabited by a Papago Indian tribe +and a few peon families. The oasis lay in an arroyo a mile wide, and +sloped southwest for some ten miles or more. The river went dry most of +the year; but enough water was stored in flood season to irrigate the +gardens and alfalfa fields. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got one never-failing spring on my place," said Belding. "Fine, +sweet water! You know what that means in the desert. I like this +oasis. The longer I live here the better I like it. There's not a +spot in southern Arizona that'll compare with this valley for water or +grass or wood. It's beautiful and healthy. Forlorn and lonely, yes, +especially for women like my wife and Nell; but I like it.... And +between you and me, boys, I've got something up my sleeve. There's +gold dust in the arroyos, and there's mineral up in the mountains. If +we only had water! This hamlet has steadily grown since I took up a +station here. Why, Casita is no place beside Forlorn River. Pretty +soon the Southern Pacific will shoot a railroad branch out here. There +are possibilities, and I want you boys to stay with me and get in on +the ground floor. I wish this rebel war was over.... Well, here are +the corrals and the fields. Gale, take a look at that bunch of horses!" +</P> + +<P> +Belding's last remark was made as he led his companions out of shady +gardens into the open. Gale saw an adobe shed and a huge pen fenced by +strangely twisted and contorted branches or trunks of mesquite, and, +beyond these, wide, flat fields, green—a dark, rich green—and dotted +with beautiful horses. There were whites and blacks, and bays and +grays. In his admiration Gale searched his memory to see if he could +remember the like of these magnificent animals, and had to admit that +the only ones he could compare with them were the Arabian steeds. +</P> + +<P> +"Every ranch loves his horses," said Belding. "When I was in the +Panhandle I had some fine stock. But these are Mexican. They came +from Durango, where they were bred. Mexican horses are the finest in +the world, bar none." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I reckon I savvy why you don't sleep nights," drawled Laddy. "I +see a Greaser out there—no, it's an Indian." +</P> + +<P> +"That's my Papago herdsman. I keep watch over the horses now day and +night. Lord, how I'd hate to have Rojas or Salazar—any of those +bandit rebels—find my horses!... Gale, can you ride?" +</P> + +<P> +Dick modestly replied that he could, according to the Eastern idea of +horsemanship. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't need to be half horse to ride one of that bunch. But over +there in the other field I've iron-jawed broncos I wouldn't want you to +tackle—except to see the fun. I've an outlaw I'll gamble even Laddy +can't ride." +</P> + +<P> +"So. How much'll you gamble?" asked Laddy, instantly. +</P> + +<P> +The ringing of a bell, which Belding said was a call to supper, turned +the men back toward the house. Facing that way, Gale saw dark, +beetling ridges rising from the oasis and leading up to bare, black +mountains. He had heard Belding call them No Name Mountains, and +somehow the appellation suited those lofty, mysterious, frowning peaks. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until they reached the house and were about to go in that +Belding chanced to discover Gale's crippled hand. +</P> + +<P> +"What an awful hand!" he exclaimed. "Where the devil did you get that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I stove in my knuckles on Rojas," replied Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"You did that in one punch? Say, I'm glad it wasn't me you hit! Why +didn't you tell me? That's a bad hand. Those cuts are full of dirt +and sand. Inflammation's setting in. It's got to be dressed. Nell!" +he called. +</P> + +<P> +There was no answer. He called again, louder. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, where's the girl?" +</P> + +<P> +"She's there in the dining-room," replied Mrs. Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Did she hear me?" he inquired, impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Nell!" roared Belding. +</P> + +<P> +This brought results. Dick saw a glimpse of golden hair and a white +dress in the door. But they were not visible longer than a second. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad, what's the matter?" asked a voice that was still as sweet as +formerly, but now rather small and constrained. +</P> + +<P> +"Bring the antiseptics, cotton, bandages—and things out here. Hurry +now." +</P> + +<P> +Belding fetched a pail of water and a basin from the kitchen. His wife +followed him out, and, upon seeing Dick's hand, was all solicitude. +Then Dick heard light, quick footsteps, but he did not look up. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, this is Mr. Gale—Dick Gale, who came with the boys last last +night," said Belding. "He's got an awful hand. Got it punching that +greaser Rojas. I want you to dress it.... Gale, this is my +step-daughter, Nell Burton, of whom I spoke. She's some good when +there's somebody sick or hurt. Shove out your fist, my boy, and let +her get at it. Supper's nearly ready." +</P> + +<P> +Dick felt that same strange, quickening heart throb, yet he had never +been cooler in his life. More than anything else in the world he +wanted to look at Nell Burton; however, divining that the situation +might be embarrassing to her, he refrained from looking up. She began +to bathe his injured knuckles. He noted the softness, the deftness of +her touch, and then it seemed her fingers were not quite as steady as +they might have been. Still, in a moment they appeared to become surer +in their work. She had beautiful hands, not too large, though +certainly not small, and they were strong, brown, supple. He observed +next, with stealthy, upward-stealing glance, that she had rolled up her +sleeves, exposing fine, round arms graceful in line. Her skin was +brown—no, it was more gold than brown. It had a wonderful clear tint. +Dick stoically lowered his eyes then, putting off as long as possible +the alluring moment when he was to look into her face. That would be a +fateful moment. He played with a certain strange joy of anticipation. +When, however, she sat down beside him and rested his injured hand in +her lap as she cut bandages, she was so thrillingly near that he +yielded to an irrepressible desire to look up. She had a sweet, fair +face warmly tinted with that same healthy golden-brown sunburn. Her +hair was light gold and abundant, a waving mass. Her eyes were shaded +by long, downcast lashes, yet through them he caught a gleam of blue. +</P> + +<P> +Despite the stir within him, Gale, seeing she was now absorbed in her +task, critically studied her with a second closer gaze. She was a +sweet, wholesome, joyous, pretty girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore it musta hurt?" replied Laddy, who sat an interested spectator. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I confess it did," replied Dick, slowly, with his eyes on Nell's +face. "But I didn't mind." +</P> + +<P> +The girl's lashes swept up swiftly in surprise. She had taken his +words literally. But the dark-blue eyes met his for only a fleeting +second. Then the warm tint in her cheeks turned as red as her lips. +Hurriedly she finished tying the bandage and rose to her feet. +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you," said Gale, also rising. +</P> + +<P> +With that Belding appeared in the doorway, and finding the operation +concluded, called them in to supper. Dick had the use of only one arm, +and he certainly was keenly aware of the shy, silent girl across the +table; but in spite of these considerable handicaps he eclipsed both +hungry cowboys in the assault upon Mrs. Belding's bounteous supper. +Belding talked, the cowboys talked more or less. Mrs. Belding put in a +word now and then, and Dick managed to find brief intervals when it was +possible for him to say yes or no. He observed gratefully that no one +round the table seemed to be aware of his enormous appetite. +</P> + +<P> +After supper, having a favorable opportunity when for a moment no one +was at hand, Dick went out through the yard, past the gardens and +fields, and climbed the first knoll. From that vantage point he looked +out over the little hamlet, somewhat to his right, and was surprised at +its extent, its considerable number of adobe houses. The overhanging +mountains, ragged and darkening, a great heave of splintered rock, +rather chilled and affronted him. +</P> + +<P> +Westward the setting sun gilded a spiked, frost-colored, limitless +expanse of desert. It awed Gale. Everywhere rose blunt, broken ranges +or isolated groups of mountains. Yet the desert stretched away down +between and beyond them. When the sun set and Gale could not see so +far, he felt a relief. +</P> + +<P> +That grand and austere attraction of distance gone, he saw the desert +nearer at hand—the valley at his feet. What a strange gray, somber +place! There was a lighter strip of gray winding down between darker +hues. This he realized presently was the river bed, and he saw how the +pools of water narrowed and diminished in size till they lost +themselves in gray sand. This was the rainy season, near its end, and +here a little river struggled hopelessly, forlornly to live in the +desert. He received a potent impression of the nature of that blasted +age-worn waste which he had divined was to give him strength and work +and love. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A DESERT ROSE +</H3> + +<P> +BELDING assigned Dick to a little room which had no windows but two +doors, one opening into the patio, the other into the yard on the west +side of the house. It contained only the barest necessities for +comfort. Dick mentioned the baggage he had left in the hotel at +Casita, and it was Belding's opinion that to try to recover his +property would be rather risky; on the moment Richard Gale was probably +not popular with the Mexicans at Casita. So Dick bade good-by to fine +suits of clothes and linen with a feeling that, as he had said farewell +to an idle and useless past, it was just as well not to have any old +luxuries as reminders. As he possessed, however, not a thing save the +clothes on his back, and not even a handkerchief, he expressed regret +that he had come to Forlorn River a beggar. +</P> + +<P> +"Beggar hell!" exploded Belding, with his eyes snapping in the +lamplight. "Money's the last thing we think of out here. All the +same, Gale, if you stick you'll be rich." +</P> + +<P> +"It wouldn't surprise me," replied Dick, thoughtfully. But he was not +thinking of material wealth. Then, as he viewed his stained and torn +shirt, he laughed and said "Belding, while I'm getting rich I'd like to +have some respectable clothes." +</P> + +<P> +"We've a little Mex store in town, and what you can't get there the +women folks will make for you." +</P> + +<P> +When Dick lay down he was dully conscious of pain and headache, that he +did not feel well. Despite this, and a mind thronging with memories +and anticipations, he succumbed to weariness and soon fell asleep. +</P> + +<P> +It was light when he awoke, but a strange brightness seen through what +seemed blurred eyes. A moment passed before his mind worked clearly, +and then he had to make an effort to think. He was dizzy. When he +essayed to lift his right arm, an excruciating pain made him desist. +Then he discovered that his arm was badly swollen, and the hand had +burst its bandages. The injured member was red, angry, inflamed, and +twice its normal size. He felt hot all over, and a raging headache +consumed him. +</P> + +<P> +Belding came stamping into the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Dick. Do you know it's late? How's the busted fist this +morning?" +</P> + +<P> +Dick tried to sit up, but his effort was a failure. He got about half +up, then felt himself weakly sliding back. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess—I'm pretty sick," he said. +</P> + +<P> +He saw Belding lean over him, feel his face, and speak, and then +everything seemed to drift, not into darkness, but into some region +where he had dim perceptions of gray moving things, and of voices that +were remote. Then there came an interval when all was blank. He knew +not whether it was one of minutes or hours, but after it he had a +clearer mind. He slept, awakened during night-time, and slept again. +When he again unclosed his eyes the room was sunny, and cool with a +fragrant breeze that blew through the open door. Dick felt better; but +he had no particular desire to move or talk or eat. He had, however, a +burning thirst. Mrs. Belding visited him often; her husband came in +several times, and once Nell slipped in noiselessly. Even this last +event aroused no interest in Dick. +</P> + +<P> +On the next day he was very much improved. +</P> + +<P> +"We've been afraid of blood poisoning," said Belding. "But my wife +thinks the danger's past. You'll have to rest that arm for a while." +</P> + +<P> +Ladd and Jim came peeping in at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in, boys. He can have company—the more the better—if it'll +keep him content. He mustn't move, that's all." +</P> + +<P> +The cowboys entered, slow, easy, cool, kind-voiced. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore it's tough," said Ladd, after he had greeted Dick. "You look +used up." +</P> + +<P> +Jim Lash wagged his half-bald, sunburned head, "Musta been more'n tough +for Rojas." +</P> + +<P> +"Gale, Laddy tells me one of our neighbors, fellow named Carter, is +going to Casita," put in Belding. "Here's a chance to get word to your +friend the soldier." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that will be fine!" exclaimed Dick. "I declare I'd forgotten +Thorne.... How is Miss Castaneda? I hope—" +</P> + +<P> +"She's all right, Gale. Been up and around the patio for two days. +Like all the Spanish—the real thing—she's made of Damascus steel. +We've been getting acquainted. She and Nell made friends at once. I'll +call them in." +</P> + +<P> +He closed the door leading out into the yard, explaining that he did +not want to take chances of Mercedes's presence becoming known to +neighbors. Then he went to the patio and called. +</P> + +<P> +Both girls came in, Mercedes leading. Like Nell, she wore white, and +she had a red rose in her hand. Dick would scarcely have recognized +anything about her except her eyes and the way she carried her little +head, and her beauty burst upon him strange and anew. She was swift, +impulsive in her movements to reach his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor, I am so sorry you were ill—so happy you are better." +</P> + +<P> +Dick greeted her, offering his left hand, gravely apologizing for the +fact that, owing to a late infirmity, he could not offer the right. +Her smile exquisitely combined sympathy, gratitude, admiration. Then +Dick spoke to Nell, likewise offering his hand, which she took shyly. +Her reply was a murmured, unintelligible one; but her eyes were glad, +and the tint in her cheeks threatened to rival the hue of the rose she +carried. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody chatted then, except Nell, who had apparently lost her voice. +Presently Dick remembered to speak of the matter of getting news to +Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor, may I write to him? Will some one take a letter?... I shall +hear from him!" she said; and her white hands emphasized her words. +</P> + +<P> +"Assuredly. I guess poor Thorne is almost crazy. I'll write to +him.... No, I can't with this crippled hand." +</P> + +<P> +"That'll be all right, Gale," said Belding. "Nell will write for you. +She writes all my letters." +</P> + +<P> +So Belding arranged it; and Mercedes flew away to her room to write, +while Nell fetched pen and paper and seated herself beside Gale's bed +to take his dictation. +</P> + +<P> +What with watching Nell and trying to catch her glance, and listening +to Belding's talk with the cowboys, Dick was hard put to it to dictate +any kind of a creditable letter. Nell met his gaze once, then no more. +The color came and went in her cheeks, and sometimes, when he told her +to write so and so, there was a demure smile on her lips. She was +laughing at him. And Belding was talking over the risks involved in a +trip to Casita. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I'll ride in with the letters," Ladd said. +</P> + +<P> +"No you won't," replied Belding. "That bandit outfit will be laying +for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I reckon if they was I wouldn't be oncommon grieved." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell you, boys, I'll ride in myself with Carter. There's +business I can see to, and I'm curious to know what the rebels are +doing. Laddy, keep one eye open while I'm gone. See the horses are +locked up.... Gale, I'm going to Casita myself. Ought to get back +tomorrow some time. I'll be ready to start in an hour. Have your +letter ready. And say—if you want to write home it's a chance. +Sometimes we don't go to the P. O. in a month." +</P> + +<P> +He tramped out, followed by the tall cowboys, and then Dick was enabled +to bring his letter to a close. Mercedes came back, and her eyes were +shining. Dick imagined a letter received from her would be something +of an event for a fellow. Then, remembering Belding's suggestion, he +decided to profit by it. +</P> + +<P> +"May I trouble you to write another for me?" asked Dick, as he received +the letter from Nell. +</P> + +<P> +"It's no trouble, I'm sure—I'd be pleased," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +That was altogether a wonderful speech of hers, Dick thought, because +the words were the first coherent ones she had spoken to him. +</P> + +<P> +"May I stay?" asked Mercedes, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"By all means," he answered, and then he settled back and began. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Gale paused, partly because of genuine emotion, and stole a +look from under his hand at Nell. She wrote swiftly, and her downcast +face seemed to be softer in its expression of sweetness. If she had in +the very least been drawn to him— But that was absurd—impossible! +</P> + +<P> +When Dick finished dictating, his eyes were upon Mercedes, who sat +smiling curious and sympathetic. How responsive she was! He heard the +hasty scratch of Nell's pen. He looked at Nell. Presently she rose, +holding out his letter. He was just in time to see a wave of red +recede from her face. She gave him one swift gaze, unconscious, +searching, then averted it and turned away. She left the room with +Mercedes before he could express his thanks. +</P> + +<P> +But that strange, speaking flash of eyes remained to haunt and torment +Gale. It was indescribably sweet, and provocative of thoughts that he +believed were wild without warrant. Something within him danced for +very joy, and the next instant he was conscious of wistful doubt, a +gravity that he could not understand. It dawned upon him that for the +brief instant when Nell had met his gaze she had lost her shyness. It +was a woman's questioning eyes that had pierced through him. +</P> + +<P> +During the rest of the day Gale was content to lie still on his bed +thinking and dreaming, dozing at intervals, and watching the lights +change upon the mountain peaks, feeling the warm, fragrant desert wind +that blew in upon him. He seemed to have lost the faculty of +estimating time. A long while, strong in its effect upon him, appeared +to have passed since he had met Thorne. He accepted things as he felt +them, and repudiated his intelligence. His old inquisitive habit of +mind returned. Did he love Nell? Was he only attracted for the moment? +What was the use of worrying about her or himself? He refused to +answer, and deliberately gave himself up to dreams of her sweet face +and of that last dark-blue glance. +</P> + +<P> +Next day he believed he was well enough to leave his room; but Mrs. +Belding would not permit him to do so. She was kind, soft-handed, +motherly, and she was always coming in to minister to his comfort. This +attention was sincere, not in the least forced; yet Gale felt that the +friendliness so manifest in the others of the household did not extend +to her. He was conscious of something that a little thought persuaded +him was antagonism. It surprised and hurt him. He had never been much +of a success with girls and young married women, but their mothers and +old people had generally been fond of him. Still, though Mrs. +Belding's hair was snow-white, she did not impress him as being old. +He reflected that there might come a time when it would be desirable, +far beyond any ground of every-day friendly kindliness, to have Mrs. +Belding be well disposed toward him. So he thought about her, and +pondered how to make her like him. It did not take very long for Dick +to discover that he liked her. Her face, except when she smiled, was +thoughtful and sad. It was a face to make one serious. Like a +haunting shadow, like a phantom of happier years, the sweetness of +Nell's face was there, and infinitely more of beauty than had been +transmitted to the daughter. Dick believed Mrs. Belding's friendship +and motherly love were worth striving to win, entirely aside from any +more selfish motive. He decided both would be hard to get. Often he +felt her deep, penetrating gaze upon him; and, though this in no wise +embarrassed him—for he had no shameful secrets of past or present—it +showed him how useless it would be to try to conceal anything from her. +Naturally, on first impulse, he wanted to hide his interest in the +daughter; but he resolved to be absolutely frank and true, and through +that win or lose. Moreover, if Mrs. Belding asked him any questions +about his home, his family, his connections, he would not avoid direct +and truthful answers. +</P> + +<P> +Toward evening Gale heard the tramp of horses and Belding's hearty +voice. Presently the rancher strode in upon Gale, shaking the gray +dust from his broad shoulders and waving a letter. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Dick! Good news and bad!" he said, putting the letter in +Dick's hand. "Had no trouble finding your friend Thorne. Looked like +he'd been drunk for a week! Say, he nearly threw a fit. I never saw a +fellow so wild with joy. He made sure you and Mercedes were lost in +the desert. He wrote two letters which I brought. Don't mistake me, +boy, it was some fun with Mercedes just now. I teased her, wouldn't +give her the letter. You ought to have seen her eyes. If ever you see +a black-and-white desert hawk swoop down upon a quail, then you'll know +how Mercedes pounced upon her letter... Well, Casita is one hell of a +place these days. I tried to get your baggage, and I think I made a +mistake. We're going to see travel toward Forlorn River. The federal +garrison got reinforcements from somewhere, and is holding out. +There's been fighting for three days. The rebels have a string of flat +railroad cars, all iron, and they ran this up within range of the +barricades. They've got some machine guns, and they're going to lick +the federals sure. There are dead soldiers in the ditches, Mexican +non-combatants lying dead in the streets—and buzzards everywhere! It's +reported that Campo, the rebel leader, is on the way up from Sinaloa, +and Huerta, a federal general, is coming to relieve the garrison. I +don't take much stock in reports. But there's hell in Casita, all +right." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think we'll have trouble out here?" asked Dick, excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Some kind of trouble sooner or later," replied Belding, +gloomily. "Why, you can stand on my ranch and step over into Mexico. +Laddy says we'll lose horses and other stock in night raids. Jim Lash +doesn't look for any worse. But Jim isn't as well acquainted with +Greasers as I am. Anyway, my boy, as soon as you can hold a bridle and +a gun you'll be on the job, don't mistake me." +</P> + +<P> +"With Laddy and Jim?" asked Dick, trying to be cool. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. With them and me, and by yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Dick drew a deep breath, and even after Belding had departed he forgot +for a moment about the letter in his hand. Then he unfolded the paper +and read: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Dear Dick,—You've more than saved my life. To the end of my days +you'll be the one man to whom I owe everything. Words fail to express +my feelings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +This must be a brief note. Belding is waiting, and I used up most of +the time writing to Mercedes. I like Belding. He was not unknown to +me, though I never met or saw him before. You'll be interested to +learn that he's the unadulterated article, the real Western goods. +I've heard of some of his stunts, and they made my hair curl. Dick, +your luck is staggering. The way Belding spoke of you was great. But +you deserve it, old man. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +I'm leaving Mercedes in your charge, subject, of course, to advice from +Belding. Take care of her, Dick, for my life is wrapped up in her. By +all means keep her from being seen by Mexicans. We are sitting tight +here—nothing doing. If some action doesn't come soon, it'll be darned +strange. Things are centering this way. There's scrapping right along, +and people have begun to move. We're still patrolling the line eastward +of Casita. It'll be impossible to keep any tab on the line west of +Casita, for it's too rough. That cactus desert is awful. Cowboys or +rangers with desert-bred horses might keep raiders and smugglers from +crossing. But if cavalrymen could stand that waterless wilderness, +which I doubt much, their horses would drop under them. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +If things do quiet down before my commission expires, I'll get leave of +absence, run out to Forlorn River, marry my beautiful Spanish princess, +and take her to a civilized country, where, I opine, every son of a gun +who sees her will lose his head, and drive me mad. It's my great luck, +old pal, that you are a fellow who never seemed to care about pretty +girls. So you won't give me the double cross and run off with +Mercedes—carry her off, like the villain in the play, I mean. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +That reminds me of Rojas. Oh, Dick, it was glorious! You didn't do +anything to the Dandy Rebel! Not at all! You merely caressed +him—gently moved him to one side. Dick, harken to these glad words: +Rojas is in the hospital. I was interested to inquire. He had a +smashed finger, a dislocated collar bone, three broken ribs, and a +fearful gash on his face. He'll be in the hospital for a month. Dick, +when I meet that pig-headed dad of yours I'm going to give him the +surprise of his life. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Send me a line whenever any one comes in from F. R., and inclose +Mercedes's letter in yours. Take care of her, Dick, and may the future +hold in store for you some of the sweetness I know now! +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Faithfully yours, Thorne. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Dick reread the letter, then folded it and placed it under his pillow. +</P> + +<P> +"Never cared for pretty girls, huh?" he soliloquized. "George, I never +saw any till I struck Southern Arizona! Guess I'd better make up for +lost time." +</P> + +<P> +While he was eating his supper, with appetite rapidly returning to +normal, Ladd and Jim came in, bowing their tall heads to enter the +door. Their friendly advances were singularly welcome to Gale, but he +was still backward. He allowed himself to show that he was glad to see +them, and he listened. Jim Lash had heard from Belding the result of +the mauling given to Rojas by Dick. And Jim talked about what a grand +thing that was. Ladd had a good deal to say about Belding's horses. +It took no keen judge of human nature to see that horses constituted +Ladd's ruling passion. +</P> + +<P> +"I've had wimmen go back on me, but never no hoss!" declared Ladd, and +manifestly that was a controlling truth with him. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore it's a cinch Beldin' is agoin' to lose some of them hosses," he +said. "You can search me if I don't think there'll be more doin' on +the border here than along the Rio Grande. We're just the same as on +Greaser soil. Mebbe we don't stand no such chance of bein' shot up as +we would across the line. But who's goin' to give up his hosses +without a fight? Half the time when Beldin's stock is out of the +alfalfa it's grazin' over the line. He thinks he's careful about them +hosses, but he ain't." +</P> + +<P> +"Look a-here, Laddy; you cain't believe all you hear," replied Jim, +seriously. "I reckon we mightn't have any trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"Back up, Jim. Shore you're standin' on your bridle. I ain't goin' +much on reports. Remember that American we met in Casita, the +prospector who'd just gotten out of Sonora? He had some story, he had. +Swore he'd killed seventeen Greasers breakin' through the rebel line +round the mine where he an' other Americans were corralled. The next +day when I met him again, he was drunk, an' then he told me he'd shot +thirty Greasers. The chances are he did kill some. But reports are +exaggerated. There are miners fightin' for life down in Sonora, you +can gamble on that. An' the truth is bad enough. Take Rojas's +harryin' of the Senorita, for instance. Can you beat that? Shore, +Jim, there's more doin' than the raidin' of a few hosses. An' Forlorn +River is goin' to get hers!" +</P> + +<P> +Another dawn found Gale so much recovered that he arose and looked +after himself, not, however, without considerable difficulty and rather +disheartening twinges of pain. +</P> + +<P> +Some time during the morning he heard the girls in the patio and called +to ask if he might join them. He received one response, a mellow, "Si, +Senor." It was not as much as he wanted, but considering that it was +enough, he went out. He had not as yet visited the patio, and surprise +and delight were in store for him. He found himself lost in a +labyrinth of green and rose-bordered walks. He strolled around, +discovering that the patio was a courtyard, open at an end; but he +failed to discover the young ladies. So he called again. The answer +came from the center of the square. After stooping to get under shrubs +and wading through bushes he entered an open sandy circle, full of +magnificent and murderous cactus plants, strange to him. On the other +side, in the shade of a beautiful tree, he found the girls. Mercedes +sitting in a hammock, Nell upon a blanket. +</P> + +<P> +"What a beautiful tree!" he exclaimed. "I never saw one like that. +What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Palo verde," replied Nell. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor, palo verde means 'green tree,'" added Mercedes. +</P> + +<P> +This desert tree, which had struck Dick as so new and strange and +beautiful, was not striking on account of size, for it was small, +scarcely reaching higher than the roof; but rather because of its +exquisite color of green, trunk and branch alike, and owing to the odd +fact that it seemed not to possess leaves. All the tree from ground to +tiny flat twigs was a soft polished green. It bore no thorns. +</P> + +<P> +Right then and there began Dick's education in desert growths; and he +felt that even if he had not had such charming teachers he would still +have been absorbed. For the patio was full of desert wonders. A +twisting-trunked tree with full foliage of small gray leaves Nell +called a mesquite. Then Dick remembered the name, and now he saw where +the desert got its pale-gray color. A huge, lofty, fluted column of +green was a saguaro, or giant cactus. Another oddshaped cactus, +resembling the legs of an inverted devil-fish, bore the name ocatillo. +Each branch rose high and symmetrical, furnished with sharp blades that +seemed to be at once leaves and thorns. Yet another cactus interested +Gale, and it looked like a huge, low barrel covered with green-ribbed +cloth and long thorns. This was the bisnaga, or barrel cactus. +According to Nell and Mercedes, this plant was a happy exception to its +desert neighbors, for it secreted water which had many times saved the +lives of men. Last of the cacti to attract Gale, and the one to make +him shiver, was a low plant, consisting of stem and many rounded +protuberances of a frosty, steely white, and covered with long +murderous spikes. From this plant the desert got its frosty glitter. +It was as stiff, as unyielding as steel, and bore the name <i><i>choya</i></i>. +</P> + +<P> +Dick's enthusiasm was contagious, and his earnest desire to learn was +flattering to his teachers. When it came to assimilating Spanish, +however, he did not appear to be so apt a pupil. He managed, after +many trials, to acquire "buenos dias" and "buenos tardes," and +"senorita" and "gracias," and a few other short terms. Dick was indeed +eager to get a little smattering of Spanish, and perhaps he was not +really quite so stupid as he pretended to be. It was delightful to be +taught by a beautiful Spaniard who was so gracious and intense and +magnetic of personality, and by a sweet American girl who moment by +moment forgot her shyness. Gale wished to prolong the lessons. +</P> + +<P> +So that was the beginning of many afternoons in which he learned desert +lore and Spanish verbs, and something else that he dared not name. +</P> + +<P> +Nell Burton had never shown to Gale that daring side of her character +which had been so suggestively defined in Belding's terse description +and Ladd's encomiums, and in her own audacious speech and merry laugh +and flashing eye of that never-to-be-forgotten first meeting. She +might have been an entirely different girl. But Gale remembered; and +when the ice had been somewhat broken between them, he was always +trying to surprise her into her real self. There were moments that +fairly made him tingle with expectation. Yet he saw little more than a +ghost of her vivacity, and never a gleam of that individuality which +Belding had called a devil. On the few occasions that Dick had been +left alone with her in the patio Nell had grown suddenly unresponsive +and restrained, or she had left him on some transparent pretext. On the +last occasion Mercedes returned to find Dick staring disconsolately at +the rose-bordered path, where Nell had evidently vanished. The Spanish +girl was wonderful in her divination. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor Dick!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +Dick looked at her, soberly nodded his head, and then he laughed. +Mercedes had seen through him in one swift glance. Her white hand +touched his in wordless sympathy and thrilled him. This Spanish girl +was all fire and passion and love. She understood him, she was his +friend, she pledged him what he felt would be the most subtle and +powerful influence. +</P> + +<P> +Little by little he learned details of Nell's varied life. She had +lived in many places. As a child she remembered moving from town to +town, of going to school among schoolmates whom she never had time to +know. Lawrence, Kansas, where she studied for several years, was the +later exception to this changeful nature of her schooling. Then she +moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, from there to Austin, Texas, and on to +Waco, where her mother met and married Belding. They lived in New +Mexico awhile, in Tucson, Arizona, in Douglas, and finally had come to +lonely Forlorn River. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother could never live in one place any length of time," said Nell. +"And since we've been in the Southwest she has never ceased trying to +find some trace of her father. He was last heard of in Nogales +fourteen years ago. She thinks grandfather was lost in the Sonora +Desert.... And every place we go is worse. Oh, I love the desert. But +I'd like to go back to Lawrence—or to see Chicago or New York—some of +the places Mr. Gale speaks of.... I remember the college at Lawrence, +though I was only twelve. I saw races—and once real football. Since +then I've read magazines and papers about big football games, and I was +always fascinated .... Mr. Gale, of course, you've seen games? +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, a few," replied Dick; and he laughed a little. It was on his +lips then to tell her about some of the famous games in which he had +participated. But he refrained from exploiting himself. There was +little, however, of the color and sound and cheer, of the violent +action and rush and battle incidental to a big college football game +that he did not succeed in making Mercedes and Nell feel just as if +they had been there. They hung breathless and wide-eyed upon his words. +</P> + +<P> +Some one else was present at the latter part of Dick's narrative. The +moment he became aware of Mrs. Belding's presence he remembered +fancying he had heard her call, and now he was certain she had done so. +Mercedes and Nell, however, had been and still were oblivious to +everything except Dick's recital. He saw Mrs. Belding cast a strange, +intent glance upon Nell, then turn and go silently through the patio. +Dick concluded his talk, but the brilliant beginning was not sustained. +</P> + +<P> +Dick was haunted by the strange expression he had caught on Mrs. +Belding's face, especially the look in her eyes. It had been one of +repressed pain liberated in a flash of certainty. The mother had seen +just as quickly as Mercedes how far he had gone on the road of love. +Perhaps she had seen more—even more than he dared hope. The incident +roused Gale. He could not understand Mrs. Belding, nor why that look +of hers, that seeming baffled, hopeless look of a woman who saw the +inevitable forces of life and could not thwart them, should cause him +perplexity and distress. He wanted to go to her and tell her how he +felt about Nell, but fear of absolute destruction of his hopes held him +back. He would wait. Nevertheless, an instinct that was perhaps akin +to self-preservation prompted him to want to let Nell know the state of +his mind. Words crowded his brain seeking utterance. Who and what he +was, how he loved her, the work he expected to take up soon, his +longings, hopes, and plans—there was all this and more. But something +checked him. And the repression made him so thoughtful and quiet, even +melancholy, that he went outdoors to try to throw off the mood. The sun +was yet high, and a dazzling white light enveloped valleys and peaks. +He felt that the wonderful sunshine was the dominant feature of that +arid region. It was like white gold. It had burned its color in a +face he knew. It was going to warm his blood and brown his skin. A +hot, languid breeze, so dry that he felt his lips shrink with its +contact, came from the desert; and it seemed to smell of wide-open, +untainted places where sand blew and strange, pungent plants gave a +bitter-sweet tang to the air. +</P> + +<P> +When he returned to the house, some hours later, his room had been put +in order. In the middle of the white coverlet on his table lay a fresh +red rose. Nell had dropped it there. Dick picked it up, feeling a +throb in his breast. It was a bud just beginning to open, to show +between its petals a dark-red, unfolding heart. How fragrant it was, +how exquisitely delicate, how beautiful its inner hue of red, deep and +dark, the crimson of life blood! +</P> + +<P> +Had Nell left it there by accident or by intent? Was it merely +kindness or a girl's subtlety? Was it a message couched elusively, a +symbol, a hope in a half-blown desert rose? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE YAQUI +</H3> + +<P> +TOWARD evening of a lowering December day, some fifty miles west of +Forlorn River, a horseman rode along an old, dimly defined trail. From +time to time he halted to study the lay of the land ahead. It was bare, +somber, ridgy desert, covered with dun-colored greasewood and stunted +prickly pear. Distant mountains hemmed in the valley, raising black +spurs above the round lomas and the square-walled mesas. +</P> + +<P> +This lonely horseman bestrode a steed of magnificent build, perfectly +white except for a dark bar of color running down the noble head from +ears to nose. Sweatcaked dust stained the long flanks. The horse had +been running. His mane and tail were laced and knotted to keep their +length out of reach of grasping cactus and brush. Clumsy home-made +leather shields covered the front of his forelegs and ran up well to +his wide breast. What otherwise would have been muscular symmetry of +limb was marred by many a scar and many a lump. He was lean, gaunt, +worn, a huge machine of muscle and bone, beautiful only in head and +mane, a weight-carrier, a horse strong and fierce like the desert that +had bred him. +</P> + +<P> +The rider fitted the horse as he fitted the saddle. He was a young man +of exceedingly powerful physique, wide-shouldered, long-armed, +big-legged. His lean face, where it was not red, blistered and +peeling, was the hue of bronze. He had a dark eye, a falcon gaze, +roving and keen. His jaw was prominent and set, mastiff-like; his lips +were stern. It was youth with its softness not yet quite burned and +hardened away that kept the whole cast of his face from being ruthless. +</P> + +<P> +This young man was Dick Gale, but not the listless traveler, nor the +lounging wanderer who, two months before, had by chance dropped into +Casita. Friendship, chivalry, love—the deep-seated, unplumbed +emotions that had been stirred into being with all their incalculable +power for spiritual change, had rendered different the meaning of life. +In the moment almost of their realization the desert had claimed Gale, +and had drawn him into its crucible. The desert had multiplied weeks +into years. Heat, thirst, hunger, loneliness, toil, fear, ferocity, +pain—he knew them all. He had felt them all—the white sun, with its +glazed, coalescing, lurid fire; the caked split lips and rasping, +dry-puffed tongue; the sickening ache in the pit of his stomach; the +insupportable silence, the empty space, the utter desolation, the +contempt of life; the weary ride, the long climb, the plod in sand, the +search, search, search for water; the sleepless night alone, the watch +and wait, the dread of ambush, the swift flight; the fierce pursuit of +men wild as Bedouins and as fleet, the willingness to deal sudden +death, the pain of poison thorn, the stinging tear of lead through +flesh; and that strange paradox of the burning desert, the cold at +night, the piercing icy wind, the dew that penetrated to the marrow, +the numbing desert cold of the dawn. +</P> + +<P> +Beyond any dream of adventure he had ever had, beyond any wild story he +had ever read, had been his experience with those hard-riding rangers, +Ladd and Lash. Then he had traveled alone the hundred miles of desert +between Forlorn River and the Sonoyta Oasis. Ladd's prophecy of +trouble on the border had been mild compared to what had become the +actuality. With rebel occupancy of the garrison at Casita, outlaws, +bandits, raiders in rioting bands had spread westward. Like troops of +Arabs, magnificently mounted, they were here, there, everywhere along +the line; and if murder and worse were confined to the Mexican side, +pillage and raiding were perpetrated across the border. Many a +dark-skinned raider bestrode one of Belding's fast horses, and indeed +all except his selected white thoroughbreds had been stolen. So the +job of the rangers had become more than a patrolling of the boundary +line to keep Japanese and Chinese from being smuggled into the United +States. Belding kept close at home to protect his family and to hold +his property. But the three rangers, in fulfilling their duty had +incurred risks on their own side of the line, had been outraged, +robbed, pursued, and injured on the other. Some of the few waterholes +that had to be reached lay far across the border in Mexican territory. +Horses had to drink, men had to drink; and Ladd and Lash were not of +the stripe that forsook a task because of danger. Slow to wrath at +first, as became men who had long lived peaceful lives, they had at +length revolted; and desert vultures could have told a gruesome story. +Made a comrade and ally of these bordermen, Dick Gale had leaped at the +desert action and strife with an intensity of heart and a rare physical +ability which accounted for the remarkable fact that he had not yet +fallen by the way. +</P> + +<P> +On this December afternoon the three rangers, as often, were separated. +Lash was far to the westward of Sonoyta, somewhere along Camino del +Diablo, that terrible Devil's Road, where many desert wayfarers had +perished. Ladd had long been overdue in a prearranged meeting with +Gale. The fact that Ladd had not shown up miles west of the Papago +Well was significant. +</P> + +<P> +The sun had hidden behind clouds all the latter part of that day, an +unusual occurrence for that region even in winter. And now, as the +light waned suddenly, telling of the hidden sunset, a cold dry, +penetrating wind sprang up and blew in Gale's face. Not at first, but +by imperceptible degrees it chilled him. He untied his coat from the +back of the saddle and put it on. A few cold drops of rain touched his +cheek. +</P> + +<P> +He halted upon the edge of a low escarpment. Below him the narrowing +valley showed bare, black ribs of rock, long, winding gray lines +leading down to a central floor where mesquite and cactus dotted the +barren landscape. Moving objects, diminutive in size, gray and white +in color, arrested Gale's roving sight. They bobbed away for a while, +then stopped. They were antelope, and they had seen his horse. When +he rode on they started once more, keeping to the lowest level. These +wary animals were often desert watchdogs for the ranger, they would +betray the proximity of horse or man. With them trotting forward, he +made better time for some miles across the valley. When he lost them, +caution once more slowed his advance. +</P> + +<P> +The valley sloped up and narrowed, to head into an arroyo where grass +began to show gray between the clumps of mesquite. Shadows formed +ahead in the hollows, along the walls of the arroyo, under the trees, +and they seemed to creep, to rise, to float into a veil cast by the +background of bold mountains, at last to claim the skyline. Night was +not close at hand, but it was there in the east, lifting upward, +drooping downward, encroaching upon the west. +</P> + +<P> +Gale dismounted to lead his horse, to go forward more slowly. He had +ridden sixty miles since morning, and he was tired, and a not entirely +healed wound in his hip made one leg drag a little. A mile up the +arroyo, near its head, lay the Papago Well. The need of water for his +horse entailed a risk that otherwise he could have avoided. The well +was on Mexican soil. Gale distinguished a faint light flickering +through the thin, sharp foliage. Campers were at the well, and, +whoever they were, no doubt they had prevented Ladd from meeting Gale. +Ladd had gone back to the next waterhole, or maybe he was hiding in an +arroyo to the eastward, awaiting developments. +</P> + +<P> +Gale turned his horse, not without urge of iron arm and persuasive +speech, for the desert steed scented water, and plodded back to the +edge of the arroyo, where in a secluded circle of mesquite he halted. +The horse snorted his relief at the removal of the heavy, burdened +saddle and accoutrements, and sagging, bent his knees, lowered himself +with slow heave, and plunged down to roll in the sand. Gale poured the +contents of his larger canteen into his hat and held it to the horse's +nose. +</P> + +<P> +"Drink, Sol," he said. +</P> + +<P> +It was but a drop for a thirsty horse. However, Blanco Sol rubbed a +wet muzzle against Gale's hand in appreciation. Gale loved the horse, +and was loved in return. They had saved each other's lives, and had +spent long days and nights of desert solitude together. Sol had known +other masters, though none so kind as this new one; but it was certain +that Gale had never before known a horse. +</P> + +<P> +The spot of secluded ground was covered with bunches of galleta grass +upon which Sol began to graze. Gale made a long halter of his lariat +to keep the horse from wandering in search of water. Next Gale kicked +off the cumbersome chapparejos, with their flapping, tripping folds of +leather over his feet, and drawing a long rifle from its leather +sheath, he slipped away into the shadows. +</P> + +<P> +The coyotes were howling, not here and there, but in concerted volume +at the head of the arroyo. To Dick this was no more reassuring than +had been the flickering light of the campfire. The wild desert dogs, +with their characteristic insolent curiosity, were baying men round a +campfire. Gale proceeded slowly, halting every few steps, careful not +to brush against the stiff greasewood. In the soft sand his steps made +no sound. The twinkling light vanished occasionally, like a +Jack-o'lantern, and when it did show it seemed still a long way off. +Gale was not seeking trouble or inviting danger. Water was the thing +that drove him. He must see who these campers were, and then decide +how to give Blanco Sol a drink. +</P> + +<P> +A rabbit rustled out of brush at Gale's feet and thumped away over the +sand. The wind pattered among dry, broken stalks of dead ocatilla. +Every little sound brought Gale to a listening pause. The gloom was +thickening fast into darkness. It would be a night without starlight. +He moved forward up the pale, zigzag aisles between the mesquite. He +lost the light for a while, but the coyotes' chorus told him he was +approaching the campfire. Presently the light danced through the black +branches, and soon grew into a flame. Stooping low, with bushy +mesquites between him and the fire, Gale advanced. The coyotes were in +full cry. Gale heard the tramping, stamping thumps of many hoofs. The +sound worried him. Foot by foot he advanced, and finally began to +crawl. The wind favored his position, so that neither coyotes nor +horses could scent him. The nearer he approached the head of the +arroyo, where the well was located, the thicker grew the desert +vegetation. At length a dead palo verde, with huge black clumps of its +parasite mistletoe thick in the branches, marked a distance from the +well that Gale considered close enough. Noiselessly he crawled here +and there until he secured a favorable position, and then rose to peep +from behind his covert. +</P> + +<P> +He saw a bright fire, not a cooking-fire, for that would have been low +and red, but a crackling blaze of mesquite. Three men were in sight, +all close to the burning sticks. They were Mexicans and of the coarse +type of raiders, rebels, bandits that Gale expected to see. One stood +up, his back to the fire; another sat with shoulders enveloped in a +blanket, and the third lounged in the sand, his feet almost in the +blaze. They had cast off belts and weapons. A glint of steel caught +Gale's eye. Three short, shiny carbines leaned against a rock. A +little to the left, within the circle of light, stood a square house +made of adobe bricks. Several untrimmed poles upheld a roof of brush, +which was partly fallen in. This house was a Papago Indian habitation, +and a month before had been occupied by a family that had been murdered +or driven off by a roving band of outlaws. A rude corral showed dimly +in the edge of firelight, and from a black mass within came the snort +and stamp and whinney of horses. +</P> + +<P> +Gale took in the scene in one quick glance, then sank down at the foot +of the mesquite. He had naturally expected to see more men. But the +situation was by no means new. This was one, or part of one, of the +raider bands harrying the border. They were stealing horses, or +driving a herd already stolen. These bands were more numerous than the +waterholes of northern Sonora; they never camped long at one place; +like Arabs, they roamed over the desert all the way from Nogales to +Casita. If Gale had gone peaceably up to this campfire there were a +hundred chances that the raiders would kill and rob him to one chance +that they might not. If they recognized him as a ranger comrade of +Ladd and Lash, if they got a glimpse of Blanco Sol, then Gale would +have no chance. +</P> + +<P> +These Mexicans had evidently been at the well some time. Their horses +being in the corral meant that grazing had been done by day. Gale +revolved questions in mind. Had this trio of outlaws run across Ladd? +It was not likely, for in that event they might not have been so +comfortable and care-free in camp. Were they waiting for more members +of their gang? That was very probable. With Gale, however, the most +important consideration was how to get his horse to water. Sol must +have a drink if it cost a fight. There was stern reason for Gale to +hurry eastward along the trail. He thought it best to go back to where +he had left his horse and not make any decisive move until daylight. +</P> + +<P> +With the same noiseless care he had exercised in the advance, Gale +retreated until it was safe for him to rise and walk on down the +arroyo. He found Blanco Sol contentedly grazing. A heavy dew was +falling, and, as the grass was abundant, the horse did not show the +usual restlessness and distress after a dry and exhausting day. Gale +carried his saddle blankets and bags into the lee of a little +greasewood-covered mound, from around which the wind had cut the soil, +and here, in a wash, he risked building a small fire. By this time the +wind was piercingly cold. Gale's hands were numb and he moved them to +and fro in the little blaze. Then he made coffee in a cup, cooked some +slices of bacon on the end of a stick, and took a couple of hard +biscuits from a saddlebag. Of these his meal consisted. After that he +removed the halter from Blanco Sol, intending to leave him free to +graze for a while. +</P> + +<P> +Then Gale returned to his little fire, replenished it with short sticks +of dead greasewood and mesquite, and, wrapping his blanket round his +shoulders he sat down to warm himself and to wait till it was time to +bring in the horse and tie him up. +</P> + +<P> +The fire was inadequate and Gale was cold and wet with dew. Hunger and +thirst were with him. His bones ached, and there was a dull, +deep-seated pain throbbing in his unhealed wound. For days unshaven, +his beard seemed like a million pricking needles in his blistered skin. +He was so tired that once having settled himself, he did not move hand +or foot. The night was dark, dismal, cloudy, windy, growing colder. A +moan of wind in the mesquite was occasionally pierced by the high-keyed +yelp of a coyote. There were lulls in which the silence seemed to be a +thing of stifling, encroaching substance—a thing that enveloped, +buried the desert. +</P> + +<P> +Judged by the great average of ideals and conventional standards of +life, Dick Gale was a starved, lonely, suffering, miserable wretch. +But in his case the judgment would have hit only externals, would have +missed the vital inner truth. For Gale was happy with a kind of +strange, wild glory in the privations, the pains, the perils, and the +silence and solitude to be endured on this desert land. In the past he +had not been of any use to himself or others; and he had never know +what it meant to be hungry, cold, tired, lonely. He had never worked +for anything. The needs of the day had been provided, and to-morrow +and the future looked the same. Danger, peril, toil—these had been +words read in books and papers. +</P> + +<P> +In the present he used his hands, his senses, and his wits. He had a +duty to a man who relied on his services. He was a comrade, a friend, +a valuable ally to riding, fighting rangers. He had spent endless +days, weeks that seemed years, alone with a horse, trailing over, +climbing over, hunting over a desert that was harsh and hostile by +nature, and perilous by the invasion of savage men. That horse had +become human to Gale. And with him Gale had learned to know the simple +needs of existence. Like dead scales the superficialities, the +falsities, the habits that had once meant all of life dropped off, +useless things in this stern waste of rock and sand. +</P> + +<P> +Gale's happiness, as far as it concerned the toil and strife, was +perhaps a grim and stoical one. But love abided with him, and it had +engendered and fostered other undeveloped traits—romance and a feeling +for beauty, and a keen observation of nature. He felt pain, but he was +never miserable. He felt the solitude, but he was never lonely. +</P> + +<P> +As he rode across the desert, even though keen eyes searched for the +moving black dots, the rising puffs of white dust that were warnings, +he saw Nell's face in every cloud. The clean-cut mesas took on the +shape of her straight profile, with its strong chin and lips, its fine +nose and forehead. There was always a glint of gold or touch of red or +graceful line or gleam of blue to remind him of her. Then at night her +face shone warm and glowing, flushing and paling, in the campfire. +</P> + +<P> +To-night, as usual, with a keen ear to the wind, Gale listened as one +on guard; yet he watched the changing phantom of a sweet face in the +embers, and as he watched he thought. The desert developed and +multiplied thought. A thousand sweet faces glowed in the pink and +white ashes of his campfire, the faces of other sweethearts or wives +that had gleamed for other men. Gale was happy in his thought of Nell, +for Nell, for something, when he was alone this way in the wilderness, +told him she was near him, she thought of him, she loved him. But +there were many men alone on that vast southwestern plateau, and when +they saw dream faces, surely for some it was a fleeting flash, a gleam +soon gone, like the hope and the name and the happiness that had been +and was now no more. Often Gale thought of those hundreds of desert +travelers, prospectors, wanderers who had ventured down the Camino del +Diablo, never to be heard of again. Belding had told him of that most +terrible of all desert trails—a trail of shifting sands. Lash had +traversed it, and brought back stories of buried waterholes, of bones +bleaching white in the sun, of gold mines as lost as were the +prospectors who had sought them, of the merciless Yaqui and his hatred +for the Mexican. Gale thought of this trail and the men who had camped +along it. For many there had been one night, one campfire that had +been the last. This idea seemed to creep in out of the darkness, the +loneliness, the silence, and to find a place in Gale's mind, so that it +had strange fascination for him. He knew now as he had never dreamed +before how men drifted into the desert, leaving behind graves, wrecked +homes, ruined lives, lost wives and sweethearts. And for every +wanderer every campfire had a phantom face. Gale measured the agony of +these men at their last campfire by the joy and promise he traced in +the ruddy heart of his own. +</P> + +<P> +By and by Gale remembered what he was waiting for; and, getting up, he +took the halter and went out to find Blanco Sol. It was pitch-dark +now, and Gale could not see a rod ahead. He felt his way, and +presently as he rounded a mesquite he saw Sol's white shape outlined +against the blackness. The horse jumped and wheeled, ready to run. It +was doubtful if any one unknown to Sol could ever have caught him. +Gale's low call reassured him, and he went on grazing. Gale haltered +him in the likeliest patch of grass and returned to his camp. There he +lifted his saddle into a protected spot under a low wall of the mound, +and, laying one blanket on the sand, he covered himself with the other +and stretched himself for the night. +</P> + +<P> +Here he was out of reach of the wind; but he heard its melancholy moan +in the mesquite. There was no other sound. The coyotes had ceased +their hungry cries. Gale dropped to sleep, and slept soundly during +the first half of the night; and after that he seemed always to be +partially awake, aware of increasing cold and damp. The dark mantle +turned gray, and then daylight came quickly. The morning was clear and +nipping cold. He threw off the wet blanket and got up cramped and half +frozen. A little brisk action was all that was necessary to warm his +blood and loosen his muscles, and then he was fresh, tingling, eager. +The sun rose in a golden blaze, and the descending valley took on +wondrous changing hues. Then he fetched up Blanco Sol, saddled him, +and tied him to the thickest clump of mesquite. +</P> + +<P> +"Sol, we'll have a drink pretty soon," he said, patting the splendid +neck. +</P> + +<P> +Gale meant it. He would not eat till he had watered his horse. Sol had +gone nearly forty-eight hours without a sufficient drink, and that was +long enough, even for a desert-bred beast. No three raiders could keep +Gale away from that well. Taking his rifle in hand, he faced up the +arroyo. Rabbits were frisking in the short willows, and some were so +tame he could have kicked them. Gale walked swiftly for a goodly part +of the distance, and then, when he saw blue smoke curling up above the +trees, he proceeded slowly, with alert eye and ear. From the lay of +the land and position of trees seen by daylight, he found an easier and +safer course that the one he had taken in the dark. And by careful +work he was enabled to get closer to the well, and somewhat above it. +</P> + +<P> +The Mexicans were leisurely cooking their morning meal. They had two +fires, one for warmth, the other to cook over. Gale had an idea these +raiders were familiar to him. It seemed all these border hawks +resembled one another—being mostly small of build, wiry, angular, +swarthy-faced, and black-haired, and they wore the oddly styled Mexican +clothes and sombreros. A slow wrath stirred in Gale as he watched the +trio. They showed not the slightest indication of breaking camp. One +fellow, evidently the leader, packed a gun at his hip, the only weapon +in sight. Gale noted this with speculative eyes. The raiders had +slept inside the little adobe house, and had not yet brought out the +carbines. Next Gale swept his gaze to the corral, in which he saw more +than a dozen horses, some of them fine animals. They were stamping and +whistling, fighting one another, and pawing the dirt. This was +entirely natural behavior for desert horses penned in when they wanted +to get at water and grass. +</P> + +<P> +But suddenly one of the blacks, a big, shaggy fellow, shot up his ears +and pointed his nose over the top of the fence. He whistled. Other +horses looked in the same direction, and their ears went up, and they, +too, whistled. Gale knew that other horses or men, very likely both, +were approaching. But the Mexicans did not hear the alarm, or show any +interest if they did. These mescal-drinking raiders were not scouts. +It was notorious how easily they could be surprised or ambushed. +Mostly they were ignorant, thick-skulled peons. They were wonderful +horsemen, and could go long without food or water; but they had not +other accomplishments or attributes calculated to help them in desert +warfare. They had poor sight, poor hearing, poor judgment, and when +excited they resembled crazed ants running wild. +</P> + +<P> +Gale saw two Indians on burros come riding up the other side of the +knoll upon which the adobe house stood; and apparently they were not +aware of the presence of the Mexicans, for they came on up the path. +One Indian was a Papago. The other, striking in appearance for other +reasons than that he seemed to be about to fall from the burro, Gale +took to be a Yaqui. These travelers had absolutely nothing for an +outfit except a blanket and a half-empty bag. They came over the knoll +and down the path toward the well, turned a corner of the house, and +completely surprised the raiders. +</P> + +<P> +Gale heard a short, shrill cry, strangely high and wild, and this came +from one of the Indians. It was answered by hoarse shouts. Then the +leader of the trio, the Mexican who packed a gun, pulled it and fired +point-blank. He missed once—and again. At the third shot the Papago +shrieked and tumbled off his burro to fall in a heap. The other Indian +swayed, as if the taking away of the support lent by his comrade had +brought collapse, and with the fourth shot he, too, slipped to the +ground. +</P> + +<P> +The reports had frightened the horses in the corral; and the vicious +black, crowding the rickety bars, broke them down. He came plunging +out. Two of the Mexicans ran for him, catching him by nose and mane, +and the third ran to block the gateway. +</P> + +<P> +Then, with a splendid vaulting mount, the Mexican with the gun leaped +to the back of the horse. He yelled and waved his gun, and urged the +black forward. The manner of all three was savagely jocose. They were +having sport. The two on the ground began to dance and jabber. The +mounted leader shot again, and then stuck like a leech upon the bare +back of the rearing black. It was a vain show of horsemanship. Then +this Mexican, by some strange grip, brought the horse down, plunging +almost upon the body of the Indian that had fallen last. +</P> + +<P> +Gale stood aghast with his rifle clutched tight. He could not divine +the intention of the raider, but suspected something brutal. The horse +answered to that cruel, guiding hand, yet he swerved and bucked. He +reared aloft, pawing the air, wildly snorting, then he plunged down +upon the prostrate Indian. Even in the act the intelligent animal +tried to keep from striking the body with his hoofs. But that was not +possible. A yell, hideous in its passion, signaled this feat of +horsemanship. +</P> + +<P> +The Mexican made no move to trample the body of the Papago. He turned +the black to ride again over the other Indian. That brought into +Gale's mind what he had heard of a Mexican's hate for a Yaqui. It +recalled the barbarism of these savage peons, and the war of +extermination being waged upon the Yaquis. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Gale was horrified to see the Yaqui writhe and raise a feeble +hand. The action brought renewed and more savage cries from the +Mexicans. The horse snorted in terror. +</P> + +<P> +Gale could bear no more. He took a quick shot at the rider. He missed +the moving figure, but hit the horse. There was a bound, a horrid +scream, a mighty plunge, then the horse went down, giving the Mexican a +stunning fall. Both beast and man lay still. +</P> + +<P> +Gale rushed from his cover to intercept the other raiders before they +could reach the house and their weapons. One fellow yelled and ran +wildly in the opposite direction; the other stood stricken in his +tracks. Gale ran in close and picked up the gun that had dropped from +the raider leader's hand. This fellow had begun to stir, to come out +of his stunned condition. Then the frightened horses burst the corral +bars, and in a thundering, dust-mantled stream fled up the arroyo. +</P> + +<P> +The fallen raider sat up, mumbling to his saints in one breath, cursing +in his next. The other Mexican kept his stand, intimidated by the +threatening rifle. +</P> + +<P> +"Go, Greasers! Run!" yelled Gale. Then he yelled it in Spanish. At +the point of his rifle he drove the two raiders out of the camp. His +next move was to run into the house and fetch out the carbines. With a +heavy stone he dismantled each weapon. That done, he set out on a run +for his horse. He took the shortest cut down the arroyo, with no +concern as to whether or not he would encounter the raiders. Probably +such a meeting would be all the worse for them, and they knew it. +Blanco Sol heard him coming and whistled a welcome, and when Gale ran +up the horse was snorting war. Mounting, Gale rode rapidly back to the +scene of the action, and his first thought, when he arrived at the +well, was to give Sol a drink and to fill his canteens. +</P> + +<P> +Then Gale led his horse up out of the waterhole, and decided before +remounting to have a look at the Indians. The Papago had been shot +through the heart, but the Yaqui was still alive. Moreover, he was +conscious and staring up at Gale with great, strange, somber eyes, +black as volcanic slag. +</P> + +<P> +"Gringo good—no kill," he said, in husky whisper. +</P> + +<P> +His speech was not affirmative so much as questioning. +</P> + +<P> +"Yaqui, you're done for," said Gale, and his words were positive. He +was simply speaking aloud his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Yaqui—no hurt—much," replied the Indian, and then he spoke a strange +word—repeated it again and again. +</P> + +<P> +An instinct of Gale's, or perhaps some suggestion in the husky, thick +whisper or dark face, told Gale to reach for his canteen. He lifted the +Indian and gave him a drink, and if ever in all his life he saw +gratitude in human eyes he saw it then. Then he examined the injured +Yaqui, not forgetting for an instant to send wary, fugitive glances on +all sides. Gale was not surprised. The Indian had three wounds—a +bullet hole in his shoulder, a crushed arm, and a badly lacerated leg. +What had been the matter with him before being set upon by the raider +Gale could not be certain. +</P> + +<P> +The ranger thought rapidly. This Yaqui would live unless left there to +die or be murdered by the Mexicans when they found courage to sneak +back to the well. It never occurred to Gale to abandon the poor +fellow. That was where his old training, the higher order of human +feeling, made impossible the following of any elemental instinct of +self-preservation. All the same, Gale knew he multiplied his perils a +hundredfold by burdening himself with a crippled Indian. Swiftly he set +to work, and with rifle ever under his hand, and shifting glance spared +from his task, he bound up the Yaqui's wounds. At the same time he +kept keen watch. +</P> + +<P> +The Indians' burros and the horses of the raiders were all out of +sight. Time was too valuable for Gale to use any in what might be a +vain search. Therefore, he lifted the Yaqui upon Sol's broad shoulders +and climbed into the saddle. At a word Sol dropped his head and +started eastward up the trail, walking swiftly, without resentment for +his double burden. +</P> + +<P> +Far ahead, between two huge mesas where the trail mounted over a pass, +a long line of dust clouds marked the position of the horses that had +escaped from the corral. Those that had been stolen would travel +straight and true for home, and perhaps would lead the others with +them. The raiders were left on the desert without guns or mounts. +</P> + +<P> +Blanco Sol walked or jog-trotted six miles to the hour. At that gait +fifty miles would not have wet or turned a hair of his dazzling white +coat. Gale, bearing in mind the ever-present possibility of +encountering more raiders and of being pursued, saved the strength of +the horse. Once out of sight of Papago Well, Gale dismounted and +walked beside the horse, steadying with one firm hand the helpless, +dangling Yaqui. +</P> + +<P> +The sun cleared the eastern ramparts, and the coolness of morning fled +as if before a magic foe. The whole desert changed. The grays wore +bright; the mesquites glistened; the cactus took the silver hue of +frost, and the rocks gleamed gold and red. Then, as the heat +increased, a wind rushed up out of the valley behind Gale, and the +hotter the sun blazed down the swifter rushed the wind. The wonderful +transparent haze of distance lost its bluish hue for one with tinge of +yellow. Flying sand made the peaks dimly outlined. +</P> + +<P> +Gale kept pace with his horse. He bore the twinge of pain that darted +through his injured hip at every stride. His eye roved over the wide, +smoky prospect seeking the landmarks he knew. When the wild and bold +spurs of No Name Mountains loomed through a rent in flying clouds of +sand he felt nearer home. Another hour brought him abreast of a dark, +straight shaft rising clear from a beetling escarpment. This was a +monument marking the international boundary line. When he had passed +it he had his own country under foot. In the heat of midday he halted +in the shade of a rock, and, lifting the Yaqui down, gave him a drink. +Then, after a long, sweeping survey of the surrounding desert, he +removed Sol's saddle and let him roll, and took for himself a welcome +rest and a bite to eat. +</P> + +<P> +The Yaqui was tenacious of life. He was still holding his own. For the +first time Gale really looked at the Indian to study him. He had a +large head nobly cast, and a face that resembled a shrunken mask. It +seemed chiseled in the dark-red, volcanic lava of his Sooner +wilderness. The Indian's eyes were always black and mystic, but this +Yaqui's encompassed all the tragic desolation of the desert. They were +fixed on Gale, moved only when he moved. The Indian was short and +broad, and his body showed unusual muscular development, although he +seemed greatly emaciated from starvation or illness. +</P> + +<P> +Gale resumed his homeward journey. When he got through the pass he +faced a great depression, as rough as if millions of gigantic spikes +had been driven by the hammer of Thor into a seamed and cracked floor. +This was Altar Valley. It was a chaos of arroyo's, canyons, rocks, and +ridges all mantled with cactus, and at its eastern end it claimed the +dry bed of Forlorn River and water when there was any. +</P> + +<P> +With a wounded, helpless man across the saddle, this stretch of thorny +and contorted desert was practically impassable. Yet Gale headed into +it unflinchingly. He would carry the Yaqui as far as possible, or +until death make the burden no longer a duty. Blanco Sol plodded on +over the dragging sand, up and down the steep, loose banks of washes, +out on the rocks, and through the rows of white-toothed <i><i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i></i>. +</P> + +<P> +The sun sloped westward, bending fiercer heat in vengeful, parting +reluctance. The wind slackened. The dust settled. And the bold, +forbidding front of No Name Mountains changed to red and gold. Gale +held grimly by the side of the tireless, implacable horse, holding the +Yaqui on the saddle, taking the brunt of the merciless thorns. In the +end it became heartrending toil. His heavy chaps dragged him down; but +he dared not go on without them, for, thick and stiff as they were, the +terrible, steel-bayoneted spikes of the <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i> pierced through to sting +his legs. +</P> + +<P> +To the last mile Gale held to Blanco Sol's gait and kept ever-watchful +gaze ahead on the trail. Then, with the low, flat houses of Forlorn +River shining red in the sunset, Gale flagged and rapidly weakened. +The Yaqui slipped out of the saddle and dropped limp in the sand. Gale +could not mount his horse. He clutched Sol's long tail and twisted his +hand in it and staggered on. +</P> + +<P> +Blanco Sol whistled a piercing blast. He scented cool water and sweet +alfalfa hay. Twinkling lights ahead meant rest. The melancholy desert +twilight rapidly succeeded the sunset. It accentuated the forlorn +loneliness of the gray, winding river of sand and its grayer shores. +Night shadows trooped down from the black and looming mountains. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WHITE HORSES +</H3> + +<P> +"A CRIPPLED Yaqui! Why the hell did you saddle yourself with him?" +roared Belding, as he laid Gale upon the bed. +</P> + +<P> +Belding had grown hard these late, violent weeks. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I chose," whispered Gale, in reply. "Go after him—he dropped +in the trail—across the river—near the first big saguaro." +</P> + +<P> +Belding began to swear as he fumbled with matches and the lamp; but as +the light flared up he stopped short in the middle of a word. +</P> + +<P> +"You said you weren't hurt?" he demanded, in sharp anxiety, as he bent +over Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm only—all in.... Will you go—or send some one—for the Yaqui?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, Dick, sure," Belding replied, in softer tones. Then he stalked +out; his heels rang on the flagstones; he opened a door and called: +"Mother—girls, here's Dick back. He's done up.... Now—no, no, he's +not hurt or in bad shape. You women!... Do what you can to make him +comfortable. I've got a little job on hand." +</P> + +<P> +There were quick replies that Gale's dulling ears did not distinguish. +Then it seemed Mrs. Belding was beside his bed, her presence so cool +and soothing and helpful, and Mercedes and Nell, wide-eyed and +white-faced, were fluttering around him. He drank thirstily, but +refused food. He wanted rest. And with their faces drifting away in a +kind of haze, with the feeling of gentle hands about him, he lost +consciousness. +</P> + +<P> +He slept twenty hours. Then he arose, thirsty, hungry, lame, overworn, +and presently went in search of Belding and the business of the day. +</P> + +<P> +"Your Yaqui was near dead, but guess we'll pull him through," said +Belding. "Dick, the other day that Indian came here by rail and foot +and Lord only knows how else, all the way from New Orleans! He spoke +English better than most Indians, and I know a little Yaqui. I got +some of his story and guessed the rest. The Mexican government is +trying to root out the Yaquis. A year ago his tribe was taken in +chains to a Mexican port on the Gulf. The fathers, mothers, children, +were separated and put in ships bound for Yucatan. There they were +made slaves on the great henequen plantations. They were driven, +beaten, starved. Each slave had for a day's rations a hunk of sour +dough, no more. Yucatan is low, marshy, damp, hot. The Yaquis were +bred on the high, dry Sonoran plateau, where the air is like a knife. +They dropped dead in the henequen fields, and their places were taken +by more. You see, the Mexicans won't kill outright in their war of +extermination of the Yaquis. They get use out of them. It's a +horrible thing.... Well, this Yaqui you brought in escaped from his +captors, got aboard ship, and eventually reached New Orleans. Somehow +he traveled way out here. I gave him a bag of food, and he went off +with a Papago Indian. He was a sick man then. And he must have fallen +foul of some Greasers." +</P> + +<P> +Gale told of his experience at Papago Well. +</P> + +<P> +"That raider who tried to grind the Yaqui under a horse's hoofs—he was +a hyena!" concluded Gale, shuddering. "I've seen some blood spilled +and some hard sights, but that inhuman devil took my nerve. Why, as I +told you, Belding, I missed a shot at him—not twenty paces!" +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, in cases like that the sooner you clean up the bunch the +better," said Belding, grimly. "As for hard sights—wait till you've +seen a Yaqui do up a Mexican. Bar none, that is the limit! It's blood +lust, a racial hate, deep as life, and terrible. The Spaniards crushed +the Aztecs four or five hundred years ago. That hate has had time to +grow as deep as a cactus root. The Yaquis are mountain Aztecs. +Personally, I think they are noble and intelligent, and if let alone +would be peaceable and industrious. I like the few I've known. But +they are a doomed race. Have you any idea what ailed this Yaqui before +the raider got in his work?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I haven't. I noticed the Indian seemed in bad shape; but I +couldn't tell what was the matter with him." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my idea is another personal one. Maybe it's off color. I think +that Yaqui was, or is, for that matter, dying of a broken heart. All +he wanted was to get back to his mountains and die. There are no Yaquis +left in that part of Sonora he was bound for." +</P> + +<P> +"He had a strange look in his eyes," said Gale, thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I noticed that. But all Yaquis have a wild look. Dick, if I'm +not mistaken, this fellow was a chief. It was a waste of strength, a +needless risk for you to save him, pack him back here. But, damn the +whole Greaser outfit generally, I'm glad you did!" +</P> + +<P> +Gale remembered then to speak of his concern for Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy didn't go out to meet you," replied Belding. "I knew you were +due in any day, and, as there's been trouble between here and Casita, I +sent him that way. Since you've been out our friend Carter lost a +bunch of horses and a few steers. Did you get a good look at the +horses those raiders had at Papago Well?" +</P> + +<P> +Dick had learned, since he had become a ranger, to see everything with +keen, sure, photographic eye; and, being put to the test so often +required of him, he described the horses as a dark-colored drove, +mostly bays and blacks, with one spotted sorrel. +</P> + +<P> +"Some of Carter's—sure as you're born!" exclaimed Belding. "His bunch +has been split up, divided among several bands of raiders. He has a +grass ranch up here in Three Mile Arroyo. It's a good long ride in U. +S. territory from the border." +</P> + +<P> +"Those horses I saw will go home, don't you think?" asked Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. They can't be caught or stopped." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what shall I do now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Stay here and rest," bluntly replied Belding. "You need it. Let the +women fuss over you—doctor you a little. When Jim gets back from +Sonoyta I'll know more about what we ought to do. By Lord! it seems +our job now isn't keeping Japs and Chinks out of the U. S. It's keeping +our property from going into Mexico." +</P> + +<P> +"Are there any letters for me?" asked Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"Letters! Say, my boy, it'd take something pretty important to get me +or any man here back Casita way. If the town is safe these days the +road isn't. It's a month now since any one went to Casita." +</P> + +<P> +Gale had received several letters from his sister Elsie, the last of +which he had not answered. There had not been much opportunity for +writing on his infrequent returns to Forlorn River; and, besides, Elsie +had written that her father had stormed over what he considered Dick's +falling into wild and evil ways. +</P> + +<P> +"Time flies," said Dick. "George Thorne will be free before long, and +he'll be coming out. I wonder if he'll stay here or try to take +Mercedes away?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he'll stay right here in Forlorn River, if I have any say," +replied Belding. "I'd like to know how he'd ever get that Spanish girl +out of the country now, with all the trails overrun by rebels and +raiders. It'd be hard to disguise her. Say, Dick, maybe we can get +Thorne to stay here. You know, since you've discovered the possibility +of a big water supply, I've had dreams of a future for Forlorn +River.... If only this war was over! Dick, that's what it +is—war—scattered war along the northern border of Mexico from gulf to +gulf. What if it isn't our war? We're on the fringe. No, we can't +develop Forlorn River until there's peace." +</P> + +<P> +The discovery that Belding alluded to was one that might very well lead +to the making of a wonderful and agricultural district of Altar Valley. +While in college Dick Gale had studied engineering, but he had not set +the scientific world afire with his brilliance. Nor after leaving +college had he been able to satisfy his father that he could hold a +job. Nevertheless, his smattering of engineering skill bore fruit in +the last place on earth where anything might have been expected of +it—in the desert. Gale had always wondered about the source of +Forlorn River. No white man or Mexican, or, so far as known, no +Indian, had climbed those mighty broken steps of rock called No Name +Mountains, from which Forlorn River was supposed to come. Gale had +discovered a long, narrow, rock-bottomed and rock-walled gulch that +could be dammed at the lower end by the dynamiting of leaning cliffs +above. An inexhaustible supply of water could be stored there. +Furthermore, he had worked out an irrigation plan to bring the water +down for mining uses, and to make a paradise out of that part of Altar +Valley which lay in the United States. Belding claimed there was gold +in the arroyos, gold in the gulches, not in quantities to make a +prospector rejoice, but enough to work for. And the soil on the higher +levels of Altar Valley needed only water to make it grow anything the +year round. Gale, too, had come to have dreams of a future for Forlorn +River. +</P> + +<P> +On the afternoon of the following day Ladd unexpectedly appeared +leading a lame and lathered horse into the yard. Belding and Gale, who +were at work at the forge, looked up and were surprised out of speech. +The legs of the horse were raw and red, and he seemed about to drop. +Ladd's sombrero was missing; he wore a bloody scarf round his head; +sweat and blood and dust had formed a crust on his face; little streams +of powdery dust slid from him; and the lower half of his scarred chaps +were full of broken white thorns. +</P> + +<P> +"Howdy, boys," he drawled. "I shore am glad to see you all." +</P> + +<P> +"Where'n hell's your hat?" demanded Belding, furiously. It was a +ridiculous greeting. But Belding's words signified little. The dark +shade of worry and solicitude crossing his face told more than his +black amaze. +</P> + +<P> +The ranger stopped unbuckling the saddle girths, and, looking at +Belding, broke into his slow, cool laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, you recollect that whopper of a saguaro up here where Carter's +trail branches off the main trail to Casita? Well, I climbed it an' +left my hat on top for a woodpecker's nest." +</P> + +<P> +"You've been running—fighting?" queried Belding, as if Ladd had not +spoken at all. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon it'll dawn on you after a while," replied Ladd, slipping the +saddle. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, go in the house to the women," said Belding. "I'll tend to +your horse." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore, Tom, in a minute. I've been down the road. An' I found hoss +tracks an' steer tracks goin' across the line. But I seen no sign of +raiders till this mornin'. Slept at Carter's last night. That raid the +other day cleaned him out. He's shootin' mad. Well, this mornin' I +rode plumb into a bunch of Carter's hosses, runnin' wild for home. +Some Greasers were tryin' to head them round an' chase them back across +the line. I rode in between an' made matters embarrassin'. Carter's +hosses got away. Then me an' the Greasers had a little game of hide +an' seek in the cactus. I was on the wrong side, an' had to break +through their line to head toward home. We run some. But I had a +closer call than I'm stuck on havin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, you wouldn't have any such close calls if you'd ride one of my +horses," expostulated Belding. "This broncho of yours can run, and +Lord knows he's game. But you want a big, strong horse, Mexican bred, +with cactus in his blood. Take one of the bunch—Bull, White Woman, +Blanco Jose." +</P> + +<P> +"I had a big, fast horse a while back, but I lost him," said Ladd. +"This bronch ain't so bad. Shore Bull an' that white devil with his +Greaser name—they could run down my bronch, kill him in a mile of +cactus. But, somehow, Tom, I can't make up my mind to take one of them +grand white hosses. Shore I reckon I'm kinda soft. An' mebbe I'd +better take one before the raiders clean up Forlorn River." +</P> + +<P> +Belding cursed low and deep in his throat, and the sound resembled +muttering thunder. The shade of anxiety on his face changed to one of +dark gloom and passion. Next to his wife and daughter there was +nothing so dear to him as those white horses. His father and +grandfather—all his progenitors of whom he had trace—had been lovers +of horses. It was in Belding's blood. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, before it's too late can't I get the whites away from the +border?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe it ain't too late; but where can we take them?" +</P> + +<P> +"To San Felipe?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. We've more chance to hold them here." +</P> + +<P> +"To Casita and the railroad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Afraid to risk gettin' there. An' the town's full of rebels who need +hosses." +</P> + +<P> +"Then straight north?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shore man, you're crazy. Ther's no water, no grass for a hundred +miles. I'll tell you, Tom, the safest plan would be to take the white +bunch south into Sonora, into some wild mountain valley. Keep them +there till the raiders have traveled on back east. Pretty soon there +won't be any rich pickin' left for these Greasers. An' then they'll +ride on to new ranges." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, I don't know the trails into Sonora. An' I can't trust a +Mexican or a Papago. Between you and me, I'm afraid of this Indian who +herds for me." +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon we'd better stick here, Tom.... Dick, it's some good to see +you again. But you seem kinda quiet. Shore you get quieter all the +time. Did you see any sign of Jim out Sonoyta way?" +</P> + +<P> +Then Belding led the lame horse toward the watering-trough, while the +two rangers went toward the house, Dick was telling Ladd about the +affair at Papago Well when they turned the corner under the porch. +Nell was sitting in the door. She rose with a little scream and came +flying toward them. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I'll get it," whispered Ladd. "The women'll make a baby of me. +An' shore I can't help myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Laddy, you've been hurt!" cried Nell, as with white cheeks and +dilating eyes she ran to him and caught his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, I only run a thorn in my ear." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Laddy, don't lie! You've lied before. I know you're hurt. Come +in to mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore, Nell, it's only a scratch. My bronch throwed me." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, no horse every threw you." The girl's words and accusing eyes +only hurried the ranger on to further duplicity. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe I got it when I was ridin' hard under a mesquite, an' a sharp +snag—" +</P> + +<P> +"You've been shot!... Mama, here's Laddy, and he's been shot!.... Oh, +these dreadful days we're having! I can't bear them! Forlorn River +used to be so safe and quiet. Nothing happened. But now! Jim comes +home with a bloody hole in him—then Dick—then Laddy!.... Oh, I'm +afraid some day they'll never come home." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The morning was bright, still, and clear as crystal. The heat waves +had not yet begun to rise from the desert. +</P> + +<P> +A soft gray, white, and green tint perfectly blended lay like a mantle +over mesquite and sand and cactus. The canyons of distant mountain +showed deep and full of lilac haze. +</P> + +<P> +Nell sat perched high upon the topmost bar of the corral gate. Dick +leaned beside her, now with his eyes on her face, now gazing out into +the alfalfa field where Belding's thoroughbreds grazed and pranced and +romped and whistled. Nell watched the horses. She loved them, never +tired of watching them. But her gaze was too consciously averted from +the yearning eyes that tried to meet hers to be altogether natural. +</P> + +<P> +A great fenced field of dark velvety green alfalfa furnished a rich +background for the drove of about twenty white horses. Even without +the horses the field would have presented a striking contrast to the +surrounding hot, glaring blaze of rock and sand. Belding had bred a +hundred or more horses from the original stock he had brought up from +Durango. His particular interest was in the almost unblemished whites, +and these he had given especial care. He made a good deal of money +selling this strain to friends among the ranchers back in Texas. No +mercenary consideration, however, could have made him part with the +great, rangy white horses he had gotten from the Durango breeder. He +called them Blanco Diablo (White Devil), Blanco Sol (White Sun), Blanca +Reina (White Queen), Blanca Mujer (White Woman), and El Gran Toro +Blanco (The Big White Bull). Belding had been laughed at by ranchers +for preserving the sentimental Durango names, and he had been +unmercifully ridiculed by cowboys. But the names had never been +changed. +</P> + +<P> +Blanco Diablo was the only horse in the field that was not free to roam +and graze where he listed. A stake and a halter held him to one +corner, where he was severely let alone by the other horses. He did not +like this isolation. Blanco Diablo was not happy unless he was +running, or fighting a rival. Of the two he would rather fight. If +anything white could resemble a devil, this horse surely did. He had +nothing beautiful about him, yet he drew the gaze and held it. The +look of him suggested discontent, anger, revolt, viciousness. When he +was not grazing or prancing, he held his long, lean head level, +pointing his nose and showing his teeth. Belding's favorite was almost +all the world to him, and he swore Diablo could stand more heat and +thirst and cactus than any other horse he owned, and could run down and +kill any horse in the Southwest. The fact that Ladd did not agree with +Belding on these salient points was a great disappointment, and also a +perpetual source for argument. Ladd and Lash both hated Diablo; and +Dick Gale, after one or two narrow escapes from being brained, had +inclined to the cowboys' side of the question. +</P> + +<P> +El Gran Toro Blanco upheld his name. He was a huge, massive, +thick-flanked stallion, a kingly mate for his full-bodied, glossy +consort, Blanca Reina. The other mare, Blanca Mujer, was dazzling +white, without a spot, perfectly pointed, racy, graceful, elegant, yet +carrying weight and brawn and range that suggested her relation to her +forebears. +</P> + +<P> +The cowboys admitted some of Belding's claims for Diablo, but they gave +loyal and unshakable allegiance to Blanco Sol. As for Dick, he had to +fight himself to keep out of arguments, for he sometimes imagined he +was unreasonable about the horse. Though he could not understand +himself, he knew he loved Sol as a man loved a friend, a brother. Free +of heavy saddle and the clumsy leg shields, Blanco Sol was somehow +all-satisfying to the eyes of the rangers. As long and big as Diablo +was, Sol was longer and bigger. Also, he was higher, more powerful. +He looked more a thing for action—speedier. At a distance the +honorable scars and lumps that marred his muscular legs were not +visible. He grazed aloof from the others, and did not cavort nor +prance; but when he lifted his head to whistle, how wild he appeared, +and proud and splendid! The dazzling whiteness of the desert sun shone +from his coat; he had the fire and spirit of the desert in his noble +head, its strength and power in his gigantic frame. +</P> + +<P> +"Belding swears Sol never beat Diablo," Dick was saying. +</P> + +<P> +"He believes it," replied Nell. "Dad is queer about that horse." +</P> + +<P> +"But Laddy rode Sol once—made him beat Diablo. Jim saw the race." +</P> + +<P> +Nell laughed. "I saw it, too. For that matter, even I have made Sol +put his nose before Dad's favorite." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to have seen that. Nell, aren't you ever going to ride with +me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Some day—when it's safe." +</P> + +<P> +"Safe!" +</P> + +<P> +"I—I mean when the raiders have left the border." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm glad you mean that," said Dick, laughing. "Well, I've often +wondered how Belding ever came to give Blanco Sol to me." +</P> + +<P> +"He was jealous. I think he wanted to get rid of Sol." +</P> + +<P> +"No? Why, Nell, he'd give Laddy or Jim one of the whites any day." +</P> + +<P> +"Would he? Not Devil or Queen or White Woman. Never in this world! +But Dad has lots of fast horses the boys could pick from. Dick, I tell +you Dad wants Blanco Sol to run himself out—lose his speed on the +desert. Dad is just jealous for Diablo." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe. He surely has strange passion for horses. I think I +understand better than I used to. I owned a couple of racers once. +They were just animals to me, I guess. But Blanco Sol!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you love him?" asked Nell; and now a warm, blue flash of eyes swept +his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Do I? Well, rather." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad. Sol has been finer, a better horse since you owned him. He +loves you, Dick. He's always watching for you. See him raise his head. +That's for you. I know as much about horses as Dad or Laddy any day. +Sol always hated Diablo, and he never had much use for Dad." +</P> + +<P> +Dick looked up at her. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll be—be pretty hard to leave Sol—when I go away." +</P> + +<P> +Nell sat perfectly still. +</P> + +<P> +"Go away?" she asked, presently, with just the faintest tremor in her +voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Sometimes when I get blue—as I am to-day—I think I'll go. But, +in sober truth, Nell, it's not likely that I'll spend all my life here." +</P> + +<P> +There was no answer to this. Dick put his hand softly over hers; and, +despite her half-hearted struggle to free it, he held on. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell!" +</P> + +<P> +Her color fled. He saw her lips part. Then a heavy step on the +gravel, a cheerful, complaining voice interrupted him, and made him +release Nell and draw back. Belding strode into view round the adobe +shed. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, Dick, that darned Yaqui Indian can't be driven or hired or coaxed +to leave Forlorn River. He's well enough to travel. I offered him +horse, gun, blanket, grub. But no go." +</P> + +<P> +"That's funny," replied Gale, with a smile. "Let him stay—put him to +work." +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't strike me funny. But I'll tell you what I think. That +poor, homeless, heartbroken Indian has taken a liking to you, Dick. +These desert Yaquis are strange folk. I've heard strange stories about +them. I'd believe 'most anything. And that's how I figure his case. +You saved his life. That sort of thing counts big with any Indian, +even with an Apache. With a Yaqui maybe it's of deep significance. +I've heard a Yaqui say that with his tribe no debt to friend or foe +ever went unpaid. Perhaps that's what ails this fellow." +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, don't laugh," said Nell. "I've noticed the Yaqui. It's +pathetic the way his great gloomy eyes follow you." +</P> + +<P> +"You've made a friend," continued Belding. "A Yaqui could be a real +friend on this desert. If he gets his strength back he'll be of +service to you, don't mistake me. He's welcome here. But you're +responsible for him, and you'll have trouble keeping him from +massacring all the Greasers in Forlorn River." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The probability of a visit from the raiders, and a dash bolder than +usual on the outskirts of a ranch, led Belding to build a new corral. +It was not sightly to the eye, but it was high and exceedingly strong. +The gate was a massive affair, swinging on huge hinges and fastening +with heavy chains and padlocks. On the outside it had been completely +covered with barb wire, which would make it a troublesome thing to work +on in the dark. +</P> + +<P> +At night Belding locked his white horses in this corral. The Papago +herdsman slept in the adobe shed adjoining. Belding did not imagine +that any wooden fence, however substantially built, could keep +determined raiders from breaking it down. They would have to take +time, however, and make considerable noise; and Belding relied on these +facts. Belding did not believe a band of night raiders would hold out +against a hot rifle fire. So he began to make up some of the sleep he +had lost. It was noteworthy, however, that Ladd did not share +Belding's sanguine hopes. +</P> + +<P> +Jim Lash rode in, reporting that all was well out along the line toward +the Sonoyta Oasis. Days passed, and Belding kept his rangers home. +Nothing was heard of raiders at hand. Many of the newcomers, both +American and Mexican, who came with wagons and pack trains from Casita +stated that property and life were cheap back in that rebel-infested +town. +</P> + +<P> +One January morning Dick Gale was awakened by a shrill, menacing cry. +He leaped up bewildered and frightened. He heard Belding's booming +voice answering shouts, and rapid steps on flagstones. But these had +not awakened him. Heavy breaths, almost sobs, seemed at his very door. +In the cold and gray dawn Dick saw something white. Gun in hand, he +bounded across the room. Just outside his door stood Blanco Sol. +</P> + +<P> +It was not unusual for Sol to come poking his head in at Dick's door +during daylight. But now in the early dawn, when he had been locked in +the corral, it meant raiders—no less. Dick called softly to the +snorting horse; and, hurriedly getting into clothes and boots, he went +out with a gun in each hand. Sol was quivering in every muscle. Like +a dog he followed Dick around the house. Hearing shouts in the +direction of the corrals, Gale bent swift steps that way. +</P> + +<P> +He caught up with Jim Lash, who was also leading a white horse. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Jim! Guess it's all over but the fireworks," said Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"I cain't say just what has come off," replied Lash. "I've got the +Bull. Found him runnin' in the yard." +</P> + +<P> +They reached the corral to find Belding shaking, roaring like a madman. +The gate was open, the corral was empty. Ladd stooped over the ground, +evidently trying to find tracks. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon we might jest as well cool off an' wait for daylight," +suggested Jim. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore. They've flown the coop, you can gamble on that. Tom, where's +the Papago?" said Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"He's gone, Laddy—gone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Double-crossed us, eh? I see here's a crowbar lyin' by the gatepost. +That Indian fetched it from the forge. It was used to pry out the +bolts an' steeples. Tom, I reckon there wasn't much time lost forcin' +that gate." +</P> + +<P> +Belding, in shirt sleeves and barefooted, roared with rage. He said he +had heard the horses running as he leaped out of bed. +</P> + +<P> +"What woke you?" asked Laddy. +</P> + +<P> +"Sol. He came whistling for Dick. Didn't you hear him before I called +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hear him! He came thunderin' right under my window. I jumped up in +bed, an' when he let out that blast Jim lit square in the middle of the +floor, an' I was scared stiff. Dick, seein' it was your room he blew +into, what did you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't think. I'm shaking yet, Laddy." +</P> + +<P> +"Boys, I'll bet Sol spilled a few raiders if any got hands on him," +said Jim. "Now, let's sit down an' wait for daylight. It's my idea +we'll find some of the hosses runnin' loose. Tom, you go an' get some +clothes on. It's freezin' cold. An' don't forget to tell the women +folks we're all right." +</P> + +<P> +Daylight made clear some details of the raid. The cowboys found tracks +of eight raiders coming up from the river bed where their horses had +been left. Evidently the Papago had been false to his trust. His few +personal belongings were gone. Lash was correct in his idea of finding +more horses loose in the fields. The men soon rounded up eleven of the +whites, all more or less frightened, and among the number were Queen +and Blanca Mujer. The raiders had been unable to handle more than one +horse for each man. It was bitter irony of fate that Belding should +lose his favorite, the one horse more dear to him than all the others. +Somewhere out on the trail a raider was fighting the iron-jawed savage +Blanco Diablo. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon we're some lucky," observed Jim Lash. +</P> + +<P> +"Lucky ain't enough word," replied Ladd. "You see, it was this way. +Some of the raiders piled over the fence while the others worked on the +gate. Mebbe the Papago went inside to pick out the best hosses. But +it didn't work except with Diablo, an' how they ever got him I don't +know. I'd have gambled it'd take all of eight men to steal him. But +Greasers have got us skinned on handlin' hosses." +</P> + +<P> +Belding was unconsolable. He cursed and railed, and finally declared +he was going to trail the raiders. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, you just ain't agoin' to do nothin' of the kind," said Ladd +coolly. +</P> + +<P> +Belding groaned and bowed his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, you're right," he replied, presently. "I've got to stand it. +I can't leave the women and my property. But it's sure tough. I'm sore +way down deep, and nothin' but blood would ever satisfy me." +</P> + +<P> +"Leave that to me an' Jim," said Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean to do?" demanded Belding, starting up. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I don't know yet.... Give me a light for my pipe. An' Dick, go +fetch out your Yaqui." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE RUNNING OF BLANCO SOL +</H3> + +<P> +THE Yaqui's strange dark glance roved over the corral, the swinging +gate with its broken fastenings, the tracks in the road, and then +rested upon Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Malo," he said, and his Spanish was clear. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore Yaqui, about eight bad men, an' a traitor Indian," said Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"I think he means my herder," added Belding. "If he does, that settles +any doubt it might be decent to have—Yaqui—malo Papago—Si?" +</P> + +<P> +The Yaqui spread wide his hands. Then he bent over the tracks in the +road. They led everywhither, but gradually he worked out of the thick +net to take the trail that the cowboys had followed down to the river. +Belding and the rangers kept close at his heels. Occasionally Dick lent +a helping hand to the still feeble Indian. He found a trampled spot +where the raiders had left their horses. From this point a deeply +defined narrow trail led across the dry river bed. +</P> + +<P> +Belding asked the Yaqui where the raiders would head for in the Sonora +Desert. For answer the Indian followed the trail across the stream of +sand, through willows and mesquite, up to the level of rock and cactus. +At this point he halted. A sand-filled, almost obliterated trail led +off to the left, and evidently went round to the east of No Name +Mountains. To the right stretched the road toward Papago Well and the +Sonoyta Oasis. The trail of the raiders took a southeasterly course +over untrodden desert. The Yaqui spoke in his own tongue, then in +Spanish. +</P> + +<P> +"Think he means slow march," said Belding. "Laddy, from the looks of +that trail the Greasers are having trouble with the horses." +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, shore a boy could see that," replied Laddy. "Ask Yaqui to tell +us where the raiders are headin', an' if there's water." +</P> + +<P> +It was wonderful to see the Yaqui point. His dark hand stretched, he +sighted over his stretched finger at a low white escarpment in the +distance. Then with a stick he traced a line in the sand, and then at +the end of that another line at right angles. He made crosses and +marks and holes, and as he drew the rude map he talked in Yaqui, in +Spanish; with a word here and there in English. Belding translated as +best he could. The raiders were heading southeast toward the railroad +that ran from Nogales down into Sonora. It was four days' travel, bad +trail, good sure waterhole one day out; then water not sure for two +days. Raiders traveling slow; bothered by too many horses, not looking +for pursuit; were never pursued, could be headed and ambushed that +night at the first waterhole, a natural trap in a valley. +</P> + +<P> +The men returned to the ranch. The rangers ate and drank while making +hurried preparations for travel. Blanco Sol and the cowboys' horses +were fed, watered, and saddled. Ladd again refused to ride one of +Belding's whites. He was quick and cold. +</P> + +<P> +"Get me a long-range rifle an' lots of shells. Rustle now," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, you don't want to be weighted down?" protested Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I want a gun that'll outshoot the dinky little carbines an' +muskets used by the rebels. Trot one out an' be quick." +</P> + +<P> +"I've got a .405, a long-barreled heavy rifle that'll shoot a mile. I +use it for mountain sheep. But Laddy, it'll break that bronch's back." +</P> + +<P> +"His back won't break so easy.... Dick, take plenty of shells for your +Remington. An' don't forget your field glass." +</P> + +<P> +In less than an hour after the time of the raid the three rangers, +heavily armed and superbly mounted on fresh horses, rode out on the +trail. As Gale turned to look back from the far bank of Forlorn River, +he saw Nell waving a white scarf. He stood high in his stirrups and +waved his sombrero. Then the mesquites hid the girl's slight figure, +and Gale wheeled grim-faced to follow the rangers. +</P> + +<P> +They rode in single file with Ladd in the lead. He did not keep to the +trail of the raiders all the time. He made short cuts. The raiders +were traveling leisurely, and they evinced a liking for the most level +and least cactus-covered stretches of ground. But the cowboy took a +bee-line course for the white escarpment pointed out by the Yaqui; and +nothing save deep washes and impassable patches of cactus or rocks made +him swerve from it. He kept the broncho at a steady walk over the +rougher places and at a swinging Indian canter over the hard and level +ground. The sun grew hot and the wind began to blow. Dust clouds +rolled along the blue horizon. Whirling columns of sand, like water +spouts at sea, circled up out of white arid basins, and swept away and +spread aloft before the wind. The escarpment began to rise, to change +color, to show breaks upon its rocky face. +</P> + +<P> +Whenever the rangers rode out on the brow of a knoll or ridge or an +eminence, before starting to descend, Ladd required of Gale a long, +careful, sweeping survey of the desert ahead through the field glass. +There were streams of white dust to be seen, streaks of yellow dust, +trailing low clouds of sand over the glistening dunes, but no steadily +rising, uniformly shaped puffs that would tell a tale of moving horses +on the desert. +</P> + +<P> +At noon the rangers got out of the thick cactus. Moreover, the +gravel-bottomed washes, the low weathering, rotting ledges of yellow +rock gave place to hard sandy rolls and bare clay knolls. The desert +resembled a rounded hummocky sea of color. All light shades of blue +and pink and yellow and mauve were there dominated by the glaring white +sun. Mirages glistened, wavered, faded in the shimmering waves of +heat. Dust as fine as powder whiffed up from under the tireless hoofs. +</P> + +<P> +The rangers rode on and the escarpment began to loom. The desert floor +inclined perceptibly upward. When Gale got an unobstructed view of the +slope of the escarpment he located the raiders and horses. In another +hour's travel the rangers could see with naked eyes a long, faint +moving streak of black and white dots. +</P> + +<P> +"They're headin' for that yellow pass," said Ladd, pointing to a break +in the eastern end of the escarpment. "When they get out of sight +we'll rustle. I'm thinkin' that waterhole the Yaqui spoke of lays in +the pass." +</P> + +<P> +The rangers traveled swiftly over the remaining miles of level desert +leading to the ascent of the escarpment. When they achieved the +gateway of the pass the sun was low in the west. Dwarfed mesquite and +greasewood appeared among the rocks. Ladd gave the word to tie up +horses and go forward on foot. +</P> + +<P> +The narrow neck of the pass opened and descended into a valley half a +mile wide, perhaps twice that in length. It had apparently unscalable +slopes of weathered rock leading up to beetling walls. With floor bare +and hard and white, except for a patch of green mesquite near the far +end it was a lurid and desolate spot, the barren bottom of a desert +bowl. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep down, boys" said Ladd. "There's the waterhole an' hosses have +sharp eyes. Shore the Yaqui figgered this place. I never seen its +like for a trap." +</P> + +<P> +Both white and black horses showed against the green, and a thin +curling column of blue smoke rose lazily from amid the mesquites. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon we'd better wait till dark, or mebbe daylight," said Jim Lash. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me figger some. Dick, what do you make of the outlet to this +hole? Looks rough to me." +</P> + +<P> +With his glass Gale studied the narrow construction of walls and +roughened rising floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, it's harder to get out at that end than here," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore that's hard enough. Let me have a look.... Well, boys, it don't +take no figgerin' for this job. Jim, I'll want you at the other end +blockin' the pass when we're ready to start." +</P> + +<P> +"When'll that be?" inquired Jim. +</P> + +<P> +"Soon as it's light enough in the mornin'. That Greaser outfit will +hang till to-morrow. There's no sure water ahead for two days, you +remember." +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon I can slip through to the other end after dark," said Lash, +thoughtfully. "It might get me in bad to go round." +</P> + +<P> +The rangers stole back from the vantage point and returned to their +horses, which they untied and left farther round among broken sections +of cliff. For the horses it was a dry, hungry camp, but the rangers +built a fire and had their short though strengthening meal. +</P> + +<P> +The location was high, and through a break in the jumble of rocks the +great colored void of desert could be seen rolling away endlessly to +the west. The sun set, and after it had gone down the golden tips of +mountains dulled, their lower shadows creeping upward. +</P> + +<P> +Jim Lash rolled in his saddle blanket, his feet near the fire, and went +to sleep. Ladd told Gale to do likewise while he kept the fire up and +waited until it was late enough for Jim to undertake circling round the +raiders. When Gale awakened the night was dark, cold, windy. The +stars shone with white brilliance. Jim was up saddling his horse, and +Ladd was talking low. When Gale rose to accompany them both rangers +said he need not go. But Gale wanted to go because that was the thing +Ladd or Jim would have done. +</P> + +<P> +With Ladd leading, they moved away into the gloom. Advance was +exceedingly slow, careful, silent. Under the walls the blackness +seemed impenetrable. The horse was as cautious as his master. Ladd did +not lose his way, nevertheless he wound between blocks of stone and +clumps of mesquite, and often tried a passage to abandon it. Finally +the trail showed pale in the gloom, and eastern stars twinkled between +the lofty ramparts of the pass. +</P> + +<P> +The advance here was still as stealthily made as before, but not so +difficult or slow. When the dense gloom of the pass lightened, and +there was a wide space of sky and stars overhead, Ladd halted and stood +silent a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Luck again!" he whispered. "The wind's in your face, Jim. The horses +won't scent you. Go slow. Don't crack a stone. Keep close under the +wall. Try to get up as high as this at the other end. Wait till +daylight before riskin' a loose slope. I'll be ridin' the job early. +That's all." +</P> + +<P> +Ladd's cool, easy speech was scarcely significant of the perilous +undertaking. Lash moved very slowly away, leading his horse. The soft +pads of hoofs ceased to sound about the time the gray shape merged into +the black shadows. Then Ladd touched Dick's arm, and turned back up +the trail. +</P> + +<P> +But Dick tarried a moment. He wanted a fuller sense of that +ebony-bottomed abyss, with its pale encircling walls reaching up to the +dusky blue sky and the brilliant stars. There was absolutely no sound. +</P> + +<P> +He retraced his steps down, soon coming up with Ladd; and together they +picked a way back through the winding recesses of cliff. The campfire +was smoldering. Ladd replenished it and lay down to get a few hours' +sleep, while Gale kept watch. The after part of the night wore on till +the paling of stars, the thickening of gloom indicated the dark hour +before dawn. The spot was secluded from wind, but the air grew cold as +ice. Gale spent the time stripping wood from a dead mesquite, in +pacing to and fro, in listening. Blanco Sol stamped occasionally, +which sound was all that broke the stilliness. Ladd awoke before the +faintest gray appeared. The rangers ate and drank. When the black did +lighten to gray they saddled the horses and led them out to the pass +and down to the point where they had parted with Lash. Here they +awaited daylight. +</P> + +<P> +To Gale it seemed long in coming. Such a delay always aggravated the +slow fire within him. He had nothing of Ladd's patience. He wanted +action. The gray shadow below thinned out, and the patch of mesquite +made a blot upon the pale valley. The day dawned. +</P> + +<P> +Still Ladd waited. He grew more silent, grimmer as the time of action +approached. Gale wondered what the plan of attack would be. Yet he +did not ask. He waited ready for orders. +</P> + +<P> +The valley grew clear of gray shadow except under leaning walls on the +eastern side. Then a straight column of smoke rose from among the +mesquites. Manifestly this was what Ladd had been awaiting. He took +the long .405 from its sheath and tried the lever. Then he lifted a +cartridge belt from the pommel of his saddle. Every ring held a shell +and these shells were four inches long. He buckled the belt round him. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Dick." +</P> + +<P> +Ladd led the way down the slope until he reached a position that +commanded the rising of the trail from a level. It was the only place +a man or horse could leave the valley for the pass. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, here's your stand. If any raider rides in range take a crack at +him.... Now I want the lend of your hoss." +</P> + +<P> +"Blanco Sol!" exclaimed Gale, more in amazement that Ladd should ask +for the horse than in reluctance to lend him. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you let me have him?" Ladd repeated, almost curtly. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, Laddy." +</P> + +<P> +A smile momentarily chased the dark cold gloom that had set upon the +ranger's lean face. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I appreciate it, Dick. I know how you care for that hoss. I +guess mebbe Charlie Ladd has loved a hoss! An' one not so good as Sol. +I was only tryin' your nerve, Dick, askin' you without tellin' my plan. +Sol won't get a scratch, you can gamble on that! I'll ride him down +into the valley an' pull the greasers out in the open. They've got +short-ranged carbines. They can't keep out of range of the .405, an' +I'll be takin' the dust of their lead. Sabe, senor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy! You'll run Sol away from the raiders when they chase you? Run +him after them when they try to get away?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shore. I'll run all the time. They can't gain on Sol, an' he'll run +them down when I want. Can you beat it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. It's great!... But suppose a raider comes out on Blanco Diablo?" +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon that's the one weak place in my plan. I'm figgerin' they'll +never think of that till it's too late. But if they do, well, Sol can +outrun Diablo. An' I can always kill the white devil!" +</P> + +<P> +Ladd's strange hate of the horse showed in the passion of his last +words, in his hardening jaw and grim set lips. +</P> + +<P> +Gale's hand went swiftly to the ranger's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy. Don't kill Diablo unless it's to save your life." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. But, by God, if I get a chance I'll make Blanco Sol run +him off his legs!" +</P> + +<P> +He spoke no more and set about changing the length of Sol's stirrups. +When he had them adjusted to suit he mounted and rode down the trail +and out upon the level. He rode leisurely as if merely going to water +his horse. The long black rifle lying across his saddle, however, was +ominous. +</P> + +<P> +Gale securely tied the other horse to a mesquite at hand, and took a +position behind a low rock over which he could easily see and shoot +when necessary. He imagined Jim Lash in a similar position at the far +end of the valley blocking the outlet. Gale had grown accustomed to +danger and the hard and fierce feelings peculiar to it. But the coming +drama was so peculiarly different in promise from all he had +experienced, that he waited the moment of action with thrilling +intensity. In him stirred long, brooding wrath at these border +raiders—affection for Belding, and keen desire to avenge the outrages +he had suffered—warm admiration for the cold, implacable Ladd and his +absolute fearlessness, and a curious throbbing interest in the old, +much-discussed and never-decided argument as to whether Blanco Sol was +fleeter, stronger horse than Blanco Diablo. Gale felt that he was to +see a race between these great rivals—the kind of race that made men +and horses terrible. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd rode a quarter of a mile out upon the flat before anything +happened. Then a whistle rent the still, cold air. A horse had seen +or scented Blanco Sol. The whistle was prolonged, faint, but clear. +It made the blood thrum in Gale's ears. Sol halted. His head shot up +with the old, wild, spirited sweep. Gale leveled his glass at the +patch of mesquites. He saw the raiders running to an open place, +pointing, gesticulating. The glass brought them so close that he saw +the dark faces. Suddenly they broke and fled back among the trees. +Then he got only white and dark gleams of moving bodies. Evidently +that moment was one of boots, guns, and saddles for the raiders. +</P> + +<P> +Lowering the glass, Gale saw that Blanco Sol had started forward again. +His gait was now a canter, and he had covered another quarter of a mile +before horses and raiders appeared upon the outskirts of the mesquites. +Then Blanco Sol stopped. His shrill, ringing whistle came distinctly to +Gale's ears. The raiders were mounted on dark horses, and they stood +abreast in a motionless line. Gale chuckled as he appreciated what a +puzzle the situation presented for them. A lone horseman in the middle +of the valley did not perhaps seem so menacing himself as the +possibilities his presence suggested. +</P> + +<P> +Then Gale saw a raider gallop swiftly from the group toward the farther +outlet of the valley. This might have been owing to characteristic +cowardice; but it was more likely a move of the raiders to make sure of +retreat. Undoubtedly Ladd saw this galloping horseman. A few waiting +moments ensued. The galloping horseman reached the slope, began to +climb. With naked eyes Gale saw a puff of white smoke spring out of +the rocks. Then the raider wheeled his plunging horse back to the +level, and went racing wildly down the valley. +</P> + +<P> +The compact bunch of bays and blacks seemed to break apart and spread +rapidly from the edge of the mesquites. Puffs of white smoke indicated +firing, and showed the nature of the raiders' excitement. They were far +out of ordinary range, but they spurred toward Ladd, shooting as they +rode. Ladd held his ground; the big white horse stood like a rock in +his tracks. Gale saw little spouts of dust rise in front of Blanco Sol +and spread swift as sight to his rear. The raiders' bullets, striking +low, were skipping along the hard, bare floor of the valley. Then Ladd +raised the long rifle. There was no smoke, but three high, spanging +reports rang out. A gap opened in the dark line of advancing horsemen; +then a riderless steed sheered off to the right. Blanco Sol seemed to +turn as on a pivot and charged back toward the lower end of the valley. +He circled over to Gale's right and stretched out into his run. There +were now five raiders in pursuit, and they came sweeping down, yelling +and shooting, evidently sure of their quarry. Ladd reserved his fire. +He kept turning from back to front in his saddle. +</P> + +<P> +Gale saw how the space widened between pursuers and pursued, saw +distinctly when Ladd eased up Sol's running. Manifestly Ladd intended +to try to lead the raiders round in front of Gale's position, and, +presently, Gale saw he was going to succeed. The raiders, riding like +vaqueros, swept on in a curve, cutting off what distance they could. +One fellow, a small, wiry rider, high on his mount's neck like a +jockey, led his companions by many yards. He seemed to be getting the +range of Ladd, or else he shot high, for his bullets did not strike up +the dust behind Sol. Gale was ready to shoot. Blanco Sol pounded by, +his rapid, rhythmic hoofbeats plainly to be heard. He was running +easily. +</P> + +<P> +Gale tried to still the jump of heart and pulse, and turned his eye +again on the nearest pursuer. This raider was crossing in, his carbine +held muzzle up in his right hand, and he was coming swiftly. It was a +long shot, upward of five hundred yards. Gale had not time to adjust +the sights of the Remington, but he knew the gun and, holding coarsely +upon the swiftly moving blot, he began to shoot. The first bullet sent +up a great splash of dust beneath the horse's nose, making him leap as +if to hurdle a fence. The rifle was automatic; Gale needed only to pull +the trigger. He saw now that the raiders behind were in line. Swiftly +he worked the trigger. Suddenly the leading horse leaped convulsively, +not up nor aside, but straight ahead, and then he crashed to the ground +throwing his rider like a catapult, and then slid and rolled. He half +got up, fell back, and kicked; but his rider never moved. +</P> + +<P> +The other raiders sawed the reins of plunging steeds and whirled to +escape the unseen battery. Gale slipped a fresh clip into the magazine +of his rifle. He restrained himself from useless firing and gave eager +eye to the duel below. Ladd began to shoot while Sol was running. The +.405 rang out sharply—then again. The heavy bullets streaked the dust +all the way across the valley. Ladd aimed deliberately and pulled +slowly, unmindful of the kicking dust-puffs behind Sol, and to the +side. The raiders spurred madly in pursuit, loading and firing. They +shot ten times while Ladd shot once, and all in vain; and on Ladd's +sixth shot a raider topped backward, threw his carbine and fell with +his foot catching in a stirrup. The frightened horse plunged away, +dragging him in a path of dust. +</P> + +<P> +Gale had set himself to miss nothing of that fighting race, yet the +action passed too swiftly for clear sight of all. Ladd had emptied a +magazine, and now Blanco Sol quickened and lengthened his running +stride. He ran away from his pursuers. Then it was that the ranger's +ruse was divined by the raiders. They hauled sharply up and seemed to +be conferring. But that was a fatal mistake. Blanco Sol was seen to +break his gait and slow down in several jumps, then square away and +stand stockstill. Ladd fired at the closely grouped raiders. An +instant passed. Then Gale heard the spat of a bullet out in front, saw +a puff of dust, then heard the lead strike the rocks and go whining +away. And it was after this that one of the raiders fell prone from +his saddle. The steel-jacketed .405 had gone through him on its +uninterrupted way to hum past Gale's position. +</P> + +<P> +The remaining two raiders frantically spurred their horses and fled up +the valley. Ladd sent Sol after them. It seemed to Gale, even though +he realized his excitement, that Blanco Sol made those horses seem like +snails. The raiders split, one making for the eastern outlet, the +other circling back of the mesquites. Ladd kept on after the latter. +Then puffs of white smoke and rifle shots faintly crackling told Jim +Lash's hand in the game. However, he succeeded only in driving the +raider back into the valley. But Ladd had turned the other horseman, +and now it appeared the two raiders were between Lash above on the +stony slope and Ladd below on the level. There was desperate riding on +part of the raiders to keep from being hemmed in closer. Only one of +them got away, and he came riding for life down under the eastern wall. +Blanco Sol settled into his graceful, beautiful swing. He gained +steadily, though he was far from extending himself. By Gale's actual +count the raider fired eight times in that race down the valley, and +all his bullets went low and wide. He pitched the carbine away and lost +all control in headlong flight. +</P> + +<P> +Some few hundred rods to the left of Gale the raider put his horse to +the weathered slope. He began to climb. The horse was superb, +infinitely more courageous than his rider. Zigzag they went up and up, +and when Ladd reached the edge of the slope they were high along the +cracked and guttered rampart. Once—twice Ladd raised the long rifle, +but each time he lowered it. Gale divined that the ranger's restraint +was not on account of the Mexican, but for that valiant and faithful +horse. Up and up he went, and the yellow dust clouds rose, and an +avalanche rolled rattling and cracking down the slope. It was beyond +belief that a horse, burdened or unburdened, could find footing and +hold it upon that wall of narrow ledges and inverted, slanting gullies. +But he climbed on, sure-footed as a mountain goat, and, surmounting the +last rough steps, he stood a moment silhouetted against the white sky. +Then he disappeared. Ladd sat astride Blanco Sol gazing upward. How +the cowboy must have honored that raider's brave steed! +</P> + +<P> +Gale, who had been too dumb to shout the admiration he felt, suddenly +leaped up, and his voice came with a shriek: +</P> + +<P> +"LOOK OUT, LADDY!" +</P> + +<P> +A big horse, like a white streak, was bearing down to the right of the +ranger. Blanco Diablo! A matchless rider swung with the horse's +motion. Gale was stunned. Then he remembered the first raider, the +one Lash had shot at and driven away from the outlet. This fellow had +made for the mesquite and had put a saddle on Belding's favorite. In +the heat of the excitement, while Ladd had been intent upon the +climbing horse, this last raider had come down with the speed of the +wind straight for the western outlet. Perhaps, very probably, he did +not know Gale was there to block it; and certainly he hoped to pass +Ladd and Blanco Sol. +</P> + +<P> +A touch of the spur made Sol lunge forward to head off the raider. +Diablo was in his stride, but the distance and angle favored Sol. The +raider had no carbine. He held aloft a gun ready to level it and fire. +He sat the saddle as if it were a stationary seat. Gale saw Ladd lean +down and drop the .405 in the sand. He would take no chances of +wounding Belding's best-loved horse. +</P> + +<P> +Then Gale sat transfixed with suspended breath watching the horses +thundering toward him. Blanco Diablo was speeding low, fleet as an +antelope, fierce and terrible in his devilish action, a horse for war +and blood and death. He seemed unbeatable. Yet to see the +magnificently running Blanco Sol was but to court a doubt. Gale stood +spellbound. He might have shot the raider; but he never thought of +such a thing. The distance swiftly lessened. Plain it was the raider +could not make the opening ahead of Ladd. He saw it and swerved to the +left, emptying his six-shooter as he turned. His dark face gleamed as +he flashed by Gale. +</P> + +<P> +Blanco Sol thundered across. Then the race became straight away up the +valley. Diablo was cold and Sol was hot; therein lay the only handicap +and vantage. It was a fleet, beautiful, magnificent race. Gale +thrilled and exulted and yelled as his horse settled into a steadily +swifter run and began to gain. The dust rolled in a funnel-shaped +cloud from the flying hoofs. The raider wheeled with gun puffing +white, and Ladd ducked low over the neck of his horse. +</P> + +<P> +The gap between Diablo and Sol narrowed yard by yard. At first it had +been a wide one. The raider beat his mount and spurred, beat and +spurred, wheeled round to shoot, then bent forward again. In his circle +at the upper end of the valley he turned far short of the jumble of +rocks. +</P> + +<P> +All the devil that was in Blanco Diablo had its running on the downward +stretch. The strange, cruel urge of bit and spur, the crazed rider who +stuck like a burr upon him, the shots and smoke added terror to his +natural violent temper. He ran himself off his feet. But he could not +elude that relentless horse behind him. The running of Blanco Sol was +that of a sure, remorseless driving power—steadier—stronger—swifter +with every long and wonderful stride. +</P> + +<P> +The raider tried to sheer Diablo off closer under the wall, to make the +slope where his companion had escaped. But Diablo was uncontrollable. +He was running wild, with breaking gait. Closer and closer crept that +white, smoothly gliding, beautiful machine of speed. +</P> + +<P> +Then, like one white flash following another, the two horses gleamed +down the bank of a wash and disappeared in clouds of dust. +</P> + +<P> +Gale watched with strained and smarting eyes. The thick throb in his +ears was pierced by faint sounds of gunshots. Then he waited in almost +unendurable suspense. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly something whiter than the background of dust appeared above +the low roll of valley floor. Gale leveled his glass. In the clear +circle shone Blanco Sol's noble head with its long black bar from ears +to nose. Sol's head was drooping now. Another second showed Ladd +still in the saddle. +</P> + +<P> +The ranger was leading Blanco +Diable—spent—broken—dragging—riderless. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN INTERRUPTED SIESTA +</H3> + +<P> +NO man ever had a more eloquent and beautiful pleader for his cause +than had Dick Gale in Mercedes Castaneda. He peeped through the green, +shining twigs of the palo verde that shaded his door. The hour was +high noon, and the patio was sultry. The only sounds were the hum of +bees in the flowers and the low murmur of the Spanish girl's melodious +voice. Nell lay in the hammock, her hands behind her head, with rosy +cheeks and arch eyes. Indeed, she looked rebellious. Certain it was, +Dick reflected, that the young lady had fully recovered the wilful +personality which had lain dormant for a while. Equally certain it +seemed that Mercedes's earnestness was not apparently having the effect +it should have had. +</P> + +<P> +Dick was inclined to be rebellious himself. Belding had kept the +rangers in off the line, and therefore Dick had been idle most of the +time, and, though he tried hard, he had been unable to stay far from +Nell's vicinity. He believed she cared for him; but he could not catch +her alone long enough to verify his tormenting hope. When alone she +was as illusive as a shadow, as quick as a flash, as mysterious as a +Yaqui. When he tried to catch her in the garden or fields, or corner +her in the patio, she eluded him, and left behind a memory of +dark-blue, haunting eyes. It was that look in her eyes which lent him +hope. At other times, when it might have been possible for Dick to +speak, Nell clung closely to Mercedes. He had long before enlisted the +loyal Mercedes in his cause; but in spite of this Nell had been more +than a match for them both. +</P> + +<P> +Gale pondered over an idea he had long revolved in mind, and which now +suddenly gave place to a decision that made his heart swell and his +cheek burn. He peeped again through the green branches to see Nell +laughing at the fiery Mercedes. +</P> + +<P> +"Qui'en sabe," he called, mockingly, and was delighted with Nell's +quick, amazed start. +</P> + +<P> +Then he went in search of Mrs. Belding, and found her busy in the +kitchen. The relation between Gale and Mrs. Belding had subtly and +incomprehensively changed. He understood her less than when at first +he divined an antagonism in her. If such a thing were possible she had +retained the antagonism while seeming to yield to some influence that +must have been fondness for him. Gale was in no wise sure of her +affection, and he had long imagined she was afraid of him, or of +something that he represented. He had gone on, openly and fairly, +though discreetly, with his rather one-sided love affair; and as time +passed he had grown less conscious of what had seemed her unspoken +opposition. Gale had come to care greatly for Nell's mother. Not only +was she the comfort and strength of her home, but also of the +inhabitants of Forlorn River. Indian, Mexican, American were all the +same to her in trouble or illness; and then she was nurse, doctor, +peacemaker, helper. She was good and noble, and there was not a child +or grownup in Forlorn River who did not love and bless her. But Mrs. +Belding did not seem happy. She was brooding, intense, deep, strong, +eager for the happiness and welfare of others; and she was dominated by +a worship of her daughter that was as strange as it was pathetic. Mrs. +Belding seldom smiled, and never laughed. There was always a soft, sad, +hurt look in her eyes. Gale often wondered if there had been other +tragedy in her life than the supposed loss of her father in the desert. +Perhaps it was the very unsolved nature of that loss which made it +haunting. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Belding heard Dick's step as he entered the kitchen, and, looking +up, greeted him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother," began Dick, earnestly. Belding called her that, and so did +Ladd and Lash, but it was the first time for Dick. "Mother—I want to +speak to you." +</P> + +<P> +The only indication Mrs. Belding gave of being started was in her eyes, +which darkened, shadowed with multiplying thought. +</P> + +<P> +"I love Nell," went on Dick, simply, "and I want you to let me ask her +to be my wife." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Belding's face blanched to a deathly white. Gale, thinking with +surprise and concern that she was going to faint, moved quickly toward +her, took her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me. I was blunt.... But I thought you knew." +</P> + +<P> +"I've known for a long time," replied Mrs. Belding. Her voice was +steady, and there was no evidence of agitation except in her pallor. +"Then you—you haven't spoken to Nell?" +</P> + +<P> +Dick laughed. "I've been trying to get a chance to tell her. I +haven't had it yet. But she knows. There are other ways besides +speech. And Mercedes has told her. I hope, I almost believe Nell +cares a little for me." +</P> + +<P> +"I've known that, too, for a long time," said Mrs. Belding, low almost +as a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"You know!" cried Dick, with a glow and rush of feeling. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, you must be very blind not to see what has been plain to all of +us.... I guess—it couldn't have been helped. You're a splendid +fellow. No wonder she loves you." +</P> + +<P> +"Mother! You'll give her to me?" +</P> + +<P> +She drew him to the light and looked with strange, piercing intentness +into his face. Gale had never dreamed a woman's eyes could hold such a +world of thought and feeling. It seemed all the sweetness of life was +there, and all the pain. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you love her?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"With all my heart." +</P> + +<P> +"You want to marry her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, I want to! As much as I want to live and work for her." +</P> + +<P> +"When would you marry her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why!... Just as soon as she will do it. To-morrow!" Dick gave a wild, +exultant little laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick Gale, you want my Nell? You love her just as she is—her +sweetness—her goodness? Just herself, body and soul?... There's +nothing could change you—nothing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dear Mrs. Belding, I love Nell for herself. If she loves me I'll be +the happiest of men. There's absolutely nothing that could make any +difference in me." +</P> + +<P> +"But your people? Oh, Dick, you come of a proud family. I can tell. +I—I once knew a young man like you. A few months can't change +pride—blood. Years can't change them. You've become a ranger. You +love the adventure—the wild life. That won't last. Perhaps you'll +settle down to ranching. I know you love the West. But, Dick, there's +your family—" +</P> + +<P> +"If you want to know anything about my family, I'll tell you," +interrupted Dick, with strong feeling. "I've not secrets about them or +myself. My future and happiness are Nell's to make. No one else shall +count with me." +</P> + +<P> +"Then, Dick—you may have her. God—bless—you—both." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Belding's strained face underwent a swift and mobile relaxation, +and suddenly she was weeping in strangely mingled happiness and +bitterness. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, mother!" Gale could say no more. He did not comprehend a mood +seemingly so utterly at variance with Mrs. Belding's habitual +temperament. But he put his arm around her. In another moment she had +gained command over herself, and, kissing him, she pushed him out of +the door. +</P> + +<P> +"There! Go tell her, Dick... And have some spunk about it!" +</P> + +<P> +Gale went thoughtfully back to his room. He vowed that he would answer +for Nell's happiness, if he had the wonderful good fortune to win her. +Then remembering the hope Mrs. Belding had given him, Dick lost his +gravity in a flash, and something began to dance and ring within him. +He simply could not keep his steps turned from the patio. Every path +led there. His blood was throbbing, his hopes mounting, his spirit +soaring. He knew he had never before entered the patio with that +inspirited presence. +</P> + +<P> +"Now for some spunk!" he said, under his breath. +</P> + +<P> +Plainly he meant his merry whistle and his buoyant step to interrupt +this first languorous stage of the siesta which the girls always took +during the hot hours. Nell had acquired the habit long before Mercedes +came to show how fixed a thing it was in the life of the tropics. But +neither girl heard him. Mercedes lay under the palo verde, her +beautiful head dark and still upon a cushion. Nell was asleep in the +hammock. There was an abandonment in her deep repose, and a faint +smile upon her face. Her sweet, red lips, with the soft, perfect +curve, had always fascinated Dick, and now drew him irresistibly. He +had always been consumed with a desire to kiss her, and now he was +overwhelmed with his opportunity. It would be a terrible thing to do, +but if she did not awaken at once— No, he would fight the temptation. +That would be more than spunk. It would— Suddenly an ugly green fly +sailed low over Nell, appeared about to alight on her. Noiselessly +Dick stepped close to the hammock bent under the tree, and with a sweep +of his hand chased the intruding fly away. But he found himself +powerless to straighten up. He was close to her—bending over her +face—near the sweet lips. The insolent, dreaming smile just parted +them. Then he thought he was lost. But she stirred—he feared she +would awaken. +</P> + +<P> +He had stepped back erect when she opened her eyes. They were sleepy, +yet surprised until she saw him. Then she was wide awake in a second, +bewildered, uncertain. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—you here?" she asked, slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Large as life!" replied Dick, with unusual gayety. +</P> + +<P> +"How long have you been here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just got here this fraction of a second," he replied, lying +shamelessly. +</P> + +<P> +It was evident that she did not know whether or not to believe him, and +as she studied him a slow blush dyed her cheek. +</P> + +<P> +"You are absolutely truthful when you say you just stepped there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course," answered Dick, right glad he did not have to lie +about that. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought—I was—dreaming," she said, and evidently the sound of her +voice reassured her. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you looked as if you were having pleasant dreams," replied Dick. +"So sorry to wake you. I can't see how I came to do it, I was so +quiet. Mercedes didn't wake. Well, I'll go and let you have your +siesta and dreams." +</P> + +<P> +But he did not move to go. Nell regarded him with curious, speculative +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it a lovely day?" queried Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"I think it's hot." +</P> + +<P> +"Only ninety in the shade. And you've told me the mercury goes to one +hundred and thirty in midsummer. This is just a glorious golden day." +</P> + +<P> +"Yesterday was finer, but you didn't notice it." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yesterday was somewhere back in the past—the inconsequential +past." +</P> + +<P> +Nell's sleepy blue eyes opened a little wider. She did not know what +to make of this changed young man. Dick felt gleeful and tried hard to +keep the fact from becoming manifest. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the inconsequential past? You seem remarkably happy to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"I certainly am happy. Adios. Pleasant dreams." +</P> + +<P> +Dick turned away then and left the patio by the opening into the yard. +Nell was really sleepy, and when she had fallen asleep again he would +return. He walked around for a while. Belding and the rangers were +shoeing a broncho. Yaqui was in the field with the horses. Blanco Sol +grazed contently, and now and then lifted his head to watch. His long +ears went up at sight of his master, and he whistled. Presently Dick, +as if magnet-drawn, retraced his steps to the patio and entered +noiselessly. +</P> + +<P> +Nell was now deep in her siesta. She was inert, relaxed, untroubled by +dreams. Her hair was damp on her brow. +</P> + +<P> +Again Nell stirred, and gradually awakened. Her eyes unclosed, humid, +shadowy, unconscious. They rested upon Dick for a moment before they +became clear and comprehensive. He stood back fully ten feet from her, +and to all outside appearances regarded her calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"I've interrupted your siesta again," he said. "Please forgive me. +I'll take myself off." +</P> + +<P> +He wandered away, and when it became impossible for him to stay away +any longer he returned to the patio. +</P> + +<P> +The instant his glance rested upon Nell's face he divined she was +feigning sleep. The faint rose-blush had paled. The warm, rich, +golden tint of her skin had fled. Dick dropped upon his knees and bent +over her. Though his blood was churning in his veins, his breast +laboring, his mind whirling with the wonder of that moment and its +promise, he made himself deliberate. He wanted more than anything he +had ever wanted in his life to see if she would keep up that pretense +of sleep and let him kiss her. She must have felt his breath, for her +hair waved off her brow. Her cheeks were now white. Her breast swelled +and sank. He bent down closer—closer. But he must have been +maddeningly slow, for as he bent still closer Nell's eyes opened, and +he caught a swift purple gaze of eyes as she whirled her head. Then, +with a little cry, she rose and fled. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ROJAS +</H3> + +<P> +NO word from George Thorne had come to Forlorn River in weeks. Gale +grew concerned over the fact, and began to wonder if anything serious +could have happened to him. Mercedes showed a slow, wearing strain. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne's commission expired the end of January, and if he could not get +his discharge immediately, he surely could obtain leave of absence. +Therefore, Gale waited, not without growing anxiety, and did his best +to cheer Mercedes. The first of February came bringing news of rebel +activities and bandit operations in and around Casita, but not a word +from the cavalryman. +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes became silent, mournful. Her eyes were great black windows of +tragedy. Nell devoted herself entirely to the unfortunate girl; Dick +exerted himself to persuade her that all would yet come well; in fact, +the whole household could not have been kinder to a sister or a +daughter. But their united efforts were unavailing. Mercedes seemed +to accept with fatalistic hopelessness a last and crowning misfortune. +</P> + +<P> +A dozen times Gale declared he would ride in to Casita and find out why +they did not hear from Thorne; however, older and wiser heads prevailed +over his impetuosity. Belding was not sanguine over the safety of the +Casita trail. Refugees from there arrived every day in Forlorn River, +and if tales they told were true, real war would have been preferable +to what was going on along the border. Belding and the rangers and the +Yaqui held a consultation. Not only had the Indian become a faithful +servant to Gale, but he was also of value to Belding. Yaqui had all +the craft of his class, and superior intelligence. His knowledge of +Mexicans was second only to his hate of them. And Yaqui, who had been +scouting on all the trails, gave information that made Belding decide +to wait some days before sending any one to Casita. He required +promises from his rangers, particularly Gale, not to leave without his +consent. +</P> + +<P> +It was upon Gale's coming from this conference that he encountered +Nell. Since the interrupted siesta episode she had been more than +ordinarily elusive, and about all he had received from her was a +tantalizing smile from a distance. He got the impression now, however, +that she had awaited him. When he drew close to her he was certain of +it, and he experienced more than surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick," she began, hurriedly. "Dad's not going to send any one to see +about Thorne?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not yet. He thinks it best not to. We all think so. I'm sorry. +Poor Mercedes!" +</P> + +<P> +"I knew it. I tried to coax him to send Laddy or even Yaqui. He +wouldn't listen to me. Dick, Mercedes is dying by inches. Can't you +see what ails her? It's more than love or fear. It's +uncertainty—suspense. Oh, can't we find out for her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, I feel as badly as you about her. I wanted to ride in to +Casita. Belding shut me up quick, the last time." +</P> + +<P> +Nell came close to Gale, clasped his arm. There was no color in her +face. Her eyes held a dark, eager excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, will you slip off without Dad's consent? Risk it! Go to Casita +and find out what's happened to Thorne—at least if he ever started for +Forlorn River?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Nell, I won't do that." +</P> + +<P> +She drew away from him with passionate suddenness. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you afraid?" +</P> + +<P> +This certainly was not the Nell Burton that Gale knew. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm not afraid," Gale replied, a little nettled. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you go—for my sake?" Like lightning her mood changed and she +was close to him again, hands on his, her face white, her whole +presence sweetly alluring. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, I won't disobey Belding," protested Gale. "I won't break my +word." +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, it'll not be so bad as that. But—what if it is?... Go, Dick, +if not for poor Mercedes's sake, then for mine—to please me. +I'll—I'll... you won't lose anything by going. I think I know how +Mercedes feels. Just a word from Thorne or about him would save her. +Take Blanco Sol and go, Dick. What rebel outfit could ever ride you +down on that horse? Why, Dick, if I was up on Sol I wouldn't be afraid +of the whole rebel army." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear girl, it's not a question of being afraid. It's my word—my +duty to Belding." +</P> + +<P> +"You said you loved me. If you love me you will go... You don't love +me!" +</P> + +<P> +Gale could only stare at this transformed girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, listen!... If you go—if you fetch some word of Thorne to +comfort Mercedes, you—well, you will have your reward." +</P> + +<P> +"Nell!" +</P> + +<P> +Her dangerous sweetness was as amazing as this newly revealed character. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, will you go?" +</P> + +<P> +"No-no!" cried Gale, in violence, struggling with himself. "Nell +Burton, I'll tell you this. To have the reward I want would mean +pretty near heaven for me. But not even for that will I break my word +to your father." +</P> + +<P> +She seemed the incarnation of girlish scorn and wilful passion. +</P> + +<P> +"Gracias, senor," she replied, mockingly. "Adios." Then she flashed +out of his sight. +</P> + +<P> +Gale went to his room at once, disturbed and thrilling, and did not +soon recover from that encounter. +</P> + +<P> +The following morning at the breakfast table Nell was not present. Mrs. +Belding evidently considered the fact somewhat unusual, for she called +out into the patio and then into the yard. Then she went to Mercedes's +room. But Nell was not there, either. +</P> + +<P> +"She's in one of her tantrums lately," said Belding. "Wouldn't speak +to me this morning. Let her alone, mother. She's spoiled enough, +without running after her. She's always hungry. She'll be on hand +presently, don't mistake me." +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding Belding's conviction, which Gale shared, Nell did not +appear at all during the hour. When Belding and the rangers went +outside, Yaqui was eating his meal on the bench where he always sat. +</P> + +<P> +"Yaqui—Lluvia d' oro, si?" asked Belding, waving his hand toward the +corrals. The Indian's beautiful name for Nell meant "shower of gold," +and Belding used it in asking Yaqui if he had seen her. He received a +negative reply. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps half an hour afterward, as Gale was leaving his room, he saw +the Yaqui running up the path from the fields. It was markedly out of +the ordinary to see the Indian run. Gale wondered what was the matter. +Yaqui ran straight to Belding, who was at work at his bench under the +wagon shed. In less than a moment Belding was bellowing for his +rangers. Gale got to him first, but Ladd and Lash were not far behind. +</P> + +<P> +"Blanco Sol gone!" yelled Belding, in a rage. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone? In broad daylight, with the Indian a-watch-in?" queried Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"It happened while Yaqui was at breakfast. That's sure. He'd just +watered Sol." +</P> + +<P> +"Raiders!" exclaimed Jim Lash. +</P> + +<P> +"Lord only knows. Yaqui says it wasn't raiders." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe Sol's just walked off somewheres." +</P> + +<P> +"He was haltered in the corral." +</P> + +<P> +"Send Yaqui to find the hoss's trail, an' let's figger," said Ladd. +"Shore this 's no raider job." +</P> + +<P> +In the swift search that ensued Gale did not have anything to say; but +his mind was forming a conclusion. When he found his old saddle and +bridle missing from the peg in the barn his conclusion became a +positive conviction, and it made him, for the moment, cold and sick and +speechless. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, Dick, don't take it so much to heart," said Belding. "We'll +likely find Sol, and if we don't, there's other good horses." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not thinking of Sol," replied Gale. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd cast a sharp glance at Gale, snapped his fingers, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Damn me if I ain't guessed it, too!" +</P> + +<P> +"What's wrong with you locoed gents?" bluntly demanded Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell has slipped away on Sol," answered Dick. +</P> + +<P> +There was a blank pause, which presently Belding broke. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's all right, if Nell's on him. I was afraid we'd lost the +horse." +</P> + +<P> +"Belding, you're trackin' bad," said Ladd, wagging his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell has started for Casita," burst out Gale. "She has gone to fetch +Mercedes some word about Thorne. Oh, Belding, you needn't shake your +head. I know she's gone. She tried to persuade me to go, and was +furious when I wouldn't." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe it," replied Belding, hoarsely. "Nell may have her +temper. She's a little devil at times, but she always had good sense." +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, you can gamble she's gone," said Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"Aw, hell, no! Jim, what do you think?" implored Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon Sol's white head is pointed level an' straight down the +Casita trail. An' Nell can ride. We're losing' time." +</P> + +<P> +That roused Belding to action. +</P> + +<P> +"I say you're all wrong," he yelled, starting for the corrals. "She's +only taking a little ride, same as she's done often. But rustle now. +Find out. Dick, you ride cross the valley. Jim, you hunt up and down +the river. I'll head up San Felipe way. And you, Laddy, take Diablo +and hit the Casita trail. If she really has gone after Thorne you can +catch her in an hour or so." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I'll go," replied Ladd. "But, Beldin', if you're not plumb +crazy you're close to it. That big white devil can't catch Sol. Not in +an hour or a day or a week! What's more, at the end of any runnin' +time, with an even start, Sol will be farther in the lead. An' now +Sol's got an hour's start." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, you mean to say Sol is a faster horse than Diablo?" thundered +Belding, his face purple. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore. I mean to tell you just that there," replied the ranger. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll—I'll bet a—" +</P> + +<P> +"We're wastin' time," curtly interrupted Ladd. "You can gamble on this +if you want to. I'll ride your Blanco Devil as he never was rid +before, 'cept once when a damn sight better hossman than I am couldn't +make him outrun Sol." +</P> + +<P> +Without more words the men saddled and were off, not waiting for the +Yaqui to come in with possible information as to what trail Blanco Sol +had taken. It certainly did not show in the clear sand of the level +valley where Gale rode to and fro. When Gale returned to the house he +found Belding and Lash awaiting him. They did not mention their own +search, but stated that Yaqui had found Blanco Sol's tracks in the +Casita trail. After some consultation Belding decided to send Lash +along after Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +The interminable time that followed contained for Gale about as much +suspense as he could well bear. What astonished him and helped him +greatly to fight off actual distress was the endurance of Nell's mother. +</P> + +<P> +Early on the morning of the second day, Gale, who had acquired an +unbreakable habit of watching, saw three white horses and a bay come +wearily stepping down the road. He heard Blanco Sol's familiar +whistle, and he leaped up wild with joy. The horse was riderless. +Gale's sudden joy received a violent check, then resurged when he saw a +limp white form in Jim Lash's arms. Ladd was supporting a horseman who +wore a military uniform. +</P> + +<P> +Gale shouted with joy and ran into the house to tell the good news. It +was the ever-thoughtful Mrs. Belding who prevented him from rushing in +to tell Mercedes. Then he hurried out into the yard, closely followed +by the Beldings. +</P> + +<P> +Lash handed down a ragged, travel-stained, wan girl into Belding's arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad! Mama!" +</P> + +<P> +It was indeed a repentant Nell, but there was spirit yet in the tired +blue eyes. Then she caught sight of Gale and gave him a faint smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello—Dick." +</P> + +<P> +"Nell!" Gale reached for her hand, held it tightly, and found speech +difficult. +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't worry—about your old horse," she said, as Belding carried +her toward the door. "Oh, Dick! Blanco Sol is—glorious!" +</P> + +<P> +Gale turned to greet his friend. Indeed, it was but a haggard ghost of +the cavalryman. Thorne looked ill or wounded. Gale's greeting was +also a question full of fear. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne's answer was a faint smile. He seemed ready to drop from the +saddle. Gale helped Ladd hold Thorne upon the horse until they reached +the house. Belding came out again. His welcome was checked as he saw +the condition of the cavalryman. Thorne reeled into Dick's arms. But +he was able to stand and walk. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not—hurt. Only weak—starved," he said. "Is Mercedes— Take me +to her." +</P> + +<P> +"She'll be well the minute she sees him," averred Belding, as he and +Gale led the cavalryman to Mercedes's room. There they left him; and +Gale, at least, felt his ears ringing with the girl's broken cry of joy. +</P> + +<P> +When Belding and Gale hurried forth again the rangers were tending the +tired horses. Upon returning to the house Jim Lash calmly lit his +pipe, and Ladd declared that, hungry as he was, he had to tell his +story. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore, Beldin'," began Ladd, "that was funny about Diablo catchin' +Blanco Sol. Funny ain't the word. I nearly laughed myself to death. +Well, I rode in Sol's tracks all the way to Casita. Never seen a rebel +or a raider till I got to town. Figgered Nell made the trip in five +hours. I went straight to the camp of the cavalrymen, an' found them +just coolin' off an' dressin' down their hosses after what looked to me +like a big ride. I got there too late for the fireworks. +</P> + +<P> +"Some soldier took me to an officer's tent. Nell was there, some white +an' all in. She just said, 'Laddy!' Thorne was there, too, an' he was +bein' worked over by the camp doctor. I didn't ask no questions, +because I seen quiet was needed round that tent. After satisfying +myself that Nell was all right, an' Thorne in no danger, I went out. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore there was so darn many fellers who wanted to an' tried to tell +me what'd come off, I thought I'd never find out. But I got the story +piece by piece. An' here's what happened. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell rode Blanco Sol a-tearin' into camp, an' had a crowd round her in +a jiffy. She told who she was, where she'd come from, an' what she +wanted. Well, it seemed a day or so before Nell got there the +cavalrymen had heard word of Thorne. You see, Thorne had left camp on +leave of absence some time before. He was shore mysterious, they said, +an' told nobody where he was goin'. A week or so after he left camp +some Greaser give it away that Rojas had a prisoner in a dobe shack +near his camp. Nobody paid much attention to what the Greaser said. +He wanted money for mescal. An' it was usual for Rojas to have +prisoners. But in a few more days it turned out pretty sure that for +some reason Rojas was holdin' Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +"Now it happened when this news came Colonel Weede was in Nogales with +his staff, an' the officer left in charge didn't know how to proceed. +Rojas's camp was across the line in Mexico, an' ridin' over there was +serious business. It meant a whole lot more than just scatterin' one +Greaser camp. It was what had been botherin' more'n one colonel along +the line. Thorne's feller soldiers was anxious to get him out of a bad +fix, but they had to wait for orders. +</P> + +<P> +"When Nell found out Thorne was bein' starved an' beat in a dobe shack +no more'n two mile across the line, she shore stirred up that cavalry +camp. Shore! She told them soldiers Rojas was holdin' +Thorne—torturin' him to make him tell where Mercedes was. She told +about Mercedes—how sweet an' beautiful she was—how her father had +been murdered by Rojas—how she had been hounded by the bandit—how ill +an' miserable she was, waitin' for her lover. An' she begged the +cavalrymen to rescue Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +"From the way it was told to me I reckon them cavalrymen went up in the +air. Fine, fiery lot of young bloods, I thought, achin' for a scrap. +But the officer in charge, bein' in a ticklish place, still held out +for higher orders. +</P> + +<P> +"Then Nell broke loose. You-all know Nell's tongue is sometimes like a +<i><i>choya</i></i> thorn. I'd have give somethin' to see her work up that soldier +outfit. Nell's never so pretty as when she's mad. An' this last stunt +of hers was no girly tantrum, as Beldin' calls it. She musta been +ragin' with all the hell there's in a woman.... Can't you fellers see +her on Blanco Sol with her eyes turnin' black?" +</P> + +<P> +Ladd mopped his sweaty face with his dusty scarf. He was beaming. He +was growing excited, hurried in his narrative. +</P> + +<P> +"Right out then Nell swore she'd go after Thorne. If them cavalrymen +couldn't ride with a Western girl to save a brother American—let them +hang back! One feller, under orders, tried to stop Blanco Sol. An' +that feller invited himself to the hospital. Then the cavalrymen went +flyin' for their hosses. Mebbe Nell's move was just foxy—woman's +cunnin'. But I'm thinkin' as she felt then she'd have sent Blanco Sol +straight into Rojas's camp, which, I'd forgot to say, was in plain +sight. +</P> + +<P> +"It didn't take long for every cavalryman in that camp to get wind of +what was comin' off. Shore they musta been wild. They strung out +after Nell in a thunderin' troop. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, I wish you fellers could see the lane that bunch of hosses left +in the greasewood an' cactus. Looks like there'd been a cattle +stampede on the desert.... Blanco Sol stayed out in front, you can +gamble on that. Right into Rojas's camp! Sabe, you senors? Gawd +Almighty! I never had grief that 'd hold a candle to this one of bein' +too late to see Nell an' Sol in their one best race. +</P> + +<P> +"Rojas an' his men vamoosed without a shot. That ain't surprisin'. +There wasn't a shot fired by anybody. The cavalrymen soon found Thorne +an' hurried with him back on Uncle Sam's land. Thorne was half naked, +black an' blue all over, thin as a rail. He looked mighty sick when I +seen him first. That was a little after midday. He was given food an' +drink. Shore he seemed a starved man. But he picked up wonderful, an' +by the time Jim came along he was wantin' to start for Forlorn River. +So was Nell. By main strength as much as persuasion we kept the two of +them quiet till next evenin' at dark. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we made as sneaky a start in the dark as Jim an' me could +manage, an' never hit the trail till we was miles from town. Thorne's +nerve held him up for a while. Then all at once he tumbled out of his +saddle. We got him back, an' Lash held him on. Nell didn't give out +till daybreak." +</P> + +<P> +As Ladd paused in his story Belding began to stutter, and finally he +exploded. His mighty utterances were incoherent. But plainly the +wrath he had felt toward the wilful girl was forgotten. Gale remained +gripped by silence. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon you'll all be some surprised when you see Casita," went on +Ladd. "It's half burned an' half tore down. An' the rebels are livin' +fat. There was rumors of another federal force on the road from Casa +Grandes. I seen a good many Americans from interior Mexico, an' the +stories they told would make your hair stand up. They all packed guns, +was fightin' mad at Greasers, an' sore on the good old U. S. But shore +glad to get over the line! Some were waitin' for trains, which don't +run reg'lar no more, an' others were ready to hit the trails north." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, what knocks me is Rojas holding Thorne prisoner, trying to make +him tell where Mercedes had been hidden," said Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore. It 'd knock anybody." +</P> + +<P> +"The bandit's crazy over her. That's the Spanish of it," replied +Belding, his voice rolling. "Rojas is a peon. He's been a slave to +the proud Castilian. He loves Mercedes as he hates her. When I was +down in Durango I saw something of these peons' insane passions. Rojas +wants this girl only to have her, then kill her. It's damn strange, +boys, and even with Thorne here our troubles have just begun." +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, you spoke correct," said Jim Ladd, in his cool drawl. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I'm not sayin' what I think," added Ladd. But the look of him +was not indicative of a tranquil optimism. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne was put to bed in Gale's room. He was very weak, yet he would +keep Mercedes's hand and gaze at her with unbelieving eyes. Mercedes's +failing hold on hope and strength seemed to have been a fantasy; she +was again vivid, magnetic, beautiful, shot through and through with +intense and throbbing life. She induced him to take food and drink. +Then, fighting sleep with what little strength he had left, at last he +succumbed. +</P> + +<P> +For all Dick could ascertain his friend never stirred an eyelash nor a +finger for twenty-seven hours. When he awoke he was pale, weak, but +the old Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Dick; I didn't dream it then," he said. "There you are, and my +darling with the proud, dark eyes—she's here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, you locoed cavalryman." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, what's happened to you? It can't be those clothes and a little +bronze on your face.... Dick, you're older—you've changed. You're not +so thickly built. By Gad, if you don't look fine!" +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks. I'm sorry I can't return the compliment. You're about the +seediest, hungriest-looking fellow I ever saw.... Say, old man, you +must have had a tough time." +</P> + +<P> +A dark and somber fire burned out the happiness in Thorne's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, don't make me—don't let me think of that fiend Rojas!.... I'm +here now. I'll be well in a day or two. Then!..." +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes came in, radiant and soft-voiced. She fell upon her knees +beside Thorne's bed, and neither of them appeared to see Nell enter +with a tray. Then Gale and Nell made a good deal of unnecessary bustle +in moving a small table close to the bed. Mercedes had forgotten for +the moment that her lover had been a starving man. If Thorne remembered +it he did not care. They held hands and looked at each other without +speaking. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, I thought I had it bad," whispered Dick. "But I'm not—" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush. It's beautiful," replied Nell, softly; and she tried to coax +Dick from the room. +</P> + +<P> +Dick, however, thought he ought to remain at least long enough to tell +Thorne that a man in his condition could not exist solely upon love. +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes sprang up blushing with pretty, penitent manner and moving +white hands eloquent of her condition. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mercedes—don't go!" cried Thorne, as she stepped to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor Dick will stay. He is not mucha malo for you—as I am." +</P> + +<P> +Then she smiled and went out. +</P> + +<P> +"Good Lord!" exclaimed Thorne. "How I love her. Dick, isn't she the +most beautiful, the loveliest, the finest—" +</P> + +<P> +"George, I share your enthusiasm," said Dick, dryly, "but Mercedes +isn't the only girl on earth." +</P> + +<P> +Manifestly this was a startling piece of information, and struck Thorne +in more than one way. +</P> + +<P> +"George," went on Dick, "did you happen to observe the girl who saved +your life—who incidentally just fetched in your breakfast?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nell Burton! Why, of course. She's brave, a wonderful girl, and +really nice-looking." +</P> + +<P> +"You long, lean, hungry beggar! That was the young lady who might +answer the raving eulogy you just got out of your system.... I—well, +you haven't cornered the love market!" +</P> + +<P> +Thorne uttered some kind of a sound that his weakened condition would +not allow to be a whoop. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick! Do you mean it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shore do, as Laddy says." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad, Dick, with all my heart. I wondered at the changed look you +wear. Why, boy, you've got a different front.... Call the lady in, and +you bet I'll look her over right. I can see better now." +</P> + +<P> +"Eat your breakfast. There's plenty of time to dazzle you afterward." +</P> + +<P> +Thorne fell to upon his breakfast and made it vanish with magic speed. +Meanwhile Dick told him something of a ranger's life along the border. +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't waste your breath," said Thorne. "I guess I can see. +Belding and those rangers have made you the real thing—the real +Western goods.... What I want to know is all about the girl." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Laddy swears she's got your girl roped in the corral for looks." +</P> + +<P> +"That's not possible. I'll have to talk to Laddy.... But she must be a +wonder, or Dick Gale would never have fallen for her.... Isn't it +great, Dick? I'm here! Mercedes is well—safe! You've got a girl! +Oh!.... But say, I haven't a dollar to my name. I had a lot of money, +Dick, and those robbers stole it, my watch—everything. Damn that +little black Greaser! He got Mercedes's letters. I wish you could +have seen him trying to read them. He's simply nutty over her, Dick. +I could have borne the loss of money and valuables—but those +beautiful, wonderful letters—they're gone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Cheer up. You have the girl. Belding will make you a proposition +presently. The future smiles, old friend. If this rebel business was +only ended!" +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, you're going to be my savior twice over.... Well, now, listen to +me." His gay excitement changed to earnest gravity. "I want to marry +Mercedes at once. Is there a padre here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. But are you wise in letting any Mexican, even a priest, know +Mercedes is hidden in Forlorn River?" +</P> + +<P> +"It couldn't be kept much longer." +</P> + +<P> +Gale was compelled to acknowledge the truth of this statement. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll marry her first, then I'll face my problem. Fetch the padre, +Dick. And ask our kind friends to be witnesses at the ceremony." +</P> + +<P> +Much to Gale's surprise neither Belding nor Ladd objected to the idea +of bringing a padre into the household, and thereby making known to at +least one Mexican the whereabouts of Mercedes Castaneda. Belding's +caution was wearing out in wrath at the persistent unsettled condition +of the border, and Ladd grew only the cooler and more silent as +possibilities of trouble multiplied. +</P> + +<P> +Gale fetched the padre, a little, weazened, timid man who was old and +without interest or penetration. Apparently he married Mercedes and +Thorne as he told his beads or mumbled a prayer. It was Mrs. Belding +who kept the occasion from being a merry one, and she insisted on not +exciting Thorne. Gale marked her unusual pallor and the singular depth +and sweetness of her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, what's the use of making a funeral out of a marriage?" +protested Belding. "A chance for some fun doesn't often come to +Forlorn River. You're a fine doctor. Can't you see the girl is what +Thorne needed? He'll be well to-morrow, don't mistake me." +</P> + +<P> +"George, when you're all right again we'll add something to present +congratulations," said Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"We shore will," put in Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +So with parting jests and smiles they left the couple to themselves. +</P> + +<P> +Belding enjoyed a laugh at his good wife's expense, for Thorne could +not be kept in bed, and all in a day, it seemed, he grew so well and so +hungry that his friends were delighted, and Mercedes was radiant. In a +few days his weakness disappeared and he was going the round of the +fields and looking over the ground marked out in Gale's plan of water +development. Thorne was highly enthusiastic, and at once staked out +his claim for one hundred and sixty acres of land adjoining that of +Belding and the rangers. These five tracts took in all the ground +necessary for their operations, but in case of the success of the +irrigation project the idea was to increase their squatter holdings by +purchase of more land down the valley. A hundred families had lately +moved to Forlorn River; more were coming all the time; and Belding +vowed he could see a vision of the whole Altar Valley green with farms. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile everybody in Belding's household, except the quiet Ladd and +the watchful Yaqui, in the absence of disturbance of any kind along the +border, grew freer and more unrestrained, as if anxiety was slowly +fading in the peace of the present. Jim Lash made a trip to the +Sonoyta Oasis, and Ladd patrolled fifty miles of the line eastward +without incident or sight of raiders. Evidently all the border hawks +were in at the picking of Casita. +</P> + +<P> +The February nights were cold, with a dry, icy, penetrating coldness +that made a warm fire most comfortable. Belding's household usually +congregated in the sitting-room, where burning mesquite logs crackled +in the open fireplace. Belding's one passion besides horses was the +game of checkers, and he was always wanting to play. On this night he +sat playing with Ladd, who never won a game and never could give up +trying. Mrs. Belding worked with her needle, stopping from time to +time to gaze with thoughtful eyes into the fire. Jim Lash smoked his +pipe by the hearth and played with the cat on his knee. Thorne and +Mercedes were at the table with pencil and paper; and he was trying his +best to keep his attention from his wife's beautiful, animated face +long enough to read and write a little Spanish. Gale and Nell sat in a +corner watching the bright fire. +</P> + +<P> +There came a low knock on the door. It may have been an ordinary +knock, for it did not disturb the women; but to Belding and his rangers +it had a subtle meaning. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's that?" asked Belding, as he slowly pushed back his chair and +looked at Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"Yaqui," replied the ranger. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in," called Belding. +</P> + +<P> +The door opened, and the short, square, powerfully built Indian +entered. He had a magnificent head, strangely staring, somber black +eyes, and very darkly bronzed face. He carried a rifle and strode with +impressive dignity. +</P> + +<P> +"Yaqui, what do you want?" asked Belding, and repeated his question in +Spanish. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor Dick," replied the Indian. +</P> + +<P> +Gale jumped up, stifling an exclamation, and he went outdoors with +Yaqui. He felt his arm gripped, and allowed himself to be led away +without asking a question. Yaqui's presence was always one of gloom, +and now his stern action boded catastrophe. Once clear of trees he +pointed to the level desert across the river, where a row of campfires +shone bright out of the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"Raiders!" ejaculated Gale. +</P> + +<P> +Then he cautioned Yaqui to keep sharp lookout, and, hurriedly returning +to the house, he called the men out and told them there were rebels or +raiders camping just across the line. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd did not say a word. Belding, with an oath, slammed down his cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew it was too good to last.... Dick, you and Jim stay here while +Laddy and I look around." +</P> + +<P> +Dick returned to the sitting-room. The women were nervous and not to +be deceived. So Dick merely said Yaqui had sighted some lights off in +the desert, and they probably were campfires. Belding did not soon +return, and when he did he was alone, and, saying he wanted to consult +with the men, he sent Mrs. Belding and the girls to their rooms. His +gloomy anxiety had returned. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy's gone over to scout around and try to find out who the outfit +belongs to and how many are in it," said Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon if they're raiders with bad intentions we wouldn't see no +fires," remarked Jim, calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"It 'd be useless, I suppose, to send for the cavalry," said Gale. +"Whatever's coming off would be over before the soldiers could be +notified, let alone reach here." +</P> + +<P> +"Hell, fellows! I don't look for an attack on Forlorn River," burst +out Belding. "I can't believe that possible. These rebel-raiders have +a little sense. They wouldn't spoil their game by pulling U. S. +soldiers across the line from Yuma to El Paso. But, as Jim says, if +they wanted to steal a few horses or cattle they wouldn't build fires. +I'm afraid it's—" +</P> + +<P> +Belding hesitated and looked with grim concern at the cavalryman. +</P> + +<P> +"What?" queried Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid it's Rojas." +</P> + +<P> +Thorne turned pale but did not lose his nerve. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought of that at once. If true, it'll be terrible for Mercedes +and me. But Rojas will never get his hands on my wife. If I can't +kill him, I'll kill her!... Belding, this is tough on you—this risk we +put upon your family. I regret—" +</P> + +<P> +"Cut that kind of talk," replied Belding, bluntly. "Well, if it is +Rojas he's acting damn strange for a raider. That's what worries me. +We can't do anything but wait. With Laddy and Yaqui out there we won't +be surprised. Let's take the best possible view of the situation until +we know more. That'll not likely be before to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +The women of the house might have gotten some sleep that night, but it +was certain the men did not get any. Morning broke cold and gray, the +19th of February. Breakfast was prepared earlier than usual, and an +air of suppressed waiting excitement pervaded the place. Otherwise the +ordinary details of the morning's work continued as on any other day. +Ladd came in hungry and cold, and said the Mexicans were not breaking +camp. He reported a good-sized force of rebels, and was taciturn as to +his idea of forthcoming events. +</P> + +<P> +About an hour after sunrise Yaqui ran in with the information that part +of the rebels were crossing the river. +</P> + +<P> +"That can't mean a fight yet," declared Belding. "But get in the +house, boys, and make ready anyway. I'll meet them." +</P> + +<P> +"Drive them off the place same as if you had a company of soldiers +backin' you," said Ladd. "Don't give them an inch. We're in bad, and +the bigger bluff we put up the more likely our chance." +</P> + +<P> +"Belding, you're an officer of the United States. Mexicans are much +impressed by show of authority. I've seen that often in camp," said +Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know the white-livered Greasers better than any of you, don't +mistake me," replied Belding. He was pale with rage, but kept command +over himself. +</P> + +<P> +The rangers, with Yaqui and Thorne, stationed themselves at the several +windows of the sitting-room. Rifles and smaller arms and boxes of +shells littered the tables and window seats. No small force of +besiegers could overcome a resistance such as Belding and his men were +capable of making. +</P> + +<P> +"Here they come, boys," called Gale, from his window. +</P> + +<P> +"Rebel-raiders I should say, Laddy." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore. An' a fine outfit of buzzards!" +</P> + +<P> +"Reckon there's about a dozen in the bunch," observed the calm Lash. +"Some hosses they're ridin'. Where 'n the hell do they get such +hosses, anyhow?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shore, Jim, they work hard an' buy 'em with real silver pesos," +replied Ladd, sarcastically. +</P> + +<P> +"Do any of you see Rojas?" whispered Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +"Nix. No dandy bandit in that outfit." +</P> + +<P> +"It's too far to see," said Gale. +</P> + +<P> +The horsemen halted at the corrals. They were orderly and showed no +evidence of hostility. They were, however, fully armed. Belding +stalked out to meet them. Apparently a leader wanted to parley with +him, but Belding would hear nothing. He shook his head, waved his +arms, stamped to and fro, and his loud, angry voice could be heard +clear back at the house. Whereupon the detachment of rebels retired to +the bank of the river, beyond the white post that marked the boundary +line, and there they once more drew rein. Belding remained by the +corrals watching them, evidently still in threatening mood. Presently a +single rider left the troop and trotted his horse back down the road. +When he reached the corrals he was seen to halt and pass something to +Belding. Then he galloped away to join his comrades. +</P> + +<P> +Belding looked at whatever it was he held in his hand, shook his burley +head, and started swiftly for the house. He came striding into the +room holding a piece of soiled paper. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't read it and don't know as I want to," he said, savagely. +</P> + +<P> +"Beldin', shore we'd better read it," replied Ladd. "What we want is a +line on them Greasers. Whether they're Campo's men or Salazar's, or +just a wanderin' bunch of rebels—or Rojas's bandits. Sabe, senor?" +</P> + +<P> +Not one of the men was able to translate the garbled scrawl. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore Mercedes can read it," said Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne opened a door and called her. She came into the room followed +by Nell and Mrs. Belding. Evidently all three divined a critical +situation. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear, we want you to read what's written on this paper," said +Thorne, as he led her to the table. "It was sent in by rebels, +and—and we fear contains bad news for us." +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes gave the writing one swift glance, then fainted in Thorne's +arms. He carried her to a couch, and with Nell and Mrs. Belding began +to work over her. +</P> + +<P> +Belding looked at his rangers. It was characteristic of the man that, +now when catastrophe appeared inevitable, all the gloom and care and +angry agitation passed from him. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, it's Rojas all right. How many men has he out there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe twenty. Not more." +</P> + +<P> +"We can lick twice that many Greasers." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore." +</P> + +<P> +Jim Lash removed his pipe long enough to speak. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon. But it ain't sense to start a fight when mebbe we can avoid +it." +</P> + +<P> +"What's your idea?" +</P> + +<P> +"Let's stave the Greaser off till dark. Then Laddy an' me an' Thorne +will take Mercedes an' hit the trail for Yuma." +</P> + +<P> +"Camino del Diablo! That awful trail with a woman! Jim, do you forget +how many hundreds of men have perished on the Devil's Road?" +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon I ain't forgettin' nothin'," replied Jim. "The waterholes +are full now. There's grass, an' we can do the job in six days." +</P> + +<P> +"It's three hundred miles to Yuma." +</P> + +<P> +"Beldin', Jim's idea hits me pretty reasonable," interposed Ladd. "Lord +knows that's about the only chance we've got except fightin'." +</P> + +<P> +"But suppose we do stave Rojas off, and you get safely away with +Mercedes. Isn't Rojas going to find it out quick? Then what'll he try +to do to us who're left here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon he'd find out by daylight," replied Jim. "But, Tom, he ain't +agoin' to start a scrap then. He'd want time an' hosses an' men to +chase us out on the trail. You see, I'm figgerin' on the crazy Greaser +wantin' the girl. I reckon he'll try to clean up here to get her. But +he's too smart to fight you for nothin'. Rojas may be nutty about +women, but he's afraid of the U. S. Take my word for it he'd discover +the trail in the mornin' an' light out on it. I reckon with ten hours' +start we could travel comfortable." +</P> + +<P> +Belding paced up and down the room. Jim and Ladd whispered together. +Gale walked to the window and looked out at the distant group of +bandits, and then turned his gaze to rest upon Mercedes. She was +conscious now, and her eyes seemed all the larger and blacker for the +whiteness of her face. Thorne held her hands, and the other women were +trying to still her tremblings. +</P> + +<P> +No one but Gale saw the Yaqui in the background looking down upon the +Spanish girl. All of Yaqui's looks were strange; but this singularly +so. Gale marked it, and felt he would never forget. Mercedes's beauty +had never before struck him as being so exquisite, so alluring as now +when she lay stricken. Gale wondered if the Indian was affected by her +loveliness, her helplessness, or her terror. Yaqui had seen Mercedes +only a few times, and upon each of these he had appeared to be +fascinated. Could the strange Indian, because his hate for Mexicans +was so great, be gloating over her misery? Something about Yaqui—a +noble austerity of countenance—made Gale feel his suspicion unjust. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Belding called his rangers to him, and then Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen to this," he said, earnestly. "I'll go out and have a talk +with Rojas. I'll try to reason with him; tell him to think a long time +before he sheds blood on Uncle Sam's soil. That he's now after an +American's wife! I'll not commit myself, nor will I refuse outright to +consider his demands, nor will I show the least fear of him. I'll play +for time. If my bluff goes through... well and good.... After dark the +four of you, Laddy, Jim, Dick, and Thorne, will take Mercedes and my +best white horses, and, with Yaqui as guide, circle round through Altar +Valley to the trail, and head for Yuma.... Wait now, Laddy. Let me +finish. I want you to take the white horses for two reasons—to save +them and to save you. Savvy? If Rojas should follow on my horses he'd +be likely to catch you. Also, you can pack a great deal more than on +the bronchs. Also, the big horses can travel faster and farther on +little grass and water. I want you to take the Indian, because in a +case of this kind he'll be a godsend. If you get headed or lost or +have to circle off the trail, think what it 'd mean to have Yaqui with +you. He knows Sonora as no Greaser knows it. He could hide you, find +water and grass, when you would absolutely believe it impossible. The +Indian is loyal. He has his debt to pay, and he'll pay it, don't +mistake me. When you're gone I'll hide Nell so Rojas won't see her if +he searches the place. Then I think I could sit down and wait without +any particular worry." +</P> + +<P> +The rangers approved of Belding's plan, and Thorne choked in his effort +to express his gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, we'll chance it," concluded Belding. "I'll go out now and +call Rojas and his outfit over... Say, it might be as well for me to +know just what he said in that paper." +</P> + +<P> +Thorne went to the side of his wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercedes, we've planned to outwit Rojas. Will you tell us just what +he wrote?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl sat up, her eyes dilating, and with her hands clasping +Thorne's. She said: +</P> + +<P> +"Rojas swore—by his saints and his virgin—that if I wasn't given—to +him—in twenty-four hours—he would set fire to the village—kill the +men—carry off the women—hang the children on cactus thorns!" +</P> + +<P> +A moment's silence followed her last halting whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"By his saints an' his virgin!" echoed Ladd. He laughed—a cold, +cutting, deadly laugh—significant and terrible. +</P> + +<P> +Then the Yaqui uttered a singular cry. Gale had heard this once +before, and now he remembered it was at the Papago Well. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at the Indian," whispered Belding, hoarsely. "Damn if I don't +believe he understood every word Mercedes said. And, gentlemen, don't +mistake me, if he ever gets near Senor Rojas there'll be some gory +Aztec knife work." +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui had moved close to Mercedes, and stood beside her as she leaned +against her husband. She seemed impelled to meet the Indian's gaze, +and evidently it was so powerful or hypnotic that it wrought +irresistibly upon her. But she must have seen or divined what was +beyond the others, for she offered him her trembling hand. Yaqui took +it and laid it against his body in a strange motion, and bowed his +head. Then he stepped back into the shadow of the room. +</P> + +<P> +Belding went outdoors while the rangers took up their former position +at the west window. Each had his own somber thoughts, Gale imagined, +and knew his own were dark enough. A slow fire crept along his veins. +He saw Belding halt at the corrals and wave his hand. Then the rebels +mounted and came briskly up the road, this time to rein in abreast. +</P> + +<P> +Wherever Rojas had kept himself upon the former advance was not clear; +but he certainly was prominently in sight now. He made a gaudy, almost +a dashing figure. Gale did not recognize the white sombrero, the +crimson scarf, the velvet jacket, nor any feature of the dandy's +costume; but their general effect, the whole ensemble, recalled vividly +to mind his first sight of the bandit. Rojas dismounted and seemed to +be listening. He betrayed none of the excitement Gale had seen in him +that night at the Del Sol. Evidently this composure struck Ladd and +Lash as unusual in a Mexican supposed to be laboring under stress of +feeling. Belding made gestures, vehemently bobbed his big head, +appeared to talk with his body as much as with his tongue. Then Rojas +was seen to reply, and after that it was clear that the talk became +painful and difficult. It ended finally in what appeared to be mutual +understanding. Rojas mounted and rode away with his men, while Belding +came tramping back to the house. +</P> + +<P> +As he entered the door his eyes were shining, his big hands were +clenched, and he was breathing audibly. +</P> + +<P> +"You can rope me if I'm not locoed!" he burst out. "I went out to +conciliate a red-handed little murderer, and damn me if I didn't meet +a—a—well, I've not suitable name handy. I started my bluff and got +along pretty well, but I forgot to mention that Mercedes was Thorne's +wife. And what do you think? Rojas swore he loved Mercedes—swore +he'd marry her right here in Forlorn River—swore he would give up +robbing and killing people, and take her away from Mexico. He has +gold—jewels. He swore if he didn't get her nothing mattered. He'd +die anyway without her.... And here's the strange thing. I believe +him! He was cold as ice, and all hell inside. Never saw a Greaser +like him. Well, I pretended to be greatly impressed. We got to +talking friendly, I suppose, though I didn't understand half he said, +and I imagine he gathered less what I said. Anyway, without my asking +he said for me to think it over for a day and then we'd talk again." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore we're born lucky!" ejaculated Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon Rojas'll be smart enough to string his outfit across the few +trails leadin' out of Forlorn River," remarked Jim. +</P> + +<P> +"That needn't worry us. All we want is dark to come," replied Belding. +"Yaqui will slip through. If we thank any lucky stars let it be for +the Indian.... Now, boys, put on your thinking caps. You'll take eight +horses, the pick of my bunch. You must pack all that's needed for a +possible long trip. Mind, Yaqui may lead you down into some wild +Sonora valley and give Rojas the slip. You may get to Yuma in six days, +and maybe in six weeks. Yet you've got to pack light—a small pack in +saddles—larger ones on the two free horses. You may have a big fight. +Laddy, take the .405. Dick will pack his Remington. All of you go +gunned heavy. But the main thing is a pack that 'll be light enough +for swift travel, yet one that 'll keep you from starving on the +desert." +</P> + +<P> +The rest of that day passed swiftly. Dick had scarcely a word with +Nell, and all the time, as he chose and deliberated and worked over his +little pack, there was a dull pain in his heart. +</P> + +<P> +The sun set, twilight fell, then night closed down fortunately a night +slightly overcast. Gale saw the white horses pass his door like silent +ghosts. Even Blanco Diablo made no sound, and that fact was indeed a +tribute to the Yaqui. Gale went out to put his saddle on Blanco Sol. +The horse rubbed a soft nose against his shoulder. Then Gale returned +to the sitting-room. There was nothing more to do but wait and say +good-by. Mercedes came clad in leather chaps and coat, a slim +stripling of a cowboy, her dark eyes flashing. Her beauty could not be +hidden, and now hope and courage had fired her blood. +</P> + +<P> +Gale drew Nell off into the shadow of the room. She was trembling, and +as she leaned toward him she was very different from the coy girl who +had so long held him aloof. He took her into his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Dearest, I'm going—soon.... And maybe I'll never—" +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, do—don't say it," sobbed Nell, with her head on his breast. +</P> + +<P> +"I might never come back," he went on, steadily. "I love you—I've +loved you ever since the first moment I saw you. Do you care for me—a +little?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dear Dick—de-dear Dick, my heart is breaking," faltered Nell, as she +clung to him. +</P> + +<P> +"It might be breaking for Mercedes—for Laddy and Jim. I want to hear +something for myself. Something to have on long marches—round lonely +campfires. Something to keep my spirit alive. Oh, Nell, you can't +imagine that silence out there—that terrible world of sand and +stone!... Do you love me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes. Oh, I love you so! I never knew it till now. I love you +so. Dick, I'll be safe and I'll wait—and hope and pray for your +return." +</P> + +<P> +"If I come back—no—when I come back, will you marry me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—I—oh yes!" she whispered, and returned his kiss. +</P> + +<P> +Belding was in the room speaking softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, darling, I must go," said Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a selfish little coward," cried Nell. "It's so splendid of you +all. I ought to glory in it, but I can't. ... Fight if you must, +Dick. Fight for that lovely persecuted girl. I'll love you—the +more.... Oh! Good-by! Good-by!" +</P> + +<P> +With a wrench that shook him Gale let her go. He heard Belding's soft +voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Yaqui says the early hour's best. Trust him, Laddy. Remember what I +say—Yaqui's a godsend." +</P> + +<P> +Then they were all outside in the pale gloom under the trees. Yaqui +mounted Blanco Diablo; Mercedes was lifted upon White Woman; Thorne +climbed astride Queen; Jim Lash was already upon his horse, which was +as white as the others but bore no name; Ladd mounted the stallion +Blanco Torres, and gathered up the long halters of the two pack horses; +Gale came last with Blanco Sol. +</P> + +<P> +As he toed the stirrup, hand on mane and pommel, Gale took one more +look in at the door. Nell stood in the gleam of light, her hair +shining, face like ashes, her eyes dark, her lips parted, her arms +outstretched. That sweet and tragic picture etched its cruel outlines +into Gale's heart. He waved his hand and then fiercely leaped into the +saddle. +</P> + +<P> +Blanco Sol stepped out. +</P> + +<P> +Before Gale stretched a line of moving horses, white against dark +shadows. He could not see the head of that column; he scarcely heard a +soft hoofbeat. A single star shone out of a rift in thin clouds. +There was no wind. The air was cold. The dark space of desert seemed +to yawn. To the left across the river flickered a few campfires. The +chill night, silent and mystical, seemed to close in upon Gale; and he +faced the wide, quivering, black level with keen eyes and grim intent, +and an awakening of that wild rapture which came like a spell to him in +the open desert. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ACROSS CACTUS AND LAVA +</H3> + +<P> +BLANCO SOL showed no inclination to bend his head to the alfalfa which +swished softly about his legs. Gale felt the horse's sensitive, almost +human alertness. Sol knew as well as his master the nature of that +flight. +</P> + +<P> +At the far corner of the field Yaqui halted, and slowly the line of +white horses merged into a compact mass. There was a trail here +leading down to the river. The campfires were so close that the bright +blazes could be seen in movement, and dark forms crossed in front of +them. Yaqui slipped out of his saddle. He ran his hand over Diablo's +nose and spoke low, and repeated this action for each of the other +horses. Gale had long ceased to question the strange Indian's +behavior. There was no explaining or understanding many of his +manoeuvers. But the results of them were always thought-provoking. +Gale had never seen horse stand so silently as in this instance; no +stamp—no champ of bit—no toss of head—no shake of saddle or pack—no +heave or snort! It seemed they had become imbued with the spirit of +the Indian. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui moved away into the shadows as noiselessly as if he were one of +them. The darkness swallowed him. He had taken a parallel with the +trail. Gale wondered if Yaqui meant to try to lead his string of +horses by the rebel sentinels. Ladd had his head bent low, his ear +toward the trail. Jim's long neck had the arch of a listening deer. +Gale listened, too, and as the slow, silent moments went by his faculty +of hearing grew more acute from strain. He heard Blanco Sol breathe; +he heard the pound of his own heart; he heard the silken rustle of the +alfalfa; he heard a faint, far-off sound of voice, like a lost echo. +Then his ear seemed to register a movement of air, a disturbance so +soft as to be nameless. Then followed long, silent moments. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui appeared as he had vanished. He might have been part of the +shadows. But he was there. He started off down the trail leading +Diablo. Again the white line stretched slowly out. Gale fell in +behind. A bench of ground, covered with sparse greasewood, sloped +gently down to the deep, wide arroyo of Forlorn River. Blanco Sol shied +a few feet out of the trail. Peering low with keen eyes, Gale made out +three objects—a white sombrero, a blanket, and a Mexican lying face +down. The Yaqui had stolen upon this sentinel like a silent wind of +death. Just then a desert coyote wailed, and the wild cry fitted the +darkness and the Yaqui's deed. +</P> + +<P> +Once under the dark lee of the river bank Yaqui caused another halt, +and he disappeared as before. It seemed to Gale that the Indian +started to cross the pale level sandbed of the river, where stones +stood out gray, and the darker line of opposite shore was visible. But +he vanished, and it was impossible to tell whether he went one way or +another. Moments passed. The horses held heads up, looked toward the +glimmering campfires and listened. Gale thrilled with the meaning of it +all—the night—the silence—the flight—and the wonderful Indian +stealing with the slow inevitableness of doom upon another sentinel. +An hour passed and Gale seemed to have become deadened to all sense of +hearing. There were no more sounds in the world. The desert was as +silent as it was black. Yet again came that strange change in the +tensity of Gale's ear-strain, a check, a break, a vibration—and this +time the sound did not go nameless. It might have been moan of wind or +wail of far-distant wolf, but Gale imagined it was the strangling +death-cry of another guard, or that strange, involuntary utterance of +the Yaqui. Blanco Sol trembled in all his great frame, and then Gale +was certain the sound was not imagination. +</P> + +<P> +That certainty, once for all, fixed in Gale's mind the mood of his +flight. The Yaqui dominated the horses and the rangers. Thorne and +Mercedes were as persons under a spell. The Indian's strange silence, +the feeling of mystery and power he seemed to create, all that was +incomprehensible about him were emphasized in the light of his slow, +sure, and ruthless action. If he dominated the others, surely he did +more for Gale—colored his thoughts—presage the wild and terrible +future of that flight. If Rojas embodied all the hatred and passion of +the peon—scourged slave for a thousand years—then Yaqui embodied all +the darkness, the cruelty, the white, sun-heated blood, the ferocity, +the tragedy of the desert. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the Indian stalked out of the gloom. He mounted Diablo and +headed across the river. Once more the line of moving white shadows +stretched out. The soft sand gave forth no sound at all. The +glimmering campfires sank behind the western bank. Yaqui led the way +into the willows, and there was faint swishing of leaves; then into the +mesquite, and there was faint rustling of branches. The glimmering +lights appeared again, and grotesque forms of saguaros loomed darkly. +Gale peered sharply along the trail, and, presently, on the pale sand +under a cactus, there lay a blanketed form, prone, outstretched, a +carbine clutched in one hand, a cigarette, still burning, in the other. +</P> + +<P> +The cavalcade of white horses passed within five hundred yards of +campfires, around which dark forms moved in plain sight. Soft pads in +sand, faint metallic tickings of steel on thorns, low, regular +breathing of horses—these were all the sounds the fugitives made, and +they could not have been heard at one-fifth the distance. The lights +disappeared from time to time, grew dimmer, more flickering, and at +last they vanished altogether. Belding's fleet and tireless steeds +were out in front; the desert opened ahead wide, dark, vast. Rojas and +his rebels were behind, eating, drinking, careless. The somber shadow +lifted from Gale's heart. He held now an unquenchable faith in the +Yaqui. Belding would be listening back there along the river. He would +know of the escape. He would tell Nell, and then hide her safely. As +Gale accepted a strange and fatalistic foreshadowing of toil, blood, +and agony in this desert journey, so he believed in Mercedes's ultimate +freedom and happiness, and his own return to the girl who had grown +dearer than life. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A cold, gray dawn was fleeing before a rosy sun when Yaqui halted the +march at Papago Well. The horses were taken to water, then led down +the arroyo into the grass. Here packs were slipped, saddles removed. +Mercedes was cold, lame, tired, but happy. It warmed Gale's blood to +look at her. The shadow of fear still lay in her eyes, but it was +passing. Hope and courage shone there, and affection for her ranger +protectors and the Yaqui, and unutterable love for the cavalryman. Jim +Lash remarked how cleverly they had fooled the rebels. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore they'll be comin' along," replied Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +They built a fire, cooked and ate. The Yaqui spoke only one word: +"Sleep." Blankets were spread. Mercedes dropped into a deep slumber, +her head on Thorne's shoulder. Excitement kept Thorne awake. The two +rangers dozed beside the fire. Gale shared the Yaqui's watch. The sun +began to climb and the icy edge of dawn to wear away. Rabbits bobbed +their cotton tails under the mesquite. Gale climbed a rocky wall above +the arroyo bank, and there, with command over the miles of the +back-trail, he watched. +</P> + +<P> +It was a sweeping, rolling, wrinkled, and streaked range of desert that +he saw, ruddy in the morning sunlight, with patches of cactus and +mesquite rough-etched in shimmering gloom. No Name Mountains split the +eastern sky, towering high, gloomy, grand, with purple veils upon their +slopes. They were forty miles away and looked five. Gale thought of +the girl who was there under their shadow. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui kept the horses bunched, and he led them from one little park of +galleta grass to another. At the end of three hours he took them to +water. Upon his return Gale clambered down from his outlook, the +rangers grew active. Mercedes was awakened; and soon the party faced +westward, their long shadows moving before them. Yaqui led with Blanco +Diablo in a long, easy lope. The arroyo washed itself out into flat +desert, and the greens began to shade into gray, and then the gray into +red. Only sparse cactus and weathered ledges dotted the great low roll +of a rising escarpment. Yaqui suited the gait of his horse to the lay +of the land, and his followers accepted his pace. There were canter +and trot, and swift walk and slow climb, and long swing—miles up and +down and forward. The sun soared hot. The heated air lifted, and +incoming currents from the west swept low and hard over the barren +earth. In the distance, all around the horizon, accumulations of dust +seemed like ranging, mushrooming yellow clouds. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui was the only one of the fugitives who never looked back. Mercedes +did it the most. Gale felt what compelled her, he could not resist it +himself. But it was a vain search. For a thousand puffs of white and +yellow dust rose from that backward sweep of desert, and any one of +them might have been blown from under horses' hoofs. Gale had a +conviction that when Yaqui gazed back toward the well and the shining +plain beyond, there would be reason for it. But when the sun lost its +heat and the wind died down Yaqui took long and careful surveys +westward from the high points on the trail. Sunset was not far off, +and there in a bare, spotted valley lay Coyote Tanks, the only +waterhole between Papago Well and the Sonoyta Oasis. Gale used his +glass, told Yaqui there was no smoke, no sign of life; still the Indian +fixed his falcon eyes on distant spots looked long. It was as if his +vision could not detect what reason or cunning or intuition, perhaps an +instinct, told him was there. Presently in a sheltered spot, where +blown sand had not obliterated the trail, Yaqui found the tracks of +horses. The curve of the iron shoes pointed westward. An intersecting +trail from the north came in here. Gale thought the tracks either one +or two days old. Ladd said they were one day. The Indian shook his +head. +</P> + +<P> +No farther advance was undertaken. The Yaqui headed south and traveled +slowly, climbing to the brow of a bold height of weathered mesa. There +he sat his horse and waited. No one questioned him. The rangers +dismounted to stretch their legs, and Mercedes was lifted to a rock, +where she rested. Thorne had gradually yielded to the desert's +influence for silence. He spoke once or twice to Gale, and +occasionally whispered to Mercedes. Gale fancied his friend would soon +learn that necessary speech in desert travel meant a few greetings, a +few words to make real the fact of human companionship, a few short, +terse terms for the business of day or night, and perhaps a stern order +or a soft call to a horse. +</P> + +<P> +The sun went down, and the golden, rosy veils turned to blue and shaded +darker till twilight was there in the valley. Only the spurs of +mountains, spiring the near and far horizon, retained their clear +outline. Darkness approached, and the clear peaks faded. The horses +stamped to be on the move. +</P> + +<P> +"Malo!" exclaimed the Yaqui. +</P> + +<P> +He did not point with arm, but his falcon head was outstretched, and +his piercing eyes gazed at the blurring spot which marked the location +of Coyote Tanks. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim, can you see anything?" asked Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"Nope, but I reckon he can." +</P> + +<P> +Darkness increased momentarily till night shaded the deepest part of +the valley. +</P> + +<P> +Then Ladd suddenly straightened up, turned to his horse, and muttered +low under his breath. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon so," said Lash, and for once his easy, good-natured tone was +not in evidence. His voice was harsh. +</P> + +<P> +Gale's eyes, keen as they were, were last of the rangers to see tiny, +needle-points of light just faintly perceptible in the blackness. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy! Campfires?" he asked, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore's you're born, my boy." +</P> + +<P> +"How many?" +</P> + +<P> +Ladd did not reply; but Yaqui held up his hand, his fingers wide. Five +campfires! A strong force of rebels or raiders or some other desert +troop was camping at Coyote Tanks. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui sat his horse for a moment, motionless as stone, his dark face +immutable and impassive. Then he stretched wide his right arm in the +direction of No Name Mountains, now losing their last faint traces of +the afterglow, and he shook his head. He made the same impressive +gesture toward the Sonoyta Oasis with the same somber negation. +</P> + +<P> +Thereupon he turned Diablo's head to the south and started down the +slope. His manner had been decisive, even stern. Lash did not +question it, nor did Ladd. Both rangers hesitated, however, and showed +a strange, almost sullen reluctance which Gale had never seen in them +before. Raiders were one thing, Rojas was another; Camino del Diablo +still another; but that vast and desolate and unwatered waste of cactus +and lava, the Sonora Desert, might appall the stoutest heart. Gale +felt his own sink—felt himself flinch. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, where is he going?" cried Mercedes. Her poignant voice seemed to +break a spell. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore, lady, Yaqui's goin' home," replied Ladd, gently. "An' +considerin' our troubles I reckon we ought to thank God he knows the +way." +</P> + +<P> +They mounted and rode down the slope toward the darkening south. +</P> + +<P> +Not until night travel was obstructed by a wall of cactus did the +Indian halt to make a dry camp. Water and grass for the horses and +fire to cook by were not to be had. Mercedes bore up surprisingly; but +she fell asleep almost the instant her thirst had been allayed. Thorne +laid her upon a blanket and covered her. The men ate and drank. Diablo +was the only horse that showed impatience; but he was angry, and not in +distress. Blanco Sol licked Gale's hand and stood patiently. Many a +time had he taken his rest at night without a drink. Yaqui again bade +the men sleep. Ladd said he would take the early watch; but from the +way the Indian shook his head and settled himself against a stone, it +appeared if Ladd remained awake he would have company. Gale lay down +weary of limb and eye. He heard the soft thump of hoofs, the sough of +wind in the cactus—then no more. +</P> + +<P> +When he awoke there was bustle and stir about him. Day had not yet +dawned, and the air was freezing cold. Yaqui had found a scant bundle +of greasewood which served to warm them and to cook breakfast. +Mercedes was not aroused till the last moment. +</P> + +<P> +Day dawned with the fugitives in the saddle. A picketed wall of cactus +hedged them in, yet the Yaqui made a tortuous path, that, zigzag as it +might, in the main always headed south. It was wonderful how he +slipped Diablo through the narrow aisles of thorns, saving the horse +and saving himself. The others were torn and clutched and held and +stung. The way was a flat, sandy pass between low mountain ranges. +There were open spots and aisles and squares of sand; and hedging rows +of prickly pear and the huge spider-legged ocatillo and hummocky masses +of clustered bisnagi. The day grew dry and hot. A fragrant wind blew +through the pass. Cactus flowers bloomed, red and yellow and magenta. +The sweet, pale Ajo lily gleamed in shady corners. +</P> + +<P> +Ten miles of travel covered the length of the pass. It opened wide +upon a wonderful scene, an arboreal desert, dominated by its pure light +green, yet lined by many merging colors. And it rose slowly to a low +dim and dark-red zone of lava, spurred, peaked, domed by volcano cones, +a wild and ragged region, illimitable as the horizon. +</P> + +<P> +The Yaqui, if not at fault, was yet uncertain. His falcon eyes +searched and roved, and became fixed at length at the southwest, and +toward this he turned his horse. The great, fluted saguaros, fifty, +sixty feet high, raised columnal forms, and their branching limbs and +curving lines added a grace to the desert. It was the low-bushed +cactus that made the toil and pain of travel. Yet these thorny forms +were beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +In the basins between the ridges, to right and left along the floor of +low plains the mirage glistened, wavered, faded, vanished—lakes and +trees and clouds. Inverted mountains hung suspended in the lilac air +and faint tracery of white-walled cities. +</P> + +<P> +At noon Yaqui halted the cavalcade. He had selected a field of bisnagi +cactus for the place of rest. Presently his reason became obvious. +With long, heavy knife he cut off the tops of these barrel-shaped +plants. He scooped out soft pulp, and with stone and hand then began +to pound the deeper pulp into a juicy mass. When he threw this out +there was a little water left, sweet, cool water which man and horse +shared eagerly. Thus he made even the desert's fiercest growths +minister to their needs. +</P> + +<P> +But he did not halt long. Miles of gray-green spiked walls lay between +him and that line of ragged, red lava which manifestly he must reach +before dark. The travel became faster, straighter. And the glistening +thorns clutched and clung to leather and cloth and flesh. The horses +reared, snorted, balked, leaped—but they were sent on. Only Blanco +Sol, the patient, the plodding, the indomitable, needed no goad or +spur. Waves and scarfs and wreaths of heat smoked up from the sand. +Mercedes reeled in her saddle. Thorne bade her drink, bathed her face, +supported her, and then gave way to Ladd, who took the girl with him on +Torre's broad back. Yaqui's unflagging purpose and iron arm were +bitter and hateful to the proud and haughty spirit of Blanco Diablo. +For once Belding's great white devil had met his master. He fought +rider, bit, bridle, cactus, sand—and yet he went on and on, +zigzagging, turning, winding, crashing through the barbed growths. The +middle of the afternoon saw Thorne reeling in his saddle, and then, +wherever possible, Gale's powerful arm lent him strength to hold his +seat. +</P> + +<P> +The giant cactus came to be only so in name. These saguaros were +thinning out, growing stunted, and most of them were single columns. +Gradually other cactus forms showed a harder struggle for existence, +and the spaces of sand between were wider. But now the dreaded, +glistening <i><i>choya</i></i> began to show pale and gray and white upon the rising +slope. Round-topped hills, sunset-colored above, blue-black below, +intervened to hide the distant spurs and peaks. Mile and mile long +tongues of red lava streamed out between the hills and wound down to +stop abruptly upon the slope. +</P> + +<P> +The fugitives were entering a desolate, burned-out world. It rose +above them in limitless, gradual ascent and spread wide to east and +west. Then the waste of sand began to yield to cinders. The horses +sank to their fetlocks as they toiled on. A fine, choking dust blew +back from the leaders, and men coughed and horses snorted. The huge, +round hills rose smooth, symmetrical, colored as if the setting sun was +shining on bare, blue-black surfaces. But the sun was now behind the +hills. In between ran the streams of lava. The horsemen skirted the +edge between slope of hill and perpendicular ragged wall. This red +lava seemed to have flowed and hardened there only yesterday. It was +broken sharp, dull rust color, full of cracks and caves and crevices, +and everywhere upon its jagged surface grew the white-thorned <i><i>choya</i></i>. +</P> + +<P> +Again twilight encompassed the travelers. But there was still light +enough for Gale to see the constricted passage open into a wide, deep +space where the dull color was relieved by the gray of gnarled and +dwarfed mesquite. Blanco Sol, keenest of scent, whistled his welcome +herald of water. The other horses answered, quickened their gait. +Gale smelled it, too, sweet, cool, damp on the dry air. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui turned the corner of a pocket in the lava wall. The file of +white horses rounded the corner after him. And Gale, coming last, saw +the pale, glancing gleam of a pool of water beautiful in the twilight. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Next day the Yaqui's relentless driving demand on the horses was no +longer in evidence. He lost no time, but he did not hasten. His +course wound between low cinder dunes which limited their view of the +surrounding country. These dunes finally sank down to a black floor as +hard as flint with tongues of lava to the left, and to the right the +slow descent into the cactus plain. Yaqui was now traveling due west. +It was Gale's idea that the Indian was skirting the first sharp-toothed +slope of a vast volcanic plateau which formed the western half of the +Sonora Desert and extended to the Gulf of California. Travel was slow, +but not exhausting for rider or beast. A little sand and meager grass +gave a grayish tinge to the strip of black ground between lava and +plain. +</P> + +<P> +That day, as the manner rather than the purpose of the Yaqui changed, +so there seemed to be subtle differences in the others of the party. +Gale himself lost a certain sickening dread, which had not been for +himself, but for Mercedes and Nell, and Thorne and the rangers. Jim, +good-natured again, might have been patrolling the boundary line. Ladd +lost his taciturnity and his gloom changed to a cool, careless air. A +mood that was almost defiance began to be manifested in Thorne. It was +in Mercedes, however, that Gale marked the most significant change. +Her collapse the preceding day might never have been. She was lame and +sore; she rode her saddle sidewise, and often she had to be rested and +helped; but she had found a reserve fund of strength, and her mental +condition was not the same that it had been. Her burden of fear had +been lifted. Gale saw in her the difference he always felt in himself +after a few days in the desert. Already Mercedes and he, and all of +them, had begun to respond to the desert spirit. Moreover, Yaqui's +strange influence must have been a call to the primitive. +</P> + +<P> +Thirty miles of easy stages brought the fugitives to another waterhole, +a little round pocket under the heaved-up edge of lava. There was +spare, short, bleached grass for the horses, but no wood for a fire. +This night there was question and reply, conjecture, doubt, opinion, +and conviction expressed by the men of the party. But the Indian, who +alone could have told where they were, where they were going, what +chance they had to escape, maintained his stoical silence. Gale took +the early watch, Ladd the midnight one, and Lash that of the morning. +</P> + +<P> +The day broke rosy, glorious, cold as ice. Action was necessary to +make useful benumbed hands and feet. Mercedes was fed while yet +wrapped in blankets. Then, while the packs were being put on and +horses saddled, she walked up and down, slapping her hands, warming her +ears. The rose color of the dawn was in her cheeks, and the wonderful +clearness of desert light in her eyes. Thorne's eyes sought her +constantly. The rangers watched her. The Yaqui bent his glance upon +her only seldom; but when he did look it seemed that his strange, +fixed, and inscrutable face was about to break into a smile. Yet that +never happened. Gale himself was surprised to find how often his own +glance found the slender, dark, beautiful Spaniard. Was this because +of her beauty? he wondered. He thought not altogether. Mercedes was a +woman. She represented something in life that men of all races for +thousands of years had loved to see and own, to revere and debase, to +fight and die for. +</P> + +<P> +It was a significant index to the day's travel that Yaqui should keep a +blanket from the pack and tear it into strips to bind the legs of the +horses. It meant the dreaded <i><i>choya</i></i> and the knife-edged lava. That +Yaqui did not mount Diablo was still more significant. Mercedes must +ride; but the others must walk. +</P> + +<P> +The Indian led off into one of the gray notches between the tumbled +streams of lava. These streams were about thirty feet high, a rotting +mass of splintered lava, rougher than any other kind of roughness in +the world. At the apex of the notch, where two streams met, a narrow +gully wound and ascended. Gale caught sight of the dim, pale shadow of +a one-time trail. Near at hand it was invisible; he had to look far +ahead to catch the faint tracery. Yaqui led Diablo into it, and then +began the most laborious and vexatious and painful of all slow travel. +</P> + +<P> +Once up on top of that lava bed, Gale saw stretching away, breaking +into millions of crests and ruts, a vast, red-black field sweeping +onward and upward, with ragged, low ridges and mounds and spurs leading +higher and higher to a great, split escarpment wall, above which dim +peaks shone hazily blue in the distance. +</P> + +<P> +He looked no more in that direction. To keep his foothold, to save his +horse, cost him all energy and attention. The course was marked out +for him in the tracks of the other horses. He had only to follow. But +nothing could have been more difficult. The disintegrating surface of +a lava bed was at once the roughest, the hardest, the meanest, the +cruelest, the most deceitful kind of ground to travel. +</P> + +<P> +It was rotten, yet it had corners as hard and sharp as pikes. It was +rough, yet as slippery as ice. If there was a foot of level surface, +that space would be one to break through under a horse's hoofs. It was +seamed, lined, cracked, ridged, knotted iron. This lava bed resembled +a tremendously magnified clinker. It had been a running sea of molten +flint, boiling, bubbling, spouting, and it had burst its surface into a +million sharp facets as it hardened. The color was dull, dark, angry +red, like no other red, inflaming to the eye. The millions of minute +crevices were dominated by deep fissures and holes, ragged and rough +beyond all comparison. +</P> + +<P> +The fugitives made slow progress. They picked a cautious, winding way +to and fro in little steps here and there along the many twists of the +trail, up and down the unavoidable depressions, round and round the +holes. At noon, so winding back upon itself had been their course, +they appeared to have come only a short distance up the lava slope. +</P> + +<P> +It was rough work for them; it was terrible work for the horses. Blanco +Diablo refused to answer to the power of the Yaqui. He balked, he +plunged, he bit and kicked. He had to be pulled and beaten over many +places. Mercedes's horse almost threw her, and she was put upon Blanco +Sol. The white charger snorted a protest, then, obedient to Gale's +stern call, patiently lowered his noble head and pawed the lava for a +footing that would hold. +</P> + +<P> +The lava caused Gale toil and worry and pain, but he hated the <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i>. +As the travel progressed this species of cactus increased in number of +plants and in size. Everywhere the red lava was spotted with little +round patches of glistening frosty white. And under every bunch of +<i><i>choya</i></i>, along and in the trail, were the discarded joints, like little +frosty pine cones covered with spines. It was utterly impossible always +to be on the lookout for these, and when Gale stepped on one, often as +not the steel-like thorns pierced leather and flesh. Gale came almost +to believe what he had heard claimed by desert travelers—that the +<i><i>choya</i></i> was alive and leaped at man or beast. Certain it was when Gale +passed one, if he did not put all attention to avoiding it, he was +hooked through his chaps and held by barbed thorns. The pain was +almost unendurable. It was like no other. It burned, stung, +beat—almost seemed to freeze. It made useless arm or leg. It made him +bite his tongue to keep from crying out. It made the sweat roll off +him. It made him sick. +</P> + +<P> +Moreover, bad as the <i><i>choya</i></i> was for man, it was infinitely worse for +beast. A jagged stab from this poisoned cactus was the only thing +Blanco Sol could not stand. Many times that day, before he carried +Mercedes, he had wildly snorted, and then stood trembling while Gale +picked broken thorns from the muscular legs. But after Mercedes had +been put upon Sol Gale made sure no <i><i>choya</i></i> touched him. +</P> + +<P> +The afternoon passed like the morning, in ceaseless winding and +twisting and climbing along this abandoned trail. Gale saw many +waterholes, mostly dry, some containing water, all of them +catch-basins, full only after rainy season. Little ugly bunched +bushes, that Gale scarcely recognized as mesquites, grew near these +holes; also stunted greasewood and prickly pear. There was no grass, +and the <i><i>choya</i></i> alone flourished in that hard soil. +</P> + +<P> +Darkness overtook the party as they unpacked beside a pool of water +deep under an overhanging shelf of lava. It had been a hard day. The +horses drank their fill, and then stood patiently with drooping heads. +Hunger and thirst appeased, and a warm fire cheered the weary and +foot-sore fugitives. Yaqui said, "Sleep." And so another night passed. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Upon the following morning, ten miles or more up the slow-ascending +lava slope, Gale's attention was called from his somber search for the +less rough places in the trail. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, why does Yaqui look back?" asked Mercedes. +</P> + +<P> +Gale was startled. +</P> + +<P> +"Does he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Every little while," replied Mercedes. +</P> + +<P> +Gale was in the rear of all the other horses, so as to take, for +Mercedes's sake, the advantage of the broken trail. Yaqui was leading +Diablo, winding around a break. His head was bent as he stepped slowly +and unevenly upon the lava. Gale turned to look back, the first time +in several days. The mighty hollow of the desert below seemed wide +strip of red—wide strip of green—wide strip of gray—streaking to +purple peaks. It was all too vast, too mighty to grasp any little +details. He thought, of course, of Rojas in certain pursuit; but it +seemed absurded to look for him. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui led on, and Gale often glanced up from his task to watch the +Indian. Presently he saw him stop, turn, and look back. Ladd did +likewise, and then Jim and Thorne. Gale found the desire irresistible. +Thereafter he often rested Blanco Sol, and looked back the while. He +had his field-glass, but did not choose to use it. +</P> + +<P> +"Rojas will follow," said Mercedes. +</P> + +<P> +Gale regarded her in amaze. The tone of her voice had been +indefinable. If there were fear then he failed to detect it. She was +gazing back down the colored slope, and something about her, perhaps +the steady, falcon gaze of her magnificent eyes, reminded him of Yaqui. +</P> + +<P> +Many times during the ensuing hour the Indian faced about, and always +his followers did likewise. It was high noon, with the sun beating hot +and the lava radiating heat, when Yaqui halted for a rest. The place +selected was a ridge of lava, almost a promontory, considering its +outlook. The horses bunched here and drooped their heads. The rangers +were about to slip the packs and remove saddles when Yaqui restrained +them. +</P> + +<P> +He fixed a changeless, gleaming gaze on the slow descent; but did not +seem to look afar. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he uttered his strange cry—the one Gale considered +involuntary, or else significant of some tribal trait or feeling. It +was incomprehensible, but no one could have doubted its potency. Yaqui +pointed down the lava slope, pointed with finger and arm and neck and +head—his whole body was instinct with direction. His whole being +seemed to have been animated and then frozen. His posture could not +have been misunderstood, yet his expression had not altered. Gale had +never seen the Indian's face change its hard, red-bronze calm. It was +the color and the flintiness and the character of the lava at his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore he sees somethin'," said Ladd. "But my eyes are not good." +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon I ain't sure of mine," replied Jim. "I'm bothered by a dim +movin' streak down there." +</P> + +<P> +Thorne gazed eagerly down as he stood beside Mercedes, who sat +motionless facing the slope. Gale looked and looked till he hurt his +eyes. Then he took his glass out of its case on Sol's saddle. +</P> + +<P> +There appeared to be nothing upon the lava but the innumerable dots of +<i><i>choya</i></i> shining in the sun. Gale swept his glass slowly forward and +back. Then into a nearer field of vision crept a long white-and-black +line of horses and men. Without a word he handed the glass to Ladd. +The ranger used it, muttering to himself. +</P> + +<P> +"They're on the lava fifteen miles down in an air line," he said, +presently. "Jim, shore they're twice that an' more accordin' to the +trail." +</P> + +<P> +Jim had his look and replied: "I reckon we're a day an' a night in the +lead." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it Rojas?" burst out Thorne, with set jaw. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Thorne. It's Rojas and a dozen men or more," replied Gale, and +he looked up at Mercedes. +</P> + +<P> +She was transformed. She might have been a medieval princess embodying +all the Spanish power and passion of that time, breathing revenge, +hate, unquenchable spirit of fire. If her beauty had been wonderful in +her helpless and appealing moments, now, when she looked back +white-faced and flame-eyed, it was transcendant. +</P> + +<P> +Gale drew a long, deep breath. The mood which had presaged pursuit, +strife, blood on this somber desert, returned to him tenfold. He saw +Thorne's face corded by black veins, and his teeth exposed like those +of a snarling wolf. These rangers, who had coolly risked death many +times, and had dealt it often, were white as no fear or pain could have +made them. Then, on the moment, Yaqui raised his hand, not clenched or +doubled tight, but curled rigid like an eagle's claw; and he shook it +in a strange, slow gesture which was menacing and terrible. +</P> + +<P> +It was the woman that called to the depths of these men. And their +passion to kill and to save was surpassed only by the wild hate which +was yet love, the unfathomable emotion of a peon slave. Gale marveled +at it, while he felt his whole being cold and tense, as he turned once +more to follow in the tracks of his leaders. The fight predicted by +Belding was at hand. What a fight that must be! Rojas was traveling +light and fast. He was gaining. He had bought his men with gold, with +extravagant promises, perhaps with offers of the body and blood of an +aristocrat hateful to their kind. Lastly, there was the wild, desolate +environment, a tortured wilderness of jagged lava and poisoned <i><i>choya</i></i>, a +lonely, fierce, and repellant world, a red stage most somberly and +fittingly colored for a supreme struggle between men. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui looked back no more. Mercedes looked back no more. But the +others looked, and the time came when Gale saw the creeping line of +pursuers with naked eyes. +</P> + +<P> +A level line above marked the rim of the plateau. Sand began to show +in the little lava pits. On and upward toiled the cavalcade, still +very slowly advancing. At last Yaqui reached the rim. He stood with +his hand on Blanco Diablo; and both were silhouetted against the sky. +That was the outlook for a Yaqui. And his great horse, dazzlingly +white in the sunlight, with head wildly and proudly erect, mane and +tail flying in the wind, made a magnificent picture. The others toiled +on and upward, and at last Gale led Blanco Sol over the rim. Then all +looked down the red slope. +</P> + +<P> +But shadows were gathering there and no moving line could be seen. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui mounted and wheeled Diablo away. The others followed. Gale saw +that the plateau was no more than a vast field of low, ragged circles, +levels, mounds, cones, and whirls of lava. The lava was of a darker +red than that down upon the slope, and it was harder than flint. In +places fine sand and cinders covered the uneven floor. Strange +varieties of cactus vied with the omnipresent <i><i>choya</i></i>. Yaqui, however, +found ground that his horse covered at a swift walk. +</P> + +<P> +But there was only an hour, perhaps, of this comparatively easy going. +Then the Yaqui led them into a zone of craters. The top of the earth +seemed to have been blown out in holes from a few rods in width to +large craters, some shallow, others deep, and all red as fire. Yaqui +circled close to abysses which yawned sheer from a level surface, and +he appeared always to be turning upon his course to avoid them. +</P> + +<P> +The plateau had now a considerable dip to the west. Gale marked the +slow heave and ripple of the ocean of lava to the south, where high, +rounded peaks marked the center of this volcanic region. The uneven +nature of the slope westward prevented any extended view, until +suddenly the fugitives emerged from a rugged break to come upon a +sublime and awe-inspiring spectacle. +</P> + +<P> +They were upon a high point of the western slope of the plateau. It was +a slope, but so many leagues long in its descent that only from a +height could any slant have been perceptible. Yaqui and his white +horse stood upon the brink of a crater miles in circumference, a +thousand feet deep, with its red walls patched in frost-colored spots +by the silvery <i><i>choya</i></i>. The giant tracery of lava streams waved down the +slope to disappear in undulating sand dunes. And these bordered a +seemingly endless arm of blue sea. This was the Gulf of California. +Beyond the Gulf rose dim, bold mountains, and above them hung the +setting sun, dusky red, flooding all that barren empire with a sinister +light. +</P> + +<P> +It was strange to Gale then, and perhaps to the others, to see their +guide lead Diablo into a smooth and well-worn trail along the rim of +the awful crater. Gale looked down into that red chasm. It resembled +an inferno. The dark cliffs upon the opposite side were veiled in blue +haze that seemed like smoke. Here Yaqui was at home. He moved and +looked about him as a man coming at last into his own. Gale saw him +stop and gaze out over that red-ribbed void to the Gulf. +</P> + +<P> +Gale devined that somewhere along this crater of hell the Yaqui would +make his final stand; and one look into his strange, inscrutable eyes +made imagination picture a fitting doom for the pursuing Rojas. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CRATER OF HELL +</H3> + +<P> +THE trail led along a gigantic fissure in the side of the crater, and +then down and down into a red-walled, blue hazed labyrinth. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Gale, upon turning a sharp corner, was utterly amazed to see +that the split in the lava sloped out and widened into an arroyo. It +was so green and soft and beautiful in all the angry, contorted red +surrounding that Gale could scarcely credit his sight. Blanco Sol +whistled his welcome to the scent of water. Then Gale saw a great +hole, a pit in the shiny lava, a dark, cool, shady well. There was +evidence of the fact that at flood seasons the water had an outlet into +the arroyo. The soil appeared to be a fine sand, in which a reddish +tinge predominated; and it was abundantly covered with a long grass, +still partly green. Mesquites and palo verdes dotted the arroyo and +gradually closed in thickets that obstructed the view. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore it all beats me," exclaimed Ladd. "What a place to hole-up in! +We could have hid here for a long time. Boys, I saw mountain sheep, +the real old genuine Rocky Mountain bighorn. What do you think of +that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon it's a Yaqui hunting-ground," replied Lash. "That trail we +hit must be hundreds of years old. It's worn deep and smooth in iron +lava." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, all I got to say is—Beldin' was shore right about the Indian. +An' I can see Rojas's finish somewhere up along that awful hell-hole." +</P> + +<P> +Camp was made on a level spot. Yaqui took the horses to water, and +then turned them loose in the arroyo. It was a tired and somber group +that sat down to eat. The strain of suspense equaled the wearing +effects of the long ride. Mercedes was calm, but her great dark eyes +burned in her white face. Yaqui watched her. The others looked at her +with unspoken pride. Presently Thorne wrapped her in his blankets, and +she seemed to fall asleep at once. Twilight deepened. The campfire +blazed brighter. A cool wind played with Mercedes's black hair, waving +strands across her brow. +</P> + +<P> +Little of Yaqui's purpose or plan could be elicited from him. But the +look of him was enough to satisfy even Thorne. He leaned against a +pile of wood, which he had collected, and his gloomy gaze pierced the +campfire, and at long intervals strayed over the motionless form of the +Spanish girl. +</P> + +<P> +The rangers and Thorne, however, talked in low tones. It was +absolutely impossible for Rojas and his men to reach the waterhole +before noon of the next day. And long before that time the fugitives +would have decided on a plan of defense. What that defense would be, +and where it would be made, were matters over which the men considered +gravely. Ladd averred the Yaqui would put them into an impregnable +position, that at the same time would prove a death-trap for their +pursuers. They exhausted every possibility, and then, tired as they +were, still kept on talking. +</P> + +<P> +"What stuns me is that Rojas stuck to our trail," said Thorne, his +lined and haggard face expressive of dark passion. "He has followed us +into this fearful desert. He'll lose men, horses, perhaps his life. +He's only a bandit, and he stands to win no gold. If he ever gets out +of here it 'll be by herculean labor and by terrible hardship. All for +a poor little helpless woman—just a woman! My God, I can't understand +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore—just a woman," replied Ladd, solemnly nodding his head. +</P> + +<P> +Then there was a long silence during which the men gazed into the fire. +Each, perhaps, had some vague conception of the enormity of Rojas's +love or hate—some faint and amazing glimpse of the gulf of human +passion. Those were cold, hard, grim faces upon which the light +flickered. +</P> + +<P> +"Sleep," said the Yaqui. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne rolled in his blanket close beside Mercedes. Then one by one +the rangers stretched out, feet to the fire. Gale found that he could +not sleep. His eyes were weary, but they would not stay shut; his body +ached for rest, yet he could not lie still. The night was so somber, +so gloomy, and the lava-encompassed arroyo full of shadows. The dark +velvet sky, fretted with white fire, seemed to be close. There was an +absolute silence, as of death. Nothing moved—nothing outside of +Gale's body appeared to live. The Yaqui sat like an image carved out +of lava. The others lay prone and quiet. Would another night see any +of them lie that way, quiet forever? Gale felt a ripple pass over him +that was at once a shudder and a contraction of muscles. Used as he +was to the desert and its oppression, why should he feel to-night as if +the weight of its lava and the burden of its mystery were bearing him +down? +</P> + +<P> +He sat up after a while and again watched the fire. Nell's sweet face +floated like a wraith in the pale smoke—glowed and flushed and smiled +in the embers. Other faces shone there—his sister's—that of his +mother. Gale shook off the tender memories. This desolate wilderness +with its forbidding silence and its dark promise of hell on the +morrow—this was not the place to unnerve oneself with thoughts of love +and home. But the torturing paradox of the thing was that this was +just the place and just the night for a man to be haunted. +</P> + +<P> +By and by Gale rose and walked down a shadowy aisle between the +mesquites. On his way back the Yaqui joined him. Gale was not +surprised. He had become used to the Indian's strange guardianship. +But now, perhaps because of Gale's poignancy of thought, the contending +tides of love and regret, the deep, burning premonition of deadly +strife, he was moved to keener scrutiny of the Yaqui. That, of course, +was futile. The Indian was impenetrable, silent, strange. But +suddenly, inexplicably, Gale felt Yaqui's human quality. It was aloof, +as was everything about this Indian; but it was there. This savage +walked silently beside him, without glance or touch or word. His +thought was as inscrutable as if mind had never awakened in his race. +Yet Gale was conscious of greatness, and, somehow, he was reminded of +the Indian's story. His home had been desolated, his people carried +off to slavery, his wife and children separated from him to die. What +had life meant to the Yaqui? What had been in his heart? What was now +in his mind? Gale could not answer these questions. But the +difference between himself and Yaqui, which he had vaguely felt as that +between savage and civilized men, faded out of his mind forever. Yaqui +might have considered he owed Gale a debt, and, with a Yaqui's austere +and noble fidelity to honor, he meant to pay it. Nevertheless, this +was not the thing Gale found in the Indian's silent presence. +Accepting the desert with its subtle and inconceivable influence, Gale +felt that the savage and the white man had been bound in a tie which +was no less brotherly because it could not be comprehended. +</P> + +<P> +Toward dawn Gale managed to get some sleep. Then the morning broke +with the sun hidden back of the uplift of the plateau. The horses +trooped up the arroyo and snorted for water. After a hurried breakfast +the packs were hidden in holes in the lava. The saddles were left +where they were, and the horses allowed to graze and wander at will. +Canteens were filled, a small bag of food was packed, and blankets made +into a bundle. Then Yaqui faced the steep ascent of the lava slope. +</P> + +<P> +The trail he followed led up on the right side of the fissure, opposite +to the one he had come down. It was a steep climb, and encumbered as +the men were they made but slow progress. Mercedes had to be lifted up +smooth steps and across crevices. They passed places where the rims of +the fissure were but a few yards apart. At length the rims widened out +and the red, smoky crater yawned beneath. Yaqui left the trail and +began clambering down over the rough and twisted convolutions of lava +which formed the rim. Sometimes he hung sheer over the precipice. It +was with extreme difficulty that the party followed him. Mercedes had +to be held on narrow, foot-wide ledges. The <i><i>choya</i></i> was there to hinder +passage. Finally the Indian halted upon a narrow bench of flat, smooth +lava, and his followers worked with exceeding care and effort down to +his position. +</P> + +<P> +At the back of this bench, between bunches of <i><i>choya</i></i>, was a niche, a +shallow cave with floor lined apparently with mold. Ladd said the +place was a refuge which had been inhabited by mountain sheep for many +years. Yaqui spread blankets inside, left the canteen and the sack of +food, and with a gesture at once humble, yet that of a chief, he +invited Mercedes to enter. A few more gestures and fewer words +disclosed his plan. In this inaccessible nook Mercedes was to be +hidden. The men were to go around upon the opposite rim, and block the +trail leading down to the waterhole. +</P> + +<P> +Gale marked the nature of this eyrie. It was the wildest and most +rugged place he had ever stepped upon. Only a sheep could have climbed +up the wall above or along the slanting shelf of lava beyond. Below +glistened a whole bank of <i><i>choya</i></i>, frosty in the sunlight, and it +overhung an apparently bottomless abyss. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd chose the smallest gun in the party and gave it to Mercedes. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore it's best to go the limit on bein' ready," he said, simply. "The +chances are you'll never need it. But if you do—" +</P> + +<P> +He left off there, and his break was significant. Mercedes answered +him with a fearless and indomitable flash of eyes. Thorne was the only +one who showed any shaken nerve. His leave-taking of his wife was +affecting and hurried. Then he and the rangers carefully stepped in +the tracks of the Yaqui. +</P> + +<P> +They climbed up to the level of the rim and went along the edge. When +they reached the fissure and came upon its narrowest point, Yaqui +showed in his actions that he meant to leap it. Ladd restrained the +Indian. They then continued along the rim till they reached several +bridges of lava which crossed it. The fissures was deep in some parts, +choked in others. Evidently the crater had no direct outlet into the +arroyo below. Its bottom, however, must have been far beneath the +level of the waterhole. +</P> + +<P> +After the fissure was crossed the trail was soon found. Here it ran +back from the rim. Yaqui waved his hand to the right, where along the +corrugated slope of the crater there were holes and crevices and +coverts for a hundred men. Yaqui strode on up the trail toward a +higher point, where presently his dark figure stood motionless against +the sky. The rangers and Thorne selected a deep depression, out of +which led several ruts deep enough for cover. According to Ladd it was +as good a place as any, perhaps not so hidden as others, but freer from +the dreaded <i><i>choya</i></i>. Here the men laid down rifles and guns, and, +removing their heavy cartridge belts, settled down to wait. +</P> + +<P> +Their location was close to the rim wall and probably five hundred +yards from the opposite rim, which was now seen to be considerably +below them. The glaring red cliff presented a deceitful and baffling +appearance. It had a thousand ledges and holes in its surfaces, and +one moment it looked perpendicular and the next there seemed to be a +long slant. Thorne pointed out where he thought Mercedes was hidden; +Ladd selected another place, and Lash still another. Gale searched for +the bank of <i><i>choya</i></i> he had seen under the bench where Mercedes's retreat +lay, and when he found it the others disputed his opinion. Then Gale +brought his field glass into requisition, proving that he was right. +Once located and fixed in sight, the white patch of <i><i>choya</i></i>, the bench, +and the sheep eyrie stood out from the other features of that rugged +wall. But all the men were agreed that Yaqui had hidden Mercedes where +only the eyes of a vulture could have found her. +</P> + +<P> +Jim Lash crawled into a little strip of shade and bided the time +tranquilly. Ladd was restless and impatient and watchful, every little +while rising to look up the far-reaching slope, and then to the right, +where Yaqui's dark figure stood out from a high point of the rim. +Thorne grew silent, and seemed consumed by a slow, sullen rage. Gale +was neither calm nor free of a gnawing suspense nor of a waiting wrath. +But as best he could he put the pending action out of mind. +</P> + +<P> +It came over him all of a sudden that he had not grasped the stupendous +nature of this desert setting. There was the measureless red slope, +its lower ridges finally sinking into white sand dunes toward the blue +sea. The cold, sparkling light, the white sun, the deep azure of sky, +the feeling of boundless expanse all around him—these meant high +altitude. Southward the barren red simply merged into distance. The +field of craters rose in high, dark wheels toward the dominating peaks. +When Gale withdrew his gaze from the magnitude of these spaces and +heights the crater beneath him seemed dwarfed. Yet while he gazed it +spread and deepened and multiplied its ragged lines. No, he could not +grasp the meaning of size or distance here. There was too much to stun +the sight. But the mood in which nature had created this convulsed +world of lava seized hold upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the hours passed. As the sun climbed the clear, steely +lights vanished, the blue hazes deepened, and slowly the glistening +surfaces of lava turned redder. Ladd was concerned to discover that +Yaqui was missing from his outlook upon the high point. Jim Lash came +out of the shady crevice, and stood up to buckle on his cartridge belt. +His narrow, gray glance slowly roved from the height of lava down along +the slope, paused in doubt, and then swept on to resurvey the whole +vast eastern dip of the plateau. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon my eyes are pore," he said. "Mebbe it's this damn red glare. +Anyway, what's them creepin' spots up there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I seen them. Mountain sheep," replied Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess again, Laddy. Dick, I reckon you'd better flash the glass up +the slope." +</P> + +<P> +Gale adjusted the field glass and began to search the lava, beginning +close at hand and working away from him. Presently the glass became +stationary. +</P> + +<P> +"I see half a dozen small animals, brown in color. They look like +sheep. But I couldn't distinguish mountain sheep from antelope." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore they're bighorn," said Laddy. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon if you'll pull around to the east an' search under that long +wall of lava—there—you'll see what I see," added Jim. +</P> + +<P> +The glass climbed and circled, wavered an instant, then fixed steady as +a rock. There was a breathless silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Fourteen horses—two packed—some mounted—others without riders, and +lame," said Gale, slowly. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui appeared far up the trail, coming swiftly. Presently he saw the +rangers and halted to wave his arms and point. Then he vanished as if +the lava had opened beneath him. +</P> + +<P> +"Lemme that glass," suddenly said Jim Lash. "I'm seein' red, I tell +you.... Well, pore as my eyes are they had it right. Rojas an' his +outfit have left the trail." +</P> + +<P> +"Jim, you ain't meanin' they've taken to that awful slope?" queried +Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"I sure do. There they are—still comin', but goin' down, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe Rojas is crazy, but it begins to look like he—" +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, I'll be danged if the Greaser bunch hasn't vamoosed. Gone out +of sight! Right there not a half mile away, the whole caboodle—gone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Shore they're behind a crust or have gone down into a rut," suggested +Ladd. "They'll show again in a minute. Look sharp, boys, for I'm +figgerin' Rojas 'll spread his men." +</P> + +<P> +Minutes passed, but nothing moved upon the slope. Each man crawled up +to a vantage point along the crest of rotting lava. The watchers were +careful to peer through little notches or from behind a spur, and the +constricted nature of their hiding-place kept them close together. +Ladd's muttering grew into a growl, then lapsed into the silence that +marked his companions. From time to time the rangers looked +inquiringly at Gale. The field glass, however, like the naked sight, +could not catch the slightest moving object out there upon the lava. A +long hour of slow, mounting suspense wore on. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore it's all goin' to be as queer as the Yaqui," said Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, the strange mien, the silent action, the somber character of +the Indian had not been without effect upon the minds of the men. Then +the weird, desolate, tragic scene added to the vague sense of mystery. +And now the disappearance of Rojas's band, the long wait in the +silence, the boding certainty of invisible foes crawling, circling +closer and closer, lent to the situation a final touch that made it +unreal. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm reckonin' there's a mind behind them Greasers," replied Jim. "Or +mebbe we ain't done Rojas credit... If somethin' would only come off!" +</P> + +<P> +That Lash, the coolest, most provokingly nonchalant of men in times of +peril, should begin to show a nervous strain was all the more +indicative of a subtle pervading unreality. +</P> + +<P> +"Boys, look sharp!" suddenly called Lash. "Low down to the left—mebbe +three hundred yards. See, along by them seams of lava—behind the +<i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i>. First off I thought it was a sheep. But it's the Yaqui!... +Crawlin' swift as a lizard! Can't you see him?" +</P> + +<P> +It was a full moment before Jim's companions could locate the Indian. +Flat as a snake Yaqui wound himself along with incredible rapidity. +His advance was all the more remarkable for the fact that he appeared +to pass directly under the dreaded <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i>. Sometimes he paused to lift +his head and look. He was directly in line with a huge whorl of lava +that rose higher than any point on the slope. This spur was a quarter +of a mile from the position of the rangers. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore he's headin' for that high place," said Ladd. "He's goin' slow +now. There, he's stopped behind some <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i>. He's gettin' up—no, +he's kneelin'.... Now what the hell!" +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, take a peek at the side of that lava ridge," sharply called +Jim. "I guess mebbe somethin' ain't comin' off. See! There's Rojas +an' his outfit climbin'. Don't make out no hosses.... Dick, use your +glass an' tell us what's doin'. I'll watch Yaqui an' tell you what his +move means." +</P> + +<P> +Clearly and distinctly, almost as if he could have touched them, Gale +had Rojas and his followers in sight. They were toiling up the rough +lava on foot. They were heavily armed. Spurs, chaps, jackets, scarfs +were not in evidence. Gale saw the lean, swarthy faces, the black, +straggly hair, the ragged, soiled garments which had once been white. +</P> + +<P> +"They're almost up now," Gale was saying. "There! They halt on top. +I see Rojas. He looks wild. By ——! fellows, an Indian!... It's a +Papago. Belding's old herder!... The Indian points—this way—then +down. He's showing Rojas the lay of the trail." +</P> + +<P> +"Boys, Yaqui's in range of that bunch," said Jim, swiftly. "He's +raisin' his rifle slow—Lord, how slow he is!... He's covered some one. +Which one I can't say. But I think he'll pick Rojas." +</P> + +<P> +"The Yaqui can shoot. He'll pick Rojas," added Gale, grimly. +</P> + +<P> +"Rojas—yes—yes!" cried Thorne, in passion of suspense. +</P> + +<P> +"Not on your life!" Ladd's voice cut in with scorn. "Gentlemen, you +can gamble Yaqui 'll kill the Papago. That traitor Indian knows these +sheep haunts. He's tellin' Rojas—" +</P> + +<P> +A sharp rifle shot rang out. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy's right," called Gale. "The Papago's hit—his arm falls—There, +he tumbles!" +</P> + +<P> +More shots rang out. Yaqui was seen standing erect firing rapidly at +the darting Mexicans. For all Gale could make out no second bullet +took effect. Rojas and his men vanished behind the bulge of lava. +Then Yaqui deliberately backed away from his position. He made no +effort to run or hide. Evidently he watched cautiously for signs of +pursuers in the ruts and behind the <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i>. Presently he turned and +came straight toward the position of the rangers, sheered off perhaps a +hundred paces below it, and disappeared in a crevice. Plainly his +intention was to draw pursuers within rifle shot. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore, Jim, you had your wish. Somethin' come off," said Ladd. "An' +I'm sayin' thank God for the Yaqui! That Papago 'd have ruined us. +Even so, mebbe he's told Rojas more'n enough to make us sweat blood." +</P> + +<P> +"He had a chance to kill Rojas," cried out the drawn-faced, passionate +Thorne. "He didn't take it!... He didn't take it!" +</P> + +<P> +Only Ladd appeared to be able to answer the cavalryman's poignant cry. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, son," he said, and his voice rang. "We-all know how you feel. +An' if I'd had that one shot never in the world could I have picked the +Papago guide. I'd have had to kill Rojas. That's the white man of it. +But Yaqui was right. Only an Indian could have done it. You can +gamble the Papago alive meant slim chance for us. Because he'd led +straight to where Mercedes is hidden, an' then we'd have left cover to +fight it out... When you come to think of the Yaqui's hate for +Greasers, when you just seen him pass up a shot at one—well, I don't +know how to say what I mean, but damn me, my som-brer-ro is off to the +Indian!" +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon so, an' I reckon the ball's opened," rejoined Lash, and now +that former nervous impatience so unnatural to him was as if it had +never been. He was smilingly cool, and his voice had almost a +caressing note. He tapped the breech of his Winchester with a sinewy +brown hand, and he did not appear to be addressing any one in +particular. "Yaqui's opened the ball. Look up your pardners there, +gents, an' get ready to dance." +</P> + +<P> +Another wait set in then, and judging by the more direct rays of the +sun and a receding of the little shadows cast by the <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i>, Gale was +of the opinion that it was a long wait. But it seemed short. The four +men were lying under the bank of a half circular hole in the lava. It +was notched and cracked, and its rim was fringed by <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i>. It sloped +down and opened to an unobstructed view of the crater. Gale had the +upper position, fartherest to the right, and therefore was best +shielded from possible fire from the higher ridges of the rim, some +three hundred yards distant. Jim came next, well hidden in a crack. +The positions of Thorne and Ladd were most exposed. They kept sharp +lookout over the uneven rampart of their hiding-place. +</P> + +<P> +The sun passed the zenith, began to slope westward, and to grow hotter +as it sloped. The men waited and waited. Gale saw no impatience even +in Thorne. The sultry air seemed to be laden with some burden or +quality that was at once composed of heat, menace, color, and silence. +Even the light glancing up from the lava seemed red and the silence had +substance. Sometimes Gale felt that it was unbearable. Yet he made no +effort to break it. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly this dead stillness was rent by a shot, clear and stinging, +close at hand. It was from a rifle, not a carbine. With startling +quickness a cry followed—a cry that pierced Gale—it was so thin, so +high-keyed, so different from all other cries. It was the involuntary +human shriek at death. +</P> + +<P> +"Yaqui's called out another pardner," said Jim Lash, laconically. +</P> + +<P> +Carbines began to crack. The reports were quick, light, like sharp +spats without any ring. Gale peered from behind the edge of his +covert. Above the ragged wave of lava floated faint whitish clouds, +all that was visible of smokeless powder. Then Gale made out round +spots, dark against the background of red, and in front of them leaped +out small tongues of fire. Ladd's .405 began to "spang" with its +beautiful sound of power. Thorne was firing, somewhat wildly Gale +thought. Then Jim Lash pushed his Winchester over the rim under a +<i><i>choya</i></i>, and between shots Gale could hear him singing: "Turn the lady, +turn—turn the lady, turn!... Alaman left!... Swing your pardners!... +Forward an' back!... Turn the lady, turn!" Gale got into the fight +himself, not so sure that he hit any of the round, bobbing objects he +aimed at, but growing sure of himself as action liberated something +forced and congested within his breast. +</P> + +<P> +Then over the position of the rangers came a hail of steel bullets. +Those that struck the lava hissed away into the crater; those that came +biting through the <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i> made a sound which resembled a sharp ripping +of silk. Bits of cactus stung Gale's face, and he dreaded the flying +thorns more than he did the flying bullets. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on, boys," called Ladd, as he crouched down to reload his rifle. +"Save your shells. The greasers are spreadin' on us, some goin' down +below Yaqui, others movin' up for that high ridge. When they get up +there I'm damned if it won't be hot for us. There ain't room for all +of us to hide here." +</P> + +<P> +Ladd raised himself to peep over the rim. Shots were now scattering, +and all appeared to come from below. Emboldened by this he rose +higher. A shot from in front, a rip of bullet through the <i><i>choya</i></i>, a +spat of something hitting Ladd's face, a steel missile hissing +onward—these inseparably blended sounds were all registered by Gale's +sensitive ear. +</P> + +<P> +With a curse Ladd tumbled down into the hole. His face showed a great +gray blotch, and starting blood. Gale felt a sickening assurance of +desperate injury to the ranger. He ran to him calling: "Laddy! Laddy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I ain't plugged. It's a damn <i><i>choya</i></i> burr. The bullet knocked it +in my face. Pull it out!" +</P> + +<P> +The oval, long-spiked cone was firmly imbedded in Ladd's cheek. Blood +streamed down his face and neck. Carefully, yet with no thought of +pain to himself, Gale tried to pull the cactus joint away. It was as +firm as if it had been nailed there. That was the damnable feature of +the barbed thorns: once set, they held on as that strange plant held +to its desert life. Ladd began to writhe, and sweat mingled with the +blood on his face. He cursed and raved, and his movements made it +almost impossible for Gale to do anything. +</P> + +<P> +"Put your knife-blade under an' tear it out!" shouted Ladd, hoarsely. +</P> + +<P> +Thus ordered, Gale slipped a long blade in between the imbedded thorns, +and with a powerful jerk literally tore the <i><i>choya</i></i> out of Ladd's +quivering flesh. Then, where the ranger's face was not red and raw, it +certainly was white. +</P> + +<P> +A volley of shots from a different angle was followed by the quick ring +of steel bullets striking the lava all around Gale. His first idea, as +he heard the projectiles sing and hum and whine away into the air, was +that they were coming from above him. He looked up to see a number of +low, white and dark knobs upon the high point of lava. They had not +been there before. Then he saw little, pale, leaping tongues of fire. +As he dodged down he distinctly heard a bullet strike Ladd. At the +same instant he seemed to hear Thorne cry out and fall, and Lash's +boots scrape rapidly away. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd fell backward still holding the .405. Gale dragged him into the +shelter of his own position, and dreading to look at him, took up the +heavy weapon. It was with a kind of savage strength that he gripped +the rifle; and it was with a cold and deadly intent that he aimed and +fired. The first Greaser huddled low, let his carbine go clattering +down, and then crawled behind the rim. The second and third jerked +back. The fourth seemed to flop up over the crest of lava. A dark arm +reached for him, clutched his leg, tried to drag him up. It was in +vain. Wildly grasping at the air the bandit fell, slid down a steep +shelf, rolled over the rim, to go hurtling down out of sight. +</P> + +<P> +Fingering the hot rifle with close-pressed hands, Gale watched the sky +line along the high point of lava. It remained unbroken. As his +passion left him he feared to look back at his companions, and the cold +chill returned to his breast. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore—I'm damn glad—them Greasers ain't usin' soft-nose bullets," +drawled a calm voice. +</P> + +<P> +Swift as lightning Gale whirled. +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy! I thought you were done for," cried Gale, with a break in his +voice. +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't a-mindin' the bullet much. But that <i><i>choya</i></i> joint took my +nerve, an' you can gamble on it. Dick, this hole's pretty high up, +ain't it?" +</P> + +<P> +The ranger's blouse was open at the neck, and on his right shoulder +under the collar bone was a small hole just beginning to bleed. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it's high, Laddy," replied Gale, gladly. "Went clear through, +clean as a whistle!" +</P> + +<P> +He tore a handkerchief into two parts, made wads, and pressing them +close over the wounds he bound them there with Ladd's scarf. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore it's funny how a bullet can floor a man an' then not do any +damage," said Ladd. "I felt a zip of wind an' somethin' like a pat on +my chest an' down I went. Well, so much for the small caliber with +their steel bullets. Supposin' I'd connected with a .405!" +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, I—I'm afraid Thorne's done for," whispered Gale. "He's lying +over there in that crack. I can see part of him. He doesn't move." +</P> + +<P> +"I was wonderin' if I'd have to tell you that. Dick, he went down hard +hit, fallin', you know, limp an' soggy. It was a moral cinch one of us +would get it in this fight; but God! I'm sorry Thorne had to be the +man." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, maybe he's not dead," replied Gale. He called aloud to his +friend. There was no answer. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd got up, and, after peering keenly at the height of lava, he strode +swiftly across the space. It was only a dozen steps to the crack in +the lava where Thorne had fallen head first. Ladd bent over, went to +his knees, so that Gale saw only his head. Then he appeared rising +with arms round the cavalryman. He dragged him across the hole to the +sheltered corner that alone afforded protection. He had scarcely +reached it when a carbine cracked and a bullet struck the flinty lava, +striking sparks, then singing away into the air. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne was either dead or unconscious, and Gale, with a contracting +throat and numb heart, decided for the former. Not so Ladd, who probed +the bloody gash on Thorne's temple, and then felt his breast. +</P> + +<P> +"He's alive an' not bad hurt. That bullet hit him glancin'. Shore +them steel bullets are some lucky for us. Dick, you needn't look so +glum. I tell you he ain't bad hurt. I felt his skull with my finger. +There's no hole in it. Wash him off an' tie— Wow! did you get the +wind of that one? An' mebbe it didn't sing off the lava!... Dick, look +after Thorne now while I—" +</P> + +<P> +The completion of his speech was the stirring ring of the .405, and +then he uttered a laugh that was unpleasant. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore, Greaser, there's a man's size bullet for you. No slim, +sharp-pointed, steel-jacket nail! I'm takin' it on me to believe +you're appreciatin' of the .405, seein' as you don't make no fuss." +</P> + +<P> +It was indeed a joy to Gale to find that Thorne had not received a +wound necessarily fatal, though it was serious enough. Gale bathed and +bound it, and laid the cavalryman against the slant of the bank, his +head high to lessen the probability of bleeding. +</P> + +<P> +As Gale straightened up Ladd muttered low and deep, and swung the heavy +rifle around to the left. Far along the slope a figure moved. Ladd +began to work the lever of the Winchester and to shoot. At every shot +the heavy firearm sprang up, and the recoil made Ladd's shoulder give +back. Gale saw the bullets strike the lava behind, beside, before the +fleeing Mexican, sending up dull puffs of dust. On the sixth shot he +plunged down out of sight, either hit or frightened into seeking cover. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, mebbe there's one or two left above; but we needn't figure much +on it," said Ladd, as, loading the rifle, he jerked his fingers quickly +from the hot breech. "Listen! Jim an' Yaqui are hittin' it up lively +down below. I'll sneak down there. You stay here an' keep about half +an eye peeled up yonder, an' keep the rest my way." +</P> + +<P> +Ladd crossed the hole, climbed down into the deep crack where Thorne +had fallen, and then went stooping along with only his head above the +level. Presently he disappeared. Gale, having little to fear from the +high ridge, directed most of his attention toward the point beyond +which Ladd had gone. The firing had become desultory, and the light +carbine shots outnumbered the sharp rifle shots five to one. Gale made +a note of the fact that for some little time he had not heard the +unmistakable report of Jim Lash's automatic. Then ensued a long +interval in which the desert silence seemed to recover its grip. The +.405 ripped it asunder—spang—spang—spang. Gale fancied he heard +yells. There were a few pattering shots still farther down the trail. +Gale had an uneasy conviction that Rojas and some of his band might go +straight to the waterhole. It would be hard to dislodge even a few men +from that retreat. +</P> + +<P> +There seemed a lull in the battle. Gale ventured to stand high, and +screened behind <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i>, he swept the three-quarter circle of lava with +his glass. In the distance he saw horses, but no riders. Below him, +down the slope along the crater rim and the trail, the lava was bare of +all except tufts of <i><i>choya</i></i>. Gale gathered assurance. It looked as if +the day was favoring his side. Then Thorne, coming partly to +consciousness, engaged Gale's care. The cavalryman stirred and moaned, +called for water, and then for Mercedes. Gale held him back with a +strong hand, and presently he was once more quiet. +</P> + +<P> +For the first time in hours, as it seemed, Gale took note of the +physical aspect of his surroundings. He began to look upon them +without keen gaze strained for crouching form, or bobbing head, or +spouting carbine. Either Gale's sense of color and proportion had +become deranged during the fight, or the encompassing air and the +desert had changed. Even the sun had changed. It seemed lowering, +oval in shape, magenta in hue, and it had a surface that gleamed like +oil on water. Its red rays shone through red haze. Distances that had +formerly been clearly outlined were now dim, obscured. The yawning +chasm was not the same. It circled wider, redder, deeper. It was a +weird, ghastly mouth of hell. Gale stood fascinated, unable to tell +how much he saw was real, how much exaggeration of overwrought +emotions. There was no beauty here, but an unparalleled grandeur, a +sublime scene of devastation and desolation which might have had its +counterpart upon the burned-out moon. The mood that gripped Gale now +added to its somber portent an unshakable foreboding of calamity. +</P> + +<P> +He wrestled with the spell as if it were a physical foe. Reason and +intelligence had their voices in his mind; but the moment was not one +wherein these things could wholly control. He felt life strong within +his breast, yet there, a step away, was death, yawning, glaring, smoky, +red. It was a moment—an hour for a savage, born, bred, developed in +this scarred and blasted place of jagged depths and red distances and +silences never meant to be broken. Since Gale was not a savage he +fought that call of the red gods which sent him back down the long ages +toward his primitive day. His mind combated his sense of sight and the +hearing that seemed useless; and his mind did not win all the victory. +Something fatal was here, hanging in the balance, as the red haze hung +along the vast walls of that crater of hell. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly harsh, prolonged yells brought him to his feet, and the +unrealities vanished. Far down the trails where the crater rims closed +in the deep fissure he saw moving forms. They were three in number. +Two of them ran nimbly across the lava bridge. The third staggered far +behind. It was Ladd. He appeared hard hit. He dragged at the heavy +rifle which he seemed unable to raise. The yells came from him. He +was calling the Yaqui. +</P> + +<P> +Gale's heart stood still momentarily. Here, then, was the catastrophe! +He hardly dared sweep that fissure with his glass. The two fleeing +figures halted—turned to fire at Ladd. Gale recognized the foremost +one—small, compact, gaudy. Rojas! The bandit's arm was outstretched. +Puffs of white smoke rose, and shots rapped out. When Ladd went down +Rojas threw his gun aside and with a wild yell bounded over the lava. +His companion followed. +</P> + +<P> +A tide of passion, first hot as fire, then cold as ice, rushed over +Gale when he saw Rojas take the trail toward Mercedes's hiding-place. +The little bandit appeared to have the sure-footedness of a mountain +sheep. The Mexican following was not so sure or fast. He turned back. +Gale heard the trenchant bark of the .405. Ladd was kneeling. He shot +again—again. The retreating bandit seemed to run full into an +invisible obstacle, then fell lax, inert, lifeless. Rojas sped on +unmindful of the spurts of dust about him. Yaqui, high above Ladd, was +also firing at the bandit. Then both rifles were emptied. Rojas +turned at a high break in the trail. He shook a defiant hand, and his +exulting yell pealed faintly to Gale's ears. About him there was +something desperate, magnificent. Then he clambered down the trail. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd dropped the .405, and rising, gun in hand, he staggered toward the +bridge of lava. Before he had crossed it Yaqui came bounding down the +slope, and in one splendid leap he cleared the fissure. He ran beyond +the trail and disappeared on the lava above. Rojas had not seen this +sudden, darting move of the Indian. +</P> + +<P> +Gale felt himself bitterly powerless to aid in that pursuit. He could +only watch. He wondered, fearfully, what had become of Lash. +Presently, when Rojas came out of the cracks and ruts of lava there +might be a chance of disabling him by a long shot. His progress was now +slow. But he was making straight for Mercedes's hiding-place. What +was it leading him there—an eagle eye, or hate, or instinct? Why did +he go on when there could be no turning back for him on that trail? +Ladd was slow, heavy, staggering on the trail; but he was relentless. +Only death could stop the ranger now. Surely Rojas must have known +that when he chose the trail. From time to time Gale caught glimpses +of Yaqui's dark figure stealing along the higher rim of the crater. He +was making for a point above the bandit. +</P> + +<P> +Moments—endless moments dragged by. The lowering sun colored only the +upper half of the crater walls. Far down the depths were murky blue. +Again Gale felt the insupportable silence. The red haze became a +transparent veil before his eyes. Sinister, evil, brooding, waiting, +seemed that yawning abyss. Ladd staggered along the trail, at times he +crawled. The Yaqui gained; he might have had wings; he leaped from +jagged crust to jagged crust; his sure-footedness was a wonderful thing. +</P> + +<P> +But for Gale the marvel of that endless period of watching was the +purpose of the bandit Rojas. He had now no weapon. Gale's glass made +this fact plain. There was death behind him, death below him, death +before him, and though he could not have known it, death above him. He +never faltered—never made a misstep upon the narrow, flinty trail. +When he reached the lower end of the level ledge Gale's poignant doubt +became a certainty. Rojas had seen Mercedes. It was incredible, yet +Gale believed it. Then, his heart clamped as in an icy vise, Gale +threw forward the Remington, and sinking on one knee, began to shoot. +He emptied the magazine. Puffs of dust near Rojas did not even make +him turn. +</P> + +<P> +As Gale began to reload he was horror-stricken by a low cry from +Thorne. The cavalryman had recovered consciousness. He was half +raised, pointing with shaking hand at the opposite ledge. His +distended eyes were riveted upon Rojas. He was trying to utter speech +that would not come. +</P> + +<P> +Gale wheeled, rigid now, steeling himself to one last forlorn +hope—that Mercedes could defend herself. She had a gun. He doubted +not at all that she would use it. But, remembering her terror of this +savage, he feared for her. +</P> + +<P> +Rojas reached the level of the ledge. He halted. He crouched. It was +the act of a panther. Manifestly he saw Mercedes within the cave. +Then faint shots patted the air, broke in quick echo. Rojas went down +as if struck a heavy blow. He was hit. But even as Gale yelled in +sheer madness the bandit leaped erect. He seemed too quick, too supple +to be badly wounded. A slight, dark figure flashed out of the cave. +Mercedes! She backed against the wall. Gale saw a puff of +white—heard a report. But the bandit lunged at her. Mercedes ran, +not to try to pass him, but straight for the precipice. Her intention +was plain. But Rojas outstripped her, even as she reached the verge. +Then a piercing scream pealed across the crater—a scream of despair. +</P> + +<P> +Gale closed his eyes. He could not bear to see more. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne echoed Mercedes's scream. Gale looked round just in time to +leap and catch the cavalryman as he staggered, apparently for the steep +slope. And then, as Gale dragged him back, both fell. Gale saved his +friend, but he plunged into a <i><i>choya</i></i>. He drew his hands away full of +the great glistening cones of thorns. +</P> + +<P> +"For God's sake, Gale, shoot! Shoot! Kill her! Kill her!... +Can't—you—see—Rojas—" +</P> + +<P> +Thorne fainted. +</P> + +<P> +Gale, stunned for the instant, stood with uplifted hands, and gazed +from Thorne across the crater. Rojas had not killed Mercedes. He was +overpowering her. His actions seemed slow, wearing, purposeful. Hers +were violent. Like a trapped she-wolf, Mercedes was fighting. She +tore, struggled, flung herself. +</P> + +<P> +Rojas's intention was terribly plain. +</P> + +<P> +In agony now, both mental and physical, cold and sick and weak, Gale +gripped his rifle and aimed at the struggling forms on the ledge. He +pulled the trigger. The bullet struck up a cloud of red dust close to +the struggling couple. Again Gale fired, hoping to hit Rojas, praying +to kill Mercedes. The bullet struck high. A third—fourth—fifth time +the Remington spoke—in vain! The rifle fell from Gale's racked hands. +</P> + +<P> +How horribly plain that fiend's intention! Gale tried to close his +eyes, but could not. He prayed wildly for a sudden blindness—to faint +as Thorne had fainted. But he was transfixed to the spot with eyes +that pierced the red light. +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes was growing weaker, seemed about to collapse. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Jim Lash, are you dead?" cried Gale. "Oh, Laddy!... Oh, Yaqui!" +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a dark form literally fell down the wall behind the ledge +where Rojas fought the girl. It sank in a heap, then bounded erect. +</P> + +<P> +"Yaqui!" screamed Gale, and he waved his bleeding hands till the blood +bespattered his face. Then he choked. Utterance became impossible. +</P> + +<P> +The Indian bent over Rojas and flung him against the wall. Mercedes, +sinking back, lay still. When Rojas got up the Indian stood between +him and escape from the ledge. Rojas backed the other way along the +narrowing shelf of lava. His manner was abject, stupefied. Slowly he +stepped backward. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Gale caught the white gleam of a knife in Yaqui's +hand. Rojas turned and ran. He rounded a corner of wall where the +footing was precarious. Yaqui followed slowly. His figure was dark +and menacing. But he was not in a hurry. When he passed off the ledge +Rojas was edging farther and farther along the wall. He was clinging +now to the lava, creeping inch by inch. Perhaps he had thought to work +around the buttress or climb over it. Evidently he went as far as +possible, and there he clung, an unscalable wall above, the abyss +beneath. +</P> + +<P> +The approach of the Yaqui was like a slow dark shadow of gloom. If it +seemed so to the stricken Gale what must it have been to Rojas? He +appeared to sink against the wall. The Yaqui stole closer and closer. +He was the savage now, and for him the moment must have been glorified. +Gale saw him gaze up at the great circling walls of the crater, then +down into the depths. Perhaps the red haze hanging above him, or the +purple haze below, or the deep caverns in the lava, held for Yaqui +spirits of the desert, his gods to whom he called. Perhaps he invoked +shadows of his loved ones and his race, calling them in this moment of +vengeance. +</P> + +<P> +Gale heard—or imagined he heard—that wild, strange Yaqui cry. +</P> + +<P> +Then the Indian stepped close to Rojas, and bent low, keeping out of +reach. How slow were his motions! Would Yaqui never—never end it?... +A wail drifted across the crater to Gale's ears. +</P> + +<P> +Rojas fell backward and plunged sheer. The bank of white <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i> caught +him, held him upon their steel spikes. How long did the dazed Gale sit +there watching Rojas wrestling and writhing in convulsive frenzy? The +bandit now seemed mad to win the delayed death. +</P> + +<P> +When he broke free he was a white patched object no longer human, a +ball of <i><i>choya</i></i> burrs, and he slipped off the bank to shoot down and down +into the purple depths of the crater. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHANGES AT FORLORN RIVER +</H3> + +<P> +THE first of March saw the federal occupation of the garrison at +Casita. After a short, decisive engagement the rebels were dispersed +into small bands and driven eastward along the boundary line toward +Nogales. +</P> + +<P> +It was the destiny of Forlorn River, however, never to return to the +slow, sleepy tenor of its former existence. Belding's predictions came +true. That straggling line of home-seekers was but a forerunner of the +real invasion of Altar Valley. Refugees from Mexico and from Casita +spread the word that water and wood and grass and land were to be had +at Forlorn River; and as if by magic the white tents and red adobe +houses sprang up to glisten in the sun. +</P> + +<P> +Belding was happier than he had been for a long time. He believed that +evil days for Forlorn River, along with the apathy and lack of +enterprise, were in the past. He hired a couple of trustworthy +Mexicans to ride the boundary line, and he settled down to think of +ranching and irrigation and mining projects. Every morning he expected +to receive some word form Sonoyta or Yuma, telling him that Yaqui had +guided his party safely across the desert. +</P> + +<P> +Belding was simple-minded, a man more inclined to action than +reflection. When the complexities of life hemmed him in, he groped his +way out, never quite understanding. His wife had always been a mystery +to him. Nell was sunshine most of the time, but, like the +sun-dominated desert, she was subject to strange changes, wilful, +stormy, sudden. It was enough for Belding now to find his wife in a +lighter, happier mood, and to see Nell dreamily turning a ring round +and round the third finger of her left hand and watching the west. +Every day both mother and daughter appeared farther removed from the +past darkly threatening days. Belding was hearty in his affections, +but undemonstrative. If there was any sentiment in his make-up it had +an outlet in his memory of Blanco Diablo and a longing to see him. +Often Belding stopped his work to gaze out over the desert toward the +west. When he thought of his rangers and Thorne and Mercedes he +certainly never forgot his horse. He wondered if Diablo was running, +walking, resting; if Yaqui was finding water and grass. +</P> + +<P> +In March, with the short desert winter over, the days began to grow +warm. The noon hours were hot, and seemed to give promise of the white +summer blaze and blasting furnace wind soon to come. No word was +received from the rangers. But this caused Belding no concern, and it +seemed to him that his women folk considered no news good news. +</P> + +<P> +Among the many changes coming to pass in Forlorn River were the +installing of post-office service and the building of a mescal +drinking-house. Belding had worked hard for the post office, but he +did not like the idea of a saloon for Forlorn River. Still, that was +an inevitable evil. The Mexicans would have mescal. Belding had kept +the little border hamlet free of an establishment for distillation of +the fiery cactus drink. A good many Americans drifted into Forlorn +River—miners, cowboys, prospectors, outlaws, and others of nondescript +character; and these men, of course, made the saloon, which was also an +inn, their headquarters. Belding, with Carter and other old residents, +saw the need of a sheriff for Forlorn River. +</P> + +<P> +One morning early in this spring month, while Belding was on his way +from the house to the corrals, he saw Nell running Blanco Jose down the +road at a gait that amazed him. She did not take the turn of the road +to come in by the gate. She put Jose at a four-foot wire fence, and +came clattering into the yard. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell must have another tantrum," said Belding. "She's long past due." +</P> + +<P> +Blanco Jose, like the other white horses, was big of frame and heavy, +and thunder rolled from under his great hoofs. Nell pulled him up, and +as he pounded and slid to a halt in a cloud of dust she swung lightly +down. +</P> + +<P> +It did not take more than half an eye for Belding to see that she was +furious. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, what's come off now?" asked Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not going to tell you," she replied, and started away, leading +Jose toward the corral. +</P> + +<P> +Belding leisurely followed. She went into the corral, removed Jose's +bridle, and led him to the watering-trough. Belding came up, and +without saying anything began to unbuckle Jose's saddle girths. But he +ventured a look at Nell. The red had gone from her face, and he was +surprised to see her eyes brimming with tears. Most assuredly this was +not one of Nell's tantrums. While taking off Jose's saddle and hanging +it in the shed Belding pondered in his slow way. When he came back to +the corral Nell had her face against the bars, and she was crying. He +slipped a big arm around her and waited. Although it was not often +expressed, there was a strong attachment between them. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad, I don't want you to think me a—a baby any more," she said. "I've +been insulted." +</P> + +<P> +With a specific fact to make clear thought in Belding's mind he was +never slow. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew something unusual had come off. I guess you'd better tell me." +</P> + +<P> +"Dad, I will, if you promise." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not to mention it to mother, not to pack a gun down there, and never, +never tell Dick." +</P> + +<P> +Belding was silent. Seldom did he make promises readily. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, sure something must have come off, for you to ask all that." +</P> + +<P> +"If you don't promise I'll never tell, that's all," she declared, +firmly. +</P> + +<P> +Belding deliberated a little longer. He knew the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I promise not to tell mother," he said, presently; "and seeing +you're here safe and well, I guess I won't go packing a gun down there, +wherever that is. But I won't promise to keep anything from Dick that +perhaps he ought to know." +</P> + +<P> +"Dad, what would Dick do if—if he were here and I were to tell him +I'd—I'd been horribly insulted?" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that 'd depend. Mostly, you know, Dick does what you want. +But you couldn't stop him—nobody could—if there was reason, a man's +reason, to get started. Remember what he did to Rojas!... Nell, tell +me what's happened." +</P> + +<P> +Nell, regaining her composure, wiped her eyes and smoothed back her +hair. +</P> + +<P> +"The other day, Wednesday," she began, "I was coming home, and in front +of that mescal drinking-place there was a crowd. It was a noisy crowd. +I didn't want to walk out into the street or seem afraid. But I had to +do both. There were several young men, and if they weren't drunk they +certainly were rude. I never saw them before, but I think they must +belong to the mining company that was run out of Sonora by rebels. +Mrs. Carter was telling me. Anyway, these young fellows were +Americans. They stretched themselves across the walk and smiled at me. +I had to go out in the road. One of them, the rudest, followed me. He +was a big fellow, red-faced, with prominent eyes and a bold look. He +came up beside me and spoke to me. I ran home. And as I ran I heard +his companions jeering. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, to-day, just now, when I was riding up the valley road I came +upon the same fellows. They had instruments and were surveying. +Remembering Dick, and how he always wished for an instrument to help +work out his plan for irrigation, I was certainly surprised to see +these strangers surveying—and surveying upon Laddy's plot of land. It +was a sandy road there, and Jose happened to be walking. So I reined in +and asked these engineers what they were doing. The leader, who was +that same bold fellow who had followed me, seemed much pleased at being +addressed. He was swaggering—too friendly; not my idea of a gentleman +at all. He said he was glad to tell me he was going to run water all +over Altar Valley. Dad, you can bet that made me wild. That was +Dick's plan, his discovery, and here were surveyors on Laddy's claim. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I told him that he was working on private land and he'd better +get off. He seemed to forget his flirty proclivities in amazement. +Then he looked cunning. I read his mind. It was news to him that all +the land along the valley had been taken up. +</P> + +<P> +"He said something about not seeing any squatters on the land, and then +he shut up tight on that score. But he began to be flirty again. He +got hold of Jose's bridle, and before I could catch my breath he said I +was a peach, and that he wanted to make a date with me, that his name +was Chase, that he owned a gold mine in Mexico. He said a lot more I +didn't gather, but when he called me 'Dearie' I—well, I lost my temper. +</P> + +<P> +"I jerked on the bridle and told him to let go. He held on and rolled +his eyes at me. I dare say he imagined he was a gentlemen to be +infatuated with. He seemed sure of conquest. One thing certain, he +didn't know the least bit about horses. It scared me the way he got in +front of Jose. I thanked my stars I wasn't up on Blanco Diablo. Well, +Dad, I'm a little ashamed now, but I was mad. I slashed him across the +face with my quirt. Jose jumped and knocked Mr. Chase into the sand. +I didn't get the horse under control till I was out of sight of those +surveyors, and then I let him run home." +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, I guess you punished the fellow enough. Maybe he's only a +conceited softy. But I don't like that sort of thing. It isn't +Western. I guess he won't be so smart next time. Any fellow would +remember being hit by Blanco Jose. If you'd been up on Diablo we'd +have to bury Mr. Chase." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank goodness I wasn't! I'm sorry now, Dad. Perhaps the fellow was +hurt. But what could I do? Let's forget all about it, and I'll be +careful where I ride in the future.... Dad, what does it mean, this +surveying around Forlorn River?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, Nell," replied Belding, thoughtfully. "It worries me. +It looks good for Forlorn River, but bad for Dick's plan to irrigate +the valley. Lord, I'd hate to have some one forestall Dick on that!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, we won't let anybody have Dick's rights," declared Nell. +</P> + +<P> +"Where have I been keeping myself not to know about these surveyors?" +muttered Belding. "They must have just come." +</P> + +<P> +"Go see Mrs. Cater. She told me there were strangers in town, +Americans, who had mining interests in Sonora, and were run out by +Orozco. Find out what they're doing, Dad." +</P> + +<P> +Belding discovered that he was, indeed, the last man of consequence in +Forlorn River to learn of the arrival of Ben Chase and son, mineowners +and operators in Sonora. They, with a force of miners, had been +besieged by rebels and finally driven off their property. This property +was not destroyed, but held for ransom. And the Chases, pending +developments, had packed outfits and struck for the border. Casita had +been their objective point, but, for some reason which Belding did not +learn, they had arrived instead at Forlorn River. It had taken Ben +Chase just one day to see the possibilities of Altar Valley, and in +three days he had men at work. +</P> + +<P> +Belding returned home without going to see the Chases and their +operations. He wanted to think over the situation. Next morning he +went out to the valley to see for himself. Mexicans were hastily +erecting adobe houses upon Ladd's one hundred and sixty acres, upon +Dick Gale's, upon Jim Lash's and Thorne's. There were men staking the +valley floor and the river bed. That was sufficient for Belding. He +turned back toward town and headed for the camp of these intruders. +</P> + +<P> +In fact, the surroundings of Forlorn River, except on the river side, +reminded Belding of the mushroom growth of a newly discovered mining +camp. Tents were everywhere; adobe shacks were in all stages of +construction; rough clapboard houses were going up. The latest of this +work was new and surprising to Belding, all because he was a busy man, +with no chance to hear village gossip. When he was directed to the +headquarters of the Chase Mining Company he went thither in +slow-growing wrath. +</P> + +<P> +He came to a big tent with a huge canvas fly stretched in front, under +which sat several men in their shirt sleeves. They were talking and +smoking. +</P> + +<P> +"My name's Belding. I want to see this Mr. Chase," said Belding, +gruffly. +</P> + +<P> +Slow-witted as Belding was, and absorbed in his own feelings, he yet +saw plainly that his advent was disturbing to these men. They looked +alarmed, exchanged glances, and then quickly turned to him. One of +them, a tall, rugged man with sharp face and shrewd eyes and white +hair, got up and offered his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Chase, senior," he said. "My son Radford Chase is here somewhere. +You're Belding, the line inspector, I take it? I meant to call on you." +</P> + +<P> +He seemed a rough-and-ready, loud-spoken man, withal cordial enough. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I'm the inspector," replied Belding, ignoring the proffered hand, +"and I'd like to know what in the hell you mean by taking up land +claims—staked ground that belongs to my rangers?" +</P> + +<P> +"Land claims?" slowly echoed Chase, studying his man. "We're taking up +only unclaimed land." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a lie. You couldn't miss the stakes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Mr. Belding, as to that, I think my men did run across some +staked ground. But we recognize only squatters. If your rangers think +they've got property just because they drove a few stakes in the ground +they're much mistaken. A squatter has to build a house and live on his +land so long, according to law, before he owns it." +</P> + +<P> +This argument was unanswerable, and Belding knew it. +</P> + +<P> +"According to law!" exclaimed Belding. "Then you own up; you've jumped +our claims." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Belding, I'm a plain business man. I come along. I see a good +opening. Nobody seems to have tenable grants. I stake out claims, +locate squatters, start to build. It seems to me your rangers have +overlooked certain precautions. That's unfortunate for them. I'm +prepared to hold my claim and to back all the squatters who work for +me. If you don't like it you can carry the matter to Tucson. The law +will uphold me." +</P> + +<P> +"The law? Say, on this southwest border we haven't any law except a +man's word and a gun." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you'll find United States law has come along with Ben Chase," +replied the other, snapping his fingers. He was still smooth, +outspoken, but his mask had fallen. +</P> + +<P> +"You're not a Westerner?" queried Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm from Illinois." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought the West hadn't bred you. I know your kind. You'd last a +long time on the Texas border; now, wouldn't you? You're one of the +land and water hogs that has come to root in the West. You're like the +timber sharks—take it all and leave none for those who follow. Mr. +Chase, the West would fare better and last longer if men like you were +driven out." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't drive me out." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not so sure of that. Wait till my rangers come back. I wouldn't +be in your boots. Don't mistake me. I don't suppose you could be +accused of stealing another man's ideas or plan, but sure you've stolen +these four claims. Maybe the law might uphold you. But the spirit, +not the letter, counts with us bordermen." +</P> + +<P> +"See here, Belding, I think you're taking the wrong view of the matter. +I'm going to develop this valley. You'd do better to get in with me. +I've a proposition to make you about that strip of land of yours facing +the river." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't make any deals with me. I won't have anything to do with +you." +</P> + +<P> +Belding abruptly left the camp and went home. Nell met him, probably +intended to question him, but one look into his face confirmed her +fears. She silently turned away. Belding realized he was powerless to +stop Chase, and he was sick with disappointment for the ruin of Dick's +hopes and his own. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A LOST SON +</H3> + +<P> +TIME passed. The population of Forlorn River grew apace. Belding, who +had once been the head of the community, found himself a person of +little consequence. Even had he desired it he would not have had any +voice in the selection of postmaster, sheriff, and a few other +officials. The Chases divided their labors between Forlorn River and +their Mexican gold mine, which had been restored to them. The desert +trips between these two places were taken in automobiles. A month's +time made the motor cars almost as familiar a sight in Forlorn River as +they had been in Casita before the revolution. +</P> + +<P> +Belding was not so busy as he had been formerly. As he lost ambition +he began to find less work to do. His wrath at the usurping Chases +increased as he slowly realized his powerlessness to cope with such +men. They were promoters, men of big interests and wide influence in +the Southwest. The more they did for Forlorn River the less reason +there seemed to be for his own grievance. He had to admit that it was +personal; that he and Gale and the rangers would never have been able +to develop the resources of the valley as these men were doing it. +</P> + +<P> +All day long he heard the heavy booming blasts and the rumble of +avalanches up in the gorge. Chase's men were dynamiting the cliffs in +the narrow box canyon. They were making the dam just as Gale had +planned to make it. When this work of blasting was over Belding +experienced a relief. He would not now be continually reminded of his +and Gale's loss. Resignation finally came to him. But he could not +reconcile himself to misfortune for Gale. +</P> + +<P> +Moreover, Belding had other worry and strain. April arrived with no +news of the rangers. From Casita came vague reports of raiders in the +Sonoyta country—reports impossible to verify until his Mexican rangers +returned. When these men rode in, one of them, Gonzales, an +intelligent and reliable halfbreed, said he had met prospectors at the +oasis. They had just come in on the Camino del Diablo, reported a +terrible trip of heat and drought, and not a trace of the Yaqui's party. +</P> + +<P> +"That settles it," declared Belding. "Yaqui never went to Sonoyta. +He's circled round to the Devil's Road, and the rangers, Mercedes, +Thorne, the horses—they—I'm afraid they have been lost in the desert. +It's an old story on Camino del Diablo." +</P> + +<P> +He had to tell Nell that, and it was an ordeal which left him weak. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Belding listened to him, and was silent for a long time while she +held the stricken Nell to her breast. Then she opposed his convictions +with that quiet strength so characteristic of her arguments. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then," decided Belding, "Rojas headed the rangers at Papago Well +or the Tanks." +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, when you are down in the mouth you use poor judgment," she went +on. "You know only by a miracle could Rojas or anybody have headed +those white horses. Where's your old stubborn confidence? Yaqui was +up on Diablo. Dick was up on Sol. And there were the other horses. +They could not have been headed or caught. Miracles don't happen." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, mother, it's sure good to hear you," said Belding. She +always cheered him, and now he grasped at straws. "I'm not myself +these days, don't mistake that. Tell us what you think. You always say +you feel things when you really don't know them." +</P> + +<P> +"I can say little more than what you said yourself the night Mercedes +was taken away. You told Laddy to trust Yaqui, that he was a godsend. +He might go south into some wild Sonora valley. He might lead Rojas +into a trap. He would find water and grass where no Mexican or +American could." +</P> + +<P> +"But mother, they're gone seven weeks. Seven weeks! At the most I +gave them six weeks. Seven weeks in the desert!" +</P> + +<P> +"How do the Yaquis live?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +Belding could not reply to that, but hope revived in him. He had faith +in his wife, though he could not in the least understand what he +imagined was something mystic in her. +</P> + +<P> +"Years ago when I was searching for my father I learned many things +about this country," said Mrs. Belding. "You can never tell how long a +man may live in the desert. The fiercest, most terrible and +inaccessible places often have their hidden oasis. In his later years +my father became a prospector. That was strange to me, for he never +cared for gold or money. I learned that he was often gone in the +desert for weeks, once for months. Then the time came when he never +came back. That was years before I reached the southwest border and +heard of him. Even then I did not for long give up hope of his coming +back, I know now—something tells me—indeed, it seems his spirit +tells me—he was lost. But I don't have that feeling for Yaqui and his +party. Yaqui has given Rojas the slip or has ambushed him in some +trap. Probably that took time and a long journey into Sonora. The +Indian is too wise to start back now over dry trails. He'll curb the +rangers; he'll wait. I seem to know this, dear Nell, so be brave, +patient. Dick Gale will come back to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, mother!" cried Nell. "I can't give up hope while I have you." +</P> + +<P> +That talk with the strong mother worked a change in Nell and Belding. +Nell, who had done little but brood and watch the west and take violent +rides, seemed to settle into a waiting patience that was sad, yet +serene. She helped her mother more than ever; she was a comfort to +Belding; she began to take active interest in the affairs of the +growing village. Belding, who had been breaking under the strain of +worry, recovered himself so that to outward appearance he was his old +self. He alone knew, however, that his humor was forced, and that the +slow burning wrath he felt for the Chases was flaming into hate. +</P> + +<P> +Belding argued with himself that if Ben Chase and his son, Radford, had +turned out to be big men in other ways than in the power to carry on +great enterprises he might have become reconciled to them. But the +father was greedy, grasping, hard, cold; the son added to those traits +an overbearing disposition to rule, and he showed a fondness for drink +and cards. These men were developing the valley, to be sure, and a +horde of poor Mexicans and many Americans were benefiting from that +development; nevertheless, these Chases were operating in a way which +proved they cared only for themselves. +</P> + +<P> +Belding shook off a lethargic spell and decided he had better set about +several by no means small tasks, if he wanted to get them finished +before the hot months. He made a trip to the Sonoyta Oasis. He +satisfied himself that matters along the line were favorable, and that +there was absolutely no trace of his rangers. Upon completing this trip +he went to Casita with a number of his white thoroughbreds and shipped +them to ranchers and horse-breeders in Texas. Then, being near the +railroad, and having time, he went up to Tucson. There he learned some +interesting particulars about the Chases. They had an office in the +city; influential friends in the Capitol. They were powerful men in +the rapidly growing finance of the West. They had interested the +Southern Pacific Railroad, and in the near future a branch line was to +be constructed from San Felipe to Forlorn River. These details of the +Chase development were insignificant when compared to a matter striking +close home to Belding. His responsibility had been subtly attacked. A +doubt had been cast upon his capability of executing the duties of +immigration inspector to the best advantage of the state. Belding +divined that this was only an entering wedge. The Chases were bent +upon driving him out of Forlorn River; but perhaps to serve better +their own ends, they were proceeding at leisure. Belding returned home +consumed by rage. But he controlled it. For the first time in his +life he was afraid of himself. He had his wife and Nell to think of; +and the old law of the West had gone forever. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad, there's another Rojas round these diggings," was Nell's remark, +after the greetings were over and the usual questions and answers +passed. +</P> + +<P> +Belding's exclamation was cut short by Nell's laugh. She was serious +with a kind of amused contempt. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Radford Chase!" +</P> + +<P> +"Now Nell, what the—" roared Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, Dad! Don't swear," interrupted Nell. "I only meant to tease +you." +</P> + +<P> +"Humph! Say, my girl, that name Chase makes me see red. If you must +tease me hit on some other way. Sabe, senorita?" +</P> + +<P> +"Si, si, Dad." +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, you may as well tell him and have it over," said Mrs. Belding, +quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"You promised me once, Dad, that you'd not go packing a gun off down +there, didn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I remember," replied Belding; but he did not answer her smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you promise again?" she asked, lightly. Here was Nell with arch +eyes, yet not the old arch eyes, so full of fun and mischief. Her lips +were tremulous; her cheeks seemed less round. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," rejoined Belding; and he knew why his voice was a little thick. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you weren't such a good old blind Dad you'd have seen long +ago the way Mr. Radford Chase ran round after me. At first it was only +annoying, and I did not want to add to your worries. But these two +weeks you've been gone I've been more than annoyed. After that time I +struck Mr. Chase with my quirt he made all possible efforts to meet me. +He did meet me wherever I went. He sent me letters till I got tired of +sending them back. +</P> + +<P> +"When you left home on your trips I don't know that he grew bolder, but +he had more opportunity. I couldn't stay in the house all the time. +There were mama's errands and sick people and my Sunday school, and +what not. Mr. Chase waylaid me every time I went out. If he works any +more I don't know when, unless it's when I'm asleep. He followed me +until it was less embarassing for me to let him walk with me and talk +his head off. He made love to me. He begged me to marry him. I told +him I was already in love and engaged to be married. He said that +didn't make any difference. Then I called him a fool. +</P> + +<P> +"Next time he saw me he said he must explain. He meant I was being +true to a man who, everybody on the border knew, had been lost in the +desert. That—that hurt. Maybe—maybe it's true. Sometimes it seems +terribly true. Since then, of course, I have stayed in the house to +avoid being hurt again. +</P> + +<P> +"But, Dad, a little thing like a girl sticking close to her mother and +room doesn't stop Mr. Chase. I think he's crazy. Anyway, he's a most +persistent fool. I want to be charitable, because the man swears he +loves me, and maybe he does, but he is making me nervous. I don't +sleep. I'm afraid to be in my room at night. I've gone to mother's +room. He's always hanging round. Bold! Why, that isn't the thing to +call Mr. Chase. He's absolutely without a sense of decency. He bribes +our servants. He comes into our patio. Think of that! He makes the +most ridiculous excuses. He bothers mother to death. I feel like a +poor little rabbit holed by a hound. And I daren't peep out." +</P> + +<P> +Somehow the thing struck Belding as funny, and he laughed. He had not +had a laugh for so long that it made him feel good. He stopped only at +sight of Nell's surprise and pain. Then he put his arms round her. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, dear. I'm an old bear. But it tickled me, I guess. I +sure hope Mr. Radford Chase has got it bad... Nell, it's only the old +story. The fellows fall in love with you. It's your good looks, Nell. +What a price women like you and Mercedes have to pay for beauty! I'd a +d—— a good deal rather be ugly as a mud fence." +</P> + +<P> +"So would I, Dad, if—if Dick would still love me." +</P> + +<P> +"He wouldn't, you can gamble on that, as Laddy says. ... Well, the +first time I catch this locoed Romeo sneaking round here I'll—I'll—" +</P> + +<P> +"Dad, you promised." +</P> + +<P> +"Confound it, Nell, I promised not to pack a gun. That's all. I'll +only shoo this fellow off the place, gently, mind you, gently. I'll +leave the rest for Dick Gale!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Dad!" cried Nell; and she clung to him wistful, frightened, yet +something more. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't mistake me, Nell. You have your own way, generally. You pull +the wool over mother's eyes, and you wind me round your little finger. +But you can't do either with Dick Gale. You're tender-hearted; you +overlook the doings of this hound, Chase. But when Dick comes back, you +just make up your mind to a little hell in the Chase camp. Oh, he'll +find it out. And I sure want to be round when Dick hands Mr. Radford +the same as he handed Rojas!" +</P> + +<P> +Belding kept a sharp lookout for young Chase, and then, a few days +later, learned that both son and father had gone off upon one of their +frequent trips to Casa Grandes, near where their mines were situated. +</P> + +<P> +April grew apace, and soon gave way to May. One morning Belding was +called from some garden work by the whirring of an automobile and a +"Holloa!" He went forward to the front yard and there saw a car he +thought resembled one he had seen in Casita. It contained a +familiar-looking driver, but the three figures in gray coats and veils +were strange to him. By the time he had gotten to the road he decided +two were women and the other a man. At the moment their faces were +emerging from dusty veils. Belding saw an elderly, sallow-faced, +rather frail-appearing man who was an entire stranger to him; a +handsome dark-eyed woman whose hair showed white through her veil; and +a superbly built girl, whose face made Belding at once think of Dick +Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this Mr. Tom Belding, inspector of immigration?" inquired the +gentleman, courteously. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Belding, and I know who you are," replied Belding in hearty amaze, +as he stretched forth his big hand. "You're Dick Gale's Dad—the +Governor, Dick used to say. I'm sure glad to meet you." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you. Yes, I'm Dick's governor, and here, Mr. Belding—Dick's +mother and his sister Elsie." +</P> + +<P> +Beaming his pleasure, Belding shook hands with the ladies, who showed +their agitation clearly. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Belding, I've come west to look up my lost son," said Mr. Gale. +"His sister's letters were unanswered. We haven't heard from him in +months. Is he still here with you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, now, sure I'm awful sorry," began Belding, his slow mind at +work. "Dick's away just now—been away for a considerable spell. I'm +expecting him back any day.... Won't you come in? You're all dusty and +hot and tired. Come in, and let mother and Nell make you comfortable. +Of course you'll stay. We've a big house. You must stay till Dick +comes back. Maybe that 'll be— Aw, I guess it won't be long.... Let +me handle the baggage, Mr. Gale.... Come in. I sure am glad to meet you +all." +</P> + +<P> +Eager, excited, delighted, Belding went on talking as he ushered the +Gales into the sitting-room, presenting them in his hearty way to the +astounded Mrs. Belding and Nell. For the space of a few moments his +wife and daughter were bewildered. Belding did not recollect any other +occasion when a few callers had thrown them off their balance. But of +course this was different. He was a little flustered himself—a +circumstance that dawned upon him with surprise. When the Gales had +been shown to rooms, Mrs. Belding gained the poise momentarily lost; +but Nell came rushing back, wilder than a deer, in a state of +excitement strange even for her. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Dick's mother, his sister!" whispered Nell. +</P> + +<P> +Belding observed the omission of the father in Nell's exclamation of +mingled delight and alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"His mother!" went on Nell. "Oh, I knew it! I always guessed it! +Dick's people are proud, rich; they're somebody. I thought I'd faint +when she looked at me. She was just curious—curious, but so cold and +proud. She was wondering about me. I'm wearing his ring. It was his +mother's, he said. I won't—I can't take it off. And I'm scared.... +But the sister—oh, she's lovely and sweet—proud, too. I felt warm +all over when she looked at me. I—I wanted to kiss her. She looks +like Dick when he first came to us. But he's changed. They'll hardly +recognize him.... To think they've come! And I had to be looking a +fright, when of all times on earth I'd want to look my best." +</P> + +<P> +Nell, out of breath, ran away evidently to make herself presentable, +according to her idea of the exigency of the case. Belding caught a +glimpse of his wife's face as she went out, and it wore a sad, strange, +anxious expression. Then Belding sat alone, pondering the contracting +emotions of his wife and daughter. It was beyond his understanding. +Women were creatures of feeling. Belding saw reason to be delighted to +entertain Dick's family; and for the time being no disturbing thought +entered his mind. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the Gales came back into the sitting-room, looking very +different without the long gray cloaks and veils. Belding saw +distinction and elegance. Mr. Gale seemed a grave, troubled, kindly +person, ill in body and mind. Belding received the same impression of +power that Ben Chase had given him, only here it was minus any +harshness or hard quality. He gathered that Mr. Gale was a man of +authority. Mrs. Gale rather frightened Belding, but he could not have +told why. The girl was just like Dick as he used to be. +</P> + +<P> +Their manner of speaking also reminded Belding of Dick. They talked of +the ride from Ash Fork down to the border, of the ugly and torn-up +Casita, of the heat and dust and cactus along the trail. Presently +Nell came in, now cool and sweet in white, with a red rose at her +breast. Belding had never been so proud of her. He saw that she meant +to appear well in the eyes of Dick's people, and began to have a faint +perception of what the ordeal was for her. Belding imagined the sooner +the Gales were told that Dick was to marry Nell the better for all +concerned, and especially for Nell. In the general conversation that +ensued he sought for an opening in which to tell this important news, +but he was kept so busy answering questions about his position on the +border, the kind of place Forlorn River was, the reason for so many +tents, etc., that he was unable to find opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +"It's very interesting, very interesting," said Mr. Gale. "At another +time I want to learn all you'll tell me about the West. It's new to me. +I'm surprised, amazed, sir, I may say.... But, Mr. Belding, what I want +to know most is about my son. I'm broken in health. I've worried +myself ill over him. I don't mind telling you, sir, that we quarreled. +I laughed at his threats. He went away. And I've come to see that I +didn't know Richard. I was wrong to upbraid him. For a year we've +known nothing of his doings, and now for almost six months we've not +heard from him at all. Frankly, Mr. Belding, I weakened first, and +I've come to hunt him up. My fear is that I didn't start soon enough. +The boy will have a great position some day—God knows, perhaps soon! +I should not have allowed him to run over this wild country for so +long. But I hoped, though I hardly believed, that he might find +himself. Now I'm afraid he's—" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gale paused and the white hand he raised expressively shook a +little. +</P> + +<P> +Belding was not so thick-witted where men were concerned. He saw how +the matter lay between Dick Gale and his father. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Mr. Gale, sure most young bucks from the East go to the bad out +here," he said, bluntly. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been told that," replied Mr. Gale; and a shade overspread his +worn face. +</P> + +<P> +"They blow their money, then go punching cows, take to whiskey." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," rejoined Mr. Gale, feebly nodding. +</P> + +<P> +"Then they get to gambling, lose their jobs," went on Belding. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gale lifted haggard eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's bumming around, regular tramps, and to the bad generally." +Belding spread wide his big arms, and when one of them dropped round +Nell, who sat beside him, she squeezed his hand tight. "Sure, it's the +regular thing," he concluded, cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +He rather felt a little glee at Mr. Gale's distress, and Mrs. Gale's +crushed I-told-you-so woe in no wise bothered him; but the look in the +big, dark eyes of Dick's sister was too much for Belding. +</P> + +<P> +He choked off his characteristic oath when excited and blurted out, +"Say, but Dick Gale never went to the bad!... Listen!" +</P> + +<P> +Belding had scarcely started Dick Gale's story when he perceived that +never in his life had he such an absorbed and breathless audience. +Presently they were awed, and at the conclusion of that story they sat +white-faced, still, amazed beyond speech. Dick Gale's advent in +Casita, his rescue of Mercedes, his life as a border ranger certainly +lost no picturesque or daring or even noble detail in Belding's +telling. He kept back nothing but the present doubt of Dick's safety. +</P> + +<P> +Dick's sister was the first of the three to recover herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, father!" she cried; and there was a glorious light in her eyes. +"Deep down in my heart I knew Dick was a man!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gale rose unsteadily from his chair. His frailty was now painfully +manifest. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Belding, do you mean my son—Richard Gale—has done all that you +told us?" he asked, incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"I sure do," replied Belding, with hearty good will. +</P> + +<P> +"Martha, do you hear?" Mr. Gale turned to question his wife. She +could not answer. Her face had not yet regained its natural color. +</P> + +<P> +"He faced that bandit and his gang alone—he fought them?" demanded Mr. +Gale, his voice stronger. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick mopped up the floor with the whole outfit!" +</P> + +<P> +"He rescued a Spanish girl, went into the desert without food, weapons, +anything but his hands? Richard Gale, whose hands were always useless?" +</P> + +<P> +Belding nodded with a grin. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a ranger now—riding, fighting, sleeping on the sand, preparing +his own food?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I should smile," rejoined Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"He cares for his horse, with his own hands?" This query seemed to be +the climax of Mr. Gale's strange hunger for truth. He had raised his +head a little higher, and his eye was brighter. +</P> + +<P> +Mention of a horse fired Belding's blood. +</P> + +<P> +"Does Dick Gale care for his horse? Say, there are not many men as +well loved as that white horse of Dick's. Blanco Sol he is, Mr. Gale. +That's Mex for White Sun. Wait till you see Blanco Sol! Bar one, the +whitest, biggest, strongest, fastest, grandest horse in the Southwest!" +</P> + +<P> +"So he loves a horse! I shall not know my own son.... Mr. Belding, you +say Richard works for you. May I ask, at what salary?" +</P> + +<P> +"He gets forty dollars, board and outfit," replied Belding, proudly. +</P> + +<P> +"Forty dollars?" echoed the father. "By the day or week?" +</P> + +<P> +"The month, of course," said Belding, somewhat taken aback. +</P> + +<P> +"Forty dollars a month for a young man who spent five hundred in the +same time when he was at college, and who ran it into thousands when he +got out!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gale laughed for the first time, and it was the laugh of a man who +wanted to believe what he heard yet scarcely dared to do it. +</P> + +<P> +"What does he do with so much money—money earned by peril, toil, +sweat, and blood? Forty dollars a month!" +</P> + +<P> +"He saves it," replied Belding. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently this was too much for Dick Gale's father, and he gazed at his +wife in sheer speechless astonishment. Dick's sister clapped her hands +like a little child. +</P> + +<P> +Belding saw that the moment was propitious. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure he saves it. Dick's engaged to marry Nell here. My +stepdaughter, Nell Burton." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh-h, Dad!" faltered Nell; and she rose, white as her dress. +</P> + +<P> +How strange it was to see Dick's mother and sister rise, also, and turn +to Nell with dark, proud, searching eyes. Belding vaguely realized +some blunder he had made. Nell's white, appealing face gave him a +pang. What had he done? Surely this family of Dick's ought to know +his relation to Nell. There was a silence that positively made Belding +nervous. +</P> + +<P> +Then Elsie Gale stepped close to Nell. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Burton, are you really Richard's betrothed?" +</P> + +<P> +Nell's tremulous lips framed an affirmative, but never uttered it. She +held out her hand, showing the ring Dick had given her. Miss Gale's +recognition was instant, and her response was warm, sweet, gracious. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I am going to be very, very glad," she said, and kissed Nell. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Burton, we are learning wonderful things about Richard," added +Mr. Gale, in an earnest though shaken voice. "If you have had to do +with making a man of him—and now I begin to see, to believe so—may +God bless you!... My dear girl, I have not really looked at you. +Richard's fiancee!... Mother, we have not found him yet, but I think +we've found his secret. We believed him a lost son. But here is his +sweetheart!" +</P> + +<P> +It was only then that the pride and hauteur of Mrs. Gale's face broke +into an expression of mingled pain and joy. She opened her arms. +Nell, uttering a strange little stifled cry, flew into them. +</P> + +<P> +Belding suddenly discovered an unaccountable blur in his sight. He +could not see perfectly, and that was why, when Mrs. Belding entered +the sitting-room, he was not certain that her face was as sad and white +as it seemed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BOUND IN THE DESERT +</H3> + +<P> +FAR away from Forlorn River Dick Gale sat stunned, gazing down into the +purple depths where Rojas had plunged to his death. The Yaqui stood +motionless upon the steep red wall of lava from which he had cut the +bandit's hold. Mercedes lay quietly where she had fallen. From across +the depths there came to Gale's ear the Indian's strange, wild cry. +</P> + +<P> +Then silence, hollow, breathless, stony silence enveloped the great +abyss and its upheaved lava walls. The sun was setting. Every instant +the haze reddened and thickened. +</P> + +<P> +Action on the part of the Yaqui loosened the spell which held Gale as +motionless as his surroundings. The Indian was edging back toward the +ledge. He did not move with his former lithe and sure freedom. He +crawled, slipped, dragged himself, rested often, and went on again. He +had been wounded. When at last he reached the ledge where Mercedes lay +Gale jumped to his feet, strong and thrilling, spurred to meet the +responsibility that now rested upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Swiftly he turned to where Thorne lay. The cavalryman was just +returning to consciousness. Gale ran for a canteen, bathed his face, +made him drink. The look in Thorne's eyes was hard to bear. +</P> + +<P> +"Thorne! Thorne! it's all right, it's all right!" cried Gale, in +piercing tones. "Mercedes is safe! Yaqui saved her! Rojas is done +for! Yaqui jumped down the wall and drove the bandit off the ledge. +Cut him loose from the wall, foot by foot, hand by hand! We've won the +fight, Thorne." +</P> + +<P> +For Thorne these were marvelous strength-giving words. The dark horror +left his eyes, and they began to dilate, to shine. He stood up, +dizzily but unaided, and he gazed across the crater. Yaqui had reached +the side of Mercedes, was bending over her. She stirred. Yaqui lifted +her to her feet. She appeared weak, unable to stand alone. But she +faced across the crater and waved her hand. She was unharmed. Thorne +lifted both arms above head, and from his lips issued a cry. It was +neither call nor holloa nor welcome nor answer. Like the Yaqui's, it +could scarcely be named. But it was deep, husky, prolonged, terribly +human in its intensity. It made Gale shudder and made his heart beat +like a trip hammer. Mercedes again waved a white hand. The Yaqui +waved, too, and Gale saw in the action an urgent signal. +</P> + +<P> +Hastily taking up canteen and rifles, Gale put a supporting arm around +Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, old man. Can you walk? Sure you can walk! Lean on me, and +we'll soon get out of this. Don't look across. Look where you step. +We've not much time before dark. Oh, Thorne, I'm afraid Jim has cashed +in! And the last I saw of Laddy he was badly hurt." +</P> + +<P> +Gale was keyed up to a high pitch of excitement and alertness. He +seemed to be able to do many things. But once off the ragged notched +lava into the trail he had not such difficulty with Thorne, and could +keep his keen gaze shifting everywhere for sight of enemies. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, Thorne! What's that?" asked Gale, halting as they came to a +place where the trail led down through rough breaks in the lava. The +silence was broken by a strange sound, almost unbelieveable considering +the time and place. A voice was droning: "Turn the lady, turn! Turn +the lady, turn! Alamon left. All swing; turn the lady, turn!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Jim," called Gale, dragging Thorne round the corner of lava. +"Where are you? Oh, you son of a gun! I thought you were dead. Oh, +I'm glad to see you! Jim, are you hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +Jim Lash stood in the trail leaning over the butt of his rifle, which +evidently he was utilizing as a crutch. He was pale but smiling. His +hands were bloody. A scarf had been bound tightly round his left leg +just above the knee. The leg hung limp, and the foot dragged. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon I ain't injured much," replied Him. "But my leg hurts like +hell, if you want to know." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy! Oh, where's Laddy?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's just across the crack there. I was trying to get to him. We had +it hot an' heavy down here. Laddy was pretty bad shot up before he +tried to head Rojas off the trail.... Dick, did you see the Yaqui go +after Rojas?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did I!" exclaimed Gale, grimly. +</P> + +<P> +"The finish was all that saved me from runnin' loco plumb over the rim. +You see I was closer'n you to where Mercedes was hid. When Rojas an' +his last Greaser started across, Laddy went after them, but I couldn't. +Laddy did for Rojas's man, then went down himself. But he got up an' +fell, got up, went on, an' fell again. Laddy kept doin' that till he +dropped for good. I reckon our chances are against findin' him +alive.... I tell you, boys, Rojas was hell-bent. An' Mercedes was game. +I saw her shoot him. But mebbe bullets couldn't stop him then. If I +didn't sweat blood when Mercedes was fightin' him on the cliff! Then +the finish! Only a Yaqui could have done that.... Thorne, you didn't +miss it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I was down and out," replied the cavalryman. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a shame. Greatest stunt I ever seen! Thorne, you're standin' up +pretty fair. How about you? Dick, is he bad hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, he's not. A hard knock on the skull and a scalp wound," replied +Dick. "Here, Jim, let me help you over this place." +</P> + +<P> +Step by step Gale got the two injured men down the uneven declivity and +then across the narrow lava bridge over the fissure. Here he bade them +rest while he went along the trail on that side to search for Laddy. +Gale found the ranger stretched out, face downward, a reddened hand +clutching a gun. Gale thought he was dead. Upon examination, however, +it was found that Ladd still lived, though he had many wounds. Gale +lifted him and carried him back to the others. +</P> + +<P> +"He's alive, but that's all," said Dick, as he laid the ranger down. +"Do what you can. Stop the blood. Laddy's tough as cactus, you know. +I'll hurry back for Mercedes and Yaqui." +</P> + +<P> +Gale, like a fleet, sure-footed mountain sheep, ran along the trail. +When he came across the Mexican, Rojas's last ally, Gale had evidence +of the terrible execution of the .405. He did not pause. On the first +part of that descent he made faster time than had Rojas. But he +exercised care along the hard, slippery, ragged slope leading to the +ledge. Presently he came upon Mercedes and the Yaqui. She ran right +into Dick's arms, and there her strength, if not her courage, broke, +and she grew lax. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercedes, you're safe! Thorne's safe. It's all right now." +</P> + +<P> +"Rojas!" she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone! To the bottom of the crater! A Yaqui's vengeance, Mercedes." +</P> + +<P> +He heard the girl whisper the name of the Virgin. Then he gathered her +up in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Yaqui." +</P> + +<P> +The Indian grunted. He had one hand pressed close over a bloody place +in his shoulder. Gale looked keenly at him. Yaqui was inscrutable, as +of old, yet Gale somehow knew that wound meant little to him. The +Indian followed him. +</P> + +<P> +Without pausing, moving slowly in some places, very carefully in +others, and swiftly on the smooth part of the trail, Gale carried +Mercedes up to the rim and along to the the others. Jim Lash worked +awkwardly over Ladd. Thorne was trying to assist. Ladd, himself, was +conscious, but he was a pallid, apparently a death-stricken man. The +greeting between Mercedes and Thorne was calm—strangely so, it seemed +to Gale. But he was calm himself. Ladd smiled at him, and evidently +would have spoken had he the power. Yaqui then joined the group, and +his piercing eyes roved from one to the other, lingering longest over +Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, I'm figger'n hard," said Jim, faintly. "In a minute it 'll be +up to you an' Mercedes. I've about shot my bolt.... Reckon you'll do— +best by bringin' up blankets—water—salt—firewood. Laddy's got—one +chance—in a hundred. Fix him up—first. Use hot salt water. If my +leg's broke—set it best you can. That hole in Yaqui—only 'll bother +him a day. Thorne's bad hurt... Now rustle—Dick, old—boy." +</P> + +<P> +Lash's voice died away in a husky whisper, and he quietly lay back, +stretching out all but the crippled leg. Gale examined it, assured +himself the bones had not been broken, and then rose ready to go down +the trail. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercedes, hold Thorne's head up, in your lap—so. Now I'll go." +</P> + +<P> +On the moment Yaqui appeared to have completed the binding of his +wounded shoulder, and he started to follow Gale. He paid no attention +to Gale's order for him to stay back. But he was slow, and gradually +Gale forged ahead. The lingering brightness of the sunset lightened +the trail, and the descent to the arroyo was swift and easy. Some of +the white horses had come in for water. Blanco Sol spied Gale and +whistled and came pounding toward him. It was twilight down in the +arroyo. Yaqui appeared and began collecting a bundle of mesquite +sticks. Gale hastily put together the things he needed; and, packing +them all in a tarpaulin, he turned to retrace his steps up the trail. +</P> + +<P> +Darkness was setting in. The trail was narrow, exceedingly steep, and +in some places fronted on precipices. Gale's burden was not very +heavy, but its bulk made it unwieldy, and it was always overbalancing +him or knocking against the wall side of the trail. Gale found it +necessary to wait for Yaqui to take the lead. The Indian's eyes must +have seen as well at night as by day. Gale toiled upward, shouldering, +swinging, dragging the big pack; and, though the ascent of the slope +was not really long, it seemed endless. At last they reached a level, +and were soon on the spot with Mercedes and the injured men. +</P> + +<P> +Gale then set to work. Yaqui's part was to keep the fire blazing and +the water hot, Mercedes's to help Gale in what way she could. Gale +found Ladd had many wounds, yet not one of them was directly in a vital +place. Evidently, the ranger had almost bled to death. He remained +unconscious through Gale's operations. According to Jim Lash, Ladd had +one chance in a hundred, but Gale considered it one in a thousand. +Having done all that was possible for the ranger, Gale slipped blankets +under and around him, and then turned his attention to Lash. +</P> + +<P> +Jim came out of his stupor. A mushrooming bullet had torn a great hole +in his leg. Gale, upon examination, could not be sure the bones had +been missed, but there was no bad break. The application of hot salt +water made Jim groan. When he had been bandaged and laid beside Ladd, +Gale went on to the cavalryman. Thorne was very weak and scarcely +conscious. A furrow had been plowed through his scalp down to the +bone. When it had been dressed, Mercedes collapsed. Gale laid her +with the three in a row and covered them with blankets and the +tarpaulin. +</P> + +<P> +Then Yaqui submitted to examination. A bullet had gone through the +Indian's shoulder. To Gale it appeared serious. Yaqui said it was a +flea bite. But he allowed Gale to bandage it, and obeyed when he was +told to lie quiet in his blanket beside the fire. +</P> + +<P> +Gale stood guard. He seemed still calm, and wondered at what he +considered a strange absence of poignant feeling. If he had felt +weariness it was now gone. He coaxed the fire with as little wood as +would keep it burning; he sat beside it; he walked to and fro close by; +sometimes he stood over the five sleepers, wondering if two of them, at +least, would ever awaken. +</P> + +<P> +Time had passed swiftly, but as the necessity for immediate action had +gone by, the hours gradually assumed something of their normal length. +The night wore on. The air grew colder, the stars brighter, the sky +bluer, and, if such could be possible, the silence more intense. The +fire burned out, and for lack of wood could not be rekindled. Gale +patrolled his short beat, becoming colder and damper as dawn +approached. The darkness grew so dense that he could not see the pale +faces of the sleepers. He dreaded the gray dawn and the light. Slowly +the heavy black belt close to the lava changed to a pale gloom, then to +gray, and after that morning came quickly. +</P> + +<P> +The hour had come for Dick Gale to face his great problem. It was +natural that he hung back a little at first; natural that when he went +forward to look at the quiet sleepers he did so with a grim and stern +force urging him. Yaqui stirred, roused, yawned, got up; and, though +he did not smile at Gale, a light shone swiftly across his dark face. +His shoulder drooped and appeared stiff, otherwise he was himself. +Mercedes lay in deep slumber. Thorne had a high fever, and was +beginning to show signs of restlessness. Ladd seemed just barely +alive. Jim Lash slept as if he was not much the worse for his wound. +</P> + +<P> +Gale rose from his examination with a sharp breaking of his cold mood. +While there was life in Thorne and Ladd there was hope for them. Then +he faced his problem, and his decision was instant. +</P> + +<P> +He awoke Mercedes. How wondering, wistful, beautiful was that first +opening flash of her eyes! Then the dark, troubled thought came. +Swiftly she sat up. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercedes—come. Are you all right? Laddy is alive Thorne's not—not +so bad. But we've got a job on our hands! You must help me." +</P> + +<P> +She bent over Thorne and laid her hands on his hot face. Then she +rose—a woman such as he had imagined she might be in an hour of trial. +</P> + +<P> +Gale took up Ladd as carefully and gently as possible. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercedes, bring what you can carry and follow me," he said. Then, +motioning for Yaqui to remain there, he turned down the slope with Ladd +in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +Neither pausing nor making a misstep nor conscious of great effort, +Gale carried the wounded man down into the arroyo. Mercedes kept at +his heels, light, supple, lithe as a panther. He left her with Ladd +and went back. When he had started off with Thorne in his arms he felt +the tax on his strength. Surely and swiftly, however, he bore the +cavalryman down the trail to lay him beside Ladd. Again he started +back, and when he began to mount the steep lava steps he was hot, wet, +breathing hard. As he reached the scene of that night's camp a voice +greeted him. Jim Lash was sitting up. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Dick. I woke some late this mornin'. Where's Laddy? Dick, +you ain't a-goin' to say—" +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy's alive—that's about all," replied Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Thorne an' Mercedes? Look here, man. I reckon you ain't +packin' this crippled outfit down that awful trail?" +</P> + +<P> +"Had to, Jim. An hour's sun—would kill—both Laddy and Thorne. Come +on now." +</P> + +<P> +For once Jim Lash's cool good nature and careless indifference gave +precedence to amaze and concern. +</P> + +<P> +"Always knew you was a husky chap. But, Dick, you're no hoss! Get me a +crutch an' give me a lift on one side." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on," replied Gale. "I've no time to monkey." +</P> + +<P> +He lifted the ranger, called to Yaqui to follow with some of the camp +outfit, and once more essayed the steep descent. Jim Lash was the +heaviest man of the three, and Gale's strength was put to enormous +strain to carry him on that broken trail. Nevertheless, Gale went down, +down, walking swiftly and surely over the bad places; and at last he +staggered into the arroyo with bursting heart and red-blinded eyes. +When he had recovered he made a final trip up the slope for the camp +effects which Yaqui had been unable to carry. +</P> + +<P> +Then he drew Jim and Mercedes and Yaqui, also, into an earnest +discussion of ways and means whereby to fight for the life of Thorne. +Ladd's case Gale now considered hopeless, though he meant to fight for +him, too, as long as he breathed. +</P> + +<P> +In the labor of watching and nursing it seemed to Gale that two days +and two nights slipped by like a few hours. During that time the +Indian recovered from his injury, and became capable of performing all +except heavy tasks. Then Gale succumbed to weariness. After his +much-needed rest he relieved Mercedes of the care and watch over Thorne +which, up to that time, she had absolutely refused to relinquish. The +cavalryman had high fever, and Gale feared he had developed blood +poisoning. He required constant attention. His condition slowly grew +worse, and there came a day which Gale thought surely was the end. But +that day passed, and the night, and the next day, and Thorne lived on, +ghastly, stricken, raving. Mercedes hung over him with jealous, +passionate care and did all that could have been humanly done for a +man. She grew wan, absorbed, silent. But suddenly, and to Gale's +amaze and thanksgiving, there came an abatement of Thorne's fever. With +it some of the heat and redness of the inflamed wound disappeared. +Next morning he was conscious, and Gale grasped some of the hope that +Mercedes had never abandoned. He forced her to rest while he attended +to Thorne. That day he saw that the crisis was past. Recovery for +Thorne was now possible, and would perhaps depend entirely upon the +care he received. +</P> + +<P> +Jim Lash's wound healed without any aggravating symptoms. It would be +only a matter of time until he had the use of his leg again. All these +days, however, there was little apparent change in Ladd's condition +unless it was that he seemed to fade away as he lingered. At first his +wounds remained open; they bled a little all the time outwardly, +perhaps internally also; the blood did not seem to clot, and so the +bullet holes did not close. Then Yaqui asked for the care of Ladd. +Gale yielded it with opposing thoughts—that Ladd would waste slowly +away till life ceased, and that there never was any telling what might +lie in the power of this strange Indian. Yaqui absented himself from +camp for a while, and when he returned he carried the roots and leaves +of desert plants unknown to Gale. From these the Indian brewed an +ointment. Then he stripped the bandages from Ladd and applied the +mixture to his wounds. That done, he let him lie with the wounds +exposed to the air, at night covering him. Next day he again exposed +the wounds to the warm, dry air. Slowly they closed, and Ladd ceased +to bleed externally. +</P> + +<P> +Days passed and grew into what Gale imagined must have been weeks. +Yaqui recovered fully. Jim Lash began to move about on a crutch; he +shared the Indian's watch over Ladd. Thorne lay haggard, emaciated +ghost of his rugged self, but with life in the eyes that turned always +toward Mercedes. Ladd lingered and lingered. The life seemingly would +not leave his bullet-pierced body. He faded, withered, shrunk till he +was almost a skeleton. He knew those who worked and watched over him, +but he had no power of speech. His eyes and eyelids moved; the rest of +him seemed stone. All those days nothing except water was given him. +It was marvelous how tenaciously, however feebly, he clung to life. +Gale imagined it was the Yaqui's spirit that held back death. That +tireless, implacable, inscrutable savage was ever at the ranger's side. +His great somber eyes burned. At length he went to Gale, and, with +that strange light flitting across the hard bronzed face, he said Ladd +would live. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The second day after Ladd had been given such thin nourishment as he +could swallow he recovered the use of his tongue. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore—this's—hell," he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +That was a characteristic speech for the ranger, Gale thought; and +indeed it made all who heard it smile while their eyes were wet. +</P> + +<P> +From that time forward Ladd gained, but he gained so immeasurably +slowly that only the eyes of hope could have seen any improvement. Jim +Lash threw away his crutch, and Thorne was well, if still somewhat +weak, before Ladd could lift his arm or turn his head. A kind of long, +immovable gloom passed, like a shadow, from his face. His whispers +grew stronger. And the day arrived when Gale, who was perhaps the +least optimistic, threw doubt to the winds and knew the ranger would +get well. For Gale that joyous moment of realization was one in which +he seemed to return to a former self long absent. He experienced an +elevation of soul. He was suddenly overwhelmed with gratefulness, +humility, awe. A gloomy black terror had passed by. He wanted to +thank the faithful Mercedes, and Thorne for getting well, and the +cheerful Lash, and Ladd himself, and that strange and wonderful Yaqui, +now such a splendid figure. He thought of home and Nell. The terrible +encompassing red slopes lost something of their fearsomeness, and there +was a good spirit hovering near. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Boys, come round," called Ladd, in his low voice. "An' you, Mercedes. +An' call the Yaqui." +</P> + +<P> +Ladd lay in the shade of the brush shelter that had been erected. His +head was raised slightly on a pillow. There seemed little of him but +long lean lines, and if it had not been for his keen, thoughtful, +kindly eyes, his face would have resembled a death mask of a man +starved. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I want to know what day is it an' what month?" asked Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +Nobody could answer him. The question seemed a surprise to Gale, and +evidently was so to the others. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at that cactus," went on Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +Near the wall of lava a stunted saguaro lifted its head. A few +shriveled blossoms that had once been white hung along the fluted +column. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon according to that giant cactus it's somewheres along the end +of March," said Jim Lash, soberly. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore it's April. Look where the sun is. An' can't you feel it's +gettin' hot?" +</P> + +<P> +"Supposin' it is April?" queried Lash slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what I'm drivin' at is it's about time you all was hittin' the +trail back to Forlorn River, before the waterholes dry out." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, I reckon we'll start soon as you're able to be put on a hoss." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore that 'll be too late." +</P> + +<P> +A silence ensued, in which those who heard Ladd gazed fixedly at him +and then at one another. Lash uneasily shifted the position of his +lame leg, and Gale saw him moisten his lips with his tongue. +</P> + +<P> +"Charlie Ladd, I ain't reckonin' you mean we're to ride off an' leave +you here?" +</P> + +<P> +"What else is there to do? The hot weather's close. Pretty soon most +of the waterholes will be dry. You can't travel then.... I'm on my +back here, an' God only knows when I could be packed out. Not for +weeks, mebbe. I'll never be any good again, even if I was to get out +alive.... You see, shore this sort of case comes round sometimes in the +desert. It's common enough. I've heard of several cases where men had +to go an' leave a feller behind. It's reasonable. If you're fightin' +the desert you can't afford to be sentimental... Now, as I said, I'm +all in. So what's the sense of you waitin' here, when it means the old +desert story? By goin' now mebbe you'll get home. If you wait on a +chance of takin' me, you'll be too late. Pretty soon this lava 'll be +one roastin' hell. Shore now, boys, you'll see this the right way? +Jim, old pard?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Laddy, an' I can't figger how you could ever ask me." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore then leave me here with Yaqui an' a couple of the hosses. We can +eat sheep meat. An' if the water holds out—" +</P> + +<P> +"No!" interrupted Lash, violently. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd's eyes sought Gale's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Son, you ain't bull-headed like Jim. You'll see the sense of it. +There's Nell a-waitin' back at Forlorn River. Think what it means to +her! She's a damn fine girl, Dick, an' what right have you to break +her heart for an old worn-out cowpuncher? Think how she's watchin' for +you with that sweet face all sad an' troubled, an' her eyes turnin' +black. You'll go, son, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Dick shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +The ranger turned his gaze upon Thorne, and now the keen, glistening +light in his gray eyes had blurred. +</P> + +<P> +"Thorne, it's different with you. Jim's a fool, an' young Gale has +been punctured by <i><i>choya</i></i> thorns. He's got the desert poison in his +blood. But you now—you've no call to stick—you can find that trail +out. It's easy to follow, made by so many shod hosses. Take your wife +an' go.... Shore you'll go, Thorne?" +</P> + +<P> +Deliberately and without an instant's hesitation the cavalryman replied +"No." +</P> + +<P> +Ladd then directed his appeal to Mercedes. His face was now convulsed, +and his voice, though it had sunk to a whisper, was clear, and +beautiful with some rich quality that Gale had never heard in it. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercedes, you're a woman. You're the woman we fought for. An' some +of us are shore goin' to die for you. Don't make it all for nothin'. +Let us feel we saved the woman. Shore you can make Thorne go. He'll +have to go if you say. They'll all have to go. Think of the years of +love an' happiness in store for you. A week or so an' it 'll be too +late. Can you stand for me seein' you?... Let me tell you, Mercedes, +when the summer heat hits the lava we'll all wither an' curl up like +shavin's near a fire. A wind of hell will blow up this slope. Look at +them mesquites. See the twist in them. That's the torture of heat an' +thirst. Do you want me or all us men seein' you like that?... +Mercedes, don't make it all for nothin'. Say you'll persuade Thorne, +if not the others." +</P> + +<P> +For all the effect his appeal had to move her Mercedes might have +possessed a heart as hard and fixed as the surrounding lava. +</P> + +<P> +"Never!" +</P> + +<P> +White-faced, with great black eyes flashing, the Spanish girl spoke the +word that bound her and her companions in the desert. +</P> + +<P> +The subject was never mentioned again. Gale thought that he read a +sinister purpose in Ladd's mind. To his astonishment, Lash came to him +with the same fancy. After that they made certain there never was a +gun within reach of Ladd's clutching, clawlike hands. +</P> + +<P> +Gradually a somber spell lifted from the ranger's mind. When he was +entirely free of it he began to gather strength daily. Then it was as +if he had never known patience—he who had shown so well how to wait. +He was in a frenzy to get well. He appetite could not be satisfied. +</P> + +<P> +The sun climbed higher, whiter, hotter. At midday a wind from gulfward +roared up the arroyo, and now only palos verdes and the few saguaros +were green. Every day the water in the lava hole sank an inch. +</P> + +<P> +The Yaqui alone spent the waiting time in activity. He made trips up +on the lava slope, and each time he returned with guns or boots or +sombreros, or something belonging to the bandits that had fallen. He +never fetched in a saddle or bridle, and from that the rangers +concluded Rojas's horses had long before taken their back trail. What +speculation, what consternation those saddled horses would cause if +they returned to Forlorn River! +</P> + +<P> +As Ladd improved there was one story he had to hear every day. It was +the one relating to what he had missed—the sight of Rojas pursued and +plunged to his doom. The thing had a morbid fascination for the sick +ranger. He reveled in it. He tortured Mercedes. His gentleness and +consideration, heretofore so marked, were in abeyance to some sinister, +ghastly joy. But to humor him Mercedes racked her soul with the +sensations she had suffered when Rojas hounded her out on the ledge; +when she shot him; when she sprang to throw herself over the precipice; +when she fought him; when with half-blinded eyes she looked up to see +the merciless Yaqui reaching for the bandit. Ladd fed his cruel +longing with Thorne's poignant recollections, with the keen, clear, +never-to-be-forgotten shocks to Gale's eye and ear. Jim Lash, for one +at least, never tired of telling how he had seen and heard the tragedy, +and every time in the telling it gathered some more tragic and gruesome +detail. Jim believed in satiating the ranger. Then in the twilight, +when the campfire burned, Ladd would try to get the Yaqui to tell his +side of the story. But this the Indian would never do. There was only +the expression of his fathomless eyes and the set passion of his +massive face. +</P> + +<P> +Those waiting days grew into weeks. Ladd gained very slowly. +Nevertheless, at last he could walk about, and soon he averred that, +strapped to a horse, he could last out the trip to Forlorn River. +</P> + +<P> +There was rejoicing in camp, and plans were eagerly suggested. The +Yaqui happened to be absent. When he returned the rangers told him +they were now ready to undertake the journey back across lava and +cactus. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui shook his head. They declared again their intention. +</P> + +<P> +"No!" replied the Indian, and his deep, sonorous voice rolled out upon +the quiet of the arroyo. He spoke briefly then. They had waited too +long. The smaller waterholes back in the trail were dry. The hot +summer was upon them. There could be only death waiting down in the +burning valley. Here was water and grass and wood and shade from the +sun's rays, and sheep to be killed on the peaks. The water would hold +unless the season was that dreaded ano seco of the Mexicans. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait for rain," concluded Yaqui, and now as never before he spoke as +one with authority. "If no rain—" Silently he lifted his hand. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MOUNTAIN SHEEP +</H3> + +<P> +WHAT Gale might have thought an appalling situation, if considered from +a safe and comfortable home away from the desert, became, now that he +was shut in by the red-ribbed lava walls and great dry wastes, a matter +calmly accepted as inevitable. So he imagined it was accepted by the +others. Not even Mercedes uttered a regret. No word was spoken of +home. If there was thought of loved one, it was locked deep in their +minds. In Mercedes there was no change in womanly quality, perhaps +because all she had to love was there in the desert with her. +</P> + +<P> +Gale had often pondered over this singular change in character. He had +trained himself, in order to fight a paralyzing something in the +desert's influence, to oppose with memory and thought an insidious +primitive retrogression to what was scarcely consciousness at all, +merely a savage's instinct of sight and sound. He felt the need now of +redoubled effort. For there was a sheer happiness in drifting. Not +only was it easy to forget, it was hard to remember. His idea was that +a man laboring under a great wrong, a great crime, a great passion +might find the lonely desert a fitting place for either remembrance or +oblivion, according to the nature of his soul. But an ordinary, +healthy, reasonably happy mortal who loved the open with its blaze of +sun and sweep of wind would have a task to keep from going backward to +the natural man as he was before civilization. +</P> + +<P> +By tacit agreement Ladd again became the leader of the party. Ladd was +a man who would have taken all the responsibility whether or not it was +given him. In moments of hazard, of uncertainty, Lash and Gale, even +Belding, unconsciously looked to the ranger. He had that kind of power. +</P> + +<P> +The first thing Ladd asked was to have the store of food that remained +spread out upon a tarpaulin. Assuredly, it was a slender enough +supply. The ranger stood for long moments gazing down at it. He was +groping among past experiences, calling back from his years of life on +range and desert that which might be valuable for the present issue. +It was impossible to read the gravity of Ladd's face, for he still +looked like a dead man, but the slow shake of his head told Gale much. +There was a grain of hope, however, in the significance with which he +touched the bags of salt and said, "Shore it was sense packin' all that +salt!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he turned to face his comrades. +</P> + +<P> +"That's little grub for six starvin' people corralled in the desert. +But the grub end ain't worryin' me. Yaqui can get sheep up the slopes. +Water! That's the beginnin' and middle an' end of our case." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, I reckon the waterhole here never goes dry," replied Jim. +</P> + +<P> +"Ask the Indian." +</P> + +<P> +Upon being questioned, Yaqui repeated what he had said about the +dreaded ano seco of the Mexicans. In a dry year this waterhole failed. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, take a rope an' see how much water's in the hole." +</P> + +<P> +Gale could not find bottom with a thirty foot lasso. The water was as +cool, clear, sweet as if it had been kept in a shaded iron receptacle. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd welcomed this information with surprise and gladness. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's see. Last year was shore pretty dry. Mebbe this summer won't +be. Mebbe our wonderful good luck'll hold. Ask Yaqui if he thinks it +'ll rain." +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes questioned the Indian. +</P> + +<P> +"He says no man can tell surely. But he thinks the rain will come," +she replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore it 'll rain, you can gamble on that now," continued Ladd. "If +there's only grass for the hosses! We can't get out of here without +hosses. Dick, take the Indian an' scout down the arroyo. To-day I seen +the hosses were gettin' fat. Gettin' fat in this desert! But mebbe +they've about grazed up all the grass. Go an' see, Dick. An' may you +come back with more good news!" +</P> + +<P> +Gale, upon the few occasions when he had wandered down the arroyo, had +never gone far. The Yaqui said there was grass for the horses, and +until now no one had given the question more consideration. Gale found +that the arroyo widened as it opened. Near the head, where it was +narrow, the grass lined the course of the dry stream bed. But farther +down this stream bed spread out. There was every indication that at +flood seasons the water covered the floor of the arroyo. The farther +Gale went the thicker and larger grew the gnarled mesquites and palo +verdes, the more cactus and greasewood there were, and other desert +growths. Patches of gray grass grew everywhere. Gale began to wonder +where the horses were. Finally the trees and brush thinned out, and a +mile-wide gray plain stretched down to reddish sand dunes. Over to one +side were the white horses, and even as Gale saw them both Blanco +Diablo and Sol lifted their heads and, with white manes tossing in the +wind, whistled clarion calls. Here was grass enough for many horses; +the arroyo was indeed an oasis. +</P> + +<P> +Ladd and the others were awaiting Gale's report, and they received it +with calmness, yet with a joy no less evident because it was +restrained. Gale, in his keen observation at the moment, found that he +and his comrades turned with glad eyes to the woman of the party. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor Laddy, you think—you believe—we shall—" she faltered, and her +voice failed. It was the woman in her, weakening in the light of real +hope, of the happiness now possible beyond that desert barrier. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercedes, no white man can tell what'll come to pass out here," said +Ladd, earnestly. "Shore I have hopes now I never dreamed of. I was +pretty near a dead man. The Indian saved me. Queer notions have come +into my head about Yaqui. I don't understand them. He seems when you +look at him only a squalid, sullen, vengeful savage. But Lord! that's +far from the truth. Mebbe Yaqui's different from most Indians. He +looks the same, though. Mebbe the trouble is we white folks never knew +the Indian. Anyway, Beldin' had it right. Yaqui's our godsend. Now as +to the future, I'd like to know mebbe as well as you if we're ever to +get home. Only bein' what I am, I say, Quien sabe? But somethin' +tells me Yaqui knows. Ask him, Mercedes. Make him tell. We'll all be +the better for knowin'. We'd be stronger for havin' more'n our faith in +him. He's silent Indian, but make him tell." +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes called to Yaqui. At her bidding there was always a suggestion +of hurry, which otherwise was never manifest in his actions. She put a +hand on his bared muscular arm and began to speak in Spanish. Her voice +was low, swift, full of deep emotion, sweet as the sound of a bell. It +thrilled Gale, though he understood scarcely a word she said. He did +not need translation to know that here spoke the longing of a woman for +life, love, home, the heritage of a woman's heart. +</P> + +<P> +Gale doubted his own divining impression. It was that the Yaqui +understood this woman's longing. In Gale's sight the Indian's +stoicism, his inscrutability, the lavalike hardness of his face, +although they did not change, seemed to give forth light, gentleness, +loyalty. For an instant Gale seemed to have a vision; but it did not +last, and he failed to hold some beautiful illusive thing. +</P> + +<P> +"Si!" rolled out the Indian's reply, full of power and depth. +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes drew a long breath, and her hand sought Thorne's. +</P> + +<P> +"He says yes," she whispered. "He answers he'll save us; he'll take us +all back—he knows!" +</P> + +<P> +The Indian turned away to his tasks, and the silence that held the +little group was finally broken by Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I said so. Now all we've got to do is use sense. Friends, I'm +the commissary department of this outfit, an' what I say goes. You all +won't eat except when I tell you. Mebbe it'll not be so hard to keep +our health. Starved beggars don't get sick. But there's the heat +comin', an' we can all go loco, you know. To pass the time! Lord, +that's our problem. Now if you all only had a hankerin' for checkers. +Shore I'll make a board an' make you play. Thorne, you're the +luckiest. You've got your girl, an' this can be a honeymoon. Now with +a few tools an' little material see what a grand house you can build +for your wife. Dick, you're lucky, too. You like to hunt, an' up +there you'll find the finest bighorn huntin' in the West. Take Yaqui +and the .405. We need the meat, but while you're gettin' it have your +sport. The same chance will never come again. I wish we all was able +to go. But crippled men can't climb the lava. Shore you'll see some +country from the peaks. There's no wilder place on earth, except the +poles. An' when you're older, you an' Nell, with a couple of fine boys, +think what it'll be to tell them about bein' lost in the lava, an' +huntin' sheep with a Yaqui. Shore I've hit it. You can take yours out +in huntin' an' thinkin'. Now if I had a girl like Nell I'd never go +crazy. That's your game, Dick. Hunt, an' think of Nell, an' how +you'll tell those fine boys about it all, an' about the old cowman you +knowed, Laddy, who'll by then be long past the divide. Rustle now, +son. Get some enthusiasm. For shore you'll need it for yourself an' +us." +</P> + +<P> +Gale climbed the lava slope, away round to the right of the arroyo, +along an old trail that Yaqui said the Papagos had made before his own +people had hunted there. Part way it led through spiked, crested, +upheaved lava that would have been almost impassable even without its +silver coating of <i><i>choya</i></i> cactus. There were benches and ledges and +ridges bare and glistening in the sun. From the crests of these +Yaqui's searching falcon gaze roved near and far for signs of sheep, +and Gale used his glass on the reaches of lava that slanted steeply +upward to the corrugated peaks, and down over endless heave and roll +and red-waved slopes. The heat smoked up from the lava, and this, with +the red color and the shiny <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i>, gave the impression of a world of +smoldering fire. +</P> + +<P> +Farther along the slope Yaqui halted and crawled behind projections to +a point commanding a view over an extraordinary section of country. +The peaks were off to the left. In the foreground were gullies, +ridges, and canyons, arroyos, all glistening with <i><i><i><i>choya</i></i>s</i></i> and some other +and more numerous white bushes, and here and there towered a green +cactus. This region was only a splintered and more devastated part of +the volcanic slope, but it was miles in extent. Yaqui peeped over the +top of a blunt block of lava and searched the sharp-billowed +wilderness. Suddenly he grasped Gale and pointed across a deep wide +gully. +</P> + +<P> +With the aid of his glass Gale saw five sheep. They were much larger +than he had expected, dull brown in color, and two of them were rams +with great curved horns. They were looking in his direction. +Remembering what he had heard about the wonderful eyesight of these +mountain animals, Gale could only conclude that they had seen the +hunters. +</P> + +<P> +Then Yaqui's movements attracted and interested him. The Indian had +brought with him a red scarf and a mesquite branch. He tied the scarf +to the stick, and propped this up in a crack of the lava. The scarf +waved in the wind. That done, the Indian bade Gale watch. +</P> + +<P> +Once again he leveled the glass at the sheep. All five were +motionless, standing like statues, heads pointed across the gully. They +were more than a mile distant. When Gale looked without his glass they +merged into the roughness of the lava. He was intensely interested. +Did the sheep see the red scarf? It seemed incredible, but nothing +else could account for that statuesque alertness. The sheep held this +rigid position for perhaps fifteen minutes. Then the leading ram +started to approach. The others followed. He took a few steps, then +halted. Always he held his head up, nose pointed. +</P> + +<P> +"By George, they're coming!" exclaimed Gale. "They see that flag. +They're hunting us. They're curious. If this doesn't beat me!" +</P> + +<P> +Evidently the Indian understood, for he grunted. +</P> + +<P> +Gale found difficulty in curbing his impatience. The approach of the +sheep was slow. The advances of the leader and the intervals of +watching had a singular regularity. He worked like a machine. Gale +followed him down the opposite wall, around holes, across gullies, over +ridges. Then Gale shifted the glass back to find the others. They +were coming also, with exactly the same pace and pause of their leader. +What steppers they were! How sure-footed! What leaps they made! It +was thrilling to watch them. Gale forgot he had a rifle. The Yaqui +pressed a heavy hand down upon his shoulder. He was to keep well +hidden and to be quiet. Gale suddenly conceived the idea that the sheep +might come clear across to investigate the puzzling red thing +fluttering in the breeze. Strange, indeed, would that be for the +wildest creatures in the world. +</P> + +<P> +The big ram led on with the same regular persistence, and in half an +hour's time he was in the bottom of the great gulf, and soon he was +facing up the slope. Gale knew then that the alluring scarf had +fascinated him. It was no longer necessary now for Gale to use his +glass. There was a short period when an intervening crest of lava hid +the sheep from view. After that the two rams and their smaller +followers were plainly in sight for perhaps a quarter of an hour. Then +they disappeared behind another ridge. Gale kept watching sure they +would come out farther on. A tense period of waiting passed, then a +suddenly electrifying pressure of Yaqui's hand made Gale tremble with +excitement. +</P> + +<P> +Very cautiously he shifted his position. There, not fifty feet distant +upon a high mound of lava, stood the leader of the sheep. His size +astounded Gale. He seemed all horns. But only for a moment did the +impression of horns overbalancing body remain with Gale. The sheep was +graceful, sinewy, slender, powerfully built, and in poise magnificent. +As Gale watched, spellbound, the second ram leaped lightly upon the +mound, and presently the three others did likewise. +</P> + +<P> +Then, indeed, Gale feasted his eyes with a spectacle for a hunter. It +came to him suddenly that there had been something he expected to see +in this Rocky Mountain bighorn, and it was lacking. They were +beautiful, as wonderful as even Ladd's encomiums had led him to +suppose. He thought perhaps it was the contrast these soft, sleek, +short-furred, graceful animals afforded to what he imagined the barren, +terrible lava mountains might develop. +</P> + +<P> +The splendid leader stepped closer, his round, protruding amber eyes, +which Gale could now plainly see, intent upon that fatal red flag. +Like automatons the other four crowded into his tracks. A few little +slow steps, then the leader halted. +</P> + +<P> +At this instant Gale's absorbed attention was directed by Yaqui to the +rifle, and so to the purpose of the climb. A little cold shock +affronted Gale's vivid pleasure. With it dawned a realization of what +he had imagined was lacking in these animals. They did not look wild! +The so-called wildest of wild creatures appeared tamer than sheep he +had followed on a farm. It would be little less than murder to kill +them. Gale regretted the need of slaughter. Nevertheless, he could not +resist the desire to show himself and see how tame they really were. +</P> + +<P> +He reached for the .405, and as he threw a shell into the chamber the +slight metallic click made the sheep jump. Then Gale rose quickly to +his feet. +</P> + +<P> +The noble ram and his band simply stared at Gale. They had never seen +a man. They showed not the slightest indication of instinctive fear. +Curiosity, surprise, even friendliness, seemed to mark their attitude +of attention. Gale imagined that they were going to step still closer. +He did not choose to wait to see if this were true. Certainly it +already took a grim resolution to raise the heavy .405. +</P> + +<P> +His shot killed the big leader. The others bounded away with +remarkable nimbleness. Gale used up the remaining four shells to drop +the second ram, and by the time he had reloaded the others were out of +range. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Yaqui's method of hunting was sure and deadly and saving of energy, +but Gale never would try it again. He chose to stalk the game. This +entailed a great expenditure of strength, the eyes and lungs of a +mountaineer, and, as Gale put it to Ladd, the need of seven-league +boots. After being hunted a few times and shot at, the sheep became +exceedingly difficult to approach. Gale learned to know that their +fame as the keenest-eyed of all animals was well founded. If he worked +directly toward a flock, crawling over the sharp lava, always a +sentinel ram espied him before he got within range. The only method of +attack that he found successful was to locate sheep with his glass, +work round to windward of them, and then, getting behind a ridge or +buttress, crawl like a lizard to a vantage point. He failed often. +The stalk called forth all that was in him of endurance, cunning, +speed. As the days grew hotter he hunted in the early morning hours and +a while before the sun went down. More than one night he lay out on +the lava, with the great stars close overhead and the immense void all +beneath him. This pursuit he learned to love. Upon those scarred and +blasted slopes the wild spirit that was in him had free rein. And like +a shadow the faithful Yaqui tried ever to keep at his heels. +</P> + +<P> +One morning the rising sun greeted him as he surmounted the higher cone +of the volcano. He saw the vastness of the east aglow with a glazed +rosy whiteness, like the changing hue of an ember. At this height +there was a sweeping wind, still cool. The western slopes of lava lay +dark, and all that world of sand and gulf and mountain barrier beyond +was shrouded in the mystic cloud of distance. Gale had assimilated +much of the loneliness and the sense of ownership and the love of lofty +heights that might well belong to the great condor of the peak. Like +this wide-winged bird, he had an unparalleled range of vision. The +very corners whence came the winds seemed pierced by Gale's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui spied a flock of sheep far under the curved broken rim of the +main crater. Then began the stalk. Gale had taught the Yaqui +something—that speed might win as well as patient cunning. Keeping +out of sight, Gale ran over the spike-crusted lava, leaving the Indian +far behind. His feet were magnets, attracting supporting holds and he +passed over them too fast to fall. The wind, the keen air of the +heights, the red lava, the boundless surrounding blue, all seemed to +have something to do with his wildness. Then, hiding, slipping, +creeping, crawling, he closed in upon his quarry until the long rifle +grew like stone in his grip, and the whipping "spang" ripped the +silence, and the strange echo boomed deep in the crater, and rolled +around, as if in hollow mockery at the hopelessness of escape. +</P> + +<P> +Gale's exultant yell was given as much to free himself of some bursting +joy of action as it was to call the slower Yaqui. Then he liked the +strange echoes. It was a maddening whirl of sound that bored deeper +and deeper along the whorled and caverned walls of the crater. It was +as if these aged walls resented the violating of their silent sanctity. +Gale felt himself a man, a thing alive, something superior to all this +savage, dead, upflung world of iron, a master even of all this grandeur +and sublimity because he had a soul. +</P> + +<P> +He waited beside his quarry, and breathed deep, and swept the long +slopes with searching eyes of habit. +</P> + +<P> +When Yaqui came up they set about the hardest task of all, to pack the +best of that heavy sheep down miles of steep, ragged, <i><i>choya</i></i>-covered +lava. But even in this Gale rejoiced. The heat was nothing, the +millions of little pits which could hold and twist a foot were nothing; +the blade-edged crusts and the deep fissures and the choked canyons and +the tangled, dwarfed mesquites, all these were as nothing but obstacles +to be cheerfully overcome. Only the <i><i>choya</i></i> hindered Dick Gale. +</P> + +<P> +When his heavy burden pulled him out of sure-footedness, and he plunged +into a <i><i>choya</i></i>, or when the strange, deceitful, uncanny, almost invisible +frosty thorns caught and pierced him, then there was call for all of +fortitude and endurance. For this cactus had a malignant power of +torture. Its pain was a stinging, blinding, burning, sickening poison +in the blood. If thorns pierced his legs he felt the pain all over his +body; if his hands rose from a fall full of the barbed joints, he was +helpless and quivering till Yaqui tore them out. +</P> + +<P> +But this one peril, dreaded more than dizzy height of precipice or +sunblindness on the glistening peak, did not daunt Gale. His teacher +was the Yaqui, and always before him was an example that made him +despair of a white man's equality. Color, race, blood, breeding—what +were these in the wilderness? Verily, Dick Gale had come to learn the +use of his hands. +</P> + +<P> +So in a descent of hours he toiled down the lava slope, to stalk into +the arroyo like a burdened giant, wringing wet, panting, clear-eyed and +dark-faced, his ragged clothes and boots white with <i><i>choya</i></i> thorns. +</P> + +<P> +The gaunt Ladd rose from his shaded seat, and removed his pipe from +smiling lips, and turned to nod at Jim, and then looked back again. +</P> + +<P> +The torrid summer heat came imperceptibly, or it could never have been +borne by white men. It changed the lives of the fugitives, making them +partly nocturnal in habit. The nights had the balmy coolness of +spring, and would have been delightful for sleep, but that would have +made the blazing days unendurable. +</P> + +<P> +The sun rose in a vast white flame. With it came the blasting, +withering wind from the gulf. A red haze, like that of earlier +sunsets, seemed to come sweeping on the wind, and it roared up the +arroyo, and went bellowing into the crater, and rushed on in fury to +lash the peaks. +</P> + +<P> +During these hot, windy hours the desert-bound party slept in deep +recesses in the lava; and if necessity brought them forth they could +not remain out long. The sand burned through boots, and a touch of +bare hand on lava raised a blister. +</P> + +<P> +A short while before sundown the Yaqui went forth to build a campfire, +and soon the others came out, heat-dazed, half blinded, with parching +throats to allay and hunger that was never satisfied. A little action +and a cooling of the air revived them, and when night set in they were +comfortable round the campfire. +</P> + +<P> +As Ladd had said, one of their greatest problems was the passing of +time. The nights were interminably long, but they had to be passed in +work or play or dream—anything except sleep. That was Ladd's most +inflexible command. He gave no reason. But not improbably the ranger +thought that the terrific heat of the day spend in slumber lessened a +wear and strain, if not a real danger of madness. +</P> + +<P> +Accordingly, at first the occupations of this little group were many +and various. They worked if they had something to do, or could invent +a pretext. They told and retold stories until all were wearisome. +They sang songs. Mercedes taught Spanish. They played every game they +knew. They invented others that were so trivial children would +scarcely have been interested, and these they played seriously. In a +word, with intelligence and passion, with all that was civilized and +human, they fought the ever-infringing loneliness, the savage solitude +of their environment. +</P> + +<P> +But they had only finite minds. It was not in reason to expect a +complete victory against this mighty Nature, this bounding horizon of +death and desolation and decay. Gradually they fell back upon fewer +and fewer occupations, until the time came when the silence was hard to +break. +</P> + +<P> +Gale believed himself the keenest of the party, the one who thought +most, and he watched the effect of the desert upon his companions. He +imagined that he saw Ladd grow old sitting round the campfire. Certain +it was that the ranger's gray hair had turned white. What had been at +times hard and cold and grim about him had strangely vanished in sweet +temper and a vacant-mindedness that held him longer as the days passed. +For hours, it seemed, Ladd would bend over his checkerboard and never +make a move. It mattered not now whether or not he had a partner. He +was always glad of being spoken to, as if he were called back from +vague region of mind. Jim Lash, the calmest, coolest, most nonchalant, +best-humored Westerner Gale had ever met, had by slow degrees lost that +cheerful character which would have been of such infinite good to his +companions, and always he sat brooding, silently brooding. Jim had no +ties, few memories, and the desert was claiming him. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne and Mercedes, however, were living, wonderful proof that spirit, +mind, and heart were free—free to soar in scorn of the colossal +barrenness and silence and space of that terrible hedging prison of +lava. They were young; they loved; they were together; and the oasis +was almost a paradise. Gale believe he helped himself by watching them. +Imagination had never pictured real happiness to him. Thorne and +Mercedes had forgotten the outside world. If they had been existing on +the burned-out desolate moon they could hardly have been in a harsher, +grimmer, lonelier spot than this red-walled arroyo. But it might have +been a statelier Eden than that of the primitive day. +</P> + +<P> +Mercedes grew thinner, until she was a slender shadow of her former +self. She became hard, brown as the rangers, lithe and quick as a +panther. She seemed to live on water and the air—perhaps, indeed, on +love. For of the scant fare, the best of which was continually urged +upon her, she partook but little. She reminded Gale of a wild brown +creature, free as the wind on the lava slopes. Yet, despite the great +change, her beauty remained undiminished. Her eyes, seeming so much +larger now in her small face, were great black, starry gulfs. She was +the life of that camp. Her smiles, her rapid speech, her low laughter, +her quick movements, her playful moods with the rangers, the dark and +passionate glance, which rested so often on her lover, the whispers in +the dusk as hand in hand they paced the campfire beat—these helped +Gale to retain his loosening hold on reality, to resist the lure of a +strange beckoning life where a man stood free in the golden open, where +emotion was not, nor trouble, nor sickness, nor anything but the +savage's rest and sleep and action and dream. +</P> + +<P> +Although the Yaqui was as his shadow, Gale reached a point when he +seemed to wander alone at twilight, in the night, at dawn. Far down +the arroyo, in the deepening red twilight, when the heat rolled away on +slow-dying wind, Blanco Sol raised his splendid head and whistled for +his master. Gale reproached himself for neglect of the noble horse. +Blanco Sol was always the same. He loved four things—his master, a +long drink of cool water, to graze at will, and to run. Time and +place, Gale thought, meant little to Sol if he could have those four +things. Gale put his arm over the great arched neck and laid his cheek +against the long white mane, and then even as he stood there forgot the +horse. What was the dull, red-tinged, horizon-wide mantle creeping up +the slope? Through it the copper sun glowed, paled, died. Was it only +twilight? Was it gloom? If he thought about it he had a feeling that +it was the herald of night and the night must be a vigil, and that made +him tremble. +</P> + +<P> +At night he had formed a habit of climbing up the lava slope as far as +the smooth trail extended, and there on a promontory he paced to and +fro, and watched the stars, and sat stone-still for hours looking down +at the vast void with its moving, changing shadows. From that +promontory he gazed up at a velvet-blue sky, deep and dark, bright with +millions of cold, distant, blinking stars, and he grasped a little of +the meaning of infinitude. He gazed down into the shadows, which, +black as they were and impenetrable, yet have a conception of +immeasurable space. +</P> + +<P> +Then the silence! He was dumb, he was awed, he bowed his head, he +trembled, he marveled at the desert silence. It was the one thing +always present. Even when the wind roared there seemed to be silence. +But at night, in this lava world of ashes and canker, he waited for +this terrible strangeness of nature to come to him with the secret. He +seemed at once a little child and a strong man, and something very old. +What tortured him was the incomprehensibility that the vaster the space +the greater the silence! At one moment Gale felt there was only death +here, and that was the secret; at another he heard the slow beat of a +mighty heart. +</P> + +<P> +He came at length to realize that the desert was a teacher. He did not +realize all that he had learned, but he was a different man. And when +he decided upon that, he was not thinking of the slow, sure call to the +primal instincts of man; he was thinking that the desert, as much as he +had experienced and no more, would absolutely overturn the whole scale +of a man's values, break old habits, form new ones, remake him. More of +desert experience, Gale believe, would be too much for intellect. The +desert did not breed civilized man, and that made Gale ponder over a +strange thought: after all, was the civilized man inferior to the +savage? +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui was the answer to that. When Gale acknowledged this he always +remembered his present strange manner of thought. The past, the old +order of mind, seemed as remote as this desert world was from the +haunts of civilized men. A man must know a savage as Gale knew Yaqui +before he could speak authoritatively, and then something stilled his +tongue. In the first stage of Gale's observation of Yaqui he had +marked tenaciousness of life, stoicism, endurance, strength. These +were the attributes of the desert. But what of that second stage +wherein the Indian had loomed up a colossal figure of strange honor, +loyalty, love? Gale doubted his convictions and scorned himself for +doubting. +</P> + +<P> +There in the gloom sat the silent, impassive, inscrutable Yaqui. His +dark face, his dark eyes were plain in the light of the stars. Always +he was near Gale, unobtrusive, shadowy, but there. Why? Gale +absolutely could not doubt that the Indian had heart as well as mind. +Yaqui had from the very first stood between Gale and accident, toil, +peril. It was his own choosing. Gale could not change him or thwart +him. He understood the Indian's idea of obligation and sacred duty. +But there was more, and that baffled Gale. In the night hours, alone +on the slope, Gale felt in Yaqui, as he felt the mighty throb of that +desert pulse, a something that drew him irresistibly to the Indian. +Sometimes he looked around to find the Indian, to dispel these strange, +pressing thoughts of unreality, and it was never in vain. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the nights passed, endlessly long, with Gale fighting for his old +order of thought, fighting the fascination of the infinite sky, and the +gloomy insulating whirl of the wide shadows, fighting for belief, hope, +prayer, fighting against that terrible ever-recurring idea of being +lost, lost, lost in the desert, fighting harder than any other thing +the insidious, penetrating, tranquil, unfeeling self that was coming +between him and his memory. +</P> + +<P> +He was losing the battle, losing his hold on tangible things, losing +his power to stand up under this ponderous, merciless weight of desert +space and silence. +</P> + +<P> +He acknowledged it in a kind of despair, and the shadows of the night +seemed whirling fiends. Lost! Lost! Lost! What are you waiting for? +Rain!... Lost! Lost! Lost in the desert! So the shadows seemed to +scream in voiceless mockery. +</P> + +<P> +At the moment he was alone on the promontory. The night was far spent. +A ghastly moon haunted the black volcanic spurs. The winds blew +silently. Was he alone? No, he did not seem to be alone. The Yaqui +was there. Suddenly a strange, cold sensation crept over Gale. It was +new. He felt a presence. Turning, he expected to see the Indian, but +instead, a slight shadow, pale, almost white, stood there, not close +nor yet distant. It seemed to brighten. Then he saw a woman who +resembled a girl he had seemed to know long ago. She was white-faced, +golden-haired, and her lips were sweet, and her eyes were turning +black. Nell! He had forgotten her. Over him flooded a torrent of +memory. There was tragic woe in this sweet face. Nell was holding out +her arms—she was crying aloud to him across the sand and the cactus +and the lava. She was in trouble, and he had been forgetting. +</P> + +<P> +That night he climbed the lava to the topmost cone, and never slipped +on a ragged crust nor touched a <i><i>choya</i></i> thorn. A voice called to him. +He saw Nell's eyes in the stars, in the velvet blue of sky, in the +blackness of the engulfing shadows. She was with him, a slender shape, +a spirit, keeping step with him, and memory was strong, sweet, beating, +beautiful. Far down in the west, faintly golden with light of the +sinking moon, he saw a cloud that resembled her face. A cloud on the +desert horizon! He gazed and gazed. Was that a spirit face like the +one by his side? No—he did not dream. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the hot, sultry morning Yaqui appeared at camp, after long hours of +absence, and he pointed with a long, dark arm toward the west. A bank +of clouds was rising above the mountain barrier. +</P> + +<P> +"Rain!" he cried; and his sonorous voice rolled down the arroyo. +</P> + +<P> +Those who heard him were as shipwrecked mariners at sight of a distant +sail. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Dick Gale, silent, grateful to the depths of his soul, stood with arm +over Blanco Sol and watched the transforming west, where clouds of +wonderous size and hue piled over one another, rushing, darkening, +spreading, sweeping upward toward that white and glowing sun. +</P> + +<P> +When they reached the zenith and swept round to blot out the blazing +orb, the earth took on a dark, lowering aspect. The red of sand and +lava changed to steely gray. Vast shadows, like ripples on water, +sheeted in from the gulf with a low, strange moan. Yet the silence was +like death. The desert was awaiting a strange and hated +visitation—storm! If all the endless torrid days, the endless mystic +nights had seemed unreal to Gale, what, then, seemed this stupendous +spectacle? +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! I felt a drop of rain on my face!" cried Mercedes; and whispering +the name of a saint, she kissed her husband. +</P> + +<P> +The white-haired Ladd, gaunt, old, bent, looked up at the maelstrom of +clouds, and he said, softly, "Shore we'll get in the hosses, an' pack +light, an' hit the trail, an' make night marches!" +</P> + +<P> +Then up out of the gulf of the west swept a bellowing wind and a black +pall and terrible flashes of lightning and thunder like the end of the +world—fury, blackness, chaos, the desert storm. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE WHISTLE OF A HORSE +</H3> + +<P> +AT the ranch-house at Forlorn River Belding stood alone in his darkened +room. It was quiet there and quiet outside; the sickening midsummer +heat, like a hot heavy blanket, lay upon the house. +</P> + +<P> +He took up the gun belt from his table and with slow hands buckled it +around his waist. He seemed to feel something familiar and comfortable +and inspiring in the weight of the big gun against his hip. He faced +the door as if to go out, but hesitated, and then began a slow, +plodding walk up and down the length of the room. Presently he halted +at the table, and with reluctant hands he unbuckled the gun belt and +laid it down. +</P> + +<P> +The action did not have an air of finality, and Belding knew it. He had +seen border life in Texas in the early days; he had been a sheriff when +the law in the West depended on a quickness of wrist; he had seen many +a man lay down his gun for good and all. His own action was not final. +Of late he had done the same thing many times and this last time it +seemed a little harder to do, a little more indicative of vacillation. +There were reasons why Belding's gun held for him a gloomy fascination. +</P> + +<P> +The Chases, those grasping and conscienceless agents of a new force in +the development of the West, were bent upon Belding's ruin, and so far +as his fortunes at Forlorn River were concerned, had almost +accomplished it. One by one he lost points for which he contended with +them. He carried into the Tucson courts the matter of the staked +claims, and mining claims, and water claims, and he lost all. +Following that he lost his government position as inspector of +immigration; and this fact, because of what he considered its +injustice, had been a hard blow. He had been made to suffer a +humiliation equally as great. It came about that he actually had to +pay the Chases for water to irrigate his alfalfa fields. The +never-failing spring upon his land answered for the needs of household +and horses, but no more. +</P> + +<P> +These matters were unfortunate for Belding, but not by any means wholly +accountable for his worry and unhappiness and brooding hate. He +believed Dick Gale and the rest of the party taken into the desert by +the Yaqui had been killed or lost. Two months before a string of +Mexican horses, riderless, saddled, starved for grass and wild for +water, had come in to Forlorn River. They were a part of the horses +belonging to Rojas and his band. Their arrival complicated the mystery +and strengthened convictions of the loss of both pursuers and pursued. +Belding was wont to say that he had worried himself gray over the fate +of his rangers. +</P> + +<P> +Belding's unhappiness could hardly be laid to material loss. He had +been rich and was now poor, but change of fortune such as that could +not have made him unhappy. Something more somber and mysterious and +sad than the loss of Dick Gale and their friends had come into the +lives of his wife and Nell. He dated the time of this change back to a +certain day when Mrs. Belding recognized in the elder Chase an old +schoolmate and a rejected suitor. It took time for slow-thinking +Belding to discover anything wrong in his household, especially as the +fact of the Gales lingering there made Mrs. Belding and Nell, for the +most part, hide their real and deeper feelings. Gradually, however, +Belding had forced on him the fact of some secret cause for grief other +than Gale's loss. He was sure of it when his wife signified her desire +to make a visit to her old home back in Peoria. She did not give many +reasons, but she did show him a letter that had found its way from old +friends. This letter contained news that may or may not have been +authentic; but it was enough, Belding thought, to interest his wife. +An old prospector had returned to Peoria, and he had told relatives of +meeting Robert Burton at the Sonoyta Oasis fifteen years before, and +that Burton had gone into the desert never to return. To Belding this +was no surprise, for he had heard that before his marriage. There +appeared to have been no doubts as to the death of his wife's first +husband. The singular thing was that both Nell's father and +grandfather had been lost somewhere in the Sonora Desert. +</P> + +<P> +Belding did not oppose his wife's desire to visit her old home. He +thought it would be a wholesome trip for her, and did all in his power +to persuade Nell to accompany her. But Nell would not go. +</P> + +<P> +It was after Mrs. Belding's departure that Belding discovered in Nell a +condition of mind that amazed and distressed him. She had suddenly +become strangely wretched, so that she could not conceal it from even +the Gales, who, of all people, Belding imagined, were the ones to make +Nell proud. She would tell him nothing. But after a while, when he +had thought it out, he dated this further and more deplorable change in +Nell back to a day on which he had met Nell with Radford Chase. This +indefatigable wooer had not in the least abandoned his suit. Something +about the fellow made Belding grind his teeth. But Nell grew not only +solicitously, but now strangely, entreatingly earnest in her +importunities to Belding not to insult or lay a hand on Chase. This +had bound Belding so far; it had made him think and watch. He had +never been a man to interfere with his women folk. They could do as +they liked, and usually that pleased him. But a slow surprise gathered +and grew upon him when he saw that Nell, apparently, was accepting +young Chase's attentions. At least, she no longer hid from him. +Belding could not account for this, because he was sure Nell cordially +despised the fellow. And toward the end he divined, if he did not +actually know, that these Chases possessed some strange power over +Nell, and were using it. That stirred a hate in Belding—a hate he had +felt at the very first and had manfully striven against, and which now +gave him over to dark brooding thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +Midsummer passed, and the storms came late. But when they arrived they +made up for tardiness. Belding did not remember so terrible a storm of +wind and rain as that which broke the summer's drought. +</P> + +<P> +In a few days, it seemed, Altar Valley was a bright and green expanse, +where dust clouds did not rise. Forlorn River ran, a slow, heavy, +turgid torrent. Belding never saw the river in flood that it did not +give him joy; yet now, desert man as he was, he suffered a regret when +he thought of the great Chase reservoir full and overflowing. The dull +thunder of the spillway was not pleasant. It was the first time in his +life that the sound of falling water jarred upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Belding noticed workmen once more engaged in the fields bounding his +land. The Chases had extended a main irrigation ditch down to +Belding's farm, skipped the width of his ground, then had gone on down +through Altar Valley. They had exerted every influence to obtain right +to connect these ditches by digging through his land, but Belding had +remained obdurate. He refused to have any dealings with them. It was +therefore with some curiosity and suspicion that he saw a gang of +Mexicans once more at work upon these ditches. +</P> + +<P> +At daylight next morning a tremendous blast almost threw Belding out of +his bed. It cracked the adobe walls of his house and broke windows and +sent pans and crockery to the floor with a crash. Belding's idea was +that the store of dynamite kept by the Chases for blasting had blown +up. Hurriedly getting into his clothes, he went to Nell's room to +reassure her; and, telling her to have a thought for their guests, he +went out to see what had happened. +</P> + +<P> +The villagers were pretty badly frightened. Many of the poorly +constructed adobe huts had crumbled almost into dust. A great yellow +cloud, like smoke, hung over the river. This appeared to be at the +upper end of Belding's plot, and close to the river. When he reached +his fence the smoke and dust were so thick he could scarcely breathe, +and for a little while he was unable to see what had happened. +Presently he made out a huge hole in the sand just about where the +irrigation ditch had stopped near his line. For some reason or other, +not clear to Belding, the Mexicans had set off an extraordinarily heavy +blast at that point. +</P> + +<P> +Belding pondered. He did not now for a moment consider an accidental +discharge of dynamite. But why had this blast been set off? The loose +sandy soil had yielded readily to shovel; there were no rocks; as far +as construction of a ditch was concerned such a blast would have done +more harm than good. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly, with reluctant feet, Belding walked toward a green hollow, +where in a cluster of willows lay the never-failing spring that his +horses loved so well, and, indeed, which he loved no less. He was +actually afraid to part the drooping willows to enter the little cool, +shady path that led to the spring. Then, suddenly seized by suspense, +he ran the rest of the way. +</P> + +<P> +He was just in time to see the last of the water. It seemed to sink as +in quicksand. The shape of the hole had changed. The tremendous force +of the blast in the adjoining field had obstructed or diverted the +underground stream of water. +</P> + +<P> +Belding's never-failing spring had been ruined. What had made this +little plot of ground green and sweet and fragrant was now no more. +Belding's first feeling was for the pity of it. The pale Ajo lilies +would bloom no more under those willows. The willows themselves would +soon wither and die. He thought how many times in the middle of hot +summer nights he had come down to the spring to drink. Never again! +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he thought of Blanco Diablo. How the great white thoroughbred +had loved this spring! Belding straightened up and looked with +tear-blurred eyes out over the waste of desert to the west. Never a +day passed that he had not thought of the splendid horse; but this +moment, with its significant memory, was doubly keen, and there came a +dull pang in his breast. +</P> + +<P> +"Diablo will never drink here again!" muttered Belding. +</P> + +<P> +The loss of Blanco Diablo, though admitted and mourned by Belding, had +never seemed quite real until this moment. +</P> + +<P> +The pall of dust drifting over him, the din of the falling water up at +the dam, diverted Belding's mind to the Chases. All at once he was in +the harsh grip of a cold certainty. The blast had been set off +intentionally to ruin his spring. What a hellish trick! No Westerner, +no Indian or Mexican, no desert man could have been guilty of such a +crime. To ruin a beautiful, clear, cool, never-failing stream of water +in the desert! +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Belding's worry and indecision and brooding were as if +they had never existed. As he strode swiftly back to the house, his +head, which had long been bent thoughtfully and sadly, was held erect. +He went directly to his room, and with an air that was now final he +buckled on his gun belt. He looked the gun over and tried the action. +He squared himself and walked a little more erect. Some long-lost +individuality had returned to Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's see," he was saying. "I can get Carter to send the horses I've +left back to Waco to my brother. I'll make Nell take what money there +is and go hunt up her mother. The Gales are ready to go—to-day, if I +say the word. Nell can travel with them part way East. That's your +game, Tom Belding, don't mistake me." +</P> + +<P> +As he went out he encountered Mr. Gale coming up the walk. The long +sojourn at Forlorn River, despite the fact that it had been laden with +a suspense which was gradually changing to a sad certainty, had been of +great benefit to Dick's father. The dry air, the heat, and the quiet +had made him, if not entirely a well man, certainly stronger than he +had been in many years. +</P> + +<P> +"Belding, what was that terrible roar?" asked Mr. Gale. "We were badly +frightened until Miss Nell came to us. We feared it was an earthquake." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Gale, we've had some quakes here, but none of +them could hold a candle to this jar we just had." +</P> + +<P> +Then Belding explained what had caused the explosion, and why it had +been set off so close to his property. +</P> + +<P> +"It's an outrage, sir, an unspeakable outrage," declared Mr. Gale, +hotly. "Such a thing would not be tolerated in the East. Mr. Belding, +I'm amazed at your attitude in the face of all this trickery." +</P> + +<P> +"You see—there was mother and Nell," began Belding, as if apologizing. +He dropped his head a little and made marks in the sand with the toe of +his boot. "Mr. Gale, I've been sort of half hitched, as Laddy used to +say. I'm planning to have a little more elbow room round this ranch. +I'm going to send Nell East to her mother. Then I'll— See here, Mr. +Gale, would you mind having Nell with you part way when you go home?" +</P> + +<P> +"We'd all be delighted to have her go all the way and make us a visit," +replied Mr. Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"That's fine. And you'll be going soon? Don't take that as if I +wanted to—" Belding paused, for the truth was that he did want to +hurry them off. +</P> + +<P> +"We would have been gone before this, but for you," said Mr. Gale. +"Long ago we gave up hope of—of Richard ever returning. And I +believe, now we're sure he was lost, that we'd do well to go home at +once. You wished us to remain until the heat was broken—till the +rains came to make traveling easier for us. Now I see no need for +further delay. My stay here has greatly benefited my health. I shall +never forget your hospitality. This Western trip would have made me a +new man if—only—Richard—" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. I understand," said Belding, gruffly. "Let's go in and tell +the women to pack up." +</P> + +<P> +Nell was busy with the servants preparing breakfast. Belding took her +into the sitting-room while Mr. Gale called his wife and daughter. +</P> + +<P> +"My girl, I've some news for you," began Belding. "Mr. Gale is leaving +to-day with his family. I'm going to send you with them—part way, +anyhow. You're invited to visit them. I think that 'd be great for +you—help you to forget. But the main thing is—you're going East to +join mother." +</P> + +<P> +Nell gazed at him, white-faced, without uttering a word. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, Nell, I'm about done in Forlorn River," went on Belding. +"That blast this morning sank my spring. There's no water now. It was +the last straw. So we'll shake the dust of Forlorn River. I'll come on +a little later—that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"Dad, you're packing your gun!" exclaimed Nell, suddenly pointing with +a trembling finger. She ran to him, and for the first time in his life +Belding put her away from him. His movements had lost the old slow +gentleness. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, so I am," replied Belding, coolly, as his hand moved down to the +sheath swinging at his hip. "Nell, I'm that absent-minded these days!" +</P> + +<P> +"Dad!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"That'll do from you," he replied, in a voice he had never used to her. +"Get breakfast now, then pack to leave Forlorn River." +</P> + +<P> +"Leave Forlorn River!" whispered Nell, with a thin white hand stealing +up to her breast. How changed the girl was! Belding reproached +himself for his hardness, but did not speak his thought aloud. Nell +was fading here, just as Mercedes had faded before the coming of Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +Nell turned away to the west window and looked out across the desert +toward the dim blue peaks in the distance. Belding watched her; +likewise the Gales; and no one spoke. There ensued a long silence. +Belding felt a lump rise in his throat. Nell laid her arm against the +window frame, but gradually it dropped, and she was leaning with her +face against the wood. A low sob broke from her. Elsie Gale went to +her, embraced her, took the drooping head on her shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"We've come to be such friends," she said. "I believe it'll be good +for you to visit me in the city. Here—all day you look out across +that awful lonely desert.... Come, Nell." +</P> + +<P> +Heavy steps sounded outside on the flagstones, then the door rattled +under a strong knock. Belding opened it. The Chases, father and son, +stood beyond the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning, Belding," said the elder Chase. "We were routed out +early by that big blast and came up to see what was wrong. All a +blunder. The Greaser foreman was drunk yesterday, and his ignorant men +made a mistake. Sorry if the blast bothered you." +</P> + +<P> +"Chase, I reckon that's the first of your blasts I was ever glad to +hear," replied Belding, in a way that made Chase look blank. +</P> + +<P> +"So? Well, I'm glad you're glad," he went on, evidently puzzled. "I +was a little worried—you've always been so touchy—we never could get +together. I hurried over, fearing maybe you might think the blast—you +see, Belding—" +</P> + +<P> +"I see this, Mr. Ben Chase," interrupted Belding, in curt and ringing +voice. "That blast was a mistake, the biggest you ever made in your +life." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" demanded Chase. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll have to excuse me for a while, unless you're dead set on having +it out right now. Mr. Gale and his family are leaving, and my daughter +is going with them. I'd rather you'd wait a little." +</P> + +<P> +"Nell going away!" exclaimed Radford Chase. He reminded Belding of an +overgrown boy in disappointment. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. But—Miss Burton to you, young man—" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Belding, I certainly would prefer a conference with you right +now," interposed the elder Chase, cutting short Belding's strange +speech. "There are other matters—important matters to discuss. +They've got to be settled. May we step in, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, you may not," replied Belding, bluntly. "I'm sure particular who +I invite into my house. But I'll go with you." +</P> + +<P> +Belding stepped out and closed the door. "Come away from the house so +the women won't hear the—the talk." +</P> + +<P> +The elder Chase was purple with rage, yet seemed to be controlling it. +The younger man looked black, sullen, impatient. He appeared not to +have a thought of Belding. He was absolutely blind to the situation, +as considered from Belding's point of view. Ben Chase found his voice +about the time Belding halted under the trees out of earshot from the +house. +</P> + +<P> +"Sir, you've insulted me—my son. How dare you? I want you to +understand that you're—" +</P> + +<P> +"Chop that kind of talk with me, you ——— ——— ——— ———!" +interrupted Belding. He had always been profane, and now he certainly +did not choose his language. Chase turned livid, gasped, and seemed +about to give way to fury. But something about Belding evidently +exerted a powerful quieting influence. "If you talk sense I'll +listen," went on Belding. +</P> + +<P> +Belding was frankly curious. He did not think any argument or +inducement offered by Chase could change his mind on past dealings or +his purpose of the present. But he believed by listening he might get +some light on what had long puzzled him. The masterly effort Chase put +forth to conquer his aroused passions gave Belding another idea of the +character of this promoter. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to make a last effort to propitiate you," began Chase, in his +quick, smooth voice. That was a singular change to Belding—the +dropping instantly into an easy flow of speech. "You've had losses +here, and naturally you're sore. I don't blame you. But you can't see +this thing from my side of the fence. Business is business. In +business the best man wins. The law upheld those transactions of mine +the honesty of which you questioned. As to mining and water claims, you +lost on this technical point—that you had nothing to prove you had +held them for five years. Five years is the time necessary in law. A +dozen men might claim the source of Forlorn River, but if they had no +house or papers to prove their squatters' rights any man could go in +and fight them for the water. .... Now I want to run that main ditch +along the river, through your farm. Can't we make a deal? I'm ready +to be liberal—to meet you more than halfway. I'll give you an +interest in the company. I think I've influence enough up at the +Capitol to have you reinstated as inspector. A little reasonableness +on your part will put you right again in Forlorn River, with a chance +of growing rich. There's a big future here.... My interest, Belding, +has become personal. Radford is in love with your step-daughter. He +wants to marry her. I'll admit now if I had foreseen this situation I +wouldn't have pushed you so hard. But we can square the thing. Now +let's get together not only in business, but in a family way. If my +son's happiness depends upon having this girl, you may rest assured +I'll do all I can to get her for him. I'll absolutely make good all +your losses. Now what do you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Belding. "Your money can't buy a right of way across my +ranch. And Nell doesn't want your son. That settles that." +</P> + +<P> +"But you could persuade her." +</P> + +<P> +"I won't, that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"May I ask why?" Chases's voice was losing its suave quality, but it +was even swifter than before. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. I don't mind your asking," replied Belding in slow +deliberation. "I wouldn't do such a low-down trick. Besides, if I +would, I'd want it to be a man I was persuading for. I know +Greasers—I know a Yaqui I'd rather give Nell to than your son." +</P> + +<P> +Radford Chase began to roar in inarticulate rage. Belding paid no +attention to him; indeed, he never glanced at the young man. The elder +Chase checked a violent start. He plucked at the collar of his gray +flannel shirt, opened it at the neck. +</P> + +<P> +"My son's offer of marriage is an honor—more an honor, sir, than you +perhaps are aware of." +</P> + +<P> +Belding made no reply. His steady gaze did not turn from the long lane +that led down to the river. He waited coldly, sure of himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Belding's daughter has no right to the name of Burton," snapped +Chase. "Did you know that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not," replied Belding, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you know it now," added Chase, bitingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure you can prove what you say?" queried Belding, in the same cool, +unemotional tone. It struck him strangely at the moment what little +knowledge this man had of the West and of Western character. +</P> + +<P> +"Prove it? Why, yes, I think so, enough to make the truth plain to any +reasonable man. I come from Peoria—was born and raised there. I went +to school with Nell Warren. That was your wife's maiden name. She was +a beautiful, gay girl. All the fellows were in love with her. I knew +Bob Burton well. He was a splendid fellow, but wild. Nobody ever knew +for sure, but we all supposed he was engaged to marry Nell. He left +Peoria, however, and soon after that the truth about Nell came out. +She ran away. It was at least a couple of months before Burton showed +up in Peoria. He did not stay long. Then for years nothing was heard +of either of them. When word did come Nell was in Oklahoma, Burton was +in Denver. There's chance, of course, that Burton followed Nell and +married her. That would account for Nell Warren taking the name of +Burton. But it isn't likely. None of us ever heard of such a thing +and wouldn't have believed it if we had. The affair seemed destined to +end unfortunately. But Belding, while I'm at it, I want to say that +Nell Warren was one of the sweetest, finest, truest girls in the world. +If she drifted to the Southwest and kept her past a secret that was +only natural. Certainly it should not be held against her. Why, she +was only a child—a girl—seventeen—eighteen years old.... In a moment +of amazement—when I recognized your wife as an old schoolmate—I +blurted the thing out to Radford. You see now how little it matters to +me when I ask your stepdaughter's hand in marriage for my son." +</P> + +<P> +Belding stood listening. The genuine emotion in Chase's voice was as +strong as the ring of truth. Belding knew truth when he heard it. The +revelation did not surprise him. Belding did not soften, for he +devined that Chase's emotion was due to the probing of an old wound, +the recalling of a past both happy and painful. Still, human nature +was so strange that perhaps kindness and sympathy might yet have a +place in this Chase's heart. Belding did not believe so, but he was +willing to give Chase the benefit of the doubt. +</P> + +<P> +"So you told my wife you'd respect her secret—keep her dishonor from +husband and daughter?" demanded Belding, his dark gaze sweeping back +from the lane. +</P> + +<P> +"What! I—I" stammered Chase. +</P> + +<P> +"You made your son swear to be a man and die before he'd hint the thing +to Nell?" went on Belding, and his voice rang louder. +</P> + +<P> +Ben Chase had no answer. The red left his face. His son slunk back +against the fence. +</P> + +<P> +"I say you never held this secret over the heads of my wife and her +daughter?" thundered Belding. +</P> + +<P> +He had his answer in the gray faces, in the lips that fear made mute. +Like a flash Belding saw the whole truth of Mrs. Belding's agony, the +reason for her departure; he saw what had been driving Nell; and it +seemed that all the dogs of hell were loosed within his heart. He +struck out blindly, instinctively in his pain, and the blow sent Ben +Chase staggering into the fence corner. Then he stretched forth a long +arm and whirled Radford Chase back beside his father. +</P> + +<P> +"I see it all now," went on Belding, hoarsely. "You found the woman's +weakness—her love for the girl. You found the girl's weakness—her +pride and fear of shame. So you drove the one and hounded the other. +God, what a base thing to do! To tell the girl was bad enough, but to +threaten her with betrayal; there's no name for that!" +</P> + +<P> +Belding's voice thickened, and he paused, breathing heavily. He +stepped back a few paces; and this, an ominous action for an armed man +of his kind, instead of adding to the fear of the Chases, seemed to +relieve them. If there had been any pity in Belding's heart he would +have felt it then. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, gentlemen," continued Belding, speaking low and with +difficulty, "seeing I've turned down your proposition, I suppose you +think you've no more call to keep your mouths shut?" +</P> + +<P> +The elder Chase appeared fascinated by something he either saw or felt +in Belding, and his gray face grew grayer. He put up a shaking hand. +Then Radford Chase, livid and snarling, burst out: "I'll talk till I'm +black in the face. You can't stop me!" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll go black in the face, but it won't be from talking," hissed +Belding. +</P> + +<P> +His big arm swept down, and when he threw it up the gun glittered in +his hand. Simultaneously with the latter action pealed out a shrill, +penetrating whistle. +</P> + +<P> +The whistle of a horse! It froze Belding's arm aloft. For an instant +he could not move even his eyes. The familiarity of that whistle was +terrible in its power to rob him of strength. Then he heard the rapid, +heavy pound of hoofs, and again the piercing whistle. +</P> + +<P> +"Blanco Diablo!" he cried, huskily. +</P> + +<P> +He turned to see a huge white horse come thundering into the yard. A +wild, gaunt, terrible horse; indeed, the loved Blanco Diablo. A +bronzed, long-haired Indian bestrode him. More white horses galloped +into the yard, pounded to a halt, whistling home. Belding saw a slim +shadow of a girl who seemed all great black eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Under the trees flashed Blanco Sol, as dazzling white, as beautiful as +if he had never been lost in the desert. He slid to a halt, then +plunged and stamped. His rider leaped, throwing the bridle. Belding +saw a powerful, spare, ragged man, with dark, gaunt face and eyes of +flame. +</P> + +<P> +Then Nell came running from the house, her golden hair flying, her +hands outstretched, her face wonderful. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick! Dick! Oh-h-h, Dick!" she cried. Her voice seemed to quiver in +Belding's heart. +</P> + +<P> +Belding's eyes began to blur. He was not sure he saw clearly. Whose +face was this now close before him—a long thin, shrunken face, +haggard, tragic in its semblance of torture, almost of death? But the +eyes were keen and kind. Belding thought wildly that they proved he +was not dreaming. +</P> + +<P> +"I shore am glad to see you all," said a well-remembered voice in a +slow, cool drawl. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +REALITY AGAINST DREAMS +</H3> + +<P> +LADD, Lash, Thorne, Mercedes, they were all held tight in Belding's +arms. Then he ran to Blanco Diablo. For once the great horse was +gentle, quiet, glad. He remembered this kindest of masters and reached +for him with warm, wet muzzle. +</P> + +<P> +Dick Gale was standing bowed over Nell's slight form, almost hidden in +his arms. Belding hugged them both. He was like a boy. He saw Ben +Chase and his son slip away under the trees, but the circumstances +meant nothing to him then. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick! Dick!" he roared. "Is it you?... Say, who do you think's +here—here, in Forlorn River?" +</P> + +<P> +Gale gripped Belding with a hand as rough and hard as a file and as +strong as a vise. But he did not speak a word. Belding thought Gale's +eyes would haunt him forever. +</P> + +<P> +It was then three more persons came upon the scene—Elsie Gale, running +swiftly, her father assisting Mrs. Gale, who appeared about to faint. +</P> + +<P> +"Belding! Who on earth's that?" cried Dick hoarsely. +</P> + +<P> +"Quien sabe, my son," replied Belding; and now his voice seemed a +little shaky. "Nell, come here. Give him a chance." +</P> + +<P> +Belding slipped his arm round Nell, and whispered in her ear. "This 'll +be great!" +</P> + +<P> +Elsie Gale's face was white and agitated, a face expressing extreme joy. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, brother! Mama saw you—Papa saw you, and never knew you! But I +knew you when you jumped quick—that way—off your horse. And now I +don't know you. You wild man! You giant! You splendid barbarian!... +Mama, Papa, hurry! It is Dick! Look at him. Just look at him! Oh-h, +thank God!" +</P> + +<P> +Belding turned away and drew Nell with him. In another second she and +Mercedes were clasped in each other's arms. Then followed a time of +joyful greetings all round. +</P> + +<P> +The Yaqui stood leaning against a tree watching the welcoming home of +the lost. No one seemed to think of him, until Belding, ever mindful +of the needs of horses, put a hand on Blanco Diablo and called to Yaqui +to bring the others. They led the string of whites down to the barn, +freed them of wet and dusty saddles and packs, and turned them loose in +the alfalfa, now breast-high. Diablo found his old spirit; Blanco Sol +tossed his head and whistled his satisfaction; White Woman pranced to +and fro; and presently they all settled down to quiet grazing. How +good it was for Belding to see those white shapes against the rich +background of green! His eyes glistened. It was a sight he had never +expected to see again. He lingered there many moments when he wanted +to hurry back to his rangers. +</P> + +<P> +At last he tore himself away from watching Blanco Diablo and returned +to the house. It was only to find that he might have spared himself +the hurry. Jim and Ladd were lying on the beds that had not held them +for so many months. Their slumber seemed as deep and quiet as death. +Curiously Belding gazed down upon them. They had removed only boots and +chaps. Their clothes were in tatters. Jim appeared little more than +skin and bones, a long shape, dark and hard as iron. Ladd's appearance +shocked Belding. The ranger looked an old man, blasted, shriveled, +starved. Yet his gaunt face, though terrible in its records of +tortures, had something fine and noble, even beautiful to Belding, in +its strength, its victory. +</P> + +<P> +Thorne and Mercedes had disappeared. The low murmur of voices came +from Mrs. Gale's room, and Belding concluded that Dick was still with +his family. No doubt he, also, would soon seek rest and sleep. +Belding went through the patio and called in at Nell's door. She was +there sitting by her window. The flush of happiness had not left her +face, but she looked stunned, and a shadow of fear lay dark in her +eyes. Belding had intended to talk. He wanted some one to listen to +him. The expression in Nell's eyes, however, silenced him. He had +forgotten. Nell read his thought in his face, and then she lost all +her color and dropped her head. Belding entered, stood beside her with +a hand on hers. He tried desperately hard to think of the right thing +to say, and realized so long as he tried that he could not speak at all. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell—Dick's back safe and sound," he said, slowly. "That's the main +thing. I wish you could have seen his eyes when he held you in his +arms out there.... Of course, Dick's coming knocks out your trip East +and changes plans generally. We haven't had the happiest time lately. +But now it'll be different. Dick's as true as a Yaqui. He'll chase +that Chase fellow, don't mistake me.... Then mother will be home soon. +She'll straighten out this—this mystery. And Nell—however it turns +out—I know Dick Gale will feel just the same as I feel. Brace up now, +girl." +</P> + +<P> +Belding left the patio and traced thoughtful steps back toward the +corrals. He realized the need of his wife. If she had been at home he +would not have come so close to killing two men. Nell would never have +fallen so low in spirit. Whatever the real truth of the tragedy of his +wife's life, it would not make the slightest difference to him. What +hurt him was the pain mother and daughter had suffered, were suffering +still. Somehow he must put an end to that pain. +</P> + +<P> +He found the Yaqui curled up in a corner of the barn in as deep a sleep +as that of the rangers. Looking down at him, Belding felt again the +rush of curious thrilling eagerness to learn all that had happened +since the dark night when Yaqui had led the white horses away into the +desert. Belding curbed his impatience and set to work upon tasks he +had long neglected. Presently he was interrupted by Mr. Gale, who came +out, beside himself with happiness and excitement. He flung a hundred +questions at Belding and never gave him time to answer one, even if +that had been possible. Finally, when Mr. Gale lost his breath, +Belding got a word in. "See here, Mr. Gale, you know as much as I +know. Dick's back. They're all back—a hard lot, starved, burned, torn +to pieces, worked out to the limit I never saw in desert travelers, but +they're alive—alive and well, man! Just wait. Just gamble I won't +sleep or eat till I hear that story. But they've got to sleep and eat." +</P> + +<P> +Belding gathered with growing amusement that besides the joy, +excitement, anxiety, impatience expressed by Mr. Gale there was +something else which Belding took for pride. It pleased him. Looking +back, he remembered some of the things Dick had confessed his father +thought of him. Belding's sympathy had always been with the boy. But +he had learned to like the old man, to find him kind and wise, and to +think that perhaps college and business had not brought out the best in +Richard Gale. The West had done that, however, as it had for many a +wild youngster; and Belding resolved to have a little fun at the +expense of Mr. Gale. So he began by making a few remarks that appeared +to rob Dick's father of both speech and breath. +</P> + +<P> +"And don't mistake me," concluded Belding, "just keep out of earshot +when Laddy tells us the story of that desert trip, unless you're +hankering to have your hair turn pure white and stand curled on end and +freeze that way." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +About the middle of the forenoon on the following day the rangers +hobbled out of the kitchen to the porch. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a sick man, I tell you," Ladd was complaining, "an' I gotta be +fed. Soup! Beef tea! That ain't so much as wind to me. I want about +a barrel of bread an' butter, an' a whole platter of mashed potatoes +with gravy an' green stuff—all kinds of green stuff—an' a whole big +apple pie. Give me everythin' an' anythin' to eat but meat. Shore I +never, never want to taste meat again, an' sight of a piece of sheep +meat would jest about finish me.... Jim, you used to be a human bein' +that stood up for Charlie Ladd." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, I'm lined up beside you with both guns," replied Jim, +plaintively. "Hungry? Say, the smell of breakfast in that kitchen +made my mouth water so I near choked to death. I reckon we're gettin' +most onhuman treatment." +</P> + +<P> +"But I'm a sick man," protested Ladd, "an' I'm agoin' to fall over in a +minute if somebody doesn't feed me. Nell, you used to be fond of me." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Laddy, I am yet," replied Nell. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I don't believe it. Any girl with a tender heart just couldn't +let a man starve under her eyes... Look at Dick, there. I'll bet he's +had something to eat, mebbe potatoes an' gravy, an' pie an'—" +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy, Dick has had no more than I gave you—indeed, not nearly so +much." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore he's had a lot of kisses then, for he hasn't hollered onct about +this treatment." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps he has," said Nell, with a blush; "and if you think that—they +would help you to be reasonable I might—I'll—" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, powerful fond as I am of you, just now kisses 'll have to run +second to bread an' butter." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Laddy, what a gallant speech!" laughed Nell. "I'm sorry, but I've +Dad's orders." +</P> + +<P> +"Laddy," interrupted Belding, "you've got to be broke in gradually to +eating. Now you know that. You'd be the severest kind of a boss if +you had some starved beggars on your hands." +</P> + +<P> +"But I'm sick—I'm dyin'," howled Ladd. +</P> + +<P> +"You were never sick in your life, and if all the bullet holes I see in +you couldn't kill you, why, you never will die." +</P> + +<P> +"Can I smoke?" queried Ladd, with sudden animation. "My Gawd, I used +to smoke. Shore I've forgot. Nell, if you want to be reinstated in my +gallery of angels, just find me a pipe an' tobacco." +</P> + +<P> +"I've hung onto my pipe," said Jim, thoughtfully. "I reckon I had it +empty in my mouth for seven years or so, wasn't it, Laddy? A long +time! I can see the red lava an' the red haze, an' the red twilight +creepin' up. It was hot an' some lonely. Then the wind, and always +that awful silence! An' always Yaqui watchin' the west, an' Laddy with +his checkers, an' Mercedes burnin' up, wastin' away to nothin' but +eyes! It's all there—I'll never get rid—" +</P> + +<P> +"Chop that kind of talk," interrupted Belding, bluntly. "Tell us where +Yaqui took you—what happened to Rojas—why you seemed lost for so +long." +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon Laddy can tell all that best; but when it comes to Rojas's +finish I'll tell what I seen, an' so'll Dick an' Thorne. Laddy missed +Rojas's finish. Bar none, that was the—" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a sick man, but I can talk," put in Ladd, "an' shore I don't want +the whole story exaggerated none by Jim." +</P> + +<P> +Ladd filled the pipe Nell brought, puffed ecstatically at it, and +settled himself upon the bench for a long talk. Nell glanced +appealingly at Dick, who tried to slip away. Mercedes did go, and was +followed by Thorne. Mr. Gale brought chairs, and in subdued excitement +called his wife and daughter. Belding leaned forward, rendered all the +more eager by Dick's reluctance to stay, the memory of the quick tragic +change in the expression of Mercedes's beautiful eyes, by the strange +gloomy cast stealing over Ladd's face. +</P> + +<P> +The ranger talked for two hours—talked till his voice weakened to a +husky whisper. At the conclusion of his story there was an impressive +silence. Then Elsie Gale stood up, and with her hand on Dick's +shoulder, her eyes bright and warm as sunlight, she showed the rangers +what a woman thought of them and of the Yaqui. Nell clung to Dick, +weeping silently. Mrs. Gale was overcome, and Mr. Gale, very white and +quiet, helped her up to her room. +</P> + +<P> +"The Indian! the Indian!" burst out Belding, his voice deep and +rolling. "What did I tell you? Didn't I say he'd be a godsend? +Remember what I said about Yaqui and some gory Aztec knifework? So he +cut Rojas loose from that awful crater wall, foot by foot, finger by +finger, slow and terrible? And Rojas didn't hang long on the <i><i>choya</i></i> +thorns? Thank the Lord for that!... Laddy, no story of Camino del +Diablo can hold a candle to yours. The flight and the fight were jobs +for men. But living through this long hot summer and coming +out—that's a miracle. Only the Yaqui could have done it. The Yaqui! +The Yaqui!" +</P> + +<P> +"Shore. Charlie Ladd looks up at an Indian these days. But Beldin', +as for the comin' out, don't forget the hosses. Without grand old Sol +an' Diablo, who I don't hate no more, an' the other Blancos, we'd never +have got here. Yaqui an' the hosses, that's my story!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Early in the afternoon of the next day Belding encountered Dick at the +water barrel. +</P> + +<P> +"Belding, this is river water, and muddy at that," said Dick. "Lord +knows I'm not kicking. But I've dreamed some of our cool running +spring, and I want a drink from it." +</P> + +<P> +"Never again, son. The spring's gone, faded, sunk, dry as dust." +</P> + +<P> +"Dry!" Gale slowly straightened. "We've had rains. The river's full. +The spring ought to be overflowing. What's wrong? Why is it dry?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, seeing you're interested, I may as well tell you that a big +charge of nitroglycerin choked my spring." +</P> + +<P> +"Nitroglycerin?" echoed Gale. Then he gave a quick start. "My mind's +been on home, Nell, my family. But all the same I felt something was +wrong here with the ranch, with you, with Nell... Belding, that ditch +there is dry. The roses are dead. The little green in that grass has +come with the rains. What's happened? The ranch's run down. Now I +look around I see a change." +</P> + +<P> +"Some change, yes," replied Belding, bitterly. "Listen, son." +</P> + +<P> +Briefly, but not the less forcibly for that, Belding related his story +of the operations of the Chases. +</P> + +<P> +Astonishment appeared to be Gale's first feeling. "Our water gone, our +claims gone, our plans forestalled! Why, Belding, it's unbelievable. +Forlorn River with promoters, business, railroad, bank, and what not!" +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he became fiery and suspicious. "These Chases—did they do +all this on the level?" +</P> + +<P> +"Barefaced robbery! Worse than a Greaser holdup," replied Belding, +grimly. +</P> + +<P> +"You say the law upheld them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Why, Ben Chase has a pull as strong as Diablo's on a down +grade. Dick, we're jobbed, outfigured, beat, tricked, and we can't do +a thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm sorry, Belding, most of all for Laddy," said Gale, feelingly. +"He's all in. He'll never ride again. He wanted to settle down here +on the farm he thought he owned, grow grass and raise horses, and take +it easy. Oh, but it's tough! Say, he doesn't know it yet. He was +just telling me he'd like to go out and look the farm over. Who's +going to tell him? What's he going to do when he finds out about this +deal?" +</P> + +<P> +"Son, that's made me think some," replied Belding, with keen eyes fast +upon the young man. "And I was kind of wondering how you'd take it." +</P> + +<P> +"I? Well, I'll call on the Chases. Look here, Belding, I'd better do +some forestalling myself. If Laddy gets started now there'll be blood +spilled. He's not just right in his mind yet. He talks in his sleep +sometimes about how Yaqui finished Rojas. If it's left to him—he'll +kill these men. But if I take it up—" +</P> + +<P> +"You're talking sense, Dick. Only here, I'm not so sure of you. And +there's more to tell. Son, you've Nell to think of and your mother." +</P> + +<P> +Belding's ranger gave him a long and searching glance. +</P> + +<P> +"You can be sure of me," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, then; listen," began Belding. With deep voice that had +many a beak and tremor he told Gale how Nell had been hounded by +Radford Chase, how her mother had been driven by Ben Chase—the whole +sad story. +</P> + +<P> +"So that's the trouble! Poor little girl!" murmured Gale, brokenly. "I +felt something was wrong. Nell wasn't natural, like her old self. And +when I begged her to marry me soon, while Dad was here, she couldn't +talk. She could only cry." +</P> + +<P> +"It was hard on Nell," said Belding, simply. "But it 'll be better now +you're back. Dick, I know the girl. She'll refuse to marry you and +you'll have a hard job to break her down, as hard as the one you just +rode in off of. I think I know you, too, or I wouldn't be saying—" +</P> + +<P> +"Belding, what 're you hinting at?" demanded Gale. "Do you dare +insinuate that—that—if the thing were true it'd make any difference +to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Aw, come now, Dick; I couldn't mean that. I'm only awkward at saying +things. And I'm cut pretty deep—" +</P> + +<P> +"For God's sake, you don't believe what Chase said?" queried Gale, in +passionate haste. "It's a lie. I swear it's a lie. I know it's a +lie. And I've got to tell Nell this minute. Come on in with me. I +want you, Belding. Oh, why didn't you tell me sooner?" +</P> + +<P> +Belding felt himself dragged by an iron arm into the sitting-room out +into the patio, and across that to where Nell sat in her door. At +sight of them she gave a little cry, drooped for an instant, then +raised a pale, still face, with eyes beginning to darken. +</P> + +<P> +"Dearest, I know now why you are not wearing my mother's ring," said +Gale, steadily and low-voiced. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, I am not worthy," she replied, and held out a trembling hand +with the ring lying in the palm. +</P> + +<P> +Swift as light Gale caught her hand and slipped the ring back upon the +third finger. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell! Look at me. It is your engagement ring.... Listen. I don't +believe this—this thing that's been torturing you. I know it's a lie. +I am absolutely sure your mother will prove it a lie. She must have +suffered once—perhaps there was a sad error—but the thing you fear is +not true. But, hear me, dearest; even if it was true it wouldn't make +the slightest difference to me. I'd promise you on my honor I'd never +think of it again. I'd love you all the more because you'd suffered. +I want you all the more to be my wife—to let me make you forget—to—" +</P> + +<P> +She rose swiftly with the passionate abandon of a woman stirred to her +depths, and she kissed him. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Dick, you're good—so good! You'll never know—just what those +words mean to me. They've saved me—I think." +</P> + +<P> +"Then, dearest, it's all right?" Dick questioned, eagerly. "You will +keep your promise? You will marry me?" +</P> + +<P> +The glow, the light faded out of her face, and now the blue eyes were +almost black. She drooped and shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Nell!" exclaimed Gale, sharply catching his breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't ask me, Dick. I—I won't marry you." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"You know. It's true that I—" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a lie," interrupted Gale, fiercely. "But even if it's +true—why—why won't you marry me? Between you and me love is the +thing. Love, and nothing else! Don't you love me any more?" +</P> + +<P> +They had forgotten Belding, who stepped back into the shade. +</P> + +<P> +"I love you with my whole heart and soul. I'd die for you," whispered +Nell, with clenching hands. "But I won't disgrace you." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear, you have worried over this trouble till you're morbid. It has +grown out of all proportion. I tell you that I'll not only be the +happiest man on earth, but the luckiest, if you marry me." +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, you give not one thought to your family. Would they receive me +as your wife?" +</P> + +<P> +"They surely would," replied Gale, steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"No! oh no!" +</P> + +<P> +"You're wrong, Nell. I'm glad you said that. You give me a chance to +prove something. I'll go this minute and tell them all. I'll be back +here in less than—" +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, you will not tell her—your mother?" cried Nell, with her eyes +streaming. "You will not? Oh, I can't bear it! She's so proud! And +Dick, I love her. Don't tell her! Please, please don't! She'll be +going soon. She needn't ever know—about me. I want her always to +think well of me. Dick, I beg of you. Oh, the fear of her knowing has +been the worst of all! Please don't go!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nell, I'm sorry. I hate to hurt you. But you're wrong. You can't +see things clearly. This is your happiness I'm fighting for. And it's +my life.... Wait here, dear. I won't be long." +</P> + +<P> +Gale ran across the patio and disappeared. Nell sank to the doorstep, +and as she met the question in Belding's eyes she shook her head +mournfully. They waited without speaking. It seemed a long while +before Gale returned. Belding thrilled at sight of him. There was +more boy about him than Belding had ever seen. Dick was coming +swiftly, flushed, glowing, eager, erect, almost smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"I told them. I swore it was a lie, but I wanted them to decide as if +it were true. I didn't have to waste a minute on Elsie. She loves +you, Nell. The Governor is crazy about you. I didn't have to waste two +minutes on him. Mother used up the time. She wanted to know all there +was to tell. She is proud, yes; but, Nell, I wish you could have seen +how she took the—the story about you. Why, she never thought of me at +all, until she had cried over you. Nell, she loves you, too. They all +love you. Oh, it's so good to tell you. I think mother realizes the +part you have had in the—what shall I call it?—the regeneration of +Richard Gale. Doesn't that sound fine? Darling, mother not only +consents, she wants you to be my wife. Do you hear that? And +listen—she had me in a corner and, of course, being my mother, she put +on the screws. She made me promise that we'd live in the East half the +year. That means Chicago, Cape May, New York—you see, I'm not exactly +the lost son any more. Why, Nell, dear, you'll have to learn who Dick +Gale really is. But I always want to be the ranger you helped me +become, and ride Blanco Sol, and see a little of the desert. Don't let +the idea of big cities frighten you. W'ell always love the open places +best. Now, Nell, say you'll forget this trouble. I know it'll come +all right. Say you'll marry me soon.... Why, dearest, you're crying.... +Nell!" +</P> + +<P> +"My—heart—is broken," sobbed Nell, "for—I—I—can't marry you." +</P> + +<P> +The boyish brightness faded out of Gale's face. Here, Belding saw, was +the stern reality arrayed against his dreams. +</P> + +<P> +"That devil Radford Chase—he'll tell my secret," panted Nell. "He +swore if you ever came back and married me he'd follow us all over the +world to tell it." +</P> + +<P> +Belding saw Gale grow deathly white and suddenly stand stock-still. +</P> + +<P> +"Chase threatened you, then?" asked Dick; and the forced naturalness of +his voice struck Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Threatened me? He made my life a nightmare," replied Nell, in a rush +of speech. "At first I wondered how he was worrying mother sick. But +she wouldn't tell me. Then when she went away he began to hint things. +I hated him all the more. But when he told me—I was frightened, +shamed. Still I did not weaken. He was pretty decent when he was +sober. But when he was half drunk he was the devil. He laughed at me +and my pride. I didn't dare shut the door in his face. After a while +he found out that your mother loved me and that I loved her. Then he +began to threaten me. If I didn't give in to him he'd see she learned +the truth. That made me weaken. It nearly killed me. I simply could +not bear the thought of Mrs. Gale knowing. But I couldn't marry him. +Besides, he got so half the time, when he was drunk, he didn't want or +ask me to be his wife. I was about ready to give up and go mad when +you—you came home." +</P> + +<P> +She ended in a whisper, looking up wistfully and sadly at him. Belding +was a raging fire within, cold without. He watched Gale, and believed +he could foretell that young man's future conduct. Gale gathered Nell +up into his arms and held her to his breast for a long moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear Nell, I'm sure the worst of your trouble is over," he said +gently. "I will not give you up. Now, won't you lie down, try to rest +and calm yourself. Don't grieve any more. This thing isn't so bad as +you make it. Trust me. I'll shut Mr. Radford Chase's mouth." +</P> + +<P> +As he released her she glanced quickly up at him, then lifted appealing +hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, you won't hunt for him—go after him?" +</P> + +<P> +Gale laughed, and the laugh made Belding jump. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, I beg of you. Please don't make trouble. The Chases have been +hard enough on us. They are rich, powerful. Dick, say you will not +make matters worse. Please promise me you'll not go to him." +</P> + +<P> +"You ask me that?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Oh yes!" +</P> + +<P> +"But you know it's useless. What kind of a man do you want me to be?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's only that I'm afraid. Oh, Dick, he'd shoot you in the back." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Nell, a man of his kind wouldn't have nerve enough even for that." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll go?" she cried wildly. +</P> + +<P> +Gale smiled, and the smile made Belding cold. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, I cannot keep you back?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Then the woman in her burst through instinctive fear, and with her eyes +blazing black in her white face she lifted parted quivering lips and +kissed him. +</P> + +<P> +Gale left the patio, and Belding followed closely at his heels. They +went through the sitting-room. Outside upon the porch sat the rangers, +Mr. Gale, and Thorne. Dick went into his room without speaking. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore somethin's comin' off," said Ladd, sharply; and he sat up with +keen eyes narrowing. +</P> + +<P> +Belding spoke a few words; and, remembering an impression he had wished +to make upon Mr. Gale, he made them strong. But now it was with grim +humor that he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Better stop that boy," he concluded, looking at Mr. Gale. "He'll do +some mischief. He's wilder'n hell." +</P> + +<P> +"Stop him? Why, assuredly," replied Mr. Gale, rising with nervous +haste. +</P> + +<P> +Just then Dick came out of his door. Belding eyed him keenly. The +only change he could see was that Dick had put on a hat and a pair of +heavy gloves. +</P> + +<P> +"Richard, where are you going?" asked his father. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going over here to see a man." +</P> + +<P> +"No. It is my wish that you remain. I forbid you to go," said Mr. +Gale, with a hand on his son's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +Dick put Mr. Gale aside gently, respectfully, yet forcibly. The old +man gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad, I haven't gotten over my bad habit of disobeying you. I'm sorry. +Don't interfere with me now. And don't follow me. You might see +something unpleasant." +</P> + +<P> +"But my son! What are you going to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to beat a dog." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gale looked helplessly from this strangely calm and cold son to the +restless Belding. Then Dick strode off the porch. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on!" Ladd's voice would have stopped almost any man. "Dick, you +wasn't agoin' without me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I was. But I'm thoughtless just now, Laddy." +</P> + +<P> +"Shore you was. Wait a minute, Dick. I'm a sick man, but at that +nobody can pull any stunts round here without me." +</P> + +<P> +He hobbled along the porch and went into his room. Jim Lash knocked +the ashes out of his pipe, and, humming his dance tune, he followed +Ladd. In a moment the rangers appeared, and both were packing guns. +</P> + +<P> +Not a little of Belding's grim excitement came from observation of Mr. +Gale. At sight of the rangers with their guns the old man turned white +and began to tremble. +</P> + +<P> +"Better stay behind," whispered Belding. "Dick's going to beat that +two-legged dog, and the rangers get excited when they're packing guns." +</P> + +<P> +"I will not stay behind," replied Mr. Gale, stoutly. "I'll see this +affair through. Belding, I've guessed it. Richard is going to fight +the Chases, those robbers who have ruined you." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I can't guarantee any fight on their side," returned Belding, +dryly. "But maybe there'll be Greasers with a gun or two." +</P> + +<P> +Belding stalked off to catch up with Dick, and Mr. Gale came trudging +behind with Thorne. +</P> + +<P> +"Where will we find these Chases?" asked Dick of Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"They've got a place down the road adjoining the inn. They call it +their club. At this hour Radford will be there sure. I don't know +about the old man. But his office is now just across the way." +</P> + +<P> +They passed several houses, turned a corner into the main street, and +stopped at a wide, low adobe structure. A number of saddled horses +stood haltered to posts. Mexicans lolled around the wide doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"There's Ben Chase now over on the corner," said Belding to Dick. "See, +the tall man with the white hair, and leather band on his hat. He sees +us. He knows there's something up. He's got men with him. They'll +come over. We're after the young buck, and sure he'll be in here." +</P> + +<P> +They entered. The place was a hall, and needed only a bar to make it a +saloon. There were two rickety pool tables. Evidently Chase had +fitted up this amusement room for his laborers as well as for the use +of his engineers and assistants, for the crowd contained both Mexicans +and Americans. A large table near a window was surrounded by a noisy, +smoking, drinking circle of card-players. +</P> + +<P> +"Point out this Radford Chase to me," said Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"There! The big fellow with the red face. His eyes stick out a +little. See! He's dropped his cards and his face isn't red any more." +</P> + +<P> +Dick strode across the room. +</P> + +<P> +Belding grasped Mr. Gale and whispered hoarsely: "Don't miss anything. +It'll be great. Watch Dick and watch Laddy! If there's any gun play, +dodge behind me." +</P> + +<P> +Belding smiled with a grim pleasure as he saw Mr. Gales' face turn +white. +</P> + +<P> +Dick halted beside the table. His heavy boot shot up, and with a crash +the table split, and glasses, cards, chips flew everywhere. As they +rattled down and the chairs of the dumfounded players began to slide +Dick called out: "My name is Gale. I'm looking for Mr. Radford Chase." +</P> + +<P> +A tall, heavy-shouldered fellow rose, boldly enough, even swaggeringly, +and glowered at Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Radford Chase," he said. His voice betrayed the boldness of his +action. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was over in a few moments. The tables and chairs were tumbled into +a heap; one of the pool tables had been shoved aside; a lamp lay +shattered, with oil running dark upon the floor. Ladd leaned against a +post with a smoking gun in his hand. A Mexican crouched close to the +wall moaning over a broken arm. In the far corner upheld by comrades +another wounded Mexican cried out in pain. These two had attempted to +draw weapons upon Gale, and Ladd had crippled them. +</P> + +<P> +In the center of the room lay Radford Chase, a limp, torn, hulking, +bloody figure. He was not seriously injured. But he was helpless, a +miserable beaten wretch, who knew his condition and felt the eyes upon +him. He sobbed and moaned and howled. But no one offered to help him +to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +Backed against the door of the hall stood Ben Chase, for once stripped +of all authority and confidence and courage. Gale confronted him, and +now Gale's mien was in striking contrast to the coolness with which he +had entered the place. Though sweat dripped from his face, it was as +white as chalk. Like dark flames his eyes seemed to leap and dance and +burn. His lean jaw hung down and quivered with passion. He shook a +huge gloved fist in Chase's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Your gray hairs save you this time. But keep out of my way! And when +that son of yours comes to, tell him every time I meet him I'll add +some more to what he got to-day!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SECRET OF FORLORN RIVER +</H3> + +<P> +IN the early morning Gale, seeking solitude where he could brood over +his trouble, wandered alone. It was not easy for him to elude the +Yaqui, and just at the moment when he had cast himself down in a +secluded shady corner the Indian appeared, noiseless, shadowy, +mysterious as always. +</P> + +<P> +"Malo," he said, in his deep voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Yaqui, it's bad—very bad," replied Gale. +</P> + +<P> +The Indian had been told of the losses sustained by Belding and his +rangers. +</P> + +<P> +"Go—me!" said Yaqui, with an impressive gesture toward the lofty +lilac-colored steps of No Name Mountains. +</P> + +<P> +He seemed the same as usual, but a glance on Gale's part, a moment's +attention, made him conscious of the old strange force in the Yaqui. +"Why does my brother want me to climb the nameless mountains with him?" +asked Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"Lluvia d'oro," replied Yaqui, and he made motions that Gale found +difficult of interpretation. +</P> + +<P> +"Shower of Gold," translated Gale. That was the Yaqui's name for Nell. +What did he mean by using it in connection with a climb into the +mountains? Were his motions intended to convey an idea of a shower of +golden blossoms from that rare and beautiful tree, or a golden rain? +Gale's listlessness vanished in a flash of thought. The Yaqui meant +gold. Gold! He meant he could retrieve the fallen fortunes of the +white brother who had saved his life that evil day at the Papago Well. +Gale thrilled as he gazed piercingly into the wonderful eyes of this +Indian. Would Yaqui never consider his debt paid? +</P> + +<P> +"Go—me?" repeat the Indian, pointing with the singular directness that +always made this action remarkable in him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Yaqui." +</P> + +<P> +Gale ran to his room, put on hobnailed boots, filled a canteen, and +hurried back to the corral. Yaqui awaited him. The Indian carried a +coiled lasso and a short stout stick. Without a word he led the way +down the lane, turned up the river toward the mountains. None of +Belding's household saw their departure. +</P> + +<P> +What had once been only a narrow mesquite-bordered trail was now a +well-trodden road. A deep irrigation ditch, full of flowing muddy +water, ran parallel with the road. Gale had been curious about the +operations of the Chases, but bitterness he could not help had kept him +from going out to see the work. He was not surprised to find that the +engineers who had constructed the ditches and dam had anticipated him +in every particular. The dammed-up gulch made a magnificent reservoir, +and Gale could not look upon the long narrow lake without a feeling of +gladness. The dreaded ano seco of the Mexicans might come again and +would come, but never to the inhabitants of Forlorn River. That +stone-walled, stone-floored gulch would never leak, and already it +contained water enough to irrigate the whole Altar Valley for two dry +seasons. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui led swiftly along the lake to the upper end, where the stream +roared down over unscalable walls. This point was the farthest Gale +had ever penetrated into the rough foothills, and he had Belding's word +for it that no white man had ever climbed No Name Mountains from the +west. +</P> + +<P> +But a white man was not an Indian. The former might have stolen the +range and valley and mountain, even the desert, but his possessions +would ever remain mysteries. Gale had scarcely faced the great gray +ponderous wall of cliff before the old strange interest in the Yaqui +seized him again. It recalled the tie that existed between them, a tie +almost as close as blood. Then he was eager and curious to see how the +Indian would conquer those seemingly insurmountable steps of stone. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui left the gulch and clambered up over a jumble of weathered slides +and traced a slow course along the base of the giant wall. He looked up +and seemed to select a point for ascent. It was the last place in that +mountainside where Gale would have thought climbing possible. Before +him the wall rose, leaning over him, shutting out the light, a dark +mighty mountain mass. Innumerable cracks and crevices and caves +roughened the bulging sides of dark rock. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui tied one end of his lasso to the short, stout stick and, +carefully disentangling the coils, he whirled the stick round and round +and threw it almost over the first rim of the shelf, perhaps thirty +feet up. The stick did not lodge. Yaqui tried again. This time it +caught in a crack. He pulled hard. Then, holding to the lasso, he +walked up the steep slant, hand over hand on the rope. When he reached +the shelf he motioned for Gale to follow. Gale found that method of +scaling a wall both quick and easy. Yaqui pulled up the lasso, and +threw the stick aloft into another crack. He climbed to another shelf, +and Gale followed him. The third effort brought them to a more rugged +bench a hundred feet above the slides. The Yaqui worked round to the +left, and turned into a dark fissure. Gale kept close to his heels. +They came out presently into lighter space, yet one that restricted any +extended view. Broken sections of cliff were on all sides. +</P> + +<P> +Here the ascent became toil. Gale could distance Yaqui going downhill; +on the climb, however, he was hard put to it to keep the Indian in +sight. It was not a question of strength or lightness of foot. These +Gale had beyond the share of most men. It was a matter of lung power, +and the Yaqui's life had been spent scaling the desert heights. +Moreover, the climbing was infinitely slow, tedious, dangerous. On the +way up several times Gale imagined he heard a dull roar of falling +water. The sound seemed to be under him, over him to this side and to +that. When he was certain he could locate the direction from which it +came then he heard it no more until he had gone on. Gradually he +forgot it in the physical sensations of the climb. He burned his hands +and knees. He grew hot and wet and winded. His heart thumped so that +it hurt, and there were instants when his sight was blurred. When at +last he had toiled to where the Yaqui sat awaiting him upon the rim of +that great wall, it was none too soon. +</P> + +<P> +Gale lay back and rested for a while without note of anything except +the blue sky. Then he sat up. He was amazed to find that after that +wonderful climb he was only a thousand feet or so above the valley. +Judged by the nature of his effort, he would have said he had climbed a +mile. The village lay beneath him, with its new adobe structures and +tents and buildings in bright contrast with the older habitations. He +saw the green alfalfa fields, and Belding's white horses, looking very +small and motionless. He pleased himself by imagining he could pick +out Blanco Sol. Then his gaze swept on to the river. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, he realized now why some one had named it Forlorn River. Even +at this season when it was full of water it had a forlorn aspect. It +was doomed to fail out there on the desert—doomed never to mingle with +the waters of the Gulf. It wound away down the valley, growing wider +and shallower, encroaching more and more on the gray flats, until it +disappeared on its sad journey toward Sonoyta. That vast shimmering, +sun-governed waste recognized its life only at this flood season, and +was already with parched tongue and insatiate fire licking and burning +up its futile waters. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui put a hand on Gale's knee. It was a bronzed, scarred, powerful +hand, always eloquent of meaning. The Indian was listening. His bent +head, his strange dilating eyes, his rigid form, and that +close-pressing hand, how these brought back to Gale the terrible lonely +night hours on the lava! +</P> + +<P> +"What do you hear, Yaqui?" asked Gale. He laughed a little at the mood +that had come over him. But the sound of his voice did not break the +spell. He did not want to speak again. He yielded to Yaqui's subtle +nameless influence. He listened himself, heard nothing but the scream +of an eagle. Often he wondered if the Indian could hear things that +made no sound. Yaqui was beyond understanding. +</P> + +<P> +Whatever the Indian had listened to or for, presently he satisfied +himself, and, with a grunt that might mean anything, he rose and turned +away from the rim. Gale followed, rested now and eager to go on. He +saw that the great cliff they had climbed was only a stairway up to the +huge looming dark bulk of the plateau above. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he again heard the dull roar of falling water. It seemed to +have cleared itself of muffled vibrations. Yaqui mounted a little +ridge and halted. The next instant Gale stood above a bottomless cleft +into which a white stream leaped. His astounded gaze swept backward +along this narrow swift stream to its end in a dark, round, boiling +pool. It was a huge spring, a bubbling well, the outcropping of an +underground river coming down from the vast plateau above. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui had brought Gale to the source of Forlorn River. +</P> + +<P> +Flashing thoughts in Gale's mind were no swifter than the thrills that +ran over him. He would stake out a claim here and never be cheated out +of it. Ditches on the benches and troughs on the steep walls would +carry water down to the valley. Ben Chase had build a great dam which +would be useless if Gale chose to turn Forlorn River from its natural +course. The fountain head of that mysterious desert river belonged to +him. +</P> + +<P> +His eagerness, his mounting passion, was checked by Yaqui's unusual +action. The Indian showed wonder, hesitation, even reluctance. His +strange eyes surveyed this boiling well as if they could not believe +the sight they saw. Gale divined instantly that Yaqui had never before +seen the source of Forlorn River. If he had ever ascended to this +plateau, probably it had been to some other part, for the water was new +to him. He stood gazing aloft at peaks, at lower ramparts of the +mountain, and at nearer landmarks of prominence. Yaqui seemed at +fault. He was not sure of his location. +</P> + +<P> +Then he strode past the swirling pool of dark water and began to ascend +a little slope that led up to a shelving cliff. Another object halted +the Indian. It was a pile of stones, weathered, crumbled, fallen into +ruin, but still retaining shape enough to prove it had been built there +by the hands of men. Round and round this the Yaqui stalked, and his +curiosity attested a further uncertainty. It was as if he had come +upon something surprising. Gale wondered about the pile of stones. Had +it once been a prospector's claim? +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" grunted the Indian; and, though his exclamation expressed no +satisfaction, it surely put an end to doubt. He pointed up to the roof +of the sloping yellow shelf of stone. Faintly outlined there in red +were the imprints of many human hands with fingers spread wide. Gale +had often seen such paintings on the walls of the desert caverns. +Manifestly these told Yaqui he had come to the spot for which he had +aimed. +</P> + +<P> +Then his actions became swift—and Yaqui seldom moved swiftly. The fact +impressed Gale. The Indian searched the level floor under the shelf. +He gathered up handfuls of small black stones, and thrust them at Gale. +Their weight made Gale start, and then he trembled. The Indian's next +move was to pick up a piece of weathered rock and throw it against the +wall. It broke. He snatched up parts, and showed the broken edges to +Gale. They contained yellow steaks, dull glints, faint tracings of +green. It was gold. +</P> + +<P> +Gale found his legs shaking under him; and he sat down, trying to take +all the bits of stone into his lap. His fingers were all thumbs as +with knife blade he dug into the black pieces of rock. He found gold. +Then he stared down the slope, down into the valley with its river +winding forlornly away into the desert. But he did not see any of +that. Here was reality as sweet, as wonderful, as saving as a dream +come true. Yaqui had led him to a ledge of gold. Gale had learned +enough about mineral to know that this was a rich strike. All in a +second he was speechless with the joy of it. But his mind whirled in +thought about this strange and noble Indian, who seemed never to be +able to pay a debt. Belding and the poverty that had come to him! +Nell, who had wept over the loss of a spring! Laddy, who never could +ride again! Jim Lash, who swore he would always look after his friend! +Thorne and Mercedes! All these people, who had been good to him and +whom he loved, were poor. But now they would be rich. They would one +and all be his partners. He had discovered the source of Forlorn +River, and was rich in water. Yaqui had made him rich in gold. Gale +wanted to rush down the slope, down into the valley, and tell his +wonderful news. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly his eyes cleared and he saw the pile of stones. His blood +turned to ice, then to fire. That was the mark of a prospector's +claim. But it was old, very old. The ledge had never been worked, the +slope was wild. There was not another single indication that a +prospector had ever been there. Where, then, was he who had first +staked this claim? Gale wondered with growing hope, with the fire +easing, with the cold passing. +</P> + +<P> +The Yaqui uttered the low, strange, involuntary cry so rare with him, a +cry somehow always associated with death. Gale shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +The Indian was digging in the sand and dust under the shelving wall. He +threw out an object that rang against the stone. It was a belt buckle. +He threw out old shrunken, withered boots. He came upon other things, +and then he ceased to dig. +</P> + +<P> +The grave of desert prospectors! Gale had seen more than one. Ladd had +told him many a story of such gruesome finds. It was grim, hard fact. +</P> + +<P> +Then the keen-eyed Yaqui reached up to a little projecting shelf of +rock and took from it a small object. He showed no curiosity and gave +the thing to Gale. +</P> + +<P> +How strangely Gale felt when he received into his hands a flat oblong +box! Was it only the influence of the Yaqui, or was there a nameless +and unseen presence beside that grave? Gale could not be sure. But he +knew he had gone back to the old desert mood. He knew something hung +in the balance. No accident, no luck, no debt-paying Indian could +account wholly for that moment. Gale knew he held in his hands more +than gold. +</P> + +<P> +The box was a tin one, and not all rusty. Gale pried open the +reluctant lid. A faint old musty odor penetrated his nostrils. Inside +the box lay a packet wrapped in what once might have been oilskin. He +took it out and removed this covering. A folded paper remained in his +hands. +</P> + +<P> +It was growing yellow with age. But he descried a dim tracery of +words. A crabbed scrawl, written in blood, hard to read! He held it +more to the light, and slowly he deciphered its content. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"We, Robert Burton and Jonas Warren, give half of this gold claim to +the man who finds it and half to Nell Burton, daughter and +granddaughter." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Gasping, with a bursting heart, overwhelmed by an unutterable joy of +divination, Gale fumbled with the paper until he got it open. +</P> + +<P> +It was a certificate twenty-one years old, and recorded the marriage of +Robert Burton and Nellie Warren. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DESERT GOLD +</H3> + +<P> +A SUMMER day dawned on Forlorn River, a beautiful, still, hot, golden +day with huge sail clouds of white motionless over No Name Peaks and +the purple of clear air in the distance along the desert horizon. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Belding returned that day to find her daughter happy and the past +buried forever in two lonely graves. The haunting shadow left her +eyes. Gale believed he would never forget the sweetness, the wonder, +the passion of her embrace when she called him her boy and gave him her +blessing. +</P> + +<P> +The little wrinkled padre who married Gale and Nell performed the +ceremony as he told his beads, without interest or penetration, and +went his way, leaving happiness behind. +</P> + +<P> +"Shore I was a sick man," Ladd said, "an' darn near a dead one, but I'm +agoin' to get well. Mebbe I'll be able to ride again someday. Nell, I +lay it to you. An' I'm agoin' to kiss you an' wish you all the joy +there is in this world. An', Dick, as Yaqui says, she's shore your +Shower of Gold." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke of Gale's finding love—spoke of it with the deep and wistful +feeling of the lonely ranger who had always yearned for love and had +never known it. Belding, once more practical, and important as never +before with mining projects and water claims to manage, spoke of Gale's +great good fortune in finding of gold—he called it desert gold. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, yes. Desert Gold!" exclaimed Dick's father, softly, with eyes of +pride. Perhaps he was glad Dick had found the rich claim; surely he +was happy that Dick had won the girl he loved. But it seemed to Dick +himself that his father meant something very different from love and +fortune in his allusion to desert gold. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +That beautiful happy day, like life or love itself, could not be wholly +perfect. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui came to Dick to say good-by. Dick was startled, grieved, and in +his impulsiveness forgot for a moment the nature of the Indian. Yaqui +was not to be changed. +</P> + +<P> +Belding tried to overload him with gifts. The Indian packed a bag of +food, a blanket, a gun, a knife, a canteen, and no more. The whole +household went out with him to the corrals and fields from which +Belding bade him choose a horse—any horse, even the loved Blanco +Diablo. Gale's heart was in his throat for fear the Indian might +choose Blanco Sol, and Gale hated himself for a selfishness he could +not help. But without a word he would have parted with the treasured +Sol. +</P> + +<P> +Yaqui whistled the horses up—for the last time. Did he care for them? +It would have been hard to say. He never looked at the fierce and +haughty Diablo, nor at Blanco Sol as he raised his noble head and rang +his piercing blast. The Indian did not choose one of Belding's whites. +He caught a lean and wiry broncho, strapped a blanket on him, and +fastened on the pack. +</P> + +<P> +Then he turned to these friends, the same emotionless, inscrutable dark +and silent Indian that he had always been. This parting was nothing to +him. He had stayed to pay a debt, and now he was going home. +</P> + +<P> +He shook hands with the men, swept a dark fleeting glance over Nell, +and rested his strange eyes upon Mercedes's beautiful and agitated +face. It must have been a moment of intense feeling for the Spanish +girl. She owed it to him that she had life and love and happiness. She +held out those speaking slender hands. But Yaqui did not touch them. +Turning away, he mounted the broncho and rode down the trail toward the +river. +</P> + +<P> +"He's going home," said Belding. +</P> + +<P> +"Home!" whispered Ladd; and Dick knew the ranger felt the resurging +tide of memory. Home—across the cactus and lava, through solemn +lonely days, the silent, lonely nights, into the vast and red-hazed +world of desolation. +</P> + +<P> +"Thorne, Mercedes, Nell, let's climb the foothill yonder and watch him +out of sight," said Dick. +</P> + +<P> +They climbed while the others returned to the house. When they reached +the summit of the hill Yaqui was riding up the far bank of the river. +</P> + +<P> +"He will turn to look—to wave good-by?" asked Nell. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear he is an Indian," replied Gale. +</P> + +<P> +From that height they watched him ride through the mesquites, up over +the river bank to enter the cactus. His mount showed dark against the +green and white, and for a long time he was plainly in sight. The sun +hung red in a golden sky. The last the watchers saw of Yaqui was when +he rode across a ridge and stood silhouetted against the gold of desert +sky—a wild, lonely, beautiful picture. Then he was gone. +</P> + +<P> +Strangely it came to Gale then that he was glad. Yaqui had returned to +his own—the great spaces, the desolation, the solitude—to the trails +he had trodden when a child, trails haunted now by ghosts of his +people, and ever by his gods. Gale realized that in the Yaqui he had +known the spirit of the desert, that this spirit had claimed all which +was wild and primitive in him. +</P> + +<P> +Tears glistened in Mercedes's magnificent black eyes, and Thorne kissed +them away—kissed the fire back to them and the flame to her cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +That action recalled Gale's earlier mood, the joy of the present, and +he turned to Nell's sweet face. The desert was there, wonderful, +constructive, ennobling, beautiful, terrible, but it was not for him as +it was for the Indian. In the light of Nell's tremulous returning +smile that strange, deep, clutching shadow faded, lost its hold +forever; and he leaned close to her, whispering: "Lluvia +d'oro"—"Shower of Gold." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Desert Gold, by Zane Grey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESERT GOLD *** + +***** This file should be named 502-h.htm or 502-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/502/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Desert Gold + +Author: Zane Grey + +Posting Date: September 13, 2008 [EBook #502] +Release Date: April, 1996 +[Last updated: March 21, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESERT GOLD *** + + + + + + +DESERT GOLD + +A ROMANCE OF THE BORDER + + +BY + +ZANE GREY + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Prologue + + I. Old Friends + II. Mercedes Castaneda + III. A Flight Into The Desert + IV. Forlorn River + V. A Desert Rose + VI. The Yaqui + VII. White Horses + VIII. The Running of Blanco Sol + IX. An Interrupted Siesta + X. Rojas + XI. Across Cactus and Lava + XII. The Crater of Hell + XIII. Changes at Forlorn River + XIV. A Lost Son + XV. Bound In The Desert + XVI. Mountain Sheep + XVII. The Whistle of a Horse + XVIII. Reality Against Dreams + XIX. The Secret of Forlorn River + XX. Desert Gold + + + + +D E S E R T G O L D + + + +PROLOGUE + + +I + +A FACE haunted Cameron--a woman's face. It was there in the white +heart of the dying campfire; it hung in the shadows that hovered over +the flickering light; it drifted in the darkness beyond. + +This hour, when the day had closed and the lonely desert night set in +with its dead silence, was one in which Cameron's mind was thronged +with memories of a time long past--of a home back in Peoria, of a woman +he had wronged and lost, and loved too late. He was a prospector for +gold, a hunter of solitude, a lover of the drear, rock-ribbed +infinitude, because he wanted to be alone to remember. + +A sound disturbed Cameron's reflections. He bent his head listening. A +soft wind fanned the paling embers, blew sparks and white ashes and +thin smoke away into the enshrouding circle of blackness. His burro +did not appear to be moving about. The quiet split to the cry of a +coyote. It rose strange, wild, mournful--not the howl of a prowling +upland beast baying the campfire or barking at a lonely prospector, but +the wail of a wolf, full-voiced, crying out the meaning of the desert +and the night. Hunger throbbed in it--hunger for a mate, for +offspring, for life. When it ceased, the terrible desert silence smote +Cameron, and the cry echoed in his soul. He and that wandering wolf +were brothers. + +Then a sharp clink of metal on stone and soft pads of hoofs in sand +prompted Cameron to reach for his gun, and to move out of the light of +the waning campfire. He was somewhere along the wild border line +between Sonora and Arizona; and the prospector who dared the heat and +barrenness of that region risked other dangers sometimes as menacing. + +Figures darker than the gloom approached and took shape, and in the +light turned out to be those of a white man and a heavily packed burro. + +"Hello there," the man called, as he came to a halt and gazed about +him. "I saw your fire. May I make camp here?" + +Cameron came forth out of the shadow and greeted his visitor, whom he +took for a prospector like himself. Cameron resented the breaking of +his lonely campfire vigil, but he respected the law of the desert. + +The stranger thanked him, and then slipped the pack from his burro. +Then he rolled out his pack and began preparations for a meal. His +movements were slow and methodical. + +Cameron watched him, still with resentment, yet with a curious and +growing interest. The campfire burst into a bright blaze, and by its +light Cameron saw a man whose gray hair somehow did not seem to make +him old, and whose stooped shoulders did not detract from an impression +of rugged strength. + +"Find any mineral?" asked Cameron, presently. + +His visitor looked up quickly, as if startled by the sound of a human +voice. He replied, and then the two men talked a little. But the +stranger evidently preferred silence. Cameron understood that. He +laughed grimly and bent a keener gaze upon the furrowed, shadowy face. +Another of those strange desert prospectors in whom there was some +relentless driving power besides the lust for gold! Cameron felt that +between this man and himself there was a subtle affinity, vague and +undefined, perhaps born of the divination that here was a desert +wanderer like himself, perhaps born of a deeper, an unintelligible +relation having its roots back in the past. A long-forgotten sensation +stirred in Cameron's breast, one so long forgotten that he could not +recognize it. But it was akin to pain. + + + +II + +When he awakened he found, to his surprise, that his companion had +departed. A trail in the sand led off to the north. There was no +water in that direction. Cameron shrugged his shoulders; it was not +his affair; he had his own problems. And straightway he forgot his +strange visitor. + +Cameron began his day, grateful for the solitude that was now unbroken, +for the canyon-furrowed and cactus-spired scene that now showed no sign +of life. He traveled southwest, never straying far from the dry stream +bed; and in a desultory way, without eagerness, he hunted for signs of +gold. + +The work was toilsome, yet the periods of rest in which he indulged +were not taken because of fatigue. He rested to look, to listen, to +feel. What the vast silent world meant to him had always been a +mystical thing, which he felt in all its incalculable power, but never +understood. + +That day, while it was yet light, and he was digging in a moist +white-bordered wash for water, he was brought sharply up by hearing the +crack of hard hoofs on stone. There down the canyon came a man and a +burro. Cameron recognized them. + +"Hello, friend," called the man, halting. "Our trails crossed again. +That's good." + +"Hello," replied Cameron, slowly. "Any mineral sign to-day?" + +"No." + +They made camp together, ate their frugal meal, smoked a pipe, and +rolled in their blankets without exchanging many words. In the morning +the same reticence, the same aloofness characterized the manner of +both. But Cameron's companion, when he had packed his burro and was +ready to start, faced about and said: "We might stay together, if it's +all right with you." + +"I never take a partner," replied Cameron. + +"You're alone; I'm alone," said the other, mildly. "It's a big place. +If we find gold there'll be enough for two." + +"I don't go down into the desert for gold alone," rejoined Cameron, +with a chill note in his swift reply. + +His companion's deep-set, luminous eyes emitted a singular flash. It +moved Cameron to say that in the years of his wandering he had met no +man who could endure equally with him the blasting heat, the blinding +dust storms, the wilderness of sand and rock and lava and cactus, the +terrible silence and desolation of the desert. Cameron waved a hand +toward the wide, shimmering, shadowy descent of plain and range. "I +may strike through the Sonora Desert. I may head for Pinacate or north +for the Colorado Basin. You are an old man." + +"I don't know the country, but to me one place is the same as another," +replied his companion. For moments he seemed to forget himself, and +swept his far-reaching gaze out over the colored gulf of stone and +sand. Then with gentle slaps he drove his burro in behind Cameron. +"Yes, I'm old. I'm lonely, too. It's come to me just lately. But, +friend, I can still travel, and for a few days my company won't hurt +you." + +"Have it your way," said Cameron. + +They began a slow march down into the desert. At sunset they camped +under the lee of a low mesa. Cameron was glad his comrade had the +Indian habit of silence. Another day's travel found the prospectors +deep in the wilderness. Then there came a breaking of reserve, +noticeable in the elder man, almost imperceptibly gradual in Cameron. +Beside the meager mesquite campfire this gray-faced, thoughtful old +prospector would remove his black pipe from his mouth to talk a little; +and Cameron would listen, and sometimes unlock his lips to speak a +word. And so, as Cameron began to respond to the influence of a desert +less lonely than habitual, he began to take keener note of his comrade, +and found him different from any other he had ever encountered in the +wilderness. This man never grumbled at the heat, the glare, the driving +sand, the sour water, the scant fare. During the daylight hours he was +seldom idle. At night he sat dreaming before the fire or paced to and +fro in the gloom. He slept but little, and that long after Cameron had +had his own rest. He was tireless, patient, brooding. + +Cameron's awakened interest brought home to him the realization that +for years he had shunned companionship. In those years only three men +had wandered into the desert with him, and these had left their bones +to bleach in the shifting sands. Cameron had not cared to know their +secrets. But the more he studied this latest comrade the more he began +to suspect that he might have missed something in the others. In his +own driving passion to take his secret into the limitless abode of +silence and desolation, where he could be alone with it, he had +forgotten that life dealt shocks to other men. Somehow this silent +comrade reminded him. + +One afternoon late, after they had toiled up a white, winding wash of +sand and gravel, they came upon a dry waterhole. Cameron dug deep into +the sand, but without avail. He was turning to retrace weary steps +back to the last water when his comrade asked him to wait. Cameron +watched him search in his pack and bring forth what appeared to be a +small, forked branch of a peach tree. He grasped the prongs of the +fork and held them before him with the end standing straight out, and +then he began to walk along the stream bed. Cameron, at first amused, +then amazed, then pitying, and at last curious, kept pace with the +prospector. He saw a strong tension of his comrade's wrists, as if he +was holding hard against a considerable force. The end of the peach +branch began to quiver and turn. Cameron reached out a hand to touch +it, and was astounded at feeling a powerful vibrant force pulling the +branch downward. He felt it as a magnetic shock. The branch kept +turning, and at length pointed to the ground. + +"Dig here," said the prospector. + +"What!" ejaculated Cameron. Had the man lost his mind? + +Then Cameron stood by while his comrade dug in the sand. Three feet he +dug--four--five, and the sand grew dark, then moist. At six feet water +began to seep through. + +"Get the little basket in my pack," he said. + +Cameron complied, and saw his comrade drop the basket into the deep +hole, where it kept the sides from caving in and allowed the water to +seep through. While Cameron watched, the basket filled. Of all the +strange incidents of his desert career this was the strangest. +Curiously he picked up the peach branch and held it as he had seen it +held. The thing, however, was dead in his hands. + +"I see you haven't got it," remarked his comrade. "Few men have." + +"Got what?" demanded Cameron. + +"A power to find water that way. Back in Illinois an old German used +to do that to locate wells. He showed me I had the same power. I can't +explain. But you needn't look so dumfounded. There's nothing +supernatural about it." + +"You mean it's a simple fact--that some men have a magnetism, a force +or power to find water as you did?" + +"Yes. It's not unusual on the farms back in Illinois, Ohio, +Pennsylvania. The old German I spoke of made money traveling round +with his peach fork." + +"What a gift for a man in the desert!" + +Cameron's comrade smiled--the second time in all those days. + +They entered a region where mineral abounded, and their march became +slower. Generally they took the course of a wash, one on each side, +and let the burros travel leisurely along nipping at the bleached +blades of scant grass, or at sage or cactus, while they searched in the +canyons and under the ledges for signs of gold. When they found any +rock that hinted of gold they picked off a piece and gave it a chemical +test. The search was fascinating. They interspersed the work with +long, restful moments when they looked afar down the vast reaches and +smoky shingles to the line of dim mountains. Some impelling desire, not +all the lure of gold, took them to the top of mesas and escarpments; +and here, when they had dug and picked, they rested and gazed out at +the wide prospect. Then, as the sun lost its heat and sank lowering to +dent its red disk behind far-distant spurs, they halted in a shady +canyon or likely spot in a dry wash and tried for water. When they +found it they unpacked, gave drink to the tired burros, and turned them +loose. Dead mesquite served for the campfire. While the strange +twilight deepened into weird night they sat propped against stones, +with eyes on the dying embers of the fire, and soon they lay on the +sand with the light of white stars on their dark faces. + +Each succeeding day and night Cameron felt himself more and more drawn +to this strange man. He found that after hours of burning toil he had +insensibly grown nearer to his comrade. He reflected that after a few +weeks in the desert he had always become a different man. In +civilization, in the rough mining camps, he had been a prey to unrest +and gloom. But once down on the great billowing sweep of this lonely +world, he could look into his unquiet soul without bitterness. Did not +the desert magnify men? Cameron believed that wild men in wild places, +fighting cold, heat, starvation, thirst, barrenness, facing the +elements in all their ferocity, usually retrograded, descended to the +savage, lost all heart and soul and became mere brutes. Likewise he +believed that men wandering or lost in the wilderness often reversed +that brutal order of life and became noble, wonderful, super-human. So +now he did not marvel at a slow stir stealing warmer along his veins, +and at the premonition that perhaps he and this man, alone on the +desert, driven there by life's mysterious and remorseless motive, were +to see each other through God's eyes. + +His companion was one who thought of himself last. It humiliated +Cameron that in spite of growing keenness he could not hinder him from +doing more than an equal share of the day's work. The man was mild, +gentle, quiet, mostly silent, yet under all his softness he seemed to +be made of the fiber of steel. Cameron could not thwart him. +Moreover, he appeared to want to find gold for Cameron, not for +himself. Cameron's hands always trembled at the turning of rock that +promised gold; he had enough of the prospector's passion for fortune to +thrill at the chance of a strike. But the other never showed the least +trace of excitement. + +One night they were encamped at the head of a canyon. The day had been +exceedingly hot, and long after sundown the radiation of heat from the +rocks persisted. A desert bird whistled a wild, melancholy note from a +dark cliff, and a distant coyote wailed mournfully. The stars shone +white until the huge moon rose to burn out all their whiteness. And on +this night Cameron watched his comrade, and yielded to interest he had +not heretofore voiced. + +"Pardner, what drives you into the desert?" + +"Do I seem to be a driven man?" + +"No. But I feel it. Do you come to forget?" + +"Yes." + +"Ah!" softly exclaimed Cameron. Always he seemed to have known that. +He said no more. He watched the old man rise and begin his nightly +pace to and fro, up and down. With slow, soft tread, forward and back, +tirelessly and ceaselessly, he paced that beat. He did not look up at +the stars or follow the radiant track of the moon along the canyon +ramparts. He hung his head. He was lost in another world. It was a +world which the lonely desert made real. He looked a dark, sad, +plodding figure, and somehow impressed Cameron with the helplessness of +men. + +Cameron grew acutely conscious of the pang in his own breast, of the +fire in his heart, the strife and torment of his passion-driven soul. +He had come into the desert to remember a woman. She appeared to him +then as she had looked when first she entered his life--a golden-haired +girl, blue-eyed, white-skinned, red-lipped, tall and slender and +beautiful. He had never forgotten, and an old, sickening remorse +knocked at his heart. He rose and climbed out of the canyon and to the +top of a mesa, where he paced to and fro and looked down into the weird +and mystic shadows, like the darkness of his passion, and farther on +down the moon track and the glittering stretches that vanished in the +cold, blue horizon. The moon soared radiant and calm, the white stars +shone serene. The vault of heaven seemed illimitable and divine. The +desert surrounded him, silver-streaked and black-mantled, a chaos of +rock and sand, silent, austere, ancient, always waiting. It spoke to +Cameron. It was a naked corpse, but it had a soul. In that wild +solitude the white stars looked down upon him pitilessly and pityingly. +They had shone upon a desert that might once have been alive and was +now dead, and might again throb with life, only to die. It was a +terrible ordeal for him to stand alone and realize that he was only a +man facing eternity. But that was what gave him strength to endure. +Somehow he was a part of it all, some atom in that vastness, somehow +necessary to an inscrutable purpose, something indestructible in that +desolate world of ruin and death and decay, something perishable and +changeable and growing under all the fixity of heaven. In that +endless, silent hall of desert there was a spirit; and Cameron felt +hovering near him what he imagined to be phantoms of peace. + +He returned to camp and sought his comrade. + +"I reckon we're two of a kind," he said. "It was a woman who drove me +into the desert. But I come to remember. The desert's the only place +I can do that." + +"Was she your wife?" asked the elder man. + +"No." + +A long silence ensued. A cool wind blew up the canyon, sifting the +sand through the dry sage, driving away the last of the lingering heat. +The campfire wore down to a ruddy ashen heap. + +"I had a daughter," said Cameron's comrade. "She lost her mother at +birth. And I--I didn't know how to bring up a girl. She was pretty +and gay. It was the--the old story." + +His words were peculiarly significant to Cameron. They distressed him. +He had been wrapped up in his remorse. If ever in the past he had +thought of any one connected with the girl he had wronged he had long +forgotten. But the consequences of such wrong were far-reaching. They +struck at the roots of a home. Here in the desert he was confronted by +the spectacle of a splendid man, a father, wasting his life because he +could not forget--because there was nothing left to live for. Cameron +understood better now why his comrade was drawn by the desert. + +"Well, tell me more?" asked Cameron, earnestly. + +"It was the old, old story. My girl was pretty and free. The young +bucks ran after her. I guess she did not run away from them. And I was +away a good deal--working in another town. She was in love with a wild +fellow. I knew nothing of it till too late. He was engaged to marry +her. But he didn't come back. And when the disgrace became plain to +all, my girl left home. She went West. After a while I heard from +her. She was well--working--living for her baby. A long time passed. +I had no ties. I drifted West. Her lover had also gone West. In +those days everybody went West. I trailed him, intending to kill him. +But I lost his trail. Neither could I find any trace of her. She had +moved on, driven, no doubt, by the hound of her past. Since then I +have taken to the wilds, hunting gold on the desert." + +"Yes, it's the old, old story, only sadder, I think," said Cameron; and +his voice was strained and unnatural. "Pardner, what Illinois town was +it you hailed from?" + +"Peoria." + +"And your--your name?" went on Cameron huskily. + +"Warren--Jonas Warren." + +That name might as well have been a bullet. Cameron stood erect, +motionless, as men sometimes stand momentarily when shot straight +through the heart. In an instant, when thoughts resurged like blinding +flashes of lightning through his mind, he was a swaying, quivering, +terror-stricken man. He mumbled something hoarsely and backed into the +shadow. But he need not have feared discovery, however surely his +agitation might have betrayed him. Warren sat brooding over the +campfire, oblivious of his comrade, absorbed in the past. + +Cameron swiftly walked away in the gloom, with the blood thrumming +thick in his ears, whispering over and over: + +"Merciful God! Nell was his daughter!" + + + +III + +As thought and feeling multiplied, Cameron was overwhelmed. Beyond +belief, indeed, was it that out of the millions of men in the world two +who had never seen each other could have been driven into the desert by +memory of the same woman. It brought the past so close. It showed +Cameron how inevitably all his spiritual life was governed by what had +happened long ago. That which made life significant to him was a +wandering in silent places where no eye could see him with his secret. +Some fateful chance had thrown him with the father of the girl he had +wrecked. It was incomprehensible; it was terrible. It was the one +thing of all possible happenings in the world of chance that both +father and lover would have found unendurable. + +Cameron's pain reached to despair when he felt this relation between +Warren and himself. Something within him cried out to him to reveal +his identity. Warren would kill him; but it was not fear of death that +put Cameron on the rack. He had faced death too often to be afraid. +It was the thought of adding torture to this long-suffering man. All +at once Cameron swore that he would not augment Warren's trouble, or +let him stain his hands with blood. He would tell the truth of Nell's +sad story and his own, and make what amends he could. + +Then Cameron's thought shifted from father to daughter. She was +somewhere beyond the dim horizon line. In those past lonely hours by +the campfire his fancy had tortured him with pictures of Nell. But his +remorseful and cruel fancy had lied to him. Nell had struggled upward +out of menacing depths. She had reconstructed a broken life. And now +she was fighting for the name and happiness of her child. Little Nell! +Cameron experienced a shuddering ripple in all his being--the physical +rack of an emotion born of a new and strange consciousness. + +As Cameron gazed out over the blood-red, darkening desert suddenly the +strife in his soul ceased. The moment was one of incalculable change, +in which his eyes seemed to pierce the vastness of cloud and range, and +mystery of gloom and shadow--to see with strong vision the illimitable +space before him. He felt the grandeur of the desert, its simplicity, +its truth. He had learned at last the lesson it taught. No longer +strange was his meeting and wandering with Warren. Each had marched in +the steps of destiny; and as the lines of their fates had been +inextricably tangled in the years that were gone, so now their steps +had crossed and turned them toward one common goal. For years they had +been two men marching alone, answering to an inward driving search, and +the desert had brought them together. For years they had wandered alone +in silence and solitude, where the sun burned white all day and the +stars burned white all night, blindly following the whisper of a +spirit. But now Cameron knew that he was no longer blind, and in this +flash of revelation he felt that it had been given him to help Warren +with his burden. + +He returned to camp trying to evolve a plan. As always at that long +hour when the afterglow of sunset lingered in the west, Warren plodded +to and fro in the gloom. All night Cameron lay awake thinking. + +In the morning, when Warren brought the burros to camp and began +preparations for the usual packing, Cameron broke silence. + +"Pardner, your story last night made me think. I want to tell you +something about myself. It's hard enough to be driven by sorrow for +one you've loved, as you've been driven; but to suffer sleepless and +eternal remorse for the ruin of one you've loved as I have +suffered--that is hell.... Listen. In my younger days--it seems long +now, yet it's not so many years--I was wild. I wronged the sweetest +and loveliest girl I ever knew. I went away not dreaming that any +disgrace might come to her. Along about that time I fell into terrible +moods--I changed--I learned I really loved her. Then came a letter I +should have gotten months before. It told of her trouble--importuned +me to hurry to save her. Half frantic with shame and fear, I got a +marriage certificate and rushed back to her town. She was gone--had +been gone for weeks, and her disgrace was known. Friends warned me to +keep out of reach of her father. I trailed her--found her. I married +her. But too late!... She would not live with me. She left me--I +followed her west, but never found her." + +Warren leaned forward a little and looked into Cameron's eyes, as if +searching there for the repentance that might make him less deserving +of a man's scorn. + +Cameron met the gaze unflinchingly, and again began to speak: + +"You know, of course, how men out here somehow lose old names, old +identities. It won't surprise you much to learn my name really isn't +Cameron, as I once told you." + +Warren stiffened upright. It seemed that there might have been a +blank, a suspension, between his grave interest and some strange mood +to come. + +Cameron felt his heart bulge and contract in his breast; all his body +grew cold; and it took tremendous effort for him to make his lips form +words. + +"Warren, I'm the man you're hunting. I'm Burton. I was Nell's lover!" + +The old man rose and towered over Cameron, and then plunged down upon +him, and clutched at his throat with terrible stifling hands. The harsh +contact, the pain awakened Cameron to his peril before it was too late. +Desperate fighting saved him from being hurled to the ground and +stamped and crushed. Warren seemed a maddened giant. There was a +reeling, swaying, wrestling struggle before the elder man began to +weaken. The Cameron, buffeted, bloody, half-stunned, panted for speech. + +"Warren--hold on! Give me--a minute. I married Nell. Didn't you know +that?... I saved the child!" + +Cameron felt the shock that vibrated through Warren. He repeated the +words again and again. As if compelled by some resistless power, +Warren released Cameron, and, staggering back, stood with uplifted, +shaking hands. In his face was a horrible darkness. + +"Warren! Wait--listen!" panted Cameron. "I've got that marriage +certificate--I've had it by me all these years. I kept it--to prove to +myself I did right." + +The old man uttered a broken cry. + +Cameron stole off among the rocks. How long he absented himself or +what he did he had no idea. When he returned Warren was sitting before +the campfire, and once more he appeared composed. He spoke, and his +voice had a deeper note; but otherwise he seemed as usual. + +They packed the burros and faced the north together. + +Cameron experienced a singular exaltation. He had lightened his +comrade's burden. Wonderfully it came to him that he had also +lightened his own. From that hour it was not torment to think of Nell. +Walking with his comrade through the silent places, lying beside him +under the serene luminous light of the stars, Cameron began to feel the +haunting presence of invisible things that were real to him--phantoms +whispering peace. In the moan of the cool wind, in the silken seep of +sifting sand, in the distant rumble of a slipping ledge, in the faint +rush of a shooting star he heard these phantoms of peace coming with +whispers of the long pain of men at the last made endurable. Even in +the white noonday, under the burning sun, these phantoms came to be +real to him. In the dead silence of the midnight hours he heard them +breathing nearer on the desert wind--nature's voices of motherhood, +whispers of God, peace in the solitude. + + + +IV + +There came a morning when the sun shone angry and red through a dull, +smoky haze. + +"We're in for sandstorms," said Cameron. + +They had scarcely covered a mile when a desert-wide, moaning, yellow +wall of flying sand swooped down upon them. Seeking shelter in the lee +of a rock, they waited, hoping the storm was only a squall, such as +frequently whipped across the open places. The moan increased to a +roar, and the dull red slowly dimmed, to disappear in the yellow pall, +and the air grew thick and dark. Warren slipped the packs from the +burros. Cameron feared the sandstorms had arrived some weeks ahead of +their usual season. + +The men covered their heads and patiently waited. The long hours +dragged, and the storm increased in fury. Cameron and Warren wet +scarfs with water from their canteens, and bound them round their +faces, and then covered their heads. The steady, hollow bellow of +flying sand went on. It flew so thickly that enough sifted down under +the shelving rock to weight the blankets and almost bury the men. They +were frequently compelled to shake off the sand to keep from being +borne to the ground. And it was necessary to keep digging out the +packs. The floor of their shelter gradually rose higher and higher. +They tried to eat, and seemed to be grinding only sand between their +teeth. They lost the count of time. They dared not sleep, for that +would have meant being buried alive. The could only crouch close to the +leaning rock, shake off the sand, blindly dig out their packs, and +every moment gasp and cough and choke to fight suffocation. + +The storm finally blew itself out. It left the prospectors heavy and +stupid for want of sleep. Their burros had wandered away, or had been +buried in the sand. Far as eye could reach the desert had marvelously +changed; it was now a rippling sea of sand dunes. Away to the north +rose the peak that was their only guiding mark. They headed toward it, +carrying a shovel and part of their packs. + +At noon the peak vanished in the shimmering glare of the desert. The +prospectors pushed on, guided by the sun. In every wash they tried for +water. With the forked peach branch in his hands Warren always +succeeded in locating water. They dug, but it lay too deep. At +length, spent and sore, they fell and slept through that night and part +of the next day. Then they succeeded in getting water, and quenched +their thirst, and filled the canteens, and cooked a meal. + +The burning day found them in an interminably wide plain, where there +was no shelter from the fierce sun. The men were exceedingly careful +with their water, though there was absolute necessity of drinking a +little every hour. Late in the afternoon they came to a canyon that +they believed was the lower end of the one in which they had last found +water. For hours they traveled toward its head, and, long after night +had set, found what they sought. Yielding to exhaustion, they slept, +and next day were loath to leave the waterhole. Cool night spurred +them on with canteens full and renewed strength. + +Morning told Cameron that they had turned back miles into the desert, +and it was desert new to him. The red sun, the increasing heat, and +especially the variety and large size of the cactus plants warned +Cameron that he had descended to a lower level. Mountain peaks loomed +on all sides, some near, others distant; and one, a blue spur, +splitting the glaring sky far to the north, Cameron thought he +recognized as a landmark. The ascent toward it was heartbreaking, not +in steepness, but in its league-and-league-long monotonous rise. +Cameron knew there was only one hope--to make the water hold out and +never stop to rest. Warren began to weaken. Often he had to halt. The +burning white day passed, and likewise the night, with its white stars +shining so pitilessly cold and bright. + +Cameron measured the water in his canteen by its weight. Evaporation +by heat consumed as much as he drank. During one of the rests, when he +had wetted his parched mouth and throat, he found opportunity to pour a +little water from his canteen into Warren's. + +At first Cameron had curbed his restless activity to accommodate the +pace of his elder comrade. But now he felt that he was losing +something of his instinctive and passionate zeal to get out of the +desert. The thought of water came to occupy his mind. He began to +imagine that his last little store of water did not appreciably +diminish. He knew he was not quite right in his mind regarding water; +nevertheless, he felt this to be more of fact than fancy, and he began +to ponder. + +When next they rested he pretended to be in a kind of stupor; but he +covertly watched Warren. The man appeared far gone, yet he had +cunning. He cautiously took up Cameron's canteen and poured water into +it from his own. + +This troubled Cameron. The old irritation at not being able to thwart +Warren returned to him. Cameron reflected, and concluded that he had +been unwise not to expect this very thing. Then, as his comrade +dropped into weary rest, he lifted both canteens. If there were any +water in Warren's, it was only very little. Both men had been enduring +the terrible desert thirst, concealing it, each giving his water to the +other, and the sacrifice had been useless. + +Instead of ministering to the parched throats of one or both, the water +had evaporated. When Cameron made sure of this, he took one more +drink, the last, and poured the little water left into Warren's +canteen. He threw his own away. + +Soon afterward Warren discovered the loss. + +"Where's your canteen?" he asked. + +"The heat was getting my water, so I drank what was left." + +"My son!" said Warren. + +The day opened for them in a red and green hell of rock and cactus. +Like a flame the sun scorched and peeled their faces. Warren went +blind from the glare, and Cameron had to lead him. At last Warren +plunged down, exhausted, in the shade of a ledge. + +Cameron rested and waited, hopeless, with hot, weary eyes gazing down +from the height where he sat. The ledge was the top step of a ragged +gigantic stairway. Below stretched a sad, austere, and lonely valley. +A dim, wide streak, lighter than the bordering gray, wound down the +valley floor. Once a river had flowed there, leaving only a forlorn +trace down the winding floor of this forlorn valley. + +Movement on the part of Warren attracted Cameron's attention. Evidently +the old prospector had recovered his sight and some of his strength, +for he had arisen, and now began to walk along the arroyo bed with his +forked peach branch held before him. He had clung to the precious bit +of wood. Cameron considered the prospect for water hopeless, because +he saw that the arroyo had once been a canyon, and had been filled with +sands by desert winds. Warren, however, stopped in a deep pit, and, +cutting his canteen in half, began to use one side of it as a scoop. +He scooped out a wide hollow, so wide that Cameron was certain he had +gone crazy. Cameron gently urged him to stop, and then forcibly tried +to make him. But these efforts were futile. Warren worked with slow, +ceaseless, methodical movement. He toiled for what seemed hours. +Cameron, seeing the darkening, dampening sand, realized a wonderful +possibility of water, and he plunged into the pit with the other half +of the canteen. Then both men toiled, round and round the wide hole, +down deeper and deeper. The sand grew moist, then wet. At the bottom +of the deep pit the sand coarsened, gave place to gravel. Finally water +welled in, a stronger volume than Cameron ever remembered finding on +the desert. It would soon fill the hole and run over. He marveled at +the circumstance. The time was near the end of the dry season. +Perhaps an underground stream flowed from the range behind down to the +valley floor, and at this point came near to the surface. Cameron had +heard of such desert miracles. + +The finding of water revived Cameron's flagging hopes. But they were +short-lived. Warren had spend himself utterly. + +"I'm done. Don't linger," he whispered. "My son, go--go!" + +Then he fell. Cameron dragged him out of the sand pit to a sheltered +place under the ledge. While sitting beside the failing man Cameron +discovered painted images on the wall. Often in the desert he had +found these evidences of a prehistoric people. Then, from long habit, +he picked up a piece of rock and examined it. Its weight made him +closely scrutinize it. The color was a peculiar black. He scraped +through the black rust to find a piece of gold. Around him lay +scattered heaps of black pebbles and bits of black, weathered rock and +pieces of broken ledge, and they showed gold. + +"Warren! Look! See it! Feel it! Gold!" + +But Warren had never cared, and now he was too blind to see. + +"Go--go!" he whispered. + +Cameron gazed down the gray reaches of the forlorn valley, and +something within him that was neither intelligence nor +emotion--something inscrutably strange--impelled him to promise. + +Then Cameron built up stone monuments to mark his gold strike. That +done, he tarried beside the unconscious Warren. Moments passed--grew +into hours. Cameron still had strength left to make an effort to get +out of the desert. But that same inscrutable something which had +ordered his strange involuntary promise to Warren held him beside his +fallen comrade. He watched the white sun turn to gold, and then to red +and sink behind mountains in the west. Twilight stole into the arroyo. +It lingered, slowly turning to gloom. The vault of blue black lightened +to the blinking of stars. Then fell the serene, silent, luminous desert +night. + +Cameron kept his vigil. As the long hours wore on he felt creep over +him the comforting sense that he need not forever fight sleep. A wan +glow flared behind the dark, uneven horizon, and a melancholy misshapen +moon rose to make the white night one of shadows. Absolute silence +claimed the desert. It was mute. Then that inscrutable something +breathed to him, telling him when he was alone. He need not have +looked at the dark, still face beside him. + +Another face haunted Cameron's--a woman's face. It was there in the +white moonlit shadows; it drifted in the darkness beyond; it softened, +changed to that of a young girl, sweet, with the same dark, haunting +eyes of her mother. Cameron prayed to that nameless thing within him, +the spirit of something deep and mystical as life. He prayed to that +nameless thing outside, of which the rocks and the sand, the spiked +cactus and the ragged lava, the endless waste, with its vast star-fired +mantle, were but atoms. He prayed for mercy to a woman--for happiness +to her child. Both mother and daughter were close to him then. Time +and distance were annihilated. He had faith--he saw into the future. +The fateful threads of the past, so inextricably woven with his error, +wound out their tragic length here in this forlorn desert. + +Cameron then took a little tin box from his pocket, and, opening it, +removed a folded certificate. He had kept a pen, and now he wrote +something upon the paper, and in lieu of ink he wrote with blood. The +moon afforded him enough light to see; and, having replaced the paper, +he laid the little box upon a shelf of rock. It would remain there +unaffected by dust, moisture, heat, time. How long had those painted +images been there clear and sharp on the dry stone walls? There were +no trails in that desert, and always there were incalculable changes. +Cameron saw this mutable mood of nature--the sands would fly and seep +and carve and bury; the floods would dig and cut; the ledges would +weather in the heat and rain; the avalanches would slide; the cactus +seeds would roll in the wind to catch in a niche and split the soil +with thirsty roots. Years would pass. Cameron seemed to see them, +too; and likewise destiny leading a child down into this forlorn waste, +where she would find love and fortune, and the grave of her father. + +Cameron covered the dark, still face of his comrade from the light of +the waning moon. + +That action was the severing of his hold on realities. They fell away +from him in final separation. Vaguely, dreamily he seemed to behold +his soul. Night merged into gray day; and night came again, weird and +dark. Then up out of the vast void of the desert, from the silence and +illimitableness, trooped his phantoms of peace. Majestically they +formed around him, marshalling and mustering in ceremonious state, and +moved to lay upon him their passionless serenity. + + + +I + +OLD FRIENDS + +RICHARD GALE reflected that his sojourn in the West had been what his +disgusted father had predicted--idling here and there, with no +objective point or purpose. + +It was reflection such as this, only more serious and perhaps somewhat +desperate, that had brought Gale down to the border. For some time the +newspapers had been printing news of Mexican revolution, guerrilla +warfare, United States cavalry patrolling the international line, +American cowboys fighting with the rebels, and wild stories of bold +raiders and bandits. But as opportunity, and adventure, too, had +apparently given him a wide berth in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, he had +struck southwest for the Arizona border, where he hoped to see some +stirring life. He did not care very much what happened. Months of +futile wandering in the hope of finding a place where he fitted had +inclined Richard to his father's opinion. + +It was after dark one evening in early October when Richard arrived in +Casita. He was surprised to find that it was evidently a town of +importance. There was a jostling, jabbering, sombreroed crowd of +Mexicans around the railroad station. He felt as if he were in a +foreign country. After a while he saw several men of his nationality, +one of whom he engaged to carry his luggage to a hotel. They walked up +a wide, well-lighted street lined with buildings in which were bright +windows. Of the many people encountered by Gale most were Mexicans. +His guide explained that the smaller half of Casita lay in Arizona, the +other half in Mexico, and of several thousand inhabitants the majority +belonged on the southern side of the street, which was the boundary +line. He also said that rebels had entered the town that day, causing +a good deal of excitement. + +Gale was almost at the end of his financial resources, which fact +occasioned him to turn away from a pretentious hotel and to ask his +guide for a cheaper lodging-house. When this was found, a sight of the +loungers in the office, and also a desire for comfort, persuaded Gale +to change his traveling-clothes for rough outing garb and boots. + +"Well, I'm almost broke," he soliloquized, thoughtfully. "The governor +said I wouldn't make any money. He's right--so far. And he said I'd be +coming home beaten. There he's wrong. I've got a hunch that something +'ll happen to me in this Greaser town." + +He went out into a wide, whitewashed, high-ceiled corridor, and from +that into an immense room which, but for pool tables, bar, benches, +would have been like a courtyard. The floor was cobblestoned, the +walls were of adobe, and the large windows opened like doors. A blue +cloud of smoke filled the place. Gale heard the click of pool balls +and the clink of glasses along the crowded bar. Bare-legged, +sandal-footed Mexicans in white rubbed shoulders with Mexicans mantled +in black and red. There were others in tight-fitting blue uniforms +with gold fringe or tassels at the shoulders. These men wore belts +with heavy, bone-handled guns, and evidently were the rurales, or +native policemen. There were black-bearded, coarse-visaged Americans, +some gambling round the little tables, others drinking. The pool +tables were the center of a noisy crowd of younger men, several of whom +were unsteady on their feet. There were khaki-clad cavalrymen +strutting in and out. + +At one end of the room, somewhat apart from the general meelee, was a +group of six men round a little table, four of whom were seated, the +other two standing. These last two drew a second glance from Gale. +The sharp-featured, bronzed faces and piercing eyes, the tall, slender, +loosely jointed bodies, the quiet, easy, reckless air that seemed to be +a part of the men--these things would plainly have stamped them as +cowboys without the buckled sombreros, the colored scarfs, the +high-topped, high-heeled boots with great silver-roweled spurs. Gale +did not fail to note, also, that these cowboys wore guns, and this fact +was rather a shock to his idea of the modern West. It caused him to +give some credence to the rumors of fighting along the border, and he +felt a thrill. + +He satisfied his hunger in a restaurant adjoining, and as he stepped +back into the saloon a man wearing a military cape jostled him. +Apologies from both were instant. Gale was moving on when the other +stopped short as if startled, and, leaning forward, exclaimed: + +"Dick Gale?" + +"You've got me," replied Gale, in surprise. "But I don't know you." + +He could not see the stranger's face, because it was wholly shaded by a +wide-brimmed hat pulled well down. + +"By Jove! It's Dick! If this isn't great! Don't you know me?" + +"I've heard your voice somewhere," replied Gale. "Maybe I'll recognize +you if you come out from under that bonnet." + +For answer the man, suddenly manifesting thought of himself, hurriedly +drew Gale into the restaurant, where he thrust back his hat to disclose +a handsome, sunburned face. + +"George Thorne! So help me--" + +"'S-s-ssh. You needn't yell," interrupted the other, as he met Gale's +outstretched hand. There was a close, hard, straining grip. "I must +not be recognized here. There are reasons. I'll explain in a minute. +Say, but it's fine to see you! Five years, Dick, five years since I +saw you run down University Field and spread-eagle the whole Wisconsin +football team." + +"Don't recollect that," replied Dick, laughing. "George, I'll bet you +I'm gladder to see you than you are to see me. It seems so long. You +went into the army, didn't you?" + +"I did. I'm here now with the Ninth Cavalry. But--never mind me. +What're you doing way down here? Say, I just noticed your togs. Dick, +you can't be going in for mining or ranching, not in this God-forsaken +desert?" + +"On the square, George, I don't know any more why I'm here than--than +you know." + +"Well, that beats me!" ejaculated Thorne, sitting back in his chair, +amaze and concern in his expression. "What the devil's wrong? Your old +man's got too much money for you ever to be up against it. Dick, you +couldn't have gone to the bad?" + +A tide of emotion surged over Gale. How good it was to meet a +friend--some one to whom to talk! He had never appreciated his +loneliness until that moment. + +"George, how I ever drifted down here I don't know. I didn't exactly +quarrel with the governor. But--damn it, Dad hurt me--shamed me, and I +dug out for the West. It was this way. After leaving college I tried +to please him by tackling one thing after another that he set me to do. +On the square, I had no head for business. I made a mess of +everything. The governor got sore. He kept ramming the harpoon into me +till I just couldn't stand it. What little ability I possessed deserted +me when I got my back up, and there you are. Dad and I had a rather +uncomfortable half hour. When I quit--when I told him straight out that +I was going West to fare for myself, why, it wouldn't have been so +tough if he hadn't laughed at me. He called me a rich man's son--an +idle, easy-going spineless swell. He said I didn't even have character +enough to be out and out bad. He said I didn't have sense enough to +marry one of the nice girls in my sister's crowd. He said I couldn't +get back home unless I sent to him for money. He said he didn't +believe I could fight--could really make a fight for anything under the +sun. Oh--he--he shot it into me, all right." + +Dick dropped his head upon his hands, somewhat ashamed of the smarting +dimness in his eyes. He had not meant to say so much. Yet what a +relief to let out that long-congested burden! + +"Fight!" cried Thorne, hotly. "What's ailing him? Didn't they call +you Biff Gale in college? Dick, you were one of the best men Stagg +ever developed. I heard him say so--that you were the fastest, +one-hundred-and-seventy-five-pound man he'd ever trained, the hardest +to stop." + +"The governor didn't count football," said Dick. "He didn't mean that +kind of fight. When I left home I don't think I had an idea what was +wrong with me. But, George, I think I know now. I was a rich man's +son--spoiled, dependent, absolutely ignorant of the value of money. I +haven't yet discovered any earning capacity in me. I seem to be unable +to do anything with my hands. That's the trouble. But I'm at the end +of my tether now. And I'm going to punch cattle or be a miner, or do +some real stunt--like joining the rebels." + +"Aha! I thought you'd spring that last one on me," declared Thorne, +wagging his head. "Well, you just forget it. Say, old boy, there's +something doing in Mexico. The United States in general doesn't +realize it. But across that line there are crazy revolutionists, +ill-paid soldiers, guerrilla leaders, raiders, robbers, outlaws, +bandits galore, starving peons by the thousand, girls and women in +terror. Mexico is like some of her volcanoes--ready to erupt fire and +hell! Don't make the awful mistake of joining rebel forces. Americans +are hated by Mexicans of the lower class--the fighting class, both +rebel and federal. Half the time these crazy Greasers are on one side, +then on the other. If you didn't starve or get shot in ambush, or die +of thirst, some Greaser would knife you in the back for you belt buckle +or boots. There are a good many Americans with the rebels eastward +toward Agua, Prieta and Juarez. Orozco is operating in Chihuahua, and +I guess he has some idea of warfare. But this is Sonora, a mountainous +desert, the home of the slave and the Yaqui. There's unorganized +revolt everywhere. The American miners and ranchers, those who could +get away, have fled across into the States, leaving property. Those +who couldn't or wouldn't come must fight for their lives, are fighting +now." + +"That's bad," said Gale. "It's news to me. Why doesn't the government +take action, do something?" + +"Afraid of international complications. Don't want to offend the +Maderists, or be criticized by jealous foreign nations. It's a +delicate situation, Dick. The Washington officials know the gravity of +it, you can bet. But the United States in general is in the dark, and +the army--well, you ought to hear the inside talk back at San Antonio. +We're patrolling the boundary line. We're making a grand bluff. I +could tell you of a dozen instances where cavalry should have pursued +raiders on the other side of the line. But we won't do it. The +officers are a grouchy lot these days. You see, of course, what +significance would attach to United States cavalry going into Mexican +territory. There would simply be hell. My own colonel is the sorest +man on the job. We're all sore. It's like sitting on a powder +magazine. We can't keep the rebels and raiders from crossing the line. +Yet we don't fight. My commission expires soon. I'll be discharged in +three months. You can bet I'm glad for more reasons than I've +mentioned." + +Thorne was evidently laboring under strong, suppressed excitement. His +face showed pale under the tan, and his eyes gleamed with a dark fire. +Occasionally his delight at meeting, talking with Gale, dominated the +other emotions, but not for long. He had seated himself at a table +near one of the doorlike windows leading into the street, and every +little while he would glance sharply out. Also he kept consulting his +watch. + +These details gradually grew upon Gale as Thorne talked. + +"George, it strikes me that you're upset," said Dick, presently. "I +seem to remember you as a cool-headed fellow whom nothing could +disturb. Has the army changed you?" + +Thorne laughed. It was a laugh with a strange, high note. It was +reckless--it hinted of exaltation. He rose abruptly; he gave the +waiter money to go for drinks; he looked into the saloon, and then into +the street. On this side of the house there was a porch opening on a +plaza with trees and shrubbery and branches. Thorne peered out one +window, then another. His actions were rapid. Returning to the table, +he put his hands upon it and leaned over to look closely into Gale's +face. + +"I'm away from camp without leave," he said. + +"Isn't that a serious offense?" asked Dick. + +"Serious? For me, if I'm discovered, it means ruin. There are rebels +in town. Any moment we might have trouble. I ought to be ready for +duty--within call. If I'm discovered it means arrest. That means +delay--the failure of my plans--ruin." + +Gale was silenced by his friend's intensity. Thorne bent over closer +with his dark eyes searching bright. + +"We were old pals--once?" + +"Surely," replied Dick. + +"What would you say, Dick Gale, if I told you that you're the one man +I'd rather have had come along than any other at this crisis of my +life?" + +The earnest gaze, the passionate voice with its deep tremor drew Dick +upright, thrilling and eager, conscious of strange, unfamiliar +impetuosity. + +"Thorne, I should say I was glad to be the fellow," replied Dick. + +Their hands locked for a moment, and they sat down again with heads +close over the table. + +"Listen," began Thorne, in low, swift whisper, "a few days, a week +ago--it seems like a year!--I was of some assistance to refugees +fleeing from Mexico into the States. They were all women, and one of +them was dressed as a nun. Quite by accident I saw her face. It was +that of a beautiful girl. I observed she kept aloof from the others. +I suspected a disguise, and, when opportunity afforded, spoke to her, +offered my services. She replied to my poor efforts at Spanish in +fluent English. She had fled in terror from her home, some place down +in Sinaloa. Rebels are active there. Her father was captured and held +for ransom. When the ransom was paid the rebels killed him. The leader +of these rebels was a bandit named Rojas. Long before the revolution +began he had been feared by people of class--loved by the peons. +Bandits are worshiped by the peons. All of the famous bandits have +robbed the rich and given to the poor. Rojas saw the daughter, made off +with her. But she contrived to bribe her guards, and escaped almost +immediately before any harm befell her. She hid among friends. Rojas +nearly tore down the town in his efforts to find her. Then she +disguised herself, and traveled by horseback, stage, and train to +Casita. + +"Her story fascinated me, and that one fleeting glimpse I had of her +face I couldn't forget. She had no friends here, no money. She knew +Rojas was trailing her. This talk I had with her was at the railroad +station, where all was bustle and confusion. No one noticed us, so I +thought. I advised her to remove the disguise of a nun before she left +the waiting-room. And I got a boy to guide her. But he fetched her to +his house. I had promised to come in the evening to talk over the +situation with her. + +"I found her, Dick, and when I saw her--I went stark, staring, raving +mad over her. She is the most beautiful, wonderful girl I ever saw. +Her name is Mercedes Castaneda, and she belongs to one of the old +wealthy Spanish families. She has lived abroad and in Havana. She +speaks French as well as English. She is--but I must be brief. + +"Dick, think, think! With Mercedes also it was love at first sight. My +plan is to marry her and get her farther to the interior, away from the +border. It may not be easy. She's watched. So am I. It was +impossible to see her without the women of this house knowing. At +first, perhaps, they had only curiosity--an itch to gossip. But the +last two days there has been a change. Since last night there's some +powerful influence at work. Oh, these Mexicans are subtle, mysterious! +After all, they are Spaniards. They work in secret, in the dark. They +are dominated first by religion, then by gold, then by passion for a +woman. Rojas must have got word to his friends here; yesterday his +gang of cutthroat rebels arrived, and to-day he came. When I learned +that, I took my chance and left camp. I hunted up a priest. He +promised to come here. It's time he's due. But I'm afraid he'll be +stopped." + +"Thorne, why don't you take the girl and get married without waiting, +without running these risks?" said Dick. + +"I fear it's too late now. I should have done that last night. You +see, we're over the line--" + +"Are we in Mexican territory now?" queried Gale, sharply. + +"I guess yes, old boy. That's what complicates it. Rojas and his +rebels have Casita in their hands. But Rojas without his rebels would +be able to stop me, get the girl, and make for his mountain haunts. If +Mercedes is really watched--if her identity is known, which I am sure +is the case--we couldn't get far from this house before I'd be knifed +and she seized." + +"Good Heavens! Thorne, can that sort of thing happen less than a +stone's throw from the United States line?" asked Gale, incredulously. + +"It can happen, and don't you forget it. You don't seem to realize the +power these guerrilla leaders, these rebel captains, and particularly +these bandits, exercise over the mass of Mexicans. A bandit is a man of +honor in Mexico. He is feared, envied, loved. In the hearts of the +people he stands next to the national idol--the bull-fighter, the +matador. The race has a wild, barbarian, bloody strain. Take +Quinteros, for instance. He was a peon, a slave. He became a famous +bandit. At the outbreak of the revolution he proclaimed himself a +leader, and with a band of followers he devastated whole counties. The +opposition to federal forces was only a blind to rob and riot and carry +off women. The motto of this man and his followers was: 'Let us enjoy +ourselves while we may!' + +"There are other bandits besides Quinteros, not so famous or such great +leaders, but just as bloodthirsty. I've seen Rojas. He's a handsome, +bold sneering devil, vainer than any peacock. He decks himself in gold +lace and sliver trappings, in all the finery he can steal. He was one +of the rebels who helped sack Sinaloa and carry off half a million in +money and valuables. Rojas spends gold like he spills blood. But he +is chiefly famous for abducting women. The peon girls consider it an +honor to be ridden off with. Rojas has shown a penchant for girls of +the better class." + +Thorne wiped the perspiration from his pale face and bent a dark gaze +out of the window before he resumed his talk. + +"Consider what the position of Mercedes really is. I can't get any +help from our side of the line. If so, I don't know where. The +population on that side is mostly Mexican, absolutely in sympathy with +whatever actuates those on this side. The whole caboodle of Greasers +on both sides belong to the class in sympathy with the rebels, the +class that secretly respects men like Rojas, and hates an aristocrat +like Mercedes. They would conspire to throw her into his power. Rojas +can turn all the hidden underground influences to his ends. Unless I +thwart him he'll get Mercedes as easily as he can light a cigarette. +But I'll kill him or some of his gang or her before I let him get +her.... This is the situation, old friend. I've little time to spare. +I face arrest for desertion. Rojas is in town. I think I was followed +to this hotel. The priest has betrayed me or has been stopped. +Mercedes is here alone, waiting, absolutely dependent upon me to save +her from--from.... She's the sweetest, loveliest girl!... In a few +moments--sooner or later there'll be hell here! Dick, are you with me?" + +Dick Gale drew a long, deep breath. A coldness, a lethargy, an +indifference that had weighed upon him for months had passed out of his +being. On the instant he could not speak, but his hand closed +powerfully upon his friend's. Thorne's face changed wonderfully, the +distress, the fear, the appeal all vanishing in a smile of passionate +gratefulness. + +Then Dick's gaze, attracted by some slight sound, shot over his +friend's shoulder to see a face at the window--a handsome, bold, +sneering face, with glittering dark eyes that flashed in sinister +intentness. + +Dick stiffened in his seat. Thorne, with sudden clenching of hands, +wheeled toward the window. + +"Rojas!" he whispered. + + + +II + +MERCEDES CASTANEDA + +THE dark face vanished. Dick Gale heard footsteps and the tinkle of +spurs. He strode to the window, and was in time to see a Mexican +swagger into the front door of the saloon. Dick had only a glimpse; +but in that he saw a huge black sombrero with a gaudy band, the back of +a short, tight-fitting jacket, a heavy pearl-handled gun swinging with +a fringe of sash, and close-fitting trousers spreading wide at the +bottom. There were men passing in the street, also several Mexicans +lounging against the hitching-rail at the curb. + +"Did you see him? Where did he go?" whispered Thorne, as he joined +Gale. "Those Greasers out there with the cartridge belts crossed over +their breasts--they are rebels." + +"I think he went into the saloon," replied Dick. "He had a gun, but +for all I can see the Greasers out there are unarmed." + +"Never believe it! There! Look, Dick! That fellow's a guard, though +he seems so unconcerned. See, he has a short carbine, almost +concealed.... There's another Greaser farther down the path. I'm +afraid Rojas has the house spotted." + +"If we could only be sure." + +"I'm sure, Dick. Let's cross the hall; I want to see how it looks from +the other side of the house." + +Gale followed Thorne out of the restaurant into the high-ceiled +corridor which evidently divided the hotel, opening into the street and +running back to a patio. A few dim, yellow lamps flickered. A Mexican +with a blanket round his shoulders stood in the front entrance. Back +toward the patio there were sounds of boots on the stone floor. Shadows +flitted across that end of the corridor. Thorne entered a huge chamber +which was even more poorly lighted than the hall. It contained a table +littered with papers, a few high-backed chairs, a couple of couches, +and was evidently a parlor. + +"Mercedes has been meeting me here," said Thorne. "At this hour she +comes every moment or so to the head of the stairs there, and if I am +here she comes down. Mostly there are people in this room a little +later. We go out into the plaza. It faces the dark side of the house, +and that's the place I must slip out with her if there's any chance at +all to get away." + +They peered out of the open window. The plaza was gloomy, and at first +glance apparently deserted. In a moment, however, Gale made out a +slow-pacing dark form on the path. Farther down there was another. No +particular keenness was required to see in these forms a sentinel-like +stealthiness. + +Gripping Gale's arm, Thorne pulled back from the window. + +"You saw them," he whispered. "It's just as I feared. Rojas has the +place surrounded. I should have taken Mercedes away. But I had no +time--no chance! I'm bound!... There's Mercedes now! My God!... Dick, +think--think if there's a way to get her out of this trap!" + +Gale turned as his friend went down the room. In the dim light at the +head of the stairs stood the slim, muffled figure of a woman. When she +saw Thorne she flew noiselessly down the stairway to him. He caught her +in his arms. Then she spoke softly, brokenly, in a low, swift voice. +It was a mingling of incoherent Spanish and English; but to Gale it was +mellow, deep, unutterably tender, a voice full of joy, fear, passion, +hope, and love. Upon Gale it had an unaccountable effect. He found +himself thrilling, wondering. + +Thorne led the girl to the center of the room, under the light where +Gale stood. She had raised a white hand, holding a black-laced +mantilla half aside. Dick saw a small, dark head, proudly held, an +oval face half hidden, white as a flower, and magnificent black eyes. + +Then Thorne spoke. + +"Mercedes--Dick Gale, an old friend--the best friend I ever had." + +She swept the mantilla back over her head, disclosing a lovely face, +strange and striking to Gale in its pride and fire, its intensity. + +"Senor Gale--ah! I cannot speak my happiness. His friend!" + +"Yes, Mercedes; my friend and yours," said Thorne, speaking rapidly. +"We'll have need of him. Dear, there's bad news and no time to break +it gently. The priest did not come. He must have been detained. And +listen--be brave, dear Mercedes--Rojas is here!" + +She uttered an inarticulate cry, the poignant terror of which shook +Gale's nerve, and swayed as if she would faint. Thorne caught her, and +in husky voice importuned her to bear up. + +"My darling! For God's sake don't faint--don't go to pieces! We'd be +lost! We've got a chance. We'll think of something. Be strong! +Fight!" + +It was plain to Gale that Thorne was distracted. He scarcely knew what +he was saying. Pale and shaking, he clasped Mercedes to him. Her +terror had struck him helpless. It was so intense--it was so full of +horrible certainty of what fate awaited her. + +She cried out in Spanish, beseeching him; and as he shook his head, she +changed to English: + +"Senor, my lover, I will be strong--I will fight--I will obey. But +swear by my Virgin, if need be to save me from Rojas--you will kill me!" + +"Mercedes! Yes, I'll swear," he replied hoarsely. "I know--I'd rather +have you dead than-- But don't give up. Rojas can't be sure of you, or +he wouldn't wait. He's in there. He's got his men there--all around +us. But he hesitates. A beast like Rojas doesn't stand idle for +nothing. I tell you we've a chance. Dick, here, will think of +something. We'll slip away. Then he'll take you somewhere. +Only--speak to him--show him you won't weaken. Mercedes, this is more +than love and happiness for us. It's life or death." + +She became quiet, and slowly recovered control of herself. + +Suddenly she wheeled to face Gale with proud dark eyes, tragic +sweetness of appeal, and exquisite grace. + +"Senor, you are an American. You cannot know the Spanish blood--the +peon bandit's hate and cruelty. I wish to die before Rojas's hand +touches me. If he takes me alive, then the hour, the little day that +my life lasts afterward will be tortured--torture of hell. If I live +two days his brutal men will have me. If I live three, the dogs of his +camp... Senor, have you a sister whom you love? Help Senor Thorne to +save me. He is a soldier. He is bound. He must not betray his honor, +his duty, for me.... Ah, you two splendid Americans--so big, so strong, +so fierce! What is that little black half-breed slave Rojas to such +men? Rojas is a coward. Now, let me waste no more precious time. I am +ready. I will be brave." + +She came close to Gale, holding out her white hands, a woman all fire +and soul and passion. To Gale she was wonderful. His heart leaped. +As he bent over her hands and kissed them he seemed to feel himself +renewed, remade. + +"Senorita," he said, "I am happy to be your servant. I can conceive of +no greater pleasure than giving the service you require." + +"And what is that?" inquired Thorne, hurriedly. + +"That of incapacitating Senor Rojas for to-night, and perhaps several +nights to come," replied Gale. + +"Dick, what will you do?" asked Thorne, now in alarm. + +"I'll make a row in that saloon," returned Dick, bluntly. "I'll start +something. I'll rush Rojas and his crowd. I'll--" + +"Lord, no; you mustn't, Dick--you'll be knifed!" cried Thorne. He was +in distress, yet his eyes were shining. + +"I'll take a chance. Maybe I can surprise that slow Greaser bunch and +get away before they know what's happened.... You be ready watching at +the window. When the row starts those fellows out there in the plaza +will run into the saloon. Then you slip out, go straight through the +plaza down the street. It's a dark street, I remember. I'll catch up +with you before you get far." + +Thorne gasped, but did not say a word. Mercedes leaned against him, +her white hands now at her breast, her great eyes watching Gale as he +went out. + +In the corridor Gale stopped long enough to pull on a pair of heavy +gloves, to muss his hair, and disarrange his collar. Then he stepped +into the restaurant, went through, and halted in the door leading into +the saloon. His five feet eleven inches and one hundred and eighty +pounds were more noticeable there, and it was part of his plan to +attract attention to himself. No one, however, appeared to notice him. +The pool-players were noisily intent on their game, the same crowd of +motley-robed Mexicans hung over the reeking bar. Gale's roving glance +soon fixed upon the man he took to be Rojas. He recognized the huge, +high-peaked, black sombrero with its ornamented band. The Mexican's +face was turned aside. He was in earnest, excited colloquy with a +dozen or more comrades, most of whom were sitting round a table. They +were listening, talking, drinking. The fact that they wore cartridge +belts crossed over their breasts satisfied that these were the rebels. +He had noted the belts of the Mexicans outside, who were apparently +guards. A waiter brought more drinks to this group at the table, and +this caused the leader to turn so Gale could see his face. It was +indeed the sinister, sneering face of the bandit Rojas. Gale gazed at +the man with curiosity. He was under medium height, and striking in +appearance only because of his dandified dress and evil visage. He wore +a lace scarf, a tight, bright-buttoned jacket, a buckskin vest +embroidered in red, a sash and belt joined by an enormous silver clasp. +Gale saw again the pearl-handled gun swinging at the bandit's hip. +Jewels flashed in his scarf. There were gold rings in his ears and +diamonds on his fingers. + +Gale became conscious of an inward fire that threatened to overrun his +coolness. Other emotions harried his self-control. It seemed as if +sight of the man liberated or created a devil in Gale. And at the +bottom of his feelings there seemed to be a wonder at himself, a +strange satisfaction for the something that had come to him. + +He stepped out of the doorway, down the couple of steps to the floor of +the saloon, and he staggered a little, simulating drunkenness. He fell +over the pool tables, jostled Mexicans at the bar, laughed like a +maudlin fool, and, with his hat slouched down, crowded here and there. +Presently his eye caught sight of the group of cowboys whom he had +before noticed with such interest. + +They were still in a corner somewhat isolated. With fertile mind +working, Gale lurched over to them. He remembered his many +unsuccessful attempts to get acquainted with cowboys. If he were to +get any help from these silent aloof rangers it must be by striking +fire from them in one swift stroke. Planting himself squarely before +the two tall cowboys who were standing, he looked straight into their +lean, bronzed faces. He spared a full moment for that keen cool gaze +before he spoke. + +"I'm not drunk. I'm throwing a bluff, and I mean to start a rough +house. I'm going to rush that damned bandit Rojas. It's to save a +girl--to give her lover, who is my friend, a chance to escape with her. +When I start a row my friend will try to slip out with her. Every door +and window is watched. I've got to raise hell to draw the guards +in.... Well, you're my countrymen. We're in Mexico. A beautiful +girl's honor and life are at stake. Now, gentlemen, watch me!" + +One cowboy's eyes narrowed, blinking a little, and his lean jaw +dropped; the other's hard face rippled with a fleeting smile. + +Gale backed away, and his pulse leaped when he saw the two cowboys, as +if with one purpose, slowly stride after him. Then Gale swerved, +staggering along, brushed against the tables, kicked over the empty +chairs. He passed Rojas and his gang, and out of the tail of his eye +saw that the bandit was watching him, waving his hands and talking +fiercely. The hum of the many voices grew louder, and when Dick +lurched against a table, overturning it and spilling glasses into the +laps of several Mexicans, there arose a shrill cry. He had succeeded in +attracting attention; almost every face turned his way. One of the +insulted men, a little tawny fellow, leaped up to confront Gale, and in +a frenzy screamed a volley of Spanish, of which Gale distinguished +"Gringo!" The Mexican stamped and made a threatening move with his +right hand. Dick swung his leg and with a swift side kick knocked the +fellows feet from under him, whirling him down with a thud. + +The action was performed so suddenly, so adroitly, it made the Mexican +such a weakling, so like a tumbled tenpin, that the shrill jabbering +hushed. Gale knew this to be the significant moment. + +Wheeling, he rushed at Rojas. It was his old line-breaking plunge. +Neither Rojas nor his men had time to move. The black-skinned bandit's +face turned a dirty white; his jaw dropped; he would have shrieked if +Gale had not hit him. The blow swept him backward against his men. +Then Gale's heavy body, swiftly following with the momentum of that +rush, struck the little group of rebels. They went down with table and +chairs in a sliding crash. + +Gale carried by his plunge, went with them. Like a cat he landed on +top. As he rose his powerful hands fastened on Rojas. He jerked the +little bandit off the tangled pile of struggling, yelling men, and, +swinging him with terrific force, let go his hold. Rojas slid along +the floor, knocking over tables and chairs. Gale bounded back, dragged +Rojas up, handling him as if he were a limp sack. + +A shot rang out above the yells. Gale heard the jingle of breaking +glass. The room darkened perceptibly. He flashed a glance backward. +The two cowboys were between him and the crowd of frantic rebels. One +cowboy held two guns low down, level in front of him. The other had +his gun raised and aimed. On the instant it spouted red and white. +With the crack came the crashing of glass, another darkening shade over +the room. With a cry Gale slung the bleeding Rojas from him. The +bandit struck a table, toppled over it, fell, and lay prone. + +Another shot made the room full of moving shadows, with light only back +of the bar. A white-clad figure rushed at Gale. He tripped the man, +but had to kick hard to disengage himself from grasping hands. Another +figure closed in on Gale. This one was dark, swift. A blade +glinted--described a circle aloft. Simultaneously with a close, red +flash the knife wavered; the man wielding it stumbled backward. In the +din Gale did not hear a report, but the Mexican's fall was significant. +Then pandemonium broke loose. The din became a roar. Gale heard shots +that sounded like dull spats in the distance. The big lamp behind the +bar seemingly split, then sputtered and went out, leaving the room in +darkness. + +Gale leaped toward the restaurant door, which was outlined faintly by +the yellow light within. Right and left he pushed the groping men who +jostled with him. He vaulted a pool table, sent tables and chairs +flying, and gained the door, to be the first of a wedging mob to +squeeze through. One sweep of his arm knocked the restaurant lamp from +its stand; and he ran out, leaving darkness behind him. A few bounds +took him into the parlor. It was deserted. Thorne had gotten away +with Mercedes. + +It was then Gale slowed up. For the space of perhaps sixty seconds he +had been moving with startling velocity. He peered cautiously out into +the plaza. The paths, the benches, the shady places under the trees +contained no skulking men. He ran out, keeping to the shade, and did +not go into the path till he was halfway through the plaza. Under a +street lamp at the far end of the path he thought he saw two dark +figures. He ran faster, and soon reached the street. The uproar back +in the hotel began to diminish, or else he was getting out of hearing. +The few people he saw close at hand were all coming his way, and only +the foremost showed any excitement. Gale walked swiftly, peering ahead +for two figures. Presently he saw them--one tall, wearing a cape; the +other slight, mantled. Gale drew a sharp breath of relief. Thorne and +Mercedes were not far ahead. + +From time to time Thorne looked back. He strode swiftly, almost +carrying Mercedes, who clung closely to him. She, too, looked back. +Once Gale saw her white face flash in the light of a street lamp. He +began to overhaul them; and soon, when the last lamp had been passed +and the street was dark, he ventured a whistle. Thorne heard it, for +he turned, whistled a low reply, and went on. Not for some distance +beyond, where the street ended in open country, did they halt to wait. +The desert began here. Gale felt the soft sand under his feet and saw +the grotesque forms of cactus. Then he came up with the fugitives. + +"Dick! Are you--all right?" panted Thorne, grasping Gale. + +"I'm--out of breath--but--O.K.," replied Gale. + +"Good! Good!" choked Thorne. "I was scared--helpless.... Dick, it +worked splendidly. We had no trouble. What on earth did you do?" + +"I made the row, all right," said Dick. + +"Good Heavens! It was like a row I once heard made by a mob. But the +shots, Dick--were they at you? They paralyzed me. Then the yells. +What happened? Those guards of Rojas ran round in front at the first +shot. Tell me what happened." + +"While I was rushing Rojas a couple of cowboys shot out the lamplights. +A Mexican who pulled a knife on me got hurt, I guess. Then I think +there was some shooting from the rebels after the room was dark." + +"Rushing Rojas?" queried Thorne, leaning close to Dick. His voice was +thrilling, exultant, deep with a joy that yet needed confirmation. +"What did you do to him?" + +"I handed him one off side, tackled, then tried a forward pass," +replied Dick, lightly speaking the football vernacular so familiar to +Thorne. + +Thorne leaned closer, his fine face showing fierce and corded in the +starlight. "Tell me straight," he demanded, in thick voice. + +Gale then divined something of the suffering Thorne had +undergone--something of the hot, wild, vengeful passion of a lover who +must have brutal truth. + +It stilled Dick's lighter mood, and he was about to reply when Mercedes +pressed close to him, touched his hands, looked up into his face with +wonderful eyes. He thought he would not soon forget their beauty--the +shadow of pain that had been, the hope dawning so fugitively. + +"Dear lady," said Gale, with voice not wholly steady, "Rojas himself +will hound you no more to-night, nor for many nights." + +She seemed to shake, to thrill, to rise with the intelligence. She +pressed his hand close over her heaving breast. Gale felt the quick +throb of her heart. + +"Senor! Senor Dick!" she cried. Then her voice failed. But her hands +flew up; quick as a flash she raised her face--kissed him. Then she +turned and with a sob fell into Thorne's arms. + +There ensued a silence broken only by Mercedes' sobbing. Gale walked +some paces away. If he were not stunned, he certainly was agitated. +The strange, sweet fire of that girl's lips remained with him. On the +spur of the moment he imagined he had a jealousy of Thorne. But +presently this passed. It was only that he had been deeply +moved--stirred to the depths during the last hour--had become conscious +of the awakening of a spirit. What remained with him now was the +splendid glow of gladness that he had been of service to Thorne. And +by the intensity of Mercedes' abandon of relief and gratitude he +measured her agony of terror and the fate he had spared her. + +"Dick, Dick, come here!" called Thorne softly. "Let's pull ourselves +together now. We've got a problem yet. What to do? Where to go? How +to get any place? We don't dare risk the station--the corrals where +Mexicans hire out horses. We're on good old U.S. ground this minute, +but we're not out of danger." + +As he paused, evidently hoping for a suggestion from Gale, the silence +was broken by the clear, ringing peal of a bugle. Thorne gave a +violent start. Then he bent over, listening. The beautiful notes of +the bugle floated out of the darkness, clearer, sharper, faster. + +"It's a call, Dick! It's a call!" he cried. + +Gale had no answer to make. Mercedes stood as if stricken. The bugle +call ended. From a distance another faintly pealed. There were other +sounds too remote to recognize. Then scattering shots rattled out. + +"Dick, the rebels are fighting somebody," burst out Thorne, excitedly. +"The little federal garrison still holds its stand. Perhaps it is +attacked again. Anyway, there's something doing over the line. Maybe +the crazy Greasers are firing on our camp. We've feared it--in the +dark.... And here I am, away without leave--practically a deserter!" + +"Go back! Go back, before you're too late!" cried Mercedes. + +"Better make tracks, Thorne," added Gale. "It can't help our +predicament for you to be arrested. I'll take care of Mercedes." + +"No, no, no," replied Thorne. "I can get away--avoid arrest." + +"That'd be all right for the immediate present. But it's not best for +the future. George, a deserter is a deserter!... Better hurry. Leave +the girl to me till tomorrow." + +Mercedes embraced her lover, begged him to go. Thorne wavered. + +"Dick, I'm up against it," he said. "You're right. If only I can get +back in time. But, oh, I hate to leave her! Old fellow, you've saved +her! I already owe you everlasting gratitude. Keep out of Casita, +Dick. The U.S. side might be safe, but I'm afraid to trust it at +night. Go out in the desert, up in the mountains, in some safe place. +Then come to me in camp. We'll plan. I'll have to confide in Colonel +Weede. Maybe he'll help us. Hide her from the rebels--that's all." + +He wrung Dick's hand, clasped Mercedes tightly in his arms, kissed her, +and murmured low over her, then released her to rush off into the +darkness. He disappeared in the gloom. The sound of his dull +footfalls gradually died away. + +For a moment the desert silence oppressed Gale. He was unaccustomed to +such strange stillness. There was a low stir of sand, a rustle of +stiff leaves in the wind. How white the stars burned! Then a coyote +barked, to be bayed by a dog. Gale realized that he was between the +edge of an unknown desert and the edge of a hostile town. He had to +choose the desert, because, though he had no doubt that in Casita there +were many Americans who might befriend him, he could not chance the +risks of seeking them at night. + +He felt a slight touch on his arm, felt it move down, felt Mercedes +slip a trembling cold little hand into his. Dick looked at her. She +seemed a white-faced girl now, with staring, frightened black eyes that +flashed up at him. If the loneliness, the silence, the desert, the +unknown dangers of the night affected him, what must they be to this +hunted, driven girl? Gale's heart swelled. He was alone with her. He +had no weapon, no money, no food, no drink, no covering, nothing except +his two hands. He had absolutely no knowledge of the desert, of the +direction or whereabouts of the boundary line between the republics; he +did not know where to find the railroad, or any road or trail, or +whether or not there were towns near or far. It was a critical, +desperate situation. He thought first of the girl, and groaned in +spirit, prayed that it would be given him to save her. When he +remembered himself it was with the stunning consciousness that he could +conceive of no situation which he would have exchanged for this +one--where fortune had set him a perilous task of loyalty to a friend, +to a helpless girl. + +"Senor, senor!" suddenly whispered Mercedes, clinging to him. "Listen! +I hear horses coming!" + + + +III + +A FLIGHT INTO THE DESERT + +UNEASY and startled, Gale listened and, hearing nothing, wondered if +Mercedes's fears had not worked upon her imagination. He felt a +trembling seize her, and he held her hands tightly. + +"You were mistaken, I guess," he whispered. + +"No, no, senor." + +Dick turned his ear to the soft wind. Presently he heard, or imagined +he heard, low beats. Like the first faint, far-off beats of a drumming +grouse, they recalled to him the Illinois forests of his boyhood. In a +moment he was certain the sounds were the padlike steps of hoofs in +yielding sand. The regular tramp was not that of grazing horses. + +On the instant, made cautious and stealthy by alarm, Gale drew Mercedes +deeper into the gloom of the shrubbery. Sharp pricks from thorns +warned him that he was pressing into a cactus growth, and he protected +Mercedes as best he could. She was shaking as one with a severe chill. +She breathed with little hurried pants and leaned upon him almost in +collapse. Gale ground his teeth in helpless rage at the girl's fate. +If she had not been beautiful she might still have been free and happy +in her home. What a strange world to live in--how unfair was fate! + +The sounds of hoofbeats grew louder. Gale made out a dark moving mass +against a background of dull gray. There was a line of horses. He +could not discern whether or not all the horses carried riders. The +murmur of a voice struck his ear--then a low laugh. It made him +tingle, for it sounded American. Eagerly he listened. There was an +interval when only the hoofbeats could be heard. + +"It shore was, Laddy, it shore was," came a voice out of the darkness. +"Rough house! Laddy, since wire fences drove us out of Texas we ain't +seen the like of that. An' we never had such a call." + +"Call? It was a burnin' roast," replied another voice. "I felt low +down. He vamoosed some sudden, an' I hope he an' his friends shook the +dust of Casita. That's a rotten town Jim." + +Gale jumped up in joy. What luck! The speakers were none other than +the two cowboys whom he had accosted in the Mexican hotel. + +"Hold on, fellows," he called out, and strode into the road. + +The horses snorted and stamped. Then followed swift rustling sounds--a +clinking of spurs, then silence. The figures loomed clearer in the +gloom.. Gale saw five or six horses, two with riders, and one other, at +least, carrying a pack. When Gale got within fifteen feet of the group +the foremost horseman said: + +"I reckon that's close enough, stranger." + +Something in the cowboy's hand glinted darkly bright in the starlight. + +"You'd recognize me, if it wasn't so dark," replied Gale, halting. "I +spoke to you a little while ago--in the saloon back there." + +"Come over an' let's see you," said the cowboy curtly. + +Gale advanced till he was close to the horse. The cowboy leaned over +the saddle and peered into Gale's face. Then, without a word, he +sheathed the gun and held out his hand. Gale met a grip of steel that +warmed his blood. The other cowboy got off his nervous, spirited horse +and threw the bridle. He, too, peered closely into Gale's face. + +"My name's Ladd," he said. "Reckon I'm some glad to meet you again." + +Gale felt another grip as hard and strong as the other had been. He +realized he had found friends who belonged to a class of men whom he +had despaired of ever knowing. + +"Gale--Dick Gale is my name," he began, swiftly. "I dropped into +Casita to-night hardly knowing where I was. A boy took me to that +hotel. There I met an old friend whom I had not seen for years. He +belongs to the cavalry stationed here. He had befriended a Spanish +girl--fallen in love with her. Rojas had killed this girl's +father--tried to abduct her.... You know what took place at the hotel. +Gentlemen, if it's ever possible, I'll show you how I appreciate what +you did for me there. I got away, found my friend with the girl. We +hurried out here beyond the edge of town. Then Thorne had to make a +break for camp. We heard bugle calls, shots, and he was away without +leave. That left the girl with me. I don't know what to do. Thorne +swears Casita is no place for Mercedes at night." + +"The girl ain't no peon, no common Greaser?" interrupted Ladd. + +"No. Her name is Castaneda. She belongs to an old Spanish family, +once rich and influential." + +"Reckoned as much," replied the cowboy. "There's more than Rojas's +wantin' to kidnap a pretty girl. Shore he does that every day or so. +Must be somethin' political or feelin' against class. Well, Casita +ain't no place for your friend's girl at night or day, or any time. +Shore, there's Americans who'd take her in an' fight for her, if +necessary. But it ain't wise to risk that. Lash, what do you say?" + +"It's been gettin' hotter round this Greaser corral for some weeks," +replied the other cowboy. "If that two-bit of a garrison surrenders, +there's no tellin' what'll happen. Orozco is headin' west from Agua +Prieta with his guerrillas. Campo is burnin' bridges an' tearin' up +the railroad south of Nogales. Then there's all these bandits callin' +themselves revolutionists just for an excuse to steal, burn, kill, an' +ride off with women. It's plain facts, Laddy, an' bein' across the +U.S. line a few inches or so don't make no hell of a difference. My +advice is, don't let Miss Castaneda ever set foot in Casita again." + +"Looks like you've shore spoke sense," said Ladd. "I reckon, Gale, you +an' the girl ought to come with us. Casita shore would be a little +warm for us to-morrow. We didn't kill anybody, but I shot a Greaser's +arm off, an' Lash strained friendly relations by destroyin' property. +We know people who'll take care of the senorita till your friend can +come for her." + +Dick warmly spoke his gratefulness, and, inexpressibly relieved and +happy for Mercedes, he went toward the clump of cactus where he had +left her. She stood erect, waiting, and, dark as it was, he could tell +she had lost the terror that had so shaken her. + +"Senor Gale, you are my good angel," she said, tremulously. + +"I've been lucky to fall in with these men, and I'm glad with all my +heart," he replied. "Come." + +He led her into the road up to the cowboys, who now stood bareheaded in +the starlight. They seemed shy, and Lash was silent while Ladd made +embarrassed, unintelligible reply to Mercedes's thanks. + +There were five horses--two saddled, two packed, and the remaining one +carried only a blanket. Ladd shortened the stirrups on his mount, and +helped Mercedes up into the saddle. From the way she settled herself +and took the few restive prances of the mettlesome horse Gale judged +that she could ride. Lash urged Gale to take his horse. But this Gale +refused to do. + +"I'll walk," he said. "I'm used to walking. I know cowboys are not." + +They tried again to persuade him, without avail. Then Ladd started +off, riding bareback. Mercedes fell in behind, with Gale walking +beside her. The two pack animals came next, and Lash brought up the +rear. + +Once started with protection assured for the girl and a real objective +point in view, Gale relaxed from the tense strain he had been laboring +under. How glad he would have been to acquaint Thorne with their good +fortune! Later, of course, there would be some way to get word to the +cavalryman. But till then what torments his friend would suffer! + +It seemed to Dick that a very long time had elapsed since he stepped +off the train; and one by one he went over every detail of incident +which had occurred between that arrival and the present moment. +Strange as the facts were, he had no doubts. He realized that before +that night he had never known the deeps of wrath undisturbed in him; he +had never conceived even a passing idea that it was possible for him to +try to kill a man. His right hand was swollen stiff, so sore that he +could scarcely close it. His knuckles were bruised and bleeding, and +ached with a sharp pain. Considering the thickness of his heavy glove, +Gale was of the opinion that so to bruise his hand he must have struck +Rojas a powerful blow. He remembered that for him to give or take a +blow had been nothing. This blow to Rojas, however, had been a +different matter. The hot wrath which had been his motive was not +puzzling; but the effect on him after he had cooled off, a subtle +difference, something puzzled and eluded him. The more it baffled him +the more he pondered. All those wandering months of his had been +filled with dissatisfaction, yet he had been too apathetic to +understand himself. So he had not been much of a person to try. +Perhaps it had not been the blow to Rojas any more than other things +that had wrought some change in him. + +His meeting with Thorne; the wonderful black eyes of a Spanish girl; +her appeal to him; the hate inspired by Rojas, and the rush, the blow, +the action; sight of Thorne and Mercedes hurrying safely away; the +girl's hand pressing his to her heaving breast; the sweet fire of her +kiss; the fact of her being alone with him, dependent upon him--all +these things Gale turned over and over in his mind, only to fail of any +definite conclusion as to which had affected him so remarkably, or to +tell what had really happened to him. + +Had he fallen in love with Thorne's sweetheart? The idea came in a +flash. Was he, all in an instant, and by one of those incomprehensible +reversals of character, jealous of his friend? Dick was almost afraid +to look up at Mercedes. Still he forced himself to do so, and as it +chanced Mercedes was looking down at him. Somehow the light was +better, and he clearly saw her white face, her black and starry eyes, +her perfect mouth. With a quick, graceful impulsiveness she put her +hand upon his shoulder. Like her appearance, the action was new, +strange, striking to Gale; but it brought home suddenly to him the +nature of gratitude and affection in a girl of her blood. It was sweet +and sisterly. He knew then that he had not fallen in love with her. +The feeling that was akin to jealousy seemed to be of the beautiful +something for which Mercedes stood in Thorne's life. Gale then grasped +the bewildering possibilities, the infinite wonder of what a girl could +mean to a man. + +The other haunting intimations of change seemed to be elusively blended +with sensations--the heat and thrill of action, the sense of something +done and more to do, the utter vanishing of an old weary hunt for he +knew not what. Maybe it had been a hunt for work, for energy, for +spirit, for love, for his real self. Whatever it might be, there +appeared to be now some hope of finding it. + +The desert began to lighten. Gray openings in the border of shrubby +growths changed to paler hue. The road could be seen some rods ahead, +and it had become a stony descent down, steadily down. Dark, ridged +backs of mountains bounded the horizon, and all seemed near at hand, +hemming in the plain. In the east a white glow grew brighter and +brighter, reaching up to a line of cloud, defined sharply below by a +rugged notched range. Presently a silver circle rose behind the black +mountain, and the gloom of the desert underwent a transformation. From +a gray mantle it changed to a transparent haze. The moon was rising. + +"Senor I am cold," said Mercedes. + +Dick had been carrying his coat upon his arm. He had felt warm, even +hot, and had imagined that the steady walk had occasioned it. But his +skin was cool. The heat came from an inward burning. He stopped the +horse and raised the coat up, and helped Mercedes put it on. + +"I should have thought of you," he said. "But I seemed to feel warm... +The coat's a little large; we might wrap it round you twice." + +Mercedes smiled and lightly thanked him in Spanish. The flash of mood +was in direct contrast to the appealing, passionate, and tragic states +in which he had successively viewed her; and it gave him a vivid +impression of what vivacity and charm she might possess under happy +conditions. He was about to start when he observed that Ladd had +halted and was peering ahead in evident caution. Mercedes' horse began +to stamp impatiently, raised his ears and head, and acted as if he was +about to neigh. + +A warning "hist!" from Ladd bade Dick to put a quieting hand on the +horse. Lash came noiselessly forward to join his companion. The two +then listened and watched. + +An uneasy yet thrilling stir ran through Gale's veins. This scene was +not fancy. These men of the ranges had heard or seen or scented +danger. It was all real, as tangible and sure as the touch of +Mercedes's hand upon his arm. Probably for her the night had terrors +beyond Gale's power to comprehend. He looked down into the desert, and +would have felt no surprise at anything hidden away among the bristling +cactus, the dark, winding arroyos, the shadowed rocks with their +moonlit tips, the ragged plain leading to the black bold mountains. +The wind appeared to blow softly, with an almost imperceptible moan, +over the desert. That was a new sound to Gale. But he heard nothing +more. + +Presently Lash went to the rear and Ladd started ahead. The progress +now, however, was considerably slower, not owing to a road--for that +became better--but probably owing to caution exercised by the cowboy +guide. At the end of a half hour this marked deliberation changed, and +the horses followed Ladd's at a gait that put Gale to his best +walking-paces. + +Meanwhile the moon soared high above the black corrugated peaks. The +gray, the gloom, the shadow whitened. The clearing of the dark +foreground appeared to lift a distant veil and show endless aisles of +desert reaching down between dim horizon-bounding ranges. + +Gale gazed abroad, knowing that as this night was the first time for +him to awake to consciousness of a vague, wonderful other self, so it +was one wherein he began to be aware of an encroaching presence of +physical things--the immensity of the star-studded sky, the soaring +moon, the bleak, mysterious mountains, and limitless slope, and plain, +and ridge, and valley. These things in all their magnificence had not +been unnoticed by him before; only now they spoke a different meaning. +A voice that he had never heard called him to see, to feel the vast +hard externals of heaven and earth, all that represented the open, the +free, silence and solitude and space. + +Once more his thoughts, like his steps, were halted by Ladd's actions. +The cowboy reined in his horse, listened a moment, then swung down out +of the saddle. He raised a cautioning hand to the others, then slipped +into the gloom and disappeared. Gale marked that the halt had been +made in a ridged and cut-up pass between low mesas. He could see the +columns of cactus standing out black against the moon-white sky. The +horses were evidently tiring, for they showed no impatience. Gale +heard their panting breaths, and also the bark of some animal--a dog or +a coyote. It sounded like a dog, and this led Gale to wonder if there +was any house near at hand. To the right, up under the ledges some +distance away, stood two square black objects, too uniform, he thought, +to be rocks. While he was peering at them, uncertain what to think, +the shrill whistle of a horse pealed out, to be followed by the +rattling of hoofs on hard stone. Then a dog barked. At the same +moment that Ladd hurriedly appeared in the road a light shone out and +danced before one of the square black objects. + +"Keep close an' don't make no noise," he whispered, and led his horse +at right angles off the road. + +Gale followed, leading Mercedes's horse. As he turned he observed that +Lash also had dismounted. + +To keep closely at Ladd's heels without brushing the cactus or +stumbling over rocks and depressions was a task Gale found impossible. +After he had been stabbed several times by the bayonetlike spikes, +which seemed invisible, the matter of caution became equally one of +self-preservation. Both the cowboys, Dick had observed, wore leather +chaps. It was no easy matter to lead a spirited horse through the +dark, winding lanes walled by thorns. Mercedes horse often balked and +had to be coaxed and carefully guided. Dick concluded that Ladd was +making a wide detour. The position of certain stars grown familiar +during the march veered round from one side to another. Dick saw that +the travel was fast, but by no means noiseless. The pack animals at +times crashed and ripped through the narrow places. It seemed to Gale +that any one within a mile could have heard these sounds. From the +tops of knolls or ridges he looked back, trying to locate the mesas +where the light had danced and the dog had barked alarm. He could not +distinguish these two rocky eminences from among many rising in the +background. + +Presently Ladd let out into a wider lane that appeared to run straight. +The cowboy mounted his horse, and this fact convinced Gale that they +had circled back to the road. The march proceeded then once more at a +good, steady, silent walk. When Dick consulted his watch he was amazed +to see that the hour was still early. How much had happened in little +time! He now began to be aware that the night was growing colder; and, +strange to him, he felt something damp that in a country he knew he +would have recognized as dew. He had not been aware there was dew on +the desert. The wind blew stronger, the stars shone whiter, the sky +grew darker, and the moon climbed toward the zenith. The road +stretched level for miles, then crossed arroyos and ridges, wound +between mounds of broken ruined rock, found a level again, and then +began a long ascent. Dick asked Mercedes if she was cold, and she +answered that she was, speaking especially of her feet, which were +growing numb. Then she asked to be helped down to walk awhile. At +first she was cold and lame, and accepted the helping hand Dick +proffered. After a little, however, she recovered and went on without +assistance. Dick could scarcely believe his eyes, as from time to time +he stole a sidelong glance at this silent girl, who walked with lithe +and rapid stride. She was wrapped in his long coat, yet it did not +hide her slender grace. He could not see her face, which was concealed +by the black mantle. + +A low-spoken word from Ladd recalled Gale to the question of +surroundings and of possible dangers. Ladd had halted a few yards +ahead. They had reached the summit of what was evidently a high ridge +which sloped with much greater steepness on the far side. It was only +after a few more forward steps, however, that Dick could see down the +slope. Then full in view flashed a bright campfire around which +clustered a group of dark figures. They were encamped in a wide +arroyo, where horses could be seen grazing in black patches of grass +between clusters of trees. A second look at the campers told Gale they +were Mexicans. At this moment Lash came forward to join Ladd, and the +two spent a long, uninterrupted moment studying the arroyo. A hoarse +laugh, faint yet distinct, floated up on the cool wind. + +"Well, Laddy, what're you makin' of that outfit?" inquired Lash, +speaking softly. + +"Same as any of them raider outfits," replied Ladd. "They're across +the line for beef. But they'll run off any good stock. As hoss +thieves these rebels have got 'em all beat. That outfit is waitin' +till it's late. There's a ranch up the arroyo." + +Gale heard the first speaker curse under his breath. + +"Sure, I feel the same," said Ladd. "But we've got a girl an' the +young man to look after, not to mention our pack outfit. An' we're +huntin' for a job, not a fight, old hoss. Keep on your chaps!" + +"Nothin' to it but head south for the Rio Forlorn." + +"You're talkin' sense now, Jim. I wish we'd headed that way long ago. +But it ain't strange I'd want to travel away from the border, thinkin' +of the girl. Jim, we can't go round this Greaser outfit an' strike the +road again. Too rough. So we'll have to give up gettin' to San +Felipe." + +"Perhaps it's just as well, Laddy. Rio Forlorn is on the border line, +but it's country where these rebels ain't been yet." + +"Wait till they learn of the oasis an' Beldin's hosses!" exclaimed +Laddy. "I'm not anticipatin' peace anywhere along the border, Jim. +But we can't go ahead; we can't go back." + +"What'll we do, Laddy? It's a hike to Beldin's ranch. An' if we get +there in daylight some Greaser will see the girl before Beldin' can +hide her. It'll get talked about. The news'll travel to Casita like +sage balls before the wind." + +"Shore we won't ride into Rio Forlorn in the daytime. Let's slip the +packs, Jim. We can hid them off in the cactus an' come back after +them. With the young man ridin' we--" + +The whispering was interrupted by a loud ringing neigh that whistled up +from the arroyo. One of the horses had scented the travelers on the +ridge top. The indifference of the Mexicans changed to attention. + +Ladd and Lash turned back and led the horses into the first opening on +the south side of the road. There was nothing more said at the moment, +and manifestly the cowboys were in a hurry. Gale had to run in the +open places to keep up. When they did stop it was welcome to Gale, for +he had begun to fall behind. + +The packs were slipped, securely tied and hidden in a mesquite clump. +Ladd strapped a blanket around one of the horses. His next move was to +take off his chaps. + +"Gale, you're wearin' boots, an' by liftin' your feet you can beat the +cactus," he whispered. "But the--the--Miss Castaneda, she'll be torn +all to pieces unless she puts these on. Please tell her--an' hurry." + +Dick took the chaps, and, going up to Mercedes, he explained the +situation. She laughed, evidently at his embarrassed earnestness, and +slipped out of the saddle. + +"Senor, chapparejos and I are not strangers," she said. + +Deftly and promptly she equipped herself, and then Gale helped her into +the saddle, called to her horse, and started off. Lash directed Gale +to mount the other saddled horse and go next. + +Dick had not ridden a hundred yards behind the trotting leaders before +he had sundry painful encounters with reaching cactus arms. The horse +missed these by a narrow margin. Dick's knees appeared to be in line, +and it became necessary for him to lift them high and let his boots +take the onslaught of the spikes. He was at home in the saddle, and +the accomplishment was about the only one he possessed that had been of +any advantage during his sojourn in the West. + +Ladd pursued a zigzag course southward across the desert, trotting down +the aisles, cantering in wide, bare patches, walking through the clumps +of cacti. The desert seemed all of a sameness to Dick--a wilderness of +rocks and jagged growths hemmed in by lowering ranges, always looking +close, yet never growing any nearer. The moon slanted back toward the +west, losing its white radiance, and the gloom of the earlier evening +began to creep into the washes and to darken under the mesas. By and +by Ladd entered an arroyo, and here the travelers turned and twisted +with the meanderings of a dry stream bed. At the head of a canyon they +had to take once more to the rougher ground. Always it led down, +always it grew rougher, more rolling, with wider bare spaces, always +the black ranges loomed close. + +Gale became chilled to the bone, and his clothes were damp and cold. +His knees smarted from the wounds of the poisoned thorns, and his right +hand was either swollen stiff or too numb to move. Moreover, he was +tiring. The excitement, the long walk, the miles on miles of jolting +trot--these had wearied him. Mercedes must be made of steel, he +thought, to stand all that she had been subjected to and yet, when the +stars were paling and dawn perhaps not far away, stay in the saddle. + +So Dick Gale rode on, drowsier for each mile, and more and more giving +the horse a choice of ground. Sometimes a prod from a murderous spine +roused Dick. A grayness had blotted out the waning moon in the west +and the clear, dark, starry sky overhead. Once when Gale, thinking to +fight his weariness, raised his head, he saw that one of the horses in +the lead was riderless. Ladd was carrying Mercedes. Dick marveled +that her collapse had not come sooner. Another time, rousing himself +again, he imagined they were now on a good hard road. + +It seemed that hours passed, though he knew only little time had +elapsed, when once more he threw off the spell of weariness. He heard +a dog bark. Tall trees lined the open lane down which he was riding. +Presently in the gray gloom he saw low, square houses with flat roofs. +Ladd turned off to the left down another lane, gloomy between trees. +Every few rods there was one of the squat houses. This lane opened +into wider, lighter space. The cold air bore a sweet perfume--whether +of flowers or fruit Dick could not tell. Ladd rode on for perhaps a +quarter of a mile, though it seemed interminably long to Dick. A grove +of trees loomed dark in the gray morning. Ladd entered it and was lost +in the shade. Dick rode on among trees. Presently he heard voices, +and soon another house, low and flat like the others, but so long he +could not see the farther end, stood up blacker than the trees. As he +dismounted, cramped and sore, he could scarcely stand. Lash came +alongside. He spoke, and some one with a big, hearty voice replied to +him. Then it seemed to Dick that he was led into blackness like pitch, +where, presently, he felt blankets thrown on him and then his drowsy +faculties faded. + + + +IV + +FORLORN RIVER + +WHEN Dick opened his eyes a flood of golden sunshine streamed in at the +open window under which he lay. His first thought was one of blank +wonder as to where in the world he happened to be. The room was large, +square, adobe-walled. It was littered with saddles, harness, blankets. +Upon the floor was a bed spread out upon a tarpaulin. Probably this +was where some one had slept. The sight of huge dusty spurs, a gun +belt with sheath and gun, and a pair of leather chaps bristling with +broken cactus thorns recalled to Dick the cowboys, the ride, Mercedes, +and the whole strange adventure that had brought him there. + +He did not recollect having removed his boots; indeed, upon second +thought, he knew he had not done so. But there they stood upon the +floor. Ladd and Lash must have taken them off when he was so exhausted +and sleepy that he could not tell what was happening. He felt a dead +weight of complete lassitude, and he did not want to move. A sudden +pain in his hand caused him to hold it up. It was black and blue, +swollen to almost twice its normal size, and stiff as a board. The +knuckles were skinned and crusted with dry blood. Dick soliloquized +that it was the worst-looking hand he had seen since football days, and +that it would inconvenience him for some time. + +A warm, dry, fragrant breeze came through the window. Dick caught +again the sweet smell of flowers or fruit. He heard the fluttering of +leaves, the murmur of running water, the twittering of birds, then the +sound of approaching footsteps and voices. The door at the far end of +the room was open. Through it he saw poles of peeled wood upholding a +porch roof, a bench, rose bushes in bloom, grass, and beyond these +bright-green foliage of trees. + +"He shore was sleepin' when I looked in an hour ago," said a voice that +Dick recognized as Ladd's. + +"Let him sleep," came the reply in deep, good-natured tones. "Mrs. B. +says the girl's never moved. Must have been a tough ride for them +both. Forty miles through cactus!" + +"Young Gale hoofed darn near half the way," replied Ladd. "We tried to +make him ride one of our hosses. If we had, we'd never got here. A +walk like that'd killed me an' Jim." + +"Well, Laddy, I'm right down glad to see you boys, and I'll do all I +can for the young couple," said the other. "But I'm doing some worry +here; don't mistake me." + +"About your stock?" + +"I've got only a few head of cattle at the oasis now, I'm worrying +some, mostly about my horses. The U. S. is doing some worrying, too, +don't mistake me. The rebels have worked west and north as far as +Casita. There are no cavalrymen along the line beyond Casita, and +there can't be. It's practically waterless desert. But these rebels +are desert men. They could cross the line beyond the Rio Forlorn and +smuggle arms into Mexico. Of course, my job is to keep tab on Chinese +and Japs trying to get into the U.S. from Magdalena Bay. But I'm +supposed to patrol the border line. I'm going to hire some rangers. +Now, I'm not so afraid of being shot up, though out in this lonely +place there's danger of it; what I'm afraid of most is losing that +bunch of horses. If any rebels come this far, or if they ever hear of +my horses, they're going to raid me. You know what those guerrilla +Mexicans will do for horses. They're crazy on horse flesh. They know +fine horses. They breed the finest in the world. So I don't sleep +nights any more." + +"Reckon me an' Jim might as well tie up with your for a spell, Beldin'. +We've been ridin' up an' down Arizona tryin' to keep out of sight of +wire fences." + +"Laddy, it's open enough around Forlorn River to satisfy even an +old-time cowpuncher like you," laughed Belding. "I'd take your staying +on as some favor, don't mistake me. Perhaps I can persuade the young +man Gale to take a job with me." + +"That's shore likely. He said he had no money, no friends. An' if a +scrapper's all you're lookin' for he'll do," replied Ladd, with a dry +chuckle. + +"Mrs. B. will throw some broncho capers round this ranch when she hears +I'm going to hire a stranger." + +"Why?" + +"Well, there's Nell-- And you said this Gale was a young American. My +wife will be scared to death for fear Nell will fall in love with him." + +Laddy choked off a laugh, then evidently slapped his knee or Belding's, +for there was a resounding smack. + +"He's a fine-spoken, good-looking chap, you said?" went on Belding. + +"Shore he is," said Laddy, warmly. "What do you say, Jim?" + +By this time Dick Gale's ears began to burn and he was trying to make +himself deaf when he wanted to hear every little word. + +"Husky young fellow, nice voice, steady, clear eyes, kinda proud, I +thought, an' some handsome, he was," replied Jim Lash. + +"Maybe I ought to think twice before taking a stranger into my family," +said Belding, seriously. "Well, I guess he's all right, Laddy, being +the cavalryman's friend. No bum or lunger? He must be all right?" + +"Bum? Lunger? Say, didn't I tell you I shook hands with this boy an' +was plumb glad to meet him?" demanded Laddy, with considerable heat. +Manifestly he had been affronted. "Tom Beldin', he's a gentleman, an' +he could lick you in--in half a second. How about that, Jim?" + +"Less time," replied Lash. "Tom, here's my stand. Young Gale can have +my hoss, my gun, anythin' of mine." + +"Aw, I didn't mean to insult you, boys, don't mistake me," said +Belding. "Course he's all right." + +The object of this conversation lay quiet upon his bed, thrilling and +amazed at being so championed by the cowboys, delighted with Belding's +idea of employing him, and much amused with the quaint seriousness of +the three. + +"How's the young man?" called a woman's voice. It was kind and mellow +and earnest. + +Gale heard footsteps on flagstones. + +"He's asleep yet, wife," replied Belding. "Guess he was pretty much +knocked out.... I'll close the door there so we won't wake him." + +There were slow, soft steps, then the door softly closed. But the fact +scarcely made a perceptible difference in the sound of the voices +outside. + +"Laddy and Jim are going to stay," went on Belding. "It'll be like the +old Panhandle days a little. I'm powerful glad to have the boys, +Nellie. You know I meant to sent to Casita to ask them. We'll see some +trouble before the revolution is ended. I think I'll make this young +man Gale an offer." + +"He isn't a cowboy?" asked Mrs. Belding, quickly. + +"No." + +"Shore he'd make a darn good one," put in Laddy. + +"What is he? Who is he? Where did he come from? Surely you must be--" + +"Laddy swears he's all right," interrupted the husband. "That's enough +reference for me. Isn't it enough for you?" + +"Humph! Laddy knows a lot about young men, now doesn't he, especially +strangers from the East?... Tom, you must be careful!" + +"Wife, I'm only too glad to have a nervy young chap come along. What +sense is there in your objection, if Jim and Laddy stick up for him?" + +"But, Tom--he'll fall in love with Nell!" protested Mrs. Belding. + +"Well, wouldn't that be regular? Doesn't every man who comes along +fall in love with Nell? Hasn't it always happened? When she was a +schoolgirl in Kansas didn't it happen? Didn't she have a hundred +moon-eyed ninnies after her in Texas? I've had some peace out here in +the desert, except when a Greaser or a prospector or a Yaqui would come +along. Then same old story--in love with Nell!" + +"But, Tom, Nell might fall in love with this young man!" exclaimed the +wife, in distress. + +"Laddy, Jim, didn't I tell you?" cried Belding. "I knew she'd say +that.... My dear wife, I would be simply overcome with joy if Nell did +fall in love once. Real good and hard! She's wilder than any antelope +out there on the desert. Nell's nearly twenty now, and so far as we +know she's never cared a rap for any fellow. And she's just as gay and +full of the devil as she was at fourteen. Nell's as good and lovable as +she is pretty, but I'm afraid she'll never grow into a woman while we +live out in this lonely land. And you've always hated towns where there +was a chance for the girl--just because you were afraid she'd fall in +love. You've always been strange, even silly, about that. I've done +my best for Nell--loved her as if she were my own daughter. I've +changed many business plans to suit your whims. There are rough times +ahead, maybe. I need men. I'll hire this chap Gale if he'll stay. Let +Nell take her chance with him, just as she'll have to take chances with +men when we get out of the desert. She'll be all the better for it." + +"I hope Laddy's not mistaken in his opinion of this newcomer," replied +Mrs. Belding, with a sigh of resignation. + +"Shore I never made a mistake in my life figger'n' people," said Laddy, +stoutly. + +"Yes, you have, Laddy," replied Mrs. Belding. "You're wrong about +Tom.... Well, supper is to be got. That young man and the girl will be +starved. I'll go in now. If Nell happens around don't--don't flatter +her, Laddy, like you did at dinner. Don't make her think of her looks." + +Dick heard Mrs. Belding walk away. + +"Shore she's powerful particular about that girl," observed Laddy. +"Say, Tom, Nell knows she's pretty, doesn't she?" + +"She's liable to find it out unless you shut up, Laddy. When you +visited us out here some weeks ago, you kept paying cowboy compliments +to her." + +"An' it's your idea that cowboy compliments are plumb bad for girls?" + +"Downright bad, Laddy, so my wife says." + +"I'll be darned if I believe any girl can be hurt by a little sweet +talk. It pleases 'em.... But say, Beldin', speaking of looks, have you +got a peek yet at the Spanish girl?" + +"Not in the light." + +"Well, neither have I in daytime. I had enough by moonlight. Nell is +some on looks, but I'm regretful passin' the ribbon to the lady from +Mex. Jim, where are you?" + +"My money's on Nell," replied Lash. "Gimme a girl with flesh an' +color, an' blue eyes a-laughin'. Miss Castaneda is some peach, I'll +not gainsay. But her face seemed too white. An' when she flashed +those eyes on me, I thought I was shot! When she stood up there at +first, thankin' us, I felt as if a--a princess was round somewhere. +Now, Nell is kiddish an' sweet an'--" + +"Chop it," interrupted Belding. "Here comes Nell now." + +Dick's tingling ears took in the pattering of light footsteps, the rush +of some one running. + +"Here you are," cried a sweet, happy voice. "Dad, the Senorita is +perfectly lovely. I've been peeping at her. She sleeps like--like +death. She's so white. Oh, I hope she won't be ill." + +"Shore she's only played out," said Laddy. "But she had spunk while it +lasted.... I was just arguin' with Jim an' Tom about Miss Castaneda." + +"Gracious! Why, she's beautiful. I never saw any one so beautiful.... +How strange and sad, that about her! Tell me more, Laddy. You +promised. I'm dying to know. I never hear anything in this awful +place. Didn't you say the Senorita had a sweetheart?" + +"Shore I did." + +"And he's a cavalryman?" + +"Yes." + +"Is he the young man who came with you?" + +"Nope. That fellow's the one who saved the girl from Rojas." + +"Ah! Where is he, Laddy?" + +"He's in there asleep." + +"Is he hurt?" + +"I reckon not. He walked about fifteen miles." + +"Is he--nice, Laddy?" + +"Shore." + +"What is he like?" + +"Well, I'm not long acquainted, never saw him by day, but I was some +tolerable took with him. An' Jim here, Jim says the young man can have +his gun an' his hoss." + +"Wonderful! Laddy, what on earth did this stranger do to win you +cowboys in just one night?" + +"I'll shore have to tell you. Me an' Jim were watchin' a game of cards +in the Del Sol saloon in Casita. That's across the line. We had +acquaintances--four fellows from the Cross Bar outfit, where we worked +a while back. This Del Sol is a billiard hall, saloon, restaurant, an' +the like. An' it was full of Greasers. Some of Camp's rebels were +there drinkin' an' playin' games. Then pretty soon in come Rojas with +some of his outfit. They were packin' guns an' kept to themselves off +to one side. I didn't give them a second look till Jim said he reckoned +there was somethin' in the wind. Then, careless-like, I began to peek +at Rojas. They call Rojas the 'dandy rebel,' an' he shore looked the +part. It made me sick to see him in all that lace an' glitter, knowin' +him to be the cutthroat robber he is. It's no oncommon sight to see +excited Greasers. They're all crazy. But this bandit was shore some +agitated. He kept his men in a tight bunch round a table. He talked +an' waved his hands. He was actually shakin'. His eyes had a wild +glare. Now I figgered that trouble was brewin', most likely for the +little Casita garrison. People seemed to think Campo an' Rojas would +join forces to oust the federals. Jim thought Rojas's excitement was +at the hatchin' of some plot. Anyway, we didn't join no card games, +an' without pretendin' to, we was some watchful. + +"A little while afterward I seen a fellow standin' in the restaurant +door. He was a young American dressed in corduroys and boots, like a +prospector. You know it's no onusual fact to see prospectors in these +parts. What made me think twice about this one was how big he seemed, +how he filled up that door. He looked round the saloon, an' when he +spotted Rojas he sorta jerked up. Then he pulled his slouch hat +lopsided an' began to stagger down, down the steps. First off I made +shore he was drunk. But I remembered he didn't seem drunk before. It +was some queer. So I watched that young man. + +"He reeled around the room like a fellow who was drunker'n a lord. +Nobody but me seemed to notice him. Then he began to stumble over +pool-players an' get his feet tangled up in chairs an' bump against +tables. He got some pretty hard looks. He came round our way, an' all +of a sudden he seen us cowboys. He gave another start, like the one +when he first seen Rojas, then he made for us. I tipped Jim off that +somethin' was doin'. + +"When he got close he straightened up, put back his slouch hat, an' +looked at us. Then I saw his face. It sorta electrified yours truly. +It was white, with veins standin' out an' eyes flamin'--a face of fury. +I was plumb amazed, didn't know what to think. Then this queer young +man shot some cool, polite words at me an' Jim. + +"He was only bluffin' at bein' drunk--he meant to rush Rojas, to start +a rough house. The bandit was after a girl. This girl was in the +hotel, an' she was the sweetheart of a soldier, the young fellow's +friend. The hotel was watched by Rojas's guards, an' the plan was to +make a fuss an' get the girl away in the excitement. Well, Jim an' me +got a hint of our bein' Americans--that cowboys generally had a name +for loyalty to women. Then this amazin' chap--you can't imagine how +scornful--said for me an' Jim to watch him. + +"Before I could catch my breath an' figger out what he meant by 'rush' +an' 'rough house' he had knocked over a table an' crowded some Greaser +half off the map. One little funny man leaped up like a wild monkey +an' began to screech. An' in another second he was in the air upside +down. When he lit, he laid there. Then, quicker'n I can tell you, the +young man dove at Rojas. Like a mad steer on the rampage he charged +Rojas an' his men. The whole outfit went down--smash! I figgered then +what 'rush' meant. The young fellow came up out of the pile with +Rojas, an' just like I'd sling an empty sack along the floor he sent +the bandit. But swift as that went he was on top of Rojas before the +chairs an' tables had stopped rollin'. + +"I woke up then, an' made for the center of the room. Jim with me. I +began to shoot out the lamps. Jim throwed his guns on the crazy +rebels, an' I was afraid there'd be blood spilled before I could get +the room dark. Bein's shore busy, I lost sight of the young fellow for +a second or so, an' when I got an eye free for him I seen a Greaser +about to knife him. Think I was some considerate of the Greaser by +only shootin' his arm off. Then I cracked the last lamp, an' in the +hullabaloo me an' Jim vamoosed. + +"We made tracks for our hosses an' packs, an' was hittin' the San +Felipe road when we run right plumb into the young man. Well, he said +his name was Gale--Dick Gale. The girl was with him safe an' well; but +her sweetheart, the soldier, bein' away without leave, had to go back +sudden. There shore was some trouble, for Jim an' me heard shootin'. +Gale said he had no money, no friends, was a stranger in a desert +country; an' he was distracted to know how to help the girl. So me an' +Jim started off with them for San Felipe, got switched, and' then we +headed for the Rio Forlorn." + +"Oh, I think he was perfectly splendid!" exclaimed the girl. + +"Shore he was. Only, Nell, you can't lay no claim to bein' the +original discoverer of that fact." + +"But, Laddy, you haven't told me what he looks like." + +At this juncture Dick Gale felt it absolutely impossible for him to +play the eavesdropper any longer. Quietly he rolled out of bed. The +voices still sounded close outside, and it was only by effort that he +kept from further listening. Belding's kindly interest, Laddy's blunt +and sincere cowboy eulogy, the girl's sweet eagerness and praise--these +warmed Gale's heart. He had fallen among simple people, into whose +lives the advent of an unknown man was welcome. He found himself in a +singularly agitated mood. The excitement, the thrill, the difference +felt in himself, experienced the preceding night, had extended on into +his present. And the possibilities suggested by the conversation he +had unwittingly overheard added sufficiently to the other feelings to +put him into a peculiarly receptive state of mind. He was wild to be +one of the Belding rangers. The idea of riding a horse in the open +desert, with a dangerous duty to perform, seemed to strike him with an +appealing force. Something within him went out to the cowboys, to this +blunt and kind Belding. He was afraid to meet the girl. If every man +who came along fell in love with this sweet-voiced Nell, then what hope +had he to escape--now, when his whole inner awakening betokened a +change of spirit, hope, a finding of real worth, real good, real power +in himself? He did not understand wholly, yet he felt ready to ride, +to fight, to love the desert, to love these outdoor men, to love a +woman. That beautiful Spanish girl had spoken to something dead in him +and it had quickened to life. The sweet voice of an audacious, unseen +girl warned him that presently a still more wonderful thing would +happen to him. + +Gale imagined he made noise enough as he clumsily pulled on his boots, +yet the voices, split by a merry laugh, kept on murmuring outside the +door. It was awkward for him, having only one hand available to lace +up his boots. He looked out of the window. Evidently this was at the +end of the house. There was a flagstone walk, beside which ran a ditch +full of swift, muddy water. It made a pleasant sound. There were +trees strange of form and color to to him. He heard bees, birds, +chickens, saw the red of roses and green of grass. Then he saw, close +to the wall, a tub full of water, and a bench upon which lay basin, +soap, towel, comb, and brush. The window was also a door, for under it +there was a step. + +Gale hesitated a moment, then went out. He stepped naturally, hoping +and expecting that the cowboys would hear him. But nobody came. +Awkwardly, with left hand, he washed his face. Upon a nail in the wall +hung a little mirror, by the aid of which Dick combed and brushed his +hair. He imagined he looked a most haggard wretch. With that he faced +forward, meaning to go round the corner of the house to greet the +cowboys and these new-found friends. + +Dick had taken but one step when he was halted by laugher and the +patter of light feet. + +From close around the corner pealed out that sweet voice. "Dad, you'll +have your wish, and mama will be wild!" + +Dick saw a little foot sweep into view, a white dress, then the swiftly +moving form of a girl. She was looking backward. + +"Dad, I shall fall in love with your new ranger. I will--I have--" + +Then she plumped squarely into Dick's arms. + +She started back violently. + +Dick saw a fair face and dark-blue, audaciously flashing eyes. Swift as +lightning their expression changed to surprise, fear, wonder. For an +instant they were level with Dick's grave questioning. Suddenly, +sweetly, she blushed. + +"Oh-h!" she faltered. + +Then the blush turned to a scarlet fire. She whirled past him, and +like a white gleam was gone. + +Dick became conscious of the quickened beating of his heart. He +experienced a singular exhilaration. That moment had been the one for +which he had been ripe, the event upon which strange circumstances had +been rushing him. + +With a couple of strides he turned the corner. Laddy and Lash were +there talking to a man of burly form. Seen by day, both cowboys were +gray-haired, red-skinned, and weather-beaten, with lean, sharp +features, and gray eyes so much alike that they might have been +brothers. + +"Hello, there's the young fellow," spoke up the burly man. "Mr. Gale, +I'm glad to meet you. My name's Belding." + +His greeting was as warm as his handclasp was long and hard. Gale saw a +heavy man of medium height. His head was large and covered with +grizzled locks. He wore a short-cropped mustache and chin beard. His +skin was brown, and his dark eyes beamed with a genial light. + +The cowboys were as cordial as if Dick had been their friend for years. + +"Young man, did you run into anything as you came out?" asked Belding, +with twinkling eyes. + +"Why, yes, I met something white and swift flying by," replied Dick. + +"Did she see you?" asked Laddy. + +"I think so; but she didn't wait for me to introduce myself." + +"That was Nell Burton, my girl--step-daughter, I should say," said +Belding. "She's sure some whirlwind, as Laddy calls her. Come, let's +go in and meet the wife." + +The house was long, like a barracks, with porch extending all the way, +and doors every dozen paces. When Dick was ushered into a +sitting-room, he was amazed at the light and comfort. This room had +two big windows and a door opening into a patio, where there were +luxuriant grass, roses in bloom, and flowering trees. He heard a slow +splashing of water. + +In Mrs. Belding, Gale found a woman of noble proportions and striking +appearance. Her hair was white. She had a strong, serious, well-lined +face that bore haunting evidences of past beauty. The gaze she bent +upon him was almost piercing in its intensity. Her greeting, which +seemed to Dick rather slow in coming, was kind though not cordial. +Gale's first thought, after he had thanked these good people for their +hospitality, was to inquire about Mercedes. He was informed that the +Spanish girl had awakened with a considerable fever and nervousness. +When, however, her anxiety had been allayed and her thirst relieved, +she had fallen asleep again. Mrs. Belding said the girl had suffered +no great hardship, other than mental, and would very soon be rested and +well. + +"Now, Gale," said Belding, when his wife had excused herself to get +supper, "the boys, Jim and Laddy, told me about you and the mix-up at +Casita. I'll be glad to take care of the girl till it's safe for your +soldier friend to get her out of the country. That won't be very soon, +don't mistake me.... I don't want to seem over-curious about you--Laddy +has interested me in you--and straight out I'd like to know what you +propose to do now." + +"I haven't any plans," replied Dick; and, taking the moment as +propitious, he decided to speak frankly concerning himself. "I just +drifted down here. My home is in Chicago. When I left school some +years ago--I'm twenty-five now--I went to work for my father. He's--he +has business interests there. I tried all kinds of inside jobs. I +couldn't please my father. I guess I put no real heart in my work. +The fact was I didn't know how to work. The governor and I didn't +exactly quarrel; but he hurt my feelings, and I quit. Six months or +more ago I came West, and have knocked about from Wyoming southwest to +the border. I tried to find congenial work, but nothing came my way. +To tell you frankly, Mr. Belding, I suppose I didn't much care. I +believe, though, that all the time I didn't know what I wanted. I've +learned--well, just lately--" + +"What do you want to do?" interposed Belding. + +"I want a man's job. I want to do things with my hands. I want +action. I want to be outdoors." + +Belding nodded his head as if he understood that, and he began to speak +again, cut something short, then went on, hesitatingly: + +"Gale--you could go home again--to the old man--it'd be all right?" + +"Mr. Belding, there's nothing shady in my past. The governor would be +glad to have me home. That's the only consolation I've got. But I'm +not going. I'm broke. I won't be a tramp. And it's up to me to do +something." + +"How'd you like to be a border ranger?" asked Belding, laying a hand on +Dick's knee. "Part of my job here is United States Inspector of +Immigration. I've got that boundary line to patrol--to keep out Chinks +and Japs. This revolution has added complications, and I'm looking for +smugglers and raiders here any day. You'll not be hired by the U. S. +You'll simply be my ranger, same as Laddy and Jim, who have promised to +work for me. I'll pay you well, give you a room here, furnish +everything down to guns, and the finest horse you ever saw in your +life. Your job won't be safe and healthy, sometimes, but it'll be a +man's job--don't mistake me! You can gamble on having things to do +outdoors. Now, what do you say?" + +"I accept, and I thank you--I can't say how much," replied Gale, +earnestly. + +"Good! That's settled. Let's go out and tell Laddy and Jim." + +Both boys expressed satisfaction at the turn of affairs, and then with +Belding they set out to take Gale around the ranch. The house and +several outbuildings were constructed of adobe, which, according to +Belding, retained the summer heat on into winter, and the winter cold +on into summer. These gray-red mud habitations were hideous to look +at, and this fact, perhaps, made their really comfortable interiors +more vividly a contrast. The wide grounds were covered with luxuriant +grass and flowers and different kinds of trees. Gale's interest led +him to ask about fig trees and pomegranates, and especially about a +beautiful specimen that Belding called palo verde. + +Belding explained that the luxuriance of this desert place was owing to +a few springs and the dammed-up waters of the Rio Forlorn. Before he +had come to the oasis it had been inhabited by a Papago Indian tribe +and a few peon families. The oasis lay in an arroyo a mile wide, and +sloped southwest for some ten miles or more. The river went dry most of +the year; but enough water was stored in flood season to irrigate the +gardens and alfalfa fields. + +"I've got one never-failing spring on my place," said Belding. "Fine, +sweet water! You know what that means in the desert. I like this +oasis. The longer I live here the better I like it. There's not a +spot in southern Arizona that'll compare with this valley for water or +grass or wood. It's beautiful and healthy. Forlorn and lonely, yes, +especially for women like my wife and Nell; but I like it.... And +between you and me, boys, I've got something up my sleeve. There's +gold dust in the arroyos, and there's mineral up in the mountains. If +we only had water! This hamlet has steadily grown since I took up a +station here. Why, Casita is no place beside Forlorn River. Pretty +soon the Southern Pacific will shoot a railroad branch out here. There +are possibilities, and I want you boys to stay with me and get in on +the ground floor. I wish this rebel war was over.... Well, here are +the corrals and the fields. Gale, take a look at that bunch of horses!" + +Belding's last remark was made as he led his companions out of shady +gardens into the open. Gale saw an adobe shed and a huge pen fenced by +strangely twisted and contorted branches or trunks of mesquite, and, +beyond these, wide, flat fields, green--a dark, rich green--and dotted +with beautiful horses. There were whites and blacks, and bays and +grays. In his admiration Gale searched his memory to see if he could +remember the like of these magnificent animals, and had to admit that +the only ones he could compare with them were the Arabian steeds. + +"Every ranch loves his horses," said Belding. "When I was in the +Panhandle I had some fine stock. But these are Mexican. They came +from Durango, where they were bred. Mexican horses are the finest in +the world, bar none." + +"Shore I reckon I savvy why you don't sleep nights," drawled Laddy. "I +see a Greaser out there--no, it's an Indian." + +"That's my Papago herdsman. I keep watch over the horses now day and +night. Lord, how I'd hate to have Rojas or Salazar--any of those +bandit rebels--find my horses!... Gale, can you ride?" + +Dick modestly replied that he could, according to the Eastern idea of +horsemanship. + +"You don't need to be half horse to ride one of that bunch. But over +there in the other field I've iron-jawed broncos I wouldn't want you to +tackle--except to see the fun. I've an outlaw I'll gamble even Laddy +can't ride." + +"So. How much'll you gamble?" asked Laddy, instantly. + +The ringing of a bell, which Belding said was a call to supper, turned +the men back toward the house. Facing that way, Gale saw dark, +beetling ridges rising from the oasis and leading up to bare, black +mountains. He had heard Belding call them No Name Mountains, and +somehow the appellation suited those lofty, mysterious, frowning peaks. + +It was not until they reached the house and were about to go in that +Belding chanced to discover Gale's crippled hand. + +"What an awful hand!" he exclaimed. "Where the devil did you get that?" + +"I stove in my knuckles on Rojas," replied Dick. + +"You did that in one punch? Say, I'm glad it wasn't me you hit! Why +didn't you tell me? That's a bad hand. Those cuts are full of dirt +and sand. Inflammation's setting in. It's got to be dressed. Nell!" +he called. + +There was no answer. He called again, louder. + +"Mother, where's the girl?" + +"She's there in the dining-room," replied Mrs. Belding. + +"Did she hear me?" he inquired, impatiently. + +"Of course." + +"Nell!" roared Belding. + +This brought results. Dick saw a glimpse of golden hair and a white +dress in the door. But they were not visible longer than a second. + +"Dad, what's the matter?" asked a voice that was still as sweet as +formerly, but now rather small and constrained. + +"Bring the antiseptics, cotton, bandages--and things out here. Hurry +now." + +Belding fetched a pail of water and a basin from the kitchen. His wife +followed him out, and, upon seeing Dick's hand, was all solicitude. +Then Dick heard light, quick footsteps, but he did not look up. + +"Nell, this is Mr. Gale--Dick Gale, who came with the boys last last +night," said Belding. "He's got an awful hand. Got it punching that +greaser Rojas. I want you to dress it.... Gale, this is my +step-daughter, Nell Burton, of whom I spoke. She's some good when +there's somebody sick or hurt. Shove out your fist, my boy, and let +her get at it. Supper's nearly ready." + +Dick felt that same strange, quickening heart throb, yet he had never +been cooler in his life. More than anything else in the world he +wanted to look at Nell Burton; however, divining that the situation +might be embarrassing to her, he refrained from looking up. She began +to bathe his injured knuckles. He noted the softness, the deftness of +her touch, and then it seemed her fingers were not quite as steady as +they might have been. Still, in a moment they appeared to become surer +in their work. She had beautiful hands, not too large, though +certainly not small, and they were strong, brown, supple. He observed +next, with stealthy, upward-stealing glance, that she had rolled up her +sleeves, exposing fine, round arms graceful in line. Her skin was +brown--no, it was more gold than brown. It had a wonderful clear tint. +Dick stoically lowered his eyes then, putting off as long as possible +the alluring moment when he was to look into her face. That would be a +fateful moment. He played with a certain strange joy of anticipation. +When, however, she sat down beside him and rested his injured hand in +her lap as she cut bandages, she was so thrillingly near that he +yielded to an irrepressible desire to look up. She had a sweet, fair +face warmly tinted with that same healthy golden-brown sunburn. Her +hair was light gold and abundant, a waving mass. Her eyes were shaded +by long, downcast lashes, yet through them he caught a gleam of blue. + +Despite the stir within him, Gale, seeing she was now absorbed in her +task, critically studied her with a second closer gaze. She was a +sweet, wholesome, joyous, pretty girl. + +"Shore it musta hurt?" replied Laddy, who sat an interested spectator. + +"Yes, I confess it did," replied Dick, slowly, with his eyes on Nell's +face. "But I didn't mind." + +The girl's lashes swept up swiftly in surprise. She had taken his +words literally. But the dark-blue eyes met his for only a fleeting +second. Then the warm tint in her cheeks turned as red as her lips. +Hurriedly she finished tying the bandage and rose to her feet. + +"I thank you," said Gale, also rising. + +With that Belding appeared in the doorway, and finding the operation +concluded, called them in to supper. Dick had the use of only one arm, +and he certainly was keenly aware of the shy, silent girl across the +table; but in spite of these considerable handicaps he eclipsed both +hungry cowboys in the assault upon Mrs. Belding's bounteous supper. +Belding talked, the cowboys talked more or less. Mrs. Belding put in a +word now and then, and Dick managed to find brief intervals when it was +possible for him to say yes or no. He observed gratefully that no one +round the table seemed to be aware of his enormous appetite. + +After supper, having a favorable opportunity when for a moment no one +was at hand, Dick went out through the yard, past the gardens and +fields, and climbed the first knoll. From that vantage point he looked +out over the little hamlet, somewhat to his right, and was surprised at +its extent, its considerable number of adobe houses. The overhanging +mountains, ragged and darkening, a great heave of splintered rock, +rather chilled and affronted him. + +Westward the setting sun gilded a spiked, frost-colored, limitless +expanse of desert. It awed Gale. Everywhere rose blunt, broken ranges +or isolated groups of mountains. Yet the desert stretched away down +between and beyond them. When the sun set and Gale could not see so +far, he felt a relief. + +That grand and austere attraction of distance gone, he saw the desert +nearer at hand--the valley at his feet. What a strange gray, somber +place! There was a lighter strip of gray winding down between darker +hues. This he realized presently was the river bed, and he saw how the +pools of water narrowed and diminished in size till they lost +themselves in gray sand. This was the rainy season, near its end, and +here a little river struggled hopelessly, forlornly to live in the +desert. He received a potent impression of the nature of that blasted +age-worn waste which he had divined was to give him strength and work +and love. + + + +V + +A DESERT ROSE + +BELDING assigned Dick to a little room which had no windows but two +doors, one opening into the patio, the other into the yard on the west +side of the house. It contained only the barest necessities for +comfort. Dick mentioned the baggage he had left in the hotel at +Casita, and it was Belding's opinion that to try to recover his +property would be rather risky; on the moment Richard Gale was probably +not popular with the Mexicans at Casita. So Dick bade good-by to fine +suits of clothes and linen with a feeling that, as he had said farewell +to an idle and useless past, it was just as well not to have any old +luxuries as reminders. As he possessed, however, not a thing save the +clothes on his back, and not even a handkerchief, he expressed regret +that he had come to Forlorn River a beggar. + +"Beggar hell!" exploded Belding, with his eyes snapping in the +lamplight. "Money's the last thing we think of out here. All the +same, Gale, if you stick you'll be rich." + +"It wouldn't surprise me," replied Dick, thoughtfully. But he was not +thinking of material wealth. Then, as he viewed his stained and torn +shirt, he laughed and said "Belding, while I'm getting rich I'd like to +have some respectable clothes." + +"We've a little Mex store in town, and what you can't get there the +women folks will make for you." + +When Dick lay down he was dully conscious of pain and headache, that he +did not feel well. Despite this, and a mind thronging with memories +and anticipations, he succumbed to weariness and soon fell asleep. + +It was light when he awoke, but a strange brightness seen through what +seemed blurred eyes. A moment passed before his mind worked clearly, +and then he had to make an effort to think. He was dizzy. When he +essayed to lift his right arm, an excruciating pain made him desist. +Then he discovered that his arm was badly swollen, and the hand had +burst its bandages. The injured member was red, angry, inflamed, and +twice its normal size. He felt hot all over, and a raging headache +consumed him. + +Belding came stamping into the room. + +"Hello, Dick. Do you know it's late? How's the busted fist this +morning?" + +Dick tried to sit up, but his effort was a failure. He got about half +up, then felt himself weakly sliding back. + +"I guess--I'm pretty sick," he said. + +He saw Belding lean over him, feel his face, and speak, and then +everything seemed to drift, not into darkness, but into some region +where he had dim perceptions of gray moving things, and of voices that +were remote. Then there came an interval when all was blank. He knew +not whether it was one of minutes or hours, but after it he had a +clearer mind. He slept, awakened during night-time, and slept again. +When he again unclosed his eyes the room was sunny, and cool with a +fragrant breeze that blew through the open door. Dick felt better; but +he had no particular desire to move or talk or eat. He had, however, a +burning thirst. Mrs. Belding visited him often; her husband came in +several times, and once Nell slipped in noiselessly. Even this last +event aroused no interest in Dick. + +On the next day he was very much improved. + +"We've been afraid of blood poisoning," said Belding. "But my wife +thinks the danger's past. You'll have to rest that arm for a while." + +Ladd and Jim came peeping in at the door. + +"Come in, boys. He can have company--the more the better--if it'll +keep him content. He mustn't move, that's all." + +The cowboys entered, slow, easy, cool, kind-voiced. + +"Shore it's tough," said Ladd, after he had greeted Dick. "You look +used up." + +Jim Lash wagged his half-bald, sunburned head, "Musta been more'n tough +for Rojas." + +"Gale, Laddy tells me one of our neighbors, fellow named Carter, is +going to Casita," put in Belding. "Here's a chance to get word to your +friend the soldier." + +"Oh, that will be fine!" exclaimed Dick. "I declare I'd forgotten +Thorne.... How is Miss Castaneda? I hope--" + +"She's all right, Gale. Been up and around the patio for two days. +Like all the Spanish--the real thing--she's made of Damascus steel. +We've been getting acquainted. She and Nell made friends at once. I'll +call them in." + +He closed the door leading out into the yard, explaining that he did +not want to take chances of Mercedes's presence becoming known to +neighbors. Then he went to the patio and called. + +Both girls came in, Mercedes leading. Like Nell, she wore white, and +she had a red rose in her hand. Dick would scarcely have recognized +anything about her except her eyes and the way she carried her little +head, and her beauty burst upon him strange and anew. She was swift, +impulsive in her movements to reach his side. + +"Senor, I am so sorry you were ill--so happy you are better." + +Dick greeted her, offering his left hand, gravely apologizing for the +fact that, owing to a late infirmity, he could not offer the right. +Her smile exquisitely combined sympathy, gratitude, admiration. Then +Dick spoke to Nell, likewise offering his hand, which she took shyly. +Her reply was a murmured, unintelligible one; but her eyes were glad, +and the tint in her cheeks threatened to rival the hue of the rose she +carried. + +Everybody chatted then, except Nell, who had apparently lost her voice. +Presently Dick remembered to speak of the matter of getting news to +Thorne. + +"Senor, may I write to him? Will some one take a letter?... I shall +hear from him!" she said; and her white hands emphasized her words. + +"Assuredly. I guess poor Thorne is almost crazy. I'll write to +him.... No, I can't with this crippled hand." + +"That'll be all right, Gale," said Belding. "Nell will write for you. +She writes all my letters." + +So Belding arranged it; and Mercedes flew away to her room to write, +while Nell fetched pen and paper and seated herself beside Gale's bed +to take his dictation. + +What with watching Nell and trying to catch her glance, and listening +to Belding's talk with the cowboys, Dick was hard put to it to dictate +any kind of a creditable letter. Nell met his gaze once, then no more. +The color came and went in her cheeks, and sometimes, when he told her +to write so and so, there was a demure smile on her lips. She was +laughing at him. And Belding was talking over the risks involved in a +trip to Casita. + +"Shore I'll ride in with the letters," Ladd said. + +"No you won't," replied Belding. "That bandit outfit will be laying +for you." + +"Well, I reckon if they was I wouldn't be oncommon grieved." + +"I'll tell you, boys, I'll ride in myself with Carter. There's +business I can see to, and I'm curious to know what the rebels are +doing. Laddy, keep one eye open while I'm gone. See the horses are +locked up.... Gale, I'm going to Casita myself. Ought to get back +tomorrow some time. I'll be ready to start in an hour. Have your +letter ready. And say--if you want to write home it's a chance. +Sometimes we don't go to the P. O. in a month." + +He tramped out, followed by the tall cowboys, and then Dick was enabled +to bring his letter to a close. Mercedes came back, and her eyes were +shining. Dick imagined a letter received from her would be something +of an event for a fellow. Then, remembering Belding's suggestion, he +decided to profit by it. + +"May I trouble you to write another for me?" asked Dick, as he received +the letter from Nell. + +"It's no trouble, I'm sure--I'd be pleased," she replied. + +That was altogether a wonderful speech of hers, Dick thought, because +the words were the first coherent ones she had spoken to him. + +"May I stay?" asked Mercedes, smiling. + +"By all means," he answered, and then he settled back and began. + +Presently Gale paused, partly because of genuine emotion, and stole a +look from under his hand at Nell. She wrote swiftly, and her downcast +face seemed to be softer in its expression of sweetness. If she had in +the very least been drawn to him-- But that was absurd--impossible! + +When Dick finished dictating, his eyes were upon Mercedes, who sat +smiling curious and sympathetic. How responsive she was! He heard the +hasty scratch of Nell's pen. He looked at Nell. Presently she rose, +holding out his letter. He was just in time to see a wave of red +recede from her face. She gave him one swift gaze, unconscious, +searching, then averted it and turned away. She left the room with +Mercedes before he could express his thanks. + +But that strange, speaking flash of eyes remained to haunt and torment +Gale. It was indescribably sweet, and provocative of thoughts that he +believed were wild without warrant. Something within him danced for +very joy, and the next instant he was conscious of wistful doubt, a +gravity that he could not understand. It dawned upon him that for the +brief instant when Nell had met his gaze she had lost her shyness. It +was a woman's questioning eyes that had pierced through him. + +During the rest of the day Gale was content to lie still on his bed +thinking and dreaming, dozing at intervals, and watching the lights +change upon the mountain peaks, feeling the warm, fragrant desert wind +that blew in upon him. He seemed to have lost the faculty of +estimating time. A long while, strong in its effect upon him, appeared +to have passed since he had met Thorne. He accepted things as he felt +them, and repudiated his intelligence. His old inquisitive habit of +mind returned. Did he love Nell? Was he only attracted for the moment? +What was the use of worrying about her or himself? He refused to +answer, and deliberately gave himself up to dreams of her sweet face +and of that last dark-blue glance. + +Next day he believed he was well enough to leave his room; but Mrs. +Belding would not permit him to do so. She was kind, soft-handed, +motherly, and she was always coming in to minister to his comfort. This +attention was sincere, not in the least forced; yet Gale felt that the +friendliness so manifest in the others of the household did not extend +to her. He was conscious of something that a little thought persuaded +him was antagonism. It surprised and hurt him. He had never been much +of a success with girls and young married women, but their mothers and +old people had generally been fond of him. Still, though Mrs. +Belding's hair was snow-white, she did not impress him as being old. +He reflected that there might come a time when it would be desirable, +far beyond any ground of every-day friendly kindliness, to have Mrs. +Belding be well disposed toward him. So he thought about her, and +pondered how to make her like him. It did not take very long for Dick +to discover that he liked her. Her face, except when she smiled, was +thoughtful and sad. It was a face to make one serious. Like a +haunting shadow, like a phantom of happier years, the sweetness of +Nell's face was there, and infinitely more of beauty than had been +transmitted to the daughter. Dick believed Mrs. Belding's friendship +and motherly love were worth striving to win, entirely aside from any +more selfish motive. He decided both would be hard to get. Often he +felt her deep, penetrating gaze upon him; and, though this in no wise +embarrassed him--for he had no shameful secrets of past or present--it +showed him how useless it would be to try to conceal anything from her. +Naturally, on first impulse, he wanted to hide his interest in the +daughter; but he resolved to be absolutely frank and true, and through +that win or lose. Moreover, if Mrs. Belding asked him any questions +about his home, his family, his connections, he would not avoid direct +and truthful answers. + +Toward evening Gale heard the tramp of horses and Belding's hearty +voice. Presently the rancher strode in upon Gale, shaking the gray +dust from his broad shoulders and waving a letter. + +"Hello, Dick! Good news and bad!" he said, putting the letter in +Dick's hand. "Had no trouble finding your friend Thorne. Looked like +he'd been drunk for a week! Say, he nearly threw a fit. I never saw a +fellow so wild with joy. He made sure you and Mercedes were lost in +the desert. He wrote two letters which I brought. Don't mistake me, +boy, it was some fun with Mercedes just now. I teased her, wouldn't +give her the letter. You ought to have seen her eyes. If ever you see +a black-and-white desert hawk swoop down upon a quail, then you'll know +how Mercedes pounced upon her letter... Well, Casita is one hell of a +place these days. I tried to get your baggage, and I think I made a +mistake. We're going to see travel toward Forlorn River. The federal +garrison got reinforcements from somewhere, and is holding out. +There's been fighting for three days. The rebels have a string of flat +railroad cars, all iron, and they ran this up within range of the +barricades. They've got some machine guns, and they're going to lick +the federals sure. There are dead soldiers in the ditches, Mexican +non-combatants lying dead in the streets--and buzzards everywhere! It's +reported that Campo, the rebel leader, is on the way up from Sinaloa, +and Huerta, a federal general, is coming to relieve the garrison. I +don't take much stock in reports. But there's hell in Casita, all +right." + +"Do you think we'll have trouble out here?" asked Dick, excitedly. + +"Sure. Some kind of trouble sooner or later," replied Belding, +gloomily. "Why, you can stand on my ranch and step over into Mexico. +Laddy says we'll lose horses and other stock in night raids. Jim Lash +doesn't look for any worse. But Jim isn't as well acquainted with +Greasers as I am. Anyway, my boy, as soon as you can hold a bridle and +a gun you'll be on the job, don't mistake me." + +"With Laddy and Jim?" asked Dick, trying to be cool. + +"Sure. With them and me, and by yourself." + +Dick drew a deep breath, and even after Belding had departed he forgot +for a moment about the letter in his hand. Then he unfolded the paper +and read: + + +Dear Dick,--You've more than saved my life. To the end of my days +you'll be the one man to whom I owe everything. Words fail to express +my feelings. + +This must be a brief note. Belding is waiting, and I used up most of +the time writing to Mercedes. I like Belding. He was not unknown to +me, though I never met or saw him before. You'll be interested to +learn that he's the unadulterated article, the real Western goods. +I've heard of some of his stunts, and they made my hair curl. Dick, +your luck is staggering. The way Belding spoke of you was great. But +you deserve it, old man. + +I'm leaving Mercedes in your charge, subject, of course, to advice from +Belding. Take care of her, Dick, for my life is wrapped up in her. By +all means keep her from being seen by Mexicans. We are sitting tight +here--nothing doing. If some action doesn't come soon, it'll be darned +strange. Things are centering this way. There's scrapping right along, +and people have begun to move. We're still patrolling the line eastward +of Casita. It'll be impossible to keep any tab on the line west of +Casita, for it's too rough. That cactus desert is awful. Cowboys or +rangers with desert-bred horses might keep raiders and smugglers from +crossing. But if cavalrymen could stand that waterless wilderness, +which I doubt much, their horses would drop under them. + +If things do quiet down before my commission expires, I'll get leave of +absence, run out to Forlorn River, marry my beautiful Spanish princess, +and take her to a civilized country, where, I opine, every son of a gun +who sees her will lose his head, and drive me mad. It's my great luck, +old pal, that you are a fellow who never seemed to care about pretty +girls. So you won't give me the double cross and run off with +Mercedes--carry her off, like the villain in the play, I mean. + +That reminds me of Rojas. Oh, Dick, it was glorious! You didn't do +anything to the Dandy Rebel! Not at all! You merely caressed +him--gently moved him to one side. Dick, harken to these glad words: +Rojas is in the hospital. I was interested to inquire. He had a +smashed finger, a dislocated collar bone, three broken ribs, and a +fearful gash on his face. He'll be in the hospital for a month. Dick, +when I meet that pig-headed dad of yours I'm going to give him the +surprise of his life. + +Send me a line whenever any one comes in from F. R., and inclose +Mercedes's letter in yours. Take care of her, Dick, and may the future +hold in store for you some of the sweetness I know now! + +Faithfully yours, Thorne. + + +Dick reread the letter, then folded it and placed it under his pillow. + +"Never cared for pretty girls, huh?" he soliloquized. "George, I never +saw any till I struck Southern Arizona! Guess I'd better make up for +lost time." + +While he was eating his supper, with appetite rapidly returning to +normal, Ladd and Jim came in, bowing their tall heads to enter the +door. Their friendly advances were singularly welcome to Gale, but he +was still backward. He allowed himself to show that he was glad to see +them, and he listened. Jim Lash had heard from Belding the result of +the mauling given to Rojas by Dick. And Jim talked about what a grand +thing that was. Ladd had a good deal to say about Belding's horses. +It took no keen judge of human nature to see that horses constituted +Ladd's ruling passion. + +"I've had wimmen go back on me, but never no hoss!" declared Ladd, and +manifestly that was a controlling truth with him. + +"Shore it's a cinch Beldin' is agoin' to lose some of them hosses," he +said. "You can search me if I don't think there'll be more doin' on +the border here than along the Rio Grande. We're just the same as on +Greaser soil. Mebbe we don't stand no such chance of bein' shot up as +we would across the line. But who's goin' to give up his hosses +without a fight? Half the time when Beldin's stock is out of the +alfalfa it's grazin' over the line. He thinks he's careful about them +hosses, but he ain't." + +"Look a-here, Laddy; you cain't believe all you hear," replied Jim, +seriously. "I reckon we mightn't have any trouble." + +"Back up, Jim. Shore you're standin' on your bridle. I ain't goin' +much on reports. Remember that American we met in Casita, the +prospector who'd just gotten out of Sonora? He had some story, he had. +Swore he'd killed seventeen Greasers breakin' through the rebel line +round the mine where he an' other Americans were corralled. The next +day when I met him again, he was drunk, an' then he told me he'd shot +thirty Greasers. The chances are he did kill some. But reports are +exaggerated. There are miners fightin' for life down in Sonora, you +can gamble on that. An' the truth is bad enough. Take Rojas's +harryin' of the Senorita, for instance. Can you beat that? Shore, +Jim, there's more doin' than the raidin' of a few hosses. An' Forlorn +River is goin' to get hers!" + +Another dawn found Gale so much recovered that he arose and looked +after himself, not, however, without considerable difficulty and rather +disheartening twinges of pain. + +Some time during the morning he heard the girls in the patio and called +to ask if he might join them. He received one response, a mellow, "Si, +Senor." It was not as much as he wanted, but considering that it was +enough, he went out. He had not as yet visited the patio, and surprise +and delight were in store for him. He found himself lost in a +labyrinth of green and rose-bordered walks. He strolled around, +discovering that the patio was a courtyard, open at an end; but he +failed to discover the young ladies. So he called again. The answer +came from the center of the square. After stooping to get under shrubs +and wading through bushes he entered an open sandy circle, full of +magnificent and murderous cactus plants, strange to him. On the other +side, in the shade of a beautiful tree, he found the girls. Mercedes +sitting in a hammock, Nell upon a blanket. + +"What a beautiful tree!" he exclaimed. "I never saw one like that. +What is it?" + +"Palo verde," replied Nell. + +"Senor, palo verde means 'green tree,'" added Mercedes. + +This desert tree, which had struck Dick as so new and strange and +beautiful, was not striking on account of size, for it was small, +scarcely reaching higher than the roof; but rather because of its +exquisite color of green, trunk and branch alike, and owing to the odd +fact that it seemed not to possess leaves. All the tree from ground to +tiny flat twigs was a soft polished green. It bore no thorns. + +Right then and there began Dick's education in desert growths; and he +felt that even if he had not had such charming teachers he would still +have been absorbed. For the patio was full of desert wonders. A +twisting-trunked tree with full foliage of small gray leaves Nell +called a mesquite. Then Dick remembered the name, and now he saw where +the desert got its pale-gray color. A huge, lofty, fluted column of +green was a saguaro, or giant cactus. Another oddshaped cactus, +resembling the legs of an inverted devil-fish, bore the name ocatillo. +Each branch rose high and symmetrical, furnished with sharp blades that +seemed to be at once leaves and thorns. Yet another cactus interested +Gale, and it looked like a huge, low barrel covered with green-ribbed +cloth and long thorns. This was the bisnaga, or barrel cactus. +According to Nell and Mercedes, this plant was a happy exception to its +desert neighbors, for it secreted water which had many times saved the +lives of men. Last of the cacti to attract Gale, and the one to make +him shiver, was a low plant, consisting of stem and many rounded +protuberances of a frosty, steely white, and covered with long +murderous spikes. From this plant the desert got its frosty glitter. +It was as stiff, as unyielding as steel, and bore the name choya. + +Dick's enthusiasm was contagious, and his earnest desire to learn was +flattering to his teachers. When it came to assimilating Spanish, +however, he did not appear to be so apt a pupil. He managed, after +many trials, to acquire "buenos dias" and "buenos tardes," and +"senorita" and "gracias," and a few other short terms. Dick was indeed +eager to get a little smattering of Spanish, and perhaps he was not +really quite so stupid as he pretended to be. It was delightful to be +taught by a beautiful Spaniard who was so gracious and intense and +magnetic of personality, and by a sweet American girl who moment by +moment forgot her shyness. Gale wished to prolong the lessons. + +So that was the beginning of many afternoons in which he learned desert +lore and Spanish verbs, and something else that he dared not name. + +Nell Burton had never shown to Gale that daring side of her character +which had been so suggestively defined in Belding's terse description +and Ladd's encomiums, and in her own audacious speech and merry laugh +and flashing eye of that never-to-be-forgotten first meeting. She +might have been an entirely different girl. But Gale remembered; and +when the ice had been somewhat broken between them, he was always +trying to surprise her into her real self. There were moments that +fairly made him tingle with expectation. Yet he saw little more than a +ghost of her vivacity, and never a gleam of that individuality which +Belding had called a devil. On the few occasions that Dick had been +left alone with her in the patio Nell had grown suddenly unresponsive +and restrained, or she had left him on some transparent pretext. On the +last occasion Mercedes returned to find Dick staring disconsolately at +the rose-bordered path, where Nell had evidently vanished. The Spanish +girl was wonderful in her divination. + +"Senor Dick!" she cried. + +Dick looked at her, soberly nodded his head, and then he laughed. +Mercedes had seen through him in one swift glance. Her white hand +touched his in wordless sympathy and thrilled him. This Spanish girl +was all fire and passion and love. She understood him, she was his +friend, she pledged him what he felt would be the most subtle and +powerful influence. + +Little by little he learned details of Nell's varied life. She had +lived in many places. As a child she remembered moving from town to +town, of going to school among schoolmates whom she never had time to +know. Lawrence, Kansas, where she studied for several years, was the +later exception to this changeful nature of her schooling. Then she +moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, from there to Austin, Texas, and on to +Waco, where her mother met and married Belding. They lived in New +Mexico awhile, in Tucson, Arizona, in Douglas, and finally had come to +lonely Forlorn River. + +"Mother could never live in one place any length of time," said Nell. +"And since we've been in the Southwest she has never ceased trying to +find some trace of her father. He was last heard of in Nogales +fourteen years ago. She thinks grandfather was lost in the Sonora +Desert.... And every place we go is worse. Oh, I love the desert. But +I'd like to go back to Lawrence--or to see Chicago or New York--some of +the places Mr. Gale speaks of.... I remember the college at Lawrence, +though I was only twelve. I saw races--and once real football. Since +then I've read magazines and papers about big football games, and I was +always fascinated .... Mr. Gale, of course, you've seen games? + +"Yes, a few," replied Dick; and he laughed a little. It was on his +lips then to tell her about some of the famous games in which he had +participated. But he refrained from exploiting himself. There was +little, however, of the color and sound and cheer, of the violent +action and rush and battle incidental to a big college football game +that he did not succeed in making Mercedes and Nell feel just as if +they had been there. They hung breathless and wide-eyed upon his words. + +Some one else was present at the latter part of Dick's narrative. The +moment he became aware of Mrs. Belding's presence he remembered +fancying he had heard her call, and now he was certain she had done so. +Mercedes and Nell, however, had been and still were oblivious to +everything except Dick's recital. He saw Mrs. Belding cast a strange, +intent glance upon Nell, then turn and go silently through the patio. +Dick concluded his talk, but the brilliant beginning was not sustained. + +Dick was haunted by the strange expression he had caught on Mrs. +Belding's face, especially the look in her eyes. It had been one of +repressed pain liberated in a flash of certainty. The mother had seen +just as quickly as Mercedes how far he had gone on the road of love. +Perhaps she had seen more--even more than he dared hope. The incident +roused Gale. He could not understand Mrs. Belding, nor why that look +of hers, that seeming baffled, hopeless look of a woman who saw the +inevitable forces of life and could not thwart them, should cause him +perplexity and distress. He wanted to go to her and tell her how he +felt about Nell, but fear of absolute destruction of his hopes held him +back. He would wait. Nevertheless, an instinct that was perhaps akin +to self-preservation prompted him to want to let Nell know the state of +his mind. Words crowded his brain seeking utterance. Who and what he +was, how he loved her, the work he expected to take up soon, his +longings, hopes, and plans--there was all this and more. But something +checked him. And the repression made him so thoughtful and quiet, even +melancholy, that he went outdoors to try to throw off the mood. The sun +was yet high, and a dazzling white light enveloped valleys and peaks. +He felt that the wonderful sunshine was the dominant feature of that +arid region. It was like white gold. It had burned its color in a +face he knew. It was going to warm his blood and brown his skin. A +hot, languid breeze, so dry that he felt his lips shrink with its +contact, came from the desert; and it seemed to smell of wide-open, +untainted places where sand blew and strange, pungent plants gave a +bitter-sweet tang to the air. + +When he returned to the house, some hours later, his room had been put +in order. In the middle of the white coverlet on his table lay a fresh +red rose. Nell had dropped it there. Dick picked it up, feeling a +throb in his breast. It was a bud just beginning to open, to show +between its petals a dark-red, unfolding heart. How fragrant it was, +how exquisitely delicate, how beautiful its inner hue of red, deep and +dark, the crimson of life blood! + +Had Nell left it there by accident or by intent? Was it merely +kindness or a girl's subtlety? Was it a message couched elusively, a +symbol, a hope in a half-blown desert rose? + + + +VI + +THE YAQUI + +TOWARD evening of a lowering December day, some fifty miles west of +Forlorn River, a horseman rode along an old, dimly defined trail. From +time to time he halted to study the lay of the land ahead. It was bare, +somber, ridgy desert, covered with dun-colored greasewood and stunted +prickly pear. Distant mountains hemmed in the valley, raising black +spurs above the round lomas and the square-walled mesas. + +This lonely horseman bestrode a steed of magnificent build, perfectly +white except for a dark bar of color running down the noble head from +ears to nose. Sweatcaked dust stained the long flanks. The horse had +been running. His mane and tail were laced and knotted to keep their +length out of reach of grasping cactus and brush. Clumsy home-made +leather shields covered the front of his forelegs and ran up well to +his wide breast. What otherwise would have been muscular symmetry of +limb was marred by many a scar and many a lump. He was lean, gaunt, +worn, a huge machine of muscle and bone, beautiful only in head and +mane, a weight-carrier, a horse strong and fierce like the desert that +had bred him. + +The rider fitted the horse as he fitted the saddle. He was a young man +of exceedingly powerful physique, wide-shouldered, long-armed, +big-legged. His lean face, where it was not red, blistered and +peeling, was the hue of bronze. He had a dark eye, a falcon gaze, +roving and keen. His jaw was prominent and set, mastiff-like; his lips +were stern. It was youth with its softness not yet quite burned and +hardened away that kept the whole cast of his face from being ruthless. + +This young man was Dick Gale, but not the listless traveler, nor the +lounging wanderer who, two months before, had by chance dropped into +Casita. Friendship, chivalry, love--the deep-seated, unplumbed +emotions that had been stirred into being with all their incalculable +power for spiritual change, had rendered different the meaning of life. +In the moment almost of their realization the desert had claimed Gale, +and had drawn him into its crucible. The desert had multiplied weeks +into years. Heat, thirst, hunger, loneliness, toil, fear, ferocity, +pain--he knew them all. He had felt them all--the white sun, with its +glazed, coalescing, lurid fire; the caked split lips and rasping, +dry-puffed tongue; the sickening ache in the pit of his stomach; the +insupportable silence, the empty space, the utter desolation, the +contempt of life; the weary ride, the long climb, the plod in sand, the +search, search, search for water; the sleepless night alone, the watch +and wait, the dread of ambush, the swift flight; the fierce pursuit of +men wild as Bedouins and as fleet, the willingness to deal sudden +death, the pain of poison thorn, the stinging tear of lead through +flesh; and that strange paradox of the burning desert, the cold at +night, the piercing icy wind, the dew that penetrated to the marrow, +the numbing desert cold of the dawn. + +Beyond any dream of adventure he had ever had, beyond any wild story he +had ever read, had been his experience with those hard-riding rangers, +Ladd and Lash. Then he had traveled alone the hundred miles of desert +between Forlorn River and the Sonoyta Oasis. Ladd's prophecy of +trouble on the border had been mild compared to what had become the +actuality. With rebel occupancy of the garrison at Casita, outlaws, +bandits, raiders in rioting bands had spread westward. Like troops of +Arabs, magnificently mounted, they were here, there, everywhere along +the line; and if murder and worse were confined to the Mexican side, +pillage and raiding were perpetrated across the border. Many a +dark-skinned raider bestrode one of Belding's fast horses, and indeed +all except his selected white thoroughbreds had been stolen. So the +job of the rangers had become more than a patrolling of the boundary +line to keep Japanese and Chinese from being smuggled into the United +States. Belding kept close at home to protect his family and to hold +his property. But the three rangers, in fulfilling their duty had +incurred risks on their own side of the line, had been outraged, +robbed, pursued, and injured on the other. Some of the few waterholes +that had to be reached lay far across the border in Mexican territory. +Horses had to drink, men had to drink; and Ladd and Lash were not of +the stripe that forsook a task because of danger. Slow to wrath at +first, as became men who had long lived peaceful lives, they had at +length revolted; and desert vultures could have told a gruesome story. +Made a comrade and ally of these bordermen, Dick Gale had leaped at the +desert action and strife with an intensity of heart and a rare physical +ability which accounted for the remarkable fact that he had not yet +fallen by the way. + +On this December afternoon the three rangers, as often, were separated. +Lash was far to the westward of Sonoyta, somewhere along Camino del +Diablo, that terrible Devil's Road, where many desert wayfarers had +perished. Ladd had long been overdue in a prearranged meeting with +Gale. The fact that Ladd had not shown up miles west of the Papago +Well was significant. + +The sun had hidden behind clouds all the latter part of that day, an +unusual occurrence for that region even in winter. And now, as the +light waned suddenly, telling of the hidden sunset, a cold dry, +penetrating wind sprang up and blew in Gale's face. Not at first, but +by imperceptible degrees it chilled him. He untied his coat from the +back of the saddle and put it on. A few cold drops of rain touched his +cheek. + +He halted upon the edge of a low escarpment. Below him the narrowing +valley showed bare, black ribs of rock, long, winding gray lines +leading down to a central floor where mesquite and cactus dotted the +barren landscape. Moving objects, diminutive in size, gray and white +in color, arrested Gale's roving sight. They bobbed away for a while, +then stopped. They were antelope, and they had seen his horse. When +he rode on they started once more, keeping to the lowest level. These +wary animals were often desert watchdogs for the ranger, they would +betray the proximity of horse or man. With them trotting forward, he +made better time for some miles across the valley. When he lost them, +caution once more slowed his advance. + +The valley sloped up and narrowed, to head into an arroyo where grass +began to show gray between the clumps of mesquite. Shadows formed +ahead in the hollows, along the walls of the arroyo, under the trees, +and they seemed to creep, to rise, to float into a veil cast by the +background of bold mountains, at last to claim the skyline. Night was +not close at hand, but it was there in the east, lifting upward, +drooping downward, encroaching upon the west. + +Gale dismounted to lead his horse, to go forward more slowly. He had +ridden sixty miles since morning, and he was tired, and a not entirely +healed wound in his hip made one leg drag a little. A mile up the +arroyo, near its head, lay the Papago Well. The need of water for his +horse entailed a risk that otherwise he could have avoided. The well +was on Mexican soil. Gale distinguished a faint light flickering +through the thin, sharp foliage. Campers were at the well, and, +whoever they were, no doubt they had prevented Ladd from meeting Gale. +Ladd had gone back to the next waterhole, or maybe he was hiding in an +arroyo to the eastward, awaiting developments. + +Gale turned his horse, not without urge of iron arm and persuasive +speech, for the desert steed scented water, and plodded back to the +edge of the arroyo, where in a secluded circle of mesquite he halted. +The horse snorted his relief at the removal of the heavy, burdened +saddle and accoutrements, and sagging, bent his knees, lowered himself +with slow heave, and plunged down to roll in the sand. Gale poured the +contents of his larger canteen into his hat and held it to the horse's +nose. + +"Drink, Sol," he said. + +It was but a drop for a thirsty horse. However, Blanco Sol rubbed a +wet muzzle against Gale's hand in appreciation. Gale loved the horse, +and was loved in return. They had saved each other's lives, and had +spent long days and nights of desert solitude together. Sol had known +other masters, though none so kind as this new one; but it was certain +that Gale had never before known a horse. + +The spot of secluded ground was covered with bunches of galleta grass +upon which Sol began to graze. Gale made a long halter of his lariat +to keep the horse from wandering in search of water. Next Gale kicked +off the cumbersome chapparejos, with their flapping, tripping folds of +leather over his feet, and drawing a long rifle from its leather +sheath, he slipped away into the shadows. + +The coyotes were howling, not here and there, but in concerted volume +at the head of the arroyo. To Dick this was no more reassuring than +had been the flickering light of the campfire. The wild desert dogs, +with their characteristic insolent curiosity, were baying men round a +campfire. Gale proceeded slowly, halting every few steps, careful not +to brush against the stiff greasewood. In the soft sand his steps made +no sound. The twinkling light vanished occasionally, like a +Jack-o'lantern, and when it did show it seemed still a long way off. +Gale was not seeking trouble or inviting danger. Water was the thing +that drove him. He must see who these campers were, and then decide +how to give Blanco Sol a drink. + +A rabbit rustled out of brush at Gale's feet and thumped away over the +sand. The wind pattered among dry, broken stalks of dead ocatilla. +Every little sound brought Gale to a listening pause. The gloom was +thickening fast into darkness. It would be a night without starlight. +He moved forward up the pale, zigzag aisles between the mesquite. He +lost the light for a while, but the coyotes' chorus told him he was +approaching the campfire. Presently the light danced through the black +branches, and soon grew into a flame. Stooping low, with bushy +mesquites between him and the fire, Gale advanced. The coyotes were in +full cry. Gale heard the tramping, stamping thumps of many hoofs. The +sound worried him. Foot by foot he advanced, and finally began to +crawl. The wind favored his position, so that neither coyotes nor +horses could scent him. The nearer he approached the head of the +arroyo, where the well was located, the thicker grew the desert +vegetation. At length a dead palo verde, with huge black clumps of its +parasite mistletoe thick in the branches, marked a distance from the +well that Gale considered close enough. Noiselessly he crawled here +and there until he secured a favorable position, and then rose to peep +from behind his covert. + +He saw a bright fire, not a cooking-fire, for that would have been low +and red, but a crackling blaze of mesquite. Three men were in sight, +all close to the burning sticks. They were Mexicans and of the coarse +type of raiders, rebels, bandits that Gale expected to see. One stood +up, his back to the fire; another sat with shoulders enveloped in a +blanket, and the third lounged in the sand, his feet almost in the +blaze. They had cast off belts and weapons. A glint of steel caught +Gale's eye. Three short, shiny carbines leaned against a rock. A +little to the left, within the circle of light, stood a square house +made of adobe bricks. Several untrimmed poles upheld a roof of brush, +which was partly fallen in. This house was a Papago Indian habitation, +and a month before had been occupied by a family that had been murdered +or driven off by a roving band of outlaws. A rude corral showed dimly +in the edge of firelight, and from a black mass within came the snort +and stamp and whinney of horses. + +Gale took in the scene in one quick glance, then sank down at the foot +of the mesquite. He had naturally expected to see more men. But the +situation was by no means new. This was one, or part of one, of the +raider bands harrying the border. They were stealing horses, or +driving a herd already stolen. These bands were more numerous than the +waterholes of northern Sonora; they never camped long at one place; +like Arabs, they roamed over the desert all the way from Nogales to +Casita. If Gale had gone peaceably up to this campfire there were a +hundred chances that the raiders would kill and rob him to one chance +that they might not. If they recognized him as a ranger comrade of +Ladd and Lash, if they got a glimpse of Blanco Sol, then Gale would +have no chance. + +These Mexicans had evidently been at the well some time. Their horses +being in the corral meant that grazing had been done by day. Gale +revolved questions in mind. Had this trio of outlaws run across Ladd? +It was not likely, for in that event they might not have been so +comfortable and care-free in camp. Were they waiting for more members +of their gang? That was very probable. With Gale, however, the most +important consideration was how to get his horse to water. Sol must +have a drink if it cost a fight. There was stern reason for Gale to +hurry eastward along the trail. He thought it best to go back to where +he had left his horse and not make any decisive move until daylight. + +With the same noiseless care he had exercised in the advance, Gale +retreated until it was safe for him to rise and walk on down the +arroyo. He found Blanco Sol contentedly grazing. A heavy dew was +falling, and, as the grass was abundant, the horse did not show the +usual restlessness and distress after a dry and exhausting day. Gale +carried his saddle blankets and bags into the lee of a little +greasewood-covered mound, from around which the wind had cut the soil, +and here, in a wash, he risked building a small fire. By this time the +wind was piercingly cold. Gale's hands were numb and he moved them to +and fro in the little blaze. Then he made coffee in a cup, cooked some +slices of bacon on the end of a stick, and took a couple of hard +biscuits from a saddlebag. Of these his meal consisted. After that he +removed the halter from Blanco Sol, intending to leave him free to +graze for a while. + +Then Gale returned to his little fire, replenished it with short sticks +of dead greasewood and mesquite, and, wrapping his blanket round his +shoulders he sat down to warm himself and to wait till it was time to +bring in the horse and tie him up. + +The fire was inadequate and Gale was cold and wet with dew. Hunger and +thirst were with him. His bones ached, and there was a dull, +deep-seated pain throbbing in his unhealed wound. For days unshaven, +his beard seemed like a million pricking needles in his blistered skin. +He was so tired that once having settled himself, he did not move hand +or foot. The night was dark, dismal, cloudy, windy, growing colder. A +moan of wind in the mesquite was occasionally pierced by the high-keyed +yelp of a coyote. There were lulls in which the silence seemed to be a +thing of stifling, encroaching substance--a thing that enveloped, +buried the desert. + +Judged by the great average of ideals and conventional standards of +life, Dick Gale was a starved, lonely, suffering, miserable wretch. +But in his case the judgment would have hit only externals, would have +missed the vital inner truth. For Gale was happy with a kind of +strange, wild glory in the privations, the pains, the perils, and the +silence and solitude to be endured on this desert land. In the past he +had not been of any use to himself or others; and he had never know +what it meant to be hungry, cold, tired, lonely. He had never worked +for anything. The needs of the day had been provided, and to-morrow +and the future looked the same. Danger, peril, toil--these had been +words read in books and papers. + +In the present he used his hands, his senses, and his wits. He had a +duty to a man who relied on his services. He was a comrade, a friend, +a valuable ally to riding, fighting rangers. He had spent endless +days, weeks that seemed years, alone with a horse, trailing over, +climbing over, hunting over a desert that was harsh and hostile by +nature, and perilous by the invasion of savage men. That horse had +become human to Gale. And with him Gale had learned to know the simple +needs of existence. Like dead scales the superficialities, the +falsities, the habits that had once meant all of life dropped off, +useless things in this stern waste of rock and sand. + +Gale's happiness, as far as it concerned the toil and strife, was +perhaps a grim and stoical one. But love abided with him, and it had +engendered and fostered other undeveloped traits--romance and a feeling +for beauty, and a keen observation of nature. He felt pain, but he was +never miserable. He felt the solitude, but he was never lonely. + +As he rode across the desert, even though keen eyes searched for the +moving black dots, the rising puffs of white dust that were warnings, +he saw Nell's face in every cloud. The clean-cut mesas took on the +shape of her straight profile, with its strong chin and lips, its fine +nose and forehead. There was always a glint of gold or touch of red or +graceful line or gleam of blue to remind him of her. Then at night her +face shone warm and glowing, flushing and paling, in the campfire. + +To-night, as usual, with a keen ear to the wind, Gale listened as one +on guard; yet he watched the changing phantom of a sweet face in the +embers, and as he watched he thought. The desert developed and +multiplied thought. A thousand sweet faces glowed in the pink and +white ashes of his campfire, the faces of other sweethearts or wives +that had gleamed for other men. Gale was happy in his thought of Nell, +for Nell, for something, when he was alone this way in the wilderness, +told him she was near him, she thought of him, she loved him. But +there were many men alone on that vast southwestern plateau, and when +they saw dream faces, surely for some it was a fleeting flash, a gleam +soon gone, like the hope and the name and the happiness that had been +and was now no more. Often Gale thought of those hundreds of desert +travelers, prospectors, wanderers who had ventured down the Camino del +Diablo, never to be heard of again. Belding had told him of that most +terrible of all desert trails--a trail of shifting sands. Lash had +traversed it, and brought back stories of buried waterholes, of bones +bleaching white in the sun, of gold mines as lost as were the +prospectors who had sought them, of the merciless Yaqui and his hatred +for the Mexican. Gale thought of this trail and the men who had camped +along it. For many there had been one night, one campfire that had +been the last. This idea seemed to creep in out of the darkness, the +loneliness, the silence, and to find a place in Gale's mind, so that it +had strange fascination for him. He knew now as he had never dreamed +before how men drifted into the desert, leaving behind graves, wrecked +homes, ruined lives, lost wives and sweethearts. And for every +wanderer every campfire had a phantom face. Gale measured the agony of +these men at their last campfire by the joy and promise he traced in +the ruddy heart of his own. + +By and by Gale remembered what he was waiting for; and, getting up, he +took the halter and went out to find Blanco Sol. It was pitch-dark +now, and Gale could not see a rod ahead. He felt his way, and +presently as he rounded a mesquite he saw Sol's white shape outlined +against the blackness. The horse jumped and wheeled, ready to run. It +was doubtful if any one unknown to Sol could ever have caught him. +Gale's low call reassured him, and he went on grazing. Gale haltered +him in the likeliest patch of grass and returned to his camp. There he +lifted his saddle into a protected spot under a low wall of the mound, +and, laying one blanket on the sand, he covered himself with the other +and stretched himself for the night. + +Here he was out of reach of the wind; but he heard its melancholy moan +in the mesquite. There was no other sound. The coyotes had ceased +their hungry cries. Gale dropped to sleep, and slept soundly during +the first half of the night; and after that he seemed always to be +partially awake, aware of increasing cold and damp. The dark mantle +turned gray, and then daylight came quickly. The morning was clear and +nipping cold. He threw off the wet blanket and got up cramped and half +frozen. A little brisk action was all that was necessary to warm his +blood and loosen his muscles, and then he was fresh, tingling, eager. +The sun rose in a golden blaze, and the descending valley took on +wondrous changing hues. Then he fetched up Blanco Sol, saddled him, +and tied him to the thickest clump of mesquite. + +"Sol, we'll have a drink pretty soon," he said, patting the splendid +neck. + +Gale meant it. He would not eat till he had watered his horse. Sol had +gone nearly forty-eight hours without a sufficient drink, and that was +long enough, even for a desert-bred beast. No three raiders could keep +Gale away from that well. Taking his rifle in hand, he faced up the +arroyo. Rabbits were frisking in the short willows, and some were so +tame he could have kicked them. Gale walked swiftly for a goodly part +of the distance, and then, when he saw blue smoke curling up above the +trees, he proceeded slowly, with alert eye and ear. From the lay of +the land and position of trees seen by daylight, he found an easier and +safer course that the one he had taken in the dark. And by careful +work he was enabled to get closer to the well, and somewhat above it. + +The Mexicans were leisurely cooking their morning meal. They had two +fires, one for warmth, the other to cook over. Gale had an idea these +raiders were familiar to him. It seemed all these border hawks +resembled one another--being mostly small of build, wiry, angular, +swarthy-faced, and black-haired, and they wore the oddly styled Mexican +clothes and sombreros. A slow wrath stirred in Gale as he watched the +trio. They showed not the slightest indication of breaking camp. One +fellow, evidently the leader, packed a gun at his hip, the only weapon +in sight. Gale noted this with speculative eyes. The raiders had +slept inside the little adobe house, and had not yet brought out the +carbines. Next Gale swept his gaze to the corral, in which he saw more +than a dozen horses, some of them fine animals. They were stamping and +whistling, fighting one another, and pawing the dirt. This was +entirely natural behavior for desert horses penned in when they wanted +to get at water and grass. + +But suddenly one of the blacks, a big, shaggy fellow, shot up his ears +and pointed his nose over the top of the fence. He whistled. Other +horses looked in the same direction, and their ears went up, and they, +too, whistled. Gale knew that other horses or men, very likely both, +were approaching. But the Mexicans did not hear the alarm, or show any +interest if they did. These mescal-drinking raiders were not scouts. +It was notorious how easily they could be surprised or ambushed. +Mostly they were ignorant, thick-skulled peons. They were wonderful +horsemen, and could go long without food or water; but they had not +other accomplishments or attributes calculated to help them in desert +warfare. They had poor sight, poor hearing, poor judgment, and when +excited they resembled crazed ants running wild. + +Gale saw two Indians on burros come riding up the other side of the +knoll upon which the adobe house stood; and apparently they were not +aware of the presence of the Mexicans, for they came on up the path. +One Indian was a Papago. The other, striking in appearance for other +reasons than that he seemed to be about to fall from the burro, Gale +took to be a Yaqui. These travelers had absolutely nothing for an +outfit except a blanket and a half-empty bag. They came over the knoll +and down the path toward the well, turned a corner of the house, and +completely surprised the raiders. + +Gale heard a short, shrill cry, strangely high and wild, and this came +from one of the Indians. It was answered by hoarse shouts. Then the +leader of the trio, the Mexican who packed a gun, pulled it and fired +point-blank. He missed once--and again. At the third shot the Papago +shrieked and tumbled off his burro to fall in a heap. The other Indian +swayed, as if the taking away of the support lent by his comrade had +brought collapse, and with the fourth shot he, too, slipped to the +ground. + +The reports had frightened the horses in the corral; and the vicious +black, crowding the rickety bars, broke them down. He came plunging +out. Two of the Mexicans ran for him, catching him by nose and mane, +and the third ran to block the gateway. + +Then, with a splendid vaulting mount, the Mexican with the gun leaped +to the back of the horse. He yelled and waved his gun, and urged the +black forward. The manner of all three was savagely jocose. They were +having sport. The two on the ground began to dance and jabber. The +mounted leader shot again, and then stuck like a leech upon the bare +back of the rearing black. It was a vain show of horsemanship. Then +this Mexican, by some strange grip, brought the horse down, plunging +almost upon the body of the Indian that had fallen last. + +Gale stood aghast with his rifle clutched tight. He could not divine +the intention of the raider, but suspected something brutal. The horse +answered to that cruel, guiding hand, yet he swerved and bucked. He +reared aloft, pawing the air, wildly snorting, then he plunged down +upon the prostrate Indian. Even in the act the intelligent animal +tried to keep from striking the body with his hoofs. But that was not +possible. A yell, hideous in its passion, signaled this feat of +horsemanship. + +The Mexican made no move to trample the body of the Papago. He turned +the black to ride again over the other Indian. That brought into +Gale's mind what he had heard of a Mexican's hate for a Yaqui. It +recalled the barbarism of these savage peons, and the war of +extermination being waged upon the Yaquis. + +Suddenly Gale was horrified to see the Yaqui writhe and raise a feeble +hand. The action brought renewed and more savage cries from the +Mexicans. The horse snorted in terror. + +Gale could bear no more. He took a quick shot at the rider. He missed +the moving figure, but hit the horse. There was a bound, a horrid +scream, a mighty plunge, then the horse went down, giving the Mexican a +stunning fall. Both beast and man lay still. + +Gale rushed from his cover to intercept the other raiders before they +could reach the house and their weapons. One fellow yelled and ran +wildly in the opposite direction; the other stood stricken in his +tracks. Gale ran in close and picked up the gun that had dropped from +the raider leader's hand. This fellow had begun to stir, to come out +of his stunned condition. Then the frightened horses burst the corral +bars, and in a thundering, dust-mantled stream fled up the arroyo. + +The fallen raider sat up, mumbling to his saints in one breath, cursing +in his next. The other Mexican kept his stand, intimidated by the +threatening rifle. + +"Go, Greasers! Run!" yelled Gale. Then he yelled it in Spanish. At +the point of his rifle he drove the two raiders out of the camp. His +next move was to run into the house and fetch out the carbines. With a +heavy stone he dismantled each weapon. That done, he set out on a run +for his horse. He took the shortest cut down the arroyo, with no +concern as to whether or not he would encounter the raiders. Probably +such a meeting would be all the worse for them, and they knew it. +Blanco Sol heard him coming and whistled a welcome, and when Gale ran +up the horse was snorting war. Mounting, Gale rode rapidly back to the +scene of the action, and his first thought, when he arrived at the +well, was to give Sol a drink and to fill his canteens. + +Then Gale led his horse up out of the waterhole, and decided before +remounting to have a look at the Indians. The Papago had been shot +through the heart, but the Yaqui was still alive. Moreover, he was +conscious and staring up at Gale with great, strange, somber eyes, +black as volcanic slag. + +"Gringo good--no kill," he said, in husky whisper. + +His speech was not affirmative so much as questioning. + +"Yaqui, you're done for," said Gale, and his words were positive. He +was simply speaking aloud his mind. + +"Yaqui--no hurt--much," replied the Indian, and then he spoke a strange +word--repeated it again and again. + +An instinct of Gale's, or perhaps some suggestion in the husky, thick +whisper or dark face, told Gale to reach for his canteen. He lifted the +Indian and gave him a drink, and if ever in all his life he saw +gratitude in human eyes he saw it then. Then he examined the injured +Yaqui, not forgetting for an instant to send wary, fugitive glances on +all sides. Gale was not surprised. The Indian had three wounds--a +bullet hole in his shoulder, a crushed arm, and a badly lacerated leg. +What had been the matter with him before being set upon by the raider +Gale could not be certain. + +The ranger thought rapidly. This Yaqui would live unless left there to +die or be murdered by the Mexicans when they found courage to sneak +back to the well. It never occurred to Gale to abandon the poor +fellow. That was where his old training, the higher order of human +feeling, made impossible the following of any elemental instinct of +self-preservation. All the same, Gale knew he multiplied his perils a +hundredfold by burdening himself with a crippled Indian. Swiftly he set +to work, and with rifle ever under his hand, and shifting glance spared +from his task, he bound up the Yaqui's wounds. At the same time he +kept keen watch. + +The Indians' burros and the horses of the raiders were all out of +sight. Time was too valuable for Gale to use any in what might be a +vain search. Therefore, he lifted the Yaqui upon Sol's broad shoulders +and climbed into the saddle. At a word Sol dropped his head and +started eastward up the trail, walking swiftly, without resentment for +his double burden. + +Far ahead, between two huge mesas where the trail mounted over a pass, +a long line of dust clouds marked the position of the horses that had +escaped from the corral. Those that had been stolen would travel +straight and true for home, and perhaps would lead the others with +them. The raiders were left on the desert without guns or mounts. + +Blanco Sol walked or jog-trotted six miles to the hour. At that gait +fifty miles would not have wet or turned a hair of his dazzling white +coat. Gale, bearing in mind the ever-present possibility of +encountering more raiders and of being pursued, saved the strength of +the horse. Once out of sight of Papago Well, Gale dismounted and +walked beside the horse, steadying with one firm hand the helpless, +dangling Yaqui. + +The sun cleared the eastern ramparts, and the coolness of morning fled +as if before a magic foe. The whole desert changed. The grays wore +bright; the mesquites glistened; the cactus took the silver hue of +frost, and the rocks gleamed gold and red. Then, as the heat +increased, a wind rushed up out of the valley behind Gale, and the +hotter the sun blazed down the swifter rushed the wind. The wonderful +transparent haze of distance lost its bluish hue for one with tinge of +yellow. Flying sand made the peaks dimly outlined. + +Gale kept pace with his horse. He bore the twinge of pain that darted +through his injured hip at every stride. His eye roved over the wide, +smoky prospect seeking the landmarks he knew. When the wild and bold +spurs of No Name Mountains loomed through a rent in flying clouds of +sand he felt nearer home. Another hour brought him abreast of a dark, +straight shaft rising clear from a beetling escarpment. This was a +monument marking the international boundary line. When he had passed +it he had his own country under foot. In the heat of midday he halted +in the shade of a rock, and, lifting the Yaqui down, gave him a drink. +Then, after a long, sweeping survey of the surrounding desert, he +removed Sol's saddle and let him roll, and took for himself a welcome +rest and a bite to eat. + +The Yaqui was tenacious of life. He was still holding his own. For the +first time Gale really looked at the Indian to study him. He had a +large head nobly cast, and a face that resembled a shrunken mask. It +seemed chiseled in the dark-red, volcanic lava of his Sooner +wilderness. The Indian's eyes were always black and mystic, but this +Yaqui's encompassed all the tragic desolation of the desert. They were +fixed on Gale, moved only when he moved. The Indian was short and +broad, and his body showed unusual muscular development, although he +seemed greatly emaciated from starvation or illness. + +Gale resumed his homeward journey. When he got through the pass he +faced a great depression, as rough as if millions of gigantic spikes +had been driven by the hammer of Thor into a seamed and cracked floor. +This was Altar Valley. It was a chaos of arroyo's, canyons, rocks, and +ridges all mantled with cactus, and at its eastern end it claimed the +dry bed of Forlorn River and water when there was any. + +With a wounded, helpless man across the saddle, this stretch of thorny +and contorted desert was practically impassable. Yet Gale headed into +it unflinchingly. He would carry the Yaqui as far as possible, or +until death make the burden no longer a duty. Blanco Sol plodded on +over the dragging sand, up and down the steep, loose banks of washes, +out on the rocks, and through the rows of white-toothed _choyas_. + +The sun sloped westward, bending fiercer heat in vengeful, parting +reluctance. The wind slackened. The dust settled. And the bold, +forbidding front of No Name Mountains changed to red and gold. Gale +held grimly by the side of the tireless, implacable horse, holding the +Yaqui on the saddle, taking the brunt of the merciless thorns. In the +end it became heartrending toil. His heavy chaps dragged him down; but +he dared not go on without them, for, thick and stiff as they were, the +terrible, steel-bayoneted spikes of the choyas pierced through to sting +his legs. + +To the last mile Gale held to Blanco Sol's gait and kept ever-watchful +gaze ahead on the trail. Then, with the low, flat houses of Forlorn +River shining red in the sunset, Gale flagged and rapidly weakened. +The Yaqui slipped out of the saddle and dropped limp in the sand. Gale +could not mount his horse. He clutched Sol's long tail and twisted his +hand in it and staggered on. + +Blanco Sol whistled a piercing blast. He scented cool water and sweet +alfalfa hay. Twinkling lights ahead meant rest. The melancholy desert +twilight rapidly succeeded the sunset. It accentuated the forlorn +loneliness of the gray, winding river of sand and its grayer shores. +Night shadows trooped down from the black and looming mountains. + + + +VII + +WHITE HORSES + +"A CRIPPLED Yaqui! Why the hell did you saddle yourself with him?" +roared Belding, as he laid Gale upon the bed. + +Belding had grown hard these late, violent weeks. + +"Because I chose," whispered Gale, in reply. "Go after him--he dropped +in the trail--across the river--near the first big saguaro." + +Belding began to swear as he fumbled with matches and the lamp; but as +the light flared up he stopped short in the middle of a word. + +"You said you weren't hurt?" he demanded, in sharp anxiety, as he bent +over Gale. + +"I'm only--all in.... Will you go--or send some one--for the Yaqui?" + +"Sure, Dick, sure," Belding replied, in softer tones. Then he stalked +out; his heels rang on the flagstones; he opened a door and called: +"Mother--girls, here's Dick back. He's done up.... Now--no, no, he's +not hurt or in bad shape. You women!... Do what you can to make him +comfortable. I've got a little job on hand." + +There were quick replies that Gale's dulling ears did not distinguish. +Then it seemed Mrs. Belding was beside his bed, her presence so cool +and soothing and helpful, and Mercedes and Nell, wide-eyed and +white-faced, were fluttering around him. He drank thirstily, but +refused food. He wanted rest. And with their faces drifting away in a +kind of haze, with the feeling of gentle hands about him, he lost +consciousness. + +He slept twenty hours. Then he arose, thirsty, hungry, lame, overworn, +and presently went in search of Belding and the business of the day. + +"Your Yaqui was near dead, but guess we'll pull him through," said +Belding. "Dick, the other day that Indian came here by rail and foot +and Lord only knows how else, all the way from New Orleans! He spoke +English better than most Indians, and I know a little Yaqui. I got +some of his story and guessed the rest. The Mexican government is +trying to root out the Yaquis. A year ago his tribe was taken in +chains to a Mexican port on the Gulf. The fathers, mothers, children, +were separated and put in ships bound for Yucatan. There they were +made slaves on the great henequen plantations. They were driven, +beaten, starved. Each slave had for a day's rations a hunk of sour +dough, no more. Yucatan is low, marshy, damp, hot. The Yaquis were +bred on the high, dry Sonoran plateau, where the air is like a knife. +They dropped dead in the henequen fields, and their places were taken +by more. You see, the Mexicans won't kill outright in their war of +extermination of the Yaquis. They get use out of them. It's a +horrible thing.... Well, this Yaqui you brought in escaped from his +captors, got aboard ship, and eventually reached New Orleans. Somehow +he traveled way out here. I gave him a bag of food, and he went off +with a Papago Indian. He was a sick man then. And he must have fallen +foul of some Greasers." + +Gale told of his experience at Papago Well. + +"That raider who tried to grind the Yaqui under a horse's hoofs--he was +a hyena!" concluded Gale, shuddering. "I've seen some blood spilled +and some hard sights, but that inhuman devil took my nerve. Why, as I +told you, Belding, I missed a shot at him--not twenty paces!" + +"Dick, in cases like that the sooner you clean up the bunch the +better," said Belding, grimly. "As for hard sights--wait till you've +seen a Yaqui do up a Mexican. Bar none, that is the limit! It's blood +lust, a racial hate, deep as life, and terrible. The Spaniards crushed +the Aztecs four or five hundred years ago. That hate has had time to +grow as deep as a cactus root. The Yaquis are mountain Aztecs. +Personally, I think they are noble and intelligent, and if let alone +would be peaceable and industrious. I like the few I've known. But +they are a doomed race. Have you any idea what ailed this Yaqui before +the raider got in his work?" + +"No, I haven't. I noticed the Indian seemed in bad shape; but I +couldn't tell what was the matter with him." + +"Well, my idea is another personal one. Maybe it's off color. I think +that Yaqui was, or is, for that matter, dying of a broken heart. All +he wanted was to get back to his mountains and die. There are no Yaquis +left in that part of Sonora he was bound for." + +"He had a strange look in his eyes," said Gale, thoughtfully. + +"Yes, I noticed that. But all Yaquis have a wild look. Dick, if I'm +not mistaken, this fellow was a chief. It was a waste of strength, a +needless risk for you to save him, pack him back here. But, damn the +whole Greaser outfit generally, I'm glad you did!" + +Gale remembered then to speak of his concern for Ladd. + +"Laddy didn't go out to meet you," replied Belding. "I knew you were +due in any day, and, as there's been trouble between here and Casita, I +sent him that way. Since you've been out our friend Carter lost a +bunch of horses and a few steers. Did you get a good look at the +horses those raiders had at Papago Well?" + +Dick had learned, since he had become a ranger, to see everything with +keen, sure, photographic eye; and, being put to the test so often +required of him, he described the horses as a dark-colored drove, +mostly bays and blacks, with one spotted sorrel. + +"Some of Carter's--sure as you're born!" exclaimed Belding. "His bunch +has been split up, divided among several bands of raiders. He has a +grass ranch up here in Three Mile Arroyo. It's a good long ride in U. +S. territory from the border." + +"Those horses I saw will go home, don't you think?" asked Dick. + +"Sure. They can't be caught or stopped." + +"Well, what shall I do now?" + +"Stay here and rest," bluntly replied Belding. "You need it. Let the +women fuss over you--doctor you a little. When Jim gets back from +Sonoyta I'll know more about what we ought to do. By Lord! it seems +our job now isn't keeping Japs and Chinks out of the U. S. It's keeping +our property from going into Mexico." + +"Are there any letters for me?" asked Gale. + +"Letters! Say, my boy, it'd take something pretty important to get me +or any man here back Casita way. If the town is safe these days the +road isn't. It's a month now since any one went to Casita." + +Gale had received several letters from his sister Elsie, the last of +which he had not answered. There had not been much opportunity for +writing on his infrequent returns to Forlorn River; and, besides, Elsie +had written that her father had stormed over what he considered Dick's +falling into wild and evil ways. + +"Time flies," said Dick. "George Thorne will be free before long, and +he'll be coming out. I wonder if he'll stay here or try to take +Mercedes away?" + +"Well, he'll stay right here in Forlorn River, if I have any say," +replied Belding. "I'd like to know how he'd ever get that Spanish girl +out of the country now, with all the trails overrun by rebels and +raiders. It'd be hard to disguise her. Say, Dick, maybe we can get +Thorne to stay here. You know, since you've discovered the possibility +of a big water supply, I've had dreams of a future for Forlorn +River.... If only this war was over! Dick, that's what it +is--war--scattered war along the northern border of Mexico from gulf to +gulf. What if it isn't our war? We're on the fringe. No, we can't +develop Forlorn River until there's peace." + +The discovery that Belding alluded to was one that might very well lead +to the making of a wonderful and agricultural district of Altar Valley. +While in college Dick Gale had studied engineering, but he had not set +the scientific world afire with his brilliance. Nor after leaving +college had he been able to satisfy his father that he could hold a +job. Nevertheless, his smattering of engineering skill bore fruit in +the last place on earth where anything might have been expected of +it--in the desert. Gale had always wondered about the source of +Forlorn River. No white man or Mexican, or, so far as known, no +Indian, had climbed those mighty broken steps of rock called No Name +Mountains, from which Forlorn River was supposed to come. Gale had +discovered a long, narrow, rock-bottomed and rock-walled gulch that +could be dammed at the lower end by the dynamiting of leaning cliffs +above. An inexhaustible supply of water could be stored there. +Furthermore, he had worked out an irrigation plan to bring the water +down for mining uses, and to make a paradise out of that part of Altar +Valley which lay in the United States. Belding claimed there was gold +in the arroyos, gold in the gulches, not in quantities to make a +prospector rejoice, but enough to work for. And the soil on the higher +levels of Altar Valley needed only water to make it grow anything the +year round. Gale, too, had come to have dreams of a future for Forlorn +River. + +On the afternoon of the following day Ladd unexpectedly appeared +leading a lame and lathered horse into the yard. Belding and Gale, who +were at work at the forge, looked up and were surprised out of speech. +The legs of the horse were raw and red, and he seemed about to drop. +Ladd's sombrero was missing; he wore a bloody scarf round his head; +sweat and blood and dust had formed a crust on his face; little streams +of powdery dust slid from him; and the lower half of his scarred chaps +were full of broken white thorns. + +"Howdy, boys," he drawled. "I shore am glad to see you all." + +"Where'n hell's your hat?" demanded Belding, furiously. It was a +ridiculous greeting. But Belding's words signified little. The dark +shade of worry and solicitude crossing his face told more than his +black amaze. + +The ranger stopped unbuckling the saddle girths, and, looking at +Belding, broke into his slow, cool laugh. + +"Tom, you recollect that whopper of a saguaro up here where Carter's +trail branches off the main trail to Casita? Well, I climbed it an' +left my hat on top for a woodpecker's nest." + +"You've been running--fighting?" queried Belding, as if Ladd had not +spoken at all. + +"I reckon it'll dawn on you after a while," replied Ladd, slipping the +saddle. + +"Laddy, go in the house to the women," said Belding. "I'll tend to +your horse." + +"Shore, Tom, in a minute. I've been down the road. An' I found hoss +tracks an' steer tracks goin' across the line. But I seen no sign of +raiders till this mornin'. Slept at Carter's last night. That raid the +other day cleaned him out. He's shootin' mad. Well, this mornin' I +rode plumb into a bunch of Carter's hosses, runnin' wild for home. +Some Greasers were tryin' to head them round an' chase them back across +the line. I rode in between an' made matters embarrassin'. Carter's +hosses got away. Then me an' the Greasers had a little game of hide +an' seek in the cactus. I was on the wrong side, an' had to break +through their line to head toward home. We run some. But I had a +closer call than I'm stuck on havin'." + +"Laddy, you wouldn't have any such close calls if you'd ride one of my +horses," expostulated Belding. "This broncho of yours can run, and +Lord knows he's game. But you want a big, strong horse, Mexican bred, +with cactus in his blood. Take one of the bunch--Bull, White Woman, +Blanco Jose." + +"I had a big, fast horse a while back, but I lost him," said Ladd. +"This bronch ain't so bad. Shore Bull an' that white devil with his +Greaser name--they could run down my bronch, kill him in a mile of +cactus. But, somehow, Tom, I can't make up my mind to take one of them +grand white hosses. Shore I reckon I'm kinda soft. An' mebbe I'd +better take one before the raiders clean up Forlorn River." + +Belding cursed low and deep in his throat, and the sound resembled +muttering thunder. The shade of anxiety on his face changed to one of +dark gloom and passion. Next to his wife and daughter there was +nothing so dear to him as those white horses. His father and +grandfather--all his progenitors of whom he had trace--had been lovers +of horses. It was in Belding's blood. + +"Laddy, before it's too late can't I get the whites away from the +border?" + +"Mebbe it ain't too late; but where can we take them?" + +"To San Felipe?" + +"No. We've more chance to hold them here." + +"To Casita and the railroad?" + +"Afraid to risk gettin' there. An' the town's full of rebels who need +hosses." + +"Then straight north?" + +"Shore man, you're crazy. Ther's no water, no grass for a hundred +miles. I'll tell you, Tom, the safest plan would be to take the white +bunch south into Sonora, into some wild mountain valley. Keep them +there till the raiders have traveled on back east. Pretty soon there +won't be any rich pickin' left for these Greasers. An' then they'll +ride on to new ranges." + +"Laddy, I don't know the trails into Sonora. An' I can't trust a +Mexican or a Papago. Between you and me, I'm afraid of this Indian who +herds for me." + +"I reckon we'd better stick here, Tom.... Dick, it's some good to see +you again. But you seem kinda quiet. Shore you get quieter all the +time. Did you see any sign of Jim out Sonoyta way?" + +Then Belding led the lame horse toward the watering-trough, while the +two rangers went toward the house, Dick was telling Ladd about the +affair at Papago Well when they turned the corner under the porch. +Nell was sitting in the door. She rose with a little scream and came +flying toward them. + +"Now I'll get it," whispered Ladd. "The women'll make a baby of me. +An' shore I can't help myself." + +"Oh, Laddy, you've been hurt!" cried Nell, as with white cheeks and +dilating eyes she ran to him and caught his arm. + +"Nell, I only run a thorn in my ear." + +"Oh, Laddy, don't lie! You've lied before. I know you're hurt. Come +in to mother." + +"Shore, Nell, it's only a scratch. My bronch throwed me." + +"Laddy, no horse every threw you." The girl's words and accusing eyes +only hurried the ranger on to further duplicity. + +"Mebbe I got it when I was ridin' hard under a mesquite, an' a sharp +snag--" + +"You've been shot!... Mama, here's Laddy, and he's been shot!.... Oh, +these dreadful days we're having! I can't bear them! Forlorn River +used to be so safe and quiet. Nothing happened. But now! Jim comes +home with a bloody hole in him--then Dick--then Laddy!.... Oh, I'm +afraid some day they'll never come home." + + +The morning was bright, still, and clear as crystal. The heat waves +had not yet begun to rise from the desert. + +A soft gray, white, and green tint perfectly blended lay like a mantle +over mesquite and sand and cactus. The canyons of distant mountain +showed deep and full of lilac haze. + +Nell sat perched high upon the topmost bar of the corral gate. Dick +leaned beside her, now with his eyes on her face, now gazing out into +the alfalfa field where Belding's thoroughbreds grazed and pranced and +romped and whistled. Nell watched the horses. She loved them, never +tired of watching them. But her gaze was too consciously averted from +the yearning eyes that tried to meet hers to be altogether natural. + +A great fenced field of dark velvety green alfalfa furnished a rich +background for the drove of about twenty white horses. Even without +the horses the field would have presented a striking contrast to the +surrounding hot, glaring blaze of rock and sand. Belding had bred a +hundred or more horses from the original stock he had brought up from +Durango. His particular interest was in the almost unblemished whites, +and these he had given especial care. He made a good deal of money +selling this strain to friends among the ranchers back in Texas. No +mercenary consideration, however, could have made him part with the +great, rangy white horses he had gotten from the Durango breeder. He +called them Blanco Diablo (White Devil), Blanco Sol (White Sun), Blanca +Reina (White Queen), Blanca Mujer (White Woman), and El Gran Toro +Blanco (The Big White Bull). Belding had been laughed at by ranchers +for preserving the sentimental Durango names, and he had been +unmercifully ridiculed by cowboys. But the names had never been +changed. + +Blanco Diablo was the only horse in the field that was not free to roam +and graze where he listed. A stake and a halter held him to one +corner, where he was severely let alone by the other horses. He did not +like this isolation. Blanco Diablo was not happy unless he was +running, or fighting a rival. Of the two he would rather fight. If +anything white could resemble a devil, this horse surely did. He had +nothing beautiful about him, yet he drew the gaze and held it. The +look of him suggested discontent, anger, revolt, viciousness. When he +was not grazing or prancing, he held his long, lean head level, +pointing his nose and showing his teeth. Belding's favorite was almost +all the world to him, and he swore Diablo could stand more heat and +thirst and cactus than any other horse he owned, and could run down and +kill any horse in the Southwest. The fact that Ladd did not agree with +Belding on these salient points was a great disappointment, and also a +perpetual source for argument. Ladd and Lash both hated Diablo; and +Dick Gale, after one or two narrow escapes from being brained, had +inclined to the cowboys' side of the question. + +El Gran Toro Blanco upheld his name. He was a huge, massive, +thick-flanked stallion, a kingly mate for his full-bodied, glossy +consort, Blanca Reina. The other mare, Blanca Mujer, was dazzling +white, without a spot, perfectly pointed, racy, graceful, elegant, yet +carrying weight and brawn and range that suggested her relation to her +forebears. + +The cowboys admitted some of Belding's claims for Diablo, but they gave +loyal and unshakable allegiance to Blanco Sol. As for Dick, he had to +fight himself to keep out of arguments, for he sometimes imagined he +was unreasonable about the horse. Though he could not understand +himself, he knew he loved Sol as a man loved a friend, a brother. Free +of heavy saddle and the clumsy leg shields, Blanco Sol was somehow +all-satisfying to the eyes of the rangers. As long and big as Diablo +was, Sol was longer and bigger. Also, he was higher, more powerful. +He looked more a thing for action--speedier. At a distance the +honorable scars and lumps that marred his muscular legs were not +visible. He grazed aloof from the others, and did not cavort nor +prance; but when he lifted his head to whistle, how wild he appeared, +and proud and splendid! The dazzling whiteness of the desert sun shone +from his coat; he had the fire and spirit of the desert in his noble +head, its strength and power in his gigantic frame. + +"Belding swears Sol never beat Diablo," Dick was saying. + +"He believes it," replied Nell. "Dad is queer about that horse." + +"But Laddy rode Sol once--made him beat Diablo. Jim saw the race." + +Nell laughed. "I saw it, too. For that matter, even I have made Sol +put his nose before Dad's favorite." + +"I'd like to have seen that. Nell, aren't you ever going to ride with +me?" + +"Some day--when it's safe." + +"Safe!" + +"I--I mean when the raiders have left the border." + +"Oh, I'm glad you mean that," said Dick, laughing. "Well, I've often +wondered how Belding ever came to give Blanco Sol to me." + +"He was jealous. I think he wanted to get rid of Sol." + +"No? Why, Nell, he'd give Laddy or Jim one of the whites any day." + +"Would he? Not Devil or Queen or White Woman. Never in this world! +But Dad has lots of fast horses the boys could pick from. Dick, I tell +you Dad wants Blanco Sol to run himself out--lose his speed on the +desert. Dad is just jealous for Diablo." + +"Maybe. He surely has strange passion for horses. I think I +understand better than I used to. I owned a couple of racers once. +They were just animals to me, I guess. But Blanco Sol!" + +"Do you love him?" asked Nell; and now a warm, blue flash of eyes swept +his face. + +"Do I? Well, rather." + +"I'm glad. Sol has been finer, a better horse since you owned him. He +loves you, Dick. He's always watching for you. See him raise his head. +That's for you. I know as much about horses as Dad or Laddy any day. +Sol always hated Diablo, and he never had much use for Dad." + +Dick looked up at her. + +"It'll be--be pretty hard to leave Sol--when I go away." + +Nell sat perfectly still. + +"Go away?" she asked, presently, with just the faintest tremor in her +voice. + +"Yes. Sometimes when I get blue--as I am to-day--I think I'll go. But, +in sober truth, Nell, it's not likely that I'll spend all my life here." + +There was no answer to this. Dick put his hand softly over hers; and, +despite her half-hearted struggle to free it, he held on. + +"Nell!" + +Her color fled. He saw her lips part. Then a heavy step on the +gravel, a cheerful, complaining voice interrupted him, and made him +release Nell and draw back. Belding strode into view round the adobe +shed. + +"Hey, Dick, that darned Yaqui Indian can't be driven or hired or coaxed +to leave Forlorn River. He's well enough to travel. I offered him +horse, gun, blanket, grub. But no go." + +"That's funny," replied Gale, with a smile. "Let him stay--put him to +work." + +"It doesn't strike me funny. But I'll tell you what I think. That +poor, homeless, heartbroken Indian has taken a liking to you, Dick. +These desert Yaquis are strange folk. I've heard strange stories about +them. I'd believe 'most anything. And that's how I figure his case. +You saved his life. That sort of thing counts big with any Indian, +even with an Apache. With a Yaqui maybe it's of deep significance. +I've heard a Yaqui say that with his tribe no debt to friend or foe +ever went unpaid. Perhaps that's what ails this fellow." + +"Dick, don't laugh," said Nell. "I've noticed the Yaqui. It's +pathetic the way his great gloomy eyes follow you." + +"You've made a friend," continued Belding. "A Yaqui could be a real +friend on this desert. If he gets his strength back he'll be of +service to you, don't mistake me. He's welcome here. But you're +responsible for him, and you'll have trouble keeping him from +massacring all the Greasers in Forlorn River." + + +The probability of a visit from the raiders, and a dash bolder than +usual on the outskirts of a ranch, led Belding to build a new corral. +It was not sightly to the eye, but it was high and exceedingly strong. +The gate was a massive affair, swinging on huge hinges and fastening +with heavy chains and padlocks. On the outside it had been completely +covered with barb wire, which would make it a troublesome thing to work +on in the dark. + +At night Belding locked his white horses in this corral. The Papago +herdsman slept in the adobe shed adjoining. Belding did not imagine +that any wooden fence, however substantially built, could keep +determined raiders from breaking it down. They would have to take +time, however, and make considerable noise; and Belding relied on these +facts. Belding did not believe a band of night raiders would hold out +against a hot rifle fire. So he began to make up some of the sleep he +had lost. It was noteworthy, however, that Ladd did not share +Belding's sanguine hopes. + +Jim Lash rode in, reporting that all was well out along the line toward +the Sonoyta Oasis. Days passed, and Belding kept his rangers home. +Nothing was heard of raiders at hand. Many of the newcomers, both +American and Mexican, who came with wagons and pack trains from Casita +stated that property and life were cheap back in that rebel-infested +town. + +One January morning Dick Gale was awakened by a shrill, menacing cry. +He leaped up bewildered and frightened. He heard Belding's booming +voice answering shouts, and rapid steps on flagstones. But these had +not awakened him. Heavy breaths, almost sobs, seemed at his very door. +In the cold and gray dawn Dick saw something white. Gun in hand, he +bounded across the room. Just outside his door stood Blanco Sol. + +It was not unusual for Sol to come poking his head in at Dick's door +during daylight. But now in the early dawn, when he had been locked in +the corral, it meant raiders--no less. Dick called softly to the +snorting horse; and, hurriedly getting into clothes and boots, he went +out with a gun in each hand. Sol was quivering in every muscle. Like +a dog he followed Dick around the house. Hearing shouts in the +direction of the corrals, Gale bent swift steps that way. + +He caught up with Jim Lash, who was also leading a white horse. + +"Hello, Jim! Guess it's all over but the fireworks," said Dick. + +"I cain't say just what has come off," replied Lash. "I've got the +Bull. Found him runnin' in the yard." + +They reached the corral to find Belding shaking, roaring like a madman. +The gate was open, the corral was empty. Ladd stooped over the ground, +evidently trying to find tracks. + +"I reckon we might jest as well cool off an' wait for daylight," +suggested Jim. + +"Shore. They've flown the coop, you can gamble on that. Tom, where's +the Papago?" said Ladd. + +"He's gone, Laddy--gone!" + +"Double-crossed us, eh? I see here's a crowbar lyin' by the gatepost. +That Indian fetched it from the forge. It was used to pry out the +bolts an' steeples. Tom, I reckon there wasn't much time lost forcin' +that gate." + +Belding, in shirt sleeves and barefooted, roared with rage. He said he +had heard the horses running as he leaped out of bed. + +"What woke you?" asked Laddy. + +"Sol. He came whistling for Dick. Didn't you hear him before I called +you?" + +"Hear him! He came thunderin' right under my window. I jumped up in +bed, an' when he let out that blast Jim lit square in the middle of the +floor, an' I was scared stiff. Dick, seein' it was your room he blew +into, what did you think?" + +"I couldn't think. I'm shaking yet, Laddy." + +"Boys, I'll bet Sol spilled a few raiders if any got hands on him," +said Jim. "Now, let's sit down an' wait for daylight. It's my idea +we'll find some of the hosses runnin' loose. Tom, you go an' get some +clothes on. It's freezin' cold. An' don't forget to tell the women +folks we're all right." + +Daylight made clear some details of the raid. The cowboys found tracks +of eight raiders coming up from the river bed where their horses had +been left. Evidently the Papago had been false to his trust. His few +personal belongings were gone. Lash was correct in his idea of finding +more horses loose in the fields. The men soon rounded up eleven of the +whites, all more or less frightened, and among the number were Queen +and Blanca Mujer. The raiders had been unable to handle more than one +horse for each man. It was bitter irony of fate that Belding should +lose his favorite, the one horse more dear to him than all the others. +Somewhere out on the trail a raider was fighting the iron-jawed savage +Blanco Diablo. + +"I reckon we're some lucky," observed Jim Lash. + +"Lucky ain't enough word," replied Ladd. "You see, it was this way. +Some of the raiders piled over the fence while the others worked on the +gate. Mebbe the Papago went inside to pick out the best hosses. But +it didn't work except with Diablo, an' how they ever got him I don't +know. I'd have gambled it'd take all of eight men to steal him. But +Greasers have got us skinned on handlin' hosses." + +Belding was unconsolable. He cursed and railed, and finally declared +he was going to trail the raiders. + +"Tom, you just ain't agoin' to do nothin' of the kind," said Ladd +coolly. + +Belding groaned and bowed his head. + +"Laddy, you're right," he replied, presently. "I've got to stand it. +I can't leave the women and my property. But it's sure tough. I'm sore +way down deep, and nothin' but blood would ever satisfy me." + +"Leave that to me an' Jim," said Ladd. + +"What do you mean to do?" demanded Belding, starting up. + +"Shore I don't know yet.... Give me a light for my pipe. An' Dick, go +fetch out your Yaqui." + + + +VIII + +THE RUNNING OF BLANCO SOL + +THE Yaqui's strange dark glance roved over the corral, the swinging +gate with its broken fastenings, the tracks in the road, and then +rested upon Belding. + +"Malo," he said, and his Spanish was clear. + +"Shore Yaqui, about eight bad men, an' a traitor Indian," said Ladd. + +"I think he means my herder," added Belding. "If he does, that settles +any doubt it might be decent to have--Yaqui--malo Papago--Si?" + +The Yaqui spread wide his hands. Then he bent over the tracks in the +road. They led everywhither, but gradually he worked out of the thick +net to take the trail that the cowboys had followed down to the river. +Belding and the rangers kept close at his heels. Occasionally Dick lent +a helping hand to the still feeble Indian. He found a trampled spot +where the raiders had left their horses. From this point a deeply +defined narrow trail led across the dry river bed. + +Belding asked the Yaqui where the raiders would head for in the Sonora +Desert. For answer the Indian followed the trail across the stream of +sand, through willows and mesquite, up to the level of rock and cactus. +At this point he halted. A sand-filled, almost obliterated trail led +off to the left, and evidently went round to the east of No Name +Mountains. To the right stretched the road toward Papago Well and the +Sonoyta Oasis. The trail of the raiders took a southeasterly course +over untrodden desert. The Yaqui spoke in his own tongue, then in +Spanish. + +"Think he means slow march," said Belding. "Laddy, from the looks of +that trail the Greasers are having trouble with the horses." + +"Tom, shore a boy could see that," replied Laddy. "Ask Yaqui to tell +us where the raiders are headin', an' if there's water." + +It was wonderful to see the Yaqui point. His dark hand stretched, he +sighted over his stretched finger at a low white escarpment in the +distance. Then with a stick he traced a line in the sand, and then at +the end of that another line at right angles. He made crosses and +marks and holes, and as he drew the rude map he talked in Yaqui, in +Spanish; with a word here and there in English. Belding translated as +best he could. The raiders were heading southeast toward the railroad +that ran from Nogales down into Sonora. It was four days' travel, bad +trail, good sure waterhole one day out; then water not sure for two +days. Raiders traveling slow; bothered by too many horses, not looking +for pursuit; were never pursued, could be headed and ambushed that +night at the first waterhole, a natural trap in a valley. + +The men returned to the ranch. The rangers ate and drank while making +hurried preparations for travel. Blanco Sol and the cowboys' horses +were fed, watered, and saddled. Ladd again refused to ride one of +Belding's whites. He was quick and cold. + +"Get me a long-range rifle an' lots of shells. Rustle now," he said. + +"Laddy, you don't want to be weighted down?" protested Belding. + +"Shore I want a gun that'll outshoot the dinky little carbines an' +muskets used by the rebels. Trot one out an' be quick." + +"I've got a .405, a long-barreled heavy rifle that'll shoot a mile. I +use it for mountain sheep. But Laddy, it'll break that bronch's back." + +"His back won't break so easy.... Dick, take plenty of shells for your +Remington. An' don't forget your field glass." + +In less than an hour after the time of the raid the three rangers, +heavily armed and superbly mounted on fresh horses, rode out on the +trail. As Gale turned to look back from the far bank of Forlorn River, +he saw Nell waving a white scarf. He stood high in his stirrups and +waved his sombrero. Then the mesquites hid the girl's slight figure, +and Gale wheeled grim-faced to follow the rangers. + +They rode in single file with Ladd in the lead. He did not keep to the +trail of the raiders all the time. He made short cuts. The raiders +were traveling leisurely, and they evinced a liking for the most level +and least cactus-covered stretches of ground. But the cowboy took a +bee-line course for the white escarpment pointed out by the Yaqui; and +nothing save deep washes and impassable patches of cactus or rocks made +him swerve from it. He kept the broncho at a steady walk over the +rougher places and at a swinging Indian canter over the hard and level +ground. The sun grew hot and the wind began to blow. Dust clouds +rolled along the blue horizon. Whirling columns of sand, like water +spouts at sea, circled up out of white arid basins, and swept away and +spread aloft before the wind. The escarpment began to rise, to change +color, to show breaks upon its rocky face. + +Whenever the rangers rode out on the brow of a knoll or ridge or an +eminence, before starting to descend, Ladd required of Gale a long, +careful, sweeping survey of the desert ahead through the field glass. +There were streams of white dust to be seen, streaks of yellow dust, +trailing low clouds of sand over the glistening dunes, but no steadily +rising, uniformly shaped puffs that would tell a tale of moving horses +on the desert. + +At noon the rangers got out of the thick cactus. Moreover, the +gravel-bottomed washes, the low weathering, rotting ledges of yellow +rock gave place to hard sandy rolls and bare clay knolls. The desert +resembled a rounded hummocky sea of color. All light shades of blue +and pink and yellow and mauve were there dominated by the glaring white +sun. Mirages glistened, wavered, faded in the shimmering waves of +heat. Dust as fine as powder whiffed up from under the tireless hoofs. + +The rangers rode on and the escarpment began to loom. The desert floor +inclined perceptibly upward. When Gale got an unobstructed view of the +slope of the escarpment he located the raiders and horses. In another +hour's travel the rangers could see with naked eyes a long, faint +moving streak of black and white dots. + +"They're headin' for that yellow pass," said Ladd, pointing to a break +in the eastern end of the escarpment. "When they get out of sight +we'll rustle. I'm thinkin' that waterhole the Yaqui spoke of lays in +the pass." + +The rangers traveled swiftly over the remaining miles of level desert +leading to the ascent of the escarpment. When they achieved the +gateway of the pass the sun was low in the west. Dwarfed mesquite and +greasewood appeared among the rocks. Ladd gave the word to tie up +horses and go forward on foot. + +The narrow neck of the pass opened and descended into a valley half a +mile wide, perhaps twice that in length. It had apparently unscalable +slopes of weathered rock leading up to beetling walls. With floor bare +and hard and white, except for a patch of green mesquite near the far +end it was a lurid and desolate spot, the barren bottom of a desert +bowl. + +"Keep down, boys" said Ladd. "There's the waterhole an' hosses have +sharp eyes. Shore the Yaqui figgered this place. I never seen its +like for a trap." + +Both white and black horses showed against the green, and a thin +curling column of blue smoke rose lazily from amid the mesquites. + +"I reckon we'd better wait till dark, or mebbe daylight," said Jim Lash. + +"Let me figger some. Dick, what do you make of the outlet to this +hole? Looks rough to me." + +With his glass Gale studied the narrow construction of walls and +roughened rising floor. + +"Laddy, it's harder to get out at that end than here," he replied. + +"Shore that's hard enough. Let me have a look.... Well, boys, it don't +take no figgerin' for this job. Jim, I'll want you at the other end +blockin' the pass when we're ready to start." + +"When'll that be?" inquired Jim. + +"Soon as it's light enough in the mornin'. That Greaser outfit will +hang till to-morrow. There's no sure water ahead for two days, you +remember." + +"I reckon I can slip through to the other end after dark," said Lash, +thoughtfully. "It might get me in bad to go round." + +The rangers stole back from the vantage point and returned to their +horses, which they untied and left farther round among broken sections +of cliff. For the horses it was a dry, hungry camp, but the rangers +built a fire and had their short though strengthening meal. + +The location was high, and through a break in the jumble of rocks the +great colored void of desert could be seen rolling away endlessly to +the west. The sun set, and after it had gone down the golden tips of +mountains dulled, their lower shadows creeping upward. + +Jim Lash rolled in his saddle blanket, his feet near the fire, and went +to sleep. Ladd told Gale to do likewise while he kept the fire up and +waited until it was late enough for Jim to undertake circling round the +raiders. When Gale awakened the night was dark, cold, windy. The +stars shone with white brilliance. Jim was up saddling his horse, and +Ladd was talking low. When Gale rose to accompany them both rangers +said he need not go. But Gale wanted to go because that was the thing +Ladd or Jim would have done. + +With Ladd leading, they moved away into the gloom. Advance was +exceedingly slow, careful, silent. Under the walls the blackness +seemed impenetrable. The horse was as cautious as his master. Ladd did +not lose his way, nevertheless he wound between blocks of stone and +clumps of mesquite, and often tried a passage to abandon it. Finally +the trail showed pale in the gloom, and eastern stars twinkled between +the lofty ramparts of the pass. + +The advance here was still as stealthily made as before, but not so +difficult or slow. When the dense gloom of the pass lightened, and +there was a wide space of sky and stars overhead, Ladd halted and stood +silent a moment. + +"Luck again!" he whispered. "The wind's in your face, Jim. The horses +won't scent you. Go slow. Don't crack a stone. Keep close under the +wall. Try to get up as high as this at the other end. Wait till +daylight before riskin' a loose slope. I'll be ridin' the job early. +That's all." + +Ladd's cool, easy speech was scarcely significant of the perilous +undertaking. Lash moved very slowly away, leading his horse. The soft +pads of hoofs ceased to sound about the time the gray shape merged into +the black shadows. Then Ladd touched Dick's arm, and turned back up +the trail. + +But Dick tarried a moment. He wanted a fuller sense of that +ebony-bottomed abyss, with its pale encircling walls reaching up to the +dusky blue sky and the brilliant stars. There was absolutely no sound. + +He retraced his steps down, soon coming up with Ladd; and together they +picked a way back through the winding recesses of cliff. The campfire +was smoldering. Ladd replenished it and lay down to get a few hours' +sleep, while Gale kept watch. The after part of the night wore on till +the paling of stars, the thickening of gloom indicated the dark hour +before dawn. The spot was secluded from wind, but the air grew cold as +ice. Gale spent the time stripping wood from a dead mesquite, in +pacing to and fro, in listening. Blanco Sol stamped occasionally, +which sound was all that broke the stilliness. Ladd awoke before the +faintest gray appeared. The rangers ate and drank. When the black did +lighten to gray they saddled the horses and led them out to the pass +and down to the point where they had parted with Lash. Here they +awaited daylight. + +To Gale it seemed long in coming. Such a delay always aggravated the +slow fire within him. He had nothing of Ladd's patience. He wanted +action. The gray shadow below thinned out, and the patch of mesquite +made a blot upon the pale valley. The day dawned. + +Still Ladd waited. He grew more silent, grimmer as the time of action +approached. Gale wondered what the plan of attack would be. Yet he +did not ask. He waited ready for orders. + +The valley grew clear of gray shadow except under leaning walls on the +eastern side. Then a straight column of smoke rose from among the +mesquites. Manifestly this was what Ladd had been awaiting. He took +the long .405 from its sheath and tried the lever. Then he lifted a +cartridge belt from the pommel of his saddle. Every ring held a shell +and these shells were four inches long. He buckled the belt round him. + +"Come on, Dick." + +Ladd led the way down the slope until he reached a position that +commanded the rising of the trail from a level. It was the only place +a man or horse could leave the valley for the pass. + +"Dick, here's your stand. If any raider rides in range take a crack at +him.... Now I want the lend of your hoss." + +"Blanco Sol!" exclaimed Gale, more in amazement that Ladd should ask +for the horse than in reluctance to lend him. + +"Will you let me have him?" Ladd repeated, almost curtly. + +"Certainly, Laddy." + +A smile momentarily chased the dark cold gloom that had set upon the +ranger's lean face. + +"Shore I appreciate it, Dick. I know how you care for that hoss. I +guess mebbe Charlie Ladd has loved a hoss! An' one not so good as Sol. +I was only tryin' your nerve, Dick, askin' you without tellin' my plan. +Sol won't get a scratch, you can gamble on that! I'll ride him down +into the valley an' pull the greasers out in the open. They've got +short-ranged carbines. They can't keep out of range of the .405, an' +I'll be takin' the dust of their lead. Sabe, senor?" + +"Laddy! You'll run Sol away from the raiders when they chase you? Run +him after them when they try to get away?" + +"Shore. I'll run all the time. They can't gain on Sol, an' he'll run +them down when I want. Can you beat it?" + +"No. It's great!... But suppose a raider comes out on Blanco Diablo?" + +"I reckon that's the one weak place in my plan. I'm figgerin' they'll +never think of that till it's too late. But if they do, well, Sol can +outrun Diablo. An' I can always kill the white devil!" + +Ladd's strange hate of the horse showed in the passion of his last +words, in his hardening jaw and grim set lips. + +Gale's hand went swiftly to the ranger's shoulder. + +"Laddy. Don't kill Diablo unless it's to save your life." + +"All right. But, by God, if I get a chance I'll make Blanco Sol run +him off his legs!" + +He spoke no more and set about changing the length of Sol's stirrups. +When he had them adjusted to suit he mounted and rode down the trail +and out upon the level. He rode leisurely as if merely going to water +his horse. The long black rifle lying across his saddle, however, was +ominous. + +Gale securely tied the other horse to a mesquite at hand, and took a +position behind a low rock over which he could easily see and shoot +when necessary. He imagined Jim Lash in a similar position at the far +end of the valley blocking the outlet. Gale had grown accustomed to +danger and the hard and fierce feelings peculiar to it. But the coming +drama was so peculiarly different in promise from all he had +experienced, that he waited the moment of action with thrilling +intensity. In him stirred long, brooding wrath at these border +raiders--affection for Belding, and keen desire to avenge the outrages +he had suffered--warm admiration for the cold, implacable Ladd and his +absolute fearlessness, and a curious throbbing interest in the old, +much-discussed and never-decided argument as to whether Blanco Sol was +fleeter, stronger horse than Blanco Diablo. Gale felt that he was to +see a race between these great rivals--the kind of race that made men +and horses terrible. + +Ladd rode a quarter of a mile out upon the flat before anything +happened. Then a whistle rent the still, cold air. A horse had seen +or scented Blanco Sol. The whistle was prolonged, faint, but clear. +It made the blood thrum in Gale's ears. Sol halted. His head shot up +with the old, wild, spirited sweep. Gale leveled his glass at the +patch of mesquites. He saw the raiders running to an open place, +pointing, gesticulating. The glass brought them so close that he saw +the dark faces. Suddenly they broke and fled back among the trees. +Then he got only white and dark gleams of moving bodies. Evidently +that moment was one of boots, guns, and saddles for the raiders. + +Lowering the glass, Gale saw that Blanco Sol had started forward again. +His gait was now a canter, and he had covered another quarter of a mile +before horses and raiders appeared upon the outskirts of the mesquites. +Then Blanco Sol stopped. His shrill, ringing whistle came distinctly to +Gale's ears. The raiders were mounted on dark horses, and they stood +abreast in a motionless line. Gale chuckled as he appreciated what a +puzzle the situation presented for them. A lone horseman in the middle +of the valley did not perhaps seem so menacing himself as the +possibilities his presence suggested. + +Then Gale saw a raider gallop swiftly from the group toward the farther +outlet of the valley. This might have been owing to characteristic +cowardice; but it was more likely a move of the raiders to make sure of +retreat. Undoubtedly Ladd saw this galloping horseman. A few waiting +moments ensued. The galloping horseman reached the slope, began to +climb. With naked eyes Gale saw a puff of white smoke spring out of +the rocks. Then the raider wheeled his plunging horse back to the +level, and went racing wildly down the valley. + +The compact bunch of bays and blacks seemed to break apart and spread +rapidly from the edge of the mesquites. Puffs of white smoke indicated +firing, and showed the nature of the raiders' excitement. They were far +out of ordinary range, but they spurred toward Ladd, shooting as they +rode. Ladd held his ground; the big white horse stood like a rock in +his tracks. Gale saw little spouts of dust rise in front of Blanco Sol +and spread swift as sight to his rear. The raiders' bullets, striking +low, were skipping along the hard, bare floor of the valley. Then Ladd +raised the long rifle. There was no smoke, but three high, spanging +reports rang out. A gap opened in the dark line of advancing horsemen; +then a riderless steed sheered off to the right. Blanco Sol seemed to +turn as on a pivot and charged back toward the lower end of the valley. +He circled over to Gale's right and stretched out into his run. There +were now five raiders in pursuit, and they came sweeping down, yelling +and shooting, evidently sure of their quarry. Ladd reserved his fire. +He kept turning from back to front in his saddle. + +Gale saw how the space widened between pursuers and pursued, saw +distinctly when Ladd eased up Sol's running. Manifestly Ladd intended +to try to lead the raiders round in front of Gale's position, and, +presently, Gale saw he was going to succeed. The raiders, riding like +vaqueros, swept on in a curve, cutting off what distance they could. +One fellow, a small, wiry rider, high on his mount's neck like a +jockey, led his companions by many yards. He seemed to be getting the +range of Ladd, or else he shot high, for his bullets did not strike up +the dust behind Sol. Gale was ready to shoot. Blanco Sol pounded by, +his rapid, rhythmic hoofbeats plainly to be heard. He was running +easily. + +Gale tried to still the jump of heart and pulse, and turned his eye +again on the nearest pursuer. This raider was crossing in, his carbine +held muzzle up in his right hand, and he was coming swiftly. It was a +long shot, upward of five hundred yards. Gale had not time to adjust +the sights of the Remington, but he knew the gun and, holding coarsely +upon the swiftly moving blot, he began to shoot. The first bullet sent +up a great splash of dust beneath the horse's nose, making him leap as +if to hurdle a fence. The rifle was automatic; Gale needed only to pull +the trigger. He saw now that the raiders behind were in line. Swiftly +he worked the trigger. Suddenly the leading horse leaped convulsively, +not up nor aside, but straight ahead, and then he crashed to the ground +throwing his rider like a catapult, and then slid and rolled. He half +got up, fell back, and kicked; but his rider never moved. + +The other raiders sawed the reins of plunging steeds and whirled to +escape the unseen battery. Gale slipped a fresh clip into the magazine +of his rifle. He restrained himself from useless firing and gave eager +eye to the duel below. Ladd began to shoot while Sol was running. The +.405 rang out sharply--then again. The heavy bullets streaked the dust +all the way across the valley. Ladd aimed deliberately and pulled +slowly, unmindful of the kicking dust-puffs behind Sol, and to the +side. The raiders spurred madly in pursuit, loading and firing. They +shot ten times while Ladd shot once, and all in vain; and on Ladd's +sixth shot a raider topped backward, threw his carbine and fell with +his foot catching in a stirrup. The frightened horse plunged away, +dragging him in a path of dust. + +Gale had set himself to miss nothing of that fighting race, yet the +action passed too swiftly for clear sight of all. Ladd had emptied a +magazine, and now Blanco Sol quickened and lengthened his running +stride. He ran away from his pursuers. Then it was that the ranger's +ruse was divined by the raiders. They hauled sharply up and seemed to +be conferring. But that was a fatal mistake. Blanco Sol was seen to +break his gait and slow down in several jumps, then square away and +stand stockstill. Ladd fired at the closely grouped raiders. An +instant passed. Then Gale heard the spat of a bullet out in front, saw +a puff of dust, then heard the lead strike the rocks and go whining +away. And it was after this that one of the raiders fell prone from +his saddle. The steel-jacketed .405 had gone through him on its +uninterrupted way to hum past Gale's position. + +The remaining two raiders frantically spurred their horses and fled up +the valley. Ladd sent Sol after them. It seemed to Gale, even though +he realized his excitement, that Blanco Sol made those horses seem like +snails. The raiders split, one making for the eastern outlet, the +other circling back of the mesquites. Ladd kept on after the latter. +Then puffs of white smoke and rifle shots faintly crackling told Jim +Lash's hand in the game. However, he succeeded only in driving the +raider back into the valley. But Ladd had turned the other horseman, +and now it appeared the two raiders were between Lash above on the +stony slope and Ladd below on the level. There was desperate riding on +part of the raiders to keep from being hemmed in closer. Only one of +them got away, and he came riding for life down under the eastern wall. +Blanco Sol settled into his graceful, beautiful swing. He gained +steadily, though he was far from extending himself. By Gale's actual +count the raider fired eight times in that race down the valley, and +all his bullets went low and wide. He pitched the carbine away and lost +all control in headlong flight. + +Some few hundred rods to the left of Gale the raider put his horse to +the weathered slope. He began to climb. The horse was superb, +infinitely more courageous than his rider. Zigzag they went up and up, +and when Ladd reached the edge of the slope they were high along the +cracked and guttered rampart. Once--twice Ladd raised the long rifle, +but each time he lowered it. Gale divined that the ranger's restraint +was not on account of the Mexican, but for that valiant and faithful +horse. Up and up he went, and the yellow dust clouds rose, and an +avalanche rolled rattling and cracking down the slope. It was beyond +belief that a horse, burdened or unburdened, could find footing and +hold it upon that wall of narrow ledges and inverted, slanting gullies. +But he climbed on, sure-footed as a mountain goat, and, surmounting the +last rough steps, he stood a moment silhouetted against the white sky. +Then he disappeared. Ladd sat astride Blanco Sol gazing upward. How +the cowboy must have honored that raider's brave steed! + +Gale, who had been too dumb to shout the admiration he felt, suddenly +leaped up, and his voice came with a shriek: + +"LOOK OUT, LADDY!" + +A big horse, like a white streak, was bearing down to the right of the +ranger. Blanco Diablo! A matchless rider swung with the horse's +motion. Gale was stunned. Then he remembered the first raider, the +one Lash had shot at and driven away from the outlet. This fellow had +made for the mesquite and had put a saddle on Belding's favorite. In +the heat of the excitement, while Ladd had been intent upon the +climbing horse, this last raider had come down with the speed of the +wind straight for the western outlet. Perhaps, very probably, he did +not know Gale was there to block it; and certainly he hoped to pass +Ladd and Blanco Sol. + +A touch of the spur made Sol lunge forward to head off the raider. +Diablo was in his stride, but the distance and angle favored Sol. The +raider had no carbine. He held aloft a gun ready to level it and fire. +He sat the saddle as if it were a stationary seat. Gale saw Ladd lean +down and drop the .405 in the sand. He would take no chances of +wounding Belding's best-loved horse. + +Then Gale sat transfixed with suspended breath watching the horses +thundering toward him. Blanco Diablo was speeding low, fleet as an +antelope, fierce and terrible in his devilish action, a horse for war +and blood and death. He seemed unbeatable. Yet to see the +magnificently running Blanco Sol was but to court a doubt. Gale stood +spellbound. He might have shot the raider; but he never thought of +such a thing. The distance swiftly lessened. Plain it was the raider +could not make the opening ahead of Ladd. He saw it and swerved to the +left, emptying his six-shooter as he turned. His dark face gleamed as +he flashed by Gale. + +Blanco Sol thundered across. Then the race became straight away up the +valley. Diablo was cold and Sol was hot; therein lay the only handicap +and vantage. It was a fleet, beautiful, magnificent race. Gale +thrilled and exulted and yelled as his horse settled into a steadily +swifter run and began to gain. The dust rolled in a funnel-shaped +cloud from the flying hoofs. The raider wheeled with gun puffing +white, and Ladd ducked low over the neck of his horse. + +The gap between Diablo and Sol narrowed yard by yard. At first it had +been a wide one. The raider beat his mount and spurred, beat and +spurred, wheeled round to shoot, then bent forward again. In his circle +at the upper end of the valley he turned far short of the jumble of +rocks. + +All the devil that was in Blanco Diablo had its running on the downward +stretch. The strange, cruel urge of bit and spur, the crazed rider who +stuck like a burr upon him, the shots and smoke added terror to his +natural violent temper. He ran himself off his feet. But he could not +elude that relentless horse behind him. The running of Blanco Sol was +that of a sure, remorseless driving power--steadier--stronger--swifter +with every long and wonderful stride. + +The raider tried to sheer Diablo off closer under the wall, to make the +slope where his companion had escaped. But Diablo was uncontrollable. +He was running wild, with breaking gait. Closer and closer crept that +white, smoothly gliding, beautiful machine of speed. + +Then, like one white flash following another, the two horses gleamed +down the bank of a wash and disappeared in clouds of dust. + +Gale watched with strained and smarting eyes. The thick throb in his +ears was pierced by faint sounds of gunshots. Then he waited in almost +unendurable suspense. + +Suddenly something whiter than the background of dust appeared above +the low roll of valley floor. Gale leveled his glass. In the clear +circle shone Blanco Sol's noble head with its long black bar from ears +to nose. Sol's head was drooping now. Another second showed Ladd +still in the saddle. + +The ranger was leading Blanco +Diable--spent--broken--dragging--riderless. + + + +IX + +AN INTERRUPTED SIESTA + +NO man ever had a more eloquent and beautiful pleader for his cause +than had Dick Gale in Mercedes Castaneda. He peeped through the green, +shining twigs of the palo verde that shaded his door. The hour was +high noon, and the patio was sultry. The only sounds were the hum of +bees in the flowers and the low murmur of the Spanish girl's melodious +voice. Nell lay in the hammock, her hands behind her head, with rosy +cheeks and arch eyes. Indeed, she looked rebellious. Certain it was, +Dick reflected, that the young lady had fully recovered the wilful +personality which had lain dormant for a while. Equally certain it +seemed that Mercedes's earnestness was not apparently having the effect +it should have had. + +Dick was inclined to be rebellious himself. Belding had kept the +rangers in off the line, and therefore Dick had been idle most of the +time, and, though he tried hard, he had been unable to stay far from +Nell's vicinity. He believed she cared for him; but he could not catch +her alone long enough to verify his tormenting hope. When alone she +was as illusive as a shadow, as quick as a flash, as mysterious as a +Yaqui. When he tried to catch her in the garden or fields, or corner +her in the patio, she eluded him, and left behind a memory of +dark-blue, haunting eyes. It was that look in her eyes which lent him +hope. At other times, when it might have been possible for Dick to +speak, Nell clung closely to Mercedes. He had long before enlisted the +loyal Mercedes in his cause; but in spite of this Nell had been more +than a match for them both. + +Gale pondered over an idea he had long revolved in mind, and which now +suddenly gave place to a decision that made his heart swell and his +cheek burn. He peeped again through the green branches to see Nell +laughing at the fiery Mercedes. + +"Qui'en sabe," he called, mockingly, and was delighted with Nell's +quick, amazed start. + +Then he went in search of Mrs. Belding, and found her busy in the +kitchen. The relation between Gale and Mrs. Belding had subtly and +incomprehensively changed. He understood her less than when at first +he divined an antagonism in her. If such a thing were possible she had +retained the antagonism while seeming to yield to some influence that +must have been fondness for him. Gale was in no wise sure of her +affection, and he had long imagined she was afraid of him, or of +something that he represented. He had gone on, openly and fairly, +though discreetly, with his rather one-sided love affair; and as time +passed he had grown less conscious of what had seemed her unspoken +opposition. Gale had come to care greatly for Nell's mother. Not only +was she the comfort and strength of her home, but also of the +inhabitants of Forlorn River. Indian, Mexican, American were all the +same to her in trouble or illness; and then she was nurse, doctor, +peacemaker, helper. She was good and noble, and there was not a child +or grownup in Forlorn River who did not love and bless her. But Mrs. +Belding did not seem happy. She was brooding, intense, deep, strong, +eager for the happiness and welfare of others; and she was dominated by +a worship of her daughter that was as strange as it was pathetic. Mrs. +Belding seldom smiled, and never laughed. There was always a soft, sad, +hurt look in her eyes. Gale often wondered if there had been other +tragedy in her life than the supposed loss of her father in the desert. +Perhaps it was the very unsolved nature of that loss which made it +haunting. + +Mrs. Belding heard Dick's step as he entered the kitchen, and, looking +up, greeted him. + +"Mother," began Dick, earnestly. Belding called her that, and so did +Ladd and Lash, but it was the first time for Dick. "Mother--I want to +speak to you." + +The only indication Mrs. Belding gave of being started was in her eyes, +which darkened, shadowed with multiplying thought. + +"I love Nell," went on Dick, simply, "and I want you to let me ask her +to be my wife." + +Mrs. Belding's face blanched to a deathly white. Gale, thinking with +surprise and concern that she was going to faint, moved quickly toward +her, took her arm. + +"Forgive me. I was blunt.... But I thought you knew." + +"I've known for a long time," replied Mrs. Belding. Her voice was +steady, and there was no evidence of agitation except in her pallor. +"Then you--you haven't spoken to Nell?" + +Dick laughed. "I've been trying to get a chance to tell her. I +haven't had it yet. But she knows. There are other ways besides +speech. And Mercedes has told her. I hope, I almost believe Nell +cares a little for me." + +"I've known that, too, for a long time," said Mrs. Belding, low almost +as a whisper. + +"You know!" cried Dick, with a glow and rush of feeling. + +"Dick, you must be very blind not to see what has been plain to all of +us.... I guess--it couldn't have been helped. You're a splendid +fellow. No wonder she loves you." + +"Mother! You'll give her to me?" + +She drew him to the light and looked with strange, piercing intentness +into his face. Gale had never dreamed a woman's eyes could hold such a +world of thought and feeling. It seemed all the sweetness of life was +there, and all the pain. + +"Do you love her?" she asked. + +"With all my heart." + +"You want to marry her?" + +"Ah, I want to! As much as I want to live and work for her." + +"When would you marry her?" + +"Why!... Just as soon as she will do it. To-morrow!" Dick gave a wild, +exultant little laugh. + +"Dick Gale, you want my Nell? You love her just as she is--her +sweetness--her goodness? Just herself, body and soul?... There's +nothing could change you--nothing?" + +"Dear Mrs. Belding, I love Nell for herself. If she loves me I'll be +the happiest of men. There's absolutely nothing that could make any +difference in me." + +"But your people? Oh, Dick, you come of a proud family. I can tell. +I--I once knew a young man like you. A few months can't change +pride--blood. Years can't change them. You've become a ranger. You +love the adventure--the wild life. That won't last. Perhaps you'll +settle down to ranching. I know you love the West. But, Dick, there's +your family--" + +"If you want to know anything about my family, I'll tell you," +interrupted Dick, with strong feeling. "I've not secrets about them or +myself. My future and happiness are Nell's to make. No one else shall +count with me." + +"Then, Dick--you may have her. God--bless--you--both." + +Mrs. Belding's strained face underwent a swift and mobile relaxation, +and suddenly she was weeping in strangely mingled happiness and +bitterness. + +"Why, mother!" Gale could say no more. He did not comprehend a mood +seemingly so utterly at variance with Mrs. Belding's habitual +temperament. But he put his arm around her. In another moment she had +gained command over herself, and, kissing him, she pushed him out of +the door. + +"There! Go tell her, Dick... And have some spunk about it!" + +Gale went thoughtfully back to his room. He vowed that he would answer +for Nell's happiness, if he had the wonderful good fortune to win her. +Then remembering the hope Mrs. Belding had given him, Dick lost his +gravity in a flash, and something began to dance and ring within him. +He simply could not keep his steps turned from the patio. Every path +led there. His blood was throbbing, his hopes mounting, his spirit +soaring. He knew he had never before entered the patio with that +inspirited presence. + +"Now for some spunk!" he said, under his breath. + +Plainly he meant his merry whistle and his buoyant step to interrupt +this first languorous stage of the siesta which the girls always took +during the hot hours. Nell had acquired the habit long before Mercedes +came to show how fixed a thing it was in the life of the tropics. But +neither girl heard him. Mercedes lay under the palo verde, her +beautiful head dark and still upon a cushion. Nell was asleep in the +hammock. There was an abandonment in her deep repose, and a faint +smile upon her face. Her sweet, red lips, with the soft, perfect +curve, had always fascinated Dick, and now drew him irresistibly. He +had always been consumed with a desire to kiss her, and now he was +overwhelmed with his opportunity. It would be a terrible thing to do, +but if she did not awaken at once-- No, he would fight the temptation. +That would be more than spunk. It would-- Suddenly an ugly green fly +sailed low over Nell, appeared about to alight on her. Noiselessly +Dick stepped close to the hammock bent under the tree, and with a sweep +of his hand chased the intruding fly away. But he found himself +powerless to straighten up. He was close to her--bending over her +face--near the sweet lips. The insolent, dreaming smile just parted +them. Then he thought he was lost. But she stirred--he feared she +would awaken. + +He had stepped back erect when she opened her eyes. They were sleepy, +yet surprised until she saw him. Then she was wide awake in a second, +bewildered, uncertain. + +"Why--you here?" she asked, slowly. + +"Large as life!" replied Dick, with unusual gayety. + +"How long have you been here?" + +"Just got here this fraction of a second," he replied, lying +shamelessly. + +It was evident that she did not know whether or not to believe him, and +as she studied him a slow blush dyed her cheek. + +"You are absolutely truthful when you say you just stepped there?" + +"Why, of course," answered Dick, right glad he did not have to lie +about that. + +"I thought--I was--dreaming," she said, and evidently the sound of her +voice reassured her. + +"Yes, you looked as if you were having pleasant dreams," replied Dick. +"So sorry to wake you. I can't see how I came to do it, I was so +quiet. Mercedes didn't wake. Well, I'll go and let you have your +siesta and dreams." + +But he did not move to go. Nell regarded him with curious, speculative +eyes. + +"Isn't it a lovely day?" queried Dick. + +"I think it's hot." + +"Only ninety in the shade. And you've told me the mercury goes to one +hundred and thirty in midsummer. This is just a glorious golden day." + +"Yesterday was finer, but you didn't notice it." + +"Oh, yesterday was somewhere back in the past--the inconsequential +past." + +Nell's sleepy blue eyes opened a little wider. She did not know what +to make of this changed young man. Dick felt gleeful and tried hard to +keep the fact from becoming manifest. + +"What's the inconsequential past? You seem remarkably happy to-day." + +"I certainly am happy. Adios. Pleasant dreams." + +Dick turned away then and left the patio by the opening into the yard. +Nell was really sleepy, and when she had fallen asleep again he would +return. He walked around for a while. Belding and the rangers were +shoeing a broncho. Yaqui was in the field with the horses. Blanco Sol +grazed contently, and now and then lifted his head to watch. His long +ears went up at sight of his master, and he whistled. Presently Dick, +as if magnet-drawn, retraced his steps to the patio and entered +noiselessly. + +Nell was now deep in her siesta. She was inert, relaxed, untroubled by +dreams. Her hair was damp on her brow. + +Again Nell stirred, and gradually awakened. Her eyes unclosed, humid, +shadowy, unconscious. They rested upon Dick for a moment before they +became clear and comprehensive. He stood back fully ten feet from her, +and to all outside appearances regarded her calmly. + +"I've interrupted your siesta again," he said. "Please forgive me. +I'll take myself off." + +He wandered away, and when it became impossible for him to stay away +any longer he returned to the patio. + +The instant his glance rested upon Nell's face he divined she was +feigning sleep. The faint rose-blush had paled. The warm, rich, +golden tint of her skin had fled. Dick dropped upon his knees and bent +over her. Though his blood was churning in his veins, his breast +laboring, his mind whirling with the wonder of that moment and its +promise, he made himself deliberate. He wanted more than anything he +had ever wanted in his life to see if she would keep up that pretense +of sleep and let him kiss her. She must have felt his breath, for her +hair waved off her brow. Her cheeks were now white. Her breast swelled +and sank. He bent down closer--closer. But he must have been +maddeningly slow, for as he bent still closer Nell's eyes opened, and +he caught a swift purple gaze of eyes as she whirled her head. Then, +with a little cry, she rose and fled. + + + +X + +ROJAS + +NO word from George Thorne had come to Forlorn River in weeks. Gale +grew concerned over the fact, and began to wonder if anything serious +could have happened to him. Mercedes showed a slow, wearing strain. + +Thorne's commission expired the end of January, and if he could not get +his discharge immediately, he surely could obtain leave of absence. +Therefore, Gale waited, not without growing anxiety, and did his best +to cheer Mercedes. The first of February came bringing news of rebel +activities and bandit operations in and around Casita, but not a word +from the cavalryman. + +Mercedes became silent, mournful. Her eyes were great black windows of +tragedy. Nell devoted herself entirely to the unfortunate girl; Dick +exerted himself to persuade her that all would yet come well; in fact, +the whole household could not have been kinder to a sister or a +daughter. But their united efforts were unavailing. Mercedes seemed +to accept with fatalistic hopelessness a last and crowning misfortune. + +A dozen times Gale declared he would ride in to Casita and find out why +they did not hear from Thorne; however, older and wiser heads prevailed +over his impetuosity. Belding was not sanguine over the safety of the +Casita trail. Refugees from there arrived every day in Forlorn River, +and if tales they told were true, real war would have been preferable +to what was going on along the border. Belding and the rangers and the +Yaqui held a consultation. Not only had the Indian become a faithful +servant to Gale, but he was also of value to Belding. Yaqui had all +the craft of his class, and superior intelligence. His knowledge of +Mexicans was second only to his hate of them. And Yaqui, who had been +scouting on all the trails, gave information that made Belding decide +to wait some days before sending any one to Casita. He required +promises from his rangers, particularly Gale, not to leave without his +consent. + +It was upon Gale's coming from this conference that he encountered +Nell. Since the interrupted siesta episode she had been more than +ordinarily elusive, and about all he had received from her was a +tantalizing smile from a distance. He got the impression now, however, +that she had awaited him. When he drew close to her he was certain of +it, and he experienced more than surprise. + +"Dick," she began, hurriedly. "Dad's not going to send any one to see +about Thorne?" + +"No, not yet. He thinks it best not to. We all think so. I'm sorry. +Poor Mercedes!" + +"I knew it. I tried to coax him to send Laddy or even Yaqui. He +wouldn't listen to me. Dick, Mercedes is dying by inches. Can't you +see what ails her? It's more than love or fear. It's +uncertainty--suspense. Oh, can't we find out for her?" + +"Nell, I feel as badly as you about her. I wanted to ride in to +Casita. Belding shut me up quick, the last time." + +Nell came close to Gale, clasped his arm. There was no color in her +face. Her eyes held a dark, eager excitement. + +"Dick, will you slip off without Dad's consent? Risk it! Go to Casita +and find out what's happened to Thorne--at least if he ever started for +Forlorn River?" + +"No, Nell, I won't do that." + +She drew away from him with passionate suddenness. + +"Are you afraid?" + +This certainly was not the Nell Burton that Gale knew. + +"No, I'm not afraid," Gale replied, a little nettled. + +"Will you go--for my sake?" Like lightning her mood changed and she +was close to him again, hands on his, her face white, her whole +presence sweetly alluring. + +"Nell, I won't disobey Belding," protested Gale. "I won't break my +word." + +"Dick, it'll not be so bad as that. But--what if it is?... Go, Dick, +if not for poor Mercedes's sake, then for mine--to please me. +I'll--I'll... you won't lose anything by going. I think I know how +Mercedes feels. Just a word from Thorne or about him would save her. +Take Blanco Sol and go, Dick. What rebel outfit could ever ride you +down on that horse? Why, Dick, if I was up on Sol I wouldn't be afraid +of the whole rebel army." + +"My dear girl, it's not a question of being afraid. It's my word--my +duty to Belding." + +"You said you loved me. If you love me you will go... You don't love +me!" + +Gale could only stare at this transformed girl. + +"Dick, listen!... If you go--if you fetch some word of Thorne to +comfort Mercedes, you--well, you will have your reward." + +"Nell!" + +Her dangerous sweetness was as amazing as this newly revealed character. + +"Dick, will you go?" + +"No-no!" cried Gale, in violence, struggling with himself. "Nell +Burton, I'll tell you this. To have the reward I want would mean +pretty near heaven for me. But not even for that will I break my word +to your father." + +She seemed the incarnation of girlish scorn and wilful passion. + +"Gracias, senor," she replied, mockingly. "Adios." Then she flashed +out of his sight. + +Gale went to his room at once, disturbed and thrilling, and did not +soon recover from that encounter. + +The following morning at the breakfast table Nell was not present. Mrs. +Belding evidently considered the fact somewhat unusual, for she called +out into the patio and then into the yard. Then she went to Mercedes's +room. But Nell was not there, either. + +"She's in one of her tantrums lately," said Belding. "Wouldn't speak +to me this morning. Let her alone, mother. She's spoiled enough, +without running after her. She's always hungry. She'll be on hand +presently, don't mistake me." + +Notwithstanding Belding's conviction, which Gale shared, Nell did not +appear at all during the hour. When Belding and the rangers went +outside, Yaqui was eating his meal on the bench where he always sat. + +"Yaqui--Lluvia d' oro, si?" asked Belding, waving his hand toward the +corrals. The Indian's beautiful name for Nell meant "shower of gold," +and Belding used it in asking Yaqui if he had seen her. He received a +negative reply. + +Perhaps half an hour afterward, as Gale was leaving his room, he saw +the Yaqui running up the path from the fields. It was markedly out of +the ordinary to see the Indian run. Gale wondered what was the matter. +Yaqui ran straight to Belding, who was at work at his bench under the +wagon shed. In less than a moment Belding was bellowing for his +rangers. Gale got to him first, but Ladd and Lash were not far behind. + +"Blanco Sol gone!" yelled Belding, in a rage. + +"Gone? In broad daylight, with the Indian a-watch-in?" queried Ladd. + +"It happened while Yaqui was at breakfast. That's sure. He'd just +watered Sol." + +"Raiders!" exclaimed Jim Lash. + +"Lord only knows. Yaqui says it wasn't raiders." + +"Mebbe Sol's just walked off somewheres." + +"He was haltered in the corral." + +"Send Yaqui to find the hoss's trail, an' let's figger," said Ladd. +"Shore this 's no raider job." + +In the swift search that ensued Gale did not have anything to say; but +his mind was forming a conclusion. When he found his old saddle and +bridle missing from the peg in the barn his conclusion became a +positive conviction, and it made him, for the moment, cold and sick and +speechless. + +"Hey, Dick, don't take it so much to heart," said Belding. "We'll +likely find Sol, and if we don't, there's other good horses." + +"I'm not thinking of Sol," replied Gale. + +Ladd cast a sharp glance at Gale, snapped his fingers, and said: + +"Damn me if I ain't guessed it, too!" + +"What's wrong with you locoed gents?" bluntly demanded Belding. + +"Nell has slipped away on Sol," answered Dick. + +There was a blank pause, which presently Belding broke. + +"Well, that's all right, if Nell's on him. I was afraid we'd lost the +horse." + +"Belding, you're trackin' bad," said Ladd, wagging his head. + +"Nell has started for Casita," burst out Gale. "She has gone to fetch +Mercedes some word about Thorne. Oh, Belding, you needn't shake your +head. I know she's gone. She tried to persuade me to go, and was +furious when I wouldn't." + +"I don't believe it," replied Belding, hoarsely. "Nell may have her +temper. She's a little devil at times, but she always had good sense." + +"Tom, you can gamble she's gone," said Ladd. + +"Aw, hell, no! Jim, what do you think?" implored Belding. + +"I reckon Sol's white head is pointed level an' straight down the +Casita trail. An' Nell can ride. We're losing' time." + +That roused Belding to action. + +"I say you're all wrong," he yelled, starting for the corrals. "She's +only taking a little ride, same as she's done often. But rustle now. +Find out. Dick, you ride cross the valley. Jim, you hunt up and down +the river. I'll head up San Felipe way. And you, Laddy, take Diablo +and hit the Casita trail. If she really has gone after Thorne you can +catch her in an hour or so." + +"Shore I'll go," replied Ladd. "But, Beldin', if you're not plumb +crazy you're close to it. That big white devil can't catch Sol. Not in +an hour or a day or a week! What's more, at the end of any runnin' +time, with an even start, Sol will be farther in the lead. An' now +Sol's got an hour's start." + +"Laddy, you mean to say Sol is a faster horse than Diablo?" thundered +Belding, his face purple. + +"Shore. I mean to tell you just that there," replied the ranger. + +"I'll--I'll bet a--" + +"We're wastin' time," curtly interrupted Ladd. "You can gamble on this +if you want to. I'll ride your Blanco Devil as he never was rid +before, 'cept once when a damn sight better hossman than I am couldn't +make him outrun Sol." + +Without more words the men saddled and were off, not waiting for the +Yaqui to come in with possible information as to what trail Blanco Sol +had taken. It certainly did not show in the clear sand of the level +valley where Gale rode to and fro. When Gale returned to the house he +found Belding and Lash awaiting him. They did not mention their own +search, but stated that Yaqui had found Blanco Sol's tracks in the +Casita trail. After some consultation Belding decided to send Lash +along after Ladd. + +The interminable time that followed contained for Gale about as much +suspense as he could well bear. What astonished him and helped him +greatly to fight off actual distress was the endurance of Nell's mother. + +Early on the morning of the second day, Gale, who had acquired an +unbreakable habit of watching, saw three white horses and a bay come +wearily stepping down the road. He heard Blanco Sol's familiar +whistle, and he leaped up wild with joy. The horse was riderless. +Gale's sudden joy received a violent check, then resurged when he saw a +limp white form in Jim Lash's arms. Ladd was supporting a horseman who +wore a military uniform. + +Gale shouted with joy and ran into the house to tell the good news. It +was the ever-thoughtful Mrs. Belding who prevented him from rushing in +to tell Mercedes. Then he hurried out into the yard, closely followed +by the Beldings. + +Lash handed down a ragged, travel-stained, wan girl into Belding's arms. + +"Dad! Mama!" + +It was indeed a repentant Nell, but there was spirit yet in the tired +blue eyes. Then she caught sight of Gale and gave him a faint smile. + +"Hello--Dick." + +"Nell!" Gale reached for her hand, held it tightly, and found speech +difficult. + +"You needn't worry--about your old horse," she said, as Belding carried +her toward the door. "Oh, Dick! Blanco Sol is--glorious!" + +Gale turned to greet his friend. Indeed, it was but a haggard ghost of +the cavalryman. Thorne looked ill or wounded. Gale's greeting was +also a question full of fear. + +Thorne's answer was a faint smile. He seemed ready to drop from the +saddle. Gale helped Ladd hold Thorne upon the horse until they reached +the house. Belding came out again. His welcome was checked as he saw +the condition of the cavalryman. Thorne reeled into Dick's arms. But +he was able to stand and walk. + +"I'm not--hurt. Only weak--starved," he said. "Is Mercedes-- Take me +to her." + +"She'll be well the minute she sees him," averred Belding, as he and +Gale led the cavalryman to Mercedes's room. There they left him; and +Gale, at least, felt his ears ringing with the girl's broken cry of joy. + +When Belding and Gale hurried forth again the rangers were tending the +tired horses. Upon returning to the house Jim Lash calmly lit his +pipe, and Ladd declared that, hungry as he was, he had to tell his +story. + +"Shore, Beldin'," began Ladd, "that was funny about Diablo catchin' +Blanco Sol. Funny ain't the word. I nearly laughed myself to death. +Well, I rode in Sol's tracks all the way to Casita. Never seen a rebel +or a raider till I got to town. Figgered Nell made the trip in five +hours. I went straight to the camp of the cavalrymen, an' found them +just coolin' off an' dressin' down their hosses after what looked to me +like a big ride. I got there too late for the fireworks. + +"Some soldier took me to an officer's tent. Nell was there, some white +an' all in. She just said, 'Laddy!' Thorne was there, too, an' he was +bein' worked over by the camp doctor. I didn't ask no questions, +because I seen quiet was needed round that tent. After satisfying +myself that Nell was all right, an' Thorne in no danger, I went out. + +"Shore there was so darn many fellers who wanted to an' tried to tell +me what'd come off, I thought I'd never find out. But I got the story +piece by piece. An' here's what happened. + +"Nell rode Blanco Sol a-tearin' into camp, an' had a crowd round her in +a jiffy. She told who she was, where she'd come from, an' what she +wanted. Well, it seemed a day or so before Nell got there the +cavalrymen had heard word of Thorne. You see, Thorne had left camp on +leave of absence some time before. He was shore mysterious, they said, +an' told nobody where he was goin'. A week or so after he left camp +some Greaser give it away that Rojas had a prisoner in a dobe shack +near his camp. Nobody paid much attention to what the Greaser said. +He wanted money for mescal. An' it was usual for Rojas to have +prisoners. But in a few more days it turned out pretty sure that for +some reason Rojas was holdin' Thorne. + +"Now it happened when this news came Colonel Weede was in Nogales with +his staff, an' the officer left in charge didn't know how to proceed. +Rojas's camp was across the line in Mexico, an' ridin' over there was +serious business. It meant a whole lot more than just scatterin' one +Greaser camp. It was what had been botherin' more'n one colonel along +the line. Thorne's feller soldiers was anxious to get him out of a bad +fix, but they had to wait for orders. + +"When Nell found out Thorne was bein' starved an' beat in a dobe shack +no more'n two mile across the line, she shore stirred up that cavalry +camp. Shore! She told them soldiers Rojas was holdin' +Thorne--torturin' him to make him tell where Mercedes was. She told +about Mercedes--how sweet an' beautiful she was--how her father had +been murdered by Rojas--how she had been hounded by the bandit--how ill +an' miserable she was, waitin' for her lover. An' she begged the +cavalrymen to rescue Thorne. + +"From the way it was told to me I reckon them cavalrymen went up in the +air. Fine, fiery lot of young bloods, I thought, achin' for a scrap. +But the officer in charge, bein' in a ticklish place, still held out +for higher orders. + +"Then Nell broke loose. You-all know Nell's tongue is sometimes like a +choya thorn. I'd have give somethin' to see her work up that soldier +outfit. Nell's never so pretty as when she's mad. An' this last stunt +of hers was no girly tantrum, as Beldin' calls it. She musta been +ragin' with all the hell there's in a woman.... Can't you fellers see +her on Blanco Sol with her eyes turnin' black?" + +Ladd mopped his sweaty face with his dusty scarf. He was beaming. He +was growing excited, hurried in his narrative. + +"Right out then Nell swore she'd go after Thorne. If them cavalrymen +couldn't ride with a Western girl to save a brother American--let them +hang back! One feller, under orders, tried to stop Blanco Sol. An' +that feller invited himself to the hospital. Then the cavalrymen went +flyin' for their hosses. Mebbe Nell's move was just foxy--woman's +cunnin'. But I'm thinkin' as she felt then she'd have sent Blanco Sol +straight into Rojas's camp, which, I'd forgot to say, was in plain +sight. + +"It didn't take long for every cavalryman in that camp to get wind of +what was comin' off. Shore they musta been wild. They strung out +after Nell in a thunderin' troop. + +"Say, I wish you fellers could see the lane that bunch of hosses left +in the greasewood an' cactus. Looks like there'd been a cattle +stampede on the desert.... Blanco Sol stayed out in front, you can +gamble on that. Right into Rojas's camp! Sabe, you senors? Gawd +Almighty! I never had grief that 'd hold a candle to this one of bein' +too late to see Nell an' Sol in their one best race. + +"Rojas an' his men vamoosed without a shot. That ain't surprisin'. +There wasn't a shot fired by anybody. The cavalrymen soon found Thorne +an' hurried with him back on Uncle Sam's land. Thorne was half naked, +black an' blue all over, thin as a rail. He looked mighty sick when I +seen him first. That was a little after midday. He was given food an' +drink. Shore he seemed a starved man. But he picked up wonderful, an' +by the time Jim came along he was wantin' to start for Forlorn River. +So was Nell. By main strength as much as persuasion we kept the two of +them quiet till next evenin' at dark. + +"Well, we made as sneaky a start in the dark as Jim an' me could +manage, an' never hit the trail till we was miles from town. Thorne's +nerve held him up for a while. Then all at once he tumbled out of his +saddle. We got him back, an' Lash held him on. Nell didn't give out +till daybreak." + +As Ladd paused in his story Belding began to stutter, and finally he +exploded. His mighty utterances were incoherent. But plainly the +wrath he had felt toward the wilful girl was forgotten. Gale remained +gripped by silence. + +"I reckon you'll all be some surprised when you see Casita," went on +Ladd. "It's half burned an' half tore down. An' the rebels are livin' +fat. There was rumors of another federal force on the road from Casa +Grandes. I seen a good many Americans from interior Mexico, an' the +stories they told would make your hair stand up. They all packed guns, +was fightin' mad at Greasers, an' sore on the good old U. S. But shore +glad to get over the line! Some were waitin' for trains, which don't +run reg'lar no more, an' others were ready to hit the trails north." + +"Laddy, what knocks me is Rojas holding Thorne prisoner, trying to make +him tell where Mercedes had been hidden," said Belding. + +"Shore. It 'd knock anybody." + +"The bandit's crazy over her. That's the Spanish of it," replied +Belding, his voice rolling. "Rojas is a peon. He's been a slave to +the proud Castilian. He loves Mercedes as he hates her. When I was +down in Durango I saw something of these peons' insane passions. Rojas +wants this girl only to have her, then kill her. It's damn strange, +boys, and even with Thorne here our troubles have just begun." + +"Tom, you spoke correct," said Jim Ladd, in his cool drawl. + +"Shore I'm not sayin' what I think," added Ladd. But the look of him +was not indicative of a tranquil optimism. + +Thorne was put to bed in Gale's room. He was very weak, yet he would +keep Mercedes's hand and gaze at her with unbelieving eyes. Mercedes's +failing hold on hope and strength seemed to have been a fantasy; she +was again vivid, magnetic, beautiful, shot through and through with +intense and throbbing life. She induced him to take food and drink. +Then, fighting sleep with what little strength he had left, at last he +succumbed. + +For all Dick could ascertain his friend never stirred an eyelash nor a +finger for twenty-seven hours. When he awoke he was pale, weak, but +the old Thorne. + +"Hello, Dick; I didn't dream it then," he said. "There you are, and my +darling with the proud, dark eyes--she's here?" + +"Why, yes, you locoed cavalryman." + +"Say, what's happened to you? It can't be those clothes and a little +bronze on your face.... Dick, you're older--you've changed. You're not +so thickly built. By Gad, if you don't look fine!" + +"Thanks. I'm sorry I can't return the compliment. You're about the +seediest, hungriest-looking fellow I ever saw.... Say, old man, you +must have had a tough time." + +A dark and somber fire burned out the happiness in Thorne's eyes. + +"Dick, don't make me--don't let me think of that fiend Rojas!.... I'm +here now. I'll be well in a day or two. Then!..." + +Mercedes came in, radiant and soft-voiced. She fell upon her knees +beside Thorne's bed, and neither of them appeared to see Nell enter +with a tray. Then Gale and Nell made a good deal of unnecessary bustle +in moving a small table close to the bed. Mercedes had forgotten for +the moment that her lover had been a starving man. If Thorne remembered +it he did not care. They held hands and looked at each other without +speaking. + +"Nell, I thought I had it bad," whispered Dick. "But I'm not--" + +"Hush. It's beautiful," replied Nell, softly; and she tried to coax +Dick from the room. + +Dick, however, thought he ought to remain at least long enough to tell +Thorne that a man in his condition could not exist solely upon love. + +Mercedes sprang up blushing with pretty, penitent manner and moving +white hands eloquent of her condition. + +"Oh, Mercedes--don't go!" cried Thorne, as she stepped to the door. + +"Senor Dick will stay. He is not mucha malo for you--as I am." + +Then she smiled and went out. + +"Good Lord!" exclaimed Thorne. "How I love her. Dick, isn't she the +most beautiful, the loveliest, the finest--" + +"George, I share your enthusiasm," said Dick, dryly, "but Mercedes +isn't the only girl on earth." + +Manifestly this was a startling piece of information, and struck Thorne +in more than one way. + +"George," went on Dick, "did you happen to observe the girl who saved +your life--who incidentally just fetched in your breakfast?" + +"Nell Burton! Why, of course. She's brave, a wonderful girl, and +really nice-looking." + +"You long, lean, hungry beggar! That was the young lady who might +answer the raving eulogy you just got out of your system.... I--well, +you haven't cornered the love market!" + +Thorne uttered some kind of a sound that his weakened condition would +not allow to be a whoop. + +"Dick! Do you mean it?" + +"I shore do, as Laddy says." + +"I'm glad, Dick, with all my heart. I wondered at the changed look you +wear. Why, boy, you've got a different front.... Call the lady in, and +you bet I'll look her over right. I can see better now." + +"Eat your breakfast. There's plenty of time to dazzle you afterward." + +Thorne fell to upon his breakfast and made it vanish with magic speed. +Meanwhile Dick told him something of a ranger's life along the border. + +"You needn't waste your breath," said Thorne. "I guess I can see. +Belding and those rangers have made you the real thing--the real +Western goods.... What I want to know is all about the girl." + +"Well, Laddy swears she's got your girl roped in the corral for looks." + +"That's not possible. I'll have to talk to Laddy.... But she must be a +wonder, or Dick Gale would never have fallen for her.... Isn't it +great, Dick? I'm here! Mercedes is well--safe! You've got a girl! +Oh!.... But say, I haven't a dollar to my name. I had a lot of money, +Dick, and those robbers stole it, my watch--everything. Damn that +little black Greaser! He got Mercedes's letters. I wish you could +have seen him trying to read them. He's simply nutty over her, Dick. +I could have borne the loss of money and valuables--but those +beautiful, wonderful letters--they're gone!" + +"Cheer up. You have the girl. Belding will make you a proposition +presently. The future smiles, old friend. If this rebel business was +only ended!" + +"Dick, you're going to be my savior twice over.... Well, now, listen to +me." His gay excitement changed to earnest gravity. "I want to marry +Mercedes at once. Is there a padre here?" + +"Yes. But are you wise in letting any Mexican, even a priest, know +Mercedes is hidden in Forlorn River?" + +"It couldn't be kept much longer." + +Gale was compelled to acknowledge the truth of this statement. + +"I'll marry her first, then I'll face my problem. Fetch the padre, +Dick. And ask our kind friends to be witnesses at the ceremony." + +Much to Gale's surprise neither Belding nor Ladd objected to the idea +of bringing a padre into the household, and thereby making known to at +least one Mexican the whereabouts of Mercedes Castaneda. Belding's +caution was wearing out in wrath at the persistent unsettled condition +of the border, and Ladd grew only the cooler and more silent as +possibilities of trouble multiplied. + +Gale fetched the padre, a little, weazened, timid man who was old and +without interest or penetration. Apparently he married Mercedes and +Thorne as he told his beads or mumbled a prayer. It was Mrs. Belding +who kept the occasion from being a merry one, and she insisted on not +exciting Thorne. Gale marked her unusual pallor and the singular depth +and sweetness of her voice. + +"Mother, what's the use of making a funeral out of a marriage?" +protested Belding. "A chance for some fun doesn't often come to +Forlorn River. You're a fine doctor. Can't you see the girl is what +Thorne needed? He'll be well to-morrow, don't mistake me." + +"George, when you're all right again we'll add something to present +congratulations," said Gale. + +"We shore will," put in Ladd. + +So with parting jests and smiles they left the couple to themselves. + +Belding enjoyed a laugh at his good wife's expense, for Thorne could +not be kept in bed, and all in a day, it seemed, he grew so well and so +hungry that his friends were delighted, and Mercedes was radiant. In a +few days his weakness disappeared and he was going the round of the +fields and looking over the ground marked out in Gale's plan of water +development. Thorne was highly enthusiastic, and at once staked out +his claim for one hundred and sixty acres of land adjoining that of +Belding and the rangers. These five tracts took in all the ground +necessary for their operations, but in case of the success of the +irrigation project the idea was to increase their squatter holdings by +purchase of more land down the valley. A hundred families had lately +moved to Forlorn River; more were coming all the time; and Belding +vowed he could see a vision of the whole Altar Valley green with farms. + +Meanwhile everybody in Belding's household, except the quiet Ladd and +the watchful Yaqui, in the absence of disturbance of any kind along the +border, grew freer and more unrestrained, as if anxiety was slowly +fading in the peace of the present. Jim Lash made a trip to the +Sonoyta Oasis, and Ladd patrolled fifty miles of the line eastward +without incident or sight of raiders. Evidently all the border hawks +were in at the picking of Casita. + +The February nights were cold, with a dry, icy, penetrating coldness +that made a warm fire most comfortable. Belding's household usually +congregated in the sitting-room, where burning mesquite logs crackled +in the open fireplace. Belding's one passion besides horses was the +game of checkers, and he was always wanting to play. On this night he +sat playing with Ladd, who never won a game and never could give up +trying. Mrs. Belding worked with her needle, stopping from time to +time to gaze with thoughtful eyes into the fire. Jim Lash smoked his +pipe by the hearth and played with the cat on his knee. Thorne and +Mercedes were at the table with pencil and paper; and he was trying his +best to keep his attention from his wife's beautiful, animated face +long enough to read and write a little Spanish. Gale and Nell sat in a +corner watching the bright fire. + +There came a low knock on the door. It may have been an ordinary +knock, for it did not disturb the women; but to Belding and his rangers +it had a subtle meaning. + +"Who's that?" asked Belding, as he slowly pushed back his chair and +looked at Ladd. + +"Yaqui," replied the ranger. + +"Come in," called Belding. + +The door opened, and the short, square, powerfully built Indian +entered. He had a magnificent head, strangely staring, somber black +eyes, and very darkly bronzed face. He carried a rifle and strode with +impressive dignity. + +"Yaqui, what do you want?" asked Belding, and repeated his question in +Spanish. + +"Senor Dick," replied the Indian. + +Gale jumped up, stifling an exclamation, and he went outdoors with +Yaqui. He felt his arm gripped, and allowed himself to be led away +without asking a question. Yaqui's presence was always one of gloom, +and now his stern action boded catastrophe. Once clear of trees he +pointed to the level desert across the river, where a row of campfires +shone bright out of the darkness. + +"Raiders!" ejaculated Gale. + +Then he cautioned Yaqui to keep sharp lookout, and, hurriedly returning +to the house, he called the men out and told them there were rebels or +raiders camping just across the line. + +Ladd did not say a word. Belding, with an oath, slammed down his cigar. + +"I knew it was too good to last.... Dick, you and Jim stay here while +Laddy and I look around." + +Dick returned to the sitting-room. The women were nervous and not to +be deceived. So Dick merely said Yaqui had sighted some lights off in +the desert, and they probably were campfires. Belding did not soon +return, and when he did he was alone, and, saying he wanted to consult +with the men, he sent Mrs. Belding and the girls to their rooms. His +gloomy anxiety had returned. + +"Laddy's gone over to scout around and try to find out who the outfit +belongs to and how many are in it," said Belding. + +"I reckon if they're raiders with bad intentions we wouldn't see no +fires," remarked Jim, calmly. + +"It 'd be useless, I suppose, to send for the cavalry," said Gale. +"Whatever's coming off would be over before the soldiers could be +notified, let alone reach here." + +"Hell, fellows! I don't look for an attack on Forlorn River," burst +out Belding. "I can't believe that possible. These rebel-raiders have +a little sense. They wouldn't spoil their game by pulling U. S. +soldiers across the line from Yuma to El Paso. But, as Jim says, if +they wanted to steal a few horses or cattle they wouldn't build fires. +I'm afraid it's--" + +Belding hesitated and looked with grim concern at the cavalryman. + +"What?" queried Thorne. + +"I'm afraid it's Rojas." + +Thorne turned pale but did not lose his nerve. + +"I thought of that at once. If true, it'll be terrible for Mercedes +and me. But Rojas will never get his hands on my wife. If I can't +kill him, I'll kill her!... Belding, this is tough on you--this risk we +put upon your family. I regret--" + +"Cut that kind of talk," replied Belding, bluntly. "Well, if it is +Rojas he's acting damn strange for a raider. That's what worries me. +We can't do anything but wait. With Laddy and Yaqui out there we won't +be surprised. Let's take the best possible view of the situation until +we know more. That'll not likely be before to-morrow." + +The women of the house might have gotten some sleep that night, but it +was certain the men did not get any. Morning broke cold and gray, the +19th of February. Breakfast was prepared earlier than usual, and an +air of suppressed waiting excitement pervaded the place. Otherwise the +ordinary details of the morning's work continued as on any other day. +Ladd came in hungry and cold, and said the Mexicans were not breaking +camp. He reported a good-sized force of rebels, and was taciturn as to +his idea of forthcoming events. + +About an hour after sunrise Yaqui ran in with the information that part +of the rebels were crossing the river. + +"That can't mean a fight yet," declared Belding. "But get in the +house, boys, and make ready anyway. I'll meet them." + +"Drive them off the place same as if you had a company of soldiers +backin' you," said Ladd. "Don't give them an inch. We're in bad, and +the bigger bluff we put up the more likely our chance." + +"Belding, you're an officer of the United States. Mexicans are much +impressed by show of authority. I've seen that often in camp," said +Thorne. + +"Oh, I know the white-livered Greasers better than any of you, don't +mistake me," replied Belding. He was pale with rage, but kept command +over himself. + +The rangers, with Yaqui and Thorne, stationed themselves at the several +windows of the sitting-room. Rifles and smaller arms and boxes of +shells littered the tables and window seats. No small force of +besiegers could overcome a resistance such as Belding and his men were +capable of making. + +"Here they come, boys," called Gale, from his window. + +"Rebel-raiders I should say, Laddy." + +"Shore. An' a fine outfit of buzzards!" + +"Reckon there's about a dozen in the bunch," observed the calm Lash. +"Some hosses they're ridin'. Where 'n the hell do they get such +hosses, anyhow?" + +"Shore, Jim, they work hard an' buy 'em with real silver pesos," +replied Ladd, sarcastically. + +"Do any of you see Rojas?" whispered Thorne. + +"Nix. No dandy bandit in that outfit." + +"It's too far to see," said Gale. + +The horsemen halted at the corrals. They were orderly and showed no +evidence of hostility. They were, however, fully armed. Belding +stalked out to meet them. Apparently a leader wanted to parley with +him, but Belding would hear nothing. He shook his head, waved his +arms, stamped to and fro, and his loud, angry voice could be heard +clear back at the house. Whereupon the detachment of rebels retired to +the bank of the river, beyond the white post that marked the boundary +line, and there they once more drew rein. Belding remained by the +corrals watching them, evidently still in threatening mood. Presently a +single rider left the troop and trotted his horse back down the road. +When he reached the corrals he was seen to halt and pass something to +Belding. Then he galloped away to join his comrades. + +Belding looked at whatever it was he held in his hand, shook his burley +head, and started swiftly for the house. He came striding into the +room holding a piece of soiled paper. + +"Can't read it and don't know as I want to," he said, savagely. + +"Beldin', shore we'd better read it," replied Ladd. "What we want is a +line on them Greasers. Whether they're Campo's men or Salazar's, or +just a wanderin' bunch of rebels--or Rojas's bandits. Sabe, senor?" + +Not one of the men was able to translate the garbled scrawl. + +"Shore Mercedes can read it," said Ladd. + +Thorne opened a door and called her. She came into the room followed +by Nell and Mrs. Belding. Evidently all three divined a critical +situation. + +"My dear, we want you to read what's written on this paper," said +Thorne, as he led her to the table. "It was sent in by rebels, +and--and we fear contains bad news for us." + +Mercedes gave the writing one swift glance, then fainted in Thorne's +arms. He carried her to a couch, and with Nell and Mrs. Belding began +to work over her. + +Belding looked at his rangers. It was characteristic of the man that, +now when catastrophe appeared inevitable, all the gloom and care and +angry agitation passed from him. + +"Laddy, it's Rojas all right. How many men has he out there?" + +"Mebbe twenty. Not more." + +"We can lick twice that many Greasers." + +"Shore." + +Jim Lash removed his pipe long enough to speak. + +"I reckon. But it ain't sense to start a fight when mebbe we can avoid +it." + +"What's your idea?" + +"Let's stave the Greaser off till dark. Then Laddy an' me an' Thorne +will take Mercedes an' hit the trail for Yuma." + +"Camino del Diablo! That awful trail with a woman! Jim, do you forget +how many hundreds of men have perished on the Devil's Road?" + +"I reckon I ain't forgettin' nothin'," replied Jim. "The waterholes +are full now. There's grass, an' we can do the job in six days." + +"It's three hundred miles to Yuma." + +"Beldin', Jim's idea hits me pretty reasonable," interposed Ladd. "Lord +knows that's about the only chance we've got except fightin'." + +"But suppose we do stave Rojas off, and you get safely away with +Mercedes. Isn't Rojas going to find it out quick? Then what'll he try +to do to us who're left here?" + +"I reckon he'd find out by daylight," replied Jim. "But, Tom, he ain't +agoin' to start a scrap then. He'd want time an' hosses an' men to +chase us out on the trail. You see, I'm figgerin' on the crazy Greaser +wantin' the girl. I reckon he'll try to clean up here to get her. But +he's too smart to fight you for nothin'. Rojas may be nutty about +women, but he's afraid of the U. S. Take my word for it he'd discover +the trail in the mornin' an' light out on it. I reckon with ten hours' +start we could travel comfortable." + +Belding paced up and down the room. Jim and Ladd whispered together. +Gale walked to the window and looked out at the distant group of +bandits, and then turned his gaze to rest upon Mercedes. She was +conscious now, and her eyes seemed all the larger and blacker for the +whiteness of her face. Thorne held her hands, and the other women were +trying to still her tremblings. + +No one but Gale saw the Yaqui in the background looking down upon the +Spanish girl. All of Yaqui's looks were strange; but this singularly +so. Gale marked it, and felt he would never forget. Mercedes's beauty +had never before struck him as being so exquisite, so alluring as now +when she lay stricken. Gale wondered if the Indian was affected by her +loveliness, her helplessness, or her terror. Yaqui had seen Mercedes +only a few times, and upon each of these he had appeared to be +fascinated. Could the strange Indian, because his hate for Mexicans +was so great, be gloating over her misery? Something about Yaqui--a +noble austerity of countenance--made Gale feel his suspicion unjust. + +Presently Belding called his rangers to him, and then Thorne. + +"Listen to this," he said, earnestly. "I'll go out and have a talk +with Rojas. I'll try to reason with him; tell him to think a long time +before he sheds blood on Uncle Sam's soil. That he's now after an +American's wife! I'll not commit myself, nor will I refuse outright to +consider his demands, nor will I show the least fear of him. I'll play +for time. If my bluff goes through... well and good.... After dark the +four of you, Laddy, Jim, Dick, and Thorne, will take Mercedes and my +best white horses, and, with Yaqui as guide, circle round through Altar +Valley to the trail, and head for Yuma.... Wait now, Laddy. Let me +finish. I want you to take the white horses for two reasons--to save +them and to save you. Savvy? If Rojas should follow on my horses he'd +be likely to catch you. Also, you can pack a great deal more than on +the bronchs. Also, the big horses can travel faster and farther on +little grass and water. I want you to take the Indian, because in a +case of this kind he'll be a godsend. If you get headed or lost or +have to circle off the trail, think what it 'd mean to have Yaqui with +you. He knows Sonora as no Greaser knows it. He could hide you, find +water and grass, when you would absolutely believe it impossible. The +Indian is loyal. He has his debt to pay, and he'll pay it, don't +mistake me. When you're gone I'll hide Nell so Rojas won't see her if +he searches the place. Then I think I could sit down and wait without +any particular worry." + +The rangers approved of Belding's plan, and Thorne choked in his effort +to express his gratitude. + +"All right, we'll chance it," concluded Belding. "I'll go out now and +call Rojas and his outfit over... Say, it might be as well for me to +know just what he said in that paper." + +Thorne went to the side of his wife. + +"Mercedes, we've planned to outwit Rojas. Will you tell us just what +he wrote?" + +The girl sat up, her eyes dilating, and with her hands clasping +Thorne's. She said: + +"Rojas swore--by his saints and his virgin--that if I wasn't given--to +him--in twenty-four hours--he would set fire to the village--kill the +men--carry off the women--hang the children on cactus thorns!" + +A moment's silence followed her last halting whisper. + +"By his saints an' his virgin!" echoed Ladd. He laughed--a cold, +cutting, deadly laugh--significant and terrible. + +Then the Yaqui uttered a singular cry. Gale had heard this once +before, and now he remembered it was at the Papago Well. + +"Look at the Indian," whispered Belding, hoarsely. "Damn if I don't +believe he understood every word Mercedes said. And, gentlemen, don't +mistake me, if he ever gets near Senor Rojas there'll be some gory +Aztec knife work." + +Yaqui had moved close to Mercedes, and stood beside her as she leaned +against her husband. She seemed impelled to meet the Indian's gaze, +and evidently it was so powerful or hypnotic that it wrought +irresistibly upon her. But she must have seen or divined what was +beyond the others, for she offered him her trembling hand. Yaqui took +it and laid it against his body in a strange motion, and bowed his +head. Then he stepped back into the shadow of the room. + +Belding went outdoors while the rangers took up their former position +at the west window. Each had his own somber thoughts, Gale imagined, +and knew his own were dark enough. A slow fire crept along his veins. +He saw Belding halt at the corrals and wave his hand. Then the rebels +mounted and came briskly up the road, this time to rein in abreast. + +Wherever Rojas had kept himself upon the former advance was not clear; +but he certainly was prominently in sight now. He made a gaudy, almost +a dashing figure. Gale did not recognize the white sombrero, the +crimson scarf, the velvet jacket, nor any feature of the dandy's +costume; but their general effect, the whole ensemble, recalled vividly +to mind his first sight of the bandit. Rojas dismounted and seemed to +be listening. He betrayed none of the excitement Gale had seen in him +that night at the Del Sol. Evidently this composure struck Ladd and +Lash as unusual in a Mexican supposed to be laboring under stress of +feeling. Belding made gestures, vehemently bobbed his big head, +appeared to talk with his body as much as with his tongue. Then Rojas +was seen to reply, and after that it was clear that the talk became +painful and difficult. It ended finally in what appeared to be mutual +understanding. Rojas mounted and rode away with his men, while Belding +came tramping back to the house. + +As he entered the door his eyes were shining, his big hands were +clenched, and he was breathing audibly. + +"You can rope me if I'm not locoed!" he burst out. "I went out to +conciliate a red-handed little murderer, and damn me if I didn't meet +a--a--well, I've not suitable name handy. I started my bluff and got +along pretty well, but I forgot to mention that Mercedes was Thorne's +wife. And what do you think? Rojas swore he loved Mercedes--swore +he'd marry her right here in Forlorn River--swore he would give up +robbing and killing people, and take her away from Mexico. He has +gold--jewels. He swore if he didn't get her nothing mattered. He'd +die anyway without her.... And here's the strange thing. I believe +him! He was cold as ice, and all hell inside. Never saw a Greaser +like him. Well, I pretended to be greatly impressed. We got to +talking friendly, I suppose, though I didn't understand half he said, +and I imagine he gathered less what I said. Anyway, without my asking +he said for me to think it over for a day and then we'd talk again." + +"Shore we're born lucky!" ejaculated Ladd. + +"I reckon Rojas'll be smart enough to string his outfit across the few +trails leadin' out of Forlorn River," remarked Jim. + +"That needn't worry us. All we want is dark to come," replied Belding. +"Yaqui will slip through. If we thank any lucky stars let it be for +the Indian.... Now, boys, put on your thinking caps. You'll take eight +horses, the pick of my bunch. You must pack all that's needed for a +possible long trip. Mind, Yaqui may lead you down into some wild +Sonora valley and give Rojas the slip. You may get to Yuma in six days, +and maybe in six weeks. Yet you've got to pack light--a small pack in +saddles--larger ones on the two free horses. You may have a big fight. +Laddy, take the .405. Dick will pack his Remington. All of you go +gunned heavy. But the main thing is a pack that 'll be light enough +for swift travel, yet one that 'll keep you from starving on the +desert." + +The rest of that day passed swiftly. Dick had scarcely a word with +Nell, and all the time, as he chose and deliberated and worked over his +little pack, there was a dull pain in his heart. + +The sun set, twilight fell, then night closed down fortunately a night +slightly overcast. Gale saw the white horses pass his door like silent +ghosts. Even Blanco Diablo made no sound, and that fact was indeed a +tribute to the Yaqui. Gale went out to put his saddle on Blanco Sol. +The horse rubbed a soft nose against his shoulder. Then Gale returned +to the sitting-room. There was nothing more to do but wait and say +good-by. Mercedes came clad in leather chaps and coat, a slim +stripling of a cowboy, her dark eyes flashing. Her beauty could not be +hidden, and now hope and courage had fired her blood. + +Gale drew Nell off into the shadow of the room. She was trembling, and +as she leaned toward him she was very different from the coy girl who +had so long held him aloof. He took her into his arms. + +"Dearest, I'm going--soon.... And maybe I'll never--" + +"Dick, do--don't say it," sobbed Nell, with her head on his breast. + +"I might never come back," he went on, steadily. "I love you--I've +loved you ever since the first moment I saw you. Do you care for me--a +little?" + +"Dear Dick--de-dear Dick, my heart is breaking," faltered Nell, as she +clung to him. + +"It might be breaking for Mercedes--for Laddy and Jim. I want to hear +something for myself. Something to have on long marches--round lonely +campfires. Something to keep my spirit alive. Oh, Nell, you can't +imagine that silence out there--that terrible world of sand and +stone!... Do you love me?" + +"Yes, yes. Oh, I love you so! I never knew it till now. I love you +so. Dick, I'll be safe and I'll wait--and hope and pray for your +return." + +"If I come back--no--when I come back, will you marry me?" + +"I--I--oh yes!" she whispered, and returned his kiss. + +Belding was in the room speaking softly. + +"Nell, darling, I must go," said Dick. + +"I'm a selfish little coward," cried Nell. "It's so splendid of you +all. I ought to glory in it, but I can't. ... Fight if you must, +Dick. Fight for that lovely persecuted girl. I'll love you--the +more.... Oh! Good-by! Good-by!" + +With a wrench that shook him Gale let her go. He heard Belding's soft +voice. + +"Yaqui says the early hour's best. Trust him, Laddy. Remember what I +say--Yaqui's a godsend." + +Then they were all outside in the pale gloom under the trees. Yaqui +mounted Blanco Diablo; Mercedes was lifted upon White Woman; Thorne +climbed astride Queen; Jim Lash was already upon his horse, which was +as white as the others but bore no name; Ladd mounted the stallion +Blanco Torres, and gathered up the long halters of the two pack horses; +Gale came last with Blanco Sol. + +As he toed the stirrup, hand on mane and pommel, Gale took one more +look in at the door. Nell stood in the gleam of light, her hair +shining, face like ashes, her eyes dark, her lips parted, her arms +outstretched. That sweet and tragic picture etched its cruel outlines +into Gale's heart. He waved his hand and then fiercely leaped into the +saddle. + +Blanco Sol stepped out. + +Before Gale stretched a line of moving horses, white against dark +shadows. He could not see the head of that column; he scarcely heard a +soft hoofbeat. A single star shone out of a rift in thin clouds. +There was no wind. The air was cold. The dark space of desert seemed +to yawn. To the left across the river flickered a few campfires. The +chill night, silent and mystical, seemed to close in upon Gale; and he +faced the wide, quivering, black level with keen eyes and grim intent, +and an awakening of that wild rapture which came like a spell to him in +the open desert. + + + +XI + +ACROSS CACTUS AND LAVA + +BLANCO SOL showed no inclination to bend his head to the alfalfa which +swished softly about his legs. Gale felt the horse's sensitive, almost +human alertness. Sol knew as well as his master the nature of that +flight. + +At the far corner of the field Yaqui halted, and slowly the line of +white horses merged into a compact mass. There was a trail here +leading down to the river. The campfires were so close that the bright +blazes could be seen in movement, and dark forms crossed in front of +them. Yaqui slipped out of his saddle. He ran his hand over Diablo's +nose and spoke low, and repeated this action for each of the other +horses. Gale had long ceased to question the strange Indian's +behavior. There was no explaining or understanding many of his +manoeuvers. But the results of them were always thought-provoking. +Gale had never seen horse stand so silently as in this instance; no +stamp--no champ of bit--no toss of head--no shake of saddle or pack--no +heave or snort! It seemed they had become imbued with the spirit of +the Indian. + +Yaqui moved away into the shadows as noiselessly as if he were one of +them. The darkness swallowed him. He had taken a parallel with the +trail. Gale wondered if Yaqui meant to try to lead his string of +horses by the rebel sentinels. Ladd had his head bent low, his ear +toward the trail. Jim's long neck had the arch of a listening deer. +Gale listened, too, and as the slow, silent moments went by his faculty +of hearing grew more acute from strain. He heard Blanco Sol breathe; +he heard the pound of his own heart; he heard the silken rustle of the +alfalfa; he heard a faint, far-off sound of voice, like a lost echo. +Then his ear seemed to register a movement of air, a disturbance so +soft as to be nameless. Then followed long, silent moments. + +Yaqui appeared as he had vanished. He might have been part of the +shadows. But he was there. He started off down the trail leading +Diablo. Again the white line stretched slowly out. Gale fell in +behind. A bench of ground, covered with sparse greasewood, sloped +gently down to the deep, wide arroyo of Forlorn River. Blanco Sol shied +a few feet out of the trail. Peering low with keen eyes, Gale made out +three objects--a white sombrero, a blanket, and a Mexican lying face +down. The Yaqui had stolen upon this sentinel like a silent wind of +death. Just then a desert coyote wailed, and the wild cry fitted the +darkness and the Yaqui's deed. + +Once under the dark lee of the river bank Yaqui caused another halt, +and he disappeared as before. It seemed to Gale that the Indian +started to cross the pale level sandbed of the river, where stones +stood out gray, and the darker line of opposite shore was visible. But +he vanished, and it was impossible to tell whether he went one way or +another. Moments passed. The horses held heads up, looked toward the +glimmering campfires and listened. Gale thrilled with the meaning of it +all--the night--the silence--the flight--and the wonderful Indian +stealing with the slow inevitableness of doom upon another sentinel. +An hour passed and Gale seemed to have become deadened to all sense of +hearing. There were no more sounds in the world. The desert was as +silent as it was black. Yet again came that strange change in the +tensity of Gale's ear-strain, a check, a break, a vibration--and this +time the sound did not go nameless. It might have been moan of wind or +wail of far-distant wolf, but Gale imagined it was the strangling +death-cry of another guard, or that strange, involuntary utterance of +the Yaqui. Blanco Sol trembled in all his great frame, and then Gale +was certain the sound was not imagination. + +That certainty, once for all, fixed in Gale's mind the mood of his +flight. The Yaqui dominated the horses and the rangers. Thorne and +Mercedes were as persons under a spell. The Indian's strange silence, +the feeling of mystery and power he seemed to create, all that was +incomprehensible about him were emphasized in the light of his slow, +sure, and ruthless action. If he dominated the others, surely he did +more for Gale--colored his thoughts--presage the wild and terrible +future of that flight. If Rojas embodied all the hatred and passion of +the peon--scourged slave for a thousand years--then Yaqui embodied all +the darkness, the cruelty, the white, sun-heated blood, the ferocity, +the tragedy of the desert. + +Suddenly the Indian stalked out of the gloom. He mounted Diablo and +headed across the river. Once more the line of moving white shadows +stretched out. The soft sand gave forth no sound at all. The +glimmering campfires sank behind the western bank. Yaqui led the way +into the willows, and there was faint swishing of leaves; then into the +mesquite, and there was faint rustling of branches. The glimmering +lights appeared again, and grotesque forms of saguaros loomed darkly. +Gale peered sharply along the trail, and, presently, on the pale sand +under a cactus, there lay a blanketed form, prone, outstretched, a +carbine clutched in one hand, a cigarette, still burning, in the other. + +The cavalcade of white horses passed within five hundred yards of +campfires, around which dark forms moved in plain sight. Soft pads in +sand, faint metallic tickings of steel on thorns, low, regular +breathing of horses--these were all the sounds the fugitives made, and +they could not have been heard at one-fifth the distance. The lights +disappeared from time to time, grew dimmer, more flickering, and at +last they vanished altogether. Belding's fleet and tireless steeds +were out in front; the desert opened ahead wide, dark, vast. Rojas and +his rebels were behind, eating, drinking, careless. The somber shadow +lifted from Gale's heart. He held now an unquenchable faith in the +Yaqui. Belding would be listening back there along the river. He would +know of the escape. He would tell Nell, and then hide her safely. As +Gale accepted a strange and fatalistic foreshadowing of toil, blood, +and agony in this desert journey, so he believed in Mercedes's ultimate +freedom and happiness, and his own return to the girl who had grown +dearer than life. + + +A cold, gray dawn was fleeing before a rosy sun when Yaqui halted the +march at Papago Well. The horses were taken to water, then led down +the arroyo into the grass. Here packs were slipped, saddles removed. +Mercedes was cold, lame, tired, but happy. It warmed Gale's blood to +look at her. The shadow of fear still lay in her eyes, but it was +passing. Hope and courage shone there, and affection for her ranger +protectors and the Yaqui, and unutterable love for the cavalryman. Jim +Lash remarked how cleverly they had fooled the rebels. + +"Shore they'll be comin' along," replied Ladd. + +They built a fire, cooked and ate. The Yaqui spoke only one word: +"Sleep." Blankets were spread. Mercedes dropped into a deep slumber, +her head on Thorne's shoulder. Excitement kept Thorne awake. The two +rangers dozed beside the fire. Gale shared the Yaqui's watch. The sun +began to climb and the icy edge of dawn to wear away. Rabbits bobbed +their cotton tails under the mesquite. Gale climbed a rocky wall above +the arroyo bank, and there, with command over the miles of the +back-trail, he watched. + +It was a sweeping, rolling, wrinkled, and streaked range of desert that +he saw, ruddy in the morning sunlight, with patches of cactus and +mesquite rough-etched in shimmering gloom. No Name Mountains split the +eastern sky, towering high, gloomy, grand, with purple veils upon their +slopes. They were forty miles away and looked five. Gale thought of +the girl who was there under their shadow. + +Yaqui kept the horses bunched, and he led them from one little park of +galleta grass to another. At the end of three hours he took them to +water. Upon his return Gale clambered down from his outlook, the +rangers grew active. Mercedes was awakened; and soon the party faced +westward, their long shadows moving before them. Yaqui led with Blanco +Diablo in a long, easy lope. The arroyo washed itself out into flat +desert, and the greens began to shade into gray, and then the gray into +red. Only sparse cactus and weathered ledges dotted the great low roll +of a rising escarpment. Yaqui suited the gait of his horse to the lay +of the land, and his followers accepted his pace. There were canter +and trot, and swift walk and slow climb, and long swing--miles up and +down and forward. The sun soared hot. The heated air lifted, and +incoming currents from the west swept low and hard over the barren +earth. In the distance, all around the horizon, accumulations of dust +seemed like ranging, mushrooming yellow clouds. + +Yaqui was the only one of the fugitives who never looked back. Mercedes +did it the most. Gale felt what compelled her, he could not resist it +himself. But it was a vain search. For a thousand puffs of white and +yellow dust rose from that backward sweep of desert, and any one of +them might have been blown from under horses' hoofs. Gale had a +conviction that when Yaqui gazed back toward the well and the shining +plain beyond, there would be reason for it. But when the sun lost its +heat and the wind died down Yaqui took long and careful surveys +westward from the high points on the trail. Sunset was not far off, +and there in a bare, spotted valley lay Coyote Tanks, the only +waterhole between Papago Well and the Sonoyta Oasis. Gale used his +glass, told Yaqui there was no smoke, no sign of life; still the Indian +fixed his falcon eyes on distant spots looked long. It was as if his +vision could not detect what reason or cunning or intuition, perhaps an +instinct, told him was there. Presently in a sheltered spot, where +blown sand had not obliterated the trail, Yaqui found the tracks of +horses. The curve of the iron shoes pointed westward. An intersecting +trail from the north came in here. Gale thought the tracks either one +or two days old. Ladd said they were one day. The Indian shook his +head. + +No farther advance was undertaken. The Yaqui headed south and traveled +slowly, climbing to the brow of a bold height of weathered mesa. There +he sat his horse and waited. No one questioned him. The rangers +dismounted to stretch their legs, and Mercedes was lifted to a rock, +where she rested. Thorne had gradually yielded to the desert's +influence for silence. He spoke once or twice to Gale, and +occasionally whispered to Mercedes. Gale fancied his friend would soon +learn that necessary speech in desert travel meant a few greetings, a +few words to make real the fact of human companionship, a few short, +terse terms for the business of day or night, and perhaps a stern order +or a soft call to a horse. + +The sun went down, and the golden, rosy veils turned to blue and shaded +darker till twilight was there in the valley. Only the spurs of +mountains, spiring the near and far horizon, retained their clear +outline. Darkness approached, and the clear peaks faded. The horses +stamped to be on the move. + +"Malo!" exclaimed the Yaqui. + +He did not point with arm, but his falcon head was outstretched, and +his piercing eyes gazed at the blurring spot which marked the location +of Coyote Tanks. + +"Jim, can you see anything?" asked Ladd. + +"Nope, but I reckon he can." + +Darkness increased momentarily till night shaded the deepest part of +the valley. + +Then Ladd suddenly straightened up, turned to his horse, and muttered +low under his breath. + +"I reckon so," said Lash, and for once his easy, good-natured tone was +not in evidence. His voice was harsh. + +Gale's eyes, keen as they were, were last of the rangers to see tiny, +needle-points of light just faintly perceptible in the blackness. + +"Laddy! Campfires?" he asked, quickly. + +"Shore's you're born, my boy." + +"How many?" + +Ladd did not reply; but Yaqui held up his hand, his fingers wide. Five +campfires! A strong force of rebels or raiders or some other desert +troop was camping at Coyote Tanks. + +Yaqui sat his horse for a moment, motionless as stone, his dark face +immutable and impassive. Then he stretched wide his right arm in the +direction of No Name Mountains, now losing their last faint traces of +the afterglow, and he shook his head. He made the same impressive +gesture toward the Sonoyta Oasis with the same somber negation. + +Thereupon he turned Diablo's head to the south and started down the +slope. His manner had been decisive, even stern. Lash did not +question it, nor did Ladd. Both rangers hesitated, however, and showed +a strange, almost sullen reluctance which Gale had never seen in them +before. Raiders were one thing, Rojas was another; Camino del Diablo +still another; but that vast and desolate and unwatered waste of cactus +and lava, the Sonora Desert, might appall the stoutest heart. Gale +felt his own sink--felt himself flinch. + +"Oh, where is he going?" cried Mercedes. Her poignant voice seemed to +break a spell. + +"Shore, lady, Yaqui's goin' home," replied Ladd, gently. "An' +considerin' our troubles I reckon we ought to thank God he knows the +way." + +They mounted and rode down the slope toward the darkening south. + +Not until night travel was obstructed by a wall of cactus did the +Indian halt to make a dry camp. Water and grass for the horses and +fire to cook by were not to be had. Mercedes bore up surprisingly; but +she fell asleep almost the instant her thirst had been allayed. Thorne +laid her upon a blanket and covered her. The men ate and drank. Diablo +was the only horse that showed impatience; but he was angry, and not in +distress. Blanco Sol licked Gale's hand and stood patiently. Many a +time had he taken his rest at night without a drink. Yaqui again bade +the men sleep. Ladd said he would take the early watch; but from the +way the Indian shook his head and settled himself against a stone, it +appeared if Ladd remained awake he would have company. Gale lay down +weary of limb and eye. He heard the soft thump of hoofs, the sough of +wind in the cactus--then no more. + +When he awoke there was bustle and stir about him. Day had not yet +dawned, and the air was freezing cold. Yaqui had found a scant bundle +of greasewood which served to warm them and to cook breakfast. +Mercedes was not aroused till the last moment. + +Day dawned with the fugitives in the saddle. A picketed wall of cactus +hedged them in, yet the Yaqui made a tortuous path, that, zigzag as it +might, in the main always headed south. It was wonderful how he +slipped Diablo through the narrow aisles of thorns, saving the horse +and saving himself. The others were torn and clutched and held and +stung. The way was a flat, sandy pass between low mountain ranges. +There were open spots and aisles and squares of sand; and hedging rows +of prickly pear and the huge spider-legged ocatillo and hummocky masses +of clustered bisnagi. The day grew dry and hot. A fragrant wind blew +through the pass. Cactus flowers bloomed, red and yellow and magenta. +The sweet, pale Ajo lily gleamed in shady corners. + +Ten miles of travel covered the length of the pass. It opened wide +upon a wonderful scene, an arboreal desert, dominated by its pure light +green, yet lined by many merging colors. And it rose slowly to a low +dim and dark-red zone of lava, spurred, peaked, domed by volcano cones, +a wild and ragged region, illimitable as the horizon. + +The Yaqui, if not at fault, was yet uncertain. His falcon eyes +searched and roved, and became fixed at length at the southwest, and +toward this he turned his horse. The great, fluted saguaros, fifty, +sixty feet high, raised columnal forms, and their branching limbs and +curving lines added a grace to the desert. It was the low-bushed +cactus that made the toil and pain of travel. Yet these thorny forms +were beautiful. + +In the basins between the ridges, to right and left along the floor of +low plains the mirage glistened, wavered, faded, vanished--lakes and +trees and clouds. Inverted mountains hung suspended in the lilac air +and faint tracery of white-walled cities. + +At noon Yaqui halted the cavalcade. He had selected a field of bisnagi +cactus for the place of rest. Presently his reason became obvious. +With long, heavy knife he cut off the tops of these barrel-shaped +plants. He scooped out soft pulp, and with stone and hand then began +to pound the deeper pulp into a juicy mass. When he threw this out +there was a little water left, sweet, cool water which man and horse +shared eagerly. Thus he made even the desert's fiercest growths +minister to their needs. + +But he did not halt long. Miles of gray-green spiked walls lay between +him and that line of ragged, red lava which manifestly he must reach +before dark. The travel became faster, straighter. And the glistening +thorns clutched and clung to leather and cloth and flesh. The horses +reared, snorted, balked, leaped--but they were sent on. Only Blanco +Sol, the patient, the plodding, the indomitable, needed no goad or +spur. Waves and scarfs and wreaths of heat smoked up from the sand. +Mercedes reeled in her saddle. Thorne bade her drink, bathed her face, +supported her, and then gave way to Ladd, who took the girl with him on +Torre's broad back. Yaqui's unflagging purpose and iron arm were +bitter and hateful to the proud and haughty spirit of Blanco Diablo. +For once Belding's great white devil had met his master. He fought +rider, bit, bridle, cactus, sand--and yet he went on and on, +zigzagging, turning, winding, crashing through the barbed growths. The +middle of the afternoon saw Thorne reeling in his saddle, and then, +wherever possible, Gale's powerful arm lent him strength to hold his +seat. + +The giant cactus came to be only so in name. These saguaros were +thinning out, growing stunted, and most of them were single columns. +Gradually other cactus forms showed a harder struggle for existence, +and the spaces of sand between were wider. But now the dreaded, +glistening choya began to show pale and gray and white upon the rising +slope. Round-topped hills, sunset-colored above, blue-black below, +intervened to hide the distant spurs and peaks. Mile and mile long +tongues of red lava streamed out between the hills and wound down to +stop abruptly upon the slope. + +The fugitives were entering a desolate, burned-out world. It rose +above them in limitless, gradual ascent and spread wide to east and +west. Then the waste of sand began to yield to cinders. The horses +sank to their fetlocks as they toiled on. A fine, choking dust blew +back from the leaders, and men coughed and horses snorted. The huge, +round hills rose smooth, symmetrical, colored as if the setting sun was +shining on bare, blue-black surfaces. But the sun was now behind the +hills. In between ran the streams of lava. The horsemen skirted the +edge between slope of hill and perpendicular ragged wall. This red +lava seemed to have flowed and hardened there only yesterday. It was +broken sharp, dull rust color, full of cracks and caves and crevices, +and everywhere upon its jagged surface grew the white-thorned choya. + +Again twilight encompassed the travelers. But there was still light +enough for Gale to see the constricted passage open into a wide, deep +space where the dull color was relieved by the gray of gnarled and +dwarfed mesquite. Blanco Sol, keenest of scent, whistled his welcome +herald of water. The other horses answered, quickened their gait. +Gale smelled it, too, sweet, cool, damp on the dry air. + +Yaqui turned the corner of a pocket in the lava wall. The file of +white horses rounded the corner after him. And Gale, coming last, saw +the pale, glancing gleam of a pool of water beautiful in the twilight. + + +Next day the Yaqui's relentless driving demand on the horses was no +longer in evidence. He lost no time, but he did not hasten. His +course wound between low cinder dunes which limited their view of the +surrounding country. These dunes finally sank down to a black floor as +hard as flint with tongues of lava to the left, and to the right the +slow descent into the cactus plain. Yaqui was now traveling due west. +It was Gale's idea that the Indian was skirting the first sharp-toothed +slope of a vast volcanic plateau which formed the western half of the +Sonora Desert and extended to the Gulf of California. Travel was slow, +but not exhausting for rider or beast. A little sand and meager grass +gave a grayish tinge to the strip of black ground between lava and +plain. + +That day, as the manner rather than the purpose of the Yaqui changed, +so there seemed to be subtle differences in the others of the party. +Gale himself lost a certain sickening dread, which had not been for +himself, but for Mercedes and Nell, and Thorne and the rangers. Jim, +good-natured again, might have been patrolling the boundary line. Ladd +lost his taciturnity and his gloom changed to a cool, careless air. A +mood that was almost defiance began to be manifested in Thorne. It was +in Mercedes, however, that Gale marked the most significant change. +Her collapse the preceding day might never have been. She was lame and +sore; she rode her saddle sidewise, and often she had to be rested and +helped; but she had found a reserve fund of strength, and her mental +condition was not the same that it had been. Her burden of fear had +been lifted. Gale saw in her the difference he always felt in himself +after a few days in the desert. Already Mercedes and he, and all of +them, had begun to respond to the desert spirit. Moreover, Yaqui's +strange influence must have been a call to the primitive. + +Thirty miles of easy stages brought the fugitives to another waterhole, +a little round pocket under the heaved-up edge of lava. There was +spare, short, bleached grass for the horses, but no wood for a fire. +This night there was question and reply, conjecture, doubt, opinion, +and conviction expressed by the men of the party. But the Indian, who +alone could have told where they were, where they were going, what +chance they had to escape, maintained his stoical silence. Gale took +the early watch, Ladd the midnight one, and Lash that of the morning. + +The day broke rosy, glorious, cold as ice. Action was necessary to +make useful benumbed hands and feet. Mercedes was fed while yet +wrapped in blankets. Then, while the packs were being put on and +horses saddled, she walked up and down, slapping her hands, warming her +ears. The rose color of the dawn was in her cheeks, and the wonderful +clearness of desert light in her eyes. Thorne's eyes sought her +constantly. The rangers watched her. The Yaqui bent his glance upon +her only seldom; but when he did look it seemed that his strange, +fixed, and inscrutable face was about to break into a smile. Yet that +never happened. Gale himself was surprised to find how often his own +glance found the slender, dark, beautiful Spaniard. Was this because +of her beauty? he wondered. He thought not altogether. Mercedes was a +woman. She represented something in life that men of all races for +thousands of years had loved to see and own, to revere and debase, to +fight and die for. + +It was a significant index to the day's travel that Yaqui should keep a +blanket from the pack and tear it into strips to bind the legs of the +horses. It meant the dreaded choya and the knife-edged lava. That +Yaqui did not mount Diablo was still more significant. Mercedes must +ride; but the others must walk. + +The Indian led off into one of the gray notches between the tumbled +streams of lava. These streams were about thirty feet high, a rotting +mass of splintered lava, rougher than any other kind of roughness in +the world. At the apex of the notch, where two streams met, a narrow +gully wound and ascended. Gale caught sight of the dim, pale shadow of +a one-time trail. Near at hand it was invisible; he had to look far +ahead to catch the faint tracery. Yaqui led Diablo into it, and then +began the most laborious and vexatious and painful of all slow travel. + +Once up on top of that lava bed, Gale saw stretching away, breaking +into millions of crests and ruts, a vast, red-black field sweeping +onward and upward, with ragged, low ridges and mounds and spurs leading +higher and higher to a great, split escarpment wall, above which dim +peaks shone hazily blue in the distance. + +He looked no more in that direction. To keep his foothold, to save his +horse, cost him all energy and attention. The course was marked out +for him in the tracks of the other horses. He had only to follow. But +nothing could have been more difficult. The disintegrating surface of +a lava bed was at once the roughest, the hardest, the meanest, the +cruelest, the most deceitful kind of ground to travel. + +It was rotten, yet it had corners as hard and sharp as pikes. It was +rough, yet as slippery as ice. If there was a foot of level surface, +that space would be one to break through under a horse's hoofs. It was +seamed, lined, cracked, ridged, knotted iron. This lava bed resembled +a tremendously magnified clinker. It had been a running sea of molten +flint, boiling, bubbling, spouting, and it had burst its surface into a +million sharp facets as it hardened. The color was dull, dark, angry +red, like no other red, inflaming to the eye. The millions of minute +crevices were dominated by deep fissures and holes, ragged and rough +beyond all comparison. + +The fugitives made slow progress. They picked a cautious, winding way +to and fro in little steps here and there along the many twists of the +trail, up and down the unavoidable depressions, round and round the +holes. At noon, so winding back upon itself had been their course, +they appeared to have come only a short distance up the lava slope. + +It was rough work for them; it was terrible work for the horses. Blanco +Diablo refused to answer to the power of the Yaqui. He balked, he +plunged, he bit and kicked. He had to be pulled and beaten over many +places. Mercedes's horse almost threw her, and she was put upon Blanco +Sol. The white charger snorted a protest, then, obedient to Gale's +stern call, patiently lowered his noble head and pawed the lava for a +footing that would hold. + +The lava caused Gale toil and worry and pain, but he hated the choyas. +As the travel progressed this species of cactus increased in number of +plants and in size. Everywhere the red lava was spotted with little +round patches of glistening frosty white. And under every bunch of +choya, along and in the trail, were the discarded joints, like little +frosty pine cones covered with spines. It was utterly impossible always +to be on the lookout for these, and when Gale stepped on one, often as +not the steel-like thorns pierced leather and flesh. Gale came almost +to believe what he had heard claimed by desert travelers--that the +choya was alive and leaped at man or beast. Certain it was when Gale +passed one, if he did not put all attention to avoiding it, he was +hooked through his chaps and held by barbed thorns. The pain was +almost unendurable. It was like no other. It burned, stung, +beat--almost seemed to freeze. It made useless arm or leg. It made him +bite his tongue to keep from crying out. It made the sweat roll off +him. It made him sick. + +Moreover, bad as the choya was for man, it was infinitely worse for +beast. A jagged stab from this poisoned cactus was the only thing +Blanco Sol could not stand. Many times that day, before he carried +Mercedes, he had wildly snorted, and then stood trembling while Gale +picked broken thorns from the muscular legs. But after Mercedes had +been put upon Sol Gale made sure no choya touched him. + +The afternoon passed like the morning, in ceaseless winding and +twisting and climbing along this abandoned trail. Gale saw many +waterholes, mostly dry, some containing water, all of them +catch-basins, full only after rainy season. Little ugly bunched +bushes, that Gale scarcely recognized as mesquites, grew near these +holes; also stunted greasewood and prickly pear. There was no grass, +and the choya alone flourished in that hard soil. + +Darkness overtook the party as they unpacked beside a pool of water +deep under an overhanging shelf of lava. It had been a hard day. The +horses drank their fill, and then stood patiently with drooping heads. +Hunger and thirst appeased, and a warm fire cheered the weary and +foot-sore fugitives. Yaqui said, "Sleep." And so another night passed. + + +Upon the following morning, ten miles or more up the slow-ascending +lava slope, Gale's attention was called from his somber search for the +less rough places in the trail. + +"Dick, why does Yaqui look back?" asked Mercedes. + +Gale was startled. + +"Does he?" + +"Every little while," replied Mercedes. + +Gale was in the rear of all the other horses, so as to take, for +Mercedes's sake, the advantage of the broken trail. Yaqui was leading +Diablo, winding around a break. His head was bent as he stepped slowly +and unevenly upon the lava. Gale turned to look back, the first time +in several days. The mighty hollow of the desert below seemed wide +strip of red--wide strip of green--wide strip of gray--streaking to +purple peaks. It was all too vast, too mighty to grasp any little +details. He thought, of course, of Rojas in certain pursuit; but it +seemed absurded to look for him. + +Yaqui led on, and Gale often glanced up from his task to watch the +Indian. Presently he saw him stop, turn, and look back. Ladd did +likewise, and then Jim and Thorne. Gale found the desire irresistible. +Thereafter he often rested Blanco Sol, and looked back the while. He +had his field-glass, but did not choose to use it. + +"Rojas will follow," said Mercedes. + +Gale regarded her in amaze. The tone of her voice had been +indefinable. If there were fear then he failed to detect it. She was +gazing back down the colored slope, and something about her, perhaps +the steady, falcon gaze of her magnificent eyes, reminded him of Yaqui. + +Many times during the ensuing hour the Indian faced about, and always +his followers did likewise. It was high noon, with the sun beating hot +and the lava radiating heat, when Yaqui halted for a rest. The place +selected was a ridge of lava, almost a promontory, considering its +outlook. The horses bunched here and drooped their heads. The rangers +were about to slip the packs and remove saddles when Yaqui restrained +them. + +He fixed a changeless, gleaming gaze on the slow descent; but did not +seem to look afar. + +Suddenly he uttered his strange cry--the one Gale considered +involuntary, or else significant of some tribal trait or feeling. It +was incomprehensible, but no one could have doubted its potency. Yaqui +pointed down the lava slope, pointed with finger and arm and neck and +head--his whole body was instinct with direction. His whole being +seemed to have been animated and then frozen. His posture could not +have been misunderstood, yet his expression had not altered. Gale had +never seen the Indian's face change its hard, red-bronze calm. It was +the color and the flintiness and the character of the lava at his feet. + +"Shore he sees somethin'," said Ladd. "But my eyes are not good." + +"I reckon I ain't sure of mine," replied Jim. "I'm bothered by a dim +movin' streak down there." + +Thorne gazed eagerly down as he stood beside Mercedes, who sat +motionless facing the slope. Gale looked and looked till he hurt his +eyes. Then he took his glass out of its case on Sol's saddle. + +There appeared to be nothing upon the lava but the innumerable dots of +choya shining in the sun. Gale swept his glass slowly forward and +back. Then into a nearer field of vision crept a long white-and-black +line of horses and men. Without a word he handed the glass to Ladd. +The ranger used it, muttering to himself. + +"They're on the lava fifteen miles down in an air line," he said, +presently. "Jim, shore they're twice that an' more accordin' to the +trail." + +Jim had his look and replied: "I reckon we're a day an' a night in the +lead." + +"Is it Rojas?" burst out Thorne, with set jaw. + +"Yes, Thorne. It's Rojas and a dozen men or more," replied Gale, and +he looked up at Mercedes. + +She was transformed. She might have been a medieval princess embodying +all the Spanish power and passion of that time, breathing revenge, +hate, unquenchable spirit of fire. If her beauty had been wonderful in +her helpless and appealing moments, now, when she looked back +white-faced and flame-eyed, it was transcendant. + +Gale drew a long, deep breath. The mood which had presaged pursuit, +strife, blood on this somber desert, returned to him tenfold. He saw +Thorne's face corded by black veins, and his teeth exposed like those +of a snarling wolf. These rangers, who had coolly risked death many +times, and had dealt it often, were white as no fear or pain could have +made them. Then, on the moment, Yaqui raised his hand, not clenched or +doubled tight, but curled rigid like an eagle's claw; and he shook it +in a strange, slow gesture which was menacing and terrible. + +It was the woman that called to the depths of these men. And their +passion to kill and to save was surpassed only by the wild hate which +was yet love, the unfathomable emotion of a peon slave. Gale marveled +at it, while he felt his whole being cold and tense, as he turned once +more to follow in the tracks of his leaders. The fight predicted by +Belding was at hand. What a fight that must be! Rojas was traveling +light and fast. He was gaining. He had bought his men with gold, with +extravagant promises, perhaps with offers of the body and blood of an +aristocrat hateful to their kind. Lastly, there was the wild, desolate +environment, a tortured wilderness of jagged lava and poisoned choya, a +lonely, fierce, and repellant world, a red stage most somberly and +fittingly colored for a supreme struggle between men. + +Yaqui looked back no more. Mercedes looked back no more. But the +others looked, and the time came when Gale saw the creeping line of +pursuers with naked eyes. + +A level line above marked the rim of the plateau. Sand began to show +in the little lava pits. On and upward toiled the cavalcade, still +very slowly advancing. At last Yaqui reached the rim. He stood with +his hand on Blanco Diablo; and both were silhouetted against the sky. +That was the outlook for a Yaqui. And his great horse, dazzlingly +white in the sunlight, with head wildly and proudly erect, mane and +tail flying in the wind, made a magnificent picture. The others toiled +on and upward, and at last Gale led Blanco Sol over the rim. Then all +looked down the red slope. + +But shadows were gathering there and no moving line could be seen. + +Yaqui mounted and wheeled Diablo away. The others followed. Gale saw +that the plateau was no more than a vast field of low, ragged circles, +levels, mounds, cones, and whirls of lava. The lava was of a darker +red than that down upon the slope, and it was harder than flint. In +places fine sand and cinders covered the uneven floor. Strange +varieties of cactus vied with the omnipresent choya. Yaqui, however, +found ground that his horse covered at a swift walk. + +But there was only an hour, perhaps, of this comparatively easy going. +Then the Yaqui led them into a zone of craters. The top of the earth +seemed to have been blown out in holes from a few rods in width to +large craters, some shallow, others deep, and all red as fire. Yaqui +circled close to abysses which yawned sheer from a level surface, and +he appeared always to be turning upon his course to avoid them. + +The plateau had now a considerable dip to the west. Gale marked the +slow heave and ripple of the ocean of lava to the south, where high, +rounded peaks marked the center of this volcanic region. The uneven +nature of the slope westward prevented any extended view, until +suddenly the fugitives emerged from a rugged break to come upon a +sublime and awe-inspiring spectacle. + +They were upon a high point of the western slope of the plateau. It was +a slope, but so many leagues long in its descent that only from a +height could any slant have been perceptible. Yaqui and his white +horse stood upon the brink of a crater miles in circumference, a +thousand feet deep, with its red walls patched in frost-colored spots +by the silvery choya. The giant tracery of lava streams waved down the +slope to disappear in undulating sand dunes. And these bordered a +seemingly endless arm of blue sea. This was the Gulf of California. +Beyond the Gulf rose dim, bold mountains, and above them hung the +setting sun, dusky red, flooding all that barren empire with a sinister +light. + +It was strange to Gale then, and perhaps to the others, to see their +guide lead Diablo into a smooth and well-worn trail along the rim of +the awful crater. Gale looked down into that red chasm. It resembled +an inferno. The dark cliffs upon the opposite side were veiled in blue +haze that seemed like smoke. Here Yaqui was at home. He moved and +looked about him as a man coming at last into his own. Gale saw him +stop and gaze out over that red-ribbed void to the Gulf. + +Gale devined that somewhere along this crater of hell the Yaqui would +make his final stand; and one look into his strange, inscrutable eyes +made imagination picture a fitting doom for the pursuing Rojas. + + + +XII + +THE CRATER OF HELL + +THE trail led along a gigantic fissure in the side of the crater, and +then down and down into a red-walled, blue hazed labyrinth. + +Presently Gale, upon turning a sharp corner, was utterly amazed to see +that the split in the lava sloped out and widened into an arroyo. It +was so green and soft and beautiful in all the angry, contorted red +surrounding that Gale could scarcely credit his sight. Blanco Sol +whistled his welcome to the scent of water. Then Gale saw a great +hole, a pit in the shiny lava, a dark, cool, shady well. There was +evidence of the fact that at flood seasons the water had an outlet into +the arroyo. The soil appeared to be a fine sand, in which a reddish +tinge predominated; and it was abundantly covered with a long grass, +still partly green. Mesquites and palo verdes dotted the arroyo and +gradually closed in thickets that obstructed the view. + +"Shore it all beats me," exclaimed Ladd. "What a place to hole-up in! +We could have hid here for a long time. Boys, I saw mountain sheep, +the real old genuine Rocky Mountain bighorn. What do you think of +that?" + +"I reckon it's a Yaqui hunting-ground," replied Lash. "That trail we +hit must be hundreds of years old. It's worn deep and smooth in iron +lava." + +"Well, all I got to say is--Beldin' was shore right about the Indian. +An' I can see Rojas's finish somewhere up along that awful hell-hole." + +Camp was made on a level spot. Yaqui took the horses to water, and +then turned them loose in the arroyo. It was a tired and somber group +that sat down to eat. The strain of suspense equaled the wearing +effects of the long ride. Mercedes was calm, but her great dark eyes +burned in her white face. Yaqui watched her. The others looked at her +with unspoken pride. Presently Thorne wrapped her in his blankets, and +she seemed to fall asleep at once. Twilight deepened. The campfire +blazed brighter. A cool wind played with Mercedes's black hair, waving +strands across her brow. + +Little of Yaqui's purpose or plan could be elicited from him. But the +look of him was enough to satisfy even Thorne. He leaned against a +pile of wood, which he had collected, and his gloomy gaze pierced the +campfire, and at long intervals strayed over the motionless form of the +Spanish girl. + +The rangers and Thorne, however, talked in low tones. It was +absolutely impossible for Rojas and his men to reach the waterhole +before noon of the next day. And long before that time the fugitives +would have decided on a plan of defense. What that defense would be, +and where it would be made, were matters over which the men considered +gravely. Ladd averred the Yaqui would put them into an impregnable +position, that at the same time would prove a death-trap for their +pursuers. They exhausted every possibility, and then, tired as they +were, still kept on talking. + +"What stuns me is that Rojas stuck to our trail," said Thorne, his +lined and haggard face expressive of dark passion. "He has followed us +into this fearful desert. He'll lose men, horses, perhaps his life. +He's only a bandit, and he stands to win no gold. If he ever gets out +of here it 'll be by herculean labor and by terrible hardship. All for +a poor little helpless woman--just a woman! My God, I can't understand +it." + +"Shore--just a woman," replied Ladd, solemnly nodding his head. + +Then there was a long silence during which the men gazed into the fire. +Each, perhaps, had some vague conception of the enormity of Rojas's +love or hate--some faint and amazing glimpse of the gulf of human +passion. Those were cold, hard, grim faces upon which the light +flickered. + +"Sleep," said the Yaqui. + +Thorne rolled in his blanket close beside Mercedes. Then one by one +the rangers stretched out, feet to the fire. Gale found that he could +not sleep. His eyes were weary, but they would not stay shut; his body +ached for rest, yet he could not lie still. The night was so somber, +so gloomy, and the lava-encompassed arroyo full of shadows. The dark +velvet sky, fretted with white fire, seemed to be close. There was an +absolute silence, as of death. Nothing moved--nothing outside of +Gale's body appeared to live. The Yaqui sat like an image carved out +of lava. The others lay prone and quiet. Would another night see any +of them lie that way, quiet forever? Gale felt a ripple pass over him +that was at once a shudder and a contraction of muscles. Used as he +was to the desert and its oppression, why should he feel to-night as if +the weight of its lava and the burden of its mystery were bearing him +down? + +He sat up after a while and again watched the fire. Nell's sweet face +floated like a wraith in the pale smoke--glowed and flushed and smiled +in the embers. Other faces shone there--his sister's--that of his +mother. Gale shook off the tender memories. This desolate wilderness +with its forbidding silence and its dark promise of hell on the +morrow--this was not the place to unnerve oneself with thoughts of love +and home. But the torturing paradox of the thing was that this was +just the place and just the night for a man to be haunted. + +By and by Gale rose and walked down a shadowy aisle between the +mesquites. On his way back the Yaqui joined him. Gale was not +surprised. He had become used to the Indian's strange guardianship. +But now, perhaps because of Gale's poignancy of thought, the contending +tides of love and regret, the deep, burning premonition of deadly +strife, he was moved to keener scrutiny of the Yaqui. That, of course, +was futile. The Indian was impenetrable, silent, strange. But +suddenly, inexplicably, Gale felt Yaqui's human quality. It was aloof, +as was everything about this Indian; but it was there. This savage +walked silently beside him, without glance or touch or word. His +thought was as inscrutable as if mind had never awakened in his race. +Yet Gale was conscious of greatness, and, somehow, he was reminded of +the Indian's story. His home had been desolated, his people carried +off to slavery, his wife and children separated from him to die. What +had life meant to the Yaqui? What had been in his heart? What was now +in his mind? Gale could not answer these questions. But the +difference between himself and Yaqui, which he had vaguely felt as that +between savage and civilized men, faded out of his mind forever. Yaqui +might have considered he owed Gale a debt, and, with a Yaqui's austere +and noble fidelity to honor, he meant to pay it. Nevertheless, this +was not the thing Gale found in the Indian's silent presence. +Accepting the desert with its subtle and inconceivable influence, Gale +felt that the savage and the white man had been bound in a tie which +was no less brotherly because it could not be comprehended. + +Toward dawn Gale managed to get some sleep. Then the morning broke +with the sun hidden back of the uplift of the plateau. The horses +trooped up the arroyo and snorted for water. After a hurried breakfast +the packs were hidden in holes in the lava. The saddles were left +where they were, and the horses allowed to graze and wander at will. +Canteens were filled, a small bag of food was packed, and blankets made +into a bundle. Then Yaqui faced the steep ascent of the lava slope. + +The trail he followed led up on the right side of the fissure, opposite +to the one he had come down. It was a steep climb, and encumbered as +the men were they made but slow progress. Mercedes had to be lifted up +smooth steps and across crevices. They passed places where the rims of +the fissure were but a few yards apart. At length the rims widened out +and the red, smoky crater yawned beneath. Yaqui left the trail and +began clambering down over the rough and twisted convolutions of lava +which formed the rim. Sometimes he hung sheer over the precipice. It +was with extreme difficulty that the party followed him. Mercedes had +to be held on narrow, foot-wide ledges. The choya was there to hinder +passage. Finally the Indian halted upon a narrow bench of flat, smooth +lava, and his followers worked with exceeding care and effort down to +his position. + +At the back of this bench, between bunches of choya, was a niche, a +shallow cave with floor lined apparently with mold. Ladd said the +place was a refuge which had been inhabited by mountain sheep for many +years. Yaqui spread blankets inside, left the canteen and the sack of +food, and with a gesture at once humble, yet that of a chief, he +invited Mercedes to enter. A few more gestures and fewer words +disclosed his plan. In this inaccessible nook Mercedes was to be +hidden. The men were to go around upon the opposite rim, and block the +trail leading down to the waterhole. + +Gale marked the nature of this eyrie. It was the wildest and most +rugged place he had ever stepped upon. Only a sheep could have climbed +up the wall above or along the slanting shelf of lava beyond. Below +glistened a whole bank of choya, frosty in the sunlight, and it +overhung an apparently bottomless abyss. + +Ladd chose the smallest gun in the party and gave it to Mercedes. + +"Shore it's best to go the limit on bein' ready," he said, simply. "The +chances are you'll never need it. But if you do--" + +He left off there, and his break was significant. Mercedes answered +him with a fearless and indomitable flash of eyes. Thorne was the only +one who showed any shaken nerve. His leave-taking of his wife was +affecting and hurried. Then he and the rangers carefully stepped in +the tracks of the Yaqui. + +They climbed up to the level of the rim and went along the edge. When +they reached the fissure and came upon its narrowest point, Yaqui +showed in his actions that he meant to leap it. Ladd restrained the +Indian. They then continued along the rim till they reached several +bridges of lava which crossed it. The fissures was deep in some parts, +choked in others. Evidently the crater had no direct outlet into the +arroyo below. Its bottom, however, must have been far beneath the +level of the waterhole. + +After the fissure was crossed the trail was soon found. Here it ran +back from the rim. Yaqui waved his hand to the right, where along the +corrugated slope of the crater there were holes and crevices and +coverts for a hundred men. Yaqui strode on up the trail toward a +higher point, where presently his dark figure stood motionless against +the sky. The rangers and Thorne selected a deep depression, out of +which led several ruts deep enough for cover. According to Ladd it was +as good a place as any, perhaps not so hidden as others, but freer from +the dreaded choya. Here the men laid down rifles and guns, and, +removing their heavy cartridge belts, settled down to wait. + +Their location was close to the rim wall and probably five hundred +yards from the opposite rim, which was now seen to be considerably +below them. The glaring red cliff presented a deceitful and baffling +appearance. It had a thousand ledges and holes in its surfaces, and +one moment it looked perpendicular and the next there seemed to be a +long slant. Thorne pointed out where he thought Mercedes was hidden; +Ladd selected another place, and Lash still another. Gale searched for +the bank of choya he had seen under the bench where Mercedes's retreat +lay, and when he found it the others disputed his opinion. Then Gale +brought his field glass into requisition, proving that he was right. +Once located and fixed in sight, the white patch of choya, the bench, +and the sheep eyrie stood out from the other features of that rugged +wall. But all the men were agreed that Yaqui had hidden Mercedes where +only the eyes of a vulture could have found her. + +Jim Lash crawled into a little strip of shade and bided the time +tranquilly. Ladd was restless and impatient and watchful, every little +while rising to look up the far-reaching slope, and then to the right, +where Yaqui's dark figure stood out from a high point of the rim. +Thorne grew silent, and seemed consumed by a slow, sullen rage. Gale +was neither calm nor free of a gnawing suspense nor of a waiting wrath. +But as best he could he put the pending action out of mind. + +It came over him all of a sudden that he had not grasped the stupendous +nature of this desert setting. There was the measureless red slope, +its lower ridges finally sinking into white sand dunes toward the blue +sea. The cold, sparkling light, the white sun, the deep azure of sky, +the feeling of boundless expanse all around him--these meant high +altitude. Southward the barren red simply merged into distance. The +field of craters rose in high, dark wheels toward the dominating peaks. +When Gale withdrew his gaze from the magnitude of these spaces and +heights the crater beneath him seemed dwarfed. Yet while he gazed it +spread and deepened and multiplied its ragged lines. No, he could not +grasp the meaning of size or distance here. There was too much to stun +the sight. But the mood in which nature had created this convulsed +world of lava seized hold upon him. + +Meanwhile the hours passed. As the sun climbed the clear, steely +lights vanished, the blue hazes deepened, and slowly the glistening +surfaces of lava turned redder. Ladd was concerned to discover that +Yaqui was missing from his outlook upon the high point. Jim Lash came +out of the shady crevice, and stood up to buckle on his cartridge belt. +His narrow, gray glance slowly roved from the height of lava down along +the slope, paused in doubt, and then swept on to resurvey the whole +vast eastern dip of the plateau. + +"I reckon my eyes are pore," he said. "Mebbe it's this damn red glare. +Anyway, what's them creepin' spots up there?" + +"Shore I seen them. Mountain sheep," replied Ladd. + +"Guess again, Laddy. Dick, I reckon you'd better flash the glass up +the slope." + +Gale adjusted the field glass and began to search the lava, beginning +close at hand and working away from him. Presently the glass became +stationary. + +"I see half a dozen small animals, brown in color. They look like +sheep. But I couldn't distinguish mountain sheep from antelope." + +"Shore they're bighorn," said Laddy. + +"I reckon if you'll pull around to the east an' search under that long +wall of lava--there--you'll see what I see," added Jim. + +The glass climbed and circled, wavered an instant, then fixed steady as +a rock. There was a breathless silence. + +"Fourteen horses--two packed--some mounted--others without riders, and +lame," said Gale, slowly. + +Yaqui appeared far up the trail, coming swiftly. Presently he saw the +rangers and halted to wave his arms and point. Then he vanished as if +the lava had opened beneath him. + +"Lemme that glass," suddenly said Jim Lash. "I'm seein' red, I tell +you.... Well, pore as my eyes are they had it right. Rojas an' his +outfit have left the trail." + +"Jim, you ain't meanin' they've taken to that awful slope?" queried +Ladd. + +"I sure do. There they are--still comin', but goin' down, too." + +"Mebbe Rojas is crazy, but it begins to look like he--" + +"Laddy, I'll be danged if the Greaser bunch hasn't vamoosed. Gone out +of sight! Right there not a half mile away, the whole caboodle--gone!" + +"Shore they're behind a crust or have gone down into a rut," suggested +Ladd. "They'll show again in a minute. Look sharp, boys, for I'm +figgerin' Rojas 'll spread his men." + +Minutes passed, but nothing moved upon the slope. Each man crawled up +to a vantage point along the crest of rotting lava. The watchers were +careful to peer through little notches or from behind a spur, and the +constricted nature of their hiding-place kept them close together. +Ladd's muttering grew into a growl, then lapsed into the silence that +marked his companions. From time to time the rangers looked +inquiringly at Gale. The field glass, however, like the naked sight, +could not catch the slightest moving object out there upon the lava. A +long hour of slow, mounting suspense wore on. + +"Shore it's all goin' to be as queer as the Yaqui," said Ladd. + +Indeed, the strange mien, the silent action, the somber character of +the Indian had not been without effect upon the minds of the men. Then +the weird, desolate, tragic scene added to the vague sense of mystery. +And now the disappearance of Rojas's band, the long wait in the +silence, the boding certainty of invisible foes crawling, circling +closer and closer, lent to the situation a final touch that made it +unreal. + +"I'm reckonin' there's a mind behind them Greasers," replied Jim. "Or +mebbe we ain't done Rojas credit... If somethin' would only come off!" + +That Lash, the coolest, most provokingly nonchalant of men in times of +peril, should begin to show a nervous strain was all the more +indicative of a subtle pervading unreality. + +"Boys, look sharp!" suddenly called Lash. "Low down to the left--mebbe +three hundred yards. See, along by them seams of lava--behind the +choyas. First off I thought it was a sheep. But it's the Yaqui!... +Crawlin' swift as a lizard! Can't you see him?" + +It was a full moment before Jim's companions could locate the Indian. +Flat as a snake Yaqui wound himself along with incredible rapidity. +His advance was all the more remarkable for the fact that he appeared +to pass directly under the dreaded choyas. Sometimes he paused to lift +his head and look. He was directly in line with a huge whorl of lava +that rose higher than any point on the slope. This spur was a quarter +of a mile from the position of the rangers. + +"Shore he's headin' for that high place," said Ladd. "He's goin' slow +now. There, he's stopped behind some choyas. He's gettin' up--no, +he's kneelin'.... Now what the hell!" + +"Laddy, take a peek at the side of that lava ridge," sharply called +Jim. "I guess mebbe somethin' ain't comin' off. See! There's Rojas +an' his outfit climbin'. Don't make out no hosses.... Dick, use your +glass an' tell us what's doin'. I'll watch Yaqui an' tell you what his +move means." + +Clearly and distinctly, almost as if he could have touched them, Gale +had Rojas and his followers in sight. They were toiling up the rough +lava on foot. They were heavily armed. Spurs, chaps, jackets, scarfs +were not in evidence. Gale saw the lean, swarthy faces, the black, +straggly hair, the ragged, soiled garments which had once been white. + +"They're almost up now," Gale was saying. "There! They halt on top. +I see Rojas. He looks wild. By ----! fellows, an Indian!... It's a +Papago. Belding's old herder!... The Indian points--this way--then +down. He's showing Rojas the lay of the trail." + +"Boys, Yaqui's in range of that bunch," said Jim, swiftly. "He's +raisin' his rifle slow--Lord, how slow he is!... He's covered some one. +Which one I can't say. But I think he'll pick Rojas." + +"The Yaqui can shoot. He'll pick Rojas," added Gale, grimly. + +"Rojas--yes--yes!" cried Thorne, in passion of suspense. + +"Not on your life!" Ladd's voice cut in with scorn. "Gentlemen, you +can gamble Yaqui 'll kill the Papago. That traitor Indian knows these +sheep haunts. He's tellin' Rojas--" + +A sharp rifle shot rang out. + +"Laddy's right," called Gale. "The Papago's hit--his arm falls--There, +he tumbles!" + +More shots rang out. Yaqui was seen standing erect firing rapidly at +the darting Mexicans. For all Gale could make out no second bullet +took effect. Rojas and his men vanished behind the bulge of lava. +Then Yaqui deliberately backed away from his position. He made no +effort to run or hide. Evidently he watched cautiously for signs of +pursuers in the ruts and behind the choyas. Presently he turned and +came straight toward the position of the rangers, sheered off perhaps a +hundred paces below it, and disappeared in a crevice. Plainly his +intention was to draw pursuers within rifle shot. + +"Shore, Jim, you had your wish. Somethin' come off," said Ladd. "An' +I'm sayin' thank God for the Yaqui! That Papago 'd have ruined us. +Even so, mebbe he's told Rojas more'n enough to make us sweat blood." + +"He had a chance to kill Rojas," cried out the drawn-faced, passionate +Thorne. "He didn't take it!... He didn't take it!" + +Only Ladd appeared to be able to answer the cavalryman's poignant cry. + +"Listen, son," he said, and his voice rang. "We-all know how you feel. +An' if I'd had that one shot never in the world could I have picked the +Papago guide. I'd have had to kill Rojas. That's the white man of it. +But Yaqui was right. Only an Indian could have done it. You can +gamble the Papago alive meant slim chance for us. Because he'd led +straight to where Mercedes is hidden, an' then we'd have left cover to +fight it out... When you come to think of the Yaqui's hate for +Greasers, when you just seen him pass up a shot at one--well, I don't +know how to say what I mean, but damn me, my som-brer-ro is off to the +Indian!" + +"I reckon so, an' I reckon the ball's opened," rejoined Lash, and now +that former nervous impatience so unnatural to him was as if it had +never been. He was smilingly cool, and his voice had almost a +caressing note. He tapped the breech of his Winchester with a sinewy +brown hand, and he did not appear to be addressing any one in +particular. "Yaqui's opened the ball. Look up your pardners there, +gents, an' get ready to dance." + +Another wait set in then, and judging by the more direct rays of the +sun and a receding of the little shadows cast by the choyas, Gale was +of the opinion that it was a long wait. But it seemed short. The four +men were lying under the bank of a half circular hole in the lava. It +was notched and cracked, and its rim was fringed by choyas. It sloped +down and opened to an unobstructed view of the crater. Gale had the +upper position, fartherest to the right, and therefore was best +shielded from possible fire from the higher ridges of the rim, some +three hundred yards distant. Jim came next, well hidden in a crack. +The positions of Thorne and Ladd were most exposed. They kept sharp +lookout over the uneven rampart of their hiding-place. + +The sun passed the zenith, began to slope westward, and to grow hotter +as it sloped. The men waited and waited. Gale saw no impatience even +in Thorne. The sultry air seemed to be laden with some burden or +quality that was at once composed of heat, menace, color, and silence. +Even the light glancing up from the lava seemed red and the silence had +substance. Sometimes Gale felt that it was unbearable. Yet he made no +effort to break it. + +Suddenly this dead stillness was rent by a shot, clear and stinging, +close at hand. It was from a rifle, not a carbine. With startling +quickness a cry followed--a cry that pierced Gale--it was so thin, so +high-keyed, so different from all other cries. It was the involuntary +human shriek at death. + +"Yaqui's called out another pardner," said Jim Lash, laconically. + +Carbines began to crack. The reports were quick, light, like sharp +spats without any ring. Gale peered from behind the edge of his +covert. Above the ragged wave of lava floated faint whitish clouds, +all that was visible of smokeless powder. Then Gale made out round +spots, dark against the background of red, and in front of them leaped +out small tongues of fire. Ladd's .405 began to "spang" with its +beautiful sound of power. Thorne was firing, somewhat wildly Gale +thought. Then Jim Lash pushed his Winchester over the rim under a +choya, and between shots Gale could hear him singing: "Turn the lady, +turn--turn the lady, turn!... Alaman left!... Swing your pardners!... +Forward an' back!... Turn the lady, turn!" Gale got into the fight +himself, not so sure that he hit any of the round, bobbing objects he +aimed at, but growing sure of himself as action liberated something +forced and congested within his breast. + +Then over the position of the rangers came a hail of steel bullets. +Those that struck the lava hissed away into the crater; those that came +biting through the choyas made a sound which resembled a sharp ripping +of silk. Bits of cactus stung Gale's face, and he dreaded the flying +thorns more than he did the flying bullets. + +"Hold on, boys," called Ladd, as he crouched down to reload his rifle. +"Save your shells. The greasers are spreadin' on us, some goin' down +below Yaqui, others movin' up for that high ridge. When they get up +there I'm damned if it won't be hot for us. There ain't room for all +of us to hide here." + +Ladd raised himself to peep over the rim. Shots were now scattering, +and all appeared to come from below. Emboldened by this he rose +higher. A shot from in front, a rip of bullet through the choya, a +spat of something hitting Ladd's face, a steel missile hissing +onward--these inseparably blended sounds were all registered by Gale's +sensitive ear. + +With a curse Ladd tumbled down into the hole. His face showed a great +gray blotch, and starting blood. Gale felt a sickening assurance of +desperate injury to the ranger. He ran to him calling: "Laddy! Laddy!" + +"Shore I ain't plugged. It's a damn choya burr. The bullet knocked it +in my face. Pull it out!" + +The oval, long-spiked cone was firmly imbedded in Ladd's cheek. Blood +streamed down his face and neck. Carefully, yet with no thought of +pain to himself, Gale tried to pull the cactus joint away. It was as +firm as if it had been nailed there. That was the damnable feature of +the barbed thorns: once set, they held on as that strange plant held +to its desert life. Ladd began to writhe, and sweat mingled with the +blood on his face. He cursed and raved, and his movements made it +almost impossible for Gale to do anything. + +"Put your knife-blade under an' tear it out!" shouted Ladd, hoarsely. + +Thus ordered, Gale slipped a long blade in between the imbedded thorns, +and with a powerful jerk literally tore the choya out of Ladd's +quivering flesh. Then, where the ranger's face was not red and raw, it +certainly was white. + +A volley of shots from a different angle was followed by the quick ring +of steel bullets striking the lava all around Gale. His first idea, as +he heard the projectiles sing and hum and whine away into the air, was +that they were coming from above him. He looked up to see a number of +low, white and dark knobs upon the high point of lava. They had not +been there before. Then he saw little, pale, leaping tongues of fire. +As he dodged down he distinctly heard a bullet strike Ladd. At the +same instant he seemed to hear Thorne cry out and fall, and Lash's +boots scrape rapidly away. + +Ladd fell backward still holding the .405. Gale dragged him into the +shelter of his own position, and dreading to look at him, took up the +heavy weapon. It was with a kind of savage strength that he gripped +the rifle; and it was with a cold and deadly intent that he aimed and +fired. The first Greaser huddled low, let his carbine go clattering +down, and then crawled behind the rim. The second and third jerked +back. The fourth seemed to flop up over the crest of lava. A dark arm +reached for him, clutched his leg, tried to drag him up. It was in +vain. Wildly grasping at the air the bandit fell, slid down a steep +shelf, rolled over the rim, to go hurtling down out of sight. + +Fingering the hot rifle with close-pressed hands, Gale watched the sky +line along the high point of lava. It remained unbroken. As his +passion left him he feared to look back at his companions, and the cold +chill returned to his breast. + +"Shore--I'm damn glad--them Greasers ain't usin' soft-nose bullets," +drawled a calm voice. + +Swift as lightning Gale whirled. + +"Laddy! I thought you were done for," cried Gale, with a break in his +voice. + +"I ain't a-mindin' the bullet much. But that choya joint took my +nerve, an' you can gamble on it. Dick, this hole's pretty high up, +ain't it?" + +The ranger's blouse was open at the neck, and on his right shoulder +under the collar bone was a small hole just beginning to bleed. + +"Sure it's high, Laddy," replied Gale, gladly. "Went clear through, +clean as a whistle!" + +He tore a handkerchief into two parts, made wads, and pressing them +close over the wounds he bound them there with Ladd's scarf. + +"Shore it's funny how a bullet can floor a man an' then not do any +damage," said Ladd. "I felt a zip of wind an' somethin' like a pat on +my chest an' down I went. Well, so much for the small caliber with +their steel bullets. Supposin' I'd connected with a .405!" + +"Laddy, I--I'm afraid Thorne's done for," whispered Gale. "He's lying +over there in that crack. I can see part of him. He doesn't move." + +"I was wonderin' if I'd have to tell you that. Dick, he went down hard +hit, fallin', you know, limp an' soggy. It was a moral cinch one of us +would get it in this fight; but God! I'm sorry Thorne had to be the +man." + +"Laddy, maybe he's not dead," replied Gale. He called aloud to his +friend. There was no answer. + +Ladd got up, and, after peering keenly at the height of lava, he strode +swiftly across the space. It was only a dozen steps to the crack in +the lava where Thorne had fallen head first. Ladd bent over, went to +his knees, so that Gale saw only his head. Then he appeared rising +with arms round the cavalryman. He dragged him across the hole to the +sheltered corner that alone afforded protection. He had scarcely +reached it when a carbine cracked and a bullet struck the flinty lava, +striking sparks, then singing away into the air. + +Thorne was either dead or unconscious, and Gale, with a contracting +throat and numb heart, decided for the former. Not so Ladd, who probed +the bloody gash on Thorne's temple, and then felt his breast. + +"He's alive an' not bad hurt. That bullet hit him glancin'. Shore +them steel bullets are some lucky for us. Dick, you needn't look so +glum. I tell you he ain't bad hurt. I felt his skull with my finger. +There's no hole in it. Wash him off an' tie-- Wow! did you get the +wind of that one? An' mebbe it didn't sing off the lava!... Dick, look +after Thorne now while I--" + +The completion of his speech was the stirring ring of the .405, and +then he uttered a laugh that was unpleasant. + +"Shore, Greaser, there's a man's size bullet for you. No slim, +sharp-pointed, steel-jacket nail! I'm takin' it on me to believe +you're appreciatin' of the .405, seein' as you don't make no fuss." + +It was indeed a joy to Gale to find that Thorne had not received a +wound necessarily fatal, though it was serious enough. Gale bathed and +bound it, and laid the cavalryman against the slant of the bank, his +head high to lessen the probability of bleeding. + +As Gale straightened up Ladd muttered low and deep, and swung the heavy +rifle around to the left. Far along the slope a figure moved. Ladd +began to work the lever of the Winchester and to shoot. At every shot +the heavy firearm sprang up, and the recoil made Ladd's shoulder give +back. Gale saw the bullets strike the lava behind, beside, before the +fleeing Mexican, sending up dull puffs of dust. On the sixth shot he +plunged down out of sight, either hit or frightened into seeking cover. + +"Dick, mebbe there's one or two left above; but we needn't figure much +on it," said Ladd, as, loading the rifle, he jerked his fingers quickly +from the hot breech. "Listen! Jim an' Yaqui are hittin' it up lively +down below. I'll sneak down there. You stay here an' keep about half +an eye peeled up yonder, an' keep the rest my way." + +Ladd crossed the hole, climbed down into the deep crack where Thorne +had fallen, and then went stooping along with only his head above the +level. Presently he disappeared. Gale, having little to fear from the +high ridge, directed most of his attention toward the point beyond +which Ladd had gone. The firing had become desultory, and the light +carbine shots outnumbered the sharp rifle shots five to one. Gale made +a note of the fact that for some little time he had not heard the +unmistakable report of Jim Lash's automatic. Then ensued a long +interval in which the desert silence seemed to recover its grip. The +.405 ripped it asunder--spang--spang--spang. Gale fancied he heard +yells. There were a few pattering shots still farther down the trail. +Gale had an uneasy conviction that Rojas and some of his band might go +straight to the waterhole. It would be hard to dislodge even a few men +from that retreat. + +There seemed a lull in the battle. Gale ventured to stand high, and +screened behind choyas, he swept the three-quarter circle of lava with +his glass. In the distance he saw horses, but no riders. Below him, +down the slope along the crater rim and the trail, the lava was bare of +all except tufts of choya. Gale gathered assurance. It looked as if +the day was favoring his side. Then Thorne, coming partly to +consciousness, engaged Gale's care. The cavalryman stirred and moaned, +called for water, and then for Mercedes. Gale held him back with a +strong hand, and presently he was once more quiet. + +For the first time in hours, as it seemed, Gale took note of the +physical aspect of his surroundings. He began to look upon them +without keen gaze strained for crouching form, or bobbing head, or +spouting carbine. Either Gale's sense of color and proportion had +become deranged during the fight, or the encompassing air and the +desert had changed. Even the sun had changed. It seemed lowering, +oval in shape, magenta in hue, and it had a surface that gleamed like +oil on water. Its red rays shone through red haze. Distances that had +formerly been clearly outlined were now dim, obscured. The yawning +chasm was not the same. It circled wider, redder, deeper. It was a +weird, ghastly mouth of hell. Gale stood fascinated, unable to tell +how much he saw was real, how much exaggeration of overwrought +emotions. There was no beauty here, but an unparalleled grandeur, a +sublime scene of devastation and desolation which might have had its +counterpart upon the burned-out moon. The mood that gripped Gale now +added to its somber portent an unshakable foreboding of calamity. + +He wrestled with the spell as if it were a physical foe. Reason and +intelligence had their voices in his mind; but the moment was not one +wherein these things could wholly control. He felt life strong within +his breast, yet there, a step away, was death, yawning, glaring, smoky, +red. It was a moment--an hour for a savage, born, bred, developed in +this scarred and blasted place of jagged depths and red distances and +silences never meant to be broken. Since Gale was not a savage he +fought that call of the red gods which sent him back down the long ages +toward his primitive day. His mind combated his sense of sight and the +hearing that seemed useless; and his mind did not win all the victory. +Something fatal was here, hanging in the balance, as the red haze hung +along the vast walls of that crater of hell. + +Suddenly harsh, prolonged yells brought him to his feet, and the +unrealities vanished. Far down the trails where the crater rims closed +in the deep fissure he saw moving forms. They were three in number. +Two of them ran nimbly across the lava bridge. The third staggered far +behind. It was Ladd. He appeared hard hit. He dragged at the heavy +rifle which he seemed unable to raise. The yells came from him. He +was calling the Yaqui. + +Gale's heart stood still momentarily. Here, then, was the catastrophe! +He hardly dared sweep that fissure with his glass. The two fleeing +figures halted--turned to fire at Ladd. Gale recognized the foremost +one--small, compact, gaudy. Rojas! The bandit's arm was outstretched. +Puffs of white smoke rose, and shots rapped out. When Ladd went down +Rojas threw his gun aside and with a wild yell bounded over the lava. +His companion followed. + +A tide of passion, first hot as fire, then cold as ice, rushed over +Gale when he saw Rojas take the trail toward Mercedes's hiding-place. +The little bandit appeared to have the sure-footedness of a mountain +sheep. The Mexican following was not so sure or fast. He turned back. +Gale heard the trenchant bark of the .405. Ladd was kneeling. He shot +again--again. The retreating bandit seemed to run full into an +invisible obstacle, then fell lax, inert, lifeless. Rojas sped on +unmindful of the spurts of dust about him. Yaqui, high above Ladd, was +also firing at the bandit. Then both rifles were emptied. Rojas +turned at a high break in the trail. He shook a defiant hand, and his +exulting yell pealed faintly to Gale's ears. About him there was +something desperate, magnificent. Then he clambered down the trail. + +Ladd dropped the .405, and rising, gun in hand, he staggered toward the +bridge of lava. Before he had crossed it Yaqui came bounding down the +slope, and in one splendid leap he cleared the fissure. He ran beyond +the trail and disappeared on the lava above. Rojas had not seen this +sudden, darting move of the Indian. + +Gale felt himself bitterly powerless to aid in that pursuit. He could +only watch. He wondered, fearfully, what had become of Lash. +Presently, when Rojas came out of the cracks and ruts of lava there +might be a chance of disabling him by a long shot. His progress was now +slow. But he was making straight for Mercedes's hiding-place. What +was it leading him there--an eagle eye, or hate, or instinct? Why did +he go on when there could be no turning back for him on that trail? +Ladd was slow, heavy, staggering on the trail; but he was relentless. +Only death could stop the ranger now. Surely Rojas must have known +that when he chose the trail. From time to time Gale caught glimpses +of Yaqui's dark figure stealing along the higher rim of the crater. He +was making for a point above the bandit. + +Moments--endless moments dragged by. The lowering sun colored only the +upper half of the crater walls. Far down the depths were murky blue. +Again Gale felt the insupportable silence. The red haze became a +transparent veil before his eyes. Sinister, evil, brooding, waiting, +seemed that yawning abyss. Ladd staggered along the trail, at times he +crawled. The Yaqui gained; he might have had wings; he leaped from +jagged crust to jagged crust; his sure-footedness was a wonderful thing. + +But for Gale the marvel of that endless period of watching was the +purpose of the bandit Rojas. He had now no weapon. Gale's glass made +this fact plain. There was death behind him, death below him, death +before him, and though he could not have known it, death above him. He +never faltered--never made a misstep upon the narrow, flinty trail. +When he reached the lower end of the level ledge Gale's poignant doubt +became a certainty. Rojas had seen Mercedes. It was incredible, yet +Gale believed it. Then, his heart clamped as in an icy vise, Gale +threw forward the Remington, and sinking on one knee, began to shoot. +He emptied the magazine. Puffs of dust near Rojas did not even make +him turn. + +As Gale began to reload he was horror-stricken by a low cry from +Thorne. The cavalryman had recovered consciousness. He was half +raised, pointing with shaking hand at the opposite ledge. His +distended eyes were riveted upon Rojas. He was trying to utter speech +that would not come. + +Gale wheeled, rigid now, steeling himself to one last forlorn +hope--that Mercedes could defend herself. She had a gun. He doubted +not at all that she would use it. But, remembering her terror of this +savage, he feared for her. + +Rojas reached the level of the ledge. He halted. He crouched. It was +the act of a panther. Manifestly he saw Mercedes within the cave. +Then faint shots patted the air, broke in quick echo. Rojas went down +as if struck a heavy blow. He was hit. But even as Gale yelled in +sheer madness the bandit leaped erect. He seemed too quick, too supple +to be badly wounded. A slight, dark figure flashed out of the cave. +Mercedes! She backed against the wall. Gale saw a puff of +white--heard a report. But the bandit lunged at her. Mercedes ran, +not to try to pass him, but straight for the precipice. Her intention +was plain. But Rojas outstripped her, even as she reached the verge. +Then a piercing scream pealed across the crater--a scream of despair. + +Gale closed his eyes. He could not bear to see more. + +Thorne echoed Mercedes's scream. Gale looked round just in time to +leap and catch the cavalryman as he staggered, apparently for the steep +slope. And then, as Gale dragged him back, both fell. Gale saved his +friend, but he plunged into a choya. He drew his hands away full of +the great glistening cones of thorns. + +"For God's sake, Gale, shoot! Shoot! Kill her! Kill her!... +Can't--you--see--Rojas--" + +Thorne fainted. + +Gale, stunned for the instant, stood with uplifted hands, and gazed +from Thorne across the crater. Rojas had not killed Mercedes. He was +overpowering her. His actions seemed slow, wearing, purposeful. Hers +were violent. Like a trapped she-wolf, Mercedes was fighting. She +tore, struggled, flung herself. + +Rojas's intention was terribly plain. + +In agony now, both mental and physical, cold and sick and weak, Gale +gripped his rifle and aimed at the struggling forms on the ledge. He +pulled the trigger. The bullet struck up a cloud of red dust close to +the struggling couple. Again Gale fired, hoping to hit Rojas, praying +to kill Mercedes. The bullet struck high. A third--fourth--fifth time +the Remington spoke--in vain! The rifle fell from Gale's racked hands. + +How horribly plain that fiend's intention! Gale tried to close his +eyes, but could not. He prayed wildly for a sudden blindness--to faint +as Thorne had fainted. But he was transfixed to the spot with eyes +that pierced the red light. + +Mercedes was growing weaker, seemed about to collapse. + +"Oh, Jim Lash, are you dead?" cried Gale. "Oh, Laddy!... Oh, Yaqui!" + +Suddenly a dark form literally fell down the wall behind the ledge +where Rojas fought the girl. It sank in a heap, then bounded erect. + +"Yaqui!" screamed Gale, and he waved his bleeding hands till the blood +bespattered his face. Then he choked. Utterance became impossible. + +The Indian bent over Rojas and flung him against the wall. Mercedes, +sinking back, lay still. When Rojas got up the Indian stood between +him and escape from the ledge. Rojas backed the other way along the +narrowing shelf of lava. His manner was abject, stupefied. Slowly he +stepped backward. + +It was then that Gale caught the white gleam of a knife in Yaqui's +hand. Rojas turned and ran. He rounded a corner of wall where the +footing was precarious. Yaqui followed slowly. His figure was dark +and menacing. But he was not in a hurry. When he passed off the ledge +Rojas was edging farther and farther along the wall. He was clinging +now to the lava, creeping inch by inch. Perhaps he had thought to work +around the buttress or climb over it. Evidently he went as far as +possible, and there he clung, an unscalable wall above, the abyss +beneath. + +The approach of the Yaqui was like a slow dark shadow of gloom. If it +seemed so to the stricken Gale what must it have been to Rojas? He +appeared to sink against the wall. The Yaqui stole closer and closer. +He was the savage now, and for him the moment must have been glorified. +Gale saw him gaze up at the great circling walls of the crater, then +down into the depths. Perhaps the red haze hanging above him, or the +purple haze below, or the deep caverns in the lava, held for Yaqui +spirits of the desert, his gods to whom he called. Perhaps he invoked +shadows of his loved ones and his race, calling them in this moment of +vengeance. + +Gale heard--or imagined he heard--that wild, strange Yaqui cry. + +Then the Indian stepped close to Rojas, and bent low, keeping out of +reach. How slow were his motions! Would Yaqui never--never end it?... +A wail drifted across the crater to Gale's ears. + +Rojas fell backward and plunged sheer. The bank of white choyas caught +him, held him upon their steel spikes. How long did the dazed Gale sit +there watching Rojas wrestling and writhing in convulsive frenzy? The +bandit now seemed mad to win the delayed death. + +When he broke free he was a white patched object no longer human, a +ball of choya burrs, and he slipped off the bank to shoot down and down +into the purple depths of the crater. + + + +XIII + +CHANGES AT FORLORN RIVER + +THE first of March saw the federal occupation of the garrison at +Casita. After a short, decisive engagement the rebels were dispersed +into small bands and driven eastward along the boundary line toward +Nogales. + +It was the destiny of Forlorn River, however, never to return to the +slow, sleepy tenor of its former existence. Belding's predictions came +true. That straggling line of home-seekers was but a forerunner of the +real invasion of Altar Valley. Refugees from Mexico and from Casita +spread the word that water and wood and grass and land were to be had +at Forlorn River; and as if by magic the white tents and red adobe +houses sprang up to glisten in the sun. + +Belding was happier than he had been for a long time. He believed that +evil days for Forlorn River, along with the apathy and lack of +enterprise, were in the past. He hired a couple of trustworthy +Mexicans to ride the boundary line, and he settled down to think of +ranching and irrigation and mining projects. Every morning he expected +to receive some word form Sonoyta or Yuma, telling him that Yaqui had +guided his party safely across the desert. + +Belding was simple-minded, a man more inclined to action than +reflection. When the complexities of life hemmed him in, he groped his +way out, never quite understanding. His wife had always been a mystery +to him. Nell was sunshine most of the time, but, like the +sun-dominated desert, she was subject to strange changes, wilful, +stormy, sudden. It was enough for Belding now to find his wife in a +lighter, happier mood, and to see Nell dreamily turning a ring round +and round the third finger of her left hand and watching the west. +Every day both mother and daughter appeared farther removed from the +past darkly threatening days. Belding was hearty in his affections, +but undemonstrative. If there was any sentiment in his make-up it had +an outlet in his memory of Blanco Diablo and a longing to see him. +Often Belding stopped his work to gaze out over the desert toward the +west. When he thought of his rangers and Thorne and Mercedes he +certainly never forgot his horse. He wondered if Diablo was running, +walking, resting; if Yaqui was finding water and grass. + +In March, with the short desert winter over, the days began to grow +warm. The noon hours were hot, and seemed to give promise of the white +summer blaze and blasting furnace wind soon to come. No word was +received from the rangers. But this caused Belding no concern, and it +seemed to him that his women folk considered no news good news. + +Among the many changes coming to pass in Forlorn River were the +installing of post-office service and the building of a mescal +drinking-house. Belding had worked hard for the post office, but he +did not like the idea of a saloon for Forlorn River. Still, that was +an inevitable evil. The Mexicans would have mescal. Belding had kept +the little border hamlet free of an establishment for distillation of +the fiery cactus drink. A good many Americans drifted into Forlorn +River--miners, cowboys, prospectors, outlaws, and others of nondescript +character; and these men, of course, made the saloon, which was also an +inn, their headquarters. Belding, with Carter and other old residents, +saw the need of a sheriff for Forlorn River. + +One morning early in this spring month, while Belding was on his way +from the house to the corrals, he saw Nell running Blanco Jose down the +road at a gait that amazed him. She did not take the turn of the road +to come in by the gate. She put Jose at a four-foot wire fence, and +came clattering into the yard. + +"Nell must have another tantrum," said Belding. "She's long past due." + +Blanco Jose, like the other white horses, was big of frame and heavy, +and thunder rolled from under his great hoofs. Nell pulled him up, and +as he pounded and slid to a halt in a cloud of dust she swung lightly +down. + +It did not take more than half an eye for Belding to see that she was +furious. + +"Nell, what's come off now?" asked Belding. + +"I'm not going to tell you," she replied, and started away, leading +Jose toward the corral. + +Belding leisurely followed. She went into the corral, removed Jose's +bridle, and led him to the watering-trough. Belding came up, and +without saying anything began to unbuckle Jose's saddle girths. But he +ventured a look at Nell. The red had gone from her face, and he was +surprised to see her eyes brimming with tears. Most assuredly this was +not one of Nell's tantrums. While taking off Jose's saddle and hanging +it in the shed Belding pondered in his slow way. When he came back to +the corral Nell had her face against the bars, and she was crying. He +slipped a big arm around her and waited. Although it was not often +expressed, there was a strong attachment between them. + +"Dad, I don't want you to think me a--a baby any more," she said. "I've +been insulted." + +With a specific fact to make clear thought in Belding's mind he was +never slow. + +"I knew something unusual had come off. I guess you'd better tell me." + +"Dad, I will, if you promise." + +"What?" + +"Not to mention it to mother, not to pack a gun down there, and never, +never tell Dick." + +Belding was silent. Seldom did he make promises readily. + +"Nell, sure something must have come off, for you to ask all that." + +"If you don't promise I'll never tell, that's all," she declared, +firmly. + +Belding deliberated a little longer. He knew the girl. + +"Well, I promise not to tell mother," he said, presently; "and seeing +you're here safe and well, I guess I won't go packing a gun down there, +wherever that is. But I won't promise to keep anything from Dick that +perhaps he ought to know." + +"Dad, what would Dick do if--if he were here and I were to tell him +I'd--I'd been horribly insulted?" + +"I guess that 'd depend. Mostly, you know, Dick does what you want. +But you couldn't stop him--nobody could--if there was reason, a man's +reason, to get started. Remember what he did to Rojas!... Nell, tell +me what's happened." + +Nell, regaining her composure, wiped her eyes and smoothed back her +hair. + +"The other day, Wednesday," she began, "I was coming home, and in front +of that mescal drinking-place there was a crowd. It was a noisy crowd. +I didn't want to walk out into the street or seem afraid. But I had to +do both. There were several young men, and if they weren't drunk they +certainly were rude. I never saw them before, but I think they must +belong to the mining company that was run out of Sonora by rebels. +Mrs. Carter was telling me. Anyway, these young fellows were +Americans. They stretched themselves across the walk and smiled at me. +I had to go out in the road. One of them, the rudest, followed me. He +was a big fellow, red-faced, with prominent eyes and a bold look. He +came up beside me and spoke to me. I ran home. And as I ran I heard +his companions jeering. + +"Well, to-day, just now, when I was riding up the valley road I came +upon the same fellows. They had instruments and were surveying. +Remembering Dick, and how he always wished for an instrument to help +work out his plan for irrigation, I was certainly surprised to see +these strangers surveying--and surveying upon Laddy's plot of land. It +was a sandy road there, and Jose happened to be walking. So I reined in +and asked these engineers what they were doing. The leader, who was +that same bold fellow who had followed me, seemed much pleased at being +addressed. He was swaggering--too friendly; not my idea of a gentleman +at all. He said he was glad to tell me he was going to run water all +over Altar Valley. Dad, you can bet that made me wild. That was +Dick's plan, his discovery, and here were surveyors on Laddy's claim. + +"Then I told him that he was working on private land and he'd better +get off. He seemed to forget his flirty proclivities in amazement. +Then he looked cunning. I read his mind. It was news to him that all +the land along the valley had been taken up. + +"He said something about not seeing any squatters on the land, and then +he shut up tight on that score. But he began to be flirty again. He +got hold of Jose's bridle, and before I could catch my breath he said I +was a peach, and that he wanted to make a date with me, that his name +was Chase, that he owned a gold mine in Mexico. He said a lot more I +didn't gather, but when he called me 'Dearie' I--well, I lost my temper. + +"I jerked on the bridle and told him to let go. He held on and rolled +his eyes at me. I dare say he imagined he was a gentlemen to be +infatuated with. He seemed sure of conquest. One thing certain, he +didn't know the least bit about horses. It scared me the way he got in +front of Jose. I thanked my stars I wasn't up on Blanco Diablo. Well, +Dad, I'm a little ashamed now, but I was mad. I slashed him across the +face with my quirt. Jose jumped and knocked Mr. Chase into the sand. +I didn't get the horse under control till I was out of sight of those +surveyors, and then I let him run home." + +"Nell, I guess you punished the fellow enough. Maybe he's only a +conceited softy. But I don't like that sort of thing. It isn't +Western. I guess he won't be so smart next time. Any fellow would +remember being hit by Blanco Jose. If you'd been up on Diablo we'd +have to bury Mr. Chase." + +"Thank goodness I wasn't! I'm sorry now, Dad. Perhaps the fellow was +hurt. But what could I do? Let's forget all about it, and I'll be +careful where I ride in the future.... Dad, what does it mean, this +surveying around Forlorn River?" + +"I don't know, Nell," replied Belding, thoughtfully. "It worries me. +It looks good for Forlorn River, but bad for Dick's plan to irrigate +the valley. Lord, I'd hate to have some one forestall Dick on that!" + +"No, no, we won't let anybody have Dick's rights," declared Nell. + +"Where have I been keeping myself not to know about these surveyors?" +muttered Belding. "They must have just come." + +"Go see Mrs. Cater. She told me there were strangers in town, +Americans, who had mining interests in Sonora, and were run out by +Orozco. Find out what they're doing, Dad." + +Belding discovered that he was, indeed, the last man of consequence in +Forlorn River to learn of the arrival of Ben Chase and son, mineowners +and operators in Sonora. They, with a force of miners, had been +besieged by rebels and finally driven off their property. This property +was not destroyed, but held for ransom. And the Chases, pending +developments, had packed outfits and struck for the border. Casita had +been their objective point, but, for some reason which Belding did not +learn, they had arrived instead at Forlorn River. It had taken Ben +Chase just one day to see the possibilities of Altar Valley, and in +three days he had men at work. + +Belding returned home without going to see the Chases and their +operations. He wanted to think over the situation. Next morning he +went out to the valley to see for himself. Mexicans were hastily +erecting adobe houses upon Ladd's one hundred and sixty acres, upon +Dick Gale's, upon Jim Lash's and Thorne's. There were men staking the +valley floor and the river bed. That was sufficient for Belding. He +turned back toward town and headed for the camp of these intruders. + +In fact, the surroundings of Forlorn River, except on the river side, +reminded Belding of the mushroom growth of a newly discovered mining +camp. Tents were everywhere; adobe shacks were in all stages of +construction; rough clapboard houses were going up. The latest of this +work was new and surprising to Belding, all because he was a busy man, +with no chance to hear village gossip. When he was directed to the +headquarters of the Chase Mining Company he went thither in +slow-growing wrath. + +He came to a big tent with a huge canvas fly stretched in front, under +which sat several men in their shirt sleeves. They were talking and +smoking. + +"My name's Belding. I want to see this Mr. Chase," said Belding, +gruffly. + +Slow-witted as Belding was, and absorbed in his own feelings, he yet +saw plainly that his advent was disturbing to these men. They looked +alarmed, exchanged glances, and then quickly turned to him. One of +them, a tall, rugged man with sharp face and shrewd eyes and white +hair, got up and offered his hand. + +"I'm Chase, senior," he said. "My son Radford Chase is here somewhere. +You're Belding, the line inspector, I take it? I meant to call on you." + +He seemed a rough-and-ready, loud-spoken man, withal cordial enough. + +"Yes, I'm the inspector," replied Belding, ignoring the proffered hand, +"and I'd like to know what in the hell you mean by taking up land +claims--staked ground that belongs to my rangers?" + +"Land claims?" slowly echoed Chase, studying his man. "We're taking up +only unclaimed land." + +"That's a lie. You couldn't miss the stakes." + +"Well, Mr. Belding, as to that, I think my men did run across some +staked ground. But we recognize only squatters. If your rangers think +they've got property just because they drove a few stakes in the ground +they're much mistaken. A squatter has to build a house and live on his +land so long, according to law, before he owns it." + +This argument was unanswerable, and Belding knew it. + +"According to law!" exclaimed Belding. "Then you own up; you've jumped +our claims." + +"Mr. Belding, I'm a plain business man. I come along. I see a good +opening. Nobody seems to have tenable grants. I stake out claims, +locate squatters, start to build. It seems to me your rangers have +overlooked certain precautions. That's unfortunate for them. I'm +prepared to hold my claim and to back all the squatters who work for +me. If you don't like it you can carry the matter to Tucson. The law +will uphold me." + +"The law? Say, on this southwest border we haven't any law except a +man's word and a gun." + +"Then you'll find United States law has come along with Ben Chase," +replied the other, snapping his fingers. He was still smooth, +outspoken, but his mask had fallen. + +"You're not a Westerner?" queried Belding. + +"No, I'm from Illinois." + +"I thought the West hadn't bred you. I know your kind. You'd last a +long time on the Texas border; now, wouldn't you? You're one of the +land and water hogs that has come to root in the West. You're like the +timber sharks--take it all and leave none for those who follow. Mr. +Chase, the West would fare better and last longer if men like you were +driven out." + +"You can't drive me out." + +"I'm not so sure of that. Wait till my rangers come back. I wouldn't +be in your boots. Don't mistake me. I don't suppose you could be +accused of stealing another man's ideas or plan, but sure you've stolen +these four claims. Maybe the law might uphold you. But the spirit, +not the letter, counts with us bordermen." + +"See here, Belding, I think you're taking the wrong view of the matter. +I'm going to develop this valley. You'd do better to get in with me. +I've a proposition to make you about that strip of land of yours facing +the river." + +"You can't make any deals with me. I won't have anything to do with +you." + +Belding abruptly left the camp and went home. Nell met him, probably +intended to question him, but one look into his face confirmed her +fears. She silently turned away. Belding realized he was powerless to +stop Chase, and he was sick with disappointment for the ruin of Dick's +hopes and his own. + + + +XIV + +A LOST SON + +TIME passed. The population of Forlorn River grew apace. Belding, who +had once been the head of the community, found himself a person of +little consequence. Even had he desired it he would not have had any +voice in the selection of postmaster, sheriff, and a few other +officials. The Chases divided their labors between Forlorn River and +their Mexican gold mine, which had been restored to them. The desert +trips between these two places were taken in automobiles. A month's +time made the motor cars almost as familiar a sight in Forlorn River as +they had been in Casita before the revolution. + +Belding was not so busy as he had been formerly. As he lost ambition +he began to find less work to do. His wrath at the usurping Chases +increased as he slowly realized his powerlessness to cope with such +men. They were promoters, men of big interests and wide influence in +the Southwest. The more they did for Forlorn River the less reason +there seemed to be for his own grievance. He had to admit that it was +personal; that he and Gale and the rangers would never have been able +to develop the resources of the valley as these men were doing it. + +All day long he heard the heavy booming blasts and the rumble of +avalanches up in the gorge. Chase's men were dynamiting the cliffs in +the narrow box canyon. They were making the dam just as Gale had +planned to make it. When this work of blasting was over Belding +experienced a relief. He would not now be continually reminded of his +and Gale's loss. Resignation finally came to him. But he could not +reconcile himself to misfortune for Gale. + +Moreover, Belding had other worry and strain. April arrived with no +news of the rangers. From Casita came vague reports of raiders in the +Sonoyta country--reports impossible to verify until his Mexican rangers +returned. When these men rode in, one of them, Gonzales, an +intelligent and reliable halfbreed, said he had met prospectors at the +oasis. They had just come in on the Camino del Diablo, reported a +terrible trip of heat and drought, and not a trace of the Yaqui's party. + +"That settles it," declared Belding. "Yaqui never went to Sonoyta. +He's circled round to the Devil's Road, and the rangers, Mercedes, +Thorne, the horses--they--I'm afraid they have been lost in the desert. +It's an old story on Camino del Diablo." + +He had to tell Nell that, and it was an ordeal which left him weak. + +Mrs. Belding listened to him, and was silent for a long time while she +held the stricken Nell to her breast. Then she opposed his convictions +with that quiet strength so characteristic of her arguments. + +"Well, then," decided Belding, "Rojas headed the rangers at Papago Well +or the Tanks." + +"Tom, when you are down in the mouth you use poor judgment," she went +on. "You know only by a miracle could Rojas or anybody have headed +those white horses. Where's your old stubborn confidence? Yaqui was +up on Diablo. Dick was up on Sol. And there were the other horses. +They could not have been headed or caught. Miracles don't happen." + +"All right, mother, it's sure good to hear you," said Belding. She +always cheered him, and now he grasped at straws. "I'm not myself +these days, don't mistake that. Tell us what you think. You always say +you feel things when you really don't know them." + +"I can say little more than what you said yourself the night Mercedes +was taken away. You told Laddy to trust Yaqui, that he was a godsend. +He might go south into some wild Sonora valley. He might lead Rojas +into a trap. He would find water and grass where no Mexican or +American could." + +"But mother, they're gone seven weeks. Seven weeks! At the most I +gave them six weeks. Seven weeks in the desert!" + +"How do the Yaquis live?" she asked. + +Belding could not reply to that, but hope revived in him. He had faith +in his wife, though he could not in the least understand what he +imagined was something mystic in her. + +"Years ago when I was searching for my father I learned many things +about this country," said Mrs. Belding. "You can never tell how long a +man may live in the desert. The fiercest, most terrible and +inaccessible places often have their hidden oasis. In his later years +my father became a prospector. That was strange to me, for he never +cared for gold or money. I learned that he was often gone in the +desert for weeks, once for months. Then the time came when he never +came back. That was years before I reached the southwest border and +heard of him. Even then I did not for long give up hope of his coming +back, I know now--something tells me--indeed, it seems his spirit +tells me--he was lost. But I don't have that feeling for Yaqui and his +party. Yaqui has given Rojas the slip or has ambushed him in some +trap. Probably that took time and a long journey into Sonora. The +Indian is too wise to start back now over dry trails. He'll curb the +rangers; he'll wait. I seem to know this, dear Nell, so be brave, +patient. Dick Gale will come back to you." + +"Oh, mother!" cried Nell. "I can't give up hope while I have you." + +That talk with the strong mother worked a change in Nell and Belding. +Nell, who had done little but brood and watch the west and take violent +rides, seemed to settle into a waiting patience that was sad, yet +serene. She helped her mother more than ever; she was a comfort to +Belding; she began to take active interest in the affairs of the +growing village. Belding, who had been breaking under the strain of +worry, recovered himself so that to outward appearance he was his old +self. He alone knew, however, that his humor was forced, and that the +slow burning wrath he felt for the Chases was flaming into hate. + +Belding argued with himself that if Ben Chase and his son, Radford, had +turned out to be big men in other ways than in the power to carry on +great enterprises he might have become reconciled to them. But the +father was greedy, grasping, hard, cold; the son added to those traits +an overbearing disposition to rule, and he showed a fondness for drink +and cards. These men were developing the valley, to be sure, and a +horde of poor Mexicans and many Americans were benefiting from that +development; nevertheless, these Chases were operating in a way which +proved they cared only for themselves. + +Belding shook off a lethargic spell and decided he had better set about +several by no means small tasks, if he wanted to get them finished +before the hot months. He made a trip to the Sonoyta Oasis. He +satisfied himself that matters along the line were favorable, and that +there was absolutely no trace of his rangers. Upon completing this trip +he went to Casita with a number of his white thoroughbreds and shipped +them to ranchers and horse-breeders in Texas. Then, being near the +railroad, and having time, he went up to Tucson. There he learned some +interesting particulars about the Chases. They had an office in the +city; influential friends in the Capitol. They were powerful men in +the rapidly growing finance of the West. They had interested the +Southern Pacific Railroad, and in the near future a branch line was to +be constructed from San Felipe to Forlorn River. These details of the +Chase development were insignificant when compared to a matter striking +close home to Belding. His responsibility had been subtly attacked. A +doubt had been cast upon his capability of executing the duties of +immigration inspector to the best advantage of the state. Belding +divined that this was only an entering wedge. The Chases were bent +upon driving him out of Forlorn River; but perhaps to serve better +their own ends, they were proceeding at leisure. Belding returned home +consumed by rage. But he controlled it. For the first time in his +life he was afraid of himself. He had his wife and Nell to think of; +and the old law of the West had gone forever. + +"Dad, there's another Rojas round these diggings," was Nell's remark, +after the greetings were over and the usual questions and answers +passed. + +Belding's exclamation was cut short by Nell's laugh. She was serious +with a kind of amused contempt. + +"Mr. Radford Chase!" + +"Now Nell, what the--" roared Belding. + +"Hush, Dad! Don't swear," interrupted Nell. "I only meant to tease +you." + +"Humph! Say, my girl, that name Chase makes me see red. If you must +tease me hit on some other way. Sabe, senorita?" + +"Si, si, Dad." + +"Nell, you may as well tell him and have it over," said Mrs. Belding, +quietly. + +"You promised me once, Dad, that you'd not go packing a gun off down +there, didn't you?" + +"Yes, I remember," replied Belding; but he did not answer her smile. + +"Will you promise again?" she asked, lightly. Here was Nell with arch +eyes, yet not the old arch eyes, so full of fun and mischief. Her lips +were tremulous; her cheeks seemed less round. + +"Yes," rejoined Belding; and he knew why his voice was a little thick. + +"Well, if you weren't such a good old blind Dad you'd have seen long +ago the way Mr. Radford Chase ran round after me. At first it was only +annoying, and I did not want to add to your worries. But these two +weeks you've been gone I've been more than annoyed. After that time I +struck Mr. Chase with my quirt he made all possible efforts to meet me. +He did meet me wherever I went. He sent me letters till I got tired of +sending them back. + +"When you left home on your trips I don't know that he grew bolder, but +he had more opportunity. I couldn't stay in the house all the time. +There were mama's errands and sick people and my Sunday school, and +what not. Mr. Chase waylaid me every time I went out. If he works any +more I don't know when, unless it's when I'm asleep. He followed me +until it was less embarassing for me to let him walk with me and talk +his head off. He made love to me. He begged me to marry him. I told +him I was already in love and engaged to be married. He said that +didn't make any difference. Then I called him a fool. + +"Next time he saw me he said he must explain. He meant I was being +true to a man who, everybody on the border knew, had been lost in the +desert. That--that hurt. Maybe--maybe it's true. Sometimes it seems +terribly true. Since then, of course, I have stayed in the house to +avoid being hurt again. + +"But, Dad, a little thing like a girl sticking close to her mother and +room doesn't stop Mr. Chase. I think he's crazy. Anyway, he's a most +persistent fool. I want to be charitable, because the man swears he +loves me, and maybe he does, but he is making me nervous. I don't +sleep. I'm afraid to be in my room at night. I've gone to mother's +room. He's always hanging round. Bold! Why, that isn't the thing to +call Mr. Chase. He's absolutely without a sense of decency. He bribes +our servants. He comes into our patio. Think of that! He makes the +most ridiculous excuses. He bothers mother to death. I feel like a +poor little rabbit holed by a hound. And I daren't peep out." + +Somehow the thing struck Belding as funny, and he laughed. He had not +had a laugh for so long that it made him feel good. He stopped only at +sight of Nell's surprise and pain. Then he put his arms round her. + +"Never mind, dear. I'm an old bear. But it tickled me, I guess. I +sure hope Mr. Radford Chase has got it bad... Nell, it's only the old +story. The fellows fall in love with you. It's your good looks, Nell. +What a price women like you and Mercedes have to pay for beauty! I'd a +d---- a good deal rather be ugly as a mud fence." + +"So would I, Dad, if--if Dick would still love me." + +"He wouldn't, you can gamble on that, as Laddy says. ... Well, the +first time I catch this locoed Romeo sneaking round here I'll--I'll--" + +"Dad, you promised." + +"Confound it, Nell, I promised not to pack a gun. That's all. I'll +only shoo this fellow off the place, gently, mind you, gently. I'll +leave the rest for Dick Gale!" + +"Oh, Dad!" cried Nell; and she clung to him wistful, frightened, yet +something more. + +"Don't mistake me, Nell. You have your own way, generally. You pull +the wool over mother's eyes, and you wind me round your little finger. +But you can't do either with Dick Gale. You're tender-hearted; you +overlook the doings of this hound, Chase. But when Dick comes back, you +just make up your mind to a little hell in the Chase camp. Oh, he'll +find it out. And I sure want to be round when Dick hands Mr. Radford +the same as he handed Rojas!" + +Belding kept a sharp lookout for young Chase, and then, a few days +later, learned that both son and father had gone off upon one of their +frequent trips to Casa Grandes, near where their mines were situated. + +April grew apace, and soon gave way to May. One morning Belding was +called from some garden work by the whirring of an automobile and a +"Holloa!" He went forward to the front yard and there saw a car he +thought resembled one he had seen in Casita. It contained a +familiar-looking driver, but the three figures in gray coats and veils +were strange to him. By the time he had gotten to the road he decided +two were women and the other a man. At the moment their faces were +emerging from dusty veils. Belding saw an elderly, sallow-faced, +rather frail-appearing man who was an entire stranger to him; a +handsome dark-eyed woman whose hair showed white through her veil; and +a superbly built girl, whose face made Belding at once think of Dick +Gale. + +"Is this Mr. Tom Belding, inspector of immigration?" inquired the +gentleman, courteously. + +"I'm Belding, and I know who you are," replied Belding in hearty amaze, +as he stretched forth his big hand. "You're Dick Gale's Dad--the +Governor, Dick used to say. I'm sure glad to meet you." + +"Thank you. Yes, I'm Dick's governor, and here, Mr. Belding--Dick's +mother and his sister Elsie." + +Beaming his pleasure, Belding shook hands with the ladies, who showed +their agitation clearly. + +"Mr. Belding, I've come west to look up my lost son," said Mr. Gale. +"His sister's letters were unanswered. We haven't heard from him in +months. Is he still here with you?" + +"Well, now, sure I'm awful sorry," began Belding, his slow mind at +work. "Dick's away just now--been away for a considerable spell. I'm +expecting him back any day.... Won't you come in? You're all dusty and +hot and tired. Come in, and let mother and Nell make you comfortable. +Of course you'll stay. We've a big house. You must stay till Dick +comes back. Maybe that 'll be-- Aw, I guess it won't be long.... Let +me handle the baggage, Mr. Gale.... Come in. I sure am glad to meet you +all." + +Eager, excited, delighted, Belding went on talking as he ushered the +Gales into the sitting-room, presenting them in his hearty way to the +astounded Mrs. Belding and Nell. For the space of a few moments his +wife and daughter were bewildered. Belding did not recollect any other +occasion when a few callers had thrown them off their balance. But of +course this was different. He was a little flustered himself--a +circumstance that dawned upon him with surprise. When the Gales had +been shown to rooms, Mrs. Belding gained the poise momentarily lost; +but Nell came rushing back, wilder than a deer, in a state of +excitement strange even for her. + +"Oh! Dick's mother, his sister!" whispered Nell. + +Belding observed the omission of the father in Nell's exclamation of +mingled delight and alarm. + +"His mother!" went on Nell. "Oh, I knew it! I always guessed it! +Dick's people are proud, rich; they're somebody. I thought I'd faint +when she looked at me. She was just curious--curious, but so cold and +proud. She was wondering about me. I'm wearing his ring. It was his +mother's, he said. I won't--I can't take it off. And I'm scared.... +But the sister--oh, she's lovely and sweet--proud, too. I felt warm +all over when she looked at me. I--I wanted to kiss her. She looks +like Dick when he first came to us. But he's changed. They'll hardly +recognize him.... To think they've come! And I had to be looking a +fright, when of all times on earth I'd want to look my best." + +Nell, out of breath, ran away evidently to make herself presentable, +according to her idea of the exigency of the case. Belding caught a +glimpse of his wife's face as she went out, and it wore a sad, strange, +anxious expression. Then Belding sat alone, pondering the contracting +emotions of his wife and daughter. It was beyond his understanding. +Women were creatures of feeling. Belding saw reason to be delighted to +entertain Dick's family; and for the time being no disturbing thought +entered his mind. + +Presently the Gales came back into the sitting-room, looking very +different without the long gray cloaks and veils. Belding saw +distinction and elegance. Mr. Gale seemed a grave, troubled, kindly +person, ill in body and mind. Belding received the same impression of +power that Ben Chase had given him, only here it was minus any +harshness or hard quality. He gathered that Mr. Gale was a man of +authority. Mrs. Gale rather frightened Belding, but he could not have +told why. The girl was just like Dick as he used to be. + +Their manner of speaking also reminded Belding of Dick. They talked of +the ride from Ash Fork down to the border, of the ugly and torn-up +Casita, of the heat and dust and cactus along the trail. Presently +Nell came in, now cool and sweet in white, with a red rose at her +breast. Belding had never been so proud of her. He saw that she meant +to appear well in the eyes of Dick's people, and began to have a faint +perception of what the ordeal was for her. Belding imagined the sooner +the Gales were told that Dick was to marry Nell the better for all +concerned, and especially for Nell. In the general conversation that +ensued he sought for an opening in which to tell this important news, +but he was kept so busy answering questions about his position on the +border, the kind of place Forlorn River was, the reason for so many +tents, etc., that he was unable to find opportunity. + +"It's very interesting, very interesting," said Mr. Gale. "At another +time I want to learn all you'll tell me about the West. It's new to me. +I'm surprised, amazed, sir, I may say.... But, Mr. Belding, what I want +to know most is about my son. I'm broken in health. I've worried +myself ill over him. I don't mind telling you, sir, that we quarreled. +I laughed at his threats. He went away. And I've come to see that I +didn't know Richard. I was wrong to upbraid him. For a year we've +known nothing of his doings, and now for almost six months we've not +heard from him at all. Frankly, Mr. Belding, I weakened first, and +I've come to hunt him up. My fear is that I didn't start soon enough. +The boy will have a great position some day--God knows, perhaps soon! +I should not have allowed him to run over this wild country for so +long. But I hoped, though I hardly believed, that he might find +himself. Now I'm afraid he's--" + +Mr. Gale paused and the white hand he raised expressively shook a +little. + +Belding was not so thick-witted where men were concerned. He saw how +the matter lay between Dick Gale and his father. + +"Well, Mr. Gale, sure most young bucks from the East go to the bad out +here," he said, bluntly. + +"I've been told that," replied Mr. Gale; and a shade overspread his +worn face. + +"They blow their money, then go punching cows, take to whiskey." + +"Yes," rejoined Mr. Gale, feebly nodding. + +"Then they get to gambling, lose their jobs," went on Belding. + +Mr. Gale lifted haggard eyes. + +"Then it's bumming around, regular tramps, and to the bad generally." +Belding spread wide his big arms, and when one of them dropped round +Nell, who sat beside him, she squeezed his hand tight. "Sure, it's the +regular thing," he concluded, cheerfully. + +He rather felt a little glee at Mr. Gale's distress, and Mrs. Gale's +crushed I-told-you-so woe in no wise bothered him; but the look in the +big, dark eyes of Dick's sister was too much for Belding. + +He choked off his characteristic oath when excited and blurted out, +"Say, but Dick Gale never went to the bad!... Listen!" + +Belding had scarcely started Dick Gale's story when he perceived that +never in his life had he such an absorbed and breathless audience. +Presently they were awed, and at the conclusion of that story they sat +white-faced, still, amazed beyond speech. Dick Gale's advent in +Casita, his rescue of Mercedes, his life as a border ranger certainly +lost no picturesque or daring or even noble detail in Belding's +telling. He kept back nothing but the present doubt of Dick's safety. + +Dick's sister was the first of the three to recover herself. + +"Oh, father!" she cried; and there was a glorious light in her eyes. +"Deep down in my heart I knew Dick was a man!" + +Mr. Gale rose unsteadily from his chair. His frailty was now painfully +manifest. + +"Mr. Belding, do you mean my son--Richard Gale--has done all that you +told us?" he asked, incredulously. + +"I sure do," replied Belding, with hearty good will. + +"Martha, do you hear?" Mr. Gale turned to question his wife. She +could not answer. Her face had not yet regained its natural color. + +"He faced that bandit and his gang alone--he fought them?" demanded Mr. +Gale, his voice stronger. + +"Dick mopped up the floor with the whole outfit!" + +"He rescued a Spanish girl, went into the desert without food, weapons, +anything but his hands? Richard Gale, whose hands were always useless?" + +Belding nodded with a grin. + +"He's a ranger now--riding, fighting, sleeping on the sand, preparing +his own food?" + +"Well, I should smile," rejoined Belding. + +"He cares for his horse, with his own hands?" This query seemed to be +the climax of Mr. Gale's strange hunger for truth. He had raised his +head a little higher, and his eye was brighter. + +Mention of a horse fired Belding's blood. + +"Does Dick Gale care for his horse? Say, there are not many men as +well loved as that white horse of Dick's. Blanco Sol he is, Mr. Gale. +That's Mex for White Sun. Wait till you see Blanco Sol! Bar one, the +whitest, biggest, strongest, fastest, grandest horse in the Southwest!" + +"So he loves a horse! I shall not know my own son.... Mr. Belding, you +say Richard works for you. May I ask, at what salary?" + +"He gets forty dollars, board and outfit," replied Belding, proudly. + +"Forty dollars?" echoed the father. "By the day or week?" + +"The month, of course," said Belding, somewhat taken aback. + +"Forty dollars a month for a young man who spent five hundred in the +same time when he was at college, and who ran it into thousands when he +got out!" + +Mr. Gale laughed for the first time, and it was the laugh of a man who +wanted to believe what he heard yet scarcely dared to do it. + +"What does he do with so much money--money earned by peril, toil, +sweat, and blood? Forty dollars a month!" + +"He saves it," replied Belding. + +Evidently this was too much for Dick Gale's father, and he gazed at his +wife in sheer speechless astonishment. Dick's sister clapped her hands +like a little child. + +Belding saw that the moment was propitious. + +"Sure he saves it. Dick's engaged to marry Nell here. My +stepdaughter, Nell Burton." + +"Oh-h, Dad!" faltered Nell; and she rose, white as her dress. + +How strange it was to see Dick's mother and sister rise, also, and turn +to Nell with dark, proud, searching eyes. Belding vaguely realized +some blunder he had made. Nell's white, appealing face gave him a +pang. What had he done? Surely this family of Dick's ought to know +his relation to Nell. There was a silence that positively made Belding +nervous. + +Then Elsie Gale stepped close to Nell. + +"Miss Burton, are you really Richard's betrothed?" + +Nell's tremulous lips framed an affirmative, but never uttered it. She +held out her hand, showing the ring Dick had given her. Miss Gale's +recognition was instant, and her response was warm, sweet, gracious. + +"I think I am going to be very, very glad," she said, and kissed Nell. + +"Miss Burton, we are learning wonderful things about Richard," added +Mr. Gale, in an earnest though shaken voice. "If you have had to do +with making a man of him--and now I begin to see, to believe so--may +God bless you!... My dear girl, I have not really looked at you. +Richard's fiancee!... Mother, we have not found him yet, but I think +we've found his secret. We believed him a lost son. But here is his +sweetheart!" + +It was only then that the pride and hauteur of Mrs. Gale's face broke +into an expression of mingled pain and joy. She opened her arms. +Nell, uttering a strange little stifled cry, flew into them. + +Belding suddenly discovered an unaccountable blur in his sight. He +could not see perfectly, and that was why, when Mrs. Belding entered +the sitting-room, he was not certain that her face was as sad and white +as it seemed. + + + +XV + +BOUND IN THE DESERT + +FAR away from Forlorn River Dick Gale sat stunned, gazing down into the +purple depths where Rojas had plunged to his death. The Yaqui stood +motionless upon the steep red wall of lava from which he had cut the +bandit's hold. Mercedes lay quietly where she had fallen. From across +the depths there came to Gale's ear the Indian's strange, wild cry. + +Then silence, hollow, breathless, stony silence enveloped the great +abyss and its upheaved lava walls. The sun was setting. Every instant +the haze reddened and thickened. + +Action on the part of the Yaqui loosened the spell which held Gale as +motionless as his surroundings. The Indian was edging back toward the +ledge. He did not move with his former lithe and sure freedom. He +crawled, slipped, dragged himself, rested often, and went on again. He +had been wounded. When at last he reached the ledge where Mercedes lay +Gale jumped to his feet, strong and thrilling, spurred to meet the +responsibility that now rested upon him. + +Swiftly he turned to where Thorne lay. The cavalryman was just +returning to consciousness. Gale ran for a canteen, bathed his face, +made him drink. The look in Thorne's eyes was hard to bear. + +"Thorne! Thorne! it's all right, it's all right!" cried Gale, in +piercing tones. "Mercedes is safe! Yaqui saved her! Rojas is done +for! Yaqui jumped down the wall and drove the bandit off the ledge. +Cut him loose from the wall, foot by foot, hand by hand! We've won the +fight, Thorne." + +For Thorne these were marvelous strength-giving words. The dark horror +left his eyes, and they began to dilate, to shine. He stood up, +dizzily but unaided, and he gazed across the crater. Yaqui had reached +the side of Mercedes, was bending over her. She stirred. Yaqui lifted +her to her feet. She appeared weak, unable to stand alone. But she +faced across the crater and waved her hand. She was unharmed. Thorne +lifted both arms above head, and from his lips issued a cry. It was +neither call nor holloa nor welcome nor answer. Like the Yaqui's, it +could scarcely be named. But it was deep, husky, prolonged, terribly +human in its intensity. It made Gale shudder and made his heart beat +like a trip hammer. Mercedes again waved a white hand. The Yaqui +waved, too, and Gale saw in the action an urgent signal. + +Hastily taking up canteen and rifles, Gale put a supporting arm around +Thorne. + +"Come, old man. Can you walk? Sure you can walk! Lean on me, and +we'll soon get out of this. Don't look across. Look where you step. +We've not much time before dark. Oh, Thorne, I'm afraid Jim has cashed +in! And the last I saw of Laddy he was badly hurt." + +Gale was keyed up to a high pitch of excitement and alertness. He +seemed to be able to do many things. But once off the ragged notched +lava into the trail he had not such difficulty with Thorne, and could +keep his keen gaze shifting everywhere for sight of enemies. + +"Listen, Thorne! What's that?" asked Gale, halting as they came to a +place where the trail led down through rough breaks in the lava. The +silence was broken by a strange sound, almost unbelieveable considering +the time and place. A voice was droning: "Turn the lady, turn! Turn +the lady, turn! Alamon left. All swing; turn the lady, turn!" + +"Hello, Jim," called Gale, dragging Thorne round the corner of lava. +"Where are you? Oh, you son of a gun! I thought you were dead. Oh, +I'm glad to see you! Jim, are you hurt?" + +Jim Lash stood in the trail leaning over the butt of his rifle, which +evidently he was utilizing as a crutch. He was pale but smiling. His +hands were bloody. A scarf had been bound tightly round his left leg +just above the knee. The leg hung limp, and the foot dragged. + +"I reckon I ain't injured much," replied Him. "But my leg hurts like +hell, if you want to know." + +"Laddy! Oh, where's Laddy?" + +"He's just across the crack there. I was trying to get to him. We had +it hot an' heavy down here. Laddy was pretty bad shot up before he +tried to head Rojas off the trail.... Dick, did you see the Yaqui go +after Rojas?" + +"Did I!" exclaimed Gale, grimly. + +"The finish was all that saved me from runnin' loco plumb over the rim. +You see I was closer'n you to where Mercedes was hid. When Rojas an' +his last Greaser started across, Laddy went after them, but I couldn't. +Laddy did for Rojas's man, then went down himself. But he got up an' +fell, got up, went on, an' fell again. Laddy kept doin' that till he +dropped for good. I reckon our chances are against findin' him +alive.... I tell you, boys, Rojas was hell-bent. An' Mercedes was game. +I saw her shoot him. But mebbe bullets couldn't stop him then. If I +didn't sweat blood when Mercedes was fightin' him on the cliff! Then +the finish! Only a Yaqui could have done that.... Thorne, you didn't +miss it?" + +"Yes, I was down and out," replied the cavalryman. + +"It's a shame. Greatest stunt I ever seen! Thorne, you're standin' up +pretty fair. How about you? Dick, is he bad hurt?" + +"No, he's not. A hard knock on the skull and a scalp wound," replied +Dick. "Here, Jim, let me help you over this place." + +Step by step Gale got the two injured men down the uneven declivity and +then across the narrow lava bridge over the fissure. Here he bade them +rest while he went along the trail on that side to search for Laddy. +Gale found the ranger stretched out, face downward, a reddened hand +clutching a gun. Gale thought he was dead. Upon examination, however, +it was found that Ladd still lived, though he had many wounds. Gale +lifted him and carried him back to the others. + +"He's alive, but that's all," said Dick, as he laid the ranger down. +"Do what you can. Stop the blood. Laddy's tough as cactus, you know. +I'll hurry back for Mercedes and Yaqui." + +Gale, like a fleet, sure-footed mountain sheep, ran along the trail. +When he came across the Mexican, Rojas's last ally, Gale had evidence +of the terrible execution of the .405. He did not pause. On the first +part of that descent he made faster time than had Rojas. But he +exercised care along the hard, slippery, ragged slope leading to the +ledge. Presently he came upon Mercedes and the Yaqui. She ran right +into Dick's arms, and there her strength, if not her courage, broke, +and she grew lax. + +"Mercedes, you're safe! Thorne's safe. It's all right now." + +"Rojas!" she whispered. + +"Gone! To the bottom of the crater! A Yaqui's vengeance, Mercedes." + +He heard the girl whisper the name of the Virgin. Then he gathered her +up in his arms. + +"Come, Yaqui." + +The Indian grunted. He had one hand pressed close over a bloody place +in his shoulder. Gale looked keenly at him. Yaqui was inscrutable, as +of old, yet Gale somehow knew that wound meant little to him. The +Indian followed him. + +Without pausing, moving slowly in some places, very carefully in +others, and swiftly on the smooth part of the trail, Gale carried +Mercedes up to the rim and along to the the others. Jim Lash worked +awkwardly over Ladd. Thorne was trying to assist. Ladd, himself, was +conscious, but he was a pallid, apparently a death-stricken man. The +greeting between Mercedes and Thorne was calm--strangely so, it seemed +to Gale. But he was calm himself. Ladd smiled at him, and evidently +would have spoken had he the power. Yaqui then joined the group, and +his piercing eyes roved from one to the other, lingering longest over +Ladd. + +"Dick, I'm figger'n hard," said Jim, faintly. "In a minute it 'll be +up to you an' Mercedes. I've about shot my bolt.... Reckon you'll do-- +best by bringin' up blankets--water--salt--firewood. Laddy's got--one +chance--in a hundred. Fix him up--first. Use hot salt water. If my +leg's broke--set it best you can. That hole in Yaqui--only 'll bother +him a day. Thorne's bad hurt... Now rustle--Dick, old--boy." + +Lash's voice died away in a husky whisper, and he quietly lay back, +stretching out all but the crippled leg. Gale examined it, assured +himself the bones had not been broken, and then rose ready to go down +the trail. + +"Mercedes, hold Thorne's head up, in your lap--so. Now I'll go." + +On the moment Yaqui appeared to have completed the binding of his +wounded shoulder, and he started to follow Gale. He paid no attention +to Gale's order for him to stay back. But he was slow, and gradually +Gale forged ahead. The lingering brightness of the sunset lightened +the trail, and the descent to the arroyo was swift and easy. Some of +the white horses had come in for water. Blanco Sol spied Gale and +whistled and came pounding toward him. It was twilight down in the +arroyo. Yaqui appeared and began collecting a bundle of mesquite +sticks. Gale hastily put together the things he needed; and, packing +them all in a tarpaulin, he turned to retrace his steps up the trail. + +Darkness was setting in. The trail was narrow, exceedingly steep, and +in some places fronted on precipices. Gale's burden was not very +heavy, but its bulk made it unwieldy, and it was always overbalancing +him or knocking against the wall side of the trail. Gale found it +necessary to wait for Yaqui to take the lead. The Indian's eyes must +have seen as well at night as by day. Gale toiled upward, shouldering, +swinging, dragging the big pack; and, though the ascent of the slope +was not really long, it seemed endless. At last they reached a level, +and were soon on the spot with Mercedes and the injured men. + +Gale then set to work. Yaqui's part was to keep the fire blazing and +the water hot, Mercedes's to help Gale in what way she could. Gale +found Ladd had many wounds, yet not one of them was directly in a vital +place. Evidently, the ranger had almost bled to death. He remained +unconscious through Gale's operations. According to Jim Lash, Ladd had +one chance in a hundred, but Gale considered it one in a thousand. +Having done all that was possible for the ranger, Gale slipped blankets +under and around him, and then turned his attention to Lash. + +Jim came out of his stupor. A mushrooming bullet had torn a great hole +in his leg. Gale, upon examination, could not be sure the bones had +been missed, but there was no bad break. The application of hot salt +water made Jim groan. When he had been bandaged and laid beside Ladd, +Gale went on to the cavalryman. Thorne was very weak and scarcely +conscious. A furrow had been plowed through his scalp down to the +bone. When it had been dressed, Mercedes collapsed. Gale laid her +with the three in a row and covered them with blankets and the +tarpaulin. + +Then Yaqui submitted to examination. A bullet had gone through the +Indian's shoulder. To Gale it appeared serious. Yaqui said it was a +flea bite. But he allowed Gale to bandage it, and obeyed when he was +told to lie quiet in his blanket beside the fire. + +Gale stood guard. He seemed still calm, and wondered at what he +considered a strange absence of poignant feeling. If he had felt +weariness it was now gone. He coaxed the fire with as little wood as +would keep it burning; he sat beside it; he walked to and fro close by; +sometimes he stood over the five sleepers, wondering if two of them, at +least, would ever awaken. + +Time had passed swiftly, but as the necessity for immediate action had +gone by, the hours gradually assumed something of their normal length. +The night wore on. The air grew colder, the stars brighter, the sky +bluer, and, if such could be possible, the silence more intense. The +fire burned out, and for lack of wood could not be rekindled. Gale +patrolled his short beat, becoming colder and damper as dawn +approached. The darkness grew so dense that he could not see the pale +faces of the sleepers. He dreaded the gray dawn and the light. Slowly +the heavy black belt close to the lava changed to a pale gloom, then to +gray, and after that morning came quickly. + +The hour had come for Dick Gale to face his great problem. It was +natural that he hung back a little at first; natural that when he went +forward to look at the quiet sleepers he did so with a grim and stern +force urging him. Yaqui stirred, roused, yawned, got up; and, though +he did not smile at Gale, a light shone swiftly across his dark face. +His shoulder drooped and appeared stiff, otherwise he was himself. +Mercedes lay in deep slumber. Thorne had a high fever, and was +beginning to show signs of restlessness. Ladd seemed just barely +alive. Jim Lash slept as if he was not much the worse for his wound. + +Gale rose from his examination with a sharp breaking of his cold mood. +While there was life in Thorne and Ladd there was hope for them. Then +he faced his problem, and his decision was instant. + +He awoke Mercedes. How wondering, wistful, beautiful was that first +opening flash of her eyes! Then the dark, troubled thought came. +Swiftly she sat up. + +"Mercedes--come. Are you all right? Laddy is alive Thorne's not--not +so bad. But we've got a job on our hands! You must help me." + +She bent over Thorne and laid her hands on his hot face. Then she +rose--a woman such as he had imagined she might be in an hour of trial. + +Gale took up Ladd as carefully and gently as possible. + +"Mercedes, bring what you can carry and follow me," he said. Then, +motioning for Yaqui to remain there, he turned down the slope with Ladd +in his arms. + +Neither pausing nor making a misstep nor conscious of great effort, +Gale carried the wounded man down into the arroyo. Mercedes kept at +his heels, light, supple, lithe as a panther. He left her with Ladd +and went back. When he had started off with Thorne in his arms he felt +the tax on his strength. Surely and swiftly, however, he bore the +cavalryman down the trail to lay him beside Ladd. Again he started +back, and when he began to mount the steep lava steps he was hot, wet, +breathing hard. As he reached the scene of that night's camp a voice +greeted him. Jim Lash was sitting up. + +"Hello, Dick. I woke some late this mornin'. Where's Laddy? Dick, +you ain't a-goin' to say--" + +"Laddy's alive--that's about all," replied Dick. + +"Where's Thorne an' Mercedes? Look here, man. I reckon you ain't +packin' this crippled outfit down that awful trail?" + +"Had to, Jim. An hour's sun--would kill--both Laddy and Thorne. Come +on now." + +For once Jim Lash's cool good nature and careless indifference gave +precedence to amaze and concern. + +"Always knew you was a husky chap. But, Dick, you're no hoss! Get me a +crutch an' give me a lift on one side." + +"Come on," replied Gale. "I've no time to monkey." + +He lifted the ranger, called to Yaqui to follow with some of the camp +outfit, and once more essayed the steep descent. Jim Lash was the +heaviest man of the three, and Gale's strength was put to enormous +strain to carry him on that broken trail. Nevertheless, Gale went down, +down, walking swiftly and surely over the bad places; and at last he +staggered into the arroyo with bursting heart and red-blinded eyes. +When he had recovered he made a final trip up the slope for the camp +effects which Yaqui had been unable to carry. + +Then he drew Jim and Mercedes and Yaqui, also, into an earnest +discussion of ways and means whereby to fight for the life of Thorne. +Ladd's case Gale now considered hopeless, though he meant to fight for +him, too, as long as he breathed. + +In the labor of watching and nursing it seemed to Gale that two days +and two nights slipped by like a few hours. During that time the +Indian recovered from his injury, and became capable of performing all +except heavy tasks. Then Gale succumbed to weariness. After his +much-needed rest he relieved Mercedes of the care and watch over Thorne +which, up to that time, she had absolutely refused to relinquish. The +cavalryman had high fever, and Gale feared he had developed blood +poisoning. He required constant attention. His condition slowly grew +worse, and there came a day which Gale thought surely was the end. But +that day passed, and the night, and the next day, and Thorne lived on, +ghastly, stricken, raving. Mercedes hung over him with jealous, +passionate care and did all that could have been humanly done for a +man. She grew wan, absorbed, silent. But suddenly, and to Gale's +amaze and thanksgiving, there came an abatement of Thorne's fever. With +it some of the heat and redness of the inflamed wound disappeared. +Next morning he was conscious, and Gale grasped some of the hope that +Mercedes had never abandoned. He forced her to rest while he attended +to Thorne. That day he saw that the crisis was past. Recovery for +Thorne was now possible, and would perhaps depend entirely upon the +care he received. + +Jim Lash's wound healed without any aggravating symptoms. It would be +only a matter of time until he had the use of his leg again. All these +days, however, there was little apparent change in Ladd's condition +unless it was that he seemed to fade away as he lingered. At first his +wounds remained open; they bled a little all the time outwardly, +perhaps internally also; the blood did not seem to clot, and so the +bullet holes did not close. Then Yaqui asked for the care of Ladd. +Gale yielded it with opposing thoughts--that Ladd would waste slowly +away till life ceased, and that there never was any telling what might +lie in the power of this strange Indian. Yaqui absented himself from +camp for a while, and when he returned he carried the roots and leaves +of desert plants unknown to Gale. From these the Indian brewed an +ointment. Then he stripped the bandages from Ladd and applied the +mixture to his wounds. That done, he let him lie with the wounds +exposed to the air, at night covering him. Next day he again exposed +the wounds to the warm, dry air. Slowly they closed, and Ladd ceased +to bleed externally. + +Days passed and grew into what Gale imagined must have been weeks. +Yaqui recovered fully. Jim Lash began to move about on a crutch; he +shared the Indian's watch over Ladd. Thorne lay haggard, emaciated +ghost of his rugged self, but with life in the eyes that turned always +toward Mercedes. Ladd lingered and lingered. The life seemingly would +not leave his bullet-pierced body. He faded, withered, shrunk till he +was almost a skeleton. He knew those who worked and watched over him, +but he had no power of speech. His eyes and eyelids moved; the rest of +him seemed stone. All those days nothing except water was given him. +It was marvelous how tenaciously, however feebly, he clung to life. +Gale imagined it was the Yaqui's spirit that held back death. That +tireless, implacable, inscrutable savage was ever at the ranger's side. +His great somber eyes burned. At length he went to Gale, and, with +that strange light flitting across the hard bronzed face, he said Ladd +would live. + + +The second day after Ladd had been given such thin nourishment as he +could swallow he recovered the use of his tongue. + +"Shore--this's--hell," he whispered. + +That was a characteristic speech for the ranger, Gale thought; and +indeed it made all who heard it smile while their eyes were wet. + +From that time forward Ladd gained, but he gained so immeasurably +slowly that only the eyes of hope could have seen any improvement. Jim +Lash threw away his crutch, and Thorne was well, if still somewhat +weak, before Ladd could lift his arm or turn his head. A kind of long, +immovable gloom passed, like a shadow, from his face. His whispers +grew stronger. And the day arrived when Gale, who was perhaps the +least optimistic, threw doubt to the winds and knew the ranger would +get well. For Gale that joyous moment of realization was one in which +he seemed to return to a former self long absent. He experienced an +elevation of soul. He was suddenly overwhelmed with gratefulness, +humility, awe. A gloomy black terror had passed by. He wanted to +thank the faithful Mercedes, and Thorne for getting well, and the +cheerful Lash, and Ladd himself, and that strange and wonderful Yaqui, +now such a splendid figure. He thought of home and Nell. The terrible +encompassing red slopes lost something of their fearsomeness, and there +was a good spirit hovering near. + + +"Boys, come round," called Ladd, in his low voice. "An' you, Mercedes. +An' call the Yaqui." + +Ladd lay in the shade of the brush shelter that had been erected. His +head was raised slightly on a pillow. There seemed little of him but +long lean lines, and if it had not been for his keen, thoughtful, +kindly eyes, his face would have resembled a death mask of a man +starved. + +"Shore I want to know what day is it an' what month?" asked Ladd. + +Nobody could answer him. The question seemed a surprise to Gale, and +evidently was so to the others. + +"Look at that cactus," went on Ladd. + +Near the wall of lava a stunted saguaro lifted its head. A few +shriveled blossoms that had once been white hung along the fluted +column. + +"I reckon according to that giant cactus it's somewheres along the end +of March," said Jim Lash, soberly. + +"Shore it's April. Look where the sun is. An' can't you feel it's +gettin' hot?" + +"Supposin' it is April?" queried Lash slowly. + +"Well, what I'm drivin' at is it's about time you all was hittin' the +trail back to Forlorn River, before the waterholes dry out." + +"Laddy, I reckon we'll start soon as you're able to be put on a hoss." + +"Shore that 'll be too late." + +A silence ensued, in which those who heard Ladd gazed fixedly at him +and then at one another. Lash uneasily shifted the position of his +lame leg, and Gale saw him moisten his lips with his tongue. + +"Charlie Ladd, I ain't reckonin' you mean we're to ride off an' leave +you here?" + +"What else is there to do? The hot weather's close. Pretty soon most +of the waterholes will be dry. You can't travel then.... I'm on my +back here, an' God only knows when I could be packed out. Not for +weeks, mebbe. I'll never be any good again, even if I was to get out +alive.... You see, shore this sort of case comes round sometimes in the +desert. It's common enough. I've heard of several cases where men had +to go an' leave a feller behind. It's reasonable. If you're fightin' +the desert you can't afford to be sentimental... Now, as I said, I'm +all in. So what's the sense of you waitin' here, when it means the old +desert story? By goin' now mebbe you'll get home. If you wait on a +chance of takin' me, you'll be too late. Pretty soon this lava 'll be +one roastin' hell. Shore now, boys, you'll see this the right way? +Jim, old pard?" + +"No, Laddy, an' I can't figger how you could ever ask me." + +"Shore then leave me here with Yaqui an' a couple of the hosses. We can +eat sheep meat. An' if the water holds out--" + +"No!" interrupted Lash, violently. + +Ladd's eyes sought Gale's face. + +"Son, you ain't bull-headed like Jim. You'll see the sense of it. +There's Nell a-waitin' back at Forlorn River. Think what it means to +her! She's a damn fine girl, Dick, an' what right have you to break +her heart for an old worn-out cowpuncher? Think how she's watchin' for +you with that sweet face all sad an' troubled, an' her eyes turnin' +black. You'll go, son, won't you?" + +Dick shook his head. + +The ranger turned his gaze upon Thorne, and now the keen, glistening +light in his gray eyes had blurred. + +"Thorne, it's different with you. Jim's a fool, an' young Gale has +been punctured by choya thorns. He's got the desert poison in his +blood. But you now--you've no call to stick--you can find that trail +out. It's easy to follow, made by so many shod hosses. Take your wife +an' go.... Shore you'll go, Thorne?" + +Deliberately and without an instant's hesitation the cavalryman replied +"No." + +Ladd then directed his appeal to Mercedes. His face was now convulsed, +and his voice, though it had sunk to a whisper, was clear, and +beautiful with some rich quality that Gale had never heard in it. + +"Mercedes, you're a woman. You're the woman we fought for. An' some +of us are shore goin' to die for you. Don't make it all for nothin'. +Let us feel we saved the woman. Shore you can make Thorne go. He'll +have to go if you say. They'll all have to go. Think of the years of +love an' happiness in store for you. A week or so an' it 'll be too +late. Can you stand for me seein' you?... Let me tell you, Mercedes, +when the summer heat hits the lava we'll all wither an' curl up like +shavin's near a fire. A wind of hell will blow up this slope. Look at +them mesquites. See the twist in them. That's the torture of heat an' +thirst. Do you want me or all us men seein' you like that?... +Mercedes, don't make it all for nothin'. Say you'll persuade Thorne, +if not the others." + +For all the effect his appeal had to move her Mercedes might have +possessed a heart as hard and fixed as the surrounding lava. + +"Never!" + +White-faced, with great black eyes flashing, the Spanish girl spoke the +word that bound her and her companions in the desert. + +The subject was never mentioned again. Gale thought that he read a +sinister purpose in Ladd's mind. To his astonishment, Lash came to him +with the same fancy. After that they made certain there never was a +gun within reach of Ladd's clutching, clawlike hands. + +Gradually a somber spell lifted from the ranger's mind. When he was +entirely free of it he began to gather strength daily. Then it was as +if he had never known patience--he who had shown so well how to wait. +He was in a frenzy to get well. He appetite could not be satisfied. + +The sun climbed higher, whiter, hotter. At midday a wind from gulfward +roared up the arroyo, and now only palos verdes and the few saguaros +were green. Every day the water in the lava hole sank an inch. + +The Yaqui alone spent the waiting time in activity. He made trips up +on the lava slope, and each time he returned with guns or boots or +sombreros, or something belonging to the bandits that had fallen. He +never fetched in a saddle or bridle, and from that the rangers +concluded Rojas's horses had long before taken their back trail. What +speculation, what consternation those saddled horses would cause if +they returned to Forlorn River! + +As Ladd improved there was one story he had to hear every day. It was +the one relating to what he had missed--the sight of Rojas pursued and +plunged to his doom. The thing had a morbid fascination for the sick +ranger. He reveled in it. He tortured Mercedes. His gentleness and +consideration, heretofore so marked, were in abeyance to some sinister, +ghastly joy. But to humor him Mercedes racked her soul with the +sensations she had suffered when Rojas hounded her out on the ledge; +when she shot him; when she sprang to throw herself over the precipice; +when she fought him; when with half-blinded eyes she looked up to see +the merciless Yaqui reaching for the bandit. Ladd fed his cruel +longing with Thorne's poignant recollections, with the keen, clear, +never-to-be-forgotten shocks to Gale's eye and ear. Jim Lash, for one +at least, never tired of telling how he had seen and heard the tragedy, +and every time in the telling it gathered some more tragic and gruesome +detail. Jim believed in satiating the ranger. Then in the twilight, +when the campfire burned, Ladd would try to get the Yaqui to tell his +side of the story. But this the Indian would never do. There was only +the expression of his fathomless eyes and the set passion of his +massive face. + +Those waiting days grew into weeks. Ladd gained very slowly. +Nevertheless, at last he could walk about, and soon he averred that, +strapped to a horse, he could last out the trip to Forlorn River. + +There was rejoicing in camp, and plans were eagerly suggested. The +Yaqui happened to be absent. When he returned the rangers told him +they were now ready to undertake the journey back across lava and +cactus. + +Yaqui shook his head. They declared again their intention. + +"No!" replied the Indian, and his deep, sonorous voice rolled out upon +the quiet of the arroyo. He spoke briefly then. They had waited too +long. The smaller waterholes back in the trail were dry. The hot +summer was upon them. There could be only death waiting down in the +burning valley. Here was water and grass and wood and shade from the +sun's rays, and sheep to be killed on the peaks. The water would hold +unless the season was that dreaded ano seco of the Mexicans. + +"Wait for rain," concluded Yaqui, and now as never before he spoke as +one with authority. "If no rain--" Silently he lifted his hand. + + + +XVI + +MOUNTAIN SHEEP + +WHAT Gale might have thought an appalling situation, if considered from +a safe and comfortable home away from the desert, became, now that he +was shut in by the red-ribbed lava walls and great dry wastes, a matter +calmly accepted as inevitable. So he imagined it was accepted by the +others. Not even Mercedes uttered a regret. No word was spoken of +home. If there was thought of loved one, it was locked deep in their +minds. In Mercedes there was no change in womanly quality, perhaps +because all she had to love was there in the desert with her. + +Gale had often pondered over this singular change in character. He had +trained himself, in order to fight a paralyzing something in the +desert's influence, to oppose with memory and thought an insidious +primitive retrogression to what was scarcely consciousness at all, +merely a savage's instinct of sight and sound. He felt the need now of +redoubled effort. For there was a sheer happiness in drifting. Not +only was it easy to forget, it was hard to remember. His idea was that +a man laboring under a great wrong, a great crime, a great passion +might find the lonely desert a fitting place for either remembrance or +oblivion, according to the nature of his soul. But an ordinary, +healthy, reasonably happy mortal who loved the open with its blaze of +sun and sweep of wind would have a task to keep from going backward to +the natural man as he was before civilization. + +By tacit agreement Ladd again became the leader of the party. Ladd was +a man who would have taken all the responsibility whether or not it was +given him. In moments of hazard, of uncertainty, Lash and Gale, even +Belding, unconsciously looked to the ranger. He had that kind of power. + +The first thing Ladd asked was to have the store of food that remained +spread out upon a tarpaulin. Assuredly, it was a slender enough +supply. The ranger stood for long moments gazing down at it. He was +groping among past experiences, calling back from his years of life on +range and desert that which might be valuable for the present issue. +It was impossible to read the gravity of Ladd's face, for he still +looked like a dead man, but the slow shake of his head told Gale much. +There was a grain of hope, however, in the significance with which he +touched the bags of salt and said, "Shore it was sense packin' all that +salt!" + +Then he turned to face his comrades. + +"That's little grub for six starvin' people corralled in the desert. +But the grub end ain't worryin' me. Yaqui can get sheep up the slopes. +Water! That's the beginnin' and middle an' end of our case." + +"Laddy, I reckon the waterhole here never goes dry," replied Jim. + +"Ask the Indian." + +Upon being questioned, Yaqui repeated what he had said about the +dreaded ano seco of the Mexicans. In a dry year this waterhole failed. + +"Dick, take a rope an' see how much water's in the hole." + +Gale could not find bottom with a thirty foot lasso. The water was as +cool, clear, sweet as if it had been kept in a shaded iron receptacle. + +Ladd welcomed this information with surprise and gladness. + +"Let's see. Last year was shore pretty dry. Mebbe this summer won't +be. Mebbe our wonderful good luck'll hold. Ask Yaqui if he thinks it +'ll rain." + +Mercedes questioned the Indian. + +"He says no man can tell surely. But he thinks the rain will come," +she replied. + +"Shore it 'll rain, you can gamble on that now," continued Ladd. "If +there's only grass for the hosses! We can't get out of here without +hosses. Dick, take the Indian an' scout down the arroyo. To-day I seen +the hosses were gettin' fat. Gettin' fat in this desert! But mebbe +they've about grazed up all the grass. Go an' see, Dick. An' may you +come back with more good news!" + +Gale, upon the few occasions when he had wandered down the arroyo, had +never gone far. The Yaqui said there was grass for the horses, and +until now no one had given the question more consideration. Gale found +that the arroyo widened as it opened. Near the head, where it was +narrow, the grass lined the course of the dry stream bed. But farther +down this stream bed spread out. There was every indication that at +flood seasons the water covered the floor of the arroyo. The farther +Gale went the thicker and larger grew the gnarled mesquites and palo +verdes, the more cactus and greasewood there were, and other desert +growths. Patches of gray grass grew everywhere. Gale began to wonder +where the horses were. Finally the trees and brush thinned out, and a +mile-wide gray plain stretched down to reddish sand dunes. Over to one +side were the white horses, and even as Gale saw them both Blanco +Diablo and Sol lifted their heads and, with white manes tossing in the +wind, whistled clarion calls. Here was grass enough for many horses; +the arroyo was indeed an oasis. + +Ladd and the others were awaiting Gale's report, and they received it +with calmness, yet with a joy no less evident because it was +restrained. Gale, in his keen observation at the moment, found that he +and his comrades turned with glad eyes to the woman of the party. + +"Senor Laddy, you think--you believe--we shall--" she faltered, and her +voice failed. It was the woman in her, weakening in the light of real +hope, of the happiness now possible beyond that desert barrier. + +"Mercedes, no white man can tell what'll come to pass out here," said +Ladd, earnestly. "Shore I have hopes now I never dreamed of. I was +pretty near a dead man. The Indian saved me. Queer notions have come +into my head about Yaqui. I don't understand them. He seems when you +look at him only a squalid, sullen, vengeful savage. But Lord! that's +far from the truth. Mebbe Yaqui's different from most Indians. He +looks the same, though. Mebbe the trouble is we white folks never knew +the Indian. Anyway, Beldin' had it right. Yaqui's our godsend. Now as +to the future, I'd like to know mebbe as well as you if we're ever to +get home. Only bein' what I am, I say, Quien sabe? But somethin' +tells me Yaqui knows. Ask him, Mercedes. Make him tell. We'll all be +the better for knowin'. We'd be stronger for havin' more'n our faith in +him. He's silent Indian, but make him tell." + +Mercedes called to Yaqui. At her bidding there was always a suggestion +of hurry, which otherwise was never manifest in his actions. She put a +hand on his bared muscular arm and began to speak in Spanish. Her voice +was low, swift, full of deep emotion, sweet as the sound of a bell. It +thrilled Gale, though he understood scarcely a word she said. He did +not need translation to know that here spoke the longing of a woman for +life, love, home, the heritage of a woman's heart. + +Gale doubted his own divining impression. It was that the Yaqui +understood this woman's longing. In Gale's sight the Indian's +stoicism, his inscrutability, the lavalike hardness of his face, +although they did not change, seemed to give forth light, gentleness, +loyalty. For an instant Gale seemed to have a vision; but it did not +last, and he failed to hold some beautiful illusive thing. + +"Si!" rolled out the Indian's reply, full of power and depth. + +Mercedes drew a long breath, and her hand sought Thorne's. + +"He says yes," she whispered. "He answers he'll save us; he'll take us +all back--he knows!" + +The Indian turned away to his tasks, and the silence that held the +little group was finally broken by Ladd. + +"Shore I said so. Now all we've got to do is use sense. Friends, I'm +the commissary department of this outfit, an' what I say goes. You all +won't eat except when I tell you. Mebbe it'll not be so hard to keep +our health. Starved beggars don't get sick. But there's the heat +comin', an' we can all go loco, you know. To pass the time! Lord, +that's our problem. Now if you all only had a hankerin' for checkers. +Shore I'll make a board an' make you play. Thorne, you're the +luckiest. You've got your girl, an' this can be a honeymoon. Now with +a few tools an' little material see what a grand house you can build +for your wife. Dick, you're lucky, too. You like to hunt, an' up +there you'll find the finest bighorn huntin' in the West. Take Yaqui +and the .405. We need the meat, but while you're gettin' it have your +sport. The same chance will never come again. I wish we all was able +to go. But crippled men can't climb the lava. Shore you'll see some +country from the peaks. There's no wilder place on earth, except the +poles. An' when you're older, you an' Nell, with a couple of fine boys, +think what it'll be to tell them about bein' lost in the lava, an' +huntin' sheep with a Yaqui. Shore I've hit it. You can take yours out +in huntin' an' thinkin'. Now if I had a girl like Nell I'd never go +crazy. That's your game, Dick. Hunt, an' think of Nell, an' how +you'll tell those fine boys about it all, an' about the old cowman you +knowed, Laddy, who'll by then be long past the divide. Rustle now, +son. Get some enthusiasm. For shore you'll need it for yourself an' +us." + +Gale climbed the lava slope, away round to the right of the arroyo, +along an old trail that Yaqui said the Papagos had made before his own +people had hunted there. Part way it led through spiked, crested, +upheaved lava that would have been almost impassable even without its +silver coating of choya cactus. There were benches and ledges and +ridges bare and glistening in the sun. From the crests of these +Yaqui's searching falcon gaze roved near and far for signs of sheep, +and Gale used his glass on the reaches of lava that slanted steeply +upward to the corrugated peaks, and down over endless heave and roll +and red-waved slopes. The heat smoked up from the lava, and this, with +the red color and the shiny choyas, gave the impression of a world of +smoldering fire. + +Farther along the slope Yaqui halted and crawled behind projections to +a point commanding a view over an extraordinary section of country. +The peaks were off to the left. In the foreground were gullies, +ridges, and canyons, arroyos, all glistening with choyas and some other +and more numerous white bushes, and here and there towered a green +cactus. This region was only a splintered and more devastated part of +the volcanic slope, but it was miles in extent. Yaqui peeped over the +top of a blunt block of lava and searched the sharp-billowed +wilderness. Suddenly he grasped Gale and pointed across a deep wide +gully. + +With the aid of his glass Gale saw five sheep. They were much larger +than he had expected, dull brown in color, and two of them were rams +with great curved horns. They were looking in his direction. +Remembering what he had heard about the wonderful eyesight of these +mountain animals, Gale could only conclude that they had seen the +hunters. + +Then Yaqui's movements attracted and interested him. The Indian had +brought with him a red scarf and a mesquite branch. He tied the scarf +to the stick, and propped this up in a crack of the lava. The scarf +waved in the wind. That done, the Indian bade Gale watch. + +Once again he leveled the glass at the sheep. All five were +motionless, standing like statues, heads pointed across the gully. They +were more than a mile distant. When Gale looked without his glass they +merged into the roughness of the lava. He was intensely interested. +Did the sheep see the red scarf? It seemed incredible, but nothing +else could account for that statuesque alertness. The sheep held this +rigid position for perhaps fifteen minutes. Then the leading ram +started to approach. The others followed. He took a few steps, then +halted. Always he held his head up, nose pointed. + +"By George, they're coming!" exclaimed Gale. "They see that flag. +They're hunting us. They're curious. If this doesn't beat me!" + +Evidently the Indian understood, for he grunted. + +Gale found difficulty in curbing his impatience. The approach of the +sheep was slow. The advances of the leader and the intervals of +watching had a singular regularity. He worked like a machine. Gale +followed him down the opposite wall, around holes, across gullies, over +ridges. Then Gale shifted the glass back to find the others. They +were coming also, with exactly the same pace and pause of their leader. +What steppers they were! How sure-footed! What leaps they made! It +was thrilling to watch them. Gale forgot he had a rifle. The Yaqui +pressed a heavy hand down upon his shoulder. He was to keep well +hidden and to be quiet. Gale suddenly conceived the idea that the sheep +might come clear across to investigate the puzzling red thing +fluttering in the breeze. Strange, indeed, would that be for the +wildest creatures in the world. + +The big ram led on with the same regular persistence, and in half an +hour's time he was in the bottom of the great gulf, and soon he was +facing up the slope. Gale knew then that the alluring scarf had +fascinated him. It was no longer necessary now for Gale to use his +glass. There was a short period when an intervening crest of lava hid +the sheep from view. After that the two rams and their smaller +followers were plainly in sight for perhaps a quarter of an hour. Then +they disappeared behind another ridge. Gale kept watching sure they +would come out farther on. A tense period of waiting passed, then a +suddenly electrifying pressure of Yaqui's hand made Gale tremble with +excitement. + +Very cautiously he shifted his position. There, not fifty feet distant +upon a high mound of lava, stood the leader of the sheep. His size +astounded Gale. He seemed all horns. But only for a moment did the +impression of horns overbalancing body remain with Gale. The sheep was +graceful, sinewy, slender, powerfully built, and in poise magnificent. +As Gale watched, spellbound, the second ram leaped lightly upon the +mound, and presently the three others did likewise. + +Then, indeed, Gale feasted his eyes with a spectacle for a hunter. It +came to him suddenly that there had been something he expected to see +in this Rocky Mountain bighorn, and it was lacking. They were +beautiful, as wonderful as even Ladd's encomiums had led him to +suppose. He thought perhaps it was the contrast these soft, sleek, +short-furred, graceful animals afforded to what he imagined the barren, +terrible lava mountains might develop. + +The splendid leader stepped closer, his round, protruding amber eyes, +which Gale could now plainly see, intent upon that fatal red flag. +Like automatons the other four crowded into his tracks. A few little +slow steps, then the leader halted. + +At this instant Gale's absorbed attention was directed by Yaqui to the +rifle, and so to the purpose of the climb. A little cold shock +affronted Gale's vivid pleasure. With it dawned a realization of what +he had imagined was lacking in these animals. They did not look wild! +The so-called wildest of wild creatures appeared tamer than sheep he +had followed on a farm. It would be little less than murder to kill +them. Gale regretted the need of slaughter. Nevertheless, he could not +resist the desire to show himself and see how tame they really were. + +He reached for the .405, and as he threw a shell into the chamber the +slight metallic click made the sheep jump. Then Gale rose quickly to +his feet. + +The noble ram and his band simply stared at Gale. They had never seen +a man. They showed not the slightest indication of instinctive fear. +Curiosity, surprise, even friendliness, seemed to mark their attitude +of attention. Gale imagined that they were going to step still closer. +He did not choose to wait to see if this were true. Certainly it +already took a grim resolution to raise the heavy .405. + +His shot killed the big leader. The others bounded away with +remarkable nimbleness. Gale used up the remaining four shells to drop +the second ram, and by the time he had reloaded the others were out of +range. + + +The Yaqui's method of hunting was sure and deadly and saving of energy, +but Gale never would try it again. He chose to stalk the game. This +entailed a great expenditure of strength, the eyes and lungs of a +mountaineer, and, as Gale put it to Ladd, the need of seven-league +boots. After being hunted a few times and shot at, the sheep became +exceedingly difficult to approach. Gale learned to know that their +fame as the keenest-eyed of all animals was well founded. If he worked +directly toward a flock, crawling over the sharp lava, always a +sentinel ram espied him before he got within range. The only method of +attack that he found successful was to locate sheep with his glass, +work round to windward of them, and then, getting behind a ridge or +buttress, crawl like a lizard to a vantage point. He failed often. +The stalk called forth all that was in him of endurance, cunning, +speed. As the days grew hotter he hunted in the early morning hours and +a while before the sun went down. More than one night he lay out on +the lava, with the great stars close overhead and the immense void all +beneath him. This pursuit he learned to love. Upon those scarred and +blasted slopes the wild spirit that was in him had free rein. And like +a shadow the faithful Yaqui tried ever to keep at his heels. + +One morning the rising sun greeted him as he surmounted the higher cone +of the volcano. He saw the vastness of the east aglow with a glazed +rosy whiteness, like the changing hue of an ember. At this height +there was a sweeping wind, still cool. The western slopes of lava lay +dark, and all that world of sand and gulf and mountain barrier beyond +was shrouded in the mystic cloud of distance. Gale had assimilated +much of the loneliness and the sense of ownership and the love of lofty +heights that might well belong to the great condor of the peak. Like +this wide-winged bird, he had an unparalleled range of vision. The +very corners whence came the winds seemed pierced by Gale's eyes. + +Yaqui spied a flock of sheep far under the curved broken rim of the +main crater. Then began the stalk. Gale had taught the Yaqui +something--that speed might win as well as patient cunning. Keeping +out of sight, Gale ran over the spike-crusted lava, leaving the Indian +far behind. His feet were magnets, attracting supporting holds and he +passed over them too fast to fall. The wind, the keen air of the +heights, the red lava, the boundless surrounding blue, all seemed to +have something to do with his wildness. Then, hiding, slipping, +creeping, crawling, he closed in upon his quarry until the long rifle +grew like stone in his grip, and the whipping "spang" ripped the +silence, and the strange echo boomed deep in the crater, and rolled +around, as if in hollow mockery at the hopelessness of escape. + +Gale's exultant yell was given as much to free himself of some bursting +joy of action as it was to call the slower Yaqui. Then he liked the +strange echoes. It was a maddening whirl of sound that bored deeper +and deeper along the whorled and caverned walls of the crater. It was +as if these aged walls resented the violating of their silent sanctity. +Gale felt himself a man, a thing alive, something superior to all this +savage, dead, upflung world of iron, a master even of all this grandeur +and sublimity because he had a soul. + +He waited beside his quarry, and breathed deep, and swept the long +slopes with searching eyes of habit. + +When Yaqui came up they set about the hardest task of all, to pack the +best of that heavy sheep down miles of steep, ragged, choya-covered +lava. But even in this Gale rejoiced. The heat was nothing, the +millions of little pits which could hold and twist a foot were nothing; +the blade-edged crusts and the deep fissures and the choked canyons and +the tangled, dwarfed mesquites, all these were as nothing but obstacles +to be cheerfully overcome. Only the choya hindered Dick Gale. + +When his heavy burden pulled him out of sure-footedness, and he plunged +into a choya, or when the strange, deceitful, uncanny, almost invisible +frosty thorns caught and pierced him, then there was call for all of +fortitude and endurance. For this cactus had a malignant power of +torture. Its pain was a stinging, blinding, burning, sickening poison +in the blood. If thorns pierced his legs he felt the pain all over his +body; if his hands rose from a fall full of the barbed joints, he was +helpless and quivering till Yaqui tore them out. + +But this one peril, dreaded more than dizzy height of precipice or +sunblindness on the glistening peak, did not daunt Gale. His teacher +was the Yaqui, and always before him was an example that made him +despair of a white man's equality. Color, race, blood, breeding--what +were these in the wilderness? Verily, Dick Gale had come to learn the +use of his hands. + +So in a descent of hours he toiled down the lava slope, to stalk into +the arroyo like a burdened giant, wringing wet, panting, clear-eyed and +dark-faced, his ragged clothes and boots white with choya thorns. + +The gaunt Ladd rose from his shaded seat, and removed his pipe from +smiling lips, and turned to nod at Jim, and then looked back again. + +The torrid summer heat came imperceptibly, or it could never have been +borne by white men. It changed the lives of the fugitives, making them +partly nocturnal in habit. The nights had the balmy coolness of +spring, and would have been delightful for sleep, but that would have +made the blazing days unendurable. + +The sun rose in a vast white flame. With it came the blasting, +withering wind from the gulf. A red haze, like that of earlier +sunsets, seemed to come sweeping on the wind, and it roared up the +arroyo, and went bellowing into the crater, and rushed on in fury to +lash the peaks. + +During these hot, windy hours the desert-bound party slept in deep +recesses in the lava; and if necessity brought them forth they could +not remain out long. The sand burned through boots, and a touch of +bare hand on lava raised a blister. + +A short while before sundown the Yaqui went forth to build a campfire, +and soon the others came out, heat-dazed, half blinded, with parching +throats to allay and hunger that was never satisfied. A little action +and a cooling of the air revived them, and when night set in they were +comfortable round the campfire. + +As Ladd had said, one of their greatest problems was the passing of +time. The nights were interminably long, but they had to be passed in +work or play or dream--anything except sleep. That was Ladd's most +inflexible command. He gave no reason. But not improbably the ranger +thought that the terrific heat of the day spend in slumber lessened a +wear and strain, if not a real danger of madness. + +Accordingly, at first the occupations of this little group were many +and various. They worked if they had something to do, or could invent +a pretext. They told and retold stories until all were wearisome. +They sang songs. Mercedes taught Spanish. They played every game they +knew. They invented others that were so trivial children would +scarcely have been interested, and these they played seriously. In a +word, with intelligence and passion, with all that was civilized and +human, they fought the ever-infringing loneliness, the savage solitude +of their environment. + +But they had only finite minds. It was not in reason to expect a +complete victory against this mighty Nature, this bounding horizon of +death and desolation and decay. Gradually they fell back upon fewer +and fewer occupations, until the time came when the silence was hard to +break. + +Gale believed himself the keenest of the party, the one who thought +most, and he watched the effect of the desert upon his companions. He +imagined that he saw Ladd grow old sitting round the campfire. Certain +it was that the ranger's gray hair had turned white. What had been at +times hard and cold and grim about him had strangely vanished in sweet +temper and a vacant-mindedness that held him longer as the days passed. +For hours, it seemed, Ladd would bend over his checkerboard and never +make a move. It mattered not now whether or not he had a partner. He +was always glad of being spoken to, as if he were called back from +vague region of mind. Jim Lash, the calmest, coolest, most nonchalant, +best-humored Westerner Gale had ever met, had by slow degrees lost that +cheerful character which would have been of such infinite good to his +companions, and always he sat brooding, silently brooding. Jim had no +ties, few memories, and the desert was claiming him. + +Thorne and Mercedes, however, were living, wonderful proof that spirit, +mind, and heart were free--free to soar in scorn of the colossal +barrenness and silence and space of that terrible hedging prison of +lava. They were young; they loved; they were together; and the oasis +was almost a paradise. Gale believe he helped himself by watching them. +Imagination had never pictured real happiness to him. Thorne and +Mercedes had forgotten the outside world. If they had been existing on +the burned-out desolate moon they could hardly have been in a harsher, +grimmer, lonelier spot than this red-walled arroyo. But it might have +been a statelier Eden than that of the primitive day. + +Mercedes grew thinner, until she was a slender shadow of her former +self. She became hard, brown as the rangers, lithe and quick as a +panther. She seemed to live on water and the air--perhaps, indeed, on +love. For of the scant fare, the best of which was continually urged +upon her, she partook but little. She reminded Gale of a wild brown +creature, free as the wind on the lava slopes. Yet, despite the great +change, her beauty remained undiminished. Her eyes, seeming so much +larger now in her small face, were great black, starry gulfs. She was +the life of that camp. Her smiles, her rapid speech, her low laughter, +her quick movements, her playful moods with the rangers, the dark and +passionate glance, which rested so often on her lover, the whispers in +the dusk as hand in hand they paced the campfire beat--these helped +Gale to retain his loosening hold on reality, to resist the lure of a +strange beckoning life where a man stood free in the golden open, where +emotion was not, nor trouble, nor sickness, nor anything but the +savage's rest and sleep and action and dream. + +Although the Yaqui was as his shadow, Gale reached a point when he +seemed to wander alone at twilight, in the night, at dawn. Far down +the arroyo, in the deepening red twilight, when the heat rolled away on +slow-dying wind, Blanco Sol raised his splendid head and whistled for +his master. Gale reproached himself for neglect of the noble horse. +Blanco Sol was always the same. He loved four things--his master, a +long drink of cool water, to graze at will, and to run. Time and +place, Gale thought, meant little to Sol if he could have those four +things. Gale put his arm over the great arched neck and laid his cheek +against the long white mane, and then even as he stood there forgot the +horse. What was the dull, red-tinged, horizon-wide mantle creeping up +the slope? Through it the copper sun glowed, paled, died. Was it only +twilight? Was it gloom? If he thought about it he had a feeling that +it was the herald of night and the night must be a vigil, and that made +him tremble. + +At night he had formed a habit of climbing up the lava slope as far as +the smooth trail extended, and there on a promontory he paced to and +fro, and watched the stars, and sat stone-still for hours looking down +at the vast void with its moving, changing shadows. From that +promontory he gazed up at a velvet-blue sky, deep and dark, bright with +millions of cold, distant, blinking stars, and he grasped a little of +the meaning of infinitude. He gazed down into the shadows, which, +black as they were and impenetrable, yet have a conception of +immeasurable space. + +Then the silence! He was dumb, he was awed, he bowed his head, he +trembled, he marveled at the desert silence. It was the one thing +always present. Even when the wind roared there seemed to be silence. +But at night, in this lava world of ashes and canker, he waited for +this terrible strangeness of nature to come to him with the secret. He +seemed at once a little child and a strong man, and something very old. +What tortured him was the incomprehensibility that the vaster the space +the greater the silence! At one moment Gale felt there was only death +here, and that was the secret; at another he heard the slow beat of a +mighty heart. + +He came at length to realize that the desert was a teacher. He did not +realize all that he had learned, but he was a different man. And when +he decided upon that, he was not thinking of the slow, sure call to the +primal instincts of man; he was thinking that the desert, as much as he +had experienced and no more, would absolutely overturn the whole scale +of a man's values, break old habits, form new ones, remake him. More of +desert experience, Gale believe, would be too much for intellect. The +desert did not breed civilized man, and that made Gale ponder over a +strange thought: after all, was the civilized man inferior to the +savage? + +Yaqui was the answer to that. When Gale acknowledged this he always +remembered his present strange manner of thought. The past, the old +order of mind, seemed as remote as this desert world was from the +haunts of civilized men. A man must know a savage as Gale knew Yaqui +before he could speak authoritatively, and then something stilled his +tongue. In the first stage of Gale's observation of Yaqui he had +marked tenaciousness of life, stoicism, endurance, strength. These +were the attributes of the desert. But what of that second stage +wherein the Indian had loomed up a colossal figure of strange honor, +loyalty, love? Gale doubted his convictions and scorned himself for +doubting. + +There in the gloom sat the silent, impassive, inscrutable Yaqui. His +dark face, his dark eyes were plain in the light of the stars. Always +he was near Gale, unobtrusive, shadowy, but there. Why? Gale +absolutely could not doubt that the Indian had heart as well as mind. +Yaqui had from the very first stood between Gale and accident, toil, +peril. It was his own choosing. Gale could not change him or thwart +him. He understood the Indian's idea of obligation and sacred duty. +But there was more, and that baffled Gale. In the night hours, alone +on the slope, Gale felt in Yaqui, as he felt the mighty throb of that +desert pulse, a something that drew him irresistibly to the Indian. +Sometimes he looked around to find the Indian, to dispel these strange, +pressing thoughts of unreality, and it was never in vain. + +Thus the nights passed, endlessly long, with Gale fighting for his old +order of thought, fighting the fascination of the infinite sky, and the +gloomy insulating whirl of the wide shadows, fighting for belief, hope, +prayer, fighting against that terrible ever-recurring idea of being +lost, lost, lost in the desert, fighting harder than any other thing +the insidious, penetrating, tranquil, unfeeling self that was coming +between him and his memory. + +He was losing the battle, losing his hold on tangible things, losing +his power to stand up under this ponderous, merciless weight of desert +space and silence. + +He acknowledged it in a kind of despair, and the shadows of the night +seemed whirling fiends. Lost! Lost! Lost! What are you waiting for? +Rain!... Lost! Lost! Lost in the desert! So the shadows seemed to +scream in voiceless mockery. + +At the moment he was alone on the promontory. The night was far spent. +A ghastly moon haunted the black volcanic spurs. The winds blew +silently. Was he alone? No, he did not seem to be alone. The Yaqui +was there. Suddenly a strange, cold sensation crept over Gale. It was +new. He felt a presence. Turning, he expected to see the Indian, but +instead, a slight shadow, pale, almost white, stood there, not close +nor yet distant. It seemed to brighten. Then he saw a woman who +resembled a girl he had seemed to know long ago. She was white-faced, +golden-haired, and her lips were sweet, and her eyes were turning +black. Nell! He had forgotten her. Over him flooded a torrent of +memory. There was tragic woe in this sweet face. Nell was holding out +her arms--she was crying aloud to him across the sand and the cactus +and the lava. She was in trouble, and he had been forgetting. + +That night he climbed the lava to the topmost cone, and never slipped +on a ragged crust nor touched a choya thorn. A voice called to him. +He saw Nell's eyes in the stars, in the velvet blue of sky, in the +blackness of the engulfing shadows. She was with him, a slender shape, +a spirit, keeping step with him, and memory was strong, sweet, beating, +beautiful. Far down in the west, faintly golden with light of the +sinking moon, he saw a cloud that resembled her face. A cloud on the +desert horizon! He gazed and gazed. Was that a spirit face like the +one by his side? No--he did not dream. + + +In the hot, sultry morning Yaqui appeared at camp, after long hours of +absence, and he pointed with a long, dark arm toward the west. A bank +of clouds was rising above the mountain barrier. + +"Rain!" he cried; and his sonorous voice rolled down the arroyo. + +Those who heard him were as shipwrecked mariners at sight of a distant +sail. + + +Dick Gale, silent, grateful to the depths of his soul, stood with arm +over Blanco Sol and watched the transforming west, where clouds of +wonderous size and hue piled over one another, rushing, darkening, +spreading, sweeping upward toward that white and glowing sun. + +When they reached the zenith and swept round to blot out the blazing +orb, the earth took on a dark, lowering aspect. The red of sand and +lava changed to steely gray. Vast shadows, like ripples on water, +sheeted in from the gulf with a low, strange moan. Yet the silence was +like death. The desert was awaiting a strange and hated +visitation--storm! If all the endless torrid days, the endless mystic +nights had seemed unreal to Gale, what, then, seemed this stupendous +spectacle? + +"Oh! I felt a drop of rain on my face!" cried Mercedes; and whispering +the name of a saint, she kissed her husband. + +The white-haired Ladd, gaunt, old, bent, looked up at the maelstrom of +clouds, and he said, softly, "Shore we'll get in the hosses, an' pack +light, an' hit the trail, an' make night marches!" + +Then up out of the gulf of the west swept a bellowing wind and a black +pall and terrible flashes of lightning and thunder like the end of the +world--fury, blackness, chaos, the desert storm. + + + +XVII + +THE WHISTLE OF A HORSE + +AT the ranch-house at Forlorn River Belding stood alone in his darkened +room. It was quiet there and quiet outside; the sickening midsummer +heat, like a hot heavy blanket, lay upon the house. + +He took up the gun belt from his table and with slow hands buckled it +around his waist. He seemed to feel something familiar and comfortable +and inspiring in the weight of the big gun against his hip. He faced +the door as if to go out, but hesitated, and then began a slow, +plodding walk up and down the length of the room. Presently he halted +at the table, and with reluctant hands he unbuckled the gun belt and +laid it down. + +The action did not have an air of finality, and Belding knew it. He had +seen border life in Texas in the early days; he had been a sheriff when +the law in the West depended on a quickness of wrist; he had seen many +a man lay down his gun for good and all. His own action was not final. +Of late he had done the same thing many times and this last time it +seemed a little harder to do, a little more indicative of vacillation. +There were reasons why Belding's gun held for him a gloomy fascination. + +The Chases, those grasping and conscienceless agents of a new force in +the development of the West, were bent upon Belding's ruin, and so far +as his fortunes at Forlorn River were concerned, had almost +accomplished it. One by one he lost points for which he contended with +them. He carried into the Tucson courts the matter of the staked +claims, and mining claims, and water claims, and he lost all. +Following that he lost his government position as inspector of +immigration; and this fact, because of what he considered its +injustice, had been a hard blow. He had been made to suffer a +humiliation equally as great. It came about that he actually had to +pay the Chases for water to irrigate his alfalfa fields. The +never-failing spring upon his land answered for the needs of household +and horses, but no more. + +These matters were unfortunate for Belding, but not by any means wholly +accountable for his worry and unhappiness and brooding hate. He +believed Dick Gale and the rest of the party taken into the desert by +the Yaqui had been killed or lost. Two months before a string of +Mexican horses, riderless, saddled, starved for grass and wild for +water, had come in to Forlorn River. They were a part of the horses +belonging to Rojas and his band. Their arrival complicated the mystery +and strengthened convictions of the loss of both pursuers and pursued. +Belding was wont to say that he had worried himself gray over the fate +of his rangers. + +Belding's unhappiness could hardly be laid to material loss. He had +been rich and was now poor, but change of fortune such as that could +not have made him unhappy. Something more somber and mysterious and +sad than the loss of Dick Gale and their friends had come into the +lives of his wife and Nell. He dated the time of this change back to a +certain day when Mrs. Belding recognized in the elder Chase an old +schoolmate and a rejected suitor. It took time for slow-thinking +Belding to discover anything wrong in his household, especially as the +fact of the Gales lingering there made Mrs. Belding and Nell, for the +most part, hide their real and deeper feelings. Gradually, however, +Belding had forced on him the fact of some secret cause for grief other +than Gale's loss. He was sure of it when his wife signified her desire +to make a visit to her old home back in Peoria. She did not give many +reasons, but she did show him a letter that had found its way from old +friends. This letter contained news that may or may not have been +authentic; but it was enough, Belding thought, to interest his wife. +An old prospector had returned to Peoria, and he had told relatives of +meeting Robert Burton at the Sonoyta Oasis fifteen years before, and +that Burton had gone into the desert never to return. To Belding this +was no surprise, for he had heard that before his marriage. There +appeared to have been no doubts as to the death of his wife's first +husband. The singular thing was that both Nell's father and +grandfather had been lost somewhere in the Sonora Desert. + +Belding did not oppose his wife's desire to visit her old home. He +thought it would be a wholesome trip for her, and did all in his power +to persuade Nell to accompany her. But Nell would not go. + +It was after Mrs. Belding's departure that Belding discovered in Nell a +condition of mind that amazed and distressed him. She had suddenly +become strangely wretched, so that she could not conceal it from even +the Gales, who, of all people, Belding imagined, were the ones to make +Nell proud. She would tell him nothing. But after a while, when he +had thought it out, he dated this further and more deplorable change in +Nell back to a day on which he had met Nell with Radford Chase. This +indefatigable wooer had not in the least abandoned his suit. Something +about the fellow made Belding grind his teeth. But Nell grew not only +solicitously, but now strangely, entreatingly earnest in her +importunities to Belding not to insult or lay a hand on Chase. This +had bound Belding so far; it had made him think and watch. He had +never been a man to interfere with his women folk. They could do as +they liked, and usually that pleased him. But a slow surprise gathered +and grew upon him when he saw that Nell, apparently, was accepting +young Chase's attentions. At least, she no longer hid from him. +Belding could not account for this, because he was sure Nell cordially +despised the fellow. And toward the end he divined, if he did not +actually know, that these Chases possessed some strange power over +Nell, and were using it. That stirred a hate in Belding--a hate he had +felt at the very first and had manfully striven against, and which now +gave him over to dark brooding thoughts. + +Midsummer passed, and the storms came late. But when they arrived they +made up for tardiness. Belding did not remember so terrible a storm of +wind and rain as that which broke the summer's drought. + +In a few days, it seemed, Altar Valley was a bright and green expanse, +where dust clouds did not rise. Forlorn River ran, a slow, heavy, +turgid torrent. Belding never saw the river in flood that it did not +give him joy; yet now, desert man as he was, he suffered a regret when +he thought of the great Chase reservoir full and overflowing. The dull +thunder of the spillway was not pleasant. It was the first time in his +life that the sound of falling water jarred upon him. + +Belding noticed workmen once more engaged in the fields bounding his +land. The Chases had extended a main irrigation ditch down to +Belding's farm, skipped the width of his ground, then had gone on down +through Altar Valley. They had exerted every influence to obtain right +to connect these ditches by digging through his land, but Belding had +remained obdurate. He refused to have any dealings with them. It was +therefore with some curiosity and suspicion that he saw a gang of +Mexicans once more at work upon these ditches. + +At daylight next morning a tremendous blast almost threw Belding out of +his bed. It cracked the adobe walls of his house and broke windows and +sent pans and crockery to the floor with a crash. Belding's idea was +that the store of dynamite kept by the Chases for blasting had blown +up. Hurriedly getting into his clothes, he went to Nell's room to +reassure her; and, telling her to have a thought for their guests, he +went out to see what had happened. + +The villagers were pretty badly frightened. Many of the poorly +constructed adobe huts had crumbled almost into dust. A great yellow +cloud, like smoke, hung over the river. This appeared to be at the +upper end of Belding's plot, and close to the river. When he reached +his fence the smoke and dust were so thick he could scarcely breathe, +and for a little while he was unable to see what had happened. +Presently he made out a huge hole in the sand just about where the +irrigation ditch had stopped near his line. For some reason or other, +not clear to Belding, the Mexicans had set off an extraordinarily heavy +blast at that point. + +Belding pondered. He did not now for a moment consider an accidental +discharge of dynamite. But why had this blast been set off? The loose +sandy soil had yielded readily to shovel; there were no rocks; as far +as construction of a ditch was concerned such a blast would have done +more harm than good. + +Slowly, with reluctant feet, Belding walked toward a green hollow, +where in a cluster of willows lay the never-failing spring that his +horses loved so well, and, indeed, which he loved no less. He was +actually afraid to part the drooping willows to enter the little cool, +shady path that led to the spring. Then, suddenly seized by suspense, +he ran the rest of the way. + +He was just in time to see the last of the water. It seemed to sink as +in quicksand. The shape of the hole had changed. The tremendous force +of the blast in the adjoining field had obstructed or diverted the +underground stream of water. + +Belding's never-failing spring had been ruined. What had made this +little plot of ground green and sweet and fragrant was now no more. +Belding's first feeling was for the pity of it. The pale Ajo lilies +would bloom no more under those willows. The willows themselves would +soon wither and die. He thought how many times in the middle of hot +summer nights he had come down to the spring to drink. Never again! + +Suddenly he thought of Blanco Diablo. How the great white thoroughbred +had loved this spring! Belding straightened up and looked with +tear-blurred eyes out over the waste of desert to the west. Never a +day passed that he had not thought of the splendid horse; but this +moment, with its significant memory, was doubly keen, and there came a +dull pang in his breast. + +"Diablo will never drink here again!" muttered Belding. + +The loss of Blanco Diablo, though admitted and mourned by Belding, had +never seemed quite real until this moment. + +The pall of dust drifting over him, the din of the falling water up at +the dam, diverted Belding's mind to the Chases. All at once he was in +the harsh grip of a cold certainty. The blast had been set off +intentionally to ruin his spring. What a hellish trick! No Westerner, +no Indian or Mexican, no desert man could have been guilty of such a +crime. To ruin a beautiful, clear, cool, never-failing stream of water +in the desert! + +It was then that Belding's worry and indecision and brooding were as if +they had never existed. As he strode swiftly back to the house, his +head, which had long been bent thoughtfully and sadly, was held erect. +He went directly to his room, and with an air that was now final he +buckled on his gun belt. He looked the gun over and tried the action. +He squared himself and walked a little more erect. Some long-lost +individuality had returned to Belding. + +"Let's see," he was saying. "I can get Carter to send the horses I've +left back to Waco to my brother. I'll make Nell take what money there +is and go hunt up her mother. The Gales are ready to go--to-day, if I +say the word. Nell can travel with them part way East. That's your +game, Tom Belding, don't mistake me." + +As he went out he encountered Mr. Gale coming up the walk. The long +sojourn at Forlorn River, despite the fact that it had been laden with +a suspense which was gradually changing to a sad certainty, had been of +great benefit to Dick's father. The dry air, the heat, and the quiet +had made him, if not entirely a well man, certainly stronger than he +had been in many years. + +"Belding, what was that terrible roar?" asked Mr. Gale. "We were badly +frightened until Miss Nell came to us. We feared it was an earthquake." + +"Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Gale, we've had some quakes here, but none of +them could hold a candle to this jar we just had." + +Then Belding explained what had caused the explosion, and why it had +been set off so close to his property. + +"It's an outrage, sir, an unspeakable outrage," declared Mr. Gale, +hotly. "Such a thing would not be tolerated in the East. Mr. Belding, +I'm amazed at your attitude in the face of all this trickery." + +"You see--there was mother and Nell," began Belding, as if apologizing. +He dropped his head a little and made marks in the sand with the toe of +his boot. "Mr. Gale, I've been sort of half hitched, as Laddy used to +say. I'm planning to have a little more elbow room round this ranch. +I'm going to send Nell East to her mother. Then I'll-- See here, Mr. +Gale, would you mind having Nell with you part way when you go home?" + +"We'd all be delighted to have her go all the way and make us a visit," +replied Mr. Gale. + +"That's fine. And you'll be going soon? Don't take that as if I +wanted to--" Belding paused, for the truth was that he did want to +hurry them off. + +"We would have been gone before this, but for you," said Mr. Gale. +"Long ago we gave up hope of--of Richard ever returning. And I +believe, now we're sure he was lost, that we'd do well to go home at +once. You wished us to remain until the heat was broken--till the +rains came to make traveling easier for us. Now I see no need for +further delay. My stay here has greatly benefited my health. I shall +never forget your hospitality. This Western trip would have made me a +new man if--only--Richard--" + +"Sure. I understand," said Belding, gruffly. "Let's go in and tell +the women to pack up." + +Nell was busy with the servants preparing breakfast. Belding took her +into the sitting-room while Mr. Gale called his wife and daughter. + +"My girl, I've some news for you," began Belding. "Mr. Gale is leaving +to-day with his family. I'm going to send you with them--part way, +anyhow. You're invited to visit them. I think that 'd be great for +you--help you to forget. But the main thing is--you're going East to +join mother." + +Nell gazed at him, white-faced, without uttering a word. + +"You see, Nell, I'm about done in Forlorn River," went on Belding. +"That blast this morning sank my spring. There's no water now. It was +the last straw. So we'll shake the dust of Forlorn River. I'll come on +a little later--that's all." + +"Dad, you're packing your gun!" exclaimed Nell, suddenly pointing with +a trembling finger. She ran to him, and for the first time in his life +Belding put her away from him. His movements had lost the old slow +gentleness. + +"Why, so I am," replied Belding, coolly, as his hand moved down to the +sheath swinging at his hip. "Nell, I'm that absent-minded these days!" + +"Dad!" she cried. + +"That'll do from you," he replied, in a voice he had never used to her. +"Get breakfast now, then pack to leave Forlorn River." + +"Leave Forlorn River!" whispered Nell, with a thin white hand stealing +up to her breast. How changed the girl was! Belding reproached +himself for his hardness, but did not speak his thought aloud. Nell +was fading here, just as Mercedes had faded before the coming of Thorne. + +Nell turned away to the west window and looked out across the desert +toward the dim blue peaks in the distance. Belding watched her; +likewise the Gales; and no one spoke. There ensued a long silence. +Belding felt a lump rise in his throat. Nell laid her arm against the +window frame, but gradually it dropped, and she was leaning with her +face against the wood. A low sob broke from her. Elsie Gale went to +her, embraced her, took the drooping head on her shoulder. + +"We've come to be such friends," she said. "I believe it'll be good +for you to visit me in the city. Here--all day you look out across +that awful lonely desert.... Come, Nell." + +Heavy steps sounded outside on the flagstones, then the door rattled +under a strong knock. Belding opened it. The Chases, father and son, +stood beyond the threshold. + +"Good morning, Belding," said the elder Chase. "We were routed out +early by that big blast and came up to see what was wrong. All a +blunder. The Greaser foreman was drunk yesterday, and his ignorant men +made a mistake. Sorry if the blast bothered you." + +"Chase, I reckon that's the first of your blasts I was ever glad to +hear," replied Belding, in a way that made Chase look blank. + +"So? Well, I'm glad you're glad," he went on, evidently puzzled. "I +was a little worried--you've always been so touchy--we never could get +together. I hurried over, fearing maybe you might think the blast--you +see, Belding--" + +"I see this, Mr. Ben Chase," interrupted Belding, in curt and ringing +voice. "That blast was a mistake, the biggest you ever made in your +life." + +"What do you mean?" demanded Chase. + +"You'll have to excuse me for a while, unless you're dead set on having +it out right now. Mr. Gale and his family are leaving, and my daughter +is going with them. I'd rather you'd wait a little." + +"Nell going away!" exclaimed Radford Chase. He reminded Belding of an +overgrown boy in disappointment. + +"Yes. But--Miss Burton to you, young man--" + +"Mr. Belding, I certainly would prefer a conference with you right +now," interposed the elder Chase, cutting short Belding's strange +speech. "There are other matters--important matters to discuss. +They've got to be settled. May we step in, sir?" + +"No, you may not," replied Belding, bluntly. "I'm sure particular who +I invite into my house. But I'll go with you." + +Belding stepped out and closed the door. "Come away from the house so +the women won't hear the--the talk." + +The elder Chase was purple with rage, yet seemed to be controlling it. +The younger man looked black, sullen, impatient. He appeared not to +have a thought of Belding. He was absolutely blind to the situation, +as considered from Belding's point of view. Ben Chase found his voice +about the time Belding halted under the trees out of earshot from the +house. + +"Sir, you've insulted me--my son. How dare you? I want you to +understand that you're--" + +"Chop that kind of talk with me, you ------ ------ ------ ------!" +interrupted Belding. He had always been profane, and now he certainly +did not choose his language. Chase turned livid, gasped, and seemed +about to give way to fury. But something about Belding evidently +exerted a powerful quieting influence. "If you talk sense I'll +listen," went on Belding. + +Belding was frankly curious. He did not think any argument or +inducement offered by Chase could change his mind on past dealings or +his purpose of the present. But he believed by listening he might get +some light on what had long puzzled him. The masterly effort Chase put +forth to conquer his aroused passions gave Belding another idea of the +character of this promoter. + +"I want to make a last effort to propitiate you," began Chase, in his +quick, smooth voice. That was a singular change to Belding--the +dropping instantly into an easy flow of speech. "You've had losses +here, and naturally you're sore. I don't blame you. But you can't see +this thing from my side of the fence. Business is business. In +business the best man wins. The law upheld those transactions of mine +the honesty of which you questioned. As to mining and water claims, you +lost on this technical point--that you had nothing to prove you had +held them for five years. Five years is the time necessary in law. A +dozen men might claim the source of Forlorn River, but if they had no +house or papers to prove their squatters' rights any man could go in +and fight them for the water. .... Now I want to run that main ditch +along the river, through your farm. Can't we make a deal? I'm ready +to be liberal--to meet you more than halfway. I'll give you an +interest in the company. I think I've influence enough up at the +Capitol to have you reinstated as inspector. A little reasonableness +on your part will put you right again in Forlorn River, with a chance +of growing rich. There's a big future here.... My interest, Belding, +has become personal. Radford is in love with your step-daughter. He +wants to marry her. I'll admit now if I had foreseen this situation I +wouldn't have pushed you so hard. But we can square the thing. Now +let's get together not only in business, but in a family way. If my +son's happiness depends upon having this girl, you may rest assured +I'll do all I can to get her for him. I'll absolutely make good all +your losses. Now what do you say?" + +"No," replied Belding. "Your money can't buy a right of way across my +ranch. And Nell doesn't want your son. That settles that." + +"But you could persuade her." + +"I won't, that's all." + +"May I ask why?" Chases's voice was losing its suave quality, but it +was even swifter than before. + +"Sure. I don't mind your asking," replied Belding in slow +deliberation. "I wouldn't do such a low-down trick. Besides, if I +would, I'd want it to be a man I was persuading for. I know +Greasers--I know a Yaqui I'd rather give Nell to than your son." + +Radford Chase began to roar in inarticulate rage. Belding paid no +attention to him; indeed, he never glanced at the young man. The elder +Chase checked a violent start. He plucked at the collar of his gray +flannel shirt, opened it at the neck. + +"My son's offer of marriage is an honor--more an honor, sir, than you +perhaps are aware of." + +Belding made no reply. His steady gaze did not turn from the long lane +that led down to the river. He waited coldly, sure of himself. + +"Mrs. Belding's daughter has no right to the name of Burton," snapped +Chase. "Did you know that?" + +"I did not," replied Belding, quietly. + +"Well, you know it now," added Chase, bitingly. + +"Sure you can prove what you say?" queried Belding, in the same cool, +unemotional tone. It struck him strangely at the moment what little +knowledge this man had of the West and of Western character. + +"Prove it? Why, yes, I think so, enough to make the truth plain to any +reasonable man. I come from Peoria--was born and raised there. I went +to school with Nell Warren. That was your wife's maiden name. She was +a beautiful, gay girl. All the fellows were in love with her. I knew +Bob Burton well. He was a splendid fellow, but wild. Nobody ever knew +for sure, but we all supposed he was engaged to marry Nell. He left +Peoria, however, and soon after that the truth about Nell came out. +She ran away. It was at least a couple of months before Burton showed +up in Peoria. He did not stay long. Then for years nothing was heard +of either of them. When word did come Nell was in Oklahoma, Burton was +in Denver. There's chance, of course, that Burton followed Nell and +married her. That would account for Nell Warren taking the name of +Burton. But it isn't likely. None of us ever heard of such a thing +and wouldn't have believed it if we had. The affair seemed destined to +end unfortunately. But Belding, while I'm at it, I want to say that +Nell Warren was one of the sweetest, finest, truest girls in the world. +If she drifted to the Southwest and kept her past a secret that was +only natural. Certainly it should not be held against her. Why, she +was only a child--a girl--seventeen--eighteen years old.... In a moment +of amazement--when I recognized your wife as an old schoolmate--I +blurted the thing out to Radford. You see now how little it matters to +me when I ask your stepdaughter's hand in marriage for my son." + +Belding stood listening. The genuine emotion in Chase's voice was as +strong as the ring of truth. Belding knew truth when he heard it. The +revelation did not surprise him. Belding did not soften, for he +devined that Chase's emotion was due to the probing of an old wound, +the recalling of a past both happy and painful. Still, human nature +was so strange that perhaps kindness and sympathy might yet have a +place in this Chase's heart. Belding did not believe so, but he was +willing to give Chase the benefit of the doubt. + +"So you told my wife you'd respect her secret--keep her dishonor from +husband and daughter?" demanded Belding, his dark gaze sweeping back +from the lane. + +"What! I--I" stammered Chase. + +"You made your son swear to be a man and die before he'd hint the thing +to Nell?" went on Belding, and his voice rang louder. + +Ben Chase had no answer. The red left his face. His son slunk back +against the fence. + +"I say you never held this secret over the heads of my wife and her +daughter?" thundered Belding. + +He had his answer in the gray faces, in the lips that fear made mute. +Like a flash Belding saw the whole truth of Mrs. Belding's agony, the +reason for her departure; he saw what had been driving Nell; and it +seemed that all the dogs of hell were loosed within his heart. He +struck out blindly, instinctively in his pain, and the blow sent Ben +Chase staggering into the fence corner. Then he stretched forth a long +arm and whirled Radford Chase back beside his father. + +"I see it all now," went on Belding, hoarsely. "You found the woman's +weakness--her love for the girl. You found the girl's weakness--her +pride and fear of shame. So you drove the one and hounded the other. +God, what a base thing to do! To tell the girl was bad enough, but to +threaten her with betrayal; there's no name for that!" + +Belding's voice thickened, and he paused, breathing heavily. He +stepped back a few paces; and this, an ominous action for an armed man +of his kind, instead of adding to the fear of the Chases, seemed to +relieve them. If there had been any pity in Belding's heart he would +have felt it then. + +"And now, gentlemen," continued Belding, speaking low and with +difficulty, "seeing I've turned down your proposition, I suppose you +think you've no more call to keep your mouths shut?" + +The elder Chase appeared fascinated by something he either saw or felt +in Belding, and his gray face grew grayer. He put up a shaking hand. +Then Radford Chase, livid and snarling, burst out: "I'll talk till I'm +black in the face. You can't stop me!" + +"You'll go black in the face, but it won't be from talking," hissed +Belding. + +His big arm swept down, and when he threw it up the gun glittered in +his hand. Simultaneously with the latter action pealed out a shrill, +penetrating whistle. + +The whistle of a horse! It froze Belding's arm aloft. For an instant +he could not move even his eyes. The familiarity of that whistle was +terrible in its power to rob him of strength. Then he heard the rapid, +heavy pound of hoofs, and again the piercing whistle. + +"Blanco Diablo!" he cried, huskily. + +He turned to see a huge white horse come thundering into the yard. A +wild, gaunt, terrible horse; indeed, the loved Blanco Diablo. A +bronzed, long-haired Indian bestrode him. More white horses galloped +into the yard, pounded to a halt, whistling home. Belding saw a slim +shadow of a girl who seemed all great black eyes. + +Under the trees flashed Blanco Sol, as dazzling white, as beautiful as +if he had never been lost in the desert. He slid to a halt, then +plunged and stamped. His rider leaped, throwing the bridle. Belding +saw a powerful, spare, ragged man, with dark, gaunt face and eyes of +flame. + +Then Nell came running from the house, her golden hair flying, her +hands outstretched, her face wonderful. + +"Dick! Dick! Oh-h-h, Dick!" she cried. Her voice seemed to quiver in +Belding's heart. + +Belding's eyes began to blur. He was not sure he saw clearly. Whose +face was this now close before him--a long thin, shrunken face, +haggard, tragic in its semblance of torture, almost of death? But the +eyes were keen and kind. Belding thought wildly that they proved he +was not dreaming. + +"I shore am glad to see you all," said a well-remembered voice in a +slow, cool drawl. + + + +XVIII + +REALITY AGAINST DREAMS + +LADD, Lash, Thorne, Mercedes, they were all held tight in Belding's +arms. Then he ran to Blanco Diablo. For once the great horse was +gentle, quiet, glad. He remembered this kindest of masters and reached +for him with warm, wet muzzle. + +Dick Gale was standing bowed over Nell's slight form, almost hidden in +his arms. Belding hugged them both. He was like a boy. He saw Ben +Chase and his son slip away under the trees, but the circumstances +meant nothing to him then. + +"Dick! Dick!" he roared. "Is it you?... Say, who do you think's +here--here, in Forlorn River?" + +Gale gripped Belding with a hand as rough and hard as a file and as +strong as a vise. But he did not speak a word. Belding thought Gale's +eyes would haunt him forever. + +It was then three more persons came upon the scene--Elsie Gale, running +swiftly, her father assisting Mrs. Gale, who appeared about to faint. + +"Belding! Who on earth's that?" cried Dick Hoarsely. + +"Quien sabe, my son," replied Belding; and now his voice seemed a +little shaky. "Nell, come here. Give him a chance." + +Belding slipped his arm round Nell, and whispered in her ear. "This 'll +be great!" + +Elsie Gale's face was white and agitated, a face expressing extreme joy. + +"Oh, brother! Mama saw you--Papa saw you, and never knew you! But I +knew you when you jumped quick--that way--off your horse. And now I +don't know you. You wild man! You giant! You splendid barbarian!... +Mama, Papa, hurry! It is Dick! Look at him. Just look at him! Oh-h, +thank God!" + +Belding turned away and drew Nell with him. In another second she and +Mercedes were clasped in each other's arms. Then followed a time of +joyful greetings all round. + +The Yaqui stood leaning against a tree watching the welcoming home of +the lost. No one seemed to think of him, until Belding, ever mindful +of the needs of horses, put a hand on Blanco Diablo and called to Yaqui +to bring the others. They led the string of whites down to the barn, +freed them of wet and dusty saddles and packs, and turned them loose in +the alfalfa, now breast-high. Diablo found his old spirit; Blanco Sol +tossed his head and whistled his satisfaction; White Woman pranced to +and fro; and presently they all settled down to quiet grazing. How +good it was for Belding to see those white shapes against the rich +background of green! His eyes glistened. It was a sight he had never +expected to see again. He lingered there many moments when he wanted +to hurry back to his rangers. + +At last he tore himself away from watching Blanco Diablo and returned +to the house. It was only to find that he might have spared himself +the hurry. Jim and Ladd were lying on the beds that had not held them +for so many months. Their slumber seemed as deep and quiet as death. +Curiously Belding gazed down upon them. They had removed only boots and +chaps. Their clothes were in tatters. Jim appeared little more than +skin and bones, a long shape, dark and hard as iron. Ladd's appearance +shocked Belding. The ranger looked an old man, blasted, shriveled, +starved. Yet his gaunt face, though terrible in its records of +tortures, had something fine and noble, even beautiful to Belding, in +its strength, its victory. + +Thorne and Mercedes had disappeared. The low murmur of voices came +from Mrs. Gale's room, and Belding concluded that Dick was still with +his family. No doubt he, also, would soon seek rest and sleep. +Belding went through the patio and called in at Nell's door. She was +there sitting by her window. The flush of happiness had not left her +face, but she looked stunned, and a shadow of fear lay dark in her +eyes. Belding had intended to talk. He wanted some one to listen to +him. The expression in Nell's eyes, however, silenced him. He had +forgotten. Nell read his thought in his face, and then she lost all +her color and dropped her head. Belding entered, stood beside her with +a hand on hers. He tried desperately hard to think of the right thing +to say, and realized so long as he tried that he could not speak at all. + +"Nell--Dick's back safe and sound," he said, slowly. "That's the main +thing. I wish you could have seen his eyes when he held you in his +arms out there.... Of course, Dick's coming knocks out your trip East +and changes plans generally. We haven't had the happiest time lately. +But now it'll be different. Dick's as true as a Yaqui. He'll chase +that Chase fellow, don't mistake me.... Then mother will be home soon. +She'll straighten out this--this mystery. And Nell--however it turns +out--I know Dick Gale will feel just the same as I feel. Brace up now, +girl." + +Belding left the patio and traced thoughtful steps back toward the +corrals. He realized the need of his wife. If she had been at home he +would not have come so close to killing two men. Nell would never have +fallen so low in spirit. Whatever the real truth of the tragedy of his +wife's life, it would not make the slightest difference to him. What +hurt him was the pain mother and daughter had suffered, were suffering +still. Somehow he must put an end to that pain. + +He found the Yaqui curled up in a corner of the barn in as deep a sleep +as that of the rangers. Looking down at him, Belding felt again the +rush of curious thrilling eagerness to learn all that had happened +since the dark night when Yaqui had led the white horses away into the +desert. Belding curbed his impatience and set to work upon tasks he +had long neglected. Presently he was interrupted by Mr. Gale, who came +out, beside himself with happiness and excitement. He flung a hundred +questions at Belding and never gave him time to answer one, even if +that had been possible. Finally, when Mr. Gale lost his breath, +Belding got a word in. "See here, Mr. Gale, you know as much as I +know. Dick's back. They're all back--a hard lot, starved, burned, torn +to pieces, worked out to the limit I never saw in desert travelers, but +they're alive--alive and well, man! Just wait. Just gamble I won't +sleep or eat till I hear that story. But they've got to sleep and eat." + +Belding gathered with growing amusement that besides the joy, +excitement, anxiety, impatience expressed by Mr. Gale there was +something else which Belding took for pride. It pleased him. Looking +back, he remembered some of the things Dick had confessed his father +thought of him. Belding's sympathy had always been with the boy. But +he had learned to like the old man, to find him kind and wise, and to +think that perhaps college and business had not brought out the best in +Richard Gale. The West had done that, however, as it had for many a +wild youngster; and Belding resolved to have a little fun at the +expense of Mr. Gale. So he began by making a few remarks that appeared +to rob Dick's father of both speech and breath. + +"And don't mistake me," concluded Belding, "just keep out of earshot +when Laddy tells us the story of that desert trip, unless you're +hankering to have your hair turn pure white and stand curled on end and +freeze that way." + + +About the middle of the forenoon on the following day the rangers +hobbled out of the kitchen to the porch. + +"I'm a sick man, I tell you," Ladd was complaining, "an' I gotta be +fed. Soup! Beef tea! That ain't so much as wind to me. I want about +a barrel of bread an' butter, an' a whole platter of mashed potatoes +with gravy an' green stuff--all kinds of green stuff--an' a whole big +apple pie. Give me everythin' an' anythin' to eat but meat. Shore I +never, never want to taste meat again, an' sight of a piece of sheep +meat would jest about finish me.... Jim, you used to be a human bein' +that stood up for Charlie Ladd." + +"Laddy, I'm lined up beside you with both guns," replied Jim, +plaintively. "Hungry? Say, the smell of breakfast in that kitchen +made my mouth water so I near choked to death. I reckon we're gettin' +most onhuman treatment." + +"But I'm a sick man," protested Ladd, "an' I'm agoin' to fall over in a +minute if somebody doesn't feed me. Nell, you used to be fond of me." + +"Oh, Laddy, I am yet," replied Nell. + +"Shore I don't believe it. Any girl with a tender heart just couldn't +let a man starve under her eyes... Look at Dick, there. I'll bet he's +had something to eat, mebbe potatoes an' gravy, an' pie an'--" + +"Laddy, Dick has had no more than I gave you--indeed, not nearly so +much." + +"Shore he's had a lot of kisses then, for he hasn't hollered onct about +this treatment." + +"Perhaps he has," said Nell, with a blush; "and if you think that--they +would help you to be reasonable I might--I'll--" + +"Well, powerful fond as I am of you, just now kisses 'll have to run +second to bread an' butter." + +"Oh, Laddy, what a gallant speech!" laughed Nell. "I'm sorry, but I've +Dad's orders." + +"Laddy," interrupted Belding, "you've got to be broke in gradually to +eating. Now you know that. You'd be the severest kind of a boss if +you had some starved beggars on your hands." + +"But I'm sick--I'm dyin'," howled Ladd. + +"You were never sick in your life, and if all the bullet holes I see in +you couldn't kill you, why, you never will die." + +"Can I smoke?" queried Ladd, with sudden animation. "My Gawd, I used +to smoke. Shore I've forgot. Nell, if you want to be reinstated in my +gallery of angels, just find me a pipe an' tobacco." + +"I've hung onto my pipe," said Jim, thoughtfully. "I reckon I had it +empty in my mouth for seven years or so, wasn't it, Laddy? A long +time! I can see the red lava an' the red haze, an' the red twilight +creepin' up. It was hot an' some lonely. Then the wind, and always +that awful silence! An' always Yaqui watchin' the west, an' Laddy with +his checkers, an' Mercedes burnin' up, wastin' away to nothin' but +eyes! It's all there--I'll never get rid--" + +"Chop that kind of talk," interrupted Belding, bluntly. "Tell us where +Yaqui took you--what happened to Rojas--why you seemed lost for so +long." + +"I reckon Laddy can tell all that best; but when it comes to Rojas's +finish I'll tell what I seen, an' so'll Dick an' Thorne. Laddy missed +Rojas's finish. Bar none, that was the--" + +"I'm a sick man, but I can talk," put in Ladd, "an' shore I don't want +the whole story exaggerated none by Jim." + +Ladd filled the pipe Nell brought, puffed ecstatically at it, and +settled himself upon the bench for a long talk. Nell glanced +appealingly at Dick, who tried to slip away. Mercedes did go, and was +followed by Thorne. Mr. Gale brought chairs, and in subdued excitement +called his wife and daughter. Belding leaned forward, rendered all the +more eager by Dick's reluctance to stay, the memory of the quick tragic +change in the expression of Mercedes's beautiful eyes, by the strange +gloomy cast stealing over Ladd's face. + +The ranger talked for two hours--talked till his voice weakened to a +husky whisper. At the conclusion of his story there was an impressive +silence. Then Elsie Gale stood up, and with her hand on Dick's +shoulder, her eyes bright and warm as sunlight, she showed the rangers +what a woman thought of them and of the Yaqui. Nell clung to Dick, +weeping silently. Mrs. Gale was overcome, and Mr. Gale, very white and +quiet, helped her up to her room. + +"The Indian! the Indian!" burst out Belding, his voice deep and +rolling. "What did I tell you? Didn't I say he'd be a godsend? +Remember what I said about Yaqui and some gory Aztec knifework? So he +cut Rojas loose from that awful crater wall, foot by foot, finger by +finger, slow and terrible? And Rojas didn't hang long on the choya +thorns? Thank the Lord for that!... Laddy, no story of Camino del +Diablo can hold a candle to yours. The flight and the fight were jobs +for men. But living through this long hot summer and coming +out--that's a miracle. Only the Yaqui could have done it. The Yaqui! +The Yaqui!" + +"Shore. Charlie Ladd looks up at an Indian these days. But Beldin', +as for the comin' out, don't forget the hosses. Without grand old Sol +an' Diablo, who I don't hate no more, an' the other Blancos, we'd never +have got here. Yaqui an' the hosses, that's my story!" + + +Early in the afternoon of the next day Belding encountered Dick at the +water barrel. + +"Belding, this is river water, and muddy at that," said Dick. "Lord +knows I'm not kicking. But I've dreamed some of our cool running +spring, and I want a drink from it." + +"Never again, son. The spring's gone, faded, sunk, dry as dust." + +"Dry!" Gale slowly straightened. "We've had rains. The river's full. +The spring ought to be overflowing. What's wrong? Why is it dry?" + +"Dick, seeing you're interested, I may as well tell you that a big +charge of nitroglycerin choked my spring." + +"Nitroglycerin?" echoed Gale. Then he gave a quick start. "My mind's +been on home, Nell, my family. But all the same I felt something was +wrong here with the ranch, with you, with Nell... Belding, that ditch +there is dry. The roses are dead. The little green in that grass has +come with the rains. What's happened? The ranch's run down. Now I +look around I see a change." + +"Some change, yes," replied Belding, bitterly. "Listen, son." + +Briefly, but not the less forcibly for that, Belding related his story +of the operations of the Chases. + +Astonishment appeared to be Gale's first feeling. "Our water gone, our +claims gone, our plans forestalled! Why, Belding, it's unbelievable. +Forlorn River with promoters, business, railroad, bank, and what not!" + +Suddenly he became fiery and suspicious. "These Chases--did they do +all this on the level?" + +"Barefaced robbery! Worse than a Greaser holdup," replied Belding, +grimly. + +"You say the law upheld them?" + +"Sure. Why, Ben Chase has a pull as strong as Diablo's on a down +grade. Dick, we're jobbed, outfigured, beat, tricked, and we can't do +a thing." + +"Oh, I'm sorry, Belding, most of all for Laddy," said Gale, feelingly. +"He's all in. He'll never ride again. He wanted to settle down here +on the farm he thought he owned, grow grass and raise horses, and take +it easy. Oh, but it's tough! Say, he doesn't know it yet. He was +just telling me he'd like to go out and look the farm over. Who's +going to tell him? What's he going to do when he finds out about this +deal?" + +"Son, that's made me think some," replied Belding, with keen eyes fast +upon the young man. "And I was kind of wondering how you'd take it." + +"I? Well, I'll call on the Chases. Look here, Belding, I'd better do +some forestalling myself. If Laddy gets started now there'll be blood +spilled. He's not just right in his mind yet. He talks in his sleep +sometimes about how Yaqui finished Rojas. If it's left to him--he'll +kill these men. But if I take it up--" + +"You're talking sense, Dick. Only here, I'm not so sure of you. And +there's more to tell. Son, you've Nell to think of and your mother." + +Belding's ranger gave him a long and searching glance. + +"You can be sure of me," he said. + +"All right, then; listen," began Belding. With deep voice that had +many a beak and tremor he told Gale how Nell had been hounded by +Radford Chase, how her mother had been driven by Ben Chase--the whole +sad story. + +"So that's the trouble! Poor little girl!" murmured Gale, brokenly. "I +felt something was wrong. Nell wasn't natural, like her old self. And +when I begged her to marry me soon, while Dad was here, she couldn't +talk. She could only cry." + +"It was hard on Nell," said Belding, simply. "But it 'll be better now +you're back. Dick, I know the girl. She'll refuse to marry you and +you'll have a hard job to break her down, as hard as the one you just +rode in off of. I think I know you, too, or I wouldn't be saying--" + +"Belding, what 're you hinting at?" demanded Gale. "Do you dare +insinuate that--that--if the thing were true it'd make any difference +to me?" + +"Aw, come now, Dick; I couldn't mean that. I'm only awkward at saying +things. And I'm cut pretty deep--" + +"For God's sake, you don't believe what Chase said?" queried Gale, in +passionate haste. "It's a lie. I swear it's a lie. I know it's a +lie. And I've got to tell Nell this minute. Come on in with me. I +want you, Belding. Oh, why didn't you tell me sooner?" + +Belding felt himself dragged by an iron arm into the sitting-room out +into the patio, and across that to where Nell sat in her door. At +sight of them she gave a little cry, drooped for an instant, then +raised a pale, still face, with eyes beginning to darken. + +"Dearest, I know now why you are not wearing my mother's ring," said +Gale, steadily and low-voiced. + +"Dick, I am not worthy," she replied, and held out a trembling hand +with the ring lying in the palm. + +Swift as light Gale caught her hand and slipped the ring back upon the +third finger. + +"Nell! Look at me. It is your engagement ring.... Listen. I don't +believe this--this thing that's been torturing you. I know it's a lie. +I am absolutely sure your mother will prove it a lie. She must have +suffered once--perhaps there was a sad error--but the thing you fear is +not true. But, hear me, dearest; even if it was true it wouldn't make +the slightest difference to me. I'd promise you on my honor I'd never +think of it again. I'd love you all the more because you'd suffered. +I want you all the more to be my wife--to let me make you forget--to--" + +She rose swiftly with the passionate abandon of a woman stirred to her +depths, and she kissed him. + +"Oh, Dick, you're good--so good! You'll never know--just what those +words mean to me. They've saved me--I think." + +"Then, dearest, it's all right?" Dick questioned, eagerly. "You will +keep your promise? You will marry me?" + +The glow, the light faded out of her face, and now the blue eyes were +almost black. She drooped and shook her head. + +"Nell!" exclaimed Gale, sharply catching his breath. + +"Don't ask me, Dick. I--I won't marry you." + +"Why?" + +"You know. It's true that I--" + +"It's a lie," interrupted Gale, fiercely. "But even if it's +true--why--why won't you marry me? Between you and me love is the +thing. Love, and nothing else! Don't you love me any more?" + +They had forgotten Belding, who stepped back into the shade. + +"I love you with my whole heart and soul. I'd die for you," whispered +Nell, with clenching hands. "But I won't disgrace you." + +"Dear, you have worried over this trouble till you're morbid. It has +grown out of all proportion. I tell you that I'll not only be the +happiest man on earth, but the luckiest, if you marry me." + +"Dick, you give not one thought to your family. Would they receive me +as your wife?" + +"They surely would," replied Gale, steadily. + +"No! oh no!" + +"You're wrong, Nell. I'm glad you said that. You give me a chance to +prove something. I'll go this minute and tell them all. I'll be back +here in less than--" + +"Dick, you will not tell her--your mother?" cried Nell, with her eyes +streaming. "You will not? Oh, I can't bear it! She's so proud! And +Dick, I love her. Don't tell her! Please, please don't! She'll be +going soon. She needn't ever know--about me. I want her always to +think well of me. Dick, I beg of you. Oh, the fear of her knowing has +been the worst of all! Please don't go!" + +"Nell, I'm sorry. I hate to hurt you. But you're wrong. You can't +see things clearly. This is your happiness I'm fighting for. And it's +my life.... Wait here, dear. I won't be long." + +Gale ran across the patio and disappeared. Nell sank to the doorstep, +and as she met the question in Belding's eyes she shook her head +mournfully. They waited without speaking. It seemed a long while +before Gale returned. Belding thrilled at sight of him. There was +more boy about him than Belding had ever seen. Dick was coming +swiftly, flushed, glowing, eager, erect, almost smiling. + +"I told them. I swore it was a lie, but I wanted them to decide as if +it were true. I didn't have to waste a minute on Elsie. She loves +you, Nell. The Governor is crazy about you. I didn't have to waste two +minutes on him. Mother used up the time. She wanted to know all there +was to tell. She is proud, yes; but, Nell, I wish you could have seen +how she took the--the story about you. Why, she never thought of me at +all, until she had cried over you. Nell, she loves you, too. They all +love you. Oh, it's so good to tell you. I think mother realizes the +part you have had in the--what shall I call it?--the regeneration of +Richard Gale. Doesn't that sound fine? Darling, mother not only +consents, she wants you to be my wife. Do you hear that? And +listen--she had me in a corner and, of course, being my mother, she put +on the screws. She made me promise that we'd live in the East half the +year. That means Chicago, Cape May, New York--you see, I'm not exactly +the lost son any more. Why, Nell, dear, you'll have to learn who Dick +Gale really is. But I always want to be the ranger you helped me +become, and ride Blanco Sol, and see a little of the desert. Don't let +the idea of big cities frighten you. We'll always love the open places +best. Now, Nell, say you'll forget this trouble. I know it'll come +all right. Say you'll marry me soon.... Why, dearest, you're crying.... +Nell!" + +"My--heart--is broken," sobbed Nell, "for--I--I--can't marry you." + +The boyish brightness faded out of Gale's face. Here, Belding saw, was +the stern reality arrayed against his dreams. + +"That devil Radford Chase--he'll tell my secret," panted Nell. "He +swore if you ever came back and married me he'd follow us all over the +world to tell it." + +Belding saw Gale grow deathly white and suddenly stand stock-still. + +"Chase threatened you, then?" asked Dick; and the forced naturalness of +his voice struck Belding. + +"Threatened me? He made my life a nightmare," replied Nell, in a rush +of speech. "At first I wondered how he was worrying mother sick. But +she wouldn't tell me. Then when she went away he began to hint things. +I hated him all the more. But when he told me--I was frightened, +shamed. Still I did not weaken. He was pretty decent when he was +sober. But when he was half drunk he was the devil. He laughed at me +and my pride. I didn't dare shut the door in his face. After a while +he found out that your mother loved me and that I loved her. Then he +began to threaten me. If I didn't give in to him he'd see she learned +the truth. That made me weaken. It nearly killed me. I simply could +not bear the thought of Mrs. Gale knowing. But I couldn't marry him. +Besides, he got so half the time, when he was drunk, he didn't want or +ask me to be his wife. I was about ready to give up and go mad when +you--you came home." + +She ended in a whisper, looking up wistfully and sadly at him. Belding +was a raging fire within, cold without. He watched Gale, and believed +he could foretell that young man's future conduct. Gale gathered Nell +up into his arms and held her to his breast for a long moment. + +"Dear Nell, I'm sure the worst of your trouble is over," he said +gently. "I will not give you up. Now, won't you lie down, try to rest +and calm yourself. Don't grieve any more. This thing isn't so bad as +you make it. Trust me. I'll shut Mr. Radford Chase's mouth." + +As he released her she glanced quickly up at him, then lifted appealing +hands. + +"Dick, you won't hunt for him--go after him?" + +Gale laughed, and the laugh made Belding jump. + +"Dick, I beg of you. Please don't make trouble. The Chases have been +hard enough on us. They are rich, powerful. Dick, say you will not +make matters worse. Please promise me you'll not go to him." + +"You ask me that?" he demanded. + +"Yes. Oh yes!" + +"But you know it's useless. What kind of a man do you want me to be?" + +"It's only that I'm afraid. Oh, Dick, he'd shoot you in the back." + +"No, Nell, a man of his kind wouldn't have nerve enough even for that." + +"You'll go?" she cried wildly. + +Gale smiled, and the smile made Belding cold. + +"Dick, I cannot keep you back?" + +"No," he said. + +Then the woman in her burst through instinctive fear, and with her eyes +blazing black in her white face she lifted parted quivering lips and +kissed him. + +Gale left the patio, and Belding followed closely at his heels. They +went through the sitting-room. Outside upon the porch sat the rangers, +Mr. Gale, and Thorne. Dick went into his room without speaking. + +"Shore somethin's comin' off," said Ladd, sharply; and he sat up with +keen eyes narrowing. + +Belding spoke a few words; and, remembering an impression he had wished +to make upon Mr. Gale, he made them strong. But now it was with grim +humor that he spoke. + +"Better stop that boy," he concluded, looking at Mr. Gale. "He'll do +some mischief. He's wilder'n hell." + +"Stop him? Why, assuredly," replied Mr. Gale, rising with nervous +haste. + +Just then Dick came out of his door. Belding eyed him keenly. The +only change he could see was that Dick had put on a hat and a pair of +heavy gloves. + +"Richard, where are you going?" asked his father. + +"I'm going over here to see a man." + +"No. It is my wish that you remain. I forbid you to go," said Mr. +Gale, with a hand on his son's shoulder. + +Dick put Mr. Gale aside gently, respectfully, yet forcibly. The old +man gasped. + +"Dad, I haven't gotten over my bad habit of disobeying you. I'm sorry. +Don't interfere with me now. And don't follow me. You might see +something unpleasant." + +"But my son! What are you going to do?" + +"I'm going to beat a dog." + +Mr. Gale looked helplessly from this strangely calm and cold son to the +restless Belding. Then Dick strode off the porch. + +"Hold on!" Ladd's voice would have stopped almost any man. "Dick, you +wasn't agoin' without me?" + +"Yes, I was. But I'm thoughtless just now, Laddy." + +"Shore you was. Wait a minute, Dick. I'm a sick man, but at that +nobody can pull any stunts round here without me." + +He hobbled along the porch and went into his room. Jim Lash knocked +the ashes out of his pipe, and, humming his dance tune, he followed +Ladd. In a moment the rangers appeared, and both were packing guns. + +Not a little of Belding's grim excitement came from observation of Mr. +Gale. At sight of the rangers with their guns the old man turned white +and began to tremble. + +"Better stay behind," whispered Belding. "Dick's going to beat that +two-legged dog, and the rangers get excited when they're packing guns." + +"I will not stay behind," replied Mr. Gale, stoutly. "I'll see this +affair through. Belding, I've guessed it. Richard is going to fight +the Chases, those robbers who have ruined you." + +"Well, I can't guarantee any fight on their side," returned Belding, +dryly. "But maybe there'll be Greasers with a gun or two." + +Belding stalked off to catch up with Dick, and Mr. Gale came trudging +behind with Thorne. + +"Where will we find these Chases?" asked Dick of Belding. + +"They've got a place down the road adjoining the inn. They call it +their club. At this hour Radford will be there sure. I don't know +about the old man. But his office is now just across the way." + +They passed several houses, turned a corner into the main street, and +stopped at a wide, low adobe structure. A number of saddled horses +stood haltered to posts. Mexicans lolled around the wide doorway. + +"There's Ben Chase now over on the corner," said Belding to Dick. "See, +the tall man with the white hair, and leather band on his hat. He sees +us. He knows there's something up. He's got men with him. They'll +come over. We're after the young buck, and sure he'll be in here." + +They entered. The place was a hall, and needed only a bar to make it a +saloon. There were two rickety pool tables. Evidently Chase had +fitted up this amusement room for his laborers as well as for the use +of his engineers and assistants, for the crowd contained both Mexicans +and Americans. A large table near a window was surrounded by a noisy, +smoking, drinking circle of card-players. + +"Point out this Radford Chase to me," said Gale. + +"There! The big fellow with the red face. His eyes stick out a +little. See! He's dropped his cards and his face isn't red any more." + +Dick strode across the room. + +Belding grasped Mr. Gale and whispered hoarsely: "Don't miss anything. +It'll be great. Watch Dick and watch Laddy! If there's any gun play, +dodge behind me." + +Belding smiled with a grim pleasure as he saw Mr. Gales' face turn +white. + +Dick halted beside the table. His heavy boot shot up, and with a crash +the table split, and glasses, cards, chips flew everywhere. As they +rattled down and the chairs of the dumfounded players began to slide +Dick called out: "My name is Gale. I'm looking for Mr. Radford Chase." + +A tall, heavy-shouldered fellow rose, boldly enough, even swaggeringly, +and glowered at Gale. + +"I'm Radford Chase," he said. His voice betrayed the boldness of his +action. + + +It was over in a few moments. The tables and chairs were tumbled into +a heap; one of the pool tables had been shoved aside; a lamp lay +shattered, with oil running dark upon the floor. Ladd leaned against a +post with a smoking gun in his hand. A Mexican crouched close to the +wall moaning over a broken arm. In the far corner upheld by comrades +another wounded Mexican cried out in pain. These two had attempted to +draw weapons upon Gale, and Ladd had crippled them. + +In the center of the room lay Radford Chase, a limp, torn, hulking, +bloody figure. He was not seriously injured. But he was helpless, a +miserable beaten wretch, who knew his condition and felt the eyes upon +him. He sobbed and moaned and howled. But no one offered to help him +to his feet. + +Backed against the door of the hall stood Ben Chase, for once stripped +of all authority and confidence and courage. Gale confronted him, and +now Gale's mien was in striking contrast to the coolness with which he +had entered the place. Though sweat dripped from his face, it was as +white as chalk. Like dark flames his eyes seemed to leap and dance and +burn. His lean jaw hung down and quivered with passion. He shook a +huge gloved fist in Chase's face. + +"Your gray hairs save you this time. But keep out of my way! And when +that son of yours comes to, tell him every time I meet him I'll add +some more to what he got to-day!" + + + +XIX + +THE SECRET OF FORLORN RIVER + +IN the early morning Gale, seeking solitude where he could brood over +his trouble, wandered alone. It was not easy for him to elude the +Yaqui, and just at the moment when he had cast himself down in a +secluded shady corner the Indian appeared, noiseless, shadowy, +mysterious as always. + +"Malo," he said, in his deep voice. + +"Yes, Yaqui, it's bad--very bad," replied Gale. + +The Indian had been told of the losses sustained by Belding and his +rangers. + +"Go--me!" said Yaqui, with an impressive gesture toward the lofty +lilac-colored steps of No Name Mountains. + +He seemed the same as usual, but a glance on Gale's part, a moment's +attention, made him conscious of the old strange force in the Yaqui. +"Why does my brother want me to climb the nameless mountains with him?" +asked Gale. + +"Lluvia d'oro," replied Yaqui, and he made motions that Gale found +difficult of interpretation. + +"Shower of Gold," translated Gale. That was the Yaqui's name for Nell. +What did he mean by using it in connection with a climb into the +mountains? Were his motions intended to convey an idea of a shower of +golden blossoms from that rare and beautiful tree, or a golden rain? +Gale's listlessness vanished in a flash of thought. The Yaqui meant +gold. Gold! He meant he could retrieve the fallen fortunes of the +white brother who had saved his life that evil day at the Papago Well. +Gale thrilled as he gazed piercingly into the wonderful eyes of this +Indian. Would Yaqui never consider his debt paid? + +"Go--me?" repeat the Indian, pointing with the singular directness that +always made this action remarkable in him. + +"Yes, Yaqui." + +Gale ran to his room, put on hobnailed boots, filled a canteen, and +hurried back to the corral. Yaqui awaited him. The Indian carried a +coiled lasso and a short stout stick. Without a word he led the way +down the lane, turned up the river toward the mountains. None of +Belding's household saw their departure. + +What had once been only a narrow mesquite-bordered trail was now a +well-trodden road. A deep irrigation ditch, full of flowing muddy +water, ran parallel with the road. Gale had been curious about the +operations of the Chases, but bitterness he could not help had kept him +from going out to see the work. He was not surprised to find that the +engineers who had constructed the ditches and dam had anticipated him +in every particular. The dammed-up gulch made a magnificent reservoir, +and Gale could not look upon the long narrow lake without a feeling of +gladness. The dreaded ano seco of the Mexicans might come again and +would come, but never to the inhabitants of Forlorn River. That +stone-walled, stone-floored gulch would never leak, and already it +contained water enough to irrigate the whole Altar Valley for two dry +seasons. + +Yaqui led swiftly along the lake to the upper end, where the stream +roared down over unscalable walls. This point was the farthest Gale +had ever penetrated into the rough foothills, and he had Belding's word +for it that no white man had ever climbed No Name Mountains from the +west. + +But a white man was not an Indian. The former might have stolen the +range and valley and mountain, even the desert, but his possessions +would ever remain mysteries. Gale had scarcely faced the great gray +ponderous wall of cliff before the old strange interest in the Yaqui +seized him again. It recalled the tie that existed between them, a tie +almost as close as blood. Then he was eager and curious to see how the +Indian would conquer those seemingly insurmountable steps of stone. + +Yaqui left the gulch and clambered up over a jumble of weathered slides +and traced a slow course along the base of the giant wall. He looked up +and seemed to select a point for ascent. It was the last place in that +mountainside where Gale would have thought climbing possible. Before +him the wall rose, leaning over him, shutting out the light, a dark +mighty mountain mass. Innumerable cracks and crevices and caves +roughened the bulging sides of dark rock. + +Yaqui tied one end of his lasso to the short, stout stick and, +carefully disentangling the coils, he whirled the stick round and round +and threw it almost over the first rim of the shelf, perhaps thirty +feet up. The stick did not lodge. Yaqui tried again. This time it +caught in a crack. He pulled hard. Then, holding to the lasso, he +walked up the steep slant, hand over hand on the rope. When he reached +the shelf he motioned for Gale to follow. Gale found that method of +scaling a wall both quick and easy. Yaqui pulled up the lasso, and +threw the stick aloft into another crack. He climbed to another shelf, +and Gale followed him. The third effort brought them to a more rugged +bench a hundred feet above the slides. The Yaqui worked round to the +left, and turned into a dark fissure. Gale kept close to his heels. +They came out presently into lighter space, yet one that restricted any +extended view. Broken sections of cliff were on all sides. + +Here the ascent became toil. Gale could distance Yaqui going downhill; +on the climb, however, he was hard put to it to keep the Indian in +sight. It was not a question of strength or lightness of foot. These +Gale had beyond the share of most men. It was a matter of lung power, +and the Yaqui's life had been spent scaling the desert heights. +Moreover, the climbing was infinitely slow, tedious, dangerous. On the +way up several times Gale imagined he heard a dull roar of falling +water. The sound seemed to be under him, over him to this side and to +that. When he was certain he could locate the direction from which it +came then he heard it no more until he had gone on. Gradually he +forgot it in the physical sensations of the climb. He burned his hands +and knees. He grew hot and wet and winded. His heart thumped so that +it hurt, and there were instants when his sight was blurred. When at +last he had toiled to where the Yaqui sat awaiting him upon the rim of +that great wall, it was none too soon. + +Gale lay back and rested for a while without note of anything except +the blue sky. Then he sat up. He was amazed to find that after that +wonderful climb he was only a thousand feet or so above the valley. +Judged by the nature of his effort, he would have said he had climbed a +mile. The village lay beneath him, with its new adobe structures and +tents and buildings in bright contrast with the older habitations. He +saw the green alfalfa fields, and Belding's white horses, looking very +small and motionless. He pleased himself by imagining he could pick +out Blanco Sol. Then his gaze swept on to the river. + +Indeed, he realized now why some one had named it Forlorn River. Even +at this season when it was full of water it had a forlorn aspect. It +was doomed to fail out there on the desert--doomed never to mingle with +the waters of the Gulf. It wound away down the valley, growing wider +and shallower, encroaching more and more on the gray flats, until it +disappeared on its sad journey toward Sonoyta. That vast shimmering, +sun-governed waste recognized its life only at this flood season, and +was already with parched tongue and insatiate fire licking and burning +up its futile waters. + +Yaqui put a hand on Gale's knee. It was a bronzed, scarred, powerful +hand, always eloquent of meaning. The Indian was listening. His bent +head, his strange dilating eyes, his rigid form, and that +close-pressing hand, how these brought back to Gale the terrible lonely +night hours on the lava! + +"What do you hear, Yaqui?" asked Gale. He laughed a little at the mood +that had come over him. But the sound of his voice did not break the +spell. He did not want to speak again. He yielded to Yaqui's subtle +nameless influence. He listened himself, heard nothing but the scream +of an eagle. Often he wondered if the Indian could hear things that +made no sound. Yaqui was beyond understanding. + +Whatever the Indian had listened to or for, presently he satisfied +himself, and, with a grunt that might mean anything, he rose and turned +away from the rim. Gale followed, rested now and eager to go on. He +saw that the great cliff they had climbed was only a stairway up to the +huge looming dark bulk of the plateau above. + +Suddenly he again heard the dull roar of falling water. It seemed to +have cleared itself of muffled vibrations. Yaqui mounted a little +ridge and halted. The next instant Gale stood above a bottomless cleft +into which a white stream leaped. His astounded gaze swept backward +along this narrow swift stream to its end in a dark, round, boiling +pool. It was a huge spring, a bubbling well, the outcropping of an +underground river coming down from the vast plateau above. + +Yaqui had brought Gale to the source of Forlorn River. + +Flashing thoughts in Gale's mind were no swifter than the thrills that +ran over him. He would stake out a claim here and never be cheated out +of it. Ditches on the benches and troughs on the steep walls would +carry water down to the valley. Ben Chase had build a great dam which +would be useless if Gale chose to turn Forlorn River from its natural +course. The fountain head of that mysterious desert river belonged to +him. + +His eagerness, his mounting passion, was checked by Yaqui's unusual +action. The Indian showed wonder, hesitation, even reluctance. His +strange eyes surveyed this boiling well as if they could not believe +the sight they saw. Gale divined instantly that Yaqui had never before +seen the source of Forlorn River. If he had ever ascended to this +plateau, probably it had been to some other part, for the water was new +to him. He stood gazing aloft at peaks, at lower ramparts of the +mountain, and at nearer landmarks of prominence. Yaqui seemed at +fault. He was not sure of his location. + +Then he strode past the swirling pool of dark water and began to ascend +a little slope that led up to a shelving cliff. Another object halted +the Indian. It was a pile of stones, weathered, crumbled, fallen into +ruin, but still retaining shape enough to prove it had been built there +by the hands of men. Round and round this the Yaqui stalked, and his +curiosity attested a further uncertainty. It was as if he had come +upon something surprising. Gale wondered about the pile of stones. Had +it once been a prospector's claim? + +"Ugh!" grunted the Indian; and, though his exclamation expressed no +satisfaction, it surely put an end to doubt. He pointed up to the roof +of the sloping yellow shelf of stone. Faintly outlined there in red +were the imprints of many human hands with fingers spread wide. Gale +had often seen such paintings on the walls of the desert caverns. +Manifestly these told Yaqui he had come to the spot for which he had +aimed. + +Then his actions became swift--and Yaqui seldom moved swiftly. The fact +impressed Gale. The Indian searched the level floor under the shelf. +He gathered up handfuls of small black stones, and thrust them at Gale. +Their weight made Gale start, and then he trembled. The Indian's next +move was to pick up a piece of weathered rock and throw it against the +wall. It broke. He snatched up parts, and showed the broken edges to +Gale. They contained yellow steaks, dull glints, faint tracings of +green. It was gold. + +Gale found his legs shaking under him; and he sat down, trying to take +all the bits of stone into his lap. His fingers were all thumbs as +with knife blade he dug into the black pieces of rock. He found gold. +Then he stared down the slope, down into the valley with its river +winding forlornly away into the desert. But he did not see any of +that. Here was reality as sweet, as wonderful, as saving as a dream +come true. Yaqui had led him to a ledge of gold. Gale had learned +enough about mineral to know that this was a rich strike. All in a +second he was speechless with the joy of it. But his mind whirled in +thought about this strange and noble Indian, who seemed never to be +able to pay a debt. Belding and the poverty that had come to him! +Nell, who had wept over the loss of a spring! Laddy, who never could +ride again! Jim Lash, who swore he would always look after his friend! +Thorne and Mercedes! All these people, who had been good to him and +whom he loved, were poor. But now they would be rich. They would one +and all be his partners. He had discovered the source of Forlorn +River, and was rich in water. Yaqui had made him rich in gold. Gale +wanted to rush down the slope, down into the valley, and tell his +wonderful news. + +Suddenly his eyes cleared and he saw the pile of stones. His blood +turned to ice, then to fire. That was the mark of a prospector's +claim. But it was old, very old. The ledge had never been worked, the +slope was wild. There was not another single indication that a +prospector had ever been there. Where, then, was he who had first +staked this claim? Gale wondered with growing hope, with the fire +easing, with the cold passing. + +The Yaqui uttered the low, strange, involuntary cry so rare with him, a +cry somehow always associated with death. Gale shuddered. + +The Indian was digging in the sand and dust under the shelving wall. He +threw out an object that rang against the stone. It was a belt buckle. +He threw out old shrunken, withered boots. He came upon other things, +and then he ceased to dig. + +The grave of desert prospectors! Gale had seen more than one. Ladd had +told him many a story of such gruesome finds. It was grim, hard fact. + +Then the keen-eyed Yaqui reached up to a little projecting shelf of +rock and took from it a small object. He showed no curiosity and gave +the thing to Gale. + +How strangely Gale felt when he received into his hands a flat oblong +box! Was it only the influence of the Yaqui, or was there a nameless +and unseen presence beside that grave? Gale could not be sure. But he +knew he had gone back to the old desert mood. He knew something hung +in the balance. No accident, no luck, no debt-paying Indian could +account wholly for that moment. Gale knew he held in his hands more +than gold. + +The box was a tin one, and not all rusty. Gale pried open the +reluctant lid. A faint old musty odor penetrated his nostrils. Inside +the box lay a packet wrapped in what once might have been oilskin. He +took it out and removed this covering. A folded paper remained in his +hands. + +It was growing yellow with age. But he descried a dim tracery of +words. A crabbed scrawl, written in blood, hard to read! He held it +more to the light, and slowly he deciphered its content. + + +"We, Robert Burton and Jonas Warren, give half of this gold claim to +the man who finds it and half to Nell Burton, daughter and +granddaughter." + + +Gasping, with a bursting heart, overwhelmed by an unutterable joy of +divination, Gale fumbled with the paper until he got it open. + +It was a certificate twenty-one years old, and recorded the marriage of +Robert Burton and Nellie Warren. + + + +XX + +DESERT GOLD + +A SUMMER day dawned on Forlorn River, a beautiful, still, hot, golden +day with huge sail clouds of white motionless over No Name Peaks and +the purple of clear air in the distance along the desert horizon. + +Mrs. Belding returned that day to find her daughter happy and the past +buried forever in two lonely graves. The haunting shadow left her +eyes. Gale believed he would never forget the sweetness, the wonder, +the passion of her embrace when she called him her boy and gave him her +blessing. + +The little wrinkled padre who married Gale and Nell performed the +ceremony as he told his beads, without interest or penetration, and +went his way, leaving happiness behind. + +"Shore I was a sick man," Ladd said, "an' darn near a dead one, but I'm +agoin' to get well. Mebbe I'll be able to ride again someday. Nell, I +lay it to you. An' I'm agoin' to kiss you an' wish you all the joy +there is in this world. An', Dick, as Yaqui says, she's shore your +Shower of Gold." + +He spoke of Gale's finding love--spoke of it with the deep and wistful +feeling of the lonely ranger who had always yearned for love and had +never known it. Belding, once more practical, and important as never +before with mining projects and water claims to manage, spoke of Gale's +great good fortune in finding of gold--he called it desert gold. + +"Ah, yes. Desert Gold!" exclaimed Dick's father, softly, with eyes of +pride. Perhaps he was glad Dick had found the rich claim; surely he +was happy that Dick had won the girl he loved. But it seemed to Dick +himself that his father meant something very different from love and +fortune in his allusion to desert gold. + + +That beautiful happy day, like life or love itself, could not be wholly +perfect. + +Yaqui came to Dick to say good-by. Dick was startled, grieved, and in +his impulsiveness forgot for a moment the nature of the Indian. Yaqui +was not to be changed. + +Belding tried to overload him with gifts. The Indian packed a bag of +food, a blanket, a gun, a knife, a canteen, and no more. The whole +household went out with him to the corrals and fields from which +Belding bade him choose a horse--any horse, even the loved Blanco +Diablo. Gale's heart was in his throat for fear the Indian might +choose Blanco Sol, and Gale hated himself for a selfishness he could +not help. But without a word he would have parted with the treasured +Sol. + +Yaqui whistled the horses up--for the last time. Did he care for them? +It would have been hard to say. He never looked at the fierce and +haughty Diablo, nor at Blanco Sol as he raised his noble head and rang +his piercing blast. The Indian did not choose one of Belding's whites. +He caught a lean and wiry broncho, strapped a blanket on him, and +fastened on the pack. + +Then he turned to these friends, the same emotionless, inscrutable dark +and silent Indian that he had always been. This parting was nothing to +him. He had stayed to pay a debt, and now he was going home. + +He shook hands with the men, swept a dark fleeting glance over Nell, +and rested his strange eyes upon Mercedes's beautiful and agitated +face. It must have been a moment of intense feeling for the Spanish +girl. She owed it to him that she had life and love and happiness. She +held out those speaking slender hands. But Yaqui did not touch them. +Turning away, he mounted the broncho and rode down the trail toward the +river. + +"He's going home," said Belding. + +"Home!" whispered Ladd; and Dick knew the ranger felt the resurging +tide of memory. Home--across the cactus and lava, through solemn +lonely days, the silent, lonely nights, into the vast and red-hazed +world of desolation. + +"Thorne, Mercedes, Nell, let's climb the foothill yonder and watch him +out of sight," said Dick. + +They climbed while the others returned to the house. When they reached +the summit of the hill Yaqui was riding up the far bank of the river. + +"He will turn to look--to wave good-by?" asked Nell. + +"Dear he is an Indian," replied Gale. + +From that height they watched him ride through the mesquites, up over +the river bank to enter the cactus. His mount showed dark against the +green and white, and for a long time he was plainly in sight. The sun +hung red in a golden sky. The last the watchers saw of Yaqui was when +he rode across a ridge and stood silhouetted against the gold of desert +sky--a wild, lonely, beautiful picture. Then he was gone. + +Strangely it came to Gale then that he was glad. Yaqui had returned to +his own--the great spaces, the desolation, the solitude--to the trails +he had trodden when a child, trails haunted now by ghosts of his +people, and ever by his gods. Gale realized that in the Yaqui he had +known the spirit of the desert, that this spirit had claimed all which +was wild and primitive in him. + +Tears glistened in Mercedes's magnificent black eyes, and Thorne kissed +them away--kissed the fire back to them and the flame to her cheeks. + +That action recalled Gale's earlier mood, the joy of the present, and +he turned to Nell's sweet face. The desert was there, wonderful, +constructive, ennobling, beautiful, terrible, but it was not for him as +it was for the Indian. In the light of Nell's tremulous returning +smile that strange, deep, clutching shadow faded, lost its hold +forever; and he leaned close to her, whispering: "Lluvia +d'oro"--"Shower of Gold." + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Desert Gold, by Zane Grey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESERT GOLD *** + +***** This file should be named 502.txt or 502.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/502/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +DESERT GOLD + + + + + +A ROMANCE OF THE BORDER BY ZANE GREY +AUTHOR OF RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, WILDFIRE, ETC., ETC. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +Prologue + +I. Old Friends +II. Mercedes Castaneda +III. A Flight Into The Desert +IV. Forlorn River +V. A Desert Rose +VI. The Yaqui +VII. White Horses +VIII. The Running of Blanco Sol +IX. An Interrupted Siesta +X. Rojas +XI. Across Cactus and Lava +XII. The Crater of Hell +XIII. Changes at Forlorn River +XIV. A Lost Son +XV. Bound In The Desert +XVI. Mountain Sheep +XVII. The Whistle of a Horse +XVIII. Reality Against Dreams +XIX. The Secret of Forlorn River +XX. Desert Gold + + + + +D E S E R T G O L D + + +PROLOGUE + + + +Chapter I + + +A face haunted Cameron--a woman's face. It was there in the white +heart of the dying campfire; it hung in the shadows that hovered +over the flickering light; it drifted in the darkness beyond. + +This hour, when the day had closed and the lonely desert night set +in with its dead silence, was one in which Cameron's mind was thronged +with memories of a time long past--of a home back in Peoria, of a +woman he had wronged and lost, and loved too late. He was a prospector +for gold, a hunter of solitude, a lover of the drear, rock-ribbed +infinitude, because he wanted to be alone to remember. + +A sound disturbed Cameron's reflections. He bent his head listening. +A soft wind fanned the paling embers, blew sparks and white ashes +and thin smoke away into the enshrouding circle of blackness. His +burro did not appear to be moving about. The quiet split to the +cry of a coyote. It rose strange, wild, mournful--not the howl +of a prowling upland beast baying the campfire or barking at a +lonely prospector, but the wail of a wolf, full-voiced, crying out +the meaning of the desert and the night. Hunger throbbed in +it--hunger for a mate, for offspring, for life. When it ceased, +the terrible desert silence smote Cameron, and the cry echoed in his soul. +He and that wandering wolf were brothers. Then a sharp clink of metal on +stone and soft pads of hoofs in sand prompted Cameron to reach for his gun, +and to move out of the light of waning campfire. He was somewhere +along the wild border line between Sonora and Arizona; and the +prospector who dared the heat and barrenness of that region risked +other dangers sometimes as menacing. + +Figures darker than the gloom approached and took shape, and in +the light turned out to be those of a white man and a heavily +packed burro. + +"Hello there," the man called, as he came to a halt and gazed +about him. "I saw your fire. May I make camp here?" + +Cameron came forth out of the shadow and greeted his visitor, whom +he took for a prospector like himself. Cameron resented the breaking +of his lonely campfire vigil, but he respected the law of the desert. + +The stranger thanked him, and then slipped the pack from his burro. +Then he rolled out his pack and began preparations for a meal. His +movements were slow and methodical. + +Cameron watched him, still with resentment, yet with a curious and +growing interest. The campfire burst into a bright blaze, and by +its light Cameron saw a man whose gray hair somehow did not seem to +make him old, and whose stooped shoulders did not detract from an +impression of rugged strength. + +"Find any mineral?" asked Cameron, presently. + +His visitor looked up quickly, as if startled by the sound of a +human voice. He replied, and then the two men talked a little. +But the stranger evidently preferred silence. Cameron understood +that. He laughed grimly and bent a keener gaze upon the furrowed, +shadowy face. Another of those strange desert prospectors in whom +there was some relentless driving power besides the lust for gold! +Cameron felt that between this man and himself there was a subtle +affinity, vague and undefined, perhaps born of the divination that +here was a desert wanderer like himself, perhaps born of a deeper, +an unintelligible relation having its roots back in the past. A +long-forgotten sensation stirred in Cameron's breast, one so long +forgotten that he could recognize it. But it was akin to pain. + + + +Chapter II + + +When he awakened he found, to his surprise, that his companion had +departed. A trail in the sand led off to the north. There was no +water in that direction. Cameron shrugged his shoulders; it was +not his affair; he had his own problems. And straightway he forgot +his strange visitor. + +Cameron began his day, grateful for the solitude that was now unbroken, +for the canyon-furrowed and cactus-spired scene that now showed no +sign of life. He traveled southwest, never straying far from the +dry stream bed; and in a desultory way, without eagerness, he hunted +for signs of gold. + +The work was toilsome, yet the periods of rest in which he indulged +were not taken because of fatigue. He rested to look, to listen, +to feel. What the vast silent world meant to him had always been +a mystical thing, which he felt in all its incalculable power, but +never understood. + +That day, while it was yet light, and he was digging in a moist +white-bordered wash for water, he was brought sharply up by hearing +the crack of hard hoofs on stone. There down the canyon came a man +and a burro. Cameron recognized them. + +"Hello, friend," called the man, halting. "Our trails crossed again. +That's good." + +"Hello," replied Cameron, slowly. "Any mineral sign to-day?" + +"No." + +They made camp together, ate their frugal meal, smoked a pipe, and +rolled in their blankets without exchanging many words. In the +morning the same reticence, the same aloofness characterized the +manner of both. But Cameron's companion, when he had packed his +burro and was ready to start, faced about and said: "We might +stay together, if it's all right with you." + +"I never take a partner," replied Cameron. + +"You're alone; I'm alone," said the other, mildly. "It's a big +place. If we find gold there'll be enough for two." + +"I don't go down into the desert for gold alone," rejoined Cameron, +with a chill note in his swift reply. + +His companion's deep-set, luminous eyes emitted a singular flash. +It moved Cameron to say that in the years of his wandering he had +meant no man who could endure equally with him the blasting heat, +the blinding dust storms, the wilderness of sand and rock and lava +and cactus, the terrible silence and desolation of the desert. +Cameron waved a hand toward the wide, shimmering, shadowy descent +of plain and range. "I may strike through the Sonora Desert. I +may head for Pinacate or north for the Colorado Basin. You are +an old man." + +"I don't know the country, but to me one place is the same as +another," replied his companion. for moments he seemed to forget +himself, and swept his far-reaching gaze out over the colored gulf +of stone and sand. Then with gentle slaps he drove his burro in +behind Cameron. "Yes, I'm old. I'm lonely, too. It's come to me +just lately. but, friend, I can still travel, and for a few days +my company won't hurt you." + +"Have it your way," said Cameron. + +They began a slow march down into the desert. At sunset +they camped under the lee of a low mesa. Cameron was glad his +comrade had the Indian habit of silence. Another day's travel found +the prospectors deep in the wilderness. Then there came a breaking +of reserve, noticeable in the elder man, almost imperceptibly +gradual in Cameron. Beside the meager mesquite campfire this +gray-faced, thoughtful old prospector would remove his black pipe +from his mouth to talk a little; and Cameron would listen, and +sometimes unlock his lips to speak a word. And so, as Cameron +began to respond to the influence of a desert less lonely than +habitual, he began to take keener note of his comrade, and found +him different from any other he had ever encountered in the wilderness. +This man never grumbled at the heat, the glare, the driving sand, +the sour water, the scant fare. During the daylight hours he was +seldom idle. At night he sat dreaming before the fire or paced to +and fro in the gloom. He slept but little, and that long after +Cameron had had his own rest. He was tireless, patient, brooding. + +Cameron's awakened interest brought home to him the realization +that for years he had shunned companionship. In those years only +three men had wandered into the desert with him, and these had +left their bones to bleach in the shifting sands. Cameron had +not cared to know their secrets. But the more he studied this +latest comrade the more he began to suspect that he might have +missed something in the others. In his own driving passion to +take his secret into the limitless abode of silence and desolation, +where he could be alone with it, he had forgotten that life dealt +shocks to other men. Somehow this silent comrade reminded him. + +One afternoon late, after than had toiled up a white, winding wash +of sand and gravel, they came upon a dry waterhole. Cameron dug +deep into the sand, but without avail. He was turning to retrace +weary steps back to the last water when his comrade asked him to +wait. Cameron watched him search in his pack and bring forth +what appeared to be a small, forked branch of a peach tree. He +grasped the prongs of the fork and held them before him with the +end standing straight out, and then he began to walk along the +stream bed. Cameron, at first amused, then amazed, then pitying, +and at last curious, kept pace with the prospector. He saw a +strong tension of his comrade's wrists, as if he was holding hard +against a considerable force. The end of the peach branch began to +quiver and turn. Cameron reached out a hand to touch it, and was +astounded at feeling a powerful vibrant force pulling the branch +downward. He felt it as a magnetic shock. The branch kept turning, +and at length pointed to the ground. + +"Dig here," said the prospector. + +"What!" ejaculated Cameron. Had the man lost his mind? + +Then Cameron stood by while his comrade dug in the sand. Three feet +he dug--four--five, and the sand grew dark, then moist. At six +feet water began to seep through. + +"Get the little basket in my pack," he said. + +Cameron complied, and saw his comrade drop the basket into the deep +hole, where it kept the sides from caving in and allowed the water +to seep through. While Cameron watched, the basket filled. Of all +the strange incidents of his desert career this was the strangest. +Curiously he picked up the peach branch and held it as he had seen +it held. The thing, however, was dead in his hands. + +"I see you haven't got it," remarked his comrade. "Few men have." + +"Got what?" demanded Cameron. + +"A power to find water that way. Back in Illinois an old German used +to do that to locate wells. He showed me I had the same power. +I can't explain. But you needn't look so dumfounded. There's +nothing supernatural about it." + +"You mean it's a simple fact--that some men have a +magnetism, a force or power to find water as you did?" + +"Yes. It's not unusual on the farms back in Illinois, Ohio, +Pennsylvania. The old German I spoke of made money traveling round +with his peach fork." + +"What a gift for a man in the desert!" + +Cameron's comrade smiled--the second time in all those days. + +They entered a region where mineral abounded, and their march became +slower. Generally they took the course of a wash, one on each side, +and let the burros travel leisurely along nipping at the bleached +blades of scant grass, or at sage or cactus, while they searched +in the canyons and under the ledges for signs of gold. When they +found any rock that hinted of gold they picked off a piece and gave +it a chemical test. The search was fascinating. They interspersed +the work with long, restful moments when they looked afar down the +vast reaches and smoky shingles to the line of dim mountains. +Some impelling desire, not all the lure of gold, took them to the +top of mesas and escarpments; and here, when they had dug and picked, +they rested and gazed out at the wide prospect. Then, as the sun +lost its heat and sank lowering to dent its red disk behind far-distant +spurs, they halted in a shady canyon or likely spot in a dry wash and +tried for water. When they found it they unpacked, gave drink to the +tired burros, and turned them loose. Dead mesquite served for the +campfire. While the strange twilight deepened into weird night they +sat propped against stones, with eyes on the dying embers of the +fire, and soon they lay on the sand with the light of white stars +on their dark faces. + +Each succeeding day and night Cameron felt himself more and more +drawn to this strange man. He found that after hours of burning +toil he had insensibly grown nearer to his comrade. He reflected +that after a few weeks in the desert he had always become a different man. +In civilization, in the rough mining camps, he had been a prey to unrest +and gloom. but once down on the great billowing sweep of this lonely +world, he could look into his unquiet soul without bitterness. +Did not the desert magnify men? Cameron believed that wild men +in wild places, fighting cold, heat, starvation, thirst, barrenness, +facing the elements in all their ferocity, usually retrograded, +descended to the savage, lost all heart and soul and became mere +brutes. Likewise he believed that men wandering or lost in the +wilderness often reversed that brutal order of life and became +noble, wonderful, super-human. So now he did not marvel at a slow +stir stealing warmer along his veins, and at the premonition that +perhaps he and this man, alone on the desert, driven there by life's +mysterious and remorseless motive, were to see each other through +God's eyes. + +His companion was one who thought of himself last. It humiliated +Cameron that in spite of growing keenness he could not hinder him +from doing more than an equal share of the day's work. The man +was mild, gentle, quiet, mostly silent, yet under all his softness +he seemed to be mad of the fiber of steel. Cameron could not +thwart him. Moreover, he appeared to want to find gold for Cameron, +not for himself. Cameron's hands always trembled at the turning +of rock that promised gold; he had enough of the prospector's +passion for fortune to thrill at the chance of a strike. But the +other never showed the least trace of excitement. + +One night they were encamped at the head of a canyon. They day had +been exceedingly hot, and long after sundown the radiation of heat +from the rocks persisted. A desert bird whistled a wild, melancholy +note from a dark cliff, and a distant coyote wailed mournfully. +The stars shone white until the huge moon rose to burn out all their +whiteness. And on this night Cameron watched his comrade, and +yielded to interest he had not heretofore voiced. + +"Pardner, what drives you into the desert?" + +"Do I seem to be a driven man?" + +"No. but I feel it. Do you come to forget?" + +"Yes." + +"Ah!" softly exclaimed Cameron. Always he seemed to have known +that. He said no more. He watched the old man rise and begin +his nightly pace to and fro, up and down. With slow, soft tread, +forward and back, tirelessly and ceaselessly, he paced that beat. +He did not look up at the stars or follow the radiant track of the +moon along the canyon ramparts. He hung his head. He was lost in +another world. It was a world which the lonely desert made real. +He looked a dark, sad, plodding figure, and somehow impressed +Cameron with the helplessness of men. + +Cameron grew acutely conscious of the pang in his own breast, of +the fire in his heart, the strife and torment of his passion-driven +soul. He had come into the desert to remember a woman. She +appeared to him then as she had looked when first she entered his +life--a golden-haired girl, blue-eyed, white-skinned, red-lipped, +tall and slender and beautiful. He had never forgotten, and an old, +sickening remorse knocked at his heart. He rose and climbed out +of the canyon and to the top of a mesa, where he paced to and fro +and looked down into the weird and mystic shadows, like the darkness +of his passion, and farther on down the moon track and the glittering +stretches that vanished in the cold, blue horizon. The moon soared +radiant and calm, the white stars shone serene. The vault of heaven +seemed illimitable and divine. The desert surrounded him, silver-streaked +and black-mantled, a chaos of rock and sand, silent, austere, +ancient, always waiting. It spoke to Cameron. It was a naked +corpse, but it had a soul. In that wild solitude the white stars +looked down upon him pitilessly and pityingly. They had shone +upon a desert that might once have been alive and was now dead, +and might again throb with life, only to die. It was a terrible +ordeal for him to stand along and realize that he was only a man +facing eternity. But that was what gave him strength to endure. +Somehow he was a part of it all, some atom in that vastness, +somehow necessary to an inscrutable purpose, something +indestructible in that desolate world of ruin and death and decay, +something perishable and changeable and growing under all the +fixity of heaven. In that endless, silent hall of desert there +was a spirit; and Cameron felt hovering near him what he imagined +to be phantoms of peace. + +He returned to camp and sought his comrade. + +"I reckon we're two of a kind," he said. "It was a woman who drove +me into the desert. But I come to remember. The desert's the only +place I can to that." + +"Was she your wife?" asked the elder man. + +"No." + +A long silence ensued. A cool wind blew up the canyon, sifting the +sand through the dry sage, driving away the last of the lingering +heat. The campfire wore down to a ruddy ashen heap. + +"I had a daughter," said Cameron's comrade. "She lost her mother +at birth. And I--I didn't know how to bring up a girl. She was +pretty and gay. It was the--the old story." + +His words were peculiarly significant to Cameron. They distressed +him. He had been wrapped up in his remorse. If ever in the past +he had thought of any one connected with the girl he had wronged +he had long forgotten. But the consequences of such wrong were +far-reaching. They struck at the roots of a home. Here in the +desert he was confronted by the spectacle of a splendid man, a +father, wasting his life because he could not forget--because +there was nothing left to live for. Cameron understood better now +why his comrade was drawn by the desert. + +"Well, tell me more?" asked Cameron, earnestly. + +"It was the old, old story. My girl was pretty and free. The +young bucks ran after her. I guess she did not run away from them. +And I was away a good deal--working in another town. She was in love +with a wild fellow. I knew nothing of it till too late. He was engaged +to marry her. But he didn't come back. And when the disgrace became +plain to all, my girl left home. She went West. After a while I heard +from her. She was well--working--living for her baby. A long +time passed. I had no ties. I drifted West. Her lover had also +gone West. In those days everybody went West. I trailed him, +intending to kill him. But I lost his trail. Neither could I find +any trace of her. She had moved on, driven, no doubt, by the hound +of her past. Since then I have taken to the wilds, hunting gold +on the desert." + +"Yes, it's the old, old story, only sadder, I think," said Cameron; +and his voice was strained and unnatural. + +"Pardner, what Illinois town was it you hailed from?" + +"Peoria." + +"And your--your name?" went on Cameron huskily. + +"Warren--Jonas Warren." + +That name might as well have been a bullet. Cameron stood erect, +motionless, as men sometimes stand momentarily when shot straight +through the heart. In an instant, when thoughts resurged like +blinding flashes of lightning through his mind, he was a swaying, +quivering, terror-stricken man. He mumbled something hoarsely and +backed into the shadow. But he need not have feared discovery, +however surely his agitation might have betrayed him. Warren sat +brooding over the campfire, oblivious of his comrade, absorbed in +the past. + +Cameron swiftly walked away in the gloom, with the blood thrumming +thick in his ears, whispering over and over: + +"Merciful God! Nell was his daughter!" + + + +Chapter III + + +As thought and feeling multiplied, Cameron was overwhelmed. Beyond +belief, indeed, was it that out of the millions of men in the world +two who had never seen each other cold have been driven into the desert +by memory of the same woman. It brought the past so close. It showed +Cameron how inevitably all his spiritual life was governed by what had +happened long ago. That which made life significant to him was a wandering +in silent places where no eye could see him with his secret. Some fateful +chance had thrown him with the father of the girl he had wrecked. +It was incomprehensible; it was terrible. It was the one thing +of all possible happenings in the world of chance that both father +and lover would have found unendurable. + +Cameron's pain reached to despair when he felt this relation between +Warren and himself. Something within him cried out to him to reveal +his identity. Warren would kill him; but it was not fear of death +that put Cameron on the rack. He had faced death too often to be +afraid. It was the thought of adding torture to this long-suffering +man. All at once Cameron swore that he would not augment Warren's +trouble, or let him stain his hands with blood. He would tell the +truth of Nell's sad story and his own, and make what amends he could. + +Then Cameron's thought shifted from father to daughter. She was +somewhere beyond the dim horizon line. In those past lonely hours +by the campfire his fancy had tortured him with pictures of Nell. +But his remorseful and cruel fancy had lied to him. Nell had +struggled upward out of menacing depths. She had reconstructed a +broken life. And now she was fighting for the name and happiness +of her child. Little Nell! Cameron experienced a shuddering ripple +in all his being--the physical rack of an emotion born of a new and +strange consciousness. + +As Cameron gazed out over the blood-red, darkening desert suddenly +the strife in his soul ceased. The moment was one of incalculable +change, in which his eyes seemed to pierce the vastness of cloud +and range, and mystery of gloom and shadow--to see with strong vision +the illimitable space before him. He felt the grandeur of the desert, +its simplicity, its truth. He had learned at last the lesson it +taught. No longer strange was his meeting and wandering with Warren. +Each had marched in the steps of destiny; and as the lines of their +fates had been inextricably tangled in the years that were gone, +so now their steps had crossed and turned them toward one common +goal. For years they had been two men marching alone, answering +to an inward driving search, and the desert had brought them together. +for years they had wandered alone in silence and solitude, where +the sun burned white all day and the stars burned white all night, +blindly following the whisper of a spirit. But now Cameron knew +that he was no longer blind, and in this flash of revelation he +felt that it had been given him to help Warren with his burden. + +He returned to camp trying to evolve a plan. As always at that +long hour when the afterglow of sunset lingered in the west, +Warren plodded to and fro in the gloom. All night Cameron lay +awake thinking. + +In the morning, when Warren brought the burros to camp and began +preparations for the usual packing, Cameron broke silence. + +"Pardner, your story last night made me think. I want to tell you +something about myself. It's hard enough to be driven by sorrow +for one you've loved, as you've been driven; but to suffer sleepless +and eternal remorse for the ruin of one you've loved as I have +suffered--that is hell. . . .Listen. In my younger days--it seems +long now, yet isn't not so many years--I was wild. I wronged the +sweetest and loveliest girl I ever knew. I went away not dreaming +that any disgrace might come to her. Along about that time I fell +into terrible moods--I changed--I learned I really loved her. Then +came a letter I should have gotten months before. It told of her +trouble--importuned me to hurry to save her. Half frantic with +shame and fear, I got a marriage certificate and rushed back to her town. +She was gone--had been gone for weeks, and her disgrace was known. +Friends warned me to keep out of reach of her father. I trailed her-- +found her. I married her. But too late!...She would not live with me. +She left me.--I followed her west, but never found her." + +Warren leaned forward a little and looked into Cameron's eyes, as +if searching there for the repentance that might make him less +deserving of a man's scorn. + +Cameron met the gaze unflinchingly, and again began to speak: + +"You know, of course, how men out here somehow lose old names, old +identities. It won't surprise you much to learn my name really isn't +Cameron, as I once told you." + +Warren stiffened upright. It seemed that there might have been a +blank, a suspension, between his grave interest and some strange +mood to come. + +Cameron felt his heart bulge and contract in his breast; all his +body grew cold; and it took tremendous effort for him to make his +lips form words. + +"Warren, I'm the man you're hunting. I'm Burton. I was Nell's +lover!" + +The old man rose and towered over Cameron, and then plunged down +upon him, and clutched at his throat with terrible stifling hands. +The harsh contact, the pain awakened Cameron to his peril before +it was too late. Desperate fighting saved him from being hurled +to the ground and stamped and crushed. Warren seemed a maddened +giant. There was a reeling, swaying, wrestling struggle before +the elder man began to weaken. The Cameron, buffeted, bloody, +half-stunned, panted for speech. + +"Warren--hold on! Give me--a minute. I married Nell. Didn't you +know that?...I saved the child! + +Cameron felt the shock that vibrated through Warren. He repeated +the words again and again. As if compelled by some resistless +power, Warren released Cameron, and, staggering back, stood with uplifted, +shaking hands. In his face was a horrible darkness. + +"Warren! Wait--listen!" panted Cameron. "I've got that marriage +certificate--I've had it by me all these years. I kept it--to +prove to myself I did right." + +The old man uttered a broken cry. + +Cameron stole off among the rocks. How long he absented himself +or what he did he had no idea. When he returned Warren was sitting +before the campfire, and once more he appeared composed. He spoke, +and his voice had a deeper note; but otherwise he seemed as usual. + +They packed the burros and faced the north together. + +Cameron experienced a singular exaltation. He had lightened his +comrade's burden. Wonderfully it came to him that he had also +lightened his own. From that hour it was not torment to think +of Nell. Walking with his comrade through the silent places, lying +beside him under the serene luminous light of the stars, Cameron +began to feel the haunting presence of invisible things that were +real to him--phantoms whispering peace. In the moan of the cool +wind, in the silken seep of sifting sand, in the distant rumble +of a slipping ledge, in the faint rush of a shooting star he +heard these phantoms of peace coming with whispers of the long +pain of men at the last made endurable. Even in the white noonday, +under the burning sun, these phantoms came to be real to him. +In the dead silence of the midnight hours he heard them breathing +nearer on the desert wind--nature's voices of motherhood, whispers +of God, peace in the solitude. + + + +Chapter IV + + +There came a morning when the sun shone angry and red through a +dull, smoky haze. + +"We're in for sandstorms," said Cameron. + +They had scarcely covered a mile when a desert-wide, moaning, yellow +wall of flying sand swooped down upon them. Seeking shelter in +the lee of a rock, they waited, hoping the storm was only a squall, +such as frequently whipped across the open places. The moan +increased to a roar, and the dull red slowly dimmed, to disappear +in the yellow pall, and the air grew thick and dark. Warren slipped +the packs from the burros. Cameron feared the sandstorms had +arrived some weeks ahead of their usual season. + +The men covered their heads and patiently waited. The long hours +dragged, and the storm increased in fury. Cameron and Warren wet +scarfs with water from their canteens, and bound them round their +faces, and then covered their heads. The steady, hollow bellow of +flying sand went on. It flew so thickly that enough sifted down +under the shelving rock to weight the blankets and almost bury +the men. They were frequently compelled to shake off the sand +to keep from being borne to the ground. And it was necessary +to keep digging out the packs. The floor of their shelter gradually +rose higher and higher. they tried to eat, and seemed to be grinding +only sand between their teeth. They lost the count of time. They +dared not sleep, for that would have meant being buried alive. +The could only crouch close to the leaning rock, shake off the sand, +blindly dig out their packs, and every moment gasp and cough and +choke to fight suffocation. + +The storm finally blew itself out. It let the prospectors heavy +and stupid for want of sleep. Their burros had wandered away, or +had been buried in the sand. Far as eye could reach the desert +had marvelously changed; it was now a rippling sea of sand dunes. +Away to the north rose the peak that was their only guiding mark. +They headed toward it, carrying a shovel and part of their packs. + +At noon the peak vanished in the shimmering glare of the desert. +The prospectors pushed on, guided by the sun. In every wash +they tried for water. With the forked peach branch in his +hands Warren always succeeded in locating water. They dug, +but it lay too deep. At length, spent and sore, they fell and +slept through that night and part of the next day. Then they +succeeded in getting water, and quenched their thirst, and filled +the canteens, and cooked a meal. + +The burning day found them in an interminably wide plain, where +there was no shelter from the fierce sun. The men were exceedingly +careful with their water, though there was absolute necessity of +drinking a little every hour. Late in the afternoon they came +to a canyon that they believed was the lower end of the one in +which they had last found water. For hours they traveled toward +its head, and, long after night had set, found what they sought. +Yielding to exhaustion, they slept, and next day were loath to +leave the waterhole. Cool night spurred them on with canteens +full and renewed strength. + +Morning told Cameron that they had turned back miles into the +desert, and it was desert new to him. The red sun, the increasing +heat, and especially the variety and large size of the cactus plants +warned Cameron that he had descended to a lower level. Mountain +peaks loomed on all sides, some hear, others distant; and one, a +blue spur, splitting the glaring sky far to the north, Cameron +thought he recognized as a landmark. The ascent toward it was +heartbreaking, not in steepness, but in its league-and league-long +monotonous rise. Cameron knew there was only one hope--to make +the water hold out and never stop to rest. Warren began to weaken. +Often he had to halt. The burning white day passed, and likewise +the night, with its white stars shining so pitilessly cold and bright. + +Cameron measured the water in his canteen by its weight. Evaporation +by heat consumed as much as he drank. During one of the rests, when +he had wetted his parched mouth and throat, he found opportunity to pour +a little water from his canteen into Warren's. + +At first Cameron had curbed his restless activity to accommodate +the pace of his elder comrade. but now he felt that he was losing +something of his instinctive and passionate zeal to get out of +the desert. The thought of water came to occupy his mind. He +began to imagine that his last little store of water did not +appreciably diminish. He knew he was not quite right in his mind +regarding water; nevertheless, he felt this to be more of fact +than fancy, and he began to ponder. + +When next they rested he pretended to be in a kind of stupor; but +he covertly watched Warren. The man appeared far gone, yet he had +cunning. He cautiously took up Cameron's canteen and poured water +into it from his own. + +This troubled Cameron. The old irritation at not being able to +thwart Warren returned to him. Cameron reflected, and concluded +that he had been unwise not to expect this very thing. Then, as +his comrade dropped into weary rest, he lifted both canteens. If +there were any water in Warren's, it was only very little. Both +men had been enduring the terrible desert thirst, concealing it, +each giving his water to the other, and the sacrifice had been useless. + +Instead of ministering to the parched throats of one or both, the +water had evaporated. When Cameron made sure of this, he took one +more drink, the last, and poured the little water left into Warren's +canteen. He threw his own away. + +Soon afterward Warren discovered the loss. + +"Where's your canteen?" he asked. + +"The heat was getting my water, so I drank what was left." + +"My son!" said Warren. + +The day opened for them in a red and green hell of rock and cactus. +Like a flame the sun scorched and peeled their faces. Warren went +blind from the glare, and Cameron had to lead him. At last Warren +plunged down, exhausted, in the shade of a ledge. + +Cameron rested and waited, hopeless, with hot, weary eyes gazing +down from the height where he sat. the ledge was the top step +of a ragged gigantic stairway. Below stretched a sad, austere, +and lonely valley. A dim, wide streak, lighter than the bordering +gray, wound down the valley floor. Once a river had flowed there, +leaving only a forlorn trace down the winding floor of this forlorn valley. + +Movement on the part of Warren attracted Cameron's attention. +Evidently the old prospector had recovered his sight and some of +his strength. for he had arisen, and now began to walk along the +arroyo bed with his forked peach branch held before him. He had +clung to the precious bit of wood. Cameron considered the prospect +for water hopeless, because he saw that the arroyo had once been +a canyon, and had been filled with sands by desert winds. Warren, +however, stopped in a deep pit, and, cutting his canteen in half, +began to use one side of it as a scoop. He scooped out a wide +hollow, so wide that Cameron was certain he had gone crazy. Cameron +gently urged him to stop, and then forcibly tried to make him. +But these efforts were futile. Warren worked with slow, ceaseless, +methodical movement. He toiled for what seemed hours. Cameron, +seeing the darkening, dampening sand, realized a wonderful possibility +of water, and he plunged into the pit with the other half of the +canteen. Then both men toiled, round and round the wide hole, +down deeper and deeper. The sand grew moist, then wet. At the +bottom of the deep pit the sand coarsened, gave place to gravel. +Finally water welled in, a stronger volume than Cameron ever +remembered finding on the desert. It would soon fill the hole and +run over. He marveled at the circumstance. The time was near +the end of the dry season. Perhaps an underground stream +flowed from the range behind down to the valley floor, and at +this point came near to the surface. Cameron had heard of such +desert miracles. + +The finding of water revived Cameron's flagging hopes. But they +were short-lived. Warren had spend himself utterly. + +"I'm done. Don't linger," he whispered. "My son, go--go!" + +Then he fell. Cameron dragged him out of the sand pit to a +sheltered place under the ledge. While sitting beside the failing +man Cameron discovered painted images on the wall. Often in the +desert he had found these evidences of a prehistoric people. Then, +from long habit, he picked up a piece of rock and examined it. +Its weight made him closely scrutinize it. The color was a +peculiar black. He scraped through the black rust to find a +piece of gold. Around him lay scattered heaps of black pebbles +and bits of black, weathered rock and pieces of broken ledge, and +they showed gold. + +"Warren! Look! See it! Feel it! Gold!" + +But Warren had never cared, and now he was too blind to see. + +"Go--go!" he whispered. + +Cameron gazed down the gray reaches of the forlorn valley, and +something within him that was neither intelligence nor emotion--something +inscrutably strange--impelled him to promise. + +The Cameron built up stone monuments to mark his gold strike. That +done, he tarried beside the unconscious Warren. Moments passed--grew +into hours. Cameron still had strength left to make an effort to +get out of the desert. But that same inscrutable something which +had ordered his strange involuntary promise to Warren held him +beside his fallen comrade. He watched the white sun turn to gold, +and then to red and sink behind mountains in the west. Twilight +stole into the arroyo. It lingered, slowly turning to gloom. +The vault of blue black lightened to the blinking of stars. +Then fell the serene, silent, luminous desert night. + +Cameron kept his vigil. As the long hours wore on he felt creep +over him the comforting sense that he need not forever fight sleep. +A wan glow flared behind the dark, uneven horizon, and a melancholy +misshapen moon rose to make the white night one of shadows. Absolute +silence claimed the desert. It was mute. Then that inscrutable +something breathed to him, telling him when he was along. He need +not have looked at the dark, still face beside him. + +Another face haunted Cameron's--a woman's face. It was there in +the white moonlit shadows; it drifted in the darkness beyond; it +softened, changed to that of a young girl, sweet, with the same +dark, haunting eyes of her mother. Cameron prayed to that nameless +thing within him, the spirit of something deep and mystical as +life. He prayed to that nameless thing outside, of which the rocks +and the sand, the spiked cactus and the ragged lava, the endless +waste, with its vast star-fired mantle, were but atoms. He prayed +for mercy to a woman--for happiness to her child. Both mother and +daughter were close to him then. Time and distance were annihilated. +He had faith--he saw into the future. The fateful threads of the +past, so inextricably woven with his error, wound out their tragic +length here in this forlorn desert. + +CAMERON then took a little tin box from his pocket, and, opening +it, removed a folded certificate. He had kept a pen, and now he +wrote something upon the paper, and in lieu of ink he wrote with +blood. The moon afforded him enough light to see; and, having +replaced the paper, he laid the little box upon a shelf of rock. +It would remain there unaffected by dust, moisture, heat, time. +How long had those painted images been there clear and sharp on +the dry stone walls? There were no trails in that desert, and +always there were incalculable changes. Cameron saw this mutable +mood of nature--the sands would fly and seep and carve and bury; +the floods would dig and cut; the ledges would weather in the heat and rain; +the avalanches would slide; the cactus seeds would roll in the wind to +catch in a niche and split the soil with thirsty roots. Years +would pass. Cameron seemed to see them, too; and likewise destiny +leading a child down into this forlorn waste, where she would find +love and fortune, and the grave of her father. + +Cameron covered the dark, still face of his comrade from the light +of the waning moon. + +That action was the severing of his hold on realities. They fell +away from him in final separation. Vaguely, dreamily he seemed to +behold his soul. Night merged into gray day; and night came again, +weird and dark. Then up out of the vast void of the desert, from +the silence and illimitableness, trooped his phantoms of peace. +Majestically they formed around him, marshalling and mustering in +ceremonious state, and moved to lay upon him their passionless serenity. + + + +Chapter I + + +Old Friends + +Richard Gale reflected that his sojourn in the West had been +what his disgusted father had predicted--idling here and there, +with no objective point or purpose. + +It was reflection such as this, only more serious and perhaps +somewhat desperate, that had brought Gale down to the border. +For some time the newspapers had been printing news of Mexican +revolution, guerrilla warfare, United States cavalry patrolling +the international line, American cowboys fighting with the rebels, +and wild stories of bold raiders and bandits. But as opportunity, +and adventure, too, had apparently given him a wide berth in +Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, he had struck southwest for the Arizona +border, where he hoped to see some stirring life. He did not +care very much what happened. Months of futile wandering in the +hope of finding a place where he fitted had inclined Richard to +his father's opinion. + +It was after dark one evening in early October when Richard arrived +in Casita. He was surprised to find that it was evidently a town +of importance. There was a jostling, jabbering, sombreroed crowd +of Mexicans around the railroad station. He felt as if he were +in a foreign country. After a while he saw several men of his +nationality, one of whom he engaged to carry his luggage to a +hotel. They walked up a wide, well-lighted street lined with +buildings in which were bright windows. Of the many people +encountered by Gale most were Mexicans. His guide explained that +the smaller half of Casita lay in Arizona, the other half in Mexico, +and of several thousand inhabitants the majority belonged on the +southern side of the street, which was the boundary line. He also +said that rebels had entered the town that day, causing a good +deal of excitement. + +Gale was almost at the end of his financial resources, which fact +occasioned him to turn away from a pretentious hotel and to ask +his guide for a cheaper lodging-house. When this was found, a +sight of the loungers in the office, and also a desire for comfort, +persuaded Gale to change his traveling-clothes for rough outing +garb and boots. + +"Well, I'm almost broke," he soliloquized, thoughtfully. "The +governor said I wouldn't make any money. He's right--so far. +And he said I'd be coming home beaten. There he's wrong. I've +got a hunch that something 'll happen to me in this Greaser town." + +He went out into a wide, whitewashed, high-ceiled corridor, and +from that into an immense room which, but for pool tables, bar, +benches, would have been like a courtyard. The floor was +cobblestoned, the walls were of adobe, and the large windows +opened like doors. A blue cloud of smoke filled the place. Gale +heard the click of pool balls and the clink of glasses along the +crowded bar. Bare-legged, sandal-footed Mexicans in white rubbed +shoulders with Mexicans mantled in black and red. There were +others in tight-fitting blue uniforms with gold fringe or tassels +at the shoulders. These men wore belts with heavy, bone-handled +guns, and evidently were the rurales, or native policemen. There +were black-bearded, coarse-visaged Americans, some gambling round +the little tables, others drinking. The pool tables were the center +of a noisy crowd of younger men, several of whom were unsteady on +their feet. There were khaki-clad cavalrymen strutting in and out. + +At one end of the room, somewhat apart from the general meelee, +was a group of six men round a little table, four of whom were +seated, the other two standing. These last two drew a second +glance from Gale. The sharp-featured, bronzed faces and piercing +eyes, the tall, slender, loosely jointed bodies, the quiet, easy, +reckless air that seemed to be a part of the men--these things +would plainly have stamped them as cowboys without the buckled +sombreros, the colored scarfs, the high-topped, high-heeled boots +with great silver-roweled spurs. Gale did not fail to note, also, +that these cowboys wore guns, and this fact was rather a shock to +his idea of the modern West. It caused him to give some credence +to the rumors of fighting along the border, and he felt a thrill. + +He satisfied his hunger in a restaurant adjoining, and as he +stepped back into the saloon a man wearing a military cape jostled +him. Apologies from both were instant. Gale was moving on when +the other stopped short as if startled, and, leaning forward, +exclaimed: + +"Dick Gale?" + +"You've got me," replied Gale, in surprise. "But I don't know you." + +He could not see the stranger's face, because it was wholly shaded +by a wide-brimmed hat pulled well down. + +"By Jove! It's Dick! If this isn't great! Don't you know me?" + +"I've heard your voice somewhere," replied Gale. "Maybe I'll +recognize you if you come out from under that bonnet." + +For answer the man, suddenly manifesting thought of himself, +hurriedly drew Gale into the restaurant, where he thrust back his +hat to disclose a handsome, sunburned face. + +"George @Thorne! So help me--" + +"'S-s-ssh. You needn't yell," interrupted the other, as he met +Gale's outstretched hand. There was a close, hard, straining grip. +"I must not be recognized here. + +There are reasons. I'll explain in a minute. Say, but it's fine +to see you! Five years, Dick, five years since I saw you run down +University Field and spread-eagle the whole Wisconsin football team." + +"Don't recollect that," replied Dick, laughing. "George, I'll bet +you I'm gladder to see you than you are to see me. It seems to +long. You went into the army, didn't you?" + +"I did. I'm here now with the Ninth Cavalry. But--never mind me. +What're you doing way down here? Say, I just noticed your togs. +Dick, you can't be going in for mining or ranching, not in this +God-forsaken desert?" + +"On the square, George, I don't know any more why I'm here than--than +you know." + +"Well, that beats me!" ejaculated Thorne, sitting back in his chair, +amaze and concern in his expression. "What the devil's wrong? +Your old man's got too much money for you ever to be up against it. +Dick, you couldn't have gone to the bad?" + +A tide of emotion surged over Gale. How good it was to meet a +friend--some one to whom to talk! He had never appreciated his +loneliness until that moment. + +"George, how I ever drifted down here I don't know. I didn't +exactly quarrel with the governor. But--damn it, Dad hurt +me--shamed me, and I dug out for the West. It was this way. +After leaving college I tried to please him by tackling one thing +after another that he set me to do. On the square, I had no head +for business. I made a mess of everything. The governor got sore. +He kept ramming the harpoon into me till I just couldn't stand it. +What little ability I possessed deserted me when I got my back up, +and there you are. Dad and I had a rather uncomfortable half hour. +When I quit--when I told him straight out that I was going West to +fare for myself, why, it wouldn't have been so tough if he hadn't +laughed at me. He called me a rich man's son--an idle, easy-going +spineless swell. He said I didn't even have character enough to be out +and out bad. He said I didn't have sense enough to marry one of the nice +girls in my sister's crowd. He said I couldn't get back home unless I +sent to him for money. He said he didn't believe I could fight--could +really make a fight for anything under the sun. Oh--he--he shot +it into me, all right." + +Dick dropped his head upon his hands, somewhat ashamed of the +smarting dimness in his eyes. He had not meant to say so much. +Yet what a relief to let out that long-congested burden! + +"Fight!" cried Thorne, hotly. "What's ailing him? Didn't they +call you Biff Gale in college? Dick, you were one of the best +men Stagg ever developed. I heard him say so--that you were the +fastest, one-hundred-and-seventy-five-pound man he'd ever trained, +the hardest to stop." + +"The governor didn't count football," said Dick. "He didn't mean +that kind of fight. When I left home I don't think I had an idea +what was wrong with me. But, George, I think I know now. I was +a rich man's son--spoiled, dependent, absolutely ignorant of the +value of money. I haven't yet discovered any earning capacity in +me. I seem to be unable to do anything with my hands. That's the +trouble. But I'm at the end of my tether now. And I'm going to +punch cattle or be a miner, or do some real stunt--like joining +the rebels." + +"Aha! I thought you'd spring that last one on me," declared Thorne, +wagging his head. "Well, you just forget it. Say, old boy, there's +something doing in Mexico. The United States in general doesn't +realize it. But across that line there are crazy revolutionists, +ill-paid soldiers, guerrilla leaders, raiders, robbers, outlaws, +bandits galore, starving peons by the thousand, girls and women +in terror. Mexico is like some of her volcanoes--ready to erupt +fire and hell! Don't make the awful mistake of joining rebel +forces. Americans are hated by Mexicans of the lower class-- +the fighting class, both rebel and federal. Half the time +these crazy Greasers are on one side, then on the other. +If you didn't starve or get shot in ambush, or die of thirst, +some Greaser would knife you in the back for you belt buckle +or boots. There are a good many Americans with the rebels +eastward toward Agua, Prieta and Juarez. Orozco is operating in +Chihuahua, and I guess he has some idea of warfare. But this Sonora, +a mountainous desert, the home of the slave and the Yaqui. There's +unorganized revolt everywhere. The American miners and ranchers, +those who could get away, have fled across into the States, leaving +property. Those who couldn't or wouldn't come must fight for their +lives, are fighting now." + +"That's bad," said Gale. "It's news to me. Why doesn't the government +take action, do something?" + +"Afraid of international complications. Don't want to offend the +Maderists, or be criticized by jealous foreign nations. It's a +delicate situation, Dick. The Washington officials know the gravity +of it, you can bet. But the United States in general is in the dark, +and the army--well, you ought to hear the inside talk back at San +Antonio. We're patrolling the boundary line. We're making a grand +bluff. I could tell you of a dozen instances where cavalry should +have pursued raiders on the other side of the line. But we won't +do it. The officers are a grouchy lot these days. You see, of +course, what significance would attach to United States cavalry +going into Mexican territory. There would simply be hell. My +own colonel is the sorest man on the job. We're all sore. It's +like sitting on a powder magazine. We can't keep the rebels and +raiders from crossing the line. Yet we don't fight. My commission +expires soon. I'll be discharged in three months. You can bet +I'm glad for more reasons than I've mentioned." + +Thorne was evidently laboring under strong, suppressed excitement. +His face showed pale under the tan, and his eyes gleamed with a dark fire. +Occasionally his delight at meeting, talking with Gale, dominated the other +emotions, but not for long. He had seated himself at a table near one of +the doorlike windows leading into the street, and every little while +he would glance sharply out. Also he kept consulting his watch. + +These details gradually grew upon Gale as Thorne talked. "George, +it strikes me that you're upset," said Dick, presently. "I seem to +remember you as a cool-headed fellow whom nothing could disturb. +Has the army changed you?" + +Thorne laughed. It was a laugh with a strange, high note. It was +reckless--it hinted of exaltation. He rose abruptly; he gave the +water money to go for drinks; he looked into the saloon, and then +into the street. On this side of the house there was a porch opening +on a plaza with trees and shrubbery and branches. Thorne peered +out one window, then another. His actions were rapid. Returning +to the table, he put his hands upon it and leaned over to look +closely into Gale's face. + +"I'm away from camp without leave," he said. + +"Isn't that a serious offense?" asked Dick. + +"Serious? For me, if I'm discovered, it means ruin. There are +rebels in town. Any moment we might have trouble. I ought to +be ready for duty--within call. If I'm discovered it means arrest. +That means delay--the failure of my plans--ruin." + +Gale was silenced by his friend's intensity. Thorne bent over +closer with his dark eyes searching bright. + +"we were old pals--once?" + +"Surely," replied Dick. + +"What would you say, Dick Gale, if I told you that you're the one +man I'd rather have had come along than any other at this crisis +of my life?" + +The earnest gaze, the passionate voice with its deep tremor drew +Dick upright, thrilling and eager, conscious of strange, unfamiliar +impetuosity. + +"Thorne, I should say I was glad to be the fellow," replied Dick. + +Their hands locked for a moment, and they sat down again with heads +close over the table. + +"Listen," began Thorne, in low, swift whisper, "a few days, a week +ago--it seems like a year!--I was of some assistance to refugees +fleeing from Mexico into the States. They were all women, and one +of them was dressed as a nun. Quite by accident I saw her face. +It was that of a beautiful girl. I observed she kept aloof from +the others. I suspected a disguise, and, when opportunity afforded, +spoke to her, offered my services. She replied to my poor efforts at +Spanish in fluent English. She had fled in terror from her home, +some place down in Sinaloa. Rebels are active there. Her father +was captured and held for ransom. When the ransom was paid the +rebels killed him.. the leader of these rebels was a bandit named +Rojas. Long before the revolution began he had been feared by people +of class--loved by the peons. Bandits are worshiped by the peons. +All of the famous bandits have robbed the rich and given to the poor. +Rojas saw the daughter, made off with her. But she contrived to +bribe her guards, and escaped almost immediately before any harm +befell her. She hid among friends. Rojas nearly tore down the +town in his efforts to find her. Then she disguised herself, and +traveled by horseback, stage, and train to Casita. + +"Her story fascinated me, and that one fleeting glimpse I had of +her face I couldn't forget. She had no friends here, no money. +She knew Rojas was trailing her. This talk I had with her was +at the railroad station, where all was bustle and confusion. No +one noticed us, so I thought. I advised her to remove the disguise +of a nun before she left the waiting-room. And I got a boy to +guide her. But he fetched her to his house. I had promised to come +in the evening to talk over the situation with her. + +"I found her, Dick, and when I saw her--I went stark, staring, raving +mad over her. She is the most beautiful, wonderful girl I ever saw. +Her name is Mercedes Castaneda, and she belongs to one of the old +wealthy Spanish families. She has lived abroad and in Havana. She +speaks French as well as English. She is--but I must be brief. + +"Dick, think, think! With Mercedes also it was love at first sight. +My plan is to marry her and get her farther to the interior, away +from the border. It may not be easy. She's watched. So am I. +It was impossible to see her without the women of this house knowing. +At first, perhaps, they had only curiosity--an itch to gossip. But +the last two days there has been a change. Since last night there's +some powerful influence at work. Oh, these Mexicans are subtle, +mysterious! After all, they are Spaniards. They work in secret, +in the dark. They are dominated first by religion, then by gold, +then by passion for a woman. Rojas must have got word to his +friends here; yesterday his gang of cutthroat rebels arrived, and +to-day he came. When I learned that, I took my chance and left +camp I hunted up a priest. He promised to come here. It's time +he's due. But I'm afraid he'll be stopped." + +"Thorne, why don't you take the girl and get married without waiting, +without running these risks?" said Dick. + +"I fear it's too late now. I should have done that last night. +You see, we're over the line--" + +"Are we in Mexican territory now?" queried Gale, sharply. + +"I guess yes, old boy. That's what complicates it. Rojas and his +rebels have Casita in their hands. But Rojas without his rebels +would be able to stop me, get the girl, and make for his mountain +haunts. If Mercedes is really watched--if her identity is known, +which I am sure is the case--we couldn't get far from this house +before I'd be knifed and she seized." + +"Good Heavens! Thorne, can that sort of thing happen less than a +stone's throw from the United States line?" asked Gale, incredulously. + +"It can happen, and don't you forget it. You don't seem to realize +the power these guerrilla leaders, these rebel captains, and +particularly these bandits, exercise over the mass of Mexicans. +A bandit is a man of honor in Mexico. He is feared, envied, loved. +In the hearts of the people he stands next to the national idol--the +bull-fighter, the matador. The race has a wild, barbarian, bloody +strain. Take Quinteros, for instance. He was a peon, a slave. +He became a famous bandit. At the outbreak of the revolution he +proclaimed himself a leader, and with a band of followers he +devastated whole counties. The opposition to federal forces was only +a blind to rob and riot and carry off women. The motto of this man +and his followers was: 'Let us enjoy ourselves while we may!' + +"There are other bandits besides Quinteros, not so famous or such +great leaders, but just as bloodthirsty. I've seen Rojas. He's +a handsome, bold sneering devil, vainer than any peacock. He decks +himself in gold lace and sliver trappings, in all the finery he can +steal. He was one of the rebels who helped sack Sinaloa and carry +off half a million in money and valuables. Rojas spends gold like +he spills blood. But he is chiefly famous for abducting women. +the peon girls consider it an honor to be ridden off with. Rojas +has shown a penchant for girls of the better class." + +Thorne wiped the perspiration from his pale face and bent a dark +gaze out of the window before he resumed his talk. + +"Consider what the position of Mercedes really is. I can't get +any help from our side of the line. If so, I don't know where. +The population on that side is mostly Mexican, absolutely in +sympathy with whatever actuates those on this side. The whole +caboodle of Greasers on both sides belong to the class in sympathy +with the rebels, the class that secretly respects men like Rojas, +and hates an aristocrat like Mercedes. They would conspire to throw +her into his power. Rojas can turn all the hidden underground +influences to his ends. Unless I thwart him he'll get Mercedes as easily +as he can light a cigarette. But I'll kill him or some of his gang or her +before I let him get her. . . . This is the situation, old friend. I've +little time to spare. I face arrest for desertion. Rojas is in town. +I think I was followed to this hotel. The priest has betrayed me +or has been stopped. Mercedes is here alone, waiting, absolutely +dependent upon me to save her from--from....She's the sweetest, +loveliest girl!...In a few moments--sooner or later there'll be hell +here! Dick, are you with me?" + +Dick Gale drew a long, deep breath. A coldness, a lethargy, an +indifference that had weighed upon him for months had passed out +of his being. On the instant he could not speak, but his hand +closed powerfully upon his friend's. Thorne's face changed wonderfully, +the distress, the fear, the appeal all vanishing in a smile of +passionate gratefulness. + +Then Dick's gaze, attracted by some slight sound, shot over his +friend's shoulder to see a face at the window--a handsome, bold, +sneering face, with glittering dark eyes that flashed in sinister +intentness. + +Dick stiffened in his seat. Thorne, with sudden clenching of hands, +wheeled toward the window. + +"Rojas!" he whispered. + + + + +Chapter II + +Mercedes Castaneda + +The dark face vanished. Dick Gale heard footsteps and the tinkle +of spurs. He strode to the window, and was in time to see a Mexican +swagger into the front door of the saloon. Dick had only a glimpse; +but in that he saw a huge black sombrero with a gaudy band, the back +of a short, tight-fitting jacket, a heavy pearl-handled gun swinging +with a fringe of sash, and close-fitting trousers spreading wide +at the bottom. There were men passing in the street, also several +Mexicans lounging against the hitching-rail at the curb. + +"Did you see him? Where did he go?" whispered Thorne, as he joined +Gale. "Those Greasers out there with the cartridge belts crossed +over their breasts--they are rebels." + +"I think he went into the saloon," replied Dick. "He had a gun, +but for all I can see the Greasers out there are unarmed." + +"Never believe it! There! Look, Dick! That fellow's a guard, +though he seems so unconcerned. See, he has a short carbine, almost +concealed....There's another Greaser farther down the path. I'm +afraid Rojas has the house spotted." + +"If we could only be sure." + +"I'm sure, Dick. Let's cross the hall; I want to see how it looks +from the other side of the house." + +Gale followed Thorne out of the restaurant into the high-ceiled +corridor which evidently divided the hotel, opening into the street +and running back to a patio. A few dim, yellow lamps flickered. +A Mexican with a blanket round his shoulders stood in the front entrance. +Back toward the patio there were sounds of boots on the stone floor. +Shadows flitted across that end of the corridor. Thorne entered a huge +chamber which was even more poorly lighted than the hall. It contained +a table littered with papers, a few high-backed chairs, a couple of couches, +and was evidently a parlor. + +"Mercedes has been meeting me here," said thorne. "At this hour +she comes every moment or so to the head of the stairs there, and +if I am here she comes down. Mostly there are people in this room +a little later. We go out into the plaza. It faces the dark side +of the house, and that's the place I must slip out with her if +there's any chance at all to get away." + +They peered out of the open window. The plaza was gloomy, and at +first glance apparently deserted. In a moment, however, Gale made +out a slow-pacing dark form on the path. Farther down there was +another. No particular keenness was required to see in these forms +a sentinel-like stealthiness. + +Gripping Gale's arm, Thorne pulled back from the window. + +"You saw them," he whispered. "It's just as I feared. Rojas has +the place surrounded. I should have taken Mercedes away. But I had +no time--no chance! I'm bound!...There's Mercedes now! My God!...Dick, +think--think if there's a way to get her out of this trap!" + +Gale turned as his friend went down the room. In the dim light at +the head of the stairs stood the slim, muffled figure of a woman. +When she saw Thorne she flew noiselessly down the stairway to him. +He caught her in his arms. Then she spoke softly, brokenly, in a +low, swift voice. It was a mingling of incoherent Spanish and +English; but to Gale it was mellow, deep, unutterably tender, a +voice full of joy, fear, passion, hope, and love. + +Upon Gale it had an unaccountable effect. He found himself thrilling, +wondering. + +Thorne led the girl to the center of the room, under the light where +Gale stood. She had raised a white hand, holding a black-laced +mantilla half aside. Dick saw a small, dark head, proudly held, +an oval face half hidden, white as a flower, and magnificent +black eyes. + +Then Thorne spoke. + +"Mercedes--Dick Gale, an old friend--the best friend I ever had." + +She swept the mantilla back over her head, disclosing a lovely face, +strange and striking to Gale in its pride and fire, its intensity. + +"Senor Gale--ah! I cannot speak my happiness. His friend!" + +"Yes, Mercedes; my friend and yours," said Thorne, speaking rapidly. +"We'll have need of him. Dear, there's bad news and no time to +break it gently. the priest did not come. He must have been +detained. And listen--be brave, dear Mercedes--Rojas is here!" + +She uttered an inarticulate cry, the poignant terror of which +shook Gale's nerve, and swayed as if she would faint. Thorne +caught her, and in husky voice importuned her to bear up. + +"My darling! For God's sake don't faint--don't go to pieces! +We'd be lost! We've got a chance. We'll think of something. Be +strong! Fight!" + +It was plain to Gale that Thorne was distracted. He scarcely knew +what he was saying. Please and shaking, he clasped Mercedes to him. +Her terror had struck him helpless. It was so intense--it was so +full of horrible certainty of what fate awaited her. + +She cried out in Spanish, beseeching him; and as he shook his head, +she changed to English: + +"Senor, my lover, I will be strong--I will fight--I will obey. +But swear by my Virgin, if need be to save me from Rojas--you will +kill me!" + +"Mercedes! Yes, I'll swear," he replied hoarsely. "I know--I'd +rather have you dead than-- But don't give up. Rojas can't be +sure of you, or he wouldn't wait. He's in there. He's got his +men there--all around us. But he hesitates. A beast like Rojas +doesn't stand idle for nothing. I tell you we've a chance. Dick, +here, will think of something. We'll slip away. Then he'll take +you somewhere. Only--speak to him--show him you won't weaken. +Mercedes, this is more than love and happiness for us. It's life +or death." + +She became quiet, and slowly recovered control of herself. + +Suddenly she wheeled to face Gale with proud dark eyes, tragic +sweetness of appeal, and exquisite grace. + +"Senor, you are an American. You cannot know the Spanish blood--the +peon bandit's hate and cruelty. I wish to die before Rojas's hand +touches me. If he takes me alive, then the hour, the little day +that my life lasts afterward will be tortured--torture of hell. +If I live two days his brutal men will have me. If I live three, +the dogs of his camp...Senor, have you a sister whom you love? +Help Senor Thorne to save me. He is a soldier. He is bound. +He must not betray his honor, his duty, for me....Ah, you two +splendid Americans--so big, so strong, so fierce! What is that +little black half-breed slave Rojas to such men? Rojas is a coward. +Now, let me waste no more precious time. I am ready. I will be +brave." + +She came close to Gale, holding out her white hands, a woman all +fire and soul and passion. to Gale she was wonderful. His heart +leaped. As he bent over her hands and kissed them he seemed to +feel himself renewed, remade. + +"Senorita," he said, "I am happy to be your servant. I can conceive +of no greater pleasure than giving the service you require." + +"And what is that?" inquired Thorne, hurriedly. + +"That of incapacitating Senor Rojas for to-night, and perhaps +several nights to come," replied Gale. + +"Dick, what will you do?" asked Thorne, now in alarm. + +"I'll make a row in that saloon," returned Dick, bluntly. "I'll +start something. I'll rush Rojas and his crowd. I'll--" + +"Lord, no; you mustn't, Dick--you'll be knifed!" cried Thorne. +He was in distress, yet his eyes were shining. + +"I'll take a chance. Maybe I can surprise that slow Greaser bunch +and get away before they know what's happened....You be ready +watching at the window. When the row starts those fellows out +there in the plaza will run into the saloon. Then you slip out, +go straight through the plaza down the street. It's a dark street, +I remember. I'll catch up with you before you get far." + +Thorne gasped, but did not say a word. Mercedes leaned against +him, her white hands now at her breast, her great eyes watching +Gale as he went out. + +In the corridor Gale stopped long enough to pull on a pair of heavy +gloves, to muss his hair, and disarrange his collar. Then he stepped +into the restaurant, went through, and halted in the door leading +into the saloon. His five feet eleven inches and one hundred and +eighty pounds were more noticeable there, and it was part of his +plan to attract attention to himself. No one, however, appeared +to notice him. The pool-players were noisily intent on their game, +the same crowd of motley-robed Mexicans hung over the reeking bar. +Gale's roving glance soon fixed upon the man he took to be Rojas. +He recognized the huge, high-peaked, black sombrero with its +ornamented band. The Mexican's face was turned aside. He was in +earnest, excited colloquy with a dozen or more comrades, most of +whom were sitting round a table. They were listening, talking, +drinking. The fact that they wore cartridge belts crossed over +their breasts satisfied that these were the rebels. He had noted +the belts of the Mexicans outside, who were apparently guards. A waiter +brought more drinks to this group at the table, and this caused +the leader to turn so Gale could see his face. It was indeed +the sinister, sneering face of the bandit Rojas. Gale gazed at +the man with curiosity. He was under medium height, and striking +in appearance only because of his dandified dress and evil visage. +He wore a lace scarf, a tight, bright-buttoned jacket, a buckskin +vest embroidered in red, a sash and belt joined by an enormous +silver clasp. Gale saw again the pearl-handled gun swinging at +the bandit's hip. Jewels flashed in his scarf. There were gold +rings in his ears and diamonds on his fingers. + +Gale became conscious of an inward fire that threatened to overrun +his coolness. Other emotions harried his self-control. It seemed +as if sight of the man liberated or created a devil in Gale. And +at the bottom of his feelings there seemed to be a wonder at himself, +a strange satisfaction for the something that had come to him. + +He stepped out of the doorway, down the couple of steps to the floor +of the saloon, and he staggered a little, simulating drunkenness. +He fell over the pool tables, jostled Mexicans at the bar, laughed +like a maudlin fool, and, with his hat slouched down, crowded here +and there. Presently his eye caught sight of the group of cowboys +whom he had before noticed with such interest. + +They were still in a corner somewhat isolated. With fertile mind +working, Gale lurched over to them. He remembered his many +unsuccessful attempts to get acquainted with cowboys. If he were +to get any help from these silent aloof rangers it must be by +striking fire from them in one swift stroke. Planting himself +squarely before the two tall cowboys who were standing, he looked +straight into their lean, bronzed faces. He spared a full moment +for that keen cool gaze before he spoke. + +"I'm not drunk. I'm throwing a bluff, and I mean to start a rough +house. I'm going to rush that damned bandit Rojas. It's to save +a girl--to give her lover, who is my friend, a chance to escape with her. +When I start a row my friend will try to slip out with her. Every door +and window is watched. I've got to raise hell to draw the guards in.... +Well, you're my countrymen. We're in Mexico. A beautiful girl's honor +and life are at stake. Now, gentlemen, watch me!" + +One cowboy's eyes narrowed, blinking a little, and his lean jaw +dropped; the other's hard face rippled with a fleeting smile. + +Gale backed away, and his pulse leaped when he saw the two cowboys, +as if with one purpose, slowly stride after him. Then Gale swerved, +staggering along, brushed against the tables, kicked over the empty +chairs. He passed Rojas and his gang, and out of the tail of his +eye saw that the bandit was watching him, waving his hands and +talking fiercely. The hum of the many voices grew louder, and +when Dick lurched against a table, overturning it and spilling +glasses into the laps of several Mexicans, there arose a shrill cry. +He had succeeded in attracting attention; almost every face turned +his way. One of the insulted men, a little tawny fellow, leaped +up to confront Gale, and in a frenzy screamed a volley of Spanish, +of which Gale distinguished "Gringo!" The Mexican stamped and +made a threatening move with his right hand. Dick swung his leg +and with a swift side kick knocked the fellows feet from under +him, whirling him down with a thud. + +The action was performed so suddenly, so adroitly, it made the +Mexican such a weakling, so like a tumbled tenpin, that the shrill +jabbering hushed. Gale knew this to be the significant moment. + +Wheeling, he rushed at Rojas. It was his old line-breaking plunge. +Neither Rojas nor his men had time to move. The black-skinned +bandit's face turned a dirty white; his jaw dropped; he would have +shrieked if Gale had not hit him. The blow swept him backward against +his men. Then Gale's heavy body, swiftly following with the momentum +of that rush, struck the little group of rebels. They went down +with table and chairs in a sliding crash. + +Gale carried by his plunge, went with them. Like a cat he landed +on top. As he rose his powerful hands fastened on Rojas. He +jerked the little bandit off the tangled pile of struggling, +yelling men, and, swinging him with terrific force, let go his +hold. Rojas slid along the floor, knocking over tables and chairs. +Gale bounded back, dragged Rojas up, handling him as if he were a +limp sack. + +A shot rang out above the yells. Gale heard the jingle of breaking +glass. The room darkened perceptibly. He flashed a glance backward. +The two cowboys were between him and the crowd of frantic rebels. +One cowboy held two guns low down, level in front of him. The other +had his gun raised and aimed. On the instant it spouted red and +white. With the crack came the crashing of glass, another darkening +shade over the room. With a cry Gale slung the bleeding Rojas from +him. The bandit struck a table, toppled over it, fell, and lay prone. + +Another shot made the room full of moving shadows, with light only +back of the bar. A white-clad figure rushed at Gale. He tripped +the man, but had to kick hard to disengage himself from grasping +hands. Another figure closed in on Gale. This one was dark, swift. +A blade glinted--described a circle alot. Simultaneously with a +close, red flash the knife wavered; the man wielding it stumbled +backward. In the din Gale did not hear a report, but the Mexican's +fall was significant. Then pandemonium broke loose. The din +became a roar. Gale heard shots that sounded like dull spats in +the distance. The big lamp behind the bar seemingly split, then +sputtered and went out, leaving the room in darkness. + +Gale leaped toward the restaurant door, which was outlined faintly +by the yellow light within. Right and left he pushed the groping +men who jostled with him. He vaulted a pool table, sent tables +and chairs flying, and gained the door, to be the first of a wedging +mob to squeeze through. One sweep of his arm knocked the restaurant +lamp from its stand; and he ran out, leaving darkness behind him. +A few bounds took him into the parlor. It was deserted. Thorne +had gotten away with Mercedes. + +It was then Gale slowed up. For the space of perhaps sixty seconds +he had been moving with startling velocity. He peered cautiously +out into the plaza. The paths, the benches, the shady places under +the trees contained no skulking men. He ran out, keeping to the +shade, and did not go into the path till he was halfway through +the plaza. Under a street lamp at the far end of the path he thought +he saw two dark figures. He ran faster, and soon reached the street. +The uproar back in the hotel began to diminish, or else he was +getting out of hearing. The few people he saw close at hand were +all coming his way, and only the foremost showed any excitement. +Gale walked swiftly, peering ahead for two figures. Presently he +saw them--one tall, wearing a cape; the other slight, mantled. Gale +drew a sharp breath of relief. Throne and Mercedes were not far ahead. + +From time to time Thorne looked back. He strode swiftly, almost +carrying Mercedes, who clung closely to him. She, too, looked back. +Once Gale saw her white face flash in the light of a street lamp. +He began to overhaul them; and soon, when the last lamp had been +passed and the street was dark, he ventured a whistle. Thorne +heard it, for he turned, whistled a low reply, and went on. Not +for some distance beyond, where the street ended in open country, +did they halt to wait. The desert began here. Gale felt the soft +sand under his feet and saw the grotesque forms of cactus. Then +he came up with the fugitives. + +"Dick! Are you--all right?" panted Thorne, grasping Gale. + +"I'm--out of breath--but--O.K.," replied Gale. + +"Good! Good!" choked Thorne. "I was scared--helpless....Dick, it +worked splendidly. We had no trouble. What on earth did you do?" + +"I made the row, all right," said Dick. + +"Good Heavens! It was like a row I once heard made by a mob. But +the shots, Dick--were they at you? They paralyzed me. Then the +yells. what happened? Those guards of Rojas ran round in front +at the first shot. Tell me what happened." + +"While I was rushing Rojas a couple of cowboys shot out the lamplights. +A Mexican who pulled a knife on me got hurt, I guess. Then I think +there was some shooting from the rebels after the room was dark." + +"Rushing Rojas?" queried Thorne, leaning close to Dick. His voice +was thrilling, exultant, deep with a joy that yet needed confirmation. +"What did you do to him?" + +"I handed him one off side, tackled, then tried a forward pass," +replied Dick, lightly speaking the football vernacular so familiar +to Thorne. + +Thorne leaned closer, his fine face showing fierce and corded in +the starlight. "Tell me straight," he demanded, in thick voice. + +Gale then divined something of the suffering Thorne had undergone +--something of the hot, wild, vengeful passion of a lover who must +have brutal truth. + +It stilled Dick's lighter mood, and he was about to reply when +Mercedes pressed close to him, touched his hands, looked up into +his face with wonderful eyes. He thought he would not soon forget +their beauty--the shadow of pain that had been, the hope dawning +so fugitively. + +"Dear lady," said Gale, with voice not wholly steady, "Rojas himself +will hound you no more to-night, nor for many nights." + +She seemed to shake, to thrill, to rise with the intelligence. +She pressed his hand close over her heaving breast. Gale felt +the quick throb of her heart. + +"Senor! Senor Dick!" she cried. Then her voice failed. But +her hands flew up; quick as a flash she raised her face--kissed +him. Then she turned and with a sob fell into Thorne's arms. + +There ensued a silence broken only by Mercedes' sobbing. Gale +walked some paces away. If he were not stunned, he certainly was +agitated. the strange, sweet fire of that girl's lips remained +with him. On the spur of the moment he imagined he had a jealousy +of Thorne. But presently this passed. It was only that he had +been deeply moved--stirred to the depths during the last hour--had +become conscious of the awakening of a spirit. What remained with +him now was the splendid glow of gladness that he had been of service +to Thorne. And by the intensity of Mercedes' abandon of relief and +gratitude he measured her agony of terror and the fate he had spared her. + +"Dick, Dick, come here!" called Thorne softly. "Let's pull ourselves +together now. We've got a problem yet. What to do? Where to go? +How to get any place? We don't dare risk the station--the corrals +where Mexicans hire out horses. We're on gold old U.S. ground this +minute, but we're not out of danger." + +As he paused, evidently hoping for a suggestion from Gale, the silence +was broken by the clear, ringing peal of a bugle. Thorne gave a +violent start. Then he bent over, listening. The beautiful notes +of the bugle floated out of the darkness, clearer, sharper, faster. + +"It's a call, Dick! It's a call!" he cried. + +Gale had no answer to make. Mercedes stood as if stricken. The +bugle call ended. From a distance another faintly pealed. There +were other sounds too remote to recognize. Then scattering shots +rattled out. + +"Dick, the rebels are fighting somebody," burst out + +Thorne, excitedly. "The little federal garrison still holds its +stand. Perhaps it is attacked again. Anyway, there's something +doing over the line. Maybe the crazy Greasers are firing on our +camp. We've feared it--in the dark....And here I am, away without +leave--practically a deserter!" + +"Go back! Go back, before you're too late!" cried Mercedes. + +"Better make tracks, Thorne," added Gale. "It can't help our +predicament for you to be arrested. I'll take care of Mercedes." + +"No, no, no," replied Thorne. "I can get away--avoid arrest." + +"That'd be all right for the immediate present. But it's not best +for the future. George, a deserter is a deserter!...Better hurry. +Leave the girl to me till tomorrow." + +Mercedes embraced her lover, begged him to go. Thorne wavered. + +"Dick, I'm up against it," he said. "You're right. If only I can +get back in time. but, oh, I hate to leave her! Old fellow, you've +saved her! I already owe you everlasting gratitude. Keep out of +Casita, Dick. The U.S. side might be safe, but I'm afraid to trust +it at night. Go out in the desert, up in the mountains, in some +safe place. Then come to me in camp. We'll plan. I'll have to +confide in Colonel Weede. Maybe he'll help us. Hide her from the +rebels--that's all." + +He wrung Dick's hand, clasped Mercedes tightly in his arms, kissed +her, and murmured low over her, then released her to rush off into +the darkness. He disappeared in the gloom. The sound of his dull +footfalls gradually died away. + +For a moment the desert silence oppressed Gale. He was unaccustomed +to such strange stillness. There was a low stir of sand, a rustle +of stiff leaves in the wind. How white the stars burned! Then a +coyote barked, to be bayed by a dog. Gale realized that he was +between the edge of an unknown desert and the edge of a hostile town. +He had to choose the desert, because, though he had no doubt that in Casita +there were many Americans who might befriend him, he could not chance +the risks of seeking them at night. + +He felt a slight touch on his arm, felt it move down, felt Mercedes +slip a trembling cold little hand into his. Dick looked at her. +She seemed a white-faced girl now, with staring, frightened black +eyes that flashed up at him. If the loneliness, the silence, the +desert, the unknown dangers of the night affected him, what must +they be to this hunted, driven girl? Gale's heart swelled. He +was alone with her. He had no weapon, no money, no food, no drink, +no covering, nothing except his two hands. He had absolutely no +knowledge of the desert, of the direction or whereabouts of the +boundary line between the republics; he did not know where to find +the railroad, or any road or trail, or whether or not there were +towns near or far. It was a critical, desperate situation. He +thought first of the girl, and groaned in spirit, prayed that it +would be given him to save her. When he remembered himself it was +with the stunning consciousness that he could conceive of no +situation which he would have exchanged for this one--where fortune +had set him a perilous task of loyalty to a friend, to a helpless +girl. + +"Senor, senor!" suddenly whispered Mercedes, clinging to him. +"Listen! I hear horses coming!" + + + +Chapter III + +A Flight Into The Desert + +Uneasy and startled, Gale listened and, hearing nothing, wondered +if Mercedes's fears had not worked upon her imagination. He felt +a trembling seize her, and he held her hands tightly. + +"You were mistaken, I guess," he whispered. + +"No, no, senor." + +Dick turned his ear to the soft wind. Presently he heard, or +imagined he heard, low beats. Like the first faint, far-off beats +of a drumming grouse, they recalled to him the Illinois forests of +his boyhood. In a moment he was certain the sounds were the padlike +steps of hoofs in yielding sand. The regular tramp was not that of +grazing horses. + +On the instant, made cautious and stealthy by alarm, Gale drew +Mercedes deeper into the gloom of the shrubbery. Sharp pricks from +thorns warned him that he was pressing into a cactus growth, and +he protected Mercedes as best he could. She was shaking as one with +a sever chill. She breathed with little hurried pants and leaned +upon him almost in collapse. Gale ground his teeth in helpless +rage at the girl's fate. If she had not been beautiful she might +still have been free and happy in her home. What a strange world +to live in--how unfair was fate! + +The sounds of hoofbeats grew louder. Gale made out a dark moving +mass against a background of dull gray. There was a line of horses. +He could not discern whether or not all the horses carried riders. +The murmur of a voice struck his ear--then a low laugh. It made him +tingle, for it sounded American. Eagerly he listened. There +was an interval when only the hoofbeats could be heard. + +"It shore was, Laddy, it shore was," came a voice out of the darkness. +"Rough house! Laddy, since wire fences drove us out of Texas we ain't +seen the like of that. An' we never had such a call." + +"Call? It was a burnin' roast," replied another voice. "I felt +low down. He vamoosed some sudden, an' I hope he an' his friends +shook the dust of Casita. That's a rotten town Jim." + +Gale jumped up in joy. What luck! The speakers were none other +than the two cowboys whom he had accosted in the Mexican hotel. + +"Hold on , fellows," he called out, and strode into the road. + +The horses snorted and stamped. Then followed swift rustling +sounds--a clinking of spurs, then silence. The figures loomed +clearer in the gloom.. Gale saw five or six horses, two with +riders, and one other, at least, carrying a pack. When Gale got +within fifteen feet of the group the foremost horseman said: + +"I reckon that's close enough, stranger." + +Something in the cowboy's hand glinted darkly bright in the starlight. + +"You'd recognize me, if it wasn't so dark," replied Gale, halting. +"I spoke to you a little while ago--in the saloon back there." + +"Come over an' let's see you," said the cowboy curtly. + +Gale advanced till he was close to the horse. The cowboy leaned +over the saddle and peered into Gale's face. Then, without a word, +he sheathed the gun and held out his hand. Gale met a grip of +steel that warmed his blood. The other cowboy got off his nervous, +spirited horse and threw the bridle. He, too, peered closely into +Gale's face. + +"My name's Ladd," he said. "Reckon I'm some glad to meet you again.? + +Gale felt another grip as hard and strong as the other had been. He +realized he had found friends who belonged to a class of men whom he +had despaired of ever knowing. + +"Gale--Dick Gale is my name," he began, swiftly. "I dropped into +Casita to-night hardly knowing where I was. A boy took me to that +hotel. There I met an old friend whom I had not seen for years. +He belongs to the cavalry stationed here. He had befriended a +Spanish girl--fallen in love with her. Rojas had killed this girl's +father--tried to abduct her....You know what took place at the hotel. +Gentlemen, if it's ever possible, I'll show you how I appreciate +what you did for me there. I got away, found my friend with the +girl. We hurried out here beyond the edge of town. Then Thorne +had to make a break for camp. We heard bugle calls, shots, and he +was away without leave. That left the girl with me. I don't know +what to do. Thorne swears Casita is no place for Mercedes at night." + +"The girl ain't no peon, no common Greaser?" interrupted Ladd. + +"No. Her name is Castaneda. She belongs to an old Spanish family, +once rich and influential." + +"Reckoned as much," replied the cowboy. "There's more than Rojas's +wantin' to kidnap a pretty girl. Shore he does that every day or so. +Must be somethin' political or feelin' against class. Well, Casita +ain't no place for your friend's girl at night or day, or any time. +Shore, there's Americans who'd take her in an' fight for her, if +necessary. But it ain't wise to risk that. Lash, what do you say?" + +"It's been gettin' hotter round this Greaser corral for some weeks," +replied the other cowboy. "If that two-bit of a garrison surrenders, +there's no tellin' what'll happen. Orozco is headin' west from Agua Prieta +with his guerrillas. Campo is burnin' bridges an' tearin' up the railroad +south of Nogales. Then there's all these bandits callin' themselves +revolutionists just for an excuse to steal, burn, kill, an' ride +off with women. It's plain facts, Laddy, an' bein' across the U.S. +line a few inches or so don't make no hell of a difference. My advice +is, don't let Miss Castaneda ever set foot in Casita again." + +"Looks like you've shore spoke sense," said Ladd. "I reckon, Gale, +you an' the girl ought to come with us. Casita shore would be a +little warm for us to-morrow. We didn't kill anybody, but I shot +a Greaser's arm off, an' Lash strained friendly relations by destroyin' +property. We know people who'll take care of the senorita till +your friend can come for her." + +Dick warmly spoke his gratefulness, and, inexpressibly relieved and +happy for Mercedes, he went toward the clump of cactus where he had +left her. She stood erect, waiting, and, dark as it was, he could +tell she had lost the terror that had so shaken her. + +"Senor Gale, you are my good angel," she said, tremulously. + +"I've been lucky to fall in with these men, and I'm glad with all +my heart," he replied. "Come." + +He led her into the road up to the cowboys, who now stood bareheaded +in the starlight. The seemed shy, and Lash was silent while Ladd +made embarrassed, unintelligible reply to Mercedes's's thanks. + +There were five horses--two saddled, two packed, and the remaining +one carried only a blanket. Ladd shortened the stirrups on his +mount, and helped Mercedes up into the saddle. From the way she +settled herself and took the few restive prances of the mettlesome +horse Gale judged that she could ride. Lash urged Gale to take his +horse. But his Gale refused to do. + +"I'll walk," he said. "I'm used to walking. I know cowboys are not." + +They tried again to persuade him, without avail. Then Ladd started off, +riding bareback. Mercedes fell in behind, with Gale walking beside her. +The two pack animals came next, and Lash brought up the rear. + +Once started with protection assured for the girl and a real objective +point in view, Gale relaxed from the tense strain he had been laboring +under. How glad he would have been to acquaint Thorne with their +good fortune! Later, of course, there would be some way to get word +to the cavalryman. But till then what torments his friend would suffer! + +It seemed to Dick that a very long time had elapsed since he stepped +off the train; and one by one he went over every detail of incident +which had occurred between that arrival and the present moment. Strange +as the facts were, he had no doubts. He realized that before that +night he had never known the deeps of wrath undisturbed in him; he +had never conceived even a passing idea that it was possible for him +to try to kill a man. His right hand was swollen stiff, so sore +that he could scarcely close it. His knuckles were bruised and +bleeding, and ached with a sharp pain. Considering the thickness of +his heavy glove, Gale was of the opinion that so to bruise his hand +he must have struck Rojas a powerful blow. He remembered that for +him to give or take a blow had been nothing. This blow to Rojas, +however, had been a different matter. The hot wrath which had been +his motive was not puzzling; but the effect on him after he had +cooled off, a subtle difference, something puzzled and eluded him. +The more it baffled him the more he pondered. All those wandering +months of his had been filled with dissatisfaction, yet he had been +too apathetic to understand himself. So he had not been much of +a person to try.. Perhaps it had not been the blow to Rojas any +more than other things that had wrought some change in him. + +His meeting with Thorne; the wonderful black eyes of a Spanish +girl; her appeal to him; the hate inspired by Rojas, and the rush, +the blow, the action; sight of Thorne and Mercedes hurrying safely away; +the girl's hand pressing his to her heaving breast; the sweet fire +of her kiss; the fact of her being alone with him, dependent upon him-- +all these things Gale turned over and over in his mind, only to fail +of any definite conclusion as to which had affect him so remarkably, +or to tell what had really happened to him. + +Had he fallen in love with Thorne's sweetheart? The idea came in +a flash. Was he, all in an instant, and by one of those incomprehensible +reversals of character, jealous of his friend? Dick was almost afraid +to look up at Mercedes. Still he forced himself to do so, and as it +chanced Mercedes was looking down at him. Somehow the light was +better, and he clearly saw her white face, her black and starry eyes, +her perfect mouth. With a quick, graceful impulsiveness she put +her hand upon his shoulder. Like her appearance, the action was +new, strange, striking to Gale; but it brought home suddenly to him +the nature of gratitude and affection in a girl of her blood. It was +sweet and sisterly. He knew then that he had not fallen in love +with her. The feeling that was akin to jealousy seemed to be of +the beautiful something for which Mercedes stood in Thorne's life. +Gale then grasped the bewildering possibilities, the infinite wonder +of what a girl could mean to a man. + +The other haunting intimations of change seemed to be elusively +blended with sensations--the heat and thrill of action, the sense +of something done and more to do, the utter vanishing of an old +weary hunt for he knew not what. Maybe it had been a hunt +for work, for energy, for spirit, for love, for his real self. +Whatever it might be, there appeared to be now some hope of +finding it. + +The desert began to lighten. Gray openings in the border of shrubby +growths changed to paler hue. The road could be seen some rods +ahead, and it had become a stony descent down, steadily down. +Dark, ridged backs of mountains bounded the horizon, and all seemed +near at hand, hemming in the plain. In the east a white glow grew brighter +and brighter, reaching up to a line of cloud, defined sharply below by +a rugged notched range. Presently a silver circle rose behind the +black mountain, and the gloom of the desert underwent a transformation. +From a gray mantle it changed to a transparent haze. The moon +was rising. + +"Senor I am cold," said Mercedes. + +Dick had been carrying his coat upon his arm. He had felt warm, +even hot, and had imagined that the steady walk had occasioned +it. But his skin was cool. The heat came from an inward burning. +He stopped the horse and raised the coat up, and helped Mercedes +put it on. + +"I should have thought of you," he said. "But I seemed to feel +warm . . . The coat's a little large; we might wrap it round you +twice." + +Mercedes smiled and lightly thanked him in Spanish. The flash +of mood was in direct contrast to the appealing, passionate, +and tragic states in which he had successively viewed her; and +it gave him a vivid impression of what vivacity and charm she might +possess under happy conditions. He was about to start when he +observed that Ladd had halted and was peering ahead in evident +caution. Mercedes' horse began to stamp impatiently, raised his +hears and head, and acted as if he was about to neigh. + +A warning "hist!" from Ladd bade Dick to put a quieting hand on +the horse. Lash came noiselessly forward to join his companion. +The two then listened and watched. + +An uneasy yet thrilling stir ran through Gale's veins. This scene +was not fancy. These men of the ranges had heard or seen or +scented danger. It was all real, as tangible and sure as the +touch of Mercedes's hand upon his arm. Probably for her the +night had terrors beyond Gale's power to comprehend. He looked +down into the desert, and would have felt no surprise at anything hidden +away among the bristling cactus, the dark, winding arroyos, the shadowed +rocks with their moonlit tips, the ragged plain leading to the black +bold mountains. The wind appeared to blow softly, with an almost +imperceptible moan, over the desert. That was a new sound to Gale. +But he heard nothing more. + +Presently Lash went to the rear and Ladd started ahead. The progress +now, however, was considerably slower, not owing to a road--for that +became better--but probably owing to caution exercised by the +cowboy guide. At the end of a half hour this marked deliberation +changed, and the horses followed Ladd's at a gait that put Gale to +his best walking-paces. + +Meanwhile the moon soared high above the black corrugated peaks. +The gray, the gloom, the shadow whitened. The clearing of the dark +foreground appeared to lift a distant veil and show endless aisles of +desert reaching down between dim horizon-bounding ranges. + +Gale gazed abroad, knowing that as this night was the first time +for him to awake to consciousness of a vague, wonderful other +self, so it was one wherein he began to be aware of an encroaching +presence of physical things--the immensity of the star-studded sky, +the soaring moon, the bleak, mysterious mountains, and limitless +slope, and plain, and ridge, and valley. These things in all their +magnificence had not been unnoticed by him before; only now they +spoke a different meaning. A voice that he had never heard called +him to see, to fee the vast hard externals of heaven and earth, all +that represented the open, the free, silence and solitude and space. + +Once more his thoughts, like his steps, were halted by Ladd's actions. +The cowboy reined in his horse, listened a moment, then swung down +out of the saddle. He raised a cautioning hand to the others, then +slipped into the gloom and disappeared. Gale marked that the halt +had been made in a ridged and cut-up pass between low mesas. +He could see the columns of cactus standing out black against +the moon-white sky. The horses were evidently tiring, for the showed +no impatience. Gale heard their panting breaths, and also the bark +of some animal--a dog or a coyote. It sounded like a dog, and this +led Gale to wonder if there was any house near at hand. To the +right, up under the ledges some distance away, stood two square +black objects, too uniform, he thought, to be rocks. While he was +peering at them, uncertain what to think, the shrill whistle of a +horse pealed out, to be followed by the rattling of hoofs on hard +stone. Then a dog barked. At the same moment that Ladd hurriedly +appeared in the road a light shone out and danced before one of +the square black objects. + +"Keep close an' don't make no noise," he whispered, and led his +horse at right angles off the road. + +Gale followed, leading Mercedes's horse. As he turned he observed +that Lash also had dismounted. + +To keep closely at Ladd's heels without brushing the cactus or +stumbling over rocks and depressions was a task Gale found impossible. +After he had been stabbed several times by the bayonetlike spikes, +which seemed invisible, the matter of caution became equally one +of self-preservation. Both the cowboys, Dick had observed, wore +leather chaps. It was no easy matter to lead a spirited horse +through the dark, winding lanes walled by thorns. Mercedes horse +often balked and had to be coaxed and carefully guided. Dick +concluded that Ladd was making a wide detour. The position of +certain stars grown familiar during the march veered round from +one side to another. Dick saw that the travel was fast, but by +no means noiseless. The pack animals at times crashed and ripped +through the narrow places. It seemed to Gale that any one within +a mile could have heard these sounds. From the tops of knolls or +ridges he looked back, trying to locate the mesas where the light +had danced and the dog had barked alarm. He could not distinguish +these two rocky eminences from among many rising in the background. + +Presently Ladd let out into a wider lane that appeared to run +straight. The cowboy mounted his horse, and this fact convinced +Gale that they had circled back to the road. The march proceeded +then once more at a good, steady, silent walk. When Dick consulted +his watch he was amazed to see that the hour was till early. How +much had happened in little time! He now began to be aware that +the night was growing colder; and, strange to him, he felt something +damp that in a country he knew he would have recognized as dew. +He had not been aware there was dew on the desert. The wind blew +stronger, the stars shone whiter, the sky grew darker, and the moon +climbed toward the zenith. The road stretched level for miles, then +crossed arroyos and ridges, wound between mounds of broken +ruined rock, found a level again, and then began a long ascent. +Dick asked Mercedes if she was cold, and she answered that she +was, speaking especially of her feet, which were growing numb. +Then she asked to be helped down to walk awhile. At first she was +cold and lame, and accepted the helping hand Dick proffered. After +a little, however, she recovered and went on without assistance. +Dick could scarcely believe his eyes, as from time to time he stole +a sidelong glance at this silent girl, who walked with lithe and +rapid stride. She was wrapped in his long coat, yet it did not hide +her slender grace. He could not see her face, which was concealed +by the black mantle. + +A low-spoken word from Ladd recalled Gale to the question of +surroundings and of possible dangers. Ladd had halted a few yards +ahead. They had reached the summit of what was evidently a high +ridge which sloped with much greater steepness on the far side. +It was only after a few more forward steps, however, that Dick +could see down the slope. Then full in view flashed a bright +campfire around which clustered a group of dark figures. They +were encamped in a wide arroyo, where horses could be seen grazing +in black patches of grass between clusters of trees. A second look +at the campers told Gale they were Mexicans. At this moment Lash +came forward to join Ladd, and the two spend a long, uninterrupted +moment studying the arroyo. A hoarse laugh, faint yet distinct, +floated up on the cool wind. + +"Well, Laddy, what're you makin' of that outfit?" inquired Lash, +speaking softly. + +"Same as any of them raider outfits," replied Ladd. "They're +across the line for beef. But they'll run off any good stock. As +hoss thieves these rebels have got 'em all beat. That outfit is +waitin' till it's late. There's a ranch up the arroyo." + +Gale heard the first speaker curse under his breath. + +"Shore, I feel the same," said Ladd. "But we've got a girl an' +the young man to look after, not to mention our pack outfit. +An' we're huntin' for a job, not a fight, old hoss. Keep on your chaps!" + +"Nothin' to it but head south for the Rio Forlorn." + +"You're talkin' sense now, Jim. I wish we'd headed that way long +ago. But it ain't strange I'd want to travel away from the border, +thinkin' of the girl. Jim, we can't go round this Greaser outfit +an' strike the road again. Too rough. So we'll have to give up +gettin' to San Felipe." + +"Perhaps it's just as well, Laddy. Rio Forlorn is on the border +line, but it's country where these rebels ain't been yet." + +"Wait till they learn of the oasis an' Beldin's hosses!" exclaimed +Laddy. "I'm not anticipatin' peace anywhere along the border, +Jim. but we can't go ahead; we can't go back." + +"What'll we do, Laddy" It's a hike to Beldin's ranch. An' if we +get there in daylight some Greaser will see the girl before Beldin' +can hide her. It'll get talked about. The news'll travel to Casita +like sage balls before the wind." + +"Shore we won't ride into Rio Forlorn in the daytime. Let's slip +the packs, Jim. We can hid them off in the cactus an' come back +after them. With the young man ridin' we--" + +The whispering was interrupted by a loud ringing neigh that whistled +up from the arroyo. One of the horses had scented the travelers +on the ridge top. The indifference of the Mexicans changed to +attention. + +Ladd and Lash turned back and led the horses into the first opening +on the south side of the road. There was nothing more said at the +moment, and manifestly the cowboys were in a hurry. Gale had to +run in the open places to keep up. When they did stop it was +welcome to Gale, for he had begun to fall behind. + +The packs were slipped, securely tied and hidden in a mesquite +clump. Ladd strapped a blanket around one of the horses. His +next move was to take off his chaps. + +"Gale, you're wearin' boots, an' by liftin' your feet you can beat +the cactus," he whispered. "But the--the--Miss Castaneda, +she'll be torn all to pieces unless she puts these on. Please +tell her--an' hurry." + +Dick took the caps, and, going up to Mercedes, he explained the +situation. She laughed, evidently at his embarrassed earnestness, +and slipped out of the saddle. + +"Senor, chapparejos and I are not strangers," she said. + +Deftly and promptly she equipped herself, and then Gale helped +her into the saddle, called to her horse, and started off. Lash +directed Gale to mount the other saddled horse and go next. + +Dick had not ridden a hundred yards behind the trotting leaders +before he had sundry painful encounters with reaching cactus arms. +The horse missed these by a narrow margin. Dick's knees appeared +to be in line, and it be came necessary for him to lift them high and +let his boots take the onslaught of the spikes. He was at home +in the saddle, and the accomplishment was about the only one he +possessed that had been of any advantage during his sojourn in the West. + +Ladd pursued a zigzag course southward across the desert, trotting +down the aisles, cantering in wide, bare patches, walking through +the clumps of cacti. The desert seemed all of a sameness to +Dick--a wilderness of rocks and jagged growths hemmed in by +lowering ranges, always looking close, yet never growing any nearer. +The moon slanted back toward the west, losing its white radiance, +and the gloom of the earlier evening began to creep into the washes +and to darken under the mesas. By and by Ladd entered an arroyo, +and here the travelers turned and twisted with the meanderings +of a dry stream bed. At the head of a canyon they had to take +once more to the rougher ground. Always it led down, always it +grew rougher, more rolling, with wider bare spaces, always the +black ranges loomed close. + +Gale became chilled to the bone, and his clothes were damp and cold. +His knees smarted from the wounds of the poisoned thorns, and his +right hand was either swollen stiff or too numb to move. Moreover, +he was tiring. The excitement, the long walk, the miles on miles +of jolting trot--these had wearied him. Mercedes must be made of +steel, he thought, to stand all that she had been subjected to and +yet, when the stars were paling and dawn perhaps not far away, +stay in the saddle. + +So Dick Gale rode on, drowsier for each mile, and more and more +giving the horse a choice of ground. Sometimes a prod from a +murderous spine roused Dick. A grayness had blotted out the waning +moon in the west and the clear, dark, starry sky overhead. Once +when Gale, thinking to fight his weariness, raised his head, he saw +that one of the horses in the lead was riderless. Ladd was carrying +Mercedes. Dick marveled that her collapse had not come sooner. +Another time, rousing himself again, he imagined they were now +on a good hard road. + +It seemed that hours passed, though he knew only little time had +elapsed, when once more he threw off the spell of weariness. He +heard a dog bark. Tall trees lined the open lane down which he +was riding. Presently in the gray gloom he saw low, square houses +with flat roofs. Ladd turned off to the left down another lane, +gloomy between trees. Every few rods there was one of the squat +houses. This lane opened into wider, lighter space. The cold air +bore a sweet perfume--whether of flowers or fruit Dick could not +tell. Ladd rode on for perhaps a quarter of a mile, though it seemed +interminably long to Dick. A grove of trees loomed dark in the +gray morning. Ladd entered it and was lost in the shade. Dick +rode on among trees. Presently he heard voices, and soon another +house, low and flat like the others, but so long he could not see +the farther end, stood up blacker than the trees. As he dismounted, +cramped and sore, he could scarcely stand. Lash came alongside. +He spoke, and some one with a big, hearty voice replied to him. +Then it seemed to Dick that he was led into blackness like pitch, +where, presently, he felt blankets thrown on him and then his +drowsy faculties faded. + + + +IV + +Forlorn River + +When Dick opened his eyes a flood of golden sunshine streamed in +at the open window under which he lay. His first thought was one +of blank wonder as to where in the world he happened to be. The +room was large, square, adobe-walled. It was littered with saddles, +harness, blankets. Upon the floor was a bed spread out upon a +tarpaulin. Probably this was where some one had slept. The sight +of huge dusty spurs, a gun belt with sheath and gun, and a pair +of leather chaps bristling with broken cactus thorns recalled to +Dick the cowboys, the ride, Mercedes, and the whole strange adventure +that had brought him there. + +He did not recollect having removed his boots; indeed, upon second +thought, he knew he had not done so. But there they stood upon +the floor. Ladd and Lash must have taken them off when he was so +exhausted and sleepy that he could not tell what was happening. +He felt a dead weight of complete lassitude, and he did not want to +move. A sudden pain in his hand caused him to hold it up. It was +black and blue, swollen to almost twice its normal size, and stiff +as a board. The knuckles were skinned and crusted with dry blood. +Dick soliloquized that it was the worst-looking hand he had seen +since football days, and that it would inconvenience him for some +time. + +A warm, dry, fragrant breeze came through the window. Dick caught +again the sweet smell of flowers or fruit. He heard the fluttering +of leaves, the murmur of running water, the twittering of birds, +then the sound of approaching footsteps and voices. The door at +the far end of the room was open. Through it he saw poles of peeled +wood upholding a porch roof, a bench, rose bushes in bloom, grass, +and beyond these bright-green foliage of trees. + +"He shore was sleepin' when I looked in an hour ago," said a voice +that Kick recognized as Ladd's. + +"Let him sleep," came the reply in deep, good-natured tones. "Mrs. +b. says the girl's never moved. Must have been a tough ride for +them both. Forty miles through cactus!" + +"Young Gale hoofed darn near half the way," replied Ladd. "We +tried to make him ride one of our hosses. If we had, we'd never +got here. A walk like that'd killed me an' Jim." + +"Well, Laddy, I'm right down glad to see you boys, and I'll do all +I can for the young couple," said the other. "But I'm doing some +worry here; don't mistake me." + +"About your stock?" + +"I've got only a few head of cattle at the oasis now, I'm worrying +some, mostly about my horses. The U. S. is doing some worrying, +too, don't mistake me. The rebel have worked west and north as +far as Casita. There are no cavalrymen along the line beyond +Casita, and there can't be. It's practically waterless desert. But +these rebels are desert men. They could cross the line beyond the +Rio Forlorn and smuggle arms into Mexico. Of course, my job is to +keep tab on Chinese and Japs trying to get into the U.S. from +Magdalena Bay. But I'm supposed to patrol the border line. I'm +going to hire some rangers. Now, I'm not so afraid of being shot +up, though out in this lonely place there's danger of it; what I'm +afraid of most is losing that bunch of horses. If any rebels come +this far, or if they ever hear of my horses, they're going to raid +me. You know what those guerrilla Mexicans will do for horses. +They're crazy on horse flesh. They know fine horses. They breed +the finest in the world. So I don't sleep nights any more." + +"Reckon me an' Jim might as well tie up with your for a spell, +Beldin'. We've been ridin' up an' down Arizona tryin' to keep out +of sight of wire fences." + +"Laddy, it's open enough around Forlorn River to satisfy even an +old-time cowpuncher like you," laughed Belding. "I'd take your +staying on as some favor, don't mistake me. Perhaps I can persuade +the young man Gale to take a job with me." + +"That's shore likely. He said he had no money, no friends. An' +if a scrapper's all you're lookin' for he'll do," replied Ladd, with +a dry chuckle. + +"Mrs. B. will throw some broncho capers round this ranch when +she hears I'm going to hire a stranger." + +"Why?" + +"Well, there's Nell-- And you said this Gale was a young American. +My wife will be scared to death for fear Nell will fall in love +with him." + +Laddy choked off a laugh, then evidently slapped his knee or +Belding's, for there was a resounding smack. + +"He's a fine-spoken, good-looking chap, you said?" went on Belding. + +"Shore he is," said Laddy, warmly. "What do you say, Jim?" + +By this time Dick Gale's ears began to burn and he was trying to +make himself deaf when he wanted to hear every little word. + +"Husky young fellow, nice voice, steady, clear eyes, kinda proud, +I thought, an' some handsome, he was," replied Jim Lash. + +"Maybe I ought to think twice before taking a stranger into my +family," said Belding, seriously. "Well, I guess he's all right, +Laddy, being the cavalryman's friend. No bum or lunger? He must +be all right?" + +"Bum? Lunger? Say, didn't I tell you I shook hands +with this boy an' was plumb glad to meet him?" demanded Laddy, +with considerable heat. Manifestly he had been affronted. +"Tom Beldin', he's a gentleman, an' he could lick you in-- +in half a second. How about that, Jim?" + +"Less time," replied Lash. "Tom, here's my stand. Young Gale can +have my hoss, my gun, anythin' of mine." + +"Aw, I didn't mean to insult you, boys, don't mistake me," said Belding. +"Course he's all right." + +The object of this conversation lay quiet upon his bed, thrilling and +amazed at being so championed by the cowboys, delighted with +Belding's idea of employing him, and much amused with the quaint +seriousness of the three. + +"How's the young man?" called a woman's voice. It was kind and +mellow and earnest. + +Gale heard footsteps on flagstones. + +"He's asleep yet, wife," replied Belding. "Guess he was pretty +much knocked out....I'll close the door there so we won't wake him." + +There were slow, soft steps, then the door softly closed. But the +fact scarcely made a perceptible difference in the sound of the +voices outside. + +"Laddy and Jim are going to stay," went on Belding. "It'll be like +the old Panhandle days a little. I'm powerful glad to have the +boys, Nellie. You know I meant to sent to Casita to ask them. +We'll see some trouble before the revolution is ended. I think +I'll make this young man Gale an offer." + +"He isn't a cowboy?" asked Mrs. Belding, quickly. + +"No." + +"Shore he'd make a darn good one," put in Laddy. + +"What is he? Who is he? Where did he come from? Surely you must +be--" + +"Laddy swears he's all right," interrupted the husband. "That's +enough reference for me. Isn't it enough for you?" + +"Humph! Laddy knows a lot about young men, now doesn't he, +especially strangers from the East?...Tom, you must be careful!" + +"Wife, I'm only too glad to have a nervy young chap come along. +What sense is there in your objection, if Jim and Laddy stick up +for him?" + +"But, Tom--he'll fall in love with Nell!" protested Mrs. Belding. + +"Well, wouldn't that be regular? Doesn't every man who comes +along fall in love with Nell? Hasn't it always happened? When +she was a schoolgirl in Kansas didn't it happen? Didn't she have +a hundred moon-eyed ninnies after her in Texas? I've had some +peace out here in the desert, except when a Greaser or a prospector +or a Yaqui would come along. Then same old story-- in love with Nell!" + +"But, Tom, Nell might fall in love with this young man!" exclaimed +the wife, in distress. + +"Laddy, Jim, didn't I tell you?" cried Belding. "I knew she'd say +that....My dear wife, I would be simply overcome with joy if Nell +did fall in love once. Real good and hard! She's wilder than any +antelope out there on the desert. Nell's nearly twenty now, and +so far as we know she's never cared a rap for any fellow. And +she's just as gay and full of the devil as she was at fourteen. +Nell's as good and lovable as she is pretty, but I'm afraid she'll +never grow into a woman while we live out in this lonely land. +And you've always hated towns where there was a chance for +the girl--just because you were afraid she'd fall in love. You've +always been strange, even silly, about that. I've done my best +for Nell--loved her as if she were my own daughter. I've changed +many business plans to suit your whims. There are rough times +ahead, maybe. I need men. I'll hire this chap Gale if he'll stay. +Let Nell take her chance with him, just as she'll have to take +chances with men when we get out of the desert. She'll be all +the better for it." + +"I hope Laddy's not mistaken in his opinion of this newcomer," +replied Mrs. Belding, with a sigh of resignation. + +"Shore I never made a mistake in my life figger'n' people," said +Laddy, stoutly. + +"Yes, you have, Laddy," replied Mrs. Belding. "You're wrong about +Tom....Well, supper is to be got. That young man and the girl will +be starved. I'll go in now. If Nell happens around don't--don't +flatter her, Laddy, like you did at dinner. Don't make her think +of her looks." + +Dick heard Mrs. Belding walk away. + +"Shore she's powerful particular about that girl," observed Laddy. +"Say, Tom, Nell knows she's pretty, doesn't she?" + +"She's liable to find it out unless you shut up, Laddy. When you +visited us out here some weeks ago, you kept paying cowboy +compliments to her." + +"An' it's your idea that cowboy compliments are plumb bad for +girls?" + +"Downright bad, Laddy, so my wife says." + +"I'll be darned if I believe any girl can be hurt by a little sweet +talk. It pleases 'em....But say, Beldin', speaking of looks, have you +got a peek yet at the Spanish girl?" + +"Not in the light." + +"Well, neither have I in daytime. I had enough by moonlight. +Nell is some on looks, but I'm regretful passin' the ribbon to the +lady from Mex. Jim, where are you?" + +"My money's on Nell," replied Lash. "Gimme a girl with flesh an' +color, an' blue eyes a-laughin'. Miss Castaneda is some peach, +I'll not gainsay. But her face seemed too white. An' when she +flashed those eyes on me, I thought I was shot! When she stood +up there at first, thankin' us, I felt as if a--a princess was round +somewhere. Now, Nell is kiddish an' sweet an'--" + +"Chop it," interrupted Belding. "Here comes Nell now." + +Dick's tingling hears took in the pattering of light footsteps, +the rush of some one running. + +"Here you are," cried a sweet, happy voice. "Dad, the Senorita +is perfectly lovely. I've been peeping at her. She sleeps like--like +death. She's so white. Oh, I hope she won't be ill." + +"Shore she's only played out," said Laddy. " But she had spunk +while it lasted....I was just arguin' with Jim an' Tom about Miss +Castaneda." + +"Gracious! Why, she's beautiful. I never saw any one so +beautiful....How strange and sad, that about her! Tell me more, +Laddy. You promised. I'm dying to know. I never hear anything +in this awful place. Didn't you say the Senorita had a sweetheart?" + +"Shore I did." + +"And he's a cavalryman?" + +"Yes." + +"Is he the young man who came with you?" + +"Nope. That fellow's the one who saved the girl from Rojas." + +"Ah! Where is he, Laddy?" + +"He's in there asleep." + +"Is he hurt?" + +"I reckon not. He walked about fifteen miles." + +"Is he--nice, Laddy?" + +"Shore." + +"What is he like?" + +"Well, I'm not long acquainted, never say him by day, but I was +some tolerable took with him. An' Jim here, Jim says the young +man can have his gun an' his hoss." + +"Wonderful! Laddy, what on earth did this stranger do to win you +cowboys in just one night?" + +"I'll shore have to tell you. Me an' Jim were watchin' a game of +cards in the Del Sol saloon in Casita. That's across the line. +We had acquaintances--four fellows from the Cross Bar outfit, +where we worked a while back. This Del Sol is a billiard hall, +saloon, restaurant, an' the like. An' it was full of Greasers. +Some of Camp's rebels were there drinkin' an' playin' games. +Then pretty soon in come Rojas with some of his outfit. +They were packin' guns an' kept to themselves off to one side. +I didn't give them a second look till Jim said he reckoned +there was somethin' in the wind. Then, careless-like, +I began to peek at Rojas. They call Rojas the 'dandy rebel,' an' +he shore looked the part. It made me sick to see him in all that +lace an' glitter, knowin' him to be the cutthroat robber he is. +It's no oncommon sight to see excited Greasers. They're all crazy. +But this bandit was shore some agitated. He kept his men in a +tight bunch round a table. He talked an' waved his hands. He was +actually shakin'. His eyes had a wild glare. Now I figgered that +trouble was brewin', most likely for the little Casita garrison. +People seemed to think Campo an' Rojas would join forces to oust +the federals. Jim thought Rojas's excitement was at the hatchin' +of some plot. Anyway, we didn't join no card games, an' without +pretendin' to, we was some watchful. + +"A little while afterward I seen a fellow standin' in the restaurant +door. He was a young American dressed in corduroys and boots, +like a prospector. You know it's no onusual fact to see prospectors +in these parts. What made me think twice about this one was how +big he seemed, how he filled up that door. He looked round the +saloon, an' when he spotted Rojas he sorta jerked up. Then he +pulled his slouch hat lopsided an' began to stagger down, down the +steps. First off I mad shore he was drunk. But I remembered he +didn't seem drunk before. It was some queer. So I watched that +young man. + +"He reeled around the room like a fellow who was drunker'n a lord. +Nobody but me seemed to notice him. Then he began to stumble over +pool-players an' get his fact tangled up in chairs an' bump against tables. +He got some pretty hard looks. He came round our way, an' all of a sudden +he seen us cowboys. He gave another start, like the one when +he first seen Rojas, then he made for us. I tipped Jim off that +somethin' was doin'. + +"When he got close he straightened up, put back his slouch hat, +an' looked at us. Then I saw his face. It sorta electrified yours +truly. It was white, with veins standin' out an' eyes flamin'--a +face of fury. I was plumb amazed, didn't know what to think. +Then this queer young man shot some cool, polite words at me an' Jim. + +"He was only bluffin' at bein' drunk--he meant to rush Rojas, to +start a rough house. Then bandit was after a girl. This girl was +in the hotel, an' she was the sweetheart of a soldier, the young +fellow's friend. The hotel was watched by Rojas's guards, an' +the plan was to make a fuss an' get the girl away in the excitement. +Well, Jim an' me got a hint of our bein' Americans--that cowboys +generally had a name for loyalty to women. Then this amazin' +chap--you can't imagine how scornful--said for me an' Jim to watch him. + +"Before I could catch my breath an' figger out what he meant by +'rush' an' 'rough house' he had knocked over a table an' crowded +some Greaser half off the map. One little funny man leaped up like +a wild monkey an' began to screech. An' in another second he was +in the air upside down. When he lit, he laid there. Then, quicker'n +I can tell you, the young man dove at Rojas. Like a mad steer on the +rampage he charged Rojas an' his men. The whole outfit went +down--smash! I figgered then what 'rush' meant. The young fellow +came up out of the pile with Rojas, an' just like I'd sling an empty +sack along the floor he sent the bandit. But swift as that went +he was on top of Rojas before the chairs an' tables had stopped +rollin'. + +"I woke up then, an' made for the center of the room. + +Jim with me. I began to shoot out the lamps. Jim throwed his +guns on the crazy rebels, an' I was afraid there'd be blood spilled +before I could get the room dark. Bein's shore busy, I lost sight of +the young fellow for a second or so, an' when I got an eye free +for him I seen a Greaser about to knife him. Think I was some +considerate of the Greaser by only shootin' his arm off. Then +I cracked the last lamp, an' in the hullabaloo me an' Jim vamoosed. + +"We made tracks for our hosses an' packs, an' was hittin' the San +Felipe road when we run right plumb into the young man. Well, he +said his name was Gale--Dick Gale. The girl was with him safe an' +well; but her sweetheart, the soldier, bein' away without leave, had +to go back sudden. There shore was some trouble, for Jim an' me +heard shootin'. Gale said he had no money, no friends, was a +stranger in a desert country; an' he was distracted to know how +to help the girl. So me an' Jim started off with them for San +Felipe, got switched, and' then we headed for the Rio Forlorn." + +"Oh, I think he was perfectly splendid!" exclaimed the girl. + +"Shore he was. Only, Nell, you can't lay no claim to bein' the +original discoverer of that fact." + +"But, Laddy, you haven't told me what he looks like." + +At this juncture Dick Gale felt is absolutely impossible for him +to play the eavesdropper any longer. Quietly he rolled out of bed. +The voices still sounded close outside, and it was only by effort +that he kept from further listening. Belding's kindly interest, +Laddy's blunt and sincere cowboy eulogy, the girl's sweet eagerness +and praise--these warmed Gale's heart. He had fallen among simple +people, into whose lives the advent of an unknown man was welcome. +He found himself in a singularly agitated mood. The excitement, +the thrill, the difference felt in himself, experienced the preceding +night, had extended on into his present. And the possibilities +suggested by the conversation he had unwittingly overheard added +sufficiently to the other feelings to put him into a peculiarly receptive +state of mind. He was wild to be one of the Beldings rangers. The idea +of riding a horse in the open desert, with a dangerous duty to +perform, seemed to strike him with an appealing force. Something +within him went out to the cowboys, to this blunt and kind Belding. +He was afraid to meet the girl. If every man who came along fell +in love with this sweet-voiced Nell, then what hope had he to +escape--now, when his whole inner awakening betokened a change of +spirit, hope, a finding of real worth, real good, real power in +himself? He did not understand wholly, yet he felt ready to ride, +to fight, to love the desert, to love these outdoor men, to love +a woman. That beautiful Spanish girl had spoken to something +dead in him and it had quickened to life. The sweet voice of an +audacious, unseen girl warned him that presently a still more +wonderful thing would happen to him. + +Gale imagined he made noise enough as he clumsily pulled on his +boots, yet the voices, split by a merry laugh, kept on murmuring +outside the door. It was awkward for him, having only one hand +available to lace up his boots. He looked out of the window. +Evidently this was at the end of the house. There was a flagstone +walk, beside which ran a ditch full of swift, muddy water. It made +a pleasant sound. There were trees strange of form and color to +to him. He heard bees, birds, chickens, saw the red of roses and +green of grass. Then he saw, close to the wall, a tub full of +water, and a bench upon which lay basin, soap, towel, comb, and +brush. The window was also a door, for under it there was a step. + +Gale hesitated a moment, then went out. He stepped naturally, +hoping and expecting that the cowboys would hear him. But nobody +came. Awkwardly, with left hand, he washed his face. Upon a nail +in the wall hung a little mirror, by the aid of which Dick combed +and brushed his hair. He imagined he looked a most haggard +wretch. With that he faced forward, meaning to go round the corner +of the house to greet the cowboys and these new-found friends. + +Dick had taken but one step when he was halted by laugher and the +patter of light feet. + +From close around the corner pealed out that sweet voice. "Dad, +you'll have your wish, and mama will be wild!" + +Dick was a little foot sweep into view, a white dress, then the +swiftly moving form of a girl. She was looking backward. + +"Dad, I shall fall in love with your new ranger. I will--I have--" + +Then she plumped squarely into Dick's arms. + +She started back violently. + +Dick saw a fair face and dark-blue, audaciously flashing eyes. +Swift as lightning their expression changed to surprise, fear, +wonder. for an instant they were level with Dick's grave questioning. +Suddenly, sweetly, she blushed. + +"Oh-h!" she faltered. + +Then the blush turned to a scarlet fire. She whirled past him, +and like a white gleam was gone. + +Dick became conscious of the quickened beating of his heart. He +experienced a singular exhilaration. That moment had been the +one for which he had been ripe, the event upon which strange +circumstances had been rushing him. + +With a couple of strides he turned the corner. Laddy and Lash +were there talking to a man of burly form. Seen by day, both +cowboys were gray-haired, red-skinned, and weather-beaten, with +lean, sharp features, and gray eyes so much alike that they might +have been brothers. + +"Hello, there's the young fellow," spoke up the burly man. "Mr. +Gale, I'm glad to meet you. My name's Belding." + +His greeting was as warm as his handclasp was long and hard. +Gale saw a heavy man of medium height. His head was large +and covered with grizzled locks. He wore a short-cropped mustache +and chin beard. His skin was brown, and his dark eyes beamed with +a genial light. + +The cowboys were as cordial as if Dick had been their friend for years. + +"Young man, did you run into anything as you cam out?" asked Belding, +with twinkling eyes. + +"Why, yes' I met something white and swift flying by," replied Dick. + +"Did she see you?" asked Laddy. + +"I think so; but she didn't wait for me to introduce myself." + +"That was Nell Burton, my girl--step-daughter, I should say," said +Belding. "She's sure some whirlwind, as Laddy calls her. Come, +let's go in and meet the wife." + +The house was long, like a barracks, with porch extending all the +way, and doors every dozen paces. When Dick was ushered into a +sitting-room, he was amazed at the light and comfort. This room +had two big windows and a door opening into a patio, where there +were luxuriant grass, roses in bloom, and flowering trees. He heard +a slow splashing of water. + +In Mrs. Belding, Gale found a woman of noble proportions and +striking appearance. Her hair was white. She had a strong, +serious, well-lined face that bore haunting evidences of past +beauty. The gaze she bent upon him was almost piercing in its +intensity. Her greeting, which seemed to Dick rather slow in +coming, was kind though not cordial. Gale's first thought, after +he had thanked these good people for their hospitality, was to +inquire about Mercedes. He was informed that the Spanish girl +had awakened with a considerable fever and nervousness. When, +however, her anxiety had been allayed and her thirst relieved, she +had fallen asleep again. Mrs. Belding said the girl had suffered +no great hardship, other than mental, and would very soon be +rested and well. + +"Now, Gale," said Belding, when his wife had excused herself to +get supper, "the boys, Jim and Laddy, told me about you and the +mix-up at Casita. I'll be glad to take care of the girl till it's +safe for your soldier friend to get her out of the country. That +won't be very soon, don't mistake me....I don't want to seem +over-curious about you--Laddy has interested me in you--and +straight out I'd like to know what you propose to do now." + +"I haven't any plans," replied Dick; and, taking the moment as +propitious, he decided to speak frankly concerning himself. "I +just drifted down here. My home is in Chicago. When I left school +some years ago--I'm twenty-five now--I went to work for my father. +He's--he has business interests there. I tried all kinds of inside +jobs. I couldn't please my father. I guess I put no real heart in +my work. the fact was I didn't know how to work. The governor +and I didn't exactly quarrel; but he hurt my feelings, and I quit. +Six months or more ago I came West, and have knocked about from +Wyoming southwest to the border. I tried to find congenial work, +but nothing came my way. To tell you frankly, Mr. Belding, I +suppose I didn't much care. I believe, though, that all the time I +didn't know what I wanted. I've learned--well, just lately--" + +"What do you want to do?" interposed Belding. + +"I want a man's job. I want to do things with my hands. I want +action. I want to be outdoors." + +Belding nodded his head as if he understood that, and he began +to speak again, cut something short, then went on, hesitatingly: + +"Gale--you could go home again--to the old man-- it'd be all right?" + +"Mr. Belding, there's nothing shady in my past. The governor would +be glad to have me home. That's the only consolation I've got. +But I'm not going. I'm broke. I won't be a tramp. And it's up +to me to do something." + +"How'd you like to be a border ranger?" asked Belding, laying a +hand on Dick's knee. "Part of my job here is United States Inspector +of Immigration. I've got that boundary line to patrol--to keep out +Chinks and Japs. This revolution has added complications, and +I'm looking for smugglers and raiders here any day. You'll not +be hired by the U. S. You'll simply be my ranger, same as Laddy +and Jim, who have promised to work for me. I'll pay you well, +give you a room here, furnish everything down to guns, and the +finest horse you ever saw in your life. Your job won't be safe +and healthy, sometimes, but it'll be a man's job--don't mistake me! +You can gamble on having things to do outdoors. Now, what do +you say?" + +"I accpet, and I thank you--I can't say how much," replied Gale, +earnestly. + +"Good! That's settled. Let's go out and tell Laddy and Jim." + +Both boys expressed satisfaction at the turn of affairs, and then +with Belding they set out to take Gale around the ranch. The +house and several outbuildings were constructed of adobe, which, +according to Belding, retained the summer heat on into winter, +and the winter cold on into summer. These gray-red mud habitations +were hideous to look at, and this fact, perhaps, made their really +comfortable interiors more vividly a contrast. The wide grounds +were covered with luxuriant grass and flowers and different kinds +of trees. Gale's interest led him to ask about fig trees and +pomegranates, and especially about a beautiful specimen that +Belding called palo verde. + +Belding explained that the luxuriance of this desert place was +owing to a few springs and the dammed-up waters of the Rio Forlorn. +Before he had come to the oasis it had been inhabited by a Papago +Indian tribe and a few peon families. The oasis lay in an arroyo +a mile wide, and sloped southwest for some ten miles or more. + +The river went dry most of the year; but enough water was stored +in flood season to irrigate the gardens and alfalfa fields. + +"I've got one never-failing spring on my place," said Belding. "Fine, +sweet water! You know what that means in the desert. I like this +oasis. The longer I live here the better I like it. There's not a spot +in southern Arizona that'll compare with this valley for water or +grass or wood. It's beautiful and healthy. Forlorn and lonely, +yes, especially for women like my wife and Nell; but I like it....And +between you and me, boys, I've got something up my sleeve. There's +gold dust in the arroyos, and there's mineral up in the mountains. +If we only had water! This hamlet has steadily grown since I took +up a station here. Why, Casita is no place beside Forlorn River. +Pretty soon the Southern Pacific will shoot a railroad branch out +here. There are possibilities, and I want you boys to stay with +me and get in on the ground floor. I wish this rebel war was +over....Well, here are the corrals and the fields. Gale, take a +look at that bunch of horses!" + +Belding's last remark was made as he led his companions out of +shady gardens into the open. Gale saw an adobe shed and a huge +pen fenced by strangely twisted and contorted branches or trunks +of mesquite, and, beyond these, wide, flat fields, green--a dark, +rich green--and dotted with beautiful horses. There were whites +and blacks, and bays and grays. In his admiration Gale searched +his memory to see if he could remember the like of these magnificent +animals, and had to admit that the only ones he could compare with +them were the Arabian steeds. + +"Every ranch loves his horses," said Belding. "When I was in the +Panhandle I had some fine stock. But these are Mexican. They +came from Durango, where they were bred. Mexican horses are +the finest in the world, bar none." + +"Shore I reckon I savvy why you don't sleep nights," drawled Laddy. +"I see a Greaser out there--no, it's an Indian." + +"That's my Papago herdsman. I keep watch over the horses now +day and night. Lord, how I'd hate to have Rojas or Salazar--any +of those bandit rebels--find my horses!...Gale, can you ride?" + +Dick modestly replied that he could, according to the Eastern +idea of horsemanship. + +"You don't need to be half horse to ride one of that bunch. But +over there in the other field I've iron-jawed broncos I wouldn't +want you to tackle--except to see the fun. I've an outlaw I'll +gamble even Laddy can't ride." + +"So. How much'll you gamble?" asked Laddy, instantly. + +The ringing of a bell, which Belding said was a call to supper, +turned the men back toward the house. Facing that way, Gale +saw dark, beetling ridges rising from the oasis and leading up to +bare, black mountains. He had heard Belding call them No Name +Mountains, and somehow the appellation suited those lofty, +mysterious, frowning peaks. + +It was not until they reached the house and were about to go in +that Belding chanced to discover Gale's crippled hand. + +"What an awful hand!" he exclaimed. "Where the devil did you +get that?" + +"I stove in my knuckles on Rojas," replied Dick. + +"You did that in one punch? Say, I'm glad it wasn't me you hit! +Why didn't you tell me? That's a bad hand. Those cuts are full +of dirt and sand. Inflammation's setting in. It's got to be +dressed. Nell!" he called. + +There was no answer. He called again, louder. + +"Mother, where's the girl?" + +"She's there in the dining-room," replied Mrs. Belding. + +"Did she hear me?" he inquired, impatiently. + +"Of course." + +"Nell!" roared Belding. + +This brought results. Dick saw a glimpse of golden hair and a +white dress in the door. But they were not visible longer than +a second. + +"Dad, what's the matter?" asked a voice that was still as sweet +as formerly, but now rather small and constrained. + +"Bring the antiseptics, cotton, bandages--and things out here. +Hurry now." + +Belding fetched a pail of water and a basin from the kitchen. His +wife followed him out, and, upon seeing Dick's hand, was all +solicitude. Then Dick heard light, quick footsteps, but he did +not look up. + +"Nell, this is Mr. Gall--Dick Gale, who came with the boys last +last night," said Belding. "He's got an awful hand. Got it punching +that greaser Rojas. I want you to dress it....Gale, this is my +step-daughter, Nell Burton, of whom I spoke. She's some good +when there's somebody sick or hurt. Shove out your fist, my boy, +and let her get at it. Supper's nearly ready." + +Dick felt that same strange, quickening heart throb, yet he had +never been cooler in his life. More than anything else in the +world he wanted to look at Nell Burton; however, divining that +the situation might be embarrassing to her, he refrained from +looking up. She began to bathe his injured knuckles. He noted +the softness, the deftness of her touch, and then it seemed her +fingers were not quite as steady as they might have been. Still, +in a moment they appeared to become surer in their work. She +had beautiful hands, not too large, though certainly not small, +and they were strong, brown, supple. He observed next, with +stealthy, upward-stealing glance, that she had rolled up her sleeves, +exposing fine, round arms graceful in line. Her skin was brown--no, +it was more gold than brown. It had a wonderful clear tint. Dick +stoically lowered his eyes then, putting off as long as possible +the alluring moment when he was to look into her face. That would +be a fateful moment. He played with a certain strange joy +of anticipation. When, however, she sat down beside him +and rested his injured hand in her lap as she cut bandages, +she was so thrillingly near that he yielded to an irrepressible +desire to look up. She had a sweet, fair face warmly tinted with +that same healthy golden-brown sunburn. Her hair was light gold +and abundant, a waving mass. Her eyes were shaded by long, +downcast lashes, yet through them he caught a gleam of blue. + +Despite the stir within him, Gale, seeing she was now absorbed +in her task, critically studied her with a second closer gaze. +She was a sweet, wholesome, joyous, pretty girl. + +"Shore it musta hurt?" replied Laddy, who sat an interested spectator. + +"Yes, I confess it did," replied Dick, slowly, with his eyes on +Nell's face. "But I didn't mind." + +The girl's lashes swept up swiftly in surprise. She had taken his +words literally. But the dark-blue eyes met his for only a fleeting +second. Then the warm tint in her cheeks turned as red as her +lips. Hurriedly she finished tying the bandage and rose to her +feet. + +"I thank you," said Gale, also rising. + +With that Belding appeared in the doorway, and finding the +operation concluded, called them in to supper. Dick had the use +of only one arm, and he certainly was keenly aware of the shy, +silent girl across the table; but in spite of these considerable +handicaps he eclipsed both hungry cowboys in the assault upon +Mrs. Belding's bounteous supper. Belding talked, the cowboys +talked more or less. Mrs. Belding put in a word now and then, +and Dick managed to find brief intervals when it was possible +for him to say yes or no. He observed gratefully that no one +round the table seemed to be aware of his enormous appetite. + +After supper, having a favorable opportunity when for a +moment no one was at hand, Dick went out through the yard, +past the gardens and fields, and climbed the first knoll. From that +vantage point he looked out over the little hamlet, somewhat to +his right, and was surprised at its extent, its considerable number +of adobe houses. The overhanging mountains, ragged and darkening, +a great heave of splintered rock, rather chilled and affronted him. + +Westward the setting sun gilded a spiked, frost-colored, limitless +expanse of desert. It awed Gale. Everywhere rose blunt, broken +ranges or isolated groups of mountains. Yet the desert stretched +away down between and beyond them. When the sun set and Gale +could not see so far, he felt a relief. + +That grand and austere attraction of distance gone, he saw the +desert nearer at hand--the valley at his feet. What a strange gray, +somber place! There was a lighter strip of gray winding down +between darker hues. This he realized presently was the river +bed, and he saw how the pools of water narrowed and diminished +in size till they lost themselves in gray sand. This was the rainy +season, near its end, and here a little river struggled hopelessly, +forlornly to live in the desert. He received a potent impression +of the nature of that blasted age-worn waste which he had divined +was to give him strength and work and love. + + + +V + +A Desert Rose + +Belding assigned Dick to a little room which had no windows but +two doors, one opening into the patio, the other into the yard on +the west side of the house. It contained only the barest necessities +for comfort. Dick mentioned the baggage he had left in the hotel +at Casita, and it was Belding's opinion that to try to recover his +property would be rather risky; on the moment Richard Gale was +probably not popular with the Mexicans at Casita. So Dick bade +good-by to fine suits of clothes and linen with a feeling that, +as he had said farewell to an idle and useless past, it was just +as well not to have any old luxuries as reminders. As he possessed, +however, not a thing save the clothes on his back, and not even +a handkerchief, he expressed regret that he had come to Forlorn +River a beggar. + +"Beggar hell!" exploded Belding, with his eyes snapping in the +lamplight. "Money's the last thing we think of out here. All +the same, Gale, if you stick you'll be rich." + +"It wouldn't surprise me," replied Dick, thoughtfully. But he was +not thinking of material wealth. Then, as he viewed his stained +and torn shirt, he laughed and said "Belding, while I'm getting +rich I'd like to have some respectable clothes." + +"We've a little Mex store in town, and what you can't get there +the women folks will make for you." + +When Dick lay down he was dully conscious of pain and headache, +that he did not feel well. Despite this, and a mind thronging +with memories and anticipations, he succumbed to weariness +and soon fell asleep. + +It was light when he awoke, but a strange brightness seen through +what seemed blurred eyes. A moment passed before his mind worked +clearly, and then he had to make an effort to think. He was dizzy. + +When he essayed to lift his right arm, an excruciating pain made +him desist. Then he discovered that his arm was badly swollen, +and the hand had burst its bandages. The injured member was red, +angry, inflamed, and twice its normal size. He felt hot all over, +and a raging headache consumed him. + +Belding came stamping into the room. + +"Hello, Dick. Do you know it's late? How's the busted fist +this morning?" + +Dick tried to sit up, but his effort was a failure. He got about +half up, then felt himself weakly sliding back. + +"I guess--I'm pretty sick," he said. + +He saw Belding lean over him, feel his face, and speak, and then +everything seemed to drift, not into darkness, but into some region +where he had dim perceptions of gray moving things, and of voices +that were remote. Then there came an interval when all was blank. +He knew not whether it was one of minutes or hours, but after it +he had a clearer mind. He slept, awakened during night-time, and +slept again. When he again unclosed his eyes the room was sunny, +and cool with a fragrant breeze that blew through the open door. +Dick felt better; but he had no particular desire to move or talk +or eat. He had, however, a burning thirst. Mrs. Belding visited +him often; her husband came in several times, and once Nell slipped +in noiselessly. Even this last event aroused no interest in Dick. + +On the next day he was very much improved. + +"We've been afraid of blood poisoning," said Belding. "But my +wife thinks the danger's past. You'll have to rest that arm for +a while." + +Ladd and Jim came peeping in at the door. + +"Come in, boys. He can have company--the more the better--if it'll +keep him content. He mustn't move, that's all." + +The cowboys entered, slow, easy, cool, kind-voiced. + +"Shore it's tough," said Ladd, after he had greeted Dick. "You +look used up." + +Jim Lash wagged his half-bald, sunburned head, "Musta been more'n +tough for Rojas." + +"Gale, Laddy tells me one of our neighbors, fellow named Carter, is +going to Casita," put in Belding. "Here's a chance to get word to +your friend the soldier." + +"Oh, that will be fine!" exclaimed Dick. "I declare I'd forgotten +Thorne....How is Miss Castaneda? I hope--" + +"She's all right, Gale. Been up and around the patio for two days. +Like all the Spanish--the real thing--she's made of Damascus +steel. We've been getting acquainted. She and Nell made friends +at once. I'll call them in." + +He closed the door leading out into the yard, explaining that he +did not want to take chances of Mercedes's presence becoming +known to neighbors. Then he went to the patio and called. + +Both girls came in, Mercedes leading. Like Nell, she wore white, +and she had a red rose in her hand. Dick would scarcely have +recognized anything about her except her eyes and the way she +carried her little head, and her beauty burst upon him strange and +anew. She was swift, impulsive in her movements to reach his +side. + +"Senor, I am so sorry you were ill--so happy you are better." + +Dick greeted her, offering his left hand, gravely apologizing for +the fact that, owing to a late infirmity, he could not offer the +right. Her smile exquisitely combined sympathy, gratitude, +admiration. Then Dick spoke to Nell, likewise offering his hand, +which she took shyly. Her reply was a murmured, unintelligible +one; but her eyes were glad, and the tine in her cheeks threatened +to rival the hue of the rose she carried. + +Everybody chatted then, except Nell, who had apparently lost her +voice. Presently Dick remembered to speak of the matter of getting +news to Thorne. + +"Senor, may I write to him? Will some one take a letter?...I +shall hear from him!" she said; and her white hands emphasized +her words. + +"Assuredly. I guess poor Thorne is almost crazy. I'll write to +him....No, I can't with this crippled hand." + +"That'll be all right, Gale," said Belding. "Nell will write for +you. She writes all my letters." + +So Belding arranged it; and Mercedes flew away to her room to +write, while Nell fetched pen and paper and seated herself beside +Gale's bed to take his dictation. + +What with watching Nell and trying to catch her glance, and +listening to Belding's talk with the cowboys, Dick was hard put +to it to dictate any kind of a creditable letter. Nell met his +gaze once, then no more. The color came and went in her cheeks, +and sometimes, when he told her to write so and so, there was a +demure smile on her lips. She was laughing at him. And Belding was +talking over the risks involved in a trip to Casita. + +"Shore I'll ride in with the letters," Ladd said. + +"No you won't," replied Belding. "That bandit outfit will be +laying for you." + +"Well, I reckon if they was I wouldn't be oncommon grieved." + +"I'll tell you, boys, I'll ride in myself with Carter. There's +business I can see to, and I'm curious to know what the rebels +are doing. Laddy, keep one eye open while I'm gone. See the +horses are locked up....Gale, I'm going to Casita myself. Ought +to get back tomorrow some time. I'll be ready to start in an +hour. Have your letter ready. And say--if you want to write +home it's a chance. Sometimes we don't go to the P. O. in a month. + +He tramped out, followed by the tall cowboys, and then Dick was +enabled to bring his letter to a close. Mercedes came back, and +her eyes were shining. Dick imagined a letter received from her +would be something of an event for a fellow. Then, remembering +Belding's suggestion, he decided to profit by it. + +"May I trouble you to write antoher for me?" asked Dick, as he +received the letter from Nell. + +"It's no trouble, I'm sure--I'd be pleased," she replied. + +That was altogether a wonderful speech of hers, Dick thought, +because the words were the first coherent ones she had spoken +to him. + +"May I stay?" asked Mercedes, smiling. + +"By all means," he answered, and then he settled back and began. + +Presently Gale paused, partly because of genuine emotion, and +stole a look from under his hand at Nell. She wrote swiftly, and +her downcast face seemed to be softer in its expression of +sweetness. If she had in the very least been drawn to him-- But +that was absurd--impossible! + +When Dick finished dictating, his eyes were upon Mercedes, who +sat smiling curious and sympathetic. How responsive she was! +He heard the hasty scratch of Nell's pen. He looked at Nell. +Presently she rose, holding out his letter. He was just in time +to see a wave of red recede from her face. She gave him one +swift gaze, unconscious, searching, then averted it and turned +away. She left the room with Mercedes before he could express +his thanks. + +But that strange, speaking flash of eyes remained to haunt and +torment Gale. It was indescribably sweet, and provocative of +thoughts that he believed were wild without warrant. Something +within him danced for very joy, and the next instant he was +conscious of wistful doubt, a gravity that he could not understand. +It dawned upon him that for the brief instant when Nell had met +his gaze she had lost her shyness. It was a woman's questioning eyes +that had pierced through him. + +During the rest of the day Gale was content to lie still on his bed +thinking and dreaming, dozing at intervals, and watching the +lights change upon the mountain peaks, feeling the warm, fragrant +desert wind that blew in upon him. He seemed to have lost the +faculty of estimating time. A long while, strong in its effect +upon him, appeared to have passed since he had met Thorne. He +accepted things as he felt them, and repudiated his intelligence. +His old inquisitive habit of mind returned. did he love Nell? +Was he only attracted for the moment? What was the use of worrying +about her or himself? He refused to answer, and deliberately gave +himself up to dreams of her sweet face and of that last dark-blue glance. + +Next day he believed he was well enough to leave his room; but Mrs. +Belding would not permit him to do so. She was kind, soft-handed, +motherly, and she was always coming in to minister to his comfort. +This attention was sincere, not in the least forced; yet Gale felt +that the friendliness so manifest in the others of the household +did not extend to her. He was conscious of something that a +little thought persuaded him was antagonism. It surprised and +hurt him. He had never been much of a success with girls and +young married women, but their mothers and old people had generally +been fond of him. Still, though Mrs. Belding's hair was snow-white, +she did not impress him as being old. He reflected that there +might come a time when it would be desirable, far beyond any +ground of every-day friendly kindliness, to have Mrs. Belding be +well disposed toward him. So he thought about her, and pondered +how to make her like him. It did not take very long for Dick to +discover that he liked her. Her face, except when she smiled, +was thoughtful and sad. It was a face to make one serious. Like +a haunting shadow, like a phantom of happier years, the +sweetness of Nell's face was there, and infinitely more of beauty +than had been transmitted to the daughter. Dick believed Mrs. +Belding's friendship and motherly love were worth striving to win, +entirely aside from any more selfish motive. He decided both would +be hard to get. Often he felt her deep, penetrating gaze upon +him; and, though this in no wise embarrassed him--for he had no +shameful secrets of past or present--it showed him how useless it +would be to try to conceal anything from her. Naturally, on first +impulse, he wanted to hide his interest in the daughter; but he +resolved to be absolutely frank and true, and through that win or +lose. Moreover, if Mrs. Belding asked him any questions about his +home, his family, his connections, he would not avoid direct and +truthful answers. + +Toward evening Gale heard the tramp of horses and Belding's hearty +voice. Presently the rancher strode in upon Gale, shaking the +gray dust from his broad shoulders and waving a letter. + +"Hello, Dick! Good news and bad!" he said, putting the letter in +Dick's hand. "Had no trouble finding your friend Thorne. Looked +like he'd been drunk for a week! Say, he nearly threw a fit. I +never saw a fellow so wild with joy. He made sure you and Mercedes +were lost in the desert. He wrote two letters which I brought. +Don't mistake me, boy, it was some fun with Mercedes just now. +I teased her, wouldn't give her the letter. You ought to have seen +her eyes. If ever you see a black-and-white desert hawk swoop +down upon a quail, then you'll know how Mercedes pounced upon +her letter...Well, Casita is one hell of a place these days. I +tried to get your baggage, and I think I made a mistake. We're +going to see travel toward Forlorn River. The federal garrison +got reinforcements from somewhere, and is holding out. There's +been fighting for three days. The rebels have a string of flat +railroad cars, all iron, and they ran this up within range of the +barricades. They've got some machine guns, and they're going to lick +the federals sure. There are dead soldiers in the ditches, Mexican +non-combatants lying dead in the streets--and buzzards everywhere! +It's reported that Campo, the rebel leader, is on the way up from Sinaloa, +and Huerta, a federal general, is coming to relieve the garrison. +I don't take much stock in reports. But there's hell in Casita, all right." + +"Do you think we'll have trouble out here?" asked Dick, excitedly. + +"Sure. Some kind of trouble sooner or later," replied Belding, +gloomily. "Why, you can stand on my ranch and step over into +Mexico. Laddy says we'll lose horses and other stock in night raids. +Jim Lash doesn't look for any worse. But Jim isn't as well +acquainted with Greasers as I am. Anyway, my boy, as soon as you +can hold a bridle and a gun you'll be on the job, don't mistake me." + +"With Laddy and Jim?" asked Dick, trying to be cool. + +"Sure. With them and me, and by yourself." + +Dick drew a deep breath, and even after Belding had departed he +forgot for a moment about the letter in his hand. Then he unfolded +the paper and read: + +Dear Dick,--You've more than saved my life. To the end of my +days you'll be the one man to whom I owe everything. Words fail +to express my feelings. + +This must be a brief note. Belding is waiting, and I used up most +of the time writing to Mercedes. I like Belding. He was not +unknown to me, though I never met or saw him before. You'll be +interested to learn that he's the unadulterated article, the real +Western goods. I've heard of some of his stunts, and they made +my hair curl. Dick, your luck is staggering. The way Belding spoke +of you was great. But you deserve it, old man. + +I'm leaving Mercedes in your charge, subject, of course, to advice +from Belding. Take care of her, Dick, for my life is wrapped up +in her. By all means keep her from being seen by Mexicans. We +are sitting tight here--nothing doing. If some action doesn't come +soon, it'll be darned strange. Things are centering this way. +There's scrapping right along, and people have begun to move. +We're still patrolling the line eastward of Casita. It'll be +impossible to keep any tab on the line west of Casita, for it's +too rough. That cactus desert is awful. Cowboys or rangers +with desert-bred horses might keep raiders and smugglers from crossing. +But if cavalrymen could stand that waterless wilderness, which I doubt much, +their horses would drop under them. + +If things do quiet down before my commission expires, I'll get +leave of absence, run out to Forlorn River, marry my beautiful +Spanish princess, and take her to a civilized country, where, I +opine, every son of a gun who sees her will lose his head, and +drive me mad. It's my great luck, old pal, that you are a fellow +who never seemed to care about pretty girls. So you won't give +me the double cross and run off with Mercedes--carry her off, +like the villain in the play, I mean. + +That reminds me of Rojas. Oh, Dick, it was glorious! You didn't +do anything to the Dandy Rebel! Not at all! You merely caressed +him--gently moved him to one side. Dick, harken to these glad +words: Rojas is in the hospital. I was interested to inquire. +He had a smashed finger, a dislocated collar bone, three broken +ribs, and a fearful gash on his face. He'll be in the hospital for +a month. Dick, when I meet that pig-headed dad of yours I'm +going to give him the surprise of his life. + +Send me a line whenever any one comes in from F. R., and inclose +Mercedes's letter in yours. Take care of her, Dick, and may the +future hold in store for you some of the sweetness I know now! + +Faithfully yours, +Thorne. + + +Dick reread the letter, then folded it and placed it under his pillow. + +"Never cared for pretty girls, huh?" he soliloquized. + +"George, I never saw any till I struck Southern Arizona! Guess +I'd better make up for lost time." + +While he was eating his supper, with appetite rapidly returning +to normal, Ladd and Jim cam in, bowing their tall heads to enter +the door. Their friendly advances were singularly welcome to +Gale, but he was still backward. He allowed himself to show that +he was glad to see them, and he listened. Jim Lash had heard from +Belding the result of the mauling given to Rojas by Dick. And Jim +talked about what a grand thing that was. Ladd had a good deal +to say about Belding's horses. It took no keen judge of human +nature to see that horses constituted Ladd's ruling passion. + +"I've had wimmen go back on me, but never no hoss!" declared +Ladd, and manifestly that was a controlling truth with him. + +"Shore it's a cinch Beldin' is agoin' to lose some of them hosses," +he said. "you can search me if I don't think there'll be more +doin' on the border here than along the Rio Grande. We're just +the same as on Greaser soil. Mebbe we don't stand no such chance +of bein' shot up as we would across the line. but who's goin' to +give up his hosses without a fight? Half the time when Beldin's +stock is out of the alfalfa it's grazin' over the line. He thinks +he's careful about them hosses, but he ain't." + +"Look a-here, Laddy; you cain't believe all you hear," replied +Jim, seriously. "I reckon we mightn't have any trouble." + +"Back up, Jim. Shore you're standin' on your bridle. I ain't goin' +much on reports. Remember that American we met in Casita, +the prospector who'd just gotten out of Sonora? He had some +story, he had. Swore he'd killed seventeen Greasers breakin' +through the rebel line round the mine where he an' other Americans +were corralled. The next day when I met him again, he was drunk, +an' then he told me he'd shot thirty Greasers. The chances are +he did kill some. But reports are exaggerated. There are miners +fightin' for life down in Sonora, you can gamble on that. An' the +truth is bad enough. Take Rojas's harryin' of the Senorita, for +instance. Can you beat that? Shore, Jim, there's more doin' than +the raidin' of a few hosses. An' Forlorn River is goin' to get hers!" + +Another dawn found Gale so much recovered that he arose and looked +after himself, not, however, without considerable difficulty and +rather disheartening twinges of pain. + +Some time during the morning he heard the girls in the patio and +called to ask if he might join them. He received one response, +a mellow, "Si, Senor." It was not as much as he wanted, +but considering that it was enough, he went out. He had not +as yet visited the patio, and surprise and delight were in store +for him. He found himself lost in a labyrinth of green and +rose-bordered walks. He strolled around, discovering that the +patio was a courtyard, open at an end; but he failed to discover +the young ladies. So he called again. the answer cam from the +center of the square. After stooping to get under shrubs and +wading through bushes he entered an open sandy circle, full of +magnificent and murderous cactus plants, strange to him. On the +other side, in the shade of a beautiful tree, he found the girls. +Mercedes sitting in a hammock, Nell upon a blanket. + +"What a beautiful tree!" he exclaimed. "I never saw one like +that. What is it?" + +"Palo verde," replied Nell. + +"Senor, palo verde means 'green tree,'" added Mercedes. + +This desert tree, which had struck Dick as so new and strange +and beautiful, was not striking on account of size, for it was +small, scarcely reaching higher than the roof; but rather because +of its exquisite color of green, trunk and branch alike, and owing +to the odd fact that it seemed not to possess leaves. All the tree +from ground to tiny flat twigs was a soft polished green. It bore +no thorns. + +Right then and there began Dick's education in desert growths; +and he felt that even if he had not had such charming teachers +he would still have been absorbed. For the patio was full of +desert wonders. A twisting-trunked tree with full foliage of +small gray leaves Nell called a mesquite. Then Dick remembered +the name, and now he saw where the desert got its pale-gray color. +A huge, lofty, fluted column of green was a saguaro, or giant +cactus. Another oddshaped cactus, resembling the legs of an +inverted devil-fish, bore the name ocatillo. Each branch +rose high and symmetrical, furnished with sharp blades +that seemed to be at once leaves and thorns. Yet another +cactus interested Gale, and it looked like a huge, low +barrel covered with green-ribbed cloth and long thorns. This was +the bisnaga, or barrel cactus. According to Nell and Mercedes, +this plant was a happy exception to its desert neighbors, for it +secreted water which had many times saved the lives of men. Last +of the cacti to attract Gale, and the one to make him shiver, was +a low plant, consisting of stem and many rounded protuberances of +a frosty, steely white, and covered with long murderous spikes. +From this plant the desert got its frosty glitter. It was as +stiff, as unyielding as steel, and bore the name choya. + +Dick's enthusiasm was contagious, and his earnest desire to learn +was flattering to his teachers. When it came to assimilating +Spanish, however, he did not appear to be so apt a pupil. He +managed, after many trials, to acquire "buenos dias" and "buenos +tardes," and "senorita" and "gracias," and a few other short terms. +Dick was indeed eager to get a little smattering of Spanish, and +perhaps he was not really quite so stupid as he pretended to be. +It was delightful to be taught by a beautiful Spaniard who was so +gracious and intense and magnetic of personality, and by a sweet +American girl who moment by moment forgot her shyness. Gale +wished to prolong the lessons. + +So that was the beginning of many afternoons in which he learned +desert lore and Spanish verbs, and something else that he dared +not name. + +Nell Burton had never shown to Gale that daring side of her +character which had been so suggestively defined in Belding's +terse description and Ladd's encomiums, and in her own audacious +speech and merry laugh and flashing eye of that never-to-be-forgotten +first meeting. She might have been an entirely different girl. +But Gale remembered; and when the ice had been somewhat broken +between them, he was always trying to surprise her into her real self. +There were moments that fairly made him tingle with expectation. +Yet he saw little more than a ghost of her vivacity, and never +a gleam of that individuality which Belding had called a devil. +On the few occasions that Dick had been left alone with her +in the patio Nell had grown suddenly unresponsive and +restrained, or she had left him on some transparent pretext. +On the last occasion Mercedes returned to find Dick staring +disconsolately at the rose-bordered path, where Nell had evidently +vanished. The Spanish girl was wonderful in her divination. + +"Senor Dick!" she cried. + +Dick looked at her, soberly nodded his head, and then he laughed. +Mercedes had seen through him in one swift glance. Her white hand +touched his in wordless sympathy and thrilled him. This Spanish +girl was all fire and passion and love. She understood him, she +was his friend, she pledged him what he felt would be the most +subtle and powerful influence. + +Little by little he learned details of Nell's varied life. She had +lived in many places. As a child she remembered moving from +town to town, of going to school among schoolmates whom she +never had time to know. Lawrence, Kansas, where she studied for +several years, was the later exception to this changeful nature +of her schooling. Then she moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, from +there to Austin, Texas, and on to Waco, where her mother met and +married Belding. They lived in New Mexico awhile, in Tucson, +Arizona, in Douglas, and finally had come to lonely Forlorn River. + +"Mother could never live in one place any length of time," +said Nell. "And since we've been in the Southwest she has never +ceased trying to find some trace of her father. He was last heard +of in Nogales fourteen years ago. She thinks grandfather was lost +in the Sonora Desert....And every place we go is worse. Oh, I love +the desert. But I'd like to go back to Lawrence--or to see +Chicago or New York--some of the places Mr. Gale speaks of.... +I remember the college at Lawrence, though I was only twelve. +I saw races--and once real football. Since then I've read magazines +and papers about big football games, and I was always fascinated +....Mr. Gale, of course, you've seen games? + +"Yes, a few," replied Dick; and he laughed a little. It was on +his lips then to tell her about some of the famous games in which +he had participated. But he refrained from exploiting himself. +There was little, however, of the color and sound and cheer, of +the violent action and rush and battle incidental to a big college +football game that he did not succeed in making Mercedes and Nell +feel just as if they had been there. They hung breathless and +wide-eyed upon his words. + +Some one else was present at the latter part of Dick's narrative. +The moment he became aware of Mrs. Belding's presence he remembered +fancying he had heard her call, and now he was certain she had +done so. Mercedes and Nell, however, had been and still were +oblivious to everything except Dick's recital. He saw Mrs. Belding +cast a strange, intent glance upon Nell, then turn and go silently +through the patio. Dick concluded his talk, but the brilliant +beginning was not sustained. + +Dick was haunted by the strange expression he had caught on Mrs. +Belding's face, especially the look in her eyes. It had been one +of repressed pain liberated in a flash of certainty. The mother +had seen just as quickly as Mercedes how far he had gone on the +road of love. Perhaps she had seen more--even more than he dared +hope. The incident roused Gale. He could not understand Mrs. +Belding, nor why that look of hers, that seeming baffled, hopeless +look of a woman who saw the inevitable forces of life and could +not thwart them, should cause him perplexity and distress. He +wanted to go to her and tell her how he felt about Nell, but fear +of absolute destruction of his hopes held him back. He would wait. + +Nevertheless, an instinct that was perhaps akin to self-preservation +prompted him to want to let Nell know the state of his mind. +Words crowded his brain seeking utterance. Who and what he was, +how he loved her, the work he expected to take up soon, his longings, +hopes, and plans--there was all this and more. But something checked +him. And the repression made him so thoughtful and quiet, even +melancholy, that he went outdoors to try to throw off the mood. +The sun was yet high, and a dazzling white light enveloped valleys +and peaks. He felt that the wonderful sunshine was the dominant +feature of that arid region. It was like white gold. It had +burned its color in a face he knew. It was going to warm his blood +and brown his skin. A hot, languid breeze, so dry that he felt his +lips shrink with its contact, came from the desert; and it seemed +to smell of wide-open, untainted places where sand blew and strange, +pungent plants gave a bitter-sweet tang to the air. + +When he returned to the house, some hours later, his room had been +put in order. In the middle of the white coverlet on his table +lay a fresh red rose. Nell had dropped it there. Dick picked it +up, feeling a throb in his breast. It was a bud just beginning +to open, to show between its petals a dark-red, unfolding heart. +How fragrant it was, how exquisitely delicate, how beautiful +its inner hue of red, deep and dark, the crimson of life blood! + +Had Nell left it there by accident or by intent? Was it merely +kindness or a girl's subtlety? Was it a message couched elusively, +a symbol, a hope in a half-blown desert rose? + + + + +VI + +The Yaqui + +Toward evening of a lowering December day, some fifty miles west +of Forlorn River, a horseman rode along an old, dimly defined trail. +From time to time he halted to study the lay of the land ahead. +It was bare, somber, ridgy desert, covered with dun-colored +greasewood and stunted prickly pear. Distant mountains hemmed +in the valley, raising black spurs above the round lomas and the +square-walled mesas. + +This lonely horseman bestrode a steed of magnificent build, +perfectly white except for a dark bar of color running down the +noble head from ears to nose. Sweatcaked dust stained the long +flanks. The horse had been running. His mane and tail were laced +and knotted to keep their length out of reach of grasping cactus +and brush. Clumsy home-made leather shields covered the front +of his forelegs and ran up well to his wide breast. What otherwise +would have been muscular symmetry of limb was marred by many a +scar and many a lump. He was lean, gaunt, worn, a huge machine +of muscle and bone, beautiful only in head and mane, a weight-carrier, +a horse strong and fierce like the desert that had bred him. + +The rider fitted the horse as he fitted the saddle. He was a young +man of exceedingly powerful physique, wide-shouldered, long-armed, +big-legged. His lean face, where it was not red, blistered and peeling, +was the hue of bronze. He had a dark eye, a falcon gaze, roving +and keen. His jaw was prominent and set, mastiff-like; his lips +were stern. It was youth with its softness not yet quite burned +and hardened away that kept the whole cast of his face from being +ruthless. + +This young man was Dick Gale, but not the listless traveler, nor the +lounging wanderer who, two months before, had by chance dropped +into Casita. Friendship, chivalry, love--the deep-seated, unplumbed +emotions that had been stirred into being with all their incalculable +power for spiritual change, had rendered different the meaning of +life. In the moment almost of their realization the desert had +claimed Gale, and had drawn him into its crucible. The desert +had multiplied weeks into years. Heat, thirst, hunger, loneliness, +toil, fear, ferocity, pain--he knew them all. He had felt them +all--the white sun, with its glazed, coalescing, lurid fire; the +caked split lips and rasping, dry-puffed tongue; the sickening +ache in the pit of his stomach; the insupportable silence, the +empty space, the utter desolation, the contempt of life; the weary +ride, the long climb, the plod in sand, the search, search, search +for water; the sleepless night alone, the watch and wait, the +dread of ambush, the swift flight; the fierce pursuit of men wild +as Bedouins and as fleet, the willingness to deal sudden death, +the pain of poison thorn, the stinging tear of lead through flesh; +and that strange paradox of the burning desert, the cold at night, +the piercing icy wind, the dew that penetrated to the marrow, the +numbing desert cold of the dawn. + +Beyond any dream of adventure he had ever had, beyond any wild +story he had every read, had been his experience with those +hard-riding rangers, Ladd and Lash. Then he had traveled alone +the hundred miles of desert between Forlorn River and the Sonoyta +Oasis. Ladd's prophecy of trouble on the border had been mild +compared to what had become the actuality. With rebel occupancy +of the garrison at Casita, outlaws, bandits, raiders in rioting +bands had spread westward. Like troops of Arabs, magnificently +mounted, they were here, there, everywhere along the line; and if +murder and worse were confined to the Mexican side, pillage and raiding +were perpetrated across the border. Many a dark-skinned raider bestrode +one of Belding's fast horses, and indeed all except his selected white +thoroughbreds had been stolen. So the job of the rangers had +become more than a patrolling of the boundary line to keep Japanese +and Chinese from being smuggled into the United States. Belding +kept close at home to protect his family and to hold his property. +But the three rangers, in fulfilling their duty had incurred risks +on their own side of the line, had been outraged, robbed, pursued, +and injured on the other. Some of the few waterholes that had +to be reached lay far across the border in Mexican territory. +Horses had to drink, men had to drink; and Ladd and Lash were not +of the stripe that forsook a task because of danger. Slow to +wrath at first, as became men who had long lived peaceful lives, +they had at length revolted; and desert vultures could have told +a gruesome story. Made a comrade and ally of these bordermen, +Dick Gale had leaped at the desert action and strife with an +intensity of heart and a rare physical ability which accounted for +the remarkable fact that he had not yet fallen by the way. + +On this December afternoon the three rangers, as often, were +separated. Lash was far to the westward of Sonoyta, somewhere +along Camino del Diablo, that terrible Devil's Road, where many +desert wayfarers had perished. Ladd had long been overdue in a +prearranged meeting with Gale. The fact that Ladd had not shown +up miles west of the Papago Well was significant. + +The sun had hidden behind clouds all the latter part of that day, +an unusual occurrence for that region even in winter. And now, +as the light waned suddenly, telling of the hidden sunset, a cold +dry, penetrating wind sprang up and blew in Gale's face. Not at +first, but by imperceptible degrees it chilled him. He untied his +coat from the back of the saddle and put it on. A few cold drops +of rain touched his cheek. + +He halted upon the edge of a low escarpment. Below him the +narrowing valley showed bare, black ribs of rock, long, winding +gray lines leading down to a central floor where mesquite and +cactus dotted the barren landscape. Moving objects, diminutive +in size, gray and white in color, arrested Gale's roving sight. +They bobbed away for a while, then stopped. They were antelope, +and they had seen his horse. When he rode on they started once +more, keeping to the lowest level. These wary animals were often +desert watchdogs for the ranger, they would betray the proximity +of horse or man. With them trotting forward, he made better time +for some miles across the valley. When he lost them, caution once +more slowed his advance. + +The valley sloped up and narrowed, to head into an arroyo where +grass began to show gray between the clumps of mesquite. Shadows +formed ahead in the hollows, along the walls of the arroyo, under +the trees, and they seemed to creep, to rise, to float into a veil +cast by the background of bold mountains, at last to claim the +skyline. Night was not close at hand, but it was there in the east, +lifting upward, drooping downward, encroaching upon the west. + +Gale dismounted to lead his horse, to go forward more slowly. He +had ridden sixty miles since morning, and he was tired, and a not +entirely healed wound in his hip made one leg drag a little. A +mile up the arroyo, near its head, lay the Papago Well. The need +of water for his horse entailed a risk that otherwise he could +have avoided. The well was on Mexican soil. Gale distinguished +a faint light flickering through the thin, sharp foliage. Campers +were at the well, and, whoever they were, no doubt they had +prevented Ladd from meeting Gale. Ladd had gone back to the +next waterhole, or maybe he was hiding in an arroyo to the eastward, +awaiting developments. + +Gale turned his horse, not without urge of iron arm and persuasive +speech, for the desert steed scented water, and plodded back to the +edge of the arroyo, where in a secluded circle of mesquite he halted. +The horse snorted his relief at the removal of the heavy, burdened +saddle and accoutrements, and sagging, bent his knees, lowered himself +with slow heave, and plunged down to roll in the sand. Gale poured the +contents of his larger canteen into his hat and held it to the horse's nose. + +"Drink, Sol," he said. + +It was but a drop for a thirsty horse. However, Blanco Sol rubbed +a west muzzle against Gale's hand in appreciation. Gale loved the +horse, and was loved in return. They had saved each other's lives, +and had spent long days and nights of desert solitude together. +Sol had known other masters, though none so kind as this new one; +but it was certain that Gale had never before known a horse. + +The spot of secluded ground was covered with bunches of galleta +grass upon which Sol began to graze. Gale made a long halter of +his lariat to keep the horse from wandering in search of water. +Next Gale kicked off the cumbersome chapparejos, with their flapping, +tripping folds of leather over his feet, and drawing a long rifle +from its leather sheath, he slipped away into the shadows. + +The coyotes were howling, not here and there, but in concerted +volume at the head of the arroyo. To Dick this was no more reassuring +than had been the flickering light of the campfire. The wild desert +dogs, with their characteristic insolent curiosity, were baying men +round a campfire. Gale proceeded slowly, halting every few steps, +careful not to brush against the stiff greasewood. In the soft +sand his steps made no sound. The twinkling light vanished +occasionally, like a Jack-o'lantern, and when it did show it seemed +still a long way off. Gale was not seeking trouble or inviting +danger. Water was the thing that drove him. He must see who +these campers were, and then decide how to give Blanco Sol a drink. + +A rabbit rustled out of brush at Gale's feet and thumped +away over the sand. The wind pattered among dry, broken stalks +of dead ocatilla. Every little sound brought Gale to a listening +pause. The gloom was thickening fast into darkness. It would be +a night without starlight. He moved forward up the pale, zigzag +aisles between the mesquite. He lost the light for a while, but the +coyotes' chorus told him he was approaching the campfire. Presently +the light danced through the black branches, and soon grew into +a flame. Stooping low, with bushy mesquites between him and the +fire, Gale advanced. The coyotes were in full cry. Gale heard +the tramping, stamping thumps of many hoofs. The sound worried +him. Foot by foot he advanced, and finally began to crawl. The +wind favored his position, so that neither coyotes nor horses could +scent him. The nearer he approached the head of the arroyo, where +the well was located, the thicker grew the desert vegetation. At +length a dead palo verde, with huge black clumps of its parasite +mistletoe thick in the branches, marked a distance from the well +that Gale considered close enough. Noiselessly he crawled here and +there until he secured a favorable position, and then rose to peep +from behind his covert. + +He saw a bright fire, not a cooking-fire, for that would have been +low and red, but a crackling blaze of mesquite. Three men were +in sight, all close to the burning sticks. They were Mexicans +and of the coarse type of raiders, rebels, bandits that Gale +expected to see. One stood up, his back to the fire; another sat +with shoulders enveloped in a blanket, and the third lounged in +the sand, his feet almost in the blaze. They had cast off belts +and weapons. A glint of steel caught Gale's eye. Three short, +shiny carbines leaned against a rock. A little to the left, within +the circle of light, stood a square house made of adobe bricks. +Several untrimmed poles upheld a roof of brush, which was partly +fallen in. This house was a Papago Indian habitation, and a month +before had been occupied by a family that had been murdered or +driven off by a roving band of outlaws. A rude corral showed +dimly in the edge of firelight, and from a black mass within came +the snort and stamp and whinney of horses. + +Gale took in the scene in one quick glance, then sank down at the +foot of the mesquite. He had naturally expected to see more men. + +but the situation was by no means new. This was one, or part of +one, of the raider bands harrying the border. They were stealing +horses, or driving a herd already stolen. These bands were more +numerous than the waterholes of northern Sonora; they never camped +long at one place; like Arabs, they roamed over the desert all the +way from Nogales to Casita. If Gale had gone peaceably up to this +campfire there were a hundred chances that the raiders would kill +and rob him to one chance that they might not. If they recognized +him as a ranger comrade of Ladd and Lash, if they got a glimpse +of Blanco Sol, then Gale would have no chance. + +These Mexicans had evidently been at the well some time. Their +horses being in the corral meant that grazing had been done by +day. Gale revolved questions in mind. Had this trio of outlaws +run across Ladd? It was not likely, for in that event they might +not have been so comfortable and care-free in camp. Were they +waiting for more members of their gang? That was very probable. +With Gale, however, the most important consideration was how +to get his horse to water. Sol must have a drink if it cost a fight. +There was stern reason for Gale to hurry eastward along the trail. +He thought it best to go back to where he had left his horse and +not make any decisive move until daylight. + +With the same noiseless care he had exercised in the advance, Gale +retreated until it was safe for him to rise and walk on down the +arroyo. He found Blanco Sol contentedly grazing. A heavy dew +was falling, and, as the grass was abundant, the horse did not +show the usual restlessness and distress after a dry and exhausting day. +Gale carried his saddle blankets and bags into the lee of a little +greasewood-covered mound, from around which the wind had +cut the soil, and here, in a wash, he risked building a small fire. +By this time the wind was piercingly cold. Gale's hands were numb +and he moved them to and fro in the little blaze. Then he made +coffee in a cup cooked some slices of bacon on the end of a stick, +and took a couple of hard biscuits from a saddlebag. Of these +his meal consisted. After that he removed the halter from Blanco +Sol, intending to leave him free to graze for a while. + +Then Gale returned to his little fire, replenished it with short +sticks of dead greasewood and mesquite, and, wrapping his +blanket round his shoulders he sat down to warm himself and to +wait till it was time to bring in the horse and tie him up. + +The fire was inadequate and Gale was cold and wet with dew. +Hunger and thirst were with him. His bones ached, and there was +a dull, deep-seated pain throbbing in his unhealed wound. For days +unshaven, his beard seemed like a million pricking needles in his +blistered skin. He was so tired that once having settled himself, +he did not move hand or foot. The night was dark, dismal, cloudy, +windy, growing colder. A moan of wind in the mesquite was +occasionally pierced by the high-keyed yelp of a coyote. There +were lulls in which the silence seemed to be a thing of stifling. +encroaching substance--a thing that enveloped, buried the desert. + +Judged by the great average of ideals and conventional standards +of life, Dick Gale was a starved, lonely, suffering, miserable +wretch. But in his case the judgment would have hit only externals, +would have missed the vital inner truth. For Gale was happy with +a kind of strange, wild glory in the privations, the pains, the perils, +and the silence and solitude to be endured on this desert land. +In the past he had not been of any use to himself or others; +and he had never know what it meant to be hungry, cold, tired, +lonely. He had never worked for anything. The needs of the day +had been provided, and to-morrow and the future looked the same. +Danger, peril, toil--these had been words read in books and papers. + +In the present he used his hands, his senses, and his wits. He +had a duty to a man who relied on his services. He was a comrade, +a friend, a valuable ally to riding, fighting rangers. He had spend +endless days, weeks that seemed years, alone with a horse, trailing +over, climbing over, hunting over a desert that was harsh and hostile +by nature, and perilous by the invasion of savage men. That horse +had become human to Gale. And with him Gale had learned to know +the simple needs of existence. Like dead scales the superficialities, +the falsities, the habits that had once meant all of life dropped +off, useless things in this stern waste of rock and sand. + +Gale's happiness, as far as it concerned the toil and strife, was +perhaps a grim and stoical one. But love abided with him, and it +had engendered and fostered other undeveloped traits--romance +and a feeling for beauty, and a keen observation of nature. He +felt pain, but he was never miserable. He felt the solitude, but +he was never lonely. + +As he rode across the desert, even though keen eyes searched for +the moving black dots, the rising puffs of white dust that were +warnings, he saw Nell's face in every cloud. The clean-cut mesas +took on the shape of her straight profile, with its strong chin and +lips, its fine nose and forehead. There was always a glint of gold +or touch of red or graceful line or gleam of blue to remind him of +her. Then at night her face shone warm and glowing, flushing and +paling, in the campfire. + +To-night, as usual, with a keen ear to the wind, Gale listened as +one on guard; yet he watched the changing phantom of a sweet face in +the embers, and as he watched he thought. The desert developed and +multiplied thought. A thousand sweet faces glowed in the pink and white +ashes of his campfire, the faces of other sweethearts or wives that had +gleamed for other men. Gale was happy in his thought of Nell, +for Nell, for something, when he was alone this way in the +wilderness, told him she was near him, she thought of him, she +loved him. But there were many men alone on that vast +southwestern plateau, and when they saw dream faces, surely for +some it was a fleeting flash, a gleam soon gone, like the hope +and the name and the happiness that had been and was now no +more. Often Gale thought of those hundreds of desert travelers, +prospectors, wanderers who had ventured down the Camino del +Diablo, never to be heard of again. Belding had told him of that +most terrible of all desert trails--a trail of shifting sands. Lash +had traversed it, and brought back stories of buried waterholes, +of bones bleaching white in the sun, of gold mines as lost as were +the prospectors who had sought them, of the merciless Yaqui and +his hatred for the Mexican. Gale thought of this trail and the men +who had camped along it. For many there had been one night, one +campfire that had been the last. This idea seemed to creep in +out of the darkness, the loneliness, the silence, and to find a +place in Gale's mind, so that it had strange fascination for him. +He knew now as he had never dreamed before how men drifted into +the desert, leaving behind graves, wrecked homes, ruined lives, +lost wives and sweethearts. And for every wanderer every campfire +had a phantom face. Gale measured the agony of these men at their +last campfire by the joy and promise he traced in the ruddy heart +of his own. + +By and by Gale remembered what he was waiting for; and, getting +up, he took the halter and went out to find Blanco Sol. It was +pitch-dark now, and Gale could not see a rod ahead. He felt his +way, and presently as he rounded a mesquite he saw Sol's white +shape outlined against the blackness. The horse jumped and wheeled, +ready to run. It was doubtful if any one unknown to Sol could ever +have caught him. Gale's low call reassured him, and he went on +grazing. Gale haltered him in the likeliest patch of grass and +returned to his camp. There he lifted his saddle into a protected +spot under a low wall of the mound, and, laying one blanket on +the sand, he covered himself with the other and stretched himself +for the night. + +Here he was out of reach of the wind; but he heard its melancholy +moan in the mesquite. There was no other sound. The coyotes +had ceased their hungry cries. Gale dropped to sleep, and slept +soundly during the first half of the night; and after that he seemed +always to be partially awake, aware of increasing cold and damp. +The dark mantle turned gray, and then daylight came quickly. The +morning was clear and nipping cold. He threw off the wet blanket +and got up cramped and half frozen. A little brisk action was all +that was necessary to warm his blood and loosen his muscles, and +then he was fresh, tingling, eager. The sun rose in a golden blaze, +and the descending valley took on wondrous changing hues. Then +he fetched up Blanco Sol, saddled him, and tied him to the thickest +clump of mesquite. + +"Sol, we'll have a drink pretty soon," he said, patting the splendid +neck. + +Gale meant it. He would not eat till he had watered his horse. +Sol had gone nearly forty-eight hours without a sufficient drink, +and that was long enough, even for a desert-bred beast. No three +raiders could keep Gale away from that well. Taking his rifle in +hand, he faced up the arroyo. Rabbits were frisking in the short +willows, and some were so tame he could have kicked them. Gale +walked swiftly for a goodly part of the distance, and then, when he +saw blue smoke curling up above the trees, he proceeded slowly, +with alert eye and ear. From the lay of the land and position of +trees seen by daylight, he found an easier and safer course that +the one he had taken in the dark. And by careful work he was enabled +to get closer to the well, and somewhat above it. + +The Mexicans were leisurely cooking their morning meal. They +had two fires, one for warmth, the other to cook over. Gale had +an idea these raiders were familiar to him. It seemed all these +border hawks resembled one another--being mostly small of build, +wiry, angular, swarthy-faced, and black-haired, and they wore +the oddly styled Mexican clothes and sombreros. A slow wrath +stirred in Gale as he watched the trio. They showed not the +slightest indication of breaking camp. One fellow, evidently the +leader, packed a gun at his hip, the only weapon in sight. Gale +noted this with speculative eyes. The raiders had slept inside +the little adobe house, and had not yet brought out the carbines. +Next Gale swept his gaze to the corral, in which he saw more than +a dozen horses, some of them fine animals. They were stamping +and whistling, fighting one another, and pawing the dirt. This +was entirely natural behavior for desert horses penned in when they +wanted to get at water and grass. + +But suddenly one of the blacks, a big, shaggy fellow, shot up his +ears and pointed his nose over the top of the fence. He whistled. +Other horses looked in the same direction, and their ears went up, +and they, too, whistled. Gale knew that other horses or men, very +likely both, were approaching. But the Mexicans did not hear the +alarm, or show any interest if they did. These mescal-drinking +raiders were not scouts. It was notorious how easily they could +be surprised or ambushed. Mostly they were ignorant, thick-skulled +peons. They were wonderful horsemen, and could go long without +food or water; but they had not other accomplishments or attributes +calculated to help them in desert warfare. They had poor sight, +poor hearing, poor judgment, and when excited they resembled +crazed ants running wild. + +Gale saw two Indians on burros come riding up the other side +of the knoll upon which the adobe house stood; and apparently +they were not aware of the presence of the Mexicans, +for they came on up the path. One Indian was a Papago. The other, +striking in appearance for other reasons than that he seemed to be +about to fall from the burro, Gale took to be a Yaqui. These +travelers had absolutely nothing for an outfit except a blanket +and a half-empty bag. They came over the knoll and down the path +toward the well, turned a corner of the house, and completely +surprised the raiders. + +Gale heard a short, shrill cry, strangely high and wild, and this +came from one of the Indians. It was answered by hoarse shouts. +Then the leader of the trio, the Mexican who packed a gun, pulled +it and fired point-blank. He missed once--and again. At the third +shot the Papago shrieked and tumbled off his burro to fall in a +heap. The other Indian swayed, as if the taking away of the +support lent by his comrade had brought collapse, and with the +fourth shot he, too, slipped to the ground. + +The reports had frightened the horses in the corral; and the vicious +black, crowding the rickety bars, broke them down. He came plunging +out. Two of the Mexicans ran for him, catching him by nose and +mane, and the third ran to block the gateway. + +Then, with a splendid vaulting mount, the Mexican with the gun +leaped to the back of the horse. He yelled and waved his gun, and +urged the black forward. The manner of all three was savagely +jocose. They were having sport. The two on the ground began to +dance and jabber. The mounted leader shot again, and then stuck +like a leech upon the bare back of the rearing black. It was a vain +show of horsemanship. Then this Mexican, by some strange grip, +brought the horse down, plunging almost upon the body of the +Indian that had fallen last. + +Gale stood aghast with his rifle clutched tight. He could not +divine the intention of the raider, but suspected something brutal. +The horse answered to that cruel, guiding hand, yet he swerved and bucked. +He reared aloft, pawing the air, wildly snorting, then he plunged down upon +the prostrate Indian. Even in the act the intelligent animal tried to +keep from striking the body with his hoofs. But that was not possible. +A yell, hideous in its passion, signaled this feat of horsemanship. + +The Mexican made no move to trample the body of the Papago. +He turned the black to ride again over the other Indian. That +brought into Gale's mind what he had heard of a Mexican's hate +for a Yaqui. It recalled the barbarism of these savage peons, +and the war of extermination being waged upon the Yaquis. + +Suddenly Gale was horrified to see the Yaqui writhe and raise a +feeble hand. The action brought renewed and more savage cries +from the Mexicans. The horse snorted in terror. + +Gale could bear no more. He took a quick shot at the rider. He +missed the moving figure, but hit the horse. There was a bound, +a horrid scream, a mighty plunge, then the horse went down, giving +the Mexican a stunning fall. Both beast and man lay still. + +Gale rushed from his cover to intercept the other raiders before +they could reach the house and their weapons. One fellow yelled +and ran wildly in the opposite direction; the other stood stricken +in his tracks. Gale ran in close and picked up the gun that had +dropped from the raider leader's hand. This fellow had begun to +stir, to come out of his stunned condition. Then the frightened +horses burst the corral bars, and in a thundering, dust-mantled +stream fled up the arroyo. + +The fallen raider sat up, mumbling to his saints in one breath, +cursing in his next. The other Mexican kept his stand, intimidated +by the threatening rifle. + +"Go, Greasers! Run!" yelled Gale. Then he yelled it in Spanish. +At the point of his rifle he drove the two raiders out of the camp. +His next move was to run into the house and fetch out the carbines. +With a heavy stone he dismantled each weapon. That done, he set out +on a run for his horse. He took the shortest cut down the arroyo, +with no concern as to whether or not he would encounter the raiders. +Probably such a meeting would be all the worse for them, and they +knew it. Blanco Sol heard him coming and whistled a welcome, and +when Gale ran up the horse was snorting war. Mounting, Gale rode +rapidly back to the scene of the action, and his first thought, when +he arrived at the well, was to give Sol a drink and to fill his canteens. + +Then Gale led his horse up out of the waterhole, and decided +before remounting to have a look at the Indians. The Papago had +been shot through the heart, but the Yaqui was still alive. +Moreover, he was conscious and staring up at Gale with great, +strange, somber eyes, black as volcanic slag. + +"Gringo good--no kill," he said, in husky whisper. + +His speech was not affirmative so much as questioning. + +"Yaqui, you're done for," said Gale, and his words were positive. +He was simply speaking aloud his mind. + +"Yaqui--no hurt--much," replied the Indian, and then he spoke a +strange word--repeated it again and again. + +An instinct of Gale's, or perhaps some suggestion in the husky, +thick whisper or dark face, told Gale to reach for his canteen. +He lifted the Indian and gave him a drink, and if ever in all his +life he saw gratitude in human eyes he saw it then. Then he +examined the injured Yaqui, not forgetting for an instant to send +wary, fugitive glances on all sides. Gale was not surprised. The +Indian had three wounds--a bullet hole in his shoulder, a crushed +arm, and a badly lacerated leg. What had been the matter with +him before being set upon by the raider Gale could not be certain. + +The ranger thought rapidly. This Yaqui would live unless left there +to die or be murdered by the Mexicans when they found courage to +sneak back to the well. It never occurred to Gale to abandon the +poor fellow. That was where his old training, the higher order of +human feeling, made impossible the following of any elemental instinct +of self-preservation. All the same, Gale knew he multiplied his +perils a hundredfold by burdening himself with a crippled Indian. +Swiftly he set to work, and with rifle ever under his hand, and +shifting glance spared from his task, he bound up the Yaqui's +wounds. At the same time he kept keen watch. + +The Indians' burros and the horses of the raiders were all out +of sight. Time was too valuable for Gale to use any in what might +be a vain search. Therefore, he lifted the Yaqui upon Sol's broad +shoulders and climbed into the saddle. At a word Sol dropped +his head and started eastward up the trail, walking swiftly, +without resentment for his double burden. + +Far ahead, between two huge mesas where the trail mounted over +a pass, a long line of dust clouds marked the position of the horses +that had escaped from the corral. Those that had been stolen would +travel straight and true for home, and perhaps would lead the others +with them. The raiders were left on the desert without guns or +mounts. + +Blanco Sol walked or jog-trotted six miles to the hour. At that +gait fifty miles would not have wet or turned a hair of his dazzling +white coat. Gale, bearing in mind the ever-present possibility of +encountering more raiders and of being pursued, saved the strength +of the horse. Once out of sight of Papago Well, Gale dismounted +and walked beside the horse, steadying with one firm hand the +helpless, dangling Yaqui. + +The sun cleared the eastern ramparts, and the coolness of morning +fled as if before a magic foe. The whole desert changed. The grays +wore bright; the mesquites glistened; the cactus took the silver +hue of frost, and the rocks gleamed gold and red. Then, as the +heat increased, a wind rushed up out of the valley behind Gale, +and the hotter the sun blazed down the swifter rushed the wind. +The wonderful transparent haze of distance lost its bluish hue for +one with tinge of yellow. Flying sand made the peaks dimly outlined. + +Gale kept pace with his horse. He bore the twinge of pain that +darted through his injured hip at every stride. His eye roved +over the wide, smoky prospect seeking the landmarks he knew. +When the wild and bold spurs of No Name Mountains loomed through +a rent in flying clouds of sand he felt nearer home. Another hour +brought him abreast of a dark, straight shaft rising clear from a +beetling escarpment. This was a monument marking the international +boundary line. When he had passed it he had his own country under +foot. In the heat of midday he halted in the shade of a rock, and, +lifting the Yak down, gave him a drink. Then, after a long, +sweeping survey of the surrounding desert, he removed Sold's saddle +and let him roll, and took for himself a welcome rest and a bite +to eat. + +The Yak was tenacious of life. He was still holding his own. +For the first time Gale really looked at the Indian to study him. +He had a large head nobly cast, and a face that resembled a +shrunken mask. It seemed chiseled in the dark-red, volcanic lava +of his Sooner wilderness. The Indian's eyes were always black +and mystic, but this Yak's encompassed all the tragic desolation +of the desert. They were fixed on Gale, moved only when he moved. +The Indian was short and broad, and his body showed unusual +muscular development, although he seemed greatly emaciated from +starvation or illness. + +Gale resumed his homeward journey. When he got through the pass +he faced a great depression, as rough as if millions of gigantic +spikes had been driven by the hammer of Thorn into a seamed and +cracked floor. This was Altar Valley. It was a chaos of array's, +canyons, rocks, and ridges all mantled with cactus, and at its +eastern end it claimed the dry bed of Forlorn River and water +when there was any. With a wounded, helpless man across the saddle, +this stretch of thorny and contorted desert was practically impassable. +Yet Gale headed into it unflinchingly. He would carry the Yaqui as +far as possible, or until death made the burden no longer a duty. +Blanco Sol plodded on over the dragging sand, up and down the +steep, loose banks of washes, out on the rocks, and through the +rows of white-toothed choyas. + +The sun sloped westward, bending fiercer heat in vengeful, parting +reluctance. The wind slackened. The dust settled. And the bold, +forbidding front of No Name Mountains changed to red and gold. +Gale held grimly by the side of the tireless, implacable horse, +holding the Yaqui on the saddle, taking the brunt of the merciless +thorns. In the end it became heartrending toil. His heavy chaps +dragged him down; but he dared not go on without them, for, +thick and stiff as they were, the terrible, steel-bayoneted spikes +of the choyas pierced through to sting his legs. + +To the last mile Gale held to Blanco Sol's gait and kept +ever-watchful gaze ahead on the trail. Then, with the low, flat +houses of Forlorn River shining red in the sunset, Gale flagged +and rapidly weakened. The Yaqui slipped out of the saddle and +dropped limp in the sand. Gale could not mount his horse. He +clutched Sol's long tail and twisted his hand in it and staggered on. + +Blanco Sol whistled a piercing blast. He scented cool water and +sweet alfalfa hay. Twinkling lights ahead meant rest. The +melancholy desert twilight rapidly succeeded the sunset. It +accentuated the forlorn loneliness of the gray, winding river of +sand and its grayer shores. Night shadows trooped down from the +black and looming mountains. + + + +VII + + + +White Horses + +"A crippled Yaqui! Why the hell did you saddle yourself with him?" +roared Belding, as he laid Gale upon the bed. + +Belding had grown hard these late, violent weeks. + +"Because I chose," whispered Gale, in reply. "Go after him--he +dropped in the trail--across the river--near the first big saguaro." + +Belding began to swear as he fumbled with matches and the lamp; +but as the light flared up he stopped short in the middle of a word. + +"You said you weren't hurt?" he demanded, in sharp anxiety, as he +bent over Gale. + +"I'm only--all in....Will you go--or send some one--for the Yaqui?" + +"Sure, Dick, sure," Belding replied, in softer tones. Then he +stalked out; his heels rang on the flagstones; he opened a door +and called: "Mother--girls, here's Dick back. He's done up....Now +--no, no, he's not hurt or in bad shape. You women!...Do what +you can to make him comfortable. I've got a little job on hand." + +There were quick replies that Gale's dulling ears did not +distinguish. Then it seemed Mrs. Belding was beside his bed, her +presence so cool and soothing and helpful, and Mercedes and Nell, +wide-eyed and white-faced, were fluttering around him. He drank +thirstily, but refused food. He wanted rest. And with their faces +drifting away in a kind of haze, with the feeling of gentle hands +about him, he lost consciousness. + +He slept twenty hours. then he arose, thirsty, hungry, lame, +overworn, and presently went in search of Belding and the business +of the day. + +"Your Yaqui was near dead, but guess we'll pull him through," said +Belding. "Dick, the other day that Indian came here by rail and +foot and Lord only knows how else, all the way from New Orleans! +He spoke English better than most Indians, and I know a little +Yaqui. I got some of his story and guessed the rest. The Mexican +government is trying to root out the Yaquis. A year ago his tribe +was taken in chains to a Mexican port on the Gulf. The fathers, +mothers, children, were separated and put in ships bound for +Yucatan. There they were made slaves on the great henequen +plantations. They were driven, beaten, starved. Each slave had +for a day's rations a hunk of sour dough, no more. Yucatan is low, +marshy, damp, hot. The Yaquis were bred on the high, dry Sonoran +plateau, where the air is like a knife. They dropped dead in the +henequen fields, and their places were taken by more. You see, +the Mexicans won't kill outright in their war of extermination of +the Yaquis. They get use out of them. It's a horrible +thing....Well, this Yaqui you brought in escaped from his captors, +got aboard ship, and eventually reached New Orleans. Somehow +he traveled way out here. I gave him a bag of food, and he went +off with a Papago Indian. He was a sick man then. And he must +have fallen foul of some Greasers." + +Gale told of his experience at Papago Well. + +"That raider who tried to grind the Yaqui under a horse's hoofs--he +was a hyena!" concluded Gale, shuddering. "I've seen some blood +spilled and some hard sights, but that inhuman devil took my nerve. +Why, as I told you, Belding, I missed a shot at him--not twenty +paces!" + +"Dick, in cases like that the sooner you clean up the bunch the +better," said Belding, grimly. "As for hard sights--wait till +you've seen a Yaqui do up a Mexican. + +Bar none, that is the limit! It's blood lust, a racial hate, deep +as life, and terrible. The Spaniards crushed the Aztecs four or +five hundred years ago. That hate has had time to grow as deep +as a cactus root. The Yaquis are mountain Aztecs. Personally, I +think they are noble and intelligent, and if let alone would be +peaceable and industrious. I like the few I've known. But they +are a doomed race. Have you any idea what ailed this Yaqui before +the raider got in his work?" + +"No, I haven't. I noticed the Indian seemed in bad shape; but I +couldn't tell what was the matter with him." + +"Well, my idea is another personal one. Maybe it's off color. I +think that Yaqui was, or is, for that matter, dying of a broken +heart. All he wanted was to get back to his mountains and die. +There are no Yaquis left in that part of Sonora he was bound for." + +"He had a strange look in his eyes," said Gale, thoughtfully. + +"Yes, I noticed that. But all Yaquis have a wild look. Dick, if +I'm not mistaken, this fellow was a chief. It was a waste of +strength, a needless risk for you to save him, pack him back here. +but, damn the whole Greaser outfit generally, I'm glad you did!" + +Gale remembered then to speak of his concern for Ladd. + +"Laddy didn't go out to meet you," replied Belding. "I knew you +were due in any day, and, as there's been trouble between here +and Casita, I sent him that way. Since you've been out our friend +Carter lost a bunch of horses and a few steers. Did you get a good +look at the horses those raiders had at Papago Well?" + +Dick had learned, since he had become a ranger, to see everything +with keen, sure, photographic eye; and, being put to the test so +often required of him, he described the horses as a dark-colored +drove, mostly bays and blacks, with one spotted sorrel. + +"Some of Carter's--sure as you're born!" exclaimed Belding. "His +bunch has been split up, divided among several bands of raiders. +He has a grass ranch up here in Three Mile Arroyo. It's a good +long ride in U. S. territory from the border." + +"Those horses I saw will go home, don't you think?" asked Dick. + +"Sure. They can't be caught or stopped." + +"Well, what shall I do now?" + +"Stay here and rest," bluntly replied Belding. "You need it. Let +the women fuss over you--doctor you a little. When Jim gets back +from Sonoyta I'll know more about what we ought to do. By Lord! +it seems our job now isn't keeping Japs and Chinks out of the U. S. +It's keeping our property from going into Mexico." + +"Are there any letters for me?" asked Gale. + +"Letters! Say, my boy, it'd take something pretty important to +get me or any man here back Casita way. If the town is safe these +days the road isn't. It's a month now since any one went to +Casita." + +Gale had received several letters from his sister Elsie, the last of +which he had not answered. There had not been much opportunity +for writing on his infrequent returns to Forlorn River; and, +besides, Elsie had written that her father had stormed over what +he considered Dick's falling into wild and evil ways. + +"Time flies," said Dick. "George Thorne will be free before long, +and he'll be coming out. I wonder if he'll stay here or try to take +Mercedes away?" + +"Well, he'll stay right here in Forlorn River, if I have any say," +replied Belding. "I'd like to know how he'd ever get that Spanish +girl out of the country now, with all the trails overrun by rebels +and raiders. It'd be hard to disguise her. Say, Dick, maybe we +can get Thorne to stay here. You know, since you've discovered +the possibility of a big water supply, I've had dreams of a future +for Forlorn River....If only this war was over! + +Dick, that's what it is--war--scattered war along the northern +border of Mexico from gulf to gulf. What if it isn't our war? +We're on the fringe. No, we can't develop Forlorn River until +there's peace." + +The discovery that Belding alluded to was one that might very +well lead to the making of a wonderful and agricultural district +of Altar Valley. While in college Dick Gale had studied +engineering, but he had not set the scientific world afire with his +brilliance. Nor after leaving college had he been able to satisfy +his father that he could hold a job. Nevertheless, his smattering +of engineering skill bore fruit in the last place on earth where +anything might have been expected of it--in the desert. Gale had +always wondered about the source of Forlorn River. No white man +or Mexican, or, so far as known, no Indian, had climbed those +mighty broken steps of rock called No Name Mountains, from which +Forlorn River was supposed to come. Gale had discovered a long, +narrow, rock-bottomed and rock-walled gulch that could be dammed +at the lower end by the dynamiting of leaning cliffs above. An +inexhaustible supply of water could be stored there. Furthermore, +he had worked out an irrigation plan to bring the water down for +mining uses, and to make a paradise out of that part of Altar Valley +which lay in the United States. Belding claimed there was gold in +the arroyos, gold in the gulches, not in quantities to make a +prospector rejoice, but enough to work for. And the soil on the +higher levels of Altar Valley needed only water to make it grow +anything the year round. Gale, too, had come to have dreams of +a future for Forlorn River. + +On the afternoon of the following day Ladd unexpectedly appeared +leading a lame and lathered horse into the yard. Belding and Gale, +who were at work at the forge, looked up and were surprised out +of speech. The legs of the horse were raw and red, and he seemed +about to drop. Ladd's sombrero was missing; he wore a bloody scarf +round his head; sweat and blood and dust had formed a crust on his +face; little streams of powdery dust slid from him; and the lower +half of his scarred chaps were full of broken white thorns. + +"Howdy, boys," he drawled. "I shore am glad to see you all." + +"Where'n hell's your hat?" demanded Belding, furiously. It was a +ridiculous greeting. But Belding's words signified little. The +dark shade of worry and solicitude crossing his face told more +than his black amaze. + +The ranger stopped unbuckling the saddle girths, and, looking +at Belding, broke into his slow, cool laugh. + +"Tom, you recollect that whopper of a saguaro up here where +Carter's trail branches off the main trail to Casita? Well, I +climbed it an' left my hat on top for a woodpecker's nest." + +"You've been running--fighting?" queried Belding, as if Ladd had +not spoken at all. + +"I reckon it'll dawn on you after a while," replied Ladd, slipping +the saddle. + +"Laddy, go in the house to the women," said Belding. "I'll tend to +your horse." + +"Shore, Tom, in a minute. I've been down the road. An' I found +hoss tracks an' steer tracks goin' across the line. But I seen no +sign of raiders till this mornin'. Slept at Carter's last night. +That raid the other day cleaned him out. He's shootin' mad. Well, +this mornin' I rode plumb into a bunch of Carter's hosses, runnin' +wild for home. Some Greasers were tryin' to head them round an' +chase them back across the line. I rode in between an' made +matters embarrassin'. Carter's hosses got away. Then me an' the +Greasers had a little game of hide an' seek in the cactus. I was on +the wrong side, an' had to break through their line to head toward +home. We run some. But I had a closer call than I'm stuck on +havin'." + +"Laddy, you wouldn't have any such close calls if you'd ride one +of my horses," expostulated Belding. "This broncho of yours +can run, and Lord knows he's game. But you want a big, +strong horse, Mexican bred, with cactus in his blood. +Take one of the bunch--Bull, White Woman, Blanco Jose." + +"I had a big, fast horse a while back, but I lost him," said Ladd. +"This bronch ain't so bad. Shore Bull an' that white devil with +his Greaser name--they could run down my bronch, kill him in +a mile of cactus. But, somehow, Tom, I can't make up my mind to +take one of them grand white hosses. Shore I reckon I'm kinda +soft. An' mebbe I'd better take one before the raiders clean up +Forlorn River." + +Belding cursed low and deep in his throat, and the sound resembled +muttering thunder. The shade of anxiety on his face changed to +one of dark gloom and passion. Next to his wife and daughter there +was nothing so dear to him as those white horses. His father and +grandfather--all his progenitors of whom he had trace--had been +lovers of horses. It was in Belding's blood. + +"Laddy, before it's too late can't I get the whites away from the +border?" + +"Mebbe it ain't too late; but where can we take them?? + +"To San Felipe?" + +"No. We've more chance to hold them here.? + +"To Casita and the railroad?" + +"Afraid to risk gettin' there. An' the town's full of rebels who +need hosses." + +"Then straight north?" + +"Shore man, you're crazy. Ther's no water, no grass for a hundred +miles. I'll tell you, Tom, the safest plan would be to take the +white bunch south into Sonora, into some wild mountain valley. +Keep them there till the raiders have traveled on back east. Pretty +soon there won't be any rich pickin' left for these Greasers. An' +then they'll ride on to new ranges." + +"Laddy, I don't know the trails into Sonora. An' I can't trust a +Mexican or a Papago. Between you and me, I'm afraid of this +Indian who herds for me." + +"I reckon we'd better stick here, Tom....Dick, it's some good to +see you again. But you seem kinda quiet. Shore you get quieter +all the time. Did you see any sign of Jim out Sonoyta way?" + +Then Belding led the lame horse toward the watering-trough, +while the two rangers went toward the house, Dick was telling +Ladd about the affair at Papago Well when they turned the corner +under the porch. Nell was sitting in the door. She rose with a +little scream and came flying toward them. + +"Now I'll get it," whispered Ladd. "The women'll make a baby of +me. An' shore I can't help myself." + +"Oh, Laddy, you've been hurt!" cried Nell, as with white cheeks +and dilating eyes she ran to him and caught his arm. + +"Nell, I only run a thorn in my ear." + +"Oh, Laddy, don't lie! You've lied before. I know you're hurt. +Come in to mother." + +"Shore, Nell, it's only a scratch. My bronch throwed me." + +"Laddy, no horse every threw you." The girl's words and accusing +eyes only hurried the ranger on to further duplicity. + +"Mebbe I got it when I was ridin' hard under a mesquite, an' a +sharp snag--" + +"You've been shot!...Mama, here's Laddy, and he's been shot!....Oh, +these dreadful days we're having! I can't bear them! Forlorn River +used to be so safe and quiet. Nothing happened. But now! Jim +comes home with a bloody hole in him--then Dick--then Laddy!....Oh, +I'm afraid some day they'll never come home." + + + +The morning was bright, still, and clear as crystal. The heat waves +had not yet begun to rise from the desert. + +A soft gray, white, and green tint perfectly blended lay like a +mantle over mesquite and sand and cactus. The canyons of distant +mountain showed deep and full of lilac haze. + +Nell sat perched high upon the topmost bar of the corral gate. Dick +leaned beside her, now with his eyes on her face, now gazing out +into the alfalfa field where Belding's thoroughbreds grazed and +pranced and romped and whistled. Nell watched the horses. She +loved them, never tired of watching them. But her gaze was too +consciously averted from the yearning eyes that tried to meet hers +to be altogether natural. + +A great fenced field of dark velvety green alfalfa furnished a rich +background for the drove of about twenty white horses. Even without +the horses the field would have presented a striking contrast to the +surrounding hot, glaring blaze of rock and sand. Belding had bred a +hundred or more horses from the original stock he had brought up +from Durango. His particular interest was in the almost +unblemished whites, and these he had given especial care. He made +a good deal of money selling this strain to friends among the +ranchers back in Texas. No mercenary consideration, however, could +have made him part with the great, rangy white horses he had gotten +from the Durango breeder. He called them Blanco Diablo (White +Devil), Blanco Sol (White Sun), Blanca Reina (White Queen), Blanca +Mujer (White Woman), and El Gran Toro Blanco (The Big White Bull). +Belding had been laughed at by ranchers for preserving the +sentimental Durango names, and he had been unmercifully ridiculed +by cowboys. The the names had never been changed. + +Blanco Diablo was the only horse in the field that was not free to +roam and graze where he listed. A stake and a halter held him to +one corner, where he was severely let alone by the other horses. +He did not like this isolation. Blanco Diablo was not happy unless +he was running, or fighting a rival. Of the two he would rather fight. +If anything white could resemble a devil, this horse surely did. He had +nothing beautiful about him, yet he drew the gaze and held it. The look +of him suggested discontent, anger, revolt, viciousness. When he +was not grazing or prancing, he held his long, lean head level, +pointing his nose and showing his teeth. Belding's favorite was +almost all the world to him, and he swore Diablo could stand more +heat and thirst and cactus than any other horse he owned, and +could run down and kill any horse in the Southwest. The fact that +Ladd did not agree with Belding on these salient points was a great +disappointment, and also a perpetual source for argument. Ladd and +Lash both hated Diablo; and Dick Gale, after one or two narrow +escapes from being brained, had inclined to the cowboys' side of +the question. + +El Gran Toro Blanco upheld his name. He was a huge, massive, +thick-flanked stallion, a kingly mate for his full-bodied, glossy +consort, Blanca Reina. The other mare, Blanca Mujer, was dazzling +white, without a spot, perfectly pointed, racy, graceful, elegant, +yet carrying weight and brawn and range that suggested her relation +to her forebears. + +The cowboys admitted some of Belding's claims for Diablo, but they +gave loyal and unshakable allegiance to Blanco Sol. As for Dick, he +had to fight himself to keep out of arguments, for he sometimes +imagined he was unreasonable about the horse. Though he could not +understand himself, he knew he loved Sol as a man loved a friend, +a brother. Free of heavy saddle and the clumsy leg shields, Blanco +Sol was somehow all-satisfying to the eyes of the rangers. As long +and big as Diablo was, Sol was longer and bigger. Also, he was +higher, more powerful. He looked more a thing for action--speedier. + +At a distance the honorable scars and lumps that marred his muscular +legs were not visible. He grazed aloof from the others, and did not +cavort nor prance; but when he lifted his head to whistle, how wild +he appeared, and proud and splendid! The dazzling whiteness of the +desert sun shone from his coat; he had the fire and spirit of the desert +in his noble head, its strength and power in his gigantic frame. + +"Belding swears Sol never beat Diablo," Dick was saying. + +"He believes it," replied Nell. "Dad is queer about that horse." + +"But Laddy rode Sol once--made him beat Diablo. Jim saw the race." + +Nell laughed. "I saw it, too. For that matter, even I have made +Sol put his nose before Dad's favorite." + +"I'd like to have seen that. Nell, aren't you ever going to ride +with me?" + +"Some day--when it's safe." + +"Safe!" + +"I--I mean when the raiders have left the border." + +"Oh, I'm glad you mean that," said Dick, laughing. + +"Well, I've often wondered how Belding ever came to give Blanco Sol +to me." + +"He was jealous. I think he wanted to get rid of Sol." + +"No? Why, Nell, he'd give Laddy or Jim one of the whites any day." + +"Would he? Not Devil or Queen or White Woman. Never in this +world! But Dad has lots of fast horses the boys could pick from. +Dick, I tell you Dad wants Blanco Sol to run himself out--lose his +speed on the desert. Dad is just jealous for Diablo." + +"Maybe. He surely has strange passion for horses. I think I +understand better than I used to. I owned a couple of racers +once. They were just animals to me, I guess. But Blanco Sol!" + +"Do you love him?" asked Nell; and now a warm, blue flash of eyes +swept his face. + +"Do I? Well, rather." + +"I'm glad. Sol has been finer, a better horse since you +owned him. He loves you, Dick. He's always watching for you. +See him raise his head. That's for you. I know as much about +horses as Dad or Laddy any day. Sol always hated Diablo, and +he never had much use for Dad." + +Dick looked up at her. + +"It'll be--be pretty hard to leave Sol--when I go away." + +Nell sat perfectly still. + +"Go away?" she asked, presently, with just the faintest tremor in +her voice. + +"Yes. Sometimes when I get blue--as I am to-day--I think I'll go. +But, in sober truth, Nell, it's not likely that I'll spend all my +life here." + +There was no answer to this. Dick put his hand softly over hers; +and, despite her half-hearted struggle to free it, he held on. + +"Nell!" + +Her color fled. He saw her lips part. Then a heavy step on the +gravel, a cheerful, complaining voice interrupted him, and made +him release Nell and draw back. Belding strode into view round +the adobe shed. + +"Hey, Dick, that darned Yaqui Indian can't be driven or hired or +coaxed to leave Forlorn River. He's well enough to travel. I +offered him horse, gun, blanket, grub. But no go." + +"That's funny," replied Gale, with a smile. "Let him stay--put +him to work" + +"It doesn't strike me funny. But I'll tell you what I think. That +poor, homeles, heartbroken Indian has taken a liking to you, Dick. +These desert Yaquis are strange folk. I've heard strange stories +about them. I'd believe 'most anything. And that's how I figure +his case. You saved his life. That sort of thing counts big with +any Indian, even with an Apache. With a Yaqui maybe it's of deep +significance. I've heard a Yaqui say that with his tribe no debt to +friend or foe ever went unpaid. Perhaps that's what ails this fellow." + +"Dick, don't laugh," said Nell. "I've noticed the Yaqui. It's +pathetic the way his great gloomy eyes follow you." + +"You've made a friend," continued Belding. "A Yaqui could be a +real friend on this desert. If he gets his strength back he'll be +of service to you, don't mistake me. He's welcome here. But +you're responsible for him, and you'll have trouble keeping him +from massacring all the Greasers in Forlorn River." + + + +The probability of a visit from the raiders, and a dash bolder +than usual on the outskirts of a ranch, led Belding to build a +new corral. It was not sightly to the eye, but it was high and +exceedingly strong. The gate was a massive affair, swinging on +huge hinges and fastening with heavy chains and padlocks. On the +outside it had been completely covered with barb wire, which would +make it a troublesome thing to work on in the dark. + +At night Belding locked his white horses in this corral. The +Papago hersman slept in the adobe shed adjoining. Belding did +not imagine that any wooden fence, however substantially built, +could keep determined raiders from breaking it down. They +would have to take time, however, and make considerable noise; +and Belding relied on these facts. Belding did not believe a band +of night raiders would hold out against a hot rifle fire. So he +began to make up some of the sleep he had lost. It was noteworthy, +however, that Ladd did not share Belding's sanguine hopes. + +Jim Lash rode in, reporting that all was well out along the line +toward the Sonoyta Oasis. Days passed, and Belding kept his rangers +home. Nothing was heard of raiders at hand. Many of the newcomers, +both American and Mexican, who came with wagons and pack trains +from Casita stated that property and life were cheap back in that +rebel-infested town. + +One January morning Dick Gale was awakened by a shrill, +menacing cry. He leaped up bewildered and frightened. +He heard Belding's booming voice answering shouts, and rapid +steps on flagstones. But these had not awakened him. Heavy +breaths, almost sobs, seemed at his very door. In the cold and +gray dawn Dick saw something white. Gun in hand, he bounded +across the room. Just ouside his door stood Blanco Sol. + +It was not unusual for Sol to come poking his head in at Dick's +door during daylight. But now in the early dawn, when he had +been locked in the corral, it meant raiders--no less. Dick called +softly to the snorting horse; and, hurriedly getting into clothes +and boots, he went out with a gun in each hand. Sol was quivering +in every muscle. Like a dog he followed Dick around the house. +Hearing shouts in the direction of the corrals, Gale bent swift +steps that way. + +He caught up with Jim Lash, who was also leading a white horse. + +"Hello, Jim! Guess it's all over but the fireworks," said Dick. + +"I cain't say just what has come off," replied Lash. "I've got the +Bull. Found him runnin' in the yard." + +They reached the corral to find Belding shaking, roaring like a +madman. The gate was open, the corral was empty. Ladd stooped +over the ground, evidently trying to find tracks. + +"I reckon we might jest as well cool off an' wait for daylight," +suggested Jim. + +"Shore. They've flown the coop, you can gamble on that. Tom, +where's the Papago?" said Ladd. + +"He's gone, Laddy--gone!" + +"Double-crossed us, eh? I see here's a crowbar lyin' by the +gatepost. That Indian fetched it from the forge. It was used to +pry out the bolts an' steeples. Tom, I reckon there wasn't much +time lost forcin' that gate." + +Belding, in shirt sleeves and barefooted, roared with rage. +He said he had heard the horses running as he leaped out of bed. + +"What woke you?" asked Laddy. + +"Sol. He came whistling for Dick. Didn't you hear him before I +called you?" + +"Hear him! He came thunderin' right under my window. I jumped +up in bed, an' when he let out that blast Jim lit square in the +middle of the floor, an' I was scared stiff. Dick, seein' it was +your room he blew into, what did you think?" + +"I couldn't think. I'm shaking yet, Laddy." + +"Boys, I'll bet Sol spilled a few raiders if any got hands on him," +said Jim. "Now, let's sit down an' wait for daylight. It's my +idea we'll find some of the hosses runnin' loose. Tom, you go +an' get some clothes on. It's freezin' cold. An' don't forget to +tell the women folks we're all right." + +Daylight made clear some details of the raid. The cowboys found +tracks of eight raiders coming up from the river bed where their +horses had been left. Evidently the Papago had been false to his +trust. He few personal belongings were gone. Lash was correct +in his idea of finding more horses loose in the fields. The men +soon rounded up eleven of the whites, all more or less frightened, +and among the number were Queen and Blanca Mujer. The raiders +had been unable to handle more than one horse for each man. It +was bitter irony of fate that Belding should lose his favorite, the +one horse more dear to him than all the others. Somewhere out on +the trail a raider was fighting the iron-jawed savage Blanco Diablo. + +"I reckon we're some lucky," observed Jim Lash. + +"Lucky ain't enough word," replied Ladd. "You see, it was this way. +Some of the raiders piled over the fence while the others worked +on the gate. Mebbe the Papago went inside to pick out the best +hosses. But it didn't work except with Diablo, an' how they ever +got him I don't know. I'd have gambled it'd take all of eight +men to steal him. But Greasers have got us skinned on handlin' +hosses." + +Belding was unconsolable. He cursed and railed, and finally +declared he was going to trail the raiders. + +"Tom, you just ain't agoin' to do nothin' of the kind," said Ladd +coolly. + +Belding groaned and bowed his head. + +"Laddy, you're right," he replied, presently. "I've got to stand +it. I can't leave the women and my property. But it's sure tough. +I'm sore way down deep, and nothin' but blood would ever satisfy +me." + +"Leave that to me an' Jim," said Ladd. + +"What do you mean to do?" demanded Belding, starting up. + +"Shore I don't know yet....Give me a light for my pipe. An' Dick, +go fetch out your Yaqui." + + + + +VIII + + +The Running of Blanco Sol + +The Yaqui's strange dark glance roved over the corral, the swinging +gate with its broken fastenings, the tracks in the road, and then +rested upon Belding. + +"Malo," he said, and his Spanish was clear. + +"Shore Yaqui, about eight bad men, an' a traitor Indian," said Ladd. + +"I think he means my herder," added Belding. "If he does, that +settles any doubt it might be decent to have--Yaqui--malo +Papago--Si?" + +The Yaqui spread wide his hands. Then he bent over the tracks in +the road. They led everywhither, but gradually he worked out of +the thick net to take the trail that the cowboys had followed down +to the river. Belding and the rangers kept close at his heels. +Occasionally Dick lent a helping hand to the still feeble Indian. +He found a trampled spot where the raiders had left their horses. +From this point a deeply defined narrow trail led across the dry +river bed. + +Belding asked the Yaqui where the raiders would head for in the +Sonora Desert. For answer the Indian followed the trail across +the streem of sand, through willows and mesquite, up to the level +of rock and cactus. At this point he halted. A sand-filled, +almost obliterated trail led off to the left, and evidently went +round to the east of No Name Mountains. To the right stretched +the road toward Papago Well and the Sonoyta Oasis. The trail +of the raiders took a southeasterly course over untrodden desert. +The Yaqui spoke in his own tongue, then in Spanish. + +"Think he means slow march," said Belding. "Laddy, from the looks +of that trail the Greasers are having trouble with the horses." + +"Tom, shore a boy could see that," replied Laddy "Ask Yaqui to tell +us where the raiders are headin', an' if there's water." + +It was wonderful to see the Yaqui point. His dark hand stretched, +he sighted over his stretched finger at a low white escarpment in +the distance. Then with a stick he traced a line in the sand, and +then at the end of that another line at right angles. He made +crosses and marks and holes, and as he drew the rude map he talked +in Yaqui, in Spanish; with a word here and there in English. +Belding translated as best he could. The raiders were heading +southeast toward the railroad that ran from Nogales down into +Sonora. It was four days' travel, bad trail, good sure waterhole +one day out; then water not sure for two days. Raiders traveling +slow; bothered by too many horses, not looking for pursuit; were +never pursued, could be headed and ambushed that night at the first +waterhole, a natural trap in a valley. + +The men returned to the ranch. The rangers ate and drank while +making hurried preparations for travel. Blanco Sol and the cowboys' +horses were fed, watered, and saddled. Ladd again refused to ride +one of Belding's whites. He was quick and cold. + +"Get me a long-range rifle an' lots of shells. Rustle now," he +said. + +"Laddy, you don't want to be weighted down?" protested Belding. + +"Shore I want a gun that'll outshoot the dinky little carbines an' +muskets used by the rebels. Trot one out an' be quick." + +"I've got a .405, a long-barreled heavy rifle that'll shoot a mile. +I use it for mountain sheep. But Laddy, it'll break +that bronch's back." + +"His back won't break so easy....Dick, take plenty of shells for +your Remington. An' don't forget your field glass." + +In less than an hour after the time of the raid the three rangers, +heavily armed and superbly mounted on fresh horses, rode out +on the trail. As Gale turned to look back from the far bank of +Forlorn River, he saw Nell waving a white scarf. He stood high +in his stirrups and waved his sombrero. Then the mesquites hid +the girl's slight figure, and Gale wheeled grim-faced to follow +the rangers. + +They rode in single file with Ladd in the lead. He did not keep +to the trail of the raiders all the time. He made short cuts. +The raiders were traveling leisurely, and they evinced a liking +for the most level and least cactus-covered stretches of ground. +But the cowboy took a bee-line course for the white escarpment +pointed out by the Yaqui; and nothing save deep washes and +impassable patches of cactus or rocks made him swerve from it. +He kept the broncho at a steady walk over the rougher places and +at a swinging Indian canter over the hard and level ground. The +sun grew hot and the wind began to blow. Dust clouds rolled +along the blue horizon. Whirling columns of sand, like water spouts +at sea, circled up out of white arid basins, and swept away and +spread aloft before the wind. The escarpment began to rise, to +change color, to show breaks upon it rocky face. + +Whenever the rangers rode out on the brow of a knoll or ridge +or an eminence, before starting to descend, Ladd required of +Gale a long, careful, sweeping survey of the desert ahead through +the field glass. There were streams of white dust to be seen, +streaks of yellow dust, trailing low clouds of sand over the +glistening dunes, but no steadily rising, uniformly shaped puffs +that would tell a tale of moving horses on the desert. +At noon the rangers got out of the thick cactus. Moreover, the +gravel-bottomed washes, the low weathering, rotting ledges of +yellow rock gave place to hard sandy rolls and bare clay knolls. +The desert resembled a rounded hummocky sea of color. All light +shades of blue and pink and yellow and mauve were there dominated +by the glaring white sun. Mirages glistened, wavered, faded in the +shimmering waves of heat. Dust as fine as power whiffed up from +under the tireless hoofs. + +The rangers rode on and the escarpment began to loom. The desert +floor inclined perceptibly upward. When Gale got an unobstructed +view of the slope of the escarpment he located the raiders and +horses. In another hour's travel the rangers could see with naked +eyes a long, faint moving streak of black and white dots. + +"They're headin' for that yellow pass," said Ladd, pointing to a +break in the eastern end of the escarpment. "When they get out of +sight we'll rustle. I'm thinkin' that waterhole the Yaqui spoke of +lays in the pass." + +The rangers traveled swiftly over the remaining miles of level +desert leading to the ascent of the escarpment. When they achieved +the gateway of the pass the sun was low in the west. Dwarfed +mesquite and greasewood appeared among the rocks. Ladd gave the +word to tie up horses and go forward on foot. + +The narrow neck of the pass opened and descended into a valley +half a mile wide, perhaps twice that in length. It had apparently +unscalable slopes of weathered rock leading up to beetling walls. +With floor bare and hard and white, except for a patch of green +mesquite near the far end it was a lurid and desolate spot, the +barren bottom of a desert bowl. + +"Keep down, boys" said Ladd. "There's the waterhole an' hosses +have sharp eyes. Shore the Yaqui figgered this place. I never +seen its like for a trap." + +Both white and black horses showed against the green, +and a thin curling column of blue smoke rose lazily from amid +the mesquites. + +"I reckon we'd better wait till dark, or mebbe daylight," said +Jim Lash. + +"Let me figger some. Dick, what do you make of the outlet to +this hole? Looks rough to me." + +With his glass Gale studied the narrow construction of walls and +roughened rising floor. + +"Laddy, it's harder to get out at that end than here," he replied. + +"Shore that's hard enough. Let me have a look....Well, boys, it +don't take no figgerin' for this job. Jim, I'll want you at the +other end blockin' the pass when we're ready to start." + +"When'll that be?" inquired Jim. + +"Soon as it's light enough in the mornin'. That Greaser outfit +will hang till to-morrow. There's no sure water ahead for two +days, you remember." + +"I reckon I can slip through to the other end after dark," said +Lash, thoughtfully. "It might get me in bad to go round." + +The rangers stole back from the vantage point and returned to their +horses, which they untied and left farther round among broken +sections of cliff. For the horses it was a dry, hungry camp, but +the rangers built a fire and had their short though strengthening +meal. + +The location was high, and through a break in the jumble of rocks +the great colored void of desert could be seen rolling away +endlessly to the west. The sun set, and after it had gone down +the golden tips of mountains dulled, their lower shadows creeping +upward. + +Jim Lash rolled in his saddle blanket, his feet near the fire, and +went to sleep. Ladd told Gale to do likewise while he kept the +fire up and waited until it was late enough for Jim to undertake +circling round the raiders. When Gale awakened the night was +dark, cold, windy. The stars shone with white brilliance. +Jim was up saddling his horse, and Ladd was talking low. +When Gale rose to accompany them both rangers said he need not go. +But Gale wanted to go because that was the thing Ladd or Jim would have done. + +With Ladd leading, they moved away into the gloom. Advance was +exceedingly slow, careful, silent. Under the walls the blackness +seemed impenetrable. The horse was as cautious as his master. +Ladd did not lose his way, nevertheless he wound between blocks +of stone and clumps of mesquite, and often tried a passage to +abandon it. Finally the trail showed pale in the gloom, and eastern +stars twinkled between the lofty ramparts of the pass. + +The advance here was still as stealthily made as before, but not so +difficult or slow. When the dense gloom of the pass lightened, +and there was a wide space of sky and stars overhead, Ladd halted +and stood silent a moment. + +"Luck again!" he whispered. "The wind's in your face, Jim. The +horses won't scent you. Go slow. Don't crack a stone. Keep close +under the wall. Try to get up as high as this at the other end. +Wait till daylight before riskin' a loose slope. I'll be ridin' the +job early. That's all." + +Ladd's cool, easy speech was scarcely significant of the perilous +undertaking. Lash moved very slowly away, leading his horse. +The soft pads of hoofs ceased to sound about the time the gray +shape merged into the black shadows. Then Ladd touched Dick's +arm, and turned back up the trail. + +But Dick tarried a moment. He wanted a fuller sense of that +ebony-bottomed abyss, with its pale encircling walls reaching +up to the dusky blue sky and the brilliant stars. There was +absolutely no sound. + +He retraced his steps down, soon coming up with Ladd; and together +they picked a way back through the winding recesses of cliff. The +campfire was smoldering. Ladd replenished it and lay down to get +a few hours' sleep, while Gale kept watch. The after part of the +night wore on till the paling of stars, the thickening of gloom indicated +the dark hour before dawn. The spot was secluded from wind, but +the air grew cold as ice. Gale spent the time stripping wood from +a dead mesquite, in pacing to and fro, in listening. Blanco Sol +stamped occasionally, which sound was all that broke the stilliness. +Ladd awoke before the faintest gray appeared. The rangers ate +and drank. When the black did lighten to gray they saddled the +horses and led them out to the pass and down to the point where +they had parted with Lash. Here they awaited daylight. + +To Gale it seemed long in coming. Such a delay always aggravated +the slow fire within him. He had nothing of Ladd's patience. He +wanted action. The gray shadow below thinned out, and the patch +of mesquite made a blot upon the pale valley. The day dawned. + +Still Ladd waited. He grew more silent, grimmer as the time of +action approached. Gale wondered what the plan of attack would +be. Yet he did not ask. He waited ready for orders. + +The valley grew clear of gray shadow except under leaning walls +on the eastern side. Then a straight column of smoke rose from +among the mesquites. Manifestly this was what Ladd had been +awaiting. He took the long .405 from its sheath and tried the +lever. Then he lifted a cartridge belt from the pommel of his +saddle. Every ring held a shell and these shells were four inches +long. He buckled the belt round him. + +"Come on, Dick." + +Ladd led the way down the slope until he reached a position that +commanded the rising of the trail from a level. It was the only +place a man or horse could leave the valley for the pass. + +"Dick, here's your stand. If any raider rides in range take a crack +at him....Now I want the lend of your hoss." + +"Blanco Sol!" exclaimed Gale, more in amazement that +Ladd should ask for the horse than in reluctance to lend him. + +"Will you let me have him?" Ladd repeated, almost curtly. + +"Certainly, Laddy." + +A smile momentarily chased the dark cold gloom that had set upon +the ranger's lean face. + +"Shore I appreciate it, Dick. I know how you care for that hoss. +I guess mebbe Charlie Ladd has loved a hoss! An' one not so +good as Sol. I was only tryin' your nerve, Dick, askin' you without +tellin' my plan. Sol won't get a scratch, you can gamble on that! +I'll ride him down into the valley an' pull the greasers out in the +open. They've got short-ranged carbines. They can't keep out of +range of the .405, an' I'll be takin' the dust of their lead. Sabe, +senor?" + +"Laddy! You'll run Sol away from the raiders when they chase you? +Run him after them when they try to get away?" + +"Shore. I'll run all the time. They can't gain on Sol, an' he'll +run them down when I want. Can you beat it?" + +"No. It's great!...But suppose a raider comes out on Blanco +Diablo?" + +"I reckon that's the one weak place in my plan. I'm figgerin' +they'll never think of that till it's too late. But if they do, +well, Sol can outrun Diablo. An' I can always kill the white +devil!" + +Ladd's strange hate of the horse showed in the passion of his +last words, in his hardening jaw and grim set lips. + +Gale's hand went swiftly to the ranger's shoulder. + +"Laddy. Don't kill Diablo unless it's to save your life." + +"All right. But, by God, if I get a chance I'll make Blanco Sol +run him off his legs!" + +He spoke no more and set about changing the length of Sol's +stirrups. When he had them adjusted to suit he mounted +and rode down the trail and out upon the level. He rode +leisurely as if merely going to water his horse. The long black +rifle lying across his saddle, however, was ominous. + +Gale securely tied the other horse to a mesquite at hand, and took +a position behind a low rock over which he could easily see and +shoot when necessary. He imagined Jim Lash in a similar position at +the far end of the valley blocking the outlet. Gale had grown +accustomed to danger and the hard and fierce feelings peculiar to +it. But the coming drama was so peculiarly different in promise +from all he had experienced, that he waited the moment of action +with thrilling intensity. In him stirred long, brooding wrath at +these border raiders--affection for Belding, and keen desire to +avenge the outrages he had suffered--warm admiration for the +cold, implacable Ladd and his absolute fearlessness, and a curious +throbbing interest in the old, much-discussed and never-decided +argument as to whether Blanco Sol was fleeter, stronger horse +than Blanco Diablo. Gale felt that he was to see a race between +these great rivals--the kind of race that made men and horses +terrible. + +Ladd rode a quarter of a mile out upon the flat before anything +happened. Then a whistle rent the still, cold air. A horse had +seen or scented Blanco Sol. The whistle was prolonged, faint, but +clear. It made the boood thrum in Gale's ears. Sol halted. His +head shot up with the old, wild, spirited sweep. Gale leveled his +glass at the patch of mesquites. He saw the raiders running to an +open place, pointing, gesticulating. The glass brought them so +close that he saw the dark faces. Suddenly they broke and fled +back among the trees. Then he got only white and dark gleams +of moving bodies. Evidently that moment was one of boots, guns, +and saddles for the raiders. + +Lowering the glass, Gale saw that Blanco Sol had started +forward again. His gait was now a canter, and he had covered +another quarter of a mile before horses and raiders appeared +upon the outskirts of the mesquites. Then Blanco Sol stopped. +His shrill, ringing whistle came distinctly to Gale's ears. +The raiders were mounted on dark horses, and they stood abreast +in a motionless line. Gale chuckled as he appreciated what +a puzzle the situation presented for them. A lone horseman in the +middle of the valley did not perhaps seem so menacing himself +as the possibilities his presence suggested. + +Then Gale saw a raider gallop swiftly from the group toward the +farther outlet of the valley. This might have been owing to +characteristic cowardice; but it was more likely a move of the +raiders to make sure of retreat. Undoubtedly Ladd saw this +galloping horseman. A few waiting moments ensued. The galloping +horseman reached the slope, began to climb. With naked eyes Gale +saw a puff of white smoke spring out of the rocks. Then the raider +wheeled his plunging horse back to the level, and went racing wildly +down the valley. + +The compact bunch of bays and blacks seemed to break apart and +spread rapidly from the edge of the mesquites. Puffs of white smoke +indicated firing, and showed the nature of the raiders' excitement. +They were far out of ordinary range, but they spurred toward Ladd, +shooting as they rode. Ladd held his ground; the big white horse +stood like a rock in his tracks. Gale saw little spouts of dust +rise in front of Blanco Sol and spread swift as sight to his rear. +The raiders' bullets, striking low, were skipping along the hard, +bare floor of the valley. Then Ladd raised the long rifle. There +was no smoke, but three high, spanging reports rang out. A gap +opened in the dark line of advancing horsemen; then a riderless +steed sheered off to the right. Blanco Sol seemed to turn as on +a pivot and charged back toward the lower end of the valley. He +circled over to Gale's right and stretched out into his run. There +were now five raiders in pursuit, and they came sweeping down, +yelling and shooting, evidently sure of their quarry. Ladd reserved +his fire. He kept turning from back to front in his saddle. + +Gale saw how the space widened between pursuers and pursued, saw +distinctly when Ladd eased up Sol's running. Manifestly Ladd +intended to try to lead the raiders round in front of Gale's +position, and, presently, Gale saw he was going to succeed. The +raiders, riding like vaqueros, swept on in a curve, cutting off +what distance they could. One fellow, a small, wiry rider, high +on his mount's neck like a jockey, led his companions by many +yards. He seemed to be getting the range of Ladd, or else he +shot high, for his bullets did not strike up the dust behind Sol. +Gale was ready to shoot. Blanco Sol pounded by, his rapid, rhythmic +hoofbeats plainly to be heard. He was running easily. + +Gale tried to still the jump of heart and pulse, and turned his +eye again on the nearest pursuer. This raider was crossing in, +his carbine held muzzle up in his right hand, and he was coming +swiftly. It was a long shot, upward of five hundred yards. Gale +had not time to adjust the sights of the Remington, but he knew +the gun and, holding coarsely upon the swiftly moving blot, he +began to shoot. The first bullet sent up a great splash of dust +beneath the horse's nose, making him leap as if to hurdle a fence. +The rifle was automatic; Gale needed only to pull the trigger. He +saw now that the raiders behind were in line. Swiftly he worked +the trigger. Suddenly the leading horse leaped convulsively, not +up nor aside, but straight ahead, and then he crashed to the ground +throwing his rider like a catapult, and then slid and rolled. He +half got up, fell back, and kicked; but his rider never moved. + +The other rangers sawed the reins of plunging steeds and whirled +to escape the unseen battery. Gale slipped a fresh clip into the +magazine of his rifle. He restrained himself from useless firing +and gave eager eye to the duel below. Ladd began to shoot +while Sol was running. + +The .405 rang out sharply--then again. The heavy bullets streaked +the dust all the way across the valley. Ladd aimed deliberately +and pulled slowly, unmindful of the kicking dust-puffs behind Sol, +and to the side. The raiders spurred madly in pursuit, loading and +firing. They shot ten times while Ladd shot once, and all in vain; +and on Ladd's sixth shot a raider topped backward, threw his carbine +and fell with his foot catching in a stirrup. The frightened horse +plunged away, dragging him in a path of dust. + +Gale had set himself to miss nothing of that fighting race, yet +the action passed too swiftly for clear sight of all. Ladd had +emptied a magazine, and now Blanco Sol quickened and lengthened +his running stride. He ran away from his pursuers. Then it was +that the ranger's ruse was divined by the raiders. They hauled +sharply up and seemed to be conferring. But that was a fatal +mistake. Blanco Sol was seen to break his gait and slow down +in several jumps, then square away and stand stockstill. Ladd fired +at the closely grouped raiders. An instant passed. Then Gale +heard the spat of a bullet out in front, saw a puff of dust, then +heard the lead strike the rocks and go whining away. And it +was after this that one of the raiders fell prone from his saddle. +The steel-jacketed .405 had gone through him on its uninterrupted +way to hum past Gale's positon. + +The remaining two raiders frantically spurred their horses and fled +up the valley. Ladd sent Sol after them. It seemed to Gale, even +though he realized his excitement, that Blanco Sol made those horses +seem like snails. The raiders split, one making for the eastern +outlet, the other circling back of the mesquites. Ladd kept on +after the latter. Then puffs of white smoke and rifle shots faintly +crackling told Jim Lash's hand in the game. However, he succeeded +only in driving the raider back into the valley. But Ladd had +turned the other horseman, and now it appeared the two raiders +were between Lash above on the stony slope and Ladd below on the level. +There was desperate riding on part of the raiders to keep from being hemmed +in closer. Only one of them got away, and he came riding for life down +under the eastern wall. Blanco Sol settled into his graceful, beautiful +swing. He gained steadily, though he was far from extending +himself. By Gale's actual count the raider fired eight times in +that race down the valley, and all his bullets went low and wide. +He pitched the carbine away and lost all control in headlong flight. + +Some few hundred rods to the left of Gale the raider put his horse +to the weathered slope. He began to climb. The horse was superb, +infinitely more courageous than his rider. Zigzag they went up +and up, and when Ladd reached the edge of the slope they were +high long the cracked and guttered rampart. Once--twice Ladd +raised the long rifle, but each time he lowered it. Gale divined +that the ranger's restraint was not on account of the Mexican, +but for that valiant and faithful horse. Up and up he went, and +the yellow dust clouds rose, and an avalanche rolled rattling and +cracking down the slope. It was beyond belief that a horse, +burdened or unburdened, could find footing and hold it upon that +wall of narrow ledges and inverted, slanting gullies. But he +climbed on, sure-footed as a mountain goat, and, surmounting +the last rough steps, he stood a moment silhouetted against +the white sky. Then he disappeared. Ladd sat astride Blanco Sol +gazing upward. How the cowboy must have honored that raider's +brave steed! + +Gale, who had been too dumb to shout the admiration he felt, +suddenly leaped up, and his voice came with a shriek: + +"LOOK OUT, LADDY!" + +A big horse, like a white streak, was bearing down to the right +of the ranger. Blanco Diablo! A matchless rider swung with the +horse's motion. Gale was stunned. Then he remembered the first +raider, the one Lash had shot at and driven away from the outlet. +This fellow had made for the mesquite and had put a saddle on Belding's +favorite. In the heat of the excitement, while Ladd had been intent upon +the climbing horse, this last raider had come down with the speed of +the wind straight for the western outlet. Perhaps, very probably, +he did not know Gale was there to block it; and certainly he hoped +to pass Ladd and Blanco Sol. + +A touch of the spur made Sol lunge forward to head off the raider. +Diable was in his stride, but the distance and angle favored Sol. +The raider had no carbine. He held aloft a gun ready to level it +and fire. He sat the saddle as if it were a stationary seat. Gale +saw Ladd lean down and drop the .405 in the sand. He would take +no chances of wounding Belding's best-loved horse. + +Then Gale sat transfixed with suspended breath watching the horses +thundering toward him. Blanco Diablo was speeding low, fleet as +an antelope, fierce and terrible in his devilish action, a horse for +war and blood and death. He seemed unbeatable. Yet to see the +magnificently running Blanco Sol was but to court a doubt. Gale +stood spellbound. He might have shot the raider; but he never +thought of such a thing. The distance swiftly lessened. Plain it +was the raider could not make the opening ahead of Ladd. He saw it +and swerved to the left, emptying his six-shooter as he turned. +His dark face gleamed as he flashed by Gale. + +Blanco Sol thundered across. Then the race became straight away +up the valley. Diablo was cold and Sol was hot; therein lay the +only handicap and vantage. It was a fleet, beautiful, magnificent +race. Gale thrilled and exulted and yelled as his horse settled +into a steadily swifter run and began to gain. The dust rolled in +a funnel-shaped cloud from the flying hoofs. The raider wheeled +with gun puffing white, and Ladd ducked low over the neck of his +horse. + +The gap between Diablo and Sol narrowed yard by yard. At first +it had been a wide one. The raider beat his mount and spurred, +beat and spurred, wheeled round to shoot, then bent forward again. +In his circle at the upper end of the valley he turned far short +of the jumble of rocks. + +All the devil that was in Blanco Diablo had its running on the +downward stretch. The strange, cruel urge of bit and spur, the +crazed rider who stuck like a burr upon him, the shots and smoke +added terror to his natural violent temper. He ran himself off his +feet. But he could not elude that relentless horse behind him. +The running of Blanco Sol was that of a sure, remorseless driving +power--steadier--stronger--swifter with every long and wonderful +stride. + +The raider tried to sheer Diablo off closer under the wall, to make +the slope where his companion had escaped. But Diablo was +uncontrollable. He was running wild, with breaking gait. Closer +and closer crept that white, smoothly gliding, beautiful machine +of speed. + +Then, like one white flash following another, the two horses +gleamed down the bank of a wash and disappeared in clouds +of dust. + +Gale watched with strained and smarting eyes. The thick throb +in his ears was pierced by faint sounds of gunshots. Then he +waited in almost unendurable suspense. + +Suddenly something whiter than the background of dust appeared +above the low roll of valley floor. Gale leveled his glass. In the +clear circle shone Blanco Sol's noble head with its long black +bar from ears to nose. Sol's head was drooping now. Another +second showed Ladd still in the saddle. + +The ranger was leading Blanco Diable--spent--broken--dragging +--riderless. + + + +IX + + + +An Interrupted Siesta + +No man ever had a more eloquent and beautiful pleader for his +cause than had Dick Gale in Mercedes Castaneda. He peeped +through the green, shining twigs of the palo verde that shaded his +door. The hour was high noon, and the patio was sultry. The only +sounds were the hum of bees in the flowers and the low murmur of +the Spanish girl's melodious voice. Nell lay in the hammock, her +hands behind her head, with rosy cheeks and arch eyes. Indeed, +she looked rebellious. Certain it was, Dick reflected, that the +young lady had fully recovered the wilful personality which had +lain dormant for a while. Equally certain it seemed that Mercedes's +earnestness was not apparently having the effect it should have had. + +Dick was inclined to be rebellious himself. Belding had kept the +rangers in off the line, and therefore Dick had been idle most of +the time, and, though he tried hard, he had been unable to stay +far from Nell's vicinity. He believed she cared for him; but he +could not catch her alone long enough to verify his tormenting +hope. When alone she was as illusive as a shadow, as quick as a +flash, as mysterious as a Yaqui. When he tried to catch her in +the garden or fields, or corner her in the patio, she eluded him, +and left behind a memory of dark-blue, haunting eyes. It was +that look in her eyes which lent him hope. At other times, when +it might have been possible for Dick to speak, Nell clung closely +to Mercedes. He had long before enlisted the loyal Mercedes in his +cause; but in spite of this Nell had been more than a match for them both. + +Gale pondered over an idea he had long revolved in mind, and +which now suddenly gave place to a decision that made his heart +swell and his cheek burn. He peeped again through the green +branches to see Nell laughing at the fiery Mercedes. + +"Qui'en sabe," he called, mockingly, and was delighted with Nell's +quick, amazed start. + +Then he went in search of Mrs. Belding, and found her busy in the +kitchen. + +The relation between Gale and Mrs. Belding had subtly and +incomprehensively changed. He understood her less than when at +first he divined an antagonism in her. If such a thing were +possible she had retained the antagonism while seeming to yield +to some influence that must have been fondness for him. Gale +was in no wise sure of her affection, and he had long imagined +she was afraid of him, or of something that he represented. He +had gone on, openly and fairly, though discreetly, with his rather +one-sided love affair; and as time passed he had grown less +conscious of what had seemed her unspoken opposition. Gale had +come to care greatly for Nell's mother. Not only was she the +comfort and strength of her home, but also of the inhabitants of +Forlorn River. Indian, Mexican, American were all the same to her +in trouble or illness; and then she was nurse, doctor, peacemaker, +helper. She was good and noble, and there was not a child or +grownup in Forlorn River who did not love and bless her. But Mrs. +Belding did not seem happy. She was brooding, intense, deep, +strong, eager for the happiness and welfare of others; and she +was dominated by a worship of her daughter that was as strange +as it was pathetic. Mrs. Belding seldom smiled, and never laughed. +There was always a soft, sad, hurt look in her eyes. Gale often +wondered if there had been other tragedy in her life than the +supposed loss of her father in the desert. Perhaps it +was the very unsolved nature of that loss which made it haunting. + +Mrs. Belding heard Dick's step as he entered the kitchen, and, +looking up, greeted him. + +"Mother," began Dick, earnestly. Belding called her that, and so +did Ladd and Lash, but it was the first time for Dick. "Mother +--I want to speak to you." + +The only indication Mrs. Belding gave of being started was in her +eyes, which darkened, shadowed with multiplying thought. + +"I love Nell," went on Dick, simply, "and I want you to let me ask +her to be my wife." + +Mrs. Belding's face blanched to a deathly white. Gale, thinking +with surprise and concern that she was going to faint, moved +quickly toward her, took her arm. + +"Forgive me. I was blunt....But I thought you knew." + +"I've known for a long time," replied Mrs. Belding. Her voice was +steady, and there was no evidence of agitation except in her +pallor. "Then you--you haven't spoken to Nell?" + +Dick laughed. "I've been trying to get a chance to tell her. I +haven't had it yet. But she knows. There are other ways besides +speech. And Mercedes has told her. I hope, I almost believe Nell +cares a little for me." + +"I've known that, too, for a long time," said Mrs. Belding, low +almost as a whisper. + +"You know!" cried Dick, with a glow and rush of feeling. + +"Dick, you must be very blind not to see what has been plain +to all of us....I guess--it couldn't have been helped. You're a +splendid fellow. No wonder she loves you." + +"Mother! You'll give her to me?" + +She drew him to the light and looked with strange, piercing +intentness into his face. Gale had never dreamed a woman's eyes +could hold such a world of thought and feeling. It seemed all +the sweetness of life was there, and all the pain. + +"Do you love her?" she asked. + +"With all my heart." + +"You want to marry her?" + +"Ah, I want to! As much as I want to live and work for her." + +"When would you marry her?" + +"Why!...Just as soon as she will do it. To-morrow!" Dick gave a +wild, exultant little laugh. + +"Dick Gale, you want my Nell? You love her just as she is--her +sweetness--her goodness? Just herself, body and soul?...There's +nothing could change you--nothing?" + +"Dear Mrs. Belding, I love Nell for herself. If she loves me I'll +be the happiest of men. There's absolutely nothing that could +make any difference in me." + +"But your people? Oh, Dick, you come of a proud family. I can +tell. I--I once knew a young man like you. A few months can't +change pride--blood. Years can't change them. You've become a +ranger. You love the adventure--the wild life. That won't last. +Perhaps you'll settle down to ranching. I know you love the West. +But, Dick, there's your family--" + +"If you want to know anything about my family, I'll tell you," +interrupted Dick, with strong feeling. "I've not secrets about +them or myself. My future and happiness are Nell's to make. No +one else shall count with me." + +"Then, Dick--you may have her. God--bless--you--both." + +Mrs. Belding's strained face underwent a swift and mobile +relaxation, and suddenly she was weeping in strangely mingled +happiness and bitterness. + +"Why, mother!" Gale could say no more. He did not comprehend +a mood seemingly so utterly at variance with Mrs. Belding's habitual +temperament. But he put his arm around her. In another moment she +had gained command over herself, and, kissing him, she pushed him +out of the door. + +"There! Go tell her, Dick...And have some spunk about it!" + +Gale went thoughtfully back to his room. He vowed that he would +answer for Nell's happiness, if he had the wonderful good fortune +to win her. Then remembering the hope Mrs. Belding had given him, +Dick lost his gravity in a flash, and something began to dance and +ring within him. He simply could not keep his steps turned from +the patio. Every path led there. His blood was throbbing, his +hopes mounting, his spirit soaring. He knew he had never before +entered the patio with that inspirited presence. + +"Now for some spunk!" he said, under his breath. + +Plainly he meant his merry whistle and his buoyant step to +interrupt this first languorous stage of the siesta which the girls +always took during the hot hours. Nell had acquired the habit +long before Mercedes came to show how fixed a thing it was in the +life of the tropics. But neither girl heard him. Mercedes lay +under the palo verde, her beautiful head dark and still upon a +cushion. Nell was asleep in the hammock. There was an abandonment +in her deep repose, and a faint smile upon her face. Her sweet, red +lips, with the soft, perfect curve, had always fascinated Dick, and +now drew him irresistibly. He had always been consumed with a +desire to kiss her, and now he was overwhelmed with his opportunity. +It would be a terrible thing to do, but if she did not awaken at +once-- No, he would fight the temptation. That would be more than +spunk. It would-- Suddenly an ugly green fly sailed low over Nell, +appeared about to alight on her. Noiselessly Dick stepped close to +the hammock bent under the tree, and with a sweep of his hand +chased the intruding fly away. But he found himself powerless to +straighten up. He was close to her--bending over her face--near the +sweet lips. The insolent, dreaming smile just parted them. Then he +thought he was lost. But she stirred--he feared she would awaken. + +He had stepped back erect when she opened her eyes. They were +sleepy, yet surprised until she saw him. Then she was wide awake +in a second, bewildered, uncertain. + +"Why--you here?" she asked, slowly. + +"Large as life!" replied Dick, with unusual gayety. + +"How long have you been here?" + +"Just got here this fraction of a second," he replied, +lying shamelessly. + +It was evident that she did not know whether or not to believe +him, and as she studied him a slow blush dyed her cheek. + +"You are absolutely truthful when you say you just stepped there?" + +"Why, of course," answered Dick, right glad he did not have to lie +about that. + +"I thought--I was--dreaming," she said, and evidently the sound +of her voice reassured her. + +"Yes, you looked as if you were having pleasant dreams," replied +Dick. "So sorry to wake you. I can't see how I came to do it, I +was so quiet. Mercedes didn't wake. Well, I'll go and let you +have your siesta and dreams." + +But he did not move to go. Nell regarded him with curious, +speculative eyes. + +"Isn't it a lovely day?" queried Dick. + +"I think it's hot." + +"Only ninety in the shade. And you've told me the mercury goes +to one hundred and thirty in midsummer. This is just a glorious +golden day." + +"Yesterday was finer, but you didn't notice it." + +"Oh, yesterday was somewhere back in the past--the inconsequential +past." + +Nell's sleepy blue eyes opened a little wider. She did +not know what to make of this changed young man. Dick felt gleeful +and tried hard to keep the fact from becoming manifest. + +"What's the inconsequential past? You seem remarkably happy +to-day." + +"I certainly am happy. Adios. Pleasant dreams." + +Dick turned away then and left the patio by the opening into the +yard. Nell was really sleepy, and when she had fallen asleep again +he would return. He walked around for a while. Belding and the +rangers were shoeing a broncho. Yaqui was in the field with the +horses. Blanco Sol grazed contently, and now and then lifted his +head to watch. His long ears went up at sight of his master, and +he whistled. Presently Dick, as if magnet-drawn, retraced his steps +to the patio and entered noiselessly. + +Nell was now deep in her siesta. She was inert, relaxed, untroubled +by dreams. Her hair was damp on her brow. + +Again Nell stirred, and gradually awakened. Her eyes unclosed, +humid, shadowy, unconscious. They rested upon Dick for a moment +before they became clear and comprehensive. He stood back fully +ten feet from her, and to all outside appearances regarded her +calmly. + +"I've interrupted your siesta again," he said. "Please forgive me. +I'll take myself off." + +He wandered away, and when it became impossible for him to stay +away any longer he returned to the patio. + +The instant his glance rested upon Nell's face he divined she was +feigning sleep. The faint rose-blush had paled. The warm, rich, +golden tint of her skin had fled. Dick dropped upon his knees and +bent over her. Though his blood was churning in his veins, his +breast laboring, his mind whirling with the wonder of that moment +and its promise, he made himself deliberate. He wanted more than +anything he had ever wanted in his life to see if she would keep +up that pretense of sleep and let him kiss her. She must have felt +his breath, for her hair waved off her brow. Her cheeks were now white. +Her breast swelled and sank. He bent down closer--closer. But he must +have been maddeningly slow, for as he bent still closer Nell's eyes opened, +and he caught a swift purple gaze of eyes as she whirled her head. +Then, with a little cry, she rose and fled. + + + +Rojas + + +No word from George Thorne had come to Forlorn River in weeks. +Gale grew concerned over the fact, and began to wonder if anything +serious could have happened to him. Mercedes showed a slow, wearing strain. + +Thorne's commission expired the end of January, and if he could not +get his discharge immediately, he surely could obtain leave of +absence. Therefore, Gale waited, not without growing anxiety, and +did his best to cheer Mercedes. The first of February came bringing +news of rebel activities and bandit operations in and around Casita, +but not a word from the cavalryman. + +Mercedes became silent, mournful. Her eyes were great black +windows of tragedy. Nell devoted herself entirely to the +unfortunate girl; Dick exerted himself to persuade her that all +would yet come well; in fact, the whole household could not have +been kinder to a sister or a daughter. But their united efforts +were unavailing. Mercedes seemed to accept with fatalistic +hopelessness a last and crowning misfortune. + +A dozen times Gale declared he would ride in to Casita and find +out why they did not hear from Thorne; however, older and wiser +heads prevailed over his impetuosity. Belding was not sanguine +over the safety of the Casita trail. Refugees from there arrived +every day in Forlorn River, and if tales they told were true, +real war would have been preferable to what was going on along +the border. Belding and the rangers and the Yaqui held a +consultation. Not only had the Indian become a faithful servant +to Gale, but he was also of value to Belding. Yaqui had all the +craft of his class, and superior intelligence. His knowledge of +Mexicans was second only to his hate of them. And Yaqui, who had +been scouting on all the trails, gave information that made Belding +decide to wait some days before sending any one to Casita. He +required promises from his rangers, particularly Gale, not to leave +without his consent. + +It was upon Gale's coming from this conference that he encountered +Nell. Since the interrupted siesta episode she had been more than +ordinarily elusive, and about all he had received from her was a +tantalizing smile from a distance. He got the impression now, +however, that she had awaited him. When he drew close to her he +was certain of it, and he experienced more than surprise. + +"Dick," she began, hurriedly. "Dad's not going to send any one to +see about Thorne?" + +"No, not yet. He thinks it best not to. We all think so. I'm +sorry. Poor Mercedes!" + +"I knew it. I tried to coax him to send Laddy or even Yaqui. +He wouldn't listen to me. Dick, Mercedes is dying by inches. +Can't you see what ails her? It's more than love or fear. It's +uncertainty--suspense. Oh, can't we find out for her?" + +"Nell, I feel as badly as you about her. I wanted to ride in to +Casita. Belding shut me up quick, the last time." + +Nell came close to Gale, clasped his arm. There was no color +in her face. Her eyes held a dark, eager excitement. + +"Dick, will you slip off without Dad's consent? Risk it! Go to +Casita and find out what's happened to Thorne--at least if he +ever started for Forlorn River?" + +"No, Nell, I won't do that." + +She drew away from him with passionate suddenness. + +"Are you afraid?" + +This certainly was not the Nell Burton that Gale knew. + +"No, I'm not afraid," Gale replied, a little nettled. + +"Will you go--for my sake?" Like lightning her mood changed +and she was close to him again, hands on his, her face white, +her whole presence sweetly alluring. + +"Nell, I won't disobey Belding," protested Gale. "I won't break +my word." + +"Dick, it'll not be so bad as that. But--what if it is?...Go, +Dick, if not for poor Mercedes's sake, then for mine--to please +me. I'll--I'll...you won't lose anything by going. I think I know +how Mercedes feels. Just a word from Thorne or about him +would save her. Take Blanco Sol and go, Dick. What rebel outfit +could ever ride you down on that horse? Why, Dick, if I was up +on Sol I wouldn't be afraid of the whole rebel army." + +"My dear girl, it's not a question of being afraid. It's my +word--my duty to Belding." + +"You said you loved me. If you love me you will go...You don't +love me!" + +Gale could only stare at this transformed girl. + +"Dick, listen!...If you go--if you fetch some word of Thorne to +comfort Mercedes, you--well, you will have your reward." + +"Nell!" + +Her dangerous sweetness was as amazing as this newly revealed +character. + +"Dick, will you go?" + +"No-no!" cried Gale, in violence, struggling with himself. "Nell +Burton, I'll tell you this. To have the reward I want would mean +pretty hear heaven for me. But not even for that will I break my +word to your father." + +She seemed the incarnation of girlish scorn and wilful passion. + +"Gracias, senor," she replied, mockingly. "Adios." Then she +flashed out of his sight. + +Gale went to his room at once, disturbed and thrilling, and did +not soon recover from that encounter. + +The following morning at the breakfast table Nell was not present. +Mrs. Belding evidently considered the fact somewhat unusual, for +she called out into the patio and then into the yard. Then she went +to Mercedes's room. But Nell was not there, either. + +"She's in one of her tantrums lately," said Belding. "Wouldn't +speak to me this morning. Let her alone, mother. She's spoiled +enough, without running after her. She's always hungry. She'll +be on hand presently, don't mistake me." + +Notwithstanding Belding's conviction, which Gale shared, Nell did +not appear at all during the hour. When Belding and the rangers +went outside, Yaqui was eating his meal on the bench where he +always sat. + +"Yaqui--Lluvia d' oro, si?" asked Belding, waving his hand toward +the corrals. The Indian's beautiful name for Nell meant "shower +of gold," and Belding used it in asking Yaqui if he had seen her. +He received a negative reply. + +Perhaps half an hour afterward, as Gale was leaving his room, he +saw the Yaqui running up the path from the fields. It was markedly +out of the ordinary to see the Indian run. Gale wondered what was +the matter. Yaqui ran straight to Belding, who was at work at his +bench under the wagon shed. In less than a moment Belding was +bellowing for his rangers. Gale got to him first, but Ladd and Lash +were not far behind. + +"Blanco Sol gone!" yelled Belding, in a rage. + +"Gone? In broad daylight, with the Indian a-watch-in?" queried +Ladd. + +"It happened while Yaqui was at breakfast. That's sure. He'd +just watered Sol." + +"Raiders!" exclaimed Jim Lash. + +"Lord only knows. Yaqui says it wasn't raiders." + +"Mebbe Sol's just walked off somewheres." + +"He was haltered in the corral." + +"Send Yaqui to find the hoss's trail, an' let's figger," said +Ladd. "Shore this 's no raider job." + +In the swift search that ensued Gale did not have anything to +say; but his mind was forming a conclusion. When he found his old +saddle and bridle missing from the peg in the barn his conclusion +became a positive conviction, and it made him, for the moment, +cold and sick and speechless. + +"Hey, Dick, don't take it so much to heart," said Belding. "We'll +likely find Sol, and if we don't, there's other good horses." + +"I'm not thinking of Sol," replied Gale. + +Ladd cast a sharp glance at Gale, snapped his fingers, and said: + +"Damn me if I ain't guessed it, too!" + +"What's wrong with you locoed gents?" bluntly demanded Belding. + +"Nell has slipped away on Sol," answered Dick. + +There was a blank pause, which presently Belding broke. + +"Well, that's all right, if Nell's on him. I was afraid we'd lost +the horse." + +"Belding, you're trackin' bad," said Ladd, wagging his head. + +"Nell has started for Casita," burst out Gale. "She has gone +to fetch Mercedes some word about Thorne. Oh, Belding, you +needn't shake your head. I know she's gone. She tried to persuade +me to go, and was furious when I wouldn't." + +"I don't believe it," replied Belding, hoarsely. "Nell may have her +temper. She's a little devil at times, but she always had good +sense." + +"Tom, you can gamble she's gone," said Ladd. + +"Aw, hell, no! Jim, what do you think?" implored Belding. + +"I reckon Sol's white head is pointed level an' straight +down the Casita trail. An' Nell can ride. We're losing' time." + +That roused Belding to action. + +"I say you're all wrong," he yelled, starting for the corrals. +"She's only taking a little ride, same as she's done often. But +rustle now. Find out. Dick, you ride cross the valley. Jim, you +hunt up and down the river. I'll head up San Felipe way. And you, +Laddy, take Diablo and hit the Casita trail. If she really has gone +after Thorne you can catch her in an hour or so." + +"Shore I'll go," replied Ladd. "but, Beldin', if you're not plumb +crazy you're close to it. That big white devil can't catch Sol. +Not in an hour or a day or a week! What's more, at the end of any +runnin' time, with an even start, Sol will be farther in the lead. +An' now Sol's got an hour's start." + +"Laddy, you mean to say Sol is a faster horse than Diablo?" +thundered Belding, his face purple. + +"Shore. I mean to tell you just that there," replied the ranger. + +"I'll--I'll bet a--" + +"We're wastin' time," curtly interrupted Ladd. "You can gamble +on this if you want to. I'll ride your Blanco Devil as he never +was rid before, 'cept once when a damn sight better hossman +than I am couldn't make him outrun Sol." + +Without more words the men saddled and were off, not waiting for +the Yaqui to come in with possible information as to what trail +Blanco Sol had taken. It certainly did not show in the clear sand +of the level valley where Gale rode to and fro. When Gale returned +to the house he found Belding and Lash awaiting him. They did not +mention their own search, but stated that Yaqui had found Blanco +Sol's tracks in the Casita trail. After some consultation Belding +decided to send Lash along after Ladd. + +The interminable time that followed contained for +Gale about as much suspense as he could well bear. +What astonished him and helped him greatly to fight off +actual distress was the endurance of Nell's mother. + +Early on the morning of the second day, Gale, who had acquired +an unbreakable habit of watching, saw three white horses and a +bay come wearily stepping down the road. He heard Blanco Sol's +familiar whistle, and he leaped up wild with joy. The horse was +riderless. Gale's sudden joy received a violent check, then +resurged when he saw a limp white form in Jim Lash's arms. Ladd +was supporting a horseman who wore a military uniform. + +Gale shouted with joy and ran into the house to tell the good news. +It was the ever-thoughtful Mrs. Belding who prevented him from +rushing in to tell Mercedes. Then he hurried out into the yard, +closely followed by the Beldings. + +Lash handed down a ragged, travel-stained, wan girl into Belding's +arms. + +"Dad! Mama!" + +It was indeed a repentant Nell, but there was spirit yet in the +tired blue eyes. Then she caught sight of Gale and gave him a +faint smile. + +"Hello--Dick." + +"Nell!" Gale reached for her hand, held it tightly, and found +speech difficult. + +"You needn't worry--about your old horse," she said, as Belding +carried her toward the door. "Oh, Dick! Blanco Sol is--glorious!" + +Gale turned to greet his friend. Indeed, it was but a haggard ghost +of the cavalryman. Thorne looked ill or wounded. Gale's greeting +was also a question full of fear. + +Thorne's answer was a faint smile. He seemed ready to drop from +the saddle. Gale helped Ladd hold Thorne upon the horse until +they reached the house. Belding came out again. His welcome was +checked as he saw the condition of the cavalryman. Thorne reeled +into Dick's arms. But he was able to stand and walk. + +"I'm not--hurt. Only weak--starved," he said. "Is Mercedes-- +Take me to her." + +"She'll be well the minute she sees him," averred Belding, as he and +Gale led the cavalryman to Mercedes's room. There they left him; +and Gale, at least, felt his ears ringing with the girl's broken cry +of joy. + +When Belding and Gale hurried forth again the rangers were tending +the tired horses. Upon returning to the house Jim Lash calmly lit +his pipe, and Ladd declared that, hungry as he was, he had to tell +his story. + +"Shore, Beldin'," began Ladd, "that was funny about Diablo catchin' +Blanco Sol. Funny ain't the word. I nearly laughed myself to +death. Well, I rode in Sol's tracks all the way to Casita. Never +seen a rebel or a raider till I got to town. Figgered Nell made +the trip in five hours. I went straight to the camp of the +cavalrymen, an' found them just coolin' off an' dressin' down their +hosses after what looked to me like a big ride. I got there too +late for the fireworks. + +"Some soldier took me to an officer's tent. Nell was there, some +white an' all in. She just said, 'Laddy!' Thorne was there, too, +an' he was bein' worked over by the camp doctor. I didn't ask no +questions, because I seen quiet was needed round that tent. After +satisfying myself that Nell was all right, an' Thorne in no danger, +I went out. + +"Shore there was so darn many fellers who wanted to an' tried to +tell me what'd come off, I thought I'd never find out. But I got +the story piece by piece. An' here's what happened. + +"Nell rode Blanco Sol a-tearin' into camp, an' had a crowd round +her in a jiffy. She told who she was, where she'd come from, an' +what she wanted. Well, it seemed a day or so before Nell got there +the cavalrymen had heard word of Thorne. You see, Thorne had +left camp on leave of absence some time before. He was shore +mysterious, they said, an' told nobody where he was goin'. + + +A week or so after he left camp some Greaser give it away that +Rojas had a prisoner in a dobe shack near his camp. Nobody paid +much attention to what the Greaser said. He wanted money for +mescal. An' it was usual for Rojas to have prisoners. But in a +few more days it turned out pretty sure that for some reason +Rojas was holdin' Thorne. + +"Now it happened when this news came Colonel Weede was in Nogales +with his staff, an' the officer left in charge didn't know how to +proceed. Rojas's camp was across the line in Mexico, an' ridin' +over there was serious business. It meant a whole lot more than +just scatterin' one Greaser camp. It was what had been botherin' +more'n one colonel along the line. Thorne's feller soldiers was +anxious to get him out of a bad fix, but they had to wait for +orders. + +"When Nell found out Thorne was bein' starved an' beat in a dobe +shack no more'n two mile across the line, she shore stirred up +that cavalry camp. Shore! She told them soldiers Rojas was +holdin' Thorne--torturin' him to make him tell where Mercedes was. +She told about Mercedes--how sweet an' beautiful she was--how +her father had been murdered by Rojas--how she had been hounded +by the bandit--how ill an' miserable she was, waitin' for her lover. +An' she begged the cavalrymen to rescue Thorne. + +"From the way it was told to me I reckon them cavalrymen went up +in the air. Fine, fiery lot of young bloods, I thought, achin' for +a scrap. But the officer in charge, bein' in a ticklish place, +still held out for higher orders. + +"Then Nell broke loose. You-all know Nell's tongue is sometimes +like a choya thorn. I'd have give somethin' to see her work up +that soldier outfit. Nell's never so pretty as when she's mad. +An' this last stunt of hers was no girly tantrum, as Beldin' calls +it. She musta been ragin' with all the hell there's in a +woman....Can't you fellers see her on Blanco Sol with her eyes +turnin' black?" + +Ladd mopped his sweaty face with his dusty scarf. He was beaming. +He was growing excited, hurried in his narrative. + +"Right out then Nell swore she'd go after Thorne. If them +cavalrymen couldn't ride with a Western girl to save a brother +American--let them hang back! One feller, under orders, tried to +stop Blanco Sol. An' that feller invited himself to the hospital. +Then the cavalrymen went flyin' for their hosses. Mebbe Nell's +move was just foxy--woman's cunnin'. But I'm thinkin' as she +felt then she'd have sent Blanco Sol straight into Rojas's camp, +which, I'd forgot to say, was in plain sight. + +"It didn't take long for every cavalryman in that camp to get wind +of what was comin' off. Shore they musta been wild. They strung +out after Nell in a thunderin' troop. + +"Say, I wish you fellers could see the lane that bunch of hosses +left in the greasewood an' cactus. Looks like there'd been a +cattle stampede on the desert....Blanco Sol stayed out in front, +you can gamble on that. Right into Rojas's camp! Sabe, you +senors? Gawd Almighty! I never had grief that 'd hold a candle +to this one of bein' too late to see Nell an' Sol in their one best +race. + +"Rojas an' his men vamoosed without a shot. That ain't surprisin'. +There wasn't a shot fired by anybody. The cavalrymen soon found +Thorne an' hurried with him back on Uncle Sam's land. Thorne was +half naked, black an' blue all over, thin as a rail. He looked +mighty sick when I seen him first. That was a little after midday. +He was given food an' drink. Shore he seemed a starved man. +But he picked up wonderful, an' by the time Jim came along he was +wantin' to start for Forlorn River. So was Nell. By main strength +as much as persuasion we kept the two of them quiet till next +evenin' at dark. + +"Well, we made as sneaky a start in the dark as Jim an' me could +manage, an' never hit the trail till we was miles from town. +Thorne's nerve held him up for a while. Then all at once he tumbled +out of his saddle. We got him back, an' Lash held him on. +Nell didn't give out till daybreak." + +As Ladd paused in his story Belding began to stutter, and finally +he exploded. His mighty utterances were incoherent. But plainly +the wrath he had felt toward the wilful girl was forgotten. Gale +remained gripped by silence. + +"I reckon you'll all be some surprised when you see Casita," went +on Ladd. "It's half burned an' half tore down. An' the rebels are +livin' fat. There was rumors of another federal force on the road +from Case Grandes. I seen a good many Americans from interior +Mexico, an' the stories they told would make your hair stand up. +They all packed guns, was fightin' mad at Greasers, an' sore on +the good old U. S. But shore glad to get over the line! Some +were waitin' for trains, which don't run reg'lar no more, an' +others were ready to hit the trails north." + +"Laddy, what knocks me is Rojas holding Thorne prisoner, trying +to make him tell where Mercedes had been hidden," said Belding. + +"Shore. It 'd knock anybody." + +"The bandit's crazy over her. That's the Spanish of it," replied +Belding, his voice rolling. "Rojas is a peon. He's been a slave +to the proud Castilian. He loves Mercedes as he hates her. When +I was down in Durango I saw something of these peons' insane +passions. Rojas wants this girl only to have her, then kill her. +It's damn strange, boys, and even with Thorne here our troubles +have just begun." + +"Tom, you spoke correct," said Jim Ladd, in his cool drawl. + +"Shore I'm not sayin' what I think," added Ladd. But the look +of him was not indicative of a tranquil optimism. + +Thorne was put to bed in Gale's room. He was very weak, yet he +would keep Mercedes's hand and gaze at her with unbelieving eyes. +Mercedes's failing hold on hope and strength seemed to have been +a fantasy; she was again vivid, magnetic, beautiful, shot through +and through with intense and throbbing life. She induced him to +take food and drink. Then, fighting sleep with what little strength +he had left, at last he succumbed. + +For all Dick could ascertain his friend never stirred an eyelash nor +a finger for twenty-seven hours. When he awoke he was pale, weak, +but the old Thorne. + +"Hello, Dick; I didn't dream it then," he said. "There you are, and +my darling with the proud, dark eyes--she's here?" + +"Why, yes, you locoed cavalryman." + +"Say, what's happened to you? It can't be those clothes and a +little bronze on your face....Dick, you're older--you've changed. +You're not so thickly built. By Gad, if you don't look fine!" + +"Thanks. I'm sorry I can't return the compliment. You're about +the seediest, hungriest-looking fellow I ever saw....Say, old man, +you must have had a tough time." + +A dark and somber fire burned out the happiness in Thorne's eyes. + +"Dick, don't make me--don't let me think of that fiend Rojas!....I'm +here now. I'll be well in a day or two. Then!..." + +Mercedes came in, radiant and soft-voiced. She fell upon her knees +beside Thorne's bed, and neither of them appeared to see Nell enter +with a tray. Then Gale and Nell made a good deal of unnecessary +bustle in moving a small table close to the bed. Mercedes had +forgotten for the moment that her lover had been a starving man. +If Thorne remembered it he did not care. They held hands and +looked at each other without speaking. + +"Nell, I thought I had it bad," whispered Dick. "But I'm not--" + +"Hush. It's beautiful," replied Nell, softly; and she tried to coax +Dick from the room. + +Dick, however, thought he ought to remain at least long enough +to tell Thorne that a man in his condition could not exist solely +upon love. + +Mercedes sprang up blushing with pretty, penitent manner and +moving white hands eloquent of her condition. + +"Oh, Mercedes--don't go!" cried Thorne, as she stepped to the door. + +"Senor Dick will stay. He is not mucha malo for you--as I am." + +Then she smiled and went out. + +"Good Lord!" exclaimed Thorne. "How I love her. Dick, isn't she +the most beautiful, the loveliest, the finest--" + +"George, I share your enthusiasm," said Dick, dryly, "but Mercedes +isn't the only girl on earth." + +Manifestly this was a startling piece of information, and struck +Thorne in more than one way. + +"George," went on Dick, "did you happen to observe the girl who +saved your life--who incidentally just fetched in your breakfast?" + +"Nell Burton! Why, of course. She's brave, a wonderful girl, and +really nice-looking." + +"You long, lean, hungry beggar! That was the young lady who might +answer the raving eulogy you just got out of your system....I--well, +you haven't cornered the love market!" + +Thorne uttered some kind of a sound that his weakened condition +would not allow to be a whoop. + +"Dick! Do you mean it?" + +"I shore do, as Laddy says." + +"I'm glad, Dick, with all my heart. I wondered at the changed +look you wear. Why, boy, you've got a different front....Call the +lady in, and you bet I'll look her over right. I can see better +now." + +"Eat your breakfast. There's plenty of time to dazzle you +afterward." + +Thorne fell to upon his breakfast and made it vanish with magic speed. +Meanwhile Dick told him something of a ranger's life along the border. + +"You needn't waste your breath," said Thorne. "I guess I can see. +Belding and those rangers have made you the real thing--the real +Western goods....What I want to know is all about the girl." + +"Well, Laddy swears she's got your girl roped in the corral for looks." + +"That's not possible. I'll have to talk to Laddy....But she must be +a wonder, or Dick Gale would never have fallen for her....Isn't it +great, Dick? I'm here! Mercedes is well--safe! You've got a +girl! Oh!....But say, I haven't a dollar to my name. I had a lot +of money, Dick, and those robbers stole it, my watch--everything. +Damn that little black Greaser! He got Mercedes's letters. I wish +you could have seen him trying to read them. He's simply nutty +over her, Dick. I could have borne the loss of money and +valuables--but those beautiful, wonderful letters--they're gone!" + +"Cheer up. You have the girl. Belding will make you a proposition +presently. The future smiles, old friend. If this rebel business +was only ended!" + +"Dick, you're going to be my savior twice over....Well, now, listen +to me." His gay excitement changed to earnet gravity. "I want +to marry Mercedes at once. Is there a padre here?" + +"Yes. But are you wise in letting any Mexican, even a priest, +know Mercedes is hidden in Forlorn River?" + +"It couldn't be kept much longer." + +Gale was compelled to acknowledge the truth of this statement. + +"I'll marry her first, then I'll face my problem. Fetch the padre, +Dick. And ask our kind friends to be witnesses at the ceremony." + +Much to Gale's surprise neither Belding nor Ladd objected to the +idea of bringing a padre into the household, and thereby making +known to at least one Mexican the whereabouts of Mercedes Castaneda. +Belding's caution was wearing out in wrath at the persistent unsettled +condition of the border, and Ladd grew only the cooler and more silent +as possibilities of trouble multiplied. + +Gale fetched the padre, a little, weazened, timid man who was old +and without interest or penetration. Apparently he married Mercedes +and Thorne as he told his beads or mumbled a prayer. It was Mrs. +Belding who kept the occasion from being a merry one, and she +insisted on not exciting Thorne. Gale marked her unusual pallor +and the singular depth and sweetness of her voice. + +"Mother, what's the use of making a funeral out of a marriage?" +protested Belding. "A chance for some fun doesn't often come to +Forlorn River. You're a fine doctor. Can't you see the girl is +what Thorne needed? He'll be well to-morrow, don't mistake me." + +"George, when you're all right again we'll add something to present +congratulations," said Gale. + +"We shore will," put in Ladd. + +So with parting jests and smiles they left the couple to themselves. + +Belding enjoyed a laugh at his good wife's expense, for Thorne +could not be kept in bed, and all in a day, it seemed, he grew +so well and so hungry that his friends were delighted, and Mercedes +was radiant. In a few days his weakness disappeared and he was +going the round of the fields and looking over the ground marked +out in Gale's plan of water development. Thorne was highly +enthusiastic, and at once staked out his claim for one hundred and +sixty acres of land adjoining that of Belding and the rangers. +These five tracts took in all the ground necessary for their +operations, but in case of the success of the irrigation project the +idea was to increase their squatter holdings by purchase of more +land down the valley. A hundred families had lately moved to +Forlorn River; more were coming all the time; and Belding vowed +he could see a vision of the whole Altar Valley green with farms. + +Meanwhile everybody in Belding's household, except the quiet Ladd +and the watchful Yaqui, in the absence of disturbance of any kind +along the border, grew freer and more unrestrained, as if anxiety +was slowly fading in the peace of the present. Jim Lash made a +trip to the Sonoyta Oasis, and Ladd patrolled fifty miles of the +line eastward without incident or sight of raiders. Evidently all +the border hawks were in at the picking of Casita. + +The February nights were cold, with a dry, icy, penetrating coldness +that made a warm fire most comfortable. Belding's household +usually congregated in the sitting-room, where burning mesquite +logs crackled in the open fireplace. Belding's one passion besides +horses was the game of checkers, and he was always wanting to +play. On this night he sat playing with Ladd, who never won a +game and never could give up trying. Mrs. Belding worked with +her needle, stopping from time to time to gaze with thoughtful +eyes into the fire. Jim Lash smoked his pipe by the hearth and +played with the cat on his knee. Thorne and Mercedes were at +the table with pencil and paper; and he was trying his best to keep +his attention from his wife's beautiful, animated face long enough +to read and write a little Spanish. Gale and Nell sat in a corner +watching the bright fire. + +There came a low knock on the door. It may have been an ordinary +knock, for it did not disturb the women; but to Belding and his +rangers it had a subtle meaning. + +"Who's that?" asked Belding, as he slowly pushed back his chair +and looked at Ladd. + +"Yaqui," replied the ranger. + +"Come in," called Belding. + +The door opened, and the short, square, powerfully built Indian +entered. He had a magnificent head, strangely staring, somber +black eyes, and very darkly bronzed face. He carried a rifle +and strode with impressive dignity. + +"Yaqui, what do you want?" asked Belding, and repeated his +question in Spanish. + +"Senor Dick," replied the Indian. + +Gale jumped up, stifling an exclamation, and he went outdoors +with Yaqui. He felt his arm gripped, and allowed himself to be +led away without asking a question. Yaqui's presence was always +one of gloom, and now his stern action boded catastrophe. Once +clear of trees he pointed to the level desert across the river, +where a row of campfires shone bright out of the darkness. + +"Raiders!" ejaculated Gale. + +Then he cautioned Yaqui to keep sharp lookout, and, hurriedly +returning to the house, he called the men out and told them there +were rebels or raiders camping just across the line. + +Ladd did not say a word. Belding, with an oath, slammed down +his cigar. + +"I knew it was too good to last....Dick, you and Jim stay here while +Laddy and I look around." + +Dick returned to the sitting-room. The women were nervous and not +to be deceived. So Dick merely said Yaqui had sighted some lights +off in the desert, and they probably were campfires. Belding did +not soon return, and when he did he was alone, and, saying he +wanted to consult with the men, he sent Mrs. Belding and the girls +to their rooms. His gloomy anxiety had returned. + +"Laddy's gone over to scout around and try to find out who the +outfit belongs to and how many are in it," said Belding. + +"I reckon if they're raiders with bad intentions we wouldn't see +no fires," remarked Jim, calmly. + +"It 'd be useless, I suppose, to send for the cavalry," said Gale. +"Whatever's coming off would be over before the soldiers could +be notified, let alone reach here." + +"Hell, fellows! I don't look for an attack on Forlorn River," +burst out Belding. "I can't believe that possible. These +rebel-raiders have a little sense. They wouldn't spoil their +game by pulling U. S. soldiers across the line from Yuma to +El Paso. But, as Jim says, if they wanted to steal a few horses +or cattle they wouldn't build fires. I'm afraid it's--" + +Belding hesitated and looked with grim concern at the cavalryman. + +"What?" queried Thorne. + +"I'm afraid it's Rojas." + +Thorne turned pale but did not lose his nerve. + +"I thought of that at once. If true, it'll be terrible for Mercedes +and me. But Rojas will never get his hands on my wife. If I can't +kill him, I'll kill her!...Belding, this is tough on you--this risk +we put upon your family. I regret--" + +"Cut that kind of talk," replied Belding, bluntly. "Well, if it is +Rojas he's acting damn strange for a raider. That's what worries +me. We can't do anything but wait. With Laddy and Yaqui out there +we won't be surprised. Let's take the best possible view of the +situation until we know more. That'll not likely be before +to-morrow." + +The women of the house might have gotten some sleep that night, +but it was certain the men did not get any. Morning broke cold +and gray, the 19th of February. Breakfast was prepared earlier +than usual, and an air of suppressed waiting excitement pervaded +the place. Otherwise the ordinary details of the morning's work +continued as on any other day. Ladd came in hungry and cold, +and said the Mexicans were not breaking camp. He reported a +good-sized force of rebels, and was taciturn as to his idea of +forthcoming events. + +About an hour after sunrise Yaqui ran in with the information +that part of the rebels were crossing the river. + +"That can't mean a fight yet," declared Belding. "But get in the +house, boys, and make ready anyway. I'll meet them." + +"Drive them off the place same as if you had a company of soldiers +backin' you," said Ladd. "Don't give them an inch. We're in bad, +and the bigger bluff we put up the more likely our chance." + +"Belding, you're an officer of the United States. Mexicans are +much impressed by show of authority. I've seen that often in camp," +said Thorne. + +"Oh, I know the white-livered Greasers better than any of you, don't +mistake me," replied Belding. He was pale with rage, but kept +command over himself. + +The rangers, with Yaqui and Thorne, stationed themselves at the +several windows of the sitting-room. Rifles and smaller arms and +boxes of shells littered the tables and window seats. No small +force of besiegers could overcome a resistance such as Belding +and his men were capable of making. + +"Here they come, boys," called Gale, from his window. + +"Rebel-raiders I should say, Laddy." + +"Shore. An' a fine outfit of buzzards!" + +"Reckon there's about a dozen in the bunch," observed the calm +Lash. "Some hosses they're ridin'. Where 'n the hell do they get +such hosses, anyhow?" + +"Shore, Jim, they work hard an' buy 'em with real silver pesos," +replied Ladd, sarcastically. + +"Do any of you see Rojas?" whispered Thorne. + +"Nix. No dandy bandit in that outfit." + +"It's too far to see," said Gale. + +The horsemen halted at the corrals. They were orderly and showed +no evidence of hostility. They were, however, fully armed. Belding +stalked out to meet them. Apparently a leader wanted to parley +with him, but Belding would hear nothing. He shook his head, waved +his arms, stamped to and fro, and his loud, angry voice could be +heard clear back at the house. Whereupon the detachment of rebels +retired to the bank of the river, beyond the white post that marked +the boundary line, and there they once more drew rein. Belding remained +by the corrals watching them, evidently still in threatening mood. +Presently a single rider left the troop and trotted his horse back +down the road. When he reached the corrals he was seen to halt +and pass something to Belding. Then he galloped away to join +his comrades. + +Belding looked at whatever it was he held in his hand, shook his +burley head, and started swiftly for the house. He came striding +into the room holding a piece of soiled paper. + +"Can't read it and don't know as I want to," he said, savagely. + +"Beldin', shore we'd better read it," replied Ladd. "What we want +is a line on them Greasers. Whether they're Campo's men or +Salazar's, or just a wanderin' bunch of rebels--or Rojas's bandits. +Sabe, senor?" + +Not one of the men was able to translate the garbled scrawl. + +"Shore Mercedes can read it," said Ladd. + +Thorne opened a door and called her. She came into the room +followed by Nell and Mrs. Belding. Evidently all three divined a +critical situation. + +"My dear, we want you to read what's written on this paper," +said Thorne, as he led her to the table. "It was sent in by rebels, +and--and we fear contains bad news for us." + +Mercedes gave the writing one swift glance, then fainted in Thorne's +arms. He carried her to a couch, and with Nell and Mrs. Belding +began to work over her. + +Belding looked at his rangers. It was characteristic of the man +that, now when catastrophe appeared inevitable, all the gloom +and care and angry agitation passed from him. + +"Laddy, it's Rojas all right. How many men has he out there?" + +"Mebbe twenty. Not more." + +"We can lick twice that many Greasers." + +"Shore." + +Jim Lash removed his pipe long enough to speak. + +"I reckon. But it ain't sense to start a fight when mebbe we can +avoid it." + +"What's your idea?" + +"Let's stave the Greaser off till dark. Then Laddy an' me an' +Thorne will take Mercedes an' hit the trail for Yuma." + +"Camino del Diablo! That awful trail with a woman! Jim, do you +forget how many hundreds of men have perished on the Devil's +Road?" + +"I reckon I ain't forgettin' nothin'," replied Jim. "The waterholes +are full now. There's grass, an' we can do the job in six days." + +"It's three hundred miles to Yuma." + +"Beldin', Jim's idea hits me pretty reasonable," interposed Ladd. +"Lord knows that's about the only chance we've got except fightin'." + +"But suppose we do stave Rojas off, and you get safely away with +Mercedes. Isn't Rojas going to find it out quick? Then what'll he +try to do to us who're left here?" + +"I reckon he'd find out by daylight," replied Jim. "But, Tom, he +ain't agoin' to start a scrap then. He'd want time an' hosses an' +men to chase us out on the trail. You see, I'm figgerin' on the +crazy Greaser wantin' the girl. I reckon he'll try to clean up +here to get her. But he's too smart to fight you for nothin'. +Rojas may be nutty about women, but he's afraid of the U. S. +Take my word for it he'd discover the trail in the mornin' an' +light out on it. I reckon with ten hours' start we could travel +comfortable." + +Belding paced up and down the room. Jim and Ladd whispered +together. Gale walked to the window and looked out at the distant +group of bandits, and then turned his gaze to rest upon Mercedes. +She was conscious now, and her eyes seemed all the larger and +blacker for the whiteness of her face. Thorne held her hands, +and the other women were trying to still her tremblings. + +No one but Gale saw the Yaqui in the background looking down +upon the Spanish girl. All of Yaqui's looks were strange; but this +singularly so. Gale marked it, and felt he would never forget. +Mercedes's beauty had never before struck him as being so exquisite, +so alluring as now when she lay stricken. Gale wondered if the +Indian was affected by her loveliness, her helplessness, or her +terror. Yaqui had seen Mercedes only a few times, and upon each +of these he had appeared to be fascinated. Could the strange +Indian, because his hate for Mexicans was so great, be gloating +over her misery? Something about Yaqui--a noble austerity of +countenance--made Gale feel his suspicion unjust. + +Presently Belding called his rangers to him, and then Thorne. + +"Listen to this," he said, earnestly. "I'll go out and have a talk +with Rojas. I'll try to reason with him; tell him to think a long +time before he sheds blood on Uncle Sam's soil. That he's now +after an American's wife! I'll not commit myself, nor will I refuse +outright to consider his demands, nor will I show the least fear +of him. I'll play for time. If my bluff goes through...well and +good....After dark the four of you, Laddy, Jim, Dick, and Thorne, +will take Mercedes and my best white horses, and, with Yaqui as +guide, circle round through Altar Valley to the trail, and head +for Yuma....Wait now, Laddy. Let me finish. I want you to take +the white horses for two reasons--to save them and to save you. +Savvy? If Rojas should follow on my horses he'd be likely to +catch you. Also, you can pack a great deal more than on the +bronchs. Also, the big horses can travel faster and farther on +little grass and water. I want you to take the Indian, because +in a case of this kind he'll be a godsend. If you get headed or +lost or have to circle off the trail, think what it 'd mean to have +Yaqui with you. He knows Sonora as no Greaser knows it. He could +hide you, find water and grass, when you would absolutely +believe it impossible. The Indian is loyal. He has his debt to +pay, and he'll pay it, don't mistake me. When you're gone I'll +hide Nell so Rojas won't see her if he searches the place. Then +I think I could sit down and wait without any particular worry." + +The rangers approved of Belding's plan, and Thorne choked in his +effort to express his gratitude. + +"All right, we'll chance it," concluded Belding. "I'll go out now +and call Rojas and his outfit over...Say, it might be as well for +me to know just what he said in that paper." + +Thorne went to the side of his wife. + +"Mercedes, we've planned to outwit Rojas. Will you tell us just +what he wrote?" + +The girl sat up, her eyes dilating, and with her hands clasping +Thorne's. She said: + +"Rojas swore--by his saints and his virgin--that if I wasn't +given--to him--in twenty-four hours--he would set fire to the +village--kill the men--carry off the women--hang the children +on cactus thorns!" + +A moment's silence followed her last halting whisper. + +"By his saints an' his virgin!" echoed Ladd. He laughed--a cold, +cutting, deadly laugh--significant and terrible. + +Then the Yaqui uttered a singular cry. Gale had heard this once +before, and now he remembered it was at the Papago Well. + +"Look at the Indian," whispered Belding, hoarsely. "Damn if I +don't believe he understood every word Mercedes said. And, +gentlemen, don't mistake me, if he ever gets near Senor Rojas +there'll be some gory Aztec knife work." + +Yaqui had moved close to Mercedes, and stood beside her as she +leaned against her husband. She seemed impelled to meet the +Indian's gaze, and evidently it was so powerful or hypnotic that +it wrought irresistibly upon her. But she must have seen or +divined what was beyond the others, for she offered him her +trembling hand. Yaqui took it and laid it against his body +in a strange motion, and bowed his head. Then he stepped back +into the shadow of the room. + +Belding went outdoors while the rangers took up their former +position at the west window. Each had his own somber thoughts, +Gale imagined, and knew his own were dark enough. A slow fire +crept along his veins. He saw Belding halt at the corrals and wave +his hand. Then the rebels mounted and came briskly up the road, +this time to rein in abreast. + +Wherever Rojas had kept himself upon the former advance was not +clear; but he certainly was prominently in sight now. He made a +gaudy, almost a dashing figure. Gale did not recognize the white +sombrero, the crimson scarf, the velvet jacket, nor any feature of +the dandy's costume; but their general effect, the whole ensemble, +recalled vividly to mind his first sight of the bandit. Rojas +dismounted and seemed to be listening. He betrayed none of the +excitement Gale had seen in him that night at the Del Sol. +Evidently this composure struck Ladd and Lash as unusual in a +Mexican supposed to be laboring under stress of feeling. Belding +made gestures, vehemently bobbed his big head, appeared to talk +with his body as much as with his tongue. Then Rojas was seen to +reply, and after that it was clear that the talk became painful and +difficult. It ended finally in what appeared to be mutual +understanding. Rojas mounted and rode away with his men, while +Belding came tramping back to the house. + +As he entered the door his eyes were shining, his big hands were +clenched, and he was breathing audibly. + +"You can rope me if I'm not locoed!" he burst out. "I went out +to conciliate a red-handed little murderer, and damn me if I didn't +meet a--a--well, I've not suitable name handy. I started my bluff +and got along pretty well, but I forgot to mention that Mercedes +was Thorne's wife. And what do you think? Rojas swore he loved Mercedes-- +swore he'd marry her right here in Forlorn River--swore he would give up +robbing and killing people, and take her away from Mexico. He has +gold--jewels. He swore if he didn't get her nothing mattered. He'd +die anyway without her....And here's the strange thing. I believe +him! He was cold as ice, and all hell inside. Never saw a Greaser +like him. Well, I pretended to be greatly impressed. We got to +talking friendly, I suppose, though I didn't understand half he +said, and I imagine he gathered less what I said. Anyway, without +my asking he said for me to think it over for a day and then we'd +talk again." + +"Shore we're born lucky!" ejaculated Ladd. + +"I reckon Rojas'll be smart enough to string his outfit across the +few trails leadin' out of Forlorn River," remarked Jim. + +"That needn't worry us. All we want is dark to come," replied +Belding. "Yaqui will slip through. If we thank any lucky stars +let it be for the Indian....Now, boys, put on your thinking caps. +You'll take eight horses, the pick of my bunch. You must pack +all that's needed for a possible long trip. Mind, Yaqui may lead +you down into some wild Sonora valley and give Rojas the slip. +You may get to Yuma in six days, and maybe in six weeks. Yet +you've got to pack light--a small pack in saddles--larger ones +on the two free horses. You may have a big fight. Laddy, take +the .405. Dick will pack his Remington. All of you go gunned +heavy. But the main thing is a pack that 'll be light enough for +swift travel, yet one that 'll keep you from starving on the +desert." + +The rest of that day passed swiftly. Dick had scarcely a word with +Nell, and all the time, as he chose and deliberated and worked +over his little pack, there was a dull pain in his heart. + +The sun set, twilight fell, then night closed down fortunately +a night slightly overcast. Gale saw the white horses pass +his door like silent ghosts. Even Blanco Diablo made no sound, +and that fact was indeed a tribute to the Yaqui. Gale went out +to put his saddle on Blanco Sol. The horse rubbed a soft nose +against his shoulder. Then Gale returned to the sitting-room. +There was nothing more to do but wait and say good-by. Mercedes +came clad in leather chaps and coat, a slim stripling of a cowboy, +her dark eyes flashing. Her beauty could not be hidden, and now +hope and courage had fired her blood. + +Gale drew Nell off into the shadow of the room. She was trembling, +and as she leaned toward him she was very different from the coy +girl who had so long held him aloof. He took her into his arms. + +"Dearest, I'm going--sonn....And maybe I'll never--" + +"Dick, do--don't say it," sobbed Nell, with her head on his breast. + +"I might never come back," he went on, steadily. "I love you--I've +loved you ever since the first moment I saw you. Do you care for +me--a little?" + +"Dear Dick--de-dear Dick, my heart is breaking," faltered Nell, as +she clung to him. + +"It might be breaking for Mercedes--for Laddy and Jim. I want to +hear something for myself. Something to have on long marches--round +lonely campfires. Something to keep my spirit alive. Oh, Nell, you +can't imagine that silence out there--that terrible world of sand +and stone!...Do you love me?" + +"Yes, yes. Oh, I love you so! I never knew it till now. I love +you so. Dick, I'll be safe and I'll wait--and hope and pray for +your return." + +"If I come back--no--when I come back, will you marry me?" + +"I--I--oh yes!" she whispered, and returned his kiss. + +Belding was in the room speaking softly. + +"Nell, darling, I must go," said Dick. + +"I'm a selfish little coward," cried Nell. "It's so splendid of you +all. I ought to glory in it, but I can't. ...Fight if you must, +Dick. Fight for that lovely persecuted girl. I'll love you--the +more....Oh! Good-by! Good-by!" + +With a wrench that shook him Gale let her go. He heard +Belding's soft voice. + +"Yaqui says the early hour's best. Trust him, Laddy. Remember +what I say--Yaqui's a godsend." + +Then they were all outside in the pale gloom under the trees. +Yaqui mounted Blanco Diablo; Mercedes was lifted upon White +Woman; Thorne climbed astride Queen; Jim Lash was already +upon his horse, which was as white as the others but bore no +name; Ladd mounted the stallion Blanco Torres, and gathered +up the long halters of the two pack horses; Gale came last with +Blanco Sol. + +As he toed the stirrup, hand on mane and pommel, Gale took one +more look in at the door. Nell stood in the gleam of light, her +hair shining, face like ashes, her eyes dark, her lips parted, her +arms outstretched. That sweet and tragic picture etched its +cruel outlines into Gale's heart. He waved his hand and then +fiercely leaped into the saddle. + +Blanco Sol stepped out. + +Before Gale stretched a line of moving horses, white against dark +shadows. He could not see the head of that column; he scarcely +heard a soft hoofbeat. A single star shone out of a rift in thin +clouds. There was no wind. The air was cold. The dark space +of desert seemed to yawn. To the left across the river flickered a +few campfires. The chill night, silent and mystical, seemed to +close in upon Gale; and he faced the wide, quivering, black level +with keen eyes and grim intent, and an awakening of that wild +rapture which came like a spell to him in the open desert. + + + +XI + + +Across Cactus and Lava + +Blanco Sol showed no inclination to bend his head to the alfalfa +which swished softly about his legs. Gale felt the horse's +sensitive, almost human alertness. Sol knew as well as his master +the nature of that flight. + +At the far corner of the field Yaqui halted, and slowly the line of +white horses merged into a compact mass. There was a trail here +leading down to the river. the campfires were so close that the +bright blazes could be seen in movement, and dark forms crossed +in front of them. Yaqui slipped out of his saddle. He ran his hand +over Diablo's nose and spoke low, and repeated this action for +each of the other horses. Gale had long ceased to question the +strange Indian's behavior. There was no explaining or understanding +many of his manoeuvers. But the results of them were always +thought-provoking. Gale had never seen horse stand so silently as +in this instance; no stamp--no champ of bit--no toss of head--no +shake of saddle or pack--no heave or snort! It seemed they had +become imbued with the spirit of the Indian. + +Yaqui moved away into the shadows as noiselessly as if he were one +of them. The darkness swallowed him. He had taken a parallel with +the trail. Gale wondered if Yaqui meant to try to lead his string +of horses by the rebel sentinels. Ladd had his head bent low, his +ear toward the trail. Jim's long neck had the arch of a listening +deer. Gale listened, too, and as the slow, silent moments went +by his faculty of hearing grew more acute from strain. He heard +Blanco Sol breathe; he heard the pound of his own heart; +he heard the silken rustle of the alfalfa; he heard a faint, +far-off sound of voice, like a lost echo. Then his ear seemed +to register a movement of air, a disturbance so soft +as to be nameless. Then followed long, silent moments. + +Yaqui appeared as he had vanished. He might have been part of +the shadows. But he was there. He started off down the trail +leading Diablo. Again the white line stretched slowly out. Gale +fell in behind. A bench of ground, covered with sparse greasewood, +sloped gently down to the deep, wide arroyo of Forlorn River. +Blanco Sol shied a few feet out of the trail. Peering low with keen +eyes, Gale made out three objects--a white sombrero, a blanket, +and a Mexican lying face down. The Yaqui had stolen upon this +sentinel like a silent wind of death. Just then a desert coyote +wailed, and the wild cry fitted the darkness and the Yaqui's deed. + +Once under the dark lee of the river bank Yaqui caused another +halt, and he disappeared as before. It seemed to Gale that the +Indian started to cross the pale level sandbed of the river, where +stones stood out gray, and the darker line of opposite shore was +visible. But he vanished, and it was impossible to tell whether +he went one way or another. Moments passed. The horses held +heads up, looked toward the glimmering campfires and listened. +Gale thrilled with the meaning of it all--the night--the silence +--the flight--and the wonderful Indian stealing with the slow +inevitableness of doom upon another sentinel. An hour passed +and Gale seemed to have become deadened to all sense of hearing. +There were no more sounds in the world. The desert was as silent +as it was black. Yet again came that strange change in the tensity +of Gale's ear-strain, a check, a break, a vibration--and this time +the sound did not go nameless. It might have been moan of wind +or wail of far-distant wolf, but Gale imagined it was the strangling +death-cry of another guard, or that strange, involuntary utterance +of the Yaqui. Blanco Sol trembled in all his great frame, and then +Gale was certain the sound was not imagination. + +That certainty, once for all, fixed in Gale's mind the mood of +his flight. The Yaqui dominated the horses and the rangers. +Thorne and Mercedes were as persons under a spell. The Indian's +strange silence, the feeling of mystery and power he seemed to +create, all that was incomprehensible about him were emphasized in +the light of his slow, sure, and ruthless action. If he dominated +the others, surely he did more for Gale--colored his +thoughts--presage the wild and terrible future of that flight. If +Rojas embodied all the hatred and passion of the peon--scourged +slave for a thousand years--then Yaqui embodied all the darkness, +the cruelty, the white, sun-heated blood, the ferocity, the tragedy +of the desert. + +Suddenly the Indian stalked out of the gloom. He mounted Diablo +and headed across the river. Once more the line of moving white +shadows stretched out. The soft sand gave forth no sound at all. +The glimmering campfires sank behind the western bank. Yaqui +led the way into the willows, and there was faint swishing of +leaves; then into the mesquite, and there was faint rustling of +branches. The glimmering lights appeared again, and grotesque +forms of saguaros loomed darkly. Gale peered sharply along the +trail, and, presently, on the pale sand under a cactus, there lay +a blanketed form, prone, outstretched, a carbine clutched in one +hand, a cigarette, still burning, in the other. + +The cavalcade of white horses passed within five hundred yards of +campfires, around which dark forms moved in plain sight. Soft pads +in sand, faint metallic tickings of steel on thorns, low, regular +breathing of horses--these were all the sounds the fugitives made, +and they could not have been heard at one-fifth the distance. +The lights disappeared from time to time, grew dimmer, more +flickering, and at last they vanished altogether. Belding's fleet +and tireless steeds were out in front; the desert opened ahead wide, +dark, vast. Rojas and his rebels were behind, eating, drinking, careless. +The somber shadow lifted from Gale's heart. He held now an unquenchable +faith in the Yaqui. Belding would be listening back there along the river. +He would know of the escape. He would tell Nell, and then hide her safely. +As Gale accepted a strange and fatalistic foreshadowing of toil, blood, +and agony in this desert journey, so he believed in Mercedes's ultimate +freedom and happiness, and his own return to the girl who had grown +dearer than life. + + + +A cold, gray dawn was fleeing before a rosy sun when Yaqui halted +the march at Papago Well. The horses were taken to water, then +led down the arroyo into the grass. Here packs were slipped, +saddles removed. Mercedes was cold, lame, tired, but happy. It +warmed Gale's blood to look at her. The shadow of fear still lay +in her eyes, but it was passing. Hope and courage shone there, +and affection for her ranger protectors and the Yaqui, and +unutterable love for the cavalryman. Jim Lash remarked how +cleverly they had fooled the rebels. + +"Shore they'll be comin' along," replied Ladd. + +They built a fire, cooked and ate. The Yaqui spoke only one +word: "Sleep." Blankets were spread. Mercedes dropped into a +deep slumber, her head on Thorne's shoulder. Excitement kept +Throne awake. The two rangers dozed beside the fire. Gale +shared the Yaqui's watch. The sun began to climb and the icy +edge of dawn to wear away. Rabbits bobbed their cotton tails +under the mesquite. Gale climbed a rocky wall above the arroyo +bank, and there, with command over the miles of the back-trail, he +watched. + +It was a sweeping, rolling, wrinkled, and streaked range of desert +that he saw, ruddy in the morning sunlight, with patches of cactus +and mesquite rough-etched in shimmering gloom. No Name Mountains +split the eastern sky, towering high, gloomy, grand, with purple veils +upon their slopes. They were forty miles away and looked five. +Gale thought of the girl who was there under their shadow. + +Yaqui kept the horses bunched, and he led them from one little +park of galleta grass to another. At the end of three hours he took +them to water. Upon his return Gale clambered down from his +outlook, the rangers grew active. Mercedes was awakened; and soon +the party faced westward, their long shadows moving before them. +Yaqui led with Blanco Diablo in a long, easy lope. The arroyo +washed itself out into flat desert, and the greens began to shade +into gray, and then the gray into red. Only sparse cactus and +weathered ledges dotted the great low roll of a rising escarpment. + +Yaqui suited the gait of his horse to the lay of the land, and his +followers accepted his pace. There were canter and trot, and +swift walk and slow climb, and long swing--miles up and down +and forward. The sun soared hot. The heated air lifted, and +incoming currents from the west swept low and hard over the +barren earth. In the distance, all around the horizon, +accumulations of dust seemed like ranging, mushrooming yellow +clouds. + +Yaqui was the only one of the fugitives who never looked back. +Mercedes did it the most. Gale felt what compelled her, he could +not resist it himself. But it was a vain search. For a thousand +puffs of white and yellow dust rose from that backward sweep +of desert, and any one of them might have been blown from under +horses' hoofs. Gale had a conviction that when Yaqui gazed back +toward the well and the shining plain beyond, there would be reason +for it. But when the sun lost its heat and the wind died down Yaqui +took long and careful surveys westward from the high points on the +trail. Sunset was not far off, and there in a bare, spotted valley +lay Coyote Tanks, the only waterhole between Papago Well and +the Sonoyta Oasis. Gale used his glass, told Yaqui there was no +smoke, no sign of life; still the Indian fixed his falcon eyes +on distant spots looked long. It was as if his vision +could not detect what reason or cunning or intuition, perhaps +an instinct, told him was there. Presently in a sheltered spot, +where blown sand had not obliterated the trail, Yaqui found the +tracks of horses. The curve of the iron shoes pointed westward. +An intersecting trail from the north came in here. Gale thought the +tracks either one or two days old. Ladd said they were one day. +The Indian shook his head. + +No farther advance was undertaken. The Yaqui headed south and +traveled slowly, climbing to the brow of a bold height of weathered +mesa. There he sat his horse and waited. No one questioned him. +The rangers dismounted to stretch their legs, and Mercedes was +lifted to a rock, where she rested. Thorne had gradually yielded +to the desert's influence for silence. He spoke once or twice to +Gale, and occasionally whispered to Mercedes. Gale fancied his +friend would soon learn that necessary speech in desert travel meant +a few greetings, a few words to make real the fact of human +companionship, a few short, terse terms for the business of day or +night, and perhaps a stern order or a soft call to a horse. + +The sun went down, and the golden, rosy veils turned to blue and +shaded darker till twilight was there in the valley. Only the spurs +of mountains, spiring the near and far horizon, retained their clear +outline. Darkness approached, and the clear peaks faded. The +horses stamped to be on the move. + +"Malo!" exclaimed the Yaqui. + +He did not point with arm, but his falcon head was outstretched, +and his piercing eyes gazed at the blurring spot which marked +the location of Coyote Tanks. + +"Jim, can you see anything?" asked Ladd. + +"Nope, but I reckon he can." + +Darkness increased momentarily till night shaded the deepest part +of the valley. + +Then Ladd suddenly straightened up, turned to his horse, and +muttered low under his breath. + +"I reckon so," said Lash, and for once his easy, good-natured tone +was not in evidence. His voice was harsh. + +Gale's eyes, keen as they were, were last of the rangers to see +tiny, needle-points of light just faintly perceptible in the +blackness. + +"Laddy! Campfires?" he asked, quickly. + +"Shore's you're born, my boy." + +"How many?" + +Ladd did not reply; but Yaqui held up his hand, his fingers wide. +Five campfires! A strong force of rebels or raiders or some other +desert troop was camping at Coyote Tanks. + +Yaqui sat his horse for a moment, motionless as stone, his dark +face immutable and impassive. Then he stretched wide his right arm +in the direction of No Name Mountains, now losing their last faint +traces of the afterglow, and he shook his head. He made the same +impressive gesture toward the Sonoyta Oasis with the same somber +negation. + +Thereupon he turned Diablo's head to the south and started down +the slope. His manner had been decisive, even stern. Lash did not +question it, nor did Ladd. Both rangers hesitated, however, and +showed a strange, almost sullen reluctance which Gale had never +seen in them before. Raiders were one thing, Rojas was another; +Camino del Diablo still another; but that vast and desolate and +unwatered waste of cactus and lava, the Sonora Desert, might +appal the stoutest heart. Gale felt his own sink--felt himself +flinch. + +"Oh, where is he going?" cried Mercedes. Her poignant voice seemed +to break a spell. + +"Shore, lady, Yaqui's goin' home," replied Ladd, gently. "An' +considerin' our troubles I reckon we ought to thank God he knows +the way." + +They mounted and rode down the slope toward the darkening south. + +Not until night travel was obstructed by a wall of cactus did the +Indian halt to make a dry camp. Water and grass for the horses +and fire to cook by were not to be had. Mercedes bore up +surprisingly; but she fell asleep almost the instant her thirst had +been allayed. Thorne laid her upon a blanket and covered her. +The men ate and drank. Diablo was the only horse that showed +impatience; but he was angry, and not in distress. Blanco Sol +licked Gale's hand and stood patiently. Many a time had he taken +his rest at night without a drink. Yaqui again bade the men sleep. +Ladd said he would take the early watch; but from the way the +Indian shook his head and settled himself against a stone, it +appeared if Ladd remained awake he would have company. Gale +lay down weary of limb and eye. He heard the soft thump of hoofs, +the sough of wind in the cactus--then no more. + +When he awoke there was bustle and stir about him. Day had not +yet dawned, and the air was freezing cold. Yaqui had found a scant +bundle of greasewood which served to warm them and to cook +breakfast. Mercedes was not aroused till the last moment. + +Day dawned with the fugitives in the saddle. A picketed wall of +cactus hedged them in, yet the Yaqui made a tortuous path, that, +zigzag as it might, in the main always headed south. It was +wonderful how he slipped Diablo through the narrow aisles of thorns, +saving the horse and saving himself. The others were torn and +clutched and held and stung. The way was a flat, sandy pass between +low mountain ranges. There were open spots and aisles and squares +of sand; and hedging rows of prickly pear and the huge spider-legged +ocatillo and hummocky masses of clustered bisnagi. The day grew dry +and hot. A fragrant wind blew through the pass. Cactus flowers +bloomed, red and yellow and magenta. The sweet, pale Ajo lily +gleamed in shady corners. + +Ten miles of travel covered the length of the pass. It opened wide +upon a wonderful scene, an arboreal desert, dominated by its pure +light green, yet lined by many merging colors. And it rose slowly +to a low dim and dark-red zone of lava, spurred, peaked, domed +by volcano cones, a wild and ragged region, illimitable as the +horizon. + +The Yaqui, if not at fault, was yet uncertain. His falcon eyes +searched and roved, and became fixed at length at the southwest, +and toward this he turned his horse. The great, fluted saguaros, +fifty, sixty feet high, raised columnal forms, and their branching +limbs and curving lines added a grace to the desert. It was the +low-bushed cactus that made the toil and pain of travel. Yet +these thorny forms were beautiful. + +In the basins between the ridges, to right and left along the floor +of low plains the mirage glistened, wavered, faded, vanished--lakes +and trees and clouds. Inverted mountains hung suspended in the +lilac air and faint tracery of white-walled cities. + +At noon Yaqui halted the cavalcade. He had selected a field of +bisnagi cactus for the place of rest. Presently his reason became +obvious. With long, heavy knife he cut off the tops of these +barrel-shaped plants. He scooped out soft pulp, and with stone and +hand then began to pound the deeper pulp into a juicy mass. When +he threw this out there was a little water left, sweet, cool water +which man and horse shared eagerly. Thus he made even the desert's +fiercest growths minister to their needs. + +But he did not halt long. Miles of gray-green spiked walls lay +between him and that line of ragged, red lava which manifestly he +must reach before dark. The travel became faster, straighter. +And the glistening thorns clutched and clung to leather and cloth +and flesh. The horses reared, snorted, balked, leaped--but they +were sent on. Only Blanco Sol, the patient, the plodding, the +indomitable, needed no goad or spur. Waves and scarfs +and wreaths of heat smoked up from the sand. Mercedes reeled +in her saddle. Thorne bade her drink, bathed her face, supported +her, and then gave way to Ladd, who took the girl with him on +Torre's broad back. Yaqui's unflagging purpose and iron arm were +bitter and hateful to the proud and haughty spirit of Blanco Diablo. +For once Belding's great white devil had met his master. He fought +rider, bit, bridle, cactus, sand--and yet he went on and on, +zigzagging, turning, winding, crashing through the barbed growths. +The middle of the afternoon saw Thorne reeling in his saddle, and +then, wherever possible, Gale's powerful arm lent him strength to +hold his seat. + +The giant cactus came to be only so in name. These saguaros were +thinning out, growing stunted, and most of them were single columns. +Gradually other cactus forms showed a harder struggle for existence, +and the spaces of sand between were wider. But now the dreaded, +glistening choya began to show pale and gray and white upon the +rising slope. Round-topped hills, sunset-colored above, blue-black +below, intervened to hide the distant spurs and peaks. Mile and +mile long tongues of red lava streamed out between the hills and +wound down to stop abruptly upon the slope. + +The fugitives were entering a desolate, burned-out world. It rose +above them in limitless, gradual ascent and spread wide to east +and west. Then the waste of sand began to yield to cinders. The +horses sank to their fetlocks as they toiled on. A fine, choking +dust blew back from the leaders, and men coughed and horses +snorted. The huge, round hills rose smooth, symmetrical, colored +as if the setting sun was shining on bare, blue-black surfaces. +But the sun was now behind the hills. In between ran the streams +of lava. The horsemen skirted the edge between slope of hill and +perpendicular ragged wall. This red lava seemed to have flowed +and hardened there only yesterday. It was broken sharp, +dull rust color, full of cracks and caves and crevices, and +everywhere upon its jagged surface gew the white-thorned choya. + +Again twilight encompassed the travelers. But there was still +light enough for Gale to see the constricted passage open into a +wide, deep space where the dull color was relieved by the gray +of gnarled and dwarfed mesquite. Blanco Sol, keenest of scent, +whistled his welcome herald of water. The other horses answered, +quickened their gait. Gale smelled it, too, sweet, cool, damp on +the dry air. + +Yaqui turned the corner of a pocket in the lava wall. The file +of white horses rounded the corner after him. And Gale, coming +last, saw the pale, glancing gleam of a pool of water beautiful in +the twilight. + + + +Next day the Yaqui's relentless driving demand on the horses was +no longer in evidence. He lost no time, but he did not hasten. His +course wound between low cinder dunes which limited their view of +the surrounding country. These dunes finally sank down to a black +floor as hard as flint with tongues of lava to the left, and to the +right the slow descent into the cactus plain. Yaqui was now +traveling due west. It was Gale's idea that the Indian was skirting +the first sharp-toothed slope of a vast volcanic plateau which +formed the western half of the Sonora Desert and extended to the +Gulf of California. Travel was slow, but not exhausting for rider +or beast. A little sand and meager grass gave a grayish tinge to +the strip of black ground between lava and plain. + +That day, as the manner rather than the purpose of the Yaqui +changed, so there seemed to be subtle differences in the others +of the party. Gale himself lost a certain sickening dread, which +had not been for himself, but for Mercedes and Nell, and Thorne +and the rangers. Jim, good-natured again, might have been +patrolling the boundary line. Ladd lost his taciturnity and his +gloom changed to a cool, careless air. A mood that was almost defiance +began to be manifested in Thorne. It was in Mercedes, however, that Gale +marked the most significant change. Her collapse the preceding +day might never have been. She was lame and sore; she rode +her saddle sidewise, and often she had to be rested and helped; +but she had found a reserve fund of strength, and her mental +condition was not the same that it had been. Her burden of fear +had been lifted. Gale saw in her the difference he always felt in +himself after a few days in the desert. Already Mercedes and he, +and all of them, had begun to respond to the desert spirit. +Moreover, Yaqui's strange influence must have been a call to the +primitive. + +Thirty miles of easy stages brought the fugitives to another +waterhold, a little round pocket under the heaved-up edge of lava. +There was spare, short, bleached grass for the horses, but no wood +for a fire. This night there was question and reply, conjecture, +doubt, opinion, and conviction expressed by the men of the party. +But the Indian, who alone could have told where they were, where +they were going, what chance they had to escape, maintained his +stoical silence. Gale took the early watch, Ladd the midnight one, +and Lash that of the morning. + +They day broke rosy, glorious, cold as ice. Action was necessary +to make useful benumbed hands and feet. Mercedes was fed while +yet wrapped in blankets. Then, while the packs were being put on +and horses saddled, she walked up and down, slapping her hands, +warming her ears. The rose color of the dawn was in her cheeks, +and the wonderful clearness of desert light in her eyes. Thorne's +eyes sought her constantly. The rangers watched her. The Yaqui +bent his glance upon her only seldom; but when he did look it seemed +that his strange, fixed, and inscrutable face was about to break +into a smile. Yet that never happened. Gale himself was surprised +to find how often his own glance found the slender, dark, beautiful +Spaniard. Was this because of her beauty? he wondered. He thought +not altogether. Mercedes was a woman. She represented something +in life that men of all races for thousands of years had loved to +see and own, to revere and debase, to fight and die for. + +It was a significant index to the day's travel that Yaqui should +keep a blanket from the pack and tear it into strips to bind the +legs of the horses. It meant the dreaded choya and the knife-edged +lava. That Yaqui did not mount Diablo was still more significant. +Mercedes must ride; but the others must walk. + +The Indian led off into one of the gray notches between the tumbled +streams of lava. These streams were about thirty feet high, a +rotting mass of splintered lava, rougher than any other kind of +roughness in the world. At the apex of the notch, where two streams +met, a narrow gully wound and ascended. Gale caught sight of the +dim, pale shadow of a one-time trail. Near at hand it was +invisible; he had to look far ahead to catch the faint tracery. +Yaqui led Diablo into it, and then began the most laborious and +vexatious and painful of all slow travel. + +Once up on top of that lava bed, Gale saw stretching away, breaking +into millions of crests and ruts, a vast, red-black field sweeping +onward and upward, with ragged, low ridges and mounds and spurs +leading higher and higher to a great, split escarpment wall, above +which dim peaks shone hazily blue in the distance. + +He looked no more in that direction. To keep his foothold, to save +his horse, cost him all energy and attention. The course was marked +out for him in the tracks of the other horses. He had only to +follow. But nothing could have been more difficult. The +disintegrating surface of a lava bed was at once the roughest, the +hardest, the meanest, the cruelest, the most deceitful kind of +ground to travel. + +It was rotten, yet it had corners as hard and sharp as pikes. +It was rough, yet as slippery as ice. If there was a foot +of level surface, that space would be one to break through +under a horse's hoofs. It was seamed, lined, cracked, ridged, +knotted iron. This lava bed resembled a tremendously magnified +clinker. It had been a running sea of molten flint, boiling, +bubbling, spouting, and it had burst its surface into a million +sharp facets as it hardened. The color was dull, dark, angry +red, like no other red, inflaming to the eye. The millions of +minute crevices were dominated by deep fissures and holes, +ragged and rough beyond all comparison. + +The fugitives made slow progress. They picked a cautious, winding +way to and fro in little steps here and there along the many twists +of the trail, up and down the unavoidable depressions, round and +round the holes. At noon, so winding back upon itself had been +their course, they appeared to have come only a short distance up +the lava slope. + +It was rough work for them; it was terrible work for the horses. +Blanco Diablo refused to answer to the power of the Yaqui. He +balked, he plunged, he bit and kicked. He had to be pulled and +beaten over many places. Mercedes's horse almost threw her, +and she was put upon Blanco Sol. The white charger snorted +a protest, then, obedient to Gale's stern call, patiently lowered +his noble head and pawed the lava for a footing that would hold. + +The lava caused Gale toil and worry and pain, but he hated the +choyas. As the travel progressed this species of cactus increased +in number of plants and in size. Everywhere the red lava was +spotted with little round patches of glistening frosty white. And +under every bunch of choya, along and in the trail, were the +discarded joints, like little frosty pine cones covered with spines. +It was utterly impossible always to be on the lookout for these, +and when Gale stepped on one, often as not the steel-like thorns +pierced leather and flesh. Gale came almost to believe what he had +heard claimed by desert travelers--that the choya was alive and +leaped at man or beast. Certain it was when Gale passed one, +if he did not put all attention to avoiding it, he was hooked +through his chaps and held by barbed thorns. The pain was +almost unendurable. It was like no other. It burned, stung, +beat--almost seemed to freeze. It made useless arm or leg. +It made him bite his tongue to keep from crying out. +It made the sweat roll off him. It made him sick. + +Moreover, bad as the choya was for man, it was infinitely worse +for beast. A jagged stab from this poisoned cactus was the only +thing Blanco Sol could not stand. Many times that day, before he +carried Mercedes, he had wildly snorted, and then stood trembling +while Gale picked broken thorns from the muscular legs. But after +Mercedes had been put upon Sol Gale made sure no choya touched him. + +The afternoon passed like the morning, in ceaseless winding and +twisting and climbing along this abandoned trail. Gale saw many +waterholes, mostly dry, some containing water, all of them +catch-basins, full only after rainy season. Little ugly bunched +bushes, that Gale scarcely recognized as mesquites, grew near +these holes; also stunted greasewood and prickly pear. There +was no grass, and the choya alone flourished in that hard soil. + +Darkness overtook the party as they unpacked beside a pool of water +deep under an overhanging shelf of lava. It had been a hard day. +The horses drank their fill, and then stood patiently with drooping +heads. Hunger and thirst appeased, and a warm fire cheered the +weary and foot-sore fugitives. Yaqui said, "Sleep." And so another +night passed. + + + +Upon the following morning, ten miles or more up the slow-ascending +lava slope, Gale's attention was called from his somber search for +the less rough places in the trail. + +"Dick, why does Yaqui look back?" asked Mercedes. + +Gale was startled. + +"Does he?" + +"Every little while," replied Mercedes. + +Gale was in the rear of all the other horses, so as to take, for +Mercedes's sake, the advantage of the broken trail. Yaqui was +leading Diablo, winding around a break. His head was bent as he +stepped slowly and unevenly upon the lava. Gale turned to look +back, the first time in several days. The mighty hollow of the +desert below seemed wide strip of red--wide strip of green--wide +strip of gray--streaking to purple peaks. It was all too vast, too +mighty to grasp any little details. He thought, of course, of Rojas +in certain pursuit; but it seemed absurded to look for him. + +Yaqui led on, and Gale often glanced up from his task to watch the +Indian. Presently he saw him stop, turn, and look back. Ladd did +likewise, and then Jim and Thorne. Gale found the desire +irresistible. Thereafter he often rested Blanco Sol, and looked +back the while. He had his field-glass, but did not choose to use +it. + +"Rojas will follow," said Mercedes. + +Gale regarded her in amaze. The tone of her voice had been +indefinable. If there were fear then he failed to detect it. She +was gazing back down the colored slope, and something about +her, perhaps the steady, falcon gaze of her magnificent eyes, +reminded him of Yaqui. + +Many times during the ensuing hour the Indian faced about, and +always his followers did likewise. It was high noon, with the sun +beating hot and the lava radiating heat, when Yaqui halted for a +rest. The place selected was a ridge of lava, almost a promontory, +considering its outlook. The horses bunched here and drooped their +heads. The rangers were about to slip the packs and remove +saddles when Yaqui restrained them. + +He fixed a changeless, gleaming gaze on the slow descent; but did +not seem to look afar. + +Suddenly he uttered his strange cry--the one Gale considered +involuntary, or else significant of some tribal trait or feeling. +It was incomprehensible, but no one could have doubted its +potency. Yaqui pointed down the lava slope, pointed with finger +and arm and neck and head--his whole body was instinct with +direction. His whole being seemed to have been animated and +then frozen. His posture could not have been misunderstood, +yet his expression had not altered. Gale had never seen the +Indian's face change its hard, red-bronze calm. It was the color +and the flintiness and the character of the lava at his feet. + +"Shore he sees somethin'," said Ladd. "But my eyes are not good." + +"I reckon I ain't sure of mine," replied Jim. "I'm bothered by a +dim movin' streak down there." + +Thorne gazed eagerly down as he stood beside Mercedes, who +sat motionless facing the slope. Gale looked and looked till he +hurt his eyes. Then he took his glass out of its case on Sol's +saddle. + +There appeared to be nothing upon the lava but the innumerable +dots of choya shining in the sun. Gale swept his glass slowly +forward and back. Then into a nearer field of vision crept a +long white-and-black line of horses and men. Without a word +he handed the glass to Ladd. The ranger used it, muttering to +himself. + +"They're on the lava fifteen miles down in an air line," he said, +presently. "Jim, shore they're twice that an' more accordin' to +the trail." + +Jim had his look and replied: "I reckon we're a day an' a night +in the lead." + +"Is it Rojas?" burst out Thorne, with set jaw. + +"Yes, Thorne. It's Rojas and a dozen men or more," replied Gale, +and he looked up at Mercedes. + +She was transformed. She might have been a medieval princess +embodying all the Spanish power and passion of that time, breathing +revenge, hate, unquenchable spirit of fire. If her beauty had been +wonderful in her helpless and appealing moments, now, when she looked +back white-faced and flame-eyed, it was transcendant. + +Gale drew a long, deep breath. The mood which had presaged pursuit, +strife, blood on this somber desert, returned to him tenfold. He +saw Thorne's face corded by black veins, and his teeth exposed like +those of a snarling wolf. These rangers, who had coolly risked +death many times, and had dealt it often, were white as no fear +or pain could have made them. Then, on the moment, Yaqui raised +his hand, not clenched or doubled tight, but curled rigid like an +eagle's claw; and he shook it in a strange, slow gesture which +was menacing and terrible. + +It was the woman that called to the depths of these men. And +their passion to kill and to save was surpassed only by the wild +hate which was yet love, the unfathomable emotion of a peon +slave. Gale marveled at it, while he felt his whole being cold +and tense, as he turned once more to follow in the tracks of his +leaders. The fight predicted by Belding was at hand. What a fight +that must be! Rojas was traveling light and fast. He was gaining. +He had bought his men with gold, with extravagant promises, +perhaps with offers of the body and blood of an aristocrat hateful +to their kind. Lastly, there was the wild, desolate environment, +a tortured wilderness of jagged lava and poisoned choya, a lonely, +fierce, and repellant world, a red stage most somberly and fittingly +colored for a supreme struggle between men. + +Yaqui looked back no more. Mercedes looked back no more. But +the others looked, and the time came when Gale saw the creeping +line of pursuers with naked eyes. + +A level line above marked the rim of the plateau. Sand began to +show in the little lava pits. On and upward toiled the cavalcade, +still very slowly advancing. At last Yaqui reached the rim. He +stood with his hand on Blanco Diablo; and both were silhouetted +against the sky. That was the outlook for a Yaqui. And his great +horse, dazzlingly white in the sunlight, with head wildly and +proudly erect, mane and tail flying in the wind, made a magnificent +picture. The others toiled on and upward, and at last Gale led +Blanco Sol over the rim. Then all looked down the red slope. + +But shadows were gathering there and no moving line could be seen. + +Yaqui mounted and wheeled Diablo away. The others followed. +Gale saw that the plateau was no more than a vast field of low, +ragged circles, levels, mounds, cones, and whirls of lava. The lava +was of a darker red than that down upon the slope, and it was harder +than flint. In places fine sand and cinders covered the uneven +floor. Strange varieties of cactus vied with the omnipresent choya. +Yaqui, however, found ground that his horse covered at a swift walk. + +But there was only an hour, perhaps, of this comparatively easy +going. Then the Yaqui led them into a zone of craters. The top of +the earth seemed to have been blown out in holes from a few rods +in width to large craters, some shallow, others deep, and all red +as fire. Yaqui circled close to abysses which yawned sheer from +a level surface, and he appeared always to be turning upon his +course to avoid them. + +The plateau had now a considerable dip to the west. Gale marked +the slow heave and ripple of the ocean of lava to the south, where +high, rounded peaks marked the center of this volcanic region. The +uneven nature of the slope westward prevented any extended view, +until suddenly the fugitives emerged from a rugged break to come +upon a sublime and awe-inspiring spectacle. + +They were upon a high point of the western slope of the plateau. +It was a slope, but so many leagues long in its descent that only +from a height could any slant have been perceptible. Yaqui and +his white horse stood upon the brink of a crater miles in +circumference, a thousand feet deep, with its red walls patched +in frost-colored spots by the silvery choya. The giant tracery of +lava streams waved down the slope to disappear in undulating sand dunes. +And these bordered a seemingly endless arm of blue sea. This +was the Gulf of California. Beyond the Gulf rose dim, bold +mountains, and above them hung the setting sun, dusky red, flooding +all that barren empire with a sinister light. + +It was strange to Gale then, and perhaps to the others, to see +their guide lead Diablo into a smooth and well-worn trail along +the rim of the awful crater. Gale looked down into that red chasm. +It resembled an inferno. The dark cliffs upon the opposite side +were veiled in blue haze that seemed like smoke. Here Yaqui was +at home. He moved and looked about him as a man coming at last +into his own. Gale saw him stop and gaze out over that red-ribbed +void to the Gulf. + +Gale devined that somewhere along this crater of hell the Yaqui +would make his final stand; and one look into his strange, +inscrutable eyes made imagination picture a fitting doom for the +pursuing Rojas. + + + +XII + + + +The Crater of Hell + +The trail led along a gigantic fissure in the side of the crater, +and then down and down into a red-walled, blue hazed labyrinth. + +Presently Gale, upon turning a sharp corner, was utterly amazed to +see that the split in the lava sloped out and widened into an +arroyo. It was so green and soft and beautiful in all the angry, +contorted red surrounding that Gale could scarcely credit his sight. +Blanco Sol whistled his welcome to the scent of water. Then Gale +saw a great hole, a pit in the shiny lava, a dark, cool, shady well. +There was evidence of the fact that at flood seasons the water +had an outlet into the arroyo. The soil appeared to be a fine sand, +in which a reddish tinge predominated; and it was abundantly +covered with a long grass, still partly green. Mesquites and palo +verdes dotted the arroyo and gradually closed in thickets that +obstructed the view. + +"Shore it all beats me," exclaimed Ladd. "What a place to hole-up +in! We could have hid here for a long time. Boys, I saw mountain +sheep, the real old genuine Rocky Mountain bighorn. What do you +think of that?" + +"I reckon it's a Yaqui hunting-ground," replied Lash. "That trail +we hit must be hundreds of years old. It's worn deep and smooth +in iron lava." + +"Well, all I got to say is--Beldin' was shore right about the +Indian. An' I can see Rojas's finish somewhere up along that +awful hell-hole." + +Camp was made on a level spot. Yaqui took the horses to water, +and then turned them loose in the arroyo. It was a tired and +somber group that sat down to eat. The strain of suspense +equaled the wearing effects of the long ride. Mercedes was calm, +but her great dark eyes burned in her white face. Yaqui watched +her. The others looked at her with unspoken pride. Presently +Thorne wrapped her in his blankets, and she seemed to fall asleep +at once. Twilight deepened. The campfire blazed brighter. A +cool wind played with Mercedes's black hair, waving strands across +her brow. + +Little of Yaqui's purpose or plan could be elicited from him. But +the look of him was enough to satisfy even Thorne. He leaned +against a pile of wood, which he had collected, and his gloomy +gaze pierced the campfire, and at long intervals strayed over the +motionless form of the Spanish girl. + +The rangers and Thorne, however, talked in low tones. It was +absolutely impossible for Rojas and his men to reach the waterhole +before noon of the next day. And long before that time the +fugitives would have decided on a plan of defense. What that +defense would be, and where it would be made, were matters over +which the men considered gravely. Ladd averred the Yaqui would put +them into an impregnable position, that at the same time would prove +a death-trap for their pursuers. They exhausted every possibility, +and then, tired as they were, still kept on talking. + +"What stuns me is that Rojas stuck to our trail," said Thorne, his +lined and haggard face expressive of dark passion. "He has followed +us into this fearful desert. He'll lose men, horses, perhaps his +life. He's only a bandit, and he stands to win no gold. If he +ever gets out of here it 'll be by herculean labor and by terrible +hardship. All for a poor little helpless woman--just a woman! +My God, I can't understand it." + +"Shore--just a woman," replied Ladd, solemnly nodding his head. + +Then there was a long silence during which the men gazed into the +fire. Each, perhaps, had some vague conception of the enormity +of Rojas's love or hate--some faint and amazing glimpse of the +gulf of human passion. Those were cold, hard, grim faces upon +which the light flickered. + +"Sleep," said the Yaqui. + +Thorne rolled in his blanket close beside Mercedes. Then one by +one the rangers stretched out, feet to the fire. Gale found that +he could not sleep. His eyes were weary, but they would not stay +shut; his body ached for rest, yet he could not lie still. The +night was so somber, so gloomy, and the lava-encompassed arroyo full +of shadows. The dark velvet sky, fretted with white fire, seemed to +be close. There was an absolute silence, as of death. Nothing +moved--nothing outside of Gale's body appeared to live. The +Yaqui sat like an image carved out of lava. The others lay prone +and quiet. Would another night see any of them lie that way, +quiet forever? Gale felt a ripple pass over him that was at once +a shudder and a contraction of muscles. Used as he was to the +desert and its oppression, why should he feel to-night as if the +weight of its lava and the burden of its mystery were bearing +him down? + +He sat up after a while and again watched the fire. Nell's sweet +face floated like a wraith in the pale smoke--glowed and flushed +and smiled in the embers. Other faces shone there--his sister's +--that of his mother. Gale shook off the tender memories. This +desolate wilderness with its forbidding silence and its dark +promise of hell on the morrow--this was not the place to unnerve +oneself with thoughts of love and home. But the torturing paradox +of the thing was that this was just the place and just the night +for a man to be haunted. + +By and by Gale rose and walked down a shadowy aisle +between the mesquites. On his way back the Yaqui joined him. +Gale was not surprised. He had become used to the Indian's +strange guardianship. But now, perhaps because of Gale's poignancy +of thought, the contending tides of love and regret, the deep, +burning premonition of deadly strife, he was moved to keener +scrutiny of the Yaqui. That, of course, was futile. The Indian +was impenetrable, silent, strange. But suddenly, inexplicably, +Gale felt Yaqui's human quality. It was aloof, as was everything +about this Indian; but it was there. This savage walked silently +beside him, without glance or touch or word. His thought was +as inscrutable as if mind had never awakened in his race. Yet +Gale was conscious of greatness, and, somehow, he was reminded +of the Indian's story. His home had been desolated, his people +carried off to slavery, his wife and children separated from him +to die. What had life meant to the Yaqui? What had been in his +heart? What was now in his mind? Gale could not answer these +questions. But the difference between himself and Yaqui, which +he had vaguely felt as that between savage and civilized men, +faded out of his mind forever. Yaqui might have considered he +owed Gale a debt, and, with a Yaqui's austere and noble fidelity +to honor, he meant to pay it. Nevertheless, this was not the thing +Gale found in the Indian's silent presence. Accepting the desert +with its subtle and inconceivable influence, Gale felt that the +savage and the white man had been bound in a tie which was +no less brotherly because it could not be comprehended. + +Toward dawn Gale managed to get some sleep. Then the morning +broke with the sun hidden back of the uplift of the plateau. The +horses trooped up the arroyo and snorted for water. After a hurried +breakfast the packs were hidden in holes in the lava. The saddles +were left where they were, and the horses allowed to graze and +wander at will. Canteens were filled, a small bag of food was +packed, and blankets made into a bundle. + +Then Yaqui faced the steep ascent of the lava slope. + +The trail he followed led up on the right side of the fissure, +opposite to the one he had come down. It was a steep climb, and +encumbered as the men were they made but slow progress. Mercedes +had to be lifted up smooth steps and across crevices. They passed +places where the rims of the fissure were but a few yards apart. +At length the rims widened out and the red, smoky crater yawned +beneath. Yaqui left the trail and began clambering down over +the rough and twisted convolutions of lava which formed the rim. +Sometimes he hung sheer over the precipice. It was with extreme +difficulty that the party followed him. Mercedes had to be held +on narrow, foot-wide ledges. The choya was there to hinder passage. +Finally the Indian halted upon a narrow bench of flat, smooth lava, +and his followers worked with exceeding care and effort down to +his position. + +At the back of this bench, between bunches of choya, was a niche, +a shallow cave with floor lined apparently with mold. Ladd said +the place was a refuge which had been inhabited by mountain sheep +for many years. Yaqui spread blankets inside, left the canteen and +the sack of food, and with a gesture at once humble, yet that of a +chief, he invited Mercedes to enter. A few more gestures and fewer +words disclosed his plan. In this inaccessible nook Mercedes was +to be hidden. The men were to go around upon the opposite rim, and +block the trail leading down to the waterhole. + +Gale marked the nature of this eyrie. It was the wildest and most +rugged place he had ever stepped upon. Only a sheep could have +climbed up the wall above or along the slanting shelf of lava +beyond. Below glistened a whole bank of choya, frosty in the +sunlight, and it overhung an apparently bottomless abyss. + +Ladd chose the smallest gun in the party and gave it to Mercedes. + +"Shore it's best to go the limit on bein' ready," he said, simply. +"The chances are you'll never need it. But if you do--" + +He left off there, and his break was significant. Mercedes answered +him with a fearless and indomitable flash of eyes. Thorne was the +only one who showed any shaken nerve. His leave-taking of his wife +was affecting and hurried. Then he and the rangers carefully +stepped in the tracks of the Yaqui. + +They climbed up to the level of the rim and went along the edge. +When they reached the fissure and came upon its narrowest point, +Yaqui showed in his actions that he meant to leap it. Ladd +restrained the Indian. They then continued along the rim till they +reached several bridges of lava which crossed it. The fissures +was deep in some parts, choked in others. Evidently the crater had +no direct outlet into the arroyo below. Its bottom, however, must +have been far beneath the level of the waterhole. + +After the fissure was crossed the trail was soon found. Here it ran +back from the rim. Yaqui waved his hand to the right, where along +the corrugated slope of the crater there were holes and crevices +and coverts for a hundred men. Yaqui strode on up the trail toward +a higher point, where presently his dark figure stood motionless +against the sky. The rangers and Thorne selected a deep depression, +out of which led several ruts deep enough for cover. According to +Ladd it was as good a place as any, perhaps not so hidden as others, +but freer from the dreaded choya. Here the men laid down rifles +and guns, and, removing their heavy cartridge belts, settled down +to wait. + +Their location was close to the rim wall and probably five hundred +yards from the opposite rim, which was now seen to be considerably +below them. The glaring red cliff presented a deceitful and +baffling appearance. It had a thousand ledges and holes in its +surfaces, and one moment it looked perpendicular and the next +there seemed to be a long slant. Thorne pointed out where +he thought Mercedes was hidden; Ladd selected another place, +and Lash still another. Gale searched for the bank of choya +he had seen under the bench where Mercedes's retreat lay, +and when he found it the others disputed his opinion. +Then Gale brought his field glass into requisition, proving that +he was right. Once located and fixed in sight, the white patch +of choya, the bench, and the sheep eyrie stood out from the other +features of that rugged wall. But all the men were agreed that +Yaqui had hidden Mercedes where only the eyes of a vulture could +have found her. + +Jim Lash crawled into a little strip of shade and bided the time +tranquilly. Ladd was restless and impatient and watchful, every +little while rising to look up the far-reaching slope, and then to +the right, where Yaqui's dark figure stood out from a high point +of the rim. Thorne grew silent, and seemed consumed by a slow, +sullen rage. Gale was neither calm nor free of a gnawing suspense +nor of a waiting wrath. But as best he could he put the pending +action out of mind. + +It came over him all of a sudden that he had not grasped the +stupendous nature of this desert setting. There was the measureless +red slope, its lower ridges finally sinking into white sand dunes +toward the blue sea. The cold, sparkling light, the white sun, +the deep azure of sky, the feeling of boundless expanse all around +him--these meant high altitude. Southward the barren red simply +merged into distance. The field of craters rose in high, dark +wheels toward the dominating peaks. When Gale withdrew his gaze +from the magnitude of these spaces and heights the crater beneath +him seemed dwarfed. Yet while he gazed it spread and deepened +and multiplied its ragged lines. No, he could not grasp the meaning +of size or distance here. There was too much to stun the sight. +But the mood in which nature had created this convulsed world +of lava seized hold upon him. + +Meanwhile the hours passed. As the sun climbed the clear, steely +lights vanished, the blue hazes deepened, and slowly the glistening +surfaces of lava turned redder. Ladd was concerned to discover that +Yaqui was missing from his outlook upon the high point. Jim Lash +came out of the shady crevice, and stood up to buckle on his +cartridge belt. His narrow, gray glance slowly roved from the +height of lava down along the slope, paused in doubt, and then +swept on to resurvey the whole vast eastern dip of the plateau. + +"I reckon my eyes are pore," he said. "Mebbe it's this damn red +glare. Anyway, what's them creepin' spots up there?" + +"Shore I seen them. Mountain sheep," replied Ladd. + +"Guess again, Laddy. Dick, I reckon you'd better flash the glass +up the slope." + +Gale adjusted the field glass and began to search the lava, +beginning close at hand and working away from him. Presently +the glass became stationary. + +"I see half a dozen small animals, brown in color. They look like +sheep. But I couldn't distinguish mountain sheep from antelope." + +"Shore they're bighorn," said Laddy. + +"I reckon if you'll pull around to the east an' search under that +long wall of lava--there--you'll see what I see," added Jim. + +The glass climbed and circled, wavered an instant, then fixed +steady as a rock. There was a breathless silence. + +"Fourteen horses--two packed--some mounted--others without +riders, and lame," said Gale, slowly. + +Yaqui appeared far up the trail, coming swiftly. Presently he saw +the rangers and halted to wave his arms and point. Then he vanished +as if the lava had opened beneath him. + +"Lemme that glass," suddenly said Jim Lash. "I'm seein' red, I tell +you....Well, pore as my eyes are they had it right. Rojas an' his +outfit have left the trail." + +"Jim, you ain't meanin' they've taken to that awful slope?" queried Ladd. + +"I sure do. There they are--still comin', but goin' down, too." + +"Mebbe Rojas is crazy, but it begins to look like he--" + +"Laddy, I'll be danged if the Greaser bunch hasn't vamoosed. Gone +out of sight! Right there not a half mile away, the whole +caboodle--gone!" + +"Shore they're behind a crust or have gone down into a rut," +suggested Ladd. "They'll show again in a minute. Look sharp, +boys, for I'm figgerin' Rojas 'll spread his men." + +Minutes passed, but nothing moved upon the slope. Each man crawled +up to a vantage point along the crest of rotting lava. The watchers +were careful to peer through little notches or from behind a spur, +and the constricted nature of their hiding-place kept them close +together. Ladd's muttering grew into a growl, then lapsed into the +silence that marked his companions. From time to time the rangers +looked inquiringly at Gale. The field glass, however, like the +naked sight, could not catch the slightest moving object out there +upon the lava. A long hour of slow, mounting suspense wore on. + +"Shore it's all goin' to be as queer as the Yaqui," said Ladd. + +Indeed, the strange mien, the silent action, the somber character +of the Indian had not been without effect upon the minds of the +men. Then the weird, desolate, tragic scene added to the vague +sense of mystery. And now the disappearance of Rojas's band, +the long wait in the silence, the boding certainty of invisible +foes crawling, circling closer and closer, lent to the situation +a final touch that made it unreal. + +"I'm reckonin' there's a mind behind them Greasers," replied Jim. +"Or mebbe we ain't done Rojas credit...If somethin' would only +come off!" + +That Lash, the coolest, most provokingly nonchalant +of men in times of peril, should begin to show a nervous strain +was all the more indicative of a suble pervading unreality. + +"Boys, look sharp!" suddenly called Lash. "Low down to the left +--mebbe three hundred yards. See, along by them seams of lava +--behind the choyas. First off I thought it was a sheep. But it's +the Yaqui!...Crawlin' swift as a lizard! Can't you see him?" + +It was a full moment before Jim's companions could locate the +Indian. Flat as a snake Yaqui wound himself along with incredible +rapidity. His advance was all the more remarkable for the fact that +he appeared to pass directly under the dreaded choyas. Sometimes +he paused to lift his head and look. He was directly in line with a +huge whorl of lava that rose higher than any point on the slope. +This spur was a quarter of a mile from the position of the rangers. + +"Shore he's headin' for that high place," said Ladd. "He's goin' +slow now. There, he's stopped behind some choyas. He's gettin' +up--no, he's kneelin'....Now what the hell!" + +"Laddy, take a peek at the side of that lava ridge," sharply called +Jim. "I guess mebbe somethin' ain't comin' off. See! There's +Rojas an' his outfit climbin'. Don't make out no hosses....Dick, +use your glass an' tell us what's doin'. I'll watch Yaqui an' tell +you what his move means." + +Clearly and distinctly, almost as if he could have touched them, +Gale had Rojas and his followers in sight. They were toiling up +the rough lava on foot. They were heavily armed. Spurs, chaps, +jackets, scarfs were not in evidence. Gale saw the lean, swarthy +faces, the black, straggly hair, the ragged, soiled garments which +had once been white. + +"They're almost up now," Gale was saying. "There! They halt on +top. I see Rojas. He looks wild. By----! fellows, an Indian! +...It's a Papago. Belding's old herder!...The Indian points-- +this way--then down. He's showing Rojas the lay of the trail." + +"Boys, Yaqui's in range of that bunch," said Jim, swiftly. "He's +raisin' his rifle slow--Lord, how slow he is!...He's covered some +one. Which one I can't say. But I think he'll pick Rojas." + +"The Yaqui can shoot. He'll pick Rojas," added Gale, grimly. + +"Rojas--yes--yes!" cried Thorne, in passion of suspense. + +"Not on your life!" Ladd's voice cut in with scorn. "Gentlemen, +you can gamble Yaqui 'll kill the Papago. That traitor Indian +knows these sheep haunts. He's tellin' Rojas--" + +A sharp rifle shot rang out. + +"Laddy's right," called Gale. "The Papago's hit--his arm +falls--There, he tumbles!" + +More shots rang out. Yaqui was seen standing erect firing rapidly +at the darting Mexicans. For all Gale could make out no second +bullet took effect. Rojas and his men vanished behind the bulge +of lava. Then Yaqui deliberately backed away from his postion. +He made no effort to run or hide. Evidently he watched cautiously +for signs of pursuers in the ruts and behind the choyas. Presently +he turned and came straight toward the position of the rangers, +sheered off perhaps a hundred paces below it, and disappeared +in a crevice. Plainly his intention was to draw pursuers within +rifle shot. + +"Shore, Jim, you had your wish. Somethin' come off," said Ladd. +"An' I'm sayin' thank God for the Yaqui! That Papago 'd have +ruined us. Even so, mebbe he's told Rojas more'n enough to make +us sweat blood." + +"He had a chance to kill Rojas," cried out the drawn-faced, +passionate Thorne. "He didn't take it!...He didn't take it!" + +Only Ladd appeared to be able to answer the cavalryman's +poignant cry. + +"Listen, son," he said, and his voice rang. "We-all know how +you feel. An' if I'd had that one shot never in the world could +I have picked the Papago guide. I'd have had to kill Rojas. That's +the white man of it. But Yaqui was right. Only an Indian could +have done it. You can gamble the Papago alive meant slim chance +for us. Because he'd led straight to where Mercedes is hidden, an' +then we'd have left cover to fight it out...When you come to think +of the Yaqui's hate for Greasers, when you just seen him pass up +a shot at one--well, I don't know how to say what I mean, but +damn me, my som-brer-ro is off to the Indian!" + +"I reckon so, an' I reckon the ball's opened," rejoined Lash, and +now that former nervous impatience so unnatural to him was as +if it had never been. He was smilingly cool, and his voice had +almost a caressing note. He tapped the breech of his Winchester +with a sinewy brown hand, and he did not appear to be addressing +any one in particular. "Yaqui's opened the ball. Look up your +pardners there, gents, an' get ready to dance." + +Another wait set in them, and judging by the more direct rays of the +sun and a receding of the little shadows cast by the choyas, Gale +was of the opinion that it was a long wait. But it seemed short. +The four men were lying under the bank of a half circular hole in +the lava. It was notched and cracked, and its rim was fringed by +choyas. It sloped down and opened to an unobstructed view of +the crater. Gale had the upper position, fartherest to the right, +and therefore was best shielded from possible fire from the higher +ridges of the rim, some three hundred yards distant. Jim came +next, well hidden in a crack. The positions of Thorne and Ladd +were most exposed. They kept sharp lookout over the uneven +rampart of their hiding-place. + +The sun passed the zenith, began to slope westward, and to grow +hotter as it sloped. The men waited and waited. Gale saw no +impatience even in Thorne. The sultry air seemed to be laden +with some burden or quality that was at once composed of heat, +menace, color, and silence. Even the light glancing up from the +lava seemed red and the silence had substance. Sometimes Gale +felt that it was unbearable. Yet he made no effort to break it. + +Suddenly this dead stillness was rent by a shot, clear and stinging, +close at hand. It was from a rifle, not a carbine. With startling +quickness a cry followed--a cry that pierced Gale--it was so thin, +so high-keyed, so different from all other cries. It was the +involuntary human shriek at death. + +"Yaqui's called out another pardner," said Jim Lash, laconically. + +Carbines began to crack. The reports were quick, light, like sharp +spats without any ring. Gale peered from behind the edge of his +covert. Above the ragged wave of lava floated faint whitish clouds, +all that was visible of smokeless powder. Then Gale made out round +spots, dark against the background of red, and in front of them +leaped out small tongues of fire. Ladd's .405 began to "spang" with +its beautiful sound of power. Thorne was firing, somewhat wildly +Gale thought. Then Jim Lash pushed his Winchester over the rim +under a choya, and between shots Gale could hear him singing: +"Turn the lady, turn--turn the lady, turn!...Alaman left!...Swing +your pardners!...Forward an' back!...Turn the lady, turn!" Gale +got into the fight himself, not so sure that he hit any of the +round, bobbing objects he aimed at, but growing sure of himself +as action liberated something forced and congested within his +breast. + +Then over the position of the rangers came a hail of steel bullets. +Those that struck the lava hissed away into the crater; those that +came biting through the choyas made a sound which resembled a +sharp ripping of silk. Bits of cactus stung Gale's face, and he +dreaded the flying thorns more than he did the flying bullets. + +"Hold on, boys," called Ladd, as he crouched down to reload his +rifle. "Save your shells. The greasers are spreadin' on us, some +goin' down below Yaqui, others movin' up for that high ridge. When +they get up there I'm damned if it won't be hot for us. There ain't +room for all of us to hide here." + +Ladd raised himself to peep over the rim. Shots were now +scattering, and all appeared to come from below. Emboldened by +this he rose higher. A shot from in front, a rip of bullet through +the choya, a spat of something hitting Ladd's face, a steel missle +hissing onward--these inseparably blended sounds were all registered +by Gale's sensitive ear. + +With a curse Ladd tumbled down into the hole. His face showed a +great gray blotch, and starting blood. Gale felt a sickening +assurance of desperate injury to the ranger. He ran to him calling: +"Laddy! Laddy!" + +"Shore I an't plugged. It's a damn choya burr. The bullet knocked +it in my face. Pull it out!" + +The oval, long-spiked cone was firmly imbedded in Ladd's cheek. +Blood streamed down his face and neck. Carefully, yet with no +thought of pain to himself, Gale Tried to pull the cactus joint +away. It was as firm as if it had been nailed there. That was +the damnable feature of the barbed thorns: once set, they held +on as that strange plant held to its desert life. Ladd began to +writhe, and sweat mingled with the blood on his face. He cursed +and raved, and his movements made it almost impossible for Gale +to do anything. + +"Put your knife-blade under an' tear it out!" shouted Ladd, +hoarsely. + +Thus ordered, Gale slipped a long blade in between the imbedded +thorns, and with a powerful jerk literally tore the choya out of +Ladd's quivering flesh. Then, where the ranger's face was not +red and raw, it certainly was white. + +A volley of shots from a different angle was followed by +the quick ring of steel bullets striking the lava all around Gale. +His first idea, as he heard the projectiles sing and hum and whine +away into the air, was that they were coming from above him. He +looked up to see a number of low, white and dark knobs upon the +high point of lava. They had not been there before. Then he saw +little, pale, leaping tongues of fire. As he dodged down he +distinctly heard a bullet strike Ladd. At the same instant he +seemed to hear Thorne cry out and fall, and Lash's boots scrape +rapidly away. Ladd fell backward still holding the .405. Gale +dragged him into the shelter of his own positoin, and dreading +to look at him, took up the heavy weapon. It was with a kind of +savage strength that he gripped the rifle; and it was with a cold +and deadly intent that he aimed and fired. The first Greaser +huddled low, let his carbine go clattering down, and then crawled +behind the rim. The second and third jerked back. The fourth +seemed to flop up over the crest of lava. A dark arm reached for +him, clutched his leg, tried to drag him up. It was in vain. +Wildly grasping at the air the bandit fell, slid down a steep shelf, +rolled over the rim, to go hurtling down out of sight. + +Fingering the hot rifle with close-pressed hands, Gale watched +the sky line along the high point of lava. It remained unbroken. +As his passion left him he feared to look back at his companions, +and the cold chill returned to his breast. + +"Shore--I'm damn glad--them Greasers ain't usin' soft-nose bullets," +drawled a calm voice. + +Swift as lightning Gale whirled. + +"Laddy! I thought you were done for," cried Gale, with a break in +his voice. + +"I ain't a-mindin' the bullet much. But that choya joint took my +nerve, an' you can gamble on it. Dick, this hole's pretty high up, +ain't it?" + +The ranger's blouse was open at the neck, and on his right shoulder +under the collar bone was a small hole just beginning to bleed. + +"Sure it's high, Laddy," replied Gale, gladly. "Went clear through, +clean as a whistle!" + +He tore a handkerchief into two parts, made wads, and pressing them +close over the wounds he bound them there with Ladd's scarf. + +"Shore it's funny how a bullet can floor a man an' then not do any +damage," said Ladd. "I felt a zip of wind an' somethin' like a pat +on my chest an' down I went. Well, so much for the small caliber +with their steel bullets. Supposin' I'd connected with a .405!" + +"Laddy, I--I'm afraid Thorne's done for," whispered Gale. "He's +lying over there in that crack. I can see part of him. He doesn't +move." + +"I was wonderin' if I'd have to tell you that. Dick, he went down +hard hit, fallin', you know, limp an' soggy. It was a moral cinch +one of us would get it in this fight; but God! I'm sorry Thorne had +to be the man." + +"Laddy, maybe he's not dead," replied Gale. He called aloud to his +friend. There was no answer. + +Ladd got up, and, after peering keenly at the height of lava, he +strode swiftly across the space. It was only a dozen steps to the +crack in the lava whereThorne had fallen head first. Ladd bent +over, went to his knees, so that Gale saw only his head. Then +he appeared rising with arms round the cavalryman. He dragged +him across the hole to the sheltered corner that alone afforded +protection. He had scarcely reached it when a carbine cracked +and a bullet struck the flinty lava, striking sparks, then singing +away into the air. + +Thorne was either dead or unconscious, and Gale, with a contracting +throat and numb heart, decided for the former. Not so Ladd, who +probed the bloody gash on Thorne's temple, and then felt his breast. + +"He's alive an' not bad hurt. That bullet hit him glancin'. Shore them +steel bullets are some lucky for us. Dick, you needn't look so glum. +I tell you he ain't bad hurt. I felt his skull with my finger. +There's no hole in it. Wash him off an' tie-- Wow! did you get +the wind of that one? An' mebbe it didn't sing off the lava!... +Dick, look after Thorne now while I--" + +The completion of his speech was the stirring ring of the .405, and +then he uttered a laugh that was unpleasant. + +"Shore, greaser, there's a man's size bullet for you. No slim, +sharp-pointed, steel-jacket nail! I'm takin' it on me to believe +you're appreciatin' of the .405, seein' as you don't make no fuss." + +It was indeed a joy to Gale to find that Thorne had not received +a wound necessarily fatal, though it was serious enough. Gale +bathed and bound it, and laid the cavalryman against the slant +of the bank, his head high to lessen the probability of bleeding. + +As Gale straightened up Ladd muttered low and deep, and swung +the heavy rifle around to the left. Far along the slope a figure +moved. Ladd began to work the lever of the Winchester and to +shoot. At every shot the heavy firearm sprang up, and the recoil +made Ladd's shoulder give back. Gale saw the bullets strike the +lava behind, beside, before the fleeing Mexican, sending up dull +puffs of dust. On the sixth shot he plunged down out of sight, +either hit or frightened into seeking cover. + +"Dick, mebbe there's one or two left above; but we needn't figure +much on it," said Ladd, as, loading the rifle, he jerked his +fingers quickly from the hot breech. "Listen! Jim an' Yaqui are +hittin' it up lively down below. I'll sneak down there. You stay +here an' keep about half an eye peeled up yonder, an' keep the +rest my way." + +Ladd crossed the hole, climbed down into the deep crack where Thorne +had fallen, and then went stooping along with only his head above +the level. Presently he disappeared. Gale, having little to fear +from the high ridge, directed most of his attention toward the point +beyond which Ladd had gone. The firing had become desultory, +and the light carbine shots outnumbered the sharp rifle shots five +to one. Gale made a note of the fact that for some little time he +had not heard the unmistakable report of Jim Lash's automatic. +Then ensued a long interval in which the desert silence seemed +to recover its grip. The .405 ripped it asunder--spang--spang +--spang. Gale fancied he heard yells. There were a few pattering +shots still farther down the trail. Gale had an uneasy conviction +that Rojas and some of his band might go straight to the waterhole. +It would be hard to dislodge even a few men from that retreat. + +There seemed a lull in the battle. Gale ventured to stand high, and +screened behind choyas, he swept the three-quarter circle of lava +with his glass. In the distance he saw horses, but no riders. +Below him, down the slope along the crater rim and the trail, the +lava was bare of all except tufts of choya. Gale gathered +assurance. It looked as if the day was favoring his side. Then +Thorne, coming partly to consciousness, engaged Gale's care. The +cavalryman stirred and moaned, called for water, and then for +Mercedes. Gale held him back with a strong hand, and presently +he was once more quiet. + +For the first time in hours, as it seemed, Gale took note of the +physical aspect of his surroundings. He began to look upon them +without keen gaze strained for crouching form, or bobbing head, +or spouting carbine. Either Gale's sense of color and proportion +had become deranged during the fight, or the encompassing air +and the desert had changed. Even the sun had changed. It seemed +lowering, oval in shape, magenta in hue, and it had a surface that +gleamed like oil on water. Its red rays shone through red haze. +Distances that had formerly ben clearly outlined were now dim, +obscured. The yawning chasm was not the same. It circled wider, +redder, deeper. It was a weird, ghastly mouth of hell. Gale stood +fascinated, unable to tell how much he saw was real, how +much exaggeration of overwrought emotions. There was no beauty +here, but an unparalleled grandeur, a sublime scene of devastation +and desolation which might have had its counterpart upon the +burned-out moon. The mood that gripped Gale now added to its +somber portent an unshakable foreboding of calamity. + +He wrestled with the spell as if it were a physical foe. Reason +and intelligence had their voices in his mind; but the moment was +not one wherein these things could wholly control. He felt life +strong withing his breast, yet there, a step away, was death, +yawning, glaring, smoky, red. It was a moment--an hour for a +savage, born, bred, developed in this scarred and blasted place +of jagged depths and red distances and silences never meant +to be broken. Since Gale was not a savage he fought that call +of the red gods which sent him back down the long ages toward +his primitive day. His mind combated his sense of sight and the +hearing that seemed useless; and his mind did not win all the +victory. Something fatal was here, hanging in the balance, as the +red haze hung along the vast walls of that crater of hell. + +Suddenly harsh, prolonged yells brought him to his feet, and the +unrealities vanished. Far down the trails where the crater rims +closed in the deep fissure he saw moving forms. They were three in +number. Two of them ran nimbly across the lava bridge. The third +staggered far behind. It was Ladd. He appeared hard hit. He +dragged at the heavy rifle which he seemed unable to raise. The +yells came from him. He was calling the Yaqui. + +Gale's heart stood still momentarily. Here, then, was the +catastrophe! He hardly dared sweep that fissure with his glass. +The two fleeing figures halted--turned to fire at Ladd. Gale +recognized the foremost one--small, compact, gaudy. Rojas! +The bandit's arm was outstretched. Puffs of white smoke +rose, and shots rapped out. When Ladd went down Rojas +threw his gun aside and with a wild yell bounded over the lava. +His companion followed. + +A tide of passion, first hot as fire, then cold as ice, rushed over +Gale when he saw Rojas take the trail toward Mercedes's +hiding-place. The little bandit appeared to have the +sure-footedness of a mountain sheep. The Mexican following +was not so sure or fast. He turned back. Gale heard the trenchant +bark of the .405. Ladd was kneeling. He shot again--again. The +retreating bandit seemed to run full into an invisible obstacle, +then fell lax, inert, lifeless. Rojas sped on unmindful of the +spurts of dust about him. Yaqui, high above Ladd, was also firing +at the bandit. Then both rifles were emptied. Rojas turned at a +high break in the trail. He shook a defiant hand, and his exulting +yell pealed faintly to Gale's ears. About him there was something +desperate, magnificent. Then he clambered down the trail. + +Ladd dropped the .405, and rising, gun in hand, he staggered toward +the bridge of lava. Before he had crossed it Yaqui came bounding +down the slope, and in one splendid leap he cleared the fissure. +He ran beyond the trail and disappeared on the lava above. Rojas +had not seen this sudden, darting move of the Indian. + +Gale felt himself bitterly powerless to aid in that pursuit. He +could only watch. He wondered, fearfully, what had become of +Lash. Presently, when Rojas came out of the cracks and ruts +of lava there might be a chance of disabling him by a long shot. +His progress was now slow. But he was making straight for +Mercedes's hiding-place. What was it leading him there--an eagle +eye, or hate, or instinct? Why did he go on when there could be +no turning back for him on that trail? Ladd was slow, heavy, +staggering on the trail; but he was relentless. Only death could +stop the ranger now. Surely Rojas must have known that when +he chose the trail. From time to time Gale caught glimpses of +Yaqui's dark figure stealing along the higher rim of the crater. +He was making for a point above the bandit. + +Moments--endless moments dragged by. The lowering sun colored +only the upper half of the crater walls. Far down the depths were +murky blue. Again Gale felt the insupportable silence. The red +haze became a transparent veil before his eyes. Sinister, evil, +brooding, waiting, seemed that yawning abyss. Ladd staggered +along the trail, at times he crawled. The Yaqui gained; he might +have had wings; he leaped from jagged crust to jagged crust; +his sure-footedness was a wonderful thing. + +But for Gale the marvel of that endless period of watching was +the purpose of the bandit Rojas. He had now no weapon. Gale's +glass made this fact plain. There was death behind him, death +below him, death before him, and though he could not have known +it, death above him. He never faltered--never made a misstep +upon the narrow, flinty trail. When he reached the lower end of +the level ledge Gale's poignant doubt became a certainty. Rojas +had seen Mercedes. It was incredible, yet Gale believed it. Then, +his heart clamped as in an icy vise, Gale threw forward the +Remington, and sinking on one knee, began to shoot. He emptied +the magazine. Puffs of dust near Rojas did not even make him turn. + +As Gale began to reload he was horror-stricken by a low cry from +Thorne. The cavalryman had recovered consciousness. He was +half raised, pointing with shaking hand at the opposite ledge. His +distended eyes were riveted upon Rojas. He was trying to utter +speech that would not come. + +Gale wheeled, rigid now, steeling himself to one last forlorn hope +--that Mercedes could defend herself. She had a gun. He doubted +not at all that she would use it. But, remembering her terror of +this savage, he feared for her. + +Rojas reached the level of the ledge. He halted. He crouched. +It was the act of a panther. Manifestly he saw Mercedes within +the cave. Then faint shots patted the air, broke in quick echo. +Rojas went down as if struck a heavy blow. He was hit. +But even as Gale yelled in sheer madness the bandit leaped erect. +He seemed too quick, too supple to be badly wounded. A slight, +dark figure flashed out of the cave. Mercedes! She backed +against the wall. Gale saw a puff of white--heard a report. But +the bandit lunged at her. Mercedes ran, not to try to pass him, but +straight for the precipice. Her intention was plain. But Rojas +oustripped her, even as she reached the verge. Then a piercing +scream pealed across the crater--a scream of despair. + +Gale closed his eyes. He could not bear to see more. + +Thorne echoed Mercedes's scream. Gale looked round just in time +to leap and catch the cavalryman as he staggered, apparently for +the steep slope. And then, as Gale dragged him back, both fell. +Gale saved his friend, but he plunged into a choya. He drew his +hands away full of the great glistening cones of thorns. + +"For God's sake, Gale, shoot! Shoot! Kill her! Kill her!...Can't +--you--see-Rojas--" + +Thorne fainted. + +Gale, stunned for the instant, stood with uplifted hands, and gazed +from Thorne across the crater. Rojas had not killed Mercedes. He +was overpowering her. His actions seemed slow, wearing, purposeful. +Hers were violent. Like a trapped she-wolf, Mercedes was fighting. +She tore, struggled, flung herself. + +Rojas's intention was terribly plain. + +In agony now, both mental and physical, cold and sick and weak, +Gale gripped his rifle and aimed at the struggling forms on the +ledge. He pulled the trigger. The bullet struck up a cloud of red +dust close to the struggling couple. Again Gale fired, hoping to +hit Rojas, praying to kill Mercedes. The bullet struck high. +A third--fourth--fifth time the Remington spoke--in vain! +The rifle fell from Gale's racked hands. + +How horribly plain that fiend's intention! Gale tried to close his +eyes, but could not. He prayed wildly for a sudden blindness +--to faint as Thorne had fainted. But he was transfixed to the spot +with eyes that pierced the red light. + +Mercedes was growing weaker, seemed about to collapse. + +"Oh, Jim Lash, are you dead?" cried Gale. "Oh, Laddy!...Oh, Yaqui! + +Suddenly a dark form literally fell down the wall behind the ledge +where Rojas fought the girl. It sank in a heap, then bounded erect. + +"Yaqui!" screamed Gale, and he waved his bleeding hands till the +blood bespattered his face. Then he choked. Utterance became +impossible. + +The Indian bent over Rojas and flung him against the wall. +Mercedes, sinking back, lay still. When Rojas got up the Indian +stood between him and escape from the ledge. Rojas backed +the other way along the narrowing shelf of lava. His manner +was abject, stupefied. Slowly he stepped backward. + +It was then that Gale caught the white gleam of a knife in Yaqui's +hand. Rojas turned and ran. He rounded a corner of wall where the +footing was precarious. Yaqui followed slowly. His figure was dark +and menacing. But he was not in a hurry. When he passed off the +ledge Rojas was edging farther and farther along the wall. He +was clinging now to the lava, creeping inch by inch. Perhaps he +had thought to work around the buttress or climb over it. Evidently +he went as far as possible, and there he clung, an unscalable wall +above, the abyss beneath. + +The approach of the Yaqui was like a slow dark shadow of gloom. +If it seemed so to the stricken Gale what must it have been to +Rojas? He appeared to sink against the wall. The Yaqui stole +closer and closer. He was the savage now, and for him the moment +must have been glorified. Gale saw him gaze up at the great +circling walls of the crater, then down into the depths. +Perhaps the red haze hanging above him, or the purple +haze below, or the deep caverns in the lava, held for Yaqui +spirits of the desert, his gods to whom he called. Perhaps he +invoked shadows of his loved ones and his race, calling them in this +moment of vengeance. + +Gale heard--or imagined he heard--that wild, strange Yaqui cry. + +Then the Indian stepped close to Rojas, and bent low, keeping out +of reach. How slow were his motions! Would Yaqui never--never +end it?...A wail drifted across the crater to Gale's ears. + +Rojas fell backward and plunged sheer. The bank of white choyas +caught him, held him upon their steel spikes. How long did the +dazed Gale sit there watching Rojas wrestling and writhing in +convulsive frenzy? The bandit now seemed mad to win the delayed +death. + +When he broke free he was a white patched object no longer human, +a ball of choya burrs, and he slipped off the bank to shoot down +and down into the purple depths of the crater. + + + +XIII + + + +Changes At Forlorn River + +The first of March saw the federal occupation of the garrison at +Casita. After a short, decisive engagement the rebels were +dispersed into small bands and driven eastward along the boundary +line toward Nogales. + +It was the destiny of Forlorn River, however, never to return to the +slow, sleepy tenor of its former existence. Belding's predictions +came true. That straggling line of home-seekers was but a +forerunner of the real invasion of Altar Valley. Refugees from +Mexico and from Casita spread the word that water and wood and grass +and land were to be had at Forlorn River; and as if by magic the +white tents and red adobe houses sprang up to glisten in the sun. + +Belding was happier than he had been for a long time. He believed +that evil days for Forlorn River, along with the apathy and lack of +enterprise, were in the past. He hired a couple of trustworthy +Mexicans to ride the boundary line, and he settled down to think +of ranching and irrigation and mining projects. Every morning he +expected to receive some word form Sonoyta or Yuma, telling +him that Yaqui had guided his party safely across the desert. + +Belding was simple-minded, a man more inclined to action than +reflection. When the complexities of life hemmed him in, he +groped his way out, never quite understanding. His wife had +always been a mystery to him. Nell was sunshine most of the +time, but, like the sun-dominated desert, she was subject to +strange changes, wilful, stormy, sudden. It was enough for Belding +now to find his wife in a lighter, happier mood, and to see Nell +dreamily turning a ring round and round the third finger of her +left hand and watching the west. Every day both mother and daughter +appeared farther removed from the past darkly threatening +days. Belding was hearty in his affections, but undemonstrative. +If there was any sentiment in his make-up it had an outlet in +his memory of Blanco Diablo and a longing to see him. Often +Belding stopped his work to gaze out over the desert toward +the west. When he thought of his rangers and Thorne and Mercedes +he certainly never forgot his horse. He wondered if Diablo was +running, walking, resting; if Yaqui was finding water and grass. + +In March, with the short desert winter over, the days began to +grow warm. The noon hours were hot, and seemed to give promise +of the white summer blaze and blasting furnace wind soon to come. +No word was received from the rangers. But this caused Belding +no concern, and it seemed to him that his women folk considered +no news good news. + +Among the many changes coming to pass in Forlorn River were the +installing of post-office service and the building of a mescal +drinking-house. Belding had worked hard for the post office, but +he did not like the idea of a saloon for Forlorn River. Still, that +was an inevitable evil. The Mexicans would have mescal. Belding +had kept the little border hamlet free of an establishment for +distillation of the fiery cactus drink. A good many Americans +drifted into Forlorn River--miners, cowboys, prospectors, outlaws, +and others of nondescript character; and these men, of course, +made the saloon, which was also an inn, their headquarters. +Belding, with Carter and other old residents, saw the need of a +sheriff for Forlorn River. + +One morning early in this spring month, while Belding was on his +way from the house to the corrals, he saw Nell running +Blanco Jose' down the road at a gait that amazed him. +She did not take the turn of the road to come in by the gate. +She put Jose' at a four-foot wire fence, and came clattering into +the yard. + +"Nell must have another tantrum," said Belding. "She's long past due." + +Blanco Jose, like the other white horses, was big of frame and +heavy, and thunder rolled from under his great hoofs. Nell pulled +him up, and as he pounded and slid to a halt in a cloud of dust +she swung lightly down. + +It did not take more than half an eye for Belding to see that she +was furious. + +"Nell, what's come off now?" asked Belding. + +"I'm not going to tell you," she replied, and started away, leading +Jose toward the corral. + +Belding leisurely followed. She went into the corral, removed +Jose's bridle, and led him to the watering-trough. Belding came +up, and without saying anything began to unbuckle Jose's saddle +girths. But he ventured a look at Nell. The red had gone from +her face, and he was surprised to see her eyes brimming with tears. +Most assuredly this was not one of Nell's tantrums. While taking +off Jose's saddle and hanging it in the shed Belding pondered in +his slow way. When he came back to the corral Nell had her face +against the bars, and she was crying. He slipped a big arm around +her and waited. Although it was not often expressed, there was a +strong attachment between them. + +"Dad, I don't want you to think me a--a baby any more," she said. +"I've been insulted." + +With a specific fact to make clear thought in Belding's mind he was +never slow. + +"I knew something unusual had come off. I guess you'd better tell me." + +"Dad, I will, if you promise." + +"What?" + +"Not to mention it to mother, not to pack a gun down there, and +never, never tell Dick." + +Belding was silent. Seldom did he make promises readily. + +"Nell, sure something must have come off, for you to ask all that." + +"If you don't promise I'll never tell, that's all," she declared, +firmly. + +Belding deliberated a little longer. He knew the girl. + +"Well, I promise not to tell mother," he said, presently; "and +seeing you're here safe and well, I guess I won't go packing a gun +down there, wherever that is. But I won't promise to keep anything +from Dick that perhaps he ought to know." + +"Dad, what would Dick do if--if he were here and I were to tell +him I'd--I'd been horribly insulted?" + +"I guess that 'd depend. Mostly, you know, Dick does what you +want. But you couldn't stop him--nobody could--if there was +reason, a man's reason, to get started. Remember what he did to +Rojas!...Nell, tell me what's happened." + +Nell, regaining her composure, wiped her eyes and smoothed back +her hair. + +"The other day, Wednesday," she began, "I was coming home, and +in front of that mescal drinking-place there was a crowd. It was +a noisy crowd. I didn't want to walk out into the street or seem +afraid. But I had to do both. There were several young men, and +if they weren't drunk they certainly were rude. I never saw them +before, but I think they must belong to the mining company that was +run out of Sonora by rebels. Mrs. Carter was telling me. Anyway, +these young fellows were Americans. They stretched themselves +across the walk and smiled at me. I had to go out in the road. One +of them, the rudest, followed me. He was a big fellow, red-faced, +with prominent eyes and a bold look. He came up beside me and +spoke to me. I ran home. And as I ran I heard his companions +jeering. + +"Well, to-day, just now, when I was riding up the valley road I came +upon the same fellows. They had instruments and were surveying. +Remembering Dick, and how he always wished for an instrument +to help work out his plan for irrigation, I was certainly surprised +to see these strangers surveying--and surveying upon Laddy's plot of +land. It was a sandy road there, and Jose happened to be walking. +So I reined in and asked these engineers what they were doing. +The leader, who was that same bold fellow who had followed me, +seemed much pleased at being addressed. He was swaggering--too +friendly; not my idea of a gentleman at all. He said he was glad to +tell me he was going to run water all over Altar Valley. Dad, you +can bet that made me wild. That was Dick's plan, his discovery, +and here were surveyors on Laddy's claim. + +"Then I told him that he was working on private land and he'd better +get off. He seemed to forget his flirty proclivities in amazement. +Then he looked cunning. I read his mind. It was news to him that +all the land along the valley had been taken up. + +"He said something about not seeing any squatters on the land, +and then he shut up tight on that score. But he began to be +flirty again. He got hold of Jose's bridle, and before I could +catch my breath he said I was a peach, and that he wanted to make +a date with me, that his name was Chase, that he owned a gold mine +in Mexico. He said a lot more I didn't gather, but when he called +me Dearie' I--well, I lost my temper. + +"I jerked on the bridle and told him to let go. He held on and +rolled his eyes at me. I dare say he imagined he was a gentlemen +to be infatuated with. He seemed sure of conquest. One thing +certain, he didn't know the least bit about horses. It scared me +the way he got in front of Jose. I thanked my stars I wasn't up +on Blanco Diablo. Well, Dad, I'm a little ashamed now, but I was +mad. I slashed him across the face with my quirt. + +Jose jumped and knocked Mr. Chase into the sand. I didn't get the +horse under control till I was out of sight of those surveyors, and +then I let him run home." + +"Nell, I guess you punished the fellow enough. Maybe he's only a +conceited softy. But I don't like that sort of thing. It isn't +Western. I guess he won't be so smart next time. Any fellow +would remember being hit by Blanco Jose. If you'd been up on Diablo +we'd have to bury Mr. Chase." + +"Thank goodness I wasn't! I'm sorry now, Dad. Perhaps the fellow +was hurt. but what could I do? Let's forget all about it, and I'll +be careful where I ride in the future....Dad, what does it mean, +this surveying around Forlorn River?" + +"I don't know, Nell," replied Belding, thoughtfully. "It worries +me. It looks good for Forlorn River, but bad for Dick's plan to +irrigate the valley. Lord, I'd hate to have some one forestall +Dick on that!" + +"No, no, we won't let anybody have Dick's rights," declared Nell. + +"Where have I been keeping myself not to know about these +surveyors?" muttered Belding. "They must have just come." + +"Go see Mrs. Cater. She told me there were strangers in town, +Americans, who had mining interests in Sonora, and were run +out by Orozco. Find out what they're doing, Dad." + +Belding discovered that he was, indeed, the last man of consequence +in Forlorn River to learn of the arrival of Ben Chase and son, +mineowners and operators in Sonora. They, with a force of miners, +had been besieged by rebels and finally driven off their property. +This property was not destroyed, but held for ransom. And the +Chases, pending developments, had packed outfits and struck +for the border. Casita had been their objective point, but, for +some reason which Belding did not learn, they had arrived instead +at Forlorn River. It had taken Ben Chase just one day to see +the possibilities of Altar Valley, and in three days he had men at work. + +Belding returned home without going to see the Chases and their +operations. He wanted to think over the situation. Next morning he +went out to the valley to see for himself. Mexicans were hastily +erecting adobe houses upon Ladd's one hundred and sixty acres, upon +Dick Gale's, upon Jim Lash's and Thorne's. There were men staking +the valley floor and the river bed. That was sufficient for +Belding. He turned back toward town and headed for the camp of +these intruders. + +In fact, the surroundings of Forlorn River, except on the river +side, reminded Belding of the mushroom growth of a newly discovered +mining camp. Tents were everywhere; adobe shacks were in all +stages of construction; rough clapboard houses were going up. +the latest of this work was new and surprising to Belding, all +because he was a busy man, with no chance to hear village gossip. +When he was directed to the headquarters of the Chase Mining +Company he went thither in slow-growing wrath. + +He came to a big tent with a huge canvas fly stretched in front, +under which sat several men in their shirt sleeves. They were +talking and smoking. + +"My name's Belding. I want to see this Mr. Chase," said Belding, +gruffly. + +Slow-witted as Belding was, and absorbed in his own feelings, he +yet saw plainly that his advent was disturbing to these men. They +looked alarmed, exchanged glances, and then quickly turned to +him. One of them, a tall, rugged man with sharp face and shrewd +eyes and white hair, got up and offered his hand. + +"I'm Chase, senior," he said. "My son Radford Chase is here +somewhere. You're Belding, the line inspector, I take it? I +meant to call on you. + +He seemed a rough-and-ready, loud-spoken man, withal cordial enough. + +"Yes, I'm the inspector," replied Belding, ignoring the +proffered hand, "and I'd like to know what in the hell you mean by +taking up land claims--staked ground that belongs to my rangers?" + +"Land claims?" slowly echoed Chase, studying his man. "We're taking +up only unclaimed land." + +"That's a lie. You couldn't miss the stakes." + +"Well, Mr. Belding, as to that, I think my men did run across some +staked ground. But we recognize only squatters. If your rangers +think they've got property just because they drove a few stakes +in the ground they're much mistaken. A squatter has to build a +house and live on his land so long, according to law, before he owns +it. + +This argument was unanswerable, and Belding knew it. + +"According to law!" exclaimed Belding. "Then you own up; you've +jumped our claims." + +"Mr. Belding, I'm a plain business man. I come along. I see a good +opening. Nobody seems to have tenable grants. I stake out claims, +locate squatters, start to build. It seems to me your rangers have +overlooked certain precautions. That's unfortunate for them. I'm +prepared to hold my claim and to back all the squatters who work +for me. If you don't like it you can carry the matter to Tucson. +The law will uphold me." + +"The law? Say, on this southwest border we haven't any law except +a man's word and a gun." + +"Then you'll find United States law has come along with Ben Chase," +replied the other, snapping his fingers. He was still smooth, +outspoken, but his mask had fallen. + +"You're not a Westerner?" queried Belding. + +"No, I'm from Illinois." + +I thought the West hadn't bred you. I know your kind. You'd last +a long time on the Texas border; now, wouldn't you? You're one +of the land and water hogs that has come to root in the West. +You're like the timber sharks--take it all and leave none for those +who follow. Mr. Chase, the West would fare better and last longer +if men like you were driven out." + +"You can't drive me out." + +"I'm not so sure of that. Wait till my rangers come back. I +wouldn't be in your boots. Don't mistake me. I don't suppose +you could be accused of stealing another man's ideas or plan, +but sure you've stolen these four claims. Maybe the law might +uphold you. But the spirit, not the letter, counts with us +bordermen." + +"See here, Belding, I think you're taking the wrong view of the +matter. I'm going to develop this valley. You'd do better to get +in with me. I've a proposition to make you about that strip of +land of yours facing the river." + +"You can't make any deals with me. I won't have anything to do +with you." + +Belding abruptly left the camp and went home. Nell met him, +probably intended to question him, but one look into his face +confirmed her fears. She silently turned away. Belding +realized he was powerless to stop Chase, and he was sick +with disappointment for the ruin of Dick's hopes and his own. + + + + +XIV + + + +A Lost Son + +Time passed. The population of Forlorn River grew apace. Belding, +who had once bee the head of the community, found himself a person +of little consequence. Even had he desired it he would not have +had any voice in the selection of postmaster, sheriff, and a few +other officials. The Chases divided their labors between Forlorn +River and their Mexican gold mine, which had been restored to +them. The desert trips between these two places were taken in +automobiles. A month's time made the motor cars almost as familiar +a sight in Forlorn River as they had been in Casita before the +revolution. + +Belding was not so busy as he had been formerly. As he lost +ambition he began to find less work to do. His wrath at the +usurping Chases increased as he slowly realized his powerlessness +to cope with such men. They were promoters, men of big interests +and wide influence in the Southwest. The more they did for Forlorn +River the less reason there seemed to be for his own grievance. +He had to admit that it was personal; that he and Gale and the +rangers would never have been able to develop the resources of the +valley as these men were doing it. + +All day long he heard the heavy booming blasts and the rumble of +avalanches up in the gorge. Chase's men were dynamiting the cliffs +in the narrow box canyon. They were making the dam just as Gale +had planned to make it. When this work of blasting was over Belding +experienced a relief. He would not now be continually reminded of +his and Gale's loss. + +Resignation finally came to him. But he could not reconcile himself +to misfortune for Gale. + +Moreover, Belding had other worry and strain. April arrived with no +news of the rangers. From Casita came vague reports of raiders +in the Sonoyta country--reports impossible to verify until his +Mexican rangers returned. When these men rode in, one of them, +Gonzales, an intelligent and reliable halfbreed, said he had met +prospectors at the oasis. They had just come in on the Camino +del Diablo, reported a terrible trip of heat and drought, and not +a trace of the Yaqui's party. + +"That settles it," declared Belding. "Yaqui never went to Sonoyta. +He's circled round to the Devil's Road, and the rangers, Mercedes, +Thorne, the horses--they--I'm afraid they have been lost in the +desert. It's an old story on Camino del Diablo. + +He had to tell Nell that, and it was an ordeal which left him weak. + +Mrs. Belding listened to him, and was silent for a long time while +she held the stricken Nell to her breast. Then she opposed his +convictions with that quiet strength so characteristic of her +arguments. + +"Well, then," decided Belding, "Rojas headed the rangers at Papago +Well or the Tanks." + +"Tom, when you are down in the mouth you use poor judgment," +she went on. "You know only by a miracle could Rojas or anybody +have headed those white horses. Where's your old stubborn +confidence? Yaqui was up on Diablo. Dick was up on Sol. And +there were the other horses. They could not have been headed or +caught. Miracles don't happen." + +"All right, mother, it's sure good to hear you," said Belding. She +always cheered him, and now he grasped at straws. "I'm not myself +these days, don't mistake that. Tell us what you think. You always +say you feel things when you really don't know them." + +"I can say little more than what you said yourself the +night Mercedes was taken away. You told Laddy to trust Yaqui, +that he was a godsend. He might go south into some wild Sonora +valley. He might lead Rojas into a trap. He would find water and +grass where no Mexican or American could." + +"But mother, they're gone seven weeks. Seven weeks! At the most +I gave them six weeks. Seven weeks in the desert!" + +"How do the Yaquis live?" she asked. + +Belding could not reply to that, but hope revived in him. He had +faith in his wife, though he could not in the least understand what +he imagined was something mystic in her. + +"Years ago when I was searching for my father I learned many things +about this country," said Mrs. Belding. "You can never tell how +long a man may live in the desert. The fiercest, most terrible and +inaccessible places often have their hidden oasis. In his later +years my father became a prospector. That was strange to me, for +he never cared for gold or money. I learned that he was often +gone in the desert for weeks, once for months. Then the time came +when he never came back. That was years before I reached the +southwest border and heard of him. Even then I did not for long +give up hope of his coming back, I know now--something tells +me--indeed, it seems his spirit tells me--he was lost. But I don't +have that feeling for Yaqui and his party. Yaqui has given Rojas +the slip or has ambushed him in some trap. Probably that took +time and a long journey into Sonora. The Indian is too wise to +start back now over dry trails. He'll curb the rangers; he'll wait. +I seem to know this, dear Nell, so be brave, patient. Dick Gale +will come back to you." + +"Oh, mother!" cried Nell. "I can't give up hope while I have you." + +That talk with the strong mother worked a change in Nell +and Belding. Nell, who had done little but brood and watch +the west and take violent rides, seemed to settle into a +waiting patience that was sad, yet serene. She helped her mother +more than ever; she was a comfort to Belding; she began to take +active interest in the affairs of the growing village. Belding, who +had been breaking under the strain of worry, recovered himself +so that to outward appearance he was his old self. He alone knew, +however, that his humor was forced, and that the slow burning +wrath he felt for the Chases was flaming into hate. + +Belding argued with himself that if Ben Chase and his son, Radford, +had turned out to be big men in other ways than in the power to +carry on great enterprises he might have become reconciled to them. +But the father was greedy, grasping, hard, cold; the son added to +those traits an overbearing disposition to rule, and he showed a +fondness for drink and cards. These men were developing the valley, +to be sure, and a horde of poor Mexicans and many Americans were +benefiting from that development; nevertheless, these Chases were +operating in a way which proved they cared only for themselves. + +Belding shook off a lethargic spell and decided he had better set +about several by no means small tasks, if he wanted to get them +finished before the hot months. He made a trip to the Sonoyta +Oasis. He satisfied himself that matters along the line were +favorable, and that there was absolutely no trace of his rangers. +Upon completing this trip he went to Casita with a number of his +white thoroughbreds and shipped them to ranchers and horse-breeders +in Texas. Then, being near the railroad, and having time, he went +up to Tucson. There he learned some interesting particulars about +the Chases. They had an office in the city; influential friends in +the Capitol. They were powerful men in the rapidly growing finance +of the West. They had interested the Southern Pacific Railroad, and +in the near future a branch line was to be constructed from San +Felipe to Forlorn River. These details of the Chase development were +insignificant when compared to a matter striking close home to Belding. +His responsibility had been subtly attacked. A doubt had been cast +upon his capability of executing the duties of immigration inspector +to the best advantage of the state. Belding divined that this was +only an entering wedge. The Chases were bent upon driving him +out of Forlorn River; but perhaps to serve better their own ends, +they were proceeding at leisure. Belding returned home consumed +by rage. But he controlled it. For the first time in his life he +was afraid of himself. He had his wife and Nell to think of; and +the old law of the West had gone forever. + +"Dad, there's another Rojas round these diggings," was Nell's +remark, after the greetings were over and the usual questions +and answers passed. + +Belding's exclamation was cut short by Nell's laugh. She was +serious with a kind of amused contempt. + +"Mr. Radford Chase!" + +"Now Nell, what the--" roared Belding. + +"Hush, Dad! Don't swear," interrupted Nell. "I only meant to +tease you." + +"Humph! Say, my girl, that name Chase makes me see red. If you +must tease me hit on some other way. Sabe, senorita?" + +"Si, si, Dad." + +"Nell, you may as well tell him and have it over," said Mrs. +Belding, quietly. + +"You promised me once, Dad, that you'd not go packing a gun off +down there, didn't you?" + +"Yes, I remember," replied Belding; but he did not answer her smile. + +"Will you promise again?" she asked, lightly. Here was Nell with +arch eyes, yet not the old arch eyes, so full of fun and mischief. +Her lips were tremulous; her cheeks seemed less round. + +"Yes," rejoined Belding; and he knew why his voice was a little +thick. + +"Well, if you weren't such a good old blind Dad you'd have seen +long ago the way Mr. Radford Chase ran round after me. At first +it was only annoying, and I did not want to add to your worries. +But these two weeks you've been gone I've been more than annoyed. +After that time I struck Mr. Chase with my quirt he made all +possible efforts to meet me. He did meet me wherever I went. He +sent me letters till I got tired of sending them back. + +"When you left home on your trips I don't know that he grew bolder, +but he had more opportunity. I couldn't stay in the house all the +time. There were mama's errands and sick people and my Sunday +school, and what not. Mr. Chase waylaid me every time I went out. +If he works any more I don't know when, unless it's when I'm asleep. +He followed me until it was less embarassing for me to let him walk +with me and talk his head off. He made love to me. He begged me +to marry him. I told him I was already in love and engaged to be +married. He said that didn't make any difference. Then I called +him a fool. + +Next time he saw me he said he must explain. He meant I was being +true to a man who, everybody on the border knew, had been lost in +the desert. That--that hurt. Maybe--maybe it's true. Sometimes +it seems terribly true. Since then, of course, I have stayed in the +house to avoid being hurt again. + +"But, Dad, a little thing like a girl sticking close to her mother +and room doesn't stop Mr. Chase. I think he's crazy. Anyway, +he's a most persistent fool. I want to be charitable, because +the man swears he loves me, and maybe he does, but he is making +me nervous. I don't sleep. I'm afraid to be in my room at night. +I've gone to mother's room. He's always hanging round. Bold! +Why, that isn't the thing to call Mr. Chase. He's absolutely +without a sense of decency. He bribes our servants. He comes +into our patio. Think of that! He makes the most ridiculous +excuses. He bothers mother to death. I feel like a poor little +rabbit holed by a hound. And I daren't peep out." + +Somehow the thing struck Belding as funny, and he laughed. He +had not had a laugh for so long that it made him feel good. He +stopped only at sight of Nell's surprise and pain. Then he put +his arms round her. + +"Never mind, dear. I'm an old bear. But it tickled me, I guess. +I sure hope Mr. Radford Chase has got it bad...Nell, it's only the +old story. The fellows fall in love with you. It's your good +looks, Nell. What a price women like you and Mercedes have +to pay for beauty! I'd a d-- a good deal rather be ugly as a +mud fence." + +"So would I, Dad, if--if Dick would still love me." + +"He wouldn't, you can gamble on that, as Laddy says. +...Well, the first time I catch this locoed Romeo sneaking round +here I'll--I'll--" + +"Dad, you promised." + +"Confound it, Nell, I promised not to pack a gun. That's all. +I'll only shoo this fellow off the place, gently, mind you, gently. +I'll leave the rest for Dick Gale!" + +"Oh, Dad!" cried Nell; and she clung to him wistful, frightened, +yet something more. + +"Don't mistake me, Nell. You have your own way, generally. You +pull the wool over mother's eyes, and you wind me round your +little finger. But you can't do either with Dick Gale. You're +tender-hearted; you overlook the doings of this hound, Chase. +But when Dick comes back, you just make up your mind to a little +hell in the Chase camp. Oh, he'll find it out. And I sure want to +be round when Dick hands Mr. Radford the same as he handed +Rojas!" + +Belding kept a sharp lookout for young Chase, and then, a few days +later, learned that both son and father had gone off upon one of +their frequent trips to Casa Grandes, near where their mines were +situated. + +April grew apace, and soon gave way to May. One morning +Belding was called from some garden work by the whirring +of an automobile and a "Holla!" He went forward to the front yard +and there saw a car he thought resembled one he had seen in Casita. +It contained a familiar-looking driver, but the three figures in +gray coats and veils were strange to him. By the time he had gotten +to the road he decided two were women and the other a man. At the +moment their faces were emerging from dusty veils. Belding saw an +elderly, sallow-faced, rather frail-appearing man who was an entire +stranger to him; a handsome dark-eyed woman whose hair showed +white through her veil; and a superbly built girl, whose face made +Belding at once think of Dick Gale. + +"Is this Mr. Tom Belding, inspector of immigration?" inquired the +gentleman, courteously. + +"I'm Belding, and I know who you are," replied Belding in hearty +amaze, as he stretched forth his big hand. "You're Dick Gale's +Dad--the Governor, Dick used to say. I'm sure glad to meet you." + +"Thank you. Yes, I'm Dick's governor, and here, Mr. Belding--Dick's +mother and his sister Elsie." + +Beaming his pleasure, Belding shook hands with the ladies, who +showed their agitation clearly. + +"Mr. Belding, I've come west to look up my lost son," said Mr. Gale. +"His sister's letters were unanswered. We haven't heard from him +in months. Is he still here with you?" + +"Well, now, sure I'm awful sorry," began Belding, his slow mind +at work. "Dick's away just now--been away for a considerable +spell. I'm expecting him back any day....Won't you come in? You're +all dusty and hot and tired. Come in, and let mother and Nell make +you comfortable. Of course you'll stay. We've a big house. You +must stay till Dick comes back. Maybe that 'll be-- Aw, I guess +it won't be long....Let me handle the baggage, Mr. Gale....Come in. +I sure am glad to meet you all." + +Eager, excited, delighted, Belding went on talking as he ushered +the Gales into the sitting-room, presenting them in his hearty way +to the astounded Mrs. Belding and Nell. For the space of a few +moments his wife and daughter were bewildered. Belding did +not recollect any other occasion when a few callers had thrown +them off their balance. But of course this was different. He was +a little flustered himself--a circumstance that dawned upon him +with surprise. When the Gales had been shown to rooms, Mrs. +Belding gained the poise momentarily lost; but Nell came rushing +back, wilder than a deer, in a state of excitement strange even +for her. + +"Oh! Dick's mother, his sister!" whispered Nell. + +Belding observed the omission of the father in Nell's exclamation +of mingled delight and alarm. + +"His mother!" went on Nell. "Oh, I knew it! I always guessed it! +Dick's people are proud, rich; they're somebody. I thought I'd +faint when she looked at me. She was just curious--curious, +but so cold and proud. She was wondering about me. I'm wearing +his ring. It was his mother's, he said. I won't--I can't take it +off. And I'm scared....But the sister--oh, she's lovely and sweet +--proud, too. I felt warm all over when she looked at me. I--I +wanted to kiss her. She looks like Dick when he first came to +us. But he's changed. They'll hardly recognize him....To think +they've come! And I had to be looking a fright, when of all times +on earth I'd want to look my best." + +Nell, out of breath, ran away evidently to make herself presentable, +according to her idea of the exigency of the case. Belding caught +a glimpse of his wife's face as she went out, and it wore a sad, +strange, anxious expression. Then Belding sat alone, pondering +the contracting emotions of his wife and daughter. It was beyond +his understanding. Women were creatures of feeling. Belding +saw reason to be delighted to entertain Dick's family; and +for the time being no disturbing thought entered his mind. + +Presently the Gales came back into the sitting-room, looking +very different without the long gray cloaks and veils. Belding +saw distinction and elegance. Mr. Gale seemed a grave, troubled, +kindly person, ill in body and mind. Belding received the same +impression of power that Ben Chase had given him, only here it +was minus any harshness or hard quality. He gathered that Mr. Gale +was a man of authority. Mrs. Gale rather frightened Belding, but +he could not have told why. The girl was just like Dick as he used +to be. + +Their manner of speaking also reminded Belding of Dick. They +talked of the ride from Ash Fork down to the border, of the +ugly and torn-up Casita, of the heat and dust and cactus along +the trail. Presently Nell came in, now cool and sweet in white, +with a red rose at her breast. Belding had never been so proud +of her. He saw that she meant to appear well in the eyes of +Dick's people, and began to have a faint perception of what the +ordeal was for her. Belding imagined the sooner the Gales were +told that Dick was to marry Nell the better for all concerned, and +especially for Nell. In the general conversation that ensued he +sought for an opening in which to tell this important news, but +he was kept so busy answering questions about his position on +the border, the kind of place Forlorn River was, the reason for +so many tents, etc., that he was unable to find opportunity. + +"It's very interesting, very interesting," said Mr. Gale. "At +another time I want to learn all you'll tell me about the West. +It's new to me. I'm surprised, amazed, sir, I may say....But, Mr. +Belding, what I want to know most is about my son. I'm broken +in health. I've worried myself ill over him. I don't mind telling +you, sir, that we quarreled. I laughed at his threats. He went +away. And I've come to see that I didn't know Richard. I was +wrong to upbraid him. For a year we've known nothing of his +doings, and now for almost six months we've not heard from him +at all. Frankly, Mr. Belding, I weakened first, and I've come to +hunt him up. My fear is that I didn't start soon enough. The +boy will have a great position some day--God knows, perhaps +soon! I should not have allowed him to run over this wild country +for so long. But I hoped, though I hardly believed, that he might +find himself. Now I'm afraid he's--" + +Mr. Gale paused and the white hand he raised expressively shook +a little. + +Belding was not so thick-witted where men were concerned. He +saw how the matter lay between Dick Gale and his father. + +"Well, Mr. Gale, sure most young bucks from the East go to the bad +out here," he said, bluntly. + +"I've been told that," replied Mr. Gale; and a shade overspread his +worn face. + +"They blow their money, then go punching cows, take to whiskey." + +"Yes," rejoined Mr. Gale, feebly nodding. + +"Then they get to gambling, lose their jobs," went on Belding. + +Mr. Gale lifted haggard eyes. + +"Then it's bumming around, regular tramps, and to the bad +generally." Belding spread wide his big arms, and when one of +them dropped round Nell, who sat beside him, she squeezed his +hand tight. "Sure, it's the regular thing," he concluded, +cheerfully. + +He rather felt a little glee at Mr. Gale's distress, and Mrs. Gale's +crushed I-told-you-so woe in no wise bothered him; but the look +in the big, dark eyes of Dick's sister was too much for Belding. + +He choked off his characteristic oath when excited and blurted +out, "Say, but Dick Gale never went to the bad!...Listen!" + +Belding had scarcely started Dick Gale's story when he perceived +that never in his life had he such an absorbed and +breathless audience. Presently they were awed, and at the +conclusion of that story they sat white-faced, still, amazed beyond +speech. Dick Gale's advent in Casita, his rescue of Mercedes, his +life as a border ranger certainly lost no picturesque or daring or +even noble detail in Belding's telling. He kept back nothing but +the present doubt of Dick's safety. + +Dick's sister was the first of the three to recover herself. + +"Oh, father!" she cried; and there was a glorious light in her +eyes. "Deep down in my heart I knew Dick was a man!" + +Mr. Gale rose unsteadily from his chair. His frailty was now +painfully manifest. + +"Mr. Belding, do you mean my son--Richard Gale--has done all +that you told us?" he asked, incredulously. + +"I sure do," replied Belding, with hearty good will. + +"Martha, do you hear?" Mr. Gale turned to question his wife. She +could not answer. Her face had not yet regained its natural color. + +"He faced that bandit and his gang alone--he fought them?" demanded +Mr. Gale, his voice stronger. + +"Dick mopped up the floor with the whole outfit!" + +"He rescued a Spanish girl, went into the desert without food, +weapons, anything but his hands? Richard Gale, whose hands +were always useless?" + +Belding nodded with a grin. + +"He's a ranger now--riding, fighting, sleeping on the sand, +preparing his own food?" + +"Well, I should smile," rejoined Belding. + +"He cares for his horse, with his own hands?" This query seemed +to be the climax of Mr. Gale's strange hunger for truth. He had +raised his head a little higher, and his eye was brighter. + +Mention of a horse fired Belding's blood. + +"Does Dick Gale care for his horse? Say, there are not many men as +well loved as that white horse of Dick's. Blanco Sol he is, Mr. +Gale. That's Mex for White Sun. + +Wait till you see Blanco Sol! Bar one, the whitest, biggest, +strongest, fastest, grandest horse in the Southwest!" + +"So he loves a horse! I shall not know my own son....Mr. Belding, +you say Richard works for you. May I ask, at what salary?" + +"He gets forty dollars, board and outfit," replied Belding, +proudly. + +"Forty dollars?" echoed the father. "By the day or week?" + +"The month, of course," said Belding, somewhat taken aback. + +"Forty dollars a month for a young man who spent five hundred +in the same time when he was at college, and who ran it into +thousands when he got out!" + +Mr. Gale laughed for the first time, and it was the laugh of a man +who wanted to believe what he heard yet scarcely dared to do it. + +"What does he do with so much money--money earned by peril, toil, +sweat, and blood? Forty dollars a month!" + +"He saves it," replied Belding. + +Evidently this was too much for Dick Gale's father, and he gazed +at his wife in sheer speechless astonishment. Dick's sister clapped +her hands like a little child. + +Belding saw that the moment was propitious. + +"Sure he saves it. Dick's engaged to marry Nell here. My +stepdaughter, Nell Burton." + +"Oh-h, Dad!" faltered Nell; and she rose, white as her dress. + +How strange it was to see Dick's mother and sister rise, also, and +turn to Nell with dark, proud, searching eyes. Belding vaguely +realized some blunder he had made. Nell's white, appealing face +gave him a pang. What had he done? Surely this family of Dick's +ought to know his relation to Nell. There was a silence that +positively made Belding nervous. + +Then Elsie Gale stepped close to Nell. + +"Miss Burton, are you really Richard's betrothed?" + +Nell's tremulous lips framed an affirmative, but never uttered it. +She held out her hand, showing the ring Dick had given her. Miss +Gale's recognition was instant, and her response was warm, sweet, +gracious. + +"I think I am going to be very, very glad," she said, and kissed +Nell. + +"Miss Burton, we are learning wonderful things about Richard," +added Mr. Gale, in an earnest though shaken voice. "If you have +had to do with making a man of him--and now I begin to see, to +believe so--may God bless you!...My dear girl, I have not really +looked at you. Richard's fiancee!...Mother, we have not found him +yet, but I think we've found his secret. We believed him a lost +son. But here is his sweetheart!" + +It was only then that the pride and hauteur of Mrs. Gale's face +broke into an expression of mingled pain and joy. She opened +her arms. Nell, uttering a strange little stifled cry, flew into +them. + +Belding suddenly discovered an unaccountable blur in his sight. +He could not see perfectly, and that was why, when Mrs. Belding +entered the sitting-room, he was not certain that her face was +as sad and white as it seemed. + +XV + +Bound In The Desert + + + +Far away from Forlorn River Dick Gale sat stunned, gazing down into +the purple depths where Rojas had plunged to his death. The Yaqui +stood motionless upon the steep red wall of lava from which he had +cut the bandit's hold. Mercedes lay quietly where she had fallen. +From across the depths there came to Gale's ear the Indian's +strange, wild cry. + +Then silence, hollow, breathless, stony silence enveloped the great +abyss and its upheaved lava walls. The sun was setting. Every +instant the haze reddened and thickened. + +Action on the part of the Yaqui loosened the spell which held Gale +as motionless as his surroundings. The Indian was edging back +toward the ledge. He did not move with his former lithe and sure +freedom. He crawled, slipped, dragged himself, rested often, and +went on again. He had been wounded. When at last he reached +the ledge where Mercedes lay Gale jumped to his feet, strong and +thrilling, spurred to meet the responsibility that now rested upon +him. + +Swiftly he turned to where Thorne lay. The cavalryman was just +returning to consciousness. Gale ran for a canteen, bathed his +face, made him drink. The look in Thorne's eyes was hard to bear. + +"Thorne! Thorne! it's all right, it's all right!" cried Gale, in +piercing tones. "Mercedes is safe! Yaqui saved her! Rojas is +done for! Yaqui jumped down the wall and drove the bandit off +the ledge. Cut him loose + +from the wall, foot by foot, hand by hand! We've won the fight, +Thorne." + +For Thorne these were marvelous strength - giving words. The +dark horror left his eyes, and they began to dilate, to shine. He +stood up, dizzily but unaided, and he gazed across the crater. +Yaqui had reached the side of Mercedes, was bending over her. +She stirred. Yaqui lifted her to her feet. She appeared weak, +unable to stand alone. But she faced across the crater and waved +her hand. She was unharmed. Thorne lifted both arms above head, +and from his lips issued a cry. It was neither call nor holloa nor +welcome nor answer. Like the Yaqui's, it could scarcely be named. + +But it was deep, husky, prolonged, terribly human in its intensity. +It made Gale shudder and made his heart beat like a trip hammer. +Mercedes again waved a white hand. The Yaqui waved, too, and Gale +saw in the action an urgent signal. + +Hastily taking up canteen and rifles, Gale put a supporting arm +around Thorne. + +"Come, old man. Can you walk? Sure you can walk! Lean on me, +and we'll soon get out of this. Don't look across. Look where you +step. We've not much time before dark. Oh, Thorne, I'm afraid +Jim has cashed in! And the last I saw of Laddy he was badly hurt." + +Gale was keyed up to a high pitch of excitement and alertness. +He seemed to be able to do many things. But once off the ragged +notched lava into the trail he had not such difficulty with Thorne, +and could keep his keen gaze shifting everywhere for sight of +enemies. + +"Listen, Thorne! What's that?" asked Gale, halting as they came +to a place where the trail led down through rough breaks in the +lava. The silence was broken by a strange sound, almost +unbelieveable considering the time and place. A voice was droning: +"Turn the lady, turn! Turn the lady, turn! Alamon left. All +swing; turn the lady, turn!" + +"Hello, Jim," called Gale, dragging Thorne round the corner of +lava. "Where are you? Oh, you son of a gun! I thought you were +dead. Oh, I'm glad to see you! Jim, are you hurt?" + +Jim Lash stood in the trail leaning over the butt of his rifle, +which evidently he was utilizing as a crutch. He was pale but +smiling. His hands were bloody. A scarf had been bound tightly +round his left leg just above the knee. The leg hung limp, and +the foot dragged. + +"I reckon I ain't injured much," replied Him. "But my leg hurts +like hell, if you want to know." + +"Laddy! Oh, where's Laddy?" + +"He's just across the crack there. I was trying to get to him. We +had it hot an' heavy down here. Laddy was pretty bad shot up +before he tried to head Rojas off the trail....Dick, did you see the +Yaqui go after Rojas?" + +"Did I!" exclaimed Gale, grimly. + +"The finish was all that saved me from runnin' loco plumb over the +rim. You see I was closer'n you to where Mercedes was hid. When +Rojas an' his last Greaser started across, Laddy went after them, +but I couldn't. Laddy did for Rojas's man, then went down himself. +But he got up an' fell, got up, went on, an' fell again. Laddy kept +doin' that till he dropped for good. I reckon our chances are +against findin' him alive....I tell you, boys, Rojas was hell-bent. +An' Mercedes was game. I saw her shoot him. But mebbe bullets +couldn't stop him then. If I didn't sweat blood when Mercedes was +fightin' him on the cliff! Then the finish! Only a Yaqui could +have done that....Thorne, you didn't miss it?" + +"Yes, I was down and out," replied the cavalryman. + +"It's a shame. Greatest stunt I ever seen! Thorne, you're standin' +up pretty fair. How about you? Dick, is he bad hurt?" + +"No, he's not. A hard knock on the skull and a scalp wound, " +replied Dick. "Here, Jim, let me help you over this place." + +Step by step Gale got the two injured men down the uneven declivity +and then across the narrow lava bridge over the fissure. Here he +bade them rest while he went along the trail on that side to search +for Laddy. Gale found the ranger stretched out, face downward, +a reddened hand clutching a gun. Gale thought he was dead. Upon +examination, however, it was found that Ladd still lived, though he +had many wounds. Gale lifted him and carried him back to the +others. + +"He's alive, but that's all," said Dick, as he laid the ranger down. +"Do what you can. Stop the blood. Laddy's tough as cactus, you +know. I'll hurry back for Mercedes and Yaqui." + +Gale, like a fleet, sure-footed mountain sheep, ran along the +trail. When he came across the Mexican, Rojas's last ally, Gale +had evidence of the terrible execution of the .405. He did not +pause. On the first part of that descent he made faster time +than had Rojas. But he exercised care along the hard, slippery, +ragged slope leading to the ledge. Presently he came upon +Mercedes and the Yaqui. She ran right into Dick's arms, and there +her strength, if not her courage, broke, and she grew lax. + +"Mercedes, you're safe! Thorne's safe. It's all right now." + +"Rojas!" she whispered. + +"Gone! To the bottom of the crater! A Yaqui's vengeance, +Mercedes." + +He heard the girl whisper the name of the Virgin. Then he gathered +her up in his arms. + +"Come, Yaqui." + +The Indian grunted. He had one hand pressed close over a bloody +place in his shoulder. Gale looked keenly at him. Yaqui was +inscrutable, as of old, yet Gale somehow knew that wound meant +little to him. The Indian followed him. + +Without pausing, moving slowly in some places, very carefully +in others, and swiftly on the smooth part of the trail, Gale +carried Mercedes up to the rim and along to the the others. +Jim Lash worked awkardly over Ladd. Thorne was trying +to assist. Ladd, himself, was conscious, but he was a pallid, +apparently a death-stricken man. The greeting between Mercedes +and Thorne was calm--strangely so, it seemed to Gale. But he was +calm himself. Ladd smiled at him, and evidently would have spoken +had he the power. Yaqui then joined the group, and his piercing +eyes roved from one to the other, lingering longest over Ladd. + +"Dick, I'm figger'n hard," said Jim, faintly. "In a minute it 'll +be up to you an' Mercedes. I've about shot my bolt....Reckon +you'll do-- best by bringin' up blankets--water--salt--firewood. +Laddy's got--one chance--in a hundred. Fix him up--first. Use +hot salt water. If my leg's broke--set it best you can. That hole +in Yaqui--only 'll bother him a day. Thorne's bad hurt...Now +rustle--Dick, old--boy." + +Lash's voice died away in a husky whisper, and he quietly lay back, +stretching out all but the crippled leg. Gale examined it, assured +himself the bones had not been broken, and then rose ready to go +down the trail. + +"Mercedes, hold Thorne's head up, in your lap--so. Now I'll go." + +On the moment Yaqui appeared to have completed the binding of +his wounded shoulder, and he started to follow Gale. He paid no +attention to Gale's order for him to stay back. But he was slow, +and gradually Gale forged ahead. The lingering brightness of the +sunset lightened the trail, and the descent to the arroyo was swift +and easy. Some of the white horses had come in for water. Blanco +Sol spied Gale and whistled and came pounding toward him. It was +twilight down in the arroyo. Yaqui appeared and began collecting +a bundle of mesquite sticks. Gale hastily put together the things +he needed; and, packing them all in a tarpaulin, he turned to +retrace his steps up the trail. + +Darkness was setting in. The trail was narrow, exceedingly steep, +and in some places fronted on precipices. Gale's burden was not +very heavy, but its bulk made it unwieldy, and it was always +overbalancing him or knocking against the wall side of the trail. +Gale found it necessary to wait for Yaqui to take the lead. The +Indian's eyes must have seen as well at night as by day. Gale +toiled upward, shouldering, swinging, dragging the big pack; and, +though the ascent of the slope was not really long, it seemed +endless. At last they reached a level, and were soon on the spot +with Mercedes and the injured men. + +Gale then set to work. Yaqui's part was to keep the fire blazing +and the water hot, Mercedes's to help Gale in what way she could. +Gale found Ladd had many wounds, yet not one of them was directly +in a vital place. Evidently, the ranger had almost bled to death. +He remained unconcious through Gale's operations. According to +Jim Lash, Ladd had one chance in a hundred, but Gale considered +it one in a thousand. Having done all that was possible for the +ranger, Gale slipped blankets under and around him, and then +turned his attention to Lash. + +Jim came out of his stupor. A mushrooming bullet had torn a +great hole in his leg. Gale, upon examination, could not be sure +the bones had been missed, but there was no bad break. The +application of hot salt water made Jim groan. When he had been +bandaged and laid beside Ladd, Gale went on to the cavalryman. +Thorne was very weak and scarcely conscious. A furrow had been +plowed through his scalp down to the bone. When it had been +dressed, Mercedes collapsed. Gale laid her with the three in a row +and covered them with blankets and the tarpaulin. + +Then Yaqui submitted to examination. A bullet had gone through +the Indian's shoulder. To Gale it appeared serious. Yaqui said it +was a flea bite. But he allowed + +Gale to bandage it, and obeyed when he was told to lie quiet in +his blanket beside the fire. + +Gale stood guard. He seemed still calm, and wondered at what he +considered a strange absence of poignant feeling. If he had felt +weariness it was now gone. He coaxed the fire with as little wood +as would keep it burning; he sat beside it; he walked to and fro +close by; sometimes he stood over the five sleepers, wondering if +two of them, at least, would ever awaken. + +Time had passed swiftly, but as the necessity for immediate action +had gone by, the hours gradually assumed something of their normal +length. The night wore on. The air grew colder, the stars +brighter, the sky bluer, and, if such could be possible, the silence +more intense. The fire burned out, and for lack of wood could not +be rekindled. Gale patrolled his short beat, becoming colder and +damper as dawn approached. The darkness grew so dense that he could +not see the pale faces of the sleepers. He dreaded the gray dawn +and the light. Slowly the heavy black belt close to the lava +changed to a pale gloom, then to gray, and after that morning came +quickly. + +The hour had come for Dick Gale to face his great problem. It was +natural that he hung back a little at first; natural that when he +went forward to look at the quiet sleepers he did so with a grim +and stern force urging him. Yaqui stirred, roused, yawned, got up; +and, though he did not smile at Gale, a light shone swiftly across +his dark face. His shoulder drooped and appeared stiff, otherwise +he was himself. Mercedes lay in deep slumber. Thorne had a high +fever, and was beginning to show signs of restlessness. Ladd +seemed just barely alive. Jim Lash slept as if he was not much +the worse for his wound. + +Gale rose from his examination with a sharp breaking of his cold +mood. While there was life in Thorne and Ladd there was hope +for them. Then he faced his problem, and his decision was instant. + +He awoke Mercedes. How wondering, wistful, beautiful +was that first opening flash of her eyes! Then the dark, troubled +thought came. Swiftly she sat up. + +"Mercedes--come. Are you all right? Laddy is alive Thorne's not +--not so bad. But we've got a job on our hands! You must help me." + +She bent over Thorne and laid her hands on his hot face. Then she +rose--a woman such as he had imagined she might be in an hour of +trial. + +Gale took up Ladd as carefully and gently as possible. + +"Mercedes, bring what you can carry and follow me," he said. Then, +motioning for Yaqui to remain there, he turned down the slope with +Ladd in his arms. + +Neither pausing nor making a misstep nor conscious of great effort, +Gale carried the wounded man down into the arroyo. Mercedes +kept at his heels, light, supple, lithe as a panther. He left her +with Ladd and went back. When he had started off with Thorne +in his arms he felt the tax on his strength. Surely and swiftly, +however, he bore the cavalryman down the trail to lay him beside +Ladd. Again he started back, and when he began to mount the +steep lava steps he was hot, wet, breathing hard. As he reached +the scene of that night's camp a voice greeted him. Jim Lash was +sitting up. + +"Hello, Dick. I woke some late this mornin'. Where's Laddy? Dick, +you ain't a-goin' to say--" + +"Laddy's alive--that's about all," replied Dick. + +"Where's Thorne an' Mercedes? Look here, man. I reckon you ain't +packin' this crippled outfit down that awful trail?" + +"Had to, Jim. An hour's sun--would kill--both Laddy and Thorne. +Come on now." + +For once Jim Lash's cool good nature and careless indifference +gave precedence to amaze and concern. + +"Always knew you was a husky chap. But, Dick, you're no hoss! +Get me a crutch an' give me a lift on one side." + +"Come on," replied Gale. "I've no time to monkey." + +He lifted the ranger, called to Yaqui to follow with some of the +camp outfit, and once more essayed the steep descent. Jim Lash +was the heaviest man of the three, and Gale's strength was put +to enormous strain to carry him on that broken trail. +Nevertheless, Gale went down, down, walking swiftly and surely +over the bad places; and at last he staggered into the arroyo with +bursting heart and red-blinded eyes. When he had recovered he +made a final trip up the slope for the camp effects which Yaqui had +been unable to carry. + +Then he drew Jim and Mercedes and Yaqui, also, into an earnest +discussion of ways and means whereby to fight for the life of +Thorne. Ladd's case Gale now considered hopeless, though he +meant to fight for him, too, as long as he breathed. + +In the labor of watching and nursing it seemed to Gale that two +days and two nights slipped by like a few hours. During that time +the Indian recovered from his injury, and became capable of +performing all except heavy tasks. Then Gale succumbed to +weariness. After his much-needed rest he relieved Mercedes of the +care and watch over Thorne which, up to that time, she had +absolutely refused to relinquish. The cavalryman had high fever, +and Gale feared he had developed blood poisoning. He required +constant attention. His condition slowly grew worse, and there +came a day which Gale thought surely was the end. But that day +passed, and the night, and the next day, and Thorne lived on, +ghastly, stricken, raving. Mercedes hung over him with jealous, +passionate care and did all that could have been humanly done for +a man. She grew wan, absorbed, silent. But suddenly, and to Gale's +amaze and thanksgiving, there came an abatement of Thorne's fever. +With it some of the heat and redness of the inflamed wound +disappeared. Next morning he was conscious, and Gale grasped some +of the hope that Mercedes had never abandoned. He forced her to +rest while he attended to Thorne. That day he saw that the crisis +was past. Recovery for Thorne was now possible, and would perhaps +depend entirely upon the care he received. + +Jim Lash's wound healed without any aggravating symptoms. It would +be only a matter of time unti he had the use of his leg again. All +these days, however, there was little apparent change in Ladd's +condition unless it was that he seemed to fade away as he lingered. +At first his wounds remained open; they bled a little all the time +outwardly, perhaps internally also; the blood did not seem to clot, +and so the bullet holes did not close. Then Yaqui asked for the +care of Ladd. Gale yielded it with opposing thoughts--that Ladd +would waste slowly away till life ceased, and that there never was +any telling what might lie in the power of this strange Indian. +Yaqui absented himself from camp for a while, and when he returned +he carried the roots and leaves of desert plants unknown to Gale. +From these the Indian brewed an ointment. Then he stripped the +bandages from Ladd and applied the mixture to his wounds. That +done, he let him lie with the wounds exposed to the air, at night +covering him. Next day he again exposed the wounds to the warm, +dry air. Slowly they closed, and Ladd ceased to bleed externally. + +Days passed and grew into what Gale imagined must have been weeks. +Yaqui recovered fully. Jim Lash began to move about on a crutch; +he shared the Indian's watch over Ladd. Thorne lay haggard, +emaciated ghost of his rugged self, but with life in the eyes that +turned always toward Mercedes. Ladd lingered and lingered. The +life seemingly would not leave his bullet-pierced body. He faded, +withered, shrunk till he was almost a skeleton. He knew those who +worked and watched over him, but he had no power of speech. His +eyes and eyelids moved; the rest of him seemed stone. All those +days nothing except water was given him. It was marvelous how +tenaciously, however feebly, he clung to life. Gale imagined it was +the Yaqui's spirit that held back death. That tireless, implacable, +inscrutable savage was ever at the ranger's side. His great somber +eyes burned. At length he went to Gale, and, with that strange light +flitting across the hard bronzed face, he said Ladd would live. + + +The second day after Ladd had been given such thin nourishment as +he could swallow he recovered the use of his tongue. + +"Shore--this's--hell," he whispered. + +That was a characteristic speech for the ranger, Gale thought; and +indeed it made all who heard it smile while their eyes were wet. + +From that time forward Ladd gained, but he gained so immeasurably +slowly that only the eyes of hope could have seen any improvement. +Jim Lash threw away his crutch, and Thorne was well, if still somewhat +weak, before Ladd could lift his arm or turn his head. A kind of +long, immovable gloom passed, like a shadow, from his face. His +whispers grew stronger. And the day arrived when Gale, who was +perhaps the least optimistic, threw doubt to the winds and knew the +ranger would get well. For Gale that joyous moment of realization +was one in which he seemed to return to a former self long absent. +He experienced an elevation of soul. He was suddenly overwhelmed +with gratefulness, humility, awe. A gloomy black terror had passed +by. He wanted to thank the faithful Mercedes, and Thorne for +getting well, and the cheerful Lash, and Ladd himself, and that +strange and wonderful Yaqui, now such a splendid figure. He thought +of home and Nell. The terrible encompassing red slopes lost something +of their fearsomeness, and there was a good spirit hovering near. + + + +"Boys, come round," called Ladd, in his low voice. "An' you, +Mercedes. An' call the Yaqui." + +Ladd lay in the shade of the brush shelter that had been +erected. His head was raised slightly on a pillow. There seemed +little of him but long lean lines, and if it had not been for his +keen, thoughtful, kindly eyes, his face would have resembled a +death mask of a man starved. + +"Shore I want to know what day is it an' what month?" asked Ladd. + +Nobody could answer him. The question seemed a surprise to Gale, +and evidently was so to the others. + +"Look at that cactus," went on Ladd. + +Near the wall of lava a stunted saguaro lifted its head. A few +shriveled blossoms that had once been white hung along the fluted +column. + +"I reckon according to that giant cactus it's somewheres along the +end of March," said Jim Lash, soberly. + +"Shore it's April. Look where the sun is. An' can't you feel +it's gettin' hot?" + +"Supposin' it is April?" queried Lash slowly. + +"Well, what I'm drivin' at is it's about time you all was hittin' +the trail back to Forlorn River, before the waterholes dry out." + +"Laddy, I reckon we'll start soon as you're able to be put on a +hoss." + +"Shore that 'll be too late." + +A silence ensued, in which those who heard Ladd gazed fixedly at +him and then at one another. Lash uneasily shifted the position +of his lame leg, and Gale saw him moisten his lips with his tongue. + +"Charlie Ladd, I ain't reckonin' you mean we're to ride off an' +leave you here?" + +"What else is there to do? The hot weather's close. Pretty soon +most of the waterholes will be dry. You can't travel then....I'm +on my back here, an' God only knows when I could be packed out. +Not for weeks, mebbe. I'll never be any good again, even if I was +to get out alive....You see, shore this sort of case comes round +sometimes in the desert. It's common enough. I've heard of several +cases where men had to go an' leave a feller behind. It's reasonable. +If you're fightin' the desert you can't afford to be sentimental... +Now, as I said, I'm all in. So what's the sense of you waitin' here, +when it means the old desert story? By goin' now mebbe you'll get home. +If you wait on a chance of takin' me, you'll be too late. Pretty soon +this lava 'll be one roastin' hell. Shore now, boys, you'll see this +the right way? Jim, old pard?" + +"No, Laddy, an' I can't figger how you could ever ask me." + +"Shore then leave me here with Yaqui an' a could of the hosses. +We can eat sheep meat. An' if the water holds out--" + +"No!" interrupted Lash, violently. + +Ladd's eyes sought Gale's face. + +"Son, you ain't bull-headed like Jim. You'll see the sense of it. +There's Nell a-waitin' back at Forlorn River. Think what it means +to her! She's a damn fine girl, Dick, an' what right have you to +break her heart for an old worn-out cowpuncher? Think how she's +watchin' for you with that sweet face all sad an' troubled, an' +her eyes turnin' black. You'll go, son, won't you?" + +Dick shook his head. + +The ranger turned his gaze upon Thorne, and now the keen, glistening +light in his gray eyes had blurred. + +"Thorne, it's different with you. Jim's a fool, an' young Gale has +been punctured by choya thorns. He's got the desert poison in his +blood. But you now--you've no call to stick--you can find that +trail out. I'ts easy to follow, made by so many shod hosses. Take +your wife an' go....Shore you'll go, Thorne?" + +Deliberately and without an instant's hesitation the calvaryman +replied "No." + +Ladd then directed his appeal to Mercedes. His face was now +convulsed, and his voice, though it had sunk to a whisper, was +clear, and beautiful with some rich quality that Gale had never +heard in it. + +"Mercedes, you're a woman. You're the woman we fought for. An' +some of us are shore goin' to die for you. Don't make it all for +nothin'. Let us feel we saved the woman. Shore you can make Thorne +go. He'll have to go if you say. They'll all have to go. Think of +the years of love an' happiness in store for you. A week or so +an' it 'll be too late. Can you stand for me seein' you?...Let +me tell you, Mercedes, when the summer heat hits the lava we'll +all wither an' curl up like shavin's near a fire. A wind of hell +will blow up this slope. Look at them mesquites. See the twist +in them. That's the torture of heat an' thirst. Do you want me +or all us men seein'you like that?...Mercedes, don't make it all +for nothin'. Say you'll persuade Thorne, if not the others." + +For all the effect his appeal had to move her Mercedes might have +possessed a heart as hard and fixed as the surrounding lava. + +"Never!" + +White-faced, with great black eyes flashing, the Spanish girl +spoke the word that bound her and her companions in the desert. + +The subject was never mentioned again. Gale thought that he read +a sinister purpose in Ladd's mind. To his astonishment, Lash +came to him with the same fancy. After that they made certain +there never was a gun within reach of Ladd's clutching, clawlike +hands. + +Gradually a somber spell lifted from the ranger's mind. When he +was entirely free of it he began to gather strength daily. Then +it was as if he had never known patience--he who had shown so well +how to wait. He was in a frenzy to get well. He appetite could +not be satisfied. + +The sun climbed higher, whiter, hotter. At midday a wind from +gulfward roared up the arroyo, and now only palos verdes and the +few saguaros were green. Every day the water in the lava hole +sank an inch. + +The Yaqui alone spent the waiting time in activity. He made +trips up on the lava slope, and each time he returned with +guns or boots or sombreros, or something belonging to the +bandits that had fallen. He never fetched in a saddle or bridle, +and from that the rangers concluded Rojas's horses had long before +taken their back trail. What speculation, what consternation +those saddled horses would cause if they returned to Forlorn River! + +As Ladd improved there was one story he had to hear every day. It +was the one relating to what he had missed--the sight of Rojas +pursued and plunged to his doom. The thing had a morbid fascination +for the sick ranger. He reveled in it. He tortured Mercedes. +His gentleness and consideration, heretofore so marked, were in +abeyance to some sinister, ghastly joy. But to humor him Mercedes +racked her soul with the sensations she had sufferd when Rojas +hounded her out on the ledge; when she shot him; when she sprang +to throw herself over the precipice; when she fought him; when +with half-blinded eyes she looked up to see the merciless Yaqui +reaching for the bandit. Ladd fed his cruel longing with Thorne's +poignant recollections, with the keen, clear, never-to-be-forgotten +shocks to Gale's eye and ear. Jim Lash, for one at least, never +tired of telling how he had seen and heard the tragedy, and every +time in the telling it gathered some more tragic and gruesome +detail. Jim believed in satiating the ranger. Then in the +twilight, when the campfire burned, Ladd would try to get the +Yaqui to tell his side of the story. But this the Indian would +never do. There was only the expression of his fathomless eyes +and the set passion of his massive face. + +Those waiting days grew into weeks. Ladd gained very slowly. +Nevertheless, at last he could walk about, and soon he averred +that, strapped to a horse, he could last out the trip to Forlorn +River. + +There was rejoicing in camp, and plans were eagerly suggested. +The Yaqui happened to be absent. When he returned the rangers +told him they were now ready to undertake the journey back across +lava and cactus. + +Yaqui shook his head. They declared again their intention. + +"No!" replied the Indian, and his deep, sonorous voice rolled +out upon the quiet of the arroyo. He spoke briefly then. They +had waited too long. The smaller waterholes back in the trail +were dry. The hot summer was upon them. There could be only +death waiting down in the burning valley. Here was water and +grass and wood and shade from the sun's rays, and sheep to be +killed on the peaks. The water would hold unless the season was +that dreaded ano seco of the Mexicans. + +"Wait for rain," concluded Yaqui, and now as never before he +spoke as one with authority. "If no rain--" Silently he lifted +his hand. + + + +XVI + + +Mountain Sheep + +What Gale might have thought an appalling situation, if considered +from a safe and comfortable home away from the desert, became, now +that he was shut in by the red-ribbed lava walls and great dry +wastes, a matter calmly accepted as inevitable. So he imagined it +was accepted by the others. Not even Mercedes uttered a regret. +No word was spoken of home. If there was thought of loved one, +it was locked deep in their minds. In Mercedes there was no change +in womanly quality, perhaps because all she had to love was there +in the desert with her. + +Gale had often pondered over this singular change in character. +He had trained himself, in order to fight a paralyzing something +in the desert's influence, to oppose with memory and thought an +insidious primitive retrogression to what was scarcely consciousness +at all, merely a savage's instinct of sight and sound. He felt the +need now of redoubled effort. For there was a sheer happiness in +drifting. Not only was it easy to forget, it was hard to remember. +His idea was that a man laboring under a great wrong, a great crime, +a great passion might find the lonely desert a fitting place for +either remembrance or oblivion, according to the nature of his soul. +But an ordinary, healthy, reasonably happy mortal who loved the open +with its blaze of sun and sweep of wind would have a task to keep +from going backward to the natural man as he was before civilization. + +By tacit agreement Ladd again became the leader of the party. +Ladd was a man who would have taken all the responsibility +whether or not it was given him. In moments of hazard, of +uncertainty, Lash and Gale, even Belding, unconsciously looked to the +ranger. He had that kind of power. + +The first thing Ladd asked was to have the store of food that +remained spread out upon a tarpaulin. Assuredly, it was a slender +enough supply. The ranger stood for long moments gazing down at +it. He was groping among past experiences, calling back from his +years of life on range and desert that which might be valuable for +the present issue. It was impossible to read the gravity of Ladd's +face, for he still looked like a dead man, but the slow shake of +his head told Gale much. There was a grain of hope, however, in +the significance with which he touched the bags of salt and said, +"Shore it was sense packin' all that salt!" + +Then he turned to face his comrades. + +"That's little grub for six starvin' people corralled in the desert. +But the grub end ain't worryin' me. Yaqui can get sheep up the +slopes. Water! That's the beginnin' and middle an' end of our +case." + +"Laddy, I reckon the waterhole here never goes dry," replied Jim. + +"Ask the Indian." + +Upon being questioned, Yaqui repeated what he had said about the +dreaded ano seco of the Mexicans. In a dry year this waterhole +failed. + +"Dick, take a rope an' see how much water's in the hole." + +Gale could not find bottom with a thirty foot lasso. The water +was as cool, clear, sweet as if it had been kept in a shaded +iron receptable. + +Ladd welcomed this information with surprise and gladness. + +"Let's see. Last year was shore pretty dry. Mebbe this summer +won't be. Mebbe our wonderful good luck'll hld. Ask Yaqui if he +thinks it 'll rain." + +Mercedes questioned the Indian. + +"He says no man can tell surely. But he thinks the rain will +come," she replied. + +"Shore it 'll rain, you can gamble on that now," continued Ladd. +"If there's only grass for the hosses! We can't get out of here +without hosses. Dick, take the Indian an' scout down the arroyo. +To-day I seen the hosses were gettin' fat. Gettin' fat in this +desert! But mebbe they've about grazed up all the grass. Go an' +see, Dick. An' may you come back with more good news!" + +Gale, upon the few occasions when he had wandered down the arroyo, +had never gone far. The Yaqui said there was grass for the horses, +and until now no one had given the question more consideration. +Gale found that the arroyo widened as it opened. Near the head, +where it was narrow, the grass lined the course of the dry stream +bed. But farther down this stream bed spread out. There was every +indication that at flood seasons the water covered the floor of the +arroyo. The farther Gale went the thicker and larger grew the +gnarled mesquites and palo verdes, the more cactus and greasewood +there were, and other desert growths. Patches of gray grass grew +everywhere. Gale began to wonder where the horses were. Finally +the trees and brush thinned out, and a mile-wide gray plain +stretched down to reddish sand dunes. Over to one side were the +white horses, and even as Gale saw them both Blanco Diablo and +Sol lifted their heads and, with white manes tossing in the wind, +whistled clarion calls. Here was grass enough for many horses; +the arroyo was indeed an oasis. + +Ladd and the others were awaiting Gale's report, and they received +it with calmness, yet with a joy no less evident because it was +restrained. Gale, in his keen observation at the moment, found +that he and his comrades turned with glad eyes to the woman of +the party. + +"Senor Laddy, you think--you believe--we shall--" she faltered, +and her voice failed. It was the woman in her, weakening in the +light of real hope, of the happiness now possible beyond that +desert barrier. + +"Mercedes, no white man can tell what'll come to pass out here," +said Ladd, earnestly. "Shore I have hopes now I never dreamed of. +I was pretty near a dead man. The Indian saved me. Queer notions +have come into my head about Yaqui. I don't understand them. He +seems when you look at him only a squalid, sullen, vengeful savage. +But Lord! that's far from the truth. Mebbe Yaqui's different from +most Indians. He looks the same, though. Mebbe the trouble is we +white folks never knew the Indian. Anyway, Beldin' had it right. +Yaqui's our godsend. Now as to the future, I'd like to know mebbe +as well as you if we're ever to get home. Only bein' what I am, +I say, Quien sabe? But somethin' tells me Yaqui knows. Ask him, +Mercedes. Make him tell. We'll all be the better for knowin'. +We'd be stronger for havin' more'n our faith in him. He's silent +Indian, but make him tell." + +Mercedes called to Yaqui. At her bidding there was always a suggestion +of hurry, which otherwise was never manifest in his actions. She +put a hand on his bared muscular arm and began to speak in Spanish. +Her voice was low, swift, full of deep emotion, sweet as the sound +of a bell. It thrilled Gale, though he understood scarcely a word +she said. He did not need translation to know that here spoke the +longing of a woman for life, love, home, the heritage of a woman's +heart. + +Gale doubted his own divining impression. It was that the Yaqui +understood this woman's longing. In Gale's sight the Indian's +stoicism, his inscrutability, the lavalike hardness of his face, +although they did not change, seemed to give forth light, gentleness, +loyalty. For an instant Gale seemed to have a vision; but it did +not last, and he failed to hold some beautiful illusive thing. + +"Si!" rolled out the Indian's reply, full of power and depth. + +Mercedes drew a long breath, and her hand sought Thorne's. + +"He says yes," she whispered. "He answers he'll save us; he'll +take us all back--he knows!" + +The Indian turned away to his tasks, and the silence that held the +little group was finally broken by Ladd. + +"Shore I said so. Now all we've got to do is use sense. Friends, +I'm the commissary department of this outfit, an' what I say goes. +You all won't eat except when I tell you. Mebbe it'll not be so +hard to keep our health. Starved beggars don't get sick. But +there's the heat comin', an' we can all go loco, you know. To +pass the time! Lord, that's our problem. Now if you all only had +a hankerin' for checkers. Shore I'll make a board an' make you +play. Thorne, you're the luckiest. You've got your girl, an' this +can be a honeymoon. Now with a few tools an' little material see +what a grand house you can build for your wife. Dick, you're +lucky,too. You like to hunt, an' up there you'll find the finest +bighorn huntin' in the West. Take Yaqui and the .405. We need +the meat, but while you're gettin' it have your sport. The same +chance will never come again. I wish we all was able to go. But +crippled men can't climb the lava. Shore you'll see some country +from the peaks. There's no wilder place on earth, except the poles. +An' when you're older, you an' Nell, with a couple of fine boys, +think what it'll be to tell them about bein' lost in the lava, an' +huntin' sheep with a Yaqui. Shore I've hit it. You can take +yours out in huntin' an' thinkin'. Now if I had a girl like Nell +I'd never go crazy. That's your game, Dick. Hunt, an' think of +Nell, an' how you'll tell those fine boys about it all, an' about +the old cowman you knowed, Laddy, who'll by then be long past the +divide. Rustle now, son. Get some enthusiasm. For shore you'll +need it for yourself an' us. + +Gale climbed the lava slope, away round to the right of the arroyo, +along an old trail that Yaqui said the Papagos had made before his +own people had hunted there. Part way it led through spiked, +crested, upheaved lava that would have been almost impassable even +without its silver coating of choya cactus. There were benches +and ledges and ridges bare and glistening in the sun. From the +crests of these Yaqui's searching falcon gaze roved near and far +for signs of sheep, and Gale used his glass on the reaches of lava +that slanted steeply upward to the corrugated peaks, and down over +endless heave and roll and red-waved slopes. The heat smoked up +from the lava, and this, with the red color and the shiny choyas, +gave the impression of a world of smoldering fire. + +Farther along the slope Yaqui halted and crawled behind projections +to a point commanding a view over an extraordinary section of +country. The peaks were off to the left. In the foreground were +gullies, ridges, and canyons, arroyos, all glistening with choyas +and some other and more numerous white bushes, and here and there +towered a green cactus. This region was only a splintered and more +devastated part of the volcanic slope, but it was miles in extent. +Yaqui peeped over the top of a blunt block of lava and searched +the sharp-billowed wilderness. Suddenly he grasped Gale and +pointed across a deep wide gully. + +With the aid of his glass Gale saw five sheep. They were much +larger than he had expected, dull brown in color, and two of +them were rams with great curved horns. They were looking in his +direction. Remembering what he had heard about the wonderful +eyesight of these mountain animals, Gale could only conclude that +they had seen the hunters. + +Then Yaqui's movements attracted and interested him. The Indian +had brought with him a red scarf and a mesquite branch. He tied +the scarf to the stick, and propped this up in a crack of the lava. +The scarf waved in the wind. That done, the Indian bade Gale watch. + +Once again he leveled the glass at the sheep. All five were +motionless, standing like statues, heads pointed across the gully. +They were more than a mile distant. When Gale looked without his +glass they merged into the roughness of the lava. He was intensely +interested. Did the sheep see the red scarf? It seemed incredible, +but nothing else could account for that statuesque alertness. The +sheep held this rigid position for perhaps fifteen minutes. Then +the leading ram started to approach. The others followed. He +took a few steps, then halted. Always he held his head up, nose +pointed. + +"By George, they're coming!" exclaimed Gale. "They see that flag. +They're hunting us. They're curious. If this doesn't beat me!" + +Evidently the Indian understood, for he grunted. + +Gale found difficulty in curbing his impatience. The approach of +the sheep was slow. The advances of the leader and the intervals +of watching had a singular regularity. He worked like a machine. +Gale followed him down the opposite wall, around holes, across +gullies, over ridges. Then Gale shifted the glass back to find +the others. They were coming also, with exactly the same pace +and pause of their leader. What steppers they were! How +sure-footed! What leaps they made! It was thrilling to watch +them. Gale forgot he had a rifle. The Yaqui pressed a heavy hand +down upon his shoulder. He was to keep well hidden and to be quiet. +Gale suddenly conceived the idea that the sheep might come clear +across to investigate the puzzling red thing fluttering in the +breeze. Strange, indeed, would that be for the wildest creatures +in the world. + +The big ram led on with the same regular persistence, and in half +an hour's time he was in the bottom of the great gulf, and soon +he was facing up the slope. Gale knew then that the alluring +scarf had fascinated him. + +It was no longer necessary now for Gale to use his glass. There +was a short period when an intervening crest of lava hid the sheep +from view. After that the two rams and their smaller followers +were plainly in sight for perhaps a quarter of an hour. Then they +disappeared behind another ridge. Gale kept watching sure they +would come out farther on. A tense period of waiting passed, then +a suddenly electrifying pressure of Yaqui's hand made Gale tremble +with excitement. + +Very cautiously he shifted his position. There, not fifty feet +distant upon a high mound of lava, stood the leader of the sheep. +His size astounded Gale. He seemed all horns. But only for a +moment did the impression of horns overbalancing body remain with +Gale. The sheep was graceful, sinewy, slender, powerfully built, +and in poise magnificent. As Gale watched, spellbound, the second +ram leaped lightly upon the mound, and presently the three others +did likewise. + +Then, indeed, Gale feasted his eyes with a spectacle for a hunter. +It came to him suddenly that there had been something he expected +to see in this Rocky Mountain bighorn, and it was lacking. They +were beautiful, as wonderful as even Ladd's encomiums had led him +to suppose. He thought perhaps it was the contrast these soft, +sleek, short-furred, graceful animals afforded to what he imagined +the barren, terrible lava mountains might develop. + +The splendid leader stepped closer, his round, protruding amber +eyes, which Gale could now plainly see, intent upon that fatal +red flag. Like automatons the other four crowded into his tracks. +A few little slow steps, then the leader halted. + +At this instant Gale's absorbed attention was directed by Yaqui +to the rifle, and so to the purpose of the climb. A little cold +shock affronted Gale's vivid pleasure. With it dawned a realization +of what he had imagined was lacking in these animals. They did not +look wild! the so-called wildest of wild creatures appeared tamer +than sheep he had followed on a farm. It would be little less than murder +to kill them. Gale regretted the need of slaughter. Nevertheless, he could +not resist the desire to show himself and see how tame they really were. + +He reached for the .405, and as he threw a shell into the chamber +the slight metallic click made the sheep jump. Then Gale rose +quickly to his feet. + +The noble ram and his band simply stared at Gale. They had never +seen a man. They showed not the slightest indication of instinctive +fear. Curiosity, surprise, even friendliness, seemed to mark +their attitude of attention. Gale imagined that they were going +to step still closer. He did not choose to wait to see if this +were true. Certainly it already took a grim resolution to raise +the heavy .405. + +His shot killed the big leader. The others bounded away with +remarkable nimbleness. Gale used up the remaining four shells +to drop the second ram, and by the time he had reloaded the others +were out of range. + + + +The Yaqui's method of hunting was sure and deadly and saving of +energy, but Gale never would try it again. He chose to stalk the +game. This entailed a great expenditure of strength, the eyes +and lungs of a mountaineer, and, as Gale put it to Ladd, the need +of seven-league boots. After being hunted a few times and shot +at, the sheep became exceedingly difficult to approach. Gale +learned to know that their fame as the keenest-eyed of all animals +was well founded. If he worked directly toward a flock, crawling +over the sharp lava, always a sentinel ram espied him before he +got within range. The only method of attack that he found successful +was to locate sheep with his glass, work round to windward of +them, and then, getting behind a ridge or buttress, crawl like a +lizard to a vantage point. He failed often. The stalk called +forth all that was in him of endurance, cunning, speed. +As the days grew hotter he hunted in the early morning +hours and a while before the sun went down. More than one night +he lay out on the lava, with the great stars close overhead and +the immense void all beneath him. This pursuit he learned to love. +Upon those scarred and blasted slopes the wild spirit that was in +him had free rein. And like a shadow the faithful Yaqui tried +ever to keep at his heels. + +One morning the rising sun greeted him as he surmounted the higher +cone of the volcano. He saw the vastness of the east algow with a +glazed rosy whiteness, like the changing hue of an ember. At this +height there was a sweeping wind, still cool. The western slopes +of lava lay dark, and all that world of sand and gulf and mountain +barrier beyond was shrouded in the mystic cloud of distance. Gale +had assimilated much of the loneliness and the sense of ownership +and the love of lofty heights that might well belong to the great +condor of the peak. Like this wide-winged bird, he had an +unparalleled range of vision. The very corners whence came the +winds seemed pierced by Gale's eyes. + +Yaqui spied a flock of sheep far under the curved broken rim of +the main crater. Then began the stalk. Gale had taught the Yaqui +something--that speed might win as well as patient cunning. Keeping +out of sight, Gale ran over the spike-crusted lava, leaving the +Indian far behind. His feet were magnets, attracting supporting +holds and he passed over them too fast to fall. The wind, the keen +air of the heights, the red lava, the boundless surrounding blue, +all seemed to have something to do with his wildness. Then, hiding, +slipping, creeping, crawling, he closed in upon his quarry until +the long rifle grew like stone in his grip, and the whipping "spang" +ripped the silence, and the strange echo boomed deep in the crater, +and rolled around, as if in hollow mockery at the hopelessness of +escape. + +Gale's exultant yell was given as much to free himself of some +bursting joy of action as it was to call the slower Yaqui. +Then he liked the strange echoes. It was a maddening whirl of +sound that bored deeper and deeper along the whorled and caverned +walls of the crater. It was as if these aged walls resented the +violating of their silent sanctity. Gale felt himself a man, a +thing alive, something superior to all this savage, dead, upflung +world of iron, a master even of all this grandeur and sublimity +because he had a soul. + +He waited beside his quarry, and breathed deep, and swept the long +slopes with searching eyes of habit. + +When Yaqui came up they set about the hardest task of all, to pack +the best of that heavy sheep down miles of steep, ragged, +choya-covered lava. But even in this Gale rejoiced. The heat was +nothing, the millions of little pits which could hold and twist a +foot were nothing; the blade-edged crusts and the deep fissures and +the choked canyons and the tangled, dwarfed mesquites, all these +were as nothing but obstacles to be cheerfully overcome. Only the +choya hindered Dick Gale. + +When his heavy burden pulled him out of sure-footedness, and he +plunged into a choya, or when the strange, deceitful, uncanny, +almost invisible frosty thorns caught and pierced him, then there +was call for all of fortitude and endurance. For this cactus had +a malignant power of torture. Its pain was a stinging, blinding, +burning, sickening poison in the blood. If thorns pierced his +legs he felt the pain all over his body; if his hands rose from +a fall full of the barbed joints, he was helpless and quivering +till Yaqui tore them out. + +But this one peril, dreaded more than dizzy height of precipice +or sunblindness on the glistening peak, did not daunt Gale. His +teacher was the Yaqui, and always before him was an example that +made him despair of a white man's equality. Color, race, blood, +breeding--what were these in the wilderness? Verily, Dick Gale +had come to learn the use of his hands. + +So in a descent of hours he toiled down the lava slope, to stalk +into the arroyo like a burdened giant, wringing wet, panting, +clear-eyed and dark-faced, his ragged clothes and boots white +with choya thorns. + +The gaunt Ladd rose from his shaded seat, and removed his pipe from +smiling lips, and turned to nod at Jim, and then looked back again. + +The torrid summer heat came imperceptibly, or it could never have +been borne by white men. It changed the lives of the fugitives, +making them partly nocturnal in habit. The nights had the balmly +coolness of spring, and would have been delightful for sleep, but +that would have made the blazing days unendurable. + +The sun rose in a vast white flame. With it came the blasting, +withering wind from the gulf. A red haze, like that of earlier +sunsets, seemed to come sweeping on the wind, and it roared up +the arroyo, and went bellowing into the crater, and rushed on +in fury to lash the peaks. + +During these hot, windy hours the desert-bound party slept in +deep recesses in the lava; and if necessity brought them forth +they could not remain out long. the sand burned through boots, +and a touch of bare hand on lava raised a blister. + +A short while before sundown the Yaqui went forth to build a +campfire, and soon the others came out, heat-dazed, half +blinded, with parching throats to allay and hunger that was +never satisfied. A little action and a cooling of the air +revived them, and when night set in they were comfortable +round the campfire. + +As Ladd had said, one of their greatest problems was the +passing of time. The nights were interminably long, but +they had to be passed in work or play or dream--anything +except sleep. That was Ladd's most inflexible command. He gave +no reason. But not improbably the ranger thought that the terrific +heat of the day spend in slumber lessened a wear and strain, if +not a real danger of madness. + +Accordingly, at first the occupations of this little group were +many and various. They worked if they had something to do, or +could invent a pretext. They told and retold stories until all +were wearisome. They sang songs. Mercedes taught Spanish. They +played every game they knew. They invented others that were so +trivial children would scarcely have been interested, and these +they played seriously. In a word, with intelligence and passion, +with all that was civilized and human, they fought the ever-infringing +loneliness, the savage solitude of their environment. + +But they had only finite minds. It was not in reason to expect a +complete victory against this mighty Nature, this bounding horizon +of death and desolation and decay. Gradually they fell back upon +fewer and fewer occupations, until the time came when the silence +was hard to break. + +Gale believed himself the keenest of the party, the one who thought +most, and he watched the effect of the desert upon his companions. +He imagined that he saw Ladd grow old sitting round the campfire. +Certain it was that the ranger's gray hair had turned white. What +had been at times ahrd and cold and grim about him had strangely +vanished in sweet temper and a vacant-mindedness that held him +longer as the days passed. For hours, it seemed, Ladd would bend +over his checkerboard and never make a move. It mattered not now +whether or not he had a partner. He was always glad of being +spoken to, as if he were called back from vague region of mind. +Jim Lash, the calmest, coolest, most nonchalant, best-humored +Westerner Gale had ever met, had by slow degrees lost that cheerful +character which would have been of such infinite good to his +companions, and always he sat broding, silently brooding. Jim had +no ties, few memories, and the desert was claiming him. + +Thorne and Mercedes, however, were living, wonderful proof +that spirit, mind, and heart were free--free to soar in scorn +of the colossal barrenness and silence and space of that +terrible hedging prison of lava. They were young; they +loved; they were together; and the oasis was almost a paradise. +Gale believe he helped himself by watching them. Imagination had +never pictured real happiness to him. Thorne and Mercedes had +forgotten the outside world. If they had been existing on the +burned-out desolate moon they could hardly have been in a harsher, +grimmer, lonelier spot than this red-walled arroyo. But it might +have been statelier Eden than that of the primitive day. + +Mercedes grew thinner, until she was a slender shadow of her former +self. She became hard, brown as the rangers, lithe and quick as +a panther. She seemed to live on water and the air--perhaps, indeed, +on love. For of the scant fare, the best of which was continually +urged upon her, she partook but little. She reminded Gale of a +wild brown creature, free as the wind on the lava slopes. Yet, +despite the great change, her beauty remained undiminished. Her +eyes, seeming so much larger now in her small face, were great +black, starry gulfs. She was the life of that camp. Her smiles, +her rapid speech, her low laughter, her quick movements, her +playful moods with the rangers, the dark and passionate glance, +which rested so often on her lover, the whispers in the dusk as +hand in hand they paced the campfire beat--these helped Gale to +retain his loosening hold on reality, to resist the lure of a +strange beckoning life where a man stood free in the golden open, +where emotion was not, nor trouble, nor sickness, nor anything but +the savage's rest and sleep and action and dream. + +Although the Yaqui was as his shadow, Gale reached a point when +he seemed to wander alone at twilight, in the night, at dawn. Far +down the arroyo, in the deepening red twilight, when the heat +rolled away on slow-dying wind, Blanco Sol raised his splendid +head and whistled for his master. Gale reproached himself for +neglect of the noble horse. Blanco Sol was always the same. He +loved four things--his master, a long drink of cool water, to graze +at will, and to run. Time and place, Gale thought, meant little +to Sol if he could have those four things. Gale put his arm over +the great arched neck and laid his cheek against the long white +mane, and then even as he stood there forgot the horse. What was +the dull, red-tinged, horizon-wide mantle creeping up the slope? +Through it the copper sun glowed, paled, died. Was it only twilight? +Was it gloom? If he thought about it he had a feeling that it was +the herald of night and the night must be a vigil, and that made +him tremble. + +At night he had formed a habit of climbing up the lava slope as +far as the smooth trail extended, and there on a promontory he +paced to and fro, and watched the stars, and sat stone-still for +hours looking down at the vast void with its moving, changing +shadows. From that promontory he gazed up at a velvet-blue sky, +deep and dark, bright with millions of cold, distant, blinking +stars, and he grasped a little of the meaning of infinitude. He +gazed down into the shadows, which, black as they were and +impenetrable, yet have a conception of immeasurable space. + +Then the silence! He was dumb, he was awed, he bowed his head, +he trembled, he marveled at the desert silence. It was the one +thing always present. Even when the wind roared there seemed to +be silence. But at night, in this lava world of ashes and canker, +he waited for this terrible strangeness of nature to come to him +with the secret. He seemed at once a little child and a strong man, +and something very old. What tortured him was the incomprehensibility +that the vaster the space the greater the silence! At one moment +Gale felt there was only death here, and that was the secret; at +another he heard the slow beat of a mighty heart. + +He came at length to realize that the desert was a teacher. He +did not realize all that he had learned, but he was a different +man. And when he decided upon that, he was not thinking of the slow, +sure call to the primal instincts of man; he was thinking that the desert, +as much as he had experienced and no more, would absolutely overturn the +whole scale of a man's values, break old habits, form new ones, remake him. +More of desert experience, Gale believe, would be too much for intellect. +The desert did not breed civilized man, and that made Gale ponder over +a strange thought: after all, was the civilized man inferior to the savage? + +Yaqui was the answer to that. When Gale acknowledged this he always +remembered his present strange manner of thought. The past, the +old order of mind, seemed as remote as this desert world was from +the haunts of civilized men. A man must know a savage as Gale knew +Yaqui before he could speak authoritatively, and then something +stilled his tongue. In the first stage of Gale's observation of +Yaqui he had marked tenaciousness of life, stoicism, endurance, +strength. These were the attributes of the desert. But what of +that second stage wherein the Indian had loomed up a colossal +figure of strange honor, loyalty, love? Gale doubted his convictions +and scorned himself for doubting. + +There in the gloom sat the silent, impassive, inscrutable Yaqui. +His dark face, his dark eyes were plain in the light of the stars. +Always he was near Gale, unobtrusive, shadowy, but there. Why? +Gale absolutely could not doubt that the Indian had heart as well +as mind. Yaqui had from the very first stood between Gale and +accident, toil, peril. It was his own choosing. Gale could not +change him or thwart him. He understood the Indian's idea of +obligation and sacred duty. But there was more, and that baffled +Gale. In the night hours, alone on the slope, Gale felt in Yaqui, +as he felt the mighty throb of that desert pulse, a something that +drew him irresistibly to the Indian. Sometimes he looked around +to find the Indian, to dispel these strange, pressing thoughts +of unreality, and it was never in vain. + +Thus the nights passed, endlessly long, with Gale fighting for his +old order of thought, fighting the fascination of the infinite sky, +and the gloomy insulating whirl of the wide shadows, fighting for +belief, hope, prayer, fighting against that terrible ever-recurring +idea of being lost, lost, lost in the desert, fighting harder than +any other thing the insidious, penetrating, tranquil, unfeeling +self that was coming between him and his memory. + +He was losing the battle, losing his hold on tangible things, +losing his power to stand up under this ponderous, merciless weight +of desert space and silence. + +He acknowledged it in a kind of despair, and the shadows of the +night seemed whirling fiends. Lost! Lost! Lost! What are you +waiting for? Rain!. . . Lost! Lost! Lost in the desert! So the +shadows seemed to scream in voiceless mockery. + +At the moment he was alone on the promontory. The night was far +spent. A ghastly moon haunted the black volcanic spurs. The winds +blew silently. Was he alone? No. he did not seem to be alone. +The Yaqui was there. Suddenly a strange, cold sensation crept over +Gale. It was new. He felt a presence. Turning, he expected to +see the Indian, but instead, a slight shadow, pale, almost white, +stood there, not close nor yet distant. It seemed to brighten. +Then he saw a woman who resembled a girl he had seemed to know long +ago. She was white-faced, golden-haired, and her lips were sweet, +and her eyes were turning black. Nell! He had forgotten her. +Over him flooded a torrent of memory. There was tragic woe in this +sweet face. Nell was holding out her arms--she was crying aloud +to him across the sand and the cactus and the lava. She was in +trouble, and he had been forgetting. + +That night he climbed the lava to the topmost cone, and never +slipped on a ragged crust nor touched a choya thorn. A voice +called to him. He saw Nell's eyes in the stars, in the velvet +blue of sky, in the blackness of the engulfing shadows. +She was with him, a slender shape, a spirit, keeping step +with him, and memory was strong, sweet, beating, beautiful. +Far down in the west, faintly golden with light of the sinking moon, +he saw a cloud that resembled her face. A cloud on the desert horizon! +He gazed and gazed. Was that a spirit face like the one by his +side? No--he did not dream. + + + +In the hot, sultry morning Yaqui appeared at camp, after long hours +of absence, and he pointed with a long, dark arm toward the west. +A bank of clouds was rising above the mountain barrier. + +"Rain!" he cried; and his sonorous voice rolled down the arroyo. + +Those who heard him were as shipwrecked mariners at sight of a +distant sail. + + + +Dick Gale, silent, grateful to the depths of his soul, stood with +arm over Blanco Sol and watched the transforming west, where +clouds of wonderous size and hue piled over one another, rushing, +darkening, spreading, sweeping upward toward that white and glowing +sun. + +When they reached the zenish and swept round to blot out the blazing +orb, the earth took on a dark, lowering aspect. The red of sand +and lava changed to steely gray. Vast shadows, like ripples on +water, sheeted in from the gulf with a low, strange moan. Yet +the silence was like death. The desert was awaiting a strange +and hated visitation--storm! If all the endless torrid days, the +endless mystic nights had seemed unreal to Gale, what, then, seemed +this stupendous spectacle? + +"Oh! I felt a drop of rain on my face!" cried Mercedes; and +whispering the name of a saint, she kissed her husband. + +The white-haired Ladd, gaunt, old, bent, looked up at the maelstrom +of clouds, and he said, softly, "Shore we'll get in the hosses, +an' pack light, an' hit the trail, an' make night marches!" + +Then up out of the gulf of the west swept a bellowing wind and a +black pall and terrible flashes of lightning and thunder like the +end of the world--fury, blackness, chaos, the desert storm. + + + + +XVII + + + +The Whistle Of A Horse + +At the ranch-house at Forlorn River Belding stood alone in his +darkened room. It was quiet there and quiet outside; the sickening +midsummer heat, like a hot heavy blanket, lay upon the house. + +He took up the gun belt from his table and with slow hands buckled +it around his waist. He seemed to feel something familiar and +comfortable and inspiring in the weight of the big gun against +his hip. He faced the door as if to go out, but hesitated, and +then began a slow, plodding walk up and down the length of the +room. Presently he halted at the table, and with reluctant hands +he unbuckled the gun belt and laid it down. + +The action did not have an air of finality, and Belding knew it. +He had seen border life in Texas in the early days; he had been +a sheriff when the law in the West depended on a quickness of +wrist; he had seen many a man lay down his gun for good and all. +His own action was not final. Of late he had done the same thing +many times and this last time it seemed a little harder to do, a +little more indicative of vacillation. There were reasons why +Belding's gun held for him a gloomy fascination. + +The Chases, those grasping and conscienceless agents of a new force +in the development of the West, were bent upon Belding's ruin, +and so far as his fortunes at Forlorn River were concerned, had +almost accomplished it. One by one he lost points for which he +contended with them. He carried into the Tucson courts the matter +of the staked claims, and mining claims, and water claims, and he +lost all. Following that he lost his government position as inspector +of immigration; and this fact, because of what he considered its +injustice, had been a hard blow. He had been made to suffer a +humiliation equally as great. It came about that he actually had +to pay the Chases for water to irrigate his alfalfa fields. The +never-failing spring upon his land answered for the needs of +household and horses, but no more. + +These matters were unfortunate for Belding, but not by any means +wholly accountable for his worry and unhappiness and brooding hate. +He believed Dick Gale and the rest of the party taken into the +desert by the Yaqui had been killed or lost. Two months before +a string of Mexican horses, riderless, saddled, starved for grass +and wild for water, had come in to Forlorn River. They were a part +of the horses belonging to Rojas and his band. Their arrival +complicated the mystery and strengthened convictions of the loss +of both pursuers and pursued. Belding was wont to say that he had +worried himself gray over the fate of his rangers. + +Belding's unhappiness could hardly be laid to material loss. He +had been rich and was now poor, but change of fortune such as that +could not have made him unhappy. Something more somber and +mysterious and sad than the loss of Dick Gale and their friends had +come into the lives of his wife and Nell. He dated the time of +this change back to a certain day when Mrs. Belding recognized in +the elder Chase an old schoolmate and a rejected suitor. It took +time for slow-thinking Belding to discover anything wrong in his +household, especially as the fact of the Gales lingering there +made Mrs. Belding and Nell, for the most part, hide their read +and deeper feelings. Gradually, however, Belding had forced on +him the fact of some secret cause for grief other than Gale's loss. +He was sure of it when his wife signified her desire to make a +visit to her old home back in Peoria. She did not give many reasons, +but she did show him a letter that had found its way from +old friends. This letter contained news that may or may not have +been authentic; but it was enough, Belding thought, to interest +his wife. An old prospector had returned to Peoria, and he had told +relatives of meeting Robert Burton at the Sonoyta Oasis fifteen +years before, and that Burton had gone into the desert never to +return. To Belding this was no surprise, for he had heard that +before his marriage. There appeared to have been no doubts as to +the death of his wife's first husband. The singular thing was that +both Nell's father and grandfather had been lost somewhere in the +Sonora Desert. + +Belding did not oppose his wife's desire to visit her old home. +He thought it would be a wholesome trip for her, and did all in his +power to persuade Nell to accompany her. But Nell would not go. + +It was after Mrs. Belding's departure that Belding discovered in +Nell a condition of mind that amazed and distressed him. She had +suddenly become strangely wretched, so that she could not conceal +it from even the Gales, who, of all people, Belding imagined, were +the ones to make Nell proud. She would tell him nothing. But +after a while, when he had thought it out, he dated this further +and more deplorable change in Nell back to a day on which he had +met Nell with Radford Chase. This indefatigable wooer had not +in the least abandoned his suit. Something about the fellow made +Belding grind his teeth. But Nell grew not only solicitously, +but now strangely, entreatingly earnest in her importunities to +Belding not ot insult or lay a hand on Chase. This had bound +Belding so far; it had made him think and watch. He had never +been a man to interfere with his women folk. They could do as +they liked, and usually that pleased him. But a slow surprise +gathered and grew upon him when he saw that Nell, apparently, +was accepting young Chase's attentions. At least, she no longer +hid from him. Belding could not account for this, because he was +sure Nell cordially despised the fellow. And toward the end +he divined, if he did not actually know, that these Chases +possessed some strange power over Nell, and were using it. +That stirred a hate in Belding--a hate he had felt at the very first +and had manfully striven against, and which now gave him over to +dark brooding thoughts. + +Midsummer passed, and the storms came late. But when they arrived +they made up for tardiness. Belding did not remember so terrible +a storm of wind and rain as that which broke the summer's drought. + +In a few days, it seemed, Altar Valley was a bright and green expanse, +where dust clouds did not rise. Forlorn River ran, a slow, heavy, +turgid torrent. Belding never saw the river in flood that it did +not give him joy; yet now, desert man as he was, he suffered a +regret when he thought of the great Chase reservoir full and +overflowing. The dull thunder of the spillway was not pleasant. It +was the first time in his life that the sound of falling water +jarred upon him. + +Belding noticed workmen once more engaged in the fields bounding +his land. The Chases had extended a main irrigation ditch down +to Belding's farm, skipped the width of his ground, then had gone +on down through Altar Valley. They had exerted every influence to +obtain right to connect these ditches by digging through his land, +but Belding had remained obdurate. He refused to have any dealings +with them. It was therefore with some curiosity and suspicion that +he was a gang of Mexicans once more at work upon these ditches. + +At daylight next morning a tremendous blast almost threw Belding +out of his bed. It cracked the adobe walls of his house and broke +windows and sent pans and crockery to the floor with a crash. +Belding's idea was that the store of dynamite kept by the Chases +for blasting had blown up. Hurriedly getting into his clothes, he +went to Nell's room to reassure her; and, telling her to have a +thought for their guests, he went out to see what had happened. + +The villagers were pretty badly frightened. Many of the poorly +constructed adobe huts had crumbled almost into dust. A great +yellow cloud, like smoke, hung over the river. This appeared +to be at the upper end of Belding's plot, and close to the river. +When he reached his fence the smoke and dust were so thick he +could scarcely breathe, and for a little while he was unable to +see what had happened. Presently he made out a huge hole in the +sand just abut where the irrigation ditch had stopped near his +line. For some reason or other, not clear to Belding, the Mexicans +had set off an extraordinarily heavy blast at that point. + +Belding pondered. He did not now for a moment consider an accidental +discharge of dynamite. But why had this blast been set off? The +loose sandy soil had yielded readily to shovel; there were no rocks; +as far as construction of a ditch was concerned such a blast +would have odne more harm than good. + +Slowly, with reluctant feet, Belding walked toward a green hollow, +where in a cluster of willows lay the never-failing spring that +his horses loved so well, and, indeed, which he loved no less. +He was actually afraid to part the drooping willows to enter the +little cool, shady path that led to the spring. Then, suddenly +seized by suspense, he ran the rest of the way. + +He was just in time to see the last of the water. It seemed to sink +as in quicksand. The shape of the hole had changed. The tremendous +force of the blast in the adjoining field had obstructed or diverted +the underground stream of water. + +Belding's never-failing spring had been ruined. What had made +this little plot of ground green and sweet and fragrant was now +no more. Belding's first feeling was for the pity of it. The +pale Ajo lilies would bloom no more under those willows. The +willows themselves would soon wither and die. He thought how many +times in the middle of hot summer nights he had come down to the +spring to drink. Never again! + +Suddenly he thought of Blanco Diablo. How the great white +thoroughbred had loved this spring! Belding straightened up and +looked with tear-blurred eyes out over the waste of desert to the +west. Never a day passed that he had not thought of the splendid +horse; but this moment, with its significant memory, was doubly +keen, and there came a dull pang in his breast. + +"Diablo will never drink here again!" muttered Belding. + +The loss of Blanco Diablo, though admitted and mourned by Belding, +had never seemed quite real until this moment. + +The pall of dust drifting over him, the din of the falling water up +at the dam, diverted Belding's mind to the Chases. All at once he +was in the harsh grip of a cold certainty. The blast had been set +off intentionally to ruin his spring. What a hellish trick! No +Westerner, no Indian or Mexican, no desert man could have been +guilty of such a crime. To ruin a beautiful, clear, cool, never-failing +stream of water in the desert! + +It was then that Belding's worry and indecision and brooding were +as if they had never existed. As he strode swiftly back to the +house, his head, which had long been bent thoughtfully and sadly, +was held erect. He went directly to his room, and with an air +that was now final he buckled on his gun belt. He looked the gun +over and tried the action. He squared himself and walked a little +more erect. Some long-lost individuality had returned to Belding. + +"Let's see," he was saying. "I can get Carter to send the horses +I've left back to Waco to my brother. I'll make Nell take what +money there is and go hunt up her mother. The Gales are ready +to go--to-day, if I say the word. Nell can travel with them part +way East. That's your game, Tom Belding, don't mistake me." + +As he went out he encountered Mr. Gale coming up the walk. The +long sojourn at Forlorn River, despite the fact that it had been +laden with a suspense which was gradually changing to a sad certainty, +had been of great benefit to Dick's father. The dry air, the heat, +and the quiet had made him, if not entirely a well man, certainly stronger +than he had been in many years. + +"Belding, what was that terrible roar?" asked Mr. Gale. "We were +badly frightened until Miss Nell came to us. We feared it was an +earthquake." + +"Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Gale, we've had some quakes here, but +none of them could hold a candle to this jar we just had." + +Then Belding explained what had caused the explosion, and why it +had been set off so close to his property. + +"It's an outrage, sir, an unspeakable outrage," declared Mr. Gale, +hotly. "Such a thing would not be tolerated in the East. Mr. +Belding, I'm amazed at your attitude in the face of all this +trickery." + +"You see--there was mother and Nell," began Belding, as if apologizing. +He dropped his head a little and made marks in the sand with the +toe of his boot. "Mr. Gale, I've been sort of half hitched, as +Laddy used to say. I'm planning to have a little more elbow room +round this ranch. I'm going to send Nell East to her mother. Then +I'll-- See here, Mr. Gale, would you mind having Nell with you +part way when you go home?" + +"We'd all be delighted to have her go all the way and make us a +visit," replied Mr. Gale. + +"That's fine. And you'll be going soon? Don't take that as if I +wanted to--" Belding paused, for the truth was that he did want +to hurry them off. + +"We would have been gone before this, but for you," said Mr. Gale. +"Long ago we gave up hope of--of Richard ever returning. And I +believe, now we're sure he was lost, that we'd do well to go home +at once. You wished us to remain until the heat was broken--till +the rains came to make traveling easier for us. Now I see no +need for further delay. My stay here has greatly benefited my +health. I shall never forget your hospitality. This Western trip +would have made me a new man if--only--Richard--" + +"Sure. I understand," said Belding, gruffly. "Let's go in and +tell the women to pack up." + +Nell was busy with the servants preparing breakfast. Belding +took her into the sitting-room while Mr. Gale called his wife +and daughter. + +"My girl, I've some news for you," began Belding. "Mr. Gale is +leaving to-day with his family. I'm going to send you with +them--part way, anyhow. You're invited to visit them. I think +that 'd be great for you--help you to forget. But the main thing +is--you're going East to join mother." + +Nell gazed at him, white-faced, without uttering a word. + +"You see, Nell, I'm about done in Forlorn River," went on Belding. +"That blast this morning sank my spring. There's no water now. +It was the last straw. So we'll shake the dust of Forlorn River. +I'll come on a little later--that's all." + +"Dad, you're packing your gun!" exclaimed Nell, suddenly pointing +with a trembling finger. She ran to him, and for the first time +in his life Belding put her away from him. His movements had lost +the old slow gentleness. + +"Why, so I am," replied Belding, coolly, as his hand moved down +to the sheath swinging at his hip. "Nell, I'm that absent-minded +these days!" + +"Dad!" she cried. + +"That'll do from you," he replied, in a voice he had never used +to her. "Get breakfast now, then pack to leave Forlorn River." + +"Leave Forlorn River!" whispered Nell, with a thin white hand +stealing up to her breast. How changed the girl was! Belding +reproached himself for his hardness, but did not speak his thought +aloud. Nell was fading here, just as Mercedes had faded before +the coming of Thorne. + +Nell turned away to the west window and looked out +across the desert toward the dim blue peaks in the distance. +Belding watched her; likewise the Gales; and no one spoke. +There ensued a long silence. Belding felt a lump rise in his +throat. Nell laid her arm against the window frame, but gradually +it dropped, and she was leaning with her face against the wood. +A low sob broke from her. Elsie Gale went to her, embraced her, +took the drooping head on her shoulder. + +"We've come to be such friends," she said. "I believe it'll be +good for you to visit me in the city. Here--all day you look out +across that awful lonely desert....Come, Nell." + +Heavy steps sounded outside on the flagstones, then the door rattled +under a strong knock. Belding opened it. The Chases, father and +son, stood beyond the threshold. + +"Good morning, Belding," said the elder Chase. "We were routed +out early by that big blast and came up to see what was wrong. All +a blunder. The Greaser foreman was drunk yesterday, and his +ignorant men made a mistake. Sorry if the blast bothered you." + +"Chase, I reckon that's the first of your blasts I was ever glad +to hear," replied Belding, in a way that made Chase look blank. + +"So? Well, I'm glad you're glad," he went on, evidently puzzled. +"I was a little worried--you've always been so touchy--we never +could get together. I hurried over, fearing maybe you might think +the blast--you see, Belding--" + +"I see this, Mr. Ben Chase," interrupted Belding, in curt and +ringing voice. "That blast was a mistake, the biggest you ever +made in your life." + +"What do you mean?" demanded Chase. + +"You'll have to excuse me for a while, unless you're dead set on +having it out right now. Mr. Gale and his family are leaving, and +my daughter is going with them. I'd rather you'd wait a little." + +"Nell going away!" exclaimed Radford Chase. He reminded Belding +of an overgrown boy in disappointment. + +"Yes. But--Miss Burton to you, young man--" + +"Mr. Belding, I certainly would prefer a conference with you right +now," interposed the elder Chase, cutting short Belding's strange +speech. "There are other matters--important matters to discuss. +They've got to be settled. May we step in, sir?" + +"No, you may not," replied Belding, bluntly. "I'm sure particular +who I invite into my house. But I'll go with you." + +Belding stepped out and closed the door. "Come away from the house +so the women won't hear the--the talk." + +The elder Chase was purple with rage, yet seemed to be controlling +it. The younger man looked black, sullen, impatient. He appeared +not to have a thought of Belding. He was absolutely blind to the +situation, as considered from Belding's point of view. Ben Chase +found his voice about the time Belding halted under the trees out +of earshot from the house. + +"Sir, you've insulted me--my son. How dare you? I want you to +understand that you're--" + +"Chop that kind of talk with me, you ------- ------- ------- -------!" +interrupted Belding. He had always been profane, and now he +certainly did not choose his language. Chase turned livid, gasped, +and seemed about to give way to fury. But something about Belding +evidently exerted a powerful quieting influence. "If you talk +sense I'll listen," went on Belding. + +Belding was frankly curious. He did not think any argument or +inducement offerd by Chase could change his mind on past dealings +or his purpose of the present. But he believed by listening he +might get some light on what had long puzzled him. The masterly +effort Chase put forth to conquer his aroused passions gave Belding +another idea of the character of this promoter. + +"I want to make a last effort to propitiate you," began +Chase, in his quick, smooth voice. That was a singular change to +Belding--the dropping instantly into an easy flow of speech. +"You've had losses here, and naturally you're sore. I don't blame +you. But you can't see this thing from my side of the fence. +Business is business. In business the best man wins. The law +upheld those transactions of mine the honesty of which you questioned. +As to mining and water claims, you lost on this technical point--that +you had nothing to prove you had held them for five years. Five +years is the time necessary in law. A dozen men might claim the +source of Forlorn River, but if they had no house or papers to +prove their squatters' rights any man could to in and fight them +for the water. ....Now I want to run that main ditch along the +river, through your farm. Can't we make a deal? I'm ready to be +liberal--to meet you more than halfway. I'll give you an interest +in the company. I think I've influence enough up at the Capitol +to have you reinstated as inspector. A little reasonableness on +your part will put you right again in Forlorn River, with a chance +of growing rich. There's a big future here....My interest, Belding, +has become personal. Radford is in love with your step-daughter. +He wants to marry her. I'll admit now if I had foreseen this +situation I wouldn't have pushed you so hard. But we can square +the thing. Now let's get together not only in business, but in +a family way. If my son's happiness depends upon having this girl, +you may rest assured I'll do all I can to get her for him. I'll +absolutely make good all your losses. Now what do you say?" + +"No," replied Belding. "Your money can't buy a right of way across +my ranch. And Nell doesn't want your son. That settles that." + +"But you could persuade her." + +"I won't, that's all." + +"May I ask why?" Chases's voice was losing its suave quality, but +it was even swifter than before. + +"Sure. I don't mind your asking," replied Belding in slow +deliberation. "I wouldn't do such a low-down trick. Besides, if +I would, I'd want it to be a man I was persuading for. I know +Greasers--I know a Yaqui I'd rather give Nell to than your son." + +Radford Chase began to roar in inarticulate rage. Belding paid no +attention to him; indeed, he never glanced at the young man. The +elder Chase checked a violent start. He plucked at the collar of +his gray flannel shirt, opened it at the neck. + +"My son's offer of marriage is an honor--more an honor, sir, than +you perhaps are aware of." + +Belding made no reply. His steady gaze did not turn from the long +lane that led down to the river. He waited coldly, sure of himself. + +"Mrs. Belding's daughter has no right to the name of Burton," +snapped Chase. "Did you know that?" + +"I did not," replied Belding, quietly. + +"Well, you know it now," added Chase, bitingly. + +"Sure you can prove what you say?" queried Belding, in the same +cool, unemotional tone. It struck him strangely at the moment what +little knowledge this man had of the West and of Western character. + +"Prove it? Why, yes, I think so, enough to make the truth plain +to any reasonable man. I come from Peoria--was born and raised +there. I went to school with Nell Warren. That was your wife's +maiden name. She was a beautiful, gay girl. All the fellows +were in love with her. I knew Bob Burton well. He was a splendid +fellow, but wild. Nobody ever knew for sure, but we all supposed +he was engaged to marry Nell. He left Peoria, however, and soon +after that the truth about Nell came out. She ran away. It was +at least a couple of months before Burton showed up in Peoria. +He did not stay long. Then for years nothing was heard of either +of them. When word did come Nell was in Oklahoma, Burton was in Denver. +There's chance, of course, that Burton followed Nell and married her. +That would account for Nell Warren taking the name of Burton. But it +isn't likely. None of us ever heard of such a thing and wouldn't have +believed it if we had. The affair seemed destined to end unfortunately. +But Belding, while I'm at it, I want to say that Nell Warren was one of +the sweetest, finest, truest girls in the world. If she drifted to +the Southwest and kept her past a secret that was only natural. +Certainly it should not be held against her. Why, she was only +a child--a girl--seventeen--eighteen years old....In a moment of +amazement--when I recognized your wife as an old schoolmate--I +blurted the thing out to Radford. You see now how little it matters +to me when I ask your stepdaughter's hand in marriage for my son." + +Belding stood listening. The genuine emotion in Chase's voice was +as strong as the ring of truth. Belding knew truth when he heard +it. The revelation did not surprise him. Belding did not soften, +for he devined that Chase's emotion was due to the probing of an +old wound, the recalling of a past both happy and painful. Still, +human nature was so strange that perhaps kindness and sympathy +might yet have a place in this Chase's heart. Belding did not +believe so, but he was willing to give Chase the benefit of the +doubt. + +"So you told my wife you'd respect her secret--keep her dishonor +from husband and daughter?" demanded Belding, his dark gaze +sweeping back from the lane. + +"What! I--I" stammered Chase. + +"You made your son swear to be a man and die before he'd hint the +thing to Nell?" went on Belding, and his voice rang louder. + +Ben Chase had no answer. The red left his face. His son slunk +back against the fence. + +"I say you never held this secret over the heads of my wife and +her daughter?" thundered Belding. + +He had his answer in the gray faces, in the lips that fear +made mute. Like a flash Belding saw the whole truth of Mrs. +Belding's agony, the reason for her departure; he saw what had +been driving Nell; and it seemed that all the dogs of hell were +loosed within his heart. He struck out blindly, instinctively in +his pain, and the blow sent Ben Chase staggering into the fence +corner. Then he stretched forth a long arm and whirled Radford +Chase back beside his father. + +"I see it all now," went on Belding, hoarsely. "You found the +woman's weakness--her love for the girl. You found the girl's +weakness--her pride and fear of shame. So you drove the one and +hounded the other. God, what a base thing to do! To tell the +girl was bad enough, but to threaten her with betrayal; there's +no name for that!" + +Belding's voice thickened, and he paused, breathing heavily. He +stepped back a few paces; and this, an ominous action for an armed +man of his kind, instead of adding to the fear of the Chases, seemed +to relieve them. If there had been any pity in Belding's heart he +would have felt it then. + +"And now, gentlemen," continued Belding, speaking low and with +difficulty, "seeing I've turned down your proposition, I suppose +you think you've no more call to keep your mouths shut?" + +The elder Chase appeared fascinated by something he either saw or +felt in Belding, and his gray face grew grayer. He put up a shaking +hand. Then Radford Chase, livid and snarling, burst out: "I'll talk +till I'm black in the face. You can't stop me!" + +"You'll go black in the face, but it won't be from talking," hissed +Belding. + +His big arm swept down, and when he threw it up the gun glittered +in his hand. Simultaneously with the latter action pealed out a +shrill, penetrating whistle. + +The whistle of a horse! It froze Belding's arm aloft. +For an instant he could not move even his eyes. The familiarity +of that whistle was terrible in its power to rob him of strength. +Then he heard the rapid, heavy pound of hoofs, and again +the piercing whistle. + +"Blanco Diablo!" he cried, huskily. + +He turned to see a huge white horse come thundering into the yard. +A wild, gaunt, terrible horse; indeed, the loved Blanco Diablo. +A bronzed, long-haired Indian bestrode him. More white horses +galloped into the yard, pounded to a halt, whistling home. Belding +saw a slim shadow of a girl who seemed all great black eyes. + +Under the trees flashed Blanco Sol, as dazzling white, as beautiful +as if he had never been lost in the desert. He slid to a halt, then +plunged and stamped. His rider leaped, throwing the bridle. Belding +saw a powerful, spare, ragged man, with dark, gaunt face and eyes +of flame. + +Then Nell came running from the house, her golden hair flying, her +hands outstretched, her face wonderful. + +"Dick! Dick! Oh-h-h, Dick!" she cried. Her voice seemed to quiver +in Belding's heart. + +Belding's eyes began to blur. He was not sure he saw clearly. +Whose face was this now close before him--a long thin, shrunken +face, haggard, tragic in its semblance of torture, almost of +death? But the eyes were keen and kind. Belding thought wildly +that they proved he was not dreaming. + +"I shore am glad to see you all," said a well-remembered voice +in a slow, cool drawl. + + + +XVIII + + + +Reality Against Dreams + +Ladd, Lash, Thorne, Mercedes, they were all held tight in Belding's +arms. Then he ran to Blanco Diablo. For once the great horse was +gentle, quiet, glad. He remembered this kindest of masters and +reached for him with warm, wet muzzle. + +Dick Gale was standing bowed over Nell's slight form, almost +hidden in his arms. Belding hugged them both. He was like a boy. +He saw Ben Chase and his son slip away under the trees, but the +circumstances meant nothing to him then. + +"Dick! Dick!" he roared. "Is it you?...Say, who do you think's +here--here, in Forlorn River?" + +Gale gripped Belding with a hand as rough and hard as a file and +as strong as a vise. But he did not speak a word. Belding thought +Gale's eyes would haunt him forever. + +It was then three more persons came upon the scene--Elsie Gale, +running swiftly, her father assisting Mrs. Gale, who appeared +about to faint. + +"Belding! Who on earth's that?" cried Dick Hoarsely. + +"Quien sabe, my son," replied Belding; and now his voice seemed +a little shaky. "Nell, come here. Give him a chance." + +Belding slipped his arm round Nell, and whispered in her ear. +"This 'll be great!" + +Elsie Gale's face was white and agitated, a face expressing extreme joy. + +"Oh, brother! Mama saw you--Papa saw you, and + +never knew you! But I knew you when you jumped quick--that way--off +your horse. And now I don't know you. You wild man! You giant! +You splendid barbarian!...Mama, Papa, hurry! It is Dick! Look +at him. Just look at him! Oh-h, thank God!" + +Belding turned away and drew Nell with him. In another second +she and Mercedes were clasped in each other's arms. Then followed +a time of joyful greetings all round. + +The Yaqui stood leaning against a tree watching the welcoming home +of the lost. No one seemed to think of him, until Belding, ever +mindful of the needs of horses, put a hand on Blanco Diablo and +called to Yaqui to bring the others. They led the string of whites +down to the barn, freed them of wet and dusty saddles and packs, +and turned them loose in the alfalfa, now breast-high. Diablo +found his old spirit; Blanco Sol tossed his head and whistled +his satisfaction; White Woman pranced to and fro; and presently +they all settled down to quiet grazing. How good it was for +Belding to see those white shapes against the rich background +of green! His eyes glistened. It was a sight he had never expected +to see again. He lingered there many moments when he wanted to +hurry back to his rangers. + +At last he tore himself away from watching Blanco Diablo and +returned to the house. It was only to find that he might have +spared himself the hurry. Jim and Ladd were lying on the beds +that had not held them for so many months. Their slumber seemed +as deep and quiet as death. Curiously Belding gazed down upon them. +They had removed only boots and chaps. Their clothes were in +tatters. Jim appeared little more than skin and bones, a long +shape, dark and hard as iron. Ladd's appearance shocked Belding. +The ranger looked an old man, blasted, shriveled, starved. Yet +his gaunt face, though terrible in its records of tortures, had +something fine and noble, even beautiful to Belding, in its +strength, its victory. + +Thorne and Mercedes had disappeared. The low murmur of voices +came from Mrs. Gale's room, and Belding concluded that Dick was +still with his family. No doubt he, also, would soon seek rest +and sleep. Belding went through the patio and called in at Nell's +door. She was there sitting by her window. The flush of happiness +had not left her face, but she looked stunned, and a shadow of fear +lay dark in her eyes. Belding had intended to talk. He wanted +some one to listen to him. The expression in Nell's eyes , however, +silenced him. He had forgotten. Nell read his thought in his +face, and then she lost all her color and dropped her head. Belding +entered, stood beside her with a hand on hers. He tried desperately +hard to think of the right thing to say, and realized so long as +he tried that he could not speak at all. + +"Nell--Dick's back safe and sound," he said, slowly. "That's the +main thing. I wish you could have seen his eyes when he held you +in his arms out there....Of course, Dick's coming knocks out your +trip East and changes plans generally. We haven't had the happiest +time lately. But now it 'll be different. Dick's as true as a +Yaqui. He'll chase that Chase fellow, don't mistake me....Then +mother will be home soon. She'll straighten out this--this mystery. +And Nell--however it turns out--I know Dick Gale will feel just the +same as I feel. Brace up now, girl." + +Belding left the patio and traced thoughtful steps back toward the +corrals. He realized the need of his wife. If she had been at +home he would not have come so close to killing two men. Nell +would never have fallen so low in spirit. Whatever the real truth +of the tragedy of his wife's life, it would not make the slightest +difference to him. What hurt him was the pain mother and daughter +had suffered, were suffering still. Somehow he must put an end +to that pain. + +He found the Yaqui curled up in a corner of the barn in as deep +a sleep as that of the rangers. Looking down at him, Belding +felt again the rush of curious thrilling eagerness to learn all +that had happened since the dark night when Yaqui had led the +white horses away into the desert. Belding curbed his +impatience and set to work upon tasks he had long neglected. +Presently he was interrupted by Mr. Gale, who came out, beside +himself with happiness and excitement. He flung a hundred questions +at Belding and never gave him time to answer one, even if that had +been possible. Finally, when Mr. Gale lost his breath, Belding +got a word in. "See here, Mr. Gale, you know as much as I know. +Dick's back. They're all back--a hard lot, starved, burned, torn +to pieces, worked out to the limit I never saw in desert travelers, +but they're alive--alive and well, man! Just wait. Just gamble +I won't sleep or eat till I hear that story. But they've got to +sleep and eat." + +Belding gathered with growing amusement that besides the joy, +excitement, anxiety, impatience expressed by Mr. Gale there was +something else which Belding took for pride. It pleased him. Looking +back, he remembered some of the things Dick had confessed his +father thought of him. Belding's sympathy had always been with the +boy. But he had learned to like the old man, to find him kind +and wise, and to think that perhaps college and business had not +brought out the best in Richard Gale. The West had done that, +however, as it had for many a wild youngster; and Belding resolved +to have a little fun at the expense of Mr. Gale. So he began by +making a few remarks that appeared to rob Dick's father of both +speech and breath. + +"And don't mistake me," concluded Belding, "just keep out of earshot +when Laddy tells us the story of that desert trip, unless you're +hankering to have your hair turn pure white and stand curled on +end and freeze that way." + + + +About the middle of the forenoon on the following day the rangers +hobbled out of the kitchen to the porch. + + +"I'm a sick man, I tell you," Ladd was complaining, "an' I gotta be +fed. Soup! Beef tea! That ain't so much as wind to me. I want +about a barrel of bread an' butter, an' a whole platter of mashed +potatoes with gravy an' green stuff--all kinds of green stuff--an' +a whole big apple pie. Give me everythin' an' anythin' to eat but +meat. Shore I never, never want to taste meat again, an' sight +of a piece of sheep meat would jest about finish me....Jim, you +used to be a human bein' that stood up for Charlie Ladd." + +"Laddy, I'm lined up beside you with both guns," replied Jim, +plaintively. "Hungry? Say, the smell of breakfast in that kitchen +made my mouth water so I near choked to death. I reckon we're +gettin' most onhuman treatment." + +"But I'm a sick man," protested Ladd, "an' I'm agoin' to fall over +in a minute if somebody doesn't feed me. Nell, you used to be fond +of me." + +"Oh, Laddy, I am yet," replied Nell. + +"Shore I don't believe it. Any girl with a tender heart just +couldn't let a man starve under her eyes...Look at Dick, there. +I'll bet he's had something to eat, mebbe potatoes an' gravy, an' +pie an'--" + +"Laddy, Dick has had no more than I gave you--in deed, not nearly +so much." + +"Shore he's had a lot of kisses then, for he hasn't hollered onct +about this treatment." + +"Perhaps he has," said Nell, with a blush; "and if you think +that--they would help you to be reasonable I might--I'll--" + +"Well, powerful fond as I am of you, just now kisses 'll have +to run second to bread an' butter." + +"Oh, Laddy, what a gallant speech!" laughed Nell. "I'm sorry, +but I've Dad's orders." + +"Laddy," interrupted Belding, "you've got to be broke in gradually +to eating. Now you know that. You'd be the severest kind of a +boss if you had some starved beggars on your hands." + +"But I'm sick--I'm dyin'," howled Ladd. + +"You were never sick in your life, and if all the bullet holes I +see in you couldn't kill you, why, you never will die." + +"Can I smoke?" queried Ladd, with sudden animation. "My Gawd, I +used to smoke. Shore I've forgot. Nell, if you want to be reinstated +in my gallery of angels, just find me a pipe an' tobacco." + +"I've hung onto my pipe," said Jim, thoughtfully. "I reckon I had +it empty in my mouth for seven years or so, wasn't it, Laddy? A +long time! I can see the red lava an' the red haze, an' the red +twilight creepin' up. It was hot an' some lonely. Then the wind, +and always that awful silence! An' always Yaqui watchin' the west, +an' Laddy with his checkers, an' Mercedes burnin' up, wastin' +away to nothin' but eyes! It's all there--I'll never get rid--" + +"Chop that kind of talk," interrupted Belding, bluntly. Tell us +where Yaqui took you--what happened to Rojas--why you seemed lost +for so long." + +"I reckon Laddy can tell all that best; but when it comes to Rojas's +finish I'll tell what I seen, an' so'll Dick an' Thorne. Laddy +missed Rojas's finish. Bar none, that was the--" + +"I'm a sick man, but I can talk," put in Ladd, "an' shore I don't +want the whole story exaggerated none by Jim." + +Ladd filled the pipe Nell brought, puffed ecstatically at it, and +settled himself upon the bench for a long talk. Nell glanced +appealingly at Dick, who tried to slip away. Mercedes did go, and +was followed by Thorne. Mr. Gale brought chairs, and in subdued +excitement called his wife and daughter. Belding leaned forward, +rendered all the more eager by Dick's reluctance to stay, the +memory of the quick tragic change in the expression of Mercedes's +beautiful eyes, by the strange gloomy cast stealing over Ladd's +face. + +The ranger talked for two hours--talked till his voice weakened +to a husky whisper. At the conclusion of his story there was an +impressive silence. Then Elsie Gale stood up, and with her hand +on Dick's shoulder, her eyes bright and warm as sunlight, she +showed the rangers what a woman thought of them and of the Yaqui. +Nell clung to Dick, weeping silently. Mrs. Gale was overcome, +and Mr. Gale, very white and quiet, helped her up to her room. + +"The Indian! the Indian!" burst out Belding, his voice deep and +rolling. "What did I tell you? Didn't I say he'd be a godsend? +Remember what I said about Yaqui and some gory Aztec knifework? +So he cut Rojas loose from that awful crater wall, foot by foot, +finger by finger, slow and terrible? And Rojas didn't hang long +on the choya thorns? Thank the Lord for that!...Laddy, no story +of Camino del Diablo can hold a candle to yours. The flight +and the fight were jobs for men. But living through this long +hot summer and coming out--that's a miracle. Only the Yaqui +could have done it. The Yaqui! The Yaqui!" + +"Shore. Charlie Ladd looks up at an Indian these days. But +Beldin', as for the comin' out, don't forget the hosses. Without +grand old Sol an' Diablo, who I don't hate no more, an' the other +Blancos, we'd never have got here. Yaqui an' the hosses, that's +my story!" + + + +Early in the afternoon of the next day Belding encountered Dick +at the water barrel. + +"Belding, this is river water, and muddy at that," said Dick. +"Lord knows I'm not kicking. But I've dreamed some of our cool +running spring, and I want a drink from it." + +"Never again, son. The spring's gone, faded, sunk, dry as dust." + +"Dry!" Gale slowly straightened. "We've had rains. The river's +full. The spring ought to be overflowing. What's wrong? Why is +it dry?" + +"Dick, seeing you're interested, I may as well tell you that a +big charge of nitroglycerin choked my spring." + +"Nitroglycerin?" echoed Gale. Then he gave a quick start. "My +mind's been on home, Nell, my family. But all the same I felt +something was wrong here with the ranch, with you, with +Nell...Belding, that ditch there is dry. The roses are dead. +The little green in that grass has come with the rains. What's +happened? The ranch's run down. Now I look around I see a change." + +"Some change, yes," replied Belding, bitterly. "Listen, son." + +Briefly, but not the less forcibly for that, Belding related his +story of the operations of the Chases. + +Astonishment appeared to be Gale's first feeling. "Our water gone, +our claims gone, our plans forestalled! Why, Belding, it's +unbelievable. Forlorn River with promoters, business, railroad, +bank, and what not!" + +Suddenly he became fiery and suspicious. "These Chases--did +they do all this on the level?" + +"Barefaced robbery! Worse than a Greaser holdup," replied Belding, +grimly. + +"You say the law upheld them?" + +"Sure. Why, Ben Chase has a pull as strong as Diablo's on a down +grade. Dick, we're jobbed, outfigured, beat, tricked, and we can't +do a thing." + +"Oh, I'm sorry, Belding, most of all for Laddy," said Gale, +feelingly. "He's all in. He'll never ride again. He wanted to +settle down here on the farm he thought he owned, grow grass and +raise horses, and take it easy. Oh, but it's tough! Say, he +doesn't know it yet. He was just telling me he'd like to go out +and look the farm over. Who's going to tell him? What's he going +to do when he finds out about this deal?" + +"Son, that's make me think some," replied Belding, with keen eyes +fast upon the young man. "And I was kind of wondering how you'd +take it." + +"I? Well, I'll call on the Chases. Look here, Belding, + +I'd better do some forestalling myself. If Laddy gets started +now there'll be blood spilled. He's not just right in his mind +yet. He talks in his sleep sometimes about how Yaqui finished +Rojas. If it's left to him--he'll kill these men. But if I +take it up--" + +"You're talking sense, Dick. Only here, I'm not so sure of you. +And there's more to tell. Son, you've Nell to think of and your +mother." + +Belding's ranger gave him a long and searching glance. + +"You can be sure of me," he said. + +"All right, then; listen," began Belding. With deep voice that +had many a beak and tremor he told Gale how Nell had been hounded +by Radford Chase, how her mother had been driven by Ben Chase--the +whole sad story. + +"So that's the trouble! Poor little girl!" murmured Gale, brokenly. +"I felt something was wrong. Nell wasn't natural, like her old +self. And when I begged her to marry me soon, while Dad was here, +she couldn't talk. She could only cry." + +"It was hard on Nell," said Belding, simply. "But it 'll be better +now you're back. Dick, I know the girl. She'll refuse to marry +you and you'll have a hard job to break her down, as hard as the +one you just rode in off of. I think I know you, too, or I wouldn't +be saying--" + +"Belding, what 're you hinting at?" demanded Gale. "Do you dare +insinuate that--that--if the thing were true it'd make any difference +to me?" + +"Aw, come now, Dick; I couldn't mean that. I'm only awkward at +saying things. And I'm cut pretty deep--" + +"For God's dake, you don't believe what Chase said?" queried Gale, +in passionate haste. "It's a lie. I swear it's a lie. I know +it's a lie. And I've got to tell Nell this minute. Come on in with +me. I want you, Belding. Oh, why didn't you tell me sooner?" + +Belding felt himself dragged by an iron arm into the sitting-room +out into the patio, and across that to where + +Nell sat in her door. At sight of them she gave a little cry, +drooped for an instant, then raised a pale, still face, with eyes +beginning to darken. + +"Dearest, I know now why you are not wearing my mother's ring," +said Gale, steadily and low-voiced. + +"Dick, I am not worthy," she replied, and held out a trembling +hand with the ring lying in the palm. + +Swift as light Gale caught her hand and slipped the ring back +upon the third finger. + +"Nell! Look at me. It is your engagement ring....Listen. I don't +believe this--this thing that's been torturing you. I know it's +a lie. I am absolutely sure your mother will prove it a lie. She +must have suffered once--perhaps there was a sad error--but the +thing you fear is not true. But, hear me, dearest; even if it was +true it wouldn't make the slightest difference to me. I'd promise +you on my honor I'd never think of it again. I'd love you all the +more because you'd suffered. I want you all the more to be my +wife--to let me make you forget--to--" + +She rose swiftyly with the passionate abandon of a woman stirred +to her depths, and she kissed him. + +"Oh, Dick, you're good--so good! You'll never know--just what +those words mean to me. They've saved me--I think." + +"Then, dearest, it's all right?" Dick questioned, eagerly. "You +will keep your promise? You will marry me?" + +The glow, the light faded out of her face, and now the blue eyes +were almost black. She drooped and shook her head. + +"Nell!" exclaimed Gale, sharply catching his breath. + +"Don't ask me, Dick. I--I won't marry you." + +"Why?" + +"You know. It's true that I--" + +"It's a lie," interrupted Gale, fiercely. "But even if it's +true--why--why won't you marry me? Between you and me love is the +thing. Love, and nothing else! Don't you love me any more?" + +They had forgotten Belding, who stepped back into the shade. + +"I love you with my whole heart and soul. I'd die for you," +whispered Nell, with clenching hands. "But I won't disgrace you." + +"Dear, you have worried over this trouble till you're morbid. It +has grown out of all proportion. I tell you that I'll not only +be the happiest man on earth, but the luckiest, if you marry me." + +"Dick, you give not one thought to your family. Would they receive +me as your wife?" + +"They surely would," replied Gale, steadily. + +"No! oh no!" + +"You're wrong, Nell. I'm glad you said that. You give me a chance +to prove something. I'll go this minute and tell them all. I'll +be back here in less than--" + +"Dick, you will not tell her--your mother?" cried Nell, with her +eyes streaming. "You will not? Oh, I can't bear it! She's so +proud! And Dick, I love her. Don't tell her! Please, please +don't! She'll be going soon. She needn't ever know--about me. +I want her always to think well of me. Dick, I beg of you. Oh, +the fear of her knowing has been the worst of all! Please don't +go!" + +"Nell, I'm sorry. I hate to hurt you. But you're wrong. You +can't see things clearly. This is your happiness I'm fighting +for. And it's my life....Wait here, dear. I won't be long." + +Gale ran across the patio and disappeared. Nell sank to the +doorstep, and as she met the question in Belding's eyes she +shook her head mournfully. They waited without speaking. It +seemed a long while before Gale returned. Belding thrilled at +sight of him. There was more boy about him than Belding had +ever seen. Dick was coming swiftly, flushed, glowing, eager, +erect, almost smiling. + +"I told them. I swore it was a lie, but I wanted them +to decide as if it were true. I didn't have to waste a minute +on Elsie. She loves you, Nell. The Governor is crazy about you. +I didn't have to waste two minutes on him. Mother used up the +time. She wanted to know all there was to tell. She is proud, +yes; but, Nell, I wish you could have seen how she took the--the +story about you. Why, she never thought of me at all, until she +had cried over you. Nell, she loves you, too. They all love you. +Oh, it's so good to tell you. I think mother realizes the part +you have had in the--what shall I call it?--the regeneration of +Richard Gale. Doesn't that sound fine? Darling, mother not only +consents, she want you to be my wife. Do you hear that? And +listen--she had me in a corner and, of course, being my mother, +she put on the screws. She made me promise that we'd live in the +East half the year. That means Chicago, Cape May, New York--you +see, I'm not exactly the lost son any more. Why, Nell, dear, +you'll have to learn who Dick Gale really is. But I always want +to be the ranger you helped me become, and ride Blanco Sol, and +see a little of the desert. Don't let the idea of big cities +frighten you. Well always love the open places best. Now, +Nell, say you'll forget this trouble. I know it'll come all right. +Say you'll marry me soon....Why, dearest, you're crying....Nell!" + +"My--heart--is broken," sobbed Nell, "for--I--I--can't marry you." + +The boyish brightness faded out of Gale's face. Here, Belding +saw, was the stern reality arrayed against his dreams. + +"That devil Radford Chase--he'll tell my secret," panted Nell. +"He swore if you ever came back and married me he'd follow us all +over the world to tell it." + +Belding saw Gale grow deathly white and suddenly stand stock-still. + +"Chase threatened you, then?" asked Dick; and the forced naturalness +of his voice struck Belding. + +"Threatened me? He made my life a nightmare," replied Nell, in a +rush of speech. "At first I wondered how he was worrying mother +sick. But she wouldn't tell me. Then when she went away he began +to hint things. I hated him all the more. But when he told me--I +was frightened, shamed. Still I did not weaken. He was pretty +decent when he was sober. But when he was half drunk he was the +devil. He laughed at me and my pride. I didn't dare shut the +door in his face. After a while he found out that your mother +loved me and that I loved her. Then he began to threaten me. +If I didn't give in to him he'd see she learned the truth. That +made me weaken. It nearly killed me. I simply could not bear +the thought of Mrs. Gale kowing. But I couldn't marry him. Besides, +he got so half the time, when he was drunk, he didn't want or ask +me to be his wife. I was about ready to give up and go mad when +you--you came home." + +She ended in a whisper, looking up wistfully and sadly at him. +Belding was a raging fire within, cold without. He watched Gale, +and believed he could foretell that young man's future conduct. +Gale gathered Nell up into his arms and held her to his breast +for a long moment. + +"Dear Nell, I'm sure the worst of your trouble is over," he said +gently. "I will not give you up. Now, won't you lie down, try +to rest and calm yourself. Don't grieve any more. This thing +isn't so bad as you make it. Trust me. I'll shut Mr. Radford +Chase's mouth." + +As he released her she glanced quickly up at him, then lifted +appealing hands. + +"Dick, you won't hunt for him--go after him?" + +Gale laughed, and the laugh made Belding jump. + +"Dick, I beg of you. Please don't make trouble. The Chases have +been hard enough on us. They are rich, powerful. Dick, say you +will not make matters worse. Please promise me you'll not go to him." + +"You ask me that?" he demanded. + +"Yes. Oh yes!" + +"But you know it's useless. What kind of a man do you want me to be?" + +"It's only that I'm afraid. Oh, Dick, he'd shoot you in the back." + +"No, Nell, a man of his kind wouldn't have nerve enough even for that." + +"You'll go?" she cried wildly. + +Gale smiled, and the smile made Belding cold. + +"Dick, I cannot keep you back?" + +"No," he said. + +Then the woman in her burst through instinctive fear, and with +her eyes blazing black in her white face she lifted parted quivering +lips and kissed him. + +Gale left the patio, and Belding followed closely at his heels. +They went through the sitting-room. Outside upon the porch sat +the rangers, Mr. Gale, and Thorne. Dick went into his room without +speaking. + +"Shore somethin's comin' off," said Ladd, sharply; and he sat up +with keen eyes narrowing. + +Belding spoke a few words; and, remembering an impression he had +wished to make upon Mr. Gale, he made them strong. But now it was +with grim humor that he spoke. + +"Better stop that boy," he concluded, looking at Mr. Gale. "He'll +do some mischief. He's wilder'n hell." + +"Stop him? Why, assuredly," replied Mr. Gale, rising with nervous +haste. + +Just then Dick came out of his door. Belding eyed him keenly. The +only change he could see was that Dick had put on a hat and a pair +of heavy gloves. + +"Richard, where are you going?" asked his father. + +"I'm going over here to see a man." + +"No. It is my wish that you remain. I forbid you to go," said +Mr. Gale, with a hand on his son's shoulder. + +Dick put Mr. Gale aside gently, respectfully, yet forcibly. The +old man gasped. + +"Dad, I haven't gotten over my bad habit of disobeying you. I'm +sorry. Don't interfere with me now. And don't follow me. You +might see something unpleasant." + +"But my son! What are you going to do?" + +"I'm going to beat a dog." + +Mr. Gale looked helplessly from this strangely calm and cold son +to the restless Belding. Then Dick strode off the porch. + +"Hold on!" Ladd's voice would have stopped almost any man. "Dick, +you wasn't agoin' without me?" + +"Yes, I was. But I'm thoughtless just now, Laddy." + +"Shore you was. Wait a minute, Dick. I'm a sick man, but at that +nobody can pull any stunts round here without me." + +He hobbled along the porch and went into his room. Jim Lash +knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and, humming his dance tune, +he followed Ladd. In a moment the rangers appeared, and both were +packing guns. + +Not a little of Belding's grim excitement came from observation +of Mr. Gale. At sight of the rangers with their guns the old +man turned white and began to tremble. + +"Better stay behind," whispered Belding. "Dick's going to beat +that two-legged dog, and the rangers get excited when they're +packing guns." + +"I will not stay behind," replied Mr. Gale, stoutly. "I'll see +this affair through. Belding, I've guessed it. Richard is going +to fight the Chases, those robbers who have ruined you." + +"Well, I can't guarantee any fight on their side," returned Belding, +dryly. "But maybe there'll be Greasers with a gun or two." + +Belding stalked off to catch up with Dick, and Mr. Gale came trudging +behind with Thorne. + +"Where will we find these Chases?" asked Dick of Belding. + +"They've got a place down the road adjoining the inn. They call +it their club. At this hour Radford will be there sure. +I don't know about the old man. But his office is now just +across the way." + +They passed several houses, turned a corner into the main street, +and stopped at a wide, low adobe structure. A number of saddled +horses stood haltered to posts. Mexicans lolled around the wide +doorway. + +"There's Ben Chase now over on the corner," said Belding to Dick. +"See, the tall man with the white hair, and leather band on his +hat. He sees us. He knows there's something up. He's got men +with him. They'll come over. We're after the young buck, and +sure he'll be in here." + +They entered. The place was a hall, and needed only a bar to make +it a saloon. There were two rickety pool tables. Evidently Chase +had fitted up this amusement room for his laborers as well as for +the use of his engineers and assistants, for the crowd contained +both Mexicans and Americans. A large table near a window was +surrounded by a noisy, smoking, drinking circle of card-players. + +"Point out this Radford Chase to me," said Gale. + +"There! The big fellow with the red face. His eyes stick out a +little. See! He's dropped his cards and his face isn't red any +more." + +Dick strode across the room. + +Belding grasped Mr. Gale and whispered hoarsely: "Don't miss anything. +It 'll be great. Watch Dick and watch Laddy! If there's any gun +play, dodge behind me." + +Belding smiled with a grim pleasure as he saw Mr. Gales' face turn +white. + +Dick halted beside the table. His heavy boot shot up, and with a +crash the table split, and glasses, cards, chips flew everywhere. +As they rattled down and the chairs of the dumfounded players +began to slide Dick called out: "My name is Gale. I'm looking +for Mr. Radford Chase." + +A tall, heavy-shouldered fellow rose, boldly enough, even swaggeringly, +and glowered at Gale. + +"I'm Radford Chase," he said. His voice betrayed the boldness of +his action. + + + +It was over in a few moments. The tables and chairs were tumbled +into a heap; one of the pool tables had been shoved aside; a lamp +lay shattered, with oil running dark upon the floor. Ladd leaned +against a post with a smoking gun in his hand. A Mexican crouched +close to the wall moaning over a broken arm. In the far corner +upheld by comrades another wounded Mexican cried out in pain. These +two had attempted to draw weapons upon Gale, and Ladd had crippled +them. + +In the center of the room lay Radford Chase, a limp, torn, hulking, +bloody figure. He was not seriously injured. But he was helpless, +a miserable beaten wretch, who knew his condition and felt the +eyes upon him. He sobbed and moaned and howled. But no one offered +to help him to his feet. + +Backed against the door of the hall stood Ben Chase, for once +stripped of all authority and confidence and courage. Gale +confronted him, and now Gale's mien was in striking contrast to +the coolness with which he had entered the place. Though sweat +dripped from his face, it was as white as chalk. Like dark flames +his eyes seemed to leap and dance and burn. His lean jaw hung +down and quivered with passion. He shook a huge gloved fist in +Chase's face. + +"Your gray hairs save you this time. But keep out of my way! And +when that son of yours comes to, tell him every time I meet him +I'll add some more to what he got to-day!" + + + +XIX + +The Secret of Forlorn River + + + +In the early morning Gale, seeking solitude where he could brood +over his trouble, wandered alone. It was not easy for him to elude +the Yaqui, and just at the moment when he had cast himself down in +a secluded shady corner the Indian appeared, noiseless, shadowy, +mysterious as always. + +"Malo," he said, in his deep voice. + +"Yes, Yaqui, it's bad--very bad," replied Gale. + +The Indian had been told of the losses sustained by Belding and +his rangers. + +"Go--me!" said Yaqui, with an impressive gesture toward the lofty +lilac-colored steps of No Name Mountains. + +He seemed the same as usual, but a glance on Gale's part, a moment's +attention, made him conscious of the old strange force in the Yaqui. +"Why does my brother want me to climb the nameless mountains with +him?" asked Gale. + +"Lluvia d'oro," replied Yaqui, and he made motions that Gale found +difficult of interpretation. + +"Shower of Gold," translated Gale. That was the Yaqui's name for +Nell. What did he mean by using it in connection with a climb into +the mountains? Were his motions intended to convey an idea of a +shower of golden blossoms from that rare and beautiful tree, or a +golden rain? Gale's listlessness vanished in a flash of thought. +The Yaqui meant gold. Gold! He meant he could retrieve the fallen +fortunes of the white brother who had saved his life that evil day +at the Papago Well. Gale thrilled as he gazed piercingly into the +wonderful eyes of this Indian. Would Yaqui never consider his debt paid? + +"Go--me?" repeat the Indian, pointing with the singular directness +that always made this action remarkable in him. + +"Yes, Yaqui." + +Gale ran to his room, put on hobnailed boots, filled a canteen, +and hurried back to the corral. Yaqui awaited him. The Indian +carried a coiled lasso and a short stout stick. Without a word +he led the way down the lane, turned up the river toward the +mountains. None of Belding's household saw their departure. + +What had once been only a narrow mesquite-bordered trail was now +a well-trodden road. A deep irrigation ditch, full of flowing +muddy water, ran parallel with the road. Gale had been curious +about the operations of the Chases, but bitterness he could not +help had kept him from going out to see the work. He was not +surprised to find that the engineers who had contructed the ditches +and dam had anticipated him in every particular. The dammed-up +gulch made a magnificent reservoir, and Gale could not look upon +the long narrow lake without a feeling of gladness. The dreaded +ano seco of the Mexicans might come again and would come, but never +to the inhabitants of Forlorn River. That stone-walled, stone-floored +gulch would never leak, and already it contained water enough to +irrigate the whole Altar Valley for two dry seasons. + +Yaqui led swiftly along the lake to the upper end, where the +stream roared down over unscalable walls. This point was the +farthest Gale had ever penetrated into the rough foothills, and +he had Belding's word for it that no white man had ever climbed +No Name Mountains from the west. + +But a white man was not an Indian. The former might have +stolen the range and valley and mountain, even the desert, +but his possessions would ever remain mysteries. Gale had +scarcely faced the great gray ponderous wall of cliff before +the old strange interest in the Yaqui seized him again. It recalled +the tie that existed between them, a tie almost as close as blood. +Then he was eager and curious to see how the Indian would conquer +those seemingly insurmountable steps of stone. + +Yaqui left the gulch and clambered up over a jumble of weathered +slides and traced a slow course along the base of the giant wall. + +He looked up and seemed to select a point for ascent. It was the +last place in that mountainside where Gale would have thought +climbing possible. Before him the wall rose, leaning over him, +shutting out the light, a dark mighty mountain mass. Innumerable +cracks and crevices and caves roughened the bulging sides of dark +rock. + +Yaqui tied one end of his lasso to the short, stout stick and, +carefully disentangling the coils, he whirled the stick round and +round and threw it almost over the first rim of the shelf, perhaps +thirty feet up. The stick did not lodge. Yaqui tried again. +This time it caught in a crack. He pulled hard. Then, holding +to the lasso, he walked up the steep slant, hand over hand on the +rope. When he reached the shelf he motioned for Gale to follow. +Gale found that method of scaling a wall both quick and easy. +Yaqui pulled up the lasso, and threw the stick aloft into another +crack. He climbed to another shelf, and Gale followed him. The +third effort brought them to a more rugged bench a hundred feet +above the slides. The Yaqui worked round to the left, and turned +into a dark fissure. Gale kept close to his heels. They came +out presently into lighter space, yet one that restricted any +extended view. Broken sections of cliff were on all sides. + +Here the ascent became toil. Gale could distance Yaqui +going downhill; on the climb, however, he was hard put +to it to keep the Indian in sight. It was not a question +of strength or lightness of foot. These Gale had beyond the +share of most men. It was a matter of lung power, and the Yaqui's +life had been spent scaling the desert heights. Moreover, the +climbing was infinitely slow, tedious, dangerous. On the way up +several times Gale imagined he heard a dull roar of falling water. +The sound seemed to be under him, over him to this side and to that. +When he was certain he could locate the direction from which it +came then he heard it no more until he had gone on. Gradually he +forgot it in the physical sensations of the climb. He burned his +hands and knees. He grew hot and wet and winded. His heart +thumped so that it hurt, and there were instants when his sight +was blurred. When at last he had toiled to where the Yaqui sat +awaiting him upon the rim of that great wall, it was none too soon. + +Gale lay back and rested for a while without note of anything +except the blue sky. Then he sat up. He was amazed to find that +after that wonderful climb he was only a thousand feet or so above +the valley. Judged by the nature of his effort, he would have +said he had climbed a mile. The village lay beneath him, with its +new adobe structures and tents and buildings in bright contrast with +the older habitations. He saw the green alfalfa fields, and +Belding's white horses, looking very small and motionless. He +pleased himself by imagining he could pick out Blanco Sol. Then +his gaze swept on to the river. + +Indeed, he realized now why some one had named it Forlorn River. +Even at this season when it was full of water it had a forlorn +aspect. It was doomed to fail out there on the desert--doomed +never to mingle with the waters of the Gulf. It wound away down +the valley, growing wider and shallower, encroaching more and more +on the gray flats, until it disappeared on its sad journey toward +Sonoyta. That vast shimmering, sun-governed waste recognized its +life only at this flood season, and was already with parched tongue +and insatiate fire licking and burning up its futile waters. + +Yaqui put a hand on Gale's knww. It was a bronzed, scarred, +powerful hand, always eloquent of meaning. The Indian was listening. +His bent head, his strange dilating eyes, his rigid form, and that +close-pressing hand, how these brought back to Gale the terrible +lonely night hours on the lava! + +"What do you hear, Yaqui?" asked Gale. He laughed a little at the +mood that had come over him. But the sound of his voice did not +break the spell. He did not want to speak again. He yielded to +Yaqui's subtle nameless influence. He listened himself, heard +nothing but the scream of an eagle. Often he wondered if the +Indian could hear things that made no sound. Yaqui was beyond +understanding. + +Whatever the Indian had listened to or for, presently he satisfied +himself, and, with a grunt that might mean anything, he rose and +turned away from the rim. Gale followed, rested now and eager to +go on. He saw that they great cliff they had climbed was only a +stairway up to the huge looming dark bulk of the plateau above. + +Suddenly he again heard the dull roar of falling water. It seemed +to have cleared itself of muffled vibrations. Yaqui mounted a little +ridge and halted. The next instant Gale stood above a bottomless +cleft into which a white stream leaped. His astounded gaze swept +backward along this narrow swift stream to its end in a dark, round, +boiling pool. It was a huge spring, a bubbling well, the outcropping +of an underground river coming down from the vast plateau above. + +Yaqui had brought Gale to the source of Forlorn River. + +Flashing thoughts in Gale's mind were no swifter than the thrills +that ran over him. He would stake out a claim here and never be +cheated out of it. Ditches on the benches and troughs on the steep +walls would carry water down to the valley. Ben Chase had build +a great dam which would be useless if Gale chose to turn Forlorn River +from its natural course. The fountain head of that mysterious desert +river belonged to him. + +His eagerness, his mounting passion, was checked by Yaqui's unusual +actins. The Indian showed wonder, hesitation, even reluctance. His +strange eyes surveyed this boiling well as if they could not +believe the sight they saw. Gale divined instantly that Yaqui had +never before seen the source of Forlorn River. If he had ever +ascended to this plateau, probably it had been to some other part, +for the water was new to him. He stood gazing aloft at peaks, +at lower ramparts of the mountain, and at nearer landmarks of +prominence. Yaqui seemed at fault. He was not sure of his location. + +Then he strode past the swirling pool of dark water and began to +ascend a little slope that led up to a shelving cliff. Another +object halted the Indian. It was a pile of stones, weathered, +crumbled, fallen into ruin, but still retaining shape enough to +prove it had been built there by the hands of men. Round and +round this the Yaqui stalked, and his curiosity attested a further +uncertainty. It was as if he had come upon something surprising. +Gale wondered about the pile of stones. Had it once been a +prospector's claim? + +"Ugh!" grunted the Indian; and, though his exclamation expressed +no satisfaction, it surely put an end to doubt. He pointed up to +the roof of the sloping yellow shelf of stone. Faintly outlined +there in red were the imprints of many human hands with fingers +spread wide. Gale had often seen such paintings on the walls of +the desert caverns. Manifestly these told Yaqui he had come to +the spot for which he had aimed. + +Then his actions became swift--and Yaqui seldom moved swiftly. +The fact impressed Gale. The Indian searched the level floor +under the shelf. He gathered up handfuls of small black stones, +and thrust them at Gale. Their weight made Gale start, and then +he trembled. The Indian's next move was to pick up a piece +of weathered rock and throw it against the wall. It broke. +He snatched up parts, and showed the broken edges to Gale. +They contained yellow steaks, dull glints, faint tracings of green. +It was gold. + +Gale found his legs shaking under him; and he sat down, trying +to take all the bits of stone into his lap. His fingers were +all thumbs as with knife blade he dug into the black pieces +of rock. He found gold. Then he stared down the slope, down +into the valley with its river winding forlornly away into the +desert. But he did not see any of that. Here was reality as sweet, +as wonderful, as saving as a dream come true. Yaqui had led him +to a ledge of gold. Gale had learned enough about mineral to know +that this was a rich strike. All in a second he was speechless +with the joy of it. But his mind whirled in thought about this +strange and noble Indian, who seemed never to be able to pay a +debt. Belding and the poverty that had come to him! Nell, who +had wept over the loss of a spring! Laddy, who never could ride +again! Jim Lash, who swore he would always look after his friend! +Thorne and Mercedes! All these people, who had been good to him +and whom he loved, were poor. But now they would be rich. They +would one and all be his partners. He had discovered the source +of Forlorn River, and was rich in water. Yaqui had made him rich +in gold. Gale wanted to rush down the slope, down into the valley, +and tell his wonderful news. + +Suddenly his eyes cleared and he saw the pile of stones. His +blood turned to ice, then to fire. That was the mark of a prospector's +claim. But it was old, very old. The ledge had never been worked. +the slope was wild. There was not another single indication that +a prospector had ever been there. Where, then, was he who had +first staked this claim? Gale wondered with growing hope, with +the fire easing, with the cold passing. + +The Yaqui uttered the low, strange, involuntary cry so +rare with him, a cry somehow always associated with death. +Gale shuddered. + +The Indian was digging in the sand and dust under the shelving wall. +He threw out an object that rang against the stone. It was a belt +buckle. He threw out old shrunken, withered boots. He came upon +other things, and then he ceased to dig. + +The grave of desert prospectors! Gale had seen more than one. +Ladd had told him many a story of such gruesome finds. It was grim, +hard fact. + +Then the keen-eyed Yaqui reached up to a little projecting shelf +of rock and took from it a small object. He showed no curiosity +and gave the thing to Gale. + +How strangely Gale felt when he received into his hands a flat +oblong box! Was it only the influence of the Yaqui, or was there +a nameless and unseen presence beside that grave? Gale could not +be sure. But he knew he had gone back to the old desert mood. He +knew something hung in the balance. No accident, no luck, no +debt-paying Indian could account wholly for that moment. Gale +knew he held in his hands more than gold. + +The box was a tin one, and not all rusty. Gale pried open the +reluctant lid. A faint old musty odor penetrated his nostrils. +Inside the box lay a packet wrapped in what once might have been +oilskin. He took it out and removed this covering. A folded paper +remained in his hands. + +It was growing yellow with age. But he descried a dim tracery of +words. A crabbed scrawl, written in blood, hard to read! He held +it more to the light, and slowly he deciphered its content. + + + +"We, Robert Burton and Jonas Warren, give half of this gold claim +to the man who finds it and half to Nell Burton, daughter and +granddaughter." + +Gasping, with a bursting heart, ovewhelmed by an unutterable joy +of divination, Gale fumbled with the paper until he got it open. + +It was a certificate twenty-one years old, and recorded the marriage +of Robert Burton and Nellie Warren. + + + +XX + + + +Desert Gold + +A summer day dawned on Forlorn River, a beautiful, still, hot, +golden day with huge sail clouds of white motionless over No Name +Peaks and the purple of clear air in the distance along the desert +horizon. + +Mrs. Belding returned that day to find her daughter happy and the +past buried forever in two lonely graves. The haunting shadow left +her eyes. Gale believed he would never forget the sweetness, the +wonder, the passion of her embrace when she called him her boy and +gave him her blessing. + +The little wrinkled padre who married Gale and Nell performed the +ceremoney as he told his beads, without interest or penetration, +and went his way, leaving happiness behind. + +"Shore I was a sick man," Ladd said, "an' darn near a dead one, but +I'm agoin' to get well. Mebbe I'll be able to ride again someday. +Nell, I lay it to you. An' I'm agoin' to kiss you an' wish you +all the joy there is in this world. An', Dick, as Yaqui says, +she's shore your Shower of Gold." + +He spoke of Gale's finding love--spoke of it with the deep and +wistful feeling of the lonely ranger who had always yearned for +love and had never known it. Belding, once more practical, and +important as never before with mining projects and water claims +to manage, spoke of Gale's great good fortune in finding of +gold--he called it desert gold. + +"Ah, yes. Desert Gold!" exclaimed Dick's father, softly, +with eyes of pride. Perhaps he was glad Dick had found the rich +claim; surely he was happy that Dick had won the girl he loved. +But it seemed to Dick himself that his father meant something +very different from love and fortune in his allusion to desert gold. + + +That beautiful happy day, like life or love itself, could not be +wholly perfect. + +Yaqui came to Dick to say good-by. Dick was startled, grieved, +and in his impulsiveness forgot for a moment the nature of the +Indian. Yaqui was not to be changed. + +Belding tried to overload him with gifts. The Indian packed a +bag of food, a blanket, a gun, a knife, a canteen, and no more. +The whole household went out with him to the corrals and fields +from which Belding bade him choose a horse--any horse, even the +loved Blanco Diablo. Gale's heart was in his throat for fear the +Indian might choose Blanco Sol, and Gale hated himself for a +selfishness he could not help. But without a word he would have +parted with the treasured Sol. + +Yaqui whistled the horses up--for the last time. Did he care for +them? It would have been hard to say. He never looked at the +fierce and haughty Diablo, nor at Blanco Sol as he raised his noble +head and rang his piercing blast. The Indian did not choose one +of Belding's whites. He caught a lean and wiry broncho, strapped +a blanket on him, and fastened on the pack. + +Then he turned to these friends, the same emotionless, inscrutable +dark and silent Indian that he had always been. This parting was +nothing to him. He had stayed to pay a debt, and now he was going +home. + +He shook hands with the men, swept a dark fleeting glance over Nell, +and rested his strange eyes upon Mercedes's beautiful and agitated +face. It must have been a moment of intense feeling for the Spanish +girl. She owed it to him that she had life and love and happiness. +She held out those speaking slender hands. But Yaqui did not touch them. +Turning away, he mounted the broncho and rode down the trail toward the river. + +"He's going home," said Belding. + +"Home!" whispered Ladd; and Dick knew the ranger felt the resurging +tide of memory. Home--across the cactus and lava, through solemn +lonely days, the silent, lonely nights, into the vast and red-hazed +world of desolation. + +"Thorne, Mercedes, Nell, let's climb the foothill yonder and watch +him out of sight," said Dick. + +They climbed while the others returned to the house. When they reached +the summit of the hill Yaqui was riding up the far bank of the river. + +"He will turn to look--to wave good-by?" asked Nell. + +"Dear he is an Indian," replied Gale. + +From that height they watched him ride through the mesquites, up +over the river bank to enter the cactus. His mount showed dark +against the green and white, and for a long time he was plainly +in sight. The sun hung red in a golden sky. The last the watchers +saw of Yaqui was when he rode across a ridge and stood silhouetted +against the gold of desert sky--a wild, lonely, beautiful picture. +Then he was gone. + +Strangely it came to Gale then that he was glad. Yaqui had returned +to his own--the great spaces, the desolation, the solitude--to the +trails he had trodden when a child, trails haunted now by ghosts +of his people, and ever by his gods. Gale realized that in the +Yaqui he had known the spirit of the desert, that this spirit had +claimed all which was wild and primitive in him. + +Tears glistened in Mercedes's magnificent black eyes, and Thorne +kissed them away--kissed the fire back to them and the flame to +her cheeks. + +That action recalled Gale's earlier mood, the joy of the present, +and he turned to Nell's sweet face. The desert was there, wonderful, +constructive, ennobling, + +beautiful, terrible, but it was not for him as it was for the +Indian. In the light of Nell's tremulous returning smile that +strange, deep, clutching shadow faded, lost its hold forever; +and he leaned close ot her, whispering: "Lluvia d'oro"-- +"Shower of Gold." + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Desert Gold, by Zane Grey + diff --git a/old/dgold10.zip b/old/dgold10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..665c04e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dgold10.zip diff --git a/old/dgold11.txt b/old/dgold11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07c928e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dgold11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12310 @@ +****The Project Gutenberg Etext of Desert Gold, by Zane Grey**** +#2 in our series by Zane Grey + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +DESERT GOLD + +A ROMANCE OF THE BORDER BY ZANE GREY + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Prologue + + I. Old Friends + II. Mercedes Castaneda + III. A Flight Into The Desert + IV. Forlorn River + V. A Desert Rose + VI. The Yaqui + VII. White Horses + VIII. The Running of Blanco Sol + IX. An Interrupted Siesta + X. Rojas + XI. Across Cactus and Lava + XII. The Crater of Hell + XIII. Changes at Forlorn River + XIV. A Lost Son + XV. Bound In The Desert + XVI. Mountain Sheep + XVII. The Whistle of a Horse + XVIII. Reality Against Dreams + XIX. The Secret of Forlorn River + XX. Desert Gold + + + + +D E S E R T G O L D + + + +PROLOGUE + + +I + + +A FACE haunted Cameron--a woman's face. It was there in the white +heart of the dying campfire; it hung in the shadows that hovered +over the flickering light; it drifted in the darkness beyond. + +This hour, when the day had closed and the lonely desert night set +in with its dead silence, was one in which Cameron's mind was thronged +with memories of a time long past--of a home back in Peoria, of a +woman he had wronged and lost, and loved too late. He was a prospector +for gold, a hunter of solitude, a lover of the drear, rock-ribbed +infinitude, because he wanted to be alone to remember. + +A sound disturbed Cameron's reflections. He bent his head listening. +A soft wind fanned the paling embers, blew sparks and white ashes +and thin smoke away into the enshrouding circle of blackness. His +burro did not appear to be moving about. The quiet split to the +cry of a coyote. It rose strange, wild, mournful--not the howl +of a prowling upland beast baying the campfire or barking at a +lonely prospector, but the wail of a wolf, full-voiced, crying out +the meaning of the desert and the night. Hunger throbbed in +it--hunger for a mate, for offspring, for life. When it ceased, +the terrible desert silence smote Cameron, and the cry echoed in his soul. +He and that wandering wolf were brothers. + +Then a sharp clink of metal on stone and soft pads of hoofs in sand +prompted Cameron to reach for his gun, and to move out of the light +of the waning campfire. He was somewhere along the wild border line +between Sonora and Arizona; and the prospector who dared the heat and +barrenness of that region risked other dangers sometimes as menacing. + +Figures darker than the gloom approached and took shape, and in +the light turned out to be those of a white man and a heavily +packed burro. + +"Hello there," the man called, as he came to a halt and gazed +about him. "I saw your fire. May I make camp here?" + +Cameron came forth out of the shadow and greeted his visitor, whom +he took for a prospector like himself. Cameron resented the breaking +of his lonely campfire vigil, but he respected the law of the desert. + +The stranger thanked him, and then slipped the pack from his burro. +Then he rolled out his pack and began preparations for a meal. His +movements were slow and methodical. + +Cameron watched him, still with resentment, yet with a curious and +growing interest. The campfire burst into a bright blaze, and by +its light Cameron saw a man whose gray hair somehow did not seem to +make him old, and whose stooped shoulders did not detract from an +impression of rugged strength. + +"Find any mineral?" asked Cameron, presently. + +His visitor looked up quickly, as if startled by the sound of a +human voice. He replied, and then the two men talked a little. +But the stranger evidently preferred silence. Cameron understood +that. He laughed grimly and bent a keener gaze upon the furrowed, +shadowy face. Another of those strange desert prospectors in whom +there was some relentless driving power besides the lust for gold! +Cameron felt that between this man and himself there was a subtle +affinity, vague and undefined, perhaps born of the divination that +here was a desert wanderer like himself, perhaps born of a deeper, +an unintelligible relation having its roots back in the past. A +long-forgotten sensation stirred in Cameron's breast, one so long +forgotten that he could not recognize it. But it was akin to pain. + + + +II + + +When he awakened he found, to his surprise, that his companion had +departed. A trail in the sand led off to the north. There was no +water in that direction. Cameron shrugged his shoulders; it was +not his affair; he had his own problems. And straightway he forgot +his strange visitor. + +Cameron began his day, grateful for the solitude that was now unbroken, +for the canyon-furrowed and cactus-spired scene that now showed no +sign of life. He traveled southwest, never straying far from the +dry stream bed; and in a desultory way, without eagerness, he hunted +for signs of gold. + +The work was toilsome, yet the periods of rest in which he indulged +were not taken because of fatigue. He rested to look, to listen, +to feel. What the vast silent world meant to him had always been +a mystical thing, which he felt in all its incalculable power, but +never understood. + +That day, while it was yet light, and he was digging in a moist +white-bordered wash for water, he was brought sharply up by hearing +the crack of hard hoofs on stone. There down the canyon came a man +and a burro. Cameron recognized them. + +"Hello, friend," called the man, halting. "Our trails crossed again. +That's good." + +"Hello," replied Cameron, slowly. "Any mineral sign to-day?" + +"No." + +They made camp together, ate their frugal meal, smoked a pipe, and +rolled in their blankets without exchanging many words. In the +morning the same reticence, the same aloofness characterized the +manner of both. But Cameron's companion, when he had packed his +burro and was ready to start, faced about and said: "We might +stay together, if it's all right with you." + +"I never take a partner," replied Cameron. + +"You're alone; I'm alone," said the other, mildly. "It's a big +place. If we find gold there'll be enough for two." + +"I don't go down into the desert for gold alone," rejoined Cameron, +with a chill note in his swift reply. + +His companion's deep-set, luminous eyes emitted a singular flash. +It moved Cameron to say that in the years of his wandering he had +met no man who could endure equally with him the blasting heat, +the blinding dust storms, the wilderness of sand and rock and lava +and cactus, the terrible silence and desolation of the desert. +Cameron waved a hand toward the wide, shimmering, shadowy descent +of plain and range. "I may strike through the Sonora Desert. I +may head for Pinacate or north for the Colorado Basin. You are +an old man." + +"I don't know the country, but to me one place is the same as +another," replied his companion. For moments he seemed to forget +himself, and swept his far-reaching gaze out over the colored gulf +of stone and sand. Then with gentle slaps he drove his burro in +behind Cameron. "Yes, I'm old. I'm lonely, too. It's come to me +just lately. But, friend, I can still travel, and for a few days +my company won't hurt you." + +"Have it your way," said Cameron. + +They began a slow march down into the desert. At sunset +they camped under the lee of a low mesa. Cameron was glad his +comrade had the Indian habit of silence. Another day's travel found +the prospectors deep in the wilderness. Then there came a breaking +of reserve, noticeable in the elder man, almost imperceptibly +gradual in Cameron. Beside the meager mesquite campfire this +gray-faced, thoughtful old prospector would remove his black pipe +from his mouth to talk a little; and Cameron would listen, and +sometimes unlock his lips to speak a word. And so, as Cameron +began to respond to the influence of a desert less lonely than +habitual, he began to take keener note of his comrade, and found +him different from any other he had ever encountered in the wilderness. +This man never grumbled at the heat, the glare, the driving sand, +the sour water, the scant fare. During the daylight hours he was +seldom idle. At night he sat dreaming before the fire or paced to +and fro in the gloom. He slept but little, and that long after +Cameron had had his own rest. He was tireless, patient, brooding. + +Cameron's awakened interest brought home to him the realization +that for years he had shunned companionship. In those years only +three men had wandered into the desert with him, and these had +left their bones to bleach in the shifting sands. Cameron had +not cared to know their secrets. But the more he studied this +latest comrade the more he began to suspect that he might have +missed something in the others. In his own driving passion to +take his secret into the limitless abode of silence and desolation, +where he could be alone with it, he had forgotten that life dealt +shocks to other men. Somehow this silent comrade reminded him. + +One afternoon late, after they had toiled up a white, winding wash +of sand and gravel, they came upon a dry waterhole. Cameron dug +deep into the sand, but without avail. He was turning to retrace +weary steps back to the last water when his comrade asked him to +wait. Cameron watched him search in his pack and bring forth +what appeared to be a small, forked branch of a peach tree. He +grasped the prongs of the fork and held them before him with the +end standing straight out, and then he began to walk along the +stream bed. Cameron, at first amused, then amazed, then pitying, +and at last curious, kept pace with the prospector. He saw a +strong tension of his comrade's wrists, as if he was holding hard +against a considerable force. The end of the peach branch began to +quiver and turn. Cameron reached out a hand to touch it, and was +astounded at feeling a powerful vibrant force pulling the branch +downward. He felt it as a magnetic shock. The branch kept turning, +and at length pointed to the ground. + +"Dig here," said the prospector. + +"What!" ejaculated Cameron. Had the man lost his mind? + +Then Cameron stood by while his comrade dug in the sand. Three feet +he dug--four--five, and the sand grew dark, then moist. At six +feet water began to seep through. + +"Get the little basket in my pack," he said. + +Cameron complied, and saw his comrade drop the basket into the deep +hole, where it kept the sides from caving in and allowed the water +to seep through. While Cameron watched, the basket filled. Of all +the strange incidents of his desert career this was the strangest. +Curiously he picked up the peach branch and held it as he had seen +it held. The thing, however, was dead in his hands. + +"I see you haven't got it," remarked his comrade. "Few men have." + +"Got what?" demanded Cameron. + +"A power to find water that way. Back in Illinois an old German used +to do that to locate wells. He showed me I had the same power. +I can't explain. But you needn't look so dumfounded. There's +nothing supernatural about it." + +"You mean it's a simple fact--that some men have a +magnetism, a force or power to find water as you did?" + +"Yes. It's not unusual on the farms back in Illinois, Ohio, +Pennsylvania. The old German I spoke of made money traveling round +with his peach fork." + +"What a gift for a man in the desert!" + +Cameron's comrade smiled--the second time in all those days. + +They entered a region where mineral abounded, and their march became +slower. Generally they took the course of a wash, one on each side, +and let the burros travel leisurely along nipping at the bleached +blades of scant grass, or at sage or cactus, while they searched +in the canyons and under the ledges for signs of gold. When they +found any rock that hinted of gold they picked off a piece and gave +it a chemical test. The search was fascinating. They interspersed +the work with long, restful moments when they looked afar down the +vast reaches and smoky shingles to the line of dim mountains. +Some impelling desire, not all the lure of gold, took them to the +top of mesas and escarpments; and here, when they had dug and picked, +they rested and gazed out at the wide prospect. Then, as the sun +lost its heat and sank lowering to dent its red disk behind far-distant +spurs, they halted in a shady canyon or likely spot in a dry wash and +tried for water. When they found it they unpacked, gave drink to the +tired burros, and turned them loose. Dead mesquite served for the +campfire. While the strange twilight deepened into weird night they +sat propped against stones, with eyes on the dying embers of the +fire, and soon they lay on the sand with the light of white stars +on their dark faces. + +Each succeeding day and night Cameron felt himself more and more +drawn to this strange man. He found that after hours of burning +toil he had insensibly grown nearer to his comrade. He reflected +that after a few weeks in the desert he had always become a different man. +In civilization, in the rough mining camps, he had been a prey to unrest +and gloom. But once down on the great billowing sweep of this lonely +world, he could look into his unquiet soul without bitterness. +Did not the desert magnify men? Cameron believed that wild men +in wild places, fighting cold, heat, starvation, thirst, barrenness, +facing the elements in all their ferocity, usually retrograded, +descended to the savage, lost all heart and soul and became mere +brutes. Likewise he believed that men wandering or lost in the +wilderness often reversed that brutal order of life and became +noble, wonderful, super-human. So now he did not marvel at a slow +stir stealing warmer along his veins, and at the premonition that +perhaps he and this man, alone on the desert, driven there by life's +mysterious and remorseless motive, were to see each other through +God's eyes. + +His companion was one who thought of himself last. It humiliated +Cameron that in spite of growing keenness he could not hinder him +from doing more than an equal share of the day's work. The man +was mild, gentle, quiet, mostly silent, yet under all his softness +he seemed to be made of the fiber of steel. Cameron could not +thwart him. Moreover, he appeared to want to find gold for Cameron, +not for himself. Cameron's hands always trembled at the turning +of rock that promised gold; he had enough of the prospector's +passion for fortune to thrill at the chance of a strike. But the +other never showed the least trace of excitement. + +One night they were encamped at the head of a canyon. The day had +been exceedingly hot, and long after sundown the radiation of heat +from the rocks persisted. A desert bird whistled a wild, melancholy +note from a dark cliff, and a distant coyote wailed mournfully. +The stars shone white until the huge moon rose to burn out all their +whiteness. And on this night Cameron watched his comrade, and +yielded to interest he had not heretofore voiced. + +"Pardner, what drives you into the desert?" + +"Do I seem to be a driven man?" + +"No. But I feel it. Do you come to forget?" + +"Yes." + +"Ah!" softly exclaimed Cameron. Always he seemed to have known +that. He said no more. He watched the old man rise and begin +his nightly pace to and fro, up and down. With slow, soft tread, +forward and back, tirelessly and ceaselessly, he paced that beat. +He did not look up at the stars or follow the radiant track of the +moon along the canyon ramparts. He hung his head. He was lost in +another world. It was a world which the lonely desert made real. +He looked a dark, sad, plodding figure, and somehow impressed +Cameron with the helplessness of men. + +Cameron grew acutely conscious of the pang in his own breast, of +the fire in his heart, the strife and torment of his passion-driven +soul. He had come into the desert to remember a woman. She +appeared to him then as she had looked when first she entered his +life--a golden-haired girl, blue-eyed, white-skinned, red-lipped, +tall and slender and beautiful. He had never forgotten, and an old, +sickening remorse knocked at his heart. He rose and climbed out +of the canyon and to the top of a mesa, where he paced to and fro +and looked down into the weird and mystic shadows, like the darkness +of his passion, and farther on down the moon track and the glittering +stretches that vanished in the cold, blue horizon. The moon soared +radiant and calm, the white stars shone serene. The vault of heaven +seemed illimitable and divine. The desert surrounded him, silver-streaked +and black-mantled, a chaos of rock and sand, silent, austere, +ancient, always waiting. It spoke to Cameron. It was a naked +corpse, but it had a soul. In that wild solitude the white stars +looked down upon him pitilessly and pityingly. They had shone +upon a desert that might once have been alive and was now dead, +and might again throb with life, only to die. It was a terrible +ordeal for him to stand along and realize that he was only a man +facing eternity. But that was what gave him strength to endure. +Somehow he was a part of it all, some atom in that vastness, +somehow necessary to an inscrutable purpose, something +indestructible in that desolate world of ruin and death and decay, +something perishable and changeable and growing under all the +fixity of heaven. In that endless, silent hall of desert there +was a spirit; and Cameron felt hovering near him what he imagined +to be phantoms of peace. + +He returned to camp and sought his comrade. + +"I reckon we're two of a kind," he said. "It was a woman who drove +me into the desert. But I come to remember. The desert's the only +place I can do that." + +"Was she your wife?" asked the elder man. + +"No." + +A long silence ensued. A cool wind blew up the canyon, sifting the +sand through the dry sage, driving away the last of the lingering +heat. The campfire wore down to a ruddy ashen heap. + +"I had a daughter," said Cameron's comrade. "She lost her mother +at birth. And I--I didn't know how to bring up a girl. She was +pretty and gay. It was the--the old story." + +His words were peculiarly significant to Cameron. They distressed +him. He had been wrapped up in his remorse. If ever in the past +he had thought of any one connected with the girl he had wronged +he had long forgotten. But the consequences of such wrong were +far-reaching. They struck at the roots of a home. Here in the +desert he was confronted by the spectacle of a splendid man, a +father, wasting his life because he could not forget--because +there was nothing left to live for. Cameron understood better now +why his comrade was drawn by the desert. + +"Well, tell me more?" asked Cameron, earnestly. + +"It was the old, old story. My girl was pretty and free. The +young bucks ran after her. I guess she did not run away from them. +And I was away a good deal--working in another town. She was in love +with a wild fellow. I knew nothing of it till too late. He was engaged +to marry her. But he didn't come back. And when the disgrace became +plain to all, my girl left home. She went West. After a while I heard +from her. She was well--working--living for her baby. A long +time passed. I had no ties. I drifted West. Her lover had also +gone West. In those days everybody went West. I trailed him, +intending to kill him. But I lost his trail. Neither could I find +any trace of her. She had moved on, driven, no doubt, by the hound +of her past. Since then I have taken to the wilds, hunting gold +on the desert." + +"Yes, it's the old, old story, only sadder, I think," said Cameron; +and his voice was strained and unnatural. "Pardner, what Illinois town +was it you hailed from?" + +"Peoria." + +"And your--your name?" went on Cameron huskily. + +"Warren--Jonas Warren." + +That name might as well have been a bullet. Cameron stood erect, +motionless, as men sometimes stand momentarily when shot straight +through the heart. In an instant, when thoughts resurged like +blinding flashes of lightning through his mind, he was a swaying, +quivering, terror-stricken man. He mumbled something hoarsely and +backed into the shadow. But he need not have feared discovery, +however surely his agitation might have betrayed him. Warren sat +brooding over the campfire, oblivious of his comrade, absorbed in +the past. + +Cameron swiftly walked away in the gloom, with the blood thrumming +thick in his ears, whispering over and over: + +"Merciful God! Nell was his daughter!" + + + +III + + +As thought and feeling multiplied, Cameron was overwhelmed. Beyond +belief, indeed, was it that out of the millions of men in the world +two who had never seen each other could have been driven into the desert +by memory of the same woman. It brought the past so close. It showed +Cameron how inevitably all his spiritual life was governed by what had +happened long ago. That which made life significant to him was a wandering +in silent places where no eye could see him with his secret. Some fateful +chance had thrown him with the father of the girl he had wrecked. +It was incomprehensible; it was terrible. It was the one thing +of all possible happenings in the world of chance that both father +and lover would have found unendurable. + +Cameron's pain reached to despair when he felt this relation between +Warren and himself. Something within him cried out to him to reveal +his identity. Warren would kill him; but it was not fear of death +that put Cameron on the rack. He had faced death too often to be +afraid. It was the thought of adding torture to this long-suffering +man. All at once Cameron swore that he would not augment Warren's +trouble, or let him stain his hands with blood. He would tell the +truth of Nell's sad story and his own, and make what amends he could. + +Then Cameron's thought shifted from father to daughter. She was +somewhere beyond the dim horizon line. In those past lonely hours +by the campfire his fancy had tortured him with pictures of Nell. +But his remorseful and cruel fancy had lied to him. Nell had +struggled upward out of menacing depths. She had reconstructed a +broken life. And now she was fighting for the name and happiness +of her child. Little Nell! Cameron experienced a shuddering ripple +in all his being--the physical rack of an emotion born of a new and +strange consciousness. + +As Cameron gazed out over the blood-red, darkening desert suddenly +the strife in his soul ceased. The moment was one of incalculable +change, in which his eyes seemed to pierce the vastness of cloud +and range, and mystery of gloom and shadow--to see with strong vision +the illimitable space before him. He felt the grandeur of the desert, +its simplicity, its truth. He had learned at last the lesson it +taught. No longer strange was his meeting and wandering with Warren. +Each had marched in the steps of destiny; and as the lines of their +fates had been inextricably tangled in the years that were gone, +so now their steps had crossed and turned them toward one common +goal. For years they had been two men marching alone, answering +to an inward driving search, and the desert had brought them together. +For years they had wandered alone in silence and solitude, where +the sun burned white all day and the stars burned white all night, +blindly following the whisper of a spirit. But now Cameron knew +that he was no longer blind, and in this flash of revelation he +felt that it had been given him to help Warren with his burden. + +He returned to camp trying to evolve a plan. As always at that +long hour when the afterglow of sunset lingered in the west, +Warren plodded to and fro in the gloom. All night Cameron lay +awake thinking. + +In the morning, when Warren brought the burros to camp and began +preparations for the usual packing, Cameron broke silence. + +"Pardner, your story last night made me think. I want to tell you +something about myself. It's hard enough to be driven by sorrow +for one you've loved, as you've been driven; but to suffer sleepless +and eternal remorse for the ruin of one you've loved as I have +suffered--that is hell. . . . Listen. In my younger days--it seems +long now, yet it's not so many years--I was wild. I wronged the +sweetest and loveliest girl I ever knew. I went away not dreaming +that any disgrace might come to her. Along about that time I fell +into terrible moods--I changed--I learned I really loved her. Then +came a letter I should have gotten months before. It told of her +trouble--importuned me to hurry to save her. Half frantic with +shame and fear, I got a marriage certificate and rushed back to her town. +She was gone--had been gone for weeks, and her disgrace was known. +Friends warned me to keep out of reach of her father. I trailed her-- +found her. I married her. But too late!...She would not live with me. +She left me--I followed her west, but never found her." + +Warren leaned forward a little and looked into Cameron's eyes, as +if searching there for the repentance that might make him less +deserving of a man's scorn. + +Cameron met the gaze unflinchingly, and again began to speak: + +"You know, of course, how men out here somehow lose old names, old +identities. It won't surprise you much to learn my name really isn't +Cameron, as I once told you." + +Warren stiffened upright. It seemed that there might have been a +blank, a suspension, between his grave interest and some strange +mood to come. + +Cameron felt his heart bulge and contract in his breast; all his +body grew cold; and it took tremendous effort for him to make his +lips form words. + +"Warren, I'm the man you're hunting. I'm Burton. I was Nell's +lover!" + +The old man rose and towered over Cameron, and then plunged down +upon him, and clutched at his throat with terrible stifling hands. +The harsh contact, the pain awakened Cameron to his peril before +it was too late. Desperate fighting saved him from being hurled +to the ground and stamped and crushed. Warren seemed a maddened +giant. There was a reeling, swaying, wrestling struggle before +the elder man began to weaken. The Cameron, buffeted, bloody, +half-stunned, panted for speech. + +"Warren--hold on! Give me--a minute. I married Nell. Didn't you +know that?...I saved the child!" + +Cameron felt the shock that vibrated through Warren. He repeated +the words again and again. As if compelled by some resistless +power, Warren released Cameron, and, staggering back, stood with uplifted, +shaking hands. In his face was a horrible darkness. + +"Warren! Wait--listen!" panted Cameron. "I've got that marriage +certificate--I've had it by me all these years. I kept it--to +prove to myself I did right." + +The old man uttered a broken cry. + +Cameron stole off among the rocks. How long he absented himself +or what he did he had no idea. When he returned Warren was sitting +before the campfire, and once more he appeared composed. He spoke, +and his voice had a deeper note; but otherwise he seemed as usual. + +They packed the burros and faced the north together. + +Cameron experienced a singular exaltation. He had lightened his +comrade's burden. Wonderfully it came to him that he had also +lightened his own. From that hour it was not torment to think +of Nell. Walking with his comrade through the silent places, lying +beside him under the serene luminous light of the stars, Cameron +began to feel the haunting presence of invisible things that were +real to him--phantoms whispering peace. In the moan of the cool +wind, in the silken seep of sifting sand, in the distant rumble +of a slipping ledge, in the faint rush of a shooting star he +heard these phantoms of peace coming with whispers of the long +pain of men at the last made endurable. Even in the white noonday, +under the burning sun, these phantoms came to be real to him. +In the dead silence of the midnight hours he heard them breathing +nearer on the desert wind--nature's voices of motherhood, whispers +of God, peace in the solitude. + + + +IV + + +There came a morning when the sun shone angry and red through a +dull, smoky haze. + +"We're in for sandstorms," said Cameron. + +They had scarcely covered a mile when a desert-wide, moaning, yellow +wall of flying sand swooped down upon them. Seeking shelter in +the lee of a rock, they waited, hoping the storm was only a squall, +such as frequently whipped across the open places. The moan +increased to a roar, and the dull red slowly dimmed, to disappear +in the yellow pall, and the air grew thick and dark. Warren slipped +the packs from the burros. Cameron feared the sandstorms had +arrived some weeks ahead of their usual season. + +The men covered their heads and patiently waited. The long hours +dragged, and the storm increased in fury. Cameron and Warren wet +scarfs with water from their canteens, and bound them round their +faces, and then covered their heads. The steady, hollow bellow of +flying sand went on. It flew so thickly that enough sifted down +under the shelving rock to weight the blankets and almost bury +the men. They were frequently compelled to shake off the sand +to keep from being borne to the ground. And it was necessary +to keep digging out the packs. The floor of their shelter gradually +rose higher and higher. They tried to eat, and seemed to be grinding +only sand between their teeth. They lost the count of time. They +dared not sleep, for that would have meant being buried alive. +The could only crouch close to the leaning rock, shake off the sand, +blindly dig out their packs, and every moment gasp and cough and +choke to fight suffocation. + +The storm finally blew itself out. It left the prospectors heavy +and stupid for want of sleep. Their burros had wandered away, or +had been buried in the sand. Far as eye could reach the desert +had marvelously changed; it was now a rippling sea of sand dunes. +Away to the north rose the peak that was their only guiding mark. +They headed toward it, carrying a shovel and part of their packs. + +At noon the peak vanished in the shimmering glare of the desert. +The prospectors pushed on, guided by the sun. In every wash +they tried for water. With the forked peach branch in his +hands Warren always succeeded in locating water. They dug, +but it lay too deep. At length, spent and sore, they fell and +slept through that night and part of the next day. Then they +succeeded in getting water, and quenched their thirst, and filled +the canteens, and cooked a meal. + +The burning day found them in an interminably wide plain, where +there was no shelter from the fierce sun. The men were exceedingly +careful with their water, though there was absolute necessity of +drinking a little every hour. Late in the afternoon they came +to a canyon that they believed was the lower end of the one in +which they had last found water. For hours they traveled toward +its head, and, long after night had set, found what they sought. +Yielding to exhaustion, they slept, and next day were loath to +leave the waterhole. Cool night spurred them on with canteens +full and renewed strength. + +Morning told Cameron that they had turned back miles into the +desert, and it was desert new to him. The red sun, the increasing +heat, and especially the variety and large size of the cactus plants +warned Cameron that he had descended to a lower level. Mountain +peaks loomed on all sides, some near, others distant; and one, a +blue spur, splitting the glaring sky far to the north, Cameron +thought he recognized as a landmark. The ascent toward it was +heartbreaking, not in steepness, but in its league-and-league-long +monotonous rise. Cameron knew there was only one hope--to make +the water hold out and never stop to rest. Warren began to weaken. +Often he had to halt. The burning white day passed, and likewise +the night, with its white stars shining so pitilessly cold and bright. + +Cameron measured the water in his canteen by its weight. Evaporation +by heat consumed as much as he drank. During one of the rests, when +he had wetted his parched mouth and throat, he found opportunity to pour +a little water from his canteen into Warren's. + +At first Cameron had curbed his restless activity to accommodate +the pace of his elder comrade. But now he felt that he was losing +something of his instinctive and passionate zeal to get out of +the desert. The thought of water came to occupy his mind. He +began to imagine that his last little store of water did not +appreciably diminish. He knew he was not quite right in his mind +regarding water; nevertheless, he felt this to be more of fact +than fancy, and he began to ponder. + +When next they rested he pretended to be in a kind of stupor; but +he covertly watched Warren. The man appeared far gone, yet he had +cunning. He cautiously took up Cameron's canteen and poured water +into it from his own. + +This troubled Cameron. The old irritation at not being able to +thwart Warren returned to him. Cameron reflected, and concluded +that he had been unwise not to expect this very thing. Then, as +his comrade dropped into weary rest, he lifted both canteens. If +there were any water in Warren's, it was only very little. Both +men had been enduring the terrible desert thirst, concealing it, +each giving his water to the other, and the sacrifice had been useless. + +Instead of ministering to the parched throats of one or both, the +water had evaporated. When Cameron made sure of this, he took one +more drink, the last, and poured the little water left into Warren's +canteen. He threw his own away. + +Soon afterward Warren discovered the loss. + +"Where's your canteen?" he asked. + +"The heat was getting my water, so I drank what was left." + +"My son!" said Warren. + +The day opened for them in a red and green hell of rock and cactus. +Like a flame the sun scorched and peeled their faces. Warren went +blind from the glare, and Cameron had to lead him. At last Warren +plunged down, exhausted, in the shade of a ledge. + +Cameron rested and waited, hopeless, with hot, weary eyes gazing +down from the height where he sat. The ledge was the top step +of a ragged gigantic stairway. Below stretched a sad, austere, +and lonely valley. A dim, wide streak, lighter than the bordering +gray, wound down the valley floor. Once a river had flowed there, +leaving only a forlorn trace down the winding floor of this forlorn valley. + +Movement on the part of Warren attracted Cameron's attention. +Evidently the old prospector had recovered his sight and some of +his strength, for he had arisen, and now began to walk along the +arroyo bed with his forked peach branch held before him. He had +clung to the precious bit of wood. Cameron considered the prospect +for water hopeless, because he saw that the arroyo had once been +a canyon, and had been filled with sands by desert winds. Warren, +however, stopped in a deep pit, and, cutting his canteen in half, +began to use one side of it as a scoop. He scooped out a wide +hollow, so wide that Cameron was certain he had gone crazy. Cameron +gently urged him to stop, and then forcibly tried to make him. +But these efforts were futile. Warren worked with slow, ceaseless, +methodical movement. He toiled for what seemed hours. Cameron, +seeing the darkening, dampening sand, realized a wonderful possibility +of water, and he plunged into the pit with the other half of the +canteen. Then both men toiled, round and round the wide hole, +down deeper and deeper. The sand grew moist, then wet. At the +bottom of the deep pit the sand coarsened, gave place to gravel. +Finally water welled in, a stronger volume than Cameron ever +remembered finding on the desert. It would soon fill the hole and +run over. He marveled at the circumstance. The time was near +the end of the dry season. Perhaps an underground stream +flowed from the range behind down to the valley floor, and at +this point came near to the surface. Cameron had heard of such +desert miracles. + +The finding of water revived Cameron's flagging hopes. But they +were short-lived. Warren had spend himself utterly. + +"I'm done. Don't linger," he whispered. "My son, go--go!" + +Then he fell. Cameron dragged him out of the sand pit to a +sheltered place under the ledge. While sitting beside the failing +man Cameron discovered painted images on the wall. Often in the +desert he had found these evidences of a prehistoric people. Then, +from long habit, he picked up a piece of rock and examined it. +Its weight made him closely scrutinize it. The color was a +peculiar black. He scraped through the black rust to find a +piece of gold. Around him lay scattered heaps of black pebbles +and bits of black, weathered rock and pieces of broken ledge, and +they showed gold. + +"Warren! Look! See it! Feel it! Gold!" + +But Warren had never cared, and now he was too blind to see. + +"Go--go!" he whispered. + +Cameron gazed down the gray reaches of the forlorn valley, and +something within him that was neither intelligence nor emotion--something +inscrutably strange--impelled him to promise. + +Then Cameron built up stone monuments to mark his gold strike. That +done, he tarried beside the unconscious Warren. Moments passed--grew +into hours. Cameron still had strength left to make an effort to +get out of the desert. But that same inscrutable something which +had ordered his strange involuntary promise to Warren held him +beside his fallen comrade. He watched the white sun turn to gold, +and then to red and sink behind mountains in the west. Twilight +stole into the arroyo. It lingered, slowly turning to gloom. +The vault of blue black lightened to the blinking of stars. +Then fell the serene, silent, luminous desert night. + +Cameron kept his vigil. As the long hours wore on he felt creep +over him the comforting sense that he need not forever fight sleep. +A wan glow flared behind the dark, uneven horizon, and a melancholy +misshapen moon rose to make the white night one of shadows. Absolute +silence claimed the desert. It was mute. Then that inscrutable +something breathed to him, telling him when he was alone. He need +not have looked at the dark, still face beside him. + +Another face haunted Cameron's--a woman's face. It was there in +the white moonlit shadows; it drifted in the darkness beyond; it +softened, changed to that of a young girl, sweet, with the same +dark, haunting eyes of her mother. Cameron prayed to that nameless +thing within him, the spirit of something deep and mystical as +life. He prayed to that nameless thing outside, of which the rocks +and the sand, the spiked cactus and the ragged lava, the endless +waste, with its vast star-fired mantle, were but atoms. He prayed +for mercy to a woman--for happiness to her child. Both mother and +daughter were close to him then. Time and distance were annihilated. +He had faith--he saw into the future. The fateful threads of the +past, so inextricably woven with his error, wound out their tragic +length here in this forlorn desert. + +Cameron then took a little tin box from his pocket, and, opening +it, removed a folded certificate. He had kept a pen, and now he +wrote something upon the paper, and in lieu of ink he wrote with +blood. The moon afforded him enough light to see; and, having +replaced the paper, he laid the little box upon a shelf of rock. +It would remain there unaffected by dust, moisture, heat, time. +How long had those painted images been there clear and sharp on +the dry stone walls? There were no trails in that desert, and +always there were incalculable changes. Cameron saw this mutable +mood of nature--the sands would fly and seep and carve and bury; +the floods would dig and cut; the ledges would weather in the heat +and rain; the avalanches would slide; the cactus seeds would roll +in the wind to catch in a niche and split the soil with thirsty +roots. Years would pass. Cameron seemed to see them, too; and +likewise destiny leading a child down into this forlorn waste, +where she would find love and fortune, and the grave of her father. + +Cameron covered the dark, still face of his comrade from the light +of the waning moon. + +That action was the severing of his hold on realities. They fell +away from him in final separation. Vaguely, dreamily he seemed to +behold his soul. Night merged into gray day; and night came again, +weird and dark. Then up out of the vast void of the desert, from +the silence and illimitableness, trooped his phantoms of peace. +Majestically they formed around him, marshalling and mustering in +ceremonious state, and moved to lay upon him their passionless serenity. + + + +I + + +OLD FRIENDS + +RICHARD GALE reflected that his sojourn in the West had been +what his disgusted father had predicted--idling here and there, +with no objective point or purpose. + +It was reflection such as this, only more serious and perhaps +somewhat desperate, that had brought Gale down to the border. +For some time the newspapers had been printing news of Mexican +revolution, guerrilla warfare, United States cavalry patrolling +the international line, American cowboys fighting with the rebels, +and wild stories of bold raiders and bandits. But as opportunity, +and adventure, too, had apparently given him a wide berth in +Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, he had struck southwest for the Arizona +border, where he hoped to see some stirring life. He did not +care very much what happened. Months of futile wandering in the +hope of finding a place where he fitted had inclined Richard to +his father's opinion. + +It was after dark one evening in early October when Richard arrived +in Casita. He was surprised to find that it was evidently a town +of importance. There was a jostling, jabbering, sombreroed crowd +of Mexicans around the railroad station. He felt as if he were +in a foreign country. After a while he saw several men of his +nationality, one of whom he engaged to carry his luggage to a +hotel. They walked up a wide, well-lighted street lined with +buildings in which were bright windows. Of the many people +encountered by Gale most were Mexicans. His guide explained that +the smaller half of Casita lay in Arizona, the other half in Mexico, +and of several thousand inhabitants the majority belonged on the +southern side of the street, which was the boundary line. He also +said that rebels had entered the town that day, causing a good +deal of excitement. + +Gale was almost at the end of his financial resources, which fact +occasioned him to turn away from a pretentious hotel and to ask +his guide for a cheaper lodging-house. When this was found, a +sight of the loungers in the office, and also a desire for comfort, +persuaded Gale to change his traveling-clothes for rough outing +garb and boots. + +"Well, I'm almost broke," he soliloquized, thoughtfully. "The +governor said I wouldn't make any money. He's right--so far. +And he said I'd be coming home beaten. There he's wrong. I've +got a hunch that something 'll happen to me in this Greaser town." + +He went out into a wide, whitewashed, high-ceiled corridor, and +from that into an immense room which, but for pool tables, bar, +benches, would have been like a courtyard. The floor was +cobblestoned, the walls were of adobe, and the large windows +opened like doors. A blue cloud of smoke filled the place. Gale +heard the click of pool balls and the clink of glasses along the +crowded bar. Bare-legged, sandal-footed Mexicans in white rubbed +shoulders with Mexicans mantled in black and red. There were +others in tight-fitting blue uniforms with gold fringe or tassels +at the shoulders. These men wore belts with heavy, bone-handled +guns, and evidently were the rurales, or native policemen. There +were black-bearded, coarse-visaged Americans, some gambling round +the little tables, others drinking. The pool tables were the center +of a noisy crowd of younger men, several of whom were unsteady on +their feet. There were khaki-clad cavalrymen strutting in and out. + +At one end of the room, somewhat apart from the general meelee, +was a group of six men round a little table, four of whom were +seated, the other two standing. These last two drew a second +glance from Gale. The sharp-featured, bronzed faces and piercing +eyes, the tall, slender, loosely jointed bodies, the quiet, easy, +reckless air that seemed to be a part of the men--these things +would plainly have stamped them as cowboys without the buckled +sombreros, the colored scarfs, the high-topped, high-heeled boots +with great silver-roweled spurs. Gale did not fail to note, also, +that these cowboys wore guns, and this fact was rather a shock to +his idea of the modern West. It caused him to give some credence +to the rumors of fighting along the border, and he felt a thrill. + +He satisfied his hunger in a restaurant adjoining, and as he +stepped back into the saloon a man wearing a military cape jostled +him. Apologies from both were instant. Gale was moving on when +the other stopped short as if startled, and, leaning forward, +exclaimed: + +"Dick Gale?" + +"You've got me," replied Gale, in surprise. "But I don't know you." + +He could not see the stranger's face, because it was wholly shaded +by a wide-brimmed hat pulled well down. + +"By Jove! It's Dick! If this isn't great! Don't you know me?" + +"I've heard your voice somewhere," replied Gale. "Maybe I'll +recognize you if you come out from under that bonnet." + +For answer the man, suddenly manifesting thought of himself, +hurriedly drew Gale into the restaurant, where he thrust back his +hat to disclose a handsome, sunburned face. + +"George Thorne! So help me--" + +"'S-s-ssh. You needn't yell," interrupted the other, as he met +Gale's outstretched hand. There was a close, hard, straining grip. +"I must not be recognized here. There are reasons. I'll explain in +a minute. Say, but it's fine to see you! Five years, Dick, five +years since I saw you run down University Field and spread-eagle the +whole Wisconsin football team." + +"Don't recollect that," replied Dick, laughing. "George, I'll bet +you I'm gladder to see you than you are to see me. It seems so +long. You went into the army, didn't you?" + +"I did. I'm here now with the Ninth Cavalry. But--never mind me. +What're you doing way down here? Say, I just noticed your togs. +Dick, you can't be going in for mining or ranching, not in this +God-forsaken desert?" + +"On the square, George, I don't know any more why I'm here than--than +you know." + +"Well, that beats me!" ejaculated Thorne, sitting back in his chair, +amaze and concern in his expression. "What the devil's wrong? +Your old man's got too much money for you ever to be up against it. +Dick, you couldn't have gone to the bad?" + +A tide of emotion surged over Gale. How good it was to meet a +friend--some one to whom to talk! He had never appreciated his +loneliness until that moment. + +"George, how I ever drifted down here I don't know. I didn't +exactly quarrel with the governor. But--damn it, Dad hurt +me--shamed me, and I dug out for the West. It was this way. +After leaving college I tried to please him by tackling one thing +after another that he set me to do. On the square, I had no head +for business. I made a mess of everything. The governor got sore. +He kept ramming the harpoon into me till I just couldn't stand it. +What little ability I possessed deserted me when I got my back up, +and there you are. Dad and I had a rather uncomfortable half hour. +When I quit--when I told him straight out that I was going West to +fare for myself, why, it wouldn't have been so tough if he hadn't +laughed at me. He called me a rich man's son--an idle, easy-going +spineless swell. He said I didn't even have character enough to be out +and out bad. He said I didn't have sense enough to marry one of the nice +girls in my sister's crowd. He said I couldn't get back home unless I +sent to him for money. He said he didn't believe I could fight--could +really make a fight for anything under the sun. Oh--he--he shot +it into me, all right." + +Dick dropped his head upon his hands, somewhat ashamed of the +smarting dimness in his eyes. He had not meant to say so much. +Yet what a relief to let out that long-congested burden! + +"Fight!" cried Thorne, hotly. "What's ailing him? Didn't they +call you Biff Gale in college? Dick, you were one of the best +men Stagg ever developed. I heard him say so--that you were the +fastest, one-hundred-and-seventy-five-pound man he'd ever trained, +the hardest to stop." + +"The governor didn't count football," said Dick. "He didn't mean +that kind of fight. When I left home I don't think I had an idea +what was wrong with me. But, George, I think I know now. I was +a rich man's son--spoiled, dependent, absolutely ignorant of the +value of money. I haven't yet discovered any earning capacity in +me. I seem to be unable to do anything with my hands. That's the +trouble. But I'm at the end of my tether now. And I'm going to +punch cattle or be a miner, or do some real stunt--like joining +the rebels." + +"Aha! I thought you'd spring that last one on me," declared Thorne, +wagging his head. "Well, you just forget it. Say, old boy, there's +something doing in Mexico. The United States in general doesn't +realize it. But across that line there are crazy revolutionists, +ill-paid soldiers, guerrilla leaders, raiders, robbers, outlaws, +bandits galore, starving peons by the thousand, girls and women +in terror. Mexico is like some of her volcanoes--ready to erupt +fire and hell! Don't make the awful mistake of joining rebel +forces. Americans are hated by Mexicans of the lower class-- +the fighting class, both rebel and federal. Half the time +these crazy Greasers are on one side, then on the other. +If you didn't starve or get shot in ambush, or die of thirst, +some Greaser would knife you in the back for you belt buckle +or boots. There are a good many Americans with the rebels +eastward toward Agua, Prieta and Juarez. Orozco is operating in +Chihuahua, and I guess he has some idea of warfare. But this is Sonora, +a mountainous desert, the home of the slave and the Yaqui. There's +unorganized revolt everywhere. The American miners and ranchers, +those who could get away, have fled across into the States, leaving +property. Those who couldn't or wouldn't come must fight for their +lives, are fighting now." + +"That's bad," said Gale. "It's news to me. Why doesn't the government +take action, do something?" + +"Afraid of international complications. Don't want to offend the +Maderists, or be criticized by jealous foreign nations. It's a +delicate situation, Dick. The Washington officials know the gravity +of it, you can bet. But the United States in general is in the dark, +and the army--well, you ought to hear the inside talk back at San +Antonio. We're patrolling the boundary line. We're making a grand +bluff. I could tell you of a dozen instances where cavalry should +have pursued raiders on the other side of the line. But we won't +do it. The officers are a grouchy lot these days. You see, of +course, what significance would attach to United States cavalry +going into Mexican territory. There would simply be hell. My +own colonel is the sorest man on the job. We're all sore. It's +like sitting on a powder magazine. We can't keep the rebels and +raiders from crossing the line. Yet we don't fight. My commission +expires soon. I'll be discharged in three months. You can bet +I'm glad for more reasons than I've mentioned." + +Thorne was evidently laboring under strong, suppressed excitement. +His face showed pale under the tan, and his eyes gleamed with a dark fire. +Occasionally his delight at meeting, talking with Gale, dominated the other +emotions, but not for long. He had seated himself at a table near one of +the doorlike windows leading into the street, and every little while +he would glance sharply out. Also he kept consulting his watch. + +These details gradually grew upon Gale as Thorne talked. + +"George, it strikes me that you're upset," said Dick, presently. "I seem to +remember you as a cool-headed fellow whom nothing could disturb. +Has the army changed you?" + +Thorne laughed. It was a laugh with a strange, high note. It was +reckless--it hinted of exaltation. He rose abruptly; he gave the +waiter money to go for drinks; he looked into the saloon, and then +into the street. On this side of the house there was a porch opening +on a plaza with trees and shrubbery and branches. Thorne peered +out one window, then another. His actions were rapid. Returning +to the table, he put his hands upon it and leaned over to look +closely into Gale's face. + +"I'm away from camp without leave," he said. + +"Isn't that a serious offense?" asked Dick. + +"Serious? For me, if I'm discovered, it means ruin. There are +rebels in town. Any moment we might have trouble. I ought to +be ready for duty--within call. If I'm discovered it means arrest. +That means delay--the failure of my plans--ruin." + +Gale was silenced by his friend's intensity. Thorne bent over +closer with his dark eyes searching bright. + +"We were old pals--once?" + +"Surely," replied Dick. + +"What would you say, Dick Gale, if I told you that you're the one +man I'd rather have had come along than any other at this crisis +of my life?" + +The earnest gaze, the passionate voice with its deep tremor drew +Dick upright, thrilling and eager, conscious of strange, unfamiliar +impetuosity. + +"Thorne, I should say I was glad to be the fellow," replied Dick. + +Their hands locked for a moment, and they sat down again with heads +close over the table. + +"Listen," began Thorne, in low, swift whisper, "a few days, a week +ago--it seems like a year!--I was of some assistance to refugees +fleeing from Mexico into the States. They were all women, and one +of them was dressed as a nun. Quite by accident I saw her face. +It was that of a beautiful girl. I observed she kept aloof from +the others. I suspected a disguise, and, when opportunity afforded, +spoke to her, offered my services. She replied to my poor efforts at +Spanish in fluent English. She had fled in terror from her home, +some place down in Sinaloa. Rebels are active there. Her father +was captured and held for ransom. When the ransom was paid the +rebels killed him. The leader of these rebels was a bandit named +Rojas. Long before the revolution began he had been feared by people +of class--loved by the peons. Bandits are worshiped by the peons. +All of the famous bandits have robbed the rich and given to the poor. +Rojas saw the daughter, made off with her. But she contrived to +bribe her guards, and escaped almost immediately before any harm +befell her. She hid among friends. Rojas nearly tore down the +town in his efforts to find her. Then she disguised herself, and +traveled by horseback, stage, and train to Casita. + +"Her story fascinated me, and that one fleeting glimpse I had of +her face I couldn't forget. She had no friends here, no money. +She knew Rojas was trailing her. This talk I had with her was +at the railroad station, where all was bustle and confusion. No +one noticed us, so I thought. I advised her to remove the disguise +of a nun before she left the waiting-room. And I got a boy to +guide her. But he fetched her to his house. I had promised to come +in the evening to talk over the situation with her. + +"I found her, Dick, and when I saw her--I went stark, staring, raving +mad over her. She is the most beautiful, wonderful girl I ever saw. +Her name is Mercedes Castaneda, and she belongs to one of the old +wealthy Spanish families. She has lived abroad and in Havana. She +speaks French as well as English. She is--but I must be brief. + +"Dick, think, think! With Mercedes also it was love at first sight. +My plan is to marry her and get her farther to the interior, away +from the border. It may not be easy. She's watched. So am I. +It was impossible to see her without the women of this house knowing. +At first, perhaps, they had only curiosity--an itch to gossip. But +the last two days there has been a change. Since last night there's +some powerful influence at work. Oh, these Mexicans are subtle, +mysterious! After all, they are Spaniards. They work in secret, +in the dark. They are dominated first by religion, then by gold, +then by passion for a woman. Rojas must have got word to his +friends here; yesterday his gang of cutthroat rebels arrived, and +to-day he came. When I learned that, I took my chance and left +camp. I hunted up a priest. He promised to come here. It's time +he's due. But I'm afraid he'll be stopped." + +"Thorne, why don't you take the girl and get married without waiting, +without running these risks?" said Dick. + +"I fear it's too late now. I should have done that last night. +You see, we're over the line--" + +"Are we in Mexican territory now?" queried Gale, sharply. + +"I guess yes, old boy. That's what complicates it. Rojas and his +rebels have Casita in their hands. But Rojas without his rebels +would be able to stop me, get the girl, and make for his mountain +haunts. If Mercedes is really watched--if her identity is known, +which I am sure is the case--we couldn't get far from this house +before I'd be knifed and she seized." + +"Good Heavens! Thorne, can that sort of thing happen less than a +stone's throw from the United States line?" asked Gale, incredulously. + +"It can happen, and don't you forget it. You don't seem to realize +the power these guerrilla leaders, these rebel captains, and +particularly these bandits, exercise over the mass of Mexicans. +A bandit is a man of honor in Mexico. He is feared, envied, loved. +In the hearts of the people he stands next to the national idol--the +bull-fighter, the matador. The race has a wild, barbarian, bloody +strain. Take Quinteros, for instance. He was a peon, a slave. +He became a famous bandit. At the outbreak of the revolution he +proclaimed himself a leader, and with a band of followers he +devastated whole counties. The opposition to federal forces was only +a blind to rob and riot and carry off women. The motto of this man +and his followers was: 'Let us enjoy ourselves while we may!' + +"There are other bandits besides Quinteros, not so famous or such +great leaders, but just as bloodthirsty. I've seen Rojas. He's +a handsome, bold sneering devil, vainer than any peacock. He decks +himself in gold lace and sliver trappings, in all the finery he can +steal. He was one of the rebels who helped sack Sinaloa and carry +off half a million in money and valuables. Rojas spends gold like +he spills blood. But he is chiefly famous for abducting women. +The peon girls consider it an honor to be ridden off with. Rojas +has shown a penchant for girls of the better class." + +Thorne wiped the perspiration from his pale face and bent a dark +gaze out of the window before he resumed his talk. + +"Consider what the position of Mercedes really is. I can't get +any help from our side of the line. If so, I don't know where. +The population on that side is mostly Mexican, absolutely in +sympathy with whatever actuates those on this side. The whole +caboodle of Greasers on both sides belong to the class in sympathy +with the rebels, the class that secretly respects men like Rojas, +and hates an aristocrat like Mercedes. They would conspire to throw +her into his power. Rojas can turn all the hidden underground +influences to his ends. Unless I thwart him he'll get Mercedes as easily +as he can light a cigarette. But I'll kill him or some of his gang or her +before I let him get her. . . . This is the situation, old friend. I've +little time to spare. I face arrest for desertion. Rojas is in town. +I think I was followed to this hotel. The priest has betrayed me +or has been stopped. Mercedes is here alone, waiting, absolutely +dependent upon me to save her from--from....She's the sweetest, +loveliest girl!...In a few moments--sooner or later there'll be hell +here! Dick, are you with me?" + +Dick Gale drew a long, deep breath. A coldness, a lethargy, an +indifference that had weighed upon him for months had passed out +of his being. On the instant he could not speak, but his hand +closed powerfully upon his friend's. Thorne's face changed wonderfully, +the distress, the fear, the appeal all vanishing in a smile of +passionate gratefulness. + +Then Dick's gaze, attracted by some slight sound, shot over his +friend's shoulder to see a face at the window--a handsome, bold, +sneering face, with glittering dark eyes that flashed in sinister +intentness. + +Dick stiffened in his seat. Thorne, with sudden clenching of hands, +wheeled toward the window. + +"Rojas!" he whispered. + + + + +II + +MERCEDES CASTANEDA + +THE dark face vanished. Dick Gale heard footsteps and the tinkle +of spurs. He strode to the window, and was in time to see a Mexican +swagger into the front door of the saloon. Dick had only a glimpse; +but in that he saw a huge black sombrero with a gaudy band, the back +of a short, tight-fitting jacket, a heavy pearl-handled gun swinging +with a fringe of sash, and close-fitting trousers spreading wide +at the bottom. There were men passing in the street, also several +Mexicans lounging against the hitching-rail at the curb. + +"Did you see him? Where did he go?" whispered Thorne, as he joined +Gale. "Those Greasers out there with the cartridge belts crossed +over their breasts--they are rebels." + +"I think he went into the saloon," replied Dick. "He had a gun, +but for all I can see the Greasers out there are unarmed." + +"Never believe it! There! Look, Dick! That fellow's a guard, +though he seems so unconcerned. See, he has a short carbine, almost +concealed....There's another Greaser farther down the path. I'm +afraid Rojas has the house spotted." + +"If we could only be sure." + +"I'm sure, Dick. Let's cross the hall; I want to see how it looks +from the other side of the house." + +Gale followed Thorne out of the restaurant into the high-ceiled +corridor which evidently divided the hotel, opening into the street +and running back to a patio. A few dim, yellow lamps flickered. +A Mexican with a blanket round his shoulders stood in the front entrance. +Back toward the patio there were sounds of boots on the stone floor. +Shadows flitted across that end of the corridor. Thorne entered a huge +chamber which was even more poorly lighted than the hall. It contained +a table littered with papers, a few high-backed chairs, a couple of +couches, and was evidently a parlor. + +"Mercedes has been meeting me here," said Thorne. "At this hour +she comes every moment or so to the head of the stairs there, and +if I am here she comes down. Mostly there are people in this room +a little later. We go out into the plaza. It faces the dark side +of the house, and that's the place I must slip out with her if +there's any chance at all to get away." + +They peered out of the open window. The plaza was gloomy, and at +first glance apparently deserted. In a moment, however, Gale made +out a slow-pacing dark form on the path. Farther down there was +another. No particular keenness was required to see in these forms +a sentinel-like stealthiness. + +Gripping Gale's arm, Thorne pulled back from the window. + +"You saw them," he whispered. "It's just as I feared. Rojas has +the place surrounded. I should have taken Mercedes away. But I had +no time--no chance! I'm bound!...There's Mercedes now! My God!...Dick, +think--think if there's a way to get her out of this trap!" + +Gale turned as his friend went down the room. In the dim light at +the head of the stairs stood the slim, muffled figure of a woman. +When she saw Thorne she flew noiselessly down the stairway to him. +He caught her in his arms. Then she spoke softly, brokenly, in a +low, swift voice. It was a mingling of incoherent Spanish and +English; but to Gale it was mellow, deep, unutterably tender, a voice +full of joy, fear, passion, hope, and love. Upon Gale it had an +unaccountable effect. He found himself thrilling, wondering. + +Thorne led the girl to the center of the room, under the light where +Gale stood. She had raised a white hand, holding a black-laced +mantilla half aside. Dick saw a small, dark head, proudly held, +an oval face half hidden, white as a flower, and magnificent +black eyes. + +Then Thorne spoke. + +"Mercedes--Dick Gale, an old friend--the best friend I ever had." + +She swept the mantilla back over her head, disclosing a lovely face, +strange and striking to Gale in its pride and fire, its intensity. + +"Senor Gale--ah! I cannot speak my happiness. His friend!" + +"Yes, Mercedes; my friend and yours," said Thorne, speaking rapidly. +"We'll have need of him. Dear, there's bad news and no time to +break it gently. The priest did not come. He must have been +detained. And listen--be brave, dear Mercedes--Rojas is here!" + +She uttered an inarticulate cry, the poignant terror of which +shook Gale's nerve, and swayed as if she would faint. Thorne +caught her, and in husky voice importuned her to bear up. + +"My darling! For God's sake don't faint--don't go to pieces! +We'd be lost! We've got a chance. We'll think of something. Be +strong! Fight!" + +It was plain to Gale that Thorne was distracted. He scarcely knew +what he was saying. Pale and shaking, he clasped Mercedes to him. +Her terror had struck him helpless. It was so intense--it was so +full of horrible certainty of what fate awaited her. + +She cried out in Spanish, beseeching him; and as he shook his head, +she changed to English: + +"Senor, my lover, I will be strong--I will fight--I will obey. +But swear by my Virgin, if need be to save me from Rojas--you will +kill me!" + +"Mercedes! Yes, I'll swear," he replied hoarsely. "I know--I'd +rather have you dead than-- But don't give up. Rojas can't be +sure of you, or he wouldn't wait. He's in there. He's got his +men there--all around us. But he hesitates. A beast like Rojas +doesn't stand idle for nothing. I tell you we've a chance. Dick, +here, will think of something. We'll slip away. Then he'll take +you somewhere. Only--speak to him--show him you won't weaken. +Mercedes, this is more than love and happiness for us. It's life +or death." + +She became quiet, and slowly recovered control of herself. + +Suddenly she wheeled to face Gale with proud dark eyes, tragic +sweetness of appeal, and exquisite grace. + +"Senor, you are an American. You cannot know the Spanish blood--the +peon bandit's hate and cruelty. I wish to die before Rojas's hand +touches me. If he takes me alive, then the hour, the little day +that my life lasts afterward will be tortured--torture of hell. +If I live two days his brutal men will have me. If I live three, +the dogs of his camp...Senor, have you a sister whom you love? +Help Senor Thorne to save me. He is a soldier. He is bound. +He must not betray his honor, his duty, for me....Ah, you two +splendid Americans--so big, so strong, so fierce! What is that +little black half-breed slave Rojas to such men? Rojas is a coward. +Now, let me waste no more precious time. I am ready. I will be +brave." + +She came close to Gale, holding out her white hands, a woman all +fire and soul and passion. To Gale she was wonderful. His heart +leaped. As he bent over her hands and kissed them he seemed to +feel himself renewed, remade. + +"Senorita," he said, "I am happy to be your servant. I can conceive +of no greater pleasure than giving the service you require." + +"And what is that?" inquired Thorne, hurriedly. + +"That of incapacitating Senor Rojas for to-night, and perhaps +several nights to come," replied Gale. + +"Dick, what will you do?" asked Thorne, now in alarm. + +"I'll make a row in that saloon," returned Dick, bluntly. "I'll +start something. I'll rush Rojas and his crowd. I'll--" + +"Lord, no; you mustn't, Dick--you'll be knifed!" cried Thorne. +He was in distress, yet his eyes were shining. + +"I'll take a chance. Maybe I can surprise that slow Greaser bunch +and get away before they know what's happened....You be ready +watching at the window. When the row starts those fellows out +there in the plaza will run into the saloon. Then you slip out, +go straight through the plaza down the street. It's a dark street, +I remember. I'll catch up with you before you get far." + +Thorne gasped, but did not say a word. Mercedes leaned against +him, her white hands now at her breast, her great eyes watching +Gale as he went out. + +In the corridor Gale stopped long enough to pull on a pair of heavy +gloves, to muss his hair, and disarrange his collar. Then he stepped +into the restaurant, went through, and halted in the door leading +into the saloon. His five feet eleven inches and one hundred and +eighty pounds were more noticeable there, and it was part of his +plan to attract attention to himself. No one, however, appeared +to notice him. The pool-players were noisily intent on their game, +the same crowd of motley-robed Mexicans hung over the reeking bar. +Gale's roving glance soon fixed upon the man he took to be Rojas. +He recognized the huge, high-peaked, black sombrero with its +ornamented band. The Mexican's face was turned aside. He was in +earnest, excited colloquy with a dozen or more comrades, most of +whom were sitting round a table. They were listening, talking, +drinking. The fact that they wore cartridge belts crossed over +their breasts satisfied that these were the rebels. He had noted +the belts of the Mexicans outside, who were apparently guards. A waiter +brought more drinks to this group at the table, and this caused +the leader to turn so Gale could see his face. It was indeed +the sinister, sneering face of the bandit Rojas. Gale gazed at +the man with curiosity. He was under medium height, and striking +in appearance only because of his dandified dress and evil visage. +He wore a lace scarf, a tight, bright-buttoned jacket, a buckskin +vest embroidered in red, a sash and belt joined by an enormous +silver clasp. Gale saw again the pearl-handled gun swinging at +the bandit's hip. Jewels flashed in his scarf. There were gold +rings in his ears and diamonds on his fingers. + +Gale became conscious of an inward fire that threatened to overrun +his coolness. Other emotions harried his self-control. It seemed +as if sight of the man liberated or created a devil in Gale. And +at the bottom of his feelings there seemed to be a wonder at himself, +a strange satisfaction for the something that had come to him. + +He stepped out of the doorway, down the couple of steps to the floor +of the saloon, and he staggered a little, simulating drunkenness. +He fell over the pool tables, jostled Mexicans at the bar, laughed +like a maudlin fool, and, with his hat slouched down, crowded here +and there. Presently his eye caught sight of the group of cowboys +whom he had before noticed with such interest. + +They were still in a corner somewhat isolated. With fertile mind +working, Gale lurched over to them. He remembered his many +unsuccessful attempts to get acquainted with cowboys. If he were +to get any help from these silent aloof rangers it must be by +striking fire from them in one swift stroke. Planting himself +squarely before the two tall cowboys who were standing, he looked +straight into their lean, bronzed faces. He spared a full moment +for that keen cool gaze before he spoke. + +"I'm not drunk. I'm throwing a bluff, and I mean to start a rough +house. I'm going to rush that damned bandit Rojas. It's to save +a girl--to give her lover, who is my friend, a chance to escape with her. +When I start a row my friend will try to slip out with her. Every door +and window is watched. I've got to raise hell to draw the guards in.... +Well, you're my countrymen. We're in Mexico. A beautiful girl's honor +and life are at stake. Now, gentlemen, watch me!" + +One cowboy's eyes narrowed, blinking a little, and his lean jaw +dropped; the other's hard face rippled with a fleeting smile. + +Gale backed away, and his pulse leaped when he saw the two cowboys, +as if with one purpose, slowly stride after him. Then Gale swerved, +staggering along, brushed against the tables, kicked over the empty +chairs. He passed Rojas and his gang, and out of the tail of his +eye saw that the bandit was watching him, waving his hands and +talking fiercely. The hum of the many voices grew louder, and +when Dick lurched against a table, overturning it and spilling +glasses into the laps of several Mexicans, there arose a shrill cry. +He had succeeded in attracting attention; almost every face turned +his way. One of the insulted men, a little tawny fellow, leaped +up to confront Gale, and in a frenzy screamed a volley of Spanish, +of which Gale distinguished "Gringo!" The Mexican stamped and +made a threatening move with his right hand. Dick swung his leg +and with a swift side kick knocked the fellows feet from under +him, whirling him down with a thud. + +The action was performed so suddenly, so adroitly, it made the +Mexican such a weakling, so like a tumbled tenpin, that the shrill +jabbering hushed. Gale knew this to be the significant moment. + +Wheeling, he rushed at Rojas. It was his old line-breaking plunge. +Neither Rojas nor his men had time to move. The black-skinned +bandit's face turned a dirty white; his jaw dropped; he would have +shrieked if Gale had not hit him. The blow swept him backward against +his men. Then Gale's heavy body, swiftly following with the momentum +of that rush, struck the little group of rebels. They went down +with table and chairs in a sliding crash. + +Gale carried by his plunge, went with them. Like a cat he landed +on top. As he rose his powerful hands fastened on Rojas. He +jerked the little bandit off the tangled pile of struggling, +yelling men, and, swinging him with terrific force, let go his +hold. Rojas slid along the floor, knocking over tables and chairs. +Gale bounded back, dragged Rojas up, handling him as if he were a +limp sack. + +A shot rang out above the yells. Gale heard the jingle of breaking +glass. The room darkened perceptibly. He flashed a glance backward. +The two cowboys were between him and the crowd of frantic rebels. +One cowboy held two guns low down, level in front of him. The other +had his gun raised and aimed. On the instant it spouted red and +white. With the crack came the crashing of glass, another darkening +shade over the room. With a cry Gale slung the bleeding Rojas from +him. The bandit struck a table, toppled over it, fell, and lay prone. + +Another shot made the room full of moving shadows, with light only +back of the bar. A white-clad figure rushed at Gale. He tripped +the man, but had to kick hard to disengage himself from grasping +hands. Another figure closed in on Gale. This one was dark, swift. +A blade glinted--described a circle aloft. Simultaneously with a +close, red flash the knife wavered; the man wielding it stumbled +backward. In the din Gale did not hear a report, but the Mexican's +fall was significant. Then pandemonium broke loose. The din +became a roar. Gale heard shots that sounded like dull spats in +the distance. The big lamp behind the bar seemingly split, then +sputtered and went out, leaving the room in darkness. + +Gale leaped toward the restaurant door, which was outlined faintly +by the yellow light within. Right and left he pushed the groping +men who jostled with him. He vaulted a pool table, sent tables +and chairs flying, and gained the door, to be the first of a wedging +mob to squeeze through. One sweep of his arm knocked the restaurant +lamp from its stand; and he ran out, leaving darkness behind him. +A few bounds took him into the parlor. It was deserted. Thorne +had gotten away with Mercedes. + +It was then Gale slowed up. For the space of perhaps sixty seconds +he had been moving with startling velocity. He peered cautiously +out into the plaza. The paths, the benches, the shady places under +the trees contained no skulking men. He ran out, keeping to the +shade, and did not go into the path till he was halfway through +the plaza. Under a street lamp at the far end of the path he thought +he saw two dark figures. He ran faster, and soon reached the street. +The uproar back in the hotel began to diminish, or else he was +getting out of hearing. The few people he saw close at hand were +all coming his way, and only the foremost showed any excitement. +Gale walked swiftly, peering ahead for two figures. Presently he +saw them--one tall, wearing a cape; the other slight, mantled. Gale +drew a sharp breath of relief. Throne and Mercedes were not far ahead. + +From time to time Thorne looked back. He strode swiftly, almost +carrying Mercedes, who clung closely to him. She, too, looked back. +Once Gale saw her white face flash in the light of a street lamp. +He began to overhaul them; and soon, when the last lamp had been +passed and the street was dark, he ventured a whistle. Thorne +heard it, for he turned, whistled a low reply, and went on. Not +for some distance beyond, where the street ended in open country, +did they halt to wait. The desert began here. Gale felt the soft +sand under his feet and saw the grotesque forms of cactus. Then +he came up with the fugitives. + +"Dick! Are you--all right?" panted Thorne, grasping Gale. + +"I'm--out of breath--but--O.K.," replied Gale. + +"Good! Good!" choked Thorne. "I was scared--helpless....Dick, it +worked splendidly. We had no trouble. What on earth did you do?" + +"I made the row, all right," said Dick. + +"Good Heavens! It was like a row I once heard made by a mob. But +the shots, Dick--were they at you? They paralyzed me. Then the +yells. What happened? Those guards of Rojas ran round in front +at the first shot. Tell me what happened." + +"While I was rushing Rojas a couple of cowboys shot out the lamplights. +A Mexican who pulled a knife on me got hurt, I guess. Then I think +there was some shooting from the rebels after the room was dark." + +"Rushing Rojas?" queried Thorne, leaning close to Dick. His voice +was thrilling, exultant, deep with a joy that yet needed confirmation. +"What did you do to him?" + +"I handed him one off side, tackled, then tried a forward pass," +replied Dick, lightly speaking the football vernacular so familiar +to Thorne. + +Thorne leaned closer, his fine face showing fierce and corded in +the starlight. "Tell me straight," he demanded, in thick voice. + +Gale then divined something of the suffering Thorne had undergone +--something of the hot, wild, vengeful passion of a lover who must +have brutal truth. + +It stilled Dick's lighter mood, and he was about to reply when +Mercedes pressed close to him, touched his hands, looked up into +his face with wonderful eyes. He thought he would not soon forget +their beauty--the shadow of pain that had been, the hope dawning +so fugitively. + +"Dear lady," said Gale, with voice not wholly steady, "Rojas himself +will hound you no more to-night, nor for many nights." + +She seemed to shake, to thrill, to rise with the intelligence. +She pressed his hand close over her heaving breast. Gale felt +the quick throb of her heart. + +"Senor! Senor Dick!" she cried. Then her voice failed. But +her hands flew up; quick as a flash she raised her face--kissed +him. Then she turned and with a sob fell into Thorne's arms. + +There ensued a silence broken only by Mercedes' sobbing. Gale +walked some paces away. If he were not stunned, he certainly was +agitated. The strange, sweet fire of that girl's lips remained +with him. On the spur of the moment he imagined he had a jealousy +of Thorne. But presently this passed. It was only that he had +been deeply moved--stirred to the depths during the last hour--had +become conscious of the awakening of a spirit. What remained with +him now was the splendid glow of gladness that he had been of service +to Thorne. And by the intensity of Mercedes' abandon of relief and +gratitude he measured her agony of terror and the fate he had spared her. + +"Dick, Dick, come here!" called Thorne softly. "Let's pull ourselves +together now. We've got a problem yet. What to do? Where to go? +How to get any place? We don't dare risk the station--the corrals +where Mexicans hire out horses. We're on good old U.S. ground this +minute, but we're not out of danger." + +As he paused, evidently hoping for a suggestion from Gale, the silence +was broken by the clear, ringing peal of a bugle. Thorne gave a +violent start. Then he bent over, listening. The beautiful notes +of the bugle floated out of the darkness, clearer, sharper, faster. + +"It's a call, Dick! It's a call!" he cried. + +Gale had no answer to make. Mercedes stood as if stricken. The +bugle call ended. From a distance another faintly pealed. There +were other sounds too remote to recognize. Then scattering shots +rattled out. + +"Dick, the rebels are fighting somebody," burst out Thorne, +excitedly. "The little federal garrison still holds its stand. +Perhaps it is attacked again. Anyway, there's something doing over +the line. Maybe the crazy Greasers are firing on our camp. We've +feared it--in the dark....And here I am, away without +leave--practically a deserter!" + +"Go back! Go back, before you're too late!" cried Mercedes. + +"Better make tracks, Thorne," added Gale. "It can't help our +predicament for you to be arrested. I'll take care of Mercedes." + +"No, no, no," replied Thorne. "I can get away--avoid arrest." + +"That'd be all right for the immediate present. But it's not best +for the future. George, a deserter is a deserter!...Better hurry. +Leave the girl to me till tomorrow." + +Mercedes embraced her lover, begged him to go. Thorne wavered. + +"Dick, I'm up against it," he said. "You're right. If only I can +get back in time. But, oh, I hate to leave her! Old fellow, you've +saved her! I already owe you everlasting gratitude. Keep out of +Casita, Dick. The U.S. side might be safe, but I'm afraid to trust +it at night. Go out in the desert, up in the mountains, in some +safe place. Then come to me in camp. We'll plan. I'll have to +confide in Colonel Weede. Maybe he'll help us. Hide her from the +rebels--that's all." + +He wrung Dick's hand, clasped Mercedes tightly in his arms, kissed +her, and murmured low over her, then released her to rush off into +the darkness. He disappeared in the gloom. The sound of his dull +footfalls gradually died away. + +For a moment the desert silence oppressed Gale. He was unaccustomed +to such strange stillness. There was a low stir of sand, a rustle +of stiff leaves in the wind. How white the stars burned! Then a +coyote barked, to be bayed by a dog. Gale realized that he was +between the edge of an unknown desert and the edge of a hostile town. +He had to choose the desert, because, though he had no doubt that in Casita +there were many Americans who might befriend him, he could not chance +the risks of seeking them at night. + +He felt a slight touch on his arm, felt it move down, felt Mercedes +slip a trembling cold little hand into his. Dick looked at her. +She seemed a white-faced girl now, with staring, frightened black +eyes that flashed up at him. If the loneliness, the silence, the +desert, the unknown dangers of the night affected him, what must +they be to this hunted, driven girl? Gale's heart swelled. He +was alone with her. He had no weapon, no money, no food, no drink, +no covering, nothing except his two hands. He had absolutely no +knowledge of the desert, of the direction or whereabouts of the +boundary line between the republics; he did not know where to find +the railroad, or any road or trail, or whether or not there were +towns near or far. It was a critical, desperate situation. He +thought first of the girl, and groaned in spirit, prayed that it +would be given him to save her. When he remembered himself it was +with the stunning consciousness that he could conceive of no +situation which he would have exchanged for this one--where fortune +had set him a perilous task of loyalty to a friend, to a helpless +girl. + +"Senor, senor!" suddenly whispered Mercedes, clinging to him. +"Listen! I hear horses coming!" + + + +III + +A FLIGHT INTO THE DESERT + +UNEASY and startled, Gale listened and, hearing nothing, wondered +if Mercedes's fears had not worked upon her imagination. He felt +a trembling seize her, and he held her hands tightly. + +"You were mistaken, I guess," he whispered. + +"No, no, senor." + +Dick turned his ear to the soft wind. Presently he heard, or +imagined he heard, low beats. Like the first faint, far-off beats +of a drumming grouse, they recalled to him the Illinois forests of +his boyhood. In a moment he was certain the sounds were the padlike +steps of hoofs in yielding sand. The regular tramp was not that of +grazing horses. + +On the instant, made cautious and stealthy by alarm, Gale drew +Mercedes deeper into the gloom of the shrubbery. Sharp pricks from +thorns warned him that he was pressing into a cactus growth, and +he protected Mercedes as best he could. She was shaking as one with +a sever chill. She breathed with little hurried pants and leaned +upon him almost in collapse. Gale ground his teeth in helpless +rage at the girl's fate. If she had not been beautiful she might +still have been free and happy in her home. What a strange world +to live in--how unfair was fate! + +The sounds of hoofbeats grew louder. Gale made out a dark moving +mass against a background of dull gray. There was a line of horses. +He could not discern whether or not all the horses carried riders. +The murmur of a voice struck his ear--then a low laugh. It made him +tingle, for it sounded American. Eagerly he listened. There +was an interval when only the hoofbeats could be heard. + +"It shore was, Laddy, it shore was," came a voice out of the darkness. +"Rough house! Laddy, since wire fences drove us out of Texas we ain't +seen the like of that. An' we never had such a call." + +"Call? It was a burnin' roast," replied another voice. "I felt +low down. He vamoosed some sudden, an' I hope he an' his friends +shook the dust of Casita. That's a rotten town Jim." + +Gale jumped up in joy. What luck! The speakers were none other +than the two cowboys whom he had accosted in the Mexican hotel. + +"Hold on, fellows," he called out, and strode into the road. + +The horses snorted and stamped. Then followed swift rustling +sounds--a clinking of spurs, then silence. The figures loomed +clearer in the gloom.. Gale saw five or six horses, two with +riders, and one other, at least, carrying a pack. When Gale got +within fifteen feet of the group the foremost horseman said: + +"I reckon that's close enough, stranger." + +Something in the cowboy's hand glinted darkly bright in the starlight. + +"You'd recognize me, if it wasn't so dark," replied Gale, halting. +"I spoke to you a little while ago--in the saloon back there." + +"Come over an' let's see you," said the cowboy curtly. + +Gale advanced till he was close to the horse. The cowboy leaned +over the saddle and peered into Gale's face. Then, without a word, +he sheathed the gun and held out his hand. Gale met a grip of +steel that warmed his blood. The other cowboy got off his nervous, +spirited horse and threw the bridle. He, too, peered closely into +Gale's face. + +"My name's Ladd," he said. "Reckon I'm some glad to meet you again." + +Gale felt another grip as hard and strong as the other had been. He +realized he had found friends who belonged to a class of men whom he +had despaired of ever knowing. + +"Gale--Dick Gale is my name," he began, swiftly. "I dropped into +Casita to-night hardly knowing where I was. A boy took me to that +hotel. There I met an old friend whom I had not seen for years. +He belongs to the cavalry stationed here. He had befriended a +Spanish girl--fallen in love with her. Rojas had killed this girl's +father--tried to abduct her....You know what took place at the hotel. +Gentlemen, if it's ever possible, I'll show you how I appreciate +what you did for me there. I got away, found my friend with the +girl. We hurried out here beyond the edge of town. Then Thorne +had to make a break for camp. We heard bugle calls, shots, and he +was away without leave. That left the girl with me. I don't know +what to do. Thorne swears Casita is no place for Mercedes at night." + +"The girl ain't no peon, no common Greaser?" interrupted Ladd. + +"No. Her name is Castaneda. She belongs to an old Spanish family, +once rich and influential." + +"Reckoned as much," replied the cowboy. "There's more than Rojas's +wantin' to kidnap a pretty girl. Shore he does that every day or so. +Must be somethin' political or feelin' against class. Well, Casita +ain't no place for your friend's girl at night or day, or any time. +Shore, there's Americans who'd take her in an' fight for her, if +necessary. But it ain't wise to risk that. Lash, what do you say?" + +"It's been gettin' hotter round this Greaser corral for some weeks," +replied the other cowboy. "If that two-bit of a garrison surrenders, +there's no tellin' what'll happen. Orozco is headin' west from Agua Prieta +with his guerrillas. Campo is burnin' bridges an' tearin' up the railroad +south of Nogales. Then there's all these bandits callin' themselves +revolutionists just for an excuse to steal, burn, kill, an' ride +off with women. It's plain facts, Laddy, an' bein' across the U.S. +line a few inches or so don't make no hell of a difference. My advice +is, don't let Miss Castaneda ever set foot in Casita again." + +"Looks like you've shore spoke sense," said Ladd. "I reckon, Gale, +you an' the girl ought to come with us. Casita shore would be a +little warm for us to-morrow. We didn't kill anybody, but I shot +a Greaser's arm off, an' Lash strained friendly relations by destroyin' +property. We know people who'll take care of the senorita till +your friend can come for her." + +Dick warmly spoke his gratefulness, and, inexpressibly relieved and +happy for Mercedes, he went toward the clump of cactus where he had +left her. She stood erect, waiting, and, dark as it was, he could +tell she had lost the terror that had so shaken her. + +"Senor Gale, you are my good angel," she said, tremulously. + +"I've been lucky to fall in with these men, and I'm glad with all +my heart," he replied. "Come." + +He led her into the road up to the cowboys, who now stood bareheaded +in the starlight. They seemed shy, and Lash was silent while Ladd +made embarrassed, unintelligible reply to Mercedes's's thanks. + +There were five horses--two saddled, two packed, and the remaining +one carried only a blanket. Ladd shortened the stirrups on his +mount, and helped Mercedes up into the saddle. From the way she +settled herself and took the few restive prances of the mettlesome +horse Gale judged that she could ride. Lash urged Gale to take his +horse. But this Gale refused to do. + +"I'll walk," he said. "I'm used to walking. I know cowboys are not." + +They tried again to persuade him, without avail. Then Ladd started off, +riding bareback. Mercedes fell in behind, with Gale walking beside her. +The two pack animals came next, and Lash brought up the rear. + +Once started with protection assured for the girl and a real objective +point in view, Gale relaxed from the tense strain he had been laboring +under. How glad he would have been to acquaint Thorne with their +good fortune! Later, of course, there would be some way to get word +to the cavalryman. But till then what torments his friend would suffer! + +It seemed to Dick that a very long time had elapsed since he stepped +off the train; and one by one he went over every detail of incident +which had occurred between that arrival and the present moment. Strange +as the facts were, he had no doubts. He realized that before that +night he had never known the deeps of wrath undisturbed in him; he +had never conceived even a passing idea that it was possible for him +to try to kill a man. His right hand was swollen stiff, so sore +that he could scarcely close it. His knuckles were bruised and +bleeding, and ached with a sharp pain. Considering the thickness of +his heavy glove, Gale was of the opinion that so to bruise his hand +he must have struck Rojas a powerful blow. He remembered that for +him to give or take a blow had been nothing. This blow to Rojas, +however, had been a different matter. The hot wrath which had been +his motive was not puzzling; but the effect on him after he had +cooled off, a subtle difference, something puzzled and eluded him. +The more it baffled him the more he pondered. All those wandering +months of his had been filled with dissatisfaction, yet he had been +too apathetic to understand himself. So he had not been much of +a person to try. Perhaps it had not been the blow to Rojas any +more than other things that had wrought some change in him. + +His meeting with Thorne; the wonderful black eyes of a Spanish +girl; her appeal to him; the hate inspired by Rojas, and the rush, +the blow, the action; sight of Thorne and Mercedes hurrying safely away; +the girl's hand pressing his to her heaving breast; the sweet fire +of her kiss; the fact of her being alone with him, dependent upon him-- +all these things Gale turned over and over in his mind, only to fail +of any definite conclusion as to which had affected him so remarkably, +or to tell what had really happened to him. + +Had he fallen in love with Thorne's sweetheart? The idea came in +a flash. Was he, all in an instant, and by one of those incomprehensible +reversals of character, jealous of his friend? Dick was almost afraid +to look up at Mercedes. Still he forced himself to do so, and as it +chanced Mercedes was looking down at him. Somehow the light was +better, and he clearly saw her white face, her black and starry eyes, +her perfect mouth. With a quick, graceful impulsiveness she put +her hand upon his shoulder. Like her appearance, the action was +new, strange, striking to Gale; but it brought home suddenly to him +the nature of gratitude and affection in a girl of her blood. It was +sweet and sisterly. He knew then that he had not fallen in love +with her. The feeling that was akin to jealousy seemed to be of +the beautiful something for which Mercedes stood in Thorne's life. +Gale then grasped the bewildering possibilities, the infinite wonder +of what a girl could mean to a man. + +The other haunting intimations of change seemed to be elusively +blended with sensations--the heat and thrill of action, the sense +of something done and more to do, the utter vanishing of an old +weary hunt for he knew not what. Maybe it had been a hunt +for work, for energy, for spirit, for love, for his real self. +Whatever it might be, there appeared to be now some hope of +finding it. + +The desert began to lighten. Gray openings in the border of shrubby +growths changed to paler hue. The road could be seen some rods +ahead, and it had become a stony descent down, steadily down. +Dark, ridged backs of mountains bounded the horizon, and all seemed +near at hand, hemming in the plain. In the east a white glow grew brighter +and brighter, reaching up to a line of cloud, defined sharply below by +a rugged notched range. Presently a silver circle rose behind the +black mountain, and the gloom of the desert underwent a transformation. +From a gray mantle it changed to a transparent haze. The moon +was rising. + +"Senor I am cold," said Mercedes. + +Dick had been carrying his coat upon his arm. He had felt warm, +even hot, and had imagined that the steady walk had occasioned +it. But his skin was cool. The heat came from an inward burning. +He stopped the horse and raised the coat up, and helped Mercedes +put it on. + +"I should have thought of you," he said. "But I seemed to feel +warm . . . The coat's a little large; we might wrap it round you +twice." + +Mercedes smiled and lightly thanked him in Spanish. The flash +of mood was in direct contrast to the appealing, passionate, +and tragic states in which he had successively viewed her; and +it gave him a vivid impression of what vivacity and charm she might +possess under happy conditions. He was about to start when he +observed that Ladd had halted and was peering ahead in evident +caution. Mercedes' horse began to stamp impatiently, raised his +ears and head, and acted as if he was about to neigh. + +A warning "hist!" from Ladd bade Dick to put a quieting hand on +the horse. Lash came noiselessly forward to join his companion. +The two then listened and watched. + +An uneasy yet thrilling stir ran through Gale's veins. This scene +was not fancy. These men of the ranges had heard or seen or +scented danger. It was all real, as tangible and sure as the +touch of Mercedes's hand upon his arm. Probably for her the +night had terrors beyond Gale's power to comprehend. He looked +down into the desert, and would have felt no surprise at anything hidden +away among the bristling cactus, the dark, winding arroyos, the shadowed +rocks with their moonlit tips, the ragged plain leading to the black +bold mountains. The wind appeared to blow softly, with an almost +imperceptible moan, over the desert. That was a new sound to Gale. +But he heard nothing more. + +Presently Lash went to the rear and Ladd started ahead. The progress +now, however, was considerably slower, not owing to a road--for that +became better--but probably owing to caution exercised by the +cowboy guide. At the end of a half hour this marked deliberation +changed, and the horses followed Ladd's at a gait that put Gale to +his best walking-paces. + +Meanwhile the moon soared high above the black corrugated peaks. +The gray, the gloom, the shadow whitened. The clearing of the dark +foreground appeared to lift a distant veil and show endless aisles of +desert reaching down between dim horizon-bounding ranges. + +Gale gazed abroad, knowing that as this night was the first time +for him to awake to consciousness of a vague, wonderful other +self, so it was one wherein he began to be aware of an encroaching +presence of physical things--the immensity of the star-studded sky, +the soaring moon, the bleak, mysterious mountains, and limitless +slope, and plain, and ridge, and valley. These things in all their +magnificence had not been unnoticed by him before; only now they +spoke a different meaning. A voice that he had never heard called +him to see, to feel the vast hard externals of heaven and earth, all +that represented the open, the free, silence and solitude and space. + +Once more his thoughts, like his steps, were halted by Ladd's actions. +The cowboy reined in his horse, listened a moment, then swung down +out of the saddle. He raised a cautioning hand to the others, then +slipped into the gloom and disappeared. Gale marked that the halt +had been made in a ridged and cut-up pass between low mesas. +He could see the columns of cactus standing out black against +the moon-white sky. The horses were evidently tiring, for they showed +no impatience. Gale heard their panting breaths, and also the bark +of some animal--a dog or a coyote. It sounded like a dog, and this +led Gale to wonder if there was any house near at hand. To the +right, up under the ledges some distance away, stood two square +black objects, too uniform, he thought, to be rocks. While he was +peering at them, uncertain what to think, the shrill whistle of a +horse pealed out, to be followed by the rattling of hoofs on hard +stone. Then a dog barked. At the same moment that Ladd hurriedly +appeared in the road a light shone out and danced before one of +the square black objects. + +"Keep close an' don't make no noise," he whispered, and led his +horse at right angles off the road. + +Gale followed, leading Mercedes's horse. As he turned he observed +that Lash also had dismounted. + +To keep closely at Ladd's heels without brushing the cactus or +stumbling over rocks and depressions was a task Gale found impossible. +After he had been stabbed several times by the bayonetlike spikes, +which seemed invisible, the matter of caution became equally one +of self-preservation. Both the cowboys, Dick had observed, wore +leather chaps. It was no easy matter to lead a spirited horse +through the dark, winding lanes walled by thorns. Mercedes horse +often balked and had to be coaxed and carefully guided. Dick +concluded that Ladd was making a wide detour. The position of +certain stars grown familiar during the march veered round from +one side to another. Dick saw that the travel was fast, but by +no means noiseless. The pack animals at times crashed and ripped +through the narrow places. It seemed to Gale that any one within +a mile could have heard these sounds. From the tops of knolls or +ridges he looked back, trying to locate the mesas where the light +had danced and the dog had barked alarm. He could not distinguish +these two rocky eminences from among many rising in the background. + +Presently Ladd let out into a wider lane that appeared to run +straight. The cowboy mounted his horse, and this fact convinced +Gale that they had circled back to the road. The march proceeded +then once more at a good, steady, silent walk. When Dick consulted +his watch he was amazed to see that the hour was till early. How +much had happened in little time! He now began to be aware that +the night was growing colder; and, strange to him, he felt something +damp that in a country he knew he would have recognized as dew. +He had not been aware there was dew on the desert. The wind blew +stronger, the stars shone whiter, the sky grew darker, and the moon +climbed toward the zenith. The road stretched level for miles, then +crossed arroyos and ridges, wound between mounds of broken +ruined rock, found a level again, and then began a long ascent. +Dick asked Mercedes if she was cold, and she answered that she +was, speaking especially of her feet, which were growing numb. +Then she asked to be helped down to walk awhile. At first she was +cold and lame, and accepted the helping hand Dick proffered. After +a little, however, she recovered and went on without assistance. +Dick could scarcely believe his eyes, as from time to time he stole +a sidelong glance at this silent girl, who walked with lithe and +rapid stride. She was wrapped in his long coat, yet it did not hide +her slender grace. He could not see her face, which was concealed +by the black mantle. + +A low-spoken word from Ladd recalled Gale to the question of +surroundings and of possible dangers. Ladd had halted a few yards +ahead. They had reached the summit of what was evidently a high +ridge which sloped with much greater steepness on the far side. +It was only after a few more forward steps, however, that Dick +could see down the slope. Then full in view flashed a bright +campfire around which clustered a group of dark figures. They +were encamped in a wide arroyo, where horses could be seen grazing +in black patches of grass between clusters of trees. A second look +at the campers told Gale they were Mexicans. At this moment Lash +came forward to join Ladd, and the two spent a long, uninterrupted +moment studying the arroyo. A hoarse laugh, faint yet distinct, +floated up on the cool wind. + +"Well, Laddy, what're you makin' of that outfit?" inquired Lash, +speaking softly. + +"Same as any of them raider outfits," replied Ladd. "They're +across the line for beef. But they'll run off any good stock. As +hoss thieves these rebels have got 'em all beat. That outfit is +waitin' till it's late. There's a ranch up the arroyo." + +Gale heard the first speaker curse under his breath. + +"Sure, I feel the same," said Ladd. "But we've got a girl an' +the young man to look after, not to mention our pack outfit. +An' we're huntin' for a job, not a fight, old hoss. Keep on your chaps!" + +"Nothin' to it but head south for the Rio Forlorn." + +"You're talkin' sense now, Jim. I wish we'd headed that way long +ago. But it ain't strange I'd want to travel away from the border, +thinkin' of the girl. Jim, we can't go round this Greaser outfit +an' strike the road again. Too rough. So we'll have to give up +gettin' to San Felipe." + +"Perhaps it's just as well, Laddy. Rio Forlorn is on the border +line, but it's country where these rebels ain't been yet." + +"Wait till they learn of the oasis an' Beldin's hosses!" exclaimed +Laddy. "I'm not anticipatin' peace anywhere along the border, +Jim. But we can't go ahead; we can't go back." + +"What'll we do, Laddy? It's a hike to Beldin's ranch. An' if we +get there in daylight some Greaser will see the girl before Beldin' +can hide her. It'll get talked about. The news'll travel to Casita +like sage balls before the wind." + +"Shore we won't ride into Rio Forlorn in the daytime. Let's slip +the packs, Jim. We can hid them off in the cactus an' come back +after them. With the young man ridin' we--" + +The whispering was interrupted by a loud ringing neigh that whistled +up from the arroyo. One of the horses had scented the travelers +on the ridge top. The indifference of the Mexicans changed to +attention. + +Ladd and Lash turned back and led the horses into the first opening +on the south side of the road. There was nothing more said at the +moment, and manifestly the cowboys were in a hurry. Gale had to +run in the open places to keep up. When they did stop it was +welcome to Gale, for he had begun to fall behind. + +The packs were slipped, securely tied and hidden in a mesquite +clump. Ladd strapped a blanket around one of the horses. His +next move was to take off his chaps. + +"Gale, you're wearin' boots, an' by liftin' your feet you can beat +the cactus," he whispered. "But the--the--Miss Castaneda, +she'll be torn all to pieces unless she puts these on. Please +tell her--an' hurry." + +Dick took the caps, and, going up to Mercedes, he explained the +situation. She laughed, evidently at his embarrassed earnestness, +and slipped out of the saddle. + +"Senor, chapparejos and I are not strangers," she said. + +Deftly and promptly she equipped herself, and then Gale helped +her into the saddle, called to her horse, and started off. Lash +directed Gale to mount the other saddled horse and go next. + +Dick had not ridden a hundred yards behind the trotting leaders +before he had sundry painful encounters with reaching cactus arms. +The horse missed these by a narrow margin. Dick's knees appeared +to be in line, and it became necessary for him to lift them high and +let his boots take the onslaught of the spikes. He was at home +in the saddle, and the accomplishment was about the only one he +possessed that had been of any advantage during his sojourn in the West. + +Ladd pursued a zigzag course southward across the desert, trotting +down the aisles, cantering in wide, bare patches, walking through +the clumps of cacti. The desert seemed all of a sameness to +Dick--a wilderness of rocks and jagged growths hemmed in by +lowering ranges, always looking close, yet never growing any nearer. +The moon slanted back toward the west, losing its white radiance, +and the gloom of the earlier evening began to creep into the washes +and to darken under the mesas. By and by Ladd entered an arroyo, +and here the travelers turned and twisted with the meanderings +of a dry stream bed. At the head of a canyon they had to take +once more to the rougher ground. Always it led down, always it +grew rougher, more rolling, with wider bare spaces, always the +black ranges loomed close. + +Gale became chilled to the bone, and his clothes were damp and cold. +His knees smarted from the wounds of the poisoned thorns, and his +right hand was either swollen stiff or too numb to move. Moreover, +he was tiring. The excitement, the long walk, the miles on miles +of jolting trot--these had wearied him. Mercedes must be made of +steel, he thought, to stand all that she had been subjected to and +yet, when the stars were paling and dawn perhaps not far away, +stay in the saddle. + +So Dick Gale rode on, drowsier for each mile, and more and more +giving the horse a choice of ground. Sometimes a prod from a +murderous spine roused Dick. A grayness had blotted out the waning +moon in the west and the clear, dark, starry sky overhead. Once +when Gale, thinking to fight his weariness, raised his head, he saw +that one of the horses in the lead was riderless. Ladd was carrying +Mercedes. Dick marveled that her collapse had not come sooner. +Another time, rousing himself again, he imagined they were now +on a good hard road. + +It seemed that hours passed, though he knew only little time had +elapsed, when once more he threw off the spell of weariness. He +heard a dog bark. Tall trees lined the open lane down which he +was riding. Presently in the gray gloom he saw low, square houses +with flat roofs. Ladd turned off to the left down another lane, +gloomy between trees. Every few rods there was one of the squat +houses. This lane opened into wider, lighter space. The cold air +bore a sweet perfume--whether of flowers or fruit Dick could not +tell. Ladd rode on for perhaps a quarter of a mile, though it seemed +interminably long to Dick. A grove of trees loomed dark in the +gray morning. Ladd entered it and was lost in the shade. Dick +rode on among trees. Presently he heard voices, and soon another +house, low and flat like the others, but so long he could not see +the farther end, stood up blacker than the trees. As he dismounted, +cramped and sore, he could scarcely stand. Lash came alongside. +He spoke, and some one with a big, hearty voice replied to him. +Then it seemed to Dick that he was led into blackness like pitch, +where, presently, he felt blankets thrown on him and then his +drowsy faculties faded. + + + +IV + +FORLORN RIVER + +WHEN Dick opened his eyes a flood of golden sunshine streamed in +at the open window under which he lay. His first thought was one +of blank wonder as to where in the world he happened to be. The +room was large, square, adobe-walled. It was littered with saddles, +harness, blankets. Upon the floor was a bed spread out upon a +tarpaulin. Probably this was where some one had slept. The sight +of huge dusty spurs, a gun belt with sheath and gun, and a pair +of leather chaps bristling with broken cactus thorns recalled to +Dick the cowboys, the ride, Mercedes, and the whole strange adventure +that had brought him there. + +He did not recollect having removed his boots; indeed, upon second +thought, he knew he had not done so. But there they stood upon +the floor. Ladd and Lash must have taken them off when he was so +exhausted and sleepy that he could not tell what was happening. +He felt a dead weight of complete lassitude, and he did not want to +move. A sudden pain in his hand caused him to hold it up. It was +black and blue, swollen to almost twice its normal size, and stiff +as a board. The knuckles were skinned and crusted with dry blood. +Dick soliloquized that it was the worst-looking hand he had seen +since football days, and that it would inconvenience him for some +time. + +A warm, dry, fragrant breeze came through the window. Dick caught +again the sweet smell of flowers or fruit. He heard the fluttering +of leaves, the murmur of running water, the twittering of birds, +then the sound of approaching footsteps and voices. The door at +the far end of the room was open. Through it he saw poles of peeled +wood upholding a porch roof, a bench, rose bushes in bloom, grass, +and beyond these bright-green foliage of trees. + +"He shore was sleepin' when I looked in an hour ago," said a voice +that Dick recognized as Ladd's. + +"Let him sleep," came the reply in deep, good-natured tones. "Mrs. +B. says the girl's never moved. Must have been a tough ride for +them both. Forty miles through cactus!" + +"Young Gale hoofed darn near half the way," replied Ladd. "We +tried to make him ride one of our hosses. If we had, we'd never +got here. A walk like that'd killed me an' Jim." + +"Well, Laddy, I'm right down glad to see you boys, and I'll do all +I can for the young couple," said the other. "But I'm doing some +worry here; don't mistake me." + +"About your stock?" + +"I've got only a few head of cattle at the oasis now, I'm worrying +some, mostly about my horses. The U. S. is doing some worrying, +too, don't mistake me. The rebels have worked west and north as +far as Casita. There are no cavalrymen along the line beyond +Casita, and there can't be. It's practically waterless desert. But +these rebels are desert men. They could cross the line beyond the +Rio Forlorn and smuggle arms into Mexico. Of course, my job is to +keep tab on Chinese and Japs trying to get into the U.S. from +Magdalena Bay. But I'm supposed to patrol the border line. I'm +going to hire some rangers. Now, I'm not so afraid of being shot +up, though out in this lonely place there's danger of it; what I'm +afraid of most is losing that bunch of horses. If any rebels come +this far, or if they ever hear of my horses, they're going to raid +me. You know what those guerrilla Mexicans will do for horses. +They're crazy on horse flesh. They know fine horses. They breed +the finest in the world. So I don't sleep nights any more." + +"Reckon me an' Jim might as well tie up with your for a spell, +Beldin'. We've been ridin' up an' down Arizona tryin' to keep out +of sight of wire fences." + +"Laddy, it's open enough around Forlorn River to satisfy even an +old-time cowpuncher like you," laughed Belding. "I'd take your +staying on as some favor, don't mistake me. Perhaps I can persuade +the young man Gale to take a job with me." + +"That's shore likely. He said he had no money, no friends. An' +if a scrapper's all you're lookin' for he'll do," replied Ladd, with +a dry chuckle. + +"Mrs. B. will throw some broncho capers round this ranch when +she hears I'm going to hire a stranger." + +"Why?" + +"Well, there's Nell-- And you said this Gale was a young American. +My wife will be scared to death for fear Nell will fall in love +with him." + +Laddy choked off a laugh, then evidently slapped his knee or +Belding's, for there was a resounding smack. + +"He's a fine-spoken, good-looking chap, you said?" went on Belding. + +"Shore he is," said Laddy, warmly. "What do you say, Jim?" + +By this time Dick Gale's ears began to burn and he was trying to +make himself deaf when he wanted to hear every little word. + +"Husky young fellow, nice voice, steady, clear eyes, kinda proud, +I thought, an' some handsome, he was," replied Jim Lash. + +"Maybe I ought to think twice before taking a stranger into my +family," said Belding, seriously. "Well, I guess he's all right, +Laddy, being the cavalryman's friend. No bum or lunger? He must +be all right?" + +"Bum? Lunger? Say, didn't I tell you I shook hands +with this boy an' was plumb glad to meet him?" demanded Laddy, +with considerable heat. Manifestly he had been affronted. +"Tom Beldin', he's a gentleman, an' he could lick you in-- +in half a second. How about that, Jim?" + +"Less time," replied Lash. "Tom, here's my stand. Young Gale can +have my hoss, my gun, anythin' of mine." + +"Aw, I didn't mean to insult you, boys, don't mistake me," said Belding. +"Course he's all right." + +The object of this conversation lay quiet upon his bed, thrilling and +amazed at being so championed by the cowboys, delighted with +Belding's idea of employing him, and much amused with the quaint +seriousness of the three. + +"How's the young man?" called a woman's voice. It was kind and +mellow and earnest. + +Gale heard footsteps on flagstones. + +"He's asleep yet, wife," replied Belding. "Guess he was pretty +much knocked out....I'll close the door there so we won't wake him." + +There were slow, soft steps, then the door softly closed. But the +fact scarcely made a perceptible difference in the sound of the +voices outside. + +"Laddy and Jim are going to stay," went on Belding. "It'll be like +the old Panhandle days a little. I'm powerful glad to have the +boys, Nellie. You know I meant to sent to Casita to ask them. +We'll see some trouble before the revolution is ended. I think +I'll make this young man Gale an offer." + +"He isn't a cowboy?" asked Mrs. Belding, quickly. + +"No." + +"Shore he'd make a darn good one," put in Laddy. + +"What is he? Who is he? Where did he come from? Surely you must +be--" + +"Laddy swears he's all right," interrupted the husband. "That's +enough reference for me. Isn't it enough for you?" + +"Humph! Laddy knows a lot about young men, now doesn't he, +especially strangers from the East?...Tom, you must be careful!" + +"Wife, I'm only too glad to have a nervy young chap come along. +What sense is there in your objection, if Jim and Laddy stick up +for him?" + +"But, Tom--he'll fall in love with Nell!" protested Mrs. Belding. + +"Well, wouldn't that be regular? Doesn't every man who comes +along fall in love with Nell? Hasn't it always happened? When +she was a schoolgirl in Kansas didn't it happen? Didn't she have +a hundred moon-eyed ninnies after her in Texas? I've had some +peace out here in the desert, except when a Greaser or a prospector +or a Yaqui would come along. Then same old story--in love with Nell!" + +"But, Tom, Nell might fall in love with this young man!" exclaimed +the wife, in distress. + +"Laddy, Jim, didn't I tell you?" cried Belding. "I knew she'd say +that....My dear wife, I would be simply overcome with joy if Nell +did fall in love once. Real good and hard! She's wilder than any +antelope out there on the desert. Nell's nearly twenty now, and +so far as we know she's never cared a rap for any fellow. And +she's just as gay and full of the devil as she was at fourteen. +Nell's as good and lovable as she is pretty, but I'm afraid she'll +never grow into a woman while we live out in this lonely land. +And you've always hated towns where there was a chance for +the girl--just because you were afraid she'd fall in love. You've +always been strange, even silly, about that. I've done my best +for Nell--loved her as if she were my own daughter. I've changed +many business plans to suit your whims. There are rough times +ahead, maybe. I need men. I'll hire this chap Gale if he'll stay. +Let Nell take her chance with him, just as she'll have to take +chances with men when we get out of the desert. She'll be all +the better for it." + +"I hope Laddy's not mistaken in his opinion of this newcomer," +replied Mrs. Belding, with a sigh of resignation. + +"Shore I never made a mistake in my life figger'n' people," said +Laddy, stoutly. + +"Yes, you have, Laddy," replied Mrs. Belding. "You're wrong about +Tom....Well, supper is to be got. That young man and the girl will +be starved. I'll go in now. If Nell happens around don't--don't +flatter her, Laddy, like you did at dinner. Don't make her think +of her looks." + +Dick heard Mrs. Belding walk away. + +"Shore she's powerful particular about that girl," observed Laddy. +"Say, Tom, Nell knows she's pretty, doesn't she?" + +"She's liable to find it out unless you shut up, Laddy. When you +visited us out here some weeks ago, you kept paying cowboy +compliments to her." + +"An' it's your idea that cowboy compliments are plumb bad for +girls?" + +"Downright bad, Laddy, so my wife says." + +"I'll be darned if I believe any girl can be hurt by a little sweet +talk. It pleases 'em....But say, Beldin', speaking of looks, have you +got a peek yet at the Spanish girl?" + +"Not in the light." + +"Well, neither have I in daytime. I had enough by moonlight. +Nell is some on looks, but I'm regretful passin' the ribbon to the +lady from Mex. Jim, where are you?" + +"My money's on Nell," replied Lash. "Gimme a girl with flesh an' +color, an' blue eyes a-laughin'. Miss Castaneda is some peach, +I'll not gainsay. But her face seemed too white. An' when she +flashed those eyes on me, I thought I was shot! When she stood +up there at first, thankin' us, I felt as if a--a princess was round +somewhere. Now, Nell is kiddish an' sweet an'--" + +"Chop it," interrupted Belding. "Here comes Nell now." + +Dick's tingling ears took in the pattering of light footsteps, +the rush of some one running. + +"Here you are," cried a sweet, happy voice. "Dad, the Senorita +is perfectly lovely. I've been peeping at her. She sleeps like--like +death. She's so white. Oh, I hope she won't be ill." + +"Shore she's only played out," said Laddy. "But she had spunk +while it lasted....I was just arguin' with Jim an' Tom about Miss +Castaneda." + +"Gracious! Why, she's beautiful. I never saw any one so +beautiful....How strange and sad, that about her! Tell me more, +Laddy. You promised. I'm dying to know. I never hear anything +in this awful place. Didn't you say the Senorita had a sweetheart?" + +"Shore I did." + +"And he's a cavalryman?" + +"Yes." + +"Is he the young man who came with you?" + +"Nope. That fellow's the one who saved the girl from Rojas." + +"Ah! Where is he, Laddy?" + +"He's in there asleep." + +"Is he hurt?" + +"I reckon not. He walked about fifteen miles." + +"Is he--nice, Laddy?" + +"Shore." + +"What is he like?" + +"Well, I'm not long acquainted, never saw him by day, but I was +some tolerable took with him. An' Jim here, Jim says the young +man can have his gun an' his hoss." + +"Wonderful! Laddy, what on earth did this stranger do to win you +cowboys in just one night?" + +"I'll shore have to tell you. Me an' Jim were watchin' a game of +cards in the Del Sol saloon in Casita. That's across the line. +We had acquaintances--four fellows from the Cross Bar outfit, +where we worked a while back. This Del Sol is a billiard hall, +saloon, restaurant, an' the like. An' it was full of Greasers. +Some of Camp's rebels were there drinkin' an' playin' games. +Then pretty soon in come Rojas with some of his outfit. +They were packin' guns an' kept to themselves off to one side. +I didn't give them a second look till Jim said he reckoned +there was somethin' in the wind. Then, careless-like, +I began to peek at Rojas. They call Rojas the 'dandy rebel,' an' +he shore looked the part. It made me sick to see him in all that +lace an' glitter, knowin' him to be the cutthroat robber he is. +It's no oncommon sight to see excited Greasers. They're all crazy. +But this bandit was shore some agitated. He kept his men in a +tight bunch round a table. He talked an' waved his hands. He was +actually shakin'. His eyes had a wild glare. Now I figgered that +trouble was brewin', most likely for the little Casita garrison. +People seemed to think Campo an' Rojas would join forces to oust +the federals. Jim thought Rojas's excitement was at the hatchin' +of some plot. Anyway, we didn't join no card games, an' without +pretendin' to, we was some watchful. + +"A little while afterward I seen a fellow standin' in the restaurant +door. He was a young American dressed in corduroys and boots, +like a prospector. You know it's no onusual fact to see prospectors +in these parts. What made me think twice about this one was how +big he seemed, how he filled up that door. He looked round the +saloon, an' when he spotted Rojas he sorta jerked up. Then he +pulled his slouch hat lopsided an' began to stagger down, down the +steps. First off I made shore he was drunk. But I remembered he +didn't seem drunk before. It was some queer. So I watched that +young man. + +"He reeled around the room like a fellow who was drunker'n a lord. +Nobody but me seemed to notice him. Then he began to stumble over +pool-players an' get his feet tangled up in chairs an' bump against tables. +He got some pretty hard looks. He came round our way, an' all of a sudden +he seen us cowboys. He gave another start, like the one when +he first seen Rojas, then he made for us. I tipped Jim off that +somethin' was doin'. + +"When he got close he straightened up, put back his slouch hat, +an' looked at us. Then I saw his face. It sorta electrified yours +truly. It was white, with veins standin' out an' eyes flamin'--a +face of fury. I was plumb amazed, didn't know what to think. +Then this queer young man shot some cool, polite words at me an' Jim. + +"He was only bluffin' at bein' drunk--he meant to rush Rojas, to +start a rough house. The bandit was after a girl. This girl was +in the hotel, an' she was the sweetheart of a soldier, the young +fellow's friend. The hotel was watched by Rojas's guards, an' +the plan was to make a fuss an' get the girl away in the excitement. +Well, Jim an' me got a hint of our bein' Americans--that cowboys +generally had a name for loyalty to women. Then this amazin' +chap--you can't imagine how scornful--said for me an' Jim to watch him. + +"Before I could catch my breath an' figger out what he meant by +'rush' an' 'rough house' he had knocked over a table an' crowded +some Greaser half off the map. One little funny man leaped up like +a wild monkey an' began to screech. An' in another second he was +in the air upside down. When he lit, he laid there. Then, quicker'n +I can tell you, the young man dove at Rojas. Like a mad steer on the +rampage he charged Rojas an' his men. The whole outfit went +down--smash! I figgered then what 'rush' meant. The young fellow +came up out of the pile with Rojas, an' just like I'd sling an empty +sack along the floor he sent the bandit. But swift as that went +he was on top of Rojas before the chairs an' tables had stopped +rollin'. + +"I woke up then, an' made for the center of the room. Jim with me. +I began to shoot out the lamps. Jim throwed his guns on the crazy +rebels, an' I was afraid there'd be blood spilled before I could get +the room dark. Bein's shore busy, I lost sight of the young fellow +for a second or so, an' when I got an eye free for him I seen a +Greaser about to knife him. Think I was some considerate of the +Greaser by only shootin' his arm off. Then I cracked the last lamp, +an' in the hullabaloo me an' Jim vamoosed. + +"We made tracks for our hosses an' packs, an' was hittin' the San +Felipe road when we run right plumb into the young man. Well, he +said his name was Gale--Dick Gale. The girl was with him safe an' +well; but her sweetheart, the soldier, bein' away without leave, had +to go back sudden. There shore was some trouble, for Jim an' me +heard shootin'. Gale said he had no money, no friends, was a +stranger in a desert country; an' he was distracted to know how +to help the girl. So me an' Jim started off with them for San +Felipe, got switched, and' then we headed for the Rio Forlorn." + +"Oh, I think he was perfectly splendid!" exclaimed the girl. + +"Shore he was. Only, Nell, you can't lay no claim to bein' the +original discoverer of that fact." + +"But, Laddy, you haven't told me what he looks like." + +At this juncture Dick Gale felt it absolutely impossible for him +to play the eavesdropper any longer. Quietly he rolled out of bed. +The voices still sounded close outside, and it was only by effort +that he kept from further listening. Belding's kindly interest, +Laddy's blunt and sincere cowboy eulogy, the girl's sweet eagerness +and praise--these warmed Gale's heart. He had fallen among simple +people, into whose lives the advent of an unknown man was welcome. +He found himself in a singularly agitated mood. The excitement, +the thrill, the difference felt in himself, experienced the preceding +night, had extended on into his present. And the possibilities +suggested by the conversation he had unwittingly overheard added +sufficiently to the other feelings to put him into a peculiarly receptive +state of mind. He was wild to be one of the Belding rangers. The idea +of riding a horse in the open desert, with a dangerous duty to +perform, seemed to strike him with an appealing force. Something +within him went out to the cowboys, to this blunt and kind Belding. +He was afraid to meet the girl. If every man who came along fell +in love with this sweet-voiced Nell, then what hope had he to +escape--now, when his whole inner awakening betokened a change of +spirit, hope, a finding of real worth, real good, real power in +himself? He did not understand wholly, yet he felt ready to ride, +to fight, to love the desert, to love these outdoor men, to love +a woman. That beautiful Spanish girl had spoken to something +dead in him and it had quickened to life. The sweet voice of an +audacious, unseen girl warned him that presently a still more +wonderful thing would happen to him. + +Gale imagined he made noise enough as he clumsily pulled on his +boots, yet the voices, split by a merry laugh, kept on murmuring +outside the door. It was awkward for him, having only one hand +available to lace up his boots. He looked out of the window. +Evidently this was at the end of the house. There was a flagstone +walk, beside which ran a ditch full of swift, muddy water. It made +a pleasant sound. There were trees strange of form and color to +to him. He heard bees, birds, chickens, saw the red of roses and +green of grass. Then he saw, close to the wall, a tub full of +water, and a bench upon which lay basin, soap, towel, comb, and +brush. The window was also a door, for under it there was a step. + +Gale hesitated a moment, then went out. He stepped naturally, +hoping and expecting that the cowboys would hear him. But nobody +came. Awkwardly, with left hand, he washed his face. Upon a nail +in the wall hung a little mirror, by the aid of which Dick combed +and brushed his hair. He imagined he looked a most haggard +wretch. With that he faced forward, meaning to go round the corner +of the house to greet the cowboys and these new-found friends. + +Dick had taken but one step when he was halted by laugher and the +patter of light feet. + +From close around the corner pealed out that sweet voice. "Dad, +you'll have your wish, and mama will be wild!" + +Dick saw a little foot sweep into view, a white dress, then the +swiftly moving form of a girl. She was looking backward. + +"Dad, I shall fall in love with your new ranger. I will--I have--" + +Then she plumped squarely into Dick's arms. + +She started back violently. + +Dick saw a fair face and dark-blue, audaciously flashing eyes. +Swift as lightning their expression changed to surprise, fear, +wonder. For an instant they were level with Dick's grave questioning. +Suddenly, sweetly, she blushed. + +"Oh-h!" she faltered. + +Then the blush turned to a scarlet fire. She whirled past him, +and like a white gleam was gone. + +Dick became conscious of the quickened beating of his heart. He +experienced a singular exhilaration. That moment had been the +one for which he had been ripe, the event upon which strange +circumstances had been rushing him. + +With a couple of strides he turned the corner. Laddy and Lash +were there talking to a man of burly form. Seen by day, both +cowboys were gray-haired, red-skinned, and weather-beaten, with +lean, sharp features, and gray eyes so much alike that they might +have been brothers. + +"Hello, there's the young fellow," spoke up the burly man. "Mr. +Gale, I'm glad to meet you. My name's Belding." + +His greeting was as warm as his handclasp was long and hard. +Gale saw a heavy man of medium height. His head was large +and covered with grizzled locks. He wore a short-cropped mustache +and chin beard. His skin was brown, and his dark eyes beamed with +a genial light. + +The cowboys were as cordial as if Dick had been their friend for years. + +"Young man, did you run into anything as you came out?" asked Belding, +with twinkling eyes. + +"Why, yes, I met something white and swift flying by," replied Dick. + +"Did she see you?" asked Laddy. + +"I think so; but she didn't wait for me to introduce myself." + +"That was Nell Burton, my girl--step-daughter, I should say," said +Belding. "She's sure some whirlwind, as Laddy calls her. Come, +let's go in and meet the wife." + +The house was long, like a barracks, with porch extending all the +way, and doors every dozen paces. When Dick was ushered into a +sitting-room, he was amazed at the light and comfort. This room +had two big windows and a door opening into a patio, where there +were luxuriant grass, roses in bloom, and flowering trees. He heard +a slow splashing of water. + +In Mrs. Belding, Gale found a woman of noble proportions and +striking appearance. Her hair was white. She had a strong, +serious, well-lined face that bore haunting evidences of past +beauty. The gaze she bent upon him was almost piercing in its +intensity. Her greeting, which seemed to Dick rather slow in +coming, was kind though not cordial. Gale's first thought, after +he had thanked these good people for their hospitality, was to +inquire about Mercedes. He was informed that the Spanish girl +had awakened with a considerable fever and nervousness. When, +however, her anxiety had been allayed and her thirst relieved, she +had fallen asleep again. Mrs. Belding said the girl had suffered +no great hardship, other than mental, and would very soon be +rested and well. + +"Now, Gale," said Belding, when his wife had excused herself to +get supper, "the boys, Jim and Laddy, told me about you and the +mix-up at Casita. I'll be glad to take care of the girl till it's +safe for your soldier friend to get her out of the country. That +won't be very soon, don't mistake me....I don't want to seem +over-curious about you--Laddy has interested me in you--and +straight out I'd like to know what you propose to do now." + +"I haven't any plans," replied Dick; and, taking the moment as +propitious, he decided to speak frankly concerning himself. "I +just drifted down here. My home is in Chicago. When I left school +some years ago--I'm twenty-five now--I went to work for my father. +He's--he has business interests there. I tried all kinds of inside +jobs. I couldn't please my father. I guess I put no real heart in +my work. The fact was I didn't know how to work. The governor +and I didn't exactly quarrel; but he hurt my feelings, and I quit. +Six months or more ago I came West, and have knocked about from +Wyoming southwest to the border. I tried to find congenial work, +but nothing came my way. To tell you frankly, Mr. Belding, I +suppose I didn't much care. I believe, though, that all the time I +didn't know what I wanted. I've learned--well, just lately--" + +"What do you want to do?" interposed Belding. + +"I want a man's job. I want to do things with my hands. I want +action. I want to be outdoors." + +Belding nodded his head as if he understood that, and he began +to speak again, cut something short, then went on, hesitatingly: + +"Gale--you could go home again--to the old man--it'd be all right?" + +"Mr. Belding, there's nothing shady in my past. The governor would +be glad to have me home. That's the only consolation I've got. +But I'm not going. I'm broke. I won't be a tramp. And it's up +to me to do something." + +"How'd you like to be a border ranger?" asked Belding, laying a +hand on Dick's knee. "Part of my job here is United States Inspector +of Immigration. I've got that boundary line to patrol--to keep out +Chinks and Japs. This revolution has added complications, and +I'm looking for smugglers and raiders here any day. You'll not +be hired by the U. S. You'll simply be my ranger, same as Laddy +and Jim, who have promised to work for me. I'll pay you well, +give you a room here, furnish everything down to guns, and the +finest horse you ever saw in your life. Your job won't be safe +and healthy, sometimes, but it'll be a man's job--don't mistake me! +You can gamble on having things to do outdoors. Now, what do +you say?" + +"I accept, and I thank you--I can't say how much," replied Gale, +earnestly. + +"Good! That's settled. Let's go out and tell Laddy and Jim." + +Both boys expressed satisfaction at the turn of affairs, and then +with Belding they set out to take Gale around the ranch. The +house and several outbuildings were constructed of adobe, which, +according to Belding, retained the summer heat on into winter, +and the winter cold on into summer. These gray-red mud habitations +were hideous to look at, and this fact, perhaps, made their really +comfortable interiors more vividly a contrast. The wide grounds +were covered with luxuriant grass and flowers and different kinds +of trees. Gale's interest led him to ask about fig trees and +pomegranates, and especially about a beautiful specimen that +Belding called palo verde. + +Belding explained that the luxuriance of this desert place was +owing to a few springs and the dammed-up waters of the Rio Forlorn. +Before he had come to the oasis it had been inhabited by a Papago +Indian tribe and a few peon families. The oasis lay in an arroyo +a mile wide, and sloped southwest for some ten miles or more. +The river went dry most of the year; but enough water was stored +in flood season to irrigate the gardens and alfalfa fields. + +"I've got one never-failing spring on my place," said Belding. "Fine, +sweet water! You know what that means in the desert. I like this +oasis. The longer I live here the better I like it. There's not a spot +in southern Arizona that'll compare with this valley for water or +grass or wood. It's beautiful and healthy. Forlorn and lonely, +yes, especially for women like my wife and Nell; but I like it....And +between you and me, boys, I've got something up my sleeve. There's +gold dust in the arroyos, and there's mineral up in the mountains. +If we only had water! This hamlet has steadily grown since I took +up a station here. Why, Casita is no place beside Forlorn River. +Pretty soon the Southern Pacific will shoot a railroad branch out +here. There are possibilities, and I want you boys to stay with +me and get in on the ground floor. I wish this rebel war was +over....Well, here are the corrals and the fields. Gale, take a +look at that bunch of horses!" + +Belding's last remark was made as he led his companions out of +shady gardens into the open. Gale saw an adobe shed and a huge +pen fenced by strangely twisted and contorted branches or trunks +of mesquite, and, beyond these, wide, flat fields, green--a dark, +rich green--and dotted with beautiful horses. There were whites +and blacks, and bays and grays. In his admiration Gale searched +his memory to see if he could remember the like of these magnificent +animals, and had to admit that the only ones he could compare with +them were the Arabian steeds. + +"Every ranch loves his horses," said Belding. "When I was in the +Panhandle I had some fine stock. But these are Mexican. They +came from Durango, where they were bred. Mexican horses are +the finest in the world, bar none." + +"Shore I reckon I savvy why you don't sleep nights," drawled Laddy. +"I see a Greaser out there--no, it's an Indian." + +"That's my Papago herdsman. I keep watch over the horses now +day and night. Lord, how I'd hate to have Rojas or Salazar--any +of those bandit rebels--find my horses!...Gale, can you ride?" + +Dick modestly replied that he could, according to the Eastern +idea of horsemanship. + +"You don't need to be half horse to ride one of that bunch. But +over there in the other field I've iron-jawed broncos I wouldn't +want you to tackle--except to see the fun. I've an outlaw I'll +gamble even Laddy can't ride." + +"So. How much'll you gamble?" asked Laddy, instantly. + +The ringing of a bell, which Belding said was a call to supper, +turned the men back toward the house. Facing that way, Gale +saw dark, beetling ridges rising from the oasis and leading up to +bare, black mountains. He had heard Belding call them No Name +Mountains, and somehow the appellation suited those lofty, +mysterious, frowning peaks. + +It was not until they reached the house and were about to go in +that Belding chanced to discover Gale's crippled hand. + +"What an awful hand!" he exclaimed. "Where the devil did you +get that?" + +"I stove in my knuckles on Rojas," replied Dick. + +"You did that in one punch? Say, I'm glad it wasn't me you hit! +Why didn't you tell me? That's a bad hand. Those cuts are full +of dirt and sand. Inflammation's setting in. It's got to be +dressed. Nell!" he called. + +There was no answer. He called again, louder. + +"Mother, where's the girl?" + +"She's there in the dining-room," replied Mrs. Belding. + +"Did she hear me?" he inquired, impatiently. + +"Of course." + +"Nell!" roared Belding. + +This brought results. Dick saw a glimpse of golden hair and a +white dress in the door. But they were not visible longer than +a second. + +"Dad, what's the matter?" asked a voice that was still as sweet +as formerly, but now rather small and constrained. + +"Bring the antiseptics, cotton, bandages--and things out here. +Hurry now." + +Belding fetched a pail of water and a basin from the kitchen. His +wife followed him out, and, upon seeing Dick's hand, was all +solicitude. Then Dick heard light, quick footsteps, but he did +not look up. + +"Nell, this is Mr. Gale--Dick Gale, who came with the boys last +last night," said Belding. "He's got an awful hand. Got it punching +that greaser Rojas. I want you to dress it....Gale, this is my +step-daughter, Nell Burton, of whom I spoke. She's some good +when there's somebody sick or hurt. Shove out your fist, my boy, +and let her get at it. Supper's nearly ready." + +Dick felt that same strange, quickening heart throb, yet he had +never been cooler in his life. More than anything else in the +world he wanted to look at Nell Burton; however, divining that +the situation might be embarrassing to her, he refrained from +looking up. She began to bathe his injured knuckles. He noted +the softness, the deftness of her touch, and then it seemed her +fingers were not quite as steady as they might have been. Still, +in a moment they appeared to become surer in their work. She +had beautiful hands, not too large, though certainly not small, +and they were strong, brown, supple. He observed next, with +stealthy, upward-stealing glance, that she had rolled up her sleeves, +exposing fine, round arms graceful in line. Her skin was brown--no, +it was more gold than brown. It had a wonderful clear tint. Dick +stoically lowered his eyes then, putting off as long as possible +the alluring moment when he was to look into her face. That would +be a fateful moment. He played with a certain strange joy +of anticipation. When, however, she sat down beside him +and rested his injured hand in her lap as she cut bandages, +she was so thrillingly near that he yielded to an irrepressible +desire to look up. She had a sweet, fair face warmly tinted with +that same healthy golden-brown sunburn. Her hair was light gold +and abundant, a waving mass. Her eyes were shaded by long, +downcast lashes, yet through them he caught a gleam of blue. + +Despite the stir within him, Gale, seeing she was now absorbed +in her task, critically studied her with a second closer gaze. +She was a sweet, wholesome, joyous, pretty girl. + +"Shore it musta hurt?" replied Laddy, who sat an interested spectator. + +"Yes, I confess it did," replied Dick, slowly, with his eyes on +Nell's face. "But I didn't mind." + +The girl's lashes swept up swiftly in surprise. She had taken his +words literally. But the dark-blue eyes met his for only a fleeting +second. Then the warm tint in her cheeks turned as red as her +lips. Hurriedly she finished tying the bandage and rose to her +feet. + +"I thank you," said Gale, also rising. + +With that Belding appeared in the doorway, and finding the +operation concluded, called them in to supper. Dick had the use +of only one arm, and he certainly was keenly aware of the shy, +silent girl across the table; but in spite of these considerable +handicaps he eclipsed both hungry cowboys in the assault upon +Mrs. Belding's bounteous supper. Belding talked, the cowboys +talked more or less. Mrs. Belding put in a word now and then, +and Dick managed to find brief intervals when it was possible +for him to say yes or no. He observed gratefully that no one +round the table seemed to be aware of his enormous appetite. + +After supper, having a favorable opportunity when for a +moment no one was at hand, Dick went out through the yard, +past the gardens and fields, and climbed the first knoll. From that +vantage point he looked out over the little hamlet, somewhat to +his right, and was surprised at its extent, its considerable number +of adobe houses. The overhanging mountains, ragged and darkening, +a great heave of splintered rock, rather chilled and affronted him. + +Westward the setting sun gilded a spiked, frost-colored, limitless +expanse of desert. It awed Gale. Everywhere rose blunt, broken +ranges or isolated groups of mountains. Yet the desert stretched +away down between and beyond them. When the sun set and Gale +could not see so far, he felt a relief. + +That grand and austere attraction of distance gone, he saw the +desert nearer at hand--the valley at his feet. What a strange gray, +somber place! There was a lighter strip of gray winding down +between darker hues. This he realized presently was the river +bed, and he saw how the pools of water narrowed and diminished +in size till they lost themselves in gray sand. This was the rainy +season, near its end, and here a little river struggled hopelessly, +forlornly to live in the desert. He received a potent impression +of the nature of that blasted age-worn waste which he had divined +was to give him strength and work and love. + + + +V + +A DESERT ROSE + +BELDING assigned Dick to a little room which had no windows but +two doors, one opening into the patio, the other into the yard on +the west side of the house. It contained only the barest necessities +for comfort. Dick mentioned the baggage he had left in the hotel +at Casita, and it was Belding's opinion that to try to recover his +property would be rather risky; on the moment Richard Gale was +probably not popular with the Mexicans at Casita. So Dick bade +good-by to fine suits of clothes and linen with a feeling that, +as he had said farewell to an idle and useless past, it was just +as well not to have any old luxuries as reminders. As he possessed, +however, not a thing save the clothes on his back, and not even +a handkerchief, he expressed regret that he had come to Forlorn +River a beggar. + +"Beggar hell!" exploded Belding, with his eyes snapping in the +lamplight. "Money's the last thing we think of out here. All +the same, Gale, if you stick you'll be rich." + +"It wouldn't surprise me," replied Dick, thoughtfully. But he was +not thinking of material wealth. Then, as he viewed his stained +and torn shirt, he laughed and said "Belding, while I'm getting +rich I'd like to have some respectable clothes." + +"We've a little Mex store in town, and what you can't get there +the women folks will make for you." + +When Dick lay down he was dully conscious of pain and headache, +that he did not feel well. Despite this, and a mind thronging +with memories and anticipations, he succumbed to weariness +and soon fell asleep. + +It was light when he awoke, but a strange brightness seen through +what seemed blurred eyes. A moment passed before his mind worked +clearly, and then he had to make an effort to think. He was dizzy. +When he essayed to lift his right arm, an excruciating pain made +him desist. Then he discovered that his arm was badly swollen, +and the hand had burst its bandages. The injured member was red, +angry, inflamed, and twice its normal size. He felt hot all over, +and a raging headache consumed him. + +Belding came stamping into the room. + +"Hello, Dick. Do you know it's late? How's the busted fist +this morning?" + +Dick tried to sit up, but his effort was a failure. He got about +half up, then felt himself weakly sliding back. + +"I guess--I'm pretty sick," he said. + +He saw Belding lean over him, feel his face, and speak, and then +everything seemed to drift, not into darkness, but into some region +where he had dim perceptions of gray moving things, and of voices +that were remote. Then there came an interval when all was blank. +He knew not whether it was one of minutes or hours, but after it +he had a clearer mind. He slept, awakened during night-time, and +slept again. When he again unclosed his eyes the room was sunny, +and cool with a fragrant breeze that blew through the open door. +Dick felt better; but he had no particular desire to move or talk +or eat. He had, however, a burning thirst. Mrs. Belding visited +him often; her husband came in several times, and once Nell slipped +in noiselessly. Even this last event aroused no interest in Dick. + +On the next day he was very much improved. + +"We've been afraid of blood poisoning," said Belding. "But my +wife thinks the danger's past. You'll have to rest that arm for +a while." + +Ladd and Jim came peeping in at the door. + +"Come in, boys. He can have company--the more the better--if it'll +keep him content. He mustn't move, that's all." + +The cowboys entered, slow, easy, cool, kind-voiced. + +"Shore it's tough," said Ladd, after he had greeted Dick. "You +look used up." + +Jim Lash wagged his half-bald, sunburned head, "Musta been more'n +tough for Rojas." + +"Gale, Laddy tells me one of our neighbors, fellow named Carter, is +going to Casita," put in Belding. "Here's a chance to get word to +your friend the soldier." + +"Oh, that will be fine!" exclaimed Dick. "I declare I'd forgotten +Thorne....How is Miss Castaneda? I hope--" + +"She's all right, Gale. Been up and around the patio for two days. +Like all the Spanish--the real thing--she's made of Damascus +steel. We've been getting acquainted. She and Nell made friends +at once. I'll call them in." + +He closed the door leading out into the yard, explaining that he +did not want to take chances of Mercedes's presence becoming +known to neighbors. Then he went to the patio and called. + +Both girls came in, Mercedes leading. Like Nell, she wore white, +and she had a red rose in her hand. Dick would scarcely have +recognized anything about her except her eyes and the way she +carried her little head, and her beauty burst upon him strange and +anew. She was swift, impulsive in her movements to reach his +side. + +"Senor, I am so sorry you were ill--so happy you are better." + +Dick greeted her, offering his left hand, gravely apologizing for +the fact that, owing to a late infirmity, he could not offer the +right. Her smile exquisitely combined sympathy, gratitude, +admiration. Then Dick spoke to Nell, likewise offering his hand, +which she took shyly. Her reply was a murmured, unintelligible +one; but her eyes were glad, and the tint in her cheeks threatened +to rival the hue of the rose she carried. + +Everybody chatted then, except Nell, who had apparently lost her +voice. Presently Dick remembered to speak of the matter of getting +news to Thorne. + +"Senor, may I write to him? Will some one take a letter?...I +shall hear from him!" she said; and her white hands emphasized +her words. + +"Assuredly. I guess poor Thorne is almost crazy. I'll write to +him....No, I can't with this crippled hand." + +"That'll be all right, Gale," said Belding. "Nell will write for +you. She writes all my letters." + +So Belding arranged it; and Mercedes flew away to her room to +write, while Nell fetched pen and paper and seated herself beside +Gale's bed to take his dictation. + +What with watching Nell and trying to catch her glance, and +listening to Belding's talk with the cowboys, Dick was hard put +to it to dictate any kind of a creditable letter. Nell met his +gaze once, then no more. The color came and went in her cheeks, +and sometimes, when he told her to write so and so, there was a +demure smile on her lips. She was laughing at him. And Belding was +talking over the risks involved in a trip to Casita. + +"Shore I'll ride in with the letters," Ladd said. + +"No you won't," replied Belding. "That bandit outfit will be +laying for you." + +"Well, I reckon if they was I wouldn't be oncommon grieved." + +"I'll tell you, boys, I'll ride in myself with Carter. There's +business I can see to, and I'm curious to know what the rebels +are doing. Laddy, keep one eye open while I'm gone. See the +horses are locked up....Gale, I'm going to Casita myself. Ought +to get back tomorrow some time. I'll be ready to start in an +hour. Have your letter ready. And say--if you want to write +home it's a chance. Sometimes we don't go to the P. O. in a month." + +He tramped out, followed by the tall cowboys, and then Dick was +enabled to bring his letter to a close. Mercedes came back, and +her eyes were shining. Dick imagined a letter received from her +would be something of an event for a fellow. Then, remembering +Belding's suggestion, he decided to profit by it. + +"May I trouble you to write another for me?" asked Dick, as he +received the letter from Nell. + +"It's no trouble, I'm sure--I'd be pleased," she replied. + +That was altogether a wonderful speech of hers, Dick thought, +because the words were the first coherent ones she had spoken +to him. + +"May I stay?" asked Mercedes, smiling. + +"By all means," he answered, and then he settled back and began. + +Presently Gale paused, partly because of genuine emotion, and +stole a look from under his hand at Nell. She wrote swiftly, and +her downcast face seemed to be softer in its expression of +sweetness. If she had in the very least been drawn to him-- But +that was absurd--impossible! + +When Dick finished dictating, his eyes were upon Mercedes, who +sat smiling curious and sympathetic. How responsive she was! +He heard the hasty scratch of Nell's pen. He looked at Nell. +Presently she rose, holding out his letter. He was just in time +to see a wave of red recede from her face. She gave him one +swift gaze, unconscious, searching, then averted it and turned +away. She left the room with Mercedes before he could express +his thanks. + +But that strange, speaking flash of eyes remained to haunt and +torment Gale. It was indescribably sweet, and provocative of +thoughts that he believed were wild without warrant. Something +within him danced for very joy, and the next instant he was +conscious of wistful doubt, a gravity that he could not understand. +It dawned upon him that for the brief instant when Nell had met +his gaze she had lost her shyness. It was a woman's questioning eyes +that had pierced through him. + +During the rest of the day Gale was content to lie still on his bed +thinking and dreaming, dozing at intervals, and watching the +lights change upon the mountain peaks, feeling the warm, fragrant +desert wind that blew in upon him. He seemed to have lost the +faculty of estimating time. A long while, strong in its effect +upon him, appeared to have passed since he had met Thorne. He +accepted things as he felt them, and repudiated his intelligence. +His old inquisitive habit of mind returned. Did he love Nell? +Was he only attracted for the moment? What was the use of worrying +about her or himself? He refused to answer, and deliberately gave +himself up to dreams of her sweet face and of that last dark-blue glance. + +Next day he believed he was well enough to leave his room; but Mrs. +Belding would not permit him to do so. She was kind, soft-handed, +motherly, and she was always coming in to minister to his comfort. +This attention was sincere, not in the least forced; yet Gale felt +that the friendliness so manifest in the others of the household +did not extend to her. He was conscious of something that a +little thought persuaded him was antagonism. It surprised and +hurt him. He had never been much of a success with girls and +young married women, but their mothers and old people had generally +been fond of him. Still, though Mrs. Belding's hair was snow-white, +she did not impress him as being old. He reflected that there +might come a time when it would be desirable, far beyond any +ground of every-day friendly kindliness, to have Mrs. Belding be +well disposed toward him. So he thought about her, and pondered +how to make her like him. It did not take very long for Dick to +discover that he liked her. Her face, except when she smiled, +was thoughtful and sad. It was a face to make one serious. Like +a haunting shadow, like a phantom of happier years, the +sweetness of Nell's face was there, and infinitely more of beauty +than had been transmitted to the daughter. Dick believed Mrs. +Belding's friendship and motherly love were worth striving to win, +entirely aside from any more selfish motive. He decided both would +be hard to get. Often he felt her deep, penetrating gaze upon +him; and, though this in no wise embarrassed him--for he had no +shameful secrets of past or present--it showed him how useless it +would be to try to conceal anything from her. Naturally, on first +impulse, he wanted to hide his interest in the daughter; but he +resolved to be absolutely frank and true, and through that win or +lose. Moreover, if Mrs. Belding asked him any questions about his +home, his family, his connections, he would not avoid direct and +truthful answers. + +Toward evening Gale heard the tramp of horses and Belding's hearty +voice. Presently the rancher strode in upon Gale, shaking the +gray dust from his broad shoulders and waving a letter. + +"Hello, Dick! Good news and bad!" he said, putting the letter in +Dick's hand. "Had no trouble finding your friend Thorne. Looked +like he'd been drunk for a week! Say, he nearly threw a fit. I +never saw a fellow so wild with joy. He made sure you and Mercedes +were lost in the desert. He wrote two letters which I brought. +Don't mistake me, boy, it was some fun with Mercedes just now. +I teased her, wouldn't give her the letter. You ought to have seen +her eyes. If ever you see a black-and-white desert hawk swoop +down upon a quail, then you'll know how Mercedes pounced upon +her letter...Well, Casita is one hell of a place these days. I +tried to get your baggage, and I think I made a mistake. We're +going to see travel toward Forlorn River. The federal garrison +got reinforcements from somewhere, and is holding out. There's +been fighting for three days. The rebels have a string of flat +railroad cars, all iron, and they ran this up within range of the +barricades. They've got some machine guns, and they're going to lick +the federals sure. There are dead soldiers in the ditches, Mexican +non-combatants lying dead in the streets--and buzzards everywhere! +It's reported that Campo, the rebel leader, is on the way up from Sinaloa, +and Huerta, a federal general, is coming to relieve the garrison. +I don't take much stock in reports. But there's hell in Casita, all right." + +"Do you think we'll have trouble out here?" asked Dick, excitedly. + +"Sure. Some kind of trouble sooner or later," replied Belding, +gloomily. "Why, you can stand on my ranch and step over into +Mexico. Laddy says we'll lose horses and other stock in night raids. +Jim Lash doesn't look for any worse. But Jim isn't as well +acquainted with Greasers as I am. Anyway, my boy, as soon as you +can hold a bridle and a gun you'll be on the job, don't mistake me." + +"With Laddy and Jim?" asked Dick, trying to be cool. + +"Sure. With them and me, and by yourself." + +Dick drew a deep breath, and even after Belding had departed he +forgot for a moment about the letter in his hand. Then he unfolded +the paper and read: + + +Dear Dick,--You've more than saved my life. To the end of my +days you'll be the one man to whom I owe everything. Words fail +to express my feelings. + +This must be a brief note. Belding is waiting, and I used up most +of the time writing to Mercedes. I like Belding. He was not +unknown to me, though I never met or saw him before. You'll be +interested to learn that he's the unadulterated article, the real +Western goods. I've heard of some of his stunts, and they made +my hair curl. Dick, your luck is staggering. The way Belding spoke +of you was great. But you deserve it, old man. + +I'm leaving Mercedes in your charge, subject, of course, to advice +from Belding. Take care of her, Dick, for my life is wrapped up +in her. By all means keep her from being seen by Mexicans. We +are sitting tight here--nothing doing. If some action doesn't come +soon, it'll be darned strange. Things are centering this way. +There's scrapping right along, and people have begun to move. +We're still patrolling the line eastward of Casita. It'll be +impossible to keep any tab on the line west of Casita, for it's +too rough. That cactus desert is awful. Cowboys or rangers +with desert-bred horses might keep raiders and smugglers from crossing. +But if cavalrymen could stand that waterless wilderness, which I doubt much, +their horses would drop under them. + +If things do quiet down before my commission expires, I'll get +leave of absence, run out to Forlorn River, marry my beautiful +Spanish princess, and take her to a civilized country, where, I +opine, every son of a gun who sees her will lose his head, and +drive me mad. It's my great luck, old pal, that you are a fellow +who never seemed to care about pretty girls. So you won't give +me the double cross and run off with Mercedes--carry her off, +like the villain in the play, I mean. + +That reminds me of Rojas. Oh, Dick, it was glorious! You didn't +do anything to the Dandy Rebel! Not at all! You merely caressed +him--gently moved him to one side. Dick, harken to these glad +words: Rojas is in the hospital. I was interested to inquire. +He had a smashed finger, a dislocated collar bone, three broken +ribs, and a fearful gash on his face. He'll be in the hospital for +a month. Dick, when I meet that pig-headed dad of yours I'm +going to give him the surprise of his life. + +Send me a line whenever any one comes in from F. R., and inclose +Mercedes's letter in yours. Take care of her, Dick, and may the +future hold in store for you some of the sweetness I know now! + +Faithfully yours, +Thorne. + + +Dick reread the letter, then folded it and placed it under his pillow. + +"Never cared for pretty girls, huh?" he soliloquized. "George, I +never saw any till I struck Southern Arizona! Guess I'd better make +up for lost time." + +While he was eating his supper, with appetite rapidly returning +to normal, Ladd and Jim came in, bowing their tall heads to enter +the door. Their friendly advances were singularly welcome to +Gale, but he was still backward. He allowed himself to show that +he was glad to see them, and he listened. Jim Lash had heard from +Belding the result of the mauling given to Rojas by Dick. And Jim +talked about what a grand thing that was. Ladd had a good deal +to say about Belding's horses. It took no keen judge of human +nature to see that horses constituted Ladd's ruling passion. + +"I've had wimmen go back on me, but never no hoss!" declared +Ladd, and manifestly that was a controlling truth with him. + +"Shore it's a cinch Beldin' is agoin' to lose some of them hosses," +he said. "You can search me if I don't think there'll be more +doin' on the border here than along the Rio Grande. We're just +the same as on Greaser soil. Mebbe we don't stand no such chance +of bein' shot up as we would across the line. But who's goin' to +give up his hosses without a fight? Half the time when Beldin's +stock is out of the alfalfa it's grazin' over the line. He thinks +he's careful about them hosses, but he ain't." + +"Look a-here, Laddy; you cain't believe all you hear," replied +Jim, seriously. "I reckon we mightn't have any trouble." + +"Back up, Jim. Shore you're standin' on your bridle. I ain't goin' +much on reports. Remember that American we met in Casita, +the prospector who'd just gotten out of Sonora? He had some +story, he had. Swore he'd killed seventeen Greasers breakin' +through the rebel line round the mine where he an' other Americans +were corralled. The next day when I met him again, he was drunk, +an' then he told me he'd shot thirty Greasers. The chances are +he did kill some. But reports are exaggerated. There are miners +fightin' for life down in Sonora, you can gamble on that. An' the +truth is bad enough. Take Rojas's harryin' of the Senorita, for +instance. Can you beat that? Shore, Jim, there's more doin' than +the raidin' of a few hosses. An' Forlorn River is goin' to get hers!" + +Another dawn found Gale so much recovered that he arose and looked +after himself, not, however, without considerable difficulty and +rather disheartening twinges of pain. + +Some time during the morning he heard the girls in the patio and +called to ask if he might join them. He received one response, +a mellow, "Si, Senor." It was not as much as he wanted, +but considering that it was enough, he went out. He had not +as yet visited the patio, and surprise and delight were in store +for him. He found himself lost in a labyrinth of green and +rose-bordered walks. He strolled around, discovering that the +patio was a courtyard, open at an end; but he failed to discover +the young ladies. So he called again. The answer came from the +center of the square. After stooping to get under shrubs and +wading through bushes he entered an open sandy circle, full of +magnificent and murderous cactus plants, strange to him. On the +other side, in the shade of a beautiful tree, he found the girls. +Mercedes sitting in a hammock, Nell upon a blanket. + +"What a beautiful tree!" he exclaimed. "I never saw one like +that. What is it?" + +"Palo verde," replied Nell. + +"Senor, palo verde means 'green tree,'" added Mercedes. + +This desert tree, which had struck Dick as so new and strange +and beautiful, was not striking on account of size, for it was +small, scarcely reaching higher than the roof; but rather because +of its exquisite color of green, trunk and branch alike, and owing +to the odd fact that it seemed not to possess leaves. All the tree +from ground to tiny flat twigs was a soft polished green. It bore +no thorns. + +Right then and there began Dick's education in desert growths; +and he felt that even if he had not had such charming teachers +he would still have been absorbed. For the patio was full of +desert wonders. A twisting-trunked tree with full foliage of +small gray leaves Nell called a mesquite. Then Dick remembered +the name, and now he saw where the desert got its pale-gray color. +A huge, lofty, fluted column of green was a saguaro, or giant +cactus. Another oddshaped cactus, resembling the legs of an +inverted devil-fish, bore the name ocatillo. Each branch +rose high and symmetrical, furnished with sharp blades +that seemed to be at once leaves and thorns. Yet another +cactus interested Gale, and it looked like a huge, low +barrel covered with green-ribbed cloth and long thorns. This was +the bisnaga, or barrel cactus. According to Nell and Mercedes, +this plant was a happy exception to its desert neighbors, for it +secreted water which had many times saved the lives of men. Last +of the cacti to attract Gale, and the one to make him shiver, was +a low plant, consisting of stem and many rounded protuberances of +a frosty, steely white, and covered with long murderous spikes. +From this plant the desert got its frosty glitter. It was as +stiff, as unyielding as steel, and bore the name choya. + +Dick's enthusiasm was contagious, and his earnest desire to learn +was flattering to his teachers. When it came to assimilating +Spanish, however, he did not appear to be so apt a pupil. He +managed, after many trials, to acquire "buenos dias" and "buenos +tardes," and "senorita" and "gracias," and a few other short terms. +Dick was indeed eager to get a little smattering of Spanish, and +perhaps he was not really quite so stupid as he pretended to be. +It was delightful to be taught by a beautiful Spaniard who was so +gracious and intense and magnetic of personality, and by a sweet +American girl who moment by moment forgot her shyness. Gale +wished to prolong the lessons. + +So that was the beginning of many afternoons in which he learned +desert lore and Spanish verbs, and something else that he dared +not name. + +Nell Burton had never shown to Gale that daring side of her +character which had been so suggestively defined in Belding's +terse description and Ladd's encomiums, and in her own audacious +speech and merry laugh and flashing eye of that never-to-be-forgotten +first meeting. She might have been an entirely different girl. +But Gale remembered; and when the ice had been somewhat broken +between them, he was always trying to surprise her into her real self. +There were moments that fairly made him tingle with expectation. +Yet he saw little more than a ghost of her vivacity, and never +a gleam of that individuality which Belding had called a devil. +On the few occasions that Dick had been left alone with her +in the patio Nell had grown suddenly unresponsive and +restrained, or she had left him on some transparent pretext. +On the last occasion Mercedes returned to find Dick staring +disconsolately at the rose-bordered path, where Nell had evidently +vanished. The Spanish girl was wonderful in her divination. + +"Senor Dick!" she cried. + +Dick looked at her, soberly nodded his head, and then he laughed. +Mercedes had seen through him in one swift glance. Her white hand +touched his in wordless sympathy and thrilled him. This Spanish +girl was all fire and passion and love. She understood him, she +was his friend, she pledged him what he felt would be the most +subtle and powerful influence. + +Little by little he learned details of Nell's varied life. She had +lived in many places. As a child she remembered moving from +town to town, of going to school among schoolmates whom she +never had time to know. Lawrence, Kansas, where she studied for +several years, was the later exception to this changeful nature +of her schooling. Then she moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, from +there to Austin, Texas, and on to Waco, where her mother met and +married Belding. They lived in New Mexico awhile, in Tucson, +Arizona, in Douglas, and finally had come to lonely Forlorn River. + +"Mother could never live in one place any length of time," +said Nell. "And since we've been in the Southwest she has never +ceased trying to find some trace of her father. He was last heard +of in Nogales fourteen years ago. She thinks grandfather was lost +in the Sonora Desert....And every place we go is worse. Oh, I love +the desert. But I'd like to go back to Lawrence--or to see +Chicago or New York--some of the places Mr. Gale speaks of.... +I remember the college at Lawrence, though I was only twelve. +I saw races--and once real football. Since then I've read magazines +and papers about big football games, and I was always fascinated +....Mr. Gale, of course, you've seen games? + +"Yes, a few," replied Dick; and he laughed a little. It was on +his lips then to tell her about some of the famous games in which +he had participated. But he refrained from exploiting himself. +There was little, however, of the color and sound and cheer, of +the violent action and rush and battle incidental to a big college +football game that he did not succeed in making Mercedes and Nell +feel just as if they had been there. They hung breathless and +wide-eyed upon his words. + +Some one else was present at the latter part of Dick's narrative. +The moment he became aware of Mrs. Belding's presence he remembered +fancying he had heard her call, and now he was certain she had +done so. Mercedes and Nell, however, had been and still were +oblivious to everything except Dick's recital. He saw Mrs. Belding +cast a strange, intent glance upon Nell, then turn and go silently +through the patio. Dick concluded his talk, but the brilliant +beginning was not sustained. + +Dick was haunted by the strange expression he had caught on Mrs. +Belding's face, especially the look in her eyes. It had been one +of repressed pain liberated in a flash of certainty. The mother +had seen just as quickly as Mercedes how far he had gone on the +road of love. Perhaps she had seen more--even more than he dared +hope. The incident roused Gale. He could not understand Mrs. +Belding, nor why that look of hers, that seeming baffled, hopeless +look of a woman who saw the inevitable forces of life and could +not thwart them, should cause him perplexity and distress. He +wanted to go to her and tell her how he felt about Nell, but fear +of absolute destruction of his hopes held him back. He would wait. +Nevertheless, an instinct that was perhaps akin to self-preservation +prompted him to want to let Nell know the state of his mind. +Words crowded his brain seeking utterance. Who and what he was, +how he loved her, the work he expected to take up soon, his longings, +hopes, and plans--there was all this and more. But something checked +him. And the repression made him so thoughtful and quiet, even +melancholy, that he went outdoors to try to throw off the mood. +The sun was yet high, and a dazzling white light enveloped valleys +and peaks. He felt that the wonderful sunshine was the dominant +feature of that arid region. It was like white gold. It had +burned its color in a face he knew. It was going to warm his blood +and brown his skin. A hot, languid breeze, so dry that he felt his +lips shrink with its contact, came from the desert; and it seemed +to smell of wide-open, untainted places where sand blew and strange, +pungent plants gave a bitter-sweet tang to the air. + +When he returned to the house, some hours later, his room had been +put in order. In the middle of the white coverlet on his table +lay a fresh red rose. Nell had dropped it there. Dick picked it +up, feeling a throb in his breast. It was a bud just beginning +to open, to show between its petals a dark-red, unfolding heart. +How fragrant it was, how exquisitely delicate, how beautiful +its inner hue of red, deep and dark, the crimson of life blood! + +Had Nell left it there by accident or by intent? Was it merely +kindness or a girl's subtlety? Was it a message couched elusively, +a symbol, a hope in a half-blown desert rose? + + + + +VI + +THE YAQUI + +TOWARD evening of a lowering December day, some fifty miles west +of Forlorn River, a horseman rode along an old, dimly defined trail. +From time to time he halted to study the lay of the land ahead. +It was bare, somber, ridgy desert, covered with dun-colored +greasewood and stunted prickly pear. Distant mountains hemmed +in the valley, raising black spurs above the round lomas and the +square-walled mesas. + +This lonely horseman bestrode a steed of magnificent build, +perfectly white except for a dark bar of color running down the +noble head from ears to nose. Sweatcaked dust stained the long +flanks. The horse had been running. His mane and tail were laced +and knotted to keep their length out of reach of grasping cactus +and brush. Clumsy home-made leather shields covered the front +of his forelegs and ran up well to his wide breast. What otherwise +would have been muscular symmetry of limb was marred by many a +scar and many a lump. He was lean, gaunt, worn, a huge machine +of muscle and bone, beautiful only in head and mane, a weight-carrier, +a horse strong and fierce like the desert that had bred him. + +The rider fitted the horse as he fitted the saddle. He was a young +man of exceedingly powerful physique, wide-shouldered, long-armed, +big-legged. His lean face, where it was not red, blistered and peeling, +was the hue of bronze. He had a dark eye, a falcon gaze, roving +and keen. His jaw was prominent and set, mastiff-like; his lips +were stern. It was youth with its softness not yet quite burned +and hardened away that kept the whole cast of his face from being +ruthless. + +This young man was Dick Gale, but not the listless traveler, nor the +lounging wanderer who, two months before, had by chance dropped +into Casita. Friendship, chivalry, love--the deep-seated, unplumbed +emotions that had been stirred into being with all their incalculable +power for spiritual change, had rendered different the meaning of +life. In the moment almost of their realization the desert had +claimed Gale, and had drawn him into its crucible. The desert +had multiplied weeks into years. Heat, thirst, hunger, loneliness, +toil, fear, ferocity, pain--he knew them all. He had felt them +all--the white sun, with its glazed, coalescing, lurid fire; the +caked split lips and rasping, dry-puffed tongue; the sickening +ache in the pit of his stomach; the insupportable silence, the +empty space, the utter desolation, the contempt of life; the weary +ride, the long climb, the plod in sand, the search, search, search +for water; the sleepless night alone, the watch and wait, the +dread of ambush, the swift flight; the fierce pursuit of men wild +as Bedouins and as fleet, the willingness to deal sudden death, +the pain of poison thorn, the stinging tear of lead through flesh; +and that strange paradox of the burning desert, the cold at night, +the piercing icy wind, the dew that penetrated to the marrow, the +numbing desert cold of the dawn. + +Beyond any dream of adventure he had ever had, beyond any wild +story he had ever read, had been his experience with those +hard-riding rangers, Ladd and Lash. Then he had traveled alone +the hundred miles of desert between Forlorn River and the Sonoyta +Oasis. Ladd's prophecy of trouble on the border had been mild +compared to what had become the actuality. With rebel occupancy +of the garrison at Casita, outlaws, bandits, raiders in rioting +bands had spread westward. Like troops of Arabs, magnificently +mounted, they were here, there, everywhere along the line; and if +murder and worse were confined to the Mexican side, pillage and raiding +were perpetrated across the border. Many a dark-skinned raider bestrode +one of Belding's fast horses, and indeed all except his selected white +thoroughbreds had been stolen. So the job of the rangers had +become more than a patrolling of the boundary line to keep Japanese +and Chinese from being smuggled into the United States. Belding +kept close at home to protect his family and to hold his property. +But the three rangers, in fulfilling their duty had incurred risks +on their own side of the line, had been outraged, robbed, pursued, +and injured on the other. Some of the few waterholes that had +to be reached lay far across the border in Mexican territory. +Horses had to drink, men had to drink; and Ladd and Lash were not +of the stripe that forsook a task because of danger. Slow to +wrath at first, as became men who had long lived peaceful lives, +they had at length revolted; and desert vultures could have told +a gruesome story. Made a comrade and ally of these bordermen, +Dick Gale had leaped at the desert action and strife with an +intensity of heart and a rare physical ability which accounted for +the remarkable fact that he had not yet fallen by the way. + +On this December afternoon the three rangers, as often, were +separated. Lash was far to the westward of Sonoyta, somewhere +along Camino del Diablo, that terrible Devil's Road, where many +desert wayfarers had perished. Ladd had long been overdue in a +prearranged meeting with Gale. The fact that Ladd had not shown +up miles west of the Papago Well was significant. + +The sun had hidden behind clouds all the latter part of that day, +an unusual occurrence for that region even in winter. And now, +as the light waned suddenly, telling of the hidden sunset, a cold +dry, penetrating wind sprang up and blew in Gale's face. Not at +first, but by imperceptible degrees it chilled him. He untied his +coat from the back of the saddle and put it on. A few cold drops +of rain touched his cheek. + +He halted upon the edge of a low escarpment. Below him the +narrowing valley showed bare, black ribs of rock, long, winding +gray lines leading down to a central floor where mesquite and +cactus dotted the barren landscape. Moving objects, diminutive +in size, gray and white in color, arrested Gale's roving sight. +They bobbed away for a while, then stopped. They were antelope, +and they had seen his horse. When he rode on they started once +more, keeping to the lowest level. These wary animals were often +desert watchdogs for the ranger, they would betray the proximity +of horse or man. With them trotting forward, he made better time +for some miles across the valley. When he lost them, caution once +more slowed his advance. + +The valley sloped up and narrowed, to head into an arroyo where +grass began to show gray between the clumps of mesquite. Shadows +formed ahead in the hollows, along the walls of the arroyo, under +the trees, and they seemed to creep, to rise, to float into a veil +cast by the background of bold mountains, at last to claim the +skyline. Night was not close at hand, but it was there in the east, +lifting upward, drooping downward, encroaching upon the west. + +Gale dismounted to lead his horse, to go forward more slowly. He +had ridden sixty miles since morning, and he was tired, and a not +entirely healed wound in his hip made one leg drag a little. A +mile up the arroyo, near its head, lay the Papago Well. The need +of water for his horse entailed a risk that otherwise he could +have avoided. The well was on Mexican soil. Gale distinguished +a faint light flickering through the thin, sharp foliage. Campers +were at the well, and, whoever they were, no doubt they had +prevented Ladd from meeting Gale. Ladd had gone back to the +next waterhole, or maybe he was hiding in an arroyo to the eastward, +awaiting developments. + +Gale turned his horse, not without urge of iron arm and persuasive +speech, for the desert steed scented water, and plodded back to the +edge of the arroyo, where in a secluded circle of mesquite he halted. +The horse snorted his relief at the removal of the heavy, burdened +saddle and accoutrements, and sagging, bent his knees, lowered himself +with slow heave, and plunged down to roll in the sand. Gale poured the +contents of his larger canteen into his hat and held it to the horse's nose. + +"Drink, Sol," he said. + +It was but a drop for a thirsty horse. However, Blanco Sol rubbed +a wet muzzle against Gale's hand in appreciation. Gale loved the +horse, and was loved in return. They had saved each other's lives, +and had spent long days and nights of desert solitude together. +Sol had known other masters, though none so kind as this new one; +but it was certain that Gale had never before known a horse. + +The spot of secluded ground was covered with bunches of galleta +grass upon which Sol began to graze. Gale made a long halter of +his lariat to keep the horse from wandering in search of water. +Next Gale kicked off the cumbersome chapparejos, with their flapping, +tripping folds of leather over his feet, and drawing a long rifle +from its leather sheath, he slipped away into the shadows. + +The coyotes were howling, not here and there, but in concerted +volume at the head of the arroyo. To Dick this was no more reassuring +than had been the flickering light of the campfire. The wild desert +dogs, with their characteristic insolent curiosity, were baying men +round a campfire. Gale proceeded slowly, halting every few steps, +careful not to brush against the stiff greasewood. In the soft +sand his steps made no sound. The twinkling light vanished +occasionally, like a Jack-o'lantern, and when it did show it seemed +still a long way off. Gale was not seeking trouble or inviting +danger. Water was the thing that drove him. He must see who +these campers were, and then decide how to give Blanco Sol a drink. + +A rabbit rustled out of brush at Gale's feet and thumped +away over the sand. The wind pattered among dry, broken stalks +of dead ocatilla. Every little sound brought Gale to a listening +pause. The gloom was thickening fast into darkness. It would be +a night without starlight. He moved forward up the pale, zigzag +aisles between the mesquite. He lost the light for a while, but the +coyotes' chorus told him he was approaching the campfire. Presently +the light danced through the black branches, and soon grew into +a flame. Stooping low, with bushy mesquites between him and the +fire, Gale advanced. The coyotes were in full cry. Gale heard +the tramping, stamping thumps of many hoofs. The sound worried +him. Foot by foot he advanced, and finally began to crawl. The +wind favored his position, so that neither coyotes nor horses could +scent him. The nearer he approached the head of the arroyo, where +the well was located, the thicker grew the desert vegetation. At +length a dead palo verde, with huge black clumps of its parasite +mistletoe thick in the branches, marked a distance from the well +that Gale considered close enough. Noiselessly he crawled here and +there until he secured a favorable position, and then rose to peep +from behind his covert. + +He saw a bright fire, not a cooking-fire, for that would have been +low and red, but a crackling blaze of mesquite. Three men were +in sight, all close to the burning sticks. They were Mexicans +and of the coarse type of raiders, rebels, bandits that Gale +expected to see. One stood up, his back to the fire; another sat +with shoulders enveloped in a blanket, and the third lounged in +the sand, his feet almost in the blaze. They had cast off belts +and weapons. A glint of steel caught Gale's eye. Three short, +shiny carbines leaned against a rock. A little to the left, within +the circle of light, stood a square house made of adobe bricks. +Several untrimmed poles upheld a roof of brush, which was partly +fallen in. This house was a Papago Indian habitation, and a month +before had been occupied by a family that had been murdered or +driven off by a roving band of outlaws. A rude corral showed +dimly in the edge of firelight, and from a black mass within came +the snort and stamp and whinney of horses. + +Gale took in the scene in one quick glance, then sank down at the +foot of the mesquite. He had naturally expected to see more men. +But the situation was by no means new. This was one, or part of +one, of the raider bands harrying the border. They were stealing +horses, or driving a herd already stolen. These bands were more +numerous than the waterholes of northern Sonora; they never camped +long at one place; like Arabs, they roamed over the desert all the +way from Nogales to Casita. If Gale had gone peaceably up to this +campfire there were a hundred chances that the raiders would kill +and rob him to one chance that they might not. If they recognized +him as a ranger comrade of Ladd and Lash, if they got a glimpse +of Blanco Sol, then Gale would have no chance. + +These Mexicans had evidently been at the well some time. Their +horses being in the corral meant that grazing had been done by +day. Gale revolved questions in mind. Had this trio of outlaws +run across Ladd? It was not likely, for in that event they might +not have been so comfortable and care-free in camp. Were they +waiting for more members of their gang? That was very probable. +With Gale, however, the most important consideration was how +to get his horse to water. Sol must have a drink if it cost a fight. +There was stern reason for Gale to hurry eastward along the trail. +He thought it best to go back to where he had left his horse and +not make any decisive move until daylight. + +With the same noiseless care he had exercised in the advance, Gale +retreated until it was safe for him to rise and walk on down the +arroyo. He found Blanco Sol contentedly grazing. A heavy dew +was falling, and, as the grass was abundant, the horse did not +show the usual restlessness and distress after a dry and exhausting day. +Gale carried his saddle blankets and bags into the lee of a little +greasewood-covered mound, from around which the wind had +cut the soil, and here, in a wash, he risked building a small fire. +By this time the wind was piercingly cold. Gale's hands were numb +and he moved them to and fro in the little blaze. Then he made +coffee in a cup, cooked some slices of bacon on the end of a stick, +and took a couple of hard biscuits from a saddlebag. Of these +his meal consisted. After that he removed the halter from Blanco +Sol, intending to leave him free to graze for a while. + +Then Gale returned to his little fire, replenished it with short +sticks of dead greasewood and mesquite, and, wrapping his +blanket round his shoulders he sat down to warm himself and to +wait till it was time to bring in the horse and tie him up. + +The fire was inadequate and Gale was cold and wet with dew. +Hunger and thirst were with him. His bones ached, and there was +a dull, deep-seated pain throbbing in his unhealed wound. For days +unshaven, his beard seemed like a million pricking needles in his +blistered skin. He was so tired that once having settled himself, +he did not move hand or foot. The night was dark, dismal, cloudy, +windy, growing colder. A moan of wind in the mesquite was +occasionally pierced by the high-keyed yelp of a coyote. There +were lulls in which the silence seemed to be a thing of stifling, +encroaching substance--a thing that enveloped, buried the desert. + +Judged by the great average of ideals and conventional standards +of life, Dick Gale was a starved, lonely, suffering, miserable +wretch. But in his case the judgment would have hit only externals, +would have missed the vital inner truth. For Gale was happy with +a kind of strange, wild glory in the privations, the pains, the perils, +and the silence and solitude to be endured on this desert land. +In the past he had not been of any use to himself or others; +and he had never know what it meant to be hungry, cold, tired, +lonely. He had never worked for anything. The needs of the day +had been provided, and to-morrow and the future looked the same. +Danger, peril, toil--these had been words read in books and papers. + +In the present he used his hands, his senses, and his wits. He +had a duty to a man who relied on his services. He was a comrade, +a friend, a valuable ally to riding, fighting rangers. He had spent +endless days, weeks that seemed years, alone with a horse, trailing +over, climbing over, hunting over a desert that was harsh and hostile +by nature, and perilous by the invasion of savage men. That horse +had become human to Gale. And with him Gale had learned to know +the simple needs of existence. Like dead scales the superficialities, +the falsities, the habits that had once meant all of life dropped +off, useless things in this stern waste of rock and sand. + +Gale's happiness, as far as it concerned the toil and strife, was +perhaps a grim and stoical one. But love abided with him, and it +had engendered and fostered other undeveloped traits--romance +and a feeling for beauty, and a keen observation of nature. He +felt pain, but he was never miserable. He felt the solitude, but +he was never lonely. + +As he rode across the desert, even though keen eyes searched for +the moving black dots, the rising puffs of white dust that were +warnings, he saw Nell's face in every cloud. The clean-cut mesas +took on the shape of her straight profile, with its strong chin and +lips, its fine nose and forehead. There was always a glint of gold +or touch of red or graceful line or gleam of blue to remind him of +her. Then at night her face shone warm and glowing, flushing and +paling, in the campfire. + +To-night, as usual, with a keen ear to the wind, Gale listened as +one on guard; yet he watched the changing phantom of a sweet face in +the embers, and as he watched he thought. The desert developed and +multiplied thought. A thousand sweet faces glowed in the pink and white +ashes of his campfire, the faces of other sweethearts or wives that had +gleamed for other men. Gale was happy in his thought of Nell, +for Nell, for something, when he was alone this way in the +wilderness, told him she was near him, she thought of him, she +loved him. But there were many men alone on that vast +southwestern plateau, and when they saw dream faces, surely for +some it was a fleeting flash, a gleam soon gone, like the hope +and the name and the happiness that had been and was now no +more. Often Gale thought of those hundreds of desert travelers, +prospectors, wanderers who had ventured down the Camino del +Diablo, never to be heard of again. Belding had told him of that +most terrible of all desert trails--a trail of shifting sands. Lash +had traversed it, and brought back stories of buried waterholes, +of bones bleaching white in the sun, of gold mines as lost as were +the prospectors who had sought them, of the merciless Yaqui and +his hatred for the Mexican. Gale thought of this trail and the men +who had camped along it. For many there had been one night, one +campfire that had been the last. This idea seemed to creep in +out of the darkness, the loneliness, the silence, and to find a +place in Gale's mind, so that it had strange fascination for him. +He knew now as he had never dreamed before how men drifted into +the desert, leaving behind graves, wrecked homes, ruined lives, +lost wives and sweethearts. And for every wanderer every campfire +had a phantom face. Gale measured the agony of these men at their +last campfire by the joy and promise he traced in the ruddy heart +of his own. + +By and by Gale remembered what he was waiting for; and, getting +up, he took the halter and went out to find Blanco Sol. It was +pitch-dark now, and Gale could not see a rod ahead. He felt his +way, and presently as he rounded a mesquite he saw Sol's white +shape outlined against the blackness. The horse jumped and wheeled, +ready to run. It was doubtful if any one unknown to Sol could ever +have caught him. Gale's low call reassured him, and he went on +grazing. Gale haltered him in the likeliest patch of grass and +returned to his camp. There he lifted his saddle into a protected +spot under a low wall of the mound, and, laying one blanket on +the sand, he covered himself with the other and stretched himself +for the night. + +Here he was out of reach of the wind; but he heard its melancholy +moan in the mesquite. There was no other sound. The coyotes +had ceased their hungry cries. Gale dropped to sleep, and slept +soundly during the first half of the night; and after that he seemed +always to be partially awake, aware of increasing cold and damp. +The dark mantle turned gray, and then daylight came quickly. The +morning was clear and nipping cold. He threw off the wet blanket +and got up cramped and half frozen. A little brisk action was all +that was necessary to warm his blood and loosen his muscles, and +then he was fresh, tingling, eager. The sun rose in a golden blaze, +and the descending valley took on wondrous changing hues. Then +he fetched up Blanco Sol, saddled him, and tied him to the thickest +clump of mesquite. + +"Sol, we'll have a drink pretty soon," he said, patting the splendid +neck. + +Gale meant it. He would not eat till he had watered his horse. +Sol had gone nearly forty-eight hours without a sufficient drink, +and that was long enough, even for a desert-bred beast. No three +raiders could keep Gale away from that well. Taking his rifle in +hand, he faced up the arroyo. Rabbits were frisking in the short +willows, and some were so tame he could have kicked them. Gale +walked swiftly for a goodly part of the distance, and then, when he +saw blue smoke curling up above the trees, he proceeded slowly, +with alert eye and ear. From the lay of the land and position of +trees seen by daylight, he found an easier and safer course that +the one he had taken in the dark. And by careful work he was enabled +to get closer to the well, and somewhat above it. + +The Mexicans were leisurely cooking their morning meal. They +had two fires, one for warmth, the other to cook over. Gale had +an idea these raiders were familiar to him. It seemed all these +border hawks resembled one another--being mostly small of build, +wiry, angular, swarthy-faced, and black-haired, and they wore +the oddly styled Mexican clothes and sombreros. A slow wrath +stirred in Gale as he watched the trio. They showed not the +slightest indication of breaking camp. One fellow, evidently the +leader, packed a gun at his hip, the only weapon in sight. Gale +noted this with speculative eyes. The raiders had slept inside +the little adobe house, and had not yet brought out the carbines. +Next Gale swept his gaze to the corral, in which he saw more than +a dozen horses, some of them fine animals. They were stamping +and whistling, fighting one another, and pawing the dirt. This +was entirely natural behavior for desert horses penned in when they +wanted to get at water and grass. + +But suddenly one of the blacks, a big, shaggy fellow, shot up his +ears and pointed his nose over the top of the fence. He whistled. +Other horses looked in the same direction, and their ears went up, +and they, too, whistled. Gale knew that other horses or men, very +likely both, were approaching. But the Mexicans did not hear the +alarm, or show any interest if they did. These mescal-drinking +raiders were not scouts. It was notorious how easily they could +be surprised or ambushed. Mostly they were ignorant, thick-skulled +peons. They were wonderful horsemen, and could go long without +food or water; but they had not other accomplishments or attributes +calculated to help them in desert warfare. They had poor sight, +poor hearing, poor judgment, and when excited they resembled +crazed ants running wild. + +Gale saw two Indians on burros come riding up the other side +of the knoll upon which the adobe house stood; and apparently +they were not aware of the presence of the Mexicans, +for they came on up the path. One Indian was a Papago. The other, +striking in appearance for other reasons than that he seemed to be +about to fall from the burro, Gale took to be a Yaqui. These +travelers had absolutely nothing for an outfit except a blanket +and a half-empty bag. They came over the knoll and down the path +toward the well, turned a corner of the house, and completely +surprised the raiders. + +Gale heard a short, shrill cry, strangely high and wild, and this +came from one of the Indians. It was answered by hoarse shouts. +Then the leader of the trio, the Mexican who packed a gun, pulled +it and fired point-blank. He missed once--and again. At the third +shot the Papago shrieked and tumbled off his burro to fall in a +heap. The other Indian swayed, as if the taking away of the +support lent by his comrade had brought collapse, and with the +fourth shot he, too, slipped to the ground. + +The reports had frightened the horses in the corral; and the vicious +black, crowding the rickety bars, broke them down. He came plunging +out. Two of the Mexicans ran for him, catching him by nose and +mane, and the third ran to block the gateway. + +Then, with a splendid vaulting mount, the Mexican with the gun +leaped to the back of the horse. He yelled and waved his gun, and +urged the black forward. The manner of all three was savagely +jocose. They were having sport. The two on the ground began to +dance and jabber. The mounted leader shot again, and then stuck +like a leech upon the bare back of the rearing black. It was a vain +show of horsemanship. Then this Mexican, by some strange grip, +brought the horse down, plunging almost upon the body of the +Indian that had fallen last. + +Gale stood aghast with his rifle clutched tight. He could not +divine the intention of the raider, but suspected something brutal. +The horse answered to that cruel, guiding hand, yet he swerved and bucked. +He reared aloft, pawing the air, wildly snorting, then he plunged down upon +the prostrate Indian. Even in the act the intelligent animal tried to +keep from striking the body with his hoofs. But that was not possible. +A yell, hideous in its passion, signaled this feat of horsemanship. + +The Mexican made no move to trample the body of the Papago. +He turned the black to ride again over the other Indian. That +brought into Gale's mind what he had heard of a Mexican's hate +for a Yaqui. It recalled the barbarism of these savage peons, +and the war of extermination being waged upon the Yaquis. + +Suddenly Gale was horrified to see the Yaqui writhe and raise a +feeble hand. The action brought renewed and more savage cries +from the Mexicans. The horse snorted in terror. + +Gale could bear no more. He took a quick shot at the rider. He +missed the moving figure, but hit the horse. There was a bound, +a horrid scream, a mighty plunge, then the horse went down, giving +the Mexican a stunning fall. Both beast and man lay still. + +Gale rushed from his cover to intercept the other raiders before +they could reach the house and their weapons. One fellow yelled +and ran wildly in the opposite direction; the other stood stricken +in his tracks. Gale ran in close and picked up the gun that had +dropped from the raider leader's hand. This fellow had begun to +stir, to come out of his stunned condition. Then the frightened +horses burst the corral bars, and in a thundering, dust-mantled +stream fled up the arroyo. + +The fallen raider sat up, mumbling to his saints in one breath, +cursing in his next. The other Mexican kept his stand, intimidated +by the threatening rifle. + +"Go, Greasers! Run!" yelled Gale. Then he yelled it in Spanish. +At the point of his rifle he drove the two raiders out of the camp. +His next move was to run into the house and fetch out the carbines. +With a heavy stone he dismantled each weapon. That done, he set out +on a run for his horse. He took the shortest cut down the arroyo, +with no concern as to whether or not he would encounter the raiders. +Probably such a meeting would be all the worse for them, and they +knew it. Blanco Sol heard him coming and whistled a welcome, and +when Gale ran up the horse was snorting war. Mounting, Gale rode +rapidly back to the scene of the action, and his first thought, when +he arrived at the well, was to give Sol a drink and to fill his canteens. + +Then Gale led his horse up out of the waterhole, and decided +before remounting to have a look at the Indians. The Papago had +been shot through the heart, but the Yaqui was still alive. +Moreover, he was conscious and staring up at Gale with great, +strange, somber eyes, black as volcanic slag. + +"Gringo good--no kill," he said, in husky whisper. + +His speech was not affirmative so much as questioning. + +"Yaqui, you're done for," said Gale, and his words were positive. +He was simply speaking aloud his mind. + +"Yaqui--no hurt--much," replied the Indian, and then he spoke a +strange word--repeated it again and again. + +An instinct of Gale's, or perhaps some suggestion in the husky, +thick whisper or dark face, told Gale to reach for his canteen. +He lifted the Indian and gave him a drink, and if ever in all his +life he saw gratitude in human eyes he saw it then. Then he +examined the injured Yaqui, not forgetting for an instant to send +wary, fugitive glances on all sides. Gale was not surprised. The +Indian had three wounds--a bullet hole in his shoulder, a crushed +arm, and a badly lacerated leg. What had been the matter with +him before being set upon by the raider Gale could not be certain. + +The ranger thought rapidly. This Yaqui would live unless left there +to die or be murdered by the Mexicans when they found courage to +sneak back to the well. It never occurred to Gale to abandon the +poor fellow. That was where his old training, the higher order of +human feeling, made impossible the following of any elemental instinct +of self-preservation. All the same, Gale knew he multiplied his +perils a hundredfold by burdening himself with a crippled Indian. +Swiftly he set to work, and with rifle ever under his hand, and +shifting glance spared from his task, he bound up the Yaqui's +wounds. At the same time he kept keen watch. + +The Indians' burros and the horses of the raiders were all out +of sight. Time was too valuable for Gale to use any in what might +be a vain search. Therefore, he lifted the Yaqui upon Sol's broad +shoulders and climbed into the saddle. At a word Sol dropped +his head and started eastward up the trail, walking swiftly, +without resentment for his double burden. + +Far ahead, between two huge mesas where the trail mounted over +a pass, a long line of dust clouds marked the position of the horses +that had escaped from the corral. Those that had been stolen would +travel straight and true for home, and perhaps would lead the others +with them. The raiders were left on the desert without guns or +mounts. + +Blanco Sol walked or jog-trotted six miles to the hour. At that +gait fifty miles would not have wet or turned a hair of his dazzling +white coat. Gale, bearing in mind the ever-present possibility of +encountering more raiders and of being pursued, saved the strength +of the horse. Once out of sight of Papago Well, Gale dismounted +and walked beside the horse, steadying with one firm hand the +helpless, dangling Yaqui. + +The sun cleared the eastern ramparts, and the coolness of morning +fled as if before a magic foe. The whole desert changed. The grays +wore bright; the mesquites glistened; the cactus took the silver +hue of frost, and the rocks gleamed gold and red. Then, as the +heat increased, a wind rushed up out of the valley behind Gale, +and the hotter the sun blazed down the swifter rushed the wind. +The wonderful transparent haze of distance lost its bluish hue for +one with tinge of yellow. Flying sand made the peaks dimly outlined. + +Gale kept pace with his horse. He bore the twinge of pain that +darted through his injured hip at every stride. His eye roved +over the wide, smoky prospect seeking the landmarks he knew. +When the wild and bold spurs of No Name Mountains loomed through +a rent in flying clouds of sand he felt nearer home. Another hour +brought him abreast of a dark, straight shaft rising clear from a +beetling escarpment. This was a monument marking the international +boundary line. When he had passed it he had his own country under +foot. In the heat of midday he halted in the shade of a rock, and, +lifting the Yaqui down, gave him a drink. Then, after a long, +sweeping survey of the surrounding desert, he removed Sol's saddle +and let him roll, and took for himself a welcome rest and a bite +to eat. + +The Yaqui was tenacious of life. He was still holding his own. +For the first time Gale really looked at the Indian to study him. +He had a large head nobly cast, and a face that resembled a +shrunken mask. It seemed chiseled in the dark-red, volcanic lava +of his Sooner wilderness. The Indian's eyes were always black +and mystic, but this Yaqui's encompassed all the tragic desolation +of the desert. They were fixed on Gale, moved only when he moved. +The Indian was short and broad, and his body showed unusual +muscular development, although he seemed greatly emaciated from +starvation or illness. + +Gale resumed his homeward journey. When he got through the pass +he faced a great depression, as rough as if millions of gigantic +spikes had been driven by the hammer of Thor into a seamed and +cracked floor. This was Altar Valley. It was a chaos of arroyo's, +canyons, rocks, and ridges all mantled with cactus, and at its +eastern end it claimed the dry bed of Forlorn River and water +when there was any. + +With a wounded, helpless man across the saddle, this stretch of thorny +and contorted desert was practically impassable. Yet Gale headed into +it unflinchingly. He would carry the Yaqui as far as possible, or +until death make the burden no longer a duty. Blanco Sol plodded on +over the dragging sand, up and down the steep, loose banks of washes, +out on the rocks, and through the rows of white-tooled choyas. + +The sun sloped westward, bending fiercer heat in vengeful, parting +reluctance. The wind slackened. The dust settled. And the bold, +forbidding front of No Name Mountains changed to red and gold. +Gale held grimly by the side of the tireless, implacable horse, +holding the Yaqui on the saddle, taking the brunt of the merciless +thorns. In the end it became heartrending toil. His heavy chaps +dragged him down; but he dared not go on without them, for, +thick and stiff as they were, the terrible, steel-bayoneted spikes +of the choyas pierced through to sting his legs. + +To the last mile Gale held to Blanco Sol's gait and kept +ever-watchful gaze ahead on the trail. Then, with the low, flat +houses of Forlorn River shining red in the sunset, Gale flagged +and rapidly weakened. The Yaqui slipped out of the saddle and +dropped limp in the sand. Gale could not mount his horse. He +clutched Sol's long tail and twisted his hand in it and staggered on. + +Blanco Sol whistled a piercing blast. He scented cool water and +sweet alfalfa hay. Twinkling lights ahead meant rest. The +melancholy desert twilight rapidly succeeded the sunset. It +accentuated the forlorn loneliness of the gray, winding river of +sand and its grayer shores. Night shadows trooped down from the +black and looming mountains. + + + +VII + + + +WHITE HORSES + +"A CRIPPLED Yaqui! Why the hell did you saddle yourself with him?" +roared Belding, as he laid Gale upon the bed. + +Belding had grown hard these late, violent weeks. + +"Because I chose," whispered Gale, in reply. "Go after him--he +dropped in the trail--across the river--near the first big saguaro." + +Belding began to swear as he fumbled with matches and the lamp; +but as the light flared up he stopped short in the middle of a word. + +"You said you weren't hurt?" he demanded, in sharp anxiety, as he +bent over Gale. + +"I'm only--all in....Will you go--or send some one--for the Yaqui?" + +"Sure, Dick, sure," Belding replied, in softer tones. Then he +stalked out; his heels rang on the flagstones; he opened a door +and called: "Mother--girls, here's Dick back. He's done up....Now +--no, no, he's not hurt or in bad shape. You women!...Do what +you can to make him comfortable. I've got a little job on hand." + +There were quick replies that Gale's dulling ears did not +distinguish. Then it seemed Mrs. Belding was beside his bed, her +presence so cool and soothing and helpful, and Mercedes and Nell, +wide-eyed and white-faced, were fluttering around him. He drank +thirstily, but refused food. He wanted rest. And with their faces +drifting away in a kind of haze, with the feeling of gentle hands +about him, he lost consciousness. + +He slept twenty hours. Then he arose, thirsty, hungry, lame, +overworn, and presently went in search of Belding and the business +of the day. + +"Your Yaqui was near dead, but guess we'll pull him through," said +Belding. "Dick, the other day that Indian came here by rail and +foot and Lord only knows how else, all the way from New Orleans! +He spoke English better than most Indians, and I know a little +Yaqui. I got some of his story and guessed the rest. The Mexican +government is trying to root out the Yaquis. A year ago his tribe +was taken in chains to a Mexican port on the Gulf. The fathers, +mothers, children, were separated and put in ships bound for +Yucatan. There they were made slaves on the great henequen +plantations. They were driven, beaten, starved. Each slave had +for a day's rations a hunk of sour dough, no more. Yucatan is low, +marshy, damp, hot. The Yaquis were bred on the high, dry Sonoran +plateau, where the air is like a knife. They dropped dead in the +henequen fields, and their places were taken by more. You see, +the Mexicans won't kill outright in their war of extermination of +the Yaquis. They get use out of them. It's a horrible +thing....Well, this Yaqui you brought in escaped from his captors, +got aboard ship, and eventually reached New Orleans. Somehow +he traveled way out here. I gave him a bag of food, and he went +off with a Papago Indian. He was a sick man then. And he must +have fallen foul of some Greasers." + +Gale told of his experience at Papago Well. + +"That raider who tried to grind the Yaqui under a horse's hoofs--he +was a hyena!" concluded Gale, shuddering. "I've seen some blood +spilled and some hard sights, but that inhuman devil took my nerve. +Why, as I told you, Belding, I missed a shot at him--not twenty +paces!" + +"Dick, in cases like that the sooner you clean up the bunch the +better," said Belding, grimly. "As for hard sights--wait till you've +seen a Yaqui do up a Mexican. Bar none, that is the limit! It's +blood lust, a racial hate, deep as life, and terrible. The Spaniards +crushed the Aztecs four or five hundred years ago. That hate has had +time to grow as deep as a cactus root. The Yaquis are mountain +Aztecs. Personally, I think they are noble and intelligent, and if +let alone would be peaceable and industrious. I like the few I've +known. But they are a doomed race. Have you any idea what ailed +this Yaqui before the raider got in his work?" + +"No, I haven't. I noticed the Indian seemed in bad shape; but I +couldn't tell what was the matter with him." + +"Well, my idea is another personal one. Maybe it's off color. I +think that Yaqui was, or is, for that matter, dying of a broken +heart. All he wanted was to get back to his mountains and die. +There are no Yaquis left in that part of Sonora he was bound for." + +"He had a strange look in his eyes," said Gale, thoughtfully. + +"Yes, I noticed that. But all Yaquis have a wild look. Dick, if +I'm not mistaken, this fellow was a chief. It was a waste of +strength, a needless risk for you to save him, pack him back here. +But, damn the whole Greaser outfit generally, I'm glad you did!" + +Gale remembered then to speak of his concern for Ladd. + +"Laddy didn't go out to meet you," replied Belding. "I knew you +were due in any day, and, as there's been trouble between here +and Casita, I sent him that way. Since you've been out our friend +Carter lost a bunch of horses and a few steers. Did you get a good +look at the horses those raiders had at Papago Well?" + +Dick had learned, since he had become a ranger, to see everything +with keen, sure, photographic eye; and, being put to the test so +often required of him, he described the horses as a dark-colored +drove, mostly bays and blacks, with one spotted sorrel. + +"Some of Carter's--sure as you're born!" exclaimed Belding. "His +bunch has been split up, divided among several bands of raiders. +He has a grass ranch up here in Three Mile Arroyo. It's a good +long ride in U. S. territory from the border." + +"Those horses I saw will go home, don't you think?" asked Dick. + +"Sure. They can't be caught or stopped." + +"Well, what shall I do now?" + +"Stay here and rest," bluntly replied Belding. "You need it. Let +the women fuss over you--doctor you a little. When Jim gets back +from Sonoyta I'll know more about what we ought to do. By Lord! +it seems our job now isn't keeping Japs and Chinks out of the U. S. +It's keeping our property from going into Mexico." + +"Are there any letters for me?" asked Gale. + +"Letters! Say, my boy, it'd take something pretty important to +get me or any man here back Casita way. If the town is safe these +days the road isn't. It's a month now since any one went to +Casita." + +Gale had received several letters from his sister Elsie, the last of +which he had not answered. There had not been much opportunity +for writing on his infrequent returns to Forlorn River; and, +besides, Elsie had written that her father had stormed over what +he considered Dick's falling into wild and evil ways. + +"Time flies," said Dick. "George Thorne will be free before long, +and he'll be coming out. I wonder if he'll stay here or try to take +Mercedes away?" + +"Well, he'll stay right here in Forlorn River, if I have any say," +replied Belding. "I'd like to know how he'd ever get that Spanish +girl out of the country now, with all the trails overrun by rebels +and raiders. It'd be hard to disguise her. Say, Dick, maybe we can +get Thorne to stay here. You know, since you've discovered the +possibility of a big water supply, I've had dreams of a future for +Forlorn River....If only this war was over! Dick, that's what it +is--war--scattered war along the northern border of Mexico from gulf +to gulf. What if it isn't our war? We're on the fringe. No, we +can't develop Forlorn River until there's peace." + +The discovery that Belding alluded to was one that might very +well lead to the making of a wonderful and agricultural district +of Altar Valley. While in college Dick Gale had studied +engineering, but he had not set the scientific world afire with his +brilliance. Nor after leaving college had he been able to satisfy +his father that he could hold a job. Nevertheless, his smattering +of engineering skill bore fruit in the last place on earth where +anything might have been expected of it--in the desert. Gale had +always wondered about the source of Forlorn River. No white man +or Mexican, or, so far as known, no Indian, had climbed those +mighty broken steps of rock called No Name Mountains, from which +Forlorn River was supposed to come. Gale had discovered a long, +narrow, rock-bottomed and rock-walled gulch that could be dammed +at the lower end by the dynamiting of leaning cliffs above. An +inexhaustible supply of water could be stored there. Furthermore, +he had worked out an irrigation plan to bring the water down for +mining uses, and to make a paradise out of that part of Altar Valley +which lay in the United States. Belding claimed there was gold in +the arroyos, gold in the gulches, not in quantities to make a +prospector rejoice, but enough to work for. And the soil on the +higher levels of Altar Valley needed only water to make it grow +anything the year round. Gale, too, had come to have dreams of +a future for Forlorn River. + +On the afternoon of the following day Ladd unexpectedly appeared +leading a lame and lathered horse into the yard. Belding and Gale, +who were at work at the forge, looked up and were surprised out +of speech. The legs of the horse were raw and red, and he seemed +about to drop. Ladd's sombrero was missing; he wore a bloody scarf +round his head; sweat and blood and dust had formed a crust on his +face; little streams of powdery dust slid from him; and the lower +half of his scarred chaps were full of broken white thorns. + +"Howdy, boys," he drawled. "I shore am glad to see you all." + +"Where'n hell's your hat?" demanded Belding, furiously. It was a +ridiculous greeting. But Belding's words signified little. The +dark shade of worry and solicitude crossing his face told more +than his black amaze. + +The ranger stopped unbuckling the saddle girths, and, looking +at Belding, broke into his slow, cool laugh. + +"Tom, you recollect that whopper of a saguaro up here where +Carter's trail branches off the main trail to Casita? Well, I +climbed it an' left my hat on top for a woodpecker's nest." + +"You've been running--fighting?" queried Belding, as if Ladd had +not spoken at all. + +"I reckon it'll dawn on you after a while," replied Ladd, slipping +the saddle. + +"Laddy, go in the house to the women," said Belding. "I'll tend to +your horse." + +"Shore, Tom, in a minute. I've been down the road. An' I found +hoss tracks an' steer tracks goin' across the line. But I seen no +sign of raiders till this mornin'. Slept at Carter's last night. +That raid the other day cleaned him out. He's shootin' mad. Well, +this mornin' I rode plumb into a bunch of Carter's hosses, runnin' +wild for home. Some Greasers were tryin' to head them round an' +chase them back across the line. I rode in between an' made +matters embarrassin'. Carter's hosses got away. Then me an' the +Greasers had a little game of hide an' seek in the cactus. I was on +the wrong side, an' had to break through their line to head toward +home. We run some. But I had a closer call than I'm stuck on +havin'." + +"Laddy, you wouldn't have any such close calls if you'd ride one +of my horses," expostulated Belding. "This broncho of yours +can run, and Lord knows he's game. But you want a big, +strong horse, Mexican bred, with cactus in his blood. +Take one of the bunch--Bull, White Woman, Blanco Jose." + +"I had a big, fast horse a while back, but I lost him," said Ladd. +"This bronch ain't so bad. Shore Bull an' that white devil with +his Greaser name--they could run down my bronch, kill him in +a mile of cactus. But, somehow, Tom, I can't make up my mind to +take one of them grand white hosses. Shore I reckon I'm kinda +soft. An' mebbe I'd better take one before the raiders clean up +Forlorn River." + +Belding cursed low and deep in his throat, and the sound resembled +muttering thunder. The shade of anxiety on his face changed to +one of dark gloom and passion. Next to his wife and daughter there +was nothing so dear to him as those white horses. His father and +grandfather--all his progenitors of whom he had trace--had been +lovers of horses. It was in Belding's blood. + +"Laddy, before it's too late can't I get the whites away from the +border?" + +"Mebbe it ain't too late; but where can we take them?" + +"To San Felipe?" + +"No. We've more chance to hold them here." + +"To Casita and the railroad?" + +"Afraid to risk gettin' there. An' the town's full of rebels who +need hosses." + +"Then straight north?" + +"Shore man, you're crazy. Ther's no water, no grass for a hundred +miles. I'll tell you, Tom, the safest plan would be to take the +white bunch south into Sonora, into some wild mountain valley. +Keep them there till the raiders have traveled on back east. Pretty +soon there won't be any rich pickin' left for these Greasers. An' +then they'll ride on to new ranges." + +"Laddy, I don't know the trails into Sonora. An' I can't trust a +Mexican or a Papago. Between you and me, I'm afraid of this +Indian who herds for me." + +"I reckon we'd better stick here, Tom....Dick, it's some good to +see you again. But you seem kinda quiet. Shore you get quieter +all the time. Did you see any sign of Jim out Sonoyta way?" + +Then Belding led the lame horse toward the watering-trough, +while the two rangers went toward the house, Dick was telling +Ladd about the affair at Papago Well when they turned the corner +under the porch. Nell was sitting in the door. She rose with a +little scream and came flying toward them. + +"Now I'll get it," whispered Ladd. "The women'll make a baby of +me. An' shore I can't help myself." + +"Oh, Laddy, you've been hurt!" cried Nell, as with white cheeks +and dilating eyes she ran to him and caught his arm. + +"Nell, I only run a thorn in my ear." + +"Oh, Laddy, don't lie! You've lied before. I know you're hurt. +Come in to mother." + +"Shore, Nell, it's only a scratch. My bronch throwed me." + +"Laddy, no horse every threw you." The girl's words and accusing +eyes only hurried the ranger on to further duplicity. + +"Mebbe I got it when I was ridin' hard under a mesquite, an' a +sharp snag--" + +"You've been shot!...Mama, here's Laddy, and he's been shot!....Oh, +these dreadful days we're having! I can't bear them! Forlorn River +used to be so safe and quiet. Nothing happened. But now! Jim +comes home with a bloody hole in him--then Dick--then Laddy!....Oh, +I'm afraid some day they'll never come home." + + + +The morning was bright, still, and clear as crystal. The heat waves +had not yet begun to rise from the desert. + +A soft gray, white, and green tint perfectly blended lay like a +mantle over mesquite and sand and cactus. The canyons of distant +mountain showed deep and full of lilac haze. + +Nell sat perched high upon the topmost bar of the corral gate. Dick +leaned beside her, now with his eyes on her face, now gazing out +into the alfalfa field where Belding's thoroughbreds grazed and +pranced and romped and whistled. Nell watched the horses. She +loved them, never tired of watching them. But her gaze was too +consciously averted from the yearning eyes that tried to meet hers +to be altogether natural. + +A great fenced field of dark velvety green alfalfa furnished a rich +background for the drove of about twenty white horses. Even without +the horses the field would have presented a striking contrast to the +surrounding hot, glaring blaze of rock and sand. Belding had bred a +hundred or more horses from the original stock he had brought up +from Durango. His particular interest was in the almost +unblemished whites, and these he had given especial care. He made +a good deal of money selling this strain to friends among the +ranchers back in Texas. No mercenary consideration, however, could +have made him part with the great, rangy white horses he had gotten +from the Durango breeder. He called them Blanco Diablo (White +Devil), Blanco Sol (White Sun), Blanca Reina (White Queen), Blanca +Mujer (White Woman), and El Gran Toro Blanco (The Big White Bull). +Belding had been laughed at by ranchers for preserving the +sentimental Durango names, and he had been unmercifully ridiculed +by cowboys. But the names had never been changed. + +Blanco Diablo was the only horse in the field that was not free to +roam and graze where he listed. A stake and a halter held him to +one corner, where he was severely let alone by the other horses. +He did not like this isolation. Blanco Diablo was not happy unless +he was running, or fighting a rival. Of the two he would rather fight. +If anything white could resemble a devil, this horse surely did. He had +nothing beautiful about him, yet he drew the gaze and held it. The look +of him suggested discontent, anger, revolt, viciousness. When he +was not grazing or prancing, he held his long, lean head level, +pointing his nose and showing his teeth. Belding's favorite was +almost all the world to him, and he swore Diablo could stand more +heat and thirst and cactus than any other horse he owned, and +could run down and kill any horse in the Southwest. The fact that +Ladd did not agree with Belding on these salient points was a great +disappointment, and also a perpetual source for argument. Ladd and +Lash both hated Diablo; and Dick Gale, after one or two narrow +escapes from being brained, had inclined to the cowboys' side of +the question. + +El Gran Toro Blanco upheld his name. He was a huge, massive, +thick-flanked stallion, a kingly mate for his full-bodied, glossy +consort, Blanca Reina. The other mare, Blanca Mujer, was dazzling +white, without a spot, perfectly pointed, racy, graceful, elegant, +yet carrying weight and brawn and range that suggested her relation +to her forebears. + +The cowboys admitted some of Belding's claims for Diablo, but they +gave loyal and unshakable allegiance to Blanco Sol. As for Dick, he +had to fight himself to keep out of arguments, for he sometimes +imagined he was unreasonable about the horse. Though he could not +understand himself, he knew he loved Sol as a man loved a friend, +a brother. Free of heavy saddle and the clumsy leg shields, Blanco +Sol was somehow all-satisfying to the eyes of the rangers. As long +and big as Diablo was, Sol was longer and bigger. Also, he was +higher, more powerful. He looked more a thing for action--speedier. +At a distance the honorable scars and lumps that marred his muscular +legs were not visible. He grazed aloof from the others, and did not +cavort nor prance; but when he lifted his head to whistle, how wild +he appeared, and proud and splendid! The dazzling whiteness of the +desert sun shone from his coat; he had the fire and spirit of the desert +in his noble head, its strength and power in his gigantic frame. + +"Belding swears Sol never beat Diablo," Dick was saying. + +"He believes it," replied Nell. "Dad is queer about that horse." + +"But Laddy rode Sol once--made him beat Diablo. Jim saw the race." + +Nell laughed. "I saw it, too. For that matter, even I have made +Sol put his nose before Dad's favorite." + +"I'd like to have seen that. Nell, aren't you ever going to ride +with me?" + +"Some day--when it's safe." + +"Safe!" + +"I--I mean when the raiders have left the border." + +"Oh, I'm glad you mean that," said Dick, laughing. "Well, I've often +wondered how Belding ever came to give Blanco Sol to me." + +"He was jealous. I think he wanted to get rid of Sol." + +"No? Why, Nell, he'd give Laddy or Jim one of the whites any day." + +"Would he? Not Devil or Queen or White Woman. Never in this +world! But Dad has lots of fast horses the boys could pick from. +Dick, I tell you Dad wants Blanco Sol to run himself out--lose his +speed on the desert. Dad is just jealous for Diablo." + +"Maybe. He surely has strange passion for horses. I think I +understand better than I used to. I owned a couple of racers +once. They were just animals to me, I guess. But Blanco Sol!" + +"Do you love him?" asked Nell; and now a warm, blue flash of eyes +swept his face. + +"Do I? Well, rather." + +"I'm glad. Sol has been finer, a better horse since you +owned him. He loves you, Dick. He's always watching for you. +See him raise his head. That's for you. I know as much about +horses as Dad or Laddy any day. Sol always hated Diablo, and +he never had much use for Dad." + +Dick looked up at her. + +"It'll be--be pretty hard to leave Sol--when I go away." + +Nell sat perfectly still. + +"Go away?" she asked, presently, with just the faintest tremor in +her voice. + +"Yes. Sometimes when I get blue--as I am to-day--I think I'll go. +But, in sober truth, Nell, it's not likely that I'll spend all my +life here." + +There was no answer to this. Dick put his hand softly over hers; +and, despite her half-hearted struggle to free it, he held on. + +"Nell!" + +Her color fled. He saw her lips part. Then a heavy step on the +gravel, a cheerful, complaining voice interrupted him, and made +him release Nell and draw back. Belding strode into view round +the adobe shed. + +"Hey, Dick, that darned Yaqui Indian can't be driven or hired or +coaxed to leave Forlorn River. He's well enough to travel. I +offered him horse, gun, blanket, grub. But no go." + +"That's funny," replied Gale, with a smile. "Let him stay--put +him to work." + +"It doesn't strike me funny. But I'll tell you what I think. That +poor, homeles, heartbroken Indian has taken a liking to you, Dick. +These desert Yaquis are strange folk. I've heard strange stories +about them. I'd believe 'most anything. And that's how I figure +his case. You saved his life. That sort of thing counts big with +any Indian, even with an Apache. With a Yaqui maybe it's of deep +significance. I've heard a Yaqui say that with his tribe no debt to +friend or foe ever went unpaid. Perhaps that's what ails this fellow." + +"Dick, don't laugh," said Nell. "I've noticed the Yaqui. It's +pathetic the way his great gloomy eyes follow you." + +"You've made a friend," continued Belding. "A Yaqui could be a +real friend on this desert. If he gets his strength back he'll be +of service to you, don't mistake me. He's welcome here. But +you're responsible for him, and you'll have trouble keeping him +from massacring all the Greasers in Forlorn River." + + +The probability of a visit from the raiders, and a dash bolder +than usual on the outskirts of a ranch, led Belding to build a +new corral. It was not sightly to the eye, but it was high and +exceedingly strong. The gate was a massive affair, swinging on +huge hinges and fastening with heavy chains and padlocks. On the +outside it had been completely covered with barb wire, which would +make it a troublesome thing to work on in the dark. + +At night Belding locked his white horses in this corral. The +Papago hersman slept in the adobe shed adjoining. Belding did +not imagine that any wooden fence, however substantially built, +could keep determined raiders from breaking it down. They +would have to take time, however, and make considerable noise; +and Belding relied on these facts. Belding did not believe a band +of night raiders would hold out against a hot rifle fire. So he +began to make up some of the sleep he had lost. It was noteworthy, +however, that Ladd did not share Belding's sanguine hopes. + +Jim Lash rode in, reporting that all was well out along the line +toward the Sonoyta Oasis. Days passed, and Belding kept his rangers +home. Nothing was heard of raiders at hand. Many of the newcomers, +both American and Mexican, who came with wagons and pack trains +from Casita stated that property and life were cheap back in that +rebel-infested town. + +One January morning Dick Gale was awakened by a shrill, +menacing cry. He leaped up bewildered and frightened. +He heard Belding's booming voice answering shouts, and rapid +steps on flagstones. But these had not awakened him. Heavy +breaths, almost sobs, seemed at his very door. In the cold and +gray dawn Dick saw something white. Gun in hand, he bounded +across the room. Just ouside his door stood Blanco Sol. + +It was not unusual for Sol to come poking his head in at Dick's +door during daylight. But now in the early dawn, when he had +been locked in the corral, it meant raiders--no less. Dick called +softly to the snorting horse; and, hurriedly getting into clothes +and boots, he went out with a gun in each hand. Sol was quivering +in every muscle. Like a dog he followed Dick around the house. +Hearing shouts in the direction of the corrals, Gale bent swift +steps that way. + +He caught up with Jim Lash, who was also leading a white horse. + +"Hello, Jim! Guess it's all over but the fireworks," said Dick. + +"I cain't say just what has come off," replied Lash. "I've got the +Bull. Found him runnin' in the yard." + +They reached the corral to find Belding shaking, roaring like a +madman. The gate was open, the corral was empty. Ladd stooped +over the ground, evidently trying to find tracks. + +"I reckon we might jest as well cool off an' wait for daylight," +suggested Jim. + +"Shore. They've flown the coop, you can gamble on that. Tom, +where's the Papago?" said Ladd. + +"He's gone, Laddy--gone!" + +"Double-crossed us, eh? I see here's a crowbar lyin' by the +gatepost. That Indian fetched it from the forge. It was used to +pry out the bolts an' steeples. Tom, I reckon there wasn't much +time lost forcin' that gate." + +Belding, in shirt sleeves and barefooted, roared with rage. +He said he had heard the horses running as he leaped out of bed. + +"What woke you?" asked Laddy. + +"Sol. He came whistling for Dick. Didn't you hear him before I +called you?" + +"Hear him! He came thunderin' right under my window. I jumped +up in bed, an' when he let out that blast Jim lit square in the +middle of the floor, an' I was scared stiff. Dick, seein' it was +your room he blew into, what did you think?" + +"I couldn't think. I'm shaking yet, Laddy." + +"Boys, I'll bet Sol spilled a few raiders if any got hands on him," +said Jim. "Now, let's sit down an' wait for daylight. It's my +idea we'll find some of the hosses runnin' loose. Tom, you go +an' get some clothes on. It's freezin' cold. An' don't forget to +tell the women folks we're all right." + +Daylight made clear some details of the raid. The cowboys found +tracks of eight raiders coming up from the river bed where their +horses had been left. Evidently the Papago had been false to his +trust. He few personal belongings were gone. Lash was correct +in his idea of finding more horses loose in the fields. The men +soon rounded up eleven of the whites, all more or less frightened, +and among the number were Queen and Blanca Mujer. The raiders +had been unable to handle more than one horse for each man. It +was bitter irony of fate that Belding should lose his favorite, the +one horse more dear to him than all the others. Somewhere out on +the trail a raider was fighting the iron-jawed savage Blanco Diablo. + +"I reckon we're some lucky," observed Jim Lash. + +"Lucky ain't enough word," replied Ladd. "You see, it was this way. +Some of the raiders piled over the fence while the others worked +on the gate. Mebbe the Papago went inside to pick out the best +hosses. But it didn't work except with Diablo, an' how they ever +got him I don't know. I'd have gambled it'd take all of eight +men to steal him. But Greasers have got us skinned on handlin' +hosses." + +Belding was unconsolable. He cursed and railed, and finally +declared he was going to trail the raiders. + +"Tom, you just ain't agoin' to do nothin' of the kind," said Ladd +coolly. + +Belding groaned and bowed his head. + +"Laddy, you're right," he replied, presently. "I've got to stand +it. I can't leave the women and my property. But it's sure tough. +I'm sore way down deep, and nothin' but blood would ever satisfy +me." + +"Leave that to me an' Jim," said Ladd. + +"What do you mean to do?" demanded Belding, starting up. + +"Shore I don't know yet....Give me a light for my pipe. An' Dick, +go fetch out your Yaqui." + + + + +VIII + + +THE RUNNING OF BLANCO SOL + +THE Yaqui's strange dark glance roved over the corral, the swinging +gate with its broken fastenings, the tracks in the road, and then +rested upon Belding. + +"Malo," he said, and his Spanish was clear. + +"Shore Yaqui, about eight bad men, an' a traitor Indian," said Ladd. + +"I think he means my herder," added Belding. "If he does, that +settles any doubt it might be decent to have--Yaqui--malo +Papago--Si?" + +The Yaqui spread wide his hands. Then he bent over the tracks in +the road. They led everywhither, but gradually he worked out of +the thick net to take the trail that the cowboys had followed down +to the river. Belding and the rangers kept close at his heels. +Occasionally Dick lent a helping hand to the still feeble Indian. +He found a trampled spot where the raiders had left their horses. +From this point a deeply defined narrow trail led across the dry +river bed. + +Belding asked the Yaqui where the raiders would head for in the +Sonora Desert. For answer the Indian followed the trail across +the stream of sand, through willows and mesquite, up to the level +of rock and cactus. At this point he halted. A sand-filled, +almost obliterated trail led off to the left, and evidently went +round to the east of No Name Mountains. To the right stretched +the road toward Papago Well and the Sonoyta Oasis. The trail +of the raiders took a southeasterly course over untrodden desert. +The Yaqui spoke in his own tongue, then in Spanish. + +"Think he means slow march," said Belding. "Laddy, from the looks +of that trail the Greasers are having trouble with the horses." + +"Tom, shore a boy could see that," replied Laddy. "Ask Yaqui to tell +us where the raiders are headin', an' if there's water." + +It was wonderful to see the Yaqui point. His dark hand stretched, +he sighted over his stretched finger at a low white escarpment in +the distance. Then with a stick he traced a line in the sand, and +then at the end of that another line at right angles. He made +crosses and marks and holes, and as he drew the rude map he talked +in Yaqui, in Spanish; with a word here and there in English. +Belding translated as best he could. The raiders were heading +southeast toward the railroad that ran from Nogales down into +Sonora. It was four days' travel, bad trail, good sure waterhole +one day out; then water not sure for two days. Raiders traveling +slow; bothered by too many horses, not looking for pursuit; were +never pursued, could be headed and ambushed that night at the first +waterhole, a natural trap in a valley. + +The men returned to the ranch. The rangers ate and drank while +making hurried preparations for travel. Blanco Sol and the cowboys' +horses were fed, watered, and saddled. Ladd again refused to ride +one of Belding's whites. He was quick and cold. + +"Get me a long-range rifle an' lots of shells. Rustle now," he +said. + +"Laddy, you don't want to be weighted down?" protested Belding. + +"Shore I want a gun that'll outshoot the dinky little carbines an' +muskets used by the rebels. Trot one out an' be quick." + +"I've got a .405, a long-barreled heavy rifle that'll shoot a mile. +I use it for mountain sheep. But Laddy, it'll break +that bronch's back." + +"His back won't break so easy....Dick, take plenty of shells for +your Remington. An' don't forget your field glass." + +In less than an hour after the time of the raid the three rangers, +heavily armed and superbly mounted on fresh horses, rode out +on the trail. As Gale turned to look back from the far bank of +Forlorn River, he saw Nell waving a white scarf. He stood high +in his stirrups and waved his sombrero. Then the mesquites hid +the girl's slight figure, and Gale wheeled grim-faced to follow +the rangers. + +They rode in single file with Ladd in the lead. He did not keep +to the trail of the raiders all the time. He made short cuts. +The raiders were traveling leisurely, and they evinced a liking +for the most level and least cactus-covered stretches of ground. +But the cowboy took a bee-line course for the white escarpment +pointed out by the Yaqui; and nothing save deep washes and +impassable patches of cactus or rocks made him swerve from it. +He kept the broncho at a steady walk over the rougher places and +at a swinging Indian canter over the hard and level ground. The +sun grew hot and the wind began to blow. Dust clouds rolled +along the blue horizon. Whirling columns of sand, like water spouts +at sea, circled up out of white arid basins, and swept away and +spread aloft before the wind. The escarpment began to rise, to +change color, to show breaks upon its rocky face. + +Whenever the rangers rode out on the brow of a knoll or ridge +or an eminence, before starting to descend, Ladd required of +Gale a long, careful, sweeping survey of the desert ahead through +the field glass. There were streams of white dust to be seen, +streaks of yellow dust, trailing low clouds of sand over the +glistening dunes, but no steadily rising, uniformly shaped puffs +that would tell a tale of moving horses on the desert. + +At noon the rangers got out of the thick cactus. Moreover, the +gravel-bottomed washes, the low weathering, rotting ledges of +yellow rock gave place to hard sandy rolls and bare clay knolls. +The desert resembled a rounded hummocky sea of color. All light +shades of blue and pink and yellow and mauve were there dominated +by the glaring white sun. Mirages glistened, wavered, faded in the +shimmering waves of heat. Dust as fine as powder whiffed up from +under the tireless hoofs. + +The rangers rode on and the escarpment began to loom. The desert +floor inclined perceptibly upward. When Gale got an unobstructed +view of the slope of the escarpment he located the raiders and +horses. In another hour's travel the rangers could see with naked +eyes a long, faint moving streak of black and white dots. + +"They're headin' for that yellow pass," said Ladd, pointing to a +break in the eastern end of the escarpment. "When they get out of +sight we'll rustle. I'm thinkin' that waterhole the Yaqui spoke of +lays in the pass." + +The rangers traveled swiftly over the remaining miles of level +desert leading to the ascent of the escarpment. When they achieved +the gateway of the pass the sun was low in the west. Dwarfed +mesquite and greasewood appeared among the rocks. Ladd gave the +word to tie up horses and go forward on foot. + +The narrow neck of the pass opened and descended into a valley +half a mile wide, perhaps twice that in length. It had apparently +unscalable slopes of weathered rock leading up to beetling walls. +With floor bare and hard and white, except for a patch of green +mesquite near the far end it was a lurid and desolate spot, the +barren bottom of a desert bowl. + +"Keep down, boys" said Ladd. "There's the waterhole an' hosses +have sharp eyes. Shore the Yaqui figgered this place. I never +seen its like for a trap." + +Both white and black horses showed against the green, +and a thin curling column of blue smoke rose lazily from amid +the mesquites. + +"I reckon we'd better wait till dark, or mebbe daylight," said +Jim Lash. + +"Let me figger some. Dick, what do you make of the outlet to +this hole? Looks rough to me." + +With his glass Gale studied the narrow construction of walls and +roughened rising floor. + +"Laddy, it's harder to get out at that end than here," he replied. + +"Shore that's hard enough. Let me have a look....Well, boys, it +don't take no figgerin' for this job. Jim, I'll want you at the +other end blockin' the pass when we're ready to start." + +"When'll that be?" inquired Jim. + +"Soon as it's light enough in the mornin'. That Greaser outfit +will hang till to-morrow. There's no sure water ahead for two +days, you remember." + +"I reckon I can slip through to the other end after dark," said +Lash, thoughtfully. "It might get me in bad to go round." + +The rangers stole back from the vantage point and returned to their +horses, which they untied and left farther round among broken +sections of cliff. For the horses it was a dry, hungry camp, but +the rangers built a fire and had their short though strengthening +meal. + +The location was high, and through a break in the jumble of rocks +the great colored void of desert could be seen rolling away +endlessly to the west. The sun set, and after it had gone down +the golden tips of mountains dulled, their lower shadows creeping +upward. + +Jim Lash rolled in his saddle blanket, his feet near the fire, and +went to sleep. Ladd told Gale to do likewise while he kept the +fire up and waited until it was late enough for Jim to undertake +circling round the raiders. When Gale awakened the night was +dark, cold, windy. The stars shone with white brilliance. +Jim was up saddling his horse, and Ladd was talking low. +When Gale rose to accompany them both rangers said he need not go. +But Gale wanted to go because that was the thing Ladd or Jim would +have done. + +With Ladd leading, they moved away into the gloom. Advance was +exceedingly slow, careful, silent. Under the walls the blackness +seemed impenetrable. The horse was as cautious as his master. +Ladd did not lose his way, nevertheless he wound between blocks +of stone and clumps of mesquite, and often tried a passage to +abandon it. Finally the trail showed pale in the gloom, and eastern +stars twinkled between the lofty ramparts of the pass. + +The advance here was still as stealthily made as before, but not so +difficult or slow. When the dense gloom of the pass lightened, +and there was a wide space of sky and stars overhead, Ladd halted +and stood silent a moment. + +"Luck again!" he whispered. "The wind's in your face, Jim. The +horses won't scent you. Go slow. Don't crack a stone. Keep close +under the wall. Try to get up as high as this at the other end. +Wait till daylight before riskin' a loose slope. I'll be ridin' the +job early. That's all." + +Ladd's cool, easy speech was scarcely significant of the perilous +undertaking. Lash moved very slowly away, leading his horse. +The soft pads of hoofs ceased to sound about the time the gray +shape merged into the black shadows. Then Ladd touched Dick's +arm, and turned back up the trail. + +But Dick tarried a moment. He wanted a fuller sense of that +ebony-bottomed abyss, with its pale encircling walls reaching +up to the dusky blue sky and the brilliant stars. There was +absolutely no sound. + +He retraced his steps down, soon coming up with Ladd; and together +they picked a way back through the winding recesses of cliff. The +campfire was smoldering. Ladd replenished it and lay down to get +a few hours' sleep, while Gale kept watch. The after part of the +night wore on till the paling of stars, the thickening of gloom indicated +the dark hour before dawn. The spot was secluded from wind, but +the air grew cold as ice. Gale spent the time stripping wood from +a dead mesquite, in pacing to and fro, in listening. Blanco Sol +stamped occasionally, which sound was all that broke the stilliness. +Ladd awoke before the faintest gray appeared. The rangers ate +and drank. When the black did lighten to gray they saddled the +horses and led them out to the pass and down to the point where +they had parted with Lash. Here they awaited daylight. + +To Gale it seemed long in coming. Such a delay always aggravated +the slow fire within him. He had nothing of Ladd's patience. He +wanted action. The gray shadow below thinned out, and the patch +of mesquite made a blot upon the pale valley. The day dawned. + +Still Ladd waited. He grew more silent, grimmer as the time of +action approached. Gale wondered what the plan of attack would +be. Yet he did not ask. He waited ready for orders. + +The valley grew clear of gray shadow except under leaning walls +on the eastern side. Then a straight column of smoke rose from +among the mesquites. Manifestly this was what Ladd had been +awaiting. He took the long .405 from its sheath and tried the +lever. Then he lifted a cartridge belt from the pommel of his +saddle. Every ring held a shell and these shells were four inches +long. He buckled the belt round him. + +"Come on, Dick." + +Ladd led the way down the slope until he reached a position that +commanded the rising of the trail from a level. It was the only +place a man or horse could leave the valley for the pass. + +"Dick, here's your stand. If any raider rides in range take a crack +at him....Now I want the lend of your hoss." + +"Blanco Sol!" exclaimed Gale, more in amazement that +Ladd should ask for the horse than in reluctance to lend him. + +"Will you let me have him?" Ladd repeated, almost curtly. + +"Certainly, Laddy." + +A smile momentarily chased the dark cold gloom that had set upon +the ranger's lean face. + +"Shore I appreciate it, Dick. I know how you care for that hoss. +I guess mebbe Charlie Ladd has loved a hoss! An' one not so +good as Sol. I was only tryin' your nerve, Dick, askin' you without +tellin' my plan. Sol won't get a scratch, you can gamble on that! +I'll ride him down into the valley an' pull the greasers out in the +open. They've got short-ranged carbines. They can't keep out of +range of the .405, an' I'll be takin' the dust of their lead. Sabe, +senor?" + +"Laddy! You'll run Sol away from the raiders when they chase you? +Run him after them when they try to get away?" + +"Shore. I'll run all the time. They can't gain on Sol, an' he'll +run them down when I want. Can you beat it?" + +"No. It's great!...But suppose a raider comes out on Blanco +Diablo?" + +"I reckon that's the one weak place in my plan. I'm figgerin' +they'll never think of that till it's too late. But if they do, +well, Sol can outrun Diablo. An' I can always kill the white +devil!" + +Ladd's strange hate of the horse showed in the passion of his +last words, in his hardening jaw and grim set lips. + +Gale's hand went swiftly to the ranger's shoulder. + +"Laddy. Don't kill Diablo unless it's to save your life." + +"All right. But, by God, if I get a chance I'll make Blanco Sol +run him off his legs!" + +He spoke no more and set about changing the length of Sol's +stirrups. When he had them adjusted to suit he mounted +and rode down the trail and out upon the level. He rode +leisurely as if merely going to water his horse. The long black +rifle lying across his saddle, however, was ominous. + +Gale securely tied the other horse to a mesquite at hand, and took +a position behind a low rock over which he could easily see and +shoot when necessary. He imagined Jim Lash in a similar position at +the far end of the valley blocking the outlet. Gale had grown +accustomed to danger and the hard and fierce feelings peculiar to +it. But the coming drama was so peculiarly different in promise +from all he had experienced, that he waited the moment of action +with thrilling intensity. In him stirred long, brooding wrath at +these border raiders--affection for Belding, and keen desire to +avenge the outrages he had suffered--warm admiration for the +cold, implacable Ladd and his absolute fearlessness, and a curious +throbbing interest in the old, much-discussed and never-decided +argument as to whether Blanco Sol was fleeter, stronger horse +than Blanco Diablo. Gale felt that he was to see a race between +these great rivals--the kind of race that made men and horses +terrible. + +Ladd rode a quarter of a mile out upon the flat before anything +happened. Then a whistle rent the still, cold air. A horse had +seen or scented Blanco Sol. The whistle was prolonged, faint, but +clear. It made the blood thrum in Gale's ears. Sol halted. His +head shot up with the old, wild, spirited sweep. Gale leveled his +glass at the patch of mesquites. He saw the raiders running to an +open place, pointing, gesticulating. The glass brought them so +close that he saw the dark faces. Suddenly they broke and fled +back among the trees. Then he got only white and dark gleams +of moving bodies. Evidently that moment was one of boots, guns, +and saddles for the raiders. + +Lowering the glass, Gale saw that Blanco Sol had started +forward again. His gait was now a canter, and he had covered +another quarter of a mile before horses and raiders appeared +upon the outskirts of the mesquites. Then Blanco Sol stopped. +His shrill, ringing whistle came distinctly to Gale's ears. +The raiders were mounted on dark horses, and they stood abreast +in a motionless line. Gale chuckled as he appreciated what +a puzzle the situation presented for them. A lone horseman in the +middle of the valley did not perhaps seem so menacing himself +as the possibilities his presence suggested. + +Then Gale saw a raider gallop swiftly from the group toward the +farther outlet of the valley. This might have been owing to +characteristic cowardice; but it was more likely a move of the +raiders to make sure of retreat. Undoubtedly Ladd saw this +galloping horseman. A few waiting moments ensued. The galloping +horseman reached the slope, began to climb. With naked eyes Gale +saw a puff of white smoke spring out of the rocks. Then the raider +wheeled his plunging horse back to the level, and went racing wildly +down the valley. + +The compact bunch of bays and blacks seemed to break apart and +spread rapidly from the edge of the mesquites. Puffs of white smoke +indicated firing, and showed the nature of the raiders' excitement. +They were far out of ordinary range, but they spurred toward Ladd, +shooting as they rode. Ladd held his ground; the big white horse +stood like a rock in his tracks. Gale saw little spouts of dust +rise in front of Blanco Sol and spread swift as sight to his rear. +The raiders' bullets, striking low, were skipping along the hard, +bare floor of the valley. Then Ladd raised the long rifle. There +was no smoke, but three high, spanging reports rang out. A gap +opened in the dark line of advancing horsemen; then a riderless +steed sheered off to the right. Blanco Sol seemed to turn as on +a pivot and charged back toward the lower end of the valley. He +circled over to Gale's right and stretched out into his run. There +were now five raiders in pursuit, and they came sweeping down, +yelling and shooting, evidently sure of their quarry. Ladd reserved +his fire. He kept turning from back to front in his saddle. + +Gale saw how the space widened between pursuers and pursued, saw +distinctly when Ladd eased up Sol's running. Manifestly Ladd +intended to try to lead the raiders round in front of Gale's +position, and, presently, Gale saw he was going to succeed. The +raiders, riding like vaqueros, swept on in a curve, cutting off +what distance they could. One fellow, a small, wiry rider, high +on his mount's neck like a jockey, led his companions by many +yards. He seemed to be getting the range of Ladd, or else he +shot high, for his bullets did not strike up the dust behind Sol. +Gale was ready to shoot. Blanco Sol pounded by, his rapid, rhythmic +hoofbeats plainly to be heard. He was running easily. + +Gale tried to still the jump of heart and pulse, and turned his +eye again on the nearest pursuer. This raider was crossing in, +his carbine held muzzle up in his right hand, and he was coming +swiftly. It was a long shot, upward of five hundred yards. Gale +had not time to adjust the sights of the Remington, but he knew +the gun and, holding coarsely upon the swiftly moving blot, he +began to shoot. The first bullet sent up a great splash of dust +beneath the horse's nose, making him leap as if to hurdle a fence. +The rifle was automatic; Gale needed only to pull the trigger. He +saw now that the raiders behind were in line. Swiftly he worked +the trigger. Suddenly the leading horse leaped convulsively, not +up nor aside, but straight ahead, and then he crashed to the ground +throwing his rider like a catapult, and then slid and rolled. He +half got up, fell back, and kicked; but his rider never moved. + +The other raiders sawed the reins of plunging steeds and whirled to +escape the unseen battery. Gale slipped a fresh clip into the +magazine of his rifle. He restrained himself from useless firing and +gave eager eye to the duel below. Ladd began to shoot while Sol was +running. The .405 rang out sharply--then again. The heavy bullets +streaked the dust all the way across the valley. Ladd aimed +deliberately and pulled slowly, unmindful of the kicking dust-puffs +behind Sol, and to the side. The raiders spurred madly in pursuit, +loading and firing. They shot ten times while Ladd shot once, and +all in vain; and on Ladd's sixth shot a raider topped backward, threw +his carbine and fell with his foot catching in a stirrup. The +frightened horse plunged away, dragging him in a path of dust. + +Gale had set himself to miss nothing of that fighting race, yet +the action passed too swiftly for clear sight of all. Ladd had +emptied a magazine, and now Blanco Sol quickened and lengthened +his running stride. He ran away from his pursuers. Then it was +that the ranger's ruse was divined by the raiders. They hauled +sharply up and seemed to be conferring. But that was a fatal +mistake. Blanco Sol was seen to break his gait and slow down +in several jumps, then square away and stand stockstill. Ladd fired +at the closely grouped raiders. An instant passed. Then Gale +heard the spat of a bullet out in front, saw a puff of dust, then +heard the lead strike the rocks and go whining away. And it +was after this that one of the raiders fell prone from his saddle. +The steel-jacketed .405 had gone through him on its uninterrupted +way to hum past Gale's positon. + +The remaining two raiders frantically spurred their horses and fled +up the valley. Ladd sent Sol after them. It seemed to Gale, even +though he realized his excitement, that Blanco Sol made those horses +seem like snails. The raiders split, one making for the eastern +outlet, the other circling back of the mesquites. Ladd kept on +after the latter. Then puffs of white smoke and rifle shots faintly +crackling told Jim Lash's hand in the game. However, he succeeded +only in driving the raider back into the valley. But Ladd had +turned the other horseman, and now it appeared the two raiders +were between Lash above on the stony slope and Ladd below on the level. +There was desperate riding on part of the raiders to keep from being hemmed +in closer. Only one of them got away, and he came riding for life down +under the eastern wall. Blanco Sol settled into his graceful, beautiful +swing. He gained steadily, though he was far from extending +himself. By Gale's actual count the raider fired eight times in +that race down the valley, and all his bullets went low and wide. +He pitched the carbine away and lost all control in headlong flight. + +Some few hundred rods to the left of Gale the raider put his horse +to the weathered slope. He began to climb. The horse was superb, +infinitely more courageous than his rider. Zigzag they went up +and up, and when Ladd reached the edge of the slope they were +high along the cracked and guttered rampart. Once--twice Ladd +raised the long rifle, but each time he lowered it. Gale divined +that the ranger's restraint was not on account of the Mexican, +but for that valiant and faithful horse. Up and up he went, and +the yellow dust clouds rose, and an avalanche rolled rattling and +cracking down the slope. It was beyond belief that a horse, +burdened or unburdened, could find footing and hold it upon that +wall of narrow ledges and inverted, slanting gullies. But he +climbed on, sure-footed as a mountain goat, and, surmounting +the last rough steps, he stood a moment silhouetted against +the white sky. Then he disappeared. Ladd sat astride Blanco Sol +gazing upward. How the cowboy must have honored that raider's +brave steed! + +Gale, who had been too dumb to shout the admiration he felt, +suddenly leaped up, and his voice came with a shriek: + +"LOOK OUT, LADDY!" + +A big horse, like a white streak, was bearing down to the right +of the ranger. Blanco Diablo! A matchless rider swung with the +horse's motion. Gale was stunned. Then he remembered the first +raider, the one Lash had shot at and driven away from the outlet. +This fellow had made for the mesquite and had put a saddle on Belding's +favorite. In the heat of the excitement, while Ladd had been intent upon +the climbing horse, this last raider had come down with the speed of +the wind straight for the western outlet. Perhaps, very probably, +he did not know Gale was there to block it; and certainly he hoped +to pass Ladd and Blanco Sol. + +A touch of the spur made Sol lunge forward to head off the raider. +Diablo was in his stride, but the distance and angle favored Sol. +The raider had no carbine. He held aloft a gun ready to level it +and fire. He sat the saddle as if it were a stationary seat. Gale +saw Ladd lean down and drop the .405 in the sand. He would take +no chances of wounding Belding's best-loved horse. + +Then Gale sat transfixed with suspended breath watching the horses +thundering toward him. Blanco Diablo was speeding low, fleet as +an antelope, fierce and terrible in his devilish action, a horse for +war and blood and death. He seemed unbeatable. Yet to see the +magnificently running Blanco Sol was but to court a doubt. Gale +stood spellbound. He might have shot the raider; but he never +thought of such a thing. The distance swiftly lessened. Plain it +was the raider could not make the opening ahead of Ladd. He saw it +and swerved to the left, emptying his six-shooter as he turned. +His dark face gleamed as he flashed by Gale. + +Blanco Sol thundered across. Then the race became straight away +up the valley. Diablo was cold and Sol was hot; therein lay the +only handicap and vantage. It was a fleet, beautiful, magnificent +race. Gale thrilled and exulted and yelled as his horse settled +into a steadily swifter run and began to gain. The dust rolled in +a funnel-shaped cloud from the flying hoofs. The raider wheeled +with gun puffing white, and Ladd ducked low over the neck of his +horse. + +The gap between Diablo and Sol narrowed yard by yard. At first +it had been a wide one. The raider beat his mount and spurred, +beat and spurred, wheeled round to shoot, then bent forward again. +In his circle at the upper end of the valley he turned far short +of the jumble of rocks. + +All the devil that was in Blanco Diablo had its running on the +downward stretch. The strange, cruel urge of bit and spur, the +crazed rider who stuck like a burr upon him, the shots and smoke +added terror to his natural violent temper. He ran himself off his +feet. But he could not elude that relentless horse behind him. +The running of Blanco Sol was that of a sure, remorseless driving +power--steadier--stronger--swifter with every long and wonderful +stride. + +The raider tried to sheer Diablo off closer under the wall, to make +the slope where his companion had escaped. But Diablo was +uncontrollable. He was running wild, with breaking gait. Closer +and closer crept that white, smoothly gliding, beautiful machine +of speed. + +Then, like one white flash following another, the two horses +gleamed down the bank of a wash and disappeared in clouds +of dust. + +Gale watched with strained and smarting eyes. The thick throb +in his ears was pierced by faint sounds of gunshots. Then he +waited in almost unendurable suspense. + +Suddenly something whiter than the background of dust appeared +above the low roll of valley floor. Gale leveled his glass. In the +clear circle shone Blanco Sol's noble head with its long black +bar from ears to nose. Sol's head was drooping now. Another +second showed Ladd still in the saddle. + +The ranger was leading Blanco Diable--spent--broken--dragging +--riderless. + + + +IX + + +AN INTERRUPTED SIESTA + +NO man ever had a more eloquent and beautiful pleader for his +cause than had Dick Gale in Mercedes Castaneda. He peeped +through the green, shining twigs of the palo verde that shaded his +door. The hour was high noon, and the patio was sultry. The only +sounds were the hum of bees in the flowers and the low murmur of +the Spanish girl's melodious voice. Nell lay in the hammock, her +hands behind her head, with rosy cheeks and arch eyes. Indeed, +she looked rebellious. Certain it was, Dick reflected, that the +young lady had fully recovered the wilful personality which had +lain dormant for a while. Equally certain it seemed that Mercedes's +earnestness was not apparently having the effect it should have had. + +Dick was inclined to be rebellious himself. Belding had kept the +rangers in off the line, and therefore Dick had been idle most of +the time, and, though he tried hard, he had been unable to stay +far from Nell's vicinity. He believed she cared for him; but he +could not catch her alone long enough to verify his tormenting +hope. When alone she was as illusive as a shadow, as quick as a +flash, as mysterious as a Yaqui. When he tried to catch her in +the garden or fields, or corner her in the patio, she eluded him, +and left behind a memory of dark-blue, haunting eyes. It was +that look in her eyes which lent him hope. At other times, when +it might have been possible for Dick to speak, Nell clung closely +to Mercedes. He had long before enlisted the loyal Mercedes in his +cause; but in spite of this Nell had been more than a match for them both. + +Gale pondered over an idea he had long revolved in mind, and +which now suddenly gave place to a decision that made his heart +swell and his cheek burn. He peeped again through the green +branches to see Nell laughing at the fiery Mercedes. + +"Qui'en sabe," he called, mockingly, and was delighted with Nell's +quick, amazed start. + +Then he went in search of Mrs. Belding, and found her busy in the +kitchen. The relation between Gale and Mrs. Belding had subtly and +incomprehensively changed. He understood her less than when at +first he divined an antagonism in her. If such a thing were +possible she had retained the antagonism while seeming to yield +to some influence that must have been fondness for him. Gale +was in no wise sure of her affection, and he had long imagined +she was afraid of him, or of something that he represented. He +had gone on, openly and fairly, though discreetly, with his rather +one-sided love affair; and as time passed he had grown less +conscious of what had seemed her unspoken opposition. Gale had +come to care greatly for Nell's mother. Not only was she the +comfort and strength of her home, but also of the inhabitants of +Forlorn River. Indian, Mexican, American were all the same to her +in trouble or illness; and then she was nurse, doctor, peacemaker, +helper. She was good and noble, and there was not a child or +grownup in Forlorn River who did not love and bless her. But Mrs. +Belding did not seem happy. She was brooding, intense, deep, +strong, eager for the happiness and welfare of others; and she +was dominated by a worship of her daughter that was as strange +as it was pathetic. Mrs. Belding seldom smiled, and never laughed. +There was always a soft, sad, hurt look in her eyes. Gale often +wondered if there had been other tragedy in her life than the +supposed loss of her father in the desert. Perhaps it +was the very unsolved nature of that loss which made it haunting. + +Mrs. Belding heard Dick's step as he entered the kitchen, and, +looking up, greeted him. + +"Mother," began Dick, earnestly. Belding called her that, and so +did Ladd and Lash, but it was the first time for Dick. "Mother +--I want to speak to you." + +The only indication Mrs. Belding gave of being started was in her +eyes, which darkened, shadowed with multiplying thought. + +"I love Nell," went on Dick, simply, "and I want you to let me ask +her to be my wife." + +Mrs. Belding's face blanched to a deathly white. Gale, thinking +with surprise and concern that she was going to faint, moved +quickly toward her, took her arm. + +"Forgive me. I was blunt....But I thought you knew." + +"I've known for a long time," replied Mrs. Belding. Her voice was +steady, and there was no evidence of agitation except in her +pallor. "Then you--you haven't spoken to Nell?" + +Dick laughed. "I've been trying to get a chance to tell her. I +haven't had it yet. But she knows. There are other ways besides +speech. And Mercedes has told her. I hope, I almost believe Nell +cares a little for me." + +"I've known that, too, for a long time," said Mrs. Belding, low +almost as a whisper. + +"You know!" cried Dick, with a glow and rush of feeling. + +"Dick, you must be very blind not to see what has been plain +to all of us....I guess--it couldn't have been helped. You're a +splendid fellow. No wonder she loves you." + +"Mother! You'll give her to me?" + +She drew him to the light and looked with strange, piercing +intentness into his face. Gale had never dreamed a woman's eyes +could hold such a world of thought and feeling. It seemed all +the sweetness of life was there, and all the pain. + +"Do you love her?" she asked. + +"With all my heart." + +"You want to marry her?" + +"Ah, I want to! As much as I want to live and work for her." + +"When would you marry her?" + +"Why!...Just as soon as she will do it. To-morrow!" Dick gave a +wild, exultant little laugh. + +"Dick Gale, you want my Nell? You love her just as she is--her +sweetness--her goodness? Just herself, body and soul?...There's +nothing could change you--nothing?" + +"Dear Mrs. Belding, I love Nell for herself. If she loves me I'll +be the happiest of men. There's absolutely nothing that could +make any difference in me." + +"But your people? Oh, Dick, you come of a proud family. I can +tell. I--I once knew a young man like you. A few months can't +change pride--blood. Years can't change them. You've become a +ranger. You love the adventure--the wild life. That won't last. +Perhaps you'll settle down to ranching. I know you love the West. +But, Dick, there's your family--" + +"If you want to know anything about my family, I'll tell you," +interrupted Dick, with strong feeling. "I've not secrets about +them or myself. My future and happiness are Nell's to make. No +one else shall count with me." + +"Then, Dick--you may have her. God--bless--you--both." + +Mrs. Belding's strained face underwent a swift and mobile +relaxation, and suddenly she was weeping in strangely mingled +happiness and bitterness. + +"Why, mother!" Gale could say no more. He did not comprehend +a mood seemingly so utterly at variance with Mrs. Belding's habitual +temperament. But he put his arm around her. In another moment she +had gained command over herself, and, kissing him, she pushed him +out of the door. + +"There! Go tell her, Dick...And have some spunk about it!" + +Gale went thoughtfully back to his room. He vowed that he would +answer for Nell's happiness, if he had the wonderful good fortune +to win her. Then remembering the hope Mrs. Belding had given him, +Dick lost his gravity in a flash, and something began to dance and +ring within him. He simply could not keep his steps turned from +the patio. Every path led there. His blood was throbbing, his +hopes mounting, his spirit soaring. He knew he had never before +entered the patio with that inspirited presence. + +"Now for some spunk!" he said, under his breath. + +Plainly he meant his merry whistle and his buoyant step to +interrupt this first languorous stage of the siesta which the girls +always took during the hot hours. Nell had acquired the habit +long before Mercedes came to show how fixed a thing it was in the +life of the tropics. But neither girl heard him. Mercedes lay +under the palo verde, her beautiful head dark and still upon a +cushion. Nell was asleep in the hammock. There was an abandonment +in her deep repose, and a faint smile upon her face. Her sweet, red +lips, with the soft, perfect curve, had always fascinated Dick, and +now drew him irresistibly. He had always been consumed with a +desire to kiss her, and now he was overwhelmed with his opportunity. +It would be a terrible thing to do, but if she did not awaken at +once-- No, he would fight the temptation. That would be more than +spunk. It would-- Suddenly an ugly green fly sailed low over Nell, +appeared about to alight on her. Noiselessly Dick stepped close to +the hammock bent under the tree, and with a sweep of his hand +chased the intruding fly away. But he found himself powerless to +straighten up. He was close to her--bending over her face--near the +sweet lips. The insolent, dreaming smile just parted them. Then he +thought he was lost. But she stirred--he feared she would awaken. + +He had stepped back erect when she opened her eyes. They were +sleepy, yet surprised until she saw him. Then she was wide awake +in a second, bewildered, uncertain. + +"Why--you here?" she asked, slowly. + +"Large as life!" replied Dick, with unusual gayety. + +"How long have you been here?" + +"Just got here this fraction of a second," he replied, +lying shamelessly. + +It was evident that she did not know whether or not to believe +him, and as she studied him a slow blush dyed her cheek. + +"You are absolutely truthful when you say you just stepped there?" + +"Why, of course," answered Dick, right glad he did not have to lie +about that. + +"I thought--I was--dreaming," she said, and evidently the sound +of her voice reassured her. + +"Yes, you looked as if you were having pleasant dreams," replied +Dick. "So sorry to wake you. I can't see how I came to do it, I +was so quiet. Mercedes didn't wake. Well, I'll go and let you +have your siesta and dreams." + +But he did not move to go. Nell regarded him with curious, +speculative eyes. + +"Isn't it a lovely day?" queried Dick. + +"I think it's hot." + +"Only ninety in the shade. And you've told me the mercury goes +to one hundred and thirty in midsummer. This is just a glorious +golden day." + +"Yesterday was finer, but you didn't notice it." + +"Oh, yesterday was somewhere back in the past--the inconsequential +past." + +Nell's sleepy blue eyes opened a little wider. She did +not know what to make of this changed young man. Dick felt gleeful +and tried hard to keep the fact from becoming manifest. + +"What's the inconsequential past? You seem remarkably happy +to-day." + +"I certainly am happy. Adios. Pleasant dreams." + +Dick turned away then and left the patio by the opening into the +yard. Nell was really sleepy, and when she had fallen asleep again +he would return. He walked around for a while. Belding and the +rangers were shoeing a broncho. Yaqui was in the field with the +horses. Blanco Sol grazed contently, and now and then lifted his +head to watch. His long ears went up at sight of his master, and +he whistled. Presently Dick, as if magnet-drawn, retraced his steps +to the patio and entered noiselessly. + +Nell was now deep in her siesta. She was inert, relaxed, untroubled +by dreams. Her hair was damp on her brow. + +Again Nell stirred, and gradually awakened. Her eyes unclosed, +humid, shadowy, unconscious. They rested upon Dick for a moment +before they became clear and comprehensive. He stood back fully +ten feet from her, and to all outside appearances regarded her +calmly. + +"I've interrupted your siesta again," he said. "Please forgive me. +I'll take myself off." + +He wandered away, and when it became impossible for him to stay +away any longer he returned to the patio. + +The instant his glance rested upon Nell's face he divined she was +feigning sleep. The faint rose-blush had paled. The warm, rich, +golden tint of her skin had fled. Dick dropped upon his knees and +bent over her. Though his blood was churning in his veins, his +breast laboring, his mind whirling with the wonder of that moment +and its promise, he made himself deliberate. He wanted more than +anything he had ever wanted in his life to see if she would keep +up that pretense of sleep and let him kiss her. She must have felt +his breath, for her hair waved off her brow. Her cheeks were now white. +Her breast swelled and sank. He bent down closer--closer. But he must +have been maddeningly slow, for as he bent still closer Nell's eyes opened, +and he caught a swift purple gaze of eyes as she whirled her head. +Then, with a little cry, she rose and fled. + + + +X + + +ROJAS + +NO word from George Thorne had come to Forlorn River in weeks. +Gale grew concerned over the fact, and began to wonder if anything +serious could have happened to him. Mercedes showed a slow, wearing strain. + +Thorne's commission expired the end of January, and if he could not +get his discharge immediately, he surely could obtain leave of +absence. Therefore, Gale waited, not without growing anxiety, and +did his best to cheer Mercedes. The first of February came bringing +news of rebel activities and bandit operations in and around Casita, +but not a word from the cavalryman. + +Mercedes became silent, mournful. Her eyes were great black +windows of tragedy. Nell devoted herself entirely to the +unfortunate girl; Dick exerted himself to persuade her that all +would yet come well; in fact, the whole household could not have +been kinder to a sister or a daughter. But their united efforts +were unavailing. Mercedes seemed to accept with fatalistic +hopelessness a last and crowning misfortune. + +A dozen times Gale declared he would ride in to Casita and find +out why they did not hear from Thorne; however, older and wiser +heads prevailed over his impetuosity. Belding was not sanguine +over the safety of the Casita trail. Refugees from there arrived +every day in Forlorn River, and if tales they told were true, +real war would have been preferable to what was going on along +the border. Belding and the rangers and the Yaqui held a +consultation. Not only had the Indian become a faithful servant +to Gale, but he was also of value to Belding. Yaqui had all the +craft of his class, and superior intelligence. His knowledge of +Mexicans was second only to his hate of them. And Yaqui, who had +been scouting on all the trails, gave information that made Belding +decide to wait some days before sending any one to Casita. He +required promises from his rangers, particularly Gale, not to leave +without his consent. + +It was upon Gale's coming from this conference that he encountered +Nell. Since the interrupted siesta episode she had been more than +ordinarily elusive, and about all he had received from her was a +tantalizing smile from a distance. He got the impression now, +however, that she had awaited him. When he drew close to her he +was certain of it, and he experienced more than surprise. + +"Dick," she began, hurriedly. "Dad's not going to send any one to +see about Thorne?" + +"No, not yet. He thinks it best not to. We all think so. I'm +sorry. Poor Mercedes!" + +"I knew it. I tried to coax him to send Laddy or even Yaqui. +He wouldn't listen to me. Dick, Mercedes is dying by inches. +Can't you see what ails her? It's more than love or fear. It's +uncertainty--suspense. Oh, can't we find out for her?" + +"Nell, I feel as badly as you about her. I wanted to ride in to +Casita. Belding shut me up quick, the last time." + +Nell came close to Gale, clasped his arm. There was no color +in her face. Her eyes held a dark, eager excitement. + +"Dick, will you slip off without Dad's consent? Risk it! Go to +Casita and find out what's happened to Thorne--at least if he +ever started for Forlorn River?" + +"No, Nell, I won't do that." + +She drew away from him with passionate suddenness. + +"Are you afraid?" + +This certainly was not the Nell Burton that Gale knew. + +"No, I'm not afraid," Gale replied, a little nettled. + +"Will you go--for my sake?" Like lightning her mood changed +and she was close to him again, hands on his, her face white, +her whole presence sweetly alluring. + +"Nell, I won't disobey Belding," protested Gale. "I won't break +my word." + +"Dick, it'll not be so bad as that. But--what if it is?...Go, +Dick, if not for poor Mercedes's sake, then for mine--to please +me. I'll--I'll...you won't lose anything by going. I think I know +how Mercedes feels. Just a word from Thorne or about him +would save her. Take Blanco Sol and go, Dick. What rebel outfit +could ever ride you down on that horse? Why, Dick, if I was up +on Sol I wouldn't be afraid of the whole rebel army." + +"My dear girl, it's not a question of being afraid. It's my +word--my duty to Belding." + +"You said you loved me. If you love me you will go...You don't +love me!" + +Gale could only stare at this transformed girl. + +"Dick, listen!...If you go--if you fetch some word of Thorne to +comfort Mercedes, you--well, you will have your reward." + +"Nell!" + +Her dangerous sweetness was as amazing as this newly revealed +character. + +"Dick, will you go?" + +"No-no!" cried Gale, in violence, struggling with himself. "Nell +Burton, I'll tell you this. To have the reward I want would mean +pretty near heaven for me. But not even for that will I break my +word to your father." + +She seemed the incarnation of girlish scorn and wilful passion. + +"Gracias, senor," she replied, mockingly. "Adios." Then she +flashed out of his sight. + +Gale went to his room at once, disturbed and thrilling, and did +not soon recover from that encounter. + +The following morning at the breakfast table Nell was not present. +Mrs. Belding evidently considered the fact somewhat unusual, for +she called out into the patio and then into the yard. Then she went +to Mercedes's room. But Nell was not there, either. + +"She's in one of her tantrums lately," said Belding. "Wouldn't +speak to me this morning. Let her alone, mother. She's spoiled +enough, without running after her. She's always hungry. She'll +be on hand presently, don't mistake me." + +Notwithstanding Belding's conviction, which Gale shared, Nell did +not appear at all during the hour. When Belding and the rangers +went outside, Yaqui was eating his meal on the bench where he +always sat. + +"Yaqui--Lluvia d' oro, si?" asked Belding, waving his hand toward +the corrals. The Indian's beautiful name for Nell meant "shower +of gold," and Belding used it in asking Yaqui if he had seen her. +He received a negative reply. + +Perhaps half an hour afterward, as Gale was leaving his room, he +saw the Yaqui running up the path from the fields. It was markedly +out of the ordinary to see the Indian run. Gale wondered what was +the matter. Yaqui ran straight to Belding, who was at work at his +bench under the wagon shed. In less than a moment Belding was +bellowing for his rangers. Gale got to him first, but Ladd and Lash +were not far behind. + +"Blanco Sol gone!" yelled Belding, in a rage. + +"Gone? In broad daylight, with the Indian a-watch-in?" queried +Ladd. + +"It happened while Yaqui was at breakfast. That's sure. He'd +just watered Sol." + +"Raiders!" exclaimed Jim Lash. + +"Lord only knows. Yaqui says it wasn't raiders." + +"Mebbe Sol's just walked off somewheres." + +"He was haltered in the corral." + +"Send Yaqui to find the hoss's trail, an' let's figger," said +Ladd. "Shore this 's no raider job." + +In the swift search that ensued Gale did not have anything to +say; but his mind was forming a conclusion. When he found his old +saddle and bridle missing from the peg in the barn his conclusion +became a positive conviction, and it made him, for the moment, +cold and sick and speechless. + +"Hey, Dick, don't take it so much to heart," said Belding. "We'll +likely find Sol, and if we don't, there's other good horses." + +"I'm not thinking of Sol," replied Gale. + +Ladd cast a sharp glance at Gale, snapped his fingers, and said: + +"Damn me if I ain't guessed it, too!" + +"What's wrong with you locoed gents?" bluntly demanded Belding. + +"Nell has slipped away on Sol," answered Dick. + +There was a blank pause, which presently Belding broke. + +"Well, that's all right, if Nell's on him. I was afraid we'd lost +the horse." + +"Belding, you're trackin' bad," said Ladd, wagging his head. + +"Nell has started for Casita," burst out Gale. "She has gone +to fetch Mercedes some word about Thorne. Oh, Belding, you +needn't shake your head. I know she's gone. She tried to persuade +me to go, and was furious when I wouldn't." + +"I don't believe it," replied Belding, hoarsely. "Nell may have her +temper. She's a little devil at times, but she always had good +sense." + +"Tom, you can gamble she's gone," said Ladd. + +"Aw, hell, no! Jim, what do you think?" implored Belding. + +"I reckon Sol's white head is pointed level an' straight +down the Casita trail. An' Nell can ride. We're losing' time." + +That roused Belding to action. + +"I say you're all wrong," he yelled, starting for the corrals. +"She's only taking a little ride, same as she's done often. But +rustle now. Find out. Dick, you ride cross the valley. Jim, you +hunt up and down the river. I'll head up San Felipe way. And you, +Laddy, take Diablo and hit the Casita trail. If she really has gone +after Thorne you can catch her in an hour or so." + +"Shore I'll go," replied Ladd. "But, Beldin', if you're not plumb +crazy you're close to it. That big white devil can't catch Sol. +Not in an hour or a day or a week! What's more, at the end of any +runnin' time, with an even start, Sol will be farther in the lead. +An' now Sol's got an hour's start." + +"Laddy, you mean to say Sol is a faster horse than Diablo?" +thundered Belding, his face purple. + +"Shore. I mean to tell you just that there," replied the ranger. + +"I'll--I'll bet a--" + +"We're wastin' time," curtly interrupted Ladd. "You can gamble +on this if you want to. I'll ride your Blanco Devil as he never +was rid before, 'cept once when a damn sight better hossman +than I am couldn't make him outrun Sol." + +Without more words the men saddled and were off, not waiting for +the Yaqui to come in with possible information as to what trail +Blanco Sol had taken. It certainly did not show in the clear sand +of the level valley where Gale rode to and fro. When Gale returned +to the house he found Belding and Lash awaiting him. They did not +mention their own search, but stated that Yaqui had found Blanco +Sol's tracks in the Casita trail. After some consultation Belding +decided to send Lash along after Ladd. + +The interminable time that followed contained for +Gale about as much suspense as he could well bear. +What astonished him and helped him greatly to fight off +actual distress was the endurance of Nell's mother. + +Early on the morning of the second day, Gale, who had acquired +an unbreakable habit of watching, saw three white horses and a +bay come wearily stepping down the road. He heard Blanco Sol's +familiar whistle, and he leaped up wild with joy. The horse was +riderless. Gale's sudden joy received a violent check, then +resurged when he saw a limp white form in Jim Lash's arms. Ladd +was supporting a horseman who wore a military uniform. + +Gale shouted with joy and ran into the house to tell the good news. +It was the ever-thoughtful Mrs. Belding who prevented him from +rushing in to tell Mercedes. Then he hurried out into the yard, +closely followed by the Beldings. + +Lash handed down a ragged, travel-stained, wan girl into Belding's +arms. + +"Dad! Mama!" + +It was indeed a repentant Nell, but there was spirit yet in the +tired blue eyes. Then she caught sight of Gale and gave him a +faint smile. + +"Hello--Dick." + +"Nell!" Gale reached for her hand, held it tightly, and found +speech difficult. + +"You needn't worry--about your old horse," she said, as Belding +carried her toward the door. "Oh, Dick! Blanco Sol is--glorious!" + +Gale turned to greet his friend. Indeed, it was but a haggard ghost +of the cavalryman. Thorne looked ill or wounded. Gale's greeting +was also a question full of fear. + +Thorne's answer was a faint smile. He seemed ready to drop from +the saddle. Gale helped Ladd hold Thorne upon the horse until +they reached the house. Belding came out again. His welcome was +checked as he saw the condition of the cavalryman. Thorne reeled +into Dick's arms. But he was able to stand and walk. + +"I'm not--hurt. Only weak--starved," he said. "Is Mercedes-- +Take me to her." + +"She'll be well the minute she sees him," averred Belding, as he and +Gale led the cavalryman to Mercedes's room. There they left him; +and Gale, at least, felt his ears ringing with the girl's broken cry +of joy. + +When Belding and Gale hurried forth again the rangers were tending +the tired horses. Upon returning to the house Jim Lash calmly lit +his pipe, and Ladd declared that, hungry as he was, he had to tell +his story. + +"Shore, Beldin'," began Ladd, "that was funny about Diablo catchin' +Blanco Sol. Funny ain't the word. I nearly laughed myself to +death. Well, I rode in Sol's tracks all the way to Casita. Never +seen a rebel or a raider till I got to town. Figgered Nell made +the trip in five hours. I went straight to the camp of the +cavalrymen, an' found them just coolin' off an' dressin' down their +hosses after what looked to me like a big ride. I got there too +late for the fireworks. + +"Some soldier took me to an officer's tent. Nell was there, some +white an' all in. She just said, 'Laddy!' Thorne was there, too, +an' he was bein' worked over by the camp doctor. I didn't ask no +questions, because I seen quiet was needed round that tent. After +satisfying myself that Nell was all right, an' Thorne in no danger, +I went out. + +"Shore there was so darn many fellers who wanted to an' tried to +tell me what'd come off, I thought I'd never find out. But I got +the story piece by piece. An' here's what happened. + +"Nell rode Blanco Sol a-tearin' into camp, an' had a crowd round +her in a jiffy. She told who she was, where she'd come from, an' +what she wanted. Well, it seemed a day or so before Nell got there +the cavalrymen had heard word of Thorne. You see, Thorne had +left camp on leave of absence some time before. He was shore +mysterious, they said, an' told nobody where he was goin'. +A week or so after he left camp some Greaser give it away that +Rojas had a prisoner in a dobe shack near his camp. Nobody paid +much attention to what the Greaser said. He wanted money for +mescal. An' it was usual for Rojas to have prisoners. But in a +few more days it turned out pretty sure that for some reason +Rojas was holdin' Thorne. + +"Now it happened when this news came Colonel Weede was in Nogales +with his staff, an' the officer left in charge didn't know how to +proceed. Rojas's camp was across the line in Mexico, an' ridin' +over there was serious business. It meant a whole lot more than +just scatterin' one Greaser camp. It was what had been botherin' +more'n one colonel along the line. Thorne's feller soldiers was +anxious to get him out of a bad fix, but they had to wait for +orders. + +"When Nell found out Thorne was bein' starved an' beat in a dobe +shack no more'n two mile across the line, she shore stirred up +that cavalry camp. Shore! She told them soldiers Rojas was +holdin' Thorne--torturin' him to make him tell where Mercedes was. +She told about Mercedes--how sweet an' beautiful she was--how +her father had been murdered by Rojas--how she had been hounded +by the bandit--how ill an' miserable she was, waitin' for her lover. +An' she begged the cavalrymen to rescue Thorne. + +"From the way it was told to me I reckon them cavalrymen went up +in the air. Fine, fiery lot of young bloods, I thought, achin' for +a scrap. But the officer in charge, bein' in a ticklish place, +still held out for higher orders. + +"Then Nell broke loose. You-all know Nell's tongue is sometimes +like a choya thorn. I'd have give somethin' to see her work up +that soldier outfit. Nell's never so pretty as when she's mad. +An' this last stunt of hers was no girly tantrum, as Beldin' calls +it. She musta been ragin' with all the hell there's in a +woman....Can't you fellers see her on Blanco Sol with her eyes +turnin' black?" + +Ladd mopped his sweaty face with his dusty scarf. He was beaming. +He was growing excited, hurried in his narrative. + +"Right out then Nell swore she'd go after Thorne. If them +cavalrymen couldn't ride with a Western girl to save a brother +American--let them hang back! One feller, under orders, tried to +stop Blanco Sol. An' that feller invited himself to the hospital. +Then the cavalrymen went flyin' for their hosses. Mebbe Nell's +move was just foxy--woman's cunnin'. But I'm thinkin' as she +felt then she'd have sent Blanco Sol straight into Rojas's camp, +which, I'd forgot to say, was in plain sight. + +"It didn't take long for every cavalryman in that camp to get wind +of what was comin' off. Shore they musta been wild. They strung +out after Nell in a thunderin' troop. + +"Say, I wish you fellers could see the lane that bunch of hosses +left in the greasewood an' cactus. Looks like there'd been a +cattle stampede on the desert....Blanco Sol stayed out in front, +you can gamble on that. Right into Rojas's camp! Sabe, you +senors? Gawd Almighty! I never had grief that 'd hold a candle +to this one of bein' too late to see Nell an' Sol in their one best +race. + +"Rojas an' his men vamoosed without a shot. That ain't surprisin'. +There wasn't a shot fired by anybody. The cavalrymen soon found +Thorne an' hurried with him back on Uncle Sam's land. Thorne was +half naked, black an' blue all over, thin as a rail. He looked +mighty sick when I seen him first. That was a little after midday. +He was given food an' drink. Shore he seemed a starved man. +But he picked up wonderful, an' by the time Jim came along he was +wantin' to start for Forlorn River. So was Nell. By main strength +as much as persuasion we kept the two of them quiet till next +evenin' at dark. + +"Well, we made as sneaky a start in the dark as Jim an' me could +manage, an' never hit the trail till we was miles from town. +Thorne's nerve held him up for a while. Then all at once he tumbled +out of his saddle. We got him back, an' Lash held him on. +Nell didn't give out till daybreak." + +As Ladd paused in his story Belding began to stutter, and finally +he exploded. His mighty utterances were incoherent. But plainly +the wrath he had felt toward the wilful girl was forgotten. Gale +remained gripped by silence. + +"I reckon you'll all be some surprised when you see Casita," went +on Ladd. "It's half burned an' half tore down. An' the rebels are +livin' fat. There was rumors of another federal force on the road +from Casa Grandes. I seen a good many Americans from interior +Mexico, an' the stories they told would make your hair stand up. +They all packed guns, was fightin' mad at Greasers, an' sore on +the good old U. S. But shore glad to get over the line! Some +were waitin' for trains, which don't run reg'lar no more, an' +others were ready to hit the trails north." + +"Laddy, what knocks me is Rojas holding Thorne prisoner, trying +to make him tell where Mercedes had been hidden," said Belding. + +"Shore. It 'd knock anybody." + +"The bandit's crazy over her. That's the Spanish of it," replied +Belding, his voice rolling. "Rojas is a peon. He's been a slave +to the proud Castilian. He loves Mercedes as he hates her. When +I was down in Durango I saw something of these peons' insane +passions. Rojas wants this girl only to have her, then kill her. +It's damn strange, boys, and even with Thorne here our troubles +have just begun." + +"Tom, you spoke correct," said Jim Ladd, in his cool drawl. + +"Shore I'm not sayin' what I think," added Ladd. But the look +of him was not indicative of a tranquil optimism. + +Thorne was put to bed in Gale's room. He was very weak, yet he +would keep Mercedes's hand and gaze at her with unbelieving eyes. +Mercedes's failing hold on hope and strength seemed to have been +a fantasy; she was again vivid, magnetic, beautiful, shot through +and through with intense and throbbing life. She induced him to +take food and drink. Then, fighting sleep with what little strength +he had left, at last he succumbed. + +For all Dick could ascertain his friend never stirred an eyelash nor +a finger for twenty-seven hours. When he awoke he was pale, weak, +but the old Thorne. + +"Hello, Dick; I didn't dream it then," he said. "There you are, and +my darling with the proud, dark eyes--she's here?" + +"Why, yes, you locoed cavalryman." + +"Say, what's happened to you? It can't be those clothes and a +little bronze on your face....Dick, you're older--you've changed. +You're not so thickly built. By Gad, if you don't look fine!" + +"Thanks. I'm sorry I can't return the compliment. You're about +the seediest, hungriest-looking fellow I ever saw....Say, old man, +you must have had a tough time." + +A dark and somber fire burned out the happiness in Thorne's eyes. + +"Dick, don't make me--don't let me think of that fiend Rojas!....I'm +here now. I'll be well in a day or two. Then!..." + +Mercedes came in, radiant and soft-voiced. She fell upon her knees +beside Thorne's bed, and neither of them appeared to see Nell enter +with a tray. Then Gale and Nell made a good deal of unnecessary +bustle in moving a small table close to the bed. Mercedes had +forgotten for the moment that her lover had been a starving man. +If Thorne remembered it he did not care. They held hands and +looked at each other without speaking. + +"Nell, I thought I had it bad," whispered Dick. "But I'm not--" + +"Hush. It's beautiful," replied Nell, softly; and she tried to coax +Dick from the room. + +Dick, however, thought he ought to remain at least long enough +to tell Thorne that a man in his condition could not exist solely +upon love. + +Mercedes sprang up blushing with pretty, penitent manner and +moving white hands eloquent of her condition. + +"Oh, Mercedes--don't go!" cried Thorne, as she stepped to the door. + +"Senor Dick will stay. He is not mucha malo for you--as I am." + +Then she smiled and went out. + +"Good Lord!" exclaimed Thorne. "How I love her. Dick, isn't she +the most beautiful, the loveliest, the finest--" + +"George, I share your enthusiasm," said Dick, dryly, "but Mercedes +isn't the only girl on earth." + +Manifestly this was a startling piece of information, and struck +Thorne in more than one way. + +"George," went on Dick, "did you happen to observe the girl who +saved your life--who incidentally just fetched in your breakfast?" + +"Nell Burton! Why, of course. She's brave, a wonderful girl, and +really nice-looking." + +"You long, lean, hungry beggar! That was the young lady who might +answer the raving eulogy you just got out of your system....I--well, +you haven't cornered the love market!" + +Thorne uttered some kind of a sound that his weakened condition +would not allow to be a whoop. + +"Dick! Do you mean it?" + +"I shore do, as Laddy says." + +"I'm glad, Dick, with all my heart. I wondered at the changed +look you wear. Why, boy, you've got a different front....Call the +lady in, and you bet I'll look her over right. I can see better +now." + +"Eat your breakfast. There's plenty of time to dazzle you +afterward." + +Thorne fell to upon his breakfast and made it vanish with magic speed. +Meanwhile Dick told him something of a ranger's life along the border. + +"You needn't waste your breath," said Thorne. "I guess I can see. +Belding and those rangers have made you the real thing--the real +Western goods....What I want to know is all about the girl." + +"Well, Laddy swears she's got your girl roped in the corral for looks." + +"That's not possible. I'll have to talk to Laddy....But she must be +a wonder, or Dick Gale would never have fallen for her....Isn't it +great, Dick? I'm here! Mercedes is well--safe! You've got a +girl! Oh!....But say, I haven't a dollar to my name. I had a lot +of money, Dick, and those robbers stole it, my watch--everything. +Damn that little black Greaser! He got Mercedes's letters. I wish +you could have seen him trying to read them. He's simply nutty +over her, Dick. I could have borne the loss of money and +valuables--but those beautiful, wonderful letters--they're gone!" + +"Cheer up. You have the girl. Belding will make you a proposition +presently. The future smiles, old friend. If this rebel business +was only ended!" + +"Dick, you're going to be my savior twice over....Well, now, listen +to me." His gay excitement changed to earnest gravity. "I want +to marry Mercedes at once. Is there a padre here?" + +"Yes. But are you wise in letting any Mexican, even a priest, +know Mercedes is hidden in Forlorn River?" + +"It couldn't be kept much longer." + +Gale was compelled to acknowledge the truth of this statement. + +"I'll marry her first, then I'll face my problem. Fetch the padre, +Dick. And ask our kind friends to be witnesses at the ceremony." + +Much to Gale's surprise neither Belding nor Ladd objected to the +idea of bringing a padre into the household, and thereby making +known to at least one Mexican the whereabouts of Mercedes Castaneda. +Belding's caution was wearing out in wrath at the persistent unsettled +condition of the border, and Ladd grew only the cooler and more silent +as possibilities of trouble multiplied. + +Gale fetched the padre, a little, weazened, timid man who was old +and without interest or penetration. Apparently he married Mercedes +and Thorne as he told his beads or mumbled a prayer. It was Mrs. +Belding who kept the occasion from being a merry one, and she +insisted on not exciting Thorne. Gale marked her unusual pallor +and the singular depth and sweetness of her voice. + +"Mother, what's the use of making a funeral out of a marriage?" +protested Belding. "A chance for some fun doesn't often come to +Forlorn River. You're a fine doctor. Can't you see the girl is +what Thorne needed? He'll be well to-morrow, don't mistake me." + +"George, when you're all right again we'll add something to present +congratulations," said Gale. + +"We shore will," put in Ladd. + +So with parting jests and smiles they left the couple to themselves. + +Belding enjoyed a laugh at his good wife's expense, for Thorne +could not be kept in bed, and all in a day, it seemed, he grew +so well and so hungry that his friends were delighted, and Mercedes +was radiant. In a few days his weakness disappeared and he was +going the round of the fields and looking over the ground marked +out in Gale's plan of water development. Thorne was highly +enthusiastic, and at once staked out his claim for one hundred and +sixty acres of land adjoining that of Belding and the rangers. +These five tracts took in all the ground necessary for their +operations, but in case of the success of the irrigation project the +idea was to increase their squatter holdings by purchase of more +land down the valley. A hundred families had lately moved to +Forlorn River; more were coming all the time; and Belding vowed +he could see a vision of the whole Altar Valley green with farms. + +Meanwhile everybody in Belding's household, except the quiet Ladd +and the watchful Yaqui, in the absence of disturbance of any kind +along the border, grew freer and more unrestrained, as if anxiety +was slowly fading in the peace of the present. Jim Lash made a +trip to the Sonoyta Oasis, and Ladd patrolled fifty miles of the +line eastward without incident or sight of raiders. Evidently all +the border hawks were in at the picking of Casita. + +The February nights were cold, with a dry, icy, penetrating coldness +that made a warm fire most comfortable. Belding's household +usually congregated in the sitting-room, where burning mesquite +logs crackled in the open fireplace. Belding's one passion besides +horses was the game of checkers, and he was always wanting to +play. On this night he sat playing with Ladd, who never won a +game and never could give up trying. Mrs. Belding worked with +her needle, stopping from time to time to gaze with thoughtful +eyes into the fire. Jim Lash smoked his pipe by the hearth and +played with the cat on his knee. Thorne and Mercedes were at +the table with pencil and paper; and he was trying his best to keep +his attention from his wife's beautiful, animated face long enough +to read and write a little Spanish. Gale and Nell sat in a corner +watching the bright fire. + +There came a low knock on the door. It may have been an ordinary +knock, for it did not disturb the women; but to Belding and his +rangers it had a subtle meaning. + +"Who's that?" asked Belding, as he slowly pushed back his chair +and looked at Ladd. + +"Yaqui," replied the ranger. + +"Come in," called Belding. + +The door opened, and the short, square, powerfully built Indian +entered. He had a magnificent head, strangely staring, somber +black eyes, and very darkly bronzed face. He carried a rifle +and strode with impressive dignity. + +"Yaqui, what do you want?" asked Belding, and repeated his +question in Spanish. + +"Senor Dick," replied the Indian. + +Gale jumped up, stifling an exclamation, and he went outdoors +with Yaqui. He felt his arm gripped, and allowed himself to be +led away without asking a question. Yaqui's presence was always +one of gloom, and now his stern action boded catastrophe. Once +clear of trees he pointed to the level desert across the river, +where a row of campfires shone bright out of the darkness. + +"Raiders!" ejaculated Gale. + +Then he cautioned Yaqui to keep sharp lookout, and, hurriedly +returning to the house, he called the men out and told them there +were rebels or raiders camping just across the line. + +Ladd did not say a word. Belding, with an oath, slammed down +his cigar. + +"I knew it was too good to last....Dick, you and Jim stay here while +Laddy and I look around." + +Dick returned to the sitting-room. The women were nervous and not +to be deceived. So Dick merely said Yaqui had sighted some lights +off in the desert, and they probably were campfires. Belding did +not soon return, and when he did he was alone, and, saying he +wanted to consult with the men, he sent Mrs. Belding and the girls +to their rooms. His gloomy anxiety had returned. + +"Laddy's gone over to scout around and try to find out who the +outfit belongs to and how many are in it," said Belding. + +"I reckon if they're raiders with bad intentions we wouldn't see +no fires," remarked Jim, calmly. + +"It 'd be useless, I suppose, to send for the cavalry," said Gale. +"Whatever's coming off would be over before the soldiers could +be notified, let alone reach here." + +"Hell, fellows! I don't look for an attack on Forlorn River," +burst out Belding. "I can't believe that possible. These +rebel-raiders have a little sense. They wouldn't spoil their +game by pulling U. S. soldiers across the line from Yuma to +El Paso. But, as Jim says, if they wanted to steal a few horses +or cattle they wouldn't build fires. I'm afraid it's--" + +Belding hesitated and looked with grim concern at the cavalryman. + +"What?" queried Thorne. + +"I'm afraid it's Rojas." + +Thorne turned pale but did not lose his nerve. + +"I thought of that at once. If true, it'll be terrible for Mercedes +and me. But Rojas will never get his hands on my wife. If I can't +kill him, I'll kill her!...Belding, this is tough on you--this risk +we put upon your family. I regret--" + +"Cut that kind of talk," replied Belding, bluntly. "Well, if it is +Rojas he's acting damn strange for a raider. That's what worries +me. We can't do anything but wait. With Laddy and Yaqui out there +we won't be surprised. Let's take the best possible view of the +situation until we know more. That'll not likely be before +to-morrow." + +The women of the house might have gotten some sleep that night, +but it was certain the men did not get any. Morning broke cold +and gray, the 19th of February. Breakfast was prepared earlier +than usual, and an air of suppressed waiting excitement pervaded +the place. Otherwise the ordinary details of the morning's work +continued as on any other day. Ladd came in hungry and cold, +and said the Mexicans were not breaking camp. He reported a +good-sized force of rebels, and was taciturn as to his idea of +forthcoming events. + +About an hour after sunrise Yaqui ran in with the information +that part of the rebels were crossing the river. + +"That can't mean a fight yet," declared Belding. "But get in the +house, boys, and make ready anyway. I'll meet them." + +"Drive them off the place same as if you had a company of soldiers +backin' you," said Ladd. "Don't give them an inch. We're in bad, +and the bigger bluff we put up the more likely our chance." + +"Belding, you're an officer of the United States. Mexicans are +much impressed by show of authority. I've seen that often in camp," +said Thorne. + +"Oh, I know the white-livered Greasers better than any of you, don't +mistake me," replied Belding. He was pale with rage, but kept +command over himself. + +The rangers, with Yaqui and Thorne, stationed themselves at the +several windows of the sitting-room. Rifles and smaller arms and +boxes of shells littered the tables and window seats. No small +force of besiegers could overcome a resistance such as Belding +and his men were capable of making. + +"Here they come, boys," called Gale, from his window. + +"Rebel-raiders I should say, Laddy." + +"Shore. An' a fine outfit of buzzards!" + +"Reckon there's about a dozen in the bunch," observed the calm +Lash. "Some hosses they're ridin'. Where 'n the hell do they get +such hosses, anyhow?" + +"Shore, Jim, they work hard an' buy 'em with real silver pesos," +replied Ladd, sarcastically. + +"Do any of you see Rojas?" whispered Thorne. + +"Nix. No dandy bandit in that outfit." + +"It's too far to see," said Gale. + +The horsemen halted at the corrals. They were orderly and showed +no evidence of hostility. They were, however, fully armed. Belding +stalked out to meet them. Apparently a leader wanted to parley +with him, but Belding would hear nothing. He shook his head, waved +his arms, stamped to and fro, and his loud, angry voice could be +heard clear back at the house. Whereupon the detachment of rebels +retired to the bank of the river, beyond the white post that marked +the boundary line, and there they once more drew rein. Belding remained +by the corrals watching them, evidently still in threatening mood. +Presently a single rider left the troop and trotted his horse back +down the road. When he reached the corrals he was seen to halt +and pass something to Belding. Then he galloped away to join +his comrades. + +Belding looked at whatever it was he held in his hand, shook his +burley head, and started swiftly for the house. He came striding +into the room holding a piece of soiled paper. + +"Can't read it and don't know as I want to," he said, savagely. + +"Beldin', shore we'd better read it," replied Ladd. "What we want +is a line on them Greasers. Whether they're Campo's men or +Salazar's, or just a wanderin' bunch of rebels--or Rojas's bandits. +Sabe, senor?" + +Not one of the men was able to translate the garbled scrawl. + +"Shore Mercedes can read it," said Ladd. + +Thorne opened a door and called her. She came into the room +followed by Nell and Mrs. Belding. Evidently all three divined a +critical situation. + +"My dear, we want you to read what's written on this paper," +said Thorne, as he led her to the table. "It was sent in by rebels, +and--and we fear contains bad news for us." + +Mercedes gave the writing one swift glance, then fainted in Thorne's +arms. He carried her to a couch, and with Nell and Mrs. Belding +began to work over her. + +Belding looked at his rangers. It was characteristic of the man +that, now when catastrophe appeared inevitable, all the gloom +and care and angry agitation passed from him. + +"Laddy, it's Rojas all right. How many men has he out there?" + +"Mebbe twenty. Not more." + +"We can lick twice that many Greasers." + +"Shore." + +Jim Lash removed his pipe long enough to speak. + +"I reckon. But it ain't sense to start a fight when mebbe we can +avoid it." + +"What's your idea?" + +"Let's stave the Greaser off till dark. Then Laddy an' me an' +Thorne will take Mercedes an' hit the trail for Yuma." + +"Camino del Diablo! That awful trail with a woman! Jim, do you +forget how many hundreds of men have perished on the Devil's +Road?" + +"I reckon I ain't forgettin' nothin'," replied Jim. "The waterholes +are full now. There's grass, an' we can do the job in six days." + +"It's three hundred miles to Yuma." + +"Beldin', Jim's idea hits me pretty reasonable," interposed Ladd. +"Lord knows that's about the only chance we've got except fightin'." + +"But suppose we do stave Rojas off, and you get safely away with +Mercedes. Isn't Rojas going to find it out quick? Then what'll he +try to do to us who're left here?" + +"I reckon he'd find out by daylight," replied Jim. "But, Tom, he +ain't agoin' to start a scrap then. He'd want time an' hosses an' +men to chase us out on the trail. You see, I'm figgerin' on the +crazy Greaser wantin' the girl. I reckon he'll try to clean up +here to get her. But he's too smart to fight you for nothin'. +Rojas may be nutty about women, but he's afraid of the U. S. +Take my word for it he'd discover the trail in the mornin' an' +light out on it. I reckon with ten hours' start we could travel +comfortable." + +Belding paced up and down the room. Jim and Ladd whispered +together. Gale walked to the window and looked out at the distant +group of bandits, and then turned his gaze to rest upon Mercedes. +She was conscious now, and her eyes seemed all the larger and +blacker for the whiteness of her face. Thorne held her hands, +and the other women were trying to still her tremblings. + +No one but Gale saw the Yaqui in the background looking down +upon the Spanish girl. All of Yaqui's looks were strange; but this +singularly so. Gale marked it, and felt he would never forget. +Mercedes's beauty had never before struck him as being so exquisite, +so alluring as now when she lay stricken. Gale wondered if the +Indian was affected by her loveliness, her helplessness, or her +terror. Yaqui had seen Mercedes only a few times, and upon each +of these he had appeared to be fascinated. Could the strange +Indian, because his hate for Mexicans was so great, be gloating +over her misery? Something about Yaqui--a noble austerity of +countenance--made Gale feel his suspicion unjust. + +Presently Belding called his rangers to him, and then Thorne. + +"Listen to this," he said, earnestly. "I'll go out and have a talk +with Rojas. I'll try to reason with him; tell him to think a long +time before he sheds blood on Uncle Sam's soil. That he's now +after an American's wife! I'll not commit myself, nor will I refuse +outright to consider his demands, nor will I show the least fear +of him. I'll play for time. If my bluff goes through...well and +good....After dark the four of you, Laddy, Jim, Dick, and Thorne, +will take Mercedes and my best white horses, and, with Yaqui as +guide, circle round through Altar Valley to the trail, and head +for Yuma....Wait now, Laddy. Let me finish. I want you to take +the white horses for two reasons--to save them and to save you. +Savvy? If Rojas should follow on my horses he'd be likely to +catch you. Also, you can pack a great deal more than on the +bronchs. Also, the big horses can travel faster and farther on +little grass and water. I want you to take the Indian, because +in a case of this kind he'll be a godsend. If you get headed or +lost or have to circle off the trail, think what it 'd mean to have +Yaqui with you. He knows Sonora as no Greaser knows it. He could +hide you, find water and grass, when you would absolutely +believe it impossible. The Indian is loyal. He has his debt to +pay, and he'll pay it, don't mistake me. When you're gone I'll +hide Nell so Rojas won't see her if he searches the place. Then +I think I could sit down and wait without any particular worry." + +The rangers approved of Belding's plan, and Thorne choked in his +effort to express his gratitude. + +"All right, we'll chance it," concluded Belding. "I'll go out now +and call Rojas and his outfit over...Say, it might be as well for +me to know just what he said in that paper." + +Thorne went to the side of his wife. + +"Mercedes, we've planned to outwit Rojas. Will you tell us just +what he wrote?" + +The girl sat up, her eyes dilating, and with her hands clasping +Thorne's. She said: + +"Rojas swore--by his saints and his virgin--that if I wasn't +given--to him--in twenty-four hours--he would set fire to the +village--kill the men--carry off the women--hang the children +on cactus thorns!" + +A moment's silence followed her last halting whisper. + +"By his saints an' his virgin!" echoed Ladd. He laughed--a cold, +cutting, deadly laugh--significant and terrible. + +Then the Yaqui uttered a singular cry. Gale had heard this once +before, and now he remembered it was at the Papago Well. + +"Look at the Indian," whispered Belding, hoarsely. "Damn if I +don't believe he understood every word Mercedes said. And, +gentlemen, don't mistake me, if he ever gets near Senor Rojas +there'll be some gory Aztec knife work." + +Yaqui had moved close to Mercedes, and stood beside her as she +leaned against her husband. She seemed impelled to meet the +Indian's gaze, and evidently it was so powerful or hypnotic that +it wrought irresistibly upon her. But she must have seen or +divined what was beyond the others, for she offered him her +trembling hand. Yaqui took it and laid it against his body +in a strange motion, and bowed his head. Then he stepped back +into the shadow of the room. + +Belding went outdoors while the rangers took up their former +position at the west window. Each had his own somber thoughts, +Gale imagined, and knew his own were dark enough. A slow fire +crept along his veins. He saw Belding halt at the corrals and wave +his hand. Then the rebels mounted and came briskly up the road, +this time to rein in abreast. + +Wherever Rojas had kept himself upon the former advance was not +clear; but he certainly was prominently in sight now. He made a +gaudy, almost a dashing figure. Gale did not recognize the white +sombrero, the crimson scarf, the velvet jacket, nor any feature of +the dandy's costume; but their general effect, the whole ensemble, +recalled vividly to mind his first sight of the bandit. Rojas +dismounted and seemed to be listening. He betrayed none of the +excitement Gale had seen in him that night at the Del Sol. +Evidently this composure struck Ladd and Lash as unusual in a +Mexican supposed to be laboring under stress of feeling. Belding +made gestures, vehemently bobbed his big head, appeared to talk +with his body as much as with his tongue. Then Rojas was seen to +reply, and after that it was clear that the talk became painful and +difficult. It ended finally in what appeared to be mutual +understanding. Rojas mounted and rode away with his men, while +Belding came tramping back to the house. + +As he entered the door his eyes were shining, his big hands were +clenched, and he was breathing audibly. + +"You can rope me if I'm not locoed!" he burst out. "I went out +to conciliate a red-handed little murderer, and damn me if I didn't +meet a--a--well, I've not suitable name handy. I started my bluff +and got along pretty well, but I forgot to mention that Mercedes +was Thorne's wife. And what do you think? Rojas swore he loved Mercedes-- +swore he'd marry her right here in Forlorn River--swore he would give up +robbing and killing people, and take her away from Mexico. He has +gold--jewels. He swore if he didn't get her nothing mattered. He'd +die anyway without her....And here's the strange thing. I believe +him! He was cold as ice, and all hell inside. Never saw a Greaser +like him. Well, I pretended to be greatly impressed. We got to +talking friendly, I suppose, though I didn't understand half he +said, and I imagine he gathered less what I said. Anyway, without +my asking he said for me to think it over for a day and then we'd +talk again." + +"Shore we're born lucky!" ejaculated Ladd. + +"I reckon Rojas'll be smart enough to string his outfit across the +few trails leadin' out of Forlorn River," remarked Jim. + +"That needn't worry us. All we want is dark to come," replied +Belding. "Yaqui will slip through. If we thank any lucky stars +let it be for the Indian....Now, boys, put on your thinking caps. +You'll take eight horses, the pick of my bunch. You must pack +all that's needed for a possible long trip. Mind, Yaqui may lead +you down into some wild Sonora valley and give Rojas the slip. +You may get to Yuma in six days, and maybe in six weeks. Yet +you've got to pack light--a small pack in saddles--larger ones +on the two free horses. You may have a big fight. Laddy, take +the .405. Dick will pack his Remington. All of you go gunned +heavy. But the main thing is a pack that 'll be light enough for +swift travel, yet one that 'll keep you from starving on the +desert." + +The rest of that day passed swiftly. Dick had scarcely a word with +Nell, and all the time, as he chose and deliberated and worked +over his little pack, there was a dull pain in his heart. + +The sun set, twilight fell, then night closed down fortunately +a night slightly overcast. Gale saw the white horses pass +his door like silent ghosts. Even Blanco Diablo made no sound, +and that fact was indeed a tribute to the Yaqui. Gale went out +to put his saddle on Blanco Sol. The horse rubbed a soft nose +against his shoulder. Then Gale returned to the sitting-room. +There was nothing more to do but wait and say good-by. Mercedes +came clad in leather chaps and coat, a slim stripling of a cowboy, +her dark eyes flashing. Her beauty could not be hidden, and now +hope and courage had fired her blood. + +Gale drew Nell off into the shadow of the room. She was trembling, +and as she leaned toward him she was very different from the coy +girl who had so long held him aloof. He took her into his arms. + +"Dearest, I'm going--soon....And maybe I'll never--" + +"Dick, do--don't say it," sobbed Nell, with her head on his breast. + +"I might never come back," he went on, steadily. "I love you--I've +loved you ever since the first moment I saw you. Do you care for +me--a little?" + +"Dear Dick--de-dear Dick, my heart is breaking," faltered Nell, as +she clung to him. + +"It might be breaking for Mercedes--for Laddy and Jim. I want to +hear something for myself. Something to have on long marches--round +lonely campfires. Something to keep my spirit alive. Oh, Nell, you +can't imagine that silence out there--that terrible world of sand +and stone!...Do you love me?" + +"Yes, yes. Oh, I love you so! I never knew it till now. I love +you so. Dick, I'll be safe and I'll wait--and hope and pray for +your return." + +"If I come back--no--when I come back, will you marry me?" + +"I--I--oh yes!" she whispered, and returned his kiss. + +Belding was in the room speaking softly. + +"Nell, darling, I must go," said Dick. + +"I'm a selfish little coward," cried Nell. "It's so splendid of you +all. I ought to glory in it, but I can't. ...Fight if you must, +Dick. Fight for that lovely persecuted girl. I'll love you--the +more....Oh! Good-by! Good-by!" + +With a wrench that shook him Gale let her go. He heard +Belding's soft voice. + +"Yaqui says the early hour's best. Trust him, Laddy. Remember +what I say--Yaqui's a godsend." + +Then they were all outside in the pale gloom under the trees. +Yaqui mounted Blanco Diablo; Mercedes was lifted upon White +Woman; Thorne climbed astride Queen; Jim Lash was already +upon his horse, which was as white as the others but bore no +name; Ladd mounted the stallion Blanco Torres, and gathered +up the long halters of the two pack horses; Gale came last with +Blanco Sol. + +As he toed the stirrup, hand on mane and pommel, Gale took one +more look in at the door. Nell stood in the gleam of light, her +hair shining, face like ashes, her eyes dark, her lips parted, her +arms outstretched. That sweet and tragic picture etched its +cruel outlines into Gale's heart. He waved his hand and then +fiercely leaped into the saddle. + +Blanco Sol stepped out. + +Before Gale stretched a line of moving horses, white against dark +shadows. He could not see the head of that column; he scarcely +heard a soft hoofbeat. A single star shone out of a rift in thin +clouds. There was no wind. The air was cold. The dark space +of desert seemed to yawn. To the left across the river flickered a +few campfires. The chill night, silent and mystical, seemed to +close in upon Gale; and he faced the wide, quivering, black level +with keen eyes and grim intent, and an awakening of that wild +rapture which came like a spell to him in the open desert. + + + +XI + + +ACROSS CACTUS AND LAVA + +BLANCO SOL showed no inclination to bend his head to the alfalfa +which swished softly about his legs. Gale felt the horse's +sensitive, almost human alertness. Sol knew as well as his master +the nature of that flight. + +At the far corner of the field Yaqui halted, and slowly the line of +white horses merged into a compact mass. There was a trail here +leading down to the river. The campfires were so close that the +bright blazes could be seen in movement, and dark forms crossed +in front of them. Yaqui slipped out of his saddle. He ran his hand +over Diablo's nose and spoke low, and repeated this action for +each of the other horses. Gale had long ceased to question the +strange Indian's behavior. There was no explaining or understanding +many of his manoeuvers. But the results of them were always +thought-provoking. Gale had never seen horse stand so silently as +in this instance; no stamp--no champ of bit--no toss of head--no +shake of saddle or pack--no heave or snort! It seemed they had +become imbued with the spirit of the Indian. + +Yaqui moved away into the shadows as noiselessly as if he were one +of them. The darkness swallowed him. He had taken a parallel with +the trail. Gale wondered if Yaqui meant to try to lead his string +of horses by the rebel sentinels. Ladd had his head bent low, his +ear toward the trail. Jim's long neck had the arch of a listening +deer. Gale listened, too, and as the slow, silent moments went +by his faculty of hearing grew more acute from strain. He heard +Blanco Sol breathe; he heard the pound of his own heart; +he heard the silken rustle of the alfalfa; he heard a faint, +far-off sound of voice, like a lost echo. Then his ear seemed +to register a movement of air, a disturbance so soft +as to be nameless. Then followed long, silent moments. + +Yaqui appeared as he had vanished. He might have been part of +the shadows. But he was there. He started off down the trail +leading Diablo. Again the white line stretched slowly out. Gale +fell in behind. A bench of ground, covered with sparse greasewood, +sloped gently down to the deep, wide arroyo of Forlorn River. +Blanco Sol shied a few feet out of the trail. Peering low with keen +eyes, Gale made out three objects--a white sombrero, a blanket, +and a Mexican lying face down. The Yaqui had stolen upon this +sentinel like a silent wind of death. Just then a desert coyote +wailed, and the wild cry fitted the darkness and the Yaqui's deed. + +Once under the dark lee of the river bank Yaqui caused another +halt, and he disappeared as before. It seemed to Gale that the +Indian started to cross the pale level sandbed of the river, where +stones stood out gray, and the darker line of opposite shore was +visible. But he vanished, and it was impossible to tell whether +he went one way or another. Moments passed. The horses held +heads up, looked toward the glimmering campfires and listened. +Gale thrilled with the meaning of it all--the night--the silence +--the flight--and the wonderful Indian stealing with the slow +inevitableness of doom upon another sentinel. An hour passed +and Gale seemed to have become deadened to all sense of hearing. +There were no more sounds in the world. The desert was as silent +as it was black. Yet again came that strange change in the tensity +of Gale's ear-strain, a check, a break, a vibration--and this time +the sound did not go nameless. It might have been moan of wind +or wail of far-distant wolf, but Gale imagined it was the strangling +death-cry of another guard, or that strange, involuntary utterance +of the Yaqui. Blanco Sol trembled in all his great frame, and then +Gale was certain the sound was not imagination. + +That certainty, once for all, fixed in Gale's mind the mood of +his flight. The Yaqui dominated the horses and the rangers. +Thorne and Mercedes were as persons under a spell. The Indian's +strange silence, the feeling of mystery and power he seemed to +create, all that was incomprehensible about him were emphasized in +the light of his slow, sure, and ruthless action. If he dominated +the others, surely he did more for Gale--colored his +thoughts--presage the wild and terrible future of that flight. If +Rojas embodied all the hatred and passion of the peon--scourged +slave for a thousand years--then Yaqui embodied all the darkness, +the cruelty, the white, sun-heated blood, the ferocity, the tragedy +of the desert. + +Suddenly the Indian stalked out of the gloom. He mounted Diablo +and headed across the river. Once more the line of moving white +shadows stretched out. The soft sand gave forth no sound at all. +The glimmering campfires sank behind the western bank. Yaqui +led the way into the willows, and there was faint swishing of +leaves; then into the mesquite, and there was faint rustling of +branches. The glimmering lights appeared again, and grotesque +forms of saguaros loomed darkly. Gale peered sharply along the +trail, and, presently, on the pale sand under a cactus, there lay +a blanketed form, prone, outstretched, a carbine clutched in one +hand, a cigarette, still burning, in the other. + +The cavalcade of white horses passed within five hundred yards of +campfires, around which dark forms moved in plain sight. Soft pads +in sand, faint metallic tickings of steel on thorns, low, regular +breathing of horses--these were all the sounds the fugitives made, +and they could not have been heard at one-fifth the distance. +The lights disappeared from time to time, grew dimmer, more +flickering, and at last they vanished altogether. Belding's fleet +and tireless steeds were out in front; the desert opened ahead wide, +dark, vast. Rojas and his rebels were behind, eating, drinking, careless. +The somber shadow lifted from Gale's heart. He held now an unquenchable +faith in the Yaqui. Belding would be listening back there along the river. +He would know of the escape. He would tell Nell, and then hide her safely. +As Gale accepted a strange and fatalistic foreshadowing of toil, blood, +and agony in this desert journey, so he believed in Mercedes's ultimate +freedom and happiness, and his own return to the girl who had grown +dearer than life. + + +A cold, gray dawn was fleeing before a rosy sun when Yaqui halted +the march at Papago Well. The horses were taken to water, then +led down the arroyo into the grass. Here packs were slipped, +saddles removed. Mercedes was cold, lame, tired, but happy. It +warmed Gale's blood to look at her. The shadow of fear still lay +in her eyes, but it was passing. Hope and courage shone there, +and affection for her ranger protectors and the Yaqui, and +unutterable love for the cavalryman. Jim Lash remarked how +cleverly they had fooled the rebels. + +"Shore they'll be comin' along," replied Ladd. + +They built a fire, cooked and ate. The Yaqui spoke only one +word: "Sleep." Blankets were spread. Mercedes dropped into a +deep slumber, her head on Thorne's shoulder. Excitement kept +Throne awake. The two rangers dozed beside the fire. Gale +shared the Yaqui's watch. The sun began to climb and the icy +edge of dawn to wear away. Rabbits bobbed their cotton tails +under the mesquite. Gale climbed a rocky wall above the arroyo +bank, and there, with command over the miles of the back-trail, he +watched. + +It was a sweeping, rolling, wrinkled, and streaked range of desert +that he saw, ruddy in the morning sunlight, with patches of cactus +and mesquite rough-etched in shimmering gloom. No Name Mountains +split the eastern sky, towering high, gloomy, grand, with purple veils +upon their slopes. They were forty miles away and looked five. +Gale thought of the girl who was there under their shadow. + +Yaqui kept the horses bunched, and he led them from one little +park of galleta grass to another. At the end of three hours he took +them to water. Upon his return Gale clambered down from his +outlook, the rangers grew active. Mercedes was awakened; and soon +the party faced westward, their long shadows moving before them. +Yaqui led with Blanco Diablo in a long, easy lope. The arroyo +washed itself out into flat desert, and the greens began to shade +into gray, and then the gray into red. Only sparse cactus and +weathered ledges dotted the great low roll of a rising escarpment. +Yaqui suited the gait of his horse to the lay of the land, and his +followers accepted his pace. There were canter and trot, and +swift walk and slow climb, and long swing--miles up and down +and forward. The sun soared hot. The heated air lifted, and +incoming currents from the west swept low and hard over the +barren earth. In the distance, all around the horizon, +accumulations of dust seemed like ranging, mushrooming yellow +clouds. + +Yaqui was the only one of the fugitives who never looked back. +Mercedes did it the most. Gale felt what compelled her, he could +not resist it himself. But it was a vain search. For a thousand +puffs of white and yellow dust rose from that backward sweep +of desert, and any one of them might have been blown from under +horses' hoofs. Gale had a conviction that when Yaqui gazed back +toward the well and the shining plain beyond, there would be reason +for it. But when the sun lost its heat and the wind died down Yaqui +took long and careful surveys westward from the high points on the +trail. Sunset was not far off, and there in a bare, spotted valley +lay Coyote Tanks, the only waterhole between Papago Well and +the Sonoyta Oasis. Gale used his glass, told Yaqui there was no +smoke, no sign of life; still the Indian fixed his falcon eyes +on distant spots looked long. It was as if his vision +could not detect what reason or cunning or intuition, perhaps +an instinct, told him was there. Presently in a sheltered spot, +where blown sand had not obliterated the trail, Yaqui found the +tracks of horses. The curve of the iron shoes pointed westward. +An intersecting trail from the north came in here. Gale thought the +tracks either one or two days old. Ladd said they were one day. +The Indian shook his head. + +No farther advance was undertaken. The Yaqui headed south and +traveled slowly, climbing to the brow of a bold height of weathered +mesa. There he sat his horse and waited. No one questioned him. +The rangers dismounted to stretch their legs, and Mercedes was +lifted to a rock, where she rested. Thorne had gradually yielded +to the desert's influence for silence. He spoke once or twice to +Gale, and occasionally whispered to Mercedes. Gale fancied his +friend would soon learn that necessary speech in desert travel meant +a few greetings, a few words to make real the fact of human +companionship, a few short, terse terms for the business of day or +night, and perhaps a stern order or a soft call to a horse. + +The sun went down, and the golden, rosy veils turned to blue and +shaded darker till twilight was there in the valley. Only the spurs +of mountains, spiring the near and far horizon, retained their clear +outline. Darkness approached, and the clear peaks faded. The +horses stamped to be on the move. + +"Malo!" exclaimed the Yaqui. + +He did not point with arm, but his falcon head was outstretched, +and his piercing eyes gazed at the blurring spot which marked +the location of Coyote Tanks. + +"Jim, can you see anything?" asked Ladd. + +"Nope, but I reckon he can." + +Darkness increased momentarily till night shaded the deepest part +of the valley. + +Then Ladd suddenly straightened up, turned to his horse, and +muttered low under his breath. + +"I reckon so," said Lash, and for once his easy, good-natured tone +was not in evidence. His voice was harsh. + +Gale's eyes, keen as they were, were last of the rangers to see +tiny, needle-points of light just faintly perceptible in the +blackness. + +"Laddy! Campfires?" he asked, quickly. + +"Shore's you're born, my boy." + +"How many?" + +Ladd did not reply; but Yaqui held up his hand, his fingers wide. +Five campfires! A strong force of rebels or raiders or some other +desert troop was camping at Coyote Tanks. + +Yaqui sat his horse for a moment, motionless as stone, his dark +face immutable and impassive. Then he stretched wide his right arm +in the direction of No Name Mountains, now losing their last faint +traces of the afterglow, and he shook his head. He made the same +impressive gesture toward the Sonoyta Oasis with the same somber +negation. + +Thereupon he turned Diablo's head to the south and started down +the slope. His manner had been decisive, even stern. Lash did not +question it, nor did Ladd. Both rangers hesitated, however, and +showed a strange, almost sullen reluctance which Gale had never +seen in them before. Raiders were one thing, Rojas was another; +Camino del Diablo still another; but that vast and desolate and +unwatered waste of cactus and lava, the Sonora Desert, might +appall the stoutest heart. Gale felt his own sink--felt himself +flinch. + +"Oh, where is he going?" cried Mercedes. Her poignant voice seemed +to break a spell. + +"Shore, lady, Yaqui's goin' home," replied Ladd, gently. "An' +considerin' our troubles I reckon we ought to thank God he knows +the way." + +They mounted and rode down the slope toward the darkening south. + +Not until night travel was obstructed by a wall of cactus did the +Indian halt to make a dry camp. Water and grass for the horses +and fire to cook by were not to be had. Mercedes bore up +surprisingly; but she fell asleep almost the instant her thirst had +been allayed. Thorne laid her upon a blanket and covered her. +The men ate and drank. Diablo was the only horse that showed +impatience; but he was angry, and not in distress. Blanco Sol +licked Gale's hand and stood patiently. Many a time had he taken +his rest at night without a drink. Yaqui again bade the men sleep. +Ladd said he would take the early watch; but from the way the +Indian shook his head and settled himself against a stone, it +appeared if Ladd remained awake he would have company. Gale +lay down weary of limb and eye. He heard the soft thump of hoofs, +the sough of wind in the cactus--then no more. + +When he awoke there was bustle and stir about him. Day had not +yet dawned, and the air was freezing cold. Yaqui had found a scant +bundle of greasewood which served to warm them and to cook +breakfast. Mercedes was not aroused till the last moment. + +Day dawned with the fugitives in the saddle. A picketed wall of +cactus hedged them in, yet the Yaqui made a tortuous path, that, +zigzag as it might, in the main always headed south. It was +wonderful how he slipped Diablo through the narrow aisles of thorns, +saving the horse and saving himself. The others were torn and +clutched and held and stung. The way was a flat, sandy pass between +low mountain ranges. There were open spots and aisles and squares +of sand; and hedging rows of prickly pear and the huge spider-legged +ocatillo and hummocky masses of clustered bisnagi. The day grew dry +and hot. A fragrant wind blew through the pass. Cactus flowers +bloomed, red and yellow and magenta. The sweet, pale Ajo lily +gleamed in shady corners. + +Ten miles of travel covered the length of the pass. It opened wide +upon a wonderful scene, an arboreal desert, dominated by its pure +light green, yet lined by many merging colors. And it rose slowly +to a low dim and dark-red zone of lava, spurred, peaked, domed +by volcano cones, a wild and ragged region, illimitable as the +horizon. + +The Yaqui, if not at fault, was yet uncertain. His falcon eyes +searched and roved, and became fixed at length at the southwest, +and toward this he turned his horse. The great, fluted saguaros, +fifty, sixty feet high, raised columnal forms, and their branching +limbs and curving lines added a grace to the desert. It was the +low-bushed cactus that made the toil and pain of travel. Yet +these thorny forms were beautiful. + +In the basins between the ridges, to right and left along the floor +of low plains the mirage glistened, wavered, faded, vanished--lakes +and trees and clouds. Inverted mountains hung suspended in the +lilac air and faint tracery of white-walled cities. + +At noon Yaqui halted the cavalcade. He had selected a field of +bisnagi cactus for the place of rest. Presently his reason became +obvious. With long, heavy knife he cut off the tops of these +barrel-shaped plants. He scooped out soft pulp, and with stone and +hand then began to pound the deeper pulp into a juicy mass. When +he threw this out there was a little water left, sweet, cool water +which man and horse shared eagerly. Thus he made even the desert's +fiercest growths minister to their needs. + +But he did not halt long. Miles of gray-green spiked walls lay +between him and that line of ragged, red lava which manifestly he +must reach before dark. The travel became faster, straighter. +And the glistening thorns clutched and clung to leather and cloth +and flesh. The horses reared, snorted, balked, leaped--but they +were sent on. Only Blanco Sol, the patient, the plodding, the +indomitable, needed no goad or spur. Waves and scarfs +and wreaths of heat smoked up from the sand. Mercedes reeled +in her saddle. Thorne bade her drink, bathed her face, supported +her, and then gave way to Ladd, who took the girl with him on +Torre's broad back. Yaqui's unflagging purpose and iron arm were +bitter and hateful to the proud and haughty spirit of Blanco Diablo. +For once Belding's great white devil had met his master. He fought +rider, bit, bridle, cactus, sand--and yet he went on and on, +zigzagging, turning, winding, crashing through the barbed growths. +The middle of the afternoon saw Thorne reeling in his saddle, and +then, wherever possible, Gale's powerful arm lent him strength to +hold his seat. + +The giant cactus came to be only so in name. These saguaros were +thinning out, growing stunted, and most of them were single columns. +Gradually other cactus forms showed a harder struggle for existence, +and the spaces of sand between were wider. But now the dreaded, +glistening choya began to show pale and gray and white upon the +rising slope. Round-topped hills, sunset-colored above, blue-black +below, intervened to hide the distant spurs and peaks. Mile and +mile long tongues of red lava streamed out between the hills and +wound down to stop abruptly upon the slope. + +The fugitives were entering a desolate, burned-out world. It rose +above them in limitless, gradual ascent and spread wide to east +and west. Then the waste of sand began to yield to cinders. The +horses sank to their fetlocks as they toiled on. A fine, choking +dust blew back from the leaders, and men coughed and horses +snorted. The huge, round hills rose smooth, symmetrical, colored +as if the setting sun was shining on bare, blue-black surfaces. +But the sun was now behind the hills. In between ran the streams +of lava. The horsemen skirted the edge between slope of hill and +perpendicular ragged wall. This red lava seemed to have flowed +and hardened there only yesterday. It was broken sharp, +dull rust color, full of cracks and caves and crevices, and +everywhere upon its jagged surface grew the white-thorned choya. + +Again twilight encompassed the travelers. But there was still +light enough for Gale to see the constricted passage open into a +wide, deep space where the dull color was relieved by the gray +of gnarled and dwarfed mesquite. Blanco Sol, keenest of scent, +whistled his welcome herald of water. The other horses answered, +quickened their gait. Gale smelled it, too, sweet, cool, damp on +the dry air. + +Yaqui turned the corner of a pocket in the lava wall. The file +of white horses rounded the corner after him. And Gale, coming +last, saw the pale, glancing gleam of a pool of water beautiful in +the twilight. + + +Next day the Yaqui's relentless driving demand on the horses was +no longer in evidence. He lost no time, but he did not hasten. His +course wound between low cinder dunes which limited their view of +the surrounding country. These dunes finally sank down to a black +floor as hard as flint with tongues of lava to the left, and to the +right the slow descent into the cactus plain. Yaqui was now +traveling due west. It was Gale's idea that the Indian was skirting +the first sharp-toothed slope of a vast volcanic plateau which +formed the western half of the Sonora Desert and extended to the +Gulf of California. Travel was slow, but not exhausting for rider +or beast. A little sand and meager grass gave a grayish tinge to +the strip of black ground between lava and plain. + +That day, as the manner rather than the purpose of the Yaqui +changed, so there seemed to be subtle differences in the others +of the party. Gale himself lost a certain sickening dread, which +had not been for himself, but for Mercedes and Nell, and Thorne +and the rangers. Jim, good-natured again, might have been +patrolling the boundary line. Ladd lost his taciturnity and his +gloom changed to a cool, careless air. A mood that was almost defiance +began to be manifested in Thorne. It was in Mercedes, however, that Gale +marked the most significant change. Her collapse the preceding +day might never have been. She was lame and sore; she rode +her saddle sidewise, and often she had to be rested and helped; +but she had found a reserve fund of strength, and her mental +condition was not the same that it had been. Her burden of fear +had been lifted. Gale saw in her the difference he always felt in +himself after a few days in the desert. Already Mercedes and he, +and all of them, had begun to respond to the desert spirit. +Moreover, Yaqui's strange influence must have been a call to the +primitive. + +Thirty miles of easy stages brought the fugitives to another +waterhole, a little round pocket under the heaved-up edge of lava. +There was spare, short, bleached grass for the horses, but no wood +for a fire. This night there was question and reply, conjecture, +doubt, opinion, and conviction expressed by the men of the party. +But the Indian, who alone could have told where they were, where +they were going, what chance they had to escape, maintained his +stoical silence. Gale took the early watch, Ladd the midnight one, +and Lash that of the morning. + +The day broke rosy, glorious, cold as ice. Action was necessary +to make useful benumbed hands and feet. Mercedes was fed while +yet wrapped in blankets. Then, while the packs were being put on +and horses saddled, she walked up and down, slapping her hands, +warming her ears. The rose color of the dawn was in her cheeks, +and the wonderful clearness of desert light in her eyes. Thorne's +eyes sought her constantly. The rangers watched her. The Yaqui +bent his glance upon her only seldom; but when he did look it seemed +that his strange, fixed, and inscrutable face was about to break +into a smile. Yet that never happened. Gale himself was surprised +to find how often his own glance found the slender, dark, beautiful +Spaniard. Was this because of her beauty? he wondered. He thought +not altogether. Mercedes was a woman. She represented something +in life that men of all races for thousands of years had loved to +see and own, to revere and debase, to fight and die for. + +It was a significant index to the day's travel that Yaqui should +keep a blanket from the pack and tear it into strips to bind the +legs of the horses. It meant the dreaded choya and the knife-edged +lava. That Yaqui did not mount Diablo was still more significant. +Mercedes must ride; but the others must walk. + +The Indian led off into one of the gray notches between the tumbled +streams of lava. These streams were about thirty feet high, a +rotting mass of splintered lava, rougher than any other kind of +roughness in the world. At the apex of the notch, where two streams +met, a narrow gully wound and ascended. Gale caught sight of the +dim, pale shadow of a one-time trail. Near at hand it was +invisible; he had to look far ahead to catch the faint tracery. +Yaqui led Diablo into it, and then began the most laborious and +vexatious and painful of all slow travel. + +Once up on top of that lava bed, Gale saw stretching away, breaking +into millions of crests and ruts, a vast, red-black field sweeping +onward and upward, with ragged, low ridges and mounds and spurs +leading higher and higher to a great, split escarpment wall, above +which dim peaks shone hazily blue in the distance. + +He looked no more in that direction. To keep his foothold, to save +his horse, cost him all energy and attention. The course was marked +out for him in the tracks of the other horses. He had only to +follow. But nothing could have been more difficult. The +disintegrating surface of a lava bed was at once the roughest, the +hardest, the meanest, the cruelest, the most deceitful kind of +ground to travel. + +It was rotten, yet it had corners as hard and sharp as pikes. +It was rough, yet as slippery as ice. If there was a foot +of level surface, that space would be one to break through +under a horse's hoofs. It was seamed, lined, cracked, ridged, +knotted iron. This lava bed resembled a tremendously magnified +clinker. It had been a running sea of molten flint, boiling, +bubbling, spouting, and it had burst its surface into a million +sharp facets as it hardened. The color was dull, dark, angry +red, like no other red, inflaming to the eye. The millions of +minute crevices were dominated by deep fissures and holes, +ragged and rough beyond all comparison. + +The fugitives made slow progress. They picked a cautious, winding +way to and fro in little steps here and there along the many twists +of the trail, up and down the unavoidable depressions, round and +round the holes. At noon, so winding back upon itself had been +their course, they appeared to have come only a short distance up +the lava slope. + +It was rough work for them; it was terrible work for the horses. +Blanco Diablo refused to answer to the power of the Yaqui. He +balked, he plunged, he bit and kicked. He had to be pulled and +beaten over many places. Mercedes's horse almost threw her, +and she was put upon Blanco Sol. The white charger snorted +a protest, then, obedient to Gale's stern call, patiently lowered +his noble head and pawed the lava for a footing that would hold. + +The lava caused Gale toil and worry and pain, but he hated the +choyas. As the travel progressed this species of cactus increased +in number of plants and in size. Everywhere the red lava was +spotted with little round patches of glistening frosty white. And +under every bunch of choya, along and in the trail, were the +discarded joints, like little frosty pine cones covered with spines. +It was utterly impossible always to be on the lookout for these, +and when Gale stepped on one, often as not the steel-like thorns +pierced leather and flesh. Gale came almost to believe what he had +heard claimed by desert travelers--that the choya was alive and +leaped at man or beast. Certain it was when Gale passed one, +if he did not put all attention to avoiding it, he was hooked +through his chaps and held by barbed thorns. The pain was +almost unendurable. It was like no other. It burned, stung, +beat--almost seemed to freeze. It made useless arm or leg. +It made him bite his tongue to keep from crying out. +It made the sweat roll off him. It made him sick. + +Moreover, bad as the choya was for man, it was infinitely worse +for beast. A jagged stab from this poisoned cactus was the only +thing Blanco Sol could not stand. Many times that day, before he +carried Mercedes, he had wildly snorted, and then stood trembling +while Gale picked broken thorns from the muscular legs. But after +Mercedes had been put upon Sol Gale made sure no choya touched him. + +The afternoon passed like the morning, in ceaseless winding and +twisting and climbing along this abandoned trail. Gale saw many +waterholes, mostly dry, some containing water, all of them +catch-basins, full only after rainy season. Little ugly bunched +bushes, that Gale scarcely recognized as mesquites, grew near +these holes; also stunted greasewood and prickly pear. There +was no grass, and the choya alone flourished in that hard soil. + +Darkness overtook the party as they unpacked beside a pool of water +deep under an overhanging shelf of lava. It had been a hard day. +The horses drank their fill, and then stood patiently with drooping +heads. Hunger and thirst appeased, and a warm fire cheered the +weary and foot-sore fugitives. Yaqui said, "Sleep." And so another +night passed. + + +Upon the following morning, ten miles or more up the slow-ascending +lava slope, Gale's attention was called from his somber search for +the less rough places in the trail. + +"Dick, why does Yaqui look back?" asked Mercedes. + +Gale was startled. + +"Does he?" + +"Every little while," replied Mercedes. + +Gale was in the rear of all the other horses, so as to take, for +Mercedes's sake, the advantage of the broken trail. Yaqui was +leading Diablo, winding around a break. His head was bent as he +stepped slowly and unevenly upon the lava. Gale turned to look +back, the first time in several days. The mighty hollow of the +desert below seemed wide strip of red--wide strip of green--wide +strip of gray--streaking to purple peaks. It was all too vast, too +mighty to grasp any little details. He thought, of course, of Rojas +in certain pursuit; but it seemed absurded to look for him. + +Yaqui led on, and Gale often glanced up from his task to watch the +Indian. Presently he saw him stop, turn, and look back. Ladd did +likewise, and then Jim and Thorne. Gale found the desire +irresistible. Thereafter he often rested Blanco Sol, and looked +back the while. He had his field-glass, but did not choose to use +it. + +"Rojas will follow," said Mercedes. + +Gale regarded her in amaze. The tone of her voice had been +indefinable. If there were fear then he failed to detect it. She +was gazing back down the colored slope, and something about +her, perhaps the steady, falcon gaze of her magnificent eyes, +reminded him of Yaqui. + +Many times during the ensuing hour the Indian faced about, and +always his followers did likewise. It was high noon, with the sun +beating hot and the lava radiating heat, when Yaqui halted for a +rest. The place selected was a ridge of lava, almost a promontory, +considering its outlook. The horses bunched here and drooped their +heads. The rangers were about to slip the packs and remove +saddles when Yaqui restrained them. + +He fixed a changeless, gleaming gaze on the slow descent; but did +not seem to look afar. + +Suddenly he uttered his strange cry--the one Gale considered +involuntary, or else significant of some tribal trait or feeling. +It was incomprehensible, but no one could have doubted its +potency. Yaqui pointed down the lava slope, pointed with finger +and arm and neck and head--his whole body was instinct with +direction. His whole being seemed to have been animated and +then frozen. His posture could not have been misunderstood, +yet his expression had not altered. Gale had never seen the +Indian's face change its hard, red-bronze calm. It was the color +and the flintiness and the character of the lava at his feet. + +"Shore he sees somethin'," said Ladd. "But my eyes are not good." + +"I reckon I ain't sure of mine," replied Jim. "I'm bothered by a +dim movin' streak down there." + +Thorne gazed eagerly down as he stood beside Mercedes, who +sat motionless facing the slope. Gale looked and looked till he +hurt his eyes. Then he took his glass out of its case on Sol's +saddle. + +There appeared to be nothing upon the lava but the innumerable +dots of choya shining in the sun. Gale swept his glass slowly +forward and back. Then into a nearer field of vision crept a +long white-and-black line of horses and men. Without a word +he handed the glass to Ladd. The ranger used it, muttering to +himself. + +"They're on the lava fifteen miles down in an air line," he said, +presently. "Jim, shore they're twice that an' more accordin' to +the trail." + +Jim had his look and replied: "I reckon we're a day an' a night +in the lead." + +"Is it Rojas?" burst out Thorne, with set jaw. + +"Yes, Thorne. It's Rojas and a dozen men or more," replied Gale, +and he looked up at Mercedes. + +She was transformed. She might have been a medieval princess +embodying all the Spanish power and passion of that time, breathing +revenge, hate, unquenchable spirit of fire. If her beauty had been +wonderful in her helpless and appealing moments, now, when she looked +back white-faced and flame-eyed, it was transcendant. + +Gale drew a long, deep breath. The mood which had presaged pursuit, +strife, blood on this somber desert, returned to him tenfold. He +saw Thorne's face corded by black veins, and his teeth exposed like +those of a snarling wolf. These rangers, who had coolly risked +death many times, and had dealt it often, were white as no fear +or pain could have made them. Then, on the moment, Yaqui raised +his hand, not clenched or doubled tight, but curled rigid like an +eagle's claw; and he shook it in a strange, slow gesture which +was menacing and terrible. + +It was the woman that called to the depths of these men. And +their passion to kill and to save was surpassed only by the wild +hate which was yet love, the unfathomable emotion of a peon +slave. Gale marveled at it, while he felt his whole being cold +and tense, as he turned once more to follow in the tracks of his +leaders. The fight predicted by Belding was at hand. What a fight +that must be! Rojas was traveling light and fast. He was gaining. +He had bought his men with gold, with extravagant promises, +perhaps with offers of the body and blood of an aristocrat hateful +to their kind. Lastly, there was the wild, desolate environment, +a tortured wilderness of jagged lava and poisoned choya, a lonely, +fierce, and repellant world, a red stage most somberly and fittingly +colored for a supreme struggle between men. + +Yaqui looked back no more. Mercedes looked back no more. But +the others looked, and the time came when Gale saw the creeping +line of pursuers with naked eyes. + +A level line above marked the rim of the plateau. Sand began to +show in the little lava pits. On and upward toiled the cavalcade, +still very slowly advancing. At last Yaqui reached the rim. He +stood with his hand on Blanco Diablo; and both were silhouetted +against the sky. That was the outlook for a Yaqui. And his great +horse, dazzlingly white in the sunlight, with head wildly and +proudly erect, mane and tail flying in the wind, made a magnificent +picture. The others toiled on and upward, and at last Gale led +Blanco Sol over the rim. Then all looked down the red slope. + +But shadows were gathering there and no moving line could be seen. + +Yaqui mounted and wheeled Diablo away. The others followed. +Gale saw that the plateau was no more than a vast field of low, +ragged circles, levels, mounds, cones, and whirls of lava. The lava +was of a darker red than that down upon the slope, and it was harder +than flint. In places fine sand and cinders covered the uneven +floor. Strange varieties of cactus vied with the omnipresent choya. +Yaqui, however, found ground that his horse covered at a swift walk. + +But there was only an hour, perhaps, of this comparatively easy +going. Then the Yaqui led them into a zone of craters. The top of +the earth seemed to have been blown out in holes from a few rods +in width to large craters, some shallow, others deep, and all red +as fire. Yaqui circled close to abysses which yawned sheer from +a level surface, and he appeared always to be turning upon his +course to avoid them. + +The plateau had now a considerable dip to the west. Gale marked +the slow heave and ripple of the ocean of lava to the south, where +high, rounded peaks marked the center of this volcanic region. The +uneven nature of the slope westward prevented any extended view, +until suddenly the fugitives emerged from a rugged break to come +upon a sublime and awe-inspiring spectacle. + +They were upon a high point of the western slope of the plateau. +It was a slope, but so many leagues long in its descent that only +from a height could any slant have been perceptible. Yaqui and +his white horse stood upon the brink of a crater miles in +circumference, a thousand feet deep, with its red walls patched +in frost-colored spots by the silvery choya. The giant tracery of +lava streams waved down the slope to disappear in undulating sand dunes. +And these bordered a seemingly endless arm of blue sea. This +was the Gulf of California. Beyond the Gulf rose dim, bold +mountains, and above them hung the setting sun, dusky red, flooding +all that barren empire with a sinister light. + +It was strange to Gale then, and perhaps to the others, to see +their guide lead Diablo into a smooth and well-worn trail along +the rim of the awful crater. Gale looked down into that red chasm. +It resembled an inferno. The dark cliffs upon the opposite side +were veiled in blue haze that seemed like smoke. Here Yaqui was +at home. He moved and looked about him as a man coming at last +into his own. Gale saw him stop and gaze out over that red-ribbed +void to the Gulf. + +Gale devined that somewhere along this crater of hell the Yaqui +would make his final stand; and one look into his strange, +inscrutable eyes made imagination picture a fitting doom for the +pursuing Rojas. + + + +XII + + +THE CRATER OF HELL + +THE trail led along a gigantic fissure in the side of the crater, +and then down and down into a red-walled, blue hazed labyrinth. + +Presently Gale, upon turning a sharp corner, was utterly amazed to +see that the split in the lava sloped out and widened into an +arroyo. It was so green and soft and beautiful in all the angry, +contorted red surrounding that Gale could scarcely credit his sight. +Blanco Sol whistled his welcome to the scent of water. Then Gale +saw a great hole, a pit in the shiny lava, a dark, cool, shady well. +There was evidence of the fact that at flood seasons the water +had an outlet into the arroyo. The soil appeared to be a fine sand, +in which a reddish tinge predominated; and it was abundantly +covered with a long grass, still partly green. Mesquites and palo +verdes dotted the arroyo and gradually closed in thickets that +obstructed the view. + +"Shore it all beats me," exclaimed Ladd. "What a place to hole-up +in! We could have hid here for a long time. Boys, I saw mountain +sheep, the real old genuine Rocky Mountain bighorn. What do you +think of that?" + +"I reckon it's a Yaqui hunting-ground," replied Lash. "That trail +we hit must be hundreds of years old. It's worn deep and smooth +in iron lava." + +"Well, all I got to say is--Beldin' was shore right about the +Indian. An' I can see Rojas's finish somewhere up along that +awful hell-hole." + +Camp was made on a level spot. Yaqui took the horses to water, +and then turned them loose in the arroyo. It was a tired and +somber group that sat down to eat. The strain of suspense +equaled the wearing effects of the long ride. Mercedes was calm, +but her great dark eyes burned in her white face. Yaqui watched +her. The others looked at her with unspoken pride. Presently +Thorne wrapped her in his blankets, and she seemed to fall asleep +at once. Twilight deepened. The campfire blazed brighter. A +cool wind played with Mercedes's black hair, waving strands across +her brow. + +Little of Yaqui's purpose or plan could be elicited from him. But +the look of him was enough to satisfy even Thorne. He leaned +against a pile of wood, which he had collected, and his gloomy +gaze pierced the campfire, and at long intervals strayed over the +motionless form of the Spanish girl. + +The rangers and Thorne, however, talked in low tones. It was +absolutely impossible for Rojas and his men to reach the waterhole +before noon of the next day. And long before that time the +fugitives would have decided on a plan of defense. What that +defense would be, and where it would be made, were matters over +which the men considered gravely. Ladd averred the Yaqui would put +them into an impregnable position, that at the same time would prove +a death-trap for their pursuers. They exhausted every possibility, +and then, tired as they were, still kept on talking. + +"What stuns me is that Rojas stuck to our trail," said Thorne, his +lined and haggard face expressive of dark passion. "He has followed +us into this fearful desert. He'll lose men, horses, perhaps his +life. He's only a bandit, and he stands to win no gold. If he +ever gets out of here it 'll be by herculean labor and by terrible +hardship. All for a poor little helpless woman--just a woman! +My God, I can't understand it." + +"Shore--just a woman," replied Ladd, solemnly nodding his head. + +Then there was a long silence during which the men gazed into the +fire. Each, perhaps, had some vague conception of the enormity +of Rojas's love or hate--some faint and amazing glimpse of the +gulf of human passion. Those were cold, hard, grim faces upon +which the light flickered. + +"Sleep," said the Yaqui. + +Thorne rolled in his blanket close beside Mercedes. Then one by +one the rangers stretched out, feet to the fire. Gale found that +he could not sleep. His eyes were weary, but they would not stay +shut; his body ached for rest, yet he could not lie still. The +night was so somber, so gloomy, and the lava-encompassed arroyo full +of shadows. The dark velvet sky, fretted with white fire, seemed to +be close. There was an absolute silence, as of death. Nothing +moved--nothing outside of Gale's body appeared to live. The +Yaqui sat like an image carved out of lava. The others lay prone +and quiet. Would another night see any of them lie that way, +quiet forever? Gale felt a ripple pass over him that was at once +a shudder and a contraction of muscles. Used as he was to the +desert and its oppression, why should he feel to-night as if the +weight of its lava and the burden of its mystery were bearing +him down? + +He sat up after a while and again watched the fire. Nell's sweet +face floated like a wraith in the pale smoke--glowed and flushed +and smiled in the embers. Other faces shone there--his sister's +--that of his mother. Gale shook off the tender memories. This +desolate wilderness with its forbidding silence and its dark +promise of hell on the morrow--this was not the place to unnerve +oneself with thoughts of love and home. But the torturing paradox +of the thing was that this was just the place and just the night +for a man to be haunted. + +By and by Gale rose and walked down a shadowy aisle +between the mesquites. On his way back the Yaqui joined him. +Gale was not surprised. He had become used to the Indian's +strange guardianship. But now, perhaps because of Gale's poignancy +of thought, the contending tides of love and regret, the deep, +burning premonition of deadly strife, he was moved to keener +scrutiny of the Yaqui. That, of course, was futile. The Indian +was impenetrable, silent, strange. But suddenly, inexplicably, +Gale felt Yaqui's human quality. It was aloof, as was everything +about this Indian; but it was there. This savage walked silently +beside him, without glance or touch or word. His thought was +as inscrutable as if mind had never awakened in his race. Yet +Gale was conscious of greatness, and, somehow, he was reminded +of the Indian's story. His home had been desolated, his people +carried off to slavery, his wife and children separated from him +to die. What had life meant to the Yaqui? What had been in his +heart? What was now in his mind? Gale could not answer these +questions. But the difference between himself and Yaqui, which +he had vaguely felt as that between savage and civilized men, +faded out of his mind forever. Yaqui might have considered he +owed Gale a debt, and, with a Yaqui's austere and noble fidelity +to honor, he meant to pay it. Nevertheless, this was not the thing +Gale found in the Indian's silent presence. Accepting the desert +with its subtle and inconceivable influence, Gale felt that the +savage and the white man had been bound in a tie which was +no less brotherly because it could not be comprehended. + +Toward dawn Gale managed to get some sleep. Then the morning broke +with the sun hidden back of the uplift of the plateau. The horses +trooped up the arroyo and snorted for water. After a hurried +breakfast the packs were hidden in holes in the lava. The saddles +were left where they were, and the horses allowed to graze and wander +at will. Canteens were filled, a small bag of food was packed, and +blankets made into a bundle. Then Yaqui faced the steep ascent of +the lava slope. + +The trail he followed led up on the right side of the fissure, +opposite to the one he had come down. It was a steep climb, and +encumbered as the men were they made but slow progress. Mercedes +had to be lifted up smooth steps and across crevices. They passed +places where the rims of the fissure were but a few yards apart. +At length the rims widened out and the red, smoky crater yawned +beneath. Yaqui left the trail and began clambering down over +the rough and twisted convolutions of lava which formed the rim. +Sometimes he hung sheer over the precipice. It was with extreme +difficulty that the party followed him. Mercedes had to be held +on narrow, foot-wide ledges. The choya was there to hinder passage. +Finally the Indian halted upon a narrow bench of flat, smooth lava, +and his followers worked with exceeding care and effort down to +his position. + +At the back of this bench, between bunches of choya, was a niche, +a shallow cave with floor lined apparently with mold. Ladd said +the place was a refuge which had been inhabited by mountain sheep +for many years. Yaqui spread blankets inside, left the canteen and +the sack of food, and with a gesture at once humble, yet that of a +chief, he invited Mercedes to enter. A few more gestures and fewer +words disclosed his plan. In this inaccessible nook Mercedes was +to be hidden. The men were to go around upon the opposite rim, and +block the trail leading down to the waterhole. + +Gale marked the nature of this eyrie. It was the wildest and most +rugged place he had ever stepped upon. Only a sheep could have +climbed up the wall above or along the slanting shelf of lava +beyond. Below glistened a whole bank of choya, frosty in the +sunlight, and it overhung an apparently bottomless abyss. + +Ladd chose the smallest gun in the party and gave it to Mercedes. + +"Shore it's best to go the limit on bein' ready," he said, simply. +"The chances are you'll never need it. But if you do--" + +He left off there, and his break was significant. Mercedes answered +him with a fearless and indomitable flash of eyes. Thorne was the +only one who showed any shaken nerve. His leave-taking of his wife +was affecting and hurried. Then he and the rangers carefully +stepped in the tracks of the Yaqui. + +They climbed up to the level of the rim and went along the edge. +When they reached the fissure and came upon its narrowest point, +Yaqui showed in his actions that he meant to leap it. Ladd +restrained the Indian. They then continued along the rim till they +reached several bridges of lava which crossed it. The fissures +was deep in some parts, choked in others. Evidently the crater had +no direct outlet into the arroyo below. Its bottom, however, must +have been far beneath the level of the waterhole. + +After the fissure was crossed the trail was soon found. Here it ran +back from the rim. Yaqui waved his hand to the right, where along +the corrugated slope of the crater there were holes and crevices +and coverts for a hundred men. Yaqui strode on up the trail toward +a higher point, where presently his dark figure stood motionless +against the sky. The rangers and Thorne selected a deep depression, +out of which led several ruts deep enough for cover. According to +Ladd it was as good a place as any, perhaps not so hidden as others, +but freer from the dreaded choya. Here the men laid down rifles +and guns, and, removing their heavy cartridge belts, settled down +to wait. + +Their location was close to the rim wall and probably five hundred +yards from the opposite rim, which was now seen to be considerably +below them. The glaring red cliff presented a deceitful and +baffling appearance. It had a thousand ledges and holes in its +surfaces, and one moment it looked perpendicular and the next +there seemed to be a long slant. Thorne pointed out where +he thought Mercedes was hidden; Ladd selected another place, +and Lash still another. Gale searched for the bank of choya +he had seen under the bench where Mercedes's retreat lay, +and when he found it the others disputed his opinion. +Then Gale brought his field glass into requisition, proving that +he was right. Once located and fixed in sight, the white patch +of choya, the bench, and the sheep eyrie stood out from the other +features of that rugged wall. But all the men were agreed that +Yaqui had hidden Mercedes where only the eyes of a vulture could +have found her. + +Jim Lash crawled into a little strip of shade and bided the time +tranquilly. Ladd was restless and impatient and watchful, every +little while rising to look up the far-reaching slope, and then to +the right, where Yaqui's dark figure stood out from a high point +of the rim. Thorne grew silent, and seemed consumed by a slow, +sullen rage. Gale was neither calm nor free of a gnawing suspense +nor of a waiting wrath. But as best he could he put the pending +action out of mind. + +It came over him all of a sudden that he had not grasped the +stupendous nature of this desert setting. There was the measureless +red slope, its lower ridges finally sinking into white sand dunes +toward the blue sea. The cold, sparkling light, the white sun, +the deep azure of sky, the feeling of boundless expanse all around +him--these meant high altitude. Southward the barren red simply +merged into distance. The field of craters rose in high, dark +wheels toward the dominating peaks. When Gale withdrew his gaze +from the magnitude of these spaces and heights the crater beneath +him seemed dwarfed. Yet while he gazed it spread and deepened +and multiplied its ragged lines. No, he could not grasp the meaning +of size or distance here. There was too much to stun the sight. +But the mood in which nature had created this convulsed world +of lava seized hold upon him. + +Meanwhile the hours passed. As the sun climbed the clear, steely +lights vanished, the blue hazes deepened, and slowly the glistening +surfaces of lava turned redder. Ladd was concerned to discover that +Yaqui was missing from his outlook upon the high point. Jim Lash +came out of the shady crevice, and stood up to buckle on his +cartridge belt. His narrow, gray glance slowly roved from the +height of lava down along the slope, paused in doubt, and then +swept on to resurvey the whole vast eastern dip of the plateau. + +"I reckon my eyes are pore," he said. "Mebbe it's this damn red +glare. Anyway, what's them creepin' spots up there?" + +"Shore I seen them. Mountain sheep," replied Ladd. + +"Guess again, Laddy. Dick, I reckon you'd better flash the glass +up the slope." + +Gale adjusted the field glass and began to search the lava, +beginning close at hand and working away from him. Presently +the glass became stationary. + +"I see half a dozen small animals, brown in color. They look like +sheep. But I couldn't distinguish mountain sheep from antelope." + +"Shore they're bighorn," said Laddy. + +"I reckon if you'll pull around to the east an' search under that +long wall of lava--there--you'll see what I see," added Jim. + +The glass climbed and circled, wavered an instant, then fixed +steady as a rock. There was a breathless silence. + +"Fourteen horses--two packed--some mounted--others without +riders, and lame," said Gale, slowly. + +Yaqui appeared far up the trail, coming swiftly. Presently he saw +the rangers and halted to wave his arms and point. Then he vanished +as if the lava had opened beneath him. + +"Lemme that glass," suddenly said Jim Lash. "I'm seein' red, I tell +you....Well, pore as my eyes are they had it right. Rojas an' his +outfit have left the trail." + +"Jim, you ain't meanin' they've taken to that awful slope?" queried Ladd. + +"I sure do. There they are--still comin', but goin' down, too." + +"Mebbe Rojas is crazy, but it begins to look like he--" + +"Laddy, I'll be danged if the Greaser bunch hasn't vamoosed. Gone +out of sight! Right there not a half mile away, the whole +caboodle--gone!" + +"Shore they're behind a crust or have gone down into a rut," +suggested Ladd. "They'll show again in a minute. Look sharp, +boys, for I'm figgerin' Rojas 'll spread his men." + +Minutes passed, but nothing moved upon the slope. Each man crawled +up to a vantage point along the crest of rotting lava. The watchers +were careful to peer through little notches or from behind a spur, +and the constricted nature of their hiding-place kept them close +together. Ladd's muttering grew into a growl, then lapsed into the +silence that marked his companions. From time to time the rangers +looked inquiringly at Gale. The field glass, however, like the +naked sight, could not catch the slightest moving object out there +upon the lava. A long hour of slow, mounting suspense wore on. + +"Shore it's all goin' to be as queer as the Yaqui," said Ladd. + +Indeed, the strange mien, the silent action, the somber character +of the Indian had not been without effect upon the minds of the +men. Then the weird, desolate, tragic scene added to the vague +sense of mystery. And now the disappearance of Rojas's band, +the long wait in the silence, the boding certainty of invisible +foes crawling, circling closer and closer, lent to the situation +a final touch that made it unreal. + +"I'm reckonin' there's a mind behind them Greasers," replied Jim. +"Or mebbe we ain't done Rojas credit...If somethin' would only +come off!" + +That Lash, the coolest, most provokingly nonchalant +of men in times of peril, should begin to show a nervous strain +was all the more indicative of a suble pervading unreality. + +"Boys, look sharp!" suddenly called Lash. "Low down to the left +--mebbe three hundred yards. See, along by them seams of lava +--behind the choyas. First off I thought it was a sheep. But it's +the Yaqui!...Crawlin' swift as a lizard! Can't you see him?" + +It was a full moment before Jim's companions could locate the +Indian. Flat as a snake Yaqui wound himself along with incredible +rapidity. His advance was all the more remarkable for the fact that +he appeared to pass directly under the dreaded choyas. Sometimes +he paused to lift his head and look. He was directly in line with a +huge whorl of lava that rose higher than any point on the slope. +This spur was a quarter of a mile from the position of the rangers. + +"Shore he's headin' for that high place," said Ladd. "He's goin' +slow now. There, he's stopped behind some choyas. He's gettin' +up--no, he's kneelin'....Now what the hell!" + +"Laddy, take a peek at the side of that lava ridge," sharply called +Jim. "I guess mebbe somethin' ain't comin' off. See! There's +Rojas an' his outfit climbin'. Don't make out no hosses....Dick, +use your glass an' tell us what's doin'. I'll watch Yaqui an' tell +you what his move means." + +Clearly and distinctly, almost as if he could have touched them, +Gale had Rojas and his followers in sight. They were toiling up +the rough lava on foot. They were heavily armed. Spurs, chaps, +jackets, scarfs were not in evidence. Gale saw the lean, swarthy +faces, the black, straggly hair, the ragged, soiled garments which +had once been white. + +"They're almost up now," Gale was saying. "There! They halt on +top. I see Rojas. He looks wild. By----! fellows, an Indian! +...It's a Papago. Belding's old herder!...The Indian points-- +this way--then down. He's showing Rojas the lay of the trail." + +"Boys, Yaqui's in range of that bunch," said Jim, swiftly. "He's +raisin' his rifle slow--Lord, how slow he is!...He's covered some +one. Which one I can't say. But I think he'll pick Rojas." + +"The Yaqui can shoot. He'll pick Rojas," added Gale, grimly. + +"Rojas--yes--yes!" cried Thorne, in passion of suspense. + +"Not on your life!" Ladd's voice cut in with scorn. "Gentlemen, +you can gamble Yaqui 'll kill the Papago. That traitor Indian +knows these sheep haunts. He's tellin' Rojas--" + +A sharp rifle shot rang out. + +"Laddy's right," called Gale. "The Papago's hit--his arm +falls--There, he tumbles!" + +More shots rang out. Yaqui was seen standing erect firing rapidly +at the darting Mexicans. For all Gale could make out no second +bullet took effect. Rojas and his men vanished behind the bulge +of lava. Then Yaqui deliberately backed away from his postion. +He made no effort to run or hide. Evidently he watched cautiously +for signs of pursuers in the ruts and behind the choyas. Presently +he turned and came straight toward the position of the rangers, +sheered off perhaps a hundred paces below it, and disappeared +in a crevice. Plainly his intention was to draw pursuers within +rifle shot. + +"Shore, Jim, you had your wish. Somethin' come off," said Ladd. +"An' I'm sayin' thank God for the Yaqui! That Papago 'd have +ruined us. Even so, mebbe he's told Rojas more'n enough to make +us sweat blood." + +"He had a chance to kill Rojas," cried out the drawn-faced, +passionate Thorne. "He didn't take it!...He didn't take it!" + +Only Ladd appeared to be able to answer the cavalryman's +poignant cry. + +"Listen, son," he said, and his voice rang. "We-all know how +you feel. An' if I'd had that one shot never in the world could +I have picked the Papago guide. I'd have had to kill Rojas. That's +the white man of it. But Yaqui was right. Only an Indian could +have done it. You can gamble the Papago alive meant slim chance +for us. Because he'd led straight to where Mercedes is hidden, an' +then we'd have left cover to fight it out...When you come to think +of the Yaqui's hate for Greasers, when you just seen him pass up +a shot at one--well, I don't know how to say what I mean, but +damn me, my som-brer-ro is off to the Indian!" + +"I reckon so, an' I reckon the ball's opened," rejoined Lash, and +now that former nervous impatience so unnatural to him was as +if it had never been. He was smilingly cool, and his voice had +almost a caressing note. He tapped the breech of his Winchester +with a sinewy brown hand, and he did not appear to be addressing +any one in particular. "Yaqui's opened the ball. Look up your +pardners there, gents, an' get ready to dance." + +Another wait set in then, and judging by the more direct rays of the +sun and a receding of the little shadows cast by the choyas, Gale +was of the opinion that it was a long wait. But it seemed short. +The four men were lying under the bank of a half circular hole in +the lava. It was notched and cracked, and its rim was fringed by +choyas. It sloped down and opened to an unobstructed view of +the crater. Gale had the upper position, fartherest to the right, +and therefore was best shielded from possible fire from the higher +ridges of the rim, some three hundred yards distant. Jim came +next, well hidden in a crack. The positions of Thorne and Ladd +were most exposed. They kept sharp lookout over the uneven +rampart of their hiding-place. + +The sun passed the zenith, began to slope westward, and to grow +hotter as it sloped. The men waited and waited. Gale saw no +impatience even in Thorne. The sultry air seemed to be laden +with some burden or quality that was at once composed of heat, +menace, color, and silence. Even the light glancing up from the +lava seemed red and the silence had substance. Sometimes Gale +felt that it was unbearable. Yet he made no effort to break it. + +Suddenly this dead stillness was rent by a shot, clear and stinging, +close at hand. It was from a rifle, not a carbine. With startling +quickness a cry followed--a cry that pierced Gale--it was so thin, +so high-keyed, so different from all other cries. It was the +involuntary human shriek at death. + +"Yaqui's called out another pardner," said Jim Lash, laconically. + +Carbines began to crack. The reports were quick, light, like sharp +spats without any ring. Gale peered from behind the edge of his +covert. Above the ragged wave of lava floated faint whitish clouds, +all that was visible of smokeless powder. Then Gale made out round +spots, dark against the background of red, and in front of them +leaped out small tongues of fire. Ladd's .405 began to "spang" with +its beautiful sound of power. Thorne was firing, somewhat wildly +Gale thought. Then Jim Lash pushed his Winchester over the rim +under a choya, and between shots Gale could hear him singing: +"Turn the lady, turn--turn the lady, turn!...Alaman left!...Swing +your pardners!...Forward an' back!...Turn the lady, turn!" Gale +got into the fight himself, not so sure that he hit any of the +round, bobbing objects he aimed at, but growing sure of himself +as action liberated something forced and congested within his +breast. + +Then over the position of the rangers came a hail of steel bullets. +Those that struck the lava hissed away into the crater; those that +came biting through the choyas made a sound which resembled a +sharp ripping of silk. Bits of cactus stung Gale's face, and he +dreaded the flying thorns more than he did the flying bullets. + +"Hold on, boys," called Ladd, as he crouched down to reload his +rifle. "Save your shells. The greasers are spreadin' on us, some +goin' down below Yaqui, others movin' up for that high ridge. When +they get up there I'm damned if it won't be hot for us. There ain't +room for all of us to hide here." + +Ladd raised himself to peep over the rim. Shots were now +scattering, and all appeared to come from below. Emboldened by +this he rose higher. A shot from in front, a rip of bullet through +the choya, a spat of something hitting Ladd's face, a steel missle +hissing onward--these inseparably blended sounds were all registered +by Gale's sensitive ear. + +With a curse Ladd tumbled down into the hole. His face showed a +great gray blotch, and starting blood. Gale felt a sickening +assurance of desperate injury to the ranger. He ran to him calling: +"Laddy! Laddy!" + +"Shore I ain't plugged. It's a damn choya burr. The bullet knocked +it in my face. Pull it out!" + +The oval, long-spiked cone was firmly imbedded in Ladd's cheek. +Blood streamed down his face and neck. Carefully, yet with no +thought of pain to himself, Gale tried to pull the cactus joint +away. It was as firm as if it had been nailed there. That was +the damnable feature of the barbed thorns: once set, they held +on as that strange plant held to its desert life. Ladd began to +writhe, and sweat mingled with the blood on his face. He cursed +and raved, and his movements made it almost impossible for Gale +to do anything. + +"Put your knife-blade under an' tear it out!" shouted Ladd, +hoarsely. + +Thus ordered, Gale slipped a long blade in between the imbedded +thorns, and with a powerful jerk literally tore the choya out of +Ladd's quivering flesh. Then, where the ranger's face was not +red and raw, it certainly was white. + +A volley of shots from a different angle was followed by +the quick ring of steel bullets striking the lava all around Gale. +His first idea, as he heard the projectiles sing and hum and whine +away into the air, was that they were coming from above him. He +looked up to see a number of low, white and dark knobs upon the +high point of lava. They had not been there before. Then he saw +little, pale, leaping tongues of fire. As he dodged down he +distinctly heard a bullet strike Ladd. At the same instant he +seemed to hear Thorne cry out and fall, and Lash's boots scrape +rapidly away. + +Ladd fell backward still holding the .405. Gale dragged him into the +shelter of his own position, and dreading to look at him, took up the +heavy weapon. It was with a kind of savage strength that he gripped +the rifle; and it was with a cold and deadly intent that he aimed and +fired. The first Greaser huddled low, let his carbine go clattering +down, and then crawled behind the rim. The second and third jerked +back. The fourth seemed to flop up over the crest of lava. A dark +arm reached for him, clutched his leg, tried to drag him up. It was +in vain. Wildly grasping at the air the bandit fell, slid down a +steep shelf, rolled over the rim, to go hurtling down out of sight. + +Fingering the hot rifle with close-pressed hands, Gale watched +the sky line along the high point of lava. It remained unbroken. +As his passion left him he feared to look back at his companions, +and the cold chill returned to his breast. + +"Shore--I'm damn glad--them Greasers ain't usin' soft-nose bullets," +drawled a calm voice. + +Swift as lightning Gale whirled. + +"Laddy! I thought you were done for," cried Gale, with a break in +his voice. + +"I ain't a-mindin' the bullet much. But that choya joint took my +nerve, an' you can gamble on it. Dick, this hole's pretty high up, +ain't it?" + +The ranger's blouse was open at the neck, and on his right shoulder +under the collar bone was a small hole just beginning to bleed. + +"Sure it's high, Laddy," replied Gale, gladly. "Went clear through, +clean as a whistle!" + +He tore a handkerchief into two parts, made wads, and pressing them +close over the wounds he bound them there with Ladd's scarf. + +"Shore it's funny how a bullet can floor a man an' then not do any +damage," said Ladd. "I felt a zip of wind an' somethin' like a pat +on my chest an' down I went. Well, so much for the small caliber +with their steel bullets. Supposin' I'd connected with a .405!" + +"Laddy, I--I'm afraid Thorne's done for," whispered Gale. "He's +lying over there in that crack. I can see part of him. He doesn't +move." + +"I was wonderin' if I'd have to tell you that. Dick, he went down +hard hit, fallin', you know, limp an' soggy. It was a moral cinch +one of us would get it in this fight; but God! I'm sorry Thorne had +to be the man." + +"Laddy, maybe he's not dead," replied Gale. He called aloud to his +friend. There was no answer. + +Ladd got up, and, after peering keenly at the height of lava, he +strode swiftly across the space. It was only a dozen steps to the +crack in the lava where Thorne had fallen head first. Ladd bent +over, went to his knees, so that Gale saw only his head. Then +he appeared rising with arms round the cavalryman. He dragged +him across the hole to the sheltered corner that alone afforded +protection. He had scarcely reached it when a carbine cracked +and a bullet struck the flinty lava, striking sparks, then singing +away into the air. + +Thorne was either dead or unconscious, and Gale, with a contracting +throat and numb heart, decided for the former. Not so Ladd, who +probed the bloody gash on Thorne's temple, and then felt his breast. + +"He's alive an' not bad hurt. That bullet hit him glancin'. Shore them +steel bullets are some lucky for us. Dick, you needn't look so glum. +I tell you he ain't bad hurt. I felt his skull with my finger. +There's no hole in it. Wash him off an' tie-- Wow! did you get +the wind of that one? An' mebbe it didn't sing off the lava!... +Dick, look after Thorne now while I--" + +The completion of his speech was the stirring ring of the .405, and +then he uttered a laugh that was unpleasant. + +"Shore, Greaser, there's a man's size bullet for you. No slim, +sharp-pointed, steel-jacket nail! I'm takin' it on me to believe +you're appreciatin' of the .405, seein' as you don't make no fuss." + +It was indeed a joy to Gale to find that Thorne had not received +a wound necessarily fatal, though it was serious enough. Gale +bathed and bound it, and laid the cavalryman against the slant +of the bank, his head high to lessen the probability of bleeding. + +As Gale straightened up Ladd muttered low and deep, and swung +the heavy rifle around to the left. Far along the slope a figure +moved. Ladd began to work the lever of the Winchester and to +shoot. At every shot the heavy firearm sprang up, and the recoil +made Ladd's shoulder give back. Gale saw the bullets strike the +lava behind, beside, before the fleeing Mexican, sending up dull +puffs of dust. On the sixth shot he plunged down out of sight, +either hit or frightened into seeking cover. + +"Dick, mebbe there's one or two left above; but we needn't figure +much on it," said Ladd, as, loading the rifle, he jerked his +fingers quickly from the hot breech. "Listen! Jim an' Yaqui are +hittin' it up lively down below. I'll sneak down there. You stay +here an' keep about half an eye peeled up yonder, an' keep the +rest my way." + +Ladd crossed the hole, climbed down into the deep crack where Thorne +had fallen, and then went stooping along with only his head above +the level. Presently he disappeared. Gale, having little to fear +from the high ridge, directed most of his attention toward the point +beyond which Ladd had gone. The firing had become desultory, +and the light carbine shots outnumbered the sharp rifle shots five +to one. Gale made a note of the fact that for some little time he +had not heard the unmistakable report of Jim Lash's automatic. +Then ensued a long interval in which the desert silence seemed +to recover its grip. The .405 ripped it asunder--spang--spang +--spang. Gale fancied he heard yells. There were a few pattering +shots still farther down the trail. Gale had an uneasy conviction +that Rojas and some of his band might go straight to the waterhole. +It would be hard to dislodge even a few men from that retreat. + +There seemed a lull in the battle. Gale ventured to stand high, and +screened behind choyas, he swept the three-quarter circle of lava +with his glass. In the distance he saw horses, but no riders. +Below him, down the slope along the crater rim and the trail, the +lava was bare of all except tufts of choya. Gale gathered +assurance. It looked as if the day was favoring his side. Then +Thorne, coming partly to consciousness, engaged Gale's care. The +cavalryman stirred and moaned, called for water, and then for +Mercedes. Gale held him back with a strong hand, and presently +he was once more quiet. + +For the first time in hours, as it seemed, Gale took note of the +physical aspect of his surroundings. He began to look upon them +without keen gaze strained for crouching form, or bobbing head, +or spouting carbine. Either Gale's sense of color and proportion +had become deranged during the fight, or the encompassing air +and the desert had changed. Even the sun had changed. It seemed +lowering, oval in shape, magenta in hue, and it had a surface that +gleamed like oil on water. Its red rays shone through red haze. +Distances that had formerly been clearly outlined were now dim, +obscured. The yawning chasm was not the same. It circled wider, +redder, deeper. It was a weird, ghastly mouth of hell. Gale stood +fascinated, unable to tell how much he saw was real, how +much exaggeration of overwrought emotions. There was no beauty +here, but an unparalleled grandeur, a sublime scene of devastation +and desolation which might have had its counterpart upon the +burned-out moon. The mood that gripped Gale now added to its +somber portent an unshakable foreboding of calamity. + +He wrestled with the spell as if it were a physical foe. Reason +and intelligence had their voices in his mind; but the moment was +not one wherein these things could wholly control. He felt life +strong within his breast, yet there, a step away, was death, +yawning, glaring, smoky, red. It was a moment--an hour for a +savage, born, bred, developed in this scarred and blasted place +of jagged depths and red distances and silences never meant +to be broken. Since Gale was not a savage he fought that call +of the red gods which sent him back down the long ages toward +his primitive day. His mind combated his sense of sight and the +hearing that seemed useless; and his mind did not win all the +victory. Something fatal was here, hanging in the balance, as the +red haze hung along the vast walls of that crater of hell. + +Suddenly harsh, prolonged yells brought him to his feet, and the +unrealities vanished. Far down the trails where the crater rims +closed in the deep fissure he saw moving forms. They were three in +number. Two of them ran nimbly across the lava bridge. The third +staggered far behind. It was Ladd. He appeared hard hit. He +dragged at the heavy rifle which he seemed unable to raise. The +yells came from him. He was calling the Yaqui. + +Gale's heart stood still momentarily. Here, then, was the +catastrophe! He hardly dared sweep that fissure with his glass. +The two fleeing figures halted--turned to fire at Ladd. Gale +recognized the foremost one--small, compact, gaudy. Rojas! +The bandit's arm was outstretched. Puffs of white smoke +rose, and shots rapped out. When Ladd went down Rojas +threw his gun aside and with a wild yell bounded over the lava. +His companion followed. + +A tide of passion, first hot as fire, then cold as ice, rushed over +Gale when he saw Rojas take the trail toward Mercedes's +hiding-place. The little bandit appeared to have the +sure-footedness of a mountain sheep. The Mexican following +was not so sure or fast. He turned back. Gale heard the trenchant +bark of the .405. Ladd was kneeling. He shot again--again. The +retreating bandit seemed to run full into an invisible obstacle, +then fell lax, inert, lifeless. Rojas sped on unmindful of the +spurts of dust about him. Yaqui, high above Ladd, was also firing +at the bandit. Then both rifles were emptied. Rojas turned at a +high break in the trail. He shook a defiant hand, and his exulting +yell pealed faintly to Gale's ears. About him there was something +desperate, magnificent. Then he clambered down the trail. + +Ladd dropped the .405, and rising, gun in hand, he staggered toward +the bridge of lava. Before he had crossed it Yaqui came bounding +down the slope, and in one splendid leap he cleared the fissure. +He ran beyond the trail and disappeared on the lava above. Rojas +had not seen this sudden, darting move of the Indian. + +Gale felt himself bitterly powerless to aid in that pursuit. He +could only watch. He wondered, fearfully, what had become of +Lash. Presently, when Rojas came out of the cracks and ruts +of lava there might be a chance of disabling him by a long shot. +His progress was now slow. But he was making straight for +Mercedes's hiding-place. What was it leading him there--an eagle +eye, or hate, or instinct? Why did he go on when there could be +no turning back for him on that trail? Ladd was slow, heavy, +staggering on the trail; but he was relentless. Only death could +stop the ranger now. Surely Rojas must have known that when +he chose the trail. From time to time Gale caught glimpses of +Yaqui's dark figure stealing along the higher rim of the crater. +He was making for a point above the bandit. + +Moments--endless moments dragged by. The lowering sun colored +only the upper half of the crater walls. Far down the depths were +murky blue. Again Gale felt the insupportable silence. The red +haze became a transparent veil before his eyes. Sinister, evil, +brooding, waiting, seemed that yawning abyss. Ladd staggered +along the trail, at times he crawled. The Yaqui gained; he might +have had wings; he leaped from jagged crust to jagged crust; +his sure-footedness was a wonderful thing. + +But for Gale the marvel of that endless period of watching was +the purpose of the bandit Rojas. He had now no weapon. Gale's +glass made this fact plain. There was death behind him, death +below him, death before him, and though he could not have known +it, death above him. He never faltered--never made a misstep +upon the narrow, flinty trail. When he reached the lower end of +the level ledge Gale's poignant doubt became a certainty. Rojas +had seen Mercedes. It was incredible, yet Gale believed it. Then, +his heart clamped as in an icy vise, Gale threw forward the +Remington, and sinking on one knee, began to shoot. He emptied +the magazine. Puffs of dust near Rojas did not even make him turn. + +As Gale began to reload he was horror-stricken by a low cry from +Thorne. The cavalryman had recovered consciousness. He was +half raised, pointing with shaking hand at the opposite ledge. His +distended eyes were riveted upon Rojas. He was trying to utter +speech that would not come. + +Gale wheeled, rigid now, steeling himself to one last forlorn hope +--that Mercedes could defend herself. She had a gun. He doubted +not at all that she would use it. But, remembering her terror of +this savage, he feared for her. + +Rojas reached the level of the ledge. He halted. He crouched. +It was the act of a panther. Manifestly he saw Mercedes within +the cave. Then faint shots patted the air, broke in quick echo. +Rojas went down as if struck a heavy blow. He was hit. +But even as Gale yelled in sheer madness the bandit leaped erect. +He seemed too quick, too supple to be badly wounded. A slight, +dark figure flashed out of the cave. Mercedes! She backed +against the wall. Gale saw a puff of white--heard a report. But +the bandit lunged at her. Mercedes ran, not to try to pass him, but +straight for the precipice. Her intention was plain. But Rojas +oustripped her, even as she reached the verge. Then a piercing +scream pealed across the crater--a scream of despair. + +Gale closed his eyes. He could not bear to see more. + +Thorne echoed Mercedes's scream. Gale looked round just in time +to leap and catch the cavalryman as he staggered, apparently for +the steep slope. And then, as Gale dragged him back, both fell. +Gale saved his friend, but he plunged into a choya. He drew his +hands away full of the great glistening cones of thorns. + +"For God's sake, Gale, shoot! Shoot! Kill her! Kill her!...Can't +--you--see-Rojas--" + +Thorne fainted. + +Gale, stunned for the instant, stood with uplifted hands, and gazed +from Thorne across the crater. Rojas had not killed Mercedes. He +was overpowering her. His actions seemed slow, wearing, purposeful. +Hers were violent. Like a trapped she-wolf, Mercedes was fighting. +She tore, struggled, flung herself. + +Rojas's intention was terribly plain. + +In agony now, both mental and physical, cold and sick and weak, +Gale gripped his rifle and aimed at the struggling forms on the +ledge. He pulled the trigger. The bullet struck up a cloud of red +dust close to the struggling couple. Again Gale fired, hoping to +hit Rojas, praying to kill Mercedes. The bullet struck high. +A third--fourth--fifth time the Remington spoke--in vain! +The rifle fell from Gale's racked hands. + +How horribly plain that fiend's intention! Gale tried to close his +eyes, but could not. He prayed wildly for a sudden blindness +--to faint as Thorne had fainted. But he was transfixed to the spot +with eyes that pierced the red light. + +Mercedes was growing weaker, seemed about to collapse. + +"Oh, Jim Lash, are you dead?" cried Gale. "Oh, Laddy!...Oh, Yaqui!" + +Suddenly a dark form literally fell down the wall behind the ledge +where Rojas fought the girl. It sank in a heap, then bounded erect. + +"Yaqui!" screamed Gale, and he waved his bleeding hands till the +blood bespattered his face. Then he choked. Utterance became +impossible. + +The Indian bent over Rojas and flung him against the wall. +Mercedes, sinking back, lay still. When Rojas got up the Indian +stood between him and escape from the ledge. Rojas backed +the other way along the narrowing shelf of lava. His manner +was abject, stupefied. Slowly he stepped backward. + +It was then that Gale caught the white gleam of a knife in Yaqui's +hand. Rojas turned and ran. He rounded a corner of wall where the +footing was precarious. Yaqui followed slowly. His figure was dark +and menacing. But he was not in a hurry. When he passed off the +ledge Rojas was edging farther and farther along the wall. He +was clinging now to the lava, creeping inch by inch. Perhaps he +had thought to work around the buttress or climb over it. Evidently +he went as far as possible, and there he clung, an unscalable wall +above, the abyss beneath. + +The approach of the Yaqui was like a slow dark shadow of gloom. +If it seemed so to the stricken Gale what must it have been to +Rojas? He appeared to sink against the wall. The Yaqui stole +closer and closer. He was the savage now, and for him the moment +must have been glorified. Gale saw him gaze up at the great +circling walls of the crater, then down into the depths. +Perhaps the red haze hanging above him, or the purple +haze below, or the deep caverns in the lava, held for Yaqui +spirits of the desert, his gods to whom he called. Perhaps he +invoked shadows of his loved ones and his race, calling them in this +moment of vengeance. + +Gale heard--or imagined he heard--that wild, strange Yaqui cry. + +Then the Indian stepped close to Rojas, and bent low, keeping out +of reach. How slow were his motions! Would Yaqui never--never +end it?...A wail drifted across the crater to Gale's ears. + +Rojas fell backward and plunged sheer. The bank of white choyas +caught him, held him upon their steel spikes. How long did the +dazed Gale sit there watching Rojas wrestling and writhing in +convulsive frenzy? The bandit now seemed mad to win the delayed +death. + +When he broke free he was a white patched object no longer human, +a ball of choya burrs, and he slipped off the bank to shoot down +and down into the purple depths of the crater. + + + +XIII + + +CHANGES AT FORLORN RIVER + +THE first of March saw the federal occupation of the garrison at +Casita. After a short, decisive engagement the rebels were +dispersed into small bands and driven eastward along the boundary +line toward Nogales. + +It was the destiny of Forlorn River, however, never to return to the +slow, sleepy tenor of its former existence. Belding's predictions +came true. That straggling line of home-seekers was but a +forerunner of the real invasion of Altar Valley. Refugees from +Mexico and from Casita spread the word that water and wood and grass +and land were to be had at Forlorn River; and as if by magic the +white tents and red adobe houses sprang up to glisten in the sun. + +Belding was happier than he had been for a long time. He believed +that evil days for Forlorn River, along with the apathy and lack of +enterprise, were in the past. He hired a couple of trustworthy +Mexicans to ride the boundary line, and he settled down to think +of ranching and irrigation and mining projects. Every morning he +expected to receive some word form Sonoyta or Yuma, telling +him that Yaqui had guided his party safely across the desert. + +Belding was simple-minded, a man more inclined to action than +reflection. When the complexities of life hemmed him in, he +groped his way out, never quite understanding. His wife had +always been a mystery to him. Nell was sunshine most of the +time, but, like the sun-dominated desert, she was subject to +strange changes, wilful, stormy, sudden. It was enough for Belding +now to find his wife in a lighter, happier mood, and to see Nell +dreamily turning a ring round and round the third finger of her +left hand and watching the west. Every day both mother and daughter +appeared farther removed from the past darkly threatening +days. Belding was hearty in his affections, but undemonstrative. +If there was any sentiment in his make-up it had an outlet in +his memory of Blanco Diablo and a longing to see him. Often +Belding stopped his work to gaze out over the desert toward +the west. When he thought of his rangers and Thorne and Mercedes +he certainly never forgot his horse. He wondered if Diablo was +running, walking, resting; if Yaqui was finding water and grass. + +In March, with the short desert winter over, the days began to +grow warm. The noon hours were hot, and seemed to give promise +of the white summer blaze and blasting furnace wind soon to come. +No word was received from the rangers. But this caused Belding +no concern, and it seemed to him that his women folk considered +no news good news. + +Among the many changes coming to pass in Forlorn River were the +installing of post-office service and the building of a mescal +drinking-house. Belding had worked hard for the post office, but +he did not like the idea of a saloon for Forlorn River. Still, that +was an inevitable evil. The Mexicans would have mescal. Belding +had kept the little border hamlet free of an establishment for +distillation of the fiery cactus drink. A good many Americans +drifted into Forlorn River--miners, cowboys, prospectors, outlaws, +and others of nondescript character; and these men, of course, +made the saloon, which was also an inn, their headquarters. +Belding, with Carter and other old residents, saw the need of a +sheriff for Forlorn River. + +One morning early in this spring month, while Belding was on his +way from the house to the corrals, he saw Nell running +Blanco Jose down the road at a gait that amazed him. +She did not take the turn of the road to come in by the gate. +She put Jose at a four-foot wire fence, and came clattering into +the yard. + +"Nell must have another tantrum," said Belding. "She's long past due." + +Blanco Jose, like the other white horses, was big of frame and +heavy, and thunder rolled from under his great hoofs. Nell pulled +him up, and as he pounded and slid to a halt in a cloud of dust +she swung lightly down. + +It did not take more than half an eye for Belding to see that she +was furious. + +"Nell, what's come off now?" asked Belding. + +"I'm not going to tell you," she replied, and started away, leading +Jose toward the corral. + +Belding leisurely followed. She went into the corral, removed +Jose's bridle, and led him to the watering-trough. Belding came +up, and without saying anything began to unbuckle Jose's saddle +girths. But he ventured a look at Nell. The red had gone from +her face, and he was surprised to see her eyes brimming with tears. +Most assuredly this was not one of Nell's tantrums. While taking +off Jose's saddle and hanging it in the shed Belding pondered in +his slow way. When he came back to the corral Nell had her face +against the bars, and she was crying. He slipped a big arm around +her and waited. Although it was not often expressed, there was a +strong attachment between them. + +"Dad, I don't want you to think me a--a baby any more," she said. +"I've been insulted." + +With a specific fact to make clear thought in Belding's mind he was +never slow. + +"I knew something unusual had come off. I guess you'd better tell me." + +"Dad, I will, if you promise." + +"What?" + +"Not to mention it to mother, not to pack a gun down there, and +never, never tell Dick." + +Belding was silent. Seldom did he make promises readily. + +"Nell, sure something must have come off, for you to ask all that." + +"If you don't promise I'll never tell, that's all," she declared, +firmly. + +Belding deliberated a little longer. He knew the girl. + +"Well, I promise not to tell mother," he said, presently; "and +seeing you're here safe and well, I guess I won't go packing a gun +down there, wherever that is. But I won't promise to keep anything +from Dick that perhaps he ought to know." + +"Dad, what would Dick do if--if he were here and I were to tell +him I'd--I'd been horribly insulted?" + +"I guess that 'd depend. Mostly, you know, Dick does what you +want. But you couldn't stop him--nobody could--if there was +reason, a man's reason, to get started. Remember what he did to +Rojas!...Nell, tell me what's happened." + +Nell, regaining her composure, wiped her eyes and smoothed back +her hair. + +"The other day, Wednesday," she began, "I was coming home, and +in front of that mescal drinking-place there was a crowd. It was +a noisy crowd. I didn't want to walk out into the street or seem +afraid. But I had to do both. There were several young men, and +if they weren't drunk they certainly were rude. I never saw them +before, but I think they must belong to the mining company that was +run out of Sonora by rebels. Mrs. Carter was telling me. Anyway, +these young fellows were Americans. They stretched themselves +across the walk and smiled at me. I had to go out in the road. One +of them, the rudest, followed me. He was a big fellow, red-faced, +with prominent eyes and a bold look. He came up beside me and +spoke to me. I ran home. And as I ran I heard his companions +jeering. + +"Well, to-day, just now, when I was riding up the valley road I came +upon the same fellows. They had instruments and were surveying. +Remembering Dick, and how he always wished for an instrument +to help work out his plan for irrigation, I was certainly surprised +to see these strangers surveying--and surveying upon Laddy's plot of +land. It was a sandy road there, and Jose happened to be walking. +So I reined in and asked these engineers what they were doing. +The leader, who was that same bold fellow who had followed me, +seemed much pleased at being addressed. He was swaggering--too +friendly; not my idea of a gentleman at all. He said he was glad to +tell me he was going to run water all over Altar Valley. Dad, you +can bet that made me wild. That was Dick's plan, his discovery, +and here were surveyors on Laddy's claim. + +"Then I told him that he was working on private land and he'd better +get off. He seemed to forget his flirty proclivities in amazement. +Then he looked cunning. I read his mind. It was news to him that +all the land along the valley had been taken up. + +"He said something about not seeing any squatters on the land, +and then he shut up tight on that score. But he began to be +flirty again. He got hold of Jose's bridle, and before I could +catch my breath he said I was a peach, and that he wanted to make +a date with me, that his name was Chase, that he owned a gold mine +in Mexico. He said a lot more I didn't gather, but when he called +me 'Dearie' I--well, I lost my temper. + +"I jerked on the bridle and told him to let go. He held on and +rolled his eyes at me. I dare say he imagined he was a gentlemen to +be infatuated with. He seemed sure of conquest. One thing certain, +he didn't know the least bit about horses. It scared me the way he +got in front of Jose. I thanked my stars I wasn't up on Blanco +Diablo. Well, Dad, I'm a little ashamed now, but I was mad. I +slashed him across the face with my quirt. Jose jumped and knocked +Mr. Chase into the sand. I didn't get the horse under control till I +was out of sight of those surveyors, and then I let him run home." + +"Nell, I guess you punished the fellow enough. Maybe he's only a +conceited softy. But I don't like that sort of thing. It isn't +Western. I guess he won't be so smart next time. Any fellow +would remember being hit by Blanco Jose. If you'd been up on Diablo +we'd have to bury Mr. Chase." + +"Thank goodness I wasn't! I'm sorry now, Dad. Perhaps the fellow +was hurt. But what could I do? Let's forget all about it, and I'll +be careful where I ride in the future....Dad, what does it mean, +this surveying around Forlorn River?" + +"I don't know, Nell," replied Belding, thoughtfully. "It worries +me. It looks good for Forlorn River, but bad for Dick's plan to +irrigate the valley. Lord, I'd hate to have some one forestall +Dick on that!" + +"No, no, we won't let anybody have Dick's rights," declared Nell. + +"Where have I been keeping myself not to know about these +surveyors?" muttered Belding. "They must have just come." + +"Go see Mrs. Cater. She told me there were strangers in town, +Americans, who had mining interests in Sonora, and were run +out by Orozco. Find out what they're doing, Dad." + +Belding discovered that he was, indeed, the last man of consequence +in Forlorn River to learn of the arrival of Ben Chase and son, +mineowners and operators in Sonora. They, with a force of miners, +had been besieged by rebels and finally driven off their property. +This property was not destroyed, but held for ransom. And the +Chases, pending developments, had packed outfits and struck +for the border. Casita had been their objective point, but, for +some reason which Belding did not learn, they had arrived instead +at Forlorn River. It had taken Ben Chase just one day to see +the possibilities of Altar Valley, and in three days he had men at work. + +Belding returned home without going to see the Chases and their +operations. He wanted to think over the situation. Next morning he +went out to the valley to see for himself. Mexicans were hastily +erecting adobe houses upon Ladd's one hundred and sixty acres, upon +Dick Gale's, upon Jim Lash's and Thorne's. There were men staking +the valley floor and the river bed. That was sufficient for +Belding. He turned back toward town and headed for the camp of +these intruders. + +In fact, the surroundings of Forlorn River, except on the river +side, reminded Belding of the mushroom growth of a newly discovered +mining camp. Tents were everywhere; adobe shacks were in all +stages of construction; rough clapboard houses were going up. +The latest of this work was new and surprising to Belding, all +because he was a busy man, with no chance to hear village gossip. +When he was directed to the headquarters of the Chase Mining +Company he went thither in slow-growing wrath. + +He came to a big tent with a huge canvas fly stretched in front, +under which sat several men in their shirt sleeves. They were +talking and smoking. + +"My name's Belding. I want to see this Mr. Chase," said Belding, +gruffly. + +Slow-witted as Belding was, and absorbed in his own feelings, he +yet saw plainly that his advent was disturbing to these men. They +looked alarmed, exchanged glances, and then quickly turned to +him. One of them, a tall, rugged man with sharp face and shrewd +eyes and white hair, got up and offered his hand. + +"I'm Chase, senior," he said. "My son Radford Chase is here +somewhere. You're Belding, the line inspector, I take it? I +meant to call on you." + +He seemed a rough-and-ready, loud-spoken man, withal cordial enough. + +"Yes, I'm the inspector," replied Belding, ignoring the +proffered hand, "and I'd like to know what in the hell you mean by +taking up land claims--staked ground that belongs to my rangers?" + +"Land claims?" slowly echoed Chase, studying his man. "We're taking +up only unclaimed land." + +"That's a lie. You couldn't miss the stakes." + +"Well, Mr. Belding, as to that, I think my men did run across some +staked ground. But we recognize only squatters. If your rangers +think they've got property just because they drove a few stakes +in the ground they're much mistaken. A squatter has to build a +house and live on his land so long, according to law, before he owns +it." + +This argument was unanswerable, and Belding knew it. + +"According to law!" exclaimed Belding. "Then you own up; you've +jumped our claims." + +"Mr. Belding, I'm a plain business man. I come along. I see a good +opening. Nobody seems to have tenable grants. I stake out claims, +locate squatters, start to build. It seems to me your rangers have +overlooked certain precautions. That's unfortunate for them. I'm +prepared to hold my claim and to back all the squatters who work +for me. If you don't like it you can carry the matter to Tucson. +The law will uphold me." + +"The law? Say, on this southwest border we haven't any law except +a man's word and a gun." + +"Then you'll find United States law has come along with Ben Chase," +replied the other, snapping his fingers. He was still smooth, +outspoken, but his mask had fallen. + +"You're not a Westerner?" queried Belding. + +"No, I'm from Illinois." + +"I thought the West hadn't bred you. I know your kind. You'd last +a long time on the Texas border; now, wouldn't you? You're one +of the land and water hogs that has come to root in the West. +You're like the timber sharks--take it all and leave none for those +who follow. Mr. Chase, the West would fare better and last longer +if men like you were driven out." + +"You can't drive me out." + +"I'm not so sure of that. Wait till my rangers come back. I +wouldn't be in your boots. Don't mistake me. I don't suppose +you could be accused of stealing another man's ideas or plan, +but sure you've stolen these four claims. Maybe the law might +uphold you. But the spirit, not the letter, counts with us +bordermen." + +"See here, Belding, I think you're taking the wrong view of the +matter. I'm going to develop this valley. You'd do better to get +in with me. I've a proposition to make you about that strip of +land of yours facing the river." + +"You can't make any deals with me. I won't have anything to do +with you." + +Belding abruptly left the camp and went home. Nell met him, +probably intended to question him, but one look into his face +confirmed her fears. She silently turned away. Belding +realized he was powerless to stop Chase, and he was sick +with disappointment for the ruin of Dick's hopes and his own. + + + +XIV + + +A LOST SON + +TIME passed. The population of Forlorn River grew apace. Belding, +who had once been the head of the community, found himself a person +of little consequence. Even had he desired it he would not have +had any voice in the selection of postmaster, sheriff, and a few +other officials. The Chases divided their labors between Forlorn +River and their Mexican gold mine, which had been restored to +them. The desert trips between these two places were taken in +automobiles. A month's time made the motor cars almost as familiar +a sight in Forlorn River as they had been in Casita before the +revolution. + +Belding was not so busy as he had been formerly. As he lost +ambition he began to find less work to do. His wrath at the +usurping Chases increased as he slowly realized his powerlessness +to cope with such men. They were promoters, men of big interests +and wide influence in the Southwest. The more they did for Forlorn +River the less reason there seemed to be for his own grievance. +He had to admit that it was personal; that he and Gale and the +rangers would never have been able to develop the resources of the +valley as these men were doing it. + +All day long he heard the heavy booming blasts and the rumble of +avalanches up in the gorge. Chase's men were dynamiting the cliffs +in the narrow box canyon. They were making the dam just as Gale had +planned to make it. When this work of blasting was over Belding +experienced a relief. He would not now be continually reminded of +his and Gale's loss. Resignation finally came to him. But he could +not reconcile himself to misfortune for Gale. + +Moreover, Belding had other worry and strain. April arrived with no +news of the rangers. From Casita came vague reports of raiders +in the Sonoyta country--reports impossible to verify until his +Mexican rangers returned. When these men rode in, one of them, +Gonzales, an intelligent and reliable halfbreed, said he had met +prospectors at the oasis. They had just come in on the Camino +del Diablo, reported a terrible trip of heat and drought, and not +a trace of the Yaqui's party. + +"That settles it," declared Belding. "Yaqui never went to Sonoyta. +He's circled round to the Devil's Road, and the rangers, Mercedes, +Thorne, the horses--they--I'm afraid they have been lost in the +desert. It's an old story on Camino del Diablo." + +He had to tell Nell that, and it was an ordeal which left him weak. + +Mrs. Belding listened to him, and was silent for a long time while +she held the stricken Nell to her breast. Then she opposed his +convictions with that quiet strength so characteristic of her +arguments. + +"Well, then," decided Belding, "Rojas headed the rangers at Papago +Well or the Tanks." + +"Tom, when you are down in the mouth you use poor judgment," +she went on. "You know only by a miracle could Rojas or anybody +have headed those white horses. Where's your old stubborn +confidence? Yaqui was up on Diablo. Dick was up on Sol. And +there were the other horses. They could not have been headed or +caught. Miracles don't happen." + +"All right, mother, it's sure good to hear you," said Belding. She +always cheered him, and now he grasped at straws. "I'm not myself +these days, don't mistake that. Tell us what you think. You always +say you feel things when you really don't know them." + +"I can say little more than what you said yourself the +night Mercedes was taken away. You told Laddy to trust Yaqui, +that he was a godsend. He might go south into some wild Sonora +valley. He might lead Rojas into a trap. He would find water and +grass where no Mexican or American could." + +"But mother, they're gone seven weeks. Seven weeks! At the most +I gave them six weeks. Seven weeks in the desert!" + +"How do the Yaquis live?" she asked. + +Belding could not reply to that, but hope revived in him. He had +faith in his wife, though he could not in the least understand what +he imagined was something mystic in her. + +"Years ago when I was searching for my father I learned many things +about this country," said Mrs. Belding. "You can never tell how +long a man may live in the desert. The fiercest, most terrible and +inaccessible places often have their hidden oasis. In his later +years my father became a prospector. That was strange to me, for +he never cared for gold or money. I learned that he was often +gone in the desert for weeks, once for months. Then the time came +when he never came back. That was years before I reached the +southwest border and heard of him. Even then I did not for long +give up hope of his coming back, I know now--something tells +me--indeed, it seems his spirit tells me--he was lost. But I don't +have that feeling for Yaqui and his party. Yaqui has given Rojas +the slip or has ambushed him in some trap. Probably that took +time and a long journey into Sonora. The Indian is too wise to +start back now over dry trails. He'll curb the rangers; he'll wait. +I seem to know this, dear Nell, so be brave, patient. Dick Gale +will come back to you." + +"Oh, mother!" cried Nell. "I can't give up hope while I have you." + +That talk with the strong mother worked a change in Nell +and Belding. Nell, who had done little but brood and watch +the west and take violent rides, seemed to settle into a +waiting patience that was sad, yet serene. She helped her mother +more than ever; she was a comfort to Belding; she began to take +active interest in the affairs of the growing village. Belding, who +had been breaking under the strain of worry, recovered himself +so that to outward appearance he was his old self. He alone knew, +however, that his humor was forced, and that the slow burning +wrath he felt for the Chases was flaming into hate. + +Belding argued with himself that if Ben Chase and his son, Radford, +had turned out to be big men in other ways than in the power to +carry on great enterprises he might have become reconciled to them. +But the father was greedy, grasping, hard, cold; the son added to +those traits an overbearing disposition to rule, and he showed a +fondness for drink and cards. These men were developing the valley, +to be sure, and a horde of poor Mexicans and many Americans were +benefiting from that development; nevertheless, these Chases were +operating in a way which proved they cared only for themselves. + +Belding shook off a lethargic spell and decided he had better set +about several by no means small tasks, if he wanted to get them +finished before the hot months. He made a trip to the Sonoyta +Oasis. He satisfied himself that matters along the line were +favorable, and that there was absolutely no trace of his rangers. +Upon completing this trip he went to Casita with a number of his +white thoroughbreds and shipped them to ranchers and horse-breeders +in Texas. Then, being near the railroad, and having time, he went +up to Tucson. There he learned some interesting particulars about +the Chases. They had an office in the city; influential friends in +the Capitol. They were powerful men in the rapidly growing finance +of the West. They had interested the Southern Pacific Railroad, and +in the near future a branch line was to be constructed from San +Felipe to Forlorn River. These details of the Chase development were +insignificant when compared to a matter striking close home to Belding. +His responsibility had been subtly attacked. A doubt had been cast +upon his capability of executing the duties of immigration inspector +to the best advantage of the state. Belding divined that this was +only an entering wedge. The Chases were bent upon driving him +out of Forlorn River; but perhaps to serve better their own ends, +they were proceeding at leisure. Belding returned home consumed +by rage. But he controlled it. For the first time in his life he +was afraid of himself. He had his wife and Nell to think of; and +the old law of the West had gone forever. + +"Dad, there's another Rojas round these diggings," was Nell's +remark, after the greetings were over and the usual questions +and answers passed. + +Belding's exclamation was cut short by Nell's laugh. She was +serious with a kind of amused contempt. + +"Mr. Radford Chase!" + +"Now Nell, what the--" roared Belding. + +"Hush, Dad! Don't swear," interrupted Nell. "I only meant to +tease you." + +"Humph! Say, my girl, that name Chase makes me see red. If you +must tease me hit on some other way. Sabe, senorita?" + +"Si, si, Dad." + +"Nell, you may as well tell him and have it over," said Mrs. +Belding, quietly. + +"You promised me once, Dad, that you'd not go packing a gun off +down there, didn't you?" + +"Yes, I remember," replied Belding; but he did not answer her smile. + +"Will you promise again?" she asked, lightly. Here was Nell with +arch eyes, yet not the old arch eyes, so full of fun and mischief. +Her lips were tremulous; her cheeks seemed less round. + +"Yes," rejoined Belding; and he knew why his voice was a little +thick. + +"Well, if you weren't such a good old blind Dad you'd have seen +long ago the way Mr. Radford Chase ran round after me. At first +it was only annoying, and I did not want to add to your worries. +But these two weeks you've been gone I've been more than annoyed. +After that time I struck Mr. Chase with my quirt he made all +possible efforts to meet me. He did meet me wherever I went. He +sent me letters till I got tired of sending them back. + +"When you left home on your trips I don't know that he grew bolder, +but he had more opportunity. I couldn't stay in the house all the +time. There were mama's errands and sick people and my Sunday +school, and what not. Mr. Chase waylaid me every time I went out. +If he works any more I don't know when, unless it's when I'm asleep. +He followed me until it was less embarassing for me to let him walk +with me and talk his head off. He made love to me. He begged me +to marry him. I told him I was already in love and engaged to be +married. He said that didn't make any difference. Then I called +him a fool. + +"Next time he saw me he said he must explain. He meant I was being +true to a man who, everybody on the border knew, had been lost in +the desert. That--that hurt. Maybe--maybe it's true. Sometimes +it seems terribly true. Since then, of course, I have stayed in the +house to avoid being hurt again. + +"But, Dad, a little thing like a girl sticking close to her mother +and room doesn't stop Mr. Chase. I think he's crazy. Anyway, +he's a most persistent fool. I want to be charitable, because +the man swears he loves me, and maybe he does, but he is making +me nervous. I don't sleep. I'm afraid to be in my room at night. +I've gone to mother's room. He's always hanging round. Bold! +Why, that isn't the thing to call Mr. Chase. He's absolutely +without a sense of decency. He bribes our servants. He comes +into our patio. Think of that! He makes the most ridiculous +excuses. He bothers mother to death. I feel like a poor little +rabbit holed by a hound. And I daren't peep out." + +Somehow the thing struck Belding as funny, and he laughed. He +had not had a laugh for so long that it made him feel good. He +stopped only at sight of Nell's surprise and pain. Then he put +his arms round her. + +"Never mind, dear. I'm an old bear. But it tickled me, I guess. +I sure hope Mr. Radford Chase has got it bad...Nell, it's only the +old story. The fellows fall in love with you. It's your good +looks, Nell. What a price women like you and Mercedes have +to pay for beauty! I'd a d-- a good deal rather be ugly as a +mud fence." + +"So would I, Dad, if--if Dick would still love me." + +"He wouldn't, you can gamble on that, as Laddy says. +...Well, the first time I catch this locoed Romeo sneaking round +here I'll--I'll--" + +"Dad, you promised." + +"Confound it, Nell, I promised not to pack a gun. That's all. +I'll only shoo this fellow off the place, gently, mind you, gently. +I'll leave the rest for Dick Gale!" + +"Oh, Dad!" cried Nell; and she clung to him wistful, frightened, +yet something more. + +"Don't mistake me, Nell. You have your own way, generally. You +pull the wool over mother's eyes, and you wind me round your +little finger. But you can't do either with Dick Gale. You're +tender-hearted; you overlook the doings of this hound, Chase. +But when Dick comes back, you just make up your mind to a little +hell in the Chase camp. Oh, he'll find it out. And I sure want to +be round when Dick hands Mr. Radford the same as he handed +Rojas!" + +Belding kept a sharp lookout for young Chase, and then, a few days +later, learned that both son and father had gone off upon one of +their frequent trips to Casa Grandes, near where their mines were +situated. + +April grew apace, and soon gave way to May. One morning +Belding was called from some garden work by the whirring +of an automobile and a "Holloa!" He went forward to the front yard +and there saw a car he thought resembled one he had seen in Casita. +It contained a familiar-looking driver, but the three figures in +gray coats and veils were strange to him. By the time he had gotten +to the road he decided two were women and the other a man. At the +moment their faces were emerging from dusty veils. Belding saw an +elderly, sallow-faced, rather frail-appearing man who was an entire +stranger to him; a handsome dark-eyed woman whose hair showed +white through her veil; and a superbly built girl, whose face made +Belding at once think of Dick Gale. + +"Is this Mr. Tom Belding, inspector of immigration?" inquired the +gentleman, courteously. + +"I'm Belding, and I know who you are," replied Belding in hearty +amaze, as he stretched forth his big hand. "You're Dick Gale's +Dad--the Governor, Dick used to say. I'm sure glad to meet you." + +"Thank you. Yes, I'm Dick's governor, and here, Mr. Belding--Dick's +mother and his sister Elsie." + +Beaming his pleasure, Belding shook hands with the ladies, who +showed their agitation clearly. + +"Mr. Belding, I've come west to look up my lost son," said Mr. Gale. +"His sister's letters were unanswered. We haven't heard from him +in months. Is he still here with you?" + +"Well, now, sure I'm awful sorry," began Belding, his slow mind +at work. "Dick's away just now--been away for a considerable +spell. I'm expecting him back any day....Won't you come in? You're +all dusty and hot and tired. Come in, and let mother and Nell make +you comfortable. Of course you'll stay. We've a big house. You +must stay till Dick comes back. Maybe that 'll be-- Aw, I guess +it won't be long....Let me handle the baggage, Mr. Gale....Come in. +I sure am glad to meet you all." + +Eager, excited, delighted, Belding went on talking as he ushered +the Gales into the sitting-room, presenting them in his hearty way +to the astounded Mrs. Belding and Nell. For the space of a few +moments his wife and daughter were bewildered. Belding did +not recollect any other occasion when a few callers had thrown +them off their balance. But of course this was different. He was +a little flustered himself--a circumstance that dawned upon him +with surprise. When the Gales had been shown to rooms, Mrs. +Belding gained the poise momentarily lost; but Nell came rushing +back, wilder than a deer, in a state of excitement strange even +for her. + +"Oh! Dick's mother, his sister!" whispered Nell. + +Belding observed the omission of the father in Nell's exclamation +of mingled delight and alarm. + +"His mother!" went on Nell. "Oh, I knew it! I always guessed it! +Dick's people are proud, rich; they're somebody. I thought I'd +faint when she looked at me. She was just curious--curious, +but so cold and proud. She was wondering about me. I'm wearing +his ring. It was his mother's, he said. I won't--I can't take it +off. And I'm scared....But the sister--oh, she's lovely and sweet +--proud, too. I felt warm all over when she looked at me. I--I +wanted to kiss her. She looks like Dick when he first came to +us. But he's changed. They'll hardly recognize him....To think +they've come! And I had to be looking a fright, when of all times +on earth I'd want to look my best." + +Nell, out of breath, ran away evidently to make herself presentable, +according to her idea of the exigency of the case. Belding caught +a glimpse of his wife's face as she went out, and it wore a sad, +strange, anxious expression. Then Belding sat alone, pondering +the contracting emotions of his wife and daughter. It was beyond +his understanding. Women were creatures of feeling. Belding +saw reason to be delighted to entertain Dick's family; and +for the time being no disturbing thought entered his mind. + +Presently the Gales came back into the sitting-room, looking +very different without the long gray cloaks and veils. Belding +saw distinction and elegance. Mr. Gale seemed a grave, troubled, +kindly person, ill in body and mind. Belding received the same +impression of power that Ben Chase had given him, only here it +was minus any harshness or hard quality. He gathered that Mr. Gale +was a man of authority. Mrs. Gale rather frightened Belding, but +he could not have told why. The girl was just like Dick as he used +to be. + +Their manner of speaking also reminded Belding of Dick. They +talked of the ride from Ash Fork down to the border, of the +ugly and torn-up Casita, of the heat and dust and cactus along +the trail. Presently Nell came in, now cool and sweet in white, +with a red rose at her breast. Belding had never been so proud +of her. He saw that she meant to appear well in the eyes of +Dick's people, and began to have a faint perception of what the +ordeal was for her. Belding imagined the sooner the Gales were +told that Dick was to marry Nell the better for all concerned, and +especially for Nell. In the general conversation that ensued he +sought for an opening in which to tell this important news, but +he was kept so busy answering questions about his position on +the border, the kind of place Forlorn River was, the reason for +so many tents, etc., that he was unable to find opportunity. + +"It's very interesting, very interesting," said Mr. Gale. "At +another time I want to learn all you'll tell me about the West. +It's new to me. I'm surprised, amazed, sir, I may say....But, Mr. +Belding, what I want to know most is about my son. I'm broken +in health. I've worried myself ill over him. I don't mind telling +you, sir, that we quarreled. I laughed at his threats. He went +away. And I've come to see that I didn't know Richard. I was +wrong to upbraid him. For a year we've known nothing of his +doings, and now for almost six months we've not heard from him +at all. Frankly, Mr. Belding, I weakened first, and I've come to +hunt him up. My fear is that I didn't start soon enough. The +boy will have a great position some day--God knows, perhaps +soon! I should not have allowed him to run over this wild country +for so long. But I hoped, though I hardly believed, that he might +find himself. Now I'm afraid he's--" + +Mr. Gale paused and the white hand he raised expressively shook +a little. + +Belding was not so thick-witted where men were concerned. He +saw how the matter lay between Dick Gale and his father. + +"Well, Mr. Gale, sure most young bucks from the East go to the bad +out here," he said, bluntly. + +"I've been told that," replied Mr. Gale; and a shade overspread his +worn face. + +"They blow their money, then go punching cows, take to whiskey." + +"Yes," rejoined Mr. Gale, feebly nodding. + +"Then they get to gambling, lose their jobs," went on Belding. + +Mr. Gale lifted haggard eyes. + +"Then it's bumming around, regular tramps, and to the bad +generally." Belding spread wide his big arms, and when one of +them dropped round Nell, who sat beside him, she squeezed his +hand tight. "Sure, it's the regular thing," he concluded, +cheerfully. + +He rather felt a little glee at Mr. Gale's distress, and Mrs. Gale's +crushed I-told-you-so woe in no wise bothered him; but the look +in the big, dark eyes of Dick's sister was too much for Belding. + +He choked off his characteristic oath when excited and blurted +out, "Say, but Dick Gale never went to the bad!...Listen!" + +Belding had scarcely started Dick Gale's story when he perceived +that never in his life had he such an absorbed and +breathless audience. Presently they were awed, and at the +conclusion of that story they sat white-faced, still, amazed beyond +speech. Dick Gale's advent in Casita, his rescue of Mercedes, his +life as a border ranger certainly lost no picturesque or daring or +even noble detail in Belding's telling. He kept back nothing but +the present doubt of Dick's safety. + +Dick's sister was the first of the three to recover herself. + +"Oh, father!" she cried; and there was a glorious light in her +eyes. "Deep down in my heart I knew Dick was a man!" + +Mr. Gale rose unsteadily from his chair. His frailty was now +painfully manifest. + +"Mr. Belding, do you mean my son--Richard Gale--has done all +that you told us?" he asked, incredulously. + +"I sure do," replied Belding, with hearty good will. + +"Martha, do you hear?" Mr. Gale turned to question his wife. She +could not answer. Her face had not yet regained its natural color. + +"He faced that bandit and his gang alone--he fought them?" demanded +Mr. Gale, his voice stronger. + +"Dick mopped up the floor with the whole outfit!" + +"He rescued a Spanish girl, went into the desert without food, +weapons, anything but his hands? Richard Gale, whose hands +were always useless?" + +Belding nodded with a grin. + +"He's a ranger now--riding, fighting, sleeping on the sand, +preparing his own food?" + +"Well, I should smile," rejoined Belding. + +"He cares for his horse, with his own hands?" This query seemed +to be the climax of Mr. Gale's strange hunger for truth. He had +raised his head a little higher, and his eye was brighter. + +Mention of a horse fired Belding's blood. + +"Does Dick Gale care for his horse? Say, there are not many men as +well loved as that white horse of Dick's. Blanco Sol he is, Mr. +Gale. That's Mex for White Sun. Wait till you see Blanco Sol! Bar +one, the whitest, biggest, strongest, fastest, grandest horse in the +Southwest!" + +"So he loves a horse! I shall not know my own son....Mr. Belding, +you say Richard works for you. May I ask, at what salary?" + +"He gets forty dollars, board and outfit," replied Belding, +proudly. + +"Forty dollars?" echoed the father. "By the day or week?" + +"The month, of course," said Belding, somewhat taken aback. + +"Forty dollars a month for a young man who spent five hundred +in the same time when he was at college, and who ran it into +thousands when he got out!" + +Mr. Gale laughed for the first time, and it was the laugh of a man +who wanted to believe what he heard yet scarcely dared to do it. + +"What does he do with so much money--money earned by peril, toil, +sweat, and blood? Forty dollars a month!" + +"He saves it," replied Belding. + +Evidently this was too much for Dick Gale's father, and he gazed +at his wife in sheer speechless astonishment. Dick's sister clapped +her hands like a little child. + +Belding saw that the moment was propitious. + +"Sure he saves it. Dick's engaged to marry Nell here. My +stepdaughter, Nell Burton." + +"Oh-h, Dad!" faltered Nell; and she rose, white as her dress. + +How strange it was to see Dick's mother and sister rise, also, and +turn to Nell with dark, proud, searching eyes. Belding vaguely +realized some blunder he had made. Nell's white, appealing face +gave him a pang. What had he done? Surely this family of Dick's +ought to know his relation to Nell. There was a silence that +positively made Belding nervous. + +Then Elsie Gale stepped close to Nell. + +"Miss Burton, are you really Richard's betrothed?" + +Nell's tremulous lips framed an affirmative, but never uttered it. +She held out her hand, showing the ring Dick had given her. Miss +Gale's recognition was instant, and her response was warm, sweet, +gracious. + +"I think I am going to be very, very glad," she said, and kissed +Nell. + +"Miss Burton, we are learning wonderful things about Richard," +added Mr. Gale, in an earnest though shaken voice. "If you have +had to do with making a man of him--and now I begin to see, to +believe so--may God bless you!...My dear girl, I have not really +looked at you. Richard's fiancee!...Mother, we have not found him +yet, but I think we've found his secret. We believed him a lost +son. But here is his sweetheart!" + +It was only then that the pride and hauteur of Mrs. Gale's face +broke into an expression of mingled pain and joy. She opened +her arms. Nell, uttering a strange little stifled cry, flew into +them. + +Belding suddenly discovered an unaccountable blur in his sight. +He could not see perfectly, and that was why, when Mrs. Belding +entered the sitting-room, he was not certain that her face was +as sad and white as it seemed. + + + +XV + + +BOUND IN THE DESERT + +FAR away from Forlorn River Dick Gale sat stunned, gazing down into +the purple depths where Rojas had plunged to his death. The Yaqui +stood motionless upon the steep red wall of lava from which he had +cut the bandit's hold. Mercedes lay quietly where she had fallen. +From across the depths there came to Gale's ear the Indian's +strange, wild cry. + +Then silence, hollow, breathless, stony silence enveloped the great +abyss and its upheaved lava walls. The sun was setting. Every +instant the haze reddened and thickened. + +Action on the part of the Yaqui loosened the spell which held Gale +as motionless as his surroundings. The Indian was edging back +toward the ledge. He did not move with his former lithe and sure +freedom. He crawled, slipped, dragged himself, rested often, and +went on again. He had been wounded. When at last he reached +the ledge where Mercedes lay Gale jumped to his feet, strong and +thrilling, spurred to meet the responsibility that now rested upon +him. + +Swiftly he turned to where Thorne lay. The cavalryman was just +returning to consciousness. Gale ran for a canteen, bathed his +face, made him drink. The look in Thorne's eyes was hard to bear. + +"Thorne! Thorne! it's all right, it's all right!" cried Gale, in +piercing tones. "Mercedes is safe! Yaqui saved her! Rojas is done +for! Yaqui jumped down the wall and drove the bandit off the ledge. +Cut him loose from the wall, foot by foot, hand by hand! We've won +the fight, Thorne." + +For Thorne these were marvelous strength-giving words. The +dark horror left his eyes, and they began to dilate, to shine. He +stood up, dizzily but unaided, and he gazed across the crater. +Yaqui had reached the side of Mercedes, was bending over her. +She stirred. Yaqui lifted her to her feet. She appeared weak, +unable to stand alone. But she faced across the crater and waved +her hand. She was unharmed. Thorne lifted both arms above head, +and from his lips issued a cry. It was neither call nor holloa nor +welcome nor answer. Like the Yaqui's, it could scarcely be named. +But it was deep, husky, prolonged, terribly human in its intensity. +It made Gale shudder and made his heart beat like a trip hammer. +Mercedes again waved a white hand. The Yaqui waved, too, and Gale +saw in the action an urgent signal. + +Hastily taking up canteen and rifles, Gale put a supporting arm +around Thorne. + +"Come, old man. Can you walk? Sure you can walk! Lean on me, +and we'll soon get out of this. Don't look across. Look where you +step. We've not much time before dark. Oh, Thorne, I'm afraid +Jim has cashed in! And the last I saw of Laddy he was badly hurt." + +Gale was keyed up to a high pitch of excitement and alertness. +He seemed to be able to do many things. But once off the ragged +notched lava into the trail he had not such difficulty with Thorne, +and could keep his keen gaze shifting everywhere for sight of +enemies. + +"Listen, Thorne! What's that?" asked Gale, halting as they came +to a place where the trail led down through rough breaks in the +lava. The silence was broken by a strange sound, almost +unbelieveable considering the time and place. A voice was droning: +"Turn the lady, turn! Turn the lady, turn! Alamon left. All +swing; turn the lady, turn!" + +"Hello, Jim," called Gale, dragging Thorne round the corner of +lava. "Where are you? Oh, you son of a gun! I thought you were +dead. Oh, I'm glad to see you! Jim, are you hurt?" + +Jim Lash stood in the trail leaning over the butt of his rifle, +which evidently he was utilizing as a crutch. He was pale but +smiling. His hands were bloody. A scarf had been bound tightly +round his left leg just above the knee. The leg hung limp, and +the foot dragged. + +"I reckon I ain't injured much," replied Him. "But my leg hurts +like hell, if you want to know." + +"Laddy! Oh, where's Laddy?" + +"He's just across the crack there. I was trying to get to him. We +had it hot an' heavy down here. Laddy was pretty bad shot up +before he tried to head Rojas off the trail....Dick, did you see the +Yaqui go after Rojas?" + +"Did I!" exclaimed Gale, grimly. + +"The finish was all that saved me from runnin' loco plumb over the +rim. You see I was closer'n you to where Mercedes was hid. When +Rojas an' his last Greaser started across, Laddy went after them, +but I couldn't. Laddy did for Rojas's man, then went down himself. +But he got up an' fell, got up, went on, an' fell again. Laddy kept +doin' that till he dropped for good. I reckon our chances are +against findin' him alive....I tell you, boys, Rojas was hell-bent. +An' Mercedes was game. I saw her shoot him. But mebbe bullets +couldn't stop him then. If I didn't sweat blood when Mercedes was +fightin' him on the cliff! Then the finish! Only a Yaqui could +have done that....Thorne, you didn't miss it?" + +"Yes, I was down and out," replied the cavalryman. + +"It's a shame. Greatest stunt I ever seen! Thorne, you're standin' +up pretty fair. How about you? Dick, is he bad hurt?" + +"No, he's not. A hard knock on the skull and a scalp wound," +replied Dick. "Here, Jim, let me help you over this place." + +Step by step Gale got the two injured men down the uneven declivity +and then across the narrow lava bridge over the fissure. Here he +bade them rest while he went along the trail on that side to search +for Laddy. Gale found the ranger stretched out, face downward, +a reddened hand clutching a gun. Gale thought he was dead. Upon +examination, however, it was found that Ladd still lived, though he +had many wounds. Gale lifted him and carried him back to the +others. + +"He's alive, but that's all," said Dick, as he laid the ranger down. +"Do what you can. Stop the blood. Laddy's tough as cactus, you +know. I'll hurry back for Mercedes and Yaqui." + +Gale, like a fleet, sure-footed mountain sheep, ran along the +trail. When he came across the Mexican, Rojas's last ally, Gale +had evidence of the terrible execution of the .405. He did not +pause. On the first part of that descent he made faster time +than had Rojas. But he exercised care along the hard, slippery, +ragged slope leading to the ledge. Presently he came upon +Mercedes and the Yaqui. She ran right into Dick's arms, and there +her strength, if not her courage, broke, and she grew lax. + +"Mercedes, you're safe! Thorne's safe. It's all right now." + +"Rojas!" she whispered. + +"Gone! To the bottom of the crater! A Yaqui's vengeance, +Mercedes." + +He heard the girl whisper the name of the Virgin. Then he gathered +her up in his arms. + +"Come, Yaqui." + +The Indian grunted. He had one hand pressed close over a bloody +place in his shoulder. Gale looked keenly at him. Yaqui was +inscrutable, as of old, yet Gale somehow knew that wound meant +little to him. The Indian followed him. + +Without pausing, moving slowly in some places, very carefully +in others, and swiftly on the smooth part of the trail, Gale +carried Mercedes up to the rim and along to the the others. +Jim Lash worked awkardly over Ladd. Thorne was trying +to assist. Ladd, himself, was conscious, but he was a pallid, +apparently a death-stricken man. The greeting between Mercedes +and Thorne was calm--strangely so, it seemed to Gale. But he was +calm himself. Ladd smiled at him, and evidently would have spoken +had he the power. Yaqui then joined the group, and his piercing +eyes roved from one to the other, lingering longest over Ladd. + +"Dick, I'm figger'n hard," said Jim, faintly. "In a minute it 'll +be up to you an' Mercedes. I've about shot my bolt....Reckon +you'll do-- best by bringin' up blankets--water--salt--firewood. +Laddy's got--one chance--in a hundred. Fix him up--first. Use +hot salt water. If my leg's broke--set it best you can. That hole +in Yaqui--only 'll bother him a day. Thorne's bad hurt...Now +rustle--Dick, old--boy." + +Lash's voice died away in a husky whisper, and he quietly lay back, +stretching out all but the crippled leg. Gale examined it, assured +himself the bones had not been broken, and then rose ready to go +down the trail. + +"Mercedes, hold Thorne's head up, in your lap--so. Now I'll go." + +On the moment Yaqui appeared to have completed the binding of +his wounded shoulder, and he started to follow Gale. He paid no +attention to Gale's order for him to stay back. But he was slow, +and gradually Gale forged ahead. The lingering brightness of the +sunset lightened the trail, and the descent to the arroyo was swift +and easy. Some of the white horses had come in for water. Blanco +Sol spied Gale and whistled and came pounding toward him. It was +twilight down in the arroyo. Yaqui appeared and began collecting +a bundle of mesquite sticks. Gale hastily put together the things +he needed; and, packing them all in a tarpaulin, he turned to +retrace his steps up the trail. + +Darkness was setting in. The trail was narrow, exceedingly steep, +and in some places fronted on precipices. Gale's burden was not +very heavy, but its bulk made it unwieldy, and it was always +overbalancing him or knocking against the wall side of the trail. +Gale found it necessary to wait for Yaqui to take the lead. The +Indian's eyes must have seen as well at night as by day. Gale +toiled upward, shouldering, swinging, dragging the big pack; and, +though the ascent of the slope was not really long, it seemed +endless. At last they reached a level, and were soon on the spot +with Mercedes and the injured men. + +Gale then set to work. Yaqui's part was to keep the fire blazing +and the water hot, Mercedes's to help Gale in what way she could. +Gale found Ladd had many wounds, yet not one of them was directly +in a vital place. Evidently, the ranger had almost bled to death. +He remained unconcious through Gale's operations. According to +Jim Lash, Ladd had one chance in a hundred, but Gale considered +it one in a thousand. Having done all that was possible for the +ranger, Gale slipped blankets under and around him, and then +turned his attention to Lash. + +Jim came out of his stupor. A mushrooming bullet had torn a +great hole in his leg. Gale, upon examination, could not be sure +the bones had been missed, but there was no bad break. The +application of hot salt water made Jim groan. When he had been +bandaged and laid beside Ladd, Gale went on to the cavalryman. +Thorne was very weak and scarcely conscious. A furrow had been +plowed through his scalp down to the bone. When it had been +dressed, Mercedes collapsed. Gale laid her with the three in a row +and covered them with blankets and the tarpaulin. + +Then Yaqui submitted to examination. A bullet had gone through the +Indian's shoulder. To Gale it appeared serious. Yaqui said it was a +flea bite. But he allowed Gale to bandage it, and obeyed when he was +told to lie quiet in his blanket beside the fire. + +Gale stood guard. He seemed still calm, and wondered at what he +considered a strange absence of poignant feeling. If he had felt +weariness it was now gone. He coaxed the fire with as little wood +as would keep it burning; he sat beside it; he walked to and fro +close by; sometimes he stood over the five sleepers, wondering if +two of them, at least, would ever awaken. + +Time had passed swiftly, but as the necessity for immediate action +had gone by, the hours gradually assumed something of their normal +length. The night wore on. The air grew colder, the stars +brighter, the sky bluer, and, if such could be possible, the silence +more intense. The fire burned out, and for lack of wood could not +be rekindled. Gale patrolled his short beat, becoming colder and +damper as dawn approached. The darkness grew so dense that he could +not see the pale faces of the sleepers. He dreaded the gray dawn +and the light. Slowly the heavy black belt close to the lava +changed to a pale gloom, then to gray, and after that morning came +quickly. + +The hour had come for Dick Gale to face his great problem. It was +natural that he hung back a little at first; natural that when he +went forward to look at the quiet sleepers he did so with a grim +and stern force urging him. Yaqui stirred, roused, yawned, got up; +and, though he did not smile at Gale, a light shone swiftly across +his dark face. His shoulder drooped and appeared stiff, otherwise +he was himself. Mercedes lay in deep slumber. Thorne had a high +fever, and was beginning to show signs of restlessness. Ladd +seemed just barely alive. Jim Lash slept as if he was not much +the worse for his wound. + +Gale rose from his examination with a sharp breaking of his cold +mood. While there was life in Thorne and Ladd there was hope +for them. Then he faced his problem, and his decision was instant. + +He awoke Mercedes. How wondering, wistful, beautiful was that first +opening flash of her eyes! Then the dark, troubled thought came. +Swiftly she sat up. + +"Mercedes--come. Are you all right? Laddy is alive Thorne's not +--not so bad. But we've got a job on our hands! You must help me." + +She bent over Thorne and laid her hands on his hot face. Then she +rose--a woman such as he had imagined she might be in an hour of +trial. + +Gale took up Ladd as carefully and gently as possible. + +"Mercedes, bring what you can carry and follow me," he said. Then, +motioning for Yaqui to remain there, he turned down the slope with +Ladd in his arms. + +Neither pausing nor making a misstep nor conscious of great effort, +Gale carried the wounded man down into the arroyo. Mercedes +kept at his heels, light, supple, lithe as a panther. He left her +with Ladd and went back. When he had started off with Thorne +in his arms he felt the tax on his strength. Surely and swiftly, +however, he bore the cavalryman down the trail to lay him beside +Ladd. Again he started back, and when he began to mount the +steep lava steps he was hot, wet, breathing hard. As he reached +the scene of that night's camp a voice greeted him. Jim Lash was +sitting up. + +"Hello, Dick. I woke some late this mornin'. Where's Laddy? Dick, +you ain't a-goin' to say--" + +"Laddy's alive--that's about all," replied Dick. + +"Where's Thorne an' Mercedes? Look here, man. I reckon you ain't +packin' this crippled outfit down that awful trail?" + +"Had to, Jim. An hour's sun--would kill--both Laddy and Thorne. +Come on now." + +For once Jim Lash's cool good nature and careless indifference +gave precedence to amaze and concern. + +"Always knew you was a husky chap. But, Dick, you're no hoss! +Get me a crutch an' give me a lift on one side." + +"Come on," replied Gale. "I've no time to monkey." + +He lifted the ranger, called to Yaqui to follow with some of the +camp outfit, and once more essayed the steep descent. Jim Lash +was the heaviest man of the three, and Gale's strength was put +to enormous strain to carry him on that broken trail. +Nevertheless, Gale went down, down, walking swiftly and surely +over the bad places; and at last he staggered into the arroyo with +bursting heart and red-blinded eyes. When he had recovered he +made a final trip up the slope for the camp effects which Yaqui had +been unable to carry. + +Then he drew Jim and Mercedes and Yaqui, also, into an earnest +discussion of ways and means whereby to fight for the life of +Thorne. Ladd's case Gale now considered hopeless, though he +meant to fight for him, too, as long as he breathed. + +In the labor of watching and nursing it seemed to Gale that two +days and two nights slipped by like a few hours. During that time +the Indian recovered from his injury, and became capable of +performing all except heavy tasks. Then Gale succumbed to +weariness. After his much-needed rest he relieved Mercedes of the +care and watch over Thorne which, up to that time, she had +absolutely refused to relinquish. The cavalryman had high fever, +and Gale feared he had developed blood poisoning. He required +constant attention. His condition slowly grew worse, and there +came a day which Gale thought surely was the end. But that day +passed, and the night, and the next day, and Thorne lived on, +ghastly, stricken, raving. Mercedes hung over him with jealous, +passionate care and did all that could have been humanly done for +a man. She grew wan, absorbed, silent. But suddenly, and to Gale's +amaze and thanksgiving, there came an abatement of Thorne's fever. +With it some of the heat and redness of the inflamed wound +disappeared. Next morning he was conscious, and Gale grasped some +of the hope that Mercedes had never abandoned. He forced her to +rest while he attended to Thorne. That day he saw that the crisis +was past. Recovery for Thorne was now possible, and would perhaps +depend entirely upon the care he received. + +Jim Lash's wound healed without any aggravating symptoms. It would +be only a matter of time until he had the use of his leg again. All +these days, however, there was little apparent change in Ladd's +condition unless it was that he seemed to fade away as he lingered. +At first his wounds remained open; they bled a little all the time +outwardly, perhaps internally also; the blood did not seem to clot, +and so the bullet holes did not close. Then Yaqui asked for the +care of Ladd. Gale yielded it with opposing thoughts--that Ladd +would waste slowly away till life ceased, and that there never was +any telling what might lie in the power of this strange Indian. +Yaqui absented himself from camp for a while, and when he returned +he carried the roots and leaves of desert plants unknown to Gale. +From these the Indian brewed an ointment. Then he stripped the +bandages from Ladd and applied the mixture to his wounds. That +done, he let him lie with the wounds exposed to the air, at night +covering him. Next day he again exposed the wounds to the warm, +dry air. Slowly they closed, and Ladd ceased to bleed externally. + +Days passed and grew into what Gale imagined must have been weeks. +Yaqui recovered fully. Jim Lash began to move about on a crutch; +he shared the Indian's watch over Ladd. Thorne lay haggard, +emaciated ghost of his rugged self, but with life in the eyes that +turned always toward Mercedes. Ladd lingered and lingered. The +life seemingly would not leave his bullet-pierced body. He faded, +withered, shrunk till he was almost a skeleton. He knew those who +worked and watched over him, but he had no power of speech. His +eyes and eyelids moved; the rest of him seemed stone. All those +days nothing except water was given him. It was marvelous how +tenaciously, however feebly, he clung to life. Gale imagined it was +the Yaqui's spirit that held back death. That tireless, implacable, +inscrutable savage was ever at the ranger's side. His great somber +eyes burned. At length he went to Gale, and, with that strange light +flitting across the hard bronzed face, he said Ladd would live. + + +The second day after Ladd had been given such thin nourishment as +he could swallow he recovered the use of his tongue. + +"Shore--this's--hell," he whispered. + +That was a characteristic speech for the ranger, Gale thought; and +indeed it made all who heard it smile while their eyes were wet. + +From that time forward Ladd gained, but he gained so immeasurably +slowly that only the eyes of hope could have seen any improvement. +Jim Lash threw away his crutch, and Thorne was well, if still somewhat +weak, before Ladd could lift his arm or turn his head. A kind of +long, immovable gloom passed, like a shadow, from his face. His +whispers grew stronger. And the day arrived when Gale, who was +perhaps the least optimistic, threw doubt to the winds and knew the +ranger would get well. For Gale that joyous moment of realization +was one in which he seemed to return to a former self long absent. +He experienced an elevation of soul. He was suddenly overwhelmed +with gratefulness, humility, awe. A gloomy black terror had passed +by. He wanted to thank the faithful Mercedes, and Thorne for +getting well, and the cheerful Lash, and Ladd himself, and that +strange and wonderful Yaqui, now such a splendid figure. He thought +of home and Nell. The terrible encompassing red slopes lost something +of their fearsomeness, and there was a good spirit hovering near. + + +"Boys, come round," called Ladd, in his low voice. "An' you, +Mercedes. An' call the Yaqui." + +Ladd lay in the shade of the brush shelter that had been +erected. His head was raised slightly on a pillow. There seemed +little of him but long lean lines, and if it had not been for his +keen, thoughtful, kindly eyes, his face would have resembled a +death mask of a man starved. + +"Shore I want to know what day is it an' what month?" asked Ladd. + +Nobody could answer him. The question seemed a surprise to Gale, +and evidently was so to the others. + +"Look at that cactus," went on Ladd. + +Near the wall of lava a stunted saguaro lifted its head. A few +shriveled blossoms that had once been white hung along the fluted +column. + +"I reckon according to that giant cactus it's somewheres along the +end of March," said Jim Lash, soberly. + +"Shore it's April. Look where the sun is. An' can't you feel +it's gettin' hot?" + +"Supposin' it is April?" queried Lash slowly. + +"Well, what I'm drivin' at is it's about time you all was hittin' +the trail back to Forlorn River, before the waterholes dry out." + +"Laddy, I reckon we'll start soon as you're able to be put on a +hoss." + +"Shore that 'll be too late." + +A silence ensued, in which those who heard Ladd gazed fixedly at +him and then at one another. Lash uneasily shifted the position +of his lame leg, and Gale saw him moisten his lips with his tongue. + +"Charlie Ladd, I ain't reckonin' you mean we're to ride off an' +leave you here?" + +"What else is there to do? The hot weather's close. Pretty soon +most of the waterholes will be dry. You can't travel then....I'm +on my back here, an' God only knows when I could be packed out. +Not for weeks, mebbe. I'll never be any good again, even if I was +to get out alive....You see, shore this sort of case comes round +sometimes in the desert. It's common enough. I've heard of several +cases where men had to go an' leave a feller behind. It's reasonable. +If you're fightin' the desert you can't afford to be sentimental... +Now, as I said, I'm all in. So what's the sense of you waitin' here, +when it means the old desert story? By goin' now mebbe you'll get home. +If you wait on a chance of takin' me, you'll be too late. Pretty soon +this lava 'll be one roastin' hell. Shore now, boys, you'll see this +the right way? Jim, old pard?" + +"No, Laddy, an' I can't figger how you could ever ask me." + +"Shore then leave me here with Yaqui an' a couple of the hosses. +We can eat sheep meat. An' if the water holds out--" + +"No!" interrupted Lash, violently. + +Ladd's eyes sought Gale's face. + +"Son, you ain't bull-headed like Jim. You'll see the sense of it. +There's Nell a-waitin' back at Forlorn River. Think what it means +to her! She's a damn fine girl, Dick, an' what right have you to +break her heart for an old worn-out cowpuncher? Think how she's +watchin' for you with that sweet face all sad an' troubled, an' +her eyes turnin' black. You'll go, son, won't you?" + +Dick shook his head. + +The ranger turned his gaze upon Thorne, and now the keen, glistening +light in his gray eyes had blurred. + +"Thorne, it's different with you. Jim's a fool, an' young Gale has +been punctured by choya thorns. He's got the desert poison in his +blood. But you now--you've no call to stick--you can find that +trail out. It's easy to follow, made by so many shod hosses. Take +your wife an' go....Shore you'll go, Thorne?" + +Deliberately and without an instant's hesitation the calvaryman +replied "No." + +Ladd then directed his appeal to Mercedes. His face was now +convulsed, and his voice, though it had sunk to a whisper, was +clear, and beautiful with some rich quality that Gale had never +heard in it. + +"Mercedes, you're a woman. You're the woman we fought for. An' +some of us are shore goin' to die for you. Don't make it all for +nothin'. Let us feel we saved the woman. Shore you can make Thorne +go. He'll have to go if you say. They'll all have to go. Think of +the years of love an' happiness in store for you. A week or so +an' it 'll be too late. Can you stand for me seein' you?...Let +me tell you, Mercedes, when the summer heat hits the lava we'll +all wither an' curl up like shavin's near a fire. A wind of hell +will blow up this slope. Look at them mesquites. See the twist +in them. That's the torture of heat an' thirst. Do you want me +or all us men seein'you like that?...Mercedes, don't make it all +for nothin'. Say you'll persuade Thorne, if not the others." + +For all the effect his appeal had to move her Mercedes might have +possessed a heart as hard and fixed as the surrounding lava. + +"Never!" + +White-faced, with great black eyes flashing, the Spanish girl +spoke the word that bound her and her companions in the desert. + +The subject was never mentioned again. Gale thought that he read +a sinister purpose in Ladd's mind. To his astonishment, Lash +came to him with the same fancy. After that they made certain +there never was a gun within reach of Ladd's clutching, clawlike +hands. + +Gradually a somber spell lifted from the ranger's mind. When he +was entirely free of it he began to gather strength daily. Then +it was as if he had never known patience--he who had shown so well +how to wait. He was in a frenzy to get well. He appetite could +not be satisfied. + +The sun climbed higher, whiter, hotter. At midday a wind from +gulfward roared up the arroyo, and now only palos verdes and the +few saguaros were green. Every day the water in the lava hole +sank an inch. + +The Yaqui alone spent the waiting time in activity. He made +trips up on the lava slope, and each time he returned with +guns or boots or sombreros, or something belonging to the +bandits that had fallen. He never fetched in a saddle or bridle, +and from that the rangers concluded Rojas's horses had long before +taken their back trail. What speculation, what consternation +those saddled horses would cause if they returned to Forlorn River! + +As Ladd improved there was one story he had to hear every day. It +was the one relating to what he had missed--the sight of Rojas +pursued and plunged to his doom. The thing had a morbid fascination +for the sick ranger. He reveled in it. He tortured Mercedes. +His gentleness and consideration, heretofore so marked, were in +abeyance to some sinister, ghastly joy. But to humor him Mercedes +racked her soul with the sensations she had sufferd when Rojas +hounded her out on the ledge; when she shot him; when she sprang +to throw herself over the precipice; when she fought him; when +with half-blinded eyes she looked up to see the merciless Yaqui +reaching for the bandit. Ladd fed his cruel longing with Thorne's +poignant recollections, with the keen, clear, never-to-be-forgotten +shocks to Gale's eye and ear. Jim Lash, for one at least, never +tired of telling how he had seen and heard the tragedy, and every +time in the telling it gathered some more tragic and gruesome +detail. Jim believed in satiating the ranger. Then in the +twilight, when the campfire burned, Ladd would try to get the +Yaqui to tell his side of the story. But this the Indian would +never do. There was only the expression of his fathomless eyes +and the set passion of his massive face. + +Those waiting days grew into weeks. Ladd gained very slowly. +Nevertheless, at last he could walk about, and soon he averred +that, strapped to a horse, he could last out the trip to Forlorn +River. + +There was rejoicing in camp, and plans were eagerly suggested. +The Yaqui happened to be absent. When he returned the rangers +told him they were now ready to undertake the journey back across +lava and cactus. + +Yaqui shook his head. They declared again their intention. + +"No!" replied the Indian, and his deep, sonorous voice rolled +out upon the quiet of the arroyo. He spoke briefly then. They +had waited too long. The smaller waterholes back in the trail +were dry. The hot summer was upon them. There could be only +death waiting down in the burning valley. Here was water and +grass and wood and shade from the sun's rays, and sheep to be +killed on the peaks. The water would hold unless the season was +that dreaded ano seco of the Mexicans. + +"Wait for rain," concluded Yaqui, and now as never before he +spoke as one with authority. "If no rain--" Silently he lifted +his hand. + + + +XVI + + +MOUNTAIN SHEEP + +WHAT Gale might have thought an appalling situation, if considered +from a safe and comfortable home away from the desert, became, now +that he was shut in by the red-ribbed lava walls and great dry +wastes, a matter calmly accepted as inevitable. So he imagined it +was accepted by the others. Not even Mercedes uttered a regret. +No word was spoken of home. If there was thought of loved one, +it was locked deep in their minds. In Mercedes there was no change +in womanly quality, perhaps because all she had to love was there +in the desert with her. + +Gale had often pondered over this singular change in character. +He had trained himself, in order to fight a paralyzing something +in the desert's influence, to oppose with memory and thought an +insidious primitive retrogression to what was scarcely consciousness +at all, merely a savage's instinct of sight and sound. He felt the +need now of redoubled effort. For there was a sheer happiness in +drifting. Not only was it easy to forget, it was hard to remember. +His idea was that a man laboring under a great wrong, a great crime, +a great passion might find the lonely desert a fitting place for +either remembrance or oblivion, according to the nature of his soul. +But an ordinary, healthy, reasonably happy mortal who loved the open +with its blaze of sun and sweep of wind would have a task to keep +from going backward to the natural man as he was before civilization. + +By tacit agreement Ladd again became the leader of the party. +Ladd was a man who would have taken all the responsibility +whether or not it was given him. In moments of hazard, of +uncertainty, Lash and Gale, even Belding, unconsciously looked to the +ranger. He had that kind of power. + +The first thing Ladd asked was to have the store of food that +remained spread out upon a tarpaulin. Assuredly, it was a slender +enough supply. The ranger stood for long moments gazing down at +it. He was groping among past experiences, calling back from his +years of life on range and desert that which might be valuable for +the present issue. It was impossible to read the gravity of Ladd's +face, for he still looked like a dead man, but the slow shake of +his head told Gale much. There was a grain of hope, however, in +the significance with which he touched the bags of salt and said, +"Shore it was sense packin' all that salt!" + +Then he turned to face his comrades. + +"That's little grub for six starvin' people corralled in the desert. +But the grub end ain't worryin' me. Yaqui can get sheep up the +slopes. Water! That's the beginnin' and middle an' end of our +case." + +"Laddy, I reckon the waterhole here never goes dry," replied Jim. + +"Ask the Indian." + +Upon being questioned, Yaqui repeated what he had said about the +dreaded ano seco of the Mexicans. In a dry year this waterhole +failed. + +"Dick, take a rope an' see how much water's in the hole." + +Gale could not find bottom with a thirty foot lasso. The water +was as cool, clear, sweet as if it had been kept in a shaded +iron receptable. + +Ladd welcomed this information with surprise and gladness. + +"Let's see. Last year was shore pretty dry. Mebbe this summer +won't be. Mebbe our wonderful good luck'll hold. Ask Yaqui if he +thinks it 'll rain." + +Mercedes questioned the Indian. + +"He says no man can tell surely. But he thinks the rain will +come," she replied. + +"Shore it 'll rain, you can gamble on that now," continued Ladd. +"If there's only grass for the hosses! We can't get out of here +without hosses. Dick, take the Indian an' scout down the arroyo. +To-day I seen the hosses were gettin' fat. Gettin' fat in this +desert! But mebbe they've about grazed up all the grass. Go an' +see, Dick. An' may you come back with more good news!" + +Gale, upon the few occasions when he had wandered down the arroyo, +had never gone far. The Yaqui said there was grass for the horses, +and until now no one had given the question more consideration. +Gale found that the arroyo widened as it opened. Near the head, +where it was narrow, the grass lined the course of the dry stream +bed. But farther down this stream bed spread out. There was every +indication that at flood seasons the water covered the floor of the +arroyo. The farther Gale went the thicker and larger grew the +gnarled mesquites and palo verdes, the more cactus and greasewood +there were, and other desert growths. Patches of gray grass grew +everywhere. Gale began to wonder where the horses were. Finally +the trees and brush thinned out, and a mile-wide gray plain +stretched down to reddish sand dunes. Over to one side were the +white horses, and even as Gale saw them both Blanco Diablo and +Sol lifted their heads and, with white manes tossing in the wind, +whistled clarion calls. Here was grass enough for many horses; +the arroyo was indeed an oasis. + +Ladd and the others were awaiting Gale's report, and they received +it with calmness, yet with a joy no less evident because it was +restrained. Gale, in his keen observation at the moment, found +that he and his comrades turned with glad eyes to the woman of +the party. + +"Senor Laddy, you think--you believe--we shall--" she faltered, +and her voice failed. It was the woman in her, weakening in the +light of real hope, of the happiness now possible beyond that +desert barrier. + +"Mercedes, no white man can tell what'll come to pass out here," +said Ladd, earnestly. "Shore I have hopes now I never dreamed of. +I was pretty near a dead man. The Indian saved me. Queer notions +have come into my head about Yaqui. I don't understand them. He +seems when you look at him only a squalid, sullen, vengeful savage. +But Lord! that's far from the truth. Mebbe Yaqui's different from +most Indians. He looks the same, though. Mebbe the trouble is we +white folks never knew the Indian. Anyway, Beldin' had it right. +Yaqui's our godsend. Now as to the future, I'd like to know mebbe +as well as you if we're ever to get home. Only bein' what I am, +I say, Quien sabe? But somethin' tells me Yaqui knows. Ask him, +Mercedes. Make him tell. We'll all be the better for knowin'. +We'd be stronger for havin' more'n our faith in him. He's silent +Indian, but make him tell." + +Mercedes called to Yaqui. At her bidding there was always a suggestion +of hurry, which otherwise was never manifest in his actions. She +put a hand on his bared muscular arm and began to speak in Spanish. +Her voice was low, swift, full of deep emotion, sweet as the sound +of a bell. It thrilled Gale, though he understood scarcely a word +she said. He did not need translation to know that here spoke the +longing of a woman for life, love, home, the heritage of a woman's +heart. + +Gale doubted his own divining impression. It was that the Yaqui +understood this woman's longing. In Gale's sight the Indian's +stoicism, his inscrutability, the lavalike hardness of his face, +although they did not change, seemed to give forth light, gentleness, +loyalty. For an instant Gale seemed to have a vision; but it did +not last, and he failed to hold some beautiful illusive thing. + +"Si!" rolled out the Indian's reply, full of power and depth. + +Mercedes drew a long breath, and her hand sought Thorne's. + +"He says yes," she whispered. "He answers he'll save us; he'll +take us all back--he knows!" + +The Indian turned away to his tasks, and the silence that held the +little group was finally broken by Ladd. + +"Shore I said so. Now all we've got to do is use sense. Friends, +I'm the commissary department of this outfit, an' what I say goes. +You all won't eat except when I tell you. Mebbe it'll not be so +hard to keep our health. Starved beggars don't get sick. But +there's the heat comin', an' we can all go loco, you know. To +pass the time! Lord, that's our problem. Now if you all only had +a hankerin' for checkers. Shore I'll make a board an' make you +play. Thorne, you're the luckiest. You've got your girl, an' this +can be a honeymoon. Now with a few tools an' little material see +what a grand house you can build for your wife. Dick, you're +lucky, too. You like to hunt, an' up there you'll find the finest +bighorn huntin' in the West. Take Yaqui and the .405. We need +the meat, but while you're gettin' it have your sport. The same +chance will never come again. I wish we all was able to go. But +crippled men can't climb the lava. Shore you'll see some country +from the peaks. There's no wilder place on earth, except the poles. +An' when you're older, you an' Nell, with a couple of fine boys, +think what it'll be to tell them about bein' lost in the lava, an' +huntin' sheep with a Yaqui. Shore I've hit it. You can take +yours out in huntin' an' thinkin'. Now if I had a girl like Nell +I'd never go crazy. That's your game, Dick. Hunt, an' think of +Nell, an' how you'll tell those fine boys about it all, an' about +the old cowman you knowed, Laddy, who'll by then be long past the +divide. Rustle now, son. Get some enthusiasm. For shore you'll +need it for yourself an' us." + +Gale climbed the lava slope, away round to the right of the arroyo, +along an old trail that Yaqui said the Papagos had made before his +own people had hunted there. Part way it led through spiked, +crested, upheaved lava that would have been almost impassable even +without its silver coating of choya cactus. There were benches +and ledges and ridges bare and glistening in the sun. From the +crests of these Yaqui's searching falcon gaze roved near and far +for signs of sheep, and Gale used his glass on the reaches of lava +that slanted steeply upward to the corrugated peaks, and down over +endless heave and roll and red-waved slopes. The heat smoked up +from the lava, and this, with the red color and the shiny choyas, +gave the impression of a world of smoldering fire. + +Farther along the slope Yaqui halted and crawled behind projections +to a point commanding a view over an extraordinary section of +country. The peaks were off to the left. In the foreground were +gullies, ridges, and canyons, arroyos, all glistening with choyas +and some other and more numerous white bushes, and here and there +towered a green cactus. This region was only a splintered and more +devastated part of the volcanic slope, but it was miles in extent. +Yaqui peeped over the top of a blunt block of lava and searched +the sharp-billowed wilderness. Suddenly he grasped Gale and +pointed across a deep wide gully. + +With the aid of his glass Gale saw five sheep. They were much +larger than he had expected, dull brown in color, and two of +them were rams with great curved horns. They were looking in his +direction. Remembering what he had heard about the wonderful +eyesight of these mountain animals, Gale could only conclude that +they had seen the hunters. + +Then Yaqui's movements attracted and interested him. The Indian +had brought with him a red scarf and a mesquite branch. He tied +the scarf to the stick, and propped this up in a crack of the lava. +The scarf waved in the wind. That done, the Indian bade Gale watch. + +Once again he leveled the glass at the sheep. All five were +motionless, standing like statues, heads pointed across the gully. +They were more than a mile distant. When Gale looked without his +glass they merged into the roughness of the lava. He was intensely +interested. Did the sheep see the red scarf? It seemed incredible, +but nothing else could account for that statuesque alertness. The +sheep held this rigid position for perhaps fifteen minutes. Then +the leading ram started to approach. The others followed. He +took a few steps, then halted. Always he held his head up, nose +pointed. + +"By George, they're coming!" exclaimed Gale. "They see that flag. +They're hunting us. They're curious. If this doesn't beat me!" + +Evidently the Indian understood, for he grunted. + +Gale found difficulty in curbing his impatience. The approach of +the sheep was slow. The advances of the leader and the intervals +of watching had a singular regularity. He worked like a machine. +Gale followed him down the opposite wall, around holes, across +gullies, over ridges. Then Gale shifted the glass back to find +the others. They were coming also, with exactly the same pace +and pause of their leader. What steppers they were! How +sure-footed! What leaps they made! It was thrilling to watch +them. Gale forgot he had a rifle. The Yaqui pressed a heavy hand +down upon his shoulder. He was to keep well hidden and to be quiet. +Gale suddenly conceived the idea that the sheep might come clear +across to investigate the puzzling red thing fluttering in the +breeze. Strange, indeed, would that be for the wildest creatures +in the world. + +The big ram led on with the same regular persistence, and in half an +hour's time he was in the bottom of the great gulf, and soon he was +facing up the slope. Gale knew then that the alluring scarf had +fascinated him. It was no longer necessary now for Gale to use his +glass. There was a short period when an intervening crest of lava +hid the sheep from view. After that the two rams and their smaller +followers were plainly in sight for perhaps a quarter of an hour. +Then they disappeared behind another ridge. Gale kept watching sure +they would come out farther on. A tense period of waiting passed, +then a suddenly electrifying pressure of Yaqui's hand made Gale +tremble with excitement. + +Very cautiously he shifted his position. There, not fifty feet +distant upon a high mound of lava, stood the leader of the sheep. +His size astounded Gale. He seemed all horns. But only for a +moment did the impression of horns overbalancing body remain with +Gale. The sheep was graceful, sinewy, slender, powerfully built, +and in poise magnificent. As Gale watched, spellbound, the second +ram leaped lightly upon the mound, and presently the three others +did likewise. + +Then, indeed, Gale feasted his eyes with a spectacle for a hunter. +It came to him suddenly that there had been something he expected +to see in this Rocky Mountain bighorn, and it was lacking. They +were beautiful, as wonderful as even Ladd's encomiums had led him +to suppose. He thought perhaps it was the contrast these soft, +sleek, short-furred, graceful animals afforded to what he imagined +the barren, terrible lava mountains might develop. + +The splendid leader stepped closer, his round, protruding amber +eyes, which Gale could now plainly see, intent upon that fatal +red flag. Like automatons the other four crowded into his tracks. +A few little slow steps, then the leader halted. + +At this instant Gale's absorbed attention was directed by Yaqui +to the rifle, and so to the purpose of the climb. A little cold +shock affronted Gale's vivid pleasure. With it dawned a realization +of what he had imagined was lacking in these animals. They did not +look wild! The so-called wildest of wild creatures appeared tamer +than sheep he had followed on a farm. It would be little less than +murder to kill them. Gale regretted the need of slaughter. +Nevertheless, he could not resist the desire to show himself and +see how tame they really were. + +He reached for the .405, and as he threw a shell into the chamber +the slight metallic click made the sheep jump. Then Gale rose +quickly to his feet. + +The noble ram and his band simply stared at Gale. They had never +seen a man. They showed not the slightest indication of instinctive +fear. Curiosity, surprise, even friendliness, seemed to mark +their attitude of attention. Gale imagined that they were going +to step still closer. He did not choose to wait to see if this +were true. Certainly it already took a grim resolution to raise +the heavy .405. + +His shot killed the big leader. The others bounded away with +remarkable nimbleness. Gale used up the remaining four shells +to drop the second ram, and by the time he had reloaded the others +were out of range. + + +The Yaqui's method of hunting was sure and deadly and saving of +energy, but Gale never would try it again. He chose to stalk the +game. This entailed a great expenditure of strength, the eyes +and lungs of a mountaineer, and, as Gale put it to Ladd, the need +of seven-league boots. After being hunted a few times and shot +at, the sheep became exceedingly difficult to approach. Gale +learned to know that their fame as the keenest-eyed of all animals +was well founded. If he worked directly toward a flock, crawling +over the sharp lava, always a sentinel ram espied him before he +got within range. The only method of attack that he found successful +was to locate sheep with his glass, work round to windward of +them, and then, getting behind a ridge or buttress, crawl like a +lizard to a vantage point. He failed often. The stalk called +forth all that was in him of endurance, cunning, speed. +As the days grew hotter he hunted in the early morning +hours and a while before the sun went down. More than one night +he lay out on the lava, with the great stars close overhead and +the immense void all beneath him. This pursuit he learned to love. +Upon those scarred and blasted slopes the wild spirit that was in +him had free rein. And like a shadow the faithful Yaqui tried +ever to keep at his heels. + +One morning the rising sun greeted him as he surmounted the higher +cone of the volcano. He saw the vastness of the east algow with a +glazed rosy whiteness, like the changing hue of an ember. At this +height there was a sweeping wind, still cool. The western slopes +of lava lay dark, and all that world of sand and gulf and mountain +barrier beyond was shrouded in the mystic cloud of distance. Gale +had assimilated much of the loneliness and the sense of ownership +and the love of lofty heights that might well belong to the great +condor of the peak. Like this wide-winged bird, he had an +unparalleled range of vision. The very corners whence came the +winds seemed pierced by Gale's eyes. + +Yaqui spied a flock of sheep far under the curved broken rim of +the main crater. Then began the stalk. Gale had taught the Yaqui +something--that speed might win as well as patient cunning. Keeping +out of sight, Gale ran over the spike-crusted lava, leaving the +Indian far behind. His feet were magnets, attracting supporting +holds and he passed over them too fast to fall. The wind, the keen +air of the heights, the red lava, the boundless surrounding blue, +all seemed to have something to do with his wildness. Then, hiding, +slipping, creeping, crawling, he closed in upon his quarry until +the long rifle grew like stone in his grip, and the whipping "spang" +ripped the silence, and the strange echo boomed deep in the crater, +and rolled around, as if in hollow mockery at the hopelessness of +escape. + +Gale's exultant yell was given as much to free himself of some +bursting joy of action as it was to call the slower Yaqui. +Then he liked the strange echoes. It was a maddening whirl of +sound that bored deeper and deeper along the whorled and caverned +walls of the crater. It was as if these aged walls resented the +violating of their silent sanctity. Gale felt himself a man, a +thing alive, something superior to all this savage, dead, upflung +world of iron, a master even of all this grandeur and sublimity +because he had a soul. + +He waited beside his quarry, and breathed deep, and swept the long +slopes with searching eyes of habit. + +When Yaqui came up they set about the hardest task of all, to pack +the best of that heavy sheep down miles of steep, ragged, +choya-covered lava. But even in this Gale rejoiced. The heat was +nothing, the millions of little pits which could hold and twist a +foot were nothing; the blade-edged crusts and the deep fissures and +the choked canyons and the tangled, dwarfed mesquites, all these +were as nothing but obstacles to be cheerfully overcome. Only the +choya hindered Dick Gale. + +When his heavy burden pulled him out of sure-footedness, and he +plunged into a choya, or when the strange, deceitful, uncanny, +almost invisible frosty thorns caught and pierced him, then there +was call for all of fortitude and endurance. For this cactus had +a malignant power of torture. Its pain was a stinging, blinding, +burning, sickening poison in the blood. If thorns pierced his +legs he felt the pain all over his body; if his hands rose from +a fall full of the barbed joints, he was helpless and quivering +till Yaqui tore them out. + +But this one peril, dreaded more than dizzy height of precipice +or sunblindness on the glistening peak, did not daunt Gale. His +teacher was the Yaqui, and always before him was an example that +made him despair of a white man's equality. Color, race, blood, +breeding--what were these in the wilderness? Verily, Dick Gale +had come to learn the use of his hands. + +So in a descent of hours he toiled down the lava slope, to stalk +into the arroyo like a burdened giant, wringing wet, panting, +clear-eyed and dark-faced, his ragged clothes and boots white +with choya thorns. + +The gaunt Ladd rose from his shaded seat, and removed his pipe from +smiling lips, and turned to nod at Jim, and then looked back again. + +The torrid summer heat came imperceptibly, or it could never have +been borne by white men. It changed the lives of the fugitives, +making them partly nocturnal in habit. The nights had the balmly +coolness of spring, and would have been delightful for sleep, but +that would have made the blazing days unendurable. + +The sun rose in a vast white flame. With it came the blasting, +withering wind from the gulf. A red haze, like that of earlier +sunsets, seemed to come sweeping on the wind, and it roared up +the arroyo, and went bellowing into the crater, and rushed on +in fury to lash the peaks. + +During these hot, windy hours the desert-bound party slept in +deep recesses in the lava; and if necessity brought them forth +they could not remain out long. the sand burned through boots, +and a touch of bare hand on lava raised a blister. + +A short while before sundown the Yaqui went forth to build a +campfire, and soon the others came out, heat-dazed, half +blinded, with parching throats to allay and hunger that was +never satisfied. A little action and a cooling of the air +revived them, and when night set in they were comfortable +round the campfire. + +As Ladd had said, one of their greatest problems was the +passing of time. The nights were interminably long, but +they had to be passed in work or play or dream--anything +except sleep. That was Ladd's most inflexible command. He gave +no reason. But not improbably the ranger thought that the terrific +heat of the day spend in slumber lessened a wear and strain, if +not a real danger of madness. + +Accordingly, at first the occupations of this little group were +many and various. They worked if they had something to do, or +could invent a pretext. They told and retold stories until all +were wearisome. They sang songs. Mercedes taught Spanish. They +played every game they knew. They invented others that were so +trivial children would scarcely have been interested, and these +they played seriously. In a word, with intelligence and passion, +with all that was civilized and human, they fought the ever-infringing +loneliness, the savage solitude of their environment. + +But they had only finite minds. It was not in reason to expect a +complete victory against this mighty Nature, this bounding horizon +of death and desolation and decay. Gradually they fell back upon +fewer and fewer occupations, until the time came when the silence +was hard to break. + +Gale believed himself the keenest of the party, the one who thought +most, and he watched the effect of the desert upon his companions. +He imagined that he saw Ladd grow old sitting round the campfire. +Certain it was that the ranger's gray hair had turned white. What +had been at times hard and cold and grim about him had strangely +vanished in sweet temper and a vacant-mindedness that held him +longer as the days passed. For hours, it seemed, Ladd would bend +over his checkerboard and never make a move. It mattered not now +whether or not he had a partner. He was always glad of being +spoken to, as if he were called back from vague region of mind. +Jim Lash, the calmest, coolest, most nonchalant, best-humored +Westerner Gale had ever met, had by slow degrees lost that cheerful +character which would have been of such infinite good to his +companions, and always he sat broding, silently brooding. Jim had +no ties, few memories, and the desert was claiming him. + +Thorne and Mercedes, however, were living, wonderful proof +that spirit, mind, and heart were free--free to soar in scorn +of the colossal barrenness and silence and space of that +terrible hedging prison of lava. They were young; they +loved; they were together; and the oasis was almost a paradise. +Gale believe he helped himself by watching them. Imagination had +never pictured real happiness to him. Thorne and Mercedes had +forgotten the outside world. If they had been existing on the +burned-out desolate moon they could hardly have been in a harsher, +grimmer, lonelier spot than this red-walled arroyo. But it might +have been a statelier Eden than that of the primitive day. + +Mercedes grew thinner, until she was a slender shadow of her former +self. She became hard, brown as the rangers, lithe and quick as +a panther. She seemed to live on water and the air--perhaps, indeed, +on love. For of the scant fare, the best of which was continually +urged upon her, she partook but little. She reminded Gale of a +wild brown creature, free as the wind on the lava slopes. Yet, +despite the great change, her beauty remained undiminished. Her +eyes, seeming so much larger now in her small face, were great +black, starry gulfs. She was the life of that camp. Her smiles, +her rapid speech, her low laughter, her quick movements, her +playful moods with the rangers, the dark and passionate glance, +which rested so often on her lover, the whispers in the dusk as +hand in hand they paced the campfire beat--these helped Gale to +retain his loosening hold on reality, to resist the lure of a +strange beckoning life where a man stood free in the golden open, +where emotion was not, nor trouble, nor sickness, nor anything but +the savage's rest and sleep and action and dream. + +Although the Yaqui was as his shadow, Gale reached a point when +he seemed to wander alone at twilight, in the night, at dawn. Far +down the arroyo, in the deepening red twilight, when the heat +rolled away on slow-dying wind, Blanco Sol raised his splendid +head and whistled for his master. Gale reproached himself for +neglect of the noble horse. Blanco Sol was always the same. He +loved four things--his master, a long drink of cool water, to graze +at will, and to run. Time and place, Gale thought, meant little +to Sol if he could have those four things. Gale put his arm over +the great arched neck and laid his cheek against the long white +mane, and then even as he stood there forgot the horse. What was +the dull, red-tinged, horizon-wide mantle creeping up the slope? +Through it the copper sun glowed, paled, died. Was it only twilight? +Was it gloom? If he thought about it he had a feeling that it was +the herald of night and the night must be a vigil, and that made +him tremble. + +At night he had formed a habit of climbing up the lava slope as +far as the smooth trail extended, and there on a promontory he +paced to and fro, and watched the stars, and sat stone-still for +hours looking down at the vast void with its moving, changing +shadows. From that promontory he gazed up at a velvet-blue sky, +deep and dark, bright with millions of cold, distant, blinking +stars, and he grasped a little of the meaning of infinitude. He +gazed down into the shadows, which, black as they were and +impenetrable, yet have a conception of immeasurable space. + +Then the silence! He was dumb, he was awed, he bowed his head, +he trembled, he marveled at the desert silence. It was the one +thing always present. Even when the wind roared there seemed to +be silence. But at night, in this lava world of ashes and canker, +he waited for this terrible strangeness of nature to come to him +with the secret. He seemed at once a little child and a strong man, +and something very old. What tortured him was the incomprehensibility +that the vaster the space the greater the silence! At one moment +Gale felt there was only death here, and that was the secret; at +another he heard the slow beat of a mighty heart. + +He came at length to realize that the desert was a teacher. He +did not realize all that he had learned, but he was a different +man. And when he decided upon that, he was not thinking of the slow, +sure call to the primal instincts of man; he was thinking that the desert, +as much as he had experienced and no more, would absolutely overturn the +whole scale of a man's values, break old habits, form new ones, remake him. +More of desert experience, Gale believe, would be too much for intellect. +The desert did not breed civilized man, and that made Gale ponder over +a strange thought: after all, was the civilized man inferior to the savage? + +Yaqui was the answer to that. When Gale acknowledged this he always +remembered his present strange manner of thought. The past, the +old order of mind, seemed as remote as this desert world was from +the haunts of civilized men. A man must know a savage as Gale knew +Yaqui before he could speak authoritatively, and then something +stilled his tongue. In the first stage of Gale's observation of +Yaqui he had marked tenaciousness of life, stoicism, endurance, +strength. These were the attributes of the desert. But what of +that second stage wherein the Indian had loomed up a colossal +figure of strange honor, loyalty, love? Gale doubted his convictions +and scorned himself for doubting. + +There in the gloom sat the silent, impassive, inscrutable Yaqui. +His dark face, his dark eyes were plain in the light of the stars. +Always he was near Gale, unobtrusive, shadowy, but there. Why? +Gale absolutely could not doubt that the Indian had heart as well +as mind. Yaqui had from the very first stood between Gale and +accident, toil, peril. It was his own choosing. Gale could not +change him or thwart him. He understood the Indian's idea of +obligation and sacred duty. But there was more, and that baffled +Gale. In the night hours, alone on the slope, Gale felt in Yaqui, +as he felt the mighty throb of that desert pulse, a something that +drew him irresistibly to the Indian. Sometimes he looked around +to find the Indian, to dispel these strange, pressing thoughts +of unreality, and it was never in vain. + +Thus the nights passed, endlessly long, with Gale fighting for his +old order of thought, fighting the fascination of the infinite sky, +and the gloomy insulating whirl of the wide shadows, fighting for +belief, hope, prayer, fighting against that terrible ever-recurring +idea of being lost, lost, lost in the desert, fighting harder than +any other thing the insidious, penetrating, tranquil, unfeeling +self that was coming between him and his memory. + +He was losing the battle, losing his hold on tangible things, +losing his power to stand up under this ponderous, merciless weight +of desert space and silence. + +He acknowledged it in a kind of despair, and the shadows of the +night seemed whirling fiends. Lost! Lost! Lost! What are you +waiting for? Rain!. . . Lost! Lost! Lost in the desert! So the +shadows seemed to scream in voiceless mockery. + +At the moment he was alone on the promontory. The night was far +spent. A ghastly moon haunted the black volcanic spurs. The winds +blew silently. Was he alone? No, he did not seem to be alone. +The Yaqui was there. Suddenly a strange, cold sensation crept over +Gale. It was new. He felt a presence. Turning, he expected to +see the Indian, but instead, a slight shadow, pale, almost white, +stood there, not close nor yet distant. It seemed to brighten. +Then he saw a woman who resembled a girl he had seemed to know long +ago. She was white-faced, golden-haired, and her lips were sweet, +and her eyes were turning black. Nell! He had forgotten her. +Over him flooded a torrent of memory. There was tragic woe in this +sweet face. Nell was holding out her arms--she was crying aloud +to him across the sand and the cactus and the lava. She was in +trouble, and he had been forgetting. + +That night he climbed the lava to the topmost cone, and never +slipped on a ragged crust nor touched a choya thorn. A voice +called to him. He saw Nell's eyes in the stars, in the velvet +blue of sky, in the blackness of the engulfing shadows. +She was with him, a slender shape, a spirit, keeping step +with him, and memory was strong, sweet, beating, beautiful. +Far down in the west, faintly golden with light of the sinking moon, +he saw a cloud that resembled her face. A cloud on the desert horizon! +He gazed and gazed. Was that a spirit face like the one by his +side? No--he did not dream. + + +In the hot, sultry morning Yaqui appeared at camp, after long hours +of absence, and he pointed with a long, dark arm toward the west. +A bank of clouds was rising above the mountain barrier. + +"Rain!" he cried; and his sonorous voice rolled down the arroyo. + +Those who heard him were as shipwrecked mariners at sight of a +distant sail. + + +Dick Gale, silent, grateful to the depths of his soul, stood with +arm over Blanco Sol and watched the transforming west, where +clouds of wonderous size and hue piled over one another, rushing, +darkening, spreading, sweeping upward toward that white and glowing +sun. + +When they reached the zenish and swept round to blot out the blazing +orb, the earth took on a dark, lowering aspect. The red of sand +and lava changed to steely gray. Vast shadows, like ripples on +water, sheeted in from the gulf with a low, strange moan. Yet +the silence was like death. The desert was awaiting a strange +and hated visitation--storm! If all the endless torrid days, the +endless mystic nights had seemed unreal to Gale, what, then, seemed +this stupendous spectacle? + +"Oh! I felt a drop of rain on my face!" cried Mercedes; and +whispering the name of a saint, she kissed her husband. + +The white-haired Ladd, gaunt, old, bent, looked up at the maelstrom +of clouds, and he said, softly, "Shore we'll get in the hosses, +an' pack light, an' hit the trail, an' make night marches!" + +Then up out of the gulf of the west swept a bellowing wind and a +black pall and terrible flashes of lightning and thunder like the +end of the world--fury, blackness, chaos, the desert storm. + + + +XVII + + +THE WHISTLE OF A HORSE + +AT the ranch-house at Forlorn River Belding stood alone in his +darkened room. It was quiet there and quiet outside; the sickening +midsummer heat, like a hot heavy blanket, lay upon the house. + +He took up the gun belt from his table and with slow hands buckled +it around his waist. He seemed to feel something familiar and +comfortable and inspiring in the weight of the big gun against +his hip. He faced the door as if to go out, but hesitated, and +then began a slow, plodding walk up and down the length of the +room. Presently he halted at the table, and with reluctant hands +he unbuckled the gun belt and laid it down. + +The action did not have an air of finality, and Belding knew it. +He had seen border life in Texas in the early days; he had been +a sheriff when the law in the West depended on a quickness of +wrist; he had seen many a man lay down his gun for good and all. +His own action was not final. Of late he had done the same thing +many times and this last time it seemed a little harder to do, a +little more indicative of vacillation. There were reasons why +Belding's gun held for him a gloomy fascination. + +The Chases, those grasping and conscienceless agents of a new force +in the development of the West, were bent upon Belding's ruin, +and so far as his fortunes at Forlorn River were concerned, had +almost accomplished it. One by one he lost points for which he +contended with them. He carried into the Tucson courts the matter +of the staked claims, and mining claims, and water claims, and he +lost all. Following that he lost his government position as inspector +of immigration; and this fact, because of what he considered its +injustice, had been a hard blow. He had been made to suffer a +humiliation equally as great. It came about that he actually had +to pay the Chases for water to irrigate his alfalfa fields. The +never-failing spring upon his land answered for the needs of +household and horses, but no more. + +These matters were unfortunate for Belding, but not by any means +wholly accountable for his worry and unhappiness and brooding hate. +He believed Dick Gale and the rest of the party taken into the +desert by the Yaqui had been killed or lost. Two months before +a string of Mexican horses, riderless, saddled, starved for grass +and wild for water, had come in to Forlorn River. They were a part +of the horses belonging to Rojas and his band. Their arrival +complicated the mystery and strengthened convictions of the loss +of both pursuers and pursued. Belding was wont to say that he had +worried himself gray over the fate of his rangers. + +Belding's unhappiness could hardly be laid to material loss. He +had been rich and was now poor, but change of fortune such as that +could not have made him unhappy. Something more somber and +mysterious and sad than the loss of Dick Gale and their friends had +come into the lives of his wife and Nell. He dated the time of +this change back to a certain day when Mrs. Belding recognized in +the elder Chase an old schoolmate and a rejected suitor. It took +time for slow-thinking Belding to discover anything wrong in his +household, especially as the fact of the Gales lingering there +made Mrs. Belding and Nell, for the most part, hide their real +and deeper feelings. Gradually, however, Belding had forced on +him the fact of some secret cause for grief other than Gale's loss. +He was sure of it when his wife signified her desire to make a +visit to her old home back in Peoria. She did not give many reasons, +but she did show him a letter that had found its way from +old friends. This letter contained news that may or may not have +been authentic; but it was enough, Belding thought, to interest +his wife. An old prospector had returned to Peoria, and he had told +relatives of meeting Robert Burton at the Sonoyta Oasis fifteen +years before, and that Burton had gone into the desert never to +return. To Belding this was no surprise, for he had heard that +before his marriage. There appeared to have been no doubts as to +the death of his wife's first husband. The singular thing was that +both Nell's father and grandfather had been lost somewhere in the +Sonora Desert. + +Belding did not oppose his wife's desire to visit her old home. +He thought it would be a wholesome trip for her, and did all in his +power to persuade Nell to accompany her. But Nell would not go. + +It was after Mrs. Belding's departure that Belding discovered in +Nell a condition of mind that amazed and distressed him. She had +suddenly become strangely wretched, so that she could not conceal +it from even the Gales, who, of all people, Belding imagined, were +the ones to make Nell proud. She would tell him nothing. But +after a while, when he had thought it out, he dated this further +and more deplorable change in Nell back to a day on which he had +met Nell with Radford Chase. This indefatigable wooer had not +in the least abandoned his suit. Something about the fellow made +Belding grind his teeth. But Nell grew not only solicitously, +but now strangely, entreatingly earnest in her importunities to +Belding not to insult or lay a hand on Chase. This had bound +Belding so far; it had made him think and watch. He had never +been a man to interfere with his women folk. They could do as +they liked, and usually that pleased him. But a slow surprise +gathered and grew upon him when he saw that Nell, apparently, +was accepting young Chase's attentions. At least, she no longer +hid from him. Belding could not account for this, because he was +sure Nell cordially despised the fellow. And toward the end +he divined, if he did not actually know, that these Chases +possessed some strange power over Nell, and were using it. +That stirred a hate in Belding--a hate he had felt at the very first +and had manfully striven against, and which now gave him over to +dark brooding thoughts. + +Midsummer passed, and the storms came late. But when they arrived +they made up for tardiness. Belding did not remember so terrible +a storm of wind and rain as that which broke the summer's drought. + +In a few days, it seemed, Altar Valley was a bright and green expanse, +where dust clouds did not rise. Forlorn River ran, a slow, heavy, +turgid torrent. Belding never saw the river in flood that it did +not give him joy; yet now, desert man as he was, he suffered a +regret when he thought of the great Chase reservoir full and +overflowing. The dull thunder of the spillway was not pleasant. It +was the first time in his life that the sound of falling water +jarred upon him. + +Belding noticed workmen once more engaged in the fields bounding +his land. The Chases had extended a main irrigation ditch down +to Belding's farm, skipped the width of his ground, then had gone +on down through Altar Valley. They had exerted every influence to +obtain right to connect these ditches by digging through his land, +but Belding had remained obdurate. He refused to have any dealings +with them. It was therefore with some curiosity and suspicion that +he saw a gang of Mexicans once more at work upon these ditches. + +At daylight next morning a tremendous blast almost threw Belding +out of his bed. It cracked the adobe walls of his house and broke +windows and sent pans and crockery to the floor with a crash. +Belding's idea was that the store of dynamite kept by the Chases +for blasting had blown up. Hurriedly getting into his clothes, he +went to Nell's room to reassure her; and, telling her to have a +thought for their guests, he went out to see what had happened. + +The villagers were pretty badly frightened. Many of the poorly +constructed adobe huts had crumbled almost into dust. A great +yellow cloud, like smoke, hung over the river. This appeared +to be at the upper end of Belding's plot, and close to the river. +When he reached his fence the smoke and dust were so thick he +could scarcely breathe, and for a little while he was unable to +see what had happened. Presently he made out a huge hole in the +sand just about where the irrigation ditch had stopped near his +line. For some reason or other, not clear to Belding, the Mexicans +had set off an extraordinarily heavy blast at that point. + +Belding pondered. He did not now for a moment consider an accidental +discharge of dynamite. But why had this blast been set off? The +loose sandy soil had yielded readily to shovel; there were no rocks; +as far as construction of a ditch was concerned such a blast +would have done more harm than good. + +Slowly, with reluctant feet, Belding walked toward a green hollow, +where in a cluster of willows lay the never-failing spring that +his horses loved so well, and, indeed, which he loved no less. +He was actually afraid to part the drooping willows to enter the +little cool, shady path that led to the spring. Then, suddenly +seized by suspense, he ran the rest of the way. + +He was just in time to see the last of the water. It seemed to sink +as in quicksand. The shape of the hole had changed. The tremendous +force of the blast in the adjoining field had obstructed or diverted +the underground stream of water. + +Belding's never-failing spring had been ruined. What had made +this little plot of ground green and sweet and fragrant was now +no more. Belding's first feeling was for the pity of it. The +pale Ajo lilies would bloom no more under those willows. The +willows themselves would soon wither and die. He thought how many +times in the middle of hot summer nights he had come down to the +spring to drink. Never again! + +Suddenly he thought of Blanco Diablo. How the great white +thoroughbred had loved this spring! Belding straightened up and +looked with tear-blurred eyes out over the waste of desert to the +west. Never a day passed that he had not thought of the splendid +horse; but this moment, with its significant memory, was doubly +keen, and there came a dull pang in his breast. + +"Diablo will never drink here again!" muttered Belding. + +The loss of Blanco Diablo, though admitted and mourned by Belding, +had never seemed quite real until this moment. + +The pall of dust drifting over him, the din of the falling water up +at the dam, diverted Belding's mind to the Chases. All at once he +was in the harsh grip of a cold certainty. The blast had been set +off intentionally to ruin his spring. What a hellish trick! No +Westerner, no Indian or Mexican, no desert man could have been +guilty of such a crime. To ruin a beautiful, clear, cool, never-failing +stream of water in the desert! + +It was then that Belding's worry and indecision and brooding were +as if they had never existed. As he strode swiftly back to the +house, his head, which had long been bent thoughtfully and sadly, +was held erect. He went directly to his room, and with an air +that was now final he buckled on his gun belt. He looked the gun +over and tried the action. He squared himself and walked a little +more erect. Some long-lost individuality had returned to Belding. + +"Let's see," he was saying. "I can get Carter to send the horses +I've left back to Waco to my brother. I'll make Nell take what +money there is and go hunt up her mother. The Gales are ready +to go--to-day, if I say the word. Nell can travel with them part +way East. That's your game, Tom Belding, don't mistake me." + +As he went out he encountered Mr. Gale coming up the walk. The +long sojourn at Forlorn River, despite the fact that it had been +laden with a suspense which was gradually changing to a sad certainty, +had been of great benefit to Dick's father. The dry air, the heat, +and the quiet had made him, if not entirely a well man, certainly stronger +than he had been in many years. + +"Belding, what was that terrible roar?" asked Mr. Gale. "We were +badly frightened until Miss Nell came to us. We feared it was an +earthquake." + +"Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Gale, we've had some quakes here, but +none of them could hold a candle to this jar we just had." + +Then Belding explained what had caused the explosion, and why it +had been set off so close to his property. + +"It's an outrage, sir, an unspeakable outrage," declared Mr. Gale, +hotly. "Such a thing would not be tolerated in the East. Mr. +Belding, I'm amazed at your attitude in the face of all this +trickery." + +"You see--there was mother and Nell," began Belding, as if apologizing. +He dropped his head a little and made marks in the sand with the +toe of his boot. "Mr. Gale, I've been sort of half hitched, as +Laddy used to say. I'm planning to have a little more elbow room +round this ranch. I'm going to send Nell East to her mother. Then +I'll-- See here, Mr. Gale, would you mind having Nell with you +part way when you go home?" + +"We'd all be delighted to have her go all the way and make us a +visit," replied Mr. Gale. + +"That's fine. And you'll be going soon? Don't take that as if I +wanted to--" Belding paused, for the truth was that he did want +to hurry them off. + +"We would have been gone before this, but for you," said Mr. Gale. +"Long ago we gave up hope of--of Richard ever returning. And I +believe, now we're sure he was lost, that we'd do well to go home +at once. You wished us to remain until the heat was broken--till +the rains came to make traveling easier for us. Now I see no +need for further delay. My stay here has greatly benefited my +health. I shall never forget your hospitality. This Western trip +would have made me a new man if--only--Richard--" + +"Sure. I understand," said Belding, gruffly. "Let's go in and +tell the women to pack up." + +Nell was busy with the servants preparing breakfast. Belding +took her into the sitting-room while Mr. Gale called his wife +and daughter. + +"My girl, I've some news for you," began Belding. "Mr. Gale is +leaving to-day with his family. I'm going to send you with +them--part way, anyhow. You're invited to visit them. I think +that 'd be great for you--help you to forget. But the main thing +is--you're going East to join mother." + +Nell gazed at him, white-faced, without uttering a word. + +"You see, Nell, I'm about done in Forlorn River," went on Belding. +"That blast this morning sank my spring. There's no water now. +It was the last straw. So we'll shake the dust of Forlorn River. +I'll come on a little later--that's all." + +"Dad, you're packing your gun!" exclaimed Nell, suddenly pointing +with a trembling finger. She ran to him, and for the first time +in his life Belding put her away from him. His movements had lost +the old slow gentleness. + +"Why, so I am," replied Belding, coolly, as his hand moved down +to the sheath swinging at his hip. "Nell, I'm that absent-minded +these days!" + +"Dad!" she cried. + +"That'll do from you," he replied, in a voice he had never used +to her. "Get breakfast now, then pack to leave Forlorn River." + +"Leave Forlorn River!" whispered Nell, with a thin white hand +stealing up to her breast. How changed the girl was! Belding +reproached himself for his hardness, but did not speak his thought +aloud. Nell was fading here, just as Mercedes had faded before +the coming of Thorne. + +Nell turned away to the west window and looked out +across the desert toward the dim blue peaks in the distance. +Belding watched her; likewise the Gales; and no one spoke. +There ensued a long silence. Belding felt a lump rise in his +throat. Nell laid her arm against the window frame, but gradually +it dropped, and she was leaning with her face against the wood. +A low sob broke from her. Elsie Gale went to her, embraced her, +took the drooping head on her shoulder. + +"We've come to be such friends," she said. "I believe it'll be +good for you to visit me in the city. Here--all day you look out +across that awful lonely desert....Come, Nell." + +Heavy steps sounded outside on the flagstones, then the door rattled +under a strong knock. Belding opened it. The Chases, father and +son, stood beyond the threshold. + +"Good morning, Belding," said the elder Chase. "We were routed +out early by that big blast and came up to see what was wrong. All +a blunder. The Greaser foreman was drunk yesterday, and his +ignorant men made a mistake. Sorry if the blast bothered you." + +"Chase, I reckon that's the first of your blasts I was ever glad +to hear," replied Belding, in a way that made Chase look blank. + +"So? Well, I'm glad you're glad," he went on, evidently puzzled. +"I was a little worried--you've always been so touchy--we never +could get together. I hurried over, fearing maybe you might think +the blast--you see, Belding--" + +"I see this, Mr. Ben Chase," interrupted Belding, in curt and +ringing voice. "That blast was a mistake, the biggest you ever +made in your life." + +"What do you mean?" demanded Chase. + +"You'll have to excuse me for a while, unless you're dead set on +having it out right now. Mr. Gale and his family are leaving, and +my daughter is going with them. I'd rather you'd wait a little." + +"Nell going away!" exclaimed Radford Chase. He reminded Belding +of an overgrown boy in disappointment. + +"Yes. But--Miss Burton to you, young man--" + +"Mr. Belding, I certainly would prefer a conference with you right +now," interposed the elder Chase, cutting short Belding's strange +speech. "There are other matters--important matters to discuss. +They've got to be settled. May we step in, sir?" + +"No, you may not," replied Belding, bluntly. "I'm sure particular +who I invite into my house. But I'll go with you." + +Belding stepped out and closed the door. "Come away from the house +so the women won't hear the--the talk." + +The elder Chase was purple with rage, yet seemed to be controlling +it. The younger man looked black, sullen, impatient. He appeared +not to have a thought of Belding. He was absolutely blind to the +situation, as considered from Belding's point of view. Ben Chase +found his voice about the time Belding halted under the trees out +of earshot from the house. + +"Sir, you've insulted me--my son. How dare you? I want you to +understand that you're--" + +"Chop that kind of talk with me, you ------- ------- ------- -------!" +interrupted Belding. He had always been profane, and now he +certainly did not choose his language. Chase turned livid, gasped, +and seemed about to give way to fury. But something about Belding +evidently exerted a powerful quieting influence. "If you talk +sense I'll listen," went on Belding. + +Belding was frankly curious. He did not think any argument or +inducement offered by Chase could change his mind on past dealings +or his purpose of the present. But he believed by listening he +might get some light on what had long puzzled him. The masterly +effort Chase put forth to conquer his aroused passions gave Belding +another idea of the character of this promoter. + +"I want to make a last effort to propitiate you," began +Chase, in his quick, smooth voice. That was a singular change to +Belding--the dropping instantly into an easy flow of speech. +"You've had losses here, and naturally you're sore. I don't blame +you. But you can't see this thing from my side of the fence. +Business is business. In business the best man wins. The law +upheld those transactions of mine the honesty of which you questioned. +As to mining and water claims, you lost on this technical point--that +you had nothing to prove you had held them for five years. Five +years is the time necessary in law. A dozen men might claim the +source of Forlorn River, but if they had no house or papers to +prove their squatters' rights any man could go in and fight them +for the water. ....Now I want to run that main ditch along the +river, through your farm. Can't we make a deal? I'm ready to be +liberal--to meet you more than halfway. I'll give you an interest +in the company. I think I've influence enough up at the Capitol +to have you reinstated as inspector. A little reasonableness on +your part will put you right again in Forlorn River, with a chance +of growing rich. There's a big future here....My interest, Belding, +has become personal. Radford is in love with your step-daughter. +He wants to marry her. I'll admit now if I had foreseen this +situation I wouldn't have pushed you so hard. But we can square +the thing. Now let's get together not only in business, but in +a family way. If my son's happiness depends upon having this girl, +you may rest assured I'll do all I can to get her for him. I'll +absolutely make good all your losses. Now what do you say?" + +"No," replied Belding. "Your money can't buy a right of way across +my ranch. And Nell doesn't want your son. That settles that." + +"But you could persuade her." + +"I won't, that's all." + +"May I ask why?" Chases's voice was losing its suave quality, but +it was even swifter than before. + +"Sure. I don't mind your asking," replied Belding in slow +deliberation. "I wouldn't do such a low-down trick. Besides, if +I would, I'd want it to be a man I was persuading for. I know +Greasers--I know a Yaqui I'd rather give Nell to than your son." + +Radford Chase began to roar in inarticulate rage. Belding paid no +attention to him; indeed, he never glanced at the young man. The +elder Chase checked a violent start. He plucked at the collar of +his gray flannel shirt, opened it at the neck. + +"My son's offer of marriage is an honor--more an honor, sir, than +you perhaps are aware of." + +Belding made no reply. His steady gaze did not turn from the long +lane that led down to the river. He waited coldly, sure of himself. + +"Mrs. Belding's daughter has no right to the name of Burton," +snapped Chase. "Did you know that?" + +"I did not," replied Belding, quietly. + +"Well, you know it now," added Chase, bitingly. + +"Sure you can prove what you say?" queried Belding, in the same +cool, unemotional tone. It struck him strangely at the moment what +little knowledge this man had of the West and of Western character. + +"Prove it? Why, yes, I think so, enough to make the truth plain +to any reasonable man. I come from Peoria--was born and raised +there. I went to school with Nell Warren. That was your wife's +maiden name. She was a beautiful, gay girl. All the fellows +were in love with her. I knew Bob Burton well. He was a splendid +fellow, but wild. Nobody ever knew for sure, but we all supposed +he was engaged to marry Nell. He left Peoria, however, and soon +after that the truth about Nell came out. She ran away. It was +at least a couple of months before Burton showed up in Peoria. +He did not stay long. Then for years nothing was heard of either +of them. When word did come Nell was in Oklahoma, Burton was in Denver. +There's chance, of course, that Burton followed Nell and married her. +That would account for Nell Warren taking the name of Burton. But it +isn't likely. None of us ever heard of such a thing and wouldn't have +believed it if we had. The affair seemed destined to end unfortunately. +But Belding, while I'm at it, I want to say that Nell Warren was one of +the sweetest, finest, truest girls in the world. If she drifted to +the Southwest and kept her past a secret that was only natural. +Certainly it should not be held against her. Why, she was only +a child--a girl--seventeen--eighteen years old....In a moment of +amazement--when I recognized your wife as an old schoolmate--I +blurted the thing out to Radford. You see now how little it matters +to me when I ask your stepdaughter's hand in marriage for my son." + +Belding stood listening. The genuine emotion in Chase's voice was +as strong as the ring of truth. Belding knew truth when he heard +it. The revelation did not surprise him. Belding did not soften, +for he devined that Chase's emotion was due to the probing of an +old wound, the recalling of a past both happy and painful. Still, +human nature was so strange that perhaps kindness and sympathy +might yet have a place in this Chase's heart. Belding did not +believe so, but he was willing to give Chase the benefit of the +doubt. + +"So you told my wife you'd respect her secret--keep her dishonor +from husband and daughter?" demanded Belding, his dark gaze +sweeping back from the lane. + +"What! I--I" stammered Chase. + +"You made your son swear to be a man and die before he'd hint the +thing to Nell?" went on Belding, and his voice rang louder. + +Ben Chase had no answer. The red left his face. His son slunk +back against the fence. + +"I say you never held this secret over the heads of my wife and +her daughter?" thundered Belding. + +He had his answer in the gray faces, in the lips that fear +made mute. Like a flash Belding saw the whole truth of Mrs. +Belding's agony, the reason for her departure; he saw what had +been driving Nell; and it seemed that all the dogs of hell were +loosed within his heart. He struck out blindly, instinctively in +his pain, and the blow sent Ben Chase staggering into the fence +corner. Then he stretched forth a long arm and whirled Radford +Chase back beside his father. + +"I see it all now," went on Belding, hoarsely. "You found the +woman's weakness--her love for the girl. You found the girl's +weakness--her pride and fear of shame. So you drove the one and +hounded the other. God, what a base thing to do! To tell the +girl was bad enough, but to threaten her with betrayal; there's +no name for that!" + +Belding's voice thickened, and he paused, breathing heavily. He +stepped back a few paces; and this, an ominous action for an armed +man of his kind, instead of adding to the fear of the Chases, seemed +to relieve them. If there had been any pity in Belding's heart he +would have felt it then. + +"And now, gentlemen," continued Belding, speaking low and with +difficulty, "seeing I've turned down your proposition, I suppose +you think you've no more call to keep your mouths shut?" + +The elder Chase appeared fascinated by something he either saw or +felt in Belding, and his gray face grew grayer. He put up a shaking +hand. Then Radford Chase, livid and snarling, burst out: "I'll talk +till I'm black in the face. You can't stop me!" + +"You'll go black in the face, but it won't be from talking," hissed +Belding. + +His big arm swept down, and when he threw it up the gun glittered +in his hand. Simultaneously with the latter action pealed out a +shrill, penetrating whistle. + +The whistle of a horse! It froze Belding's arm aloft. +For an instant he could not move even his eyes. The familiarity +of that whistle was terrible in its power to rob him of strength. +Then he heard the rapid, heavy pound of hoofs, and again +the piercing whistle. + +"Blanco Diablo!" he cried, huskily. + +He turned to see a huge white horse come thundering into the yard. +A wild, gaunt, terrible horse; indeed, the loved Blanco Diablo. +A bronzed, long-haired Indian bestrode him. More white horses +galloped into the yard, pounded to a halt, whistling home. Belding +saw a slim shadow of a girl who seemed all great black eyes. + +Under the trees flashed Blanco Sol, as dazzling white, as beautiful +as if he had never been lost in the desert. He slid to a halt, then +plunged and stamped. His rider leaped, throwing the bridle. Belding +saw a powerful, spare, ragged man, with dark, gaunt face and eyes +of flame. + +Then Nell came running from the house, her golden hair flying, her +hands outstretched, her face wonderful. + +"Dick! Dick! Oh-h-h, Dick!" she cried. Her voice seemed to quiver +in Belding's heart. + +Belding's eyes began to blur. He was not sure he saw clearly. +Whose face was this now close before him--a long thin, shrunken +face, haggard, tragic in its semblance of torture, almost of +death? But the eyes were keen and kind. Belding thought wildly +that they proved he was not dreaming. + +"I shore am glad to see you all," said a well-remembered voice +in a slow, cool drawl. + + + +XVIII + + +REALITY AGAINST DREAMS + +LADD, Lash, Thorne, Mercedes, they were all held tight in Belding's +arms. Then he ran to Blanco Diablo. For once the great horse was +gentle, quiet, glad. He remembered this kindest of masters and +reached for him with warm, wet muzzle. + +Dick Gale was standing bowed over Nell's slight form, almost +hidden in his arms. Belding hugged them both. He was like a boy. +He saw Ben Chase and his son slip away under the trees, but the +circumstances meant nothing to him then. + +"Dick! Dick!" he roared. "Is it you?...Say, who do you think's +here--here, in Forlorn River?" + +Gale gripped Belding with a hand as rough and hard as a file and +as strong as a vise. But he did not speak a word. Belding thought +Gale's eyes would haunt him forever. + +It was then three more persons came upon the scene--Elsie Gale, +running swiftly, her father assisting Mrs. Gale, who appeared +about to faint. + +"Belding! Who on earth's that?" cried Dick Hoarsely. + +"Quien sabe, my son," replied Belding; and now his voice seemed +a little shaky. "Nell, come here. Give him a chance." + +Belding slipped his arm round Nell, and whispered in her ear. +"This 'll be great!" + +Elsie Gale's face was white and agitated, a face expressing extreme joy. + +"Oh, brother! Mama saw you--Papa saw you, and never knew you! But I +knew you when you jumped quick--that way--off your horse. And now I +don't know you. You wild man! You giant! You splendid +barbarian!...Mama, Papa, hurry! It is Dick! Look at him. Just look +at him! Oh-h, thank God!" + +Belding turned away and drew Nell with him. In another second +she and Mercedes were clasped in each other's arms. Then followed +a time of joyful greetings all round. + +The Yaqui stood leaning against a tree watching the welcoming home +of the lost. No one seemed to think of him, until Belding, ever +mindful of the needs of horses, put a hand on Blanco Diablo and +called to Yaqui to bring the others. They led the string of whites +down to the barn, freed them of wet and dusty saddles and packs, +and turned them loose in the alfalfa, now breast-high. Diablo +found his old spirit; Blanco Sol tossed his head and whistled +his satisfaction; White Woman pranced to and fro; and presently +they all settled down to quiet grazing. How good it was for +Belding to see those white shapes against the rich background +of green! His eyes glistened. It was a sight he had never expected +to see again. He lingered there many moments when he wanted to +hurry back to his rangers. + +At last he tore himself away from watching Blanco Diablo and +returned to the house. It was only to find that he might have +spared himself the hurry. Jim and Ladd were lying on the beds +that had not held them for so many months. Their slumber seemed +as deep and quiet as death. Curiously Belding gazed down upon them. +They had removed only boots and chaps. Their clothes were in +tatters. Jim appeared little more than skin and bones, a long +shape, dark and hard as iron. Ladd's appearance shocked Belding. +The ranger looked an old man, blasted, shriveled, starved. Yet +his gaunt face, though terrible in its records of tortures, had +something fine and noble, even beautiful to Belding, in its +strength, its victory. + +Thorne and Mercedes had disappeared. The low murmur of voices +came from Mrs. Gale's room, and Belding concluded that Dick was +still with his family. No doubt he, also, would soon seek rest +and sleep. Belding went through the patio and called in at Nell's +door. She was there sitting by her window. The flush of happiness +had not left her face, but she looked stunned, and a shadow of fear +lay dark in her eyes. Belding had intended to talk. He wanted +some one to listen to him. The expression in Nell's eyes, however, +silenced him. He had forgotten. Nell read his thought in his +face, and then she lost all her color and dropped her head. Belding +entered, stood beside her with a hand on hers. He tried desperately +hard to think of the right thing to say, and realized so long as +he tried that he could not speak at all. + +"Nell--Dick's back safe and sound," he said, slowly. "That's the +main thing. I wish you could have seen his eyes when he held you +in his arms out there....Of course, Dick's coming knocks out your +trip East and changes plans generally. We haven't had the happiest +time lately. But now it 'll be different. Dick's as true as a +Yaqui. He'll chase that Chase fellow, don't mistake me....Then +mother will be home soon. She'll straighten out this--this mystery. +And Nell--however it turns out--I know Dick Gale will feel just the +same as I feel. Brace up now, girl." + +Belding left the patio and traced thoughtful steps back toward the +corrals. He realized the need of his wife. If she had been at +home he would not have come so close to killing two men. Nell +would never have fallen so low in spirit. Whatever the real truth +of the tragedy of his wife's life, it would not make the slightest +difference to him. What hurt him was the pain mother and daughter +had suffered, were suffering still. Somehow he must put an end +to that pain. + +He found the Yaqui curled up in a corner of the barn in as deep +a sleep as that of the rangers. Looking down at him, Belding +felt again the rush of curious thrilling eagerness to learn all +that had happened since the dark night when Yaqui had led the +white horses away into the desert. Belding curbed his +impatience and set to work upon tasks he had long neglected. +Presently he was interrupted by Mr. Gale, who came out, beside +himself with happiness and excitement. He flung a hundred questions +at Belding and never gave him time to answer one, even if that had +been possible. Finally, when Mr. Gale lost his breath, Belding +got a word in. "See here, Mr. Gale, you know as much as I know. +Dick's back. They're all back--a hard lot, starved, burned, torn +to pieces, worked out to the limit I never saw in desert travelers, +but they're alive--alive and well, man! Just wait. Just gamble +I won't sleep or eat till I hear that story. But they've got to +sleep and eat." + +Belding gathered with growing amusement that besides the joy, +excitement, anxiety, impatience expressed by Mr. Gale there was +something else which Belding took for pride. It pleased him. Looking +back, he remembered some of the things Dick had confessed his +father thought of him. Belding's sympathy had always been with the +boy. But he had learned to like the old man, to find him kind +and wise, and to think that perhaps college and business had not +brought out the best in Richard Gale. The West had done that, +however, as it had for many a wild youngster; and Belding resolved +to have a little fun at the expense of Mr. Gale. So he began by +making a few remarks that appeared to rob Dick's father of both +speech and breath. + +"And don't mistake me," concluded Belding, "just keep out of earshot +when Laddy tells us the story of that desert trip, unless you're +hankering to have your hair turn pure white and stand curled on +end and freeze that way." + + +About the middle of the forenoon on the following day the rangers +hobbled out of the kitchen to the porch. + +"I'm a sick man, I tell you," Ladd was complaining, "an' I gotta be +fed. Soup! Beef tea! That ain't so much as wind to me. I want +about a barrel of bread an' butter, an' a whole platter of mashed +potatoes with gravy an' green stuff--all kinds of green stuff--an' +a whole big apple pie. Give me everythin' an' anythin' to eat but +meat. Shore I never, never want to taste meat again, an' sight +of a piece of sheep meat would jest about finish me....Jim, you +used to be a human bein' that stood up for Charlie Ladd." + +"Laddy, I'm lined up beside you with both guns," replied Jim, +plaintively. "Hungry? Say, the smell of breakfast in that kitchen +made my mouth water so I near choked to death. I reckon we're +gettin' most onhuman treatment." + +"But I'm a sick man," protested Ladd, "an' I'm agoin' to fall over +in a minute if somebody doesn't feed me. Nell, you used to be fond +of me." + +"Oh, Laddy, I am yet," replied Nell. + +"Shore I don't believe it. Any girl with a tender heart just +couldn't let a man starve under her eyes...Look at Dick, there. +I'll bet he's had something to eat, mebbe potatoes an' gravy, an' +pie an'--" + +"Laddy, Dick has had no more than I gave you--in deed, not nearly +so much." + +"Shore he's had a lot of kisses then, for he hasn't hollered onct +about this treatment." + +"Perhaps he has," said Nell, with a blush; "and if you think +that--they would help you to be reasonable I might--I'll--" + +"Well, powerful fond as I am of you, just now kisses 'll have +to run second to bread an' butter." + +"Oh, Laddy, what a gallant speech!" laughed Nell. "I'm sorry, +but I've Dad's orders." + +"Laddy," interrupted Belding, "you've got to be broke in gradually +to eating. Now you know that. You'd be the severest kind of a +boss if you had some starved beggars on your hands." + +"But I'm sick--I'm dyin'," howled Ladd. + +"You were never sick in your life, and if all the bullet holes I +see in you couldn't kill you, why, you never will die." + +"Can I smoke?" queried Ladd, with sudden animation. "My Gawd, I +used to smoke. Shore I've forgot. Nell, if you want to be reinstated +in my gallery of angels, just find me a pipe an' tobacco." + +"I've hung onto my pipe," said Jim, thoughtfully. "I reckon I had +it empty in my mouth for seven years or so, wasn't it, Laddy? A +long time! I can see the red lava an' the red haze, an' the red +twilight creepin' up. It was hot an' some lonely. Then the wind, +and always that awful silence! An' always Yaqui watchin' the west, +an' Laddy with his checkers, an' Mercedes burnin' up, wastin' +away to nothin' but eyes! It's all there--I'll never get rid--" + +"Chop that kind of talk," interrupted Belding, bluntly. "Tell us +where Yaqui took you--what happened to Rojas--why you seemed lost +for so long." + +"I reckon Laddy can tell all that best; but when it comes to Rojas's +finish I'll tell what I seen, an' so'll Dick an' Thorne. Laddy +missed Rojas's finish. Bar none, that was the--" + +"I'm a sick man, but I can talk," put in Ladd, "an' shore I don't +want the whole story exaggerated none by Jim." + +Ladd filled the pipe Nell brought, puffed ecstatically at it, and +settled himself upon the bench for a long talk. Nell glanced +appealingly at Dick, who tried to slip away. Mercedes did go, and +was followed by Thorne. Mr. Gale brought chairs, and in subdued +excitement called his wife and daughter. Belding leaned forward, +rendered all the more eager by Dick's reluctance to stay, the +memory of the quick tragic change in the expression of Mercedes's +beautiful eyes, by the strange gloomy cast stealing over Ladd's +face. + +The ranger talked for two hours--talked till his voice weakened +to a husky whisper. At the conclusion of his story there was an +impressive silence. Then Elsie Gale stood up, and with her hand +on Dick's shoulder, her eyes bright and warm as sunlight, she +showed the rangers what a woman thought of them and of the Yaqui. +Nell clung to Dick, weeping silently. Mrs. Gale was overcome, +and Mr. Gale, very white and quiet, helped her up to her room. + +"The Indian! the Indian!" burst out Belding, his voice deep and +rolling. "What did I tell you? Didn't I say he'd be a godsend? +Remember what I said about Yaqui and some gory Aztec knifework? +So he cut Rojas loose from that awful crater wall, foot by foot, +finger by finger, slow and terrible? And Rojas didn't hang long +on the choya thorns? Thank the Lord for that!...Laddy, no story +of Camino del Diablo can hold a candle to yours. The flight +and the fight were jobs for men. But living through this long +hot summer and coming out--that's a miracle. Only the Yaqui +could have done it. The Yaqui! The Yaqui!" + +"Shore. Charlie Ladd looks up at an Indian these days. But +Beldin', as for the comin' out, don't forget the hosses. Without +grand old Sol an' Diablo, who I don't hate no more, an' the other +Blancos, we'd never have got here. Yaqui an' the hosses, that's +my story!" + + +Early in the afternoon of the next day Belding encountered Dick +at the water barrel. + +"Belding, this is river water, and muddy at that," said Dick. +"Lord knows I'm not kicking. But I've dreamed some of our cool +running spring, and I want a drink from it." + +"Never again, son. The spring's gone, faded, sunk, dry as dust." + +"Dry!" Gale slowly straightened. "We've had rains. The river's +full. The spring ought to be overflowing. What's wrong? Why is +it dry?" + +"Dick, seeing you're interested, I may as well tell you that a +big charge of nitroglycerin choked my spring." + +"Nitroglycerin?" echoed Gale. Then he gave a quick start. "My +mind's been on home, Nell, my family. But all the same I felt +something was wrong here with the ranch, with you, with +Nell...Belding, that ditch there is dry. The roses are dead. +The little green in that grass has come with the rains. What's +happened? The ranch's run down. Now I look around I see a change." + +"Some change, yes," replied Belding, bitterly. "Listen, son." + +Briefly, but not the less forcibly for that, Belding related his +story of the operations of the Chases. + +Astonishment appeared to be Gale's first feeling. "Our water gone, +our claims gone, our plans forestalled! Why, Belding, it's +unbelievable. Forlorn River with promoters, business, railroad, +bank, and what not!" + +Suddenly he became fiery and suspicious. "These Chases--did +they do all this on the level?" + +"Barefaced robbery! Worse than a Greaser holdup," replied Belding, +grimly. + +"You say the law upheld them?" + +"Sure. Why, Ben Chase has a pull as strong as Diablo's on a down +grade. Dick, we're jobbed, outfigured, beat, tricked, and we can't +do a thing." + +"Oh, I'm sorry, Belding, most of all for Laddy," said Gale, +feelingly. "He's all in. He'll never ride again. He wanted to +settle down here on the farm he thought he owned, grow grass and +raise horses, and take it easy. Oh, but it's tough! Say, he +doesn't know it yet. He was just telling me he'd like to go out +and look the farm over. Who's going to tell him? What's he going +to do when he finds out about this deal?" + +"Son, that's made me think some," replied Belding, with keen eyes +fast upon the young man. "And I was kind of wondering how you'd +take it." + +"I? Well, I'll call on the Chases. Look here, Belding, I'd better +do some forestalling myself. If Laddy gets started now there'll be +blood spilled. He's not just right in his mind yet. He talks in his +sleep sometimes about how Yaqui finished Rojas. If it's left to +him--he'll kill these men. But if I take it up--" + +"You're talking sense, Dick. Only here, I'm not so sure of you. +And there's more to tell. Son, you've Nell to think of and your +mother." + +Belding's ranger gave him a long and searching glance. + +"You can be sure of me," he said. + +"All right, then; listen," began Belding. With deep voice that +had many a beak and tremor he told Gale how Nell had been hounded +by Radford Chase, how her mother had been driven by Ben Chase--the +whole sad story. + +"So that's the trouble! Poor little girl!" murmured Gale, brokenly. +"I felt something was wrong. Nell wasn't natural, like her old +self. And when I begged her to marry me soon, while Dad was here, +she couldn't talk. She could only cry." + +"It was hard on Nell," said Belding, simply. "But it 'll be better +now you're back. Dick, I know the girl. She'll refuse to marry +you and you'll have a hard job to break her down, as hard as the +one you just rode in off of. I think I know you, too, or I wouldn't +be saying--" + +"Belding, what 're you hinting at?" demanded Gale. "Do you dare +insinuate that--that--if the thing were true it'd make any difference +to me?" + +"Aw, come now, Dick; I couldn't mean that. I'm only awkward at +saying things. And I'm cut pretty deep--" + +"For God's dake, you don't believe what Chase said?" queried Gale, +in passionate haste. "It's a lie. I swear it's a lie. I know +it's a lie. And I've got to tell Nell this minute. Come on in with +me. I want you, Belding. Oh, why didn't you tell me sooner?" + +Belding felt himself dragged by an iron arm into the sitting-room out +into the patio, and across that to where Nell sat in her door. At +sight of them she gave a little cry, drooped for an instant, then +raised a pale, still face, with eyes beginning to darken. + +"Dearest, I know now why you are not wearing my mother's ring," +said Gale, steadily and low-voiced. + +"Dick, I am not worthy," she replied, and held out a trembling +hand with the ring lying in the palm. + +Swift as light Gale caught her hand and slipped the ring back +upon the third finger. + +"Nell! Look at me. It is your engagement ring....Listen. I don't +believe this--this thing that's been torturing you. I know it's +a lie. I am absolutely sure your mother will prove it a lie. She +must have suffered once--perhaps there was a sad error--but the +thing you fear is not true. But, hear me, dearest; even if it was +true it wouldn't make the slightest difference to me. I'd promise +you on my honor I'd never think of it again. I'd love you all the +more because you'd suffered. I want you all the more to be my +wife--to let me make you forget--to--" + +She rose swiftyly with the passionate abandon of a woman stirred +to her depths, and she kissed him. + +"Oh, Dick, you're good--so good! You'll never know--just what +those words mean to me. They've saved me--I think." + +"Then, dearest, it's all right?" Dick questioned, eagerly. "You +will keep your promise? You will marry me?" + +The glow, the light faded out of her face, and now the blue eyes +were almost black. She drooped and shook her head. + +"Nell!" exclaimed Gale, sharply catching his breath. + +"Don't ask me, Dick. I--I won't marry you." + +"Why?" + +"You know. It's true that I--" + +"It's a lie," interrupted Gale, fiercely. "But even if it's +true--why--why won't you marry me? Between you and me love is the +thing. Love, and nothing else! Don't you love me any more?" + +They had forgotten Belding, who stepped back into the shade. + +"I love you with my whole heart and soul. I'd die for you," +whispered Nell, with clenching hands. "But I won't disgrace you." + +"Dear, you have worried over this trouble till you're morbid. It +has grown out of all proportion. I tell you that I'll not only +be the happiest man on earth, but the luckiest, if you marry me." + +"Dick, you give not one thought to your family. Would they receive +me as your wife?" + +"They surely would," replied Gale, steadily. + +"No! oh no!" + +"You're wrong, Nell. I'm glad you said that. You give me a chance +to prove something. I'll go this minute and tell them all. I'll +be back here in less than--" + +"Dick, you will not tell her--your mother?" cried Nell, with her +eyes streaming. "You will not? Oh, I can't bear it! She's so +proud! And Dick, I love her. Don't tell her! Please, please +don't! She'll be going soon. She needn't ever know--about me. +I want her always to think well of me. Dick, I beg of you. Oh, +the fear of her knowing has been the worst of all! Please don't +go!" + +"Nell, I'm sorry. I hate to hurt you. But you're wrong. You +can't see things clearly. This is your happiness I'm fighting +for. And it's my life....Wait here, dear. I won't be long." + +Gale ran across the patio and disappeared. Nell sank to the +doorstep, and as she met the question in Belding's eyes she +shook her head mournfully. They waited without speaking. It +seemed a long while before Gale returned. Belding thrilled at +sight of him. There was more boy about him than Belding had +ever seen. Dick was coming swiftly, flushed, glowing, eager, +erect, almost smiling. + +"I told them. I swore it was a lie, but I wanted them +to decide as if it were true. I didn't have to waste a minute +on Elsie. She loves you, Nell. The Governor is crazy about you. +I didn't have to waste two minutes on him. Mother used up the +time. She wanted to know all there was to tell. She is proud, +yes; but, Nell, I wish you could have seen how she took the--the +story about you. Why, she never thought of me at all, until she +had cried over you. Nell, she loves you, too. They all love you. +Oh, it's so good to tell you. I think mother realizes the part +you have had in the--what shall I call it?--the regeneration of +Richard Gale. Doesn't that sound fine? Darling, mother not only +consents, she wants you to be my wife. Do you hear that? And +listen--she had me in a corner and, of course, being my mother, +she put on the screws. She made me promise that we'd live in the +East half the year. That means Chicago, Cape May, New York--you +see, I'm not exactly the lost son any more. Why, Nell, dear, +you'll have to learn who Dick Gale really is. But I always want +to be the ranger you helped me become, and ride Blanco Sol, and +see a little of the desert. Don't let the idea of big cities +frighten you. Well always love the open places best. Now, +Nell, say you'll forget this trouble. I know it'll come all right. +Say you'll marry me soon....Why, dearest, you're crying....Nell!" + +"My--heart--is broken," sobbed Nell, "for--I--I--can't marry you." + +The boyish brightness faded out of Gale's face. Here, Belding +saw, was the stern reality arrayed against his dreams. + +"That devil Radford Chase--he'll tell my secret," panted Nell. +"He swore if you ever came back and married me he'd follow us all +over the world to tell it." + +Belding saw Gale grow deathly white and suddenly stand stock-still. + +"Chase threatened you, then?" asked Dick; and the forced naturalness +of his voice struck Belding. + +"Threatened me? He made my life a nightmare," replied Nell, in a +rush of speech. "At first I wondered how he was worrying mother +sick. But she wouldn't tell me. Then when she went away he began +to hint things. I hated him all the more. But when he told me--I +was frightened, shamed. Still I did not weaken. He was pretty +decent when he was sober. But when he was half drunk he was the +devil. He laughed at me and my pride. I didn't dare shut the +door in his face. After a while he found out that your mother +loved me and that I loved her. Then he began to threaten me. +If I didn't give in to him he'd see she learned the truth. That +made me weaken. It nearly killed me. I simply could not bear +the thought of Mrs. Gale kowing. But I couldn't marry him. Besides, +he got so half the time, when he was drunk, he didn't want or ask +me to be his wife. I was about ready to give up and go mad when +you--you came home." + +She ended in a whisper, looking up wistfully and sadly at him. +Belding was a raging fire within, cold without. He watched Gale, +and believed he could foretell that young man's future conduct. +Gale gathered Nell up into his arms and held her to his breast +for a long moment. + +"Dear Nell, I'm sure the worst of your trouble is over," he said +gently. "I will not give you up. Now, won't you lie down, try +to rest and calm yourself. Don't grieve any more. This thing +isn't so bad as you make it. Trust me. I'll shut Mr. Radford +Chase's mouth." + +As he released her she glanced quickly up at him, then lifted +appealing hands. + +"Dick, you won't hunt for him--go after him?" + +Gale laughed, and the laugh made Belding jump. + +"Dick, I beg of you. Please don't make trouble. The Chases have +been hard enough on us. They are rich, powerful. Dick, say you +will not make matters worse. Please promise me you'll not go to him." + +"You ask me that?" he demanded. + +"Yes. Oh yes!" + +"But you know it's useless. What kind of a man do you want me to be?" + +"It's only that I'm afraid. Oh, Dick, he'd shoot you in the back." + +"No, Nell, a man of his kind wouldn't have nerve enough even for that." + +"You'll go?" she cried wildly. + +Gale smiled, and the smile made Belding cold. + +"Dick, I cannot keep you back?" + +"No," he said. + +Then the woman in her burst through instinctive fear, and with +her eyes blazing black in her white face she lifted parted quivering +lips and kissed him. + +Gale left the patio, and Belding followed closely at his heels. +They went through the sitting-room. Outside upon the porch sat +the rangers, Mr. Gale, and Thorne. Dick went into his room without +speaking. + +"Shore somethin's comin' off," said Ladd, sharply; and he sat up +with keen eyes narrowing. + +Belding spoke a few words; and, remembering an impression he had +wished to make upon Mr. Gale, he made them strong. But now it was +with grim humor that he spoke. + +"Better stop that boy," he concluded, looking at Mr. Gale. "He'll +do some mischief. He's wilder'n hell." + +"Stop him? Why, assuredly," replied Mr. Gale, rising with nervous +haste. + +Just then Dick came out of his door. Belding eyed him keenly. The +only change he could see was that Dick had put on a hat and a pair +of heavy gloves. + +"Richard, where are you going?" asked his father. + +"I'm going over here to see a man." + +"No. It is my wish that you remain. I forbid you to go," said +Mr. Gale, with a hand on his son's shoulder. + +Dick put Mr. Gale aside gently, respectfully, yet forcibly. The +old man gasped. + +"Dad, I haven't gotten over my bad habit of disobeying you. I'm +sorry. Don't interfere with me now. And don't follow me. You +might see something unpleasant." + +"But my son! What are you going to do?" + +"I'm going to beat a dog." + +Mr. Gale looked helplessly from this strangely calm and cold son +to the restless Belding. Then Dick strode off the porch. + +"Hold on!" Ladd's voice would have stopped almost any man. "Dick, +you wasn't agoin' without me?" + +"Yes, I was. But I'm thoughtless just now, Laddy." + +"Shore you was. Wait a minute, Dick. I'm a sick man, but at that +nobody can pull any stunts round here without me." + +He hobbled along the porch and went into his room. Jim Lash +knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and, humming his dance tune, +he followed Ladd. In a moment the rangers appeared, and both were +packing guns. + +Not a little of Belding's grim excitement came from observation +of Mr. Gale. At sight of the rangers with their guns the old +man turned white and began to tremble. + +"Better stay behind," whispered Belding. "Dick's going to beat +that two-legged dog, and the rangers get excited when they're +packing guns." + +"I will not stay behind," replied Mr. Gale, stoutly. "I'll see +this affair through. Belding, I've guessed it. Richard is going +to fight the Chases, those robbers who have ruined you." + +"Well, I can't guarantee any fight on their side," returned Belding, +dryly. "But maybe there'll be Greasers with a gun or two." + +Belding stalked off to catch up with Dick, and Mr. Gale came trudging +behind with Thorne. + +"Where will we find these Chases?" asked Dick of Belding. + +"They've got a place down the road adjoining the inn. They call +it their club. At this hour Radford will be there sure. +I don't know about the old man. But his office is now just +across the way." + +They passed several houses, turned a corner into the main street, +and stopped at a wide, low adobe structure. A number of saddled +horses stood haltered to posts. Mexicans lolled around the wide +doorway. + +"There's Ben Chase now over on the corner," said Belding to Dick. +"See, the tall man with the white hair, and leather band on his +hat. He sees us. He knows there's something up. He's got men +with him. They'll come over. We're after the young buck, and +sure he'll be in here." + +They entered. The place was a hall, and needed only a bar to make +it a saloon. There were two rickety pool tables. Evidently Chase +had fitted up this amusement room for his laborers as well as for +the use of his engineers and assistants, for the crowd contained +both Mexicans and Americans. A large table near a window was +surrounded by a noisy, smoking, drinking circle of card-players. + +"Point out this Radford Chase to me," said Gale. + +"There! The big fellow with the red face. His eyes stick out a +little. See! He's dropped his cards and his face isn't red any +more." + +Dick strode across the room. + +Belding grasped Mr. Gale and whispered hoarsely: "Don't miss anything. +It 'll be great. Watch Dick and watch Laddy! If there's any gun +play, dodge behind me." + +Belding smiled with a grim pleasure as he saw Mr. Gales' face turn +white. + +Dick halted beside the table. His heavy boot shot up, and with a +crash the table split, and glasses, cards, chips flew everywhere. +As they rattled down and the chairs of the dumfounded players +began to slide Dick called out: "My name is Gale. I'm looking +for Mr. Radford Chase." + +A tall, heavy-shouldered fellow rose, boldly enough, even swaggeringly, +and glowered at Gale. + +"I'm Radford Chase," he said. His voice betrayed the boldness of +his action. + + +It was over in a few moments. The tables and chairs were tumbled +into a heap; one of the pool tables had been shoved aside; a lamp +lay shattered, with oil running dark upon the floor. Ladd leaned +against a post with a smoking gun in his hand. A Mexican crouched +close to the wall moaning over a broken arm. In the far corner +upheld by comrades another wounded Mexican cried out in pain. These +two had attempted to draw weapons upon Gale, and Ladd had crippled +them. + +In the center of the room lay Radford Chase, a limp, torn, hulking, +bloody figure. He was not seriously injured. But he was helpless, +a miserable beaten wretch, who knew his condition and felt the +eyes upon him. He sobbed and moaned and howled. But no one offered +to help him to his feet. + +Backed against the door of the hall stood Ben Chase, for once +stripped of all authority and confidence and courage. Gale +confronted him, and now Gale's mien was in striking contrast to +the coolness with which he had entered the place. Though sweat +dripped from his face, it was as white as chalk. Like dark flames +his eyes seemed to leap and dance and burn. His lean jaw hung +down and quivered with passion. He shook a huge gloved fist in +Chase's face. + +"Your gray hairs save you this time. But keep out of my way! And +when that son of yours comes to, tell him every time I meet him +I'll add some more to what he got to-day!" + + + +XIX + + +THE SECRET OF FORLORN RIVER + +IN the early morning Gale, seeking solitude where he could brood +over his trouble, wandered alone. It was not easy for him to elude +the Yaqui, and just at the moment when he had cast himself down in +a secluded shady corner the Indian appeared, noiseless, shadowy, +mysterious as always. + +"Malo," he said, in his deep voice. + +"Yes, Yaqui, it's bad--very bad," replied Gale. + +The Indian had been told of the losses sustained by Belding and +his rangers. + +"Go--me!" said Yaqui, with an impressive gesture toward the lofty +lilac-colored steps of No Name Mountains. + +He seemed the same as usual, but a glance on Gale's part, a moment's +attention, made him conscious of the old strange force in the Yaqui. +"Why does my brother want me to climb the nameless mountains with +him?" asked Gale. + +"Lluvia d'oro," replied Yaqui, and he made motions that Gale found +difficult of interpretation. + +"Shower of Gold," translated Gale. That was the Yaqui's name for +Nell. What did he mean by using it in connection with a climb into +the mountains? Were his motions intended to convey an idea of a +shower of golden blossoms from that rare and beautiful tree, or a +golden rain? Gale's listlessness vanished in a flash of thought. +The Yaqui meant gold. Gold! He meant he could retrieve the fallen +fortunes of the white brother who had saved his life that evil day +at the Papago Well. Gale thrilled as he gazed piercingly into the +wonderful eyes of this Indian. Would Yaqui never consider his debt paid? + +"Go--me?" repeat the Indian, pointing with the singular directness +that always made this action remarkable in him. + +"Yes, Yaqui." + +Gale ran to his room, put on hobnailed boots, filled a canteen, +and hurried back to the corral. Yaqui awaited him. The Indian +carried a coiled lasso and a short stout stick. Without a word +he led the way down the lane, turned up the river toward the +mountains. None of Belding's household saw their departure. + +What had once been only a narrow mesquite-bordered trail was now +a well-trodden road. A deep irrigation ditch, full of flowing +muddy water, ran parallel with the road. Gale had been curious +about the operations of the Chases, but bitterness he could not +help had kept him from going out to see the work. He was not +surprised to find that the engineers who had contructed the ditches +and dam had anticipated him in every particular. The dammed-up +gulch made a magnificent reservoir, and Gale could not look upon +the long narrow lake without a feeling of gladness. The dreaded +ano seco of the Mexicans might come again and would come, but never +to the inhabitants of Forlorn River. That stone-walled, stone-floored +gulch would never leak, and already it contained water enough to +irrigate the whole Altar Valley for two dry seasons. + +Yaqui led swiftly along the lake to the upper end, where the +stream roared down over unscalable walls. This point was the +farthest Gale had ever penetrated into the rough foothills, and +he had Belding's word for it that no white man had ever climbed +No Name Mountains from the west. + +But a white man was not an Indian. The former might have +stolen the range and valley and mountain, even the desert, +but his possessions would ever remain mysteries. Gale had +scarcely faced the great gray ponderous wall of cliff before +the old strange interest in the Yaqui seized him again. It recalled +the tie that existed between them, a tie almost as close as blood. +Then he was eager and curious to see how the Indian would conquer +those seemingly insurmountable steps of stone. + +Yaqui left the gulch and clambered up over a jumble of weathered +slides and traced a slow course along the base of the giant wall. +He looked up and seemed to select a point for ascent. It was the +last place in that mountainside where Gale would have thought +climbing possible. Before him the wall rose, leaning over him, +shutting out the light, a dark mighty mountain mass. Innumerable +cracks and crevices and caves roughened the bulging sides of dark +rock. + +Yaqui tied one end of his lasso to the short, stout stick and, +carefully disentangling the coils, he whirled the stick round and +round and threw it almost over the first rim of the shelf, perhaps +thirty feet up. The stick did not lodge. Yaqui tried again. +This time it caught in a crack. He pulled hard. Then, holding +to the lasso, he walked up the steep slant, hand over hand on the +rope. When he reached the shelf he motioned for Gale to follow. +Gale found that method of scaling a wall both quick and easy. +Yaqui pulled up the lasso, and threw the stick aloft into another +crack. He climbed to another shelf, and Gale followed him. The +third effort brought them to a more rugged bench a hundred feet +above the slides. The Yaqui worked round to the left, and turned +into a dark fissure. Gale kept close to his heels. They came +out presently into lighter space, yet one that restricted any +extended view. Broken sections of cliff were on all sides. + +Here the ascent became toil. Gale could distance Yaqui +going downhill; on the climb, however, he was hard put +to it to keep the Indian in sight. It was not a question +of strength or lightness of foot. These Gale had beyond the +share of most men. It was a matter of lung power, and the Yaqui's +life had been spent scaling the desert heights. Moreover, the +climbing was infinitely slow, tedious, dangerous. On the way up +several times Gale imagined he heard a dull roar of falling water. +The sound seemed to be under him, over him to this side and to that. +When he was certain he could locate the direction from which it +came then he heard it no more until he had gone on. Gradually he +forgot it in the physical sensations of the climb. He burned his +hands and knees. He grew hot and wet and winded. His heart +thumped so that it hurt, and there were instants when his sight +was blurred. When at last he had toiled to where the Yaqui sat +awaiting him upon the rim of that great wall, it was none too soon. + +Gale lay back and rested for a while without note of anything +except the blue sky. Then he sat up. He was amazed to find that +after that wonderful climb he was only a thousand feet or so above +the valley. Judged by the nature of his effort, he would have +said he had climbed a mile. The village lay beneath him, with its +new adobe structures and tents and buildings in bright contrast with +the older habitations. He saw the green alfalfa fields, and +Belding's white horses, looking very small and motionless. He +pleased himself by imagining he could pick out Blanco Sol. Then +his gaze swept on to the river. + +Indeed, he realized now why some one had named it Forlorn River. +Even at this season when it was full of water it had a forlorn +aspect. It was doomed to fail out there on the desert--doomed +never to mingle with the waters of the Gulf. It wound away down +the valley, growing wider and shallower, encroaching more and more +on the gray flats, until it disappeared on its sad journey toward +Sonoyta. That vast shimmering, sun-governed waste recognized its +life only at this flood season, and was already with parched tongue +and insatiate fire licking and burning up its futile waters. + +Yaqui put a hand on Gale's knee. It was a bronzed, scarred, +powerful hand, always eloquent of meaning. The Indian was listening. +His bent head, his strange dilating eyes, his rigid form, and that +close-pressing hand, how these brought back to Gale the terrible +lonely night hours on the lava! + +"What do you hear, Yaqui?" asked Gale. He laughed a little at the +mood that had come over him. But the sound of his voice did not +break the spell. He did not want to speak again. He yielded to +Yaqui's subtle nameless influence. He listened himself, heard +nothing but the scream of an eagle. Often he wondered if the +Indian could hear things that made no sound. Yaqui was beyond +understanding. + +Whatever the Indian had listened to or for, presently he satisfied +himself, and, with a grunt that might mean anything, he rose and +turned away from the rim. Gale followed, rested now and eager to +go on. He saw that the great cliff they had climbed was only a +stairway up to the huge looming dark bulk of the plateau above. + +Suddenly he again heard the dull roar of falling water. It seemed +to have cleared itself of muffled vibrations. Yaqui mounted a little +ridge and halted. The next instant Gale stood above a bottomless +cleft into which a white stream leaped. His astounded gaze swept +backward along this narrow swift stream to its end in a dark, round, +boiling pool. It was a huge spring, a bubbling well, the outcropping +of an underground river coming down from the vast plateau above. + +Yaqui had brought Gale to the source of Forlorn River. + +Flashing thoughts in Gale's mind were no swifter than the thrills +that ran over him. He would stake out a claim here and never be +cheated out of it. Ditches on the benches and troughs on the steep +walls would carry water down to the valley. Ben Chase had build +a great dam which would be useless if Gale chose to turn Forlorn River +from its natural course. The fountain head of that mysterious desert +river belonged to him. + +His eagerness, his mounting passion, was checked by Yaqui's unusual +action. The Indian showed wonder, hesitation, even reluctance. His +strange eyes surveyed this boiling well as if they could not +believe the sight they saw. Gale divined instantly that Yaqui had +never before seen the source of Forlorn River. If he had ever +ascended to this plateau, probably it had been to some other part, +for the water was new to him. He stood gazing aloft at peaks, +at lower ramparts of the mountain, and at nearer landmarks of +prominence. Yaqui seemed at fault. He was not sure of his location. + +Then he strode past the swirling pool of dark water and began to +ascend a little slope that led up to a shelving cliff. Another +object halted the Indian. It was a pile of stones, weathered, +crumbled, fallen into ruin, but still retaining shape enough to +prove it had been built there by the hands of men. Round and +round this the Yaqui stalked, and his curiosity attested a further +uncertainty. It was as if he had come upon something surprising. +Gale wondered about the pile of stones. Had it once been a +prospector's claim? + +"Ugh!" grunted the Indian; and, though his exclamation expressed +no satisfaction, it surely put an end to doubt. He pointed up to +the roof of the sloping yellow shelf of stone. Faintly outlined +there in red were the imprints of many human hands with fingers +spread wide. Gale had often seen such paintings on the walls of +the desert caverns. Manifestly these told Yaqui he had come to +the spot for which he had aimed. + +Then his actions became swift--and Yaqui seldom moved swiftly. +The fact impressed Gale. The Indian searched the level floor +under the shelf. He gathered up handfuls of small black stones, +and thrust them at Gale. Their weight made Gale start, and then +he trembled. The Indian's next move was to pick up a piece +of weathered rock and throw it against the wall. It broke. +He snatched up parts, and showed the broken edges to Gale. +They contained yellow steaks, dull glints, faint tracings of green. +It was gold. + +Gale found his legs shaking under him; and he sat down, trying +to take all the bits of stone into his lap. His fingers were +all thumbs as with knife blade he dug into the black pieces +of rock. He found gold. Then he stared down the slope, down +into the valley with its river winding forlornly away into the +desert. But he did not see any of that. Here was reality as sweet, +as wonderful, as saving as a dream come true. Yaqui had led him +to a ledge of gold. Gale had learned enough about mineral to know +that this was a rich strike. All in a second he was speechless +with the joy of it. But his mind whirled in thought about this +strange and noble Indian, who seemed never to be able to pay a +debt. Belding and the poverty that had come to him! Nell, who +had wept over the loss of a spring! Laddy, who never could ride +again! Jim Lash, who swore he would always look after his friend! +Thorne and Mercedes! All these people, who had been good to him +and whom he loved, were poor. But now they would be rich. They +would one and all be his partners. He had discovered the source +of Forlorn River, and was rich in water. Yaqui had made him rich +in gold. Gale wanted to rush down the slope, down into the valley, +and tell his wonderful news. + +Suddenly his eyes cleared and he saw the pile of stones. His +blood turned to ice, then to fire. That was the mark of a prospector's +claim. But it was old, very old. The ledge had never been worked. +the slope was wild. There was not another single indication that +a prospector had ever been there. Where, then, was he who had +first staked this claim? Gale wondered with growing hope, with +the fire easing, with the cold passing. + +The Yaqui uttered the low, strange, involuntary cry so +rare with him, a cry somehow always associated with death. +Gale shuddered. + +The Indian was digging in the sand and dust under the shelving wall. +He threw out an object that rang against the stone. It was a belt +buckle. He threw out old shrunken, withered boots. He came upon +other things, and then he ceased to dig. + +The grave of desert prospectors! Gale had seen more than one. +Ladd had told him many a story of such gruesome finds. It was grim, +hard fact. + +Then the keen-eyed Yaqui reached up to a little projecting shelf +of rock and took from it a small object. He showed no curiosity +and gave the thing to Gale. + +How strangely Gale felt when he received into his hands a flat +oblong box! Was it only the influence of the Yaqui, or was there +a nameless and unseen presence beside that grave? Gale could not +be sure. But he knew he had gone back to the old desert mood. He +knew something hung in the balance. No accident, no luck, no +debt-paying Indian could account wholly for that moment. Gale +knew he held in his hands more than gold. + +The box was a tin one, and not all rusty. Gale pried open the +reluctant lid. A faint old musty odor penetrated his nostrils. +Inside the box lay a packet wrapped in what once might have been +oilskin. He took it out and removed this covering. A folded paper +remained in his hands. + +It was growing yellow with age. But he descried a dim tracery of +words. A crabbed scrawl, written in blood, hard to read! He held +it more to the light, and slowly he deciphered its content. + + +"We, Robert Burton and Jonas Warren, give half of this gold claim +to the man who finds it and half to Nell Burton, daughter and +granddaughter." + + +Gasping, with a bursting heart, ovewhelmed by an unutterable joy +of divination, Gale fumbled with the paper until he got it open. + +It was a certificate twenty-one years old, and recorded the marriage +of Robert Burton and Nellie Warren. + + + +XX + + +DESERT GOLD + +A SUMMER day dawned on Forlorn River, a beautiful, still, hot, +golden day with huge sail clouds of white motionless over No Name +Peaks and the purple of clear air in the distance along the desert +horizon. + +Mrs. Belding returned that day to find her daughter happy and the +past buried forever in two lonely graves. The haunting shadow left +her eyes. Gale believed he would never forget the sweetness, the +wonder, the passion of her embrace when she called him her boy and +gave him her blessing. + +The little wrinkled padre who married Gale and Nell performed the +ceremoney as he told his beads, without interest or penetration, +and went his way, leaving happiness behind. + +"Shore I was a sick man," Ladd said, "an' darn near a dead one, but +I'm agoin' to get well. Mebbe I'll be able to ride again someday. +Nell, I lay it to you. An' I'm agoin' to kiss you an' wish you +all the joy there is in this world. An', Dick, as Yaqui says, +she's shore your Shower of Gold." + +He spoke of Gale's finding love--spoke of it with the deep and +wistful feeling of the lonely ranger who had always yearned for +love and had never known it. Belding, once more practical, and +important as never before with mining projects and water claims +to manage, spoke of Gale's great good fortune in finding of +gold--he called it desert gold. + +"Ah, yes. Desert Gold!" exclaimed Dick's father, softly, +with eyes of pride. Perhaps he was glad Dick had found the rich +claim; surely he was happy that Dick had won the girl he loved. +But it seemed to Dick himself that his father meant something +very different from love and fortune in his allusion to desert gold. + + +That beautiful happy day, like life or love itself, could not be +wholly perfect. + +Yaqui came to Dick to say good-by. Dick was startled, grieved, +and in his impulsiveness forgot for a moment the nature of the +Indian. Yaqui was not to be changed. + +Belding tried to overload him with gifts. The Indian packed a +bag of food, a blanket, a gun, a knife, a canteen, and no more. +The whole household went out with him to the corrals and fields +from which Belding bade him choose a horse--any horse, even the +loved Blanco Diablo. Gale's heart was in his throat for fear the +Indian might choose Blanco Sol, and Gale hated himself for a +selfishness he could not help. But without a word he would have +parted with the treasured Sol. + +Yaqui whistled the horses up--for the last time. Did he care for +them? It would have been hard to say. He never looked at the +fierce and haughty Diablo, nor at Blanco Sol as he raised his noble +head and rang his piercing blast. The Indian did not choose one +of Belding's whites. He caught a lean and wiry broncho, strapped +a blanket on him, and fastened on the pack. + +Then he turned to these friends, the same emotionless, inscrutable +dark and silent Indian that he had always been. This parting was +nothing to him. He had stayed to pay a debt, and now he was going +home. + +He shook hands with the men, swept a dark fleeting glance over Nell, +and rested his strange eyes upon Mercedes's beautiful and agitated +face. It must have been a moment of intense feeling for the Spanish +girl. She owed it to him that she had life and love and happiness. +She held out those speaking slender hands. But Yaqui did not touch them. +Turning away, he mounted the broncho and rode down the trail toward the river. + +"He's going home," said Belding. + +"Home!" whispered Ladd; and Dick knew the ranger felt the resurging +tide of memory. Home--across the cactus and lava, through solemn +lonely days, the silent, lonely nights, into the vast and red-hazed +world of desolation. + +"Thorne, Mercedes, Nell, let's climb the foothill yonder and watch +him out of sight," said Dick. + +They climbed while the others returned to the house. When they reached +the summit of the hill Yaqui was riding up the far bank of the river. + +"He will turn to look--to wave good-by?" asked Nell. + +"Dear he is an Indian," replied Gale. + +From that height they watched him ride through the mesquites, up +over the river bank to enter the cactus. His mount showed dark +against the green and white, and for a long time he was plainly +in sight. The sun hung red in a golden sky. The last the watchers +saw of Yaqui was when he rode across a ridge and stood silhouetted +against the gold of desert sky--a wild, lonely, beautiful picture. +Then he was gone. + +Strangely it came to Gale then that he was glad. Yaqui had returned +to his own--the great spaces, the desolation, the solitude--to the +trails he had trodden when a child, trails haunted now by ghosts +of his people, and ever by his gods. Gale realized that in the +Yaqui he had known the spirit of the desert, that this spirit had +claimed all which was wild and primitive in him. + +Tears glistened in Mercedes's magnificent black eyes, and Thorne +kissed them away--kissed the fire back to them and the flame to +her cheeks. + +That action recalled Gale's earlier mood, the joy of the present, and +he turned to Nell's sweet face. The desert was there, wonderful, +constructive, ennobling, beautiful, terrible, but it was not for him +as it was for the Indian. In the light of Nell's tremulous returning +smile that strange, deep, clutching shadow faded, lost its hold +forever; and he leaned close to her, whispering: "Lluvia d'oro"-- +"Shower of Gold." + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Desert Gold, by Zane Grey diff --git a/old/dgold11.zip b/old/dgold11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9079f34 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dgold11.zip |