The eyes of the Anglo-Saxon grew grave.
"How is Don Manuel to-night?"
"Better. Thank Heaven."
"That"s what the doctor told me."
d.i.c.k propped himself on an elbow and looked directly at her, that affectionate smile of his on his face.
"Miss Valdes, do you know, ever since I"ve been well enough, I"ve been hoping that if one of us had to cross the Great Divide it would be me?"
Her troubled eyes studied him.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because it would seem more right that way. I came here and made all this trouble in the valley. I insulted him. I had in mind another hurt to him that we won"t discuss just now. Then, when it comes to a showdown, he just naturally waltzes into Hades and saves my life for me at the risk of his own. No, ma"am, I sure couldn"t have stood it if he had died."
"I"m glad you feel that way," she answered softly, her eyes dim.
"How else could I feel, and be a white man? I tell you, it makes me feel mean to think about that day I threw him in the water. Just because I"m a great big husky, about the size of two of him, I abused my strength and----"
"Just a moment," the girl smiled. "You are forgetting he struck you first."
"Oh, well! I reckon I could have stood that."
"Will you be willing to tell him how you feel about it?"
"Will I? Well, I guess yes."
The young woman"s eyes were of starry radiance. "I"m so glad--so happy.
I"m sure everything will come right, now."
He nodded, smiling.
"That"s just the way I feel, Miss Valencia. They couldn"t go wrong, after this--that is, they couldn"t go clear wrong."
"I"m quite certain of that."
"I want to go on record as saying that Manuel Pesquiera is the gamest man I know. That isn"t all. He"s a thoroughbred on top of it. If I live to be a hundred I"ll never be as fine a fellow. My hat"s off to him."
There was a mist in her soft eyes as she poured a gla.s.s of ice water for him. "I"m so glad to hear you say that. He _is_ such a splendid fellow."
He observed she was no longer wearing the solitaire and thought it might be to spare his feelings. So he took the subject as a hunter does a fence.
"I wish you all the joy in the world, Miss Valdes. I know you"re going to be very happy. I"ve got my wedding present all picked out for you,"
he said audaciously.
She was busy tidying up his dresser, but he could see the color flame into her cheeks.
"You have a very vivid imagination, Mr. Gordon."
"Not necessary in this case," he a.s.sured her.
"You"re quite sure of that, I suppose," she suggested with a touch of ironic mockery.
"I haven"t read any announcement in the paper," he admitted.
"It is always safe to wait for that."
"Which is another way of saying that it is none of my business. But then you see it is." He offered no explanation of this statement, nor did he give her time to protest. "Now about that wedding present, Miss Valdes.
It"s in a tin box I had in the cabin before the fire. Can you tell me whether it was saved? My recollection is that I had it at the time the rafter put me to sleep. But of course I don"t remember anything more till I found myself in bed here."
"A tin box? Yes; you had it in your hands when Manuel brought you out.
They could hardly pry your fingers from it."
"Would you mind having that box brought to me, Miss Valdes? I want to be sure the present hasn"t been injured by fire."
"Of course not. I don"t just know where it is, but it must be somewhere about the place."
She was stepping toward the door, with that fine reaching grace of a fawn that distinguished her, when his voice stopped her. She stopped, delicate head poised and half turned, apparently waiting for further directions.
"Not just this minute, please. I"ve been lying here all day, with n.o.body but Steve. Finally he got so restless I had to turn him out to pasture.
It wouldn"t be right hospitable to send you away so soon. That box can wait till you have had all of me you can stand. What I need is good nursing, and I need it awful bad," he explained plaintively.
"Has Mrs. Corbett been neglecting you?"
"Mrs. Corbett--no!" he shouted with a spirit indomitable, but a voice still weak. "She"s on earth merely to cook me chicken broth and custard.
It"s you that"s been neglecting me."
The gleam of a strange fire was in her dark, bright eyes; in her cheeks the soft glow of beating color.
"And _my_ business on earth is to fight you, is it not? But I can"t do that till you are on your feet again, sir."
He gave her back her debonair smile.
"I"m not so sure of that. Women fight with the weapons of their s.e.x--and often win, I"m told."
"You mean, perhaps, tears and appeals for pity. They are weapons I cannot use, sir. I had liefer lose."
"I dare say there are other weapons in your a.r.s.enal. I know you"re too game to use those you"ve named."
"What others?" she asked quietly.
He let his eyes rest on her, sweep over her, and come back to the meeting with hers. But he did not name them. Instead, he came to another angle of the subject.
"You never know when you are licked, do you? Why don"t you ask me to compromise this land grant business?"
"What sort of a compromise have you to offer, sir?" she said after a pause.