"Oh, dat vas diff"rent, ver" different," and she tripped back from him, with a coquettish toss of the black head. "Vy not? of course. I vas Mercedes--_si_; vas dat not enough? All de _caballeros_ say dat to me; dey say me ver" pretty girl. You tink dat too, senor?"
The perplexed Brown, fully conscious that his great strength was useless here, looked an answer, although his lips merely sputtered in vain attempt at speech.
"So; I read dat in de eyes. Den of course you lofe me. It vas de nature. But vis me it vas not so easy; no, not near so easy. I tink maybe you ver" nice man," she tipped it off upon her finger ends half playfully, constantly flashing her eyes up into his puzzled face. "I tink you ver" good man; I tink you ver" strong man; I tink maybe you be ver" nice to Mercedes. "T is for all dose tings dat I like you, senor, like you ver" mooch; but lofe, dat means more as like, an" I know not for sure. Maybe so, maybe not so; how I tell yet for true? I tink de best ting be I not say eet, but just tink "bout eet; just keep eet in mine own heart till some odder time ven I sure know. Vas eet not so?"
Brown set his teeth half savagely, the little witch tantalizing him with the swiftness of her speech, the coy archness of her manner. To his slower mentality she was like a humming-bird darting about from flower to flower, yet ever evading him.
"M-maybe yer think I ain"t in e-e-earnest?" he persisted, doggedly.
"M-maybe yer imagine I d-did n"t m-m-mean what I s-said when I asked yer ter m-marry me?"
She glanced up quickly into his serious eyes, half shrinking away as if she suddenly comprehended the dumb, patient strength of the man, his rugged, changeless resolution. There was a bit of falter in the quick response, yet this was lost to him.
"No, senor, I no make fun. I no dat kind. I do de right, dat all; I do de right for both of us. I no vant to do de wrong. You _comprende_, senor? Maybe you soon grow ver" tire Mercedes, she marry you?"
The infatuated miner shook his head emphatically, and flung out one hand toward her.
"No! Oh, you tink so now; you tink so ver" mooch now, but eet better ve vait an" see. I know de men an" de vay dey forget after vile.
Maybe I not such good voman like you tink me; maybe I cross, scold, get qvick mad; maybe I no like live widout de stage, de lights, de dance, an" de fun, hey? Vat you do den? You be ver" sorry you marry. I no like dat, no, no. I want de man to lofe me always--nevah to vish he not marry me. You not know me yet; I not know you. Maybe ve vait, ve know."
He caught her gesticulating hands, prisoning them strongly within both his own, but she shook forward her loosened hair until it fell partially across her face, hiding it thus from his eager eyes bent in pa.s.sion upon her.
"B-but tell me y-you love me! T-tell me th-th-that, an" I "ll let the o-other go!"
"You vould make me to say de untrue, senor?"
"Of course not. I w-want ter kn-kn-know. Only if you d-do n"t, I "m a-goin" t-ter git out o" yere."
She remained silent, motionless, her telltale face shadowed, only the quick rise and fall of the bosom evidencing emotion. The man looked at her helplessly, his mouth setting firm, his eyes becoming filled with sudden doubt.
"W-well, Mercedes," he stuttered, unable to restrain himself, "wh-what is it?"
She lifted her lowered head ever so slightly, so that he saw her profile, the flush on the cheek turned toward him.
"Maybe eet better you stay, senor. Anyhow, I no vant you go just now."
For once he proved the more swift of the two, clasping her instantly within his arms, drawing her slender form close against him with a strength he failed to realize in that sudden excess of pa.s.sion.
Holding her thus in helpless subjection he flung aside the obstructing veil of hair, and covered the flushed cheeks with kisses. The next moment, breathless, but not with indignation, the girl had pushed his burning face aside, although she still lay quivering within the remorseless clasp of his arms.
"I no said all dat, senor; I no said all dat. You so ver" strong, you hurt Mercedes. Please, senor--eet vas not dat I meant eet should be dis vay--no, no. I no said I lofe you; I just say stay till maybe I know vich--please, senor."
"N-not till yer k-kiss me yourself," and Brown, intensely conscious of triumph, held back the ma.s.s of black hair, his eager eyes devouring the fair face pressing his shoulder. "O-one kiss w-with ther l-l-lips, an"
I "ll let yer g-go."
"No, no, senor."
"Th-then I h-hold yer here till some one comes."
"Eet vas not lofe; eet vas just to get avay."
"I-I-I take ch-chances on that, l-little girl."
Their lips met and clung; all unconsciously the free arm of the girl stole upward, clasping the man"s broad shoulder. For that one instant she forgot all excepting the new joy of that embrace, the crowning faith that this man loved her as no other ever had--truly, n.o.bly, and forever. Her face was aglow as she drew reluctantly back from him, her eyes upon his, her cheeks flushed, her lips trembling. Yet with the parting came as swiftly back the resolution which made her strong.
"Eh, senor; eet shame me, but you promise--please, senor!"
Like a flash, in some mysterious manner, she had slipped free, evaded his effort to grasp her dress, and, with quick, whirling motion, was already half-way across the open s.p.a.ce, daring to mock him even while flinging back her long hair, the sunlight full upon her. Never could she appear more delicately attractive, more coquettishly charming.
"Ah, see--you tink me de prisoner. Eet vas not all de strength, senor, not all. You no can catch me again till I lofe you; not de once till I lofe you, senor."
He started toward her blindly, taunted by these unexpected words of renunciation. But she danced away, ever managing to keep well beyond reach, until she disappeared within the narrow path leading to the cabin. He could see her through the vista of branches, pausing to look back and watch if he followed.
"B-but you do," he called out, "I-I know you d-do. Won"t yer just s-s-say it for me onct?"
"Say dat I marry you?"
"Y-yes, for it means ther same. Anyhow, s-say yer love me."
She laughed, shaking her head so hard the black hair became a whirling cloud about her.
"No, no! eet not de same, senor. Maybe I lofe you, maybe not yet. Dat ees vat you must fin" out. But marry? Dat no show I lofe you. Oh, de men! to tink eet vas de only vay to prove lofe to marry. No, no! maybe I show you some day eef I lofe you; si, some day I show you ven I know true. But dat not mean I marry you. Dat mean more as dat--you see.
_Adios_, senor."
And he stood alone, staring at the blank door, strangely happy, although not content.
CHAPTER XXI
UNDER ARREST
When Brown emerged from behind the protection of the cabin, his freckled face yet burning red in memory of his strenuous love-making, he discovered both Hicks and Winston standing upon the rock which shortly before had formed their breakfast table, gazing watchfully off into the purple depths of the canyon, occasionally lifting their eyes to search carefully the nearer surroundings about the hostile "Independence." Something serious was in the air, and all three men felt its mysterious presence. Hicks held the field-gla.s.ses in his hands, outwardly calm, yet his old face already beginning to exhibit the excitement of rapidly culminating events. That they were not to be long left undisturbed was promised by an increasing number of figures distinctly visible around the distant shaft-house and dump, as well as the continuous shouting, indistinguishable as to words but p.r.o.nounced in volume, borne through the clear air to their ears.
"I "m a liar if ther was n"t twenty in that last bunch," Hicks muttered, just a trifle uneasily. "Good Lord boys! it "s an army they "re organizin" over yonder. Blame me if I onderstan" that sorter scheme at all. It don"t look nat"ral. I never thought Farnham was no coward when ther time come fer fightin", but this kind o" fixin" sh.o.r.e looks as if we had him skeered stiff. Wal, it "ll take more "n a bunch o" San Juan toughs to skeer me. I reckon ther present plan must be ter try rushin" ther "Little Yankee.""
He wheeled about, driving the extended tubes of his gla.s.s together, his gray beard forking out in front of his lean, brown face like so many bristles.
"Oh, is thet you come back, Stutter? Thought I heerd somebody walkin"
behind me. I reckon, judgin" from ther outlook over thar, thet the dance is "bout ter begin; leastwise, the fiddlers is takin" their places," and he waved his gnarled hand toward the distant crowd. "Got somethin" like a reg"ment thar now, hoss and fut, an" it"s safe ter bet thar "s more a-comin". This yere fracas must be gittin" some celebrated, an" bids fair ter draw bigger "n a three-ringed circus.
All ther sc.u.m o" San Juan must "a got a private tip thet we was easy marks. They "re out yere like crows hopin" ter pick our bones clean afore the law kin git any show at all. Wal, it "ll be a tough meal all right, an" some of "em are mighty liable ter have trouble with their digestion, fer thar "s goin" ter be considerable lead eat first. Now see yere, Stutter, the safest thing we kin do is git ready. You chase that whole bunch yonder back behind them rocks, where they "ll be out o" the way--the Swede an" the women. Do it lively, an" you an" Mike stay up thar with "em, with your guns handy. Keep under cover as much as ye kin, for some o" them lads out thar will have gla.s.ses with "em, and be watchin" of us almighty close. Hurry "long now; me an" Winston will stop yere until we find out just what their little game is likely ter be."
He turned away from his partner, facing once again toward the "Independence." Then he readjusted the tubes, and pa.s.sed them over to his silent companion.
"Just see what you make out o" it, Mr. Winston; ye "re some younger, an" yer eyes ought ter be a heap better "n mine."
The young engineer, his heart already beginning to throb with the excitement of an unaccustomed position of danger, ran the lenses carefully back and forth from the half-concealed bunk-house to the nearer ore-dump, searching for every sign of life. Whatever emotion swayed him, there was not the slightest tremor to the steady hands supporting the levelled tubes.
"They have certainly got together a considerable number of men," he reported, the gla.s.s still at his eyes. "Roughs the most of them look to be, from their clothes. The largest number are grouped in between the shaft-house and the dump, but there must be a dozen or fifteen down below at the edge of those cedars. Farnham is at the shaft-house--no, he and another fellow have just started down the dump, walking this way. Now they have gone into the cedars, and are coming straight through. What"s up, do you suppose--negotiations?"