"A led horse. Why, he must have forgotten, if he ever knew, that I"ve my own Nimrod here, that Mrs. Trent insisted upon my accepting, when I left Sobrante before. The horse must go with me, of course, and I flatter myself I can pick up a bit of instruction on riding among those fine "boys" of the little captain"s. I"ll send a return message--no, I won"t, either. I"ll trust to luck and surprise them.
Now to get ready."
A feeling that he was going "home" possessed the young man, and all his simple preparations strengthened rather than weakened him.
Activity was his habit, and an hour before the train left the city he had completed his personal arrangements with his office, his bank and his landlord. He had paid his nurse the same salary she would have received had he required her services for the fortnight, as expected, and was ready for what came next.
"I feel as if I were entering upon a new life, instead of taking a rest cure," he remarked to Mr. Hale, when that gentleman met him at the station, and explained that a Christmas invitation had come for himself, also. "And I say we"ll make it the jolliest holiday those people down there ever knew. I sent a letter to your address, after I "phoned, and made out a list of things I"d like you to see to.
Presents and so on; and I"ll write as soon as I get there and let you know what"s up with the sharpshooter. Some trouble, of course, but reckon it can"t be much. Ha! we"re off. Good-by. Forget nothing, add as much as you please to my list and send the bills to me. Good-by."
The train rolled noiselessly away from the long platform, and the reporter for the Lancet stowed himself comfortably away on his cushions and slept as he had not slept before since this nervous illness attacked him. Not once did he awake, till the conductor touched him on the shoulder, and stated:
"End of the line, sir. Time to leave."
Ninian sat up and shook himself, still feeling a bit dazed from his heavy slumber, and had scarcely realized the fact of his arrival before a man limped into the car and slapped him on the shoulder.
"Well done, lad. Welcome to Sobrante!"
"h.e.l.lo, Mr. Marsh! You here? Sobrante? I thought----"
"Same thing. This is Marion; as near as we can get to our place on the rails. Remember, don"t you? Been sick, eh? You look rather peaked and I "low I"d ought----"
"No apologies. Here I am, and am not ill now. Only been a little overworked; and your telegram, as well as Miss Jessica"s letter, came in the nick of time. Not an hour after the doctor had ordered this very medicine of change and recreation."
Ephraim looked sharply at his guest and reflected:
"What our business needs is a clear head and a strong body, not an overtaxed man, as this "pears to be. Well, sick or well, I hope he can see through some of our muddles, if not all; and half a loaf is better than no bread." Then he gathered the traveler"s belongings, and remarked: "I told Aleck to have a good supper ready. It"s a fine night and I thought we"d ride home afterwards. Unless----"
They left the car and Ninian answered the other"s unspoken suggestion:
"No, I don"t want to stay all night, good as Janet"s beds are. I"ve had a delicious sleep and feel like another man from this morning.
h.e.l.lo! they"ve taken Nimrod out already, and evidently are waiting for orders. I declare, the handsome beast looks as if he recognized this place and was as glad to get back to it as I am."
Old "Forty-niner" left his guest"s side and hurried to the spot where a trainman held the spirited animal, stroking its neck and speaking soothingly to it, to calm its excitement; and no sooner had the ranchman"s hand supplanted the trainman"s than Nimrod ceased to prance, and with a little final shiver, stood stock-still, uttering a low whinny of delight.
"That"s the talk, you beauty! Welcome home, old boy! Well, well, well!
if you ain"t a sight to cure the headache! Yes, yes; it"s all right.
This is Marion. We"ve got to stop at Aleck"s first. Remember Aleck?
Remember Janet and her sugar? Well, well, well!"
Ninian approached, amazed and incredulous, inquiring:
"Think that creature knows what you"re saying?"
"Forty-niner" turned upon the questioner indignantly.
"That"s a fool sort of question for a smart man to ask! "Think" he knows? No. There isn"t any "thinking" in this. I know he knows, and I know he"s just as glad to set foot on his mother earth, here in Marion, as I was t"other day when I stepped off this same train--or its mate of the morning. I wish all the men in the world were half as brainy as he is. And I tell you what, stranger, you couldn"t have done a thing would make your own welcome so sure as fetching Nimrod with you. If you"d left him behind some of us would have had our own opinion. Though I, for one, didn"t know he was yours till this very morning."
"And the led horse you spoke about?"
Ephraim looked up, surprised, answering, rather crisply:
"At home. Why not? When I heard about Nimrod I wasn"t silly enough to bring another."
"So if I hadn"t brought him we"d been short a mount?" insisted the reporter, teasingly.
"One of us would had to foot it to the ranch, and that one wouldn"t have been me. Huh! Does me good to hear your nonsense gabble again. I declare it does. When did you get my telegraph?"
"This morning."
"This--morning! Why, I sent it day before yesterday, no, the day before that. Let me see; to-day"s one, yesterday--the funeral, two--the one--yes, three days ago. John Benton himself gave it into the telegraph man"s hands. Himself."
They mounted and started toward McLeod"s Inn, Ninian doing very well, considering the impatience of his steed and his own limited experience of the saddle, and the sharpshooter sitting as composedly upon the back of as restless an animal as could readily be found. It was a bay, and pranced and curveted to the extent that Nimrod seemed a door-mouse beside it, and Ninian finally observed:
"That"s an undecided sort of beast you have, yourself. Seems to be as much inclined to go backward as forward."
"Hale"s. Name Prince. Was on the mesa with Pedro till he died."
"Pedro dead? I"m sorry. Was it his "funeral" you meant?"
"Yes. Terrible pity he couldn"t have held on till Christmas, his Navidad, that always meant so much to him. But he couldn"t. Things have changed at Sobrante since you was here. I"m glad you"ve come. I"m powerful glad you"ve come."
"Any new trouble, Ephraim?"
"H"m! I should say. Ghosts, the women think, and scamps for certain.
But it"s a long story, and here we are at Aleck"s. We mustn"t spoil that good supper of his and talk will keep. We"ve thirty miles "twixt us and bed, "less you change your mind and stop here, and that should give time enough to turn a man"s mind inside out."
"Were you so certain of my coming that you ordered a special supper, without hearing?"
"Sure. I took you to be a man and I put myself in your place. In your place I should have come if I could; and if I couldn"t I should have sent word. Light."
Aleck came out to meet them, and Janet followed, of course. Where one of that worthy couple was the other was sure to be; and both extended to the city man such welcome as made him more impressed than ever by that "home feeling" which had possessed him all day. He returned their good wishes with heartiness and did full justice to his supper, adding as a thankful tribute to Janet"s fine cookery:
"That"s the first thing has pa.s.sed my lips that hadn"t the flavor of ashes, since many a day. The doctor was right."
"Glad to hear any doctor ever could be right," returned the innkeeper, who had never been ill, and attributed his health to his distrust of physicians. "Fresh air, wholesome food and a clear conscience--them"s to long life what the three R"s are to "rithmetic. Powerful sorry you can"t pa.s.s the night. I"d admire to talk over the political situation with an intelligent man."
The side glance toward himself with which the Scotchman said this sent Ephraim off into a mighty guffaw, in which presently they all joined; and in the midst of the merriment a stable boy led up the horses, and the Sobrante-bound riders loped away. Yet, just before they were out of hearing, Aleck"s stentorian voice sent after them the warning advice:
"Keep a sharp lookout, by, and your hands on your guns. That spook"s. .h.i.t the trail again! Watch out!"
Ninian laughed, and "Forty-niner" tried to do so, but the most he could accomplish was a feeble cackle, which, his companion fancied, betrayed his age as nothing heretofore had done. It was a nervous, irritated laugh, and was matched by the altered voice in which its owner presently remarked:
"If I can"t stop this fool business any other way, I"ve a notion to ride round the country and shoot right and left, everybody I see, promiscuous. That"s the sure and certain way to hit the spook, too."
"Heigho! This grows exciting! Spooks? Mysteries? Mail robberies! What next?"
There was no answer from the sharpshooter, who had gotten his horse into a steady trot and was putting the road behind him in a manner that needed all Ninian"s efforts to match. If Nimrod had been as little used to the trail as his rider was to him the s.p.a.ce between the two animals would have widened irretrievably; but he was the better bred of the two, and though he didn"t waste his strength in a first spurt, as Prince did, he fell into a steady, easy gait, that soon told to his advantage.
It was one of the perfect moonlight nights which come in that cloudless region, when one can easily "read fine print," if so inclined, or see across country almost as well as in the day. The swift motion, the exhilarating air, the sense of freedom from city walls and cramped s.p.a.ces, started the reporter into singing, and later into the silence of wonder over the astonishing power of his own voice.