It was a very beautiful hour of the day. The west was filled with cool, purple-gray clouds, and a fresh wind had swept away all memory of the heat of the day. Insects filled the air with quavering song. Children were romping on the lawns. Lovers sauntered by in pairs or swung under the trees in hammocks. Old people sat reading or listlessly talking beside their cottage doors. A few carriages were astir. It was a day of rest and peace and love-making to this busy little community. The mills were still and even the water seemed to run less swiftly, only the fishes below the dam had cause to regret the day"s release from toil, for on every rock a fisherman was poised.
The tension being a little relieved, Harold was able to listen to Jack"s news of Rock River. His father was still preaching in the First Church, but several influential men had split off and were actively antagonizing the majority of the congregation. The fight was at its bitterest. Maud had now three children, and her husband was doing well in hardware. This old schoolmate was married, that one was dead, many had moved West.
Bradley Talcott was running for State Legislator. Radbourn was in Washington.
Talking on quietly the two young men walked out of the village into a lane bordered with Lombardy poplars. Harold threw himself down on the gra.s.s beneath them and said:
"Now I can imagine I am back on the old farm. Tell me all about your folks."
"Oh, they"re just the same. They don"t change much. Father sc.r.a.ped some money together and built a new bedroom on the west side. Mother calls it "the boys" room." By "boys" they mean you and me. They expect us to sleep there when you come back on a visit. They"ll be terribly disappointed at not seeing you. Mother seems to think as much of you as she does of me."
There was charm in the thought of the Burns" farm and Mrs. Burns coming and going about the big kitchen stove, the smell of wholesome cooking about her clothing, and for the moment the desperado"s brain became as a child"s. There was sadness in the thought that he never again could see his loyal friends or the old walks and lanes.
Jack aroused him and they walked briskly back toward the little church which they found already quite filled with young people. The choir, including Mary, smiled at the audience and at each other, for the spirit of the little church was humanly cheerful.
The strangers found seats in a corner pew together with a pale young man and a very pretty little girl. Jack was not imaginative, but he could not help thinking of the commotion which would follow if those around him should learn that "Black Mose" was at that moment seated among them.
Mary, seeing the dark, stern face of the plainsman, had some such thought also. There was something gloriously unfettered, compelling, and powerful in his presence. He made the other young men appear commonplace and feeble in her eyes, and threw the minister into pale relief, emphasizing his serenity, his scholarship, and his security of position.
Harold gave close attention to the young minister, who, as Mary"s lover, became important. As a man of action he put a low valuation on a mere scholar, but King was by no means contemptible physically. Jack also perceived the charm of such a man to Mary, and acknowledged the good sense of her choice. King could give her a pleasant home among people she liked, while Harold could only ask her to go to the wild country, to a log ranch in a cottonwood gulch, there to live month after month without seeing a woman or a child.
A bitter and desperate melancholy fell upon the plainsman. What was the use? Such a woman was not for him. He had only the pleasure of the wild country. He would go back to his horses, his guns, and the hills, and never again come under the disturbing influence of this beautiful singer. She was not of his world; her smiles were not for him. When the others arose in song he remained seated, his sullen face set toward the floor, denying himself the pleasure of even seeing Mary"s face as she sang.
Her voice arose above the chorus, guiding, directing, uplifting the less confident ones. When she sang she was certain of herself, powerful, self-contained. That night she sang with such power and sweetness that the minister turned and smiled upon her at the end. He spoke over the low railing which separated them: "You surpa.s.s yourself to-night."
Looking across the heads of the audience as they began to take seats Harold saw this smile and action, and his face darkened again.
For her solo Mary selected one which expressed in simple words the capabilities each humble soul had for doing good. If one could not storm the stars in song one could bathe a weary brow. If one could not write a mighty poem one could speak a word of cheer to the toiler by the way.
It was all poor stuff enough, but the singer filled it with significance and appeal. At the moment it seemed as if such things were really worth doing. Each word came from her lips as though it had never been uttered by human lips before, so simple, so musical, so finely enunciated, so well valued was it. To Harold, so long separated from any approach to womanly art, it appealed with enormous power. He was not only sensitive, he was just come to the pa.s.sion and impressionability of full-blooded young manhood. Powers converged upon him, and simple and direct as he was, the effects were confusion and deepest dejection. He heard nothing but Mary"s voice, saw nothing but her radiant beauty. To him she was more wonderful than any words could express.
At the end of the singing he refused to wait till she came down the aisle, but hurried out into the open air away from the crowd. As Jack caught up with him he said: "You go to bed; I"ve got to take a run out into the country or I can"t sleep at all. Father will be up in the morning, I suppose. I"ll get off in the six o"clock train to-morrow night."
Jack said nothing, not even in a.s.sent, and Mose set off up the lane with more of mental torment than had ever been his experience before.
Hitherto all had been simple. He loved horses, the wild things, the trail, the mountains, the ranch duties, and the perfect freedom of a man of action. Since the door of his prison opened to allow him to escape into the West he had encountered no doubts, had endured no remorse, and had felt but little fear. All that he did was forthright, manly, single-purposed, and unhesitating.
Now all seemed changed. His horses, his guns, the joys of free s.p.a.ces, were met by a counter allurement which was the voice of a woman. Strong as he was, stern as he looked, he was still a boy in certain ways, and this mental tumult, so new and strange to him, wearied him almost to tears. It was a fatigue, an ache which he could not shake off, and when he returned to the hotel he had settled nothing and was ready to flee from it all without one backward look. However, he slept soundlier than he thought himself capable of doing.
He was awakened early by Jack: "Harry, your father is here, and very anxious to see you."
Mose arose slowly and reluctantly. He had nothing to say to his father, and dreaded the interview, which he feared would be unpleasantly emotional. The father met him with face pale and hands trembling with emotion. "My son, my son!" he whispered. Mose stood silently wondering why his father should make so much fuss over him.
Mr. Excell soon recovered his self-command, and his voice cleared. "I had almost given up seeing you, Harold. I recognize you with difficulty--you have changed much. You seem well and strong--almost as tall as I was at your age."
"I hold my own," said Harold, and they all sat down more at ease. "I got into rough gangs out there, but I reckon they got as good as they sent."
"I suppose the newspapers have greatly exaggerated about your conflicts?"
Harold was a little disposed to shock his father. "Oh, yes, I don"t think I really killed as many men as they tell about; I don"t know that I killed any."
"I hope you did not lightly resort to the use of deadly weapons," said Mr. Excell sadly.
"It was kill or be killed," said Harold grimly. "It was like shooting a pack of howling wolves. I made up my mind to be just one shot ahead of anybody. There are certain counties out there where the name "Black Mose" means something."
"I"m sorry for that, my son. I hope you don"t drink?"
"Don"t you worry about that. I can"t afford to drink, and if I could I wouldn"t. Oh, I take a gla.s.s of beer with the boys once in a while on a hot day, but it"s my lay to keep sober. A drunken man is a soft mark."
He changed the subject: "Seems to me you"re a good deal grayer."
Mr. Excell ran his fingers through the tumbled heap of his grizzled hair. "Yes; things are troubling me a little. The McPhails are fighting me in the church, and intend to throw me out and ruin me if they can, but I shall fight them till the bitter end. I am not to be whipped out like a dog."
"That"s the talk! Don"t let "em run you out. I got run out of Cheyenne, but I"ll never run again. I was only a kid then. After you throw "em down, come out West and round up the cowboys. They won"t play any underhanded games on you, and mebbe you can do them some good--especially on gambling. They are sure enough idiots about cards."
They went down to breakfast together, but did not sit together.
Jack and Harold talked in low voices about Mr. Excell.
"The old man looks pretty well run down, don"t he?" said Harold.
"He worries a whole lot about you."
"He needn"t to. When does he go back?"
"He wants to stay all day--just as long as he can."
"He"d better pull right out on that ten o"clock train. His being here is sure to give me away sooner or later."
It was hard for the father to say good-by. He had a feeling that it was the last time he should ever see him, and his face was gray with suffering as he faced his son for the last time. Harold became not merely unresponsive, he grew harsher of voice each moment. His father"s tremulous and repeated words seemed to him foolish and absurd--and also inconsiderate. After he was gone he burst out in wrath.
"Why can"t he act like a man? I don"t want anybody to snivel over me.
Suppose I _am_ to be shot this fall, what of it?"
This disgust and bitterness prepared him, strange to say, for his call upon Mary. He entered the house, master of himself and the situation.
His nerves were like steel, and his stern face did not quiver in its minutest muscle, though she met him in most gracious mood, dressed as for conquest and very beautiful.
"I"m so glad you stayed over," she said. "I have been so eager to hear all about your life out there." She led the way to the little parlor once more and drew a chair near him.
"Well," he began, "it isn"t exactly the kind of life your Mr. King leads."
There was a vengeful sneer in his voice which Mary felt as if he had struck her, but she said gently:
"I suppose our life does seem very tame to you now."
"It"s sure death. I couldn"t stand it for a year; I"d rot."
Mary was aware that some sinister change had come over him, and she paused to study him keenly. The tremulous quality of his voice and action had pa.s.sed away. He was hard, stern, self-contained, and she (without being a coquette) determined that his mood should give way to hers. He set himself hard against the charm of her lovely presence and the dainty room. Mary ceased to smile, but her brows remained level.
"You men seem to think that all women are fond only of the quiet things, but it isn"t true. We like the big deeds in the open air, too. I"d like to see a cattle ranch and take a look at a "round-up," though I don"t know exactly what that means."
"Well, we"re not on the round-up all the time," he said, relaxing a little. "It"s pretty quiet part of the time; that is, quiet for our country. But then, you"re always on a horse and you"re out in the air on the plains with the mountains in sight. There"s a lot of hard work about it, too, and it"s lonesome sometimes when your"re ridin" the lines, but I like it. When it gets a little too tame for me I hit the trail for the mountains with an Indian. The Ogallalahs are my friends, and I"m going to spend the winter with them and then go into the West Elk country. I"m due to kill a grizzly this year and some mountain sheep." He was started now, and Mary had only to listen. "Before I stop, I"m going to know all there is to know of the Rocky Mountains. With ol" Kintuck and my Winchester I"m goin" to hit the sunset trail and hit it hard. There"s nothing to keep me now," he said with a sudden glance at her. "It don"t matter where I turn up or pitch camp. I reckon I"d better not try to be a cattle king." He smiled bitterly and pitilessly at the poor figure he cut. "I reckon I"m a kind of a mounted hobo from this on."