Felicia and Roger waited for a time patiently. Then Roger shouted, half a dozen times, "Ernest!" There was no answer.
"Darn chump!" muttered Roger. "Come on, Felicia, let"s make a fire of grease wood so he can find us."
They built the fire and an hour pa.s.sed, then two, but Ernest did not appear.
CHAPTER IV
CHARLEY
Felicia soon grew weary of the game of fire building and begged off.
Roger, with the aid of the ax, gathered a huge pile of grease wood, then with Felicia beside him, wrapped in a blanket, he sat down before the fire to wait.
The child, her deep eyes glowing like black rubies in the flickering light, the lovely curves of her mouth drooping, leaned against Roger"s shoulder, for a little while, then she turned and looked up into his face for a long minute. Roger returned the look, a little wonderingly.
Felicia"s attractiveness still puzzled him.
"I love you very much," she said, "more than I do Ernest."
Roger smiled down at her. "But you must love our old Ernest too, even if he has deserted us."
"Oh, I do love him, but it"s you I think about, last thing at night!"
Felicia gazed up at Roger with a look of such mysterious depth that he caught his breath. Felicia suddenly shivered.
"The desert"s awful big! Oh, why do you suppose Charley didn"t meet me?
I want Charley," with a sob.
Roger jumped to his feet and brought another blanket from the wagon. He spread it before the fire and urged Felicia to lie down on it. This she was persuaded to do only after Roger loaned his lap for a pillow and she finally fell asleep, her head on his knee, his hand clasped against her cheek.
Another hour slipped by. Cramped and cold, Roger tossed an occasional branch in the fire with his free hand and speculated with uneasiness for Ernest, as to the nature of the faint sounds that came from the eastward. He decided that coyotes must be in the vicinity and he drew the blanket close over Felicia"s shoulders. He was strangely unlonely.
The desert silence and s.p.a.ce about him, the low-lying stars, the faint cloud of mountain range were not alien to him. They all were the setting for the work toward which his whole life had moved. He knew too little of the desert really to be fearful for Ernest, whose return he expected any moment.
He dozed a little. A sudden sound of hoof-beats roused him. A man jumped from his horse on the opposite side of the fire. He was a stocky fellow, wearing blue overalls and a red sweater. Before he had given Roger more than a quick "h.e.l.lo!" another horse came up and a woman alighted. Roger laid Felicia"s head on the blanket and clambered stiffly to his feet.
The young woman gave Roger a quick glance, then ran toward the sleeping child.
"Felicia! Baby Felicia!" she cried. "Did you think Charley had deserted you?"
Felicia sat up with a jerk. "Charley!" she screamed. "Charley! I knew you"d come!"
"h.e.l.lo, Roger Moore!" exclaimed the stocky young man. "Are you the same young plutocrat who used to own a swimming pool?"
Roger laughed. "The same, except that I"m no longer a plutocrat. How did you recognize me?"
"Oh, we met Ernest Wolf meandering about the desert. h.e.l.lo, baby, do you remember brother?" kissing Felicia, who was in Charley"s arms.
Charley was tall, nearly as tall as Roger, and he noticed as he turned to shake hands with her that she held the child easily, as if she were very strong. Then he was looking into eyes that suddenly seemed deeply familiar.
"I don"t remember much except the pool," said Charley. "How are we going to thank you for taking care of Felicia?"
"I don"t know how we are going to thank Felicia," Roger replied. "Where is Ernest?"
Preble laughed. "He was pegging for all he was worth in the wrong direction. We had some trouble to persuade him that he was wrong."
"That"s Ernest, sure enough!" exclaimed Roger.
Preble went on more soberly. "It really isn"t a laughing matter though, a tenderfoot astray in this country. I tried to impress that upon him.
It just happened that Charley and I were out looking for our pet cow and we ran on Wolf about five miles north of here, heading west and going strong. He had picked up a wagon trail I made last week going for adobe."
"Where is he now?" asked Roger.
"Oh, we left him herding the cow. We"ll pick him up on the way back.
Let"s get started. Lord, but you"ve grown, Felicia! Come here and let me look at you."
Big brother and little sister looked at each other attentively in the firelight. d.i.c.k Preble was still red headed and freckled, with only a vague resemblance to his sisters.
"Four years since we left you, little Felicia. Charley, she looks just as you did at her age, only not so tall. I don"t see how Aunt Mary could have been such a fool as to have sent her a week ahead of time."
"Aunt Mary never managed anything correctly in her life, bless her heart," replied the older sister. "Help hitch up, d.i.c.ky. We"re only five miles from home, Mr. Moore."
They were ready for the trail in a few minutes. Felicia delayed the start by refusing to be separated from Charley and finally Charley"s horse was. .h.i.tched to the tailboard of the wagon and Charley mounted the high wagon seat. Felicia, established between Roger and her sister, was in a state of great excitement and at first monopolized the conversation. But after a time, she quieted down and by the time they overtook Ernest, she was asleep, her head against Roger"s arm, her hand clasping one of Charley"s. Nor did the greetings waken her.
"Well, Ern, old chap, how"s the North Pole?" called Roger.
"You go to thunder!" replied Ernest with a laugh. He tied the cow in the place of Charley"s pony and mounting the pony rode ahead with Preble.
Roger wanted a number of questions answered. Where had the Prebles gone after leaving Eagle"s Wing and what had they done in the interim, were his opening queries.
"We went to a little town, near St. Louis," answered Charley, "and Father did well. d.i.c.k and I both went to college. What in the world are you doing out here, Mr. Moore?"
"For heaven"s sake don"t "mister" me, old friends and neighbors as we are. Why, we lived on your old farm till Father and Mother died!"
"Did you indeed? And what brought you out here? Mining?"
"No, some experimenting in irrigating for the government."
"Heaven send that you"re successful!" exclaimed the girl. "d.i.c.k is going to get some alfalfa in this winter, and I know that our well won"t take care of it. But he _will_ go ahead."
"Felicia is startlingly like you, as a child. I have just one picture of you in my mind--standing on the edge of the pool, ready to dive, but looking around at me and laughing. Felicia laughs just that way."
"Poor baby, coming all this way alone! But there seemed nothing else to be done. We couldn"t afford to go back for her nor could Aunt Mary come on with her."
"She got along famously and made friends with every one," said Roger.
"Jove, isn"t it wonderful, running on you people out here!"
"It"s going to be wonderful for us, I know," returned Charley.