"Land of your own?"
"No."
"Sixty years and not a penny saved! That"s what I call a sharp bargain!
What else have you gained?"
"A good bright hope of heaven."
"But are you sure, Zacharias? Are you sure? Isn"t it possible that all these five masters of yours may have been mistaken?"
Zacharias could only stare in his horror. Finally he turned away and went silently across the patio.
"Ben," cried the girl softly, "why did you do it? Aside from torturing the poor man, what if this comes to David"s ear?"
Connor snapped his finger. His manner was that of one who knows that he has taken a foolish risk and wishes to brazen the matter out.
"It"ll never come to the ear of David! Why? Because he"d wring the neck of the old chap if he even guessed that he"d been talking about leaving the valley. And in the meantime I cut away the ground beneath David"s feet. He has not standing room, pretty soon. Nothing left to him, by Jove, but his own conceit, and he has tons of that! Well, let him use it and get fat on it!"
She wondered why Connor had come to actually hate the master of the Garden. Sure David of Eden had never harmed the gambler. She remembered something that she had heard long before: that the hatred always lies on the side of injurer and not of the injured.
They heard David"s voice, at this point, approaching, and in another moment a small cavalcade entered the patio.
_CHAPTER THIRTY_
First, a white flash beneath the shadow of the arched way, came a colt at full run, stopping short with four sprawling, braced feet at the sight of the strangers. It was not fear so much as surprise, for now it p.r.i.c.ked its ears and advanced a dainty step or two. Ruth cried out with delight at the fawn-like beauty of the delicate creature. The Eden Gray was almost white in the little colt, and with its four dark stockings it seemed, when it ran, to be stepping on thin air. That impression was helped by the comparatively great length of the legs.
Next came the mother, walking, as though she was quite confident that no harm could come to her colt in this home of all good things, but with her fine head held high and her eyes luminous with concern, a little anxious because the youngster had been out of sight for a moment.
And behind them strode David with Elijah at his side.
Ruth could never have recognized Elijah as the statuesque figure which had confronted David on the previous day. He was now bowing and sc.r.a.ping like some withered old man, striving to make a good impression on a creditor to whom a great sum was owing. She remembered then what David had told her earlier in the day about the judging of Timeh, the daughter of Juri. This, then, was the crisis, and here was Elijah striving to conciliate the grim judge. The old man kept up a running fire of talk while David walked slowly around the colt. Ruth wondered why the master of the Garden did not cry out with pleasure at sight of the beautiful creature. Connor had drawn her back a little.
"You see that six months" mare?" he said softly, with a tremor in his voice. "I"d pay ten thousand flat for her the way she stands. Ten thousand--more if it were asked!"
"But David doesn"t seem very pleased."
"Bah! He"s bursting with pleasure. But he won"t let on because he doesn"t want to flatter old Elijah."
"If he doesn"t pa.s.s the colt do you know what happens?"
"What?"
"They kill it!"
"I"d a lot rather see them kill a man!" snarled Connor. "But they won"t touch _that_ colt!"
"I don"t know. Look at poor Elijah!"
David, stopping in his circular walk, now stood with his arms folded, gazing intently at Timeh. Elijah was a picture of concern. The whites of his eyes flashed as his glances rolled swiftly from the colt to the master. Once or twice he tried to speak, but seemed too nervous to give voice.
At length: "A true daughter of Juri, O David. And was there ever a more honest mare than Juri? The same head, mark you, deep from the eye to the angle of the jaw. And under the head--come hither, Timeh!"
Timeh flaunted her heels at the sun and then came with short, mincing steps.
"At six months," boasted Elijah, "she knows my voice as well as her mother. Stay, Juri!"
The inquisitive mare had followed Timeh, but now, rea.s.sured, she dropped her head and began cropping the turf of the patio. Still, from the play of her ears, it was evident that Timeh was not out of the mother"s thoughts for an instant.
"Look you, David!" said Elijah. He raised the head of Timeh by putting his hand beneath her chin.
"I can put my whole hand between the angles of her jaw! And see how her ears flick back and forth, like the twitching ears of a cat! Ha, is not that a sign?"
He allowed the head to fall again, but he caught it under his arms and faced David in this manner, throwing out his hand in appeal. Still David spoke not a word.
With a gesture he made Elijah move to one side. Then he stepped to Timeh. She was uneasy at his coming, but under the first touch of his hand Timeh became as still as rock and looked at her mother in a scared and helpless fashion. It seemed that Juri understood a great crisis was at hand; for now she advanced resolutely and with her dainty muzzle she followed with sniffs the hand of David as it moved over the little colt.
He seemed to be seeing with his finger-tips alone, kneading under the skin in search of vital information. Along the muscles those dexterous fingers ran, and down about the heavy bones of the joints, where they lingered long, seeming to read a story in every crevice.
Never once did he speak, but Ruth felt that she could read words in the brightening, calm, and sudden shadows across his face.
Elijah accompanied the examination with a running-fire of comment.
"There is quality in those hoofs, for you! None of your gray-blue stuff like the hoofs of Tabari, say, but black as night and dense as rock.
Aye, David, you may well let your hand linger down that neck. She will step freely, this Timeh of mine, and stride as far as a mountain-lion can leap! Withers high enough. That gives a place for the ligaments to take hold. A good long back, but not too long to carry a weight. She will not be one of your gaunt-bellied horses, either; she will have wind and a bottom for running. She will gallop on the third day of the journey as freely as on the first. And she will carry her tail well out, always, with that big, strong dock."
He paused a moment, for David was moving his hands over the hindlegs and lingering long at the hocks. And the face of Elijah grew convulsed with anxiety.
"Is there anything wrong with those legs?" murmured Ruth to Connor.
"Not a thing that I see. Maybe the stifles are too straight. I think they might angle out a bit more. But that"s nothing serious. Besides, it may be the way Timeh is standing. What"s the matter?"
She was clinging to his arm, white-faced.
"If that colt has to die I--I"ll want to kill David Eden!"
"Hush, Ruth! And don"t let him see your face!"
David moved back from Timeh and again folded his arms.
"The body of the horse is one thing," ran on Elijah uneasily, "and the spirit is another. Have you not told us, David, that a curious colt makes a wise horse? That is Timeh! Where will you guess that I found her when I went to bring her to you even now? She had climbed up the face of the cliff, far up a crevice where a man would not dare to go. I dared not even cry out to her for fear she would fall if she turned her head.
To have climbed so high was almost impossible, but how would she come down when there was no room for her to turn?
"I was dizzy and sick with grief. But Timeh saw me, and down she came, without turning. She lifted her hoofs and put them down as a cat lifts and puts down wet paws. And in a moment she was safe on the meadow and frisking around me. Juri had been so worried that she made Timeh stop running and nosed her all over to make sure that she was unhurt by that climb. But tell me: will not a colt that risks its life to climb for a tuft of gra.s.s, run till its heart breaks for the master in later years?"
For the first time David spoke.