Finally he said: "Do you really carry this heavy bucket? Why, it makes my arm ache."
"Twice every day--morning and evening," she replied. "I"m very strong."
Then he stole a look out of the corner of his eye, and, seeing that her face was hidden from him by the hood, he turned to observe her at better advantage. A long braid of hair hung down her back. In the twilight it gleamed dull gold. She came up to his shoulder. The sleeve nearest him was rolled up to her elbow, revealing a fine round arm. Her hand, like her foot, was brown, strong, and well shaped. It was a hand that had been developed by labor. She was full-bosomed, yet slender, and she walked with a free stride that made Shefford admire and wonder.
They pa.s.sed several of the little stone and log houses, and women greeted them as they went by and children peered shyly from the doors.
He kept trying to think of something to say, and, failing in that, determined to have one good look under the hood before he left her.
"You walk lame," she said, solicitously. "Let me carry the bucket now--please. My house is near."
"Am I lame?... Guess so, a little," he replied. "It was a hard ride for me. But I"ll carry the bucket just the same."
They went on under some pinyon-trees, down a path to a little house identical with the others, except that it had a stone porch. Shefford smelled fragrant wood-smoke and saw a column curling from the low, flat, stone chimney. Then he set the bucket down on the porch. "Thank you, Mr. Shefford," she said. "You know my name?" he asked. "Yes. Mr. Withers spoke to my nearest neighbor and she told me."
"Oh, I see. And you--"
He did not go on and she did not reply. When she stepped upon the porch and turned he was able to see under the hood. The face there was in shadow, and for that very reason he answered to ungovernable impulse and took a step closer to her. Dark, grave, sad eyes looked down at him, and he felt as if he could never draw his own glance away. He seemed not to see the rest of her face, and yet felt that it was lovely. Then a downward movement of the hood hid from him the strange eyes and the shadowy loveliness.
"I--I beg your pardon," he said, quickly, drawing back. "I"m rude. ...
Withers told me about a girl he called--he said looked like a sago-lily.
That"s no excuse to stare under your hood. But I--I was curious. I wondered if--"
He hesitated, realizing how foolish his talk was. She stood a moment, probably watching him, but he could not be sure, for her face was hidden.
"They call me that," she said. "But my name is Mary."
"Mary--what?" he asked.
"Just Mary," she said, simply. "Good night."
He did not say good night and could not have told why. She took up the bucket and went into the dark house. Shefford hurried away into the gathering darkness.
VI. IN THE HIDDEN VALLEY
Shefford had hardly seen her face, yet he was more interested in a woman than he had ever been before. Still, he reflected, as he returned to camp, he had been under a long strain, he was unduly excited by this new and adventurous life, and these, with the mystery of this village, were perhaps accountable for a state of mind that could not last.
He rolled in his blankets on the soft bed of moss and he saw the stars through the needle-like fringe of the pinyons. It seemed impossible to fall asleep. The two domed peaks split the sky, and back of them, looming dark and shadowy, rose the mountain. There was something cold, austere, and majestic in their lofty presence, and they made him feel alone, yet not alone. He raised himself to see the quiet forms of Withers and Nas Ta Bega p.r.o.ne in the starlight, and their slow, deep breathing was that of tired men. A bell on a mustang rang somewhere off in the valley and gave out a low, strange, reverberating echo from wall to wall. When it ceased a silence set in that was deader than any silence he had ever felt, but gradually he became aware of the low murmur of the brook. For the rest there was no sound of wind, no bark of dog or yelp of coyote, no sound of voice in the village.
He tried to sleep, but instead thought of this girl who was called the Sago Lily. He recalled everything incident to their meeting and the walk to her home. Her swift, free step, her graceful poise, her shapely form--the long braid of hair, dull gold in the twilight, the beautiful bare foot and the strong round arm--these he thought of and recalled vividly. But of her face he had no idea except the shadowy, haunting loveliness, and that grew more and more difficult to remember. The tone of her voice and what she had said--how the one had thrilled him and the other mystified! It was her voice that had most attracted him. There was something in it besides music--what, he could not tell--sadness, depth, something like that in Nas Ta Bega"s beauty springing from disuse. But this seemed absurd. Why should he imagine her voice one that had not been used as freely as any other woman"s? She was a Mormon; very likely, almost surely, she was a sealed wife. His interest, too, was absurd, and he tried to throw it off, or imagine it one he might have felt in any other of these strange women of the hidden village.
But Shefford"s intelligence and his good sense, which became operative when he was fully roused and set the situation clearly before his eyes, had no effect upon his deeper, mystic, and primitive feelings. He saw the truth and he felt something that he could not name. He would not be a fool, but there was no harm in dreaming. And unquestionably, beyond all doubt, the dream and the romance that had lured him to the wilderness were here; hanging over him like the shadows of the great peaks. His heart swelled with emotion when he thought of how the black and incessant despair of the past was gone. So he embraced any attraction that made him forget and think and feel; some instinct stronger than intelligence bade him drift.
Joe"s rolling voice awoke him next morning and he rose with a singular zest. When or where in his life had he awakened in such a beautiful place? Almost he understood why Venters and Bess had been haunted by memories of Surprise Valley. The morning was clear, cool, sweet; the peaks were dim and soft in rosy cloud; shafts of golden sunlight shot down into the purple shadows. Mocking-birds were singing. His body was sore and tired from the unaccustomed travel, but his heart was full, happy. His spirit wanted to run, and he knew there was something out there waiting to meet it. The Indian and the trader and the Mormon all meant more to him this morning. He had grown a little overnight. Nas Ta Bega"s deep "Bi Nai" rang in his ears, and the smiles of Withers and Joe were greetings. He had friends; he had work; and there was rich, strange, and helpful life to live. There was even a difference in the mustang Nack-yal. He came readily; he did not look wild; he had a friendly eye; and Shefford liked him more.
"What is there to do?" asked Shefford, feeling equal to a hundred tasks.
"No work," replied the trader, with a laugh, and he drew Shefford aside, "I"m in no hurry. I like it here. And Joe never wants to leave. To-day you can meet the women. Make yourself popular. I"ve already made you that. These women are most all young and lonesome. Talk to them. Make them like you. Then some day you may be safe to ask questions. Last night I wanted to ask old Mother Smith if she ever heard the name Fay Larkin. But I thought better of it. If there"s a girl here or at Stonebridge of that name we"ll learn it. If there"s mystery we"d better go slow. Mormons are h.e.l.l on secret and mystery, and to pry into their affairs is to queer yourself. My advice is--just be as nice as you can be, and let things happen."
Fay Larkin! All in a night Shefford had forgotten her. Why? He pondered over the matter, and then the old thrill, the old desire, came back.
"Shefford, what do you think Nas Ta Bega said to me last night?" asked Withers in lower voice.
"Haven"t any idea," replied Shefford, curiously.
"We were sitting beside the fire. I saw you walking under the cedars.
You seemed thoughtful. That keen Indian watched you, and he said to me in Navajo, "Bi Nai has lost his G.o.d. He has come far to find a wife. Nas Ta Bega is his brother."... He meant he"ll find both G.o.d and wife for you. I don"t know about that, but I say take the Indian as he thinks he is--your brother. Long before I knew Nas Ta Bega well my wife used to tell me about him. He"s a sage and a poet--the very spirit of this desert. He"s worth cultivating for his own sake. But more--remember, if Fay Larkin is still shut in that valley the Navajo will find her for you."
"I shall take Nas Ta Bega as my brother--and be proud," replied Shefford.
"There"s another thing. Do you intend to confide in Joe?"
"I hadn"t thought of that."
"Well, it might be a good plan. But wait until you know him better and he knows you. He"s ready to fight for you now. He"s taken your trouble to heart. You wouldn"t think Joe is deeply religious. Yet he is. He may never breathe a word about religion to you.... Now, Shefford, go ahead.
You"ve struck a trail. It"s rough, but it"ll make a man of you. It"ll lead somewhere."
"I"m singularly fortunate--I--who had lost all friends. Withers, I am grateful. I"ll prove it. I"ll show--"
Withers"s upheld hand checked further speech, and Shefford realized that beneath the rough exterior of this desert trader there was fine feeling.
These men of crude toil and wild surroundings were beginning to loom up large in Shefford"s mind.
The day began leisurely. The men were yet at breakfast when the women of the village began to come one by one to the spring. Joe Lake made friendly and joking remarks to each. And as each one pa.s.sed on down the path he poised a biscuit in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, and with his head c.o.c.ked sidewise like an owl he said, "Reckon I"ve got to get me a woman like her."
Shefford saw and heard, yet he was all the time half unconsciously watching with strange eagerness for a white figure to appear. At last he saw her--the same girl with the hood, the same swift step. A little shock or quiver pa.s.sed over him, and at the moment all that was explicable about it was something a.s.sociated with regret.
Joe Lake whistled and stared.
"I haven"t met her," he muttered.
"That"s the Sago Lily," said Withers.
"Reckon I"m going to carry that bucket," went on Joe.
"And queer yourself with all the other women who"ve been to the spring?
Don"t do it, Joe," advised the trader.
"But her bucket"s bigger," protested Joe, weakly.
"That"s true. But you ought to know Mormons. If she"d come first, all right. As she didn"t--why, don"t single her out."
Joe kept his seat. The girl came to the spring. A low "good morning"
came from under the hood. Then she filled her bucket and started home.
Shefford observed that this time she wore moccasins and she carried the heavy bucket with ease. When she disappeared he had again the vague, inexplicable sensation of regret.