Dougla.s.s carefully selected a cigarette paper and reached for the tobacco pouch. The hand that held the lighting match was very steady.
"How do you size it up, Red?"
"Matlock," said the other, tersely. "Thu bars were not only down, but dragged away more"n a rod. It were one man thet done it--his hoss shod all around "ceptin" left hind foot. "Twere too dark to track after I lost him in thu timber, but the whole cavvy is scattered to h.e.l.l an"
gone. Say, Ken, I"m goin" to rue back on that promise; an" I don"t see as it"s eggsactly fair on the other boys, either. S"posen sum of us was to meet up with that skunk accidental: are we to let him slip jest because yuh don"t happen to be cavortin" around conteegious? I, fer one, _won"t_, an" right here I gives yuh notice."
"Besides," he drawled softly, "I"ve got a privut grutch agin him of my own, an" I"m goin" to beat yuh to it if I kin."
The other shook his head deprecatingly. "Don"t do anything rash, Red. I preempted that right first. And my claim"s been bearing interest ever since."
CHAPTER IX
IN PART PAYMENT
The temporary loss of the horses was a twofold source of irritation to Dougla.s.s. They had been gathered with much labor for the forthcoming round-up and that work would all have to be done over again at quite an expenditure of time, patience and money; for this he deemed himself also responsible, and it added materially to the already large pecuniary obligation which he had a.s.sumed.
Then, he also regarded the malicious scattering of his horses as a stigma on his care and watchfulness of his employer"s interests, as well as a personal affront and challenge to himself. It would be a sorry reflection on his professional ability, as well as on his courage, and he writhed in the shock to his really abnormal vanity. By established code he should have "got" Matlock long ago; and now he would have to defer the wiping out of that blot on his escutcheon until after the season"s work was over. In the cold fury of his bitter self-revilement, he actually forgot the woman who had stirred his blood almost as strongly a short half-hour ago.
The mischief had been made possible only by the fact that the day after the horse round-up was ended he had indulgently granted a four days"
leave of absence to his entire force, excepting only McVey, who had professed a lack of interest, to enable them to partic.i.p.ate in a roping and riding tournament over in South Park. His own and Red"s temporary absence to-day had given the perpetrator, of whose ident.i.ty he had not even a momentary doubt, the chance to do the contemptible trick, the undoing of which would take a whole week"s furious work with the entailed strain on both men and horses. His provocation was very great.
The next day, working over the ground, he found the freshly-cast shoe of the marauder"s mount; it was a peculiarly constructed "blind-bar"
affair, and Matlock"s horse, his own private property, taken with him when he left the ranch, had a bad frog on his left hind hoof. His conviction was made a certainty later when the blacksmith at Gunnison identified the shoe as one that he had made for and attached to the left hind foot of the deposed foreman"s horse. The chain of evidence was complete and conclusive.
By a rare bit of good fortune he discovered quite a large band of his best horses quietly feeding in a little valley some three miles from the house, and he quickly returned to the ranch, where he discussed with Red the likelihood of their being able to corral it; it was a big contract for two men, this particular band being a notoriously wild one and hard to handle, and now the animals would especially resent a return to durance vile after their previous week"s confinement. But it meant an indispensable factor to the ultimate recovery of the other horses, without which, the outfit would be practically afoot. Red was logically pessimistic.
"Three might do it, but two ain"t got any more chanct than a s...o...b..ll in h.e.l.l," was his opinion, and Dougla.s.s knew that he was right. It had taken four of his best riders to turn the trick a week before. But the other men were absolutely unavailable and long before their earliest possible return this band of horses would be off to their favorite range twenty miles or more away.
He determined to take a chance, saying hopefully, "Well, we might be able to corral a part of them, anyway, and that would give us a few to work with."
Miss Carter, coming to summon them to breakfast, was made acquainted with the dilemma. "Can I be of any help?" she asked instantly. "I can ride fairly well, and under your instructions may really be of some a.s.sistance."
Dougla.s.s looked at Red doubtfully, but that worthy was for some inscrutable reason, enthusiastically sanguine. "Why, sh.o.r.e yuh kin! Yuah hosses wa"nt done up any to speak of by yuah pasear yiste"day, an" the buckskin is fresh. That bunch is ourn."
"Oh, I am so glad," she cried eagerly. "I"ll be ready before you get saddled up."
She was flushed with excitement as they slowly cantered out, but paid careful attention to Dougla.s.s"s minutely detailed instructions as he outlined his plan of campaign. Red looking admiringly at her skillful handling of the rangy roan gelding, the kindling eyes and firmly compressed lips, decided that she would "make good." He remarked as much to Dougla.s.s, who nodded his conviction and said a word or two of caution in an undertone:
"If they break back at the corral, see that she isn"t in the way of the big blue; you know his trick. If there should be any danger, shoot quick and straight."
To Grace he said with frank admonition: "The leader of this bunch is a big blue stallion which has a nasty habit of whirling about just as he touches the corral gate; he will run over anything that opposes him when he breaks back, and if he tries it to-day, ride to one side as fast as you can. Don"t try to stop him in any event. You understand?"
She merely nodded, her lips closing a bit more tightly. Then she smiled a protest: "Please don"t try to "buffalo" me--I think that is the proper word?--at the outset. This is my first round-up, you know. I"ll "make good," as Mr. McVey said a while ago."
Both men laughed heartily. "Red"s whisper is a little stertorous,"
admitted Dougla.s.s, "but you remember what I say: fight shy of the blue if he breaks." Down in his heart he knew that this woman would surely "make good" in anything she attempted, but nevertheless, he saw to it that the revolver slid easily and without a hitch in the holster, and loosened up a few cartridges in his belt. Red had already taken that precaution.
They circled the bunch without alarming it and with comparative ease started it corralwards, the leader proving unusually tractable for the nonce. Her roan was no novice at the business and covered his a.s.signed arc as gracefully as a swallow, to the great delight of the young woman who was reveling in the pleasure of a new sensation. She wisely gave the horse his head, and the intelligent beast repaid her good judgment by cleverly heading off every straggler who essayed to dodge back to liberty. She was really proving of decided a.s.sistance and Red waved her a cordial encouragement from the left flank.
The horses were bunched closely together as they neared the corral gate, the leader trotting easily and with apparently no concern, directly towards the entrance. He was seemingly resigned to the inevitable and the riders closed in sharply to urge them through. Grace was much elated over her successful debut and gave a little exultant shout as the ma.s.sive head and shoulders of the blue stallion were momentarily framed in the opening. She was inclined to be contemptuous of the ease with which it had been accomplished, and in the relief of the thought dropped her rein loosely on the roan"s neck. At that exact moment the cunning beast In the gateway whirled like a flash, lowered his head like a snake, and darted back through the plunging throng which opened before him as a dry pine b.u.t.t splits to a stoutly driven wedge.
Owing to the dense smother of dust about the gateway, and the further fact that the bunch, not missing their leader in its enveloping clouds, were crowding through the opening into the corral, neither of the men noted the maneuver of the stallion until he broke out of the press, heading obliquely to one side, between Dougla.s.s and Miss Carter.
Then was she conscious of a hoa.r.s.e cry that rang like the roar of an anguished lion above the din of trampling feet:
"To the left! Get out of his way, for Christ"s sake! To the left!"
Out of the dust blur, an animated lead-blue bullet, shot the great stallion, his head held low, his body extended until his stomach brushed the sagebrush beneath. The roan, taking the bit between his teeth, turned as on a pivot, almost unseating his rider, and raced undirected towards the exact point where the escaping animal could be best intercepted, intent only on the well-understood work which was logically his duty. It was his business to head off and turn back the fugitive, and, unchecked by his helpless rider, who clung fearfully to her saddle-horn in her extremity, he ran the race of his life, putting his whole heart into the work, her light weight hampering him almost negligibly.
The point of intersection was at least five hundred yards away, the horses racing along the converging sides of an obtuse angle, the roan some hundred yards in the lead; the point of convergence was just below the brow of a little hill, and the roan, running in open ground, had the advantage of the blue who was impeded by the thick sagebrush; he gained rapidly, changing the locus of intersection thereby, and finally swung at right angles across the stallion"s course.
Grace had been vaguely conscious of a crackle of pistol shots and a confused roar of profanely phrased implorations, but all her energies were concentrated to the end of keeping her seat on that plunging roan thunderbolt, whose speed was accelerated by the lashing reins which, dropping from her nerveless hand, were now flapping against his sides.
Swinging in a beautiful arc of exactly the correct radius, the roan headed the blue in triumph, his legs stiffening as he crossed the latter"s course, his hoofs tearing up the thin turf in a fifty-foot furrow as he essayed a turn in order to forestall any side divergence of the stallion. But the blue streak swerved not one iota.
With ears flattened against his head, eyes green with malignity and pain, lips curled back and teeth bared to the gums, he charged directly at the unbalanced roan, squealing fiendishly as he came. The gallant gelding floundered ineffectually for a footing, fell directly in the path of the infuriated beast, and threw his rider over his head.
Though dazed by her violent contact with the hard ground, Grace instinctively struggled to her knees, raising one hand as if to ward off that impending horror; twenty yards away the thudding hoofs beat on her ear drums like a funeral knell, her lips parted in a soundless gasp, then faintly as from a far distance she heard a dull concussion, felt a crashing blow, and lost consciousness.
When her eyes opened again they were in close juxtaposition to a rough tan-colored shirt whose coa.r.s.e fiber rasped her cheek; the whole universe seemed rocking with a gentle up and down motion as soothing as the swing of her beloved hammock, but there was a curious numbness across her chest and lower limbs like that induced by the pressure of closely-encircling iron bands. Gradually it dawned upon her that she was in the arms of a man who, carrying her weight with perceptibly no effort, was running swiftly towards the house. One little shy upward glance completed her inventory; she deliberately closed her eyes and cuddled closer, so close that she could distinctly hear and count the strong heart-beats against her temple. Nor did she open them again until he had lain her on a sofa in the living room and bent solicitously over her.
"Thank G.o.d!" The relief in his voice was somehow very sweet to her. "I was afraid--tell me, are you hurt?"
"Only frightened, I think." The tone was effectively languid and hesitating; she was loth to dissipate the tender concern in his eyes.
"But oh, the horror of it. I can scarcely realize that I am alive. Death seemed so close." She hid her face, shudderingly. "Was the horse killed?"
"The blue was," for some reason avoiding her glance, "but the roan is all right. You had a very close call. Why did you try to head him?"
"Don"t scold me, please!" she pleaded. "I could not help it; he bolted when the other horse broke away and I lost my reins. I had no control over him, whatever. How did I get here?" The question was a marvel of innocent nescience. And how could he know that her heart was beating even more furiously than his as he had held her close for those five blissful minutes.
"I carried you," he said, simply. "There was no other way. Are you quite sure that you are not injured? That brute"s head was lying on your shoulder when I picked you up. He must have struck you as he fell."
"I do feel sorely bruised," tentatively rubbing her side, "but I am certain that is all." She arose and walked lamely across the room in confirmation, then came back and sat down on the sofa. "How silly of me to faint! And how kind of you to take such care of me! Was I _very_ heavy?"
"I"ve carried heavier women," he said, unthinkingly, and could have bitten his tongue off in instant chagrin at his unfortunate slip. "You see," he said with forced attempt at humor, "I make a business of rescuing young damsels in distress and carrying them off to places of safety."
"Really! How romantic!" hiding her sudden bitter anger under the mask of persiflage. "I a.s.sume they all came through their difficulties as happily as I?"
"I can"t remember any of them dying," he said caustically; then with deliberate malice: "None of them even pretended to faint."
The evil bolt, although all unwittingly shot, came close home and she could have struck him in her shame and fury. How much did he know? And how dared he couple her with those nameless creatures! Taken at a disadvantage, the retort courteous failed her for once, and she was devoutly glad for the timely intervention of Red, who thrust his carroty shock into the door at that moment.
"Miss Cahtah," he said with solemn gravity. "I"m almighty glad yuh ain"t daid!" At her rea.s.suring laugh of relief he added admiringly: "Yuh suttinly are quick on yuh feets, ma"am! Thet hoss was goin" some when yuh was standin" on yuah haid!" He had been quick to appreciate the strain she was laboring under and Red"s panacea for any suffering was to make fun of it. She laughed again, a bit hysterically.
"Did I look particularly ridiculous?"