Her voice died away in sadness, and in the silence she could hear Billy grit his teeth.
"You can"t tell me," he cried. "I know. It"s a dirty world--an unfair, lousy world. I can"t make it out. They"s no squareness in it.--Women, with the best that"s in "em, bought an" sold like horses. I don"t understand women that way. I don"t understand men that way. I can"t see how a man gets anything but cheated when he buys such things. It"s funny, ain"t it? Take my boss an" his horses. He owns women, too. He might a-owned you, just because he"s got the price. An", Saxon, you was made for fancy shirtwaists an" all that, but, honest to G.o.d, I can"t see you payin" for them that way. It"d be a crime--"
He broke off abruptly and reined in the horses. Around a sharp turn, speeding down the grade upon them, had appeared an automobile. With slamming of brakes it was brought to a stop, while the faces of the occupants took new lease of interest of life and stared at the young man and woman in the light rig that barred the way. Billy held up his hand.
"Take the outside, sport," he said to the chauffeur.
"Nothin" doin", kiddo," came the answer, as the chauffeur measured with hard, wise eyes the crumbling edge of the road and the downfall of the outside bank.
"Then we camp," Billy announced cheerfully. "I know the rules of the road. These animals ain"t automobile broke altogether, an" if you think I"m goin" to have "em shy off the grade you got another guess comin"."
A confusion of injured protestation arose from those that sat in the car.
"You needn"t be a road-hog because you"re a Rube," said the chauffeur.
"We ain"t a-goin" to hurt your horses. Pull out so we can pa.s.s. If you don"t..."
"That"ll do you, sport," was Billy"s retort. "You can"t talk that way to yours truly. I got your number an" your tag, my son. You"re standin" on your foot. Back up the grade an" get off of it. Stop on the outside at the first psssin"-place an" we"ll pa.s.s you. You"ve got the juice. Throw on the reverse."
After a nervous consultation, the chauffeur obeyed, and the car backed up the hill and out of sight around the turn.
"Them cheap skates," Billy sneered to Saxon, "with a couple of gallons of gasoline an" the price of a machine a-thinkin" they own the roads your folks an" my folks made."
"Talkin" all night about it?" came the chauffeur"s voice from around the bend. "Get a move on. You can pa.s.s."
"Get off your foot," Billy retorted contemptuously. "I"m a-comin" when I"m ready to come, an" if you ain"t given room enough I"ll go clean over you an" your load of chicken meat."
He slightly slacked the reins on the restless, head-tossing animals, and without need of chirrup they took the weight of the light vehicle and pa.s.sed up the hill and apprehensively on the inside of the purring machine.
"Where was we?" Billy queried, as the clear road showed in front. "Yep, take my boss. Why should he own two hundred horses, an" women, an" the rest, an" you an" me own nothin"?"
"You own your silk, Billy," she said softly.
"An" you yours. Yet we sell it to "em like it was cloth across the counter at so much a yard. I guess you"re hep to what a few more years in the laundry"ll do to you. Take me. I"m sellin" my silk slow every day I work. See that little finger?" He shifted the reins to one hand for a moment and held up the free hand for inspection. "I can"t straighten it like the others, an" it"s growin". I never put it out fightin". The teamin"s done it. That"s silk gone across the counter, that"s all. Ever see a old four-horse teamster"s hands? They look like claws they"re that crippled an" twisted."
"Things weren"t like that in the old days when our folks crossed the plains," she answered. "They might a-got their fingers twisted, but they owned the best goin" in the way of horses and such."
"Sure. They worked for themselves. They twisted their fingers for themselves. But I"m twistin" my fingers for my boss. Why, d"ye know, Saxon, his hands is soft as a woman"s that"s never done any work. Yet he owns the horses an" the stables, an" never does a tap of work, an"
I manage to scratch my meal-ticket an" my clothes. It"s got my goat the way things is run. An" who runs "em that way? That"s what I want to know. Times has changed. Who changed "em?"
"G.o.d didn"t."
"You bet your life he didn"t. An" that"s another thing that gets me.
Who"s G.o.d anyway? If he"s runnin" things--an" what good is he if he ain"t?--then why does he let my boss, an" men like that cashier you mentioned, why does he let them own the horses, an" buy the women, the nice little girls that oughta be lovin" their own husbands, an" havin"
children they"re not ashamed of, an" just bein" happy accordin" to their nature?"
CHAPTER XI
The horses, resting frequently and lathered by the work, had climbed the steep grade of the old road to Moraga Valley, and on the divide of the Contra Costa hills the way descended sharply through the green and sunny stillness of Redwood Canyon.
"Say, ain"t it swell?" Billy queried, with a wave of his hand indicating the circled tree-groups, the trickle of unseen water, and the summer hum of bees.
"I love it," Saxon affirmed. "It makes me want to live in the country, and I never have."
"Me, too, Saxon. I"ve never lived in the country in my life--an" all my folks was country folks."
"No cities then. Everybody lived in the country."
"I guess you"re right," he nodded. "They just had to live in the country."
There was no brake on the light carriage, and Billy became absorbed in managing his team down the steep, winding road. Saxon leaned back, eyes closed, with a feeling of ineffable rest. Time and again he shot glances at her closed eyes.
"What"s the matter?" he asked finally, in mild alarm. "You ain"t sick?"
"It"s so beautiful I"m afraid to look," she answered. "It"s so brave it hurts."
"BRAVE?--now that"s funny."
"Isn"t it? But it just makes me feel that way. It"s brave. Now the houses and streets and things in the city aren"t brave. But this is. I don"t know why. It just is."
"By golly, I think you"re right," he exclaimed. "It strikes me that way, now you speak of it. They ain"t no games or tricks here, no cheatin"
an" no lyin". Them trees just stand up natural an" strong an" clean like young boys their first time in the ring before they"ve learned its rottenness an" how to double-cross an" lay down to the bettin" odds an"
the fight-fans. Yep; it is brave. Say, Saxon, you see things, don"t you?"
His pause was almost wistful, and he looked at her and studied her with a caressing softness that ran through her in resurgent thrills. "D"ye know, I"d just like you to see me fight some time--a real fight, with something doin" every moment. I"d be proud to death to do it for you.
An" I"d sure fight some with you lookin" on an" understandin". That"d be a fight what is, take it from me. An" that"s funny, too. I never wanted to fight before a woman in my life. They squeal and screech an" don"t understand. But you"d understand. It"s dead open an" shut you would."
A little later, swinging along the flat of the valley, through the little clearings of the farmers and the ripe grain-stretches golden in the sunshine, Billy turned to Saxon again.
"Say, you"ve ben in love with fellows, lots of times. Tell me about it.
What"s it like?"
She shook her head slowly.
"I only thought I was in love--and not many times, either--"
"Many times!" he cried.
"Not really ever," she a.s.sured him, secretly exultant at his unconscious jealousy. "I never was really in love. If I had been I"d be married now. You see, I couldn"t see anything else to it but to marry a man if I loved him."
"But suppose he didn"t love you?"
"Oh, I don"t know," she smiled, half with facetiousness and half with certainty and pride. "I think I could make him love me."
"I guess you sure could," Billy proclaimed enthusiastically.
"The trouble is," she went on, "the men that loved me I never cared for that way.--Oh, look!"
A cottontail rabbit had scuttled across the road, and a tiny dust cloud lingered like smoke, marking the way of his flight. At the next turn a dozen quail exploded into the air from under the noses of the horses.