"What good will that do?" cried Lucy, with tears in her eyes. "I don"t want to lose Dad. I--I--love him--mean as he is. And it"ll kill me to lose Lin. Because Wildfire can beat Sage King, and that means Dad will be forever against him."
"Couldn"t this wild-horse feller LET the King win thet race?"
"Oh, he could, but he wouldn"t."
"Can"t you be sweet round him--fetch him over to thet?"
"Oh, I could, but I won"t."
Creech might have been plotting the happiness of his own daughter, he was so deeply in earnest.
"Wal, mebbe you don"t love each other so much, after all.... Fast hosses mean much to a man in this hyar country. I know, fer I lost mine! ... But they ain"t all.... I reckon you young folks don"t love so much, after all."
"But--we--do!" cried Lucy, with a pa.s.sionate sob. All this talk had unnerved her.
"Then the only way is fer Slone to lie to Bostil."
"Lie!" exclaimed Lucy.
"Thet"s it. Fetch about a race, somehow--one Bostil can"t see--an" then lie an" say the King run Wildfire off his legs."
Suddenly it occurred to Lucy that one significance of this idea of Creech"s had not dawned upon him. "You forget that soon my father will no longer own Sage King or Sarchedon or Dusty Ben--or any racer. He loses them or me, I thought. That"s what I am here for."
Creech"s aspect changed. The eagerness and sympathy fled from his face, leaving it once more hard and stern. He got up and stood a tall, dark, and gloomy man, brooding over his loss, as he watched the canyon.
Still, there was in him then a struggle that Lucy felt. Presently he bent over and put his big hand on her head. It seemed gentle and tender compared with former contacts, and it made Lucy thrill. She could not see his face. What did he mean? She divined something startling, and sat there trembling in suspense.
"Bostil won"t lose his only girl--or his favorite hoss! ... Lucy, I never had no girl. But it seems I"m rememberin" them rides you used to have on my knee when you was little!"
Then he strode away toward the forest. Lucy watched him with a full heart, and as she thought of his overcoming the evil in him when her father had yielded to it, she suffered poignant shame. This Creech was not a bad man. He was going to let her go, and he was going to return Bostil"s horses when they came. Lucy resolved with a pa.s.sionate determination that her father must make ample rest.i.tution for the loss Creech had endured. She meant to tell Creech so.
Upon his return, however, he seemed so strange and forbidding again that her heart failed her. Had he reconsidered his generous thought?
Lucy almost believed so. These old horse-traders were incomprehensible in any relation concerning horses. Recalling Creech"s intense interest in Wildfire and in the inevitable race to be run between him and Sage King, Lucy almost believed that Creech would sacrifice his vengeance just to see the red stallion beat the gray. If Creech kept the King in ransom for Lucy he would have to stay deeply hidden in the wild breaks of the canyon country or leave the uplands. For Bostil would never let that deed go unreckoned with. Like Bostil, old Creech was half horse and half human. The human side had warmed to remorse. He had regretted Lucy"s plight; he wanted her to be safe at home again and to find happiness; he remembered what she had been to him when she was a little girl. Creech"s other side was more complex.
Before the evening meal ended Lucy divined that Creech was dark and troubled because he had resigned himself to a sacrifice harder than it had seemed in the first flush of n.o.ble feeling. But she doubted him no more. She was safe. The King would be returned. She would compel her father to pay Creech horse for horse. And perhaps the lesson to Bostil would be worth all the pain of effort and distress of mind that it had cost her.
That night as she lay awake listening to the roar of the wind in the pines a strange premonition--like a mysterious voice---came to her with the a.s.surance that Slone was on her trail.
On the following day Creech appeared to have cast off the brooding mood. Still, he was not talkative. He applied himself to constant watching from the rim.
Lucy began to feel rested. That long trip with Creech had made her thin and hard and strong. She spent the hours under the shade of a cedar on the rim that protected her from sun and wind. The wind, particularly, was hard to stand. It blew a gale out of the west, a dry, odorous, steady rush that roared through the pine-tops and flattened the long, white gra.s.s. This day Creech had to build up a barrier of rock round his camp-fire, to keep it from blowing away. And there was a constant danger of firing the gra.s.s.
Once Lucy asked Creech what would happen in that case.
"Wal, I reckon the gra.s.s would burn back even ag"in thet wind," replied Creech. "I"d hate to see fire in the woods now before the rains come.
It"s been the longest, dryest spell I ever lived through. But fer thet my hosses-- This hyar"s a west wind, an" it"s blowin" harder every day.
It"ll fetch the rains."
Next day about noon, when both wind and heat were high, Lucy was awakened from a doze. Creech was standing near her. When he turned his long gaze away from the canyon he was smiling. It was a smile at once triumphant and sad.
"Joel"s comin" with the hosses!"
Lucy jumped up, trembling and agitated. "Oh! ... Where? Where?"
Creech pointed carefully with bent hand, like an Indian, and Lucy either could not get the direction or see far enough.
"Right down along the base of thet red wall. A line of hosses. Jest like a few crawlin" ants" ... An" now they"re creepin" out of sight."
"Oh, I can"t see them!" cried Lucy. "Are you SURE?"
"Positive an" sartin," he replied. "Joel"s comin". He"ll be up hyar before long. I reckon we"d jest as well let him come. Fer there"s water an" gra.s.s hyar. An" down below gra.s.s is scarce."
It seemed an age to Lucy, waiting there, until she did see horses zigzagging the ridges below. They disappeared, and then it was another age before they reappeared close under the bulge of wall. She thrilled at sight of Sage King and Sarchedon. She got only a glimpse of them.
They must pa.s.s round under her to climb a split in the wall, and up a long draw that reached level ground back in the forest. But they were near, and Lucy tried to wait. Creech showed eagerness at first, and then went on with his camp-fire duties. While in camp he always cooked a midday meal.
Lucy saw the horses first. She screamed out. Creech jumped up in alarm.
Joel Creech, mounted on Sage King, and leading Sarchedon, was coming at a gallop. The other horses were following.
"What"s his hurry?" demanded Lucy. "After climbing out of that canyon Joel ought not to push the horses."
"He"ll git it from me if there"s no reason," growled Creech. "Them hosses is wet."
"Look at Sarch! He"s wild. He always hated Joel."
"Wal, Lucy, I reckon I ain"t likin" this hyar. Look at Joel!" muttered Creech, and he strode out to meet his son.
Lucy ran out too, and beyond him. She saw only Sage King. He saw her, recognized her, and, whistled even while Joel was pulling him in. For once the King showed he was glad to see Lucy. He had been having rough treatment. But he was not winded--only hot and wet. She a.s.sured herself of that, then ran to quiet the plunging Sarch. He came down at once, and pushed his big nose almost into her face. She hugged his great, hot neck. He was quivering all over. Lucy heard the other horses pounding up; she recognized Two Face"s high whinny, like a squeal; and in her delight she was about to run to them when Creech"s harsh voice arrested her. And sight of Joel"s face suddenly made her weak.
"What"d you say?" demanded Creech.
"I"d a good reason to run the hosses up-hill--thet"s what!" snapped Joel. He was frothing at the mouth.
"Out with it!"
"Cordts an" Hutch!"
"What?" roared Creech, grasping the pale Joel and shaking him.
"Cordts an" Hutch rode in behind me down at thet cross canyon. They seen me. An" they"re after me hard!"
Creech gave close and keen scrutiny to the strange face of his son.
Then he wheeled away.
"Help me pack. An" you, too, Lucy. We"ve got to rustle out of hyar."
Lucy fought a sick faintness that threatened to make her useless. But she tried to help, and presently action made her stronger.
The Creeches made short work of that breaking of camp. But when it came to getting the horses there appeared danger of delay. Sarchedon had led Dusty Ben and Two Face off in the gra.s.s. When Joel went for them they galloped away toward the woods. Joel ran back.