CHAPTER XXII
I LOVE YOU
To be transported instantly from the essence of happiness to the brink of tragedy--and a tragedy wherein the whole of one"s world goes tottering--engenders a confusion of mind that for a moment leaves one helpless. And thus it was that the second bullet flashed by us before I sufficiently gathered my wits to act, to realize that some returning member of Efaw Kotee"s band had stumbled on our little paradise.
I caught Doloria and swung her behind me, at the same time drawing my automatic and sending two quick shots, aimed high, toward the scoundrel who was making ready to try his hand again. Almost at once he disappeared, though I knew he had not been hit for it was extremely doubtful if, at that range, a revolver bullet could reach him at all.
For the sake of caution he was merely crouching in the gra.s.s, and waiting.
Then I became swept by an inordinate anger; a natural enough feeling in a man whose life has been sneakingly attempted, but let a life that is a million times more precious than his own be so fired upon and he will pa.s.s the limit of human rage. With an oath I pushed her down into a niche of temporary safety, saying:
"Stay there till I come back!"
Immediately I began to scramble over the network of fallen logs; my intention being to reach the high gra.s.s and, dropping to my hands and knees, crawl out to meet him--as, in all probability, he was now crawling toward us. But before I got free of the entanglements she had sprung after me and caught my arm, crying:
"It"s insane for you to go out there--with only your automatic against his rifle! Come back!"
"Go back yourself," I said sternly, shaking off her grasp. "Crouch in the hole, as I told you! Quick!"
"I won"t--unless you do, too! For the love of G.o.d--he"ll _kill_ you!"
This last she screamed, frantically catching hold of me again as the man fired a third shot and we felt the breath of his bullet on our faces.
Both of us knew that this was no time for argument, and she began tugging at my belt like a wild thing, bracing herself to keep me back and showing no disposition to obey. So without ceremony I picked her up intending to shove her down between the logs.
"You shan"t," she gasped. "He"ll kill you if you go--if you don"t he"ll leave!"
But I was too terrified for her sake to listen--too determined that the fellow should not get back and tell his gang.
"Do as I say," I commanded, giving her a shake.
She had stopped speaking and was desperately using her strength. I, also, had grown desperate. Our position was too unwarrantably exposed to tolerate this further, and urgently I began to pry open her fingers when, by some twist of her own or awkwardness on my part, I slipped and fell out backwards into a deep, narrow slit between the logs, drawing her down with me and wedging my shoulders as if they were held in a vise.
It might have been a serious fall--for her, I mean--had not providentially she landed atop of me; but now, trying to arise, I found that I had measured neither her strength of purpose nor of muscle. Her determination had not been cooled by this mishap, rather had it become more aroused with the consciousness of her advantage; for, in answer to my first movement, she caught my cheeks and pa.s.sionately shook me. Her eyes, scarcely half a foot away, stared down into mine with a frightened, pleading, commanding look. They were open wider than usual, giving the impression that this was the first test of physical encounter she had ever experienced.
"You"re safe here!--you shan"t move!" she was whispering wildly.
"I must," I declared. "He"s got to be stopped, I tell you!"
I did not want to hurt her, yet at all hazards that man had to be killed, and I began really to struggle.
"No--no!" she panted, pushing down my partially raised head with a jolt that made me see stars. For she was fighting this time, with the ferocity of a tigress, and I, held by her weight, found the task of freeing myself no easy one. I tried working loose one shoulder, growling between my teeth:
"I _will_ get out of here!"
"You won"t--you won"t!" She reiterated this as if sheer force of mind could make me yield. And then her hair, uncoiling, fell softly over my face and closed my eyes.
There is a mesmeric force about the human hair, a woman"s hair, resting on a man"s upturned face--although I do not mean this in a sentimental sense. It is a natural law; as a wild bird can be put into a state of mimic sleep by laying it on its back and pressing its eyes with feathers.
The frenzy of Doloria"s clutching fingers that still held my cheeks, and the pressure of her body whose excited breathing wedged me even tighter down between the logs, had been to us no more than incidents in the desperate struggle we were making, each for the other"s safety. But, blinded by her hair, for the moment I desisted and, taking quick advantage of this, she whispered:
"If you"ve any wish to please me, listen! I know those men by heart--each is an arrant coward when alone. So he won"t crawl closer. By the time he brings the others back we"ll be inside the fort!"
"That"s just it," I retorted. "The fort"s no good at night--they"ll rush it! He"s got to be stopped, Doloria!"
"Jack, do this for me, please?" she begged. Her lips were very near. "If we have to die, we will--but I can"t see you go out on that prairie alone--I simply can"t!" And I grew still.
Soon I felt her hands upon my chest as she pushed herself up to look over the logs. By this movement the blindfold was partially lifted and I could see her--her body curved backward, as a mermaid that raises itself at arm"s length upon the sh.o.r.e. Her lips were parted, her eyes were steady and level as they gazed searchingly across the sea of gra.s.s--as many a nymph, no doubt, hiding from a company of swashbuckling gnomes, must have peeped out to see if her glade were safe before venturing from the wood. In another moment she had left me and run a few steps toward the prairie, crying:
"Look! He"s "way, "way off!"
"I can"t look," I called after her. "You"ve put me here for life!"
Indeed, I was so completely held that the first result of my twisting seemed only to make me lose ground. She came back, this time laughing without control--but I knew the sign; my nerves, too, had recently been drunk on relaxation from a strain. Tucking up her hair with a few quick movements she held down both hands to me and, after more squirming, I worked myself out. But our enemy had by this time disappeared.
"If that fellow"s back, the others are, too," I said, with some display of temper. "You"ve made the very devil of a mess!"
"I suppose I have," she looked demurely away. There was nothing of the tigress, nothing of the willful little fighter, now.
"The consequence is," I continued, "that we have to decide between two darned slim chances, for they"ll be coming back within an hour. We can stay here, or run for it! What do you think?" But as she remained silent, gazing across the prairie, I kept irritably on: "If it"s run, we can"t reach the forests north, south or east without being seen--and you know what a fight in the open means against such odds. We might hide in the gra.s.s and travel at night, but if their woodcraft"s worth a hang they"ll read our trail on this kind of ground like an electric sign.
There"s an Indian in their crowd, too. If we stay, the fort"ll keep them off till night--and there"s always a hope of Smilax turning up.
They mightn"t rush us after dark, either."
I could see that the fort was our best chance, but still I wanted her opinion. Something about the way she stood, having no word to say, rather awed me, and going softly I looked around at her face. Her cheeks were wet and her lips were trembling with convulsive sobs. Oh, how I hated myself then!
"Good G.o.d," I cried, throwing my arms about her, "see what I"ve done!"
But she put her palms against my shoulders and held me off, saying brokenly:
"You haven"t done anything."
"I have," I cried again. "I"ve hurt you--hurt the one I love most in all the world!"
"Don"t," she said, more startled now than at any time when she had been facing a greater danger. "Quick! Please--let"s get the things we need for the fort!" And she sprang away from me, running toward the pool.
In a very few minutes we were back with the rifles, an ample supply of cartridges, our canteens, and a blanket I had brought in case we decided to slip away at night. Helping her over the parapet I followed, and we stood looking intently for a sign of foes, but the waving gra.s.s spoke only of a brisk wind. It might be a half an hour before Efaw Kotee"s band could get within range of us. Twice I whispered her name, but she would not answer, so I turned her around until she had to face me.
"I have the right to speak now," I said gently, "because this may be the last of things. The next few hours will decide. You understand, don"t you, and know that my words are their own excuse?"
There was a serious, calm mystery in her look that answered mine with simple courage, as she whispered:
"Yes, I understand."
"We can"t die," I drew her close to me, "because I love you--I love you!"
For a quick moment, and then gone, a light shone in her eyes--as though some fire raging below had been swept through the entirety of her being.
Her fingers that had been clutching my shoulders relaxed, and very softly her arms crept around my neck, as she murmured: "No more than I do you!"
It might have been a minute or a year that we drifted in a rapturously agonizing kiss; but slowly her eyes opened, her lips sighed and, touching them to my cheek, she whispered my name over and over again.