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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15438-8.txt b/15438-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6098d2a --- /dev/null +++ b/15438-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8514 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Bells of San Juan, by Jackson Gregory, +Illustrated by Frank Tenney Johnson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Bells of San Juan + + +Author: Jackson Gregory + +Release Date: March 22, 2005 [eBook #15438] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15438-h.htm or 15438-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/4/3/15438/15438-h/15438-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/4/3/15438/15438-h.zip) + + + + + +THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN + +A Novel + +by + +JACKSON GREGORY + +Author of _Judith of Blue Lake Ranch_, _The Joyous Trouble Maker_, +_Man to Man_, etc. + +Illustrated by Frank Tenney Johnson + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers + +1919 + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Having come closer he reined in his horse, stared at her +a moment in surprised wonderment. . .] + + + + +TO + +RODERICK NORTON GREGORY + + + + +CONTENTS + + +FOREWORD--THE BELLS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE BELLS RING + II. THE SHERIFF OF SAN JUAN + III. A MAN'S BOOTS + IV. AT THE BANKER'S HOME + V. IN THE DARKNESS OF THE PATIO + VI. A RIDE THROUGH THE NIGHT + VII. IN THE HOME OF CLIFF-DWELLERS + VIII. JIM GALLOWAY'S GAME + IX. YOUNG PAGE COMES TO TOWN + X. A BRIBE AND A THREAT + XI. THE FIGHT AT LA CASA BLANCA + XII. WAVERING IN THE BALANCE + XIII. CONCEALMENT + XIV. A FREE MAN + XV. THE KING'S PALACE + XVI. THE MEXICAN FROM MEXICO + XVII. A STACK OF GOLD PIECES + XVIII. DESIRE OUTWEIGHS DISCRETION + XIX. DEADLOCK + XX. FLUFF AND BLACK BILL + XXI. A CRISIS + XXII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END + XXIII. THE STRONG HAND OF GALLOWAY + XXIV. IN THE OPEN + XXV. THE BATTLE IN THE ARROYO + XXVI. THE BELLS RING + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Having come closer he reined in his horse, stared at her a moment in +surprised wonderment . . . . Frontispiece + +Then came the second meeting with Jim Galloway + +"Come, and I'll share my secret with you" + +On through the bright moonlight came the sheriff's posse + + + + + +FOREWORD + +THE BELLS + +He who has not heard the bells of San Juan has a journey yet to make. +He who has not set foot upon the dusty road which is the one street of +San Juan, at times the most silent and deserted of thoroughfares, at +other times a mad and turbulent lane between sun-dried adobe walls, may +yet learn something of man and his hopes, desires, fears and ruder +passions from a pin-point upon the great southwestern map. + +The street runs due north and south, pointing like a compass to the +flat gray desert in the one direction, and in the other to the broken +hills swept up into the San Juan mountains. At the northern end, that +is toward the more inviting mountains, is the old Mission. To right +and left of the whitewashed corridors in a straggling garden of +pear-trees and olives and yellow roses are two rude arches made of +seasoned cedar. From the top cross-beam of each hang three bells. + +They have their history, these bells of San Juan, and the biggest with +its deep, mellow voice, the smallest with its golden chimes, seem to be +chanting it when they ring. Each swinging tongue has its tale to tell, +a tale of old Spain, of Spanish galleons and Spanish gentlemen +adventurers, of gentle-voiced priests and sombre-eyed Indians, of +conquest, revolt, intrigue, and sudden death. When a baby is born in +San Juan, a rarer occurrence than a strong man's death, the littlest of +the bells upon the western arch laughs while it calls to all to +hearken; when a man is killed, the angry-toned bell pendant from the +eastern arch shouts out the word to go billowing across the stretches +of sage and greasewood and gama-grass; if one of the later-day frame +buildings bursts into flame, Ignacio Chavez warns the town with a +strident clamor, tugging frantically; be it wedding or discovery of +gold or returns from the county elections, the bell-ringer cunningly +makes the bells talk. + +Out on the desert a man might stop and listen, forming his surmise as +the sounds surged to meet him through the heat and silence. He might +smile, if he knew San Juan, as he caught the jubilant message tapped +swiftly out of the bronze bell which had come, men said, with Coronado; +he might sigh at the lugubrious, slow-swelling voice of the big bell +which had come hitherward long ago with the retinue of Marco de Niza, +wondering what old friend or enemy, perchance, had at last closed his +ears to all of Ignacio Chavez's music. Or, at a sudden fury of +clanging, the man far out on the desert might hurry on, goading his +burro impatiently, to know what great event had occurred in the old +adobe town of San Juan. + +It is three hundred and fifty years and more since the six bells of San +Juan came into the new world to toll across that land of quiet mystery +which is the southwest. It is a hundred years since an +all-but-forgotten priest, Francisco Calderón, found them in various +devastated mission churches, assembled them, and set them chiming in +the old garden. There, among the pear-trees and olives and yellow +roses, they still cast their shadows in sun and moonlight, in silence, +and in echoing chimes. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BELLS RING + +Ignacio Chavez, Mexican that he styled himself, Indian that the +community deemed him, or "breed" of badly mixed blood that he probably +was, made his loitering way along the street toward the Mission. A +thin, yellowish-brown _cigarita_ dangling from his lips, his wide, +dilapidated conical hat tilted to the left side of his head in a +listless sort of concession to the westering sun, he was, as was +customary with him, utterly at peace. Ten minutes ago he had had +twenty cents; two minutes after the acquisition of his elusive wealth +he had exchanged the two dimes for whiskey at the Casa Blanca; the +remaining eight minutes of the ten he required to make his way, as he +naively put it, "between hell and heaven." + +For from a corner of the peaceful old Mission garden at one end of the +long street one might catch a glimpse of the Casa Blanca at the other +end sprawling in the sun; between the two sturdy walled buildings had +the town strung itself as it grew. As old a relic as the church itself +was La Casa Blanca, and since San Juan could remember, in all matters +antipodal to the religious calm of the padres' monument. Deep-shaded +doorways let into the three-feet-thick earthen walls, waxed floors, +green tables, and bar and cool looking-glasses . . . a place which +invited, lured, held, and frequently enough finally damned. + +San Juan, in the languid philosophy of Ignacio Chavez, was what you +will. It epitomized the universe. You had everything here which the +soul of man might covet. Never having dwelt elsewhere since his mother +bore him here upon the rim of the desert and with the San Juan +mountains so near that, Ignacio Chavez pridefully knew, a man standing +upon the Mesa Alta might hear the ringing of his bells, he experienced +a pitying contempt for all those other spots in the world which were so +plainly less favored. What do you wish, señor? Fine warm days? You +have them here. Nice cool nights for sound slumber? Right here in San +Juan, _amigo mío_. A desert across which the eye may run without +stopping until it be tired, a wonderful desert whereon at dawn and dusk +God weaves all of the alluring soft mists of mystery? Shaded cañons at +noonday with water and birds and flowers? Behold the mountains. +Everything desirable, in short. That there might be men who desired +the splash of waves, the sheen of wet beaches, the boom of surf, did +not suggest itself to one who had never seen the ocean. So, then, San +Juan was "what you will." A man may fix his eye upon the little +Mission cross which is always pointing to heaven and God; or he may +pass through the shaded doors of the Casa Blanca, which, men say, give +pathway into hell the shortest way. + +Ignacio, having meditatively enjoyed his whiskey and listened smilingly +to the tinkle of a mandolin in the _patio_ under a grape-vine arbor, +had rolled his cigarette and turned his back square upon the +devil . . . of whom he had no longer anything to ask. As he went out +he stopped in the doorway long enough to rub his back against a corner +of the wall and to strike a match. Then, almost inaudibly humming the +mandolin air, he slouched out into the burning street. + +For twenty years he had striven with the weeds in the Mission garden, +and no man during that time dared say which had had the best of it, +Ignacio Chavez or the interloping alfileria and purslane. In the +matters of a vast leisureliness and tumbling along the easiest way they +resembled each other, these two avowed enemies. For twenty years he +had looked upon the bells as his own, had filled his eye with them day +after day, had thought the first thing in the morning to see that they +were there, regarding them as solicitously in the rare rainy weather as +his old mother regarded her few mongrel chicks. Twenty full years, and +yet Ignacio Chavez was not more than thirty years old, or thirty-five, +perhaps. He did not know, no one cared. + +He was on his way to attack with his bare brown hands some of the weeds +which were spilling over into the walk which led through the garden and +to the priest's house. As a matter of fact he had awakened with this +purpose in mind, had gone his lazy way all day fully purposing to give +it his attention, and had at last arrived upon the scene. The front +gate had finally broken, the upper hinge worn out; Ignacio carefully +set the ramshackly wooden affair back against the fence, thinking how +one of these days he would repair it. Then he went between the bigger +pear-tree and the _lluvia de oro_ which his own hands had planted +here, and stood with legs well apart considering the three bells upon +the easterly arch. + +"_Que hay, amigos_?" he greeted them. "Do you know what I am going to +do for you some fine day? I will build a little roof over you that +runs down both ways to shut out the water when it rains. It will make +you hoarse, too much wet." + +That was one of the few dreams of Ignacio's life; one day he was going +to make a little roof over each arch. But to-day he merely regarded +affectionately the Captain . . . that was the biggest of the +bells . . . the Dancer, second in size, and Lolita, the smallest upon +this arch. Then he sighed and turned toward the other arch across the +garden to see how it was with the Little One, La Golondrina, and +Ignacio Chavez. For it was only fair that at least one of the six +should bear his name. + +Changing his direction thus, moving directly toward the dropping sun, +he shifted his hat well over his eyes and so was constrained to note +how the weeds were asserting themselves with renewed insolence. He +muttered a soft "_maldito_!" at them which might have been mistaken +for a caress and determined upon a merciless campaign of extermination +just as soon as he could have fitted a new handle to his hoe. Then he +paused in front of the Mission steps and lifted his hat, made an +elegant bow, and smiled in his own inimitable, remarkably fascinating +way. For, under the ragged brim, his eyes had caught a glimpse of a +pretty pair of patent-leather slippers, a prettier pair of +black-stockinged ankles, and the hem of a white starched skirt. + +Nowhere are there eyes like the eyes of old Mexico. Deep and soft and +soulful, though the man himself may have a soul like a bit of charred +leather; velvety and tender, though they may belong to an out-and-out +cutthroat; expressive, eloquent even, though they are the eyes of a +peon with no mind to speak of; night-black, and like the night filled +with mystery. Ignacio Chavez lifted such eyes to the eyes of the girl +who had been watching him and spontaneously gave her the last iota of +his ready admiration. + +"It is a fine day, señorita," he told her, displaying two glistening +rows of superb teeth friendliwise. "And the garden . . . _Ah, que hay +más bonito en todo el mundo_? You like it, no?" + +It was slow music when Ignacio Chavez spoke, all liquid sounds and +tender cadences. When he had cursed the weeds it was like love-making. +A _d_ in his mouth became a softened _th_; from the lips of such as +the bell-ringer of San Juan the snapping Gringo oath comes +metamorphosed into a gentle "Gah-tham!" The girl, to whom the speech +of Chavez was something as new and strange as the face of the earth +about her, regarded him with grave, curious eyes. + +She was seated against the Mission wall upon the little bench which no +one but Ignacio guessed was to be painted green one of these fine days, +a bronze-haired, gray-eyed girl in white skirt and waist, and with a +wide panama hat caught between her clasped hands and her knee. For a +moment she was perhaps wondering how to take him; then with a +suddenness that had been all unheralded in her former gravity, she +smiled. With lips and eyes together as though she accepted his +friendship. Ignacio's own smile broadened and he nodded his delight. + +"It is truly beautiful here," she admitted, and had Ignacio possessed a +tithe of that sympathetic comprehension which his eyes lied about he +would have detected a little note of eagerness in her voice, would have +guessed that she was lonely and craved human companionship. "I have +been sitting here an hour or two. You are not going to send me away, +are you?" + +Ignacio looked properly horrified. + +"If I saw an angel here in the garden, señorita," he exclaimed, "would +I say _zape_ to it? No, no, señorita; here you shall stay a thousand +years if you wish. I swear it." + +He was all sincerity; Ignacio Chavez would no sooner think of being +rude to a beautiful young woman than of crying "Scat!" to an angel. +But as to staying here a thousand years . . . she glanced through the +tangle of the garden to the tiny graveyard and shook her head. + +"You have just come to San Juan?" he asked. "To-day?" + +"Yes," she told him. "On the stage at noon." + +"You have friends here?" + +Again she shook her head. + +"Ah," said Ignacio. He straightened for a brief instant and she could +see how the chest under his shirt inflated. "A tourist. You have +heard of this garden, maybe? And the bells? So you travelled across +the desert to see?" + +The third time she shook her head. + +"I have come to live here," she returned quietly. + +"But not all alone, señorita!" + +"Yes." She smiled at him again. "All alone." + +"Mother of God!" he said within himself. And presently to her: "I did +not see the stage come to-day; in San Juan one takes his siesta at that +hour. And it is not often that the stage brings new people from the +railroad." + +In some subtle way he had made of his explanation an apology. While +his slow brown fingers rolled a cigarette he stared away through the +garden and across the desert with an expression half melancholy, half +merely meditative, which made the girl wonder what his thoughts were. +When she came to know him better she would know too that at times like +this he was not thinking at all. + +"I believe this is the most profoundly peaceful place in the world," +she said quietly, half listlessly setting into words the impression +which had clung about her throughout the long, still day. "It is like +a strange dream-town, one sees no one moving about, hears nothing. It +is just a little sad, isn't it?" + +He had followed her until the end, comprehending. But sad? How that? +It was just as it should be; to ears which had never been filled with +the noises or rushing trains and cars and all of the traffic of a city, +what sadness could there be in the very natural calm of the rim of the +desert? Having no satisfactory reply to make, Ignacio merely muttered, +"Si, señorita," somewhat helplessly and let it go with that. + +"Tell me," she continued, sitting up a little and seeming to throw off +the oppressively heavy spell of her environment, "who are the important +people hereabouts?" + +_La gente_? Oh, Ignacio knew them well, all of them! There was Señor +Engle, to begin with. The banker of whom no doubt she had heard? He +owned a big _residencia_ just yonder; you could catch the gleam of its +white walls through a clump of cottonwoods, withdrawn aloofly from San +Juan's street. Many men worked for him; he had big cattle and sheep +ranches throughout the county; he paid well and loaned out much money. +Also he had a beautiful wife and a truly marvellously beautiful +daughter. And horses such as one could not look upon elsewhere. Then +there was Señor Nortone, as Ignacio pronounced him; a sincere friend of +Ignacio Chavez and a man fearless and true and extravagantly to be +admired, who, it appeared, was the sheriff. Not a family man; he was +too young yet. But soon; oh, one could see! It would be Ignacio who +would ring the bells for the wedding when Roderico Nortone married +himself with the daughter of the banker. + +"He is what you call a gunman, isn't he?" asked the girl, interested. +"I heard two of the men on the stage talking of him. They called him +Roddy Norton; he is the one, isn't he?" + +_Seguro_; sure, he was the one. A gunman? Ignacio shrugged. He was +sheriff, and what must a sheriff be if not a gunman? + +"On the stage," continued the girl, "was a man they called Doc; and +another named Galloway. They are San Juan men, are they not?" + +Ignacio lifted his brows a shade disdainfully. They were both San Juan +citizens, but obviously not to his liking. Jim Galloway was a big man, +yes; but of _la gente_, never! The señorita should look the other way +when he passed. He owned the Casa Blanca; that was enough to ticket +him, and Ignacio passed quickly to _el señor doctor_. Oh, he was +smart and did much good to the sick; but the poor Mexican who called +him for a bedridden wife must first sell something and show the money. + +Beyond these it appeared that the enviable class of San Juan consisted +of the padre José, who was at present and much of the time away +visiting the poor and sick throughout the countryside; Julius Struve, +who owned and operated the local hotel, one of the lesser luminaries, +though a portly gentleman with an amiable wife; the Porters, who had a +farm off to the northwest and whose connection to San Juan lay in the +fact that an old maid daughter taught the school here; various other +individuals and family groups to be disposed of with a word and a +careless wave of a cigarette. Already for the fair stranger Ignacio +had skimmed the cream of the cream. + +The girl sighed, as though her question had been no idle one and his +reply had disappointed her. For a moment her brows gathered slightly +into a frown that was like a faint shadow; then she smiled again +brightly, a quick smile which seemed more at home in her eyes than the +frown had been. + +Ignacio glanced from her to the weeds, then, squinting his eyes, at the +sun. There was ample time, it would be cooler presently. So, +describing a respectful arc about her, he approached the Mission wall, +slipped into the shade, and eased himself in characteristic indolence +against the white-washed adobe. She appeared willing to talk with him; +well, then, what pleasanter way to spend an afternoon? She sought to +learn this and that of a land new to her; who to explain more knowingly +than Ignacio Chavez? After a little he would pluck some of the newly +opened yellow rosebuds for her, making her a little speech about +herself and budding flowers. He would even, perhaps, show her his +bells, let her hear just the suspicion of a note from each. . . . + +A sharp sound came to her abruptly out of the utter stillness but meant +nothing to her. She saw a flock of pigeons rise above the roofs of the +more distant houses, circle, swerve, and disappear beyond the +cottonwoods. She noted that Ignacio was no longer leaning lazily +against the wall; he had stiffened, his mouth was a little open, +breathless, his attitude that of one listening expectantly, his eyes +squinting as they had been just now when he fronted the sun. Then came +the second sound, a repetition of the first, sharp, in some way +sinister. Then another and another and another, until she lost count; +a man's voice crying out strangely, muffled. Indistinct, seeming to +come from afar. + +It was an incongruous, almost a humorous, thing to see the sun-warmed +passivity of Ignacio Chavez metamorphosed in a flash into activity. He +muttered something, leaped away from the Mission wall, dashed through +the tangle of the garden, and raced like a madman to the eastern arch. +With both hands he grasped the dangling bell-ropes, with all of his +might he set them clanging and shouting and clamoring until the +reverberation smote her ears and set the blood tingling strangely +through her. She had seen the look upon his face. . . . + +Suddenly she knew that those little sharp sounds had been the rattle of +pistol-shots. She sprang to her feet, her eyes widening. Now all was +quiet save for the boom and roar of the bells. The pigeons were +circling high in the clear sky, were coming back. . . . She went +quickly the way Ignacio had gone, calling out to him: + +"What is it?" + +He seemed all unmoved now as he made his bells cry out for him; it was +for him to be calm while they trembled with the event which surely they +must understand. + +"It is a man dead," he told her as his right hand called upon the +Captain for a volume of sound from his bronze throat. "You will see. +And there will be more work for Roderico Nortone!" He sighed and shook +his head, and for a moment spoke softly with his jangling bells. "And +some day," he continued quietly, "it will be Roderico's time, _no_? +And I will ring the bells for him, and the Captain and the Dancer and +Lolita, they will all put tears into men's eyes. But first, Santa +Maria! let it be that I ring the others for him when he marries himself +with the banker's daughter." + +"A man dead?" the girl repeated, unwilling to grasp fully. + +"You will see," returned Ignacio. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SHERIFF OF SAN JUAN + +The girl in the old Mission garden stood staring at Ignacio Chavez a +long time, seeming compelled by a force greater than her own to watch +him tugging and jerking at his bells. Plainly enough she understood +that this was an alarm being sounded; a man dead through violence, and +the bell-ringer stirring the town with it. But when presently he let +two of the ropes slip out of his hands and began a slow, mournful +tolling of the Captain alone, she shuddered a little and withdrew. + +That it might be merely a case of a man wounded, even badly, did not +once suggest itself to her. Ignacio had spoken as one who knew, in +full confidence and with finality. She should see! She returned to +the little bench which one day was to be a bright green, and sat down. +She could see that again the pigeons were circling excitedly; that from +the baking street little puffs of dust arose to hang idly in the still +air as though they were painted upon the clear canvas of the sky. She +heard the voices of men, faint, quick sounds against the tolling of the +bell. Then suddenly all was very still once more; Ignacio had allowed +the Captain to resume his silent brooding, and came to her. + +"I must go to see who it is," he apologized. "Then I will know better +how to ring for him. The sheepman from Las Palmas, I bet you. For did +I not see when just now I passed the Casa Blanca that he was a little +drunk with Señor Galloway's whiskey? And does not every one know he +sold many sheep and that means much money these days? Si, señorita; it +will be the sheepman from Las Palmas." + +He was gone, slouching along again and in no haste now that he had +fulfilled his first duty. What haste could there possibly be since, +sheepman from Las Palmas or another, he was dead and therefore must +wait upon Ignacio Chavez's pleasure? Somehow she gleaned this thought +from his manner and therefore did not speak as she watched him depart. + +That portion of the street which she could see from her bench was +empty, the dust settling, thinning, disappearing. Farther down toward +the Casa Blanca she could imagine the little knots of men asking one +another what had happened and how; the chief actor in this fragment of +human drama she could picture lying inert, uncaring that it was for him +that a bell had tolled and would toll again, that men congregated +curiously. + +In a little while Ignacio would return, shuffling, smoking a dangling +cigarette, his hat cocked against the sun; he would give her full +particulars and then return to his bell. . . . She had come to San +Juan to make a home here, to become a part of it, to make it a portion +of her. To arrive upon a day like this was no pleasant omen; it was +too dreadfully like taking a room in a house only to hear the life +rattling out of a man beyond a partition. She was suddenly averse to +hearing Ignacio's details; there came a quick desire to set her back to +the town whose silence on the heels of uproar crushed her. Rising +hastily, she hurried down the weed-bordered walk, out at the broken +gate, and turned toward the mountains. One glance down the street as +she crossed it showed her what she had expected: a knot of men at the +door of the Casa Blanca, another small group at a window, evidently +taking stock of a broken window-pane. + +The sun, angry and red, was hanging low over a distant line of hills, +the flat lands were already drawing about them a thin, faintly colorful +haze. She had put on her hat and, like Ignacio, had set it a little to +the side of her head, feeling her cheeks burning when the direct rays +found them. The fine, loose soil was sifting into her low slippers +before she had gone a score of paces. When she came back she would +unpack her trunk and get out a sensible pair of boots. No doubt she +was dressed ridiculously, but then the heat had tempted her. . . . + +A curious matter presented itself to her. In the little groups upon +the street she had not seen a single woman. Were there none in San +Juan? Was this some strange, altogether masculine, community into +which she had stumbled? Then she remembered how the bell-ringer had +mentioned Mrs. Engle, the banker's wife, and his daughter and Mrs. +Struve and others. Besides all this she had a letter to Mrs. Engle +which she was going to present this evening. . . . + +She was thinking of anything in the world but of a tragedy not yet +grown cold, so near her that for a little it had seemed to embrace her. +Now it was almost as though it had not occurred. The world was all +unchanged about her, the town somnolent. She had shuddered as Ignacio +played upon his bell; but the shudder was rather from the bell's +resonant eloquence than from any more vital cause. A man she had never +seen, whose name even she did not know, had been shot by another man +unknown to her; she had heard only the shots, she had seen nothing. +True, she had heard also a voice crying out, but she sensed that it had +been the voice of an onlooker. She felt ashamed that the episode did +not move her more. + +As, earlier in the afternoon, she had been drawn from the heat of her +room at Struve's hotel by the shade to be found in the Mission garden, +so now did a long, wavering line of cottonwoods beckon to her. In +files which turned eastward or westward here and there only to come +back to the general northerly trend, they indicated where an arroyo +writhed down, tortured serpent-wise, from the mountains. Through their +foliage she had glimpsed the Engle home. She expected to find running +water under their shade, that and an attendant coolness. + +But the arroyo proved to be dry and hot, a gash in the dry bosom of the +earth, its bottom strewn with smooth pebbles and sand and a very +sparse, unattractive vegetation, stunted and harsh. And it was almost +as hot here as on San Juan's street; into the shade crept the +heat-waves of the dry, scorched air. + +Led by the line of cottonwoods she found a little path and followed it, +experiencing a vague relief to have the town at her back. She knew +that distances deceived the eye in this bleak land, and yet she thought +that before dark she could reach the hills, where perhaps there were a +few languid flowers and pools, and return just tired enough to eat and +go to sleep. She rather thought that she would postpone her call on +the Engles until to-morrow. + +"It's mañana-land, after all," she told herself with a quick smile. + +Half an hour later she found a spot where the trees stood in a denser +growth, looking greener, more vigorous . . . less thirsty. She could +fancy the great roots, questing far downward through the layers of dry +soil, thrusting themselves almost with a human, passionate eagerness +into the water they had found. Here she threw herself down, lying upon +her back, gazing up through the branches and leaves. + +Never until now had she known the meaning of utter stillness. She saw +a bird, a poor brown, unkempt little being; it had no song to offer the +silence, and in a little flew away listlessly. She had seen a rabbit, +a big, gaunt, uncomely wretch, disappearing silently among the clumps +of brush. + +Her spirit, essentially bright and happy, had striven hard with a new +form of weariness all day. Not only was she coming into another land +than that which she knew and understood, she was entering another phase +of her life. She had chosen voluntarily, without advice or suggestion; +she had had her reasons and they had seemed sufficient; they were still +sufficient. She had chosen wisely; she held to that, her judgment +untroubled. But that stubbornly recurrent sense that with the old +landmarks she had abandoned the old life, that both in physical fact +and in spiritual and mental actuality she was at the threshold of an +unguessed, essentially different life, was disquieting. There is no +getting away from an old basic truth that a man's life is so strongly +influenced as almost to be moulded by his environment; there was +uneasiness in the thought that here one's existence might grow to +resemble his habitat, taking on the gray tone and monotony and bleak +barrenness of this sun-smitten land. + +Yielding a little already to the command laid upon breathing nature +hereabouts, she was lying still, her hands lax, her thoughts taking +unto themselves something of the character of the listless, songless +brown bird's flight. She had come here to-day following in the +footsteps of other men and a few women. Her own selection of San Juan +was explicable; the thing to wonder at was what had given the hardihood +to the first men to stop here and make houses and then homes? Later +she would know; the one magic word of the desert lands: water. For San +Juan, standing midway between the railroad and the more tempting lands +beyond the mountains, had found birth because here was a mud-hole for +cradle; down under the sand were fortuitous layers of impervious clay +cupping to hold much sweet water. + +The slow tolling of a bell came billowing out through the silence. The +girl sat up. It was the Captain. Never, it seemed to her, had she +heard anything so mournful. Ignacio had informed himself concerning +all details and had returned to the garden at the Mission. The man was +dead, then. There could be no doubt as one listened to the measured +sorrowing of the big bell. + +She got to her feet and, walking swiftly, moved on, still farther from +San Juan. The act was without premeditation; her whole being was +insistent upon it. She wondered if it was the sheepman from Las +Palmas; if he had, perhaps, a wife and children. Then she stopped +suddenly; a new thought had come to her. Strange, inexplicable even, +it had not suggested itself before. She wondered who the other man +was, the man who had done the killing. And what had happened to him? +Had he fled? Had other men grappled with him, disarmed him, made of +him a prisoner to answer for what he had done? What had been his +motive, what passion had actuated him Surely not just the greed for +gold which the bell-ringer had suggested! What sort of creature was he +who, in cold, calculating blood could murder a man for a handful of +money? + +There was nothing to answer unless she could catch the thought of +Ignacio Chavez in the ringing of his bell. She moved on again, +hurrying. + +Following the arroyo, she had come to the first of the little, smooth +hills, the lomas as the men on the stage had named them. Through them +the dry watercourse wriggled, carrying its green pennons along its +marge. She went up gentle slopes mantled with bleached grass which +directly under her eyes was white in the glare of the sun. But the sun +was very low now, very fierce and red, an angry god going down in +temporary defeat, but defiant to the last, filled with threat for +to-morrow; at a little distance he tinged the world with his own fiery +hue. The far western uplands cut the great disk squarely in two; down +slipped the half wafer until it seemed that just a bright signal-fire +was kindled upon the ridge. And as that faded from her eyes the slow +sobbing of the swinging bell was like a wail for the death of the day. + +She had removed her hat, fancying that already the earth was throwing +off its heat, that a little coolness and freshness was coming down to +meet her from the mountains. She turned her eyes toward them and it +was then, just after the sunset, that she saw a man riding toward her. +He was still far off when she first glimpsed him, just cresting one of +the higher hills, so that for him the sun had not yet set. For she +caught the glint of light flaming back from the silver chasings of his +bridle and from the barrel of the gun across the hollow of his left +arm. She did not believe that he had seen her in the shadow of the +cottonwoods. + +If she went on she must meet him presently. She glanced back over her +shoulder, noting how far she had come from the town. It was very still +again; the bell had ceased its complaint; the hoofs of the approaching +horse seemed shod with felt, falling upon felt. She swung about and +walked back toward San Juan. + +A little later she heard the man's voice, calling. Clearly to her, +since there was no one else. Why should he call to her? She gave no +sign of having heard, but walked on a trifle faster. She sensed that +he was galloping down upon her; still in the loose sand the hoof-beats +were muffled. Then when he called a second time she stopped and turned +and waited. + +A splendid big fellow he was, she noted as he came on, riding a +splendid big horse. Man and beast seemed to belong to the desert; had +it not been for the glint of the sun she realized now, she probably +would not have distinguished their distant forms from the land across +which they had moved. The horse was a darkish, dull gray; the man, +boots, corduroy breeches, soft shirt, and hat, was garbed in gray or so +covered with the dust of travel as to seem so. + +"What in the world are you doing way out here?" he called to her. And +then having come closer he reined in his horse, stared at her a moment +in surprised wonderment, swept off his hat and said, a shade awkwardly: +"I beg pardon. I thought you were some one else." + +For her wide hat was again drooping about her face, and he had had just +the form of her and the white skirt and waist to judge by. + +"It is all right," she said lightly. "I imagined that you had made a +mistake." + +It was something of a victory over herself to have succeeded in +speaking thus carelessly. For there had been the impulse, a temptation +almost, just to stare back at the man as he had stared at her and in +silence. Not only was the type physically magnificent; to her it was, +like everything about her, new. And that which had held her at first +was his eyes. For it is not the part of youth to be stern-eyed; and +while this man could not be more than midway between twenty and thirty, +his eyes had already acquired the trick of being hard, steely, +suggesting relentlessness, stern and quick. Tall, lean-bodied, with +big calloused hands, as brown as an Indian, hair and eyes were +uncompromisingly black. He belonged to the southwestern wastes. + +These things she noted, and that his face was drawn and weary, that +about his left hand was tied a handkerchief, hinting at a minor cut, +that his horse looked as travel-worn as himself. + +"One doesn't see strangers often around San Juan," he explained. "As +for a girl . . . Well, I never made a mistake like this before. I'll +have to look out." The muscles of the tired face softened a little, +into his eyes came a quick light that was good to see, for an instant +masking their habitual sternness. "If you'll excuse me again, and if +you don't know a whole lot about this country . . ." He paused to +measure her sweepingly, seemed satisfied, and concluded: "I wouldn't +go out all alone like this; especially after sundown. We're a rather +tough lot, you know. Good-by." + +He lifted his hat again, loosened his horse's reins, and passed by her. +Just as she had expected, just as she had desired. And yet, with his +dusty back turned upon her, she experienced a sudden return of her +loneliness. Would she ever look into the eyes of a friend again? +Could she ever actually accomplish what she had set out to accomplish; +make San Juan a home? + +Her eyes followed him, frankly admiring now; so she might have looked +at any other of nature's triumphant creations. Then, before he had +gone a score of yards, she saw how a little tightening of his horse's +reins had brought the big brute down from a swinging gallop to a dead +standstill. The bell was tolling again. + +Again he was calling to her, again, swinging about, he had ridden to +her side. Now his voice like his eyes, was ominously stern. + +"Who is it?" he demanded. + +"I don't know," she told him, marvelling at the look on his face. His +emotion was purely one of anger, mounting anger that a man was dead? +"The man who rings the bells told me that he thought it must be a +sheepman from Las Palmas. He went to see. . . . I didn't wait. . . ." + +Nor did this man wait now. Again he had wheeled; now he was racing +along the arroyo, urging a tired horse that he might lose no +unnecessary handful of moments. And as he went she heard him curse +savagely under his breath and knew that he had forgotten her in the +thoughts which had been released by the dull booming of a bell. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A MAN'S BOOTS + +In the bar at the Casa Blanca, a long, wide room, low-ceilinged and +with cool, sprinkled floor, a score of men had congregated. For the +most part they were silent, content to look at the signs left by the +recent shooting and to have what scraps of explanation were vouchsafed +them. And these were meagre enough. The man who had done the shooting +was sullen and self-contained. The dead man . . . it was the sheepman +from Las Palmas . . . lay in an adjoining card-room, stark under the +blanket which the large hands of Jim Galloway had drawn over him. + +When the clatter of hoofs rang out in the street a couple of men went +to the door. Coming back, "It is the sheriff," they said. + +Roderick Norton, entering swiftly, his spurs dragging and jangling, +swept the faces in the room with eyes which had in them none of that +human glint of good-will which the girl at the arroyo had glimpsed in +them. Again they were steely, angry, bespeaking both threat and +suspicion. + +"Who is it this time?" he demanded sharply. + +"Bisbee, from Las Palmas," they told him. + +"Who did it?" came the quick question. And then, before an answer +could come, his voice ringing with the anger in it: "Antone or Kid +Rickard? Which one?" + +He had shifted his rifle so that it was caught up under his left arm. +His right hand, frank and unhidden, rested upon the butt of the +heavy-caliber revolver sagging from his belt. Standing just within the +room, he had stepped to one side of the doorway so that the wall was at +his back. + +"It was the Kid," some one answered, and was continuing, "He says it +was self-defense . . ." when Norton cut in bluntly: + +"Was Galloway here when it happened?" + +"Yes." + +"Where's Galloway now?" + +It was noteworthy that he asked for Jim Galloway rather than for Kid +Rickard. + +"In there," they told him, indicating a second card-room adjoining that +in which the Las Palmas sheepman lay. Rod Norton, again glancing +sharply across the faces confronting him, went to the closed door and +set his hand to the knob. But Jim Galloway, having desired privacy +just now, had locked the door. Norton struck it sharply, commanding: + +"Open up, Galloway. It's Norton." + +There came the low mutter of a voice hasty and with the quality of +stern exhortation, the snap of the lock, and the door was jerked open. +Norton's eyes, probing into every square foot of the chamber, took +stock of Jim Galloway, and beyond him of Kid Rickard, slouching forward +in a chair and rolling a cigarette. + +"Hello, Norton," said Galloway tonelessly. "Glad you showed up. +There's been trouble." + +A heavy man above the waist-line, thick-shouldered, with large head and +bull throat, his muscular torso tapered down to clean-lined hips, his +legs of no greater girth than those of the lean-bodied man confronting +him, his feet small in glove-fitting boots. His eyes, prominent and +full and a clear brown, were a shade too innocent. Chin, jaw, and +mouth, the latter full-lipped, were those of strength, smashing power, +and a natural cruelty. He was the one man to be found in San Juan who +was dressed as the rather fastidiously inclined business men dress in +the cities. + +"Another man down, Galloway," said Norton with an ominous sternness. +"And in your place. . . How long do you think that you can keep out +from under?" + +His meaning was plain enough; the men behind him in the barroom +listened in attitudes which, varying in other matters, were alike in +their tenseness. Galloway, however, staring stonily with eyes not +unlike polished agate, so cold and steady were they, gave no sign of +taking offense. + +"You and I never were friends, Rod Norton," he said, unmoved. "Still +that's no reason you should jump me for trouble. Answering your +question, I expect to keep out from under just as long as two things +remain as they are: first, as long as I play the game square and in the +open, next, as long as an overgrown boy holds down the job of sheriff +in San Juan." + +In Norton's eyes was blazing hatred, in Galloway's mere steady, +unwinking boldness. + +"You saw the killing?" the sheriff asked curtly. + +"Yes," said Galloway. + +"The Kid there did it?" + +For the first time the man slouching forward in the chair lifted his +head. Had a stranger looked in at that moment, curious to see him who +had just committed homicide . . . or murder . . . he must have +experienced a positive shock. Sullen-eyed, sullen-lipped, the +man-killer could not yet have seen the last of his teens. A thin wisp +of straw-colored hair across a low, atavistic forehead, unhealthy, +yellowish skin, with pale, lack-lustre, faded blue eyes, he looked evil +and vicious and cruel. One looking from him to Jim Galloway would have +suspected that one could be as inhuman as the other, but with the +difference that that which was but means to an end with Galloway would +be end in itself to Kid Rickard. Something of the primal savage shone +in the pale fires of his eyes. + +"Yes," retorted the Kid, his surly voice little better than a snarl. +"I got him and be damned to him!" + +"Bad luck cursing a dead man, Rickard," said Norton coldly. "What did +you kill him for?" + +Kid Rickard's tongue ran back and forth between his colorless lips +before he replied. + +"He tried to get me first," he said defiantly. + +"Who saw the shooting?" + +"Jim Galloway. And Antone." + +Rod Norton grunted his disgust with the situation. + +"Give me your gun," he commanded tersely. + +The Kid frowned. Galloway cleared his throat. Rickard's eyes went to +him swiftly. Then he got to his feet, jerked a thirty-eight-caliber +revolver from the hip pocket of his overalls and held it out, +surrendering it reluctantly. Norton "broke" it, ejecting the +cartridges into his palm. Not an empty shell among them; the Kid had +slipped in a fresh shell for every exploded one. + +"How many times did you shoot?" + +"I don't know. Two or three, I guess. . . . Damn it, do you imagine a +man counts 'em?" + +"What were you and Galloway doing alone in here with the door locked?" + +Galloway cut in sharply: + +"I didn't want any more trouble; I was afraid somebody . . ." + +"Shut up, will you?" cried the sheriff fiercely. "I'll give you all +the chance you want to talk pretty soon. Answer me, Rickard." + +"I told him to lock me up somewhere until you or Tom Cutter come," said +the Kid slowly. "I was afraid somebody might jump me for what I done. +I didn't want no more trouble." + +Norton turned briefly to the crowded room behind him. + +"Anybody know where Cutter is?" he asked. + +It appeared that every one knew. Tom Cutter, Rod Norton's deputy, had +gone in the early morning to Mesa Verde, and would probably return in +the cool of the evening. Frowning, Norton made the best of the +situation, and to gain his purpose called four men out of the crowd. + +"I want you boys to do me a favor," he said. + +"Antone, come here." + +The short, squat half-breed standing behind the bar lifted his heavy +black brows, demanding: + +"_Y porqué_? What am I to do?" + +"As you are told," Norton snapped at him. "Benny, you and Dick walk +down the street with Antone; you other boys walk down the other way +with Rickard. If they haven't had all the chance to talk together +already that they want, don't give them any more opportunity. Step up, +Rickard." + +The Kid sulked, but under the look the sheriff turned on him came +forward and went out, his whole attitude remaining one of defiance. +Antone, his swart face as expressionless as a piece of mahogany, +hesitated, glanced at Galloway, shrugged, and did as Rickard had done, +going out between his two guards. The men remaining in the barroom +were watching their sheriff expectantly. He swung about upon Galloway. + +"Now," he said quickly, "who fired the first shot. Galloway?" + +Galloway smiled, went to his bar, poured himself a glass of whiskey, +and standing there, the glass twisting slowly in his fingers, stared +back innocently at his interrogator. + +"Trying the case already, Judge Norton?" he inquired equably. + +"Will you answer?" Norton said coolly. + +"Sure." Galloway kept his look steady upon the sheriff's, and into the +innocence of his eyes there came a veiled insolence. "Bisbee shot +first." + +"Where was he standing?" + +Galloway pointed. + +"Right there." The spot indicated was about three or four feet from +where Norton stood, near the second card-room door. + +"Where was the Kid?" + +"Over there." Again Galloway pointed. "Clean across the room, where +the chair is tumbled over against the table." + +"How many times did Bisbee shoot?" + +Galloway seemed to be trying to remember. He drank his whiskey slowly, +reached over the bar for a cigar, and answered: + +"Twice or three times." + +"How many times did Rickard shoot?" + +"I'm not sure. I'd say about the same; two or three times." + +"Where was Antone standing?" + +"Behind the bar; down at the far end, nearest the door." + +"Where were you?" + +"Leaning against the bar, talking to Antone." + +"What were you talking about?" + +This question came quicker, sharper than the others, as though +calculated to startle Galloway into a quick answer. But the proprietor +of the Casa Blanca was lighting his cigar and took his time. When he +looked up, his eyes told Norton that he had understood any danger which +might lie under a question so simple in the seeming. His eyes were +smiling contemptuously, but there was a faint flush in his cheeks. + +"I don't remember," he replied at last. "Some trifle. The shooting, +coming suddenly that way . . . + +"What started the ruction?" + +"Bisbee had been drinking a little. He seemed to be in the devil's own +temper. He had asked the Kid to have a drink with him, and Rickard +refused. He had his drink alone and then invited the Kid again. +Rickard told him to go to hell. Bisbee started to walk across the room +as though he was going to the card-room. Then he grabbed his gun and +whirled and started shooting." + +"Missing every time, of course?" + +Galloway nodded. + +"You'll remember I said he was carrying enough of a load to make his +aim bad." + +Norton asked half a dozen further questions and then said abruptly: + +"That's all. As you go out will you tell the boys to send Antone in?" + +Again a hint of color crept slowly, dully, into Galloway's cheeks. + +"You're going pretty far, Rod Norton," he said tonelessly. + +"You're damned right I am!" cried Norton ringingly. "And I am going a +lot further, Jim Galloway, before I get through, and you can bet all of +your blue chips on it. I want Antone in here and I want you outside! +Do I get what I want or not?" + +Galloway stood motionless, his cigar clamped tight in his big square +teeth. Then he shrugged and went to the door. + +"If I am standing a good deal off of you," he muttered, hanging on his +heel just before he passed out, "it's because I am as strong as any man +in the county to see the law brought into San Juan. And"--for the +first time yielding outwardly to a display of the emotion riding him, +he spat out venomously and tauntingly--"and we'd have had the law here +long ago had we had a couple of men in the boots of the Nortons, father +and son!" + +Rod Norton's face went a flaming red with anger, his hand grew white +upon the butt of the gun at his side. + +"Some day, Jim Galloway," he said steadily, "I'll get you just as sure +as you got Billy Norton!" + +Galloway laughed and went out. + +To Antone, Norton put the identical questions he had asked of Galloway, +receiving virtually the same replies. Seeking the one opportunity +suggesting itself into tricking the bartender, he asked at the end: + +"Just before the shooting, when you and Galloway were talking and he +told you that Bisbee was looking for trouble, why weren't you ready to +grab him when he went for his gun?" + +Antone was giving his replies as guardedly as Galloway had done. He +took his time now. + +"Because," he began finally, "I do not belief when Señor Galloway speak +that . . ." + +His eyes had been roving from Norton's, going here and there about the +room. Suddenly a startled look came into them and he snapped his mouth +shut. + +"Go on," prompted the sheriff. + +"I don't remember," grunted Antone. "I forget what Señor Galloway say, +what I say. Bisbee say: 'Have a drink.' The Kid say: 'Go to hell.' +Bisbee shoot, one, two, three, like that. I forget what we talk about." + +Norton turned slowly and looked whither Antone had been looking when he +cut his own words off so sharply. The man upon whom his eyes rested +longest was a creased-faced Mexican, Vidal Nuñez, who now stood, head +down, making a cigarette. + +"That's all, Antone," Norton said. "Send the Kid in." + +The Kid came, still sullen but swaggering a little, his hat cocked +jauntily to one side, the yellow wisp of hair in his faded eyes. And +he in turn questioned, gave such answers as the two had given before +him. + +Now for the first time the sheriff, stepping across the room, looked +for such evidence as flying lead might have left for him. In the wall +just behind the spot where Bisbee had stood were two bullet holes. +Going to the far end of the room where the chair leaned against the +table, he found that a pane of glass in the window opening upon the +street had been broken. There were no bullet marks upon wall or +woodwork. + +"Bisbee shot two or three times, did he?" he cried, wheeling on the +Kid. "And missed every time? And all the bullets went through the one +hole in the window, I suppose?" + +The Kid shrugged insolently. + +"I didn't watch 'em," he returned briefly. + +Galloway and Antone were allowed to come again into the room, and of +Galloway, quite as though no hot word had passed between them, Norton +asked quietly: + +"Bisbee had a lot of money on him. What happened to it?" + +"In there." Galloway nodded toward the card-room whose door had +remained closed. "In his pocket." + +A few of the morbid followed as the sheriff went into the little room. +Already most of the men had seen and had no further curiosity. Norton +drew the blanket away, noted the wounds, three of them, two at the base +of the throat and one just above the left eye. Then, going through the +sheepman's pockets, he brought out a handful of coins. A few gold, +most of them silver dollars and half-dollars, in all a little over +fifty dollars. + +The dead man lay across two tables drawn together, his booted feet +sticking out stolidly beyond the bed still too short to accommodate his +length of body. Norton's eyes rested on the man's boots longer than +upon the cold face. Then, stepping back to the door so that all in the +barroom might catch the significance of his words, he said sharply: + +"How many men of you know where Bisbee always carried his money when he +was on his way to bank?" + +"In his boots!" answered two voices together. + +"Come this way, boys. Take a look at his boots, will you?" + +And as they crowded about the table, sensing some new development, +Galloway pushing well to the fore, Norton's vibrant voice rang out: + +"It was a clean job getting him, and a clean job telling the story of +how it happened. But there wasn't overmuch time and in the rush. . . . +Tell me, Jim Galloway, how does it happen that the right boot is on the +left foot?" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AT THE BANKER'S HOME + +Rod Norton made no arrest. Leaving the card-room abruptly he signalled +to Julius Struve, the hotel keeper, to follow him. In the morning +Struve, in his official capacity as coroner, would demand a verdict. +Having long been in strong sympathy with the sheriff he was to be +looked to now for a frank prediction of the inquest's result. And, +very thoughtful about it all, he gravely agreed with Norton; the +coroner's jury, taking the evidence offered by Jim Galloway, Kid +Rickard, and Antone, would bring in a verdict of justifiable homicide. + +"Later on we'll get 'em, Roddy . . . mebbe," he said finally. "But not +now. If you pulled the Kid it would just be running up the county +expense all for nothing." + +The sheriff left him in silence and leading his horse went the few +steps to the hotel. Ignacio Chavez appearing opportunely Norton gave +his animal into the breed's custody; Ignacio, accustomed to doing odd +jobs for el Señor Roderico Nortone, and to the occasional half dollars +resulting from such transactions, led the big gray away while the +sheriff entered the hotel. It had been a day of hard riding and scanty +meals, and he was hungry. + +Bright and new and conspicuous, a gold-lettered sign at Struve's +doorway caught his eye and caused him to remember the wounded left hand +which had been paining him considerably through the long hot day. The +sign bore the name of Dr. V. D. Page with the words Physician and +Surgeon; in blue pencilled letters upon the practitioner's card, +affixed to the brass chain suspending the sign, were the further words: +"Room 5, Struve's Hotel." + +The sheriff went to Room 5. It was at the front of the building, upon +the ground floor. The door opened almost immediately when he rapped. +Confronting him was the girl he had encountered at the arroyo. He +lifted his hat, looked beyond her, and said simply: + +"I was looking for Dr. Page. Is he in now?" + +"Yes," she told him gravely. "Come in, please." + +He stepped across the threshold, his eyes trained to quick observation +of details taking in at a glance all there was to be seen. The room +showed all signs of a fresh unpacking, the one table and two chairs +piled high with odds and ends. For the most part the miscellany +consisted of big, fat books, bundles of towels and fresh white napkins, +rubber-stoppered bottles of varicolored contents, and black leather +cases, no doubt containing a surgeon's instruments. Through an open +door giving entrance to the adjoining room he noted further signs of +unpacking with a marked difference in the character of the litter; the +girl stepped quickly to this door, shutting out the vision of a +helter-skelter of feminine apparel. + +"It is your hand?" she asked, as in most thoroughly matter of fact +fashion she put out her own for it. "Let me see it." + +But for a moment he bestowed upon her merely a slow look of question. + +"You don't mean that you are Dr. Page?" he asked. Then, believing that +he understood: "You're the nurse?" + +"Is a physician's life in San Juan likely to be so filled with his +duties that he must bring a nurse with him?" she countered. "Yes, I am +Dr. Page." + +He noted that she was as defiant about the matter as the Kid had been +about the killing of Bisbee of Las Palmas; plainly she had foreseen +that the type of man-animal inhabiting this out-of-the-way corner of +the world would be likely to wonder at her hardihood and, perhaps, to +jeer. + +"I came to-day," she explained in the same matter-of-fact way. +"Consequently you will pardon the looks of things. But I am one of the +kind that believes in hanging out a shingle first, getting details +arranged next. Now may I see the hand?" + +"It's hardly anything." He lifted it now for her inspection. "Just a +slight cut, you know. But it's showing signs of infection. A little +antiseptic . . ." + +She took his fingers into hers and bent over the wound. He noted two +things, now: what strong hands she had, shapely, with sensitive fingers +ignorant of rings; how richly alive and warmly colored her hair was, +full of little waves and curls. + +She had nothing to say while she treated him. Over an alcohol lamp she +heated some water; in a bowl, brought from the adjoining room, she +cleansed the hand thoroughly. Then the application of the final +antiseptic, a bit of absorbent cotton, a winding of surgeon's tape +about a bit of gauze, and the thing was done. Only at the end did she +say: + +"It's a peculiar cut . . . not a knife cut, is it?" + +"No," he answered humorously. "Did it on a piece of lead. . . . How +much is it, Doctor?" + +"Two dollars," she told him, busied with the drying of her own hands. +"Better let me look at it again in the morning if it pains you." + +He laid two silver dollars in her palm, hesitated a moment and then +went out. + +"She's got the nerve," was his thoughtful estimate as he went to his +corner table in the dining-room. "But I don't believe she is going to +last long in San Juan. . . . Funny she should come to a place like +this, anyhow. . . . Wonder what the V stands for?" + +At any rate the hand had been skilfully treated and bandaged; he nodded +at it approvingly. Then, with his meal set before him, he divided his +thoughts pretty evenly between the girl and the recent shooting at the +Casa Blanca. The sense was strong upon him as it had been many a time +that before very long either Rod Norton or Jim Galloway would lie as +the sheepman from Las Palmas was lying, while the other might watch his +sunrises and sunsets with a strange, new emotion of security. + +The sheriff, who had not eaten for twelve hours, was beginning his meal +when the newest stranger in San Juan came into the dining-room. She +had arranged her lustrous copper-brown hair becomingly, and looked +fresh and cool and pretty. Norton approved of her with his keen eyes +while he watched her go to her place at a table across the room. As +she sat down, giving no sign of having noted him, her back toward him, +he continued to observe and to admire her slender, perfect figure and +the strong, sensitive hands busied with her napkin. + +A slovenly, half-grown Indian girl, Anita, the cook's daughter, came in +from the kitchen, directed the slumbrous eyes of her race upon the +sheriff who fitted well in a woman's eye, and went to serve the single +other late diner. Norton caught a fleeting view of V. D. Page's throat +and cheek as she turned slightly in speaking with Anita. As the +serving-maid withdrew Norton rose to his feet and crossed the room to +the far table. + +"May I bring my things over and eat with you?" he asked when he stood +looking down on her and she had lifted her eyes curiously to his. "If +you've come to stay you can't go on forever not knowing anybody here, +you know. Since you've got to know us sooner or later why not begin to +get acquainted? Here and now and with me? I'm Roderick Norton." + +One must have had far less discernment than she not to have felt +instinctively that the great bulk of human conventions would shrivel +and vanish before they could come this far across the desert lands. +Besides, the man standing over her looked straight and honestly into +her eyes and for a little she glimpsed again the youth of him veiled by +the sternness his life had set into his soul and upon his face. + +"It is kind of you to have pity upon me in my isolation," she answered +lightly and without hesitation. "And, to tell the truth, I never was +so terribly lonesome in all my life." + +He made two trips back and forth to bring his plate and coffee cup and +auxiliary sauce dishes and plated silver, while she wondered idly that +he did not instruct the Indian girl to perform the service for him. +Even then she half formulated the thought that it was much more natural +for this man to do for himself what he wanted than for him to sit down +to be waited upon. A small matter, no doubt; but then mountains are +made up of small particles and character of just such small +characteristics as this. + +During the half hour which they spent together over their meal they got +to know each other rather better than chance acquaintances are likely +to do in so brief a time. For from the moment of Norton's coming to +her table the bars were down between them. She was plainly eager to +supplement Ignacio Chavez's information of "_la gente_" of San Juan +and its surrounding country, evincing a curiosity which he readily +understood to be based upon the necessities of her profession. In +return for all that he told her she sketchily spoke of her own plans, +very vague plans, to be sure, she admitted with one of her quick, gay +smiles. She had come prepared to accept what she found, she was +playing no game of hide-and-seek with her destiny, but had wandered +thus far from the former limits of her existence to meet life half way, +hoping to do good for others, a little imperiously determined to +achieve her own measure of success and happiness. + +From the beginning each was ready, perhaps more than ready, to like the +other. Her eyes, whether they smiled or grew suddenly grave, pleased +him; always were they fearless. He sensed that beneath the external +soft beauty of a very lovely young woman there was a spirit of +hardihood in every sense worthy of the success which she had planned +bare-handed to make for herself, and in the man's estimation no quality +stood higher than a superb independence. On her part, there was first +a definite surprise, then a glow of satisfaction that in this virile +arm of the law there was nothing of the blusterer. She set him down as +a quiet gentleman first, as a sheriff next. She enjoyed his low, +good-humored laugh and laughed back with him, even while she +experienced again the unaccustomed thrill at the sheer physical bigness +of him, the essentially masculine strength of a hardy son of the +southwestern outdoors. Not once had he referred to the affair at the +Casa Blanca or to his part in it; not a question did she ask him +concerning it. He told himself that so utterly human, so perfectly +feminine a being as she must be burning with curiosity; she marvelled +that he could think, speak of anything else. When together they rose +from the table they were alike prepared, should circumstance so direct, +to be friends. + +She was going now to call upon the Engles. She had told him that she +had a letter to Mrs. Engle from a common friend in Richmond. + +"I don't want to appear to be riding too hard on your trail," he smiled +at her. "But I was planning dropping in on the Engles myself this +evening. They're friends of mine, you know." + +She laughed, and as they left the hotel, propounded a riddle for him to +answer: Should Mr. Norton introduce her to Mrs. Engle so that she might +present her letter, or, after the letter was presented, should Mrs. +Engle introduce her to Mr. Norton? + +It did not suggest itself to her until they had passed from the street, +through the cottonwoods and into the splendid living-room of the Engle +home, that her escort was not dressed as she had imagined all civilized +mankind dressed for a call. Walking through the primitive town his +boots and soft shirt and travel-soiled hat had been in too perfect +keeping with the environment for her to be more than pleasurably +conscious of them. + +At the Engles', however, his garb struck her for a moment of the first +shock of contrast, as almost grotesquely out of place. + +At the broad front door Norton had rapped. The desultory striking of a +piano's keys ceased abruptly, a girl's voice crying eagerly: "It's +Roddy!" hinted at the identity of the listless player, a door flung +open flooded the broad entrance hall with light. And then the outer +door framed banker Engle's daughter, a mere girl in her middle teens, +fair-haired, fair-skinned, fluffy-skirted, her eyes bright with +expectation, her two hands held out offering themselves in doubled +greetings. But, having seen the unexpected guest at the sheriff's +side, the bright-haired girl paused for a brief moment of uncertainty +upon the threshold, her hands falling to her sides. + +"Hello, Florrie," Norton was saying quietly. "I have brought a caller +for your mother. Miss Engle, Miss Page." + +"How do you do, Miss Page?" Florrie replied, regaining her poise and +giving one of her hands to each of the callers, the abandon of her +first appearance gone in a flash to be replaced by a vague hint of +stiffness. "Mama will be so glad to see you. Do come in." + +She turned and led the way down the wide, deep hall and into the +living-room, a chamber which boldly defied one to remember that he was +still upon the rim of the desert. In one swift glance the newcomer to +San Juan was offered a picture in which the tall, carelessly clad form +of the sheriff became incongruous; she wondered that he remained at his +ease as he so obviously did. Yonder was a grand piano, a silver chased +vase upon a wall bracket over it holding three long-stemmed, red roses; +a heavy, massive-topped table strewn comfortably and invitingly with +books and magazines; an exquisite rug and one painting upon the far +wall, an original seascape suggestive of Waugh at his best; excellent +leather-upholstered chairs luxuriously inviting, and at once homelike +and rich. Just rising from one of these chairs drawn up to the table +reading-lamp, a book still in his hand, was Mr. Engle, while Mrs. +Engle, as fair as her daughter, just beginning to grow stout in +lavendar, came forward smilingly. + +"Back again, Roddy?" She gave him a plump hand, patted his lean brown +fingers after her motherly fashion, and came to where the girl had +stopped just within the door. + +"Virginia Page, aren't you? As if any one in the world would have to +tell me who _you_ were! You are your mother all over, child; did you +know it? Oh, kiss me, kiss me, my dear, for your mother's sake, and +save your hand-shakes for strangers." + +Virginia, taken utterly by surprise as Mrs. Engle's arms closed warmly +about her, grew rosy with pleasure; the dreary loneliness of a long day +was gone with a kiss and a hug. + +"I didn't know . . . ." she began haltingly, only to be cut short by +Mrs. Engle crying to her husband: + +"It's Virginia Page, John. Wouldn't you have known her anywhere?" + +John Engle, courteous, urbane, a pleasant-featured man with grave, +kindly eyes and a rather large, firm-lipped mouth nodded to Norton and +gave Virginia his hand cordially. + +"I must be satisfied with a hand-shake, Miss Page," he said in a deep, +pleasant voice, "but I refuse to be a mere stranger. We are immensely +glad to have you with us. . . . Mother, can't you see we have most +thoroughly mystified her; swooping down on her like this without giving +her an inkling of how and why we expected her?" + +Roderick Norton and Florrie Engle had drawn a little apart; Virginia, +with her back to them during the greeting of Mrs. and Mr. Engle, had no +way of knowing whether the withdrawal had been by mutually spontaneous +desire or whether the initiative had been the sheriff's or Miss +Engle's. Not that it mattered or concerned her in any slightest +particular. + +In her hand was the note of introduction she had brought from Mrs. Seth +Morgan; evidently both its services and those of Roderick Norton might +be dispensed with in the matter of her being presented. + +"Of course," Mrs. Engle was saying. An arm about the girl's slim +waist, she drew her to a big leather couch. "Marian never does things +by halves, my dear; you know that, don't you? That's a letter she gave +you for me? Well, she wrote me another, so I know all about you. And, +if you are willing to accept the relationship with out-of-the-world +folks, we're sort of cousins!" + +Virginia Page flushed vividly. She had known all along that her mother +had been a distant relative of Mrs. Engle, but she had had no desire, +no thought of employing that very faint tie as an argument for being +accepted by the banker's family. She did not care to come here like +the proverbial poor relation. + +"You are very kind," she said quietly, her lips smiling while her eyes +were grave. "But I don't want you to feel that I have been building on +the fact of kinship; I just wanted to be friends if you liked me, not +because you felt it your duty. . . ." + +Engle, who had come, dragging his chair after him, to join them, +laughed amusedly. + +"Answering your question, Mrs. Engle," he chuckled, "I'd certainly know +her for Virginia Page! When we come to know her better maybe she will +allow us to call her Cousin Virginia? In the meantime, to play safe, I +suppose that to us she'd better be just Dr. Page?" + +"John is as full of nonsense after banking hours," explained Mrs. +Engle, still affectionately patting Virginia's hand, "as he is crammed +with business from nine until four. Which makes life with him +possible; it's like having two husbands, makes for variety and so saves +me from flirting with other men. Now, tell us all about yourself." + +Virginia, who had been a little stiff-muscled until now, leaned back +among the cushions unconscious of a half sigh of content and of her +relaxation. During the long day San Juan had sought to frighten, to +repel her. Now it was making ample amends: first the companionable +society of Rod Norton, then this simple, hearty welcome. She returned +the pressure of Mrs. Engle's soft, warm hands in sheer gratitude. + +After that they chatted lightly, Engle gradually withdrawing from the +conversation and secretly watching the girl keenly, studying her play +of expression, seeking, according to his habit, to make his guarded +estimate of a new factor in his household. From Virginia's face his +eyes went swiftly now and then to his daughter's, animated in her +tête-à-tête with the sheriff. Once, when Virginia turned unexpectedly, +she caught the hint of a troubled frown in his eyes. + +Broad double doors in the west wall of the living-room gave entrance to +the patio. The doors were open now to the slowly freshening night air, +and from where she sat Virginia Page had a glimpse of a charming court, +an orange-tree heavy with fruit and blossom, red and yellow roses, a +sleeping fountain whose still water reflected star-shine and the lamp +in its niche under a grape-vine arbor. When Norton and Florence Engle +strolled out into the inviting patio Engle, breaking his silence, +leaned forward and dominated the conversation. + +Virginia had been doing the major part of the talking, answering +questions about Mrs. Engle's girlhood home, telling something of +herself. Now John Engle, reminding his wife that their guest must be +consumed with curiosity about her new environment, sought to interest +her in this and that, in and about San Juan. + +"There was a killing this afternoon," he admitted quietly. "No doubt +you know of it and have been shocked by it, and perhaps on account of +it have a little misjudged San Juan. We are not all cutthroats here, +by any manner of means; I think I might almost say that the rough +element is in the minority. We are in a state of transition, like all +other frontier settlements. The railroad, though it doesn't come +closer than the little tank station where you took the stage this +morning, has touched our lives out here. A railroad brings civilizing +influences; but the first thing it does is to induct a surging tide of +forces contending against law and order. Pioneers," and he smiled his +slow, grave, tolerant smile, "are as often as not tumultuous-blooded +and self-sufficient, and prone to kick over the established traces. +We've got that class to deal with . . . and that boy, Rod Norton, with +his job cut out for him, is getting results. He's the biggest man +right now, not only in the country, but in this end of the state." + +Continuing he told her something of the sheriff. Young Norton, having +returned from college some three years before to live the only life +possible to one of his blood, had become manager of his father's ranch +in and beyond the San Juan mountains. At the time Billy Norton was the +county sheriff and had his hands full. Rumor said that he had promised +himself to "get" a certain man; Engle admitted that that man was Jim +Galloway of the Casa Blanca. But either Galloway or a tool of +Galloway's or some other man had "gotten" Billy Norton, shooting him +down in his own cabin and from the back, putting a shotgun charge of +buckshot into his brain. + +It had occurred shortly after Roderick Norton's return, shortly before +the expiration of Billy Norton's term of office. Rod Norton, putting +another man in his place on the ranch, had buried his father and then +had asked of the county his election to the place made empty by his +father's death. Though he was young, men believed in him. The +election returns gave him his place by a crushing majority. + +"And he has done good work," concluded Engle thoughtfully. "Because of +what he has done, because he does not make an arrest until he has his +evidence and then drives hard to a certain conviction, he has come to +be called Dead-sure Norton and to be respected everywhere, and feared +more than a little. Until now it has become virtually a two-man fight. +Rod Norton against Jim Galloway. . . ." + +"John," interposed Mrs. Engle, "aren't you giving Virginia rather a +sombre side of things?" + +"Maybe I am," he agreed. "But this killing of the Las Palmas man in +broad daylight has come pretty close to filling my mind. Who's going +to be next?" His eyes went swiftly toward the patio, taking stock of +the two figures there. Then he shrugged, went to the table for a cigar +and returned smiling to inform Virginia of life on the desert and in +the valleys beyond the mountains, of scattering attempts at reclamation +and irrigation, of how one made towns of sun-dried mud, of where the +adobe soil itself was found, drifted over with sand in the shade of the +cottonwoods. + +But Mrs. Engle's sigh, while her husband spoke of black mud and straw, +testified that her thoughts still clung about those events and +possibilities which she herself had asked him to avoid; her eyes +wandered to the tall, rudely garbed figure dimly seen in the patio. +Virginia, recalling Jim Galloway as she had seen him on the stage, +heavy-bodied, narrow-hipped, masterful alike in carriage and the look +of the prominent eyes, glanced with Mrs. Engle toward Rod Norton. He +was laughing at something passing between him and Florence, and for the +moment appeared utterly boyish. Were it not for the grim reminder of +the forty-five-caliber revolver which the nature of his sworn duties +did not allow of his laying aside even upon a night like this, it would +have been easy to forget that he was all that which the one word +sheriff connotes in a land like that about San Juan. + +"Can't get away from it, can we?" Engle having caught the look in the +two women's eyes, broke off abruptly in what he was saying, and now sat +studying his cigar with frowning eyes. "Man against man, and the whole +county knows it, one employing whatever criminal's tools slip into his +hands, the other fighting fair and in the open. Man against man and in +a death grapple just because they are the men they are, with one backed +up by a hang-dog crowd like Kid Rickard and Antone, and the other +playing virtually a lone hand. What's the end going to be?" + +Virginia thought of Ignacio Chavez. He, had he been here, would have +answered: + +"In the end there will be the ringing of the bells for a man dead. You +will see! Which one? _Quien sabe_! The bells will ring." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IN THE DARKNESS OF THE PATIO + +Through the silence of the outer night, as though actually Ignacio +Chavez were prophesying, came billowing the slow beating of the deep +mourning bell. Mrs. Engle sighed; Engle frowned; Virginia sat rigid, +at once disturbed and oppressed. + +"How can you stand that terrible bell?" she cried softly. "I should +think that it would drive you mad! How long does he ring it?" + +"Once every hour until midnight," answered Engle, his face once more +placid as he withdrew his look from the patio and transferred it to his +cigar. And then, with a half smile: "There are many San Juans; there +is, in all the wide world, but one San Juan of the Bells. You would +not take our distinction from us? Now that you are to become of San +Juan you must, like the rest of us, take a pride in San Juan's bells. +Which you will do soon or late; perhaps just as soon as you come to +know something of their separate and collective histories." + +"Tell her, John," suggested Mrs. Engle, again obviously anxious to +dispel the more lugubrious and tragic atmospheres of the evening with +any chance talk which might offer itself. + +"Let her wait until Ignacio can tell her," laughed Engle. "No one else +can tell it so well, and certainly no one else has an equal pride or +even an equal right in the matter." + +But, though he refused to take up the colorful theme of the biographies +of the Captain, the Dancer, Lolita, and the rest, John Engle began to +speak lightly upon an associated topic, first asking the girl if she +knew with what ceremony the old Western bells had been cast; when she +shook her head and while the slow throbbing beat of the Captain still +insisted through the night's silences, he explained that doubtless all +six of Ignacio Chavez's bells had taken form under the calm gaze of +high priests of old Spain. For legend had it that all six were from +their beginnings destined for the new missions to be scattered +broadcast throughout a new land, to ring out word of God to heathen +ears. Bells meant for such high service were never cast without grave +religious service and sacrifice. Through the darkness of long-dead +centuries the girl's stimulated fancies followed the man's words; she +visualized the great glowing caldrons in which the fusing metals grew +red and an intolerable white; saw men and women draw near, proud +blue-blooded grandees on one hand, and the lowly on the other, with one +thought; saw the maidens and ladies from the courtyards of the King's +palace as they removed golden bracelets and necklaces from white arms +and throats, so that the red and yellow gold might go with their +prayers into the molten metals, enriching them, while those whose +poverty was great, but whose devotion was greater, offered what little +silver ornaments they could. Carved silver vases, golden cups, minted +coins and cherished ornaments, all were offered generously and devoutly +until the blazing caldrons had mingled the Queen's girdle-clasps with a +bauble from the beggar girl. + +"And in the end," smiled Engle, "there are no bells with the sweet tone +of old Mission bells, or with their soft eloquence." + +While he was talking Ignacio Chavez had allowed the dangling rope to +slip from his hands so that the Captain rested quiet in the starshine. +Roderick and Florence were coming in through the wide patio door; +Norton was just saying that Florrie had promised to play something for +him when the front door knocker announced another visitor. Florence +made a little disdainful face as though she guessed who it was; Engle +went to the door. + +Even Virginia Page in this land of strangers knew who the man was. For +she had seen enough of him to-day, on the stage across the weary miles +of desert, to remember him and to dislike him. He was the man whom +Galloway and the stage-driver had called "Doc," the sole representative +of the medical fraternity in San Juan until her coming. She disliked +him first vaguely and with purely feminine instinct; secondly because +of an air which he never laid aside of a serene consciousness of +self-superiority. He had established himself in what he was pleased to +consider a community of nobodies, his inferiors intellectually and +culturally. He was of that type of man-animal that lends itself to +fairly accurate cataloguing at the end of the first five minutes' +acquaintance. The most striking of the physical attributes about his +person as he entered were his little mustache and neatly trimmed beard +and the diamond stick-pin in his tie. Remove these articles and it +would have been difficult to distinguish him from countless thousands +of other inefficient and opinionated individuals. + +Virginia noted that both Mr. and Mrs. Engle shook hands with him if not +very cordially at least with good-humored toleration; that Florence +treated him to a stiff little nod; that Roderick Norton from across the +room greeted him coolly. + +"Dr. Patten," Engle was saying, "this is our cousin, Virginia Page." + +Dr. Patten acknowledged the introduction and sat down, turning to ask +"how Florrie was today?" Virginia smiled, sensing a rebuke to herself +in his manner; to-day on the stage she had made it obvious even to him +that if she must speak with a stranger she would vastly prefer the talk +of the stage-driver than that of Dr. Caleb Patten. When Florence, +replying briefly, turned to the piano Patten addressed Norton. + +"What was our good sheriff doing to-day?" he asked banteringly, as +though the subject he chose were the most apt one imaginable for jest. +"Another man killed in broad daylight and no one to answer for it! Why +don't you go get 'em, Roddy?" + +Norton stared at him steadily and finally said soberly: + +"When a disease has fastened itself upon the body of a community it +takes time to work a cure, Dr. Patten." + +"But not much time to let the life out of a man like the chap from Las +Palmas! Why, the man who did the shooting couldn't have done a nicer +job if he'd been a surgeon. One bullet square through the carotid +artery . . . That leads from the heart to the head," he explained as +though his listeners were children athirst for knowledge which he and +none other could impart. "The cerebrum penetrated by a second. . . ." + +What other technical elucidation might have followed was lost in a +thunderous crashing of the piano keys as Florence Engle strove to drown +the man's utterance and succeeded so well that for an instant he sat +gaping at her. + +"I can't stand that man!" Florence said sharply to Norton, and though +the words did not travel across the room, Virginia was surprised that +even an individual so completely armored as Caleb Patten could fail to +grasp the girl's meaning. + +When Florence had pounded her way through a noisy bit of "jazz," Caleb +Patten, with one of his host's cigars lighted, was leaning a little +forward in his chair, alert to seize the first opportunity of snatching +conversation by the throat. + +"Kid Rickard admits killing Bisbee," he said to Norton. "What are you +going to do about it? The first thing I heard when I got in from a +professional call a little while ago was that Rickard was swaggering +around town, saying that you wouldn't gather him in because you were +afraid to." + +The sheriff's face remained unmoved, though the others looked curiously +to him and back to Patten, who was easy and complacent and vaguely +irritating. + +"I imagine you haven't seen Jim Galloway since you got in, have you?" +Norton returned quietly. + +"No," said Patten. "Why? What has Galloway got to do with it?" + +"Ask him. He says Rickard killed Bisbee in self-defense." + +"Oh," said Patten. And then, shifting in his chair: "If Galloway says +so, I guess you are right in letting the Kid go." + +And, a trifle hastily it struck Virginia, he switched talk into another +channel, telling of the case on which he had been out to-day, enlarging +upon its difficulties, with which, it appeared, he had been eminently +fitted to cope. There was an amused twinkle in John Engle's eyes as he +listened. + +"By the way, Patten," the banker observed when there came a pause, +"you've got a rival in town. Had you heard?" + +"What do you mean?" asked the physician. + +"When I introduced you just now to our Cousin Virginia, I should have +told you; she is Dr. Page, M.D." + +Again Patten said "Oh," but this time in a tone which through its plain +implication put a sudden flash into Virginia's eyes. As he looked +toward her there was a half sneer upon the lips which his scanty growth +of beard and mustache failed to hide. Had he gone on to say, "A +_lady_ doctor, eh?" and laughed, the case would not have been altered. + +"It seems so funny for a girl to be a doctor," said Florence, for the +first time referring in any way to Virginia since she had flown to the +door, expecting Norton alone. Even now she did not look toward her +kinswoman. + +John Engle replied, speaking crisply. But just what he said Virginia +did not know. For suddenly her whole attention was withdrawn from the +conversation, fixed and held by something moving in the patio. First +she had noted a slight change in Rod Norton's eyes, saw them grow keen +and watchful, noted that they had turned toward the door opening into +the little court where the fountain was, where the wall-lamp threw its +rays wanly among the shrubs and through the grape-arbor. He had seen +something move out there; from where she sat she could look the way he +looked and mark how a clump of rose-bushes had been disturbed and now +stood motionless again in the quiet night. + +Wondering, she looked again to Norton. His eyes told nothing now save +that they were keen and watchful. Whether or not he knew what it was +so guardedly stirring in the patio, whether he, like herself, had +merely seen the gently agitated leaves of the bushes, she could not +guess. She started when Engle addressed some trifling remark to her; +while she evaded the direct answer she was fully conscious of the +sheriff's eyes steady upon her. He, no doubt, was wondering what she +had seen. + +It was only a moment later when Norton rose and went to Mrs. Engle, +telling her briefly that he had had a day of it, in the saddle since +dawn, wishing her good night. He shook hands with Engle, nodded to +Patten, and coming to Virginia said lightly, but, she thought, with an +almost sternly serious look in his eyes: + +"We're all hoping you like San Juan, Miss Page. And you will, too, if +the desert stillness doesn't get on your nerves. But then silence +isn't such a bad thing after all, is it? Good night." + +She understood his meaning and, though a thrill of excitement ran +through her blood, answered laughingly: + +"Shall a woman learn from the desert? Have I been such a chatter-box, +Mrs. Engle, that I am to be admonished at the beginning to study to +hold my tongue?" + +Florence looked at her curiously, turned toward Norton, and then went +with him to the door. For a moment their voices came in a murmur down +the hallway; then Norton had gone and Florence returned slowly to the +living-room. + +Again Virginia looked out into the patio. Never a twig stirred now; +all was as quiet as the sleeping fountain, as silent and mystery-filled +as the desert itself. Had Roderick Norton seen more than she? Did he +know who had been out there? Was here the beginning of some further +sinister outgrowth of the lawlessness of Kid Rickard? of the animosity +of Jim Galloway? Was she presently to see Norton himself slipping into +the patio from the other side, was she again to hear the rattle of +pistol-shots? He had asked that she say nothing; she had +unhesitatingly given him her promise. Had she so unquestioningly done +as he had requested because he was the sheriff who represented the law? +or because he was Roderick Norton who stood for fine, upstanding +manhood? . . . Again she felt Florence Engle's eyes fixed upon her. + +"Florence is prepared at the beginning to dislike me," she thought. +"Why? Just because I walked with him from the hotel?" + +In the heat of an argument with Mrs. Engle there came an interruption. +The banker's wife was insisting that Virginia "do the only sensible +thing in the world," that she accept a home under the Engle roof, +occupying the room already made ready for her. Virginia, warmed by the +cordial invitation, while deeply grateful, felt that she had no right +to accept. She had come to San Juan to make her own way; she had no +claim upon the hospitality of her kinswoman, certainly no such claim as +was implied now. Besides, there was Elmer Page. Her brother was +coming to join her to-morrow or the next day, and as soon as it could +be arranged they would take a house all by themselves, or if that +proved impossible, would have a suite at the hotel. At the moment when +it seemed that a deadlock had come between Mrs. Engle's eagerness to +mother her cousin's daughter and Virginia's inborn sense of +independence, the interruption came. + +It arrived in the form of a boy of ten or twelve, a ragged, scantily +clothed, swarthy youngster, rubbing a great toe against a bare leg +while from the front door he announced that Ignacio Chavez was sick, +that he had eaten something _muy malo_, that he had pains and that he +prayed that the doctor cure him. + +Patten grunted his disgust. + +"Tell him to wait," he said briefly. And, in explanation to the +others: "There's nothing the matter with him. I saw him on the street +just before I came. And wasn't he ringing his bell not fifteen minutes +ago?" + +But the boy had not completed his message. Ignacio was sick and did +not wish to die, and so had sent him to ask the Miss Lady Doctor to +come to him. Virginia rose swiftly. + +"You see," she said to Mrs. Engle, "what a nuisance it would be if I +lived with you? May I come to see you to-morrow?" + +While she said good night Engle got his hat. + +"I'll go with you," he said. "But, like Patten, I don't believe there +is much the matter with Chavez. Maybe he thinks he'll get a free drink +of whiskey." + +"You see again," laughed Virginia from the doorway, "what it would be +like, Mrs. Engle; if every time I had to make a call and Mr. Engle +deemed it necessary to go with me . . . I'd have to split my fees with +him at the very least! And I don't believe that I could afford to do +that." + +"You could give me all that Ignacio pays you," chuckled Engle, "and +never miss it!" + +The boy waited for them and, when they came out into the starlight, +flitted on ahead of them. At the cottonwoods a man stepped out to meet +them. + +"Hello," said Engle, "it's Norton." + +"I sent the boy for Miss Page," said Norton quickly. "I had to have a +word with her immediately. And I'm glad that you came, Engle. I want +a favor of you; a mighty big favor of Miss Page." + +The boy had passed on through the shadows and now was to be seen on the +street. + +"I guess you know you can count on me, Rod," said Engle quietly. "What +now?" + +"I want you, when you go back to the house, to say that you have +learned that Miss Page likes horseback riding; then send a horse for +her to the hotel stable, so that if she likes she can have it in the +early morning. And say nothing about my having sent the boy." + +Engle did not answer immediately. He and Virginia stood trying to see +the sheriff's features through the darkness. He had spoken quietly +enough and yet there was an odd new note in his voice; it was easy to +imagine how the muscles about his lean jaw had tensed, how his eyes +were again the hard eyes of a man who saw his fight before him. + +"I can trust you, John," continued Norton quickly. "I can trust +Ignacio Chavez; I can trust Julius Struve. And, if you want it in +words of one syllable, I cannot trust Caleb Patten!" + +"Hm," said Engle. "I think you're mistaken there, my boy." + +"Maybe," returned Norton. "But I can't afford right now to take any +unnecessary chances. Further," and in the gloom they saw his shoulders +lifted in a shrug, "I am trusting Miss Page because I've got to! Which +may not sound pretty, but which is the truth." + +"Of course I'll do what you ask," Engle said. "Is there anything else?" + +"No. Just go on with Miss Page to see Ignacio. He will pretend to be +doubled up with pain and will tell his story of the tinned meat he ate +for supper. Then you can see her to the hotel and go back home, +sending the horse over right away. Then she will ride with me to see a +man who is hurt . . . or she will not, and I'll have to take a chance +on Patten." + +"Who is it?" demanded Engle sharply. + +"It's Brocky Lane," returned Norton, and again his voice told of rigid +muscles and hard eyes. "He's hurt bad, John. And, if we're to do him +any good we'd better be about it." + +Engle said nothing. But the slow, deep breath he drew into his lungs +could not have been more eloquent of his emotion had it been expelled +in a curse. + +"I'll slip around the back way to the hotel," said Norton. "I'll be +ready when Miss Page comes in. Good night, John." + +Silently, without awaiting promise or protest from the girl, he was +gone into the deeper shadows of the cottonwoods. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A RIDE THROUGH THE NIGHT + +Ignacio Chavez, because thus he could be of service to _el señor_ +Roderico Nortone whom he admired vastly and loved like a brother, drew +to the dregs upon his fine Latin talent, doubled up and otherwise +contorted and twisted his lithe body until the sweat stood out upon his +forehead. His groans would have done ample justice to the occasion had +he been dying. + +Virginia treated him sparingly to a harmless potion she had secured at +her room on the way, put the bottle into the hands of Ignacio's +withered and anxious old mother, informed the half dozen Indian +onlookers that she had arrived in time and that the bell-ringer would +live, and then was impatient to go with Engle to Struve's hotel. Here +Engle left her to return to his home and to send the saddle-horse he +had promised Norton. + +"You can ride, can't you, Virginia?" he had asked. + +"Yes," she assured him. + +"Then I'll send Persis around; she's the prettiest thing in horseflesh +you ever saw. And the gamest. And, Virginia . . ." + +He hesitated. "Well?" she asked. + +"There's not a squarer, whiter man in the world than Rod Norton," he +said emphatically. "Now good night and good luck, and be sure to drop +in on us to-morrow." + +She watched him as he went swiftly down the street; then she turned +into the hotel and down the hall, which echoed to the click of her +heels, and to her room. She had barely had time to change for her ride +and to glance at her "war bag" when a discreet knock sounded at her +door. Going to the door she found that it was Julius Struve instead of +Norton. + +"You are to come with me," said the hotel keeper softly. "He is +waiting with the horses." + +They passed through the dark dining-room, into the pitch black kitchen +and out at the rear of the house. A moment Struve paused, listening. +Then, touching her sleeve, he hurried away into the night, going toward +the black line of cottonwoods, the girl keeping close to his heels. + +At the dry arroyo Norton was waiting, holding two saddled horses. +Without a word he gave her his hand, saw her mounted, surrendered +Persis's jerking reins into her gauntletted grip and swung up to the +back of his own horse. In another moment, and still in silence, +Virginia and Norton were riding away from San Juan, keeping in the +shadows of the trees, headed toward the mountains in the north. + +And now suddenly Virginia found that she was giving herself over +utterly, unexpectedly to a keen, pulsing joy of life. She had +surrendered into the sheriff's hands the little leather-case which +contained her emergency bottles and instruments; they had left San Juan +a couple of hundred yards behind, their horses were galloping; her +stirrup struck now and then against Norton's boot. John Engle had not +been unduly extravagant in praise of the mare Persis; Virginia sensed +rather than saw clearly the perfect, beautiful creature which carried +her, delighted in the swinging gallop, drew into her soul something of +the serene glory of a starlit night on the desert. The soft thud of +shod hoofs upon yielding soil was music to her, mingled as it came with +the creak of saddle leather, the jingle of bridle and spur-chains. She +wondered if there had ever been so perfect a night, if she had ever +mounted so finely bred a saddle animal. + +Far ahead the San Juan mountains lifted their serrated ridge of ebony. +On all other sides the flat-lands stretched out seeming to have no end, +suggesting to the fancy that they were kin in vastitude to the clear +expanse of the sky. On all hands little wind-shaped ridges were like +crests of long waves in an ocean which had just now been stilled, +brooded over by the desert silence and the desert stars. + +"I suppose," said Norton at last, "that it's up to me to explain." + +"Then begin," said Virginia, "by telling me where we are going." + +He swung up his arm, pointing. + +"Yonder. To the mountains. We'll reach them in about two hours and a +half. Then, in another two hours or so, we'll come to where Brocky is. +Way up on the flank of Mt. Temple. It's going to be a long, hard +climb. For you, at the end of a tiresome day. . . ." + +"How about yourself?" she asked quickly, and he knew that she was +smiling at him through the dark. "Unless you're made of iron I'm +almost inclined to believe that after your friend Brocky I'll have +another patient. Who is he, by the way?" + +"Brocky Lane? I was going to tell you. You saw something stirring in +the patio at Engle's? I had seen it first; it was Ignacio who had +slipped in under the wide arch from the gardens at the rear of the +house. He had been sent for me by Tom Cutter, my deputy. Brocky Lane +is foreman of a big cattle-ranch lying just beyond the mountains; he is +also working with me and with Cutter, although until I've told you +nobody knows it but ourselves and John Engle. . . . Before the night +is out you'll know rather a good deal about what is going on, Miss +Page," he added thoughtfully. + +"More than you'd have been willing for me to know if circumstance +hadn't forced your hand?" + +"Yes," he admitted coolly. "To get anywhere we've had to sit tight on +the game we're playing. But, from the word Cutter brings, poor old +Brocky is pretty hard hit, and I couldn't take any chances with his +life even though it means taking chances in another direction." + +He might have been a shade less frank; and yet she liked him none the +less for giving her the truth bluntly. He was but tacitly admitting +that he knew nothing of her; and yet in this case he would prefer to +call upon her than on Caleb Patten. + +"No, I don't trust Patten," he continued, the chain of thought being +inevitable. "Not that I'd call him crooked so much as a fool for Jim +Galloway to juggle with. He talks too much." + +"You wish me to say nothing of to-night's ride?" + +"Absolutely nothing. If you are missed before we get back Struve will +explain that you were called to see old Ramorez, a half-breed over +yonder toward Las Estrellas. That is, provided we get back too late +for it to appear likely that you are just resting in your room or +getting things shipshape in your office. That's why I am explaining +about Brocky." + +"Since you represent the law in San Juan, Mr. Norton," she told him, +"since, further, Mr. Engle indorses all that you are doing, I believe +that I can go blindfolded a little. I'd rather do that than have you +forced against your better judgment to place confidence in a stranger." + +"That's fair of you," he said heartily. "But there are certain matters +which you will have to be told. Brocky Lane has been shot down by one +of Jim Galloway's crowd. It was a coward's job done by a man who would +run a hundred miles rather than meet Brocky in the open. And now the +thing which we don't want known is that Lane even so much as set foot +on Mt. Temple. We don't want it known that he was anywhere but on Las +Cruces Rancho; that he was doing anything but give his time to his +duties as foreman there." + +"In particular you don't want Jim Galloway to know?" + +"In particular I don't want Jim Galloway to so much as suspect that +Brocky Lane or Tom Cutter or myself have any interest in Mt. Temple," +he said emphatically. + +"But if the man who shot him is one of Galloway's crowd, as you +say. . . ." + +"He'll do no talking for a while. After having seen Brocky drop he +took one chance and showed half of his cowardly carcass around a +boulder. Whereupon Brocky, weak and sick and dizzy as he was, popped a +bullet into him." + +She shuddered. + +"Is there nothing but killing of men among you people?" she cried +sharply. "First the sheepman from Las Palmas, then Brocky Lane, then +the man who shot him. . . ." + +"Brocky didn't kill Moraga," Norton explained quietly. "But he dropped +him and then made him throw down his gun and crawl out of the brush. +Then Tom Cutter gathered him in, took him across the county line, gave +him into the hands of Ben Roberts who is sheriff over there, and came +on to San Juan. Roberts will simply hold Moraga on some trifling +charge, and see that he keeps his mouth shut until we are ready for him +to talk." + +"Then Brocky Lane and Tom Cutter were together on Mt. Temple?" + +"Near enough for Tom to hear the shooting." + +They grew silent again. Clearly Norton had done what explaining he +deemed necessary and was taking her no deeper into his confidences. +She told herself that he was right, that these were not merely his own +personal secrets, that as yet he would be unwise to trust a stranger +further than he was forced to. And yet, unreasonably or not, she felt +a little hurt. She had liked him from the beginning and from the +beginning she felt that in a case such as his she would have trusted to +intuition and have held back nothing. But she refrained from voicing +the questions which none the less insisted upon presenting themselves +to her: What was the thing that had brought both Brocky Lane and Tom +Cutter to Mt. Temple? What had they been seeking there in a wilderness +of crag and cliff? Why was Roderick Norton so determined that Jim +Galloway should not so much as suspect that these men were watchful in +the mountains? What sinister chain of circumstance had impelled +Moraga, who Norton said was Galloway's man, to shoot down the cattle +foreman? And Galloway himself, what type of man must he be if all that +she had heard of him were true; what were his ambitions, his plans, his +power? + +Before long Norton pointed out the shadowy form of Mt. Temple looming +ever vaster before them, its mass of rock, of wind-blown, wind-carved +peaks lifted in sombre defiance against the stars. It brooded darkly +over the lower slopes, like an incubus it dominated the other spines +and ridges, its gorges filled with shadow and mystery, its precipices +making the sense reel dizzily. And somewhere up there high against the +sky, alone, suffering, perhaps dying, a man had waited through the slow +hours, and still awaited their coming. How slowly she and Norton were +riding, how heartless of her to have felt the thrill of pleasure which +had possessed her so utterly an hour ago! + +Or less than an hour. For now again, wandering out far across the open +lands, came the heavy mourning of the bell. + +"How far can one hear it?" she asked, surprised that from so far its +ringing came so clearly. + +"I don't know how many miles," he answered. "We'll hear it from the +mountain. I should have heard it to-day, long before I met you by the +arroyo, had I not been travelling through two big bands of Engle's +sheep." + +Behind them San Juan drawn into the shadows of night but calling to +them in mellow-toned cadences of sorrow, before them the sombre canons +and iron flanks of Mt. Temple, and somewhere, still several hours away, +Brocky Lane lying helpless and perhaps hopeless; grim by day the earth +hereabouts was inscrutable by night, a mighty, primal sphinx, +lip-locked, spirit-crushing. The man and girl riding swiftly side by +side felt in their different ways according to their different +characters and previous experience the mute command laid upon them, and +for the most part their lips were hushed. + +There came the first slopes, the talus of strewn, broken, +disintegrating rock, and then the first of the cliffs. Now the sheriff +rode in the fore and Virginia kept her frowning eyes always upon his +form leading the way. They entered the broad mouth of a ravine, found +an uneven trail, were swallowed up by its utter and impenetrable +blackness. + +"Give Persis her head," Norton advised her. "She'll find her way and +follow me." + +His voice, low-toned as it was, stabbed through the silence, startling +her, coming unexpectedly out of the void which had drawn him and his +horse gradually beyond the quest of her straining eyes. She sighed, +sat back in her saddle, relaxed, and loosened her reins. + +For an hour they climbed almost steadily, winding in and out. Now, +high above the bed of the gorge, the darkness had thinned about them; +more than once the girl saw the clear-cut silhouette of man and beast +in front of her or swerving off to right or left. When, after a long +time, he spoke again he was waiting for her to come up with him. He +had dismounted, loosened the cinch of his saddle and tied his horse to +a stunted, twisted tree in a little flat. + +"We have to go ahead on foot now," he told her as he put out his hand +to help her down. And then as they stood side by side: "Tired much?" + +"No," she answered. "I was just in the mood to ride." + +He took down the rope from her saddle strings, tied Persis, and, saying +briefly, "This way," again went on. She kept her place almost at his +heels, now and again accepting the hand he offered as their way grew +steeper underfoot. Half an hour ago she knew that they had swerved off +to the left, away from the deep gorge into whose mouth they had ridden +so far below; now she saw that they were once more drawing close to the +steep-walled cañon. Its emptiness, black and sinister, lay between +them and a group of bare peaks which stood up like cathedral spires +against the sky. + +"This would be simple enough in the daytime," Norton told her during +one of their brief pauses. "In the dark it's another matter. Not +tired out, are you?" + +"No," she assured him the second time, although long ago she would have +been glad to throw herself down to rest, were their errand less urgent. + +"We've got some pretty steep climbing ahead of us yet," he went on +quietly. "You must be careful not to slip. Oh," and he laughed +carelessly, "you'd stop before you got to the bottom, but then a drop +of even half a dozen feet is no joke here. If you'll pardon me I'll +make sure for you." + +With no further apology or explanation he slipped the end of a rope +about her waist, tying it in a hard knot. Until now she had not even +known that he had brought a rope; now she wondered just how hazardous +was the hidden trail which they were travelling; if it were in truth +but the matter of half a dozen feet which she would fall if she +slipped? He made the other end of the short tether fast about his own +body, said "Ready?" and again she followed him closely. + +There came little flat spaces, then broken boulders to clamber over, +then steep, rugged climbs, when they grasped the rough rocks with both +hands and moved on with painful slowness. It seemed to the girl that +they had been climbing for long, tedious hours since they had slipped +out of their saddles; though to him she said nothing, locking her lips +stubbornly, she knew that at last she was tired, very tired, that an +end of this laborious ascent must come soon or she would be forced to +stop and lie down and rest. + +"Fifteen minutes more," said the sheriff, "and we're there. We'll use +the first five minutes of it for a rest, too." + +He made her sit down, unstoppered a canteen which, like the coil of +rope, she had not known he carried, and gave her a drink of water which +seemed to her the most wonderfully strength-making, life-giving draft +in the world. Then he dropped down at her side, looked at his watch in +the light of a flaring match carefully cupped in his hand, and lighted +his pipe. + +"Nearly midnight," he told her. + +Without replying she lay back against the slope of the mountain, closed +her eyes and relaxed, breathing deeply. Her chest expanded deeply to +the long indrawn breath which filled her lungs with the rare air. She +felt suddenly a little sleepy, dreaming longingly of the unutterable +content one could find in just going to sleep with the cliff-scarred +mountainside for couch. + +She stirred and opened her eyes. Rod Norton, the sheriff of San Juan, +a man who a few brief hours ago had been unknown to her, his name +unfamiliar, sat two paces from her, smoking. She and this man of whom +she still knew rather less than nothing were alone in the world; just +the two of them lifted into the sky, separated by a dreary stretch of +desert lands from other men and women . . . bound together by a bit of +rope. She tried to see his face; the profile, more guessed than seen, +appeared to her fancy as unrelenting as the line of cliff just beyond +him, clear-cut against the sky. + +Yet somehow . . . she did not definitely formulate the thought of which +she was at the time but dimly, vaguely conscious . . . she was glad +that she had come to San Juan. And she was not afraid of the silent +man at her side, nor sorry that circumstance had given them this night +and its labors. + +Norton knocked out his pipe. Together they got to their feet. + +"More careful than ever now," he cautioned her. "Look out for each +step and go slowly. We're there in ten minutes. Ready?" + +"Ready," she answered. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN THE HOME OF CLIFF-DWELLERS + +Those remaining ten minutes tried all that there was of endurance in +Virginia Page. Often Norton, bidding her wait a moment, climbed on to +some narrow ledge above her and, drawing the rope steadily through his +hands, gave her what aid he could; often, clinging with hand and foot +she thought breathlessly of the steep fall of cliff which the darkness +hid from her eyes, but which grew ever steeper in her mind as she +struggled on. He had said it would be easier in daylight; she wondered +if after all it would not have been more difficult could she have seen +just what were the chances she was taking at every moment. But more +and more she came to have utter faith in the quiet man going on before +her, and in the piece of rope which stretched taut between them. + +"And now," said Norton at last, when once more he had drawn her up to +him and they stood close together upon a narrow ledge, "we've got a +good, safe trail under foot. Good news, eh?" + +But as he moved on now he kept her hand locked tight in his own. Their +"good, safe trail" was a rough ledge running almost horizontally along +the cliffside, its trend scarcely perceptibly upward. Within twenty +steps it led them into a wide, V-shaped fissure in the rocks. Then +came a sort of cup in a nest of rugged peaks, its bottom filled with +imprisoned soil worn from the spires above. As Norton, relinquishing +her hand, went forward swiftly she heard a man's voice saying weakly: + +"That you, Rod?" + +"I came as soon as I could, Brocky." Norton, standing close to a big +outjutting boulder upon the far side of the cup, was bending over the +cattleman. "How are you making out, old man?" + +"I've sure been having one hell of a nice little party," grunted Brocky +Lane faintly. "A man's so damn close to heaven on these mountain +tops. . . . Who's that?" + +Virginia came forward quickly and went down on her knees at Lane's side. + +"I'm Dr. Page," she said quietly. "Now if you'll tell me where you're +hit . . . and if Mr. Norton will get me some sort of a light. A fire +will have to do. . . ." + +Another little grunt came from Brocky Lane's tortured lips, this time a +wordless expression of his unmeasured amazement. + +"I didn't want Patten in on this," Norton explained. "Miss Page is a +doctor; just got into San Juan to-day. She's a cousin of Engle. And +she knows her business a whole lot better than Patten does, besides." + +"Will you get the fire started immediately, Mr. Norton?" asked Virginia +somewhat sharply. "Mr. Lane has waited long enough as it is." + +"I'll be damned!" said Brocky Lane weakly. And then, more weakly +still, in a voice which broke despite a manful effort to make it both +steady and careless, "I never cuss like that unless I'm delerious, +anyhow I never cuss when there's a lady. . . ." + +"If you'll keep perfectly still," Virginia admonished him quickly, +"I'll do all the talking that is necessary. Where is the wound?" + +"You don't have to have a light, do you?" Brocky insisted on being +informed. "You see, we can't have it. Where'm I hurt, you want to +know? Mostly right here in my side." + +Virginia's hands found the rude bandage, damp and sticky. + +"It's nonsense about not having a light," she said, turning toward +Norton. + +"No," said the wounded man. "Nonsense nothing, is it Rod? How're we +going to have a fire when my matches are all gone and Rod's +matches. . . ." + +"Mr. Norton," Virginia cut in crisply, "in spite of your friend's talk +and in spite of the bluff he is putting up he is pretty badly hurt. +You give me some sort of a light, I don't care if they see it down at +San Juan, or you shoulder the responsibility. Which is it?" + +Norton turned and was gone in the darkness; to Virginia's eyes it +seemed that he was swallowed up by the cliff's themselves, as though +they had opened and accepted him and closed after him. She supposed +that he had gone to seek what scanty dry fuel one might find here. But +in a moment he was back carrying a lighted lantern. + +"Look here, Rod. . . ." expostulated Brocky. + +"Shut up, Brocky," answered Norton quietly. And, passing the lantern +to the girl. "If you'll carry that I'll carry Brocky. It's only a few +steps and I won't hurt him. We can make him more comfortable there; +and besides, we can't leave him out here in the sun to-morrow." + +Somewhat mystified, Virginia took the lantern and her own surgical case +from the sheriff and watched him stoop and gather the tall form of his +friend into his arms. Then going the way he indicated, straight across +the tiny flat, she lighted the way. She heard the wounded man groan +once; then, his teeth set to guard his lips, Brocky was silent. + +After a dozen steps she came to a steep-sided, narrow chasm giving +passageway not six feet wide which twisted this way and that before her. + +"Look out," called Norton sharply. "Watch where you step now. Go +slow." + +Virginia swinging her lantern up shoulder-high, looking ahead, grew +instantly stock-still, a shiver tingling along her spine. The narrow +defile through which she had passed had led out of the ring of peaks +and now abruptly debouched into nothingness. As she had turned with +the twisting passageway, expecting to see another wall of rock before +her, she saw instead the sky filled with stars. She stood almost at +the edge of a sheer precipice. + +"Throw the light to the left now," commanded Norton. "See what looks +like the entrance to a cave? We go in there." + +She walked on, moving slowly, warily, a little faint from the one +startled view before her, her body tight pressed to the rocks upon the +left, her feet only a pace from the edge of the cliff. Now she saw the +mouth of the cave, a black ragged hole just above a flat rock which +thrust itself outward so that it seemed hanging, balanced insecurely, +over the abyss. By the pale rays of the lantern she saw the fairly +smooth, gently sloping floor of the cavern; then, stooping, she passed +in, turned, and held the light for Norton. + +He came on steadily, bearing his burden lightly. Still holding the +lantern for him, turning as he came closer, she saw that the cave was +lofty and wide, that it ran farther back into the mountain than her +lantern's rays could follow. + +"Back there," said Norton, "you'll find blankets. I'll hold him while +you spread some out for him." + +She hurried toward the farther end of the cave, came to a tumble of +blankets against the wall, dragged out two or three, spreading them +quickly. And then, while Norton was stooping to lay Brocky's limp form +down, she busied herself with her case. + +"He has fainted," she said quickly. "I'd like to examine the wound +before he is conscious; it's going to hurt him. Pour me some water +into any sort of basin or cup or anything else you've got here. Then +stand by to help me if I need you. . . . Hold the lantern for me." + +Swiftly, but Norton marked with what skilful fingers, she removed the +bandage and made her examination. Norton, squatting upon his heels at +her side, holding the lantern, after one frowning look at the wound, +kept his eyes fixed upon her face. Brocky Lane was near his death and +the sheriff knew it after that one look; his life lay, perhaps, in the +hands of this girl. Norton had brought her when he might have brought +Patten. Had he chosen wrongly? + +He had noted her hands before; now they seemed to him the most +wonderful hands ever possessed by either man or woman, strong, sure, +quick, sensitive, utterly capable. He thought of Caleb Patten's hands, +thick, a little inclined to be flabby. + +"Open that bottle," she directed coolly. "One tablet into the water. +That box has cotton and gauze in it . . . don't touch them! I want +everything clean; just open the box and set it where I can get it." + +One by one she gave her directions and the man obeyed swiftly and +unquestioningly. He watched her probe the wound, saw her eyes narrow, +knew that she had made her diagnosis. As she washed the ugly hole in +the flesh and made her own bandage Brocky Lane was wincing, his eyes +again open. Both men were watching her now, the same look in each +eager pair of eyes. But until she had done and, with Norton's help, +had made Lane as comfortable as possible upon his crude bed, she gave +no answer to their mute pleading. Then she sat down upon the stone +floor, caught her knees up in her clasped hands, and looked long and +searchingly into Brocky Lane's face. The cowboy struggled with his +muscles and triumphed over them, summoning a sick grin as he muttered: + +"You're mighty good to take all this trouble. . . . I'm sure a hundred +times obliged. . . ." + +"And," she cut in abruptly, "you mean to tell me that you shot that man +after he had put this hole in you? And then you made him crawl out of +the brush and come to you?" + +"I sure did," grunted Brocky. "And if my aim hadn't been sort of bad, +me being all upset this way, I wouldn't have just winged old Moraga +that way, either! When he's all cured up and I'm all well again. . . ." + +Then he broke off and again his eyes, like Norton's, asked their +question. This time she answered it, speaking slowly and thoughtfully. + +"Mr. Brocky Lane, I congratulate you on three things, your physique +first, your luck second, and third, your nerve. They are a combination +that is hard to beat. I am very much inclined to the belief that in a +month or so you'll be about as good as new." + +Norton expelled a deep breath of relief; he realized suddenly that +whatever this gray-eyed, strong-handed girl had said would have had his +fullest credence. Brocky's grin grew a shade less strained. + +"When you add to that combination," he muttered, "a sure-enough angel +come to doctor a man. . . ." + +"Growing delirious again," laughed Virginia. "Give him a little +brandy, Mr. Norton. Then a smoke if he's dying for one. Then we'll +try to get a little sleep, all of us. You see, I had virtually no +sleep on the train last night and to-day has been a big day for me. If +I'm going to do your friend any good I've got to get three winks. And, +unless you're made out of reinforced sheet-iron, it's the same for you. +You can lie down close to Mr. Lane so that he can wake you easily if he +needs us. Now," and she rose, still smiling, but suddenly looking +unutterably weary, "where is the guest-chamber?" + +She did not tell them that not only last night, but the night before +she had sat up in a day coach, saving every cent she could out of the +few dollars which were to give her and her brother a new start in the +world; there were many things which Virginia Page knew how to keep to +herself. + +"This way," said Norton, taking up the lantern. "We can really make +you more comfortable than you'd think." + +At the very least he could count confidently on treating her to a +surprise. She followed him for forty or fifty feet toward the end of +the cave and to an irregular hole in the side wall, through this, and +into another cave, smaller than the first, but as big as an ordinary +room. The floor was strewn with the short needles of the mountain +pine. As she turned, looking about her, she noted first another +opening in a wall suggesting still another cave; then, feeling a faint +breath of the night air on her cheek she saw a small rift in the outer +shell of rock and through it the stars thick in the sky. + +"May you sleep well in Jim Galloway's hang-out," said Norton lightly. +"May you not be troubled with the ghosts of the old cliff-dwellers +whose house this was before our time. And may you always remember that +if there is anything in the world that I can do for you all you have to +do is let me know. Good night." + +"Good night," she said. + +He had left the lantern for her. She placed it on the floor and went +across her strange bedroom to the hole in the rock through which the +stars were shining. It seemed impossible that those stars out there +were the same stars which had shone upon her all of her life long. She +could fancy that she had gone to sleep in one world and now had +awakened in another, coming into a far, unknown territory where the +face of the earth was changed, where men were different, where life was +new. And though her body was tired her spirit did not droop. Rather +an old exhilaration was in her blood. She had stepped from an old, +outworn world into a new one, and with a quick stir of the pulses she +told herself that life was good where it was strenuous and that she was +glad that Virginia Page had come to San Juan. + +"And now," she mused sleepily when at last she lay down upon heaped-up +pine-needles and drew over her the blanket Norton had brought, "I am +going to sleep in the hang-out of Jim Galloway and the old home of the +cliff-dwellers! Virginia Page, you are a downright lucky girl!" + +Whereupon she blew out her lantern, smiled faintly at the stars shining +upon her, sighed wearily and went to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +JIM GALLOWAY'S GAME + +As full consciousness of her surroundings returned slowly to her, +Virginia Page at first thought that she had been awakened by the aroma +of boiling coffee. Then, sitting up, wide awake, she knew that Norton +had come to the doorway of her separate chamber and had called. She +threw off her blanket and got up hastily. + +It was still dark. She imagined that she had merely dozed and that +Norton was summoning her because Brocky Lane was worse. A dim glow +shone through the cave entrance, that flickering, uncertain light +eloquent of a camp-fire. As her hands went swiftly and femininely to +her hair, she heard Norton's voice in a laughing remark. Only then she +knew that she had slept three or four hours, that the dawn was near, +that it was time for her to return to San Juan. + +"Good morning," she said brightly. + +Norton, squatting by the fire, frying-pan in hand, turned and answered +her nod; Brocky Lane, flat on his back with his hands clasped behind +his head, a cigarette in his mouth, twisted a little where he lay, his +eyes eager upon his doctor. Virginia came on into the full light, +striking the pine-needles from her riding-habit. + +"Time to eat and ride," said Norton, turning again to his task. "Bacon +and coffee and exercise. Have you rested?" + +"Perfectly. And Mr. Lane?" + +"Me?" said Brocky. "Feeling fine." + +Norton gave her a cup of warm water to wash her hands. Then she made a +second, very careful examination of Brocky's wound, cleansing it and +adjusting a fresh bandage. + +"I want to start in half an hour," said the sheriff. "There'll be +light enough then so that we can make time getting down to the horses +and yet not enough light to show us up to a chance early rider down +below. Then we'll swing off to the west, make a wide bend, ride +through Las Estrellas and get back into San Juan when we please. That +is you will; I'll leave you outside of Las Estrellas, showing you the +way. And, while we eat, I am going to tell you something." + +"About Galloway?" she asked quickly. "Explaining what you meant by +Galloway's hang-out?" + +"Yes. And more than that." + +For a little she stood, looking at him very gravely. Then she spoke in +utter frankness. + +"Mr. Norton, I think that I can see your position; you were so +circumstanced through Mr. Lane's being hurt that you had to bring +either Dr. Patten or me here. You decided it would be wiser to bring +me. There is something of a compliment in that, isn't there?" + +"You don't know Caleb Patten yet!" growled Brocky a bit savagely. + +"Already it seems to me," she went on, "that you have a pretty hard row +to hoe. It is evident that you have discovered a sort of thieves' +headquarters here; that, for your own reasons, you don't want it known +that you have found it. To say that I am not curious about it all +would be talking nonsense, of course. And yet I can assure you that I +hold you under no obligation whatever to do any explaining. You are +the sheriff and your job is to get results, not to be polite to the +ladies." + +But Norton shook his head. + +"You know what you know," he said seriously. "I think that if you know +a little more you will more readily understand why we must insist on +keeping our mouths shut . . . all of us." + +"In that case," returned the girl, "and before you boil that coffee +into any more hopelessly black a concoction than it already is, I am +ready to drink mine and listen. Coffee, Mr. Lane?" + +"Had mine, thanks," answered Brocky. "Spin the yarn, Rod." + +Norton put down his frying-pan, the bacon brown and crisp, and rose to +his feet. + +"Will you come this way a moment, Miss Page?" he asked. "To begin +with, seeing is believing." + +She followed him as she had, last night, back into the cave in which +she had slept. But Norton did not stop here. He went on, Virginia +still following him, came to that other hole in the rock wall which she +had noted by the lantern light. + +"In here," he said. "Just look." + +He swept a match across his thigh, holding it up for her. She came to +his side and looked in. First she saw a number of small boxes, +innocent appearing affairs which suggested soda-crackers. Beyond them +was something covered with a blanket; Norton stepped by her and jerked +the covering aside. Startled, puzzled by what she saw, she looked to +him wonderingly. Placed neatly, lying side by side, their metal +surfaces winking back at the light of Norton's match, were a number of +rifles. A score of them, fifty, perhaps. + +"It looks like a young revolution!" she cried, her gaze held, her eyes +fascinated by the unexpected. + +"You've seen about everything now," he told her, the red ember of a +burnt-out match dropping to the floor. "Those boxes contain +cartridges. Now let's go back to Brocky." + +"But they'll see that you have been here. . . ." + +"I'll come back in a minute with the lantern; I want a further chance +to look things over. Then I'll put the blanket back and see that not +even that charred match gives us away. And we'd better be eating and +getting started." + +With a steaming tin of black coffee before her, a brown piece of bacon +between her fingers, she forgot to eat or drink while she listened to +Norton's story. At the beginning it seemed incredible; then, her +thoughts sweeping back over the experiences of these last twenty-four +hours, her eyes having before them the picture of a sheriff, grim-faced +and determined, a wounded man lying just beyond the fire, the rough, +rudely arched walls and ceiling of a cave man's dwelling about her, she +deemed that what Norton knew and suspected was but the thing to be +expected. + +"Jim Galloway is a big man," the sheriff said thoughtfully. "A very +big man in his way. My father was after him for a long time; I have +been after him ever since my father's death. But it is only recently +that I have come to appreciate Jim Galloway's caliber. That's why I +could never get him with the goods on; I have been looking for him in +the wrong places. + +"I estimated that he was making money with the Casa Blanca and a +similar house which he operates in Pozo; I thought that his entire game +lay in such layouts and a bit of business now and then like the robbing +of the Las Palmas man. But now I know that most of these lesser jobs +are not even Galloway's affair, that he lets some of his crowd like the +Kid or Antone or Moraga put them across and keep the spoils, often +enough. In a word, while I've been looking for Jim Galloway in the +brush he has been doing his stunt in the big timber! And now. . . ." +The look in Norton's eyes suggested that he had forgotten the girl to +whom he was talking. "And now I have picked up his trail!" + +"And that's something," interposed Brocky Lane, a flash of fire in his +own eyes. "Considering that no man ever knew better than Jim Galloway +how to cover tracks." + +"You see," continued Norton, "Jim Galloway's bigness consists very +largely of these two things: he knows how to keep his hands off of the +little jobs, and he knows how to hold men to him. Bisbee, of Las +Palmas, goes down in the Casa Blanca; his money, perhaps a thousand +dollars, finds its way into the pockets of Kid Rickard, Antone, and +maybe another two or three men. Jim Galloway sees what goes on and +does no petty haggling over the spoils; he gets a strangle-hold on the +men who do the job; it costs him nothing but another lie or so, and he +has them where he can count on them later on when he needs such men. +Further, if they are arrested, Jim Galloway and Galloway's money come +to the front; they are defended in court by the best lawyers to be had, +men are bribed and they go free. As a result of such labors on +Galloway's part I'd say at a rough guess that there are from a dozen to +fifty men in the county right now who are his men, body and soul. + +"With a gang like that at his back, a man of Galloway's type has grown +pretty strong. Strong enough to plan . . . yes, and by the Lord, carry +out! . . . the kind of game he's playing right now. + +"A half-breed took sick and died a short time ago, a man whom I'd never +set my eyes on particularly. It happened that he was a superstitious +devil and that he was a second or third cousin of Ignacio Chavez. He +was quite positive that unless the bells rang properly for him he would +go to hell the shortest way. So he sent for Ignacio and wound up by +talking a good deal. Ignacio passed the word on to me. And that was +the first inkling I had of Galloway's real game. In a word, this is +what it is: + +"He plans on one big stroke and then a long rest and quiet enjoyment of +the proceeds. You have seen the rifles; he'll arm a crowd of his best +men . . . or his worst, as you please . . . swoop down on San Juan, rob +the bank, shooting down just as many men as happen to be in the way, +rush in automobiles to Pozo and Kepple's Town, stick up the banks +there, levy on the Las Palmas mines, and then steer straight to the +border. And, if all worked according to schedule, the papers across +the country would record the most daring raid across the border yet, +blaming the whole affair on a detachment of Gringo-hating Mexican +bandits and revolutionists." + +Virginia stared at him, half incredulously. But the look in Norton's +eyes, the same look in Brocky Lane's, assured her. + +"Why do you wait then?" she asked sharply. "If you know all this, why +don't you arrest the man and his accomplices now? Before it is too +late?" + +"And have the whole country laugh at me? Where's my evidence? Just +the word of a dead Indian, repeated by another Indian, and a few rifles +hid in the mountains? Even if we proved the rifles were Galloway's, +and I don't believe we could, how would we set about proving his +intention? No; I've talked it all over with the district attorney and +we can't move yet. We've got our chance at last; the chance to watch +and get Jim Galloway with the goods on. But we've got to wait until he +is just ready to strike. And then we are going to put a stop to +lawlessness in San Juan once and for all." + +"But," she objected breathlessly, "if he should strike before you are +ready?" + +"It is our one business in life that he doesn't do it. We know what he +is up to; we have found this hiding-place; we shall keep an eye on it +night and day. He doesn't know that we have been here; no one knows +but ourselves. You see now, Miss Page, why I couldn't bring Patten +here? Patten talks too much and Galloway knows every thought in +Patten's mind. And you understand how important it is for you to +forget that you have been here?" + +She sat silent, staring into the embers of the dying fire. + +"The thing which I can't understand," she said presently, "is that if +Jim Galloway is the 'big man' that you say he is he should do as much +talking as he must have done; that he should have told his plans to +such a man as the Indian who told them to Ignacio Chavez." + +"But he didn't tell all of this," Norton informed her. "The Indian +died without guessing what I have told you. He merely knew that the +rifles were here because Galloway had employed him to bring them and +because he was the man who told Galloway of this hiding-place. He +believed that Galloway's whole scheme was to smuggle a lot of arms and +ammunition south and across the border, selling to the Mexicans. But +from what little he could tell Chavez and from what we found out for +ourselves, the whole play became pretty obvious. No, Galloway hasn't +been talking and he has been playing as safe as a man can upon such +business as this. His luck was against him, that's all, when the +Indian died and insisted on being rung out by the San Juan bells. +There's always that little element of chance in any business, +legitimate or otherwise. . . . And now, if you'll finish your +breakfast I'll show you a view you'll never forget and then we'll hit +the trail." + +"But, Mr. Lane," she asked, "you don't intend to leave him here all +alone? He will get well with the proper attention; but be must have +that." + +"Within another hour or so," Norton told her, "Tom Cutter will be back +with one of Brocky's cowboys. They'll move Lane into a cañon on the +other side of the mountain. Oh, I know he oughtn't to be moved, but +what else can we do? Besides, Brocky insists on it. Then they'll +arrange to take care of him; if necessary you'll come out again +to-morrow night?" + +"Of course," she said. She went to Brocky and held out her hand to +him. "I understand now, I think, why you would refuse to die, no +matter how badly you were hurt, until you had helped Mr. Norton finish +the work you have set your hands to. It's an honor, Mr. Lane, to have +a patient like you." + +Whereupon Brocky Lane grew promptly crimson and tongue-tied. + +"And now the view, Mr. Norton, and I am ready to go." + +He led the way to the outer ledge from which last night they had +entered the cave. + +"In daylight you can see half round the world from here," he said as +they stood with their backs to the rock. "Now you can get an idea of +what it's like." + +Below her was the chasm formed by these cliffs standing sheer and +fronting other tall cliffs looming blackly, the stars beginning to fade +in the sky above them. Norton pushed a stone outward with his boot; +she heard it strike, rebound, strike again . . . and then there was +silence; when the falling stone reached the bottom no sound came back +to tell her how far it had dropped. + +Turning a little to look southward, she saw the cliffs standing farther +and farther back on each side so that the eye might travel between them +and out over the lower slopes and the distant stretches of level land +which, more now than ever, seemed a great limitless sea. The stars +were paling rapidly; the first glint of the new day was in the air, the +world lay shadowy and silent and lifeless, softened in the seeming, +but, as in the daytime, slumbrous under an atmosphere of brooding +mystery. + +"When you told me last night . . . when you put your rope around me and +said that I might fall half a dozen feet. . . ." + +"Had we fallen it would have been a hundred feet, many a time," he said +quietly. "But I knew we wouldn't fall. And," looking into her face +with an expression in his eyes which the shadows hid, "I shouldn't have +sought to minimize the danger to you had I known you as well as I think +I know you now." + +"Thank you," she said lightly. But she was conscious of a warm +pleasurable glow throughout her entire being. It was good to live life +in the open, it was good to stand upon the cliff tops with a man like +Roderick Norton, it was good to have such a man speak thus. + + +Five minutes later they were making their way down the cliffs toward +the horses. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +YOUNG PAGE COMES TO TOWN + +Here and there throughout the great stretches of the sun-smitten +southwest are spots which still remain practically unknown, wherein men +come seldom or not at all, where no man cares to tarry. Barren +mountains that are blistering hot, sucked dry long ago of their last +vestige of moisture; endless drifts of sand where the silent animal +life is scanty, where fanged cactus and stubborn mesquite fight their +eternal battles for life; mesas and lomas little known, shunned by +humanity. True, men have been here, some few poking into the dust of +ancient ruins, more seeking minerals, and now and then one, fleeing the +law, to be followed relentlessly by such as Roderick Norton. And yet +there is the evidence, if one looks, that this desolate, shunned land +once had its teeming tribes and its green fields. + +Virginia and Roderick, having made their hazardous way down the cliffs +and to their horses in silence, found their tongues loosened as they +rode westward in the soft dawn. Virginia put her questions and he, as +best he could, answered them. She asked eagerly of the old +cliff-dwellers and he shrugged his shoulders. Aztecs, were they? +Toltecs? What? _Quien sabe_! They were a people of mystery who had +left behind them a silence like that of the desert wastes themselves. +Whence they came, where they went, and why, must long remain questions +with many answers and therefore none at all. But he could tell her a +few things of the ancient civilization . . . and a civilization it +truly was . . . and of the signs left for posterity to puzzle over. + +They had builded cities, and the ruins of their pueblos still stand +scattered across the weary, scorched land; they constructed mile after +mile of aqueducts whose lines are followed to-day by reclamation +engineers; they irrigated and cultivated their lands; they made abodes +high up on the mountains, dwelling in caves, enlarging their dwellings, +shaping homes and fortresses and lookouts. And just so long as the +mountains themselves last, will men come now and then into such places +as that wherein Jim Galloway's rifles lay hidden. + +"I have lived in this part of the world all but two or three years of +my life," said Norton at the end, "and yet I never heard of these +particular caves until a very few days ago. I don't believe that there +are ten people living who know of them; so Galloway, hiding his stuff +out there was playing just as safe as a man can play--when he plays the +game crooked, anyway." + +"But won't he guess something when he misses Moraga?" + +"I don't think so." Norton shook his head. "Tom Cutter and Brocky made +Moraga talk. His job was to keep an eye on this end, but he was +commissioned also to make a trip over to the county line. The first +thing Jim Galloway will hear will be that Moraga got drunk and into a +scrape and was taken in by Sheriff Roberts. Then I think that Galloway +himself will slip out of San Juan himself some dark night and climb the +cliffs to make sure. When he finds everything absolutely as it was +left, when time passes and nothing is done, I think he will replace +Moraga with another man and figure that everything is all right. Why +shouldn't he?" + +From Galloway and Moraga they got back to a discussion of the ancient +peoples of the desert, venturing surmise for surmise, finding that +their stimulated fancies winged together, daring to construct for +themselves something of the forgotten annals of a forgotten folk who, +perhaps, were living in walled cities while old Egypt was building her +pyramids. Then, abruptly, in a patch of tall mesquite, Norton reined +in his horse and stopped. + +"You understand why I must leave you here," he said. "Yonder, beyond +those trees straight ahead . . . you will see it from that little +ridge . . . is Las Estrellas, a town of a dozen houses. But before you +get there you will come to the house where old Ramorez, a half-breed, +lives. You remember; if you are missed in San Juan, Struve will say +that you have gone to see Ramorez. He is actually sick by the way; +maybe you can do something for him. His shack is in those cottonwoods, +this side of Las Estrellas. You'll find Ignacio there, too; he'll go +back to San Juan with you. And, once again, thank you." + +He put out his hand; she gave him hers and for a moment they sat +looking at each other gravely. Then Norton smiled, the pleasant boyish +smile, her lips curved at him deliciously, he touched his hat and was +gone. And she, riding slowly, turned Persis toward Las Estrellas. + +From Las Estrellas, an unkempt, ugly village strangely named, it was +necessary to ride some fifteen miles through sand and scrub before +coming again into San Juan. Virginia Page, sincerely glad that she had +made her call upon old Ramorez who was suffering painfully from acute +stomach trouble and whose distress she could partially alleviate, made +the return ride in the company of Ignacio. But first, from Ramorez's +baking hovel, the Indian conducted her to another where a young woman +with a baby a week old needed her. So it was well on in the afternoon +and with a securely established alibi that she rode by the old Mission +and to the hotel. As Ignacio rode listlessly away with the horses, as +innocent looking a lazy beggar as the world ever knew, Virginia caught +a glimpse of a white skirt and cool sunshade coming up the street. + +"Florence Engle," she thought. "Who, no doubt, will cut me dead if I +give her the opportunity." + +A little hurriedly she turned in at the hotel door and went to her +room. She had removed hat and gantlets, and was preparing for a bath +and change of clothing when a light knock sounded on her door. The +rap, preceded by quick little steps down the hall, was essentially +feminine. + +"Hello, Cousin Virginia," said Florence. "May I come in?" + +Virginia brought her in, gave her a chair and regarded her curiously. +The girl's face was flushed and pink, her eyes were bright and quite +gay and untroubled, her whole air genuinely friendly. Last night +Virginia had judged her to be about seventeen; now she looked a mere +child. + +"I was perfectly nasty last night, wasn't I?" Florrie remarked as she +stood her sunshade by her chair and smiled engagingly. "Oh, I know it. +Just a horrid little cat . . . but then I'm that most of the time. I +came all this way and in all this dust and heat just to ask you to +forgive me. Will you?" + +For the moment Virginia was nonplussed. But Florence only laughed, +clasped her hands somewhat affectedly and ran on, her words tumbling +out in helter-skelter fashion. + +"Oh, I know. I'm spoiled and I'm selfish, and I'm mean, I suppose. +And, oh dear, I'm as jealous as anything. But I'm ashamed of myself +this time. Whew! You ought to have listened in on the party after you +left! If you could have heard mama scold me and papa jaw me about the +way I acted it would have made you almost sorry for me." + +"But you weren't horrid at all," Virginia broke in at last, her heart +suddenly warming to this very obviously spoiled, futile, but none the +less likable, Florrie. "You mustn't talk that way. And if your +parents made you come. . . ." + +"They didn't," said Florrie calmly. "They couldn't. Nobody ever made +me do anything; that's what's the matter with me. I came because I +wanted to. As the men say, I wanted to square myself. And, would you +believe it, this is the third time I have called. Mr. Struve kept +telling me that you had gone to see old Joe Ramorez . . . isn't he the +awfullest old pirate you ever saw? And the dirtiest? I don't see how +you can go near a man like that, even if he is dying; honestly I don't. +But you must do all kinds of things, being a doctor." + +Her clasped hands tightened, she put her head of fluffy hair to one +side and looked at Virginia with such frank wonder in her eyes that +Virginia colored under them. + +"And," ran on Florrie, forestalling a possible interruption, "I was +ready to poke fun at you last night just for being something capable +and . . . and splendid. There was my jealousy again, I suppose. You +ought to have heard papa on that score; 'Look here, my fine miss; if +you could just be something worth while in the world, if you could do +as much good in all of your silly life as Virginia Page does every day +of hers,' . . . and so forth until he was ready to burst and mama was +ready to cry, and I was ready to bite him!" She trilled off in a burst +of laughter which was eloquent of the fact that Florence Engle, be her +faults what they might, was not the one to hold a grudge. + +"I am sorry," said Virginia, smiling a little, "if on my account . . ." + +"You were just going to get cleaned up, weren't you?" asked Florrie +contritely. "You look as hot and dusty as anything. My, what pretty +hair you have; I'll bet it comes down to your waist, doesn't it? You +ought to see mine when I take it down; it's like the pictures of the +bush-whackers . . . you know what I mean, from South Africa or +somewhere, you know . . . only, of course, mine's a prettier color. +Sometime I'll come and comb yours for you, when you're tired out from +curing sick Indians. But now," and she jumped to her feet, "I'll go +out on the porch while you get dressed and then you come out, will you? +It's cool there under the awning, and I'll have Mr. Struve bring us out +some cold lemonade. But first, you do forgive me, don't you?" + +Virginia's prompt assurance was incomplete when Florrie flitted out, +banging the door after her, headed toward the lounging-chairs on the +veranda. + + +"You pretty thing!" exclaimed Miss Florrie as Virginia joined her as +coolly and femininely dressed, if not quite as fluffily, as the +banker's daughter. "Oh, but you are quite the most stunning creature +that ever came into San Juan! Oh, I know all about myself; don't you +suppose I've stood in front of a glass by the long hours . . . wishing +it was a wishing-glass all the time and that I could turn a pug-nose +into a Grecian. I'm pretty; you're simply beautiful!" + +"Look here, my dear," laughed Virginia, taking the chair which Florrie +had drawn close up to her own in the shade against the adobe wall, "you +have already made amends. It isn't necessary to . . ." + +"I haven't half finished," cried Florrie emphatically. "You see it's a +way of mine to do things just by halves and quit there. But to-day it +is different; to-day I am going to square myself. That's one reason +why I treated you so cattishly last night; because you were so +maddeningly good to look upon. Through a man's eyes, you know; and +that's about all that counts anyway, isn't it? And the other reason +was that you came in with Roddy and he looked so contented. . . . Do +you wonder that I am just wild about him? Isn't he a perfect dear?" + +Florrie's utter frankness disconcerted Virginia. The confession of +"wildness" about San Juan's sheriff, followed by the asseveration of +his perfect dearness was made in bright frankness, Florrie's voice +lowered no whit though Julius Struve at the moment was coming down the +veranda bearing a tray and glasses. Virginia was not without gratitude +that Struve lingered a moment and bantered with Florrie; when he +departed she sought to switch the talk in another direction. But +Florrie, sipping her tall glass and setting it aside, was before her. + +"You see it was double-barrelled jealousy; so I did rather well not to +fly at you and tear your eyes out, didn't I? Just because you and he +came in together . . . as if every time a man and girl walk down the +street together it means that they are going to get married! But you +see, Roddy and I have known each other ever since before I can +remember, and I have asked myself a million times if some day we are +going to be Mr. and Mrs. Roderick Norton . . . and there are times when +I think we are!" + +"You have a long time ahead of you yet, haven't you, Florence, before +you have to answer a question like that?" asked Virginia amusedly. + +"Because I am so young?" cried Florrie. "Oh, I don't know; girls marry +young here. Now there is Tita . . . she is our cook's sister . . . she +has two babies already and she is only four months older than I am. +And . . . Look, Virgie; there is the most terrible creature in the +world. It is Kid Rickard; he killed the Las Palmas man, you know. I +am not going even to look at him; I hate him worse that Caleb +Patten . . . and that's like saying I hate strychnine worse than +arsenic, isn't it? But who in the name of all that is wonderful is the +man with him? Isn't he the handsome thing? I never saw him before. +He is from the outside, Virgie; you can tell by the fashionable cut of +his clothes and by the way he walks and . . . Isn't he distinguished!" + +"It is Elmer!" exclaimed Virginia, staring at the two figures which +were slowly approaching from the southern end of the street. "When did +he get here? I didn't expect him. . . ." + +Then she chose to forget all save the essential fact that her "baby +brother" was here and ran out to the sidewalk, calling to him. + +"Hello, Sis," returned Elmer nonchalantly. He was a thin, +anaemic-looking young fellow a couple of years younger than Virginia +who affected a swagger and gloves and who had a cough which was +insistent, but which he strove to disguise. And yet Florrie's +hyperbole had not been entirely without warrant. He had something of +Virginia's fine profile, a look of her in his eyes, the stamp of good +blood upon him. He suffered his sister to kiss him, meantime turning +his eyes with a faint sign of interest to the fair girl on the veranda. +Florrie smiled. + +"Sis," said Elmer, "this is Mr. Rickard. Mr. Rickard, shake hands with +my sister, Miss Page." + +A feeling of pure loathing swept over the girl as she turned to look +into Kid Rickard's sullen eyes and degenerate, cruel face. But, since +the Kid was a couple of paces removed and was slow about coming +forward, not so much as raising his hand to his wide hat, she nodded at +him and managed to say a quiet, non-committal, "How do you do?" Then +she slipped her arm through Elmer's. + +"Come, Elmer," she said hastily. "I want you to know Miss Florence +Engle; she is a sort of cousin of ours." + +"Sure," said Elmer off-handedly. "Come on, Rickard." + +But the Kid, standing upon no ceremony, had drawn his hat a trifle +lower over his eyes and turned his shoulder upon them, continuing along +the street in his slouching walk. Elmer, summoning youth's supreme +weapon of an affected boredom, yawned, stifled his little cough and +went with Virginia to meet Florence. + +Florence giggled over the introduction, then grew abruptly as grave as +a matron of seventy and tactlessly observed that Mr. Page had a very +bad cold; how could one have a cold in weather like this? Whereupon +Mr. Page glared at her belligerently, noted her little row of curls, +revised his first opinion of her, set her down not only as a cousin, +but as a crazy kid besides, and removed half a dozen steps to a chair. + +"I don't think much of your friends," remarked Florrie, sensing sudden +opposition and flying half-way to meet it. + +Elmer Page produced a very new, unsullied pipe from his pocket and +filled it with an air, while Virginia looked on curiously. Having done +so and having drawn up one trouser's leg to save the crease, crossed +the leg and at last put the pipe stem into his mouth, he regarded +Florrie from the cool and serene height of his superior age. + +"If you refer to Mr. Rickard," he said aloofly, "I may say that he is +not a friend . . . yet. I just met him this afternoon. But, although +he hasn't had the social advantages, perhaps, still he is a man of +parts." + +Florrie sniffed and tossed her head. Virginia bit her lips and watched +them. + +"Been smoking too many cigs, I guess, Sis," Elmer remarked apropos of +the initial observation of Miss Engle which still rankled. "Got a +regular cigarette fiend's cough. Gave 'em up. Hitting the pipe now." + +"If you knew," said Florrie spitefully, "that Mr. Rickard as you call +him had just murdered a man yesterday, what would you say then, I +wonder?" + +There was a sparkle of excitement in Elmer's eyes as he swung about to +answer. + +"Murdered!" he challenged. "You've heard just one side of it, of +course. Bisbee got drunk and insulted Mr. Rickard. They call him the +Kid, you know. Say, Sis, he's had a life for you! Full of adventure, +all kinds of sport. And Bisbee shot first, too. But the Kid got him!" +he concluded triumphantly. "Galloway told me all about it . . . and +what a blundering rummy the fool sheriff is." + +"Galloway?" queried Virginia uneasily. "You know him too, already?" + +"Sure," replied Elmer. "He's a good sort, too, You'll like him. I +asked him around." + +"For goodness' sake, Elmer, when did you get to San Juan? Have you +been here a week or just a few hours?" + +"Got in on the stage at noon, of course. But it doesn't take a man all +year to get acquainted in a town this size." + +"A man!" giggled Florrie. + +"I can see," laughed Virginia, "that you two are going to be more kin +than kind to each other; you'll be quarrelling in another moment." + +Florrie looked delighted at the prospect; Elmer yawned and brooded over +his pipe. But out of the tail of his eye he took stock again of her +blonde prettiness, and she, ready from the beginning to make fun of +him, repeated to herself the words she had used to Virginia: + +"But he is handsome . . . and distinguished looking!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A BRIBE AND A THREAT + +Virginia Page found time passing swiftly in San Juan. Within two weeks +she came almost to forget how she had heard a rattle of pistol-shots, +how the slow sobbing of a bell in the Mission garden had bemoaned a +life gone and a fresh crime upon a man's soul; at the end of a month it +seemed to her that she had dreamed that ride through the night with +Roderick Norton, climbing the cliffs, ministering to a stricken man in +the forsaken abode of ancient cliff-dwellers. She was like one +marooned upon a tiny island in an immense sea who has experienced the +crisis of shipwreck and now finds existence suddenly resolved into a +quiet struggle for the maintenance of life . . . that and a placid +expectation. As another might have waited through the long, quiet +hours for the sign of a white sail or a black plume of smoke, so did +she wait for the end of a tale whose beginning had included her. + +That the long days did not drag was due not so much to that which +happened about her, as to that which occurred within her. She carried +responsibility upon each shoulder; her life was in the shaping and she +and none other must make it what it would be; her brother's character +was at that unstable stage when it was ready to run into the mould. +She had brought him here, from the city to the rim of the desert--the +step had been her doing, nobody's but hers. And she had come here far +less for the sake of Elmer Page's cough than for the sake of his +manhood. She wanted him to grow to be a man one could be proud of; +there were times when his eyes evaded her and she feared the outcome. + +"He is just a boy," she told herself, seeking courage. It seemed such +a brief time ago that she had blown his nose for him and washed his +face. She made excuses for him, but did not close her eyes to the +truth. The good old saw that boys will be boys failed to make of Elmer +all that she would have him. + +Further to this consideration was another matter which filled the hours +for her. The few dollars with which she had established herself in San +Juan marched in steady procession out of her purse and fewer other +dollars came to take their places. The Indian Ramorez whose stomach +trouble she had mitigated came full of gratitude and Casa Blanca +whiskey and paid La Señorita Doctor as handsomely as he could; he gave +her his unlimited and eternal thanks and a very beautiful hair rope. +Neither helped her very greatly to pay for room and board. Another +Indian offered her a pair of chickens; a third paid her seventy-five +cents on account and promised the rest soon. When she came to know his +type better she realized that he had done exceptionally well by her. + +She went often to the Engles', growing to love all three of them, each +in a different way. Florrie she found vain, spoiled, selfish, but all +in so frank a fashion that in return for an admittedly half-jealous +admiration she gave a genuine affection. And she was glad to see how +Elmer made friends with them, always appearing at his best in their +home. He and Florrie were already as intimate as though they had grown +up with a back-yard fence separating their two homes; they criticised +each other with terrible outspokenness, they made fun of each other, +they very frequently "hated and despised" each other and, utterly +unknown to either Florrie Engle or Elmer Page, were the best of friends. + +Of Roderick Norton San Juan saw little through these weeks. He came +now and then, twice ate with Virginia and Elmer at Struve's, talked +seriously with John Engle, teased Florrie, and went away upon the +business which called him elsewhere. Upon one of these visits he told +Virginia that Brocky Lane was "on the mend" and would be as good as new +in a month; no other reference was made to her ride with him. + +But through his visits to San Juan, brief and few though they were, +Roderick Norton was enabled to assure himself with his own eyes that +Kid Rickard was still to be found here if required, that Antone, as +usual, was behind the Casa Blanca bar; that Jim Galloway was biding his +time with no outward show of growing restless or impatient. Tom +Cutter, Norton's San Juan deputy, was a man to keep both eyes open, and +yet there were times when the sheriff was not content with another +man's vision. + +Nor did the other towns of the county, scattered widely across the +desert, beyond the mountains and throughout the little valleys, see +much more of him. If a man wished word with Rod Norton these days his +best hope of finding him lay in going out to _el Rancho de las Flores_. + +It was Norton's ranch, having been Billy Norton's before him, one of +the choice spots of the county bordering Las Cruces Rancho where Brocky +Lane was manager and foreman. Beyond the San Juan mountains it lay +across the head of one of the most fertile of the neighboring valleys, +the Big Water Creek giving it its greenness, its value, and the basis +for its name. Here for days at a time the sheriff could in part lay +aside the cares of his office, take the reins out of his hired +foreman's hands, ride among his cattle and horses, and dream such +dreams as came to him. + +"One of these days I'll get you, Jim Galloway," he had grown into the +habit of musing. "Then they can look for another sheriff and I can do +what I want to do." + +And his desire had grown very clearly defined to him; it was the old +longing of a man who comes into a wilderness such as this, the longing +to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before his coming. +With his water rights a man might work modern magic; far back in the +hills he had found the natural site for his storage dams; slightly +lower in a nest of hills there would be some day a pygmy lake whose +seductive beauty to him who dwells on desert lands calls like the soft +beauty of a woman; upon a knoll where now was nothing there would come +to be a comfortable, roomy, hospitable ranch-house to displace forever +the shacks which housed the men now farther down the slopes; and +everywhere, because there was water aplenty, would there be roses and +grape-vines and orange-trees. All this when he should get Jim Galloway. + +From almost any knoll upon the Rancho de las Flores he could see the +crests of Mt. Temple lifted in clear-cut lines against the sky. If he +rode with Gaucho, his foreman, among the yearlings, he saw Mt. Temple; +if he rode the fifty miles to San Juan he saw the same peaks from the +other side. And a hundred times he looked up at them with eyes which +were at once impatient and stern; he began to grow angry with Galloway +for so long postponing the final issue. + +For, though he did not go near the cliff caves, he knew that the rifles +still lay there awaiting Jim Galloway's readiness. A man named Bucky +Walsh was prospecting for gold upon the slopes of Mt. Temple, a silent, +leather-faced little fellow, quick-eyed and resourceful. And, above +the discovery of color, it was the supreme business of Bucky Walsh to +know what happened upon the cliffs above him. If there were anything +to report no man knew better than he how to get out of a horse all +there was of speed in him. + +In the end Norton called upon the reserves of his patience, saying to +himself that if Jim Galloway could bide his time in calmness he could +do the same. The easier since he was unshaken in his confidence that +the time was coming when he and Galloway would stand face to face while +guns talked. Never once did he let himself hope for another ending. + +Giving what time he had free to ranch matters at Las Flores the sheriff +found other things to occupy him. There was a gamblers' fight one +night at the camp at Las Palmas mines, a man badly hurt, an ill-starred +bystander dead, the careless gunman a fugitive, headed for the border. +Norton went out after him, shifted saddle from jaded beast to fresh +again and again, rode two hundred miles with only the short stops for +hastily taken food and water and got his man willy-nilly a mile below +the border. What was more, he made it his personal business that the +man was convicted and sentenced to a long term; about San Juan there +was no crime less tolerable than that of "shooting wild." + +But all this brought him no closer to Jim Galloway; Galloway, meeting +him shortly afterward in San Juan, laughed and thanked him for the job. +It appeared that the man whom Norton had brought back to stand trial +was not only no friend of the proprietor of the Casa Blanca, but an +out-spoken enemy. + +"You'll be asking favors of me next, Norton," grinned the big, +thick-bodied man. "I'd pay you real money for getting a few like him +out of my way. Get me, don't you?" and he passed on, his eyes turned +tauntingly. + +Yes, Norton "got" him. No man in the southwest harbored more bitter +ill-will for the lawless than Jim Galloway . . . unless the lawless +stood in with him. Aforetime many a hardy, tempestuous spirit had +defied the crime-dictator; here of late they were few who hoped to slit +throats or cut purses and not pay allegiance to the saloon-keeper of +San Juan. + +Upon the heels of this affair, however, came another which was destined +to bring Roderick Norton to a crisis in his life. Word reached him at +Las Flores that a lone prospector in the Red Hills had been robbed of a +baking-powder tin of dust and that the prospector, recovering from the +blows which had been rained on his head, had identified one of his two +assailants. That one was Vidal Nuñez; circumstances hinted that the +other well might be Kid Rickard. + +Norton promptly instructed Tom Cutter to find out what he could of +Rickard's movements upon the day of the robbery, and himself set out to +bring in Vidal Nuñez, taking a grim joy in his task when he remembered +how Nuñez had been the man who, with a glance, had cautioned Antone to +hold his tongue after the shooting of Bisbee at the Casa Blanca. + +"Here's a man Jim Galloway won't thank me for rounding up," he told +himself. "And we are going to see if his arm is long enough to keep +Nuñez out of the penitentiary." + +He went to San Juan, learned that nothing had been seen of the Mexican +there, set the machinery of the man hunt in full swing, doubled back +through the settlements to the eastward, and for two weeks got nothing +but disappointment for his efforts. Nuñez had disappeared and none who +cared to tell knew where. But Norton kept on doggedly; confident that +the man had not had the opportunity to get out of the country, he was +equally confident that, soon or late, he would get him. Then came the +second meeting with Jim Galloway. + +[Illustration: Then came the second meeting with Jim Galloway.] + +The two men rode into each other's view on the lonely trail half-way +between San Juan and Tecolote, which is to say where the little, barren +hills break the monotony of the desert lands some eight or ten miles to +the eastward of San Juan. It was late afternoon, and Galloway, riding +back toward town, had the sun in his eyes so that he could not have +known as soon as did Norton whom he was encountering. But Galloway was +not the man to ride anywhere that he was not ready for whatever man he +might meet; Norton's eyes, as the two drew nearer on the blistering +trail, marked the way Galloway's right hand rested loosely on the +cantle of his saddle and very near Galloway's right hip. + +Norton, merely eying him sharply, was for passing on without a word or +a nod. The other, however, jerked in his horse, clearly of a mind for +parley. + +"Well?" demanded Norton. + +"I was just thinking," said Galloway dryly, "what an exceptionally +fitting spot we've picked! If I got you or you got me right now nobody +in the world need ever know who did the trick. We couldn't have found +a much likelier place if we'd sailed away to an island in the South +Seas." + +"I was thinking something of the same kind," returned Norton coolly. +"Have you any curiosity in the matter? If you think you can get your +gun first . . . why, then, go to it!" + +Galloway eased himself in the saddle. + +"If I thought I could beat you to it," he answered tonelessly, "I'd do +it. As you know. If I even thought that I'd have an even break with +you," he added, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully as they took stock of +the sheriff's right hand swinging free at his side and never far from +the butt of the revolver fitting loosely in his holster, "I'd take the +chance. No, you're a shade too lively in the draw for me and I happen +to know it." + +For a little they sat staring into each other's eyes, the distance of +ten steps between them, their right hands idle while their left hands +upon twitching reins curbed the impatience of two mettled horses. As +was usual their regard was one of equal malevolence, of brimming, cold +hatred. But slowly a new look came into Norton's eyes, a probing, +penetrating look of calculation. Galloway was again opening his lips +when the sheriff spoke, saying with contemptuous lightness: + +"Jim Galloway, you and I have bucked each other for a long time. I +guess it's in the cards that one of us will get the other some day. +Why not right now and end the whole damned thing?--When I'm up against +a man as I am against you I like to make it my business to know just +how much sand has filtered into his make-up. You'd kill me if you had +the chance and weren't afraid to do it, wouldn't you?" + +"If I had the chance," returned Galloway as coolly, though a spot of +color showed under the thick tan of his cheek. "And I'll get it some +day." + +"If you've got the sand," said Norton, "you don't have to wait!" + +"What do you mean?" snapped Galloway sharply. + +Norton's answer lay in a gesture. Always keeping such a rein on his +horse that he faced Galloway and kept him at his right, he lifted the +hand which had been hanging close to his gun. Slowly, inch by inch, +his eyes hard and watchful upon Galloway's eyes, he raised his hand. +Understanding leaped into Galloway's prominent eyes; it seemed that he +had stopped breathing; surely the hairy fingers upon the cantle of his +saddle had separated a little, his hand growing to resemble a tarantula +preparing for its brief spring. + +Steadily, slowly, the sheriff's hand rose in the air, brought upward +and outward in an arc as his arm was held stiff, as high as his +shoulder now, now at last lifted high above his head. And all of the +time his eyes rested bright and hard and watchful upon Jim Galloway's, +filled at once with challenge and recklessness . . . and certainty of +himself. + +Galloway's right hand had stirred the slight fraction of an inch, his +fingers were rigid and still stood apart. As he sat, twisted about in +his saddle, his hand had about seven inches to travel to find the gun +in his hip pocket. Since, when they first met, he had thrown his big +body to one side, his left boot loose in its stirrup while his weight +rested upon his right leg, his gun pocket was clear of the saddle, to +be reached in a flash. + +"You'll never get another chance like this, Galloway," said Norton +crisply. "I'd say, at a guess, that my hand has about eight times as +far to travel as yours. You wanted an even break; you've got more than +that. But you'll never get more than one shot. Now, it's up to you." + +"Before we start anything," began Galloway. But Norton cut him short. + +"I am not fool enough to hold my hand up like this until the blood runs +out of my fingers. You've got your chance; take it or leave it, but +don't ask for half an hour's option on it." + +Swift changing lights were in Galloway's eyes. But his thoughts were +not to be read. That he was tempted by his opportunity was clear; that +he understood the full sense underlying the words, "You'll never get +more than one shot," was equally obvious. That shot, if it were not to +be his last act in this world, must be the accurate result of one +lightning gesture; his hand must find his gun, close about the grip, +draw, and fire with the one absolutely certain movement. For the look +in Rod Norton's eyes was for any man to read. + +Jim Galloway was not a coward and Rod Norton knew it. He was +essentially a gambler whose business in life was to take chances. But +he was of that type of gambler who plays not for the love of the game +but to win; who sets a cool brain to study each hand before he lays his +bet; who gauges the strength of that hand not alone upon its intrinsic +value but upon a shrewd guess at the value of the cards out against it. + +At that moment he wanted, more than he wanted anything else in the wide +scope of his unleashed desires, to kill Rod Norton; he balanced that +fact with the other fact that less than anything in the world did he +want to be killed himself. The issue was clear cut. + +While a watch might have ticked ten times neither man moved. During +that brief time Galloway's jaw muscles corded, his face went a little +white with the strain put upon him. The restive horses, tossing their +heads, making merry music with jingling bridle chains, might have +galloped a moment ago from an old book of fairy-tales, each carrying a +man bewitched, turned to stone. + +"If you've got the sand!" Norton taunted him, his blood running hot +with the fierce wish to have done with sidestepping and +procrastination. "If you've got the sand, Jim Galloway!" + +"It's better than an even break that I could get you," said Galloway at +last. "And, at that, it's an even break or nearly so, that as you +slipped out of the saddle you'd get me, too. . . . You take the pot +this time, Norton; I'm not betting." Shifting his hand he laid it +loosely upon the horn of his saddle. As he did so his chest inflated +deeply to a long breath. + +Norton's uplifted hand came down swiftly, his thumb catching in his +belt. There was a contemptuous glitter in his eyes. + +"After this," he said bluntly, "you'll always know and I'll always know +that you are afraid. I make it a part of my business not to +under-estimate the man I go out to get; I think I have overestimated +you." + +For a moment Galloway seemed not to have heard as he stared away +through the gray distances. When he brought his eyes back to Norton's +they were speculative. + +"Men like you and me ought to understand each other and not make any +mistakes," he said, speaking slowly. "I have just begun to imagine +lately that I have been doping you up wrong all the time. Now I've got +two propositions to make you; you can take either or neither." + +"It will probably be neither; what are they? I've got a day's ride +ahead of me." + +"Maybe you have; maybe you haven't. That depends on what you say to my +proposition. You're looking for Vidal Nuñez, they tell me?" + +"And I'm going to get him; as much as anything for the sake of swatting +the devil around the stump." + +"Meaning me?" Galloway shrugged. "Well, here's my song and dance: This +county isn't quite big enough; you drop your little job and clear out +and leave me alone and I'll pay you ten thousand dollars now and +another ten thousand six months from now." + +"Offer number one," said Norton, manifesting neither surprise nor +interest even. "Twenty thousand dollars to pull my freight. Well, Jim +Galloway, you must have something on the line that pulls like a big +fish. Now, let's have the other barrel." + +"I have suggested that you clean out; the other suggestion is that, if +you won't get out of my way, you get busy on your job. Vidal Nuñez +will be at the Casa Blanca to-night. I have sent word for him to come +in and that I'd look out for him. Come, get him. Which will you take, +Rod Norton? Twenty thousand iron men or your chances at the Casa +Blanca?" + +It was Norton's turn to grow thoughtful. Galloway was rolling a +cigarette. The sheriff reached for his own tobacco and papers. Only +when he had set a match to the brown cylinder and drawn the first of +the smoke did he answer. + +"You've said it all now, have you?" he demanded. + +"Yes," said Galloway. "It's up to you this time. What's the word?" + +Norton laughed. + +"When I decide what I am going to do I always do it," he said lightly. +"And as a rule I don't do a lot of talking about it beforehand. I'll +leave you to guess the answer, Galloway." + +Galloway shrugged and swung his horse back into the trail. + +"So long," he said colorlessly. + +"So long," Norton returned. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FIGHT AT LA CASA BLANCA + +It was something after six o'clock when Jim Galloway rode into San +Juan. Leaving his sweat-wet horse in his own stable at the rear of the +Casa Blanca he passed through the patio and into a little room whose +door he unlocked with a key from his pocket. For ten minutes he sat +before a typewriting machine, one big forefinger slowly picking out the +letters of a brief note. The address, also typed, bore the name of a +town below the border. Without signing his communication he sealed it +into its envelope and, relocking the door as he went out, walked +thoughtfully down the street to the post-office. + +As he passed Struve's hotel he lifted his hat; upon the veranda at the +cooler, shaded end, Virginia was entertaining Florence Engle. Florrie +nodded brightly to Galloway, turning quickly to Virginia as the big man +went on. + +"Do you actually believe, Virginia dear," she whispered, "that that man +is as wicked as they say he is? Did you watch him going by? Did you +see the way he took off his hat? Did you ever know a man to smile +quite as he does?" + +"I don't believe," returned Virginia, "that I ever had him smile at me, +Florrie." + +"His eyes are not bad eyes, are they?" Florrie ran on. "Oh, I know +what papa thinks and what Rod thinks about him; but I just don't +believe it! How could a man be the sort they say he is and still be as +pleasant and agreeable and downright good-looking as Mr. Galloway? +Why," and she achieved a quick little shudder, "if I had done all the +terrible deeds they accuse him of I'd go around looking as black as a +cloud all the time, savage and glum and remembering every minute how +wicked I was." + +Virginia laughed, failing to picture Florrie grown murderous. But +Florrie merely pursed her lips as her eyes followed Galloway down the +street. + +"I just ask you, Virginia Page," she said at last, sinking back into +the wide arms of her chair with a sigh, "if a man with murder and all +kinds of sin on his soul could make love prettily?" + +Virginia started. + +"You don't mean . . ." she began quickly. + +Florrie laughed, but the other girl noted wonderingly a fresher tint of +color in her cool cheeks. + +"Goosey!" Florrie tossed her head, drew her skirts down modestly over +her white-stockinged ankles and laughed again. "He never held my hand +and all that. But with his eyes. Is there any law against a man +saying nice things with his eyes? And how is a girl going to stop him?" + +Virginia might have replied that here was a matter which depended very +largely upon the girl herself; but instead, estimating that there was +little serious love-making on Galloway's part to be apprehended and +taking Florrie as lightly as Florrie took the rest of the world, she +was merely further amused. And already she had learned to welcome +amusement of any sort in San Juan town. + +But again here was Galloway, stopping now in front of Struve's, drawing +another quick, bright smile from the banker's daughter, accepting its +invitation and coming into the little yard and down the veranda. Only +when he fairly towered over the two girls did he push back the hat +which already he had touched to them, standing with his hands on his +hips, his heavy features bespeaking a deep inward serenity and quiet +good humor. + +It would have required a blinder man than Jim Galloway not to have +marked the cool dislike and distrust in Virginia's eyes. But, though +he turned from them to the pink-and-white girl at her side, he gave no +sign of sensing that he was in any way unwelcome here. + +He had greeted Virginia casually; she, observing him keenly, understood +what Florrie had meant by a man's making love with his eyes. His look, +directed downward into the face smiling up at him, was alive with what +was obviously a very genuine admiration. While Florrie allowed her +flattered soul to drink deep and thirstily of the wine of adulation +Virginia, only half understanding the writing in Galloway's eyes, +shivered a little and, leaning forward suddenly, put her hand on +Florrie's arm; the gesture, quick and spontaneous, meant nothing to +Florrie, nothing to Galloway, and a very great deal to Virginia Page. +For it was essentially protective; it served to emphasize in her own +mind a fear which until now had been a mere formless mist, a fear for +her frivolous little friend. Galloway's whole being was so expressive +of conscious power, Florrie's of vacillating impulsiveness, that it +required no considerable burden laid upon the imagination to picture +the girl coming if he called . . . if he called with the look in his +eyes now, with the tone he knew to put into his voice. + +Social lines are none too clearly drawn in towns like San Juan; often +enough they have long ago failed to exist. A John Engle, though six +days of the seven he sat behind his desk in a bank, was only a man, his +daughter only the daughter of a mere man; a Jim Galloway, though he +owned the Casa Blanca and upon occasion stood behind his own bar, might +be a man and look with level eyes upon all other men, their wives, and +their daughters. Here, with conditions what they always had been, +there could stand but one barrier between Galloway and Florrie Engle, +the barrier of character. And already the girl had cried: "His eyes +are not bad eyes, are they?" A barrier is a silent command to pause; +what is the spontaneous answer of a spoiled child to any command? + +Galloway spoke lightly of this and that, managing in a dozen little +ways to compliment Florrie who chattered with a gayety which partook of +excitement. In ten minutes he went his way, drawing her musing eyes +after him. Until he had reached his own door and turned it at the Casa +Blanca the two girls on Struve's veranda were silent. Florrie's +thoughts were flitting hither and yon, bright-winged, inconsequential, +fluttering about Jim Galloway, deserting him for Roderick Norton, +darting off to Elmer Page, coming home to Florrie herself. As for +Virginia, conscious of a sort of dread, she was oppressed with the +stubbornly insistent thought that if Jim Galloway cared to amuse +himself with Florrie he was strong and she was weak; if he called to +her she would follow. . . . + + +Virginia was not the only one whom Galloway had set pondering; certain +of his words spoken to the sheriff when the two faced each other on the +Tecolote trail gave Norton food for thought. For the first time Jim +Galloway had openly offered a bribe, one of no insignificant +proportions, prefacing his offer with the remark: "I have just begun to +imagine lately that I have doped you up wrong all the time." If +Galloway had gone on to add: "Time was when I didn't believe I could +buy you, but I have changed my mind about that," his meaning could have +been no plainer. Now he held out a bribe in one hand, a threat in the +other, and Norton riding on to Tecolote mused long over them both. + +In Tecolote, a straggling village of many dogs and swarthy, grimy-faced +children, he tarried until well after dark, making his meal of coffee, +_frijoles_, and _chili con carne_, thereafter smoking a contemplative +pipe. Abandoning the little lunch-room to the flies and silence he +crossed the road to the saloon kept by Pete Nuñez, the brother of the +man whom it was Norton's present business to make answer for a crime +committed. Pete, a law-abiding citizen nowadays, principally for the +reason that he had lost a leg in his younger, gayer days, swept up his +crutch and swung across the room from the table where he was sitting to +the bar, saying a careless "Que hay?" by way of greeting. + +"Hello, Pete," Norton returned quietly. "Haven't seen Vidal lately, +have you?" + +Besides Vidal's brother there were a half dozen men in the room playing +cards or merely idling in the yellow light of the kerosene lamp swung +from the ceiling, men of the saloon-keeper's breed to the last man of +them. Their eyes, the slumbrous, mystery-filled orbs of their kind, +had lifted under their long lashes to regard the sheriff with seeming +indifference. Pete shrugged. + +"Me, I ain't seen Vidal for a mont'," he answered briefly. "I see Jim +Galloway though. Galloway say," and Pete ran his towel idly back and +forth along the bar, "Vidal come to la Casa Blanca to-night. I dunno," +and again he shrugged. + +Norton allowed himself the luxury of a mystifying smile as Pete Nuñez +lifted probing eyes to his face. + +"Jim Galloway has been known to lie before now, like other men," was +all of the information he gave to the questioning look. "And," his +face suddenly as expressionless as Pete's own, "it wouldn't be a bad +bet to look for Vidal in Tres Robles, would it? Eh, Pete?" + +With that he went out. Quite willing that Pete and his crowd should +think what they pleased, Tres Robles lay twenty miles northeast of +Tecolote, and if Pete cared to send word to Galloway that the sheriff +had ridden on that way, well and good. + +Half an hour later, with the deeper dark of the night settling thick +and sultry over the surface of the desert lands, he rode out of town +following the Tres Robles trail. He knew that Pete had come to his +door and was watching; he had the vague suspicion that it was quite +possible that Vidal was watching, too, with eyes smouldering with +hatred. That was only a guess, not even for a man to hazard a bet +upon. But the feeling that the fugitive was somewhere in Tecolote or +in the mesquite thickets near abouts had been strong enough to send him +travelling this way in the afternoon, would have been strong enough for +him to have acted upon, searching through shack after shack, were it +not that deep down in his heart he did not believe that Jim Galloway +had lied. Here, while he came in at one door Vidal might slip out at +another, safe among friends. But in the Casa Blanca Norton meant that +matters should be different. + +For an hour he rode toward the northeast. Then, turning out of the +trail and reining his horse into the utter blackness offered by the +narrow mouth or an arroyo, he sat still for a long time, listening, +staring back through the night toward Tecolote. At last, confident +that he had not been followed, he cut across the low-lying lomas +marking the western horizon and in a swinging gallop rode straight +toward San Juan. + +He had had ample time for the shaping of his simple plans long before +catching the first winking glimpse of the lights of the Casa Blanca. +He left his horse under the cottonwoods, hung his spurs over the horn +of the saddle, and went silently to the back of Struve's hotel. +Certain that no one had seen him, he half-circled the building, came to +the window which he had counted upon finding open, slipped in, and +passed down the hall to Struve's room. At his light tap Struve called, +"Come in," and turned toward him as the door opened. Norton closed it +behind him. + +"I am taking a chance that Vidal Nuñez is at Galloway's right now," he +told the hotel keeper. "I am going to get him if he is. I want you to +watch the back end of the Casa Blanca and see that he doesn't slip out +that way. A shotgun is what you want. Blow the head off any man who +doesn't stop when you tell him to. Is Tom Cutter in his room yet?" + +While Struve, wasting neither time nor words, went to see, Norton +unbuttoned his shirt, removed the thirty-eight-caliber revolver from +the holster slung under his left arm, whirled the cylinder, and kept +the gun in his left hand. In a moment Struve had returned, the deputy +at his heels. + +"What's this about Vidal being here?" Cutter asked sharply. + +Norton explained briefly and as briefly gave Tom Cutter his orders. +While Struve mounted guard at the rear, Cutter was to look out for the +front of the building. + +"Going in alone, are you, Rod?" Cutter shook his head. "If Vidal is +in there, and Galloway and the Kid and Antone are all on the job, the +chances are there's going to be something happen. Better let me come +in along with you." + +But Norton, his mouth grown set and grim and chary of words, shook his +head. Followed by Struve and Cutter he was outside in the darkness +five minutes after he had entered the hotel. + +Struve, a shotgun in his hands, took his place twenty steps from the +back door of the Casa Blanca, his restless eyes sweeping back and forth +continually, taking stock of door and window; a lamp burning in a rear +room cast its light out through a window whose shade was less than half +drawn. Tom Cutter, accustomed to acting swiftly upon his superior's +suggestions, listened wordlessly to the few whispered instructions, +nodded, and did as he was told, effacing himself in the shadows at the +corner of the building, prepared when the time came to spring out into +the street whence he could command the front and one side of the Casa +Blanca. Norton, before leaving Cutter, had drawn the heavy gun from +the holster swinging at his belt. + +"It's some time since we've had any two-handed shooting to do, Tommy," +he said as his lean fingers curved to the familiar grip of the Colt 45. +"But I guess we haven't forgotten how. Now, stick tight until you hear +things wake up." + +He was gone, turning back to the rear of the house, passing close to +Struve, going on to the northeast corner, slipping quietly about it, +moving like a shadow along the eastern wall. Here were two windows, +both looking into the long barroom, both with their shades drawn down +tight. + +At the first window Norton paused, listening. From within came a man's +voice, the Kid's, in his ugly snarl of a laugh, evil and reckless and +defiant, that and the clink of a bottle-neck against a glass. Norton, +his body pressed against the wall, stood still, waiting for other +voices, for Galloway's, for Vidal Nuñez's. But after Kid Rickard's +jarring mirth it was strangely still in the Casa Blanca; no noise of +clicking chips bespeaking a poker game, no loud-voiced babble, no sound +of a man walking across the bare floor. + +"They're waiting for me," was Norton's quick thought. "Galloway knew +I'd come." + +He passed on, came to the second window and paused again. The brief, +almost breathless silence within, which had followed the Kid's laugh, +had already been dissipated by the customary Casa Blanca sounds; a +guitar was strumming, chips clicked, a bottle was set heavily upon the +bar, a chair scraped. Norton frowned; a moment ago something happened +in there to still men's tongues. What was it? It was Galloway who +gave him his answer. + +"So you came, did you, Vidal?" There was a jeer in the heavy voice. +"Scared to come, eh? And scared worse to stay away!" Galloway's short +laugh was as unpleasant as ever Rickard's had been. + +"Si; I am here," the voice of Vidal Nuñez was answering, quick, eager, +sibilant with its unmistakable nervous excitement. "Pete tell me what +you say an' I come." He lifted his voice abruptly, breaking into a +soft Southern oath. "Like a cat, to jump through the little window an' +roll on the floor an' by God, jus' in time. There is one man at the +back with a gun an' one man in front an' another man . . ." + +"Let 'em come," cried Galloway loudly, a heavy hand smiting a table top +so that a glass jumped and fell breaking to the floor. "Only," and he +sent his voice booming out warningly, "any man who chips in unasked and +starts trouble in my house can take what's coming to him." + +So then Vidal had just arrived, it had been his sudden entrance which +had invoked the silence in the barroom. Norton merely shrugged; there +had been a chance of taking Vidal alone, intercepting him. But that +chance had not been one to wait for; now it was past, negligible, not +to be regretted. At last he knew where Vidal Nuñez was and it was his +business to make an arrest and not to wait upon further chance. The +man who is not ready to go into a crowd to get his law-breaker is not +the man to stand for sheriff in the southwest country. + +"Coming, Galloway!" Norton's ringing shout came back in answer. +Suddenly the steady pulse of his blood had been stirred, the hot hope +stood high in his heart again that he and Jim Galloway were going to +look into each other's eyes with guns talking and an end of a long +devious trail in sight. For the moment he half forgot Vidal Nuñez whom +he could fancy cowering in a corner. + +Then when he knew that every man in the Casa Blanca had turned sharply +at his voice he ran from the window to the street, turned the corner of +the building and in at the wide front doorway. A short hall, a closed +door confronting him . . . then that had been flung open and on its +threshold, a gun in each hand, his hat far back on his head, his eyes +on fire, he stood looking in on a half dozen men and three glinting +steel barrels which, describing quick arcs, were whipped from the +window toward him. A gun in Galloway's hand, one in the hand of Vidal +Nuñez, the third already spitting fire as Kid Rickard's narrowed eyes +shone above it. The other men had fallen back precipitately to right +and left; Norton noted that Elmer Page was among them, a pace or two +from Rickard's side. + +The Kid, being young, had something of youth's impatience, perhaps the +only reminiscence of youth left in a calloused soul. So it was that he +had shot a second too soon. Norton, as both hands rose in front of +him, answered Kid Rickard with the smaller-caliber gun while the Colt +in his right hand was concerned impartially with Galloway and Vidal +Nuñez, standing close together. The Kid cursed, his voice rose in a +shriek of anger rather than pain, and he spun about and fell backward, +tripping over an overturned chair. + +"Shoot, Galloway!" cried Norton. "Shoot, damn you, shoot!" + +Now, as for the second time that day the two men confronted each other, +naked, hot hatred glaring out of their eyes, each man knew that he +stood balancing a crucial second, midway between death and triumph. +Jim Galloway, who never until now had come out into the open in +defiance of the law, must swallow his words under the eyes of his own +gang, or once and for all forsake the semi-security behind his ambush. +Again issues were clear cut. + +He answered the sheriff with a curse and a stream of lead. As he fired +he threw himself to the side, the old trick, his gun little higher than +his hip, and fired again. And shot for shot Norton answered him. + +Though but half the length of a room lay between them, as yet, neither +man was hurt. For no longer were they in the rich light of the +swinging coal-oil lamp; the room was gathered in pitch darkness; their +guns spat long tongues of vivid flame. For, just as Kid Ricard was +falling, while Jim Galloway's finger was crooked to the trigger, while +Antone was whipping up his gun behind the bar, there had come a shot +from the card-room door shattering the lamp. Neither Norton nor +Galloway, Rickard nor Vidal Nuñez, nor Antone nor any of the other men +in the room saw who had fired the shot. + +As the light went out Norton leaped away from the door, having little +wish to stand silhouetted against the rectangle of pale light from the +outer night; and, leaping, he poured in his fourth and fifth and sixth +shots in the quarter where he hoped to find Galloway. But always he +remembered where he had seen Elmer Page standing, and always he +remembered Antone behind the bar, and Vidal Nuñez drawn back into a +corner. His forty-five emptied, he jammed it back into its holster and +stood rigid, staring into the blackness about him, every sense on the +qui vive. Galloway had given over shooting; he might be dead or merely +waiting. Vidal had held his fire, seeming frightened, uncertain, half +stunned. Antone would be leaning forward, peering with frowning eyes, +trying to locate him. + +It swept into Norton's mind suddenly that thus, in utter and unexpected +darkness, he had the upper hand. He could shoot, the law riding upon +each flying pellet of lead, and be it Jim Galloway or Antone or Vidal, +or any other of Galloway's crowd who fell, it would be a man who richly +deserved what his fate was bringing him. They, on the other hand, +being many against one, must be careful which way they shot. + +He had come for Vidal Nuñez. The man he wanted was yonder, but a few +feet from him. Duty and desire pointed across the room to the obscure +corner. He moved a cautious foot. The floor complained under his +shifting weight and from Galloway's quarter came a spit of fire. Twin +with it came a shot from behind the bar. That was Antone talking. And +now at last came the other shot from Vidal himself. + +Rod Norton's was that type of man which finds caution less to his +liking than headlong action; furthermore, in the present crisis, +caution had seemed the acme of foolhardiness. There are times when +true wisdom lies in taking one's chance boldly, flying half-way to meet +it. Now, as three bullets sang by him, he gathered himself; then, +before the sharp reports had died in his ears, he sprang forward, +hurling himself across the room, striking with his lifted gun as he +went, missing, striking again and experiencing that grinding, crunching +sensation transmitted along the metal barrel as it struck a man fair +upon the head. The man went down heavily and Norton stood over him, +praying that it was Vidal Nuñez. + +Then it was that Julius Struve, having deserted his post at the rear, +smashed through a window with the muzzle of his shotgun, sending the +shade flipping up, springing back from the square of faint light as he +cried out sharply: + +"All right, Nort?" + +"All right!" cried Norton. "I'm against the north wall; rake the other +side and the bar with your shotgun if they don't step out. You and +Cutter together. I've got Rickard and Nuñez out of it. Drop your gun, +Galloway; lively, while you've got the chance. Antone, Struve's got a +shotgun!" + +Antone cursed, and with the snarl of his voice came the clatter of a +revolver slammed down on the bar. Galloway cursed and fired, emptying +his second gun, crazed with hatred and blind anger. Again, shot for +shot Norton answered him. And again it grew very silent in the Casa +Blanca. + +"Out through the window, one by one, with your hands up and your guns +down," shouted Struve; "or I start in. Which is it, boys?" + +There was a scramble to obey, the several men who had taken no part +leading the way. As they went out their forms were for a moment +clearly outlined, then swallowed up in the outer darkness. At Struve's +command they lined up against the wall, watched over by the muzzle of +his shotgun. Antone, crying out that he was coming, followed. Elmer +Page, sick and dizzy, was at Antone's heels. + +Tom Cutter had gathered up some dry grass, and with that and a +chance-found bit of wood started a blaze near the second window; in its +wavering, uncertain light the faces of the men stood out whitely. + +"Galloway is not here yet," he snapped. And, lifting his voice: "Come +on, Galloway." + +A crowd had gathered in the street, asking questions that went +unanswered. Other hands added fuel to Cutter's fire. The increasing +light at last penetrated the blackness filling the barroom. + +"Come out, Galloway," said Struve coldly. "I've got you covered." + +Since things were bad enough as they were, and he had no desire to make +them worse and saw no opportunity to better them, Jim Galloway, his +hand nursing a bleeding shoulder, stumbled awkwardly through the +opening. + +"Is that all of 'em, Roddy?" called Cutter. Norton didn't answer. The +deputy called again. Then, while the crowd surged about door and +window. Cutter came in, a revolver in his right hand, a torch of a +burning fagot in his left, held high. + +Vidal Nuñez was dead; not from a blow upon the head, but from a chance +bullet through the heart after he had fallen. Kid Rickard, his sullen +eyes wide with their pain, lay half under a poker table. Lying across +the body of Nuñez, as though still guarding his prisoner, was the quiet +form of Rod Norton, his face bloodlessly white save for the smear of +blood which had run from the wound hidden by the close-cropped, black +hair. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WAVERING IN THE BALANCE + +Ignacio Chavez, waiting to ask no questions, had raced away through the +darkness to beat out a wild alarm upon his bells. Later he would learn +how many were dead and would set the Captain mourning. But already had +San Juan poured out her handful of citizens upon the street. + +"Keep those men where they are," called Tom Cutter to Struve. "Every +damned one of them; there'll be an answer wanted for to-night's work. +Get a doctor, somebody; Patten or Miss Page." + +Candles were brought; presently a lamp was found and set on the bar. +The curious began to desert Struve and his prisoners outside, and to +crowd about Cutter and the two forms lying still in the corner. Kid +Rickard, cursing now and then, had dragged himself a little away and +grew quiet, half propped up against the wall. Struve, as the fire of +fagots and grass began to burn low, commanded Galloway to lead the way +back into the barroom and herded five other men after him, the shotgun +promising a mutilated body to any man of them who sought to run for it. + +"Nuñez is dead," reported the deputy sheriff, getting up from his +knees. "Norton is alive and that's about all. A shot along the side +of the head." + +He turned slowly toward Galloway who, with steady hands and his face +set in hard, inscrutable lines, was pouring himself a generous glass of +whiskey. + +"Looks like you'd got him, Jim," he said harshly, his eyes glittering. +"And it looks like I'd got you. Where I want you, by God!" + +Galloway drank his whiskey and made no reply. He was thinking, +thinking fast. His eyes were never still now, but roved from Rod +Norton's white face to the faces of Tom Cutter, Struve, and the other +men gathering in the room. + +Borne upon one of the Casa Blanca's doors Norton was carried to +Struve's hotel, the nearest place where an attempt could be made to +care for him. Word came in that Virginia Page had been summoned upon +one of her rare calls and was in Las Estrellas. Patten, however, would +be on hand in a moment. It was suggested that Kid Rickard also be +carried to the hotel. But he himself asked to be left where he was +until Patten came, and Cutter raised no objection. It was clear that +the Kid was too badly hurt to think of making an escape, were such his +desire. + +Galloway and Antone alone were put under arrest, the others merely +advised to be on hand if they were wanted later. Galloway coolly +demanded the charge against him. + +"Resisting an officer is as good as any right now," snapped Cutter. + +As quiet claimed the town again Caleb Patten became the most important +figure in San Juan. At such moments he seemed to swell visibly. He +drove the curious from the room while he examined the unconscious +sheriff and, when he had finished, merely shook his head, looked grave, +and refused to commit himself. He ordered Norton undressed and put to +bed, went down the street to see Kid Rickard, probed the wound in the +upper chest, ordered him to bed, and returned to Norton at the hotel. + +"Well?" asked John Engle who had arrived, talked with Struve, and now +looked anxiously to Patten. Patten shrugged. + +"Heavy-caliber bullet ripped along the side of his head," he said +thoughtfully. "I am going to make a second examination now. Doubtless +just the shock stunned him. That or striking his head as he pitched +forward; there's another slight wound, a scalp wound, showing where his +head hit as he fell." + +A moment later Tom Cutter came in hastily, stood for a little staring +with frowning, troubled eyes at the quiet form on the bed, and went +away, tugging at his lip, his frown deepening. He had his hands full +to-night, had Tom Cutter, and no one but himself knew how he wanted Rod +Norton to tell him just what to do, to show him the way to make no +mistake. Leaving the room he had gone no farther than the front door +when he swung about and returned. + +"May I have a word with you, Mr. Engle?" he asked. + +Engle nodded and followed him silently. Out in the street, in the full +light of Struve's porch-lamp, Cutter stopped, glancing about him to +make sure that he was not overheard. + +"You know all about the shooting of Brocky Lane up in the mountains," +he said hurriedly. "Rod told me you did. Well, I just gathered in +Moraga!" + +"Moraga?" muttered Engle. "He has seen Galloway, then? And told him +all about our knowing the rifles were cached in the old caves?" + +"I found him at the Casa Blanca," said Cutter, the worried look in his +eyes. "Somebody shot out the light when the mix-up started, you know. +I've a notion it was Moraga. He was in one of the little +card-rooms . . . putting on his shoes! I got his gun; he'd fired just +one shot. The muzzle of it was bloody." + +"If he has told Galloway. . . ." + +"But I don't believe he has. Struve says that just as Norton started +things he saw a man run in from the cottonwoods and duck into the +house. It was Struve's job to see that nobody got out and he let him +go by. If it wasn't Moraga, who was it? And, when I grabbed him just +now, the first thing he said was: 'I want to talk with Galloway.'" + +"You didn't let him?" demanded Engle quickly. + +"No. A couple of the boys have walked him off down the road. I've got +Galloway and Antone in the jail. Now, what I want is some advice. +What am I going to do with this job until Rod Norton comes to and takes +a hand . . . if he ever does," he muttered heavily. + +"It's clear that you've got to keep Moraga away from Galloway; if they +haven't already had a chance to talk it's a pure Godsend and it's up to +you that they don't get that chance." + +"Yes,", admitted Cutter slowly. "But I'm the first man to admit that +I'm all muggled up. What did Moraga have his shoes off for? If he +shot out the light, why did he do it? And how'd he get blood on his +gun?" + +Engle shook his head. + +"All questions for the district attorney later, Tom," he answered. +"But, if you want any advice from me, here it is: Get Moraga out of the +way on the jump. He is supposed to be in jail in the next county; he +must have broken out. Send a man to Las Palmas to telephone to Sheriff +Roberts; send Moraga along with him. And, whatever you do, keep Jim +Galloway where you've got him. I think we've got our case against him +to-night." + +"That's what I've been thinking. I guess that's what Norton would do, +eh?" + +"Sure of it," said Engle promptly. "Find out, if you can, whether +Moraga got a chance to talk with Galloway. I'm going back to the house +to let my wife and Florrie know what has happened." + +Engle hurried to his home, told what had happened, and, leaving his +wife anxious, his daughter weeping hysterically, returned to the hotel. + +"I've done all that any one could do for him," said Patten, as though +defending himself because of Norton's continued unconsciousness. "He's +in pretty bad shape, Engle. Oh, I guess I can pull him through, but at +that it's going to be a close squeak. Lucky I was right on hand, +though." And he grew technical, spoke of blood pressures taken, of +traumatism superinducing prolonged coma, of this and that which made no +impression on the banker. + +"You mentioned two wounds," Engle reminded him. "The one made by the +bullet and another. . . ." + +"By his head striking as he fell? Yes; that would have completed the +work of the first shock in knocking him unconscious. But it is a +negligible affair now; he wouldn't know anything about it in the +morning if it weren't for the lump that'll be there. And since the +other injury, the long gouging cut made by the bullet, has just plowed +along the outer surface of the skull, I think that I can promise you +he'll be all right pretty soon now. We ought to have some ice, but +I've made cold compresses do." + +Engle went again to look in upon Norton. The sheriff lay as before, on +his back, his limbs lax, his face deathly white, a bandage about his +head. A lump came into the banker's throat and he turned away. For he +remembered that just so had Billy Norton lain, that Billy Norton had +never regained consciousness . . . and that the blow then as now had +been struck by Galloway or Galloway's man. The sudden fear was upon +him that Rod Norton was even more badly hurt than Caleb Patten +admitted. The fear did not lessen as the night drew on and finally +brightened into another day. When the sun flared up out of the +flatlands lying beyond Tecolote the wounded man at Struve's hotel lay +as he had done all night giving no sign to tell whether he was life's +or death's. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CONCEALMENT + +The eyes of San Juan were upon Caleb Patten throughout the night and +during the long hours of the following day. Under them his inflated +ego grew further distended while, waxing more technical than ever, he +explained how a man in Rod Norton's condition could live and yet lie +like a man dead. So prolific and involved were his medical phrases +that men like John Engle and Struve began to ask themselves if Patten +understood his case. When, after twelve hours, the wounded man awoke +to a troubled consciousness Patten's relief was scarcely less visible +than that of Norton's friends. Patten felt his prestige taking unto +itself new wings and immediately grew more wisely verbose than ever. +It was a rare privilege to have the most talked of and generally liked +man of the community under his hands; it was wine to Patten's soul to +have that man show signs of recovering under his skill. + +So he drove well-wishers from the room, drew the shades, commanded +quiet and came and went eternally, doing nothing whatever and appearing +to be fighting, sleeves rolled up, for a threatened life. Long before +noon there were those who had laughed at Patten before, but who now +accused themselves of having failed to do him justice. + +Virginia Page had remained all night with her patient in Las Estrellas. +The first rumor she had of the fight in the Casa Blanca was borne to +her ears by Ignacio's bell as she rode back toward San Juan. Only a +few hours ago she had talked with Galloway, watching him banter with +Florrie Engle; but a little before that, earlier in the same day, she +had seen Rod Norton. Before she galloped up to the old Mission garden +her heart was beating excitedly, and she was asking herself, a little +fearfully: "Is it Galloway or is it Rod Norton?" For she was so sure +that in the end Ignacio would ring the Captain for one of them. + +Ignacio told her the story. Norton was lying in the hotel, +unconscious, Patten working over him; Jim Galloway and Antone were in +the little jail and soon would be taken to the county-seat; Kid Rickard +was shot through the lung but would live, Patten said; Vidal Nuñez, +over whom the whole thing had started, was dead. + +"If _mi amigo_ Roderico die," mumbled Ignacio, "it will be two +Nortones, two sheriffs, that die because of Galloway. If Roderico +live, then the next time he will kill Galloway. You will see, +_señorita_." + +She made no answer as she rode slowly down the street. She was +thinking how, only a few weeks ago, she had heard the bells ring for +the first time, how then Galloway and Norton had been but meaningless +names to her, how she had been little moved by either the sound of +pistol-shots or the Captain's heavy tolling. Now things were +different. Just in what were they "different" and to what degree? She +could not answer her own question before she was at the hotel. + +Struve came immediately, noted her pale face, attributed it to a +sleepless night, and made her take a cup of coffee. He rounded out the +information she already had from Ignacio. Norton was still unconscious +though, only a few minutes ago, Patten had reported signs of +improvement. Mrs. Engle had been with him, was still there acting +nurse; he was being given every attention possible. + +Patten himself entered, drawn by the aroma of coffee. He nodded +carelessly to the girl and remarked to Struve, with a flash of triumph +in his eyes, that at last he had "brought him around." Norton was very +weak, sick, dizzy, perhaps not yet out of danger. But Patten had won +in the initial skirmish with old man Death. + +At least, so Struve was given to feel. Virginia, with a quick look at +Patten's complacent face, was moved with sudden, almost insistent +longing, that Rod Norton's life might be given into her own hands +rather than remain in the pudgy hands of a man she at once disliked as +an individual and failed to admire as a physician. For she had needed +no long residence in San Juan to form her own estimate of the man's +ability . . . or lack of ability. But plainly this was Patten's case, +not hers; she got up from the table and went into her own room. + +Elmer she found lying fully dressed upon a couch in her office, +sleeping heavily. She stood over him a moment, her eyes tender; he was +still, would always be, her baby brother. Then she went to her own +room and threw herself down upon her bed, worn out, anxious, vaguely +fearful for the future. + +It was a long day for San Juan. Mrs. Engle came now and then to +Virginia's room to wipe her eyes and force a hopeful smile; Florrie ran +in like a young tempest to weep copiously and hyperbolically invest +poor dear Roddy with all imaginable heroic attributes; Engle and Struve +and Tom Cutter were grave-eyed and distressed. Every hour Ignacio came +to the hotel to ask quietly for news. + +In his own way, it appeared that Elmer Page was as deeply concerned as +any one. It was long before he told Virginia that he had been in the +Casa Blanca when the shooting occurred; haltingly he gave her his +version of it. + +"Don't you think, Elmer," suggested the girl somewhat wearily, "that +you have gotten hold of the wrong end of things here? I mean in +choosing your friends? Certainly after this you will have nothing to +do with men like Galloway and Rickard?" + +Ten minutes' talk with Elmer gave her a deeper understanding of his +attitude than she had been able to guess until now. Spontaneously he +had leaned toward Kid Rickard because the Kid was a "killer" and Elmer +was a boy; in other words, because young Page's imagination made of +Rickard a truly picturesque figure. Since Rickard admired Jim Galloway +as he had never known how to admire aught else that breathed and +walked, Elmer's eyes had from the first rested approvingly upon the +massive figure of Casa Blanca's owner. That both Galloway and Rickard +were fighting against persecution, were merely individuals wronged by +the law and too fearlessly independent to submit to the high hand of +sheriff or judge, was easily implanted in the boy's mind. Yesterday +his fancies were ready to make heroes of Galloway and his crowd, to +make of Norton a meddler hiding behind the bulwark of his office, and +hounding those who were too manly to step aside for him. But now Elmer +was all at sea, no land in sight. + +"A gun in each hand, Sis," he cried warmly, his cheeks flushed, as the +almost constantly recurring picture formed again in his memory. "And +if you could have only seen his eyes! Talk about hiding behind +anything . . . no sir! And him only one against Galloway and the Kid +and Nuñez and a whole room full." + +Here was Elmer's trouble drawn to the surface; he was touched with +leaping admiration for the man who lay now in the darkened room, he +couldn't admire both Norton, the sheriff, and Galloway and Rickard, the +sheriff's sworn enemies! Which way should Elmer Page turn? Virginia +very wisely held her tongue. + +Tom Cutter, having conferred with Engle and Struve, left San Juan in +the early afternoon, convoying his prisoners to the greater security of +the county jail. It seemed the wisest step, the one which Norton would +have taken. Besides, Galloway insisted upon it and upon being allowed +to send a message to his lawyer. + +"I am willing to stand trial," said Galloway indifferently. "I'll +arrange for bail to-morrow and be back to-morrow night." + +The question which Tom Cutter, Struve, and Engle all asked of +themselves and of each other, "Did Moraga get his chance to talk with +Galloway?" went unanswered. There was nothing to do but wait upon the +future to know that, unless Moraga, now on his way back to Sheriff +Roberts, could be made to talk. And Moraga was not given to garrulity. + +Meantime Patten brought hourly reports of Norton. He was still in +danger, to be sure; but he was doing as well as could be expected. No +one must go into the room except Mrs. Engle as nurse. Norton was fully +conscious, but forbidden to talk; he recognized those about him, his +eyes were clear, his temperature satisfactory, his strength no longer +waning. He had partaken of a bit of nourishment and to-morrow, if +there were no unlooked-for complications, would be able to speak with +John Engle for whom he had asked. + +During the days which followed, days in which Rod Norton lay quiet in a +darkened room, Virginia Page was conscious of having awakened some form +of interest in Caleb Patten. His eyes followed her when she came and +went, and, when she surprised them, were withdrawn swiftly, but not +before she had seen in them a speculative thoughtfulness. While she +noted this she gave it little thought, so occupied was her mind with +other matters. She had postponed, as long as she could, a talk with +Julius Struve, her spirit galled that she must in the end go to him +"like a beggar," as she expressed it to herself. But one day, her head +erect, she followed the hotel keeper into his office. In the hallway +she encountered Patten. + +"May I have a word with you?" Patten asked. + +But Virginia had steeled herself to the interview with Struve and would +no longer set it aside, even for a moment. + +"If you care to wait on the veranda," she told Patten, "I'll be out in +a minute. I want to see Mr. Struve now." + +Patten stood aside and watched her pass, the shrewdly questioning look +in his eyes. When she disappeared in the office he remained where she +had left him, listening. When she began to speak with Struve, her +voice rapid and hinting at nervousness, he came a quiet step nearer the +door she had closed after her. + +"I am ashamed of myself, Mr. Struve," said Virginia, coming straight to +the point. "I owe you already for a month's board and room rent for +myself and Elmer. I . . ." + +"That's perfectly all right, Miss Virginia," said Struve hurriedly. "I +know the sort of job you've got on your hands making collections. If +you can wait I am willing to do so. Glad to do so, in fact." + +Patten, fingering his little mustache, then letting his thick fingers +drop to the diamond in his tie, smiled with satisfaction. Smiling, he +tiptoed down the hall and went out upon the veranda where he smoked his +cigar serenely. When Virginia came out to him her face was flaming. +Had he not beard Struve's words, he would have thought that his answer +to her apology had been an angry demand for immediate payment. Patten +failed to understand how the girl's fine, independent nature writhed in +a situation all but intolerable. That she appreciated gratefully +Struve's quick kindness did not minimize her own mortification. + +Patten watched her seat herself; then he launched himself into his +subject. Virginia listened at first with faint interest, then with +quickened wonder. For the life of her she could not tell if the little +man were seeking to flatter or insult her. + +"I have leased an old, deserted ranch-house just on the edge of town," +he told her. "Got it for a song, too. Some first-rate land goes with +it; I'll probably buy the whole thing before long. There's plenty of +good water. Now, what am I up to, eh? Just the same thing all the +time, if you want to know. And that means making money." + +Leaning forward he knocked the ash from his cigar and brought himself +confidentially nearer. + +"An open-air sanatorium," he announced triumphantly. "For tuberculosis +patients. There are lots of them," and he waved his arm in a wide half +circle, "coming out of the East on the run, scared to death, and with +more or less money in their pockets. It's a big proposition, a sure +money-getter." + +He grew more animated than she had ever dreamed he could be, as he +sketched his plans. While she was wondering why he had come to her +with them he gave his explanation, made her his double offer. Then it +was that she was puzzled to know whether he meant to compliment her or +merely to insult her. + +In a word he assured her from the heights of superiority to which he +had ascended these last few days of importance, the practice of +medicine was no woman's work at best; certainly not in a land like +this, where a man's endurance, breadth or mind, and keener innate +ability to cope with big situations were indicated. No work for a slip +of a girl like Virginia Page. Of that Caleb Patten assured her +unhesitatingly. But there was work for such as her and in a place +which he would create for her. Fairly bewildered at his audacity she +found herself listening to his suggestion that she marry Caleb Patten +and become a sort of head nurse in an institution which he would found! + +In spite of her she was moved to sudden, impulsive laughter. She had +not meant to laugh at the man who might be sincere, who, it was +possible, was merely a fool. But laugh she did, so that her mirth +reached Rod Norton where he lay upon his bed and made him stir +restlessly. + +"What do you mean by that?" demanded Patten, a flush in his cheeks. + +"I mean," stammered Virginia at last, "that I thank you very much, Dr. +Patten, but that I can avail myself of neither the opportunity of being +your wife or your head nurse. As for my inability to do for myself +what I have set out to accomplish . . . well, I am not afraid yet. +There is work to be done here and I don't quite agree with you that +it's all man's work. There's always a little left over for a woman, +you know," she added brightly. + +But Patten was obviously angered. He flung to his feet and glared down +at her. Perhaps it had not entered his thought that she could make +other than the answer he wanted; it had been very clear to him that he +was offering to become responsible for one who was embarked upon a +voyage already destined to failure, that he would support her, merely +doing as many other men of his ilk did and make her work for all that +she got. + +"It's silly nonsense, your thinking you can make a living here," he +said irritably. "I'm already established, I'm a man, I can have all of +the cases I want, you'll get only a few breeds who haven't a dollar to +the dozen of them. If you are already broke and can't even pay for +your room and board . . ." + +"Who told you that?" she asked quickly. + +"I can hear, can't I?" he demanded coarsely. "Didn't you go just now +to beg Struve to hold you over? And . . ." + +She slipped out of her chair and stood a moment staring coldly and +contemptuously at him. Then she was gone, leaving Patten watching her +departure incredulously. + +"A man who hasn't any more sense than Caleb Patten," she cried within +herself, "has no business with a physician's license. It's a sheer +wonder he didn't kill Roderick Norton!" + +Already she had forgotten her words with Struve, or rather the matter +for the present was shoved aside in her mind by another. She had come +here to make good, she had her fight before her, and she was going to +make good. She had to . . . for herself, for her own pride, for +Elmer's sake. She went straight to Elmer and made him sit down and +listen while she sketched actual conditions briefly and emphatically. + +He was old enough to do something for himself in the world, continued +idleness did him no earthly good and might do him no end of harm +morally, mentally, and physically. He had been her baby brother long +enough; it was time that he became a man. She had supported him until +now, asking nothing of him in return save that he kept out of mischief +a certain percentage of the time. Now he was going to work and help +out. He could go to John Engle and get something to do upon one of +Engle's ranches. + +Somewhat to her surprise Elmer responded eagerly. He had been thinking +the matter over and it appealed to him. What he did not tell her was +that he had seen some of the vaqueros riding in from one of the +outlying ranges, lean, brown, quick-eyed men who bestrode high-headed +mounts and who wore spurs, wide hats, shaggy chaps, and who, perhaps, +carried revolvers hidden away in their hip pockets, men who drank +freely, spent their money as freely at dice and cards, and who, all in +all, were a picturesque crowd. Elmer took up his hat and went down to +the bank and had a talk with John Engle. Virginia's eyes followed him +hopefully. + +That day Norton was allowed for the first time to receive callers. He +had his talk with Engle, limited to five minutes by Patten who hung +about curiously until Norton said pointedly that he wanted to speak +privately with the banker. Later Florrie came with her mother, +bringing an immense armful of roses culled by her own hands, excited, +earnest, entering the shaded room like a frightened child, speaking +only in hushed whispers. + +"Won't you come in too for a moment, Virginia?" asked Mrs. Engle. +"Roddy will be glad to see you; he has asked about you." + +But Virginia made an excuse; it was Patten's case and after what had +occurred between herself and Patten she had no intention of so much as +seeming to overstep the professional lines. The following day, +however, she did go to see him. Patten himself, stiff and boorish, +asked her to. His patient had asked for her several times, knowing +that she was in the building and marking how she made an exception and +refused to look in on him while all of his other friends were doing so, +some of them coming many miles. Patten told her that Norton was not +well by any means yet and that he did not intend to have him worried up +over an imagined slight. So Virginia did as she was bid. + +Mrs. Engle was in the room, bending over the bed with a dampened towel +to lay upon Norton's forehead; he showed a sign of fever and his head +ached constantly. He looked about quickly as the girl came in, his +hand stirring a little, offering itself. She took it by way of +greeting and sat down in the chair drawn up at his side. + +"It's good of you to come!" he said quickly, his eyes brightening. "I +was beginning to wonder if I had offended you in some way? You see, +everybody has run in but you. A man gets spoiled when he's laid up +like this, doesn't he? Especially when it's the first time he can +remember when he has stuck in bed for upward of twenty-four hours +running." + +Despite her familiarity with the swift ravages of illness she received +a positive shock as she looked at him; she had visualized him during +these latter days as she had last seen him, brown, vitally robust, the +embodiment of lean, clean strength. Now sunless inaction had set its +mark in his skin which had already grown sallow; his eyes burned into +her own, his hand fell weakly to the coverlet as she removed her own, +his fingers plucking nervously. And yet she summoned a cheerful smile +to answer his. + +"I was satisfied just in hearing that you were doing well," she said. +"And I know that the fewer people a sick man sees the better for him." + +He moved his head restlessly back and forth on his pillow. + +"Not for a man like me," he told her. "I'm not used to this sort of +business. Just lying here with my eyes shut or staring at the ceiling, +which is worse, drives a man mad. I told Patten to-day that if he +didn't let me see folks I'd get up and go out if I had to crawl." + +Virginia laughed, determined to be cheerful. + +"I am afraid that you make a rather troublesome patient, don't you?" +she asked lightly. + +Norton made no answer but lay motionless save for the constant plucking +at his coverlet, his eyes moodily fixed upon the wall. Mrs. Engle, +finding the water-pitcher empty and saying that she would be back in +two seconds, went out to fill it. Promptly Norton's eyes returned to +Virginia's face, resting there steadily. + +"I've been dizzy and sick and half out of my head a whole lot," he said +abruptly. "I've been thinking of you most of the time, dreaming about +you, climbing cliffs with you. . . ." + +He broke off suddenly, but did not remove his eyes from hers. It was +she who turned away, pretending to find it necessary to adjust the +window-curtain. It was impossible to sit quietly while he looked at +her that way, his eyes all without warning filling with a look for any +girl to read a look of glowing admiration, almost a look of pure +love-making. Norton sighed and again his head moved restlessly on his +pillow. + +"I've had time to think here of late," he said after a little. "More +time to think than I've ever had before in my life. About everything; +myself and Jim Galloway and you. . . . I have decided to send word to +the district attorney to let Galloway go," he added, again watching +her. "I am not going to appear against him and there's no case if I +don't." + +"But . . ." she began, wondering. + +"There are no buts about it. Suppose I can get him convicted, which I +doubt; he'd get a light sentence, would appeal, at most would be out of +the way a couple of years or so. And then it would all be to do over +again. No; I want him out in the open, where he can go as far as he +wants to go. And then . . ." + +She saw how his body stiffened as he braced himself with his feet +against the foot-board. + +"We won't talk shop," she said gently. "It isn't good for you. Don't +think about such things any more than you have to." + +"I've got to think about something," he said impatiently. "Can I think +about you?" + +"Why not?" she answered as lightly as she had spoken before. + +"Maybe that isn't good for me either," he answered. + +"Nonsense. It's always good for us to think about our friends." + +His eyes wandered from hers, rested a moment upon the little table near +his bedhead and came back to her, narrowing a little. + +"Will you set a chair against that window-shade?" he asked. "The light +at the side hurts my eyes." + +It was a natural request and she turned naturally to do what he asked. +But, even with her back turned, she knew that he had reached out +swiftly for something that lay on the table, that he had thrust it out +of sight under his pillow. + +Mrs. Engle returned and Virginia, staying another minute, said good-by. +As she went out she glanced down at the table. In her room she asked +herself what it was that he had snatched and hidden. It seemed a +strange thing to do and the question perplexed her; while she attached +no importance to it, it was there like a pebble in one's shoe, refusing +to be ignored. + +That night, just as she was going to sleep, she knew. Out of a half +doze she had visualized the table with its couple of bottles, a +withering rose, a scrap of note-paper, a fountain pen. The pen . . . +it was Patten's . . . had evidently leaked and had been wiped +carelessly upon the sheet of paper, left lying with the paper half +wrapped around it. She had noted carelessly a few scrawled words in +Patten's slovenly hand. And she knew that it had been removed while +she turned her back, removed by a hand which, in its haste, had slipped +the pen with it under the pillow. + +She went to sleep incensed with herself that she gave the matter +another thought. But she kept asking herself what it was that Patten +had written that Roderick Norton did not want her to read. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A FREE MAN + +"I am a free man, if you please." The sheriff stood in the hotel +doorway, looking down upon her as she sat in her favorite veranda +chair. "I have given my keeper his fee and sent him away. May I watch +you while you read?" + +Virginia closed her book upon her knee and gave him a smile by way of +welcome. He looked unusually tall as he stood in the broad, low +entrance; his ten days of sickness and inactivity had made him gaunt +and haggard. + +"I shouldn't be reading in this light, anyway," she said. "I hadn't +noticed that the sun was down. It is good to be what you call free +again, isn't it?" + +He laughed softly, put back his head, filled his lungs. Then he came +on to her and stood leaning against the wall, his hat cocked to one +side to hide the bandage. + +"The world is good," he announced with gay positiveness. "Especially +when you've been away from it for a spell and weren't quite sure what +was next. And especially, too, when you've had time to think. Did you +ever take off a week and just do nothing but think?" + +"One doesn't have time for that sort of thing as a rule," she admitted. +"There's a chair standing empty if you care to let me in on your +deductions." + +"I don't want to sit down or lie down until I'm ready to drop," he +grinned down at her. "A bed makes me sick at my stomach and a chair is +pretty nearly as bad. I'd like almighty well to get a horse between my +knees . . . and _ride_! Suppose I'd fall to pieces if I tried it +right now?" + +"Sure of it. And not so sure that you haven't discharged your keeper +prematurely. You mustn't think of such things." + +"There you go. Forbidding me to think again! . . . Believe I will sit +down; would you believe that a full-grown man like me could get as weak +as a cat this quick?" + +He took the chair just beyond her, tilted it back against the wall, his +booted heels caught under its elevated legs, and glanced away from her +to the colorful sky above San Juan's scattered houses in the west. + +"Yes, sir," he continued his train of thought, "I'd like a horse +between my knees; I'd like to ride out yonder into the sunset, to meet +the night as it comes down; I'd like the feeling of nothing but the +stars over me instead of the smothery roof of a house. Doesn't it +appeal to you, too?" + +"Yes," she said. + +"You on Persis, with me on my big roan, riding not as we rode that +other night, but just for the fun of it. I'd like to ride like the +devil. . . . You don't mind my saying what I mean, do you? . . . to go +scooting across the sage-brush letting out a yell at every jump, boring +holes in the night with my gun, making all of the racket and dust that +one man can make. Ever feel that way? just like getting outside and +making a noise? Let me talk! I'm the one who has been shut up for so +long my tongue has started to grow fast to the roof of my mouth. At +first I could do nothing but lie flat on my back in a sort of fog, +seeing nothing clearly, thinking not at all. Then came the hours in +which I could do nothing but think, under orders to keep still. Think? +Why, I thought about everything that ever happened, most things that +might happen, and a whole lot that never will. Now comes the third +stage; I can talk better than I can walk. . . . Do you mind listening +while a man raves?" + +"Not in the least." She found his mood contagious and, smiling in that +quick, bright way natural to her, showed for a moment the twin dimples +of which together with a host of other things he had had ample time to +think during his bedroom imprisonment. "Please rave on." + +"In due course," he mused, "the fourth stage will arrive and I can be +doing something besides talk, can't I? Now let me tell you about the +King's Palace." + +"You begin well." + +"The King's Palace is where we are going on our first outing. That was +decided three days ago at four minutes after 6 A.M. You and I and, if +you like, Florrie and your kid brother. We'll ride out there in the +very early morning, in the saddle before the stars are gone. We'll +lunch and loaf there all day. For lunch we will have bacon and coffee, +cooked over a fire in one of the Palace anterooms. We will have some +trout, fried in the bacon-grease, trout whipped out of the likeliest +mountain-stream you ever saw or heard about. We will have cheese, +perhaps, and maybe a box of candy for dessert. We'll ride home in the +dusk and the dark." + +"The King's Palace?" she asked curiously. "I never heard of such a +place. Are you making it all up?" + +"Not a bit of it. It's all that's left of some of the old ruins of the +same folk who lived in the caves up on the cliffs. . . . Do you know +why I am bound to get Jim Galloway's tag soon or late?" + +Her mind with his had touched upon the hidden rifles, and the abrupt +digression was no digression to her, reached by the span of suggestion. + +"Because he is in the wrong and you are in the right; or, in other +words, because he opposes the law and you represent it." + +"Because he plays the game wrong! Some more results of a long week of +nothing to do but think things out. There is just one way for a +law-breaker to operate if he means to get away with it." + +"You mean that a man can get away with it? Surely not for good?" + +But he nodded thoughtfully at the slowly fading strata of shaded colors +splashed across the sky. + +"A man can get away with it for keeps . . . if he plays the game right. +Jim Galloway isn't that man and so I'll get him. He has ignored the +first necessary principle, which is the lone hand." + +"You mean he takes men into his confidence?" + +"And he goes on and ignores the second necessary principle; a man must +stop short of murder. If he turns gangman and killer, he ties his own +rope around his neck. If a man like Galloway, a man with brains, +power, without fear, without scruple, should decide to loot this corner +of the world or any other corner, and set about it right, playing the +lone hand invariably, he would be a man I couldn't bring in in a +thousand years. But Galloway has slipped up; he has too many Moragas +and Antones and Vidals at his heels; he has been the cause, directly or +indirectly, of too many killings. . . . A theft will be forgotten in +time, the hue and cry die down; spilled blood cries to heaven after ten +years." + +"Galloway is back in San Juan." + +"I know. I wanted him back. I wanted him free and unhampered. He'll +be bolder than ever now, won't he, if this case is dropped? He's come +out a little into the open already, he'll be tempted out a little +farther. There'll be more of his work soon, a robbery here or there, +and he will grow so sure of himself that he'll get careless. Then I'll +get him." + +"But have you the right?" she asked quickly. "Knowing him a +lawbreaker, have you the right to allow him to go farther and farther, +just because in the end you hope to get him?" + +He met her look with a smile which puzzled her. + +"I'll answer your question when you define right and wrong for me," he +said quietly. + +They grew silent together, watching the gradual sinking of day into +twilight and early dusk. Norton, for all his vaunted ravings, had +grown thoughtful; Virginia turning her eyes toward him while his were +staring out beyond the house-tops saw in them a look of deep, frowning +speculation. And through this look, like a little fire gleaming +through a fog, was another look whose meaning baffled her. + +"What do you think of Patten?" he asked. + +Startled by his abruptness, characteristic of him though it was to-day, +she asked in puzzled fashion: + +"What do you mean?" + +"Not as a man," he said, withdrawing his gaze from the sunset and +bestowing it gravely upon her. "As a physician. Do you size him up as +capable or as something of a quack?" + +She hesitated. But finally she made the only reply possible. + +"Of course you don't expect any answer, knowing that you should not +come to one member of a profession for an estimate of another. And, +besides, you realize that I know nothing whatever of Dr. Patten, either +as a man or as a physician." + +He laughed softly. + +"Hedging, pure, unadulterated hedging! I didn't look for that from +you. Shall I tell you what we both think of him? He is a farce and a +fake, and I rather think that I am going to run him out of the State +pretty soon. . . . What would you say of a doctor who couldn't tell +the difference between a wound made by a man bumping his head when he +fell and by a smashing blow with a gun-barrel? Patten doesn't guess +yet that it was the blow Moraga gave me the other night which came so +close to ringing down the sable curtains for me." + +"Moraga?" she asked with quickened interest. "Not the same Moraga who +shot Brocky Lane?" + +"The same little old Moraga," he assured her lightly. "You needn't +mention it abroad, of course; I don't think Galloway got a chance to +talk with him and we are not sure yet that he even knows Moraga was +here. But I know somebody put me out in the dark by hammering me over +the head; and Tom Cutter found blood on Moraga's revolver. But we +wander far afield. Coming back to Patten, do we agree that he is +something of a dub?" + +"I'd rather not discuss him." + +"Exactly. And I, being in the talkative way, am going to tell you that +he has made blunders before now; that at least one man died under his +nice little fat hands who shouldn't have died outside of jail; that +long ago I had my suspicions and began instituting inquiries; that now +I am fully prepared to learn that Caleb Patten has no more right to an +M.D. after his name than I have." + +"You must be mistaken. I hope you are. Men used to do that sort of +thing, but under existing laws . . ." + +"Under existing laws men do a good many things in and about San Juan +which they shouldn't do. I have found out that there was a Caleb +Patten who was a young doctor; that there was a Charles Patten, his +brother, who was a young scamp; that they both lived in Baltimore a few +years ago; that from Baltimore they both went hastily no man knows +where. This gentleman whom we have with us might be either one of +them. . . . Here comes Ignacio. _Que hay_, Ignacio!" + +"_Que hay_, Roderico?" responded Ignacio, coming to lean languidly +against the veranda post. He removed his hat elaborately, his liquid +eyes doing justice to Virginia's dainty charm. "_Buenos tardes, +señorita_," he greeted her. + +"What is new, Ignacio?" queried Norton, "No bells for you to ring for +the last ten days! You grow fat in idleness, _amigo mio_." + +Ignacio sighed and rolled his cigarette. + +"What is new, you ask? No? _Bueno_, this is new!" He lifted his +eyes suddenly and they were sparkling as with suppressed excitement. +"The Devil himself has made a visit to San Juan. _Si, señor; si, +señorita_. It is so." + +Virginia smiled; Norton gravely asked the explanation. Why should his +satanic majesty come to San Juan? + +"Why? _Quien sabe_?" Ignacio shrugged all responsibility from his +lazy shoulders. "But he came and more bad will come from his visit, +more and more of evil things. One knows. _Seguro que si_; one knows. +But I will tell you and the señorita; no one else knows of it. It was +while in the Casa Blanca men are shooting, while Roderico Nortone will +make his arrest of poor Vidal who is dead now." He crossed himself and +drew a thoughtful puff from his cigarette. "I run fast to ring the +bells. I come into the garden and it is dark. I come under the bells. +And while my hand cannot find the rope . . . _Si, señor y +señorita_! . . . before I touch the rope the Captain begins to ring! +Just a little; not long; low and quiet and . . . angry! And then he +stop and I shiver. It is hard not to run out of the garden. But I +cross myself and find the ropes and make all the bells dance. But I +know; it was the Devil who was before me." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE KING'S PALACE + +Not only was Galloway back in San Juan but, as Norton had predicted of +him, he appeared to have every assurance that he stood in no unusual +danger. There had been a fight in a dark room and one man had been +killed, certain others wounded. The dead man was Galloway's friend, +hence it was not to be thought that Galloway had killed him. Kid +Rickard was another friend. As for the wound Rod Norton had received, +who could swear that this man or that had given it to him? + +"The chances are," Galloway had already said in many quarters, "that +Tom Cutter, getting excited, popped over his own sheriff." + +True, it was quite obvious that a charge lay at Galloway's door, that +of harboring a fugitive from justice and of resisting an officer. But +with Galloway's money and influence, with the shrewdest technical +lawyer in the State retained, with ample perjured testimony to be had +as desired, the law-breaker saw no reason for present uneasiness. +Perhaps more than anything else he regretted the death of Vidal Nuñez +and the wounding of Kid Rickard. For these matters vitally touched Jim +Galloway and his swollen prestige among his henchmen; he had thrown the +cloak of his protection about Vidal, had summoned him, promised him all +safety . . . and Vidal was dead. He knew that men spoke of this over +and over and hushed when he came upon them; that Vidal's brother, Pete, +grumbled and muttered that Galloway was losing his grip, that soon or +late he would fall, that falling he would drag others down with him. +More than ever before the whole county watched for the final duello +between Galloway and Norton. In half a dozen small towns and +mining-camps men laid bets upon the result. + +For the first time, also, there was much barbed comment and criticism +of the sheriff. He had gotten this man and that, it was true. And +yet, after all this time, he seemed to be no nearer than at the +beginning to getting the man who counted. There were those who +recalled the killing of Bisbee of Las Palmas, and reminded others that +there had been no attempt at prosecution. Now there had come forth +from the Casa Blanca fresh defiance and lawlessness and still Jim +Galloway came and went as he pleased. Those who criticised said that +Norton was losing his nerve, or else that he was merely incompetent +when measured by the yardstick of swift, incisive action wedded to +capability. + +"If he can't get Jim Galloway, let him step out of the way and give the +chance to a man who can," was said many times and in many ways. Even +John Engle, Julius Struve, Tom Cutter, and Brocky Lane came to Norton +at one time or another, telling him what they had heard, urging him to +give some heed to popular clamor, and to begin legal action. + +"Put the skids under him, Roddy," pleaded Brocky Lane. "We can't slide +him far the first trip, maybe. But a year or so in jail will break his +grip here." + +But Norton shook his head. He was playing the game his way. + +"The rifles are still in the cache," he told Brocky. "He is getting +ready, as we know; further, just as my friends are beginning to find +fault with me, so are his hangers-on beginning to wonder if they +haven't tied to the wrong man. Just to save his own face he'll have to +start something pretty pronto. And we know about where he is going to +strike. It's up to us to hold our horses, Brocky." + +Brocky growled a bit, but went away more than half-persuaded. He +called at the hotel, paid his respects to Virginia, and affording her a +satisfaction which it was hard for her to conceal, also paid her for +her services rendered him in the cliff-dweller's cave. + +Often enough the man who tilts with the law is in most things not +unlike his fellows, different alone perhaps in the one essential that +he is born a few hundreds of years late in the advance of civilization. +Going about that part of his business which has its claims to +legitimacy, mingling freely with his fellows, he fails to stand out +distinctly from them as a monster. Given the slow passing of +uneventful time, and it becomes hard and harder to consider him as a +social menace. When the man is of the Jim Galloway type, his plans +large, his patience long, he may even pass out from the shadow of a +gallows-tree and return to occupy his former place in the quiet +community life, while his neighbors are prone to forget or condone. + +As other days came and slipped by and the weeks grew out of them, +Galloway's was a pleasant, untroubled face to be seen on the street, at +the post-office, behind his own bar, on the country roads. He ignored +any animosity which San Juan might feel for him. If a man looked at +him stonily, Galloway did not care to let it be seen that he saw; if a +woman turned out to avoid him, no evidence that he understood darkened +his eyes. He had a good-humored word to speak always; he lifted his +hat to the banker's wife, as he had always done; he mingled with the +crowd when there were "exercises" at the little schoolhouse; he warmly +congratulated Miss Porter, the crabbed old-maid teacher, on the work +she had accomplished and made her wonder fleetingly if there wasn't a +bit of good in the man, after all. Perhaps there was; there is in most +men. And Florrie Engle was beginning to wonder the same thing. For +Rod Norton, recovered and about his duties, was not quite the same +touchingly heroic figure he had been while lying unconscious and in +danger of his life. Nor was it any part of Florrie Engle's nature to +remain long either upon the heights or in the depths of an emotion. +The night of the shooting she had cried out passionately against +Galloway; as days went their placid way and she saw Galloway upon each +one of them . . . and did not see a great deal of Norton, who was +either away or monopolizing Virginia, . . . she took the first step in +the gambler's direction by beginning to be sorry for him. First, it +was too bad that Mr. Galloway did the sort of things which he did; no +doubt he had had no mother to teach him when he was very young. Next, +it was a shame that he was blamed for everything that had to happen; +maybe he was a . . . a bad man, but Florrie simply didn't believe he +was responsible for half of the deeds laid at his door. Finally, +through a long and intricate chain of considerations, the girl reached +the point where she nodded when Galloway lifted his hat. The smile in +the man's eyes was one of pure triumph. + +"Oh, my dear!" Florrie burst into Virginia's room, flushed and +palpitant with her latest emotion. "He has told me all about it, and +do you know, I don't believe that we have the right to blame him? +Doesn't it say in the Bible or . . . or somewhere, that greater praise +or something shall no man have than he who gives his life for a friend? +It's something like that, anyway. Aren't people just horrid, always +blaming other people, never stopping to consider their reasons and +impulses and looking at it from their side? Vidal Nuñez was a friend +of Mr. Galloway's; he was in Mr. Galloway's house. Of course . . ." + +"I thought that you didn't speak to him any more." + +"I didn't for a long time. But if you could have only seen the way he +always looks at me when I bump into him. Virgie, I believe he is sad +and lonely and that he would like to be good if people would only give +him the chance. Why, he is human, after all, you know." + +Virginia began to ask herself if Galloway were merely amusing himself +with Florrie or if the man were really interested in her. It did not +seem likely that a girl like Florrie would appeal to a man like him; +and yet, why not? There is at least a grain of truth, if no more, in +the old saw of the attraction of opposites. And it was scarcely more +improbable that he should be interested in her than that she should +allow herself to be ever so slightly moved by him. Furthermore, in its +final analysis, emotion is not always to be explained. + +Virginia set herself the task of watching for any slightest development +of the man's influence over the girl. She saw Florrie almost daily, +either at the hotel to which Florrie had acquired the habit of coming +in the cool of the afternoons or at the Engle home. And for the sake +of her little friend, and at the same time for Elmer's sake, she threw +the two youngsters together as much as possible. They quarrelled +rather a good deal, criticised each other with startling frankness, and +grew to be better friends than either realized. Elmer was a vaquero +now, as he explained whenever need be or opportunity arose, wore chaps, +a knotted handkerchief about a throat which daily grew more brown, +spurs as large and noisy as were to be encountered on San Juan's +street, and his right hip pocket bulged. None of the details escaped +Florrie's eyes . . . he called her "Fluff" now and she nicknamed him +"Black Bill" . . . and she never failed to refer to them mockingly. + +"They tell me, Black Bill," she said innocently, "that you fell off +your horse yesterday. I was so _sorry_." + +She had offered her sympathy during a lull in the conversation, drawing +the attention of her father, mother, and Virginia to Elmer, whose face +reddened promptly. + +"Florrie!" chided Mrs. Engle, hiding the twinkle in her own eyes. + +"Oh, her," said Elmer with a wave of the hand. "I don't mind what +Fluff says. She's just trying to kid me." + +Toward the end of the evening, having been thoughtful for ten minutes, +Elmer adopted Florrie's tactics and remarked suddenly and in a voice to +be heard much farther than his needed to carry: + +"Say, Fluff. Saw an old friend of yours the other day." And when +Florrie, "gun-shy" as Elmer called her, was too wise to ask any +questions, he hastened on: "Juanito Miranda it was. Sent his best. So +did Mrs. Juanito." + +Whereupon it was Florrie's turn to turn a scarlet of mortification and +anger. For Juanito had soft black eyes and almost equally soft black +mustaches, with probably a heart to match, and only a year ago Florrie +had been busied making a hero of him when he, the blind one, took unto +himself an Indian bride and in all innocence heaped shame high upon the +blonde head. How Elmer unearthed such ancient history was a mystery to +Florrie; but none the less she "hated" him for it. They saw a very +great deal of each other, each serving as a sort of balance-wheel to +the other's self-centred complacency. Perhaps the one subject upon +which they could agree was Jim Galloway; Elmer still liked to look upon +the gambler as a colossal figure standing serene among wolves, while +Florrie could admit to him, with no fear of a chiding, that she thought +Mr. Galloway "simply splendid!" + +When one evening, after having failed to show himself for a full month, +Rod Norton came to the Engles', found Elmer and Virginia there, and +suggested the ride to the King's Palace, he awakened no end of +enthusiasm. Elmer had a day off, thanks to the generosity of his +employer, Mr. Engle, and had just secretly purchased a fresh outfit +consisting of a silver-mounted Spanish bit, a new pair of white and +unspeakably shaggy, draggy chaps, a wide hat with a band of snake hide, +and boots that were the final whisper in high-heeled discomfort. +Florrie disappeared into her room to make her own little riding-costume +as irresistible as possible. They were to start with the first streaks +of dawn to-morrow, just the four of them, since the banker and his +wife, lukewarmly invited, had no desire for a forty-mile ride between +morning and night. + +It was Rod Norton's privilege to lead his merry party into what for +them was wonderland. Even Florrie, though so much other life had been +passed in San Juan, had never before visited the King's Palace. +Clattering through the street while most folk were asleep, they took +advantage of the cool of the dawn and rode swiftly. Elmer and Florrie +racing on ahead laid aside their accustomed weapons and were, for the +once, utterly flattering to each other. Each wishing to be admired, +admired the other, and was paid back in the coveted coin. Norton and +Virginia, at first a little inclined toward silence, soon grew as +noisily merry as the others, drawing deep enjoyment from the moment. + +And at the portals of the King's Palace, reached after four hours in +the saddle, followed by thirty minutes on foot, they stood hushed with +wonder. High upon the southern slope of Mt. Temple they had come +abruptly into the unexpected. Here a rugged plateau had caught and +held through the ages the soil which had weathered down from the cliffs +above; here were trees to replace the weary gray brush, shade instead +of glare, birds as welcome substitutes for droning insects, water and +flowers to make the cañons doubly cool and fragrant for him who had +ascended from the dry reaches of sand below the talus. + +"It's just like fairy-land!" cried the ecstatic Florrie. "Roddy +Norton, I think you're real mean not to have brought me here ages ago!" + +"Ages ago, my dear miss," laughed Norton, "you were too little to +appreciate it. You should thank me for bringing you now." + +Down through the middle of the plateau from its hidden source ran the +purling stream which was destined to yield to sun and thirsty earth +long before it twisted down the lower slopes of the hills. Along its +edges the grass was thick and rich, shot through everywhere with little +blue blossoms and the golden gleam of the starflowers. Further promise +of yellow beauty was given by the stalks of the evening-primrose +scattered on every hand, the flowers furled now, sleeping. In the +groves were pines, small cedars, and a sprinkling of sturdy dwarf oaks. +And from their shelter came the welcome sound of a bird's twitter. + +"It's always about as you see it," Norton explained. "Too hard to get +to, too small when one makes the climb to afford enough pasturage for +sheep. And now the Palace itself." + +Straight ahead the cliffs overhung the farther rim of the plateau. And +there, under the out-jutting roof of rock, an ancient people had +fashioned themselves a home which stood now as when their hands +laboriously set it there. The protected ledge which afforded eternal +foundation was slightly above the plateau's level, to be reached by a +series of "steps" in the rock, steps which were holes worn deep, +perhaps five hundred years ago. The climb was steep, hazardous unless +one went with due precaution, but the four holiday-makers hurried to +begin it. + +So close to the edge of the rock ledge did the walls of the ruin stand +that there was barely room to edge along it to come to the narrow +doorway. Holding hands, Norton in the lead, Elmer in the rear, they +made their breathless way. And then they were in the hushed, shaded +anteroom. + +The dust of untroubled ages lay upon the surprisingly smooth floor. +Walls of cemented rock rose intact on two sides, broken here and there +on a third, while the cliff itself made the fourth at the rear. And +unusually spacious, wide, and high-ceiled was this room, which may have +had its use when time was younger as a council-chamber. At one end was +another door, small and dark and forbidding, leading to another room. +Beyond lay other quarters, a long line of them, which might have housed +scores in their time. + +While Florrie, letting out little shrieks now and then interspersed +with gay cries of delight, led a half-timorous way and Elmer went with +her upon the tour of discovery, Virginia and Norton stood a moment at +the front entrance looking down upon the fertile plateau and across it +to the level miles running out to San Juan and beyond. + +"Who were they?" asked Virginia, unconscious of a half-sigh as she +withdrew abstracted eyes from the wide panorama which had filled the +vision of so many other men and women and little children before the +white man came to claim the New World. "They who builded here and +lived and died here. What has become of them? Where did they go?" + +"All questions asked a thousand times and never answered. I don't +know. But they were good builders, good engineers, good +pottery-makers, good farmers and hunters and fighters; rather a goodly +crowd, I take it. Come, and I'll share my secret with you while +Florrie and Elmer discover the skeleton a little farther on and stop to +exclaim over it." + +[Illustration: "Come, and I'll share my secret with you."] + +Norton's secret was a hidden room of the King's Palace. While many men +knew of the Palace itself, he believed that none other than himself had +ever ferreted out this particular chamber which he called the Treasure +Chamber. It was to be reached by clambering through an orifice of the +eastern wall, over a clutter of fallen blocks of stone and a score of +feet along the narrowing ledge. Just before they came to the point +where the encroaching wall of cliff denied farther foothold they found +a fissure in the rock itself wide enough to allow them to slip into it. +Again they climbed, coming presently to a ledge smaller than the one +below and hidden by an outthrust boulder. Here was the last of the +rooms of the King's Palace, cunningly masked, to be found only by +accident, even the cramped door concealed by the branches of a tortured +cedar. Norton pushed them aside and they entered. + +"I have cached a few of my things here," he told her as they confronted +each other in the gloom of the room's interior. "And the joke of it is +that my hiding-place is almost if not quite directly below the caves +where Galloway's rifles are. This is a secret, mind you! . . . If +you'll look around, you'll find some of the articles our friends the +cliff-dwellers left behind them when they made their getaway." + +In a dark corner she found a blackened coffee-pot and a frying-pan, +proclaiming anachronistically that here was the twentieth century +interloping upon the fifteenth, articles which Norton had hidden here. +In another corner were jumbled the things which the ancient people had +left to mark their passing, an earthenware water-jar, half a dozen +spear and arrow points of stone, a clumsy-looking axe still fitted to +its handle of century-seasoned cedar, bound with thongs. + +"But," exclaimed the girl, "the wood, the raw-hide . . . they would +have disintegrated long ago. They must belong to the age of your +coffee-pot and frying-pan!" + +"The air is bone-dry," he reminded her. "What little rain there is +never gets in here. Nothing decays; look yonder." + +He showed her a basket made of withes, a graceful thing skilfully made, +small, frail-looking, and as perfect as the day it had come from a pair +of quick brown hands under a pair of quick black eyes. She took it +almost with a sense of awe upon her. + +"Keep it, will you?" he asked lightly. "As a memento. Presented by a +caveman through your friend the sheriff. Now let's get back before +they miss us. I may have need of this place some time and I'd rather +no one else knew of it." + +They made their way back as they had come and in silence, Virginia +treasuring the token and with it the sense that her friend the sheriff +had cared to share his secret with her. + + +They made of the day an occasion to be remembered, to be considered +wistfully in retrospect during the troubled hours so soon to come to +each one of the four of them. While Elmer and Florrie gathered +fire-wood, Norton showed Virginia how simple a matter it was here in +this seldom-visited mountain-stream to take a trout. Cool, shaded +pools under overhanging, gouged-out banks, tiny falls, and shimmering +riffles all housed the quick speckled beauties. Then, as Norton had +predicted, the fish were fried, crisp and brown, in sizzling +bacon-grease, while the thin wafers of bacon garnished the tin plate +bedded in hot ashes. They nooned in the shady grove, sipping their +coffee that had the taste of some rare, black nectar. And throughout +the long lazy afternoon they loitered as it pleased them, picked +flowers, wandered anew through the ruins of the King's Palace, lay by +the singing water, and were quietly content. It was only when the +shadows had thickened over the world and the promise of the primroses +was fulfilled that they made ready for the return ride. Before they +had gone down to their horses the moths were coming to the yellow +flowers, tumbling about them, filling the air with the frail beating of +their wings. + +At Struve's hotel . . . Elmer and Virginia had ridden on to Engle's +home . . . Virginia told Norton good night, thanking him for a perfect +day. As their hands met for a little she saw a new, deeply probing +look in his eyes, a look to be understood. He towered over her, +physically superb. As she had felt it before, so now did she +experience that odd little thrill born from nearness to him go singing +through her. She withdrew her hand hastily and went in. In her own +room she stood a long time before her glass, seeking to read what lay +in her own eyes. + + +Tom Cutter was waiting for Norton--merely to tell him that a stranger +had come to San Juan, a Mexican with all the earmarks of a gentleman +and a man of means. The Mexican's name was Enrique del Rio. He +evidently came from below the border. He had lost no time in finding +Jim Galloway, with whom he had been all afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE MEXICAN FROM MEXICO + +Enrique del Rio promptly became known to San Juan as the Mexican from +Mexico, this to distinguish him from the many Mexicans, as San Juan +knew them, who had never seen that turbulent field of intrigue and +revolt from which their sires had come. He showed himself from the +outset to be a gentleman of culture, discernment, and ability. He was +suave, he was polished, he gave certain signs of refinement. + +His first afternoon and evening he bestowed upon Jim Galloway. The +second day found him registered at Struve's hotel. The following +morning he presented himself with a sheaf of credentials at the bank, +asking for John Engle. With him came Ignacio Chavez in the rôle of +interpreter. Del Rio spoke absolutely no English and had informed +himself that Engle's Spanish was inadequate for the occasion. + +"He is Señor Don Enrique del Rio," explained Ignacio, touched by the +spell of the other's munificence and immaculate clothes. "He would +like to shake the hand of Señor Engle to become acquainted and then +friends. . . . He brings papers to tell who and what he is in Mexico +City, whence he has departed because of too damn much fight down there; +he wishes to put some money here in the _banco_, which he can take +away again to buy a big ranch and many cattle and horses. He has the +other money in a _banco_ in New York, where he sent it out from Mexico +two, three months ago." + +And so on, while Engle gravely listened and shrewdly, after his fashion +in business hours, probed for the inner man under the outer polish, +while del Rio nodded and smiled and never withdrew his night-black eyes +from Engle's face. + +Del Rio, it appeared, had gone first to the Casa Blanca because he had +heard of Jim Galloway as one of the most influential men of the county. +Since arriving in San Juan, however, he had heard this and that, mere +rumors, which caused him to come to Engle. He, a stranger, could ill +afford in the beginning to have his name coupled with that of any man +not known for his spotless integrity. Señor Engle understood? . . . +Later, when del Rio had found the properties to his liking and had +builded a home, his wife and two daughters would arrive. Now they +travelled in California. + +In the end Engle accepted the Mexican's deposits, which amounted to +approximately a thousand dollars, and which were to be drawn against +merely as an expense account until del Rio found his ranch. And the +first item of expense was the purchase from Engle himself of a fine +saddle-animal, a pure-blooded, clean-limbed young mare, sister to +Persis. After which the Mexican spent a great deal of his time riding +about the country, looking at ranches. He visited Engle's two places, +called upon Norton at Las Flores, ferreting out prices, looking at +water and feed, examining soil. + +It was a bare fortnight after the coming of del Rio when out of Las +Palmas came word of fresh lawlessness. The superintendent of the three +Quigley mines had been surprised the night before pay-day, forced at +the point of a revolver to open his own safe, and robbed of several +thousand dollars. A man on horseback rushed word to San Juan, found +Tom Cutter, who located Norton the same afternoon at his ranch at Las +Flores. + +"Rod, old man," cried Cutter angrily, "this damned thing has got to +stop! You haven't a much better friend than I am, I guess, and I'm +telling you straight that the whole county is getting sore on you. +They will talk more than ever now, saying that it's up to you to get +results and that you don't get them." + +"The stick-up was last night?" asked the sheriff coolly. + +"Yes," snapped Cutter. + +"You were in San Juan?" + +"Yes." + +"Where was Jim Galloway? Was he in town?" + +"No, he wasn't. I don't know where he was. But I do know where he +ought to be. . . ." + +"Was that Mexican gent, del Rio, in town?" + +Cutter opened his eyes. + +"No. I don't think so. You haven't got anything on him, have you?" + +"Only what you told me. Remember that his first day in San Juan he +went to Galloway like a homing pigeon." + +Norton went for his horse, saddled, and rode swiftly to Las Palmas. In +the mining-camp he went immediately to the office of Nate Kemble, the +superintendent, whom he found cursing volubly. + +"It's up to you," were the sharp words of greeting as Kemble wheeled +upon the sheriff. "What the hell do you think you're for, anyway? +Good Lord, man, if you can't cut the mustard, why don't you crawl out +and let a man who _can_ wear your star?" + +"Easy there, Kemble," said Norton quietly. "You can do your raring and +pitching after I'm gone. Tell me about it. What time did it happen?" + +"It was hardly dark." + +"How many men jumped you?" + +"Just one. But . . ." + +"Just one, eh?" He pondered the information. "That isn't the usual +brand of Galloway work, is it? Get a good slant at him?" + +"At his clothes," growled Kemble, slamming himself down dejectedly in +his chair. "His face was hid, of course." + +"Ever see a Mexican named del Rio?" + +Like Cutter before him, Kemble started. + +"Don't ask me what I mean," Norton cut him short. "Del Rio is a pretty +big man for a Mexican; was this highwayman about his size?" + +Kemble hesitated. + +"It's hard to say just how big a man is when he comes in on you like +that," he said at last. "At a guess I'd say that the man who stuck me +up was a little taller than del Rio. But I wouldn't swear to it." + +"It might have been del Rio himself, then?" Norton insisted. + +"Yes. Or it might have been the Devil's grandmother. I don't . . ." + +"See anything of del Rio the last few days?" + +"Saw him yesterday. He was in camp. Was talking mines." + +"See anything of Galloway hereabouts of late?" + +"No. Haven't seen him for a month or two." + +Norton asked a few other questions, kept his own thoughts to himself, +and rode away. Less than a mile from the camp he met Jim Galloway +riding a sweat-wet horse. The two men reined in sharply, each man's +eyes matching the other's for hardness. Galloway's face was red, the +fiery red of anger. + +"Going back for what you forgot, Jim?" asked Norton. + +For a moment Galloway, staring back at him, seemed utterly speechless +in the grip of his wrath. Norton did not remember ever having seen +such blazing anger in the prominent eyes. + +"Between you and me, Rod Norton," muttered Galloway at last, "I have +turned a trick or two in my time. But this job is none of my doing and +if I wise up as to who put it over he'll go under the sand or into the +pen, and I'll put him there." + +Norton laughed. + +"In other words, some free-lance has made a bid to break your corner on +the crime market, eh?" he jeered. "Put one over on you without your +knowledge and consent? And without splitting two ways? That what you +mean?" + +"I mean that I'd pay five hundred dollars out of my own pocket right +now for the dead-wood on the man who robbed Kemble." + +"Kid Rickard is around once more; sure he didn't do it?" + +"Yes, I am. Kid Rickard didn't do it." + +Norton eased himself in the saddle, thoughtfully regarding Galloway. +And then, very abruptly: + +"How about your friend, del Rio?" + +It was the third time that he had mentioned del Rio's name in this +connection and to the third man. And now, but slightly different in +degree only, he saw the same look in Galloway's eyes which he had +brought into Cutter's and Kemble's. + +"Del Rio?" repeated Galloway frowningly. "What makes you say that?" + +"I'll collect your five hundred later," was Norton's laughing response. +Swerving out a little as he passed, he rode on. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A STACK OF GOLD PIECES + +John Engle rapidly came to assume the nature and proportions of a +stubborn bulwark standing sturdily between Roderick Norton and the +fires of criticism, which, springing from little, scattered flames were +now a wide-spread blaze amply fed with the dry fuel of many fields. +Again there had been a general excitement over a crime committed, much +talk, various suspicions, and, in the end, no arrest made. Men who had +stood by the sheriff until now began to lose faith in him. They +recalled how, after the fight in the Casa Blanca, he had let Galloway +go and with him Antone and the Kid; their memories trailed back to the +killing of Bisbee of Las Palmas and the evidence of the boots. They +began to admit, at first reluctantly, then with angry eagerness, that +Norton was not the man his father had been before him, not the man they +had taken him to be. And all of this hurt Norton's stanch friend, John +Engle. All the more that he, too, saw signs of hesitancy which he +found it hard to condone. + +"Let him alone," he said many a time. "Give him his chance and a free +hand. He knows what he is doing." + +From that point he began to make excuses, first to himself and then to +others. People were forgetting that only a short time ago the sheriff +had lain many days at the point of death; that his system had been +overtaxed; that not yet had his superb strength come back to him. Wait +until once more he was physically fit. + +It was merely an excuse, and at the outset no man knew it better than +the banker himself. But as time went by without bringing results and +tongues grew sharper and more insistent everywhere, Engle grew +convinced that there was a grain of truth in his trumped-up argument. +He invited Norton to his home, had him to dinner, watched him keenly, +and came to the conclusion that Norton was riding on his nerves, that +he had not taken sufficient time to recuperate before getting his feet +back into the official stirrups, that the strain of his duties was +telling on him, that he needed a rest and a change or would go to +pieces. + +But Norton, the subject broached, merely shook his head. + +"I'm all right, John," he said a little hurriedly and nervously. "I am +run down at the heels a bit, I'll admit. But I can't stop to rest +right now. One of these days I'll quit this job and go back to +ranching. Until then . . . Well, let them talk. We can't stop them +very well." + +Suspicion of the Quigley mines robbery had turned at first toward del +Rio. But he had established an alibi. So had Galloway. So had Antone +and the Kid. + +"There is nothing to do but wait," Norton insisted. "It won't be long +now." + +Engle, having less than no faith in Patten's ability, went to Virginia +Page. She saw Norton often; what did she think? Was he on the verge +of a collapse? Was he physically fit? + +"All of this criticism hurts him," said the banker thoughtfully. "I +know Rod and how he must take it, though he only shrugs. It's gall and +wormwood to him. He's up against a hard proposition, as we all know; +if he is half-sick, I wonder if the proposition isn't going to be too +much for him? Can't you advise him, persuade him to knock off for a +couple of weeks and clear out? Get into a city somewhere and forget +his work. Why, it's the most pitiful thing in the world to see a man +like him lose his grip." + +"He is not quite himself," she admitted slowly. "He is more nervous, +inclined to be short and irritable, than he used to be. You may be +right; or it may be simply that his continued failure to stop these +crimes is wearing him down. I'll be glad to watch him, to talk with +him if he will listen to me." + +But first she forced herself to what seemed a casual chat with Patten, +finding him loitering upon the hotel veranda. She suggested to him +that Norton was beginning to show the strain, that he looked haggard +under it, and wondered if he had quite recovered from his recent +illness? + +Patten, after his pompous way, leaned back in his chair, his thumbs in +his armholes, his manner that of a most high judge. + +"He's as well as I am," he announced positively. "Thin, to be sure, +just from being laid up those ten days. And from a lot of hard riding +and worry. That's all." + +Out of Patten's vest-pocket peeped a lead-pencil. Curiously enough, it +carried her mind back to Patten's incompetence. For it suggested the +fountain pen which of old occupied the pencil's place and which the +sheriff had taken in his haste to secrete a bit of paper with Patten's +scrawl upon it. She wondered again just what had been on that paper, +and if it were meant to help Norton prove that Patten had no right to +the M.D. after his name? The incident, all but forgotten, remained +prominently in her mind, soon to assume a position of transcendent +importance. + +And then, one after the other, here and there throughout the county +came fresh crimes which not only set men talking angrily but which drew +the eyes of the State and then of the neighboring States upon this +corner of the world. Newspapers in the cities commented variously, +most of them sweepingly condemning the county's sheriff for a +figurehead and a boy who should never have been given a man's place in +the sun. New faces were seen in San Juan, in Las Estrellas, Las +Palmas, Pozo, everywhere, and men said that the undesirable citizens of +the whole Southwest were flocking here where they might reap with +others of their ilk and go scot free. Naturally, the Casa Blanca +became headquarters for a large percentage of the newcomers. + +"The condition in and about San Juan," commented one of the most +reputable and generally conservative of the attacking dailies, "has +become acute, unprecedented for this time in our development. The +community has become the asylum of the lawless. The authorities have +shown themselves utterly unable to cope with the situation. A +well-known figure of the desert town who long ago should have gone to +the gallows is daily growing bolder, attaching to himself the wildest +of the insurging element, and is commonly looked upon as a crime +dictator. Unless there comes a stiffening in the moral fiber of the +local officers, we dread to consider the logical outcome of these +conditions." + +And so forth from countless quarters. Galloway openly jeered at +Norton. New faces, looking out from the Casa Blanca, grinned widely as +the sheriff now and then rode past. Engle and Struve and Tom Cutter, +anxious and beginning to be afraid of what lurked in the future, met at +the hotel and sought to hit upon a solution of the problem. + +"Norton has got something up his sleeve," growled the hotel keeper, +"and he's as stubborn as a mule. He's after Galloway, and it begins to +look as though he were forgetting that his job is to serve the county +first and his own private quarrels next. I've jawed him up and down; +it only makes him shake his head like a horse with flies after him." + +The three, hoping that their combined arguments might have weight with +Norton, went to him and did not leave him until they had made clear +what their thoughts were, what the whole State was saying of him. And, +as Struve had predicted, he shook his head. + +"These later robberies haven't been Galloway's work," he told them +positively. "They were pulled off by the same man who stuck up Kemble +of the Quigley mines. Inside of a week I'll get something done; I'll +promise you that. But let me do it my way." + +Engle alone of the three drew a certain satisfaction from the interview. + +"He has promised something definite," he told them. "Did you ever know +him to do that and fail to keep his word? Maybe we're getting a little +excited, boys." + +The latest crime had been the robbery of the little bank at Packard +Springs. The highwayman had gone in the night to the room of the +cashier, forced him to dress, go to the bank, and open his safe. The +result was a theft of a couple of thousand dollars, no trace left +behind, and a growing feeling of insecurity throughout the county. It +was for this crime that Norton meant and promised to make an arrest. + +Exactly seven days from the day of his promise Norton rode into San +Juan and asked for Tom Cutter. Struve, meeting him at the hotel door, +looked at him sharply. + +"Made that arrest yet, Norton?" he demanded. Norton smiled. + +"No, I haven't," he admitted coolly. "But I've got a few minutes +before my week's up, haven't I? Fix me up with something to eat and +I'll have a talk with you and Tom while I attend to the inner man." + +But over his meal, while Cutter and Struve watched him impatiently, he +did little talking other than to ask carelessly where del Rio was. + +"Damn it, man," cried Struve irritably. "You've hinted at him before +now. If he's a crook, why don't you go grab him? He's in his room." + +Norton swung about upon Struve, his eyes suddenly filled with fire. + +"Look here, Struve," he retorted, "I've had about a bellyful of +badgering. I'm running my job and it will be just as well for you to +keep your hands off. As for why I don't make an arrest . . . Come on, +Tom. You, too, Julius," his smile coming back. "I'm going to get del +Rio." + +"I don't believe . . ." began Struve. + +"Seeing is believing," returned Norton lightly. "Come on." + +Followed by the two men, Norton went direct to del Rio's room, at the +front of the house, just across the hall from Virginia's office. At +del Rio's quick "_Entra_," he threw open the door and went in. Del +Rio, seated smoking a cigar, looked up with curious eyes which did not +miss the two men following the sheriff. + +"You are under arrest for the bank robbery at Packard Springs," said +Norton crisply. + +"_Que quiere usted decir_?" demanded the Mexican, to whom the English +words were meaningless. + +Norton threw back his vest, showing his star. And while he kept his +eye upon del Rio he said quietly to Cutter: + +"Look through his trunk and bags." + +Del Rio, understanding quickly enough, sat smoking swiftly, his eyes +narrowing as they clung steadily to Norton's. Cutter, a rising hope in +his breast that at last his superior had made good, went to the trunk +in the corner. Del Rio shrugged and remained silent. + +Cutter began tumbling out upon the floor an assortment of clothing, +evincing little respect for the Mexican's finery. Suddenly, when his +hands had gone to the bottom, he sat back upon his heels, a leaping +light in his eyes. + +"Caught with the goods on, by God!" he cried. "Look here, Struve!" + +He had whipped out a canvas bag which gave forth the chink of gold. +Another came after it. And across each bag was stamped "Packard +Springs Bank." + +Del Rio's eyes had wandered a moment to Cutter and the evidence. Then +they came back to Norton, filled with black malevolence. One did not +need to understand the southern language to grasp the meaning of the +words muttered under his breath. + +Within the half-hour Strove, Cutter, and Engle had apologized to +Norton; after this, they promised him to keep their hands off and their +mouths shut. + + +That evening Virginia and Norton sat long together on Struve's veranda. +There was more silence than talk between them. Norton seemed +abstracted; the girl was plainly constrained, anxious, and found it +difficult to keep her mind upon the thin thread of conversation joining +their occasional remarks. Abruptly, out of one of their wordless +intervals, she said quickly: + +"Congratulate me on being a rich woman! I got a check from an old, +almost forgotten, patient to-day. A hundred dollars, all in one lump! +It's a fortune in San Juan, isn't it?" + +Norton laughed with her. + +"I feel like spending it all in a breath," she ran on. "I went right +away to Mr. Engle and had him cash it so that I could see what five +twenty-dollar gold pieces looked like. And I chinked them and played +with them like a child! Do you think I am growing greedy for gold in +my old age? . . . You ought to see them piled up, though; five +twenties. Isn't gold a pretty thing? I've a notion to go get them and +show them to you; they're right on my table ..." + +She broke off suddenly, her hand on his arm. + +"Did you see some one out there at the corner of the house?" she asked +quickly. "Do you think . . ." + +Then she laughed again and settled back in her chair. + +"Already thinking somebody is going to steal my gold! My five +twenties. Just to punish myself I am going to leave them on my office +table all night; do you suppose I'll be wondering all the time if +somebody is crawling in at a window and taking them?" + +Five minutes later she said good night and left him. + +"I'll be up early in the morning," she said laughingly. "Just to make +sure that my gold is there!" + + +An hour later Virginia Page, sitting fully dressed in the darkness of +her bedroom, got quietly to her feet and went to the door leading to +her office. With wildly beating heart she stood listening, seeking to +peer through the crack of the door she had left ajar. She had heard +the faint, expected sound of some one moving cautiously. + +Now she heard it again, then the rustling of loose papers lying on her +table, then the faint, golden chink of yellow-minted disks. As she +suddenly scratched the match in her hand, drawing it along the wall, +she threw the door open. The tiny flame, held high, retrieved the room +from darkness into sufficient pale light. The man at her table whirled +upon her, an exclamation caught in his throat, one hand going to his +hip, the other closing tight upon what it held. + +She came in, her eyes steadily upon his, her face deathly pale. As the +match fell from her fingers she went to the open window and drew down +the shade. Then she lit a second match, set it to her lamp, and sank +wearily into her chair. + +"Shall we thresh matters out, Mr. Norton?" she asked. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DESIRE OUTWEIGHS DISCRETION + +Following Virginia's barely audible words there was a long silence. +Her eyes, dark with the trouble in them, rested upon Norton's face and +saw the frown go from his brows while slowly the red seeped into his +bronzed cheeks. For the first time in her life she saw him staggered +by the shock of surprise, held hesitant and uncertain. For a little +there was never a movement of his rigid muscles; one hand rested upon +the butt of his revolver, the other was closed upon the stack of gold +pieces. When at last he found his tongue it was to accuse her. + +"You trapped me," he said bitterly. + +"With golden bait," she admitted, her voice oddly spiritless. "Yes." + +"Well," he challenged, "what are you going to do about it?" + +"Do? I don't know!" + +Again they grew silent, studying each other intently. Norton, his +poise coming back to him as the unusual color receded from his face, +smiled at her with an affectation of his old manner. Suddenly he +stepped back to her table, noiselessly set down the coins, eased +himself into a chair. + +"You wished to thresh things out? I am ready. And in case we should +be interrupted, you know, I have called on you in your official +capacity. We'll say that I am troubled by the old wound in the head; +that will do as well as anything, won't it?" + +"It was you who robbed the bank at Pozo!" she cried softly, leaning +toward him, the look in her eyes one of dread now. "And the mine +superintendent at Las Palmas? And I don't know how many other people. +It was you!" + +She had startled him in the beginning; she knew she would not draw +another sign of surprise from him. He had himself under control, and +long years of severe training made that control complete. He merely +looked interested under her sweeping accusation. + +"You must have a reason for a charge like that," he remarked evenly. + +"Do you deny it?" + +"I deny nothing, I affirm nothing right now. I say that you must have +a reason for what you state." + +"You put the incriminating evidence in del Rio's trunk," she ran on +hurriedly. "The canvas bags of gold. Didn't you?" + +"Reason?" he insisted equably. + +"You took Caleb Patten's fountain pen! I saw you." + +He lifted his brows at her. Then he laughed softly. + +"In the first place," he replied thoughtfully, "I really believe that +he is not Caleb at all but Charles Patten. We'll talk of that later, +however. In the second place isn't it rather humorous to wind up by +accusing a man with the theft of a fountain pen after your other +charges?" + +"Answer one question," she urged earnestly. "Please. It is only a +small matter. Give me your word of honor that you will answer it +truthfully." + +He was very grave as he sat for a moment, head down, twirling his big +hat in slow fingers. Then he smiled again as he looked up. + +"Either truthfully or not at all," he promised her. "My word of honor." + +She was plainly excited as she set him her question, seeming at once +eager and afraid to have his response. + +"I saw you take Patten's fountain pen and a scrap of note-paper from +the table by your bed when you were hurt--the first time I called to +see how you were doing. I thought that perhaps there was something of +importance written on the paper, that, if nothing else, you wanted a +bit of Patten's handwriting to use in your proof that he was not the +man he pretended to be. You slipped both pen and paper under your +pillow. Tell me just this: Was that paper of any importance whatever, +of any interest even, to you?" + +"No," he said steadily, without hesitation. "It was not. I did not so +much as look at it." + +She leaned back in her chair with a long sigh, her eyes wide on his. +And while he marvelled at it, he saw that now her look was one of pure +pity. + +"Just what has that got to do with the robberies you mention?" + +"Everything!" she burst out. "Everything! Can't you see? Oh, my God!" + +She dropped her face into her hands and he saw her shoulders lift and +slump. Glancing aside swiftly, he saw the five golden disks on the +table, almost to be reached from where he sat. + +"No doubt," he said hastily, as her head was lifted again, "you think +that you would like to send me to jail?" + +"Jail, no! A thousand times no! But you must, you must let me send +you to a hospital!" + +He frowned at her while he gave over twirling his hat and grew very +still. + +"You think I am crazy?" he asked sharply. "That it?" + +"No. You are as sane as I am. I don't think that at all. But . . . +Oh, can't you understand?" + +"No, I can't. You accuse me of this and that, you give no reasons for +your wild suspicions, you end up by suggesting medical treatment. +What's the answer, Virginia Page?" + +"The answer, Roderick Norton, is a very simple one. But first I am +going to ask you another question or so. You sought to commit a theft +to-night, I saw you, so there is no use denying it to me, is there?" + +"Go ahead. What next?" + +"While you lay ill during a week or ten days you had time to think. +You remember having told me that you had had time to think about +everything in the world? It was at that time, wasn't it, that you came +to the decision which you mentioned to me that a man to commit crime +and play safe at the same time must keep in mind two essential matters: +First, the lone hand; second, not to kill?" + +"I thought it out then; yes. In fact, I suppose I told you so." + +"The crimes committed recently have been characterized by these two +essentials, haven't they? Nearly all of them?" + +He nodded, watching her keenly, holding back his answers for just a +second or two each time. + +"I believe so." + +"Did you ever have an impulse to steal before you were knocked +unconscious at the Casa Blanca?" + +"No." + +"And you have had that impulse almost all the time ever since? Answer +me, tell me the truth! I am right, am I not?" + +Now again he laughed softly at her. + +"Virginia Page, the medico, speaks," he returned lightly. "She has a +theory. A man may have such an accident, leaving such and such +pressure on the brain, with the result that he becomes a thief or +worse! Virginia . . ." + +"Theory! It is no theory. It is an established, undeniable, and +undenied fact! It has occurred time and again, physicians have +observed, have made cures! Can't you see now, Rod Norton? Won't you +see?" + +She was upon her feet, her hands clasped before her, her eyes shining, +her figure tense, her cheeks stained with the color of her excitement. + +"I don't care whether Patten is a physician or not," she ran on. "He +is a bungler. It is a sheer wonder he did not let you die. You told +me yourself that he attributed the second wound to your fall and that +you knew that Moraga had struck you a terrible blow with his +gun-barrel. Patten did not treat that wound; he cared for the lesser +injury like a fool and allowed the major one to take care of itself. +And the result . . . Oh, dear God! Think of what might have happened. +If any one but me had learned what I have learned to-night." + +He rose with her, stood still, regarding her with eyes like drills. +Then he shook his head. + +"You are wrong, Virginia, dead wrong," he told her with quiet emphasis. +"You have called me a thief? Well, perhaps I am. You have given your +explanation; let me give mine." + +He paused, shaping the matter in mind. His face was stern and very, +very grave. Presently, his lowered voice guarded against any chance +ears, he continued. + +"I lay on my bed a week, a long, utterly damnable week. I could do +nothing but think. So I thought, as I told you, of everything. Most +of all I thought of you, Virginia Page. Shall I tell you why? No; +we'll let that go until we understand each other. I thought of myself, +of my life, of my eternal striving with Jim Galloway. Some day I +should get Galloway or he would get me. In either case, what good? +Was not Galloway a wiser man than I? He took what he wanted; I merely +wasted my time chasing after such bigger men as he. If he desired a +thousand dollars or five, ten thousand, he went out for it like a man +and took it. Why shouldn't he? Oh, I tell you I had the time to dwell +upon the little meaningless words of honesty and dishonesty, honor and +dishonor, and all of their progeny and forebears! They are empty; +empty, I tell you, Virginia! When I stood on my feet again I was a +free man. I knew it then, I know it now. Free, I tell you. Free, +most of all from shackles of empty ideas. What I wanted I would take." + +She looked at him helplessly, his dominant vigor for the moment seeming +a thing not to be restricted or tamed. + +"What you have done," she told him gently, "is to find argument to +bolster up impulse. That is generally very easy to do, isn't it? If +one wants a thing, it is not hard convincing himself that it is right +that he should have it." + +"At least I have decided sanely what I wanted, there is no call for +hospitals." + +"You sustained a fracture of the skull. That fracture had improper +treatment. It is a wonder you did not die. The wound healed and there +remains a pressure of a bit of bone upon the brain. Until that +pressure is removed by an operation you are doomed to be a criminal. A +kleptomaniac," she said steadily, "if not much worse." + +"I believe that you mean what you say. You are just mistaken, that is +all. I'd know if there were anything physically wrong." + +She came closer, laid her hand upon his arm, and lifted her eyes +pleadingly to his. + +"I have had the best of medical training," she said slowly. "I have +specialized in brain disorders, interested in that branch of my work +until I decided to bring Elmer out here. I know what I am saying. +Will you at least promise to do as I ask? Have a thorough examination +by a specialist? And have the operation if he advises it?" + +"Such an operation is a serious matter?" + +"Yes. It must be. But think . . ." + +"A man might die under the hands of the surgeon?" + +"Yes. There is always the danger, there is always the chance of death +resulting from any but the most minor of operations. But you are not +the man to be afraid, Rod Norton. I know that." + +"You say that you have specialized In this sort of thing." He was +probing for her thoughts with keen, narrowed eyes. "Would you be +willing to perform that operation for me?" + +She shrank back suddenly, her hand dropping from his arm. + +"No," she cried. "No, no." + +He smiled triumphantly. + +"Then we'll let it go for a while. If you wouldn't care to do it, +afraid that I might die under your knife, I guess I don't want it done +at all. I am quite content with things as they are. I see the way to +gain the ends I desire; I am gaining them; if there is a brain +pressure, well, I'm quite ready to thank God and Moraga for it! Which +you may take as absolutely final, Dr. Page!" + +She was beaten then and she knew it. She went back to her chair in a +sort of bewildered despair, her hands dropping idly to her lap. + +"It would be just as well," he said presently, "if I left before any +one came in. Before I go, do you mind telling me what you mean to do? +Shall you denounce me? Are you going to spread your suspicions abroad?" + +"What do you leave me to do? Have I the right to sit still and say +nothing? You would go on as you have begun; you would commit fresh +crimes. In spite of your 'two essentials' you would be led to kill a +man sooner or later. Or you yourself would be killed. Have I the +right to allow all of that to continue?" + +"Then you have decided to accuse me?" + +"It is so hard to decide anything. You make it so hard; can't you see +that you do? . . . But, after all, my part is clear; if you will +consent to an examination and an operation I will say nothing of what +has happened. If you won't do that . . . you will drive me to tell +what I know." + +"Our trails divide to-night, then? I had hoped for better than that, +Virginia." + +Though her cheeks flushed, she held her eyes steadily upon his. + +"I, too, had hoped for better than that," she confessed, finding this +no time for faltering. "I should continue to hope if you would just do +your part." + +He came a swift step toward her. Then he stopped suddenly, his hands +falling to his sides. But the light in his eyes did not diminish. + +"Denounce me to-morrow, if you wish," he said slowly, indifferently it +seemed to her. "Accept my promise that I will attempt no theft of more +gold to-night; give me this one last chance to talk with you. Before +some one comes, come out with me. You are not afraid of me; you admit +that I am sane. Then let us ride together. And let me talk with you +freely. Will you, Virginia? Will you do that one favor for me?" + +The high desire was upon her to accede to his request; her calmer +judgment forbade it. But to-night was to-night; to-morrow would be +to-morrow. And, after all, in her talk with him, she might save the +man to himself and to his truer manhood. + +But even that hope was less than her desire when she answered him. + +"Have my horse saddled," she said. "I'll let Struve think I have to +make a call at Las Estrellas. I'll be out in five minutes." + +He thanked her with his eyes, opened the hall door, and went out. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DEADLOCK + +Virginia, having changed swiftly to her riding-togs, took up her little +black emergency kit, which would lend an air of business urgency to her +nocturnal ride with Norton, and stepped out into the hall. + +"There's a call for you from Las Estrellas," said Struve, appearing +from the front, whence his voice had come to her mingled with the +excited tones of a Mexican. "Tony Garcia has been hurt; pretty badly, +I expect. His brother says that Tony got his hand caught in some kind +of machinery he was fooling with late this afternoon and crushed so +that it's all but torn off." + +Into the light cast by the hotel porch-lamp Norton, leading Persis, +rode around the corner of the building. + +"I was just going out," said Virginia. "But I'll go on this case +first. Mr. Norton is riding with me. Please ask him to wait while I +get my other bag." + +In her room again, the lamp lighted on her table, she stood a moment +frowning thoughtfully into vacancy. Then with a quick shake of the +head she snatched up the two other bags which might be needed in +treating Tony's hurt and again hastened out. Norton bending from his +saddle took them from her. As Struve relinquished into her gantletted +hands the reins of Persis's bridle she swung lightly up to the mare's +back. + +"The poor fellow must be suffering all kinds of torture," she said as +Norton reined in with her. "Let's hurry." + +He offered no answer as they clattered out of San Juan and turned out +across the level lands toward Las Estrellas. So, as upon another night +when speeding upon a similar errand, they rode for a long time in +silence. Again they two alone were pushing out into the dark and the +vast silence that was broken only by the soft thudding of their own +horses' hoofs and the creak of saddle leather and jingle of spur and +bit chains. + +"You wanted to talk with me?" suggested the girl after fifteen minutes +of wordless restraint between them. + +"Yes," he answered. "But not now. That is, if you will give me a +further chance after you have done what you can for poor old Tony. You +will hardly need to stay at Las Estrellas all night, I imagine. When +we leave you can listen to me. Do you mind?" + +"No," she said slowly. "I don't mind. I'd rather it was then. You +and I have a good bit to think about before we do any talking. Haven't +we?" + +They fell silent again. The soft beauty of the night over the southern +desert lands . . . and there is no other earthly beauty like it . . . +touched the girl's soul now as it had never done before; perhaps, +similarly, it disturbed shadows in the man's. She was distressed by +the position in which she found herself, and the night's infinite quiet +and utter peace was grateful to her. As she left the hotel her +thoughts were in chaos; she was caught in a fearsome labyrinth whence +there appeared no escape. Now, though no way out suggested itself, +still the stars were shining. + +At last the twinkling lights of Las Estrellas, seeming at first fallen +stars caught in the mesquite branches, swam into view. Plainly Tony's +accident had stimulated much local interest; among the few straggling +houses men came and went, while a knot of women, children, and +countless mongrel dogs had congregated just outside of the hut where +the injured man lay. A brush fire in the street crackled right +merrily, its sparks dancing skyward. + +"You promise me," said Norton as they drew their horses down to a trot, +"not to say anything until we can have had time to talk?" + +"I promise," she said wearily. + +She entered the sufferer's room first, Norton delaying to tie the +horses and lift down the instrument cases from the saddle-strings. She +stopped abruptly just beyond the threshold; the smell of chloroform was +heavy upon the air, Tony lay whitefaced upon a table, Caleb Patten with +coat off and sleeves rolled up was bending over him. + +"Oh, señorita!" cried a woman, hurrying forward, her hands twisting +nervously in her apron. And a torrential outpouring in Spanish greeted +the mystified Virginia. + +"I thought that I was wanted here," she said, looking about her at the +four or five grave faces. "Tony's brother came for me." + +One of the men shambled forward to explain. "Tony want you," he said +quickly. "Tony ver' bad hurt. Dr. Patten come in Las Estrellas by +accident, he say got to cut off the arm, can't wait too long or Tony +die. He just beginnin' now." + +The woman, who, it appeared was Tony's wife and the mother of two of +the ragged children out by the fire, joined her voice eagerly to the +man's. He translated. + +"Eloisa say she thank God you come; Tony want you, she want you. +Patten charge one hundred dollar an'. . . ." He shrugged eloquently. +"She say you do for Tony; you do better than Patten." + +Virginia's eyes flashed upon Patten. He came a step toward her, his +attitude half belligerent. + +"The man has to be operated upon immediately," he said sharply. "He +was hurt in the afternoon out on the end of the ranch; has been all day +getting in; fainted half a dozen times, I guess. The arm has to come +off at the elbow." + +"Thank you," returned Virginia quietly, going to the table. "I'll take +the case now, Dr. Patten." + +"You?" Patten laughed, his eyes jeering. "You operate? Do you think +that they want you to cut a skein of silk with a pair of scissors? Cut +off a man's arm . . . how far would you go before you fainted?" + +"That'll be about all, Patten," came Norton's voice sternly from the +door. "This is Dr. Page's case. Clear out." + +"Thank you, Mr. Norton," said Virginia quickly. She was already making +an examination of the blood covered arm and hand, and did not look +around. "And please clear the room, will you? Let Tony's wife stay, +that is all. Eloisa." + +The woman came forward, her eyes wide and frightened. Virginia smiled +at her reassuringly. + +"_No muy malo_," she said in the few Spanish words which she could +summon for the occasion from those she had picked up from the desert +people. "_Muy bueno manana_. And now get me some warm water . . . +_agua caliente_. Mr. Norton, if you will open my instrument +case . . . no; the other one. And then stand by to help with the +anaesthetic if Patten hasn't already given him enough to keep him +asleep all night!" + +She gave her directions concisely and was obeyed. Norton put the last +of the undesired onlookers out of the door, closed it after them, found +another lamp and some candles, did all that he could think of to help +and all that was asked of him. Eloisa, having brought the water, +withdrew to a corner and kept her fascinated eyes upon Virginia's face +and stubbornly away from her husband's. + +Virginia, when she had completed a very thorough examination, turned +toward Norton, her eyes blazing. + +"Patten has no more right to an M.D. after his name than you have," she +cried angrily. "Not so much, for he hasn't even any brains! Cut the +man's arm off! Why, there is only a simple fracture above the wrist +which won't cause a bit of trouble. The hand is another matter; but +even it isn't half as badly mangled as it looks. . . . The second and +third fingers are terribly crushed; they've got to come off. We might +as well do it now, while he is already under the chloroform. . . . +Tell Eloisa just how matters stand and then send her out." + +Eloisa, already prepared for the greater operation, gasped her +gratitude for the lesser and allowed herself to be gently thrust from +the room. Then Norton came back to the table, his eyes wonderingly +upon Virginia. He knew that she was capable; he had read that fact the +first day when he had seen her hands. But it struck him as rather +unusual that a girl, any girl no matter what her training, should take +hold as she was doing. + +And as she selected her instruments, laid them out upon a bit of +sterilized gauze upon a chair, cleansed her hands and prepared to +operate he began to feel a sense of utter confidence in her. Rapidly +his own anger rose at the thought of the crime Patten would have +perpetrated. + + +Tony Garcia, when in due time his consciousness came back to him +bringing the attendant dizzy nausea in its wake, looked down at his +side curiously, wondering how it would be to go without an arm. And +when his Eloisa told him. . . . + +"We are going to sell our cow and the goats to-morrow!" vowed Tony +faintly. "And give her all the money!" + +"_Si, si_, Tony," wept the wife. + +Whereupon the small children, who were teaching the goats to pull a +wagon, set up a wail of grief and rebellion. + + +It struck both Virginia and Norton as a shade odd that Patten should be +still in Las Estrellas when they rode out of it long after midnight. +They saw him standing in the doorway of the one still lighted building +of the village as they galloped past. It was the Three Star saloon. +Patten's horse was tied in front of it. Since Patten neither drank nor +played at dice or cards here might have been matter to ponder on. But +in neither mind was there place now for any interest other than that +which again held them silent and constrained. + +Las Estrellas lost behind them, they drew their horses down into a +rocking trot, then to a slow walk. Virginia rode with her head up, her +eyes upon the field of stars. Her face, as Norton kept close to her +side, looked very white in the starlight. He would have given much to +have seen her eyes when a little later he began to talk. And she was +conscious of a kindred wish. + +"Look yonder," she said. "The late moon is coming up. There will be a +little more light then and. . . . And I want to look at you, Rod +Norton, while we thresh it out." + +The thin curved sliver of silver thrusting up over the edge of the +world in the east, ghostly and pale, added little to the throbbing +gleam of the stars; but the waiting for it had put Las Estrellas a mile +behind them, had set them alone together out in the heart of the +silences, had given them that last excuse to be had to set back an evil +moment. Virginia, with a sigh, brought her eyes down from the glitter +of the wide heavens and sought Norton's. + +"I am afraid," she said listlessly, "that there is no way out for us, +Rod Norton." + +"There is a way!" he began quickly + +"There is no way unless you do what I say. If you would only give me +your word to take the stage to-morrow, to go to a competent surgeon, to +submit to the operation. If you would only give me your word. . . ." + +"I give you my word," he said sharply, "that that is just the thing +which I will never do. Virginia, breathe deep, fill your lungs with +the wonder of the night; realize what it means to live; think what it +means to die! You say that I am not afraid of death; well, maybe not +if it comes in a guise I have grown up to be familiar with. But to lie +as I saw Tony Garcia lying just now, powerless, unconscious, without +will or knowledge of what was coming to me, and to let a man cut into +me . . . I'd rather die, I think, standing upon my two feet and +fighting it out with a gun! You would go on and tell me that the +chances would be highly in favor of my recovery; and yet you would +admit that the danger would be grave." + +"Then you are afraid, after all? That is it? That holds you back?" +She found it hard to believe that he was telling her his true emotion. + +"I am merely measuring the chances," he said steadily. "I am satisfied +with life as I find it; I do not believe that there is anything wrong +with me; I see at least the possibility of death and nothing to be +gained by submitting to an operation." + +"Then," she said again wearily, "there is no way out." + +"But there is! My way, not the one you have thought of. You have +stumbled upon a thing which you must forget; that is all. Give me the +free swing to finish Jim Galloway, to complete certain other +undertakings. Promise me that you will do this; in return I will +promise you not to . . . ." + +And here he hesitated. + +"Not to commit another theft?" She set the matter squarely before him. +"Can you promise that, Rod Norton? Could you keep the promise were it +once made?" + +"Yes." + +"No! You could not. You don't understand or you won't understand. +You would obey the impulse which would come just as certainly as the +sun will rise and set again. So I can neither accept your +promise . . . nor give you mine." + +"You will tell what you have guessed?" + +"Rather what I know! Even if you were my own brother. . . ." + +"Or your lover?" he demanded, a challenge in his voice. + +"Or my lover. For his sake if not for the sake of others." + +For a little while he made no answer. Again there was absolute silence +between him, a troubled silence filled with pain. Then suddenly he +leaned close to her, threw out his hand for Persis's rein, jerked both +horses back to a fretful standstill. + +"Can't you see what you force me to do?" he demanded half angrily. "Do +you picture what your denunciation would do for me? Do you think that +I can let you make it?" + +His face was so near hers that she could see it clearly in the pallid +light. He could see hers and that it was lifted fearlessly. + +"How will you stop me?" she asked quietly. + +"I will finish Jim Galloway out of hand," he told her savagely. "It +will no longer be the representative of the law against the lawbreaker; +it will just be Norton and Galloway, both men! I will accomplish the +one other matter I have planned. Both will require not over three or +four days. During that time . . . I tell you, Virginia, I have grown +into a free man, a man who does what he wants to do, who takes what he +wants to take, who is not bound by flimsy shackles of other men's +codes. During those three or four days I shall see that you do no +talking!" + +Once more, her voice quickened, she asked: + +"How will you stop me?" + +"We have come to a deadlock; argument does no good. Either I must +yield to you or you to me. There is too much at stake to allow of a +man being squeamish. I don't care much for the job, but by high Heaven +I am of no mind to watch life run by through the bars of a +penitentiary. After all action becomes simplified when a crisis comes; +doesn't it? There is just one answer, just one way out. You will come +with me, now. I will put you where you will have no opportunity to do +any talking for the few days in which I shall finish what I have to +do." His hand on Persis's rein drew the two horses still closer +together. "Give me your promise, Virginia; or come with me!" + +Her quick spurt of anger rose, flared, and dwindled away like a little +flame extinguished by a splash of rain; the tears were stinging her +eyes almost before the last word. For she felt that here was no +Roderick Norton speaking, but rather a bit of bone pressing upon the +delicate machinery which is a man's brain. + +"Where would you take me?" she asked faintly. + +"To the King's Palace," he answered bitterly. "Where we had one +perfect, happy day, Virginia; where, I had hoped, we would have other +perfect days. Oh, girl, can't you see," and his voice went thrilling +through her, "can't you see what I have hoped, what I have +dreamed. . . ." + +"You might still hope," she told him steadily. "You might still dream." + +"I will!" His eyes shone at her, his erect form outlined against the +black of the earth and the gleam of the stars was eloquent of mastery. +"There will come a time when you will see life as I see it. . . . And +now, for the last time, will you give me your promise, Virginia? It is +forced upon you; you will be blameless in giving it. Will you do so?" + +She only shook her head, her lips trembling, not trusting her +voice. . . . And then, in a sort of daze, she knew that they had +turned off to the left, that no longer was San Juan ahead of them, that +they were riding toward the gloomy bulwark of the mountains. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +FLUFF AND BLACK BILL + +Fluff and Black Bill were quarrelling. + +Elmer, while Norton and Virginia were on their way from San Juan to Las +Estrellas, had dropped in at the hotel to see his sister. He found +upon her office table the card which she always left for him; this +merely informed him that she was "out on a case at Las Estrellas." +Elmer had come for her purposing to suggest a call upon the Engles. +For not yet had he summoned the hardihood to present himself alone at +Florrie's home. Now, disgruntled, seeing plainly that Virginia would +never get back in time, he went out on the veranda and took solace from +the pipe to which he had grown fairly accustomed. To him came the girl +of whom he was thinking. "Hello, Fluff," he said from the shadows. + +"Hello, Black Bill," she greeted him. "Where's Virgie?" + +"Gone," he informed her, waving his pipe. "On a case to Las Estrellas. +I'm waiting for her. Did you want to see her?" + +Florrie, coming down the veranda to him, giggled. + +"No," she told him flippantly. "I'm looking for the Emperor of China. +I never was so lonesome. . . ." + +"So'm I," said Elmer. He pushed a chair forward with his foot. "Sit +down and we'll wait for her. And I'll go in and bring out a couple of +bottles of ginger ale or something." + +"Will she be back real soon?" asked Florrie pretending to hesitate. + +"Sure," he assured her positively. + +"All right then." Florrie with a great rustling of skirts sat down. +"But you must be nice to me, Black Bill." + +"It's always you who starts it," he muttered at her. "I'd be friends +if you would. What's the good of spatting like two kids, anyway?" + +"We're really not kids any longer, are we?" she agreed demurely. "I +feel terribly grown up sometimes, don't you?" + +From which point they got along swimmingly for perhaps five minutes +longer than it had ever been possible for them to talk together without +"starting something." Elmer, very emphatic in his own mind concerning +his matured status, yearned for her to understand it as he did. With +such purpose clearly before him . . . and before her, too, for that +matter, since Miss Florrie had a keen little comprehension of her +own . . . he spoke largely of himself and his blossoming plans. He was +a vaquero, to begin with; he had ridden fifty miles yesterday on range +business; he was making money; he was putting part of that money away +in Mr. Engle's bank. There was a little ranch on the rim of Engle's +big holding which belonged to an old half-breed; Elmer meant to acquire +it himself one of these days. And before so very long, too. Mr. Engle +had been approached and was looking into it, might be persuaded to +advance the couple of thousand dollars for the property, taking as +security a mortgage until Elmer could have squared for it. Then Black +Bill would begin stocking his place, a cow now, a horse, another cow, +and so on. + +He had launched himself valiantly into his tale. But at a certain +point he began to swallow and catch at his words and smoke fast between +sentences. He had located a dandy spot for a house . . . the jolliest +little spring of cold water you ever saw . . . a knoll with big trees +upon it. + +"We'll make up a party with Virginia and Norton some day and ride out +there," he said abruptly. "I . . . I'd like to have you see it, Fluff." + +She was tremulously delighted. She sensed the nearest thing to an +out-and-out proposal which had ever sung in her ears. She leaned +forward eagerly, her hands clasped to keep them from trembling. She +was sixteen, he eighteen . . . and she had his assurance of a moment +ago that they were no longer just "kids." And then and there their +so-long-delayed quarrel began. Just at the wrong time, after the +time-honored fashion of quarrels. He was ready to twine the vine about +the veranda posts of the house on the knoll where the spring and the +big trees were, she was ready to plant the fig-tree. Then she had +glimpsed something just too funny for anything in the idea of Elmer +raising pigs . . . for he had gone on to that, sagely anticipating a +high market another season . . . and she laughed at him and all +unintentionally wounded his feelings. In a flash he was Black Bill +again and on his mettle, ready with the quick retort stung from him; +and she, parrying his thrust, was at once Fluff, the mercuric. The +spat was on . . . they would call it a spat to-morrow if to-morrow were +kind to them . . . and Elmer's ranch and house and cow, horse and pigs +were laughed to scorn. + +Florrie departed leaving her cruellest laughter to ring in his ears. +This might have been a repetition of any one of a dozen episodes +familiar to them both, but never, perhaps, had Elmer's ears burned so +or Florrie's heart so disturbed her with its beating. For, she thought +regretfully as she hurried out into the street, they had been getting +along so nicely. . . . + +She had no business out alone at this time of night and she knew it. +So she hurried on, anxious to get home before her father, who was +returning late from a visit to one of his ranches. Abreast of the Casa +Blanca she slowed up, looking in curiously. Then, as again she was +hastening on, she heard Jim Galloway's deep voice in a quiet "Good +evening, Miss Florence." + +"Good evening!" gasped Florrie aloud. And "Oh!" said Florrie under her +breath. For Galloway's figure had separated itself from the shadows at +the side of his open door and had come out into the street, while +Galloway was saying in a matter-of-fact way: "I'll see you home." + +She wanted to run and could not. She hung a moment balancing upon a +high heel in indecision. Galloway stepped forward swiftly, coming to +her side. "Oh, dear," the inner Florrie was saying. A glance over her +shoulder showed her Black Bill standing out in front of Struve's hotel. +Well, there were compensations. + +She started to hurry on, and had Jim Galloway been less sure of +himself, troubled with the diffidence of youth as was Elmer, he must +have either given over his purpose or else fairly run to keep up with +her. But being Jim Galloway, he laid a gentle but none the less +restraining hand upon her arm. + +"Please," he said quietly. "I want to talk with you. May I?" + +Florrie's arm burned where he had touched her. She was all in a +flutter, half frightened and the other half flattered. A shade more +leisurely they walked on toward the cottonwoods. Here, in the shadows, +Galloway stopped and Florrie, although beginning to tremble, stopped +with him. + +"Men have given me a black name here," he was saying as he faced her. +"They've made me somewhat worse than I am. I feel that I have few +friends, certainly very few of my own class. I like to think of you as +a friend. May I?" + +It was distinctly pleasant to have a big man like Galloway, a man whom +for good or for bad the whole State knew, pleading with her. It gave a +new sort of assurance to her theory that she was "grown up"; it added +to her importance in her own eyes. + +"Why, yes," said Florrie. + +"I am going away," he continued gravely. "For just how long I don't +know. A week, perhaps a month, maybe longer. It is a business matter +of considerable importance, Florence. Nor is it entirely without +danger. It will take me down below the border, and an American in +Mexico right now takes his life entirely into his own hands. You know +that, don't you?" + +"Then why do you go?" + +Galloway smiled down at her. + +"If I held back every time a danger-signal was thrown out," he said +lightly, "I wouldn't travel very far. Oh, I'll come back all right; a +man may go through fire itself and return if he has the incentive which +I have." His tone altered subtly. Florrie started. + +"But before I go," went on Galloway, "I am going to tell you something +which I think you know already. You do, don't you, Florence?" + +She would not have been Florrie at all, but some very different, +unromantic, and unimaginative creature, had she failed of +comprehension. Jim Galloway was actually making love to her! + +"What do you mean, Mr. Galloway?" she managed to stammer. + +"I mean that what I am telling you is for your ears alone. I am +placing a confidence in you, the greatest confidence a man can place in +a girl. Or in a woman, Florence. I am trusting that what I say will +remain just between you and me for the present. . . . When I come back +I will be no longer just Jim Galloway of the Casa Blanca, but Galloway +of one of the biggest grants in Mexico, with mile after mile of fertile +lands, with a small army of servants, vaqueros, and retainers, a sort +of ruler of my own State! It sounds like a fairy-tale, Florence, but +it is the sober truth made possible by conditions below the border. My +estates will run down to the blue water of the Gulf; I shall have my +own fleet of ocean-going yachts; there is a port upon my own land. +There will be a home overlooking the sea like a king's palace. Will +you think of all that while I am gone? Will you think of me a little, +too? Will you remember that my little kingdom is crying out for its +queen? . . . No; I am not asking you to answer me now. I am just +asking that you hold this as our secret until I come back. Until I +come back for you! . . . I shall stand here until you reach your +home," he broke off suddenly. "Good night, my dear." + +"Good night," said Florence faintly, a little dazed by all that he had +said to her. Then, running through the shadows to her home, she was +thinking of the boy who had wished to propose to her and of the man who +had done so; of Elmer's little home upon the knoll surrounded by a cow, +a horse, and some pigs . . . and of a big house like a palace looking +out to sea across the swaying masts of white-sailed, sea-going yachts! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A CRISIS + +Like Norton, Virginia found life simplifying itself in a crisis. Upon +three hundred and sixty days or more of the average year each +individual has before him scores of avenues open to his thoughts or to +his act; he may turn wheresoever he will. But in the supreme moments +of his life, with brief time for hesitation granted him, he may be +forced to do one of two things: he must leap back or plunge forward to +escape the destiny rushing down upon him like a speeding engine +threatening him who has come to stand upon the crossing. Now Virginia +saw clearly that she must submit to Norton's mastery and remain silent +in the King's Palace or she must seek to escape and tell what she knew +or . . . Was there a remaining alternative? If so it must present +itself as clearly as the others. Action was stripped down to +essentials, bared to its component elements. True vision must +necessarily result, since no side issues cluttered the view. + +She sat upon a saddle-blanket upon the rock floor of the main chamber +of the series of ancient dwelling-rooms, staring at the fire which +Norton had builded against a wall where it might not be seen from +without. The horses were in the meadow down by the stream; she and +Norton had tethered them among the trees where they were fairly free +from the chance of being seen. Norton was coming up, mounting the +deep-worn steps in the cliff side. He had gone for water; he had not +been out of sight nor away five minutes. And yet when she looked up to +see him coming through the irregular doorway she had decided. + +She saw in him both the man and the gentleman. Her anger had died down +long ago, smothered in the ashes of her distress; now she summoned to +the fore all that she might in extenuation of what he did. She did not +blame him for the crimes which she knew he had committed because she +was so confident that the chief crime of all had been the act resulting +from Caleb Patten's abysmal ignorance. Nor now could she blame Norton +that, embarked upon this flood of his life, he saw himself forced to +make her his prisoner for a few hours. It was a man's birthright to +protect himself, to guard his freedom. And her heart gave him high +praise that toward her he acted with all deference, that with things as +they were, while he was man enough to hold her here, he was too much +the gentleman to make love to her. Would she have resisted, would she +have opposed calm argument against a hot avowal? She did not know. + +"Virginia," he said gravely as he slumped down upon the far side of the +fire, "I feel the brute. But . . ." + +Yes, she had decided, fully decided, whether if be for better or for +worse. Now she surprised him with one of her quick, bright, friendly +smiles while she interrupted: + +"Let us make the best of a bad situation," she said swiftly. "I am not +unhappy right now; I have no wish to run half-way to meet any +unhappiness which may be coming our way. You are not the brute toward +me; what you do, I do not so much as censure you for. I am not going +to quarrel with you; were I in your boots I imagine I'd do just exactly +as you are doing. I hope I'd be as nice about it, too. And now, +before we drop the subject for good and all, let me say this: no matter +what I do, should it even be the betraying you into the hands of your +enemies, to put it quite tragically, I want you to know that I wish you +well and that is why I do it. Can you understand me?" + +"Yes," he said slowly. "It's sweet of you, Virginia. If you got my +gun and shot my head off, I don't know who should blame you. I +shouldn't!" he concluded with a forced attempt to match her smile. + +"Then we understand each other? As long as each does the best he can +see his way to do, the other finds no fault?" And when he nodded she +rose quickly and came to him, putting out her hand as he rose. "Rod +Norton," she said simply, and her eyes shone steady and clear into his, +"I wish you the best there is. I think we should both pray a little to +God to help us to-night. . . . And now, if you will run up to your +Treasure Chamber and bring down the coffee, I'll promise to be here +when you get back. And to make you a good hot drink; I feel the need +of it and so do you." + +He went out without an answer, his face grave and troubled again. As +her eyes followed him they were no longer gay but wistful, and then +filled with a sadness which she had not shown to him, and then suddenly +wet. But before he had gone half a dozen steps from the door she +dashed a hasty hand across her eyes and went swiftly to the smallest of +the three black leather cases he had brought up here after her. + +"This is the one way out, Rod Norton!" she whispered. "The one way out +if God is with us." + +Her quick fingers sought and found the tiny phial with its small white +tablets . . . labelled _Hyoscine_ . . . and secreted it in her bosom. +She was laying fresh twigs upon the blaze when he came back with the +coffee-pot, can of coffee, and a tin cup. She greeted him with another +quick smile. He saw that her cheeks were flushed rosily, that there +was subdued excitement in her eyes. And yet matters just as they were +would sufficiently explain these phenomena without causing him to quest +farther. He thought merely that he had never seen her so delightfully +pretty. + +"Virginia Page," he told her as his own eyes grew bright with the new +light leaping up into them, "some day . . ." + +"Sh!" she commanded, her color deepened. "Let us wait until that day +comes. Now you just obey orders; lie there and smoke while I make the +coffee." + +He wanted to wait on her, but when she insisted he withdrew to the wall +a few feet away, sat down, filled his pipe, and watched her. And while +he filled his eyes with her he marvelled afresh. For it seemed to him +that her mood was one of unqualified happiness. She did all of the +talking, her words came in a ceaseless bright flow, she laughed readily +and often, her eyes were dancing, the warm color stood high in her +cheeks. That her heart was beating like mad, that the intoxication of +an intent he could not read had swept into her brain, that she was +vastly more in the mood to weep than to smile . . . all of this lay +hidden to him behind her woman's wit. For, having decided, there would +be no going back. + +With the coffee boiling in the old black and spoutless pot from +Norton's cache in the Treasure Chamber, she poured what was left of the +ground coffee from its tin to the flat surface of a bit of stone. This +tin was to serve Norton as his cup. + +"It's to be our night-cap," she laughed at him as she put the +improvised cup by the other. "I refuse to sit up any later; a +saddle-blanket for bunk, and then to sleep. That is my room yonder, +isn't it?" She nodded toward the black entrance to the second of the +chambers of the King's Palace. "And you will sleep here? Well, while +the coffee cools, I'm going to make my bed." She carried her blanket +on past him, was gone into the yawning darkness, was back in a moment. + +"My bed's ready," she told him gayly. "This kind of housekeeping just +suits me! Now for the coffee. . . . Rod Norton, will you do as you +are told or not? You are to sit still and let me wait on you; who's +hostess here, I'd like to know?" + +While out of his sight she had slipped one of the hyoscine tablets into +her palm; now, as she poured the ink-black beverage, she let it drop +into the tin can which she presented to Norton. + +"Don't say it doesn't taste right!" she admonished him in a voice in +which at last he detected the nervous note. + +He stood up, holding his coffee-can in his hand, meeting her strained +levity with a deep gravity. + +"Virginia," he began. + +"It's too late to cut in on my monologue!" she cried gayly. "Pledge me +in the drink I have made for you, Mr. Norton! Just say: 'Virginia, +here's looking at you!' Or: 'I wish you well in all that you +undertake.' Or: 'For all that you have said to me, for whatever you +may say or do in the future, I forgive you!' That's all." + +"Virginia," he said gently, "I love you, my dear." + +She laughed nervously. + +"That's the nice way to say everything all at once!" He saw that her +hand shook, that a little of her coffee spilled, and that again she +grew steady. "Now our night-cap and good night!" + +She drank hurriedly. Thereafter she yawned and made her little +pretense of increased drowsiness. + +"It's been such a long day," she said. "You'll forgive me if I tumble +right straight into sleepy-land?" + +Again they said good night and she left him, going down among the eerie +dancing shadows to her own quarter, drawing his moody eyes after her. +When she had gone, he threw down his own blanket across the main +entrance of the King's Palace, filled his pipe again, and sat staring +out into the night. + +The fire cast up its red flare spasmodically, licked at the last of the +dead branches which, rolling apart, burned out upon the rock floor. +The darkness once more blotted out all detail saving the few +smouldering coals, the knobs of stone in the small flickering circles +of light, the quiet form of the man silhouetted against the lesser dark +of the night without. Virginia, rigid and motionless at the spot to +which she had stolen noiselessly, watched him breathlessly. + +For only a little he sat smoking. Then, as though he experienced +something of that weariness of which she had made pretense, he laid his +pipe aside and stretched out upon his blanket, leaning upon an elbow. +She heard him sigh, vaguely made out when he let his head slip down +upon an arm, saw that he had grown still, and was lying stretched out +across the main threshold. + +Now she must stand motionless while every fibre of her being demanded +action; now she must curb impetuosity to the call of caution. As the +seconds passed, all but insupportable in their tedious slowness, she +stood rigid and tense, waiting. But soon she knew that the drug had +had its will with him, that he was steeped in deep sleep, that no +longer must she wait, that now at length she might act. + +Carrying her saddle-blanket she came to him and stood quietly looking +down into his upturned face. At last she could let the tears burst +into her eyes unchecked, now she could suddenly go down on her knees +beside him, for an instant laying her cheek lightly against his in the +first caress. Would it be the last? He stirred a little and sighed +again. She drew back, still upon her knees again breathlessly rigid. +But his stupor clung heavily to him, and she knew that it would hold +him thus for hours. + +A score of burning questions clamoring in her mind she disposed of +briefly, since time was of the essence. + +"If I let you have your way, Rod Norton," she whispered, "you will go +on from crime to tragedy. If I hand you over to the law, I will be +betraying you for no end; for your type of man finds the way to break +jail and so force his own hand to further violence. There is the one +way out. . . . And God help me to succeed. God forgive me if I fail!" + +She stole by him and stepped upon the outer ledge. She was leaving him +helpless . . . the thought presented itself that she would have another +thing to answer for if one of the many men with such cause to hate him +should come upon him thus. Well, that was but one of the more remote +chances she must take. There was scant enough likelihood that any one +should come here before she could race into Las Estrellas and back. + +Then it was that she saw Patten. She did not know at first that it was +Patten, but just that within a few feet of her upon the ledge which she +must travel to the steps a man was standing, his body jerking back, +pressed against the rocks as he saw her. She drew back swiftly, her +blood in riotous tumult. + +But now, above aught else, the one thought in her mind was that there +was no time for loitering, that the dawn would come all too soon, that +there must be no delay. She stooped quickly and drew from its holster +Norton's heavy revolver. Her saddle-blanket over her left arm, the gun +gripped in her right hand, she was once more upon the ledge, moving +cautiously toward the figure seen a moment ago, gone now. + +That it was Patten she knew only when she had gone down the steps and +had overtaken him there. Retreating thus far, reassured when he had +made out that it was the girl alone, he waited for her. And as she +demanded nervously, "Who is it?" it was Patten's disagreeable laugh +which answered her. + +"So," he jeered at her, "this is the sort of thing you do when you are +supposed to be out on a case all night!" + +Patten here! Had God sent him . . . or the devil? His insult she +passed over. She was not thinking of herself right now, of convention, +of wagging tongues. She was just seeking to understand how this latest +incident might simplify or make more complex her problem. + +"I've had my suspicions all along," he laughed evilly. "To-night I +followed and made sure. And now, my fine little white dove, what have +you to say for yourself?" + +Might she use Patten? She was but now on her way to Las Estrellas for +aid. She would operate herself, she would take that upon herself, with +no more regard for ethics than for Patten's gossiping tongue. She +believed that she could do it successfully; at the least she must make +the attempt, though Norton died under her hand. The right? She had +the right! The right because she loved him, because he loved her, +because his whole future was at stake. But she must have assistance so +that she submit him to no needless danger, so that she give him every +chance under such circumstances as these. She would have brought a man +from Las Estrellas, she would have let him think what pleased him, just +saying that Norton had met with an accident, that an operation was +necessary. And now Patten was here. + +Could she use him? + +"You followed us?" she said, gaining time for her thoughts. + +"Yes; I followed you. I saw you come here. I watched while he +unsaddled, how he came up to you. What I could not see through the +rock walls I could guess! And now . . ." + +"Well, now?" she repeated after him, so that Patten must have marvelled +at her lack of emotion. "Now what?" + +"Now," he spat at her venomously, "I think I have found the fact to +shut Roderick Norton's blabbing mouth for him!" + +"I don't understand . . ." + +"You don't? You mean that he hasn't done any talking to you about me?" + +"Oh!" And now suddenly she did understand. "You mean how you are not +Caleb Patten at all but Charles? How you are no physician but liable +to prosecution for illegal practising?" + +Could she use him or could she not? That was what she was thinking, +over and over. + +"Where is he?" demanded Patten a little suspiciously. "What is he +doing? What are you doing out here alone?" + +"He is asleep," she told him. + +Patten laughed again. + +"Your little parties are growing commonplace then!" + +"Charles Patten," she cut in coolly, "I have stood enough of your +insult. Be still a moment and let me think." + +He stared at her but for a little; his own mind busy, was silent. +Could she make use of this blind instrument which fate had thrust into +her hand? She began to believe that she could. + +"Charles Patten," she went on, a new vigor in her tone, "Mr. Norton +knows enough concerning you to make you a deal of trouble. Just how +long a term in the State prison he can get for you I don't know. +But . . ." + +"Haven't I found the way to shut his mouth!" he said sharply. + +"I think not. Before your slanders could travel far we could have +found Father Jose and have been married. But let me finish. You have +practised here for upward of two years, haven't you? You have made +money, you have a ranch of your own. That is one thing to keep in +mind. The other is that more than one of your patients have died. I +believe, Charles Patten, that it would be a simple matter to have the +district attorney convict you of murder. That's the second thing to +remember." + +Patten shifted uneasily. Then she knew that it had been God who had +sent him. When he sought to bluster, she cut him short. + +"In the morning, as soon as there is light enough," she said, wondering +at her own calmness, "I am going to perform a capital operation upon +Mr. Norton. It will be without his knowledge and consent. If he lives +and you will give up your practice and retire to your ranch or what +business pleases you, I will guarantee that he does not prosecute you +for what has passed. If he dies . . ." + +"If he dies"--he snatched the words from her--"it will be murder!" + +". . . you would be free from prosecution," she continued, quite as +though he had made no interruption, "I rather imagine that I should +die, too. And, as you say, I would be liable for murder. He is asleep +now because I have drugged him. I shall chloroform him before he +wakes. I should have no defense in the law-courts. Yes, it would be +murder." + +He drew a step back from her as though from one suddenly gone mad. + +"What are you operating for?" he demanded. + +"For your blunder," she said simply. "And you are going to help me." + +"Am I?" he jeered. "Not by a damned sight! If you think that I am +going to let myself in for that sort of thing . . ." + +Until now he had not seen the gun in her hand. Her quick gesture +showed it to him. + +"Charles Patten," she told him emphatically, "I am risking Mr. Norton's +life; I am therefore risking my own. Understand what that means. +Understand just what you have got to win or lose by to-night's work. +Consider that I pledge you my word not to implicate you in what you do; +that if worse came to worse, you could claim and I would admit that you +were forced at the point of a gun to do as I told you. Oh, I can shoot +straight! And finally, I will shoot straight, as God watches me, +rather than let you go now and stop what I have undertaken! Think of +it well, Charles Patten!" + +Patten, being as weak of mind as he was pudgy of hand, having besides +that peculiar form of craft which is vouchsafed his type, furthermore +more or less of a coward, saw matters quite as Virginia wished him. +Together they awaited the coming of the dawn. The girl, realizing to +the uttermost what lay before her, forced herself to rest, lying still +under the stars, schooling herself to the steady-nerved action which +was to have its supreme test. + +Just before the dawn they had coffee and a bite to eat from Norton's +little pack. Close to the drugged man they builded a rude low table by +dragging the squared blocks of fallen stone from their place by the +wall. Upon this Virginia placed the saddle-blankets, neatly folded. +Already Patten was showing signs of nervousness. Looking into her face +he saw that it was white and drawn but very calm. Patten was asking +himself countless questions, many of them impossible of answer yet. +She was closing her mind to everything but the one supreme matter. + +He helped her give the chloroform when she told him that there was +sufficient light and that she was ready. He brought water, placed +instruments, stood by to do what she told him. His nervousness had +grown into fear; he started now and then, jerking about guiltily, as +though he foresaw an interruption. + +Together they got Norton's inert form upon the folded blankets. +Patten's hands shook a little; he asked for a sip of brandy from her +flask. She granted it, and while Patten drank she cut away the hair +from the unconscious man's scalp. Long ago her fingers had made their +examination, were assured that her diagnosis was correct. Her hands +were as untrembling as the steel of her knife. She made the first +incision, drawing back the flap of skin and flesh, revealing the bone +of the skull. . . . + +For forty-five minutes she worked, her hands swift, sure, capable, +unerring. It was done. She was right. The under-table of the skull +had been fractured; there was the bone pressure upon the underlying +area of brain-tissue. She had removed the pressure and with it any +true pathological cause of the theft impulse. + +She drew a bandage about the sleeping eyes. She made Patten bring his +own saddle-blanket; it was fixed across the entrance of the anteroom of +the King's Palace, darkening it. Then she went to the ledge just +outside and stood there, staring with wide eyes across the little +meadow with its flowers and birds and water, down the slope of the +mountain, to the miles of desert. She had now but to await the +awakening. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE BEGINNING OF THE END + +When Norton stirred and would have opened his eyes but for the bandage +drawn over them, she was at his side. She had been kneeling there for +a long time, waiting. Her hand was on his where it had crept softly +from his wrist. + +"You must lie very still," she commanded gently. "I am with you and +everything is all right. There was . . . an accident. No, don't try +to move the cloth; please, Roderick." She pushed his hand back down to +his side. "We are in the King's Palace, just you and I, and everything +is all right." + +He was feverish, and she soothed him; sick, and she mothered him and +nursed him; troubled, uncertain, perplexed, and she comforted him. At +the first she went no further than saying that there had been an +accident; that already she had sent to San Juan for all that was needed +to make him comfortable; that Mr. Engle had been instructed to speed a +man to the railroad for further necessities; that now for his own sake, +for her sake, he must just lie very still . . . try not even to think. + +He was listless, seeming without volition, quite willing to surrender +himself into her keeping. What dazed thoughts were his upon this first +awakening were lost, forgotten in the brief doze into which she +succeeded in luring him. When again he stirred and woke she was still +at his side, kneeling upon the hard rock floor beside him. . . . She +had had Patten help her to lift him down from the table before she +despatched Patten with the note for John Engle. Again she pleaded with +him to lie still and just trust to her. + +He was very still. She knew that he was trying to piece together his +fragmentary thoughts and impressions, seeking to bridge over from last +night to to-day. So she talked softly with him, soothing him alike +with the tenderness of her voice and the pressure and gentle stroke of +her hand upon his hand and arm. He had had an accident but was going +to be all right from now on. But he must not be moved for a little. +Therefore Engle would come soon, and perhaps Mrs. Engle with him. And +a wagon bringing a real bed and fresh clean sheets and all of those +articles which she had listed. It would not be very long now until +Engle came. + +But at last when she paused his hand shut down upon hers and he asked +quietly: + +"I didn't dream it all, did I, Virginia? It is hard to know just what +I did and what I dreamed I did. But it seems more than a dream. . . . +Was it I who robbed Kemble of the Quigley mines?" + +"Yes," she told him lightly, as though it were a matter of small +moment. "But you were not responsible for what you did." + +"And there were other robberies? I even tried to steal from you?" + +"Yes," she answered again. + +"And you wanted to have me submit to an operation? And I would not?" + +"Yes." + +"And then . . . then you . . . you did it?" + +So she explained, feeling that certainty would be less harmful to him +now than a continual struggle to penetrate the curtain of semidarkness +obscuring his memory. + +"I took it upon myself," she told him at the end. "I took the chance +that you might die; that it might be I who had killed you. Perhaps I +had no right to do it. But I have succeeded; I have drawn you back +from kleptomania to your own clear moral strength. You will get well, +Rod Norton; you will be an honest man. But I took it upon myself to +take the chances for you. Now . . . do you think that you can forgive +me?" + +He appeared to be pondering the matter. When his reply came it was +couched in the form of a question: + +"Would you have done it, Virginia . . . if you didn't love me a little +as I love you?" + +And her answer comforted him. He was sleeping when the Engles came. + + +Later came the big wagon, one of Engle's men driving, Ignacio Chavez +and two other Mexicans accompanying on horseback. Virginia had +forgotten nothing. Quick hands did her bidding now, altering the +anteroom of the King's Palace into a big airy bedroom. There was a +great rug upon the floor, a white-sheeted and counterpaned bed, fresh +pajamas, table, chair, alcohol-stove, glasses and cups and +water-pitchers. There were cloths for fresh bandages, wide palm-leaf +fans . . . there was even ice and the promise of further ice to come. +The sun was shut out by heavy curtains across the main entrance and the +broken-out holes in the easterly wall. + +"My dear," said Mrs. Engle, taking both of Virginia's hands into her +own, "I don't know just what has happened and I don't care to know +until you get good and ready to tell me about it. But I can see by +looking at you that you are at the end of your tether. I'm going to +take care of Roddy now while you sleep at least a couple of hours." + +She and Engle had asked themselves the question as soon as Virginia's +note came to them: "What in the world were she and Norton doing on the +mountainside at that time of night?" But they had no intention of +asking it of any one else. Rather John Engle hastened to answer it for +others. + +"_Muchachos_" he said to the men when he sent them back to San Juan, +"there was an accident last night. Señor Norton had a fall from his +horse, striking his head. My cousin, Miss Page, together with Señor +Norton and Señor Patten, was taking a short cut this way to make a call +at Pozo. Señor Patten and Miss Page succeeded in getting Señor Norton +here, where they had to operate upon him immediately. He is doing well +now, thanks to their prompt action; he will be well soon. You may tell +his friends." + +And then, seeing little that he could do here and much that he might +accomplish elsewhere, John Engle rode on his spurs back to San Juan to +lay down the law to Patten. + + +Throughout the days and nights which followed, Virginia and Mrs. Engle +nursed Norton back into a semblance of strength. One of them was +always at his side. When at last the bandage might be removed from the +blindfolded eyes Norton's questing glance found Virginia first of all. + +"Virginia," he said quietly, "thanks to you I can start in all over +now." + +She understood. So did Mrs. Engle. For Norton had explained to both +the banker and his wife, holding nothing back from them, telling them +frankly of crimes committed, of his attempted abduction of the girl who +in turn had "abducted him." He had restitutions to make without the +least unnecessary delay. He must square himself and he thanked God +that he could square himself, that his crimes had been bloodless, that +he had but to return the stolen moneys. And, to wipe his slate clean, +he stood ready to pay to the full for what he had done, to offer his +confession openly, to accept without a murmur whatever decree the court +might award him. + +Again John Engle did his bit. He went to the county-seat and saw the +district attorney, an upright man, but one who saw clearly. The lawyer +laid his work aside and came immediately with Engle to the King's +Palace. + +"Any court, having the full evidence," he said crisply, "would hold you +blameless. Give me the money you have taken; I shall see that it is +returned and that no questions are asked. And if you've got any +idiotic compulsion about open confession . . . Well, think of somebody +besides yourself for a change. Try thinking about the Wonder Girl a +little, it will be good for you." + +For he never called her anything but that, the Wonder Girl. When he +had heard everything, he came to her after his straightforward fashion +and gripped her hand until he hurt her. + +"I didn't know they made girls like you," he told her before she even +knew who he was. + +It was he who, summoning all of his forensic eloquence, finally quieted +Norton's disturbed mind. Norton in his weakened condition was all for +making a clean breast before the world, for acknowledging himself unfit +for his office, for resigning. But in the end when he was told curtly +that he owed vastly more to the county than to his stupid conscience, +that he had been chosen to get Jim Galloway, that that was his job, +that he could do all the resigning he wanted to afterward, and that +finally he was not to consider his own personal feelings until he had +thought of Virginia's, Norton gave over his regrets and merely waxed +impatient for the time when he could finish his work and go back to Las +Flores rancho. For it was understood that he would not go alone. + +"I'll free del Rio because I have to, not because I want to," said the +lawyer at the end. "Trusting to you to bring him in again later. He +is one of Galloway's crowd and I know it, despite his big bluffs. +Galloway is away right now, somewhere below the border. Just what he +is up to I don't know. I think del Rio does. When Galloway gets back +you keep your eye on the two of them." + +After the county attorney's departure Rod Norton rested more easily. +He was making restitution for all that he had done, he was getting well +and strong again, he had been given such proof as comes to few men of +the utter devotion of a woman. Through many a bright hour he and +Virginia, daring to look confidently ahead, talked of life as it might +be lived upon Las Flores when the lake was made, the lower lands +irrigated, the big home built. + +"And," she confessed to him at the last, her face hidden against his +breast, "I never want to see a surgeon's lancet again in all of my +life, Rod Norton!" + + +When at length the sheriff could bestride a horse he wondered +impatiently what it could be that kept Jim Galloway so long away. And +if he was never coming back. But he knew that high up among the +cliffs, hidden away in the ancient caves, Jim Galloway's rifles were +still lying. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE STRONG HAND OF GALLOWAY + +"Oh, you will all dance and shout together very soon," said Ignacio +wisely to his six bells in the old Mission garden. "You will see! +Captain and the Dancer and Lolita, the Little One, La Golondrina, and +Ignacio Chavez, all of you together until far out across the desert men +hear. For it is in the air that things will happen. And then, when it +is all done . . . Why then, amigos, who but me is going to build a +little roof over you that runs down both ways, to save you from the hot +sun and the rains? . . . Oh, one knows. It is in the air. You will +see!" + +For Jim Galloway had returned, a new Galloway, a Galloway who carried +himself up and down the street with bright, victorious eyes, and the +stride of full confidence, who, at least in the eyes of Ignacio Chavez, +was like a blood-lusting lion "screwing up his muscles" to spring. +Galloway's return brought to Roderick Norton a fresh vigilance, to +Virginia a sleepless anxiety, to Florence Engle unrest, uncertainty, +very nearly pure panic. During the first few days of his absence she +had allowed herself the romantic joy of floating unchecked upon the +tide of a girlish fancy, dreaming dreams after the approved fashion +which is youth's, dancing lightly upon foamy crests, seeing only blue +water and no rocks under her. Then, with the potency of the man's +character removed with the removal of his physical being, she grew to +see the shoals and to draw back from them, shuddering somewhat +pleasurably. Now that he was again in San Juan and that her eyes had +been held by his in the first meeting upon the street, her heart +fluttered, her vision clouded, she wondered what she would do. + +There was to be no lost action in Galloway's campaign now. Within half +a dozen hours of his arrival there was a gathering of various of his +henchmen at the Casa Blanca. Just what passed was not to be known; it +was significant, however, that among those who had come to his call +were the Mexican, del Rio, Antone, Kid Rickard, and a handful of the +other most restless spirits of the county. Norton accepted the act in +all that it implied to his suspicions and sent out word to Cutter, +Brocky Lane, and those of his own and Brocky's cowboys whom he counted +on. + +Galloway's second step, known only to himself and Florrie, was a +private meeting with the banker's daughter. It occurred upon the +second evening following his return, just after dark among the +cottonwoods, but a hundred yards from her home. He had made the +opportunity with the despatch which marked him now; he had watched for +her during the day, had appeared merely to pass her by chance on the +street, and had paused just long enough to ask her to meet him. + +"I have done all that I planned to do," he announced triumphantly, his +eyes holding hers, forcing upon her spirit the mastery of his own. +"The power in Mexico is going to be Francisco Villa. I have seen him. +Let me talk with you to-night, Florence. History is in the making; it +may be you and I together who shape the destiny of a people." + +After all, she was but a little over sixteen, her head filled with the +bright stuff of romance, and he was a forceful man who for his own +purposes had long studied her. She came to the tryst, albeit half in +trembling, a dozen tremulous times ready for a fleeing retreat. + +Again he was all deference to her. He builded cunningly upon the fact +that he trusted her; that he, a strong man, put his faith in her, a +woman. He flattered her as she had never been flattered, not too +subtly, yet not so broadly as to arouse her suspicion of his intent. +He spoke quietly at first, then his voice seeming charged with his +leaping ambition set responsive chords within her thrilling. He +pictured to her the state he was going to found, organize, rule, an +uncertain number of fair miles stretching along a tropical coast; he +made her see again a palatial dwelling with servants in livery, the +blue waters of the Gulf, the white of dancing sails. He spoke of a +peace which was going to be declared between warring factions below the +border within thirty days, of the magnificence to be Francisco Villa's, +of the position to be occupied by Jim Galloway at Villa's side. His +planned development of a gold-mine he mentioned merely casually. + +And then at length when Florrie was prepared for the passionate +declaration he humbled himself at her feet, lifted his hands to her in +supplication, told her in burning words of his love. Whether the man +did love her with all of the strength of his nature or whether he but +meant to strike through her at John Engle, the richest man of this +section of the State, it was for Jim Galloway alone to know. Certainly +not for Florrie, who listened wide-eyed. . . . Once she thought that +he was about to sweep her up into his arms; they had lifted suddenly +from his sides. She had drawn back, crying sharply: "No, no!" But he +had waited, had again grown deeply deferential, swerving immediately to +further vividly colored pictures of life as it might be, of power and +pomp, of a secure position from which a man and a woman might direct +policies of state, shaping the lives of other men and women. + +And in the end of that ardent interview Jim Galloway's caution was +still with him, his knowledge of the girl's nature clear in his mind. +He did not ask her answer; he merely sought a third opportunity to +speak with her, suggesting that upon the next night she slip out and +meet him. He would have a horse for her, one for himself; they could +ride for a half-hour. He had so much to tell her. + +Perhaps a much more important factor than she realized in her action +was Florrie's new riding-habit. It had been acquired but three days +before and she knew very well just how she looked in it. There would +be a moon, almost at the full. The full moon and the new riding-habit +were the allies given by fate to Jim Galloway. + +Besides all of this, she had not seen Elmer Page for a month. Further, +she knew that Elmer had gone riding upon at least one occasion with a +girl of Las Palmas, Superintendent Kemble's daughter. And finally, +there lies much rich adventure in just doing that which we know we +should leave alone. So Florrie, while her mother and father thought +that she had gone early to bed, was on her way to meet Galloway. + +They rode out of the cottonwood fringed arroyo just before moonrise, +circling the town, Florrie scarcely marking whether they rode north or +south. But Galloway knew what he was doing and they turned slowly +toward the southwest. As they rode, his horse drawn in close to hers, +he talked as he had never talked before; his voice rang from the first +word with triumphant assurance. + +"When he calls she will follow!" Virginia had thought fearfully of +them. To-night he was calling eloquently, she was following, +frightened and yet obedient to his mastery. + +Galloway's influence over the girl, that of a strong will over a weak +and fluttering one, was quite naturally the stronger when they were +alone together. She had always been willing, sometimes a bit eager, to +make a hero of him; he had long thoroughly understood her. To-night +was the brief battle of wills, with him summoning all of his strength, +flushed with victory. Abruptly now he urged that she marry him; a +moment later his insistent pleading was subtly tinged with command. He +was the arbiter of the hour; he told her of a priest waiting for them +at a little village a dozen miles away. They would be married +to-night; they were eloping even at this palpitant instant! + +When Florence would have stopped, of two balancing minds, he urged the +horses on. When she would have procrastinated, he beat down her +opposition with the rush of his words. Even while she struggled she +was yielding; Galloway was quick to see how her resistance was growing +fainter. And all the time, while he spoke vehemently and she for the +most part listened in a fascinated silence, they were riding on through +the moonlit night. . . . It seemed to her that surely he must love her +as few men had loved before. . . . + + +The village he had promised her was in reality but two poor houses at a +crossroads, inhabited by two Mexican men and dowdy women. On the way +they encountered but one horseman; Galloway turned his own and +Florence's animals out so that, though seen, they might escape +recognition. At the nearest of the two hovels he dismounted, raising +his arms to her. When she cried out and shrank back trembling, he +laughed softly, caught her in his arms, and lifted her free of the +saddle; when he would have kissed her she put her face into her two +hands. + +"I . . . I want to go back!" she whispered. "I am afraid! Please, Mr. +Galloway, please let me go home." + +Dogs were barking, a man and woman came out. The man laughed. Then he +gathered up the bridle-reins and led the horses to the barn. Florrie, +shrinking out of Galloway's embrace, looked particularly little and +helpless in her pretty riding-habit. + +She went with Galloway into the lamplighted room. The woman looked at +her curiously, then to Galloway, something of wonder and upstanding +admiration in her beady eyes. + +"Has the priest come?" demanded Galloway. + +"No, señor. Not yet." + +She added by way of explanation that word had been sent; that the +priest was delayed; a man was dying and he must stay a little at the +bedside. She muttered the tale like a child repeating a lesson. +Galloway, watching Florence, who sat rigid in her chair by the table, +waited for her to finish. + +At the end he gave the woman a sharp, significant look. She said +something about a cup of coffee for the señorita and went hastily into +the kitchen. Florrie sprang to her feet, her hands clasped. + +"You must let me go," she cried wildly. "The priest isn't here. I am +going home." + +"No," said Galloway steadily. "You are not going home, Florence. You +must listen to me. I love you more than anything else In the world, my +dear. I want you, want you all for mine." + +She saw a sudden light flare up in his eyes and it seemed to her that +her heart would beat through the walls of her breast. "I am not a boy, +but a man. A strong man, a man who, when he wants a thing, wants it +with his whole heart and body and soul, a man who takes what he wants. +Wait; just listen to me! You love me now; you will love me more and +more when I give you all that I have promised you. To-night, in an +hour, I will have made the beginning; I will have gathered about me +fifty men who will do exactly what I tell them to do! Then they will +go with us down into Mexico; they will be the beginning of a little +army whose one thought will be loyalty . . . loyalty to you and to me." + +"No," said Florence, her voice shaking. "I am going. . . ." + +"You will marry me when the priest comes," he cut in sternly. +"Otherwise, if you make me, I will take you with me anyway, unmarried. +And I will make you marry me when we have crossed the border. And +now . . . now you will kiss me. I have waited long, Florence." + +He came toward her; she slipped behind the table, crying out to him to +stop. But he came on, caught her, drew her into his arms. And +Florrie, some new passionate, terrified Florrie, beat at him with her +fists, tore at him with her nails, hid her face from him, and with the +agility born of her terror slipped away from him again, again put the +table between them. Galloway, a thin line of blood across his cheek, +thrust the table aside. As he did so the man came back into the room +and stood watching, a twisted smile upon his lips. Galloway lifted his +thick shoulders in a shrug and stood staring at the girl cowering in +her corner. + +"Married or unmarried, you go with me," he told her. "Your kisses you +may save for me. Think it over. You had better ask for the priest +when I come back." He turned toward the Mexican. "All ready, Feliz?" + +The man nodded. + +"Tell Castro, then. It's time to be in the saddle." + +With no other word to Florrie he went out. But his last look was for +her, the look of a victor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +IN THE OPEN + +Roderick Norton, every fibre of his body alive and eager, his blood +riotous with the certain knowledge that the long-delayed hour had come, +rode a foam-flecked horse into San Juan shortly after moonrise. +Galloway was striking at last; at last might Norton lift his own hand +to strike back. As he flung himself down from the saddle he was +thinking almost equally of Jim Galloway, striking the supreme blow of +his career, and of Billy Norton, whose death had come to him at +Galloway's command. Galloway was gathering his forces, had delivered +an initial blow, was staking everything upon the one throw of the dice. +And he must believe them loaded. + +At the clank of spur-chain and rowel Struve came hastily into the +hallway from his office. He saw the look in the sheriff's, eyes and +demanded quickly: + +"What is it? What's happened?" + +There were grim lines about Norton's mouth, his quiet voice had an +ominous ring to it. + +"Hell's to pay, Julius," he retorted. "And there's little telling +where it'll end unless we're on the jump to meet it. Galloway's come +out into the open. Kid Rickard and ten men with him, all Mexicans or +breeds, crossed over into the next county yesterday, raided the county +jail late this afternoon, shot poor Roberts, freed Moraga, and got away +in a couple of big new touring-cars. Every man of them carried a rifle +and side-arms." + +"Killed Roberts, huh?" Struve's frown gathered. + +"He's badly hurt, if not dead. The Kid did the shooting." + +"Sure it's Galloway's work and not just the Kid's?" + +"Yes. Only a couple of hours ago a lot of Galloway's crowd was +gathering up in the mountains. They've gone to his cache for the +rifles. I have sent word for Brocky Lane and his and my cowboys. It +begins to look as though he were up to something bigger than we've been +looking for. And he's sure of himself, Struve, or he wouldn't have +started things by daylight." + +Virginia had heard and came into the hallway from her room, her face +white, her eyes filled with trouble. Struve turned back into his room +abruptly, going for his rifle. + +"You heard?" asked Norton quietly. "It's the big fight at last, +Virginia. But we've known it was coming all along." + +"Yes, Rod." she said half listlessly. "I'll be glad when it's all +over." + +He sketched for her briefly what little more he knew and suspected. +Throughout the county where there was telephone communication the wires +were buzzing. Over them the word had come to him of Kid Rickard's +attack on Roberts and the freeing of Moraga. But in many places the +lines were reported "out of order" and towns were isolated by cut +wires. Already men were riding sweating horses, carrying word from +him. He knew that del Rio had gathered a crowd of men at Las Vegas; he +was certain that del Rio was working hand in glove with Galloway; +further that the Mexican had been with Galloway on his recent trip +below the border and among the revolutionists. + +"They're solid down there," concluded Norton. "What they are up to is +something big here, then a dash for safety, carrying their booty with +them. But we're going to be on time to put a stop to it all. I am +going down to see Engle now; will you come with me?" + +But before they left the hotel he swore Struve in as a deputy and sent +him hastening to carry the word to other men to be counted on. As they +passed the Casa Blanca Norton paused a moment, looking in at the +wide-open door; it was very quiet within, the place seeming deserted. + +"No use looking for Galloway here," he said as they went on. "Nor for +any of his gang. But, when they come back . . . unless we head them +off . . ." + +Her hand tightened on his arm. She looked up into his thoughtful face +with shining eyes. + +"You think that they would attempt further robbery and outlawry here?" + +"I am going to advise Engle to take the bulk of his money out of the +bank, dig a hole, and hide it," he answered. "Just to be sure in case +we don't stop them." + +He knew that he had no time to waste tonight, and so as he and Virginia +entered the Engles' living-room he began immediately telling the banker +what had happened and what he feared was set to happen. Engle listened +gravely. + +"Galloway is making his getaway to-night," Norton said by way of +conclusion. "For every rifle he has a man. He has no reason to like +you and he knows that you carry more money in gold and bank-notes than +any other man in the country. The fact that Kid Rickard pulled the +game the way he did this afternoon, shooting down Roberts when there +was no need of bloodshed, ought to be enough to show us that they are +not going to draw the line anywhere this side of old Mexico." + +"What are you planning?" asked Engle. + +"I've sent for Brocky and all the men he can bring. They'll all come +heeled and ready for trouble, every one sworn in as a sheriff's deputy. +I'll get every dependable man in San Juan into the saddle with a rifle +inside half an hour. Before that we'll have further word; or, if not, +we ride toward Mt. Temple. I'm taking the gamble so far that that's +their rendezvous; that the Kid and his crowd will show up there." + +It was unnecessary for him to continue. Engle nodded and went for his +rifle. Norton, turning toward Mrs. Engle and Virginia, was shocked by +the look he saw in the eyes of the banker's wife. + +"Florrie!" gasped Mrs. Engle, her hands gripped in front of her, her +face paling. "I thought she was in her room; when I missed her five +minutes ago I thought that she had slipped out and run up to the hotel +to see Virginia. Virginia hasn't seen her." + +Norton smiled and patted the two clasped hands. + +"Oh, Florrie'll be all right, Mrs. Engle," he comforted her. "We +mustn't get nervous and begin to imagine things, must we?" + +But no lessening of that look of fear came into the mother's eyes. +Galloway was striking, Florrie was not to be accounted for. Though she +turned quickly and went again through the house, the patio, and the +rear gardens, she was apprehensively certain that she would not find +Florence. Virginia came hurriedly to Norton, whispering: + +"I'm afraid for her, Rod. I'm afraid! I have seen her and Jim +Galloway together, I have known all along that he had an influence over +her which he might exert if he wanted to. And, just before Jim +Galloway went to Mexico, Elmer saw them walk down the street together, +stop and talk together under the trees. . . . Oh, I'm afraid for her, +Rod!" + +Engle's face was as white as chalk when a little later he came back +into the room with his wife; his two hands were like rock upon his +rifle. + +"Florence isn't in the house," he announced in a voice which, while +calm, seemed not John Engle's voice. "If she is in San Juan it won't +take the half-hour to know it. I'm rather inclined to think that I'm +just a fool, Rod Norton. My wife has told me that Galloway was looking +at Florence in a way which meant no good. I wouldn't believe. And +now, if . . ." + +Norton had no reply to make. Florence's disappearance at a time like +this might mean either a very great deal or nothing whatever. But, as +Engle had intimated, it would require but little time to learn if she +were in San Juan and safe, and, as Norton had said, there was no time +now to be wasted. Engle would institute inquiries immediately; Norton, +his own work looming large before him, would prepare to meet Galloway's +latest play. + +The sheriff decided promptly that it would be unwise to leave the town +absolutely drained of men in whom he could put faith. It was always +possible that either the entire crowd of Galloway's men or a smaller +detachment might find their way here. Julius Struve, four armed men +aiding him, was to be responsible for the welfare of women and +children. If Galloway's stroke should turn out to be bolder and harder +than was now known, then Struve and his men had horses saddled and were +to get their wards out of danger by hard riding. Norton was to post +two men a few miles out as he rode north and they were to report back +to Struve in case of necessity. + +These latter plans were made only at the moment before the sheriff's +departure. A man sent by Brocky Lane had raced into San Juan's street, +bringing fresh word. It began to appear that Galloway was working in +conjunction with aid from below the border. Del Rio with a score of +men, Mexicans for the most part who had dribbled into the county during +the last few months, was reported to have swept down upon John Engle's +ranches, and to be gathering herds of cattle and horses, starting them +southward on the run. Three of Engle's cowboys had been shot down; a +similar attack had been delivered upon other ranches. The little town +of Las Vegas had been looted, post-office, store, and saloon safes +dynamited, stock driven off to augment del Rio's other herds. Further, +the cowboy sent by Lane reported that a signal-fire had been lighted in +the mountains an hour ago and that there had been another fire like an +answer leaping up from the desert in the south. Word had also come to +Lane that telephone messages hinted that Kid Rickard and his unit were +working further outlawry along the county line, headed toward Mt. +Temple. + +There were seventeen armed horsemen in the street waiting for the word +from Norton. + +"I'll come back to you," he said quietly to Virginia. "Because after +what you have done for me, I belong to you . . . if you want me." + +"I want you, Rod," she answered steadily. "And I know that you will +come back to me. And now . . . kiss me good night." + +She clung to him a moment, then pushed him from her and watched him +swing up into the saddle and ride out among the men who were pledged +and sworn to do his bidding. As he did so Engle came to him. + +"Going with us, John?" asked Norton. + +"No," said Engle. "We haven't found her yet, Rod. I'll try to pick up +a trace of her here. And . . . you'll send a man to me if you find +her?" + +"Yes," Norton promised. + +"And if Galloway has got her . . ." + +"I'll know what to do, John," said Norton gently. + +Then, without again looking back, he turned his horse toward the north. +The seventeen men, riding two and three abreast, silent and grave for +the most part, followed him. The moon shone upon their rifle-barrels +and made black, grotesque shadows underfoot. + +Against the northern sky Mt. Temple was lifted sharply outlined; from +its crest a leaping flame was stabbing at the stars, a new signal-fire +to be seen across many miles. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE BATTLE IN THE ARROYO + +Straight toward that wavering plume of flame in the north they rode +swiftly, each man with his own thoughts and with few words. But +whether a man thought of Florrie Engle gone or of the shooting of +Sheriff Roberts or of the looting of Las Vegas or of a ranch raided, he +was like his fellows in that he knew that at last Jim Galloway had come +out into the open and that to-night must be Galloway's triumph or +Galloway's death. And perhaps he wondered if his own saddle would run +empty under the stars before another dawn. + +Three or four miles from San Juan Norton made out an approaching rider, +one who bent over his horse's mane, racing furiously. The figure, +growing rapidly distinct as it drew on from the north, grew erect as +the horseman saw Norton's posse. The rider jerked in his horse, +pausing a moment as though in doubt whether he were meeting friend or +foe. Then, when again he came on at the same headlong gallop, Norton +recognized him. It was Elmer Page. + +"They're fighting back yonder!" cried the boy wildly, his eyes shining +with his excitement. "Brocky Lane sent me. . . . I haven't a rifle, +who will give me a rifle? I'll give a man a hundred dollars for a +rifle!" + +"Easy, Elmer," said Norton sharply. "Tell us what Brocky sent you to +say. Where are they?" + +"Along the arroyo just off to the east of Mt. Temple. About a mile +from the mountain . . . you know where the biggest boulders are all +strung out along the arroyo? It's there. Brocky and a lot of cowboys +are making a stand there, heading off the Kid and del Rio. So they +can't get with the others, you know. . . . Why didn't somebody tell me +about this?" he broke off, his voice shrill. "I haven't a rifle, just +a cursed revolver. Who will ..." + +Again Norton interrupted sternly. + +"Let's have it straight, Elmer," he commanded. "Brocky and his men are +along the arroyo, you say? And they're trying to keep between del Rio +and the Kid's crowd and the other crowd? Some of the others are still +on the mountain, then?" + +"The mountain is full of them. They're pouring down and shooting as +they come; Brocky's in between. . . ." + +"How many men are with him?" + +"About twenty. But . . . my God! Rickard's men and del Rio's are +shooting from the east and the others are shooting from the west . . . +poor old Tommy Rudge got shot in the stomach and Denny Blain is down +and . . ." + +"Del Rio and Rickard didn't come in machines did they?" + +"No. Brocky said tell you they'd left their cars, sent them on filled +with loot toward the south, where a lot of other Greasers are waiting +for them; then the Kid and del Rio and about fifty men altogether +started a big herd of horses and cattle this way. Brocky tried to +stampede the herds, but the others are more than two to one, so he got +his men in the arroyo and they're giving 'em hell from there." + +"Galloway's on the other side?" + +"No. Brocky said tell you Galloway hadn't shown up yet. We think he +didn't expect things to get started so soon. One of Brocky's men +riding in a little while ago from the other side of San Juan thought +that he had seen Galloway and some one that looked like a girl riding +with him toward the old crossroads where the Denbar place used to be. +Brocky thinks maybe you can come in and head Galloway off and bust up +the whole play that way." + +So Galloway and "some one who looked like a girl" had ridden toward the +old Denbar cross-roads. And Galloway had not yet joined his forces. + +"Elmer," said Norton quickly, "ride on to San Juan. Tell John Engle +what you have told me about Galloway. Tell him . . ." + +"I won't!" cried Elmer, on the verge of hysteria. "I won't do it. Do +it yourself; send some one else. I want to go with you; I want a +rifle, I tell you! Didn't I see Tommy Rudge go down with a bullet in +his belly? Didn't I see Denny when the Kid shot him?" + +Norton laid a hand on Elmer's arm, speaking quietly. + +"Listen, Elmer," he said. "We will do what we can where Brocky is. +But that isn't all of the devilment to-night. Galloway got Florrie +away somehow; she was the one riding with him toward the crossroads. +It's up to you to ride on and ride like the devil and tell John +Engle. . . . Come on, boys!" + +Elmer sagged in his saddle as though he had been struck a heavy +physical blow. + +"Galloway got Fluff!" he muttered dully. + +His gaze trailed along after the departing posse. Norton on his big +roan was setting the pace, the steady swinging gallop to eat up the +miles swiftly and yet not kill the horses before the journey's end. +The others followed him, stringing out single file to take advantage of +the trail. The moon picked them out with clear relief, a grim line of +retribution. And yet the boy, while his eyes wandered after them, saw +only little Fluff struggling in Jim Galloway's arms. . . . + +Then suddenly he, too, was riding, but at a pace which took no heed of +a horse's endurance, riding a gallant brute that stretched out its +neck, nostrils flaring, hammering hoofs beating out the very staccato +of urgent speed upon the flying sands. Already his revolver was tight +clinched in a lifted hand. Already he had swerved a little from the +distant lights of San Juan. He was taking the shortest line which led +to Denbar's crossroads. + +"Galloway's got Fluff," he said over and over, choking on the words. + + +An hour later Norton heard the first spitting of rifles. Another +fifteen minutes of shod hoofs pounding through the broken hills and he +saw the first spurts of flame cutting through the shadows where the +trees clung to the arroyo. As he drew in his horse the men behind him +closed up about him. He threw out his arm, pointing. + +"Brocky's boys must be right down there," he said sharply. "The Kid +and del Rio will be yonder; those are their horses. Young Page says +there are about fifty of them." + +A fusillade of rifle-shots interrupted him. Along a fifty or sixty +yard front the Kid's and del Rio's men had crept in closer to Brocky's +arroyo, worming their way upon their stomachs, and now fired together. +There came a rattling reply from the creek, the shouting of cowboys. + +"We'll take those fellows first," ordered Norton quickly. "They will +see us when we climb that little rise. Spread out; go easy until we +get to the top. Then, boys, let's see who can give them hell first and +fastest." + +They looked to their rifles for the last time and rode slowly up the +short slope of the low-lying ridge. Then, as the first man topped it, +there came a shout from the shadows in front, another shout, and the +whizzing of rifle-balls. Norton used his spurs then; his big roan +leaped forward and was racing down the farther slope; his men in a long +line rode with him. And as he rode he lifted his own gun and poured +his lead into the thickest of the shadows. + +A wild shout of cheering broke from the arroyo; rifle-barrels grew hot +in hot hands. On through the bright moonlight came the sheriff's +posse, some of them firing as they rode, others saving their lead. To +be seen from afar now, they drew many a shot toward themselves. And +yet the target of a man riding swiftly over uneven ground and in the +moonlight is not to be found overreadily by questing lead. When Norton +called to his men to stop and dismount, taking advantage of a row of +scattered boulders, not a saddle was empty. + +[Illustration: On through the bright moonlight came the sheriff's +posse.] + +Every man as he dismounted threw his horsed reins to the ground; the +animals might bolt or they might not, some of them might not stop for +many a mile, others would be found a hundred yards away. But they must +all think less of that now than of what lay in front of them. + +"That you, Norton?" came a cheery voice booming suddenly through the +silence which had shut down as the newcomers disappeared among the +boulders. + +"Here, Brocky!" shouted Norton. "All right down there?" + +"Pretty well," called Brocky. "They've winged three or four of +us . . . they're damned rotten shots, Roddy. We've popped over a dozen +of them." + +There were other shouts then, tenor Mexican voices for the most part +with the Kid's unmistakable snarl running through them. Men were +calling in Spanish to their fellows across the arroyo. Whatever it was +that Brocky was trying to say was lost in the din. And then again came +a volley of rifle-shots. + +Norton rose slowly to his feet, studying the situation with frowning +eyes. A bullet hissed high overhead, another cut by his side, another +went shrieking off into the night. But while they whined in his ears +he laid his rude plans. + +The arroyo wound and twisted this way and that through the broken +uplands. Where Brocky Lane had placed his men so as to defy the union +of the two bands of outlaws it described a wide rude arc curving about +the spur from Mt. Temple. Here the cowboys, with some twenty or thirty +feet separating each man from his nearest fellow, were extended along a +line which must be about two hundred yards long. The Mexicans to the +eastward, where del Rio and Kid Rickard and Moraga were, were bunched +in the protecting shadows of a field of boulders such as those where +the sheriff's men lay. + +"We could stick here all night and get nothing done," said Norton to +the men close to him. "Rickard's gang could have charged down on +Brocky long ago if they'd had the stomach for that sort of thing. +They've got the numbers on us; they more than had the count on Brocky's +outfit; with those jaspers on the mountainside they could have turned +the trick. But that sort hasn't the desire for a scrap unless they can +pull it from behind a rock. And, by the same token, they won't last +five minutes in the face of a charge. Get me?" + +"But the ginks on the mountain will pick us off pretty lively as we hit +the trail down the slope here," said a thoughtful voice. + +Then Norton explained further. He meant to eliminate the other crowd; +it could be done. When he gave the word every man was to jump to his +feet and make the first half of his charge the bloodless one down into +the arroyo toward Brocky Lane. Then, Norton's men and Brocky's united, +they could surge up the creek's banks and make their flying attack, +coming in between the two other factions so that the men on the +mountain must hold their fire or kill as many of their own crowd as of +the others. + +The suggestion was accepted without discussion. When Norton said +"Ready," they were ready; when he jumped to his feet and ran down +toward the arroyo, they ran with him. A shout of laughter went up from +each side of the dry water-course as jeering voices announced +triumphantly that the Gringoes were afraid. And with the shouts came +rifle-shots. + +But to the last man of them they reached the arroyo safely, and ducking +low, trotted on to join the cowboys. In a moment more Norton had found +Brocky Lane, had explained his plan, had had Brocky's silent nod for an +answer. In quiet voices the men passed the word along the line. Those +from the farther end drew in closer so that their whole body of +something better than thirty men occupied but a brief section of the +arroyo. + +"Get your wind first, boys," Norton admonished them. "Better fill your +clips, too, while you've got the chance. And count on using a six gun +before you're through. All right? Let's show 'em the sort of a scrap +a Gringo _can_ put up." + +Then again they were running, the unwavering line of thirty men, but +with a difference which the outlaws might not mistake. And as they ran +they held their fire for a little, knowing how useless and suicidal it +would be to pause half-way. But presently they were answering shot +with shot, pausing, going down upon one knee, taking a moment's +advantage of a friendly rock, pouring lead into the agitated groups +among the boulders, springing up, running on again, every man fighting +the fight his own way, the thirty of them making the air tingle with +their shouts as they bore onward. + +Then it was man to man and often enough one man to two or three, dark +forms struggling, men striking with clubbed guns, men snatching at +their side-arms, going down, rising or half rising, firing as long as a +charge was in a gun or strength in a body. And as they fired and +struck and called out after the fashion of the cowboy in a scrimmage +the body of men before them wavered and broke and began to fall back. + +Norton swung his clubbed empty rifle up in both hands and beat down a +man firing at him with a revolver. All about him were struggling forms +and he was sore beset now and then to know who was who. A +fierce-mustachioed, black-browed man thrust a rifle toward his breast +and pulled the trigger and screamed out his curses as Norton put a +revolver bullet through him. A slender, boyish form sprang up upon a +rock recklessly, training his rifle upon Brocky Lane. It was the Kid. +But the Kid had met a man quicker, surer, than himself, and Brocky +fired first. Kid Rickard spun and fell. Norton saw him drop but lost +sight of him before the body struck the earth. He had found del Rio; +del Rio had found him. + +Two smoking revolvers were jerked up, two guns spoke through the clamor +as one gun. The men were not ten feet apart as their guns spoke. +Norton felt a bullet rip along his outer arm, the sensation that of a +whip-lash cutting deep. He saw del Rio stagger back under the impact +of a forty-five-caliber bullet which must have merely grazed him, since +it did not knock him off his feet. Del Rio, his lips streaming his +curses and hatred, fired again. But his wound had been sorer than +Norton's, his aim was less steady, and now as he gave back it was to +fall heavily and lie still. + +It had lasted less than five minutes. "It's Jim Galloway's fight and +Galloway don't come!" some one had shouted. They broke again, gave +back and back . . . and then were running, every man of them scenting +defeat and much worse than defeat unless he came to a horse before +another five minutes. And after them, firing now as they ran, came +Brocky's cowboys and Norton's men. + +"They've got all of their horses over there together," yelled Brocky +into Norton's ear. "The horses for those Ginneys who have been hiding +out in the mountains, too. That's why I cut in between them that way. +Now if we can only scatter their cayuses . . . why, Roddy, we'll have +every damned one of 'em afoot to be rounded up when we get ready!" + +And Brocky, limping as he went, had raced along after the others. + +But Norton did not follow. His eyes had gone to the horses which he +and the San Juan men had left beyond the little line of boulders. And, +travelling that way, he had seen a lone horseman far off to the south, +a horseman riding frantically, seeking to come to the lower slopes of +Mt. Temple. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE BELLS RING + +"Galloway!" + +It seemed almost as though some great voice had shouted it to him +through the din. Yonder, riding on his spurs, come at this late +moment, was Jim Galloway. The man responsible for all of to-night's +bloodshed, for the disappearance of Florrie, for the death of Billy +Norton. + +"Coming, Jim Galloway!" + +Did he say it? Or again was it a voice shouting to him, urging him on? +He looked off to the east. Flying forms everywhere with other racing +forms pursuing, firing as they ran. Horses jerking back, rearing, +breaking away from the few men guarding them. Full defeat for Jim +Galloway there. But to the west? Galloway coming on at top speed, +shouting as he came, and, upon the mountain's lower slope the others of +Galloway's men, armed and bloodthirsty. If Galloway came to them, +whipped them with his tongue, stirring them with his magnetism . . . +why, then, the fight was all to be fought over. + +Now again Norton, too, was running, bearing down upon the straggling +horses. He caught up the first dragging reins to lay his hand to, +swung up into the saddle, measured swiftly the distance between +Galloway and the men on the mountain . . . and used his spurs. + +On came Jim Galloway, his wide, heavy shoulders not to be mistaken in +the rich moonlight, his hat gone, his head up, a rifle across the +saddle in front of him. Norton lost sight of him as he swept down into +the bed of the arroyo, caught sight of him again from the farther side. +Already Galloway was appreciably nearer his men, driving his horse +mercilessly. + +"If he comes to his crowd before I can stop him," was Norton's thought, +"he'll put his game across on us yet. I've got to head him off and +take the chances." + +Nor were the odds to be overlooked. Galloway was still too far away to +be stopped by a rifle-ball, and Norton, heading him off, would expose +himself not only to Galloway's fire but to that of the men who were +moving to a lower slope to meet their leader. And yet, with fate in +the balance, here was no time for hesitation. + +Now Galloway had seen him, had recognized him, perhaps, the thought +coming naturally to him that it would be Roderick Norton who rode to +cut him off. He shifted his rifle so that his right hand was on the +grip, the barrel caught in his left; he had dropped his horse's reins. +Norton was slipping a fresh clip into his gun, his own reins now upon +his horse's neck. And now both men knew that unless a bullet stopped +him Norton would cut across Galloway's path before he could come to his +men. + +"At him, Roddy, old boy! We're coming!" + +Norton glanced over his shoulder and pressed on. Brocky had missed +him, had seen, had called back a half dozen of his men and was +following. Well, if he dropped, maybe Brocky and the others could get +Jim Galloway. It really began to look as though Galloway had played +out his string. + +They were firing from the mountainside now, the bullets thus far flying +wild of their rushing target. Norton shook his head and urged his +horse to fresh endeavor. In a moment he would be fairly between +Galloway and Galloway's last chance. His eye picked out the spot where +he would dismount at that moment, a tumble of big boulders. He would +swing down so that they would be between him and the mountain, so that +nothing but moonlit open space lay between him and Jim Galloway. + +While rifles cracked and spat fire and sprayed lead over him and about +him he rode the last fifty yards. He reached the boulders, set his +horse up, threw himself from the saddle, and with his back to the rock, +his face toward Galloway, he lifted his rifle. Galloway, almost at the +same instant, jerked in his own horse. He was so close that Norton +caught his cry of rage. + +"Hands up, Galloway!" cried the sheriff. "Hands up or I'll drop you." + +But at last Galloway had come out into the open; at last there was no +subterfuge to stand forth at his need; at last, gambler that he was, he +accepted the even break of man to man. As Norton's voice rang out +Galloway fired. + +He shot twice before Norton pulled the trigger. Norton shot but the +once. Galloway dropped his rifle, sat rigid a moment, toppled from the +saddle. And his men, seeing him go down, cried out to one another and +drew back into the mountain cañons. + + +"Funny thing," said Brocky Lane afterward. "Had the picture of a kid +of a girl in his pocket! Must have carted it around for a year. Old +Roddy's bullet tore right square through it." + +It was a picture of Florrie Engle, taken years before. As Brocky said: +"Just a kid of a girl." Where he got it nobody knew. But then there +were other things about Jim Galloway which no one knew. Perhaps . . . +Quien sabe! + + +During the late hours of the night and the following forenoon the thing +was ended. Sheriff Roberts's deputies with a posse in automobiles had +raced southward, intercepting those other cars despatched toward the +border by the Kid and del Rio. Brocky Lane with a score of men had +swept down upon the stolen herds, scattered them, fired fifty shots, +emptied some three or four saddles, and sent the escaping rustlers +flying toward the Mexican line. Singly and in small groups other men, +farmers, cowboys, miners, and the dwellers of small settlements, joined +with Norton's men, giving battle to those of Galloway's crowd who had +drawn back into the fastnesses of Mt. Temple. In the afternoon Norton, +with the aid of a handful of cowboys from Brocky's outfit and from Las +Flores, escorted fifteen anxious-faced prisoners to the county-seat, +where jail capacity was to be taxed. And night had come again, serene +and peaceful with the glory of the moon and stars, when he rode once +more into San Juan, sore and saddle-weary. + +At the hotel he learned that Virginia had gone to the Engles. He left +his jaded horse with Ignacio and walked down the street. In front of +the Casa Blanca he stopped a moment, staring musingly at the solid +adobe walls gleaming white in the moonlight. The place was quiet, +deserted. No single light winked at him through door or window. It +seemed to him to be brooding over the passing of Jim Galloway. + +He found Florrie and Elmer strolling under the cottonwoods. They had +scant interest in him, little time to bestow upon a mere mortal. +Florrie could only cry ecstatically that Black Bill was a hero! He, +all alone, had terrorized the Mexican woman guarding her, had saved +her, had brought her back. And Elmer could only look pleased and +stammer and whisper to Fluff to be still. + +Virginia had heard his voice, the voice she had been listening for +throughout so many long hours, and met him before he had come to the +door. + +"Oh, thank God, thank God!" she cried softly. "But . . . you are hurt?" + +He forgot his wound as both arms closed about her. From somewhere at +the rear of the house he heard Mrs. Engle's voice crying eagerly; "It's +Roddy!" She was hurrying to greet him. What he had to say must be +said briefly. + +"My work is done," he said quickly. "I have put in my resignation this +afternoon. They can get a new sheriff. I am going to be a rancher, my +dear. And, Virginia . . ." + +He was whispering to her, his lips close to her hair. And Virginia, +though her face was suddenly hot with the flush mounting to her brow, +gave him steadily for answer: + +"Whenever you wish, Rod Norton!" + +So it was only twenty-four hours later that Ignacio Chavez stood in the +old Mission garden and made his bells talk, just the three upon the +western arch, the Little One, La Golondrina, and Ignacio Chavez, the +golden-throated trio that tinkled to the touch of his cunning hand and +seemed to laugh and sing and proclaim the gladdest of glad tidings. +Then Ignacio drew his enrapt gaze earthward from the full moon and made +out a man and a girl riding out into the night, riding toward the Ranch +of the Flowers. And he made the bells laugh again. + +"And to-morrow," vowed Ignacio solemnly, "not later than to-morrow or +the day thereafter, you shall have your reward, _amigos_. You have +told the world of heavy doings; you have rung for Jim Galloway dead; +you have made the music for the wedding of _el_ Señor Nortone. And it +shall be I who will make a little roof like a house over you. You will +see!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN*** + + +******* This file should be named 15438-8.txt or 15438-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/4/3/15438 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Bells of San Juan</p> +<p>Author: Jackson Gregory</p> +<p>Release Date: March 22, 2005 [eBook #15438]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Frontispiece" BORDER="2" WIDTH="352" HEIGHT="564"> +<H5> +Frontispiece: Having come closer he reined in his horse,<br> +stared at her a moment in surprised wonderment. . . +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN +</H1> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +JACKSON GREGORY +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<i>JUDITH OF BLUE LAKE RANCH</i>, <i>THE JOYOUS TROUBLE MAKER</i>,<br><i>MAN TO MAN</i>, ETC. +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATED BY +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FRANK TENNEY JOHNSON +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H6 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK<br> +GROSSET & DUNLAP<br> +PUBLISHERS +</H6> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +1919 +</H5> + + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +TO +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +RODERICK NORTON GREGORY +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap00"> +FOREWORD--THE BELLS +</A> +</H3> + +<H4> +CHAPTER +</H4> + +<TABLE> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">I.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE BELLS RING</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">II.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap02"> THE SHERIFF OF SAN JUAN</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">III.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap03">A MAN'S BOOTS</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">IV.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap04">AT THE BANKER'S HOME </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">V.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap05">IN THE DARKNESS OF THE PATIO </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">VI.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap06">A RIDE THROUGH THE NIGHT </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">VII.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap07">IN THE HOME OF CLIFF-DWELLERS </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">VIII.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap08">JIM GALLOWAY'S GAME </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">IX.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap09">YOUNG PAGE COMES TO TOWN</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">X.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap10">A BRIBE AND A THREAT </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XI.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE FIGHT AT LA CASA BLANCA </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XII.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap12">WAVERING IN THE BALANCE </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XIII.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap13">CONCEALMENT </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XIV.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap14">A FREE MAN </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XV.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap15"> THE KING'S PALACE </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XVI.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap16">THE MEXICAN FROM MEXICO </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XVII.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap17">A STACK OF GOLD PIECES </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XVIII.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap18">DESIRE OUTWEIGHS DISCRETION </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XIX.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap19">DEADLOCK </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XX.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap20">FLUFF AND BLACK BILL </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XXI.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap21">A CRISIS </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XXII.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap22">THE BEGINNING OF THE END </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XXIII.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap23">THE STRONG HAND OF GALLOWAY </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XXIV.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap24">IN THE OPEN </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XXV.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap25">THE BATTLE IN THE ARROYO </A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">XXVI.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="90%"> +<A HREF="#chap26">THE BELLS RING</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-front"> +Having come closer he reined in his horse, stared at her a moment in +surprised wonderment . . . . Frontispiece +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-142"> +Then came the second meeting with Jim Galloway +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-214"> +"Come, and I'll share my secret with you" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-326"> +On through the bright moonlight came the sheriff's posse +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +The Bells of San Juan +</H2> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>A Novel</I> +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FOREWORD +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BELLS +</H4> + +<P> +He who has not heard the bells of San Juan has a journey yet to make. +He who has not set foot upon the dusty road which is the one street of +San Juan, at times the most silent and deserted of thoroughfares, at +other times a mad and turbulent lane between sun-dried adobe walls, may +yet learn something of man and his hopes, desires, fears and ruder +passions from a pin-point upon the great southwestern map. +</P> + +<P> +The street runs due north and south, pointing like a compass to the +flat gray desert in the one direction, and in the other to the broken +hills swept up into the San Juan mountains. At the northern end, that +is toward the more inviting mountains, is the old Mission. To right +and left of the whitewashed corridors in a straggling garden of +pear-trees and olives and yellow roses are two rude arches made of +seasoned cedar. From the top cross-beam of each hang three bells. +</P> + +<P> +They have their history, these bells of San Juan, and the biggest with +its deep, mellow voice, the smallest with its golden chimes, seem to be +chanting it when they ring. Each swinging tongue has its tale to tell, +a tale of old Spain, of Spanish galleons and Spanish gentlemen +adventurers, of gentle-voiced priests and sombre-eyed Indians, of +conquest, revolt, intrigue, and sudden death. When a baby is born in +San Juan, a rarer occurrence than a strong man's death, the littlest of +the bells upon the western arch laughs while it calls to all to +hearken; when a man is killed, the angry-toned bell pendant from the +eastern arch shouts out the word to go billowing across the stretches +of sage and greasewood and gama-grass; if one of the later-day frame +buildings bursts into flame, Ignacio Chavez warns the town with a +strident clamor, tugging frantically; be it wedding or discovery of +gold or returns from the county elections, the bell-ringer cunningly +makes the bells talk. +</P> + +<P> +Out on the desert a man might stop and listen, forming his surmise as +the sounds surged to meet him through the heat and silence. He might +smile, if he knew San Juan, as he caught the jubilant message tapped +swiftly out of the bronze bell which had come, men said, with Coronado; +he might sigh at the lugubrious, slow-swelling voice of the big bell +which had come hitherward long ago with the retinue of Marco de Niza, +wondering what old friend or enemy, perchance, had at last closed his +ears to all of Ignacio Chavez's music. Or, at a sudden fury of +clanging, the man far out on the desert might hurry on, goading his +burro impatiently, to know what great event had occurred in the old +adobe town of San Juan. +</P> + +<P> +It is three hundred and fifty years and more since the six bells of San +Juan came into the new world to toll across that land of quiet mystery +which is the southwest. It is a hundred years since an +all-but-forgotten priest, Francisco Calderón, found them in various +devastated mission churches, assembled them, and set them chiming in +the old garden. There, among the pear-trees and olives and yellow +roses, they still cast their shadows in sun and moonlight, in silence, +and in echoing chimes. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BELLS RING +</H4> + +<P> +Ignacio Chavez, Mexican that he styled himself, Indian that the +community deemed him, or "breed" of badly mixed blood that he probably +was, made his loitering way along the street toward the Mission. A +thin, yellowish-brown <I>cigarita</I> dangling from his lips, his wide, +dilapidated conical hat tilted to the left side of his head in a +listless sort of concession to the westering sun, he was, as was +customary with him, utterly at peace. Ten minutes ago he had had +twenty cents; two minutes after the acquisition of his elusive wealth +he had exchanged the two dimes for whiskey at the Casa Blanca; the +remaining eight minutes of the ten he required to make his way, as he +naively put it, "between hell and heaven." +</P> + +<P> +For from a corner of the peaceful old Mission garden at one end of the +long street one might catch a glimpse of the Casa Blanca at the other +end sprawling in the sun; between the two sturdy walled buildings had +the town strung itself as it grew. As old a relic as the church itself +was La Casa Blanca, and since San Juan could remember, in all matters +antipodal to the religious calm of the padres' monument. Deep-shaded +doorways let into the three-feet-thick earthen walls, waxed floors, +green tables, and bar and cool looking-glasses . . . a place which +invited, lured, held, and frequently enough finally damned. +</P> + +<P> +San Juan, in the languid philosophy of Ignacio Chavez, was what you +will. It epitomized the universe. You had everything here which the +soul of man might covet. Never having dwelt elsewhere since his mother +bore him here upon the rim of the desert and with the San Juan +mountains so near that, Ignacio Chavez pridefully knew, a man standing +upon the Mesa Alta might hear the ringing of his bells, he experienced +a pitying contempt for all those other spots in the world which were so +plainly less favored. What do you wish, señor? Fine warm days? You +have them here. Nice cool nights for sound slumber? Right here in San +Juan, <I>amigo mío</I>. A desert across which the eye may run without +stopping until it be tired, a wonderful desert whereon at dawn and dusk +God weaves all of the alluring soft mists of mystery? Shaded cañons at +noonday with water and birds and flowers? Behold the mountains. +Everything desirable, in short. That there might be men who desired +the splash of waves, the sheen of wet beaches, the boom of surf, did +not suggest itself to one who had never seen the ocean. So, then, San +Juan was "what you will." A man may fix his eye upon the little +Mission cross which is always pointing to heaven and God; or he may +pass through the shaded doors of the Casa Blanca, which, men say, give +pathway into hell the shortest way. +</P> + +<P> +Ignacio, having meditatively enjoyed his whiskey and listened smilingly +to the tinkle of a mandolin in the <I>patio</I> under a grape-vine arbor, +had rolled his cigarette and turned his back square upon the +devil . . . of whom he had no longer anything to ask. As he went out +he stopped in the doorway long enough to rub his back against a corner +of the wall and to strike a match. Then, almost inaudibly humming the +mandolin air, he slouched out into the burning street. +</P> + +<P> +For twenty years he had striven with the weeds in the Mission garden, +and no man during that time dared say which had had the best of it, +Ignacio Chavez or the interloping alfileria and purslane. In the +matters of a vast leisureliness and tumbling along the easiest way they +resembled each other, these two avowed enemies. For twenty years he +had looked upon the bells as his own, had filled his eye with them day +after day, had thought the first thing in the morning to see that they +were there, regarding them as solicitously in the rare rainy weather as +his old mother regarded her few mongrel chicks. Twenty full years, and +yet Ignacio Chavez was not more than thirty years old, or thirty-five, +perhaps. He did not know, no one cared. +</P> + +<P> +He was on his way to attack with his bare brown hands some of the weeds +which were spilling over into the walk which led through the garden and +to the priest's house. As a matter of fact he had awakened with this +purpose in mind, had gone his lazy way all day fully purposing to give +it his attention, and had at last arrived upon the scene. The front +gate had finally broken, the upper hinge worn out; Ignacio carefully +set the ramshackly wooden affair back against the fence, thinking how +one of these days he would repair it. Then he went between the bigger +pear-tree and the <I>lluvia de oro</I> which his own hands had planted +here, and stood with legs well apart considering the three bells upon +the easterly arch. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Que hay, amigos</I>?" he greeted them. "Do you know what I am going to +do for you some fine day? I will build a little roof over you that +runs down both ways to shut out the water when it rains. It will make +you hoarse, too much wet." +</P> + +<P> +That was one of the few dreams of Ignacio's life; one day he was going +to make a little roof over each arch. But to-day he merely regarded +affectionately the Captain . . . that was the biggest of the +bells . . . the Dancer, second in size, and Lolita, the smallest upon +this arch. Then he sighed and turned toward the other arch across the +garden to see how it was with the Little One, La Golondrina, and +Ignacio Chavez. For it was only fair that at least one of the six +should bear his name. +</P> + +<P> +Changing his direction thus, moving directly toward the dropping sun, +he shifted his hat well over his eyes and so was constrained to note +how the weeds were asserting themselves with renewed insolence. He +muttered a soft "<I>maldito</I>!" at them which might have been mistaken +for a caress and determined upon a merciless campaign of extermination +just as soon as he could have fitted a new handle to his hoe. Then he +paused in front of the Mission steps and lifted his hat, made an +elegant bow, and smiled in his own inimitable, remarkably fascinating +way. For, under the ragged brim, his eyes had caught a glimpse of a +pretty pair of patent-leather slippers, a prettier pair of +black-stockinged ankles, and the hem of a white starched skirt. +</P> + +<P> +Nowhere are there eyes like the eyes of old Mexico. Deep and soft and +soulful, though the man himself may have a soul like a bit of charred +leather; velvety and tender, though they may belong to an out-and-out +cutthroat; expressive, eloquent even, though they are the eyes of a +peon with no mind to speak of; night-black, and like the night filled +with mystery. Ignacio Chavez lifted such eyes to the eyes of the girl +who had been watching him and spontaneously gave her the last iota of +his ready admiration. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a fine day, señorita," he told her, displaying two glistening +rows of superb teeth friendliwise. "And the garden . . . <I>Ah, que hay +más bonito en todo el mundo</I>? You like it, no?" +</P> + +<P> +It was slow music when Ignacio Chavez spoke, all liquid sounds and +tender cadences. When he had cursed the weeds it was like love-making. +A <I>d</I> in his mouth became a softened <I>th</I>; from the lips of such as +the bell-ringer of San Juan the snapping Gringo oath comes +metamorphosed into a gentle "Gah-tham!" The girl, to whom the speech +of Chavez was something as new and strange as the face of the earth +about her, regarded him with grave, curious eyes. +</P> + +<P> +She was seated against the Mission wall upon the little bench which no +one but Ignacio guessed was to be painted green one of these fine days, +a bronze-haired, gray-eyed girl in white skirt and waist, and with a +wide panama hat caught between her clasped hands and her knee. For a +moment she was perhaps wondering how to take him; then with a +suddenness that had been all unheralded in her former gravity, she +smiled. With lips and eyes together as though she accepted his +friendship. Ignacio's own smile broadened and he nodded his delight. +</P> + +<P> +"It is truly beautiful here," she admitted, and had Ignacio possessed a +tithe of that sympathetic comprehension which his eyes lied about he +would have detected a little note of eagerness in her voice, would have +guessed that she was lonely and craved human companionship. "I have +been sitting here an hour or two. You are not going to send me away, +are you?" +</P> + +<P> +Ignacio looked properly horrified. +</P> + +<P> +"If I saw an angel here in the garden, señorita," he exclaimed, "would +I say <I>zape</I> to it? No, no, señorita; here you shall stay a thousand +years if you wish. I swear it." +</P> + +<P> +He was all sincerity; Ignacio Chavez would no sooner think of being +rude to a beautiful young woman than of crying "Scat!" to an angel. +But as to staying here a thousand years . . . she glanced through the +tangle of the garden to the tiny graveyard and shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"You have just come to San Juan?" he asked. "To-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she told him. "On the stage at noon." +</P> + +<P> +"You have friends here?" +</P> + +<P> +Again she shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," said Ignacio. He straightened for a brief instant and she could +see how the chest under his shirt inflated. "A tourist. You have +heard of this garden, maybe? And the bells? So you travelled across +the desert to see?" +</P> + +<P> +The third time she shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I have come to live here," she returned quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"But not all alone, señorita!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." She smiled at him again. "All alone." +</P> + +<P> +"Mother of God!" he said within himself. And presently to her: "I did +not see the stage come to-day; in San Juan one takes his siesta at that +hour. And it is not often that the stage brings new people from the +railroad." +</P> + +<P> +In some subtle way he had made of his explanation an apology. While +his slow brown fingers rolled a cigarette he stared away through the +garden and across the desert with an expression half melancholy, half +merely meditative, which made the girl wonder what his thoughts were. +When she came to know him better she would know too that at times like +this he was not thinking at all. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe this is the most profoundly peaceful place in the world," +she said quietly, half listlessly setting into words the impression +which had clung about her throughout the long, still day. "It is like +a strange dream-town, one sees no one moving about, hears nothing. It +is just a little sad, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +He had followed her until the end, comprehending. But sad? How that? +It was just as it should be; to ears which had never been filled with +the noises or rushing trains and cars and all of the traffic of a city, +what sadness could there be in the very natural calm of the rim of the +desert? Having no satisfactory reply to make, Ignacio merely muttered, +"Si, señorita," somewhat helplessly and let it go with that. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," she continued, sitting up a little and seeming to throw off +the oppressively heavy spell of her environment, "who are the important +people hereabouts?" +</P> + +<P> +<I>La gente</I>? Oh, Ignacio knew them well, all of them! There was Señor +Engle, to begin with. The banker of whom no doubt she had heard? He +owned a big <I>residencia</I> just yonder; you could catch the gleam of its +white walls through a clump of cottonwoods, withdrawn aloofly from San +Juan's street. Many men worked for him; he had big cattle and sheep +ranches throughout the county; he paid well and loaned out much money. +Also he had a beautiful wife and a truly marvellously beautiful +daughter. And horses such as one could not look upon elsewhere. Then +there was Señor Nortone, as Ignacio pronounced him; a sincere friend of +Ignacio Chavez and a man fearless and true and extravagantly to be +admired, who, it appeared, was the sheriff. Not a family man; he was +too young yet. But soon; oh, one could see! It would be Ignacio who +would ring the bells for the wedding when Roderico Nortone married +himself with the daughter of the banker. +</P> + +<P> +"He is what you call a gunman, isn't he?" asked the girl, interested. +"I heard two of the men on the stage talking of him. They called him +Roddy Norton; he is the one, isn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +<I>Seguro</I>; sure, he was the one. A gunman? Ignacio shrugged. He was +sheriff, and what must a sheriff be if not a gunman? +</P> + +<P> +"On the stage," continued the girl, "was a man they called Doc; and +another named Galloway. They are San Juan men, are they not?" +</P> + +<P> +Ignacio lifted his brows a shade disdainfully. They were both San Juan +citizens, but obviously not to his liking. Jim Galloway was a big man, +yes; but of <I>la gente</I>, never! The señorita should look the other way +when he passed. He owned the Casa Blanca; that was enough to ticket +him, and Ignacio passed quickly to <I>el señor doctor</I>. Oh, he was +smart and did much good to the sick; but the poor Mexican who called +him for a bedridden wife must first sell something and show the money. +</P> + +<P> +Beyond these it appeared that the enviable class of San Juan consisted +of the padre José, who was at present and much of the time away +visiting the poor and sick throughout the countryside; Julius Struve, +who owned and operated the local hotel, one of the lesser luminaries, +though a portly gentleman with an amiable wife; the Porters, who had a +farm off to the northwest and whose connection to San Juan lay in the +fact that an old maid daughter taught the school here; various other +individuals and family groups to be disposed of with a word and a +careless wave of a cigarette. Already for the fair stranger Ignacio +had skimmed the cream of the cream. +</P> + +<P> +The girl sighed, as though her question had been no idle one and his +reply had disappointed her. For a moment her brows gathered slightly +into a frown that was like a faint shadow; then she smiled again +brightly, a quick smile which seemed more at home in her eyes than the +frown had been. +</P> + +<P> +Ignacio glanced from her to the weeds, then, squinting his eyes, at the +sun. There was ample time, it would be cooler presently. So, +describing a respectful arc about her, he approached the Mission wall, +slipped into the shade, and eased himself in characteristic indolence +against the white-washed adobe. She appeared willing to talk with him; +well, then, what pleasanter way to spend an afternoon? She sought to +learn this and that of a land new to her; who to explain more knowingly +than Ignacio Chavez? After a little he would pluck some of the newly +opened yellow rosebuds for her, making her a little speech about +herself and budding flowers. He would even, perhaps, show her his +bells, let her hear just the suspicion of a note from each. . . . +</P> + +<P> +A sharp sound came to her abruptly out of the utter stillness but meant +nothing to her. She saw a flock of pigeons rise above the roofs of the +more distant houses, circle, swerve, and disappear beyond the +cottonwoods. She noted that Ignacio was no longer leaning lazily +against the wall; he had stiffened, his mouth was a little open, +breathless, his attitude that of one listening expectantly, his eyes +squinting as they had been just now when he fronted the sun. Then came +the second sound, a repetition of the first, sharp, in some way +sinister. Then another and another and another, until she lost count; +a man's voice crying out strangely, muffled. Indistinct, seeming to +come from afar. +</P> + +<P> +It was an incongruous, almost a humorous, thing to see the sun-warmed +passivity of Ignacio Chavez metamorphosed in a flash into activity. He +muttered something, leaped away from the Mission wall, dashed through +the tangle of the garden, and raced like a madman to the eastern arch. +With both hands he grasped the dangling bell-ropes, with all of his +might he set them clanging and shouting and clamoring until the +reverberation smote her ears and set the blood tingling strangely +through her. She had seen the look upon his face. . . . +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly she knew that those little sharp sounds had been the rattle of +pistol-shots. She sprang to her feet, her eyes widening. Now all was +quiet save for the boom and roar of the bells. The pigeons were +circling high in the clear sky, were coming back. . . . She went +quickly the way Ignacio had gone, calling out to him: +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +He seemed all unmoved now as he made his bells cry out for him; it was +for him to be calm while they trembled with the event which surely they +must understand. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a man dead," he told her as his right hand called upon the +Captain for a volume of sound from his bronze throat. "You will see. +And there will be more work for Roderico Nortone!" He sighed and shook +his head, and for a moment spoke softly with his jangling bells. "And +some day," he continued quietly, "it will be Roderico's time, <I>no</I>? +And I will ring the bells for him, and the Captain and the Dancer and +Lolita, they will all put tears into men's eyes. But first, Santa +Maria! let it be that I ring the others for him when he marries himself +with the banker's daughter." +</P> + +<P> +"A man dead?" the girl repeated, unwilling to grasp fully. +</P> + +<P> +"You will see," returned Ignacio. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SHERIFF OF SAN JUAN +</H4> + +<P> +The girl in the old Mission garden stood staring at Ignacio Chavez a +long time, seeming compelled by a force greater than her own to watch +him tugging and jerking at his bells. Plainly enough she understood +that this was an alarm being sounded; a man dead through violence, and +the bell-ringer stirring the town with it. But when presently he let +two of the ropes slip out of his hands and began a slow, mournful +tolling of the Captain alone, she shuddered a little and withdrew. +</P> + +<P> +That it might be merely a case of a man wounded, even badly, did not +once suggest itself to her. Ignacio had spoken as one who knew, in +full confidence and with finality. She should see! She returned to +the little bench which one day was to be a bright green, and sat down. +She could see that again the pigeons were circling excitedly; that from +the baking street little puffs of dust arose to hang idly in the still +air as though they were painted upon the clear canvas of the sky. She +heard the voices of men, faint, quick sounds against the tolling of the +bell. Then suddenly all was very still once more; Ignacio had allowed +the Captain to resume his silent brooding, and came to her. +</P> + +<P> +"I must go to see who it is," he apologized. "Then I will know better +how to ring for him. The sheepman from Las Palmas, I bet you. For did +I not see when just now I passed the Casa Blanca that he was a little +drunk with Señor Galloway's whiskey? And does not every one know he +sold many sheep and that means much money these days? Si, señorita; it +will be the sheepman from Las Palmas." +</P> + +<P> +He was gone, slouching along again and in no haste now that he had +fulfilled his first duty. What haste could there possibly be since, +sheepman from Las Palmas or another, he was dead and therefore must +wait upon Ignacio Chavez's pleasure? Somehow she gleaned this thought +from his manner and therefore did not speak as she watched him depart. +</P> + +<P> +That portion of the street which she could see from her bench was +empty, the dust settling, thinning, disappearing. Farther down toward +the Casa Blanca she could imagine the little knots of men asking one +another what had happened and how; the chief actor in this fragment of +human drama she could picture lying inert, uncaring that it was for him +that a bell had tolled and would toll again, that men congregated +curiously. +</P> + +<P> +In a little while Ignacio would return, shuffling, smoking a dangling +cigarette, his hat cocked against the sun; he would give her full +particulars and then return to his bell. . . . She had come to San +Juan to make a home here, to become a part of it, to make it a portion +of her. To arrive upon a day like this was no pleasant omen; it was +too dreadfully like taking a room in a house only to hear the life +rattling out of a man beyond a partition. She was suddenly averse to +hearing Ignacio's details; there came a quick desire to set her back to +the town whose silence on the heels of uproar crushed her. Rising +hastily, she hurried down the weed-bordered walk, out at the broken +gate, and turned toward the mountains. One glance down the street as +she crossed it showed her what she had expected: a knot of men at the +door of the Casa Blanca, another small group at a window, evidently +taking stock of a broken window-pane. +</P> + +<P> +The sun, angry and red, was hanging low over a distant line of hills, +the flat lands were already drawing about them a thin, faintly colorful +haze. She had put on her hat and, like Ignacio, had set it a little to +the side of her head, feeling her cheeks burning when the direct rays +found them. The fine, loose soil was sifting into her low slippers +before she had gone a score of paces. When she came back she would +unpack her trunk and get out a sensible pair of boots. No doubt she +was dressed ridiculously, but then the heat had tempted her. . . . +</P> + +<P> +A curious matter presented itself to her. In the little groups upon +the street she had not seen a single woman. Were there none in San +Juan? Was this some strange, altogether masculine, community into +which she had stumbled? Then she remembered how the bell-ringer had +mentioned Mrs. Engle, the banker's wife, and his daughter and Mrs. +Struve and others. Besides all this she had a letter to Mrs. Engle +which she was going to present this evening. . . . +</P> + +<P> +She was thinking of anything in the world but of a tragedy not yet +grown cold, so near her that for a little it had seemed to embrace her. +Now it was almost as though it had not occurred. The world was all +unchanged about her, the town somnolent. She had shuddered as Ignacio +played upon his bell; but the shudder was rather from the bell's +resonant eloquence than from any more vital cause. A man she had never +seen, whose name even she did not know, had been shot by another man +unknown to her; she had heard only the shots, she had seen nothing. +True, she had heard also a voice crying out, but she sensed that it had +been the voice of an onlooker. She felt ashamed that the episode did +not move her more. +</P> + +<P> +As, earlier in the afternoon, she had been drawn from the heat of her +room at Struve's hotel by the shade to be found in the Mission garden, +so now did a long, wavering line of cottonwoods beckon to her. In +files which turned eastward or westward here and there only to come +back to the general northerly trend, they indicated where an arroyo +writhed down, tortured serpent-wise, from the mountains. Through their +foliage she had glimpsed the Engle home. She expected to find running +water under their shade, that and an attendant coolness. +</P> + +<P> +But the arroyo proved to be dry and hot, a gash in the dry bosom of the +earth, its bottom strewn with smooth pebbles and sand and a very +sparse, unattractive vegetation, stunted and harsh. And it was almost +as hot here as on San Juan's street; into the shade crept the +heat-waves of the dry, scorched air. +</P> + +<P> +Led by the line of cottonwoods she found a little path and followed it, +experiencing a vague relief to have the town at her back. She knew +that distances deceived the eye in this bleak land, and yet she thought +that before dark she could reach the hills, where perhaps there were a +few languid flowers and pools, and return just tired enough to eat and +go to sleep. She rather thought that she would postpone her call on +the Engles until to-morrow. +</P> + +<P> +"It's mañana-land, after all," she told herself with a quick smile. +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later she found a spot where the trees stood in a denser +growth, looking greener, more vigorous . . . less thirsty. She could +fancy the great roots, questing far downward through the layers of dry +soil, thrusting themselves almost with a human, passionate eagerness +into the water they had found. Here she threw herself down, lying upon +her back, gazing up through the branches and leaves. +</P> + +<P> +Never until now had she known the meaning of utter stillness. She saw +a bird, a poor brown, unkempt little being; it had no song to offer the +silence, and in a little flew away listlessly. She had seen a rabbit, +a big, gaunt, uncomely wretch, disappearing silently among the clumps +of brush. +</P> + +<P> +Her spirit, essentially bright and happy, had striven hard with a new +form of weariness all day. Not only was she coming into another land +than that which she knew and understood, she was entering another phase +of her life. She had chosen voluntarily, without advice or suggestion; +she had had her reasons and they had seemed sufficient; they were still +sufficient. She had chosen wisely; she held to that, her judgment +untroubled. But that stubbornly recurrent sense that with the old +landmarks she had abandoned the old life, that both in physical fact +and in spiritual and mental actuality she was at the threshold of an +unguessed, essentially different life, was disquieting. There is no +getting away from an old basic truth that a man's life is so strongly +influenced as almost to be moulded by his environment; there was +uneasiness in the thought that here one's existence might grow to +resemble his habitat, taking on the gray tone and monotony and bleak +barrenness of this sun-smitten land. +</P> + +<P> +Yielding a little already to the command laid upon breathing nature +hereabouts, she was lying still, her hands lax, her thoughts taking +unto themselves something of the character of the listless, songless +brown bird's flight. She had come here to-day following in the +footsteps of other men and a few women. Her own selection of San Juan +was explicable; the thing to wonder at was what had given the hardihood +to the first men to stop here and make houses and then homes? Later +she would know; the one magic word of the desert lands: water. For San +Juan, standing midway between the railroad and the more tempting lands +beyond the mountains, had found birth because here was a mud-hole for +cradle; down under the sand were fortuitous layers of impervious clay +cupping to hold much sweet water. +</P> + +<P> +The slow tolling of a bell came billowing out through the silence. The +girl sat up. It was the Captain. Never, it seemed to her, had she +heard anything so mournful. Ignacio had informed himself concerning +all details and had returned to the garden at the Mission. The man was +dead, then. There could be no doubt as one listened to the measured +sorrowing of the big bell. +</P> + +<P> +She got to her feet and, walking swiftly, moved on, still farther from +San Juan. The act was without premeditation; her whole being was +insistent upon it. She wondered if it was the sheepman from Las +Palmas; if he had, perhaps, a wife and children. Then she stopped +suddenly; a new thought had come to her. Strange, inexplicable even, +it had not suggested itself before. She wondered who the other man +was, the man who had done the killing. And what had happened to him? +Had he fled? Had other men grappled with him, disarmed him, made of +him a prisoner to answer for what he had done? What had been his +motive, what passion had actuated him Surely not just the greed for +gold which the bell-ringer had suggested! What sort of creature was he +who, in cold, calculating blood could murder a man for a handful of +money? +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing to answer unless she could catch the thought of +Ignacio Chavez in the ringing of his bell. She moved on again, +hurrying. +</P> + +<P> +Following the arroyo, she had come to the first of the little, smooth +hills, the lomas as the men on the stage had named them. Through them +the dry watercourse wriggled, carrying its green pennons along its +marge. She went up gentle slopes mantled with bleached grass which +directly under her eyes was white in the glare of the sun. But the sun +was very low now, very fierce and red, an angry god going down in +temporary defeat, but defiant to the last, filled with threat for +to-morrow; at a little distance he tinged the world with his own fiery +hue. The far western uplands cut the great disk squarely in two; down +slipped the half wafer until it seemed that just a bright signal-fire +was kindled upon the ridge. And as that faded from her eyes the slow +sobbing of the swinging bell was like a wail for the death of the day. +</P> + +<P> +She had removed her hat, fancying that already the earth was throwing +off its heat, that a little coolness and freshness was coming down to +meet her from the mountains. She turned her eyes toward them and it +was then, just after the sunset, that she saw a man riding toward her. +He was still far off when she first glimpsed him, just cresting one of +the higher hills, so that for him the sun had not yet set. For she +caught the glint of light flaming back from the silver chasings of his +bridle and from the barrel of the gun across the hollow of his left +arm. She did not believe that he had seen her in the shadow of the +cottonwoods. +</P> + +<P> +If she went on she must meet him presently. She glanced back over her +shoulder, noting how far she had come from the town. It was very still +again; the bell had ceased its complaint; the hoofs of the approaching +horse seemed shod with felt, falling upon felt. She swung about and +walked back toward San Juan. +</P> + +<P> +A little later she heard the man's voice, calling. Clearly to her, +since there was no one else. Why should he call to her? She gave no +sign of having heard, but walked on a trifle faster. She sensed that +he was galloping down upon her; still in the loose sand the hoof-beats +were muffled. Then when he called a second time she stopped and turned +and waited. +</P> + +<P> +A splendid big fellow he was, she noted as he came on, riding a +splendid big horse. Man and beast seemed to belong to the desert; had +it not been for the glint of the sun she realized now, she probably +would not have distinguished their distant forms from the land across +which they had moved. The horse was a darkish, dull gray; the man, +boots, corduroy breeches, soft shirt, and hat, was garbed in gray or so +covered with the dust of travel as to seem so. +</P> + +<P> +"What in the world are you doing way out here?" he called to her. And +then having come closer he reined in his horse, stared at her a moment +in surprised wonderment, swept off his hat and said, a shade awkwardly: +"I beg pardon. I thought you were some one else." +</P> + +<P> +For her wide hat was again drooping about her face, and he had had just +the form of her and the white skirt and waist to judge by. +</P> + +<P> +"It is all right," she said lightly. "I imagined that you had made a +mistake." +</P> + +<P> +It was something of a victory over herself to have succeeded in +speaking thus carelessly. For there had been the impulse, a temptation +almost, just to stare back at the man as he had stared at her and in +silence. Not only was the type physically magnificent; to her it was, +like everything about her, new. And that which had held her at first +was his eyes. For it is not the part of youth to be stern-eyed; and +while this man could not be more than midway between twenty and thirty, +his eyes had already acquired the trick of being hard, steely, +suggesting relentlessness, stern and quick. Tall, lean-bodied, with +big calloused hands, as brown as an Indian, hair and eyes were +uncompromisingly black. He belonged to the southwestern wastes. +</P> + +<P> +These things she noted, and that his face was drawn and weary, that +about his left hand was tied a handkerchief, hinting at a minor cut, +that his horse looked as travel-worn as himself. +</P> + +<P> +"One doesn't see strangers often around San Juan," he explained. "As +for a girl . . . Well, I never made a mistake like this before. I'll +have to look out." The muscles of the tired face softened a little, +into his eyes came a quick light that was good to see, for an instant +masking their habitual sternness. "If you'll excuse me again, and if +you don't know a whole lot about this country . . ." He paused to +measure her sweepingly, seemed satisfied, and concluded: "I wouldn't +go out all alone like this; especially after sundown. We're a rather +tough lot, you know. Good-by." +</P> + +<P> +He lifted his hat again, loosened his horse's reins, and passed by her. +Just as she had expected, just as she had desired. And yet, with his +dusty back turned upon her, she experienced a sudden return of her +loneliness. Would she ever look into the eyes of a friend again? +Could she ever actually accomplish what she had set out to accomplish; +make San Juan a home? +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes followed him, frankly admiring now; so she might have looked +at any other of nature's triumphant creations. Then, before he had +gone a score of yards, she saw how a little tightening of his horse's +reins had brought the big brute down from a swinging gallop to a dead +standstill. The bell was tolling again. +</P> + +<P> +Again he was calling to her, again, swinging about, he had ridden to +her side. Now his voice like his eyes, was ominously stern. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," she told him, marvelling at the look on his face. His +emotion was purely one of anger, mounting anger that a man was dead? +"The man who rings the bells told me that he thought it must be a +sheepman from Las Palmas. He went to see. . . . I didn't wait. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +Nor did this man wait now. Again he had wheeled; now he was racing +along the arroyo, urging a tired horse that he might lose no +unnecessary handful of moments. And as he went she heard him curse +savagely under his breath and knew that he had forgotten her in the +thoughts which had been released by the dull booming of a bell. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A MAN'S BOOTS +</H4> + +<P> +In the bar at the Casa Blanca, a long, wide room, low-ceilinged and +with cool, sprinkled floor, a score of men had congregated. For the +most part they were silent, content to look at the signs left by the +recent shooting and to have what scraps of explanation were vouchsafed +them. And these were meagre enough. The man who had done the shooting +was sullen and self-contained. The dead man . . . it was the sheepman +from Las Palmas . . . lay in an adjoining card-room, stark under the +blanket which the large hands of Jim Galloway had drawn over him. +</P> + +<P> +When the clatter of hoofs rang out in the street a couple of men went +to the door. Coming back, "It is the sheriff," they said. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick Norton, entering swiftly, his spurs dragging and jangling, +swept the faces in the room with eyes which had in them none of that +human glint of good-will which the girl at the arroyo had glimpsed in +them. Again they were steely, angry, bespeaking both threat and +suspicion. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it this time?" he demanded sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Bisbee, from Las Palmas," they told him. +</P> + +<P> +"Who did it?" came the quick question. And then, before an answer +could come, his voice ringing with the anger in it: "Antone or Kid +Rickard? Which one?" +</P> + +<P> +He had shifted his rifle so that it was caught up under his left arm. +His right hand, frank and unhidden, rested upon the butt of the +heavy-caliber revolver sagging from his belt. Standing just within the +room, he had stepped to one side of the doorway so that the wall was at +his back. +</P> + +<P> +"It was the Kid," some one answered, and was continuing, "He says it +was self-defense . . ." when Norton cut in bluntly: +</P> + +<P> +"Was Galloway here when it happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Galloway now?" +</P> + +<P> +It was noteworthy that he asked for Jim Galloway rather than for Kid +Rickard. +</P> + +<P> +"In there," they told him, indicating a second card-room adjoining that +in which the Las Palmas sheepman lay. Rod Norton, again glancing +sharply across the faces confronting him, went to the closed door and +set his hand to the knob. But Jim Galloway, having desired privacy +just now, had locked the door. Norton struck it sharply, commanding: +</P> + +<P> +"Open up, Galloway. It's Norton." +</P> + +<P> +There came the low mutter of a voice hasty and with the quality of +stern exhortation, the snap of the lock, and the door was jerked open. +Norton's eyes, probing into every square foot of the chamber, took +stock of Jim Galloway, and beyond him of Kid Rickard, slouching forward +in a chair and rolling a cigarette. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Norton," said Galloway tonelessly. "Glad you showed up. +There's been trouble." +</P> + +<P> +A heavy man above the waist-line, thick-shouldered, with large head and +bull throat, his muscular torso tapered down to clean-lined hips, his +legs of no greater girth than those of the lean-bodied man confronting +him, his feet small in glove-fitting boots. His eyes, prominent and +full and a clear brown, were a shade too innocent. Chin, jaw, and +mouth, the latter full-lipped, were those of strength, smashing power, +and a natural cruelty. He was the one man to be found in San Juan who +was dressed as the rather fastidiously inclined business men dress in +the cities. +</P> + +<P> +"Another man down, Galloway," said Norton with an ominous sternness. +"And in your place. . . How long do you think that you can keep out +from under?" +</P> + +<P> +His meaning was plain enough; the men behind him in the barroom +listened in attitudes which, varying in other matters, were alike in +their tenseness. Galloway, however, staring stonily with eyes not +unlike polished agate, so cold and steady were they, gave no sign of +taking offense. +</P> + +<P> +"You and I never were friends, Rod Norton," he said, unmoved. "Still +that's no reason you should jump me for trouble. Answering your +question, I expect to keep out from under just as long as two things +remain as they are: first, as long as I play the game square and in the +open, next, as long as an overgrown boy holds down the job of sheriff +in San Juan." +</P> + +<P> +In Norton's eyes was blazing hatred, in Galloway's mere steady, +unwinking boldness. +</P> + +<P> +"You saw the killing?" the sheriff asked curtly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Galloway. +</P> + +<P> +"The Kid there did it?" +</P> + +<P> +For the first time the man slouching forward in the chair lifted his +head. Had a stranger looked in at that moment, curious to see him who +had just committed homicide . . . or murder . . . he must have +experienced a positive shock. Sullen-eyed, sullen-lipped, the +man-killer could not yet have seen the last of his teens. A thin wisp +of straw-colored hair across a low, atavistic forehead, unhealthy, +yellowish skin, with pale, lack-lustre, faded blue eyes, he looked evil +and vicious and cruel. One looking from him to Jim Galloway would have +suspected that one could be as inhuman as the other, but with the +difference that that which was but means to an end with Galloway would +be end in itself to Kid Rickard. Something of the primal savage shone +in the pale fires of his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," retorted the Kid, his surly voice little better than a snarl. +"I got him and be damned to him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bad luck cursing a dead man, Rickard," said Norton coldly. "What did +you kill him for?" +</P> + +<P> +Kid Rickard's tongue ran back and forth between his colorless lips +before he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"He tried to get me first," he said defiantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Who saw the shooting?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jim Galloway. And Antone." +</P> + +<P> +Rod Norton grunted his disgust with the situation. +</P> + +<P> +"Give me your gun," he commanded tersely. +</P> + +<P> +The Kid frowned. Galloway cleared his throat. Rickard's eyes went to +him swiftly. Then he got to his feet, jerked a thirty-eight-caliber +revolver from the hip pocket of his overalls and held it out, +surrendering it reluctantly. Norton "broke" it, ejecting the +cartridges into his palm. Not an empty shell among them; the Kid had +slipped in a fresh shell for every exploded one. +</P> + +<P> +"How many times did you shoot?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. Two or three, I guess. . . . Damn it, do you imagine a +man counts 'em?" +</P> + +<P> +"What were you and Galloway doing alone in here with the door locked?" +</P> + +<P> +Galloway cut in sharply: +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't want any more trouble; I was afraid somebody . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Shut up, will you?" cried the sheriff fiercely. "I'll give you all +the chance you want to talk pretty soon. Answer me, Rickard." +</P> + +<P> +"I told him to lock me up somewhere until you or Tom Cutter come," said +the Kid slowly. "I was afraid somebody might jump me for what I done. +I didn't want no more trouble." +</P> + +<P> +Norton turned briefly to the crowded room behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"Anybody know where Cutter is?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +It appeared that every one knew. Tom Cutter, Rod Norton's deputy, had +gone in the early morning to Mesa Verde, and would probably return in +the cool of the evening. Frowning, Norton made the best of the +situation, and to gain his purpose called four men out of the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +"I want you boys to do me a favor," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Antone, come here." +</P> + +<P> +The short, squat half-breed standing behind the bar lifted his heavy +black brows, demanding: +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Y porqué</I>? What am I to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"As you are told," Norton snapped at him. "Benny, you and Dick walk +down the street with Antone; you other boys walk down the other way +with Rickard. If they haven't had all the chance to talk together +already that they want, don't give them any more opportunity. Step up, +Rickard." +</P> + +<P> +The Kid sulked, but under the look the sheriff turned on him came +forward and went out, his whole attitude remaining one of defiance. +Antone, his swart face as expressionless as a piece of mahogany, +hesitated, glanced at Galloway, shrugged, and did as Rickard had done, +going out between his two guards. The men remaining in the barroom +were watching their sheriff expectantly. He swung about upon Galloway. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he said quickly, "who fired the first shot. Galloway?" +</P> + +<P> +Galloway smiled, went to his bar, poured himself a glass of whiskey, +and standing there, the glass twisting slowly in his fingers, stared +back innocently at his interrogator. +</P> + +<P> +"Trying the case already, Judge Norton?" he inquired equably. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you answer?" Norton said coolly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." Galloway kept his look steady upon the sheriff's, and into the +innocence of his eyes there came a veiled insolence. "Bisbee shot +first." +</P> + +<P> +"Where was he standing?" +</P> + +<P> +Galloway pointed. +</P> + +<P> +"Right there." The spot indicated was about three or four feet from +where Norton stood, near the second card-room door. +</P> + +<P> +"Where was the Kid?" +</P> + +<P> +"Over there." Again Galloway pointed. "Clean across the room, where +the chair is tumbled over against the table." +</P> + +<P> +"How many times did Bisbee shoot?" +</P> + +<P> +Galloway seemed to be trying to remember. He drank his whiskey slowly, +reached over the bar for a cigar, and answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Twice or three times." +</P> + +<P> +"How many times did Rickard shoot?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not sure. I'd say about the same; two or three times." +</P> + +<P> +"Where was Antone standing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Behind the bar; down at the far end, nearest the door." +</P> + +<P> +"Where were you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Leaning against the bar, talking to Antone." +</P> + +<P> +"What were you talking about?" +</P> + +<P> +This question came quicker, sharper than the others, as though +calculated to startle Galloway into a quick answer. But the proprietor +of the Casa Blanca was lighting his cigar and took his time. When he +looked up, his eyes told Norton that he had understood any danger which +might lie under a question so simple in the seeming. His eyes were +smiling contemptuously, but there was a faint flush in his cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't remember," he replied at last. "Some trifle. The shooting, +coming suddenly that way . . . +</P> + +<P> +"What started the ruction?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bisbee had been drinking a little. He seemed to be in the devil's own +temper. He had asked the Kid to have a drink with him, and Rickard +refused. He had his drink alone and then invited the Kid again. +Rickard told him to go to hell. Bisbee started to walk across the room +as though he was going to the card-room. Then he grabbed his gun and +whirled and started shooting." +</P> + +<P> +"Missing every time, of course?" +</P> + +<P> +Galloway nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll remember I said he was carrying enough of a load to make his +aim bad." +</P> + +<P> +Norton asked half a dozen further questions and then said abruptly: +</P> + +<P> +"That's all. As you go out will you tell the boys to send Antone in?" +</P> + +<P> +Again a hint of color crept slowly, dully, into Galloway's cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"You're going pretty far, Rod Norton," he said tonelessly. +</P> + +<P> +"You're damned right I am!" cried Norton ringingly. "And I am going a +lot further, Jim Galloway, before I get through, and you can bet all of +your blue chips on it. I want Antone in here and I want you outside! +Do I get what I want or not?" +</P> + +<P> +Galloway stood motionless, his cigar clamped tight in his big square +teeth. Then he shrugged and went to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"If I am standing a good deal off of you," he muttered, hanging on his +heel just before he passed out, "it's because I am as strong as any man +in the county to see the law brought into San Juan. And"--for the +first time yielding outwardly to a display of the emotion riding him, +he spat out venomously and tauntingly--"and we'd have had the law here +long ago had we had a couple of men in the boots of the Nortons, father +and son!" +</P> + +<P> +Rod Norton's face went a flaming red with anger, his hand grew white +upon the butt of the gun at his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Some day, Jim Galloway," he said steadily, "I'll get you just as sure +as you got Billy Norton!" +</P> + +<P> +Galloway laughed and went out. +</P> + +<P> +To Antone, Norton put the identical questions he had asked of Galloway, +receiving virtually the same replies. Seeking the one opportunity +suggesting itself into tricking the bartender, he asked at the end: +</P> + +<P> +"Just before the shooting, when you and Galloway were talking and he +told you that Bisbee was looking for trouble, why weren't you ready to +grab him when he went for his gun?" +</P> + +<P> +Antone was giving his replies as guardedly as Galloway had done. He +took his time now. +</P> + +<P> +"Because," he began finally, "I do not belief when Señor Galloway speak +that . . ." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes had been roving from Norton's, going here and there about the +room. Suddenly a startled look came into them and he snapped his mouth +shut. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on," prompted the sheriff. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't remember," grunted Antone. "I forget what Señor Galloway say, +what I say. Bisbee say: 'Have a drink.' The Kid say: 'Go to hell.' +Bisbee shoot, one, two, three, like that. I forget what we talk about." +</P> + +<P> +Norton turned slowly and looked whither Antone had been looking when he +cut his own words off so sharply. The man upon whom his eyes rested +longest was a creased-faced Mexican, Vidal Nuñez, who now stood, head +down, making a cigarette. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all, Antone," Norton said. "Send the Kid in." +</P> + +<P> +The Kid came, still sullen but swaggering a little, his hat cocked +jauntily to one side, the yellow wisp of hair in his faded eyes. And +he in turn questioned, gave such answers as the two had given before +him. +</P> + +<P> +Now for the first time the sheriff, stepping across the room, looked +for such evidence as flying lead might have left for him. In the wall +just behind the spot where Bisbee had stood were two bullet holes. +Going to the far end of the room where the chair leaned against the +table, he found that a pane of glass in the window opening upon the +street had been broken. There were no bullet marks upon wall or +woodwork. +</P> + +<P> +"Bisbee shot two or three times, did he?" he cried, wheeling on the +Kid. "And missed every time? And all the bullets went through the one +hole in the window, I suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +The Kid shrugged insolently. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't watch 'em," he returned briefly. +</P> + +<P> +Galloway and Antone were allowed to come again into the room, and of +Galloway, quite as though no hot word had passed between them, Norton +asked quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"Bisbee had a lot of money on him. What happened to it?" +</P> + +<P> +"In there." Galloway nodded toward the card-room whose door had +remained closed. "In his pocket." +</P> + +<P> +A few of the morbid followed as the sheriff went into the little room. +Already most of the men had seen and had no further curiosity. Norton +drew the blanket away, noted the wounds, three of them, two at the base +of the throat and one just above the left eye. Then, going through the +sheepman's pockets, he brought out a handful of coins. A few gold, +most of them silver dollars and half-dollars, in all a little over +fifty dollars. +</P> + +<P> +The dead man lay across two tables drawn together, his booted feet +sticking out stolidly beyond the bed still too short to accommodate his +length of body. Norton's eyes rested on the man's boots longer than +upon the cold face. Then, stepping back to the door so that all in the +barroom might catch the significance of his words, he said sharply: +</P> + +<P> +"How many men of you know where Bisbee always carried his money when he +was on his way to bank?" +</P> + +<P> +"In his boots!" answered two voices together. +</P> + +<P> +"Come this way, boys. Take a look at his boots, will you?" +</P> + +<P> +And as they crowded about the table, sensing some new development, +Galloway pushing well to the fore, Norton's vibrant voice rang out: +</P> + +<P> +"It was a clean job getting him, and a clean job telling the story of +how it happened. But there wasn't overmuch time and in the rush. . . . +Tell me, Jim Galloway, how does it happen that the right boot is on the +left foot?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AT THE BANKER'S HOME +</H4> + +<P> +Rod Norton made no arrest. Leaving the card-room abruptly he signalled +to Julius Struve, the hotel keeper, to follow him. In the morning +Struve, in his official capacity as coroner, would demand a verdict. +Having long been in strong sympathy with the sheriff he was to be +looked to now for a frank prediction of the inquest's result. And, +very thoughtful about it all, he gravely agreed with Norton; the +coroner's jury, taking the evidence offered by Jim Galloway, Kid +Rickard, and Antone, would bring in a verdict of justifiable homicide. +</P> + +<P> +"Later on we'll get 'em, Roddy . . . mebbe," he said finally. "But not +now. If you pulled the Kid it would just be running up the county +expense all for nothing." +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff left him in silence and leading his horse went the few +steps to the hotel. Ignacio Chavez appearing opportunely Norton gave +his animal into the breed's custody; Ignacio, accustomed to doing odd +jobs for el Señor Roderico Nortone, and to the occasional half dollars +resulting from such transactions, led the big gray away while the +sheriff entered the hotel. It had been a day of hard riding and scanty +meals, and he was hungry. +</P> + +<P> +Bright and new and conspicuous, a gold-lettered sign at Struve's +doorway caught his eye and caused him to remember the wounded left hand +which had been paining him considerably through the long hot day. The +sign bore the name of Dr. V. D. Page with the words Physician and +Surgeon; in blue pencilled letters upon the practitioner's card, +affixed to the brass chain suspending the sign, were the further words: +"Room 5, Struve's Hotel." +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff went to Room 5. It was at the front of the building, upon +the ground floor. The door opened almost immediately when he rapped. +Confronting him was the girl he had encountered at the arroyo. He +lifted his hat, looked beyond her, and said simply: +</P> + +<P> +"I was looking for Dr. Page. Is he in now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she told him gravely. "Come in, please." +</P> + +<P> +He stepped across the threshold, his eyes trained to quick observation +of details taking in at a glance all there was to be seen. The room +showed all signs of a fresh unpacking, the one table and two chairs +piled high with odds and ends. For the most part the miscellany +consisted of big, fat books, bundles of towels and fresh white napkins, +rubber-stoppered bottles of varicolored contents, and black leather +cases, no doubt containing a surgeon's instruments. Through an open +door giving entrance to the adjoining room he noted further signs of +unpacking with a marked difference in the character of the litter; the +girl stepped quickly to this door, shutting out the vision of a +helter-skelter of feminine apparel. +</P> + +<P> +"It is your hand?" she asked, as in most thoroughly matter of fact +fashion she put out her own for it. "Let me see it." +</P> + +<P> +But for a moment he bestowed upon her merely a slow look of question. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean that you are Dr. Page?" he asked. Then, believing that +he understood: "You're the nurse?" +</P> + +<P> +"Is a physician's life in San Juan likely to be so filled with his +duties that he must bring a nurse with him?" she countered. "Yes, I am +Dr. Page." +</P> + +<P> +He noted that she was as defiant about the matter as the Kid had been +about the killing of Bisbee of Las Palmas; plainly she had foreseen +that the type of man-animal inhabiting this out-of-the-way corner of +the world would be likely to wonder at her hardihood and, perhaps, to +jeer. +</P> + +<P> +"I came to-day," she explained in the same matter-of-fact way. +"Consequently you will pardon the looks of things. But I am one of the +kind that believes in hanging out a shingle first, getting details +arranged next. Now may I see the hand?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's hardly anything." He lifted it now for her inspection. "Just a +slight cut, you know. But it's showing signs of infection. A little +antiseptic . . ." +</P> + +<P> +She took his fingers into hers and bent over the wound. He noted two +things, now: what strong hands she had, shapely, with sensitive fingers +ignorant of rings; how richly alive and warmly colored her hair was, +full of little waves and curls. +</P> + +<P> +She had nothing to say while she treated him. Over an alcohol lamp she +heated some water; in a bowl, brought from the adjoining room, she +cleansed the hand thoroughly. Then the application of the final +antiseptic, a bit of absorbent cotton, a winding of surgeon's tape +about a bit of gauze, and the thing was done. Only at the end did she +say: +</P> + +<P> +"It's a peculiar cut . . . not a knife cut, is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," he answered humorously. "Did it on a piece of lead. . . . How +much is it, Doctor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Two dollars," she told him, busied with the drying of her own hands. +"Better let me look at it again in the morning if it pains you." +</P> + +<P> +He laid two silver dollars in her palm, hesitated a moment and then +went out. +</P> + +<P> +"She's got the nerve," was his thoughtful estimate as he went to his +corner table in the dining-room. "But I don't believe she is going to +last long in San Juan. . . . Funny she should come to a place like +this, anyhow. . . . Wonder what the V stands for?" +</P> + +<P> +At any rate the hand had been skilfully treated and bandaged; he nodded +at it approvingly. Then, with his meal set before him, he divided his +thoughts pretty evenly between the girl and the recent shooting at the +Casa Blanca. The sense was strong upon him as it had been many a time +that before very long either Rod Norton or Jim Galloway would lie as +the sheepman from Las Palmas was lying, while the other might watch his +sunrises and sunsets with a strange, new emotion of security. +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff, who had not eaten for twelve hours, was beginning his meal +when the newest stranger in San Juan came into the dining-room. She +had arranged her lustrous copper-brown hair becomingly, and looked +fresh and cool and pretty. Norton approved of her with his keen eyes +while he watched her go to her place at a table across the room. As +she sat down, giving no sign of having noted him, her back toward him, +he continued to observe and to admire her slender, perfect figure and +the strong, sensitive hands busied with her napkin. +</P> + +<P> +A slovenly, half-grown Indian girl, Anita, the cook's daughter, came in +from the kitchen, directed the slumbrous eyes of her race upon the +sheriff who fitted well in a woman's eye, and went to serve the single +other late diner. Norton caught a fleeting view of V. D. Page's throat +and cheek as she turned slightly in speaking with Anita. As the +serving-maid withdrew Norton rose to his feet and crossed the room to +the far table. +</P> + +<P> +"May I bring my things over and eat with you?" he asked when he stood +looking down on her and she had lifted her eyes curiously to his. "If +you've come to stay you can't go on forever not knowing anybody here, +you know. Since you've got to know us sooner or later why not begin to +get acquainted? Here and now and with me? I'm Roderick Norton." +</P> + +<P> +One must have had far less discernment than she not to have felt +instinctively that the great bulk of human conventions would shrivel +and vanish before they could come this far across the desert lands. +Besides, the man standing over her looked straight and honestly into +her eyes and for a little she glimpsed again the youth of him veiled by +the sternness his life had set into his soul and upon his face. +</P> + +<P> +"It is kind of you to have pity upon me in my isolation," she answered +lightly and without hesitation. "And, to tell the truth, I never was +so terribly lonesome in all my life." +</P> + +<P> +He made two trips back and forth to bring his plate and coffee cup and +auxiliary sauce dishes and plated silver, while she wondered idly that +he did not instruct the Indian girl to perform the service for him. +Even then she half formulated the thought that it was much more natural +for this man to do for himself what he wanted than for him to sit down +to be waited upon. A small matter, no doubt; but then mountains are +made up of small particles and character of just such small +characteristics as this. +</P> + +<P> +During the half hour which they spent together over their meal they got +to know each other rather better than chance acquaintances are likely +to do in so brief a time. For from the moment of Norton's coming to +her table the bars were down between them. She was plainly eager to +supplement Ignacio Chavez's information of "<I>la gente</I>" of San Juan +and its surrounding country, evincing a curiosity which he readily +understood to be based upon the necessities of her profession. In +return for all that he told her she sketchily spoke of her own plans, +very vague plans, to be sure, she admitted with one of her quick, gay +smiles. She had come prepared to accept what she found, she was +playing no game of hide-and-seek with her destiny, but had wandered +thus far from the former limits of her existence to meet life half way, +hoping to do good for others, a little imperiously determined to +achieve her own measure of success and happiness. +</P> + +<P> +From the beginning each was ready, perhaps more than ready, to like the +other. Her eyes, whether they smiled or grew suddenly grave, pleased +him; always were they fearless. He sensed that beneath the external +soft beauty of a very lovely young woman there was a spirit of +hardihood in every sense worthy of the success which she had planned +bare-handed to make for herself, and in the man's estimation no quality +stood higher than a superb independence. On her part, there was first +a definite surprise, then a glow of satisfaction that in this virile +arm of the law there was nothing of the blusterer. She set him down as +a quiet gentleman first, as a sheriff next. She enjoyed his low, +good-humored laugh and laughed back with him, even while she +experienced again the unaccustomed thrill at the sheer physical bigness +of him, the essentially masculine strength of a hardy son of the +southwestern outdoors. Not once had he referred to the affair at the +Casa Blanca or to his part in it; not a question did she ask him +concerning it. He told himself that so utterly human, so perfectly +feminine a being as she must be burning with curiosity; she marvelled +that he could think, speak of anything else. When together they rose +from the table they were alike prepared, should circumstance so direct, +to be friends. +</P> + +<P> +She was going now to call upon the Engles. She had told him that she +had a letter to Mrs. Engle from a common friend in Richmond. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to appear to be riding too hard on your trail," he smiled +at her. "But I was planning dropping in on the Engles myself this +evening. They're friends of mine, you know." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed, and as they left the hotel, propounded a riddle for him to +answer: Should Mr. Norton introduce her to Mrs. Engle so that she might +present her letter, or, after the letter was presented, should Mrs. +Engle introduce her to Mr. Norton? +</P> + +<P> +It did not suggest itself to her until they had passed from the street, +through the cottonwoods and into the splendid living-room of the Engle +home, that her escort was not dressed as she had imagined all civilized +mankind dressed for a call. Walking through the primitive town his +boots and soft shirt and travel-soiled hat had been in too perfect +keeping with the environment for her to be more than pleasurably +conscious of them. +</P> + +<P> +At the Engles', however, his garb struck her for a moment of the first +shock of contrast, as almost grotesquely out of place. +</P> + +<P> +At the broad front door Norton had rapped. The desultory striking of a +piano's keys ceased abruptly, a girl's voice crying eagerly: "It's +Roddy!" hinted at the identity of the listless player, a door flung +open flooded the broad entrance hall with light. And then the outer +door framed banker Engle's daughter, a mere girl in her middle teens, +fair-haired, fair-skinned, fluffy-skirted, her eyes bright with +expectation, her two hands held out offering themselves in doubled +greetings. But, having seen the unexpected guest at the sheriff's +side, the bright-haired girl paused for a brief moment of uncertainty +upon the threshold, her hands falling to her sides. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Florrie," Norton was saying quietly. "I have brought a caller +for your mother. Miss Engle, Miss Page." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do, Miss Page?" Florrie replied, regaining her poise and +giving one of her hands to each of the callers, the abandon of her +first appearance gone in a flash to be replaced by a vague hint of +stiffness. "Mama will be so glad to see you. Do come in." +</P> + +<P> +She turned and led the way down the wide, deep hall and into the +living-room, a chamber which boldly defied one to remember that he was +still upon the rim of the desert. In one swift glance the newcomer to +San Juan was offered a picture in which the tall, carelessly clad form +of the sheriff became incongruous; she wondered that he remained at his +ease as he so obviously did. Yonder was a grand piano, a silver chased +vase upon a wall bracket over it holding three long-stemmed, red roses; +a heavy, massive-topped table strewn comfortably and invitingly with +books and magazines; an exquisite rug and one painting upon the far +wall, an original seascape suggestive of Waugh at his best; excellent +leather-upholstered chairs luxuriously inviting, and at once homelike +and rich. Just rising from one of these chairs drawn up to the table +reading-lamp, a book still in his hand, was Mr. Engle, while Mrs. +Engle, as fair as her daughter, just beginning to grow stout in +lavendar, came forward smilingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Back again, Roddy?" She gave him a plump hand, patted his lean brown +fingers after her motherly fashion, and came to where the girl had +stopped just within the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Virginia Page, aren't you? As if any one in the world would have to +tell me who <I>you</I> were! You are your mother all over, child; did you +know it? Oh, kiss me, kiss me, my dear, for your mother's sake, and +save your hand-shakes for strangers." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia, taken utterly by surprise as Mrs. Engle's arms closed warmly +about her, grew rosy with pleasure; the dreary loneliness of a long day +was gone with a kiss and a hug. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know . . . ." she began haltingly, only to be cut short by +Mrs. Engle crying to her husband: +</P> + +<P> +"It's Virginia Page, John. Wouldn't you have known her anywhere?" +</P> + +<P> +John Engle, courteous, urbane, a pleasant-featured man with grave, +kindly eyes and a rather large, firm-lipped mouth nodded to Norton and +gave Virginia his hand cordially. +</P> + +<P> +"I must be satisfied with a hand-shake, Miss Page," he said in a deep, +pleasant voice, "but I refuse to be a mere stranger. We are immensely +glad to have you with us. . . . Mother, can't you see we have most +thoroughly mystified her; swooping down on her like this without giving +her an inkling of how and why we expected her?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick Norton and Florrie Engle had drawn a little apart; Virginia, +with her back to them during the greeting of Mrs. and Mr. Engle, had no +way of knowing whether the withdrawal had been by mutually spontaneous +desire or whether the initiative had been the sheriff's or Miss +Engle's. Not that it mattered or concerned her in any slightest +particular. +</P> + +<P> +In her hand was the note of introduction she had brought from Mrs. Seth +Morgan; evidently both its services and those of Roderick Norton might +be dispensed with in the matter of her being presented. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," Mrs. Engle was saying. An arm about the girl's slim +waist, she drew her to a big leather couch. "Marian never does things +by halves, my dear; you know that, don't you? That's a letter she gave +you for me? Well, she wrote me another, so I know all about you. And, +if you are willing to accept the relationship with out-of-the-world +folks, we're sort of cousins!" +</P> + +<P> +Virginia Page flushed vividly. She had known all along that her mother +had been a distant relative of Mrs. Engle, but she had had no desire, +no thought of employing that very faint tie as an argument for being +accepted by the banker's family. She did not care to come here like +the proverbial poor relation. +</P> + +<P> +"You are very kind," she said quietly, her lips smiling while her eyes +were grave. "But I don't want you to feel that I have been building on +the fact of kinship; I just wanted to be friends if you liked me, not +because you felt it your duty. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +Engle, who had come, dragging his chair after him, to join them, +laughed amusedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Answering your question, Mrs. Engle," he chuckled, "I'd certainly know +her for Virginia Page! When we come to know her better maybe she will +allow us to call her Cousin Virginia? In the meantime, to play safe, I +suppose that to us she'd better be just Dr. Page?" +</P> + +<P> +"John is as full of nonsense after banking hours," explained Mrs. +Engle, still affectionately patting Virginia's hand, "as he is crammed +with business from nine until four. Which makes life with him +possible; it's like having two husbands, makes for variety and so saves +me from flirting with other men. Now, tell us all about yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia, who had been a little stiff-muscled until now, leaned back +among the cushions unconscious of a half sigh of content and of her +relaxation. During the long day San Juan had sought to frighten, to +repel her. Now it was making ample amends: first the companionable +society of Rod Norton, then this simple, hearty welcome. She returned +the pressure of Mrs. Engle's soft, warm hands in sheer gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +After that they chatted lightly, Engle gradually withdrawing from the +conversation and secretly watching the girl keenly, studying her play +of expression, seeking, according to his habit, to make his guarded +estimate of a new factor in his household. From Virginia's face his +eyes went swiftly now and then to his daughter's, animated in her +tête-à-tête with the sheriff. Once, when Virginia turned unexpectedly, +she caught the hint of a troubled frown in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Broad double doors in the west wall of the living-room gave entrance to +the patio. The doors were open now to the slowly freshening night air, +and from where she sat Virginia Page had a glimpse of a charming court, +an orange-tree heavy with fruit and blossom, red and yellow roses, a +sleeping fountain whose still water reflected star-shine and the lamp +in its niche under a grape-vine arbor. When Norton and Florence Engle +strolled out into the inviting patio Engle, breaking his silence, +leaned forward and dominated the conversation. +</P> + +<P> +Virginia had been doing the major part of the talking, answering +questions about Mrs. Engle's girlhood home, telling something of +herself. Now John Engle, reminding his wife that their guest must be +consumed with curiosity about her new environment, sought to interest +her in this and that, in and about San Juan. +</P> + +<P> +"There was a killing this afternoon," he admitted quietly. "No doubt +you know of it and have been shocked by it, and perhaps on account of +it have a little misjudged San Juan. We are not all cutthroats here, +by any manner of means; I think I might almost say that the rough +element is in the minority. We are in a state of transition, like all +other frontier settlements. The railroad, though it doesn't come +closer than the little tank station where you took the stage this +morning, has touched our lives out here. A railroad brings civilizing +influences; but the first thing it does is to induct a surging tide of +forces contending against law and order. Pioneers," and he smiled his +slow, grave, tolerant smile, "are as often as not tumultuous-blooded +and self-sufficient, and prone to kick over the established traces. +We've got that class to deal with . . . and that boy, Rod Norton, with +his job cut out for him, is getting results. He's the biggest man +right now, not only in the country, but in this end of the state." +</P> + +<P> +Continuing he told her something of the sheriff. Young Norton, having +returned from college some three years before to live the only life +possible to one of his blood, had become manager of his father's ranch +in and beyond the San Juan mountains. At the time Billy Norton was the +county sheriff and had his hands full. Rumor said that he had promised +himself to "get" a certain man; Engle admitted that that man was Jim +Galloway of the Casa Blanca. But either Galloway or a tool of +Galloway's or some other man had "gotten" Billy Norton, shooting him +down in his own cabin and from the back, putting a shotgun charge of +buckshot into his brain. +</P> + +<P> +It had occurred shortly after Roderick Norton's return, shortly before +the expiration of Billy Norton's term of office. Rod Norton, putting +another man in his place on the ranch, had buried his father and then +had asked of the county his election to the place made empty by his +father's death. Though he was young, men believed in him. The +election returns gave him his place by a crushing majority. +</P> + +<P> +"And he has done good work," concluded Engle thoughtfully. "Because of +what he has done, because he does not make an arrest until he has his +evidence and then drives hard to a certain conviction, he has come to +be called Dead-sure Norton and to be respected everywhere, and feared +more than a little. Until now it has become virtually a two-man fight. +Rod Norton against Jim Galloway. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"John," interposed Mrs. Engle, "aren't you giving Virginia rather a +sombre side of things?" +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe I am," he agreed. "But this killing of the Las Palmas man in +broad daylight has come pretty close to filling my mind. Who's going +to be next?" His eyes went swiftly toward the patio, taking stock of +the two figures there. Then he shrugged, went to the table for a cigar +and returned smiling to inform Virginia of life on the desert and in +the valleys beyond the mountains, of scattering attempts at reclamation +and irrigation, of how one made towns of sun-dried mud, of where the +adobe soil itself was found, drifted over with sand in the shade of the +cottonwoods. +</P> + +<P> +But Mrs. Engle's sigh, while her husband spoke of black mud and straw, +testified that her thoughts still clung about those events and +possibilities which she herself had asked him to avoid; her eyes +wandered to the tall, rudely garbed figure dimly seen in the patio. +Virginia, recalling Jim Galloway as she had seen him on the stage, +heavy-bodied, narrow-hipped, masterful alike in carriage and the look +of the prominent eyes, glanced with Mrs. Engle toward Rod Norton. He +was laughing at something passing between him and Florence, and for the +moment appeared utterly boyish. Were it not for the grim reminder of +the forty-five-caliber revolver which the nature of his sworn duties +did not allow of his laying aside even upon a night like this, it would +have been easy to forget that he was all that which the one word +sheriff connotes in a land like that about San Juan. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't get away from it, can we?" Engle having caught the look in the +two women's eyes, broke off abruptly in what he was saying, and now sat +studying his cigar with frowning eyes. "Man against man, and the whole +county knows it, one employing whatever criminal's tools slip into his +hands, the other fighting fair and in the open. Man against man and in +a death grapple just because they are the men they are, with one backed +up by a hang-dog crowd like Kid Rickard and Antone, and the other +playing virtually a lone hand. What's the end going to be?" +</P> + +<P> +Virginia thought of Ignacio Chavez. He, had he been here, would have +answered: +</P> + +<P> +"In the end there will be the ringing of the bells for a man dead. You +will see! Which one? <I>Quien sabe</I>! The bells will ring." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE DARKNESS OF THE PATIO +</H4> + +<P> +Through the silence of the outer night, as though actually Ignacio +Chavez were prophesying, came billowing the slow beating of the deep +mourning bell. Mrs. Engle sighed; Engle frowned; Virginia sat rigid, +at once disturbed and oppressed. +</P> + +<P> +"How can you stand that terrible bell?" she cried softly. "I should +think that it would drive you mad! How long does he ring it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Once every hour until midnight," answered Engle, his face once more +placid as he withdrew his look from the patio and transferred it to his +cigar. And then, with a half smile: "There are many San Juans; there +is, in all the wide world, but one San Juan of the Bells. You would +not take our distinction from us? Now that you are to become of San +Juan you must, like the rest of us, take a pride in San Juan's bells. +Which you will do soon or late; perhaps just as soon as you come to +know something of their separate and collective histories." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell her, John," suggested Mrs. Engle, again obviously anxious to +dispel the more lugubrious and tragic atmospheres of the evening with +any chance talk which might offer itself. +</P> + +<P> +"Let her wait until Ignacio can tell her," laughed Engle. "No one else +can tell it so well, and certainly no one else has an equal pride or +even an equal right in the matter." +</P> + +<P> +But, though he refused to take up the colorful theme of the biographies +of the Captain, the Dancer, Lolita, and the rest, John Engle began to +speak lightly upon an associated topic, first asking the girl if she +knew with what ceremony the old Western bells had been cast; when she +shook her head and while the slow throbbing beat of the Captain still +insisted through the night's silences, he explained that doubtless all +six of Ignacio Chavez's bells had taken form under the calm gaze of +high priests of old Spain. For legend had it that all six were from +their beginnings destined for the new missions to be scattered +broadcast throughout a new land, to ring out word of God to heathen +ears. Bells meant for such high service were never cast without grave +religious service and sacrifice. Through the darkness of long-dead +centuries the girl's stimulated fancies followed the man's words; she +visualized the great glowing caldrons in which the fusing metals grew +red and an intolerable white; saw men and women draw near, proud +blue-blooded grandees on one hand, and the lowly on the other, with one +thought; saw the maidens and ladies from the courtyards of the King's +palace as they removed golden bracelets and necklaces from white arms +and throats, so that the red and yellow gold might go with their +prayers into the molten metals, enriching them, while those whose +poverty was great, but whose devotion was greater, offered what little +silver ornaments they could. Carved silver vases, golden cups, minted +coins and cherished ornaments, all were offered generously and devoutly +until the blazing caldrons had mingled the Queen's girdle-clasps with a +bauble from the beggar girl. +</P> + +<P> +"And in the end," smiled Engle, "there are no bells with the sweet tone +of old Mission bells, or with their soft eloquence." +</P> + +<P> +While he was talking Ignacio Chavez had allowed the dangling rope to +slip from his hands so that the Captain rested quiet in the starshine. +Roderick and Florence were coming in through the wide patio door; +Norton was just saying that Florrie had promised to play something for +him when the front door knocker announced another visitor. Florence +made a little disdainful face as though she guessed who it was; Engle +went to the door. +</P> + +<P> +Even Virginia Page in this land of strangers knew who the man was. For +she had seen enough of him to-day, on the stage across the weary miles +of desert, to remember him and to dislike him. He was the man whom +Galloway and the stage-driver had called "Doc," the sole representative +of the medical fraternity in San Juan until her coming. She disliked +him first vaguely and with purely feminine instinct; secondly because +of an air which he never laid aside of a serene consciousness of +self-superiority. He had established himself in what he was pleased to +consider a community of nobodies, his inferiors intellectually and +culturally. He was of that type of man-animal that lends itself to +fairly accurate cataloguing at the end of the first five minutes' +acquaintance. The most striking of the physical attributes about his +person as he entered were his little mustache and neatly trimmed beard +and the diamond stick-pin in his tie. Remove these articles and it +would have been difficult to distinguish him from countless thousands +of other inefficient and opinionated individuals. +</P> + +<P> +Virginia noted that both Mr. and Mrs. Engle shook hands with him if not +very cordially at least with good-humored toleration; that Florence +treated him to a stiff little nod; that Roderick Norton from across the +room greeted him coolly. +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Patten," Engle was saying, "this is our cousin, Virginia Page." +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Patten acknowledged the introduction and sat down, turning to ask +"how Florrie was today?" Virginia smiled, sensing a rebuke to herself +in his manner; to-day on the stage she had made it obvious even to him +that if she must speak with a stranger she would vastly prefer the talk +of the stage-driver than that of Dr. Caleb Patten. When Florence, +replying briefly, turned to the piano Patten addressed Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"What was our good sheriff doing to-day?" he asked banteringly, as +though the subject he chose were the most apt one imaginable for jest. +"Another man killed in broad daylight and no one to answer for it! Why +don't you go get 'em, Roddy?" +</P> + +<P> +Norton stared at him steadily and finally said soberly: +</P> + +<P> +"When a disease has fastened itself upon the body of a community it +takes time to work a cure, Dr. Patten." +</P> + +<P> +"But not much time to let the life out of a man like the chap from Las +Palmas! Why, the man who did the shooting couldn't have done a nicer +job if he'd been a surgeon. One bullet square through the carotid +artery . . . That leads from the heart to the head," he explained as +though his listeners were children athirst for knowledge which he and +none other could impart. "The cerebrum penetrated by a second. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +What other technical elucidation might have followed was lost in a +thunderous crashing of the piano keys as Florence Engle strove to drown +the man's utterance and succeeded so well that for an instant he sat +gaping at her. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't stand that man!" Florence said sharply to Norton, and though +the words did not travel across the room, Virginia was surprised that +even an individual so completely armored as Caleb Patten could fail to +grasp the girl's meaning. +</P> + +<P> +When Florence had pounded her way through a noisy bit of "jazz," Caleb +Patten, with one of his host's cigars lighted, was leaning a little +forward in his chair, alert to seize the first opportunity of snatching +conversation by the throat. +</P> + +<P> +"Kid Rickard admits killing Bisbee," he said to Norton. "What are you +going to do about it? The first thing I heard when I got in from a +professional call a little while ago was that Rickard was swaggering +around town, saying that you wouldn't gather him in because you were +afraid to." +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff's face remained unmoved, though the others looked curiously +to him and back to Patten, who was easy and complacent and vaguely +irritating. +</P> + +<P> +"I imagine you haven't seen Jim Galloway since you got in, have you?" +Norton returned quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Patten. "Why? What has Galloway got to do with it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ask him. He says Rickard killed Bisbee in self-defense." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," said Patten. And then, shifting in his chair: "If Galloway says +so, I guess you are right in letting the Kid go." +</P> + +<P> +And, a trifle hastily it struck Virginia, he switched talk into another +channel, telling of the case on which he had been out to-day, enlarging +upon its difficulties, with which, it appeared, he had been eminently +fitted to cope. There was an amused twinkle in John Engle's eyes as he +listened. +</P> + +<P> +"By the way, Patten," the banker observed when there came a pause, +"you've got a rival in town. Had you heard?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked the physician. +</P> + +<P> +"When I introduced you just now to our Cousin Virginia, I should have +told you; she is Dr. Page, M.D." +</P> + +<P> +Again Patten said "Oh," but this time in a tone which through its plain +implication put a sudden flash into Virginia's eyes. As he looked +toward her there was a half sneer upon the lips which his scanty growth +of beard and mustache failed to hide. Had he gone on to say, "A +<I>lady</I> doctor, eh?" and laughed, the case would not have been altered. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems so funny for a girl to be a doctor," said Florence, for the +first time referring in any way to Virginia since she had flown to the +door, expecting Norton alone. Even now she did not look toward her +kinswoman. +</P> + +<P> +John Engle replied, speaking crisply. But just what he said Virginia +did not know. For suddenly her whole attention was withdrawn from the +conversation, fixed and held by something moving in the patio. First +she had noted a slight change in Rod Norton's eyes, saw them grow keen +and watchful, noted that they had turned toward the door opening into +the little court where the fountain was, where the wall-lamp threw its +rays wanly among the shrubs and through the grape-arbor. He had seen +something move out there; from where she sat she could look the way he +looked and mark how a clump of rose-bushes had been disturbed and now +stood motionless again in the quiet night. +</P> + +<P> +Wondering, she looked again to Norton. His eyes told nothing now save +that they were keen and watchful. Whether or not he knew what it was +so guardedly stirring in the patio, whether he, like herself, had +merely seen the gently agitated leaves of the bushes, she could not +guess. She started when Engle addressed some trifling remark to her; +while she evaded the direct answer she was fully conscious of the +sheriff's eyes steady upon her. He, no doubt, was wondering what she +had seen. +</P> + +<P> +It was only a moment later when Norton rose and went to Mrs. Engle, +telling her briefly that he had had a day of it, in the saddle since +dawn, wishing her good night. He shook hands with Engle, nodded to +Patten, and coming to Virginia said lightly, but, she thought, with an +almost sternly serious look in his eyes: +</P> + +<P> +"We're all hoping you like San Juan, Miss Page. And you will, too, if +the desert stillness doesn't get on your nerves. But then silence +isn't such a bad thing after all, is it? Good night." +</P> + +<P> +She understood his meaning and, though a thrill of excitement ran +through her blood, answered laughingly: +</P> + +<P> +"Shall a woman learn from the desert? Have I been such a chatter-box, +Mrs. Engle, that I am to be admonished at the beginning to study to +hold my tongue?" +</P> + +<P> +Florence looked at her curiously, turned toward Norton, and then went +with him to the door. For a moment their voices came in a murmur down +the hallway; then Norton had gone and Florence returned slowly to the +living-room. +</P> + +<P> +Again Virginia looked out into the patio. Never a twig stirred now; +all was as quiet as the sleeping fountain, as silent and mystery-filled +as the desert itself. Had Roderick Norton seen more than she? Did he +know who had been out there? Was here the beginning of some further +sinister outgrowth of the lawlessness of Kid Rickard? of the animosity +of Jim Galloway? Was she presently to see Norton himself slipping into +the patio from the other side, was she again to hear the rattle of +pistol-shots? He had asked that she say nothing; she had +unhesitatingly given him her promise. Had she so unquestioningly done +as he had requested because he was the sheriff who represented the law? +or because he was Roderick Norton who stood for fine, upstanding +manhood? . . . Again she felt Florence Engle's eyes fixed upon her. +</P> + +<P> +"Florence is prepared at the beginning to dislike me," she thought. +"Why? Just because I walked with him from the hotel?" +</P> + +<P> +In the heat of an argument with Mrs. Engle there came an interruption. +The banker's wife was insisting that Virginia "do the only sensible +thing in the world," that she accept a home under the Engle roof, +occupying the room already made ready for her. Virginia, warmed by the +cordial invitation, while deeply grateful, felt that she had no right +to accept. She had come to San Juan to make her own way; she had no +claim upon the hospitality of her kinswoman, certainly no such claim as +was implied now. Besides, there was Elmer Page. Her brother was +coming to join her to-morrow or the next day, and as soon as it could +be arranged they would take a house all by themselves, or if that +proved impossible, would have a suite at the hotel. At the moment when +it seemed that a deadlock had come between Mrs. Engle's eagerness to +mother her cousin's daughter and Virginia's inborn sense of +independence, the interruption came. +</P> + +<P> +It arrived in the form of a boy of ten or twelve, a ragged, scantily +clothed, swarthy youngster, rubbing a great toe against a bare leg +while from the front door he announced that Ignacio Chavez was sick, +that he had eaten something <I>muy malo</I>, that he had pains and that he +prayed that the doctor cure him. +</P> + +<P> +Patten grunted his disgust. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell him to wait," he said briefly. And, in explanation to the +others: "There's nothing the matter with him. I saw him on the street +just before I came. And wasn't he ringing his bell not fifteen minutes +ago?" +</P> + +<P> +But the boy had not completed his message. Ignacio was sick and did +not wish to die, and so had sent him to ask the Miss Lady Doctor to +come to him. Virginia rose swiftly. +</P> + +<P> +"You see," she said to Mrs. Engle, "what a nuisance it would be if I +lived with you? May I come to see you to-morrow?" +</P> + +<P> +While she said good night Engle got his hat. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go with you," he said. "But, like Patten, I don't believe there +is much the matter with Chavez. Maybe he thinks he'll get a free drink +of whiskey." +</P> + +<P> +"You see again," laughed Virginia from the doorway, "what it would be +like, Mrs. Engle; if every time I had to make a call and Mr. Engle +deemed it necessary to go with me . . . I'd have to split my fees with +him at the very least! And I don't believe that I could afford to do +that." +</P> + +<P> +"You could give me all that Ignacio pays you," chuckled Engle, "and +never miss it!" +</P> + +<P> +The boy waited for them and, when they came out into the starlight, +flitted on ahead of them. At the cottonwoods a man stepped out to meet +them. + +"Hello," said Engle, "it's Norton." +</P> + +<P> +"I sent the boy for Miss Page," said Norton quickly. "I had to have a +word with her immediately. And I'm glad that you came, Engle. I want +a favor of you; a mighty big favor of Miss Page." +</P> + +<P> +The boy had passed on through the shadows and now was to be seen on the +street. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you know you can count on me, Rod," said Engle quietly. "What +now?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want you, when you go back to the house, to say that you have +learned that Miss Page likes horseback riding; then send a horse for +her to the hotel stable, so that if she likes she can have it in the +early morning. And say nothing about my having sent the boy." +</P> + +<P> +Engle did not answer immediately. He and Virginia stood trying to see +the sheriff's features through the darkness. He had spoken quietly +enough and yet there was an odd new note in his voice; it was easy to +imagine how the muscles about his lean jaw had tensed, how his eyes +were again the hard eyes of a man who saw his fight before him. +</P> + +<P> +"I can trust you, John," continued Norton quickly. "I can trust +Ignacio Chavez; I can trust Julius Struve. And, if you want it in +words of one syllable, I cannot trust Caleb Patten!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hm," said Engle. "I think you're mistaken there, my boy." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe," returned Norton. "But I can't afford right now to take any +unnecessary chances. Further," and in the gloom they saw his shoulders +lifted in a shrug, "I am trusting Miss Page because I've got to! Which +may not sound pretty, but which is the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I'll do what you ask," Engle said. "Is there anything else?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Just go on with Miss Page to see Ignacio. He will pretend to be +doubled up with pain and will tell his story of the tinned meat he ate +for supper. Then you can see her to the hotel and go back home, +sending the horse over right away. Then she will ride with me to see a +man who is hurt . . . or she will not, and I'll have to take a chance +on Patten." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it?" demanded Engle sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Brocky Lane," returned Norton, and again his voice told of rigid +muscles and hard eyes. "He's hurt bad, John. And, if we're to do him +any good we'd better be about it." +</P> + +<P> +Engle said nothing. But the slow, deep breath he drew into his lungs +could not have been more eloquent of his emotion had it been expelled +in a curse. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll slip around the back way to the hotel," said Norton. "I'll be +ready when Miss Page comes in. Good night, John." +</P> + +<P> +Silently, without awaiting promise or protest from the girl, he was +gone into the deeper shadows of the cottonwoods. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A RIDE THROUGH THE NIGHT +</H4> + +<P> +Ignacio Chavez, because thus he could be of service to <I>el señor</I> +Roderico Nortone whom he admired vastly and loved like a brother, drew +to the dregs upon his fine Latin talent, doubled up and otherwise +contorted and twisted his lithe body until the sweat stood out upon his +forehead. His groans would have done ample justice to the occasion had +he been dying. +</P> + +<P> +Virginia treated him sparingly to a harmless potion she had secured at +her room on the way, put the bottle into the hands of Ignacio's +withered and anxious old mother, informed the half dozen Indian +onlookers that she had arrived in time and that the bell-ringer would +live, and then was impatient to go with Engle to Struve's hotel. Here +Engle left her to return to his home and to send the saddle-horse he +had promised Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"You can ride, can't you, Virginia?" he had asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she assured him. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll send Persis around; she's the prettiest thing in horseflesh +you ever saw. And the gamest. And, Virginia . . ." +</P> + +<P> +He hesitated. "Well?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"There's not a squarer, whiter man in the world than Rod Norton," he +said emphatically. "Now good night and good luck, and be sure to drop +in on us to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +She watched him as he went swiftly down the street; then she turned +into the hotel and down the hall, which echoed to the click of her +heels, and to her room. She had barely had time to change for her ride +and to glance at her "war bag" when a discreet knock sounded at her +door. Going to the door she found that it was Julius Struve instead of +Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"You are to come with me," said the hotel keeper softly. "He is +waiting with the horses." +</P> + +<P> +They passed through the dark dining-room, into the pitch black kitchen +and out at the rear of the house. A moment Struve paused, listening. +Then, touching her sleeve, he hurried away into the night, going toward +the black line of cottonwoods, the girl keeping close to his heels. +</P> + +<P> +At the dry arroyo Norton was waiting, holding two saddled horses. +Without a word he gave her his hand, saw her mounted, surrendered +Persis's jerking reins into her gauntletted grip and swung up to the +back of his own horse. In another moment, and still in silence, +Virginia and Norton were riding away from San Juan, keeping in the +shadows of the trees, headed toward the mountains in the north. +</P> + +<P> +And now suddenly Virginia found that she was giving herself over +utterly, unexpectedly to a keen, pulsing joy of life. She had +surrendered into the sheriff's hands the little leather-case which +contained her emergency bottles and instruments; they had left San Juan +a couple of hundred yards behind, their horses were galloping; her +stirrup struck now and then against Norton's boot. John Engle had not +been unduly extravagant in praise of the mare Persis; Virginia sensed +rather than saw clearly the perfect, beautiful creature which carried +her, delighted in the swinging gallop, drew into her soul something of +the serene glory of a starlit night on the desert. The soft thud of +shod hoofs upon yielding soil was music to her, mingled as it came with +the creak of saddle leather, the jingle of bridle and spur-chains. She +wondered if there had ever been so perfect a night, if she had ever +mounted so finely bred a saddle animal. +</P> + +<P> +Far ahead the San Juan mountains lifted their serrated ridge of ebony. +On all other sides the flat-lands stretched out seeming to have no end, +suggesting to the fancy that they were kin in vastitude to the clear +expanse of the sky. On all hands little wind-shaped ridges were like +crests of long waves in an ocean which had just now been stilled, +brooded over by the desert silence and the desert stars. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose," said Norton at last, "that it's up to me to explain." +</P> + +<P> +"Then begin," said Virginia, "by telling me where we are going." +</P> + +<P> +He swung up his arm, pointing. +</P> + +<P> +"Yonder. To the mountains. We'll reach them in about two hours and a +half. Then, in another two hours or so, we'll come to where Brocky is. +Way up on the flank of Mt. Temple. It's going to be a long, hard +climb. For you, at the end of a tiresome day. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"How about yourself?" she asked quickly, and he knew that she was +smiling at him through the dark. "Unless you're made of iron I'm +almost inclined to believe that after your friend Brocky I'll have +another patient. Who is he, by the way?" +</P> + +<P> +"Brocky Lane? I was going to tell you. You saw something stirring in +the patio at Engle's? I had seen it first; it was Ignacio who had +slipped in under the wide arch from the gardens at the rear of the +house. He had been sent for me by Tom Cutter, my deputy. Brocky Lane +is foreman of a big cattle-ranch lying just beyond the mountains; he is +also working with me and with Cutter, although until I've told you +nobody knows it but ourselves and John Engle. . . . Before the night +is out you'll know rather a good deal about what is going on, Miss +Page," he added thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"More than you'd have been willing for me to know if circumstance +hadn't forced your hand?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he admitted coolly. "To get anywhere we've had to sit tight on +the game we're playing. But, from the word Cutter brings, poor old +Brocky is pretty hard hit, and I couldn't take any chances with his +life even though it means taking chances in another direction." +</P> + +<P> +He might have been a shade less frank; and yet she liked him none the +less for giving her the truth bluntly. He was but tacitly admitting +that he knew nothing of her; and yet in this case he would prefer to +call upon her than on Caleb Patten. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't trust Patten," he continued, the chain of thought being +inevitable. "Not that I'd call him crooked so much as a fool for Jim +Galloway to juggle with. He talks too much." +</P> + +<P> +"You wish me to say nothing of to-night's ride?" +</P> + +<P> +"Absolutely nothing. If you are missed before we get back Struve will +explain that you were called to see old Ramorez, a half-breed over +yonder toward Las Estrellas. That is, provided we get back too late +for it to appear likely that you are just resting in your room or +getting things shipshape in your office. That's why I am explaining +about Brocky." +</P> + +<P> +"Since you represent the law in San Juan, Mr. Norton," she told him, +"since, further, Mr. Engle indorses all that you are doing, I believe +that I can go blindfolded a little. I'd rather do that than have you +forced against your better judgment to place confidence in a stranger." +</P> + +<P> +"That's fair of you," he said heartily. "But there are certain matters +which you will have to be told. Brocky Lane has been shot down by one +of Jim Galloway's crowd. It was a coward's job done by a man who would +run a hundred miles rather than meet Brocky in the open. And now the +thing which we don't want known is that Lane even so much as set foot +on Mt. Temple. We don't want it known that he was anywhere but on Las +Cruces Rancho; that he was doing anything but give his time to his +duties as foreman there." +</P> + +<P> +"In particular you don't want Jim Galloway to know?" +</P> + +<P> +"In particular I don't want Jim Galloway to so much as suspect that +Brocky Lane or Tom Cutter or myself have any interest in Mt. Temple," +he said emphatically. +</P> + +<P> +"But if the man who shot him is one of Galloway's crowd, as you +say. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"He'll do no talking for a while. After having seen Brocky drop he +took one chance and showed half of his cowardly carcass around a +boulder. Whereupon Brocky, weak and sick and dizzy as he was, popped a +bullet into him." +</P> + +<P> +She shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there nothing but killing of men among you people?" she cried +sharply. "First the sheepman from Las Palmas, then Brocky Lane, then +the man who shot him. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Brocky didn't kill Moraga," Norton explained quietly. "But he dropped +him and then made him throw down his gun and crawl out of the brush. +Then Tom Cutter gathered him in, took him across the county line, gave +him into the hands of Ben Roberts who is sheriff over there, and came +on to San Juan. Roberts will simply hold Moraga on some trifling +charge, and see that he keeps his mouth shut until we are ready for him +to talk." +</P> + +<P> +"Then Brocky Lane and Tom Cutter were together on Mt. Temple?" +</P> + +<P> +"Near enough for Tom to hear the shooting." +</P> + +<P> +They grew silent again. Clearly Norton had done what explaining he +deemed necessary and was taking her no deeper into his confidences. +She told herself that he was right, that these were not merely his own +personal secrets, that as yet he would be unwise to trust a stranger +further than he was forced to. And yet, unreasonably or not, she felt +a little hurt. She had liked him from the beginning and from the +beginning she felt that in a case such as his she would have trusted to +intuition and have held back nothing. But she refrained from voicing +the questions which none the less insisted upon presenting themselves +to her: What was the thing that had brought both Brocky Lane and Tom +Cutter to Mt. Temple? What had they been seeking there in a wilderness +of crag and cliff? Why was Roderick Norton so determined that Jim +Galloway should not so much as suspect that these men were watchful in +the mountains? What sinister chain of circumstance had impelled +Moraga, who Norton said was Galloway's man, to shoot down the cattle +foreman? And Galloway himself, what type of man must he be if all that +she had heard of him were true; what were his ambitions, his plans, his +power? +</P> + +<P> +Before long Norton pointed out the shadowy form of Mt. Temple looming +ever vaster before them, its mass of rock, of wind-blown, wind-carved +peaks lifted in sombre defiance against the stars. It brooded darkly +over the lower slopes, like an incubus it dominated the other spines +and ridges, its gorges filled with shadow and mystery, its precipices +making the sense reel dizzily. And somewhere up there high against the +sky, alone, suffering, perhaps dying, a man had waited through the slow +hours, and still awaited their coming. How slowly she and Norton were +riding, how heartless of her to have felt the thrill of pleasure which +had possessed her so utterly an hour ago! +</P> + +<P> +Or less than an hour. For now again, wandering out far across the open +lands, came the heavy mourning of the bell. +</P> + +<P> +"How far can one hear it?" she asked, surprised that from so far its +ringing came so clearly. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know how many miles," he answered. "We'll hear it from the +mountain. I should have heard it to-day, long before I met you by the +arroyo, had I not been travelling through two big bands of Engle's +sheep." +</P> + +<P> +Behind them San Juan drawn into the shadows of night but calling to +them in mellow-toned cadences of sorrow, before them the sombre canons +and iron flanks of Mt. Temple, and somewhere, still several hours away, +Brocky Lane lying helpless and perhaps hopeless; grim by day the earth +hereabouts was inscrutable by night, a mighty, primal sphinx, +lip-locked, spirit-crushing. The man and girl riding swiftly side by +side felt in their different ways according to their different +characters and previous experience the mute command laid upon them, and +for the most part their lips were hushed. +</P> + +<P> +There came the first slopes, the talus of strewn, broken, +disintegrating rock, and then the first of the cliffs. Now the sheriff +rode in the fore and Virginia kept her frowning eyes always upon his +form leading the way. They entered the broad mouth of a ravine, found +an uneven trail, were swallowed up by its utter and impenetrable +blackness. +</P> + +<P> +"Give Persis her head," Norton advised her. "She'll find her way and +follow me." +</P> + +<P> +His voice, low-toned as it was, stabbed through the silence, startling +her, coming unexpectedly out of the void which had drawn him and his +horse gradually beyond the quest of her straining eyes. She sighed, +sat back in her saddle, relaxed, and loosened her reins. +</P> + +<P> +For an hour they climbed almost steadily, winding in and out. Now, +high above the bed of the gorge, the darkness had thinned about them; +more than once the girl saw the clear-cut silhouette of man and beast +in front of her or swerving off to right or left. When, after a long +time, he spoke again he was waiting for her to come up with him. He +had dismounted, loosened the cinch of his saddle and tied his horse to +a stunted, twisted tree in a little flat. +</P> + +<P> +"We have to go ahead on foot now," he told her as he put out his hand +to help her down. And then as they stood side by side: "Tired much?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," she answered. "I was just in the mood to ride." +</P> + +<P> +He took down the rope from her saddle strings, tied Persis, and, saying +briefly, "This way," again went on. She kept her place almost at his +heels, now and again accepting the hand he offered as their way grew +steeper underfoot. Half an hour ago she knew that they had swerved off +to the left, away from the deep gorge into whose mouth they had ridden +so far below; now she saw that they were once more drawing close to the +steep-walled cañon. Its emptiness, black and sinister, lay between +them and a group of bare peaks which stood up like cathedral spires +against the sky. +</P> + +<P> +"This would be simple enough in the daytime," Norton told her during +one of their brief pauses. "In the dark it's another matter. Not +tired out, are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," she assured him the second time, although long ago she would have +been glad to throw herself down to rest, were their errand less urgent. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got some pretty steep climbing ahead of us yet," he went on +quietly. "You must be careful not to slip. Oh," and he laughed +carelessly, "you'd stop before you got to the bottom, but then a drop +of even half a dozen feet is no joke here. If you'll pardon me I'll +make sure for you." +</P> + +<P> +With no further apology or explanation he slipped the end of a rope +about her waist, tying it in a hard knot. Until now she had not even +known that he had brought a rope; now she wondered just how hazardous +was the hidden trail which they were travelling; if it were in truth +but the matter of half a dozen feet which she would fall if she +slipped? He made the other end of the short tether fast about his own +body, said "Ready?" and again she followed him closely. +</P> + +<P> +There came little flat spaces, then broken boulders to clamber over, +then steep, rugged climbs, when they grasped the rough rocks with both +hands and moved on with painful slowness. It seemed to the girl that +they had been climbing for long, tedious hours since they had slipped +out of their saddles; though to him she said nothing, locking her lips +stubbornly, she knew that at last she was tired, very tired, that an +end of this laborious ascent must come soon or she would be forced to +stop and lie down and rest. +</P> + +<P> +"Fifteen minutes more," said the sheriff, "and we're there. We'll use +the first five minutes of it for a rest, too." +</P> + +<P> +He made her sit down, unstoppered a canteen which, like the coil of +rope, she had not known he carried, and gave her a drink of water which +seemed to her the most wonderfully strength-making, life-giving draft +in the world. Then he dropped down at her side, looked at his watch in +the light of a flaring match carefully cupped in his hand, and lighted +his pipe. +</P> + +<P> +"Nearly midnight," he told her. +</P> + +<P> +Without replying she lay back against the slope of the mountain, closed +her eyes and relaxed, breathing deeply. Her chest expanded deeply to +the long indrawn breath which filled her lungs with the rare air. She +felt suddenly a little sleepy, dreaming longingly of the unutterable +content one could find in just going to sleep with the cliff-scarred +mountainside for couch. +</P> + +<P> +She stirred and opened her eyes. Rod Norton, the sheriff of San Juan, +a man who a few brief hours ago had been unknown to her, his name +unfamiliar, sat two paces from her, smoking. She and this man of whom +she still knew rather less than nothing were alone in the world; just +the two of them lifted into the sky, separated by a dreary stretch of +desert lands from other men and women . . . bound together by a bit of +rope. She tried to see his face; the profile, more guessed than seen, +appeared to her fancy as unrelenting as the line of cliff just beyond +him, clear-cut against the sky. +</P> + +<P> +Yet somehow . . . she did not definitely formulate the thought of which +she was at the time but dimly, vaguely conscious . . . she was glad +that she had come to San Juan. And she was not afraid of the silent +man at her side, nor sorry that circumstance had given them this night +and its labors. +</P> + +<P> +Norton knocked out his pipe. Together they got to their feet. +</P> + +<P> +"More careful than ever now," he cautioned her. "Look out for each +step and go slowly. We're there in ten minutes. Ready?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ready," she answered. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE HOME OF CLIFF-DWELLERS +</H4> + +<P> +Those remaining ten minutes tried all that there was of endurance in +Virginia Page. Often Norton, bidding her wait a moment, climbed on to +some narrow ledge above her and, drawing the rope steadily through his +hands, gave her what aid he could; often, clinging with hand and foot +she thought breathlessly of the steep fall of cliff which the darkness +hid from her eyes, but which grew ever steeper in her mind as she +struggled on. He had said it would be easier in daylight; she wondered +if after all it would not have been more difficult could she have seen +just what were the chances she was taking at every moment. But more +and more she came to have utter faith in the quiet man going on before +her, and in the piece of rope which stretched taut between them. +</P> + +<P> +"And now," said Norton at last, when once more he had drawn her up to +him and they stood close together upon a narrow ledge, "we've got a +good, safe trail under foot. Good news, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +But as he moved on now he kept her hand locked tight in his own. Their +"good, safe trail" was a rough ledge running almost horizontally along +the cliffside, its trend scarcely perceptibly upward. Within twenty +steps it led them into a wide, V-shaped fissure in the rocks. Then +came a sort of cup in a nest of rugged peaks, its bottom filled with +imprisoned soil worn from the spires above. As Norton, relinquishing +her hand, went forward swiftly she heard a man's voice saying weakly: +</P> + +<P> +"That you, Rod?" +</P> + +<P> +"I came as soon as I could, Brocky." Norton, standing close to a big +outjutting boulder upon the far side of the cup, was bending over the +cattleman. "How are you making out, old man?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've sure been having one hell of a nice little party," grunted Brocky +Lane faintly. "A man's so damn close to heaven on these mountain +tops. . . . Who's that?" +</P> + +<P> +Virginia came forward quickly and went down on her knees at Lane's side. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Dr. Page," she said quietly. "Now if you'll tell me where you're +hit . . . and if Mr. Norton will get me some sort of a light. A fire +will have to do. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +Another little grunt came from Brocky Lane's tortured lips, this time a +wordless expression of his unmeasured amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't want Patten in on this," Norton explained. "Miss Page is a +doctor; just got into San Juan to-day. She's a cousin of Engle. And +she knows her business a whole lot better than Patten does, besides." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you get the fire started immediately, Mr. Norton?" asked Virginia +somewhat sharply. "Mr. Lane has waited long enough as it is." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be damned!" said Brocky Lane weakly. And then, more weakly +still, in a voice which broke despite a manful effort to make it both +steady and careless, "I never cuss like that unless I'm delerious, +anyhow I never cuss when there's a lady. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"If you'll keep perfectly still," Virginia admonished him quickly, +"I'll do all the talking that is necessary. Where is the wound?" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't have to have a light, do you?" Brocky insisted on being +informed. "You see, we can't have it. Where'm I hurt, you want to +know? Mostly right here in my side." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia's hands found the rude bandage, damp and sticky. +</P> + +<P> +"It's nonsense about not having a light," she said, turning toward +Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the wounded man. "Nonsense nothing, is it Rod? How're we +going to have a fire when my matches are all gone and Rod's +matches. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Norton," Virginia cut in crisply, "in spite of your friend's talk +and in spite of the bluff he is putting up he is pretty badly hurt. +You give me some sort of a light, I don't care if they see it down at +San Juan, or you shoulder the responsibility. Which is it?" +</P> + +<P> +Norton turned and was gone in the darkness; to Virginia's eyes it +seemed that he was swallowed up by the cliff's themselves, as though +they had opened and accepted him and closed after him. She supposed +that he had gone to seek what scanty dry fuel one might find here. But +in a moment he was back carrying a lighted lantern. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Rod. . . ." expostulated Brocky. +</P> + +<P> +"Shut up, Brocky," answered Norton quietly. And, passing the lantern +to the girl. "If you'll carry that I'll carry Brocky. It's only a few +steps and I won't hurt him. We can make him more comfortable there; +and besides, we can't leave him out here in the sun to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +Somewhat mystified, Virginia took the lantern and her own surgical case +from the sheriff and watched him stoop and gather the tall form of his +friend into his arms. Then going the way he indicated, straight across +the tiny flat, she lighted the way. She heard the wounded man groan +once; then, his teeth set to guard his lips, Brocky was silent. +</P> + +<P> +After a dozen steps she came to a steep-sided, narrow chasm giving +passageway not six feet wide which twisted this way and that before her. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out," called Norton sharply. "Watch where you step now. Go +slow." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia swinging her lantern up shoulder-high, looking ahead, grew +instantly stock-still, a shiver tingling along her spine. The narrow +defile through which she had passed had led out of the ring of peaks +and now abruptly debouched into nothingness. As she had turned with +the twisting passageway, expecting to see another wall of rock before +her, she saw instead the sky filled with stars. She stood almost at +the edge of a sheer precipice. +</P> + +<P> +"Throw the light to the left now," commanded Norton. "See what looks +like the entrance to a cave? We go in there." +</P> + +<P> +She walked on, moving slowly, warily, a little faint from the one +startled view before her, her body tight pressed to the rocks upon the +left, her feet only a pace from the edge of the cliff. Now she saw the +mouth of the cave, a black ragged hole just above a flat rock which +thrust itself outward so that it seemed hanging, balanced insecurely, +over the abyss. By the pale rays of the lantern she saw the fairly +smooth, gently sloping floor of the cavern; then, stooping, she passed +in, turned, and held the light for Norton. +</P> + +<P> +He came on steadily, bearing his burden lightly. Still holding the +lantern for him, turning as he came closer, she saw that the cave was +lofty and wide, that it ran farther back into the mountain than her +lantern's rays could follow. +</P> + +<P> +"Back there," said Norton, "you'll find blankets. I'll hold him while +you spread some out for him." +</P> + +<P> +She hurried toward the farther end of the cave, came to a tumble of +blankets against the wall, dragged out two or three, spreading them +quickly. And then, while Norton was stooping to lay Brocky's limp form +down, she busied herself with her case. +</P> + +<P> +"He has fainted," she said quickly. "I'd like to examine the wound +before he is conscious; it's going to hurt him. Pour me some water +into any sort of basin or cup or anything else you've got here. Then +stand by to help me if I need you. . . . Hold the lantern for me." +</P> + +<P> +Swiftly, but Norton marked with what skilful fingers, she removed the +bandage and made her examination. Norton, squatting upon his heels at +her side, holding the lantern, after one frowning look at the wound, +kept his eyes fixed upon her face. Brocky Lane was near his death and +the sheriff knew it after that one look; his life lay, perhaps, in the +hands of this girl. Norton had brought her when he might have brought +Patten. Had he chosen wrongly? +</P> + +<P> +He had noted her hands before; now they seemed to him the most +wonderful hands ever possessed by either man or woman, strong, sure, +quick, sensitive, utterly capable. He thought of Caleb Patten's hands, +thick, a little inclined to be flabby. +</P> + +<P> +"Open that bottle," she directed coolly. "One tablet into the water. +That box has cotton and gauze in it . . . don't touch them! I want +everything clean; just open the box and set it where I can get it." +</P> + +<P> +One by one she gave her directions and the man obeyed swiftly and +unquestioningly. He watched her probe the wound, saw her eyes narrow, +knew that she had made her diagnosis. As she washed the ugly hole in +the flesh and made her own bandage Brocky Lane was wincing, his eyes +again open. Both men were watching her now, the same look in each +eager pair of eyes. But until she had done and, with Norton's help, +had made Lane as comfortable as possible upon his crude bed, she gave +no answer to their mute pleading. Then she sat down upon the stone +floor, caught her knees up in her clasped hands, and looked long and +searchingly into Brocky Lane's face. The cowboy struggled with his +muscles and triumphed over them, summoning a sick grin as he muttered: +</P> + +<P> +"You're mighty good to take all this trouble. . . . I'm sure a hundred +times obliged. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"And," she cut in abruptly, "you mean to tell me that you shot that man +after he had put this hole in you? And then you made him crawl out of +the brush and come to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I sure did," grunted Brocky. "And if my aim hadn't been sort of bad, +me being all upset this way, I wouldn't have just winged old Moraga +that way, either! When he's all cured up and I'm all well again. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +Then he broke off and again his eyes, like Norton's, asked their +question. This time she answered it, speaking slowly and thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Brocky Lane, I congratulate you on three things, your physique +first, your luck second, and third, your nerve. They are a combination +that is hard to beat. I am very much inclined to the belief that in a +month or so you'll be about as good as new." +</P> + +<P> +Norton expelled a deep breath of relief; he realized suddenly that +whatever this gray-eyed, strong-handed girl had said would have had his +fullest credence. Brocky's grin grew a shade less strained. +</P> + +<P> +"When you add to that combination," he muttered, "a sure-enough angel +come to doctor a man. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Growing delirious again," laughed Virginia. "Give him a little +brandy, Mr. Norton. Then a smoke if he's dying for one. Then we'll +try to get a little sleep, all of us. You see, I had virtually no +sleep on the train last night and to-day has been a big day for me. If +I'm going to do your friend any good I've got to get three winks. And, +unless you're made out of reinforced sheet-iron, it's the same for you. +You can lie down close to Mr. Lane so that he can wake you easily if he +needs us. Now," and she rose, still smiling, but suddenly looking +unutterably weary, "where is the guest-chamber?" +</P> + +<P> +She did not tell them that not only last night, but the night before +she had sat up in a day coach, saving every cent she could out of the +few dollars which were to give her and her brother a new start in the +world; there were many things which Virginia Page knew how to keep to +herself. +</P> + +<P> +"This way," said Norton, taking up the lantern. "We can really make +you more comfortable than you'd think." +</P> + +<P> +At the very least he could count confidently on treating her to a +surprise. She followed him for forty or fifty feet toward the end of +the cave and to an irregular hole in the side wall, through this, and +into another cave, smaller than the first, but as big as an ordinary +room. The floor was strewn with the short needles of the mountain +pine. As she turned, looking about her, she noted first another +opening in a wall suggesting still another cave; then, feeling a faint +breath of the night air on her cheek she saw a small rift in the outer +shell of rock and through it the stars thick in the sky. +</P> + +<P> +"May you sleep well in Jim Galloway's hang-out," said Norton lightly. +"May you not be troubled with the ghosts of the old cliff-dwellers +whose house this was before our time. And may you always remember that +if there is anything in the world that I can do for you all you have to +do is let me know. Good night." +</P> + +<P> +"Good night," she said. +</P> + +<P> +He had left the lantern for her. She placed it on the floor and went +across her strange bedroom to the hole in the rock through which the +stars were shining. It seemed impossible that those stars out there +were the same stars which had shone upon her all of her life long. She +could fancy that she had gone to sleep in one world and now had +awakened in another, coming into a far, unknown territory where the +face of the earth was changed, where men were different, where life was +new. And though her body was tired her spirit did not droop. Rather +an old exhilaration was in her blood. She had stepped from an old, +outworn world into a new one, and with a quick stir of the pulses she +told herself that life was good where it was strenuous and that she was +glad that Virginia Page had come to San Juan. +</P> + +<P> +"And now," she mused sleepily when at last she lay down upon heaped-up +pine-needles and drew over her the blanket Norton had brought, "I am +going to sleep in the hang-out of Jim Galloway and the old home of the +cliff-dwellers! Virginia Page, you are a downright lucky girl!" +</P> + +<P> +Whereupon she blew out her lantern, smiled faintly at the stars shining +upon her, sighed wearily and went to sleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +JIM GALLOWAY'S GAME +</H4> + +<P> +As full consciousness of her surroundings returned slowly to her, +Virginia Page at first thought that she had been awakened by the aroma +of boiling coffee. Then, sitting up, wide awake, she knew that Norton +had come to the doorway of her separate chamber and had called. She +threw off her blanket and got up hastily. +</P> + +<P> +It was still dark. She imagined that she had merely dozed and that +Norton was summoning her because Brocky Lane was worse. A dim glow +shone through the cave entrance, that flickering, uncertain light +eloquent of a camp-fire. As her hands went swiftly and femininely to +her hair, she heard Norton's voice in a laughing remark. Only then she +knew that she had slept three or four hours, that the dawn was near, +that it was time for her to return to San Juan. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning," she said brightly. +</P> + +<P> +Norton, squatting by the fire, frying-pan in hand, turned and answered +her nod; Brocky Lane, flat on his back with his hands clasped behind +his head, a cigarette in his mouth, twisted a little where he lay, his +eyes eager upon his doctor. Virginia came on into the full light, +striking the pine-needles from her riding-habit. +</P> + +<P> +"Time to eat and ride," said Norton, turning again to his task. "Bacon +and coffee and exercise. Have you rested?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perfectly. And Mr. Lane?" +</P> + +<P> +"Me?" said Brocky. "Feeling fine." +</P> + +<P> +Norton gave her a cup of warm water to wash her hands. Then she made a +second, very careful examination of Brocky's wound, cleansing it and +adjusting a fresh bandage. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to start in half an hour," said the sheriff. "There'll be +light enough then so that we can make time getting down to the horses +and yet not enough light to show us up to a chance early rider down +below. Then we'll swing off to the west, make a wide bend, ride +through Las Estrellas and get back into San Juan when we please. That +is you will; I'll leave you outside of Las Estrellas, showing you the +way. And, while we eat, I am going to tell you something." +</P> + +<P> +"About Galloway?" she asked quickly. "Explaining what you meant by +Galloway's hang-out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. And more than that." +</P> + +<P> +For a little she stood, looking at him very gravely. Then she spoke in +utter frankness. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Norton, I think that I can see your position; you were so +circumstanced through Mr. Lane's being hurt that you had to bring +either Dr. Patten or me here. You decided it would be wiser to bring +me. There is something of a compliment in that, isn't there?" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't know Caleb Patten yet!" growled Brocky a bit savagely. +</P> + +<P> +"Already it seems to me," she went on, "that you have a pretty hard row +to hoe. It is evident that you have discovered a sort of thieves' +headquarters here; that, for your own reasons, you don't want it known +that you have found it. To say that I am not curious about it all +would be talking nonsense, of course. And yet I can assure you that I +hold you under no obligation whatever to do any explaining. You are +the sheriff and your job is to get results, not to be polite to the +ladies." +</P> + +<P> +But Norton shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"You know what you know," he said seriously. "I think that if you know +a little more you will more readily understand why we must insist on +keeping our mouths shut . . . all of us." +</P> + +<P> +"In that case," returned the girl, "and before you boil that coffee +into any more hopelessly black a concoction than it already is, I am +ready to drink mine and listen. Coffee, Mr. Lane?" +</P> + +<P> +"Had mine, thanks," answered Brocky. "Spin the yarn, Rod." +</P> + +<P> +Norton put down his frying-pan, the bacon brown and crisp, and rose to +his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you come this way a moment, Miss Page?" he asked. "To begin +with, seeing is believing." +</P> + +<P> +She followed him as she had, last night, back into the cave in which +she had slept. But Norton did not stop here. He went on, Virginia +still following him, came to that other hole in the rock wall which she +had noted by the lantern light. +</P> + +<P> +"In here," he said. "Just look." +</P> + +<P> +He swept a match across his thigh, holding it up for her. She came to +his side and looked in. First she saw a number of small boxes, +innocent appearing affairs which suggested soda-crackers. Beyond them +was something covered with a blanket; Norton stepped by her and jerked +the covering aside. Startled, puzzled by what she saw, she looked to +him wonderingly. Placed neatly, lying side by side, their metal +surfaces winking back at the light of Norton's match, were a number of +rifles. A score of them, fifty, perhaps. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like a young revolution!" she cried, her gaze held, her eyes +fascinated by the unexpected. +</P> + +<P> +"You've seen about everything now," he told her, the red ember of a +burnt-out match dropping to the floor. "Those boxes contain +cartridges. Now let's go back to Brocky." +</P> + +<P> +"But they'll see that you have been here. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come back in a minute with the lantern; I want a further chance +to look things over. Then I'll put the blanket back and see that not +even that charred match gives us away. And we'd better be eating and +getting started." +</P> + +<P> +With a steaming tin of black coffee before her, a brown piece of bacon +between her fingers, she forgot to eat or drink while she listened to +Norton's story. At the beginning it seemed incredible; then, her +thoughts sweeping back over the experiences of these last twenty-four +hours, her eyes having before them the picture of a sheriff, grim-faced +and determined, a wounded man lying just beyond the fire, the rough, +rudely arched walls and ceiling of a cave man's dwelling about her, she +deemed that what Norton knew and suspected was but the thing to be +expected. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim Galloway is a big man," the sheriff said thoughtfully. "A very +big man in his way. My father was after him for a long time; I have +been after him ever since my father's death. But it is only recently +that I have come to appreciate Jim Galloway's caliber. That's why I +could never get him with the goods on; I have been looking for him in +the wrong places. +</P> + +<P> +"I estimated that he was making money with the Casa Blanca and a +similar house which he operates in Pozo; I thought that his entire game +lay in such layouts and a bit of business now and then like the robbing +of the Las Palmas man. But now I know that most of these lesser jobs +are not even Galloway's affair, that he lets some of his crowd like the +Kid or Antone or Moraga put them across and keep the spoils, often +enough. In a word, while I've been looking for Jim Galloway in the +brush he has been doing his stunt in the big timber! And now. . . ." +The look in Norton's eyes suggested that he had forgotten the girl to +whom he was talking. "And now I have picked up his trail!" +</P> + +<P> +"And that's something," interposed Brocky Lane, a flash of fire in his +own eyes. "Considering that no man ever knew better than Jim Galloway +how to cover tracks." +</P> + +<P> +"You see," continued Norton, "Jim Galloway's bigness consists very +largely of these two things: he knows how to keep his hands off of the +little jobs, and he knows how to hold men to him. Bisbee, of Las +Palmas, goes down in the Casa Blanca; his money, perhaps a thousand +dollars, finds its way into the pockets of Kid Rickard, Antone, and +maybe another two or three men. Jim Galloway sees what goes on and +does no petty haggling over the spoils; he gets a strangle-hold on the +men who do the job; it costs him nothing but another lie or so, and he +has them where he can count on them later on when he needs such men. +Further, if they are arrested, Jim Galloway and Galloway's money come +to the front; they are defended in court by the best lawyers to be had, +men are bribed and they go free. As a result of such labors on +Galloway's part I'd say at a rough guess that there are from a dozen to +fifty men in the county right now who are his men, body and soul. +</P> + +<P> +"With a gang like that at his back, a man of Galloway's type has grown +pretty strong. Strong enough to plan . . . yes, and by the Lord, carry +out! . . . the kind of game he's playing right now. +</P> + +<P> +"A half-breed took sick and died a short time ago, a man whom I'd never +set my eyes on particularly. It happened that he was a superstitious +devil and that he was a second or third cousin of Ignacio Chavez. He +was quite positive that unless the bells rang properly for him he would +go to hell the shortest way. So he sent for Ignacio and wound up by +talking a good deal. Ignacio passed the word on to me. And that was +the first inkling I had of Galloway's real game. In a word, this is +what it is: +</P> + +<P> +"He plans on one big stroke and then a long rest and quiet enjoyment of +the proceeds. You have seen the rifles; he'll arm a crowd of his best +men . . . or his worst, as you please . . . swoop down on San Juan, rob +the bank, shooting down just as many men as happen to be in the way, +rush in automobiles to Pozo and Kepple's Town, stick up the banks +there, levy on the Las Palmas mines, and then steer straight to the +border. And, if all worked according to schedule, the papers across +the country would record the most daring raid across the border yet, +blaming the whole affair on a detachment of Gringo-hating Mexican +bandits and revolutionists." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia stared at him, half incredulously. But the look in Norton's +eyes, the same look in Brocky Lane's, assured her. +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you wait then?" she asked sharply. "If you know all this, why +don't you arrest the man and his accomplices now? Before it is too +late?" +</P> + +<P> +"And have the whole country laugh at me? Where's my evidence? Just +the word of a dead Indian, repeated by another Indian, and a few rifles +hid in the mountains? Even if we proved the rifles were Galloway's, +and I don't believe we could, how would we set about proving his +intention? No; I've talked it all over with the district attorney and +we can't move yet. We've got our chance at last; the chance to watch +and get Jim Galloway with the goods on. But we've got to wait until he +is just ready to strike. And then we are going to put a stop to +lawlessness in San Juan once and for all." +</P> + +<P> +"But," she objected breathlessly, "if he should strike before you are +ready?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is our one business in life that he doesn't do it. We know what he +is up to; we have found this hiding-place; we shall keep an eye on it +night and day. He doesn't know that we have been here; no one knows +but ourselves. You see now, Miss Page, why I couldn't bring Patten +here? Patten talks too much and Galloway knows every thought in +Patten's mind. And you understand how important it is for you to +forget that you have been here?" +</P> + +<P> +She sat silent, staring into the embers of the dying fire. +</P> + +<P> +"The thing which I can't understand," she said presently, "is that if +Jim Galloway is the 'big man' that you say he is he should do as much +talking as he must have done; that he should have told his plans to +such a man as the Indian who told them to Ignacio Chavez." +</P> + +<P> +"But he didn't tell all of this," Norton informed her. "The Indian +died without guessing what I have told you. He merely knew that the +rifles were here because Galloway had employed him to bring them and +because he was the man who told Galloway of this hiding-place. He +believed that Galloway's whole scheme was to smuggle a lot of arms and +ammunition south and across the border, selling to the Mexicans. But +from what little he could tell Chavez and from what we found out for +ourselves, the whole play became pretty obvious. No, Galloway hasn't +been talking and he has been playing as safe as a man can upon such +business as this. His luck was against him, that's all, when the +Indian died and insisted on being rung out by the San Juan bells. +There's always that little element of chance in any business, +legitimate or otherwise. . . . And now, if you'll finish your +breakfast I'll show you a view you'll never forget and then we'll hit +the trail." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Mr. Lane," she asked, "you don't intend to leave him here all +alone? He will get well with the proper attention; but be must have +that." +</P> + +<P> +"Within another hour or so," Norton told her, "Tom Cutter will be back +with one of Brocky's cowboys. They'll move Lane into a cañon on the +other side of the mountain. Oh, I know he oughtn't to be moved, but +what else can we do? Besides, Brocky insists on it. Then they'll +arrange to take care of him; if necessary you'll come out again +to-morrow night?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," she said. She went to Brocky and held out her hand to +him. "I understand now, I think, why you would refuse to die, no +matter how badly you were hurt, until you had helped Mr. Norton finish +the work you have set your hands to. It's an honor, Mr. Lane, to have +a patient like you." +</P> + +<P> +Whereupon Brocky Lane grew promptly crimson and tongue-tied. +</P> + +<P> +"And now the view, Mr. Norton, and I am ready to go." +</P> + +<P> +He led the way to the outer ledge from which last night they had +entered the cave. +</P> + +<P> +"In daylight you can see half round the world from here," he said as +they stood with their backs to the rock. "Now you can get an idea of +what it's like." +</P> + +<P> +Below her was the chasm formed by these cliffs standing sheer and +fronting other tall cliffs looming blackly, the stars beginning to fade +in the sky above them. Norton pushed a stone outward with his boot; +she heard it strike, rebound, strike again . . . and then there was +silence; when the falling stone reached the bottom no sound came back +to tell her how far it had dropped. +</P> + +<P> +Turning a little to look southward, she saw the cliffs standing farther +and farther back on each side so that the eye might travel between them +and out over the lower slopes and the distant stretches of level land +which, more now than ever, seemed a great limitless sea. The stars +were paling rapidly; the first glint of the new day was in the air, the +world lay shadowy and silent and lifeless, softened in the seeming, +but, as in the daytime, slumbrous under an atmosphere of brooding +mystery. +</P> + +<P> +"When you told me last night . . . when you put your rope around me and +said that I might fall half a dozen feet. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Had we fallen it would have been a hundred feet, many a time," he said +quietly. "But I knew we wouldn't fall. And," looking into her face +with an expression in his eyes which the shadows hid, "I shouldn't have +sought to minimize the danger to you had I known you as well as I think +I know you now." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," she said lightly. But she was conscious of a warm +pleasurable glow throughout her entire being. It was good to live life +in the open, it was good to stand upon the cliff tops with a man like +Roderick Norton, it was good to have such a man speak thus. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Five minutes later they were making their way down the cliffs toward +the horses. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +YOUNG PAGE COMES TO TOWN +</H4> + +<P> +Here and there throughout the great stretches of the sun-smitten +southwest are spots which still remain practically unknown, wherein men +come seldom or not at all, where no man cares to tarry. Barren +mountains that are blistering hot, sucked dry long ago of their last +vestige of moisture; endless drifts of sand where the silent animal +life is scanty, where fanged cactus and stubborn mesquite fight their +eternal battles for life; mesas and lomas little known, shunned by +humanity. True, men have been here, some few poking into the dust of +ancient ruins, more seeking minerals, and now and then one, fleeing the +law, to be followed relentlessly by such as Roderick Norton. And yet +there is the evidence, if one looks, that this desolate, shunned land +once had its teeming tribes and its green fields. +</P> + +<P> +Virginia and Roderick, having made their hazardous way down the cliffs +and to their horses in silence, found their tongues loosened as they +rode westward in the soft dawn. Virginia put her questions and he, as +best he could, answered them. She asked eagerly of the old +cliff-dwellers and he shrugged his shoulders. Aztecs, were they? +Toltecs? What? <I>Quien sabe</I>! They were a people of mystery who had +left behind them a silence like that of the desert wastes themselves. +Whence they came, where they went, and why, must long remain questions +with many answers and therefore none at all. But he could tell her a +few things of the ancient civilization . . . and a civilization it +truly was . . . and of the signs left for posterity to puzzle over. +</P> + +<P> +They had builded cities, and the ruins of their pueblos still stand +scattered across the weary, scorched land; they constructed mile after +mile of aqueducts whose lines are followed to-day by reclamation +engineers; they irrigated and cultivated their lands; they made abodes +high up on the mountains, dwelling in caves, enlarging their dwellings, +shaping homes and fortresses and lookouts. And just so long as the +mountains themselves last, will men come now and then into such places +as that wherein Jim Galloway's rifles lay hidden. +</P> + +<P> +"I have lived in this part of the world all but two or three years of +my life," said Norton at the end, "and yet I never heard of these +particular caves until a very few days ago. I don't believe that there +are ten people living who know of them; so Galloway, hiding his stuff +out there was playing just as safe as a man can play--when he plays the +game crooked, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"But won't he guess something when he misses Moraga?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think so." Norton shook his head. "Tom Cutter and Brocky made +Moraga talk. His job was to keep an eye on this end, but he was +commissioned also to make a trip over to the county line. The first +thing Jim Galloway will hear will be that Moraga got drunk and into a +scrape and was taken in by Sheriff Roberts. Then I think that Galloway +himself will slip out of San Juan himself some dark night and climb the +cliffs to make sure. When he finds everything absolutely as it was +left, when time passes and nothing is done, I think he will replace +Moraga with another man and figure that everything is all right. Why +shouldn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +From Galloway and Moraga they got back to a discussion of the ancient +peoples of the desert, venturing surmise for surmise, finding that +their stimulated fancies winged together, daring to construct for +themselves something of the forgotten annals of a forgotten folk who, +perhaps, were living in walled cities while old Egypt was building her +pyramids. Then, abruptly, in a patch of tall mesquite, Norton reined +in his horse and stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"You understand why I must leave you here," he said. "Yonder, beyond +those trees straight ahead . . . you will see it from that little +ridge . . . is Las Estrellas, a town of a dozen houses. But before you +get there you will come to the house where old Ramorez, a half-breed, +lives. You remember; if you are missed in San Juan, Struve will say +that you have gone to see Ramorez. He is actually sick by the way; +maybe you can do something for him. His shack is in those cottonwoods, +this side of Las Estrellas. You'll find Ignacio there, too; he'll go +back to San Juan with you. And, once again, thank you." +</P> + +<P> +He put out his hand; she gave him hers and for a moment they sat +looking at each other gravely. Then Norton smiled, the pleasant boyish +smile, her lips curved at him deliciously, he touched his hat and was +gone. And she, riding slowly, turned Persis toward Las Estrellas. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +From Las Estrellas, an unkempt, ugly village strangely named, it was +necessary to ride some fifteen miles through sand and scrub before +coming again into San Juan. Virginia Page, sincerely glad that she had +made her call upon old Ramorez who was suffering painfully from acute +stomach trouble and whose distress she could partially alleviate, made +the return ride in the company of Ignacio. But first, from Ramorez's +baking hovel, the Indian conducted her to another where a young woman +with a baby a week old needed her. So it was well on in the afternoon +and with a securely established alibi that she rode by the old Mission +and to the hotel. As Ignacio rode listlessly away with the horses, as +innocent looking a lazy beggar as the world ever knew, Virginia caught +a glimpse of a white skirt and cool sunshade coming up the street. +</P> + +<P> +"Florence Engle," she thought. "Who, no doubt, will cut me dead if I +give her the opportunity." +</P> + +<P> +A little hurriedly she turned in at the hotel door and went to her +room. She had removed hat and gantlets, and was preparing for a bath +and change of clothing when a light knock sounded on her door. The +rap, preceded by quick little steps down the hall, was essentially +feminine. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Cousin Virginia," said Florence. "May I come in?" +</P> + +<P> +Virginia brought her in, gave her a chair and regarded her curiously. +The girl's face was flushed and pink, her eyes were bright and quite +gay and untroubled, her whole air genuinely friendly. Last night +Virginia had judged her to be about seventeen; now she looked a mere +child. +</P> + +<P> +"I was perfectly nasty last night, wasn't I?" Florrie remarked as she +stood her sunshade by her chair and smiled engagingly. "Oh, I know it. +Just a horrid little cat . . . but then I'm that most of the time. I +came all this way and in all this dust and heat just to ask you to +forgive me. Will you?" +</P> + +<P> +For the moment Virginia was nonplussed. But Florence only laughed, +clasped her hands somewhat affectedly and ran on, her words tumbling +out in helter-skelter fashion. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know. I'm spoiled and I'm selfish, and I'm mean, I suppose. +And, oh dear, I'm as jealous as anything. But I'm ashamed of myself +this time. Whew! You ought to have listened in on the party after you +left! If you could have heard mama scold me and papa jaw me about the +way I acted it would have made you almost sorry for me." +</P> + +<P> +"But you weren't horrid at all," Virginia broke in at last, her heart +suddenly warming to this very obviously spoiled, futile, but none the +less likable, Florrie. "You mustn't talk that way. And if your +parents made you come. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"They didn't," said Florrie calmly. "They couldn't. Nobody ever made +me do anything; that's what's the matter with me. I came because I +wanted to. As the men say, I wanted to square myself. And, would you +believe it, this is the third time I have called. Mr. Struve kept +telling me that you had gone to see old Joe Ramorez . . . isn't he the +awfullest old pirate you ever saw? And the dirtiest? I don't see how +you can go near a man like that, even if he is dying; honestly I don't. +But you must do all kinds of things, being a doctor." +</P> + +<P> +Her clasped hands tightened, she put her head of fluffy hair to one +side and looked at Virginia with such frank wonder in her eyes that +Virginia colored under them. +</P> + +<P> +"And," ran on Florrie, forestalling a possible interruption, "I was +ready to poke fun at you last night just for being something capable +and . . . and splendid. There was my jealousy again, I suppose. You +ought to have heard papa on that score; 'Look here, my fine miss; if +you could just be something worth while in the world, if you could do +as much good in all of your silly life as Virginia Page does every day +of hers,' . . . and so forth until he was ready to burst and mama was +ready to cry, and I was ready to bite him!" She trilled off in a burst +of laughter which was eloquent of the fact that Florence Engle, be her +faults what they might, was not the one to hold a grudge. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry," said Virginia, smiling a little, "if on my account . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"You were just going to get cleaned up, weren't you?" asked Florrie +contritely. "You look as hot and dusty as anything. My, what pretty +hair you have; I'll bet it comes down to your waist, doesn't it? You +ought to see mine when I take it down; it's like the pictures of the +bush-whackers . . . you know what I mean, from South Africa or +somewhere, you know . . . only, of course, mine's a prettier color. +Sometime I'll come and comb yours for you, when you're tired out from +curing sick Indians. But now," and she jumped to her feet, "I'll go +out on the porch while you get dressed and then you come out, will you? +It's cool there under the awning, and I'll have Mr. Struve bring us out +some cold lemonade. But first, you do forgive me, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Virginia's prompt assurance was incomplete when Florrie flitted out, +banging the door after her, headed toward the lounging-chairs on the +veranda. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"You pretty thing!" exclaimed Miss Florrie as Virginia joined her as +coolly and femininely dressed, if not quite as fluffily, as the +banker's daughter. "Oh, but you are quite the most stunning creature +that ever came into San Juan! Oh, I know all about myself; don't you +suppose I've stood in front of a glass by the long hours . . . wishing +it was a wishing-glass all the time and that I could turn a pug-nose +into a Grecian. I'm pretty; you're simply beautiful!" +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, my dear," laughed Virginia, taking the chair which Florrie +had drawn close up to her own in the shade against the adobe wall, "you +have already made amends. It isn't necessary to . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't half finished," cried Florrie emphatically. "You see it's a +way of mine to do things just by halves and quit there. But to-day it +is different; to-day I am going to square myself. That's one reason +why I treated you so cattishly last night; because you were so +maddeningly good to look upon. Through a man's eyes, you know; and +that's about all that counts anyway, isn't it? And the other reason +was that you came in with Roddy and he looked so contented. . . . Do +you wonder that I am just wild about him? Isn't he a perfect dear?" +</P> + +<P> +Florrie's utter frankness disconcerted Virginia. The confession of +"wildness" about San Juan's sheriff, followed by the asseveration of +his perfect dearness was made in bright frankness, Florrie's voice +lowered no whit though Julius Struve at the moment was coming down the +veranda bearing a tray and glasses. Virginia was not without gratitude +that Struve lingered a moment and bantered with Florrie; when he +departed she sought to switch the talk in another direction. But +Florrie, sipping her tall glass and setting it aside, was before her. +</P> + +<P> +"You see it was double-barrelled jealousy; so I did rather well not to +fly at you and tear your eyes out, didn't I? Just because you and he +came in together . . . as if every time a man and girl walk down the +street together it means that they are going to get married! But you +see, Roddy and I have known each other ever since before I can +remember, and I have asked myself a million times if some day we are +going to be Mr. and Mrs. Roderick Norton . . . and there are times when +I think we are!" +</P> + +<P> +"You have a long time ahead of you yet, haven't you, Florence, before +you have to answer a question like that?" asked Virginia amusedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I am so young?" cried Florrie. "Oh, I don't know; girls marry +young here. Now there is Tita . . . she is our cook's sister . . . she +has two babies already and she is only four months older than I am. +And . . . Look, Virgie; there is the most terrible creature in the +world. It is Kid Rickard; he killed the Las Palmas man, you know. I +am not going even to look at him; I hate him worse that Caleb +Patten . . . and that's like saying I hate strychnine worse than +arsenic, isn't it? But who in the name of all that is wonderful is the +man with him? Isn't he the handsome thing? I never saw him before. +He is from the outside, Virgie; you can tell by the fashionable cut of +his clothes and by the way he walks and . . . Isn't he distinguished!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is Elmer!" exclaimed Virginia, staring at the two figures which +were slowly approaching from the southern end of the street. "When did +he get here? I didn't expect him. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +Then she chose to forget all save the essential fact that her "baby +brother" was here and ran out to the sidewalk, calling to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Sis," returned Elmer nonchalantly. He was a thin, +anaemic-looking young fellow a couple of years younger than Virginia +who affected a swagger and gloves and who had a cough which was +insistent, but which he strove to disguise. And yet Florrie's +hyperbole had not been entirely without warrant. He had something of +Virginia's fine profile, a look of her in his eyes, the stamp of good +blood upon him. He suffered his sister to kiss him, meantime turning +his eyes with a faint sign of interest to the fair girl on the veranda. +Florrie smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Sis," said Elmer, "this is Mr. Rickard. Mr. Rickard, shake hands with +my sister, Miss Page." +</P> + +<P> +A feeling of pure loathing swept over the girl as she turned to look +into Kid Rickard's sullen eyes and degenerate, cruel face. But, since +the Kid was a couple of paces removed and was slow about coming +forward, not so much as raising his hand to his wide hat, she nodded at +him and managed to say a quiet, non-committal, "How do you do?" Then +she slipped her arm through Elmer's. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Elmer," she said hastily. "I want you to know Miss Florence +Engle; she is a sort of cousin of ours." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," said Elmer off-handedly. "Come on, Rickard." +</P> + +<P> +But the Kid, standing upon no ceremony, had drawn his hat a trifle +lower over his eyes and turned his shoulder upon them, continuing along +the street in his slouching walk. Elmer, summoning youth's supreme +weapon of an affected boredom, yawned, stifled his little cough and +went with Virginia to meet Florence. +</P> + +<P> +Florence giggled over the introduction, then grew abruptly as grave as +a matron of seventy and tactlessly observed that Mr. Page had a very +bad cold; how could one have a cold in weather like this? Whereupon +Mr. Page glared at her belligerently, noted her little row of curls, +revised his first opinion of her, set her down not only as a cousin, +but as a crazy kid besides, and removed half a dozen steps to a chair. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think much of your friends," remarked Florrie, sensing sudden +opposition and flying half-way to meet it. +</P> + +<P> +Elmer Page produced a very new, unsullied pipe from his pocket and +filled it with an air, while Virginia looked on curiously. Having done +so and having drawn up one trouser's leg to save the crease, crossed +the leg and at last put the pipe stem into his mouth, he regarded +Florrie from the cool and serene height of his superior age. +</P> + +<P> +"If you refer to Mr. Rickard," he said aloofly, "I may say that he is +not a friend . . . yet. I just met him this afternoon. But, although +he hasn't had the social advantages, perhaps, still he is a man of +parts." +</P> + +<P> +Florrie sniffed and tossed her head. Virginia bit her lips and watched +them. +</P> + +<P> +"Been smoking too many cigs, I guess, Sis," Elmer remarked apropos of +the initial observation of Miss Engle which still rankled. "Got a +regular cigarette fiend's cough. Gave 'em up. Hitting the pipe now." +</P> + +<P> +"If you knew," said Florrie spitefully, "that Mr. Rickard as you call +him had just murdered a man yesterday, what would you say then, I +wonder?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a sparkle of excitement in Elmer's eyes as he swung about to +answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Murdered!" he challenged. "You've heard just one side of it, of +course. Bisbee got drunk and insulted Mr. Rickard. They call him the +Kid, you know. Say, Sis, he's had a life for you! Full of adventure, +all kinds of sport. And Bisbee shot first, too. But the Kid got him!" +he concluded triumphantly. "Galloway told me all about it . . . and +what a blundering rummy the fool sheriff is." +</P> + +<P> +"Galloway?" queried Virginia uneasily. "You know him too, already?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," replied Elmer. "He's a good sort, too, You'll like him. I +asked him around." +</P> + +<P> +"For goodness' sake, Elmer, when did you get to San Juan? Have you +been here a week or just a few hours?" +</P> + +<P> +"Got in on the stage at noon, of course. But it doesn't take a man all +year to get acquainted in a town this size." +</P> + +<P> +"A man!" giggled Florrie. +</P> + +<P> +"I can see," laughed Virginia, "that you two are going to be more kin +than kind to each other; you'll be quarrelling in another moment." +</P> + +<P> +Florrie looked delighted at the prospect; Elmer yawned and brooded over +his pipe. But out of the tail of his eye he took stock again of her +blonde prettiness, and she, ready from the beginning to make fun of +him, repeated to herself the words she had used to Virginia: +</P> + +<P> +"But he is handsome . . . and distinguished looking!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A BRIBE AND A THREAT +</H4> + +<P> +Virginia Page found time passing swiftly in San Juan. Within two weeks +she came almost to forget how she had heard a rattle of pistol-shots, +how the slow sobbing of a bell in the Mission garden had bemoaned a +life gone and a fresh crime upon a man's soul; at the end of a month it +seemed to her that she had dreamed that ride through the night with +Roderick Norton, climbing the cliffs, ministering to a stricken man in +the forsaken abode of ancient cliff-dwellers. She was like one +marooned upon a tiny island in an immense sea who has experienced the +crisis of shipwreck and now finds existence suddenly resolved into a +quiet struggle for the maintenance of life . . . that and a placid +expectation. As another might have waited through the long, quiet +hours for the sign of a white sail or a black plume of smoke, so did +she wait for the end of a tale whose beginning had included her. +</P> + +<P> +That the long days did not drag was due not so much to that which +happened about her, as to that which occurred within her. She carried +responsibility upon each shoulder; her life was in the shaping and she +and none other must make it what it would be; her brother's character +was at that unstable stage when it was ready to run into the mould. +She had brought him here, from the city to the rim of the desert--the +step had been her doing, nobody's but hers. And she had come here far +less for the sake of Elmer Page's cough than for the sake of his +manhood. She wanted him to grow to be a man one could be proud of; +there were times when his eyes evaded her and she feared the outcome. +</P> + +<P> +"He is just a boy," she told herself, seeking courage. It seemed such +a brief time ago that she had blown his nose for him and washed his +face. She made excuses for him, but did not close her eyes to the +truth. The good old saw that boys will be boys failed to make of Elmer +all that she would have him. +</P> + +<P> +Further to this consideration was another matter which filled the hours +for her. The few dollars with which she had established herself in San +Juan marched in steady procession out of her purse and fewer other +dollars came to take their places. The Indian Ramorez whose stomach +trouble she had mitigated came full of gratitude and Casa Blanca +whiskey and paid La Señorita Doctor as handsomely as he could; he gave +her his unlimited and eternal thanks and a very beautiful hair rope. +Neither helped her very greatly to pay for room and board. Another +Indian offered her a pair of chickens; a third paid her seventy-five +cents on account and promised the rest soon. When she came to know his +type better she realized that he had done exceptionally well by her. +</P> + +<P> +She went often to the Engles', growing to love all three of them, each +in a different way. Florrie she found vain, spoiled, selfish, but all +in so frank a fashion that in return for an admittedly half-jealous +admiration she gave a genuine affection. And she was glad to see how +Elmer made friends with them, always appearing at his best in their +home. He and Florrie were already as intimate as though they had grown +up with a back-yard fence separating their two homes; they criticised +each other with terrible outspokenness, they made fun of each other, +they very frequently "hated and despised" each other and, utterly +unknown to either Florrie Engle or Elmer Page, were the best of friends. +</P> + +<P> +Of Roderick Norton San Juan saw little through these weeks. He came +now and then, twice ate with Virginia and Elmer at Struve's, talked +seriously with John Engle, teased Florrie, and went away upon the +business which called him elsewhere. Upon one of these visits he told +Virginia that Brocky Lane was "on the mend" and would be as good as new +in a month; no other reference was made to her ride with him. +</P> + +<P> +But through his visits to San Juan, brief and few though they were, +Roderick Norton was enabled to assure himself with his own eyes that +Kid Rickard was still to be found here if required, that Antone, as +usual, was behind the Casa Blanca bar; that Jim Galloway was biding his +time with no outward show of growing restless or impatient. Tom +Cutter, Norton's San Juan deputy, was a man to keep both eyes open, and +yet there were times when the sheriff was not content with another +man's vision. +</P> + +<P> +Nor did the other towns of the county, scattered widely across the +desert, beyond the mountains and throughout the little valleys, see +much more of him. If a man wished word with Rod Norton these days his +best hope of finding him lay in going out to <I>el Rancho de las Flores</I>. +</P> + +<P> +It was Norton's ranch, having been Billy Norton's before him, one of +the choice spots of the county bordering Las Cruces Rancho where Brocky +Lane was manager and foreman. Beyond the San Juan mountains it lay +across the head of one of the most fertile of the neighboring valleys, +the Big Water Creek giving it its greenness, its value, and the basis +for its name. Here for days at a time the sheriff could in part lay +aside the cares of his office, take the reins out of his hired +foreman's hands, ride among his cattle and horses, and dream such +dreams as came to him. +</P> + +<P> +"One of these days I'll get you, Jim Galloway," he had grown into the +habit of musing. "Then they can look for another sheriff and I can do +what I want to do." +</P> + +<P> +And his desire had grown very clearly defined to him; it was the old +longing of a man who comes into a wilderness such as this, the longing +to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before his coming. +With his water rights a man might work modern magic; far back in the +hills he had found the natural site for his storage dams; slightly +lower in a nest of hills there would be some day a pygmy lake whose +seductive beauty to him who dwells on desert lands calls like the soft +beauty of a woman; upon a knoll where now was nothing there would come +to be a comfortable, roomy, hospitable ranch-house to displace forever +the shacks which housed the men now farther down the slopes; and +everywhere, because there was water aplenty, would there be roses and +grape-vines and orange-trees. All this when he should get Jim Galloway. +</P> + +<P> +From almost any knoll upon the Rancho de las Flores he could see the +crests of Mt. Temple lifted in clear-cut lines against the sky. If he +rode with Gaucho, his foreman, among the yearlings, he saw Mt. Temple; +if he rode the fifty miles to San Juan he saw the same peaks from the +other side. And a hundred times he looked up at them with eyes which +were at once impatient and stern; he began to grow angry with Galloway +for so long postponing the final issue. +</P> + +<P> +For, though he did not go near the cliff caves, he knew that the rifles +still lay there awaiting Jim Galloway's readiness. A man named Bucky +Walsh was prospecting for gold upon the slopes of Mt. Temple, a silent, +leather-faced little fellow, quick-eyed and resourceful. And, above +the discovery of color, it was the supreme business of Bucky Walsh to +know what happened upon the cliffs above him. If there were anything +to report no man knew better than he how to get out of a horse all +there was of speed in him. +</P> + +<P> +In the end Norton called upon the reserves of his patience, saying to +himself that if Jim Galloway could bide his time in calmness he could +do the same. The easier since he was unshaken in his confidence that +the time was coming when he and Galloway would stand face to face while +guns talked. Never once did he let himself hope for another ending. +</P> + +<P> +Giving what time he had free to ranch matters at Las Flores the sheriff +found other things to occupy him. There was a gamblers' fight one +night at the camp at Las Palmas mines, a man badly hurt, an ill-starred +bystander dead, the careless gunman a fugitive, headed for the border. +Norton went out after him, shifted saddle from jaded beast to fresh +again and again, rode two hundred miles with only the short stops for +hastily taken food and water and got his man willy-nilly a mile below +the border. What was more, he made it his personal business that the +man was convicted and sentenced to a long term; about San Juan there +was no crime less tolerable than that of "shooting wild." +</P> + +<P> +But all this brought him no closer to Jim Galloway; Galloway, meeting +him shortly afterward in San Juan, laughed and thanked him for the job. +It appeared that the man whom Norton had brought back to stand trial +was not only no friend of the proprietor of the Casa Blanca, but an +out-spoken enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be asking favors of me next, Norton," grinned the big, +thick-bodied man. "I'd pay you real money for getting a few like him +out of my way. Get me, don't you?" and he passed on, his eyes turned +tauntingly. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, Norton "got" him. No man in the southwest harbored more bitter +ill-will for the lawless than Jim Galloway . . . unless the lawless +stood in with him. Aforetime many a hardy, tempestuous spirit had +defied the crime-dictator; here of late they were few who hoped to slit +throats or cut purses and not pay allegiance to the saloon-keeper of +San Juan. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the heels of this affair, however, came another which was destined +to bring Roderick Norton to a crisis in his life. Word reached him at +Las Flores that a lone prospector in the Red Hills had been robbed of a +baking-powder tin of dust and that the prospector, recovering from the +blows which had been rained on his head, had identified one of his two +assailants. That one was Vidal Nuñez; circumstances hinted that the +other well might be Kid Rickard. +</P> + +<P> +Norton promptly instructed Tom Cutter to find out what he could of +Rickard's movements upon the day of the robbery, and himself set out to +bring in Vidal Nuñez, taking a grim joy in his task when he remembered +how Nuñez had been the man who, with a glance, had cautioned Antone to +hold his tongue after the shooting of Bisbee at the Casa Blanca. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's a man Jim Galloway won't thank me for rounding up," he told +himself. "And we are going to see if his arm is long enough to keep +Nuñez out of the penitentiary." +</P> + +<P> +He went to San Juan, learned that nothing had been seen of the Mexican +there, set the machinery of the man hunt in full swing, doubled back +through the settlements to the eastward, and for two weeks got nothing +but disappointment for his efforts. Nuñez had disappeared and none who +cared to tell knew where. But Norton kept on doggedly; confident that +the man had not had the opportunity to get out of the country, he was +equally confident that, soon or late, he would get him. Then came the +second meeting with Jim Galloway. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-142"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-142.jpg" ALT="Then came the second meeting with Jim Galloway" BORDER="2" WIDTH="336" HEIGHT="564"> +<H5> +[Illustration: Then came the second meeting with Jim Galloway.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The two men rode into each other's view on the lonely trail half-way +between San Juan and Tecolote, which is to say where the little, barren +hills break the monotony of the desert lands some eight or ten miles to +the eastward of San Juan. It was late afternoon, and Galloway, riding +back toward town, had the sun in his eyes so that he could not have +known as soon as did Norton whom he was encountering. But Galloway was +not the man to ride anywhere that he was not ready for whatever man he +might meet; Norton's eyes, as the two drew nearer on the blistering +trail, marked the way Galloway's right hand rested loosely on the +cantle of his saddle and very near Galloway's right hip. +</P> + +<P> +Norton, merely eying him sharply, was for passing on without a word or +a nod. The other, however, jerked in his horse, clearly of a mind for +parley. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" demanded Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I was just thinking," said Galloway dryly, "what an exceptionally +fitting spot we've picked! If I got you or you got me right now nobody +in the world need ever know who did the trick. We couldn't have found +a much likelier place if we'd sailed away to an island in the South +Seas." +</P> + +<P> +"I was thinking something of the same kind," returned Norton coolly. +"Have you any curiosity in the matter? If you think you can get your +gun first . . . why, then, go to it!" +</P> + +<P> +Galloway eased himself in the saddle. +</P> + +<P> +"If I thought I could beat you to it," he answered tonelessly, "I'd do +it. As you know. If I even thought that I'd have an even break with +you," he added, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully as they took stock of +the sheriff's right hand swinging free at his side and never far from +the butt of the revolver fitting loosely in his holster, "I'd take the +chance. No, you're a shade too lively in the draw for me and I happen +to know it." +</P> + +<P> +For a little they sat staring into each other's eyes, the distance of +ten steps between them, their right hands idle while their left hands +upon twitching reins curbed the impatience of two mettled horses. As +was usual their regard was one of equal malevolence, of brimming, cold +hatred. But slowly a new look came into Norton's eyes, a probing, +penetrating look of calculation. Galloway was again opening his lips +when the sheriff spoke, saying with contemptuous lightness: +</P> + +<P> +"Jim Galloway, you and I have bucked each other for a long time. I +guess it's in the cards that one of us will get the other some day. +Why not right now and end the whole damned thing?--When I'm up against +a man as I am against you I like to make it my business to know just +how much sand has filtered into his make-up. You'd kill me if you had +the chance and weren't afraid to do it, wouldn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"If I had the chance," returned Galloway as coolly, though a spot of +color showed under the thick tan of his cheek. "And I'll get it some +day." +</P> + +<P> +"If you've got the sand," said Norton, "you don't have to wait!" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" snapped Galloway sharply. +</P> + +<P> +Norton's answer lay in a gesture. Always keeping such a rein on his +horse that he faced Galloway and kept him at his right, he lifted the +hand which had been hanging close to his gun. Slowly, inch by inch, +his eyes hard and watchful upon Galloway's eyes, he raised his hand. +Understanding leaped into Galloway's prominent eyes; it seemed that he +had stopped breathing; surely the hairy fingers upon the cantle of his +saddle had separated a little, his hand growing to resemble a tarantula +preparing for its brief spring. +</P> + +<P> +Steadily, slowly, the sheriff's hand rose in the air, brought upward +and outward in an arc as his arm was held stiff, as high as his +shoulder now, now at last lifted high above his head. And all of the +time his eyes rested bright and hard and watchful upon Jim Galloway's, +filled at once with challenge and recklessness . . . and certainty of +himself. +</P> + +<P> +Galloway's right hand had stirred the slight fraction of an inch, his +fingers were rigid and still stood apart. As he sat, twisted about in +his saddle, his hand had about seven inches to travel to find the gun +in his hip pocket. Since, when they first met, he had thrown his big +body to one side, his left boot loose in its stirrup while his weight +rested upon his right leg, his gun pocket was clear of the saddle, to +be reached in a flash. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll never get another chance like this, Galloway," said Norton +crisply. "I'd say, at a guess, that my hand has about eight times as +far to travel as yours. You wanted an even break; you've got more than +that. But you'll never get more than one shot. Now, it's up to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Before we start anything," began Galloway. But Norton cut him short. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not fool enough to hold my hand up like this until the blood runs +out of my fingers. You've got your chance; take it or leave it, but +don't ask for half an hour's option on it." +</P> + +<P> +Swift changing lights were in Galloway's eyes. But his thoughts were +not to be read. That he was tempted by his opportunity was clear; that +he understood the full sense underlying the words, "You'll never get +more than one shot," was equally obvious. That shot, if it were not to +be his last act in this world, must be the accurate result of one +lightning gesture; his hand must find his gun, close about the grip, +draw, and fire with the one absolutely certain movement. For the look +in Rod Norton's eyes was for any man to read. +</P> + +<P> +Jim Galloway was not a coward and Rod Norton knew it. He was +essentially a gambler whose business in life was to take chances. But +he was of that type of gambler who plays not for the love of the game +but to win; who sets a cool brain to study each hand before he lays his +bet; who gauges the strength of that hand not alone upon its intrinsic +value but upon a shrewd guess at the value of the cards out against it. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment he wanted, more than he wanted anything else in the wide +scope of his unleashed desires, to kill Rod Norton; he balanced that +fact with the other fact that less than anything in the world did he +want to be killed himself. The issue was clear cut. +</P> + +<P> +While a watch might have ticked ten times neither man moved. During +that brief time Galloway's jaw muscles corded, his face went a little +white with the strain put upon him. The restive horses, tossing their +heads, making merry music with jingling bridle chains, might have +galloped a moment ago from an old book of fairy-tales, each carrying a +man bewitched, turned to stone. +</P> + +<P> +"If you've got the sand!" Norton taunted him, his blood running hot +with the fierce wish to have done with sidestepping and +procrastination. "If you've got the sand, Jim Galloway!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's better than an even break that I could get you," said Galloway at +last. "And, at that, it's an even break or nearly so, that as you +slipped out of the saddle you'd get me, too. . . . You take the pot +this time, Norton; I'm not betting." Shifting his hand he laid it +loosely upon the horn of his saddle. As he did so his chest inflated +deeply to a long breath. +</P> + +<P> +Norton's uplifted hand came down swiftly, his thumb catching in his +belt. There was a contemptuous glitter in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"After this," he said bluntly, "you'll always know and I'll always know +that you are afraid. I make it a part of my business not to +under-estimate the man I go out to get; I think I have overestimated +you." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Galloway seemed not to have heard as he stared away +through the gray distances. When he brought his eyes back to Norton's +they were speculative. +</P> + +<P> +"Men like you and me ought to understand each other and not make any +mistakes," he said, speaking slowly. "I have just begun to imagine +lately that I have been doping you up wrong all the time. Now I've got +two propositions to make you; you can take either or neither." +</P> + +<P> +"It will probably be neither; what are they? I've got a day's ride +ahead of me." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe you have; maybe you haven't. That depends on what you say to my +proposition. You're looking for Vidal Nuñez, they tell me?" +</P> + +<P> +"And I'm going to get him; as much as anything for the sake of swatting +the devil around the stump." +</P> + +<P> +"Meaning me?" Galloway shrugged. "Well, here's my song and dance: This +county isn't quite big enough; you drop your little job and clear out +and leave me alone and I'll pay you ten thousand dollars now and +another ten thousand six months from now." +</P> + +<P> +"Offer number one," said Norton, manifesting neither surprise nor +interest even. "Twenty thousand dollars to pull my freight. Well, Jim +Galloway, you must have something on the line that pulls like a big +fish. Now, let's have the other barrel." +</P> + +<P> +"I have suggested that you clean out; the other suggestion is that, if +you won't get out of my way, you get busy on your job. Vidal Nuñez +will be at the Casa Blanca to-night. I have sent word for him to come +in and that I'd look out for him. Come, get him. Which will you take, +Rod Norton? Twenty thousand iron men or your chances at the Casa +Blanca?" +</P> + +<P> +It was Norton's turn to grow thoughtful. Galloway was rolling a +cigarette. The sheriff reached for his own tobacco and papers. Only +when he had set a match to the brown cylinder and drawn the first of +the smoke did he answer. +</P> + +<P> +"You've said it all now, have you?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Galloway. "It's up to you this time. What's the word?" +</P> + +<P> +Norton laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"When I decide what I am going to do I always do it," he said lightly. +"And as a rule I don't do a lot of talking about it beforehand. I'll +leave you to guess the answer, Galloway." +</P> + +<P> +Galloway shrugged and swung his horse back into the trail. +</P> + +<P> +"So long," he said colorlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"So long," Norton returned. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE FIGHT AT LA CASA BLANCA +</H4> + +<P> +It was something after six o'clock when Jim Galloway rode into San +Juan. Leaving his sweat-wet horse in his own stable at the rear of the +Casa Blanca he passed through the patio and into a little room whose +door he unlocked with a key from his pocket. For ten minutes he sat +before a typewriting machine, one big forefinger slowly picking out the +letters of a brief note. The address, also typed, bore the name of a +town below the border. Without signing his communication he sealed it +into its envelope and, relocking the door as he went out, walked +thoughtfully down the street to the post-office. +</P> + +<P> +As he passed Struve's hotel he lifted his hat; upon the veranda at the +cooler, shaded end, Virginia was entertaining Florence Engle. Florrie +nodded brightly to Galloway, turning quickly to Virginia as the big man +went on. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you actually believe, Virginia dear," she whispered, "that that man +is as wicked as they say he is? Did you watch him going by? Did you +see the way he took off his hat? Did you ever know a man to smile +quite as he does?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe," returned Virginia, "that I ever had him smile at me, +Florrie." +</P> + +<P> +"His eyes are not bad eyes, are they?" Florrie ran on. "Oh, I know +what papa thinks and what Rod thinks about him; but I just don't +believe it! How could a man be the sort they say he is and still be as +pleasant and agreeable and downright good-looking as Mr. Galloway? +Why," and she achieved a quick little shudder, "if I had done all the +terrible deeds they accuse him of I'd go around looking as black as a +cloud all the time, savage and glum and remembering every minute how +wicked I was." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia laughed, failing to picture Florrie grown murderous. But +Florrie merely pursed her lips as her eyes followed Galloway down the +street. +</P> + +<P> +"I just ask you, Virginia Page," she said at last, sinking back into +the wide arms of her chair with a sigh, "if a man with murder and all +kinds of sin on his soul could make love prettily?" +</P> + +<P> +Virginia started. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean . . ." she began quickly. +</P> + +<P> +Florrie laughed, but the other girl noted wonderingly a fresher tint of +color in her cool cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"Goosey!" Florrie tossed her head, drew her skirts down modestly over +her white-stockinged ankles and laughed again. "He never held my hand +and all that. But with his eyes. Is there any law against a man +saying nice things with his eyes? And how is a girl going to stop him?" +</P> + +<P> +Virginia might have replied that here was a matter which depended very +largely upon the girl herself; but instead, estimating that there was +little serious love-making on Galloway's part to be apprehended and +taking Florrie as lightly as Florrie took the rest of the world, she +was merely further amused. And already she had learned to welcome +amusement of any sort in San Juan town. +</P> + +<P> +But again here was Galloway, stopping now in front of Struve's, drawing +another quick, bright smile from the banker's daughter, accepting its +invitation and coming into the little yard and down the veranda. Only +when he fairly towered over the two girls did he push back the hat +which already he had touched to them, standing with his hands on his +hips, his heavy features bespeaking a deep inward serenity and quiet +good humor. +</P> + +<P> +It would have required a blinder man than Jim Galloway not to have +marked the cool dislike and distrust in Virginia's eyes. But, though +he turned from them to the pink-and-white girl at her side, he gave no +sign of sensing that he was in any way unwelcome here. +</P> + +<P> +He had greeted Virginia casually; she, observing him keenly, understood +what Florrie had meant by a man's making love with his eyes. His look, +directed downward into the face smiling up at him, was alive with what +was obviously a very genuine admiration. While Florrie allowed her +flattered soul to drink deep and thirstily of the wine of adulation +Virginia, only half understanding the writing in Galloway's eyes, +shivered a little and, leaning forward suddenly, put her hand on +Florrie's arm; the gesture, quick and spontaneous, meant nothing to +Florrie, nothing to Galloway, and a very great deal to Virginia Page. +For it was essentially protective; it served to emphasize in her own +mind a fear which until now had been a mere formless mist, a fear for +her frivolous little friend. Galloway's whole being was so expressive +of conscious power, Florrie's of vacillating impulsiveness, that it +required no considerable burden laid upon the imagination to picture +the girl coming if he called . . . if he called with the look in his +eyes now, with the tone he knew to put into his voice. +</P> + +<P> +Social lines are none too clearly drawn in towns like San Juan; often +enough they have long ago failed to exist. A John Engle, though six +days of the seven he sat behind his desk in a bank, was only a man, his +daughter only the daughter of a mere man; a Jim Galloway, though he +owned the Casa Blanca and upon occasion stood behind his own bar, might +be a man and look with level eyes upon all other men, their wives, and +their daughters. Here, with conditions what they always had been, +there could stand but one barrier between Galloway and Florrie Engle, +the barrier of character. And already the girl had cried: "His eyes +are not bad eyes, are they?" A barrier is a silent command to pause; +what is the spontaneous answer of a spoiled child to any command? +</P> + +<P> +Galloway spoke lightly of this and that, managing in a dozen little +ways to compliment Florrie who chattered with a gayety which partook of +excitement. In ten minutes he went his way, drawing her musing eyes +after him. Until he had reached his own door and turned it at the Casa +Blanca the two girls on Struve's veranda were silent. Florrie's +thoughts were flitting hither and yon, bright-winged, inconsequential, +fluttering about Jim Galloway, deserting him for Roderick Norton, +darting off to Elmer Page, coming home to Florrie herself. As for +Virginia, conscious of a sort of dread, she was oppressed with the +stubbornly insistent thought that if Jim Galloway cared to amuse +himself with Florrie he was strong and she was weak; if he called to +her she would follow. . . . +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Virginia was not the only one whom Galloway had set pondering; certain +of his words spoken to the sheriff when the two faced each other on the +Tecolote trail gave Norton food for thought. For the first time Jim +Galloway had openly offered a bribe, one of no insignificant +proportions, prefacing his offer with the remark: "I have just begun to +imagine lately that I have doped you up wrong all the time." If +Galloway had gone on to add: "Time was when I didn't believe I could +buy you, but I have changed my mind about that," his meaning could have +been no plainer. Now he held out a bribe in one hand, a threat in the +other, and Norton riding on to Tecolote mused long over them both. +</P> + +<P> +In Tecolote, a straggling village of many dogs and swarthy, grimy-faced +children, he tarried until well after dark, making his meal of coffee, +<I>frijoles</I>, and <I>chili con carne</I>, thereafter smoking a contemplative +pipe. Abandoning the little lunch-room to the flies and silence he +crossed the road to the saloon kept by Pete Nuñez, the brother of the +man whom it was Norton's present business to make answer for a crime +committed. Pete, a law-abiding citizen nowadays, principally for the +reason that he had lost a leg in his younger, gayer days, swept up his +crutch and swung across the room from the table where he was sitting to +the bar, saying a careless "Que hay?" by way of greeting. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Pete," Norton returned quietly. "Haven't seen Vidal lately, +have you?" +</P> + +<P> +Besides Vidal's brother there were a half dozen men in the room playing +cards or merely idling in the yellow light of the kerosene lamp swung +from the ceiling, men of the saloon-keeper's breed to the last man of +them. Their eyes, the slumbrous, mystery-filled orbs of their kind, +had lifted under their long lashes to regard the sheriff with seeming +indifference. Pete shrugged. +</P> + +<P> +"Me, I ain't seen Vidal for a mont'," he answered briefly. "I see Jim +Galloway though. Galloway say," and Pete ran his towel idly back and +forth along the bar, "Vidal come to la Casa Blanca to-night. I dunno," +and again he shrugged. +</P> + +<P> +Norton allowed himself the luxury of a mystifying smile as Pete Nuñez +lifted probing eyes to his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim Galloway has been known to lie before now, like other men," was +all of the information he gave to the questioning look. "And," his +face suddenly as expressionless as Pete's own, "it wouldn't be a bad +bet to look for Vidal in Tres Robles, would it? Eh, Pete?" +</P> + +<P> +With that he went out. Quite willing that Pete and his crowd should +think what they pleased, Tres Robles lay twenty miles northeast of +Tecolote, and if Pete cared to send word to Galloway that the sheriff +had ridden on that way, well and good. +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later, with the deeper dark of the night settling thick +and sultry over the surface of the desert lands, he rode out of town +following the Tres Robles trail. He knew that Pete had come to his +door and was watching; he had the vague suspicion that it was quite +possible that Vidal was watching, too, with eyes smouldering with +hatred. That was only a guess, not even for a man to hazard a bet +upon. But the feeling that the fugitive was somewhere in Tecolote or +in the mesquite thickets near abouts had been strong enough to send him +travelling this way in the afternoon, would have been strong enough for +him to have acted upon, searching through shack after shack, were it +not that deep down in his heart he did not believe that Jim Galloway +had lied. Here, while he came in at one door Vidal might slip out at +another, safe among friends. But in the Casa Blanca Norton meant that +matters should be different. +</P> + +<P> +For an hour he rode toward the northeast. Then, turning out of the +trail and reining his horse into the utter blackness offered by the +narrow mouth or an arroyo, he sat still for a long time, listening, +staring back through the night toward Tecolote. At last, confident +that he had not been followed, he cut across the low-lying lomas +marking the western horizon and in a swinging gallop rode straight +toward San Juan. +</P> + +<P> +He had had ample time for the shaping of his simple plans long before +catching the first winking glimpse of the lights of the Casa Blanca. +He left his horse under the cottonwoods, hung his spurs over the horn +of the saddle, and went silently to the back of Struve's hotel. +Certain that no one had seen him, he half-circled the building, came to +the window which he had counted upon finding open, slipped in, and +passed down the hall to Struve's room. At his light tap Struve called, +"Come in," and turned toward him as the door opened. Norton closed it +behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"I am taking a chance that Vidal Nuñez is at Galloway's right now," he +told the hotel keeper. "I am going to get him if he is. I want you to +watch the back end of the Casa Blanca and see that he doesn't slip out +that way. A shotgun is what you want. Blow the head off any man who +doesn't stop when you tell him to. Is Tom Cutter in his room yet?" +</P> + +<P> +While Struve, wasting neither time nor words, went to see, Norton +unbuttoned his shirt, removed the thirty-eight-caliber revolver from +the holster slung under his left arm, whirled the cylinder, and kept +the gun in his left hand. In a moment Struve had returned, the deputy +at his heels. +</P> + +<P> +"What's this about Vidal being here?" Cutter asked sharply. +</P> + +<P> +Norton explained briefly and as briefly gave Tom Cutter his orders. +While Struve mounted guard at the rear, Cutter was to look out for the +front of the building. +</P> + +<P> +"Going in alone, are you, Rod?" Cutter shook his head. "If Vidal is +in there, and Galloway and the Kid and Antone are all on the job, the +chances are there's going to be something happen. Better let me come +in along with you." +</P> + +<P> +But Norton, his mouth grown set and grim and chary of words, shook his +head. Followed by Struve and Cutter he was outside in the darkness +five minutes after he had entered the hotel. +</P> + +<P> +Struve, a shotgun in his hands, took his place twenty steps from the +back door of the Casa Blanca, his restless eyes sweeping back and forth +continually, taking stock of door and window; a lamp burning in a rear +room cast its light out through a window whose shade was less than half +drawn. Tom Cutter, accustomed to acting swiftly upon his superior's +suggestions, listened wordlessly to the few whispered instructions, +nodded, and did as he was told, effacing himself in the shadows at the +corner of the building, prepared when the time came to spring out into +the street whence he could command the front and one side of the Casa +Blanca. Norton, before leaving Cutter, had drawn the heavy gun from +the holster swinging at his belt. +</P> + +<P> +"It's some time since we've had any two-handed shooting to do, Tommy," +he said as his lean fingers curved to the familiar grip of the Colt 45. +"But I guess we haven't forgotten how. Now, stick tight until you hear +things wake up." +</P> + +<P> +He was gone, turning back to the rear of the house, passing close to +Struve, going on to the northeast corner, slipping quietly about it, +moving like a shadow along the eastern wall. Here were two windows, +both looking into the long barroom, both with their shades drawn down +tight. +</P> + +<P> +At the first window Norton paused, listening. From within came a man's +voice, the Kid's, in his ugly snarl of a laugh, evil and reckless and +defiant, that and the clink of a bottle-neck against a glass. Norton, +his body pressed against the wall, stood still, waiting for other +voices, for Galloway's, for Vidal Nuñez's. But after Kid Rickard's +jarring mirth it was strangely still in the Casa Blanca; no noise of +clicking chips bespeaking a poker game, no loud-voiced babble, no sound +of a man walking across the bare floor. +</P> + +<P> +"They're waiting for me," was Norton's quick thought. "Galloway knew +I'd come." +</P> + +<P> +He passed on, came to the second window and paused again. The brief, +almost breathless silence within, which had followed the Kid's laugh, +had already been dissipated by the customary Casa Blanca sounds; a +guitar was strumming, chips clicked, a bottle was set heavily upon the +bar, a chair scraped. Norton frowned; a moment ago something happened +in there to still men's tongues. What was it? It was Galloway who +gave him his answer. +</P> + +<P> +"So you came, did you, Vidal?" There was a jeer in the heavy voice. +"Scared to come, eh? And scared worse to stay away!" Galloway's short +laugh was as unpleasant as ever Rickard's had been. +</P> + +<P> +"Si; I am here," the voice of Vidal Nuñez was answering, quick, eager, +sibilant with its unmistakable nervous excitement. "Pete tell me what +you say an' I come." He lifted his voice abruptly, breaking into a +soft Southern oath. "Like a cat, to jump through the little window an' +roll on the floor an' by God, jus' in time. There is one man at the +back with a gun an' one man in front an' another man . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Let 'em come," cried Galloway loudly, a heavy hand smiting a table top +so that a glass jumped and fell breaking to the floor. "Only," and he +sent his voice booming out warningly, "any man who chips in unasked and +starts trouble in my house can take what's coming to him." +</P> + +<P> +So then Vidal had just arrived, it had been his sudden entrance which +had invoked the silence in the barroom. Norton merely shrugged; there +had been a chance of taking Vidal alone, intercepting him. But that +chance had not been one to wait for; now it was past, negligible, not +to be regretted. At last he knew where Vidal Nuñez was and it was his +business to make an arrest and not to wait upon further chance. The +man who is not ready to go into a crowd to get his law-breaker is not +the man to stand for sheriff in the southwest country. +</P> + +<P> +"Coming, Galloway!" Norton's ringing shout came back in answer. +Suddenly the steady pulse of his blood had been stirred, the hot hope +stood high in his heart again that he and Jim Galloway were going to +look into each other's eyes with guns talking and an end of a long +devious trail in sight. For the moment he half forgot Vidal Nuñez whom +he could fancy cowering in a corner. +</P> + +<P> +Then when he knew that every man in the Casa Blanca had turned sharply +at his voice he ran from the window to the street, turned the corner of +the building and in at the wide front doorway. A short hall, a closed +door confronting him . . . then that had been flung open and on its +threshold, a gun in each hand, his hat far back on his head, his eyes +on fire, he stood looking in on a half dozen men and three glinting +steel barrels which, describing quick arcs, were whipped from the +window toward him. A gun in Galloway's hand, one in the hand of Vidal +Nuñez, the third already spitting fire as Kid Rickard's narrowed eyes +shone above it. The other men had fallen back precipitately to right +and left; Norton noted that Elmer Page was among them, a pace or two +from Rickard's side. +</P> + +<P> +The Kid, being young, had something of youth's impatience, perhaps the +only reminiscence of youth left in a calloused soul. So it was that he +had shot a second too soon. Norton, as both hands rose in front of +him, answered Kid Rickard with the smaller-caliber gun while the Colt +in his right hand was concerned impartially with Galloway and Vidal +Nuñez, standing close together. The Kid cursed, his voice rose in a +shriek of anger rather than pain, and he spun about and fell backward, +tripping over an overturned chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Shoot, Galloway!" cried Norton. "Shoot, damn you, shoot!" +</P> + +<P> +Now, as for the second time that day the two men confronted each other, +naked, hot hatred glaring out of their eyes, each man knew that he +stood balancing a crucial second, midway between death and triumph. +Jim Galloway, who never until now had come out into the open in +defiance of the law, must swallow his words under the eyes of his own +gang, or once and for all forsake the semi-security behind his ambush. +Again issues were clear cut. +</P> + +<P> +He answered the sheriff with a curse and a stream of lead. As he fired +he threw himself to the side, the old trick, his gun little higher than +his hip, and fired again. And shot for shot Norton answered him. +</P> + +<P> +Though but half the length of a room lay between them, as yet, neither +man was hurt. For no longer were they in the rich light of the +swinging coal-oil lamp; the room was gathered in pitch darkness; their +guns spat long tongues of vivid flame. For, just as Kid Ricard was +falling, while Jim Galloway's finger was crooked to the trigger, while +Antone was whipping up his gun behind the bar, there had come a shot +from the card-room door shattering the lamp. Neither Norton nor +Galloway, Rickard nor Vidal Nuñez, nor Antone nor any of the other men +in the room saw who had fired the shot. +</P> + +<P> +As the light went out Norton leaped away from the door, having little +wish to stand silhouetted against the rectangle of pale light from the +outer night; and, leaping, he poured in his fourth and fifth and sixth +shots in the quarter where he hoped to find Galloway. But always he +remembered where he had seen Elmer Page standing, and always he +remembered Antone behind the bar, and Vidal Nuñez drawn back into a +corner. His forty-five emptied, he jammed it back into its holster and +stood rigid, staring into the blackness about him, every sense on the +qui vive. Galloway had given over shooting; he might be dead or merely +waiting. Vidal had held his fire, seeming frightened, uncertain, half +stunned. Antone would be leaning forward, peering with frowning eyes, +trying to locate him. +</P> + +<P> +It swept into Norton's mind suddenly that thus, in utter and unexpected +darkness, he had the upper hand. He could shoot, the law riding upon +each flying pellet of lead, and be it Jim Galloway or Antone or Vidal, +or any other of Galloway's crowd who fell, it would be a man who richly +deserved what his fate was bringing him. They, on the other hand, +being many against one, must be careful which way they shot. +</P> + +<P> +He had come for Vidal Nuñez. The man he wanted was yonder, but a few +feet from him. Duty and desire pointed across the room to the obscure +corner. He moved a cautious foot. The floor complained under his +shifting weight and from Galloway's quarter came a spit of fire. Twin +with it came a shot from behind the bar. That was Antone talking. And +now at last came the other shot from Vidal himself. +</P> + +<P> +Rod Norton's was that type of man which finds caution less to his +liking than headlong action; furthermore, in the present crisis, +caution had seemed the acme of foolhardiness. There are times when +true wisdom lies in taking one's chance boldly, flying half-way to meet +it. Now, as three bullets sang by him, he gathered himself; then, +before the sharp reports had died in his ears, he sprang forward, +hurling himself across the room, striking with his lifted gun as he +went, missing, striking again and experiencing that grinding, crunching +sensation transmitted along the metal barrel as it struck a man fair +upon the head. The man went down heavily and Norton stood over him, +praying that it was Vidal Nuñez. +</P> + +<P> +Then it was that Julius Struve, having deserted his post at the rear, +smashed through a window with the muzzle of his shotgun, sending the +shade flipping up, springing back from the square of faint light as he +cried out sharply: +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Nort?" +</P> + +<P> +"All right!" cried Norton. "I'm against the north wall; rake the other +side and the bar with your shotgun if they don't step out. You and +Cutter together. I've got Rickard and Nuñez out of it. Drop your gun, +Galloway; lively, while you've got the chance. Antone, Struve's got a +shotgun!" +</P> + +<P> +Antone cursed, and with the snarl of his voice came the clatter of a +revolver slammed down on the bar. Galloway cursed and fired, emptying +his second gun, crazed with hatred and blind anger. Again, shot for +shot Norton answered him. And again it grew very silent in the Casa +Blanca. +</P> + +<P> +"Out through the window, one by one, with your hands up and your guns +down," shouted Struve; "or I start in. Which is it, boys?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a scramble to obey, the several men who had taken no part +leading the way. As they went out their forms were for a moment +clearly outlined, then swallowed up in the outer darkness. At Struve's +command they lined up against the wall, watched over by the muzzle of +his shotgun. Antone, crying out that he was coming, followed. Elmer +Page, sick and dizzy, was at Antone's heels. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Cutter had gathered up some dry grass, and with that and a +chance-found bit of wood started a blaze near the second window; in its +wavering, uncertain light the faces of the men stood out whitely. +</P> + +<P> +"Galloway is not here yet," he snapped. And, lifting his voice: "Come +on, Galloway." +</P> + +<P> +A crowd had gathered in the street, asking questions that went +unanswered. Other hands added fuel to Cutter's fire. The increasing +light at last penetrated the blackness filling the barroom. +</P> + +<P> +"Come out, Galloway," said Struve coldly. "I've got you covered." +</P> + +<P> +Since things were bad enough as they were, and he had no desire to make +them worse and saw no opportunity to better them, Jim Galloway, his +hand nursing a bleeding shoulder, stumbled awkwardly through the +opening. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that all of 'em, Roddy?" called Cutter. Norton didn't answer. The +deputy called again. Then, while the crowd surged about door and +window. Cutter came in, a revolver in his right hand, a torch of a +burning fagot in his left, held high. +</P> + +<P> +Vidal Nuñez was dead; not from a blow upon the head, but from a chance +bullet through the heart after he had fallen. Kid Rickard, his sullen +eyes wide with their pain, lay half under a poker table. Lying across +the body of Nuñez, as though still guarding his prisoner, was the quiet +form of Rod Norton, his face bloodlessly white save for the smear of +blood which had run from the wound hidden by the close-cropped, black +hair. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WAVERING IN THE BALANCE +</H4> + +<P> +Ignacio Chavez, waiting to ask no questions, had raced away through the +darkness to beat out a wild alarm upon his bells. Later he would learn +how many were dead and would set the Captain mourning. But already had +San Juan poured out her handful of citizens upon the street. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep those men where they are," called Tom Cutter to Struve. "Every +damned one of them; there'll be an answer wanted for to-night's work. +Get a doctor, somebody; Patten or Miss Page." +</P> + +<P> +Candles were brought; presently a lamp was found and set on the bar. +The curious began to desert Struve and his prisoners outside, and to +crowd about Cutter and the two forms lying still in the corner. Kid +Rickard, cursing now and then, had dragged himself a little away and +grew quiet, half propped up against the wall. Struve, as the fire of +fagots and grass began to burn low, commanded Galloway to lead the way +back into the barroom and herded five other men after him, the shotgun +promising a mutilated body to any man of them who sought to run for it. +</P> + +<P> +"Nuñez is dead," reported the deputy sheriff, getting up from his +knees. "Norton is alive and that's about all. A shot along the side +of the head." +</P> + +<P> +He turned slowly toward Galloway who, with steady hands and his face +set in hard, inscrutable lines, was pouring himself a generous glass of +whiskey. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like you'd got him, Jim," he said harshly, his eyes glittering. +"And it looks like I'd got you. Where I want you, by God!" +</P> + +<P> +Galloway drank his whiskey and made no reply. He was thinking, +thinking fast. His eyes were never still now, but roved from Rod +Norton's white face to the faces of Tom Cutter, Struve, and the other +men gathering in the room. +</P> + +<P> +Borne upon one of the Casa Blanca's doors Norton was carried to +Struve's hotel, the nearest place where an attempt could be made to +care for him. Word came in that Virginia Page had been summoned upon +one of her rare calls and was in Las Estrellas. Patten, however, would +be on hand in a moment. It was suggested that Kid Rickard also be +carried to the hotel. But he himself asked to be left where he was +until Patten came, and Cutter raised no objection. It was clear that +the Kid was too badly hurt to think of making an escape, were such his +desire. +</P> + +<P> +Galloway and Antone alone were put under arrest, the others merely +advised to be on hand if they were wanted later. Galloway coolly +demanded the charge against him. +</P> + +<P> +"Resisting an officer is as good as any right now," snapped Cutter. +</P> + +<P> +As quiet claimed the town again Caleb Patten became the most important +figure in San Juan. At such moments he seemed to swell visibly. He +drove the curious from the room while he examined the unconscious +sheriff and, when he had finished, merely shook his head, looked grave, +and refused to commit himself. He ordered Norton undressed and put to +bed, went down the street to see Kid Rickard, probed the wound in the +upper chest, ordered him to bed, and returned to Norton at the hotel. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" asked John Engle who had arrived, talked with Struve, and now +looked anxiously to Patten. Patten shrugged. +</P> + +<P> +"Heavy-caliber bullet ripped along the side of his head," he said +thoughtfully. "I am going to make a second examination now. Doubtless +just the shock stunned him. That or striking his head as he pitched +forward; there's another slight wound, a scalp wound, showing where his +head hit as he fell." +</P> + +<P> +A moment later Tom Cutter came in hastily, stood for a little staring +with frowning, troubled eyes at the quiet form on the bed, and went +away, tugging at his lip, his frown deepening. He had his hands full +to-night, had Tom Cutter, and no one but himself knew how he wanted Rod +Norton to tell him just what to do, to show him the way to make no +mistake. Leaving the room he had gone no farther than the front door +when he swung about and returned. +</P> + +<P> +"May I have a word with you, Mr. Engle?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Engle nodded and followed him silently. Out in the street, in the full +light of Struve's porch-lamp, Cutter stopped, glancing about him to +make sure that he was not overheard. +</P> + +<P> +"You know all about the shooting of Brocky Lane up in the mountains," +he said hurriedly. "Rod told me you did. Well, I just gathered in +Moraga!" +</P> + +<P> +"Moraga?" muttered Engle. "He has seen Galloway, then? And told him +all about our knowing the rifles were cached in the old caves?" +</P> + +<P> +"I found him at the Casa Blanca," said Cutter, the worried look in his +eyes. "Somebody shot out the light when the mix-up started, you know. +I've a notion it was Moraga. He was in one of the little +card-rooms . . . putting on his shoes! I got his gun; he'd fired just +one shot. The muzzle of it was bloody." +</P> + +<P> +"If he has told Galloway. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't believe he has. Struve says that just as Norton started +things he saw a man run in from the cottonwoods and duck into the +house. It was Struve's job to see that nobody got out and he let him +go by. If it wasn't Moraga, who was it? And, when I grabbed him just +now, the first thing he said was: 'I want to talk with Galloway.'" +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't let him?" demanded Engle quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"No. A couple of the boys have walked him off down the road. I've got +Galloway and Antone in the jail. Now, what I want is some advice. +What am I going to do with this job until Rod Norton comes to and takes +a hand . . . if he ever does," he muttered heavily. +</P> + +<P> +"It's clear that you've got to keep Moraga away from Galloway; if they +haven't already had a chance to talk it's a pure Godsend and it's up to +you that they don't get that chance." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes,", admitted Cutter slowly. "But I'm the first man to admit that +I'm all muggled up. What did Moraga have his shoes off for? If he +shot out the light, why did he do it? And how'd he get blood on his +gun?" +</P> + +<P> +Engle shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"All questions for the district attorney later, Tom," he answered. +"But, if you want any advice from me, here it is: Get Moraga out of the +way on the jump. He is supposed to be in jail in the next county; he +must have broken out. Send a man to Las Palmas to telephone to Sheriff +Roberts; send Moraga along with him. And, whatever you do, keep Jim +Galloway where you've got him. I think we've got our case against him +to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I've been thinking. I guess that's what Norton would do, +eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure of it," said Engle promptly. "Find out, if you can, whether +Moraga got a chance to talk with Galloway. I'm going back to the house +to let my wife and Florrie know what has happened." +</P> + +<P> +Engle hurried to his home, told what had happened, and, leaving his +wife anxious, his daughter weeping hysterically, returned to the hotel. +</P> + +<P> +"I've done all that any one could do for him," said Patten, as though +defending himself because of Norton's continued unconsciousness. "He's +in pretty bad shape, Engle. Oh, I guess I can pull him through, but at +that it's going to be a close squeak. Lucky I was right on hand, +though." And he grew technical, spoke of blood pressures taken, of +traumatism superinducing prolonged coma, of this and that which made no +impression on the banker. +</P> + +<P> +"You mentioned two wounds," Engle reminded him. "The one made by the +bullet and another. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"By his head striking as he fell? Yes; that would have completed the +work of the first shock in knocking him unconscious. But it is a +negligible affair now; he wouldn't know anything about it in the +morning if it weren't for the lump that'll be there. And since the +other injury, the long gouging cut made by the bullet, has just plowed +along the outer surface of the skull, I think that I can promise you +he'll be all right pretty soon now. We ought to have some ice, but +I've made cold compresses do." +</P> + +<P> +Engle went again to look in upon Norton. The sheriff lay as before, on +his back, his limbs lax, his face deathly white, a bandage about his +head. A lump came into the banker's throat and he turned away. For he +remembered that just so had Billy Norton lain, that Billy Norton had +never regained consciousness . . . and that the blow then as now had +been struck by Galloway or Galloway's man. The sudden fear was upon +him that Rod Norton was even more badly hurt than Caleb Patten +admitted. The fear did not lessen as the night drew on and finally +brightened into another day. When the sun flared up out of the +flatlands lying beyond Tecolote the wounded man at Struve's hotel lay +as he had done all night giving no sign to tell whether he was life's +or death's. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CONCEALMENT +</H4> + +<P> +The eyes of San Juan were upon Caleb Patten throughout the night and +during the long hours of the following day. Under them his inflated +ego grew further distended while, waxing more technical than ever, he +explained how a man in Rod Norton's condition could live and yet lie +like a man dead. So prolific and involved were his medical phrases +that men like John Engle and Struve began to ask themselves if Patten +understood his case. When, after twelve hours, the wounded man awoke +to a troubled consciousness Patten's relief was scarcely less visible +than that of Norton's friends. Patten felt his prestige taking unto +itself new wings and immediately grew more wisely verbose than ever. +It was a rare privilege to have the most talked of and generally liked +man of the community under his hands; it was wine to Patten's soul to +have that man show signs of recovering under his skill. +</P> + +<P> +So he drove well-wishers from the room, drew the shades, commanded +quiet and came and went eternally, doing nothing whatever and appearing +to be fighting, sleeves rolled up, for a threatened life. Long before +noon there were those who had laughed at Patten before, but who now +accused themselves of having failed to do him justice. +</P> + +<P> +Virginia Page had remained all night with her patient in Las Estrellas. +The first rumor she had of the fight in the Casa Blanca was borne to +her ears by Ignacio's bell as she rode back toward San Juan. Only a +few hours ago she had talked with Galloway, watching him banter with +Florrie Engle; but a little before that, earlier in the same day, she +had seen Rod Norton. Before she galloped up to the old Mission garden +her heart was beating excitedly, and she was asking herself, a little +fearfully: "Is it Galloway or is it Rod Norton?" For she was so sure +that in the end Ignacio would ring the Captain for one of them. +</P> + +<P> +Ignacio told her the story. Norton was lying in the hotel, +unconscious, Patten working over him; Jim Galloway and Antone were in +the little jail and soon would be taken to the county-seat; Kid Rickard +was shot through the lung but would live, Patten said; Vidal Nuñez, +over whom the whole thing had started, was dead. +</P> + +<P> +"If <I>mi amigo</I> Roderico die," mumbled Ignacio, "it will be two +Nortones, two sheriffs, that die because of Galloway. If Roderico +live, then the next time he will kill Galloway. You will see, +<I>señorita</I>." +</P> + +<P> +She made no answer as she rode slowly down the street. She was +thinking how, only a few weeks ago, she had heard the bells ring for +the first time, how then Galloway and Norton had been but meaningless +names to her, how she had been little moved by either the sound of +pistol-shots or the Captain's heavy tolling. Now things were +different. Just in what were they "different" and to what degree? She +could not answer her own question before she was at the hotel. +</P> + +<P> +Struve came immediately, noted her pale face, attributed it to a +sleepless night, and made her take a cup of coffee. He rounded out the +information she already had from Ignacio. Norton was still unconscious +though, only a few minutes ago, Patten had reported signs of +improvement. Mrs. Engle had been with him, was still there acting +nurse; he was being given every attention possible. +</P> + +<P> +Patten himself entered, drawn by the aroma of coffee. He nodded +carelessly to the girl and remarked to Struve, with a flash of triumph +in his eyes, that at last he had "brought him around." Norton was very +weak, sick, dizzy, perhaps not yet out of danger. But Patten had won +in the initial skirmish with old man Death. +</P> + +<P> +At least, so Struve was given to feel. Virginia, with a quick look at +Patten's complacent face, was moved with sudden, almost insistent +longing, that Rod Norton's life might be given into her own hands +rather than remain in the pudgy hands of a man she at once disliked as +an individual and failed to admire as a physician. For she had needed +no long residence in San Juan to form her own estimate of the man's +ability . . . or lack of ability. But plainly this was Patten's case, +not hers; she got up from the table and went into her own room. +</P> + +<P> +Elmer she found lying fully dressed upon a couch in her office, +sleeping heavily. She stood over him a moment, her eyes tender; he was +still, would always be, her baby brother. Then she went to her own +room and threw herself down upon her bed, worn out, anxious, vaguely +fearful for the future. +</P> + +<P> +It was a long day for San Juan. Mrs. Engle came now and then to +Virginia's room to wipe her eyes and force a hopeful smile; Florrie ran +in like a young tempest to weep copiously and hyperbolically invest +poor dear Roddy with all imaginable heroic attributes; Engle and Struve +and Tom Cutter were grave-eyed and distressed. Every hour Ignacio came +to the hotel to ask quietly for news. +</P> + +<P> +In his own way, it appeared that Elmer Page was as deeply concerned as +any one. It was long before he told Virginia that he had been in the +Casa Blanca when the shooting occurred; haltingly he gave her his +version of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think, Elmer," suggested the girl somewhat wearily, "that +you have gotten hold of the wrong end of things here? I mean in +choosing your friends? Certainly after this you will have nothing to +do with men like Galloway and Rickard?" +</P> + +<P> +Ten minutes' talk with Elmer gave her a deeper understanding of his +attitude than she had been able to guess until now. Spontaneously he +had leaned toward Kid Rickard because the Kid was a "killer" and Elmer +was a boy; in other words, because young Page's imagination made of +Rickard a truly picturesque figure. Since Rickard admired Jim Galloway +as he had never known how to admire aught else that breathed and +walked, Elmer's eyes had from the first rested approvingly upon the +massive figure of Casa Blanca's owner. That both Galloway and Rickard +were fighting against persecution, were merely individuals wronged by +the law and too fearlessly independent to submit to the high hand of +sheriff or judge, was easily implanted in the boy's mind. Yesterday +his fancies were ready to make heroes of Galloway and his crowd, to +make of Norton a meddler hiding behind the bulwark of his office, and +hounding those who were too manly to step aside for him. But now Elmer +was all at sea, no land in sight. +</P> + +<P> +"A gun in each hand, Sis," he cried warmly, his cheeks flushed, as the +almost constantly recurring picture formed again in his memory. "And +if you could have only seen his eyes! Talk about hiding behind +anything . . . no sir! And him only one against Galloway and the Kid +and Nuñez and a whole room full." +</P> + +<P> +Here was Elmer's trouble drawn to the surface; he was touched with +leaping admiration for the man who lay now in the darkened room, he +couldn't admire both Norton, the sheriff, and Galloway and Rickard, the +sheriff's sworn enemies! Which way should Elmer Page turn? Virginia +very wisely held her tongue. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Cutter, having conferred with Engle and Struve, left San Juan in +the early afternoon, convoying his prisoners to the greater security of +the county jail. It seemed the wisest step, the one which Norton would +have taken. Besides, Galloway insisted upon it and upon being allowed +to send a message to his lawyer. +</P> + +<P> +"I am willing to stand trial," said Galloway indifferently. "I'll +arrange for bail to-morrow and be back to-morrow night." +</P> + +<P> +The question which Tom Cutter, Struve, and Engle all asked of +themselves and of each other, "Did Moraga get his chance to talk with +Galloway?" went unanswered. There was nothing to do but wait upon the +future to know that, unless Moraga, now on his way back to Sheriff +Roberts, could be made to talk. And Moraga was not given to garrulity. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime Patten brought hourly reports of Norton. He was still in +danger, to be sure; but he was doing as well as could be expected. No +one must go into the room except Mrs. Engle as nurse. Norton was fully +conscious, but forbidden to talk; he recognized those about him, his +eyes were clear, his temperature satisfactory, his strength no longer +waning. He had partaken of a bit of nourishment and to-morrow, if +there were no unlooked-for complications, would be able to speak with +John Engle for whom he had asked. +</P> + +<P> +During the days which followed, days in which Rod Norton lay quiet in a +darkened room, Virginia Page was conscious of having awakened some form +of interest in Caleb Patten. His eyes followed her when she came and +went, and, when she surprised them, were withdrawn swiftly, but not +before she had seen in them a speculative thoughtfulness. While she +noted this she gave it little thought, so occupied was her mind with +other matters. She had postponed, as long as she could, a talk with +Julius Struve, her spirit galled that she must in the end go to him +"like a beggar," as she expressed it to herself. But one day, her head +erect, she followed the hotel keeper into his office. In the hallway +she encountered Patten. +</P> + +<P> +"May I have a word with you?" Patten asked. +</P> + +<P> +But Virginia had steeled herself to the interview with Struve and would +no longer set it aside, even for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"If you care to wait on the veranda," she told Patten, "I'll be out in +a minute. I want to see Mr. Struve now." +</P> + +<P> +Patten stood aside and watched her pass, the shrewdly questioning look +in his eyes. When she disappeared in the office he remained where she +had left him, listening. When she began to speak with Struve, her +voice rapid and hinting at nervousness, he came a quiet step nearer the +door she had closed after her. +</P> + +<P> +"I am ashamed of myself, Mr. Struve," said Virginia, coming straight to +the point. "I owe you already for a month's board and room rent for +myself and Elmer. I . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"That's perfectly all right, Miss Virginia," said Struve hurriedly. "I +know the sort of job you've got on your hands making collections. If +you can wait I am willing to do so. Glad to do so, in fact." +</P> + +<P> +Patten, fingering his little mustache, then letting his thick fingers +drop to the diamond in his tie, smiled with satisfaction. Smiling, he +tiptoed down the hall and went out upon the veranda where he smoked his +cigar serenely. When Virginia came out to him her face was flaming. +Had he not beard Struve's words, he would have thought that his answer +to her apology had been an angry demand for immediate payment. Patten +failed to understand how the girl's fine, independent nature writhed in +a situation all but intolerable. That she appreciated gratefully +Struve's quick kindness did not minimize her own mortification. +</P> + +<P> +Patten watched her seat herself; then he launched himself into his +subject. Virginia listened at first with faint interest, then with +quickened wonder. For the life of her she could not tell if the little +man were seeking to flatter or insult her. +</P> + +<P> +"I have leased an old, deserted ranch-house just on the edge of town," +he told her. "Got it for a song, too. Some first-rate land goes with +it; I'll probably buy the whole thing before long. There's plenty of +good water. Now, what am I up to, eh? Just the same thing all the +time, if you want to know. And that means making money." + +Leaning forward he knocked the ash from his cigar and brought himself +confidentially nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"An open-air sanatorium," he announced triumphantly. "For tuberculosis +patients. There are lots of them," and he waved his arm in a wide half +circle, "coming out of the East on the run, scared to death, and with +more or less money in their pockets. It's a big proposition, a sure +money-getter." +</P> + +<P> +He grew more animated than she had ever dreamed he could be, as he +sketched his plans. While she was wondering why he had come to her +with them he gave his explanation, made her his double offer. Then it +was that she was puzzled to know whether he meant to compliment her or +merely to insult her. +</P> + +<P> +In a word he assured her from the heights of superiority to which he +had ascended these last few days of importance, the practice of +medicine was no woman's work at best; certainly not in a land like +this, where a man's endurance, breadth or mind, and keener innate +ability to cope with big situations were indicated. No work for a slip +of a girl like Virginia Page. Of that Caleb Patten assured her +unhesitatingly. But there was work for such as her and in a place +which he would create for her. Fairly bewildered at his audacity she +found herself listening to his suggestion that she marry Caleb Patten +and become a sort of head nurse in an institution which he would found! +</P> + +<P> +In spite of her she was moved to sudden, impulsive laughter. She had +not meant to laugh at the man who might be sincere, who, it was +possible, was merely a fool. But laugh she did, so that her mirth +reached Rod Norton where he lay upon his bed and made him stir +restlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean by that?" demanded Patten, a flush in his cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean," stammered Virginia at last, "that I thank you very much, Dr. +Patten, but that I can avail myself of neither the opportunity of being +your wife or your head nurse. As for my inability to do for myself +what I have set out to accomplish . . . well, I am not afraid yet. +There is work to be done here and I don't quite agree with you that +it's all man's work. There's always a little left over for a woman, +you know," she added brightly. +</P> + +<P> +But Patten was obviously angered. He flung to his feet and glared down +at her. Perhaps it had not entered his thought that she could make +other than the answer he wanted; it had been very clear to him that he +was offering to become responsible for one who was embarked upon a +voyage already destined to failure, that he would support her, merely +doing as many other men of his ilk did and make her work for all that +she got. +</P> + +<P> +"It's silly nonsense, your thinking you can make a living here," he +said irritably. "I'm already established, I'm a man, I can have all of +the cases I want, you'll get only a few breeds who haven't a dollar to +the dozen of them. If you are already broke and can't even pay for +your room and board . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Who told you that?" she asked quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"I can hear, can't I?" he demanded coarsely. "Didn't you go just now +to beg Struve to hold you over? And . . ." +</P> + +<P> +She slipped out of her chair and stood a moment staring coldly and +contemptuously at him. Then she was gone, leaving Patten watching her +departure incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"A man who hasn't any more sense than Caleb Patten," she cried within +herself, "has no business with a physician's license. It's a sheer +wonder he didn't kill Roderick Norton!" +</P> + +<P> +Already she had forgotten her words with Struve, or rather the matter +for the present was shoved aside in her mind by another. She had come +here to make good, she had her fight before her, and she was going to +make good. She had to . . . for herself, for her own pride, for +Elmer's sake. She went straight to Elmer and made him sit down and +listen while she sketched actual conditions briefly and emphatically. +</P> + +<P> +He was old enough to do something for himself in the world, continued +idleness did him no earthly good and might do him no end of harm +morally, mentally, and physically. He had been her baby brother long +enough; it was time that he became a man. She had supported him until +now, asking nothing of him in return save that he kept out of mischief +a certain percentage of the time. Now he was going to work and help +out. He could go to John Engle and get something to do upon one of +Engle's ranches. +</P> + +<P> +Somewhat to her surprise Elmer responded eagerly. He had been thinking +the matter over and it appealed to him. What he did not tell her was +that he had seen some of the vaqueros riding in from one of the +outlying ranges, lean, brown, quick-eyed men who bestrode high-headed +mounts and who wore spurs, wide hats, shaggy chaps, and who, perhaps, +carried revolvers hidden away in their hip pockets, men who drank +freely, spent their money as freely at dice and cards, and who, all in +all, were a picturesque crowd. Elmer took up his hat and went down to +the bank and had a talk with John Engle. Virginia's eyes followed him +hopefully. +</P> + +<P> +That day Norton was allowed for the first time to receive callers. He +had his talk with Engle, limited to five minutes by Patten who hung +about curiously until Norton said pointedly that he wanted to speak +privately with the banker. Later Florrie came with her mother, +bringing an immense armful of roses culled by her own hands, excited, +earnest, entering the shaded room like a frightened child, speaking +only in hushed whispers. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you come in too for a moment, Virginia?" asked Mrs. Engle. +"Roddy will be glad to see you; he has asked about you." +</P> + +<P> +But Virginia made an excuse; it was Patten's case and after what had +occurred between herself and Patten she had no intention of so much as +seeming to overstep the professional lines. The following day, +however, she did go to see him. Patten himself, stiff and boorish, +asked her to. His patient had asked for her several times, knowing +that she was in the building and marking how she made an exception and +refused to look in on him while all of his other friends were doing so, +some of them coming many miles. Patten told her that Norton was not +well by any means yet and that he did not intend to have him worried up +over an imagined slight. So Virginia did as she was bid. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Engle was in the room, bending over the bed with a dampened towel +to lay upon Norton's forehead; he showed a sign of fever and his head +ached constantly. He looked about quickly as the girl came in, his +hand stirring a little, offering itself. She took it by way of +greeting and sat down in the chair drawn up at his side. +</P> + +<P> +"It's good of you to come!" he said quickly, his eyes brightening. "I +was beginning to wonder if I had offended you in some way? You see, +everybody has run in but you. A man gets spoiled when he's laid up +like this, doesn't he? Especially when it's the first time he can +remember when he has stuck in bed for upward of twenty-four hours +running." +</P> + +<P> +Despite her familiarity with the swift ravages of illness she received +a positive shock as she looked at him; she had visualized him during +these latter days as she had last seen him, brown, vitally robust, the +embodiment of lean, clean strength. Now sunless inaction had set its +mark in his skin which had already grown sallow; his eyes burned into +her own, his hand fell weakly to the coverlet as she removed her own, +his fingers plucking nervously. And yet she summoned a cheerful smile +to answer his. +</P> + +<P> +"I was satisfied just in hearing that you were doing well," she said. +"And I know that the fewer people a sick man sees the better for him." +</P> + +<P> +He moved his head restlessly back and forth on his pillow. +</P> + +<P> +"Not for a man like me," he told her. "I'm not used to this sort of +business. Just lying here with my eyes shut or staring at the ceiling, +which is worse, drives a man mad. I told Patten to-day that if he +didn't let me see folks I'd get up and go out if I had to crawl." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia laughed, determined to be cheerful. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid that you make a rather troublesome patient, don't you?" +she asked lightly. +</P> + +<P> +Norton made no answer but lay motionless save for the constant plucking +at his coverlet, his eyes moodily fixed upon the wall. Mrs. Engle, +finding the water-pitcher empty and saying that she would be back in +two seconds, went out to fill it. Promptly Norton's eyes returned to +Virginia's face, resting there steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been dizzy and sick and half out of my head a whole lot," he said +abruptly. "I've been thinking of you most of the time, dreaming about +you, climbing cliffs with you. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +He broke off suddenly, but did not remove his eyes from hers. It was +she who turned away, pretending to find it necessary to adjust the +window-curtain. It was impossible to sit quietly while he looked at +her that way, his eyes all without warning filling with a look for any +girl to read a look of glowing admiration, almost a look of pure +love-making. Norton sighed and again his head moved restlessly on his +pillow. +</P> + +<P> +"I've had time to think here of late," he said after a little. "More +time to think than I've ever had before in my life. About everything; +myself and Jim Galloway and you. . . . I have decided to send word to +the district attorney to let Galloway go," he added, again watching +her. "I am not going to appear against him and there's no case if I +don't." +</P> + +<P> +"But . . ." she began, wondering. +</P> + +<P> +"There are no buts about it. Suppose I can get him convicted, which I +doubt; he'd get a light sentence, would appeal, at most would be out of +the way a couple of years or so. And then it would all be to do over +again. No; I want him out in the open, where he can go as far as he +wants to go. And then . . ." +</P> + +<P> +She saw how his body stiffened as he braced himself with his feet +against the foot-board. +</P> + +<P> +"We won't talk shop," she said gently. "It isn't good for you. Don't +think about such things any more than you have to." +</P> + +<P> +"I've got to think about something," he said impatiently. "Can I think +about you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" she answered as lightly as she had spoken before. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe that isn't good for me either," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense. It's always good for us to think about our friends." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes wandered from hers, rested a moment upon the little table near +his bedhead and came back to her, narrowing a little. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you set a chair against that window-shade?" he asked. "The light +at the side hurts my eyes." +</P> + +<P> +It was a natural request and she turned naturally to do what he asked. +But, even with her back turned, she knew that he had reached out +swiftly for something that lay on the table, that he had thrust it out +of sight under his pillow. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Engle returned and Virginia, staying another minute, said good-by. +As she went out she glanced down at the table. In her room she asked +herself what it was that he had snatched and hidden. It seemed a +strange thing to do and the question perplexed her; while she attached +no importance to it, it was there like a pebble in one's shoe, refusing +to be ignored. +</P> + +<P> +That night, just as she was going to sleep, she knew. Out of a half +doze she had visualized the table with its couple of bottles, a +withering rose, a scrap of note-paper, a fountain pen. The pen . . . +it was Patten's . . . had evidently leaked and had been wiped +carelessly upon the sheet of paper, left lying with the paper half +wrapped around it. She had noted carelessly a few scrawled words in +Patten's slovenly hand. And she knew that it had been removed while +she turned her back, removed by a hand which, in its haste, had slipped +the pen with it under the pillow. +</P> + +<P> +She went to sleep incensed with herself that she gave the matter +another thought. But she kept asking herself what it was that Patten +had written that Roderick Norton did not want her to read. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A FREE MAN +</H4> + +<P> +"I am a free man, if you please." The sheriff stood in the hotel +doorway, looking down upon her as she sat in her favorite veranda +chair. "I have given my keeper his fee and sent him away. May I watch +you while you read?" +</P> + +<P> +Virginia closed her book upon her knee and gave him a smile by way of +welcome. He looked unusually tall as he stood in the broad, low +entrance; his ten days of sickness and inactivity had made him gaunt +and haggard. +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't be reading in this light, anyway," she said. "I hadn't +noticed that the sun was down. It is good to be what you call free +again, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed softly, put back his head, filled his lungs. Then he came +on to her and stood leaning against the wall, his hat cocked to one +side to hide the bandage. +</P> + +<P> +"The world is good," he announced with gay positiveness. "Especially +when you've been away from it for a spell and weren't quite sure what +was next. And especially, too, when you've had time to think. Did you +ever take off a week and just do nothing but think?" +</P> + +<P> +"One doesn't have time for that sort of thing as a rule," she admitted. +"There's a chair standing empty if you care to let me in on your +deductions." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to sit down or lie down until I'm ready to drop," he +grinned down at her. "A bed makes me sick at my stomach and a chair is +pretty nearly as bad. I'd like almighty well to get a horse between my +knees . . . and <I>ride</I>! Suppose I'd fall to pieces if I tried it +right now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure of it. And not so sure that you haven't discharged your keeper +prematurely. You mustn't think of such things." +</P> + +<P> +"There you go. Forbidding me to think again! . . . Believe I will sit +down; would you believe that a full-grown man like me could get as weak +as a cat this quick?" +</P> + +<P> +He took the chair just beyond her, tilted it back against the wall, his +booted heels caught under its elevated legs, and glanced away from her +to the colorful sky above San Juan's scattered houses in the west. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," he continued his train of thought, "I'd like a horse +between my knees; I'd like to ride out yonder into the sunset, to meet +the night as it comes down; I'd like the feeling of nothing but the +stars over me instead of the smothery roof of a house. Doesn't it +appeal to you, too?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"You on Persis, with me on my big roan, riding not as we rode that +other night, but just for the fun of it. I'd like to ride like the +devil. . . . You don't mind my saying what I mean, do you? . . . to go +scooting across the sage-brush letting out a yell at every jump, boring +holes in the night with my gun, making all of the racket and dust that +one man can make. Ever feel that way? just like getting outside and +making a noise? Let me talk! I'm the one who has been shut up for so +long my tongue has started to grow fast to the roof of my mouth. At +first I could do nothing but lie flat on my back in a sort of fog, +seeing nothing clearly, thinking not at all. Then came the hours in +which I could do nothing but think, under orders to keep still. Think? +Why, I thought about everything that ever happened, most things that +might happen, and a whole lot that never will. Now comes the third +stage; I can talk better than I can walk. . . . Do you mind listening +while a man raves?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not in the least." She found his mood contagious and, smiling in that +quick, bright way natural to her, showed for a moment the twin dimples +of which together with a host of other things he had had ample time to +think during his bedroom imprisonment. "Please rave on." +</P> + +<P> +"In due course," he mused, "the fourth stage will arrive and I can be +doing something besides talk, can't I? Now let me tell you about the +King's Palace." +</P> + +<P> +"You begin well." +</P> + +<P> +"The King's Palace is where we are going on our first outing. That was +decided three days ago at four minutes after 6 A.M. You and I and, if +you like, Florrie and your kid brother. We'll ride out there in the +very early morning, in the saddle before the stars are gone. We'll +lunch and loaf there all day. For lunch we will have bacon and coffee, +cooked over a fire in one of the Palace anterooms. We will have some +trout, fried in the bacon-grease, trout whipped out of the likeliest +mountain-stream you ever saw or heard about. We will have cheese, +perhaps, and maybe a box of candy for dessert. We'll ride home in the +dusk and the dark." +</P> + +<P> +"The King's Palace?" she asked curiously. "I never heard of such a +place. Are you making it all up?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit of it. It's all that's left of some of the old ruins of the +same folk who lived in the caves up on the cliffs. . . . Do you know +why I am bound to get Jim Galloway's tag soon or late?" +</P> + +<P> +Her mind with his had touched upon the hidden rifles, and the abrupt +digression was no digression to her, reached by the span of suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +"Because he is in the wrong and you are in the right; or, in other +words, because he opposes the law and you represent it." +</P> + +<P> +"Because he plays the game wrong! Some more results of a long week of +nothing to do but think things out. There is just one way for a +law-breaker to operate if he means to get away with it." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that a man can get away with it? Surely not for good?" +</P> + +<P> +But he nodded thoughtfully at the slowly fading strata of shaded colors +splashed across the sky. +</P> + +<P> +"A man can get away with it for keeps . . . if he plays the game right. +Jim Galloway isn't that man and so I'll get him. He has ignored the +first necessary principle, which is the lone hand." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean he takes men into his confidence?" +</P> + +<P> +"And he goes on and ignores the second necessary principle; a man must +stop short of murder. If he turns gangman and killer, he ties his own +rope around his neck. If a man like Galloway, a man with brains, +power, without fear, without scruple, should decide to loot this corner +of the world or any other corner, and set about it right, playing the +lone hand invariably, he would be a man I couldn't bring in in a +thousand years. But Galloway has slipped up; he has too many Moragas +and Antones and Vidals at his heels; he has been the cause, directly or +indirectly, of too many killings. . . . A theft will be forgotten in +time, the hue and cry die down; spilled blood cries to heaven after ten +years." +</P> + +<P> +"Galloway is back in San Juan." +</P> + +<P> +"I know. I wanted him back. I wanted him free and unhampered. He'll +be bolder than ever now, won't he, if this case is dropped? He's come +out a little into the open already, he'll be tempted out a little +farther. There'll be more of his work soon, a robbery here or there, +and he will grow so sure of himself that he'll get careless. Then I'll +get him." +</P> + +<P> +"But have you the right?" she asked quickly. "Knowing him a +lawbreaker, have you the right to allow him to go farther and farther, +just because in the end you hope to get him?" +</P> + +<P> +He met her look with a smile which puzzled her. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll answer your question when you define right and wrong for me," he +said quietly. +</P> + +<P> +They grew silent together, watching the gradual sinking of day into +twilight and early dusk. Norton, for all his vaunted ravings, had +grown thoughtful; Virginia turning her eyes toward him while his were +staring out beyond the house-tops saw in them a look of deep, frowning +speculation. And through this look, like a little fire gleaming +through a fog, was another look whose meaning baffled her. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of Patten?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Startled by his abruptness, characteristic of him though it was to-day, +she asked in puzzled fashion: +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not as a man," he said, withdrawing his gaze from the sunset and +bestowing it gravely upon her. "As a physician. Do you size him up as +capable or as something of a quack?" +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated. But finally she made the only reply possible. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you don't expect any answer, knowing that you should not +come to one member of a profession for an estimate of another. And, +besides, you realize that I know nothing whatever of Dr. Patten, either +as a man or as a physician." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Hedging, pure, unadulterated hedging! I didn't look for that from +you. Shall I tell you what we both think of him? He is a farce and a +fake, and I rather think that I am going to run him out of the State +pretty soon. . . . What would you say of a doctor who couldn't tell +the difference between a wound made by a man bumping his head when he +fell and by a smashing blow with a gun-barrel? Patten doesn't guess +yet that it was the blow Moraga gave me the other night which came so +close to ringing down the sable curtains for me." +</P> + +<P> +"Moraga?" she asked with quickened interest. "Not the same Moraga who +shot Brocky Lane?" +</P> + +<P> +"The same little old Moraga," he assured her lightly. "You needn't +mention it abroad, of course; I don't think Galloway got a chance to +talk with him and we are not sure yet that he even knows Moraga was +here. But I know somebody put me out in the dark by hammering me over +the head; and Tom Cutter found blood on Moraga's revolver. But we +wander far afield. Coming back to Patten, do we agree that he is +something of a dub?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather not discuss him." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly. And I, being in the talkative way, am going to tell you that +he has made blunders before now; that at least one man died under his +nice little fat hands who shouldn't have died outside of jail; that +long ago I had my suspicions and began instituting inquiries; that now +I am fully prepared to learn that Caleb Patten has no more right to an +M.D. after his name than I have." +</P> + +<P> +"You must be mistaken. I hope you are. Men used to do that sort of +thing, but under existing laws . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Under existing laws men do a good many things in and about San Juan +which they shouldn't do. I have found out that there was a Caleb +Patten who was a young doctor; that there was a Charles Patten, his +brother, who was a young scamp; that they both lived in Baltimore a few +years ago; that from Baltimore they both went hastily no man knows +where. This gentleman whom we have with us might be either one of +them. . . . Here comes Ignacio. <I>Que hay</I>, Ignacio!" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Que hay</I>, Roderico?" responded Ignacio, coming to lean languidly +against the veranda post. He removed his hat elaborately, his liquid +eyes doing justice to Virginia's dainty charm. "<I>Buenos tardes, +señorita</I>," he greeted her. +</P> + +<P> +"What is new, Ignacio?" queried Norton, "No bells for you to ring for +the last ten days! You grow fat in idleness, <I>amigo mio</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Ignacio sighed and rolled his cigarette. +</P> + +<P> +"What is new, you ask? No? <I>Bueno</I>, this is new!" He lifted his +eyes suddenly and they were sparkling as with suppressed excitement. +"The Devil himself has made a visit to San Juan. <I>Si, señor; si, +señorita</I>. It is so." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia smiled; Norton gravely asked the explanation. Why should his +satanic majesty come to San Juan? +</P> + +<P> +"Why? <I>Quien sabe</I>?" Ignacio shrugged all responsibility from his +lazy shoulders. "But he came and more bad will come from his visit, +more and more of evil things. One knows. <I>Seguro que si</I>; one knows. +But I will tell you and the señorita; no one else knows of it. It was +while in the Casa Blanca men are shooting, while Roderico Nortone will +make his arrest of poor Vidal who is dead now." He crossed himself and +drew a thoughtful puff from his cigarette. "I run fast to ring the +bells. I come into the garden and it is dark. I come under the bells. +And while my hand cannot find the rope . . . <I>Si, señor y +señorita</I>! . . . before I touch the rope the Captain begins to ring! +Just a little; not long; low and quiet and . . . angry! And then he +stop and I shiver. It is hard not to run out of the garden. But I +cross myself and find the ropes and make all the bells dance. But I +know; it was the Devil who was before me." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE KING'S PALACE +</H4> + +<P> +Not only was Galloway back in San Juan but, as Norton had predicted of +him, he appeared to have every assurance that he stood in no unusual +danger. There had been a fight in a dark room and one man had been +killed, certain others wounded. The dead man was Galloway's friend, +hence it was not to be thought that Galloway had killed him. Kid +Rickard was another friend. As for the wound Rod Norton had received, +who could swear that this man or that had given it to him? +</P> + +<P> +"The chances are," Galloway had already said in many quarters, "that +Tom Cutter, getting excited, popped over his own sheriff." +</P> + +<P> +True, it was quite obvious that a charge lay at Galloway's door, that +of harboring a fugitive from justice and of resisting an officer. But +with Galloway's money and influence, with the shrewdest technical +lawyer in the State retained, with ample perjured testimony to be had +as desired, the law-breaker saw no reason for present uneasiness. +Perhaps more than anything else he regretted the death of Vidal Nuñez +and the wounding of Kid Rickard. For these matters vitally touched Jim +Galloway and his swollen prestige among his henchmen; he had thrown the +cloak of his protection about Vidal, had summoned him, promised him all +safety . . . and Vidal was dead. He knew that men spoke of this over +and over and hushed when he came upon them; that Vidal's brother, Pete, +grumbled and muttered that Galloway was losing his grip, that soon or +late he would fall, that falling he would drag others down with him. +More than ever before the whole county watched for the final duello +between Galloway and Norton. In half a dozen small towns and +mining-camps men laid bets upon the result. +</P> + +<P> +For the first time, also, there was much barbed comment and criticism +of the sheriff. He had gotten this man and that, it was true. And +yet, after all this time, he seemed to be no nearer than at the +beginning to getting the man who counted. There were those who +recalled the killing of Bisbee of Las Palmas, and reminded others that +there had been no attempt at prosecution. Now there had come forth +from the Casa Blanca fresh defiance and lawlessness and still Jim +Galloway came and went as he pleased. Those who criticised said that +Norton was losing his nerve, or else that he was merely incompetent +when measured by the yardstick of swift, incisive action wedded to +capability. +</P> + +<P> +"If he can't get Jim Galloway, let him step out of the way and give the +chance to a man who can," was said many times and in many ways. Even +John Engle, Julius Struve, Tom Cutter, and Brocky Lane came to Norton +at one time or another, telling him what they had heard, urging him to +give some heed to popular clamor, and to begin legal action. +</P> + +<P> +"Put the skids under him, Roddy," pleaded Brocky Lane. "We can't slide +him far the first trip, maybe. But a year or so in jail will break his +grip here." +</P> + +<P> +But Norton shook his head. He was playing the game his way. +</P> + +<P> +"The rifles are still in the cache," he told Brocky. "He is getting +ready, as we know; further, just as my friends are beginning to find +fault with me, so are his hangers-on beginning to wonder if they +haven't tied to the wrong man. Just to save his own face he'll have to +start something pretty pronto. And we know about where he is going to +strike. It's up to us to hold our horses, Brocky." +</P> + +<P> +Brocky growled a bit, but went away more than half-persuaded. He +called at the hotel, paid his respects to Virginia, and affording her a +satisfaction which it was hard for her to conceal, also paid her for +her services rendered him in the cliff-dweller's cave. +</P> + +<P> +Often enough the man who tilts with the law is in most things not +unlike his fellows, different alone perhaps in the one essential that +he is born a few hundreds of years late in the advance of civilization. +Going about that part of his business which has its claims to +legitimacy, mingling freely with his fellows, he fails to stand out +distinctly from them as a monster. Given the slow passing of +uneventful time, and it becomes hard and harder to consider him as a +social menace. When the man is of the Jim Galloway type, his plans +large, his patience long, he may even pass out from the shadow of a +gallows-tree and return to occupy his former place in the quiet +community life, while his neighbors are prone to forget or condone. +</P> + +<P> +As other days came and slipped by and the weeks grew out of them, +Galloway's was a pleasant, untroubled face to be seen on the street, at +the post-office, behind his own bar, on the country roads. He ignored +any animosity which San Juan might feel for him. If a man looked at +him stonily, Galloway did not care to let it be seen that he saw; if a +woman turned out to avoid him, no evidence that he understood darkened +his eyes. He had a good-humored word to speak always; he lifted his +hat to the banker's wife, as he had always done; he mingled with the +crowd when there were "exercises" at the little schoolhouse; he warmly +congratulated Miss Porter, the crabbed old-maid teacher, on the work +she had accomplished and made her wonder fleetingly if there wasn't a +bit of good in the man, after all. Perhaps there was; there is in most +men. And Florrie Engle was beginning to wonder the same thing. For +Rod Norton, recovered and about his duties, was not quite the same +touchingly heroic figure he had been while lying unconscious and in +danger of his life. Nor was it any part of Florrie Engle's nature to +remain long either upon the heights or in the depths of an emotion. +The night of the shooting she had cried out passionately against +Galloway; as days went their placid way and she saw Galloway upon each +one of them . . . and did not see a great deal of Norton, who was +either away or monopolizing Virginia, . . . she took the first step in +the gambler's direction by beginning to be sorry for him. First, it +was too bad that Mr. Galloway did the sort of things which he did; no +doubt he had had no mother to teach him when he was very young. Next, +it was a shame that he was blamed for everything that had to happen; +maybe he was a . . . a bad man, but Florrie simply didn't believe he +was responsible for half of the deeds laid at his door. Finally, +through a long and intricate chain of considerations, the girl reached +the point where she nodded when Galloway lifted his hat. The smile in +the man's eyes was one of pure triumph. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my dear!" Florrie burst into Virginia's room, flushed and +palpitant with her latest emotion. "He has told me all about it, and +do you know, I don't believe that we have the right to blame him? +Doesn't it say in the Bible or . . . or somewhere, that greater praise +or something shall no man have than he who gives his life for a friend? +It's something like that, anyway. Aren't people just horrid, always +blaming other people, never stopping to consider their reasons and +impulses and looking at it from their side? Vidal Nuñez was a friend +of Mr. Galloway's; he was in Mr. Galloway's house. Of course . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought that you didn't speak to him any more." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't for a long time. But if you could have only seen the way he +always looks at me when I bump into him. Virgie, I believe he is sad +and lonely and that he would like to be good if people would only give +him the chance. Why, he is human, after all, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia began to ask herself if Galloway were merely amusing himself +with Florrie or if the man were really interested in her. It did not +seem likely that a girl like Florrie would appeal to a man like him; +and yet, why not? There is at least a grain of truth, if no more, in +the old saw of the attraction of opposites. And it was scarcely more +improbable that he should be interested in her than that she should +allow herself to be ever so slightly moved by him. Furthermore, in its +final analysis, emotion is not always to be explained. +</P> + +<P> +Virginia set herself the task of watching for any slightest development +of the man's influence over the girl. She saw Florrie almost daily, +either at the hotel to which Florrie had acquired the habit of coming +in the cool of the afternoons or at the Engle home. And for the sake +of her little friend, and at the same time for Elmer's sake, she threw +the two youngsters together as much as possible. They quarrelled +rather a good deal, criticised each other with startling frankness, and +grew to be better friends than either realized. Elmer was a vaquero +now, as he explained whenever need be or opportunity arose, wore chaps, +a knotted handkerchief about a throat which daily grew more brown, +spurs as large and noisy as were to be encountered on San Juan's +street, and his right hip pocket bulged. None of the details escaped +Florrie's eyes . . . he called her "Fluff" now and she nicknamed him +"Black Bill" . . . and she never failed to refer to them mockingly. +</P> + +<P> +"They tell me, Black Bill," she said innocently, "that you fell off +your horse yesterday. I was so <I>sorry</I>." +</P> + +<P> +She had offered her sympathy during a lull in the conversation, drawing +the attention of her father, mother, and Virginia to Elmer, whose face +reddened promptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Florrie!" chided Mrs. Engle, hiding the twinkle in her own eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, her," said Elmer with a wave of the hand. "I don't mind what +Fluff says. She's just trying to kid me." +</P> + +<P> +Toward the end of the evening, having been thoughtful for ten minutes, +Elmer adopted Florrie's tactics and remarked suddenly and in a voice to +be heard much farther than his needed to carry: +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Fluff. Saw an old friend of yours the other day." And when +Florrie, "gun-shy" as Elmer called her, was too wise to ask any +questions, he hastened on: "Juanito Miranda it was. Sent his best. So +did Mrs. Juanito." +</P> + +<P> +Whereupon it was Florrie's turn to turn a scarlet of mortification and +anger. For Juanito had soft black eyes and almost equally soft black +mustaches, with probably a heart to match, and only a year ago Florrie +had been busied making a hero of him when he, the blind one, took unto +himself an Indian bride and in all innocence heaped shame high upon the +blonde head. How Elmer unearthed such ancient history was a mystery to +Florrie; but none the less she "hated" him for it. They saw a very +great deal of each other, each serving as a sort of balance-wheel to +the other's self-centred complacency. Perhaps the one subject upon +which they could agree was Jim Galloway; Elmer still liked to look upon +the gambler as a colossal figure standing serene among wolves, while +Florrie could admit to him, with no fear of a chiding, that she thought +Mr. Galloway "simply splendid!" +</P> + +<P> +When one evening, after having failed to show himself for a full month, +Rod Norton came to the Engles', found Elmer and Virginia there, and +suggested the ride to the King's Palace, he awakened no end of +enthusiasm. Elmer had a day off, thanks to the generosity of his +employer, Mr. Engle, and had just secretly purchased a fresh outfit +consisting of a silver-mounted Spanish bit, a new pair of white and +unspeakably shaggy, draggy chaps, a wide hat with a band of snake hide, +and boots that were the final whisper in high-heeled discomfort. +Florrie disappeared into her room to make her own little riding-costume +as irresistible as possible. They were to start with the first streaks +of dawn to-morrow, just the four of them, since the banker and his +wife, lukewarmly invited, had no desire for a forty-mile ride between +morning and night. +</P> + +<P> +It was Rod Norton's privilege to lead his merry party into what for +them was wonderland. Even Florrie, though so much other life had been +passed in San Juan, had never before visited the King's Palace. +Clattering through the street while most folk were asleep, they took +advantage of the cool of the dawn and rode swiftly. Elmer and Florrie +racing on ahead laid aside their accustomed weapons and were, for the +once, utterly flattering to each other. Each wishing to be admired, +admired the other, and was paid back in the coveted coin. Norton and +Virginia, at first a little inclined toward silence, soon grew as +noisily merry as the others, drawing deep enjoyment from the moment. +</P> + +<P> +And at the portals of the King's Palace, reached after four hours in +the saddle, followed by thirty minutes on foot, they stood hushed with +wonder. High upon the southern slope of Mt. Temple they had come +abruptly into the unexpected. Here a rugged plateau had caught and +held through the ages the soil which had weathered down from the cliffs +above; here were trees to replace the weary gray brush, shade instead +of glare, birds as welcome substitutes for droning insects, water and +flowers to make the cañons doubly cool and fragrant for him who had +ascended from the dry reaches of sand below the talus. +</P> + +<P> +"It's just like fairy-land!" cried the ecstatic Florrie. "Roddy +Norton, I think you're real mean not to have brought me here ages ago!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ages ago, my dear miss," laughed Norton, "you were too little to +appreciate it. You should thank me for bringing you now." +</P> + +<P> +Down through the middle of the plateau from its hidden source ran the +purling stream which was destined to yield to sun and thirsty earth +long before it twisted down the lower slopes of the hills. Along its +edges the grass was thick and rich, shot through everywhere with little +blue blossoms and the golden gleam of the starflowers. Further promise +of yellow beauty was given by the stalks of the evening-primrose +scattered on every hand, the flowers furled now, sleeping. In the +groves were pines, small cedars, and a sprinkling of sturdy dwarf oaks. +And from their shelter came the welcome sound of a bird's twitter. +</P> + +<P> +"It's always about as you see it," Norton explained. "Too hard to get +to, too small when one makes the climb to afford enough pasturage for +sheep. And now the Palace itself." +</P> + +<P> +Straight ahead the cliffs overhung the farther rim of the plateau. And +there, under the out-jutting roof of rock, an ancient people had +fashioned themselves a home which stood now as when their hands +laboriously set it there. The protected ledge which afforded eternal +foundation was slightly above the plateau's level, to be reached by a +series of "steps" in the rock, steps which were holes worn deep, +perhaps five hundred years ago. The climb was steep, hazardous unless +one went with due precaution, but the four holiday-makers hurried to +begin it. +</P> + +<P> +So close to the edge of the rock ledge did the walls of the ruin stand +that there was barely room to edge along it to come to the narrow +doorway. Holding hands, Norton in the lead, Elmer in the rear, they +made their breathless way. And then they were in the hushed, shaded +anteroom. +</P> + +<P> +The dust of untroubled ages lay upon the surprisingly smooth floor. +Walls of cemented rock rose intact on two sides, broken here and there +on a third, while the cliff itself made the fourth at the rear. And +unusually spacious, wide, and high-ceiled was this room, which may have +had its use when time was younger as a council-chamber. At one end was +another door, small and dark and forbidding, leading to another room. +Beyond lay other quarters, a long line of them, which might have housed +scores in their time. +</P> + +<P> +While Florrie, letting out little shrieks now and then interspersed +with gay cries of delight, led a half-timorous way and Elmer went with +her upon the tour of discovery, Virginia and Norton stood a moment at +the front entrance looking down upon the fertile plateau and across it +to the level miles running out to San Juan and beyond. +</P> + +<P> +"Who were they?" asked Virginia, unconscious of a half-sigh as she +withdrew abstracted eyes from the wide panorama which had filled the +vision of so many other men and women and little children before the +white man came to claim the New World. "They who builded here and +lived and died here. What has become of them? Where did they go?" +</P> + +<P> +"All questions asked a thousand times and never answered. I don't +know. But they were good builders, good engineers, good +pottery-makers, good farmers and hunters and fighters; rather a goodly +crowd, I take it. Come, and I'll share my secret with you while +Florrie and Elmer discover the skeleton a little farther on and stop to +exclaim over it." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-214"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-214.jpg" ALT="Come, and I'll share my secret with you." BORDER="2" WIDTH="346" HEIGHT="560"> +<H5> +[Illustration: "Come, and I'll share my secret with you."] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Norton's secret was a hidden room of the King's Palace. While many men +knew of the Palace itself, he believed that none other than himself had +ever ferreted out this particular chamber which he called the Treasure +Chamber. It was to be reached by clambering through an orifice of the +eastern wall, over a clutter of fallen blocks of stone and a score of +feet along the narrowing ledge. Just before they came to the point +where the encroaching wall of cliff denied farther foothold they found +a fissure in the rock itself wide enough to allow them to slip into it. +Again they climbed, coming presently to a ledge smaller than the one +below and hidden by an outthrust boulder. Here was the last of the +rooms of the King's Palace, cunningly masked, to be found only by +accident, even the cramped door concealed by the branches of a tortured +cedar. Norton pushed them aside and they entered. +</P> + +<P> +"I have cached a few of my things here," he told her as they confronted +each other in the gloom of the room's interior. "And the joke of it is +that my hiding-place is almost if not quite directly below the caves +where Galloway's rifles are. This is a secret, mind you! . . . If +you'll look around, you'll find some of the articles our friends the +cliff-dwellers left behind them when they made their getaway." +</P> + +<P> +In a dark corner she found a blackened coffee-pot and a frying-pan, +proclaiming anachronistically that here was the twentieth century +interloping upon the fifteenth, articles which Norton had hidden here. +In another corner were jumbled the things which the ancient people had +left to mark their passing, an earthenware water-jar, half a dozen +spear and arrow points of stone, a clumsy-looking axe still fitted to +its handle of century-seasoned cedar, bound with thongs. +</P> + +<P> +"But," exclaimed the girl, "the wood, the raw-hide . . . they would +have disintegrated long ago. They must belong to the age of your +coffee-pot and frying-pan!" +</P> + +<P> +"The air is bone-dry," he reminded her. "What little rain there is +never gets in here. Nothing decays; look yonder." +</P> + +<P> +He showed her a basket made of withes, a graceful thing skilfully made, +small, frail-looking, and as perfect as the day it had come from a pair +of quick brown hands under a pair of quick black eyes. She took it +almost with a sense of awe upon her. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep it, will you?" he asked lightly. "As a memento. Presented by a +caveman through your friend the sheriff. Now let's get back before +they miss us. I may have need of this place some time and I'd rather +no one else knew of it." +</P> + +<P> +They made their way back as they had come and in silence, Virginia +treasuring the token and with it the sense that her friend the sheriff +had cared to share his secret with her. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +They made of the day an occasion to be remembered, to be considered +wistfully in retrospect during the troubled hours so soon to come to +each one of the four of them. While Elmer and Florrie gathered +fire-wood, Norton showed Virginia how simple a matter it was here in +this seldom-visited mountain-stream to take a trout. Cool, shaded +pools under overhanging, gouged-out banks, tiny falls, and shimmering +riffles all housed the quick speckled beauties. Then, as Norton had +predicted, the fish were fried, crisp and brown, in sizzling +bacon-grease, while the thin wafers of bacon garnished the tin plate +bedded in hot ashes. They nooned in the shady grove, sipping their +coffee that had the taste of some rare, black nectar. And throughout +the long lazy afternoon they loitered as it pleased them, picked +flowers, wandered anew through the ruins of the King's Palace, lay by +the singing water, and were quietly content. It was only when the +shadows had thickened over the world and the promise of the primroses +was fulfilled that they made ready for the return ride. Before they +had gone down to their horses the moths were coming to the yellow +flowers, tumbling about them, filling the air with the frail beating of +their wings. +</P> + +<P> +At Struve's hotel . . . Elmer and Virginia had ridden on to Engle's +home . . . Virginia told Norton good night, thanking him for a perfect +day. As their hands met for a little she saw a new, deeply probing +look in his eyes, a look to be understood. He towered over her, +physically superb. As she had felt it before, so now did she +experience that odd little thrill born from nearness to him go singing +through her. She withdrew her hand hastily and went in. In her own +room she stood a long time before her glass, seeking to read what lay +in her own eyes. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Tom Cutter was waiting for Norton--merely to tell him that a stranger +had come to San Juan, a Mexican with all the earmarks of a gentleman +and a man of means. The Mexican's name was Enrique del Rio. He +evidently came from below the border. He had lost no time in finding +Jim Galloway, with whom he had been all afternoon. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MEXICAN FROM MEXICO +</H4> + +<P> +Enrique del Rio promptly became known to San Juan as the Mexican from +Mexico, this to distinguish him from the many Mexicans, as San Juan +knew them, who had never seen that turbulent field of intrigue and +revolt from which their sires had come. He showed himself from the +outset to be a gentleman of culture, discernment, and ability. He was +suave, he was polished, he gave certain signs of refinement. +</P> + +<P> +His first afternoon and evening he bestowed upon Jim Galloway. The +second day found him registered at Struve's hotel. The following +morning he presented himself with a sheaf of credentials at the bank, +asking for John Engle. With him came Ignacio Chavez in the rôle of +interpreter. Del Rio spoke absolutely no English and had informed +himself that Engle's Spanish was inadequate for the occasion. +</P> + +<P> +"He is Señor Don Enrique del Rio," explained Ignacio, touched by the +spell of the other's munificence and immaculate clothes. "He would +like to shake the hand of Señor Engle to become acquainted and then +friends. . . . He brings papers to tell who and what he is in Mexico +City, whence he has departed because of too damn much fight down there; +he wishes to put some money here in the <I>banco</I>, which he can take +away again to buy a big ranch and many cattle and horses. He has the +other money in a <I>banco</I> in New York, where he sent it out from Mexico +two, three months ago." +</P> + +<P> +And so on, while Engle gravely listened and shrewdly, after his fashion +in business hours, probed for the inner man under the outer polish, +while del Rio nodded and smiled and never withdrew his night-black eyes +from Engle's face. +</P> + +<P> +Del Rio, it appeared, had gone first to the Casa Blanca because he had +heard of Jim Galloway as one of the most influential men of the county. +Since arriving in San Juan, however, he had heard this and that, mere +rumors, which caused him to come to Engle. He, a stranger, could ill +afford in the beginning to have his name coupled with that of any man +not known for his spotless integrity. Señor Engle understood? . . . +Later, when del Rio had found the properties to his liking and had +builded a home, his wife and two daughters would arrive. Now they +travelled in California. +</P> + +<P> +In the end Engle accepted the Mexican's deposits, which amounted to +approximately a thousand dollars, and which were to be drawn against +merely as an expense account until del Rio found his ranch. And the +first item of expense was the purchase from Engle himself of a fine +saddle-animal, a pure-blooded, clean-limbed young mare, sister to +Persis. After which the Mexican spent a great deal of his time riding +about the country, looking at ranches. He visited Engle's two places, +called upon Norton at Las Flores, ferreting out prices, looking at +water and feed, examining soil. +</P> + +<P> +It was a bare fortnight after the coming of del Rio when out of Las +Palmas came word of fresh lawlessness. The superintendent of the three +Quigley mines had been surprised the night before pay-day, forced at +the point of a revolver to open his own safe, and robbed of several +thousand dollars. A man on horseback rushed word to San Juan, found +Tom Cutter, who located Norton the same afternoon at his ranch at Las +Flores. +</P> + +<P> +"Rod, old man," cried Cutter angrily, "this damned thing has got to +stop! You haven't a much better friend than I am, I guess, and I'm +telling you straight that the whole county is getting sore on you. +They will talk more than ever now, saying that it's up to you to get +results and that you don't get them." +</P> + +<P> +"The stick-up was last night?" asked the sheriff coolly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," snapped Cutter. +</P> + +<P> +"You were in San Juan?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Where was Jim Galloway? Was he in town?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, he wasn't. I don't know where he was. But I do know where he +ought to be. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Was that Mexican gent, del Rio, in town?" +</P> + +<P> +Cutter opened his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I don't think so. You haven't got anything on him, have you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only what you told me. Remember that his first day in San Juan he +went to Galloway like a homing pigeon." +</P> + +<P> +Norton went for his horse, saddled, and rode swiftly to Las Palmas. In +the mining-camp he went immediately to the office of Nate Kemble, the +superintendent, whom he found cursing volubly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's up to you," were the sharp words of greeting as Kemble wheeled +upon the sheriff. "What the hell do you think you're for, anyway? +Good Lord, man, if you can't cut the mustard, why don't you crawl out +and let a man who <I>can</I> wear your star?" +</P> + +<P> +"Easy there, Kemble," said Norton quietly. "You can do your raring and +pitching after I'm gone. Tell me about it. What time did it happen?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was hardly dark." +</P> + +<P> +"How many men jumped you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just one. But . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Just one, eh?" He pondered the information. "That isn't the usual +brand of Galloway work, is it? Get a good slant at him?" +</P> + +<P> +"At his clothes," growled Kemble, slamming himself down dejectedly in +his chair. "His face was hid, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Ever see a Mexican named del Rio?" +</P> + +<P> +Like Cutter before him, Kemble started. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't ask me what I mean," Norton cut him short. "Del Rio is a pretty +big man for a Mexican; was this highwayman about his size?" +</P> + +<P> +Kemble hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"It's hard to say just how big a man is when he comes in on you like +that," he said at last. "At a guess I'd say that the man who stuck me +up was a little taller than del Rio. But I wouldn't swear to it." +</P> + +<P> +"It might have been del Rio himself, then?" Norton insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Or it might have been the Devil's grandmother. I don't . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"See anything of del Rio the last few days?" +</P> + +<P> +"Saw him yesterday. He was in camp. Was talking mines." +</P> + +<P> +"See anything of Galloway hereabouts of late?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Haven't seen him for a month or two." +</P> + +<P> +Norton asked a few other questions, kept his own thoughts to himself, +and rode away. Less than a mile from the camp he met Jim Galloway +riding a sweat-wet horse. The two men reined in sharply, each man's +eyes matching the other's for hardness. Galloway's face was red, the +fiery red of anger. +</P> + +<P> +"Going back for what you forgot, Jim?" asked Norton. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Galloway, staring back at him, seemed utterly speechless +in the grip of his wrath. Norton did not remember ever having seen +such blazing anger in the prominent eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Between you and me, Rod Norton," muttered Galloway at last, "I have +turned a trick or two in my time. But this job is none of my doing and +if I wise up as to who put it over he'll go under the sand or into the +pen, and I'll put him there." +</P> + +<P> +Norton laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"In other words, some free-lance has made a bid to break your corner on +the crime market, eh?" he jeered. "Put one over on you without your +knowledge and consent? And without splitting two ways? That what you +mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean that I'd pay five hundred dollars out of my own pocket right +now for the dead-wood on the man who robbed Kemble." +</P> + +<P> +"Kid Rickard is around once more; sure he didn't do it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I am. Kid Rickard didn't do it." +</P> + +<P> +Norton eased himself in the saddle, thoughtfully regarding Galloway. +And then, very abruptly: +</P> + +<P> +"How about your friend, del Rio?" +</P> + +<P> +It was the third time that he had mentioned del Rio's name in this +connection and to the third man. And now, but slightly different in +degree only, he saw the same look in Galloway's eyes which he had +brought into Cutter's and Kemble's. +</P> + +<P> +"Del Rio?" repeated Galloway frowningly. "What makes you say that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll collect your five hundred later," was Norton's laughing response. +Swerving out a little as he passed, he rode on. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A STACK OF GOLD PIECES +</H4> + +<P> +John Engle rapidly came to assume the nature and proportions of a +stubborn bulwark standing sturdily between Roderick Norton and the +fires of criticism, which, springing from little, scattered flames were +now a wide-spread blaze amply fed with the dry fuel of many fields. +Again there had been a general excitement over a crime committed, much +talk, various suspicions, and, in the end, no arrest made. Men who had +stood by the sheriff until now began to lose faith in him. They +recalled how, after the fight in the Casa Blanca, he had let Galloway +go and with him Antone and the Kid; their memories trailed back to the +killing of Bisbee of Las Palmas and the evidence of the boots. They +began to admit, at first reluctantly, then with angry eagerness, that +Norton was not the man his father had been before him, not the man they +had taken him to be. And all of this hurt Norton's stanch friend, John +Engle. All the more that he, too, saw signs of hesitancy which he +found it hard to condone. +</P> + +<P> +"Let him alone," he said many a time. "Give him his chance and a free +hand. He knows what he is doing." +</P> + +<P> +From that point he began to make excuses, first to himself and then to +others. People were forgetting that only a short time ago the sheriff +had lain many days at the point of death; that his system had been +overtaxed; that not yet had his superb strength come back to him. Wait +until once more he was physically fit. +</P> + +<P> +It was merely an excuse, and at the outset no man knew it better than +the banker himself. But as time went by without bringing results and +tongues grew sharper and more insistent everywhere, Engle grew +convinced that there was a grain of truth in his trumped-up argument. +He invited Norton to his home, had him to dinner, watched him keenly, +and came to the conclusion that Norton was riding on his nerves, that +he had not taken sufficient time to recuperate before getting his feet +back into the official stirrups, that the strain of his duties was +telling on him, that he needed a rest and a change or would go to +pieces. +</P> + +<P> +But Norton, the subject broached, merely shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm all right, John," he said a little hurriedly and nervously. "I am +run down at the heels a bit, I'll admit. But I can't stop to rest +right now. One of these days I'll quit this job and go back to +ranching. Until then . . . Well, let them talk. We can't stop them +very well." +</P> + +<P> +Suspicion of the Quigley mines robbery had turned at first toward del +Rio. But he had established an alibi. So had Galloway. So had Antone +and the Kid. +</P> + +<P> +"There is nothing to do but wait," Norton insisted. "It won't be long +now." +</P> + +<P> +Engle, having less than no faith in Patten's ability, went to Virginia +Page. She saw Norton often; what did she think? Was he on the verge +of a collapse? Was he physically fit? +</P> + +<P> +"All of this criticism hurts him," said the banker thoughtfully. "I +know Rod and how he must take it, though he only shrugs. It's gall and +wormwood to him. He's up against a hard proposition, as we all know; +if he is half-sick, I wonder if the proposition isn't going to be too +much for him? Can't you advise him, persuade him to knock off for a +couple of weeks and clear out? Get into a city somewhere and forget +his work. Why, it's the most pitiful thing in the world to see a man +like him lose his grip." +</P> + +<P> +"He is not quite himself," she admitted slowly. "He is more nervous, +inclined to be short and irritable, than he used to be. You may be +right; or it may be simply that his continued failure to stop these +crimes is wearing him down. I'll be glad to watch him, to talk with +him if he will listen to me." +</P> + +<P> +But first she forced herself to what seemed a casual chat with Patten, +finding him loitering upon the hotel veranda. She suggested to him +that Norton was beginning to show the strain, that he looked haggard +under it, and wondered if he had quite recovered from his recent +illness? +</P> + +<P> +Patten, after his pompous way, leaned back in his chair, his thumbs in +his armholes, his manner that of a most high judge. +</P> + +<P> +"He's as well as I am," he announced positively. "Thin, to be sure, +just from being laid up those ten days. And from a lot of hard riding +and worry. That's all." +</P> + +<P> +Out of Patten's vest-pocket peeped a lead-pencil. Curiously enough, it +carried her mind back to Patten's incompetence. For it suggested the +fountain pen which of old occupied the pencil's place and which the +sheriff had taken in his haste to secrete a bit of paper with Patten's +scrawl upon it. She wondered again just what had been on that paper, +and if it were meant to help Norton prove that Patten had no right to +the M.D. after his name? The incident, all but forgotten, remained +prominently in her mind, soon to assume a position of transcendent +importance. +</P> + +<P> +And then, one after the other, here and there throughout the county +came fresh crimes which not only set men talking angrily but which drew +the eyes of the State and then of the neighboring States upon this +corner of the world. Newspapers in the cities commented variously, +most of them sweepingly condemning the county's sheriff for a +figurehead and a boy who should never have been given a man's place in +the sun. New faces were seen in San Juan, in Las Estrellas, Las +Palmas, Pozo, everywhere, and men said that the undesirable citizens of +the whole Southwest were flocking here where they might reap with +others of their ilk and go scot free. Naturally, the Casa Blanca +became headquarters for a large percentage of the newcomers. +</P> + +<P> +"The condition in and about San Juan," commented one of the most +reputable and generally conservative of the attacking dailies, "has +become acute, unprecedented for this time in our development. The +community has become the asylum of the lawless. The authorities have +shown themselves utterly unable to cope with the situation. A +well-known figure of the desert town who long ago should have gone to +the gallows is daily growing bolder, attaching to himself the wildest +of the insurging element, and is commonly looked upon as a crime +dictator. Unless there comes a stiffening in the moral fiber of the +local officers, we dread to consider the logical outcome of these +conditions." +</P> + +<P> +And so forth from countless quarters. Galloway openly jeered at +Norton. New faces, looking out from the Casa Blanca, grinned widely as +the sheriff now and then rode past. Engle and Struve and Tom Cutter, +anxious and beginning to be afraid of what lurked in the future, met at +the hotel and sought to hit upon a solution of the problem. +</P> + +<P> +"Norton has got something up his sleeve," growled the hotel keeper, +"and he's as stubborn as a mule. He's after Galloway, and it begins to +look as though he were forgetting that his job is to serve the county +first and his own private quarrels next. I've jawed him up and down; +it only makes him shake his head like a horse with flies after him." +</P> + +<P> +The three, hoping that their combined arguments might have weight with +Norton, went to him and did not leave him until they had made clear +what their thoughts were, what the whole State was saying of him. And, +as Struve had predicted, he shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"These later robberies haven't been Galloway's work," he told them +positively. "They were pulled off by the same man who stuck up Kemble +of the Quigley mines. Inside of a week I'll get something done; I'll +promise you that. But let me do it my way." +</P> + +<P> +Engle alone of the three drew a certain satisfaction from the interview. +</P> + +<P> +"He has promised something definite," he told them. "Did you ever know +him to do that and fail to keep his word? Maybe we're getting a little +excited, boys." +</P> + +<P> +The latest crime had been the robbery of the little bank at Packard +Springs. The highwayman had gone in the night to the room of the +cashier, forced him to dress, go to the bank, and open his safe. The +result was a theft of a couple of thousand dollars, no trace left +behind, and a growing feeling of insecurity throughout the county. It +was for this crime that Norton meant and promised to make an arrest. +</P> + +<P> +Exactly seven days from the day of his promise Norton rode into San +Juan and asked for Tom Cutter. Struve, meeting him at the hotel door, +looked at him sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Made that arrest yet, Norton?" he demanded. Norton smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I haven't," he admitted coolly. "But I've got a few minutes +before my week's up, haven't I? Fix me up with something to eat and +I'll have a talk with you and Tom while I attend to the inner man." +</P> + +<P> +But over his meal, while Cutter and Struve watched him impatiently, he +did little talking other than to ask carelessly where del Rio was. +</P> + +<P> +"Damn it, man," cried Struve irritably. "You've hinted at him before +now. If he's a crook, why don't you go grab him? He's in his room." +</P> + +<P> +Norton swung about upon Struve, his eyes suddenly filled with fire. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Struve," he retorted, "I've had about a bellyful of +badgering. I'm running my job and it will be just as well for you to +keep your hands off. As for why I don't make an arrest . . . Come on, +Tom. You, too, Julius," his smile coming back. "I'm going to get del +Rio." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe . . ." began Struve. +</P> + +<P> +"Seeing is believing," returned Norton lightly. "Come on." +</P> + +<P> +Followed by the two men, Norton went direct to del Rio's room, at the +front of the house, just across the hall from Virginia's office. At +del Rio's quick "<I>Entra</I>," he threw open the door and went in. Del +Rio, seated smoking a cigar, looked up with curious eyes which did not +miss the two men following the sheriff. +</P> + +<P> +"You are under arrest for the bank robbery at Packard Springs," said +Norton crisply. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Que quiere usted decir</I>?" demanded the Mexican, to whom the English +words were meaningless. +</P> + +<P> +Norton threw back his vest, showing his star. And while he kept his +eye upon del Rio he said quietly to Cutter: +</P> + +<P> +"Look through his trunk and bags." +</P> + +<P> +Del Rio, understanding quickly enough, sat smoking swiftly, his eyes +narrowing as they clung steadily to Norton's. Cutter, a rising hope in +his breast that at last his superior had made good, went to the trunk +in the corner. Del Rio shrugged and remained silent. +</P> + +<P> +Cutter began tumbling out upon the floor an assortment of clothing, +evincing little respect for the Mexican's finery. Suddenly, when his +hands had gone to the bottom, he sat back upon his heels, a leaping +light in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Caught with the goods on, by God!" he cried. "Look here, Struve!" +</P> + +<P> +He had whipped out a canvas bag which gave forth the chink of gold. +Another came after it. And across each bag was stamped "Packard +Springs Bank." +</P> + +<P> +Del Rio's eyes had wandered a moment to Cutter and the evidence. Then +they came back to Norton, filled with black malevolence. One did not +need to understand the southern language to grasp the meaning of the +words muttered under his breath. +</P> + +<P> +Within the half-hour Strove, Cutter, and Engle had apologized to +Norton; after this, they promised him to keep their hands off and their +mouths shut. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +That evening Virginia and Norton sat long together on Struve's veranda. +There was more silence than talk between them. Norton seemed +abstracted; the girl was plainly constrained, anxious, and found it +difficult to keep her mind upon the thin thread of conversation joining +their occasional remarks. Abruptly, out of one of their wordless +intervals, she said quickly: +</P> + +<P> +"Congratulate me on being a rich woman! I got a check from an old, +almost forgotten, patient to-day. A hundred dollars, all in one lump! +It's a fortune in San Juan, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +Norton laughed with her. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel like spending it all in a breath," she ran on. "I went right +away to Mr. Engle and had him cash it so that I could see what five +twenty-dollar gold pieces looked like. And I chinked them and played +with them like a child! Do you think I am growing greedy for gold in +my old age? . . . You ought to see them piled up, though; five +twenties. Isn't gold a pretty thing? I've a notion to go get them and +show them to you; they're right on my table ..." +</P> + +<P> +She broke off suddenly, her hand on his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see some one out there at the corner of the house?" she asked +quickly. "Do you think . . ." +</P> + +<P> +Then she laughed again and settled back in her chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Already thinking somebody is going to steal my gold! My five +twenties. Just to punish myself I am going to leave them on my office +table all night; do you suppose I'll be wondering all the time if +somebody is crawling in at a window and taking them?" +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes later she said good night and left him. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be up early in the morning," she said laughingly. "Just to make +sure that my gold is there!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +An hour later Virginia Page, sitting fully dressed in the darkness of +her bedroom, got quietly to her feet and went to the door leading to +her office. With wildly beating heart she stood listening, seeking to +peer through the crack of the door she had left ajar. She had heard +the faint, expected sound of some one moving cautiously. +</P> + +<P> +Now she heard it again, then the rustling of loose papers lying on her +table, then the faint, golden chink of yellow-minted disks. As she +suddenly scratched the match in her hand, drawing it along the wall, +she threw the door open. The tiny flame, held high, retrieved the room +from darkness into sufficient pale light. The man at her table whirled +upon her, an exclamation caught in his throat, one hand going to his +hip, the other closing tight upon what it held. +</P> + +<P> +She came in, her eyes steadily upon his, her face deathly pale. As the +match fell from her fingers she went to the open window and drew down +the shade. Then she lit a second match, set it to her lamp, and sank +wearily into her chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we thresh matters out, Mr. Norton?" she asked. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +DESIRE OUTWEIGHS DISCRETION +</H4> + +<P> +Following Virginia's barely audible words there was a long silence. +Her eyes, dark with the trouble in them, rested upon Norton's face and +saw the frown go from his brows while slowly the red seeped into his +bronzed cheeks. For the first time in her life she saw him staggered +by the shock of surprise, held hesitant and uncertain. For a little +there was never a movement of his rigid muscles; one hand rested upon +the butt of his revolver, the other was closed upon the stack of gold +pieces. When at last he found his tongue it was to accuse her. +</P> + +<P> +"You trapped me," he said bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +"With golden bait," she admitted, her voice oddly spiritless. "Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he challenged, "what are you going to do about it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do? I don't know!" +</P> + +<P> +Again they grew silent, studying each other intently. Norton, his +poise coming back to him as the unusual color receded from his face, +smiled at her with an affectation of his old manner. Suddenly he +stepped back to her table, noiselessly set down the coins, eased +himself into a chair. +</P> + +<P> +"You wished to thresh things out? I am ready. And in case we should +be interrupted, you know, I have called on you in your official +capacity. We'll say that I am troubled by the old wound in the head; +that will do as well as anything, won't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was you who robbed the bank at Pozo!" she cried softly, leaning +toward him, the look in her eyes one of dread now. "And the mine +superintendent at Las Palmas? And I don't know how many other people. +It was you!" +</P> + +<P> +She had startled him in the beginning; she knew she would not draw +another sign of surprise from him. He had himself under control, and +long years of severe training made that control complete. He merely +looked interested under her sweeping accusation. +</P> + +<P> +"You must have a reason for a charge like that," he remarked evenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you deny it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I deny nothing, I affirm nothing right now. I say that you must have +a reason for what you state." +</P> + +<P> +"You put the incriminating evidence in del Rio's trunk," she ran on +hurriedly. "The canvas bags of gold. Didn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Reason?" he insisted equably. +</P> + +<P> +"You took Caleb Patten's fountain pen! I saw you." +</P> + +<P> +He lifted his brows at her. Then he laughed softly. +</P> + +<P> +"In the first place," he replied thoughtfully, "I really believe that +he is not Caleb at all but Charles Patten. We'll talk of that later, +however. In the second place isn't it rather humorous to wind up by +accusing a man with the theft of a fountain pen after your other +charges?" +</P> + +<P> +"Answer one question," she urged earnestly. "Please. It is only a +small matter. Give me your word of honor that you will answer it +truthfully." +</P> + +<P> +He was very grave as he sat for a moment, head down, twirling his big +hat in slow fingers. Then he smiled again as he looked up. +</P> + +<P> +"Either truthfully or not at all," he promised her. "My word of honor." +</P> + +<P> +She was plainly excited as she set him her question, seeming at once +eager and afraid to have his response. +</P> + +<P> +"I saw you take Patten's fountain pen and a scrap of note-paper from +the table by your bed when you were hurt--the first time I called to +see how you were doing. I thought that perhaps there was something of +importance written on the paper, that, if nothing else, you wanted a +bit of Patten's handwriting to use in your proof that he was not the +man he pretended to be. You slipped both pen and paper under your +pillow. Tell me just this: Was that paper of any importance whatever, +of any interest even, to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said steadily, without hesitation. "It was not. I did not so +much as look at it." +</P> + +<P> +She leaned back in her chair with a long sigh, her eyes wide on his. +And while he marvelled at it, he saw that now her look was one of pure +pity. +</P> + +<P> +"Just what has that got to do with the robberies you mention?" +</P> + +<P> +"Everything!" she burst out. "Everything! Can't you see? Oh, my God!" +</P> + +<P> +She dropped her face into her hands and he saw her shoulders lift and +slump. Glancing aside swiftly, he saw the five golden disks on the +table, almost to be reached from where he sat. +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt," he said hastily, as her head was lifted again, "you think +that you would like to send me to jail?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jail, no! A thousand times no! But you must, you must let me send +you to a hospital!" +</P> + +<P> +He frowned at her while he gave over twirling his hat and grew very +still. +</P> + +<P> +"You think I am crazy?" he asked sharply. "That it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. You are as sane as I am. I don't think that at all. But . . . +Oh, can't you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I can't. You accuse me of this and that, you give no reasons for +your wild suspicions, you end up by suggesting medical treatment. +What's the answer, Virginia Page?" +</P> + +<P> +"The answer, Roderick Norton, is a very simple one. But first I am +going to ask you another question or so. You sought to commit a theft +to-night, I saw you, so there is no use denying it to me, is there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead. What next?" +</P> + +<P> +"While you lay ill during a week or ten days you had time to think. +You remember having told me that you had had time to think about +everything in the world? It was at that time, wasn't it, that you came +to the decision which you mentioned to me that a man to commit crime +and play safe at the same time must keep in mind two essential matters: +First, the lone hand; second, not to kill?" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought it out then; yes. In fact, I suppose I told you so." +</P> + +<P> +"The crimes committed recently have been characterized by these two +essentials, haven't they? Nearly all of them?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded, watching her keenly, holding back his answers for just a +second or two each time. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe so." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever have an impulse to steal before you were knocked +unconscious at the Casa Blanca?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +"And you have had that impulse almost all the time ever since? Answer +me, tell me the truth! I am right, am I not?" +</P> + +<P> +Now again he laughed softly at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Virginia Page, the medico, speaks," he returned lightly. "She has a +theory. A man may have such an accident, leaving such and such +pressure on the brain, with the result that he becomes a thief or +worse! Virginia . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Theory! It is no theory. It is an established, undeniable, and +undenied fact! It has occurred time and again, physicians have +observed, have made cures! Can't you see now, Rod Norton? Won't you +see?" +</P> + +<P> +She was upon her feet, her hands clasped before her, her eyes shining, +her figure tense, her cheeks stained with the color of her excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care whether Patten is a physician or not," she ran on. "He +is a bungler. It is a sheer wonder he did not let you die. You told +me yourself that he attributed the second wound to your fall and that +you knew that Moraga had struck you a terrible blow with his +gun-barrel. Patten did not treat that wound; he cared for the lesser +injury like a fool and allowed the major one to take care of itself. +And the result . . . Oh, dear God! Think of what might have happened. +If any one but me had learned what I have learned to-night." +</P> + +<P> +He rose with her, stood still, regarding her with eyes like drills. +Then he shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"You are wrong, Virginia, dead wrong," he told her with quiet emphasis. +"You have called me a thief? Well, perhaps I am. You have given your +explanation; let me give mine." +</P> + +<P> +He paused, shaping the matter in mind. His face was stern and very, +very grave. Presently, his lowered voice guarded against any chance +ears, he continued. +</P> + +<P> +"I lay on my bed a week, a long, utterly damnable week. I could do +nothing but think. So I thought, as I told you, of everything. Most +of all I thought of you, Virginia Page. Shall I tell you why? No; +we'll let that go until we understand each other. I thought of myself, +of my life, of my eternal striving with Jim Galloway. Some day I +should get Galloway or he would get me. In either case, what good? +Was not Galloway a wiser man than I? He took what he wanted; I merely +wasted my time chasing after such bigger men as he. If he desired a +thousand dollars or five, ten thousand, he went out for it like a man +and took it. Why shouldn't he? Oh, I tell you I had the time to dwell +upon the little meaningless words of honesty and dishonesty, honor and +dishonor, and all of their progeny and forebears! They are empty; +empty, I tell you, Virginia! When I stood on my feet again I was a +free man. I knew it then, I know it now. Free, I tell you. Free, +most of all from shackles of empty ideas. What I wanted I would take." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him helplessly, his dominant vigor for the moment seeming +a thing not to be restricted or tamed. +</P> + +<P> +"What you have done," she told him gently, "is to find argument to +bolster up impulse. That is generally very easy to do, isn't it? If +one wants a thing, it is not hard convincing himself that it is right +that he should have it." +</P> + +<P> +"At least I have decided sanely what I wanted, there is no call for +hospitals." +</P> + +<P> +"You sustained a fracture of the skull. That fracture had improper +treatment. It is a wonder you did not die. The wound healed and there +remains a pressure of a bit of bone upon the brain. Until that +pressure is removed by an operation you are doomed to be a criminal. A +kleptomaniac," she said steadily, "if not much worse." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe that you mean what you say. You are just mistaken, that is +all. I'd know if there were anything physically wrong." +</P> + +<P> +She came closer, laid her hand upon his arm, and lifted her eyes +pleadingly to his. +</P> + +<P> +"I have had the best of medical training," she said slowly. "I have +specialized in brain disorders, interested in that branch of my work +until I decided to bring Elmer out here. I know what I am saying. +Will you at least promise to do as I ask? Have a thorough examination +by a specialist? And have the operation if he advises it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Such an operation is a serious matter?" + +"Yes. It must be. But think . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"A man might die under the hands of the surgeon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. There is always the danger, there is always the chance of death +resulting from any but the most minor of operations. But you are not +the man to be afraid, Rod Norton. I know that." +</P> + +<P> +"You say that you have specialized In this sort of thing." He was +probing for her thoughts with keen, narrowed eyes. "Would you be +willing to perform that operation for me?" +</P> + +<P> +She shrank back suddenly, her hand dropping from his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she cried. "No, no." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll let it go for a while. If you wouldn't care to do it, +afraid that I might die under your knife, I guess I don't want it done +at all. I am quite content with things as they are. I see the way to +gain the ends I desire; I am gaining them; if there is a brain +pressure, well, I'm quite ready to thank God and Moraga for it! Which +you may take as absolutely final, Dr. Page!" +</P> + +<P> +She was beaten then and she knew it. She went back to her chair in a +sort of bewildered despair, her hands dropping idly to her lap. +</P> + +<P> +"It would be just as well," he said presently, "if I left before any +one came in. Before I go, do you mind telling me what you mean to do? +Shall you denounce me? Are you going to spread your suspicions abroad?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you leave me to do? Have I the right to sit still and say +nothing? You would go on as you have begun; you would commit fresh +crimes. In spite of your 'two essentials' you would be led to kill a +man sooner or later. Or you yourself would be killed. Have I the +right to allow all of that to continue?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then you have decided to accuse me?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is so hard to decide anything. You make it so hard; can't you see +that you do? . . . But, after all, my part is clear; if you will +consent to an examination and an operation I will say nothing of what +has happened. If you won't do that . . . you will drive me to tell +what I know." +</P> + +<P> +"Our trails divide to-night, then? I had hoped for better than that, +Virginia." +</P> + +<P> +Though her cheeks flushed, she held her eyes steadily upon his. +</P> + +<P> +"I, too, had hoped for better than that," she confessed, finding this +no time for faltering. "I should continue to hope if you would just do +your part." +</P> + +<P> +He came a swift step toward her. Then he stopped suddenly, his hands +falling to his sides. But the light in his eyes did not diminish. +</P> + +<P> +"Denounce me to-morrow, if you wish," he said slowly, indifferently it +seemed to her. "Accept my promise that I will attempt no theft of more +gold to-night; give me this one last chance to talk with you. Before +some one comes, come out with me. You are not afraid of me; you admit +that I am sane. Then let us ride together. And let me talk with you +freely. Will you, Virginia? Will you do that one favor for me?" +</P> + +<P> +The high desire was upon her to accede to his request; her calmer +judgment forbade it. But to-night was to-night; to-morrow would be +to-morrow. And, after all, in her talk with him, she might save the +man to himself and to his truer manhood. +</P> + +<P> +But even that hope was less than her desire when she answered him. +</P> + +<P> +"Have my horse saddled," she said. "I'll let Struve think I have to +make a call at Las Estrellas. I'll be out in five minutes." +</P> + +<P> +He thanked her with his eyes, opened the hall door, and went out. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +DEADLOCK +</H4> + +<P> +Virginia, having changed swiftly to her riding-togs, took up her little +black emergency kit, which would lend an air of business urgency to her +nocturnal ride with Norton, and stepped out into the hall. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a call for you from Las Estrellas," said Struve, appearing +from the front, whence his voice had come to her mingled with the +excited tones of a Mexican. "Tony Garcia has been hurt; pretty badly, +I expect. His brother says that Tony got his hand caught in some kind +of machinery he was fooling with late this afternoon and crushed so +that it's all but torn off." +</P> + +<P> +Into the light cast by the hotel porch-lamp Norton, leading Persis, +rode around the corner of the building. +</P> + +<P> +"I was just going out," said Virginia. "But I'll go on this case +first. Mr. Norton is riding with me. Please ask him to wait while I +get my other bag." +</P> + +<P> +In her room again, the lamp lighted on her table, she stood a moment +frowning thoughtfully into vacancy. Then with a quick shake of the +head she snatched up the two other bags which might be needed in +treating Tony's hurt and again hastened out. Norton bending from his +saddle took them from her. As Struve relinquished into her gantletted +hands the reins of Persis's bridle she swung lightly up to the mare's +back. +</P> + +<P> +"The poor fellow must be suffering all kinds of torture," she said as +Norton reined in with her. "Let's hurry." +</P> + +<P> +He offered no answer as they clattered out of San Juan and turned out +across the level lands toward Las Estrellas. So, as upon another night +when speeding upon a similar errand, they rode for a long time in +silence. Again they two alone were pushing out into the dark and the +vast silence that was broken only by the soft thudding of their own +horses' hoofs and the creak of saddle leather and jingle of spur and +bit chains. +</P> + +<P> +"You wanted to talk with me?" suggested the girl after fifteen minutes +of wordless restraint between them. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he answered. "But not now. That is, if you will give me a +further chance after you have done what you can for poor old Tony. You +will hardly need to stay at Las Estrellas all night, I imagine. When +we leave you can listen to me. Do you mind?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said slowly. "I don't mind. I'd rather it was then. You +and I have a good bit to think about before we do any talking. Haven't +we?" +</P> + +<P> +They fell silent again. The soft beauty of the night over the southern +desert lands . . . and there is no other earthly beauty like it . . . +touched the girl's soul now as it had never done before; perhaps, +similarly, it disturbed shadows in the man's. She was distressed by +the position in which she found herself, and the night's infinite quiet +and utter peace was grateful to her. As she left the hotel her +thoughts were in chaos; she was caught in a fearsome labyrinth whence +there appeared no escape. Now, though no way out suggested itself, +still the stars were shining. +</P> + +<P> +At last the twinkling lights of Las Estrellas, seeming at first fallen +stars caught in the mesquite branches, swam into view. Plainly Tony's +accident had stimulated much local interest; among the few straggling +houses men came and went, while a knot of women, children, and +countless mongrel dogs had congregated just outside of the hut where +the injured man lay. A brush fire in the street crackled right +merrily, its sparks dancing skyward. +</P> + +<P> +"You promise me," said Norton as they drew their horses down to a trot, +"not to say anything until we can have had time to talk?" +</P> + +<P> +"I promise," she said wearily. +</P> + +<P> +She entered the sufferer's room first, Norton delaying to tie the +horses and lift down the instrument cases from the saddle-strings. She +stopped abruptly just beyond the threshold; the smell of chloroform was +heavy upon the air, Tony lay whitefaced upon a table, Caleb Patten with +coat off and sleeves rolled up was bending over him. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, señorita!" cried a woman, hurrying forward, her hands twisting +nervously in her apron. And a torrential outpouring in Spanish greeted +the mystified Virginia. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought that I was wanted here," she said, looking about her at the +four or five grave faces. "Tony's brother came for me." +</P> + +<P> +One of the men shambled forward to explain. "Tony want you," he said +quickly. "Tony ver' bad hurt. Dr. Patten come in Las Estrellas by +accident, he say got to cut off the arm, can't wait too long or Tony +die. He just beginnin' now." +</P> + +<P> +The woman, who, it appeared was Tony's wife and the mother of two of +the ragged children out by the fire, joined her voice eagerly to the +man's. He translated. +</P> + +<P> +"Eloisa say she thank God you come; Tony want you, she want you. +Patten charge one hundred dollar an'. . . ." He shrugged eloquently. +"She say you do for Tony; you do better than Patten." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia's eyes flashed upon Patten. He came a step toward her, his +attitude half belligerent. +</P> + +<P> +"The man has to be operated upon immediately," he said sharply. "He +was hurt in the afternoon out on the end of the ranch; has been all day +getting in; fainted half a dozen times, I guess. The arm has to come +off at the elbow." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," returned Virginia quietly, going to the table. "I'll take +the case now, Dr. Patten." +</P> + +<P> +"You?" Patten laughed, his eyes jeering. "You operate? Do you think +that they want you to cut a skein of silk with a pair of scissors? Cut +off a man's arm . . . how far would you go before you fainted?" +</P> + +<P> +"That'll be about all, Patten," came Norton's voice sternly from the +door. "This is Dr. Page's case. Clear out." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Mr. Norton," said Virginia quickly. She was already making +an examination of the blood covered arm and hand, and did not look +around. "And please clear the room, will you? Let Tony's wife stay, +that is all. Eloisa." +</P> + +<P> +The woman came forward, her eyes wide and frightened. Virginia smiled +at her reassuringly. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>No muy malo</I>," she said in the few Spanish words which she could +summon for the occasion from those she had picked up from the desert +people. "<I>Muy bueno manana</I>. And now get me some warm water . . . +<I>agua caliente</I>. Mr. Norton, if you will open my instrument +case . . . no; the other one. And then stand by to help with the +anaesthetic if Patten hasn't already given him enough to keep him +asleep all night!" +</P> + +<P> +She gave her directions concisely and was obeyed. Norton put the last +of the undesired onlookers out of the door, closed it after them, found +another lamp and some candles, did all that he could think of to help +and all that was asked of him. Eloisa, having brought the water, +withdrew to a corner and kept her fascinated eyes upon Virginia's face +and stubbornly away from her husband's. +</P> + +<P> +Virginia, when she had completed a very thorough examination, turned +toward Norton, her eyes blazing. +</P> + +<P> +"Patten has no more right to an M.D. after his name than you have," she +cried angrily. "Not so much, for he hasn't even any brains! Cut the +man's arm off! Why, there is only a simple fracture above the wrist +which won't cause a bit of trouble. The hand is another matter; but +even it isn't half as badly mangled as it looks. . . . The second and +third fingers are terribly crushed; they've got to come off. We might +as well do it now, while he is already under the chloroform. . . . +Tell Eloisa just how matters stand and then send her out." +</P> + +<P> +Eloisa, already prepared for the greater operation, gasped her +gratitude for the lesser and allowed herself to be gently thrust from +the room. Then Norton came back to the table, his eyes wonderingly +upon Virginia. He knew that she was capable; he had read that fact the +first day when he had seen her hands. But it struck him as rather +unusual that a girl, any girl no matter what her training, should take +hold as she was doing. +</P> + +<P> +And as she selected her instruments, laid them out upon a bit of +sterilized gauze upon a chair, cleansed her hands and prepared to +operate he began to feel a sense of utter confidence in her. Rapidly +his own anger rose at the thought of the crime Patten would have +perpetrated. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Tony Garcia, when in due time his consciousness came back to him +bringing the attendant dizzy nausea in its wake, looked down at his +side curiously, wondering how it would be to go without an arm. And +when his Eloisa told him. . . . +</P> + +<P> +"We are going to sell our cow and the goats to-morrow!" vowed Tony +faintly. "And give her all the money!" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Si, si</I>, Tony," wept the wife. +</P> + +<P> +Whereupon the small children, who were teaching the goats to pull a +wagon, set up a wail of grief and rebellion. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It struck both Virginia and Norton as a shade odd that Patten should be +still in Las Estrellas when they rode out of it long after midnight. +They saw him standing in the doorway of the one still lighted building +of the village as they galloped past. It was the Three Star saloon. +Patten's horse was tied in front of it. Since Patten neither drank nor +played at dice or cards here might have been matter to ponder on. But +in neither mind was there place now for any interest other than that +which again held them silent and constrained. +</P> + +<P> +Las Estrellas lost behind them, they drew their horses down into a +rocking trot, then to a slow walk. Virginia rode with her head up, her +eyes upon the field of stars. Her face, as Norton kept close to her +side, looked very white in the starlight. He would have given much to +have seen her eyes when a little later he began to talk. And she was +conscious of a kindred wish. +</P> + +<P> +"Look yonder," she said. "The late moon is coming up. There will be a +little more light then and. . . . And I want to look at you, Rod +Norton, while we thresh it out." +</P> + +<P> +The thin curved sliver of silver thrusting up over the edge of the +world in the east, ghostly and pale, added little to the throbbing +gleam of the stars; but the waiting for it had put Las Estrellas a mile +behind them, had set them alone together out in the heart of the +silences, had given them that last excuse to be had to set back an evil +moment. Virginia, with a sigh, brought her eyes down from the glitter +of the wide heavens and sought Norton's. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid," she said listlessly, "that there is no way out for us, +Rod Norton." +</P> + +<P> +"There is a way!" he began quickly +</P> + +<P> +"There is no way unless you do what I say. If you would only give me +your word to take the stage to-morrow, to go to a competent surgeon, to +submit to the operation. If you would only give me your word. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"I give you my word," he said sharply, "that that is just the thing +which I will never do. Virginia, breathe deep, fill your lungs with +the wonder of the night; realize what it means to live; think what it +means to die! You say that I am not afraid of death; well, maybe not +if it comes in a guise I have grown up to be familiar with. But to lie +as I saw Tony Garcia lying just now, powerless, unconscious, without +will or knowledge of what was coming to me, and to let a man cut into +me . . . I'd rather die, I think, standing upon my two feet and +fighting it out with a gun! You would go on and tell me that the +chances would be highly in favor of my recovery; and yet you would +admit that the danger would be grave." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you are afraid, after all? That is it? That holds you back?" +She found it hard to believe that he was telling her his true emotion. +</P> + +<P> +"I am merely measuring the chances," he said steadily. "I am satisfied +with life as I find it; I do not believe that there is anything wrong +with me; I see at least the possibility of death and nothing to be +gained by submitting to an operation." +</P> + +<P> +"Then," she said again wearily, "there is no way out." +</P> + +<P> +"But there is! My way, not the one you have thought of. You have +stumbled upon a thing which you must forget; that is all. Give me the +free swing to finish Jim Galloway, to complete certain other +undertakings. Promise me that you will do this; in return I will +promise you not to . . . ." +</P> + +<P> +And here he hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"Not to commit another theft?" She set the matter squarely before him. +"Can you promise that, Rod Norton? Could you keep the promise were it +once made?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"No! You could not. You don't understand or you won't understand. +You would obey the impulse which would come just as certainly as the +sun will rise and set again. So I can neither accept your +promise . . . nor give you mine." +</P> + +<P> +"You will tell what you have guessed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rather what I know! Even if you were my own brother. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Or your lover?" he demanded, a challenge in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Or my lover. For his sake if not for the sake of others." +</P> + +<P> +For a little while he made no answer. Again there was absolute silence +between him, a troubled silence filled with pain. Then suddenly he +leaned close to her, threw out his hand for Persis's rein, jerked both +horses back to a fretful standstill. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you see what you force me to do?" he demanded half angrily. "Do +you picture what your denunciation would do for me? Do you think that +I can let you make it?" +</P> + +<P> +His face was so near hers that she could see it clearly in the pallid +light. He could see hers and that it was lifted fearlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"How will you stop me?" she asked quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"I will finish Jim Galloway out of hand," he told her savagely. "It +will no longer be the representative of the law against the lawbreaker; +it will just be Norton and Galloway, both men! I will accomplish the +one other matter I have planned. Both will require not over three or +four days. During that time . . . I tell you, Virginia, I have grown +into a free man, a man who does what he wants to do, who takes what he +wants to take, who is not bound by flimsy shackles of other men's +codes. During those three or four days I shall see that you do no +talking!" +</P> + +<P> +Once more, her voice quickened, she asked: +</P> + +<P> +"How will you stop me?" +</P> + +<P> +"We have come to a deadlock; argument does no good. Either I must +yield to you or you to me. There is too much at stake to allow of a +man being squeamish. I don't care much for the job, but by high Heaven +I am of no mind to watch life run by through the bars of a +penitentiary. After all action becomes simplified when a crisis comes; +doesn't it? There is just one answer, just one way out. You will come +with me, now. I will put you where you will have no opportunity to do +any talking for the few days in which I shall finish what I have to +do." His hand on Persis's rein drew the two horses still closer +together. "Give me your promise, Virginia; or come with me!" +</P> + +<P> +Her quick spurt of anger rose, flared, and dwindled away like a little +flame extinguished by a splash of rain; the tears were stinging her +eyes almost before the last word. For she felt that here was no +Roderick Norton speaking, but rather a bit of bone pressing upon the +delicate machinery which is a man's brain. +</P> + +<P> +"Where would you take me?" she asked faintly. +</P> + +<P> +"To the King's Palace," he answered bitterly. "Where we had one +perfect, happy day, Virginia; where, I had hoped, we would have other +perfect days. Oh, girl, can't you see," and his voice went thrilling +through her, "can't you see what I have hoped, what I have +dreamed. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"You might still hope," she told him steadily. "You might still dream." +</P> + +<P> +"I will!" His eyes shone at her, his erect form outlined against the +black of the earth and the gleam of the stars was eloquent of mastery. +"There will come a time when you will see life as I see it. . . . And +now, for the last time, will you give me your promise, Virginia? It is +forced upon you; you will be blameless in giving it. Will you do so?" +</P> + +<P> +She only shook her head, her lips trembling, not trusting her +voice. . . . And then, in a sort of daze, she knew that they had +turned off to the left, that no longer was San Juan ahead of them, that +they were riding toward the gloomy bulwark of the mountains. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FLUFF AND BLACK BILL +</H4> + +<P> +Fluff and Black Bill were quarrelling. +</P> + +<P> +Elmer, while Norton and Virginia were on their way from San Juan to Las +Estrellas, had dropped in at the hotel to see his sister. He found +upon her office table the card which she always left for him; this +merely informed him that she was "out on a case at Las Estrellas." +Elmer had come for her purposing to suggest a call upon the Engles. +For not yet had he summoned the hardihood to present himself alone at +Florrie's home. Now, disgruntled, seeing plainly that Virginia would +never get back in time, he went out on the veranda and took solace from +the pipe to which he had grown fairly accustomed. To him came the girl +of whom he was thinking. "Hello, Fluff," he said from the shadows. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Black Bill," she greeted him. "Where's Virgie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gone," he informed her, waving his pipe. "On a case to Las Estrellas. +I'm waiting for her. Did you want to see her?" +</P> + +<P> +Florrie, coming down the veranda to him, giggled. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she told him flippantly. "I'm looking for the Emperor of China. +I never was so lonesome. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"So'm I," said Elmer. He pushed a chair forward with his foot. "Sit +down and we'll wait for her. And I'll go in and bring out a couple of +bottles of ginger ale or something." +</P> + +<P> +"Will she be back real soon?" asked Florrie pretending to hesitate. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," he assured her positively. +</P> + +<P> +"All right then." Florrie with a great rustling of skirts sat down. +"But you must be nice to me, Black Bill." +</P> + +<P> +"It's always you who starts it," he muttered at her. "I'd be friends +if you would. What's the good of spatting like two kids, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +"We're really not kids any longer, are we?" she agreed demurely. "I +feel terribly grown up sometimes, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +From which point they got along swimmingly for perhaps five minutes +longer than it had ever been possible for them to talk together without +"starting something." Elmer, very emphatic in his own mind concerning +his matured status, yearned for her to understand it as he did. With +such purpose clearly before him . . . and before her, too, for that +matter, since Miss Florrie had a keen little comprehension of her +own . . . he spoke largely of himself and his blossoming plans. He was +a vaquero, to begin with; he had ridden fifty miles yesterday on range +business; he was making money; he was putting part of that money away +in Mr. Engle's bank. There was a little ranch on the rim of Engle's +big holding which belonged to an old half-breed; Elmer meant to acquire +it himself one of these days. And before so very long, too. Mr. Engle +had been approached and was looking into it, might be persuaded to +advance the couple of thousand dollars for the property, taking as +security a mortgage until Elmer could have squared for it. Then Black +Bill would begin stocking his place, a cow now, a horse, another cow, +and so on. +</P> + +<P> +He had launched himself valiantly into his tale. But at a certain +point he began to swallow and catch at his words and smoke fast between +sentences. He had located a dandy spot for a house . . . the jolliest +little spring of cold water you ever saw . . . a knoll with big trees +upon it. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll make up a party with Virginia and Norton some day and ride out +there," he said abruptly. "I . . . I'd like to have you see it, Fluff." +</P> + +<P> +She was tremulously delighted. She sensed the nearest thing to an +out-and-out proposal which had ever sung in her ears. She leaned +forward eagerly, her hands clasped to keep them from trembling. She +was sixteen, he eighteen . . . and she had his assurance of a moment +ago that they were no longer just "kids." And then and there their +so-long-delayed quarrel began. Just at the wrong time, after the +time-honored fashion of quarrels. He was ready to twine the vine about +the veranda posts of the house on the knoll where the spring and the +big trees were, she was ready to plant the fig-tree. Then she had +glimpsed something just too funny for anything in the idea of Elmer +raising pigs . . . for he had gone on to that, sagely anticipating a +high market another season . . . and she laughed at him and all +unintentionally wounded his feelings. In a flash he was Black Bill +again and on his mettle, ready with the quick retort stung from him; +and she, parrying his thrust, was at once Fluff, the mercuric. The +spat was on . . . they would call it a spat to-morrow if to-morrow were +kind to them . . . and Elmer's ranch and house and cow, horse and pigs +were laughed to scorn. +</P> + +<P> +Florrie departed leaving her cruellest laughter to ring in his ears. +This might have been a repetition of any one of a dozen episodes +familiar to them both, but never, perhaps, had Elmer's ears burned so +or Florrie's heart so disturbed her with its beating. For, she thought +regretfully as she hurried out into the street, they had been getting +along so nicely. . . . +</P> + +<P> +She had no business out alone at this time of night and she knew it. +So she hurried on, anxious to get home before her father, who was +returning late from a visit to one of his ranches. Abreast of the Casa +Blanca she slowed up, looking in curiously. Then, as again she was +hastening on, she heard Jim Galloway's deep voice in a quiet "Good +evening, Miss Florence." +</P> + +<P> +"Good evening!" gasped Florrie aloud. And "Oh!" said Florrie under her +breath. For Galloway's figure had separated itself from the shadows at +the side of his open door and had come out into the street, while +Galloway was saying in a matter-of-fact way: "I'll see you home." +</P> + +<P> +She wanted to run and could not. She hung a moment balancing upon a +high heel in indecision. Galloway stepped forward swiftly, coming to +her side. "Oh, dear," the inner Florrie was saying. A glance over her +shoulder showed her Black Bill standing out in front of Struve's hotel. +Well, there were compensations. +</P> + +<P> +She started to hurry on, and had Jim Galloway been less sure of +himself, troubled with the diffidence of youth as was Elmer, he must +have either given over his purpose or else fairly run to keep up with +her. But being Jim Galloway, he laid a gentle but none the less +restraining hand upon her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Please," he said quietly. "I want to talk with you. May I?" +</P> + +<P> +Florrie's arm burned where he had touched her. She was all in a +flutter, half frightened and the other half flattered. A shade more +leisurely they walked on toward the cottonwoods. Here, in the shadows, +Galloway stopped and Florrie, although beginning to tremble, stopped +with him. +</P> + +<P> +"Men have given me a black name here," he was saying as he faced her. +"They've made me somewhat worse than I am. I feel that I have few +friends, certainly very few of my own class. I like to think of you as +a friend. May I?" +</P> + +<P> +It was distinctly pleasant to have a big man like Galloway, a man whom +for good or for bad the whole State knew, pleading with her. It gave a +new sort of assurance to her theory that she was "grown up"; it added +to her importance in her own eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes," said Florrie. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going away," he continued gravely. "For just how long I don't +know. A week, perhaps a month, maybe longer. It is a business matter +of considerable importance, Florence. Nor is it entirely without +danger. It will take me down below the border, and an American in +Mexico right now takes his life entirely into his own hands. You know +that, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then why do you go?" +</P> + +<P> +Galloway smiled down at her. +</P> + +<P> +"If I held back every time a danger-signal was thrown out," he said +lightly, "I wouldn't travel very far. Oh, I'll come back all right; a +man may go through fire itself and return if he has the incentive which +I have." His tone altered subtly. Florrie started. +</P> + +<P> +"But before I go," went on Galloway, "I am going to tell you something +which I think you know already. You do, don't you, Florence?" +</P> + +<P> +She would not have been Florrie at all, but some very different, +unromantic, and unimaginative creature, had she failed of +comprehension. Jim Galloway was actually making love to her! +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean, Mr. Galloway?" she managed to stammer. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean that what I am telling you is for your ears alone. I am +placing a confidence in you, the greatest confidence a man can place in +a girl. Or in a woman, Florence. I am trusting that what I say will +remain just between you and me for the present. . . . When I come back +I will be no longer just Jim Galloway of the Casa Blanca, but Galloway +of one of the biggest grants in Mexico, with mile after mile of fertile +lands, with a small army of servants, vaqueros, and retainers, a sort +of ruler of my own State! It sounds like a fairy-tale, Florence, but +it is the sober truth made possible by conditions below the border. My +estates will run down to the blue water of the Gulf; I shall have my +own fleet of ocean-going yachts; there is a port upon my own land. +There will be a home overlooking the sea like a king's palace. Will +you think of all that while I am gone? Will you think of me a little, +too? Will you remember that my little kingdom is crying out for its +queen? . . . No; I am not asking you to answer me now. I am just +asking that you hold this as our secret until I come back. Until I +come back for you! . . . I shall stand here until you reach your +home," he broke off suddenly. "Good night, my dear." +</P> + +<P> +"Good night," said Florence faintly, a little dazed by all that he had +said to her. Then, running through the shadows to her home, she was +thinking of the boy who had wished to propose to her and of the man who +had done so; of Elmer's little home upon the knoll surrounded by a cow, +a horse, and some pigs . . . and of a big house like a palace looking +out to sea across the swaying masts of white-sailed, sea-going yachts! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A CRISIS +</H4> + +<P> +Like Norton, Virginia found life simplifying itself in a crisis. Upon +three hundred and sixty days or more of the average year each +individual has before him scores of avenues open to his thoughts or to +his act; he may turn wheresoever he will. But in the supreme moments +of his life, with brief time for hesitation granted him, he may be +forced to do one of two things: he must leap back or plunge forward to +escape the destiny rushing down upon him like a speeding engine +threatening him who has come to stand upon the crossing. Now Virginia +saw clearly that she must submit to Norton's mastery and remain silent +in the King's Palace or she must seek to escape and tell what she knew +or . . . Was there a remaining alternative? If so it must present +itself as clearly as the others. Action was stripped down to +essentials, bared to its component elements. True vision must +necessarily result, since no side issues cluttered the view. +</P> + +<P> +She sat upon a saddle-blanket upon the rock floor of the main chamber +of the series of ancient dwelling-rooms, staring at the fire which +Norton had builded against a wall where it might not be seen from +without. The horses were in the meadow down by the stream; she and +Norton had tethered them among the trees where they were fairly free +from the chance of being seen. Norton was coming up, mounting the +deep-worn steps in the cliff side. He had gone for water; he had not +been out of sight nor away five minutes. And yet when she looked up to +see him coming through the irregular doorway she had decided. +</P> + +<P> +She saw in him both the man and the gentleman. Her anger had died down +long ago, smothered in the ashes of her distress; now she summoned to +the fore all that she might in extenuation of what he did. She did not +blame him for the crimes which she knew he had committed because she +was so confident that the chief crime of all had been the act resulting +from Caleb Patten's abysmal ignorance. Nor now could she blame Norton +that, embarked upon this flood of his life, he saw himself forced to +make her his prisoner for a few hours. It was a man's birthright to +protect himself, to guard his freedom. And her heart gave him high +praise that toward her he acted with all deference, that with things as +they were, while he was man enough to hold her here, he was too much +the gentleman to make love to her. Would she have resisted, would she +have opposed calm argument against a hot avowal? She did not know. +</P> + +<P> +"Virginia," he said gravely as he slumped down upon the far side of the +fire, "I feel the brute. But . . ." +</P> + +<P> +Yes, she had decided, fully decided, whether if be for better or for +worse. Now she surprised him with one of her quick, bright, friendly +smiles while she interrupted: +</P> + +<P> +"Let us make the best of a bad situation," she said swiftly. "I am not +unhappy right now; I have no wish to run half-way to meet any +unhappiness which may be coming our way. You are not the brute toward +me; what you do, I do not so much as censure you for. I am not going +to quarrel with you; were I in your boots I imagine I'd do just exactly +as you are doing. I hope I'd be as nice about it, too. And now, +before we drop the subject for good and all, let me say this: no matter +what I do, should it even be the betraying you into the hands of your +enemies, to put it quite tragically, I want you to know that I wish you +well and that is why I do it. Can you understand me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said slowly. "It's sweet of you, Virginia. If you got my +gun and shot my head off, I don't know who should blame you. I +shouldn't!" he concluded with a forced attempt to match her smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we understand each other? As long as each does the best he can +see his way to do, the other finds no fault?" And when he nodded she +rose quickly and came to him, putting out her hand as he rose. "Rod +Norton," she said simply, and her eyes shone steady and clear into his, +"I wish you the best there is. I think we should both pray a little to +God to help us to-night. . . . And now, if you will run up to your +Treasure Chamber and bring down the coffee, I'll promise to be here +when you get back. And to make you a good hot drink; I feel the need +of it and so do you." +</P> + +<P> +He went out without an answer, his face grave and troubled again. As +her eyes followed him they were no longer gay but wistful, and then +filled with a sadness which she had not shown to him, and then suddenly +wet. But before he had gone half a dozen steps from the door she +dashed a hasty hand across her eyes and went swiftly to the smallest of +the three black leather cases he had brought up here after her. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the one way out, Rod Norton!" she whispered. "The one way out +if God is with us." +</P> + +<P> +Her quick fingers sought and found the tiny phial with its small white +tablets . . . labelled <I>Hyoscine</I> . . . and secreted it in her bosom. +She was laying fresh twigs upon the blaze when he came back with the +coffee-pot, can of coffee, and a tin cup. She greeted him with another +quick smile. He saw that her cheeks were flushed rosily, that there +was subdued excitement in her eyes. And yet matters just as they were +would sufficiently explain these phenomena without causing him to quest +farther. He thought merely that he had never seen her so delightfully +pretty. +</P> + +<P> +"Virginia Page," he told her as his own eyes grew bright with the new +light leaping up into them, "some day . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Sh!" she commanded, her color deepened. "Let us wait until that day +comes. Now you just obey orders; lie there and smoke while I make the +coffee." +</P> + +<P> +He wanted to wait on her, but when she insisted he withdrew to the wall +a few feet away, sat down, filled his pipe, and watched her. And while +he filled his eyes with her he marvelled afresh. For it seemed to him +that her mood was one of unqualified happiness. She did all of the +talking, her words came in a ceaseless bright flow, she laughed readily +and often, her eyes were dancing, the warm color stood high in her +cheeks. That her heart was beating like mad, that the intoxication of +an intent he could not read had swept into her brain, that she was +vastly more in the mood to weep than to smile . . . all of this lay +hidden to him behind her woman's wit. For, having decided, there would +be no going back. +</P> + +<P> +With the coffee boiling in the old black and spoutless pot from +Norton's cache in the Treasure Chamber, she poured what was left of the +ground coffee from its tin to the flat surface of a bit of stone. This +tin was to serve Norton as his cup. +</P> + +<P> +"It's to be our night-cap," she laughed at him as she put the +improvised cup by the other. "I refuse to sit up any later; a +saddle-blanket for bunk, and then to sleep. That is my room yonder, +isn't it?" She nodded toward the black entrance to the second of the +chambers of the King's Palace. "And you will sleep here? Well, while +the coffee cools, I'm going to make my bed." She carried her blanket +on past him, was gone into the yawning darkness, was back in a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"My bed's ready," she told him gayly. "This kind of housekeeping just +suits me! Now for the coffee. . . . Rod Norton, will you do as you +are told or not? You are to sit still and let me wait on you; who's +hostess here, I'd like to know?" +</P> + +<P> +While out of his sight she had slipped one of the hyoscine tablets into +her palm; now, as she poured the ink-black beverage, she let it drop +into the tin can which she presented to Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't say it doesn't taste right!" she admonished him in a voice in +which at last he detected the nervous note. +</P> + +<P> +He stood up, holding his coffee-can in his hand, meeting her strained +levity with a deep gravity. +</P> + +<P> +"Virginia," he began. +</P> + +<P> +"It's too late to cut in on my monologue!" she cried gayly. "Pledge me +in the drink I have made for you, Mr. Norton! Just say: 'Virginia, +here's looking at you!' Or: 'I wish you well in all that you +undertake.' Or: 'For all that you have said to me, for whatever you +may say or do in the future, I forgive you!' That's all." +</P> + +<P> +"Virginia," he said gently, "I love you, my dear." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the nice way to say everything all at once!" He saw that her +hand shook, that a little of her coffee spilled, and that again she +grew steady. "Now our night-cap and good night!" +</P> + +<P> +She drank hurriedly. Thereafter she yawned and made her little +pretense of increased drowsiness. +</P> + +<P> +"It's been such a long day," she said. "You'll forgive me if I tumble +right straight into sleepy-land?" +</P> + +<P> +Again they said good night and she left him, going down among the eerie +dancing shadows to her own quarter, drawing his moody eyes after her. +When she had gone, he threw down his own blanket across the main +entrance of the King's Palace, filled his pipe again, and sat staring +out into the night. +</P> + +<P> +The fire cast up its red flare spasmodically, licked at the last of the +dead branches which, rolling apart, burned out upon the rock floor. +The darkness once more blotted out all detail saving the few +smouldering coals, the knobs of stone in the small flickering circles +of light, the quiet form of the man silhouetted against the lesser dark +of the night without. Virginia, rigid and motionless at the spot to +which she had stolen noiselessly, watched him breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +For only a little he sat smoking. Then, as though he experienced +something of that weariness of which she had made pretense, he laid his +pipe aside and stretched out upon his blanket, leaning upon an elbow. +She heard him sigh, vaguely made out when he let his head slip down +upon an arm, saw that he had grown still, and was lying stretched out +across the main threshold. +</P> + +<P> +Now she must stand motionless while every fibre of her being demanded +action; now she must curb impetuosity to the call of caution. As the +seconds passed, all but insupportable in their tedious slowness, she +stood rigid and tense, waiting. But soon she knew that the drug had +had its will with him, that he was steeped in deep sleep, that no +longer must she wait, that now at length she might act. +</P> + +<P> +Carrying her saddle-blanket she came to him and stood quietly looking +down into his upturned face. At last she could let the tears burst +into her eyes unchecked, now she could suddenly go down on her knees +beside him, for an instant laying her cheek lightly against his in the +first caress. Would it be the last? He stirred a little and sighed +again. She drew back, still upon her knees again breathlessly rigid. +But his stupor clung heavily to him, and she knew that it would hold +him thus for hours. +</P> + +<P> +A score of burning questions clamoring in her mind she disposed of +briefly, since time was of the essence. +</P> + +<P> +"If I let you have your way, Rod Norton," she whispered, "you will go +on from crime to tragedy. If I hand you over to the law, I will be +betraying you for no end; for your type of man finds the way to break +jail and so force his own hand to further violence. There is the one +way out. . . . And God help me to succeed. God forgive me if I fail!" +</P> + +<P> +She stole by him and stepped upon the outer ledge. She was leaving him +helpless . . . the thought presented itself that she would have another +thing to answer for if one of the many men with such cause to hate him +should come upon him thus. Well, that was but one of the more remote +chances she must take. There was scant enough likelihood that any one +should come here before she could race into Las Estrellas and back. +</P> + +<P> +Then it was that she saw Patten. She did not know at first that it was +Patten, but just that within a few feet of her upon the ledge which she +must travel to the steps a man was standing, his body jerking back, +pressed against the rocks as he saw her. She drew back swiftly, her +blood in riotous tumult. +</P> + +<P> +But now, above aught else, the one thought in her mind was that there +was no time for loitering, that the dawn would come all too soon, that +there must be no delay. She stooped quickly and drew from its holster +Norton's heavy revolver. Her saddle-blanket over her left arm, the gun +gripped in her right hand, she was once more upon the ledge, moving +cautiously toward the figure seen a moment ago, gone now. +</P> + +<P> +That it was Patten she knew only when she had gone down the steps and +had overtaken him there. Retreating thus far, reassured when he had +made out that it was the girl alone, he waited for her. And as she +demanded nervously, "Who is it?" it was Patten's disagreeable laugh +which answered her. +</P> + +<P> +"So," he jeered at her, "this is the sort of thing you do when you are +supposed to be out on a case all night!" +</P> + +<P> +Patten here! Had God sent him . . . or the devil? His insult she +passed over. She was not thinking of herself right now, of convention, +of wagging tongues. She was just seeking to understand how this latest +incident might simplify or make more complex her problem. +</P> + +<P> +"I've had my suspicions all along," he laughed evilly. "To-night I +followed and made sure. And now, my fine little white dove, what have +you to say for yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +Might she use Patten? She was but now on her way to Las Estrellas for +aid. She would operate herself, she would take that upon herself, with +no more regard for ethics than for Patten's gossiping tongue. She +believed that she could do it successfully; at the least she must make +the attempt, though Norton died under her hand. The right? She had +the right! The right because she loved him, because he loved her, +because his whole future was at stake. But she must have assistance so +that she submit him to no needless danger, so that she give him every +chance under such circumstances as these. She would have brought a man +from Las Estrellas, she would have let him think what pleased him, just +saying that Norton had met with an accident, that an operation was +necessary. And now Patten was here. +</P> + +<P> +Could she use him? +</P> + +<P> +"You followed us?" she said, gaining time for her thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; I followed you. I saw you come here. I watched while he +unsaddled, how he came up to you. What I could not see through the +rock walls I could guess! And now . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, now?" she repeated after him, so that Patten must have marvelled +at her lack of emotion. "Now what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he spat at her venomously, "I think I have found the fact to +shut Roderick Norton's blabbing mouth for him!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't? You mean that he hasn't done any talking to you about me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" And now suddenly she did understand. "You mean how you are not +Caleb Patten at all but Charles? How you are no physician but liable +to prosecution for illegal practising?" +</P> + +<P> +Could she use him or could she not? That was what she was thinking, +over and over. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he?" demanded Patten a little suspiciously. "What is he +doing? What are you doing out here alone?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is asleep," she told him. +</P> + +<P> +Patten laughed again. +</P> + +<P> +"Your little parties are growing commonplace then!" +</P> + +<P> +"Charles Patten," she cut in coolly, "I have stood enough of your +insult. Be still a moment and let me think." +</P> + +<P> +He stared at her but for a little; his own mind busy, was silent. +Could she make use of this blind instrument which fate had thrust into +her hand? She began to believe that she could. +</P> + +<P> +"Charles Patten," she went on, a new vigor in her tone, "Mr. Norton +knows enough concerning you to make you a deal of trouble. Just how +long a term in the State prison he can get for you I don't know. +But . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't I found the way to shut his mouth!" he said sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"I think not. Before your slanders could travel far we could have +found Father Jose and have been married. But let me finish. You have +practised here for upward of two years, haven't you? You have made +money, you have a ranch of your own. That is one thing to keep in +mind. The other is that more than one of your patients have died. I +believe, Charles Patten, that it would be a simple matter to have the +district attorney convict you of murder. That's the second thing to +remember." +</P> + +<P> +Patten shifted uneasily. Then she knew that it had been God who had +sent him. When he sought to bluster, she cut him short. +</P> + +<P> +"In the morning, as soon as there is light enough," she said, wondering +at her own calmness, "I am going to perform a capital operation upon +Mr. Norton. It will be without his knowledge and consent. If he lives +and you will give up your practice and retire to your ranch or what +business pleases you, I will guarantee that he does not prosecute you +for what has passed. If he dies . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"If he dies"--he snatched the words from her--"it will be murder!" +</P> + +<P> +". . . you would be free from prosecution," she continued, quite as +though he had made no interruption, "I rather imagine that I should +die, too. And, as you say, I would be liable for murder. He is asleep +now because I have drugged him. I shall chloroform him before he +wakes. I should have no defense in the law-courts. Yes, it would be +murder." +</P> + +<P> +He drew a step back from her as though from one suddenly gone mad. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you operating for?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"For your blunder," she said simply. "And you are going to help me." +</P> + +<P> +"Am I?" he jeered. "Not by a damned sight! If you think that I am +going to let myself in for that sort of thing . . ." +</P> + +<P> +Until now he had not seen the gun in her hand. Her quick gesture +showed it to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Charles Patten," she told him emphatically, "I am risking Mr. Norton's +life; I am therefore risking my own. Understand what that means. +Understand just what you have got to win or lose by to-night's work. +Consider that I pledge you my word not to implicate you in what you do; +that if worse came to worse, you could claim and I would admit that you +were forced at the point of a gun to do as I told you. Oh, I can shoot +straight! And finally, I will shoot straight, as God watches me, +rather than let you go now and stop what I have undertaken! Think of +it well, Charles Patten!" +</P> + +<P> +Patten, being as weak of mind as he was pudgy of hand, having besides +that peculiar form of craft which is vouchsafed his type, furthermore +more or less of a coward, saw matters quite as Virginia wished him. +Together they awaited the coming of the dawn. The girl, realizing to +the uttermost what lay before her, forced herself to rest, lying still +under the stars, schooling herself to the steady-nerved action which +was to have its supreme test. +</P> + +<P> +Just before the dawn they had coffee and a bite to eat from Norton's +little pack. Close to the drugged man they builded a rude low table by +dragging the squared blocks of fallen stone from their place by the +wall. Upon this Virginia placed the saddle-blankets, neatly folded. +Already Patten was showing signs of nervousness. Looking into her face +he saw that it was white and drawn but very calm. Patten was asking +himself countless questions, many of them impossible of answer yet. +She was closing her mind to everything but the one supreme matter. +</P> + +<P> +He helped her give the chloroform when she told him that there was +sufficient light and that she was ready. He brought water, placed +instruments, stood by to do what she told him. His nervousness had +grown into fear; he started now and then, jerking about guiltily, as +though he foresaw an interruption. +</P> + +<P> +Together they got Norton's inert form upon the folded blankets. +Patten's hands shook a little; he asked for a sip of brandy from her +flask. She granted it, and while Patten drank she cut away the hair +from the unconscious man's scalp. Long ago her fingers had made their +examination, were assured that her diagnosis was correct. Her hands +were as untrembling as the steel of her knife. She made the first +incision, drawing back the flap of skin and flesh, revealing the bone +of the skull. . . . +</P> + +<P> +For forty-five minutes she worked, her hands swift, sure, capable, +unerring. It was done. She was right. The under-table of the skull +had been fractured; there was the bone pressure upon the underlying +area of brain-tissue. She had removed the pressure and with it any +true pathological cause of the theft impulse. +</P> + +<P> +She drew a bandage about the sleeping eyes. She made Patten bring his +own saddle-blanket; it was fixed across the entrance of the anteroom of +the King's Palace, darkening it. Then she went to the ledge just +outside and stood there, staring with wide eyes across the little +meadow with its flowers and birds and water, down the slope of the +mountain, to the miles of desert. She had now but to await the +awakening. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BEGINNING OF THE END +</H4> + +<P> +When Norton stirred and would have opened his eyes but for the bandage +drawn over them, she was at his side. She had been kneeling there for +a long time, waiting. Her hand was on his where it had crept softly +from his wrist. +</P> + +<P> +"You must lie very still," she commanded gently. "I am with you and +everything is all right. There was . . . an accident. No, don't try +to move the cloth; please, Roderick." She pushed his hand back down to +his side. "We are in the King's Palace, just you and I, and everything +is all right." +</P> + +<P> +He was feverish, and she soothed him; sick, and she mothered him and +nursed him; troubled, uncertain, perplexed, and she comforted him. At +the first she went no further than saying that there had been an +accident; that already she had sent to San Juan for all that was needed +to make him comfortable; that Mr. Engle had been instructed to speed a +man to the railroad for further necessities; that now for his own sake, +for her sake, he must just lie very still . . . try not even to think. +</P> + +<P> +He was listless, seeming without volition, quite willing to surrender +himself into her keeping. What dazed thoughts were his upon this first +awakening were lost, forgotten in the brief doze into which she +succeeded in luring him. When again he stirred and woke she was still +at his side, kneeling upon the hard rock floor beside him. . . . She +had had Patten help her to lift him down from the table before she +despatched Patten with the note for John Engle. Again she pleaded with +him to lie still and just trust to her. +</P> + +<P> +He was very still. She knew that he was trying to piece together his +fragmentary thoughts and impressions, seeking to bridge over from last +night to to-day. So she talked softly with him, soothing him alike +with the tenderness of her voice and the pressure and gentle stroke of +her hand upon his hand and arm. He had had an accident but was going +to be all right from now on. But he must not be moved for a little. +Therefore Engle would come soon, and perhaps Mrs. Engle with him. And +a wagon bringing a real bed and fresh clean sheets and all of those +articles which she had listed. It would not be very long now until +Engle came. +</P> + +<P> +But at last when she paused his hand shut down upon hers and he asked +quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't dream it all, did I, Virginia? It is hard to know just what +I did and what I dreamed I did. But it seems more than a dream. . . . +Was it I who robbed Kemble of the Quigley mines?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she told him lightly, as though it were a matter of small +moment. "But you were not responsible for what you did." +</P> + +<P> +"And there were other robberies? I even tried to steal from you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she answered again. +</P> + +<P> +"And you wanted to have me submit to an operation? And I would not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"And then . . . then you . . . you did it?" +</P> + +<P> +So she explained, feeling that certainty would be less harmful to him +now than a continual struggle to penetrate the curtain of semidarkness +obscuring his memory. +</P> + +<P> +"I took it upon myself," she told him at the end. "I took the chance +that you might die; that it might be I who had killed you. Perhaps I +had no right to do it. But I have succeeded; I have drawn you back +from kleptomania to your own clear moral strength. You will get well, +Rod Norton; you will be an honest man. But I took it upon myself to +take the chances for you. Now . . . do you think that you can forgive +me?" +</P> + +<P> +He appeared to be pondering the matter. When his reply came it was +couched in the form of a question: +</P> + +<P> +"Would you have done it, Virginia . . . if you didn't love me a little +as I love you?" +</P> + +<P> +And her answer comforted him. He was sleeping when the Engles came. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Later came the big wagon, one of Engle's men driving, Ignacio Chavez +and two other Mexicans accompanying on horseback. Virginia had +forgotten nothing. Quick hands did her bidding now, altering the +anteroom of the King's Palace into a big airy bedroom. There was a +great rug upon the floor, a white-sheeted and counterpaned bed, fresh +pajamas, table, chair, alcohol-stove, glasses and cups and +water-pitchers. There were cloths for fresh bandages, wide palm-leaf +fans . . . there was even ice and the promise of further ice to come. +The sun was shut out by heavy curtains across the main entrance and the +broken-out holes in the easterly wall. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear," said Mrs. Engle, taking both of Virginia's hands into her +own, "I don't know just what has happened and I don't care to know +until you get good and ready to tell me about it. But I can see by +looking at you that you are at the end of your tether. I'm going to +take care of Roddy now while you sleep at least a couple of hours." +</P> + +<P> +She and Engle had asked themselves the question as soon as Virginia's +note came to them: "What in the world were she and Norton doing on the +mountainside at that time of night?" But they had no intention of +asking it of any one else. Rather John Engle hastened to answer it for +others. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Muchachos</I>" he said to the men when he sent them back to San Juan, +"there was an accident last night. Señor Norton had a fall from his +horse, striking his head. My cousin, Miss Page, together with Señor +Norton and Señor Patten, was taking a short cut this way to make a call +at Pozo. Señor Patten and Miss Page succeeded in getting Señor Norton +here, where they had to operate upon him immediately. He is doing well +now, thanks to their prompt action; he will be well soon. You may tell +his friends." +</P> + +<P> +And then, seeing little that he could do here and much that he might +accomplish elsewhere, John Engle rode on his spurs back to San Juan to +lay down the law to Patten. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Throughout the days and nights which followed, Virginia and Mrs. Engle +nursed Norton back into a semblance of strength. One of them was +always at his side. When at last the bandage might be removed from the +blindfolded eyes Norton's questing glance found Virginia first of all. +</P> + +<P> +"Virginia," he said quietly, "thanks to you I can start in all over +now." +</P> + +<P> +She understood. So did Mrs. Engle. For Norton had explained to both +the banker and his wife, holding nothing back from them, telling them +frankly of crimes committed, of his attempted abduction of the girl who +in turn had "abducted him." He had restitutions to make without the +least unnecessary delay. He must square himself and he thanked God +that he could square himself, that his crimes had been bloodless, that +he had but to return the stolen moneys. And, to wipe his slate clean, +he stood ready to pay to the full for what he had done, to offer his +confession openly, to accept without a murmur whatever decree the court +might award him. +</P> + +<P> +Again John Engle did his bit. He went to the county-seat and saw the +district attorney, an upright man, but one who saw clearly. The lawyer +laid his work aside and came immediately with Engle to the King's +Palace. +</P> + +<P> +"Any court, having the full evidence," he said crisply, "would hold you +blameless. Give me the money you have taken; I shall see that it is +returned and that no questions are asked. And if you've got any +idiotic compulsion about open confession . . . Well, think of somebody +besides yourself for a change. Try thinking about the Wonder Girl a +little, it will be good for you." +</P> + +<P> +For he never called her anything but that, the Wonder Girl. When he +had heard everything, he came to her after his straightforward fashion +and gripped her hand until he hurt her. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know they made girls like you," he told her before she even +knew who he was. +</P> + +<P> +It was he who, summoning all of his forensic eloquence, finally quieted +Norton's disturbed mind. Norton in his weakened condition was all for +making a clean breast before the world, for acknowledging himself unfit +for his office, for resigning. But in the end when he was told curtly +that he owed vastly more to the county than to his stupid conscience, +that he had been chosen to get Jim Galloway, that that was his job, +that he could do all the resigning he wanted to afterward, and that +finally he was not to consider his own personal feelings until he had +thought of Virginia's, Norton gave over his regrets and merely waxed +impatient for the time when he could finish his work and go back to Las +Flores rancho. For it was understood that he would not go alone. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll free del Rio because I have to, not because I want to," said the +lawyer at the end. "Trusting to you to bring him in again later. He +is one of Galloway's crowd and I know it, despite his big bluffs. +Galloway is away right now, somewhere below the border. Just what he +is up to I don't know. I think del Rio does. When Galloway gets back +you keep your eye on the two of them." +</P> + +<P> +After the county attorney's departure Rod Norton rested more easily. +He was making restitution for all that he had done, he was getting well +and strong again, he had been given such proof as comes to few men of +the utter devotion of a woman. Through many a bright hour he and +Virginia, daring to look confidently ahead, talked of life as it might +be lived upon Las Flores when the lake was made, the lower lands +irrigated, the big home built. +</P> + +<P> +"And," she confessed to him at the last, her face hidden against his +breast, "I never want to see a surgeon's lancet again in all of my +life, Rod Norton!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When at length the sheriff could bestride a horse he wondered +impatiently what it could be that kept Jim Galloway so long away. And +if he was never coming back. But he knew that high up among the +cliffs, hidden away in the ancient caves, Jim Galloway's rifles were +still lying. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE STRONG HAND OF GALLOWAY +</H4> + +<P> +"Oh, you will all dance and shout together very soon," said Ignacio +wisely to his six bells in the old Mission garden. "You will see! +Captain and the Dancer and Lolita, the Little One, La Golondrina, and +Ignacio Chavez, all of you together until far out across the desert men +hear. For it is in the air that things will happen. And then, when it +is all done . . . Why then, amigos, who but me is going to build a +little roof over you that runs down both ways, to save you from the hot +sun and the rains? . . . Oh, one knows. It is in the air. You will +see!" +</P> + +<P> +For Jim Galloway had returned, a new Galloway, a Galloway who carried +himself up and down the street with bright, victorious eyes, and the +stride of full confidence, who, at least in the eyes of Ignacio Chavez, +was like a blood-lusting lion "screwing up his muscles" to spring. +Galloway's return brought to Roderick Norton a fresh vigilance, to +Virginia a sleepless anxiety, to Florence Engle unrest, uncertainty, +very nearly pure panic. During the first few days of his absence she +had allowed herself the romantic joy of floating unchecked upon the +tide of a girlish fancy, dreaming dreams after the approved fashion +which is youth's, dancing lightly upon foamy crests, seeing only blue +water and no rocks under her. Then, with the potency of the man's +character removed with the removal of his physical being, she grew to +see the shoals and to draw back from them, shuddering somewhat +pleasurably. Now that he was again in San Juan and that her eyes had +been held by his in the first meeting upon the street, her heart +fluttered, her vision clouded, she wondered what she would do. +</P> + +<P> +There was to be no lost action in Galloway's campaign now. Within half +a dozen hours of his arrival there was a gathering of various of his +henchmen at the Casa Blanca. Just what passed was not to be known; it +was significant, however, that among those who had come to his call +were the Mexican, del Rio, Antone, Kid Rickard, and a handful of the +other most restless spirits of the county. Norton accepted the act in +all that it implied to his suspicions and sent out word to Cutter, +Brocky Lane, and those of his own and Brocky's cowboys whom he counted +on. +</P> + +<P> +Galloway's second step, known only to himself and Florrie, was a +private meeting with the banker's daughter. It occurred upon the +second evening following his return, just after dark among the +cottonwoods, but a hundred yards from her home. He had made the +opportunity with the despatch which marked him now; he had watched for +her during the day, had appeared merely to pass her by chance on the +street, and had paused just long enough to ask her to meet him. +</P> + +<P> +"I have done all that I planned to do," he announced triumphantly, his +eyes holding hers, forcing upon her spirit the mastery of his own. +"The power in Mexico is going to be Francisco Villa. I have seen him. +Let me talk with you to-night, Florence. History is in the making; it +may be you and I together who shape the destiny of a people." +</P> + +<P> +After all, she was but a little over sixteen, her head filled with the +bright stuff of romance, and he was a forceful man who for his own +purposes had long studied her. She came to the tryst, albeit half in +trembling, a dozen tremulous times ready for a fleeing retreat. +</P> + +<P> +Again he was all deference to her. He builded cunningly upon the fact +that he trusted her; that he, a strong man, put his faith in her, a +woman. He flattered her as she had never been flattered, not too +subtly, yet not so broadly as to arouse her suspicion of his intent. +He spoke quietly at first, then his voice seeming charged with his +leaping ambition set responsive chords within her thrilling. He +pictured to her the state he was going to found, organize, rule, an +uncertain number of fair miles stretching along a tropical coast; he +made her see again a palatial dwelling with servants in livery, the +blue waters of the Gulf, the white of dancing sails. He spoke of a +peace which was going to be declared between warring factions below the +border within thirty days, of the magnificence to be Francisco Villa's, +of the position to be occupied by Jim Galloway at Villa's side. His +planned development of a gold-mine he mentioned merely casually. +</P> + +<P> +And then at length when Florrie was prepared for the passionate +declaration he humbled himself at her feet, lifted his hands to her in +supplication, told her in burning words of his love. Whether the man +did love her with all of the strength of his nature or whether he but +meant to strike through her at John Engle, the richest man of this +section of the State, it was for Jim Galloway alone to know. Certainly +not for Florrie, who listened wide-eyed. . . . Once she thought that +he was about to sweep her up into his arms; they had lifted suddenly +from his sides. She had drawn back, crying sharply: "No, no!" But he +had waited, had again grown deeply deferential, swerving immediately to +further vividly colored pictures of life as it might be, of power and +pomp, of a secure position from which a man and a woman might direct +policies of state, shaping the lives of other men and women. +</P> + +<P> +And in the end of that ardent interview Jim Galloway's caution was +still with him, his knowledge of the girl's nature clear in his mind. +He did not ask her answer; he merely sought a third opportunity to +speak with her, suggesting that upon the next night she slip out and +meet him. He would have a horse for her, one for himself; they could +ride for a half-hour. He had so much to tell her. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps a much more important factor than she realized in her action +was Florrie's new riding-habit. It had been acquired but three days +before and she knew very well just how she looked in it. There would +be a moon, almost at the full. The full moon and the new riding-habit +were the allies given by fate to Jim Galloway. +</P> + +<P> +Besides all of this, she had not seen Elmer Page for a month. Further, +she knew that Elmer had gone riding upon at least one occasion with a +girl of Las Palmas, Superintendent Kemble's daughter. And finally, +there lies much rich adventure in just doing that which we know we +should leave alone. So Florrie, while her mother and father thought +that she had gone early to bed, was on her way to meet Galloway. +</P> + +<P> +They rode out of the cottonwood fringed arroyo just before moonrise, +circling the town, Florrie scarcely marking whether they rode north or +south. But Galloway knew what he was doing and they turned slowly +toward the southwest. As they rode, his horse drawn in close to hers, +he talked as he had never talked before; his voice rang from the first +word with triumphant assurance. +</P> + +<P> +"When he calls she will follow!" Virginia had thought fearfully of +them. To-night he was calling eloquently, she was following, +frightened and yet obedient to his mastery. +</P> + +<P> +Galloway's influence over the girl, that of a strong will over a weak +and fluttering one, was quite naturally the stronger when they were +alone together. She had always been willing, sometimes a bit eager, to +make a hero of him; he had long thoroughly understood her. To-night +was the brief battle of wills, with him summoning all of his strength, +flushed with victory. Abruptly now he urged that she marry him; a +moment later his insistent pleading was subtly tinged with command. He +was the arbiter of the hour; he told her of a priest waiting for them +at a little village a dozen miles away. They would be married +to-night; they were eloping even at this palpitant instant! +</P> + +<P> +When Florence would have stopped, of two balancing minds, he urged the +horses on. When she would have procrastinated, he beat down her +opposition with the rush of his words. Even while she struggled she +was yielding; Galloway was quick to see how her resistance was growing +fainter. And all the time, while he spoke vehemently and she for the +most part listened in a fascinated silence, they were riding on through +the moonlit night. . . . It seemed to her that surely he must love her +as few men had loved before. . . . +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The village he had promised her was in reality but two poor houses at a +crossroads, inhabited by two Mexican men and dowdy women. On the way +they encountered but one horseman; Galloway turned his own and +Florence's animals out so that, though seen, they might escape +recognition. At the nearest of the two hovels he dismounted, raising +his arms to her. When she cried out and shrank back trembling, he +laughed softly, caught her in his arms, and lifted her free of the +saddle; when he would have kissed her she put her face into her two +hands. +</P> + +<P> +"I . . . I want to go back!" she whispered. "I am afraid! Please, Mr. +Galloway, please let me go home." +</P> + +<P> +Dogs were barking, a man and woman came out. The man laughed. Then he +gathered up the bridle-reins and led the horses to the barn. Florrie, +shrinking out of Galloway's embrace, looked particularly little and +helpless in her pretty riding-habit. +</P> + +<P> +She went with Galloway into the lamplighted room. The woman looked at +her curiously, then to Galloway, something of wonder and upstanding +admiration in her beady eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Has the priest come?" demanded Galloway. +</P> + +<P> +"No, señor. Not yet." +</P> + +<P> +She added by way of explanation that word had been sent; that the +priest was delayed; a man was dying and he must stay a little at the +bedside. She muttered the tale like a child repeating a lesson. +Galloway, watching Florence, who sat rigid in her chair by the table, +waited for her to finish. +</P> + +<P> +At the end he gave the woman a sharp, significant look. She said +something about a cup of coffee for the señorita and went hastily into +the kitchen. Florrie sprang to her feet, her hands clasped. +</P> + +<P> +"You must let me go," she cried wildly. "The priest isn't here. I am +going home." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Galloway steadily. "You are not going home, Florence. You +must listen to me. I love you more than anything else In the world, my +dear. I want you, want you all for mine." +</P> + +<P> +She saw a sudden light flare up in his eyes and it seemed to her that +her heart would beat through the walls of her breast. "I am not a boy, +but a man. A strong man, a man who, when he wants a thing, wants it +with his whole heart and body and soul, a man who takes what he wants. +Wait; just listen to me! You love me now; you will love me more and +more when I give you all that I have promised you. To-night, in an +hour, I will have made the beginning; I will have gathered about me +fifty men who will do exactly what I tell them to do! Then they will +go with us down into Mexico; they will be the beginning of a little +army whose one thought will be loyalty . . . loyalty to you and to me." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Florence, her voice shaking. "I am going. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"You will marry me when the priest comes," he cut in sternly. +"Otherwise, if you make me, I will take you with me anyway, unmarried. +And I will make you marry me when we have crossed the border. And +now . . . now you will kiss me. I have waited long, Florence." +</P> + +<P> +He came toward her; she slipped behind the table, crying out to him to +stop. But he came on, caught her, drew her into his arms. And +Florrie, some new passionate, terrified Florrie, beat at him with her +fists, tore at him with her nails, hid her face from him, and with the +agility born of her terror slipped away from him again, again put the +table between them. Galloway, a thin line of blood across his cheek, +thrust the table aside. As he did so the man came back into the room +and stood watching, a twisted smile upon his lips. Galloway lifted his +thick shoulders in a shrug and stood staring at the girl cowering in +her corner. +</P> + +<P> +"Married or unmarried, you go with me," he told her. "Your kisses you +may save for me. Think it over. You had better ask for the priest +when I come back." He turned toward the Mexican. "All ready, Feliz?" +</P> + +<P> +The man nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell Castro, then. It's time to be in the saddle." +</P> + +<P> +With no other word to Florrie he went out. But his last look was for +her, the look of a victor. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE OPEN +</H4> + +<P> +Roderick Norton, every fibre of his body alive and eager, his blood +riotous with the certain knowledge that the long-delayed hour had come, +rode a foam-flecked horse into San Juan shortly after moonrise. +Galloway was striking at last; at last might Norton lift his own hand +to strike back. As he flung himself down from the saddle he was +thinking almost equally of Jim Galloway, striking the supreme blow of +his career, and of Billy Norton, whose death had come to him at +Galloway's command. Galloway was gathering his forces, had delivered +an initial blow, was staking everything upon the one throw of the dice. +And he must believe them loaded. +</P> + +<P> +At the clank of spur-chain and rowel Struve came hastily into the +hallway from his office. He saw the look in the sheriff's, eyes and +demanded quickly: +</P> + +<P> +"What is it? What's happened?" +</P> + +<P> +There were grim lines about Norton's mouth, his quiet voice had an +ominous ring to it. +</P> + +<P> +"Hell's to pay, Julius," he retorted. "And there's little telling +where it'll end unless we're on the jump to meet it. Galloway's come +out into the open. Kid Rickard and ten men with him, all Mexicans or +breeds, crossed over into the next county yesterday, raided the county +jail late this afternoon, shot poor Roberts, freed Moraga, and got away +in a couple of big new touring-cars. Every man of them carried a rifle +and side-arms." +</P> + +<P> +"Killed Roberts, huh?" Struve's frown gathered. +</P> + +<P> +"He's badly hurt, if not dead. The Kid did the shooting." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it's Galloway's work and not just the Kid's?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Only a couple of hours ago a lot of Galloway's crowd was +gathering up in the mountains. They've gone to his cache for the +rifles. I have sent word for Brocky Lane and his and my cowboys. It +begins to look as though he were up to something bigger than we've been +looking for. And he's sure of himself, Struve, or he wouldn't have +started things by daylight." +</P> + +<P> +Virginia had heard and came into the hallway from her room, her face +white, her eyes filled with trouble. Struve turned back into his room +abruptly, going for his rifle. +</P> + +<P> +"You heard?" asked Norton quietly. "It's the big fight at last, +Virginia. But we've known it was coming all along." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Rod." she said half listlessly. "I'll be glad when it's all +over." +</P> + +<P> +He sketched for her briefly what little more he knew and suspected. +Throughout the county where there was telephone communication the wires +were buzzing. Over them the word had come to him of Kid Rickard's +attack on Roberts and the freeing of Moraga. But in many places the +lines were reported "out of order" and towns were isolated by cut +wires. Already men were riding sweating horses, carrying word from +him. He knew that del Rio had gathered a crowd of men at Las Vegas; he +was certain that del Rio was working hand in glove with Galloway; +further that the Mexican had been with Galloway on his recent trip +below the border and among the revolutionists. +</P> + +<P> +"They're solid down there," concluded Norton. "What they are up to is +something big here, then a dash for safety, carrying their booty with +them. But we're going to be on time to put a stop to it all. I am +going down to see Engle now; will you come with me?" +</P> + +<P> +But before they left the hotel he swore Struve in as a deputy and sent +him hastening to carry the word to other men to be counted on. As they +passed the Casa Blanca Norton paused a moment, looking in at the +wide-open door; it was very quiet within, the place seeming deserted. +</P> + +<P> +"No use looking for Galloway here," he said as they went on. "Nor for +any of his gang. But, when they come back . . . unless we head them +off . . ." +</P> + +<P> +Her hand tightened on his arm. She looked up into his thoughtful face +with shining eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You think that they would attempt further robbery and outlawry here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to advise Engle to take the bulk of his money out of the +bank, dig a hole, and hide it," he answered. "Just to be sure in case +we don't stop them." +</P> + +<P> +He knew that he had no time to waste tonight, and so as he and Virginia +entered the Engles' living-room he began immediately telling the banker +what had happened and what he feared was set to happen. Engle listened +gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Galloway is making his getaway to-night," Norton said by way of +conclusion. "For every rifle he has a man. He has no reason to like +you and he knows that you carry more money in gold and bank-notes than +any other man in the country. The fact that Kid Rickard pulled the +game the way he did this afternoon, shooting down Roberts when there +was no need of bloodshed, ought to be enough to show us that they are +not going to draw the line anywhere this side of old Mexico." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you planning?" asked Engle. +</P> + +<P> +"I've sent for Brocky and all the men he can bring. They'll all come +heeled and ready for trouble, every one sworn in as a sheriff's deputy. +I'll get every dependable man in San Juan into the saddle with a rifle +inside half an hour. Before that we'll have further word; or, if not, +we ride toward Mt. Temple. I'm taking the gamble so far that that's +their rendezvous; that the Kid and his crowd will show up there." +</P> + +<P> +It was unnecessary for him to continue. Engle nodded and went for his +rifle. Norton, turning toward Mrs. Engle and Virginia, was shocked by +the look he saw in the eyes of the banker's wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Florrie!" gasped Mrs. Engle, her hands gripped in front of her, her +face paling. "I thought she was in her room; when I missed her five +minutes ago I thought that she had slipped out and run up to the hotel +to see Virginia. Virginia hasn't seen her." +</P> + +<P> +Norton smiled and patted the two clasped hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Florrie'll be all right, Mrs. Engle," he comforted her. "We +mustn't get nervous and begin to imagine things, must we?" +</P> + +<P> +But no lessening of that look of fear came into the mother's eyes. +Galloway was striking, Florrie was not to be accounted for. Though she +turned quickly and went again through the house, the patio, and the +rear gardens, she was apprehensively certain that she would not find +Florence. Virginia came hurriedly to Norton, whispering: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid for her, Rod. I'm afraid! I have seen her and Jim +Galloway together, I have known all along that he had an influence over +her which he might exert if he wanted to. And, just before Jim +Galloway went to Mexico, Elmer saw them walk down the street together, +stop and talk together under the trees. . . . Oh, I'm afraid for her, +Rod!" +</P> + +<P> +Engle's face was as white as chalk when a little later he came back +into the room with his wife; his two hands were like rock upon his +rifle. +</P> + +<P> +"Florence isn't in the house," he announced in a voice which, while +calm, seemed not John Engle's voice. "If she is in San Juan it won't +take the half-hour to know it. I'm rather inclined to think that I'm +just a fool, Rod Norton. My wife has told me that Galloway was looking +at Florence in a way which meant no good. I wouldn't believe. And +now, if . . ." +</P> + +<P> +Norton had no reply to make. Florence's disappearance at a time like +this might mean either a very great deal or nothing whatever. But, as +Engle had intimated, it would require but little time to learn if she +were in San Juan and safe, and, as Norton had said, there was no time +now to be wasted. Engle would institute inquiries immediately; Norton, +his own work looming large before him, would prepare to meet Galloway's +latest play. +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff decided promptly that it would be unwise to leave the town +absolutely drained of men in whom he could put faith. It was always +possible that either the entire crowd of Galloway's men or a smaller +detachment might find their way here. Julius Struve, four armed men +aiding him, was to be responsible for the welfare of women and +children. If Galloway's stroke should turn out to be bolder and harder +than was now known, then Struve and his men had horses saddled and were +to get their wards out of danger by hard riding. Norton was to post +two men a few miles out as he rode north and they were to report back +to Struve in case of necessity. +</P> + +<P> +These latter plans were made only at the moment before the sheriff's +departure. A man sent by Brocky Lane had raced into San Juan's street, +bringing fresh word. It began to appear that Galloway was working in +conjunction with aid from below the border. Del Rio with a score of +men, Mexicans for the most part who had dribbled into the county during +the last few months, was reported to have swept down upon John Engle's +ranches, and to be gathering herds of cattle and horses, starting them +southward on the run. Three of Engle's cowboys had been shot down; a +similar attack had been delivered upon other ranches. The little town +of Las Vegas had been looted, post-office, store, and saloon safes +dynamited, stock driven off to augment del Rio's other herds. Further, +the cowboy sent by Lane reported that a signal-fire had been lighted in +the mountains an hour ago and that there had been another fire like an +answer leaping up from the desert in the south. Word had also come to +Lane that telephone messages hinted that Kid Rickard and his unit were +working further outlawry along the county line, headed toward Mt. +Temple. +</P> + +<P> +There were seventeen armed horsemen in the street waiting for the word +from Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come back to you," he said quietly to Virginia. "Because after +what you have done for me, I belong to you . . . if you want me." +</P> + +<P> +"I want you, Rod," she answered steadily. "And I know that you will +come back to me. And now . . . kiss me good night." +</P> + +<P> +She clung to him a moment, then pushed him from her and watched him +swing up into the saddle and ride out among the men who were pledged +and sworn to do his bidding. As he did so Engle came to him. + +"Going with us, John?" asked Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Engle. "We haven't found her yet, Rod. I'll try to pick up +a trace of her here. And . . . you'll send a man to me if you find +her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," Norton promised. +</P> + +<P> +"And if Galloway has got her . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll know what to do, John," said Norton gently. +</P> + +<P> +Then, without again looking back, he turned his horse toward the north. +The seventeen men, riding two and three abreast, silent and grave for +the most part, followed him. The moon shone upon their rifle-barrels +and made black, grotesque shadows underfoot. +</P> + +<P> +Against the northern sky Mt. Temple was lifted sharply outlined; from +its crest a leaping flame was stabbing at the stars, a new signal-fire +to be seen across many miles. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BATTLE IN THE ARROYO +</H4> + +<P> +Straight toward that wavering plume of flame in the north they rode +swiftly, each man with his own thoughts and with few words. But +whether a man thought of Florrie Engle gone or of the shooting of +Sheriff Roberts or of the looting of Las Vegas or of a ranch raided, he +was like his fellows in that he knew that at last Jim Galloway had come +out into the open and that to-night must be Galloway's triumph or +Galloway's death. And perhaps he wondered if his own saddle would run +empty under the stars before another dawn. +</P> + +<P> +Three or four miles from San Juan Norton made out an approaching rider, +one who bent over his horse's mane, racing furiously. The figure, +growing rapidly distinct as it drew on from the north, grew erect as +the horseman saw Norton's posse. The rider jerked in his horse, +pausing a moment as though in doubt whether he were meeting friend or +foe. Then, when again he came on at the same headlong gallop, Norton +recognized him. It was Elmer Page. +</P> + +<P> +"They're fighting back yonder!" cried the boy wildly, his eyes shining +with his excitement. "Brocky Lane sent me. . . . I haven't a rifle, +who will give me a rifle? I'll give a man a hundred dollars for a +rifle!" +</P> + +<P> +"Easy, Elmer," said Norton sharply. "Tell us what Brocky sent you to +say. Where are they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Along the arroyo just off to the east of Mt. Temple. About a mile +from the mountain . . . you know where the biggest boulders are all +strung out along the arroyo? It's there. Brocky and a lot of cowboys +are making a stand there, heading off the Kid and del Rio. So they +can't get with the others, you know. . . . Why didn't somebody tell me +about this?" he broke off, his voice shrill. "I haven't a rifle, just +a cursed revolver. Who will ..." +</P> + +<P> +Again Norton interrupted sternly. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's have it straight, Elmer," he commanded. "Brocky and his men are +along the arroyo, you say? And they're trying to keep between del Rio +and the Kid's crowd and the other crowd? Some of the others are still +on the mountain, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"The mountain is full of them. They're pouring down and shooting as +they come; Brocky's in between. . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"How many men are with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"About twenty. But . . . my God! Rickard's men and del Rio's are +shooting from the east and the others are shooting from the west . . . +poor old Tommy Rudge got shot in the stomach and Denny Blain is down +and . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"Del Rio and Rickard didn't come in machines did they?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Brocky said tell you they'd left their cars, sent them on filled +with loot toward the south, where a lot of other Greasers are waiting +for them; then the Kid and del Rio and about fifty men altogether +started a big herd of horses and cattle this way. Brocky tried to +stampede the herds, but the others are more than two to one, so he got +his men in the arroyo and they're giving 'em hell from there." +</P> + +<P> +"Galloway's on the other side?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Brocky said tell you Galloway hadn't shown up yet. We think he +didn't expect things to get started so soon. One of Brocky's men +riding in a little while ago from the other side of San Juan thought +that he had seen Galloway and some one that looked like a girl riding +with him toward the old crossroads where the Denbar place used to be. +Brocky thinks maybe you can come in and head Galloway off and bust up +the whole play that way." +</P> + +<P> +So Galloway and "some one who looked like a girl" had ridden toward the +old Denbar cross-roads. And Galloway had not yet joined his forces. +</P> + +<P> +"Elmer," said Norton quickly, "ride on to San Juan. Tell John Engle +what you have told me about Galloway. Tell him . . ." +</P> + +<P> +"I won't!" cried Elmer, on the verge of hysteria. "I won't do it. Do +it yourself; send some one else. I want to go with you; I want a +rifle, I tell you! Didn't I see Tommy Rudge go down with a bullet in +his belly? Didn't I see Denny when the Kid shot him?" +</P> + +<P> +Norton laid a hand on Elmer's arm, speaking quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, Elmer," he said. "We will do what we can where Brocky is. +But that isn't all of the devilment to-night. Galloway got Florrie +away somehow; she was the one riding with him toward the crossroads. +It's up to you to ride on and ride like the devil and tell John +Engle. . . . Come on, boys!" +</P> + +<P> +Elmer sagged in his saddle as though he had been struck a heavy +physical blow. +</P> + +<P> +"Galloway got Fluff!" he muttered dully. +</P> + +<P> +His gaze trailed along after the departing posse. Norton on his big +roan was setting the pace, the steady swinging gallop to eat up the +miles swiftly and yet not kill the horses before the journey's end. +The others followed him, stringing out single file to take advantage of +the trail. The moon picked them out with clear relief, a grim line of +retribution. And yet the boy, while his eyes wandered after them, saw +only little Fluff struggling in Jim Galloway's arms. . . . +</P> + +<P> +Then suddenly he, too, was riding, but at a pace which took no heed of +a horse's endurance, riding a gallant brute that stretched out its +neck, nostrils flaring, hammering hoofs beating out the very staccato +of urgent speed upon the flying sands. Already his revolver was tight +clinched in a lifted hand. Already he had swerved a little from the +distant lights of San Juan. He was taking the shortest line which led +to Denbar's crossroads. +</P> + +<P> +"Galloway's got Fluff," he said over and over, choking on the words. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +An hour later Norton heard the first spitting of rifles. Another +fifteen minutes of shod hoofs pounding through the broken hills and he +saw the first spurts of flame cutting through the shadows where the +trees clung to the arroyo. As he drew in his horse the men behind him +closed up about him. He threw out his arm, pointing. +</P> + +<P> +"Brocky's boys must be right down there," he said sharply. "The Kid +and del Rio will be yonder; those are their horses. Young Page says +there are about fifty of them." +</P> + +<P> +A fusillade of rifle-shots interrupted him. Along a fifty or sixty +yard front the Kid's and del Rio's men had crept in closer to Brocky's +arroyo, worming their way upon their stomachs, and now fired together. +There came a rattling reply from the creek, the shouting of cowboys. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll take those fellows first," ordered Norton quickly. "They will +see us when we climb that little rise. Spread out; go easy until we +get to the top. Then, boys, let's see who can give them hell first and +fastest." +</P> + +<P> +They looked to their rifles for the last time and rode slowly up the +short slope of the low-lying ridge. Then, as the first man topped it, +there came a shout from the shadows in front, another shout, and the +whizzing of rifle-balls. Norton used his spurs then; his big roan +leaped forward and was racing down the farther slope; his men in a long +line rode with him. And as he rode he lifted his own gun and poured +his lead into the thickest of the shadows. +</P> + +<P> +A wild shout of cheering broke from the arroyo; rifle-barrels grew hot +in hot hands. On through the bright moonlight came the sheriff's +posse, some of them firing as they rode, others saving their lead. To +be seen from afar now, they drew many a shot toward themselves. And +yet the target of a man riding swiftly over uneven ground and in the +moonlight is not to be found overreadily by questing lead. When Norton +called to his men to stop and dismount, taking advantage of a row of +scattered boulders, not a saddle was empty. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-326"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-326.jpg" ALT="On through the bright moonlight came the sheriff's posse." BORDER="2" WIDTH="340" HEIGHT="563"> +<H5> +[Illustration: On through the bright moonlight came the sheriff's posse.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Every man as he dismounted threw his horsed reins to the ground; the +animals might bolt or they might not, some of them might not stop for +many a mile, others would be found a hundred yards away. But they must +all think less of that now than of what lay in front of them. +</P> + +<P> +"That you, Norton?" came a cheery voice booming suddenly through the +silence which had shut down as the newcomers disappeared among the +boulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Brocky!" shouted Norton. "All right down there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty well," called Brocky. "They've winged three or four of +us . . . they're damned rotten shots, Roddy. We've popped over a dozen +of them." +</P> + +<P> +There were other shouts then, tenor Mexican voices for the most part +with the Kid's unmistakable snarl running through them. Men were +calling in Spanish to their fellows across the arroyo. Whatever it was +that Brocky was trying to say was lost in the din. And then again came +a volley of rifle-shots. +</P> + +<P> +Norton rose slowly to his feet, studying the situation with frowning +eyes. A bullet hissed high overhead, another cut by his side, another +went shrieking off into the night. But while they whined in his ears +he laid his rude plans. +</P> + +<P> +The arroyo wound and twisted this way and that through the broken +uplands. Where Brocky Lane had placed his men so as to defy the union +of the two bands of outlaws it described a wide rude arc curving about +the spur from Mt. Temple. Here the cowboys, with some twenty or thirty +feet separating each man from his nearest fellow, were extended along a +line which must be about two hundred yards long. The Mexicans to the +eastward, where del Rio and Kid Rickard and Moraga were, were bunched +in the protecting shadows of a field of boulders such as those where +the sheriff's men lay. +</P> + +<P> +"We could stick here all night and get nothing done," said Norton to +the men close to him. "Rickard's gang could have charged down on +Brocky long ago if they'd had the stomach for that sort of thing. +They've got the numbers on us; they more than had the count on Brocky's +outfit; with those jaspers on the mountainside they could have turned +the trick. But that sort hasn't the desire for a scrap unless they can +pull it from behind a rock. And, by the same token, they won't last +five minutes in the face of a charge. Get me?" +</P> + +<P> +"But the ginks on the mountain will pick us off pretty lively as we hit +the trail down the slope here," said a thoughtful voice. +</P> + +<P> +Then Norton explained further. He meant to eliminate the other crowd; +it could be done. When he gave the word every man was to jump to his +feet and make the first half of his charge the bloodless one down into +the arroyo toward Brocky Lane. Then, Norton's men and Brocky's united, +they could surge up the creek's banks and make their flying attack, +coming in between the two other factions so that the men on the +mountain must hold their fire or kill as many of their own crowd as of +the others. +</P> + +<P> +The suggestion was accepted without discussion. When Norton said +"Ready," they were ready; when he jumped to his feet and ran down +toward the arroyo, they ran with him. A shout of laughter went up from +each side of the dry water-course as jeering voices announced +triumphantly that the Gringoes were afraid. And with the shouts came +rifle-shots. +</P> + +<P> +But to the last man of them they reached the arroyo safely, and ducking +low, trotted on to join the cowboys. In a moment more Norton had found +Brocky Lane, had explained his plan, had had Brocky's silent nod for an +answer. In quiet voices the men passed the word along the line. Those +from the farther end drew in closer so that their whole body of +something better than thirty men occupied but a brief section of the +arroyo. +</P> + +<P> +"Get your wind first, boys," Norton admonished them. "Better fill your +clips, too, while you've got the chance. And count on using a six gun +before you're through. All right? Let's show 'em the sort of a scrap +a Gringo <I>can</I> put up." +</P> + +<P> +Then again they were running, the unwavering line of thirty men, but +with a difference which the outlaws might not mistake. And as they ran +they held their fire for a little, knowing how useless and suicidal it +would be to pause half-way. But presently they were answering shot +with shot, pausing, going down upon one knee, taking a moment's +advantage of a friendly rock, pouring lead into the agitated groups +among the boulders, springing up, running on again, every man fighting +the fight his own way, the thirty of them making the air tingle with +their shouts as they bore onward. +</P> + +<P> +Then it was man to man and often enough one man to two or three, dark +forms struggling, men striking with clubbed guns, men snatching at +their side-arms, going down, rising or half rising, firing as long as a +charge was in a gun or strength in a body. And as they fired and +struck and called out after the fashion of the cowboy in a scrimmage +the body of men before them wavered and broke and began to fall back. +</P> + +<P> +Norton swung his clubbed empty rifle up in both hands and beat down a +man firing at him with a revolver. All about him were struggling forms +and he was sore beset now and then to know who was who. A +fierce-mustachioed, black-browed man thrust a rifle toward his breast +and pulled the trigger and screamed out his curses as Norton put a +revolver bullet through him. A slender, boyish form sprang up upon a +rock recklessly, training his rifle upon Brocky Lane. It was the Kid. +But the Kid had met a man quicker, surer, than himself, and Brocky +fired first. Kid Rickard spun and fell. Norton saw him drop but lost +sight of him before the body struck the earth. He had found del Rio; +del Rio had found him. +</P> + +<P> +Two smoking revolvers were jerked up, two guns spoke through the clamor +as one gun. The men were not ten feet apart as their guns spoke. +Norton felt a bullet rip along his outer arm, the sensation that of a +whip-lash cutting deep. He saw del Rio stagger back under the impact +of a forty-five-caliber bullet which must have merely grazed him, since +it did not knock him off his feet. Del Rio, his lips streaming his +curses and hatred, fired again. But his wound had been sorer than +Norton's, his aim was less steady, and now as he gave back it was to +fall heavily and lie still. +</P> + +<P> +It had lasted less than five minutes. "It's Jim Galloway's fight and +Galloway don't come!" some one had shouted. They broke again, gave +back and back . . . and then were running, every man of them scenting +defeat and much worse than defeat unless he came to a horse before +another five minutes. And after them, firing now as they ran, came +Brocky's cowboys and Norton's men. +</P> + +<P> +"They've got all of their horses over there together," yelled Brocky +into Norton's ear. "The horses for those Ginneys who have been hiding +out in the mountains, too. That's why I cut in between them that way. +Now if we can only scatter their cayuses . . . why, Roddy, we'll have +every damned one of 'em afoot to be rounded up when we get ready!" +</P> + +<P> +And Brocky, limping as he went, had raced along after the others. +</P> + +<P> +But Norton did not follow. His eyes had gone to the horses which he +and the San Juan men had left beyond the little line of boulders. And, +travelling that way, he had seen a lone horseman far off to the south, +a horseman riding frantically, seeking to come to the lower slopes of +Mt. Temple. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BELLS RING +</H4> + +<P> +"Galloway!" +</P> + +<P> +It seemed almost as though some great voice had shouted it to him +through the din. Yonder, riding on his spurs, come at this late +moment, was Jim Galloway. The man responsible for all of to-night's +bloodshed, for the disappearance of Florrie, for the death of Billy +Norton. + +"Coming, Jim Galloway!" +</P> + +<P> +Did he say it? Or again was it a voice shouting to him, urging him on? +He looked off to the east. Flying forms everywhere with other racing +forms pursuing, firing as they ran. Horses jerking back, rearing, +breaking away from the few men guarding them. Full defeat for Jim +Galloway there. But to the west? Galloway coming on at top speed, +shouting as he came, and, upon the mountain's lower slope the others of +Galloway's men, armed and bloodthirsty. If Galloway came to them, +whipped them with his tongue, stirring them with his magnetism . . . +why, then, the fight was all to be fought over. +</P> + +<P> +Now again Norton, too, was running, bearing down upon the straggling +horses. He caught up the first dragging reins to lay his hand to, +swung up into the saddle, measured swiftly the distance between +Galloway and the men on the mountain . . . and used his spurs. +</P> + +<P> +On came Jim Galloway, his wide, heavy shoulders not to be mistaken in +the rich moonlight, his hat gone, his head up, a rifle across the +saddle in front of him. Norton lost sight of him as he swept down into +the bed of the arroyo, caught sight of him again from the farther side. +Already Galloway was appreciably nearer his men, driving his horse +mercilessly. +</P> + +<P> +"If he comes to his crowd before I can stop him," was Norton's thought, +"he'll put his game across on us yet. I've got to head him off and +take the chances." +</P> + +<P> +Nor were the odds to be overlooked. Galloway was still too far away to +be stopped by a rifle-ball, and Norton, heading him off, would expose +himself not only to Galloway's fire but to that of the men who were +moving to a lower slope to meet their leader. And yet, with fate in +the balance, here was no time for hesitation. +</P> + +<P> +Now Galloway had seen him, had recognized him, perhaps, the thought +coming naturally to him that it would be Roderick Norton who rode to +cut him off. He shifted his rifle so that his right hand was on the +grip, the barrel caught in his left; he had dropped his horse's reins. +Norton was slipping a fresh clip into his gun, his own reins now upon +his horse's neck. And now both men knew that unless a bullet stopped +him Norton would cut across Galloway's path before he could come to his +men. +</P> + +<P> +"At him, Roddy, old boy! We're coming!" +</P> + +<P> +Norton glanced over his shoulder and pressed on. Brocky had missed +him, had seen, had called back a half dozen of his men and was +following. Well, if he dropped, maybe Brocky and the others could get +Jim Galloway. It really began to look as though Galloway had played +out his string. +</P> + +<P> +They were firing from the mountainside now, the bullets thus far flying +wild of their rushing target. Norton shook his head and urged his +horse to fresh endeavor. In a moment he would be fairly between +Galloway and Galloway's last chance. His eye picked out the spot where +he would dismount at that moment, a tumble of big boulders. He would +swing down so that they would be between him and the mountain, so that +nothing but moonlit open space lay between him and Jim Galloway. +</P> + +<P> +While rifles cracked and spat fire and sprayed lead over him and about +him he rode the last fifty yards. He reached the boulders, set his +horse up, threw himself from the saddle, and with his back to the rock, +his face toward Galloway, he lifted his rifle. Galloway, almost at the +same instant, jerked in his own horse. He was so close that Norton +caught his cry of rage. +</P> + +<P> +"Hands up, Galloway!" cried the sheriff. "Hands up or I'll drop you." +</P> + +<P> +But at last Galloway had come out into the open; at last there was no +subterfuge to stand forth at his need; at last, gambler that he was, he +accepted the even break of man to man. As Norton's voice rang out +Galloway fired. +</P> + +<P> +He shot twice before Norton pulled the trigger. Norton shot but the +once. Galloway dropped his rifle, sat rigid a moment, toppled from the +saddle. And his men, seeing him go down, cried out to one another and +drew back into the mountain cañons. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Funny thing," said Brocky Lane afterward. "Had the picture of a kid +of a girl in his pocket! Must have carted it around for a year. Old +Roddy's bullet tore right square through it." +</P> + +<P> +It was a picture of Florrie Engle, taken years before. As Brocky said: +"Just a kid of a girl." Where he got it nobody knew. But then there +were other things about Jim Galloway which no one knew. Perhaps . . . +Quien sabe! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +During the late hours of the night and the following forenoon the thing +was ended. Sheriff Roberts's deputies with a posse in automobiles had +raced southward, intercepting those other cars despatched toward the +border by the Kid and del Rio. Brocky Lane with a score of men had +swept down upon the stolen herds, scattered them, fired fifty shots, +emptied some three or four saddles, and sent the escaping rustlers +flying toward the Mexican line. Singly and in small groups other men, +farmers, cowboys, miners, and the dwellers of small settlements, joined +with Norton's men, giving battle to those of Galloway's crowd who had +drawn back into the fastnesses of Mt. Temple. In the afternoon Norton, +with the aid of a handful of cowboys from Brocky's outfit and from Las +Flores, escorted fifteen anxious-faced prisoners to the county-seat, +where jail capacity was to be taxed. And night had come again, serene +and peaceful with the glory of the moon and stars, when he rode once +more into San Juan, sore and saddle-weary. +</P> + +<P> +At the hotel he learned that Virginia had gone to the Engles. He left +his jaded horse with Ignacio and walked down the street. In front of +the Casa Blanca he stopped a moment, staring musingly at the solid +adobe walls gleaming white in the moonlight. The place was quiet, +deserted. No single light winked at him through door or window. It +seemed to him to be brooding over the passing of Jim Galloway. +</P> + +<P> +He found Florrie and Elmer strolling under the cottonwoods. They had +scant interest in him, little time to bestow upon a mere mortal. +Florrie could only cry ecstatically that Black Bill was a hero! He, +all alone, had terrorized the Mexican woman guarding her, had saved +her, had brought her back. And Elmer could only look pleased and +stammer and whisper to Fluff to be still. +</P> + +<P> +Virginia had heard his voice, the voice she had been listening for +throughout so many long hours, and met him before he had come to the +door. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, thank God, thank God!" she cried softly. "But . . . you are hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +He forgot his wound as both arms closed about her. From somewhere at +the rear of the house he heard Mrs. Engle's voice crying eagerly; "It's +Roddy!" She was hurrying to greet him. What he had to say must be +said briefly. +</P> + +<P> +"My work is done," he said quickly. "I have put in my resignation this +afternoon. They can get a new sheriff. I am going to be a rancher, my +dear. And, Virginia . . ." +</P> + +<P> +He was whispering to her, his lips close to her hair. And Virginia, +though her face was suddenly hot with the flush mounting to her brow, +gave him steadily for answer: +</P> + +<P> +"Whenever you wish, Rod Norton!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +So it was only twenty-four hours later that Ignacio Chavez stood in the +old Mission garden and made his bells talk, just the three upon the +western arch, the Little One, La Golondrina, and Ignacio Chavez, the +golden-throated trio that tinkled to the touch of his cunning hand and +seemed to laugh and sing and proclaim the gladdest of glad tidings. +Then Ignacio drew his enrapt gaze earthward from the full moon and made +out a man and a girl riding out into the night, riding toward the Ranch +of the Flowers. And he made the bells laugh again. +</P> + +<P> +"And to-morrow," vowed Ignacio solemnly, "not later than to-morrow or +the day thereafter, you shall have your reward, <I>amigos</I>. You have +told the world of heavy doings; you have rung for Jim Galloway dead; +you have made the music for the wedding of <I>el</I> Señor Nortone. And it +shall be I who will make a little roof like a house over you. You will +see!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 15438-h.txt or 15438-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/4/3/15438">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/4/3/15438</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Bells of San Juan + + +Author: Jackson Gregory + +Release Date: March 22, 2005 [eBook #15438] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15438-h.htm or 15438-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/4/3/15438/15438-h/15438-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/4/3/15438/15438-h.zip) + + + + + +THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN + +A Novel + +by + +JACKSON GREGORY + +Author of _Judith of Blue Lake Ranch_, _The Joyous Trouble Maker_, +_Man to Man_, etc. + +Illustrated by Frank Tenney Johnson + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers + +1919 + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Having come closer he reined in his horse, stared at her +a moment in surprised wonderment. . .] + + + + +TO + +RODERICK NORTON GREGORY + + + + +CONTENTS + + +FOREWORD--THE BELLS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE BELLS RING + II. THE SHERIFF OF SAN JUAN + III. A MAN'S BOOTS + IV. AT THE BANKER'S HOME + V. IN THE DARKNESS OF THE PATIO + VI. A RIDE THROUGH THE NIGHT + VII. IN THE HOME OF CLIFF-DWELLERS + VIII. JIM GALLOWAY'S GAME + IX. YOUNG PAGE COMES TO TOWN + X. A BRIBE AND A THREAT + XI. THE FIGHT AT LA CASA BLANCA + XII. WAVERING IN THE BALANCE + XIII. CONCEALMENT + XIV. A FREE MAN + XV. THE KING'S PALACE + XVI. THE MEXICAN FROM MEXICO + XVII. A STACK OF GOLD PIECES + XVIII. DESIRE OUTWEIGHS DISCRETION + XIX. DEADLOCK + XX. FLUFF AND BLACK BILL + XXI. A CRISIS + XXII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END + XXIII. THE STRONG HAND OF GALLOWAY + XXIV. IN THE OPEN + XXV. THE BATTLE IN THE ARROYO + XXVI. THE BELLS RING + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Having come closer he reined in his horse, stared at her a moment in +surprised wonderment . . . . Frontispiece + +Then came the second meeting with Jim Galloway + +"Come, and I'll share my secret with you" + +On through the bright moonlight came the sheriff's posse + + + + + +FOREWORD + +THE BELLS + +He who has not heard the bells of San Juan has a journey yet to make. +He who has not set foot upon the dusty road which is the one street of +San Juan, at times the most silent and deserted of thoroughfares, at +other times a mad and turbulent lane between sun-dried adobe walls, may +yet learn something of man and his hopes, desires, fears and ruder +passions from a pin-point upon the great southwestern map. + +The street runs due north and south, pointing like a compass to the +flat gray desert in the one direction, and in the other to the broken +hills swept up into the San Juan mountains. At the northern end, that +is toward the more inviting mountains, is the old Mission. To right +and left of the whitewashed corridors in a straggling garden of +pear-trees and olives and yellow roses are two rude arches made of +seasoned cedar. From the top cross-beam of each hang three bells. + +They have their history, these bells of San Juan, and the biggest with +its deep, mellow voice, the smallest with its golden chimes, seem to be +chanting it when they ring. Each swinging tongue has its tale to tell, +a tale of old Spain, of Spanish galleons and Spanish gentlemen +adventurers, of gentle-voiced priests and sombre-eyed Indians, of +conquest, revolt, intrigue, and sudden death. When a baby is born in +San Juan, a rarer occurrence than a strong man's death, the littlest of +the bells upon the western arch laughs while it calls to all to +hearken; when a man is killed, the angry-toned bell pendant from the +eastern arch shouts out the word to go billowing across the stretches +of sage and greasewood and gama-grass; if one of the later-day frame +buildings bursts into flame, Ignacio Chavez warns the town with a +strident clamor, tugging frantically; be it wedding or discovery of +gold or returns from the county elections, the bell-ringer cunningly +makes the bells talk. + +Out on the desert a man might stop and listen, forming his surmise as +the sounds surged to meet him through the heat and silence. He might +smile, if he knew San Juan, as he caught the jubilant message tapped +swiftly out of the bronze bell which had come, men said, with Coronado; +he might sigh at the lugubrious, slow-swelling voice of the big bell +which had come hitherward long ago with the retinue of Marco de Niza, +wondering what old friend or enemy, perchance, had at last closed his +ears to all of Ignacio Chavez's music. Or, at a sudden fury of +clanging, the man far out on the desert might hurry on, goading his +burro impatiently, to know what great event had occurred in the old +adobe town of San Juan. + +It is three hundred and fifty years and more since the six bells of San +Juan came into the new world to toll across that land of quiet mystery +which is the southwest. It is a hundred years since an +all-but-forgotten priest, Francisco Calderon, found them in various +devastated mission churches, assembled them, and set them chiming in +the old garden. There, among the pear-trees and olives and yellow +roses, they still cast their shadows in sun and moonlight, in silence, +and in echoing chimes. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BELLS RING + +Ignacio Chavez, Mexican that he styled himself, Indian that the +community deemed him, or "breed" of badly mixed blood that he probably +was, made his loitering way along the street toward the Mission. A +thin, yellowish-brown _cigarita_ dangling from his lips, his wide, +dilapidated conical hat tilted to the left side of his head in a +listless sort of concession to the westering sun, he was, as was +customary with him, utterly at peace. Ten minutes ago he had had +twenty cents; two minutes after the acquisition of his elusive wealth +he had exchanged the two dimes for whiskey at the Casa Blanca; the +remaining eight minutes of the ten he required to make his way, as he +naively put it, "between hell and heaven." + +For from a corner of the peaceful old Mission garden at one end of the +long street one might catch a glimpse of the Casa Blanca at the other +end sprawling in the sun; between the two sturdy walled buildings had +the town strung itself as it grew. As old a relic as the church itself +was La Casa Blanca, and since San Juan could remember, in all matters +antipodal to the religious calm of the padres' monument. Deep-shaded +doorways let into the three-feet-thick earthen walls, waxed floors, +green tables, and bar and cool looking-glasses . . . a place which +invited, lured, held, and frequently enough finally damned. + +San Juan, in the languid philosophy of Ignacio Chavez, was what you +will. It epitomized the universe. You had everything here which the +soul of man might covet. Never having dwelt elsewhere since his mother +bore him here upon the rim of the desert and with the San Juan +mountains so near that, Ignacio Chavez pridefully knew, a man standing +upon the Mesa Alta might hear the ringing of his bells, he experienced +a pitying contempt for all those other spots in the world which were so +plainly less favored. What do you wish, senor? Fine warm days? You +have them here. Nice cool nights for sound slumber? Right here in San +Juan, _amigo mio_. A desert across which the eye may run without +stopping until it be tired, a wonderful desert whereon at dawn and dusk +God weaves all of the alluring soft mists of mystery? Shaded canons at +noonday with water and birds and flowers? Behold the mountains. +Everything desirable, in short. That there might be men who desired +the splash of waves, the sheen of wet beaches, the boom of surf, did +not suggest itself to one who had never seen the ocean. So, then, San +Juan was "what you will." A man may fix his eye upon the little +Mission cross which is always pointing to heaven and God; or he may +pass through the shaded doors of the Casa Blanca, which, men say, give +pathway into hell the shortest way. + +Ignacio, having meditatively enjoyed his whiskey and listened smilingly +to the tinkle of a mandolin in the _patio_ under a grape-vine arbor, +had rolled his cigarette and turned his back square upon the +devil . . . of whom he had no longer anything to ask. As he went out +he stopped in the doorway long enough to rub his back against a corner +of the wall and to strike a match. Then, almost inaudibly humming the +mandolin air, he slouched out into the burning street. + +For twenty years he had striven with the weeds in the Mission garden, +and no man during that time dared say which had had the best of it, +Ignacio Chavez or the interloping alfileria and purslane. In the +matters of a vast leisureliness and tumbling along the easiest way they +resembled each other, these two avowed enemies. For twenty years he +had looked upon the bells as his own, had filled his eye with them day +after day, had thought the first thing in the morning to see that they +were there, regarding them as solicitously in the rare rainy weather as +his old mother regarded her few mongrel chicks. Twenty full years, and +yet Ignacio Chavez was not more than thirty years old, or thirty-five, +perhaps. He did not know, no one cared. + +He was on his way to attack with his bare brown hands some of the weeds +which were spilling over into the walk which led through the garden and +to the priest's house. As a matter of fact he had awakened with this +purpose in mind, had gone his lazy way all day fully purposing to give +it his attention, and had at last arrived upon the scene. The front +gate had finally broken, the upper hinge worn out; Ignacio carefully +set the ramshackly wooden affair back against the fence, thinking how +one of these days he would repair it. Then he went between the bigger +pear-tree and the _lluvia de oro_ which his own hands had planted +here, and stood with legs well apart considering the three bells upon +the easterly arch. + +"_Que hay, amigos_?" he greeted them. "Do you know what I am going to +do for you some fine day? I will build a little roof over you that +runs down both ways to shut out the water when it rains. It will make +you hoarse, too much wet." + +That was one of the few dreams of Ignacio's life; one day he was going +to make a little roof over each arch. But to-day he merely regarded +affectionately the Captain . . . that was the biggest of the +bells . . . the Dancer, second in size, and Lolita, the smallest upon +this arch. Then he sighed and turned toward the other arch across the +garden to see how it was with the Little One, La Golondrina, and +Ignacio Chavez. For it was only fair that at least one of the six +should bear his name. + +Changing his direction thus, moving directly toward the dropping sun, +he shifted his hat well over his eyes and so was constrained to note +how the weeds were asserting themselves with renewed insolence. He +muttered a soft "_maldito_!" at them which might have been mistaken +for a caress and determined upon a merciless campaign of extermination +just as soon as he could have fitted a new handle to his hoe. Then he +paused in front of the Mission steps and lifted his hat, made an +elegant bow, and smiled in his own inimitable, remarkably fascinating +way. For, under the ragged brim, his eyes had caught a glimpse of a +pretty pair of patent-leather slippers, a prettier pair of +black-stockinged ankles, and the hem of a white starched skirt. + +Nowhere are there eyes like the eyes of old Mexico. Deep and soft and +soulful, though the man himself may have a soul like a bit of charred +leather; velvety and tender, though they may belong to an out-and-out +cutthroat; expressive, eloquent even, though they are the eyes of a +peon with no mind to speak of; night-black, and like the night filled +with mystery. Ignacio Chavez lifted such eyes to the eyes of the girl +who had been watching him and spontaneously gave her the last iota of +his ready admiration. + +"It is a fine day, senorita," he told her, displaying two glistening +rows of superb teeth friendliwise. "And the garden . . . _Ah, que hay +mas bonito en todo el mundo_? You like it, no?" + +It was slow music when Ignacio Chavez spoke, all liquid sounds and +tender cadences. When he had cursed the weeds it was like love-making. +A _d_ in his mouth became a softened _th_; from the lips of such as +the bell-ringer of San Juan the snapping Gringo oath comes +metamorphosed into a gentle "Gah-tham!" The girl, to whom the speech +of Chavez was something as new and strange as the face of the earth +about her, regarded him with grave, curious eyes. + +She was seated against the Mission wall upon the little bench which no +one but Ignacio guessed was to be painted green one of these fine days, +a bronze-haired, gray-eyed girl in white skirt and waist, and with a +wide panama hat caught between her clasped hands and her knee. For a +moment she was perhaps wondering how to take him; then with a +suddenness that had been all unheralded in her former gravity, she +smiled. With lips and eyes together as though she accepted his +friendship. Ignacio's own smile broadened and he nodded his delight. + +"It is truly beautiful here," she admitted, and had Ignacio possessed a +tithe of that sympathetic comprehension which his eyes lied about he +would have detected a little note of eagerness in her voice, would have +guessed that she was lonely and craved human companionship. "I have +been sitting here an hour or two. You are not going to send me away, +are you?" + +Ignacio looked properly horrified. + +"If I saw an angel here in the garden, senorita," he exclaimed, "would +I say _zape_ to it? No, no, senorita; here you shall stay a thousand +years if you wish. I swear it." + +He was all sincerity; Ignacio Chavez would no sooner think of being +rude to a beautiful young woman than of crying "Scat!" to an angel. +But as to staying here a thousand years . . . she glanced through the +tangle of the garden to the tiny graveyard and shook her head. + +"You have just come to San Juan?" he asked. "To-day?" + +"Yes," she told him. "On the stage at noon." + +"You have friends here?" + +Again she shook her head. + +"Ah," said Ignacio. He straightened for a brief instant and she could +see how the chest under his shirt inflated. "A tourist. You have +heard of this garden, maybe? And the bells? So you travelled across +the desert to see?" + +The third time she shook her head. + +"I have come to live here," she returned quietly. + +"But not all alone, senorita!" + +"Yes." She smiled at him again. "All alone." + +"Mother of God!" he said within himself. And presently to her: "I did +not see the stage come to-day; in San Juan one takes his siesta at that +hour. And it is not often that the stage brings new people from the +railroad." + +In some subtle way he had made of his explanation an apology. While +his slow brown fingers rolled a cigarette he stared away through the +garden and across the desert with an expression half melancholy, half +merely meditative, which made the girl wonder what his thoughts were. +When she came to know him better she would know too that at times like +this he was not thinking at all. + +"I believe this is the most profoundly peaceful place in the world," +she said quietly, half listlessly setting into words the impression +which had clung about her throughout the long, still day. "It is like +a strange dream-town, one sees no one moving about, hears nothing. It +is just a little sad, isn't it?" + +He had followed her until the end, comprehending. But sad? How that? +It was just as it should be; to ears which had never been filled with +the noises or rushing trains and cars and all of the traffic of a city, +what sadness could there be in the very natural calm of the rim of the +desert? Having no satisfactory reply to make, Ignacio merely muttered, +"Si, senorita," somewhat helplessly and let it go with that. + +"Tell me," she continued, sitting up a little and seeming to throw off +the oppressively heavy spell of her environment, "who are the important +people hereabouts?" + +_La gente_? Oh, Ignacio knew them well, all of them! There was Senor +Engle, to begin with. The banker of whom no doubt she had heard? He +owned a big _residencia_ just yonder; you could catch the gleam of its +white walls through a clump of cottonwoods, withdrawn aloofly from San +Juan's street. Many men worked for him; he had big cattle and sheep +ranches throughout the county; he paid well and loaned out much money. +Also he had a beautiful wife and a truly marvellously beautiful +daughter. And horses such as one could not look upon elsewhere. Then +there was Senor Nortone, as Ignacio pronounced him; a sincere friend of +Ignacio Chavez and a man fearless and true and extravagantly to be +admired, who, it appeared, was the sheriff. Not a family man; he was +too young yet. But soon; oh, one could see! It would be Ignacio who +would ring the bells for the wedding when Roderico Nortone married +himself with the daughter of the banker. + +"He is what you call a gunman, isn't he?" asked the girl, interested. +"I heard two of the men on the stage talking of him. They called him +Roddy Norton; he is the one, isn't he?" + +_Seguro_; sure, he was the one. A gunman? Ignacio shrugged. He was +sheriff, and what must a sheriff be if not a gunman? + +"On the stage," continued the girl, "was a man they called Doc; and +another named Galloway. They are San Juan men, are they not?" + +Ignacio lifted his brows a shade disdainfully. They were both San Juan +citizens, but obviously not to his liking. Jim Galloway was a big man, +yes; but of _la gente_, never! The senorita should look the other way +when he passed. He owned the Casa Blanca; that was enough to ticket +him, and Ignacio passed quickly to _el senor doctor_. Oh, he was +smart and did much good to the sick; but the poor Mexican who called +him for a bedridden wife must first sell something and show the money. + +Beyond these it appeared that the enviable class of San Juan consisted +of the padre Jose, who was at present and much of the time away +visiting the poor and sick throughout the countryside; Julius Struve, +who owned and operated the local hotel, one of the lesser luminaries, +though a portly gentleman with an amiable wife; the Porters, who had a +farm off to the northwest and whose connection to San Juan lay in the +fact that an old maid daughter taught the school here; various other +individuals and family groups to be disposed of with a word and a +careless wave of a cigarette. Already for the fair stranger Ignacio +had skimmed the cream of the cream. + +The girl sighed, as though her question had been no idle one and his +reply had disappointed her. For a moment her brows gathered slightly +into a frown that was like a faint shadow; then she smiled again +brightly, a quick smile which seemed more at home in her eyes than the +frown had been. + +Ignacio glanced from her to the weeds, then, squinting his eyes, at the +sun. There was ample time, it would be cooler presently. So, +describing a respectful arc about her, he approached the Mission wall, +slipped into the shade, and eased himself in characteristic indolence +against the white-washed adobe. She appeared willing to talk with him; +well, then, what pleasanter way to spend an afternoon? She sought to +learn this and that of a land new to her; who to explain more knowingly +than Ignacio Chavez? After a little he would pluck some of the newly +opened yellow rosebuds for her, making her a little speech about +herself and budding flowers. He would even, perhaps, show her his +bells, let her hear just the suspicion of a note from each. . . . + +A sharp sound came to her abruptly out of the utter stillness but meant +nothing to her. She saw a flock of pigeons rise above the roofs of the +more distant houses, circle, swerve, and disappear beyond the +cottonwoods. She noted that Ignacio was no longer leaning lazily +against the wall; he had stiffened, his mouth was a little open, +breathless, his attitude that of one listening expectantly, his eyes +squinting as they had been just now when he fronted the sun. Then came +the second sound, a repetition of the first, sharp, in some way +sinister. Then another and another and another, until she lost count; +a man's voice crying out strangely, muffled. Indistinct, seeming to +come from afar. + +It was an incongruous, almost a humorous, thing to see the sun-warmed +passivity of Ignacio Chavez metamorphosed in a flash into activity. He +muttered something, leaped away from the Mission wall, dashed through +the tangle of the garden, and raced like a madman to the eastern arch. +With both hands he grasped the dangling bell-ropes, with all of his +might he set them clanging and shouting and clamoring until the +reverberation smote her ears and set the blood tingling strangely +through her. She had seen the look upon his face. . . . + +Suddenly she knew that those little sharp sounds had been the rattle of +pistol-shots. She sprang to her feet, her eyes widening. Now all was +quiet save for the boom and roar of the bells. The pigeons were +circling high in the clear sky, were coming back. . . . She went +quickly the way Ignacio had gone, calling out to him: + +"What is it?" + +He seemed all unmoved now as he made his bells cry out for him; it was +for him to be calm while they trembled with the event which surely they +must understand. + +"It is a man dead," he told her as his right hand called upon the +Captain for a volume of sound from his bronze throat. "You will see. +And there will be more work for Roderico Nortone!" He sighed and shook +his head, and for a moment spoke softly with his jangling bells. "And +some day," he continued quietly, "it will be Roderico's time, _no_? +And I will ring the bells for him, and the Captain and the Dancer and +Lolita, they will all put tears into men's eyes. But first, Santa +Maria! let it be that I ring the others for him when he marries himself +with the banker's daughter." + +"A man dead?" the girl repeated, unwilling to grasp fully. + +"You will see," returned Ignacio. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SHERIFF OF SAN JUAN + +The girl in the old Mission garden stood staring at Ignacio Chavez a +long time, seeming compelled by a force greater than her own to watch +him tugging and jerking at his bells. Plainly enough she understood +that this was an alarm being sounded; a man dead through violence, and +the bell-ringer stirring the town with it. But when presently he let +two of the ropes slip out of his hands and began a slow, mournful +tolling of the Captain alone, she shuddered a little and withdrew. + +That it might be merely a case of a man wounded, even badly, did not +once suggest itself to her. Ignacio had spoken as one who knew, in +full confidence and with finality. She should see! She returned to +the little bench which one day was to be a bright green, and sat down. +She could see that again the pigeons were circling excitedly; that from +the baking street little puffs of dust arose to hang idly in the still +air as though they were painted upon the clear canvas of the sky. She +heard the voices of men, faint, quick sounds against the tolling of the +bell. Then suddenly all was very still once more; Ignacio had allowed +the Captain to resume his silent brooding, and came to her. + +"I must go to see who it is," he apologized. "Then I will know better +how to ring for him. The sheepman from Las Palmas, I bet you. For did +I not see when just now I passed the Casa Blanca that he was a little +drunk with Senor Galloway's whiskey? And does not every one know he +sold many sheep and that means much money these days? Si, senorita; it +will be the sheepman from Las Palmas." + +He was gone, slouching along again and in no haste now that he had +fulfilled his first duty. What haste could there possibly be since, +sheepman from Las Palmas or another, he was dead and therefore must +wait upon Ignacio Chavez's pleasure? Somehow she gleaned this thought +from his manner and therefore did not speak as she watched him depart. + +That portion of the street which she could see from her bench was +empty, the dust settling, thinning, disappearing. Farther down toward +the Casa Blanca she could imagine the little knots of men asking one +another what had happened and how; the chief actor in this fragment of +human drama she could picture lying inert, uncaring that it was for him +that a bell had tolled and would toll again, that men congregated +curiously. + +In a little while Ignacio would return, shuffling, smoking a dangling +cigarette, his hat cocked against the sun; he would give her full +particulars and then return to his bell. . . . She had come to San +Juan to make a home here, to become a part of it, to make it a portion +of her. To arrive upon a day like this was no pleasant omen; it was +too dreadfully like taking a room in a house only to hear the life +rattling out of a man beyond a partition. She was suddenly averse to +hearing Ignacio's details; there came a quick desire to set her back to +the town whose silence on the heels of uproar crushed her. Rising +hastily, she hurried down the weed-bordered walk, out at the broken +gate, and turned toward the mountains. One glance down the street as +she crossed it showed her what she had expected: a knot of men at the +door of the Casa Blanca, another small group at a window, evidently +taking stock of a broken window-pane. + +The sun, angry and red, was hanging low over a distant line of hills, +the flat lands were already drawing about them a thin, faintly colorful +haze. She had put on her hat and, like Ignacio, had set it a little to +the side of her head, feeling her cheeks burning when the direct rays +found them. The fine, loose soil was sifting into her low slippers +before she had gone a score of paces. When she came back she would +unpack her trunk and get out a sensible pair of boots. No doubt she +was dressed ridiculously, but then the heat had tempted her. . . . + +A curious matter presented itself to her. In the little groups upon +the street she had not seen a single woman. Were there none in San +Juan? Was this some strange, altogether masculine, community into +which she had stumbled? Then she remembered how the bell-ringer had +mentioned Mrs. Engle, the banker's wife, and his daughter and Mrs. +Struve and others. Besides all this she had a letter to Mrs. Engle +which she was going to present this evening. . . . + +She was thinking of anything in the world but of a tragedy not yet +grown cold, so near her that for a little it had seemed to embrace her. +Now it was almost as though it had not occurred. The world was all +unchanged about her, the town somnolent. She had shuddered as Ignacio +played upon his bell; but the shudder was rather from the bell's +resonant eloquence than from any more vital cause. A man she had never +seen, whose name even she did not know, had been shot by another man +unknown to her; she had heard only the shots, she had seen nothing. +True, she had heard also a voice crying out, but she sensed that it had +been the voice of an onlooker. She felt ashamed that the episode did +not move her more. + +As, earlier in the afternoon, she had been drawn from the heat of her +room at Struve's hotel by the shade to be found in the Mission garden, +so now did a long, wavering line of cottonwoods beckon to her. In +files which turned eastward or westward here and there only to come +back to the general northerly trend, they indicated where an arroyo +writhed down, tortured serpent-wise, from the mountains. Through their +foliage she had glimpsed the Engle home. She expected to find running +water under their shade, that and an attendant coolness. + +But the arroyo proved to be dry and hot, a gash in the dry bosom of the +earth, its bottom strewn with smooth pebbles and sand and a very +sparse, unattractive vegetation, stunted and harsh. And it was almost +as hot here as on San Juan's street; into the shade crept the +heat-waves of the dry, scorched air. + +Led by the line of cottonwoods she found a little path and followed it, +experiencing a vague relief to have the town at her back. She knew +that distances deceived the eye in this bleak land, and yet she thought +that before dark she could reach the hills, where perhaps there were a +few languid flowers and pools, and return just tired enough to eat and +go to sleep. She rather thought that she would postpone her call on +the Engles until to-morrow. + +"It's manana-land, after all," she told herself with a quick smile. + +Half an hour later she found a spot where the trees stood in a denser +growth, looking greener, more vigorous . . . less thirsty. She could +fancy the great roots, questing far downward through the layers of dry +soil, thrusting themselves almost with a human, passionate eagerness +into the water they had found. Here she threw herself down, lying upon +her back, gazing up through the branches and leaves. + +Never until now had she known the meaning of utter stillness. She saw +a bird, a poor brown, unkempt little being; it had no song to offer the +silence, and in a little flew away listlessly. She had seen a rabbit, +a big, gaunt, uncomely wretch, disappearing silently among the clumps +of brush. + +Her spirit, essentially bright and happy, had striven hard with a new +form of weariness all day. Not only was she coming into another land +than that which she knew and understood, she was entering another phase +of her life. She had chosen voluntarily, without advice or suggestion; +she had had her reasons and they had seemed sufficient; they were still +sufficient. She had chosen wisely; she held to that, her judgment +untroubled. But that stubbornly recurrent sense that with the old +landmarks she had abandoned the old life, that both in physical fact +and in spiritual and mental actuality she was at the threshold of an +unguessed, essentially different life, was disquieting. There is no +getting away from an old basic truth that a man's life is so strongly +influenced as almost to be moulded by his environment; there was +uneasiness in the thought that here one's existence might grow to +resemble his habitat, taking on the gray tone and monotony and bleak +barrenness of this sun-smitten land. + +Yielding a little already to the command laid upon breathing nature +hereabouts, she was lying still, her hands lax, her thoughts taking +unto themselves something of the character of the listless, songless +brown bird's flight. She had come here to-day following in the +footsteps of other men and a few women. Her own selection of San Juan +was explicable; the thing to wonder at was what had given the hardihood +to the first men to stop here and make houses and then homes? Later +she would know; the one magic word of the desert lands: water. For San +Juan, standing midway between the railroad and the more tempting lands +beyond the mountains, had found birth because here was a mud-hole for +cradle; down under the sand were fortuitous layers of impervious clay +cupping to hold much sweet water. + +The slow tolling of a bell came billowing out through the silence. The +girl sat up. It was the Captain. Never, it seemed to her, had she +heard anything so mournful. Ignacio had informed himself concerning +all details and had returned to the garden at the Mission. The man was +dead, then. There could be no doubt as one listened to the measured +sorrowing of the big bell. + +She got to her feet and, walking swiftly, moved on, still farther from +San Juan. The act was without premeditation; her whole being was +insistent upon it. She wondered if it was the sheepman from Las +Palmas; if he had, perhaps, a wife and children. Then she stopped +suddenly; a new thought had come to her. Strange, inexplicable even, +it had not suggested itself before. She wondered who the other man +was, the man who had done the killing. And what had happened to him? +Had he fled? Had other men grappled with him, disarmed him, made of +him a prisoner to answer for what he had done? What had been his +motive, what passion had actuated him Surely not just the greed for +gold which the bell-ringer had suggested! What sort of creature was he +who, in cold, calculating blood could murder a man for a handful of +money? + +There was nothing to answer unless she could catch the thought of +Ignacio Chavez in the ringing of his bell. She moved on again, +hurrying. + +Following the arroyo, she had come to the first of the little, smooth +hills, the lomas as the men on the stage had named them. Through them +the dry watercourse wriggled, carrying its green pennons along its +marge. She went up gentle slopes mantled with bleached grass which +directly under her eyes was white in the glare of the sun. But the sun +was very low now, very fierce and red, an angry god going down in +temporary defeat, but defiant to the last, filled with threat for +to-morrow; at a little distance he tinged the world with his own fiery +hue. The far western uplands cut the great disk squarely in two; down +slipped the half wafer until it seemed that just a bright signal-fire +was kindled upon the ridge. And as that faded from her eyes the slow +sobbing of the swinging bell was like a wail for the death of the day. + +She had removed her hat, fancying that already the earth was throwing +off its heat, that a little coolness and freshness was coming down to +meet her from the mountains. She turned her eyes toward them and it +was then, just after the sunset, that she saw a man riding toward her. +He was still far off when she first glimpsed him, just cresting one of +the higher hills, so that for him the sun had not yet set. For she +caught the glint of light flaming back from the silver chasings of his +bridle and from the barrel of the gun across the hollow of his left +arm. She did not believe that he had seen her in the shadow of the +cottonwoods. + +If she went on she must meet him presently. She glanced back over her +shoulder, noting how far she had come from the town. It was very still +again; the bell had ceased its complaint; the hoofs of the approaching +horse seemed shod with felt, falling upon felt. She swung about and +walked back toward San Juan. + +A little later she heard the man's voice, calling. Clearly to her, +since there was no one else. Why should he call to her? She gave no +sign of having heard, but walked on a trifle faster. She sensed that +he was galloping down upon her; still in the loose sand the hoof-beats +were muffled. Then when he called a second time she stopped and turned +and waited. + +A splendid big fellow he was, she noted as he came on, riding a +splendid big horse. Man and beast seemed to belong to the desert; had +it not been for the glint of the sun she realized now, she probably +would not have distinguished their distant forms from the land across +which they had moved. The horse was a darkish, dull gray; the man, +boots, corduroy breeches, soft shirt, and hat, was garbed in gray or so +covered with the dust of travel as to seem so. + +"What in the world are you doing way out here?" he called to her. And +then having come closer he reined in his horse, stared at her a moment +in surprised wonderment, swept off his hat and said, a shade awkwardly: +"I beg pardon. I thought you were some one else." + +For her wide hat was again drooping about her face, and he had had just +the form of her and the white skirt and waist to judge by. + +"It is all right," she said lightly. "I imagined that you had made a +mistake." + +It was something of a victory over herself to have succeeded in +speaking thus carelessly. For there had been the impulse, a temptation +almost, just to stare back at the man as he had stared at her and in +silence. Not only was the type physically magnificent; to her it was, +like everything about her, new. And that which had held her at first +was his eyes. For it is not the part of youth to be stern-eyed; and +while this man could not be more than midway between twenty and thirty, +his eyes had already acquired the trick of being hard, steely, +suggesting relentlessness, stern and quick. Tall, lean-bodied, with +big calloused hands, as brown as an Indian, hair and eyes were +uncompromisingly black. He belonged to the southwestern wastes. + +These things she noted, and that his face was drawn and weary, that +about his left hand was tied a handkerchief, hinting at a minor cut, +that his horse looked as travel-worn as himself. + +"One doesn't see strangers often around San Juan," he explained. "As +for a girl . . . Well, I never made a mistake like this before. I'll +have to look out." The muscles of the tired face softened a little, +into his eyes came a quick light that was good to see, for an instant +masking their habitual sternness. "If you'll excuse me again, and if +you don't know a whole lot about this country . . ." He paused to +measure her sweepingly, seemed satisfied, and concluded: "I wouldn't +go out all alone like this; especially after sundown. We're a rather +tough lot, you know. Good-by." + +He lifted his hat again, loosened his horse's reins, and passed by her. +Just as she had expected, just as she had desired. And yet, with his +dusty back turned upon her, she experienced a sudden return of her +loneliness. Would she ever look into the eyes of a friend again? +Could she ever actually accomplish what she had set out to accomplish; +make San Juan a home? + +Her eyes followed him, frankly admiring now; so she might have looked +at any other of nature's triumphant creations. Then, before he had +gone a score of yards, she saw how a little tightening of his horse's +reins had brought the big brute down from a swinging gallop to a dead +standstill. The bell was tolling again. + +Again he was calling to her, again, swinging about, he had ridden to +her side. Now his voice like his eyes, was ominously stern. + +"Who is it?" he demanded. + +"I don't know," she told him, marvelling at the look on his face. His +emotion was purely one of anger, mounting anger that a man was dead? +"The man who rings the bells told me that he thought it must be a +sheepman from Las Palmas. He went to see. . . . I didn't wait. . . ." + +Nor did this man wait now. Again he had wheeled; now he was racing +along the arroyo, urging a tired horse that he might lose no +unnecessary handful of moments. And as he went she heard him curse +savagely under his breath and knew that he had forgotten her in the +thoughts which had been released by the dull booming of a bell. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A MAN'S BOOTS + +In the bar at the Casa Blanca, a long, wide room, low-ceilinged and +with cool, sprinkled floor, a score of men had congregated. For the +most part they were silent, content to look at the signs left by the +recent shooting and to have what scraps of explanation were vouchsafed +them. And these were meagre enough. The man who had done the shooting +was sullen and self-contained. The dead man . . . it was the sheepman +from Las Palmas . . . lay in an adjoining card-room, stark under the +blanket which the large hands of Jim Galloway had drawn over him. + +When the clatter of hoofs rang out in the street a couple of men went +to the door. Coming back, "It is the sheriff," they said. + +Roderick Norton, entering swiftly, his spurs dragging and jangling, +swept the faces in the room with eyes which had in them none of that +human glint of good-will which the girl at the arroyo had glimpsed in +them. Again they were steely, angry, bespeaking both threat and +suspicion. + +"Who is it this time?" he demanded sharply. + +"Bisbee, from Las Palmas," they told him. + +"Who did it?" came the quick question. And then, before an answer +could come, his voice ringing with the anger in it: "Antone or Kid +Rickard? Which one?" + +He had shifted his rifle so that it was caught up under his left arm. +His right hand, frank and unhidden, rested upon the butt of the +heavy-caliber revolver sagging from his belt. Standing just within the +room, he had stepped to one side of the doorway so that the wall was at +his back. + +"It was the Kid," some one answered, and was continuing, "He says it +was self-defense . . ." when Norton cut in bluntly: + +"Was Galloway here when it happened?" + +"Yes." + +"Where's Galloway now?" + +It was noteworthy that he asked for Jim Galloway rather than for Kid +Rickard. + +"In there," they told him, indicating a second card-room adjoining that +in which the Las Palmas sheepman lay. Rod Norton, again glancing +sharply across the faces confronting him, went to the closed door and +set his hand to the knob. But Jim Galloway, having desired privacy +just now, had locked the door. Norton struck it sharply, commanding: + +"Open up, Galloway. It's Norton." + +There came the low mutter of a voice hasty and with the quality of +stern exhortation, the snap of the lock, and the door was jerked open. +Norton's eyes, probing into every square foot of the chamber, took +stock of Jim Galloway, and beyond him of Kid Rickard, slouching forward +in a chair and rolling a cigarette. + +"Hello, Norton," said Galloway tonelessly. "Glad you showed up. +There's been trouble." + +A heavy man above the waist-line, thick-shouldered, with large head and +bull throat, his muscular torso tapered down to clean-lined hips, his +legs of no greater girth than those of the lean-bodied man confronting +him, his feet small in glove-fitting boots. His eyes, prominent and +full and a clear brown, were a shade too innocent. Chin, jaw, and +mouth, the latter full-lipped, were those of strength, smashing power, +and a natural cruelty. He was the one man to be found in San Juan who +was dressed as the rather fastidiously inclined business men dress in +the cities. + +"Another man down, Galloway," said Norton with an ominous sternness. +"And in your place. . . How long do you think that you can keep out +from under?" + +His meaning was plain enough; the men behind him in the barroom +listened in attitudes which, varying in other matters, were alike in +their tenseness. Galloway, however, staring stonily with eyes not +unlike polished agate, so cold and steady were they, gave no sign of +taking offense. + +"You and I never were friends, Rod Norton," he said, unmoved. "Still +that's no reason you should jump me for trouble. Answering your +question, I expect to keep out from under just as long as two things +remain as they are: first, as long as I play the game square and in the +open, next, as long as an overgrown boy holds down the job of sheriff +in San Juan." + +In Norton's eyes was blazing hatred, in Galloway's mere steady, +unwinking boldness. + +"You saw the killing?" the sheriff asked curtly. + +"Yes," said Galloway. + +"The Kid there did it?" + +For the first time the man slouching forward in the chair lifted his +head. Had a stranger looked in at that moment, curious to see him who +had just committed homicide . . . or murder . . . he must have +experienced a positive shock. Sullen-eyed, sullen-lipped, the +man-killer could not yet have seen the last of his teens. A thin wisp +of straw-colored hair across a low, atavistic forehead, unhealthy, +yellowish skin, with pale, lack-lustre, faded blue eyes, he looked evil +and vicious and cruel. One looking from him to Jim Galloway would have +suspected that one could be as inhuman as the other, but with the +difference that that which was but means to an end with Galloway would +be end in itself to Kid Rickard. Something of the primal savage shone +in the pale fires of his eyes. + +"Yes," retorted the Kid, his surly voice little better than a snarl. +"I got him and be damned to him!" + +"Bad luck cursing a dead man, Rickard," said Norton coldly. "What did +you kill him for?" + +Kid Rickard's tongue ran back and forth between his colorless lips +before he replied. + +"He tried to get me first," he said defiantly. + +"Who saw the shooting?" + +"Jim Galloway. And Antone." + +Rod Norton grunted his disgust with the situation. + +"Give me your gun," he commanded tersely. + +The Kid frowned. Galloway cleared his throat. Rickard's eyes went to +him swiftly. Then he got to his feet, jerked a thirty-eight-caliber +revolver from the hip pocket of his overalls and held it out, +surrendering it reluctantly. Norton "broke" it, ejecting the +cartridges into his palm. Not an empty shell among them; the Kid had +slipped in a fresh shell for every exploded one. + +"How many times did you shoot?" + +"I don't know. Two or three, I guess. . . . Damn it, do you imagine a +man counts 'em?" + +"What were you and Galloway doing alone in here with the door locked?" + +Galloway cut in sharply: + +"I didn't want any more trouble; I was afraid somebody . . ." + +"Shut up, will you?" cried the sheriff fiercely. "I'll give you all +the chance you want to talk pretty soon. Answer me, Rickard." + +"I told him to lock me up somewhere until you or Tom Cutter come," said +the Kid slowly. "I was afraid somebody might jump me for what I done. +I didn't want no more trouble." + +Norton turned briefly to the crowded room behind him. + +"Anybody know where Cutter is?" he asked. + +It appeared that every one knew. Tom Cutter, Rod Norton's deputy, had +gone in the early morning to Mesa Verde, and would probably return in +the cool of the evening. Frowning, Norton made the best of the +situation, and to gain his purpose called four men out of the crowd. + +"I want you boys to do me a favor," he said. + +"Antone, come here." + +The short, squat half-breed standing behind the bar lifted his heavy +black brows, demanding: + +"_Y porque_? What am I to do?" + +"As you are told," Norton snapped at him. "Benny, you and Dick walk +down the street with Antone; you other boys walk down the other way +with Rickard. If they haven't had all the chance to talk together +already that they want, don't give them any more opportunity. Step up, +Rickard." + +The Kid sulked, but under the look the sheriff turned on him came +forward and went out, his whole attitude remaining one of defiance. +Antone, his swart face as expressionless as a piece of mahogany, +hesitated, glanced at Galloway, shrugged, and did as Rickard had done, +going out between his two guards. The men remaining in the barroom +were watching their sheriff expectantly. He swung about upon Galloway. + +"Now," he said quickly, "who fired the first shot. Galloway?" + +Galloway smiled, went to his bar, poured himself a glass of whiskey, +and standing there, the glass twisting slowly in his fingers, stared +back innocently at his interrogator. + +"Trying the case already, Judge Norton?" he inquired equably. + +"Will you answer?" Norton said coolly. + +"Sure." Galloway kept his look steady upon the sheriff's, and into the +innocence of his eyes there came a veiled insolence. "Bisbee shot +first." + +"Where was he standing?" + +Galloway pointed. + +"Right there." The spot indicated was about three or four feet from +where Norton stood, near the second card-room door. + +"Where was the Kid?" + +"Over there." Again Galloway pointed. "Clean across the room, where +the chair is tumbled over against the table." + +"How many times did Bisbee shoot?" + +Galloway seemed to be trying to remember. He drank his whiskey slowly, +reached over the bar for a cigar, and answered: + +"Twice or three times." + +"How many times did Rickard shoot?" + +"I'm not sure. I'd say about the same; two or three times." + +"Where was Antone standing?" + +"Behind the bar; down at the far end, nearest the door." + +"Where were you?" + +"Leaning against the bar, talking to Antone." + +"What were you talking about?" + +This question came quicker, sharper than the others, as though +calculated to startle Galloway into a quick answer. But the proprietor +of the Casa Blanca was lighting his cigar and took his time. When he +looked up, his eyes told Norton that he had understood any danger which +might lie under a question so simple in the seeming. His eyes were +smiling contemptuously, but there was a faint flush in his cheeks. + +"I don't remember," he replied at last. "Some trifle. The shooting, +coming suddenly that way . . . + +"What started the ruction?" + +"Bisbee had been drinking a little. He seemed to be in the devil's own +temper. He had asked the Kid to have a drink with him, and Rickard +refused. He had his drink alone and then invited the Kid again. +Rickard told him to go to hell. Bisbee started to walk across the room +as though he was going to the card-room. Then he grabbed his gun and +whirled and started shooting." + +"Missing every time, of course?" + +Galloway nodded. + +"You'll remember I said he was carrying enough of a load to make his +aim bad." + +Norton asked half a dozen further questions and then said abruptly: + +"That's all. As you go out will you tell the boys to send Antone in?" + +Again a hint of color crept slowly, dully, into Galloway's cheeks. + +"You're going pretty far, Rod Norton," he said tonelessly. + +"You're damned right I am!" cried Norton ringingly. "And I am going a +lot further, Jim Galloway, before I get through, and you can bet all of +your blue chips on it. I want Antone in here and I want you outside! +Do I get what I want or not?" + +Galloway stood motionless, his cigar clamped tight in his big square +teeth. Then he shrugged and went to the door. + +"If I am standing a good deal off of you," he muttered, hanging on his +heel just before he passed out, "it's because I am as strong as any man +in the county to see the law brought into San Juan. And"--for the +first time yielding outwardly to a display of the emotion riding him, +he spat out venomously and tauntingly--"and we'd have had the law here +long ago had we had a couple of men in the boots of the Nortons, father +and son!" + +Rod Norton's face went a flaming red with anger, his hand grew white +upon the butt of the gun at his side. + +"Some day, Jim Galloway," he said steadily, "I'll get you just as sure +as you got Billy Norton!" + +Galloway laughed and went out. + +To Antone, Norton put the identical questions he had asked of Galloway, +receiving virtually the same replies. Seeking the one opportunity +suggesting itself into tricking the bartender, he asked at the end: + +"Just before the shooting, when you and Galloway were talking and he +told you that Bisbee was looking for trouble, why weren't you ready to +grab him when he went for his gun?" + +Antone was giving his replies as guardedly as Galloway had done. He +took his time now. + +"Because," he began finally, "I do not belief when Senor Galloway speak +that . . ." + +His eyes had been roving from Norton's, going here and there about the +room. Suddenly a startled look came into them and he snapped his mouth +shut. + +"Go on," prompted the sheriff. + +"I don't remember," grunted Antone. "I forget what Senor Galloway say, +what I say. Bisbee say: 'Have a drink.' The Kid say: 'Go to hell.' +Bisbee shoot, one, two, three, like that. I forget what we talk about." + +Norton turned slowly and looked whither Antone had been looking when he +cut his own words off so sharply. The man upon whom his eyes rested +longest was a creased-faced Mexican, Vidal Nunez, who now stood, head +down, making a cigarette. + +"That's all, Antone," Norton said. "Send the Kid in." + +The Kid came, still sullen but swaggering a little, his hat cocked +jauntily to one side, the yellow wisp of hair in his faded eyes. And +he in turn questioned, gave such answers as the two had given before +him. + +Now for the first time the sheriff, stepping across the room, looked +for such evidence as flying lead might have left for him. In the wall +just behind the spot where Bisbee had stood were two bullet holes. +Going to the far end of the room where the chair leaned against the +table, he found that a pane of glass in the window opening upon the +street had been broken. There were no bullet marks upon wall or +woodwork. + +"Bisbee shot two or three times, did he?" he cried, wheeling on the +Kid. "And missed every time? And all the bullets went through the one +hole in the window, I suppose?" + +The Kid shrugged insolently. + +"I didn't watch 'em," he returned briefly. + +Galloway and Antone were allowed to come again into the room, and of +Galloway, quite as though no hot word had passed between them, Norton +asked quietly: + +"Bisbee had a lot of money on him. What happened to it?" + +"In there." Galloway nodded toward the card-room whose door had +remained closed. "In his pocket." + +A few of the morbid followed as the sheriff went into the little room. +Already most of the men had seen and had no further curiosity. Norton +drew the blanket away, noted the wounds, three of them, two at the base +of the throat and one just above the left eye. Then, going through the +sheepman's pockets, he brought out a handful of coins. A few gold, +most of them silver dollars and half-dollars, in all a little over +fifty dollars. + +The dead man lay across two tables drawn together, his booted feet +sticking out stolidly beyond the bed still too short to accommodate his +length of body. Norton's eyes rested on the man's boots longer than +upon the cold face. Then, stepping back to the door so that all in the +barroom might catch the significance of his words, he said sharply: + +"How many men of you know where Bisbee always carried his money when he +was on his way to bank?" + +"In his boots!" answered two voices together. + +"Come this way, boys. Take a look at his boots, will you?" + +And as they crowded about the table, sensing some new development, +Galloway pushing well to the fore, Norton's vibrant voice rang out: + +"It was a clean job getting him, and a clean job telling the story of +how it happened. But there wasn't overmuch time and in the rush. . . . +Tell me, Jim Galloway, how does it happen that the right boot is on the +left foot?" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AT THE BANKER'S HOME + +Rod Norton made no arrest. Leaving the card-room abruptly he signalled +to Julius Struve, the hotel keeper, to follow him. In the morning +Struve, in his official capacity as coroner, would demand a verdict. +Having long been in strong sympathy with the sheriff he was to be +looked to now for a frank prediction of the inquest's result. And, +very thoughtful about it all, he gravely agreed with Norton; the +coroner's jury, taking the evidence offered by Jim Galloway, Kid +Rickard, and Antone, would bring in a verdict of justifiable homicide. + +"Later on we'll get 'em, Roddy . . . mebbe," he said finally. "But not +now. If you pulled the Kid it would just be running up the county +expense all for nothing." + +The sheriff left him in silence and leading his horse went the few +steps to the hotel. Ignacio Chavez appearing opportunely Norton gave +his animal into the breed's custody; Ignacio, accustomed to doing odd +jobs for el Senor Roderico Nortone, and to the occasional half dollars +resulting from such transactions, led the big gray away while the +sheriff entered the hotel. It had been a day of hard riding and scanty +meals, and he was hungry. + +Bright and new and conspicuous, a gold-lettered sign at Struve's +doorway caught his eye and caused him to remember the wounded left hand +which had been paining him considerably through the long hot day. The +sign bore the name of Dr. V. D. Page with the words Physician and +Surgeon; in blue pencilled letters upon the practitioner's card, +affixed to the brass chain suspending the sign, were the further words: +"Room 5, Struve's Hotel." + +The sheriff went to Room 5. It was at the front of the building, upon +the ground floor. The door opened almost immediately when he rapped. +Confronting him was the girl he had encountered at the arroyo. He +lifted his hat, looked beyond her, and said simply: + +"I was looking for Dr. Page. Is he in now?" + +"Yes," she told him gravely. "Come in, please." + +He stepped across the threshold, his eyes trained to quick observation +of details taking in at a glance all there was to be seen. The room +showed all signs of a fresh unpacking, the one table and two chairs +piled high with odds and ends. For the most part the miscellany +consisted of big, fat books, bundles of towels and fresh white napkins, +rubber-stoppered bottles of varicolored contents, and black leather +cases, no doubt containing a surgeon's instruments. Through an open +door giving entrance to the adjoining room he noted further signs of +unpacking with a marked difference in the character of the litter; the +girl stepped quickly to this door, shutting out the vision of a +helter-skelter of feminine apparel. + +"It is your hand?" she asked, as in most thoroughly matter of fact +fashion she put out her own for it. "Let me see it." + +But for a moment he bestowed upon her merely a slow look of question. + +"You don't mean that you are Dr. Page?" he asked. Then, believing that +he understood: "You're the nurse?" + +"Is a physician's life in San Juan likely to be so filled with his +duties that he must bring a nurse with him?" she countered. "Yes, I am +Dr. Page." + +He noted that she was as defiant about the matter as the Kid had been +about the killing of Bisbee of Las Palmas; plainly she had foreseen +that the type of man-animal inhabiting this out-of-the-way corner of +the world would be likely to wonder at her hardihood and, perhaps, to +jeer. + +"I came to-day," she explained in the same matter-of-fact way. +"Consequently you will pardon the looks of things. But I am one of the +kind that believes in hanging out a shingle first, getting details +arranged next. Now may I see the hand?" + +"It's hardly anything." He lifted it now for her inspection. "Just a +slight cut, you know. But it's showing signs of infection. A little +antiseptic . . ." + +She took his fingers into hers and bent over the wound. He noted two +things, now: what strong hands she had, shapely, with sensitive fingers +ignorant of rings; how richly alive and warmly colored her hair was, +full of little waves and curls. + +She had nothing to say while she treated him. Over an alcohol lamp she +heated some water; in a bowl, brought from the adjoining room, she +cleansed the hand thoroughly. Then the application of the final +antiseptic, a bit of absorbent cotton, a winding of surgeon's tape +about a bit of gauze, and the thing was done. Only at the end did she +say: + +"It's a peculiar cut . . . not a knife cut, is it?" + +"No," he answered humorously. "Did it on a piece of lead. . . . How +much is it, Doctor?" + +"Two dollars," she told him, busied with the drying of her own hands. +"Better let me look at it again in the morning if it pains you." + +He laid two silver dollars in her palm, hesitated a moment and then +went out. + +"She's got the nerve," was his thoughtful estimate as he went to his +corner table in the dining-room. "But I don't believe she is going to +last long in San Juan. . . . Funny she should come to a place like +this, anyhow. . . . Wonder what the V stands for?" + +At any rate the hand had been skilfully treated and bandaged; he nodded +at it approvingly. Then, with his meal set before him, he divided his +thoughts pretty evenly between the girl and the recent shooting at the +Casa Blanca. The sense was strong upon him as it had been many a time +that before very long either Rod Norton or Jim Galloway would lie as +the sheepman from Las Palmas was lying, while the other might watch his +sunrises and sunsets with a strange, new emotion of security. + +The sheriff, who had not eaten for twelve hours, was beginning his meal +when the newest stranger in San Juan came into the dining-room. She +had arranged her lustrous copper-brown hair becomingly, and looked +fresh and cool and pretty. Norton approved of her with his keen eyes +while he watched her go to her place at a table across the room. As +she sat down, giving no sign of having noted him, her back toward him, +he continued to observe and to admire her slender, perfect figure and +the strong, sensitive hands busied with her napkin. + +A slovenly, half-grown Indian girl, Anita, the cook's daughter, came in +from the kitchen, directed the slumbrous eyes of her race upon the +sheriff who fitted well in a woman's eye, and went to serve the single +other late diner. Norton caught a fleeting view of V. D. Page's throat +and cheek as she turned slightly in speaking with Anita. As the +serving-maid withdrew Norton rose to his feet and crossed the room to +the far table. + +"May I bring my things over and eat with you?" he asked when he stood +looking down on her and she had lifted her eyes curiously to his. "If +you've come to stay you can't go on forever not knowing anybody here, +you know. Since you've got to know us sooner or later why not begin to +get acquainted? Here and now and with me? I'm Roderick Norton." + +One must have had far less discernment than she not to have felt +instinctively that the great bulk of human conventions would shrivel +and vanish before they could come this far across the desert lands. +Besides, the man standing over her looked straight and honestly into +her eyes and for a little she glimpsed again the youth of him veiled by +the sternness his life had set into his soul and upon his face. + +"It is kind of you to have pity upon me in my isolation," she answered +lightly and without hesitation. "And, to tell the truth, I never was +so terribly lonesome in all my life." + +He made two trips back and forth to bring his plate and coffee cup and +auxiliary sauce dishes and plated silver, while she wondered idly that +he did not instruct the Indian girl to perform the service for him. +Even then she half formulated the thought that it was much more natural +for this man to do for himself what he wanted than for him to sit down +to be waited upon. A small matter, no doubt; but then mountains are +made up of small particles and character of just such small +characteristics as this. + +During the half hour which they spent together over their meal they got +to know each other rather better than chance acquaintances are likely +to do in so brief a time. For from the moment of Norton's coming to +her table the bars were down between them. She was plainly eager to +supplement Ignacio Chavez's information of "_la gente_" of San Juan +and its surrounding country, evincing a curiosity which he readily +understood to be based upon the necessities of her profession. In +return for all that he told her she sketchily spoke of her own plans, +very vague plans, to be sure, she admitted with one of her quick, gay +smiles. She had come prepared to accept what she found, she was +playing no game of hide-and-seek with her destiny, but had wandered +thus far from the former limits of her existence to meet life half way, +hoping to do good for others, a little imperiously determined to +achieve her own measure of success and happiness. + +From the beginning each was ready, perhaps more than ready, to like the +other. Her eyes, whether they smiled or grew suddenly grave, pleased +him; always were they fearless. He sensed that beneath the external +soft beauty of a very lovely young woman there was a spirit of +hardihood in every sense worthy of the success which she had planned +bare-handed to make for herself, and in the man's estimation no quality +stood higher than a superb independence. On her part, there was first +a definite surprise, then a glow of satisfaction that in this virile +arm of the law there was nothing of the blusterer. She set him down as +a quiet gentleman first, as a sheriff next. She enjoyed his low, +good-humored laugh and laughed back with him, even while she +experienced again the unaccustomed thrill at the sheer physical bigness +of him, the essentially masculine strength of a hardy son of the +southwestern outdoors. Not once had he referred to the affair at the +Casa Blanca or to his part in it; not a question did she ask him +concerning it. He told himself that so utterly human, so perfectly +feminine a being as she must be burning with curiosity; she marvelled +that he could think, speak of anything else. When together they rose +from the table they were alike prepared, should circumstance so direct, +to be friends. + +She was going now to call upon the Engles. She had told him that she +had a letter to Mrs. Engle from a common friend in Richmond. + +"I don't want to appear to be riding too hard on your trail," he smiled +at her. "But I was planning dropping in on the Engles myself this +evening. They're friends of mine, you know." + +She laughed, and as they left the hotel, propounded a riddle for him to +answer: Should Mr. Norton introduce her to Mrs. Engle so that she might +present her letter, or, after the letter was presented, should Mrs. +Engle introduce her to Mr. Norton? + +It did not suggest itself to her until they had passed from the street, +through the cottonwoods and into the splendid living-room of the Engle +home, that her escort was not dressed as she had imagined all civilized +mankind dressed for a call. Walking through the primitive town his +boots and soft shirt and travel-soiled hat had been in too perfect +keeping with the environment for her to be more than pleasurably +conscious of them. + +At the Engles', however, his garb struck her for a moment of the first +shock of contrast, as almost grotesquely out of place. + +At the broad front door Norton had rapped. The desultory striking of a +piano's keys ceased abruptly, a girl's voice crying eagerly: "It's +Roddy!" hinted at the identity of the listless player, a door flung +open flooded the broad entrance hall with light. And then the outer +door framed banker Engle's daughter, a mere girl in her middle teens, +fair-haired, fair-skinned, fluffy-skirted, her eyes bright with +expectation, her two hands held out offering themselves in doubled +greetings. But, having seen the unexpected guest at the sheriff's +side, the bright-haired girl paused for a brief moment of uncertainty +upon the threshold, her hands falling to her sides. + +"Hello, Florrie," Norton was saying quietly. "I have brought a caller +for your mother. Miss Engle, Miss Page." + +"How do you do, Miss Page?" Florrie replied, regaining her poise and +giving one of her hands to each of the callers, the abandon of her +first appearance gone in a flash to be replaced by a vague hint of +stiffness. "Mama will be so glad to see you. Do come in." + +She turned and led the way down the wide, deep hall and into the +living-room, a chamber which boldly defied one to remember that he was +still upon the rim of the desert. In one swift glance the newcomer to +San Juan was offered a picture in which the tall, carelessly clad form +of the sheriff became incongruous; she wondered that he remained at his +ease as he so obviously did. Yonder was a grand piano, a silver chased +vase upon a wall bracket over it holding three long-stemmed, red roses; +a heavy, massive-topped table strewn comfortably and invitingly with +books and magazines; an exquisite rug and one painting upon the far +wall, an original seascape suggestive of Waugh at his best; excellent +leather-upholstered chairs luxuriously inviting, and at once homelike +and rich. Just rising from one of these chairs drawn up to the table +reading-lamp, a book still in his hand, was Mr. Engle, while Mrs. +Engle, as fair as her daughter, just beginning to grow stout in +lavendar, came forward smilingly. + +"Back again, Roddy?" She gave him a plump hand, patted his lean brown +fingers after her motherly fashion, and came to where the girl had +stopped just within the door. + +"Virginia Page, aren't you? As if any one in the world would have to +tell me who _you_ were! You are your mother all over, child; did you +know it? Oh, kiss me, kiss me, my dear, for your mother's sake, and +save your hand-shakes for strangers." + +Virginia, taken utterly by surprise as Mrs. Engle's arms closed warmly +about her, grew rosy with pleasure; the dreary loneliness of a long day +was gone with a kiss and a hug. + +"I didn't know . . . ." she began haltingly, only to be cut short by +Mrs. Engle crying to her husband: + +"It's Virginia Page, John. Wouldn't you have known her anywhere?" + +John Engle, courteous, urbane, a pleasant-featured man with grave, +kindly eyes and a rather large, firm-lipped mouth nodded to Norton and +gave Virginia his hand cordially. + +"I must be satisfied with a hand-shake, Miss Page," he said in a deep, +pleasant voice, "but I refuse to be a mere stranger. We are immensely +glad to have you with us. . . . Mother, can't you see we have most +thoroughly mystified her; swooping down on her like this without giving +her an inkling of how and why we expected her?" + +Roderick Norton and Florrie Engle had drawn a little apart; Virginia, +with her back to them during the greeting of Mrs. and Mr. Engle, had no +way of knowing whether the withdrawal had been by mutually spontaneous +desire or whether the initiative had been the sheriff's or Miss +Engle's. Not that it mattered or concerned her in any slightest +particular. + +In her hand was the note of introduction she had brought from Mrs. Seth +Morgan; evidently both its services and those of Roderick Norton might +be dispensed with in the matter of her being presented. + +"Of course," Mrs. Engle was saying. An arm about the girl's slim +waist, she drew her to a big leather couch. "Marian never does things +by halves, my dear; you know that, don't you? That's a letter she gave +you for me? Well, she wrote me another, so I know all about you. And, +if you are willing to accept the relationship with out-of-the-world +folks, we're sort of cousins!" + +Virginia Page flushed vividly. She had known all along that her mother +had been a distant relative of Mrs. Engle, but she had had no desire, +no thought of employing that very faint tie as an argument for being +accepted by the banker's family. She did not care to come here like +the proverbial poor relation. + +"You are very kind," she said quietly, her lips smiling while her eyes +were grave. "But I don't want you to feel that I have been building on +the fact of kinship; I just wanted to be friends if you liked me, not +because you felt it your duty. . . ." + +Engle, who had come, dragging his chair after him, to join them, +laughed amusedly. + +"Answering your question, Mrs. Engle," he chuckled, "I'd certainly know +her for Virginia Page! When we come to know her better maybe she will +allow us to call her Cousin Virginia? In the meantime, to play safe, I +suppose that to us she'd better be just Dr. Page?" + +"John is as full of nonsense after banking hours," explained Mrs. +Engle, still affectionately patting Virginia's hand, "as he is crammed +with business from nine until four. Which makes life with him +possible; it's like having two husbands, makes for variety and so saves +me from flirting with other men. Now, tell us all about yourself." + +Virginia, who had been a little stiff-muscled until now, leaned back +among the cushions unconscious of a half sigh of content and of her +relaxation. During the long day San Juan had sought to frighten, to +repel her. Now it was making ample amends: first the companionable +society of Rod Norton, then this simple, hearty welcome. She returned +the pressure of Mrs. Engle's soft, warm hands in sheer gratitude. + +After that they chatted lightly, Engle gradually withdrawing from the +conversation and secretly watching the girl keenly, studying her play +of expression, seeking, according to his habit, to make his guarded +estimate of a new factor in his household. From Virginia's face his +eyes went swiftly now and then to his daughter's, animated in her +tete-a-tete with the sheriff. Once, when Virginia turned unexpectedly, +she caught the hint of a troubled frown in his eyes. + +Broad double doors in the west wall of the living-room gave entrance to +the patio. The doors were open now to the slowly freshening night air, +and from where she sat Virginia Page had a glimpse of a charming court, +an orange-tree heavy with fruit and blossom, red and yellow roses, a +sleeping fountain whose still water reflected star-shine and the lamp +in its niche under a grape-vine arbor. When Norton and Florence Engle +strolled out into the inviting patio Engle, breaking his silence, +leaned forward and dominated the conversation. + +Virginia had been doing the major part of the talking, answering +questions about Mrs. Engle's girlhood home, telling something of +herself. Now John Engle, reminding his wife that their guest must be +consumed with curiosity about her new environment, sought to interest +her in this and that, in and about San Juan. + +"There was a killing this afternoon," he admitted quietly. "No doubt +you know of it and have been shocked by it, and perhaps on account of +it have a little misjudged San Juan. We are not all cutthroats here, +by any manner of means; I think I might almost say that the rough +element is in the minority. We are in a state of transition, like all +other frontier settlements. The railroad, though it doesn't come +closer than the little tank station where you took the stage this +morning, has touched our lives out here. A railroad brings civilizing +influences; but the first thing it does is to induct a surging tide of +forces contending against law and order. Pioneers," and he smiled his +slow, grave, tolerant smile, "are as often as not tumultuous-blooded +and self-sufficient, and prone to kick over the established traces. +We've got that class to deal with . . . and that boy, Rod Norton, with +his job cut out for him, is getting results. He's the biggest man +right now, not only in the country, but in this end of the state." + +Continuing he told her something of the sheriff. Young Norton, having +returned from college some three years before to live the only life +possible to one of his blood, had become manager of his father's ranch +in and beyond the San Juan mountains. At the time Billy Norton was the +county sheriff and had his hands full. Rumor said that he had promised +himself to "get" a certain man; Engle admitted that that man was Jim +Galloway of the Casa Blanca. But either Galloway or a tool of +Galloway's or some other man had "gotten" Billy Norton, shooting him +down in his own cabin and from the back, putting a shotgun charge of +buckshot into his brain. + +It had occurred shortly after Roderick Norton's return, shortly before +the expiration of Billy Norton's term of office. Rod Norton, putting +another man in his place on the ranch, had buried his father and then +had asked of the county his election to the place made empty by his +father's death. Though he was young, men believed in him. The +election returns gave him his place by a crushing majority. + +"And he has done good work," concluded Engle thoughtfully. "Because of +what he has done, because he does not make an arrest until he has his +evidence and then drives hard to a certain conviction, he has come to +be called Dead-sure Norton and to be respected everywhere, and feared +more than a little. Until now it has become virtually a two-man fight. +Rod Norton against Jim Galloway. . . ." + +"John," interposed Mrs. Engle, "aren't you giving Virginia rather a +sombre side of things?" + +"Maybe I am," he agreed. "But this killing of the Las Palmas man in +broad daylight has come pretty close to filling my mind. Who's going +to be next?" His eyes went swiftly toward the patio, taking stock of +the two figures there. Then he shrugged, went to the table for a cigar +and returned smiling to inform Virginia of life on the desert and in +the valleys beyond the mountains, of scattering attempts at reclamation +and irrigation, of how one made towns of sun-dried mud, of where the +adobe soil itself was found, drifted over with sand in the shade of the +cottonwoods. + +But Mrs. Engle's sigh, while her husband spoke of black mud and straw, +testified that her thoughts still clung about those events and +possibilities which she herself had asked him to avoid; her eyes +wandered to the tall, rudely garbed figure dimly seen in the patio. +Virginia, recalling Jim Galloway as she had seen him on the stage, +heavy-bodied, narrow-hipped, masterful alike in carriage and the look +of the prominent eyes, glanced with Mrs. Engle toward Rod Norton. He +was laughing at something passing between him and Florence, and for the +moment appeared utterly boyish. Were it not for the grim reminder of +the forty-five-caliber revolver which the nature of his sworn duties +did not allow of his laying aside even upon a night like this, it would +have been easy to forget that he was all that which the one word +sheriff connotes in a land like that about San Juan. + +"Can't get away from it, can we?" Engle having caught the look in the +two women's eyes, broke off abruptly in what he was saying, and now sat +studying his cigar with frowning eyes. "Man against man, and the whole +county knows it, one employing whatever criminal's tools slip into his +hands, the other fighting fair and in the open. Man against man and in +a death grapple just because they are the men they are, with one backed +up by a hang-dog crowd like Kid Rickard and Antone, and the other +playing virtually a lone hand. What's the end going to be?" + +Virginia thought of Ignacio Chavez. He, had he been here, would have +answered: + +"In the end there will be the ringing of the bells for a man dead. You +will see! Which one? _Quien sabe_! The bells will ring." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IN THE DARKNESS OF THE PATIO + +Through the silence of the outer night, as though actually Ignacio +Chavez were prophesying, came billowing the slow beating of the deep +mourning bell. Mrs. Engle sighed; Engle frowned; Virginia sat rigid, +at once disturbed and oppressed. + +"How can you stand that terrible bell?" she cried softly. "I should +think that it would drive you mad! How long does he ring it?" + +"Once every hour until midnight," answered Engle, his face once more +placid as he withdrew his look from the patio and transferred it to his +cigar. And then, with a half smile: "There are many San Juans; there +is, in all the wide world, but one San Juan of the Bells. You would +not take our distinction from us? Now that you are to become of San +Juan you must, like the rest of us, take a pride in San Juan's bells. +Which you will do soon or late; perhaps just as soon as you come to +know something of their separate and collective histories." + +"Tell her, John," suggested Mrs. Engle, again obviously anxious to +dispel the more lugubrious and tragic atmospheres of the evening with +any chance talk which might offer itself. + +"Let her wait until Ignacio can tell her," laughed Engle. "No one else +can tell it so well, and certainly no one else has an equal pride or +even an equal right in the matter." + +But, though he refused to take up the colorful theme of the biographies +of the Captain, the Dancer, Lolita, and the rest, John Engle began to +speak lightly upon an associated topic, first asking the girl if she +knew with what ceremony the old Western bells had been cast; when she +shook her head and while the slow throbbing beat of the Captain still +insisted through the night's silences, he explained that doubtless all +six of Ignacio Chavez's bells had taken form under the calm gaze of +high priests of old Spain. For legend had it that all six were from +their beginnings destined for the new missions to be scattered +broadcast throughout a new land, to ring out word of God to heathen +ears. Bells meant for such high service were never cast without grave +religious service and sacrifice. Through the darkness of long-dead +centuries the girl's stimulated fancies followed the man's words; she +visualized the great glowing caldrons in which the fusing metals grew +red and an intolerable white; saw men and women draw near, proud +blue-blooded grandees on one hand, and the lowly on the other, with one +thought; saw the maidens and ladies from the courtyards of the King's +palace as they removed golden bracelets and necklaces from white arms +and throats, so that the red and yellow gold might go with their +prayers into the molten metals, enriching them, while those whose +poverty was great, but whose devotion was greater, offered what little +silver ornaments they could. Carved silver vases, golden cups, minted +coins and cherished ornaments, all were offered generously and devoutly +until the blazing caldrons had mingled the Queen's girdle-clasps with a +bauble from the beggar girl. + +"And in the end," smiled Engle, "there are no bells with the sweet tone +of old Mission bells, or with their soft eloquence." + +While he was talking Ignacio Chavez had allowed the dangling rope to +slip from his hands so that the Captain rested quiet in the starshine. +Roderick and Florence were coming in through the wide patio door; +Norton was just saying that Florrie had promised to play something for +him when the front door knocker announced another visitor. Florence +made a little disdainful face as though she guessed who it was; Engle +went to the door. + +Even Virginia Page in this land of strangers knew who the man was. For +she had seen enough of him to-day, on the stage across the weary miles +of desert, to remember him and to dislike him. He was the man whom +Galloway and the stage-driver had called "Doc," the sole representative +of the medical fraternity in San Juan until her coming. She disliked +him first vaguely and with purely feminine instinct; secondly because +of an air which he never laid aside of a serene consciousness of +self-superiority. He had established himself in what he was pleased to +consider a community of nobodies, his inferiors intellectually and +culturally. He was of that type of man-animal that lends itself to +fairly accurate cataloguing at the end of the first five minutes' +acquaintance. The most striking of the physical attributes about his +person as he entered were his little mustache and neatly trimmed beard +and the diamond stick-pin in his tie. Remove these articles and it +would have been difficult to distinguish him from countless thousands +of other inefficient and opinionated individuals. + +Virginia noted that both Mr. and Mrs. Engle shook hands with him if not +very cordially at least with good-humored toleration; that Florence +treated him to a stiff little nod; that Roderick Norton from across the +room greeted him coolly. + +"Dr. Patten," Engle was saying, "this is our cousin, Virginia Page." + +Dr. Patten acknowledged the introduction and sat down, turning to ask +"how Florrie was today?" Virginia smiled, sensing a rebuke to herself +in his manner; to-day on the stage she had made it obvious even to him +that if she must speak with a stranger she would vastly prefer the talk +of the stage-driver than that of Dr. Caleb Patten. When Florence, +replying briefly, turned to the piano Patten addressed Norton. + +"What was our good sheriff doing to-day?" he asked banteringly, as +though the subject he chose were the most apt one imaginable for jest. +"Another man killed in broad daylight and no one to answer for it! Why +don't you go get 'em, Roddy?" + +Norton stared at him steadily and finally said soberly: + +"When a disease has fastened itself upon the body of a community it +takes time to work a cure, Dr. Patten." + +"But not much time to let the life out of a man like the chap from Las +Palmas! Why, the man who did the shooting couldn't have done a nicer +job if he'd been a surgeon. One bullet square through the carotid +artery . . . That leads from the heart to the head," he explained as +though his listeners were children athirst for knowledge which he and +none other could impart. "The cerebrum penetrated by a second. . . ." + +What other technical elucidation might have followed was lost in a +thunderous crashing of the piano keys as Florence Engle strove to drown +the man's utterance and succeeded so well that for an instant he sat +gaping at her. + +"I can't stand that man!" Florence said sharply to Norton, and though +the words did not travel across the room, Virginia was surprised that +even an individual so completely armored as Caleb Patten could fail to +grasp the girl's meaning. + +When Florence had pounded her way through a noisy bit of "jazz," Caleb +Patten, with one of his host's cigars lighted, was leaning a little +forward in his chair, alert to seize the first opportunity of snatching +conversation by the throat. + +"Kid Rickard admits killing Bisbee," he said to Norton. "What are you +going to do about it? The first thing I heard when I got in from a +professional call a little while ago was that Rickard was swaggering +around town, saying that you wouldn't gather him in because you were +afraid to." + +The sheriff's face remained unmoved, though the others looked curiously +to him and back to Patten, who was easy and complacent and vaguely +irritating. + +"I imagine you haven't seen Jim Galloway since you got in, have you?" +Norton returned quietly. + +"No," said Patten. "Why? What has Galloway got to do with it?" + +"Ask him. He says Rickard killed Bisbee in self-defense." + +"Oh," said Patten. And then, shifting in his chair: "If Galloway says +so, I guess you are right in letting the Kid go." + +And, a trifle hastily it struck Virginia, he switched talk into another +channel, telling of the case on which he had been out to-day, enlarging +upon its difficulties, with which, it appeared, he had been eminently +fitted to cope. There was an amused twinkle in John Engle's eyes as he +listened. + +"By the way, Patten," the banker observed when there came a pause, +"you've got a rival in town. Had you heard?" + +"What do you mean?" asked the physician. + +"When I introduced you just now to our Cousin Virginia, I should have +told you; she is Dr. Page, M.D." + +Again Patten said "Oh," but this time in a tone which through its plain +implication put a sudden flash into Virginia's eyes. As he looked +toward her there was a half sneer upon the lips which his scanty growth +of beard and mustache failed to hide. Had he gone on to say, "A +_lady_ doctor, eh?" and laughed, the case would not have been altered. + +"It seems so funny for a girl to be a doctor," said Florence, for the +first time referring in any way to Virginia since she had flown to the +door, expecting Norton alone. Even now she did not look toward her +kinswoman. + +John Engle replied, speaking crisply. But just what he said Virginia +did not know. For suddenly her whole attention was withdrawn from the +conversation, fixed and held by something moving in the patio. First +she had noted a slight change in Rod Norton's eyes, saw them grow keen +and watchful, noted that they had turned toward the door opening into +the little court where the fountain was, where the wall-lamp threw its +rays wanly among the shrubs and through the grape-arbor. He had seen +something move out there; from where she sat she could look the way he +looked and mark how a clump of rose-bushes had been disturbed and now +stood motionless again in the quiet night. + +Wondering, she looked again to Norton. His eyes told nothing now save +that they were keen and watchful. Whether or not he knew what it was +so guardedly stirring in the patio, whether he, like herself, had +merely seen the gently agitated leaves of the bushes, she could not +guess. She started when Engle addressed some trifling remark to her; +while she evaded the direct answer she was fully conscious of the +sheriff's eyes steady upon her. He, no doubt, was wondering what she +had seen. + +It was only a moment later when Norton rose and went to Mrs. Engle, +telling her briefly that he had had a day of it, in the saddle since +dawn, wishing her good night. He shook hands with Engle, nodded to +Patten, and coming to Virginia said lightly, but, she thought, with an +almost sternly serious look in his eyes: + +"We're all hoping you like San Juan, Miss Page. And you will, too, if +the desert stillness doesn't get on your nerves. But then silence +isn't such a bad thing after all, is it? Good night." + +She understood his meaning and, though a thrill of excitement ran +through her blood, answered laughingly: + +"Shall a woman learn from the desert? Have I been such a chatter-box, +Mrs. Engle, that I am to be admonished at the beginning to study to +hold my tongue?" + +Florence looked at her curiously, turned toward Norton, and then went +with him to the door. For a moment their voices came in a murmur down +the hallway; then Norton had gone and Florence returned slowly to the +living-room. + +Again Virginia looked out into the patio. Never a twig stirred now; +all was as quiet as the sleeping fountain, as silent and mystery-filled +as the desert itself. Had Roderick Norton seen more than she? Did he +know who had been out there? Was here the beginning of some further +sinister outgrowth of the lawlessness of Kid Rickard? of the animosity +of Jim Galloway? Was she presently to see Norton himself slipping into +the patio from the other side, was she again to hear the rattle of +pistol-shots? He had asked that she say nothing; she had +unhesitatingly given him her promise. Had she so unquestioningly done +as he had requested because he was the sheriff who represented the law? +or because he was Roderick Norton who stood for fine, upstanding +manhood? . . . Again she felt Florence Engle's eyes fixed upon her. + +"Florence is prepared at the beginning to dislike me," she thought. +"Why? Just because I walked with him from the hotel?" + +In the heat of an argument with Mrs. Engle there came an interruption. +The banker's wife was insisting that Virginia "do the only sensible +thing in the world," that she accept a home under the Engle roof, +occupying the room already made ready for her. Virginia, warmed by the +cordial invitation, while deeply grateful, felt that she had no right +to accept. She had come to San Juan to make her own way; she had no +claim upon the hospitality of her kinswoman, certainly no such claim as +was implied now. Besides, there was Elmer Page. Her brother was +coming to join her to-morrow or the next day, and as soon as it could +be arranged they would take a house all by themselves, or if that +proved impossible, would have a suite at the hotel. At the moment when +it seemed that a deadlock had come between Mrs. Engle's eagerness to +mother her cousin's daughter and Virginia's inborn sense of +independence, the interruption came. + +It arrived in the form of a boy of ten or twelve, a ragged, scantily +clothed, swarthy youngster, rubbing a great toe against a bare leg +while from the front door he announced that Ignacio Chavez was sick, +that he had eaten something _muy malo_, that he had pains and that he +prayed that the doctor cure him. + +Patten grunted his disgust. + +"Tell him to wait," he said briefly. And, in explanation to the +others: "There's nothing the matter with him. I saw him on the street +just before I came. And wasn't he ringing his bell not fifteen minutes +ago?" + +But the boy had not completed his message. Ignacio was sick and did +not wish to die, and so had sent him to ask the Miss Lady Doctor to +come to him. Virginia rose swiftly. + +"You see," she said to Mrs. Engle, "what a nuisance it would be if I +lived with you? May I come to see you to-morrow?" + +While she said good night Engle got his hat. + +"I'll go with you," he said. "But, like Patten, I don't believe there +is much the matter with Chavez. Maybe he thinks he'll get a free drink +of whiskey." + +"You see again," laughed Virginia from the doorway, "what it would be +like, Mrs. Engle; if every time I had to make a call and Mr. Engle +deemed it necessary to go with me . . . I'd have to split my fees with +him at the very least! And I don't believe that I could afford to do +that." + +"You could give me all that Ignacio pays you," chuckled Engle, "and +never miss it!" + +The boy waited for them and, when they came out into the starlight, +flitted on ahead of them. At the cottonwoods a man stepped out to meet +them. + +"Hello," said Engle, "it's Norton." + +"I sent the boy for Miss Page," said Norton quickly. "I had to have a +word with her immediately. And I'm glad that you came, Engle. I want +a favor of you; a mighty big favor of Miss Page." + +The boy had passed on through the shadows and now was to be seen on the +street. + +"I guess you know you can count on me, Rod," said Engle quietly. "What +now?" + +"I want you, when you go back to the house, to say that you have +learned that Miss Page likes horseback riding; then send a horse for +her to the hotel stable, so that if she likes she can have it in the +early morning. And say nothing about my having sent the boy." + +Engle did not answer immediately. He and Virginia stood trying to see +the sheriff's features through the darkness. He had spoken quietly +enough and yet there was an odd new note in his voice; it was easy to +imagine how the muscles about his lean jaw had tensed, how his eyes +were again the hard eyes of a man who saw his fight before him. + +"I can trust you, John," continued Norton quickly. "I can trust +Ignacio Chavez; I can trust Julius Struve. And, if you want it in +words of one syllable, I cannot trust Caleb Patten!" + +"Hm," said Engle. "I think you're mistaken there, my boy." + +"Maybe," returned Norton. "But I can't afford right now to take any +unnecessary chances. Further," and in the gloom they saw his shoulders +lifted in a shrug, "I am trusting Miss Page because I've got to! Which +may not sound pretty, but which is the truth." + +"Of course I'll do what you ask," Engle said. "Is there anything else?" + +"No. Just go on with Miss Page to see Ignacio. He will pretend to be +doubled up with pain and will tell his story of the tinned meat he ate +for supper. Then you can see her to the hotel and go back home, +sending the horse over right away. Then she will ride with me to see a +man who is hurt . . . or she will not, and I'll have to take a chance +on Patten." + +"Who is it?" demanded Engle sharply. + +"It's Brocky Lane," returned Norton, and again his voice told of rigid +muscles and hard eyes. "He's hurt bad, John. And, if we're to do him +any good we'd better be about it." + +Engle said nothing. But the slow, deep breath he drew into his lungs +could not have been more eloquent of his emotion had it been expelled +in a curse. + +"I'll slip around the back way to the hotel," said Norton. "I'll be +ready when Miss Page comes in. Good night, John." + +Silently, without awaiting promise or protest from the girl, he was +gone into the deeper shadows of the cottonwoods. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A RIDE THROUGH THE NIGHT + +Ignacio Chavez, because thus he could be of service to _el senor_ +Roderico Nortone whom he admired vastly and loved like a brother, drew +to the dregs upon his fine Latin talent, doubled up and otherwise +contorted and twisted his lithe body until the sweat stood out upon his +forehead. His groans would have done ample justice to the occasion had +he been dying. + +Virginia treated him sparingly to a harmless potion she had secured at +her room on the way, put the bottle into the hands of Ignacio's +withered and anxious old mother, informed the half dozen Indian +onlookers that she had arrived in time and that the bell-ringer would +live, and then was impatient to go with Engle to Struve's hotel. Here +Engle left her to return to his home and to send the saddle-horse he +had promised Norton. + +"You can ride, can't you, Virginia?" he had asked. + +"Yes," she assured him. + +"Then I'll send Persis around; she's the prettiest thing in horseflesh +you ever saw. And the gamest. And, Virginia . . ." + +He hesitated. "Well?" she asked. + +"There's not a squarer, whiter man in the world than Rod Norton," he +said emphatically. "Now good night and good luck, and be sure to drop +in on us to-morrow." + +She watched him as he went swiftly down the street; then she turned +into the hotel and down the hall, which echoed to the click of her +heels, and to her room. She had barely had time to change for her ride +and to glance at her "war bag" when a discreet knock sounded at her +door. Going to the door she found that it was Julius Struve instead of +Norton. + +"You are to come with me," said the hotel keeper softly. "He is +waiting with the horses." + +They passed through the dark dining-room, into the pitch black kitchen +and out at the rear of the house. A moment Struve paused, listening. +Then, touching her sleeve, he hurried away into the night, going toward +the black line of cottonwoods, the girl keeping close to his heels. + +At the dry arroyo Norton was waiting, holding two saddled horses. +Without a word he gave her his hand, saw her mounted, surrendered +Persis's jerking reins into her gauntletted grip and swung up to the +back of his own horse. In another moment, and still in silence, +Virginia and Norton were riding away from San Juan, keeping in the +shadows of the trees, headed toward the mountains in the north. + +And now suddenly Virginia found that she was giving herself over +utterly, unexpectedly to a keen, pulsing joy of life. She had +surrendered into the sheriff's hands the little leather-case which +contained her emergency bottles and instruments; they had left San Juan +a couple of hundred yards behind, their horses were galloping; her +stirrup struck now and then against Norton's boot. John Engle had not +been unduly extravagant in praise of the mare Persis; Virginia sensed +rather than saw clearly the perfect, beautiful creature which carried +her, delighted in the swinging gallop, drew into her soul something of +the serene glory of a starlit night on the desert. The soft thud of +shod hoofs upon yielding soil was music to her, mingled as it came with +the creak of saddle leather, the jingle of bridle and spur-chains. She +wondered if there had ever been so perfect a night, if she had ever +mounted so finely bred a saddle animal. + +Far ahead the San Juan mountains lifted their serrated ridge of ebony. +On all other sides the flat-lands stretched out seeming to have no end, +suggesting to the fancy that they were kin in vastitude to the clear +expanse of the sky. On all hands little wind-shaped ridges were like +crests of long waves in an ocean which had just now been stilled, +brooded over by the desert silence and the desert stars. + +"I suppose," said Norton at last, "that it's up to me to explain." + +"Then begin," said Virginia, "by telling me where we are going." + +He swung up his arm, pointing. + +"Yonder. To the mountains. We'll reach them in about two hours and a +half. Then, in another two hours or so, we'll come to where Brocky is. +Way up on the flank of Mt. Temple. It's going to be a long, hard +climb. For you, at the end of a tiresome day. . . ." + +"How about yourself?" she asked quickly, and he knew that she was +smiling at him through the dark. "Unless you're made of iron I'm +almost inclined to believe that after your friend Brocky I'll have +another patient. Who is he, by the way?" + +"Brocky Lane? I was going to tell you. You saw something stirring in +the patio at Engle's? I had seen it first; it was Ignacio who had +slipped in under the wide arch from the gardens at the rear of the +house. He had been sent for me by Tom Cutter, my deputy. Brocky Lane +is foreman of a big cattle-ranch lying just beyond the mountains; he is +also working with me and with Cutter, although until I've told you +nobody knows it but ourselves and John Engle. . . . Before the night +is out you'll know rather a good deal about what is going on, Miss +Page," he added thoughtfully. + +"More than you'd have been willing for me to know if circumstance +hadn't forced your hand?" + +"Yes," he admitted coolly. "To get anywhere we've had to sit tight on +the game we're playing. But, from the word Cutter brings, poor old +Brocky is pretty hard hit, and I couldn't take any chances with his +life even though it means taking chances in another direction." + +He might have been a shade less frank; and yet she liked him none the +less for giving her the truth bluntly. He was but tacitly admitting +that he knew nothing of her; and yet in this case he would prefer to +call upon her than on Caleb Patten. + +"No, I don't trust Patten," he continued, the chain of thought being +inevitable. "Not that I'd call him crooked so much as a fool for Jim +Galloway to juggle with. He talks too much." + +"You wish me to say nothing of to-night's ride?" + +"Absolutely nothing. If you are missed before we get back Struve will +explain that you were called to see old Ramorez, a half-breed over +yonder toward Las Estrellas. That is, provided we get back too late +for it to appear likely that you are just resting in your room or +getting things shipshape in your office. That's why I am explaining +about Brocky." + +"Since you represent the law in San Juan, Mr. Norton," she told him, +"since, further, Mr. Engle indorses all that you are doing, I believe +that I can go blindfolded a little. I'd rather do that than have you +forced against your better judgment to place confidence in a stranger." + +"That's fair of you," he said heartily. "But there are certain matters +which you will have to be told. Brocky Lane has been shot down by one +of Jim Galloway's crowd. It was a coward's job done by a man who would +run a hundred miles rather than meet Brocky in the open. And now the +thing which we don't want known is that Lane even so much as set foot +on Mt. Temple. We don't want it known that he was anywhere but on Las +Cruces Rancho; that he was doing anything but give his time to his +duties as foreman there." + +"In particular you don't want Jim Galloway to know?" + +"In particular I don't want Jim Galloway to so much as suspect that +Brocky Lane or Tom Cutter or myself have any interest in Mt. Temple," +he said emphatically. + +"But if the man who shot him is one of Galloway's crowd, as you +say. . . ." + +"He'll do no talking for a while. After having seen Brocky drop he +took one chance and showed half of his cowardly carcass around a +boulder. Whereupon Brocky, weak and sick and dizzy as he was, popped a +bullet into him." + +She shuddered. + +"Is there nothing but killing of men among you people?" she cried +sharply. "First the sheepman from Las Palmas, then Brocky Lane, then +the man who shot him. . . ." + +"Brocky didn't kill Moraga," Norton explained quietly. "But he dropped +him and then made him throw down his gun and crawl out of the brush. +Then Tom Cutter gathered him in, took him across the county line, gave +him into the hands of Ben Roberts who is sheriff over there, and came +on to San Juan. Roberts will simply hold Moraga on some trifling +charge, and see that he keeps his mouth shut until we are ready for him +to talk." + +"Then Brocky Lane and Tom Cutter were together on Mt. Temple?" + +"Near enough for Tom to hear the shooting." + +They grew silent again. Clearly Norton had done what explaining he +deemed necessary and was taking her no deeper into his confidences. +She told herself that he was right, that these were not merely his own +personal secrets, that as yet he would be unwise to trust a stranger +further than he was forced to. And yet, unreasonably or not, she felt +a little hurt. She had liked him from the beginning and from the +beginning she felt that in a case such as his she would have trusted to +intuition and have held back nothing. But she refrained from voicing +the questions which none the less insisted upon presenting themselves +to her: What was the thing that had brought both Brocky Lane and Tom +Cutter to Mt. Temple? What had they been seeking there in a wilderness +of crag and cliff? Why was Roderick Norton so determined that Jim +Galloway should not so much as suspect that these men were watchful in +the mountains? What sinister chain of circumstance had impelled +Moraga, who Norton said was Galloway's man, to shoot down the cattle +foreman? And Galloway himself, what type of man must he be if all that +she had heard of him were true; what were his ambitions, his plans, his +power? + +Before long Norton pointed out the shadowy form of Mt. Temple looming +ever vaster before them, its mass of rock, of wind-blown, wind-carved +peaks lifted in sombre defiance against the stars. It brooded darkly +over the lower slopes, like an incubus it dominated the other spines +and ridges, its gorges filled with shadow and mystery, its precipices +making the sense reel dizzily. And somewhere up there high against the +sky, alone, suffering, perhaps dying, a man had waited through the slow +hours, and still awaited their coming. How slowly she and Norton were +riding, how heartless of her to have felt the thrill of pleasure which +had possessed her so utterly an hour ago! + +Or less than an hour. For now again, wandering out far across the open +lands, came the heavy mourning of the bell. + +"How far can one hear it?" she asked, surprised that from so far its +ringing came so clearly. + +"I don't know how many miles," he answered. "We'll hear it from the +mountain. I should have heard it to-day, long before I met you by the +arroyo, had I not been travelling through two big bands of Engle's +sheep." + +Behind them San Juan drawn into the shadows of night but calling to +them in mellow-toned cadences of sorrow, before them the sombre canons +and iron flanks of Mt. Temple, and somewhere, still several hours away, +Brocky Lane lying helpless and perhaps hopeless; grim by day the earth +hereabouts was inscrutable by night, a mighty, primal sphinx, +lip-locked, spirit-crushing. The man and girl riding swiftly side by +side felt in their different ways according to their different +characters and previous experience the mute command laid upon them, and +for the most part their lips were hushed. + +There came the first slopes, the talus of strewn, broken, +disintegrating rock, and then the first of the cliffs. Now the sheriff +rode in the fore and Virginia kept her frowning eyes always upon his +form leading the way. They entered the broad mouth of a ravine, found +an uneven trail, were swallowed up by its utter and impenetrable +blackness. + +"Give Persis her head," Norton advised her. "She'll find her way and +follow me." + +His voice, low-toned as it was, stabbed through the silence, startling +her, coming unexpectedly out of the void which had drawn him and his +horse gradually beyond the quest of her straining eyes. She sighed, +sat back in her saddle, relaxed, and loosened her reins. + +For an hour they climbed almost steadily, winding in and out. Now, +high above the bed of the gorge, the darkness had thinned about them; +more than once the girl saw the clear-cut silhouette of man and beast +in front of her or swerving off to right or left. When, after a long +time, he spoke again he was waiting for her to come up with him. He +had dismounted, loosened the cinch of his saddle and tied his horse to +a stunted, twisted tree in a little flat. + +"We have to go ahead on foot now," he told her as he put out his hand +to help her down. And then as they stood side by side: "Tired much?" + +"No," she answered. "I was just in the mood to ride." + +He took down the rope from her saddle strings, tied Persis, and, saying +briefly, "This way," again went on. She kept her place almost at his +heels, now and again accepting the hand he offered as their way grew +steeper underfoot. Half an hour ago she knew that they had swerved off +to the left, away from the deep gorge into whose mouth they had ridden +so far below; now she saw that they were once more drawing close to the +steep-walled canon. Its emptiness, black and sinister, lay between +them and a group of bare peaks which stood up like cathedral spires +against the sky. + +"This would be simple enough in the daytime," Norton told her during +one of their brief pauses. "In the dark it's another matter. Not +tired out, are you?" + +"No," she assured him the second time, although long ago she would have +been glad to throw herself down to rest, were their errand less urgent. + +"We've got some pretty steep climbing ahead of us yet," he went on +quietly. "You must be careful not to slip. Oh," and he laughed +carelessly, "you'd stop before you got to the bottom, but then a drop +of even half a dozen feet is no joke here. If you'll pardon me I'll +make sure for you." + +With no further apology or explanation he slipped the end of a rope +about her waist, tying it in a hard knot. Until now she had not even +known that he had brought a rope; now she wondered just how hazardous +was the hidden trail which they were travelling; if it were in truth +but the matter of half a dozen feet which she would fall if she +slipped? He made the other end of the short tether fast about his own +body, said "Ready?" and again she followed him closely. + +There came little flat spaces, then broken boulders to clamber over, +then steep, rugged climbs, when they grasped the rough rocks with both +hands and moved on with painful slowness. It seemed to the girl that +they had been climbing for long, tedious hours since they had slipped +out of their saddles; though to him she said nothing, locking her lips +stubbornly, she knew that at last she was tired, very tired, that an +end of this laborious ascent must come soon or she would be forced to +stop and lie down and rest. + +"Fifteen minutes more," said the sheriff, "and we're there. We'll use +the first five minutes of it for a rest, too." + +He made her sit down, unstoppered a canteen which, like the coil of +rope, she had not known he carried, and gave her a drink of water which +seemed to her the most wonderfully strength-making, life-giving draft +in the world. Then he dropped down at her side, looked at his watch in +the light of a flaring match carefully cupped in his hand, and lighted +his pipe. + +"Nearly midnight," he told her. + +Without replying she lay back against the slope of the mountain, closed +her eyes and relaxed, breathing deeply. Her chest expanded deeply to +the long indrawn breath which filled her lungs with the rare air. She +felt suddenly a little sleepy, dreaming longingly of the unutterable +content one could find in just going to sleep with the cliff-scarred +mountainside for couch. + +She stirred and opened her eyes. Rod Norton, the sheriff of San Juan, +a man who a few brief hours ago had been unknown to her, his name +unfamiliar, sat two paces from her, smoking. She and this man of whom +she still knew rather less than nothing were alone in the world; just +the two of them lifted into the sky, separated by a dreary stretch of +desert lands from other men and women . . . bound together by a bit of +rope. She tried to see his face; the profile, more guessed than seen, +appeared to her fancy as unrelenting as the line of cliff just beyond +him, clear-cut against the sky. + +Yet somehow . . . she did not definitely formulate the thought of which +she was at the time but dimly, vaguely conscious . . . she was glad +that she had come to San Juan. And she was not afraid of the silent +man at her side, nor sorry that circumstance had given them this night +and its labors. + +Norton knocked out his pipe. Together they got to their feet. + +"More careful than ever now," he cautioned her. "Look out for each +step and go slowly. We're there in ten minutes. Ready?" + +"Ready," she answered. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN THE HOME OF CLIFF-DWELLERS + +Those remaining ten minutes tried all that there was of endurance in +Virginia Page. Often Norton, bidding her wait a moment, climbed on to +some narrow ledge above her and, drawing the rope steadily through his +hands, gave her what aid he could; often, clinging with hand and foot +she thought breathlessly of the steep fall of cliff which the darkness +hid from her eyes, but which grew ever steeper in her mind as she +struggled on. He had said it would be easier in daylight; she wondered +if after all it would not have been more difficult could she have seen +just what were the chances she was taking at every moment. But more +and more she came to have utter faith in the quiet man going on before +her, and in the piece of rope which stretched taut between them. + +"And now," said Norton at last, when once more he had drawn her up to +him and they stood close together upon a narrow ledge, "we've got a +good, safe trail under foot. Good news, eh?" + +But as he moved on now he kept her hand locked tight in his own. Their +"good, safe trail" was a rough ledge running almost horizontally along +the cliffside, its trend scarcely perceptibly upward. Within twenty +steps it led them into a wide, V-shaped fissure in the rocks. Then +came a sort of cup in a nest of rugged peaks, its bottom filled with +imprisoned soil worn from the spires above. As Norton, relinquishing +her hand, went forward swiftly she heard a man's voice saying weakly: + +"That you, Rod?" + +"I came as soon as I could, Brocky." Norton, standing close to a big +outjutting boulder upon the far side of the cup, was bending over the +cattleman. "How are you making out, old man?" + +"I've sure been having one hell of a nice little party," grunted Brocky +Lane faintly. "A man's so damn close to heaven on these mountain +tops. . . . Who's that?" + +Virginia came forward quickly and went down on her knees at Lane's side. + +"I'm Dr. Page," she said quietly. "Now if you'll tell me where you're +hit . . . and if Mr. Norton will get me some sort of a light. A fire +will have to do. . . ." + +Another little grunt came from Brocky Lane's tortured lips, this time a +wordless expression of his unmeasured amazement. + +"I didn't want Patten in on this," Norton explained. "Miss Page is a +doctor; just got into San Juan to-day. She's a cousin of Engle. And +she knows her business a whole lot better than Patten does, besides." + +"Will you get the fire started immediately, Mr. Norton?" asked Virginia +somewhat sharply. "Mr. Lane has waited long enough as it is." + +"I'll be damned!" said Brocky Lane weakly. And then, more weakly +still, in a voice which broke despite a manful effort to make it both +steady and careless, "I never cuss like that unless I'm delerious, +anyhow I never cuss when there's a lady. . . ." + +"If you'll keep perfectly still," Virginia admonished him quickly, +"I'll do all the talking that is necessary. Where is the wound?" + +"You don't have to have a light, do you?" Brocky insisted on being +informed. "You see, we can't have it. Where'm I hurt, you want to +know? Mostly right here in my side." + +Virginia's hands found the rude bandage, damp and sticky. + +"It's nonsense about not having a light," she said, turning toward +Norton. + +"No," said the wounded man. "Nonsense nothing, is it Rod? How're we +going to have a fire when my matches are all gone and Rod's +matches. . . ." + +"Mr. Norton," Virginia cut in crisply, "in spite of your friend's talk +and in spite of the bluff he is putting up he is pretty badly hurt. +You give me some sort of a light, I don't care if they see it down at +San Juan, or you shoulder the responsibility. Which is it?" + +Norton turned and was gone in the darkness; to Virginia's eyes it +seemed that he was swallowed up by the cliff's themselves, as though +they had opened and accepted him and closed after him. She supposed +that he had gone to seek what scanty dry fuel one might find here. But +in a moment he was back carrying a lighted lantern. + +"Look here, Rod. . . ." expostulated Brocky. + +"Shut up, Brocky," answered Norton quietly. And, passing the lantern +to the girl. "If you'll carry that I'll carry Brocky. It's only a few +steps and I won't hurt him. We can make him more comfortable there; +and besides, we can't leave him out here in the sun to-morrow." + +Somewhat mystified, Virginia took the lantern and her own surgical case +from the sheriff and watched him stoop and gather the tall form of his +friend into his arms. Then going the way he indicated, straight across +the tiny flat, she lighted the way. She heard the wounded man groan +once; then, his teeth set to guard his lips, Brocky was silent. + +After a dozen steps she came to a steep-sided, narrow chasm giving +passageway not six feet wide which twisted this way and that before her. + +"Look out," called Norton sharply. "Watch where you step now. Go +slow." + +Virginia swinging her lantern up shoulder-high, looking ahead, grew +instantly stock-still, a shiver tingling along her spine. The narrow +defile through which she had passed had led out of the ring of peaks +and now abruptly debouched into nothingness. As she had turned with +the twisting passageway, expecting to see another wall of rock before +her, she saw instead the sky filled with stars. She stood almost at +the edge of a sheer precipice. + +"Throw the light to the left now," commanded Norton. "See what looks +like the entrance to a cave? We go in there." + +She walked on, moving slowly, warily, a little faint from the one +startled view before her, her body tight pressed to the rocks upon the +left, her feet only a pace from the edge of the cliff. Now she saw the +mouth of the cave, a black ragged hole just above a flat rock which +thrust itself outward so that it seemed hanging, balanced insecurely, +over the abyss. By the pale rays of the lantern she saw the fairly +smooth, gently sloping floor of the cavern; then, stooping, she passed +in, turned, and held the light for Norton. + +He came on steadily, bearing his burden lightly. Still holding the +lantern for him, turning as he came closer, she saw that the cave was +lofty and wide, that it ran farther back into the mountain than her +lantern's rays could follow. + +"Back there," said Norton, "you'll find blankets. I'll hold him while +you spread some out for him." + +She hurried toward the farther end of the cave, came to a tumble of +blankets against the wall, dragged out two or three, spreading them +quickly. And then, while Norton was stooping to lay Brocky's limp form +down, she busied herself with her case. + +"He has fainted," she said quickly. "I'd like to examine the wound +before he is conscious; it's going to hurt him. Pour me some water +into any sort of basin or cup or anything else you've got here. Then +stand by to help me if I need you. . . . Hold the lantern for me." + +Swiftly, but Norton marked with what skilful fingers, she removed the +bandage and made her examination. Norton, squatting upon his heels at +her side, holding the lantern, after one frowning look at the wound, +kept his eyes fixed upon her face. Brocky Lane was near his death and +the sheriff knew it after that one look; his life lay, perhaps, in the +hands of this girl. Norton had brought her when he might have brought +Patten. Had he chosen wrongly? + +He had noted her hands before; now they seemed to him the most +wonderful hands ever possessed by either man or woman, strong, sure, +quick, sensitive, utterly capable. He thought of Caleb Patten's hands, +thick, a little inclined to be flabby. + +"Open that bottle," she directed coolly. "One tablet into the water. +That box has cotton and gauze in it . . . don't touch them! I want +everything clean; just open the box and set it where I can get it." + +One by one she gave her directions and the man obeyed swiftly and +unquestioningly. He watched her probe the wound, saw her eyes narrow, +knew that she had made her diagnosis. As she washed the ugly hole in +the flesh and made her own bandage Brocky Lane was wincing, his eyes +again open. Both men were watching her now, the same look in each +eager pair of eyes. But until she had done and, with Norton's help, +had made Lane as comfortable as possible upon his crude bed, she gave +no answer to their mute pleading. Then she sat down upon the stone +floor, caught her knees up in her clasped hands, and looked long and +searchingly into Brocky Lane's face. The cowboy struggled with his +muscles and triumphed over them, summoning a sick grin as he muttered: + +"You're mighty good to take all this trouble. . . . I'm sure a hundred +times obliged. . . ." + +"And," she cut in abruptly, "you mean to tell me that you shot that man +after he had put this hole in you? And then you made him crawl out of +the brush and come to you?" + +"I sure did," grunted Brocky. "And if my aim hadn't been sort of bad, +me being all upset this way, I wouldn't have just winged old Moraga +that way, either! When he's all cured up and I'm all well again. . . ." + +Then he broke off and again his eyes, like Norton's, asked their +question. This time she answered it, speaking slowly and thoughtfully. + +"Mr. Brocky Lane, I congratulate you on three things, your physique +first, your luck second, and third, your nerve. They are a combination +that is hard to beat. I am very much inclined to the belief that in a +month or so you'll be about as good as new." + +Norton expelled a deep breath of relief; he realized suddenly that +whatever this gray-eyed, strong-handed girl had said would have had his +fullest credence. Brocky's grin grew a shade less strained. + +"When you add to that combination," he muttered, "a sure-enough angel +come to doctor a man. . . ." + +"Growing delirious again," laughed Virginia. "Give him a little +brandy, Mr. Norton. Then a smoke if he's dying for one. Then we'll +try to get a little sleep, all of us. You see, I had virtually no +sleep on the train last night and to-day has been a big day for me. If +I'm going to do your friend any good I've got to get three winks. And, +unless you're made out of reinforced sheet-iron, it's the same for you. +You can lie down close to Mr. Lane so that he can wake you easily if he +needs us. Now," and she rose, still smiling, but suddenly looking +unutterably weary, "where is the guest-chamber?" + +She did not tell them that not only last night, but the night before +she had sat up in a day coach, saving every cent she could out of the +few dollars which were to give her and her brother a new start in the +world; there were many things which Virginia Page knew how to keep to +herself. + +"This way," said Norton, taking up the lantern. "We can really make +you more comfortable than you'd think." + +At the very least he could count confidently on treating her to a +surprise. She followed him for forty or fifty feet toward the end of +the cave and to an irregular hole in the side wall, through this, and +into another cave, smaller than the first, but as big as an ordinary +room. The floor was strewn with the short needles of the mountain +pine. As she turned, looking about her, she noted first another +opening in a wall suggesting still another cave; then, feeling a faint +breath of the night air on her cheek she saw a small rift in the outer +shell of rock and through it the stars thick in the sky. + +"May you sleep well in Jim Galloway's hang-out," said Norton lightly. +"May you not be troubled with the ghosts of the old cliff-dwellers +whose house this was before our time. And may you always remember that +if there is anything in the world that I can do for you all you have to +do is let me know. Good night." + +"Good night," she said. + +He had left the lantern for her. She placed it on the floor and went +across her strange bedroom to the hole in the rock through which the +stars were shining. It seemed impossible that those stars out there +were the same stars which had shone upon her all of her life long. She +could fancy that she had gone to sleep in one world and now had +awakened in another, coming into a far, unknown territory where the +face of the earth was changed, where men were different, where life was +new. And though her body was tired her spirit did not droop. Rather +an old exhilaration was in her blood. She had stepped from an old, +outworn world into a new one, and with a quick stir of the pulses she +told herself that life was good where it was strenuous and that she was +glad that Virginia Page had come to San Juan. + +"And now," she mused sleepily when at last she lay down upon heaped-up +pine-needles and drew over her the blanket Norton had brought, "I am +going to sleep in the hang-out of Jim Galloway and the old home of the +cliff-dwellers! Virginia Page, you are a downright lucky girl!" + +Whereupon she blew out her lantern, smiled faintly at the stars shining +upon her, sighed wearily and went to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +JIM GALLOWAY'S GAME + +As full consciousness of her surroundings returned slowly to her, +Virginia Page at first thought that she had been awakened by the aroma +of boiling coffee. Then, sitting up, wide awake, she knew that Norton +had come to the doorway of her separate chamber and had called. She +threw off her blanket and got up hastily. + +It was still dark. She imagined that she had merely dozed and that +Norton was summoning her because Brocky Lane was worse. A dim glow +shone through the cave entrance, that flickering, uncertain light +eloquent of a camp-fire. As her hands went swiftly and femininely to +her hair, she heard Norton's voice in a laughing remark. Only then she +knew that she had slept three or four hours, that the dawn was near, +that it was time for her to return to San Juan. + +"Good morning," she said brightly. + +Norton, squatting by the fire, frying-pan in hand, turned and answered +her nod; Brocky Lane, flat on his back with his hands clasped behind +his head, a cigarette in his mouth, twisted a little where he lay, his +eyes eager upon his doctor. Virginia came on into the full light, +striking the pine-needles from her riding-habit. + +"Time to eat and ride," said Norton, turning again to his task. "Bacon +and coffee and exercise. Have you rested?" + +"Perfectly. And Mr. Lane?" + +"Me?" said Brocky. "Feeling fine." + +Norton gave her a cup of warm water to wash her hands. Then she made a +second, very careful examination of Brocky's wound, cleansing it and +adjusting a fresh bandage. + +"I want to start in half an hour," said the sheriff. "There'll be +light enough then so that we can make time getting down to the horses +and yet not enough light to show us up to a chance early rider down +below. Then we'll swing off to the west, make a wide bend, ride +through Las Estrellas and get back into San Juan when we please. That +is you will; I'll leave you outside of Las Estrellas, showing you the +way. And, while we eat, I am going to tell you something." + +"About Galloway?" she asked quickly. "Explaining what you meant by +Galloway's hang-out?" + +"Yes. And more than that." + +For a little she stood, looking at him very gravely. Then she spoke in +utter frankness. + +"Mr. Norton, I think that I can see your position; you were so +circumstanced through Mr. Lane's being hurt that you had to bring +either Dr. Patten or me here. You decided it would be wiser to bring +me. There is something of a compliment in that, isn't there?" + +"You don't know Caleb Patten yet!" growled Brocky a bit savagely. + +"Already it seems to me," she went on, "that you have a pretty hard row +to hoe. It is evident that you have discovered a sort of thieves' +headquarters here; that, for your own reasons, you don't want it known +that you have found it. To say that I am not curious about it all +would be talking nonsense, of course. And yet I can assure you that I +hold you under no obligation whatever to do any explaining. You are +the sheriff and your job is to get results, not to be polite to the +ladies." + +But Norton shook his head. + +"You know what you know," he said seriously. "I think that if you know +a little more you will more readily understand why we must insist on +keeping our mouths shut . . . all of us." + +"In that case," returned the girl, "and before you boil that coffee +into any more hopelessly black a concoction than it already is, I am +ready to drink mine and listen. Coffee, Mr. Lane?" + +"Had mine, thanks," answered Brocky. "Spin the yarn, Rod." + +Norton put down his frying-pan, the bacon brown and crisp, and rose to +his feet. + +"Will you come this way a moment, Miss Page?" he asked. "To begin +with, seeing is believing." + +She followed him as she had, last night, back into the cave in which +she had slept. But Norton did not stop here. He went on, Virginia +still following him, came to that other hole in the rock wall which she +had noted by the lantern light. + +"In here," he said. "Just look." + +He swept a match across his thigh, holding it up for her. She came to +his side and looked in. First she saw a number of small boxes, +innocent appearing affairs which suggested soda-crackers. Beyond them +was something covered with a blanket; Norton stepped by her and jerked +the covering aside. Startled, puzzled by what she saw, she looked to +him wonderingly. Placed neatly, lying side by side, their metal +surfaces winking back at the light of Norton's match, were a number of +rifles. A score of them, fifty, perhaps. + +"It looks like a young revolution!" she cried, her gaze held, her eyes +fascinated by the unexpected. + +"You've seen about everything now," he told her, the red ember of a +burnt-out match dropping to the floor. "Those boxes contain +cartridges. Now let's go back to Brocky." + +"But they'll see that you have been here. . . ." + +"I'll come back in a minute with the lantern; I want a further chance +to look things over. Then I'll put the blanket back and see that not +even that charred match gives us away. And we'd better be eating and +getting started." + +With a steaming tin of black coffee before her, a brown piece of bacon +between her fingers, she forgot to eat or drink while she listened to +Norton's story. At the beginning it seemed incredible; then, her +thoughts sweeping back over the experiences of these last twenty-four +hours, her eyes having before them the picture of a sheriff, grim-faced +and determined, a wounded man lying just beyond the fire, the rough, +rudely arched walls and ceiling of a cave man's dwelling about her, she +deemed that what Norton knew and suspected was but the thing to be +expected. + +"Jim Galloway is a big man," the sheriff said thoughtfully. "A very +big man in his way. My father was after him for a long time; I have +been after him ever since my father's death. But it is only recently +that I have come to appreciate Jim Galloway's caliber. That's why I +could never get him with the goods on; I have been looking for him in +the wrong places. + +"I estimated that he was making money with the Casa Blanca and a +similar house which he operates in Pozo; I thought that his entire game +lay in such layouts and a bit of business now and then like the robbing +of the Las Palmas man. But now I know that most of these lesser jobs +are not even Galloway's affair, that he lets some of his crowd like the +Kid or Antone or Moraga put them across and keep the spoils, often +enough. In a word, while I've been looking for Jim Galloway in the +brush he has been doing his stunt in the big timber! And now. . . ." +The look in Norton's eyes suggested that he had forgotten the girl to +whom he was talking. "And now I have picked up his trail!" + +"And that's something," interposed Brocky Lane, a flash of fire in his +own eyes. "Considering that no man ever knew better than Jim Galloway +how to cover tracks." + +"You see," continued Norton, "Jim Galloway's bigness consists very +largely of these two things: he knows how to keep his hands off of the +little jobs, and he knows how to hold men to him. Bisbee, of Las +Palmas, goes down in the Casa Blanca; his money, perhaps a thousand +dollars, finds its way into the pockets of Kid Rickard, Antone, and +maybe another two or three men. Jim Galloway sees what goes on and +does no petty haggling over the spoils; he gets a strangle-hold on the +men who do the job; it costs him nothing but another lie or so, and he +has them where he can count on them later on when he needs such men. +Further, if they are arrested, Jim Galloway and Galloway's money come +to the front; they are defended in court by the best lawyers to be had, +men are bribed and they go free. As a result of such labors on +Galloway's part I'd say at a rough guess that there are from a dozen to +fifty men in the county right now who are his men, body and soul. + +"With a gang like that at his back, a man of Galloway's type has grown +pretty strong. Strong enough to plan . . . yes, and by the Lord, carry +out! . . . the kind of game he's playing right now. + +"A half-breed took sick and died a short time ago, a man whom I'd never +set my eyes on particularly. It happened that he was a superstitious +devil and that he was a second or third cousin of Ignacio Chavez. He +was quite positive that unless the bells rang properly for him he would +go to hell the shortest way. So he sent for Ignacio and wound up by +talking a good deal. Ignacio passed the word on to me. And that was +the first inkling I had of Galloway's real game. In a word, this is +what it is: + +"He plans on one big stroke and then a long rest and quiet enjoyment of +the proceeds. You have seen the rifles; he'll arm a crowd of his best +men . . . or his worst, as you please . . . swoop down on San Juan, rob +the bank, shooting down just as many men as happen to be in the way, +rush in automobiles to Pozo and Kepple's Town, stick up the banks +there, levy on the Las Palmas mines, and then steer straight to the +border. And, if all worked according to schedule, the papers across +the country would record the most daring raid across the border yet, +blaming the whole affair on a detachment of Gringo-hating Mexican +bandits and revolutionists." + +Virginia stared at him, half incredulously. But the look in Norton's +eyes, the same look in Brocky Lane's, assured her. + +"Why do you wait then?" she asked sharply. "If you know all this, why +don't you arrest the man and his accomplices now? Before it is too +late?" + +"And have the whole country laugh at me? Where's my evidence? Just +the word of a dead Indian, repeated by another Indian, and a few rifles +hid in the mountains? Even if we proved the rifles were Galloway's, +and I don't believe we could, how would we set about proving his +intention? No; I've talked it all over with the district attorney and +we can't move yet. We've got our chance at last; the chance to watch +and get Jim Galloway with the goods on. But we've got to wait until he +is just ready to strike. And then we are going to put a stop to +lawlessness in San Juan once and for all." + +"But," she objected breathlessly, "if he should strike before you are +ready?" + +"It is our one business in life that he doesn't do it. We know what he +is up to; we have found this hiding-place; we shall keep an eye on it +night and day. He doesn't know that we have been here; no one knows +but ourselves. You see now, Miss Page, why I couldn't bring Patten +here? Patten talks too much and Galloway knows every thought in +Patten's mind. And you understand how important it is for you to +forget that you have been here?" + +She sat silent, staring into the embers of the dying fire. + +"The thing which I can't understand," she said presently, "is that if +Jim Galloway is the 'big man' that you say he is he should do as much +talking as he must have done; that he should have told his plans to +such a man as the Indian who told them to Ignacio Chavez." + +"But he didn't tell all of this," Norton informed her. "The Indian +died without guessing what I have told you. He merely knew that the +rifles were here because Galloway had employed him to bring them and +because he was the man who told Galloway of this hiding-place. He +believed that Galloway's whole scheme was to smuggle a lot of arms and +ammunition south and across the border, selling to the Mexicans. But +from what little he could tell Chavez and from what we found out for +ourselves, the whole play became pretty obvious. No, Galloway hasn't +been talking and he has been playing as safe as a man can upon such +business as this. His luck was against him, that's all, when the +Indian died and insisted on being rung out by the San Juan bells. +There's always that little element of chance in any business, +legitimate or otherwise. . . . And now, if you'll finish your +breakfast I'll show you a view you'll never forget and then we'll hit +the trail." + +"But, Mr. Lane," she asked, "you don't intend to leave him here all +alone? He will get well with the proper attention; but be must have +that." + +"Within another hour or so," Norton told her, "Tom Cutter will be back +with one of Brocky's cowboys. They'll move Lane into a canon on the +other side of the mountain. Oh, I know he oughtn't to be moved, but +what else can we do? Besides, Brocky insists on it. Then they'll +arrange to take care of him; if necessary you'll come out again +to-morrow night?" + +"Of course," she said. She went to Brocky and held out her hand to +him. "I understand now, I think, why you would refuse to die, no +matter how badly you were hurt, until you had helped Mr. Norton finish +the work you have set your hands to. It's an honor, Mr. Lane, to have +a patient like you." + +Whereupon Brocky Lane grew promptly crimson and tongue-tied. + +"And now the view, Mr. Norton, and I am ready to go." + +He led the way to the outer ledge from which last night they had +entered the cave. + +"In daylight you can see half round the world from here," he said as +they stood with their backs to the rock. "Now you can get an idea of +what it's like." + +Below her was the chasm formed by these cliffs standing sheer and +fronting other tall cliffs looming blackly, the stars beginning to fade +in the sky above them. Norton pushed a stone outward with his boot; +she heard it strike, rebound, strike again . . . and then there was +silence; when the falling stone reached the bottom no sound came back +to tell her how far it had dropped. + +Turning a little to look southward, she saw the cliffs standing farther +and farther back on each side so that the eye might travel between them +and out over the lower slopes and the distant stretches of level land +which, more now than ever, seemed a great limitless sea. The stars +were paling rapidly; the first glint of the new day was in the air, the +world lay shadowy and silent and lifeless, softened in the seeming, +but, as in the daytime, slumbrous under an atmosphere of brooding +mystery. + +"When you told me last night . . . when you put your rope around me and +said that I might fall half a dozen feet. . . ." + +"Had we fallen it would have been a hundred feet, many a time," he said +quietly. "But I knew we wouldn't fall. And," looking into her face +with an expression in his eyes which the shadows hid, "I shouldn't have +sought to minimize the danger to you had I known you as well as I think +I know you now." + +"Thank you," she said lightly. But she was conscious of a warm +pleasurable glow throughout her entire being. It was good to live life +in the open, it was good to stand upon the cliff tops with a man like +Roderick Norton, it was good to have such a man speak thus. + + +Five minutes later they were making their way down the cliffs toward +the horses. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +YOUNG PAGE COMES TO TOWN + +Here and there throughout the great stretches of the sun-smitten +southwest are spots which still remain practically unknown, wherein men +come seldom or not at all, where no man cares to tarry. Barren +mountains that are blistering hot, sucked dry long ago of their last +vestige of moisture; endless drifts of sand where the silent animal +life is scanty, where fanged cactus and stubborn mesquite fight their +eternal battles for life; mesas and lomas little known, shunned by +humanity. True, men have been here, some few poking into the dust of +ancient ruins, more seeking minerals, and now and then one, fleeing the +law, to be followed relentlessly by such as Roderick Norton. And yet +there is the evidence, if one looks, that this desolate, shunned land +once had its teeming tribes and its green fields. + +Virginia and Roderick, having made their hazardous way down the cliffs +and to their horses in silence, found their tongues loosened as they +rode westward in the soft dawn. Virginia put her questions and he, as +best he could, answered them. She asked eagerly of the old +cliff-dwellers and he shrugged his shoulders. Aztecs, were they? +Toltecs? What? _Quien sabe_! They were a people of mystery who had +left behind them a silence like that of the desert wastes themselves. +Whence they came, where they went, and why, must long remain questions +with many answers and therefore none at all. But he could tell her a +few things of the ancient civilization . . . and a civilization it +truly was . . . and of the signs left for posterity to puzzle over. + +They had builded cities, and the ruins of their pueblos still stand +scattered across the weary, scorched land; they constructed mile after +mile of aqueducts whose lines are followed to-day by reclamation +engineers; they irrigated and cultivated their lands; they made abodes +high up on the mountains, dwelling in caves, enlarging their dwellings, +shaping homes and fortresses and lookouts. And just so long as the +mountains themselves last, will men come now and then into such places +as that wherein Jim Galloway's rifles lay hidden. + +"I have lived in this part of the world all but two or three years of +my life," said Norton at the end, "and yet I never heard of these +particular caves until a very few days ago. I don't believe that there +are ten people living who know of them; so Galloway, hiding his stuff +out there was playing just as safe as a man can play--when he plays the +game crooked, anyway." + +"But won't he guess something when he misses Moraga?" + +"I don't think so." Norton shook his head. "Tom Cutter and Brocky made +Moraga talk. His job was to keep an eye on this end, but he was +commissioned also to make a trip over to the county line. The first +thing Jim Galloway will hear will be that Moraga got drunk and into a +scrape and was taken in by Sheriff Roberts. Then I think that Galloway +himself will slip out of San Juan himself some dark night and climb the +cliffs to make sure. When he finds everything absolutely as it was +left, when time passes and nothing is done, I think he will replace +Moraga with another man and figure that everything is all right. Why +shouldn't he?" + +From Galloway and Moraga they got back to a discussion of the ancient +peoples of the desert, venturing surmise for surmise, finding that +their stimulated fancies winged together, daring to construct for +themselves something of the forgotten annals of a forgotten folk who, +perhaps, were living in walled cities while old Egypt was building her +pyramids. Then, abruptly, in a patch of tall mesquite, Norton reined +in his horse and stopped. + +"You understand why I must leave you here," he said. "Yonder, beyond +those trees straight ahead . . . you will see it from that little +ridge . . . is Las Estrellas, a town of a dozen houses. But before you +get there you will come to the house where old Ramorez, a half-breed, +lives. You remember; if you are missed in San Juan, Struve will say +that you have gone to see Ramorez. He is actually sick by the way; +maybe you can do something for him. His shack is in those cottonwoods, +this side of Las Estrellas. You'll find Ignacio there, too; he'll go +back to San Juan with you. And, once again, thank you." + +He put out his hand; she gave him hers and for a moment they sat +looking at each other gravely. Then Norton smiled, the pleasant boyish +smile, her lips curved at him deliciously, he touched his hat and was +gone. And she, riding slowly, turned Persis toward Las Estrellas. + +From Las Estrellas, an unkempt, ugly village strangely named, it was +necessary to ride some fifteen miles through sand and scrub before +coming again into San Juan. Virginia Page, sincerely glad that she had +made her call upon old Ramorez who was suffering painfully from acute +stomach trouble and whose distress she could partially alleviate, made +the return ride in the company of Ignacio. But first, from Ramorez's +baking hovel, the Indian conducted her to another where a young woman +with a baby a week old needed her. So it was well on in the afternoon +and with a securely established alibi that she rode by the old Mission +and to the hotel. As Ignacio rode listlessly away with the horses, as +innocent looking a lazy beggar as the world ever knew, Virginia caught +a glimpse of a white skirt and cool sunshade coming up the street. + +"Florence Engle," she thought. "Who, no doubt, will cut me dead if I +give her the opportunity." + +A little hurriedly she turned in at the hotel door and went to her +room. She had removed hat and gantlets, and was preparing for a bath +and change of clothing when a light knock sounded on her door. The +rap, preceded by quick little steps down the hall, was essentially +feminine. + +"Hello, Cousin Virginia," said Florence. "May I come in?" + +Virginia brought her in, gave her a chair and regarded her curiously. +The girl's face was flushed and pink, her eyes were bright and quite +gay and untroubled, her whole air genuinely friendly. Last night +Virginia had judged her to be about seventeen; now she looked a mere +child. + +"I was perfectly nasty last night, wasn't I?" Florrie remarked as she +stood her sunshade by her chair and smiled engagingly. "Oh, I know it. +Just a horrid little cat . . . but then I'm that most of the time. I +came all this way and in all this dust and heat just to ask you to +forgive me. Will you?" + +For the moment Virginia was nonplussed. But Florence only laughed, +clasped her hands somewhat affectedly and ran on, her words tumbling +out in helter-skelter fashion. + +"Oh, I know. I'm spoiled and I'm selfish, and I'm mean, I suppose. +And, oh dear, I'm as jealous as anything. But I'm ashamed of myself +this time. Whew! You ought to have listened in on the party after you +left! If you could have heard mama scold me and papa jaw me about the +way I acted it would have made you almost sorry for me." + +"But you weren't horrid at all," Virginia broke in at last, her heart +suddenly warming to this very obviously spoiled, futile, but none the +less likable, Florrie. "You mustn't talk that way. And if your +parents made you come. . . ." + +"They didn't," said Florrie calmly. "They couldn't. Nobody ever made +me do anything; that's what's the matter with me. I came because I +wanted to. As the men say, I wanted to square myself. And, would you +believe it, this is the third time I have called. Mr. Struve kept +telling me that you had gone to see old Joe Ramorez . . . isn't he the +awfullest old pirate you ever saw? And the dirtiest? I don't see how +you can go near a man like that, even if he is dying; honestly I don't. +But you must do all kinds of things, being a doctor." + +Her clasped hands tightened, she put her head of fluffy hair to one +side and looked at Virginia with such frank wonder in her eyes that +Virginia colored under them. + +"And," ran on Florrie, forestalling a possible interruption, "I was +ready to poke fun at you last night just for being something capable +and . . . and splendid. There was my jealousy again, I suppose. You +ought to have heard papa on that score; 'Look here, my fine miss; if +you could just be something worth while in the world, if you could do +as much good in all of your silly life as Virginia Page does every day +of hers,' . . . and so forth until he was ready to burst and mama was +ready to cry, and I was ready to bite him!" She trilled off in a burst +of laughter which was eloquent of the fact that Florence Engle, be her +faults what they might, was not the one to hold a grudge. + +"I am sorry," said Virginia, smiling a little, "if on my account . . ." + +"You were just going to get cleaned up, weren't you?" asked Florrie +contritely. "You look as hot and dusty as anything. My, what pretty +hair you have; I'll bet it comes down to your waist, doesn't it? You +ought to see mine when I take it down; it's like the pictures of the +bush-whackers . . . you know what I mean, from South Africa or +somewhere, you know . . . only, of course, mine's a prettier color. +Sometime I'll come and comb yours for you, when you're tired out from +curing sick Indians. But now," and she jumped to her feet, "I'll go +out on the porch while you get dressed and then you come out, will you? +It's cool there under the awning, and I'll have Mr. Struve bring us out +some cold lemonade. But first, you do forgive me, don't you?" + +Virginia's prompt assurance was incomplete when Florrie flitted out, +banging the door after her, headed toward the lounging-chairs on the +veranda. + + +"You pretty thing!" exclaimed Miss Florrie as Virginia joined her as +coolly and femininely dressed, if not quite as fluffily, as the +banker's daughter. "Oh, but you are quite the most stunning creature +that ever came into San Juan! Oh, I know all about myself; don't you +suppose I've stood in front of a glass by the long hours . . . wishing +it was a wishing-glass all the time and that I could turn a pug-nose +into a Grecian. I'm pretty; you're simply beautiful!" + +"Look here, my dear," laughed Virginia, taking the chair which Florrie +had drawn close up to her own in the shade against the adobe wall, "you +have already made amends. It isn't necessary to . . ." + +"I haven't half finished," cried Florrie emphatically. "You see it's a +way of mine to do things just by halves and quit there. But to-day it +is different; to-day I am going to square myself. That's one reason +why I treated you so cattishly last night; because you were so +maddeningly good to look upon. Through a man's eyes, you know; and +that's about all that counts anyway, isn't it? And the other reason +was that you came in with Roddy and he looked so contented. . . . Do +you wonder that I am just wild about him? Isn't he a perfect dear?" + +Florrie's utter frankness disconcerted Virginia. The confession of +"wildness" about San Juan's sheriff, followed by the asseveration of +his perfect dearness was made in bright frankness, Florrie's voice +lowered no whit though Julius Struve at the moment was coming down the +veranda bearing a tray and glasses. Virginia was not without gratitude +that Struve lingered a moment and bantered with Florrie; when he +departed she sought to switch the talk in another direction. But +Florrie, sipping her tall glass and setting it aside, was before her. + +"You see it was double-barrelled jealousy; so I did rather well not to +fly at you and tear your eyes out, didn't I? Just because you and he +came in together . . . as if every time a man and girl walk down the +street together it means that they are going to get married! But you +see, Roddy and I have known each other ever since before I can +remember, and I have asked myself a million times if some day we are +going to be Mr. and Mrs. Roderick Norton . . . and there are times when +I think we are!" + +"You have a long time ahead of you yet, haven't you, Florence, before +you have to answer a question like that?" asked Virginia amusedly. + +"Because I am so young?" cried Florrie. "Oh, I don't know; girls marry +young here. Now there is Tita . . . she is our cook's sister . . . she +has two babies already and she is only four months older than I am. +And . . . Look, Virgie; there is the most terrible creature in the +world. It is Kid Rickard; he killed the Las Palmas man, you know. I +am not going even to look at him; I hate him worse that Caleb +Patten . . . and that's like saying I hate strychnine worse than +arsenic, isn't it? But who in the name of all that is wonderful is the +man with him? Isn't he the handsome thing? I never saw him before. +He is from the outside, Virgie; you can tell by the fashionable cut of +his clothes and by the way he walks and . . . Isn't he distinguished!" + +"It is Elmer!" exclaimed Virginia, staring at the two figures which +were slowly approaching from the southern end of the street. "When did +he get here? I didn't expect him. . . ." + +Then she chose to forget all save the essential fact that her "baby +brother" was here and ran out to the sidewalk, calling to him. + +"Hello, Sis," returned Elmer nonchalantly. He was a thin, +anaemic-looking young fellow a couple of years younger than Virginia +who affected a swagger and gloves and who had a cough which was +insistent, but which he strove to disguise. And yet Florrie's +hyperbole had not been entirely without warrant. He had something of +Virginia's fine profile, a look of her in his eyes, the stamp of good +blood upon him. He suffered his sister to kiss him, meantime turning +his eyes with a faint sign of interest to the fair girl on the veranda. +Florrie smiled. + +"Sis," said Elmer, "this is Mr. Rickard. Mr. Rickard, shake hands with +my sister, Miss Page." + +A feeling of pure loathing swept over the girl as she turned to look +into Kid Rickard's sullen eyes and degenerate, cruel face. But, since +the Kid was a couple of paces removed and was slow about coming +forward, not so much as raising his hand to his wide hat, she nodded at +him and managed to say a quiet, non-committal, "How do you do?" Then +she slipped her arm through Elmer's. + +"Come, Elmer," she said hastily. "I want you to know Miss Florence +Engle; she is a sort of cousin of ours." + +"Sure," said Elmer off-handedly. "Come on, Rickard." + +But the Kid, standing upon no ceremony, had drawn his hat a trifle +lower over his eyes and turned his shoulder upon them, continuing along +the street in his slouching walk. Elmer, summoning youth's supreme +weapon of an affected boredom, yawned, stifled his little cough and +went with Virginia to meet Florence. + +Florence giggled over the introduction, then grew abruptly as grave as +a matron of seventy and tactlessly observed that Mr. Page had a very +bad cold; how could one have a cold in weather like this? Whereupon +Mr. Page glared at her belligerently, noted her little row of curls, +revised his first opinion of her, set her down not only as a cousin, +but as a crazy kid besides, and removed half a dozen steps to a chair. + +"I don't think much of your friends," remarked Florrie, sensing sudden +opposition and flying half-way to meet it. + +Elmer Page produced a very new, unsullied pipe from his pocket and +filled it with an air, while Virginia looked on curiously. Having done +so and having drawn up one trouser's leg to save the crease, crossed +the leg and at last put the pipe stem into his mouth, he regarded +Florrie from the cool and serene height of his superior age. + +"If you refer to Mr. Rickard," he said aloofly, "I may say that he is +not a friend . . . yet. I just met him this afternoon. But, although +he hasn't had the social advantages, perhaps, still he is a man of +parts." + +Florrie sniffed and tossed her head. Virginia bit her lips and watched +them. + +"Been smoking too many cigs, I guess, Sis," Elmer remarked apropos of +the initial observation of Miss Engle which still rankled. "Got a +regular cigarette fiend's cough. Gave 'em up. Hitting the pipe now." + +"If you knew," said Florrie spitefully, "that Mr. Rickard as you call +him had just murdered a man yesterday, what would you say then, I +wonder?" + +There was a sparkle of excitement in Elmer's eyes as he swung about to +answer. + +"Murdered!" he challenged. "You've heard just one side of it, of +course. Bisbee got drunk and insulted Mr. Rickard. They call him the +Kid, you know. Say, Sis, he's had a life for you! Full of adventure, +all kinds of sport. And Bisbee shot first, too. But the Kid got him!" +he concluded triumphantly. "Galloway told me all about it . . . and +what a blundering rummy the fool sheriff is." + +"Galloway?" queried Virginia uneasily. "You know him too, already?" + +"Sure," replied Elmer. "He's a good sort, too, You'll like him. I +asked him around." + +"For goodness' sake, Elmer, when did you get to San Juan? Have you +been here a week or just a few hours?" + +"Got in on the stage at noon, of course. But it doesn't take a man all +year to get acquainted in a town this size." + +"A man!" giggled Florrie. + +"I can see," laughed Virginia, "that you two are going to be more kin +than kind to each other; you'll be quarrelling in another moment." + +Florrie looked delighted at the prospect; Elmer yawned and brooded over +his pipe. But out of the tail of his eye he took stock again of her +blonde prettiness, and she, ready from the beginning to make fun of +him, repeated to herself the words she had used to Virginia: + +"But he is handsome . . . and distinguished looking!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A BRIBE AND A THREAT + +Virginia Page found time passing swiftly in San Juan. Within two weeks +she came almost to forget how she had heard a rattle of pistol-shots, +how the slow sobbing of a bell in the Mission garden had bemoaned a +life gone and a fresh crime upon a man's soul; at the end of a month it +seemed to her that she had dreamed that ride through the night with +Roderick Norton, climbing the cliffs, ministering to a stricken man in +the forsaken abode of ancient cliff-dwellers. She was like one +marooned upon a tiny island in an immense sea who has experienced the +crisis of shipwreck and now finds existence suddenly resolved into a +quiet struggle for the maintenance of life . . . that and a placid +expectation. As another might have waited through the long, quiet +hours for the sign of a white sail or a black plume of smoke, so did +she wait for the end of a tale whose beginning had included her. + +That the long days did not drag was due not so much to that which +happened about her, as to that which occurred within her. She carried +responsibility upon each shoulder; her life was in the shaping and she +and none other must make it what it would be; her brother's character +was at that unstable stage when it was ready to run into the mould. +She had brought him here, from the city to the rim of the desert--the +step had been her doing, nobody's but hers. And she had come here far +less for the sake of Elmer Page's cough than for the sake of his +manhood. She wanted him to grow to be a man one could be proud of; +there were times when his eyes evaded her and she feared the outcome. + +"He is just a boy," she told herself, seeking courage. It seemed such +a brief time ago that she had blown his nose for him and washed his +face. She made excuses for him, but did not close her eyes to the +truth. The good old saw that boys will be boys failed to make of Elmer +all that she would have him. + +Further to this consideration was another matter which filled the hours +for her. The few dollars with which she had established herself in San +Juan marched in steady procession out of her purse and fewer other +dollars came to take their places. The Indian Ramorez whose stomach +trouble she had mitigated came full of gratitude and Casa Blanca +whiskey and paid La Senorita Doctor as handsomely as he could; he gave +her his unlimited and eternal thanks and a very beautiful hair rope. +Neither helped her very greatly to pay for room and board. Another +Indian offered her a pair of chickens; a third paid her seventy-five +cents on account and promised the rest soon. When she came to know his +type better she realized that he had done exceptionally well by her. + +She went often to the Engles', growing to love all three of them, each +in a different way. Florrie she found vain, spoiled, selfish, but all +in so frank a fashion that in return for an admittedly half-jealous +admiration she gave a genuine affection. And she was glad to see how +Elmer made friends with them, always appearing at his best in their +home. He and Florrie were already as intimate as though they had grown +up with a back-yard fence separating their two homes; they criticised +each other with terrible outspokenness, they made fun of each other, +they very frequently "hated and despised" each other and, utterly +unknown to either Florrie Engle or Elmer Page, were the best of friends. + +Of Roderick Norton San Juan saw little through these weeks. He came +now and then, twice ate with Virginia and Elmer at Struve's, talked +seriously with John Engle, teased Florrie, and went away upon the +business which called him elsewhere. Upon one of these visits he told +Virginia that Brocky Lane was "on the mend" and would be as good as new +in a month; no other reference was made to her ride with him. + +But through his visits to San Juan, brief and few though they were, +Roderick Norton was enabled to assure himself with his own eyes that +Kid Rickard was still to be found here if required, that Antone, as +usual, was behind the Casa Blanca bar; that Jim Galloway was biding his +time with no outward show of growing restless or impatient. Tom +Cutter, Norton's San Juan deputy, was a man to keep both eyes open, and +yet there were times when the sheriff was not content with another +man's vision. + +Nor did the other towns of the county, scattered widely across the +desert, beyond the mountains and throughout the little valleys, see +much more of him. If a man wished word with Rod Norton these days his +best hope of finding him lay in going out to _el Rancho de las Flores_. + +It was Norton's ranch, having been Billy Norton's before him, one of +the choice spots of the county bordering Las Cruces Rancho where Brocky +Lane was manager and foreman. Beyond the San Juan mountains it lay +across the head of one of the most fertile of the neighboring valleys, +the Big Water Creek giving it its greenness, its value, and the basis +for its name. Here for days at a time the sheriff could in part lay +aside the cares of his office, take the reins out of his hired +foreman's hands, ride among his cattle and horses, and dream such +dreams as came to him. + +"One of these days I'll get you, Jim Galloway," he had grown into the +habit of musing. "Then they can look for another sheriff and I can do +what I want to do." + +And his desire had grown very clearly defined to him; it was the old +longing of a man who comes into a wilderness such as this, the longing +to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before his coming. +With his water rights a man might work modern magic; far back in the +hills he had found the natural site for his storage dams; slightly +lower in a nest of hills there would be some day a pygmy lake whose +seductive beauty to him who dwells on desert lands calls like the soft +beauty of a woman; upon a knoll where now was nothing there would come +to be a comfortable, roomy, hospitable ranch-house to displace forever +the shacks which housed the men now farther down the slopes; and +everywhere, because there was water aplenty, would there be roses and +grape-vines and orange-trees. All this when he should get Jim Galloway. + +From almost any knoll upon the Rancho de las Flores he could see the +crests of Mt. Temple lifted in clear-cut lines against the sky. If he +rode with Gaucho, his foreman, among the yearlings, he saw Mt. Temple; +if he rode the fifty miles to San Juan he saw the same peaks from the +other side. And a hundred times he looked up at them with eyes which +were at once impatient and stern; he began to grow angry with Galloway +for so long postponing the final issue. + +For, though he did not go near the cliff caves, he knew that the rifles +still lay there awaiting Jim Galloway's readiness. A man named Bucky +Walsh was prospecting for gold upon the slopes of Mt. Temple, a silent, +leather-faced little fellow, quick-eyed and resourceful. And, above +the discovery of color, it was the supreme business of Bucky Walsh to +know what happened upon the cliffs above him. If there were anything +to report no man knew better than he how to get out of a horse all +there was of speed in him. + +In the end Norton called upon the reserves of his patience, saying to +himself that if Jim Galloway could bide his time in calmness he could +do the same. The easier since he was unshaken in his confidence that +the time was coming when he and Galloway would stand face to face while +guns talked. Never once did he let himself hope for another ending. + +Giving what time he had free to ranch matters at Las Flores the sheriff +found other things to occupy him. There was a gamblers' fight one +night at the camp at Las Palmas mines, a man badly hurt, an ill-starred +bystander dead, the careless gunman a fugitive, headed for the border. +Norton went out after him, shifted saddle from jaded beast to fresh +again and again, rode two hundred miles with only the short stops for +hastily taken food and water and got his man willy-nilly a mile below +the border. What was more, he made it his personal business that the +man was convicted and sentenced to a long term; about San Juan there +was no crime less tolerable than that of "shooting wild." + +But all this brought him no closer to Jim Galloway; Galloway, meeting +him shortly afterward in San Juan, laughed and thanked him for the job. +It appeared that the man whom Norton had brought back to stand trial +was not only no friend of the proprietor of the Casa Blanca, but an +out-spoken enemy. + +"You'll be asking favors of me next, Norton," grinned the big, +thick-bodied man. "I'd pay you real money for getting a few like him +out of my way. Get me, don't you?" and he passed on, his eyes turned +tauntingly. + +Yes, Norton "got" him. No man in the southwest harbored more bitter +ill-will for the lawless than Jim Galloway . . . unless the lawless +stood in with him. Aforetime many a hardy, tempestuous spirit had +defied the crime-dictator; here of late they were few who hoped to slit +throats or cut purses and not pay allegiance to the saloon-keeper of +San Juan. + +Upon the heels of this affair, however, came another which was destined +to bring Roderick Norton to a crisis in his life. Word reached him at +Las Flores that a lone prospector in the Red Hills had been robbed of a +baking-powder tin of dust and that the prospector, recovering from the +blows which had been rained on his head, had identified one of his two +assailants. That one was Vidal Nunez; circumstances hinted that the +other well might be Kid Rickard. + +Norton promptly instructed Tom Cutter to find out what he could of +Rickard's movements upon the day of the robbery, and himself set out to +bring in Vidal Nunez, taking a grim joy in his task when he remembered +how Nunez had been the man who, with a glance, had cautioned Antone to +hold his tongue after the shooting of Bisbee at the Casa Blanca. + +"Here's a man Jim Galloway won't thank me for rounding up," he told +himself. "And we are going to see if his arm is long enough to keep +Nunez out of the penitentiary." + +He went to San Juan, learned that nothing had been seen of the Mexican +there, set the machinery of the man hunt in full swing, doubled back +through the settlements to the eastward, and for two weeks got nothing +but disappointment for his efforts. Nunez had disappeared and none who +cared to tell knew where. But Norton kept on doggedly; confident that +the man had not had the opportunity to get out of the country, he was +equally confident that, soon or late, he would get him. Then came the +second meeting with Jim Galloway. + +[Illustration: Then came the second meeting with Jim Galloway.] + +The two men rode into each other's view on the lonely trail half-way +between San Juan and Tecolote, which is to say where the little, barren +hills break the monotony of the desert lands some eight or ten miles to +the eastward of San Juan. It was late afternoon, and Galloway, riding +back toward town, had the sun in his eyes so that he could not have +known as soon as did Norton whom he was encountering. But Galloway was +not the man to ride anywhere that he was not ready for whatever man he +might meet; Norton's eyes, as the two drew nearer on the blistering +trail, marked the way Galloway's right hand rested loosely on the +cantle of his saddle and very near Galloway's right hip. + +Norton, merely eying him sharply, was for passing on without a word or +a nod. The other, however, jerked in his horse, clearly of a mind for +parley. + +"Well?" demanded Norton. + +"I was just thinking," said Galloway dryly, "what an exceptionally +fitting spot we've picked! If I got you or you got me right now nobody +in the world need ever know who did the trick. We couldn't have found +a much likelier place if we'd sailed away to an island in the South +Seas." + +"I was thinking something of the same kind," returned Norton coolly. +"Have you any curiosity in the matter? If you think you can get your +gun first . . . why, then, go to it!" + +Galloway eased himself in the saddle. + +"If I thought I could beat you to it," he answered tonelessly, "I'd do +it. As you know. If I even thought that I'd have an even break with +you," he added, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully as they took stock of +the sheriff's right hand swinging free at his side and never far from +the butt of the revolver fitting loosely in his holster, "I'd take the +chance. No, you're a shade too lively in the draw for me and I happen +to know it." + +For a little they sat staring into each other's eyes, the distance of +ten steps between them, their right hands idle while their left hands +upon twitching reins curbed the impatience of two mettled horses. As +was usual their regard was one of equal malevolence, of brimming, cold +hatred. But slowly a new look came into Norton's eyes, a probing, +penetrating look of calculation. Galloway was again opening his lips +when the sheriff spoke, saying with contemptuous lightness: + +"Jim Galloway, you and I have bucked each other for a long time. I +guess it's in the cards that one of us will get the other some day. +Why not right now and end the whole damned thing?--When I'm up against +a man as I am against you I like to make it my business to know just +how much sand has filtered into his make-up. You'd kill me if you had +the chance and weren't afraid to do it, wouldn't you?" + +"If I had the chance," returned Galloway as coolly, though a spot of +color showed under the thick tan of his cheek. "And I'll get it some +day." + +"If you've got the sand," said Norton, "you don't have to wait!" + +"What do you mean?" snapped Galloway sharply. + +Norton's answer lay in a gesture. Always keeping such a rein on his +horse that he faced Galloway and kept him at his right, he lifted the +hand which had been hanging close to his gun. Slowly, inch by inch, +his eyes hard and watchful upon Galloway's eyes, he raised his hand. +Understanding leaped into Galloway's prominent eyes; it seemed that he +had stopped breathing; surely the hairy fingers upon the cantle of his +saddle had separated a little, his hand growing to resemble a tarantula +preparing for its brief spring. + +Steadily, slowly, the sheriff's hand rose in the air, brought upward +and outward in an arc as his arm was held stiff, as high as his +shoulder now, now at last lifted high above his head. And all of the +time his eyes rested bright and hard and watchful upon Jim Galloway's, +filled at once with challenge and recklessness . . . and certainty of +himself. + +Galloway's right hand had stirred the slight fraction of an inch, his +fingers were rigid and still stood apart. As he sat, twisted about in +his saddle, his hand had about seven inches to travel to find the gun +in his hip pocket. Since, when they first met, he had thrown his big +body to one side, his left boot loose in its stirrup while his weight +rested upon his right leg, his gun pocket was clear of the saddle, to +be reached in a flash. + +"You'll never get another chance like this, Galloway," said Norton +crisply. "I'd say, at a guess, that my hand has about eight times as +far to travel as yours. You wanted an even break; you've got more than +that. But you'll never get more than one shot. Now, it's up to you." + +"Before we start anything," began Galloway. But Norton cut him short. + +"I am not fool enough to hold my hand up like this until the blood runs +out of my fingers. You've got your chance; take it or leave it, but +don't ask for half an hour's option on it." + +Swift changing lights were in Galloway's eyes. But his thoughts were +not to be read. That he was tempted by his opportunity was clear; that +he understood the full sense underlying the words, "You'll never get +more than one shot," was equally obvious. That shot, if it were not to +be his last act in this world, must be the accurate result of one +lightning gesture; his hand must find his gun, close about the grip, +draw, and fire with the one absolutely certain movement. For the look +in Rod Norton's eyes was for any man to read. + +Jim Galloway was not a coward and Rod Norton knew it. He was +essentially a gambler whose business in life was to take chances. But +he was of that type of gambler who plays not for the love of the game +but to win; who sets a cool brain to study each hand before he lays his +bet; who gauges the strength of that hand not alone upon its intrinsic +value but upon a shrewd guess at the value of the cards out against it. + +At that moment he wanted, more than he wanted anything else in the wide +scope of his unleashed desires, to kill Rod Norton; he balanced that +fact with the other fact that less than anything in the world did he +want to be killed himself. The issue was clear cut. + +While a watch might have ticked ten times neither man moved. During +that brief time Galloway's jaw muscles corded, his face went a little +white with the strain put upon him. The restive horses, tossing their +heads, making merry music with jingling bridle chains, might have +galloped a moment ago from an old book of fairy-tales, each carrying a +man bewitched, turned to stone. + +"If you've got the sand!" Norton taunted him, his blood running hot +with the fierce wish to have done with sidestepping and +procrastination. "If you've got the sand, Jim Galloway!" + +"It's better than an even break that I could get you," said Galloway at +last. "And, at that, it's an even break or nearly so, that as you +slipped out of the saddle you'd get me, too. . . . You take the pot +this time, Norton; I'm not betting." Shifting his hand he laid it +loosely upon the horn of his saddle. As he did so his chest inflated +deeply to a long breath. + +Norton's uplifted hand came down swiftly, his thumb catching in his +belt. There was a contemptuous glitter in his eyes. + +"After this," he said bluntly, "you'll always know and I'll always know +that you are afraid. I make it a part of my business not to +under-estimate the man I go out to get; I think I have overestimated +you." + +For a moment Galloway seemed not to have heard as he stared away +through the gray distances. When he brought his eyes back to Norton's +they were speculative. + +"Men like you and me ought to understand each other and not make any +mistakes," he said, speaking slowly. "I have just begun to imagine +lately that I have been doping you up wrong all the time. Now I've got +two propositions to make you; you can take either or neither." + +"It will probably be neither; what are they? I've got a day's ride +ahead of me." + +"Maybe you have; maybe you haven't. That depends on what you say to my +proposition. You're looking for Vidal Nunez, they tell me?" + +"And I'm going to get him; as much as anything for the sake of swatting +the devil around the stump." + +"Meaning me?" Galloway shrugged. "Well, here's my song and dance: This +county isn't quite big enough; you drop your little job and clear out +and leave me alone and I'll pay you ten thousand dollars now and +another ten thousand six months from now." + +"Offer number one," said Norton, manifesting neither surprise nor +interest even. "Twenty thousand dollars to pull my freight. Well, Jim +Galloway, you must have something on the line that pulls like a big +fish. Now, let's have the other barrel." + +"I have suggested that you clean out; the other suggestion is that, if +you won't get out of my way, you get busy on your job. Vidal Nunez +will be at the Casa Blanca to-night. I have sent word for him to come +in and that I'd look out for him. Come, get him. Which will you take, +Rod Norton? Twenty thousand iron men or your chances at the Casa +Blanca?" + +It was Norton's turn to grow thoughtful. Galloway was rolling a +cigarette. The sheriff reached for his own tobacco and papers. Only +when he had set a match to the brown cylinder and drawn the first of +the smoke did he answer. + +"You've said it all now, have you?" he demanded. + +"Yes," said Galloway. "It's up to you this time. What's the word?" + +Norton laughed. + +"When I decide what I am going to do I always do it," he said lightly. +"And as a rule I don't do a lot of talking about it beforehand. I'll +leave you to guess the answer, Galloway." + +Galloway shrugged and swung his horse back into the trail. + +"So long," he said colorlessly. + +"So long," Norton returned. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FIGHT AT LA CASA BLANCA + +It was something after six o'clock when Jim Galloway rode into San +Juan. Leaving his sweat-wet horse in his own stable at the rear of the +Casa Blanca he passed through the patio and into a little room whose +door he unlocked with a key from his pocket. For ten minutes he sat +before a typewriting machine, one big forefinger slowly picking out the +letters of a brief note. The address, also typed, bore the name of a +town below the border. Without signing his communication he sealed it +into its envelope and, relocking the door as he went out, walked +thoughtfully down the street to the post-office. + +As he passed Struve's hotel he lifted his hat; upon the veranda at the +cooler, shaded end, Virginia was entertaining Florence Engle. Florrie +nodded brightly to Galloway, turning quickly to Virginia as the big man +went on. + +"Do you actually believe, Virginia dear," she whispered, "that that man +is as wicked as they say he is? Did you watch him going by? Did you +see the way he took off his hat? Did you ever know a man to smile +quite as he does?" + +"I don't believe," returned Virginia, "that I ever had him smile at me, +Florrie." + +"His eyes are not bad eyes, are they?" Florrie ran on. "Oh, I know +what papa thinks and what Rod thinks about him; but I just don't +believe it! How could a man be the sort they say he is and still be as +pleasant and agreeable and downright good-looking as Mr. Galloway? +Why," and she achieved a quick little shudder, "if I had done all the +terrible deeds they accuse him of I'd go around looking as black as a +cloud all the time, savage and glum and remembering every minute how +wicked I was." + +Virginia laughed, failing to picture Florrie grown murderous. But +Florrie merely pursed her lips as her eyes followed Galloway down the +street. + +"I just ask you, Virginia Page," she said at last, sinking back into +the wide arms of her chair with a sigh, "if a man with murder and all +kinds of sin on his soul could make love prettily?" + +Virginia started. + +"You don't mean . . ." she began quickly. + +Florrie laughed, but the other girl noted wonderingly a fresher tint of +color in her cool cheeks. + +"Goosey!" Florrie tossed her head, drew her skirts down modestly over +her white-stockinged ankles and laughed again. "He never held my hand +and all that. But with his eyes. Is there any law against a man +saying nice things with his eyes? And how is a girl going to stop him?" + +Virginia might have replied that here was a matter which depended very +largely upon the girl herself; but instead, estimating that there was +little serious love-making on Galloway's part to be apprehended and +taking Florrie as lightly as Florrie took the rest of the world, she +was merely further amused. And already she had learned to welcome +amusement of any sort in San Juan town. + +But again here was Galloway, stopping now in front of Struve's, drawing +another quick, bright smile from the banker's daughter, accepting its +invitation and coming into the little yard and down the veranda. Only +when he fairly towered over the two girls did he push back the hat +which already he had touched to them, standing with his hands on his +hips, his heavy features bespeaking a deep inward serenity and quiet +good humor. + +It would have required a blinder man than Jim Galloway not to have +marked the cool dislike and distrust in Virginia's eyes. But, though +he turned from them to the pink-and-white girl at her side, he gave no +sign of sensing that he was in any way unwelcome here. + +He had greeted Virginia casually; she, observing him keenly, understood +what Florrie had meant by a man's making love with his eyes. His look, +directed downward into the face smiling up at him, was alive with what +was obviously a very genuine admiration. While Florrie allowed her +flattered soul to drink deep and thirstily of the wine of adulation +Virginia, only half understanding the writing in Galloway's eyes, +shivered a little and, leaning forward suddenly, put her hand on +Florrie's arm; the gesture, quick and spontaneous, meant nothing to +Florrie, nothing to Galloway, and a very great deal to Virginia Page. +For it was essentially protective; it served to emphasize in her own +mind a fear which until now had been a mere formless mist, a fear for +her frivolous little friend. Galloway's whole being was so expressive +of conscious power, Florrie's of vacillating impulsiveness, that it +required no considerable burden laid upon the imagination to picture +the girl coming if he called . . . if he called with the look in his +eyes now, with the tone he knew to put into his voice. + +Social lines are none too clearly drawn in towns like San Juan; often +enough they have long ago failed to exist. A John Engle, though six +days of the seven he sat behind his desk in a bank, was only a man, his +daughter only the daughter of a mere man; a Jim Galloway, though he +owned the Casa Blanca and upon occasion stood behind his own bar, might +be a man and look with level eyes upon all other men, their wives, and +their daughters. Here, with conditions what they always had been, +there could stand but one barrier between Galloway and Florrie Engle, +the barrier of character. And already the girl had cried: "His eyes +are not bad eyes, are they?" A barrier is a silent command to pause; +what is the spontaneous answer of a spoiled child to any command? + +Galloway spoke lightly of this and that, managing in a dozen little +ways to compliment Florrie who chattered with a gayety which partook of +excitement. In ten minutes he went his way, drawing her musing eyes +after him. Until he had reached his own door and turned it at the Casa +Blanca the two girls on Struve's veranda were silent. Florrie's +thoughts were flitting hither and yon, bright-winged, inconsequential, +fluttering about Jim Galloway, deserting him for Roderick Norton, +darting off to Elmer Page, coming home to Florrie herself. As for +Virginia, conscious of a sort of dread, she was oppressed with the +stubbornly insistent thought that if Jim Galloway cared to amuse +himself with Florrie he was strong and she was weak; if he called to +her she would follow. . . . + + +Virginia was not the only one whom Galloway had set pondering; certain +of his words spoken to the sheriff when the two faced each other on the +Tecolote trail gave Norton food for thought. For the first time Jim +Galloway had openly offered a bribe, one of no insignificant +proportions, prefacing his offer with the remark: "I have just begun to +imagine lately that I have doped you up wrong all the time." If +Galloway had gone on to add: "Time was when I didn't believe I could +buy you, but I have changed my mind about that," his meaning could have +been no plainer. Now he held out a bribe in one hand, a threat in the +other, and Norton riding on to Tecolote mused long over them both. + +In Tecolote, a straggling village of many dogs and swarthy, grimy-faced +children, he tarried until well after dark, making his meal of coffee, +_frijoles_, and _chili con carne_, thereafter smoking a contemplative +pipe. Abandoning the little lunch-room to the flies and silence he +crossed the road to the saloon kept by Pete Nunez, the brother of the +man whom it was Norton's present business to make answer for a crime +committed. Pete, a law-abiding citizen nowadays, principally for the +reason that he had lost a leg in his younger, gayer days, swept up his +crutch and swung across the room from the table where he was sitting to +the bar, saying a careless "Que hay?" by way of greeting. + +"Hello, Pete," Norton returned quietly. "Haven't seen Vidal lately, +have you?" + +Besides Vidal's brother there were a half dozen men in the room playing +cards or merely idling in the yellow light of the kerosene lamp swung +from the ceiling, men of the saloon-keeper's breed to the last man of +them. Their eyes, the slumbrous, mystery-filled orbs of their kind, +had lifted under their long lashes to regard the sheriff with seeming +indifference. Pete shrugged. + +"Me, I ain't seen Vidal for a mont'," he answered briefly. "I see Jim +Galloway though. Galloway say," and Pete ran his towel idly back and +forth along the bar, "Vidal come to la Casa Blanca to-night. I dunno," +and again he shrugged. + +Norton allowed himself the luxury of a mystifying smile as Pete Nunez +lifted probing eyes to his face. + +"Jim Galloway has been known to lie before now, like other men," was +all of the information he gave to the questioning look. "And," his +face suddenly as expressionless as Pete's own, "it wouldn't be a bad +bet to look for Vidal in Tres Robles, would it? Eh, Pete?" + +With that he went out. Quite willing that Pete and his crowd should +think what they pleased, Tres Robles lay twenty miles northeast of +Tecolote, and if Pete cared to send word to Galloway that the sheriff +had ridden on that way, well and good. + +Half an hour later, with the deeper dark of the night settling thick +and sultry over the surface of the desert lands, he rode out of town +following the Tres Robles trail. He knew that Pete had come to his +door and was watching; he had the vague suspicion that it was quite +possible that Vidal was watching, too, with eyes smouldering with +hatred. That was only a guess, not even for a man to hazard a bet +upon. But the feeling that the fugitive was somewhere in Tecolote or +in the mesquite thickets near abouts had been strong enough to send him +travelling this way in the afternoon, would have been strong enough for +him to have acted upon, searching through shack after shack, were it +not that deep down in his heart he did not believe that Jim Galloway +had lied. Here, while he came in at one door Vidal might slip out at +another, safe among friends. But in the Casa Blanca Norton meant that +matters should be different. + +For an hour he rode toward the northeast. Then, turning out of the +trail and reining his horse into the utter blackness offered by the +narrow mouth or an arroyo, he sat still for a long time, listening, +staring back through the night toward Tecolote. At last, confident +that he had not been followed, he cut across the low-lying lomas +marking the western horizon and in a swinging gallop rode straight +toward San Juan. + +He had had ample time for the shaping of his simple plans long before +catching the first winking glimpse of the lights of the Casa Blanca. +He left his horse under the cottonwoods, hung his spurs over the horn +of the saddle, and went silently to the back of Struve's hotel. +Certain that no one had seen him, he half-circled the building, came to +the window which he had counted upon finding open, slipped in, and +passed down the hall to Struve's room. At his light tap Struve called, +"Come in," and turned toward him as the door opened. Norton closed it +behind him. + +"I am taking a chance that Vidal Nunez is at Galloway's right now," he +told the hotel keeper. "I am going to get him if he is. I want you to +watch the back end of the Casa Blanca and see that he doesn't slip out +that way. A shotgun is what you want. Blow the head off any man who +doesn't stop when you tell him to. Is Tom Cutter in his room yet?" + +While Struve, wasting neither time nor words, went to see, Norton +unbuttoned his shirt, removed the thirty-eight-caliber revolver from +the holster slung under his left arm, whirled the cylinder, and kept +the gun in his left hand. In a moment Struve had returned, the deputy +at his heels. + +"What's this about Vidal being here?" Cutter asked sharply. + +Norton explained briefly and as briefly gave Tom Cutter his orders. +While Struve mounted guard at the rear, Cutter was to look out for the +front of the building. + +"Going in alone, are you, Rod?" Cutter shook his head. "If Vidal is +in there, and Galloway and the Kid and Antone are all on the job, the +chances are there's going to be something happen. Better let me come +in along with you." + +But Norton, his mouth grown set and grim and chary of words, shook his +head. Followed by Struve and Cutter he was outside in the darkness +five minutes after he had entered the hotel. + +Struve, a shotgun in his hands, took his place twenty steps from the +back door of the Casa Blanca, his restless eyes sweeping back and forth +continually, taking stock of door and window; a lamp burning in a rear +room cast its light out through a window whose shade was less than half +drawn. Tom Cutter, accustomed to acting swiftly upon his superior's +suggestions, listened wordlessly to the few whispered instructions, +nodded, and did as he was told, effacing himself in the shadows at the +corner of the building, prepared when the time came to spring out into +the street whence he could command the front and one side of the Casa +Blanca. Norton, before leaving Cutter, had drawn the heavy gun from +the holster swinging at his belt. + +"It's some time since we've had any two-handed shooting to do, Tommy," +he said as his lean fingers curved to the familiar grip of the Colt 45. +"But I guess we haven't forgotten how. Now, stick tight until you hear +things wake up." + +He was gone, turning back to the rear of the house, passing close to +Struve, going on to the northeast corner, slipping quietly about it, +moving like a shadow along the eastern wall. Here were two windows, +both looking into the long barroom, both with their shades drawn down +tight. + +At the first window Norton paused, listening. From within came a man's +voice, the Kid's, in his ugly snarl of a laugh, evil and reckless and +defiant, that and the clink of a bottle-neck against a glass. Norton, +his body pressed against the wall, stood still, waiting for other +voices, for Galloway's, for Vidal Nunez's. But after Kid Rickard's +jarring mirth it was strangely still in the Casa Blanca; no noise of +clicking chips bespeaking a poker game, no loud-voiced babble, no sound +of a man walking across the bare floor. + +"They're waiting for me," was Norton's quick thought. "Galloway knew +I'd come." + +He passed on, came to the second window and paused again. The brief, +almost breathless silence within, which had followed the Kid's laugh, +had already been dissipated by the customary Casa Blanca sounds; a +guitar was strumming, chips clicked, a bottle was set heavily upon the +bar, a chair scraped. Norton frowned; a moment ago something happened +in there to still men's tongues. What was it? It was Galloway who +gave him his answer. + +"So you came, did you, Vidal?" There was a jeer in the heavy voice. +"Scared to come, eh? And scared worse to stay away!" Galloway's short +laugh was as unpleasant as ever Rickard's had been. + +"Si; I am here," the voice of Vidal Nunez was answering, quick, eager, +sibilant with its unmistakable nervous excitement. "Pete tell me what +you say an' I come." He lifted his voice abruptly, breaking into a +soft Southern oath. "Like a cat, to jump through the little window an' +roll on the floor an' by God, jus' in time. There is one man at the +back with a gun an' one man in front an' another man . . ." + +"Let 'em come," cried Galloway loudly, a heavy hand smiting a table top +so that a glass jumped and fell breaking to the floor. "Only," and he +sent his voice booming out warningly, "any man who chips in unasked and +starts trouble in my house can take what's coming to him." + +So then Vidal had just arrived, it had been his sudden entrance which +had invoked the silence in the barroom. Norton merely shrugged; there +had been a chance of taking Vidal alone, intercepting him. But that +chance had not been one to wait for; now it was past, negligible, not +to be regretted. At last he knew where Vidal Nunez was and it was his +business to make an arrest and not to wait upon further chance. The +man who is not ready to go into a crowd to get his law-breaker is not +the man to stand for sheriff in the southwest country. + +"Coming, Galloway!" Norton's ringing shout came back in answer. +Suddenly the steady pulse of his blood had been stirred, the hot hope +stood high in his heart again that he and Jim Galloway were going to +look into each other's eyes with guns talking and an end of a long +devious trail in sight. For the moment he half forgot Vidal Nunez whom +he could fancy cowering in a corner. + +Then when he knew that every man in the Casa Blanca had turned sharply +at his voice he ran from the window to the street, turned the corner of +the building and in at the wide front doorway. A short hall, a closed +door confronting him . . . then that had been flung open and on its +threshold, a gun in each hand, his hat far back on his head, his eyes +on fire, he stood looking in on a half dozen men and three glinting +steel barrels which, describing quick arcs, were whipped from the +window toward him. A gun in Galloway's hand, one in the hand of Vidal +Nunez, the third already spitting fire as Kid Rickard's narrowed eyes +shone above it. The other men had fallen back precipitately to right +and left; Norton noted that Elmer Page was among them, a pace or two +from Rickard's side. + +The Kid, being young, had something of youth's impatience, perhaps the +only reminiscence of youth left in a calloused soul. So it was that he +had shot a second too soon. Norton, as both hands rose in front of +him, answered Kid Rickard with the smaller-caliber gun while the Colt +in his right hand was concerned impartially with Galloway and Vidal +Nunez, standing close together. The Kid cursed, his voice rose in a +shriek of anger rather than pain, and he spun about and fell backward, +tripping over an overturned chair. + +"Shoot, Galloway!" cried Norton. "Shoot, damn you, shoot!" + +Now, as for the second time that day the two men confronted each other, +naked, hot hatred glaring out of their eyes, each man knew that he +stood balancing a crucial second, midway between death and triumph. +Jim Galloway, who never until now had come out into the open in +defiance of the law, must swallow his words under the eyes of his own +gang, or once and for all forsake the semi-security behind his ambush. +Again issues were clear cut. + +He answered the sheriff with a curse and a stream of lead. As he fired +he threw himself to the side, the old trick, his gun little higher than +his hip, and fired again. And shot for shot Norton answered him. + +Though but half the length of a room lay between them, as yet, neither +man was hurt. For no longer were they in the rich light of the +swinging coal-oil lamp; the room was gathered in pitch darkness; their +guns spat long tongues of vivid flame. For, just as Kid Ricard was +falling, while Jim Galloway's finger was crooked to the trigger, while +Antone was whipping up his gun behind the bar, there had come a shot +from the card-room door shattering the lamp. Neither Norton nor +Galloway, Rickard nor Vidal Nunez, nor Antone nor any of the other men +in the room saw who had fired the shot. + +As the light went out Norton leaped away from the door, having little +wish to stand silhouetted against the rectangle of pale light from the +outer night; and, leaping, he poured in his fourth and fifth and sixth +shots in the quarter where he hoped to find Galloway. But always he +remembered where he had seen Elmer Page standing, and always he +remembered Antone behind the bar, and Vidal Nunez drawn back into a +corner. His forty-five emptied, he jammed it back into its holster and +stood rigid, staring into the blackness about him, every sense on the +qui vive. Galloway had given over shooting; he might be dead or merely +waiting. Vidal had held his fire, seeming frightened, uncertain, half +stunned. Antone would be leaning forward, peering with frowning eyes, +trying to locate him. + +It swept into Norton's mind suddenly that thus, in utter and unexpected +darkness, he had the upper hand. He could shoot, the law riding upon +each flying pellet of lead, and be it Jim Galloway or Antone or Vidal, +or any other of Galloway's crowd who fell, it would be a man who richly +deserved what his fate was bringing him. They, on the other hand, +being many against one, must be careful which way they shot. + +He had come for Vidal Nunez. The man he wanted was yonder, but a few +feet from him. Duty and desire pointed across the room to the obscure +corner. He moved a cautious foot. The floor complained under his +shifting weight and from Galloway's quarter came a spit of fire. Twin +with it came a shot from behind the bar. That was Antone talking. And +now at last came the other shot from Vidal himself. + +Rod Norton's was that type of man which finds caution less to his +liking than headlong action; furthermore, in the present crisis, +caution had seemed the acme of foolhardiness. There are times when +true wisdom lies in taking one's chance boldly, flying half-way to meet +it. Now, as three bullets sang by him, he gathered himself; then, +before the sharp reports had died in his ears, he sprang forward, +hurling himself across the room, striking with his lifted gun as he +went, missing, striking again and experiencing that grinding, crunching +sensation transmitted along the metal barrel as it struck a man fair +upon the head. The man went down heavily and Norton stood over him, +praying that it was Vidal Nunez. + +Then it was that Julius Struve, having deserted his post at the rear, +smashed through a window with the muzzle of his shotgun, sending the +shade flipping up, springing back from the square of faint light as he +cried out sharply: + +"All right, Nort?" + +"All right!" cried Norton. "I'm against the north wall; rake the other +side and the bar with your shotgun if they don't step out. You and +Cutter together. I've got Rickard and Nunez out of it. Drop your gun, +Galloway; lively, while you've got the chance. Antone, Struve's got a +shotgun!" + +Antone cursed, and with the snarl of his voice came the clatter of a +revolver slammed down on the bar. Galloway cursed and fired, emptying +his second gun, crazed with hatred and blind anger. Again, shot for +shot Norton answered him. And again it grew very silent in the Casa +Blanca. + +"Out through the window, one by one, with your hands up and your guns +down," shouted Struve; "or I start in. Which is it, boys?" + +There was a scramble to obey, the several men who had taken no part +leading the way. As they went out their forms were for a moment +clearly outlined, then swallowed up in the outer darkness. At Struve's +command they lined up against the wall, watched over by the muzzle of +his shotgun. Antone, crying out that he was coming, followed. Elmer +Page, sick and dizzy, was at Antone's heels. + +Tom Cutter had gathered up some dry grass, and with that and a +chance-found bit of wood started a blaze near the second window; in its +wavering, uncertain light the faces of the men stood out whitely. + +"Galloway is not here yet," he snapped. And, lifting his voice: "Come +on, Galloway." + +A crowd had gathered in the street, asking questions that went +unanswered. Other hands added fuel to Cutter's fire. The increasing +light at last penetrated the blackness filling the barroom. + +"Come out, Galloway," said Struve coldly. "I've got you covered." + +Since things were bad enough as they were, and he had no desire to make +them worse and saw no opportunity to better them, Jim Galloway, his +hand nursing a bleeding shoulder, stumbled awkwardly through the +opening. + +"Is that all of 'em, Roddy?" called Cutter. Norton didn't answer. The +deputy called again. Then, while the crowd surged about door and +window. Cutter came in, a revolver in his right hand, a torch of a +burning fagot in his left, held high. + +Vidal Nunez was dead; not from a blow upon the head, but from a chance +bullet through the heart after he had fallen. Kid Rickard, his sullen +eyes wide with their pain, lay half under a poker table. Lying across +the body of Nunez, as though still guarding his prisoner, was the quiet +form of Rod Norton, his face bloodlessly white save for the smear of +blood which had run from the wound hidden by the close-cropped, black +hair. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WAVERING IN THE BALANCE + +Ignacio Chavez, waiting to ask no questions, had raced away through the +darkness to beat out a wild alarm upon his bells. Later he would learn +how many were dead and would set the Captain mourning. But already had +San Juan poured out her handful of citizens upon the street. + +"Keep those men where they are," called Tom Cutter to Struve. "Every +damned one of them; there'll be an answer wanted for to-night's work. +Get a doctor, somebody; Patten or Miss Page." + +Candles were brought; presently a lamp was found and set on the bar. +The curious began to desert Struve and his prisoners outside, and to +crowd about Cutter and the two forms lying still in the corner. Kid +Rickard, cursing now and then, had dragged himself a little away and +grew quiet, half propped up against the wall. Struve, as the fire of +fagots and grass began to burn low, commanded Galloway to lead the way +back into the barroom and herded five other men after him, the shotgun +promising a mutilated body to any man of them who sought to run for it. + +"Nunez is dead," reported the deputy sheriff, getting up from his +knees. "Norton is alive and that's about all. A shot along the side +of the head." + +He turned slowly toward Galloway who, with steady hands and his face +set in hard, inscrutable lines, was pouring himself a generous glass of +whiskey. + +"Looks like you'd got him, Jim," he said harshly, his eyes glittering. +"And it looks like I'd got you. Where I want you, by God!" + +Galloway drank his whiskey and made no reply. He was thinking, +thinking fast. His eyes were never still now, but roved from Rod +Norton's white face to the faces of Tom Cutter, Struve, and the other +men gathering in the room. + +Borne upon one of the Casa Blanca's doors Norton was carried to +Struve's hotel, the nearest place where an attempt could be made to +care for him. Word came in that Virginia Page had been summoned upon +one of her rare calls and was in Las Estrellas. Patten, however, would +be on hand in a moment. It was suggested that Kid Rickard also be +carried to the hotel. But he himself asked to be left where he was +until Patten came, and Cutter raised no objection. It was clear that +the Kid was too badly hurt to think of making an escape, were such his +desire. + +Galloway and Antone alone were put under arrest, the others merely +advised to be on hand if they were wanted later. Galloway coolly +demanded the charge against him. + +"Resisting an officer is as good as any right now," snapped Cutter. + +As quiet claimed the town again Caleb Patten became the most important +figure in San Juan. At such moments he seemed to swell visibly. He +drove the curious from the room while he examined the unconscious +sheriff and, when he had finished, merely shook his head, looked grave, +and refused to commit himself. He ordered Norton undressed and put to +bed, went down the street to see Kid Rickard, probed the wound in the +upper chest, ordered him to bed, and returned to Norton at the hotel. + +"Well?" asked John Engle who had arrived, talked with Struve, and now +looked anxiously to Patten. Patten shrugged. + +"Heavy-caliber bullet ripped along the side of his head," he said +thoughtfully. "I am going to make a second examination now. Doubtless +just the shock stunned him. That or striking his head as he pitched +forward; there's another slight wound, a scalp wound, showing where his +head hit as he fell." + +A moment later Tom Cutter came in hastily, stood for a little staring +with frowning, troubled eyes at the quiet form on the bed, and went +away, tugging at his lip, his frown deepening. He had his hands full +to-night, had Tom Cutter, and no one but himself knew how he wanted Rod +Norton to tell him just what to do, to show him the way to make no +mistake. Leaving the room he had gone no farther than the front door +when he swung about and returned. + +"May I have a word with you, Mr. Engle?" he asked. + +Engle nodded and followed him silently. Out in the street, in the full +light of Struve's porch-lamp, Cutter stopped, glancing about him to +make sure that he was not overheard. + +"You know all about the shooting of Brocky Lane up in the mountains," +he said hurriedly. "Rod told me you did. Well, I just gathered in +Moraga!" + +"Moraga?" muttered Engle. "He has seen Galloway, then? And told him +all about our knowing the rifles were cached in the old caves?" + +"I found him at the Casa Blanca," said Cutter, the worried look in his +eyes. "Somebody shot out the light when the mix-up started, you know. +I've a notion it was Moraga. He was in one of the little +card-rooms . . . putting on his shoes! I got his gun; he'd fired just +one shot. The muzzle of it was bloody." + +"If he has told Galloway. . . ." + +"But I don't believe he has. Struve says that just as Norton started +things he saw a man run in from the cottonwoods and duck into the +house. It was Struve's job to see that nobody got out and he let him +go by. If it wasn't Moraga, who was it? And, when I grabbed him just +now, the first thing he said was: 'I want to talk with Galloway.'" + +"You didn't let him?" demanded Engle quickly. + +"No. A couple of the boys have walked him off down the road. I've got +Galloway and Antone in the jail. Now, what I want is some advice. +What am I going to do with this job until Rod Norton comes to and takes +a hand . . . if he ever does," he muttered heavily. + +"It's clear that you've got to keep Moraga away from Galloway; if they +haven't already had a chance to talk it's a pure Godsend and it's up to +you that they don't get that chance." + +"Yes,", admitted Cutter slowly. "But I'm the first man to admit that +I'm all muggled up. What did Moraga have his shoes off for? If he +shot out the light, why did he do it? And how'd he get blood on his +gun?" + +Engle shook his head. + +"All questions for the district attorney later, Tom," he answered. +"But, if you want any advice from me, here it is: Get Moraga out of the +way on the jump. He is supposed to be in jail in the next county; he +must have broken out. Send a man to Las Palmas to telephone to Sheriff +Roberts; send Moraga along with him. And, whatever you do, keep Jim +Galloway where you've got him. I think we've got our case against him +to-night." + +"That's what I've been thinking. I guess that's what Norton would do, +eh?" + +"Sure of it," said Engle promptly. "Find out, if you can, whether +Moraga got a chance to talk with Galloway. I'm going back to the house +to let my wife and Florrie know what has happened." + +Engle hurried to his home, told what had happened, and, leaving his +wife anxious, his daughter weeping hysterically, returned to the hotel. + +"I've done all that any one could do for him," said Patten, as though +defending himself because of Norton's continued unconsciousness. "He's +in pretty bad shape, Engle. Oh, I guess I can pull him through, but at +that it's going to be a close squeak. Lucky I was right on hand, +though." And he grew technical, spoke of blood pressures taken, of +traumatism superinducing prolonged coma, of this and that which made no +impression on the banker. + +"You mentioned two wounds," Engle reminded him. "The one made by the +bullet and another. . . ." + +"By his head striking as he fell? Yes; that would have completed the +work of the first shock in knocking him unconscious. But it is a +negligible affair now; he wouldn't know anything about it in the +morning if it weren't for the lump that'll be there. And since the +other injury, the long gouging cut made by the bullet, has just plowed +along the outer surface of the skull, I think that I can promise you +he'll be all right pretty soon now. We ought to have some ice, but +I've made cold compresses do." + +Engle went again to look in upon Norton. The sheriff lay as before, on +his back, his limbs lax, his face deathly white, a bandage about his +head. A lump came into the banker's throat and he turned away. For he +remembered that just so had Billy Norton lain, that Billy Norton had +never regained consciousness . . . and that the blow then as now had +been struck by Galloway or Galloway's man. The sudden fear was upon +him that Rod Norton was even more badly hurt than Caleb Patten +admitted. The fear did not lessen as the night drew on and finally +brightened into another day. When the sun flared up out of the +flatlands lying beyond Tecolote the wounded man at Struve's hotel lay +as he had done all night giving no sign to tell whether he was life's +or death's. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CONCEALMENT + +The eyes of San Juan were upon Caleb Patten throughout the night and +during the long hours of the following day. Under them his inflated +ego grew further distended while, waxing more technical than ever, he +explained how a man in Rod Norton's condition could live and yet lie +like a man dead. So prolific and involved were his medical phrases +that men like John Engle and Struve began to ask themselves if Patten +understood his case. When, after twelve hours, the wounded man awoke +to a troubled consciousness Patten's relief was scarcely less visible +than that of Norton's friends. Patten felt his prestige taking unto +itself new wings and immediately grew more wisely verbose than ever. +It was a rare privilege to have the most talked of and generally liked +man of the community under his hands; it was wine to Patten's soul to +have that man show signs of recovering under his skill. + +So he drove well-wishers from the room, drew the shades, commanded +quiet and came and went eternally, doing nothing whatever and appearing +to be fighting, sleeves rolled up, for a threatened life. Long before +noon there were those who had laughed at Patten before, but who now +accused themselves of having failed to do him justice. + +Virginia Page had remained all night with her patient in Las Estrellas. +The first rumor she had of the fight in the Casa Blanca was borne to +her ears by Ignacio's bell as she rode back toward San Juan. Only a +few hours ago she had talked with Galloway, watching him banter with +Florrie Engle; but a little before that, earlier in the same day, she +had seen Rod Norton. Before she galloped up to the old Mission garden +her heart was beating excitedly, and she was asking herself, a little +fearfully: "Is it Galloway or is it Rod Norton?" For she was so sure +that in the end Ignacio would ring the Captain for one of them. + +Ignacio told her the story. Norton was lying in the hotel, +unconscious, Patten working over him; Jim Galloway and Antone were in +the little jail and soon would be taken to the county-seat; Kid Rickard +was shot through the lung but would live, Patten said; Vidal Nunez, +over whom the whole thing had started, was dead. + +"If _mi amigo_ Roderico die," mumbled Ignacio, "it will be two +Nortones, two sheriffs, that die because of Galloway. If Roderico +live, then the next time he will kill Galloway. You will see, +_senorita_." + +She made no answer as she rode slowly down the street. She was +thinking how, only a few weeks ago, she had heard the bells ring for +the first time, how then Galloway and Norton had been but meaningless +names to her, how she had been little moved by either the sound of +pistol-shots or the Captain's heavy tolling. Now things were +different. Just in what were they "different" and to what degree? She +could not answer her own question before she was at the hotel. + +Struve came immediately, noted her pale face, attributed it to a +sleepless night, and made her take a cup of coffee. He rounded out the +information she already had from Ignacio. Norton was still unconscious +though, only a few minutes ago, Patten had reported signs of +improvement. Mrs. Engle had been with him, was still there acting +nurse; he was being given every attention possible. + +Patten himself entered, drawn by the aroma of coffee. He nodded +carelessly to the girl and remarked to Struve, with a flash of triumph +in his eyes, that at last he had "brought him around." Norton was very +weak, sick, dizzy, perhaps not yet out of danger. But Patten had won +in the initial skirmish with old man Death. + +At least, so Struve was given to feel. Virginia, with a quick look at +Patten's complacent face, was moved with sudden, almost insistent +longing, that Rod Norton's life might be given into her own hands +rather than remain in the pudgy hands of a man she at once disliked as +an individual and failed to admire as a physician. For she had needed +no long residence in San Juan to form her own estimate of the man's +ability . . . or lack of ability. But plainly this was Patten's case, +not hers; she got up from the table and went into her own room. + +Elmer she found lying fully dressed upon a couch in her office, +sleeping heavily. She stood over him a moment, her eyes tender; he was +still, would always be, her baby brother. Then she went to her own +room and threw herself down upon her bed, worn out, anxious, vaguely +fearful for the future. + +It was a long day for San Juan. Mrs. Engle came now and then to +Virginia's room to wipe her eyes and force a hopeful smile; Florrie ran +in like a young tempest to weep copiously and hyperbolically invest +poor dear Roddy with all imaginable heroic attributes; Engle and Struve +and Tom Cutter were grave-eyed and distressed. Every hour Ignacio came +to the hotel to ask quietly for news. + +In his own way, it appeared that Elmer Page was as deeply concerned as +any one. It was long before he told Virginia that he had been in the +Casa Blanca when the shooting occurred; haltingly he gave her his +version of it. + +"Don't you think, Elmer," suggested the girl somewhat wearily, "that +you have gotten hold of the wrong end of things here? I mean in +choosing your friends? Certainly after this you will have nothing to +do with men like Galloway and Rickard?" + +Ten minutes' talk with Elmer gave her a deeper understanding of his +attitude than she had been able to guess until now. Spontaneously he +had leaned toward Kid Rickard because the Kid was a "killer" and Elmer +was a boy; in other words, because young Page's imagination made of +Rickard a truly picturesque figure. Since Rickard admired Jim Galloway +as he had never known how to admire aught else that breathed and +walked, Elmer's eyes had from the first rested approvingly upon the +massive figure of Casa Blanca's owner. That both Galloway and Rickard +were fighting against persecution, were merely individuals wronged by +the law and too fearlessly independent to submit to the high hand of +sheriff or judge, was easily implanted in the boy's mind. Yesterday +his fancies were ready to make heroes of Galloway and his crowd, to +make of Norton a meddler hiding behind the bulwark of his office, and +hounding those who were too manly to step aside for him. But now Elmer +was all at sea, no land in sight. + +"A gun in each hand, Sis," he cried warmly, his cheeks flushed, as the +almost constantly recurring picture formed again in his memory. "And +if you could have only seen his eyes! Talk about hiding behind +anything . . . no sir! And him only one against Galloway and the Kid +and Nunez and a whole room full." + +Here was Elmer's trouble drawn to the surface; he was touched with +leaping admiration for the man who lay now in the darkened room, he +couldn't admire both Norton, the sheriff, and Galloway and Rickard, the +sheriff's sworn enemies! Which way should Elmer Page turn? Virginia +very wisely held her tongue. + +Tom Cutter, having conferred with Engle and Struve, left San Juan in +the early afternoon, convoying his prisoners to the greater security of +the county jail. It seemed the wisest step, the one which Norton would +have taken. Besides, Galloway insisted upon it and upon being allowed +to send a message to his lawyer. + +"I am willing to stand trial," said Galloway indifferently. "I'll +arrange for bail to-morrow and be back to-morrow night." + +The question which Tom Cutter, Struve, and Engle all asked of +themselves and of each other, "Did Moraga get his chance to talk with +Galloway?" went unanswered. There was nothing to do but wait upon the +future to know that, unless Moraga, now on his way back to Sheriff +Roberts, could be made to talk. And Moraga was not given to garrulity. + +Meantime Patten brought hourly reports of Norton. He was still in +danger, to be sure; but he was doing as well as could be expected. No +one must go into the room except Mrs. Engle as nurse. Norton was fully +conscious, but forbidden to talk; he recognized those about him, his +eyes were clear, his temperature satisfactory, his strength no longer +waning. He had partaken of a bit of nourishment and to-morrow, if +there were no unlooked-for complications, would be able to speak with +John Engle for whom he had asked. + +During the days which followed, days in which Rod Norton lay quiet in a +darkened room, Virginia Page was conscious of having awakened some form +of interest in Caleb Patten. His eyes followed her when she came and +went, and, when she surprised them, were withdrawn swiftly, but not +before she had seen in them a speculative thoughtfulness. While she +noted this she gave it little thought, so occupied was her mind with +other matters. She had postponed, as long as she could, a talk with +Julius Struve, her spirit galled that she must in the end go to him +"like a beggar," as she expressed it to herself. But one day, her head +erect, she followed the hotel keeper into his office. In the hallway +she encountered Patten. + +"May I have a word with you?" Patten asked. + +But Virginia had steeled herself to the interview with Struve and would +no longer set it aside, even for a moment. + +"If you care to wait on the veranda," she told Patten, "I'll be out in +a minute. I want to see Mr. Struve now." + +Patten stood aside and watched her pass, the shrewdly questioning look +in his eyes. When she disappeared in the office he remained where she +had left him, listening. When she began to speak with Struve, her +voice rapid and hinting at nervousness, he came a quiet step nearer the +door she had closed after her. + +"I am ashamed of myself, Mr. Struve," said Virginia, coming straight to +the point. "I owe you already for a month's board and room rent for +myself and Elmer. I . . ." + +"That's perfectly all right, Miss Virginia," said Struve hurriedly. "I +know the sort of job you've got on your hands making collections. If +you can wait I am willing to do so. Glad to do so, in fact." + +Patten, fingering his little mustache, then letting his thick fingers +drop to the diamond in his tie, smiled with satisfaction. Smiling, he +tiptoed down the hall and went out upon the veranda where he smoked his +cigar serenely. When Virginia came out to him her face was flaming. +Had he not beard Struve's words, he would have thought that his answer +to her apology had been an angry demand for immediate payment. Patten +failed to understand how the girl's fine, independent nature writhed in +a situation all but intolerable. That she appreciated gratefully +Struve's quick kindness did not minimize her own mortification. + +Patten watched her seat herself; then he launched himself into his +subject. Virginia listened at first with faint interest, then with +quickened wonder. For the life of her she could not tell if the little +man were seeking to flatter or insult her. + +"I have leased an old, deserted ranch-house just on the edge of town," +he told her. "Got it for a song, too. Some first-rate land goes with +it; I'll probably buy the whole thing before long. There's plenty of +good water. Now, what am I up to, eh? Just the same thing all the +time, if you want to know. And that means making money." + +Leaning forward he knocked the ash from his cigar and brought himself +confidentially nearer. + +"An open-air sanatorium," he announced triumphantly. "For tuberculosis +patients. There are lots of them," and he waved his arm in a wide half +circle, "coming out of the East on the run, scared to death, and with +more or less money in their pockets. It's a big proposition, a sure +money-getter." + +He grew more animated than she had ever dreamed he could be, as he +sketched his plans. While she was wondering why he had come to her +with them he gave his explanation, made her his double offer. Then it +was that she was puzzled to know whether he meant to compliment her or +merely to insult her. + +In a word he assured her from the heights of superiority to which he +had ascended these last few days of importance, the practice of +medicine was no woman's work at best; certainly not in a land like +this, where a man's endurance, breadth or mind, and keener innate +ability to cope with big situations were indicated. No work for a slip +of a girl like Virginia Page. Of that Caleb Patten assured her +unhesitatingly. But there was work for such as her and in a place +which he would create for her. Fairly bewildered at his audacity she +found herself listening to his suggestion that she marry Caleb Patten +and become a sort of head nurse in an institution which he would found! + +In spite of her she was moved to sudden, impulsive laughter. She had +not meant to laugh at the man who might be sincere, who, it was +possible, was merely a fool. But laugh she did, so that her mirth +reached Rod Norton where he lay upon his bed and made him stir +restlessly. + +"What do you mean by that?" demanded Patten, a flush in his cheeks. + +"I mean," stammered Virginia at last, "that I thank you very much, Dr. +Patten, but that I can avail myself of neither the opportunity of being +your wife or your head nurse. As for my inability to do for myself +what I have set out to accomplish . . . well, I am not afraid yet. +There is work to be done here and I don't quite agree with you that +it's all man's work. There's always a little left over for a woman, +you know," she added brightly. + +But Patten was obviously angered. He flung to his feet and glared down +at her. Perhaps it had not entered his thought that she could make +other than the answer he wanted; it had been very clear to him that he +was offering to become responsible for one who was embarked upon a +voyage already destined to failure, that he would support her, merely +doing as many other men of his ilk did and make her work for all that +she got. + +"It's silly nonsense, your thinking you can make a living here," he +said irritably. "I'm already established, I'm a man, I can have all of +the cases I want, you'll get only a few breeds who haven't a dollar to +the dozen of them. If you are already broke and can't even pay for +your room and board . . ." + +"Who told you that?" she asked quickly. + +"I can hear, can't I?" he demanded coarsely. "Didn't you go just now +to beg Struve to hold you over? And . . ." + +She slipped out of her chair and stood a moment staring coldly and +contemptuously at him. Then she was gone, leaving Patten watching her +departure incredulously. + +"A man who hasn't any more sense than Caleb Patten," she cried within +herself, "has no business with a physician's license. It's a sheer +wonder he didn't kill Roderick Norton!" + +Already she had forgotten her words with Struve, or rather the matter +for the present was shoved aside in her mind by another. She had come +here to make good, she had her fight before her, and she was going to +make good. She had to . . . for herself, for her own pride, for +Elmer's sake. She went straight to Elmer and made him sit down and +listen while she sketched actual conditions briefly and emphatically. + +He was old enough to do something for himself in the world, continued +idleness did him no earthly good and might do him no end of harm +morally, mentally, and physically. He had been her baby brother long +enough; it was time that he became a man. She had supported him until +now, asking nothing of him in return save that he kept out of mischief +a certain percentage of the time. Now he was going to work and help +out. He could go to John Engle and get something to do upon one of +Engle's ranches. + +Somewhat to her surprise Elmer responded eagerly. He had been thinking +the matter over and it appealed to him. What he did not tell her was +that he had seen some of the vaqueros riding in from one of the +outlying ranges, lean, brown, quick-eyed men who bestrode high-headed +mounts and who wore spurs, wide hats, shaggy chaps, and who, perhaps, +carried revolvers hidden away in their hip pockets, men who drank +freely, spent their money as freely at dice and cards, and who, all in +all, were a picturesque crowd. Elmer took up his hat and went down to +the bank and had a talk with John Engle. Virginia's eyes followed him +hopefully. + +That day Norton was allowed for the first time to receive callers. He +had his talk with Engle, limited to five minutes by Patten who hung +about curiously until Norton said pointedly that he wanted to speak +privately with the banker. Later Florrie came with her mother, +bringing an immense armful of roses culled by her own hands, excited, +earnest, entering the shaded room like a frightened child, speaking +only in hushed whispers. + +"Won't you come in too for a moment, Virginia?" asked Mrs. Engle. +"Roddy will be glad to see you; he has asked about you." + +But Virginia made an excuse; it was Patten's case and after what had +occurred between herself and Patten she had no intention of so much as +seeming to overstep the professional lines. The following day, +however, she did go to see him. Patten himself, stiff and boorish, +asked her to. His patient had asked for her several times, knowing +that she was in the building and marking how she made an exception and +refused to look in on him while all of his other friends were doing so, +some of them coming many miles. Patten told her that Norton was not +well by any means yet and that he did not intend to have him worried up +over an imagined slight. So Virginia did as she was bid. + +Mrs. Engle was in the room, bending over the bed with a dampened towel +to lay upon Norton's forehead; he showed a sign of fever and his head +ached constantly. He looked about quickly as the girl came in, his +hand stirring a little, offering itself. She took it by way of +greeting and sat down in the chair drawn up at his side. + +"It's good of you to come!" he said quickly, his eyes brightening. "I +was beginning to wonder if I had offended you in some way? You see, +everybody has run in but you. A man gets spoiled when he's laid up +like this, doesn't he? Especially when it's the first time he can +remember when he has stuck in bed for upward of twenty-four hours +running." + +Despite her familiarity with the swift ravages of illness she received +a positive shock as she looked at him; she had visualized him during +these latter days as she had last seen him, brown, vitally robust, the +embodiment of lean, clean strength. Now sunless inaction had set its +mark in his skin which had already grown sallow; his eyes burned into +her own, his hand fell weakly to the coverlet as she removed her own, +his fingers plucking nervously. And yet she summoned a cheerful smile +to answer his. + +"I was satisfied just in hearing that you were doing well," she said. +"And I know that the fewer people a sick man sees the better for him." + +He moved his head restlessly back and forth on his pillow. + +"Not for a man like me," he told her. "I'm not used to this sort of +business. Just lying here with my eyes shut or staring at the ceiling, +which is worse, drives a man mad. I told Patten to-day that if he +didn't let me see folks I'd get up and go out if I had to crawl." + +Virginia laughed, determined to be cheerful. + +"I am afraid that you make a rather troublesome patient, don't you?" +she asked lightly. + +Norton made no answer but lay motionless save for the constant plucking +at his coverlet, his eyes moodily fixed upon the wall. Mrs. Engle, +finding the water-pitcher empty and saying that she would be back in +two seconds, went out to fill it. Promptly Norton's eyes returned to +Virginia's face, resting there steadily. + +"I've been dizzy and sick and half out of my head a whole lot," he said +abruptly. "I've been thinking of you most of the time, dreaming about +you, climbing cliffs with you. . . ." + +He broke off suddenly, but did not remove his eyes from hers. It was +she who turned away, pretending to find it necessary to adjust the +window-curtain. It was impossible to sit quietly while he looked at +her that way, his eyes all without warning filling with a look for any +girl to read a look of glowing admiration, almost a look of pure +love-making. Norton sighed and again his head moved restlessly on his +pillow. + +"I've had time to think here of late," he said after a little. "More +time to think than I've ever had before in my life. About everything; +myself and Jim Galloway and you. . . . I have decided to send word to +the district attorney to let Galloway go," he added, again watching +her. "I am not going to appear against him and there's no case if I +don't." + +"But . . ." she began, wondering. + +"There are no buts about it. Suppose I can get him convicted, which I +doubt; he'd get a light sentence, would appeal, at most would be out of +the way a couple of years or so. And then it would all be to do over +again. No; I want him out in the open, where he can go as far as he +wants to go. And then . . ." + +She saw how his body stiffened as he braced himself with his feet +against the foot-board. + +"We won't talk shop," she said gently. "It isn't good for you. Don't +think about such things any more than you have to." + +"I've got to think about something," he said impatiently. "Can I think +about you?" + +"Why not?" she answered as lightly as she had spoken before. + +"Maybe that isn't good for me either," he answered. + +"Nonsense. It's always good for us to think about our friends." + +His eyes wandered from hers, rested a moment upon the little table near +his bedhead and came back to her, narrowing a little. + +"Will you set a chair against that window-shade?" he asked. "The light +at the side hurts my eyes." + +It was a natural request and she turned naturally to do what he asked. +But, even with her back turned, she knew that he had reached out +swiftly for something that lay on the table, that he had thrust it out +of sight under his pillow. + +Mrs. Engle returned and Virginia, staying another minute, said good-by. +As she went out she glanced down at the table. In her room she asked +herself what it was that he had snatched and hidden. It seemed a +strange thing to do and the question perplexed her; while she attached +no importance to it, it was there like a pebble in one's shoe, refusing +to be ignored. + +That night, just as she was going to sleep, she knew. Out of a half +doze she had visualized the table with its couple of bottles, a +withering rose, a scrap of note-paper, a fountain pen. The pen . . . +it was Patten's . . . had evidently leaked and had been wiped +carelessly upon the sheet of paper, left lying with the paper half +wrapped around it. She had noted carelessly a few scrawled words in +Patten's slovenly hand. And she knew that it had been removed while +she turned her back, removed by a hand which, in its haste, had slipped +the pen with it under the pillow. + +She went to sleep incensed with herself that she gave the matter +another thought. But she kept asking herself what it was that Patten +had written that Roderick Norton did not want her to read. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A FREE MAN + +"I am a free man, if you please." The sheriff stood in the hotel +doorway, looking down upon her as she sat in her favorite veranda +chair. "I have given my keeper his fee and sent him away. May I watch +you while you read?" + +Virginia closed her book upon her knee and gave him a smile by way of +welcome. He looked unusually tall as he stood in the broad, low +entrance; his ten days of sickness and inactivity had made him gaunt +and haggard. + +"I shouldn't be reading in this light, anyway," she said. "I hadn't +noticed that the sun was down. It is good to be what you call free +again, isn't it?" + +He laughed softly, put back his head, filled his lungs. Then he came +on to her and stood leaning against the wall, his hat cocked to one +side to hide the bandage. + +"The world is good," he announced with gay positiveness. "Especially +when you've been away from it for a spell and weren't quite sure what +was next. And especially, too, when you've had time to think. Did you +ever take off a week and just do nothing but think?" + +"One doesn't have time for that sort of thing as a rule," she admitted. +"There's a chair standing empty if you care to let me in on your +deductions." + +"I don't want to sit down or lie down until I'm ready to drop," he +grinned down at her. "A bed makes me sick at my stomach and a chair is +pretty nearly as bad. I'd like almighty well to get a horse between my +knees . . . and _ride_! Suppose I'd fall to pieces if I tried it +right now?" + +"Sure of it. And not so sure that you haven't discharged your keeper +prematurely. You mustn't think of such things." + +"There you go. Forbidding me to think again! . . . Believe I will sit +down; would you believe that a full-grown man like me could get as weak +as a cat this quick?" + +He took the chair just beyond her, tilted it back against the wall, his +booted heels caught under its elevated legs, and glanced away from her +to the colorful sky above San Juan's scattered houses in the west. + +"Yes, sir," he continued his train of thought, "I'd like a horse +between my knees; I'd like to ride out yonder into the sunset, to meet +the night as it comes down; I'd like the feeling of nothing but the +stars over me instead of the smothery roof of a house. Doesn't it +appeal to you, too?" + +"Yes," she said. + +"You on Persis, with me on my big roan, riding not as we rode that +other night, but just for the fun of it. I'd like to ride like the +devil. . . . You don't mind my saying what I mean, do you? . . . to go +scooting across the sage-brush letting out a yell at every jump, boring +holes in the night with my gun, making all of the racket and dust that +one man can make. Ever feel that way? just like getting outside and +making a noise? Let me talk! I'm the one who has been shut up for so +long my tongue has started to grow fast to the roof of my mouth. At +first I could do nothing but lie flat on my back in a sort of fog, +seeing nothing clearly, thinking not at all. Then came the hours in +which I could do nothing but think, under orders to keep still. Think? +Why, I thought about everything that ever happened, most things that +might happen, and a whole lot that never will. Now comes the third +stage; I can talk better than I can walk. . . . Do you mind listening +while a man raves?" + +"Not in the least." She found his mood contagious and, smiling in that +quick, bright way natural to her, showed for a moment the twin dimples +of which together with a host of other things he had had ample time to +think during his bedroom imprisonment. "Please rave on." + +"In due course," he mused, "the fourth stage will arrive and I can be +doing something besides talk, can't I? Now let me tell you about the +King's Palace." + +"You begin well." + +"The King's Palace is where we are going on our first outing. That was +decided three days ago at four minutes after 6 A.M. You and I and, if +you like, Florrie and your kid brother. We'll ride out there in the +very early morning, in the saddle before the stars are gone. We'll +lunch and loaf there all day. For lunch we will have bacon and coffee, +cooked over a fire in one of the Palace anterooms. We will have some +trout, fried in the bacon-grease, trout whipped out of the likeliest +mountain-stream you ever saw or heard about. We will have cheese, +perhaps, and maybe a box of candy for dessert. We'll ride home in the +dusk and the dark." + +"The King's Palace?" she asked curiously. "I never heard of such a +place. Are you making it all up?" + +"Not a bit of it. It's all that's left of some of the old ruins of the +same folk who lived in the caves up on the cliffs. . . . Do you know +why I am bound to get Jim Galloway's tag soon or late?" + +Her mind with his had touched upon the hidden rifles, and the abrupt +digression was no digression to her, reached by the span of suggestion. + +"Because he is in the wrong and you are in the right; or, in other +words, because he opposes the law and you represent it." + +"Because he plays the game wrong! Some more results of a long week of +nothing to do but think things out. There is just one way for a +law-breaker to operate if he means to get away with it." + +"You mean that a man can get away with it? Surely not for good?" + +But he nodded thoughtfully at the slowly fading strata of shaded colors +splashed across the sky. + +"A man can get away with it for keeps . . . if he plays the game right. +Jim Galloway isn't that man and so I'll get him. He has ignored the +first necessary principle, which is the lone hand." + +"You mean he takes men into his confidence?" + +"And he goes on and ignores the second necessary principle; a man must +stop short of murder. If he turns gangman and killer, he ties his own +rope around his neck. If a man like Galloway, a man with brains, +power, without fear, without scruple, should decide to loot this corner +of the world or any other corner, and set about it right, playing the +lone hand invariably, he would be a man I couldn't bring in in a +thousand years. But Galloway has slipped up; he has too many Moragas +and Antones and Vidals at his heels; he has been the cause, directly or +indirectly, of too many killings. . . . A theft will be forgotten in +time, the hue and cry die down; spilled blood cries to heaven after ten +years." + +"Galloway is back in San Juan." + +"I know. I wanted him back. I wanted him free and unhampered. He'll +be bolder than ever now, won't he, if this case is dropped? He's come +out a little into the open already, he'll be tempted out a little +farther. There'll be more of his work soon, a robbery here or there, +and he will grow so sure of himself that he'll get careless. Then I'll +get him." + +"But have you the right?" she asked quickly. "Knowing him a +lawbreaker, have you the right to allow him to go farther and farther, +just because in the end you hope to get him?" + +He met her look with a smile which puzzled her. + +"I'll answer your question when you define right and wrong for me," he +said quietly. + +They grew silent together, watching the gradual sinking of day into +twilight and early dusk. Norton, for all his vaunted ravings, had +grown thoughtful; Virginia turning her eyes toward him while his were +staring out beyond the house-tops saw in them a look of deep, frowning +speculation. And through this look, like a little fire gleaming +through a fog, was another look whose meaning baffled her. + +"What do you think of Patten?" he asked. + +Startled by his abruptness, characteristic of him though it was to-day, +she asked in puzzled fashion: + +"What do you mean?" + +"Not as a man," he said, withdrawing his gaze from the sunset and +bestowing it gravely upon her. "As a physician. Do you size him up as +capable or as something of a quack?" + +She hesitated. But finally she made the only reply possible. + +"Of course you don't expect any answer, knowing that you should not +come to one member of a profession for an estimate of another. And, +besides, you realize that I know nothing whatever of Dr. Patten, either +as a man or as a physician." + +He laughed softly. + +"Hedging, pure, unadulterated hedging! I didn't look for that from +you. Shall I tell you what we both think of him? He is a farce and a +fake, and I rather think that I am going to run him out of the State +pretty soon. . . . What would you say of a doctor who couldn't tell +the difference between a wound made by a man bumping his head when he +fell and by a smashing blow with a gun-barrel? Patten doesn't guess +yet that it was the blow Moraga gave me the other night which came so +close to ringing down the sable curtains for me." + +"Moraga?" she asked with quickened interest. "Not the same Moraga who +shot Brocky Lane?" + +"The same little old Moraga," he assured her lightly. "You needn't +mention it abroad, of course; I don't think Galloway got a chance to +talk with him and we are not sure yet that he even knows Moraga was +here. But I know somebody put me out in the dark by hammering me over +the head; and Tom Cutter found blood on Moraga's revolver. But we +wander far afield. Coming back to Patten, do we agree that he is +something of a dub?" + +"I'd rather not discuss him." + +"Exactly. And I, being in the talkative way, am going to tell you that +he has made blunders before now; that at least one man died under his +nice little fat hands who shouldn't have died outside of jail; that +long ago I had my suspicions and began instituting inquiries; that now +I am fully prepared to learn that Caleb Patten has no more right to an +M.D. after his name than I have." + +"You must be mistaken. I hope you are. Men used to do that sort of +thing, but under existing laws . . ." + +"Under existing laws men do a good many things in and about San Juan +which they shouldn't do. I have found out that there was a Caleb +Patten who was a young doctor; that there was a Charles Patten, his +brother, who was a young scamp; that they both lived in Baltimore a few +years ago; that from Baltimore they both went hastily no man knows +where. This gentleman whom we have with us might be either one of +them. . . . Here comes Ignacio. _Que hay_, Ignacio!" + +"_Que hay_, Roderico?" responded Ignacio, coming to lean languidly +against the veranda post. He removed his hat elaborately, his liquid +eyes doing justice to Virginia's dainty charm. "_Buenos tardes, +senorita_," he greeted her. + +"What is new, Ignacio?" queried Norton, "No bells for you to ring for +the last ten days! You grow fat in idleness, _amigo mio_." + +Ignacio sighed and rolled his cigarette. + +"What is new, you ask? No? _Bueno_, this is new!" He lifted his +eyes suddenly and they were sparkling as with suppressed excitement. +"The Devil himself has made a visit to San Juan. _Si, senor; si, +senorita_. It is so." + +Virginia smiled; Norton gravely asked the explanation. Why should his +satanic majesty come to San Juan? + +"Why? _Quien sabe_?" Ignacio shrugged all responsibility from his +lazy shoulders. "But he came and more bad will come from his visit, +more and more of evil things. One knows. _Seguro que si_; one knows. +But I will tell you and the senorita; no one else knows of it. It was +while in the Casa Blanca men are shooting, while Roderico Nortone will +make his arrest of poor Vidal who is dead now." He crossed himself and +drew a thoughtful puff from his cigarette. "I run fast to ring the +bells. I come into the garden and it is dark. I come under the bells. +And while my hand cannot find the rope . . . _Si, senor y +senorita_! . . . before I touch the rope the Captain begins to ring! +Just a little; not long; low and quiet and . . . angry! And then he +stop and I shiver. It is hard not to run out of the garden. But I +cross myself and find the ropes and make all the bells dance. But I +know; it was the Devil who was before me." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE KING'S PALACE + +Not only was Galloway back in San Juan but, as Norton had predicted of +him, he appeared to have every assurance that he stood in no unusual +danger. There had been a fight in a dark room and one man had been +killed, certain others wounded. The dead man was Galloway's friend, +hence it was not to be thought that Galloway had killed him. Kid +Rickard was another friend. As for the wound Rod Norton had received, +who could swear that this man or that had given it to him? + +"The chances are," Galloway had already said in many quarters, "that +Tom Cutter, getting excited, popped over his own sheriff." + +True, it was quite obvious that a charge lay at Galloway's door, that +of harboring a fugitive from justice and of resisting an officer. But +with Galloway's money and influence, with the shrewdest technical +lawyer in the State retained, with ample perjured testimony to be had +as desired, the law-breaker saw no reason for present uneasiness. +Perhaps more than anything else he regretted the death of Vidal Nunez +and the wounding of Kid Rickard. For these matters vitally touched Jim +Galloway and his swollen prestige among his henchmen; he had thrown the +cloak of his protection about Vidal, had summoned him, promised him all +safety . . . and Vidal was dead. He knew that men spoke of this over +and over and hushed when he came upon them; that Vidal's brother, Pete, +grumbled and muttered that Galloway was losing his grip, that soon or +late he would fall, that falling he would drag others down with him. +More than ever before the whole county watched for the final duello +between Galloway and Norton. In half a dozen small towns and +mining-camps men laid bets upon the result. + +For the first time, also, there was much barbed comment and criticism +of the sheriff. He had gotten this man and that, it was true. And +yet, after all this time, he seemed to be no nearer than at the +beginning to getting the man who counted. There were those who +recalled the killing of Bisbee of Las Palmas, and reminded others that +there had been no attempt at prosecution. Now there had come forth +from the Casa Blanca fresh defiance and lawlessness and still Jim +Galloway came and went as he pleased. Those who criticised said that +Norton was losing his nerve, or else that he was merely incompetent +when measured by the yardstick of swift, incisive action wedded to +capability. + +"If he can't get Jim Galloway, let him step out of the way and give the +chance to a man who can," was said many times and in many ways. Even +John Engle, Julius Struve, Tom Cutter, and Brocky Lane came to Norton +at one time or another, telling him what they had heard, urging him to +give some heed to popular clamor, and to begin legal action. + +"Put the skids under him, Roddy," pleaded Brocky Lane. "We can't slide +him far the first trip, maybe. But a year or so in jail will break his +grip here." + +But Norton shook his head. He was playing the game his way. + +"The rifles are still in the cache," he told Brocky. "He is getting +ready, as we know; further, just as my friends are beginning to find +fault with me, so are his hangers-on beginning to wonder if they +haven't tied to the wrong man. Just to save his own face he'll have to +start something pretty pronto. And we know about where he is going to +strike. It's up to us to hold our horses, Brocky." + +Brocky growled a bit, but went away more than half-persuaded. He +called at the hotel, paid his respects to Virginia, and affording her a +satisfaction which it was hard for her to conceal, also paid her for +her services rendered him in the cliff-dweller's cave. + +Often enough the man who tilts with the law is in most things not +unlike his fellows, different alone perhaps in the one essential that +he is born a few hundreds of years late in the advance of civilization. +Going about that part of his business which has its claims to +legitimacy, mingling freely with his fellows, he fails to stand out +distinctly from them as a monster. Given the slow passing of +uneventful time, and it becomes hard and harder to consider him as a +social menace. When the man is of the Jim Galloway type, his plans +large, his patience long, he may even pass out from the shadow of a +gallows-tree and return to occupy his former place in the quiet +community life, while his neighbors are prone to forget or condone. + +As other days came and slipped by and the weeks grew out of them, +Galloway's was a pleasant, untroubled face to be seen on the street, at +the post-office, behind his own bar, on the country roads. He ignored +any animosity which San Juan might feel for him. If a man looked at +him stonily, Galloway did not care to let it be seen that he saw; if a +woman turned out to avoid him, no evidence that he understood darkened +his eyes. He had a good-humored word to speak always; he lifted his +hat to the banker's wife, as he had always done; he mingled with the +crowd when there were "exercises" at the little schoolhouse; he warmly +congratulated Miss Porter, the crabbed old-maid teacher, on the work +she had accomplished and made her wonder fleetingly if there wasn't a +bit of good in the man, after all. Perhaps there was; there is in most +men. And Florrie Engle was beginning to wonder the same thing. For +Rod Norton, recovered and about his duties, was not quite the same +touchingly heroic figure he had been while lying unconscious and in +danger of his life. Nor was it any part of Florrie Engle's nature to +remain long either upon the heights or in the depths of an emotion. +The night of the shooting she had cried out passionately against +Galloway; as days went their placid way and she saw Galloway upon each +one of them . . . and did not see a great deal of Norton, who was +either away or monopolizing Virginia, . . . she took the first step in +the gambler's direction by beginning to be sorry for him. First, it +was too bad that Mr. Galloway did the sort of things which he did; no +doubt he had had no mother to teach him when he was very young. Next, +it was a shame that he was blamed for everything that had to happen; +maybe he was a . . . a bad man, but Florrie simply didn't believe he +was responsible for half of the deeds laid at his door. Finally, +through a long and intricate chain of considerations, the girl reached +the point where she nodded when Galloway lifted his hat. The smile in +the man's eyes was one of pure triumph. + +"Oh, my dear!" Florrie burst into Virginia's room, flushed and +palpitant with her latest emotion. "He has told me all about it, and +do you know, I don't believe that we have the right to blame him? +Doesn't it say in the Bible or . . . or somewhere, that greater praise +or something shall no man have than he who gives his life for a friend? +It's something like that, anyway. Aren't people just horrid, always +blaming other people, never stopping to consider their reasons and +impulses and looking at it from their side? Vidal Nunez was a friend +of Mr. Galloway's; he was in Mr. Galloway's house. Of course . . ." + +"I thought that you didn't speak to him any more." + +"I didn't for a long time. But if you could have only seen the way he +always looks at me when I bump into him. Virgie, I believe he is sad +and lonely and that he would like to be good if people would only give +him the chance. Why, he is human, after all, you know." + +Virginia began to ask herself if Galloway were merely amusing himself +with Florrie or if the man were really interested in her. It did not +seem likely that a girl like Florrie would appeal to a man like him; +and yet, why not? There is at least a grain of truth, if no more, in +the old saw of the attraction of opposites. And it was scarcely more +improbable that he should be interested in her than that she should +allow herself to be ever so slightly moved by him. Furthermore, in its +final analysis, emotion is not always to be explained. + +Virginia set herself the task of watching for any slightest development +of the man's influence over the girl. She saw Florrie almost daily, +either at the hotel to which Florrie had acquired the habit of coming +in the cool of the afternoons or at the Engle home. And for the sake +of her little friend, and at the same time for Elmer's sake, she threw +the two youngsters together as much as possible. They quarrelled +rather a good deal, criticised each other with startling frankness, and +grew to be better friends than either realized. Elmer was a vaquero +now, as he explained whenever need be or opportunity arose, wore chaps, +a knotted handkerchief about a throat which daily grew more brown, +spurs as large and noisy as were to be encountered on San Juan's +street, and his right hip pocket bulged. None of the details escaped +Florrie's eyes . . . he called her "Fluff" now and she nicknamed him +"Black Bill" . . . and she never failed to refer to them mockingly. + +"They tell me, Black Bill," she said innocently, "that you fell off +your horse yesterday. I was so _sorry_." + +She had offered her sympathy during a lull in the conversation, drawing +the attention of her father, mother, and Virginia to Elmer, whose face +reddened promptly. + +"Florrie!" chided Mrs. Engle, hiding the twinkle in her own eyes. + +"Oh, her," said Elmer with a wave of the hand. "I don't mind what +Fluff says. She's just trying to kid me." + +Toward the end of the evening, having been thoughtful for ten minutes, +Elmer adopted Florrie's tactics and remarked suddenly and in a voice to +be heard much farther than his needed to carry: + +"Say, Fluff. Saw an old friend of yours the other day." And when +Florrie, "gun-shy" as Elmer called her, was too wise to ask any +questions, he hastened on: "Juanito Miranda it was. Sent his best. So +did Mrs. Juanito." + +Whereupon it was Florrie's turn to turn a scarlet of mortification and +anger. For Juanito had soft black eyes and almost equally soft black +mustaches, with probably a heart to match, and only a year ago Florrie +had been busied making a hero of him when he, the blind one, took unto +himself an Indian bride and in all innocence heaped shame high upon the +blonde head. How Elmer unearthed such ancient history was a mystery to +Florrie; but none the less she "hated" him for it. They saw a very +great deal of each other, each serving as a sort of balance-wheel to +the other's self-centred complacency. Perhaps the one subject upon +which they could agree was Jim Galloway; Elmer still liked to look upon +the gambler as a colossal figure standing serene among wolves, while +Florrie could admit to him, with no fear of a chiding, that she thought +Mr. Galloway "simply splendid!" + +When one evening, after having failed to show himself for a full month, +Rod Norton came to the Engles', found Elmer and Virginia there, and +suggested the ride to the King's Palace, he awakened no end of +enthusiasm. Elmer had a day off, thanks to the generosity of his +employer, Mr. Engle, and had just secretly purchased a fresh outfit +consisting of a silver-mounted Spanish bit, a new pair of white and +unspeakably shaggy, draggy chaps, a wide hat with a band of snake hide, +and boots that were the final whisper in high-heeled discomfort. +Florrie disappeared into her room to make her own little riding-costume +as irresistible as possible. They were to start with the first streaks +of dawn to-morrow, just the four of them, since the banker and his +wife, lukewarmly invited, had no desire for a forty-mile ride between +morning and night. + +It was Rod Norton's privilege to lead his merry party into what for +them was wonderland. Even Florrie, though so much other life had been +passed in San Juan, had never before visited the King's Palace. +Clattering through the street while most folk were asleep, they took +advantage of the cool of the dawn and rode swiftly. Elmer and Florrie +racing on ahead laid aside their accustomed weapons and were, for the +once, utterly flattering to each other. Each wishing to be admired, +admired the other, and was paid back in the coveted coin. Norton and +Virginia, at first a little inclined toward silence, soon grew as +noisily merry as the others, drawing deep enjoyment from the moment. + +And at the portals of the King's Palace, reached after four hours in +the saddle, followed by thirty minutes on foot, they stood hushed with +wonder. High upon the southern slope of Mt. Temple they had come +abruptly into the unexpected. Here a rugged plateau had caught and +held through the ages the soil which had weathered down from the cliffs +above; here were trees to replace the weary gray brush, shade instead +of glare, birds as welcome substitutes for droning insects, water and +flowers to make the canons doubly cool and fragrant for him who had +ascended from the dry reaches of sand below the talus. + +"It's just like fairy-land!" cried the ecstatic Florrie. "Roddy +Norton, I think you're real mean not to have brought me here ages ago!" + +"Ages ago, my dear miss," laughed Norton, "you were too little to +appreciate it. You should thank me for bringing you now." + +Down through the middle of the plateau from its hidden source ran the +purling stream which was destined to yield to sun and thirsty earth +long before it twisted down the lower slopes of the hills. Along its +edges the grass was thick and rich, shot through everywhere with little +blue blossoms and the golden gleam of the starflowers. Further promise +of yellow beauty was given by the stalks of the evening-primrose +scattered on every hand, the flowers furled now, sleeping. In the +groves were pines, small cedars, and a sprinkling of sturdy dwarf oaks. +And from their shelter came the welcome sound of a bird's twitter. + +"It's always about as you see it," Norton explained. "Too hard to get +to, too small when one makes the climb to afford enough pasturage for +sheep. And now the Palace itself." + +Straight ahead the cliffs overhung the farther rim of the plateau. And +there, under the out-jutting roof of rock, an ancient people had +fashioned themselves a home which stood now as when their hands +laboriously set it there. The protected ledge which afforded eternal +foundation was slightly above the plateau's level, to be reached by a +series of "steps" in the rock, steps which were holes worn deep, +perhaps five hundred years ago. The climb was steep, hazardous unless +one went with due precaution, but the four holiday-makers hurried to +begin it. + +So close to the edge of the rock ledge did the walls of the ruin stand +that there was barely room to edge along it to come to the narrow +doorway. Holding hands, Norton in the lead, Elmer in the rear, they +made their breathless way. And then they were in the hushed, shaded +anteroom. + +The dust of untroubled ages lay upon the surprisingly smooth floor. +Walls of cemented rock rose intact on two sides, broken here and there +on a third, while the cliff itself made the fourth at the rear. And +unusually spacious, wide, and high-ceiled was this room, which may have +had its use when time was younger as a council-chamber. At one end was +another door, small and dark and forbidding, leading to another room. +Beyond lay other quarters, a long line of them, which might have housed +scores in their time. + +While Florrie, letting out little shrieks now and then interspersed +with gay cries of delight, led a half-timorous way and Elmer went with +her upon the tour of discovery, Virginia and Norton stood a moment at +the front entrance looking down upon the fertile plateau and across it +to the level miles running out to San Juan and beyond. + +"Who were they?" asked Virginia, unconscious of a half-sigh as she +withdrew abstracted eyes from the wide panorama which had filled the +vision of so many other men and women and little children before the +white man came to claim the New World. "They who builded here and +lived and died here. What has become of them? Where did they go?" + +"All questions asked a thousand times and never answered. I don't +know. But they were good builders, good engineers, good +pottery-makers, good farmers and hunters and fighters; rather a goodly +crowd, I take it. Come, and I'll share my secret with you while +Florrie and Elmer discover the skeleton a little farther on and stop to +exclaim over it." + +[Illustration: "Come, and I'll share my secret with you."] + +Norton's secret was a hidden room of the King's Palace. While many men +knew of the Palace itself, he believed that none other than himself had +ever ferreted out this particular chamber which he called the Treasure +Chamber. It was to be reached by clambering through an orifice of the +eastern wall, over a clutter of fallen blocks of stone and a score of +feet along the narrowing ledge. Just before they came to the point +where the encroaching wall of cliff denied farther foothold they found +a fissure in the rock itself wide enough to allow them to slip into it. +Again they climbed, coming presently to a ledge smaller than the one +below and hidden by an outthrust boulder. Here was the last of the +rooms of the King's Palace, cunningly masked, to be found only by +accident, even the cramped door concealed by the branches of a tortured +cedar. Norton pushed them aside and they entered. + +"I have cached a few of my things here," he told her as they confronted +each other in the gloom of the room's interior. "And the joke of it is +that my hiding-place is almost if not quite directly below the caves +where Galloway's rifles are. This is a secret, mind you! . . . If +you'll look around, you'll find some of the articles our friends the +cliff-dwellers left behind them when they made their getaway." + +In a dark corner she found a blackened coffee-pot and a frying-pan, +proclaiming anachronistically that here was the twentieth century +interloping upon the fifteenth, articles which Norton had hidden here. +In another corner were jumbled the things which the ancient people had +left to mark their passing, an earthenware water-jar, half a dozen +spear and arrow points of stone, a clumsy-looking axe still fitted to +its handle of century-seasoned cedar, bound with thongs. + +"But," exclaimed the girl, "the wood, the raw-hide . . . they would +have disintegrated long ago. They must belong to the age of your +coffee-pot and frying-pan!" + +"The air is bone-dry," he reminded her. "What little rain there is +never gets in here. Nothing decays; look yonder." + +He showed her a basket made of withes, a graceful thing skilfully made, +small, frail-looking, and as perfect as the day it had come from a pair +of quick brown hands under a pair of quick black eyes. She took it +almost with a sense of awe upon her. + +"Keep it, will you?" he asked lightly. "As a memento. Presented by a +caveman through your friend the sheriff. Now let's get back before +they miss us. I may have need of this place some time and I'd rather +no one else knew of it." + +They made their way back as they had come and in silence, Virginia +treasuring the token and with it the sense that her friend the sheriff +had cared to share his secret with her. + + +They made of the day an occasion to be remembered, to be considered +wistfully in retrospect during the troubled hours so soon to come to +each one of the four of them. While Elmer and Florrie gathered +fire-wood, Norton showed Virginia how simple a matter it was here in +this seldom-visited mountain-stream to take a trout. Cool, shaded +pools under overhanging, gouged-out banks, tiny falls, and shimmering +riffles all housed the quick speckled beauties. Then, as Norton had +predicted, the fish were fried, crisp and brown, in sizzling +bacon-grease, while the thin wafers of bacon garnished the tin plate +bedded in hot ashes. They nooned in the shady grove, sipping their +coffee that had the taste of some rare, black nectar. And throughout +the long lazy afternoon they loitered as it pleased them, picked +flowers, wandered anew through the ruins of the King's Palace, lay by +the singing water, and were quietly content. It was only when the +shadows had thickened over the world and the promise of the primroses +was fulfilled that they made ready for the return ride. Before they +had gone down to their horses the moths were coming to the yellow +flowers, tumbling about them, filling the air with the frail beating of +their wings. + +At Struve's hotel . . . Elmer and Virginia had ridden on to Engle's +home . . . Virginia told Norton good night, thanking him for a perfect +day. As their hands met for a little she saw a new, deeply probing +look in his eyes, a look to be understood. He towered over her, +physically superb. As she had felt it before, so now did she +experience that odd little thrill born from nearness to him go singing +through her. She withdrew her hand hastily and went in. In her own +room she stood a long time before her glass, seeking to read what lay +in her own eyes. + + +Tom Cutter was waiting for Norton--merely to tell him that a stranger +had come to San Juan, a Mexican with all the earmarks of a gentleman +and a man of means. The Mexican's name was Enrique del Rio. He +evidently came from below the border. He had lost no time in finding +Jim Galloway, with whom he had been all afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE MEXICAN FROM MEXICO + +Enrique del Rio promptly became known to San Juan as the Mexican from +Mexico, this to distinguish him from the many Mexicans, as San Juan +knew them, who had never seen that turbulent field of intrigue and +revolt from which their sires had come. He showed himself from the +outset to be a gentleman of culture, discernment, and ability. He was +suave, he was polished, he gave certain signs of refinement. + +His first afternoon and evening he bestowed upon Jim Galloway. The +second day found him registered at Struve's hotel. The following +morning he presented himself with a sheaf of credentials at the bank, +asking for John Engle. With him came Ignacio Chavez in the role of +interpreter. Del Rio spoke absolutely no English and had informed +himself that Engle's Spanish was inadequate for the occasion. + +"He is Senor Don Enrique del Rio," explained Ignacio, touched by the +spell of the other's munificence and immaculate clothes. "He would +like to shake the hand of Senor Engle to become acquainted and then +friends. . . . He brings papers to tell who and what he is in Mexico +City, whence he has departed because of too damn much fight down there; +he wishes to put some money here in the _banco_, which he can take +away again to buy a big ranch and many cattle and horses. He has the +other money in a _banco_ in New York, where he sent it out from Mexico +two, three months ago." + +And so on, while Engle gravely listened and shrewdly, after his fashion +in business hours, probed for the inner man under the outer polish, +while del Rio nodded and smiled and never withdrew his night-black eyes +from Engle's face. + +Del Rio, it appeared, had gone first to the Casa Blanca because he had +heard of Jim Galloway as one of the most influential men of the county. +Since arriving in San Juan, however, he had heard this and that, mere +rumors, which caused him to come to Engle. He, a stranger, could ill +afford in the beginning to have his name coupled with that of any man +not known for his spotless integrity. Senor Engle understood? . . . +Later, when del Rio had found the properties to his liking and had +builded a home, his wife and two daughters would arrive. Now they +travelled in California. + +In the end Engle accepted the Mexican's deposits, which amounted to +approximately a thousand dollars, and which were to be drawn against +merely as an expense account until del Rio found his ranch. And the +first item of expense was the purchase from Engle himself of a fine +saddle-animal, a pure-blooded, clean-limbed young mare, sister to +Persis. After which the Mexican spent a great deal of his time riding +about the country, looking at ranches. He visited Engle's two places, +called upon Norton at Las Flores, ferreting out prices, looking at +water and feed, examining soil. + +It was a bare fortnight after the coming of del Rio when out of Las +Palmas came word of fresh lawlessness. The superintendent of the three +Quigley mines had been surprised the night before pay-day, forced at +the point of a revolver to open his own safe, and robbed of several +thousand dollars. A man on horseback rushed word to San Juan, found +Tom Cutter, who located Norton the same afternoon at his ranch at Las +Flores. + +"Rod, old man," cried Cutter angrily, "this damned thing has got to +stop! You haven't a much better friend than I am, I guess, and I'm +telling you straight that the whole county is getting sore on you. +They will talk more than ever now, saying that it's up to you to get +results and that you don't get them." + +"The stick-up was last night?" asked the sheriff coolly. + +"Yes," snapped Cutter. + +"You were in San Juan?" + +"Yes." + +"Where was Jim Galloway? Was he in town?" + +"No, he wasn't. I don't know where he was. But I do know where he +ought to be. . . ." + +"Was that Mexican gent, del Rio, in town?" + +Cutter opened his eyes. + +"No. I don't think so. You haven't got anything on him, have you?" + +"Only what you told me. Remember that his first day in San Juan he +went to Galloway like a homing pigeon." + +Norton went for his horse, saddled, and rode swiftly to Las Palmas. In +the mining-camp he went immediately to the office of Nate Kemble, the +superintendent, whom he found cursing volubly. + +"It's up to you," were the sharp words of greeting as Kemble wheeled +upon the sheriff. "What the hell do you think you're for, anyway? +Good Lord, man, if you can't cut the mustard, why don't you crawl out +and let a man who _can_ wear your star?" + +"Easy there, Kemble," said Norton quietly. "You can do your raring and +pitching after I'm gone. Tell me about it. What time did it happen?" + +"It was hardly dark." + +"How many men jumped you?" + +"Just one. But . . ." + +"Just one, eh?" He pondered the information. "That isn't the usual +brand of Galloway work, is it? Get a good slant at him?" + +"At his clothes," growled Kemble, slamming himself down dejectedly in +his chair. "His face was hid, of course." + +"Ever see a Mexican named del Rio?" + +Like Cutter before him, Kemble started. + +"Don't ask me what I mean," Norton cut him short. "Del Rio is a pretty +big man for a Mexican; was this highwayman about his size?" + +Kemble hesitated. + +"It's hard to say just how big a man is when he comes in on you like +that," he said at last. "At a guess I'd say that the man who stuck me +up was a little taller than del Rio. But I wouldn't swear to it." + +"It might have been del Rio himself, then?" Norton insisted. + +"Yes. Or it might have been the Devil's grandmother. I don't . . ." + +"See anything of del Rio the last few days?" + +"Saw him yesterday. He was in camp. Was talking mines." + +"See anything of Galloway hereabouts of late?" + +"No. Haven't seen him for a month or two." + +Norton asked a few other questions, kept his own thoughts to himself, +and rode away. Less than a mile from the camp he met Jim Galloway +riding a sweat-wet horse. The two men reined in sharply, each man's +eyes matching the other's for hardness. Galloway's face was red, the +fiery red of anger. + +"Going back for what you forgot, Jim?" asked Norton. + +For a moment Galloway, staring back at him, seemed utterly speechless +in the grip of his wrath. Norton did not remember ever having seen +such blazing anger in the prominent eyes. + +"Between you and me, Rod Norton," muttered Galloway at last, "I have +turned a trick or two in my time. But this job is none of my doing and +if I wise up as to who put it over he'll go under the sand or into the +pen, and I'll put him there." + +Norton laughed. + +"In other words, some free-lance has made a bid to break your corner on +the crime market, eh?" he jeered. "Put one over on you without your +knowledge and consent? And without splitting two ways? That what you +mean?" + +"I mean that I'd pay five hundred dollars out of my own pocket right +now for the dead-wood on the man who robbed Kemble." + +"Kid Rickard is around once more; sure he didn't do it?" + +"Yes, I am. Kid Rickard didn't do it." + +Norton eased himself in the saddle, thoughtfully regarding Galloway. +And then, very abruptly: + +"How about your friend, del Rio?" + +It was the third time that he had mentioned del Rio's name in this +connection and to the third man. And now, but slightly different in +degree only, he saw the same look in Galloway's eyes which he had +brought into Cutter's and Kemble's. + +"Del Rio?" repeated Galloway frowningly. "What makes you say that?" + +"I'll collect your five hundred later," was Norton's laughing response. +Swerving out a little as he passed, he rode on. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A STACK OF GOLD PIECES + +John Engle rapidly came to assume the nature and proportions of a +stubborn bulwark standing sturdily between Roderick Norton and the +fires of criticism, which, springing from little, scattered flames were +now a wide-spread blaze amply fed with the dry fuel of many fields. +Again there had been a general excitement over a crime committed, much +talk, various suspicions, and, in the end, no arrest made. Men who had +stood by the sheriff until now began to lose faith in him. They +recalled how, after the fight in the Casa Blanca, he had let Galloway +go and with him Antone and the Kid; their memories trailed back to the +killing of Bisbee of Las Palmas and the evidence of the boots. They +began to admit, at first reluctantly, then with angry eagerness, that +Norton was not the man his father had been before him, not the man they +had taken him to be. And all of this hurt Norton's stanch friend, John +Engle. All the more that he, too, saw signs of hesitancy which he +found it hard to condone. + +"Let him alone," he said many a time. "Give him his chance and a free +hand. He knows what he is doing." + +From that point he began to make excuses, first to himself and then to +others. People were forgetting that only a short time ago the sheriff +had lain many days at the point of death; that his system had been +overtaxed; that not yet had his superb strength come back to him. Wait +until once more he was physically fit. + +It was merely an excuse, and at the outset no man knew it better than +the banker himself. But as time went by without bringing results and +tongues grew sharper and more insistent everywhere, Engle grew +convinced that there was a grain of truth in his trumped-up argument. +He invited Norton to his home, had him to dinner, watched him keenly, +and came to the conclusion that Norton was riding on his nerves, that +he had not taken sufficient time to recuperate before getting his feet +back into the official stirrups, that the strain of his duties was +telling on him, that he needed a rest and a change or would go to +pieces. + +But Norton, the subject broached, merely shook his head. + +"I'm all right, John," he said a little hurriedly and nervously. "I am +run down at the heels a bit, I'll admit. But I can't stop to rest +right now. One of these days I'll quit this job and go back to +ranching. Until then . . . Well, let them talk. We can't stop them +very well." + +Suspicion of the Quigley mines robbery had turned at first toward del +Rio. But he had established an alibi. So had Galloway. So had Antone +and the Kid. + +"There is nothing to do but wait," Norton insisted. "It won't be long +now." + +Engle, having less than no faith in Patten's ability, went to Virginia +Page. She saw Norton often; what did she think? Was he on the verge +of a collapse? Was he physically fit? + +"All of this criticism hurts him," said the banker thoughtfully. "I +know Rod and how he must take it, though he only shrugs. It's gall and +wormwood to him. He's up against a hard proposition, as we all know; +if he is half-sick, I wonder if the proposition isn't going to be too +much for him? Can't you advise him, persuade him to knock off for a +couple of weeks and clear out? Get into a city somewhere and forget +his work. Why, it's the most pitiful thing in the world to see a man +like him lose his grip." + +"He is not quite himself," she admitted slowly. "He is more nervous, +inclined to be short and irritable, than he used to be. You may be +right; or it may be simply that his continued failure to stop these +crimes is wearing him down. I'll be glad to watch him, to talk with +him if he will listen to me." + +But first she forced herself to what seemed a casual chat with Patten, +finding him loitering upon the hotel veranda. She suggested to him +that Norton was beginning to show the strain, that he looked haggard +under it, and wondered if he had quite recovered from his recent +illness? + +Patten, after his pompous way, leaned back in his chair, his thumbs in +his armholes, his manner that of a most high judge. + +"He's as well as I am," he announced positively. "Thin, to be sure, +just from being laid up those ten days. And from a lot of hard riding +and worry. That's all." + +Out of Patten's vest-pocket peeped a lead-pencil. Curiously enough, it +carried her mind back to Patten's incompetence. For it suggested the +fountain pen which of old occupied the pencil's place and which the +sheriff had taken in his haste to secrete a bit of paper with Patten's +scrawl upon it. She wondered again just what had been on that paper, +and if it were meant to help Norton prove that Patten had no right to +the M.D. after his name? The incident, all but forgotten, remained +prominently in her mind, soon to assume a position of transcendent +importance. + +And then, one after the other, here and there throughout the county +came fresh crimes which not only set men talking angrily but which drew +the eyes of the State and then of the neighboring States upon this +corner of the world. Newspapers in the cities commented variously, +most of them sweepingly condemning the county's sheriff for a +figurehead and a boy who should never have been given a man's place in +the sun. New faces were seen in San Juan, in Las Estrellas, Las +Palmas, Pozo, everywhere, and men said that the undesirable citizens of +the whole Southwest were flocking here where they might reap with +others of their ilk and go scot free. Naturally, the Casa Blanca +became headquarters for a large percentage of the newcomers. + +"The condition in and about San Juan," commented one of the most +reputable and generally conservative of the attacking dailies, "has +become acute, unprecedented for this time in our development. The +community has become the asylum of the lawless. The authorities have +shown themselves utterly unable to cope with the situation. A +well-known figure of the desert town who long ago should have gone to +the gallows is daily growing bolder, attaching to himself the wildest +of the insurging element, and is commonly looked upon as a crime +dictator. Unless there comes a stiffening in the moral fiber of the +local officers, we dread to consider the logical outcome of these +conditions." + +And so forth from countless quarters. Galloway openly jeered at +Norton. New faces, looking out from the Casa Blanca, grinned widely as +the sheriff now and then rode past. Engle and Struve and Tom Cutter, +anxious and beginning to be afraid of what lurked in the future, met at +the hotel and sought to hit upon a solution of the problem. + +"Norton has got something up his sleeve," growled the hotel keeper, +"and he's as stubborn as a mule. He's after Galloway, and it begins to +look as though he were forgetting that his job is to serve the county +first and his own private quarrels next. I've jawed him up and down; +it only makes him shake his head like a horse with flies after him." + +The three, hoping that their combined arguments might have weight with +Norton, went to him and did not leave him until they had made clear +what their thoughts were, what the whole State was saying of him. And, +as Struve had predicted, he shook his head. + +"These later robberies haven't been Galloway's work," he told them +positively. "They were pulled off by the same man who stuck up Kemble +of the Quigley mines. Inside of a week I'll get something done; I'll +promise you that. But let me do it my way." + +Engle alone of the three drew a certain satisfaction from the interview. + +"He has promised something definite," he told them. "Did you ever know +him to do that and fail to keep his word? Maybe we're getting a little +excited, boys." + +The latest crime had been the robbery of the little bank at Packard +Springs. The highwayman had gone in the night to the room of the +cashier, forced him to dress, go to the bank, and open his safe. The +result was a theft of a couple of thousand dollars, no trace left +behind, and a growing feeling of insecurity throughout the county. It +was for this crime that Norton meant and promised to make an arrest. + +Exactly seven days from the day of his promise Norton rode into San +Juan and asked for Tom Cutter. Struve, meeting him at the hotel door, +looked at him sharply. + +"Made that arrest yet, Norton?" he demanded. Norton smiled. + +"No, I haven't," he admitted coolly. "But I've got a few minutes +before my week's up, haven't I? Fix me up with something to eat and +I'll have a talk with you and Tom while I attend to the inner man." + +But over his meal, while Cutter and Struve watched him impatiently, he +did little talking other than to ask carelessly where del Rio was. + +"Damn it, man," cried Struve irritably. "You've hinted at him before +now. If he's a crook, why don't you go grab him? He's in his room." + +Norton swung about upon Struve, his eyes suddenly filled with fire. + +"Look here, Struve," he retorted, "I've had about a bellyful of +badgering. I'm running my job and it will be just as well for you to +keep your hands off. As for why I don't make an arrest . . . Come on, +Tom. You, too, Julius," his smile coming back. "I'm going to get del +Rio." + +"I don't believe . . ." began Struve. + +"Seeing is believing," returned Norton lightly. "Come on." + +Followed by the two men, Norton went direct to del Rio's room, at the +front of the house, just across the hall from Virginia's office. At +del Rio's quick "_Entra_," he threw open the door and went in. Del +Rio, seated smoking a cigar, looked up with curious eyes which did not +miss the two men following the sheriff. + +"You are under arrest for the bank robbery at Packard Springs," said +Norton crisply. + +"_Que quiere usted decir_?" demanded the Mexican, to whom the English +words were meaningless. + +Norton threw back his vest, showing his star. And while he kept his +eye upon del Rio he said quietly to Cutter: + +"Look through his trunk and bags." + +Del Rio, understanding quickly enough, sat smoking swiftly, his eyes +narrowing as they clung steadily to Norton's. Cutter, a rising hope in +his breast that at last his superior had made good, went to the trunk +in the corner. Del Rio shrugged and remained silent. + +Cutter began tumbling out upon the floor an assortment of clothing, +evincing little respect for the Mexican's finery. Suddenly, when his +hands had gone to the bottom, he sat back upon his heels, a leaping +light in his eyes. + +"Caught with the goods on, by God!" he cried. "Look here, Struve!" + +He had whipped out a canvas bag which gave forth the chink of gold. +Another came after it. And across each bag was stamped "Packard +Springs Bank." + +Del Rio's eyes had wandered a moment to Cutter and the evidence. Then +they came back to Norton, filled with black malevolence. One did not +need to understand the southern language to grasp the meaning of the +words muttered under his breath. + +Within the half-hour Strove, Cutter, and Engle had apologized to +Norton; after this, they promised him to keep their hands off and their +mouths shut. + + +That evening Virginia and Norton sat long together on Struve's veranda. +There was more silence than talk between them. Norton seemed +abstracted; the girl was plainly constrained, anxious, and found it +difficult to keep her mind upon the thin thread of conversation joining +their occasional remarks. Abruptly, out of one of their wordless +intervals, she said quickly: + +"Congratulate me on being a rich woman! I got a check from an old, +almost forgotten, patient to-day. A hundred dollars, all in one lump! +It's a fortune in San Juan, isn't it?" + +Norton laughed with her. + +"I feel like spending it all in a breath," she ran on. "I went right +away to Mr. Engle and had him cash it so that I could see what five +twenty-dollar gold pieces looked like. And I chinked them and played +with them like a child! Do you think I am growing greedy for gold in +my old age? . . . You ought to see them piled up, though; five +twenties. Isn't gold a pretty thing? I've a notion to go get them and +show them to you; they're right on my table ..." + +She broke off suddenly, her hand on his arm. + +"Did you see some one out there at the corner of the house?" she asked +quickly. "Do you think . . ." + +Then she laughed again and settled back in her chair. + +"Already thinking somebody is going to steal my gold! My five +twenties. Just to punish myself I am going to leave them on my office +table all night; do you suppose I'll be wondering all the time if +somebody is crawling in at a window and taking them?" + +Five minutes later she said good night and left him. + +"I'll be up early in the morning," she said laughingly. "Just to make +sure that my gold is there!" + + +An hour later Virginia Page, sitting fully dressed in the darkness of +her bedroom, got quietly to her feet and went to the door leading to +her office. With wildly beating heart she stood listening, seeking to +peer through the crack of the door she had left ajar. She had heard +the faint, expected sound of some one moving cautiously. + +Now she heard it again, then the rustling of loose papers lying on her +table, then the faint, golden chink of yellow-minted disks. As she +suddenly scratched the match in her hand, drawing it along the wall, +she threw the door open. The tiny flame, held high, retrieved the room +from darkness into sufficient pale light. The man at her table whirled +upon her, an exclamation caught in his throat, one hand going to his +hip, the other closing tight upon what it held. + +She came in, her eyes steadily upon his, her face deathly pale. As the +match fell from her fingers she went to the open window and drew down +the shade. Then she lit a second match, set it to her lamp, and sank +wearily into her chair. + +"Shall we thresh matters out, Mr. Norton?" she asked. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DESIRE OUTWEIGHS DISCRETION + +Following Virginia's barely audible words there was a long silence. +Her eyes, dark with the trouble in them, rested upon Norton's face and +saw the frown go from his brows while slowly the red seeped into his +bronzed cheeks. For the first time in her life she saw him staggered +by the shock of surprise, held hesitant and uncertain. For a little +there was never a movement of his rigid muscles; one hand rested upon +the butt of his revolver, the other was closed upon the stack of gold +pieces. When at last he found his tongue it was to accuse her. + +"You trapped me," he said bitterly. + +"With golden bait," she admitted, her voice oddly spiritless. "Yes." + +"Well," he challenged, "what are you going to do about it?" + +"Do? I don't know!" + +Again they grew silent, studying each other intently. Norton, his +poise coming back to him as the unusual color receded from his face, +smiled at her with an affectation of his old manner. Suddenly he +stepped back to her table, noiselessly set down the coins, eased +himself into a chair. + +"You wished to thresh things out? I am ready. And in case we should +be interrupted, you know, I have called on you in your official +capacity. We'll say that I am troubled by the old wound in the head; +that will do as well as anything, won't it?" + +"It was you who robbed the bank at Pozo!" she cried softly, leaning +toward him, the look in her eyes one of dread now. "And the mine +superintendent at Las Palmas? And I don't know how many other people. +It was you!" + +She had startled him in the beginning; she knew she would not draw +another sign of surprise from him. He had himself under control, and +long years of severe training made that control complete. He merely +looked interested under her sweeping accusation. + +"You must have a reason for a charge like that," he remarked evenly. + +"Do you deny it?" + +"I deny nothing, I affirm nothing right now. I say that you must have +a reason for what you state." + +"You put the incriminating evidence in del Rio's trunk," she ran on +hurriedly. "The canvas bags of gold. Didn't you?" + +"Reason?" he insisted equably. + +"You took Caleb Patten's fountain pen! I saw you." + +He lifted his brows at her. Then he laughed softly. + +"In the first place," he replied thoughtfully, "I really believe that +he is not Caleb at all but Charles Patten. We'll talk of that later, +however. In the second place isn't it rather humorous to wind up by +accusing a man with the theft of a fountain pen after your other +charges?" + +"Answer one question," she urged earnestly. "Please. It is only a +small matter. Give me your word of honor that you will answer it +truthfully." + +He was very grave as he sat for a moment, head down, twirling his big +hat in slow fingers. Then he smiled again as he looked up. + +"Either truthfully or not at all," he promised her. "My word of honor." + +She was plainly excited as she set him her question, seeming at once +eager and afraid to have his response. + +"I saw you take Patten's fountain pen and a scrap of note-paper from +the table by your bed when you were hurt--the first time I called to +see how you were doing. I thought that perhaps there was something of +importance written on the paper, that, if nothing else, you wanted a +bit of Patten's handwriting to use in your proof that he was not the +man he pretended to be. You slipped both pen and paper under your +pillow. Tell me just this: Was that paper of any importance whatever, +of any interest even, to you?" + +"No," he said steadily, without hesitation. "It was not. I did not so +much as look at it." + +She leaned back in her chair with a long sigh, her eyes wide on his. +And while he marvelled at it, he saw that now her look was one of pure +pity. + +"Just what has that got to do with the robberies you mention?" + +"Everything!" she burst out. "Everything! Can't you see? Oh, my God!" + +She dropped her face into her hands and he saw her shoulders lift and +slump. Glancing aside swiftly, he saw the five golden disks on the +table, almost to be reached from where he sat. + +"No doubt," he said hastily, as her head was lifted again, "you think +that you would like to send me to jail?" + +"Jail, no! A thousand times no! But you must, you must let me send +you to a hospital!" + +He frowned at her while he gave over twirling his hat and grew very +still. + +"You think I am crazy?" he asked sharply. "That it?" + +"No. You are as sane as I am. I don't think that at all. But . . . +Oh, can't you understand?" + +"No, I can't. You accuse me of this and that, you give no reasons for +your wild suspicions, you end up by suggesting medical treatment. +What's the answer, Virginia Page?" + +"The answer, Roderick Norton, is a very simple one. But first I am +going to ask you another question or so. You sought to commit a theft +to-night, I saw you, so there is no use denying it to me, is there?" + +"Go ahead. What next?" + +"While you lay ill during a week or ten days you had time to think. +You remember having told me that you had had time to think about +everything in the world? It was at that time, wasn't it, that you came +to the decision which you mentioned to me that a man to commit crime +and play safe at the same time must keep in mind two essential matters: +First, the lone hand; second, not to kill?" + +"I thought it out then; yes. In fact, I suppose I told you so." + +"The crimes committed recently have been characterized by these two +essentials, haven't they? Nearly all of them?" + +He nodded, watching her keenly, holding back his answers for just a +second or two each time. + +"I believe so." + +"Did you ever have an impulse to steal before you were knocked +unconscious at the Casa Blanca?" + +"No." + +"And you have had that impulse almost all the time ever since? Answer +me, tell me the truth! I am right, am I not?" + +Now again he laughed softly at her. + +"Virginia Page, the medico, speaks," he returned lightly. "She has a +theory. A man may have such an accident, leaving such and such +pressure on the brain, with the result that he becomes a thief or +worse! Virginia . . ." + +"Theory! It is no theory. It is an established, undeniable, and +undenied fact! It has occurred time and again, physicians have +observed, have made cures! Can't you see now, Rod Norton? Won't you +see?" + +She was upon her feet, her hands clasped before her, her eyes shining, +her figure tense, her cheeks stained with the color of her excitement. + +"I don't care whether Patten is a physician or not," she ran on. "He +is a bungler. It is a sheer wonder he did not let you die. You told +me yourself that he attributed the second wound to your fall and that +you knew that Moraga had struck you a terrible blow with his +gun-barrel. Patten did not treat that wound; he cared for the lesser +injury like a fool and allowed the major one to take care of itself. +And the result . . . Oh, dear God! Think of what might have happened. +If any one but me had learned what I have learned to-night." + +He rose with her, stood still, regarding her with eyes like drills. +Then he shook his head. + +"You are wrong, Virginia, dead wrong," he told her with quiet emphasis. +"You have called me a thief? Well, perhaps I am. You have given your +explanation; let me give mine." + +He paused, shaping the matter in mind. His face was stern and very, +very grave. Presently, his lowered voice guarded against any chance +ears, he continued. + +"I lay on my bed a week, a long, utterly damnable week. I could do +nothing but think. So I thought, as I told you, of everything. Most +of all I thought of you, Virginia Page. Shall I tell you why? No; +we'll let that go until we understand each other. I thought of myself, +of my life, of my eternal striving with Jim Galloway. Some day I +should get Galloway or he would get me. In either case, what good? +Was not Galloway a wiser man than I? He took what he wanted; I merely +wasted my time chasing after such bigger men as he. If he desired a +thousand dollars or five, ten thousand, he went out for it like a man +and took it. Why shouldn't he? Oh, I tell you I had the time to dwell +upon the little meaningless words of honesty and dishonesty, honor and +dishonor, and all of their progeny and forebears! They are empty; +empty, I tell you, Virginia! When I stood on my feet again I was a +free man. I knew it then, I know it now. Free, I tell you. Free, +most of all from shackles of empty ideas. What I wanted I would take." + +She looked at him helplessly, his dominant vigor for the moment seeming +a thing not to be restricted or tamed. + +"What you have done," she told him gently, "is to find argument to +bolster up impulse. That is generally very easy to do, isn't it? If +one wants a thing, it is not hard convincing himself that it is right +that he should have it." + +"At least I have decided sanely what I wanted, there is no call for +hospitals." + +"You sustained a fracture of the skull. That fracture had improper +treatment. It is a wonder you did not die. The wound healed and there +remains a pressure of a bit of bone upon the brain. Until that +pressure is removed by an operation you are doomed to be a criminal. A +kleptomaniac," she said steadily, "if not much worse." + +"I believe that you mean what you say. You are just mistaken, that is +all. I'd know if there were anything physically wrong." + +She came closer, laid her hand upon his arm, and lifted her eyes +pleadingly to his. + +"I have had the best of medical training," she said slowly. "I have +specialized in brain disorders, interested in that branch of my work +until I decided to bring Elmer out here. I know what I am saying. +Will you at least promise to do as I ask? Have a thorough examination +by a specialist? And have the operation if he advises it?" + +"Such an operation is a serious matter?" + +"Yes. It must be. But think . . ." + +"A man might die under the hands of the surgeon?" + +"Yes. There is always the danger, there is always the chance of death +resulting from any but the most minor of operations. But you are not +the man to be afraid, Rod Norton. I know that." + +"You say that you have specialized In this sort of thing." He was +probing for her thoughts with keen, narrowed eyes. "Would you be +willing to perform that operation for me?" + +She shrank back suddenly, her hand dropping from his arm. + +"No," she cried. "No, no." + +He smiled triumphantly. + +"Then we'll let it go for a while. If you wouldn't care to do it, +afraid that I might die under your knife, I guess I don't want it done +at all. I am quite content with things as they are. I see the way to +gain the ends I desire; I am gaining them; if there is a brain +pressure, well, I'm quite ready to thank God and Moraga for it! Which +you may take as absolutely final, Dr. Page!" + +She was beaten then and she knew it. She went back to her chair in a +sort of bewildered despair, her hands dropping idly to her lap. + +"It would be just as well," he said presently, "if I left before any +one came in. Before I go, do you mind telling me what you mean to do? +Shall you denounce me? Are you going to spread your suspicions abroad?" + +"What do you leave me to do? Have I the right to sit still and say +nothing? You would go on as you have begun; you would commit fresh +crimes. In spite of your 'two essentials' you would be led to kill a +man sooner or later. Or you yourself would be killed. Have I the +right to allow all of that to continue?" + +"Then you have decided to accuse me?" + +"It is so hard to decide anything. You make it so hard; can't you see +that you do? . . . But, after all, my part is clear; if you will +consent to an examination and an operation I will say nothing of what +has happened. If you won't do that . . . you will drive me to tell +what I know." + +"Our trails divide to-night, then? I had hoped for better than that, +Virginia." + +Though her cheeks flushed, she held her eyes steadily upon his. + +"I, too, had hoped for better than that," she confessed, finding this +no time for faltering. "I should continue to hope if you would just do +your part." + +He came a swift step toward her. Then he stopped suddenly, his hands +falling to his sides. But the light in his eyes did not diminish. + +"Denounce me to-morrow, if you wish," he said slowly, indifferently it +seemed to her. "Accept my promise that I will attempt no theft of more +gold to-night; give me this one last chance to talk with you. Before +some one comes, come out with me. You are not afraid of me; you admit +that I am sane. Then let us ride together. And let me talk with you +freely. Will you, Virginia? Will you do that one favor for me?" + +The high desire was upon her to accede to his request; her calmer +judgment forbade it. But to-night was to-night; to-morrow would be +to-morrow. And, after all, in her talk with him, she might save the +man to himself and to his truer manhood. + +But even that hope was less than her desire when she answered him. + +"Have my horse saddled," she said. "I'll let Struve think I have to +make a call at Las Estrellas. I'll be out in five minutes." + +He thanked her with his eyes, opened the hall door, and went out. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DEADLOCK + +Virginia, having changed swiftly to her riding-togs, took up her little +black emergency kit, which would lend an air of business urgency to her +nocturnal ride with Norton, and stepped out into the hall. + +"There's a call for you from Las Estrellas," said Struve, appearing +from the front, whence his voice had come to her mingled with the +excited tones of a Mexican. "Tony Garcia has been hurt; pretty badly, +I expect. His brother says that Tony got his hand caught in some kind +of machinery he was fooling with late this afternoon and crushed so +that it's all but torn off." + +Into the light cast by the hotel porch-lamp Norton, leading Persis, +rode around the corner of the building. + +"I was just going out," said Virginia. "But I'll go on this case +first. Mr. Norton is riding with me. Please ask him to wait while I +get my other bag." + +In her room again, the lamp lighted on her table, she stood a moment +frowning thoughtfully into vacancy. Then with a quick shake of the +head she snatched up the two other bags which might be needed in +treating Tony's hurt and again hastened out. Norton bending from his +saddle took them from her. As Struve relinquished into her gantletted +hands the reins of Persis's bridle she swung lightly up to the mare's +back. + +"The poor fellow must be suffering all kinds of torture," she said as +Norton reined in with her. "Let's hurry." + +He offered no answer as they clattered out of San Juan and turned out +across the level lands toward Las Estrellas. So, as upon another night +when speeding upon a similar errand, they rode for a long time in +silence. Again they two alone were pushing out into the dark and the +vast silence that was broken only by the soft thudding of their own +horses' hoofs and the creak of saddle leather and jingle of spur and +bit chains. + +"You wanted to talk with me?" suggested the girl after fifteen minutes +of wordless restraint between them. + +"Yes," he answered. "But not now. That is, if you will give me a +further chance after you have done what you can for poor old Tony. You +will hardly need to stay at Las Estrellas all night, I imagine. When +we leave you can listen to me. Do you mind?" + +"No," she said slowly. "I don't mind. I'd rather it was then. You +and I have a good bit to think about before we do any talking. Haven't +we?" + +They fell silent again. The soft beauty of the night over the southern +desert lands . . . and there is no other earthly beauty like it . . . +touched the girl's soul now as it had never done before; perhaps, +similarly, it disturbed shadows in the man's. She was distressed by +the position in which she found herself, and the night's infinite quiet +and utter peace was grateful to her. As she left the hotel her +thoughts were in chaos; she was caught in a fearsome labyrinth whence +there appeared no escape. Now, though no way out suggested itself, +still the stars were shining. + +At last the twinkling lights of Las Estrellas, seeming at first fallen +stars caught in the mesquite branches, swam into view. Plainly Tony's +accident had stimulated much local interest; among the few straggling +houses men came and went, while a knot of women, children, and +countless mongrel dogs had congregated just outside of the hut where +the injured man lay. A brush fire in the street crackled right +merrily, its sparks dancing skyward. + +"You promise me," said Norton as they drew their horses down to a trot, +"not to say anything until we can have had time to talk?" + +"I promise," she said wearily. + +She entered the sufferer's room first, Norton delaying to tie the +horses and lift down the instrument cases from the saddle-strings. She +stopped abruptly just beyond the threshold; the smell of chloroform was +heavy upon the air, Tony lay whitefaced upon a table, Caleb Patten with +coat off and sleeves rolled up was bending over him. + +"Oh, senorita!" cried a woman, hurrying forward, her hands twisting +nervously in her apron. And a torrential outpouring in Spanish greeted +the mystified Virginia. + +"I thought that I was wanted here," she said, looking about her at the +four or five grave faces. "Tony's brother came for me." + +One of the men shambled forward to explain. "Tony want you," he said +quickly. "Tony ver' bad hurt. Dr. Patten come in Las Estrellas by +accident, he say got to cut off the arm, can't wait too long or Tony +die. He just beginnin' now." + +The woman, who, it appeared was Tony's wife and the mother of two of +the ragged children out by the fire, joined her voice eagerly to the +man's. He translated. + +"Eloisa say she thank God you come; Tony want you, she want you. +Patten charge one hundred dollar an'. . . ." He shrugged eloquently. +"She say you do for Tony; you do better than Patten." + +Virginia's eyes flashed upon Patten. He came a step toward her, his +attitude half belligerent. + +"The man has to be operated upon immediately," he said sharply. "He +was hurt in the afternoon out on the end of the ranch; has been all day +getting in; fainted half a dozen times, I guess. The arm has to come +off at the elbow." + +"Thank you," returned Virginia quietly, going to the table. "I'll take +the case now, Dr. Patten." + +"You?" Patten laughed, his eyes jeering. "You operate? Do you think +that they want you to cut a skein of silk with a pair of scissors? Cut +off a man's arm . . . how far would you go before you fainted?" + +"That'll be about all, Patten," came Norton's voice sternly from the +door. "This is Dr. Page's case. Clear out." + +"Thank you, Mr. Norton," said Virginia quickly. She was already making +an examination of the blood covered arm and hand, and did not look +around. "And please clear the room, will you? Let Tony's wife stay, +that is all. Eloisa." + +The woman came forward, her eyes wide and frightened. Virginia smiled +at her reassuringly. + +"_No muy malo_," she said in the few Spanish words which she could +summon for the occasion from those she had picked up from the desert +people. "_Muy bueno manana_. And now get me some warm water . . . +_agua caliente_. Mr. Norton, if you will open my instrument +case . . . no; the other one. And then stand by to help with the +anaesthetic if Patten hasn't already given him enough to keep him +asleep all night!" + +She gave her directions concisely and was obeyed. Norton put the last +of the undesired onlookers out of the door, closed it after them, found +another lamp and some candles, did all that he could think of to help +and all that was asked of him. Eloisa, having brought the water, +withdrew to a corner and kept her fascinated eyes upon Virginia's face +and stubbornly away from her husband's. + +Virginia, when she had completed a very thorough examination, turned +toward Norton, her eyes blazing. + +"Patten has no more right to an M.D. after his name than you have," she +cried angrily. "Not so much, for he hasn't even any brains! Cut the +man's arm off! Why, there is only a simple fracture above the wrist +which won't cause a bit of trouble. The hand is another matter; but +even it isn't half as badly mangled as it looks. . . . The second and +third fingers are terribly crushed; they've got to come off. We might +as well do it now, while he is already under the chloroform. . . . +Tell Eloisa just how matters stand and then send her out." + +Eloisa, already prepared for the greater operation, gasped her +gratitude for the lesser and allowed herself to be gently thrust from +the room. Then Norton came back to the table, his eyes wonderingly +upon Virginia. He knew that she was capable; he had read that fact the +first day when he had seen her hands. But it struck him as rather +unusual that a girl, any girl no matter what her training, should take +hold as she was doing. + +And as she selected her instruments, laid them out upon a bit of +sterilized gauze upon a chair, cleansed her hands and prepared to +operate he began to feel a sense of utter confidence in her. Rapidly +his own anger rose at the thought of the crime Patten would have +perpetrated. + + +Tony Garcia, when in due time his consciousness came back to him +bringing the attendant dizzy nausea in its wake, looked down at his +side curiously, wondering how it would be to go without an arm. And +when his Eloisa told him. . . . + +"We are going to sell our cow and the goats to-morrow!" vowed Tony +faintly. "And give her all the money!" + +"_Si, si_, Tony," wept the wife. + +Whereupon the small children, who were teaching the goats to pull a +wagon, set up a wail of grief and rebellion. + + +It struck both Virginia and Norton as a shade odd that Patten should be +still in Las Estrellas when they rode out of it long after midnight. +They saw him standing in the doorway of the one still lighted building +of the village as they galloped past. It was the Three Star saloon. +Patten's horse was tied in front of it. Since Patten neither drank nor +played at dice or cards here might have been matter to ponder on. But +in neither mind was there place now for any interest other than that +which again held them silent and constrained. + +Las Estrellas lost behind them, they drew their horses down into a +rocking trot, then to a slow walk. Virginia rode with her head up, her +eyes upon the field of stars. Her face, as Norton kept close to her +side, looked very white in the starlight. He would have given much to +have seen her eyes when a little later he began to talk. And she was +conscious of a kindred wish. + +"Look yonder," she said. "The late moon is coming up. There will be a +little more light then and. . . . And I want to look at you, Rod +Norton, while we thresh it out." + +The thin curved sliver of silver thrusting up over the edge of the +world in the east, ghostly and pale, added little to the throbbing +gleam of the stars; but the waiting for it had put Las Estrellas a mile +behind them, had set them alone together out in the heart of the +silences, had given them that last excuse to be had to set back an evil +moment. Virginia, with a sigh, brought her eyes down from the glitter +of the wide heavens and sought Norton's. + +"I am afraid," she said listlessly, "that there is no way out for us, +Rod Norton." + +"There is a way!" he began quickly + +"There is no way unless you do what I say. If you would only give me +your word to take the stage to-morrow, to go to a competent surgeon, to +submit to the operation. If you would only give me your word. . . ." + +"I give you my word," he said sharply, "that that is just the thing +which I will never do. Virginia, breathe deep, fill your lungs with +the wonder of the night; realize what it means to live; think what it +means to die! You say that I am not afraid of death; well, maybe not +if it comes in a guise I have grown up to be familiar with. But to lie +as I saw Tony Garcia lying just now, powerless, unconscious, without +will or knowledge of what was coming to me, and to let a man cut into +me . . . I'd rather die, I think, standing upon my two feet and +fighting it out with a gun! You would go on and tell me that the +chances would be highly in favor of my recovery; and yet you would +admit that the danger would be grave." + +"Then you are afraid, after all? That is it? That holds you back?" +She found it hard to believe that he was telling her his true emotion. + +"I am merely measuring the chances," he said steadily. "I am satisfied +with life as I find it; I do not believe that there is anything wrong +with me; I see at least the possibility of death and nothing to be +gained by submitting to an operation." + +"Then," she said again wearily, "there is no way out." + +"But there is! My way, not the one you have thought of. You have +stumbled upon a thing which you must forget; that is all. Give me the +free swing to finish Jim Galloway, to complete certain other +undertakings. Promise me that you will do this; in return I will +promise you not to . . . ." + +And here he hesitated. + +"Not to commit another theft?" She set the matter squarely before him. +"Can you promise that, Rod Norton? Could you keep the promise were it +once made?" + +"Yes." + +"No! You could not. You don't understand or you won't understand. +You would obey the impulse which would come just as certainly as the +sun will rise and set again. So I can neither accept your +promise . . . nor give you mine." + +"You will tell what you have guessed?" + +"Rather what I know! Even if you were my own brother. . . ." + +"Or your lover?" he demanded, a challenge in his voice. + +"Or my lover. For his sake if not for the sake of others." + +For a little while he made no answer. Again there was absolute silence +between him, a troubled silence filled with pain. Then suddenly he +leaned close to her, threw out his hand for Persis's rein, jerked both +horses back to a fretful standstill. + +"Can't you see what you force me to do?" he demanded half angrily. "Do +you picture what your denunciation would do for me? Do you think that +I can let you make it?" + +His face was so near hers that she could see it clearly in the pallid +light. He could see hers and that it was lifted fearlessly. + +"How will you stop me?" she asked quietly. + +"I will finish Jim Galloway out of hand," he told her savagely. "It +will no longer be the representative of the law against the lawbreaker; +it will just be Norton and Galloway, both men! I will accomplish the +one other matter I have planned. Both will require not over three or +four days. During that time . . . I tell you, Virginia, I have grown +into a free man, a man who does what he wants to do, who takes what he +wants to take, who is not bound by flimsy shackles of other men's +codes. During those three or four days I shall see that you do no +talking!" + +Once more, her voice quickened, she asked: + +"How will you stop me?" + +"We have come to a deadlock; argument does no good. Either I must +yield to you or you to me. There is too much at stake to allow of a +man being squeamish. I don't care much for the job, but by high Heaven +I am of no mind to watch life run by through the bars of a +penitentiary. After all action becomes simplified when a crisis comes; +doesn't it? There is just one answer, just one way out. You will come +with me, now. I will put you where you will have no opportunity to do +any talking for the few days in which I shall finish what I have to +do." His hand on Persis's rein drew the two horses still closer +together. "Give me your promise, Virginia; or come with me!" + +Her quick spurt of anger rose, flared, and dwindled away like a little +flame extinguished by a splash of rain; the tears were stinging her +eyes almost before the last word. For she felt that here was no +Roderick Norton speaking, but rather a bit of bone pressing upon the +delicate machinery which is a man's brain. + +"Where would you take me?" she asked faintly. + +"To the King's Palace," he answered bitterly. "Where we had one +perfect, happy day, Virginia; where, I had hoped, we would have other +perfect days. Oh, girl, can't you see," and his voice went thrilling +through her, "can't you see what I have hoped, what I have +dreamed. . . ." + +"You might still hope," she told him steadily. "You might still dream." + +"I will!" His eyes shone at her, his erect form outlined against the +black of the earth and the gleam of the stars was eloquent of mastery. +"There will come a time when you will see life as I see it. . . . And +now, for the last time, will you give me your promise, Virginia? It is +forced upon you; you will be blameless in giving it. Will you do so?" + +She only shook her head, her lips trembling, not trusting her +voice. . . . And then, in a sort of daze, she knew that they had +turned off to the left, that no longer was San Juan ahead of them, that +they were riding toward the gloomy bulwark of the mountains. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +FLUFF AND BLACK BILL + +Fluff and Black Bill were quarrelling. + +Elmer, while Norton and Virginia were on their way from San Juan to Las +Estrellas, had dropped in at the hotel to see his sister. He found +upon her office table the card which she always left for him; this +merely informed him that she was "out on a case at Las Estrellas." +Elmer had come for her purposing to suggest a call upon the Engles. +For not yet had he summoned the hardihood to present himself alone at +Florrie's home. Now, disgruntled, seeing plainly that Virginia would +never get back in time, he went out on the veranda and took solace from +the pipe to which he had grown fairly accustomed. To him came the girl +of whom he was thinking. "Hello, Fluff," he said from the shadows. + +"Hello, Black Bill," she greeted him. "Where's Virgie?" + +"Gone," he informed her, waving his pipe. "On a case to Las Estrellas. +I'm waiting for her. Did you want to see her?" + +Florrie, coming down the veranda to him, giggled. + +"No," she told him flippantly. "I'm looking for the Emperor of China. +I never was so lonesome. . . ." + +"So'm I," said Elmer. He pushed a chair forward with his foot. "Sit +down and we'll wait for her. And I'll go in and bring out a couple of +bottles of ginger ale or something." + +"Will she be back real soon?" asked Florrie pretending to hesitate. + +"Sure," he assured her positively. + +"All right then." Florrie with a great rustling of skirts sat down. +"But you must be nice to me, Black Bill." + +"It's always you who starts it," he muttered at her. "I'd be friends +if you would. What's the good of spatting like two kids, anyway?" + +"We're really not kids any longer, are we?" she agreed demurely. "I +feel terribly grown up sometimes, don't you?" + +From which point they got along swimmingly for perhaps five minutes +longer than it had ever been possible for them to talk together without +"starting something." Elmer, very emphatic in his own mind concerning +his matured status, yearned for her to understand it as he did. With +such purpose clearly before him . . . and before her, too, for that +matter, since Miss Florrie had a keen little comprehension of her +own . . . he spoke largely of himself and his blossoming plans. He was +a vaquero, to begin with; he had ridden fifty miles yesterday on range +business; he was making money; he was putting part of that money away +in Mr. Engle's bank. There was a little ranch on the rim of Engle's +big holding which belonged to an old half-breed; Elmer meant to acquire +it himself one of these days. And before so very long, too. Mr. Engle +had been approached and was looking into it, might be persuaded to +advance the couple of thousand dollars for the property, taking as +security a mortgage until Elmer could have squared for it. Then Black +Bill would begin stocking his place, a cow now, a horse, another cow, +and so on. + +He had launched himself valiantly into his tale. But at a certain +point he began to swallow and catch at his words and smoke fast between +sentences. He had located a dandy spot for a house . . . the jolliest +little spring of cold water you ever saw . . . a knoll with big trees +upon it. + +"We'll make up a party with Virginia and Norton some day and ride out +there," he said abruptly. "I . . . I'd like to have you see it, Fluff." + +She was tremulously delighted. She sensed the nearest thing to an +out-and-out proposal which had ever sung in her ears. She leaned +forward eagerly, her hands clasped to keep them from trembling. She +was sixteen, he eighteen . . . and she had his assurance of a moment +ago that they were no longer just "kids." And then and there their +so-long-delayed quarrel began. Just at the wrong time, after the +time-honored fashion of quarrels. He was ready to twine the vine about +the veranda posts of the house on the knoll where the spring and the +big trees were, she was ready to plant the fig-tree. Then she had +glimpsed something just too funny for anything in the idea of Elmer +raising pigs . . . for he had gone on to that, sagely anticipating a +high market another season . . . and she laughed at him and all +unintentionally wounded his feelings. In a flash he was Black Bill +again and on his mettle, ready with the quick retort stung from him; +and she, parrying his thrust, was at once Fluff, the mercuric. The +spat was on . . . they would call it a spat to-morrow if to-morrow were +kind to them . . . and Elmer's ranch and house and cow, horse and pigs +were laughed to scorn. + +Florrie departed leaving her cruellest laughter to ring in his ears. +This might have been a repetition of any one of a dozen episodes +familiar to them both, but never, perhaps, had Elmer's ears burned so +or Florrie's heart so disturbed her with its beating. For, she thought +regretfully as she hurried out into the street, they had been getting +along so nicely. . . . + +She had no business out alone at this time of night and she knew it. +So she hurried on, anxious to get home before her father, who was +returning late from a visit to one of his ranches. Abreast of the Casa +Blanca she slowed up, looking in curiously. Then, as again she was +hastening on, she heard Jim Galloway's deep voice in a quiet "Good +evening, Miss Florence." + +"Good evening!" gasped Florrie aloud. And "Oh!" said Florrie under her +breath. For Galloway's figure had separated itself from the shadows at +the side of his open door and had come out into the street, while +Galloway was saying in a matter-of-fact way: "I'll see you home." + +She wanted to run and could not. She hung a moment balancing upon a +high heel in indecision. Galloway stepped forward swiftly, coming to +her side. "Oh, dear," the inner Florrie was saying. A glance over her +shoulder showed her Black Bill standing out in front of Struve's hotel. +Well, there were compensations. + +She started to hurry on, and had Jim Galloway been less sure of +himself, troubled with the diffidence of youth as was Elmer, he must +have either given over his purpose or else fairly run to keep up with +her. But being Jim Galloway, he laid a gentle but none the less +restraining hand upon her arm. + +"Please," he said quietly. "I want to talk with you. May I?" + +Florrie's arm burned where he had touched her. She was all in a +flutter, half frightened and the other half flattered. A shade more +leisurely they walked on toward the cottonwoods. Here, in the shadows, +Galloway stopped and Florrie, although beginning to tremble, stopped +with him. + +"Men have given me a black name here," he was saying as he faced her. +"They've made me somewhat worse than I am. I feel that I have few +friends, certainly very few of my own class. I like to think of you as +a friend. May I?" + +It was distinctly pleasant to have a big man like Galloway, a man whom +for good or for bad the whole State knew, pleading with her. It gave a +new sort of assurance to her theory that she was "grown up"; it added +to her importance in her own eyes. + +"Why, yes," said Florrie. + +"I am going away," he continued gravely. "For just how long I don't +know. A week, perhaps a month, maybe longer. It is a business matter +of considerable importance, Florence. Nor is it entirely without +danger. It will take me down below the border, and an American in +Mexico right now takes his life entirely into his own hands. You know +that, don't you?" + +"Then why do you go?" + +Galloway smiled down at her. + +"If I held back every time a danger-signal was thrown out," he said +lightly, "I wouldn't travel very far. Oh, I'll come back all right; a +man may go through fire itself and return if he has the incentive which +I have." His tone altered subtly. Florrie started. + +"But before I go," went on Galloway, "I am going to tell you something +which I think you know already. You do, don't you, Florence?" + +She would not have been Florrie at all, but some very different, +unromantic, and unimaginative creature, had she failed of +comprehension. Jim Galloway was actually making love to her! + +"What do you mean, Mr. Galloway?" she managed to stammer. + +"I mean that what I am telling you is for your ears alone. I am +placing a confidence in you, the greatest confidence a man can place in +a girl. Or in a woman, Florence. I am trusting that what I say will +remain just between you and me for the present. . . . When I come back +I will be no longer just Jim Galloway of the Casa Blanca, but Galloway +of one of the biggest grants in Mexico, with mile after mile of fertile +lands, with a small army of servants, vaqueros, and retainers, a sort +of ruler of my own State! It sounds like a fairy-tale, Florence, but +it is the sober truth made possible by conditions below the border. My +estates will run down to the blue water of the Gulf; I shall have my +own fleet of ocean-going yachts; there is a port upon my own land. +There will be a home overlooking the sea like a king's palace. Will +you think of all that while I am gone? Will you think of me a little, +too? Will you remember that my little kingdom is crying out for its +queen? . . . No; I am not asking you to answer me now. I am just +asking that you hold this as our secret until I come back. Until I +come back for you! . . . I shall stand here until you reach your +home," he broke off suddenly. "Good night, my dear." + +"Good night," said Florence faintly, a little dazed by all that he had +said to her. Then, running through the shadows to her home, she was +thinking of the boy who had wished to propose to her and of the man who +had done so; of Elmer's little home upon the knoll surrounded by a cow, +a horse, and some pigs . . . and of a big house like a palace looking +out to sea across the swaying masts of white-sailed, sea-going yachts! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A CRISIS + +Like Norton, Virginia found life simplifying itself in a crisis. Upon +three hundred and sixty days or more of the average year each +individual has before him scores of avenues open to his thoughts or to +his act; he may turn wheresoever he will. But in the supreme moments +of his life, with brief time for hesitation granted him, he may be +forced to do one of two things: he must leap back or plunge forward to +escape the destiny rushing down upon him like a speeding engine +threatening him who has come to stand upon the crossing. Now Virginia +saw clearly that she must submit to Norton's mastery and remain silent +in the King's Palace or she must seek to escape and tell what she knew +or . . . Was there a remaining alternative? If so it must present +itself as clearly as the others. Action was stripped down to +essentials, bared to its component elements. True vision must +necessarily result, since no side issues cluttered the view. + +She sat upon a saddle-blanket upon the rock floor of the main chamber +of the series of ancient dwelling-rooms, staring at the fire which +Norton had builded against a wall where it might not be seen from +without. The horses were in the meadow down by the stream; she and +Norton had tethered them among the trees where they were fairly free +from the chance of being seen. Norton was coming up, mounting the +deep-worn steps in the cliff side. He had gone for water; he had not +been out of sight nor away five minutes. And yet when she looked up to +see him coming through the irregular doorway she had decided. + +She saw in him both the man and the gentleman. Her anger had died down +long ago, smothered in the ashes of her distress; now she summoned to +the fore all that she might in extenuation of what he did. She did not +blame him for the crimes which she knew he had committed because she +was so confident that the chief crime of all had been the act resulting +from Caleb Patten's abysmal ignorance. Nor now could she blame Norton +that, embarked upon this flood of his life, he saw himself forced to +make her his prisoner for a few hours. It was a man's birthright to +protect himself, to guard his freedom. And her heart gave him high +praise that toward her he acted with all deference, that with things as +they were, while he was man enough to hold her here, he was too much +the gentleman to make love to her. Would she have resisted, would she +have opposed calm argument against a hot avowal? She did not know. + +"Virginia," he said gravely as he slumped down upon the far side of the +fire, "I feel the brute. But . . ." + +Yes, she had decided, fully decided, whether if be for better or for +worse. Now she surprised him with one of her quick, bright, friendly +smiles while she interrupted: + +"Let us make the best of a bad situation," she said swiftly. "I am not +unhappy right now; I have no wish to run half-way to meet any +unhappiness which may be coming our way. You are not the brute toward +me; what you do, I do not so much as censure you for. I am not going +to quarrel with you; were I in your boots I imagine I'd do just exactly +as you are doing. I hope I'd be as nice about it, too. And now, +before we drop the subject for good and all, let me say this: no matter +what I do, should it even be the betraying you into the hands of your +enemies, to put it quite tragically, I want you to know that I wish you +well and that is why I do it. Can you understand me?" + +"Yes," he said slowly. "It's sweet of you, Virginia. If you got my +gun and shot my head off, I don't know who should blame you. I +shouldn't!" he concluded with a forced attempt to match her smile. + +"Then we understand each other? As long as each does the best he can +see his way to do, the other finds no fault?" And when he nodded she +rose quickly and came to him, putting out her hand as he rose. "Rod +Norton," she said simply, and her eyes shone steady and clear into his, +"I wish you the best there is. I think we should both pray a little to +God to help us to-night. . . . And now, if you will run up to your +Treasure Chamber and bring down the coffee, I'll promise to be here +when you get back. And to make you a good hot drink; I feel the need +of it and so do you." + +He went out without an answer, his face grave and troubled again. As +her eyes followed him they were no longer gay but wistful, and then +filled with a sadness which she had not shown to him, and then suddenly +wet. But before he had gone half a dozen steps from the door she +dashed a hasty hand across her eyes and went swiftly to the smallest of +the three black leather cases he had brought up here after her. + +"This is the one way out, Rod Norton!" she whispered. "The one way out +if God is with us." + +Her quick fingers sought and found the tiny phial with its small white +tablets . . . labelled _Hyoscine_ . . . and secreted it in her bosom. +She was laying fresh twigs upon the blaze when he came back with the +coffee-pot, can of coffee, and a tin cup. She greeted him with another +quick smile. He saw that her cheeks were flushed rosily, that there +was subdued excitement in her eyes. And yet matters just as they were +would sufficiently explain these phenomena without causing him to quest +farther. He thought merely that he had never seen her so delightfully +pretty. + +"Virginia Page," he told her as his own eyes grew bright with the new +light leaping up into them, "some day . . ." + +"Sh!" she commanded, her color deepened. "Let us wait until that day +comes. Now you just obey orders; lie there and smoke while I make the +coffee." + +He wanted to wait on her, but when she insisted he withdrew to the wall +a few feet away, sat down, filled his pipe, and watched her. And while +he filled his eyes with her he marvelled afresh. For it seemed to him +that her mood was one of unqualified happiness. She did all of the +talking, her words came in a ceaseless bright flow, she laughed readily +and often, her eyes were dancing, the warm color stood high in her +cheeks. That her heart was beating like mad, that the intoxication of +an intent he could not read had swept into her brain, that she was +vastly more in the mood to weep than to smile . . . all of this lay +hidden to him behind her woman's wit. For, having decided, there would +be no going back. + +With the coffee boiling in the old black and spoutless pot from +Norton's cache in the Treasure Chamber, she poured what was left of the +ground coffee from its tin to the flat surface of a bit of stone. This +tin was to serve Norton as his cup. + +"It's to be our night-cap," she laughed at him as she put the +improvised cup by the other. "I refuse to sit up any later; a +saddle-blanket for bunk, and then to sleep. That is my room yonder, +isn't it?" She nodded toward the black entrance to the second of the +chambers of the King's Palace. "And you will sleep here? Well, while +the coffee cools, I'm going to make my bed." She carried her blanket +on past him, was gone into the yawning darkness, was back in a moment. + +"My bed's ready," she told him gayly. "This kind of housekeeping just +suits me! Now for the coffee. . . . Rod Norton, will you do as you +are told or not? You are to sit still and let me wait on you; who's +hostess here, I'd like to know?" + +While out of his sight she had slipped one of the hyoscine tablets into +her palm; now, as she poured the ink-black beverage, she let it drop +into the tin can which she presented to Norton. + +"Don't say it doesn't taste right!" she admonished him in a voice in +which at last he detected the nervous note. + +He stood up, holding his coffee-can in his hand, meeting her strained +levity with a deep gravity. + +"Virginia," he began. + +"It's too late to cut in on my monologue!" she cried gayly. "Pledge me +in the drink I have made for you, Mr. Norton! Just say: 'Virginia, +here's looking at you!' Or: 'I wish you well in all that you +undertake.' Or: 'For all that you have said to me, for whatever you +may say or do in the future, I forgive you!' That's all." + +"Virginia," he said gently, "I love you, my dear." + +She laughed nervously. + +"That's the nice way to say everything all at once!" He saw that her +hand shook, that a little of her coffee spilled, and that again she +grew steady. "Now our night-cap and good night!" + +She drank hurriedly. Thereafter she yawned and made her little +pretense of increased drowsiness. + +"It's been such a long day," she said. "You'll forgive me if I tumble +right straight into sleepy-land?" + +Again they said good night and she left him, going down among the eerie +dancing shadows to her own quarter, drawing his moody eyes after her. +When she had gone, he threw down his own blanket across the main +entrance of the King's Palace, filled his pipe again, and sat staring +out into the night. + +The fire cast up its red flare spasmodically, licked at the last of the +dead branches which, rolling apart, burned out upon the rock floor. +The darkness once more blotted out all detail saving the few +smouldering coals, the knobs of stone in the small flickering circles +of light, the quiet form of the man silhouetted against the lesser dark +of the night without. Virginia, rigid and motionless at the spot to +which she had stolen noiselessly, watched him breathlessly. + +For only a little he sat smoking. Then, as though he experienced +something of that weariness of which she had made pretense, he laid his +pipe aside and stretched out upon his blanket, leaning upon an elbow. +She heard him sigh, vaguely made out when he let his head slip down +upon an arm, saw that he had grown still, and was lying stretched out +across the main threshold. + +Now she must stand motionless while every fibre of her being demanded +action; now she must curb impetuosity to the call of caution. As the +seconds passed, all but insupportable in their tedious slowness, she +stood rigid and tense, waiting. But soon she knew that the drug had +had its will with him, that he was steeped in deep sleep, that no +longer must she wait, that now at length she might act. + +Carrying her saddle-blanket she came to him and stood quietly looking +down into his upturned face. At last she could let the tears burst +into her eyes unchecked, now she could suddenly go down on her knees +beside him, for an instant laying her cheek lightly against his in the +first caress. Would it be the last? He stirred a little and sighed +again. She drew back, still upon her knees again breathlessly rigid. +But his stupor clung heavily to him, and she knew that it would hold +him thus for hours. + +A score of burning questions clamoring in her mind she disposed of +briefly, since time was of the essence. + +"If I let you have your way, Rod Norton," she whispered, "you will go +on from crime to tragedy. If I hand you over to the law, I will be +betraying you for no end; for your type of man finds the way to break +jail and so force his own hand to further violence. There is the one +way out. . . . And God help me to succeed. God forgive me if I fail!" + +She stole by him and stepped upon the outer ledge. She was leaving him +helpless . . . the thought presented itself that she would have another +thing to answer for if one of the many men with such cause to hate him +should come upon him thus. Well, that was but one of the more remote +chances she must take. There was scant enough likelihood that any one +should come here before she could race into Las Estrellas and back. + +Then it was that she saw Patten. She did not know at first that it was +Patten, but just that within a few feet of her upon the ledge which she +must travel to the steps a man was standing, his body jerking back, +pressed against the rocks as he saw her. She drew back swiftly, her +blood in riotous tumult. + +But now, above aught else, the one thought in her mind was that there +was no time for loitering, that the dawn would come all too soon, that +there must be no delay. She stooped quickly and drew from its holster +Norton's heavy revolver. Her saddle-blanket over her left arm, the gun +gripped in her right hand, she was once more upon the ledge, moving +cautiously toward the figure seen a moment ago, gone now. + +That it was Patten she knew only when she had gone down the steps and +had overtaken him there. Retreating thus far, reassured when he had +made out that it was the girl alone, he waited for her. And as she +demanded nervously, "Who is it?" it was Patten's disagreeable laugh +which answered her. + +"So," he jeered at her, "this is the sort of thing you do when you are +supposed to be out on a case all night!" + +Patten here! Had God sent him . . . or the devil? His insult she +passed over. She was not thinking of herself right now, of convention, +of wagging tongues. She was just seeking to understand how this latest +incident might simplify or make more complex her problem. + +"I've had my suspicions all along," he laughed evilly. "To-night I +followed and made sure. And now, my fine little white dove, what have +you to say for yourself?" + +Might she use Patten? She was but now on her way to Las Estrellas for +aid. She would operate herself, she would take that upon herself, with +no more regard for ethics than for Patten's gossiping tongue. She +believed that she could do it successfully; at the least she must make +the attempt, though Norton died under her hand. The right? She had +the right! The right because she loved him, because he loved her, +because his whole future was at stake. But she must have assistance so +that she submit him to no needless danger, so that she give him every +chance under such circumstances as these. She would have brought a man +from Las Estrellas, she would have let him think what pleased him, just +saying that Norton had met with an accident, that an operation was +necessary. And now Patten was here. + +Could she use him? + +"You followed us?" she said, gaining time for her thoughts. + +"Yes; I followed you. I saw you come here. I watched while he +unsaddled, how he came up to you. What I could not see through the +rock walls I could guess! And now . . ." + +"Well, now?" she repeated after him, so that Patten must have marvelled +at her lack of emotion. "Now what?" + +"Now," he spat at her venomously, "I think I have found the fact to +shut Roderick Norton's blabbing mouth for him!" + +"I don't understand . . ." + +"You don't? You mean that he hasn't done any talking to you about me?" + +"Oh!" And now suddenly she did understand. "You mean how you are not +Caleb Patten at all but Charles? How you are no physician but liable +to prosecution for illegal practising?" + +Could she use him or could she not? That was what she was thinking, +over and over. + +"Where is he?" demanded Patten a little suspiciously. "What is he +doing? What are you doing out here alone?" + +"He is asleep," she told him. + +Patten laughed again. + +"Your little parties are growing commonplace then!" + +"Charles Patten," she cut in coolly, "I have stood enough of your +insult. Be still a moment and let me think." + +He stared at her but for a little; his own mind busy, was silent. +Could she make use of this blind instrument which fate had thrust into +her hand? She began to believe that she could. + +"Charles Patten," she went on, a new vigor in her tone, "Mr. Norton +knows enough concerning you to make you a deal of trouble. Just how +long a term in the State prison he can get for you I don't know. +But . . ." + +"Haven't I found the way to shut his mouth!" he said sharply. + +"I think not. Before your slanders could travel far we could have +found Father Jose and have been married. But let me finish. You have +practised here for upward of two years, haven't you? You have made +money, you have a ranch of your own. That is one thing to keep in +mind. The other is that more than one of your patients have died. I +believe, Charles Patten, that it would be a simple matter to have the +district attorney convict you of murder. That's the second thing to +remember." + +Patten shifted uneasily. Then she knew that it had been God who had +sent him. When he sought to bluster, she cut him short. + +"In the morning, as soon as there is light enough," she said, wondering +at her own calmness, "I am going to perform a capital operation upon +Mr. Norton. It will be without his knowledge and consent. If he lives +and you will give up your practice and retire to your ranch or what +business pleases you, I will guarantee that he does not prosecute you +for what has passed. If he dies . . ." + +"If he dies"--he snatched the words from her--"it will be murder!" + +". . . you would be free from prosecution," she continued, quite as +though he had made no interruption, "I rather imagine that I should +die, too. And, as you say, I would be liable for murder. He is asleep +now because I have drugged him. I shall chloroform him before he +wakes. I should have no defense in the law-courts. Yes, it would be +murder." + +He drew a step back from her as though from one suddenly gone mad. + +"What are you operating for?" he demanded. + +"For your blunder," she said simply. "And you are going to help me." + +"Am I?" he jeered. "Not by a damned sight! If you think that I am +going to let myself in for that sort of thing . . ." + +Until now he had not seen the gun in her hand. Her quick gesture +showed it to him. + +"Charles Patten," she told him emphatically, "I am risking Mr. Norton's +life; I am therefore risking my own. Understand what that means. +Understand just what you have got to win or lose by to-night's work. +Consider that I pledge you my word not to implicate you in what you do; +that if worse came to worse, you could claim and I would admit that you +were forced at the point of a gun to do as I told you. Oh, I can shoot +straight! And finally, I will shoot straight, as God watches me, +rather than let you go now and stop what I have undertaken! Think of +it well, Charles Patten!" + +Patten, being as weak of mind as he was pudgy of hand, having besides +that peculiar form of craft which is vouchsafed his type, furthermore +more or less of a coward, saw matters quite as Virginia wished him. +Together they awaited the coming of the dawn. The girl, realizing to +the uttermost what lay before her, forced herself to rest, lying still +under the stars, schooling herself to the steady-nerved action which +was to have its supreme test. + +Just before the dawn they had coffee and a bite to eat from Norton's +little pack. Close to the drugged man they builded a rude low table by +dragging the squared blocks of fallen stone from their place by the +wall. Upon this Virginia placed the saddle-blankets, neatly folded. +Already Patten was showing signs of nervousness. Looking into her face +he saw that it was white and drawn but very calm. Patten was asking +himself countless questions, many of them impossible of answer yet. +She was closing her mind to everything but the one supreme matter. + +He helped her give the chloroform when she told him that there was +sufficient light and that she was ready. He brought water, placed +instruments, stood by to do what she told him. His nervousness had +grown into fear; he started now and then, jerking about guiltily, as +though he foresaw an interruption. + +Together they got Norton's inert form upon the folded blankets. +Patten's hands shook a little; he asked for a sip of brandy from her +flask. She granted it, and while Patten drank she cut away the hair +from the unconscious man's scalp. Long ago her fingers had made their +examination, were assured that her diagnosis was correct. Her hands +were as untrembling as the steel of her knife. She made the first +incision, drawing back the flap of skin and flesh, revealing the bone +of the skull. . . . + +For forty-five minutes she worked, her hands swift, sure, capable, +unerring. It was done. She was right. The under-table of the skull +had been fractured; there was the bone pressure upon the underlying +area of brain-tissue. She had removed the pressure and with it any +true pathological cause of the theft impulse. + +She drew a bandage about the sleeping eyes. She made Patten bring his +own saddle-blanket; it was fixed across the entrance of the anteroom of +the King's Palace, darkening it. Then she went to the ledge just +outside and stood there, staring with wide eyes across the little +meadow with its flowers and birds and water, down the slope of the +mountain, to the miles of desert. She had now but to await the +awakening. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE BEGINNING OF THE END + +When Norton stirred and would have opened his eyes but for the bandage +drawn over them, she was at his side. She had been kneeling there for +a long time, waiting. Her hand was on his where it had crept softly +from his wrist. + +"You must lie very still," she commanded gently. "I am with you and +everything is all right. There was . . . an accident. No, don't try +to move the cloth; please, Roderick." She pushed his hand back down to +his side. "We are in the King's Palace, just you and I, and everything +is all right." + +He was feverish, and she soothed him; sick, and she mothered him and +nursed him; troubled, uncertain, perplexed, and she comforted him. At +the first she went no further than saying that there had been an +accident; that already she had sent to San Juan for all that was needed +to make him comfortable; that Mr. Engle had been instructed to speed a +man to the railroad for further necessities; that now for his own sake, +for her sake, he must just lie very still . . . try not even to think. + +He was listless, seeming without volition, quite willing to surrender +himself into her keeping. What dazed thoughts were his upon this first +awakening were lost, forgotten in the brief doze into which she +succeeded in luring him. When again he stirred and woke she was still +at his side, kneeling upon the hard rock floor beside him. . . . She +had had Patten help her to lift him down from the table before she +despatched Patten with the note for John Engle. Again she pleaded with +him to lie still and just trust to her. + +He was very still. She knew that he was trying to piece together his +fragmentary thoughts and impressions, seeking to bridge over from last +night to to-day. So she talked softly with him, soothing him alike +with the tenderness of her voice and the pressure and gentle stroke of +her hand upon his hand and arm. He had had an accident but was going +to be all right from now on. But he must not be moved for a little. +Therefore Engle would come soon, and perhaps Mrs. Engle with him. And +a wagon bringing a real bed and fresh clean sheets and all of those +articles which she had listed. It would not be very long now until +Engle came. + +But at last when she paused his hand shut down upon hers and he asked +quietly: + +"I didn't dream it all, did I, Virginia? It is hard to know just what +I did and what I dreamed I did. But it seems more than a dream. . . . +Was it I who robbed Kemble of the Quigley mines?" + +"Yes," she told him lightly, as though it were a matter of small +moment. "But you were not responsible for what you did." + +"And there were other robberies? I even tried to steal from you?" + +"Yes," she answered again. + +"And you wanted to have me submit to an operation? And I would not?" + +"Yes." + +"And then . . . then you . . . you did it?" + +So she explained, feeling that certainty would be less harmful to him +now than a continual struggle to penetrate the curtain of semidarkness +obscuring his memory. + +"I took it upon myself," she told him at the end. "I took the chance +that you might die; that it might be I who had killed you. Perhaps I +had no right to do it. But I have succeeded; I have drawn you back +from kleptomania to your own clear moral strength. You will get well, +Rod Norton; you will be an honest man. But I took it upon myself to +take the chances for you. Now . . . do you think that you can forgive +me?" + +He appeared to be pondering the matter. When his reply came it was +couched in the form of a question: + +"Would you have done it, Virginia . . . if you didn't love me a little +as I love you?" + +And her answer comforted him. He was sleeping when the Engles came. + + +Later came the big wagon, one of Engle's men driving, Ignacio Chavez +and two other Mexicans accompanying on horseback. Virginia had +forgotten nothing. Quick hands did her bidding now, altering the +anteroom of the King's Palace into a big airy bedroom. There was a +great rug upon the floor, a white-sheeted and counterpaned bed, fresh +pajamas, table, chair, alcohol-stove, glasses and cups and +water-pitchers. There were cloths for fresh bandages, wide palm-leaf +fans . . . there was even ice and the promise of further ice to come. +The sun was shut out by heavy curtains across the main entrance and the +broken-out holes in the easterly wall. + +"My dear," said Mrs. Engle, taking both of Virginia's hands into her +own, "I don't know just what has happened and I don't care to know +until you get good and ready to tell me about it. But I can see by +looking at you that you are at the end of your tether. I'm going to +take care of Roddy now while you sleep at least a couple of hours." + +She and Engle had asked themselves the question as soon as Virginia's +note came to them: "What in the world were she and Norton doing on the +mountainside at that time of night?" But they had no intention of +asking it of any one else. Rather John Engle hastened to answer it for +others. + +"_Muchachos_" he said to the men when he sent them back to San Juan, +"there was an accident last night. Senor Norton had a fall from his +horse, striking his head. My cousin, Miss Page, together with Senor +Norton and Senor Patten, was taking a short cut this way to make a call +at Pozo. Senor Patten and Miss Page succeeded in getting Senor Norton +here, where they had to operate upon him immediately. He is doing well +now, thanks to their prompt action; he will be well soon. You may tell +his friends." + +And then, seeing little that he could do here and much that he might +accomplish elsewhere, John Engle rode on his spurs back to San Juan to +lay down the law to Patten. + + +Throughout the days and nights which followed, Virginia and Mrs. Engle +nursed Norton back into a semblance of strength. One of them was +always at his side. When at last the bandage might be removed from the +blindfolded eyes Norton's questing glance found Virginia first of all. + +"Virginia," he said quietly, "thanks to you I can start in all over +now." + +She understood. So did Mrs. Engle. For Norton had explained to both +the banker and his wife, holding nothing back from them, telling them +frankly of crimes committed, of his attempted abduction of the girl who +in turn had "abducted him." He had restitutions to make without the +least unnecessary delay. He must square himself and he thanked God +that he could square himself, that his crimes had been bloodless, that +he had but to return the stolen moneys. And, to wipe his slate clean, +he stood ready to pay to the full for what he had done, to offer his +confession openly, to accept without a murmur whatever decree the court +might award him. + +Again John Engle did his bit. He went to the county-seat and saw the +district attorney, an upright man, but one who saw clearly. The lawyer +laid his work aside and came immediately with Engle to the King's +Palace. + +"Any court, having the full evidence," he said crisply, "would hold you +blameless. Give me the money you have taken; I shall see that it is +returned and that no questions are asked. And if you've got any +idiotic compulsion about open confession . . . Well, think of somebody +besides yourself for a change. Try thinking about the Wonder Girl a +little, it will be good for you." + +For he never called her anything but that, the Wonder Girl. When he +had heard everything, he came to her after his straightforward fashion +and gripped her hand until he hurt her. + +"I didn't know they made girls like you," he told her before she even +knew who he was. + +It was he who, summoning all of his forensic eloquence, finally quieted +Norton's disturbed mind. Norton in his weakened condition was all for +making a clean breast before the world, for acknowledging himself unfit +for his office, for resigning. But in the end when he was told curtly +that he owed vastly more to the county than to his stupid conscience, +that he had been chosen to get Jim Galloway, that that was his job, +that he could do all the resigning he wanted to afterward, and that +finally he was not to consider his own personal feelings until he had +thought of Virginia's, Norton gave over his regrets and merely waxed +impatient for the time when he could finish his work and go back to Las +Flores rancho. For it was understood that he would not go alone. + +"I'll free del Rio because I have to, not because I want to," said the +lawyer at the end. "Trusting to you to bring him in again later. He +is one of Galloway's crowd and I know it, despite his big bluffs. +Galloway is away right now, somewhere below the border. Just what he +is up to I don't know. I think del Rio does. When Galloway gets back +you keep your eye on the two of them." + +After the county attorney's departure Rod Norton rested more easily. +He was making restitution for all that he had done, he was getting well +and strong again, he had been given such proof as comes to few men of +the utter devotion of a woman. Through many a bright hour he and +Virginia, daring to look confidently ahead, talked of life as it might +be lived upon Las Flores when the lake was made, the lower lands +irrigated, the big home built. + +"And," she confessed to him at the last, her face hidden against his +breast, "I never want to see a surgeon's lancet again in all of my +life, Rod Norton!" + + +When at length the sheriff could bestride a horse he wondered +impatiently what it could be that kept Jim Galloway so long away. And +if he was never coming back. But he knew that high up among the +cliffs, hidden away in the ancient caves, Jim Galloway's rifles were +still lying. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE STRONG HAND OF GALLOWAY + +"Oh, you will all dance and shout together very soon," said Ignacio +wisely to his six bells in the old Mission garden. "You will see! +Captain and the Dancer and Lolita, the Little One, La Golondrina, and +Ignacio Chavez, all of you together until far out across the desert men +hear. For it is in the air that things will happen. And then, when it +is all done . . . Why then, amigos, who but me is going to build a +little roof over you that runs down both ways, to save you from the hot +sun and the rains? . . . Oh, one knows. It is in the air. You will +see!" + +For Jim Galloway had returned, a new Galloway, a Galloway who carried +himself up and down the street with bright, victorious eyes, and the +stride of full confidence, who, at least in the eyes of Ignacio Chavez, +was like a blood-lusting lion "screwing up his muscles" to spring. +Galloway's return brought to Roderick Norton a fresh vigilance, to +Virginia a sleepless anxiety, to Florence Engle unrest, uncertainty, +very nearly pure panic. During the first few days of his absence she +had allowed herself the romantic joy of floating unchecked upon the +tide of a girlish fancy, dreaming dreams after the approved fashion +which is youth's, dancing lightly upon foamy crests, seeing only blue +water and no rocks under her. Then, with the potency of the man's +character removed with the removal of his physical being, she grew to +see the shoals and to draw back from them, shuddering somewhat +pleasurably. Now that he was again in San Juan and that her eyes had +been held by his in the first meeting upon the street, her heart +fluttered, her vision clouded, she wondered what she would do. + +There was to be no lost action in Galloway's campaign now. Within half +a dozen hours of his arrival there was a gathering of various of his +henchmen at the Casa Blanca. Just what passed was not to be known; it +was significant, however, that among those who had come to his call +were the Mexican, del Rio, Antone, Kid Rickard, and a handful of the +other most restless spirits of the county. Norton accepted the act in +all that it implied to his suspicions and sent out word to Cutter, +Brocky Lane, and those of his own and Brocky's cowboys whom he counted +on. + +Galloway's second step, known only to himself and Florrie, was a +private meeting with the banker's daughter. It occurred upon the +second evening following his return, just after dark among the +cottonwoods, but a hundred yards from her home. He had made the +opportunity with the despatch which marked him now; he had watched for +her during the day, had appeared merely to pass her by chance on the +street, and had paused just long enough to ask her to meet him. + +"I have done all that I planned to do," he announced triumphantly, his +eyes holding hers, forcing upon her spirit the mastery of his own. +"The power in Mexico is going to be Francisco Villa. I have seen him. +Let me talk with you to-night, Florence. History is in the making; it +may be you and I together who shape the destiny of a people." + +After all, she was but a little over sixteen, her head filled with the +bright stuff of romance, and he was a forceful man who for his own +purposes had long studied her. She came to the tryst, albeit half in +trembling, a dozen tremulous times ready for a fleeing retreat. + +Again he was all deference to her. He builded cunningly upon the fact +that he trusted her; that he, a strong man, put his faith in her, a +woman. He flattered her as she had never been flattered, not too +subtly, yet not so broadly as to arouse her suspicion of his intent. +He spoke quietly at first, then his voice seeming charged with his +leaping ambition set responsive chords within her thrilling. He +pictured to her the state he was going to found, organize, rule, an +uncertain number of fair miles stretching along a tropical coast; he +made her see again a palatial dwelling with servants in livery, the +blue waters of the Gulf, the white of dancing sails. He spoke of a +peace which was going to be declared between warring factions below the +border within thirty days, of the magnificence to be Francisco Villa's, +of the position to be occupied by Jim Galloway at Villa's side. His +planned development of a gold-mine he mentioned merely casually. + +And then at length when Florrie was prepared for the passionate +declaration he humbled himself at her feet, lifted his hands to her in +supplication, told her in burning words of his love. Whether the man +did love her with all of the strength of his nature or whether he but +meant to strike through her at John Engle, the richest man of this +section of the State, it was for Jim Galloway alone to know. Certainly +not for Florrie, who listened wide-eyed. . . . Once she thought that +he was about to sweep her up into his arms; they had lifted suddenly +from his sides. She had drawn back, crying sharply: "No, no!" But he +had waited, had again grown deeply deferential, swerving immediately to +further vividly colored pictures of life as it might be, of power and +pomp, of a secure position from which a man and a woman might direct +policies of state, shaping the lives of other men and women. + +And in the end of that ardent interview Jim Galloway's caution was +still with him, his knowledge of the girl's nature clear in his mind. +He did not ask her answer; he merely sought a third opportunity to +speak with her, suggesting that upon the next night she slip out and +meet him. He would have a horse for her, one for himself; they could +ride for a half-hour. He had so much to tell her. + +Perhaps a much more important factor than she realized in her action +was Florrie's new riding-habit. It had been acquired but three days +before and she knew very well just how she looked in it. There would +be a moon, almost at the full. The full moon and the new riding-habit +were the allies given by fate to Jim Galloway. + +Besides all of this, she had not seen Elmer Page for a month. Further, +she knew that Elmer had gone riding upon at least one occasion with a +girl of Las Palmas, Superintendent Kemble's daughter. And finally, +there lies much rich adventure in just doing that which we know we +should leave alone. So Florrie, while her mother and father thought +that she had gone early to bed, was on her way to meet Galloway. + +They rode out of the cottonwood fringed arroyo just before moonrise, +circling the town, Florrie scarcely marking whether they rode north or +south. But Galloway knew what he was doing and they turned slowly +toward the southwest. As they rode, his horse drawn in close to hers, +he talked as he had never talked before; his voice rang from the first +word with triumphant assurance. + +"When he calls she will follow!" Virginia had thought fearfully of +them. To-night he was calling eloquently, she was following, +frightened and yet obedient to his mastery. + +Galloway's influence over the girl, that of a strong will over a weak +and fluttering one, was quite naturally the stronger when they were +alone together. She had always been willing, sometimes a bit eager, to +make a hero of him; he had long thoroughly understood her. To-night +was the brief battle of wills, with him summoning all of his strength, +flushed with victory. Abruptly now he urged that she marry him; a +moment later his insistent pleading was subtly tinged with command. He +was the arbiter of the hour; he told her of a priest waiting for them +at a little village a dozen miles away. They would be married +to-night; they were eloping even at this palpitant instant! + +When Florence would have stopped, of two balancing minds, he urged the +horses on. When she would have procrastinated, he beat down her +opposition with the rush of his words. Even while she struggled she +was yielding; Galloway was quick to see how her resistance was growing +fainter. And all the time, while he spoke vehemently and she for the +most part listened in a fascinated silence, they were riding on through +the moonlit night. . . . It seemed to her that surely he must love her +as few men had loved before. . . . + + +The village he had promised her was in reality but two poor houses at a +crossroads, inhabited by two Mexican men and dowdy women. On the way +they encountered but one horseman; Galloway turned his own and +Florence's animals out so that, though seen, they might escape +recognition. At the nearest of the two hovels he dismounted, raising +his arms to her. When she cried out and shrank back trembling, he +laughed softly, caught her in his arms, and lifted her free of the +saddle; when he would have kissed her she put her face into her two +hands. + +"I . . . I want to go back!" she whispered. "I am afraid! Please, Mr. +Galloway, please let me go home." + +Dogs were barking, a man and woman came out. The man laughed. Then he +gathered up the bridle-reins and led the horses to the barn. Florrie, +shrinking out of Galloway's embrace, looked particularly little and +helpless in her pretty riding-habit. + +She went with Galloway into the lamplighted room. The woman looked at +her curiously, then to Galloway, something of wonder and upstanding +admiration in her beady eyes. + +"Has the priest come?" demanded Galloway. + +"No, senor. Not yet." + +She added by way of explanation that word had been sent; that the +priest was delayed; a man was dying and he must stay a little at the +bedside. She muttered the tale like a child repeating a lesson. +Galloway, watching Florence, who sat rigid in her chair by the table, +waited for her to finish. + +At the end he gave the woman a sharp, significant look. She said +something about a cup of coffee for the senorita and went hastily into +the kitchen. Florrie sprang to her feet, her hands clasped. + +"You must let me go," she cried wildly. "The priest isn't here. I am +going home." + +"No," said Galloway steadily. "You are not going home, Florence. You +must listen to me. I love you more than anything else In the world, my +dear. I want you, want you all for mine." + +She saw a sudden light flare up in his eyes and it seemed to her that +her heart would beat through the walls of her breast. "I am not a boy, +but a man. A strong man, a man who, when he wants a thing, wants it +with his whole heart and body and soul, a man who takes what he wants. +Wait; just listen to me! You love me now; you will love me more and +more when I give you all that I have promised you. To-night, in an +hour, I will have made the beginning; I will have gathered about me +fifty men who will do exactly what I tell them to do! Then they will +go with us down into Mexico; they will be the beginning of a little +army whose one thought will be loyalty . . . loyalty to you and to me." + +"No," said Florence, her voice shaking. "I am going. . . ." + +"You will marry me when the priest comes," he cut in sternly. +"Otherwise, if you make me, I will take you with me anyway, unmarried. +And I will make you marry me when we have crossed the border. And +now . . . now you will kiss me. I have waited long, Florence." + +He came toward her; she slipped behind the table, crying out to him to +stop. But he came on, caught her, drew her into his arms. And +Florrie, some new passionate, terrified Florrie, beat at him with her +fists, tore at him with her nails, hid her face from him, and with the +agility born of her terror slipped away from him again, again put the +table between them. Galloway, a thin line of blood across his cheek, +thrust the table aside. As he did so the man came back into the room +and stood watching, a twisted smile upon his lips. Galloway lifted his +thick shoulders in a shrug and stood staring at the girl cowering in +her corner. + +"Married or unmarried, you go with me," he told her. "Your kisses you +may save for me. Think it over. You had better ask for the priest +when I come back." He turned toward the Mexican. "All ready, Feliz?" + +The man nodded. + +"Tell Castro, then. It's time to be in the saddle." + +With no other word to Florrie he went out. But his last look was for +her, the look of a victor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +IN THE OPEN + +Roderick Norton, every fibre of his body alive and eager, his blood +riotous with the certain knowledge that the long-delayed hour had come, +rode a foam-flecked horse into San Juan shortly after moonrise. +Galloway was striking at last; at last might Norton lift his own hand +to strike back. As he flung himself down from the saddle he was +thinking almost equally of Jim Galloway, striking the supreme blow of +his career, and of Billy Norton, whose death had come to him at +Galloway's command. Galloway was gathering his forces, had delivered +an initial blow, was staking everything upon the one throw of the dice. +And he must believe them loaded. + +At the clank of spur-chain and rowel Struve came hastily into the +hallway from his office. He saw the look in the sheriff's, eyes and +demanded quickly: + +"What is it? What's happened?" + +There were grim lines about Norton's mouth, his quiet voice had an +ominous ring to it. + +"Hell's to pay, Julius," he retorted. "And there's little telling +where it'll end unless we're on the jump to meet it. Galloway's come +out into the open. Kid Rickard and ten men with him, all Mexicans or +breeds, crossed over into the next county yesterday, raided the county +jail late this afternoon, shot poor Roberts, freed Moraga, and got away +in a couple of big new touring-cars. Every man of them carried a rifle +and side-arms." + +"Killed Roberts, huh?" Struve's frown gathered. + +"He's badly hurt, if not dead. The Kid did the shooting." + +"Sure it's Galloway's work and not just the Kid's?" + +"Yes. Only a couple of hours ago a lot of Galloway's crowd was +gathering up in the mountains. They've gone to his cache for the +rifles. I have sent word for Brocky Lane and his and my cowboys. It +begins to look as though he were up to something bigger than we've been +looking for. And he's sure of himself, Struve, or he wouldn't have +started things by daylight." + +Virginia had heard and came into the hallway from her room, her face +white, her eyes filled with trouble. Struve turned back into his room +abruptly, going for his rifle. + +"You heard?" asked Norton quietly. "It's the big fight at last, +Virginia. But we've known it was coming all along." + +"Yes, Rod." she said half listlessly. "I'll be glad when it's all +over." + +He sketched for her briefly what little more he knew and suspected. +Throughout the county where there was telephone communication the wires +were buzzing. Over them the word had come to him of Kid Rickard's +attack on Roberts and the freeing of Moraga. But in many places the +lines were reported "out of order" and towns were isolated by cut +wires. Already men were riding sweating horses, carrying word from +him. He knew that del Rio had gathered a crowd of men at Las Vegas; he +was certain that del Rio was working hand in glove with Galloway; +further that the Mexican had been with Galloway on his recent trip +below the border and among the revolutionists. + +"They're solid down there," concluded Norton. "What they are up to is +something big here, then a dash for safety, carrying their booty with +them. But we're going to be on time to put a stop to it all. I am +going down to see Engle now; will you come with me?" + +But before they left the hotel he swore Struve in as a deputy and sent +him hastening to carry the word to other men to be counted on. As they +passed the Casa Blanca Norton paused a moment, looking in at the +wide-open door; it was very quiet within, the place seeming deserted. + +"No use looking for Galloway here," he said as they went on. "Nor for +any of his gang. But, when they come back . . . unless we head them +off . . ." + +Her hand tightened on his arm. She looked up into his thoughtful face +with shining eyes. + +"You think that they would attempt further robbery and outlawry here?" + +"I am going to advise Engle to take the bulk of his money out of the +bank, dig a hole, and hide it," he answered. "Just to be sure in case +we don't stop them." + +He knew that he had no time to waste tonight, and so as he and Virginia +entered the Engles' living-room he began immediately telling the banker +what had happened and what he feared was set to happen. Engle listened +gravely. + +"Galloway is making his getaway to-night," Norton said by way of +conclusion. "For every rifle he has a man. He has no reason to like +you and he knows that you carry more money in gold and bank-notes than +any other man in the country. The fact that Kid Rickard pulled the +game the way he did this afternoon, shooting down Roberts when there +was no need of bloodshed, ought to be enough to show us that they are +not going to draw the line anywhere this side of old Mexico." + +"What are you planning?" asked Engle. + +"I've sent for Brocky and all the men he can bring. They'll all come +heeled and ready for trouble, every one sworn in as a sheriff's deputy. +I'll get every dependable man in San Juan into the saddle with a rifle +inside half an hour. Before that we'll have further word; or, if not, +we ride toward Mt. Temple. I'm taking the gamble so far that that's +their rendezvous; that the Kid and his crowd will show up there." + +It was unnecessary for him to continue. Engle nodded and went for his +rifle. Norton, turning toward Mrs. Engle and Virginia, was shocked by +the look he saw in the eyes of the banker's wife. + +"Florrie!" gasped Mrs. Engle, her hands gripped in front of her, her +face paling. "I thought she was in her room; when I missed her five +minutes ago I thought that she had slipped out and run up to the hotel +to see Virginia. Virginia hasn't seen her." + +Norton smiled and patted the two clasped hands. + +"Oh, Florrie'll be all right, Mrs. Engle," he comforted her. "We +mustn't get nervous and begin to imagine things, must we?" + +But no lessening of that look of fear came into the mother's eyes. +Galloway was striking, Florrie was not to be accounted for. Though she +turned quickly and went again through the house, the patio, and the +rear gardens, she was apprehensively certain that she would not find +Florence. Virginia came hurriedly to Norton, whispering: + +"I'm afraid for her, Rod. I'm afraid! I have seen her and Jim +Galloway together, I have known all along that he had an influence over +her which he might exert if he wanted to. And, just before Jim +Galloway went to Mexico, Elmer saw them walk down the street together, +stop and talk together under the trees. . . . Oh, I'm afraid for her, +Rod!" + +Engle's face was as white as chalk when a little later he came back +into the room with his wife; his two hands were like rock upon his +rifle. + +"Florence isn't in the house," he announced in a voice which, while +calm, seemed not John Engle's voice. "If she is in San Juan it won't +take the half-hour to know it. I'm rather inclined to think that I'm +just a fool, Rod Norton. My wife has told me that Galloway was looking +at Florence in a way which meant no good. I wouldn't believe. And +now, if . . ." + +Norton had no reply to make. Florence's disappearance at a time like +this might mean either a very great deal or nothing whatever. But, as +Engle had intimated, it would require but little time to learn if she +were in San Juan and safe, and, as Norton had said, there was no time +now to be wasted. Engle would institute inquiries immediately; Norton, +his own work looming large before him, would prepare to meet Galloway's +latest play. + +The sheriff decided promptly that it would be unwise to leave the town +absolutely drained of men in whom he could put faith. It was always +possible that either the entire crowd of Galloway's men or a smaller +detachment might find their way here. Julius Struve, four armed men +aiding him, was to be responsible for the welfare of women and +children. If Galloway's stroke should turn out to be bolder and harder +than was now known, then Struve and his men had horses saddled and were +to get their wards out of danger by hard riding. Norton was to post +two men a few miles out as he rode north and they were to report back +to Struve in case of necessity. + +These latter plans were made only at the moment before the sheriff's +departure. A man sent by Brocky Lane had raced into San Juan's street, +bringing fresh word. It began to appear that Galloway was working in +conjunction with aid from below the border. Del Rio with a score of +men, Mexicans for the most part who had dribbled into the county during +the last few months, was reported to have swept down upon John Engle's +ranches, and to be gathering herds of cattle and horses, starting them +southward on the run. Three of Engle's cowboys had been shot down; a +similar attack had been delivered upon other ranches. The little town +of Las Vegas had been looted, post-office, store, and saloon safes +dynamited, stock driven off to augment del Rio's other herds. Further, +the cowboy sent by Lane reported that a signal-fire had been lighted in +the mountains an hour ago and that there had been another fire like an +answer leaping up from the desert in the south. Word had also come to +Lane that telephone messages hinted that Kid Rickard and his unit were +working further outlawry along the county line, headed toward Mt. +Temple. + +There were seventeen armed horsemen in the street waiting for the word +from Norton. + +"I'll come back to you," he said quietly to Virginia. "Because after +what you have done for me, I belong to you . . . if you want me." + +"I want you, Rod," she answered steadily. "And I know that you will +come back to me. And now . . . kiss me good night." + +She clung to him a moment, then pushed him from her and watched him +swing up into the saddle and ride out among the men who were pledged +and sworn to do his bidding. As he did so Engle came to him. + +"Going with us, John?" asked Norton. + +"No," said Engle. "We haven't found her yet, Rod. I'll try to pick up +a trace of her here. And . . . you'll send a man to me if you find +her?" + +"Yes," Norton promised. + +"And if Galloway has got her . . ." + +"I'll know what to do, John," said Norton gently. + +Then, without again looking back, he turned his horse toward the north. +The seventeen men, riding two and three abreast, silent and grave for +the most part, followed him. The moon shone upon their rifle-barrels +and made black, grotesque shadows underfoot. + +Against the northern sky Mt. Temple was lifted sharply outlined; from +its crest a leaping flame was stabbing at the stars, a new signal-fire +to be seen across many miles. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE BATTLE IN THE ARROYO + +Straight toward that wavering plume of flame in the north they rode +swiftly, each man with his own thoughts and with few words. But +whether a man thought of Florrie Engle gone or of the shooting of +Sheriff Roberts or of the looting of Las Vegas or of a ranch raided, he +was like his fellows in that he knew that at last Jim Galloway had come +out into the open and that to-night must be Galloway's triumph or +Galloway's death. And perhaps he wondered if his own saddle would run +empty under the stars before another dawn. + +Three or four miles from San Juan Norton made out an approaching rider, +one who bent over his horse's mane, racing furiously. The figure, +growing rapidly distinct as it drew on from the north, grew erect as +the horseman saw Norton's posse. The rider jerked in his horse, +pausing a moment as though in doubt whether he were meeting friend or +foe. Then, when again he came on at the same headlong gallop, Norton +recognized him. It was Elmer Page. + +"They're fighting back yonder!" cried the boy wildly, his eyes shining +with his excitement. "Brocky Lane sent me. . . . I haven't a rifle, +who will give me a rifle? I'll give a man a hundred dollars for a +rifle!" + +"Easy, Elmer," said Norton sharply. "Tell us what Brocky sent you to +say. Where are they?" + +"Along the arroyo just off to the east of Mt. Temple. About a mile +from the mountain . . . you know where the biggest boulders are all +strung out along the arroyo? It's there. Brocky and a lot of cowboys +are making a stand there, heading off the Kid and del Rio. So they +can't get with the others, you know. . . . Why didn't somebody tell me +about this?" he broke off, his voice shrill. "I haven't a rifle, just +a cursed revolver. Who will ..." + +Again Norton interrupted sternly. + +"Let's have it straight, Elmer," he commanded. "Brocky and his men are +along the arroyo, you say? And they're trying to keep between del Rio +and the Kid's crowd and the other crowd? Some of the others are still +on the mountain, then?" + +"The mountain is full of them. They're pouring down and shooting as +they come; Brocky's in between. . . ." + +"How many men are with him?" + +"About twenty. But . . . my God! Rickard's men and del Rio's are +shooting from the east and the others are shooting from the west . . . +poor old Tommy Rudge got shot in the stomach and Denny Blain is down +and . . ." + +"Del Rio and Rickard didn't come in machines did they?" + +"No. Brocky said tell you they'd left their cars, sent them on filled +with loot toward the south, where a lot of other Greasers are waiting +for them; then the Kid and del Rio and about fifty men altogether +started a big herd of horses and cattle this way. Brocky tried to +stampede the herds, but the others are more than two to one, so he got +his men in the arroyo and they're giving 'em hell from there." + +"Galloway's on the other side?" + +"No. Brocky said tell you Galloway hadn't shown up yet. We think he +didn't expect things to get started so soon. One of Brocky's men +riding in a little while ago from the other side of San Juan thought +that he had seen Galloway and some one that looked like a girl riding +with him toward the old crossroads where the Denbar place used to be. +Brocky thinks maybe you can come in and head Galloway off and bust up +the whole play that way." + +So Galloway and "some one who looked like a girl" had ridden toward the +old Denbar cross-roads. And Galloway had not yet joined his forces. + +"Elmer," said Norton quickly, "ride on to San Juan. Tell John Engle +what you have told me about Galloway. Tell him . . ." + +"I won't!" cried Elmer, on the verge of hysteria. "I won't do it. Do +it yourself; send some one else. I want to go with you; I want a +rifle, I tell you! Didn't I see Tommy Rudge go down with a bullet in +his belly? Didn't I see Denny when the Kid shot him?" + +Norton laid a hand on Elmer's arm, speaking quietly. + +"Listen, Elmer," he said. "We will do what we can where Brocky is. +But that isn't all of the devilment to-night. Galloway got Florrie +away somehow; she was the one riding with him toward the crossroads. +It's up to you to ride on and ride like the devil and tell John +Engle. . . . Come on, boys!" + +Elmer sagged in his saddle as though he had been struck a heavy +physical blow. + +"Galloway got Fluff!" he muttered dully. + +His gaze trailed along after the departing posse. Norton on his big +roan was setting the pace, the steady swinging gallop to eat up the +miles swiftly and yet not kill the horses before the journey's end. +The others followed him, stringing out single file to take advantage of +the trail. The moon picked them out with clear relief, a grim line of +retribution. And yet the boy, while his eyes wandered after them, saw +only little Fluff struggling in Jim Galloway's arms. . . . + +Then suddenly he, too, was riding, but at a pace which took no heed of +a horse's endurance, riding a gallant brute that stretched out its +neck, nostrils flaring, hammering hoofs beating out the very staccato +of urgent speed upon the flying sands. Already his revolver was tight +clinched in a lifted hand. Already he had swerved a little from the +distant lights of San Juan. He was taking the shortest line which led +to Denbar's crossroads. + +"Galloway's got Fluff," he said over and over, choking on the words. + + +An hour later Norton heard the first spitting of rifles. Another +fifteen minutes of shod hoofs pounding through the broken hills and he +saw the first spurts of flame cutting through the shadows where the +trees clung to the arroyo. As he drew in his horse the men behind him +closed up about him. He threw out his arm, pointing. + +"Brocky's boys must be right down there," he said sharply. "The Kid +and del Rio will be yonder; those are their horses. Young Page says +there are about fifty of them." + +A fusillade of rifle-shots interrupted him. Along a fifty or sixty +yard front the Kid's and del Rio's men had crept in closer to Brocky's +arroyo, worming their way upon their stomachs, and now fired together. +There came a rattling reply from the creek, the shouting of cowboys. + +"We'll take those fellows first," ordered Norton quickly. "They will +see us when we climb that little rise. Spread out; go easy until we +get to the top. Then, boys, let's see who can give them hell first and +fastest." + +They looked to their rifles for the last time and rode slowly up the +short slope of the low-lying ridge. Then, as the first man topped it, +there came a shout from the shadows in front, another shout, and the +whizzing of rifle-balls. Norton used his spurs then; his big roan +leaped forward and was racing down the farther slope; his men in a long +line rode with him. And as he rode he lifted his own gun and poured +his lead into the thickest of the shadows. + +A wild shout of cheering broke from the arroyo; rifle-barrels grew hot +in hot hands. On through the bright moonlight came the sheriff's +posse, some of them firing as they rode, others saving their lead. To +be seen from afar now, they drew many a shot toward themselves. And +yet the target of a man riding swiftly over uneven ground and in the +moonlight is not to be found overreadily by questing lead. When Norton +called to his men to stop and dismount, taking advantage of a row of +scattered boulders, not a saddle was empty. + +[Illustration: On through the bright moonlight came the sheriff's +posse.] + +Every man as he dismounted threw his horsed reins to the ground; the +animals might bolt or they might not, some of them might not stop for +many a mile, others would be found a hundred yards away. But they must +all think less of that now than of what lay in front of them. + +"That you, Norton?" came a cheery voice booming suddenly through the +silence which had shut down as the newcomers disappeared among the +boulders. + +"Here, Brocky!" shouted Norton. "All right down there?" + +"Pretty well," called Brocky. "They've winged three or four of +us . . . they're damned rotten shots, Roddy. We've popped over a dozen +of them." + +There were other shouts then, tenor Mexican voices for the most part +with the Kid's unmistakable snarl running through them. Men were +calling in Spanish to their fellows across the arroyo. Whatever it was +that Brocky was trying to say was lost in the din. And then again came +a volley of rifle-shots. + +Norton rose slowly to his feet, studying the situation with frowning +eyes. A bullet hissed high overhead, another cut by his side, another +went shrieking off into the night. But while they whined in his ears +he laid his rude plans. + +The arroyo wound and twisted this way and that through the broken +uplands. Where Brocky Lane had placed his men so as to defy the union +of the two bands of outlaws it described a wide rude arc curving about +the spur from Mt. Temple. Here the cowboys, with some twenty or thirty +feet separating each man from his nearest fellow, were extended along a +line which must be about two hundred yards long. The Mexicans to the +eastward, where del Rio and Kid Rickard and Moraga were, were bunched +in the protecting shadows of a field of boulders such as those where +the sheriff's men lay. + +"We could stick here all night and get nothing done," said Norton to +the men close to him. "Rickard's gang could have charged down on +Brocky long ago if they'd had the stomach for that sort of thing. +They've got the numbers on us; they more than had the count on Brocky's +outfit; with those jaspers on the mountainside they could have turned +the trick. But that sort hasn't the desire for a scrap unless they can +pull it from behind a rock. And, by the same token, they won't last +five minutes in the face of a charge. Get me?" + +"But the ginks on the mountain will pick us off pretty lively as we hit +the trail down the slope here," said a thoughtful voice. + +Then Norton explained further. He meant to eliminate the other crowd; +it could be done. When he gave the word every man was to jump to his +feet and make the first half of his charge the bloodless one down into +the arroyo toward Brocky Lane. Then, Norton's men and Brocky's united, +they could surge up the creek's banks and make their flying attack, +coming in between the two other factions so that the men on the +mountain must hold their fire or kill as many of their own crowd as of +the others. + +The suggestion was accepted without discussion. When Norton said +"Ready," they were ready; when he jumped to his feet and ran down +toward the arroyo, they ran with him. A shout of laughter went up from +each side of the dry water-course as jeering voices announced +triumphantly that the Gringoes were afraid. And with the shouts came +rifle-shots. + +But to the last man of them they reached the arroyo safely, and ducking +low, trotted on to join the cowboys. In a moment more Norton had found +Brocky Lane, had explained his plan, had had Brocky's silent nod for an +answer. In quiet voices the men passed the word along the line. Those +from the farther end drew in closer so that their whole body of +something better than thirty men occupied but a brief section of the +arroyo. + +"Get your wind first, boys," Norton admonished them. "Better fill your +clips, too, while you've got the chance. And count on using a six gun +before you're through. All right? Let's show 'em the sort of a scrap +a Gringo _can_ put up." + +Then again they were running, the unwavering line of thirty men, but +with a difference which the outlaws might not mistake. And as they ran +they held their fire for a little, knowing how useless and suicidal it +would be to pause half-way. But presently they were answering shot +with shot, pausing, going down upon one knee, taking a moment's +advantage of a friendly rock, pouring lead into the agitated groups +among the boulders, springing up, running on again, every man fighting +the fight his own way, the thirty of them making the air tingle with +their shouts as they bore onward. + +Then it was man to man and often enough one man to two or three, dark +forms struggling, men striking with clubbed guns, men snatching at +their side-arms, going down, rising or half rising, firing as long as a +charge was in a gun or strength in a body. And as they fired and +struck and called out after the fashion of the cowboy in a scrimmage +the body of men before them wavered and broke and began to fall back. + +Norton swung his clubbed empty rifle up in both hands and beat down a +man firing at him with a revolver. All about him were struggling forms +and he was sore beset now and then to know who was who. A +fierce-mustachioed, black-browed man thrust a rifle toward his breast +and pulled the trigger and screamed out his curses as Norton put a +revolver bullet through him. A slender, boyish form sprang up upon a +rock recklessly, training his rifle upon Brocky Lane. It was the Kid. +But the Kid had met a man quicker, surer, than himself, and Brocky +fired first. Kid Rickard spun and fell. Norton saw him drop but lost +sight of him before the body struck the earth. He had found del Rio; +del Rio had found him. + +Two smoking revolvers were jerked up, two guns spoke through the clamor +as one gun. The men were not ten feet apart as their guns spoke. +Norton felt a bullet rip along his outer arm, the sensation that of a +whip-lash cutting deep. He saw del Rio stagger back under the impact +of a forty-five-caliber bullet which must have merely grazed him, since +it did not knock him off his feet. Del Rio, his lips streaming his +curses and hatred, fired again. But his wound had been sorer than +Norton's, his aim was less steady, and now as he gave back it was to +fall heavily and lie still. + +It had lasted less than five minutes. "It's Jim Galloway's fight and +Galloway don't come!" some one had shouted. They broke again, gave +back and back . . . and then were running, every man of them scenting +defeat and much worse than defeat unless he came to a horse before +another five minutes. And after them, firing now as they ran, came +Brocky's cowboys and Norton's men. + +"They've got all of their horses over there together," yelled Brocky +into Norton's ear. "The horses for those Ginneys who have been hiding +out in the mountains, too. That's why I cut in between them that way. +Now if we can only scatter their cayuses . . . why, Roddy, we'll have +every damned one of 'em afoot to be rounded up when we get ready!" + +And Brocky, limping as he went, had raced along after the others. + +But Norton did not follow. His eyes had gone to the horses which he +and the San Juan men had left beyond the little line of boulders. And, +travelling that way, he had seen a lone horseman far off to the south, +a horseman riding frantically, seeking to come to the lower slopes of +Mt. Temple. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE BELLS RING + +"Galloway!" + +It seemed almost as though some great voice had shouted it to him +through the din. Yonder, riding on his spurs, come at this late +moment, was Jim Galloway. The man responsible for all of to-night's +bloodshed, for the disappearance of Florrie, for the death of Billy +Norton. + +"Coming, Jim Galloway!" + +Did he say it? Or again was it a voice shouting to him, urging him on? +He looked off to the east. Flying forms everywhere with other racing +forms pursuing, firing as they ran. Horses jerking back, rearing, +breaking away from the few men guarding them. Full defeat for Jim +Galloway there. But to the west? Galloway coming on at top speed, +shouting as he came, and, upon the mountain's lower slope the others of +Galloway's men, armed and bloodthirsty. If Galloway came to them, +whipped them with his tongue, stirring them with his magnetism . . . +why, then, the fight was all to be fought over. + +Now again Norton, too, was running, bearing down upon the straggling +horses. He caught up the first dragging reins to lay his hand to, +swung up into the saddle, measured swiftly the distance between +Galloway and the men on the mountain . . . and used his spurs. + +On came Jim Galloway, his wide, heavy shoulders not to be mistaken in +the rich moonlight, his hat gone, his head up, a rifle across the +saddle in front of him. Norton lost sight of him as he swept down into +the bed of the arroyo, caught sight of him again from the farther side. +Already Galloway was appreciably nearer his men, driving his horse +mercilessly. + +"If he comes to his crowd before I can stop him," was Norton's thought, +"he'll put his game across on us yet. I've got to head him off and +take the chances." + +Nor were the odds to be overlooked. Galloway was still too far away to +be stopped by a rifle-ball, and Norton, heading him off, would expose +himself not only to Galloway's fire but to that of the men who were +moving to a lower slope to meet their leader. And yet, with fate in +the balance, here was no time for hesitation. + +Now Galloway had seen him, had recognized him, perhaps, the thought +coming naturally to him that it would be Roderick Norton who rode to +cut him off. He shifted his rifle so that his right hand was on the +grip, the barrel caught in his left; he had dropped his horse's reins. +Norton was slipping a fresh clip into his gun, his own reins now upon +his horse's neck. And now both men knew that unless a bullet stopped +him Norton would cut across Galloway's path before he could come to his +men. + +"At him, Roddy, old boy! We're coming!" + +Norton glanced over his shoulder and pressed on. Brocky had missed +him, had seen, had called back a half dozen of his men and was +following. Well, if he dropped, maybe Brocky and the others could get +Jim Galloway. It really began to look as though Galloway had played +out his string. + +They were firing from the mountainside now, the bullets thus far flying +wild of their rushing target. Norton shook his head and urged his +horse to fresh endeavor. In a moment he would be fairly between +Galloway and Galloway's last chance. His eye picked out the spot where +he would dismount at that moment, a tumble of big boulders. He would +swing down so that they would be between him and the mountain, so that +nothing but moonlit open space lay between him and Jim Galloway. + +While rifles cracked and spat fire and sprayed lead over him and about +him he rode the last fifty yards. He reached the boulders, set his +horse up, threw himself from the saddle, and with his back to the rock, +his face toward Galloway, he lifted his rifle. Galloway, almost at the +same instant, jerked in his own horse. He was so close that Norton +caught his cry of rage. + +"Hands up, Galloway!" cried the sheriff. "Hands up or I'll drop you." + +But at last Galloway had come out into the open; at last there was no +subterfuge to stand forth at his need; at last, gambler that he was, he +accepted the even break of man to man. As Norton's voice rang out +Galloway fired. + +He shot twice before Norton pulled the trigger. Norton shot but the +once. Galloway dropped his rifle, sat rigid a moment, toppled from the +saddle. And his men, seeing him go down, cried out to one another and +drew back into the mountain canons. + + +"Funny thing," said Brocky Lane afterward. "Had the picture of a kid +of a girl in his pocket! Must have carted it around for a year. Old +Roddy's bullet tore right square through it." + +It was a picture of Florrie Engle, taken years before. As Brocky said: +"Just a kid of a girl." Where he got it nobody knew. But then there +were other things about Jim Galloway which no one knew. Perhaps . . . +Quien sabe! + + +During the late hours of the night and the following forenoon the thing +was ended. Sheriff Roberts's deputies with a posse in automobiles had +raced southward, intercepting those other cars despatched toward the +border by the Kid and del Rio. Brocky Lane with a score of men had +swept down upon the stolen herds, scattered them, fired fifty shots, +emptied some three or four saddles, and sent the escaping rustlers +flying toward the Mexican line. Singly and in small groups other men, +farmers, cowboys, miners, and the dwellers of small settlements, joined +with Norton's men, giving battle to those of Galloway's crowd who had +drawn back into the fastnesses of Mt. Temple. In the afternoon Norton, +with the aid of a handful of cowboys from Brocky's outfit and from Las +Flores, escorted fifteen anxious-faced prisoners to the county-seat, +where jail capacity was to be taxed. And night had come again, serene +and peaceful with the glory of the moon and stars, when he rode once +more into San Juan, sore and saddle-weary. + +At the hotel he learned that Virginia had gone to the Engles. He left +his jaded horse with Ignacio and walked down the street. In front of +the Casa Blanca he stopped a moment, staring musingly at the solid +adobe walls gleaming white in the moonlight. The place was quiet, +deserted. No single light winked at him through door or window. It +seemed to him to be brooding over the passing of Jim Galloway. + +He found Florrie and Elmer strolling under the cottonwoods. They had +scant interest in him, little time to bestow upon a mere mortal. +Florrie could only cry ecstatically that Black Bill was a hero! He, +all alone, had terrorized the Mexican woman guarding her, had saved +her, had brought her back. And Elmer could only look pleased and +stammer and whisper to Fluff to be still. + +Virginia had heard his voice, the voice she had been listening for +throughout so many long hours, and met him before he had come to the +door. + +"Oh, thank God, thank God!" she cried softly. "But . . . you are hurt?" + +He forgot his wound as both arms closed about her. From somewhere at +the rear of the house he heard Mrs. Engle's voice crying eagerly; "It's +Roddy!" She was hurrying to greet him. What he had to say must be +said briefly. + +"My work is done," he said quickly. "I have put in my resignation this +afternoon. They can get a new sheriff. I am going to be a rancher, my +dear. And, Virginia . . ." + +He was whispering to her, his lips close to her hair. And Virginia, +though her face was suddenly hot with the flush mounting to her brow, +gave him steadily for answer: + +"Whenever you wish, Rod Norton!" + +So it was only twenty-four hours later that Ignacio Chavez stood in the +old Mission garden and made his bells talk, just the three upon the +western arch, the Little One, La Golondrina, and Ignacio Chavez, the +golden-throated trio that tinkled to the touch of his cunning hand and +seemed to laugh and sing and proclaim the gladdest of glad tidings. +Then Ignacio drew his enrapt gaze earthward from the full moon and made +out a man and a girl riding out into the night, riding toward the Ranch +of the Flowers. And he made the bells laugh again. + +"And to-morrow," vowed Ignacio solemnly, "not later than to-morrow or +the day thereafter, you shall have your reward, _amigos_. You have +told the world of heavy doings; you have rung for Jim Galloway dead; +you have made the music for the wedding of _el_ Senor Nortone. And it +shall be I who will make a little roof like a house over you. You will +see!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN*** + + +******* This file should be named 15438.txt or 15438.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/4/3/15438 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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