V
A DESERT ROSE
BELDING assigned Dick to a little room which had no windows but twodoors, one opening into the patio, the other into the yard on the westside of the house. It contained only the barest necessities forcomfort. Dick mentioned the baggage he had left in the hotel atCasita, and it was Belding's opinion that to try to recover hisproperty would be rather risky; on the moment Richard Gale was probablynot popular with the Mexicans at Casita. So Dick bade good-by to finesuits of clothes and linen with a feeling that, as he had said farewellto an idle and useless past, it was just as well not to have any oldluxuries as reminders. As he possessed, however, not a thing save theclothes on his back, and not even a handkerchief, he expressed regretthat he had come to Forlorn River a beggar.
"Beggar hell!" exploded Belding, with his eyes snapping in thelamplight. "Money's the last thing we think of out here. All thesame, Gale, if you stick you'll be rich."
"It wouldn't surprise me," replied Dick, thoughtfully. But he was notthinking of material wealth. Then, as he viewed his stained and tornshirt, he laughed and said "Belding, while I'm getting rich I'd like tohave some respectable clothes."
"We've a little Mex store in town, and what you can't get there thewomen folks will make for you."
When Dick lay down he was dully conscious of pain and headache, that hedid not feel well. Despite this, and a mind thronging with memoriesand anticipations, he succumbed to weariness and soon fell asleep.
It was light when he awoke, but a strange brightness seen through whatseemed blurred eyes. A moment passed before his mind worked clearly,and then he had to make an effort to think. He was dizzy. When heessayed to lift his right arm, an excruciating pain made him desist.Then he discovered that his arm was badly swollen, and the hand hadburst its bandages. The injured member was red, angry, inflamed, andtwice its normal size. He felt hot all over, and a raging headacheconsumed him.
Belding came stamping into the room.
"Hello, Dick. Do you know it's late? How's the busted fist thismorning?"
Dick tried to sit up, but his effort was a failure. He got about halfup, then felt himself weakly sliding back.
"I guess--I'm pretty sick," he said.
He saw Belding lean over him, feel his face, and speak, and theneverything seemed to drift, not into darkness, but into some regionwhere he had dim perceptions of gray moving things, and of voices thatwere remote. Then there came an interval when all was blank. He knewnot whether it was one of minutes or hours, but after it he had aclearer mind. He slept, awakened during night-time, and slept again.When he again unclosed his eyes the room was sunny, and cool with afragrant breeze that blew through the open door. Dick felt better; buthe had no particular desire to move or talk or eat. He had, however, aburning thirst. Mrs. Belding visited him often; her husband came inseveral times, and once Nell slipped in noiselessly. Even this lastevent aroused no interest in Dick.
On the next day he was very much improved.
"We've been afraid of blood poisoning," said Belding. "But my wifethinks the danger's past. You'll have to rest that arm for a while."
Ladd and Jim came peeping in at the door.
"Come in, boys. He can have company--the more the better--if it'llkeep him content. He mustn't move, that's all."
The cowboys entered, slow, easy, cool, kind-voiced.
"Shore it's tough," said Ladd, after he had greeted Dick. "You lookused up."
Jim Lash wagged his half-bald, sunburned head, "Musta been more'n toughfor Rojas."
"Gale, Laddy tells me one of our neighbors, fellow named Carter, isgoing to Casita," put in Belding. "Here's a chance to get word to yourfriend the soldier."
"Oh, that will be fine!" exclaimed Dick. "I declare I'd forgottenThorne.... How is Miss Castaneda? I hope--"
"She's all right, Gale. Been up and around the patio for two days.Like all the Spanish--the real thing--she's made of Damascus steel.We've been getting acquainted. She and Nell made friends at once. I'llcall them in."
He closed the door leading out into the yard, explaining that he didnot want to take chances of Mercedes's presence becoming known toneighbors. Then he went to the patio and called.
Both girls came in, Mercedes leading. Like Nell, she wore white, andshe had a red rose in her hand. Dick would scarcely have recognizedanything about her except her eyes and the way she carried her littlehead, and her beauty burst upon him strange and anew. She was swift,impulsive in her movements to reach his side.
"Senor, I am so sorry you were ill--so happy you are better."
Dick greeted her, offering his left hand, gravely apologizing for thefact that, owing to a late infirmity, he could not offer the right.Her smile exquisitely combined sympathy, gratitude, admiration. ThenDick spoke to Nell, likewise offering his hand, which she took shyly.Her reply was a murmured, unintelligible one; but her eyes were glad,and the tint in her cheeks threatened to rival the hue of the rose shecarried.
Everybody chatted then, except Nell, who had apparently lost her voice.Presently Dick remembered to speak of the matter of getting news toThorne.
"Senor, may I write to him? Will some one take a letter?... I shallhear from him!" she said; and her white hands emphasized her words.
"Assuredly. I guess poor Thorne is almost crazy. I'll write tohim.... No, I can't with this crippled hand."
"That'll be all right, Gale," said Belding. "Nell will write for you.She writes all my letters."
So Belding arranged it; and Mercedes flew away to her room to write,while Nell fetched pen and paper and seated herself beside Gale's bedto take his dictation.
What with watching Nell and trying to catch her glance, and listeningto Belding's talk with the cowboys, Dick was hard put to it to dictateany kind of a creditable letter. Nell met his gaze once, then no more.The color came and went in her cheeks, and sometimes, when he told herto write so and so, there was a demure smile on her lips. She waslaughing at him. And Belding was talking over the risks involved in atrip to Casita.
"Shore I'll ride in with the letters," Ladd said.
"No you won't," replied Belding. "That bandit outfit will be layingfor you."
"Well, I reckon if they was I wouldn't be oncommon grieved."
"I'll tell you, boys, I'll ride in myself with Carter. There'sbusiness I can see to, and I'm curious to know what the rebels aredoing. Laddy, keep one eye open while I'm gone. See the horses arelocked up.... Gale, I'm going to Casita myself. Ought to get backtomorrow some time. I'll be ready to start in an hour. Have yourletter ready. And say--if you want to write home it's a chance.Sometimes we don't go to the P. O. in a month."
He tramped out, followed by the tall cowboys, and then Dick was enabledto bring his letter to a close. Mercedes came back, and her eyes wereshining. Dick imagined a letter received from her would be somethingof an event for a fellow. Then, remembering Belding's suggestion, hedecided to profit by it.
"May I trouble you to write another for me?" asked Dick, as he receivedthe letter from Nell.
"It's no trouble, I'm sure--I'd be pleased," she replied.
That was altogether a wonderful speech of hers, Dick thought, becausethe words were the first coherent ones she had spoken to him.
"May I stay?" asked Mercedes, smiling.
"By all means," he answered, and then he settled back and began.
Presently Gale paused, partly because of genuine emotion, and stole alook from under his hand at Nell. She wrote swiftly, and her downcastface seemed to be softer in its expression of sweetness. If she had inthe very least been drawn to him-- But that was absurd--impossible!
When Dick finished dictating, his eyes were upon Mercedes, who satsmiling curious and sympathetic. How responsive she was! He heard thehasty scratch of Nell's pen. He looked at Nell. Presently she rose,holding out his letter. He was just in time to see a wave of redrecede from her face. She gave him one swift gaze, unconscious,searching, then averted it and turned away
. She left the room withMercedes before he could express his thanks.
But that strange, speaking flash of eyes remained to haunt and tormentGale. It was indescribably sweet, and provocative of thoughts that hebelieved were wild without warrant. Something within him danced forvery joy, and the next instant he was conscious of wistful doubt, agravity that he could not understand. It dawned upon him that for thebrief instant when Nell had met his gaze she had lost her shyness. Itwas a woman's questioning eyes that had pierced through him.
During the rest of the day Gale was content to lie still on his bedthinking and dreaming, dozing at intervals, and watching the lightschange upon the mountain peaks, feeling the warm, fragrant desert windthat blew in upon him. He seemed to have lost the faculty ofestimating time. A long while, strong in its effect upon him, appearedto have passed since he had met Thorne. He accepted things as he feltthem, and repudiated his intelligence. His old inquisitive habit ofmind returned. Did he love Nell? Was he only attracted for the moment?What was the use of worrying about her or himself? He refused toanswer, and deliberately gave himself up to dreams of her sweet faceand of that last dark-blue glance.
Next day he believed he was well enough to leave his room; but Mrs.Belding would not permit him to do so. She was kind, soft-handed,motherly, and she was always coming in to minister to his comfort. Thisattention was sincere, not in the least forced; yet Gale felt that thefriendliness so manifest in the others of the household did not extendto her. He was conscious of something that a little thought persuadedhim was antagonism. It surprised and hurt him. He had never been muchof a success with girls and young married women, but their mothers andold people had generally been fond of him. Still, though Mrs.Belding's hair was snow-white, she did not impress him as being old.He reflected that there might come a time when it would be desirable,far beyond any ground of every-day friendly kindliness, to have Mrs.Belding be well disposed toward him. So he thought about her, andpondered how to make her like him. It did not take very long for Dickto discover that he liked her. Her face, except when she smiled, wasthoughtful and sad. It was a face to make one serious. Like ahaunting shadow, like a phantom of happier years, the sweetness ofNell's face was there, and infinitely more of beauty than had beentransmitted to the daughter. Dick believed Mrs. Belding's friendshipand motherly love were worth striving to win, entirely aside from anymore selfish motive. He decided both would be hard to get. Often hefelt her deep, penetrating gaze upon him; and, though this in no wiseembarrassed him--for he had no shameful secrets of past or present--itshowed him how useless it would be to try to conceal anything from her.Naturally, on first impulse, he wanted to hide his interest in thedaughter; but he resolved to be absolutely frank and true, and throughthat win or lose. Moreover, if Mrs. Belding asked him any questionsabout his home, his family, his connections, he would not avoid directand truthful answers.
Toward evening Gale heard the tramp of horses and Belding's heartyvoice. Presently the rancher strode in upon Gale, shaking the graydust from his broad shoulders and waving a letter.
"Hello, Dick! Good news and bad!" he said, putting the letter inDick's hand. "Had no trouble finding your friend Thorne. Looked likehe'd been drunk for a week! Say, he nearly threw a fit. I never saw afellow so wild with joy. He made sure you and Mercedes were lost inthe desert. He wrote two letters which I brought. Don't mistake me,boy, it was some fun with Mercedes just now. I teased her, wouldn'tgive her the letter. You ought to have seen her eyes. If ever you seea black-and-white desert hawk swoop down upon a quail, then you'll knowhow Mercedes pounced upon her letter... Well, Casita is one hell of aplace these days. I tried to get your baggage, and I think I made amistake. We're going to see travel toward Forlorn River. The federalgarrison got reinforcements from somewhere, and is holding out.There's been fighting for three days. The rebels have a string of flatrailroad cars, all iron, and they ran this up within range of thebarricades. They've got some machine guns, and they're going to lickthe federals sure. There are dead soldiers in the ditches, Mexicannon-combatants lying dead in the streets--and buzzards everywhere! It'sreported that Campo, the rebel leader, is on the way up from Sinaloa,and Huerta, a federal general, is coming to relieve the garrison. Idon't take much stock in reports. But there's hell in Casita, allright."
"Do you think we'll have trouble out here?" asked Dick, excitedly.
"Sure. Some kind of trouble sooner or later," replied Belding,gloomily. "Why, you can stand on my ranch and step over into Mexico.Laddy says we'll lose horses and other stock in night raids. Jim Lashdoesn't look for any worse. But Jim isn't as well acquainted withGreasers as I am. Anyway, my boy, as soon as you can hold a bridle anda gun you'll be on the job, don't mistake me."
"With Laddy and Jim?" asked Dick, trying to be cool.
"Sure. With them and me, and by yourself."
Dick drew a deep breath, and even after Belding had departed he forgotfor a moment about the letter in his hand. Then he unfolded the paperand read:
Dear Dick,--You've more than saved my life. To the end of my daysyou'll be the one man to whom I owe everything. Words fail to expressmy feelings.
This must be a brief note. Belding is waiting, and I used up most ofthe time writing to Mercedes. I like Belding. He was not unknown tome, though I never met or saw him before. You'll be interested tolearn that he's the unadulterated article, the real Western goods.I've heard of some of his stunts, and they made my hair curl. Dick,your luck is staggering. The way Belding spoke of you was great. Butyou deserve it, old man.
I'm leaving Mercedes in your charge, subject, of course, to advice fromBelding. Take care of her, Dick, for my life is wrapped up in her. Byall means keep her from being seen by Mexicans. We are sitting tighthere--nothing doing. If some action doesn't come soon, it'll be darnedstrange. Things are centering this way. There's scrapping right along,and people have begun to move. We're still patrolling the line eastwardof Casita. It'll be impossible to keep any tab on the line west ofCasita, for it's too rough. That cactus desert is awful. Cowboys orrangers with desert-bred horses might keep raiders and smugglers fromcrossing. But if cavalrymen could stand that waterless wilderness,which I doubt much, their horses would drop under them.
If things do quiet down before my commission expires, I'll get leave ofabsence, run out to Forlorn River, marry my beautiful Spanish princess,and take her to a civilized country, where, I opine, every son of a gunwho sees her will lose his head, and drive me mad. It's my great luck,old pal, that you are a fellow who never seemed to care about prettygirls. So you won't give me the double cross and run off withMercedes--carry her off, like the villain in the play, I mean.
That reminds me of Rojas. Oh, Dick, it was glorious! You didn't doanything to the Dandy Rebel! Not at all! You merely caressedhim--gently moved him to one side. Dick, harken to these glad words:Rojas is in the hospital. I was interested to inquire. He had asmashed finger, a dislocated collar bone, three broken ribs, and afearful gash on his face. He'll be in the hospital for a month. Dick,when I meet that pig-headed dad of yours I'm going to give him thesurprise of his life.
Send me a line whenever any one comes in from F. R., and incloseMercedes's letter in yours. Take care of her, Dick, and may the futurehold in store for you some of the sweetness I know now!
Faithfully yours, Thorne.
Dick reread the letter, then folded it and placed it under his pillow.
"Never cared for pretty girls, huh?" he soliloquized. "George, I neversaw any till I struck Southern Arizona! Guess I'd better make up forlost time."
While he was eating his supper, with appetite rapidly returning tonormal, Ladd and Jim came in, bowing their tall heads to enter thedoor. Their friendly advances were singularly welcome to Gale, but hewas still backward. He allowed himself to show that he was glad to seethem, and he listened. Jim Lash had heard from Belding the result ofthe mauling given to Rojas by Dick. And Jim talked about what a grandthing that was. Ladd h
ad a good deal to say about Belding's horses.It took no keen judge of human nature to see that horses constitutedLadd's ruling passion.
"I've had wimmen go back on me, but never no hoss!" declared Ladd, andmanifestly that was a controlling truth with him.
"Shore it's a cinch Beldin' is agoin' to lose some of them hosses," hesaid. "You can search me if I don't think there'll be more doin' onthe border here than along the Rio Grande. We're just the same as onGreaser soil. Mebbe we don't stand no such chance of bein' shot up aswe would across the line. But who's goin' to give up his hosseswithout a fight? Half the time when Beldin's stock is out of thealfalfa it's grazin' over the line. He thinks he's careful about themhosses, but he ain't."
"Look a-here, Laddy; you cain't believe all you hear," replied Jim,seriously. "I reckon we mightn't have any trouble."
"Back up, Jim. Shore you're standin' on your bridle. I ain't goin'much on reports. Remember that American we met in Casita, theprospector who'd just gotten out of Sonora? He had some story, he had.Swore he'd killed seventeen Greasers breakin' through the rebel lineround the mine where he an' other Americans were corralled. The nextday when I met him again, he was drunk, an' then he told me he'd shotthirty Greasers. The chances are he did kill some. But reports areexaggerated. There are miners fightin' for life down in Sonora, youcan gamble on that. An' the truth is bad enough. Take Rojas'sharryin' of the Senorita, for instance. Can you beat that? Shore,Jim, there's more doin' than the raidin' of a few hosses. An' ForlornRiver is goin' to get hers!"
Another dawn found Gale so much recovered that he arose and lookedafter himself, not, however, without considerable difficulty and ratherdisheartening twinges of pain.
Some time during the morning he heard the girls in the patio and calledto ask if he might join them. He received one response, a mellow, "Si,Senor." It was not as much as he wanted, but considering that it wasenough, he went out. He had not as yet visited the patio, and surpriseand delight were in store for him. He found himself lost in alabyrinth of green and rose-bordered walks. He strolled around,discovering that the patio was a courtyard, open at an end; but hefailed to discover the young ladies. So he called again. The answercame from the center of the square. After stooping to get under shrubsand wading through bushes he entered an open sandy circle, full ofmagnificent and murderous cactus plants, strange to him. On the otherside, in the shade of a beautiful tree, he found the girls. Mercedessitting in a hammock, Nell upon a blanket.
"What a beautiful tree!" he exclaimed. "I never saw one like that.What is it?"
"Palo verde," replied Nell.
"Senor, palo verde means 'green tree,'" added Mercedes.
This desert tree, which had struck Dick as so new and strange andbeautiful, was not striking on account of size, for it was small,scarcely reaching higher than the roof; but rather because of itsexquisite color of green, trunk and branch alike, and owing to the oddfact that it seemed not to possess leaves. All the tree from ground totiny flat twigs was a soft polished green. It bore no thorns.
Right then and there began Dick's education in desert growths; and hefelt that even if he had not had such charming teachers he would stillhave been absorbed. For the patio was full of desert wonders. Atwisting-trunked tree with full foliage of small gray leaves Nellcalled a mesquite. Then Dick remembered the name, and now he saw wherethe desert got its pale-gray color. A huge, lofty, fluted column ofgreen was a saguaro, or giant cactus. Another oddshaped cactus,resembling the legs of an inverted devil-fish, bore the name ocatillo.Each branch rose high and symmetrical, furnished with sharp blades thatseemed to be at once leaves and thorns. Yet another cactus interestedGale, and it looked like a huge, low barrel covered with green-ribbedcloth and long thorns. This was the bisnaga, or barrel cactus.According to Nell and Mercedes, this plant was a happy exception to itsdesert neighbors, for it secreted water which had many times saved thelives of men. Last of the cacti to attract Gale, and the one to makehim shiver, was a low plant, consisting of stem and many roundedprotuberances of a frosty, steely white, and covered with longmurderous spikes. From this plant the desert got its frosty glitter.It was as stiff, as unyielding as steel, and bore the name choya.
Dick's enthusiasm was contagious, and his earnest desire to learn wasflattering to his teachers. When it came to assimilating Spanish,however, he did not appear to be so apt a pupil. He managed, aftermany trials, to acquire "buenos dias" and "buenos tardes," and"senorita" and "gracias," and a few other short terms. Dick was indeedeager to get a little smattering of Spanish, and perhaps he was notreally quite so stupid as he pretended to be. It was delightful to betaught by a beautiful Spaniard who was so gracious and intense andmagnetic of personality, and by a sweet American girl who moment bymoment forgot her shyness. Gale wished to prolong the lessons.
So that was the beginning of many afternoons in which he learned desertlore and Spanish verbs, and something else that he dared not name.
Nell Burton had never shown to Gale that daring side of her characterwhich had been so suggestively defined in Belding's terse descriptionand Ladd's encomiums, and in her own audacious speech and merry laughand flashing eye of that never-to-be-forgotten first meeting. Shemight have been an entirely different girl. But Gale remembered; andwhen the ice had been somewhat broken between them, he was alwaystrying to surprise her into her real self. There were moments thatfairly made him tingle with expectation. Yet he saw little more than aghost of her vivacity, and never a gleam of that individuality whichBelding had called a devil. On the few occasions that Dick had beenleft alone with her in the patio Nell had grown suddenly unresponsiveand restrained, or she had left him on some transparent pretext. On thelast occasion Mercedes returned to find Dick staring disconsolately atthe rose-bordered path, where Nell had evidently vanished. The Spanishgirl was wonderful in her divination.
"Senor Dick!" she cried.
Dick looked at her, soberly nodded his head, and then he laughed.Mercedes had seen through him in one swift glance. Her white handtouched his in wordless sympathy and thrilled him. This Spanish girlwas all fire and passion and love. She understood him, she was hisfriend, she pledged him what he felt would be the most subtle andpowerful influence.
Little by little he learned details of Nell's varied life. She hadlived in many places. As a child she remembered moving from town totown, of going to school among schoolmates whom she never had time toknow. Lawrence, Kansas, where she studied for several years, was thelater exception to this changeful nature of her schooling. Then shemoved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, from there to Austin, Texas, and on toWaco, where her mother met and married Belding. They lived in NewMexico awhile, in Tucson, Arizona, in Douglas, and finally had come tolonely Forlorn River.
"Mother could never live in one place any length of time," said Nell."And since we've been in the Southwest she has never ceased trying tofind some trace of her father. He was last heard of in Nogalesfourteen years ago. She thinks grandfather was lost in the SonoraDesert.... And every place we go is worse. Oh, I love the desert. ButI'd like to go back to Lawrence--or to see Chicago or New York--some ofthe places Mr. Gale speaks of.... I remember the college at Lawrence,though I was only twelve. I saw races--and once real football. Sincethen I've read magazines and papers about big football games, and I wasalways fascinated .... Mr. Gale, of course, you've seen games?
"Yes, a few," replied Dick; and he laughed a little. It was on hislips then to tell her about some of the famous games in which he hadparticipated. But he refrained from exploiting himself. There waslittle, however, of the color and sound and cheer, of the violentaction and rush and battle incidental to a big college football gamethat he did not succeed in making Mercedes and Nell feel just as ifthey had been there. They hung breathless and wide-eyed upon his words.
Some one else was present at the latter part of Dick's narrative. Themoment he became aware of Mrs. Belding's presence he rememberedfancying he had heard her call, and now he was certain she had d
one so.Mercedes and Nell, however, had been and still were oblivious toeverything except Dick's recital. He saw Mrs. Belding cast a strange,intent glance upon Nell, then turn and go silently through the patio.Dick concluded his talk, but the brilliant beginning was not sustained.
Dick was haunted by the strange expression he had caught on Mrs.Belding's face, especially the look in her eyes. It had been one ofrepressed pain liberated in a flash of certainty. The mother had seenjust as quickly as Mercedes how far he had gone on the road of love.Perhaps she had seen more--even more than he dared hope. The incidentroused Gale. He could not understand Mrs. Belding, nor why that lookof hers, that seeming baffled, hopeless look of a woman who saw theinevitable forces of life and could not thwart them, should cause himperplexity and distress. He wanted to go to her and tell her how hefelt about Nell, but fear of absolute destruction of his hopes held himback. He would wait. Nevertheless, an instinct that was perhaps akinto self-preservation prompted him to want to let Nell know the state ofhis mind. Words crowded his brain seeking utterance. Who and what hewas, how he loved her, the work he expected to take up soon, hislongings, hopes, and plans--there was all this and more. But somethingchecked him. And the repression made him so thoughtful and quiet, evenmelancholy, that he went outdoors to try to throw off the mood. The sunwas yet high, and a dazzling white light enveloped valleys and peaks.He felt that the wonderful sunshine was the dominant feature of thatarid region. It was like white gold. It had burned its color in aface he knew. It was going to warm his blood and brown his skin. Ahot, languid breeze, so dry that he felt his lips shrink with itscontact, came from the desert; and it seemed to smell of wide-open,untainted places where sand blew and strange, pungent plants gave abitter-sweet tang to the air.
When he returned to the house, some hours later, his room had been putin order. In the middle of the white coverlet on his table lay a freshred rose. Nell had dropped it there. Dick picked it up, feeling athrob in his breast. It was a bud just beginning to open, to showbetween its petals a dark-red, unfolding heart. How fragrant it was,how exquisitely delicate, how beautiful its inner hue of red, deep anddark, the crimson of life blood!
Had Nell left it there by accident or by intent? Was it merelykindness or a girl's subtlety? Was it a message couched elusively, asymbol, a hope in a half-blown desert rose?