CHAPTER III
SENOR TOP-LOFTY
Ever since Jessica could remember, Antonio Bernal had been manager ofthe Sobrante ranch, and after the death of her father, a few monthsbefore, he became practically its master. Even Mrs. Trent deferred tohis opinions more and more, and seemed to stand in awe of him, as didmost others on the great estate. He was the only person there, save hisown servant, Ferd, who did not treat the little girl with that adoringsort of reverence which had given her the love-name of "our Lady Jess."For some reason unknown to her he disliked her and showed this, so thatshe shrank from and feared him in return.
As she emerged from the canyon upon the broad, sandy road which crossedthe valley, she saw him loping toward her on the powerful black horsewith which he made his daily rounds to inspect the many industries thatMr. Trent had established. Jessica could always tell by the way he rodewhat Antonio's mood might be, and it did not lessen her dread to seethat his sombrero was well over his eyes and his shoulders hunchedforward.
"Something's put him out, but I can't help that. I must stop him andspeak to him."
So she placed herself in the middle of the road and shouted her familiar:
"_Hola!_ Coo-ee! Coo-ee!"
Any other ranchman would have paused and saluted his "lady," but the"senor" made as if he would ride her down, unseeing.
Jessica did not flinch. That ready temper which she was always lamentingflamed at the insult, and she would not move a hair's breadth from hispath.
"Hola! Antonio Bernal! I must speak to you, and--see that?"
Suddenly bending forward she waved something long and black under Nero'snose, who reared and settled on his haunches in a way to test a lessexperienced rider.
"What do you mean, child----" began that irate gentleman, but pausingat sight of the object she held.
"I think this a plume from Beppo's wing, don't you, Antonio?"
He muttered something under his breath, and she went on, explaining:
"I found it in the canyon, just after Ferd has gone up it. I knew it ina minute, for I was looking Beppo over yesterday, and I never saw suchperfect feathers on any bird. How do you suppose it came there, and why?"
"The fool! One of the very best. How dared he. But suppose I'll have toadmit he stole it. I don't see how, though, for I did the work myself.Give it to me, senorita; I'll put it with the others."
Somehow, when Antonio was sauve "our Lady Jess" liked him less thanwhen he was sharp of speech. His native "senorita" jarred on her ear,though she blamed herself for her injustice, nor did she yield him thefeather.
"Not yet, please. I'm going to show it to mother. She'll be sodelighted to know the plucking was a rich one; and if Ferd did stealthis, or has others in his basket, of course you'll make him bringthem back."
"Of course," answered Antonio, though he frowned and searched her facewith his black eyes as if to read all her suspicions.
But as Jessica was not suspicious; she was vaguely troubled, as if shehad come into some dark and unknown world. Surely Antonio was able toclear off all these little mysteries, and she checked him again as hewas about to ride on.
"There's something else, senor," adopting his title in imitation ofhis addressing her; "John Benton is up the gulch fixing a break in theflume. It's a bad one, and more a cut than a break, he says. He asked meto tell you and wishes you'd go up there to advise him. I'm to sendup a man to help him. But he wants you, too."
"Why should I waste my time on such a fool's errand, eh? I knew therewas a leak somewhere and am glad he's found it. There's been no waterin the ditches these three days--more, ten, maybe--and the oranges arefalling. Send up that idler, Joe; and, by the way, how's Pedro?"
It was the blue eyes now which turned keen and searching, and under theirgaze Antonio's were averted toward some distant point in the landscape,though the contemptuous smile remained upon his lips.
"That was a fool's errand, too, Senor Bernal, and I did so want to beat home this morning. Pedro was never livelier. Whoever told you he wasill was quite mistaken."
Antonio gave a short, derisive laugh, dug his spurs into Nero'ssides and loped away. A picturesque, noticeable figure in his quaint,half-Spanish dress and his silver-decorated sombrero, bestriding theheavy Mexican saddle upon his powerful horse.
"Vain as a peacock," was his fellow-ranchmen's opinion of their"boss," though had his affectations been all his shortcomings thesehad not lessened their liking for him.
Lady Jess looked after him for a moment, her face still sober andperplexed.
"I ought to be at home, helping mother, this minute; but I'm goingfirst to the corral to speak a word of comfort to poor Beppo, and seehow big a plucking there was. If it was a good yield that will be somuch the better news to tell my dear, and this certainly is the finestplume we ever got. Good! There are some of the boys over there, too,and I'll save time by getting one of them to go up the canyon to John._Hola!_"
Her soliloquy ended in the gay little Spanish salute, and this wasnow instantly answered by a hearty shout of welcome from a group ofrough-garbed men, taking a moment's rest in the shade of the old adobepackinghouse.
As lightly as if she had not already walked a long distance, the girlran to her friends, to be at once caught up by a pair of strong arms andgently placed upon a cushion in the box of an empty wagon.
"But this was your place, Joe Dean. I saw you get up from it."
"It's yours now, Lady Jess. You do me proud. What's the good word?How's old Pedro?"
"Well just plain, every day well. Never been sick a minute. Had allthat climb for nothing; or, maybe, not quite for nothing, because I meta stranger up there and liked him; and saw John Benton as I came down,and--found this! Isn't that a plume to be proud of? Raised right here onour little Sobrante."
"Whew! It's a beauty, sure enough. A dozen like that would be worth atidy sum. How found it?"
"Has anybody seen King Zu? Though, of course, I know it can't be his.He was plucked such a little while ago, nor could he have gotten acrossthe gulch without losing more. Besides, Antonio said 'stole.'"
Then she gave a hasty account of her morning's adventures, during whichmeaning glances were exchanged between the trio of workmen who, by thetime she had finished, had grown as glum as they had before been cheerful.
"Now, what do you think? Is there anybody who'd be mean enough to cutoff my mother's irrigation, on purpose, or steal her feathers? Even poorFerd; I'm sure she's always been good to him and pitied him."
"Ferd has hands. Others have heads," said Joe, as spokesman for therest.
They nodded swift assent.
"Except yourself, Lady Jess, nobody ever sees the 'senor' handle thefeathers, and you not often. Only he and his shadow, foolish Ferd, canmanage the birds, he claims. I've been smoking that in my pipe alongback."
"Oh! Joe, you shouldn't be suspicious of evil."
"No, I shouldn't be anything you don't want me to be, but I am."
"Even if I don't like him very well, because he's a little cross,Antonio Bernal is a good man. He must be. Else my father and now motherwouldn't trust him so. She lets him get all the money for everythingfirst and she has what's left--after you're all paid, I mean."
"Poor little woman!"
"Not poor, exactly, Samson. And it isn't Antonio's fault that thereisn't so much as there used to be when father was here. If there were,mother would carry out all father's plans. She'd irrigate that tractbeyond the arroyo, toward the sand hills, and test it with strawberries,as he meant. There shouldn't be an inch of untilled land on all theranch, if the crops we have paid out just a little better. But, nomatter. As long as you boys get your due wages, we can wait for therest."
There was another exchange of glances which Jessica did not see. Neitherdid she see herder Samson, lying at length on the ground, lift his greatboot and significantly point to a hole in its toe. Nor would she havesurmised his meaning had she done so. Indeed, she suddenly rememberedher errand at the packinghouse and ran to its open
door, but failed.
"How queer! Why should this be locked? I didn't know it ever was. Wherecan the key be?"
"In Antonio Bernal's pocket," said Joe quietly.
"Then even before I found this feather he must have suspected somebodyand taken care of the others. But it's dreadful if we have come toturning keys on one another, here, at dear Sobrante. Well, I'm off tomother, now; and, Joe, Antonio said you should go to help John. Willyou?"
"For you, fast enough, Lady Jess, though I'm about quit of Top-Lofty'sorders."
"Grumbler!" laughed the girl, hurrying away, with her gayety quiterestored by this few minutes' chat with the beloved "boys" who hadpetted her all her life.
They did not laugh, however, as they watched her going, and Joe, risingto do her bidding, slapped his thigh emphatically and remarked:
"I call it the time has come. The longer we put it off the worse itis. Poor little missy! Getting our wages due! That little angel 'dcry the blue out of her pretty eyes if she knew how long 'twas sincewe'd seen the color of our money. Pass the word along, boys, and let'sconfab, to-night, and settle it. Time, about moon-up, in John's shop.How's that?"
"Count me a mutineer," said the ex-sailor, Samson, as he strolledtoward his cattle sheds.
"I'm with you," echoed Marty, departing for his orange grove."Mutiny's an ugly word aboard ship, I'm told, but when psalm-singingSamson takes to using it right here on dry land I reckon the casediffers. Anyhow, if it's a bid 'twixt the little one and Top-Lofty,I'm for the little one every time."
Scruff knew the road home as well as another, and doubtless reasoned inhis burro mind that the sooner he reached there the sooner he would berid of his awkward rider. So he made all speed over the steep descent,though Mr. Hale used his own feet, now and then, as human brakes tocheck the creature's pace; and, whimsically, remonstrated when the joltsbecame too frequent.
"Here, you beast! Hold on! If ever I ride a donkey again just let meknow about it, will you? Keep that front end of yours up, please. I'vea notion of sliding over your head, just to accommodate. Steady, there,steady. I flatter myself I can stick if I can't ride. And we're gettingalong. We're getting along."
Indeed, much earlier than he had hoped for, they were on level groundand had struck out upon that road where Jessica had met the manager, andwhich for some distance followed the tree-bordered arroyo--just then ariver of sand only--leading straight toward a group of buildings and anoasis of greenery most welcome to the stranger's sun-blinded eyes.
"Sobrante ranch, that must be, and the home of my little ostrich rider.I hope she'll be there to greet me, for a tempting spot it looks."
The nearer he approached the more charming it appeared, with its onemodern, vine-covered cottage, and its long stretches of low adobestructures--enough to form a village in themselves--and as dingilyancient as the other was freshly modern.
In reality, these old adobes were remnants of a long-abandoned mission,but still in such excellent repair that they were utilized for theranchman's quarters and for the business of the great estate. AntonioBernal was the only one of all the employees who had his own rooms at"the house," as the cottage was called where the Trents themselveslived.
From the kitchen of this attractive "house" now floated a delectableodor of well-cooked food, and with the reflection that he was alwayshungry nowadays, the visitor crossed to its open window; there came,also, a girlish voice, exclaiming:
"Yes, mother, I'm sure he was a gentleman, though he didn't lookwell. I told him you weren't fond of strangers and had little time togive them, but that I thought you'd make him welcome. Indeed, there'snowhere else for him to go, since his horse is lame and we so far fromeverybody. He lost his trail, he said. Was I right?"
Then his shadow fell across the sun-lighted floor and Jessica facedabout. With a whisk of the saucepan, in which she was scrambling eggs,she added: "Well, right or wrong, here he is!" But she was talking toempty air, for her mother had disappeared.