CHAPTER XVIII
A RED EPISODE
Dr. Marshall's offhand designation of the buckboard as "a team in ahurry" was prophetic, even unto the end.
What Boyar could not accomplish in the way of equine gymnastics inharness, Apache, Collie's pony, could.
Louise was a little fearful for her guests, yet she had confidence inthe driver. The Marshalls apparently saw nothing more than a pair ofvery spirited "real Western horses like one reads about, you know,"until Dr. Marshall, slowly coming out of a kind of anticipatory haze, asBoyar stood on his hind feet and tried to face the buckboard, recognizedthe black horse as Louise's saddle animal. He took a firmer grip on theseat and looked at Collie. The young man seemed to be enjoying himself.There wasn't a line of worry on his clean-cut face.
"Pretty lively," said the doctor.
Collie, with his foot on the brake and both arms rigid, nodded.Moonstone Canon Trail was not a boulevard. He was not to be lured intoconversation. He was giving his whole mind and all of his magnetism tothe team.
Boyar and Apache took advantage of every turn, pitch, steep descent, andford to display the demoniacal ingenuity inspired by their outragedfeelings. They were splendid, obedient saddle-animals. But to be buckledand strapped in irritating harness, and hitched to that four-wheeleddisgrace, a buckboard!...
Anne Marshall chatted happily with Louise, punctuating her livelychatter with subdued little cries of delight as some new turn in thetrail opened on a vista unimaginably beautiful, especially to herEastern eyes.
Young Dr. Marshall, in the front seat with Collie, braced his feet andsmiled. _He_ had had experience, in an East-Side ambulance, but thenthat had been over level streets. He glanced over the edge of the canonroad and his smile faded a little. It faded entirely as the front wheelsheared off a generous shovelful of earth from a sharp upright angle ofthe hill as the team took the turn at a gallop. The young physician hada sense of humor, which is the next best thing to courage, although hehad plenty of his kind of courage also. He brushed the earth from hislap.
"The road needs widening there, anyway," commented Collie, as thoughapologizing.
"I have my--er--repair kit with me," said the genial doctor. "I'm asurgeon."
Collie nodded, but kept his eyes rigidly on the horses. Evidently thisimmaculate, of the white collar and cuffs and the stylish gray tweeds,had "sand."
"They're a little fussy--but I know 'em," said Collie, as Boyar,apparently terror-stricken at a manzanita that he had passed hundreds oftimes, reared, his fore feet pawing space and the traces dangerouslyslack. Louise bit her lower lip and quickly called Anne's attention to aspot of vivid color on the hillside. To Dr. Marshall's surprise, Colliestruck Apache, who was behaving, smartly with the whip. Apache leapedforward, bringing Boyar down to his feet again. The doctor would havebeen inclined to strike Boyar for misbehaving. He saw Collie's wisdomand smiled. To have punished Boyar when already on his hind feet wouldhave been folly.
At the top of the next grade the lathering, restive ponies finallysettled to a stubborn trot. "Mad clean through," said Collie.
"I should say they were behaving well enough," said the doctor, not asmuch as an opinion as to relieve his tense nerves in speech.
"When a bronc' gets to acting ladylike, then is the time to look out,"said Collie. "Boyar and Apache have never been in harness before. Seemskind of queer to 'em."
"What! Never been--Why! Huh! For Heaven's sake, don't let Mrs. Marshallhear that."
* * * * *
Walter Stone and his wife made the Marshalls feel at home immediately.Walter Stone had known Dr. Marshall's father, and he found in the son apleasant living recollection of his old friend. Aunt Eleanor and Louisehad visited with Anne when they were East. She was Anne Winthrop then,and Louise and she had found much in common to enjoy in shopping andsightseeing. Their one regret was that Louise would have to return tothe West before her marriage to the young Dr. Marshall they all admiredso much. There had been vague promises of coming West after "things weresettled," as Anne put it. Which was merely another way of saying, "Afterwe are married and have become enough used to each other to really enjoya long trip West."
The Marshalls had arrived with three years of happiness behind them, andapparently with an aeon or so of happiness to look forward to, for theywere quiet, unassuming young folks, with plenty of money and no desirewhatever to make people aware of it.
The host brought cigars and an extra steamer-chair to the wide veranda."It's much cooler out here. We'll smoke while the girls tell each otherall about it."
"I _should_ like to sit on something solid for a few minutes," said thedoctor. "It was a most amazing drive."
"We're pretty well used to the canon," said Stone. "Yet I can see how itwould strike an Easterner."
"Indeed it did, Mr. Stone. There is a thrill in every turn of it, forme. I shall dream of it."
"Were you delayed at the station?" queried Stone.
"We wired," said the doctor. "It seems that the telegram was notdelivered. Miss Lacharme explained that messages have to wait untilcalled for, unless money is wired for delivering them."
"That is a fact, Doctor. Splendid system, isn't it?"
"I am really sorry that we put Miss Lacharme to so much trouble. She hadto scare up a team on the instant."
"Price, the storekeeper, brought you up, didn't he?"
"I don't think so. Miss Louise called him 'Collie,' I believe. He'd makea splendid army surgeon, that young man! He has nerves like temperedsteel wire, and I never saw such cool strength."
"Oh, that's nothing. Any one could drive Price's horses."
The doctor smiled. "The young man confided to me that their names were'Boyar' and 'Apache,' I believe. They both lived up to the last one'sname."
"Well, I'll be--Here, have a fresh cigar! I want to smoke on that.Hu-m-m! Did that young pirate drive those saddle-animals--drive 'em fromthe station to this rancho--Whew! I congratulate you, Doctor. You'llnever be killed in a runaway. He's a good horseman, but--Well, I'll talkto _him_."
"Pardon me if I ask you not to, Stone. The girls enjoyed it immensely.So did I. I believe the driver did. He never once lost his smile."
"Collie is usually pretty level-headed," said Walter Stone. "He musthave been put to it for horses. Price's team must have been out."
"He's more than level-headed," asserted Dr. Marshall. "He's magnetic. Icould feel confidence radiating from him like sunshine from a brickwall."
"I think he'll amount to something, myself. Everything he tackles hetackles earnestly. He doesn't leave loose ends to be picked up by someone else later. I've had a reason to watch him specially. Three yearsago he was tramping it with a 'pal.' A boy tramp. Now see what he'sgrown to be."
"A _tramp_! No!"
"Fact. He's done pretty well for himself since he's been with us. He hada hard time of it before that."
"I served my apprenticeship in the slums," said Dr. Marshall. "East-Sidehospital. I think that I can also appreciate what you have done forhim."
"Thank you, Doctor,--but the credit belongs with the boy. Hello! Hereare our girls again." And Walter Stone and the doctor rose on theinstant.
"I think I shall call you Uncle Walter," said Anne Marshall, who had notmet Walter Stone until then.
"I'm unworthy," said the rancher, his eyes twinkling. "And I don't wantto be relegated to the 'uncle' class so soon."
"_Thanksawfully_," said Louise.
"Jealous, mouse?"
"Indeed, no. I'm not Mrs. Marshall's husband."
"I have already congratulated the doctor," said Walter Stone, bowing.
"Doctor," said Anne, in her most formal manner. "You're antique. Whydon't you say something bright?"
"I do, every time I call you Anne. I really must go in and brush up abit, as you suggest. You'll excuse me, I'm sure."
"Yes, indeed,--almost with pleasure. And, Doctor, _don't_ wear yourfountain-pen in your white vest pocket. You're not on duty, now
."
In the shadows of the mountain evening they congregated on the verandaand chatted about the East, the West, and incidentally about theproposed picnic they were to enjoy a few days later, when "boots andsaddles" would be the order of the day. "And the trails are not bad,Anne," said Louise. "When you get used to them, you'll forget all aboutthem, but your pony won't. He'll be just as deliberate and anxious aboutyour safety, and his, at the end of the week as he was at thebeginning."
"Imagine! A week of riding about these mountains! How Billy would haveenjoyed it, Doctor."
"Yes. But I believe he is having a pretty good time where he is."
"We wish he could be here, Anne," said Louise. "I've never met yourbrother. He's always been away when I have been East."
"Which has been his misfortune," said Dr. Marshall.
"He writes such beautiful letters about the desert and his miningclaim,--that's his latest fad,--and says he's much stronger. But Ibelieve they all say that--when they have his trouble, you know."
"From Billy's last letter, I should say he was in pretty fair shape,"said the doctor. "He's living outdoors and at a good altitude, somewhereon the desert. He's making money. He posts his letters at a town called'Dagget,' in this State."
"Up above San Berdoo," said Walter Stone. And he straightway driftedinto reverie, gazing at the bright end of his cigar until it faded inthe darkness.
"Hello!" exclaimed Dr. Marshall, leaning forward. "Sounds like theexhaust of a pretty heavy car. I didn't imagine any one would drive thatcanon road after dark."
"Unusual," said Stone, getting to his feet. "Some one in a hurry. I'llturn on the porch-light and defy the mosquitoes."
With a leonine roar and a succeeding clatter of empty cylinders, animmense racing-car stopped at the gate below. The powerful headlightshot a widening pathway through the night. Voices came indistinctly fromthe vicinity of the machine. Before Walter Stone had reached the bottomstep of the porch, a huge figure appeared from out the shadows. In theradiance of the porch-light stood a wonderfully attired stranger. Frockcoat, silk hat, patent leathers, striped trousers, and pearl gaiters, awhite vest, and a noticeable watch-chain adorned the driver of theautomobile. He stood for a minute, blinking in the light. Then he swepthis hat from his head with muscular grace. "Excuse me for intrudin'," hesaid. "I seen this glim and headed for it. Is Mr. Walter Stone atlee-sure?"
"I'm Walter Stone," said the rancher, somewhat mystified.
"My name's Summers, Jack Summers, proprietor of the Rose Girl Mine." AndOverland Red, erstwhile sheriff of Abilene, cowboy, tramp, prospector,gunman, and many other interesting things, proffered a highly engravedcalling-card. Again he bowed profoundly, his hat in his hand, a whitecarnation in his buttonhole and rapture in his heart. He had seen Louiseagain--Louise, leaning forward, staring at him incredulously. Wouldn'tthe Rose Girl be surprised? She was.
"I can't say that I quite understand--" began Stone.
"Why, it's the man who borrowed my pony!" exclaimed Louise.
"Correct, Miss. I--I come to thank you for lendin' me the cayuse thattime."
Walter Stone simply had to laugh. "Come up and rest after your trip upthe canon. Of course, you want to see Collie. He told me about yourfinding the claim. Says you have given him a quarter-interest. I'm gladyou're doing well."
"I took a little run in to Los to get some new tires. The desert eats'em up pretty fast. The Guzzuh, she cast her off hind shoe the otherday. I was scared she'd go lame. Bein' up this way, I thought I'd rollup and see Collie."
"The 'Guzzuh'?" queried Stone. "You rode up, then?"
"Nope. The Guzzuh is me little old racin'-car. I christened her thatright after I got so as I could climb on to her without her pitchin' meoff. She's some bronc' she is."
Overland Red, despite his outward regeneration, was Overland Red still,only a little more so. His overwhelming apparel accentuated hispeculiarities, his humorous gestures, his silent self-consciousness. Butthere was something big, forceful, and wholesouled about the man,something that attracted despite his incongruities.
Anne Marshall was at once--as she told Louise later--"desperatelyinterested." Dr. Marshall saw in Overland a new and exceedingly viriletype. Even gentle Aunt Eleanor received the irrepressible withunmistakable welcome. She had heard much of his history from Collie.Overland was as irresistible as the morning sun. While endeavoringearnestly to "do the genteel," as he had assured Winthrop he would whenhe left him to make this visit, Overland had literally taken them bystorm.
Young Dr. Marshall studied him, racking his memory for a name. Presentlyhe turned to his wife. "What was Billy's partner's name--the miner? I'veforgotten."
"A Mr. Summers, I believe. Yes, I'm sure. Jack Summers, Billy called himin his letters."
"Just a minute," said the doctor, turning to Overland, who sat,huge-limbed, smiling, red-visaged, happy. "Pardon me. You said Mr. JackSummers, I believe? Do you happen to know a Mr. Winthrop, BillyWinthrop?"
"Me? What, Billy? Billy Winthrop? Say, is this me? I inhaled a whole lotof gasoline comin' up that grade, but I ain't feelin' dizzy. BillyWinthrop? Why--" And his exclamation subsided as he asked cautiously,"Did you know him?"
"I am his sister," said Anne Marshall.
Overland was dumbfounded. "His sister," he muttered. "The one he writ toin New York. Huh! Yes, me and Billy's pardners."
"Is he--is he better?" asked Anne hesitatingly.
"Better! Say, lady, excuse me if I tell you he's gettin' so blame friskythat he's got me scared. Why, I left him settin' on a rock eatin' asardine san'wich with one hand and shootin' holes in all the tin cans insight with the other. 'So long, Red!' he hollers as I lit out with theburro to cross the range. 'So long, and don't let your feet slip.' And_Pom!_ goes the .45 that he was jugglin' and another tin can passedover. He takes a bite from the san'wich and then, _Pom!_ goes the gunagain and another tin can bites the dust, jest as free and easy as if hewasn't keepin' guard over thirty or forty thousand dollars' worth ofgold-dust and trouble, and jest as if he ain't got no lungs at all."
"Billy must have changed a little," ventured Dr. Marshall, smiling.
"Changed? Excuse me, ladies. But when I first turned my lamps on him inLos, I says to myself if there wasn't a fella with one foot in the graveand the other on a banana-peel, I was mistook. And listen! He come outto the Mojave with me. He jest almost cried to come. I was scared it wasvi'lets and 'Gather at the River,' without the melodeum, for him. Butyou never see a fella get such a chest! Search me if I knows where hegot it from, for he wasn't much bigger around in the works than amosquito when I took him up there. And eat! My Gosh, he can eat! And acomplexion like a Yaqui. And he can sleep longer and harder and louderthan a corral of gradin' mules on Saturday night! 'Course he's slimyet, but it's the kind of slim like rawhide that you could hobble aelephant with. And, say, he's a pardner on your life! Believe me, andI'm listenin' to myself, too."
"His lungs are better, then?"
"Lungs? He ain't got none. They're belluses--prime California skirtin'leather off the back. Lady, that kid is a wonder."
"I'm awfully glad Billy is better. He _must_ be, judging from what youtell me."
"I wisht I'd 'a' had him runnin' the 'Guzzuh' instead of that littlechicken-breasted chaffer they three-shelled on to me in Los Angeles. Ihired him because they said I 'd better take him along until I was somebetter acquainted with the machine. The Guzzuh ain't no ordinarybronc'."
"The 'Guzzuh'?" queried Dr. Marshall.
"Uhuh. That's what I christened her. She's a racer. She's sixtyhoss-power, and sometimes I reckon I could handle sixty hosses easier toonce than I could her. We was lopin' along out in the desert, 'boutfifty miles an hour by the leetle clock on the dashboard, when all of asudden she lays back her ears and she bucks. I leans back and keeps herhead up, but it ain't no use. She gives a jump or two and says'_Guzzuh!_' jest like that, and quits. I climbs out and looked her over.She sure was balky. I was glad she said _somethin'_, if it was only'Guzzuh,' instead of
quittin' on me silent and scornful. Sounded likeshe was apologizin' for stoppin' up like that. I felt of her chest andshe was pretty much het up. When she cooled off, I started hereasy--sort of grazin' along pretendin' we wasn't goin' to lope again.When she got her second wind I give her her head, and she let out andloped clean into the desert town, without makin' a stumble or castin' ashoe. Paid three thousand for her in Los. She is guaranteed to do eightymiles on the level, and she does a whole lot of other things that ain'tjest on the level. She'd climb a back fence if you spoke right to her. Asand-storm ain't got nothin' on her when she gets her back up."
"Your car must be unique," suggested Walter Stone.
"Nope. She ain't a 'Yew-neck.' I forget her brand. I ain't had her verylong. But I can run her now better than that littletwo-dollar-and-a-half excuse they lent me in Los. He loses his nervecomin' up the canon there. You see the Guzzuh got to friskin' round theturns on her hind feet. So I gives him a box of candy to keep him quietand takes the reins myself. I got my foot in the wrong stirrup on thestart--was chokin' off her wind instead of feedin' her. Then I got myfoot on the giddap-dingus and we come. The speed-clock's limit is ninetymiles an hour and we busted the speed clock comin' down that lastgrade. But we're here."
Dr. Marshall and Walter Stone gazed at each other. They laughed.Overland smiled condescendingly. Anne Marshall had recourse to herhandkerchief, but Louise did not smile.
"Does Billy ever drive your car?" asked Anne Marshall presently.
"He drives her in the desert and in the hills some. He drove her into asand-hill once clean up to her withers. When he came back,--he kind ofwent ahead a spell to look over the ground, so he says,--he apologizesto her like a gent. Oh, he likes her more 'n I do. Bruck twosearchlights at one hundred dollars a glim, but that's nothin'. Oh, yes,Billy's got good nerve."
Overland shifted his foot to his other knee and leaned back luxuriously,puffing fluently at his cigar.
"Billy did get to feelin' kind of down, a spell back. He had a argumentwith a Gophertown gent about our claim. I wasn't there at the time, butwhen I come back, I tied up Billy's leg--"
"Goodness! His leg?" exclaimed Anne.
"Yes, ma'am. The Gophertown gent snuck up and tried to stick Billy upwhen Billy was readin' po'try--some of mine. Billy didn't scare so easy.He reaches for his gun. Anyhow, the Gophertown gent's bullet hit a rock,and shied up and stung Billy in the leg. Billy never misses a tin cannow'days, and the gent was bigger than a can. We never seen nothin' ofhim again."
"Gracious, it's perfectly awful!" cried Anne.
"Yes, lady. That's what Billy said. He said he didn't object to gettin'shot at, but he did object to gettin' hit, especially when he wasreadin' po'try. Said it kind of bruck his strand of thought. That guywas no gent."
Walter Stone again glanced at Dr. Marshall. Aunt Eleanor rose, biddingthe men good-night. Louise and Mrs. Marshall followed somewhatreluctantly. Stone disappeared to return with cigars, whiskey andseltzer, which he placed at Overland's elbow. "My friend Dr. Marshall isan Easterner," he said.
Overland waved a comprehending hand, lit another cigar, and settledback. "Now I can take the hobbles off and talk nacheral. When you gentswant me to stop, just say 'Guzzuh.'"