_CHAPTER NINE_
That faint and rhythmic chiming which Connor had heard from the mountainwhen he first saw the valley now came again through the gate, moreclearly. There was something familiar about the sound--yet Connor couldnot place it.
"Did you mark?" said Ephraim, shaking his head. "Did you see the coltshy at the white rock as he ran? In my household that could neverhappen; and yet Jacob does well enough, for the blood of Harith is asstubborn as old oak and wild as a wolf. But your gift, sir"--and here heturned with much respect toward Connor--"is a great one. I have neverseen Harith's sons come to a man as Abra came to you."
He was surprised to see the stranger staring toward the gate as if hewatched a ghost.
"He did not gallop," said Connor presently, and his voice faltered. "Heflowed. He poured himself through the air."
He swept a hand across his forehead and with great effort calmed themuscles of his face.
"Are there more horses like that in the valley?"
Ephraim hesitated, for there was such a glittering hunger in the eyes ofthis stranger that it abashed him. Vanity, however, brushed scrupleaway.
"More like Abra in the valley? So!"
He seemed to hunt for superlatives with which to overwhelm hisquestioner.
"The worst in my household is Tabari, the daughter of Numan, and she wasfoaled lame in the left foreleg. But if ten like Abra were placed inone corral and Tabari in the other, a wise man would give the ten andtake the one and render thanks that such good fortune had come his way."
"Is it possible?" exclaimed Connor in that same, small, choked voice.
"I speak calmly," said Ephraim gravely. He added with some hesitation:"But if I must tell the whole truth, I shall admit that my household isnot like the household of the blood of Rustir. Just as she was the queenof horses, so those of her blood are above other horses as the master isabove me. Yet, if ten like Tabari were placed in one corral and thestallion Glani were placed in another, I suppose that a wise man wouldgive the ten for the one."
He added with a sigh: "But I should not have such wisdom."
Connor smiled.
"And at that rate it would require a hundred like Abra to buy Glani?" heasked.
"A thousand," said the old man instantly, "and then the full price wouldnot be paid. I have already asked the master to cross him with Hira. Hewill answer me soon; one touch of Glani's blood will lift the strain inmy household. My colts are good mettle--but the fire, the soul ofGlani!"
He bowed his head.
"Ah, they are coming, Jacob and Joseph."
His keen ear heard a sound which was not audible to Connor for severalmoments; then two gray horses swept into the circle of the firelight,and from the mare which led Abra by several yards, a huge Negrodismounted.
"If you are Joseph," the gambler said, "I suppose Jacob has already toldyou about me. My name is Connor. I've been hunting up the Girard River,struck across the mountains yonder, and here I've brought up with a lamemule and a lamer horse. The point is that I want to rest up in yourvalley until my animals can go on. Is it possible?"
While he spoke the giant watched him with eyes which squinted in theirintensity, but when he ended Joseph answered not a word. Connorremembered now what he had heard of the deaf mute who alone went backand forth from the Garden of Eden, and his heart fell. It was talking toa face of stone.
In the meantime Joseph continued to examine the stranger. From head tofoot the little, bright eyes moved, leisurely, and Connor grew hot as heendured it. When the survey was completed to his own satisfaction,Joseph went first to the mule and next to the horse, lifting their feetone by one, then running his hands over their legs. After this he turnedto Jacob and his great fingers glided through the characters of thelanguage of the mute, bunching, knotting, darting out in a fluidswiftness.
"Joseph says," translated Ephraim, "that your horse is lame, but that hecan climb the hills if you go on foot; the mule is not lame at all, butis pretending, because he is tired."
An oath rose up in the throat of Connor, but he checked it against histeeth and smiled at Joseph. The big man hissed through his teeth and hismare sprang to his side. She was not more than fourteen two, andslenderly made compared with Abra, yet she had borne the great bulk ofJoseph with ease before, and now she was apparently ready to carry himagain. He dropped his hand upon her withers, and facing Connor, swepthis arm out in a broad gesture of dismissal. Vaguely the gambler noticedthis, but his real interest centered on the form of the mare. He wasseeing her not with that unwieldy bulk crushing her back, but with afly-weight jockey mounted on a racing pad riding her past the grandstand. He was hearing the odds which the bookies offered; he waswatching those odds drop by leaps and bounds as he hammered away atthem, betting in lumps of hundreds and five hundreds, staking hisfortune on his first "sure thing." Even as she stood passive, tossingher nose, he knew her speed, and it took his breath. Abra himself wouldwalk away from ordinary company, but this gray mare--slowly Connorlooked back to the face of Joseph and saw that the giant was waiting tosee his command obeyed. For the first time he noted the cartridge beltstrung across the fellow's gaunt middle and the holster in which pulledthe weight of a forty-five. In case of doubt, here was a cogent reasonto hurry a loiterer. To persuade the giant would never have been easy,but to persuade him through an interpreter made the affair impossible.Struggling for a loophole of escape, he absentmindedly unsnapped fromhis watch chain the little ivory talisman, the ape head, and commencedto finger it. It had been his constant companion for years and in ameasure he connected his luck with it.
"My friend," said Connor to Ephraim, "you see my position? But if Ican't do better is there any objection to my using this fire of yoursfor cooking? The fire, at least, is outside the valley."
Even this question Ephraim apparently did not feel qualified to answer.He turned first to the gigantic mute and conversed with him at somelength; his own fluent signals were answered by single movements on thepart of Joseph, and Connor recognized the signs of dissent.
"I have told him everything," said Ephraim, turning again to Connor andshaking his head in sympathy. "And how Abra came to you, but though thehorse trusted you, Joseph does not wish you to stay. I am sorry."
Connor looked through the gate into the darkness of the Garden of Eden;at the entrance to his promised land he was to be turned back. In hisdespair he opened his palm and looked down absently at the littlegrinning ape head of ivory. Even while he was deep in thought he feltthe silence which settled over the three men, and when he looked up hesaw the glittering eyes of Joseph fixed upon the trinket. That instantnew hope came to Connor; he closed his hand over the ape head, andturning to Ephraim he said:
"Very well. If there's nothing else for me to do, I'll take the chanceof getting through the mountains with my lame nags."
As he spoke he threw the reins over the neck of the chestnut; but beforehe could put his foot in the stirrup Joseph was beside him and touchedhis shoulder.
"Wait!" said he, and the gambler paused with astonishment. The mask ofthe mute which he had hitherto kept on his face now fell from it.
"Let me see," the giant was saying, and held out his hand for the ivoryimage.
The pulse of Connor doubled its beat--but with his fingers still closedhe said:
"The ivory head is an old companion of mine and has brought me a greatdeal of luck."
The torchlight changed in the eyes of Joseph as the sun glints andglimmers on watered silk.
"I would not hurt it," he said, and made a gingerly motion to show howlight and deft his fingers could be.
"Very well," said Connor, "but I rarely let it out of my hand."
He stepped closer to the firelight and exposed the little carving again.It was a curious bit of work, with every detail nicely executed;pinpoint emeralds were inset for eyes, the lips grinned back from tinyfangs of gold, and the swelling neck suggested the powerful ape body ofthe model. In the firelight the teeth and eyes flashed.
Jose
ph grinned in sympathy. Ephraim and Jacob also had drawn close, andthe white man saw in the three faces one expression: they had becomechildren before a master, and when Connor placed the trinket in thegreat paw of Joseph the other two flashed at him glances of envy. As forthe big man, he was transformed.
"Speak truth," he said suddenly. "Why do you wish to enter the Garden?"
"I've already told you, I think," said Connor. "It's to rest up untilthe horse and mule are well again."
The glance of the huge man, which had hitherto wandered from the trinketto Connor's face, now steadied brightly upon the latter.
"There must be another reason."
Connor felt himself pressed to the wall.
"Look at the thing you have in your hand, Joseph. You are askingyourself: 'What is it? Who made it? See how the firelight glitters onit--perhaps there is life in it!'"
"Ah!" sighed the three in one breath.
"Perhaps there is power in it. I have used it well and it has brought mea great deal of good luck. But you would like to know all those things,Joseph. Now look at the gate to the Garden!"
He waved to the lofty and dark cleft before them.
"It is like a face to me. People live behind it. Who are they? Who isthe master? What does he do? What is his power? That is another reasonwhy I wish to go in; and why should you fear me? I am alone; I amunarmed."
It seemed that Joseph learned more from Connor's expression than fromhis words.
"The law is the will of David."
The Garden became to Connor as the forbidden room to Bluebeard's wife;it tempted him as a high cliff tempts the climber toward a fall. Hemustered a calm air and voice.
"That is a matter I can arrange with your master. He may have laws tokeep out thieves, but certainly he has nothing against honest men."
Joseph shrugged his big shoulders, but Ephraim answered: "The will ofDavid never changes. I am no longer young, but since I have been oldenough to remember, I have never seen a man either come into the valleyor leave it except Joseph."
The solemnity of the old man staggered Connor. He felt his resolution toenter at any cost waver, and then Abra, the young stallion, came to hisside and looked in his face.
It was the decisive touch. The life which the devotee would risk for hisGod, or the patriot for his country, the gambler was willing to venturefor the sake of a "sure thing."
"Let us exchange gifts," said Connor; "I give you the ivory head. It maybring you good luck. You give me the right to enter the valley and Iaccept any good or evil that comes to me."
The huge fingers of Joseph curled softly over the image.
"Beware of the law!" cried Ephraim. "And the hand of the master!"
The giant shrank, but he looked at Ephraim with sullen defiance.
"Come," he said to Connor. "This is on your own head."