CHAPTER XVI
A DESERT STORM
PERHAPS no one except an Indian could have found Jack so swiftly, andyet Carlos was engaged in the search for her over an hour. For the girlhad gone some distance beyond the place of their last meeting and stillhad found no trace of their lost stock.
She was vexed for a moment at Carlos' reappearance, but gave no sign.Indeed she managed to say "Thank you" when he briefly explained that hehad taken Olive near enough home to have her make the rest of thejourney without an escort and then that she had sent him back tocontinue the hunt. Not a suggestion did he give of Olive's real messagefor Jack to return home immediately.
A girl with Jacqueline Ralston's knowledge and experience of westernlife should have required no such message had she taken her usual normalinterest in her surroundings. For there was a sufficient forewarning ofwhat was approaching for her to have understood. Nevertheless, for oncein her life Jack was almost completely oblivious of the landscape and ofthe conditions of the sky and atmosphere. For her conversation withOlive had made her more unhappy and puzzled than she had previouslybeen, since she had surely succeeded only in making the tangle harderfor any one of them to unravel.
Now and then, as she continued her ride beyond the end of the RainbowCreek and into the broader sweep of their prairie lands, the girl almostforgot the original object of her day's excursion, only feeling thatmore than anything she desired to be outdoors and alone. So that insteadof leading the way as she had done in the morning she now allowed theboy Carlos to take his own trail, following without much thought closebehind.
By far the larger portion of the broad area of the Ralston ranch wascultivated land, to the extent that the fields beyond the Lodge weremost of them planted with alfalfa grass and other grains according totheir fertility. Occasionally there were barren spaces of land where thesands from the desert had settled too deeply for any growing thing, andas these were at the outermost edges of the ranch Jim Colter had leftthem undisturbed, waiting for a time when there should be less worknearer home.
Therefore when Jack suddenly discovered her horse ploughing heavilythrough one of these sandy stretches she realized that they were fartheraway from Rainbow Lodge than she had appreciated. And certainly it wasnow time to turn back. She was afraid that she could hardly manage toarrive at home before dinner time and that would mean a scolding fromJim, who would hardly consider the rescue of a few lost mares and coltsa sufficient excuse for making the rest of them uncomfortable anduneasy.
Jack smiled a little ruefully, checking her horse and allowing him a fewmoments of rest. She had not even that good excuse to take home withher, for she had not seen a trace of the stray stock and had reallyscarcely looked for them since luncheon. But then Carlos must have beenmore attentive--she was really surprised at the boy's apparent interestsince he rejoined her. He had taken the entire initiative. Even now hewas some distance ahead and going too fast for his horse's strength insuch difficult ground.
"Carlos, Carlos," the girl called as loudly as possible. Then shepatted Romeo's neck with swift penitence. Ordinarily she was quick toremember the comfort of her own mount, but today she had been mostextraordinarily selfish. However, it was odd that in spite of his longday's travel her horse did not seem to wish to stand still even for amoment. He kept pawing the earth, sniffing and turning half way round inhis eagerness to start for home.
The mystery needed only a little time for solving. All afternoon in asubconscious fashion Jack had realized that the air was unpleasantly hotand stifling and that the sun had not been shining since luncheon. Thelittle cloud which she had first noticed in the west, a queerfunnel-shaped cloud, had been constantly growing larger. Of course itmeant a storm, but it was still far enough away not to be immediatelyalarming. However, they must get home as soon as possible, and Carlosevidently had not heard her cry.
Twice again Jack shouted his name, but as he did not turn his head shetouched her pony lightly with her riding whip and rode after him. Sheregretted now that she had allowed the boy to get so far ahead of her,for her own few minutes' delay had naturally increased the distancebetween them. Yet Jack did not feel that it would be fair for her toturn back without informing her companion. It seemed almost cruel toforce her jaded horse at such a pace through the loose sands; yet howelse could she ever hope to catch up with her escort? Carlos did notusually show such poor judgment with his own steed.
Then finally it occurred to the girl that the Indian boy was refusingdeliberately to answer her as a punishment for their trouble earlier inthe day. If this were true she was foolish to waste any more time andenergy in pursuit of him. She could get back home alone long beforebedtime by allowing her horse to walk for a part of the way. Then if thestorm should overtake her, she would not be far enough from the Lodge tohave it make any serious difference. As for her scolding, well, Jackfelt that she would have to accept that as philosophically as possibleunder the circumstances. For Jim would have a double grievance, since hedid not like any one of them to ride for any distance with only Carlosas a companion.
Shrugging her shoulders, too tired really to be angry again that day,Jack called once more. This time, to her surprise, Carlos actually rosein his saddle, pointing with evident excitement toward someindeterminate objects at a little distance off. Jack could not see whatthey were, although she guessed at once. After all, their hard day'swork had not been in vain! Carlos had assuredly discovered the loststock. True they must have wandered beyond the confines of the Rainbowranch, since Jack was familiar enough with their own boundary line toknow that Carlos was even at this instant passing beyond the wire fencewhich circumscribed it.
Their stock oftentimes got outside the ranch by mysterious methods oftheir own. Therefore if Carlos believed that he saw the mares they hadbeen searching for the entire day, it would be foolish to turn backwithout them. It was unfortunate that the heavy cloud in the west seemedto be driving toward them with so much greater speed in these lastfifteen minutes. Still if it should reach their vicinity before theycould get the lost mares and colts into some kind of shelter the animalsmust perish. For the mares would never desert their young and the coltscould never endure the force of the wind and the great blankets of sandthat would probably sweep over and cover them.
Jack was not mistaken in one point of view. She knew, as only aWesterner could, that the storm approaching was not rain, but wind, andthat it might mean a sand storm in the desert.
A saner judgment however would have suggested that Jacqueline Ralstonstart back home at once, leaving Carlos to follow her. But sheappreciated the tremendous difficulty that the boy would have inrounding up the frightened animals alone and forcing them into someplace of refuge. Really, it never occurred to Jack not to help. She hadbeen so accustomed to just such work on the ranch from the time she wasa small girl.
So on she rode now, straight after the Indian boy, perhaps for an eighthof a mile or more beyond their boundary, yet still the loose thick sandswhich were whirling and eddying in gusts at her horse's feet.
And always Carlos kept as far as possible ahead.
Jack finally came to a position where she found out the mistake whichshe believed both she and the Indian boy had innocently made. The darkobjects ahead of them had been only a group of close growing sage bushesthat they had mistaken for the lost stock. Crying out once more to theboy to turn back, Jack now made no pretense of waiting to discoverwhether or not he heeded her. For the wind was blowing more fiercely,bringing with it the heat of a sirocco, and the sand was pouring intoher eyes and ears, almost blinding and choking her. Beyond her therewere small sand hills and ravines where a few moments before the earthhad lain smooth as a carpet.
Jack perfectly understood that the full fury of the storm had not yetreached her vicinity. Her effort must be to get beyond the sand plains,back if possible to the neighborhood of Rainbow Creek, where behind oneof its great rocks she might find partial shelter.
But her heart was pounding uncomfortably and her fair sk
in felt asthough it were being pricked by innumerable needles. Moreover, Jack wasfrightened. She knew just what a sandstorm meant on the westernprairies. She was not far from the edge of a portion of barren landsthat formed a kind of miniature desert, and the worst of the situationwas that she herself was very tired and that through her own selfishforgetfulness her horse was even more so. Every foot of the way the girlstrove to encourage the exhausted animal. Yet it was impossible to makereal headway in such a soil while buffeted by such a gale.
Then Jacqueline Ralston heard a strange noise and, as she had heard itonce before in her life, she must have recognized it had not her othersenses also added their warning.
The roar and rush behind her were seldom equalled by any other kind oftempest.
For half an instant rising in her saddle the girl glanced back. Carloswas not far off now and spurring his horse remorselessly.
For beyond the boy at no great distance and driving rapidly forward wasan immense dark yellow cloud. The peculiarity of this cloud was notmerely in its color, size and shape, but that instead of being overheadit almost touched the surface of the land.
The girl slid off her horse.
"Down, down," she said quietly, pulling hard on her bridle. And then asher horse's knees touched the ground before him, Jack flung herself facedownward, clutching at the loose earth for endurance and strength.
The cloud would be upon them in another moment with terribledestructive force. For not alone did it represent the fury of the wind,but was formed of a mountain of sand driven before it.
A sound, which the girl guessed must have come from Carlos, suggestedthat he was following her example. Yet she dared not look back to see.Now the sand storm was upon them.
The thunder and terror of it are past understanding.
One chance only Jack believed they had for their lives. If the sandcloud was sufficiently high above the earth not to touch them they wouldbe safe. Otherwise they would be driven before it like chips of straw.But of any actual, conscious sensation which she suffered as the cloudpassed over her, Jack was not aware. She knew that she was praying theinstant before, but at the time itself she only clung the closer andsank deeper down into the earth, which is the final refuge of us all.
The moment following, however, the girl felt as if she had been bruisedand beaten by a thousand furies. Her body ached with fatigue, her tonguefelt scorched and swollen and her eyes smarted with intense pain. Therewas no further danger; storms of this character come with one terribledriving blast of wind and then go straight on in their course.
Jack blinked and stirred sufficiently to turn over and see that herhorse was safe. As well as its master a western broncho understands howto meet strange weather conditions that would bring destruction to anyother animal.
With a sigh of thankfulness the girl then stretched herself morecomfortably along the ground, resting one elbow in the sand and leaningher head upon it. For Carlos and his pony were equally safe andevidently not so frightened as she was, for the boy was alreadystaggering toward her dragging his horse by the bridle.
The girl was not yet able to speak. Yet she watched Carlos withindifference and entirely without suspicion as he came to within a fewfeet of her and reaching downward pulled her horse on to his feet again.
The horse staggered and Jack had half an inclination to ask the boy towait a little while before forcing him to stand. However she did notseem to have strength enough even to make this protest. Nor did shespeak at first when she saw Carlos leading the two horses away from theplace where she was resting.
What on earth did the boy have in mind to do? It was useless to try tobrush the sand from the horse's coats and there was no water near enoughto give them each a drink.
Jack frowned, then she not only sat up but rose quickly on her feet. ForCarlos had mounted his own pony and without a word to her was ridingaway, taking her horse with him. The girl called, but again the Indianboy was afflicted with the curious deafness that had affected him allafternoon. Then Jack ran after him, stumbling and crying as she ran. Butshe was far too exhausted to make much headway and still Carlos wouldnot glance around. He was not even going in the direction of the RainbowRanch.
Just how long her futile chase actually continued Jacqueline Ralston didnot realize. So long as she could manage to keep the boy in sight shefollowed him, floundering in the sands and uncertain of her direction.However, when he was so far away that she could no longer see him, Jacksat down again. What annoying freak had possessed Carlos to ride offwith her horse without offering any explanation? Well, he woulddoubtless return within a short time, so there was nothing to do exceptwait.