_CHAPTER THIRTY_
First, a white flash beneath the shadow of the arched way, came a coltat full run, stopping short with four sprawling, braced feet at thesight of the strangers. It was not fear so much as surprise, for now itpricked its ears and advanced a dainty step or two. Ruth cried out withdelight at the fawn-like beauty of the delicate creature. The Eden Graywas almost white in the little colt, and with its four dark stockings itseemed, when it ran, to be stepping on thin air. That impression washelped by the comparatively great length of the legs.
Next came the mother, walking, as though she was quite confident that noharm could come to her colt in this home of all good things, but withher fine head held high and her eyes luminous with concern, a littleanxious because the youngster had been out of sight for a moment.
And behind them strode David with Elijah at his side.
Ruth could never have recognized Elijah as the statuesque figure whichhad confronted David on the previous day. He was now bowing and scrapinglike some withered old man, striving to make a good impression on acreditor to whom a great sum was owing. She remembered then what Davidhad told her earlier in the day about the judging of Timeh, the daughterof Juri. This, then, was the crisis, and here was Elijah striving toconciliate the grim judge. The old man kept up a running fire of talkwhile David walked slowly around the colt. Ruth wondered why the masterof the Garden did not cry out with pleasure at sight of the beautifulcreature. Connor had drawn her back a little.
"You see that six months' mare?" he said softly, with a tremor in hisvoice. "I'd pay ten thousand flat for her the way she stands. Tenthousand--more if it were asked!"
"But David doesn't seem very pleased."
"Bah! He's bursting with pleasure. But he won't let on because hedoesn't want to flatter old Elijah."
"If he doesn't pass the colt do you know what happens?"
"What?"
"They kill it!"
"I'd a lot rather see them kill a man!" snarled Connor. "But they won'ttouch _that_ colt!"
"I don't know. Look at poor Elijah!"
David, stopping in his circular walk, now stood with his arms folded,gazing intently at Timeh. Elijah was a picture of concern. The whites ofhis eyes flashed as his glances rolled swiftly from the colt to themaster. Once or twice he tried to speak, but seemed too nervous to givevoice.
At length: "A true daughter of Juri, O David. And was there ever a morehonest mare than Juri? The same head, mark you, deep from the eye to theangle of the jaw. And under the head--come hither, Timeh!"
Timeh flaunted her heels at the sun and then came with short, mincingsteps.
"At six months," boasted Elijah, "she knows my voice as well as hermother. Stay, Juri!"
The inquisitive mare had followed Timeh, but now, reassured, she droppedher head and began cropping the turf of the patio. Still, from the playof her ears, it was evident that Timeh was not out of the mother'sthoughts for an instant.
"Look you, David!" said Elijah. He raised the head of Timeh by puttinghis hand beneath her chin.
"I can put my whole hand between the angles of her jaw! And see how herears flick back and forth, like the twitching ears of a cat! Ha, is notthat a sign?"
He allowed the head to fall again, but he caught it under his arms andfaced David in this manner, throwing out his hand in appeal. Still Davidspoke not a word.
With a gesture he made Elijah move to one side. Then he stepped toTimeh. She was uneasy at his coming, but under the first touch of hishand Timeh became as still as rock and looked at her mother in a scaredand helpless fashion. It seemed that Juri understood a great crisis wasat hand; for now she advanced resolutely and with her dainty muzzle shefollowed with sniffs the hand of David as it moved over the little colt.He seemed to be seeing with his finger-tips alone, kneading under theskin in search of vital information. Along the muscles those dexterousfingers ran, and down about the heavy bones of the joints, where theylingered long, seeming to read a story in every crevice.
Never once did he speak, but Ruth felt that she could read words in thebrightening, calm, and sudden shadows across his face.
Elijah accompanied the examination with a running-fire of comment.
"There is quality in those hoofs, for you! None of your gray-blue stufflike the hoofs of Tabari, say, but black as night and dense as rock.Aye, David, you may well let your hand linger down that neck. She willstep freely, this Timeh of mine, and stride as far as a mountain-lioncan leap! Withers high enough. That gives a place for the ligaments totake hold. A good long back, but not too long to carry a weight. Shewill not be one of your gaunt-bellied horses, either; she will have windand a bottom for running. She will gallop on the third day of thejourney as freely as on the first. And she will carry her tail well out,always, with that big, strong dock."
He paused a moment, for David was moving his hands over the hindlegs andlingering long at the hocks. And the face of Elijah grew convulsed withanxiety.
"Is there anything wrong with those legs?" murmured Ruth to Connor.
"Not a thing that I see. Maybe the stifles are too straight. I thinkthey might angle out a bit more. But that's nothing serious. Besides, itmay be the way Timeh is standing. What's the matter?"
She was clinging to his arm, white-faced.
"If that colt has to die I--I'll want to kill David Eden!"
"Hush, Ruth! And don't let him see your face!"
David moved back from Timeh and again folded his arms.
"The body of the horse is one thing," ran on Elijah uneasily, "and thespirit is another. Have you not told us, David, that a curious coltmakes a wise horse? That is Timeh! Where will you guess that I found herwhen I went to bring her to you even now? She had climbed up the face ofthe cliff, far up a crevice where a man would not dare to go. I darednot even cry out to her for fear she would fall if she turned her head.To have climbed so high was almost impossible, but how would she comedown when there was no room for her to turn?
"I was dizzy and sick with grief. But Timeh saw me, and down she came,without turning. She lifted her hoofs and put them down as a cat liftsand puts down wet paws. And in a moment she was safe on the meadow andfrisking around me. Juri had been so worried that she made Timeh stoprunning and nosed her all over to make sure that she was unhurt by thatclimb. But tell me: will not a colt that risks its life to climb for atuft of grass, run till its heart breaks for the master in later years?"
For the first time David spoke.
"Is she so wise a colt?" he said.
"Wise?" cried Elijah, his eye shining with joy at the opening which hehad made. "I talk to her as I talk to a man. She is as full of tricks asa dog. Look, now!"
He leaned over and pretended to pick at the grass, whereat Timeh stoleup behind him and drew out a handkerchief from his hip pocket. Off sheraced and came back in a flashing circle to face Elijah with the clothfluttering in her teeth.
"So!" cried Elijah, taking the handkerchief again and looking eagerly atthe master of the Garden. "Was there ever a colt like my Timeh?"
"The back legs," said David slowly.
Elijah had been preparing himself to speak again, with a smile. He wasarrested in the midst of a gesture and his face altered like a man atthe banquet at the news of a death.
"The hind legs, David," he echoed hollowly. "But what of them? They area small part of the whole! And they are not wrong. They are not verywrong, oh my master!"
"The hocks are sprung in and turned a little."
"A very little. Only the eye of David could see it and know that it iswrong!"
"A small flaw makes the stone break. At a rotten knot-hole the greattree snaps in the storm. And a small sin may undermine a good man. Thehind legs are wrong, Elijah."
"To be sure. In a colt. Many things seem wrong in a colt, but in thegrown horse they disappear!"
"This fault will not disappear. It is the set of the joint and that cannever be changed. It can only grow worse."
Elijah, staring straight ahead, was searching h
is brain, but that brainwas numbed by the calamity which had befallen him. He could only strokethe lovely head of the little colt and pray for help.
"Yesterday," he said at length in a trembling voice, "Elijah, as a fool,spoke words which angered his master. Back on my head I call them now.David, do not judge Timeh with a wrathful heart.
"Let the sins of Elijah fall on the head of Elijah, but let Timeh gounpunished for my faults."
"You grow old, Elijah, and you forget. The judgment of David is nevercolored by his own likes and dislikes, his own wishes and prejudice. Hesees the right, and therefore his judgments are true."
"Aye, David, but truth is not merciful, and blessed above all things ismercy. When you see Timeh, think of Elijah. How he has watched over thecolt, and loved it, and played with it, and taught it, by the hours, theproper manners for a colt and a mare of the Garden of Eden."
"That is true. It is a well-mannered colt."
Elijah caught at a new straw of hope.
"Also, in the field, if two colts race home for water and Timeh is one,she reaches the water first--always. She comes to me like a child. Inthe morning she slips out of the paddock, and coming to my window, sheputs in her head and calls me with a whinny as soft as the voice of aman. Then I arise and go out to her and to Juri."
Ruth was weeping openly, her hand closed hard on the arm of Connor; andshe felt the muscles along that arm contract. She almost loved thegambler for his rage at the inexorable David.
"Consider Juri, also," said Elijah. "Seven times--I numbered them on myfingers and remembered--seven times when the horses were brought beforeyou in the morning, you have called to Juri and mounted her for themorning ride--that was before Glani was raised to his full strength. Andalways the master has said:
"'Stout-hearted Juri! She pours out her strength for her rider as agenerous host pours out his wine!'"
David frowned, but plainly he was touched.
"Juri!" he called, and when the noble mare came to him, he laid his handon her mane.
"Who has spoken of Juri? Surely I am not judging her this day. It wasMatthew who judged her when she was a foal of six months."
"And it was Matthew," added Elijah hastily, "who loved her above allhorses!"
"Ah!" muttered David, deeply moved.
"Consider the heart of Juri," went on Elijah, timidly following this newthread of argument. "When the mares neigh and the colts come running,there will be none to gallop to her side. When she goes out in themorning there will be no daughter to gallop around and around her,tossing her head and her heels. And when she comes home at night therewill be no tired foal leaning against her side for weariness."
"Peace, Elijah! You speak against the law."
In spite of himself, the glance of Elijah turned slowly and sullenlyuntil it rested upon Ruth Manning. David followed the direction of thatlook and he understood. There stood the living evidence that he hadbroken the law of the Garden at least once. He flushed darkly.
"The colt's gone," said Connor in a savagely-controlled murmur to thegirl. "That devil has made up his mind. His pride is up now!"
Elijah, too, seemed to realize that he had thrown away his last chance.
He could only stretch out his hands with the tears streaming down hiswrinkled face and repeat in his broken voice: "Mercy, David, mercy forTimeh and Juri and Elijah!"
But the face of David was iron.
"Look at Juri," he commanded. "She is flawless, strong, sound of hoofand heart and limb. And that is because her sire and her mother beforeher were well seen to. No narrow forehead has ever been allowed to comeinto the breed of the Eden Grays. I have heard Paul condemn a coltbecause the very ears were too long and flabby and the carriage of thehorse dull. The weak and the faulty have been gelded and sent from theGarden or else killed. And therefore Juri to-day is stout and noble, andGlani has a spirit of fire. It is not easy to do. But if I find a sin inmy own nature, do I not tear it out at a price of pain? And shall Ispare a colt when I do not spare myself? A law is a law and a fault is afault. Timeh must die!"
The extended arms of Elijah fell. Connor felt Ruth surge forward frombeside him, but he checked her strongly.
"No use!" he said. "You could change a very devil more easily than youcan change David now! He's too proud to change his mind."
"Oh," sobbed the girl softly, "I hate him! I hate him!"
"Let Timeh live until the morning," said David in the same calm voice."Let Juri be spared this night of grief and uneasiness. If it is done inthe morning she will be less anxious until the dark comes, and by thattime the edge of her sorrow shall be dulled."
"Whose hand," asked Elijah faintly--"whose hand must strike the blow?"
"Yesterday," said David, "you spoke to me a great deal of the laws ofthe Garden and their breaking. Do you not know that law which says thathe from whose household the faulty mare foal has come must destroy it?You know that law. Then let it not be said that Elijah, who so loves thelaw, has shirked his lawful burden!"
At this final blow poor Elijah lifted his face.
"Lord God!" he said, "give me strength. It is more than I can bear!"
"Go!" commanded the master of the Garden.
Elijah turned slowly away. As if to show the way, Timeh galloped beforehim.