Skyrider

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  OVER THE TELEPHONE

  That night Johnny spread his blankets in a spot where he could lie andlook at his airplane with the moon shining full upon it and throwing ashadow like a great, black bird with outstretched wings on the sand. Hehad to lie where he could look at it, else he could not have lain thereat all. He was like a child that falls asleep with a new, long-covetedtoy clasped tight in its two hands. He worried himself into a headacheover the difficulties of transporting it unharmed over the miles ofuntracked desert country to Sinkhole. He was afraid the mules would runaway with it, or upset it somehow. It looked so fragile, so easilybroken. Already the tail was broken, where the flyers in landing hadswerved against a rock. He pictured mishaps and disasters enough to filla journey of five times that length over country twice as rough. Hewished that he could fly it home. Picturing that, his lips softened intoa smile, and the pucker eased out of his forehead.

  But he couldn't fly it. He didn't know how, though I honestly believe hewould have tried it anyway, had there been even a gallon of gasoline inthe tank. But the tank was bone dry, and the tail was knocked askew, soJohnny had to give up thinking about it.

  When he slept, the airplane filled his dreams so that he talked in hissleep and wakened the brother of Tomaso, who sat up in his blankets tolisten.

  "That plan, she's work fine, I bet!" grinned the brother of Tomaso whenJohnny had droned off into mumbling and then silence. "That Tex, she'ssmart _hombre_." He laid himself down to sleep again.

  Speaking of Tex; that same night he lay awake for a long while, staringat the moon-lighted window and wishing that his eyesight could followhis thoughts and show him what he wanted to see. His thoughts took thetrail to Sinkhole, dwelt there for a space in anxious speculation,drifted on to the Border and beyond and sought out Johnny Jewel, dwellingupon his quest with even more anxious speculation. Then, when sleephad dulled somewhat his reasoning faculties, Tex began to vision himselfin Tucson--well, perhaps in Los Angeles, that Mecca of pleasurelovers--spending money freely, living for a little while the life of easeand idleness gemmed with the smiles of those beautiful women who hovergaily around the money pots in any country, in any clime.

  For a hard-working cowpuncher with no visible assets save his riding gearand his skill with horses, the half-waking dreams of Tex were florid andas impossible, in the cold light of reason, as had been the dreams ofJohnny Jewel in that bunk house.

  That night others were awake in the moonlight. Down at Sinkhole camp fiveor six riders were driving a bunch of Rolling R horses into the corralwhere Johnny kept his riding horse overnight. They were not dreamingvaguely of the future, these riders. Instead they were very much awake tothe present and the risks thereof. On the nearest ridge that gave anoutlook to the north, a sentinel was stationed in the shade of a rockyout-cropping, ready to wheel and gallop back with a warning if any rodethat way.

  When the horses were corralled and the gate closed, one man climbed uponthe fence and gave orders. This horse was to be turned outside--and thegate-tender swung open the barrier to let it through. That horse couldgo, and that and that.

  "A dozen or so is about as many as we better take," he said to one whoworked near him. "No--turn that one back. I know--he's a good one, buthis mane and tail, and them white stockings behind, they're too easyreco'nized. That long-legged bay, over there--he's got wind; look at thechest on 'im! Forequarters like a lion. Haze him out, boys." He turnedhimself on the fence and squinted over the bewildered little group offreed horses. He swung back and squinted over the bunch in the corral,weighing a delicate problem in his mind, to judge by the look of him.

  "All right, boys. We kain't afford to be hawgs, this trip. Straddle yourhosses and take 'em over to that far corner where we laid the fence down.Remember what I said about keepin' to the rocky draws. I'll wait here andturn these loose, and foller along and set up the fence after yuh. Andkeep agoin'--only don't swing over toward Baptista's place, mind. Keep tothe left all you can. And keep a lookout ahead. Yuh don't want that kidto get a squint at yuh."

  One answered him in Mexican while they slipped out and mounted. They rodeaway, driving the horses they had chosen. Unobtrusive horses as to color;bays and browns, mostly, of the commonplace type that would not easily bemissed from the herd. The man on the fence smoked a cigarette and studiedthe horses milling restlessly below him in the corral.

  From the adobe cabin squatting in the moonlight came the shrill,insistent jingling of a bell. The man looked that way thoughtfully,climbed down and went to the cabin, keeping carefully in the beatentrail.

  The door was not locked. A rawhide thong tied it fast to a staple in thedoor jamb. With the bell shrilling its summons inside, the man pausedlong enough to study the knotting of the thong before he untied it andstepped inside. He went to the telephone slowly, thoughtfully, hiscigarette held between two fingers, his forehead drawn down so thathis eyebrows were pinched together. He hesitated perceptibly before hetook down the receiver. Then he grinned.

  "Hello!" His voice was hoarse, slightly muffled. He grinned again when hecaught the mildly querulous tones of Sudden Selmer, sharpened a little bythe transmitter.

  "Where the dickens have you been? I've been trying all evening to getyou," Sudden complained.

  "Huh? Oh, I just got in. I been fixing fence over west of here. Tookme till dark--No, the stock's all in--wind had blowed down a couple ofthem rotten posts--well, they was rotten enough to sag over, so I had toreset them--Had to reset them, I said! Dig new holes!" He turned his facea little away from the transmitter and coughed, then grinned while helistened.

  "Oh, nothing--just a cold I caught--Don't amount to anything. I'mdoctoring it. I always get hoarse when I catch a little cold--Sure,everything's all right. I'm going to ride fence to-morrow--That so? Itblowed to beat the cars, down here all night--Why, they're lookin'fine--No, ain't saw a soul. I guess they know better than to botherour stock--All right, Mr. Selmer, I will--and say! I might be late ingetting in to-morrow, but everything's fine as silk--All right--G' bye!"

  He hung up the receiver before he started to laugh, but once he didstart, he laughed all the time he was re-tying the door in the same kindof knot Johnny had used, and all the while he was returning to thecorral.

  "Fell for it, all right. Nothing can beat having a cold right handy," hechuckled when he had turned out the stock, whistled for the sentinel, andmounted his horse. "Guess I better happen around to-morrow evening. Theywon't be back--not if they bring it with 'em."

  While he waited for the guard to come in, he eyed the corral and itsimmediate neighborhood, and afterward inspected the cloud-flecked sky."Corral shows a bunch of stock has been penned here," he muttered. "Butthe wind'll raise before sun-up. I guess it'll be all right."

  The sentinel came trotting around the corner. "How many?" he asked,riding alongside the other.

  "Fifteen, all told. To-morrow night we'll cull that bunch that rangeswest of here. Won't do to trim out too many at a time, and they may beback here to-morrow night. They will if they can't get it over. I don'tmuch expect they will, at that--unless they bring it in pieces. Still,yuh can't tell what a crazy kid'll take a notion to do; not when he's gota bug like Tex says this one has got."

  "Tex is pretty cute, aw-right. Me, I'd never a thought of that."

  The boss grunted. "Tex is paid for being cute. He's on the inside, wherehe's got a chance to know these things. He wouldn't be worth a nickel tous if he wasn't cute."

  "And it's us that takes the chances," readily agreed the guard.

  "Yeah--look at the chance I took jus' now! Talked to old Sudden over the'phone, stalling along like I was the kid. Got away with it, at that. I'dlike to see Tex--"

  "Aw, Tex ain't in it with _you_. When it comes right down to finework--" So, feeding the vanity of the boss with tidbits of crudeflattery, which the boss swallowed greedily as nine tenths of us woulddo, they jogged along down the pebbly bottom of Sinkhole Creek whereit had gone dry, turned into the first roc
ky draw that pointedsoutheastward, and so passed on and away from the camp where Tex'sthoughts were clinging anxiously.

  When they had carefully mended the fence that had been opened, and hadobliterated all traces of horses passing through, they rode home to theirbeds perfectly satisfied with the night's work, and looking forward tothe next night.

  A hot, windy day went over the arid range; a day filled with contentedlabor for some, strenuous activity for some others--Johnny Jewel amongthese--and more or less anxious waiting for a very few.

  That day the fifteen stolen horses, urged forward by grimy, swearingMexicans and a white man or two, trotted heavily southward, keepingalways to the sheltered draws and never showing upon a ridge until aftera lookout had waved that all was well.

  That day Mary V rode aimlessly to the western hills, because she sawthree of the boys hiking off toward the south and she did not know wherethey were going.

  That day Johnny Jewel suffered chronic heart jumpings, lest the fourwide-blinkered mules look around again and, seeing themselves stillpursued by the great, ungainly contraption on the lengthened wagon theydrew, run away and upset their precariously balanced load.

  That day the man who had so obligingly answered the telephone for Johnnybusied himself with various plans and preparations for the night, andretraced the trail down the rocky draws to the fence where horses andriders had crossed, to make sure, by daylight, that no trace had beenleft of their passing, and met Tex over by Snake Ridge for a brief andvery satisfactory conference.

  So the day blew itself red in the face, and then purple, with a tender,rose-violet haze under its one crimson, lazily drooping eye. And at lastit wrapped itself in its royal, gemmed robe, and settled quietly down tosleep. Night came stepping softly across the hills and the sandy plains,carrying her full-lighted lantern that painted black shadows beside everyrock and bush and cut-bank.

  With the deepening of the shadows and the rising drone of night soundsand the whispering of the breeze which was all that was left of the wind,the man came riding cautiously up through a draw to the willow growthjust below Sinkhole watering place. He tied his horse there and went onafoot, stepping on rocks and grass tufts and gravelly spots as easilyas though he had practiced that mode of travel.

  Sinkhole cabin was dark and quiet and lonesome, but still he waited forawhile in the shadow and watched the place before he ventured forth. Hedid not go at once to the cabin, but always treading carefully whereimprints would be lightest, he made a further inspection of the corral.The wind had done its work there, and hoofprints were practicallyobliterated. Satisfied, he returned to the cabin and sat down on thebench beside the door, where he could watch the trail while he waited.

  The telephone rang. The man untied the door, went in, and answered ithoarsely. Everything was all right, he reported. He had ridden the fenceand tightened one or two loose wires. Yes, the water was holding out allright, and the horses came to water every night about sundown, or elseearly in the morning before the flies got too bad. His cold was better,and he didn't need a thing that he knew of. And good-bye, Mr. Selmer.

  He went out, very well satisfied with himself; re-tied the door carefullywith Johnny's own peculiar kind of hitch, stooped and felt thehard-packed earth to make sure he had not inadvertently dropped acigarette butt that might possibly betray him, and rolled a fresh smokebefore leaving for home. He had just lighted it and was moving awaytoward the creek when the telephone jingled a second summons. He wouldhave to answer it, of course. Old Sudden knew he couldn't be far away,and would ring until he did answer. He unfastened the door again, cursingto himself and wondering if the Rolling R people were in the habit ofcalling Johnny Jewel every ten minutes or so. He stumbled over a box thathe had missed before, swore, and called a gruff hello.

  "Oh, hello, cowboy!" Unmistakably feminine, that voice; unmistakablyprovocative, too--subdued, demure, on guard, as though it were ready toadopt any one of several tones when it spoke again.

  "Oh--er--hello! That you, Mr. Selmer?" The man did not forget hishoarseness. He even coughed discreetly.

  "Why, _no_! This is Venus speaking. May I ask if you expected Miss Selmerto call you up?" Raised eyebrows would harmonize perfectly with thattone, which was sugary, icily gracious.

  "Oh--er--hello! That you, Miss Selmer? Beg your pardon--my mistake.Er--ah--how are yuh this evenin'?"

  "Oh--lonesome." A sigh seemed to waft over the wire. "You see, I havequarreled with Mars again. He _would_ drink out of your big dipper inspite of me! I knew you wouldn't like that--"

  "Oh--why no, of course not!" The hoarseness broke slightly, here andthere. A worried tone was faintly manifesting itself.

  "And I was wondering when you are coming to take me for another ride!"

  "Why--ah--just as soon as I can, Miss Venus. You know my time ain't myown--but maybe Sunday I could git off."

  "How nice! What a bad cold you have! How did you catch, it?" Sweetlysolicitous now, that voice.

  "Why, I dunno--"

  "Was it from going without your coat when we were riding last time?"

  "I--yes, I guess it was; but that don't matter. I'd be willing to ketch adozen colds riding with you. It don't matter at all."

  "Oh, but it does! It matters a great deal--Dearie! Did you really think Iwas that nasty Mary V Selmer calling you up?"

  "Why, no, I--I was just talking to her father--but as soon as I--I wasthinking maybe the old man had forgot something, and had her--uh courseI knowed your voice right away--sweetheart." That was very daring. Theman's forehead was all beaded with perspiration by this time, and it wasnot the heat that caused it. "You know I wouldn't talk to her if I didn'thave to." It is very difficult to speak in honeyed accents that wouldstill carry a bullfrog hoarseness, but the man tried it, nevertheless.

  "Dearie! Honest?"

  "You know it!" He was bolder now that he knew endearing terms wereaccepted as a matter of course.

  "OO-oo! I believe you're fibbing. You kept calling me _Miss_ Venus justas if--you--liked somebody else better. Just for that, I'm not goingto talk another minute. And you needn't call up, either--for I shall notanswer!"

  She hung up the receiver, and the man, once he was sure of it, didlikewise. He wiped his forehead, damned all women impartially as athus-and-so nuisance that would queer a man's game every time if hewasn't sharp enough to meet their plays, and went outside. He still feltvery well satisfied with himself, but his satisfaction was tempered withthankfulness that he was clever enough to fool that confounded girl. Allthe way back to his horse he was trying to "place" the voice and thename.

  Some one within riding distance, it must be--some one visiting in thecountry. He sure didn't know of any ranch girl named Venus. After awhilehe felt he could afford to grin over the incident. "Never knowed thedifference," he boasted as he rode away. "Nine men outa ten wouldaoverplayed their hand, right there."

  Just how far he had overplayed his hand, that man never knew. Far enoughto send Mary V to her room rather white and scared; shaking, too, withexcitement. She stood by the window, looking out at the moon-lighted yardwith its wind-beaten flowers. To save her life she could not helprecalling the story of Little Red Riding Hood, nor could she rid herselfof the odd sensation of having talked with the Wolf. Though she did not,of course, carry the simile so far as to liken Johnny Jewel to theGrandmother.

  She did not know what to do--a strange sensation for Mary V, I assureyou. Once she got as far as the door, meaning to go out on the porch andtell her dad that somebody was down at Sinkhole Camp pretending that hewas Johnny Jewel when he was nothing of the sort, and that the boys hadbetter go right straight down there and see what was the matter.

  She did not get farther than the door, however, and for what would seem avery trifling reason; she did not want her dad to know that she had beentrying to talk to Johnny over the 'phone.

  She went back to the window. _Who_ was down there pretending to be JohnnyJewel? And what, in heaven's name, was he doing it for? She rememberedthe Mexic
an who had ridden up that day and pretended that he wantedmatches, and how he had returned to the camp almost as soon as she hadleft. But the man who had talked with her was not a Mexican. No one but awhite man--and a range man, she added to herself--would say, "Uh courseI knowed yore voice." And he had not really had a cold. Mary V's earswere sharper than her dad's, for she had caught the make-believe in thehoarseness. She knew perfectly well that Johnny Jewel might be hoarse asa crow and never talk that way. Johnny never said "Uh course I knowed,"and Johnny would choke before he'd ever call her sweetheart. He wouldn'thave let that man do it, either, had Johnny been present in the cabin,she suspected shrewdly.

  Being an impulsive young person who acted first and did her thinkingafterwards, Mary V did exactly what she should not have done. She decidedforthwith that she would take a long moonlight ride.