XXIII: IN WHICH THE WIDOW GOES AND SLIVER COMES
As thus arranged, the program was carried out after breakfast. Veryartfully Bull waited till the party was almost out of sight before hesent Gordon galloping after. Even then the plot was endangered when,turning at the sound of hoof-beats, Lee saw him coming. Her face clearlyexpressed her determination to send him back, but in the nick of timethe widow spoke.
"Oh, let him come! The poor fellow is suffering enough."
Lee's nod and faint smile, riding on, revealed a queer mixture ofhappiness and apprehension, which was wiped out by amused astonishmentwhen, just as Gordon came up, a lone figure hove in sight, coming fromthe opposite direction.
"Why--it's Sliver!"
And Sliver it was--though difficult to recognize by reason of a complexembroidery of scratches, bumps, and bruises. His own broad grin brokethrough, however, when Lee inquired after his wife.
"She was fine an' dandy when I seen her last, which, was in the shank ofthe evening two nights ago." Lovingly fingering a huge bump thatoccupied a central position in his altered scenery, he went into theintimate details of his matrimonial venture. "Till then it had all beenlovely. She'd sorter cut up a bit, at first, me an her padre havingfixed up the match without any of her 'sistance. But after I'd given hera fair larruping with a saddle strap, jest to show who wore the pants,as the saying goes, she come right into camp; snuggled in like a kitten.Sure, she behaved real domestic till Fernando, that hawk-nosed arrierofrom San Ramon, blew in with his mules two nights gone. I orter 'a'suspicioned him, he was that free in handing out drinks. But Ididn't--leastways not till Felicia laid me out with one whack of acordwood stick from behind. The rest I got from the mirror an' the padrewhen I woke next morning and found him doctoring my map. She an'Fernando had gone off together."
"She's gone!" Lee gave a little hysterical laugh. "For good?"
"An' then some--they're off to the wars." Gently massaging the bump,Sliver added: "She'll stay there if she's wise. It'll be a 'tarnationsight less risky than coming back. She was for cutting my throat, butneither the padre nor Fernando would stan' for that, they being afraidof 'The Black Devil' an' 'The Python,' which they call Bull an' Jake.'For I knew, senor, that they would follow us to the ends of the earthif any harm came to thee,' the old fellow tol'. But they made her freeof my map, an', as you see, she done a good job."
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I must go back and care for your face."
With Lee's exclamation the props trembled beneath the widow's plot, butSliver restored their stability. "It's cheap at the price. Many's theman up home that gets as bad or worse an' is stuck, to boot, forlawyer's fees an' al'mony. Don't you bother 'bout me, Lady-girl. All Ineed is a bit of salve, an' Maria kin get me that."
As Sliver rode on, the widow looked at Lee, who returned her meaningglance. Neither looked at Gordon, who discreetly watched Betty. But thethought was the same in the minds of all three. "Thank goodness, she'sgone."
For a while Lee hesitated and debated whether, after all, she ought notto go back, and she reined in, startled, when a long howl presentlydrifted over the rise behind which Sliver had disappeared. A coyote, inits death agony, might have equaled the sound. But as, presently, thetortured notes resolved into the opening bars of "The Cowboy's Lament,"she giggled and rode on for another five miles. Sliver was happy!
While Lee was kissing Betty good-by the widow managed to pass a whisperto Gordon. "Now don't let her escape! And remember--look out for Ramonto-morrow."
He nodded and, looking back from behind the crest of the next rise, shesaw for herself how well he obeyed. Lee had made to get off at a gallop,but had reined in when he spoke, and now they were riding side by side,deep in earnest conversation.
Nodding, the widow rode on, but stopped again for a last look while shecould still see over the rise. She was practically invisible when Leelooked back, protesting, as Gordon grabbed her bridle and pulled herbeast alongside. Her pointing finger said, quite plainly:
"They will see!"
The widow gasped, for with one swift reach he snatched Lee out of thesaddle and set her before him.