Over the Border: A Novel

  XXXVII: THE THREE--AGAIN

  Bull walked a few paces, then looked back at his horse. Its quiveringknees, long, slow shivers, told that it was beyond further service. Hereturned to the woman. She had sunk into a second collapse, but shelooked up at his touch.

  "You heard them talking before--before--"

  "Si, senor, from our stables they had stolen three horses. I heard themspeaking of Los Arboles; that they would take all of its horses and sellthem at the border."

  Nodding, Bull went on his way afoot. But as, head bent, he passed theruined wall from behind which Terrubio had challenged him long ago avoice called out, "Ole, senor!"

  Startled, Bull looked up, half expecting to see again the uncanny eyes,weird cold face. But the faithful servitor was gone; gone with his lovedmistress--to wait on her, if such things be, beyond the consuming flame.From behind the wall, leading his horse, hobbled old Rafael, the fatherof the woman.

  "I had thought thee one of those wicked ones." The old fellow slappedthe butt of an old musket. "Once my finger tightened on the trigger, butby the mercy of God I waited. Si, senor, I saw them go. After I sent upthe smoke I came back slowly, crawling along the valleys, keeping alwaysthe height of land between us. Thus I gained so close that I countedthem when they passed; a full score, senor, and more, on their way bythe plains trail to Arboles. But the mistress and the nina, senor? Theydid not harm--"

  He stopped, halted by Bull's look, then cried aloud while the tearscoursed down his wrinkled face. "The white ewe and the lamb! Gone! andI, the old dog, am left? But so it was always. Death takes his pick ofthe best! I would go after them, senor, those wicked ones; but of whatuse, save to make a noise, is an old dog after the teeth are gone? Thebiting must be done by stronger jaws; the running by fleeter feet. Takethou my horse."

  Thus freshly mounted, Bull made such time that he climbed to thesmoldering beacon on the mountain's shoulder before daylight failed.Below lay the valleys in mysterious pools from which long shadows issuedto crawl up the flaming hills. Westward the dying sun had left a crimsonwake, barred with black across the smoldering sky; a reflection, Bullfelt it, of the fiery blossom that glowed in one dark valley. The faintstars weaving a wan embroidery across the trailing skirts of night, thefading light, the first cool breath of the evening, all helped tointensify the loneliness that clothed the obscure prospect. Yet in itthat loneliness, the stillness of great solitudes, wide oceans, Bullsensed sympathy and peace; Nirvana, the peace of great worlds, planetarysystems swinging through space on their appointed ways. She! They! Thatpleasant woman, lovely child, had been absorbed into, were part of it,this peace that quieted his troubled spirit.

  He did not think this. Such philosophies were beyond him. But he feltand, feeling, a hoarse sob rose in his throat. Bowing his dark face inhis hands, the big, black rustler shook in the throes of saving grief.He did not hear the thud of approaching hoofs; saw nothing until with aclatter of displaced stones Sliver and Jake came shooting out of thesage.

  Because of its position far out on the plains, the warning smoke hadbeen seen at Los Arboles long before its soaring column rose high enoughto be noticed by Gordon above the rim; in fact, Jake and Sliver gainedthe forks of the Bowl trail while Gordon and Lee lacked still a mile ofthe summit. As Pedro had delivered Lee's note the preceding evening,Jake knew that the couple were there. After a moment's thought he voteddown Sliver's proposal to ride down for Gordon.

  "He'd come in handy. Kin shoot some an' his nerve's all right. But youjes' kedn't shut her out. Better to leave them where she's safe."

  "That's right," Sliver had added. "An' it 'u'd shore be a shame to breakup their honeymoon."

  Accordingly, unaware that the pair were riding hard at their heels, Jakeand Sliver had held on until, as before said, they came shooting out onBull. He had whirled, hand on his gun, but it dropped when a cowman'syell issued simultaneously from their throats.

  "Why, you dolgorned old son of a--" Sliver stopped as, riding closer, hesaw Bull's face. "Why, hombre! What--"

  Turning in his saddle, Bull pointed at the crimson blossom in the darkvalley below. He did not explain. With that keen intuition natural inthose who live alone in the wide spaces, they had read in his face thatwhich is denied to speech--the soul agony of a strong man. Given thatblossom of fire, their knowledge of Mexican raiders supplied the rest.

  "Murdered!... Mother and child!... Burned ... with the house!"

  To one skilled in the polished phrases which city folks hold inreadiness for all occasions, the manner in which the two received thenews might have appeared heartless. Jake looked off and away over thedarkening world. Sliver bit a chew off his plug, then fell to examininga fray in his _riata_. When the latter finally spoke the aforesaid cityperson would have been greatly shocked.

  "The poor damn kid!"

  "Hell, ain't it?" Jake's tone was quite indifferent.

  But Bull had seen Sliver gulping in an attempt to swallow the chokinglump in his throat; also the sudden moisture that quenched the cold,snake sparkle in Jake's bleak eyes. These were all-sufficient.

  "They was heading for Los Arboles by the plains trail." After a longsilence he answered Jake's question concerning the raiders. "Must benearly there. My God! Miss Lee an'--"

  "They ain't there." Sliver hastened to relieve his anxiety. "They're--"He was relieved from further explanation by a second clatter of hoofs.Out of the gathering dusk came Lee and Gordon.

  Ever since they spied the smoke column, its dread possibilities hadweighed down the girl's spirit. But at the sight of Bull she forgot--forthe moment. Uttering a glad cry, she dismounted, was running to him,hands outstretched, but suddenly halted, shocked by his look.

  "Why--what--" Following his pointing finger, she saw the fire. That,their inaction, told all before he spoke. "Gone!--both!--burned with thehouse!" Crying bitterly, she turned instinctively, as though to run toGordon. Then, recognizing a need greater than her own, she faced aboutagain and ran to Bull.

  "Oh, you poor, _poor_ man!"

  Grasping his big, hard hands, she pressed her wet face against his kneewhile she sobbed out her sorrow and sympathy. Freeing one hand, Bullgently stroked her hair. Nodding for Sliver and Gordon to follow, Jakeled them a few yards back up the trail; so there was none but Bull tohear when she began to sob out a broken confession.

  "Oh, I feel--so wicked. While all this--was happening--I--I was--gettingmarried!"

  "Married?"

  "Yes--to Gordon." She ran on brokenly, giving him in bits the tale ofall that had happened since his departure--her abduction, Ramon's death,Gordon's ultimatum. "He begged so hard--and the padre and the jefesaid--that I ought--and I wanted to, myself--and we were so happyuntil--we saw the smoke. And now I--I feel like a criminal."

  "Then you needn't." He patted her shoulder. "The jefe was right. Neveragain will you have more need of a man's strength."

  "But? At this time? While--"

  "How were you to know? An' remember how hard _she_ worked and wished tobring this very thing about. 'Twould have filled her with joy to knowthat it had come to pass. 'Deed, Missy, she does know an' is glad atthis very moment." With that mixture of rude faith and humility thatmade his enormous strength incongruous, he went on: "Sure she knows an'some day she'll tell you so herself. 'Twon't be for me to hear it. Mykind don't go where she is. But you will, an', mark me, the first thingshe'll tell will be how happy she was in your marriage."

  "Oh, if I thought she would!"

  "Be certain of it, child." The last lights had now gone out on thehighest peaks. Looking off and away into the gathering gloom, he recitedmany a hope that Mary Mills had expressed.

  While he talked Lee's sobs diminished. She looked up when he finished."That makes me feel better. And _you_? You, too, think I did right?"

  She could see, through the gloom, his sadness lighten. "For what d'yous'pose I brought him here?"

  "Not to marry _me_?" She gasped. In spite of the gravity of the moment,her own real sorrow, she could not
repress feeling natural in a girlwho, having made, as she supposes, her own free choice, finds that, fromthe very beginning, her husband had been wished upon her. "Oh, if I'donly known it!" She added, with loving illogic, "I'm _so_ glad that Ididn't."

  "That's fine." He patted her head. "It will be easier, now, if you haveto live for a while in the States."

  "_The States?_" she repeated.

  In a brief way, omitting mention of Benson's death--she had enough tobear--he described the scattering of Valles's army, concluding, "They'rewild against Americans." He nodded at the fire. "The men that did thisare on the way to Arboles; must be almost there."

  "My poor people!" she broke out, in sudden distress. "Gordon! Comehere!" When, with Sliver and Jake, he emerged from the shadows she criedit again: "Our poor, poor people! They are on their way--the raiders! ToArboles! We must go--at once!"

  "Too late!" Bull spoke heavily. "Even an aeroplane couldn't get us therein time." After, even more briefly, he had sketched for the othersrecent events, he went on: "I came back to bring you and Mary and thechild out. For them it's too late, but you must go at once--you an' yourhusband an' Sliver an' Jake."

  "And you?" Lee questioned.

  "I'm going on." The statement in its simplicity carried moresignificance than the wildest vow of revenge.

  "Alone?" Lee again demanded. "And you think we'd go slinking home to theStates and leave you to face that band yourself?"

  "It's my quarrel, my work." His answer, steady and heavy, issued on thedarkness. "You are young and have your husband. Your future is allahead. Mine is most behind. You folks head at once for the border. WithSliver an' Jake to guard you--"

  But here he ran against a second obstacle. Sliver's voice rose in thedarkness. "An' there's nothing I'd like better 'n to look afterLady-girl. But I ain't so much of a fool that I don't know the store shesets by you, Bull, that's been father an' mother to her, now, for nighon a year. So it don't go that-a-way. It's me for Arboles while you-allhit with them for the States."

  "Good enough!" Jake's acid tones trembled through the gloom. "With asmall amendment. You're that young an' foolish, Sliver, it 'u'd be ashame to cut you off--worse 'n the green grass that goes to the oven. Soit stan's like this--you-all go back; I go on."

  "No, you don't." Gordon's quiet voice interrupted. "At any other timeI'd feel diffident about putting in my oar. But these are our people. Icould never look my wife"--he felt her hand steal up into his--"I couldnever look her in the face again if I stood for this. She ought to getout at once, and if you fellows will see her to the border--"

  "They won't--till we all go," Lee broke in. "It's easy to see thatyou've all made up your minds to stay--and you'll need me to hold thehorses. We'd better be getting on."

  "But, Missy--" Bull began.

  But already she had mounted. The clatter of her horse's hoofs returnedunmistakable answer.