CHAPTER XIV
THE FINISH
It was a journey of something more than two hundred miles and they werealmost a week on the way; riding for several hours each morning andevening; camping in some well-watered spot at midday; or, this failing,sharing the dinner of some friendly ranchman. Also, they slept at somelittle inn or ranch, and where their hosts would receive it, Ephraimdelighted to make liberal payment for their entertainment.
Indeed, he felt a prince, with his well-filled purse, and would haveforced all sorts of dainties and knickknacks upon his little charge,at each village they passed through, save that she resolutely refusedthem.
"You generous Ephraim, no! What money we need for the trip and afterwe get to Los Angeles is all right. But you mustn't waste it. Hear! Iam older than you in this thing."
"But--I want you to have everything nice in the world, Lady Jess. Anyother of the 'boys' traveling with you----"
"Could not have been so kind and thoughtful as you. Not one. Dearly as Ilove them I'd rather have you to take care of me on this long journeythan any other single one. So do be good and not extravagant. And isn'tit lovely to find how almost everybody knew of my dear father? Or, ifthey didn't know him for himself, they'd heard of him and of somethinghe'd done for somebody. It makes the way seem almost short and as ifI'd been over the road before."
"He often passed this way, child; and whenever he went left pleasantmemories behind him. He was a grand man, was Cassius Trent. Ugh! Tothink----"
"That will be all right, Ephraim. I know it. I feel it. And how I dolove all the new places and things I see. I should never have cared toleave Sobrante but for this business; yet now I have left it I'm findingthe world a big, splendid, lovely place."
"H-m-m! I reckon even this old earth could show only its best side toyou, little girl. However, it _has_ been pleasant and it's about over.Aunt Sally's provisions didn't have to go into the mesquite bushes,after all. What we couldn't eat we've found plenty of others to takeoff our hands. Even the medicine didn't go begging, and that'll do herproud to hear. Poor wretches who have to take it!"
"But they wanted it, Ephraim. Some of the women said they hadn't hada dose of medicine in years and seemed as pleased as if it had beensweetmeats. Now the basket is empty. What shall you do with that?"
"Leave it at the next place we stop."
They had set out upon their ride on Tuesday morning and this was sunset,Saturday. They were descending the slope of a mountain and the guidepointed forward, eagerly.
"Do you see that hazy spot off yonder? That's our City of the Angels!The city where we shall find justice and honor."
"Oh, shall we be there to-night?"
"No. We might have been days ago if we'd ridden across country andstruck the railway lines, but I wanted to do just as we have done. Iknew you'd hear so much about your father it would do you good forever.We can go home the quicker way if we think best; and if we have good newsto take will, likely, so think, I--I'm almost sorry we're so near theend."
"In one way so am I. Not in another. I long to begin to hunt for thatmoney and the men who have it."
Ephraim sighed. Now that he was thus far on his mission he began tothink it, indeed, as Joe Dean had said, "A good deal of the needle andhaymow style." But he rallied at once and answered, cheerfully:
"There's a house I know, or used to, at the foot of this slope. Iplanned to sleep there to-night, make an early start in the morning, andride the fifteen miles left so as to get to the town in time for thechurches. To think you're eleven years old, Lady Jess, yet have neverbeen inside any church except the rickety old mission."
"Do you like churches, Ephraim?"
"Yes. I do now, child. I didn't care so much about 'em when I livednigh 'em. But they're right. There's a good many kinds of 'emand they get me a little mixed, arguing. But they're right; and thebell----It'll be a good beginning of this present job to go to meetingthe first thing."
"Oh! this wonderful world and the wonderful things I'm learning! Whata lot I shall have to tell the folks when I get home. Seems as if Icouldn't wait."
They found the little lodging-house, as Ephraim had hoped, thoughnow kept by a stranger to him. However, the new landlord made themcomfortable, charged them an exorbitant price--having caught sight ofhis guest's fat purse--and set them early on their way. "Forty-niner"did not complain. Their next and final stop would be with an oldfellow-miner who, at Ephraim's last visit to Los Angeles, five yearsbefore, had kept a tidy little inn on one of the city's centralstreets. If this old friend were still living he would give them heartywelcome, the best entertainment possible, and what was more to thepurpose--practical advice as to their business.
"The bells! The bells! Oh! they are what you said, the sweetest thingsI ever heard!" cried Lady Jess, in delight, as over the miles ofdistance there floated to them on the clear air, the chimes and sonoroustollings from many church towers.
"We shall be late, after all, I guess. That means it's time for themeetings to begin. Well, there'll be others in the afternoon; so we mayas good take it easy and go slow."
This suited Jessica, who found more and more to surprise and interesther in every stage of their advance, and most of all as they enteredthe city. This was much altered and improved since the sharpshooterhad himself last seen it, but even thus he could point out many of thefinest buildings, name the chief avenues, and comport himself afterthe manner of one who knows enlightening one who does not.
But soon Jessica saw few of the things which interested him and heardhim not at all. It was the first time she had ever seen a girl of herown age, and now--the streets were full of them. In their gay Sundayattire, on their homeward way now from the churches whose bells had longceased to ring, they were here, there, and everywhere. They lined thesidewalks and glittered from the open electric cars. They smiled atone another and, a few, at her; for to them, also, this other strangergirl was a novel sight, just then and there. Besides the oddity of herdress and equipment, the eagerness and beauty of her face attractedthem, and more than one pair of eyes turned to look after her, as Scruffscrambled along, unguided by his rider, and dodging one danger onlyto face another.
"That's a country girl, fast enough; and if she doesn't look out thatuneasy burro will land her on the curbstone! Look out there, child!"cried one passerby, just as the animal bounded across the track of awhizzing trolley.
But this peril escaped, Ephraim grasped Scruff's bridle and presentlyled the way into a quieter street or alley, and thence to the wide plazabefore the inn he sought.
"Thank fortune, there's room enough here to turn around in! Andthere's the very house. Hello! Lady Jess! I say, Jessica!"
Without warning the girl had whisked the bridle from his grasp and hadchirruped to the now excited beast in the manner which meant:
"Go your swiftest!"
Scruff went. Following he knew not what, and terrified afresh at everysquare he traversed. Somewhere a band of music was playing, and thebeating of the drums seemed to his donkey brain the most horrible ofnoises. To escape it and the ever-increasing throng his nimble feet flewup and down like mad; he thrust his head between the arms of peopleand forced the crowd to part for him; he reared, backed, plunged, andshook himself; but did not in the least disturb his mistress' firmseat, as with her own head leaning forward she kept her gaze upon somedistant object and urged him to pursuit.
The crowd which made way for this eager pair was first angry, thenamused. After that it began to collect into a formidable following.Poor Lady Jess became to them a "show" and Scruff's antics but meantto exhibit her "trick" riding.
Now Stiffleg was an ancient beast, which had been a trotter in his day;but his day, like his master's, was past. By good care and easy stageshe had accomplished his long journey in fair condition; but he was asensible animal and felt that he had earned a rest. So when Ephraimurged him forward after the vanishing burro he halted and turned hishead about. If ever equine eyes protested against further effort, hisdid then; and at
ordinary times "Forty-niner" would have been thefirst to perceive this appeal and grant it. He had always bragged that"Stiffleg's more human than most folks," but he forgot this now. Heremembered only that his precious charge was fast disappearing fromsight and that in another moment she would be lost in a great, strangecity.
"Simpleton that I was! I never even mentioned the name of the tavern wewere going to," reflected, "else she might tell it and get shown theway." Then came another startling thought. For fear of just such anemergency--why had he been silly enough to think of it?--he had on thatvery morning, as they neared their journey's end, divided their moneyinto two portions and make her carry the larger one. She had objected,at first; but afterward consented, and with pride in his trust. "Ifany scamp got hold of her he'd rob her or--maybe worse! Oh, Atlantic!Giddap, Stiff! Giddap, I tell you!"
To the crowd this appeared but another feature of "the show." Theserustics from the plains had evidently come into town to furnishentertainment for Sunday strollers, and Stiffleg's obstinacy was tothem a second of the "tricks" to be exhibited.
However, it was a case of genuine balk; and the more Ephraim urged,implored, chastised, the firmer were the horse's forefeet planted uponthe highway and the more despairing became the rider's feeling.
"Build a fire under him," "Thrust red pepper under his nose," "Tiehim to a trolley car." "Blindfold him."
Various were the suggestions offered, to none of which did thesharpshooter pay any heed. The brass band accomplished what nothingelse could. Blatantly it came around the corner, keeping time to itsown noisy drums, and Stiffleg pricked up his ears. In his youth he hadmarched to battle and, at that moment, his youth was renewed. Hereared his drooping head, a thrill ran through his languid veins, and,though still without advance motion, his hoofs began to beat a swifttattoo, till the towering plumes of the drum major came alongsidehis own now gleaming eyes. Then, he wheeled suddenly and--forward!
"Ho! the old war-horse! That's a pretty sight," shouted somebody.
Alas! for Ephraim. The unexpected movement of the balking animal didfor him what was rare indeed--unseated him. By the time that it was"right front" for Stiffleg his master was on the ground, feelingthat an untoward fate had overtaken him and that his leg, if not hisheart, was broken. Music had charms, in truth, for the rejuvenatedbeast, and one of the sharpshooter's pet theories was thereby provedfalse. Had anybody at Sobrante told him that anything could entice his"faithful" horse away from him he would have denied the statementangrily. He would have declared, with equal conviction, that, in caseof accident like this, the intelligent creature would have stayed besideand tried to tend him.
Now, lying forsaken both by Jessica and Stiffleg, he uttered his shameand misery in a prolonged howl, as he attempted to rise and could not.
"O! Ough! Oh! My leg's broke! My leg's broke all to smash, I tell you.Somebody pick me up and carry me--yonder--to the Yankee Blade. If TomJefferts keeps it still, he'll play my friend. Oh! Ah!"
Some in the now pitying throng exchanged glances, and one man bent overthe prostrate Ephraim, saying, kindly:
"Why, Tom Jefferts hasn't been in this town these three years. He wentto 'Frisco and set up there. If there's anybody else you'd like tonotify I'll telephone----"
"He gone, too! Then let me lie. What do I care what becomes of me now?Oh! my leg!"
The bravest men are cowards before physical suffering, sometimes. Ephraimwould have faced death for Jessica without flinching, but that gatheringagony of pain made him indifferent, for the moment, even to her welfare.This calamity had fallen upon him like lightning from a clear sky andbenumbed him, so to speak. But it had not benumbed those about him.Within five minutes the clang of an ambulance gong was heard, and theaid which some thoughtful person had summoned arrived. Ephraim wastenderly lifted and placed within the conveyance, and away it dashedagain, though almost without jar, and certainly without hindrance,since everything on the street gives place to suffering.
By the time the hospital was reached the patient had recovered somethingof his customary fortitude, but he was still too confused and distressedto think clearly about his escaped charge and what should be done to findher. As for Stiffleg:
"I hope I'll never see that cowardly, ungrateful beast again!" heejaculated; then resigned himself to the surgeon's hands.
That which Lady Jess had perceived in the distance and had followed sowildly was the tall figure of a gentleman in a gray suit. He wore a grayhat and blue glasses, such as her mother had pressed upon Mr. Hale'sacceptance during his brief stay at Sobrante.
"It's he! It certainly is he! Oh! Now I can tell him how sorry bothmother and I were that the 'boys' behaved so rudely. And he's alawyer. He's on the same business we are, if his is the other side. Imust stop him--quick!"
This might have been an easy thing to do, under Scruff's present rateof speed; but, unfortunately, the tall man stepped into a hack, waitingbeside the plaza for stray passengers, and giving an order was drivenrapidly away.
For a long time Jessica kept that carriage in sight; then it turned acorner into an avenue, where were hundreds more just like it, it seemedto her, and she lost it among the many.
Even yet she pressed on determined. "In a city--it's just one city,even if it is a big one--I shall find him if I keep on. I must. Go,Scruff! The band is after you. Go! Go!"
The overtaxed burro had already "gone" to his fullest ability. He coulddo no more, although his mistress whispered "sugar," "sweet cake"and other tempting words. His excited pace dropped to the slowest ofwalks, his breath came hardly, and finally he leaned himself against apost and rested. When he had done so for some moments, Jessica turnedhim about and looked backward, expecting to see Ephraim close behind.But he was nowhere in sight; and in a flash of horror the girl realizedthat she was lost.