_José Vaca_
The young Mexican's face was beaded with sweat as he rose and stared
down at the wounded man. Clumsily he attempted to help Waring, who
washed and bandaged the shattered shoulder. Waring had shot to kill, but
the gun was not his own, and he had fired almost as it had touched his
hand.
"Get your uncle on his horse," he told the youth. "Don't make a break.
We're due at Juan Armigo's ranchito about sundown."
So far as he was concerned, that was all there was to it for the time
being. He had wounded and captured José Vaca, notorious in Sonora as
leader in outlawry. That there were no others of Vaca's kind with him
puzzled Waring. The young Ramon, Vaca's nephew, did not count.
Ramon helped his uncle to mount. They glanced at each other, Vaca's eyes
blinking. The gringo was afoot. They were mounted. Waring, observing
their attitude, smiled, and, crooking his finger, whistled shrilly. The
young Ramon trembled. Other gringos were hidden in the arroyo; perhaps
the very man that his uncle had robbed! Even now he could hear the click
of hoofs on the gravel. The gunman had been merciful for the moment,
only to turn his captives over to the merciless men of the mines; men
who held a Mexican's life worth no more than a dog's. The wounded man,
stiff in the saddle, turned his head. Round a bend in the dry river-bed,
his neck held sideways that the reins might drag free, came Waring's big
buckskin horse, Dexter. The horse stopped as he saw the group. Waring
spoke to him. The big buckskin stepped forward and nosed Waring, who
swung to the saddle and gestured toward the back trail.
They rode in silence, the Mexicans with bowed heads, dull-eyed,
listless, resigned to their certain fate. For some strange reason the
gringo had not killed them in the arroyo. He had had excuse enough.
Would he take them to Sonora--to the prison? Or would he wait until they
were in some hidden fastness of the Agua Fria, and there kill them and
leave them to the coyotes? The youth Ramon knew that the two little
canvas sacks of gold were cleverly tied in the huge tapaderas of his
uncle's saddle. Who would think to look for them there?
The gringo had said that they would ride to the ranchito of Juan Armigo.
How easily the gringo had tricked them at the very moment when they
thought they were safe! Yet he had not asked about the stolen money. The
ways of this gringo were past comprehension.
Waring paid scant attention to the Mexicans, but he glanced continuously
from side to side of the cañon, alert for a surprise. The wounded man,
Vaca, was known to him. He was but one of the bandits. Ramon, Vaca's
nephew, was not of their kind, but had been led into this journey by
Vaca that the bandit might ride wide when approaching the ranchos and
send his nephew in for supplies.
The pack on Ramon's saddle rode too lightly to contain anything heavier
than food. There was nothing tied to Vaca's saddle but a frayed and
faded blanket. Yet Waring was certain that they had not cached the gold;
that they carried it with them.
At noon they watered the horses midway up the cañon. As they rode on
again, Waring noticed that Vaca did not thrust his foot clear home in
the stirrup, but he attributed this to the other's condition. The
Mexican was a sick man. His swarthy face had gone yellow, and he leaned
forward, clutching the horn. The heat was stagnant, unwavering. The pace
was desperately slow.
Despite his vigilance, Waring's mind grew heavy with the monotony. He
rolled a cigarette. The smoke tasted bitter. He flung the cigarette
away. The hunting of men had lost its old-time thrill. A clean break and
a hard fight; that was well enough. But the bowed figures riding ahead
of him: ignorant, superstitious, brutal; numb to any sense of honor. Was
the game worth while? Yet they were men--human in that they feared,
hoped, felt hunger, thirst, pain, and even dreamed of vague successes to
be attained how or when the Fates would decide. And was this squalid
victory a recompense for the risks he ran and the hardships he endured?
Again Waring heard the Voice, as though from a distance, and yet the
voice was his own: "You will turn back from the hunting of men."
"Like hell I will!" muttered Waring.
Ramon, who rode immediately ahead of him, turned in the saddle. Waring
gestured to him to ride on.
The heat grew less intense as an occasional, vagrant breeze stirred in
the brush and fluttered the handkerchief round Waring's throat. Ahead,
the cañon broadened to the mesa lands, where the distant green of a line
of trees marked the boundary of the Armigo rancho.
Presently Vaca began to sing; softly at first, then with insane
vehemence as the fever mounted to his brain. Waring smiled with dry
lips. The Mexican had stood the journey well. A white man in Vaca's
condition would have gone to pieces hours ago. He called to Ramon, who
gave Vaca water. The Mexican drank greedily, and threw the empty canteen
into the bushes.
Waring listened for some hint, some crazy boast as to the whereabouts of
the stolen money. But Vaca rode on, occasionally breaking into a wild
song, half Yaqui, half Mexican. The youth Ramon trembled, fearing that
the gringo would lose patience.
Across the northern end of the cañon the winnowing heat waves died to
the level of the ground. Brown shadows shot from the western wall and
spread across the widening outlet. The horses stepped briskly, knowing
that they were near water.
Waring became more alert as they approached the adobe buildings of the
rancho. Vaca had drifted into a dull silence. Gray with suffering and
grim with hate for the gringo, he rode stolidly, praying incoherently
that the gunman might be stricken dead as he rode.
The raw edge of the disappearing sun leveled a long flame of crimson
across the mesa. The crimson melted to gold. The gold paled to a brief
twilight. A faint star twinkled in the north.
Dogs crowded forward in the dusk, challenging the strange riders. A
figure filled the lighted doorway of the Armigo ranch-house. The dogs
drew back.
Ramon dismounted and helped his uncle down. Waring sat his horse until
Juan Armigo stepped from the doorway and asked who came. Waring answered
with his name.
"Si! Si!" exclaimed Armigo. "The señor is welcome."
Waring dismounted. "Juan, I have two of your friends here; José Vaca and
Ramon Ortego."
Armigo seemed surprised. "José Vaca is wounded?" he queried
hesitatingly.
Waring nodded.
"And the horses; they shall have feed, water, everything--I myself--"
"Thanks. But I'll look after the horses, Juan. I'm taking Vaca and Ramon
to Sonora. See what you can do for Vaca. He's pretty sick."
"It shall be as the señor says. And the señor has made a fight?"
"With those hombres? Not this journey! José Vaca made a mistake; that's
all."
Armigo, perturbed, shuffled to the house. Waring unsaddled the horses
and turned them into the corral. As he lifted the saddle from Vaca's
horse, he hesitated. It was a big stock saddle and heavy; yet it seemed
too heavy. On his knees he turned it over, examining it. He smiled
grimly as he untied the little canvas sacks and drew them from the
tapaderas.
"Thought he showed too much boot for a hard-riding chola," muttered
Waring.
He rose and threw some hay to the horses. He could hear Ramon and Armigo
talking in the ranch-house. Taking his empty canteen from his own
saddle, he untied the sacks and slipped the gold-pieces, one by one,
into the canteen. He scooped up sand and filled the canteen half full.
The gold no longer jingled as he shook it.
While Waring had no fear that either of the men would attempt to escape,
he knew Mexicans too well to trust Armigo explicitly. A thousand
dollars was a great temptation to a poor rancher. And while Armigo had
always professed to be Waring's friend, sympathy of blood and the appeal
of money easily come by might change the placid face of things
considerably.
Waring strode to the house, washed and ate with Juan in the kitchen;
then he invited the Mexican out to the corral.
"José and Ramon are your countrymen, Juan."
"Si, señor. I am sorry for Ramon. This thing was not of his doing. He is
but a boy--"
Waring touched the other's arm. "There will be no trouble, Juan. Only
keep better track of your horses while I ride this part of the country."
"But--señor--"
"I've had business with you before. Two of your cayuses are astray down
the Agua Fria. One of them is dragging a maguey lead-rope."
"Señor, it is impossible!"
"No, it isn't! I know your brand. See here, Juan. You knew that Vaca was
trying to get away. You knew I'd be sent to get him. Why did you let him
take two spare horses?"
"But, señor, I swear I did not!"
"All right. Then when Ramon rode in here two days ago and asked you for
two horses, why didn't you refuse him? Why did you tell him you would
sell them, but that you would not lend them to him?"
"If Ramon says that, he lies. I told Ramon--"
"Thanks. That's all I want to know. I don't care what you told Ramon.
You let him take the horses. Now, I'm going to tell you something that
will be worth more to you than gold. Don't try to rope any stock grazing
round here to-night. I might wake up quick and make a mistake. Men look
alike in the moonlight--and we'll have a moon."
"It shall be as the señor says. It is fate."
"All right, amigo. But it isn't fate. It's making fool mistakes when you
or your countrymen tackle a job like Vaca tackled. Just get me a couple
of blankets. I'll sleep out here to-night."
Juan Armigo plodded to the adobe. The lamplight showed his face beaded
with sweat. He shuffled to an inner room, and came out with blankets on
his arm. Vaca lay on a bed-roll in the corner of the larger room, and
near him stood Ramon.
"The señor sleeps with the horses," said Armigo significantly.
Ramon bent his head and muttered a prayer.
"And if you pray," said Armigo, shifting the blankets from one arm to
the other, "pray then that the two horses that you borrowed may return.
As for your Uncle José, he will not die."
"And we shall be taken to the prison," said Ramon."
"You should have killed the gringo." And Armigo's tone was
matter-of-fact. "Or perhaps told him where you had hidden the gold. He
might have let you go, then."
Ramon shook his head. Armigo's suggestion was too obviously a question
as to the whereabouts of the stolen money.
The wounded man opened his eyes. "I have heard," he said faintly. "Tell
the gringo that I will say where the money is hidden if he will let me
go."
"It shall be as you wish," said Armigo, curious to learn more of the
matter.
At the corral he delivered Vaca's message to Waring, who feigned delight
at the other's information.
"If that is so, Tio Juan," he laughed, "you shall have your share--a
hundred pesos. Leave the blankets there by my saddle. We will go to the
house."
From the coolness of night, with its dim radiance of stars, to the
accumulated heat of the interior of the adobe was an unpleasant change.
The walls were whitewashed and clean enough, but the place smelled
strongly of cooking. A lamp burned on the oilcloth-covered table. Ramon,
wide-eyed with trepidation, stood by his uncle, who had braced himself
on his elbow as Waring approached. Waring nodded pleasantly and rolled a
cigarette. José Vaca glared up at him hungrily. The lower lip,
pendulous, showed his broken teeth. Waring thought of a trapped wolf.
Juan glanced from one to the other.
But the gringo seemed incurious, merely gazing at the pictures on the
walls; a flaming print of the Madonna, one of the Christ, a cheap
photograph of Juan and his señora taken on their wedding day, an abalone
shell on which was painted something resembling a horse and rider--
"The gold is hidden in the house of Pedro Salazar, of Sonora. It is
buried in the earth beneath his bed."
José Vaca had spoken, but Waring was watching Ramon's eyes.
"All right, hombre. Muchas gracias."
"And now you will let me go?" queried Vaca.
"I haven't said so." Waring's tone was pleasant, almost indifferent.
Ramon's face was troubled. Of what use was it to try and deceive the
gringo? But Waring was smiling. Did he, then, believe such an obvious
lie?
"Bueno!" Waring exclaimed. "That lets _you_ out. Now, what about you,
Ramon?"
"My uncle has spoken," said Ramon. "I have nothing to say."
"Then you will ride with me to Sonora."
"As you say, señor."
"All right. Don't sit up all night praying. That won't do any good. Get
some sleep. And you, too, Juan." And Waring turned quickly to Armigo.
"Sleep all you can. You'll feel better in the morning."
Waring turned and strode out. In the corral he spread his blankets. With
his head on the saddle, he lay gazing up at the stars.
The horses, with the exception of Waring's buckskin Dex, huddled in one
corner of the corral. That strange shape stretched quietly on the ground
was new to them.
For a long time the horse Dex stood with head lowered and one hip sagged
as he rested. Just before Waring slept he felt a gentle nosing of his
blankets. The big horse sniffed curiously.
"Strange blankets, eh?" queried Waring drowsily. "But it's the same old
partner, Dex."
The horse walked slowly away, nosing along the fence. Waring knew that
he was well sentineled. The big buckskin would resent the approach of a
stranger by snorting. Waring turned on his side and slept. His day's
work was done.