ADIOS
The sun was sliding past the zenith when Jack yawned himself awake. He
lay frowning at the ceiling as if he were trying to remember something,
sat up when recollection came, and discovered that Dade was already up
and getting into his jacket.
"Dade, let's go back to the mine," he suggested abruptly, reaching for
his boots. "You aren't crazy about this job here, are you? I know you
didn't want to take it, at first."
"And I know you bullied me into it," Dade retorted, with some acrimony.
He had danced until his feet burned with fatigue, and there was the
reaction from a month of worry to roughen his mood. Also, he had yet to
digest the amazing fact that the sight of Teresita had not hurt him so
very much--not one quarter as much as he had expected it would do. Now,
here was Jack proposing to leave, just when staying would be rather
agreeable!
"Well--but times have changed, since then. I'm ready to go." Jack
pulled on a boot and stamped his foot snugly into it. "What's more, I'm
going!"
"You'll eat, first, won't you?"
Jack passed over the sarcasm. "No, sir, I won't. I'm not going to
swallow another mouthful on this ranch. I held myself down till that
damned fiesta was over, because I didn't want folks to say I was scared
off. But now--I'm going, just as quick as the Lord'll let me get a
saddle on that yellow mustang."
"Why, you--"
"Why, I nothing! I'm going. If you want to go along, you can; but I
won't drag you off by the heels. You can suit yourself." He stamped
himself into the other boot, went over and splashed cold water into his
eyes and upon his head, shook off the drops that clung to his hair, made
a few violent passes with towel and brush, and reached for his sombrero.
"It's a long ways to ride on an empty stomach," Dade reminded him dryly.
"We can stop at Jerry Simpson's and eat. That won't be more than a mile
or so out of the way." Jack's hand was on the latch.
"And that yellow horse ain't what you can call trail-broke."
"He will be, by the time I get to the mine!"
Dade threw out both hands in surrender. "Oh, well--you darned donkey,
give me time to tell Don Andres good-by, anyway."
Jack's eyes lighted with the smile Dade knew and loved to see. "Dade,
they don't make 'em any better than you," he cried, and left the door to
try and break a shoulder-blade with the flat of his hand, just to show
his appreciation of such friendship. "Bill Wilson has got enough gold
that he pulled out of the crowd for us yesterday to grub-stake us for a
good long while, and--I can't get out of this valley a minute too soon
to suit me," he confessed. "You go on and hunt up Don Andres, while I
tackle Solano. I'll wait for you--but don't ask me to stay till after
dinner, because I won't do it.
"We don't want to go off without saying good-by to Jerry and his wife,
anyway; and we'll beg a meal from the old Turk, and listen to some more
yarns about Tige, just to show we're friendly. I'll have Surry saddled,
so all you've got to do is make your talk to the don and pack your
socks."
Dade grinned and followed him outside. "Good thing I'm used to you," he
commented grimly, "or my head would be whirling, right now." Not a word,
you will observe, as to whether his own interests would be furthered by
this sudden departure; but that was Dade's way. Not a word about the
sudden change from last evening, when Jack had eaten at Don Andres'
table and had talked amiably with José--amiably in spite of the fact
that every one of them understood perfectly that the amiability was but
the flowers of courtesy strewn over a formal--and perhaps a
temporary--truce. But José was not a fixture upon the ranch, and the
don's friendship for the two seemed unchanged.
Dade did not argue nor did he question. Barring details, he thought he
understood why it was that Jack wanted to go--why it was impossible for
him to stay. A girl may be only seventeen and as irresponsible as a
kitten, but for all that she may play an important part in the making
and the marring of a man's most practical plans.
When he returned from the house, Don Andres walked beside him. The two
of them reached the corral just as Jack released Solano's foot from the
rawhide loop that had held it high while Jack cinched the saddle in
place. When Jack saw them he came forward, wiping from his face the
beads of perspiration which the tussle had brought there.
"Señor Hunter tells me that you are going away," Don Andres began almost
at once. "That you are acting wisely I am truly convinced, Señor Allen,
though it irks me to say that it is so. For a little time would all be
well, perchance; for as long as your generosity fills the heart of José
with gratitude, so that no ill will finds room there. But his temper is
hot and hasty, as is yours; and with other considerations which one must
face--" He held out his hand for farewell.
"Adios, Señor. I am indeed sorry that you must leave us," he said
simply. "Under other circumstance I should urge you to remain; but my
lips are sealed, as you well know. Adios, amigo mio. I have liked thee
well." He gripped Jack's hand warmly, and turned away. Dade he gave a
final handclasp, and walked slowly back to the house, his proud old head
bowed upon his chest.
Valencia, yawning prodigiously, came forth from the vaqueros' hut and
glimpsed them just as Jack was bringing Solano to something like decent
behavior before they started down the slope.
"Dios!" cried Valencia, and ran to see what was taking place. For while
the taming of a mustang is something which a man may undertake whenever
the mood of him impels, the somewhat bulky packages tied behind the high
cantles could mean nothing save a journey.
When they told him, he expostulated with tears in his eyes. He had been
nursing since yesterday a secret hope that the blue-eyed one would teach
him that wonderful trick of making a riata climb upward of its own
accord as if it were a live thing. Beyond that he was genuinely
distressed to see them go, and even threatened to go with them before he
yielded finally to the inevitable--remembering Felice, perhaps, and the
emptiness of life without her.
"Señor, should you chance to see that great hombre who whipped Manuel so
completely, you would do well to give the warning. Me, I heard from
Ronaldo last night that Manuel spoke many threats against that gringo
who had beaten him. Carlos also--and I think they mean ill towards the
Señor Seem'son. Me, I thought to ride that way to-morrow and give the
word of warning."
"We're going there now," said Jack, with some difficulty holding the
yellow horse quiet, while he shook hands with Valencia. "Adios,
Valencia. If you ever come near our mine, remember that what we have
will be yours also."
"Gracias, gracias--adios--" He stood staring regretfully after them when
they started erratically down the slope; erratically, because Solano
preferred going backward or sidewise, or straight up and down, to going
forward. They were not two hundred yards away from the stable when
Valencia overtook them, having saddled in haste that he might ride with
them for a way.
"That caballo, he needs two to show him the way, Señors," grinned
Valencia, to explain his coming. "Me, I shall help to get him started,
and we will say adios farther up the valley, unless the señors desire to
ride to Señor Seem'son's cabin."
"That's where we're headed for, believe it or not!" laughed Jack, who at
that moment was going round and round in a circle. "When he gets so
dizzy he can't tell up from down, maybe he'll do as I say about going
straight ahead."
Eventually Solano did decide to move forward; and he did so at such a
pace that speedily they reached Jerry's claim and galloped furiously up
the slope to the cabin.
"Must be asleep," Dade remarked carelessly, when they faced a quiet,
straight-hanging bullock hide.
But when a loud hallo brought no sign, even from Tige, he jumped off and
went to investigate the silence.
"There ain't a single soul here," he announced, "and that's funny, too.
They always leave Tige to watch the place, you know--or they did before
I went on rodeo."
"They do yet," said Jack. "Only Mrs. Jerry never goes anywhere. She
stays at home to watch their garden. That's it, over there; her 'truck
patch,' she calls it."
"Things are all upset here. Get off, Jack, and let's see what's up. I
don't like the looks of things, myself." Dade's face was growing sober.
Valencia, on the ground, was helping Jack with Solano. But he turned
suddenly and cast an uneasy glance towards the quiet log hut.
"Señors, for these two who live here I am afraid! It is as I told you;
that Manuel was speaking threats against the big señor, last night; and
he had drunk much wine, so that he walked not steady. And with Carlos
and perhaps one or two others--of that I am not sure--he rode away soon
after dark. Dolt, that I did not tell thee at the time! But I was
dancing much," he confessed, "and the fiesta dance makes drunken the
feet, that they must dance--"
"Well, tie up that mustang and never mind." Dade was walking aimlessly
about, looking for something--what, he did not know. "There's tracks all
around, and--" he disappeared behind the cabin.
In a minute he was calling them, and his tone brought them on the run.
"Now, what do you make of that?" he wanted to know, and pointed.
Two fresh mounds of earth, narrow, long--graves, if size and shape meant
anything at all. The form of a "T" they made there in the grass; for one
was short and extended across, near one end of the larger one.
"What do you make of that?" Dade repeated, much lower than before.
"Señors, evil has been done here. Me, I think--"
"Don't think! Bring that shovel, over there--see it, by the tree?--and
dig. There's one way to find out what it means."
Valencia did not want to dig into those mounds, but the voice was that
of his majordomo, whom he had for a month obeyed implicitly. He got the
shovel and he dug. And since it seemed too bad to make him do all the
work, Jack and Dade each took their turn in opening the grave.
And in that grave they found Mrs. Jerry, wrapped in her faded patchwork
quilt, her hands folded at peace, her wistful brown eyes closed
softly--There was no need to speculate long upon the cause of her death.
Her shapeless brown dress was stained dark from throat to waist. Dade,
shuddering a little, very gently lifted the hands that were folded;
beneath was the hole where the bullet had struck.
"Dios!" said Valencia, in a whisper.
They were three white-faced young men who stood there, abashed before
the tragedy they had uncovered. After a little, they filled the grave
again and stood back, trying to think the thing out and to think it out
calmly. They drew away from the spot, Dade leading.
"We don't need to open the other one," he said. "That holds Tige, of
course. I wonder--"
"Let's look around out there in the bushes," Jack suggested. "I can see
how the thing must have happened; somebody came and started
shooting--and that rifle he called Jemina, and the two pistols--don't
you reckon they did some good for themselves?"
"Probably--if Jerry was here."
"Man, he must have been here! Who else--" he tilted his head towards the
graves. Surely, no one but Jerry would have buried them so, with Tige
lying at the feet of his mistress. And, as Jack presently pointed out,
if the shooting had taken place in Jerry's absence, he would certainly
have notified them at the ranch. And Jack had a swift mental picture of
Jerry galloping furiously up to the patio on one of his mules,
brandishing his rifle, while he shouted to all around him the news of
this terrible, unbelievable thing that had befallen him.
They did not search long before they found plenty of evidence that Jerry
had been there at the time of the trouble. They found Manuel lying on
his back, with his beard clotted and stained red, and his black eyes
staring dully at the sky. Farther along they came upon Carlos, lying
upon his face, with a blood-stained trail behind him in the grass to
show how far he had crawled before death overtook him. But they did not
find Jerry, look where they would.
In the cabin, where they finally went to search systematically for
clews, they found places where the logs had been splintered near the
loopholes with bullets from without. A siege it had been, then.
Jack, more familiar with the interior than either of the others because
of his frequent visits there with Teresita, missed certain articles; the
frying pan, an iron pot, a few dishes, and the bedding, to be exact.
So, finally, they decided that Jerry, having had the worst befall him,
had buried his dead, packed a few necessary things upon one of the
mules, mounted the other, and had gone--where? There was no telling
where, in that big land. Somewhere into the wilderness, they guessed,
where he could be alone with the deadly hurt Fate and his enemies had
given him.
The oxen, when they went outside, came shambling up the slope to the oak
tree where they were wont to spend the night near the prairie schooner
that had been their homing place for many a month. But without a doubt
the mules were gone; otherwise, Jack insisted, they would be near the
oxen, as was their gregarious habit.
"Jerry's gone--pulled out," Jack asserted for the third or fourth time.
"And the mules, and--the pup. Where's Chico? I haven't seen or heard
anything of him; have you?"
They had not; and they immediately began calling and looking for Chico,
who was at that stage of puppyhood that insists upon getting in front of
one and then falling down and lying, paws in the air, waiting to be
picked up and petted. But Chico did not come lumbering up like an
animated black muff, and they could not find his little, dead body.
It occurred to Dade that he might be buried with Tige; and, once the
idea was presented to Jack, he could not content himself to leave the
place until he knew to a certainty. He would never have admitted it, but
there were certain sweet memories which made that particular pup not at
all like other black pups. He got the shovel, and he dug in the little
grave until he was certain that Tige lay there, and that he was alone.
"Well, he's taken the pup along, then; and that proves to me that Jerry
wasn't crazy, or anything like that. He's just pulled out, because he
couldn't stand it around here any longer--and I don't blame him. But I
wish I knew where; we'd take him up to the mine with us; huh?"
"Yes--but we're about fourteen hours too late to find out where he went.
If I'm any judge, these bodies have been dead that long. And if we
found him, the chances are he wouldn't go. If I'm any good at guessing
poor Jerry's state of mind, right now, he don't want to see or speak to
any human being on earth."
"I guess you're right," Jack assented, after a meditative pause. "He
just worshiped that poor little woman."
Beyond that, neither of them attempted to put into speech the tragedy;
it was beyond the poor words we have thus far coined for our needs, like
many another thing that happens in these lives we live. They waited a
little while longer, wondering what they could or should do.
Mrs. Jerry lay easily where she had been placed by the man who loved
her. The killers had been killed by the same hand that laid her deep, in
her faded, patchwork quilt. There seemed nothing further to be done.
But Valencia, when he had ridden a thoughtful half-mile, did think of
something.
"Me, I shall give ten pesos of the gold I won yesterday upon the duelo,"
he said, glancing back at the grim little cabin, "that mass may be said
for the repose of the Señora Seem'son's soul. For thus will sleep come
easier to me, Señors. And you?"
"I think, Valencia, if I were going to say any prayers, they'd be said
for Jerry," Dade told him. "He needs 'em worse than she does."
"Oh, come on, Dade; let's be getting out of this valley!" Jack urged
irritably. "And I hope," he added, "I'll never see the place again!"
"But, Señor!" Valencia rode alongside to protest almost tearfully, "The
valley, it is not to be blame. Saw you ever a sweeter land than this?"
He flung his arm outward to include the whole beautiful expanse of it.
"The valley, it is glorious! Am I not right? Blame not the beautiful
land, Señor, for the trouble that has come; for trouble will find a man
out, though he climb the loneliest mountain peak and hide himself among
the rocks there! And the valley--Señors, the valley will hold friends
that are true to thee."
Jack flushed at the reproach; flushed and owned himself wrong. "I'll
remember the friends," he said. "And I'll forget the things that hurt;
I'm a selfish brute--whee-ee! I should say!" He pulled up as short as
Solano would let him, and stared from Dade to Valencia with guilty eyes.
"Diego--I forgot that Injun, Dade; and next to you, I believe he's the
best friend I've got on earth! I was so wrapped up in my own bruises
that I clean overlooked something that I ought to be mighty grateful
for. Dade, do you think he'd like to go along to the mine? You know his
wife died a few months ago, and he's kind of alone; do you think he'd
go?"
"I think the chance to go would look like a ticket to glory," Dade
assured him sententiously.
Whereupon Jack dismounted, that he might write a few lines as he had
written the note to Bill Wilson, a couple of months before: with a leaf
from his memorandum book and a bullet for pencil.
"Give that to Don Andres, will you, Valencia? It's to ask how much is
Diego's debt, and to say that I'll pay it if the peon wants to come with
me. We'll wait in town until we hear; perhaps Don Andres will let you
come up with Diego--that is, if Diego wants to come. You ask him,
Valencia."
"He will come, Señor; nothing would give him greater joy. And," he added
wishfully, "but for my sweetheart, Señors, I would ask that I might come
with you also!"
"You stick to your sweetheart, Valencia--if she's true," Jack advised
him somberly. "Now, Dade, I guess we're ready for the long ride to
supper. Why don't you kick me for being such a selfish cuss?"
"Maybe because I'm used to you," Dade's lips quirked humorously after
the retort. "You're just Jack--and you couldn't be any different, I
reckon, if you tried. Well, come along, then. Adios, Valencia."
Once more they shook hands solemnly with the vaquero, who had no smile
for the parting.
"Adios, adios," Valencia called lingeringly after them, and held his
horse quiet that he might gaze after them until a willow bend hid them
finally from his view.