Jamie was tucked comfortably between his sister and the big, new
brother, and as they drove swiftly along the smooth prairie road behind
the high-headed trotters, the boy forgot his shyness in constant wonder.
"This is a prairie-dog town," explained Traynor to the child, but Nell
was equally interested. "Those holes are where they live, and when a
rain is coming they all get busy heaping up the earth to prevent water
going down into their homes and drowning them out. They are good weather
prophets."
"Oh, look! It's sitting up!" cried the child in delight, pointing at a
tiny brown-furred animal squatted on its hind legs and barking shrilly.
"Watch him when we get nearer," suggested Traynor. "See, they are
stationed at regular intervals, just like soldiers. They are the
sentinels who warn the others of approaching enemies." The prairie-dog
nearest the carriage, gave a final bark of defiance, wiggled its short
tail and dodged into the hole. The next nearest dog then took up the
warning bark.
"What bright little things they are!" Nell smiled at the yapping little
animal that shouted pigmy challenge twenty feet distant.
"If they had long tails," Jamie hastened to say, "they'd be like the
squirrels we used to feed in the Park."
"We'll get Limber to trap one for you," promised Traynor. "You won't
have to keep it in a cage after it knows you, for it will dig a hole
close to the house and never leave."
Jamie's shining eyes met Nell's and he gave an ecstatic sigh as he
settled against her shoulder. But in an instant he was alert, watching a
cotton-tail rabbit dash across the road. It halted by a mesquite bush.
"Maybe I can catch it." Traynor handed the reins to his wife and stepped
cautiously until he reached down and picked the cowering creature by its
ears. Jamie uttered a cry of delight as his hands closed gently over the
rabbit.
"Once in a while you can do that," commented the man as he took the
reins again. "The Apaches often catch them that way, but I'd hate to
have my dinner depend on the success of getting a rabbit by this
method."
The child was holding the quivering captive against his cheek. Its eyes
were bright with terror, and when Jamie looked up at Traynor, his eyes
held something of the same bright, frightened appeal. "Won't you please
let it go home now? I'm afraid it will be lonesome tonight, like I used
to be when Nell was away working all day in New York."
Traynor lifted the tiny prisoner and let it slip to the ground. They
laughed together as it scurried and leaped across the prairie until it
was lost to sight.
"He knew the right way home," said Jamie, clapping his hands, "and it
has gone to tell its little boys and girls about the giants that caught
it and how it got away. They will be awful glad to see him come home,
won't they?" Nell nodded, and the boy went on, "Sometimes I used to
think maybe a giant would catch Nell so she couldn't come home to me
when it got dark, and it made my throat hurt. But you always did come,"
he finished with a smile at his sister, who thus learned for the first
time of his childish fear.
Her arm went about him suddenly and she held him close as she answered,
"And the giants didn't catch me, you see. Instead, you and I ran away to
a wonderful, new country, where the Prince came and found us, and now he
is taking us home to live with him."
"And we won't have to go back again, ever, will we Nell?" he asked in
sudden anxiety.
"No, dear," she answered. "It's going to be just like the story books.
Don't you remember? 'And they all lived happily for ever afterward!'"
The child leaned back with a contented sigh, and his closed eyes did not
see the look that passed between Nell and Traynor. The horses had slowed
down to a walk and Traynor's right hand held the reins loosely, but his
left hand closed over the girl's ungloved one with its new golden band
on the slender finger. He smiled at her, and then her eyes filled with
quick tears, as he leaned over to kiss her tenderly.
"Tears, Nell?"
"Tears of happiness," she answered tremulously. "The tears that come
when one's heart is too happy for laughter."
Nell had a distinct recollection of her first view of the ranch when she
had seen it from the stage coach, but the thought now that this was her
home and Allan's lent a different interest to the little village of
cream-coloured buildings with red roofs, surrounded by cottonwood and
willow trees. Here and there poked windmills that supplied the troughs
and ponds with water. That other ride had been filled with anxious
uncertainty as to what lay before her, but now, the whole world was a
wonderful dream of happiness and love. This was her home.
The carriage entered the big driveway into the main stable, where the
men and Fong were waiting to meet them. A pack of greyhounds lying on
the floor, leaped and began to yelp in excitement. From the box-stalls
sleek heads of handsome horses peered curiously, then they whinnied a
welcome home to the team that pawed the floor impatiently.
Nell scarcely had time to note it all when Doctor Powell came from the
court-yard of the house and helped her from the carriage.
"I got back yesterday," he said, after they had all exchanged words of
welcome. His eyes rested on Jamie, "Well, I believe Arizona is fattening
you up already," he exclaimed, taking the child's hand in his own. "You
and I must be chums, Jamie, for we're both tenderfeet, and have lots to
learn. Limber picked out a fine little pony for you to ride, and I found
a saddle in Tucson that is just your size. We'll both learn to be
cowboys, now. Won't that be fine?"
The child's smile told that Powell had won a loyal follower. The
doctor's love for children was a magnet that drew them to him at once.
Now he looked down at the child, measuring the battle to be fought, and
knew the victory would not be easily won, for the child's vitality had
been deeply sapped.
Nell paused in the court-yard. It was eighty feet square, with deep
porches on all four sides. Triangular flowerbeds were in each corner,
and over a pergola climbing roses in full bloom mingled with honeysuckle
and flowering syringa, which recklessly distilled their combined
fragrance. Even the windmill in the centre of the court was completely
hidden by vines.
She followed her husband into the low-ceilinged living room, and with a
little smile she dropped into the same big chair that had held her in
sleep when the cowboys discovered her that unforgettable day.
"Come see this view," called Allan, and she went to the long French
window and stood beside him. "Those mountains are the most wonderful
sermons in the world," he said. "It took me a long time to understand
them. Limber helped me. When I was discouraged, he did not say anything,
but just saddled his little pinto pony, Peanut, and my own horse,
Chinati, and we rode silently for hours through long, dim trails, until
I found courage and peace. Then we came home again. You and I will ride
those trails together dear. They have known my dark hours, and now I
want them to share our happiness."
He turned, and with his arm about her waist, led her to a door that
connected the living-room with an adjoining one.
"I told the boys to slick up this room for you, and you can select your
furniture from the catalogue. That is how we shop when we live on a
ranch, you know."
As he threw open the door, the pink roses and red Navajo rugs shrieked
discordant welcome, and Traynor started in surprise.
"Well!" he exclaimed. "I told them to whitewash it! This certainly is a
transformation. I wonder how on earth they managed it? If you don't care
for the paper, Nell, it can be changed. It's a trifle gaudy, I must
confess."
"It's the sweetest room I ever had!" she answered warmly. "I just love
every one of those awful pink roses, and I'm going out now to tell the
men how I love it!"
She darted from the room and found the men in the main stable. They
looked at her with evident embarrassment, but she held out her hand,
smiling as she cried impulsively, "I want to shake hands with each one
of you, and thank you for taking such trouble to make my room so pretty!
It is the nicest room I have ever had in my whole life!"
They took her hand awkwardly in turn, then each waited for one of the
others to answer. Silence gripped them.
Holy finally made a heroic effort and distinguished himself by
exploding, "Oh, Hell! That warn't northin'! 'Tweren't no trouble
whatsomever!"
Unable to control the corners of her mouth, Nell retreated to the house,
where she sank on a couch and shook with laughter as she related to
Allan the result of her appreciation.
As soon as her skirt had vanished through the court-yard the men turned
wrathfully on Holy.
"Say, Holy," Bronco said fiercely, "what the devil do you suppose she
will think of this outfit with you cussin' at her that way?"
Holy looked abashed and scratched his head, "Damned if I know how I come
to say it! But, if one of you fellers had of said somethin' I wouldn't
got no chanct to cuss. You all jest made me do it!" He stalked away in
offended dignity, while the other men looked after him.
"Well, what d'ye think of that?" Bronco demanded of Limber and Roarer,
who only shook their heads. Holy's logic was too much for them to pass
upon.
The day's surprises did not end with the elaborate dinner upon which
Fong had lavished his best efforts. In the evening, as Nell, Jamie,
Traynor and Powell sat in the living-room, Fong entered bearing what
appeared to be a Chinese pagoda of delicate carved ivory.
Beaming, he deposited it upon the center-table, and as they drew near,
they saw it was a cake with white icing that loomed almost two feet
high. It was a lace-work Eiffel tower from which swung fairy-like
bridges to the outer base, and this foundation was a mass of intricate
designs in pure white icing. Along the edge of the cake, in rose pink
letters, was written "Mary Crixmas," for Fong's previous attempts in
such lines had been confined to Christmas festivals, and the spelling of
the words had slipped from his memory through long disuse.
The Chinaman presented a sharp knife to Neil, as he said, "Your clake.
You cuttee him."
"It's a shame to cut it," she protested, as she took the knife. Then she
turned to her husband, "I want the men to see it first, and we'll give
them each a piece of it, Allan, if you don't mind."
He hurried out of the room to marshal the boys before him. The cake was
duly admired and Fong's pride satiated. Then the knife did its deadly
work, and the fairy bridges toppled, bit by bit, until the whole outfit
had received a generous portion of Fong's masterpiece.
"Hold on," said Traynor. "Fong, you get some glasses, and bring one for
yourself, too."
While Fong obeyed the order, Traynor disappeared to return with several
bottles of champagne, which he opened.
Thus they drank to the health and happiness of the Boss of the Diamond H
and his bride, and in those glasses was pledged an unspoken devotion
that would count no sacrifice too great to make for the Boss and the
little lady.
It was long past midnight before the men settled in their bunks and the
light was turned out. For quite a while nothing disturbed the silence,
then Roarer's voice pierced the darkness shrilly, "Say, where did Fong
get the flour to make that cake? We all seen them burros eatin' the
flour sack, didn't we? An' that's all the flour thar was on the ranch?"
"Shet up!" responded Holy fiercely. "I don't know whar he got it an'
what's more I don't care. It was damned good cake, anyhow!"