"I think I will go over to the Springs in the morning," said Powell to
Traynor a week after the rodeo, as they sat in the court enjoying
after-dinner cigars.
"Oh, by the way," Traynor interjected, "I had a talk with Paddy
yesterday. He wants the privilege of staying at the PL ranch house for a
month after the cattle are tallied in. I rather believe the old fellow
hates to leave the place."
"How about arranging to have him stay permanently?" suggested Powell.
"Limber says some one would have to be there to look after the windmill
and water."
"I think Paddy would be glad to do it. He hates mountain work, but he's
good anywhere on the flats, and he's as honest as the sun. With Limber
at the Springs working across the backbone of the Galiuros, we would
consolidate the work of both ranges, and our relative expenses could be
adjusted without difficulty. I believe Paddy would be glad to take a
small sum monthly, and have his grub provided, and feed for that
scarecrow of a horse that he thinks so much of."
"Won't you need Limber here?" protested Powell.
"I can arrange the work with him so that he can stay part of each week
at the Springs. So you need not hesitate on that account. We have to
ride in the Hot Springs section every few weeks. Many of our cattle
drift over there. It's a wild range, and unless the men ride among the
stock at frequent intervals, the cattle become too wild to be handled to
an advantage. There are five and six year old steers back in the
mountains there, that will never be caught except with a bullet--and
even then you would have to have the wind in your favour to get in
range. They are worse than deer."
"Suppose I talk to Limber? I don't want him to go unless he wishes it."
"He's taken a liking to you," was Traynor's reply, "and I'm sure the
plan will suit him. But, decide that for yourselves. If he doesn't want
to go, Bronco or Holy would do, but Limber would be more congenial, I
thought."
"Limber is one of the finest characters I have ever met," was Powell's
remark as he rose and moved toward the entrance of the court leading to
the bunk-house. "I'll have a talk with him, now."
A light streamed from the open door of the bunk-house where the
cowpunchers sat smoking and talking. Bronco, at a small table, was
immersed in the pages of a gigantic mail order catalogue. A sheet of
paper and bottle of ink portended a purchase. Powell sauntered in, found
a seat on an iron cot, lit a cigarette and glanced around at them all.
It was a delicate compliment that no one greeted his entrance formally.
It proved that he was "one of the bunch."
Bronco's face was contorted as he began writing on the printed order
sheet of the merchant enterprising enough to send out catalogues
broadcast. It was good business strategy, for when the long winter
evenings held forth, the big catalogue was the center of attraction on
many ranches, and thus articles were ordered with sublime disregard as
to utility or cost.
"What you sendin' fer this time, Bronc?" questioned Holy, curiously.
"Accorjon," the reply was punctuated with scratching pen that spluttered
ink over the order list. "Thar's a book goes with it, tellin' you how to
play in two hours."
"Say," Roarer leaned forward with interest, "why don't you get a talkin'
machine like the feller that spit his teeth out. Look 'em up. We could
chip in and get one, maybe. It'd be easier on you--an' us, too."
With Powell's aid a small talking-machine was decided upon, and Bronco
conscientiously inked out the previous order and substituted the latest
one. Then each man insisted that the record of his favourite "tune" be
included--Golindrina, Over the Waves, Where is my Wandering Boy Tonight,
Home, sweet Home, and My Bonnie lies over the Ocean--exhausted their
repertoire.
"Six," announced Bronco, "say that ain't enough. Why, we kin sing all
them without any talkin-machine. We want somethin' we don't sing
ourselves when we're punchin' cows."
Powell came to the rescue, and with his aid a list was completed,
including some really good music. He vetoed the command to pick out
"about twenty-five or thirty dollars' worth."
"That's a heap sight more sensible than gettin' a cobbler's outfit, like
we done the other time," Limber commented with a smile.
In answer to Powell's evident desire, he continued, "Bronc and Holy seen
it in the catalogue, an' it told how much money you could save by
mendin' your own shoes. It was unhandy havin' to pack our boots to
Willcox all the time. Mostly we'd forgot to take 'em, or else forgot to
bring 'em home. We all rounded up our boots and Bronco figgered that by
mendin' 'em, we'd save pretty near two weeks pay each."
"Well, it would of," defended Bronco, "But you fellers wouldn't wear 'em
after I fixed 'em all up, and blacked 'em too."
"We'd a wore 'em," retorted Roarer indignantly, "if we could of got into
'em, but you'd made 'em all so tight that no one could get a foot into
them shoes. The wust of it was that you went an' put extra soles on our
good shoes and spiled 'em along with the rest."
"Well, you seen me throw mine out the same time you fellers chucked
yours into the dump heap, didn't you?"
Limber's mouth twitched and his eyes twinkled as he turned to Powell,
adding the climax, "Say Doc, thar wasn't a pair of boots or shoes that
one of us could get into, and the day after Bronc finished up his work,
we all got in the spring wagon and druv to Willcox in our socks an'
bought shoes for the outfit before we could get to work."
"If you'd a guv me another chanct," protested Bronco, "I'd knowed better
what to do, but anyway, it was a dandy cobbler's outfit, and wuth the
money we guv for it."
"What became of it?" demanded Powell when his laughter subsided.
"Thar was a Missionary come past here, gettin' money for the heathens in
Africa, and we donated the outfit to him. He shore seemed pleased with
it, but we always had a sneakin' notion the heathens wasn't the ones
that used it. That Missionary was like a billy-goat, ready to take
anything you guv him, from a gold-mine to a empty tin tomato can. Last
we seen of him he was prospectin' for Hasayampa Bill's lost mine, but
nobody ain't heerd of his findin' it, so fur."
"How did Hasayampa lose the mine?" Powell interrupted. "Or did he really
ever own one?"
"We seen the beginning of it," Limber began, and Powell scenting a
story, settled with delighted anticipation.
"It started this way. We was workin' the rodeo back of Dos Cabezas when
we come across a seven-year ol' black horse that was an outlaw. He
belonged to the Bar X Bar outfit, but they'd guv up tryin' to break him.
For three years the Boss of the Bar X Bar hed offered each Fourth of
July to give the horse to any man what'd ride him to a finish. Thar was
lots that tried it. He was a good horse and worth considerable if he was
busted.
"Hasayampa was workin' with us. He'd been havin' a streak of hard luck.
His only pony was lame and he couldn't raise cash to buy another. You
see, Hasayampa had tried to teach a tenderfoot how to play Stud poker,
and that's about the poorest way I know to invest your money, especially
when the tenderfoot is dressed like a minister--Hasayampa oughter knowed
better.
"Howsomever, Hasayampa bet his lame pony that he could ride that black
horse, and of course, everybody took him up.
"He roped and throwed it without any trouble, and got the saddle on its
back; then he jumped inter the saddle. Up to then it was easy work, but
afterwards--Say, Doc, every one knows that a horse has only got four
feet, but thar wasn't a man watchin' that wasn't ready to bet it was a
centipede Hasayampa was tryin' to gentle. The horse was called Black
Devil, for thar wasn't a white hair on him, and he sure deserved the
rest of the name.
"Hasayampa stayed with him, all right, and what's more we all seen him
do it, an' I tell you we whooped like Injuns! The next day Hasayampa
quit work and left camp, riding his new horse and leadin' the lame pony,
and that was the last we seen of him for over six months.
"Then he blew in at the Diamond H, riding his old bay pony, but he
hadn't mutch to say--Seemed sorter down-hearted like.
"Then some one ast him what he done with Black Devil and this is what he
tol' us.
"When Hasayampa was ridin' Black Devil that day he busted him, the horse
seemed to favour one hind foot--acted like he'd sprained it. When
Hasayampa started doctorin' it, he pretty near died with suprise, for
thar was a nice little nugget of gold smashed on the bottom of Devil's
foot, just like a corn. Well Hasayampa didn't lose no time humpin' up to
the placed he'd noticed Devil limpin', and he posted his location notice
on the Buckin' Bronco Mine. The lead was thar just in plain sight, he
said. We all had been campin' on a regular mint of gold an' never knowed
it. Leastways, that is what Hasayampa told us.
"Well, he took Black Devil down to the blacksmith at Dos Cabezas and
hed some shoes made for him. He had quite an argument with the
blacksmith to get him to make the shoes the way Hasayampa wanted 'em. He
said that after they got through, the blacksmith did what Hasayampa told
him."
Limber paused to light his cigarette, and philosophize, "It don't pay to
argue, if you kin help it. Hurts the other party's feelin's when you get
the best of him, an', Hasayampa had fists on him like cannon balls when
he warmed up in a argument. All the same, you can't blame the blacksmith
for callin' Hasayampa a 'locoed ijit' when you knowed the sort of
hoss-shoes he ordered made."
"They was half-hollow, as if you dug a slot in 'em with a jack-knife.
After Devil was shod, Hasayampa got some chamois skin, quick-silver and
a small retort and went back to his claim.
"Now, here's what Hasayampa tol' us all for gospel truth, Doc. He put
the quick-silver in the slots of them hoss-shoes, then jumped on Black
Devil and let him buck up an' down that air claim. Hasayampa said it
beat any four-stamp mill he ever seed. Then he got down and scraped the
silver outen the hoofs, squoze it in the chamois bag and fired it in his
retort to separate the gold. Hasayampa cleaned up a hundred dollars'
wuth the fust day.
"It didn't take Black Devil long to understand his job o.k. That hoss
would just wait for his shoes to be silvered, then go hisself and buck
around, only stoppin' to come and git his shoes scraped and re-filled.
Meanwhile Hasayampa, seem' Black Devil was handlin' his end of the
partnership, put in all his own time runnin' the other end of the
business, squozin' the quick-silver, firin' the gold and mouldin' it
inter bricks.
"Hasayampa figured out jest how long it would take to make him a
billionaire, and he'd a done it if it hadn't been for the earthquake in
May '91. It did everlastingly shake up the country around here, and lots
of permanent springs went plumb dry and never run again.
"Hasayampa had gone to Willcox to ship some bricks to the 'Frisco Mint,
when he felt that earthquake, and he begun to worry about Devil, for he
had turned him loose for a vacation. He humped back to the claim, and
when he got thar he said he seen a white horse standin' with his head
hangin' down like he was asleep; but never a sign of Black Devil nowhar.
"Whilst he was puzzling over what had became of Black Devil, he swars he
seen that air white hoss raise his head, lift his hind foot, then begin
buckin' in a dazed sorter way. It was Black Devil, and the shock hed
turned his hair snow white.
"Hasayampa said the Buckin' Bronco Mine hed disappeared off'n the face
of the yearth. He tried to make Black Devil understand that he warn't to
blame for losin' the mine, but the hoss wouldn't eat nothin'. He'd just
buck around, feeble-like, lift his leg and look at it, and then he laid
down an' died."
Powell's laughter rang through the room. "What a pity such a genius as
Hasayampa had to die," he finally gasped.
"Say, Doc," Limber spoke, "Hasayampa onct said that a man back east was
willin' to pay for his yarns if he'd take time to write 'em down. He ast
us what we thought about it, and we all tol' him that if any feller did
say that, he was a bigger liar than Hasayampa and could write stories
himself, an' Hasayampa said he guessed that was true. Do you, honestly,
believe anyone would of paid for 'em?"
"I certainly do," was the positive answer. "Hasayampa deserves a
monument to his memory! By the way, I never heard anyone tell how he
died, but I'm pretty sure he did it in some original way."
Limber's face grew serious, and a lighted match in his hand flickered
out. He watched it thoughtfully.
"Thar is a monument to Hasayampa," he said slowly. "'Tain't very big,
nor very grand, and thar ain't many people knows whar it is, but it's a
monument, all the same. Hasayampa never tol' this story, but the woman
did tell it.
"She was jest a common sorter woman, not young, nor pretty, nor anything
like that, an' it was out in the Yuma desert. Hasayampa was prospectin',
and he rid along past the place where she was camped with her man. It's
funny that a woman thet ain't married to a man will put up with heaps of
abuse, but them women that hangs around mining camps seems to think it
all goes in the game. So when she done somethin' that riled up the man,
he up and busted her over the head with a stick of wood and she went
down like she was dead.
"Hasayampa jumped off'n his hoss and lit into the man, and the feller
knifed him, then run away, leavin' Hasayampa lyin' thar a dyin'.
"After awhile the woman come back to her senses, and she done all she
knowed how; but he was too bad off. The feller that run was wanted for
murder up in Montana, the woman said. He had took the two horses they
had been ridin' and Hasayampa's pony, too; but what was wuss than
everythin' else, he hed carted off all the water thar was in their
canteens and left them without a drop.
"She said when she told Hasayampa that she wasn't a respectable
woman--jest a camp-follower, an' no decent man had any call to fight for
her, he jest looked at her an' smiled an' said, 'You're a woman. He
hadn't no right to hit you.'
"He died that night in the dark, and she sat and helt his hand till
sun-up, then she scraped a shallow grave with her bare hands and put him
in an' covered him over the best she could. After that she started to
hunt the trail. She walked around all day and was beginning to get
desert-crazy when some men found her. It was too late. She died in a
couple of hours, but she tol' about Hasayampa and ast if they'd bury her
alongside of him, because it wouldn't seem so lonesome. An' they done
it. So thar's a big cross over them both, with their names on it. Of
course, we all knowed Hasayampa couldn't tell the truth if he tried,
Doc, but when folks heerd about the way he died, everyone took off his
hat to Hasayampa, you bet, for Hasayampa never done dirt to nobody."
"Did they catch the man?"
"Not that any one knowed of. That's one of the things that puzzles me.
Why people what plays a square game is sometimes so out of luck. Seems
as if they must of been put down with the grain of the table runnin'
against 'em when they was started at the game, or else the Dealer
stacked the cards. But, it 'tain't so mutch to a feller's credit holdin'
a Royal Flush as it is to keep on playin' a square game to a finish when
he ain't dealt nothin' but deuces and treys."
"You're right, Limber," said Powell, who was learning to find the gold
beneath the surface.
He moved to the door, followed by Limber, and for a second they stood
looking up into the deep blue of the sky where the countless stars, like
clear-cut diamonds, trembled and blinked as though held on threads of
silver by the mighty hand of the Creator.
"Come into my room," invited Powell, "I want to talk business with you,
Limber."
The cowboy nodded, and when they were seated and the smoke of their
cigars blended, Powell explained the plan of combining the work of the
two ranges, adding as he finished; "I told Mr. Traynor that it is
entirely up to you. I don't want you there unless you really would like
to go. It would double your pay and make you range foreman of all of the
ranches owned by Mr. Traynor and myself. I will have my hands full,
getting the Sanitarium built, and we would leave the management of my
cattle business absolutely to you. How does it strike you? Don't
hesitate to speak plainly."
"So fur as I'm concerned, I'd ruther be over there. It's this way, Doc.
Glendon ain't runnin' very straight, and nobody seems to give a damn
exceptin' me. I'd like to do what I can for him, and though I don't know
as I could do anythin'--you never can tell what'll turn up. 'Tain't
right leavin' Donnie and Mrs. Glendon there by themselves the way he
does. Glen told me he was goin' to quit as soon as he got a chanct; but
if he stays here much longer he's bound to mix up in trouble. He's
runnin' with a pretty bad bunch now. Another thing," the cowpuncher
hesitated, "Thar's a Mexican girl named Panchita. I guess Mrs. Glendon
is about the only one who don't know about her. Glen's plumb locoed over
the girl and that's whar his money goes, when he gets hold of any."
Powell started angrily, "The cur! With such a wife and boy! Limber,
sometimes I feel ashamed to call myself a man, when such creatures as
Glendon are known as men."
"Mebbe Glen don't figger just what it is leadin' up to. He was a mighty
different sorter person when he fust come here, and everyone liked him.
He'd get full onct in a while, but he played white until this last
couple of years. He's just the wrong kind of a man for Arizona. Take him
some other place and mebbe he'd manage to average up pretty fair with
the rest of the bunch; but he's sure goin' the wrong trail here."
The cowboy rose, and Powell held out his hand impulsively, saying, "All
right, Limber. We pull together."
"So long as you want me, Doc."
Their hands gripped and as they looked into each other's eyes, both men
recognized a bond that was stronger than blood--the brotherhood of real
men.
After Limber had gone, Doctor Powell sat meditating over what the cowboy
had told him concerning Glendon. The wreaths of smoke that rose from his
cigar framed a shadowy vision of Katherine Glendon's face, and Powell
wondered vaguely where he had seen her before they met in the cave near
the Circle Cross. Memory refused to aid him.