When Nell heard the news of Paddy's death she felt she had lost a
sincere friend. As her eyes rested on the door she seemed to see the
wrinkled face with a strangely softened look, and hear his voice saying,
"Good noight, Misthress Thraynor. Git a good noight's rist and don't
worrit any more." Poor old Paddy! How little they dreamed of the long
rest he would find the next night.
She was glad that she had obeyed his injunction not to let her husband
know anything of the promised loan until Paddy himself should speak of
it. Her silence had saved Allan from indulging in plans that could not
now be carried out. Everything seemed more hopeless than ever.
Doctor Powell had been trying to secure a loan through friends in the
east, in order to assist Traynor to ship some of his stock; but his
efforts had been fruitless, so far, and a letter told them that he was
going to Los Angeles to see if anything could be done there.
The stage-driver who delivered Powell's letter, brought the little
collar that Paddy had commissioned Limber to buy for the fawn. The
cowboy had scribbled a few words explaining that the gift came from
Paddy. Jamie was delighted. They did not tell him that his old friend
was dead.
A week after Paddy's death, Nell stood picking a few withered leaves
from the geranium in the window, and her tears fell on the brilliant red
flowers. She stared out the window, wondering why those who tried to do
right, found life the hardest.
A gaunt calf stumbled weakly and fell near the fence, making no effort
to rise, as though understanding the futility of struggling any longer.
"Oh, it is horrible!" she cried, turning away that she might not see the
dying convulsions of the animal.
She felt the drouth was a living, relentless thing, wrapping its coils
about them all, men and brutes alike, choking and crushing the very
heart of the universe. Unnerved by constant anxiety over the sick child,
the worry of the drouth, and the shock of Paddy's death, she fell
sobbing to her knees beside the couch where the boy lay asleep,
breathing heavily, his cheeks burning with fever.
In the distance a strange haze had formed. It moved slowly and
majestically nearer, gradually growing thicker--first a misty grey, then
changing to a black velvety curtain, dropping straight down from sky to
earth. Creeping stealthily, it turned to a brilliant red hue that looked
as if it were dripping with fresh blood, a colour that stung the
eyeballs until one put up a hand to shut out the grewsome sight. Its hot
breath crawled into the lungs and stifled one; licked the face and
fanned the hair. Then with diabolic menace the colour changed to an inky
blackness, while high above rose the edge of the pall. Tipped with grey
and white it bellied out like the crest of an enormous black wave that
seemed to poise a second before hurling itself to the earth. Cattle
bellowed and tramped frantically beside the fences, trying to escape the
dry scorching air, as with a great swirl and deep suction, like a mighty
sob, the dust storm enveloped the ranch.
Although it was three o'clock in the afternoon the rooms were dark
enough to need lights. The rays from the jets filtering through the
misty, moving clouds of dust, looked weird and uncanny. Every window was
tightly closed; the air was stifling. Jamie moaned and moved his head
restlessly as Nell sat fanning him. Slowly the dust sifted through the
windows and under the doors, settling on every thing, until the pillow
under the child's head became grey and finally brown. For two terrible
hours the storm lasted in all its fury, then a faint gleam of light
slowly turned from grey to liquid gold, and Nell ran to raise the
windows and let in the fresh air.
The window sash was warped and stubborn; the woman excited, and in her
anxiety something caught on the flower-box. With an impatient
exclamation she hauled the heavy box nearer the edge of the wide
window-sill, and then leaning forward, she forced up the sash.
A wave of fresh, pure air, tinged with a peculiar odour, filled the
room. As Nell, panting from her exertion, leaned against the ledge,
there was a sudden crash, and the box of geraniums lay wrecked at her
feet. Something else lay there. Shining gold in twenty dollar
pieces--Paddy's legacy to Jamie.
She stared stupidly a moment, then clutched at the gold pieces. They
showered from her hands as she lifted and kissed the coins passionately.
This would mean life and happiness for Allan and Jamie.
A strange rumble startled her. Then came the sound of a frightful crash,
the rush of hurrying feet, and the door was flung open as Traynor
clashed in.
"Look--look, Nell! Rain! Rain! Rain! Thank God! We are saved!"
The deafening roar of the storm almost drowned his voice as the rain
beat on the corrugated iron roof and flooded the court.
Then he saw the box and the scattered gold. While the storm shrieked and
flooded the country, making great running streams of the dry prairie,
Nell told her husband of the secret she had held with Paddy.
She slipped down on the floor, lifting the coins into her lap, and
counted them slowly. "Twenty-five thousand dollars!" she exclaimed, and
the last gold piece fell with a tinkle like laughter, as though old
Paddy, standing by, invisible, were chuckling at his joke.
"Poor old Paddy!" said Traynor, "We none of us understood the old chap
except you and Jamie. You've been a plucky little woman, and now the
rains, and this legacy of Paddy's, everything is coming out right!" Nell
picked up the broken geranium and held it against her lips. "God bless
you, Paddy!" she said.
She rose to her feet and her husband slipped an arm around her waist as
they stood together at the long, French window, looking out at the
glorious rain, while Paddy's gold lay shining at their feet.
All night the rain fell in torrents, and then for the following weeks,
each day brought its storm, filling the ditches and watering places in
the flats and mountains, while the cattle scattered over the ranges
instead of crowding in the few spots where there was water.
The worst drouth in the history of Arizona was over.