_A Horse in Need_
He came into the town as a solid, swiftly moving dust cloud. The wind
from behind had kept the dust moving forward at a pace just equal to
the gallop of his horse. Not until he had brought his mount to a halt
in front of the hotel and swung down to the ground did either he or
his horse become distinctly visible. Then it was seen that the animal
was in the last stages of exhaustion, with dull eyes and hanging head
and forelegs braced widely apart, while the sweat dripped steadily
from his flanks into the white dust on the street. Plainly he had been
pushed to the last limit of his strength.
The rider was almost as far spent as his mount, for he went up the
steps of the hotel with his shoulders sagging with weariness, a
wide-shouldered, gaunt-ribbed man. Thick layers of dust had turned his
red kerchief and his blue shirt to a common gray. Dust, too, made
a mask of his face, and through that mask the eyes peered out,
surrounded by pink skin. Even at its best the long, solemn face could
never have been called handsome. But, on this particular day, he
seemed a haunted man, or one fleeing from an inescapable danger.
The two loungers at the door of the hotel instinctively stepped aside
and made room for him to pass, but apparently he had no desire to
enter the building. Suddenly he became doubly imposing, as he stood on
the veranda and stared up and down at the idlers. Certainly his throat
must be thick and hot with dust, but an overmastering purpose made him
oblivious of thirst.
"Gents," he said huskily, while a gust of wind fanned a cloud of dust
from his clothes, "is there anybody in this town can gimme a hoss to
get to Stillwater, inside three hours' riding?"
He waited a moment, his hungry eyes traveling eagerly from face to
face. Naturally the oldest man spoke first, since this was a matter of
life and death.
"Any hoss in town can get you there in that time, if you know the
short way across the mountain."
"How do you take it? That's the way for me."
But the old fellow shook his head and smiled in pity. "Not if you
ain't rode it before. I used to go that way when I was a kid, but
nowadays nobody rides that way except Doone. That trail is as tricky
as the ways of a coyote; you'd sure get lost without a guide."
The stranger turned and followed the gesture of the speaker. The
mountain rose from the very verge of the town, a ragged mass of sand
and rock, with miserable sagebrush clinging here and there, as dull
and uninteresting as the dust itself. Then he lowered the hand from
beneath which he had peered and faced about with a sigh. "I guess it
ain't much good trying that way. But I got to get to Stillwater inside
of three hours."
"They's one hoss in town can get you there," said the old man. "But
you can't get that hoss today."
The stranger groaned. "Then I'll make another hoss stretch out and
do."
"Can't be done. Doone's hoss is a marvel. Nothing else about here can
touch him, and he's the only one that can make the trip around the
mountain, inside of three hours. You'd kill another hoss trying to do
it, what with your weight."
The stranger groaned again and struck his knuckles against his
forehead. "But why can't I get the hoss? Is Doone out of town with
it?"
"The hoss ain't out of town, but Doone is."
The traveler clenched his fists. This delay and waste of priceless
time was maddening him. "Gents," he called desperately, "I got to
get to Martindale today. It's more than life or death to me. Where's
Doone's hoss?"
"Right across the road," said the old man who had spoken first. "Over
yonder in the corral--the bay."
The traveler turned and saw, beyond the road, a beautiful mare, not
very tall, but a mare whose every inch of her fifteen three proclaimed
strength and speed. At that moment she raised her head and looked
across to him, and the heart of the rider jumped into his throat. The
very sight of her was an omen of victory, and he made a long stride in
her direction, but two men came before him. The old fellow jumped from
the chair and tapped his arm.
"You ain't going to take the bay without getting leave from Doone?"
"Gents, I got to," said the stranger. "Listen! My name's Gregg, Bill
Gregg. Up in my country they know I'm straight; down here you ain't
heard of me. I ain't going to keep that hoss, and I'll pay a hundred
dollars for the use of her for one day. I'll bring or send her back
safe and sound, tomorrow. Here's the money. One of you gents, that's a
friend of Doone, take it for him."
Not a hand was stretched out; every head shook in negation.
"I'm too fond of the little life that's left to me," said the old
fellow. "I won't rent out that hoss for him. Why, he loves that mare
like she was his sister. He'd fight like a flash rather than see
another man ride her."
But Bill Gregg had his eyes on the bay, and the sight of her was
stealing his reason. He knew, as well as he knew that he was a man,
that, once in the saddle on her, he would be sure to win. Nothing
could stop him. And straight through the restraining circle he broke
with a groan of anxiety.
Only the old man who had been the spokesman called after him: "Gregg,
don't be a fool. Maybe you don't recognize the name of Doone, but the
whole name is Ronicky Doone. Does that mean anything to you?"
Into the back of Gregg's mind came several faint memories, but they
were obscure and uncertain. "Blast your Ronicky Doone!" he replied. "I
got to have that hoss, and, if none of you'll take money for her rent,
I'll take her free and pay her rent when I come through this way
tomorrow, maybe. S'long!"
While he spoke he had been undoing the cinches of his own horse. Now
he whipped the saddle and bridle off, shouted to the hotel keeper
brief instructions for the care of the weary animal and ran across the
road with the saddle on his arm.
In the corral he had no difficulty with the mare. She came straight to
him in spite of all the flopping trappings. With prickly ears and eyes
lighted with kindly curiosity she looked the dusty fellow over.
He slipped the bridle over her head. When he swung the saddle over her
back she merely turned her head and carelessly watched it fall. And
when he drew up the cinches hard, she only stamped in mock anger. The
moment he was in the saddle she tossed her head eagerly, ready to be
off.
He looked across the street to the veranda of the hotel, as he passed
through the gate of the corral. The men were standing in a long and
awe-stricken line, their eyes wide, their mouths agape. Whoever
Ronicky Doone might be, he was certainly a man who had won the respect
of this town. The men on the veranda looked at Bill Gregg as though
he were already a ghost. He waved his hand defiantly at them and the
mare, at a word from him, sprang into a long-striding gallop that
whirled them rapidly down the street and out of the village.
The bay mare carried him with amazing speed over the ground. They
rounded the base of the big mountain, and, glancing up at the ragged
canyons which chopped the face of the peak, he was glad that he had
not attempted that short cut. If Ronicky Doone could make that trail
he was a skillful horseman.
Bill Gregg swung up over the left shoulder of the mountain and found
himself looking down on the wide plain which held Stillwater. The air
was crystal-clear and dry; the shoulder of the mountain was high above
it; Gregg saw a breathless stretch of the cattle country at one sweep
of his eyes.
Stillwater was still a long way off, and far away across the plain he
saw a tiny moving dot that grew slowly. It was the train heading for
Stillwater, and that train he must beat to the station. For a moment
his heart stood still; then he saw that the train was distant indeed,
and, by the slightest use of the mare's speed, he would be able to
reach the town, two or three minutes ahead of it.
But, just as he was beginning to exult in the victory, after all the
hard riding of the past three days, the mare tossed up her head and
shortened her stride. The heart of Gregg stopped, and he went cold. It
was not only the fear that his journey might be ruined, but the fear
that something had happened to this magnificent creature beneath him.
He swung to the side in the saddle and watched her gallop. Certain she
went laboring, very much as though she were trying to run against a
mighty pull on the reins.
He looked at her head. It was thrown high, with pricking ears. Perhaps
she was frightened by some foolish thing near the road. He touched her
with the spurs, and she increased her pace to the old length and
ease of stride; but, just as he had begun to be reassured, her step
shortened and fell to laboring again, and this time she threw her head
higher than before. It was amazing to Bill Gregg; and then it seemed
to him that he heard a faint, far whistling, floating down from high
above his head.
Again that thin, long-drawn sound, and this time, glancing over his
right shoulder, he saw a horseman plunging down the slope of the
mountain. He knew instantly that it was Ronicky Doone. The man had
come to recapture his horse and had taken the short cut across the
mountain to come up with her. Just by a fraction of a minute Doone
would be too late, for, by the time he came down onto the trail,
the bay would be well ahead, and certainly no horse lived in those
mountains capable of overtaking her when she felt like running. Gregg
touched her again with the spurs, but this time she reared straight up
and, whirling to the side, faced steadily toward her onrushing master.