As thus arranged, the program was carried out after breakfast. Very
artfully Bull waited till the party was almost out of sight before he
sent Gordon galloping after. Even then the plot was endangered when,
turning at the sound of hoof-beats, Lee saw him coming. Her face clearly
expressed her determination to send him back, but in the nick of time
the widow spoke.
"Oh, let him come! The poor fellow is suffering enough."
Lee's nod and faint smile, riding on, revealed a queer mixture of
happiness and apprehension, which was wiped out by amused astonishment
when, just as Gordon came up, a lone figure hove in sight, coming from
the opposite direction.
"Why--it's Sliver!"
And Sliver it was--though difficult to recognize by reason of a complex
embroidery of scratches, bumps, and bruises. His own broad grin broke
through, however, when Lee inquired after his wife.
"She was fine an' dandy when I seen her last, which, was in the shank of
the evening two nights ago." Lovingly fingering a huge bump that
occupied a central position in his altered scenery, he went into the
intimate details of his matrimonial venture. "Till then it had all been
lovely. She'd sorter cut up a bit, at first, me an her padre having
fixed up the match without any of her 'sistance. But after I'd given her
a fair larruping with a saddle strap, jest to show who wore the pants,
as the saying goes, she come right into camp; snuggled in like a kitten.
Sure, she behaved real domestic till Fernando, that hawk-nosed arriero
from San Ramon, blew in with his mules two nights gone. I orter 'a'
suspicioned him, he was that free in handing out drinks. But I
didn't--leastways not till Felicia laid me out with one whack of a
cordwood stick from behind. The rest I got from the mirror an' the padre
when I woke next morning and found him doctoring my map. She an'
Fernando had gone off together."
"She's gone!" Lee gave a little hysterical laugh. "For good?"
"An' then some--they're off to the wars." Gently massaging the bump,
Sliver added: "She'll stay there if she's wise. It'll be a 'tarnation
sight less risky than coming back. She was for cutting my throat, but
neither the padre nor Fernando would stan' for that, they being afraid
of 'The Black Devil' an' 'The Python,' which they call Bull an' Jake.
'For I knew, señor, that they would follow us to the ends of the earth
if any harm came to thee,' the old fellow tol'. But they made her free
of my map, an', as you see, she done a good job."
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I must go back and care for your face."
With Lee's exclamation the props trembled beneath the widow's plot, but
Sliver restored their stability. "It's cheap at the price. Many's the
man up home that gets as bad or worse an' is stuck, to boot, for
lawyer's fees an' al'mony. Don't you bother 'bout me, Lady-girl. All I
need is a bit of salve, an' Maria kin get me that."
As Sliver rode on, the widow looked at Lee, who returned her meaning
glance. Neither looked at Gordon, who discreetly watched Betty. But the
thought was the same in the minds of all three. "Thank goodness, she's
gone."
For a while Lee hesitated and debated whether, after all, she ought not
to go back, and she reined in, startled, when a long howl presently
drifted over the rise behind which Sliver had disappeared. A coyote, in
its death agony, might have equaled the sound. But as, presently, the
tortured notes resolved into the opening bars of "The Cowboy's Lament,"
she giggled and rode on for another five miles. Sliver was happy!
While Lee was kissing Betty good-by the widow managed to pass a whisper
to Gordon. "Now don't let her escape! And remember--look out for Ramon
to-morrow."
He nodded and, looking back from behind the crest of the next rise, she
saw for herself how well he obeyed. Lee had made to get off at a gallop,
but had reined in when he spoke, and now they were riding side by side,
deep in earnest conversation.
Nodding, the widow rode on, but stopped again for a last look while she
could still see over the rise. She was practically invisible when Lee
looked back, protesting, as Gordon grabbed her bridle and pulled her
beast alongside. Her pointing finger said, quite plainly:
"They will see!"
The widow gasped, for with one swift reach he snatched Lee out of the
saddle and set her before him.