FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WORLD
The less expert riders had been weeded out in the past two days. Only
the champions of their respective sections were still in the running.
One after another these lean, brown men, chap-clad and bow-legged, came
forward dragging their saddles and clamped themselves to the backs of
hurricane outlaws which pitched, bucked, crashed into fences, and
toppled over backward in their frenzied efforts to dislodge the human
clothes-pins fastened to them.
The bronco busters endured the usual luck of the day. Two were thrown
and picked themselves out of the dust, chagrined and damaged, but still
grinning. One drew a tame horse not to be driven into resistance
either by fanning or scratching. Most of the riders emerged from the
ordeal victorious. Meanwhile the spectators in the big grand stand,
packed close as small apples in a box, watched every rider and snatched
at its thrills just as such crowds have done from the time of Caligula.
Kirby Lane, from his seat on the fence among a group of cowpunchers,
watched each rider no less closely. It chanced that he came last on
the programme for the day. When Cole Sanborn was in the saddle he made
an audible comment.
"I'm lookin' at the next champion of the world," he announced.
"Not onless you've got a lookin'-glass with you, old alkali," a small
berry-brown youth in yellow-wool chaps retorted.
Sanborn was astride a noted outlaw known as Jazz. The horse was a
sorrel, and it knew all the tricks of its kind. It went sunfishing,
tried weaving and fence-rowing, at last toppled over backward after a
frantic leap upward. The rider, long-bodied and lithe, rode like a
centaur. Except for the moment when he stepped out of the saddle as
the outlaw fell on its back, he stuck to his seat as though he were
glued to it.
"He's a right limber young fellow, an' he sure can ride. I'll say
that," admitted one old cattleman.
"They don't grow no better busters," another man spoke up. He was a
neighbor of Sanborn and had his local pride. "From where I come from
we'll put our last nickel on Cole, you betcha. He's top hand with a
rope too."
"Hmp! Kirby here can make him look like thirty cents, top of a bronc
or with a lariat either one," the yellow-chapped vaquero flung out
bluntly.
Lane looked at his champion, a trifle annoyed. "What's the use o'
talkin' foolishness, Kent? I never saw the day I had anything on Cole."
"Beat him at Pendleton, didn't you?"
"Luck. I drew the best horses." To Sanborn, who had finished his job
and was straddling wide-legged toward the group, Kirby threw up a hand
of greeting. "Good work, old-timer. You're sure hellamile on a bronc."
"Kirby Lane on Wild Fire," shouted the announcer.
Lane slid from the fence and reached for his saddle. As he lounged
forward, moving with indolent grace, one might have guessed him a
Southerner. He was lean-loined and broad-shouldered. The long,
flowing muscles rippled under his skin when he moved like those of a
panther. From beneath the band of his pinched-in hat crisp, reddish
hair escaped.
Wild Fire was off the instant his feet found the stirrups. Again the
outlaw went through its bag of tricks and its straight bucking. The
man in the saddle gave to its every motion lightly and easily. He rode
with such grace that he seemed almost a part of the horse. His
reactions appeared to anticipate the impulses of the screaming fiend
which he was astride. When Wild Fire jolted him with humpbacked
jarring bucks his spine took the shock limply to neutralize the effect.
When it leaped heavenward he waved his hat joyously and rode the
stirrups. From first to last he was master of the situation, and the
outlaw, though still fighting savagely, knew the battle was lost.
The bronco had one trump card left, a trick that had unseated many a
stubborn rider. It plunged sideways at the fence of the enclosure and
crashed through it. Kirby's nerves shrieked with pain, and for a
moment everything went black before him. His leg had been jammed hard
against the upper plank. But when the haze cleared he was still in the
saddle.
The outlaw gave up. It trotted tamely back to the grand stand through
the shredded fragments of pine in the splintered fence, and the grand
stand rose to its feet with a shout of applause for the rider.
Kirby slipped from the saddle and limped back to his fellows on the
fence. Already the crowd was pouring out from every exit of the stand.
A thousand cars of fifty different makes were snorting impatiently to
get out of the jam as soon as possible. For Cheyenne was full, full to
overflowing. The town roared with a high tide of jocund life. From
all over Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and New Mexico hard-bitten,
sunburned youths in high-heeled boots and gaudy attire had gathered for
the Frontier Day celebration. Hundreds of cars had poured up from
Denver. Trains had disgorged thousands of tourists come to see the
festival. Many people would sleep out in automobiles and on the
prairie. The late comers at restaurants and hotels would wait long and
take second best.
A big cattleman beckoned to Lane. "Place in my car, son. Run you back
to town."
One of the judges sat in the tonneau beside the rough rider.
"How's the leg? Hurt much?"
"Not much. I'm noticin' it some," Kirby answered with a smile.
"You'll have to ride to-morrow. It's you and Sanborn for the finals.
We haven't quite made up our minds."
The cattleman was an expert driver. He wound in and out among the
other cars speeding over the prairie, struck the road before the great
majority of the automobiles had reached there, and was in town with the
vanguard.
After dinner the rough rider asked the clerk at her hotel if there was
any mail for Miss Rose McLean. Three letters were handed him. He put
them in his pocket and set out for the hospital.
He found Miss Rose reclining in a hospital chair, in a frame of mind
highly indignant. "That doctor talks as though he's going to keep me
here a week. Well, he's got another guess coming. I'll not stay," she
exploded to her visitor.
"Now, looky here, you better do as the doc says. He knows best.
What's a week in your young life?" Kirby suggested.
"A week's a week, and I don't intend to stay. Why did you limp when
you came in? Get hurt?"
"Not really hurt. Jammed my leg against a fence. I drew Wild Fire."
"Did you win the championship?" the girl asked eagerly.
"No. Finals to-morrow. Sanborn an' me. How's the arm? Bone broken?"
"Yes. Oh, it aches some. Be all right soon."
He drew her letters from his pocket. "Stopped to get your mail at the
hotel. Thought you'd like to see it."
Wild Rose looked the envelopes over and tore one open.
"From my little sister Esther," she explained. "Mind if I read it?
I'm some worried about her. She's been writing kinda funny lately."
As she read, the color ebbed from her face. When she had finished
reading the letter Kirby spoke gently.
"Bad news, pardner?"
She nodded, choking. Her eyes, frank and direct, met those of her
friend without evasion. It was a heritage of her life in the open that
in her relations with men she showed a boylike unconcern of sex.
"Esther's in trouble. She--she--" Rose caught her breath in a stress
of emotion.
"If there's anything I can do--"
The girl flung aside the rug that covered her and rose from the chair.
She began to pace up and down the room. Presently her thoughts
overflowed in words.
"She doesn't say what it is, but--I know her. She's crazy with
fear--or heartache--or something." Wild Rose was always
quick-tempered, a passionate defender of children and all weak
creatures. Now Lane knew that the hot blood was rushing stormily to
her heart. Her little sister was in danger, the only near relative she
had. She would fight for her as a cougar would for its young. "By
God, if it's a man--if he's done her wrong--I'll shoot him down like a
gray wolf. I'll show him how safe it is to--to--"
She broke down again, clamping tight her small strong teeth to bite
back a sob.
He spoke very gently. "Does she say--?"
His sentence hung suspended in air, but the young woman understood its
significance.
"No. The letter's just a--a wail of despair. She--talks of suicide.
Kirby, I've got to get to Denver on the next train. Find out when it
leaves. And I'll send a telegram to her to-night telling her I'll fix
it. I will too."
"Sure. That's the way to talk. Be reasonable an' everything'll work
out fine. Write your wire an' I'll take it right to the office. Soon
as I've got the train schedule I'll come back."
"You're a good pal, Kirby. I always knew you were."
For a moment her left hand fell in his. He looked down at the small,
firm, sunbrowned fist. That hand was, as Browning has written, a woman
in itself, but it was a woman competent, unafraid, trained hard as
nails. She would go through with whatever she set out to do.
As his eyes rested on the fingers there came to him a swift,
unreasoning prescience of impending tragedy. To what dark destiny was
she moving?