Bad News
Forest Blakeman's words gave Connie a strange feeling. For a moment it
had seemed to her that the foreman took satisfaction in knowing that she
was fighting with her back to the wall. It was almost as if he wished to
see her lose Rainbow Ranch.
She brushed aside the thought. After all, had not Blakeman gone without
his salary for many months in an effort to stave off financial ruin? It
was unjust of her to question his motives. But it would be hard for her
to forgive him for trying to sell Silvertail.
Early the next morning Connie took the car and drove in to Red Gulch.
She was waiting at the door of the First National Bank when it opened at
nine o'clock.
"Come right in, Miss Carl," invited the president, leading the way to
his private office. Connie thought he glanced at her a bit appraisingly
as she seated herself opposite him.
She came straight to the point.
"Mr. Haynes, I wanted to talk to you about our note which is coming due
in a few days."
"Oh, yes," murmured the banker. "On the sixteenth, I believe. I trust
you are prepared to pay it."
"Well, no, I'm not," Connie admitted. "But with a six months'
extension----"
"I am afraid that is impossible, Miss Carl," the banker said quickly. "I
should like to do it, of course, but I must think of my depositors."
"But Mr. Haynes, you don't realize what this will mean!" Connie cried.
"I'll lose my ranch--everything! If only I had a little more time, even
three months----"
The banker smiled tolerantly but shook his head.
"If you had a year, Miss Carl, it would not help. Ranching is no longer
the profitable industry it was in your father's time."
"I could make it pay if only I had a little time," Connie insisted
desperately. "I'd take summer boarders--dudes from the city."
"I fear you haven't the capital for that," smiled the banker. "I know
exactly how you feel, Miss Carl, and I only wish I might help you."
Connie left the bank feeling discouraged and almost ill. Mr. Haynes'
attitude had stunned her. She had never believed that he would refuse to
extend the note.
"Somehow I must raise fifteen hundred dollars before the sixteenth of
the month," she told herself grimly. "But how? There's no possible way."
Connie crossed over to the grocery store where she bought a box of
supplies to take back to Rainbow Ranch. She chatted for a few minutes
with the genial owner, Joe Ferris, who had known her since she was a
child. It was well after the noon hour when finally she started home.
The girl drove automatically, her mind absorbed with the problem which
beset her. Upon reaching the ranch she avoided Blakeman, feeling that
she could not bear to talk with him in her present mood.
Slipping out to the barn she saddled Silvertail and went for a run
through the sage. The rush of cool air seemed to quiet her nerves. She
rode toward the vermilion cliffs, following an indistinct trail but one
which Connie knew well.
Suddenly Silvertail shied. The girl was startled to see a man lying on
the ground ahead of her. Instantly she thought that it was someone in
hiding, then she saw that he lay perfectly still.
Springing from the saddle, Connie ran to him and dropped on her knees.
He was a lean young man, clean-shaven and pale. She had never seen him
before.
"Are you hurt?" she gasped.
The man stirred, opened his eyes and tried to smile.
"Water," he mumbled.
Connie ran to get it from her canteen. She pressed the container to the
man's lips and he drank thirstily.
"Not too much," she warned.
Tearing off the sleeve of her blouse she sopped it in water and sponged
his forehead.
"How did you get here?" she asked. "Where is your horse?"
"Haven't any," the man mumbled. "I walked from Red Gulch."
"You walked!" exclaimed Connie. "No wonder you had a touch of heat.
You're a stranger around these parts, aren't you?"
"I guess maybe I am," the man admitted. "I'm looking for a job. They
told me in Red Gulch I might get one out at Rainbow Ranch. I started
walking but I couldn't find the place."
"Why, you're at Rainbow Ranch now," declared Connie. "But as for getting
a riding or cowboy job----"
"I can ride even if I don't own a horse," the man said quickly. "My name
is Jim Barrows."
"I'm real glad to meet you," replied Connie smiling.
She liked the young man but she doubted very much that he could ride or
that he knew anything about ranch work. A cowboy never would have tried
to walk the distance from Red Gulch, nor would one accustomed to outdoor
life have been affected by the sun. Jim Barrows obviously was a
tenderfoot.
"Here, let me help you," she said kindly as the man tried to raise
himself. "If you're able to ride my horse I can get you to the ranch
house. Or maybe it would be better to go for help."
"No, I can make it," Jim Barrows insisted. "My head isn't so woozy now."
Connie helped him into the saddle, observing that he really did know how
to mount. Then she led Silvertail down the trail.
"What made you think of getting a job at Rainbow Ranch?" she asked
presently.
"They told me in Red Gulch that the place was badly in need of a few
good men. I guess the ranch has been run by a girl who lives in the East
and she's let it go to pieces."
Connie bit her lip and avoided looking at Jim Barrows.
"I need a job mighty bad," the man went on. "Fact is, I've not had a
square meal in a week."
"I'll see that you get one as soon as we reach the house," Connie
promised.
"I'm sorry to put you to so much trouble, Miss. Say, do you live near
here?"
"Yes, at Rainbow Ranch," the girl answered, laughing. "I neglected to
tell you my name. I am Connie Carl."
"Why, you're the girl who owns the ranch!"
"Yes."
"Say, I didn't mean anything----"
"Don't worry about that," said Connie quickly. "I know what people are
saying, and in a way it is true. I trusted too much in the ability of my
foreman. About that job, I'll have Blakeman talk with you. We are short
handed, but I'm afraid we can't pay very much even for a good cowhand."
"I'd be willing to work almost for my grub."
"In that case I think we should be able to come to some sort of deal,"
Connie laughed.
Lefty and Alkali were working in the corrals when the girl led the horse
into the courtyard. They turned to stare at the stranger.
"Lefty!" Connie called. "Come here and help Mr. Barrows into the house.
Tell Marie to give him all the food he can eat."
"You bet!" replied the cowboy.
Supported by Lefty, the stranger walked quite steadily into the kitchen.
Connie went to find the foreman. He was not at the barn or in the
leather shop, but when she returned a few minutes later to the house,
she discovered him talking angrily with Lefty.
"Who is this stranger?" he demanded. "What's he doing here?"
"You'll have to ask Connie," returned Lefty with a shrug. "I don't know
nothin' about it."
"I was just looking for you, Mr. Blakeman," said Connie. "I found the
man lying on the trail. He's down on his luck and hasn't had a square
meal in days. I brought him here. I thought you might find some work for
him to do."
"We can't pay the men we have now," the foreman snapped. "Anyway, I
don't like the looks of this fellow."
"I do," said Connie quietly. "My father never would have turned a man
away when he was hungry and half-sick."
"He's no more sick than you are," retorted the foreman. "I can tell when
a guy is puttin' on."
"I don't agree with you at all," returned Connie. "What reason would he
have for pretending that he was ill?"
"I don't like him," said Blakeman stubbornly. "We ought to cut down
expenses wherever we can."
"A few dollars won't make any difference now. I wish you would hire him,
Mr. Blakeman."
"We could use a herder," spoke up Lefty. "The cattle in that southeast
section have been gittin' out into the road. Another calf was killed
yesterday."
The foreman glared angrily at the cowboy and started to walk away.
"Just a minute," Connie called after him. "I'll tell Barrows that he is
hired."
"It's your ranch," the foreman said sullenly. "But you're making a
mistake!"
Connie made no reply but went into the kitchen. Jim Barrows had just
finished the ample lunch which Marie had set before him.
"I couldn't help overhearing," he said to Connie. "Thanks for going down
the line to help me."
"We'll be glad to have you work here," smiled Connie.
"I hope you didn't get into trouble on my account."
Connie shook her head.
"Blakeman is only my foreman. I'm really the boss here, but he doesn't
seem to realize it. I guess maybe that's because he knows I'll probably
lose the ranch in a short while."
Connie did not go on for she felt that she had told the stranger too
much already. He regarded her curiously but did not ask leading
questions.
"When do I start work?" he inquired presently.
"Why, whenever you feel able," Connie told him.
"I'm a lot better already," the man declared heartily. "I'll be ready to
go to work in the morning."
After Connie had gone, Jim Barrows wandered outdoors. He went out to the
corrals and talked for a time with Lefty and Alkali. The foreman coldly
ignored him, but the other cowboys tried to be friendly. It came to them
by degrees that the stranger knew more about ranch work than they had
thought.
"There's something queer about that fellow," Lefty confided to Connie
later on.
"How do you mean?" she asked quickly.
"Seems to me like I've seen him before, only I can't remember where,"
the cowboy said, scratching his shaggy locks. "But I'm dead sure of one
thing. Jim Barrows ain't the greenhorn we took him to be."