An Argument
In the excitement of preparing for the expected guests Connie forgot
entirely Forest Blakeman's warning concerning Jim Barrows. She had meant
to question him about his activities on the day of the rodeo but somehow
the opportunity never presented itself. She did not believe that he
could have had anything to do with the holdup at Eagle Pass.
Early Monday morning a high powered limousine drove into the courtyard,
bringing Mr. Postil, his small granddaughter, and the Grimes family. The
latter consisted of F. P. Grimes, a distinguished railroad official, his
son Cecil, and daughter, Helena.
Connie and the cowboys were on hand to greet the guests and to make them
welcome. Helena, who appeared to be about eighteen, was a pretty, dark
haired girl, dressed in a modish white suit. She gazed about with
undisguised distaste as she alighted from the car.
"I don't think I shall like this place at all," Connie heard her say to
her father. "Why, it's nothing but a run-down cattle farm."
Cecil, several years older than his sister, looked equally pained as he
gazed about the courtyard.
"My man," he said, addressing Lefty in a condescending tone, "will you
be good enough to show me to my room?"
"Just follow me," Lefty replied gruffly. "Our butler ain't workin'
today."
Mr. Postil and Mr. Grimes, apparently old friends, lingered in the
courtyard for a few minutes while Connie took Helena to her bedchamber.
"Only one room?" the girl asked in surprise. "And no private bath?"
"I'm afraid not," Connie said politely. "This isn't a very luxurious
place, of course. It's merely a ranch."
"I can see that," Helena murmured dryly.
A flush of anger spread over Connie's face. Offering no reply she
quickly left the girl alone.
"Wrangling dudes isn't going to be quite as great a pleasure as I
expected," she thought grimly. "I've never seen such a spoiled girl in
all my life. And Cecil is just like her, too!"
Connie found it a relief to talk with Mr. Grimes and Mr. Postil. They
both seemed well pleased with Rainbow Ranch and assured her that they
would not mind a few inconveniences.
"It will do my son and daughter good to rough it for a few weeks," the
railroad man declared. "Life has always been too easy for them."
Connie quite agreed with Mr. Grimes before the day was ended. Helena
spent nearly all of her time sulking while Cecil annoyed the cowboys by
asking ridiculous questions and trying to let them know that he
considered them as menials whose sole function was to serve him.
"If this is a sample of the dudes I'm to herd, I'm quittin' right now,"
Lefty complained to Connie.
"Oh, you wouldn't let me down at a time like this," she said quickly.
"Mr. Postil is fine and for that matter, so is Mr. Grimes."
"Old Grimes ain't so bad," the cowboy admitted. "He broke down and told
me he's plannin' to make a regular he-man out of that son of his. If
that ain't a laugh!"
"You be nice to Cecil, Lefty. Remember, he's a paying guest."
"Oh, I'll treat him gentle unless he 'my mans' me again. Then I'm liable
to give him a good poke in the nose!"
With the ranch undermanned, and the new arrivals demanding constant
service, Connie found herself hard pressed to keep the household running
smoothly. It seemed to her that Forest Blakeman had lain down on his job
completely. He made it increasingly clear that he was not in sympathy
with her plan of trying to run a dude ranch.
However, for some reason which was not clear to Connie, Blakeman singled
Helena out, and wasted hours chatting with her. The girl kept the other
cowboys from their work too, assuming that it was their duty to keep her
entertained.
"There's just nothing to do around here," she complained to Connie.
"Perhaps you'd like to ride," Connie suggested. "I'll have Alkali saddle
up a pony for you."
"Let's do go for a canter," proposed Cecil who had come up behind the
girls. "I was looking over the horses just now. There's one that's not
bad--the others are nags."
Connie smiled as she followed the brother and sister to the barn. She
felt quite certain that neither of them had ever done much riding. It
therefore took her by surprise when she learned that the horse which
Cecil had chosen for his own was none other than Silvertail.
"I reckon you'll like Star a lot better, sir," Alkali told the boy
persuasively. "Silvertail belongs to Miss Connie, and no one rides him
but her."
Cecil gazed disdainfully at Star, a beautiful roan.
"If I can't have a horse of my own choosing then I'll not ride," he said
peevishly.
"Saddle Silvertail for him, Alkali," Connie instructed quietly.
The cowboy did as he was told, noting as the young man mounted that he
was stiff and awkward.
"You better handle Silvertail easy," he warned. "That hoss is
high-spirited."
"Alkali, you ride along with them," Connie directed.
"We don't need a guide," Helena said quickly. "Not unless that other
young man is free."
"The foreman?" Connie inquired. "I'm afraid he isn't. If you wish I'll
go with you----"
"We'll ride alone," interrupted Helena rudely. "Come along, Cecil."
Connie and Alkali watched the two ride away. Helena evidently had taken
lessons in the East for she sat her horse well, but her brother bounced
high in the saddle.
"That conceited coot will ruin Silvertail's gait," Alkali muttered.
"I only hope Cecil isn't thrown," Connie replied anxiously.
"It would serve him right to get pitched into a cactus plant--but he's
too lucky for that."
Connie turned her eyes away from the riders, for just then a car drove
into the courtyard. It was Lefty returning from Red Gulch where he had
gone for supplies, but the girl was surprised to see two middle-aged
women with him.
The cowboy climbed out over the car door and came hurrying toward
Connie.
"Say, I dragged home two more dudes," he reported in a whisper. "Found
'em at the postoffice. They was inquirin' for a place to stay, so I gave
'em a long line about Rainbow. They're schoolmarms."
"Lefty, you're a genius!" Connie laughed.
She hastened to the car to greet the newcomers. They were pleasant
women, spinsters who hailed from Elkhart, Indiana. This was their first
trip West and they assured Connie they were enjoying every minute of it.
"This is such a lovely ranch," Miss Gladwin declared enthusiastically.
"Yes, isn't it," echoed Miss Parker. "And so Mexican! I love the
atmosphere."
Connie's spirits soared. She had become so accustomed to complaints
during the past day, that she had begun to think nothing about Rainbow
Ranch was right. It was a pleasure to meet two dudes who were not
difficult to please.
The teachers were delighted with their bedrooms. They confessed to
Connie that they had never ridden horseback, but were dying to try it.
"We'll take a trip to Lover's Leap tomorrow," Connie promised. "And
perhaps to the cliff dwellings."
Hearing the sound of clattering hoofs in the courtyard, the girl excused
herself and hurried outside. Silvertail, minus a rider, was wandering
aimlessly about near the corrals. Before Connie could reach the horse,
Alkali came running from the barn and caught his bridle.
"Cecil must have been thrown!" Connie gasped. "Oh, I hope he's not badly
hurt."
Alkali said nothing but a look of smug satisfaction came over his face.
Connie mounted Silvertail and rode out to learn what had happened. She
had not gone far when she saw Helena approaching on horseback with Cecil
trudging along beside her.
"I'm so glad you're not injured," Connie said in relief as she drew
rein.
"It's not your fault that I'm not!" the youth snapped. "Why didn't you
warn me the horse was vicious?"
"Silvertail isn't vicious," Connie replied. "But we did try to tell you
that he has to be properly handled."
"It was your own fault, Cecil," said Helena with a shrug. "Why don't you
learn to ride?"
Connie dismounted, offering to let the youth take her place while she
walked.
"I'd not ride that horse again for a hundred dollars!" Cecil snapped.
"And it's fortunate for you that I wasn't injured."
As Connie expected, the young man made a distorted report of the
incident to his father that evening. Mr. Grimes did not take the affair
very seriously.
However, the conversation was overheard by the two teachers. Inclined to
be nervous, they immediately jumped to the conclusion that all of the
horses at Rainbow Ranch were unsafe. It required the combined efforts of
Connie, Alkali, Lefty and Jim Barrows to convince them otherwise.
Even then they were decidedly uneasy over the proposed trip to Lover's
Leap and the cliff dwellings.
"Are you quite certain this beast isn't an outlaw?" Miss Parker asked
Lefty timidly as he led up her pony the next morning.
"Ma'am, this hoss was raised on milk," the cowboy assured her. "She's so
lazy she won't even swish flies."
Connie was hopeful that Cecil would not be a member of the party, but at
the last minute both he and his sister decided to make the trip. Mr.
Grimes and Mr. Postil, had planned a fishing trip to a nearby lake with
Alkali serving as guide.
"We'll go first to Lover's Leap and then to the cliff dwellings," Connie
announced.
"What a silly name--Lover's Leap," Cecil scoffed.
Lefty rode at the head of the party while Connie brought up the rear.
Progress along the trail necessarily was slow for the two teachers could
ride comfortably only at a walk. However, they enjoyed the scenery and
Connie liked to answer their questions.
Cecil was annoyed by the slow pace and made frequent complaints about
the heat. Nothing interested him save his own discomfort.
The party stopped for lunch at Echo Canyon where Lefty opened the
packages of food packed by Marie and boiled coffee over an open fire.
"I hope there's really something worth seeing at the end of this trail,"
Cecil grumbled as they started on once more.
A little later they approached the summit of the steep incline. There
Lefty halted the party.
"We dismount here and walk the rest of the way, folks."
"What?" demanded Cecil. "Up that mountain? Why can't we ride?"
"There's not room at the top to tie so many horses," Connie explained.
Everyone dismounted and Lefty fastened the ponies to a tree. Then they
started the tedious climb afoot. The two teachers, both plump and short
of breath, were very cheerful about it. When they reached the summit and
peered over the cliff at the pool below, they declared they had not seen
such a beautiful spot anywhere on their vacation trip.
"It's well worth the climb," Miss Parker asserted.
"So far as I can see, it's just a lake," said Cecil irritably. "And a
pretty dinky one at that."
Connie told the story of the Indian princess who had leaped to her
death. The teachers were awed by the tale, asking if it were really
true.
"Of course it isn't," answered Cecil before Connie could speak. "You
hear that same story everywhere. About how far down is the lake?"
"A little over sixty feet," Lefty replied briefly.
"Looks about half that distance to me," Cecil said speculatively. "I
guess out West here they have to exaggerate everything or it wouldn't
make a good story."
"It really is that far down," Connie told him.
She was growing irritated with Cecil, and Lefty too was having
difficulty in holding his temper. The spoiled young man had no right to
ruin the trip for the other members of the party, yet that was exactly
what he was doing.
"Once years ago I dived off here and I thought I'd never reach the
water," Connie went on. "I did it on a dare."
"You jumped from this cliff?" Cecil asked incredulously.
"Yes," Connie admitted, "but it was a silly thing to do. I'll never try
it again."
Cecil remained silent but the expression on his face disclosed that he
doubted the girl's story. Somewhat nettled, Connie said quietly to
Helena and the teachers:
"If you care to step over this way I'll show you another pretty view of
the valley. On a clear day you can see the cliff dwellings from here."
The three women followed her a short distance away. Lefty and Cecil were
left alone at the edge of the cliff. Connie paid no heed to them until a
few minutes later when she was startled by the sound of their voices.
The men were arguing in loud, angry tones.
"That's the last crack I'll take from you," she heard Lefty say in a
deadly drawl. "Now it's your turn to take one from me!"
His fist shot out, connecting squarely under Cecil's jaw. It was not a
hard blow, but the young man staggered backwards. He stumbled over a
stone and the soft rock gave way beneath his feet. Lefty darted forward
to save him, but he was too late.
With a terrified shriek Cecil tumbled headlong over the precipice.