She added, hastily, "I'll send you a fresh one by Balli's boy in the
morning."
He looked up at her from under the brim of his hat. "D'you reckon you
could find that goat-ranch by star-light, miss?"
The woman was silent.
"'Ain't you just about caught up on traveling, for one day?" he asked.
"I reckon you need a good rest about as much as anybody I ever saw. You
can have my blanket, you know."
The prospect was unwelcome, yet she reluctantly agreed. "Perhaps-- Then
in the morning--"
Law shook his head. "I can't loan you my horse, miss. I've got to stay
right here."
"But Balli's boy could bring him back."
"I got to meet a man."
"Here?"
"Yes'm."
"When will he come?"
"He'd ought to be here at early dark to-morrow evening." Heedless of
her dismay, he continued, "Yes'm, about sundown."
"But--I can't stay here. I'll ride to Balli's and have your horse back
by afternoon."
"My man might come earlier than I expect," Mr. Law persisted.
"Really, I can't see what difference it would make. It wouldn't
interfere with your appointment to let me--"
Law smiled slowly, and, setting his plate aside, selected a fresh
cigarette; then as he reached for a coal he explained:
"I haven't got what you'd exactly call an appointment. This feller I'm
expectin' is a Mexican, and day before yesterday he killed a man over
in Jim Wells County. They got me by 'phone at Hebbronville and told me
he'd left. He's headin' for the border, and he's due here about
sundown, now that Arroyo Grande's dry. I was aimin' to let you ride his
horse."
"Then--you're an officer?"
"Yes'm. Ranger. So you see I can't help you to get home till my man
comes. Do you live around here?" The speaker looked up inquiringly, and
after an instant's hesitation the woman said, quietly:
"I am Mrs. Austin." She was grateful for the gloom that hid her face.
"I rode out this way to examine a tract of grazing-land."
It seemed fully a minute before the Ranger answered; then he said, in a
casual tone, "I reckon Las Palmas is quite a ranch, ma'am."
"Yes. But we need more pasture."
"I know your La Feria ranch, too. I was with General Castro when we had
that fight near there."
"You were a Maderista?"
"Yes'm. Machine-gun man. That's a fine country over there. Seems like
God Almighty got mixed and put the Mexicans on the wrong side of the
Rio Grande. But I reckon you haven't seen much of La Feria since the
last revolution broke out."
"No. We have tried to remain neutral, but--" Again she hesitated. "Mr.
Austin has enemies. Fortunately both sides have spared La Feria."
Law shrugged his broad shoulders. "Oh, well, the revolution isn't over!
A ranch in Mexico is my idea of a bad investment." He rose and, taking
his blanket, sought a favorable spot upon which to spread it. Then he
helped Mrs. Austin to her feet--her muscles had stiffened until she
could barely stand--after which he fetched his saddle for a pillow. He
made no apologies for his meager hospitality, nor did his guest expect
any.
When he had staked out his horse for the night he returned to find the
woman rolled snugly in her covering, as in a cocoon. The dying embers
flickered into flame and lit her hair redly. She had laid off her felt
Stetson, and one loosened braid lay over her hard pillow. Thinking her
asleep, Law stood motionless, making no attempt to hide his expression
of wonderment until, unexpectedly, she spoke.
"What will you do with me when your Mexican comes?" she said.
"Well, ma'am, I reckon I'll hide you out in the brush till I tame him.
I hope you sleep well."
"Thank you. I'm used to the open."
He nodded as if he well knew that she was; then, shaking out his
slicker, turned away.
As he lay staring up through the thorny mesquite branches that roofed
him inadequately from the dew he marveled mightily. A bright,
steady-burning star peeped through the leaves at him, and as he watched
it he remembered that this red-haired woman with the still, white face
was known far and wide through the lower valley as "The Lone Star."
Well, he mused, the name fitted her; she was, if reports were true,
quite as mysterious, quite as cold and fixed and unapproachable, as the
title implied. Knowledge of her identity had come as a shock, for Law
knew something of her history, and to find her suing for his protection
was quite thrilling. Tales of her pale beauty were common and not tame,
but she was all and more than she had been described. And yet why had
no one told him she was so young? This woman's youth and attractiveness
amazed him; he felt that he had made a startling discovery. Was she so
cold, after all, or was she merely reserved? Red hair above a pure
white face; a woman's form wrapped in his blanket; ripe red lips
caressing the rim of his mean drinking-cup! Those were things to think
about. Those were pictures for a lonely man.
She had not been too proud and cold to let him help her. In her fatigue
she had allowed him to lift her and to make her more comfortable. Hot
against his palms--palms unaccustomed to the touch of woman's flesh--he
felt the contact of her naked feet, as at the moment when he had placed
them in the cooling water. Her feeble resistance had only called
attention to her sex--to the slim whiteness of her ankles beneath her
short riding-skirt.
Following his first amazement at beholding her had come a fantastic
explanation of her presence--for a moment or two it had seemed as if
the fates had taken heed of his yearnings and had sent her to him out
of the dusk--wild fancies, like these, bother men who are much alone.
Of course he had not dreamed that she was the mistress of Las Palmas.
That altered matters, and yet--they were to spend a long idle day
together. If the Mexican did not come, another night like this would
follow, and she was virtually his prisoner. Perhaps, after all--
Dave Law stirred nervously and sighed.
"Don't this beat hell?" he murmured.