SANGRE DE CRISTO
Late October in the San Luis, and the raw day near its close. Across
the melancholy flats the north wind's plaintive note rose at intervals
into a wailing cry. The thin grasses bent before it, the sagebrush
took on new and fantastic shapes, and danced like demons to the tune.
In gray-brown desolation the sand dunes rolled away to the foothills,
far and violet and dim. All was cold and bleak and forbidding, and the
sun itself appeared to be retiring eagerly from a scene so dreary and
disheartening.
Then came magic. Sangre de Cristo, sharp against the eastern sky,
began to change its hue. A pink flush came into the gleaming white. It
grew deeper, darker, more vivid; it spread, and ran in richer and
richer tints along the range. Now it was rose, and now vermilion, and
at last a deep and living scarlet, staining the snowy slopes, and
flowing like new blood down the gulches and ravines. The foothills
caught the color, and the violets became purple and then red; the sand
dunes caught it, and their gray-browns were overlaid with crimson; the
flats too caught it, and the sagebrush bending low, and the grass
quivering in the wind were touched with some reflection of that
far-reaching hue. From the green along the river the color swept,
indefinable and dim at first, then by degrees intensified upon the
flats, across the sand dunes, among the hills until at length it was
passionate and deep and indescribable on the Sangre de Cristo peaks.
A cowboy, searching for lost mavericks, rode slowly to the top of a
low sand dune, reined up his pony, and sat silent in the midst of this
solemn spectacle. He was not emotional. He was looking for calves, and
"sore" at not finding them, and hungry, and far from the X bar O; and
night was coming on. But he sat still in his saddle, removed his
flopping sombrero, and looked toward the east. Bareheaded, the wind
stinging his cheek and flinging dry sand in his eyes, he gazed and
wondered at the familiar but never negligible mystery of Sangre de
Cristo.
But suddenly he rose in his stirrups, and shaded his eyes with his
hand to make out what it was that had caught his vision in that flood
of red among the dunes. Again it came, a flash of yellow in the red.
It was there, and gone. And then it came and lingered, as if inviting
him, like a jewel in the sand, or rather, like a challenge and a
taunt.
"So you're back, are you?" cried Larkin, of the X bar O. "Well, you
c'n jest stay there. I'm done with you. You ain't no horse at all,
damn you! You're a devil! But I wonder--"
Then Sunnysides was gone. At the same time the light paled on the
distant peaks. The wind blew colder, and swept the color off the
dunes. The flats darkened under the advancing shades of night. And
Larkin, muttering, put spurs to his pony, and galloped away toward
supper and bed.
THE END
POPULAR COPYRIGHT NOVELS
AT MODERATE PRICES
Ask your dealer for a complete list of A. L. Burt Company's Popular
Copyright Fiction
Abner Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will N. Harben
Adventures of Gerard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Conan Doyle
Adventures of a Modest Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R. W. Chambers
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Conan Doyle
After House, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Roberts Rinehart
Ailsa Paige . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert W. Chambers
Alternative, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Barr McCutcheon
Alton of Somasco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold Bindloss
Amateur Gentleman, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeffery Farnol
Andrew The Glad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maria Thompson Daviess
Ann Boyd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will N. Harben
Annals of Ann, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kate T. Sharber
Anna the Adventuress . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. Phillips Oppenheim
Armchair at the Inn, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . F. Hopkinson Smith
Ariadne of Allan Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sidney McCall
At the Age of Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kate T. Sharber
At the Mercy of Tiberius . . . . . . . . . . . . Augusta Evans Wilson
Auction Block, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rex Beach
Aunt Jane of Kentucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eliza C. Hall
Awakening of Helena Ritchie . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Deland
Bambi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marjorie Benton Cooke
Bandbox, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Joseph Vance
Barbara of the Snows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harry Irving Green
Bar 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clarence E. Mulford
Bar 20 Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clarence E. Mulford
Barrier, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rex Beach
Beasts of Tarzan, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edgar Rice Burroughs
Beechy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bettina Von Hutten
Bella Donna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert Hichens
Beloved Vagabond, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wm. J. Locke
Ben Blair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will Lillibridge
Beth Norvell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Randall Parrish
Betrayal, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. Phillips Oppenheim
Better Man, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cyrus Townsend Brady
Beulah (Ill. Ed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Augusta J. Evans
Black Is White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Barr McCutcheon
Blaze Derringer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eugene P. Lyle, Jr.
Bob Hampton of Placer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Randall Parrish
Bob, Son of Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alfred Ollivant
POPULAR COPYRIGHT NOVELS
AT MODERATE PRICES
Ask your dealer for a complete list of A. L. Burt Company's Popular
Copyright Fiction
Brass Bowl, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Joseph Vance
Britton of the Seventh . . . . . . . . . . . . Cyrus Townsend Brady
Broad Highway, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeffery Farnol
Bronze Bell, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Joseph Vance
Buck Peters, Ranchman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clarence E. Mulford
Business of Life, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert W. Chambers
Butterfly Man, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Barr McCutcheon
By Right of Purchase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold Bindloss
Cabbages and Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O. Henry
Cab No. 44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R. F. Foster
Calling of Dan Matthews, The . . . . . . . . . . Harold Bell Wright
Cape Cod Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph C. Lincoln
Cap'n Eri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph C. Lincoln
Cap'n Warren's Wards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph C. Lincoln
Caravaners . . . . . . . . Author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden
Cardigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert W. Chambers
Carmen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Geraldine Farrar Edition)
Carpet From Bagdad, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold MacGrath
Cash Intrigue, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Randolph Chester
Castle by the Sea, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H. B. M. Watson
Claw, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cynthia Stockley
C. O. D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Natalie Sumner Lincoln
Colonial Free Lance, A . . . . . . . . . . . . Chauncey O. Hotchkiss
Coming of the Law, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chas. A. Seltzer
Conquest of Canaan, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Booth Tarkington
Conspirators, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert W. Chambers
Counsel for the Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leroy Scott
Crime Doctor, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. W. Hornung
Cry in the Wilderness, A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary E. Waller
Cynthia of the Minute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Joseph Vance
Dark Hollow, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anna Katharine Green
Dave's Daughter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patience Bevier Cole
Day of Days, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Joseph Vance
Day of the Dog, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Barr McCutcheon
Depot Master, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph C. Lincoln
Desired Woman, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will N. Harben
Destroying Angel, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Joseph Vance
Diamond Master, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jacques Futrelle
Dixie Hart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will N. Harben
El Dorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baroness Orczy
Elusive Isabel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jacques Futrelle
End of Project Gutenberg's The Heart of Thunder Mountain, by Edfrid A. Bingham