As the sun, after a passing storm, comes forth all the more gloriously,
so the joy of their new-found friendship changed the world for Bud and
Gracia. The rainbow that glowed against the retreating clouds held
forth more than a promise of sunshine for them, and they conversed only
of pleasant things as they rode on up the trail.
Twenty miles ahead lay the northern pass, and from there it was ten
more to Gadsden, but they spoke neither of the pass nor of Gadsden
nor of who would be awaiting them there. Their talk was like that of
children, inconsequential and happy. They told of the times when they
had seen each other, and what they had thought; of the days of their
childhood, before they had met at Fortuna; of hopes and fears and
thwarted ambitions and all the young dreams of life.
Bud told of his battle-scarred father and their ranch in Arizona; of
his mother and horse-breaking brothers, and his wanderings through the
West; Gracia of her mother, with nothing of her father, and how she had
flirted in order to be sent to school where she could gaze upon the
upstanding Americans. Only Bud thought of the trail and scanned the
horizon for rebels, but he seemed more to seek her eyes than to watch
for enemies and death.
They rode on until the sun sank low and strange tracks struck their
trail from the east. Bud observed that the horses were shod, and more
tracks of mounted men came in beyond. He turned sharply toward the west
and followed a rocky ledge to the hills, without leaving a hoof-print
to mark the way of their retreat.
By the signs the land ahead was full of bandits and _ladrones_, men to
whom human life was nothing and a woman no more sacred than a brute. At
the pass all trails converged, from the north and from the south. Not
by any chance could a man pass over it in the daytime without meeting
some one on the way, and if the base _revoltosos_ once set eyes upon
Gracia it would take more than a nod to restrain them.
So, in a sheltered ravine, they sought cover until it was dark, and
while Gracia slept, the heavy-headed Bud watched the plain from the
heights above.
When she awoke and found him nodding Gracia insisted upon taking his
place. Now that she had been refreshed her dark eyes were bright and
sparkling, but Bud could hardly see. The long watching by night and by
day had left his eyes bloodshot and swollen, with lids that drooped
in spite of him. If he did not sleep now he might doze in the saddle
later, or ride blindly into some rebel camp; so he made her promise to
call him and lay down to rest until dark.
The stars were all out when he awoke, startled by her hand on his hair,
but she reassured him with a word and led him up the hill to their
lookout. It was then that he understood her silence. In the brief hours
during which he had slept the deserted country seemed suddenly to have
come to life.
By daylight there had been nothing--nothing but dim figures in the
distance and the tracks of horses and mules--to suggest the presence of
men. But now as the velvet night settled down upon the land it brought
out the glimmering specks of a hundred camp-fires to the east and to
the north. But the fires to which Gracia pointed were set fairly in
their trail, and they barred the way to Gadsden.
"Look!" she said. "I did not want to wake you, but the fires have
sprung up everywhere. These last ones are right in the pass."
"When did you see them?" asked Hooker, his head still heavy with sleep.
"Have they been there long?"
"No; only a few minutes," she answered. "At sundown I saw those over to
the east--they are along the base of that big black mountain--but these
flashed up just now; and see, there are more, and more!
"Some outfit coming in from the north," said Bud. "They've crossed over
the pass and camped at the first water this side."
"Who do you think they are?" asked Gracia in an awed voice.
"_Insurrectos?_"
"Like as not," muttered Bud, gazing from encampment to encampment. "But
whoever they are," he added, "they're no friends of ours. We've got to
go around them."
"And if we can't?" suggested Gracia.
"I reckon we'll have to go through, then," answered Hooker grimly. "We
don't want to get caught here in the morning."
"Ride right through their camp?" gasped Gracia.
"Let the sentries get to sleep," he went on, half to himself. "Then,
just before the moon comes up, we'll try to edge around them, and if it
comes to a show-down, we'll ride for it! Are you game?"
He turned to read the answer, and she drew herself up proudly.
"Try me!" she challenged, drawing nearer to him in the darkness. And so
they stood, side by side, while their hands clasped in promise. Then,
as the night grew darker and no new fires appeared, Hooker saddled up
the well-fed horses and they picked their way down to the trail.
The first fires were far ahead, but they proceeded at a walk, their
horses' feet falling silently upon the sodden ground. Not a word was
spoken and they halted often to listen, for others, too, might be
abroad. The distant fires were dying now, except a few, where men rose
up to feed them.
The braying of burros came in from the flats to the right and as the
fugitives drew near the first encampment they could hear the voices
of the night guards as they rode about the horse herd. Then, as they
waited impatiently, the watch-fires died down, the guards no longer
sang their high falsetto, and even the burros were still.
It was approaching the hour of midnight, and as their horses twitched
restively at the bits they gave them the rein and rode ahead at a
venture.
At their left the last embers of the fires revealed the sleeping forms
of men; to their right, somewhere in the darkness, were the night herd
and the herders. They lay low on their horses' necks, not to cast a
silhouette against the sky, and let Copper Bottom pick the trail.
With ears that pricked and swiveled, and delicate nostrils snuffing
the Mexican taint, he plodded along through the greasewood, divining
by some instinct his master's need of care. The camp was almost behind
them, and Bud had straightened up in the saddle, when suddenly the
watchful Copper Bottom jumped and a man rose up from the ground.
"Who goes there?" he mumbled, swaying sleepily above his gun, and
Hooker reined his horse away before he gave him an answer.
"None of your business," he growled impatiently. "I am going to the
pass." And as the sentry stared stupidly after him he rode on through
the bushes, neither hurrying nor halting until he gained the trail.
"Good luck!" he observed to Gracia, when the camp was far behind. "He
took me for an officer and never saw you at all."
"No, I flattened myself on my pony," answered Gracia with a laugh. "He
thought you were leading a packhorse."
"Good," chuckled Hooker; "you did fine! Now don't say another
word--because they'll notice a woman's voice--and if we don't run into
some more of them we'll soon be climbing the pass."
The waning moon came out as they left the wide valley behind them, and
then it disappeared again as they rode into the gloomy shadows of the
cañon. For an hour or two they plodded slowly upward, passing through
narrow defiles and into moonlit spaces, and still they did not mount
the summit.
In the east the dawn began to break and they spurred on in almost a
panic. The Mexican _paisanos_ count themselves late if they do not take
the trail at sun-up--what if they should meet some straggling party
before they reached the pass?
Bud jumped Copper Bottom up a series of cat steps; Gracia's roan came
scrambling behind; and then, just as the boxed walls ended and they
gained a level spot, they suddenly found themselves in the midst of a
camp of Mexicans--men, saddles, packs, and rifles, all scattered at
their feet.
"_Buenos días!_" saluted Bud, as the blinking men rose up from their
blankets. "Excuse me, _amigos_, I am in a hurry!"
"_A donde va? A donde va?_" challenged a bearded man as he sprang up
from his brush shelter.
"To the pass, _señor_," answered Hooker, still politely, but motioning
for Gracia to ride on ahead. "_Adios!_"
"Who is that man?" bellowed the bearded leader, turning furiously upon
his followers. "Where is my sentinel? Stop him!"
But it was too late to stop him. Bud laid his quirt across the rump of
the roan and spurred forward in a dash for cover. They whisked around
the point of a hill as the first scattered shots rang out; and as a
frightened sentinel jumped up in their path Bud rode him down. The man
dropped his gun to escape the fury of the charge and in a mad clatter
they flung themselves at a rock-slide and scrambled to the bench above.
The path was rocky, but they pressed forward at a gallop until, as the
sun came up, they beheld the summit of the pass.
"We win!" cried Bud, as he spurred up the last incline.
As he looked over the top he exploded in an oath and jerked Copper
Bottom back on his haunches. The leader of a long line of horsemen was
just coming up the other side, not fifty feet below him. Bud looked to
each side--there was no escape--and then back at the frightened girl.
"Keep behind me," he commanded, "and don't shoot. I'm going to hold 'em
up!"
He jumped his horse out to one side and landed squarely on the rim of
the ridge. Gracia drew her horse in behind him and reached for the
pistol in her holster; then both together they drew their guns and Bud
threw down on the first man.
"Go on!" he ordered, motioning him forward with his head.
"_Pr-r-ronto!_" He jerked out his rifle with his left hand and laid it
across his lap.
"Hurry up now!" he raged, as the startled Mexican halted. "Go on and
keep a-going, and the first man that makes a break I'll shoot him full
of holes!"
He sat like a statue on his shining horse, his six-shooter balanced to
shoot, and something in his very presence--the bulk of his body, the
forward thrust of his head, and the burning hate of his eyes--quelled
the spirits of the rebels. They were a rag-tag army, mounted on horses
and donkeys and mules and with arms of every known make.
The fiery glances of the American made them cringe as they had always
cringed before their masters, and his curses turned their blood to
water. He towered above them like a giant, pouring forth a torrent of
oaths and beckoning them on their way, and the leader was the first to
yield.
With hands half-raised and jaw on his breast he struck spurs to his
frightened mule and went dashing over the ridge.
The others followed by twos and threes, some shrinking, some
protesting, some gazing forth villainously from beneath their broad
hats. As they looked back he whirled upon them and swore he would kill
the first man that dared to turn his head.
After all, they were a generation of slaves, those low-browed,
unthinking peons, and war had not made them brave. They passed on, the
whole long line of bewildered soldiery, looking in vain for the men
that were behind the American, staring blankly at the beautiful woman
who sat so courageously by his side.
When the last had gone by Bud picked up his rifle and watched him
around the point. Then he smiled grimly at Gracia, whose eyes were
still round with wonder, and led the way down the trail.