DEATH IN THE DESERT
"Don't scold Gustav," cried Felicia.
"I won't," replied Roger, grimly, and the child sped up the path to the
porch.
"Roger! I did not mean nodings to hurt you! Vy, you ver like my own son.
I vas having a plan to help you. Please, Roger, listen--Bitte sehr!"
Roger was a little pale and his lips were stiff but he had himself well
in hand.
"Look here, Gustav, you know you sneaked on me, don't you?"
"Yes, but it vas to help you. I vas an inventor, Roger. I haf many
ideas."
"Oh! That was it, was it?" He looked at Gustav's sweaty face, usually so
placid, now distorted with pain and anxiety. "Well, all right, old man!
I guess I was a bit hasty. But I want you to give me your word of honor
to take no more notes and under no circumstances to give any one any
information about my work."
Gustav's face cleared as if by magic. He shook Roger's proffered hand
heartily. "I promise. Absolute, I promise. Thank you; thank you much,
Roger."
"Right-o--come on now, let's go to supper," and the two swung up the
trail, and into the adobe, where, after a glance at their faces, their
waiting friends greeted them hilariously.
"The alfalfa has come through, Roger," shouted Dick. "I guess the worst
is over for me, all right. I'll take an order right now for five tons of
alfalfa from you, Charley."
"Better let Felicia order," replied Charley. "I understand that Mr. von
Minden is going to find a burro for her, the exact twin of Peter."
"And he's going to learn to do everything Peter does," added Felicia,
"and Ernest says I must name him Re-peater. Please let's have supper."
Gustav made a poor fist at eating. His arm gave him a great deal of pain
and it was finally decided that Ernest should take the patient team and
that night drive Gustav to the doctor. They made the start immediately
after supper and did not return until the third day following. Gustav
was one-armed for some time but managed to make himself indispensable,
nevertheless.
As summer advanced, a new working schedule that precluded labor in the
middle of the day was inaugurated. The more intense the heat grew, the
more intense, it seemed to Roger, grew the weird beauty of the desert.
The midnight stars seemed hardly to have blossomed before dawn turned
the desert world to a delicate transparent yellow, deepening at the
zenith to blue and on the desert floor to orange. As the sun rose, the
yellow changed suddenly to scarlet and for a few moments earth and sky
quivered in a lambent red fire. When the sun had shot clear of the
mountains, details of landscape and contrasts of color were accented.
Clear black of peaks, crimson of canyons, purple of rifts in the
ranges, bright moss green of cactus dots on the yellow desert floor. And
always to the west that far melting loveliness of blue and gold and
black that was the River Range. And always the quivering, parching air
that burned against the body like a furnace blast.
Ernest felt the heat more than Roger did and lost weight. But though he
complained a great deal he stuck to his work manfully.
After Ernest and Gustav had returned from Archer's Springs and the
ravages caused by the desert storm had been repaired, Roger started on a
hunt into the ranges for more window glass. He dared spend his money for
nothing but food.
He outfitted for a three day trip, carrying a blanket, the two-gallon
canteen, beans, canned pears and a batch of baking powder biscuits. Dick
gave him minute directions as to the location of different mines and of
springs, and Roger started off confidently.
There was very little glass left in the Goodloe mines where Roger had
located the oil. But Dick knew of mines some ten miles north along the
backbone of the ranges and these Roger had as an objective when he left
the camp in the yellow dawn.
He reached the Goodloe district by mid-morning. There was no trail to
the north but he jogged along all the afternoon by compass and sun,
keeping to the top of the ridge whenever possible. During all this time
he saw no sign of human habitation. Indeed the only living beings he
beheld that day were two buzzards circling meditatively over a distant
peak and a lonely coyote skulking against the sky on a neighboring
ridge. By six o'clock he was tired beyond expression and he had lost
all idea of the number of miles he had covered, so tortuous had been the
seemingly direct line of the ridge.
Roger was in no wise discomfitted or discouraged, however. He made his
camp in a little sandy draw on the side of the ridge which was full of
stunted cedars. He cut up one cedar for his fire and drew on the others
for sufficient twigs to cushion his blanket bed, then in spite of the
heat he slept the sleep that belongs to the open.
He was on his way at daylight, whistling cheerfully into the vast
distances that unrolled about him. Mid-morning came, and then noon. Half
the time allotted for the trip had gone, and still there was no sign of
deserted mines.
Roger smoked a long pipe after his lunch, chewing impatiently on his
pipestem and swearing under his breath from time to time. He was tempted
violently to keep on to the north, but remembering Dick's repeated
warnings as to the danger of running out of water he finally won his own
consent to turning back. He determined, however, to make the return trip
on the neighboring range, to the east.
He hoisted his pack and started heavily down into the valley that
separated him from the next range. It was a good two miles of tooth and
nail climbing and the canyon was filled with afternoon shadows when
Roger reached the foot-wall of the east range. The heat was almost
intolerable.
As he paused here, far above his head a donkey brayed. Roger started
quickly upward and for an hour was led by the brayings that grew louder
as he neared the top. As he crawled around the last brown rock heap
that crowned the ridge, he almost stepped on a man beside whom stood a
little gray burro.
"Peter!" said Roger. Then, "I say, Von Minden!"
He stooped over the quiet form at his feet. The little German was lying
on his face, his iron-gray head resting on his arm. His blue overalls
and faded red sweater were covered with a light sifting of dust. His
pack lay beside him, unopened.
Roger turned him over, and as he did so Peter backed off. Von Minden was
dead. He had been dead a long time Roger thought, as shuddering, he
looked down on the bearded, distorted face. Roger took off his own pack
and went over the body carefully. There was no sign whatever of any
violence. He made a careful survey of the immediate surroundings, but
there was no trace of Mrs. von Minden to be found.
Peter watched Roger's every move, moving his long ears back and forth
enquiringly.
There was nothing whatever in Von Minden's pockets, except a jack knife.
There was neither food in his pack nor water in his canteen. The one
sack contained only a few ore samples. The dispatch box was not to be
found.
It was impossible to dig a grave on that peak of solid rock. Moreover,
Roger had an idea that the authorities--if there were authorities in the
desert world--ought to find the body as he had found it. He cut down
several of the stunted cedars and piled them over the pathetic heap,
under the blanket. On these he heaped stones, as heavy as he could lift
until he felt sure that neither coyote, nor yet the buzzards that
circled meditatively above could disturb the mound.
The sun was setting when he had finished.
"There Peter," said he, "you did your bit, keeping the beasts away. And
now I've done mine, so we'll move on."
Roger stood for a moment looking from Peter to the mound, then at the
wide sweep of the ranges about. The whole world was spread before him in
utter silence; range beyond range, desert beyond desert into a violet
distance so great that the fancy staggered in contemplating it. For the
first time a feeling of utter desolation swept over Roger.
What a death! What a burial! Moved by the impulse that is the heritage
of the ages, Roger took off his hat and bowed his head.
"O God!" he said softly. "Receive this man's soul and give him peace.
Amen!"
Then he turned south along the range. He had gone a hundred yards when
he remembered Peter and turned back. The little fellow was standing,
head drooping, ears flopping beside the grave. Roger whistled but Peter
gave no heed, and finally Roger was compelled to go back, tie the lead
rope to Peter's bridle and fairly pull him along the trail.
Roger did not pause until he had put a peak between himself and that
lonely grave. Then, when the moon was sailing high, he made camp by a
great bowlder. He turned Peter loose, a little fearfully at first, but
the wise little burro made no attempt to turn back. When Roger was
seated cross-legged by the fire eating bacon and beans, Peter dropped
his nose over Roger's shoulder with a sigh.
"Hungry, old Peter?" asked Roger. "I haven't got much, but by Jove, you
can have half of that," and he scooped half of the contents of his plate
on a nearby stone. Peter ate it gravely, after which Roger poured a cup
of his precious water into the frying pan for the little donkey's
benefit. Then while Peter seemed to doze with his nose dropped almost to
the ground, Roger sat long in the hot night, smoking and wrapped in
thought.
Since the death of his father, Roger had had no contact with the Grim
Reaper, and the tragic discovery of the afternoon had shaken him. Yet as
he sat looking out over the impenetrable calm and mystery of the ranges
that lifted their noble peaks to the sailing moon, it seemed to him that
death in the desert was a clean and normal part of life. If his Sun
Plant were finished, if the best of him, his dreams, were made permanent
in concrete and steel, what more happy ending could he ask than to lie
at last asleep on a desert peak: these peaks still unsmirched by the
hand of man; still fresh from the hand of God.
It was with this thought that Roger finally fell asleep while the moon
sank behind the far horizon, the night wind rose and Peter searched for
herbage in the rock crevices.
The next day was a long one. Roger found no trace of a trail and by
mid-afternoon, the last of the water was gone. When this fact was
established, the heat seemed worse and Dick's many stories of men who
had thirsted to death in the ranges began to haunt Roger. He noticed
that Peter's little legs were hourly more unsteady and his heart ached
for the little chap. He ate sparingly that evening, giving Peter the
larger share. The food was like dry sawdust in his parched mouth. He
slept uneasily, waking from dreams of running water to toss for an hour
before sleep came again.
With the first streak of dawn he was up and on. Going was slow, for now
the real torture of desert thirst was on him and he knew that unless he
found water that day, buzzards would be circling over him on the morrow.
By ten o'clock his tongue was swelling and he seemed to have ceased to
sweat, and Peter leaned panting against the rocks in the shade of which
Roger paused to rest. After a half hour, Roger rose to his feet. The
morning had been breathless but as he rose, a little hot gust of air
blew up from the canyon below.
Instantly Peter raised his head and sniffed. The gust increased to a
breeze. With ears lapped forward the burro tottered to the canyon edge
and began feebly to pick his way downward.
Roger watched him for a moment. Then, "I don't know what you've
discovered, old man," he said thickly, "but what's good enough for you,
is good enough for me," and he followed weakly after him.
There was considerable rolling and scrambling done by both Peter and
Roger before they reached bottom. When Roger finally scrambled panting
to his feet, face burning, ears ringing, he found that they were in a
narrow valley thick grown with scrub oak. Peter had rolled the last ten
feet, and when he brought up against a barrel cactus, he could not rise
until Roger had pottered over and pulled weakly on his bridle. Then he
walked shakily across the canyon, Roger close behind him. A little pool
reflecting the sky and the fern-like leaves of the mesquite that
bordered it lay at the base of the great brown rock.
Roger, as he drank, had vague recollections of warnings he had read
about the dangers of over-drinking after water famine. But he was
developing an implicit faith in Peter's wisdom and Peter was drinking
till his thin ribs swelled. When he had entirely slaked his thirst,
Roger rested for a bit, then looked about him. A trail led along the
canyon from the spring, westward. Roger filled the canteen, then he and
Peter took the trail. It led perhaps a quarter of a mile to a deserted
mine, a mine of vast workings and huge ramshackle sheds that were
innocent of either windows or doors. The engine house had been nailed
up, but Roger's strength and spirits had been much revived by the water.
He rested for awhile, then wrenched off some boards and went in, Peter
struggling to follow, then giving the idea up and standing at rest in
the shade. A complete ore separator plant was installed within. At the
fore end of the shed was a gas producer engine in perfect condition as
far as Roger could tell, except for the sand that had sifted over it. It
was of a type with which he was not familiar and he spent a half hour in
thoughtfully examining it, and making notes on a scrap of paper
concerning it. He was absorbed in a new idea when he closed up the shed
and whistled to Peter who had found some old alfalfa hay in a manger
under a shed and was just finishing it off.
There was a trail still leading westward out of the camp, and Roger,
with a blind faith that his luck had turned, followed it to the opposite
canyon wall, and here, where it evidently once had been a fair mountain
road, followed it on up to the top of the range. It was late afternoon
when this was accomplished. The ridge where Roger now found himself was
high and barren. At first it seemed to him that the trail ended here
where the winds had swept unhampered by man so long. But Peter was
untroubled. He crossed the ridge nimbly, picked up a range trail on the
opposite side and started to descend.
His new master followed with a chuckle that increased to a laugh as he
descried far to the north on the west range, the faint outlines of
buildings, with the trail faintly marked along valley and mountainside
toward it. Just at dusk they reached it. It was the Goodloe mine! In
spite of utter fatigue and hunger, Roger would not stop now. In high
spirits he took the familiar road toward home.
It was nine o'clock when he passed the Preble ranch house, silent and
lightless, but with the horses munching in the corral. He stopped to
pick up a measure of oats for Peter, then he began the last lap of his
journey. There was a bright fire glowing at the Sun Plant. As he neared
it, he gave a shout. There was an answering shout and Ernest and Gustav
came rushing through the desert to meet him.
They had been consumed with anxiety about him. Dick had said that they
must start on the hunt for him at dawn. Ernest had lighted the fire with
the hope that it might help him.
Gustav took Roger's pack and Ernest threw a helping arm about him. They
led him straight to the cook tent where they had kept the coffee pot
warm, and seated him at the table where a place was set for him. Their
joy and relief almost unmanned Roger.
"My dear chaps," he insisted, "I was in no such great danger!"
"In no danger! You should have heard what Dick and Charley said," cried
Ernest.
"Well, it's all right now," said Roger. "I've wasted a lot of time but
I've located some rich loot, believe me."
"Where'd you pick up the burro?" asked Ernest. "He looks just like
Peter."
"It is Peter," replied Roger. "Gustav, give him those oats in my coffee
pot and let me eat, then I'll tell you all about it."
It was scarcely dawn and Roger was still fast asleep, when Ernest met
Dick at the corral with the news of Roger's safe return and of the
tragedy of poor Crazy Dutch. Dick was much upset at hearing of Von
Minden's death.
"He was a poor old loon, but mighty good-hearted," he said, "and I swear
I don't know what we'd have done sometimes without him--especially
Charley. She's going to be all broken up over this. I'll tell her, then
I'll come down and talk to Roger."
"Roger thought we ought to notify the folks at Archer's Springs right
away," said Ernest.
"Shucks! That's not necessary. When some of us go in we can notify the
sheriff. Dutch had a bum heart and had run out of food and water. Not a
bad death, poor old chap."
When Dick came down to the camp, and they all had talked a little sadly
of Von Minden's lonely death, Ernest asked suddenly:
"Did you find any window glass, Rog?"
Roger gave him a blank look. "By Jove, no! I was so excited over Von
Minden and that new type engine and a hunch I got, that I forgot all
about it. Well, I'll just have to start out again."
"By the way," Ernest went on, "I went into town while you were gone to
get the mail. There was just one letter. It was from Elsa. She's on her
way down here. She's due on Sunday."
Roger looked from Dick to Ernest. "What the devil shall we do with her?"
"Well, she'll have to outfit and grubstake herself. She knows that, and
she knows we're broke. I think this is a cooked up job of hers and
mother's just to help us out. And gee!--but I'll be glad to see old
Elschen!"
"So'll I, old man. But Ernest, this is no place nor circumstances for an
Old Home week. I'm sweating to finish this plant against almost
impossible odds."
"Don't I know it? Have I failed you any?"
"You have been absolutely O. K. and we'll try to give Elsa a good time."
"It will be a perfect godsend to Charley," said Dick. "She almost cried
when Gustav told us."
"Then that's settled," said Ernest with a sigh.
"Just as soon as it can be managed, we'll have to give Von Minden a
decent burial, Roger," said Dick. "I won't be using the horses to-morrow
and you'll be in good trim by then, won't you, Rog?"
"Yes," replied Roger, and if he smothered a sigh for another day lost
from his work, no one noticed it.
Roger spent the remainder of the day in the engine house, going over his
engine, shaking his head, muttering to himself like an old man, finally
straightening his shoulders stubbornly and whistling through his teeth.
After an early supper, the three went up to the ranch. Felicia, who was
wiping the dishes for Charley, hurled herself at Roger, dishcloth and
all.
"Oh!" she shrieked. "You must never leave me like this again, Roger. I
worried so about you that my stomach ached all the time you were gone."
Charley laughed with the rest, but quickly sobered. "I'm so glad you
were able to take care of poor Uncle Otto," she said. "I shall miss him
so. None of you knew him as I did." There was a pause, then Charley went
on, "Just think of Ernest's sister coming! I remember her vaguely. She's
like you, isn't she, Ernest?"
"Not a bit," said Roger. "She's full of pep and very good looking."
"Well, what do you know about that?" asked Ernest, looking at Roger
wonderingly.
"She's going to stay with us, isn't she? Please say yes," cried Charley.
"Oh, no, don't have her here. She wouldn't like to be here all the
time," begged Felicia. Then she blushed and retreated behind Roger's
chair. She refused half tearfully to explain her statement when Dick
urged her, at first jokingly, then in a commanding manner.
"Tell me, Felicia, don't you like it here?" drawing her to his side.
"Oh, let her alone, Dicky," begged Charley. "Why insist on a child's
reason for anything?"
"But I want to know! Tell me, Felicia, don't you like it here?"
"Yes," said Felicia, with trembling lips, "I like it here, 'cept when
you get sick and are so awful cross with me and Charley and make Charley
cry. I wouldn't want Elsa to see you that way."
Dick turned purple. "Oh, well," cut in Roger, quickly, "Elsa'll have
three men's crossness to put up with down at our camp, Felicia. Just
think of that! And if it should happen that we'd all get cross at once,
probably we'd blow the roof of the engine house off again."
"That's why we want Elsa to stay with us," said Ernest. "You see when
men are cross, the only thing that cures them is having a nice girl
around to make them ashamed of themselves."
"Sometimes already, if it gets too much vhen I make myself mad," added
Gustav, "maybe ve get a squaw to come by our camp to vip us bad boys for
Fraeulein Elsa, eh?"
"If all the men in the world get cross, like you, Dicky," asked Felicia,
wonderingly, "why do ladies marry them?"
"They don't, chicken! No one's married me."
"Maybe Elsa will. Unless Gustav gets her," suggested Felicia.
"Maybe Roger, he gets her, eh?" asked Gustav.
"Oh, no!" in sudden alarm, crossing over to Roger's knee to look up into
his face with a depth of love in her brown eyes that tightened his
throat as he lifted her into his lap. "Roger's going to marry me. Only
Roger, if ever you're as cross to me as you were to Gustav, I shall just
walk out of the house and never, never come back."
It was Roger's turn to blush and he did so thoroughly, while Dick burst
into a roar of laughter in which the other men joined. Under its cover,
Charley hustled Felicia off to bed.
At dawn the next day Roger and Dick started on their melancholy errand.
The climbing was in many instances too precipitous for the horses and
they made many detours. It was late in the afternoon, on a detour across
a wide canyon that they came upon the end of the Von Minden drama. The
canyon was really a part of the desert floor and was deep with sand.
Roger it was, who first noted footprints.
"Look, Dick!" he called. "An Indian must have been here! Look at the
naked footprints!"
Dick rode up beside him. "I wonder!" he said.
Both men glanced about them. "Yonder are some clothes, let's pick up
this trail," suggested Dick.
"By Jove, it's Mrs. von Minden's pink wrapper!" cried Roger, "and over
there are her shoes."
"Rog, we've got to brace ourselves," Dick pulled up his horse. "When
folks thirst to death in the desert, they often strip off their clothes
and run around in a big circle."
Roger bit his dry lips. "All right, Dick, come on," he muttered.
The foot marks swung in a wide circle. It was a mile farther on that
they found the madam, stark naked, her gaunt face turned to the sky. She
too had been dead for many days.
"I don't see why the buzzards didn't get her. Her burro wasn't Peter, he
deserted her," murmured Dick. "Look, Rog, under her head."
It was the dispatch box, lightly sifted over with sand as was the body.
"What do you suppose happened?" asked Roger.
"She obviously thirsted to death. But she got the box first. Do you
suppose she killed him, to get it?"
"Perhaps she found him dead and took it," suggested Roger.
"Well, we'll never know. Let's gather up what we can of her clothes and
bury her. Poor old devil. Her story's ended," said Dick.
They dug Clarissa von Minden's grave and put her in it, then Dick pulled
a prayer book from his pocket.
"Charley made me bring it," he explained. "I'm glad of it, now. Somehow
it seems worse to chuck a woman away without a minister to help, than it
does a man. I guess she did some tall suffering, from first to last, eh
Rog?"
Roger nodded. Dick read the burial service reverently and they finished
this gruesome job. Roger tied the little black metal box to his saddle
and they started on their way. They made camp in the mountains that
evening, not far from the peak that sheltered Von Minden. They had ample
firewood for they camped near a clump of cedars and they went hastily
through the contents of the dispatch box, by the light of the flames.
There was no marriage certificate. The entire box was filled with notes
in German in a microscopic hand. Roger read excerpts of it. Von Minden
seemed to have made an exhaustive study of the resources of this section
of the desert and of the north of Mexico.
"He had some sort of a huge irrigation scheme in his head," Roger said.
"He's got some letters copied in here and a lot of stuff. We ought to
turn this over to a German consul, somewhere and let him notify the
proper relations."
"That a good idea," agreed Dick. "He used to tell Charley and me
strange things when he was off his head. Once he said he was charting
this region for the Kaiser. The poor old lunatic."
"His ideas were not so crazy as they might be," protested Roger. "I've
some dreams myself for this country, you know."
"What are they, Rog?" asked Dick. "I know in only the vaguest way."
"If I can irrigate your twenty-five acres with my little plant, don't
you see that I have proven that I am able to tap unlimited cheap power.
The possibilities of this country with cheap power are staggering. I
don't blame Von Minden for calling it a kingdom. That's just what it
might be, with the mountains of the west range and the Rockies to the
east forming natural boundaries. It seems as if a kingdom really could
be self-supporting in here. If only I can harness the sun to a cheap
apparatus that any one can buy and operate! Why all these ranges would
be studded with going mines. Every valley would be green with growing
crops. I hardly dare let my imagination go on it. Our little old U. S.
has got a wonderful unborn commonwealth down here."
"Well, your dreaming is a lot more practical than his, anyhow," said
Dick. "More power to your elbow, old man, I say."
"I won't forget what you people have done for me!" Roger returned the
papers to the dispatch box.
They found the crude grave intact, the next morning. They were able with
the aid of the pick to make a shallow trough in the rock. They built
this up with stone and the last chapter of the Von Minden story was
ended. They reached home at dusk.
Ernest and Roger sat before the tent alone that night while Gustav wrote
a letter in the cook house. The heat did not seem to have lessened much
with the going down of the sun. The stars low-hung over the engine house
seemed to glow with fire and the darkness was like a hot blanket over
the sand. Ernest was unusually silent. He sat with his pipe unlighted,
staring at the stars so long that Roger said, at last:
"Homesick, Ern?"
Ernest grunted. "What did you say? Eh--no--I don't think so. Say, Roger,
old man, she's refused me."
"She? Who? What are you talking about, Ernest?"
"About Charley. Who else would it be?"
Roger nearly fell off the box on which he was sitting. "Proposed to
Charley? Why, you weren't in love with her, were you, Ernest?"
"You great nut! Why else should I propose to her? Just because you don't
admire her is no reason that other men are wooden headed."
"I never said I didn't admire her," exclaimed Roger.
"You did. You said you didn't care for big women."
"Did I? Well, I guess I don't. But I never think of her as a woman.
She's just like a fine young fellow that you want for a friend."
Ernest grunted. "I wouldn't have a temperament like yours for real
money, Roger."
"I don't see that yours is giving you much joy right now, old chap."
"Never you mind," returned Ernest. "I'd rather suffer as I am suffering
than never have loved her."
Roger, who had helped his friend to recover from a good many
heart-breaks patted him on the shoulder. "Awfully sorry, old Ern."
"I know what you're thinking," said Ernest, "but this one is different,
just as she's different. I'll never get over this. You realize that
she's different, don't you, you wooden image?"
Roger answered thoughtfully. "Yes, Charley is different. I really like
her very much. But she's like a younger brother, so clean-cut and direct
and--" His voice trailed away to nothing as suddenly he thought of
Charley's hand on his head, that memorable afternoon in the engine
house. Indeed, he wondered if the thought of that touch would ever leave
him. He believed that it would become as much a part of his memory as
his mother's gentle touch.
Finally, Ernest said, "If it weren't for you and the help I can give
you, I'd go home."
"You _are_ hard hit, old man! Maybe it'll be easier when Elsa comes."
"Yes, I think it will," replied Ernest. "I thought I'd go in to-morrow
and hang around Archer's till she gets here. You'll be tinkering on the
engine and won't miss me. Suppose we can fix up Mrs. von Minden's tent
for her, instead of her buying a new one."
"Good idea! But, by Jove, the thought of going to Archer's Springs for
mental distraction is either funny or pathetic! I don't know which. I
hope I can have a test of the plant on Monday."
"So do I," replied Ernest. "Guess I'll go to bed. Gustav's blown out his
bug."
"I'm with you," agreed Roger, and was asleep long before Ernest ceased
to toss in the hot silence of the tent.
It was late Sunday afternoon when dust on the south trail announced the
coming of Elsa and Ernest. Gustav and Roger had given the entire morning
to putting the camp in order. Gustav had achieved his _chef-d'oeuvre_
in a huge "welcome" made of yucca stalks outlined over the living tent
door. Roger had given Peter to Felicia and about two o'clock she
appeared, riding the little burro whose face she explained she had
washed with soap and water for the occasion. Charley and Dick followed
not long after.
For the first time Roger realized that Charley's isolation had meant
more to her than she allowed any of them to suspect. She nearly wept as
she begged that Elsa be permitted to stay with them and went over the
living tent and the cook tent with a critical eye. When the cloud of
dust appeared upon the horizon Roger saw her whiten under her tan.
"Suppose she doesn't like me," she exclaimed suddenly to the three men.
"Suppose she finds me rough and stupid after all these years of
hardship. Oh, what would I do! The first woman after so long!"
"Well," Dick's voice was angry, "if she doesn't like you she's a fool,
that's all."
Tears had sprung to Gustav's eyes. "She vill love you on sight," he said
slowly.
"You wait!" cried Roger. "You two girls were made to be friends."
Charley gave a nervous glance at her khaki clothing. The men did not
know that the day before she had routed out a white frock, the remnant
of her college days and after much debate with herself, had rejected it.
It was of a bygone date and fashion. It had been worn by a
happy-go-lucky college girl, who had little in common with the mature,
sunburned, wind-blown woman who looked back at Charley from the mirror.
The horses plodded slowly through the sand. Dick pulled up before the
living tent.
"She's come! Here she is!" shouted Ernest, as if the watching group in
the burning western sun could doubt its eyes. Roger lifted Elsa down
from the wheel.
"Never knew I could be so glad to see you, Elsa," he said. "And you're
prettier than ever even if your nose is peeling. Look! Here's Charley
Preble and Felicia and Dick and Gustav."
Elsa, freshly burned, but with her silk traveling suit smart in spite of
the dust, shook hands all round.
She turned back from Gustav to Charley again, and looked at her with
frank interest. "You know, Ernest never told me what to wear, so I
didn't bring a bit of khaki. Wasn't I foolish? It looks just right down
here."
"I've some extra skirts you can wear till you can send back for some,"
said Charley. "Let's go into the living tent out of this heat while the
boys unload."
They went alone, for Felicia, after standing in an agony of indecision
for a moment or two, decided in favor of the tantalizing packages in the
wagon box. The girls were not in the tent long. When they came out, they
had their arms about each other.
"Elsa's going up to the house with me and get a bath and change her
clothes. We'll be down for supper," said Charley.
There was a flush of happiness on her face that made Dick say, "I hope
you stay forever, Elsa! Come along! I'll take the team up and your
trunk. What do you want done with the cot and things, Ernest?"
"Never mind those," said Elsa, serenely. "I'm going to stay with
Charley."
The men looked at each other speechlessly. As the wagon rattled off,
Roger said to Ernest:
"They were in that tent less than five minutes. What do you suppose
happened?"
Ernest shook his head. "I've given up trying to understand women. Look
at that cot and the lumber--a whole darned outfit, and I nearly killed
the horses getting the mess up in one load because Elsa insisted she'd
have to have it to-night. Women!"