THE following days were busy ones on San Antonio Rancho. Dick Willoughby
was constantly in the saddle, looking after his subordinates, watching
the line fences, and generally keeping track of the vast herds.
Lieutenant Munson was becoming acclimated. He not only accompanied
Willoughby on many of his rides, but had also paid several visits to
La Siesta, and one afternoon in particular had enjoyed immensely a
successful trout fishing expedition with the young ladies along the
mountain stream that flowed through the property.
One morning there was great excitement at San Antonio headquarters. Ben
Thurston returned from a visit he had been paying to Los Angeles, and
with him floated in a circumstantial story that the rancho had been
really sold. As usual, he was attended by the plain-clothes detective
whom he retained as bodyguard. Leach Sharkey was a big, hulking fellow,
more than six feet in height, with a tousled shock of reddish hair, a
stubby red mustache, and teeth that showed even when his face was in
repose. Bulging hip pockets indicated the brace of heavy revolvers which
he invariably carried.
Within an hour of Mr. Thurston’s coming, Dick Willoughby, as foreman,
was summoned to an interview at the ranch house. The owner received him
alone in his office.
Ben Thurston was a squat, solidly built man, and despite his life
of idle luxury, carried his fifty odd years well. He was sullen and
taciturn in manner, but brusque and imperious when he did choose to
speak. Two features were markedly characteristic—the chin was weak and
the eyes had the restless, alert look of one who constantly lived in an
atmosphere of fear and suspicion.
Thurston opened the conversation without any preliminaries.
“Willoughby, I want an accurate count of all the cattle and horses on
the ranch; and especially I require a fair idea as to the number of
fatted beeves—those ready for the market, you understand.”
“Very well,” replied Dick, “your orders shall be carried out as
expeditiously as possible, but it will require a few days to complete
the work.”
“How many days?”
“If I make use of all the force it may take a week—perhaps a little
longer.”
“All right, use all the help you can get. I must have these figures
promptly. There is a Los Angeles syndicate who are after an option on
the rancho. They are counting on buying me out—lock, stock and barrel.”
Ben Thurston smiled, squinted his shifty eyes and blew his nose
vigorously.
“It always makes me laugh,” he added pompously, “to have these fellows
come around this great principality of mine and try to buy me out.”
Just then someone outside flitted past the window, and, quick as
lightning, Thurston turned and exclaimed in a startled tone: “Who was
that?”
“That was Jack Rover,” replied Dick, “one of our cowboys.”
“Oh,” and the frightened look in the eyes subsided.
“Tomorrow then,” Dick went on, returning to their former topic of
conversation, “we’ll begin a round-up of the stock at this end of the
range. I’ll put the boys on the job right now.”
“I’ll join you tomorrow myself.”
“All right, Mr. Thurston.”
“What time?”
“At any time agreeable to you.”
“Well, say eight o’clock in the morning. You see,” he continued, “I want
to get through with this damned business in a hurry and start back East.
I have friends who are waiting for me. Of course I will have to stay
here until the representatives of this syndicate come up from Los
Angeles, but I will make short work of them, believe me.”
This time Ben Thurston laughed outright and rubbed his hands together in
a satisfied way. For once he seemed inclined to be communicative, and,
turning to Willoughby, resumed:
“Do you know, I have collected over three hundred thousand dollars,
first and last, selling options on this San Antonio Rancho? It is quite
a joke. They all fall down. They make a first payment of twenty-five
or fifty thousand dollars, and then,” throwing up both his hands and
shrugging his shoulders, “their payments cease and I am just that much
ahead of the game.” Willoughby listened in frigid silence; there was not
even the flicker of a responsive smile on his face.
Thurston, eyeing him for a moment, looked disconcerted. He drew himself
up stiffly in his chair. His voice assumed its usual gruff tone.
“That’s all; get to work then,” he said curtly as he lifted some papers
to show that the interview was at an end.
The first round-up was held some twenty miles southwest of the ranch
house, at the base of the foothills across the valley from La Siesta.
Ben Thurston, attended closely by his bodyguard, was there, his shifting
eyes scanning each new face. Not fewer than ten thousand head of cattle
were milling about, pawing the earth and bellowing in low tones of
irritation at being herded together and held away from their accustomed
haunts of juicy grasses.
From a knoll at a little distance Lieutenant Munson, seated on a fine
riding pony, watched the great performance, which to him was more
wonderful than any hippodrome show or military parade. He was so
engrossed with the spectacle that he did not hear the patter of
approaching hoofs.
“Good morning, Senor Lieutenant,” came a lady’s voice in cheery
greeting.
Turning quickly in his saddle he saw Grace Darlington and Merle
Farnsworth on their ponies, which had been brought to a sudden halt
close behind him.
“Really, Mr. Munson,” said Grace Darlington, “one would think you were
so completely lost in contemplation of a mob of cattle that you had no
eyes for your friends.”
Chester bowed and raised his hat as he replied with a bright smile:
“It is certainly a great scene, isn’t it? But you are none the less
welcome. Indeed when one is witnessing something unusual, it always adds
to the interest to have the companionship of friends.”
“Very prettily put,” observed Merle Farnsworth. “Fortunately the place
selected for the round-up this year isn’t very far from La Siesta, so we
rode across the valley.”
“Have you anything in New York,” asked Grace, “to compare with this?”
“Indeed we have not,” replied the lieutenant with conviction. “I am
beginning to think that the West is a pretty good place in which to
live. By the way,” he went on, taking a newspaper clipping from his
pocket, “here is something that our mutual friend, Dick, gave me, and
said I should read once a day for a month, and then—well, then, he says
I will never go East again, but remain in this great picture country.
Shall I read it?”
“Oh, do, by all means,” said the girls in unison. “Well, here goes!
‘Every idea we have in the East is run with a convention. We cannot
think without a chairman. Our whims have secretaries; our fads have
by-laws. Literature is a club. Philosophy is a society. Our reforms
are mass meetings. We cannot mourn our mighty dead without some great
chairman and a half hundred vice-presidents. We remember our novelists
and poets with trustees, while the immortality of a dead genius is
looked after by a standing committee. Charity is an association, and
theology at best only a set of resolutions.’.rdquo;
“What do you think of that?” he asked, laughing. “Isn’t that an awful
slam on the East?”
“It is rather severe,” smiled Merle. “But you know, Mr. Willoughby has
become a thorough Westerner. The lure of the hills and the valleys has
taken complete possession of him.”
“And yet he remains unspoiled.” exclaimed the lieutenant. “But are you
aware he is trying to tamper with my old allegiance to the East?”
“Indeed,” asked Grace, “in what way?”
“He wants me to resign my commission and take pot luck with him, as he
terms it.”
“You couldn’t do better,” exclaimed Grace enthusiastically.
While this conversation was going on, an exciting incident was taking
place only a short distance away. Young Marshall Thurston had come
with his father to the round-up, and was riding about watching the
operations. Chancing to pass near, Dick Willoughby overheard him use
an insulting epithet in regard to Miss Farnsworth—the young man was
evidently peeved that the ladies had not sought him out instead of
Munson, and it was obvious, too, that he had been drinking even at that
early hour in the morning.
Swiftly wheeling, Dick rode up to him with a look of anger so intense
that even the cowboys who knew him were taken aback.
“You foul-mouthed beast!” he hissed, as he pushed his quirt into the
slanderer’s face. “Just let me overhear you make a rude remark again
about Miss Farnsworth and I will hammer the life out of you. You are
nothing better than a drunken hobo, not fit to associate with ladies.”
The outburst was so sudden that young Thurston was cowed and attempted
no reply. But as Willoughby rode off he sent after him a look of sullen
and resentful hatred. Two or three of the cowboys, who really were good
friends of Dick Willoughby, but were nevertheless not above fawning for
the favor of the heir to the great rancho, indicated that they were on
Marshall’s side.
“Guess two can play at the hammering game,” remarked one.
“He don’t come any of his rough-house business over you, Marshall, while
I’m around,” affirmed another, pugnaciously.
But the young man, still without uttering a word, turned gloomily away
and started his pony in the direction of home.
“Guess he feels like another drink,” grinned an irreverent youth.
“Hell,” exclaimed an elderly man, the blacksmith at the rancho, “if the
Thurston family don’t beat the band for quarrels and bloody feuds!”
But just then a bunch of cattle broke from the main herd and the group
of cowboys dispersed in a galloping scamper.
Munson and the young ladies, engrossed in their light conversation, knew
nothing of this unpleasant episode. They were now discussing the date
of the projected visit to the home of Mr. Ricardo Robles among the oaks
above La Siesta. It was decided to fix it for the first Sunday after the
cattle muster was completed, when Dick Willoughby would be free to make
one of the party.
“But hold a moment,” exclaimed the lieutenant suddenly, “unless I’m to
be court-martialled for absence without leave, I must take the train
East next Saturday, or—or—”
His eyes fixed on Grace, he hesitated to complete the alternative.
“Or what?” she inquired.
“Follow Dick’s advice and send in my resignation.” As he spoke he thrust
a hand into his breast pocket and drew forth a letter, sealed, addressed
and stamped, all ready for the mail. “I really can’t quite make up my
mind,” he added, dubiously.
0155
“Let me help you,” said Grace with a gay smile as she extended her hand
for the letter.
“How?” he asked.
“I’ll mail your resignation for you. We shall be riding home by La
Siesta postoffice.”
“Oh, Grace!” murmured Merle in timid protest. “Think of the
responsibility you are taking.”
“A woman’s mission in life is to encourage men to do the proper thing,”
replied Grace with roguish defiance. “Our friend here is enamored of
the West, and the West is the very best place for him. I’ll post your
letter, lieutenant.”
He placed it between her fingers, doffed his hat, and bowed gallantly.
“Be it so. Let the gods—or should I say, a fair goddess?—decide.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” cried Grace, with a pretty flush on her
face. “Good-bye, then, for the present. Get ready for Sunday’s picnic
among the oaks. Come along, Merle, my dear.”
And with a touch of the quirt she started her pony into a canter.
“Great guns, but she’s worth while,” exclaimed Munson as he gazed after
the retreating figures.