THE HAWK OF THE SIERRAS
"That is what we get, Tula, by gathering beauty in distress into our
outfit," sighed Kit. "She seems good foundation for a civil war here.
Helen of Troy,--a lady of an eastern clan!--started a war on less, and
the cards are stacked against us if they start scrapping. When Mexican
gentry begin hostilities, the innocent bystander gets the worst of
it,--especially the Americano. So it is just as well the latest
Richard in the field does not know whose bullet hit him in the leg,
and brought his horse down."
Tula, who since their entrance to the civilized surroundings of Mesa
Blanca, had apparently dropped all initiative, and was simply a little
Indian girl under orders, listened impassively to this curious
monologue. She evidently thought white people use many words for a
little meaning.
"The Deliverer says will you graciously come?" she stated for the
second time.
"Neither graciously, gracefully or gratefully, but I'll arrive," he
conceded. "His politeness sounds ominous. It is puzzling why I, a mere
trifle of an American ranch hand, should be given audience instead of
his distinguished lieutenant."
"Isidro and Clodomiro are talking much with him, and the man Marto is
silent, needing no guard," said Tula.
"Sure,--Rotil has the whole show buffaloed. Well, let's hope, child,
that he is not a mind reader, for we have need of all the ore we
brought out, and can't spare any for revolutionary subscriptions."
Kit followed Tula into the _sala_ where a rawhide cot had been placed,
and stretched on it was the man of Yaqui Spring.
One leg of his trousers was ripped up, and there was the odor of a
greasewood unguent in the room. Isidro was beside him, winding a
bandage below the knee. A yellow silk banda around the head of Rotil
was stained with red.
But he had evidently been made comfortable, for he was rolling a
cigarette and was calling Isidro "doctor." Two former vaqueros of Mesa
Blanca were there, and they nodded recognition to Kit. Rotil regarded
him with a puzzled frown, and then remembered, and waved his hand in
salute.
"Good day, senor, we meet again!" he said. "I am told that you are my
host and the friend of Senor Whitely. What is it you do here? Is it
now a prison, or a hospital for unfortunates?"
"Only a hospital for you, General, and I trust a serviceable one," Kit
hastened to assure him. "More of comfort might have been yours had you
sent a courier to permit of preparation."
"The service is of the best," and Rotil pointed to Isidro. "I've a
mind to take him along, old as he is! The boys told me he was the best
medico this side the range, and I believe it. As to courier," and he
grinned, "I think you had one, if you had read the message right."
"The surprises of the night were confusing, and a simple man could not
dare prophesy what might follow," said Kit, who had drawn up a chair
and easily fell into Rotil's manner of jest. "But I fancy if that
courier had known who would follow after, he would have spent the
night by preference at Soledad."
"Sure he would,--hell's fire shrivel him! That shot of his scraped a
bone for me, and put my horse out of business. For that reason we came
on quietly, and these good fellows listened at the window of Marto
before they carried me in. It is a good joke on me. My men rounded up
Perez and his German slaver at Soledad today--yesterday now!--and when
we rode up the little canon to be in at the finish what did we see but
an escape with a woman? Some word had come my way of a Perez woman
there, and only one thought was with me, that the woman had helped
Perez out of the trap as quickly as he had ridden into it! After that
there was nothing to do but catch them again. No thought came to me
that Marto might be stealing a woman for himself, the fool! Perez made
better time than we figured on, and is a day ahead. Marto meant to
hide the woman and get back in time. It's a great joke that an
Americano took the woman from him. I hope she is worth the trouble,"
and he smiled, lifting his brows questioningly.
"So that was the 'trap' that Marto raved and stormed to get back to?"
remarked Kit. "I am still in the dark, though there are some glimmers
of light coming. If Marto knew of that trap it explains----"
"There were three others of my men on the Soledad rancho, drawing pay
from Perez. It is the first time that fox came in when we could spread
the net tight. To get him at another place would not serve so well,
for if Soledad was the casket of our treasure, at Soledad we make a
three strike,--the cattle, the ammunition, and Perez there to show the
hiding place! It is the finish of four months' trailing, and is worth
the time, and but for Marto running loco over a girl, there would have
been a beautiful quiet finish at Soledad ranch house last night."
"But, if your men have Perez----"
"Like that!" and Rotil stretched out his open hand, and closed it
significantly, with a cruel smile in his black, swift-glancing eyes.
"This time there is no mistake. For over a week men and stout mules
have been going in;--it is a _conducta_ and it is to take the
ammunition. Well, senor, it is all well managed for me; also we have
much need of that ammunition for our own lads."
"And it was done without a fight?" asked Kit. "I have heard that the
men picked for Soledad were not the gentlest band Senor Perez could
gather."
"We had their number," said Rotil placidly. "Good men enough, but with
their cartridges doctored what could they do? I sent in two machine
guns, and they were not needed. A signal smoke went up to show me all
was well, and in another minute I heard the horses of Marto and his
girl. He must have started an hour before Perez arrived. It is a trick
of Don Jose's that no one can count on his engagements, but this time
every hill had its sentinels for his trail, not anything was left to
chance."
"And your accident?" asked Kit politely.
"Oh, I was setting my own guards at every pass when the runaway woman
and men caught my ear and we took a short cut down the little canon to
head them off. I knew they would make for here, and that houses were
not plenty--" he smiled as if well satisfied with the knowledge. "So,
as this was a friendly house it would be a safe bet to keep on
coming." He blew rings of smoke from the cigarette, and chuckled.
"The boys will think a quicksand has swallowed us, and no one will be
sleeping there at Soledad."
"Is there anything I can do to be of service," asked Kit. "I have a
good room and a bed----"
But the chuckling of Rotil broke into a frank laugh.
"No, senor!" he said with humorous decision, watching Kit as he spoke,
"already I have been told of your great kindness in the giving of beds
and rooms of comfort. Why, with a house big enough, you could jail all
the district of Altar! Not my head for a noose!"
Kit laughed awkwardly at the jest which was based on fact, but he met
the keen eyes of Rotil very squarely.
"The Indians no doubt told you the reason the jail was needed?" he
said. "If a girl picks a man to take a trail with, that is her own
affair and not mine, but if a girl with chains on her wrists has to
watch men throwing dice for her, and is forced to go with the
winner--well--the man who would not help set her free needs a dose of
lead. That is our American way, and no doubt is yours, senor."
"Sure! Let a woman pick her own, if she can find him!" agreed Rotil,
and then he grinned again as he looked at Kit. "And, senor, it is a
safe bet that this time she'll find him!--you are a good big mark,
not easily hidden."
The other men smiled and nodded at the humor of their chief, and
regarded Kit with appreciative sympathy. It was most natural of course
for them to suppose that if he took a woman from Marto, he meant to
win her for himself.
Kit smiled back at them, and shook his head.
"No such luck for a poor vaquero," he confessed. "The lady is in
mourning, and much grief. She is like some saint of sorrows in a
priest's tale, and----"
"The priests are liars, and invented hell," stated Rotil.
"That may be, but sometimes we see sad women of prayers who look like
the saints the priests tell about,--and to have such women sold by a
gambler is not good to hear of."
No one spoke for a little. The eyes of Rotil closed in a curious,
contemptuous smile.
"You are young, boy," he said at last, "and even we who are not so
young are often fooled by women. Trust any woman of the camp rather
than the devout saints of the shrines. All are for market,--but you
pay most for the saint, and sorrow longest for her. And you never
forget that the shrine is empty!"
His tone was mocking and harsh, but Kit preferred to ignore the sudden
change of manner for which there seemed no cause.
"Thanks for the warning, General, and no saints for me!" he said good
naturedly. "Now, is there any practical thing I can do to add to your
comfort here? Any plans for tomorrow?"
"A man of mine is already on the way to Soledad, and we will sleep
before other plans are made. Not even Marto will I see tonight,
knowing well that you have seen to his comfort!" and he chuckled again
at the thought of Marto in his luxurious trap. "My lads will do guard
duty in turn, and we sleep as we are."
"Then, if I can be of no service----"
"Tomorrow perhaps, not tonight, senor. Some sleep will do us no
harm."
"Then good night, and good rest to you, General."
"Many thanks, and good night, Don Pajarito."
Kit laughed at that sally, and took himself out of the presence. It
was plain that the Deliverer had obtained only the most favorable
account of Kit as the friend of Whitely. And as an American lad who
sang songs, and protected even women he did not know, he could not
appear formidable to Rotil's band, and certainly not in need of
watching.
He looked back at them as the general turned on his side to sleep, and
one of his men blew out the two candles, and stationed themselves
outside the door. As he noted the care they took in guarding him, and
glanced at the heavy doors and barred windows, he had an uncomfortable
thrill at the conviction that it would serve as a very efficient
prison for himself if his new friends, the revolutionists, ever
suspected he held the secret of the red gold of El Alisal. It was a
bit curious that the famous lost mine of the old mission had never
really been "lost" at all!
Isidro, looking very tired, had preceded him from the _sala_, as Kit
supposed to go to bed. The day and night had been trying to the old
man, and already it was the small hours of a new day.
There was a dim light in the room of Dona Jocasta, but no sound. Tula
was curled up on a blanket outside her door like a young puppy on
guard. He stooped and touched her shoulder.
"The senora?" he whispered.
"Asleep, after tears, and a sad heart!" she replied. "Valencia thanks
the saints that at last she weeps,--the beautiful sad one!"
"That is well; go you also to sleep. Your friends keep guard
tonight."
She made no reply, and he passed on along the corridor to his own
rooms. The door was open, and he was about to strike a light when a
hand touched his arm. He drew back, reaching for his gun.
"What the devil----"
"Senor," whispered Isidro, "make no light, and make your words in
whispers."
"All right. What's on your mind?"
"The senora and the Deliverer. Know you not, senor, that she is sick
with shame? It is so. No man has told him who the woman is he calls
yours. All are afraid, senor. It is said that once Ramon Rotil was
content to be a simple man with a wife of his own choosing, but luck
was not his. It was the daughter of a priest in the hills, and Jose
Perez took her!"
"Ah-h!" breathed Kit. "If it should be this one----"
"It is so,--she went like a dead woman at his voice, but he does not
know. How should he, when Don Jose has women beyond count? Senor, my
Valencia promised Dona Jocasta you would save her from meeting the
general. That promise was better than a sleeping drink of herbs to
her. Now that the promise is made, how will you make it good?"
"Holy smoke--also incense--also the pipe!" muttered Kit in the dark.
"If I live to get out of this muddle I'll swear off all entangling
alliances forevermore! Come into the kitchen where we can have a
fire's light. I can't think in this blackness."
They made their way to the kitchen, and started a blaze with mesquite
bark. The old Indian cut off some strips of burro _jerke_ and threw
them on the coals.
"That is better, it's an occupation anyway," conceded Kit chewing with
much relish. "Now, Isidro, man, you must go on. You know the land
best. How is one to hide a woman of beauty from desert men?"
"She may have a plan," suggested Isidro.
"Where is Clodomiro?" asked Kit, suddenly recalling that the boy had
disappeared. The old man did not answer; he was very busy with the
fire, and when the question was repeated he shook his head.
"I do not know who went. If Tula did not go, then Clodomiro was the
one. They were talking about it."
"Talking,--about what?"
"About the German. He is caught at Soledad, and must not be let go, or
let die. All the Indians of Palomitas will be asking the Deliverer for
that man."
"Isidro, what is it they want to do with him?" asked Kit, and the old
Indian ceased fussing around with a stick in the ashes, and looked up,
sinister and reproving.
"That, senor, is a question a man does not ask. If my woman tells me
the women want a man for Judas, I--get that man! I ask nothing."
"Good God! And that child, Tula--" began Kit in consternation, and old
Isidro nodded his head.
"It is Tula who asked. She is proving she is a woman; Clodomiro goes
for her because that is his work. Your white way would be a different
way,--of an alcalde and the word of many witness. Our women have their
own way, and no mistake is made."
"But Rotil, the general,--he will not permit----"
"Senor, for either mother or grandmother the general had an Indian
woman. He has the knowing of these things. I think Tula gets the man
they ask for. She is wise, that child! A good woman will be chosen to
have speech with the Deliverer--when they come."
"There is a thought in that," mused Kit, glancing sharply at the old
man. "Do they make choice of some wise woman, to be speaker for the
others? And they come here?"
"That is how it is, senor."
"Then, what better way to hide Dona Jocasta than to place her among
Indian women who come in a band for that task? Many women veil and
shroud their heads in black as she does. The music of her voice was
dulled when she spoke to Marto, and General Rotil had no memory of
having ever heard it. Think,--is there to be found an old dress of
your wife? Can it be done and trust no one? Dona Jocasta is clever
when her fear is gone. With Tula away from that door the rest is easy.
The dawn is not so far off."
"Dawn is the time the women of Palomitas will take the road," decided
Isidro, "for by the rising time of the sun the Deliverer has said that
his rest here is ended, and he goes on to Soledad where Jose Perez
will have a trembling heart of waiting."
"Will they tell him whose trap he is caught in?"
"Who knows? The Deliverer has plans of his own making. It was not for
idleness he was out of sight when the trap was sprung. He sleeps
little, does Ramon Rotil!"
In a mesquite tree by the cook house chickens began to crow a
desultory warning. And Isidro proceeded to subtract stealthily a skirt
and shawl from wooden pegs set in the adobe wall where Valencia slept.
She startled him by stirring, and making weary inquiry as to whether
it was the time.
"Not yet, my treasure, that fighting cock of Clodomiro crows only
because of a temper, and not for day. It is I will make the fire and
set Maria to the grinding. Go you to your sleep."
Which Valencia was glad to do, while her holiday wardrobe, a purple
skirt bordered with green, and a deeply fringed black shawl, was
confiscated for the stranger within their gates.
Thrusting the bundle back of an olla in the corridor he touched Tula
on the shoulder.
"The senor waits you in the kitchen," he muttered in the Indian
tongue, and she arose without a word, and went silent as a snake along
the shadowy way.
It took courage for Isidro to enter alone the room of Dona Jocasta, as
that was the business of a woman. But Kit had planned that, if
discovered, the girl should apparently have no accomplices. This
would protect Tula and Valencia should Rotil suspect treachery if an
occupant of the house should disappear. It would seem most natural
that a stolen woman would seek to escape homeward when not guarded,
and that was to serve as a reasonable theory.
She slept with occasional shuddering sighs, as a child after sobbing
itself to sleep. That sad little sound gave the old Indian confidence
in his errand. It might mean trouble, but she had dared trouble ere
now. And there could not be continual sorrow for one so beautiful, and
this might be the way out!
She woke with a startled cry as he shook her bed, but it was quickly
smothered as he whispered her name.
"It is best you go to pray in the chapel room, and meet there the
women of Palomitas. Others will go to pray for a Judas; among many you
may be hidden."
She patted his arm, and arose in the dark, slipping on her clothes. He
gave her the skirt and she donned that over her own dress. Her teeth
were chattering with nervous excitement, and when she had covered
herself with the great shawl, her hand went out gropingly to him to
lead her.
As they did not pass the door of the _sala_, no notice was given them
by Rotil's guard. Mexican women were ever at early prayers, or at the
_metate_ grinding meal for breakfast, and that last possibility was
ever welcome to men on a trail.
In the kitchen Kit Rhodes was seeking information concerning Clodomiro
from Tula, asking if it was true he would fetch the women of Palomitas
to petition Rotil.
"Maybe so," she conceded, "but that work is not for a mind of a white
man. Thus I am not telling you Clodomiro is the one to go; his father
was what you call a priest,--but not of the church," she said hastily,
"no, of other things."
Looking at her elfin young face in the flickering light of the hearth
fire, he had a realization of vast vistas of "other things" leading
backward in her inherited tendencies, the things known by his young
comrade but not for the mind of a white man,--not even for the man
whom Miguel had trusted with the secret of El Alisal. Gold might
occasionally belong to a very sacred shrine, but even sacred gold was
not held so close in sanctuary as certain ceremonies dear to the
Indian thought. Without further words Kit Rhodes knew that there were
locked chambers in the brain of his young partner, and to no white man
would be granted the key.
"Well, since he has gone for them, there is nothing to say, though the
general may be ill pleased at visitors," hazarded Kit. "Also you and I
know why we should keep all the good will coming our way, and risk
none of it on experiments. Go you back to your rest since there is not
anything to be done. Clodomiro is at Palomitas by now, and you may as
well sleep while the dawn is coming."
She took the strip of roasted meat he offered her, and went back to
her blanket on the tiles at the door of the now empty room.