July passed. Followed August, with days likewise hot and unvarying
except for a scarcely appreciable retardation of dawn. Perro Creek now
showed no water at all in its shallow bed; the garden planted by the
Stevensons was long dried up; the sagebrush was dustier than ever; and
Bryant and Dave were hauling in a barrel on a sledge water for their
use from a pool in the cañon.
From daybreak until about eight o'clock in the morning the engineer
and his assistant worked on the canal line. Bryant had run a
fictitious survey along the mountain side, staking it out
conspicuously for any one to see, to the first of the fenced claims of
the Mexican homesteaders, where it ended as if blocked; but his real
line on the mesa remained unstaked.
To the low ridge, or spur of ground, projecting from the mountain's
base at a point half a mile south of his right of way through the
fields, where the canal began its sweep out upon the plain, he gave
considerable time. The fall of this at first was sharp, and concrete
drops would have to be constructed at intervals for a distance of a
mile or so in order to lower the water. When this section was left
behind, he advanced rapidly along the line, for the surface of the
gentle crescent swell was smooth, its grade fairly regular, and its
contour fixed by nature. Essential points he marked by stones, with
merely their surfaces exposed, so that if noticed they would be
considered scattered pieces of rock from the hills. At the proper time
they would constitute guides for later staking.
Evenings Bryant spent in developing his notes and in making tracings
of the canal sections covered. During the day hours, when he knew
watchful eyes were on him, he made a topographical survey of his
ranch; work that he could carry on openly. The five thousand acres
comprising the tract had a general direction of east and west, being
about four miles long and two miles wide, which for the most part lay
equally on each side of Perro Creek. By using the water of this stream
during the flood season, a period of some weeks in spring and early
summer, Bryant would be able very considerably to augment the supply
from the Pinas. It was necessary to join the two sources in a unified
system of laterals that would efficiently serve the tract; and
therefore the whole enterprise required study, innumerable
measurements, calculations of dirt moving, of water distribution, of
dam, weir, and gate construction, of soil analysis--a coördination of
the thousand and one matters concerned in an irrigation project that
are preliminary to breaking ground. So early and late he toiled, and
with him Dave Morris.
The boy indeed did enough for a man. And Bryant would sometimes arise
from his drawing board where he worked after supper until midnight, to
go and affectionately gaze at Dave sleeping the sleep of exhaustion.
One afternoon, when the pair were at work near the southern boundary
of the ranch, Ruth Gardner came through the sagebrush to the spot, a
mile from Sarita Creek.
"I could see you, just black specks, from our cabins; and since you
don't visit us, I made up my mind to visit you," she announced. "I've
noticed you down here for two days past. Days and days have gone by
without you coming to pay another call."
"Well, we've been sticking pretty steadily at our job," Bryant
replied. "Won't you use this bag of stakes for a seat? It will keep
you off the ground."
Ruth accepted the proffered resting place and loosened the thongs of
her hat, inspected her face in a tiny mirror produced from somewhere,
rubbed her nose with a handkerchief, and then gave her attention to
her companions.
"Our garden has grown splendidly since you fixed the ditch," she said.
"Thanks to you. How is yours?"
"It has expired."
"Then you shall have things out of ours--if you'll come get them. See,
I'm using that to decoy you. There are beans, peas, lettuce, radishes,
and new potatoes, not very large yet, of course. I know just what
you're doing: working hard, eating only canned stuff, skimping your
food, and ruining your digestion."
Bryant laughed. Her tone had expressed indignation, while her face was
directly accusatory.
"We seem to have fair health, don't we, Dave?" he remarked.
"You look positively thin," said she. "And as for this poor starved
shadow that you call Dave! Well, I won't say my thoughts. For a penny
I'd invite myself to dinner at your house just to see what you do
have."
At this possibility both the engineer and his young assistant
displayed signs of consternation. Under pressure of work housekeeping
had been an unimportant trifle frequently postponed; last meal's
dishes were washed while the next meal was preparing; clothes were
left where they were carelessly flung; and surveying tools, maps, and
papers littered the rooms. No, it was not a dwelling in which to
entertain a feminine guest.
"Maybe I had better go there and clear up things some," Dave stated,
uneasily. And without awaiting a reply from Bryant, he set off through
the sagebrush for the house.
Ruth began to laugh, resting her cheeks in her hands.
"That poor solemn boy, he took me seriously!" she exclaimed. "I
shouldn't come alone, of course; it wouldn't be proper--and Imo would
be horrified. Well, you may as well sit down and talk to me, Mr.
Bryant, for you can't work alone, and I've come to stay awhile.
Imogene told me what a nice talk she had with you the afternoon I went
to the ruins, and I hoped you'd come soon again, but you never did."
"Perhaps I haven't been exactly neighbourly."
He lowered himself to the ground and sat cross-legged, considering
her.
"I thought that possibly I had offended you in going off so abruptly
with Charlie Menocal," she said, with eyes fastened on his. "You and
he aren't very good friends. I know----"
"We're not friends at all; we're enemies."
"That need not keep you away from us. He has been very civil and kind,
but neither Imogene nor I have any particular fancy for the man.
Besides, I think his chief interest in life centres around a girl
living on Diamond Creek, named Louise Graham; he hinted that they were
as good as engaged. Very likely we shall see little more of him. So if
your dislike at meeting him is the reason for your staying away, you
haven't a good reason at all. Don't you think Imo and I ever tire of
listening to each other? Any two girls would, living alone by
themselves. After your promise at the ford we were delighted--and how
many calls have we had from you? Just one. With me away, too!"
"To-morrow will be Sunday; I'll stop work at noon and come," he
declared.
She pointed a forefinger at him and wiggled her thumb, in imitation of
a pistol.
"Hold up your right hand and swear it," she commanded, "or I'll
shoot." She continued to menace Bryant while he obeyed. "There, now
you're safe. And bring that hungry boy and we'll feed you both; this
is a dinner invitation, understand. Now, tell me about everything."
"Everything?"
"All you're doing with that three-legged telescope and these stakes."
She smoothed her dress and manifested an expectant interest. The
impression Bryant had gained at the first accidental meeting at Perro
Creek, of her good looks, of her vitality and irrepressible spirits,
was heightened. As he recollected his feeling of pique at her visit
with Charlie Menocal to the ruined pueblo, he realized that he had
indulged in a bit of senseless, unwarranted umbrage; and now had, in
consequence, a quick desire to make amends. It was as if he must
reëstablish himself in her good opinion and his own.
Their talk ran on from topic to topic. The gaiety of her comments
pleased him; the youthfulness of her was irresistible; and he found
himself observing the changing curves of her throat and cheek as she
turned her head a little aside or raised her chin; found himself
watching for certain unconscious attitudes; awaiting the lift of her
eyes to his, harkening for particular tones of her voice. And Bryant,
who, though he knew it not, was also athirst for companionship, more
and more yielded to her subtle feminine attraction. "She's even
prettier than I supposed," he thought. Her lips, her nose, her eyes of
deep gray with their wonderfully long lashes--each had a particular
charm of its own. He admired the grace of her figure. He felt an odd
surprise at her apparent soft and pliant strength, as at a discovery.
His mind thrilled with delight at her laughter.
"Look where the sun is!" she exclaimed, all at once. "Straight over
our heads--noon. Your David will be wondering where you are, while
Imogene will imagine I'm lost. Let me pick a flower to stick in the
ribbon of your hat and then I'll go."
"Your fingers will suffer; I'll get some," Lee said, quickly. From a
spreading bed of prickly-pear he plucked a dozen of the cactus
blossoms, ranging in colour from a delicate lemon to a deep orange. He
turned to her.
"First I'll decorate you," he said. "Please assume an angelic
expression and gaze straight at the camera."
She tilted her chin upward and thrust her arms downward with all five
fingers of each hand stretched apart. But immediately she began to
laugh. Lee gave her a reproving tap on the uplifted chin and then
fastened the flowers in her hat-band. A thrill like fire ran through
his body at the proximity of that soft, round chin, those red lips,
her eyes gleaming with merriment.
"Now, beauty!" he said, stepping back.
The yellow blossoms made a garland about her hat.
"Do you like them thus?" she asked, delighted.
"Immensely."
"Then they shall stay there. And Imo will die of envy when I tell her
they're yours."
"Nobody ever died of that."
"Perhaps not. But she will suffer extremely. You didn't even put bean
plants in her hat."
Lee was highly amused at this raillery. He began to walk forward by
her side as she moved away from the spot, now addressing her, now
listening to her words, in a desire to stretch the last minute to the
uttermost. Her head came just even with his shoulder, so that she had
to raise her face to gaze at him when he spoke, and in the act there
was something simple, winning, blithe, as likewise in the swing of her
lissom figure beside his own there was an inimitable jauntiness and
cheer. He divined her eager, ardent spirit; and the closeness of her,
this comradeship, set his blood humming.
Abruptly he halted, laying a finger on her arm.
"I mustn't go the whole way, you know," he said, "though I should like
to. For, by heavens, you've opened my eyes! Didn't realize how
satiated with myself I'd become. But I'll make up for that now, Miss
Ruth, and it won't be very long before you and your friend will be
planning how to rid yourselves of me."
"Just try us and see," she exclaimed.
"Well, I shall. Till to-morrow, then."
"Till to-morrow, yes." She moved forward some paces and wheeled about,
pointing her forefinger at his head and working her thumb.
"Beware--and don't forget!" Then after another advance and face about
she concluded by blowing him a kiss off the palm of her hand, with
which performance she did actually start for home, weaving her way
through the sagebrush and going farther and farther off.
"What a pretty little witch she is!" thought Lee; and he, too, made
his way from the spot.
Dave's hot, harassed face greeted him at the door.
"Where is she? Didn't she come?" he cried, peering about everywhere.
"Well, thank goodness for that! But if that isn't the way with a
girl--and after I'd swept up and made the beds and scraped all the
skillets, too!"