THE DESERT
"If I had a son, I would teach him obedience as heaven's first law, for
so only can a man be trained to obey his own better self."--_Enoch's
Diary_.
The Secretary had no intention of waking the strange little village at
night. He thought that, once he had relocated it, he would wait until
dawn before rousing any one. But he had not counted on the village
dogs. These set up such an outcry that, while Enoch leaned quietly
against a rude corral fence waiting for the hullaballoo to cease, the
door of the house nearest opened, and a man came out. He stood for a
moment very deliberately staring at the Secretary, whose polite "Good
morning" could not be heard above the dogs' uproar.
Enoch, with a half grin, dropped his satchel and held up both hands.
The man, half smiling in response, kicked and cursed the dogs into
silence. Then he approached Enoch. He was a small, swarthy chap, clad
in overalls and an undershirt.
"You're a Pueblo Indian?" asked the Secretary.
The Indian nodded. "What you want?"
"I want to buy a horse."
"Where you come from?"
"Off that train that went through a while ago."
"This not Ash Fork," said the Indian. "You make mistake. Ash Fork
that way," jerking his thumb westward. "You pass through Ash Fork."
Enoch nodded. "You sell me a horse?"
"I rent you horse. You leave him at Hillers' in Ash Fork. I get him."
"No, I want to buy a horse. Now I'm in the desert I guess I'll see a
little of it. Maybe I'll ride up that way," waving a careless arm
toward the north. "Maybe you'll sell me some camping things, blankets
and a coffee pot."
"All right," said the Indian. "When you want 'em?"
"Now, if I can get them."
"All right! I fix 'em."
He spoke to one of the other Indians who were sticking curious heads
out of black doorways. In an incredibly short time Enoch was the
possessor of a thin, muscular pony, well saddled, two blankets, one an
Army, the other a Navajo, a frying pan, a coffee pot, a canteen and
enough flour, bacon and coffee to see him through the day. He also
achieved possession of a blue flannel shirt and a pair of overalls. He
paid without question the price asked by the Indians. Dawn was just
breaking when he mounted his horse.
"Where does that trail lead?" he asked, pointing to one that started
north from the corral.
"To Eagle Springs, five miles," answered the Indian.
"And after that?"
"East to Allman's ranch, north to Navajo camp."
"Thanks," said Enoch. "Good-by!" and he turned his pony to the trail.
The country became rough and broken almost at once. The trail led up
and down through draws and arroyos. There was little verdure save
cactus and, when the sun was fully up, Enoch began to realize that a
strenuous day was before him. The spring boasted a pepper tree, a
lovely thing of delicate foliage, gazing at itself in the mirrored blue
of the spring. Enoch allowed the horse to drink its fill, then he
unrolled the blankets and clothing and dropped them into the water
below the little falls that gushed over the rocks, anchoring them with
stones. After this, awkwardly, but recalling more and more clearly his
camping lore, he prepared a crude breakfast.
He sat long at this meal. His head felt a little light from the lack
of sleep and he was physically weary. But he could not rest. For days
a jingling couplet had been running through his mind:
"Rest is not quitting this busy career.
Rest is the fitting of self to one's sphere."
Enoch muttered this aloud, then smiled grimly to himself.
"That's the idea!" he added. "There's a bad spot somewhere in my
philosophy that'll break me yet. Well, we'll see if I can locate it."
The sun was climbing high and the shade of the pepper tree was
grateful. The spring murmured for a few feet beyond the last quivering
shadow of the feathery leaves, then was swallowed abruptly by the
burning sand. Enoch lifted his tired eyes. Far on every side lay the
uneven, rock strewn desert floor, dotted with cactus and greasewood.
To the east, vivid against the blue sky, rose a solitary mountain peak,
a true purple in color, capped with snow. To the north, a green black
shadow was etched against the horizon. Except for the slight rustle of
the pepper tree, the vague murmur of the water, the silence was
complete.
"It's not a calming atmosphere," thought Enoch, "as I remember the
Canyon to have been. It's feverish and restless. But I'll give it a
try. For to-day, I'll not think. I'll concern myself entirely with
getting to this Navajo camp. First of all, I'll dry the blankets and
clothing."
He had pulled off his tweed coat some time before. Now he hung his
vest on the pepper tree and went about his laundry work. He draped
blankets and garments over the greasewood, then moved by a sudden
impulse, undressed himself and lay down under the tiny falls. The
water, warmed by its languid trip through the pool above, was
refreshing only in its cleansing quality. But Enoch, lying at length
in the sand, the water trickling ceaselessly over him, felt his taut
muscles relax and a great desire to sleep came upon him. But he was
still too close to the railroad and possible discovery to allow himself
this luxury. By the time he had finished his bath the overalls were
dry and the blue flannel shirt enough so for him to risk donning it.
He rolled up his tweed suit and tied it to the saddle, fastened the
blankets on in an awkward bunch, the cooking utensils dangling
anywhere, the canteen suspended from the pommel. Then he smiled at his
reflection in the morning pool.
The overalls, a faded brown, were patched and, of course, wrinkled and
drawn. The blue shirt was too small across the chest and Enoch found
it impossible to button the collar. The soft hat was in keeping with
costume, but the Oxford ties caused him to shake his head.
"A dead give-away! I'll have to negotiate for something else when I
find the Navajos. All right, Pablo," to the horse, "we're off," and
the pony started northward at a gentle canter.
The desert was new to Enoch. Neither his Grand Canyon experience nor
his hunting trips in Canada and Maine had prepared him for the
hardships and privations of desert travel. Sitting at ease on the
Indian pony, his hat well over his eyes, his pots and pans clanging
gently behind him, he was entirely oblivious to the menace that lay
behind the intriguing beauty of the burning horizon. He was giving
small heed, too, to the details of the landscape about him. He was
conscious of the heat and of color, color that glowed and quivered and
was ever changing, and he told himself that when he was rested he would
find the beauty in the desert that Diana's pictures had said was there.
But for now, he was conscious only of pain and shame, the old, old
shame that the Canyon had tried to teach him to forget. He was
determined that he would stay in the desert until this shame was gone
forever.
It was a fall and not a summer sun, so the pony was able to keep a
steady pace until noon. Gradually the blur of green that Enoch had
observed to the north had outlined itself more and more vividly, and at
noon he rode into the shade of a little grove of stunted piñon and
juniper. He could find no water but there was a coarse dried grass
growing among the trees that the horse cropped eagerly. Enoch removed
the saddle and pack from Pablo, and spread his half dried blankets on
the ground. Then he threw himself down to rest before preparing his
midday meal. In a moment slumber overwhelmed him.
He was wakened at dusk by the soft nuzzling of the pony against his
shoulder.
"By Jove!" he exclaimed softly. "What a sleep!" He jumped to his feet
and began to gather wood for his fire. He was stiff and his
unaccustomed fingers made awkward work of cooking, but he managed,
after an hour's endeavor, to produce an unsavory meal, which he
devoured hungrily. He wiped out the frying pan with dried grass,
repacked his outfit, and hung it on the horse.
"It's up to you, Pablo, old boy, to get us to water, if you want any
to-night," he said, as he mounted, and headed Pablo north on the trail.
The pony was quite of Enoch's opinion, and he started forward at an
eager trot. The trail was discernible enough in the starlight, but
Enoch made no attempt to guide Pablo, who obviously knew the country
better than his new owner.
Enoch had dreamed of Diana, and now, the reins drooping limply from his
hands, he gave his mind over to thought of her. There was no one on
earth whom he desired to see so much or so little as Diana! No one
else to whom in his trouble his whole heart and mind turned with such
unutterable longing or such iron determination never to see again. He
had no intention of searching for her in the desert. He knew that her
work would keep her in the Grand Canyon country. He knew that it would
be easy to avoid her. And, in spite of the fact that every fiber of
his being yearned for her, he had not the slightest desire to see her!
She would, he knew, see the Brown story. No matter what her father may
have told her, the newspaper story, with its vile innuendoes concerning
his adult life, must sicken her. There was one peak of shame which
Enoch refused to achieve. He would not submit himself either to
Diana's pity or to her scorn. But there was, he was finding, a
peculiar solace in merely traveling in Diana's desert. He had complete
faith that here he would find something of the sweet philosophy that
had written itself in Diana's face.
For Enoch had not come to middle life without learning that on a man's
philosophy rests his ultimate chance for happiness, or if not for
happiness, content. He knew that until he had sorted and separated
from each other the things that mattered and the things that did not
matter, he must be the restless plaything of circumstance. In his
younger days he had been able to persuade himself that if his point of
view on his life work were right and sane, nothing else could hurt him
too much. But now, easing himself to the pony's gentle trot and
staring into the exquisite blue silence of the desert night, he told
himself that he had been a coward, and that his cowardice had made him
shun the only real experience of life.
Public service? Yes, it had been right for him to make that his life
work. And such service from such men as himself he knew to be the only
vital necessity in a nation's life. But the one vital necessity in a
man's spiritual life he had missed. If he had had this, he told
himself, life's bludgeons, however searching, however devastating, he
could have laughed at. A man must have the thought of some good
woman's love to sustain him. But for Enoch, the thought of any woman's
love, Luigi had tainted at its source. He had neither mother nor mate,
and until he had evolved some philosophy which would reconcile him to
doing without both, his days must be feverish and at the mercy of the
mob.
Pablo broke into a canter and Enoch roused himself to observe a glow of
fire far ahead on the trail. His first impulse was to pull the horse
in. He did not want either to be identified or to mingle with human
beings. Then he smiled ruefully as he recalled the poverty of his
outfit and he gave Pablo his way again. In a short time Pablo had
reached a spring at a little distance from the fire. As the horse
buried his nose in the water, a man came up. Enoch judged by the long
hair that he was an Indian.
"Good evening," said Enoch. "Can you tell me where I can buy some
food?"
"What kind of grub?" asked the Indian.
"Anything I can cook and eat," replied Enoch, dismounting stiffly.
"What kind of camp is this?"
"Navajo. What your name?"
"Smith. What's yours?"
"John Red Sun. How much you pay for grub?"
"Depends on what kind and how much. Which way are you folks going?"
"We take horses to the railroad," replied John Red Sun. "Me and my
brother, that's all, so we haven't got much grub. You come over by the
fire." Enoch dropped the reins over Pablo's head and followed to the
fire. An Indian, who was boiling coffee at the little blaze, looked up
with interest in his black eyes.
"Good evening," said Enoch. "My name is Smith."
The Indian nodded. "You like a cup of coffee? Just done."
"Thanks, yes." Enoch sat down gratefully by the fire. The desert
night was sharp.
"Where you going, Mr. Smith?" asked John Red Sun.
"I'm an Easterner, a tenderfoot," replied Enoch. "I am very tired and
I thought I'd like to rest in the desert. I was on the train when the
idea struck me, and I got off just as I was. I bought the horse and
these clothes from an Indian."
"Where you going?" repeated John's brother. "To see Injun villages?"
"No, I don't think so. I just want to be by myself."
"It's foolish for tenderfoot to go alone in desert," said John. "You
don't know where to get water, get grub."
"Oh, I'll pick it up as I go."
The Indians stared at Enoch in the firelight. His ruddy hair was
tumbled by the night wind. His face was deep lined with fatigue that
was mental as well as physical.
"You mustn't go alone in desert." John Red Sun's voice was earnest.
"You sleep here to-night. We'll talk it over."
"You're very kind," said Enoch. "I'll unsaddle my pony. Ought I to
hobble him or stake him out?"
"I fix 'im. You drink your coffee." The brother handed Enoch a tin
cup as he spoke. "Then you go to sleep. You mucho tired."
Their hospitality touched Enoch. "You're very kind," he repeated
gratefully, and he drank the vile coffee without blinking. Then,
conscious that he was trembling with weariness, he rolled himself in
his blankets. But he slept only fitfully. The sand was hard, and his
long afternoon's nap had taken the edge from his appetite for sleep.
He spent much of the night wondering what Washington, what the
President was saying about him. And his sunburned face was new dyed
with his burning sense of shame.
At the first peep of dawn, John Red Sun rose from the other side of the
fire, raked the ashes and started a blaze going. Enoch discovered that
the camp lay at the foot of a mesa, close in whose shadow a small herd
of scraggly, unkempt ponies was staked. The two Indians moved about
deftly. They watered the horses, made coffee and cakes and fried
bacon. By the time Enoch had shaved, a pie tin was waiting for him in
the ashes.
"We sell you two days' grub," said John. "One day north on this trail
go two men up to the Canyon, to placer mine. They're good men. I know
'em many years. They got good outfit, but burros go slow, so you can
easy overtake 'em to-day. You tell 'im you want a job. Tell 'im John
Red Sun send you. Then you get rested in the desert. Not good for any
white man to go alone and do nothing in the desert. He'll go loco.
See?"
Enoch suddenly smiled. "I do see, yes. And I must say you're mighty
kind and sensible. I'll do as you suggest. By the way, will you sell
me those boots of yours? I'll swap you mine and anything you say,
beside. I believe our feet are the same size."
Red Sun's brother was wearing Navajo moccasins reaching to the knee,
but Red Sun was resplendent in a pair of high laced boots, into which
were tucked his corduroy pants. The Indians both looked at Enoch's
smart Oxford ties with eagerness. Then without a word, Red Sun began
rapidly to unlace his boots. It would be difficult to say which made
the exchange with the greater satisfaction, Enoch or the Indian. When
it was done Enoch, as far as his costume was concerned, might have been
a desert miner indeed, looking for a job.
The sun was not over an hour high when Pablo and Enoch started north
once more, the little horse loaded with supplies and Enoch loaded with
such trail lore as the two Indians could impress upon him in the short
time at their command. Enoch was not deeply impressed by their advice
except as to one point, which they repeated so often that it really
penetrated his distraught and weary mind. He was to keep to the trail.
No matter what or whom he thought he saw in the distance, he was to
keep to the trail. If a sand storm struck him, he was to camp
immediately and on the trail. If he needed water, he was to keep to
the trail in order to find it. At night, he must camp on the trail.
The trail! It was, they made him understand, a tenderfoot's only
chance of life in this section. And, thus equipped, Enoch rode away
into the lonely, shimmering, intriguing morning light of the desert.
He rode all the morning without dismounting. The trail was very
crooked. It seemed to him at such moments as he took note of this
fact, he would save much time by riding due north, but he could not
forget the Indian brothers' reiterated warnings. And, although he
could not throw off a sense of being driven, the desire to arrive
somewhere quickly, still he was strangely content to let Pablo set the
pace.
At noon he dismounted, fed Pablo half the small bag of oats John had
given him, and ate the cold bacon and biscuits John's brother had urged
on him. There was no water for the horse, but Enoch drank deeply from
the canteen and allowed Pablo an hour's rest. Then he mounted and
pushed on, mindful of the necessity of overtaking the miners.
His mind was less calm than it had been the day before, and his
thinking less orderly. He had begun to be nagged by recollections of
office details that he should have settled, of important questions that
awaited his decision. And something deep within him began to tell him
that he was not playing a full man's part in running away. But to this
he replied grimly that he was only seeking for strength to go back.
And finally he muttered that give him two weeks' respite and he would
go back, strength or no strength. And over and about all his broken
thinking played an unceasing sense of loss. The public had invaded his
last privacy. The stronghold wherein a man fights his secret weakness
should be sacred. Not even a clergyman nor a wife should invade its
precincts uninvited. Enoch's inner sanctuary had been laid open to the
idle view of all the world. The newspaper reporter had pried where no
real man would pry. The Brown papers had published that from which a
decent editor would turn away for very compassion. Only a very dirty
man will with no excuse whatever wantonly and deliberately break
another man.
When toward sundown Enoch saw a thread of smoke rising far ahead of
him, again his first thought was to stop and make camp. He wished that
it were possible for him to spend the next few weeks without seeing a
white man. But he did not yield to the impulse and Pablo pushed on
steadily.
The camp was set in the shelter of a huge rock pile, purple, black,
yellow and crimson in color, with a single giant ocotilla growing from
the top. A man in overalls was bending over the fire, while another
was bringing a dripping coffee pot from a little spring that bubbled
from under the rocks. A number of burros were grazing among the cactus
roots.
Enoch rode up slowly and dismounted stiffly. "Good evening," he said.
The two men stared at him frankly. "Good evening, stranger!"
"John Red Sun told me to ask you people for work in return for
permission to trail with your outfit."
"Oh, he did, did he!" grunted the older man, eying Enoch intently. "My
name is Mackay, and my pardner's is Field."
"Mine is Smith," said Enoch.
"Just Smith?" grinned the man Field.
"Just Smith," repeated Enoch firmly.
"Well, Mr. Just Smith," Mackay nodded affably, as though pleased by his
appraisal of the newcomer, "wipe your feet on the door mat and come in
and have supper with us. We'll talk while we eat."
"You're very kind," murmured Enoch. "I--er--I'm a tenderfoot, so
perhaps you'd tell me, shall I hobble this horse or--"
"I'll take care of him for you," said Field. "You look dead tuckered.
Sit down till supper's ready."
Enoch sat down on a rock and eyed his prospective bosses. Mackay was a
tall, thin man of perhaps fifty. He was smooth shaven except for an
iron gray mustache. His face was thin, tanned and heavily lined, and
his keen gray eyes were deep set under huge, shaggy eyebrows. He wore
a gray flannel shirt and a pair of well worn brown corduroys, tucked
into the tops of a pair of ordinary shoes. Field was younger, probably
about Enoch's own age. He was as tall as Mackey but much heavier. He
was smooth shaven and ruddy of skin, with a heavy thatch of curly black
hair and fine brown eyes. His clothing was a replica of his partner's.
Mackay gave his whole attention to the preparation of the supper, while
Field unpacked Pablo and hobbled him.
"You're just in time for a darn good meal, Mr. Smith," said Field.
"Mack is a great cook. If he was as good a miner as he is cook--"
"Dry up, Curly, and get Mr. Smith's cup and plate for him. We're shy
on china. Grub's ready, folks. Draw up."
They ate sitting in the sand, with their backs against the rocks, their
feet toward the fire, for the evening was cold. Curly had not
exaggerated Mack's ability. The hot biscuits, baked in a dutch oven,
the fried potatoes, stewed tomatoes, the bacon, the coffee were each
deliciously prepared. Enoch ate as though half starved, then helped to
wash the dishes. After this was finished, the three established
themselves with their pipes before the fire.
"Now," said Mack, "we're in a condition to consider your proposition,
Mr. Smith. Just where was you aiming for?"
"I have a two or three weeks' vacation on my hands," replied Enoch,
"and I'm pretty well knocked up with office work. I wanted to rest in
the desert. I thought I could manage it alone, but it looks as if I
were too green. I don't know why John Red Sun thought I could intrude
on you folks, unless--" he hesitated.
"John an old friend of yours?" asked Curly.
"No, I met him on the trail. He was exceedingly kind and hospitable."
Curly whistled softly. "You must have been in bad shape. John's not
noted for kindness, or hospitality either."
"I wasn't in bad shape at all!" protested Enoch. The two men, eying
Enoch steadily, each suppressed a smile.
"Field and I are on a kind of vacation too," said Mack. "I'm a
superintendent of a zinc mine, and he's running the mill for me. We
had to shut down for three months--bottom's dropped clean out of the
price of zinc. We've been talking about prospecting for placer gold up
on the Colorado, for ten years. Now we're giving her a try."
He paused, and both men looked at Enoch expectantly. "In other words,"
said Enoch, refilling his pipe, "you two fellows are off for the kind
of a trip you don't want an utter stranger in on. Well, I don't blame
you."
"Depends altogether on what kind of a chap the stranger is," suggested
Curly.
"I have no letters of recommendation." Enoch's smile was grim. "I'd
do my share of the work, and pay for my board. I might not be the best
of company, for I'm tired. Very tired."
His massive head drooped as he spoke and his thin fine lips betrayed a
pain and weariness that even the fitful light of the fire could not
conceal. There was a silence for a moment, then a burro screamed, and
Mackay got to his feet.
"There's Mamie burro making trouble again. Come and help me catch her,
Curly."
Enoch sat quietly waiting while a low voiced colloquy that did not seem
related to the obstreperous Mamie went on in the shadow beyond the
rocks. Then the two men came back.
"All right, Smith," said Mack. "We're willing to give it a try. A
camping trip's like marriage, you know, terrible trying on the nerves.
So if we don't get on together, it's understood you'll turn back, eh?"
"Yes," Enoch nodded.
"All right! We'll charge you a dollar and a half a day for yourself
and your horse. We're to share and share alike in the work."
"I'm exceedingly grateful!" exclaimed Enoch.
"All right! We hope you'll get rested," said Curly. "And I advise you
to begin now. Have you been sleeping well? How long have you been
out?"
"Three nights. I've slept rottenly."
"I thought so. Let me show you how to scoop out sand so's to make a
hollow for your hips and your shoulders, and I'll bet you'll sleep."
And Enoch did sleep that night better than for several weeks. He was
stiff and muscle sore when he awoke at dawn, but he felt clearer headed
and less mentally feverish than he had the previous day. Curly and
Mack were still asleep when he stole over to the spring to wash and
shave. It was biting cold, but he felt like a new man when he had
finished his toilet and stood drawing deep breaths while he watched the
dawn approach through the magnificent desert distances. He gathered
some greasewood and came back to build the fire, but his camp mates had
forestalled him. While he was at the spring the men had both wakened
and the fire was blazing merrily.
Breakfast was quickly prepared and eaten. Enoch established himself as
the camp dish washer, much to the pleasure of Curly, who hitherto had
borne this burden. After he had cleaned and packed the dishes, Enoch
went out for Pablo, who had strayed a quarter of a mile in his search
for pasturage. After a half hour of futile endeavor Mack came to his
rescue, and in a short time the cavalcade was ready to start.
They were not an unimposing outfit. Mack led. The half dozen burros,
with their packs followed, next came Curly, and Enoch brought up the
rear. There was little talking on the trail. The single file, the
heavy dust, and the heat made conversation too great an effort. And
Enoch was grateful that this was so.
To-day he made a tremendous endeavor to keep his mind off Luigi and the
Brown papers. He found he could do this by thinking of Diana. And so
he spent the day with her, and resolved that if opportunity arose that
night, to write to her, in the black diary.
The trail, which gradually ascended as they drew north, grew rougher
and rougher. During the latter part of the day sand gave way to rock,
and the desert appeared full of pot holes which Mack claimed led to
subterranean rivers.
They left these behind near sunset, and came upon a huge, rude,
cave-like opening in a mesa side. A tiny pool at the back and the
evidence of many camp fires in the front announced that this was one of
the trail's established oases. There was no possible grazing for the
animals, so they were watered, staked, and fed oats from the packs.
"Well, Mr. Just Smith," said Curly, after the supper had been
dispatched and cleared up and the trio were established around the
fire, pipes glowing, "well, Mr. Just Smith, are you getting rested?"
He grinned as he spoke, but Mack watched their guest soberly. Enoch's
great head seemed to fascinate him.
"I'm feeling better, thanks. And I'm trying hard to behave."
"You're doing very well," returned Curly. "I can't recommend you yet
as a horse wrangler, but if I permit you to bring Mamie in every
morning, perhaps you'll sabez better."
"This is sure one devil of a country," said Mack. "The Spanish called
it the death trail. Wow! What it must have been before they opened up
these springs! Even the Indians couldn't live here."
"I'd like to show it to old Parsons," said Curly. "He claims there
ain't a spot in Arizona that couldn't grow crops if you could get water
to it. He's a fine old liar! Why, this country don't even grow
cactus! I'd like to hobble him out here for a week."
"Those Survey fellows were up here a few years back trying to fix it to
get water out of those pot holes," said Mack.
"Nuts! Sounds like a government bunch!" grunted Curly.
"What came of it?" asked Enoch.
"It ended in a funny kind of a row," replied Mack. "Some folks think
there's oil up here, and there was a bunch here drilling for wells,
when the government men came along. They got interested in the oil
idea, and they began to study the country and drill for oil too. And
that made these other chaps mad. This was government land, of course,
but they didn't want the government to get interested in developing oil
wells. Government oil would be too cheap. So they got some Mexicans
to start a fight with these Survey lads. But the Survey boys turned
out to be well armed and good fighters and, by Jove, they drove the
whole bunch of oil prospectors out of here. Everybody got excited, and
then it turned out there was no oil here anyhow. That was Fowler's
bunch, by the way, that got run out. Nobody ever thought he'd be
Secretary of State!"
"But Fowler is not an Arizona man!" exclaimed Enoch.
"No," said Curly, "but he came out here for his health for a few years
when he was just out of college. He and my oldest brother were law
pardners in Phoenix. I always thought he was crooked. All lawyers
are."
Enoch smiled to himself.
"Fowler sent his prospectors into Mexico after that," Mack went on
reminiscently. "Curly and I were in charge of the silver mine near Rio
Chacita where they struck some gushers. They were one tough crowd. We
all slept in tents those days, and I remember none of us dared to light
a lamp or candle because if one of those fellows saw it, they'd take a
pot shot at it. One of my foremen dug a six-foot pit and set his tent
over it. Then he let 'em shoot at will. Those were the days!"
"Government ought to keep out of business," said Curly. "Let the
States manage their own affairs."
"What's Field sore about?" asked Enoch of Mack.
"He's just ignorant," answered Mack calmly. "Hand me some tobacco,
Curly, and quit your beefing. When you make your fortune washing gold
up in the Colorado, you can get yourself elected to Congress and do
Fowler up. In the meantime--"
"Aw, shut up, Mack," drawled Curly good-naturedly. "What are you
trying to do, ruin my reputation with Just Smith here? By the way,
Just, you haven't told us what your work is."
"I'm a lawyer," said Enoch solemnly.
The three men stared at each other in the fire glow. Suddenly Enoch
burst into a hearty laugh, in which the others joined.
"What was the queerest thing you've ever seen in the desert, Mack?"
asked Enoch, when they had sobered down.
Mack sat in silence for a time. "That's hard to judge," he said
finally. "Once, in the Death Valley country, I saw a blind priest
riding a burro fifty miles from anywhere. He had no pack, just a
canteen. He said he was doing a penance and if I tried to help him,
he'd curse me. So I went off and left him. And once I saw a fat woman
in a kimono and white satin high heeled slippers chasing her horse over
the trackless desert. Lord!"
"Was that any queerer sight than Just Smith chasing Pablo this
morning?" demanded Curly.
"Or than Field tying a stone to Mamie's tail to keep her from braying
to-night?" asked Enoch.
"You're improving!" exclaimed Curly, "Dignity's an awful thing to take
into the desert for a vacation."
"Let's go to bed," suggested Mack, and in the fewest possible minutes
the camp was at rest.
The trail for the next two days grew rougher and rougher, while the
brilliancy of color in rock and sand increased in the same ratio as the
aridity. Enoch, pounding along at the rear of the parade, hour after
hour, was still in too anguished and abstracted a frame of mind to heed
details. He knew only that the vast loveliness and the naked austerity
of the desert were fit backgrounds, the first for this thought of
Diana, the second for his bitter retrospects.
Mid-morning on the third day, after several hours of silent trekking,
Curly turned in his saddle:
"Just, have you noticed the mirage?" pointing to the right.
Far to the east where the desert was most nearly level appeared the
sea, waters of brilliant cobalt blue lapping shores clad in richest
verdure, waves that broke in foam and ran softly up on quiet shores.
Upon the sea, silhouetted against the turquoise sky were ships with
sails of white, of crimson, of gold. Then, as the men stared with
parted lips, the picture dimmed and the pitiless, burning desert
shimmered through.
The unexpected vision lifted Enoch out of himself for a little while
and he listened, interested and amused, while Curly, half turned in his
saddle, discanted on mirages and their interpretations. Nor did Enoch
for several hours after meditate on his troubles. Not an hour after
the mirage had disappeared the sky darkened almost to black, then
turned a sullen red. Lightning forked across the zenith and the
thunder reverberated among the thousand mesas, the entangled gorges,
until it seemed almost impossible to endure the uproar. Rain did not
begin to fall until noon. There was not a place in sight that would
provide shelter, so the men wrapped their Navajos about them and forced
the reluctant animals to continue the journey. The storm held with
fury until late in the afternoon. The wind, the lightning and the rain
vied with one another in punishing the travelers. Again and again, the
burros broke from trail.
"Get busy, Just!" Curly would roar. "Come out of your trance!" and
Enoch would ride Pablo after the impish Mamie with a skill that
developed remarkably as the afternoon wore on. Enoch could not recall
ever having been so wretchedly uncomfortable in his life. He was
sodden to the skin, aching with weariness, shivering with cold. But he
made no murmur of protest. It was Curly who, about five o'clock,
called:
"Hey, Mack! I've gone my limit!"
Mack pulled up and seemed to hesitate. As he did so, the storm, with a
suddenness that was unbelievable, stopped. A last flare of lightning
seemed to blast the clouds from the sky. The rain ceased and the sun
enveloped mesas, gorges, trail in a hundred rainbows.
"How about a fire?" asked Mack, grinning, with chattering teeth.
"It must be done somehow," replied Curly. "Come on, Just, shake it up!"
"Look here, Curly," exclaimed Mack, pausing in the act of throwing his
leg over the saddle, "I think you ought to treat Mr. Smith with more
respect. He ain't your hired help."
"The dickens he isn't!" grinned Curly.
"It's all right, Mack! I enjoy it," said Enoch, dismounting stiffly.
"If you do," Mack gave him a keen look, "you aren't enjoying it the way
Curly thinks you do."
Enoch returned Mack's gaze, smiled, but said nothing further. Mack,
however, continued to grumble.
"I'm as good as the next fellow, but I don't believe in giving
everybody a slap on the back or a kick in the pants to prove it. You
may be a lawyer, all right, Mr. Smith, but I'll bet you're on the
bench. You've got that way with you. Not that it's any of my
business!"
He was leading the way, as he spoke, toward the face of a mesa that
abutted almost on the trail. Curly apparently had not paid the
slightest attention to the reproof. He was already hobbling his horse.
They made no attempt to look for a spring. The hollows of the rocks
were filled with rain water. But the search for wood was long and
arduous. In fact, it was nearly dusk before they had gathered enough
to last out the evening. But here and there a tiny cedar or mesquite
yielded itself up and at last a good blaze flared up before the mesa.
The men shifted to dry underwear, wrung out their outer clothing and
put it on again, and drank copiously of the hot coffee. In spite of
damp clothing and blankets Enoch slept deeply and dreamlessly, and rose
the next day none the worse for the wetting. Even in this short time
his physical tone was improving and he felt sure that his mind must
follow.