A DESERT STORM
PERHAPS no one except an Indian could have found Jack so swiftly, and
yet Carlos was engaged in the search for her over an hour. For the girl
had gone some distance beyond the place of their last meeting and still
had found no trace of their lost stock.
She was vexed for a moment at Carlos' reappearance, but gave no sign.
Indeed she managed to say "Thank you" when he briefly explained that he
had taken Olive near enough home to have her make the rest of the
journey without an escort and then that she had sent him back to
continue the hunt. Not a suggestion did he give of Olive's real message
for Jack to return home immediately.
A girl with Jacqueline Ralston's knowledge and experience of western
life should have required no such message had she taken her usual normal
interest in her surroundings. For there was a sufficient forewarning of
what was approaching for her to have understood. Nevertheless, for once
in her life Jack was almost completely oblivious of the landscape and of
the conditions of the sky and atmosphere. For her conversation with
Olive had made her more unhappy and puzzled than she had previously
been, since she had surely succeeded only in making the tangle harder
for any one of them to unravel.
Now and then, as she continued her ride beyond the end of the Rainbow
Creek and into the broader sweep of their prairie lands, the girl almost
forgot the original object of her day's excursion, only feeling that
more than anything she desired to be outdoors and alone. So that instead
of leading the way as she had done in the morning she now allowed the
boy Carlos to take his own trail, following without much thought close
behind.
By far the larger portion of the broad area of the Ralston ranch was
cultivated land, to the extent that the fields beyond the Lodge were
most of them planted with alfalfa grass and other grains according to
their fertility. Occasionally there were barren spaces of land where the
sands from the desert had settled too deeply for any growing thing, and
as these were at the outermost edges of the ranch Jim Colter had left
them undisturbed, waiting for a time when there should be less work
nearer home.
Therefore when Jack suddenly discovered her horse ploughing heavily
through one of these sandy stretches she realized that they were farther
away from Rainbow Lodge than she had appreciated. And certainly it was
now time to turn back. She was afraid that she could hardly manage to
arrive at home before dinner time and that would mean a scolding from
Jim, who would hardly consider the rescue of a few lost mares and colts
a sufficient excuse for making the rest of them uncomfortable and
uneasy.
Jack smiled a little ruefully, checking her horse and allowing him a few
moments of rest. She had not even that good excuse to take home with
her, for she had not seen a trace of the stray stock and had really
scarcely looked for them since luncheon. But then Carlos must have been
more attentive--she was really surprised at the boy's apparent interest
since he rejoined her. He had taken the entire initiative. Even now he
was some distance ahead and going too fast for his horse's strength in
such difficult ground.
"Carlos, Carlos," the girl called as loudly as possible. Then she
patted Romeo's neck with swift penitence. Ordinarily she was quick to
remember the comfort of her own mount, but today she had been most
extraordinarily selfish. However, it was odd that in spite of his long
day's travel her horse did not seem to wish to stand still even for a
moment. He kept pawing the earth, sniffing and turning half way round in
his eagerness to start for home.
The mystery needed only a little time for solving. All afternoon in a
subconscious fashion Jack had realized that the air was unpleasantly hot
and stifling and that the sun had not been shining since luncheon. The
little cloud which she had first noticed in the west, a queer
funnel-shaped cloud, had been constantly growing larger. Of course it
meant a storm, but it was still far enough away not to be immediately
alarming. However, they must get home as soon as possible, and Carlos
evidently had not heard her cry.
Twice again Jack shouted his name, but as he did not turn his head she
touched her pony lightly with her riding whip and rode after him. She
regretted now that she had allowed the boy to get so far ahead of her,
for her own few minutes' delay had naturally increased the distance
between them. Yet Jack did not feel that it would be fair for her to
turn back without informing her companion. It seemed almost cruel to
force her jaded horse at such a pace through the loose sands; yet how
else could she ever hope to catch up with her escort? Carlos did not
usually show such poor judgment with his own steed.
Then finally it occurred to the girl that the Indian boy was refusing
deliberately to answer her as a punishment for their trouble earlier in
the day. If this were true she was foolish to waste any more time and
energy in pursuit of him. She could get back home alone long before
bedtime by allowing her horse to walk for a part of the way. Then if the
storm should overtake her, she would not be far enough from the Lodge to
have it make any serious difference. As for her scolding, well, Jack
felt that she would have to accept that as philosophically as possible
under the circumstances. For Jim would have a double grievance, since he
did not like any one of them to ride for any distance with only Carlos
as a companion.
Shrugging her shoulders, too tired really to be angry again that day,
Jack called once more. This time, to her surprise, Carlos actually rose
in his saddle, pointing with evident excitement toward some
indeterminate objects at a little distance off. Jack could not see what
they were, although she guessed at once. After all, their hard day's
work had not been in vain! Carlos had assuredly discovered the lost
stock. True they must have wandered beyond the confines of the Rainbow
ranch, since Jack was familiar enough with their own boundary line to
know that Carlos was even at this instant passing beyond the wire fence
which circumscribed it.
Their stock oftentimes got outside the ranch by mysterious methods of
their own. Therefore if Carlos believed that he saw the mares they had
been searching for the entire day, it would be foolish to turn back
without them. It was unfortunate that the heavy cloud in the west seemed
to be driving toward them with so much greater speed in these last
fifteen minutes. Still if it should reach their vicinity before they
could get the lost mares and colts into some kind of shelter the animals
must perish. For the mares would never desert their young and the colts
could never endure the force of the wind and the great blankets of sand
that would probably sweep over and cover them.
Jack was not mistaken in one point of view. She knew, as only a
Westerner could, that the storm approaching was not rain, but wind, and
that it might mean a sand storm in the desert.
A saner judgment however would have suggested that Jacqueline Ralston
start back home at once, leaving Carlos to follow her. But she
appreciated the tremendous difficulty that the boy would have in
rounding up the frightened animals alone and forcing them into some
place of refuge. Really, it never occurred to Jack not to help. She had
been so accustomed to just such work on the ranch from the time she was
a small girl.
So on she rode now, straight after the Indian boy, perhaps for an eighth
of a mile or more beyond their boundary, yet still the loose thick sands
which were whirling and eddying in gusts at her horse's feet.
And always Carlos kept as far as possible ahead.
Jack finally came to a position where she found out the mistake which
she believed both she and the Indian boy had innocently made. The dark
objects ahead of them had been only a group of close growing sage bushes
that they had mistaken for the lost stock. Crying out once more to the
boy to turn back, Jack now made no pretense of waiting to discover
whether or not he heeded her. For the wind was blowing more fiercely,
bringing with it the heat of a sirocco, and the sand was pouring into
her eyes and ears, almost blinding and choking her. Beyond her there
were small sand hills and ravines where a few moments before the earth
had lain smooth as a carpet.
Jack perfectly understood that the full fury of the storm had not yet
reached her vicinity. Her effort must be to get beyond the sand plains,
back if possible to the neighborhood of Rainbow Creek, where behind one
of its great rocks she might find partial shelter.
But her heart was pounding uncomfortably and her fair skin felt as
though it were being pricked by innumerable needles. Moreover, Jack was
frightened. She knew just what a sandstorm meant on the western
prairies. She was not far from the edge of a portion of barren lands
that formed a kind of miniature desert, and the worst of the situation
was that she herself was very tired and that through her own selfish
forgetfulness her horse was even more so. Every foot of the way the girl
strove to encourage the exhausted animal. Yet it was impossible to make
real headway in such a soil while buffeted by such a gale.
Then Jacqueline Ralston heard a strange noise and, as she had heard it
once before in her life, she must have recognized it had not her other
senses also added their warning.
The roar and rush behind her were seldom equalled by any other kind of
tempest.
For half an instant rising in her saddle the girl glanced back. Carlos
was not far off now and spurring his horse remorselessly.
For beyond the boy at no great distance and driving rapidly forward was
an immense dark yellow cloud. The peculiarity of this cloud was not
merely in its color, size and shape, but that instead of being overhead
it almost touched the surface of the land.
The girl slid off her horse.
"Down, down," she said quietly, pulling hard on her bridle. And then as
her horse's knees touched the ground before him, Jack flung herself face
downward, clutching at the loose earth for endurance and strength.
The cloud would be upon them in another moment with terrible
destructive force. For not alone did it represent the fury of the wind,
but was formed of a mountain of sand driven before it.
A sound, which the girl guessed must have come from Carlos, suggested
that he was following her example. Yet she dared not look back to see.
Now the sand storm was upon them.
The thunder and terror of it are past understanding.
One chance only Jack believed they had for their lives. If the sand
cloud was sufficiently high above the earth not to touch them they would
be safe. Otherwise they would be driven before it like chips of straw.
But of any actual, conscious sensation which she suffered as the cloud
passed over her, Jack was not aware. She knew that she was praying the
instant before, but at the time itself she only clung the closer and
sank deeper down into the earth, which is the final refuge of us all.
The moment following, however, the girl felt as if she had been bruised
and beaten by a thousand furies. Her body ached with fatigue, her tongue
felt scorched and swollen and her eyes smarted with intense pain. There
was no further danger; storms of this character come with one terrible
driving blast of wind and then go straight on in their course.
Jack blinked and stirred sufficiently to turn over and see that her
horse was safe. As well as its master a western broncho understands how
to meet strange weather conditions that would bring destruction to any
other animal.
With a sigh of thankfulness the girl then stretched herself more
comfortably along the ground, resting one elbow in the sand and leaning
her head upon it. For Carlos and his pony were equally safe and
evidently not so frightened as she was, for the boy was already
staggering toward her dragging his horse by the bridle.
The girl was not yet able to speak. Yet she watched Carlos with
indifference and entirely without suspicion as he came to within a few
feet of her and reaching downward pulled her horse on to his feet again.
The horse staggered and Jack had half an inclination to ask the boy to
wait a little while before forcing him to stand. However she did not
seem to have strength enough even to make this protest. Nor did she
speak at first when she saw Carlos leading the two horses away from the
place where she was resting.
What on earth did the boy have in mind to do? It was useless to try to
brush the sand from the horse's coats and there was no water near enough
to give them each a drink.
Jack frowned, then she not only sat up but rose quickly on her feet. For
Carlos had mounted his own pony and without a word to her was riding
away, taking her horse with him. The girl called, but again the Indian
boy was afflicted with the curious deafness that had affected him all
afternoon. Then Jack ran after him, stumbling and crying as she ran. But
she was far too exhausted to make much headway and still Carlos would
not glance around. He was not even going in the direction of the Rainbow
Ranch.
Just how long her futile chase actually continued Jacqueline Ralston did
not realize. So long as she could manage to keep the boy in sight she
followed him, floundering in the sands and uncertain of her direction.
However, when he was so far away that she could no longer see him, Jack
sat down again. What annoying freak had possessed Carlos to ride off
with her horse without offering any explanation? Well, he would
doubtless return within a short time, so there was nothing to do except
wait.