WILD RIDERS OF THE RANGE
Joan missed her lessons for three days running, a lapse so unusual as
to cause Mackenzie the liveliest concern. He feared that the mad
creature who spent his fury tearing sheep limb from limb might have
visited her camp, and that she had fallen into his bloody hands.
A matter of eight or nine miles lay between their camps; Mackenzie had
no horse to cover it. More than once he was on the point of leaving
the sheep to shift for themselves and striking out on foot; many times
he walked a mile or more in that direction, to mount the highest hill
he could discover, and stand long, sweeping the blue distance with
troubled eyes. Yet in the end he could not go. Whatever was wrong, he
could not set right at that late hour, he reasoned; to leave the sheep
would be to throw open the gates of their defense to dangers always
ready to descend upon them. The sheep were in his care; Joan was not.
That was what Tim Sullivan would say, in his hard way of holding a man
to his bargain and his task.
Joan came late in the afternoon, rising the nearest hilltop with a
suddenness quite startling, waving a cheerful greeting as if to assure
him from a distance that all was well. She stood looking at him in
amazement when she flipped to the ground like a bird, her face growing
white, her eyes big.
"Well, what in the world! Where did you get those guns?" she said.
"A fellow left them here the other day."
"A fellow?" coming nearer, looking sharply at the belt. "That's Hector
Hall's belt--I've seen him wearing it! There his initials are, worked
out in silver tacks! Where did you get it?"
"Mr. Hall left it here. What kept you, Joan? I've been worried about
you."
"Hector Hall _left_ it here? With both of his guns?"
"Yes, he left the guns with it. What was the matter, Joan?"
Joan looked him up and down, her face a study between admiration and
fear.
"Left his guns! Well, what did you do with _him_?"
"I suppose he went home, Joan. Did anything happen over your way to
keep you?"
"Charley was sick," she said, shortly, abstractedly, drowned in her
wonder of the thing he told with his native reluctance when questioned
on his own exploits. "Did you have a fight with Hector?"
"Is he all right now?"
"Charley's all right; he ate too many wild gooseberries. Did you have
a fight with Hector Hall, Mr. Mackenzie?"
She came near him as she questioned him, her great, soft eyes pleading
in fear, and laid her hand on his shoulder as if to hold him against
any further evasion. He smiled a little, in his stingy way of doing
it, taking her hand to allay her tumult of distress.
"Not much of a fight, Joan. Mr. Hall came over here to drive me off
of this range, and I had to take his guns away from him to keep him
from hurting me. That's all there was to it."
"All there was to it!" said Joan. "Why, he's one of the meanest men
that ever lived! He'll never rest till he kills you. I wish you'd let
him have the range."
"Is it his?"
"No, it belongs to us; we've got a lease on it from the government,
and pay rent for it every year. Swan Carlson and the Hall boys have
bluffed us out of it for the past three summers and run their sheep
over here in the winter-time. I always wanted to fight for it, but dad
let them have it for the sake of peace. I guess it was the best way,
after all."
"As long as I was right, my last worry is gone, Joan. You're not on
the contested territory, are you?"
"No; they lay claim as far as Horsethief Canyon, but they'd just as
well claim all our lease--they've got just as much right to it."
"That ends the matter, then--as far as I'm concerned."
"I wonder what kind of an excuse Hector made when he went home without
his guns!" she speculated, looking off over the hills in the direction
of the Hall brothers' ranch.
"Maybe he's not accountable to anybody, and doesn't have to explain."
"I guess that's right," Joan said, still wandering in her gaze.
Below them the flock was spread, the dogs on its flanks. Mackenzie
pointed to the sun.
"We'll have to get to work; you'll be starting back in an hour."
But there was no work in Joan that day, nothing but troubled
speculation on what form Hector Hall's revenge would take, and when
the stealthy blow of his resentment would fall. Try as he would,
Mackenzie could not fasten her mind upon the books. She would begin
with a brave resolution, only to wander away, the book closed
presently upon her thumb, her eyes searching the hazy hills where
trouble lay out of sight. At last she gave it up, with a little
catching sob, tears in her honest eyes.
"They'll kill you--I know they will!" she said.
"I don't think they will," he returned, abstractedly, "but even if
they do, Rachel, there's nobody to grieve."
"Rachel? My name isn't Rachel," said Joan, a little hurt. For it was
not in flippancy or banter that he had called her out of her name; his
eyes were not within a hundred leagues of that place, his heart away
with them, it seemed, when he spoke.
He turned to her, a color of embarrassment in his brown face.
"I was thinking of another story, Joan."
"Of another girl," she said, perhaps a trifle resentfully. At least
Mackenzie thought he read a resentful note in the quick rejoinder, a
resentful flash of color in her cheek.
"Yes, but a mighty old girl, Joan," he confessed, smiling with a
feeling of lightness around his heart.
"Somebody you used to know?" face turned away, voice light in a
careless, artificial note.
"She was a sheepman's daughter," he said.
"Did you know her down at Jasper?"
"No, I never knew her at all, Rach--Joan. That was a long, long time
ago."
Joan brightened at this news. She ceased denying him her face, even
smiled a little, seeming to forget Hector Hall and his pending
vengeance.
"Well, what about her?" she asked.
He told her which Rachel he had in mind, but Joan only shook her head
and looked troubled.
"I never read the Bible; we haven't even got one."
He told her the story, beginning with Jacob's setting out, and his
coming to the well with the great stone at its mouth which the maidens
could not roll away.
"So Jacob rolled the stone away and watered Rachel's sheep," he said,
pausing with that much of it, looking off down the draw between the
hills in a mind-wandering way. Joan touched his arm, impatient with
such disjointed narrative.
"What did he do then?"
"Why, he kissed her."
"I think he was kind of fresh," said Joan. But she laughed a little,
blushing rosily, a bright light in her eyes. "Tell me the rest of it,
John."
Mackenzie went on with the ancient pastoral tale of love. Joan was
indignant when she heard how Laban gave Jacob the weak-eyed girl for a
wife in place of his beloved Rachel, for whom he had worked the seven
years.
"Jake must have been a bright one!" said she. "How could the old man
put one over on him like that?"
"You'll have to read the story," said Mackenzie. "It's sundown; don't
you think you'd better be going back to camp, Joan?"
But Joan was in no haste to leave. She walked with him as he worked
the sheep to their bedding-ground, her bridle-rein over her arm. She
could get back to camp before dark, she said; Charley would not be
worried.
Joan could not have said as much for herself. Her eyes were pools of
trouble, her face was anxious and strained. She went silently beside
Mackenzie while the dogs worked the sheep along with more than human
patience, almost human intelligence. Frequently she looked into his
face with a plea dumbly eloquent, but did not again put her fear for
him into words. Only when she stood beside her horse near the
sheep-wagon, ready to mount and leave him to his solitary supper, she
spoke of Hector Hall's revolvers, which Mackenzie had unstrapped and
put aside.
"What are you going to do with them, John?"
She had fallen into the use of that familiar address only that day,
moved by the tenderness of the old tale he had told her, perhaps;
drawn nearer to him by the discovery of a gentle sentiment in him
which she had not known before. He heard it with a warm uplifting of
the heart, all without reason, he knew, for it was the range way to be
familiar on a shorter acquaintance than theirs.
"I'm going to give them back to him," he said. "I've been carrying
them around ever since he left them in the hope he'd get ashamed of
himself and come for them."
Joan started at the sound of galloping hoofs, which rose suddenly out
of complete silence as the riders mounted the crest behind them.
"I guess he's coming for them now," she said.
There were two riders coming down the slope toward them at a pace
altogether reckless. Mackenzie saw at a glance that neither of them
was Hector Hall, but one a woman, her loose garments flapping as she
rode.
"It's Swan Carlson and his wife!" he said, unable to cover his
amazement at the sight.
"What do you suppose they're doing over here?" Joan drew a little
nearer as she spoke, her horse shifting to keep by her side.
"No telling. Look how that woman rides!"
There was enough in her wild bearing to excite admiration and wonder,
even in one who had not seen her under conditions which promised
little of such development. She came on at Swan's side, leaning
forward a little, as light and sure in the saddle as any cowboy on the
range. They bore down toward the sheep-wagon as if they had no
intention of halting, jerking their horses up in Indian fashion a few
feet from where Mackenzie and Joan stood. The animals slid on stiff
legs, hoofs plowing the soft ground, raising a cloud of dust which
dimmed the riders momentarily.
Neither of the abrupt visitors spoke. They sat silently staring, not a
rod between them and the two on foot, the woman as unfriendly of face
as the man. And Swan Carlson had not improved in this feature since
Mackenzie parted from him in violence a few weeks before. His red hair
was shorter now, his drooping mustache longer, the points of it
reaching two inches below his chin. He was gaunt of cheek, hollow of
eyes, like a man who had gone hungry or suffered a sorrow that ate
away his heart.
His wife had improved somewhat in outward appearance. Her face had
filled, the pathetic uncertainty had gone from her eyes. She was not
uncomely as she sat astride her good bay horse, her divided skirt of
corduroy wide on its flanks, a man's gray shirt laced over her bosom,
the collar open, showing the fairness of her neck. Her abundant hair
was braided, and wound closely about her head like a cap. Freedom had
made a strange alteration in her. It seemed, indeed, as if Swan
Carlson had breathed into her the breath of his own wild soul, making
her over according to the desire of his heart.
Mackenzie stepped out in invitation for Swan to state the occasion of
his boisterous visit, and stood waiting in silence while the two
strange creatures continued to stare. Swan lifted his hand in a manner
of salutation, no change either of friendship or animosity in his
lean, strong face.
"You got a woman, huh? Well, how'll you trade?"
Swan glanced from his wife to Joan as he spoke. If there was any
recollection in him of the hard usage he had received at Mackenzie's
hands, it did not seem to be bitter.
"Ride on," said Mackenzie.
Mrs. Carlson urged her horse with sudden start close to where Joan
stood, leaned far over her saddle and peered into the girl's face.
Joan, affronted by the savage impertinence, met her eyes defiantly,
not giving an inch before the unexpected charge.
In that pose of defiant challenge Swan Carlson's woman peered into the
face of the girl whose freshness and beauty had drawn the wild banter
from her man's bold lips. Then, a sudden sweep of passion in her face,
she lifted her rawhide quirt and struck Joan a bitter blow across the
shoulder and neck. Mackenzie sprang between them, but Mrs. Carlson,
her defiance passed in that one blow, did not follow it up. Swan
opened wide his great mouth and pealed out his roaring laughter, not a
line of mirth softening in his face, not a gleam of it in his eyes. It
was a sound without a note to express human warmth, or human
satisfaction.
Joan flamed up like a match in oil. She dropped her bridle-reins,
springing back a quick step, turning her eyes about for some weapon by
which she might retaliate. Hector Hall's pistols hung on the end-gate
of the sheep-wagon not more than twenty feet away. It seemed that Joan
covered the distance in a bound, snatched one of the guns and fired.
Her own horse stood between her and the wild range woman, which
perhaps accounted for her miss. Mackenzie was holding her wrist before
she could shoot again.
Swan let out another roar of heartless laughter, and together with his
woman galloped down the hill. Ahead of them the sheep were assembled,
packed close in their huddling way of seeking comfort and courage in
numbers, just beginning to compose themselves for the night. Straight
into the flock Swan Carlson and his woman rode, trampling such as
could not rise and leap aside, crushing such lambs as were not nimble
enough or wise enough to run.
"I'll kill her, I'll kill her!" said Joan.
She panted, half crying, struggling to free her arm that she might
fire again.
"All right, let 'em have it!" Mackenzie said, seeing the havoc among
the sheep.
Swan and his woman rode like a whirlwind through the flock, the dogs
after them with sharp cries, the frightened bleating of the lambs, the
beating of two thousand hoofs, adding to the confusion of what had
been a peaceful pastoral scene but a few minutes before. Joan cut
loose at the disturbers of this peace, emptying the revolver quickly,
but without effect.
Half way through the herd Swan leaned down and caught a lamb by the
leg, swung it around his head as lightly as a man would wave his hat,
and rode on with it in savage triumph. Mackenzie snatched the rifle
from the wagon. His shot came so close to Swan that he dropped the
lamb. The woman fell behind Swan, interposing herself as a shield, and
in this formation they rode on, sweeping down the narrow thread of
green valley, galloping wildly away into the sanctuary of the hills.
Mackenzie stood, gun half lifted, and watched them go without another
shot, afraid to risk it lest he hit the woman. He turned to Joan, who
stood by, white with anger, the empty revolver in her hand.
"Are you hurt, Joan?" he asked, in foolish weakness, knowing very well
that she was.
"No, she didn't hurt me--but I'll kill her for it!" said Joan.
She was trembling; her face was bloodless in the cold anger that
shook her. There was a red welt on her neck, purple-marked on its
ridge where the rawhide had almost cut her tender skin.
"Swan Carlson has pulled his woman down to his savage level at last,"
Mackenzie said.
"She's worse than he is; she's a range wolf!"
"I believe she is. But it always happens that way when a person gets
to going."
"With those two and the Hall boys you'll not have a ghost of a chance
to hold this range, John. You'd better let me help you begin working
the sheep over toward my camp tonight."
"No, I'm going to stay here."
"Swan and that woman just rode through here to get the lay of
your camp. More than likely they'll come over and burn you out
tonight--pour coal oil on the wagon and set it afire."
"Let 'em; I'll not be in it."
"They'll worry you night and day, kill your sheep, maybe kill you, if
you don't come away. It isn't worth it; dad was right about it. For
the sake of peace, let them have it, John."
Mackenzie stood in silence, looking the way Swan and his woman had
gone, the gun held as if ready to lift and fire at the showing of a
hat-crown over the next hill. He seemed to be considering the
situation. Joan studied his face with eager hopefulness, bending
forward a bit to see better in the failing light.
"They've got to be shown that a master has come to the sheep country,"
he said, in low voice, as if to himself. "I'll stay and prove it to
all of them at once."
Joan knew there was no use to argue or appeal. She dropped the matter
there, and Mackenzie put the gun away.
"I'm sorry I haven't anything to put on it," he said, looking at the
red welt on her neck.
"I'm sorry I missed her," said Joan.
"It isn't so much the sting of a blow, I know," he comforted, "as the
hurt of the insult. Never mind it, Joan; she's a vicious, wild woman,
jealous because Swam took notice of you."
"It was a great compliment!"
"I wish I had some balm for it that would cure it in a second, and
take away the memory of the way it was done," said he, very softly.
"I'll kill her," flared Joan.
"I don't like to hear you say that, Joan," he chided, and reached and
laid his hand consolingly upon the burning mark.
Joan caught her breath as if he had touched her skin with ice. He
withdrew his hand quickly, blaming himself for the rudeness of his
rough hand.
"You didn't hurt me, John," she said, her eyes downcast, the color of
warm blood playing over her face.
"I might have," he blamed himself, in such seriousness as if it were
the gravest matter he had risked, and not the mere touching of a
blood-red welt upon a simple maiden's neck.
"I'll be over early in the morning to see if you're all right," she
told him as she turned again to her horse.
"If you can come, even to show yourself on the hill," said he.
"Show myself? Why, a person would think you were worrying about me."
"I am, Joan. I wish you would give up herding sheep, let the share and
the prospect and all of it go, and have your father put a herder in to
run that band for you."
"They'll not hurt me; as mean as they are they'll not fight a woman.
Anyway, I'm not over the deadline."
"There's something prowling this range that doesn't respect lines,
Joan."
"You mean the grizzly?"
"Yes, the grizzly that rides a horse."
"Dad Frazer thinks you were mistaken on that, John."
"I know. Dad Frazer thinks I'm a better schoolteacher than I'll ever
be a sheepman, I guess. But I've met bears enough that I don't have to
imagine them. Keep your gun close by you tonight, and every night."
"I will," she promised, moved by the earnestness of his appeal.
Dusk was thickening into darkness over the sheeplands; the dogs were
driving the straggling sheep back to the bedding-ground, where many of
them already lay in contentment, quickly over the flurry of Swan
Carlson's passing. Joan stood at her stirrup, her face lifted to the
heavens, and it was white as an evening primrose under the shadow of
her hat. She lingered as if there remained something to say or be
said, something to give or to take, before leaving her friend and
teacher alone to face the dangers of the night. Perhaps she thought of
Rachel, and the kiss her kinsman gave her when he rolled the stone
from the well's mouth, and lifted up his voice and wept.
Mackenzie stood a little apart, thinking his own swift-running
thoughts, quickening under the leap of his own eager blood. But no
matter for Jacob's precedent, Mackenzie had no excuse of even distant
relationship to offer for such familiarity. The desire was urging, but
the justification was not at hand. So Joan rode away unkissed, and
perhaps wondering why.