the Light Of Western Stars (1992) (18 page)

"He say he love me," repeated the girl, in a kind of rapt awe
.
"He ask me to marry him-he kees me-he hug me-he lift me on ze horse-he ride with me all night-he marry me
.
"

And she exhibited a ring on the third finger of her left hand
.
Madeline saw that, whatever had been the state of Christine's feeling for Ambrose before this marriage, she loved him now
.
She had been taken forcibly, but she was won
.

After Christine had gone, comforted and betraying her shy eagerness to get back to Ambrose, Madeline was haunted by the look in the girl's eyes, and her words
.
Assuredly the spell of romance was on this sunny land
.
For Madeline there was a nameless charm, a nameless thrill combating her sense of the violence and unfitness of Ambrose's wooing
.
Something, she knew not what, took arms against her intellectual arraignment of the cowboy's method of getting himself a wife
.
He had said straight out that he loved the girl-he had asked her to marry him-he kissed her-he hugged her-he lifted her upon his horse-he rode away with her through the night-and he married her
.
In whatever light Madeline reviewed this thing she always came back to her first natural impression; it thrilled her, charmed her
.
It went against all the precepts of her training; nevertheless, it was somehow splendid and beautiful
.
She imagined it stripped another artificial scale from her over-sophisticated eyes
.

Scarcely had she settled again to the task on her desk when Stillwell's heavy tread across the porch interrupted her
.
This time when he entered he wore a look that bordered upon the hysterical; it was difficult to tell whether he was trying to suppress grief or glee
.

"Miss Majesty, there's another amazin' strange thing sprung on me
.
Hyars Jim Bell come to see you, an', when I taxed him, sayin' you was tolerable busy, he up an' says he was hungry an' be ain't a-goin' to eat any more bread made in a wash-basin! Says he'll starve first
.
Says Nels hed the gang over to big bunk an' feasted them on bread you taught him how to make in some new-fangled bucket-machine with a crank
.
Jim says thet bread beat any cake he ever eat, an' he wants you to show him how to make some
.
Now, Miss Majesty, as superintendent of this ranch I ought to know what's goin' on
.
Mebbe Jim is jest a-joshin' me
.
Mebbe he's gone clean dotty
.
Mebbe I hev
.
An' beggin' your pardon, I want to know if there's any truth in what Jim says Nels says
.
"

Whereupon it became necessary for Madeline to stifle her mirth and to inform the sadly perplexed old cattleman that she had received from the East a patent bread-mixer, and in view of the fact that her household women had taken fright at the contrivance, she had essayed to operate it herself
.
This had turned out to be so simple, so saving of time and energy and flour, so much more cleanly than the old method of mixing dough with the hands, and particularly it had resulted in such good bread, that Madeline had been pleased
.
Immediately she ordered more of the bread-mixers
.
One day she had happened upon Nels making biscuit dough in his wash-basin, and she had delicately and considerately introduced to him the idea of her new method
.
Nels, it appeared, had a great reputation as a bread-maker, and he was proud of it
.
Moreover, he was skeptical of any clap-trap thing with wheels and cranks
.
He consented, however, to let her show how the thing worked and to sample some of the bread
.
To that end she had him come up to the house, where she won him over
.
Stillwell laughed loud and long
.

"Wal, wal, wal!" he exclaimed, at length
.
"Thet's fine, an' it's powerful funny
.
Mebbe you don't see how funny? Wal, Nels has jest been lordin' it over the boys about how you showed him, an' now you'll hev to show every last cowboy on the place the same thing
.
Cowboys are the jealousest kind of fellers
.
They're all crazy about you, anyway
.
Take Jim out hyar
.
Why, thet lazy cowpuncher jest never would make bread
.
He's notorious fer shirkin' his share of the grub deal
.
I've knowed Jim to trade off washin' the pots an' pans fer a lonely watch on a rainy night
.
All he wants is to see you show him the same as Nels is crowin' over
.
Then he'll crow over his bunkie, Frank Slade, an' then Frank'll get lonely to know all about this wonderful bread-machine
.
Cowboys are amazin' strange critters, Miss Majesty
.
An' now thet you've begun with them this way, you'll hev to keep it up
.
I will say I never seen such a bunch to work
.
You've sure put heart in them
.
"

"Indeed, Stillwell, I am glad to hear that," replied Madeline
.
"And I shall be pleased to teach them all
.
But may I not have them all up here at once-at least those off duty?"

"Wal, I reckon you can't onless you want to hev them scrappin'," rejoined Stillwell, dryly
.
"What you've got on your hands now, Miss Majesty, is to let 'em come one by one, an' make each cowboy think you're takin' more especial pleasure in showin' him than the feller who came before him
.
Then mebbe we can go on with cattle-raisin'
.
"

Madeline protested, and Stillwell held inexorably to what he said was wisdom
.
Several times Madeline had gone against his advice, to her utter discomfiture and rout
.
She dared not risk it again, and resigned herself grace-fully and with subdued merriment to her task
.
Jim Bell was ushered into the great, light, spotless kitchen, where presently Madeline appeared to put on an apron and roll up her sleeves
.
She explained the use of the several pieces of aluminum that made up the bread-mixer and fastened the bucket to the table-shelf
.
Jim's life might have depended upon this lesson, judging from his absorbed manner and his desire to have things explained over and over, especially the turning of the crank
.
When Madeline had to take Jim's hand three times to show him the simple mechanism and then he did not understand she began to have faint misgivings as to his absolute sincerity
.
She guessed that as long as she touched Jim's hand he never would understand
.
Then as she began to measure out flour and milk and lard and salt and yeast she saw with despair that Jim was not looking at the ingredients, was not paying the slightest attention to them
.
His eyes were covertly upon her
.

"Jim, I am not sure about you," said Madeline, severely
.
"How can you learn to make bread if you do not watch me mix it?"

"I am a-watchin' you," replied Jim, innocently
.

Finally Madeline sent the cowboy on his way rejoicing with the bread-mixer under his arm
.
Next morning, true to Stillwell's prophecy, Frank Slade, Jim's bunkmate, presented himself cheerfully to Madeline and unbosomed himself of a long-deferred and persistent desire to relieve his overworked comrade of some of the house-keeping in their bunk
.

"Miss Hammond," said Frank, "Jim's orful kind wantin' to do it all hisself
.
But he ain't very bright, an' I didn't believe him
.
You see, I'm from Missouri, an, you'll have to show me
.
"

For a whole week Madeline held clinics where she expounded the scientific method of modern bread-making
.
She got a good deal of enjoyment out of her lectures
.
What boys these great hulking fellows were!She saw through their simple ruses
.
Some of them were grave as deacons; others wore expressions important enough to have fitted the faces of statesmen signing government treaties
.
These cowboys were children; they needed to be governed; but in order to govern them they had to be humored
.
A more light-hearted, fun-loving crowd of boys could not have been found
.
And they were grown men
.
Stillwell explained that the exuberance of spirits lay in the difference in their fortunes
.
Twenty-seven cowboys, in relays of nine, worked eight hours a day
.
That had never been heard of before in the West
.
Stillwell declared that cowboys from all points of the compass would head their horses toward Her Majesty's Rancho
.

VIII - El Capitan Stillwell's interest in the revolution across the Mexican line had manifestly increased with the news that Gene Stewart had achieved distinction with the rebel forces
.
Thereafter the old cattleman sent for El Paso and Douglas newspapers, wrote to ranchmen he knew on the big bend of the Rio Grande, and he would talk indefinitely to any one who would listen to him
.
There was not any possibility of Stillwell's friends at the ranch forgetting his favorite cowboy
.
Stillwell always prefaced his eulogy with an apologetic statement that Stewart had gone to the bad
.
Madeline liked to listen to him, though she was not always sure which news was authentic and which imagination
.

There appeared to be no doubt, however, that the cowboy had performed some daring feats for the rebels
.
Madeline found his name mentioned in several of the border papers
.
When the rebels under Madero stormed and captured the city of Juarez, Stewart did fighting that won him the name of El Capitan
.
This battle apparently ended the revolution
.
The capitulation of President Diaz followed shortly, and there was a feeling of relief among ranchers on the border from Texas to California
.
Nothing more was heard of Gene Stewart until April, when a report reached Stillwell that the cowboy had arrived in El Cajon, evidently hunting trouble
.
The old cattleman saddled a horse and started post-haste for town
.
In two days he returned, depressed in spirit
.
Madeline happened to be present when Stillwell talked to Alfred
.

"I got there too late, Al," said the cattleman
.
"Gene was gone
.
An' what do you think of this?Danny Mains hed jest left with a couple of burros packed
.
I couldn't find what way he went, but I'm bettin' he hit the Peloncillo trail
.
"

"Danny will show up some day," replied Alfred
.
"What did you learn about Stewart?Maybe he left with Danny
.
"

"Not much," said Stillwell, shortly
.
"Gene's hell-bent fer election!No mountains fer him
.
"

"Well tell us about him
.
"

Stillwell wiped his sweaty brow and squared himself to talk
.

"Wal, it's sure amazin' strange about Gene
.
Its got me locoed
.
He arrived in El Cajon a week or so ago
.
He was trained down like as if he'd been ridin' the range all winter
.
He hed plenty of money-Mex, they said
.
An' all the Greasers was crazy about him
.
Called him El Capitan
.
He got drunk an' went roarin' round fer Pat Hawe
.
You remember that Greaser who was plugged last October-the night Miss Majesty arrived? Wal, he's daid
.
He's daid, an' people says thet Pat is a-goin' to lay thet killin' onto Gene
.
I reckon thet's jest talk, though Pat is mean enough to do it, if he hed the nerve
.
Anyway, if he was in El Cajon he kept mighty much to hisself
.
Gene walked up an' down, up an' down, all day an' night, lookin' fer Pat
.
But he didn't find him
.
An', of course, he kept gettin' drunker
.
He jest got plumb bad
.
He made lots of trouble, but there wasn't no gun-play
.
Mebbe thet made him sore, so he went an' licked Flo's brother-in-law
.
Thet wasn't so bad
.
Jack sure needed a good lickin'
.
Wal, then Gene met Danny an' tried to get Danny drunk
.
An' he couldn't!What do you think of that?Danny hedn't been drinkin'-wouldn't touch a drop
.
I'm sure glad of thet, but it's amazin' strange
.
Why, Danny was a fish fer red liquor
.
I guess he an' Gene had some pretty hard words, though I'm not sure about thet
.
Anyway, Gene went down to the railroad an' he got on an engine, an' he was in the engine when it pulled out
.
Lord, I hope he doesn't hold up the train!If he gets gay over in Arizona he'll go to the pen at Yuma
.
An' thet pen is a graveyard fer cowboys
.
I wired to agents along the railroad to look out fer Stewart, an' to wire back to me if he's located
.
"