the Light Of Western Stars (1992) (31 page)

"I wish Al had stayed to meet them," said Madeline
.

Her brother had rather hurried a shipment of cattle to California: and it was Madeline's supposition that he had welcomed the opportunity to absent himself from the ranch
.

"I am sorry he wouldn't stay," replied Florence
.
"But Al's all business now
.
And he's doing finely
.
It's just as well, perhaps
.
"

"Surely
.
That was my pride speaking
.
I would like to have all my family and all my old friends see what a man Al has become
.
Well, Link Stevens is running like the wind
.
The car will be here before we know it
.
Florence, we've only a few moments to dress
.
But first I want to order many and various and exceedingly cold refreshments for that approaching party
.
"

Less than a half-hour later Madeline went again to the porch and found Florence there
.

"Oh, you look just lovely!" exclaimed Florence, impulsively, as she gazed wide-eyed up at Madeline
.
"And somehow so different!"

Madeline smiled a little sadly
.
Perhaps when she had put on that exquisite white gown something had come to her of the manner which befitted the wearing of it
.
She could not resist the desire to look fair once more in the eyes of these hypercritical friends
.
The sad smile had been for the days that were gone
.
For she knew that what society had once been pleased to call her beauty had trebled since it had last been seen in a drawing-room
.
Madeline wore no jewels, but at her waist she had pinned two great crimson roses
.
Against the dead white they had the life and fire and redness of the desert
.

"Link's hit the old round-up trail," said Florence, "and oh, isn't he riding that car!"

With Florence, as with most of the cowboys, the car was never driven, but ridden
.

A white spot with a long trail of dust showed low down in the valley
.
It was now headed almost straight for the ranch
.
Madeline watched it growing larger moment by moment, and her pleasurable emotion grew accordingly
.
Then the rapid beat of a horse's hoofs caused her to turn
.

Stewart was riding in on his black horse
.
He had been absent on an important mission, and his duty had taken him to the international boundary-line
.
His presence home long before he was expected was particularly gratifying to Madeline, for it meant that his mission had been brought to a successful issue
.
Once more, for the hundredth time, the man's reliability struck Madeline
.
He was a doer of things
.
The black horse halted wearily without the usual pound of hoofs on the gravel, and the dusty rider dismounted wearily
.
Both horse and rider showed the heat and dust and wind of many miles
.

Madeline advanced to the porch steps
.
And Stewart, after taking a parcel of papers from a saddle-bag, turned toward her
.

"Stewart, you are the best of couriers," she said
.
"I am pleased
.
"

Dust streamed from his sombrero as he doffed it
.
His dark face seemed to rise as he straightened weary shoulders
.

"Here are the reports, Miss Hammond," he replied
.

As he looked up to see her standing there, dressed to receive her Eastern guests, he checked his advance with a violent action which recalled to Madeline the one he had made on the night she had met him, when she disclosed her identity
.
It was not fear nor embarrassment nor awkwardness
.
And it was only momentary
.
Yet, slight as had been his pause, Madeline received from it an impression of some strong halting force
.
A man struck by a bullet might have had an instant jerk of muscular control such as convulsed Stewart
.
In that instant, as her keen gaze searched his dust-caked face, she met the full, free look of his eyes
.
Her own did not fall, though she felt a warmth steal to her cheeks
.
Madeline very seldom blushed
.
And now, conscious of her sudden color a genuine blush flamed on her face
.
It was irritating because it was incomprehensible
.
She received the papers from Stewart and thanked him
.
He bowed, then led the black down the path toward the corrals
.

"When Stewart looks like that he's been riding," said Florence
.
"But when his horse looks like that he's sure been burning the wind
.
"

Madeline watched the weary horse and rider limp down the path
.
What had made her thoughtful?Mostly it was something new or sudden or inexplicable that stirred her mind to quick analysis
.
In this instance the thing that had struck Madeline was Stewart's glance
.
He had looked at her, and the old burning, inscrutable fire, the darkness, had left his eyes
.
Suddenly they had been beautiful
.
The look had not been one of surprise or admiration; nor had it been one of love
.
She was familiar, too familiar with all three
.
It had not been a gaze of passion, for there was nothing beautiful in that
.
Madeline pondered
.
And presently she realized that Stewart's eyes had expressed a strange joy of pride
.
That expression Madeline had never before encountered in the look of any man
.
Probably its strangeness had made her notice it and accounted for her blushing
.
The longer she lived among these outdoor men the more they surprised her
.
Particularly, how incomprehensible was this cowboy Stewart!Why should he have pride or joy at sight of her?

Florence's exclamation made Madeline once more attend to the approaching automobile
.
It was on the slope now, some miles down the long gradual slant
.
Two yellow funnel-shaped clouds of dust seemed to shoot out from behind the car and roll aloft to join the column that stretched down the valley
.

"I wonder what riding a mile a minute would be like," said Florence
.
"I'll sure make Link take me
.
Oh, but look at him come!"

The giant car resembled a white demon, and but for the dust would have appeared to be sailing in the air
.
Its motion was steadily forward, holding to the road as if on rails
.
And its velocity was astounding
.
Long, gray veils, like pennants, streamed in the wind
.
A low rushing sound became perceptible, and it grew louder, became a roar
.
The car shot like an arrow past the alfalfa-field, by the bunk-houses, where the cowboys waved and cheered
.
The horses and burros in the corrals began to snort and tramp and race in fright
.
At the base of the long slope of the foothill Link cut the speed more than half
.
Yet the car roared up, rolling the dust, flying capes and veils and ulsters, and crashed and cracked to a halt in the yard before the porch
.

Madeline descried a gray, disheveled mass of humanity packed inside the car
.
Besides the driver there were seven occupants, and for a moment they appeared to be coming to life, moving and exclaiming under the veils and wraps and dust-shields
.

Link Stevens stepped out and, removing helmet and goggles, coolly looked at his watch
.

"An hour an' a quarter, Miss Hammond," he said
.
"It's sixty-three miles by the valley road, an' you know there's a couple of bad hills
.
I reckon we made fair time, considerin' you wanted me to drive slow an' safe
.
"

From the mass of dusty-veiled humanity in the car came low exclamations and plaintive feminine wails
.

Madeline stepped to the front of the porch
.
Then the deep voices of men and softer voices of women united in one glad outburst, as much a thanksgiving as a greeting, "MAJESTY!"

***

Helen Hammond was three years younger than Madeline, and a slender, pretty girl
.
She did not resemble her sister, except in whiteness and fineness of skin, being more of a brown-eyed, brown-haired type
.
Having recovered her breath soon after Madeline took her to her room, she began to talk
.

"Majesty, old girl, I'm here; but you can bet I would never have gotten here if I had known about that ride from the railroad
.
You never wrote that you had a car
.
I thought this was out West-stage-coach, and all that sort of thing
.
Such a tremendous car! And the road!And that terrible little man with the leather trousers!What kind of a chauffeur is he?"

"He's a cowboy
.
He was crippled by falling under his horse, so I had him instructed to run the car
.
He can drive, don't you think?"

"Drive?Good gracious!He scared us to death, except Castleton
.
Nothing could scare that cold-blooded little Englishman
.
I am dizzy yet
.
Do you know, Majesty, I was delighted when I saw the car
.
Then your cowboy driver met us at the platform
.
What a queer-looking individual!He had a big pistol strapped to those leather trousers
.
That made me nervous
.
When he piled us all in with our grips, he put me in the seat beside him, whether I liked it or not
.
I was fool enough to tell him I loved to travel fast
.
What do you think he said?Well, he eyed me in a rather cool and speculative way and said, with a smile, 'Miss, I reckon anything you love an' want bad will be coming to you out here!'I didn't know whether it was delightful candor or impudence
.
Then he said to all of us: 'Shore you had better wrap up in the veils an' dusters
.
It's a long, slow, hot, dusty ride to the ranch, an' Miss Hammond's order was to drive safe
.
'He got our baggage checks and gave them to a man with a huge wagon and a four-horse team
.
Then he cranked the car, jumped in, wrapped his arms round the wheel, and sank down low in his seat
.
There was a crack, a jerk, a kind of flash around us, and that dirty little town was somewhere on the map behind
.
For about five minutes I had a lovely time
.
Then the wind began to tear me to pieces
.
I couldn't hear anything but the rush of wind and roar of the car
.
I could see only straight ahead
.
What a road!I never saw a road in my life till to-day
.
Miles and miles and miles ahead, with not even a post or tree
.
That big car seemed to leap at the miles
.
It hummed and sang
.
I was fascinated, then terrified
.
We went so fast I couldn't catch my breath
.
The wind went through me, and I expected to be disrobed by it any minute
.
I was afraid I couldn't hold any clothes on
.
Presently all I could see was a flashing gray wall with a white line in the middle
.
Then my eyes blurred
.
My face burned
.
My ears grew full of a hundred thousand howling devils
.
I was about ready to die when the car stopped
.
I looked and looked, and when I could see, there you stood!"

"Helen, I thought you were fond of speeding," said Madeline, with a laugh
.