the Light Of Western Stars (1992) (32 page)

"I was
.
But I assure you I never before was in a fast car; I never saw a road; I never met a driver
.
"

"Perhaps I may have a few surprises for you out here in the wild and woolly West
.
"

Helen's dark eyes showed a sister's memory of possibilities
.

"You've started well," she said
.
"I am simply stunned
.
I expected to find you old and dowdy
.
Majesty, you're the handsomest thing I ever laid eyes on
.
You're so splendid and strong, and your skin is like white gold
.
What's happened to you?What's changed you?This beautiful room, those glorious roses out there, the cool, dark sweetness of this wonderful house!I know you, Majesty, and, though you never wrote it, I believe you have made a home out here
.
That's the most stunning surprise of all
.
Come, confess
.
I know I've always been selfish and not much of a sister; but if you are happy out here I am glad
.
You were not happy at home
.
Tell me about yourself and about Alfred
.
Then I shall give you all the messages and news from the East
.
"

It afforded Madeline exceeding pleasure to have from one and all of her guests varied encomiums of her beautiful home, and a real and warm interest in what promised to be a delightful and memorable visit
.

Of them all Castleton was the only one who failed to show surprise
.
He greeted her precisely as be had when he had last seen her in London
.
Madeline, rather to her astonishment, found meeting him again pleasurable
.
She discovered she liked this imperturbable Englishman
.
Manifestly her capacity for liking any one had immeasurably enlarged
.
Quite unexpectedly her old girlish love for her younger sister sprang into life, and with it interest in these half-forgotten friends, and a warm regard for Edith Wayne, a chum of college days
.

Helen's party was smaller than Madeline had expected it to be
.
Helen had been careful to select a company of good friends, all of whom were well known to Madeline
.
Edith Wayne was a patrician brunette, a serious, soft-voiced woman, sweet and kindly, despite a rather bitter experience that had left her worldly wise
.
Mrs
.
Carrollton Beck, a plain, lively person, had chaperoned the party
.
The fourth and last of the feminine contingent was Miss Dorothy Coombs-Dot, as they called her-a young woman of attractive blond prettiness
.

For a man Castleton was of very small stature
.
He had a pink-and-white complexion, a small golden mustache, and his heavy eyelids, always drooping, made him look dull
.
His attire, cut to what appeared to be an exaggerated English style, attracted attention to his diminutive size
.
He was immaculate and fastidious
.
Robert Weede was a rather large florid young man, remarkable only for his good nature
.
Counting Boyd Harvey, a handsome, pale-faced fellow, with the careless smile of the man for whom life had been easy and pleasant, the party was complete
.

Dinner was a happy hour, especially for the Mexican women who served it and who could not fail to note its success
.
The mingling of low voices and laughter, the old, gay, superficial talk, the graciousness of a class which lived for the pleasure of things and to make time pass pleasurably for others-all took Madeline far back into the past
.
She did not care to return to it, but she saw that it was well she had not wholly cut herself off from her people and friends
.

When the party adjourned to the porch the heat had markedly decreased and the red sun was sinking over the red desert
.
An absence of spoken praise, a gradually deepening silence, attested to the impression on the visitors of that noble sunset
.
Just as the last curve of red rim vanished beyond the dim Sierra Madres and the golden lightning began to flare brighter Helen broke the silence with an exclamation
.

"It wants only life
.
Ah, there's a horse climbing the hill! See, he's up!He has a rider!"

Madeline knew before she looked the identity of the man riding up the mesa
.
But she did not know until that moment how the habit of watching for him at this hour had grown upon her
.
He rode along the rim of the mesa and out to the point, where, against the golden background, horse and rider stood silhouetted in bold relief
.

"What's he doing there?Who is he?" inquired the curious Helen
.

"That is Stewart, my right-hand man," replied Madeline
.
"Every day when he is at the ranch he rides up there at sunset
.
I think he likes the ride and the scene; but he goes to take a look at the cattle in the valley
.
"

"Is he a cowboy?" asked Helen
.

"Indeed yes!" replied Madeline, with a little laugh
.
"You will think so when Stillwell gets hold of you and begins to talk
.
"

Madeline found it necessary to explain who Stillwell was, and what he thought of Stewart, and, while she was about it, of her own accord she added a few details of Stewart's fame
.

"El Capitan
.
How interesting!" mused Helen
.
"What does he look like?"

"He is superb
.
"

Florence handed the field-glass to Helen and bade her look
.

"Oh, thank you!" said Helen, as she complied
.
"There
.
I see him
.
Indeed, he is superb
.
What a magnificent horse! How still he stands!Why, he seems carved in stone
.
"

"Let me look?" said Dorothy Coombs, eagerly
.

Helen gave her the glass
.

"You can look, Dot, but that's all
.
He's mine
.
I saw him first
.
"

Whereupon Madeline's feminine guests held a spirited contest over the field-glass, and three of them made gay, bantering boasts not to consider Helen's self-asserted rights
.
Madeline laughed with the others while she watched the dark figure of Stewart and his black outline against the sky
.
There came over her a thought not by any means new or strange-she wondered what was in Stewart's mind as he stood there in the solitude and faced the desert and the darkening west
.
Some day she meant to ask him
.
Presently he turned the horse and rode down into the shadow creeping up the mesa
.

"Majesty, have you planned any fun, any excitement for us?" asked Helen
.
She was restless, nervous, and did not seem to be able to sit still a moment
.

"You will think so when I get through with you," replied Madeline
.

"What, for instance?" inquired Helen and Dot and Mrs
.
Beck, in unison
.
Edith Wayne smiled her interest
.

"Well, I am not counting rides and climbs and golf; but these are necessary to train you for trips over into Arizona
.
I want to show you the desert and the Aravaipa Canon
.
We have to go on horseback and pack our outfit
.
If any of you are alive after those trips and want more we shall go up into the mountains
.
I should like very much to know what you each want particularly
.
"

"I'll tell you," replied Helen, promptly
.
"Dot will be the same out here as she was in the East
.
She wants to look bashfully down at her hand-a hand imprisoned in another, by the way-and listen to a man talk poetry about her eyes
.
If cowboys don't make love that way Dot's visit will be a failure
.
Now Elsie Beck wants solely to be revenged upon us for dragging her out here
.
She wants some dreadful thing to happen to us
.
I don't know what's in Edith's head, but it isn't fun
.
Bobby wants to be near Elsie, and no more
.
Boyd wants what he has always wanted-the only thing he ever wanted that he didn't get
.
Castleton has a horrible bloodthirsty desire to kill something
.
"

"I declare now, I want to ride and camp out, also," protested Castleton
.

"As for myself," went on Helen, "I want- Oh, if I only knew what it is that I want!Well, I know I want to be outdoors, to get into the open, to feel sun and wind, to burn some color into my white face
.
I want some flesh and blood and life
.
I am tired out
.
Beyond all that I don't know very well
.
I'll try to keep Dot from attaching all the cowboys to her train
.
"

"What a diversity of wants!" said Madeline
.

"Above all, Majesty, we want something to happen," concluded Helen, with passionate finality
.

"My dear sister, maybe you will have your wish fulfilled," replied Madeline, soberly
.
"Edith, Helen has made me curious about your especial yearning
.
"

"Majesty, it is only that I wanted to be with you for a while," replied this old friend
.

There was in the wistful reply, accompanied by a dark and eloquent glance of eyes, what told Madeline of Edith's understanding, of her sympathy, and perhaps a betrayal of her own unquiet soul
.
It saddened Madeline
.
How many women might there not be who had the longing to break down the bars of their cage, but had not the spirit!

XIII - Cowboy Golf In the whirl of the succeeding days it was a mooted question whether Madeline's guests or her cowboys or herself got the keenest enjoyment out of the flying time
.
Considering the sameness of the cowboys' ordinary life, she was inclined to think they made the most of the present
.
Stillwell and Stewart, however, had found the situation trying
.
The work of the ranch had to go on, and some of it got sadly neglected
.
Stillwell could not resist the ladies any more than he could resist the fun in the extraordinary goings-on of the cowboys
.
Stewart alone kept the business of cattle-raising from a serious setback
.
Early and late he was in the saddle, driving the lazy Mexicans whom he had hired to relieve the cowboys
.

One morning in June Madeline was sitting on the porch with her merry friends when Stillwell appeared on the corral path
.
He had not come to consult Madeline for several days-an omission so unusual as to be remarked
.

"Here comes Bill-in trouble," laughed Florence
.

Indeed, he bore some faint resemblance to a thundercloud as he approached the porch; but the greetings he got from Madeline's party, especially from Helen and Dorothy, chased away the blackness from his face and brought the wonderful wrinkling smile
.

"Miss Majesty, sure I'm a sad demoralized old cattleman," he said, presently
.
"An' I'm in need of a heap of help
.
"

"What's wrong now?" asked Madeline, with her encouraging smile
.

"Wal, it's so amazin' strange what cowboys will do
.
I jest am about to give up
.
Why, you might say my cowboys were all on strike for vacations
.
What do you think of that?We've changed the shifts, shortened hours, let one an' another off duty, hired Greasers, an', in fact, done everythin' that could be thought of
.
But this vacation idee growed worse
.
When Stewart set his foot down, then the boys begin to get sick
.
Never in my born days as a cattleman have I heerd of so many diseases
.
An' you ought to see how lame an' crippled an' weak many of the boys have got all of a sudden
.
The idee of a cowboy comin' to me with a sore finger an' askin' to be let off for a day!There's Booly
.
Now I've knowed a hoss to fall all over him, an' onct he rolled down a canon
.
Never bothered him at all
.
He's got a blister on his heel, a ridin' blister, an' he says it's goin' to blood-poisonin' if he doesn't rest
.
There's Jim Bell
.
He's developed what he says is spinal mengalootis, or some such like
.
There's Frankie Slade
.
He swore he had scarlet fever because his face burnt so red, I guess, an' when I hollered that scarlet fever was contagious an' he must be put away somewhere, he up an' says he guessed it wasn't that
.
But he was sure awful sick an' needed to loaf around an' be amused
.
Why, even Nels doesn't want to work these days
.
If it wasn't for Stewart, who's had Greasers with the cattle, I don't know what I'd do
.
"