the Light Of Western Stars (1992) (38 page)

"Well, it'd amount to that
.
Your friends need not know
.
Perhaps in a few weeks this spell of trouble on the border will be over till fall
.
"

"You say it's a hard climb up to this place?"

"It surely is
.
Your friends will get the real thing if they make that trip
.
"

"That suits me
.
Helen especially wants something to happen
.
And they are all crazy for excitement
.
"

"They'd get it up there
.
Bad trails, canons to head, steep climbs, wind-storms, thunder and lightning, rain, mountain-lions and wildcats
.
"

"Very well, I am decided
.
Stewart, of course you will take charge?I don't believe I-Stewart, isn't there something more you could tell me-why you think, why you know my own personal liberty is in peril?"

"Yes
.
But do not ask me what it is
.
If I hadn't been a rebel soldier I would never have known
.
"

"If you had not been a rebel soldier, where would Madeline Hammond be now?" she asked, earnestly
.

He made no reply
.

"Stewart," she continued, with warm impulse, "you once mentioned a debt you owed me-"And seeing his dark face pale, she wavered, then went on
.
"It is paid
.
"

"No, no," he answered, huskily
.

"Yes
.
I will not have it otherwise
.
"

"No
.
That never can be paid
.
"

Madeline held out her hand
.

"It is paid, I tell you," she repeated
.

Suddenly he drew back from the outstretched white hand that seemed to fascinate him
.

"I'd kill a man to touch your hand
.
But I won't touch it on the terms you offer
.
"

His unexpected passion disconcerted her
.

"Stewart, no man ever before refused to shake hands with me, for any reason
.
It-it is scarcely flattering," she said, with a little laugh
.
"Why won't you?Because you think I offer it as mistress to servant-rancher to cowboy?"

"No
.
"

"Then why?The debt you owed me is paid
.
I cancel it
.
So why not shake hands upon it, as men do?"

"I won't
.
That's all
.
"

"I fear you are ungracious, whatever your reason," she replied
.
"Still, I may offer it again some day
.
Good night
.
"

He said good night and turned
.
Madeline wonderingly watched him go down the path with his hand on the black horse's neck
.

She went in to rest a little before dressing for dinner, and, being fatigued from the day's riding and excitement, she fell asleep
.
When she awoke it was twilight
.
She wondered why her Mexican maid had not come to her, and she rang the bell
.
The maid did not put in an appearance, nor was there any answer to the ring
.
The house seemed unusually quiet
.
It was a brooding silence, which presently broke to the sound of footsteps on the porch
.
Madeline recognized Stillwell's tread, though it appeared to be light for him
.
Then she heard him call softly in at the open door of her office
.
The suggestion of caution in his voice suited the strangeness of his walk
.
With a boding sense of trouble she hurried through the rooms
.
He was standing outside her office door
.

"Stillwell!" she exclaimed
.

"Anybody with you?" he asked, in a low tone
.

"No
.
"

"Please come out on the porch," he added
.

She complied, and, once out, was enabled to see him
.
His grave face, paler than she had ever beheld it, caused her to stretch an appealing hand toward him
.
Stillwell intercepted it and held it in his own
.

"Miss Majesty, I'm amazin' sorry to tell worrisome news
.
"He spoke almost in a whisper, cautiously looked about him, and seemed both hurried and mysterious
.
"If you'd heerd Stewart cuss you'd sure know how we hate to hev to tell you this
.
But it can't be avoided
.
The fact is we're in a bad fix
.
If your guests ain't scared out of their skins it'll be owin' to your nerve an' how you carry out Stewart's orders
.
"

"You can rely upon me," replied Madeline, firmly, though she trembled
.

"Wal, what we're up against is this: that gang of bandits Pat Hawe was chasin'-they're hidin' in the house!"

"In the house?" echoed Madeline, aghast
.

"Miss Majesty, it's the amazin' truth, an' shamed indeed am I to admit it
.
Stewart-why, he's wild with rage to think it could hev happened
.
You see, it couldn't hev happened if I hedn't sloped the boys off to the gol-lof-links, an' if Stewart hedn't rid out on the mesa after us
.
It's my fault
.
I've hed too much femininity around fer my old haid
.
Gene cussed me-he cussed me sure scandalous
.
But now we've got to face it-to figger
.
"

"Do you mean that a gang of hunted outlaws-bandits-have actually taken refuge somewhere in my house?" demanded Madeline
.

"I sure do
.
Seems powerful strange to me why you didn't find somethin' was wrong, seem' all your servants hev sloped
.
"

"Gone?Ah, I missed my maid!I wondered why no lights were lit
.
Where did my servants go?"

"Down to the Mexican quarters, an' scared half to death
.
Now listen
.
When Stewart left you an hour or so ago he follered me direct to where me an' the boys was tryin' to keep Pat Hawe from tearin' the ranch to pieces
.
At that we was helpin' Pat all we could to find them bandits
.
But when Stewart got there he made a difference
.
Pat was nasty before, but seein' Stewart made him wuss
.
I reckon Gene to Pat is the same as red to a Greaser bull
.
Anyway, when the sheriff set fire to an old adobe hut Stewart called him an' called him hard
.
Pat Hawe hed six fellers with him, an' from all appearances bandit-huntin' was some fiesta
.
There was a row, an 'it looked bad fer a little
.
But Gene was cool, an' he controlled the boys
.
Then Pat an' his tough de-pooties went on huntin'
.
That huntin', Miss Majesty, petered out into what was only a farce
.
I reckon Pat could hev kept on foolin' me an' the boys, but as soon as Stewart showed up on the scene-wal, either Pat got to blunderin' or else we-all shed our blinders
.
Anyway, the facts stood plain
.
Pat Hawe wasn't lookin' hard fer any bandits; he wasn't daid set huntin' anythin', unless it was trouble fer Stewart
.
Finally, when Pat's men made fer our storehouse, where we keep ammunition, grub, liquors, an' sich, then Gene called a halt
.
An' he ordered Pat Hawe off the ranch
.
It was hyar Hawe an' Stewart locked horns
.

An' hyar the truth come out
.
There was a gang of bandits hid somewheres, an' at fust Pat Hawe hed been powerful active an' earnest in his huntin'
.
But sudden-like he'd fetched a pecooliar change of heart
.
He had been some flustered with Stewart's eyes a-pryin' into his moves, an' then, mebbe to hide somethin', mebbe jest nat'rul, he got mad
.
He hollered law
.
He pulled down off the shelf his old stock grudge on Stewart, accusin' him over again of that Greaser murder last fall
.
Stewart made him look like a fool-showed him up as bein' scared of the bandits or hevin' some reason fer slopin' off the trail
.
Anyway, the row started all right, an' but fer Nels it might hev amounted to a fight
.
In the thick of it, when Stewart was drivin' Pat an' his crowd off the place, one of them de-pooties lost his head an' went fer his gun
.
Nels throwed his gun an' crippled the feller's arm
.
Monty jumped then an' throwed two forty-fives, an' fer a second or so it looked ticklish
.
But the bandit-hunters crawled, an' then lit out
.
"

Stillwell paused in the rapid delivery of his narrative; he still retained Madeline's hand, as if by that he might comfort her
.

"After Pat left we put our haids together," began the old cattleman, with a long respiration
.
"We rounded up a lad who hed seen a dozen or so fellers-he wouldn't to they was Greasers- breakin' through the shrubbery to the back of the house
.
That was while Stewart was ridin' out to the mesa
.
Then this lad seen your servants all runnin' down the hill toward the village
.
Now, heah's the way Gene figgers
.
There sure was some deviltry down along the railroad, an' Pat Hawe trailed bandits up to the ranch
.
He hunts hard an' then all to onct he quits
.
Stewart says Pat Hawe wasn't scared, but he discovered signs or somethin', or got wind in some strange way that there was in the gang of bandits some fellers he didn't want to ketch
.
Sabe?Then Gene, quicker 'n a flash, springs his plan on me
.
He'd go down to Padre Marcos an' hev him help to find out all possible from your Mexican servants
.
I was to hurry up hyar an' tell you-give you orders, Miss Majesty
.
Ain't that amazin' strange?Wal, you're to assemble all your guests in the kitchen
.
Make a grand bluff an' pretend, as your help has left, that it'll be great fun fer your guests to cook dinner
.
The kitchen is the safest room in the house
.
While you're joshin' your party along, makin' a kind of picnic out of it, I'll place cowboys in the long corridor, an' also outside in the corner where the kitchen joins on to the main house
.
It's pretty sure the bandits think no one's wise to where they're hid
.
Stewart says they're in that end room where the alfalfa is, an' they'll slope in the night
.
Of course, with me an' the boys watchin', you-all will be safe to go to bed
.
An' we're to rouse your guests early before daylight, to hit the trail up into the mountains
.
Tell them to pack outfits before goin' to bed
.
Say as your servants hev sloped, you might as well go campin' with the cowboys
.
That's all
.
If we hev any luck your' friends'll never know they've been sittin' on a powder-mine
.
"

"Stillwell, do you advise that trip up into the mountains?" asked Madeline
.

"I reckon I do, considerin' everythin'
.
Now, Miss Majesty, I've used up a lot of time explainin'
.
You'll sure keep your nerve?"

"Yes," Madeline replied, and was surprised at herself
.
"Better tell Florence
.
She'll be a power of comfort to you
.
I'm goin' now to fetch up the boys
.
"