the Light Of Western Stars (1992) (50 page)

"I believe it's a horrid trick those cowboys are playing," said Mrs
.
Beck
.

Madeline assured her friends that no trick was being played upon them, and that she deplored the discomfort and distress, but felt no real alarm
.
She was more inclined to evasive kindness here than to sincerity, for she had a decided uneasiness
.
The swift change in the manner and looks of her cowboys had been a shock to her
.
The last glance she had of Stewart's face, then stern, almost sad, and haggard with worry, remained to augment her foreboding
.

Darkness appeared to drop swiftly down; the coyotes began their haunting, mournful howls; the stars showed and grew brighter; the wind moaned through the tips of the pines
.
Castleton was restless
.
He walked to and fro before the overhanging shelf of rock, where his companions sat lamenting, and presently he went out to the ledge of the bench
.
The cowboys below had built a fire, and the light from it rose in a huge, fan-shaped glow
.
Castleton's little figure stood out black against this light
.
Curious and anxious also, Madeline joined him and peered down from the cliff
.
The distance was short, and occasionally she could distinguish a word spoken by the cowboys
.
They were unconcernedly cooking and eating
.
She marked the absence of Stewart, and mentioned it to Castleton
.
Silently Castleton pointed almost straight down, and there in the gloom stood Stewart, with the two stag-hounds at his feet
.

Presently Nick Steele silenced the camp-fire circle by raising a warning hand
.
The cowboys bent their heads, listening
.
Madeline listened with all her might
.
She heard one of the hounds whine, then the faint beat of horse's hoofs
.
Nick spoke again and turned to his supper, and the other men seemed to slacken in attention
.
The beat of hoofs grew louder, entered the grove, then the circle of light
.
The rider was Nels
.
He dismounted, and the sound of his low voice just reached Madeline
.

"Gene, it's Nels
.
Somethin' doin'," Madeline heard one of the cowboys call, softly
.

"Send him over," replied Stewart
.

Nels stalked away from the fire
.

"See here, Nels, the boys are all right, but I don't want them to know everything aboutthis mix-up," said Stewart, as Nels came up
.
"Did you find the girl?"

Madeline guessed that Stewart referred to the Mexican girl Bonita
.

"No
.
But I met"-Madeline did not catch the name-"an' he was wild
.
He was with a forest-ranger
.
An' they said Pat Hawe had trailed her an' was takin' her down under arrest
.
"

Stewart muttered deep under his breath, evidently cursing
.

"Wonder why he didn't come on up here?" he queried, presently
.
"He can see a trail
.
"

"Wal, Gene, Pat knowed you was here all right, fer thet ranger said Pat hed wind of the guerrillas, an' Pat said if Don Carlos didn't kill you-which he hoped he'd do-then it 'd be time enough to put you in jail when you come down
.
"

"He's dead set to arrest me, Nels
.
"

"An' he'll do it, like the old lady who kept tavern out West
.
Gene, the reason thet red-faced coyote didn't trail you up here is because he's scared
.
He allus was scared of you
.
But I reckon he's shore scared to death of me an' Monty
.
"

"Well, we'll take Pat in his turn
.
The thing now is, when will that Greaser stalk us, and what'll we do when he comes?"

"My boy, there's only one way to handle a Greaser
.
I shore told you thet
.
He means rough toward us
.
He'll come smilin' up, all soci'ble like, insinuatin' an' sweeter 'n a woman
.
But he's treacherous; he's wuss than an Indian
.
An', Gene, we know for a positive fact how his gang hev been operatin' between these hills an' Agua Prieta
.
They're no nervy gang of outlaws like we used to hev
.
But they're plumb bad
.
They've raided and murdered through the San Luis Pass an' Guadalupe Canon
.
They've murdered women, an' wuss than thet, both north an' south of Agua Prieta
.
Mebbe the U
.
S
.
cavalry don't know it, an' the good old States; but we, you an' me an' Monty an' Nick, we know it
.
We know jest about what thet rebel war down there amounts to
.
It's guerrilla war, an' shore some harvest-time fer a lot of cheap thieves an' outcasts
.
"

Oh, you're right, Nels
.
I'm not disputing that," replied Stewart
.
"If it wasn't for Miss Hammond and the other women, I'd rather enjoy seeing you and Monty open up on that bunch
.
I'm thinking I'd be glad to meet Don Carlos
.
But Miss Hammond!Why, Nels, such a woman as she is would never recover from the sight of real gun-play, let alone any stunts with a rope
.
These Eastern women are different
.
I'm not belittling our Western women
.
It's in the blood
.
Miss Hammond is-is-"

"Shore she is," interrupted Nels; "but she's got a damn sight more spunk than you think she has, Gene Stewart
.
I'm no thick-skulled cow
.
I'd hate somethin' powerful to hev Miss Hammond see any rough work, let alone me an' Monty startin' somethin'
.
An' me an' Monty'll stick to you, Gene, as long as seems reasonable
.
Mind, ole feller, beggin' your pardon, you're shore stuck on Miss Hammond, an' over-tender not to hurt her feelin's or make her sick by lettin' some blood
.
We're in bad here, an' mebbe we'll hev to fight
.
Sabe, senor?Wal, we do you can jest gamble thet Miss Hammond'll be game
.
An' I'll bet you a million pesos thet if you got goin' onct, an' she seen you as I've seen you-wal, I know what she'd think of you
.
This old world 'ain't changed much
.
Some women may be white-skinned an' soft-eyed an' sweet-voiced an' high-souled, but they all like to see a man!Gene, here's your game
.
Let Don Carlos come along
.
Be civil
.
If he an' his gang are hungry, feed 'em
.
Take even a little overbearin' Greaser talk
.
Be blind if he wants his gang to steal somethin'
.
Let him think the women hev mosied down to the ranch
.
But if he says you're lyin'-if he as much as looks round to see the women-jest jump him same as you jumped Pat Hawe
.
Me an' Monty'll hang back fer thet, an' if your strong bluff don't go through, if the Don's gang even thinks of flashin' guns, then we'll open up
.
An' all I got to say is if them Greasers stand fer real gun-play they'll be the fust I ever seen
.
"

"Nels, there are white men in that gang," said Stewart
.

"Shore
.
But me an' Monty'll be thinkin' of thet
.
If they start anythin' it'll hev to be shore quick
.
"

"All right, Nels, old friend, and thanks," replied Stewart
.
Nels returned to the camp-fire, and Stewart resumed his silent guard
.

Madeline led Castleton away from the brink of the wall
.

"By Jove!Cowboys are bloom~ng strange folk!" he exclaimed
.
"They are not what they pretend to be
.
"

"Indeed, you are right," replied Madeline
.
"I cannot understand them
.
Come, let us tell the others that Nels and Monty were only talking and do not intend to leave us
.
Dorothy, at least, will be less frightened if she knows
.
"

Dorothy was somewhat comforted
.
The others, however, complained of the cowboys' singular behavior
.
More than once the idea was advanced that an elaborate trick had been concocted
.
Upon general discussion this idea gained ground
.
Madeline did not combat it, because she saw it tended to a less perturbed condition of mind among her guests
.
Castleton for once proved that he was not absolutely obtuse, and helped along the idea
.

They sat talking in low voices until a late hour
.
The incident now began to take on the nature of Helen's long-yearned-for adventure
.
Some of the party even grew merry in a subdued way
.
Then, gradually, one by one they tired and went to bed
.
Helen vowed she could not sleep in a place where there were bats and crawling things
.
Madeline fancied, however, that they all went to sleep while she lay wide-eyed, staring up at the black bulge of overhanging rock and beyond the starry sky
.

To keep from thinking of Stewart and the burning anger he had caused her to feel for herself, Madeline tried to keep her mind on other things
.
But thought of him recurred, and each time there was a hot commotion in her breast hard to stifle
.
Intelligent reasoning seemed out of her power
.
In the daylight it had been possible for her to be oblivious to Stewart's deceit after the moment of its realization
.
At night, however, in the strange silence and hovering shadows of gloom, with the speaking stars seeming to call to her, with the moan of the wind in the pines, and the melancholy mourn of coyotes in the distance, she was not able to govern her thought and emotion
.
The day was practical, cold; the night was strange and tense
.
In the darkness she had fancies wholly unknown to her in the bright light of the sun
.
She battled with a haunting thought
.
She had inadvertently heard Nels's conversation with Stewart; she had listened, hoping to hear some good news or to hear the worst; she had learned both, and, moreover, enlightenment on one point of Stewart's complex motives
.
He wished to spare her any sight that might offend, frighten, or disgust her
.
Yet this Stewart, who showed a fineness of feeling that might have been wanting even in Boyd Harvey, maintained a secret rendezvous with that pretty, abandoned Bonita
.
Here always the hot shame, like a live, stinging, internal fire, abruptly ended Madeline's thought
.
It was intolerable, and it was the more so because she could neither control nor understand it
.
The hours wore on, and at length, as the stars began to pale and there was no sound whatever, she fell asleep
.

She was called out of her slumber
.
Day had broken bright and cool
.
The sun was still below the eastern crags
.
Ambrose, with several other cowboys, had brought up buckets of spring-water, and hot coffee and cakes
.
Madeline's party appeared to be none the worse for the night's experience
.
Indeed, the meager breakfast might have been as merrily partaken of as it was hungrily had not Ambrose enjoined silence
.

"They're expectin' company down below," he said
.

This information and the summary manner in which the cowboys soon led the party higher up among the ruined shelves of rock caused a recurrence of anxiety
.
Madeline insisted on not going beyond a projection of cliff from which she could see directly down into the camp
.
As the vantage-point was one affording concealment, Ambrose consented, but he placed the frightened Christine near Madeline and remained there himself
.