The Eagle's Heart
Page 21
CHAPTER XXI
CONCLUSION
As he crawled slowly back to life and clear thinking, Harold's wildheart was filled with a peace and serenity of emotion such as it had notknown since childhood. He was like a boy in a careless dream,forecasting nothing, remembering nothing, content to see Mary come andgo about the room, glad of the sound of her skirts, thrilling under thegentle pressure of her hand.
She, on her part, could not realize any part of his dark fame as shesmiled down into his big yellow-brown eyes which were as pathetic andwistful as those of a gentle animal.
Mrs. Raimon spoke of this. "I saw 'Black Mose' as he stood in thestreets of Wagon Wheel, the most famous dead-shot in the State. I can'trealize that this is the same man. He's gentle as a babe now; he was asterrible and as beautiful as a tiger then."
Reynolds sent fifty dollars with an apology for the delay and Mr. Excelloffered his slender purse, but Mrs. Raimon said: "I'll attend to thismatter of expense. Let me do that little for him--please!" And he gaveway, knowing her great wealth.
But all these things began at last to trouble the proud heart of thesick man, and as he grew stronger his hours of quiet joy began to bebroken by disquieting calculations of his indebtedness to Mrs. Raimon aswell as to Mary and Jack. He wished to be free of all obligations, evengratitude. He insisted on his father's return to his pastorate--which hedid at the end of the week.
Meanwhile Mary and Jack conspired for the Eagle's good. Together theyplanned to remove him to some fairer quarter of the city. Together theyread and discussed the letters which poured in upon them from theatricalmanagers, Wild West shows, music halls, and other similar enterprises,and from romantic girls and shrewd photographers, and every otherconceivable kind of crank. The offers of the music halls Jack wasinclined to consider worth while. "He'd be a great success there, or asa dead-shot in a Wild West show. They pay pretty well, too."
"I don't believe he'd care to do anything like that," Mary quietlyreplied.
They both found that he cared to do nothing which involved his remainingin the East. As his eyes grew brighter, his longing for the West cameback. He lifted his arms above his quilts with the action of the eagletwho meditates leaping from the home ledge. It was a sorrowful thing tosee this powerful young animal made thin and white and weak by fever,but his spirit was indomitable.
"He must be moved to the West before he will fully recover," said thedoctor, and to this Mrs. Raimon replied:
"Very well, doctor. You name the day when it is safe and we'll go. I'llhave a special car, if necessary, but first of all he must go to a goodhotel. Can't he be moved now?"
Outwardly Mary acknowledged all the kindness of this rich and powerfulwoman, but inwardly she resented her intimacy. Drawing all her littlestore of ready money she quietly began paying off the bills. When allwas settled she took a seat beside Harold one day when they were aloneand laying one strong, warm hand on his thin, white arm, she said:
"Harold, the doctor says you can be moved from here, and so--you mustgive me the right to take you home with me."
There was a piercing pathos in his wan smile as he replied, "All right,you're the boss. It's a pretty hard come down, though. I thought onceI'd come back after you in a private car. If you stand by me I may be acattle king yet. There's a whole lot of fight in me still--you watch meand see."
The next day he was moved to a private hotel on the north side, and Marybreathed a sigh of deep relief as she saw him sink back into his softbed in a clean and sunny room. He, with a touch of his old fire, said:"This sure beats a holler log, but all the same I'll be glad to see thetime when I can camp on my saddle again."
Mary only smiled and patted him like a mother caressing a babe. "I'llhate to have you go and leave me--now."
"No danger of that, Mary. We camp down on the same blanket from thison."
Mr. Excell came on to marry them, but Jack sent his best wishes by mail;he could not quite bring himself to see Mary give herself away--even tohis hero.
Mrs. Raimon took her defeat with most touching grace. "You're right,"she said. "He's yours--I know that perfectly well, but you must let mehelp him to make a start. It won't hurt him, and it'll please me. I havea ranch, I have mines, I could give him something to do till he got onhis feet again, if you'd let me, and I hope you won't deny me a pleasurethat will carry no obligation with it."
She was powerfully moved as she went in to say good-by to him. He wassitting in a chair, but looked very pale and weak. She said: "Mose,you're in luck; you've got a woman who'll do you good. She's loyal andshe's strong, and there's nothing further for me to do--unless you letme help you. See here, why not let me help you get a start; what do yousay?"
Harold felt the deep sincerity of the woman's regard and he said simply:
"All right; let me know what you find, and I'll talk it over with Mary."
She seized his thin hand in both hers and pressed it hard, the tearscreeping down her cheeks. "You're a good boy, Mose; you're the kind thatare good to women in ways they don't like, sometimes. I hope you'llforget the worst of me and remember only the best. I don't think sheknows anything about me; if she hears anything, tell her the truth, butsay I was better than women think."
One day about ten days later a bulky letter came, addressed to "MoseExcell." It was from Mrs. Raimon, but contained a letter from Reynolds,who wrote:
"Yesterday a young Cheyenne came ridin' in here inquirin' for you. I told him you was in Chicago, sick. He brought a message from old Talfeather who is gettin' scared about the cattlemen. He says they're crowdin' onto his reservation, and he wants you to come and help him. He wants you to talk with them and to go to Washington and see the Great Father. He sent this medicine and said it was to draw you to him. He said he was blind and his heart was heavy because he feared trouble. I went up to Wagon Wheel and saw the princess, who has a big pull. She said she'd write you. Kintuck is well but getting lazy."
Mrs. Raimon wrote excitedly:
"DEAR FRIEND: Here is work for you to do. The agent at Sand Lake has asked to be relieved and I have written Senator Miller to have you appointed. He thought the idea excellent. We both believe your presence will quiet the cattlemen as well as Talfeather and his band. Will you accept?"
As Harold read, his body uplifted and his eyes grew stern. "See here,Mary, what do you think of this?" and he read the letter and explainedthe situation. She, too, became tense with interest, but, being a womanwho thought before she spoke, she remained silent.
Harold, after a moment, arose from his chair, gaunt and unsteady as hewas. "That's what I'm fitted for, Mary. That solves my problem. I knowthese cattlemen, they know me. I am the white chief of Talfeather'speople. If you can stand it to live there with me, Mary, I will go. Wecan do good; the women need some one like you to teach 'em to dothings."
Mary's altruistic nature began to glow. "Do you think so, Harold? CouldI be of use?"
"Of use? Why, Mary, those poor squaws and their children need you worsethan they need a God. I know, for I've lived among 'em."
"Then I will go," she said, and out of the gray cloud the sun broke andshone from the west across the great lonely plains.
Again "Black Mose" rode up the almost invisible ascent toward the RockyMountains. Again he saw the mighty snow peaks loom over the faintlygreen swells of the plain, but this time he left nothing behind. Theaching hunger was gone out of his heart for beside him Mary sat, eageras he to see the wondrous mountain land whose trails to her were scriptof epic tales, and whose peaks were monuments to great dead beasts andmysterious peoples long since swept away by the ruthless march of thewhite men.
If she had doubts or hesitations she concealed them, for hers was anature fitted for such sacrifice as this--and besides, each dayincreased her love for the singular and daring soul of Harold Excell.
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