Collected Works of Zane Grey

by Zane Grey

  In one long stride he reached her, and lifting her out of her chair he kissed shut the pained eyes, and then her cheeks, and then her lips. After which he sat down in her chair and held her close and tight to his breast. About that time his secret, his humor, his tantalizing, his strange need to watch and wait and ponder the marvelous fact of his love all went into eclipse.

  “Listen, Ruth.... I never was in love, not in those range days. That was just plain girl-hunger. I reckon I had a case on Sydney. Only that wasn’t real love, either. She had me buffaloed.... But the night when Sloan lay dyin’ an’ you refused to say you’d marry me, that was when I lost my heart once an’ forever. I didn’t know till after. An’ as soon as I did know, then it grew an’ grew with all your sweet ways, an’ your love of me, an’ the fact that you were my girl, all the truer an’ finer for the hell you’d been through.... An’, Ruth, I wouldn’t change you for Sydney Blair an’ a dozen girls like her, if I could be a Mormon an’ have them all. An’ now that you’re well an’ happy, I wouldn’t want it different. I don’t know how to explain, but I know what I feel.... An’ I love you just wonderful, with a savin’ love that’ll keep me straight an’—”

  Soft lips on his ended Kalispel’s revelation. Ruth threw her arms round his neck, and with closed eyes and rapt face held him tight.

  “Oh, Kal!... Oh, Kal! How I have longed and waited!... But all the time I knew it. That is what saved me — changed me — uplifted me — made me happy.... All the time I knew!”

  “Wal, you wonderful girl!” he ejaculated, incredulously and holding her as if he would never let her go, he watched the opal heart of the dying embers, his thoughts too deep and ecstatic for words.

  Outside, the winter night-wind complained under the eaves; the branches of the cottonwood rustled on the roof the river roared its melancholy song; and a wolf mourned his lonely and hungry state, — all of which sounds were of Kalispel’s past; pregnant of the solitude and the wild, now gone with the hard days that were no more.

  THE END

  Majesty’s Rancho

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER I

  CHAPTER II

  CHAPTER III

  CHAPTER IV

  CHAPTER V

  CHAPTER VI

  CHAPTER VII

  CHAPTER VIII

  CHAPTER IX

  CHAPTER X

  CHAPTER XI

  CHAPTER XII

  CHAPTER I

  LANCE SIDWAY PULLED himself up from the stone steps of the Natural History Museum. He laughed ruefully as he realized that this was his third visit to the institution. As on his two previous excursions, he had wandered round and round the inside halls examining the mounted specimens of wild animals. He loved four-footed creatures, and though a pang beset him to see these lifeless counterfeits of what had once been the free beasts of the wild, he yet experienced a sense of escape and peace that he had not felt since he left his Oregon range home for Hollywood.

  There was, he knew now, a future in the motion-picture studios for his great horse “Umpqua,” and perhaps one for himself as well. But he shied at becoming an actor and hated to double for the handsome cowboy Apollos of the screen; and to hang around the studios merely as the owner of a wonderful horse, letting the spirited animal earn his living for him, did not fit his idea of a career. As a matter of fact, he had never desired a future in Hollywood under such circumstances and the immediate necessity for earning money was over. Nance, his sister, was perfectly well again after her operation and would soon be married. So in demand, indeed, had Umpqua been that Lance found himself with at least enough cash in hand to last him until he could find a job more to his liking.

  He found himself leaning toward a horseback ride through southern California, across Arizona, perhaps into New Mexico. To be sure the cattle business was practically ruined, but the desert ranges and purple uplands of Arizona, or the silver grassed valleys of New Mexico, about which he had read so much, would be vastly wilder and infinitely freer than the old pastures he had ridden, and surely there would be some kind of a job for a husky chap who was fond of animals.

  There was a singular zest in the thought of new adventure in a harder country than he had known. But the truth was, Hollywood did not let go its grip so easily. And why? Lance knew that he had no ambition to beat the movie game. Still he admitted the fascination of the gay bright whirl of the picture world. Reducing this down to the lure of feminine charm seemed another step in the right direction. Lance dubiously admitted to himself that he was afraid he had more than the ordinary male’s weakness for the fair sex. But hell! he thought in self-defense, just think of Hollywood’s thousands of extras, and more thousands of girls unable to find even jobs as extras, many of them exceptionally beautiful, all of them pretty! Here was a case where it was hard to break away. And he ruefully recalled the three girls to whose attraction he had succumbed — Coretta — and Virginia — and lastly Maurine. Only last night Maurine had faced him, a little pale, with dark eyes steady. “Lance, you’ve been swell to me,” she had said. “I could lie to you, but I won’t. At last I’ve got a break. You know what that means. I must make the grade.... Sure I love you. String along with me, darling, and when I’m a star....”

  That was Hollywood, but it was not Lance Sidway. Looked at now, in this serious moment, it seemed a deciding factor. “It’d happen again,” muttered Lance, sadly. “And I might fall worse. It’s coming to me.... I’m through!”

  And he arose with springy step to gaze at the hazy Sierra Madres beyond which barrier there was an unsettled land. He strolled through a long terrace of roses, sensitive to their color and fragrance. They were beautiful, but he liked wild flowers best. Meanwhile he was revolving in mind the problem of riding Umpqua out of California. The horse was fat and needed work. He would not care much for the asphalt roads; perhaps, however, from Palm Springs south Lance could keep mostly to soft ground. Once in condition again, Umpqua was good for fifty miles a day without turning a hair.

  Lance emerged from the Museum park, and presently, strolling along, he found himself on the edge of the University campus. Students of both sexes were in evidence, some chatting in groups, others moving along with books under their arms. These bareheaded boys and girls in their colorful sweaters, young and full of the joy of life, aroused memory and regret in Lance. After high school he had attended college in Corvallis for nearly a year, and outside of freshman miseries, which now seemed sweet, he had done well in his studies and better in athletics. But financial trouble had intervened and Nance’s illness... both of which had sent him to Hollywood. This college atmosphere was something that he liked. If only his father had not died, to leave Nance and him orphans! Lance cast off the sadness. His sister was well — happy — and he had the greatest horse in the West and a new adventure in that West before him. Pretty lucky, Lance thought he should be telling himself! Reaching a cross street Lance halted to absorb more of the flash of color on the campus. He sauntered up the cross street toward some shade trees. On that side there were more students. He heard bantering voices and gay high-pitched laughter.

  The shrill sound of a siren disrupted his attention, as well as that of the students. Wheeling, Lance saw a bright topless roadster turning the corner from the main street. Its driver was a bareheaded girl with hair bright as spun gold. At the moment she withdrew her extended left arm. Behind her raced the car with the loud horn. It caught up with her. One of the two occupants, surely policemen, yelled for her to stop. The young woman took her time about it, and passing Lance, finally halted at the first shade trees where half a dozen students had congregated. Lance had not far to go to reach them and he strolled along, curious, expectant, and a little angry at the gruff yell of the officer. Lance was in time to hear:

  “Why didn’t you stop?”

  “I have stopped,” replied the girl, coolly.

  Lance joined the group of students who had advanced to the curb. From all points on the campus others were coming, some on the run.
Then Lance saw the girl at close range. Many a time in the studios and on the locations had he sustained a shock of masculine transport, but he had never seen a motion-picture star who in his opinion could hold a candle to this girl.

  “Majesty, what do these cops want?” queried a tall young fellow, stepping out.

  “I’m not sure, Rollie,” she replied, with a laugh. “But I think they want to chase me off the streets.”

  “What’s the idea, officer?”

  “If it’s any of your business, freshie, she was speedin’,” returned the other, a burly man, red-faced and thin-lipped, alighting from the police car. “I know her an’ she knows me.”

  “Yeah?” queried the student, insolently.

  “Yeah! She was makin’ forty-five on the turn an’ she didn’t even hold out her hand.”

  “Say, ossifer, we saw this lady turn and she wasn’t making twenty,” interposed another student.

  “Lay off us kids, can’t you?” asked another, plaintively.

  “Aren’t there enough drunk drivers to keep you busy?”

  “Looks a little steamed up himself.”

  Good-natured cat calls and boos sounded from back of the circle of students, crowding closer and denser. They sensed events. Lance gathered that the officers did not fail to grasp something inimical to their own well-being at the moment.

  “Give the girl a ticket, Brady, and let’s get going,” advised the one at the wheel.

  A storm of protest went up from the foremost line of students. Rollie, who evidently had some distinction on the campus, yelled for them to shut up.

  “Beat it, you flat-feet!” he called, sharply. “You hang around here and run us fellows ragged. But lay off the girls. Get that? We won’t stand for it.”

  “You shut up or I’ll run you in,” said Brady angrily, as he began writing the summons.

  “Madge, is it coming to you?” Rollie asked.

  “Not this time, Rollie, I swear,” she replied. “I did run away from him some days ago. But today I wasn’t making twenty.”

  “You tell that to the Judge,” said Brady, coldly. “An’ you’re interferin’ with an officer of the law.”

  “Law, hooey! Only when there’s nothing in it for you. Get the hell out of here!”

  The crowd of students surged over the sidewalk and pulled the officer from the running board of the car. He made the mistake of raising his fist, and striking himself free he shouted to his companion: “Send a riot call!” At that juncture a motorcycle policeman roared up to make a fringe of students in the street hop out of his way. Brady hoarsely repeated his order to him, and with his comrade, both swinging their arms, cleared a space.

  Lance had been shoved off the pavement by the pushing of the students, all of them roused now and full of devilment. Rollie appeared to be the only one who took the affair seriously. The girl, Madge, acted as if she were enjoying the proceedings. But her violet eyes were ablaze. Rollie leaped on the running board and leaned close to speak low to her. Then Brady turning with red visage and bristling front jerked Rollie down.

  “Young woman, get away from that wheel,” he ordered, opening the door. “I’ll take you for a little ride.”

  “Like hell you will,” she rejoined, her voice as ringing as a bell. And she snapped the door shut.

  Brady’s attention veered to a charging crowd of students who pushed the officers’ car down the street, while another gang, yelling like Indians, rushed the truck of a fruit and vegetable vendor who had happened along. They halted him, and in gold and red streams they spilled the mounds of oranges and tomatoes into the street. Another moment saw the air full of colored missiles. Their target was the offending car of the law. A smashing of windows and clinking of glass mingled with the derisive yells of the assailants. Then the driver, who had attempted in no gentle manner to drive the students from crowding Brady, turned to roar at the slingers. A huge soft tomato struck him squarely in the face. That elicited a howl of fiendish glee from the armed force in the street. A hail of oranges and tomatoes not only halted his belligerent rush but blinded him, swamped him, knocked him flat. At the moment, then, a blare of sirens announced the arrival of reinforcements.

  Lance hung by the girl’s car while the students, numbering hundreds by now, rushed pell-mell into the street, whooping like a lot of Indians. What was left of the vendor’s ample supply of oranges and tomatoes disappeared from his truck as if by magic to take swift form of a colorful barrage right at the charging policemen. For a while they were held back, but as the supply of ammunition began to diminish, they forged forward, eventually to drive the students out of the street upon the campus. But it was not an onslaught such as Brady and his man had attempted. The students were having a wonderful time, but the officers, plainly disgusted and angered though they were, did not resort to violence. Against three hundred crazy students they could do nothing save harangue them off the street.

  Lance, keenly enjoying the whole performance, was suddenly startled by a cry from the girl in the car. And as he wheeled he leaped off the curb. Brady had opened the car door.

  “Move over, Blondie,” he ordered, a rude hand on her shoulder.

  “You dirty bum! Don’t you dare paw me!”

  It appeared to Lance that the officer’s action exceeded his authority. Even if it had not, the girl’s poignant outburst and the flash of her magnificent eyes would have been enough for Lance.

  “I’m drivin’ you to the station,” declared Brady, shoving at her.

  “You are not!” she cried, starting the engine. “Get off or I’ll spread you along the street.... I’ll drive to...”

  Lance snatched the policeman’s hand off the car and as he turned in surprise Lance hit him a not-too-gentle blow on his rather protruding abdomen. A gasping expulsion of breath followed the sodden drumlike sound. Brady began to sag. Lance reached up with powerful hand, pulled him off the running board, and then with a vicious swing of fist at the convulsed visage he laid the officer neatly in the street. In action as swift, Lance vaulted into the car.

  “Step on it!” he yelled. And almost before the words passed his lips the little car shot ahead. Lance’s knees came up hard under the dash. A shrill blast from the horn sent several students leaping for their lives. Then the car ate up the open street, to whirl at the corner, and sped on, describing swift half-circles in the traffic. Lance’s hat went flying, and as the car grazed a trolley his hair stood up stiff. Though scared as he had never been, Lance’s heart strangled a cowboy yell in his throat and his blood beat thick in his ears and he was possessed by a wild elation. The car whirled off the thoroughfare into a quiet street, on which the houses blurred in Lance’s sight. Another turn, then block after block on a traffic-congested street, then a break in the speed — and at last a parking place!

  “Whew!” exploded Lance, catching his breath. “We’d have shaken them — if they had chased us.”

  “Swell, wasn’t it?” rejoined the girl, with an amazing coolness. And she uttered a low laugh.

  “I’ll tell the world. Say, but you can drive,” burst out Lance, turning to look at her. With steady beautiful hands, and shapely coral-tinted finger tips she was taking a gold monogrammed cigarette case from her purse.

  “Thanks. Have a cigarette?”

  “Don’t mind.”

  “Did I scare you?”

  “Yes — but it was a great ride.”

  “Well, we got the best of those cops anyway, and now we’re just two fugitives from justice.”

  All this time Lance was gazing at the girl, conscious of a mounting exhilaration. To find pleasure in the beauty of women had been the only debt he owed Hollywood. But this visual experience seemed a magnifying of all former sensations.

  “Oh, your hand!” she exclaimed, in sudden solicitude.

  Then Lance became aware that he was opening and shutting his right hand, the knuckles of which were bruised. It was a big brown member, matching his brawny wrist.

  “Bunged my fist �
�� a little,” he said, awkwardly. “Nothing much.”

  “No? — I wonder what that cop thought. I’ll never forget his face. I was looking at it when you socked him. Did that tickle me?”

  “Then I’m glad,” returned Lance, beaming at her.

  “You see he was sore at me. He’s caught me before. Last time I made eyes at him, you know, and let him think.... I had a date and was late. Next time he spotted me I ran away from him. Today he must have been laying for me.”

  “So that was it? Big fathead! You’ll get hauled up for this. I’m sorry. But I had to slug him.... I was looking at you when he...”

  “Don’t be sorry. You made me your friend for life. Rollie was mad, but he wouldn’t have done that.... You’re not a college man?”

  “No. I went one year at Corvallis. Then... but that wouldn’t interest you. I — I’d better be going.”

  “Don’t go yet,” she replied, detaining him with a hand on his sleeve. “Indeed I am interested. You’re not going to walk out on me after such a romantic adventure. Are you?”

  “Why, Miss Madge — I — you... of course, that’s up to the lady.”

  “It always should be, even if it isn’t. Tell me about yourself. I’ll bet you’re from Hollywood. You have that cut.”

  “Yeah? You don’t mean movie actor?” inquired Lance, quickly.

  “No? Too bad! You’re handsome enough to be one. My sorority sisters will be jealous. I’ll have you out to the house to meet them.”

  “That’d be swell. But I’m afraid it’s not possible. Thank you.”

  “You’re not married?”

  “I should say not.”

  “Nor in love. I know how that malady affects them,” she replied, flippantly. “You’ll come, won’t you?”

  “You’re very kind. I — I have to say no.”

  “Well, of all things. A turn-down from a cavalier who fought for me! ... It doesn’t happen, at least never yet.... They always say: ‘How about a date?’... What’re you doing out in Hollywood?”