CHAPTER XXVII
THE DESERT CODE
Keeping to the trail, Rathburn mounted higher and higher and spokecontinually to his horse in a crooning tone of encouragement. His facewas drawn in grim lines, his eyes were constantly alert, his veryposture in the saddle showed that his nerves were at high tension.
He ignored dim paths which occasionally led off to the left or rightin rifts in the sheer, black walls of the narrow canyon. No sound cameto him from below. He knew the posse would have to proceed with theutmost caution, for the sheriff and his men could not be sure thatthey would not encounter him at some bend in the trail. They would beexpecting shots from every boulder; for Rathburn had let them know hehad no intention of being taken easily or alive.
The afternoon wore on, with Rathburn steadily penetrating the veryheart of Imagination Range. Finally he swung out of the canyon trailand took a dim path to the right. He dismounted and walked back to ruboff the scars left by his horse's shoes on the rock floor of the sidetrail. Satisfied that he would leave the members of the posse confusedas to which side trail he had taken, he returned to his horse,mounted, and proceeded up the narrow trail leading to the top of therange to the south of the deep canyon.
In the western sky the sun was low when he rode down the crest of therange. The mountains were devoid of vegetation, bleak and bare andblack. The lava rock seemed to absorb the heat of the sun and throwit in the rider's face. But Rathburn didn't appear to mind it.
He crossed the backbone of the range and began the descent on theeastern side. But he descended only a short distance before he swungout of the saddle. From the slicker pack on the rear of his saddle hetook a pair of heavy leather gloves. He cut these open in the palmswith his pocketknife and then tied them about the shoes on his horse'shind feet. The dun was only shod behind.
Again he mounted, and this time he turned to the south and rode down along slope of lava rock. He grunted with satisfaction, as he lookedbehind and saw that the leather prevented the shoes on his mount'shind feet from leaving their mark. He was completely obliterating histrail--leaving nothing for the posse to follow, if they should tracehim to the top of the range.
He walked his horse slowly, for the dun did not like the idea of theleather tied to its hoofs. In less than two miles the leather was wornthrough upon the hard rock, and he got down and removed the remnants.He straightened up and looked out over the vista of the desert.
The western sky was a sea of gold. Far to southward a curl of smokerose upward, marking the course of a railroad and a town. Rathburnlooked long in this direction, with a dreamy, wistful light in hiseyes. Close at hand vegetation appeared upon the slopes of the hills.His gaze darted here and there along the ridges below him, and hisparted lips and eager attitude showed unmistakably that he wasfamiliar with every rod of the locality in which he found himself.
Again he climbed into the saddle and turned off to the left, enteringa canyon. For better than half a mile he proceeded down this way, thenhe rode eastward again, winding in and out in a network of canyonsuntil he came to the rock-ribbed crest of a ridge which overlooked anoasis in the desert hills. There was green vegetation where the waterfrom a spring seeped into the floor of the canyon below him. The springwas nothing more than a huge cup in the rock which had caught thewater from the spring rains and filled. Above the spring was a smallcabin, and Rathburn saw that the cabin door was open.
Hurriedly he rode down a trail to the right which circled around intothe canyon from its lower end. As he galloped toward the spring, afigure appeared in the doorway of the cabin. Rathburn waved an arm anddismounted at the spring. He led his horse to drink, as the man camewalking toward him from the cabin. He compelled the dun to drinkslowly; first a swallow, now two, then a few more; finally he drew thehorse away from the water.
"You can have some more a little later," he said cheerfully. "Hello,Joe Price!"
The man walked up to him without a great show of surprise and held outhis hand. He was bareheaded, and the hair which hung down to hisshoulders was snow-white. The face was seamed and lined, burned by thesun of three score Arizona summers, and the small, blue eyestwinkled.
"Hang me with a busted shoe string if it ain't Rathburn," said the oldman. "Why, boy, you're just in time for supper. Put your horse upbehind the cabin an' get in at the table. She's a big country, allfull of cactus; but the old man's got grub left!"
Rathburn laughed, rinsed his mouth out with water he dipped from thespring in a battered tin cup, and took a swallow before he replied.
"Joe, there's two things I want--grub an' gaff. I know you've gotgrub, or you wouldn't be here; but I don't know if you're any good atthe gaff any more."
The old man scrutinized him. "You look some older," he said finally."Not much of the wild, galootin' kid left in you, I 'spect. But don'tgo gettin' fresh with me, or I'll clout you one with my prospectin'pick. Go 'long now; put up your horse an' hustle inside. If you wantto wash up, I guess you can--bein' a visitor."
Rathburn chuckled, as he led his horse around behind the cabin, wheretwo burros were, and unsaddled him. Before he entered the cabin hestood for a moment looking up the ridge down which he had come. Theold man watched him, but made no comment. As Rathburn sat down to thetable, however, he spoke.
"I kin hear anybody comin' down that trail over the ridge, whilethey're a mile away," he said simply without looking up.
Rathburn flashed a look of admiration at the old man.
The glow of the sunset lit the hills with crimson fire, and a lightbreeze stirred with the advent of the long, colorful desert twilight.They ate in silence, washing down the hardy food with long drafts ofstrong coffee. The old man asked no questions of his friend. He knewthat in time Rathburn would talk. A man's business in that desolateland of dreadful distances was his own, save such of it as he wantedto tell. It was the desert code.
Supper over, they went out to a little bench in front of the cabin.There Joe Price lit his pipe, and Rathburn rolled a cigarette.
For some time they smoked in silence. The purple twilight driftedover the hills, and the breeze freshened in welcome relief to the heatof the day.
"Joe, I just had to come back," said Rathburn softly. "Something'swrong with me. You wouldn't think I'd get homesick this way, after allthe trouble I've had here, would you?"
The old man removed his pipe. "Anybody here in particular you want tosee?" he asked slowly.
Rathburn shrugged. "You're always gettin' right down to cases firsthand off an' running," he complained. "Of course there's folks I wantto see. I want to see you, for instance."
"I don't reckon you'd be ridin' any terrible great distance an' takin'chances by the handful just to see me, boy," said Price. "But I ain'ttryin' to pry into your affairs. You don't have to answer any of thefool questions I ask you--you know that. I'm an old man an' gettin'childish."
Rathburn laughed. "I can believe that when I find you still putterin'around up here where there ain't even a sign of mineral," he chided.
"There's gold right under your feet," said the old man stoutly. "I'llhave a payin' vein opened up here in less'n three months."
"I hope so, Joe. There's nobody I'd like more to see make a big strikethan you. You were my dad's friend, an' you've been mine. I haven'tgot many friends, Joe."
"But them you've got is good ones," said Price quickly. "How long youbeen away?"
"About eight months," Rathburn replied with a frown.
"It's hard to get away from the desert," mused the old man. "It's inyour blood. If you leave here for good you've just naturally got totake something along with you from here--something that's a part ofthe desert, you might say."
Rathburn looked keenly at the face of his friend. But the old man wasregarding his pipe, as if he had never until that moment seen it.
"I ran into a posse chasin' a gang that robbed a stage on the way overhere this noon," Rathburn said presently.
Price's interest quickened, but he made no sign. "They saw you?" heasked.<
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"Couldn't help it," Rathburn grumbled. "Took after me. I had to dropone of 'em with a bullet in the shoulder to slow 'em up in the longcanyon over on the other side."
"Know any of the gang?" Price asked.
"Met one. Threw down my gun on him. He told me Mike Eagen was runnin'the works."
Price nodded. "I reckon Mike's been pullin' quite a few stunts whileyou been away."
"An' I've been gettin' the blame for 'em more'n likely," said Rathburnin indignation.
Price nodded again. "Might be so," he commented.
Rathburn looked up at him in understanding. "They'll have me mixed upwith this stage holdup," he said earnestly. "From what I gathered theykilled the driver, an' they'll say that was my part."
"That's the trouble, boy," said the old miner. "If a fellow's handywith his gun somebody's sure to get jealous of him an' make him draw.If he gets his man because he has to, he's a killer. When he's knownas a killer he ain't got a chance. You _had_ to drop the two men youdropped aroun' here, boy; but they ain't forgettin' it."
"Bob Long was headin' that posse," said Rathburn thoughtfully.
"An' Bob Long's a sticker when he hits out on a man's trail," saidPrice. "Still, I guess you'd be safe in here for a while. There ain'tmany knows this place."
"I don't figure on stayin' here long, Joe," said Rathburn.
"I didn't think you did," said Price.
"I'll have to get goin'--hit for new country an' never know when I mayrun up against the law in a quarter where I ain't expecting it; alwayssneaking along--like the coyote. It was Mike Eagen who gave me thatname, Joe."
Rathburn's voice was low and vibrant, and the old man felt themenacing quality in it.
"What's more," Rathburn went on, "I'm always remembering that he'sback here, getting away with his dirty tricks, shoving the blame offon me, some way or other, when the chase gets too hot."
For some time the old man was silent. When he spoke he put an armabout Rathburn's shoulder.
"Boy, before you get worse mixed up than you are, there's a place youought to visit aroun' here," he said in a fatherly tone.
Rathburn shrugged and stared up at the night sky which was blossomingwith stars.
"It would be a right smart risk," Price went on, "for they'd maybethink to drop aroun' that way on a lookout for you; but I reckonbefore you do much more, you better drop in at the Mallory place."
Rathburn rose abruptly. "I guess that's what I came up here to hearyou say," he said irritably. "But I don't reckon it can be done, Joe.I haven't any business there."
"How do you know, boy? Maybe you ain't bein' right fair."
"Seems to me it would look better for me to stay away."
"They don't _have_ to see you," urged the old man. "The Mallory placeis a good fifteen miles from Hope, close up against the mountains.Boy, don't you think you better make sure?"
The wistful, yearning look was back in Rathburn's eyes. His right handrested upon the butt of his gun. The other held his forgottencigarette. He turned and looked into the old man's eyes.
"Joe, you said something about takin' something from the desert if Ileft it. You're right. But it can't be, Joe. This thing has killed mychances!"
The gun seemed to leap from its holster into his hand at his hip ofits own accord. The old miner's brows lifted in astonishment at thedraw.
"If I was you I wouldn't be much scared who I met on the way down tothe Mallory place if I didn't meet too many of 'em at once," he saidwith a smile.
"I--I couldn't wear it--there," Rathburn faltered.
"Well, leave it hangin' on a handy peg, boy," said the old mancheerfully.
Rathburn jammed the gun back into its holster and walked around to hishorse. He led the animal down to drink and then returned and saddled.
"You goin' on to-night?" asked Price casually.
"I'm takin' a ride," Rathburn confessed.
"You ain't takin' my advice at the same time, are you?" asked Price,pretending to be greatly concerned.
Rathburn mounted and looked down upon him in the faint light of thestars.
"Joe Price, you're a wise old desert rat, an' I'm a young fool," hesaid with a twinkle in his gray eyes. "If Bob Long happens this waygive him my regards an' tell him they got the reward notices over inCalifornia all right, for I saw 'em stuck up over there. So long."
The old miner called out after him and watched him ride down the canyonand disappear in the shadows. Nor was he the only watcher; for, highon the ridge above, another man touched his horse with his spurs andstarted down the west side of the range, as Rathburn vanished.
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