Jessica Trent: Her Life on a Ranch

by Evelyn Raymond

  CHAPTER XIII

  THE START

  Nothing resembling a legal document was found inside the package; but,instead, were several neatly-arranged rolls of gold and silver money,with the denomination of each roll carefully marked outside; dollars,eagles, double eagles. With these was a scrap of paper, saying:

  "All my savings for my captain. God bless them to her. E. M."

  "Oh, mother! That big-hearted Ephraim! Was anybody ever so unselfishas he?"

  "Or as unjust as I have been."

  "How? What can you mean?"

  Mrs. Trent did not answer, save by the tears in her eyes, though she wastempted to show her child all the base suspicion that had, for a briefspace, dwelt in her own mind concerning "Forty-niner." A suspicionwhich Antonio had suggested, and her trouble made her too ready toaccept. Then she reflected it were wiser not, and rose, placing theprecious parcel in Jessica's own hands.

  "Let us find that splendid old man at once. We cannot accept hissacrifice, but we must hasten to show him we appreciate it."

  Ephraim was polishing his rifle in his own room when they came to him,and rose to welcome the unusual visit of the lady with more awkwardnessthan he commonly displayed. It was an honor she was doing him, yet hehad far rather she had not come.

  But he was forced back into his chair by Jessica's assault of clingingarms and raining kisses, and, catching sight of the parcel in her hand,began to understand.

  "Oh, you splendid, darling, generous Ephraim! I can never, never thankyou enough for doing this for me, but I could not ever possibly take it.Why, there must be hundreds of dollars there, my mother says, and thatwould mean almost all the years you've ever lived at Sobrante. I neverknew anybody with such a heart as you, dear Ephraim."

  The poor old fellow was far more distressed by her rejection of his giftthan she could guess. His face drooped, he worked his hands and feetuneasily, he shifted his seat, and behaved in altogether a new fashionfor the man who had hitherto borne himself so simply and naturally. Thenthe old suspicion returned to sting his loving heart, and he glanced upto study his mistress' face. To his surprise he saw it wet with tears,and that she was holding out her thin, labor-hardened hands to clasphis own.

  "Ephraim Marsh, you have done me more good than money could bring. Youhave renewed my faith in mankind. In a world where live such men as youjustice will be done the memory of my dead husband. I thank you."

  "Don't--don't mention it, Mrs. Trent. I wish it had been double, as itought, only----"

  "Ephraim, mother says we may go. You and I, as you said, 'together,'to make everything straight."

  "What? You've told her then, Lady Jess."

  "Of course. Or she guessed. How could I keep anything from my mother?And she's quite willing."

  "I'm more than willing, Ephraim. I _want_ you to go. I believe thatgood will come of the journey, though I am terribly disappointed by notfinding any papers or letters to help you in the search for the men withwhom Mr. Trent transacted his business. Antonio must have taken away allthe records or put them in some place I cannot guess."

  "Then we'll find Antonio first."

  "Of course. How simple of me not to think of that. Do you happen to knowwhere he went?"

  "No, ma'am, I don't. But you can always track a--well some critters bytheir scent. Wherever that scoundrel goes he'll leave a trail. I'vea keen nose for the hunt."

  "Don't judge him too harshly, Ephraim. Perhaps he considered that hewas doing all for the best; and if Sobrante is his, he's welcome to it."

  "Whew!" was the ranchman's astonished comment.

  "Don't you understand, dear Ephraim? Losing a home is nothing to losinghonor," said Jessica, earnestly. "We don't care half so much aboutSobrante as that other thing."

  "You shall keep both. Your home and our master's honor," cried theold man, fiercely.

  "Yes, that we will!" echoed Jessica, clasping his hand again.

  So doing she dropped the canvas bag on the floor, and, picking it up,Mrs. Trent would have restored it to its owner, as she so considered thesharpshooter. But he would have none of it.

  "I've heard the little tackers call one another 'Indian giver.' Icouldn't, ma'am, you know. It's Jessie's, now."

  The mistress' face grew serious. She had not expected to find the man soobstinate. But she hated to wound him and turned the matter aside withthe remark:

  "Let it rest so, then, for the present. I will keep it in the safetill you come back--if I can. Though I begin to feel as if nothing weresecure at Sobrante, nowadays."

  Ephraim pondered for a moment, then looked up with a relieved expression.

  "Asking pardon, ma'am, I'm sure; have you got any--I mean much moneyhandy by you?"

  "No. I have not. Fortunately, beyond the wages of the men, not muchready cash is needed at Sobrante, where we produce so much."

  "Yes'm. Yet I wouldn't like to set out on a journey that might belong, or even delayed for a spell, without considerable loose change.Better let the captain pay all expenses of the trip out of that littlehandful, and call it square."

  "Square! That is even greater generosity than the first. Lying in thesafe you might have found it again; but spent--Ephraim, I fear I'llnever be able to repay such an amount. I must think out some other way."

  "Don't you trust me, Mrs. Trent?"

  "Am I not trusting you with the most precious thing in life--mydaughter?"

  "Then, mother, trust him about the money. It's good sense. We haven'tany and we need it. Besides, it hurts him to refuse. Yes, we'll use it,Ephraim dear."

  So it was settled; but it was not in Jessica's nature to keep thestory from the rest of her "boys." Forgetting her angry feelings of themorning she called a meeting and spread the news among them. Much as sheloved them, until the time of her recent appointment as "captain,"she had tried to give them their titles of "Mr.," though not alwaysremembering. Now she no longer tried. They were just her comrades, andwhen she stood upon the horseblock to address them it was with thejoyful announcement:

  "John! George! Joe! Everybody! Ephraim and I are going away!"

  She paused and looked around, but instead of the sympathetic pleasureshe expected there were darkening looks and evident disappointment.

  "Oh! but we are coming back again. Hark, what he did!"

  Ephraim was away putting his few traps together against the morning'sstart, since, if they were to go at all, why delay? Else he mighthave silenced her then and there. But out it came, and be sure thesharpshooter's generosity lost not one bit in her telling.

  "With this money we're going to hire lawyers and pay our lodging wherewe have to, and hunt up the men that know about business. Finally, tofind the money--that other lot of it--that Mr. Hale said had been sentto my father by those New York folks. If they did send it they shallhave it back--if we can find it. If they didn't--they shall tell allthe world they accused him wrongfully. We're going to find the man thatmade that title, if we can. We're going to save Sobrante, but we'regoing to save its honor first!"

  "Hurrah! Hurrah! Glory to the captain!"

  "And old 'Forty-niner,'" added honest John Benton.

  They cheered him to the skies, and when the uproar had subsided, theirsmall chief said:

  "You are all to take the best care of Sobrante, and first--of my mother.Don't you let her worry, nor let Ned and Luis get hurt. And you mustkeep Aunt Sally here till I come back."

  Somebody groaned.

  "Oh! that's not right. I couldn't go if she hadn't come. She'll lookafter everything----"

  "That's the true word!"

  "And I want you all to be--be good and not tease her."

  "Hurrah! Hurrah! All in favor of minding the captain, say Ay!"

  They swung her down from her perch and carried her on their shoulderseverywhere about the old mission. They offered her all their possessions,including pistols and bowie knives, at peaceful Sobrante more usefulfor target practice and pruning vines than their original purposes.But she declined all these warli
ke things, saying that Ephraim wouldcarry only his own rifle, and finally tore herself away from them tothe anxious mother at the cottage, naturally jealous of each moment ofher darling's company.

  "Don't see how Eph. ever saved so much. Hasn't had any wages sinceours failed, as I know of. Mine always go fast as earned, and thoughteverybody's did," said one, when Jessica had left them.

  "Some folks have all the luck! Why didn't it happen to me to have moneyto give her? or to offer first to go hunt them liars? Shucks!" saidSamson, in disgust. Though he had been back some time from escortingthe stranger "off bounds," that task had left him in a bad humor.

  "Well, the captain'd tell me envy was wicked, and when I was hearingher say it I'd believe it. But I do envy old eighty his chance,"complained Joe. "Hello! there's Ferd! Come to think of it I haven'tnoticed him around these two days. Not since that stranger cast his uglyshadow on the ranch. Hi, there, Dwarf! Where you been?"

  "Where I seen bad doings."

  "Right. Seeing you was there yourself. What doings was they?"

  In ordinary the older men had little to say to Antonio's "Left Hand,"but he afforded them diversion, just then, when they were all a littleanxious and downhearted over their captain's departure on what seemed tosome of them a wild-goose chase.

  Ferd went through a pantomime of theft. Furtively putting one handinto his neighbor's pocket to instantly thrust it back into his own.He produced a buckskin bag and twisting some eucalyptus leaves intorolls, suggesting those of money, thrust these within the bag and thatwithin his jacket. Then he glanced about with an absurdly innocentexpression, threw his shoulders back, and stepped forward a few paceswith so firm a step and erect a bearing that more than one instantlyrecognized the mimicry.

  "Forty-niner."

  Having produced the effect he had intended, Ferd slouched back into hisown natural attitude and begged:

  "Something to eat."

  At that moment Ephraim had been approaching and was an indignant witnessof this performance, nor was he less quick to see its significancethan his mates had been. Also, to him that buckskin bag was a familiarobject. With one stride he collared Ferd and shook him like a rat.

  "You imp! What do you mean by that? And how came you by Elsa Winkler'spouch?"

  Ferd broke from his captor and his face changed color beneath itsfilth. He was one who was perfectly satisfied to live in a countrywhere water was scarce; but, by way of fun, another ranchman caught himas he escaped from Ephraim, and forcibly ducked his head and shouldersin the washing-trough. After that he was let go and later on was givena liberal supper at the messroom. He ate this as if he had not seenfood since he had gone away two days before, but he was greedy at alltimes, and the present instance excited no comment.

  The morning came and all was ready for the start. Every person atSobrante gathered before the cottage door, and each with his or herword of farewell advice or good will. Aunt Sally, fluttering withpatchwork strips of already "pieced blocks," flung jauntily overeither shoulder, her spectacles slipping off the point of her nose andher hands holding forth a fat fig pie, hot and dripping from the oven.

  "I've been a-bakin' all night, Ephy. There's a pair of fowls, a ham,four loaves, some hard-boiled eggs, salt, pepper, sugar, tea, coffee,butter, dishes, five vials of medicine, some dish towels, some----"

  "What in reason! How expect me to carry that great basket, as well asthe saddlebags, and myself--on one horse? You're old enough to havesense--but you'll never learn it. One loaf----"

  "Ephraim Marsh! Are you eighty years old or are you not? At your agewould you starve the little darling daughter of the best friends youever had? Here, Jessie. You get off that donkey. We'll wait till we canpick out some other man that----"

  "Give me the basket; I'll carry it if I have to on my head!"interrupted "Forty-niner," indignantly. But he added to himself:"I can chuck it into the first clump of mesquite I meet."

  Jessica was upon Scruff, whose loss the small boys were bewailingfar more than that of the girl herself. Without Scruff they would becompelled to stay within walking distance of the cottage, and thiswas imprisonment. Without Jessica--well, there were many things onecould do better with Jessica away.

  Mrs. Trent's face was pale but calm. Nobody knew what this first partingwith her helpful child was to her anxious heart, but it was her part tosend the travelers outward in good cheer.

  "Put the saddlebags on Scruff, in front of Jessica. He's strong enoughto carry double, and they're not so heavy. Few girls, in my days at theEast, would have set out upon an indefinite journey, equipped with onlyone flannel frock and a single change of underclothing."

  "But the flannel frock is new and so is the pretty Tam that Elsa gave melast Christmas. What do I want more? specially when there's this warmjacket you made me take, for a cold night's ride. Isn't it enough,mother, dear?"

  "Quite, I think, else I should have made you delay till I could haveprovided more. Be sure to write me, now and then. One of the men willride to the post every few days and fetch any letters. Good-by, andnow--go quickly!"

  She added no prayers, for these were too deep in her heart for outwardutterance; but she felt her own courage ebbing, and that if the partingwere not speedy she could not at all endure it. Until that moment she hadnot realized how complete was her dependence upon Jessica's protectingtenderness; and turning, toward her home hid thus the tears she would nothave her daughter see.

  But neither could Lady Jess have seen them, because of the sudden mist inher own. All her eagerness for the journey was gone, and her courage wasfast following it. If the start were not made at once it would never be.

  "Good-by, mother. Good-by, all! Come, Ephraim! Go, go--Scruff!"

  A moment later the travelers were disappearing down the sandy road, andupon those whom they had left behind had fallen an intolerable burden offoreboding and loneliness.

  "Desolation of desolations! That's what this old ranch'll be tillthat there little bunch of human sunshine comes safely back to it. Acrazy trip, a crazy parcel of folks to let her take it. That's what weare," said John Benton, savagely kicking the horseblock to vent hispainful emotion.

  "Oh, dear! Oh, dear! And I never remembered to put in that guava jell!"moaned a voice of woe.

  "Then, mother, just trot it out to us for dinner," said her son,"we'll take that burden off your mind."

  "You will? Have you a heart to eat good victuals, John Benton, when thatsweet child has just thrust herself into a den of lions, and lawyers, andliars, and--and--things?"

  "Oh, hush! Lions! The notion!"

  "Well, you can't deny there's bears, anyway," she retorted, withready dolefulness. "Ephy's shot 'em himself in his younger days."

  "And ended the crop. Now you go in; and if I hear you downhearting themistress the least bit I'll make you take a dose of your own picra,"said this much-tried man.