by Max Brand
They rode alert, high-headed like their horses, and there was about them a suggestion of the patience which carries a man endlessly after one purpose, and a suggestion of the eagerness, too, which makes him strike swift and hard and surely when the time for action comes.
Along the ridge of a crest, an almost level stretch of a mile or more, Jack eased the grip on the reins, and the black responded with a sudden lengthening of stride and lowered his head with ears pressed back flat while he fairly flew over the ground.
Nothing could match that speed. The strong mare fell to the rear, fighting gamely, but beaten by that effort of the stallion.
Jack swerved in the saddle and looked back, laughing her triumph. Pierre smiled grimly in response and leaned forward, shifting his weight more over the withers of Mary. He spoke to her, and one of her pricking ears fell back as if to listen to his voice. He spoke again and the other ear fell back, her neck straightened, she gave her whole heart to her work.
First she held the stallion even, then she began to gain. That was the meaning of those round, strong hips, and the breadth of the chest. She needed a half-mile of running to warm her to her work, and now the black came back to her with every leap.
The thunder of the approaching hoofs warned the girl. One more glance she cast in apprehension over her shoulder, and then brought her spurs into play again and again. Still the rush of hoofs behind her grew louder and louder, and now there was a panting at her side and the head of cream-colored Mary drew up and past.
She gave up the battle with a little shout of anger and slowed up her mount with a sharp pull on the reins. It needed only a word from Pierre and his mare drew down to a hand-gallop, twisting her head a little toward the black as if she called for some recognition of her superiority.
“It’s always this way,” cried Jack, and jerked at the reins with a childish impotence of anger. “I beat you for the first quarter of a mile and then this fool of a horse—I’m going to give him away.”
“The black,” said Pierre, assuming an air of quiet and superior knowing which always aggravated her most, “is a good second-rate cayuse when some one who knows horses is in the saddle. I’d give you fifty for him on the strength of his looks and keep him for a decoration.”
She could only glare her speechless rage for a moment. Then she changed swiftly and threw out her hands in a little gesture of surrender.
“After all, what difference does it make? Your Mary can beat him in a long run or a short one, but it’s your horse, Pierre, and that takes the sting away. If it were any one else’s I’d—well, I’d shoot either the horse or the rider. But my partner’s horse is my horse, you know.”
She broke into song, the clear voice flinging back from the mountainside to the cañon that dropped on their right:
“My partner’s horse is my horse, bunky—
From his fetlock to the bucking-strap,
From his flying hoofs to the saddle-flap—
My partner’s horse is my horse, bunky.
“My partner’s gun is my gun, bunky—
From the chamber to the trigger-guard;
And the butt like a friend’s hand gripping hard—
My partner’s gun is my gun, bunky.
“My partner’s heart is my heart, bunky—
And like matched horses galloping well,
They will beat together through heaven and hell—
My partner’s heart is my heart, bunky.”
He swerved his mare sharply to the left and took her hand with a strong grip.
“Jack, of all the men I’ve ever known, I’d rather walk with you, I’d rather talk with you, I’d rather ride with you, I’d rather fight for you. Jack, you’re the best pal that ever wore spurs, and the gamest sport.”
“Of all the men you ever knew,” she said, “I suppose that I am.”
He did not hear the low voice, for he was looking out over the cañon and whistling the refrain of her song happily. A few moments later they swung out onto the very crest of the range.
On all sides the hills dropped away through the gloom of the evening, brown near by, but falling off through a faint blue haze and growing blue-black with the distance. A sharp wind, chill with the coming of night, cut at them. Not a hundred feet overhead shot a low-winging hawk back from his day’s hunting and rising only high enough to clear the range and then plunge down toward his nest.
Like the hawks they peered down from their point of vantage into the profound gloom of the valley below. They shaded their eyes and studied it with a singular interest for long moments, patient, silent, quiet as the hawk when he steadies himself in leisurely circles high in the heart of heaven and fixes his eyes surely on his prey far, far below—then folds his wings and shoots suddenly down, a veritable bolt from the blue.
So these two marauders stared until she raised a hand slowly and then pointed down. He followed the direction she indicated, and there, through the haze of the evening, he made out a glimmer of lights.
He said sharply: “I know the place, but we’ll have a devil of a ride to get there.”
And like the swooping hawk they started down the slope. It was precipitous in many places, but Pierre kept almost at a gallop, making the mare take the slopes often crouched back on her haunches with forefeet braced forward, and sliding many yards at a time.
In between the boulders he darted, twisting here and there, and always erect and jaunty in the saddle, swaying easily with every movement of Mary. Not far behind him came the girl. Fine rider that she was, she could not hope to compete with such matchless horsemanship where man and horse were only one piece of strong brawn and muscle, one daring spirit. Many a time the chances seemed too desperate to her, but she followed blindly where he led, setting her teeth at each succeeding venture, and coming out safe every time, until they swung out at last through a screen of brush and onto the level floor of the valley.
CHAPTER XX
FULL DRESS
In the heart of that valley two roads crossed. Many a year before a man with some imagination and illimitable faith was moved by the crossing of those roads to build a general merchandise store.
Time justified his faith, in a small way, and now McGuire’s store was famed for leagues and leagues about, for he dared to take chances with all manner of novelties, and the curious, when their pocketbooks were full, went to McGuire’s to find inspiration.
Business was dull this night, however; there was not a single patron at the bar, and the store itself was empty, so he went to put out the big gasoline lamp which hung from the ceiling in the center of the room, and was on the ladder, reaching high above his head, when a singular chill caught him in the center of his plump back and radiated from that spot in all directions, freezing his blood. He swallowed the lump in his throat and with his arms still stretched toward the lamp he turned his head and glanced behind.
Two men stood watching him from a position just inside the door. How they had come there he could never guess, for the floor creaked at the lightest step. Nevertheless, these fantoms had appeared silently, and now they must be dealt with. He turned on the ladder to face them, and still he kept the arms automatically above his head while he descended to the floor.
However, on a closer examination, these two did not seem particularly formidable. They were both quite young, one with dark-red hair and a somewhat overbright eye; the other was hardly more than a boy, very slender, delicately made, the sort of handsome young scoundrel whom women cannot resist.
Having made these observations McGuire ventured to lower his arms by jerks; nothing happened; he was safe. So he vented his feelings by scowling on the strangers.
“Well,” he snapped, “what’s up? Too late for business. I’m closin’ up.”
The two quite disregarded him. Their eyes were wandering calmly about the place, and now they rested on the pride of McGuire’s store. The figure of a man in evening clothes, complete from shoes to gloves and silk hat, stood beside a girl of wax loveliness.
She wore a low-cut gown of dark green, and over her shimmering, cold white shoulders was draped a scarf of dull gold. Above, a sign said: “You only get married once; why don’t you do it up right?”
“That,” said the taller stranger, “ought to do very nicely for us, eh?”
And the younger replied in a curiously light, pleasant voice: “Just what we want. But how’ll I get away with all that fluffy stuff, eh?”
The elder explained: “We’re going to a bit of a dance and we’ll take those evening clothes.”
The heart of McGuire beat faster and his little eyes took in the strangers again from head to foot.
“They ain’t for sale,” he said. “They’s just samples. But right over here—”
“This isn’t a question of selling,” said the red-headed man. “We’ve come to accept a little donation, McGuire.”
The storekeeper grew purple and white in patches. Still there was no show of violence, no display of guns; he moved his hand toward his own weapon, and still the strangers merely smiled quietly on him. He decided that he had misunderstood, and went on: “Over here I got a line of goods that you’ll like. Just step up and—”
The younger man, frowning now, replied: “We don’t want to see any more of your junk. The clothes on the models suit us all right. Slip ’em off, McGuire.”
“But—” began McGuire and then stopped.
His first suspicion returned with redoubled force; above all, that head of dark red hair made him thoughtful. He finished hoarsely: “What the hell’s this?”
“Why,” smiled the taller man, “you’ve never done much in the interests of charity, and now’s a good time for you to start. Hurry up, McGuire; we’re late already!”
There was a snarl from the storekeeper, and he went for his gun, but something in the peculiarly steady eyes of the two made him stop with his fingers frozen hard around the butt. A mighty sickness overwhelmed McGuire, and before his eyes there swam a dark mist.
He whispered: “You’re Red Pierre?”
“The clothes,” repeated Pierre sternly, “on the jump, McGuire.”
And with a jump McGuire obeyed. His hands trembled so that he could hardly remove the scarf from the shoulders of the model, but afterward fear made his fingers supple. He lifted up the green gown; white, filmy clothes showed underneath.
There came a sharp cry from Jack: “Turn away, Pierre; turn quick and don’t dare to look. I’ll take care of McGuire.”
And Pierre le Rouge turned, grinning. When she told him that he could look again, he found her with a bright spot of color in either cheek, and her eyes avoided his. It thrilled Pierre, and yet it troubled him, for she seemed changed, all at once, less of a comrade, and strangely aloof. McGuire was doing up the clothes in two bundles.
Jacqueline took one of them and Pierre the other under his left arm; with his right hand he drew out some yellow coins.
“I didn’t buy these clothes because I didn’t have the time to dicker with you, McGuire. I’ve heard you talk prices before, you know. But here’s what the clothes are worth to us.”
And into the quaking hands of McGuire he poured a chinking stream of gold pieces.
Relief, amazement, and a very wholesome fear struggled in the face of McGuire as he saw himself threefold overpaid. At that little yellow heap he remained staring, unheeding the sound of the retreating outlaws. At it he still stared with fascinated eyes while the door banged and the clatter of galloping hoofs began.
“It ain’t possible,” he said at last, “thieves have begun to pay.”
His eyes sought the ceiling.
“So that’s Red Pierre?” said McGuire.
As for Pierre and Jacqueline, they were instantly safe in the black heart of the mountains. Many a mile of hard riding lay before them, however, and already the dance must be nearly ready to begin in the Crittenden schoolhouse. There was no road, not even a trail that they could follow. They had never even seen the Crittenden schoolhouse; they knew its location only by vague descriptions.
But they had ridden a thousand times in places far more bewildering and less known to them. Like all true denizens of the mountain-desert, they had a sense of direction as uncanny as that of an Eskimo. Now they struck off confidently through the dark and trailed up and down through the mountains until they reached a hollow in the center of which shone a group of dim lights. It was the schoolhouse near the Barnes place, the scene of the dance.
So they turned back behind the hills and in the covert of a group of cottonwoods they kindled two more little fires, shading them on three sides with rocks and leaving them open for the sake of light on the fourth.
They worked busily for a time, without a word spoken by either of them. The only sound was the rustling of Jacqueline’s stolen silks and the purling of a small stream of water near them, some meager spring.
But presently: “P-P-Pierre, I’m f-freezing.”
He himself was numbed by the chill air and paused in the task of thrusting a leg into the trousers, which persisted in tangling and twisting under his foot.
“So’m I. It’s c-c-cold as the d-d-d-devil.”
“And these—th-things—aren’t any thicker than spider webs.”
“Wait. I’ll build you a great big fire.”
And he scooped up a number of dead twigs.
“P-P-Pierre! D-d-d-don’t you d-d-dare c-come in s-sight of m-me.”
“D-d-damn it! I don’t want to see you.”
“P-Pierre! Aren’t you ash-sh-sh-shamed to talk like that?”
“Jack, this damned collar won’t button.”
“K-k-eep t-t-t-trying.”
“Come help me.”
“Pierre! How can I come dressed like th-th-this?”
“I’m n-n-not going to the dance.”
“P-P-P-Pierre!”
“I’m not.”
“Then I am.”
“W-w-w-without me?”
“Y-y-yes.”
“Jack, you’re a flirt.”
“I hate you, Pierre!”
“Thank G-G-G-God! The collar’s on.”
“I can’t tie this—th-th-thing.”
“I’ll come help you.”
“N-n-n-no!”
“What is it?”
“The thing that g-g-goes around me.”
“C-c-c-corset?”
A silence.
“Pierre!”
“W-well?”
“It’s t-t-tied!”
“But this damned tie isn’t!”
“I’ll do it for you.”
And then: “N-n-no. Go b-b-b-back!”
He fixed the eye-glass on his nose and laughed at the thought of himself.
“Pierre.”
“Well?”
“I’ve got the dress on.”
“Then I can come?”
He was warm enough now, with the suit on and even the tie knotted, after a fashion.
“No. I st-t-till feel just n-n-n-naked, Pierre.”
“Is there something missing?”
“Yes. Around the shoulders.”
“Take the scarf.”
There was an interlude of more rustling, then:
“P-P-Pierre.”
“Well?”
“I wish I had a m-m-m-mirror.”
“Jack, are you vain?”
A cry of delight answered him. He threw caution to the winds and advanced on her. He found her kneeling above a pool of water fed by the soft sliding little stream from the spring. With one hand she held a burning twig by way of a torch, and with the other she patted her hair into shape and finally thrust the comb into the glittering, heavy coils.
She started, as if she felt his presence without looking, and knelt with body erect.
“P-P-Pierre!”
“Yes?”
“C-c-c-close your eyes.”
He obeyed.
“Look!”
She stood with the torch high overhead, and he saw a beauty so glorious that he closed his eyes involunta
rily and still he saw the vision in the dull-green gown, with the scarf of old gold about her shoulders and the skin peering out here and there, dazzling white. And there were two lights, the barbaric red of the jewels in her hair, and the black shimmer of her eyes. He drew back a step more. It was a picture to be looked at from a distance.
She ran to him with a cry of dismay:
“Pierre, what’s wrong with me?”
His arms went round her of their own accord. It was the only place they could go. And all this fragrant, marvelous beauty was held in the circle of his will.
“It isn’t that, but you’re so wonderful, Jack, so glorious, that I hardly know you. You’re like a different person.”
He felt the warm body trembling, and the thought that it was not entirely from the cold set his heart beating like a trip-hammer. What he felt was so strange to him that he stepped back in a vague alarm, and then laughed. She stood with a half whimsical half expectant smile.
“Jack, how am I to risk you in the arms of all the strangers in that dance?”
The light of Alexander when he dreamed of new worlds to conquer came into those wide black eyes.
“It’s late. Listen!”
She cupped a hand at her ear and leaned to listen. Up from the hollow below them came a faint strain of music, a very light sound that was drowned a moment later by the solemn rushing of the wind through the great trees above them.
They looked up of one accord.
“Pierre, what was that?”
“Nothing; the wind in the branches, that’s all.”
“It was a hushing sound. It was like—it was like a warning, almost.”
But he was already turning away, and she followed him hastily.
CHAPTER XXI
THE DANCE
Jacqueline could never back a horse in that gown, or even sit sidewise in the saddle without hopelessly crumpling it, so they walked to the schoolhouse. It was a slow progress, for she had to step lightly and carefully for fear of the slippers. He took her bare arm and helped her; he would never have thought of it under ordinary conditions, but since she had put on this gown she was greatly changed to him, no longer the wild, free rider of the mountain-desert, but a defenseless, strangely weak being. Her strength was now something other than the skill to ride hard and shoot straight and quick.