CHAPTER 20. BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY
To minimize the risk, Megales and Carlo left the prison by the secretpassage, following the fork to the river bank and digging at thepiled-up sand till they had forced an exit. O'Halloran met them herewith horses, and the three men followed the riverwash beyond the limitsof the town and cut across by a trail to a siding on the Central MexicanPacific tracks. The Irishman was careful to take no chances, and kepthis party in the mesquit till the headlight of an approaching train wasvisible.
It drew up at the siding, and the three men boarded one of the two carswhich composed it. The coach next the engine was occupied by a dozentrusted soldiers, who had formerly belonged to the bodyguard of Megales.The last car was a private one, and in it the three found Henderson,Bucky O'Connor, and his little friend, the latter still garbed as a boy.
Frances was exceedingly eager to don again the clothes proper to hersex, and she had promised herself that, once habited as she desired,nothing could induce her ever to masquerade again. Until she met andfell in love with the ranger she had thought nothing of it, since ithad been merely a matter of professional business to which she had beenforced. Indeed, she had sometimes enjoyed the humor of the deception.It had lent a spice o enjoyment to a life not crowded with it. But aftershe met Bucky there had grown up in her a new sensitiveness. She wantedto be womanly, to forget her turbid past and the shifts to which shehad sometimes been put. She had been a child; she was now a woman. Shewanted to be one of whom he need be in no way ashamed.
When their train began to pull out of the depot at Chihuahua she drew adeep sigh of relief.
"It's good to get away from here back to the States. I'm tired of plotsand counterplots. For the rest of my life I want to be just a woman,"she said to Bucky.
The young man smiled. "I reckon I must quit trying to make you agentleman. Fact is, I don't want you to be one any more."
She slanted a look at him to see what that might mean and another up thecar to make sure that Henderson was out of hearing.
"It was rather hopeless, wasn't it?" she smiled. "We'll do pretty wellif we succeed in making me a lady in course of time. I've a lot tolearn, you know."
"Well, you got lots of time to learn it," he replied cheerfully. "AndI've got a notion tucked away in the back of my haid that you haven'tgot such a heap to study up. Mrs. Mackenzie will put you next to theetiquette wrinkles where you are shy."
A shadow fell on the piquant, eager face beside him. "Do you think shewill love me?"
"I don't think. I know. She can't help it."
"Because she is my mother? Oh, I hope that is true."
"No, not only because she is your mother."
She decided to ask for no more reasons. Henderson, pleased at the widestretch of plain as only one who had missed the open air for many yearscould be, was on the observation platform in the rear of the car, oneglance at his empty seat showed her. There was no safety for her shynessin the presence of that proverbial three which makes a crowd, and shebegan to feel her heart again in panic as once before. She took at oncethe opening she had given.
"I do need a mother so much, after growing up like Topsy all theseyears. And mine is the dearest woman in the world. I fell in love withher before, and I did not know who she was when I was at he ranch."
"I'll agree to the second dearest in the world, but I reckon you shoottoo high when you say the plumb dearest."
"She is. We'll quarrel if you don't agree," trying desperately to diverthim from the topic she knew he meant to pursue. For in the past twodays he had been so busy helping O'Halloran that he had not even had aglimpse of her. As a consequence of which each felt half-dubious of theother's love, and Frances felt wholly shy about expressing her own oreven listening to his.
"Well, we're due for a quarrel, I reckon. But we'll postpone it till wegot more time to give it." He drew a watch from his pocket and glanced atit "In less than fifteen minutes Mike and our two friends who are makingtheir getaway will come in that door Henderson just went out of. Thatmeans we won't get a chance to be alone together, for about two days.I've got something to say to you, Curly Haid, that won't keep that longwith out running my temperature clear up. So I'm allowing to say itright now immediate. No, you don't need to turn them brown appealers onme. It won't do a mite of good. It's Bucky to the bat and he's bound tomake a hit or strike out."
"I think I hear Mr. Henderson coming," murmured Frances, for lack ofsomething more effective to say.
"Not him. He's hogtied to the scenery long enough to do my business.Now, it won't take me long if I get off right foot first. You read myletter, you said?"
"Which letter?" She was examining attentively the fringe of the sash shewore.
"Why, honey, that love-letter I wrote you. If there was more than one itmust have been wrote in my sleep, for I ce'tainly disremember it."
He could just hear her confused answer: "Oh, yes, I read that. I toldyou that before."
"What did you think? Tell me again."
"I thought you misspelled feelings."
"You don't say. Now, ain't that too bad? But, girl o' mine, I expectyou were able to make it out, even if I did get the letters to millingaround wrong. I meant them feelings all right. Outside of the spelling,did you have any objections to them,
"How can I remember what you wrote in that letter several days ago?"
"I'll bet you know it by heart, honey, and, if you don't, you'll find itin your inside vest pocket, tucked away right close to your heart."
"It isn't," she denied, with a blush.
"Sho! Pinned to your shirt then, little pardner. I ain't particularwhich. Point is, if you need to refresh that ailin' memory of yours, thedocument is--right handy. But you don't need to. It just says one littlesentence over and over again. All you have got to do is to say onelittle word, and you don't have to say it but once."
"I don't understand you," her lips voiced.
"You understand me all right. What my letter said was 'I love you,' andwhat you have got to say is: 'Yes'."
"But that doesn't mean anything."
"I'll make out the meaning when you say it."
"Do I have to say it?"
"You have to if you feel it."
Slowly the big brown eyes came up to meet his bravely. "Yes, Bucky."
He caught her hands and looked down into her pure, sweet soul.
"I'm in luck," he breathed deeply. "In golden luck to have you look atme twice. Are you sure?"
"Sure. I loved you that first day I met you. I've loved you every daysince," she confessed simply.
Full on the lips he kissed her.
"Then we'll be married as soon as we reach the Rocking Chair."
"But you once said you didn't want to be my husband," she tauntedsweetly. "Don't you remember? In the days when we were gipsies."
"I've changed my mind. I want to, and I'm in a hurry."
She shook her head. "No, dear. We shall have to wait. It wouldn't befair to my mother to lose me just as soon as she finds me. It is herright to get acquainted with me just as if I belonged to her alone. Youunderstand what I mean, Bucky. She must not feel as if she never hadfound me, as if she never had been first with me. We can love each othermore simply if she doesn't know about you. We'll have it for a secretfor a month or two."
She put her little hand on his arm appealingly to win his consent. Hiseyes rested on it curiously, Then he took it in his big brown one andturned it palm up. Its delicacy and perfect finish moved him, for itseemed to him that in the contrast between the two hands he saw inminiature the difference of sex. His showed strength and competency andthe roughness that comes of the struggle of life. But hers was strangelytender and confiding, compact of the qualities that go to make up thestrength of the weak. Surely he deserved the worst if he was not good toher, a shield and buckler against the storms that must beat against themin the great adventure they were soon to begin together.
Reverently he raised the little hand and kissed its palm.
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nbsp; "Sure, sweetheart I had forgotten about your mother's claim. We canwait, I reckon," he added with a smile. "You must always set me straightwhen I lose the trail of what's right, Curly Haid. You are to be aguiding-star to me."
"And you to me. Oh, Bucky, isn't it good?"
He kissed her again hurriedly, for the train was jarring to a halt.Before he could answer in words, O'Halloran burst into the coach, at thehead of his little company.
"All serene, Bucky. This is the last scene, and the show went without ahitch in the performance anywhere."
Bucky smiled at Frances as he answered his enthusiastic friend:
"That's right. Not a hitch anywhere."
"And say, Bucky, who do you think is in the other coach dressed as oneof the guards?"
"Colonel Roosevelt," the ranger guessed promptly.
"Our friend Chaves. He's escaping because he thinks we'll have himassassinated in revenge," the big Irishman returned gleefully. "Youshould have seen his color, me bye, when he caught sight of me. I askedhim if he'd been reduced to the ranks, and he begged me not to tell youhe was here. Go in and devil him."
Bucky glanced at his lover. "No, I'm so plumb contented I haven't theheart."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
At the Rocking Chair Ranch there was bustle and excitement. Mexicansscrubbed and scoured under the direction of Alice and Mrs. Mackenzie,and vaqueros rode hither and thither on bootless errands devised bytheir nervous master. For late that morning a telephone call fromAravaipa had brought Webb to the receiver to listen to a telegram. Themessage was from Bucky, then on the train on his way home.
"The best of news. Reach the Rocking Chair tonight."
That was the message which had disturbed the serenity of big WebbMackenzie and had given to the motherly heart of his wife an unusualflutter. The best of news it could not be, for the ranger had alreadywritten them of the confession of Anderson, which included the statementof the death of their little daughter. But at least he might bring thenext best news, information that David Henderson was free at last andhis long martyrdom ended.
So all day hurried preparations were being made to receive the honoredguests with a fitting welcome. The Rocking Chair was a big ranch,and its hospitality was famous all over the Southwest. It was quiteunnecessary to make special efforts to entertain, but Webb and his wifetook that means of relieving the strain on them till night.
Higher crept the hot sun of baked Arizona. It passed the zenith andbegan to descend toward the purple hills in the west, went behind themwith a great rainbow splash of brilliancy peculiar to that country Duskcame, and died away in the midst of a love-concert of quails. Velvetnight, with its myriad stars, entranced the land and made magic of itshills and valleys.
For the fiftieth time Webb dragged out his watch and consulted it.
"I wish that young man had let us know which way he was coming, so Icould go and meet them. If they come by the river they should be inthe Box canyon by this time. But if I was to ride out, like as not theywould come by the mesa," he sputtered.
"What time is it, Webb?" asked his wife, scarcely less excited.
He had to look again, so absent-minded had been his last glance at thewatch. "Nine-fifteen. Why didn't I telephone to Rogers and ask him tofind out which way they were coming? Sometimes I'm mighty thick-headed."
As Mackenzie had guessed, the party was winding its way through the BoxCanyon at that time of speaking. Bucky and Frances led the way, followedby Henderson and the vaquero whom Mackenzie had telephoned to guide themfrom Aravaipa.
"I reckon this night was made for us, Curly Haid. Even good old Arizonanever turned out such a one before. I expect it was ordered for usever since it was decided we belonged to each other. That may have beenthousands of years ago." Bucky laughed, to relieve the tension, andlooked up at the milky way above. "We're like those stars, honey. Allour lives we have been drifting around, but all the time it had beendecided by the God-of-things-as-they-are that our orbits were going torun together and gravitate into the same one when the right time came.It has come now."
"Yes, Bucky," she answered softly. "We belong, dear."
"Hello, here's the end of the canon. The ranch lies right behind thatspur."
"Does it?" Presently she added: "I'm all a-tremble, Bucky. To think I'mgoing to meet my father and my mother for the first time really, for Idon't count that other time when we didn't know. Suppose they shouldn'tlike me."
"Impossible. Suppose something reasonable," her lover replied.
"But they might not. You think, you silly boy, that because you doeverybody must. But I'm so glad I'm clothed and in my right mind again.I couldn't have borne to meet my mother with that boys suit on. Do youthink I look nice in this? I had to take what I could find ready-made,you know."
Unless his eyes were blinded by the glamour of love, he saw the sweetestvision of loveliness he had known. Such a surpassing miracle of soft,dainty curves, such surplusage of beauty in bare throat, speaking eye,sweet mouth, and dimpled cheeks! But Bucky was a lover, and perhaps nofair judge, for in that touch of vagueness, of fairy-land, lent by themoonlight, he found the world almost too beautiful to believe. Did shelook NICE? How beggarly words were to express feelings, after all.
The vaquero with them rode forward and pointed to the valley below,where the ranch-house huddled in a pellucid sea of moonlight.
"That's the Rocking Chair, sir."
Presently there came a shout from the ranch, and a man galloped towardthem. He passed Bucky with a wave of his hand and made directly forHenderson.
"Dave! Dave, old partner," he cried, leaping from his horse and catchingthe other's hand. "After all these years you've risen from the dead andcome back to me." His voice was broken with emotion.
"Come! Let's canter forward to the ranch," said Bucky to Frances and thevaquero, thinking it best to leave the two old comrades together for awhile.
Mrs. Mackenzie and Alice met them at the gate. "Did you bring him? Didyou bring Dave?" the older lady asked eagerly.
"Yes, we brought him," answered Bucky, helping Frances to dismount.
He led the girl to her mother. "Mrs. Mackenzie, can you stand goodnews?"
She caught at the gate. "What news? Who is this lady?"
"Her name is Frances."
"Frances what?"
"Frances Mackenzie. She is your daughter, returned, after all theseyears, to love and be loved."
The mother gave a little throat cry, steadied herself, and fell into thearms of her daughter. "Oh, my baby! My baby! Found at last."
Quietly Bucky slipped away to the stables with the ponies. As quietlyAlice disappeared into the house. This was sacred ground, and not eventheir feet should rest on it just now.
When Bucky returned to the house, he found his sweetheart sittingbetween her father and mother, each of whom was holding one of herhands. Henderson had retired to clean himself up. Happy tears werecoursing down the cheeks of the mother, and Webb found it necessary toblow his nose frequently. He jumped up at sight of the ranger.
"Young man, you're to blame for this. You've found my friend and you'vefound my daughter. Brought them both back to us on the same day. What doyou want? Name it, and it's yours, if I can give it."
Bucky looked at Frances with a smile in his eyes. He knew very well whathe wanted, but he was under bonds not to name it yet.
"I'll set you up in the cattle business, sir. I'll buy you sheep, ifyou prefer. I'll get you an interest in a mine. Put a name to what youwant."
"I'm no robber. You paid the expenses of my trip. That's all I wantright now."
"It's not all you'll get. Do you think I'm a cheap piker? No, sir.You've got to let me grub-stake you." Mackenzie thumped a clinched fistdown on the table.
"All right, seh. You're the doctor. Give me an interest in that map andI'll prospect the mine this summer, if I can locate it."
"Good enough, and I'll finance the proposition. You and Dave cantake half-shares in the proper
ty. In the meantime, are you open to anengagement?"
"Depends what it is," replied Bucky cautiously.
"My foreman's quit on me. Gone into business for himself. I'm lookingfor a good man. Will you be my major-domo?"
Bucky's heart leaped. He had been thinking of how he must report almostimmediately to HurryUp Millikan, of the rangers. Now, he could resignfrom that body and stay near his love. Certainly things were coming hisway.
"I'd like to try it, seh," he answered. "I may not make good, but I surewould like to have a chance at it."
"Make good! Of course you'll make good. You're the best man in Arizona,sir," cried Webb extravagantly. He wheeled on his new-found daughter."Don't you think so, Frankie?"
Frances blushed, but answered bravely: "Yes, sir. He makes everythingright when he takes hold of it."
"Good. We're not going to let him get away from us after making us sohappy, are we, mother? This young man is going to stay right here. Wenever had but one son, and we are going to treat him as much like one aswe can. Eh, mother?"
"If he will consent, Webb." She went up to the ranger and kissed histanned cheek. "You must pardon an old woman whom you've made veryhappy."
Again Bucky's laughing blue eyes met the brown ones of his sweetheart.
"Oh, I'll consent, all right, and I reckon, ma'am, it's mighty good ofyou to treat me so white. I'll sure try to please you."
Webb thumped him on the back. "Now, you're shouting. We want you to beone of us, young man."
Once more that happy, wireless message of eyes followed by O'Connor'sassent. "That's what I want myself, seh."
Bucky found a surprise waiting for him at the stables. A heavy handdescended upon his shoulder. He whirled, and looked up into the face ofSheriff Collins.
"You here, Val?" he cried in surprise.
"That's what. Any luck, Bucky?"
They went out and sat down on the big rocks back of the corral. Hereeach told the other his story, with certain reservations. Collins hadjust got back from Epitaph, where he had been to get the fragments ofpaper which told the secret of the buried treasure. He was expecting toset out in the early morning to meet Leroy.
"I'll go with you," said Bucky immediately.
Val shook his head. "No, I'm to go alone. That's the agreement."
"Of course if that's the agreement." Nevertheless, the ranger formed aprivate intention not to be far from the scene of action.
Bucky O'Connor: A Tale of the Unfenced Border Page 20