by B. M. Bower
CHAPTER X. MIDNIGHT PROWLERS
Came midnight and moonlight together, and with them came also GoodIndian riding somewhat sullenly down the trail to the ranch. Sullenbecause of Evadna's attitude, which seemed to him permanentlyantagonistic, and for very slight cause, and which made the ranch anunpleasant abiding place.
He decided that he would not stop at the ranch, but would go on upthe valley to where one Abuer Hicks lived by himself in a half-dugout,half-board shack, and by mining a little where his land was untillable,and farming a little where the soil took kindly to fruit and grasses,managed to exist without too great hardship. The pension he received forhaving killed a few of his fellow-men at the behest of his governmentwas devoted solely to liquid relief from the monotony of his life,and welcome indeed was the man who brought him a bottle of joy betweentimes. Wherefore Good Indian had thoughtfully provided himself with aquart or so and rode with his mind at ease so far as his welcome at theHicks dwelling place was concerned.
Once again the Peaceful Hart ranch lay in brooding silence under theshadow of the bluff. A few crickets chirped shrilly along the trail, andfrom their sudden hush as he drew near marked unerringly his passing.Along the spring-fed creek the frogs croaked a tuneless medley beforehim, and, like the crickets, stopped abruptly and waited in absolutesilence to take up their night chant again behind him. His horse steppedsoftly in the deep sand of the trail, and, when he found that his riderrefused to let him stop at the stable-door, shook his head in mutedispleasure, and went quietly on. As he neared the silent house, thefaint creak of saddle-leather and the rattle of spur-chains against hisiron stirrups were smothered in the whispering of the treetops in thegrove, so that only the quick hushing of night noises alone betrayed himto any wakeful ear.
He was guilty of staring hard at that corner of the house where he knewEvadna slept, and of scowling over the vague disquiet which the thoughtof her caused him. No girl had ever troubled his mind before. It annoyedhim that the face and voice of Evadna obtruded, even upon his thoughtsof other things.
The grove was quiet, and he could hear Gene's unmistakable snore overby the pond--the only sound save the whispering of the trees, whichwent on, unmindful of his approach. It was evident, he thought, thatthe ghost was effectually laid--and on the heels of that, as he rode outfrom the deep shade of the grove and on past the garden to the meadowsbeyond, he wondered if, after all, it was again hardily wanderingthrough the night; for he thought he glimpsed a figure which flittedbehind a huge rock a few rods in advance of him, and his eyes were notused to playing him tricks.
He gave a twitch of his fingers upon the reins, and turned from thetrail to investigate. He rode up to the rock, which stood like an islandof shade in that sea of soft moonlight, and, peering into the shadows,spoke a guarded challenge:
"Who's that?"
A figure detached itself without sound from the blot of darkness there,and stood almost at his stirrup.
"Yo' Good Injun--me likum for talk yo'."
Good Indian was conscious of a distinct disappointment, though he keptit from his voice when he answered:
"Oh, it's you, Peppajee. What you do here? Why you no sleepum yo'wikiup?"
Peppajee held up a slim, brown hand for silence, and afterward rested itupon the saddle-fork.
"Yo' heap frien' Peaceful. Me heap frien' all same. Mebbyso we talk.Yo' get down. No can see yo', mebbyso; yo' no likum bad man for se--" Hestepped back a pace, and let Good Indian dismount; then with a gesturehe led him back into the shadow of the rock.
"Well, what's the row?" Good Indian asked impatiently, and curiously aswell.
Peppajee spoke more hastily than was usual. "Me watchumMan-that-catchum-fish. Him hee-eeap kay bueno. Me no sabe why him walk,walk in night--me heap watchum."
"You mean Baumberger? He's all right. He comes down here to catchum manyfish--trout, up in the Malad, you sabe. Heap friend Peaceful. You nolikum?"
"Kay bueno." Peppajee rested a forefinger upon Good Indian's arm. "Sunup there," he pointed high in the west. "Me go all same Hartley. Comestable--Pete stable--me walkum close--no makum noise. Me hear talk.Stoppum--no can see--me hear much bad talk. All time me hear, heaplikum for steal dis ranch. Me no sabe"--his tone was doubtful for aspace--"all same, me hear stealum this ranch. Man, you callum--"
"Baumberger?" suggested Grant.
"Him. All same Baumberga, him talk Man-that-coughs. All time saystealum ranch. Makum much bad talk, them mans. Me come ranch, me tellumPeaceful, him all time laugh, me. All time shakum head. Mebbyso thinkumI lie--shont-isham!"
"What more you do?" Good Indian, at least, did not laugh.
"Me go camp. Me thinkum, thinkum all time. Dat man have bad heart. Kaybueno. No can sleep--thinkum mebbyso do bad for Peaceful. Come ranch,stop all time dark, all time heap watchum. Bimeby, mebbyso man--all sameyo' callum Baumberga--him come, look, so--" He indicated, by a greatcraning of neck in all directions, the wariness of one who goes bystealth. "Him walk still all time, go all time ova there." He swept hisarm toward the meadows. "Me go still, for watchum. Yo' come, mebbysomake heap much noise--kay bueno. Dat mans, him hear, him heap scare.Me tellum, yo' mebbyso go still." He folded his arms with a gesture offinality, and stood statue-like in the deep gloom beside the rock.
Good Indian fingered his horse's mane while he considered the queerstory. There must be something in it, he thought, to bring Peppajeefrom his blankets at midnight and to impel him, unfriendly as he usuallyseemed, to confide his worry to him at once and without urging. And yet,to steal the Peaceful Hart ranch--the idea was ludicrous. Still, therewas no harm in looking around a bit. He sought a sagebrush that suitedhis purpose, tied his horse to it, stooped, and took the clankingMexican spurs from his heels, and touched Peppajee on the shoulder.
"All right," he murmured close to his ear, "we go see."
Without a word, Peppajee turned, and stole away toward the meadows,keeping always in the shadow of rock or bush, silent-footed as aprowling bobcat. Close behind him, not quite so silent because of hisriding-boots, which would strike now and then upon a rock, howevercareful he was of his footing, went Good Indian.
So they circled the meadow, came into sand and sage beyond, sought thereunavailingly, went on to the orchard, and skirted it, keen of eye andear, struck quietly through it, and came at last to the place where,the night before, Grant had overtaken Evadna--and it surprised him not alittle to feel his heart pounding unreasonably against his ribs when hestopped beside the rock where they had sat and quarreled.
Peppajee looked back to see why Grant paused there, and then, wrappinghis blanket tightly around him, crawled through the fence, and went on,keeping to the broad belt of shade cast upon the ground by the rowof poplars. Where the shade stopped abruptly, and beyond lay whitemoonlight with the ranch buildings blotching it here and there, hestopped and waited until Good Indian stood close beside him. Even thenhe did not speak, but, freeing an arm slowly from the blanket folds,pointed toward the stable.
Grant looked, saw nothing, stared harder, and so; feeling sure theremust be something hidden there, presently believed that a bit of theshadow at that end which was next the corral wavered, stopped, and thenmoved unmistakably. All the front of the stable was distinctly visiblein the white light, and, while they looked, something flitted across it,and disappeared among the sage beyond the trail.
Again they waited; two minutes, three minutes, five. Then another shadowdetached itself slowly from the shade of the stable, hesitated, walkedout boldly, and crossed the white sand on the path to the house.Baumberger it was, and he stopped midway to light his pipe, and so,puffing luxuriously, went on into the blackness of the grove.
They heard him step softly upon the porch, heard also the bovine sighwith which he settled himself in the armchair there. They caught thearomatic odor of tobacco smoke ascending, and knew that his presencethere had all at once become the most innocent, the most naturalthing in the world; for any man, waking on such a night, needs nojustification for smoking a no
cturnal pipe upon the porch while he gazesdreamily out upon the moon-bathed world around him.
Peppajee touched Grant's arm, and turned back, skirting the poplarsagain until they were well away from the house, and there was nopossibility of being heard. He stopped there, and confronted the other.
"What for you no stoppum stable?" he questioned bluntly. "What for youno stoppum ranch, for sleepum?"
"I go for stoppum Hicks' ranch," said Good Indian, without any attemptat equivocation.
Peppajee grunted. "What for yo' no stoppum all same Peaceful?"
Good Indian scorned a subterfuge, and spoke truly. "That girl, Evadna,no likum me. All time mad me. So I no stoppum ranch, no more."
Peppajee grinned briefly and understandingly, and nodded his head. "Meheap sabe. Yo' all time heap like for catchum that girl, be yo' squaw.Bimeby that girl heap likum yo'. Me sabe." He stood a moment staring atthe stars peeping down from above the rim-rock which guarded the bluff."All same, yo' no go stoppum Hicks," he commanded. "Yo' stoppum disranch all time. Yo' all time watchum man--yo' callum Baumberga." Heseemed to remember and speak the name with some difficulty. "Wherehim go, yo' go, for heap watchum. All time mebbyso me watchumMan-that-coughs. Me no sabe catchum ranch--all same, me watchum. Themmans heap kay bueno. Yo' bet yo' life!"
A moment he stood there after he was through speaking, and then he wasnot there. Good Indian did not hear him go, though he had stoodbeside him; neither could he, catching sight of a wavering shadow, saypositively that there went Peppajee.
He waited for a space, stole back to where he could hear any soundfrom the porch even if he could not see, and when he was certain thatBaumberger had gone back to his bed, he got his horse, took him by aroundabout way to the stable, and himself slept in a haystack. At least,he made himself a soft place beside one, and lay there until the sunrose, and if he did not sleep it was not his fault, for he tried hardenough.
That is how Good Indian came to take his usual place at the breakfasttable, and to touch elbows with Evadna and to greet her with punctiliouspoliteness and nothing more. That is why he got out his fishing-tackleand announced that he thought he would have a try at some trout himself,and so left the ranch not much behind Baumberger. That is why hepatiently whipped the Malad riffles until he came up with the portlylawyer from Shoshone, and found him gleeful over a full basket andbubbling with innocent details of this gamy one and that one stillgamier. They rode home together, and together they spent the hotafternoon in the cool depths of the grove.
By sundown Good Indian was ready to call himself a fool and Peppajee Jima meddlesome, visionary old idiot. Steal the Peaceful Hart ranch? Themore he thought of it, the more ridiculous the thing seemed.