The Phantom Herd

by B. M. Bower

  CHAPTER TEN

  UNEXPECTED GUESTS FOR APPLEHEAD

  Applehead Forrman was worried over his cat, Compadre, which is Spanishfor comrade or something of that sort. It was a blue cat and it was abig cat, and it had a bellicose disposition, and Applehead was anxiousbecause it had lately declared war on a neighboring coyote and had notcome out of the battle unscathed. Applehead had heard the disturbanceand had gone out with a rifle and dispersed the coyote, but not untilCompadre had lost half of his tail and a good deal of hisself-assurance. Since that night, almost a week ago, Compadre had been achanged cat. He had sought dark corners and had yowled when the bestfriend he had in the world tried to coax him out to his meals. Appleheadwas very patient and very sympathetic, and hunted small game with whichto tempt the invalid's appetite.

  On this day he had a fat prairie dog which he had shot, and he wascarrying it around by a hind leg looking for Compadre and calling "Kitty,kitty, kitty," in the most seductive tones of which his desert-harshenedvocal chords were capable. He looked under the squat adobe cabin whichheld all the odds and ends that had accumulated about the place, andwhich he called the "ketch-all." He went over and looked under the watertank where there was shade and coolness. He went to the stable, and fromthere he returned to the adobe house, squat like the "ketch-all" butlarger. There was a hole alongside the fireplace chimney at the end nextthe hill, and sometimes when Compadre was especially disenchanted withhis world, he went into the hole and nursed his grievances in darkseclusion under the house.

  Applehead got down upon all fours and called "Kitty, kitty, kitty," withhis face close to the hole. It was past noon, and Compadre had not hadanything to eat since the night before, when he had lapped up half asaucer of canned milk and had apathetically licked a slice of bacon.Applehead put his ear to the hole and imagined he heard a faint meow froma far corner. He pushed the prairie dog into the aperture and called"Kitty-kitty-kitty" again coaxingly.

  He was so absorbed in his anxious quest that he did not hear the chuckleof two wagons coming up through the sand to the corral. He did not evenhear the footsteps of men approaching the house. He did not hearanything at all except a dismal yowl now and then from the darkness. Hecontorted his long person that he might peer into the gloom. He pushedthe prairie dog in as far as he could reach. "Come, kitty-kitty-kitty!"he coaxed. "Doggone your onery soul, I'm gitting tired of this kindaperformance! You can tromp on me just so fur and no further, now I'ma-tellin' yuh. That there tail of yourn needs a fresh rag tied to it,and some salve. But I ain't the burrowin' kind of animal, and I ain'tcomin' in under there after yuh. Come, kitty-kitty-kitty! Come on outathere 'fore I send a charge of birdshot in after yuh!" His voice changedto a tremulous chant of rising anger. "You wall-eyed, mangy, rat-eatin'son of a gun, what have I been feedin' yuh fur all these years? You comeouta there! If it wasn't for the love uh God I got in my heart, I'llfill yuh so full of holes the coyotes'll have to make soup of ye! I'llsure spread yuh out so thin your hide'll measure up like a mountainlion! Don't yuh yowl at me like that! Come, kitty-kitty-kitty--ni-icekitty! Come to your old pard what ketched yuh the fattest young dog onthe flat for your dinner. Come on, now; you ain't skeered uh me,shorely! Come on, Compadre--ni-ice kitty!"

  "Let me try!" cried Rosemary behind him, her voice startling oldApplehead so that he knocked his head painfully on the rock foundation ashe jerked himself into a more dignified posture. His eyes widened at thesize of the audience grouped behind him, but he had faced more amazingsights than that in his eventful career. He got stiffly to his feet andbowed, the prairie dog dangling limply from his hand.

  "Howdy! Howdy! Pleased to meet yuh," he greeted them dazedly. Then hespied Luck standing half behind Weary's tall form, and his embarrassedsmile changed to a joyful grin. "Well, danged if it ain't Luck! How areyuh, boy? I was jest thinkin' about you right this morning. What windblowed you into camp? Come right on in, folks. If you're friends ofLuck's, yuh don't need no interduction in this camp. Luck and me's etouta the same skillet months on end together. Come on in. I've et, butthey's plenty left." His blue eyes twinkled quizzically over the HappyFamily and then went to Luck. "What yuh up to this time, boy? 'Notherwild-west show?"

  While they were waiting for coffee to boil, Luck told him what he was upto this time. Told him what it was he meant to do in the way of making aWestern picture that should be worthy the West. He did not say a wordabout needing Applehead's assistance; he did not need to say a word aboutthat. Applehead himself saw where he would fit into the scheme, and heseemed to take it for granted that Luck saw it also.

  "Got all your stuff out from town?" he asked, while he was hunting cupsenough to go around. "If yuh ain't, you can send a couple of the boys inwith a four-horse team after dinner. I d'no about beds, unless yuh gotyour own beddin'-rolls with yuh. The missus, she can have a room, and therest of yuh will have to knock some bunks together. Mebby we can cleanout the 'ketch-all' and turn that into a bunk house. One I had, it burntdown last winter; some darn-fool Mexicans got to fightin' in there andkicked the lamp over. It could have a new roof put on, I reckon; thewalls is there yet. You can take a look around after you eat, and seewhat all there is to do. Well, set up, folks; ain't much, but I'vethrowed my feet under the table fer less and was thankful to git it, nowI'm a-tellin' yuh!"

  Big Medicine bethought him of the remains of the train lunch which theyhad frugally saved. He brought that and added it to Applehead'simpromptu meal. The sandwiches were mashed flat, and the pickles werelimp, and the cake much inclined to crumble, but Applehead gave one lookand took off his hat.

  "I've et, but I can shore eat again when I git my eyes on cake," hedeclared exuberantly, and pulled an empty box up to the table for a seat."I wisht Compadre could git a smell uh that there fried chicken; it wouldput new life into him, which he needs after tangling with that therecoyote 'tother night."

  "We ought to unhitch and give the horses a feed," Luck suggested. "Anyparticular place?"

  "Well, you know where to put them cayuses as well as I do," Appleheadmumbled, with his mouth full of cake. "I don't care what yuh do aroundthe danged place. Go along and don't bother me, boy; I'm busy."

  "Didn't I tell you how it would be?" Luck reminded Andy and Weary whenthey were outside. "That old boy is tickled to death to have us here. Hesure is a type, too. I'll be using him in the picture. And just tale alook at that corral down there! We'll set up camp this afternoon andround up some horses,--Applehead always keeps a bunch running back hereon the mesa,--and to-morrow morning we'll get to work. A couple of youwill have to take these teams back this afternoon, too. I'll let youdrive the four-horse in, Weary, and lead the other behind. And I'll sendthe Native Son in with Applehead's team and wagon, so you can haul out athousand feet of lumber for a stage. Get it surfaced oneside,--fourteen-foot boards, sabe? And about twenty-five pounds ofeight-penny nails. We've got the tools in our outfit. I wonder whichpasture Applehead's team is running in. I'll have one of the boys getthem up, unless--"

  "Luck Lindsay!" came Rosemary's high, clear treble. "Aren't you boysgoing to eat any dinner?"

  "We'll eat when we have more time!" Luck shouted back. "Send Appleheadout here, will you?"

  Presently Applehead appeared with a large piece of cake in one hand and awell-picked chicken wing in the other. "What yuh want?" he inquiredlazily, in the tone that implies extreme physical comfort.

  "I want your big team to haul some lumber out from town. Where are they?If you don't mind catching them up while I help get this stuff unloaded,we'll have things moving around here directly."

  "Shore I'll ketch 'em up fur ye, soon as I find Compadre and give himthis here bone. He's been kinda off his feed since that coyote clumb hisframe. He was under the house, but I reckon so many strange voices kindagot his goat. There ain't ary yowl to be got outa that hole no more.Come, kitty-kitty-kitty!"

  Luck threw out his hands despairingly, and then laughed. Applehead'stender solicitude for his cat was a fixed characteristic of the man, andLuck knew t
here was no profit in argument upon the subject. He beganunloading the lighter pieces of baggage while the boys fed the liveryteams. The others came straggling down from the house, lighting theirafter-dinner cigarettes and glancing curiously at the adobe out-buildingswhich were so different from anything in Montana. The sagebrush slopeswore a comfortable air of familiarity, even though the boys were moreaccustomed to bunch grass; but an adobe stable was a novelty.

  Fast as they came near him, Luck put them to work. There was plenty todo before they could even begin work on the Big Picture, but Luck seemedto have thought out all the details of camp-setting with the sameattention to trifles which he had shown in the making of a picture. Inhalf an hour he had every one busy, including old Applehead, who, havinglocated Compadre in the stable loft and left the chicken wing at the topof the ladder, had saddled his horse and gone off into a far pasture tobring in all the horses down there, so that Luck could choose whateveranimals he wished to use. Dave Wiswell, the dried little man, washelping Rosemary wash the dishes and put away the food supplies they hadbrought out with them, as fast as Happy Jack could carry them up fromthe wagon. Andy Green was ruthlessly emptying the only closet--a roomyone, fortunately--in the house, and tacking up black paper which Luckhad brought, so that it might serve as a dark room. Big Medicine andPink were clearing out the one-roomed adobe cabin which Applehead calledthe "ketch-all," so that the boys could sleep there until the bunk-housewas repaired.

  Luck was unpacking his camera and swearing softly to himself while he setit up, and wishing that his experience as assistant camera-man was notquite so far in the past. He foresaw difficulties with that camera untilhe got in practice, but he did not say anything about it to the others.He got it together finally, put in the two-hundred-foot magazine ofnegative that he had brought with him to use while waiting for his bigorder to arrive, made a few light tests, and went up to the house to seeif Andy had the dark room dark enough.

  He found Andy defending himself as best he could from a small domesticstorm. In his anxiety to have that dark room fixed just the way Luckwanted it, Andy had purloined a shelf which Rosemary needed, and whichshe meant to have, if words could restore it to its place behind thekitchen stove. Andy had the shelf down and was taking out bent nails witha new hammer when Luck came to the door with his arms full of packages ofchemicals and a ruby lamp.

  "What can a fellow do?" Andy was inquiring plaintively. "There ain'tanother board on the place that's the right width. I looked. Luck's gotto have a shelf; you don't expect him to keep all his junk on the floor,do you? I'm sorry, but I've just got to have it, girl."

  "You've just got to put that shelf back, Andy. Where do you expect me toput things? There isn't a pantry on the place, and only that one dinkylittle cupboard over there. I can't keep my dishes on the floor, andcooking is going to be pretty important, itself, around this camp!"

  "Soon as the lumber gets here, I'll have Andy build you a cupboard," Lucksoothed her. "You haven't got many conveniences here, and that's a fact.But we'll get things straightened out, _pronto_. Got any bones or scrapsleft, Mrs. Andy? That little black dog that followed us out is here yet.He didn't go back with the boys. I found him curled up in the wagon shedjust now; poor little devil looks about starved. His ribs stand out worsethan a cow that's wintered on a sheep range."

  With Rosemary's attention diverted to the little black dog, Andy got theshelf nailed firmly upon the wall of the dark room. And immediately Luckproceeded to use it to its fullest capacity and announced that he neededanother one, whereat Andy groaned.

  "Say, I'm a brave man, all right, but I don't dare to swipe any moreshelves," he protested. "Not from my wife, anyway. Timber must sure bescarce in this man's country. I never did see a place so shy of boards asthis ranch is."

  "Well, let's see if there are any barrels," said Luck. "I've beenstudying on how to rig up some way to develop my film. If we can findsome half barrels and knock the heads out, I can wind the negative aroundthem with the emulsion side out, and dip it in the bigger barrels ofdeveloper; see how I mean? Believe me, this laboratory problem is goingto be a big one till I can see my way to getting tanks and film racks outhere. But I believe barrels will work all right. And, say! There's someold hose I saw out by the windmill tank; you get that, and see if youcan't run it under the house and up through a hole in the floor. I expectit leaks in forty places, but maybe you can mend it. And we ought to havesome way to run the water out in a trough or something. You see what youcan do about that, Andy, while I go and unpack the rest of my cameraoutfit. There's a garret up over the ceiling, here, and you'll have tosee what shape it's in for drying film. Stop all the cracks so dust can'tblow in. I want to start taking scenes to-morrow morning, you know. I'vegot two hundred feet of raw stock to work with till the other gets here.I've got to develop my tests before to-morrow so I'll know what I'mdoing. I can't afford to spoil any film."

  "Well, hardly," Andy agreed. "By gracious, I hope you're making the restof the bunch hump themselves, too. Honest, I'd die if I saw anybodysitting around in the shade, right now!"

  "Andy, did you go and take that shelf after all?" came the reproachfulvoice of Rosemary from the kitchen, and Luck retreated by way of thefront door without telling Andy just how busy the other boys were.

  The "ketch-all," where Big Medicine and Pink were clearing out theaccumulation of years, was enveloped in a cloud of dust. Down in thecorral a dozen horses were circling, with Applehead moving cautiouslyabout in the middle dragging his loop and making ready for a throw. Therewas one snuffy little bay gelding that he meant to turn over to Luck fora saddle horse, and he wanted to get him caught and in the stable beforeshowing him to Luck. Happy Jack was wobbling up the path with anoversized sack of potatoes balanced on his shoulder, and his face a deepcrimson from the heat and his exertions. Down in the stable the littleblack dog, enlivened by the plate of bones Rosemary had given him, hadscented the cat in the loft and was barking hysterically up the ladder.

  Luck stepped out briskly, cheered by the atmosphere of bustlingpreparation which surrounded him. That he was the moving spirit whichdirected all these activities stimulated him like good old wine. It wasfor his Big Picture that they were preparing. Already his brain was atwork upon the technique of picture production, formulating a system whichshould as far as possible eliminate the risk of failure because of thehandicaps under which he must work.

  Having to be his own camera-man, and to work without an assistant, piledhigh the burden of work and responsibility; but he could not afford topay the salaries such assistants would demand. He had a practicalknowledge of camera craft, since he had worked his way up through allbranches of the game, and he was sure that with practice he could do thephotographic work. He hoped to teach Andy enough about it so that hecould help; Andy seemed to have an adaptability superior to some of theothers and would learn the rudiments readily, Luck believed.

  The lack of a leading woman was another handicap. He could not afford tohire one, and he could not very well weave a love story into his plotwithout a woman. He was going to try Rosemary, since her part wouldconsist mostly of riding in and out of scenes and looking pretty,--atleast in the earlier portion. And by the time he was ready to produce thedramatic scenes, he hoped that she would be able to act the part. It wasa risk, of course, and down deep in his heart he feared that much of hercharm would never reach the screen; but he must manage somehow, sincethere would be no money to spend on salaries. He ought to have acharacter woman, too,--which he lacked.

  But other things he did have, and they were the things that would countmost for success or failure. He had his real boys, for instance; and hehad his real country; and, last and most important of all, he had hisstory to tell. In spite of his weariness, Luck was almost happy thatfirst afternoon at Applehead's ranch. He went whistling about his task ofdirecting the others and doing two men's work himself, and he refused toworry about anything.

  That evening after supper, when they were all smoking and resting beforeApplehead'
s big rock fireplace, Luck's energy would not let him dwellupon the trivial incidents of their trip, which the Happy Family werediscussing with reminiscent enjoyment. Applehead's booming laugh was toLuck as a vague accompaniment to his own thoughts darting here and thereamong his plans.

  "Aw, gwan!" Happy Jack was exclaiming in his habitual tone of protest."Conductor lied to me, is how I come to be over to that place when thetrain started to pull out. I was buyin' something. I wasn't talking to noMexican girl. I betche--"

  "Now, while we're all together," Luck broke suddenly into Happy'sexplanation, "I'm just going over the scenario from start to finish andassign your parts. Applehead, I'm going to cast you for the sheriff. Youwon't need to do any acting at all--"

  "We-ell, if I do, I calc'late I got some idee uh how a shurf had oughtaack," Applehead informed him with a boastful note in his voice, andpulled himself up straighter in his chair. "I was 'lected shurf uh thiscounty four different terms right hand runnin', and if I do say it, theywasn't nobody ever said I didn't do my duty. Ary man I went after, I comepurty near bringin' him into camp, now I'm tellin' ye! This here old girlhas shore talked out in meetin', in her time, and there wasn't ary manwanted to face her down in an argument, now I'm tellin' ye." He got upand took his old six-shooter off the mantel and held it lovingly in hispalm. Very solemnly he licked his thumb and polished a certain placealong the edge of the yellow ivory handle, and held it so the HappyFamily could see three tiny notches.

  "Them's three argyments she shore settled," he stated grimly, and turnedslowly upon Luck.

  "Yes-s, I calc'late I can play shurf for ye, all right enough."

  Luck looked up at him with his eyes shining, remembering how staunch afriend Applehead had been in times past, and how even his boastings werebut a naive recognition of facts concerning himself. Applehead Forrmanwas fifty-six years old, but Luck could not at that moment recall a manmore dangerous to meet as an enemy or more loyal to have as a friend.

  "I calc'late you can," he agreed in his soft, friendly drawl. "Sit downand turn your good ear this way, Applehead, so this story can soak in.You'll see where you come in as sheriff, and you'll sabe just what you'llhave to do. Bud, here, will be the outlaw that blows into the cow-campand begins to mix things. He's the one you'll have to settle. So here'sthe way the story runs:"

  "Say, boss, make it short and sweet, can't you?" Andy begged. He wassitting on the floor with his head against Rosemary's knees, and hiseyelids were drooping drowsily. "By gracious, nobody'll have to sing meto sleep to-night! I'm about ready to hit the hay right now."

  "I'll cut out the atmosphere and just stick to the action, then," Luckconceded. "I want to get you all placed, so we can get to work in themorning without any delay. _Sabe_?"

  "Shoot," murmured Pink, opening his eyes with some effort "I can listenfor five minutes, maybe."

  "I can't, I don't believe," the Native Son yawned. "But go ahead,_amigo_. My heart's with you, anyway, whether my eyes are open or shut."

  Luck was pretty sleepy himself, after two nights and a day spent in achair car, with another day of hard labor to finish the ordeal. But hisenthusiasm had never been keener than when, in the land of sage andcactus, he first unfolded his precious scenario and bent forward toread by the light of the fire. He forgot to skip the "atmosphere."Scene by scene he lived the story through. Scene by scene he saw hisBig Picture grow vivid as ever the reality would be. Once or twice heglanced up and saw Applehead leaning forward with his elbows on hisknees and his pipe gone cold in his fingers, absorbed, living the storyeven as Luck lived it.

  A long, rumbling snore stopped him with a mental jolt. He came back toreality and looked at the Happy Family. Every one of them, save Rosemary,was sound asleep; and even Rosemary was dreaming at the fire with hereyes half closed, and her fingers moving caressingly through theunconscious Andy's brown hair.

  "Let 'em be. You go ahead and read it out," Applehead muttered, impatientof the pause.

  So Luck, with his audience dwindled to one bald-headed old rangeman,read the story of what he meant to create out there in the wild spacesof New Mexico.