CHAPTER X
IN THE MOONLIGHT
She stood there in a bright patch of moonlight looking up into his face,seeing every line of it in the rich flood of light from the full moon,wondering dully if she had lost her sense of the real and the unreal. Itseemed to her so rankly absurd, so utterly preposterous that he shouldseek to pretend with her. For, now that she had seen the limping gait ofhis big sorrel, was she more than certain that this was the man whom shehad seen following her in the afternoon. And as she noted again thesinewy bigness of him, the garb of grey shirt, open vest and blackchaps, she told herself angrily that he was a fool, or that he thoughther a fool, to pretend that he knew nothing of that thing which had justhappened in the lonely cabin. Even the grey neck-handkerchief, nowknotted loosely about the brown throat, was there to give him thelie.... With shame and anger her cheeks burned until they went ascrimson as hot blood could make them.
It was all so clear to her. She had refused to believe that he hadrobbed Hap Smith's mail bags. Why? She bit her lip in sudden anger:because he had fitted well in a romantic girl's eye! Fool that she was.She should have put sterner interpretation upon the fact that Thornton,coming rudely into the banker's private office, had admitted hearingpart of her conversation with Mr. Templeton. Now she had no doubt thathe had heard everything.
"Have you ever been over this trail? As far as the next ranch, sevenmiles further on?" he asked at last, his hard eyes coming away from thehorse that stood with one foot lifted a little from the ground, thequick twitching of the foot itself, the writhing and twisting of theforeleg, speaking of the pain from the deep cut.
"No."
There was so much of hatred in the one short word which she flung athim, so much of passionate contempt, that he looked at her wonderingly.
"What's the matter, Miss Waverly?" he asked, his voice a shade gentler."You seem all different somehow. Are you more tired than you thought?"
She laughed and the wonder grew in his eyes. He had never heard a womanlaugh like that, had not dreamed that this girl's voice could grow sobitter.
"No," she told him coldly. She jerked her pony's reins out of Thornton'shand. "I am going to ride on. And I suppose you will ride that poorwounded horse until it drops!"
"No," he said. "That's why I asked if you knew the trails. I didn'tnotice he limped out there where I put the saddle on. It was dark underthe trees, you know."
"Was it?" she retorted sarcastically, drawing another quick, searchinglook from him.
There was no call for an answer and he made none. He stepped to hishorse's head, lifted the wincing forefoot very tenderly, and stoopingclose to it looked at it for a long time. The girl was behind the broad,stooping back. Impulsively her hand crept into the bosom of her dress,her face going steadily white as her fingers curved and tightened aboutthe grip of the small calibre revolver she carried there. And then shejerked her hand out, empty.
She saw him straighten up, heard again the long, heavy sigh and markedhow his face was convulsed with rage.
"I don't know why a man did that." He was only ten steps away and yetshe turned her head a little sideways that she might catch the lowwords. She shivered. His voice was cold and hard and deadly. It wasdifficult for her to believe that in reality he had not forgotten herpresence.
"No, I don't know why a man did that. But I'm going to know. Yes, I'mgoing to know if it takes fifty years."
"Where is my trail?" she called sharply. "I am going."
"You couldn't find it alone. I'm going with you."
Her scorn of him leaped higher in her eyes. It was her thought that hewas going to ride this poor, tortured brute. For she knew that there wasno other horse in the barn or about the camp. But he was quietlyloosening his cinch, lifting down the heavy Mexican saddle, removing thebit from his horse's mouth.
"What are you going to do?" She bit her lips after the question, but ithad leaped out involuntarily.
"I'm going to leave him here for the present. The wound will heal upafter a while."
With the saddle thrown over his own shoulders, he ran a gentle hand overthe soft nose of his horse which was thrust affectionately against hisside, and turned away. She watched him, expecting him to go back to thebarn to leave his saddle and bridle. But instead he set his face towardthe hills beyond the cabin, where she supposed the trail was.
"I'll pick up another horse at the next ranch," he offered casually byway of explanation. "And we had better hit the trail. It's gettinglate."
Wordlessly she followed, her eyes held, fascinated by the great, tallbulk of him swinging on in front of her, carrying the heavy saddle withas little care to its weight as if he had been entirely unconscious ofit, as no doubt such a man could be. She knew that already he had riddensixty miles today and that it was seven miles farther to the ranch wherehe would get another horse. And yet there he strode on, swiftly, asthough he had rested all day and now were going to walk the matter of afew yards.
She could not understand this man, whom, since she must, she followed.Had he not told her there in the cabin when he had played at hiding hisidentity from her, that he knew she was armed? And yet, encumbered withthe saddle upon his shoulder, his right hand carrying the bridle, heturned his back square upon her with no glance to see if she were evennow covering him with her revolver. And had she not called him a coward,thought him a coward? Was this the way a coward should act?
Again and again during those first minutes her hand crept to the bosomof her dress. Did he know it? she wondered. Was he laughing at her,knowing that she could not bring herself to the point of actuallyshooting? But then, she might cover him, call to him that she wouldshoot if he made her, and so force him to return the money he hadstolen.
"He would laugh at me," she told herself each time, her anger at him andat herself rising higher and higher. "He would know that I could notkill him. Not in cold blood, this way!"
So Buck Thornton strode on, grim in the savage silence which grippedhim, on through the shadows and out into the moonlight beyond the trees,and she followed in silence. There were times when she hated him so thatshe thought that she could shoot, shoot to kill. His very going with herangered her. Was it not more play-acting, as insolent as anything hecould do, as insolent as his kissing her had been! She grew red and wentwhite over it. It was as though he were laughing into her face, makingsport of her, saying, "I am a gentleman, you see. I could stay here allnight, and you would have to stay with me! But I am not takingadvantage of you; I am walking seven miles over a hard trail, carrying apack like a mule, that you may sleep tonight under the same roof withanother woman."
Now she was tempted to wheel her horse, to turn back, to camp alonesomewhere out there in the woods, or to ride the thirty miles back toDry Town. And now, remembering the bank notes which had been taken fromher, remembering the insult in the cabin, she held on after him,resolved that she would not lose sight of this man, that she would seehim handed over to justice when she could taunt him, saying: "I didn'tshoot you, you see, because I am a woman and not a tough. But I havegiven you into hands that are not woman's hands, because I hate you so!"
Her horse carried her on at a swift walk, but she did not have to drawrein to keep from passing Thornton. His long stride was so smooth,regular, swift and tireless that it soon began to amaze her. They hadpassed through the little valley in which Harte's place stood, andentered a dark canon leading into the steeper hills. The trail wasuneven, and now and then very steep. Yet Thornton pushed on steadilywith no slowing in the swift gait, no sign to tell that he felt fatiguein muscles of back or legs.
"He must be made of iron," she marvelled.
In an hour they had come to the top of a ridge, and Thornton stopped,tossing his saddle to the ground. He had not once spoken since they leftthe Harte place. Now with quick fingers he made his cigarette. Shestopped a dozen paces from him, and though one would have said that shewas not looking at him, saw the flare of his match, glimpsed the hardset lines of his face, and knew that he would not
speak until she hadspoken. And the lines of her own face grew hard, and she turned awayfrom him, feeling a quick spurt of anger that she had so much as lookedat him when he had not turned his eyes upon her. He smoked hiscigarette, swept up saddle and bridle, and moved on, striking over theridge and down upon the other side.
It was perhaps ten minutes later when she saw, far off to the left, theglimmer of a light, lost it through the trees, found it again and knewthat it told of some habitation. They came abreast of a branch trail,leading toward the lighted window; the girl's eager eyes found itreadily, and then noted that Thornton was passing on as though he hadseen neither light nor trail. She spoke hurriedly, saying:
"Isn't that the place? Where the light is?"
"No," he told her colourlessly and without turning. "That's the Henryplace. We're going on to Smith's."
"Why don't we stop here? It's nearer. And I'm tired."
"We can stop and rest," he replied. "Then we had better go on. It's notvery much further now."
"But why not here?" she cried insistently in sudden irritation that uponall matters this man dictated to her and dictated so assuredly. "Oneplace is as good as another."
"This one isn't, Miss Waverly. There's a tough lot here, and there areno women among them. So we'll have to make it to Smith's. Do you want torest a while?"
"No," she cried sharply. "Let's hurry and get it over with!"
He inclined his head gravely and they went on. And again her anger roseagainst this man who seemed over and over to wish to remind her that hewas a gentleman. As though she had forgotten any little incidentconnected with him!
Again they made their way through lights and shadows, down into raggedcuts in the hills, over knolls and ridges, through a forest whereraindrops were still dripping from the thick leaves and where she knewthat without him she never could have found her way. And not once moredid they speak to each other until, unexpectedly for her, they came outof the wood and fairly upon a squat cabin with a light running out tomeet them through the square of a window.
"Smith's place," he informed her briefly.
Already three dogs had run to meet them, with much barking and simulatedfierceness, and a man and a woman had come to the door.
"Hello," called the man. "Who is it?"
"Hello, John. It's Thornton. Howdy, Mrs. Smith." Thornton tossed hissaddle to the ground, pushed down one of the dogs that had recognizedhim and was leaping up on him. "Mrs. Smith, this is Miss Waverly fromDry Town. A friend of the Templetons. She'll be grateful if you couldtake her in for the night."
Man and wife came out, shook hands with the girl, the woman led her intothe cabin, and Smith took her horse. Then the rancher saw Thornton'ssaddle.
"Where's your horse?" he asked quickly.
"Back at Harte's. Lame."
In a very few words he told of a deep knife cut beneath the fetlock,explained Miss Waverly's presence with him, and ended by demanding,
"Who do you suppose did that trick for me, John? It's got me buffaloed."
Smith shook his head thoughtfully.
"By me, Buck," he answered slowly. "Most likely some jasper you've hadtrouble with an' is too yeller to get even any other way. I haven't seenany of your friends from Hill's Corners stickin' around though. Haveyou?"
"No. But Miss Waverly saw somebody on the trail the other side ofHarte's this afternoon. Mistook him for me until I told her. A big manabout my size riding a sorrel. Know who it was?"
Again Smith shook his head.
"Can't call him to mind, Buck. It might be Huston for size, but hehasn't got a sorrel in his string, an' then he's took on too much fatlately to be mistook for you. Go on inside. You'll want to eat, Iguess. I'll put up the lady's horse an' be with you in two shakes."
"Thanks, John. But I had supper back at Harte's. Can you let me have ahorse in the morning? I'll send him back by one of the boys."
"Sure. Take the big roan. An' you don't have to send him back, either.I'm ridin' that way myself tomorrow, an' I'll drop by an' get him."
"Which way are you ridin'?"
"To the Bar X. I got word last week three or four of my steers was overthere. I want to see about 'em. Before," he added drily, "they get anycloser to Dead Man's."
Thornton's nod indicated that he understood. And then, suddenly, hesaid,
"If you're going that way you can see Miss Waverly through, can't you?She's going to the Corners."
Smith whistled softly.
"Now what the devil is the like of her goin' to that town for?" hedemanded.
"I don't know the answer. But she's going there." And as partialexplanation, he added, "She's Henry Pollard's niece."
For a moment Smith pondered the information in silence. Then his onlyreference to it was a short spoken, "Well, she don't look it! Anyway,that's her look-out, an' I'll see her within half a dozen miles of theborder. You'll turn off this side the Poison Hole, huh?"
"I'll turn off right here, and right now. I've got a curiosity, John,"and his voice was harder than Winifred Waverly had ever heard it, "toknow a thing or two about the way my horse went lame. I'm going to slingmy saddle on your roan and take a little ride back to Harte's. Maybe Ican pick up that other jasper's trail in the canon back there."
The two men went down to the stable, and while the rancher watered andfed the pony Thornton roped the big roan in the fenced-in pasture. Tenminutes after he had come to the Smith place he had saddled and riddenback along the trail toward Harte's.
The two women in the cabin looked up as Smith came in.
"Where's Mr. Thornton?" his wife asked.
"He's gone back," Smith told her. He drew out his chair, sat down andfilled his pipe. Before Mrs. Smith's surprise could find words the girlhad started to her feet, crying quickly:
"Gone back! Where?"
"To Harte's. A man knifed his horse back there." He stopped, lightedhis pipe, and then said slowly, with much deep thoughtfulness, "If Iwas that man I'd ride some tonight! I'd keep right on ridin' untilI'd put about seven thousand miles between me an' Buck Thornton. An'then ... well, then, I guess I'd jest naturally dig a hole an' crawlin it so deep nothin' but my gun stuck out!"
"What did he say?" she asked breathlessly.
"That's jest it, Miss. He didn't say much!"
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