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they knew you shot me."
He appeared thoughtful, and lay there with the fading flare of the
fire on his pale face. But he did not speak again. Presently he fell
asleep.
Joan leaned back, within reach of him, with her head in her saddle,
and pulling a blanket up over her, relaxed her limbs to rest. Sleep
seemed the furthest thing from her. She wondered that she dared to
think of it. The night had grown chilly; the wind was sweeping with
low roar through the balsams; the fire burned dull and red. Joan
watched the black, shapeless hulk that she knew to be Gulden. For a
long time he remained motionless. By and by he moved, approached the
fire, stood one moment in the dying ruddy glow, his great breadth
and bulk magnified, with all about him vague and shadowy, but the
more sinister for that. The cavernous eyes were only black spaces in
that vast face, yet Joan saw them upon her. He lay down then among
the other men and soon his deep and heavy breathing denoted the
tranquil slumber of an ox.
For hours through changing shadows and starlight Joan lay awake,
while a thousand thoughts besieged her, all centering round that
vital and compelling one of Jim Cleve.
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Only upon awakening, with the sun in her face, did Joan realize that
she had actually slept.
The camp was bustling with activity. The horses were in, fresh and
quarrelsome, with ears laid back. Kells was sitting upon a rock near
the fire with a cup of coffee in his hand. He was looking better.
When he greeted Joan his voice sounded stronger. She walked by
Pearce and Frenchy and Gulden on her way to the brook, but they took
no notice of her. Bate Wood, however, touched his sombrero and said:
"Mornin', miss." Joan wondered if her memory of the preceding night
were only a bad dream. There was a different atmosphere by daylight,
and it was dominated by Kells. Presently she returned to camp
refreshed and hungry. Gulden was throwing a pack, which action he
performed with ease and dexterity. Pearce was cinching her saddle.
Kells was talking, more like his old self than at any time since his
injury.
Soon they were on the trail. For Joan time always passed swiftly on
horseback. Movement and changing scene were pleasurable to her. The
passing of time now held a strange expectancy, a mingled fear and
hope and pain, for at the end of this trail was Jim Cleve. In other
days she had flouted him, made fun of him, dominated him, everything
except loved and feared him. And now she was assured of her love and
almost convinced of her fear. The reputation these wild bandits gave
Jim was astounding and inexplicable to Joan. She rode the miles
thinking of Jim, dreading to meet him, longing to see him, and
praying and planning for him.
About noon the cavalcade rode out of the mouth of a canon into a
wide valley, surrounded by high, rounded foot-hills. Horses and
cattle were grazing on the green levels. A wide, shallow, noisy
stream split the valley. Joan could tell from the tracks at the
crossing that this place, whatever and wherever it was, saw
considerable travel; and she concluded the main rendezvous of the
bandits was close at hand.
The pack drivers led across the stream and the valley to enter an
intersecting ravine. It was narrow, rough-sided, and floored, but
the trail was good. Presently it opened out into a beautiful V-
shaped gulch, very different from the high-walled, shut-in canons.
It had a level floor, through which a brook flowed, and clumps of
spruce and pine, with here and there a giant balsam. Huge patches of
wild flowers gave rosy color to the grassy slopes. At the upper end
of this gulch Joan saw a number of widely separated cabins. This
place, then, was Cabin Gulch.
Upon reaching the first cabin the cavalcade split up. There were men
here who hallooed a welcome. Gulden halted with his pack-horse. Some
of the others rode on. Wood drove other pack-animals off to the
right, up the gentle slope. And Red Pearce, who was beside Kells,
instructed Joan to follow them. They rode up to a bench of
straggling spruce-trees, in the midst of which stood a large log
cabin. It was new, as in fact all the structures in the Gulch
appeared to be, and none of them had seen a winter. The chinks
between the logs were yet open. This cabin was of the rudest make of
notched logs one upon another, and roof of brush and earth. It was
low and flat, but very long, and extending before the whole of it
was a porch roof supported by posts. At one end was a corral. There
were doors and windows with nothing in them. Upon the front wall,
outside, hung saddles and bridles.
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Joan had a swift, sharp gaze for the men who rose from their
lounging to greet the travelers. Jim Cleve was not among them. Her
heart left her throat then, and she breathed easier. How could she
meet him?
Kells was in better shape than at noon of the preceding day. Still,
he had to be lifted off his horse. Joan heard all the men talking at
once. They crowded round Pearce, each lending a hand. However, Kells
appeared able to walk into the cabin. It was Bate Wood who led Joan
inside.
There was a long room, with stone fireplace, rude benches and a
table, skins and blankets on the floor, and lanterns and weapons on
the wall. At one end Joan saw a litter of cooking utensils and
shelves of supplies.
Suddenly Kells's impatient voice silenced the clamor of questions.
"I'm not hurt," he said. "I'm all right--only weak and tired.
Fellows, this girl is my wife. ... Joan, you'll find a room there--
at the back of the cabin. Make yourself comfortable."
Joan was only too glad to act upon his suggestion. A door had been
cut through the back wall. It was covered with a blanket. When she
swept this aside she came upon several steep steps that led up to a
smaller, lighter cabin of two rooms, separated by a partition of
boughs. She dropped the blanket behind her and went up the steps.
Then she saw that the new cabin had been built against an old one.
It had no door or opening except the one by which she had entered.
It was light because the chinks between the logs were open. The
furnishings were a wide bench of boughs covered with blankets, a
shelf with a blurred and cracked mirror hanging above it, a table
made of boxes, and a lantern. This room was four feet higher than
the floor of the other cabin. And at the bottom of the steps leaned
a half-dozen slender trimmed poles. She gathered presently that
these poles were intended to be slipped under crosspieces above and
fastened by a bar below, which means effectually barricaded the
opening. Joan could stand at the head of the steps and peep under an [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]