Wildfire and the Heritage of the Desert Read online

  It had always been a fascinating subject, this long-looked-for race. It grew more so when Joel’s infatuation for Lucy became known. There were fewer riders who believed Lucy might elope with Joel than there were who believed Joel might steal his father’s horses. But all the riders who loved horses and all the women who loved gossip were united in at least one thing, and that was that something like a race or a romance would soon disrupt the peaceful, sleepy tenor of Bostil’s Ford.

  In addition to Bostil’s growing hatred for the Creeches, he had a great fear of Cordts, the horse-thief. A fear ever restless, ever watchful. Cordts hid back in the untrodden ways. He had secret friends among the riders of the ranges, faithful followers back in the cañon camps, gold for the digging, cattle by the thousand, and fast horses. He had always gotten what he wanted—except one thing. That was a certain horse. And the horse was Sage King.

  Cordts was a bad man, a product of the early gold-fields of California and Idaho, an outcast from that evil wave of wanderers retreating back over the trails so madly traveled westward. He became a lord over the free ranges. But more than all else he was a rider. He knew a horse. He was as much horse as Bostil. Cordts rode into this wild free-range country, where he had been heard to say that a horse-thief was meaner than a poisoned coyote. Nevertheless, he became a horse-thief. The passion he had conceived for the Sage King was the passion of a man for an unattainable woman. Cordts swore that he would never rest, that he would not die, till he owned the King. So there was reason for Bostil’s great fear.

  CHAPTER II

  Bostil went toward the house with his daughter, turning at the door to call a last word to his riders about the care of his horses.

  The house was a low, flat, wide structure, with a corridor running through the middle, from which doors led into the adobe-walled rooms. The windows were small openings high up, evidently intended for defense as well as light, and they had rude wooden shutters. The floor was clay, covered everywhere by Indian blankets. A pioneer’s home it was, simple and crude, yet comfortable, and having the rare quality peculiar to desert homes—it was cool in summer and warm in winter.

  As Bostil entered with his arm round Lucy a big hound rose from the hearth. This room was immense, running the length of the house, and it contained a huge stone fireplace, where a kettle smoked fragrantly, and rude homemade chairs with blanket coverings, and tables to match, and walls covered with bridles, guns, pistols, Indian weapons and ornaments, and trophies of the chase. In a far corner stood a work-bench, with tools upon it and horse trappings under it. In the opposite corner a door led into the kitchen. This room was Bostil’s famous living-room, in which many things had happened, some of which had helped make desert history and were never mentioned by Bostil.

  Bostil’s sister came in from the kitchen. She was a huge person with a severe yet motherly face. She had her hands on her hips, and she cast a rather disapproving glance at father and daughter.

  “So you’re back again?” she queried, severely.

  “Sure, Auntie,” replied the girl, complacently.

  “You ran off to get out of seeing Wetherby, didn’t you?”

  Lucy stared sweetly at her aunt.

  “He was waiting for hours,” went on the worthy woman. “I never saw a man in such a stew.… No wonder, playing fast and loose with him the way you do.”

  “I told him No!” flashed Lucy.

  “But Wetherby’s not the kind to take no. And I’m not satisfied to let you mean it. Lucy Bostil, you don’t know your mind an hour straight running. You’ve fooled enough with these riders of your Dad’s. If you’re not careful you’ll marry one of them.… One of these wild riders! Wetherby is young and he idolizes you. In all common sense why don’t you take him?”

  “I don’t care for him,” replied Lucy.

  “You like him as well as anybody.… John Bostil, what do you say? You approved of Wetherby. I heard you tell him Lucy was like an unbroken colt and that you’d—”

  “Sure, I like Jim,” interrupted Bostil; and he avoided Lucy’s swift look.

  “Well?” demanded his sister.

  Evidently Bostil found himself in a corner between two fires. He looked sheepish, then disgusted.

  “Dad!” exclaimed Lucy, reproachfully.

  “See here, Jane,” said Bostil, with an air of finality, “the girl is of age to-day—an’ she can do what she damn pleases!”

  “That’s a fine thing for you to say,” retorted Aunt Jane. “Like as not she’ll be fetching that hang-dog Joel Creech up here for you to support.”

  “Auntie!” cried Lucy, her eyes blazing.

  “Oh, child, you torment me—worry me so,” said the disappointed woman. “It’s all for your sake.… Look at you, Lucy Bostil! A girl of eighteen who comes of a family! And you riding around and going around as you are now—in a man’s clothes!”

  “But, you dear old goose, I can’t ride in a woman’s skirt,” expostulated Lucy. “Mind you, Auntie, I can ride!”

  “Lucy, if I live here forever I’d never get reconciled to a Bostil woman in leather pants. We Bostils were somebody once, back in Missouri.”

  Bostil laughed. “Yes, an’ if I hadn’t hit the trail west we’d be starvin’ yet. Jane, you’re a sentimental old fool. Let the girl alone an’ reconcile yourself to this wilderness.”

  Aunt Jane’s eyes were wet with tears. Lucy, seeing them, ran to her and hugged and kissed her.

  “Auntie, I will promise—from to-day—to have some dignity. I’ve been free as a boy in these rider clothes. As I am now the men never seem to regard me as a girl. Somehow that’s better. I can’t explain, but I like it. My dresses are what have caused all the trouble. I know that. But if I’m grown up—if it’s so tremendous—then I’ll wear a dress all the time, except just when I ride. Will that do, Auntie?”

  “Maybe you will grow up, after all,” replied Aunt Jane, evidently surprised and pleased.

  Then Lucy with clinking spurs ran away to her room.

  “Jane, what’s this nonsense about young Joel Creech?” asked Bostil, gruffly.

  “I don’t know any more than is gossiped. That I told you. Have you ever asked Lucy about him?”

  “I sure haven’t,” said Bostil, bluntly.

  “Well, ask her. If she tells you at all she’ll tell the truth. Lucy’d never sleep at night if she lied.”

  Aunt Jane returned to her housewifely tasks, leaving Bostil thoughtfully stroking the hound and watching the fire. Presently Lucy returned—a different Lucy—one that did not rouse his rider’s pride, but thrilled his father’s heart. She had been a slim, lithe, supple, disheveled boy, breathing the wild spirit of the open and the horse she rode. She was now a girl in the graceful roundness of her slender form, with hair the gold of the sage at sunset, and eyes the blue of the deep haze of distance, and lips the sweet red of the upland rose. And all about her seemed different.

  “Lucy—you look—like she used to be,” said Bostil, unsteadily.

  “My mother!” murmured Lucy.

  But these two, so keen, so strong, so alive, did not abide long with sad memories.

  “Lucy, I want to ask you somethin’,” said Bostil, presently. “What about this young Joel Creech?”

  Lucy started as if suddenly recalled, then she laughed merrily. “Dad, you old fox, did you see him ride out after me?”

  “No. I was just askin’ on—on general principles.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Lucy, is there anythin’ between you an’ Joel?” he asked, gravely.

  “No,” she replied, with her clear eyes up to his.

  Bostil thought of a bluebell. “I’m beggin’ your pardon,” he said, hastily.

  “Dad, you know how Joel runs after me. I’ve told you. I let him till lately. I liked him. But that wasn’t why. I felt sorry for him—pitied him.”

  “You did? Seems an awful waste,” replied Bostil.

  “Dad, I don’t believe Joel is—perfectly right in his mind,�
�� Lucy said, solemnly

  “Haw! Haw! Fine compliments you’re payin’ yourself.”

  “Listen. I’m serious. I mean I’ve grown to see—looking back—that a slow, gradual change has come over Joel since he was kicked in the head by a mustang. I’m sure no one else has noticed it.”

  “Goin’ batty over you. That’s no unusual sign round this here camp. Look at—”

  “We’re talking about Joel Creech. Lately he has done some queer things. To-day, for instance. I thought I gave him the slip. But he must have been watching. Anyway, to my surprise he showed up on Peg. He doesn’t often get Peg across the river. He said the feed was getting scarce over there. I was dying to race Buckles against Peg, but I remembered you wouldn’t like that.”

  “I should say not,” said Bostil, darkly.

  “Well, Joel caught up to me—and he wasn’t nice at all. He was worse to-day. We quarreled. I said I’d bet he’d never follow me again and he said he’d bet he would. Then he got sulky and hung back. I rode away, glad to be rid of him, and I climbed to a favorite place of mine. On my way home I saw Peg grazing on the rim of the creek, near that big spring-hole where the water’s so deep and clear. And what do you think? There was Joel’s head above the water. I remembered in our quarrel I had told him to go wash his dirty face. He was doing it. I had to laugh. When he saw me—he—then—then he—” Lucy faltered, blushing with anger and shame.

  “Well, what then?” demanded Bostil, quietly.

  “He called, ‘Hey, Luce—take off your clothes and come in for a swim!’”

  Bostil swore.

  “I tell you I was mad,” continued Lucy, “and just as surprised. That was one of the queer things. But never before had he dared to—to—”

  “Insult you. Then what’d you do?” interrupted Bostil, curiously.

  “I yelled, ‘I’ll fix you, Joel Creech!’ … His clothes were in a pile on the bank. At first I thought I’d throw them in the water, but when I got to them I thought of something better. I took up all but his shoes, for I remembered the ten miles of rock and cactus between him and home, and I climbed up on Buckles. Joel screamed and swore something fearful. But I didn’t look back. And Peg, you know—maybe you don’t know—but Peg is fond of me, and he followed me, straddling his bridle all the way in. I dropped Joel’s clothes down the ridge a ways, right in the trail, so he can’t miss them. And that’s all.… Dad, was it—was it very bad?”

  “Bad! Why, you ought to have thrown your gun on him. At least bounced a rock off his head! But say, Lucy, after all, maybe you’ve done enough. I guess you never thought of it.”

  “What?”

  “The sun is hot to-day. Hot! An’ if Joel’s as crazy an’ mad as you say he’ll not have sense enough to stay in the water or shade till the sun’s gone down. An’ if he tackles that ten miles before he’ll sunburn himself within an inch of his life.”

  “Sunburn? Oh, Dad! I’m sorry,” burst out Lucy, contritely. “I never thought of that. I’ll ride back with his clothes.”

  “You will not,” said Bostil.

  “Let me send someone, then,” she entreated.

  “Girl, haven’t you the nerve to play your own game? Let Creech get his lesson. He deserves it.… An’ now, Lucy, I’ve two more questions to ask.”

  “Only two?” she queried, archly. “Dad, don’t scold me with questions.”

  “What shall I say to Wetherby for good an’ all?”

  Lucy’s eyes shaded dreamily, and she seemed to look beyond the room, out over the ranges.

  “Tell him to go back to Durango and forget the foolish girl who can care only for the desert and a horse.”

  “All right. That is straight talk. An’ now the last question—what do you want for a birthday present?”

  “Oh, of course,” she cried, gleefully clapping her hands. “I’d forgotten that. I’m eighteen!”

  “You get that old chest of your mother’s. But what from me?”

  “Dad, will you give me anything I ask for?”

  “Yes, my girl.”

  “Anything—any horse?”

  Lucy knew his weakness, for she had inherited it.

  “Sure; any horse but the King.”

  “How about Sarchedon?”

  “Why, Lucy, what’d you do with that big black devil? He’s too high. Seventeen hands high! You couldn’t mount him.”

  “Pooh! Sarch kneels for me.”

  “Child, listen to reason. Sarch would pull your arms out of their sockets.”

  “He has got an iron jaw,” agreed Lucy. “Well, then—how about Dusty Ben?” She was tormenting her father and she did it with glee.

  “No—not Ben. He’s the faithfulest hoss I ever owned. It wouldn’t be fair to part with him, even to you. Old associations … a rider’s loyalty … now, Lucy, you know—”

  “Dad, you’re afraid I’d train and love Ben into beating the King. Someday I’ll ride some horse out in front of the gray. Remember, Dad!… Then give me Two Face.”

  “Sure not, Lucy. That mare can’t be trusted. Look why we named her Two Face.”

  “Buckles, then, dear generous Daddy who longs to give his grown-up girl anything!”

  “Lucy, can’t you be satisfied an’ happy with your mustangs? You’ve got a dozen. You can have any others on the range. Buckles ain’t safe for you to ride.”

  Bostil was notably the most generous of men, the kindest of fathers. It was an indication of his strange obsession, in regard to horses, that he never would see that Lucy was teasing him. As far as horses were concerned he lacked a sense of humor. Anything connected with his horses was of intense interest.

  “I’d dearly love to own Plume,” said Lucy, demurely.

  Bostil had grown red in the face and now he was on the rack. The monstrous selfishness of a rider who had been supreme in his day could not be changed.

  “Girl, I—I thought you hadn’t no use for Plume,” he stammered.

  “I haven’t—the jade! She threw me once. I’ve never forgiven her.… Dad, I’m only teasing you. Don’t I know you couldn’t give one of those racers away? You couldn’t!”

  “Lucy, I reckon you’re right,” Bostil burst out in immense relief.

  “Dad, I’ll bet if Cordts gets me and holds me as ransom for the King—as he’s threatened—you’ll let him have me!”

  “Lucy, now thet ain’t funny!” complained the father.

  “Dear Dad, keep your old racers! But, remember, I’m my father’s daughter. I can love a horse, too. Oh, if I ever get the one I want to love! A wild horse—a desert stallion—pure Arabian—broken right by an Indian! If I ever get him, Dad, you look out! For I’ll run away from Sarch and Ben—and I’ll beat the King!”

  * * *

  The hamlet of Bostil’s Ford had a singular situation, though, considering the wonderful nature of that desert country, it was not exceptional. It lay under the protecting red bluff that only Lucy Bostil cared to climb. A hard-trodden road wound down through rough breaks in the cañon wall to the river. Bostil’s house, at the head of the village, looked in the opposite direction, down the sage slope that widened like a colossal fan. There was one wide street bordered by cottonwoods and cabins, and a number of gardens and orchards, beginning to burst into green and pink and white. A brook ran out of a ravine in the huge bluff, and from this led irrigation ditches. The red earth seemed to blossom at the touch of water.

  The place resembled an Indian encampment—quiet, sleepy, colorful, with the tiny streams of water running everywhere, and lazy columns of blue wood-smoke rising. Bostil’s Ford was the opposite of a busy village, yet its few inhabitants, as a whole, were prosperous. The wants of pioneers were few. Perhaps once a month the big, clumsy flatboat was rowed across the river with horses or cattle or sheep. And the season was now close at hand when for weeks, sometimes months, the river was unfordable. There were a score of permanent families, a host of merry, sturdy children, a number of idle young men, and only one girl—Lucy Bostil. But the villag
e always had transient inhabitants—friendly Utes and Navajos in to trade, and sheep-herders with a scraggy, woolly flock, and travelers of the strange religious sect identified with Utah going on into the wilderness. Then there were always riders passing to and fro, and sometimes unknown ones regarded with caution. Horse-thieves sometimes boldly rode in, and sometimes were able to sell or trade. In the matter of horse-dealing Bostil’s Ford was as bold as the thieves.

  Old Brackton, a man of varied Western experience, kept the one store, which was a tavern, trading post, freighter’s headquarters, blacksmith’s shop, and anything else needful. Brackton employed riders, teamsters, sometimes Indians, to freight supplies in once a month from Durango. And that was over two hundred miles away. Sometimes the supplies did not arrive on time—occasionally not at all. News from the outside world, except that elicited from the taciturn travelers marching into Utah, drifted in at intervals. But it was not missed. These wilderness spirits were the forerunners of a great movement, and as such were big, strong, stern, sufficient unto themselves. Life there was made possible by horses. The distant future, that looked bright to far-seeing men, must be and could only be fulfilled through the endurance and faithfulness of horses. And then, from these men, horses received the meed due them, and the love they were truly worth. The Navajo was a nomad horseman, an Arab of the Painted Desert, and the Ute Indian was close to him. It was they who developed the white riders of the uplands as well as the wild-horse wrangler or hunter.

  Brackton’s ramshackle establishment stood down at the end of the village street. There was not a sawed board in all that structure, and some of the pine logs showed how they had been dropped from the bluff. Brackton, a little old gray man, with scant beard, and eyes like those of a bird, came briskly out to meet an incoming freighter. The wagon was minus a hind wheel, but the teamster had come in on three wheels and a pole. The sweaty, dust-caked, weary, thin-ribbed mustangs, and the gray-and-redstained wagon, and the huge jumble of dusty packs, showed something of what the journey had been.