The Mysterious Rider Page 2

  "Doyou know where he has been?" asked Columbine. Some strange feeling prompted that. There was a mystery here. Wilson's agitation seemed strange and deep.

  "Yes, I do." The cowboy bit that out through closing teeth, as if locking them against an almost overmastering temptation.

  Columbine lost her curiosity. She was woman enough to realize that there might well be facts which would only make her situation harder.

  "Wilson," she began, hurriedly, "I owe all I am to dad. He has cared for me-sent me to school. He has been so good to me. I've loved him always. It would be a shabby return for all his protection and love if-if I refused-"

  "Old Bill is the best man ever," interrupted Moore, as if to repudiate any hint of disloyalty to his employer. "Everybody in Middle Park and all over owes Bill something. He's sure good. There never was anything wrong with him except his crazy blindness about his son. Buster Jack-the-the-"

  Columbine put a hand over Moore's lips.

  "The man I must marry," she said, solemnly.

  "You must-you will?" he demanded.

  "Of course. What else could I do? I never thought of refusing."

  "Columbine!" Wilson's cry was so poignant, his gesture so violent, his dark eyes so piercing that Columbine sustained a shock that held her trembling and mute. "How can you love Jack Belllounds? You were twelve years old when you saw him last. How can you love him?"

  "I don't" replied Columbine.

  "Then how could you marry him?"

  "I owe dad obedience. It's his hope that I can steady Jack."

  "Steady Jack!" exclaimed Moore, passionately. "Why, you girl-you white-faced flower!You with your innocence and sweetness steady that damned pup! My Heavens! He was a gambler and a drunkard. He-"

  "Hush!" implored Columbine.

  "He cheated at cards," declared the cowboy, with a scorn that placed that vice as utterly base.

  "But Jack was only a wild boy," replied Columbine, trying with brave words to champion the son of the man she loved as her father. "He has been sent away to work. He'll have outgrown that wildness. He'll come home a man."

  "Bah!" cried Moore, harshly.

  Columbine felt a sinking within her. Where was her strength? She, who could walk and ride so many miles, to become sick with an inward quaking! It was childish. She struggled to hide her weakness from him.

  "It's not like you to be this way," she said. "You used to be generous. Am I to blame? Did I choose my life?"

  Moore looked quickly away from her, and, standing with a hand on his horse, he was silent for a moment. The squaring of his shoulders bore testimony to his thought. Presently he swung up into the saddle. The mustang snorted and champed the bit and tossed his head, ready to bolt.

  "Forget my temper," begged the cowboy, looking down upon Columbine. "I take it all back. I'm sorry. Don't let a word of mine worry you. I was only jealous."

  "Jealous!" exclaimed Columbine, wonderingly.

  "Yes. That makes a fellow see red and green. Bad medicine! You never felt it."

  "What were you jealous of?" asked Columbine.

  The cowboy had himself in hand now and he regarded her with a grim amusement.

  "Well, Columbine, it's like a story," he replied. "I'm the fellow disowned by his family-a wanderer of the wilds-no good-and no prospects.... Now our friend Jack, he's handsome and rich. He has a doting old dad. Cattle, horses-ranches! He wins the girl. See!"

  Spurring his mustang, the cowboy rode away. At the edge of the slope he turned in the saddle. "I've got to drive in this bunch of cattle. It's late. You hurry home." Then he was gone. The stones cracked and rolled down under the side of the bluff.

  Columbine stood where he had left her: dubious, yet with the blood still hot in her cheeks.

  "Jealous?... He wins the girl?" she murmured in repetition to herself. "What ever could he have meant? He didn't mean-he didn't-"

  The simple, logical interpretation of Wilson's words opened Columbine's mind to a disturbing possibility of which she had never dreamed. That he might love her! If he did, why had he not said so? Jealous, maybe, but he did not love her! The next throb of thought was like a knock at a door of her heart-a door never yet opened, inside which seemed a mystery of feeling, of hope, despair, unknown longing, and clamorous voices. The woman just born in her, instinctive and self-preservative, shut that door before she had more than a glimpse inside. But then she felt her heart swell with its nameless burdens.

  Pronto was grazing near at hand. She caught him and mounted. It struck her then that her hands were numb with cold. The wind had ceased fluttering the aspens, but the yellow leaves were falling, rustling. Out on the brow of the slope she faced home and the west.

  A glorious Colorado sunset had just reached the wonderful height of its color and transformation. The sage slopes below her seemed rosy velvet; the golden aspens on the farther reaches were on fire at the tips; the foothills rolled clear and mellow and rich in the light; the gulf of distance on to the great black range was veiled in mountain purple; and the dim peaks beyond the range stood up, sunset-flushed and grand. The narrow belt of blue sky between crags and clouds was like a river full of fleecy sails and wisps of silver. Above towered a pall of dark cloud, full of the shades of approaching night.

  "Oh, beautiful!" breathed the girl, with all her worship of nature. That wild world of sunset grandeur and loneliness and beauty was hers. Over there, under a peak of the black range, was the place where she had been found, a baby, lost in the forest. She belonged to that, and so it belonged to her. Strength came to her from the glory of light on the hills.

  Pronto shot up his ears and checked his trot.

  "What is it, boy?" called Columbine. The trail was getting dark. Shadows were creeping up the slope as she rode down to meet them. The mustang had keen sight and scent. She reined him to a halt.

  All was silent. The valley had begun to shade on the far side and the rose and gold seemed fading from the nearer. Below, on the level floor of the valley, lay the rambling old ranch-house, with the cabins nestling around, and the corrals leading out to the soft hay-fields, misty and gray in the twilight. A single light gleamed. It was like a beacon.

  The air was cold with a nip of frost. From far on the other side of the ridge she had descended came the bawls of the last straggling cattle of the round-up. But surely Pronto had not shot up his ears for them. As if in answer a wild sound pealed down the slope, making the mustang jump. Columbine had heard it before.

  "Pronto, it's only a wolf," she soothed him.

  The peal was loud, rather harsh at first, then softened to a mourn, wild, lonely, haunting. A pack of coyotes barked in angry answer, a sharp, staccato, yelping chorus, the more piercing notes biting on the cold night air. These mountain mourns and yelps were music to Columbine. She rode on down the trail in the gathering darkness, less afraid of the night and its wild denizens than of what awaited her at White Slides Ranch.

  * * *

  Columbine was awakened in the gray dawn by the barking of coyotes. She dreaded the daylight thus heralded. Never before in her life had she hated the rising of the sun. Resolutely she put the past behind her and faced the future, believing now that with the great decision made she needed only to keep her mind off what might have been, and to attend to her duty.

  At breakfast she found the rancher in better spirits than he had been for weeks. He informed her that Jack had ridden off early for Kremmling, there to make arrangements for the wedding on October first.

  "Jack's out of his head," said Belllounds. "Wal, thet comes only onct in a man's life. I remember ... Jack's goin' to drive you to Kremmlin' an' ther take stage fer Denver. I allow you'd better put in your best licks on fixin' up an' packin' the clothes you'll need. Women-folk naturally want to look smart on weddin'-trips."

  "Dad!" exclaimed Columbine, in dismay. "I never thought of clothes. And I don't want to leave White Slides."

  "But, lass, you're goin' to be married!" expostulated Belllounds.

 
"Didn't it occur to Jack to take me to Kremmling? I can't make new dresses out of old ones."

  "Wal, I reckon neither of us thought of thet. But you can buy what you like in Denver."

  Columbine resigned herself. After all, what did it matter to her? The vague, haunting dreams of girlhood would never come true. So she went to her wardrobe and laid out all her wearing apparel. Taking stock of it this way caused her further dismay, for she had nothing fit to wear in which either to be married or to take a trip to Denver. There appeared to be nothing to do but take the rancher's advice, and Columbine set about refurbishing her meager wardrobe. She sewed all day.

  What with self-control and work and the passing of hours, Columbine began to make some approach to tranquillity. In her simplicity she even began to hope that being good and steadfast and dutiful would earn her a little meed of happiness. Some haunting doubt of this flashed over her mind like a swift shadow of a black wing, but she dispelled that as she had dispelled the fear and disgust which often rose up in her mind.

  To Columbine's surprise and to the rancher's concern the prospective bridegroom did not return from Kremmling on the second day. When night came Belllounds reluctantly gave up looking for him.

  Jack's non-appearance suited Columbine, and she would have been glad to be let alone until October first, which date now seemed appallingly close. On the afternoon of Jack's third day of absence from the ranch Columbine rode out for some needed exercise. Pronto not being available, she rode another mustang and one that kept her busy. On the way back to the ranch she avoided the customary trail which led by the cabins of Wade and the cowboys. Columbine had not seen one of her friends since the unfortunate visit to the Andrews ranch. She particularly shrank from meeting Wade, which feeling was in strange contrast to her former impulses.

  As she rode around the house she encountered Wilson Moore seated in a light wagon. Her mustang reared, almost unseating her. But she handled him roughly, being suddenly surprised and angry at this unexpected meeting with the cowboy.

  "Howdy, Columbine!" greeted Wilson, as she brought the mustang to his feet. "You're sure learning to handle a horse-since I left this here ranch. Wonder who's teaching you! I never could get you to rake even a bronc!"

  The cowboy had drawled out his admiring speech, half amused and half satiric.

  "I'm-mad!" declared Columbine. "That's why."

  "What're you mad at?" queried Wilson.

  She did not reply, but kept on gazing steadily at him. Moore still looked pale and drawn, but he had improved since last she saw him.

  "Aren't you going to speak to a fellow?" he went on.

  "How are you, Wils?" she asked.

  "Pretty good for a club-footed has-been cow puncher."

  "I wish you wouldn't call yourself such names," rejoined Columbine, peevishly. "You're not a club-foot. I hate that word!"

  "Me, too. Well, joking aside, I'm better. My foot is fine. Now, if I don't hurt it again I'll sure never be a club-foot."

  "You must be careful," she said, earnestly.

  "Sure. But it's hard for me to be idle. Think of me lying still all day with nothing to do but read! That's what knocked me out. I wouldn't have minded the pain if I could have gotten about.... Columbine, I've moved in!"

  "What! Moved in?" she queried, blankly.

  "Sure. I'm in my cabin on the hill. It's plumb great. Tom Andrews and Bert and your hunter Wade fixed up the cabin for me. That Wade is sure a good fellow. And say! what he can do with his hands! He's been kind to me. Took an interest in me, and between you and me he sort of cheered me up."

  "Cheered you up! Wils, were you unhappy?" she asked, directly.

  "Well, rather. What'd you expect of a cowboy who'd crippled himself-and lost his girl?"

  Columbine felt the smart of tingling blood in her face, and she looked from Wilson to the wagon. It contained saddles, blankets, and other cowboy accoutrements for which he had evidently come.

  "That's a double misfortune," she replied, evenly. "It's too bad both came at once. It seems to me if I were a cowboy and-and felt so toward a girl, I'd have let her know."

  "This girl I mean knew, all right," he said, nodding his head.

  "She didn't-she didn't!" cried Columbine.

  "How do you know?" he queried, with feigned surprise. He was bent upon torturing her.

  "You meant me. I'm the girl you lost!"

  "Yes, you are-God help me!" replied Moore, with genuine emotion.

  "But you-you never told me-you never told me," faltered Columbine, in distress.

  "Never told you what? That you were my girl?"

  "No-no. But that you-you cared-"

  "Columbine Belllounds, I told you-let you see-in every way under the sun," he flashed at her.

  "Let me see-what?" faltered Columbine, feeling as if the world were about to end.

  "That I loved you."

  "Oh!... Wilson!" whispered Columbine, wildly.

  "Yes-loved you. Could you have been so innocent-so blind you never knew? I can't believe it."

  "But I never dreamed you-you-" She broke off dazedly, overwhelmed by a tragic, glorious truth.

  "Collie!... Would it have made any difference?"

  "Oh, all the difference in the world!" she wailed.

  "What difference?" he asked, passionately.

  Columbine gazed wide-eyed and helpless at the young man. She did not know how to tell him what all the difference in the world really was.

  Suddenly Wilson turned away from her to listen. Then she heard rapid beating of hoofs on the road.

  "That's Buster Jack," said the cowboy. "Just my luck! There wasn't any one here when I arrived. Reckon I oughtn't have stayed. Columbine, you look pretty much upset."

  "What do I care how I look!" she exclaimed, with a sharp resentment attending this abrupt and painful break in her agitation.

  Next moment Jack Belllounds galloped a foam-lashed horse into the courtyard and hauled up short with a recklessness he was noted for. He swung down hard and violently cast the reins from him.

  "Ahuh! I gambled on just this," he declared, harshly.

  Columbine's heart sank. His gaze was fixed on her face, with its telltale evidences of agitation.

  "What've you been crying about?" he demanded.

  "I haven't been," she retorted.

  His bold and glaring eyes, hot with sudden temper, passed slowly from her to the cowboy. Columbine became aware then that Jack was under the influence of liquor. His heated red face grew darker with a sneering contempt.

  "Where's dad?" he asked, wheeling toward her.

  "I don't know. He's not here," replied Columbine, dismounting. The leap of thought and blood to Jack's face gave her a further sinking of the heart. The situation unnerved her.

  Wilson Moore had grown a shade paler. He gathered up his reins, ready to drive off.

  "Belllounds, I came up after my things I'd left in the bunk," he said, coolly. "Happened to meet Columbine and stopped to chat a minute."

  "That's whatyou say," sneered Belllounds. "You were making love to Columbine. I saw that in her face. You know it-and she knows it-and I know it.... You're a liar!"

  "Belllounds, I reckon I am," replied Moore, turning white. "I did tell Columbine what I thought she knew-what I ought to have told long ago."

  "Ahuh! Well, I don't want to hear it. But I'm going to search that wagon."

  "What!" ejaculated the cowboy, dropping his reins as if they stung him.

  "You just hold on till I see what you've got in there," went on Belllounds, and he reached over into the wagon and pulled at a saddle.

  "Say, do you mean anything?... This stuff's mine, every strap of it. Take your hands off."

  Belllounds leaned on the wagon and looked up with insolent, dark intent.

  "Moore, I wouldn't trust you. I think you'd steal anything you got your hands on."

  Columbine uttered a passionate little cry of shame and protest.

  "Jack, how dare you!"

  "You shut
up! Go in the house!" he ordered.

  "You insult me," she replied, in bitter humiliation.

  "Will you go in?" he shouted.

  "No, I won't."

  "All right, look on, then. I'd just as lief have you." Then he turned to the cowboy. "Moore, show up that wagon-load of stuff unless you want me to throw it out in the road."

  "Belllounds, you know I can't do that," replied Moore, coldly. "And I'll give you a hunch. You'd better shut up yourself and let me drive on.... If not for her sake, then for your own."

  Belllounds grasped the reins, and with a sudden jerk pulled them out of the cowboy's hands.

  "You damn club-foot! Your gift of gab doesn't go with me," yelled Belllounds, as he swung up on the hub of the wheel. But it was manifest that his desire to search the wagon was only a pretense, for while he pulled at this and that his evil gaze was on the cowboy, keen to meet any move that might give excuse for violence. Moore evidently read this, for, gazing at Columbine, he shook his head, as if to acquaint her with a situation impossible to help.

  "Columbine, please hand me up the reins," he said. "I'm lame, you know. Then I'll be going."

  Columbine stepped forward to comply, when Belllounds, leaping down from the wheel, pushed her hack with masterful hand. Opposition to him was like waving a red flag in the face of a bull. Columbine recoiled from his look as well as touch.

  "You keep out of this or I'll teach you who's boss here," he said, stridently.

  "You're going too far!" burst out Columbine.

  Meanwhile Wilson had laboriously climbed down out of the wagon, and, utilizing his crutch, he hobbled to where Belllounds had thrown the reins, and stooped to pick them up. Belllounds shoved Columbine farther back, and then he leaped to confront the cowboy.

  "I've got you now, Moore," he said, hoarse and low. Stripped of all pretense, he showed the ungovernable nature of his temper. His face grew corded and black. The hand he thrust out shook like a leaf. "You smooth-tongued liar! I'm on to your game. I know you'd put her against me. I know you'd try to win her-less than a week before her wedding-day.... But it's not for that I'm going to beat hell out of you! It's because I hate you! Ever since I can remember my father held you up to me! And he sent me to-to-he sent me away because of you. By God! that's why I hate you!"