OCR Text |
Show WATER, J.ALLAN DUNN A J 1(M. AUTHOR. f A MAN TO HIS MATE LPrl ' f A "RlMfcOCK TRAIL JJ jmU COPYRIGHT by V , dodo, mead co. "J-rT' ' chilled by the crawling horror of that shriek, the cry of a coward facing death. It was not repeated. There was no sound at all In the hot gulch where no leaf stirred. Then he heard an exclamation In Spanish "Helna Sanctisslma 1" and plunged ahead through the tangle to come out In a tiny clearing. A live oak grew by a slab of gray rock on which, as on some savage altar, lay Baxter, the sunlight drifting down through the gnarled boughs of the tree and gilding a face the color of clay, a dropped jaw that showed the white teeth amid the untriramed heard, eyes rolled up, already glazing, (he face in a snarl. Inhuman. Bending above him, shrinking back a little with his knife upraised, stood Padilla. lie seemed to have recoiled from his deed, while ready to deliver a second blow. Caleb leaped and caught the wrist of the hand that held the blade. Pa-dilla Pa-dilla turned to him a face that was hard to read. There was disappointment disappoint-ment In It, slow-dying fury and awe. "Senor," he said. "I did not touch heem 1 See, my knife is clean. There is no blood upon eet. I did not touch heem! Sangre di Crlsto, he hear me comin', he run weeth his head on his shoulder an', all of a sudden he put his han' to his side, he cry out, twist roun' an' fall like you see. When I reach heem he Is muerte ! Dead ! Because Be-cause he is too much afraid." Caleb loosened Baxter's collar and shirt, slipped his hand in over the heart. "He Is dead, senor I mean to keel him myself. But eet Is the judgment of God." Caleb knew that it was the "champagne "cham-pagne heart" of Baxter, too long abused, the overtaxed engine of a misused mis-used machine, that had given way at last. Fright had helped, no doubt; CHAPTER XVII Dios Bendiga a Vd. A week later Caleb sat with Betty In the twilight on the broad mission bench In the patio at EI Nldo. In the big room Stella Carqulnez was at the piano, playing softly. Carquinez himself him-self had been forced to go to Golden to discuss a commission. Their child had gone to bed. Maria was softly crooning a lullaby at tha far end of the patio garden, putting Mary Morgan's Mor-gan's baby of which s& had not been ashamed to sleep. Caleb and Betty were silent. He was trying to find words for what he wanted to tell her In fitting language, anil finding It difficult. His emotions confounded him in this supreme issue. The nearness of her, the consciousness that to gain her was everything, to lose her meant all the Joy taken "out of success and life, now and to come, set his heart pounding till he thought that she must surely hear it, sapped his confidence. "Betty," he said at last, "you saved my life. What do you want to do with it?" She did not affect to misunderstand him. lie had known she would not do that. There was something established estab-lished between them, a bond that had made their silence filled with magnetism. magnet-ism. Caleb hoped that it was love, with her, as it was with him. As he sat, hands on knees, leaning toward her in the dusk, trying to read her face, he felt his fingers trembling. Every atom of him longed for her, reached out for her in an ardor that seemed to belong to another Caleb Warner, lately created. "What do you want me to do with It?" she asked. "Share it, Betty. All ways and always." al-ways." "All ways?" She had risen, standing stand-ing by one of the posts of the pergola, jasmine wreathed. Now he stood opposite op-posite to her, close and looking down at her upturned face. The curves of her mouth maddened him. He clenched his hands until his nails stung his flesh, hanging on to himself, restraining restrain-ing a desire to woo her only with kisses. His reason fought with his passion. He knew Betty Clinton was not to be won that way alone. Something Some-thing ran riot in his veins, Infecting his being. There was no congealed blood there, for all of Baxter's sneer. And it affected the girl. He could see her sway a little and he suddenly caught her in his arms. "Yes, all ways, Betty. Lover and mate and partner in everything. You are the other half of me. To share In all things, joy and sorrow, love and work. Love first, Betty, and then we'll go on together with the work that will be ours, planned together, done together to-gether and so to love again." She had not resisted him. Her head had Iain against his shoulder. She lifted It, searching his face. Then, even In the dusk, he saw hers become softly radiant, as, satisfied, she raised her lips .to his, her body, soft and infinitely human, clinging close to his. And, for a time, he knew that she was not lacking in the passion (hat had possessed him. "We shall go on together," she said softly after quite a while "always on and on, Caleb. Bringing water to thirsty places and to thirsty people? Blending work with love to make alt perfect? Anything else would only mean stagnation In the end." "I am the Water-Bearer," he said he was a little inclined to vaunt in his triumph. "You remember the sign of Aquarius?" "You must give me mine back again." "I shall. The two fishes, joined together to-gether with a ribbon. Water-creatures. Betty. You and I, In the same element, bound by love." The music within became louder, ended In a crash of chords. Stella Carquinez came to the patio entrance. "What are you two doing? Mooning Moon-ing in the dark?" she queried. "Oh!"' she added softly, "Honeymooning! I am so glad my dears. Where are you going, Betty?" "I am going to tell Maria," she said as she swiftly passed them. Caleb saw tears on her face as she went through the door. lie knew they were tears of happiness. "You are lucky, but tardy," Mrs. Carquinez said to Caleb. "I don't know that you deserve her. You disappointed dis-appointed me last month, at our little celebration." "I wanted to finish my work," said Caleb simply. Stella Carquinez laughed softly. "Dios! Once a Yankee always a Yankee ! But you're well mated. Betty Bet-ty here she comes with Maria, after all." "Senor." said Maria, stately for all j her weight, "It Is very well. You will make my senorita happy an' she, ah senor, the good God is very kind to you ! An' now I am to make Luis happy, my senorita says. He needs some one to look after heem. for he Is only a great child. We shall throw away those two rugs of the puma skeen. My knees have worn off the hair. But we shall still pray for two j now perhaps, manana, for more. I Qulen sabe? Now she hav' some one to protect, I," she broke off into a torrent of Spanish, stooped, caught both their hands and kissed them, vanished into the garden. "She sets an excellent example," said Mrs. Carquinez. "Adlos y buenos noches! Dios bendiga a Vd," she added add-ed softly at the door. But they did not hear her benediction. benedic-tion. They were quite alone before Elsie Carquinez had left the room. THE END WWW CHAPTER XVI Continued 24 "When I got here he was at the wheel. I was sure then. I shouted at him and he paid no attention. I could hear the water pounding down Into the tunnel and I tried to drag Mm away. I did once and tried to twist back the wheel but lie jumped at me and we fought. He was too strong for me and he flung me oIT nt Inst. He was crazy, beside himself, a madrnnn. It wasn't Just the liquor. 'I'm going to drown him,' he said. 'Drown him like a rat.' And he cursed at me first and then threatened me. "I wns desperate. I saw a wrench on the sent nnd I struck him with It on the back of his head. He went down, staggering nnd I got to the wheel. When the ronr of the water ended I knew yon were safe. I suppose sup-pose I fainted. You came. . . ." For the pair of J.hem, for the moment, mo-ment, as their eyes mot, there was no one else In Ihe gatehouse. Burns stooped to the floor and picked up a tool. "There's blood on the wrench," he said, under his breath to Cox. "Hey, whern's that Mexican going?" "It must have been Baxter I glimpsed as I came out of the shaft," Caleb was saying. "He had Just come to, I suppose, and . . ." He broke off at Burns' exclamation. The superintendent pointed to where Padllln was running over the plain toward the foothills, head low, eyes searching the ground, like a hound on trail. Something glittered In his hand. "ne's after Baxter," cried Caleb. "He'll kill him. I've got to stop that. Mrs. Carquinez, you'll go with Miss Clinton and Maria to El Nldo. I'll get there later. I've got to prevent radllla committing murder. You won't need me, Cox, go ahead without with-out me." He sprang through the door, hat-less, hat-less, his wet clothes clinging to limbs nnd body, starting out to run down Padilla before the avenging Mexican closed with his quarry. That the Mexican would be Implacable, deaf and dumb nnd blind to all but his vengennoe against the man who had Injured la senorita, Caleb knew. Nevertheless Nev-ertheless rndilla must be stopped from crime and the penalty. He thought more "of this than of Baxter ns he followed the dusty trail across the plain that led straight toward a wooded nrroyo. Padilla was nearly halfway to the foothills before 'Caleb started but he gradually overhauled the Mexican. He wns furious enough, remembering Betty's white skin with the bruises on it, her torn garments, to beat Baxter Bax-ter to a pulp. Baxter, he realized, must hnve overheard Feely's report to Burns nnd seized his chance to get even with Caleb. .The thought of Betty swift to his rescue, her Intuition quickened, surely sure-ly by some tie between them, of Betty fighting with the drunken, crazy Baxter, Bax-ter, beating him down with the wrench, wns glorious to him in proportion pro-portion to his rage. The only thing that curbed his own anger from the Mexican's Intent to kill was, perhaps, the sight of the knife In Padllla's hand, the sudden knowledge of what penalty the Mex'ian would have to pay for murder, of Maria and Betty's sorrow. But he was not going to let Baxter off scot-free If he got at him. Only the one thought beat against the wrath that exulted already . at the Idea of getting Baxter within reach of his hands, the remembrance that punishment must stop short of murder. mur-der. There his New England sanity fought for restraint. He had won Betty he must not lose her. A Utile stream sometimes babbled down the arroyo where Padilla, a hundred yards ahead of Caleb still, disappeared in a jungle of buckeye nnd manzarlta. Footprints of them both were plain In the still moist earth for a few paces and then abruptly disappeared. Baxter had taken to the sldehlll nnd the thicker undergrowth. Caleb halted perplexed. He hnd little lit-tle breath left for the call to l'adilla, he felt It was useless before he uttered ut-tered it. He stood alert, listening. To his right, and ahead, there sounded a sharp crack of dry twigs and he started start-ed off again, buffeting his way through low boughs and brambles. He was certain that Baxter could not elude Padilla. For years the Mexican Mex-ican had guarded his senorita under (tie vow taken by him and Maria, that had held back their own happiness and added fuel to a slowly growing hate that, now the time had come, would give deep knife wounds in exchange ex-change for the bruises of his mistress. Unless Caleb could come up with him Baxter was as good as dead. nhriil cry of agony sounded from the dense growth of the arroyo, not ."far away, toward the head of the cleft. Foi r gecond Caleb stood still, "Eet Is the Face of a Devil el Aspec-to Aspec-to del Demonio. I FRIGID AIRE j Cind j DELCO -LIGHT also may be bought on the GM AC Plan j Besides General Motors cars, two other well-known utilities products prod-ucts of General Motors may be had on the GMAC Plan of credit j purchase : I FRIGlDAIRE electric refrigerators, in j whose production General Motors has appliedthe.samemanufacturingprocesses I which have brought the automobile with- i in reach of the average family. DELCG--LIGHT electric light and power plants, which bring the conveniences and I labor-saving devices of the city to the farm. Through the GMAC Plan, sound j credit service at very low cost is available to those who desire to purchase these products out of income. I Your nearest dealer will be glad I to explain how you may adapt the j GMAC Plan to your requirements. f GENERAL MOTORS ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION operating the GMAC Plan for the purchase of I T i CHEVROLET ' PONTIAC OLDSMOBILE OAKLAND r BUICK CADILLAC FRIGlDAIRE - DELCO-LIGIIT I the wild, pounding, panting run with the knowledge of Padilla swift and relentless upon him with lifted and glittering knife. Baxter had burned out. But he did not attempt to modify mod-ify the Mexican's statement, lie put his own handkerchief over the face. It was horrible terrible ! There was none of the oft-quoted "peace or death" upon It. The eyes stared, glassy and wild. The livid lips were drawn back to show the teeth and the snarl that made the features so frightfully bestial. It was as if the soul of Baxter had departed utterly when he had turned the wheel of the water-gallery with murder in his heart and now, only the brute that dwelled In the subconscious was revealed in full. A dead, mad face. Doctor Fields' theory had awful testimony here. All hate died out in Cnleb. Here was a mad dog dead. An atavism, self-produced and self-annihilated. "I should hav' like to keel him," said Padilla. "An' you, senor, would you hav' only talk to heem? I weel stay here until you come back. Perhaps Per-haps you weel better send the sheriff an' see la senorita, to tell her the man who hurt her is muerte. It is better I wait here for the sheriff. Also . . ." He pointed upwards. High In the blue, swinging In circles that gradually grad-ually narrowed above the arroyo, soared a buzzard. Even while they looked another appeared another. "They are queek," said Padilla. "Soon there weel be more. The sheriff sher-iff mus' not find heem disturb'." The Mexican crossed himself. "You saw his face, senor," he said In a low voice as if the dead could hear. "Sangre dl Cristo! Eet Is the face of devil el aspecto del demonio" |