Show UNDER ELM URE 0 george agnew chamberlain by ty george agnew agi chamberlain service CHAPTER XI 13 dirk went to bed in the grip of a mild elation which made it difficult to distinguish between sleep and dreams he awoke to a sense of pom commotion motion A messenger was hav ing trouble rousing leonardo from much needed sleep and presently tile he two of them were closeted with pon on jorge arnaldo joined dirk at coffee and told him what was up was doing his stuff two 1 hours n 0 ur s earlier than usual the next coment senor Maxi millano and his tomp companions anions came out and started for the northeastern bastion dirk and adan hurried to their rooms adan man to get a pair of binoculars and dirk to fetch his springfield they caught up with don jorge and his party while the blind man was still groping his way up the turret stairs emerging into the glare of the morning sun leonardo s glance fell on dirk s rifle and immediately turned moist with envy he ca the blue black barrel as though he touched a woman s cheek then looked up pleadingly dirk laughed let him test the gun for balance but promptly took it back again arrived beside the bastion ar naldo leaned against it and focused his field glasses on a slowly moving pillar of dust presently the horse men strung out along a ledge of rocky soil and he could count them three more than yesterday he a announced and four more yesterday than the day before muttered leonar do if that s so said don jorge dorado must have escaped with more cash than I 1 thought As long as it holds out his troop will con dinue to grow do they always ride on the other side of the barranca I 1 asked dirk of course answered two voices at once why for the same reason we would be fools not to stay on this side said don jorge I 1 the barranca is a barrier that runs for 20 miles A child would have more sense than to lay himself open to getting trapped with an impassable ditch at his back it was a stupid question said dirk but since we have plenty of time let me ask another what s the sense of the daily ride what does dorado get out of it I 1 the tactical idea said D don on jorge patiently is to intercept both reinforcements and escape inci dentally pepe wouldn t be averse to plunder in the way of ransom he s holding a package now murmured arnaldo what package asked don jorge quickly yesterday I 1 watched him capture t ure a gringo by the name of black adder Black adderi adderl cried dirk why blackadder 2 he stopped a and n d caught his breath blackadder is the name of miss sewell s step father 1 glancing around he saw a rough table and two rusted iron chairs he pushed the table so it stood end on against the parapet which was several inches higher how far are they he asked what are you doing said ar n naldo aldo looking down never mind what I 1 m doing said dirk I 1 how far off are I 1 between one and two kilometers senor answered leonardo mourn fully eight kilometers make five miles calculated dirk aloud I 1 le anardo when you re sure they re under a thousand meters sing out what about it adan can you spot dorado Is he riding at the head tell you in a minute said adan only half interested there s a bunch of three in the lead and I 1 think he s on the alabon yes that s pepe he s riding the big sorrel dirk gauged the wind set his 11 for a thousand yards loaded ris rifle and stretched out face 0 on the table not wishing to ed c the e barrel he made a wad of ous his s felt hat and fixed it for a rest in the angle made by the parapet with the bastion don t forget leonardo the mm min ute you re sure they re under a kilometer what s the use said leonardo gloomily they won t come within range never about that sa said 1 id dirk sharply you do as I 1 say several minutes elapsed before leonardo murmured when they come to the first row of the maguey plantation it will be only meters and they will ill turn damn muttered dirk but promptly relaxed all his muscles drew a long slow breath and held it his cheek caressed the smooth oiled oak of the stock his fingers closed on the rough grips taking a full bead he fired the bullet sang the high song of a bullet that finds no mark A second can seem long sometimes it can be divided into sections an age after leonardo had given up holms of a possible ricochet which by a miracle might hit do rado bounce a puff of dust 3 fi came back at his astonished eyes from far beyond the riders while amazement still paralyzed his vocal chords he saw every horse sink on its haunches and come to a slither mg ing stop it was what dirk had planned in that instant of suspend ed movement he drew the foresight down to the vanishing point stead led and fired again there came the answering thud of a hit dora do s big sorrel squatted rushed from under his rider and fell dead I 1 I 1 missed him himl I 1 groaned dirk I 1 killed the horse 1 joyce came caine racing along the es planate who did that she asked angrily who fired that shot already dorado had been swept up by two of his followers and the whole troop was riding away at a gallop behind remained the still mound of the sorrel a dark mon ament suddenly erected against the shimmering gold of the desert dirk rolled over and sat up I 1 did you re a butcher I 1 cried joyce her eyes blazing you come to my house an uninvited guest and amuse yourself by shooting horses I 1 dirk s cheeks flushed with anger the man out there shot me up mr 0 r 14 1 14 1 4 14 1 joyce and adan were nowhere e to be seen without the slightest provocation why t I 1 pay him back in his own corn coin but you didn dian t hit him cried joyce you hot chot a horse you killed a poor horse what bunk intervened arnal do lowering his field glasses for one thing I 1 in m sure he did hit dorado though it may have been only through the leg add to that he just missed freeing you of all your troubles and has a bomb proof alibi besides shooting at a bandit who s holding an american for ransom bunk to you and the dead horse what american asked joyce her attention seized man named blackadder said dirk ever hear of him Black blackadder adderl 1 gasped J joyce 0 y c e mr helm blackadder why I 1 ve thought of one more for the list listl interrupted arnaldo excia edly laying an affectionate hand on dirk s shoulder he s lifted the siege you he and I 1 for a da day y or two anyway we can go any where he turned to leonardo what s become of dorado s silver plated car cara it s in toluca where he always sent it explained leonardo to save the time it takes to drive around the barranca e so said adan we can go whenever we like on foot or a horse don jorge lifted his chin leo nardo senor tell all the men they can take a six hours sleep and the women to prepare a big feed for them when they wake open the gates and let the children go out to round up whatever small stock was left out side As for you adan give a blind man your arm I 1 want to have a talk with you dirk was left alone with joyce fine kettle of fish he muttered now that I 1 ve fixed things so we could go for a gallop on the hunt ers perhaps even jump them you have to be sorel sore how long does it take you to snap out of a grouch I 1 in out now said joyce cheeks and eyes already alight with antici pation come along ten minutes later with the help of Tob alito he had saddled the hunt ers and was ready to give her a leg up he faced her and spoke grave ly listen this horse is called tro nido and that one s bayo rayo do those names mean anything to you thunder and lightning said joyce I 1 are you trying to frighten me a zv 3 N A 3 no only billyou fill you with sense be x f f fore we start you re going to ride rayo because he s a shade lighter and not so touchy in the mouth if you do what I 1 say you 11 be all right if you don t you may break a neck the horse s or yours III be good said joyce im pressed by his earnestness what are your orders walk a mannered horse for half a mile said dirk and you can do anything with him start him off with a rush and he 11 ride your arms out of their sockets so we re going to take them away slow As they passed through the great gate there was a bit of prancing and champing on the bit but with soothing words and a light hand dirk coaxed back into a walk and a moment later joyce per rayo to follow suit they rode along the faint trail scarcely used save by ox carts which pro aided vided the sole access for cars to the hacienda the road meandered more or less parallel to the bar ranca aranca which widened by almost im perceptible gradations the farther they went at last dirk permitted a trot and turned amused eyes on joyce to his amazement she took it quite easily leaned to it caught its rhythm and laughed a happy laugh oh birkl joyce 1 on the same impulse they slowed the horses again and stared at each other that was funny said joyce wasn gasn t ita it agreed dirk he urged into a trot then lifted him into an easy canter and held him there how are you mak ing it he asked fine said joyce I 1 but you tell me ease your back a bit and sit into the saddle that s the stuff are you game for a gallop while we re still headed away from home go ahead said joyce and they did the horse under her seemed to flatten out no jouncing up and down no swerving from a straight line only the feel of mighty mus cles rippling rhythmically they rode back more slowly and as they approached the hacienda she turned on him a face so glowing he felt his heart skip a beat and then do three in one well she asked I 1 do you want to know the truth the whole truth I 1 thought it would take you a month to learn what you already know he lumped jumped off handed her his reins to hold tore down a high bean pole and laid it like a bar between two maguey plants made to order he commented as he mounted watch me then do ex acely the same just stick on and leave the rest to rayo she jumped the bar once with a gasp of astonishment at her sue suc cess then ten times more with steadily increasing confidence and improving style she would have been content to keep on for the rest of the day had not dirk taken his revenge if you don t let up he remarked dryly you re going to find out there are more ways than one of killing a horse after an afternoon spent in grooming the horses for sheer love of the work he came to dinner aglow from what he called an earned bath already he regretted having brought drought no change beyond a single lounge suit but tonight arnaldo save for shoulders exaggerated be yo yond nd nature and a wasp like waist was dressed in like manner joyce had put on black not the semi evening frock of her first and last appearance at el but it had an equal simplicity of line that gave her an almost sculptural ap bearance pe arance changing her clothes had changed her mood gracious and ready with her answers she yet was so distrait as to give an impression of inner stillness though she avoid did ed looking directly at dirk and adan she was thinking of them but think mg ing more of herself what had come over her last night which person was she the woman of no age who had been kissed and had kissed back or the girl who had sat der to shoulder on the parapet with a companion to whom she had poured out her heart as though she talked to another self were there fibers within her that responded to music alone and others that re ver berated solely to the sidereal harmony of moon planet and star she wondered dirk was engrossed in a masterly discussion of agrarianism between don jorge and arnaldo fresh from the capital adan was packed to the gills with theory and regarded the parceling out of all the land in the republic as an ultimate panacea for every ill don jorge rooted in the soil aware of its divergence and as close to the peon as he was to his tight fitting charro breeches ad the cure only to damn it with a qu qualifying alif ying phrase in a thousand years you can t overleap education the way you vault a mangy horse he exploded you d have to have a mildly educated people but first catch your educated executive it if you can it isn t enough for a ruler to be honest altruistic and stuffed with beneficent theories unless he s greater than god he can t bridge the gulf of ignorance between a peon and a tractor nor grow enough gramma grass on a hundred hec tares to give that peon s babies milk nor change the sweep of wheat lands into lush bottoms c crammed rammed with garden truck you agrarians run around with a foot rule yelling behold the measure of all things 1 you can measure a back yard with a foot rule but not a prairie our campe dumb as they are can see that do you know wh what at they re saying no I 1 said adan smilingly for he loved discussion for the talk s sake alone tell me they ve heard what happened in the north and they re agn giving ing it out they U 11 do the same here what s that asked dirk crop the ears off any agrarians who set foot on la barranca they 11 do it too for though the peon has no education he has his backlog of fundamental knowledge he doesn doean t have to starve to death to see starvation on the way any more than he had to learn to read and write before he could make up his mind the three model houses put up by my master and friend cutler sewell were no good joyce looked up why t they I 1 ve always wondered because your father s education led him into the belief three rooms are better than one while the peon s backlog of knowledge has taught him one room is infinitely better than three since the sum of the warmth of his kitchen fire his goat his wife six children and a couple of pigs constitutes at no ex pense exactly the sort of central heating system which is slowly making england a livable country they laughed rose and ed it was already late there was no need tonight to make the rounds how does a girl lacking long so cial training and apparently inno cent of finesse leave one man in the lurch and walk off with another without either of them knowing knowin g how it happened dirk paused to ask don jorge a single unimportant question but when he stepped out on the balcony joyce and adan were nowhere to be seen he walked to the right hopefully until turning the angle opened a long empty vista TO bb BF CONTINUED |