Part 3 (2/2)
A shade of amus.e.m.e.nt, merging into wonder, crossed the herder's countenance, and he communed with himself thus:
”Blow my stripes, if Old Century isn't going to take the trail himself! He's telling that canine what to do while he's gone, and, ahoy, there! If the knowin' creatur' doesn't understand him! All right, grand sir! Yet, not all so right, either. It takes a deal of business to move Pedro off his mesa, and if he's riled enough to leave it now, it's because he sees more danger to Lady Jess than even I do.
h.e.l.lo! what's he waiting for?”
Evidently for Samson to depart, which that gentleman presently did, grimly considering:
”Old chap thinks the whole mesa belongs to him, and 'pears to suspect I might rob him if he left me behind. Well, friend, I've no call to tarry. Since my lady isn't here, I must seek her elsewhere,” and down the canyon Samson dashed, his sure-footed beast pa.s.sing safely where a more careful animal would have stumbled.
All this had happened soon after the dispersing of the ranchmen to search for Jessica, and Samson had now taken that turn of the trail which led to the miner's cabin.
”'Tisn't likely she's there, though. She'd never travel afoot that long distance, and Buster's in the stable.”
The Winklers received him with gloom. The hilarious gayety that had once distinguished their small household had vanished with the loss of Elsa's money. Their son, and idol, had been defrauded of a rich future for which they had toiled, and life now seemed to them but an irksome round of humdrum duties, to be gotten through with as easily as possible. Over the cabin hung an air of neglect which even Samson was swift to note, and most significant of all, Elsa's knitting had fallen to the floor and become the plaything of a kitten, which evoked no reprimand, tangle the yarn as she would.
”h.e.l.lo, neighbors! Ain't lookin' over and above cheerful, are you?
What's wrong?”
”Good-day, herder. How's all?”
”Glum, I should say. Where's Lady Jess?”
Wolfgang elevated his eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders and made a gesture of ignorance, but said no word.
”Lost your tongues, mostly, hey? I say--where's the captain?”
Elsa lumbered forward to the doorway, and dully regarded the visitor; then, after a time, replied:
”Not here.”
Her brevity was another contrast to her former volubility, but it was sufficient to thrill the questioner's heart with fresh dismay.
”Has she been here to-day?”
Elsa shook her head. Otto came out from the shed and glanced disconsolately at Samson, then slowly returned whence he had come.
The herder's temper flamed, and, snapping his whip at the air, he cried out, hotly:
”Look at me, you pa.s.sel of idiots! You think you know what trouble is just because you've lost a handful of money? Well, you don't! You haven't even guessed at it. Money! The world's full of that, but there never was more than one Lady Jess, and I tell you--I tell you--she's lost!”
He had spoken out at last the fear he had scarcely acknowledged, and the shock of his own plain speech held him silent thereafter. His head drooped, his great body settled in the saddle, as if the whole burden of his sixty years had fallen upon him in that moment. His att.i.tude, even more than his words, conveyed his meaning to his hearers, and, in a flash, the real values of what they had loved, and now lost, fell into their rightful places.
”Money? The little lady?” Ah! what, after all, was the one compared to the other?
”Man--you lie!” retorted Wolfgang, clinching his fist and advancing with a threatening air. Elsa stepped to his side, her wide face turning even paler than it had been, and a startled look dawning in her eyes. Even Otto, the six-foot ”child,” reappeared from his retreat and regarded the horseman reproachfully.
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