Part 36 (1/2)
Traynor stood by the window, staring out at the sky. He turned and resumed his restless walking to and fro, ”G.o.d! If it would only rain!
It's not just myself, but you and Jamie, and I want to get you two away to the Coast for a while. Then I got Powell into the mess, too. This drouth hits his plans pretty hard. All his money is now tied up in the Springs and the PL herd that he bought from Paddy!”
”But the Springs are not affected?” said Nell, ”Limber told me that nothing can influence that water supply.”
”No; there is that much to be thankful for, at least,” he admitted wearily, sinking down into a chair, and letting his head drop into his hands. Nell crossed softly, and her hand caressed the bowed head, until Traynor's face looked up at her. The haggard, drawn lines about eyes and mouth, distinct in the glaring light from the window, smote her heart with pity and longing to comfort him.
”Dearest, I don't care how poor we are, so long as I have you and Jamie;” she was looking into his eyes bravely. ”You did not marry a rich girl; but one who knew what poverty meant, and poverty where there was no one to speak an encouraging word. We have a roof that is our own.
Even if the cattle die, the drouth cannot last for ever. When the rains come again we can mortgage the land, and get--why we can get a few chickens and a milk-cow, maybe,” she laughed. ”I have learned to make dandy b.u.t.ter, so we can sell b.u.t.ter and eggs if we can't get money enough to buy a bunch of cattle. We won't stay down, if we do get bowled over!”
”Nell! Bless your heart, you'd help any man get on his feet. Someday, please G.o.d, I will be able to give you everything money can buy.”
”Nothing you could buy would make me as happy as knowing I am able to help you,” she smiled through a mist of tears.
”I must go out and see what the boys are doing,” and with head erect Allan Traynor pa.s.sed through the door. Soon Nell heard his whistle--the first time for many days.
The regular round-up had been deferred until Fall, as the cattle were too weak to be handled and branded. The Diamond H men were kept busy, however, working the cattle at the watering places or riding the range where the weakest stock was ”cut out” and driven slowly to the ranch and fed at the big stacks of native hay, or in the pastures that Traynor's foresight had reserved for such an emergency. Other ranchers, who had been amused at his idea of fencing pastures when the whole country was an open range, now saw his plans had been good judgment, and looked with chagrin at their own dying cattle which might have been saved by such measures.
One afternoon near sunset, Paddy Lafferty appeared at the Diamond H stables. Tying his dejected, flea-bitten grey horse in a stall, he unbuckled his rusty spurs and hung them over the horn of his saddle.
”Whar's Limber?” he asked Bronco, who pa.s.sed the door of the building.
”Hot Springs,” Bronco returned, in gasps of lighting a cigarette. ”Doc's at--Tucson.”
”Whar's the bye?”
”Inside the house.”
Paddy waited no longer, but stalked through the Court and knocked at the door of the sitting-room.
Nell met him and her eyes lighted with pleasure, for his quaint, Irish humour was never tiresome to her. Then, too, she saw the sincerity under the surface. Paddy stepped with awkward care across the room and seated himself on the edge of a chair.
”How do he bye a doin'?” he asked in his customary hoa.r.s.e whisper, jerking his head toward the lounge where Jamie lay in uneasy sleep.
”Not as well as usual, Paddy. He tires easily,” she answered sadly, knowing only too well that the little life was slipping away hour by hour, though she had kept the thought to herself, believing that Traynor was still blind to the truth and not wis.h.i.+ng to add to his many anxieties. She was unaware that Powell and Traynor had warned the boys not to speak to her of the child's serious condition.
Paddy had also been told of the deception, and had given his word to Traynor. He sat looking at Nell intently, knitting his s.h.a.ggy eye-brows, and trying to think what to say without betraying his knowledge.
”Mebbe it's the weather do be a doin' it. Misthress Thraynor. Whin the rain comes he will be afther falin' betther.”
”Oh, if we could only get rain!” she cried. ”Do you think the cattle blame us for their suffering when they look at us with their pitiful, patient eyes? I want to tell them we are suffering, too. Yesterday I watched a cow, standing by her dying calf, licking its face. It was like something human. After it died the mother stood there--and this morning she would not leave it until I asked Bronco to take it away from her. I couldn't stand it. Please don't think I am crazy, Paddy, but it seemed so cruel that a tiny, helpless creature should come into the world for a few weeks, only to suffer and die.”
”Yez ain't the only wan that do be a worritin' over the sayson, Misthress Thraynor,” rejoined Paddy, who had found conversational bearings at last. ”Paple pa.s.ses on the road widout savin' ache ither, becoz they're all so busy lookin' up at the sky--” he was trying hard to tide her over the danger point. ”They're all a boyin' linnyments to rub their necks, becoz of the kinks from lookin' for the clouds.” Nodding approval at a faint smile he had evoked, he went on: ”Yez was talkin'
about cattle havin' rayson, Misthress Thraynor. Did yez be afther knowin' whin ould cows on the range have young calves too wake to walk fur, they all put their heads together and talk it over, loike a lot of women-folks does, an' thin wan of thim cows sthays and takes care of four or foive calves, whilst the ither cows goes off to wather, mebbe tin miles away. Thin she takes her turn whin the ithers comes back. Now, if that ain't rayson, be jabers, phwat is it?”
”I believe all animals have some reason, Paddy. It is human beings who do not understand them. We call them dumb brutes, because we lack the patience or intelligence to comprehend. I have learned a great deal since coming here to live.”
”Did yez iver say a cow funeral, Misthress Thraynor?” asked Paddy.
”No, but I have heard the boys speak of them,” she answered.