Part 37 (1/2)
He paused and looked up at her intently.
”Do you know what that noise means to me?” he demanded, almost roughly. ”It means little calves dying around the water hole; mothers lowing for their little ones that they have left to starve; it means long lines of cows following me out over the mesa for brush, and all the trees cut down. Ah, Lucy, how can your father talk of waiting when it means as much as that?”
”But last year was a drought,” protested Lucy pitifully. ”Will it be as bad this year?”
”Every bit! Did you notice that plain between Bender and the river? It will be like that in a week if we let them cross the river.”
”Oh,” cried Lucy, ”then you--do you mean to turn them back?”
”The river is very high,” answered Hardy sombrely. ”They cannot cross.” And then as a quail strikes up leaves and dust to hide her nest, he launched forth quickly upon a story of the flood.
The Salagua was long in flood that Spring. Day after day, while the sheep wandered uneasily along its banks rearing up to strip the last remnants of browse from the tips of willows and burro bushes, it rolled ponderously forth from its black-walled gorge and flowed past the crossing, deep and strong, sucking evenly into the turbid whirlpool that waited for its prey. At the first approach of the invaders the unconsidered zeal of Judge Ware overcame him; he was for peace, reason, the saner judgment that comes from wider views and a riper mind, and, fired by the hope of peaceful truce, he rode furtively along the river waving a white handkerchief whenever he saw a sheep-herder, and motioning him to cross. But however anxious he was for an interview the desires of the sheepmen did not lean in that direction, and they only stared at him stolidly or pretended not to see.
Thwarted in his efforts for peace the judge returned to camp deep in thought. The sheep were at his very door and nothing had been done to stay them; a deadly apathy seemed to have settled down upon the cowmen; after all their threats there were no preparations for defence; the river was not even patrolled; and yet if quick action was not taken the upper range might be irreparably ruined before the reserve was proclaimed. Not that he would countenance violence, but a judicious show of resistance, for instance, might easily delay the crossing until the President could act, or even so daunt the invaders that they would go around. It was not strictly legal, of course, but the judge could see no harm in suggesting it, and as soon as the cowmen were gathered about their fire that evening he went out and sat down by Creede, who lay sprawled on his back, his head pillowed on his hands, smoking.
”Well, Jefferson,” he began, feeling his way cautiously, ”I see that the sheep have come down to the river--they will be making a crossing soon, I suppose?”
Creede sucked studiously upon his cigarette, and s.h.i.+fted it to a corner of his mouth.
”W'y yes, Judge,” he said, ”I reckon they will.”
”Well--er--do you think they intend to invade our upper range this year?”
”Sure thing,” responded Creede, resuming his smoke, ”that's what they come up here for. You want to take a last long look at this gra.s.s.”
”Yes, but, Jefferson,” protested the judge, opening up his eyes, ”what will our cattle feed upon then?”
”Same old thing,” answered Creede, ”_palo verde_ and giant cactus.
I've got most of mine in the town herd.”
”What!” exclaimed Judge Ware, astounded at the suggestion, ”you don't mean to say that you are preparing to go out of business? Why, my dear Jefferson, this country may be set aside as a forest reserve at any minute--and think of the privileges you will be giving up! As an owner of cattle already grazing upon the range you will be ent.i.tled to the first consideration of the Government; you will be granted the first grazing permit; there will be forest rangers to protect you; the sheep, being transient stock and known to be very destructive to forest growth, will undoubtedly be confined to a narrow trail far below us; by the payment of a nominal grazing fee you will be absolutely guaranteed in all your rights and watched over by the Federal Government!”
”Oh, h.e.l.l!” exclaimed the big cowboy, rising up suddenly from his place, ”don't talk Government to me, whatever you do! W'y, Judge,” he cried, throwing out his hands, ”they ain't no Government here. They ain't no law. I could go over and kill one of them sheep-herders and you wouldn't see an officer in two days. I've lived here for nigh onto twenty-six years and the nearest I ever come to seein' the Government was a mule branded 'U. S.'”
He stopped abruptly and, striding out into the darkness, picked up a log of wood and laid it carefully upon the fire.
”Judge,” he said, turning suddenly and wagging an accusing finger at his former employer, ”I've heard a lot from you about this reserve, how the President was goin' to telegraph you the news the minute he signed the proclamation, and send a ranger in to protect the range, and all that, but I ain't seen you _do_ nothin'! Now if you're goin'
to make good you've got jest about three days to do it in--after that the sheep will have us dished. Maybe you could use your pull to kinder hurry things up a little--do a little telegraphin', or somethin' like that.”
”I'll do it!” cried the judge, taking the bait like a fish, ”I'll do it at once! I want your best horse, Jeff, and a guide. I'll wire the chief forester from Bender!”
”Keno!” said Creede sententiously, ”and give my regards to Teddy.”
As the old judge disappeared over the western rim the next morning the _rodeo_ boss smiled grimly behind his hand, and glanced significantly at Hardy. Then, with the outfit behind him, he rode slowly up the canon, leaving his partner to his steady job as ”family man”--entertaining the boss.
For two days the sheepmen watched the river eagerly, waiting for a drop; then suddenly, as the snow water ran by and a cool day checked the distant streams, it fell, and the swift pageant of the crossing began. At sun-up a boss herder rode boldly out into the current and swam it with his horse; brawny Mexicans leapt into the thicket of _palo verdes_ that grew against the cliff and cut branches to build a chute; Jasper Swope in his high sombrero and mounted on his black mule galloped down from the hidden camp and urged his men along. Still the same ominous silence hung about the sh.o.r.e where Juan Alvarez lay buried beneath the cross. There was no watcher on Lookout Point, no hors.e.m.e.n lurking in the distance; only the lowing of the day herd, far up the canon, and the lapping of muddy waters. Across the river the low _malpai_ cliffs rose up like ramparts against them and Black b.u.t.te frowned down upon them like a watch tower, but of the men who might be there watching there was no sign.
The sheepman studied upon the situation for a while; then he sent a messenger flying back to camp and soon a hardy band of wethers came down, led by an advance guard of goats, and their plaintive bleating echoed in a confused chorus from the high cliffs as they entered the wings of the chute. Already the camp rustlers had driven them out on the slanting rock and encircled the first cut with their canvas wagon cover, when Jasper Swope held up his hand for them to stop. At the last moment and for no cause he hesitated, touched by some premonition, or suspicious of the silent sh.o.r.e. One after another the herders clambered back and squatted idly against the cool cliff, smoking and dangling their polished carbines; the sheep, left standing upon the rock, huddled together and stood motionless; the goats leapt nimbly up on adjacent bowlders and gazed across the river intently; then, throwing up his hand again, the sheepman spurred his black mule recklessly into the water, waving his big hat as he motioned for the sheep to cross.