Part 29 (1/2)

Armijo, still staring after them, waved his hand and three men slipped out by another door, to follow and to learn what sanctuary that flower might choose. As he wheeled about and snapped a profane order the fiddlers and strummers stumbled into their stammering music; the dance went on again, with ragged rhythm, like an automaton out of gear.

Down the dark street rumbled the Dearborn, rocking perilously, the clatter of the running horses filling the narrow way with clamor.

Sprinting at top speed behind it came barefoot soldiers: And then a human avalanche burst from a pitch dark pa.s.sage-way. The Dearborn rocked on and turned a corner; the soldiers groped like blinded, half-stunned swimmers and as the secretive moments pa.s.sed, they stumbled to their feet and staggered back again with garbled tales of prowling monsters, and crossed themselves continuously. About the time the frightened soldiers reached the house they had set out from, four Indians crept along an adobe wall and knocked a signal on the studded planks of a heavy, warehouse door. There came no creaking from its well-oiled hinges as it slowly opened, stopped, and swiftly shut again, and left the dark and smelly courtyard empty.

CHAPTER XIX

THE RENDEZVOUS

Enoch Birdsall stared in amazement at the four he had admitted, despite the remembrance of the names they had whispered through the crack of the partly opened door, the light from a single candle making gargoyles of their hideously painted faces. Alonzo Webb was peering along the barrel of a newfangled Colt, his eyes mere pin-points of concentration, his breathing nearly suspended.

Hank's low, throaty laughter filled the dim building and he slapped Tom on the shoulder. ”Didn't I say I could fix us up so our own mothers wouldn't know us?” he demanded.

”G.o.d help us!” said Enoch in hopelessly inadequate accents as he groped behind him for his favorite cask. He seated himself with great deliberation. ”When Turley's man Allbright brought aroun' yer rifles in a packload o' hay, I knowed we'd be seein' ye soon; an' he told us plain that four Injuns had left 'em with him. But; h--l!”

Alonzo had cautiously put away the Colt and was readjusting his facial expression to suit the changed conditions. Then he suddenly leaned back against a bale of tobacco leaf, jammed an arm tightly against his mouth, and laughed until he was limp.

Zeb Houghton glared at him in offended dignity, not knowing just what to say, but determined to say something. He felt embarra.s.sed and slightly huffed. ”Caravan have airy trouble arter we left it?” he asked.

”Trouble?” queried Enoch, a wise grin wreathing his face. ”Some o' us made more profits this year than we ever did afore. Soon's we found thar warn't no custom guard ter meet us at Cold Spring, thanks ter them Texans, we sent some riders ahead from th' ford o' th' Canadian, an'

Woodson held th' caravan thar in camp fer a couple o' days. Them greaser _rancheros_ air half starved 'most all year 'round an' they jumped at th' chance ter earn some good U.S. gold. Some o' us had quite some visitors one night an' some o' th' waggins, ourn among 'em, sh.o.r.e strayed away from th' encampment an' got lost in th' hills. He had said somethin' 'bout not wantin' to waste so much time, an' o' takin' a short-cut; an' everybody war so excited about bein' so clost ter Santer Fe, an' by this time used ter folks goin' on ahead, that we warn't hardly missed. Them that did miss us soon forgot it. We're ahead five hundred dollars a waggin, besides th' other imposts an' th' salve money; our waggins air waitin' fer us when we go back, an' our goods air comin'

in from th' ranchos in _carretas_ an' by pack mule, under hay, hoja an'

f.a.ggots, an' other stuff. Thar's them two axles o' Joe Cooper's that he war so anxious about back at th' Grove an' at every stream we had ter cross. Thar empty now, but thar war plumb full o' high-cla.s.s contraband when they got here. Woodson slung 'em under one o' his waggins that come through on th' reg'lar trail, an' brought 'em in. Over thar's what's left o' your stuff.”

”Have you fellers looked in a gla.s.s yit?” demanded Alonzo, taking a mirror from the wall. ”Hyar, Boyd, whichever ye air, see what ye look like.”

The pa.s.sing of the mirror and the candle was the cause of much hilarity, and the room was filled with subdued merriment until there came a peculiar knock on the ma.s.sive door. The candle flame struggled under a box while voices murmured at the portal, and then there came a cautious shuffling of feet until the box was removed.

Joe Cooper's curious glance became a stare and his jaw dropped. Tearing his eyes from the faces of the villainous four he used them to ask a question of the grinning Enoch which his lips were incapable of framing.

Enoch looked at the four. ”One o' ye, who knows who's who, interduce yer friends ter Mr. Cooper, o' St. Louis, Missoury,” he suggested.

Hank shoved Jim Ogden a step forward. ”This 'Rapahoe is Jim Ogden, o'

Bent's Fort an' th' Rockies; this other un is Zeb Houghton, o' th'

Louisiana Purchase, Mexico an' Texas; hyar's Tom Boyd, hopin' ter save his ear-tabs; an' I'm--” from his mouth sounded the tw.a.n.g of a bowstring.

Uncle Joe sank down on a pile of smuggled Mackinaw blankets, shoved a cigar in his mouth, lit it and took several puffs before he slammed it on the floor and crushed it with his foot. Then he recovered himself, joyously shook hands all around and started a conversation that scorned the flying minutes. During a lull Alonzo looked shrewdly at the cheerful Indians and put his thoughts into words.

”Boys, anythin' we've got is yourn fer th' askin',” he slowly said; ”but I'd hate ter reckon it war through me an' Enoch that ye lost yer lives, an' yer ears. We all war clost friends in Independence an' on th' trail.

Clost friends o' yourn air goin' ter be watched like sin from now on.

Tom Boyd an' his friends left th' caravan ter go ter Bent's--an' a pa.s.sel o' greasers went arter 'em hot foot. Mebby th' first gang didn't git ter Bent's--an' it's sh.o.r.e th' greasers ain't showed up yit--not one o' them. Bad as Armijo is he ain't no fool by a danged sight. Fer yer own sakes ye better stay with Armstrong till ye leave th' city. Now that I've warned ye, I don't give a cuss what ye do; yer welcome ter stay hyar till yer bones rot--an' ye know it.”

Tom nodded. ”Yer right, Alonzo. I just got a brand new reason fer livin'

till th' return caravan gits past th' Arkansas. Patience Cooper has _got_ to go with it; she ain't a-goin' ter spend no winter hyar, if I kin help it--an' if she does stay, then I do, too, ears or no ears.” His face tensed, his eyes gleaming with hatred through the paint and dirt.

”I come nigh ter commitin' murder tonight. 'Twasn't my fault that I didn't.”

Hank clapped him on the shoulder and turned to Uncle Joe. ”We war all a-lookin' in at th' fandango,” he explained. ”It war a mighty clost shave fer th' sheep-stealin' shepherd o' Chavez rancho, that growed up ter be governor. If 'twarn't fer th' gal I'd never 'a' grabbed Boyd.”

Uncle Joe shook his head. ”There'll be trouble comin' out o' that,” he declared. ”We couldn't do nothin' else, but Armijo'll never rest till he wipes out th' insult o' our turnin' our backs on him an' leavin' like we did. An' did ye see th' look she gave him? D----d if it wasn't worth th'