down on the desert, a day’s journey in the saddle from diamond h ranch, where the pilgrims to the valley of arcana had left their cars, lived an old man named gustav tanburt. his rancho had its existence because of an oasis similar to the one at diamond h, and he had prospered throughout the years that he had lived there as a desert rat.
through his broad acres passed a road extending at right angles to the road that entered the property of his distant neighbour. this last-mentioned road—the one by which charmian’s party had reached diamond h ranch—went no farther, and the trackless sweeps of the desert separated the two properties. but tanburt’s road was moderately well travelled. freighters driving eight- and ten- and twelve-horse teams pursued it on their way to a distant mining community in the mountains. gus tanburt’s ranch was a station for them and all other travellers passing that way, and gus took a heavy toll for meals and feed for stock and even water. in the mountains he had cheap pasturage in the national forest, for he was an old-timer in the shinbone country and had used the grass long before the passage of the act which placed the forest lands under government control. hence he[212] had the preference, as is the government ruling, and he used it to force out all competing cattlemen in the district.
the war, with the resultant high price of beef and hides, had made him. ignorant, old, crabbed, alone, unliked by all who knew him, he was now worth nearly half a million dollars, which did him very little good. for he limped about with a cane and had not mounted a horse for several years. wretched and old and worn to a wreck—and he longed for youth and something to spend his money for, and a bud of a girl named rosaline dimmette, who lived with her parents on a forest homestead in the centre of his summer grazing lands.
until gus knew the girl he had put forth every effort to oust the homesteaders. but dimmette was firmly ensconced and had the agricultural department back of him; he was obstinate and a fighter. then one day gus tanburt rode up to make further snarling protest against dimmette’s use of the water in a certain stream, and for the first time he saw rosaline—and wanted her. he decided then and there that the eighteen-year-old girl, fresh and feminine and ruddy as mountain mahogany, should be the price of the dimmettes’ remaining peacefully on their claim. but he knew that he was old and crippled and unacceptable as a husband, and dally growing more so. so the dimmettes had remained, unhampered by warfare, while gus tanburt brooded over his lost youth and vigour and longed for rosaline.
then for weeks the papers were full of articles[213] about rejuvenation by the substitution of animal glands in the aged and unambitious. gus scoffed at it at first, then believed and suffered with longing, then scoffed again. and one day to his rancho came two old acquaintances, smith morley and omar leach.
leach, morley and his wife, after deserting charmian’s expedition on the desert, had ridden back to diamond h and tried to get possession of at least one of the automobiles. one or both they meant to sell before the party could overtake them, and with the money flee to australia, where they might have enough funds remaining to outfit themselves for an opal-prospecting trip into the sandy wastes. but roger furlong, owner of diamond h, knew leach and morley of old, and knew nothing good about them. he positively refused to turn over to them the cars of andy and dr. shonto, well knowing that the prospectors could not afford such cars. furlong had recovered his horses and given the two men the boot, but promised to board mrs. morley until such time as he found it convenient to take her to the main line of travel to the nearest city. obliged to be content with this arrangement, leach and morley had set out afoot for tanburt’s ranch. they would be more welcome there, for in the past they had turned several shady deals—mostly connected with salted mines and unbranded calves—which had helped to lay the groundwork for the fortune that old gus possessed to-day. yes, they might be given a grudging welcome at tanburt ranch while they were looking about for a way to get out of their present difficulties. and they reached old[214] gus at a time when the newspapers, which he read with one thick, dirt-calloused finger pointing out the lines, were carrying columns about the rejuvenation of human glands.
and gus learned that one of the most famous gland specialists in the world was then on the desert, not many miles away. so with bleary eyes watering in eagerness and trembling hands, he offered to reward leach and morley handsomely to find dr. inman shonto and bring him to tanburt ranch.
“but how can we go about it?” leach asked morley when they were alone. “we can’t approach doctor shonto after ducking our nuts the way we did. confound that shirttail henry!”
“there’s enough in it,” said morley, “to make a trial worth while. we need the money, and it’s no time to let our pride stand in the way. just sneak back and confess we’re crooked, and put it up to shonto what gus wants. tell him there’ll be a big fee, and— oh, we’ll get by some way! sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. i can talk better on the spur of the moment than i can after a careful rehearsal.”
“will shonto come?”
“that’s a question. he’s got piles of money. he’s stuck on mrs. reemy. chances are he won’t.”
leach grew thoughtful. “d’ye suppose they’re still out there on the desert? what would they be doing, smith? by now shirttail henry has spilled the beans about the opal claims. chances are they’re on their way back to diamond h right now to get their cars.”
[215]“doubt it. that girl was crazy to find the undiscovered valley, and if they pump henry he’ll tell ’em which way to go to find it. she’s game, that kid—be just like her to strike out this late in the season to find it. and the two men would go with her—one to watch the other. they’re both in love.”
“if that’s the case, it’ll be harder than ever to find ’em. and harder than ever to get shonto to come. but if we can find ’em, and can get shonto off alone, there’s a way to get him.”
“of course,” morley agreed pleasantly. “but it’ll cost gus several times what he’s offered. and it might be possible to bring doctor shonto here by night, or blindfolded, and take him away the same, so he won’t know afterward where he was. that’ll clear gus and us, too. and we can arrange to make a getaway by leaving shonto somewhere on the desert without a horse, so we can ride off and be on our way to frisco before he gets in touch with anybody.”
“of course,” said leach.
“let’s put it up to gus how difficult the job will be for us,” suggested morley. “confound him, he ought to pay us a thousand apiece and never miss it! and say—if we can get shonto the way we said, we’ll get out of crawling back to those folks and making monkeys out of ourselves. that’s the best way to pull it off, anyway—and there’ll be more in it. if we can only locate the party and get shonto off by himself. how soon d’ye think they’ll be trailing back, omar, provided they make a try at locating the undiscovered valley?”
[216]“they won’t be giving up yet,” thought leach. “but they will before long, i guess. let’s see what gus’ll do for us, then get a couple of horses and a couple of canaries and get back into that country. we can fool ’round and pretend to be prospecting close to the trail to shirttail bend. they’ll likely come out that way. we can plan the rest of it when we strike ’em.
“fine business! let’s get to work on gus and see how much we can separate him from.”
the morning following this dialogue leach and morley set off over the desert toward the trail that led to shirttail bend, mounted and with two packed burros.
they camped near the spring in the calico buttes, and every day they were out merely loafing about, but keeping in sight of the mouth of henry’s trail. but many days had passed before they saw another human being; and they waylaid the first they saw coming down the trail—shirttail henry with lot’s wife, on their way with sorrowful news for the weather bureau concerning the masticated rain gauge.
from a distance henry looked at them doubtfully and with long strides tried to evade them. but they closed in on him because of the reluctance of mrs. lot to make greater speed than that prescribed for general pack travel. henry swung flutteringly about and grinned at the prospectors through his mat of ragged whiskers.
“now, looky-here, you fellas,” he threatened.[217] “come any o’ yer monkey-business on me and i’ll get a club, and i’ll take it and i’ll knock yer gysh-danged heads off! heh-heh-heh!”
this in the face of the fact that there was not a club within fifteen miles.
“close your trap!” growled smith morley. “where’s the bunch?”
“none o’ yer gysh-danged business!” was the retort.
“don’t rub his fur the wrong way,” came leach’s whispered warning to his partner. “get more out of him by kidding him along.”
morley tacked. “what’s the big idea of being so sore, henry?” he asked cheerfully.
“why ain’t you boys gone from here?”
“well, we’re just still here—that’s all. prospecting a little. where you headed for, henry?”
“say something about the weather,” whispered leach.
“how’s the weather up in the mountains, henry?” morley complied. “looks a little like rain, don’t it?”
henry’s blue eyes brightened. “it sure does,” he agreed, casting an anxious look at the sky above the wooded ridges. “and here’s me without a rain gauge. plumb ruint, boys. roger’s bell burro she clean et her up. and here’s winter comin’ on, and me without a gauge! i’m hikin’ to diamond h to send a letter for another one. if i don’t get her before it storms i’m plumb ruint—heh-heh-heh!”
his face was so forlorn and his deep-throated[218] chuckle so indicative of secret mirth that the result was ludicrous.
“when’d that happen, henry?” leach questioned, affecting interest and sympathy.
“little time back.”
“where? at shirttail bend?”
“no, up above the lake. furder ner that—up on th’ toes o’ dewlap.”
“what were you doing up there, henry?”
“i was showin’ ’em how to get to the valley of arcana, which is her new name,” henry divulged. “and roger furlong’s bell burro she—”
“that was sure tough luck, henry. and did they get to the valley?”
“i don’t know. i reckon not. i hadta leave ’em and send in for another rain gauge.”
“you ditched them up in that god-forsaken country—a bunch of greenhorns?”
“what could i do?” pleaded henry. “i’m a gov’ment official, and—”
“are they up in there yet?”
“i guess so. ain’t seen hide ner hair of ’em since. left th’ hosses at th’ lake, and we hoofed it with th’ asses. then, side o’ dewlap, we leaves th’ asses browsin’ off th’ bresh—”
“yes, yes!”—irritably from morley. “and you’re sure they’ve not come out?”
“how could they yet? i been hikin’ straight sence i left ’em, ’ceptin’ to ketch up mrs. lot.”
“well, well, well, henry! tough luck about your gauge. don’t let us keep you.”
[219]“tough luck, you bet!” henry agreed. “heh-heh-heh!”
he slithered to lot’s wife, who had wandered from the straight and narrow in search of dry bunchgrass, and shooed her into the trail again.
“what’ll we do now?” asked leach. “go up after ’em or wait here?”
“they’ll be coming out soon, with henry gone,” said morley. “bet the old coot ditched ’em in the night. if that’s so, they’ll give up in a day or two. le’s wait for ’em here.”
they continued to wait for days and days, anxious, afraid that the party had perished in the wilderness, afraid that henry had lied to them. henry had not returned; they supposed he was waiting at diamond h for the arrival of his new rain gauge, and they knew that mail came to the desert ranch infrequently and at irregular intervals. morley left leach on guard and rode back to tanburt for fresh supplies. he returned, and they continued their patient vigil.
then one afternoon at three o’clock dr. inman shonto came riding down the trail, alone. they flattened themselves on the ground behind sagebrush and elbowed each other in the ribs in silent satisfaction. shonto must needs camp at the desert spring that night.
when horse and rider were a mere speck in the hazy distance the prospectors hurried to a draw in which their saddle animals were picketed and raced in a great circle toward the buttes. they rounded the buttes and entered them from the opposite side. they galloped[220] to the spring, collected their belongings, and erased all evidences of a recent camp. they watered their sweating horses and rode out on the desert again, found their pack animals and picketed them, then made a dry camp to await the coming of night.
