the horse came to a standstill a little way from the track, and his rider let forth a stream of strange profanity. the girl shuddered and began to think a wild beast might be preferable to some men. however, these remarks seemed to be a mere formality. he paused and addressed her:
"heow'd yeh git up thar? d'j'yeh drap er climb?"
he was a little, wiry man with a bristly, protruding chin. she could see that, even in the starlight. there was something about the point of that stubby chin that she shrank from inexpressibly. he was not a pleasant man to look upon, and even his voice was unprepossessing. she began to think that even the night with its loneliness and unknown perils was preferable to this man's company.
"i got off the train by mistake, thinking it was my station, and before i discovered it the train had gone and left me," margaret explained, with dignity.
"yeh didn't 'xpect it t' sit reound on th' plain while you was gallivantin' up water-tanks, did yeh?"
cold horror froze margaret's veins. she was dumb for a second. "i am on my way to ashland station. can you tell me how far it is from here and how i can get there?" her tone was like icicles.
"it's a little matter o' twenty miles, more 'r less," said the man protruding his offensive chin. "the walkin's good. i don't know no other way from this p'int at this time o' night. yeh might set still till th' mornin' freight goes by an' drap atop o' one of the kyars."
"sir!" said margaret, remembering her dignity as a teacher.
the man wheeled his horse clear around and looked up at her impudently. she could smell bad whisky on his breath.
"say, you must be some young highbrow, ain't yeh? is thet all yeh want o' me? 'cause ef 'tis i got t' git on t' camp. it's a good five mile yet, an' i 'ain't hed no grub sence noon."
the tears suddenly rushed to the girl's eyes as the horror of being alone in the night again took possession of her. this dreadful man frightened her, but the thought of the loneliness filled her with dismay.
"oh!" she cried, forgetting her insulted dignity, "you're not going to leave me up here alone, are you? isn't there some place near here where i could stay overnight?"
"thur ain't no palace hotel round these diggin's, ef that's what you mean," the man leered at her. "you c'n come along t' camp 'ith me ef you ain't too stuck up."
"to camp!" faltered margaret in dismay, wondering what her mother would say. "are there any ladies there?"
a loud guffaw greeted her question. "wal, my woman's thar, sech es she is; but she ain't no highflier like you. we mostly don't hev ladies to camp, but i got t' git on. ef you want to go too, you better light down pretty speedy, fer i can't wait."
in fear and trembling margaret descended her rude ladder step by step, primitive man seated calmly on his horse, making no attempt whatever to assist her.
"this ain't no baggage-car," he grumbled, as he saw the suit-case in her hand. "well, h'ist yerself up thar; i reckon we c'n pull through somehow. gimme the luggage."
margaret stood appalled beside the bony horse and his uncouth rider. did he actually expect her to ride with him? "couldn't i walk?" she faltered, hoping he would offer to do so.
"'t's up t' you," the man replied, indifferently. "try 't an' see!"
he spoke to the horse, and it started forward eagerly, while the girl in horror struggled on behind. over rough, uneven ground, between greasewood, sage-brush, and cactus, back into the trail. the man, oblivious of her presence, rode contentedly on, a silent shadow on a dark horse wending a silent way between the purple-green clumps of other shadows, until, bewildered, the girl almost lost sight of them. her breath came short, her ankle turned, and she fell with both hands in a stinging bed of cactus. she cried out then and begged him to stop.
"l'arned yer lesson, hev yeh, sweety?" he jeered at her, foolishly. "well, get in yer box, then."
he let her struggle up to a seat behind himself with very little assistance, but when she was seated and started on her way she began to wish she had stayed behind and taken any perils of the way rather than trust herself in proximity to this creature.
from time to time he took a bottle from his pocket and swallowed a portion of its contents, becoming fluent in his language as they proceeded on their way. margaret remained silent, growing more and more frightened every time the bottle came out. at last he offered it to her. she declined it with cold politeness, which seemed to irritate the little man, for he turned suddenly fierce.
"oh, yer too fine to take a drap fer good comp'ny, are yeh? wal, i'll show yeh a thing er two, my pretty lady. you'll give me a kiss with yer two cherry lips before we go another step. d'yeh hear, my sweetie?" and he turned with a silly leer to enforce his command; but with a cry of horror margaret slid to the ground and ran back down the trail as hard as she could go, till she stumbled and fell in the shelter of a great sage-bush, and lay sobbing on the sand.
the man turned bleared eyes toward her and watched until she disappeared. then sticking his chin out wickedly, he slung her suit-case after her and called:
"all right, my pretty lady; go yer own gait an' l'arn yer own lesson." he started on again, singing a drunken song.
under the blue, starry dome alone sat margaret again, this time with no friendly water-tank for her defense, and took counsel with herself. the howling coyotes seemed to be silenced for the time; at least they had become a minor quantity in her equation of troubles. she felt now that man was her greatest menace, and to get away safely from him back to that friendly water-tank and the dear old railroad track she would have pledged her next year's salary. she stole softly to the place where she had heard the suit-case fall, and, picking it up, started on the weary road back to the tank. could she ever find the way? the trail seemed so intangible a thing, her sense of direction so confused. yet there was nothing else to do. she shuddered whenever she thought of the man who had been her companion on horseback.
when the man reached camp he set his horse loose and stumbled into the door of the log bunk-house, calling loudly for something to eat.
the men were sitting around the room on the rough benches and bunks, smoking their pipes or stolidly staring into the dying fire. two smoky kerosene-lanterns that hung from spikes driven high in the logs cast a weird light over the company, eight men in all, rough and hardened with exposure to stormy life and weather. they were men with unkempt beards and uncombed hair, their coarse cotton shirts open at the neck, their brawny arms bare above the elbow, with crimes and sorrows and hard living written large across their faces.
there was one, a boy in looks, with smooth face and white skin healthily flushed in places like a baby's. his face, too, was hard and set in sternness like a mask, as if life had used him badly; but behind it was a fineness of feature and spirit that could not be utterly hidden. they called him the kid, and thought it was his youth that made him different from them all, for he was only twenty-four, and not one of the rest was under forty. they were doing their best to help him get over that innate fineness that was his natural inheritance, but although he stopped at nothing, and played his part always with the ease of one old in the ways of the world, yet he kept a quiet reserve about him, a kind of charm beyond which they had not been able to go.
he was playing cards with three others at the table when the man came in, and did not look up at the entrance.
the woman, white and hopeless, appeared at the door of the shed-room when the man came, and obediently set about getting his supper; but her lifeless face never changed expression.
"brung a gal 'long of me part way," boasted the man, as he flung himself into a seat by the table. "thought you fellers might like t' see 'er, but she got too high an' mighty fer me, wouldn't take a pull at th' bottle 'ith me, 'n' shrieked like a catamount when i kissed 'er. found 'er hangin' on th' water-tank. got off 't th' wrong place. one o' yer highbrows out o' th' parlor car! good lesson fer 'er!"
the boy looked up from his cards sternly, his keen eyes boring through the man. "where is she now?" he asked, quietly; and all the men in the room looked up uneasily. there was that tone and accent again that made the boy alien from them. what was it?
the man felt it and snarled his answer angrily. "dropped 'er on th' trail, an' threw her fine-lady b'longin's after 'er. 'ain't got no use fer thet kind. wonder what they was created fer? ain't no good to nobody, not even 'emselves." and he laughed a harsh cackle that was not pleasant to hear.
the boy threw down his cards and went out, shutting the door. in a few minutes the men heard two horses pass the end of the bunk-house toward the trail, but no one looked up nor spoke. you could not have told by the flicker of an eyelash that they knew where the boy had gone.
she was sitting in the deep shadow of a sage-bush that lay on the edge of the trail like a great blot, her suit-case beside her, her breath coming short with exertion and excitement, when she heard a cheery whistle in the distance. just an old love-song dating back some years and discarded now as hackneyed even by the street pianos at home; but oh, how good it sounded!
from the desert i come to thee!
the ground was cold, and struck a chill through her garments as she sat there alone in the night. on came the clear, musical whistle, and she peered out of the shadow with eager eyes and frightened heart. dared she risk it again? should she call, or should she hold her breath and keep still, hoping he would pass her by unnoticed? before she could decide two horses stopped almost in front of her and a rider swung himself down. he stood before her as if it were day and he could see her quite plainly.
"you needn't be afraid," he explained, calmly. "i thought i had better look you up after the old man got home and gave his report. he was pretty well tanked up and not exactly a fit escort for ladies. what's the trouble?"
like an angel of deliverance he looked to her as he stood in the starlight, outlined in silhouette against the wide, wonderful sky: broad shoulders, well-set head, close-cropped curls, handsome contour even in the darkness. there was about him an air of quiet strength which gave her confidence.
"oh, thank you!" she gasped, with a quick little relieved sob in her voice. "i am so glad you have come. i was—just a little—frightened, i think." she attempted to rise, but her foot caught in her skirt and she sank wearily back to the sand again.
the boy stooped over and lifted her to her feet. "you certainly are some plucky girl!" he commented, looking down at her slender height as she stood beside him. "a 'little frightened,' were you? well, i should say you had a right to be."
"well, not exactly frightened, you know," said margaret, taking a deep breath and trying to steady her voice. "i think perhaps i was more mortified than frightened, to think i made such a blunder as to get off the train before i reached my station. you see, i'd made up my mind not to be frightened, but when i heard that awful howl of some beast—and then that terrible man!" she shuddered and put her hands suddenly over her eyes as if to shut out all memory of it.
"more than one kind of beasts!" commented the boy, briefly. "well, you needn't worry about him; he's having his supper and he'll be sound asleep by the time we get back."
"oh, have we got to go where he is?" gasped margaret. "isn't there some other place? is ashland very far away? that is where i am going."
"no other place where you could go to-night. ashland's a good twenty-five miles from here. but you'll be all right. mom wallis 'll look out for you. she isn't much of a looker, but she has a kind heart. she pulled me through once when i was just about flickering out. come on. you'll be pretty tired. we better be getting back. mom wallis 'll make you comfortable, and then you can get off good and early in the morning."
without an apology, and as if it were the common courtesy of the desert, he stooped and lifted her easily to the saddle of the second horse, placed the bridle in her hands, then swung the suit-case up on his own horse and sprang into the saddle.
