Gordon Young

“ Only the bad luck that an hones' man has when he speaks true! It was Señor Hales who came and saw and eased my neck with that good gun of his. He stands there. Ask!"
"Does this man lie to me?" Don Gil demanded of Hales.
"No, Don Gil. So far as I know, it is the truth."
Don Gil swore furiously. He forgot the horse in his rage:
"Gomez? Hang you? Why, Ferdinand? Ah-h-h, now I remember me that he did have his horse go lame yesterday when we rode this way! I will make a fire and put him to sleep on the coals! Why? He came with Americanos! I hate all Americanos! Why was he here, my Ferdinand?" ”

“ Then up spoke Ferdinand quickly:
"Ah, Don Gil, Ferdinand is a wicked man! Leave him to God and God will punish him for that treeck that saved Señor Hales and Don José from being two dead men!"
"Out! To your horses! We ride!" said Don José, and his men with a stumbling rush went through the doorway.
Some two weeks later Ferdinand and Kredra sat together in the spring sunshine, on a bench near an open window.
Through the window came the tones of a man and a woman's voice, and quiet laughter.
"Doctor-men they are fools," said Ferdinand, after listening for a moment. ”

“ Don Gil turned and looked at him, then he moved his eyes slowly and looked at Elvira who sat crumpled in the chair, pressing her arms to her face, her body trembling. Don Gil smiled a little, very slightly, nodding his head slowly, watching her. In Spanish, "Man is a fool. Even now he would fight for you!"
Then Don Gil, with a wrinkling of contempt still on his lips, turned slowly toward Hales, and by the staring in Hales' eyes saw that Hales knew that this woman, with much artful scheming, had revengefully betrayed Nevinson into the hands of these men. ”

“ Ilona spoke with a sharpness that even Col. Nevinson could not ignore. Then, "I refer you to Judge Deering who——"
Hales, standing so tensely that he hardly gave thought to what he was doing, looked quickly behind him into the darkness where there was the sound of feet. Dimly he saw figures, two or three, approaching and glimpsed their Spanish dress. Pedro, Pasquito, he thought, coming to listen.
"Colonel! Colonel—oh, go—let us go——"
Elvira again started to rise; but there was a confused sound of heavy feet, an explosive flurry of voices, seemingly all about the house, at all the doorways. ”

“ But I wish to get home. If there is a misunderstanding about who owns this horse, you can find Colonel Nevinson at San Francisco. Please step aside, señor!"
Don Gil stepped aside, bowing ironically.
Ilona struck with her heels, with the reins, clucked sharply. The horse, reluctantly, started forward, but, as Don Gil whistled, wheeled instantly and came up to him. Don Gil laughed at her.
Ilona was flushed, confused, and gave him so angry a look that he said:
"Oh, señorita, your eyes are like the dagger! If the horse loves me more than the colonel gringo, why should you be so angry?" ”

“ All but one candle, high on a shelf, were out, and Ferdinand would have leaped for that, but paused to bawl at the men who were dragging Nevinson:
"The gringos are soldiers"—he pushed at them—"run for your lives! I will bring him."
Ferdinand, powerful as any three of them seized Nevinson, shook loose the men who held him, crying:
"Out to your horses! I will bring him!" ”

“ You do not know how this colonel-man got to own my horse? No?"
"No, señor. I have heard that there was some trouble, and though I have permission to ride him, I was asked not to ride him to the city. But I know nothing beyond that. May I go, now?"
"Pardon, señorita. One little word more. This man, is he a friend to you? A very good friend, ah? Better than a good friend, eh?"
Ilona flushed indignantly. "My friend, señor, yes!" she said angrily.
"Ah"—Don Gil's voice was contemptuous, his inference unmistakable—"but he has other friends, not like you! The Doña Elvira, you know of her? Eh? ”

“ With a woman's heedless insistence, Elvira wanted, or pretended to want, that ranch.
She insisted upon his taking her out to El Crucifijo and getting it, as if it was something that could be put in a purse and carried off. Her original idea may have been to dispossess and triumph in a way that would have pleased her over Ilona Tesla.
Not even for Elvira herself would Col. Nevinson demand the return of his gift; but he had heard through the business gossip that attended the settling of Mr. Tesla's affairs that Ilona expected to return to Europe ”

“ Ilona, in passing, glanced at the wide doorway. Candles were burning and she saw vaguely a man's tall figure moving toward the door.
"Has she come? That was Miss Tesla, wasn't it?" a voice demanded peremptorily through the gloom.
"Si, señor," said Ferdinand agreeably. "She rode to the corral and comes back."
The man's figure withdrew, then Ferdinand, flinging his hands up in a gesture as if resigning to heaven all responsibility for what might follow, began to run toward the corral. ”

“ Let me hear truth, and why you helped this colonel, eh? Answer!"
Don Gil frowned wrathfully. He liked Ferdinand, but he hated traitors.
"Ah, Don Gil, bravest of men, Ferdinand is a sailorman. He knows a horse has four legs and two ears; but a horse, señor—I ride mules. One horse, it is to me as another. There are many horses with the same mark on his hide. I do not know, Benito was here and saw the horse, señor, and——"
"Benito is a dead man," said Don Gil, suspiciously, "and cannot tell me if you lie. Gringos hanged him. He would know my horse and tell me! Yes, that is a lie! ”

“ And as men rushed by him, pushing by Ilona, there was also a hurrying clatter of feet through the kitchen, and six or seven wild vaqueros came into the room.
Col. Nevinson, looking determinedly toward the front doorway, stepped back rapidly, reaching at his hip under his coat; but the first Spaniard to enter from the kitchen was the savage Don Gil, with mustache bristling; and before Col. Nevinson realized that any one was so near behind him, Don Gil caught at his shoulder and laid the muzzle of a revolver against Col. Nevinson's forehead. ”

“ Where are they now, these friends?"
"Don José has taken his wife—God love her!—to Mexico, that he may be far from all gringos. Don Gil rides south. There are too many Americanos here. They come like flies at the time of taking hides."
To the Spaniards, before the gold rush, a cow was worth no more than its hide and tallow. Thousands were killed and skinned and left to the coyotes, buzzards, flies.
When Hales had passed, Ferdinand said:
"You lie well for an honest man, Señor Pasquito. Now let us have the truth." ”

“ The Leetle One, she knows more than doctor-men. You, Wise Woman, will Señor Hales marry our Doña?"
"Yes," said Kredra, quietly.
"But he does not know it yet, eh?"
"Not yet, Ferdinand."
"And the good Doña Elvira—— Oh, I am sorry for her. The doctor-man that came today he says one beautiful eye it is out forever—like a candle when I say pouf! And the face—Oh, that wicked woman out of France to throw the acid stuff! Kredra, Wise One, why are women so wicked?" ”

“ Are you lost again and wish the shelter of a gringo camp-fire?"
"Si, Señor Hales," said Pasquito, grinning frankly. "When there are so many bad men in the world, I come near to those who are good!"
"And do you mean to stop long?" ”

“ Hales, hard hit, made a spinning stagger; but with muscles gun-trained, drew and shot quick as a wolf snaps at one who strikes. And he did not miss. Nevinson lurched sidewise as if jerked, and with out-flung groping, fell.
10 The savage face of Don Gil appeared in the doorway; beside him, Don José; behind them, other men; and still others, with a noiseless suddenness, came through the kitchen. They pressed within the big room, lighted by a single candle.
"Where is that damn Ferdinand," said Don Gil, "an' that Hales, an' the gringo colonel-man? It is more than a back-brand now!" ”

“ As he hates, so does a de Sola love one who has been so much the friend as you. But the night may not be used for even the talk of friends. Soldiers have been near here today."
Then Don José turned at once and coldly, "Strip his coat! Unbind his hands. Spread him across this table!"
Elvira sprang up, begging, a hand out-thrust, crying:
"Oh, no! Oh, don't! No—Oh!"
"You act it well. You act it well." Don Gil shouted at her, though hardly glancing toward her.
Pasquito came running with the ramrod that had been thrust into the fire of the kitchen stove. ”

“ And so they stood, looking into each other's eyes. Neither could move—there could be no movement without death. If any one caught at Hales, or shot him, the hammer of his gun would fall, and its muzzle was against the side of Don José. ”

“ They left their horses and sneak up! Fly! Fly! The house is taken——"
He continued to shout as men, thrilled by panic, leaped for the doors. Don Gil threw away the iron, springing for the door and out, with gun drawn. Ferdinand, shouting and leaping about, knocked out candles. At the first cry of alarm, Hales had jumped back, releasing Done José's arm. Men fled.
José, with but one thought since he and his men must flee from soldiers, cried, "Bring him with us!" at those who still held Nevinson ”

“ She is the Evil One, an' make troubles. I do not know why she comes, but I know why I weesh her off! E-ah! It is bad. She is a bad woman, Leetle One!"
"He has brought that woman here?" Ilona demanded, amazed, indignant.
"An' how to be rid of her! There is the wagon an' mules, with some straw—when she got from her horse she sleeped an' could not walk. With her arm to my neck, between that colonel an' me, she got to the house. She say, 'Oh, oh, it hurts! an' I say, 'Oh, oh, good!' but quietly to myself. She, oh, one I love, she put the men here to hang Ferdinand, but does not know I know! ”

“ You paid gold to other men to hunt an' keel heem, an took his head to show in a tent an' men paid to look at his head. You Americanos beat Spaniards from the gol' camps, keel them, drive them away. You have no mercy. Give me the iron!"
Hales made a movement, but checked himself as Don José looked at the tip of steel, now grown dark, still hot, but not red. ”

“ Yees, yees! Weeked men they have no luck, señors! Now to show how hones' men like Ferdinand are love in heaven—this same Ferdinand"—he patted his breast—"he fell into the deep beeg river, an' the mule he drown. ”

“ And there will be many children, and I will tell them what a great fine good man was Ferdinand when their birth-land, this California, was a wild gold country. But us good men, we make it a fine place for little children to come and be born! ”

“ We lost horses that wandered, señorita, and in the search came here. The day is nearly night, and hungry men eat supper. If it is not pleasing that we camp on your rancho, we leave, now! Eh, señorita? ”