They had no tender feelings about me, however. Nobody cared whether I ever ate or not. I was led into the little ranch1 office and catechized to a fare-ye-well. They sat and roosted and squatted2 about, emitting solemn puffs3 of smoke and speaking never a word; and the sun went down in shafts4 of light through the murk, and the old shadows of former days crept from the corners. When I had finished my story it was dusk.
And on the heels of my recital5 came the sound of hoofs6 in a hurry; and presently loomed7 in the doorway8 the gigantic figure of Tom Thorne, the sheriff. He peered, seeing nothing through the smoke and the twilight9; and the old timers sat tight and smoked.
"Buck10 Johnson here?" asked Thorne in his big voice.
"Here," replied the senor.
"I am told," said Thorne, directly, "that there is here an assembly for unlawful purposes. If so, I call on you in the name of the law to keep the peace."
"Tom," rejoined Buck Johnson, "I want you to make me your deputy."
"For what purpose?"
"There is a dispossession notice to be served hereabouts; a trespasser11 who must be put off from property that is not his."
"You men are after Hooper, and I know it. Now you can't run your neighbours' quarrels with a gun, not anymore. This is a country of law now."
"Tom," repeated Buck in a reasoning tone, "come in. Strike a light if you want to: and take a look around. There's a lot of your friends here. There's Jim Carson over in the corner, and Donald Macomber, and Marcus Malley, and Dan Watkins."
At this slow telling of the most prominent names in the southwest cattle industry Tom Thorne took a step into the room and lighted a match. The little flame, held high above his head, burned down to his fingers while he stared at the impassive faces surrounding him. Probably he had thought to interfere12 dutifully in a local affair of considerable seriousness; and there is no doubt that Tom Thorne was never afraid of his duty. But here was Arizona itself gathered for purposes of its own. He hardly noticed when the flame scorched13 his fingers.
"Tom," said Buck Johnson after a moment, "I heerd tell of a desperate criminal headed for Grant's Pass, and I figure you can just about catch up with him if you start right now and keep on riding. Only you'd better make me your deputy first. It'll sort of leave things in good legal responsible hands, as you can always easy point out if asked."
Tom gulped14.
"Raise your right hand," he commanded, curtly15, and administered the oath. "Now I leave it in your hands to preserve the peace," he concluded. "I call you all to witness."
"That's all right, Tom," said Buck, still in his crooning tones, taking the big sheriff by the elbow and gently propelling him toward the door, "now as to this yere criminal over toward Grant's Pass, he was a little bit of a runt about six foot three tall; heavy set, weight about a hundred and ten; light complected with black hair and eyes. You can't help but find him. Tom's a good sort," he observed, coming back, "but he's young. He don't realize yet that when things get real serious this sheriff foolishness just nat'rally bogs16 down. Now I reckon we'd better talk to the girl."
I made a beeline for the cook house while they did that and filled up for three. By the time I had finished, the conference was raised, and men were catching17 and saddling their mounts. I did not intend to get left out, you may be sure, so I rustled18 around and borrowed me a saddle and a horse, and was ready to start with the rest.
We jogged up the road in a rough sort of column, the old timers riding ahead in a group of their own. No injunction had been laid as to keeping quiet; nevertheless, conversation was sparse19 and low voiced. The men mostly rode in silence smoking their cigarettes. About half way the leaders summoned me, and I trotted20 up to join them.
They wanted to know about the situation of the ranch as I had observed it. I could not encourage them much. My recollection made of the place a thoroughly22 protected walled fortress23, capable of resisting a considerable assault.
"Of course with this gang we could sail right over them," observed Buck, thoughtfully, "but we'd lose a considerable of men doing it."
"Ain't no chance of sneaking25 somebody inside?" suggested Watkins.
"Got to give Old Man Hooper credit for some sense," replied the senor, shortly.
"We can starve 'em out," suggested somebody.
"Unless I miss the old man a mile he's already got a messenger headed for the troops at Fort Huachuca," interposed Macomber. "He ain't fool enough to take chances on a local sheriff."
"You're tooting he ain't," approved Buck Johnson. "It's got to be quick work."
"Burn him out," said Watkins.
"It's the young lady's property," hesitated my boss. "I kind of hate to destroy it unless we have to."
At this moment the Morgan stallion, which I had not noticed before, was reined26 back to join our little group. Atop him rode the diminutive27 form of Artie Brower whom I had thought down and out. He had evidently had his evening's dose of hop28 and under the excitation of the first effect had joined the party. His derby hat was flattened29 down to his ears. Somehow it exasperated30 me.
"For heaven's sake why don't you get you a decent hat!" I muttered, but to myself. He was carrying that precious black bag.
"Blow a hole in his old walls!" he suggested, cheerfully. "That old fort was built against Injins. A man could sneak24 up in the shadow and set her off. It wouldn't take but a dash of soup to stick a hole you could ride through a-horseback."
"Soup?" echoed Buck.
"Nitroglycerine," explained Watkins, who had once been a miner.
"Oh, sure!" agreed Buck, sarcastically31. "And where'd we get it?"
"I always carry a little with me just for emergencies," asserted Brower, calmly, and patted his black bag.
There was a sudden and unanimous edging away.
"For the love of Pete!" I cried. "Was there some of that stuff in there all the time I've been carrying it around?"
"It's packed good: it can't go off," Artie reassured32 us. "I know my biz."
"What in God's name do you want such stuff for!" cried Judson.
"Oh, just emergencies," answered Brower, vaguely33, but I remembered his uncanny skill in opening the combination of the safe. Possibly that contract between Emory and Hooper had come into his hands through professional activities. However, that did not matter.
"I can make a drop of soup go farther than other men a pint," boasted Artie. "I'll show you: and I'll show that old----"
"You'll probably get shot," observed Buck, watching him closely.
"W'at t'hell," observed Artie with an airy gesture.
"It's the dope he takes," I told Johnson aside. "It only lasts about so long. Get him going before it dies on him."
"I see. Trot21 right along," Buck commanded.
Taking this as permission Brower clapped heels to the stallion and shot away like an arrow.
"Hold on! Stop! Oh, damn!" ejaculated the senor. "He'll gum the whole game!" He spurred forward in pursuit, realized the hopelessness of trying to catch the Morgan, and reined down again to a brisk travelling canter. We surmounted34 the long, slow rise this side of Hooper's in time to see a man stand out in the brush, evidently for the purpose of challenging the horseman. Artie paid him not the slightest attention, but swept by magnificently, the great stallion leaping high in his restrained vitality35. The outpost promptly36 levelled his rifle. We saw the vivid flash in the half light. Brower reeled in his saddle, half fell, caught himself by the stallion's mane and clung, swinging to and fro. The horse, freed of control, tossed his head, laid back his ears, and ran straight as an arrow for the great doors of the ranch.
We uttered a simultaneous groan37 of dismay. Then with one accord we struck spurs and charged at full speed, grimly and silently. Against the gathering38 hush39 of evening rose only the drum-roll of our horses' hoofs and the dust cloud of their going. Except that Buck Johnson, rising in his stirrups, let off three shots in the air; and at the signal from all points around the beleagured ranch men arose from the brush and mounted concealed40 horses, and rode out into the open with rifles poised41.
The stallion thundered on; and the little jockey managed to cling to the saddle, though how he did it none of us could tell. In the bottomland near the ranch he ran out of the deeper dusk into a band of the strange, luminous42 after-glow that follows erratically43 sunset in wide spaces. Then we could see that he was not only holding his seat, but was trying to do something, just what we could not make out. The reins44 were flying free, so there was no question of regaining46 control.
A shot flashed at him from the ranch; then a second; after which, as though at command, the firing ceased. Probably the condition of affairs had been recognized.
All this we saw from a distance. The immensity of the Arizona country, especially at dusk when the mountains withdraw behind their veils and mystery flows into the bottomlands, has always a panoramic47 quality that throws small any human-sized activities. The ranch houses and their attendant trees look like toys; the bands of cattle and the men working them are as though viewed through the reverse lenses of a glass; and the very details of mesquite or _sacatone_ flats, of alkali shallow or of oak grove48 are blended into broad washes of tone. But now the distant, galloping49 horse with its swaying mannikin charging on the ranch seemed to fill our world. The great forces of portent50 that hover51 aloof52 in the dusk of the desert stooped as with a rush of wings. The peaceful, wide spaces and the veiled hills and the brooding skies were swept clear. Crisis filled our souls: crisis laid her hand on every living moving thing in the world, stopping it in its tracks so that the very infinities53 for a brief, weird54 period seemed poised over the running horse and the swaying, fumbling55 man.
At least that is the way it affected56 me; and subsequent talk leads me to believe that that it is how it affected every man jack57 of us. We all had different ways of expressing it. Windy Bill subsequently remarked: "I felt like some old Injun He-God had just told me to crawl in my hole and give them that knew how a chanct."
But I know we all stopped short, frozen in our tracks, and stared, and I don't believe man, _or_ horse, drew a deep breath.
Nearer and nearer the stallion drew to the ranch. Now he was within a few yards. In another moment he would crash head on, at tremendous speed, into the closed massive doors. The rider seemed to have regained58 somewhat of his strength. He was sitting straight in the saddle, was no longer clinging. But apparently59 he was making no effort to regain45 control. His head was bent60 and he was still fumbling at something. The distance was too great for us to make out what, but that much we could see.
On flew the stallion at undiminished speed. He was running blind; and seemingly nothing could save him from a crash. But at almost the last moment the great doors swung back. Those within had indeed realized the situation and were meeting it. At the same instant Brower rose in his stirrups and brought his arm forward in a wide, free swing. A blinding glare flashed across the world. We felt the thud and heave of a tremendous explosion. Dust obliterated61 everything.
"Charge, you coyotes! Charge!" shrieked62 Buck Johnson.
And at full speed, shrieking63 like fiends, we swept across flats.
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1
ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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trespasser
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| n.侵犯者；违反者 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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bogs
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| n.沼泽，泥塘( bog的名词复数 )；厕所v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 )；妨碍，阻碍 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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reined
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| 勒缰绳使（马）停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 )； 驾驭； 严格控制； 加强管理 | |
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diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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erratically
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| adv.不规律地，不定地 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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46
regaining
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| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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47
panoramic
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| adj. 全景的 | |
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48
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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49
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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portent
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| n.预兆；恶兆；怪事 | |
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51
hover
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| vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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infinities
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| n.无穷大( infinity的名词复数 )；无限远的点；无法计算的量；无限大的量 | |
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54
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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58
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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62
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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