She had passed the gate and two-thirds of the battle was fought and won. Yet all was not well, as he plainly saw. With long, swift steps David came over the terrace, and finally paused as if his thoughts had stopped him. He turned as Glani passed, and the girl came up to him; his extended arm halted Abra and he stood looking up to the girl and speaking. Only the faint murmur3 of his voice came unintelligibly4 to Connor, but he recognized danger in it as clearly as in the hum of bees. Suddenly the girl, answering, put out her hands as if in gesture of surrender. Another pause—it was only a matter of a second or so, but it was a space for life or death with Connor. In that interval5 he knew that his scheme was made or ruined. What had the girl said? Perhaps that mighty6 extended arm holding back Abra had frightened her, and with the wind blowing his long black hair aside, David of Eden was a figure wild enough to alarm her. Perhaps in fear of her life she had exposed the whole plan. If so, it meant broken bones for Connor.
But now David turned again, and this time he was talking by the side of Abra as they came up the hill. He talked with many gestures, and the girl was laughing down to him.
"God bless her!" muttered Connor impulsively7. "She's a true-blue one!"
He remembered his part in the nick of time as they came closer, and David helped the girl down from the saddle and brought her forward. The gambler drew himself up and made his face grave with disapproval8. Now or never he must prove to David that there was no shadow of a connection between him and the girl. Yet he was by no means easy. There was something forced and stereotyped9 in the smile of the girl that told him she had been through a crucial test and was still near the breaking point.
David presented them to one another uneasily. He was even a little embarrassed under the accusing eye of Connor.
"I make you known, Ruth," he said, "to my brother Benjamin. He is that man of whom I told you."
"I am happy," said the girl, "to be known to him."
"That much I cannot say," replied the gambler.
He turned upon David with outstretched arm.
"Ah, David, I have warned you!"
"As Abraham warned me against you, Benjamin. And dying men speak truth."
The counter-attack was so shrewd, so unexpected, that the gambler, for the moment, was thrown completely off his guard.
He could only murmur: "You are the judge for yourself, David."
"I am. Do not think that the power is in me. But God loves the Garden and His voice is never far from me. Neither are the spirits of the four who lived here before me and made this place. When there is danger they warn me. When I am in error the voice of God corrects me. And just as I heard the voice against the woman, Ruth, and heed10 it not."
He seemed to have gathered conviction for himself, much needed conviction, as he spoke11. He turned now toward the girl.
"I bear him none in the world," she answered truthfully, and held out her hand.
"Woman, let there be peace and few words between us. My will is the will of David."
"There speaks my brother!" cried the master of the valley.
"And yet," muttered Connor, "why is she here?"
"She came to buy a horse."
"But they are not sold."
"That is true. Yet she has traveled far and she is in great need of food and drink. Could I turn her away hungry, Benjamin?"
"She could have been fed at the gate. She could surely have rested there."
It was easy to see that David was hardpressed. His eye roved eagerly to Ruth. Then a triumphant14 explanation sparkled in his eye.
"It is the horse she rides, a gelding from my Garden. His lot in the world has been hard. He is scarred with the spur and the whip. I have determined15 to take him back, at a price. But who can arrange matters of buying and selling all in a moment? It is a matter for much talk. Therefore she is here."
"It is well," said David, "and I foresee happy days. In the meantime there is a duty before me. Abraham must be laid in his grave and I leave Ruth to your keeping, Benjamin. Bear with her tenderly for my sake."
He stepped to the girl.
"You are not afraid?"
"I am not afraid," she answered.
"My thoughts shall be near you. Farewell."
He had hardly reached the gate of the patio when Joseph, going out after finishing his labor17 at the fountain, passed between the gambler and the girl. Connor stopped him with a sign.
"The whip hasn't fallen, you see," he said maliciously18.
"There is still much time," replied Joseph. "And before the end it will fall. Perhaps on you. Or on that!"
He indicated the girl with his pointing finger; his glance turned savagely20 from one to the other, and then he went slowly out of the patio and they were alone. She came to Connor at once and even touched his arm in her excitement.
"What did he mean?"
"That's the one I told you about. The one David beat up with the whip. He'd give his eye teeth to get back at me, and he has an idea that there's going to be hell to pay because another person has come into the valley. Bunk21! But—what happened down the hill?"
"When he stopped me? Did you see that?"
"My heart stopped the same minute. What was it?"
"He had just heard the last words of Abraham. When he stopped me on the hill his face was terrible. Like a wolf!"
"I didn't. I felt my blood turn to water and I wanted to run."
"But you stuck it out—I saw! Did he say anything?"
"He said: 'Dying men do not lie. And I have been twice warned. Woman, why are you here?'"
"Nothing. My head spun24. I looked up the terrace. I wanted to see you, but you weren't in sight. I felt terribly alone and absolutely helpless. If I'd had a gun, I would have reached for it."
"Thank God you didn't!"
"But you don't know what his face was like! I expected him to tear me off the horse and smash me with his hands. All at once I wanted to tell him everything—beg him not to hurt me." Connor groaned25.
"I knew it! I knew that was in your head!"
"But I didn't."
"Good girl."
"He said: 'Why are you here? What harm have you come to work in the Garden?'"
"And you alone with him!" gasped Connor.
"That was what did it. I was so helpless that it made me bold. Can you imagine smiling at a time like that?"
"Were you able to?"
"I don't know how. It took every ounce of strength in me. But I made myself smile—straight into his face. Then I put out my hands to him all at once.
"'How could I harm you?' I asked him.
"And then you should have seen his face change and the anger break up like a cloud. I knew I was safe, then, but I was still dizzy—just as if I'd looked over a cliff—you know?"
"And yet you rode up the hill after that laughing down to him! Ruth, you're the gamest sport and the best pal26 in the world. The finest little act I ever saw on the stage or off. It was Big Time stuff. My hat's off, but—where'd you get the nerve?"
"I was frightened almost to death. Too much frightened for it to show. When I saw you, my strength came back."
"But what do you think of him?"
"No more than that?"
"Ben, can you pet a tiger after you've seen his claws?"
He looked at her with anxiety.
"You're not going to break down later on—feeling as if he's dynamite27 about to explode all the time?"
"I'm going to play the game through," she said with a sort of fierce happiness. "I've felt like a sneak28 thief about this. But now it's different. He's more of a wolf than a man. Ben, I saw murder in his face, I swear! And if it isn't wrong to tame wild beasts it isn't wrong to tame him. I'm going to play the game, lead him as far as I can until we get the horses—and then it'll be easy enough to make up by being good the rest of my life."
"Ruth—girl—you've covered the whole ground. And when you have the coin—" He broke off with laughter that was filled with drunken excitement. "But what did you think of my game?"
She did not hear him, and standing29 with her hands clasped lightly behind her she looked beyond the roof of the house and over the tops of the western mountains, with the sun-haze about them.
"I feel as if I were on the top of the world," she said at last. "And I wouldn't have one thing changed. We're playing for big stakes, but we're taking a chance that makes the game worth while. What we win we'll earn—because he's a devil. Isn't it what you'd call a fair bet?"
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1
patio
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| n.庭院，平台 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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unintelligibly
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| 难以理解地 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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stereotyped
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| adj.(指形象、思想、人物等)模式化的 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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17
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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maliciously
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| adv.有敌意地 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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24
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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25
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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27
dynamite
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| n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破) | |
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28
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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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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