The Heart of the Desert

by Honoré Morrow

  CHAPTER XVI

  ADRIFT IN THE DESERT

  Rhoda put her hands into the outstretched, shaking palms.

  "Rhoda! Sweetheart! Sweetheart!" DeWitt gasped. Then his voicefailed him.

  For an instant Rhoda leaned against his heaving chest. She felt as ifafter long wandering in a dream she suddenly had stepped back intolife. But it was only for the instant that she paused. Her face wasblazing with excitement.

  "Come!" she cried. "Come!"

  "Take my arm! Or had I better carry you?" exclaimed DeWitt.

  "Huh!" sniffed Rhoda. "Just try to keep up with me, that's all!"

  DeWitt, despite the need for haste, stopped and stared at the girl,open-mouthed. Then as he realized what superb health she showed inevery line of face and body, he cried:

  "You are well! You are well! O Rhoda, I never thought to see you thisway!"

  Rhoda squeezed his fingers joyfully.

  "I am so strong! Hurry, John! Hurry!"

  "Where are the Indians?" panted DeWitt, running along beside her."What were those shots?"

  "Billy Porter found our camp. He shot Alchise and Injun Tom and he andKut-le were wrestling as I ran." Then Rhoda hesitated. "Perhaps youought to go back and help Billy!"

  But John pulled her ahead.

  "Leave you until I get you to safety? Why, Billy himself would halfmurder me if I thought of it! Our camp is over there, a three hours'trip." DeWitt pointed to a distant peak. "If we swing around to theleft, the Indians won't see us!"

  Hand in hand the two settled to a swinging trot. The dreadful fear ofpursuit was on them both. It submerged their first joy of meeting, andleft them panic-stricken. For many minutes they ran without speaking.At last, when well out into the burning heat of the desert, they couldkeep up the pace no longer and dropped to a rapid walk. Still therecame no sound of pursuit.

  "Was Porter hurt?" panted John.

  "Not when I left," answered Rhoda.

  "I wonder what his plan is?" said John. "He left the camp yesterday totrail Injun Tom. We'll go back for him as quick as I can get you tocamp."

  Rhoda looked up at DeWitt anxiously.

  "You are very tired and worn, John," she said.

  "And you!" cried the man, looking down at the girl with the swinging,tireless stride. "What miracle has come to you?"

  "I never dreamed that there could be health like this! I--" Shestopped, with head to one side. "Do you hear anything? What do yousuppose they are doing to each other? Oh, I hope neither of them willget killed!"

  "I hope-- They have all promised to let me deal with Kut-le!" saidDeWitt grimly, pausing to listen intently. But no sound came acrossthe burning sands.

  Rhoda started at DeWitt's words. Suddenly her early sense of theappalling nature of her experience returned to her. She looked withnew eyes at DeWitt's face. It was not the same face that she had lastseen at the Newman ranch. John had the look of a man who has passedthrough the fire of tragedy. She gripped his burned fingers with bothher slender hands.

  "O John!" she cried, "I wasn't worth it! I wasn't worth it! Let's getto the camp quickly, so that you can rest! It would take a lifetime ofdevotion to make up for that look in your face!"

  John's quiet manner left him.

  "It was a devilish thing for him to do!" he said fiercely. "Heavenhelp him when I get him!" Then before Rhoda could speak he smiledgrimly. "This pace is fearful. If you keep it up you will havesunstroke, Rhoda. And at that, you're standing it better than I!"

  They slowed their pace. DeWitt was breathing hard as the burning lavadust bit into his throat.

  "I haven't minded the physical discomfort," he went on. "It's themental torture that's been killing me. We've pushed hot on your trailhour after hour, day in and day out. When they made me rest, I couldonly lie and listen to you sob for help until--O my love! My love!--"

  His voice broke and Rhoda laid her cheek against his arm for a moment.

  "I know! O John dear, I know!" she whispered.

  They trudged on in silence for a time, both listening for the sound ofpursuit. Then DeWitt spoke, as if he forced himself to ask for ananswer that he dreaded.

  "Rhoda, did they torture you much?"

  "No! There was no torture except that of fearful hardships. Atfirst--you know how weak and sick I was, John--at first I just lived inan agony of fear and anger--sort of a nightmare of exhaustion andfrenzy. Then at Chira I began to get strong and as my health came, thewonder of it, the--oh, I can't put it into words; Kut-le was--" Rhodapaused, wondering at the reluctance with which she spoke the youngIndian's name. "You missed us so narrowly so many times!"

  "The Indian had the devil's own luck and we always blundered," saidDeWitt. "I have had the feeling lately that my bones would bebleaching on this stretch of Hades before you ever were heard of.Rhoda, if I can get you safely to New York again I'll shoot the firstman who says desert to me!"

  Rhoda became strangely silent, though she clung to John's hand and nowand again lifted it against her cheek. The yellow of the desert reeledin heat waves about them. The deep, intensely deep blue of the skyglowed silently down on them. Never to see them again! Never to wakenwith the desert stars above her face or to make camp with the crimsondawn blinding her vision! Never to know again the wild thrill of thechase! Finally Rhoda gave herself a mental shake and looked up intoJohn's tired face.

  "How did you come to leave the camp, John?" she asked gently.

  "It's all been luck," said John. "With the exception of a little trailwisdom that Billy or Carlos raked up once in a while it's just beenhit-or-miss luck with us. We suspected that Billy had gone on InjunTom's trail, so we made camp on the spot so he wouldn't lose us. Istood guard this morning while Jack and Carlos slept and then I thoughtthat that was fool nonsense, as Kut-le never traveled by day. So Istarted on a hunt along Billy's trail--and here we are!"

  "Are there any other people hunting for me?"

  "Lord, yes! At first they were fairly walking over each other. Butthe ranchers had to go back to their work and the curious got tired.Most of those that are left are down along the Mexican border. Theythought of course that Kut-le would get off American territory as soonas he could. Must we keep such a pace, Rhoda girl? You will be halfdead before we can reach the camp!"

  Rhoda smiled.

  "I've followed Kut-le's tremendous pace so many miles that I doubt if Ishall ever walk like a perfect lady again!"

  "I thought that I would go off my head," DeWitt went on, dropping intoa walk, "when I saw you there at Dead Man's Mesa and you escaped intothat infernal crevice! Gee, Rhoda, I can't believe that this really isyou!"

  The sun was setting as they climbed through a wide stretch ofgreasewood to the first rough rock heaps of the mountains. Then DeWittpaused uncertainly.

  "Why, this isn't right! I never was here before!"

  Rhoda spoke cheerfully.

  "Perhaps you have the right mountain but the wrong trail!"

  "No! This is altogether wrong. I remember this peak now, with a sortof saw edge to the top. What a chump I am! I distinctly rememberseeing this mountain from the trail this morning."

  "How did it lie?" asked Rhoda, sitting down on a convenient stone.

  "Gee, I can't remember whether to the right or left!"

  Rhoda clasped and unclasped her hands nervously.

  "I hate to stop. One can't tell what Kut-le is up to!"

  DeWitt squared his broad shoulders.

  "Don't you worry, little girl. If he does find us he'll have to takeus both! We'll just have to rest here for a moment. There's no usestarting till we have our sense of direction again."

  Rhoda raised her eyebrows. After all the fearful lessons, DeWitt hadnot yet come to a full realization of the skill and resourcefulness ofKut-le. The girl said nothing, however, but left the leadership toDeWitt. The sun was setting, turning to clear red and pale lavender adistant peak that then merged with the dusk, one coul
d not tell whennor how. Rhoda and DeWitt sat at the foot of an inhospitable cragwhose distant top, baring itself to the heavens, was a fearful climbabove them.

  Rhoda watched the sunset a little wistfully. She must impress on hermemory every one that she saw now. She felt that her days in thedesert were numbered.

  DeWitt shook his empty canteen.

  "It was mighty clever of you to bring a canteen. We've got to becareful of the water question. Of course, I'm confident we will reachcamp this evening, but you can't be too careful of water anyhow. Lord!Think of Jack Newman's face when we come strolling in! We ought to beback at the ranch in five days."

  "Do you know it's going to be strange to talk with Katherine!"exclaimed Rhoda. "She's a white woman, you know!"

  DeWitt took both of Rhoda's brown little hands in his.

  "I'm not appearing very sympathetic, sweetheart," he said. "But I'm socrazy with joy at having you again and of finding you so well that Idon't know what I'm saying."

  "John," said Rhoda slowly, "I don't need any sympathy! I tell you thatthis has been the most wonderful experience that ever came into mylife. I have suffered!" Her voice trembled and John's hold on herhands tightened. "God only knows how I have suffered! But I havelearned things that were worth the misery!"

  DeWitt looked at her wide-eyed.

  "You're a wonder!" he exclaimed.

  Rhoda laughed softly.

  "You ought to hear the Indians' opinion of me! Do you know what I'vethought of lots of times lately? You know that place on the Hudsonwhere men go when they are nervous wrecks and the doctor cures them bygrilling them mentally and physically clear beyond endurance? Well,that's the sort of cure I've had, except that I've had two doctors, theIndian and the desert!"

  DeWitt answered slowly.

  "I don't quite see it! But I know one thing. You are about the gamestlittle thoroughbred I ever heard of!"

  The moon was rising and DeWitt watched Rhoda as she sat with her handsclasping her knee in the boyish attitude that had become a habit.

  "You are simply fascinating in those clothes, Rhoda. You are like abeautiful slender boy in them."

  "They are very comfortable," said Rhoda, in such a sedatematter-of-fact tone despite her blush that DeWitt chuckled. He threwhis arm across her shoulder and hugged her to him ecstatically.

  "Rhoda! Rhoda! You are the finest ever! I can't believe that thisterrible nightmare is over! And to think that instead of finding youall but dead, you are a thousand times more fit than I am myself.Rhoda, just think! You are going to live! To live! You will not bemy wife just for a few months, as we thought, but for years and years!"

  They stood in silence for a time, each one busy with the pictureDeWitt's words had conjured. Then DeWitt emptied the pipe he had beensmoking.

  "Yonder is our peak, by Jove! It looked just so in the moonlight lastnight. I didn't recognize it by daylight. If you're rested, we'llstart now. You must be dead hungry! I know I am!"

  Refreshed and hopeful, they swung out into the wonder of the moonlitdesert. They soon settled to each other's pace and with the full moonglowing in their faces they made for the distant peak.

  "Now," said John, "tell me the whole story!"

  So Rhoda, beginning with the moment of her abduction, told the story ofher wanderings, told it simply though omitting no detail. Nothingcould have been more dramatic than the quiet voice that now rose, nowfell with intensity of feeling. DeWitt did not interrupt her exceptwith a muttered exclamation now and again.

  "And the actual sickness was not the worst," Rhoda continued afterdescribing her experiences up to her sickness at Chira; "it was thedelirium of fear and anger. Kut-le forced me beyond the limit of mystrength. Night after night I was tied to the saddle and kept theretill I fainted. Then I was rested only enough to start again. And itangered and frightened me so! I was so sick! I loathed them allso--except Molly. But after Chira a change came. I got stronger thanI ever dreamed of being. And I began to understand Kut-le's methods.He had realized that physically and mentally I was at the lowest ebband that only heroic measures could save me. He had the courage toapply the measures."

  "God!" muttered John.

  Rhoda scarcely heeded him.

  "It was then that I began to see things that I could not see before andto think thoughts that I could not have thought before. It was as if Ihad climbed a mental peak that made my old highest ideals seem likemere foothills!"

  The quiet voice led on and on, stopping at last with Porter's adventthat afternoon. Then Rhoda looked up into DeWitt's face. It was drawnand tense. His eyes were black with feeling and his close-pressed lipstwitched.

  "Rhoda," he said at last, "I thought most of the savage had beencivilized out of me. But I tell you now that if ever I get a chance Ishall kill that Apache with my bare hands!"

  Rhoda laid her hand on DeWitt's arm.

  "Kut-le, after all, has done me only a great good, John!"

  "But think how he did it! The devil risked killing you! Think whatyou and we all have suffered! God, Rhoda, think!" And DeWitt threwhis arm across his face with a sob that wrenched his shoulders.

  Inexpressibly touched, Rhoda stopped and drew John's face down to hers,rubbing it softly with her velvet cheek.

  "There, dear, there! I can't bear to see you so! My poor tired boy!You have all but killed yourself for me!"

  DeWitt lifted the slender little figure and held it tensely in his armsa moment, then set her gently down.

  "A woman's magnanimity is a strange thing," he said.

  "Kut-le will suffer," said Rhoda. "He risked everything and has lost.He has neither friends nor country now."

  "Much he cares," retorted DeWitt, "except for losing you!"

  Rhoda made no answer. She realized that it would take careful pleadingon her part to win freedom for Kut-le if ever he were caught. Shechanged the subject.

  "Have you found living off the desert hard? I mean as far as food wasconcerned?"

  "Food hasn't bothered us," answered John. "We've kept well supplied."

  Rhoda chuckled.

  "Then I can't tempt you to stop and have some roast mice with me?"

  "Thank you," answered DeWitt. "Try and control your yearning for them,honey girl. We shall be at camp shortly and have some white man'sgrub."

  "How long since you have eaten, John?" asked Rhoda. She had beenwatching the tall fellow's difficult and slacking steps for some time.

  "Well, not since last night, to tell the truth. You see I was soexcited when I struck Porter's trail that I didn't go back to the camp.I just hiked."

  "So you are faint with hunger," said Rhoda, "and your feet areblistered, for you have done little tramping in the hot sand beforethis. John, look at that peak! Are you sure it is the right one?"

  DeWitt stared long and perplexedly.

  "Rhoda girl," he said, "I don't believe it is, after all. I am theblamedest tenderfoot! But don't you worry. We will find the camp.It's right in this neighborhood."