Jessica Trent: Her Life on a Ranch

by Evelyn Raymond

  CHAPTER XVII

  THE FINDING OF ANTONIO

  For Jessica Trent there followed weeks of a quieter life than she hadlived even at isolated Sobrante. "The behavior," which was to be atest of her stay, proved so pleasing to the hospital residents that someof them wondered how they had ever gotten along without her helpful,happy presence.

  Very quickly she lost her first vague fear of the place and learnedto hear in the once alarming ambulance gong the signal of relief tosomebody. She modulated her voice to the prevailing quietude of thehouse and her footfalls were as light as the nurses themselves. Tomany a sufferer, coming there in dread and foreboding, the sight ofa child familiar and happy about the great building brought a feeling ofcomfort and homelikeness which nothing else could have given. She was soapt and imitative that Ephraim often declared:

  "All you need, Lady Jess, is a cap and apron to make you a regularprofessional. Take care of me better'n any of 'em, you do; and I'llbe a prime experience for you, that's a fact. Another of the good thingscome out of my fool riding, I s'pose. You'll be able to nurse thewhole parcel of us, when you get back to Sobrante. Beat Aunt Sally allhollow, 'cause you trust a bit to nature and not all to--picra."

  "But you're not ill, Ephraim Marsh. You're just broken. So you don'tneed medicine. All you need is patience. And your nourishments, regular."

  "I get them all right; but--_patience!_ Atlantic!"

  The old man sighed. It was weary work for him, the hardest he had everdone, to lie so motionless while he was so anxious to be active. Hereally suffered little and he had the best of care. Still, he sighedagain, and, unfortunately, Jessica echoed the sigh. Then he looked ather keenly and spoke the thought which had been in his mind for a longtime:

  "Captain, you must go home. There's twenty to need bossing there andonly one poor old carcass here."

  Poor Lady Jess! She tried to answer brightly as was her habit, but thatday homesickness was strong upon her, and at mention of Sobrante hercourage failed. She forgot that she was a "nurse"; forgot the good"behavior," forgot everything, indeed, but her mother's face andNed's mischievous affection. She dropped to her knees and buried herface in the old man's pillow while she sobbed aloud:

  "Oh, 'Forty-niner,' shall we ever see that home again?"

  Weak and unstrung, the patient moaned in sympathy, while tears fell fromhis own eyes; and it was upon this dismal tableau that Mr. Hale walkedin, unannounced.

  "Hurrah, here! What's amiss? Been quarreling? Just when I've come tobring you good news, too."

  "Quarreling, indeed! Ephraim and I could never quarrel. Never.But--but--this isn't Sobrante, and we're--I guess we're awfulhomesick."

  "That's a disease can be cured, you know. One of you, at least, cango home. If you wish, Jessica, I will put you on a train and arrange forone of your 'boys' to meet you at the railway terminus. But----"

  "Hello, everybody!" called a cheery voice, and there in the doorwaywas Ninian Sharp, smiling, nodding, and embracing all three with oneinspiring look. "What's that I overheard about 'home'? Been tellingstate secrets, Hale? My plan beats yours, altogether. We're all going'home' to Sobrante, in a bunch, one of these fine days. _The Lancet_never fails!"

  Jessica sprang to him and caught his hand to kiss it. He had not beento see them for some days and she had missed him sadly. Far more thanMr. Hale he made her feel that the mystery surrounding "that missing NewYork money," as she called it, would certainly be explained. It was hewho, by questions innumerable, had recalled to her and to Ephraim thenames of persons with whom Mr. Trent had ever done business. Incidentswhich to her seemed trifling had been of moment in his judgment. Withthe slight clews they had given him, as the first link in the chain, hehad gone on unraveling the knots which followed with infinite patienceand perseverance. He kept Mrs. Trent informed of the welfare of herdaughter, and, without neglecting his legitimate business, did thethousand and one things which only the busiest of persons can have timeto do. For it's always the indolent who are overcrowded.

  "Oh! Mr. Sharp! Have you found it all out?"

  "Not I. Hale, here, has found out some things, himself. But he's alawyer, which means, a--beg pardon--a snail. If newspapers were as slowas the law--h-m-m--we might all take a nap. Look here, Miss Sunshine,you've been crying."

  Jessica blushed as guiltily as if she had been accused of some crime.

  "I know it. I'm sorry."

  "So am I. I know why. Because you're shut up here like a dormouse whenyou've lived like a lark. On with your little red Tam and come withme. Our work is getting on famously, famously. If I could get hold ofone person that I've hunted this and every other city near for I'dhave the matter in a nut shell and the guilty man in--a prison. I'vefound--three or four more of those links I mentioned, Hale, and everyman of them is another witness to the uprightness of one, Cassius Trent,late of Sobrante. I began this job for little Jess, but I confess I'mfinishing it for the sake of a man I never saw. He was a trump, thatfellow. One of the great-hearted, impracticable creatures that keep myfaith in humanity. If we could only find that Antonio!"

  "Yes. _If!_ But when he rode away from Sobrante that day he seems tohave ridden out of the world, so far as any trace he left behind. I'mgetting discouraged, for without him all the rest falls to the ground."

  "Well, discouraged? We'll just step out and find him, won't we, LadyJess?"

  She had hastened to ask permission to go out with her friend and hadcome back radiant, now, at prospect even of so brief an outing. It wasquite as the reporter had judged; the close confinement of the hospital,after the out-of-door life at Sobrante, was half the cause of Jessica'sdepression, and she was ready now to fall in with the gay mood of NinianSharp and answered, promptly:

  "Oh, yes. We'll find 'him,' since you wish it. But I don't happen toknow which 'him' you want?"

  "Why, our fine Senor Bernal. Who else?"

  "Then let us go to the old Spanish quarter."

  "I've been, many times. Sent others also. No. He's a wise chap andif he is in this town frequents no haunt where he'll be looked for sosurely. No matter. It's a picturesque corner of the town and maybe asight of some old adobes would do your homesick eyes good."

  "Or harm," suggested Mr. Hale.

  But they did not stop to hear his objections and were speedily on thecar which would take them nearest to the district Jessica had heard of,both from Antonio at home and now from others here. A relic of the oldCalifornia, whose history she loved to hear from the lips of Pedro, FraMateo, or even "Forty-niner" himself.

  But once arrived there she was disappointed. They were old adobes,true enough, and the people who lived in them had the same dark,Spanish cast of face which she remembered of Antonio. Yet there theresemblance ended. This was the home of squalor, of poverty that was notself-respecting enough to be clean, and of an indolence which hadbrought about a wretched state of affairs.

  "Oh! is this it? But it can't be. Antonio's 'quarter' was a splendidplace. The old grandees lived there, keeping up a sort of court andall the customs of a hundred years ago. It was 'a picture, a romance, adream,' he said. Of an evening he would describe it all to us at hometill I felt as if it were the one spot in the world I most wished tosee. But--_this!_"

  "Turn not up your pretty nose, for '_this_,' my dear littleunenlightened maiden, is also a dream--a nightmare. Nevertheless, thevery ground your lost hero boasted and embellished with his fancy. Themore I hear of this versatile Antonio the greater becomes my longingto behold him. In any case, since we're here, we must not go awaywithout entering some of these shops. You shall buy a trinket or twoand present one of them as a keepsake to this fine senor, when youfind him. Oh! that I had your familiar knowledge of his features,this absent 'grandee,' that if by accident I met him I might knowhim on the instant. See. This 'bazaar' is somewhat tidier than itsneighbors, as well as larger, and there are some really beautiful Navajoblankets in the window. Unfortunately the pocketbook of a reporterisn't quite equal to more than a dozen of these, at fifty dolla
rsapiece. Something more modest, Lady Jess, and I'll oblige you!"

  She looked up to protest and saw that he was teasing, and exclaimed, withan air of mock injury:

  "Those or nothing! But when shall I learn to understand your jest fromearnest?"

  "When you produce me your Antonio!"

  "Upon the instant, then," she retorted, gayly.

  Upon the instant, indeed, there were hurrying footsteps behind them, thesound of some one breathing rapidly and of angrily muttered sentences,that were a jumble of Spanish and English, and in a voice which madeJessica Trent start and turn aside, clutching her companion's hand.

  He turned, also, throwing his arm about her shoulders, lest the rush ofthe man approaching should force her from the narrow sidewalk. But shedarted from him, straight into the path of this wild-looking person andseized him with both hands, while she cried out:

  "It's he! It is Antonio! I've found him--Antonio Bernal!"

  "Whew! A case of the 'unexpected,' indeed! The merest jest and theabsolute fact. Hi! I'd rather this than--than be struck by lightning,and it's on about the same order of things, for it is he, as sheclaimed. He's more staggered than I am," considered this livelynewspaper man. Then he thought it time to step forward, and remark:

  "Please present me to your friend, Miss Trent," and lifted his hat,courteously.

  Antonio bowed, after his own exaggerated fashion, and with his handupon his heart; but though his eyes rested keenly on Ninian's face hekept tight hold of Jessica's hand and his torrent of words did notcease for an instant. Now and then he lifted the little hand and kissedit, whereupon Lady Jess would snatch it away and coolly wipe it on herskirt, only to have it recaptured and caressed; till, seeing he wouldneither give over the hateful action nor stop talking, she folded herarms behind her and interrupted with:

  "That's enough, Senor Bernal. This isn't Sobrante, but I'm yourcaptain here, same as there. You come tell your story to Mr. Hale andthis gentleman. See Ephraim Marsh, too. He's here in hospital with abroken leg. I'm in Los Angeles, also, as you see; and likely to findthe same man you say has cheated you. That's what he's telling, Mr.Sharp," she exclaimed.

  Antonio hesitated. He had frowned at her tone of command, but now, tothe reporter's amazement, seemed eager to obey it.

  "As the senorita will. That gentleman, who came last to Sobrante, wasone lawyer, no? So the senora said. Fool! fool! that I was that I didnot then and at that moment so disclose the secrets of my heart as wasmoved, yes. Let the senorita and the handsome friend lead on. I follow.I, Antonio."

  Five minutes earlier, had Ninian Sharp been asked what he should do ifhe did find this strange person, he would have promptly answered:

  "Put him under lock and key, where he can do no harm and be handy toget at."

  Now he found himself as certain that the fellow needed no restraintof the law, at present. That he was dreadfully unhappy and had becomeas humble as he had before been arrogant. What could so have alteredhim? And was it thus that the Lady Jess had all her "boys" in leadingstrings?

  "I must look out for myself or I'll fall under a like spell," helaughed, as with the air of one who knows it all, though she had beenover that way but once, Jessica explained to her late manager:

  "This car will take us straight back to the hospital. We've not beenaway long and I think Mr. Hale will still be there. He'll be glad tosee you. _Very glad._ He and Mr. Sharp have been looking for you. I thinkyou can tell them something they're anxious to know. Ephraim is there,anyhow. He, poor fellow, can't go away, even if he wishes--yet."

  Mr. Hale was still in "Forty-niner's" room and recognized Antonio withsuch an outburst of surprise that Ephraim opened his eyes, for he hadbeen dozing, and fixed them on the newcomer, inquiringly.

  "What! You, you snake! _you here?_"

  "But certainly, yes. I, I, Antonio, at your service. Hast the brokenleer? This is bad. Old bones are slow to heal. You will not shoot againat dear Sobrante, you."

  "Won't? Well, I rather guess it'll take somebody stronger 'n you tostop it."

  Antonio shrugged his shoulders in a manner deemed offensive by thepatient, who struggled to rise, but was prevented by Jessica's quickmovement.

  "Ephraim! Antonio! Don't quarrel, this very first minute. One of youis sick and the other half frantic with some trouble. Please, Antonio,go away now with Mr. Hale and Mr. Sharp. One must never make a noise in ahospital," said this wise maiden of eleven.

  "Ah! so? But it is the lawyer I want, yet. The lawyer who will make avillain return the great money I have given. _Caramba!_ If I had him inmy hands this minute!"

  Jessica lifted a warning finger and the manager lowered his voice.He even made an attempt at soothing Ephraim, but chose an unfortunateargument.

  "Take peace to yourself, 'Forty-niner.' All must be told some day._Adios._"

  "_Adios_, you foreign serpent! Old? Old! he calls me--me--old! Why,I'm a babe in arms to Pedro, or Fra Mateo, or even fat Brigida, whowashes for us 'boys.' Old! A man but just turned eighty! Snake, I'lloutlive you yet. I'll get well, to spite you; and I'll be on hand,when they let you out the lockup, to give you the neatest horsewhippin'you ever see. Old! Get out!"

  Fearful of further excitement, the gentlemen hurried Antonio away, yetkept a keen watch upon his movements for, at that word "lockup," theman's dark face had turned to an ashen hue.

  As they left the hospital the every-busy ambulance rolled past themtoward the accident ward. The others averted their eyes, but the Spaniardpeered curiously within, and, instantly a shuddering groan burst fromhis lips. Inside that van lay the solution to all their difficulties;though Antonio alone had comprehended it.