Bred of the Desert: A Horse and a Romance

by Charles M. Horton

  CHAPTER IV

  A NEW HOME

  With the beginning of the forward movement across the railroad the colt,ears cocked and eyes alert, moved across also. Close about him steppedother horses, and over and around him surged a low murmuring,occasionally broken by the crack of a whip. Yet these sounds did notseem to disturb him. He trotted along, crossing the tracks, and when onthe opposite side set out straight down the avenue. The avenue wasbroad, and in this widening area the congestion rapidly thinned, andsoon the colt was quite alone in the open. But he continued forward,seeming not to miss his mother, until there suddenly loomed up besidehim a very fat and very matronly appearing horse. Then he hesitated,turning apprehensive eyes upon her. But not for long. Evidentlyaccepting this horse as his mother, he fell in close beside her andtrotted along again in perfect composure.

  Behind this horse was a phaeton, and in the phaeton sat two persons.They were widely different in age. One was an elderly man, broad ofshoulders and with a ruddy face faintly threaded with purple; the otherwas a young girl, not more than seventeen, his daughter, with a facesweet and alert, and a mass of chestnut hair--all imparting a certainesthetic beauty. Like the man, the girl was ruddy of complexion, thoughhers was the bloom of youth, while his was toll taken from suns andwinds of the desert. The girl was the first to discover the colt.

  "Daddy!" she exclaimed, placing a restraining hand upon the other."Whose beautiful colt is that?"

  The Judge pulled down his horse and leaned far out over the side. "Why,I don't know, dear!" he replied, after a moment, then turned his eyes tothe rear. "He must belong with some team in that crush."

  The girl regarded the colt with increasing rapture. "Isn't he a perfectdear!" she went on. "Look at him, daddy!" she suddenly urged,delightedly. "He's dying to know why we stopped!" Which, indeed, thecolt looked to be, since he had come to a stop with the mare and now wasregarding them curiously. "I'd love to pet him!"

  The Judge frowned. "We're late for luncheon," he declared, and againgazed to the rear. "We'd better take him along with us out to the ranch.To-morrow I'll advertise him in the papers." And he shook up the mare."We'd better go along, Helen."

  "Just one minute, daddy!" persisted the girl, gathering up her whiteskirts and, as the Judge pulled down, leaping lightly out of thephaeton. "I've simply _got_ to pet him!" She cautiously approachedthe colt.

  He permitted her this approach. Nor did he shy at her outstretched hand.Under her gentle caresses he stood very still, and when she stoopedbefore him, as she did presently, bringing her eyes upon a level withhis own, he gazed into them very frankly and earnestly, as if gaugingthis person, as he had seemed to tabulate all other things, some day tomake good use of his knowledge. After a time the girl spoke.

  "I wish I could keep you always," she said, poutingly. "You look so niceand babyish!" But she knew that she could not keep him, and after a timeshe stood up again and sighed, and fell to stroking him thoughtfully."I'll have you to-day, anyway," she declared, finally, with promise ofenjoyment in her voice, as one who meant to make the most of it. Thenshe got back into the phaeton.

  The Judge started up the horse again. They continued through the town,and when on its northwestern outskirts turned to the right along a trailthat paralleled the river. The trail ran north and south, and on eitherside of it, sometimes shielding a secluded ranch, always forming anagreeable oasis in the flat brown of the country, rose an occasionalclump of cottonwoods. The ranch-houses were infrequent, however; all ofthem were plentifully supplied with water by giant windmills whichclacked and creaked above the trees in the high-noon breeze. To theleft, across the river, back from the long, slow rise of sand from thewater's edge, rose five blunt heights like craters long extinct; whileabove these, arching across the heavens in spotless sheen, curved theturquoise dome of a southwestern midday sky, flooding the dust and dunesbelow in throbbing heat-rays. It was God's own section of earth, and notthe least beautiful of its vistas, looming now steadily ahead on theirright, was the place belonging to Judge Richards. House and outhouseswhite, and just now aglint in the white light of the sun, the wholeranch presented the appearance of diamonds nestling in a bed ofemerald-green velvet. Turning off at this ranch, the Judge tossed thereins to a waiting Mexican.

  Helen was out of the phaeton like a flash. Carefully guiding the coltaround the house and across a _patio_, she turned him loose into aspacious corral. Then she fell to watching him, and she continued towatch him until a voice from the house, that of an aged Mexican womanwho presided over the kitchen, warned her that dinner was waiting.Reluctantly hugging the colt--hugging him almost savagely in her suddenaffection for him--she then turned to leave, but not without a word ofexplanation.

  "I must leave you now, honey!" she said, much as a child would takeleave of her doll. "But I sha'n't be away from you long, and when I comeback I'll see what I can do about feeding you!"

  The colt stood for a time, peering between the corral boards after her.Then he set out upon a round of investigation. He moved slowly along theinside of the fence, seeming to approve its whitewashed cleanliness,until, turning in a corner, he stood before the stable door. Here hepaused a moment, gazing into the semi-gloom, then sprang up the onestep. Inside, he stood another moment, sweeping eyes down past thestalls, and finally set out and made his way to the far end. In thestall next the last stood a brown saddle-horse, and in the last stallthe matronly horse he had followed out from town. But he showed nointerest in these, bestowing upon each merely a passing glance. Then,discovering that the flies bothered him here more than in the corral, hewalked back to the door and out into the sunlight again. In the corralhe took up his motionless stand in the corner nearest the house.

  He did not stand thus for long. He soon revealed grave uneasiness. Itwas due to a familiar gnawing inside. He knew the relief for this, andpromptly set out in search of his mother. He hurried back along thefence, gained the door of the stable, and stepped into the stable, thistime upon urgent business. He trotted down past the stalls to the familyhorse, and without hesitation stepped in alongside of her. Directlythere was a shrill nicker, a lightning flash of heels, and the colt laysprawling on the stable floor.

  Never was there a colt more astonished than this one. Dazed, trembling,he regained his feet and looked at the mare, looked hard. Then castingsolicitous eyes in the direction of the saddle-horse, he stepped inalongside. But here he met with even more painful objections. The horsereached around and bit him sharply in the neck. It hurt, hurt awfully,but he persisted, only to receive another sharp bite, this time moresavage. Sounding a baby whimper of despair, he ran back to the door andout into the motherless corral.

  He made for the corner nearest the house. But he did not stand still. Hecocked his ears, pawed the ground, turned again and again, swallowedfrequently. And presently he set out once more in search of his mother;though this time he wisely kept out of the stable. He held close to thefence, following it around and around, pausing now and again with eyesstrained between the boards. But he could not find his mother. Finally,resorting to the one effort left to him that might bring result, heflung up his little head and sounded a piteous call--not once, but manytimes.

  "Aunty," declared the girl, rushing into the genial presence of theMexican cook, "what shall I do about that colt? He must be hungry!"

  The old woman nodded and smiled knowingly. Then she stepped into thepantry. She filled a long-necked bottle with milk and sugar and a dashof lime-water, and, placing the bottle in the girl's hands, shoved hergently out the door and into the _patio_.

  Racing across to the corral, Helen reached the colt with much-neededaid. He closed upon the bottle with an eagerness that seemed to tell hehad known no other method of feeding. Also, he clung to it till the lastdrop was gone, which caused Helen to wonder when last the colt had fed.Then, as if by way of reward for this kindly attention, he tossed hishead suddenly, striking the bottle out of her hands. This was play; andHelen, girlishly delighted, sprang toward him. He leaped away, ho
wever,and, coming to a stand at a safe distance, wriggled his ears at hermischievously. She sprang toward him again; but again he darted away.Whereupon she raced after him, pursuing him around the inclosure, thecolt frisking before her, kicking up his heels and nickering shrilly,until, through breathlessness, she was forced to stop. Then the coltstopped, and after a time, having regarded her steadfastly, invitingly,he seemed to understand, for he quietly approached her. As he came closeshe stooped before him.

  "Honey dear," she began, eyes on a level with his own, "they havetelephoned the city officials, and your case will be advertisedto-morrow in the papers. But I do wish that I could keep you." Shepeered into his slow-blinking eyes thoughtfully. "Brownie--mysaddle-horse--is all stable-ridden, and I need a good saddler. And someday you would be grown, and I could--could take lots of comfort withyou." She was silent. "Anyway," she concluded, rising and stroking himabsently, "we'll see. Though I hope--and I know it isn't a bitright--that nothing comes of the advertisement; or, if something doescome of it, that your rightful owner will prove willing to sell youafter a time." With this she picked up the bottle and left him.

  And nothing did come of the advertisement. Felipe did not read thepapers, and his knowledge of city affairs was such that he did not setup intelligent quest for the colt.

  So the colt remained in the Richards' corral. Regularly two and threetimes a day the girl came to feed him, and regularly as his reward eachtime he bunted the bottle out of her hand afterward. Also, between mealsshe spent much time in his society, and on these occasions relieved thetedium of his diet with loaf sugar, and, after a while, quarteredapples. For these sweets he soon developed a passion, and he would watchher comings with a feverish anxiety that always brought a smile to herready lips. And thus began, and thus went on, their friendship, afriendship that with the passing months ripened into strongestattachment, but which presently was to be interrupted for a long time.

  Hint of this came to him gradually. From spending long periods with himevery day his mistress, after each feeding now, took to hurrying awayfrom him. Sometimes, so great was her haste to get back to the house,she actually ran out of the corral. It worried him, and he would followher to the gate, and there stand with nose between the boards and eyesturned after her, whimpering softly. And finally, with his bottledisplaced by more solid food, and the visits of his mistress becomingless frequent, he awoke to certain mysterious arrivals and departures ina buggy of a sharp-eyed woman all in black, and he came to feel, byreason of his super-animal instinct, that something of a very gravenature was about to happen to him. Then one morning late in August heexperienced that which made his fears positive convictions, thoughprecisely what it was he did not immediately know.

  His mistress stepped into the corral with her usual briskness, and,walking deliberately past him, turned up an empty box in a far cornerand sat down upon it, and called to him. From the instant of herentrance he had held himself back, but when she called him he rushedeagerly to her side. She placed her arms around his neck, drew his headdown into her lap, and proceeded to unfold a story--later, tearful.

  "It's all settled," she began, with a restful sigh. "We have discussedit for weeks, and I've had a dreadful time of it, and aunty--my Mexicanaunty, you know--and my other aunty, my regular aunty--I have nomother--and everybody--got so excited I didn't really know them for myown, and daddy flared up a little, and--and--" She paused and sighedagain. "But finally they let me have my own way about it--though daddycalled it 'infant tommyrot'--and so here it is!" She tilted up his headand looked into his eyes. "You, sir," she then went on--"you, sir, fromthis day and date--I reckon that is how daddy would say it--you, sir,from this day and date shall be known as Pat. Your name, sir, isPat--P-a-t--Pat! I don't know whether you like it or not, of course! ButI do know that I like it, and under the circumstances I reckon that'sall that is necessary." Then came the tears. "But that isn't all, Patdear," she went on, tenderly. "I have something else to tell you, thoughit hurts dreadfully for me to do it. But--but I'm going away to school.I'm going East, to be gone a long time. I want to go, though," sheadded, gazing soberly into his eyes; "yet I am afraid to leave you alonewith Miguel. Miguel doesn't like to have you around, and I know it, andI am afraid he will be cruel to you. But--but I've got to go now. Thedressmaker has been coming for over a month; and--and I'm not evencoming home for vacation. I am to visit relatives, or something, in NewYork--or somewhere--and the whole thing is arranged. But I--I don't seemto want--to--to go away now!" Which was where the tears fell. "Ifthings--things could only be--be put off! But I--I know they can't!" Shewas silent, silent a long time, gazing off toward the distant mountainsthrough tear-bedimmed eyes. "But when I do come back," she concluded,finally, brightening, "you will have grown to a great size, Pat dear,and then we can go up on the mesa and ride and ride. Can't we?" And shehugged him convulsively. "It will be glorious. Won't it?"

  He didn't exactly say. His interest was elsewhere, and, resisting herhugging, he began to nuzzle her hands for sweets. Whereupon she burstinto laughter and forcibly hugged him again.

  "I forgot," she declared, regretfully. "You shall have them,though--right away!" Then she arose and left him--left him a very muchmystified colt. But when she returned with what he sought he looked hisdelight, and closed over the sweets with an eagerness that forced herinto sober reflection. "Pat," she said, after a time, "I don't think youcare one single bit for me! All you care about, I'll bet, is what Ibring you to eat!" Then she began to stroke him. "Just the same," sheconcluded, after a while, tenderly, "you're the dearest colt that everlived!" She dallied with him a moment longer, then abruptly left him,running back to the house.

  The days which followed, however, were full of delight for him. Now thatthe mysterious activity in the house was over with, his mistress beganto visit him again with more than frequent regularity. And with eachvisit she would remain with him a long time, caressing him, talking tohim, as had been her wont in the earlier days of their friendship. Butas against those earlier days he had changed. Possibly this was due toher absence. Instead of frisking about the inclosure now, as he had usedto frisk--whirling madly from her in play--he would remain very stillduring her visits, standing motionless under her caresses and love-talk.Also, when she took herself off each time, instead of hurryingfrantically after her to the gate, he would walk slowly, even sedately,into his corner, the one nearest the house, and there watch her soberlytill she disappeared indoors. Then--further evidence of the change thathad come upon him--he would lie down in the warm sunlight and therefight flies, although before he had been given to worrying the familyhorse or irritating the brown saddler--all with nervous playfulness.

  And he was dozing in his corner that morning when his mistress camefluttering to him to say good-by. He slowly rose to his feet and blinkedcuriously at her.

  "Pat dear," she exclaimed, breathlessly, "I'm going now!" She flung herarms around his neck, held him tightly to her a moment, then steppedback. "You--you must be good while--while I'm gone!" And dashing away apersistent tear, she then hurriedly left him, speeding across the_patio_ and stepping into the waiting phaeton.

  He watched the vehicle roll out into the trail. And though he did notunderstand, though the seriousness of it all was denied him, henevertheless remained close to the fence a long time; long after thephaeton had passed from view, long after the sound of the mare'spaddling feet had died away, he stood there, ears cocked, eyes wide,tail motionless, in an attitude of receptivity, spiritual absorption, asone flicked with unwelcome premonitions.