This Picture And That
: The Trail To YesterdayIT was a scene of wild, virgin beauty upon which Sheila Langford looked as
she sat on the edge of a grassy butte overlooking the Ute River, with
Duncan, the Double R manager stretched out, full length beside her, a
gigantic picture on Nature's canvas, glowing with colors which the gods
had spread with a generous touch.
A hundred feet below Sheila and Duncan the waters of the river swept
around the base of
narrow canyon farther down. Directly opposite the butte rose a short
slope, forming the other bank of the river. From the crest of the slope
began a plain that stretched for many miles, merging at the horizon into
some pine-clad foothills. Behind the foothills were the mountains, their
snow peaks shimmering in a white sky--remote, mysterious, seeming like
guardians of another world. The chill of the mountains contrasted sharply
with the slumberous luxuriance and color of the plains.
Miles of grass, its green but slightly dulled with a thin covering of
alkali dust, spread over the plain; here and there a grove of trees rose,
it seemed, to break the monotony of space. To the right the river doubled
sharply, the farther bank fringed with alder and aspen, their tall stalks
nodding above the nondescript river weeds; the near bank a continuing wall
of painted buttes--red, picturesque, ragged, thrusting upward and outward
over the waters of the river. On the left was a stretch of broken country.
Mammoth boulders were strewn here; weird rocks arose in inconceivably
grotesque formations; lava beds, dull and gray, circled the bald knobs of
some low hills. Above it all swam the sun, filling the world with a clear,
white light. It made a picture whose beauty might have impressed the most
unresponsive. Yet, though Sheila was looking upon the picture, her
thoughts were dwelling upon another.
This other picture was not so beautiful, and a vague unrest gripped
Sheila's heart as she reviewed it, carefully going over each gloomy
detail. It was framed in the rain and the darkness of a yesterday. There
was a small clearing there--a clearing in a dense wood beside a river--the
same river which she could have seen below her now, had she looked. In the
foreground was a cabin. She entered the cabin and stood beside a table
upon which burned a candle. A man stood beside the table also--a
reckless-eyed man, holding a heavy revolver. Another man stood there,
too--a man of God. While Sheila watched the man's lips opened; she could
hear the words that came through them--she would never forget them:
"To have and to hold from this day forth ... till death do you part...."
It was not a dream, it was the picture of an actual occurrence. She saw
every detail of it. She could hear her own protests, her threats, her
pleadings; she lived over again her terror as she had crouched in the bunk
until the dawn.
The man had not molested her, had not even spoken to her after the
ceremony; had ignored her entirely. When the dawn came she had heard him
talking to the parson, but could not catch their words. Later she had
mounted her pony and had ridden away through the sunshine of the morning.
She had been married--it was her wedding day.
When she had reached the crest of a long rise after her departure from the
cabin she had halted her pony to look back, hoping that it all might have
been a dream. But it had not been a dream. There was the dense wood, the
clearing, and the cabin. Beside them was the river. And there, riding
slowly away over the narrow trail which she had traveled the night before,
was the parson--she could see his gray beard in the white sunlight. Dry
eyed, she had turned from the scene. A little later, turning again, she
saw the parson fade into the horizon. That, she knew, was the last she
would ever see of him. He had gone out of her life forever--the desert had
swallowed him up.
But the picture was still vivid; she had seen it during every waking
moment of the month that she had been at the Double R ranch; it was before
her every night in her dreams. It would not fade.
She knew that the other picture was beautiful--the picture of this world
into which she had ridden so confidently, yet she was afraid to dwell upon
it for fear that its beauty would seem to mock her. For had not nature
conspired against her? Yet she knew that she alone was to blame--she,
obstinate, willful, heedless. Had not her father warned her? "Wait," he
had said, and the words flamed before her eyes--"wait until I go. Wait a
month. The West is a new country; anything, everything, can happen to you
out there--alone."
"Nothing can happen," had been her reply. "I will go straight from Lazette
to the Double R. See that you telegraph instructions to Duncan to meet me.
It will be a change; I am tired of the East and impatient to be away from
it."
Well, she had found a change. What would her father say when he heard of
it--of her marriage to a cowboy, an unprincipled scoundrel? What could he
say? The marriage could be annulled, of course! it was not legal, could
not be legal. No law could be drawn which would recognize a marriage of
that character, and she knew that she had only to tell her father to have
the machinery of the law set in motion. Could she tell him? Could she bear
his reproaches, his pity, after her heedlessness?
What would her friends say when they heard of it--as they must hear if she
went to the law for redress? Her friends in the East whose good wishes,
whose respect, she desired? Mockers there would be among them, she was
certain; there were mockers everywhere, and she feared their taunts, the
shafts of sarcasm that would be launched at her--aye, that would strike
her--when they heard that she had passed a night in a lone cabin with a
strange cowboy--had been married to him!
A month had passed since the afternoon on which she had ridden up to the
porch of the Double R ranchhouse to be greeted by Duncan with the
information that he had that morning received a telegram from her father
announcing her coming. It had been brought from Lazette by a puncher who
had gone there for the mail, and Duncan was at that moment preparing to
drive to Lazette to meet her, under the impression that she would arrive
that day. There had been a mistake, of course, but what did it matter now?
The damage had been wrought and she closed her lips. A month had passed
and she had not told--she would never tell.
Conversations she had had with Duncan; he seemed a gentleman, living at
the Double R ranchhouse with his sister, but in no conversation with
anyone had Sheila even mentioned Dakota's name, fearing that something in
her manner might betray her secret. To everyone but herself the picture of
her adventure that night on the trail must remain invisible.
She looked furtively at Duncan, stretched out beside her on the grass.
What would he say if he knew? He would not be pleased, she was certain,
for during the month that she had been at the Double R--riding out almost
daily with him--he had forced her to see that he had taken a liking to
her--more, she herself had observed the telltale signs of something deeper
than mere liking.
She had not encouraged this, of course, for she was not certain that she
liked Duncan, though he had treated her well--almost too well, in fact,
for she had at times felt a certain reluctance in accepting his little
attentions--such personal service as kept him almost constantly at her
side. His manner, too, was ingratiating; he smiled too much to suit her;
his presumption of proprietorship over her irritated her not a little.
As she sat beside him on the grass she found herself studying him, as she
had done many times when he had not been conscious of her gaze.
He was thirty-two,--he had told her so himself in a burst of
confidence--though she believed him to be much older. The sprinkling of
gray hair at his temples had caused her to place his age at thirty-seven
or eight. Besides, there were the lines of his face--the set lines of
character--indicating established habits of thought which would not show
so deeply in a younger face. His mouth, she thought, was a trifle weak,
yet not exactly weak either, but full-lipped and sensual, with little
curves at the corners which, she was sure, indicated either vindictiveness
or cruelty, perhaps both.
Taken altogether his was not a face to trust fully; its owner might be too
easily guided by selfish considerations. Duncan liked to talk about
himself; he had been talking about himself all the time that Sheila had
sat beside him reviewing the mental picture. But apparently he had about
exhausted that subject now, and presently he looked up at her, his eyes
narrowing quizzically.
"You have been here a month now," he said. "How do you like the country?"
"I like it," she returned.
She was looking now at the other picture, watching the shimmer of the sun
on the distant mountain peaks.
"It improves," he said, "on acquaintance--like the people." He flashed a
smile at her, showing his teeth.
"I haven't seen very many people," she returned, not looking at him, but
determined to ignore the personal allusion, to which, plainly, he had
meant to guide her.
"But those that you have seen?" he persisted.
"I have formed no opinions."
She had formed an opinion, though, a conclusive one--concerning Dakota.
But she had no idea of communicating it to Duncan. Until now, strangely
enough, she had had no curiosity concerning him. Bitter hatred and
resentment had been so active in her brain that the latter had held no
place for curiosity. Or at least, if it had been there, it had been a
subconscious emotion, entirely overshadowed by bitterness. Of late, though
her resentment toward Dakota had not abated, she had been able to review
the incident of her marriage to him with more composure, and therefore a
growing curiosity toward the man seemed perfectly justifiable. Curiosity
moved her now as she smiled deliberately at Duncan.
"I have seen no one except your sister, a few cowboys, and yourself. I
haven't paid much attention to the cowboys, I like your sister, and I am
not in the habit of telling people to their faces what I think of them.
The country does not appear to be densely populated. Are there no other
ranches around here--no other cattlemen?"
"The Double R ranch covers an area of one hundred and sixty square miles,"
said Duncan. "The ranchhouse is right near the center of it. For about
twenty miles in every direction you won't find anybody but Double R men.
There are line-camps, of course--dugouts where the men hang out over night
sometimes--but that's all. To my knowledge there are only two men with
shacks around here, and they're mostly of no account. One of them is
Doubler--Ben Doubler--who hangs out near Two Forks, and the other is a
fellow who calls himself Dakota, who's got a shack about twenty miles down
the Ute, a little off the Lazette trail."
"They are ranchers, I suppose?"
Sheila's face was averted so that Duncan might not see the interest in her
eyes, or the red which had suddenly come into her cheeks.
"Ranchers?" There was a sneer in Duncan's laugh. "Well, you might call
them that. But they're only nesters. They've got a few head of cattle and
a brand. It's likely they've put their brands on quite a few of the Double
R cattle."
"You mean----" began Sheila in a low voice.
"I mean that I think they're rustlers--cattle thieves!" said Duncan
venomously.
The flush had gone from Sheila's cheeks; she turned a pale face to the
Double R manager.
"How long have these men lived in the vicinity of the Double R?"
"Doubler has been hanging around here for seven or eight years. He was
here when I came and mebbe he's been here longer. Dakota's been here about
five years. He bought his brand--the Star--from another nester--Texas
Blanca."
"They've been stealing the Double R cattle, you say?" questioned Sheila.
"That's what I think."
"Why don't you have them arrested?"
Duncan laughed mockingly. "Arrested! That's good. You've been living where
there's law. But there's no law out here; no law to cover cattle stealing,
except our own. And then we've got to have the goods. The sheriff won't do
anything when cattle are stolen, but he acts mighty sudden when a man's
hung for stealing cattle, if the man ain't caught with the goods."
"Caught with the goods?"
"Caught in the act of stealing. If we catch a man with the goods and hang
him there ain't usually anything said."
"And you haven't been able to catch these men, Dakota and Doubler, in the
act of stealing."
"They're too foxy."
"If I were manager of this ranch and suspected anyone of stealing any of
its cattle, I would catch them!" There was a note of angry impatience in
Sheila's voice which caused Duncan to look sharply at her. He reddened,
suspecting disparagement of his managerial ability in the speech.
"Mebbe," he said, with an attempt at lightness. "But as a general thing
nosing out a rustler is a pretty ticklish proposition. Nobody goes about
that work with a whole lot of enthusiasm."
"Why?" There was scorn in Sheila's voice, scorn in her uplifted chin. But
she did not look at Duncan.
"Why?" he repeated. "Well, because it's perfectly natural for a man to
want to live as long as he can. I don't like them nesters--Dakota
especially--and I'd like mighty well to get something on them. But I ain't
taking any chances on Dakota."
"Why?" Again the monosyllable was pregnant with scorn.
"I forgot that you ain't acquainted out here," laughed the manager. "No
one is taking any chances with Dakota--not even the sheriff. There's
something about the cuss which seems to discourage a man when he's close
to him--close enough to do any shooting. I've seen Dakota throw down on a
man so quick that it would make you dizzy."
"Throw down?"
"Shoot at a man. There was a gambler over in Lazette thought to euchre
Dakota. A gunman he was, from Texas, and--well, they carried the gambler
out. It was done so sudden that nobody saw it."
"Killed him?" There was repressed horror in Sheila's voice.
"No, he wasn't entirely put out of business. Dakota only made him feel
cheap. Creased him."
"Creased him?"
"Grazed his head with the bullet. Done it intentionally, they say. Told
folks he didn't have any desire to send the gambler over the divide; just
wanted to show him that when he was playin' with fire he ought to be
careful. There ain't no telling what Dakota'd do if he got riled,
though."
Sheila's gaze was on Duncan fairly, her eyes alight with contempt. "So you
are all afraid of him?" she said, with a bitterness that surprised the
manager.
"Well, I reckon it would amount to about that, if you come right down to
the truth," he confessed, reddening a little.
"You are afraid of him, too I suppose?"
"I reckon it ain't just that," he parried, "but I ain't taking any foolish
risks."
Sheila rose and walked to her pony, which was browsing the tops of some
mesquite near by. She reached the animal, mounted, and then turned and
looked at Duncan scornfully.
"A while ago you asked for my opinion of the people of this country," she
said. "I am going to express that opinion now. It is that, in spite of his
unsavory reputation, Dakota appears to be the only man here!"
She took up the reins and urged her pony away from the butte and toward
the level that stretched away to the Double R buildings in the distance.
For an instant Duncan stood looking after her, his face red with
embarrassment, and then with a puzzled frown he mounted and followed her.
Later he came up with her at the Double R corral gate and resumed the
conversation.
"Then I reckon you ain't got no use for rustlers?" he said.
"Meaning Dakota?" she questioned, a smoldering fire in her eyes.
"I reckon."
"I wish," she said, facing Duncan, her eyes flashing, "that you would kill
him!"
"Why----" said Duncan, changing color.
But Sheila had dismounted and was walking rapidly toward the ranchhouse,
leaving Duncan alone with his unfinished speech and his wonder.
More
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You Can Tell Jessie
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Good Indian was young, which means that he was not always logical, nor much given to looking very far into the future except as he was personally concerned in what he might see there. By the time Sunday brought Miss Georgie Howard and the stir of pr... You Re Going To Love Me Before We Get Through
The Swinton barbecue was over. The fiddles were silent, the steer was eaten, the barrel emptied, or largely so, and the tapers extinguished; round the house and sunken fire all movement of guests was quiet; the families were long departed homeward... A Meeting On The River Trail
About ten o'clock in the morning of a perfect day Sheila left the Double R ranchhouse for a ride to the Two Forks to visit Doubler. This new world into which she had come so hopefully had lately grown very lonesome. It had promised much and it had... A Parting And A Visit
The problem which filled Duncan's mind as he sat on the edge of the slope overlooking the river was a three-sided one. To reach a conclusion the emotions of fear, hatred, and jealousy would have to be considered in the light of their relative impo... A Woman On The Trail
Many disquieting thoughts oppressed Miss Sheila Langford as she halted her pony on the crest of a slight rise and swept the desolate and slumberous world with an anxious glance. Quite the most appalling of these thoughts developed from a realizati... Bethune Pays A Call
It was past noon when Patty sank into the chair beside her table and glanced about her with a sigh of satisfaction. Warm June sunlight streamed through the open door and lay in a bright oblique patch upon the scrubbed floor. The girl's glance st... Bethune Tries Again
For several days following the incident of the two struggling horsemen, Patty rode, extending her quest farther and farther into the hills, and thus widening the circle of her exploration. She had overhauled her father's photographic outfit and fo... Bogged Down
Each day during the two weeks that her father had been at the Double R Sheila had accompanied him on his rides of exploration. She had grown tired of the continued companionship, and despite the novelty of the sight she had become decidedly wearie... Converging Trails
It was the barking of a dog that brought Sheila out of a sleep--dreamless this time--into a state of semi-consciousness. It was Dakota's dog surely, she decided sleepily. She sighed and twisted to a more comfortable position. The effort awakened h... Dakota Evens A Score
With the thermometer at one hundred and five it was not to be expected that there would be much movement in Lazette. As a matter of fact, there was little movement anywhere. On the plains, which began at the edge of town, there was no movement, no... Doubler Talks
After the departure of the doctor Sheila entered the cabin and closed the door, fastening the bars and drawing a chair over near the table. Doubler seemed to be resting easier, though there was a flush in his cheeks that told of the presence of fe... Duncan Adds Two And Two
Had Langford known that there had been a witness to his visit to Dakota he might not have ridden away from the latter's cabin so entirely satisfied with the result of his interview. Duncan had been much interested in Langford's differences with ... For Dakota
Though in a state of anxiety and excitement over the incident of Duncan's attack on Doubler and the subsequent shooting, together with a realization of Dakota's danger, Sheila did not lose her composure. She ran to the river and secured the water,... In The Cabin
For a long time after the departure of her visitors, Patty Sinclair sat thinking. Was it true, all this man had told her? She remembered vividly the beautiful tribute he had paid her father and the emotion that had gripped him as he finished. Sure... Into The Unknown
After a time Sheila rose from the bunk on which she had been sitting and stood in the center of the floor, looking down at her father. Dakota had not moved. He stood also, watching Langford, his face pale and grim, and he did not speak until Sheil... Kindred Spirits
Looking rather more rugged than when he had arrived at the station at Lazette two weeks before, his face tanned, but still retaining the smooth, sleek manner which he had brought with him from the East, David Dowd Langford sat in a big rocking cha... Langford Lays Off The Mask
The sun was still an hour above the horizon when Sheila rode up to the corral gates. While removing the saddle and bridle from her pony she noted with satisfaction that the horse which her father had been accustomed to ride was inside the corral. ... Lord Clendenning Gets A Ducking
Patty awoke at dawn and dressed hurriedly. Shivering in the chill air, she lighted a match and pushed back a lid of the little cast iron cook stove. Instead of the "cold fire" of neatly arranged wood and kindlings that she had built before leaving... Patty Draws A Map
That evening after supper, Patty sat upon her doorstep and watched the slowly fading opalescent glow in which the daylight surrendered to encroaching darkness. "How wonderful it all is, and how beautiful!" she breathed. "The indomitable ruggedness... Patty Finds A Glove
Dismounting before her cabin, Patty dropped her reins, pushed open the door, and entered. Her eyes flew to the little dressing table. The packet was gone! With a thrill of exultation she carefully inspected the room. Everything was exactly as she ... Patty Makes Her Strike
It was noon, one week from the day she had returned from the Samuelson ranch, and Patty Sinclair stood upon the high shoulder of a butte and looked down into a rock-rimmed valley. Her eyes roved slowly up and down the depression where the dark gre... Patty Takes Precautions
During the next few days Patty Sinclair paid scant attention to rock ledges. Each morning she saddled her cayuse and rode into the hills to the southward, crossing divides and following creeks and valleys from their sources down their winding, twi... Prospecting
The gray of early morning was just beginning to render objects in the little room indistinguishable when Patty awoke. She made a hasty toilet, lighted the fire, and while the water was heating for her coffee, delved into the pack sack and drew out... Sheep Camp
If Patty Sinclair had anticipated annoyance from the forced attention of her tall horseman of the hills, she was disappointed, for neither at meals, nor during the shopping tour that occupied the whole of the following day, nor yet upon the long h... Sheila Fans A Flame
Sheila departed from the quicksand crossing nursing her wrath against the man who had rescued her, feeling bitterly vindictive against him, yet aware that the Dakota who had saved her life was not the Dakota whom she had feared during her adventur... Sheriff Allen Takes A Hand
The sheriff's posse--three men whom he had deputized in Lazette and himself--had ridden hard over the twenty miles of rough trail from Lazette, for Duncan had assured Allen that he would have to get into action before Dakota could discover that th... Some Memories
When Sheila recovered consciousness she was in Dakota's cabin--in the bunk in which she had lain on another night in the yesterday of her life in this country. She recognized it instantly. There was the candle on the table, there were the familiar... Strictly Business
For two or three quiet weeks Sheila did not see much of Duncan, and her father bothered her very little. Several nights on the gallery of the ranchhouse she had seen the two men sitting very close together, and on one or two occasions she had over... The Bishop Of All Outdoors
The days slipped into weeks, as Patty Sinclair, carefully and methodically traced valleys to their sources, and explored innumerable coulees and ravines that twisted and turned their tortuous lengths into the very heart of the hills. Rock ledges w... The Dim Trail
Sheila had been dreaming of a world in which there was nothing but rain and mud and clouds and reckless-eyed individuals who conversed in irritating drawls when a sharp crash of thunder awakened her. During her sleep she had turned her face to the... The Horse Raid
Patty did not know how long she had slept when she awoke, tense and listening, sitting bolt upright in bed. Moonlight flooded the room through the windows thrown wide to admit the chill night air. Beyond the valley floor, green with the luxuriant ... The Parting On The River Trail
"I'll be leaving you now, ma'am." There was a good moon, and its mellow light streamed full into Dakota's grim, travel-stained face as he halted his pony on the crest of a slope above the Two Forks and pointed out a light that glimmered weakly thr... The Race For The Register
Beside the little table Patty Sinclair listened to the sound of hoofs splashing through the shallows of the creek and thudding dully upon the floor of the valley beyond. When the sounds told her that the horseman had disappeared into the timber, s... The Samuelsons
Patty retired that night with her thoughts in a whirl. So, it was Monk Bethune who, all along, had been plotting to steal the secret of her father's strike? Monk Bethune, with his suave, oily manner, his professed regard for her father, and his bu... The Shot In The Back
For an instant after discovering Doubler lying in the doorway, Sheila stood motionless at the corner of the cabin, looking down wonderingly at him. She thought at first that he was merely resting, but his body was doubled up so oddly that a grave ... This Picture And That
IT was a scene of wild, virgin beauty upon which Sheila Langford looked as she sat on the edge of a grassy butte overlooking the Ute River, with Duncan, the Double R manager stretched out, full length beside her, a gigantic picture on Nature's can... Unmasked
At the Samuelson's ranch they found not only the doctor but Len Christie. Mr. Samuelson's condition had taken a sudden turn for the better and it was a jubilant little group that welcomed Patty as she rode up to the veranda. Vil Holland had mutter...