THE NEWS-RECORD, MARSHALL, N. C.
DESERT
CHAPTER XI Continued.
12
The Indian led off Into one of the
. gray notches between the tumbled
streams of lava. At the apex of the
notch, where two streams met, a nar
row gully wound and ascended. Yaqul
led Diablo Into it, and then began the
most laborious and vexatious and
painful of all slow travel.
The disintegrating surface of a lava
bed was at once the roughest, the
hardest, the meanest, the cruelest, the
most deceitful kind of ground to
travel. The fugitives made slow
progress. They picked a cautious,
winding way to and fro In little steps
here and there along the many twists
of the trail, up and down the unavoid
able depressions, round and round the
noles. At noon, so winding back upon
Itself had been their course, they ap
ptared to have come only a short dis
tance up the lava slope.
If was rough work for them ; it was
terrible work for the horses. Blanco
Diablo refused to answer to the power
of the Taqui. He balked, he plunged,
he bit and kicked. He had to be pulled
and beaten over many places. Mer
cedes' horse almost threw her, and
she was DUt upon Blanco Sol. The
white charger snorted a protest, then,
obedient to Gale's stern call, patiently
lowered his noble head and pawed the
lava for a footing that would hold.
The lava caused Gale toll and
worry and pain, but he hated the
choyas. He came almost to believe
what he had heard claimed by desert
travelers that the choya was alive
and leaped at man or beast Certain
It was when Gale passed one, if he
did not put all attention to avoiding
It, he was hooked through his chaps
and held by barbed thorns. The pain
was almost unendurable. It was like
no other. It burned, stung, beat
almost seemed to freeze. It made
useless arm or leg. It made him bite
his tongue to keei from crying out.
It made the sweat roll off him. It
made him sick.
Moreover, bad as the choya was for
man. It was Infinitely worse for beast.
A Jagged stab from this poisoned cac
tus was the only thing Blanco Sol
could not stand. Many times that day,
before he carried Mercedes, he had
wildly snorted, and then' stood trem
bling while Gale picked broken thorns
from the muscular legs. But after
Mercedes had been put upon Sol Gale
made sure no choya touched him.
The afternoon passed like the morn
ing, in ceaseless winding and twist
ing and climbing along this abandoned
trail. Gale saw many waterholes.
mostly dry, some containing water, all
of them catch-basins, full only after
rainy season. Little ugly bunched
bushes, that Gale scarcely recognized
as mesquites, grew near these holes;
also stunted greasewood and prickly
pear. There was no grass, and the
choya alone flourished in that hard
soil.
Darkness overtook the party as they
unpacked beside a pool of water deep
under an overhanging shelf of lava.
It had been a hard day. The horses
drank their fill, and then stood pa
tiently with drooping heads. Hunger
and thirst were appeased, and a warm
Are cheered the weary and footsore
fugitives. Yaqul said, "Sleep." And
so another night passed.
a .'
Upon the 'following morning, ten
miles or more up the slow-ascending
lava slope, Gale was In the rear of
all the other horses, so as to take,
for Mercedes sake, the advantage of
the broken trail. Yaqul was leading
Diablo, winding around a break. His
head was bent as he stepped slowly
and unevenly upon the lava. Gale
turned to look back, the first time in
several days. He thought, of course,
of Rojas In certain pursuit ; but it
seemed absurd to look for him.
Yaqul led on, and Gale often glanced
up from his task to watch the Indian.
Presently he saw him stop, turn and
look oack. Ladd did likewise, and
then Jim and Thorne. Gale found the
desire irresistible. Thereafter he
often rested Blanco Sol, and looked
back the while. He had his field-,
glass, but did not choose to use it.
"Rojas will follow," said Mercedes.
Gale regarded her in amaze. The
tone of her voice tmd been Indefinable.
V there were fear then he failed to
detect It. She was gazing back down
the colored slope, and something about
her, perhaps the steady, falcon gaze
of her magnificent eyes, reminded him
of Yaqul. I
Many times during the ensuing hour
the Indian faced about, and always
his followers did likewise. It was high
soon, with the sun beating hot and
the lava radiating heat, when Yaqul
halted for a rest. The horses bunched
and drooped their heads. The rangers
were about to slip the packs and re
move saddles when Yaqul restrained
them. .';
: He fixed a changeless, gleaming gaze
on the slow descent ; but did not seem
to look afar. .
Suddenly he uttered his strange
cry the one Gale considered Involun
tary, or else significant of some tribal
trait or feeling. Yaqul pointed down
the lava slope,, pointing with finger
and, 'arm 'and neck and head his
whole being seemed to have been ani
mated and then frozen.
. "Shore he sees somethln'," ' said
Ladd. "But my eyes are no good."
, "I reckon I ain't sure of mine." re
plied Jim. "I'm bothered by a dim
movln' streak down there."; . '
Thorne gased eagerly down as he
tood beside Mercedes, who sat mo
tionless facing the slope. . Gal looked
By ZANE GREY
' Author Of
The Riders of the Purple Satfe,
Wildfire, Etc.
Copyright by Harper Brothers.
and looked till be hurt his eyes. Then
he took his glass out of Its case on
Sol's saddle.
There appeared to be nothing upon
the lava but the Innumerable dots of
choya shining In the sun. Gale swept
his glass slowly forward and back.
Then Into a nearer field tf vision crept
a long whlte-and-black line of horses
and men. Without a word he handed
the glass to Ladd. The ranger used
It, muttering to himself.
"They're on the lava fifteen miles
down In an air line," he said, present
ly. "Jim, shore they're twice that an'
more accordln' to the trail."
Jim had his look and replied: "I
reckon we're a day an' a night in the
lead."
"Is It Rojas?" burst out Thorne
with set Jaw.
"Yes, Thorne. Its Rojas and a
dozen or more," replied Gale, and he
looked up at Mercedes.
She was transformed. She might
have been a medieval princess em
bodying all the Spanish power and
passion of that time, breathing re
venge, hate, unquenchable spirit of
fire. If her beauty had been wonder
ful In her helpless and appealing mo
ments, now, when she looked back
white-faced and flame-eyed, It was
transcendent.
Gale drew a long, deep breath. The
mood which had presaged pursuit,
strife, blood on this somber desert,
returned to him tenfold. He saw
Thome's face corded by black veins,
and his teeth exposed like those of a
snarling wolf. These rangers, who
had coolly risked death many times,
and had dealt It often, were white as
no fear or pain could have made them.
Then, on the moment, Yaqul raised his
hand, not clenched or doubled tight,
but curled rigid like an eagle's claw;
and he shook it In a strange, slow ges
ture which was menacing and terrible.
It was the woman that called to the
depths of these men. And their pas
sion to kill and to save was surpassed
only by the wild hate which was yet
love, the unfathomable emotion of a
peon slave. Gale marveled at It,
while he felt his whole being cold and
tense, as he turned once more to fol
low In the tracks of his leaders. The
fight predicted by Belding was at hand.
What a fight that must be) Rojas
was traveling light and fast. He was
gaining. He had bought his men with
gold, with extravagant promises, per
haps with offers of the body and blood
of an aristocrat hateful to their kind.
Lastly, there was the wild, desolate
environment, a tortured wilderness of
Jagged lava and poisoned choya, a
lonely, fierce and repellent world, a
red stage most son.berly and fittingly
colored for a supreme struggle be
tween men.
Yaqul looked back no more. Mer
cedes looked back no more. But the
other looked, and the time came when
Gale saw the creeping line of pur
suers with naked eyes.
A level line above marked the rim
of the plateau. Sand began to show
In the little lava pits. On and upward
toiled the cavalcade, still very slowly
advancing. At last Yaqul reached the
rim. He stood with his hand on
Blanco Diablo; and both were silhou
etted against the sky. That was the
outlook for a Yaqnl. And his great
That Was the Outlook for a Yaqul.
horse, dazzllngty white In the sun
light, wltb head wildly and proudly
erect, mane and tall flying in the
wind, made a magnificent picture. The
others tolled on and upward, and at
last Gale ted Blanco Sol over the rim.
Then all looked down the red blope.
But shadows were gathering there
and no moving line could be seen.
Yaqul mounted and wheeled Diablo
away. The others followed. The
Yaqul led them Into a cone of craters.
The top of the earth teemed to have
been blown out In holes from a few
rods In width to large craters, some
(SOLD
shallow, others deep, and all red as
fire. Yaqul circled close to abysses
which yawned sheer from a level sur
face, and he appeared always to be
turning upon his course to avoid them,
The plateau had now a considerable
dip to the west. Gale marked the
slow heave and ripple of the ocean
of lava to the south, where high
rounded peaks marked the center of
thla volcanic region. The uneven na
ture of the slope westward prevented
any extended view, until suddenly the
fugitives emerjed from a rugged
break to come upon a sublime and
awe-Inspiring spectacle.
They were upon a high point of the
western slope of the plateau. It was
strange to Gale,' and perhaps to the
others, to see their guide lend Diablo
Into a smooth and well-worn trail
along the rim of the awful crater
Gale looked down Into that red chasm.
It resembled an Inferno. The dark
cliffs upon the opposite side were
veiled In blue haze that seemed like
smoke. Here Yaqul was at home. He
moved and looked about him as a man
coming at last Into his own. Gale
saw him stop and gaze out over that
red-ribbed void to the Gulf.
Gale divined that somewhere along
this crater of bell the Yaqul would
make his final stand; and one look
Into his strange, Inscrutable eyes
made Imagination picture a fitting
doom for the pursuing Rojas.
CHAPTER XII
The Crater of Hell.
Presently Gale, upon turning a sharp
corner, was utterly amazed to see that
the split In the, lava sloped out and
widened Into an arroyo. It was so
green and soft and beautiful In all
the angry, contorted red surrounding
that Gale could scarcely credit his
sight. Blanco Sol whistled his wel
come to the scent of water. Then
Gale saw a great hole, a pit In the
shiny lava, a dark, cool, shady well.
There was evidence of the fact that
at flood seasons water had an outlet
Into the arroyo. The soil appeared to
be a fine sand. In which a reddish
tinge predominated; and It was abund
antly covered with a long grass, still
partly green. Mesquites and palo
verdes dotted the arroyo and gradu
ally closed In thickets that obstructed
the view.
"Shore It all beats me," exclaimed
Ladd. "What a place to hole-up Ift!
We could have hid here for a long
time.. Beldln' was shore right about
the Indian. An' I can see Rojas
finish somewhere up along that awful
hell-hole."
Camp was made on a level spot.
Yaqul took the horses to water, and
then turned them loose In the arroyo:
It was a tired and somber group that
sat down to eat Mercedes was calm,
but her great dark eyes burned In her
white face. Yaqul watched her. "The
others looked at her with unspoken
pride. Presently 'Thome wrapped her
In his blankets, and she seemed to fall
asleep at once. ;
Little of Yaqul's purpose or plan
could be elicited from him. The
rangers and Thorne, however, talked
In low tones. It was absolutely Im
possible for Rojas and his men to
reach the waterhole before noon of
the next day. And long before that
time the fugitives would have decided
on a plan of defense.
"What stuns me is that Rojas stuck
to our trail," said Thorne, his lined
and haggard face expressive of dark
passion. "He has followed us Into
this fearful desert. He'll lose men,
horses, perhaps his life. 'He's only a
bandit, and he stands, to win no gold,
All for a poor little helpless woman
Just a woman ! I can't understand It"
"Shore Just a woman," replied
Ladd, solemnly nodding his head. '
Tben there was a long silence, dur
ing which the men gazed into the fire.
Those were cold, hard, grim faces
upon which the light flickered.
"Sleep," said Yaqul.
Thorne rolled In his blanket close
beside Mercedes. Then one by one
the rangers stretched out, feet to the
fire. Gale found that he could not
sleep. His eyes were weary, but they
would not stay shut; his body ached
for rest, yet he could not lie still.
The Yaqul sat like an Image carved
out of lava. The others lay prone and
quiet. ' Would another night see any
of them He that way, quiet forever?
Gale sat up after a while and again
watched the fire. Nell's sweet face
floated like ' a wraith in the pale
smoke glowed aad flushed and
smiled In the embers. Other faces
shone there hid slstefs that of his
mother. Gale shook off the tender
memories. This desolate wilderness
with Its forbidding silence and Its
dark promise of hell op the morrow
this was not the place to unnerve one
self with thoughts of love and home.
--. Toward dawn Gale managed to get
some sleep. Then the morning broke
wltb the sun hidden back of the uplift
of the plateau. The horses trooped
up the arroyo and snorted for water.
After a hurried breakfast the packs
were hidden In holes In the lava. The
saddles were left wheie they were,
and the horse- allowed .to graze and
wander at will. Canteens were filled,
a small bag of food was packed, and
blankets made Into a bundle. Then
Yaqul faced the ateep ascent of the
lava slope.
The trail he followed led up on the
right side of the fissure, opposite to
the one he hod come down. It was a
steep climb, and encumbered as the
men were they made but slow prog
ress. At length the rims widened out
and the red, smoky crater yawned be
neath. Yaqul left the trail and began
clambering down over the rough and
twisted convolutions of lava which
formed the rim. It was with extreme
difficulty that the party followed him.
The choya was there to hinder pa
sage. Finally the Indian halted upon
a narrow bench of flat, smooth lava,
and his followers worked with exceed
ing care and effort down to his posi
tion. At the back of this bench, between
bunches of choya, was a niche, a shal
low cave with floor lined apparently
with mold. Yaqul spread blankets
Inside, left the canteen and the sack
of food, and with a gesture at once
humble, yet that of a chief, he In
vited Mercedes to enter. A few more
gestures and fewer words disclosed
his plan. In this inaccessible nook
Mercedes was to be hidden. The men
were to go around upon tlw opposite
rim, and block the trail leading down
to the waterhole.
Ladd chose the smallest gun In the
party and gave It to Mercedes.
'"Shore It's best to go the limit on
bein' ready." he said, simply. "The
chances are you'll never need It. But
If you do"
He left off there, and hla break was
significant. Mercedes answered him
with a fearless and Indomitable flash
of eyes. Thome was the only one who
showed any shaken nerve. His leave
taking of his wife was affecting and
hurried. Then he and the rangers
carefully stepped in the tracks of the
f aqul. He strode on up the trail
toward a higher point, where pres
ently his dark figure stood motionless
against the sky. The rangers and
Thome selected a deep depression, out
of which led several ruts deep enough
for cover. Here the men laid down
rifles and guns, and, removln; their
heavy cartridge belts, settled down
to wait.
Jim Lash crawled into a little strip
of shade and bided the time tranquilly.
Ladd was restless and impatient and
watchful, every little while rising to
look up the far-reaching slope, and
then to the right, where Yaqul's dark
figure stood out from a high point of
the rim. Thome grew silent, and
seemed consumed by a slow, sullen
rage. Gale was neither calm nor free
of a gnawing suspense nor of a wait
ing wrath. But as best he could he
put the pending action out of mind.
It came over him all of a sudden
that he had not grasped the stupen
dous nature of this desert setting.
There was the measureless red slope.
Its lower ridges finally sinking Into
white sand dunes toward the blue sea.
The cold, sparkling light the white
sun, the deep azure of sky, the feeling
of boundless expanse all .around him
these meant high altitude. South
ward the barren red simply merged
Into distance. The! field of craters
rose In high, dark wheels toward the
dominating peaks. When Gale with
drew his gaze from the magnitude of
these spaces and heights the crater
beneath htm seemed dwarfed. Yet
while he gazed It spread and deep
ened and multiplied Its ragged lines.
No, he could not grasp the meaning
of size or distance here. There was
too much to stun the sight. But the
mood In which nataure had created
this convulsed world seized hold upon
him. :
The hours passed. As the sun
climbed the clear sky, steely lights van
ished, the blue hazes deepened, and
slowly the glistening surfaces of lava
turned redder. Ladd was concerned
to discover that Yaqul was missing
from his outlook upon the high point.
Jim Lash came out of the shady crev
ice, and stood up to buckle on his car
tridge 'belt. His narrow, gray glance
slowly roved from the height of lava
down along the slope, paused In doubt,
and then swept on. to resurvey the
whole vast eastern dip of the plateau.
"I reckon my eyes are pore," be said.
"Mebbe It's this d n red glare. Any
way, what's them creepln' spots up
there?" v
"Shore I seen them. Mountain
sheep," replied Ladd.
"Guess again, .Laddy. Dick, I
reckon you'd better flash the glass up
the slope."
Gale adjusted the field glass and be
gan to search the lava, beginning close
at hand and working away from him.
Presently the glass became stationary,
"I see half a dozen small animals,
brown in color. They look like sheep.
But I couldn't distinguish mountain
sheep from antelope." ,'
"Shore they're bighorn." said Laddy.
"I reckon If youll pull around to the
east an' search under that long wall
of lava there you'll see what I see,"
added Jim. -. - . , '
' The glass climbed and circled, wa
vered an Instant, tben fixed steady
as a rock. There waa a breathless
silence. ,-" ) ; '- .'
. "Fourteen horses two packed
some mounted -others without riders,
and lame," said Gale, slowly, t
Yaqul appeared far op "the trail,
coming swiftly. Presently he saw the
rangers and baited te wave hla arms
and point Then he vanished as If the
lava had opened beneath him. ,
, "Lemme that glass," suddenly salt
Jim Lash. "I'm seeln' red, I tell you.
. . . Well pore as my eyes are they
had It right. Rojas an' his outfit have
left the trail. Laddy, I'll be danged
If the Greaser bunch hasn't vamoosed,
Gone out of sight I Right there not a
half mile1 away, the whole caboodle
gone I" '
"Shore they're behind a crust or
have gone down into a rut" suggested
Ladd. "They'll show agalq In a min
ute. Look sharp, boys, for I'm fig-
gerln' Rojas '11 spread his men."
From time to time the rangers
looked inquiringly at Gale. The field
glass, however, like the naked sight,
could not catch the slightest moving
object out there upon the lava. A
long hour of slow, mounting suspense
wore on.
"Shore It's all goin' to be as queer
as the Yaqnl," said Ladd.
Indeed, the strange mien, the silent
action, the somber character of the
Indian had not been without effect
upon the minds of the men. Then the
weird, desolate, tragic scene added to
the vague sense of mystery. And now
the disappearance of Rojas' band, the
long watt in the silence, the boding
certainty of Invisible foes crawling,
circling closer and closer, lent to the
situation a final touch that made It
Ufireal.
"I'm reckonln' there's a mind be
hind them Greasers," replied Jim. "Or
mebbe we ain't done Rojas credit
. . , If somethln' would only come
off!"
That Lash, the coolest, the most
provoklngly nonchalant of men In
times of peril, should begin to show
a nervous strain was all the more In
dlcatlve of a subtle pervading un
reality.
"Boys, look sharp I" suddenly called
Lash. "Low down to the left mebbe
three hundred yards. See, along by
them' seams of lava behind tie cho
yas. First off I thought It was a
sheep. But It's the Yaqul t , .
Crawlln swift as a lizard I Cafl't 7"J
see him?"
It was a full moment before Jim's
companions could locate the Indian.
Flat as a snake, Yaqul wound him
self along with Incredible rapidity.
"He's Raisin' His Rifle Slow.
How Slow He Isl"
Lord,
His advance was all the more remark
able for the fact that he appeared to
pass directly under the dreaded cho
yas. Sometimes he paused to lift his
head and look.
"Shore he's headln' for that high
place," said Ladd. "He's going slow
now. There, he's stopped behind some
choyas. He's gettin' up no, he's
kneelln'. . . . Now what the h II"
"Laddy, take a peek at the side of
that lava ridge," sharply called Jim.
"I guess mebbe somethln' ain't comln'
off. See t There's Rojas an' his outfit
cllmbln'. Don't make out no hosses.
. . . Dick, use your glass an' tell
us what's doln'. I'll watch Yaqul an'
tell you what his move means."
Clearly and distinctly, almost as if
he could have touched them, Gale had
Rojas and his followers in sight The
were tolling up the rough lava on
foot.
"They're almost up now," Gale was
saying. "There I They halt on top.
I see Rojas. He looks wild. By !
fellows, an Indian! . It's a Papago.
Beldlng's old herder I , . . The In
dian points this way then down.
He's showing Rojas the lay of the
trail" . '
"Boys. Yaqul's In range of that
bunch," said Jim, swiftly. "He's
raisin' his rifle slow Lord, how slow
he 1st ' . . He's covered someone.
Which one I can't say. But I think
be'H pick Rojas."
"The Yaqul can shoot. Hell pick
Rojas," added Gale, grimly. ;
"Rojas yes yes I" cried Thome, fa
passion of suspense.
"Not on your life!" Ladd's voice
cut In with scorn. "Gentlemen,, yon
can gamble Yaqui'll km the Papago.
That traitor Indian knows these sheep
haunts. He's tellln' Rojas"
- A sharp rifle shot rang out
"Laddy's right," called Gale The
Papago's hit his arm falls. There,
he tumbles." ' ,
l (TO BB CONTINUED.
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