Cattle stealing -- Fiction; Ranch life -- Fiction; Western stories
Eager as she was to be in the cañon she did not miss the pale
pageant of light above rimrock, or fail to watch the golden halo
come along the crest of Rainbow Cliff.
But she soon crossed the river and entered the mouth of the great
cut, leaving behind the miracle of burgeoning day, for here the
shadows were still thick, like grey ghosts. She pushed on up for an
hour or so, listening to the voices which were still talking, while
the shadows thinned between the dusky walls.
At the point where she had left the pony the day before she
dismounted and dropped his rein.
“You wait here, old nuisance,” she said darkly, rubbing his restless
ears, “for I may have sudden need of you. If you see me come flying
out with a streak of tawny fur behind me, don’t you dare break when
I jump. So long.”
She took the bread and meat from the saddle and started on foot. It
was not so far to the swirling pool and the cave behind the rock,
and long before the sunlight had crept half way down the ragged
stone wall at the western side of the cañon she had reached them.
She went carefully, picking her way, eyes scanning each turn and
boulder. At the pool’s edge she stood a long time, watching,
listening, but there was nothing to be seen or heard.
She went to the mouth of the cave and peering in cautiously, called
softly. She waited, but there was no answering growl, no whirlwind
rush as she had half expected. The shallow cave was empty, save for
some ashes of a dead fire and blankets. She circled the rock and
began hunting for tracks in the white sand of the cañon bed—and
presently she found them—small tracks of childish feet, set close
beside the padded narrow prints of a dog—and they were going up the
cañon, deeper into its fastnesses. She trailed them easily for a
distance, then lost them in the foaming shallows of a riffle, and
search as she would she could not find where they came out. There
was a flat lip of rock on the other side, to be sure, but beyond
that was sand again, and it lay clear, unruffled. Above the riffle
was a long deep pool, swift and flowing, and she stood for a time
contemplating it.
It hardly seemed possible that the two outcasts could have swum it,
and yet—where were their tracks if they had not?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account