Somewhere South in Sonora SOMEWHERE SOUTH IN SONORA _A NOVEL_ BY WILL LEVINGTON COMFORT BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1925 COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY WILL LEVINGTON COMFORT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. CONTENTS PROLOGUE: OLD LIGHTS OF THE RIO BRAVA 3 I. THIRTY YEARS LATE 23 II. AT HEASLEP’S RANCH 29 III. THE LEATHER-STORE 35 IV. ‘ARE YOU DOOMED?’ 44 V. ‘I, ROBERT LEADLEY--’ 54 VI. THE LISTENING MARE 64 VII. THE SOFT SIDE OF A SADDLE 71 VIII. HEASLEP’S AGAIN 78 IX. INITIATION 87 X. ‘WATER IS FOR HORSES’ 94 XI. GAS AND GUNS 101 XII. FLASHLIGHT AND FAWNSKIN 106 XIII. VALLEJO’S LINES 113 XIV. A LETTER 119 XV. TUCSON 120 XVI. THOROUGHBREDS ENTER 131 XVII. THE ART OF DYING WELL 138 XVIII. ONE SANG WITH GUITAR 146 XIX. A CORNER OF THE WALL 153 XX. THE TWO WHO HAD NOT HEARD 160 XXI. THE RIO MORENO BRIDGE 167 XXII. FRAMED IN A DOBE GATEWAY 173 XXIII. FENCELESS FOOTHILLS OF SONORA 178 XXIV. SHEATH-KNIFE 187 XXV. ELBERT LEARNS TO WAIT 196 XXVI. SILENCE 203 XXVII. WORDS 206 XXVIII. ‘LIKE THE VIRGIN SPEAKING--’ 211 XXIX. HIGH COUNTRY 218 XXX. TUCSON AGAIN 226 SOMEWHERE SOUTH IN SONORA PROLOGUE OLD LIGHTS OF THE RIO BRAVA I BOB LEADLEY moved toward the sound of guitars. The strumming came from over the stream where the Mexicans had their own little cantina and their dobe huts. Back from the ‘Damask Cheek,’ which was the palpitating core of the white settlement, voices of the miners reached him, not loud to-night, not uproarious. Things were seldom duller than now on the Rio Brava, shrunken to a trickle at this time of year. The eke of gold had been at its lowest for days on the placers. A hot, still August night in Bismo, Arizona--the night that changed one white man all around. Mexican figures bowed to him. A woman laughingly called from a darkened doorway: ‘Buenas noches, señor!’ Another laughed from behind her, adding somewhat wistfully: ‘Hace un calor sofocante.’