Zane Grey The Rainbow Trail
Hawksley Elizabeth Próba
Wrota 2 Milena Wojtowicz
Dzieje Tristana i Izoldy
13.Wilson_Gayle_Pamietna_noc
Swobodny upadek, jak we snie Leif GW Persson
Fielding Liz Córka pirata
Jan Ludwik Popławski Co to jest naród
22wininout
JANE ELLEN HARRISON ANCIENT ART AND RITUAL
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Page 110
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Sally! You're rich?" I exclaimed.
"I'm afraid I am. But nobody can ever say you married me for my money."
"Well, no, not if you tell of my abject courtship when I thought you a
poor relation on a visit. My God! Sally, if I only could see this Ranger
job through safely and to success!"
"You will," she said softly.
Then I took a ring from my little finger and slipped it on hers. "That
was my sister's. She's dead now. No other girl ever wore it. Let it be
your engagement ring. Sally, I pray I may somehow get through this awful
Ranger deal to make you happy, to become worthy of you!"
"Russ, I fear only one thing," she whispered.
"And what's that?"
"There will be fighting. And you--oh, I saw into your eyes the other
night when you stood with your hands up. You would kill anybody, Russ.
It's awful! But don't think me a baby. I can conceive what your work is,
what a man you must be. I can love you and stick to you, too. But if you
killed a blood relative of mine I would have to give you up. I'm a
Southerner, Russ, and blood is thick. I scorn my uncle and I hate my
cousin George. And I love you. But don't you kill one of my family,
I--Oh, I beg of you go as far as you dare to avoid that!"
I could find no voice to answer her, and for a long moment we were
locked in an embrace, breast to breast and lips to lips, an embrace of
sweet pain.
Then she broke away, called a low, hurried good-by, and stole like a
shadow into the darkness.
An hour later I lay in the open starlight among the stones and brush,
out where Steele and I always met. He lay there with me, but while I
looked up at the stars he had his face covered with his hands. For I had
given him my proofs of the guilt of Diane Sampson's father.
Steele had made one comment: "I wish to God I'd sent for some fool who'd
have bungled the job!"
This was a compliment to me, but it showed what a sad pass Steele had
come to. My regret was that I had no sympathy to offer him. I failed him
there. I had trouble of my own. The feel of Sally's clinging arms around
my neck, the warm, sweet touch of her lips remained on mine. What Steele
was enduring I did not know, but I felt that it was agony.
Meanwhile time passed. The blue, velvety sky darkened as the stars grew
brighter. The wind grew stronger and colder. I heard sand blowing
against the stones like the rustle of silk. Otherwise it was a
singularly quiet night. I wondered where the coyotes were and longed for
their chorus. By and by a prairie wolf sent in his lonely lament from
the distant ridges. That mourn was worse than the silence. It made the
cold shudders creep up and down my back. It was just the cry that seemed
to be the one to express my own trouble. No one hearing that long-drawn,
quivering wail could ever disassociate it from tragedy. By and by it
ceased, and then I wished it would come again. Steele lay like the stone
Page 111
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
beside him. Was he ever going to speak? Among the vagaries of my mood
was a petulant desire to have him sympathize with me.
I had just looked at my watch, making out in the starlight that the hour
was eleven, when the report of a gun broke the silence.
I jumped up to peer over the stone. Steele lumbered up beside me, and I
heard him draw his breath hard.
Chapter 11
THE FIGHT IN THE HOPE SO
I could plainly see the lights of his adobe house, but of course,
nothing else was visible. There were no other lighted houses near.
Several flashes gleamed, faded swiftly, to be followed by reports, and
then the unmistakable jingle of glass.
"I guess the fools have opened up, Steele," I said. His response was an
angry grunt. It was just as well, I concluded, that things had begun to
stir. Steele needed to be roused.
Suddenly a single sharp yell pealed out. Following it came a huge flare
of light, a sheet of flame in which a great cloud of smoke or dust shot
up. Then, with accompanying darkness, burst a low, deep, thunderous
boom. The lights of the house went out, then came a crash. Points of
light flashed in a half-circle and the reports of guns blended with the
yells of furious men, and all these were swallowed up in the roar of a
mob.
Another and a heavier explosion momentarily lightened the darkness and
then rent the air. It was succeeded by a continuous volley and a steady
sound that, though composed of yells, screams, cheers, was not anything
but a hideous roar of hate. It kept up long after there could have been
any possibility of life under the ruins of that house. It was more than
hate of Steele. All that was wild and lawless and violent hurled this
deed at the Ranger Service.
Such events had happened before in Texas and other states; but,
strangely, they never happened more than once in one locality. They were
expressions, perhaps, that could never come but once.
I watched Steele through all that hideous din, that manifestation of
insane rage at his life and joy at his death, and when silence once more
reigned and he turned his white face to mine, I had a sensation of
dread. And dread was something particularly foreign to my nature.
"So Blome and the Sneckers think they've done for me," he muttered.
"Pleasant surprise for them to-morrow, eh, old man?" I queried.
"To-morrow? Look, Russ, what's left of my old 'dobe house is on fire. The
ruins can't be searched soon. And I was particular to fix things so it'd
look like I was home. I just wanted to give them a chance. It's
incomprehensible how easy men like them can be duped. Whisky-soaked!
Yes, they'll be surprised!"
Page 112
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He lingered a while, watching the smoldering fire and the dim columns of
smoke curling up against the dark blue. "Russ, do you suppose they heard
up at the ranch and think I'm--"
"They heard, of course," I replied. "But the girls know you're safe with
me."
"Safe? I--I almost wish to God I was there under that heap of ruins,
where the rustlers think they've left me."
"Well, Steele, old fellow, come on. We need some sleep." With Steele in
the lead, we stalked away into the open.
Two days later, about the middle of the forenoon, I sat upon a great
flat rock in the shade of a bushy mesquite, and, besides enjoying the
vast, clear sweep of gold and gray plain below, I was otherwise
pleasantly engaged. Sally sat as close to me as she could get, holding
to my arm as if she never intended to let go. On the other side Miss
Sampson leaned against me, and she was white and breathless, partly from
the quick ride out from the ranch, partly from agitation. She had grown
thinner, and there were dark shadows under her eyes, yet she seemed only [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
