the Light Of Western Stars (1992) (19 page)

"Suppose you do find him, Stillwell, what can you do?" inquired Alfred
.

The old man nodded gloomily
.

"I straightened him up once
.
Mebbe I can do it again
.
" Then, brightening somewhat, be turned to Madeline
.
"I jest hed an idee, Miss Majesty
.
If I can get him, Gene Steward is the cowboy I want fer my foreman
.
He can manage this bunch of cow-punchers thet are drivin' me dotty
.
What's more, since he's fought fer the rebels an' got that name El Capitan, all the Greasers in the country will kneel to him
.
Now, Miss Majesty, we hevn't got rid of Don Carlos an' his vaqueros yet
.
To be sure, he sold you his house an' ranch an' stock
.
But you remember nothin' was put in black and white about when he should get out
.
An' Don Carlos ain't gettin' out
.
I don't like the looks of things a little bit
.
I'll tell you now thet Don Carlos knows somethin' about the cattle I lost, an' thet you've been losin' right along
.
Thet Greaser is hand an' glove with the rebels
.
I'm willin' to gamble thet when he does get out he an' his vaqueros will make another one of the bands of guerrillas thet are harassin' the border
.
This revolution ain't over' yet
.
It's jest commenced
.
An' all these gangs of outlaws are goin' to take advantage of it
.
We'll see some old times, mebbe
.
Wal, I need Gene Stewart
.
I need him bad
.
Will you let me hire him, Miss Majesty, if I can get him straightened up?"

The old cattleman ended huskily
.

"Stillwell, by all means find Stewart, and do not wait to straighten him up
.
Bring him to the ranch," replied Madeline
.

Thanking her, Stillwell led his horse away
.

"Strange how he loves that cowboy!" murmured Madeline
.

"Not so strange, Majesty," replied her brother
.
"Not when you know
.
Stewart has been with Stillwell on some hard trips into the desert alone
.
There's no middle course of feeling between men facing death in the desert
.
Either hey hate each other or love each other
.
I don't know, but I imagine Stewart did something for Stillwell-saved us life, perhaps
.
Besides, Stewart's a lovable chap when he's going straight
.
I hope Stillwell brings him back
.
We do need him, Majesty
.
He's a born leader
.
Once I saw him ride into a bunch of Mexicans whom we suspected of rustling
.
It was fine to see him
.
Well, I'm sorry to tell you that we are worried about Don Carlos
.
Some of his vaqueros came into my yard the other day when I had left Flo alone
.
She had a bad scare
.
These vaqueros have been different since Don Carlos sold the ranch
.
For that matter, I never would have trusted a white woman alone with them
.
But they are bolder now
.
Something's in the wind
.
They've got assurance
.
They can ride off any night and cross the border
.
"

During the succeeding week Madeline discovered that a good deal of her sympathy for Stillwell in his hunt for the reckless Stewart had insensibly grown to be sympathy for the cowboy
.
It was rather a paradox, she thought, that opposed to the continual reports of Stewart's wildness as he caroused from town to town were the continual expressions of good will and faith and hope universally given out by those near her at the ranch
.
Stillwell loved the cowboy; Florence was fond of him; Alfred liked and admired him, pitied him; the cowboys swore their regard for him the more he disgraced himself
.
The Mexicans called him El Gran Capitan
.
Madeline's personal opinion of Stewart had not changed in the least since the night it had been formed
.
But certain attributes of his, not clearly defined in her mind, and the gift of his beautiful horse, his valor with the fighting rebels, and all this strange regard for him, especially that of her brother, made her exceedingly regret the cowboy's present behavior
.

Meanwhile Stillwell was so earnest and zealous that one not familiar with the situation would have believed he was trying to find and reclaim his own son
.
He made several trips to little stations in the valley, and from these he returned with a gloomy face
.
Madeline got the details from Alfred
.
Stewart was going from bad to worse-drunk, disorderly, savage, sure to land in the penitentiary
.
Then came a report that hurried Stillwell off to Rodeo
.
He returned on the third day, a crushed man
.
He bad been so bitterly hurt that no one, not even Madeline, could get out of him what had happened
.
He admitted finding Stewart, failing to influence him; and when the old cattleman got so far he turned purple in the face and talked to himself, as if dazed: "But Gene was drunk
.
He was drunk, or he couldn't hev treated old Bill like thet!"

Madeline was stirred with an anger toward the brutal cowboy that was as strong as her sorrow for the loyal old cattleman
.
And it was when Stillwell gave up that she resolved to take a hand
.
The persistent faith of Stillwell, his pathetic excuses in the face of what must have been Stewart's violence, perhaps baseness, actuated her powerfully, gave her new insight into human nature
.
She honored a faith that remained unshaken
.
And the strange thought came to her that Stewart must somehow be worthy of such a faith, or he never could have inspired it
.
Madeline discovered that she wanted to believe that somewhere deep down in the most depraved and sinful wretch upon earth there was some grain of good
.
She yearned to have the faith in human nature that Stillwell had in Stewart
.

She sent Nels, mounted upon his own horse, and leading Majesty, to Rodeo in search of Stewart
.
Nels had instructions to bring Stewart back to the ranch
.
In due time Nels returned, leading the roan without a rider
.

"Yep, I shore found him," replied Nels, when questioned
.
"Found him half sobered up
.
He'd been in a scrap, an' somebody hed put him to sleep, I guess
.
Wal, when he seen thet roan hoss he let out a yell an' grabbed him round the neck
.
The hoss knowed him, all right
.
Then Gene hugged the hoss an' cried-cried like-I never seen no one who cried like he did
.
I waited awhile, an' was jest goin' to say somethin' to him when he turned on me red-eyed, mad as fire
.
'Nels,' he said, 'I care a hell of a lot fer thet boss, an' I liked you pretty well, but if you don't take him away quick I'll shoot you both
.
'Wal, I lit out
.
I didn't even git to say howdy to him
.
"

Nels, you think it useless-any attempt to see him-persuade him?" asked Madeline
.

"I shore do, Miss Hammond," replied Nels, gravely
.
"I've seen a few sun-blinded an' locoed an' snake-poisoned an' skunk-bitten cow-punchers in my day, but Gene Stewart beats 'em all
.
He's shore runnin' wild fer the divide
.
"

Madeline dismissed Nels, but before he got out of earshot she heard him speak to Stillwell, who awaited him on the porch
.

"Bill, put this in your pipe an' smoke it-none of them scraps Gene has hed was over a woman!It used to be thet when he was drank he'd scrap over every pretty Greaser girl he'd run across
.
Thet's why Pat Hawe thinks Gene plugged the strange vaquero who was with little Bonita thet night last fall
.
Wal, Gene's scrappin' now jest to git shot up hisself, for some reason thet only God Almighty knows
.
"

Nels's story of how Stewart wept over his horse influenced Madeline powerfully
.
Her next move was to persuade Alfred to see if he could not do better with this doggedly bent cowboy
.
Alfred needed only a word of persuasion, for he said he had considered going to Rodeo of his own accord
.
He went, and returned alone
.

"Majesty, I can't explain Stewart's singular actions," said Alfred
.
"I saw him, talked with him
.
He knew me, but nothing I said appeared to get to him
.
He has changed terribly
.
I fancy his once magnificent strength is breaking
.
It-it actually hurt me to look at him
.
I couldn't have fetched him back here-not as he is now
.
I heard all about him, and if he isn't downright out of his mind he's hell-bent, as Bill says, on getting killed
.
Some of his escapades are-are not for your ears
.
Bill did all any man could do for another
.
We've all done our best for Stewart
.
If you'd been given a chance perhaps you could have saved him
.
But it's too late
.
Put it out of mind now, dear
.
"

Madeline, however, did not forget nor give it up
.
If she had forgotten or surrendered, she felt that she would have been relinquishing infinitely more than hope to aid one ruined man
.
But she was at a loss to know what further steps to take
.
Days passed, and each one brought additional gossip of Stewart's headlong career toward the Yuma penitentiary
.
For he had crossed the line into Cochise County, Arizona, where sheriffs kept a stricter observance of law
.
Finally a letter came from a friend of Nels's in Chiricahua saying that Stewart had been hurt in a brawl there
.
His hurt was not serious, but it would probably keep him quiet long enough to get sober, and this opportunity, Nels's informant said, would be a good one for Stewart's friends to take him home before he got locked up
.
This epistle inclosed a letter to Stewart from his sister
.
Evidently, it had been found upon him
.
It told a story of illness and made an appeal for aid
.
Nels's friend forwarded this letter without Stewart's knowledge, thinking Stillwell might care to help Stewart's family
.
Stewart had no money, he said
.

The sister's letter found its way to Madeline
.
She read it, tears in her eyes
.
It told Madeline much more than its brief story of illness and poverty and wonder why Gene had not written home for so long
.
It told of motherly love, sisterly love, brotherly love-dear family ties that had not been broken
.
It spoke of pride in this El Capitan brother who had become famous
.
It was signed "your loving sister Letty
.
"

Not improbably, Madeline revolved in mind, this letter was one reason for Stewart's headstrong, long-continued abasement
.
It had been received too late-after he had squandered the money that would have meant so much to mother and sister
.
Be that as it might, Madeline immediately sent a bank-draft to Stewart's sister with a letter explaining that the money was drawn in advance on Stewart's salary
.
This done, she impulsively determined to go to Chiricahua herself
.

The horseback-rides Madeline had taken to this little Arizona hamlet had tried her endurance to the utmost; but the journey by automobile, except for some rocky bits of road and sandy stretches, was comfortable, and a matter of only a few hours
.
The big touring-car was still a kind of seventh wonder to the Mexicans and cowboys; not that automobiles were very new and strange, but because this one was such an enormous machine and capable of greater speed than an express-train
.
The chauffeur who had arrived with the car found his situation among the jealous cowboys somewhat far removed from a bed of roses
.
He had been induced to remain long enough to teach the operating and mechanical technique of the car
.
And choice fell upon Link Stevens, for the simple reason that of all the cowboys he was the only one with any knack for mechanics
.
Now Link had been a hard-riding, hard-driving cowboy, and that winter he had sustained an injury to his leg, caused by a bad fall, and was unable to sit his horse
.
This had been gall and wormwood to him
.
But when the big white automobile came and he was elected to drive it, life was once more worth living for him
.
But all the other cowboys regarded Link and his machine as some correlated species of demon
.
They were deathly afraid of both
.