The ranger was leading Blanco Diable—­spent—­broken—­dragging —­riderless.

IX

AN INTERRUPTED SIESTA

No man ever had a more eloquent and beautiful pleader for his cause than had Dick Gale in Mercedes Castaneda.  He peeped through the green, shining twigs of the palo verde that shaded his door.  The hour was high noon, and the patio was sultry.  The only sounds were the hum of bees in the flowers and the low murmur of the Spanish girl’s melodious voice.  Nell lay in the hammock, her hands behind her head, with rosy cheeks and arch eyes.  Indeed, she looked rebellious.  Certain it was, Dick reflected, that the young lady had fully recovered the wilful personality which had lain dormant for a while.  Equally certain it seemed that Mercedes’s earnestness was not apparently having the effect it should have had.

Dick was inclined to be rebellious himself.  Belding had kept the rangers in off the line, and therefore Dick had been idle most of the time, and, though he tried hard, he had been unable to stay far from Nell’s vicinity.  He believed she cared for him; but he could not catch her alone long enough to verify his tormenting hope.  When alone she was as illusive as a shadow, as quick as a flash, as mysterious as a Yaqui.  When he tried to catch her in the garden or fields, or corner her in the patio, she eluded him, and left behind a memory of dark-blue, haunting eyes.  It was that look in her eyes which lent him hope.  At other times, when it might have been possible for Dick to speak, Nell clung closely to Mercedes.  He had long before enlisted the loyal Mercedes in his cause; but in spite of this Nell had been more than a match for them both.

Gale pondered over an idea he had long revolved in mind, and which now suddenly gave place to a decision that made his heart swell and his cheek burn.  He peeped again through the green branches to see Nell laughing at the fiery Mercedes.

“Qui’en sabe,” he called, mockingly, and was delighted with Nell’s quick, amazed start.

Then he went in search of Mrs. Belding, and found her busy in the kitchen.  The relation between Gale and Mrs. Belding had subtly and incomprehensively changed.  He understood her less than when at first he divined an antagonism in her.  If such a thing were possible she had retained the antagonism while seeming to yield to some influence that must have been fondness for him.  Gale was in no wise sure of her affection, and he had long imagined she was afraid of him, or of something that he represented.  He had gone on, openly and fairly, though discreetly, with his rather one-sided love affair; and as time passed he had grown less conscious of what had seemed her unspoken opposition.  Gale had come to care greatly for Nell’s mother.  Not only was she the comfort and strength of her home, but also of the inhabitants of Forlorn River.  Indian,