the Light Of Western Stars (1992) (63 page)

***

The first few lines of Stillwell's message lifted Madeline to the heights of thanksgiving and happiness
.
Then, reading on, she experienced a check, a numb, icy, sickening pang
.
At the last line she flung off doubt and dread, and in white, cold passion faced the issue
.

"Read," she said, briefly, handing the telegram to Link
.
He scanned it and then looked blankly up at her
.

"Link, do you know the roads, the trails-the desert between here and Agua Prieta?" she asked
.

"Thet's sure my old stampin'-ground
.
An' I know Sonora, too
.
"

"We must reach Agua Prieta before sunset-long before, so if Stewart is in some near-by camp we can get to it in-in time
.
"

"Miss Majesty, it ain't possible!" he exclaimed
.
"Stillwell's crazy to say thet
.
"

"Link, can an automobile be driven from here into northern Mexico?"

"Sure
.
But it 'd take time
.
"

"We must do it in little time," she went on, in swift eagerness
.
"Otherwise Stewart may be-probably will be-be shot
.
"

Link Stevens appeared suddenly to grow lax, shriveled, to lose all his peculiar pert brightness, to weaken and age
.

"I'm only a-a cowboy, Miss Majesty
.
"He almost faltered
.
It was a singular change in him
.
"Thet's an awful ride-down over the border
.
If by some luck I didn't smash the car I'd turn your hair gray
.
You'd never be no good after thet ride!"

"I am Stewart's wife," she answered him and she looked at him, not conscious of any motive to persuade or allure, but just to let him know the greatness of her dependence upon him
.

He started violently-the old action of Stewart, the memorable action of Monty Price
.
This man was of the same wild breed
.

Then Madeline's words flowed in a torrent
.
"I am Stewart's wife
.
I love him; I have been unjust to him; I must save him
.
Link, I have faith in you
.
I beseech you to do your best for Stewart's sake-for my sake
.
I'll risk the ride gladly-bravely
.
I'll not care where or how you drive
.
I'd far rather plunge into a canon-go to my death on the rocks-than not try to save Stewart
.
"

How beautiful the response of this rude cowboy-to realize his absolute unconsciousness of self, to see the haggard shade burn out of his face, the old, cool, devil-may-care spirit return to his eyes, and to feel something wonderful about him then!It was more than will or daring or sacrifice
.
A blood-tie might have existed between him and Madeline
.
She sensed again that indefinable brother-like quality, so fine, so almost invisible, which seemed to be an inalienable trait in these wild cowboys
.

"Miss Majesty, thet ride figgers impossible, but I'll do it!" he replied
.
His cool, bright glance thrilled her
.
"I'll need mebbe half an hour to go over the car an' to pack on what I'll want
.
"

She could not thank him, and her reply was merely a request that he tell Nels and other cowboys off duty to come up to the house
.
When Link had gone Madeline gave a moment's thought to preparations for the ride
.
She placed what money she had and the telegrams in a satchel
.
The gown she had on was thin and white, not suitable for travel, but she would not risk the losing of one moment in changing it
.
She put on a long coat and wound veils round her head and neck, arranging them in a hood so she could cover her face when necessary
.
She remembered to take an extra pair of goggles for Nels's use, and then, drawing on her gloves, she went out ready for the ride
.

A number of cowboys were waiting
.
She explained the situation and left them in charge of her home
.
With that she asked Nels to accompany her down into the desert
.
He turned white to his lips, and this occasioned Madeline to remember his mortal dread of the car and Link's driving
.

"Nels, I'm sorry to ask you," she added
.
"I know you hate the car
.
But I need you-may need you, oh! so much
.
"

"Why, Miss Majesty, thet's shore all a mistaken idee of yours about me hatin' the car," he said, in his slow, soft drawl
.
"I was only jealous of Link; an' the boys, they made thet joke up on me about bein' scared of ridin' fast
.
Shore I'm powerful proud to go
.
An' I reckon if you hedn't asked me my feelin's might hev been some hurt
.
Because if you're goin' down among the Greasers you want me
.
"

His cool, easy speech, his familiar swagger, the smile with which he regarded her did not in the least deceive Madeline
.
The gray was still in his face
.
Incomprehensible as it seemed, Nels had a dread, an uncanny fear, and it was of that huge white automobile
.
But he lied about it
.
Here again was that strange quality of faithfulness
.

Madeline heard the buzz of the car
.
Link appeared driving up the slope
.
He made a short, sliding turn and stopped before the porch
.
Link had tied two long, heavy planks upon the car, one on each side, and in every available space he had strapped extra tires
.
A huge cask occupied one back seat, and another seat was full of tools and ropes
.
There was just room in this rear part of the car for Nels to squeeze in
.
Link put Madeline in front beside him, then bent over the wheel
.
Madeline waved her hand at the silent cowboys on the porch
.
Not an audible good-by was spoken
.

The car glided out of the yard, leaped from level to slope, and started swiftly down the road, out into the open valley
.
Each stronger rush of dry wind in Madeline's face marked the increase of speed
.
She took one glance at the winding cattle-road, smooth, unobstructed, disappearing in the gray of distance
.
She took another at the leather-garbed, leather-helmeted driver beside her, and then she drew the hood of veils over her face and fastened it round her neck so there was no possibility of its blowing loose
.

Harder and stronger pressed the wind till it was like sheeted lead forcing her back in her seat
.
There was a ceaseless, intense, inconceivably rapid vibration under her; occasionally she felt a long swing, as if she were to be propelled aloft; but no jars disturbed the easy celerity of the car
.
The buzz, the roar of wheels, of heavy body in flight, increased to a continuous droning hum
.
The wind became an insupportable body moving toward her, crushing her breast, making the task of breathing most difficult
.
To Madeline the time seemed to fly with the speed of miles
.
A moment came when she detected a faint difference in hum and rush and vibration, in the ceaseless sweeping of the invisible weight against her
.
This difference became marked
.
Link was reducing speed
.
Then came swift change of all sensation, and she realized the car had slowed to normal travel
.

Madeline removed her hood and goggles
.
It was a relief to breathe freely, to be able to use her eyes
.
To her right, not far distant, lay the little town of Chiricahua
.
Sight of it made her remember Stewart in a way strange to her constant thought of him
.
To the left inclined the gray valley
.
The red desert was hidden from view, but the Guadalupe Mountains loomed close in the southwest
.

Opposite Chiricahua, where the road forked, Link Stevens headed the car straight south and gradually increased speed
.
Madeline faced another endless gray incline
.
It was the San Bernardino Valley
.
The singing of the car, the stinging of the wind warned her to draw the hood securely down over her face again, and then it was as if she was riding at night
.
The car lurched ahead, settled into that driving speed which wedged Madeline back as in a vise
.
Again the moments went by fleet as the miles
.
Seemingly, there was an acceleration of the car till it reached a certain swiftness-a period of time in which it held that pace, and then a diminishing of all motion and sound which contributed to Madeline's acute sensation
.
Uncovering her face, she saw Link was passing another village
.
Could it be Bernardino?She asked Link-repeated the question
.

"Sure," he replied
.
"Eighty miles
.
"

Link did not this time apologize for the work of his machine
.
Madeline marked the omission with her first thrill of the ride
.
Leaning over, she glanced at Link's watch, which he had fastened upon the wheel in front of his eyes
.
A quarter to ten!Link had indeed made short work of the valley miles
.

Beyond Bernardino Link sheered off the road and put the car to a long, low-rising slope
.
Here the valley appeared to run south under the dark brows of the Guadalupes
.
Link was heading southwest
.
Madeline observed that the grass began to fail as they climbed the ridge; bare, white, dusty spots appeared; there were patches of mesquite and cactus and scattering areas of broken rock
.

She might have been prepared for what she saw from the ridge-top
.
Beneath them the desert blazed
.
Seen from afar, it was striking enough, but riding down into its red jaws gave Madeline the first affront to her imperious confidence
.
All about her ranch had been desert, the valleys were desert; but this was different
.
Here began the red desert, extending far into Mexico, far across Arizona and California to the Pacific
.
She saw a bare, hummocky ridge, down which the car was gliding, bounding, swinging, and this long slant seemed to merge into a corrugated world of rock and sand, patched by flats and basins, streaked with canons and ranges of ragged, saw-toothed stone
.
The distant Sierra Madres were clearer, bluer, less smoky and suggestive of mirage than she had ever seen them
.
Madeline's sustaining faith upheld her in the face of this appalling obstacle
.
Then the desert that had rolled its immensity beneath her gradually began to rise, to lose its distant margins, to condense its varying lights and shades, at last to hide its yawning depths and looming heights behind red ridges, which were only little steps, little outposts, little landmarks at its gates
.

The bouncing of the huge car, throwing Madeline up, directed her attention and fastened it upon the way Link Stevens was driving and upon the immediate foreground
.
Then she discovered that he was following an old wagon-road
.
At the foot of that long slope they struck into rougher ground, and here Link took to a cautious zigzag course
.
The wagon-road disappeared and then presently reappeared
.
But Link did not always hold to it
.
He made cuts, detours, crosses, and all the time seemed to be getting deeper into a maze of low, red dunes, of flat canon-beds lined by banks of gravel, of ridges mounting higher
.
Yet Link Stevens kept on and never turned back
.
He never headed into a place that he could not pass
.
Up to this point of travel he had not been compelled to back the car, and Madeline began to realize that it was the cowboy's wonderful judgment of ground that made advance possible
.
He knew the country; he was never at a loss; after making a choice of direction, he never hesitated
.