Part 39

Then, as her mind succumbed to her bodily fatigue, again her situation became unreal and wild. A heavy languor, like a blanket, began to steal upon her. She wavered and drifted. With the last half-conscious sense of a muffled throb at her ear, a something intangibly sweet, deep-toned, and strange, like a distant calling bell, she fell asleep with her head on Stewart’s breast.

XII. Friends from the East

Three days after her return to the ranch Madeline could not discover any physical discomfort as a reminder of her adventurous experiences. This surprised her, but not nearly so much as the fact that after a few weeks she found she scarcely remembered the adventures at all. If it had not been for the quiet and persistent guardianship of her cowboys she might almost have forgotten Don Carlos and the raiders. Madeline was assured of the splendid physical fitness to which this ranch life had developed her, and that she was assimilating something of the Western disregard of danger. A hard ride, an accident, a day in the sun and dust, an adventure with outlaws—these might once have been matters of large import, but now for Madeline they were in order with all the rest of her changed life.

There was never a day that something interesting was not brought to her notice. Stillwell, who had ceaselessly reproached himself for riding away the morning Madeline was captured, grew more like an anxious parent than a faithful superintendent. He was never at ease regarding her unless he was near the ranch or had left Stewart there, or else Nels and Nick Steele. Naturally, he trusted more to Stewart than to any one else.

“Miss Majesty, it’s sure amazin’ strange about Gene,” said the old cattleman, as he tramped into Madeline’s office.

“What’s the matter now?” she inquired.

“Wal, Gene has rustled off into the mountains again.”

“Again? I did not know he had gone. I gave him money for that band of guerrillas. Perhaps he went to take it to them.”

“No. He took that a day or so after he fetched you back home. Then in about a week he went a second time. An’ he packed some stuff with him. Now he’s sneaked off, an’ Nels, who was down to the lower trail, saw him meet somebody that looked like Padre Marcos. Wal, I went down to the church, and, sure enough, Padre Marcos is gone. What do you think of that, Miss Majesty?”

“Maybe Stewart is getting religious,” laughed Madeline. You told me so once.

Stillwell puffed and wiped his red face.

“If you’d heerd him cuss Monty this mawnin’ you’d never guess it was religion. Monty an’ Nels hev been givin’ Gene a lot of trouble lately. They’re both sore an’ in fightin’ mood ever since Don Carlos hed you kidnapped. Sure they’re goin’ to break soon, an’ then we’ll hev a couple of wild Texas steers ridin’ the range. I’ve a heap to worry me.”

“Let Stewart take his mysterious trips into the mountains. Here, Stillwell, I have news for you that may give you reason for worry. I have letters from home. And my sister, with a party of friends, is coming out to visit me. They are society folk, and one of them is an English lord.”

“Wal, Miss Majesty, I reckon we’ll all be glad to see them,” said Stillwell. “Onless they pack you off back East.”

“That isn’t likely,” replied Madeline, thoughtfully. “I must go back some time, though. Well, let me read you a few extracts from my mail.”

Madeline took up her sister’s letter with a strange sensation of how easily sight of a crested monogram and scent of delicately perfumed paper could recall the brilliant life she had given up. She scanned the pages of beautiful handwriting. Helen’s letter was in turn gay and brilliant and lazy, just as she was herself; but Madeline detected more of curiosity in it than of real longing to see the sister and brother in the Far West. Much of what Helen wrote was enthusiastic anticipation of the fun she expected to have with bashful cowboys. Helen seldom wrote letters, and she never read anything, not even popular novels of the day. She was as absolutely ignorant of the West as the Englishman, who, she said, expected to hunt buffalo and fight Indians. Moreover, there was a satiric note in the letter that Madeline did not like, and which roused her spirit. Manifestly, Helen was reveling in the prospect of new sensation.

When she finished reading aloud a few paragraphs the old cattleman snorted and his face grew redder.

“Did your sister write that?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Wal, I—I beg pawdin, Miss Majesty. But it doesn’t seem like you. Does she think we’re a lot of wild men from Borneo?”

“Evidently she does. I rather think she is in for a surprise. Now, Stillwell, you are clever and you can see the situation. I want my guests to enjoy their stay here, but I do not want that to be at the expense of the feelings of all of us, or even any one. Helen will bring a lively crowd. They’ll crave excitement—the unusual. Let us see that they are not disappointed. You take the boys into your confidence. Tell them what to expect, and tell them how to meet it. I shall help you in that. I want the boys to be on dress-parade when they are off duty. I want them to be on their most elegant behavior. I do not care what they do, what measures they take to protect themselves, what tricks they contrive, so long as they do not overstep the limit of kindness and courtesy. I want them to play their parts seriously, naturally, as if they had lived no other way. My guests expect to have fun. Let us meet them with fun. Now what do you say?”

Stillwell rose, his great bulk towering, his huge face beaming.

“Wal, I say it’s the most amazin’ fine idee I ever heerd in my life.”

“Indeed, I am glad you like it,” went on Madeline.

“Come to me again, Stillwell, after you have spoken to the boys. But, now that I have suggested it, I am a little afraid. You know what cowboy fun is. Perhaps—”

“Don’t you go back on that idee,” interrupted Stillwell. He was assuring and bland, but his hurry to convince Madeline betrayed him. “Leave the boys to me. Why, don’t they all swear by you, same as the Mexicans do to the Virgin? They won’t disgrace you, Miss Majesty. They’ll be simply immense. It’ll beat any show you ever seen.”

“I believe it will,” replied Madeline. She was still doubtful of her plan, but the enthusiasm of the old cattleman was infectious and irresistible. “Very well, we will consider it settled. My guests will arrive on May ninth. Meanwhile let us get Her Majesty’s Rancho in shape for this invasion.”

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