第41章

Lucy Bostil could not control the glow of strange excitement under which she labored, but she could put her mind on the riding of Sage King.She did not realize, however, that she was riding him under the stress and spell of that excitement.

She had headed out to make a short cut, fairly sure of her direction, yet she was not unaware of the fact that she would be lost till she ran across her trail.That might be easy to miss and time was flying.She put the King to a brisk trot, winding through the aisles of the sage.

Soon she had left the monument region and was down on the valley floor again.

From time to time she conquered a desire to look back.Presently she was surprised and very glad to ride into a trail where she saw the tracks she had made coming out.With much relief she turned Sage King into this trail, and then any anxiety she had felt left her entirely.But that did not mitigate her excitement.She eased the King into a long, swinging lope.And as he warmed to the work she was aroused also.It was hard to hold him in, once he got out of a trot, and after miles and miles of this, When she thought best to slow down he nearly pulled her arms off.Still she finally got him in hand.Then followed miles of soft and rough going, which seemed long and tedious.Beyond that was the home stretch up the valley, whose gradual slope could be seen only at a distance.Here was a straight, broad trail, not too soft nor too hard, and for all the years she could remember riders had tried out and trained their favorites on that course.

Lucy reached down to assure herself that the cinch was tight, then she pulled her sombrero down hard, slackened the bridle, and let the King go.He simply broke his gait, he was so surprised.Lucy saw him trying to look back at her, as if he could not realize that this young woman rider had given him a free rein.Perhaps one reason he disliked her had been always and everlastingly that tight rein.Like the wary horse he was he took to a canter, to try out what his new freedom meant.

"Say, what's the matter with you?" called Lucy, disdainfully."Are you lazy?

Or don't you believe I can ride you?"

Whereupon she dug him with her spurs.Sage King snorted.His action shifted marvelously.Thunder rolled from under his hoofs.And he broke out of that clattering roar into his fleet stride, where his hoof-beats were swift, regular, rhythmic.

Lucy rode him with teeth and fists clenched, bending low.After all, she thought, it was no trick to ride him.In that gait he was dangerous, for a fall meant death; but he ran so smoothly that riding him was easy and certainly glorious.He went so fast that the wind blinded her.The trail was only a white streak in blurred gray.She could not get her breath; the wind seemed to whip the air away from her.And then she felt the lessening of the tremendous pace.Sage King had run himself out and the miles were behind her.

Gradually her sight became clear, and as the hot and wet horse slowed down, satisfied with his wild run, Lucy realized that she was up on the slope only a few miles from home.Suddenly she thought she saw something dark stir behind a sage-bush just ahead.Before she could move a hand at the bridle Sage King leaped with a frantic snort.It was a swerving, nimble, tremendous bound.He went high.Lucy was unseated, but somehow clung on, and came down with him, finding the saddle.And it seemed, while in the air, she saw a long, snaky, whipping loop of rope shoot out and close just where Sage King's legs had been.

She screamed.The horse broke and ran.Lucy, righting herself, looked back to see Joel Creech holding a limp lasso.He had tried to rope the King.

The blood of her father was aroused in Lucy.She thought of the horse--not herself.If the King had not been so keen-sighted, so swift, he would have gone down with a broken leg.Lucy never in her life had been so furious.

Joel shook his fist at her and yelled, "I'd 'a' got you--on any other hoss!"She did not reply, though she had to fight herself to keep from pulling her gun and shooting at him.She guided the running horse back into the trail, rapidly leaving Creech out of sight.

"He's gone crazy, that's sure," said Lucy."And he means me harm!"She ran the King clear up to the corrals, and he was still going hard when she turned down the lane to the barns.Then she pulled him in.

Farlane was there to meet her.She saw no other riders and was glad.

"Wal, Miss Lucy, the King sure looks good," said Farlane, as she jumped off and flung him the bridle."He's just had about right, judgin'....Say, girl, you're all pale! Oh, say, you wasn't scared of the King, now?""No," replied Lucy, panting.

"Wal, what's up, then?" The rider spoke in an entirely different voice, and into his clear, hazel eyes a little dark gleam shot.

"Joel Creech waylaid me out in the sage--and--and tried to catch me." Lucy checked herself.It might not do to tell how Joel had tried to catch her.

"He did? An' you on the King!" Farlane laughed, as if relieved."Wal, he's tried thet before.Miss Lucy.But when you was up on the gray--thet shows Joel's crazy, sure.""He sure is.Farlane, I--I am mad!"

"Wal, cool off, Miss Lucy.It ain't nothin' to git set up about.An' don't tell the old man.""Why not?" demanded Lucy.

"Wal, because he's in a queer sort of bad mood lately.It wouldn't be safe.He hates them Creeches.So don't tell him.""All right, Farlane, I won't.Don't you tell, either," replied Lucy, soberly.

"Sure I'll keep mum.But if Joel doesn't watch out I'll put a crimp in him myself."Lucy hurried away down the lane and entered the house without meeting any one.

In her room she changed her clothes and lay down to rest and think.