"Pat," she began, her voice breaking a little with emotion suddenly overwhelming her, "this begins our real friendship and understanding.

Let us try to make it equal"--she straightened up, narrow eyes off toward the mountains--"equal to the best that lies within us both."

CHAPTER VII

A STRANGER

As the weeks pa.s.sed, each day bringing its period of companionship, this friendship and understanding between them became perfect in its simplicity. Pat learned to know her wishes almost without the reins, and he showed that he loved to carry her. Also, with these daily canters on the mesa he developed in bodily strength, and it was not long before he was in the pink of condition. Yet it was a perfection that was only natural for him. The quality of his blood was shown in his nostrils, which were wide and continuously atremble; in his eyes, which were bright and keenly alert; and in his ears, which were fine and vibrant.

Stepping through town each morning under Helen's restraining hand, he would pick up his hoofs with a cleanliness and place them down with a grace that always commanded the attention of admiring eyes. But he seemed unconscious of his quality.

Dressed in her usual dark riding-habit, Helen entered the corral one morning for her daily canter across the mesa. Already Pat was bridled and saddled. But as she stepped alongside to mount, Miguel appeared in the stable door with a brief tale of trouble and a warning. It seemed that he had experienced difficulty in preparing the horse, and between puffs at a cigarette he strongly advised Helen to be careful.

"He's a-very fresh thees mornin'," he concluded, with an ominous shake of his head.

Helen looked Pat over. He appeared in anything but a cantankerous mood.

He was standing quietly, eyes blinking sleepily, ears wriggling lazily, in an att.i.tude of superior indifference toward all the world. So, untroubled by the hostler's tale, she slipped her foot into the stirrup.

Instantly the horse nickered queerly and stepped away.

"Steady, Pat!" she gently admonished, and again attempted to mount. But, as before, he stepped away, this time more abruptly. He began to circle around her, prancing nervously, pausing to paw the ground, prancing again nervously. She held firm grip on his bridle, however, and sharply rebuked him. "Pat," she exclaimed, "this is a new trait!" And then, before he could resist again, she caught hold of the saddle-horn, leaped up, hardly touching the stirrup, and gathered the reins quickly to meet further rebellion.

But with her in the saddle Pat was quite another horse. He snapped his ears at attention, wheeled to the gate, and cantered briskly out of the corral.

It was a beautiful morning. The air nipped with a tang of frost, and she rode swiftly through town and up the hill to the mesa in keen exhilaration. Once on the mesa, Pat dashed off ecstatically in the direction of the mountains. The pace was thrilling. The rush of the crisp wind, together with the joy of swift motion, sent tingling blood into Helen's cheeks, while the horse, racing along at top speed, flung out his hoofs with a vigor that told of the riot of blood within him.

Thus they continued, until in the shadow of the mountains--just now draped in their most delicate coloring, the pink that accompanies sunbeams streaming through fading haze--she pulled Pat down and gave herself over to the beauty of the scene. The horse, also appreciative, came to a ready stop and turned his eyes out over the desert in slow-blinking earnestness.

"Pat!" suddenly cried Helen. She pulled his head gently around in the direction of the mountain trail. "Look off there!"

Above the distant trail hung a thin cloud of dust, and under the cloud of dust, and rolling heavily toward town, creaked a lumber rigging, piled high with wood and drawn by a pair of plodding horses--plodding despite the bite and snarl of a whip swung with merciless regularity.

The whip was in the hands of a brawny Mexican, who, seated confidently on the high load, appeared utterly indifferent to the trembling endeavors of his scrawny team. He was inhaling the smoke of a cigarette, and with every puff mechanically flaying the horses. The spectacle aroused deep sympathy in the girl.

"Only consider, Pat!" she exclaimed, after a while. "Those poor, miserable horses--half-starved, cruelly beaten, yet of G.o.d's own making!" She was silent. "Suppose you had been born to that service, Pat--born to that oppression! You are one of the fortunate!" And she bent forward and stroked him. "One of the fortunate!" she repeated, thoughtfully.

Indeed Pat was just that. But not in the way Helen meant. For such was the whim of Fate, and such is the limit of human understanding, she did not know, and never would know, save by the grace of that Fate, that Pat had been born in just that service, born to just that oppression; that only by the kindness of Fate he had been released from that service, that oppression, that he had been guided out of that environment and cast into a more kindly, bigger, and truer environment--her own!

But Pat only blinked stolid indifference at the spectacle. He appeared to care nothing for the misery of other horses, nor to appreciate her tenderness when directed elsewhere than toward himself. After a time, as if to reveal this, he set out of his own volition toward a particularly inviting bit of flower, dainty yellow in the brown of the desert.

Plucking this morsel, he fell to munching it in contentment, and continued to munch it till the last vestige disappeared. Then, again of his own volition, he broke into a canter. Helen smiled and pulled him down.

"You're a strange horse, Pat," she declared, and fell to stroking him again. "And not the least strange thing about you is your history.

Sometimes I wonder whether you are actually blooded. Certainly you look it, and at times a.s.suredly you act it; yet if you are so valuable, why didn't somebody claim you that time? It is all very mysterious." And she relapsed into silence, gazing at him thoughtfully.

Aroused by sudden faint gusts of wind, she glanced around and overhead.

She saw unmistakable signs of an approaching storm, and swung Pat about toward home. As the horse broke into a canter the gusts became more fitful and sharper, while the sun, growing dim and hazy, cast ever-increasing shadow before her. Presently, as far as the eye could reach, she saw the landscape spring into active life. Dust-devils whirled about in quick eddies, stray sheets of paper leaped up, tumbleweed began steady forward movement, rabbit-like, scurrying before the winds, the advance occupied by largest growths, the rear brought up with smallest clumps, the order determined by the area each presented to the winds. It was all very impressive, but, knowing the uncertain character of the elements, and uncertain whether this foretold violent sand-storm or milder wind-storm, she was gripped with apprehension. She urged Pat to his utmost.

And Pat responded, though he really needed but little urging. With each sudden gust he became increasingly afraid. Holding himself more and more alert to every least movement about him, he was steadily becoming keyed up to a dangerous pitch. Rollicking tumbleweed did not worry him any more than did the swirling dust-devils. These were things of the desert, each the complexion of the desert. But not so with sc.r.a.ps of paper.

Their whiteness offered a startling contrast to the others, and, whisking about frantically, they increased his fears. Then suddenly a paper struck him, whipped madly across his eyes. It was unexpected, and for an instant blinded him. Gripping the bit in his teeth, he bolted.

His sudden plunge almost unseated Helen. But, recovering, she braced herself grimly in the stirrups and pulled mightily on the reins. But she could not hold him. He increased his speed, if anything, and hurtled across the desert--head level, ears flat, legs far-reaching. She braced herself again, flinging back head and shoulders, thrusting her feet far forward, and continued to pull. But it counted for nothing. Yet she did not weaken, and under her vigorous striving, coupled with the jolting of the horse, her tam-o'-shanter flew off, and her hair loosened and fell, streaming out whippingly behind. And then suddenly, struck with terror herself, she cried out in terror.

"Pat!" she burst out. "Pat! Pat!"

But the horse seemed not to hear. Thundering madly forward, he appeared blind as well as fear-stricken, and Helen, suddenly seeing a barb-wire fence ahead, felt herself go faint, for she had never taken a fence, and she knew that Pat never had. She must get control of herself again. And this she did. Stiffening in the stirrups, she gripped a single rein in both hands and pulled with all her strength. But she could not swerve the horse. On he plunged for the obstruction, evidently not seeing it.

She screamed again.

"Pat! Pat! Pat!"

But, as before, the horse did not heed. He dashed to the fence. He hesitated, but only for an instant. Throwing up his head, he rose and took the fence cleanly. Once on the other side, he resumed his frantic racing--pounding along in the mountain trail, his course clearly defined, hurtling madly straight toward town. With the fence safely cleared, and the way ahead free of vehicles, Helen regained much of her composure. Settling calmly to the rhythmic movement, she permitted the horse free rein. Once she reached back to gather up her hair, but the motion of the horse forbade this. So she fell to watching his splendid energy, finding herself quite calm and collected again, vaguely wondering how it would end. For the horse seemed tireless.

Wise in his knowledge of first principles, and remembering the terrible slap across his eyes, Pat continued to rush forward. As he ran he kept eyes alert about him, fearing another blow. He knew that the thing was white, and he watched for a white something. Instead of a white something, however, there presently loomed up beside him a brown something, browner even than the desert, a something racing along beside him, moving with a speed equal to his own--even greater than his own!

But he did not pause to a.n.a.lyze this. Instead, he forced himself to greater efforts, pounding the hardened trail with an energy that hurt his ankles, stretching neck and legs to their utmost limit of fiber--on and on in increased frenzy. But he could not best this object beside him. Yet that did not discourage him. He continued grimly forward, stung to desperation now by a double purpose, which was to outrun this thing on his right as well as get away from the other possible pursuing object. Yet the brown thing gained upon him--drew steadily nearer, steadily closer--he saw a hand shoot out. He felt a strong pull on his bridle, a tearing twist on the bit in his mouth, and found himself thrown out of his stride. But not even with this would he accept defeat.

He reared in a nervous effort to shake off the hand. Finding this futile, he dropped back again, and at last came to a trembling, panting, nerve-racked pause.

The thing was a horseman. He hurriedly dismounted, still retaining hold on Pat's bridle, and smiled up at Helen.

"I--I tried to overtake you--to overtake you before you reached the fence," he began to explain, pausing between words for breath. "This horse of yours can--can claim--claim anything on record--for speed." And he looked Pat over admiringly.

Helen did not speak at once. In the moment needed to regain her self-possession she could only regard him with mute grat.i.tude. She saw that he was young and well-built, though lean of features, but with frank, healthy eyes. He was not at all bad-looking. Also she observed that he was neatly garbed in puttees and knickerbockers, and she quickly appraised him as the usual type of Easterner come into the valley to spend the winter. Then she suddenly remembered her hair. Woman-like, she hastily gathered it up into a knot at the back of her head before she answered this young man smiling up at her.

"Pat never ran like that before," she explained, a bit nervously. "I was beginning to wonder what would happen at the railroad crossing. You checked him just in time. I--I really owe--"

"Sure he won't charge again?" interrupted the young man, evidently wishing to avoid any expression of grat.i.tude on her part.

"I--I am quite certain," she replied, and then, after thanking him, slowly gathered up the reins. But she did not ride on, for the reason that the other, now absorbed in a cool survey of Pat's outlines, retained his hold on the bridle. Yet neither the survey nor the grip on the bridle displeased her.

"A splendid horse," he declared, after a moment. "A beautiful animal!"

Then, evidently suddenly mindful that he was detaining her, he stepped back.

Helen again prepared to ride on.

"Pat is a beautiful horse," she agreed, still a little nervous. "And like all beauty," she added, "he develops strange moods at times." Then, her sense of deep grat.i.tude moving her, she asked, "Were you going toward town?"

For reply he swung into the saddle. He wheeled close, and they set out.

He appeared a little ill at ease, and Helen took the initiative.

"From the East, I take it?" she inquired. "There are not a few Easterners down here. Some have taken up permanent residence."

"Yes," he replied, "I'm from the East--New York."

She liked his voice.

"We are here for the winter--mother and myself. Mother isn't strong, and your delightful climate ought to improve her. I myself came along"--he turned twinkling eyes toward her--"as guide and comforter and--I fear--all-round nuisance." He was silent. "I like this country," he added, after a moment.

Helen liked him for liking her country, for she had true Western pride for her birthplace. So she said the natural thing, though without display of pride. "Everybody likes it down here."

He looked at her hesitatingly. "You're not from the outside, then?"