The Gringos Page 10

  CHAPTER X

  THE FINEST LITTLE WOMAN IN THE WORLD

  "You tell Mr. Picardy that I ain't visitin' nobody, so he needn'tconsider that I'm company," announced Jerry, after a wait that wasbeginning to rasp the nerves of his visitors. "I come here to live!He's called this land hisn, by authority uh the king uh Spain, yousay, for over twenty year. Wall, in twenty year he ain't set so muchas a fence-post fur as the eye can see. I been five mile from here onevery side, and I don't see no signs of his ever usin' the land fernothin'. Now, mebby the king uh Spain knew what he was talkin' aboutwhen he give this land away, and then agin mebby he didn't. 'T anyrate, I don't know as I think much of a king that'll give away a hullgreat gob uh land he never seen, and give it to one feller--more 'nthat feller could use in a hull lifetime; more 'n he would ever needfer his young 'uns, even s'posin' he had a couple uh dozen--whichain't skurcely respectable fer one man, nohow. How many's he got,mister?"

  "One--his daughter, over there."

  "Hum-mh! Wall, she ain't goin' to need so derned much. You tell Mr.Picardy I've come a long ways to find a home fer Mary and me; a longroad and a hard road. I can't go no further without I swim fer it, andthat I don't calc'late on doin'. I ain't the kind to hog more land'n what I can use--not mentionin' no names; but I calc'late on havin'what I need, if I can get it honest. My old mother used to read outathe Bible that the earth was the Lord's and the fullness thereof; andI ain't never heard of him handin' over two-thirds of it to any kinguh Spain. What he's snoopin' around in Ameriky fur, givin' awaygreat big patches uh country he never seen, I ain't askin'. Californybelongs to the United States of Ameriky, and the United States ofAmeriky lets her citizens make homes for themselves and their familieson land that ain't already in use. If Mr. Picardy can show me a deedfrom Gawd Almighty, signed, sealed, and delivered along about the timeMoses got hisn fer the Land uh Canyan, or if he can show a paper fromUncle Sam, sayin' this place belongs to him, I'll throw off theselogs, h'ist the box back on the wagon and look further; but I ain'tgoin' to move on the say-so uh no furrin' king, which I don't believein nohow."

  He took the pipe from his mouth, and with it pointed to a spot twentyfeet away, so that they all looked towards the place.

  "Right thar," he stated slowly, "is whar I'm goin' to build my cabin,fer me and Mary. And right over thar I'm goin' to plow me up a truckpatch. I'm a peaceable man, mister. I don't aim to have no fussin'with my neighbors. But you tell Mr. Picardy that thar'll be loopholescut on all four sides uh that thar cabin, and Jemimy and the twins'llbe ready to argy with anybody that comes moochin' around unfriendly.I'm the peaceablest man you ever seen, but when I make up my mind toa thing, I'm firm! Pur-ty tol'able firm!" he added with complacentemphasis.

  He waited expectantly while Dade put a revised version of this speechinto Spanish, and placidly smoked his little black pipe while the donmade answer.

  "Already I find that I have done well to choose an Americano for mymajordomo," Don Andres observed, a smile in his eyes. "With a few moresuch as this great hombre, who is firm and peaceful together, I shouldfind my days full of trouble with a hot-blooded Manuel to deal withthem. But with you, Senor, I have no fear. Something there is in theface of this Senor Seem'son which pleases me; we shall be friends,and he shall stay and plant his garden and build his house where itpleases him to do. You may tell him that I say so, and that I shallrely upon his honor to pay me for the land a reasonable price when theAmerican government places its seal beside the seal on his Majesty'sgrant. For that it will be done I am very sure. The land is mine, eventhough I have no tablet of stone to proclaim from the Creator my rightto call it so. But he shall have his home if he is honest, withoutswimming across the ocean to find it."

  "Wall, now, that's fair enough fer anybody. Hey, Mary! Come on out andgit acquainted with yer neighbor's girl. Likely-lookin' young woman,"he passed judgment, nodding towards Teresita. "Skittish, mebby--youngblood most gen'rally is, when there's any ginger in it. What's yername, mister? I want yuh all to meet the finest little woman in theworld--Mrs. Jerry Simpson. We've pulled in the harness together fertwelve year, now, so I guess I know! Come out, Mary."

  She came shyly from the makeshift tent, her dingy brown sunbonnetin her hand, and the redoubtable Tige walking close to her shapelessbrown skirt. And although her face was tanned nearly as brown asher bonnet, with the desert sun and desert winds of that long, wearyjourney in search of a home, it was as delicately modeled as that ofthe girl who rode forward to greet her; and sweet with the sweetnessof soul which made that big man worship her. Her hair was a soft goldsuch as one sees sometimes upon the head of a child or in the picturesof angels, and it was cut short and curled in distracting little ringsabout her head, and framed softly her smooth forehead. Her eyeswere brown and soft and wistful--with a twinkle at the corners,nevertheless, which brightened them wonderfully; and although hermouth drooped slightly with the same wistfulness, a little smilelurked there also, as though her life had been spent largely inlonging for the unattainable, and in laughing at herself because sheknew the futility of the longing.

  "I hope you've taken a good look at Jerry's face," she said, "and seenthat he ain't half as bad as he tries to make out. Jerry'll make afine neighbor for any man if he's let be; and we do want a home ofour own, awful bad! We was ten years paying for a little farm backin Illinois, and then we lost it at the last minute because there wassomething wrong with the deed, and we didn't have any money to go tolaw about it. Jerry didn't tell you that; but it's that makes him talkkinda bitter, sometimes. He was terrible disappointed about losing thefarm. And when we took what we had left and struck out, he said hewas going as far as he could get and be away from lawyers and law, andmake us a home on land that nobody but the Lord laid any claim to. Sohe picked out this place; and then along come that Spaniard and a lotof fellows with him and said we hadn't no right here. So I hope youwon't blame Jerry for being a little mite uppish. That Spaniard gothim kinda wrought up."

  Her voice was as soft as her eyes, and winsome as her wistful littlesmile. She had those four smiling with her in sheer sympathy beforeshe had spoken three sentences; and the two who did not understand herwords smiled just as sympathetically as the two who knew what she wastalking about.

  "Tell the senora I am sorry, and she shall stay; and my mother willgive her hens and a bottle of her very good medicine, which Manueldrinks so greedily," Teresita cried, when Dade told her what the womansaid, and leaned impulsively and held out her hand. "I would do asthe Americanos do, and shake the hands for a new friendship," sheexplained, blushing a little. "We shall be friends. Senor Hunter, tellthe pretty senora that I say we shall be friends. Amiga mia, I shallcall her, and I shall learn the Americano language, that we may talktogether."

  She meant every word of it, Dade knew; and with a troublesome,squeezed feeling in his throat he interpreted her speech withpainstaking exactness.

  Mrs. Jerry took the senorita's hand and smiled up at her with thebrightness of tears in her eyes. "You've got lots of friends, honey,"she said simply, "and I've left all of mine so far behind me theymight as well be dead, as far as ever seeing 'em again is concerned;so it's like finding gold to find a woman friend away out here. Iain't casting no reflections on Jerry, mind," she hastened towarn them, blinking the tears away and leaving the twinkle in fullpossession; "but good as he is, and satisfying as his company is, heain't a woman. And, my dear, a woman does get awful hungry sometimesfor woman-talk!"

  Mrs. Jerry took the senorita's hand and smiled up ather.]

  "Santa Maria! that must be true. She shall come and let my mother beher friend also. I will send a carriage, or if she can ride--ask thebig senor if he has no horses!"

  Jack it was who took up right willingly the burden of translation, forthe pure pleasure of repeating the senorita's words and doing her aservice; and Dade dropped back beside the don, where he thought hebelonged, and stayed there.

  "Wall, I ain't got any horses, but I got two of the derndest mules youever seen, mister
. Moll and Poll's good as any mustang in this valley.Mary and me can ride 'em anywheres; that's why I brung 'em along, toride in case we had to eat the cattle."

  "Then they must surely ride Moll and Poll to visit my mother!" thesenorita declared with her customary decisiveness. "Padre mio!"

  Obediently the don accepted the responsibility laid upon him byhis sole-born who ruled him without question, and made official theinvitation. It was not what he had expected to do; he was not quitesure that it was what he wanted to do; but he did it, and did itwith the courtliness which would have flowered his invitation tothe governor to honor his poor household by his presence; he did itbecause his daughter had glanced at him and said "My father?" in acertain tone which he knew well.

  Something else was done, which no one had expected to do when the fourgalloped up to the trespassers. Jack and Dade dismounted and helpedJerry unload the logs from the wagon, for one thing; while Teresitainspected Mrs. Jerry's ingenious domestic makeshifts and managedsomehow, with Mrs. Jerry's help, to make the bond of mutual likingserve very well in the place of intelligible speech. For another, thedon fairly committed himself to the promise of a peon or two to helpin the further devastation of the trees upon the Picardo mountainslope behind the little, natural meadow, which Jerry Simpson had socalmly appropriated to his own use.

  "He is honest," Don Andres asserted more than once on the ride home,perhaps in self-justification for his soft dealing. "He is honest;and when he sees that the land is mine, he will pay; or if he doesnot pay, he will go--and tilled acres and a cabin will not harm me.Valencia, if he marries the daughter of Carlos (as the senora sayswill come to pass), will be glad to have a cabin to live in apart fromthe mother of his wife, who is a shrew and will be disquieting in anyman's household. Therefore, Senor Hunter, you may order the peons toassist the big hombre and his beautiful senora, that they may soonhave a hut to shelter them from the rains. It is not good to see sogentle a woman endure hardship within my boundary. Many tules, theywill need," he added after a minute, "and it is unlikely that theSenor Seem'son understands the making of a thatch. Diego and Juan areskillful; and the tules they lay upon a roof will let no drop of rainfall within the room. Order them to assist."

  "I shall tell Margarita to bake many little cakes," cried Teresita,riding up between her father and Dade, that she might assist in theplanning. "And madre mia will give me coffee and sugar for the prettysenora. So soft is her voice, like one of my pigeons! And her hair ismore beautiful than the golden hair of our Blessed Lady at Dolores.Oh, if the Blessed Virgin would make me as beautiful as she, and asgentle, I should--I should finish the altar cloth immediately, which Ibegan two years ago!"

  "Thou art well enough as thou art," comforted her father, tryingto hide his pride in her under frowning brows, and to sterilize thepraise with a tone of belittlement.

  "I love that pretty senora," sighed Teresita, turning in the saddle toglance wistfully back at the meager little camp. "She shall have theblack puppy Rosa gave me when last I was at the Mission San Jose. ButI hope," she added plaintively, like the child she was at heart, "shewill make that big, ugly beast they called Tige be kind to her; andthe milk must be warm to the finger when Chico is fed. To-night, SenorAllen, you shall teach me Americano words that I may say to the senorawhat is necessary, for the happiness of my black puppy. I must learnto say that her name is Chico, and that the milk must be warm to thefinger, and that the big dog must be kind."