“You get that old chest of your mother’s. But what from me?”

  “Dad, will you give me anything I ask for?”

  “Yes, my girl.”

  “Anything — any HORSE?”

  Lucy knew his weakness, for she had inherited it.

  “Sure; any horse but the King.”

  “How about Sarchedon?”

  “Why, Lucy, what’d you do with that big black devil? He’s too high. Seventeen hands high! You couldn’t mount him.”

  “Pooh! Sarch KNEELS for me.”

  “Child, listen to reason. Sarch would pull your arms out of their sockets.”

  “He has got an iron jaw,” agreed Lucy. “Well, then — how about Dusty Ben?” She was tormenting her father and she did it with glee.

  “No — not Ben. He’s the faithfulest hoss I ever owned. It wouldn’t be fair to part with him, even to you. Old associations ... a rider’s loyalty ... now, Lucy, you know—”

  “Dad, you’re afraid I’d train and love Ben into beating the King. Some day I’ll ride some horse out in front of the gray. Remember, Dad! ... Then give me Two Face.”

  “Sure not her, Lucy. Thet mare can’t be trusted. Look why we named her Two Face.”

  “Buckles, then, dear generous Daddy who longs to give his grown-up girl ANYTHING!”

  “Lucy, can’t you be satisfied an’ happy with your mustangs? You’ve got a dozen. You can have any others on the range. Buckles ain’t safe for you to ride.”

  Bostil was notably the most generous of men, the kindest of fathers. It was an indication of his strange obsession, in regard to horses, that he never would see that Lucy was teasing him. As far as horses were concerned he lacked a sense of humor. Anything connected with his horses was of intense interest.

  “I’d dearly love to own Plume,” said Lucy, demurely.

  Bostil had grown red in the face and now he was on the rack. The monstrous selfishness of a rider who had been supreme in his day could not be changed.

  “Girl, I — I thought you hadn’t no use for Plume,” he stammered.

  “I haven’t — the jade! She threw me once. I’ve never forgiven her .... Dad, I’m only teasing you. Don’t I know you couldn’t give one of those racers away? You couldn’t!”

  “Lucy, I reckon you’re right,” Bostil burst out in immense relief.

  “Dad, I’ll bet if Cordts gets me and holds me as ransom for the King — as he’s threatened — you’ll let him have me!”

  “Lucy, now thet ain’t funny!” complained the father.

  “Dear Dad, keep your old racers! But, remember, I’m my father’s daughter. I can love a horse, too. Oh, if I ever get the one I want to love! A wild horse — a desert stallion — pure Arabian — broken right by an Indian! If I ever get him, Dad, you look out! For I’ll run away from Sarch and Ben — and I’ll beat the King!”

  The hamlet of Bostil’s Ford had a singular situation, though, considering the wonderful nature of that desert country, it was not exceptional. It lay under the protecting red bluff that only Lucy Bostil cared to climb. A hard-trodden road wound down through rough breaks in the canyon wall to the river. Bostil’s house, at the head of the village, looked in the opposite direction, down the sage slope that widened like a colossal fan. There was one wide street bordered by cottonwoods and cabins, and a number of gardens and orchards, beginning to burst into green and pink and white. A brook ran out of a ravine in the huge bluff, and from this led irrigation ditches. The red earth seemed to blossom at the touch of water.

  The place resembled an Indian encampment — quiet, sleepy, colorful, with the tiny-streams of water running everywhere, and lazy columns of blue wood-smoke rising. Bostil’s Ford was the opposite of a busy village, yet its few inhabitants, as a whole, were prosperous. The wants of pioneers were few. Perhaps once a month the big, clumsy flatboat was rowed across the river with horses or cattle or sheep. And the season was now close at hand when for weeks, sometimes months, the river was unfordable. There were a score of permanent families, a host of merry, sturdy children, a number of idle young men, and only one girl — Lucy Bostil. But the village always had transient inhabitants — friendly Utes and Navajos in to trade, and sheep-herders with a scraggy, woolly flock, and travelers of the strange religious sect identified with Utah going on into the wilderness. Then there were always riders passing to and fro, and sometimes unknown ones regarded with caution. Horse-thieves sometimes boldly rode in, and sometimes were able to sell or trade. In the matter of horse-dealing Bostil’s Ford was as bold as the thieves.

  Old Brackton, a man of varied Western experience, kept the one store, which was tavern, trading-post, freighter’s headquarters, blacksmith’s shop, and any thing else needful. Brackton employed riders, teamsters, sometimes Indians, to freight supplies in once a month from Durango. And that was over two hundred miles away. Sometimes the supplies did not arrive on time — occasionally not at all. News from the outside world, except that elicited from the taciturn travelers marching into Utah, drifted in at intervals. But it was not missed. These wilderness spirits were the forerunners of a great, movement, and as such were big, strong, stern, sufficient unto themselves. Life there was made possible by horses. The distant future, that looked bright to far-seeing men, must be and could only be fulfilled through the endurance and faithfulness of horses. And then, from these men, horses received the meed due them, and the love they were truly worth. The Navajo was a nomad horseman, an Arab of the Painted Desert, and the Ute Indian was close to him. It was they who developed the white riders of the uplands as well as the wild-horse wrangler or hunter.

  Brackton’s ramshackle establishment stood down at the end of the village street. There was not a sawed board in all that structure, and some of the pine logs showed how they had been dropped from the bluff. Brackton, a little old gray man, with scant beard, and eyes like those of a bird, came briskly out to meet an incoming freighter. The wagon was minus a hind wheel, but the teamster had come in on three wheels and a pole. The sweaty, dust-caked, weary, thin-ribbed mustangs, and the gray-and-red-stained wagon, and the huge jumble of dusty packs, showed something of what the journey had been.

  “Hi thar, Red Wilson, you air some late gettin’ in,” greeted old Brackton.

  Red Wilson had red eyes from fighting the flying sand, and red dust pasted in his scraggy beard, and as he gave his belt an upward hitch little red clouds flew from his gun-sheath.

  “Yep. An’ I left a wheel an’ part of the load on the trail,” he said.

  With him were Indians who began to unhitch the teams. Riders lounging in the shade greeted Wilson and inquired for news. The teamster replied that travel was dry, the water-holes were dry, and he was dry. And his reply gave both concern and amusement.

  “One more trip out an’ back — thet’s all, till it rains,” concluded Wilson.

  Brackton led him inside, evidently to alleviate part of that dryness.

  Water and grass, next to horses, were the stock subject of all riders.

  “It’s got oncommon hot early,” said one.

  “Yes, an’ them northeast winds — hard this spring,” said another.

  “No snow on the uplands.”

  “Holley seen a dry spell comin’. Wal, we can drift along without freighters. There’s grass an’ water enough here, even if it doesn’t rain.”

  “Sure, but there ain’t none across the river.”

  “Never was, in early season. An’ if there was it’d be sheeped off.”

  “Creech’ll be fetchin’ his hosses across soon, I reckon.”

  “You bet he will. He’s trainin’ for the races next month.”

  “An’ when air they comin’ off?”

  “You got me. Mebbe Van knows.”

  Some one prodded a sleepy rider who lay all his splendid lithe length, hat over his eyes. Then he sat up and blinked, a lean-faced, gray-eyed fellow, half good-natured and half resentful.

  “Did somebody punch me?”

  “Naw, you got nightmare! Say, Van, when will the races come off?”

  “Huh! An’ you woke me for thet? ... Bostil says in a few weeks, soon as he hears from the Indians. Plans to have eight hundred Indians here, an’ the biggest purses an’ best races ever had at the Ford.”

  “You’ll ride the King again?”

  “Reckon so. But Bostil is kickin’ because I’m heavier than I was,” replied the rider.

  “You’re skin an’ bones at thet.”

  “Mebbe you’ll need to work a little off, Van. Some one said Creech’s Blue Roan was comin’ fast this year.”

  “Bill, your mind ain’t operatin’,” replied Van, scornfully. “Didn’t I beat Creech’s hosses last year without the King turnin’ a hair?”

  “Not if I recollect, you didn’t. The Blue Roan wasn’t runnin’.”

  Then they argued, after the manner of friendly riders, but all earnest, an eloquent in their convictions. The prevailing opinion was that Creech’s horse had a chance, depending upon condition and luck.

  The argument shifted upon the arrival of two new-comers, leading mustangs and apparently talking trade. It was manifest that these arrivals were not loath to get the opinions of others.

  “Van, there’s a hoss!” exclaimed one.

  “No, he ain’t,” replied Van.

  And that diverse judgment appeared to be characteristic throughout. The strange thing was that Macomber, the rancher, had already traded his mustang and money to boot for the sorrel. The deal, whether wise or not, had been consummated. Brackton came out with Red Wilson, and they had to have their say.

  “Wal, durned if some of you fellers ain’t kind an’ complimentary,” remarked Macomber, scratching his head. “But then every feller can’t have hoss sense.” Then, looking up to see Lucy Bostil coming along the road, he brightened as if with inspiration.

  Lucy was at home among them, and the shy eyes of the younger riders, especially Van, were nothing if not revealing. She greeted them with a bright smile, and when she saw Brackton she burst out:

  “Oh, Mr. Brackton, the wagon’s in, and did my box come? ... To-day’s my birthday.”

  “‘Deed it did, Lucy; an’ many more happy ones to you!” he replied, delighted in her delight. “But it’s too heavy for you. I’ll send it up — or mebbe one of the boys—”

  Five riders in unison eagerly offered their services and looked as if each had spoken first. Then Macomber addressed her:

  “Miss Lucy, you see this here sorrel?”

  “Ah! the same lazy crowd and the same old story — a horse trade!” laughed Lucy.

  “There’s a little difference of opinion,” said Macomber, politely indicating the riders. “Now, Miss Lucy, we-all know you’re a judge of a hoss. And as good as thet you tell the truth. Thet ain’t in some hoss-traders I know.... What do you think of this mustang?”

  Macomber had eyes of enthusiasm for his latest acquisition, but some of the cock-sureness had been knocked out of him by the blunt riders.

  “Macomber, aren’t you a great one to talk?” queried Lucy, severely. “Didn’t you get around Dad and trade him an old, blind, knock-kneed bag of bones for a perfectly good pony — one I liked to ride?”

  The riders shouted with laughter while the rancher struggled with confusion.

  “‘Pon my word, Miss Lucy, I’m surprised you could think thet of such an old friend of yours — an’ your Dad’s, too. I’m hopin’ he doesn’t side altogether with you.”

  “Dad and I never agree about a horse. He thinks he got the best of you. But you know, Macomber, what a horse-thief you are. Worse than Cordts!”

  “Wal, if I got the best of Bostil I’m willin’ to be thought bad. I’m the first feller to take him in.... An’ now, Miss Lucy, look over my sorrel.”

  Lucy Bostil did indeed have an eye for a horse. She walked straight up to the wild, shaggy mustang with a confidence born of intuition and experience, and reached a hand for his head, not slowly, nor yet swiftly. The mustang looked as if he was about to jump, but he did not. His eyes showed that he was not used to women.

  “He’s not well broken,” said Lucy. “Some Navajo has beaten his head in breaking him.”

  Then she carefully studied the mustang point by point.

  “He’s deceiving at first because he’s good to look at,” said Lucy. “But I wouldn’t own him. A saddle will turn on him. He’s not vicious, but he’ll never get over his scare. He’s narrow between the eyes — a bad sign. His ears are stiff — and too close. I don’t see anything more wrong with him.”

  “You seen enough,” declared Macomber. “An’ so you wouldn’t own him?”

  “You couldn’t make me a present of him — even on my birthday.”

  “Wal, now I’m sorry, for I was thinkin’ of thet,” replied Macomber, ruefully. It was plain that the sorrel had fallen irremediably in his estimation.

  “Macomber, I often tell Dad all you horse-traders get your deserts now and then. It’s vanity and desire to beat the other man that’s your downfall.”

  Lucy went away, with Van shouldering her box, leaving Macomber trying to return the banter of the riders. The good-natured raillery was interrupted by a sharp word from one of them.

  “Look! Darn me if thet ain’t a naked Indian comin’!”

  The riders whirled to see an apparently nude savage approaching, almost on a run.

  “Take a shot at thet, Bill,” said another rider. “Miss Lucy might see — No, she’s out of sight. But, mebbe some other woman is around.”

  “Hold on, Bill,” called Macomber. “You never saw an Indian run like thet.”

  Some of the riders swore, others laughed, and all suddenly became keen with interest.

  “Sure his face is white, if his body’s red!”

  The strange figure neared them. It was indeed red up to the face, which seemed white in contrast. Yet only in general shape and action did it resemble a man.

  “Damned if it ain’t Joel Creech!” sang out Bill Stark.

  The other riders accorded their wondering assent.

  “Gone crazy, sure!”

  “I always seen it comin’.”

  “Say, but ain’t he wild? Foamin’ at the mouth like a winded hoss!”

  Young Creech was headed down the road toward the ford across which he had to go to reach home. He saw the curious group, slowed his pace, and halted. His face seemed convulsed with rage and pain and fatigue. His body, even to his hands, was incased in a thick, heavy coating of red adobe that had caked hard.

  “God’s sake — fellers—” he panted, with eyes rolling, “take this— ‘dobe mud off me! ... I’m dyin’!”

  Then he staggered into Brackton’s place. A howl went up from the riders and they surged after him.

  That evening after supper Bostil stamped in the big room, roaring with laughter, red in the face; and he astonished Lucy and her aunt to the point of consternation.

  “Now — you’ve — done — it — Lucy Bostil!” he roared.

  “Oh dear! Oh dear!” exclaimed Aunt Jane.

  “Done what?” asked Lucy, blankly.

  Bostil conquered his paroxysm, and, wiping his moist red face, he eyed Lucy in mock solemnity.

  “Joel!” whispered Lucy, who had a guilty conscience.

  “Lucy, I never heard the beat of it.... Joel’s smarter in some ways than we thought, an’ crazier in others. He had the sun figgered, but what’d he want to run through town for? Why, never in my life have I seen such tickled riders.”

  “Dad!” almost screamed Lucy. “What did Joel do?”

  “Wal, I see it this way. He couldn’t or wouldn’t wait for sundown. An’ he wasn’t hankerin’ to be burned. So he wallows in a ‘dobe mud-hole an’ covers himself thick with mud. You know that ‘dobe mud! Then he starts home. But he hadn’t figgered on the ‘dobe gettin’ hard, which it did — harder ‘n rock. An’ thet must have hurt more ‘n sunburn. Late this afternoon he came runnin’ down the road, yellin’ thet he was dyin’. The boys had conniption fits. Joel ain’t over-liked, you know, an’ here they had one on him. Mebbe they didn’t try hard to clean him off. But the fact is not for hours did they get thet ‘dobe off him. They washed an’ scrubbed an’ curried him, while he yelled an’ cussed. Finally they peeled it off, with his skin I guess. He was raw, an’ they say, the maddest feller ever seen in Bostil’s Ford!”

  Lucy was struggling between fear and mirth. She did not look sorry. “Oh! Oh! Oh, Dad!”

  “Wasn’t it great, Lucy?”

  “But what — will he — do?” choked Lucy.

  “Lord only knows. Thet worries me some. Because he never said a word about how he come to lose his clothes or why he had the ‘dobe on him. An’ sure I never told. Nobody knows but us.”

  “Dad, he’ll do something terrible to me!” cried Lucy, aghast at her premonition.

  CHAPTER III

  THE DAYS DID not pass swiftly at Bostil’s Ford. And except in winter, and during the spring sand-storms, the lagging time passed pleasantly. Lucy rode every day, sometimes with Van, and sometimes alone. She was not over-keen about riding with Van — first, because he was in love with her; and secondly, in spite of that, she could not beat him when he rode the King. They were training Bostil’s horses for the much-anticipated races.

  At last word arrived from the Utes and Navajos that they accepted Bostil’s invitation and would come in force, which meant, according to Holley and other old riders, that the Indians would attend about eight hundred strong.

  “Thet old chief, Hawk, is comin’,” Holley informed Bostil. “He hasn’t been here fer several years. Recollect thet bunch of colts he had? They’re bosses, not mustangs.... So you look out, Bostil!”

  No rider or rancher or sheepman, in fact, no one, ever lost a chance to warn Bostil. Some of it was in fun, but most of it was earnest. The nature of events was that sooner or later a horse would beat the King. Bostil knew that as well as anybody, though he would not admit it. Holley’s hint made Bostil look worried. Most of Bostil’s gray hairs might have been traced to his years of worry about horses.

  The day he received word from the Indians he sent for Brackton, Williams, Muncie, and Creech to come to his house that night. These men, with Bostil, had for years formed in a way a club, which gave the Ford distinction. Creech was no longer a friend of Bostil’s, but Bostil had always been fair-minded, and now he did not allow his animosities to influence him. Holley, the veteran rider, made the sixth member of the club.