, 1922-12-27
CHAPTER VI
The YaauI.

The YaquI.
Toward evening of n lowering De
cember day, some fifty miles west of
Forlorn River, a horseman rode along
an old, dimly defined trail.
This lonely horseman bestrode n
steed Of magnificent build, perfectly
white except for a dark bar of color
running down the noble head from
ears to nose. Sweat-caked dust
stained the long TANKS. The horse
had been running. He was lean.
gaunt, worn, a huge machine of muscle
and bone, beautiful only In head and
name, a weight-carrier, a horse strong
and fierce like the desert that had
bred him.
The rider fitted the horse as he lit
ted the saddle. He was a young man
Of exceedingly powerful physique,
wide-shouldered, %long-armed, big
legged. His lean face, where 1t was
not red. blistered n peeling. was the
hue of brenze. He had a dark eye. a
falcon gaze. rowing and keen. His
jaw was prominent and set, mastiff-
like his lips were stern. 1t was youth
with It's ~softness not yet quite burned
and hardened away that kept the
whole cast of his face from being
ruthless.
This young man was Dick Gale, but
not the ~listless traveller, nor the loung-
ing wanderer who, two months before,
had by chance dropped into Casitn.
drawn him into its crucibie. The
desert had multiplied weeks Info
wears. Heat. thirst. hunger, lonelI.
ness, toll, fear, ferncIty. paln-he
knew them all. He had felt them all
the white sun, with Its glazed, coales-
cling, lurid fret the caked split lips
and rasping. dry-puffed tongue; the
%sickening ache In the pit of his stom-
ache; the insupportable silence, the
empty space, the utter desolation, the
contempT q life the watch and walt,
h dread of ambush. the swift flight:
the fierce pursuit of men wild as
Bedouins and as fleet, the willingness
to deal sudden death, the pain of
poison thorn, the stinging tear Of lead
through flesh and that strange para
dox of the burning desert. the cold at
night, the piercing Icy wind, the dew
that penetrated to the marrow. the
numbing desert cold of the dawn.
Ladd's prophecy of trouble on the
border had been mild compared to
what had become the a~ctuallty. With
rebel occupancy of the garrison Mt
Casita, outlaws, bandits, raiders in
riotlng bands had spread westward.
Many a dark-skinned raider bestrode
one of Belongs fast horses; and. In
deed, all except his selected white
thoroughbreds had been stolen. SO
the job of the rangers had become
more than a p%atrollIng of the bound
airy line to keep Japanese and Chinese
from being smuggled into the United
States.
On this Decembe. afternoon the
three rangers, as often, were sepnr-
ated. Lash was far to the westward
OF Sonoyta. somewhere along Canine
del Diablo. that terrible Devils road.
where many desert %wayfarers had per-
ished. Ladd had long been overdue
In a prearranged meeting with Gale.
The fact that Ladd had not shown up
miles west Of the Papago well was
ohbhAhtuht.
Gale dismounted to lead his horse.
to go forward more slowly. He had
ridden sixty miles since morning. and
he was tired, and a not entirely healed
wound in his hip made one leg drag a
little. A mile up the arroyo, near It's
head, lay the Papago well. The need
of water for his horse entaIIed a risk
that otherwise he could have avoided.
The well was on Mexican soil. Gale
distinguished a faint light fiickerlnc
through the thin. sharp foliage. Camp
ers were at the wet, and. whoever
they were, no doubt they had prevent
ed Ladd from meeting Gale. Ladd
had gone back to the next waterhole.
or maybe he was hiding In an arroyo
to the eastward, awaiting develop
ments.
Gale. turned his horse, not without
urge Of iron arm and persuasive
speech. for the desert steed scented
water. and plodded back to. the edge
of the arroyo, where In a secluded
circle of mesquite he halted. The
horse snorted his relief at the removal
of the heavy. burdened saddle and ac-
coutrements. Gale poured the con.
tents Of his larger canteen into his
hat and held 1t TO the horses nose.
'Driuk- Sol" he said