The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-06-22
CHAPTER Xxx.
Desert Gold.

summer day dawned on FOrl0rn
River. a beautiful. still, hot. golden
day with huge sail clouds Of white
motionless over No Name peaks and
the purple Of clear air In the distance
along the desert horizon.
| Mrs. Belding returned that day to
find her daughter happy and the past
buried forever in two lonely graves.
The haunting shadow left her eyes.
Gale believed he would never forget
the sweetness the wonder, the pas
sion of her embrace when she called
him her boy and gave him her bless
ing.
The little wrlnkled padre who mar
ried Gale and Nell performed the
ceremony as he told his beads, with
out interest or penetration. and went
his way. leaving happiness behind.
ashore i was a sick man." Ladd
said, IAN darn near a dead one, but
| I'm agoin' to get well. Mebbe I'll be
able to ride again some day. Nell, I
lay II to you. An I'm agoin' ito kiss
you an wish you all the JOY there Is
in this world. An Dick. as Yaqui
says, she's shore, your Shower OF
Gold"
He spoke of Gales finding love-
spoke of 1t with the deep and wistful
feeling OF the lonely range who had
always yearned for love and had never
known it, Belding, once more Irac-
tical, and important as never before
with mining projects and water
claims to manage, spoke Of Gales
great good fortune in the finding of
gold-he called 1t desert gold.
"Ah, yes. Desert Goldl" exclaimed
Dicks father, softly, with eyes of
pride. Perhaps he was glad Dick had
found the rich claim; surely he was
happy that Dick had won the girl he
loved But 1t seemed to Dick himself
that his father meant something very
different from love and fortune in his
allusion to- desert gold.
Yaqui came to Dick to say good
by. Dick was startled, grieved, ond
In his impulsiveness forgot for mo-
ment the nature Of the Indian. Yaqui
was not to be changed.
Belding tried to overload him with
gifts. The Indian packed bag of
food, blanket, a gun. knife, a can
teen, and no more. The whole house
hold went out with him to the corrals
end fields from which Bedding bade
him choose borse-any horse, even
| the loved Blancc Diable. Gales beart
was In his throat for fear the Indian
might choose Blanco SOL and he
1 hated himself for a selfishness he
could not help. But without word
he would have parted with the treas
ured Sol.
Yaqui whistled the horses up-fof
the last time. Did he care for them
1t would have been hard to say. He
never looked at the fierce and naughty
Diablo, nor at Blanco Sol as he raised
his noble head and rang his piercing
blast. The Indian did not choose one
OF Belongs whites. He caught q
lean and wiry broncho, strapped q
blanket on him, and fastened on the
pack. -
Then he turned to these friends, the
same emotionless, inscrutable dark and
silent Indian that he had always been.
He shook hands with the men, swept
a dark fieeting glance over Nell, and
rested his strange eyes upon Mercedes
beautiful and agitated face. 1t must
have been moment of intense feeling
for the Spanish girl She owed II to
him that she had life and love and
happiness. She held out those speak
Ing slender hands. But Yaqui did not
touch them. Turning away, he mount
ed the broncho and rode down the
trail toward the river.
He's going home" said Belding.
"HomeW whispered Ladd; and Dick
knew the ranger had felt the resurging
tide Of memory. Home-across the
cactus and lava, through solemn lonely
days, the silent, lonely nights, into the
vast and red-hazed world of desola-
ton.
"Thorne, Mercedes, Nell, let's climb
the foothill yonder and watch him out
Of sight" said Dick.
They climbed while the others re-
turned to the house. When they
reached the summit Of the hill Yaqui
was riding up the far bank Of the river.
"He will turn to look-to wave good
by?" asked Nell.
Dear, he Is an Indian" replied Gale.
From the height they watched him
ride through the mesquites, up over the
river bank to enter the cactus His
mount showed dark against the green
and white, and for long time he was
plainly In sight. The sun hung red
In a golden sky. The last the watch
ers saw of Yaqui was when he rode
across ridge and stood silhouetted
against the gold of desert sky--a wild,
lonely. beautiful picture. Then he was
gone.
Strangely II came to Gale then that
he was glad. Yaqui had returned ia
his own-the great spaces, the desola.
tion, the solitude-to the trails he had
trodden when child. trails haunted
now by ghosts Of his people, and ever
by his gods. Gale realized that in the
Yaqui he had. known the spirit of the
desert, that this spirit had claimed MI
which was wild and primitive In him.
Tears glistened In Mercedes mag
niflcent black eyes, and Thorne kissed