Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading TeamHEART OF THE SUNSETBy Rex BeachAuthor of THE SILVER HORDE THE SPOILERS THE IRON TRAIL EtcCONTENTS     I   THE WATERHOLE    II   THE AMBUSH   III   WHAT HAPPENED AT THE WATERHOLE    IV   AN EVENING AT LAS PALMAS     V   SOMETHING ABOUT HEREDITY    VI   A JOURNEY AND A DARK MAN   VII   LUIS LONGORIO  VIII   BLAZE JONESS NEMESIS    IX   A SCOUTING TRIP     X   A RANGERS HORSE    XI   JUDGE ELLSWORTH EXACTS A PROMISE   XII   LONGORIO MAKES BOLD  XIII   DAVE LAW BECOMES JEALOUS   XIV   JOSE SANCHEZ SWEARS AN OATH    XV   THE TRUTH ABOUT PANFILO   XVI   THE RODEO  XVII   THE GUZMAN INCIDENT XVIII   ED AUSTIN TURNS AT BAY   XIX   RANGERS    XX   SUPERSTITIONS AND CERTAINTIES   XXI   AN AWAKENING  XXII   WHAT ELLSWORTH HAD TO SAY XXIII   THE CRASH  XXIV   DAVE LAW COMES HOME   XXV   A WARNING AND A SURPRISE  XXVI   THE WATERCURE XXVII   LA FERIAXXVIII   THE DOORS OF PARADISE  XXIX   THE PRIEST FROM MONCLOVA   XXX   THE MAN OF DESTINY  XXXI   A SPANISH WILL XXXII   THE DAWNHEART OF THE SUNSETITHE WATERHOLEA fitful breeze played among the mesquite bushes The naked earthwhere it showed between the clumps of grass was baked plaster hard Itburned like hot slag and except for a panting lizard here and thereor a dustgray jackrabbit startled from its covert nothing animatestirred upon its face High and motionless in the blinding sky abuzzard poised longtailed Mexican crows among the thorny branchescreaked and whistled choked and rattled snored and grunted a dovemourned inconsolably and out of the air issued metallic insectcriesthe direction whence they came as unascertainable as theirsource was hiddenAlthough the sun was halfway down the west its glare remaineduntempered and the tantalizing shade of the sparse mesquite was moreof a trial than a comfort to the lone woman who refusing its deceitfulinvitation plodded steadily over the waste Stop indeed she darednot In spite of her fatigue regardless of the torture from feet andlimbs unused to walking she must as she constantly assured herselfkeep going until strength failed So far fortunately she had kept herhead and she retained sufficient reason to deny the fancifulapprehensions which clamored for audience If she once allowed herselfto become panicky she knew she would fare worsefar worseand nowif ever she needed all her faculties Somewhere to the northwardperhaps a mile perhaps a league distant lay the waterholeBut the country was of a deadly and a deceitful sameness devoid oflandmarks and lacking welldefined watercourses The unending mesquitewith its first spring foliage resembled a limitless peachorchard sownby some careless and unbelievably prodigal hand Out of these falseacres occasional knolls and low stony hills lifted themselves so thatone came now and then to vantagepoints where the eye leaped forgreat distances across imperceptible valleys to horizons so far awaythat the scattered treeclumps were blended into an unbroken carpet ofgreen To the woman these outlooks were unutterably depressing merelyserving to reveal the vastness of the desolation about herAt the crest of such a rise she paused and studied the countrycarefully but without avail She felt dizzily for the desert bag swungfrom her shoulder only to find it flat and dry the galvanizedmouthpiece burned her fingers With a little shock she remembered thatshe had done this very thing several times before and her repeatedforgetting frightened her since it seemed to show that her mind hadbeen slightly unbalanced by the heat That perhaps explained why thedistant horizon swam and wavered soIn all probability a man situated as she was would have spoken aloudin an endeavor to steady himself but this woman did nothing of thesort Seating herself in the densest shade she could findit wasreally no shade at allshe closed her eyes and relaxedno easy thingto do in such a stifling temperature and when her throat was achingwith droughtAt length she opened her eyes again only to find that she could makeout nothing familiar Undoubtedly she was lost the waterhole might beanywhere She listened tensely and the very air seemed to listen withher the leaves hushed their faint whisperings a nearby cactus heldits forty fleshy ears alert while others more distant poised in thesame harkening attitude It seemed to the woman that a thousand earswere straining with hers yet no sound came save only the monotonouscrescendo and diminuendo of those locustcries coming out of nowhereand retreating into the voids At last as if satisfied the leavesbegan to whisper softly againAway to her left lay the yellow flood of the Rio Grande but the womanthough tempted to swing in that direction knew better than to yieldAt least twenty miles of barrens lay between and she told herself thatshe could never cover such a distance No the waterhole was nearerit must be close at hand If she could only think a little moreclearly she could locate it Once more she tried as she had triedmany times before to recall the exact point where she had shot herhorse and to map in her minds eye the footweary course she hadtraveled from that point onwardDesert travel was nothing new to her thirst and fatigue were oldacquaintances yet she could not help wondering if in spite of hertraining in spite of that inborn sense of direction which she hadprided herself upon sharing with the wild creatures she were fated tobecome a victim of the chaparral The possibility was remote death atthis moment seemed as far