Connie Carl at Rainbow Ranch Page 12

  CHAPTER XII

  An Argument

  In the excitement of preparing for the expected guests Connie forgotentirely Forest Blakeman's warning concerning Jim Barrows. She had meantto question him about his activities on the day of the rodeo but somehowthe opportunity never presented itself. She did not believe that hecould have had anything to do with the holdup at Eagle Pass.

  Early Monday morning a high powered limousine drove into the courtyard,bringing Mr. Postil, his small granddaughter, and the Grimes family. Thelatter consisted of F. P. Grimes, a distinguished railroad official, hisson Cecil, and daughter, Helena.

  Connie and the cowboys were on hand to greet the guests and to make themwelcome. Helena, who appeared to be about eighteen, was a pretty, darkhaired girl, dressed in a modish white suit. She gazed about withundisguised distaste as she alighted from the car.

  "I don't think I shall like this place at all," Connie heard her say toher father. "Why, it's nothing but a run-down cattle farm."

  Cecil, several years older than his sister, looked equally pained as hegazed about the courtyard.

  "My man," he said, addressing Lefty in a condescending tone, "will yoube good enough to show me to my room?"

  "Just follow me," Lefty replied gruffly. "Our butler ain't workin'today."

  Mr. Postil and Mr. Grimes, apparently old friends, lingered in thecourtyard for a few minutes while Connie took Helena to her bedchamber.

  "Only one room?" the girl asked in surprise. "And no private bath?"

  "I'm afraid not," Connie said politely. "This isn't a very luxuriousplace, of course. It's merely a ranch."

  "I can see that," Helena murmured dryly.

  A flush of anger spread over Connie's face. Offering no reply shequickly left the girl alone.

  "Wrangling dudes isn't going to be quite as great a pleasure as Iexpected," she thought grimly. "I've never seen such a spoiled girl inall my life. And Cecil is just like her, too!"

  Connie found it a relief to talk with Mr. Grimes and Mr. Postil. Theyboth seemed well pleased with Rainbow Ranch and assured her that theywould not mind a few inconveniences.

  "It will do my son and daughter good to rough it for a few weeks," therailroad man declared. "Life has always been too easy for them."

  Connie quite agreed with Mr. Grimes before the day was ended. Helenaspent nearly all of her time sulking while Cecil annoyed the cowboys byasking ridiculous questions and trying to let them know that heconsidered them as menials whose sole function was to serve him.

  "If this is a sample of the dudes I'm to herd, I'm quittin' right now,"Lefty complained to Connie.

  "Oh, you wouldn't let me down at a time like this," she said quickly."Mr. Postil is fine and for that matter, so is Mr. Grimes."

  "Old Grimes ain't so bad," the cowboy admitted. "He broke down and toldme he's plannin' to make a regular he-man out of that son of his. Ifthat ain't a laugh!"

  "You be nice to Cecil, Lefty. Remember, he's a paying guest."

  "Oh, I'll treat him gentle unless he 'my mans' me again. Then I'm liableto give him a good poke in the nose!"

  With the ranch undermanned, and the new arrivals demanding constantservice, Connie found herself hard pressed to keep the household runningsmoothly. It seemed to her that Forest Blakeman had lain down on his jobcompletely. He made it increasingly clear that he was not in sympathywith her plan of trying to run a dude ranch.

  However, for some reason which was not clear to Connie, Blakeman singledHelena out, and wasted hours chatting with her. The girl kept the othercowboys from their work too, assuming that it was their duty to keep herentertained.

  "There's just nothing to do around here," she complained to Connie.

  "Perhaps you'd like to ride," Connie suggested. "I'll have Alkali saddleup a pony for you."

  "Let's do go for a canter," proposed Cecil who had come up behind thegirls. "I was looking over the horses just now. There's one that's notbad--the others are nags."

  Connie smiled as she followed the brother and sister to the barn. Shefelt quite certain that neither of them had ever done much riding. Ittherefore took her by surprise when she learned that the horse whichCecil had chosen for his own was none other than Silvertail.

  "I reckon you'll like Star a lot better, sir," Alkali told the boypersuasively. "Silvertail belongs to Miss Connie, and no one rides himbut her."

  Cecil gazed disdainfully at Star, a beautiful roan.

  "If I can't have a horse of my own choosing then I'll not ride," he saidpeevishly.

  "Saddle Silvertail for him, Alkali," Connie instructed quietly.

  The cowboy did as he was told, noting as the young man mounted that hewas stiff and awkward.

  "You better handle Silvertail easy," he warned. "That hoss ishigh-spirited."

  "Alkali, you ride along with them," Connie directed.

  "We don't need a guide," Helena said quickly. "Not unless that otheryoung man is free."

  "The foreman?" Connie inquired. "I'm afraid he isn't. If you wish I'llgo with you----"

  "We'll ride alone," interrupted Helena rudely. "Come along, Cecil."

  Connie and Alkali watched the two ride away. Helena evidently had takenlessons in the East for she sat her horse well, but her brother bouncedhigh in the saddle.

  "That conceited coot will ruin Silvertail's gait," Alkali muttered.

  "I only hope Cecil isn't thrown," Connie replied anxiously.

  "It would serve him right to get pitched into a cactus plant--but he'stoo lucky for that."

  Connie turned her eyes away from the riders, for just then a car droveinto the courtyard. It was Lefty returning from Red Gulch where he hadgone for supplies, but the girl was surprised to see two middle-agedwomen with him.

  The cowboy climbed out over the car door and came hurrying towardConnie.

  "Say, I dragged home two more dudes," he reported in a whisper. "Found'em at the postoffice. They was inquirin' for a place to stay, so I gave'em a long line about Rainbow. They're schoolmarms."

  "Lefty, you're a genius!" Connie laughed.

  She hastened to the car to greet the newcomers. They were pleasantwomen, spinsters who hailed from Elkhart, Indiana. This was their firsttrip West and they assured Connie they were enjoying every minute of it.

  "This is such a lovely ranch," Miss Gladwin declared enthusiastically.

  "Yes, isn't it," echoed Miss Parker. "And so Mexican! I love theatmosphere."

  Connie's spirits soared. She had become so accustomed to complaintsduring the past day, that she had begun to think nothing about RainbowRanch was right. It was a pleasure to meet two dudes who were notdifficult to please.

  The teachers were delighted with their bedrooms. They confessed toConnie that they had never ridden horseback, but were dying to try it.

  "We'll take a trip to Lover's Leap tomorrow," Connie promised. "Andperhaps to the cliff dwellings."

  Hearing the sound of clattering hoofs in the courtyard, the girl excusedherself and hurried outside. Silvertail, minus a rider, was wanderingaimlessly about near the corrals. Before Connie could reach the horse,Alkali came running from the barn and caught his bridle.

  "Cecil must have been thrown!" Connie gasped. "Oh, I hope he's not badlyhurt."

  Alkali said nothing but a look of smug satisfaction came over his face.

  Connie mounted Silvertail and rode out to learn what had happened. Shehad not gone far when she saw Helena approaching on horseback with Ceciltrudging along beside her.

  "I'm so glad you're not injured," Connie said in relief as she drewrein.

  "It's not your fault that I'm not!" the youth snapped. "Why didn't youwarn me the horse was vicious?"

  "Silvertail isn't vicious," Connie replied. "But we did try to tell youthat he has to be properly handled."

  "It was your own fault, Cecil," said Helena with a shrug. "Why don't youlearn to ride?"

  Connie dismounted, offering to let the youth take her place wh
ile shewalked.

  "I'd not ride that horse again for a hundred dollars!" Cecil snapped."And it's fortunate for you that I wasn't injured."

  As Connie expected, the young man made a distorted report of theincident to his father that evening. Mr. Grimes did not take the affairvery seriously.

  However, the conversation was overheard by the two teachers. Inclined tobe nervous, they immediately jumped to the conclusion that all of thehorses at Rainbow Ranch were unsafe. It required the combined efforts ofConnie, Alkali, Lefty and Jim Barrows to convince them otherwise.

  Even then they were decidedly uneasy over the proposed trip to Lover'sLeap and the cliff dwellings.

  "Are you quite certain this beast isn't an outlaw?" Miss Parker askedLefty timidly as he led up her pony the next morning.

  "Ma'am, this hoss was raised on milk," the cowboy assured her. "She's solazy she won't even swish flies."

  Connie was hopeful that Cecil would not be a member of the party, but atthe last minute both he and his sister decided to make the trip. Mr.Grimes and Mr. Postil, had planned a fishing trip to a nearby lake withAlkali serving as guide.

  "We'll go first to Lover's Leap and then to the cliff dwellings," Connieannounced.

  "What a silly name--Lover's Leap," Cecil scoffed.

  Lefty rode at the head of the party while Connie brought up the rear.Progress along the trail necessarily was slow for the two teachers couldride comfortably only at a walk. However, they enjoyed the scenery andConnie liked to answer their questions.

  Cecil was annoyed by the slow pace and made frequent complaints aboutthe heat. Nothing interested him save his own discomfort.

  The party stopped for lunch at Echo Canyon where Lefty opened thepackages of food packed by Marie and boiled coffee over an open fire.

  "I hope there's really something worth seeing at the end of this trail,"Cecil grumbled as they started on once more.

  A little later they approached the summit of the steep incline. ThereLefty halted the party.

  "We dismount here and walk the rest of the way, folks."

  "What?" demanded Cecil. "Up that mountain? Why can't we ride?"

  "There's not room at the top to tie so many horses," Connie explained.

  Everyone dismounted and Lefty fastened the ponies to a tree. Then theystarted the tedious climb afoot. The two teachers, both plump and shortof breath, were very cheerful about it. When they reached the summit andpeered over the cliff at the pool below, they declared they had not seensuch a beautiful spot anywhere on their vacation trip.

  "It's well worth the climb," Miss Parker asserted.

  "So far as I can see, it's just a lake," said Cecil irritably. "And apretty dinky one at that."

  Connie told the story of the Indian princess who had leaped to herdeath. The teachers were awed by the tale, asking if it were reallytrue.

  "Of course it isn't," answered Cecil before Connie could speak. "Youhear that same story everywhere. About how far down is the lake?"

  "A little over sixty feet," Lefty replied briefly.

  "Looks about half that distance to me," Cecil said speculatively. "Iguess out West here they have to exaggerate everything or it wouldn'tmake a good story."

  "It really is that far down," Connie told him.

  She was growing irritated with Cecil, and Lefty too was havingdifficulty in holding his temper. The spoiled young man had no right toruin the trip for the other members of the party, yet that was exactlywhat he was doing.

  "Once years ago I dived off here and I thought I'd never reach thewater," Connie went on. "I did it on a dare."

  "You jumped from this cliff?" Cecil asked incredulously.

  "Yes," Connie admitted, "but it was a silly thing to do. I'll never tryit again."

  Cecil remained silent but the expression on his face disclosed that hedoubted the girl's story. Somewhat nettled, Connie said quietly toHelena and the teachers:

  "If you care to step over this way I'll show you another pretty view ofthe valley. On a clear day you can see the cliff dwellings from here."

  The three women followed her a short distance away. Lefty and Cecil wereleft alone at the edge of the cliff. Connie paid no heed to them until afew minutes later when she was startled by the sound of their voices.The men were arguing in loud, angry tones.

  "That's the last crack I'll take from you," she heard Lefty say in adeadly drawl. "Now it's your turn to take one from me!"

  His fist shot out, connecting squarely under Cecil's jaw. It was not ahard blow, but the young man staggered backwards. He stumbled over astone and the soft rock gave way beneath his feet. Lefty darted forwardto save him, but he was too late.

  With a terrified shriek Cecil tumbled headlong over the precipice.