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Garden of Eden

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<h2>CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE</h2> From the gate of the patio Connor, watching all that time in a nightmare of suspense, saw, first of all, the single figure of David come around the trees, David alone and walking. But before that shock passed he saw Glani at the heels of the master, and then, farther back, Ruth! She had passed the gate and two-thirds of the battle was fought and won. Yet all was not well, as he plainly saw. With long, swift steps David came over the terrace, and finally paused as if his thoughts had stopped him. He turned as Glani passed, and the girl came up to him; his extended arm halted Abra and he stood looking up to the girl and speaking. Only the faint murmur of his voice came unintelligibly to Connor, but he recognized danger in it as clearly as in the hum of bees. Suddenly the girl, answering, put out her hands as if in gesture of surrender. Another pause—it was only a matter of a second or so, but it was a space for life or death with Connor. In that interval he knew that his scheme was made or ruined. What had the girl said? Perhaps that mighty extended arm holding back Abra had frightened her, and with the wind blowing his long black hair aside, David of Eden was a figure wild enough to alarm her. Perhaps in fear of her life she had exposed the whole plan. If so, it meant broken bones for Connor. But now David turned again, and this time he was talking by the side of Abra as they came up the hill. He talked with many gestures, and the girl was laughing down to him. "God bless her!" muttered Connor impulsively. "She's a true-blue one!" He remembered his part in the nick of time as they came closer, and David helped the girl down from the saddle and brought her forward. The gambler drew himself up and made his face grave with disapproval. Now or never he must prove to David that there was no shadow of a connection between him and the girl. Yet he was by no means easy. There was something forced and stereotyped in the smile of the girl that told him she had been through a crucial test and was still near the breaking point. David presented them to one another uneasily. He was even a little embarrassed under the accusing eye of Connor. "I make you known, Ruth," he said, "to my brother Benjamin. He is that man of whom I told you." "I am happy," said the girl, "to be known to him." "That much I cannot say," replied the gambler. He turned upon David with outstretched arm. "Ah, David, I have warned you!" "As Abraham warned me against you, Benjamin. And dying men speak truth." The counter-attack was so shrewd, so unexpected, that the gambler, for the moment, was thrown completely off his guard. He could only murmur: "You are the judge for yourself, David." "I am. Do not think that the power is in me. But God loves the Garden and His voice is never far from me. Neither are the spirits of the four who lived here before me and made this place. When there is danger they warn me. When I am in error the voice of God corrects me. And just as I heard the voice against the woman, Ruth, and heed it not." He seemed to have gathered conviction for himself, much needed conviction, as he spoke. He turned now toward the girl. "Be not wroth with Benjamin; and bear him no malice." "I bear him none in the world," she answered truthfully, and held out her hand. But Connor was still in his rôle. He folded his arms and pointedly disregarded the advance. "Woman, let there be peace and few words between us. My will is the will of David." "There speaks my brother!" cried the master of the valley. "And yet," muttered Connor, "why is she here?" "She came to buy a horse." "But they are not sold." "That is true. Yet she has traveled far and she is in great need of food and drink. Could I turn her away hungry, Benjamin?" "She could have been fed at the gate. She could surely have rested there." It was easy to see that David was hardpressed. His eye roved eagerly to Ruth. Then a triumphant explanation sparkled in his eye. "It is the horse she rides, a gelding from my Garden. His lot in the world has been hard. He is scarred with the spur and the whip. I have determined to take him back, at a price. But who can arrange matters of buying and selling all in a moment? It is a matter for much talk. Therefore she is here." "I am answered," said Connor, and turning to Ruth he winked broadly. "It is well," said David, "and I foresee happy days. In the meantime there is a duty before me. Abraham must be laid in his grave and I leave Ruth to your keeping, Benjamin. Bear with her tenderly for my sake." He stepped to the girl. "You are not afraid?" "I am not afraid," she answered. "My thoughts shall be near you. Farewell." He had hardly reached the gate of the patio when Joseph, going out after finishing his labor at the fountain, passed between the gambler and the girl. Connor stopped him with a sign. "The whip hasn't fallen, you see," he said maliciously. "There is still much time," replied Joseph. "And before the end it will fall. Perhaps on you. Or on that!" He indicated the girl with his pointing finger; his glance turned savagely from one to the other, and then he went slowly out of the patio and they were alone. She came to Connor at once and even touched his arm in her excitement. "What did he mean?" "That's the one I told you about. The one David beat up with the whip. He'd give his eye teeth to get back at me, and he has an idea that there's going to be hell to pay because another person has come into the valley. Bunk! But—what happened down the hill?" "When he stopped me? Did you see that?" "My heart stopped the same minute. What was it?" "He had just heard the last words of Abraham. When he stopped me on the hill his face was terrible. Like a wolf!" "I know that look in him. How did you buck up under it?" "I didn't. I felt my blood turn to water and I wanted to run." "But you stuck it out—I saw! Did he say anything?" "He said: 'Dying men do not lie. And I have been twice warned. Woman, why are you here?'" "And you?" gasped Connor. "What did you say?" "Nothing. My head spun. I looked up the terrace. I wanted to see you, but you weren't in sight. I felt terribly alone and absolutely helpless. If I'd had a gun, I would have reached for it." "Thank God you didn't!" "But you don't know what his face was like! I expected him to tear me off the horse and smash me with his hands. All at once I wanted to tell him everything—beg him not to hurt me." Connor groaned. "I knew it! I knew that was in your head!" "But I didn't." "Good girl." "He said: 'Why are you here? What harm have you come to work in the Garden?'" "And you alone with him!" gasped Connor. "That was what did it. I was so helpless that it made me bold. Can you imagine smiling at a time like that?" "Were you able to?" "I don't know how. It took every ounce of strength in me. But I made myself smile—straight into his face. Then I put out my hands to him all at once. "'How could I harm you?' I asked him. "And then you should have seen his face change and the anger break up like a cloud. I knew I was safe, then, but I was still dizzy—just as if I'd looked over a cliff—you know?" "And yet you rode up the hill after that laughing down to him! Ruth, you're the gamest sport and the best pal in the world. The finest little act I ever saw on the stage or off. It was Big Time stuff. My hat's off, but—where'd you get the nerve?" "I was frightened almost to death. Too much frightened for it to show. When I saw you, my strength came back." "But what do you think of him?" "He's—simply a savage. What do I think of an Indian?" "No more than that?" "Ben, can you pet a tiger after you've seen his claws?" He looked at her with anxiety. "You're not going to break down later on—feeling as if he's dynamite about to explode all the time?" "I'm going to play the game through," she said with a sort of fierce happiness. "I've felt like a sneak thief about this. But now it's different. He's more of a wolf than a man. Ben, I saw murder in his face, I swear! And if it isn't wrong to tame wild beasts it isn't wrong to tame him. I'm going to play the game, lead him as far as I can until we get the horses—and then it'll be easy enough to make up by being good the rest of my life." "Ruth—girl—you've covered the whole ground. And when you have the coin—" He broke off with laughter that was filled with drunken excitement. "But what did you think of my game?" She did not hear him, and standing with her hands clasped lightly behind her she looked beyond the roof of the house and over the tops of the western mountains, with the sun-haze about them. "I feel as if I were on the top of the world," she said at last. "And I wouldn't have one thing changed. We're playing for big stakes, but we're taking a chance that makes the game worth while. What we win we'll earn—because he's a devil. Isn't it what you'd call a fair bet?" "The squarest in the world," said Connor stoutly. <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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