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Page 88
Sage-brush meant what he said. He was gathering reenforcements
from his own men. He knew that the boys of the Allen ranch would
side with him, and he felt that there were enough lovers of law
and order in the county to declare themselves against the
high-handed methods of Buck McKee and his followers.
"Come on, you fellows!" shouted Show Low, as he rode past the
wagon up the range.
"What is it now?" asked Sage-brush.
Over his shoulder Show Low shouted: "We all had a run in with
that Buck McKee's bunch. Fresno's laid out with a hole in his
shoulder. Billie Nicker's cashed in. I've got some of the
Triangle boys, and we're goin' to make a clean-up."
"You ain't goin' to do nothin' unless I say so. We don't want no
range-war--we'll git the man that did the killin'. Come on,"
commanded Sage-brush.
Polly galloped after the men, saying: "Gee, I'll miss something
if I don't hurry up."
CHAPTER XV
Peruna Pulls His Freight
When Jack closed the door behind him to follow and find Dick Lane
and bring him back to the woman who, the restorer believed, loved
him, Echo Payson realized the supremacy over her soul--her pure
ideals, her lofty sense of justice--of its tenement, the woman's
body--that fair but fragile fabric which trembled responsive to
the wild wind of emotional desire, and the seismic shock of the
passion of sex. Ever since Jack had revealed to her his jealousy
of Dick Lane, she knew that he was living on a lower moral and
spiritual plane than herself, and that no longer could she look
up to him as the strong protector, the nobler being than herself
that had been her girlish ideal of a husband. Instead of this,
another love sprang instantly into her heart, that of the
stronger soul for the weaker, like to the feeling of the mother
toward the child. The moral side of her desire toward Jack now
became fixed in the purpose to lift him up to her own level.
Now that he had gone from her on a mission that was fulfilling
this very purpose of regeneration, although she had not sent him
upon it for his own sake, but her own--Echo knew that, after all,
she was a woman. She loved Jack Payson with the unreasoning and
unrestrained passion that sways even the highest of her sex. By
the balance of natural law she was lowering herself to meet him
as he was coming up in the moral scale, and thus preparing for
herself and her husband a happy union of a mutual understanding
of weaknesses held in common. Were Echo to remain always on the
heights and Jack in the valley, sooner or later a cloud would
have separated them, a ghostly miasma rising from the grave of
Dick Lane, whom Echo would have idealized as the nobler man.
She very sensibly took refuge from these perplexing problems by
jumping into the active life of the ranch.
Faithfully she tried to perform all that she thought Jack would
have done. Her father and mother wanted her to come back to her
old home until he returned. There she would have more company
and fewer memories of Jack surrounding her. Each offer, each
suggestion was kindly but firmly put aside. When Jack returned
she must be the first to welcome him, the first to greet him at
his threshold, whether it was broad daylight or in the silent
watches of the night. From her lips he must learn he had been
forgiven; she alone must tell him how much she loved him, and
that together they must go through life until the last round-up.
Echo and her father, who was looking after his own cattle on the
round-up, rode up to the chuck-wagon, after Parenthesis and
Sage-brush crossed the valley to mete out justice to Peruna and
fight out any attempts at a rescue.
Dismounting, Echo walked wearily to the fire and sat down on a
box. Bravely though she tried to conceal it, the strain was
beginning to tell upon her. The tears would come at times,
despite her efforts to fight them off. The burden was so heavy
for her young shoulders to bear.
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