A grove of trees loomed dark in the
gray morning. Ladd entered it and was lost in the shade. Dick
rode on among trees. Presently he heard voices, and soon another
house, low and flat like the others, but so long he could not see
the farther end, stood up blacker than the trees. As he dismounted,
cramped and sore, he could scarcely stand. Lash came alongside.
He spoke, and some one with a big, hearty voice replied to him.
Then it seemed to Dick that he was led into blackness like pitch,
where, presently, he felt blankets thrown on him and then his
drowsy faculties faded.
IV
FORLORN RIVER
WHEN Dick opened his eyes a flood of golden sunshine streamed in
at the open window under which he lay. His first thought was one
of blank wonder as to where in the world he happened to be. The
room was large, square, adobe-walled. It was littered with saddles,
harness, blankets. Upon the floor was a bed spread out upon a
tarpaulin. Probably this was where some one had slept. The sight
of huge dusty spurs, a gun belt with sheath and gun, and a pair
of leather chaps bristling with broken cactus thorns recalled to
Dick the cowboys, the ride, Mercedes, and the whole strange adventure
that had brought him there.
He did not recollect having removed his boots; indeed, upon second
thought, he knew he had not done so. But there they stood upon
the floor. Ladd and Lash must have taken them off when he was so
exhausted and sleepy that he could not tell what was happening.
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