A week or so
an' it 'll be too late. Can you stand for me seein' you?...Let
me tell you, Mercedes, when the summer heat hits the lava we'll
all wither an' curl up like shavin's near a fire. A wind of hell
will blow up this slope. Look at them mesquites. See the twist
in them. That's the torture of heat an' thirst. Do you want me
or all us men seein'you like that?...Mercedes, don't make it all
for nothin'. Say you'll persuade Thorne, if not the others."
For all the effect his appeal had to move her Mercedes might have
possessed a heart as hard and fixed as the surrounding lava.
"Never!"
White-faced, with great black eyes flashing, the Spanish girl
spoke the word that bound her and her companions in the desert.
The subject was never mentioned again. Gale thought that he read
a sinister purpose in Ladd's mind. To his astonishment, Lash
came to him with the same fancy. After that they made certain
there never was a gun within reach of Ladd's clutching, clawlike
hands.
Gradually a somber spell lifted from the ranger's mind. When he
was entirely free of it he began to gather strength daily. Then
it was as if he had never known patience--he who had shown so well
how to wait. He was in a frenzy to get well. He appetite could
not be satisfied.
The sun climbed higher, whiter, hotter. At midday a wind from
gulfward roared up the arroyo, and now only palos verdes and the
few saguaros were green. Every day the water in the lava hole
sank an inch.
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