"
"Can I smoke?" queried Ladd, with sudden animation. "My Gawd, I
used to smoke. Shore I've forgot. Nell, if you want to be reinstated
in my gallery of angels, just find me a pipe an' tobacco."
"I've hung onto my pipe," said Jim, thoughtfully. "I reckon I had
it empty in my mouth for seven years or so, wasn't it, Laddy? A
long time! I can see the red lava an' the red haze, an' the red
twilight creepin' up. It was hot an' some lonely. Then the wind,
and always that awful silence! An' always Yaqui watchin' the west,
an' Laddy with his checkers, an' Mercedes burnin' up, wastin'
away to nothin' but eyes! It's all there--I'll never get rid--"
"Chop that kind of talk," interrupted Belding, bluntly. "Tell us
where Yaqui took you--what happened to Rojas--why you seemed lost
for so long."
"I reckon Laddy can tell all that best; but when it comes to Rojas's
finish I'll tell what I seen, an' so'll Dick an' Thorne. Laddy
missed Rojas's finish. Bar none, that was the--"
"I'm a sick man, but I can talk," put in Ladd, "an' shore I don't
want the whole story exaggerated none by Jim."
Ladd filled the pipe Nell brought, puffed ecstatically at it, and
settled himself upon the bench for a long talk. Nell glanced
appealingly at Dick, who tried to slip away. Mercedes did go, and
was followed by Thorne. Mr. Gale brought chairs, and in subdued
excitement called his wife and daughter. Belding leaned forward,
rendered all the more eager by Dick's reluctance to stay, the
memory of the quick tragic change in the expression of Mercedes's
beautiful eyes, by the strange gloomy cast stealing over Ladd's
face.
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