CHAPTER XXIX—TOM’S SPEEDY DEPARTURE.
“I wish you would dress, Megsy,” Virginia said. “I would like you to accompany me.”
Ten minutes later Virginia opened the door very quietly that she might not attract the attention of the old cow-man and together the two girls stepped out into the gathering darkness.
“What a cold black night it is,” Margaret said as she drew more closely about her the woollen scarf that she had thrown over her shoulders. “Hark, what is that moaning sound?”
“It’s the wind rising. I believe we are going to have a sand storm. Let’s creep low that we may keep hidden among the mesquite bushes. The house may be watched.”
This they did until they were sheltered by a rise of grounds, then Virg said: “Take my hand now and we’ll race for the bunk house.”
Margaret felt her hand being firmly grasped and then she was fairly dragged along the trail toward the smaller adobe where the cow-boys had their quarters.
“Oh, Virg,” the eastern girl said with sudden terror, “Don’t go so fast. We might step on a rattlesnake.”
“No danger of that,” the other responded. “This is February and the snakes are still asleep in their winter homes.”
When they reached the bunkhouse Virginia darted to the side farthest from the dry creek and there she paused for breath.
A moment later she called at an open window, “Tom! Tom! Come out please, quickly.”
Puzzled by this summons at so late an hour, the lad hastily dressed and opened the door.
“Miss Virginia! Miss Margaret! What does this mean?” he exclaimed as he joined the girls. “Why are you out at this hour and on a night so cold and blustery? Were you frightened? Has anything happened at the house?”
“No, Tom. That is—yes! Well, I will have to begin at the beginning,” Virginia replied. Then she rapidly told of the coming of old Uncle Tex and of the posse that was camped in the dry creek bottom a mile below the ranch house.
Then placing her hand on the lad’s arm, she pleaded, “Tom, we girls are well protected now that Uncle Tex has come and I beg of you ride to the north where you will be much safer than you are here.”
There was no reply and Virginia wondered if the lad would refuse her request. Just then the moon appeared above Inspiration Peak, and the girls saw that in the lad’s face there was an expression of wistfulness, almost of sorrow. Impulsively he held out his hand. “Miss Virginia,” he said, “thank you for your interest in me. I don’t want to go. I am so happy here. It is the first bit of home life I have had in many a day. You girls have been so kind. If I had an own sister she could not be kinder. But there is no alternative, I suppose. You know this country better than I do, how shall I go?”
“I have thought it all out,” Virginia replied. “I lay awake for hours planning what would be best for you to do, if you had to leave suddenly, and now that Uncle Tex has come, he has given me another idea. First of all I want you to ride to the north, following a trail which I will indicate, until you come to a group of white-washed buildings. That is the Wilson Sheep Ranch. Tell Mr. Wilson that you have been sent from the V. M. Ranch, as an old cattleman called Uncle Tex said that he was in need of help. There you will be absolutely safe, I am sure. Tom, will you go?”
“Yes, Virginia,” was the reluctant reply and the girl noted, with a feeling of real pleasure, that for the first time the lad had said just “Virginia.”
“Prepare what you need,” she added hastily, “and I will make you a map of the trails you are to follow.” Then to the girl who was shivering at her side: “Come Megsy, we will return to the ranch house.”
Fifteen minutes later, Virginia arose from the old desk at which she had been busily engaged. Margaret, who had been watching at the door, beckoned to her friend. “Tom is coming,” she whispered.
Hurrying to the veranda, Virginia handed an envelope to the lad. “Take the trail due west until you reach the sand hills, then turn to the north,” she said. “You ought to reach the Papago village early in the morning and my good friend Winona will gladly give you some breakfast. Good-bye, Tom. We will see you again.”
It was this hope that the lad bore in his heart as he rode away into the darkness and increasing wind storm, and it was this hope which was to help him bear the hardships and loneliness of many a day to follow.