登陆注册
15457100000104

第104章 CHAPTER XXII. RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE(1)

Black Star and Night, answering to spur, swept swiftly westward along the white, slow-rising, sage-bordered trail. Venters heard a mournful howl from Ring, but Whitie was silent. The blacks settled into their fleet, long-striding gallop. The wind sweetly fanned Venters's hot face. From the summit of the first low-swelling ridge he looked back. Lassiter waved his hand; Jane waved her scarf. Venters replied by standing in his stirrups and holding high his sombrero. Then the dip of the ridge hid them.

From the height of the next he turned once more. Lassiter, Jane, and the burros had disappeared. They had gone down into the Pass.

Venters felt a sensation of irreparable loss.

"Bern--look!" called Bess, pointing up the long slope.

A small, dark, moving dot split the line where purple sage met blue sky. That dot was a band of riders.

"Pull the black, Bess."

They slowed from gallop to canter, then to trot. The fresh and eager horses did not like the check.

"Bern, Black Star has great eyesight."

"I wonder if they're Tull's riders. They might be rustlers. But it's all the same to us."

The black dot grew to a dark patch moving under low dust clouds.

It grew all the time, though very slowly. There were long periods when it was in plain sight, and intervals when it dropped behind the sage. The blacks trotted for half an hour, for another half-hour, and still the moving patch appeared to stay on the horizon line. Gradually, however, as time passed, it began to enlarge, to creep down the slope, to encroach upon the intervening distance.

"Bess, what do you make them out?" asked Venters. "I don't think they're rustlers."

"They're sage-riders," replied Bess. "I see a white horse and several grays. Rustlers seldom ride any horses but bays and blacks."

"That white horse is Tull's. Pull the black, Bess. I'll get down and cinch up. We're in for some riding. Are you afraid?"

"Not now," answered the girl, smiling.

"You needn't be. Bess, you don't weigh enough to make Black Star know you're on him. I won't be able to stay with you. You'll leave Tull and his riders as if they were standing still."

"How about you?"

"Never fear. If I can't stay with you I can still laugh at Tull."

"Look, Bern! They've stopped on that ridge. They see us."

"Yes. But we're too far yet for them to make out who we are.

They'll recognize the blacks first. We've passed most of the ridges and the thickest sage. Now, when I give the word, let Black Star go and ride!"

Venters calculated that a mile or more still intervened between them and the riders. They were approaching at a swift canter.

Soon Venters recognized Tull's white horse, and concluded that the riders had likewise recognized Black Star and Night. But it would be impossible for Tull yet to see that the blacks were not ridden by Lassiter and Jane. Venters noted that Tull and the line of horsemen, perhaps ten or twelve in number, stopped several times and evidently looked hard down the slope. It must have been a puzzling circumstance for Tull. Venters laughed grimly at the thought of what Tull's rage would be when he finally discovered the trick. Venters meant to sheer out into the sage before Tull could possibly be sure who rode the blacks.

The gap closed to a distance to half a mile. Tull halted. His riders came up and formed a dark group around him. Venters thought he saw him wave his arms and was certain of it when the riders dashed into the sage, to right and left of the trail. Tull had anticipated just the move held in mind by Venters.

"Now Bess!" shouted Venters. "Strike north. Go round those riders and turn west."

Black Star sailed over the low sage, and in a few leaps got into his stride and was running. Venters spurred Night after him. It was hard going in the sage. The horses could run as well there, but keen eyesight and judgment must constantly be used by the riders in choosing ground. And continuous swerving from aisle to aisle between the brush, and leaping little washes and mounds of the pack-rats, and breaking through sage, made rough riding. When Venters had turned into a long aisle he had time to look up at Tull's riders. They were now strung out into an extended line riding northeast. And, as Venters and Bess were holding due north, this meant, if the horses of Tull and his riders had the speed and the staying power, they would head the blacks and turn them back down the slope. Tull's men were not saving their mounts; they were driving them desperately. Venters feared only an accident to Black Star or Night, and skilful riding would mitigate possibility of that. One glance ahead served to show him that Bess could pick a course through the sage as well as he. She looked neither back nor at the running riders, and bent forward over Black Star's neck and studied the ground ahead.

It struck Venters, presently, after he had glanced up from time to time, that Bess was drawing away from him as he had expected.

He had, however, only thought of the light weight Black Star was carrying and of his superior speed; he saw now that the black was being ridden as never before, except when Jerry Card lost the race to Wrangle. How easily, gracefully, naturally, Bess sat her saddle! She could ride! Suddenly Venters remembered she had said she could ride. But he had not dreamed she was capable of such superb horsemanship. Then all at once, flashing over him, thrilling him, came the recollection that Bess was Oldring's Masked Rider.

同类推荐
  • CRITO

    CRITO

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 物异

    物异

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 清一统志台湾府

    清一统志台湾府

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 禅林宝训音义

    禅林宝训音义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 因明正理门论

    因明正理门论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 重生之恋爱季:盛世恩宠

    重生之恋爱季:盛世恩宠

    她,一个介于三线和二线之间的小明星。他,即将闪耀国际的巨星。两个看似没有任何可以交际的人物,却因为一档节目,相识,相知,相爱。他说:“许你后生,盛世恩宠!”
  • 宇宙纵横领悟神通:玄武法则

    宇宙纵横领悟神通:玄武法则

    浩瀚宇宙,法则三千;当上天赋予一个人法则之后,这个人便能够参悟法则领悟神通,且看主角如何靠着自己的神通纵横!
  • 伤离歌

    伤离歌

    地狱约,血煞定,心心诱,步步心惊。三生石上,是否刻有我们的名字?阴谋圈里,哪一句才是你能够给我的爱恋?本是斗气冤家,再相遇,物是人非,乱世中当可生死与共,歌舞中谁能携手同行。
  • 江山为牢美人殇

    江山为牢美人殇

    白雪茫茫,一身白衣的你,抱起了她,美的让这美雪略失三分色,可是她未曾睁眼,也未曾知晓。梁栋画壁,金帛绸缎,即使是负伤的他也不失帝王之气,道:“白姑娘,你要记得是朕救了你。一座江山,画地为牢,美人只能为此而殇。
  • 菌阁琐谈

    菌阁琐谈

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 起源世界之无限系统

    起源世界之无限系统

    16岁的普通高一学生辕焱在一次意外车祸中穿越,来到了充满着迷幻色彩的大陆:起源大陆!一般来说,穿越者都是有金手指的,而辕焱的金手指就是无限系统!且看辕焱如何使用系统逆天修行!修练?我只要打怪拿经验就行了!绝世神功?我的系统商店里神级功法有的是,只是没无限币买......英雄联盟,火影忍者,刀剑神域,龙珠......在无限系统面前,只有你想不到的,没有你找不到的!
  • 落魂谷

    落魂谷

    《落魂谷》是鲍宜龙的故事集,由蓝天出版社出版。鲍宜龙,男,江苏省沭阳县人。江苏省民间文艺家写协会会员、宿迁市民间文艺家协会理事、故事派对网校十二期、《故事会》培训班十五期学员,西南白马寺团队成员。
  • 天道剑主

    天道剑主

    仙界被毁,叶辰携带青梅竹马的九天玄女到达地球,肩负起重建仙界的使命。任何东西看一遍就手到擒来。什么,我有不会的东西!不可能,吾为诸仙至尊没有什么我是不会的,于是乎各路美女纷至沓来。最终且看叶辰如何手持一把仙剑斩破虚空重建仙界!
  • 弱水南海

    弱水南海

    毒舌女狗仔因为顶撞公司高层,被流放到韩国杂志社,却意外邂逅了了大明星组合,火药味十足,当你来观战!
  • 不死之虫族

    不死之虫族

    高等虫族文明在与敌对文明决战前夕,为了防止文明灭绝,向宇宙各地散发文明的火种--虫族基地,而杨峰好运的得到了它。