Max Brand by The Garden of Eden Read Free Book Online Page A

jaw
of the gambler was set in a hard line, and she felt, subconsciously, a
widening distance between them.
    "Does the deaf-mute own the horses?" he was asking.
    "I suppose so."
    "This sounds like a regular catechism, doesn't it?"
    "I don't mind. Come to think of it, everything about the grays is queer.
Well, I've never seen this man, but do you know what I think? That he
lives off there in the mountains by himself because he's a sort of
religious fanatic."
    "Religion? Crazy, maybe."
    "Maybe."
    "What's his religion?"
    "I don't know," said the girl coldly. "After you jerk lightning for a
while, you aren't interested much in religion."
    He nodded, not quite sure of her position, but now her face darkened and
she went on, gathering interest in the subject.
    "Oh, I've heard 'em rave about the God that made the earth and the stars
and all that stuff; the mountains, too. I've heard 'em die asking for
mercy and praising God. That's the way Dad went. It was drink that got
him. But I'm for facts only. Far as I can see, when people come up
against a thing they can't understand they just close their eyes and
say, God! And when they're due to die, sometimes they're afraid and they
say, God—because they think they're going out like a snuffed lantern
and never will be lighted again."
    The gambler sat with his chin buried in his palm, and from beneath a
heavy frown he studied the girl.
    "I don't hold malice more than the next one," said the girl, "but I saw
Dad; and I've been sick of religion ever since. Besides, how do you
explain the rotten things that happen in the world? Look at yesterday!
The King of the Sea goes down with all on board. Were they all crooks?
Were they all ready to die? They can tell me about God, but I say, 'Give
me the proofs!'"
    She looked at Connor defiantly. "There's just one thing I believe in,"
she said, "that's luck!"
    He did not stir, but still studied her, and she flushed under the
scrutiny.
    "Not that I've had enough luck to make me fond of it. I've been stuck up
here on the edge of the world all my life. And how I've wanted to get
away! How I've wanted it! I've begged for a chance—to cut out the work.
If it doesn't make callouses on a girl's hands it will make them on her
heart. I've been waiting all my life for a chance, and the chance has
never come." Something flared in her.
    "Sometimes I think," she whispered, "that I can't stand it! That I'd do
anything! Anything—just to get away."
    She stopped, and as her passion ebbed she was afraid she had said too
much.
    "Shake," he said, stretching his hand across the table, "I'm with you.
Luck! That's all there is running things!"
    His fingers closed hard over hers and she winced, for he had forgotten
to remove the ivory image from his hand, and the ape-head cut into her
flesh.

Chapter Seven
*
    That evening Ruth sent a boy over to the hotel with a telegram for
Connor. It announced that Trickster, at six to one, came home a winner
in the Murray. But Connor had time for only a grunt and a nod; he was
too busy composing a letter to Harry Slocum, which read as follows:
    DEAR HARRY:
    I'm about to put my head in the lion's mouth; and in case you
     don't hear from me again, say within three months, this is to
     ask you to look for my bones. I'm starting out to nail a
     thousand-to-one shot. Working a hunch for the biggest clean-up
     we ever made. I'm going into the mountains to find a deaf mute
     Negro who raises the finest horses I've ever seen. Do you get
     that? No white man has gone into that valley; at least, no one
     has come out talking. But I'm going to bring something with me.
     If I don't come out it'll be because I've been knocked on the
     head inside the valley. I'm not telling any one around here
     where I'm bound, but I've made inquiries, and this is what I
     gather: No one is interested in the mute's valley simply
     because it's so far away. The mute doesn't bother them and they
     won't bother him. That's the main reason for letting him alone.
     The