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The Heritage of the Desert-Part17_Zane Gray(1872-1939)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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roping from a fiery mustang. But Silvermane was as intelligent as he was



beautiful and fleet. The horse learned rapidly the agile turns and

sudden stops necessary, and as for free running he never got enough. Out



on the range Silvermane always had his head up and watched; his life had

been spent in watching; he saw cattle, riders, mustangs, deer, coyotes,



every moving thing. So that Hare, in the chasing of a cow, had but to

start Silvermane, and then he could devote himself to the handling of his



rope. It took him ten times longer to lasso the cow than it took

Silvermane to head the animal. Dave laughed at some of Jack's exploits,



encouraged him often, praised his intent if not his deed; and always

after a run nodded at Silvermane in mute admiration.



Branding the cows and yearlings and tame steers which watered at Silver

Cup, and never wandered far away, was play according to Dave's version.



"Wait till we get after the wild steers up on the mountain and in the

canyons," he would say when Jack dropped like a log at supper. Work it



certainly was for him. At night he was so tired that he could scarcely

crawl into bed; his back felt as if it were broken; his legs were raw,



and his bones ached. Many mornings he thought it impossible to arise,

but always he crawled out, grim and haggard, and hobbled round the



camp-fire to warm his sore and bruised muscles. Then when Zeke and

George rode in with the horses the day's work began. During these weeks



of his "hardening up," as Dave called it, Hare bore much pain, but he

continued well and never missed a day. At the most trying time when for



a few days he had to be helped on and off Silvermane--for he insisted

that he would not stay in camp--the brothers made his work as light as



possible. They gave him the branding outfit to carry, a running-iron and

a little pot with charcoal and bellows; and with these he followed the



riders at a convenient distance and leisurely pace.

Some days they branded one hundred cattle. By October they had August



Naab's crudely fashioned cross on thousands of cows and steers. Still

the stock kept coming down from the mountain, driven to the valley by



cold weather and snow-covered grass. It was well into November before

the riders finished at Silver Cup, and then arose a question as to



whether it would be advisable to go to Seeping Springs or to the canyons

farther west along the slope of Coconina. George favored the former, but



Dave overruled him.

"Father's orders," he said." He wants us to ride Seeping Springs last



because he'll be with us then, and Snap too. We're going to have trouble

over there."



"How's this branding stock going to help the matter any, I'd like to

know?" inquired George."We Mormons never needed it."



"Father says we'll all have to come to it. Holderness's stock is

branded. Perhaps he's marked a good many steers of ours. We can't tell.



But if we have our own branded we'll know what's ours. If he drives our

stock we'll know it; if Dene steals, it can be proved that he steals."



"Well, what then? Do you think he'll care for that, or Holderness

either?"



"No, only it makes this difference: both things will then be barefaced

robbery. We've never been able to prove anything, though we boys know;



we don't need any proof. Father gives these men the benefit of a doubt.

We've got to stand by him. I know, George, your hand's begun to itch for



your gun. So does mine. But we ve orders to obey."

Many gullies and canyons headed up on the slope of Coconina west of



Silver Cup, and ran down to open wide on the flat desert. They contained

plots of white sage and bunches of rich grass and cold springs. The



steers that ranged these ravines were wild as wolves, and in the tangled

thickets of juniper and manzanita and jumbles of weathered cliff they



were exceedingly difficult to catch.

Well it was that Hare had received his initiation and had become inured



to rough, incessant work, for now he came to know the real stuff of which

these Mormons were made. No obstacle barred them. They penetrated the



gullies to the last step; they rode weathered slopes that were difficult

for deer to stick upon; they thrashed the bayonet-guarded manzanita



copses; they climbed into labyrinthine fastnesses, penetrating to every

nook where a steer could hide. Miles of sliding slope and



marble-bottomed streambeds were ascended on foot, for cattle could climb

where a horse could not. Climbing was arduous enough, yet the hardest



and most perilous toil began when a wild steer was cornered. They roped

the animals on moving slopes of weathered stone, and branded them on the



edges of precipices.

The days and weeks passed, how many no one counted or cared. The circle



of the sun daily lowered over the south end of Coconina; and the black

snow-clouds crept down the slopes. Frost whitened the ground at dawn,



and held half the day in the shade. Winter was close at the heels of the

long autumn.



As for Hare, true to August Naab's assertion, he had lost flesh and

suffered, and though the process was heartbreaking in its severity, he






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