The Angel of the Gila Part 56

Esther grew very uneasy, and started out to search for him herself.

She returned disappointed. An hour later, Jack Harding returned with the child. He had found him keeping watch by Brigham's grave. So deep is the Apache's affection, so real his grief.

Esther gathered Wathemah in her arms, and talked to him long of Brigham. Henceforth, to that little child, as to many of his race, the heavens would be full of the Great Spirit.

"Can Brigham see me from the sky?" asked Wathemah.

"I think so, dear. You'll want to be a good boy, won't you?"

For answer, he burst into tears, and she mingled her own with his.

From that time on, Wathemah loved the stars at night, and would stand watching them with deepening wonder and awe. Then began his questioning of things eternal, that upreach of the soul, that links it to the Divine.

The day after Esther's return to Clayton Ranch, Dr. Mish.e.l.l asked her to go with him to the shack of Mark Clifton.

"He cannot recover," he said. "He realizes that. He has repeatedly asked to see you."

As they approached the shack, they heard a voice. Jack Harding was reading aloud from the Bible.

On the walls of the shack, were guns, hides, and coa.r.s.e pictures; in one corner, were a case of whiskey bottles, and a pack of cards. The sick man seemed to be a man of about thirty. He greeted his visitors courteously, and at once turned to Esther.

"I have asked to see you," he said. "I think I cannot recover. I am not prepared to die. I have attended your meetings since you have held them in the timber. I believe there is something in your religion; I believe in G.o.d."

His voice was faint.

"Is there any hope for me?" he asked, searching her face with his keen black eyes.

She shrank from his bold gaze, then answered gently:

"There is hope for every one who repents of his sins and turns to Christ."

"But," he said, impatiently, "I haven't done so very much to repent of. I haven't committed any crime, don't you know? The world doesn't hold such high ideals of what a fellow ought to be as you do. I am no better nor worse than the rest of men. I came to that conclusion long ago."

"Indeed!" She spoke coldly. "Is that all? Then you do not need me."

She rose to go.

"No, it is not all!" interrupted Jack Harding. "Miss Bright, show him his sin; show him the way of repentance, as you did me."

Suddenly the cowboy knelt by the bunk, and poured forth such a heartfelt prayer for the man before him, all were touched. Clifton lay with eyes closed. Esther spoke again.

"Mr. Clifton, have you done nothing to repent of? Think. You lured to this country the sixteen-year-old orphan daughter of a clergyman. You promised to marry her, if she would join you here. You placed her to board in a saloon. You refused to marry her! Thank G.o.d, the child is safe at last!"

There was no mistaking her tone.

"Marry _her_?" he repeated, contemptuously. "Marry _her_? I'd as soon marry a cat. I think too much of my family. I wouldn't disgrace them by marrying her, the daughter of a poverty-stricken curate."

Then they saw Esther Bright's eyes flash. Her face grew as stern as the granite hills of her native state. She spoke slowly, and each word--as Dr. Mish.e.l.l afterwards said--seemed to weigh a ton apiece.

"Your family?" she said. "Your family?" she repeated with scorn. "Your _family_? This girl is a child of G.o.d!"

And turning, she left the shack.

Jack Harding remained all through the night, talking and praying, at intervals, with Clifton.

At dawn, the sick man cried out again and again:

"G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner!"

Then, at last, he said:

"Jack, I want to atone for my wrong to Miss Earle as much as I can. I see it all now. Send for a clergyman. I can't live, I know. If Miss Earle becomes my wife, it will remove the stigma, and she will inherit a fortune willed to me. Send for her. Perhaps she will forgive me, before I die."

At the sunset hour, word pa.s.sed throughout the village that Mark Clifton had just died, and that before his death he had been married to Carla Earle. The clergyman who attended the dying man wrote to his parents, telling them of their son's marriage and death, and of his farewell messages to them. He added:

"Your son died a repentant man."

CHAPTER XXII

THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE

On her return from Murphy Ranch, Esther began to a.s.sist in the care of Kenneth Hastings. As yet, he had not recognized her. Sometimes, as she sat by him, tears would gather and roll down her cheeks. One day, Kenneth opened his eyes and asked:

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I am Esther," she answered, "taking care of you."

"No, you're not," he said, wildly. "Get out of here!"

She stepped back where he could not see her. He rambled on.

"Some one shot!" He tried to rise. But Sister Mercy, entering, quieted him, and he lay back, muttering. Occasionally, Esther caught the words "Esther," "gulf," "doubt." About an hour later, he awakened, quiet.

She sat where she could watch his face, and learn her great lesson.

"Are you an angel?" he asked, with unrecognizing eyes.

She took one of his hands in hers, and rested her cheek against it.

His hand grew wet with her tears.

"Are you a soul in bliss?" he asked, softly. "I knew an angel when I was on earth. But a gulf yawned between us, a gulf, a gulf!"

Then he seemed oblivious of the presence of anyone, and muttered:

"I have lost my way--lost my way,--lost."

At last he slept again. And Esther Bright, kneeling by his bedside, with one of his hands clasped in hers, prayed. Still he slept on. When he awakened, John Clayton stood looking down upon him. Kenneth looked around, puzzled.