Heart of the Sunset

The father had had faults, but they were those of his virtues; he had been a strong man, at least, and had "ridden herd" upon his unruly passions with the

their ravages had been swift and destructive. Ed's marriage to Alaire had been inevitable. They had been playmates, and their parents had considered the union a consummation of their own lifelong friendship. Upon her mother's death, Alaire had been sent abroad, and there she remained while "Young Ed" attended an Eastern college. For any child the experience would ha

till considered Ed her knight. As for him, he was captivated by this splendid

e more happily situated than these two, for they were madly in l

Feria, a grant of lands across the Rio Grande beyond the twenty-league belt by which Mexico fatuously strives t

Others of his father's vices revived, and so multiplied that what few virtues the young man had inherited were soon choked. The change was utterly unforeseen; its cause

life, the while she tried in every way to check the progress of that disintegration which was eating up her happin

boy's mismanagement, the old cattleman had risen in his wrath. The ranch had been his pride as Ed had been his joy; to see them both go wrong was more than he could bear. There had been a terrible scene, and a tongue-lashing delivered in the language of early border days.

his neighbors. They were not unduly fastidious, these neighbors, and they knew that hot blood requires more than a generation to cool, but everything Ed did outraged them. In trying to show their sympathy for his wife they succeeded in wounding her more deeply, and Al

the general pity had wounded her, then it had offended, and finally angered her. That people should noti

nt pain in her breast. The property was so large that it gave ample excuse for avoiding the few visitors who came, and the range boss, Benito Gonzales, attended to most of the buying and selling. C

her life, living meanwhile under

tched over twice the former weight of beef. Alaire had even experimented with the Brahman strain, importing some huge, hump-backed bulls that set the neighborhood agog. People proclaimed they were sacred oxen and whispered that they were intended for some outlandish pagan rite-Alaire by this time had gained the reputation of being "queer"-

as, who first acquainted himself with the outcome of Alaire's experiment, and

extravagance. His voice was loud;

ur prize Northern stock; but I claim that the bigger the state the

't," some one

t steers in this valley that are damn near the size of the whole state of Rhode Island. If they keep on growin' I doubt if you could fatten

was enough to challen

eople thought they did, too. They figured they'd inherited all there was to know about live stock, and they grew plumb arrogant over their wisdom. But-pshaw! They didn't know nothing.

intained his point with emphasis. "It's true. They'r

oved the breed of "Box A" horses, too, and hand in hand with th

ng-land; nevertheless, once the pumping-plant was in, certain parts of the r

ed truism-yet this woman built silos which she filled with her own excess fodder in scientific proportions,

er-shelled pecans, which was soon due to bear; the ranch house and its clump of palms was all but hidden by a forest of strange trees, which were reported to ripen everything fro

o mechanical adder-I count mostly on my fingers-but her and me calculated the profits on them eu

example?" asked Paloma.

to raise anything more complicated than a mortgage; but if I was younger, I'd organize myself up and do away with that Ed Austin. I'd sure help him to an untimely

loma was dee

s and her Mexican guards were not encouraging to visitors. Business inevitably brought her into contact with a conside

of Alaire, and his sympathy, like his understanding, was of that wordless yet comprehensive kind which is most satisfying. Judge Ellsworth knew more than any four men in that part of Texas; information had a way of seeking him out, and his head was stored to repletion with facts of every variety. He

latest ranch improvements. He had a fatherly way of walking with his arm about Alaire's shoulders, and although she sometimes suspected that his war

ver did Ellsworth inquire

General Longorio has

e tol

ted. "Longorio

f this very thing, and so I was preparing to bring the stock

ouldn't

ogated the sp

h to provoke confisca

E

e a fool of himself,

think

giving money to the Rebel junta and lendi

'd actually done

Federal territory. But Ed alway

nature of a reprisal. But the stock is min

e by claiming allegiance to the German or the English or some other foreign flag. The American eagle isn't screaming very loudly on

. "Just the same, I want your help in

get your name in the papers, and perhaps cause another diplomatically worde

all go to

ge shook his

imes. The Federals have alwa

utation. I strongly adv

the time! Mexico is perfectly safe, and I k

tter send

asked Alaire. "You

than anybody else, if Longorio will listen to reason, and, after all, you are a person of such importance that I dar

Alaire said, lightly, "Sometimes I hardly know." After a moment she continued:

. "Tell me somet

thing about you. Well,

grew up, he's

ts were murdered b

ed expression flitted over his face. "Dave s

sn't it

mental in saving what property Frank Law left, but it didn't last Dave very long. He's right careless in money mat

n a friend or a client with su

interested in heredity. I've watched it in Ed's case, for instance. If you know the parents it's easy to read their children." Again h

ed something

any people are cursed with an inher

hat to do w

ar. I was just-moralizing. It'