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The Night Horseman by Max Brand, CHAPTER XXXVII. THE PIEBALD

CHAPTER XXXVII. THE PIEBALD

The morning of the doctor's departure witnessed quite a ceremony at the Cumberland ranch, for old Joe Cumberland insisted that he be brought down from his room to his old place in the living-room. When he attempted to rise from his bed, however, he found that he could not stand; and big Buck Daniels lifted the old man like a child and carried him down the stairs. Once ensconced on the sofa in the living-room Joe Cumberland beckoned his daughter close to him, and whispered with a smile as she leaned over: "Here's what comes of pretendin', Kate. I been pretending to be too sick to walk, and now I can't walk; and if I'd pretended to be well, I'd be ridin' Satan right now!" He looked about him.

"Where's Dan?" he asked.

"Upstairs getting ready for the trip." "Trip?" "He's riding with Doctor Byrne to town and he'll bring back Doctor Byrne's horse." The old man grew instantly anxious.

"They's a lot of things can happen on a long trip like that, Kate." She nodded gravely.

"But we have to try him," she said. "We can't keep him here at the ranch all the time. And if he really cares, Dad, he'll come back." "And you let him go of your own free will?" asked Joe Cumberland, wonderingly.

"I asked him to go," she answered quietly, but some of the colour left her face. "Of course it's going to come out all right," nodded her father. "I asked him when he'd be back, and he said he would be here by dark to-night." The old man sighed with relief.

"He don't never slip up on promises," he said. "But oh, lass, I'll be glad when he's back again! Buck, how'd you and Dan come along together?" "We don't come," answered Buck gloomily. "I tried to shake hands with him yesterday and call it quits. But he wouldn't touch me. He jest leaned back and smiled at me and hated me with his eyes, that way he has. He don't even look at me except when he has to, and when he does I feel like someone was sneaking up behind me with a knife ready. And he ain't said ten words to me since I come back." He paused and considered Kate with the same dark, lowering glance. "To-morrow I leave." "You'll think better of that," nodded Joe Cumberland. "Here's the doctor now." He came in with Dan Barry behind him. A changed man was the doctor. He was a good two inches taller because he stood so much more erect, and there was a little spring in his step which gave aspiration and spirit to his carriage. He bade them good-bye one by one, and by Joe Cumberland he sat down for an instant and wished him luck. The old ranchman drew the other down closer.

"They's no luck for me," he whispered, "but don't tell none of 'em. I'm about to take a longer trip than you'll ride to-day. But first I'll see 'em settled down here—Dan quiet and both of 'em happy. S'long, doc—thanks for takin' care of me. But this here is something that can't be beat no way. Too many years'll break the back of any man, doc. Luck to ye!" "If you'll step to the door," said the doctor, smiling upon the rest, "you'll have some fun to watch. I'm going to ride on the piebald." "Him that throwed you yesterday?" grinned Buck Daniels.

"The same," said the doctor. "I think I can come to a gentleman's understanding with him. A gentleman from the piebald's point of view is one who is never unintentionally rude. He may change his mind this morning—or he may break my back. One of the two is sure to happen." In front of the house Dan Barry already sat on Satan with Black Bart sitting nearby watching the face of his master. And beside them the lantern-jawed cowpuncher held the bridle of the piebald mustang. Never in the world was there a lazier appearing beast. His lower lip hung pendulous, a full inch and a half below the upper. His eyes were rolled so that hardly more than the whites showed. He seemed to stand asleep, dreaming of some Nirvana for equine souls. And the only signs of life were the long ears, which wobbled, occasionally, back and forth.

When the doctor mounted, the piebald limited all signs of interest to opening one eye.

The doctor clucked. The piebald switched his tail. Satan, at a word from Dan Barry, moved gracefully into a soft trot away from the house. The doctor slapped his mount on the neck. An ear flicked back and forth. The doctor stretched out both legs, and then he dug both spurs deep into the flanks of the mustang.

It was a perfectly successful maneuvre. The back of the piebald changed from an ugly humped line to a decidedly sharp parabola and the horse left the ground with all four feet. He hit it again, almost in the identical hoof-marks, and with all legs stiff. The doctor sagged drunkenly in the saddle, and his head first swung far back, and then snapped over so that the chin banged against his chest. Nevertheless he clung to the saddle with both hands, and stayed in his seat. The piebald swung his head around sufficiently to make sure of the surprising fact, and then he commenced to buck in earnest.

It was a lovely exhibition. He bucked with his head up and his head between his knees. He bucked in a circle and in a straight line and then mixed both styles for variety. He made little spurts at full speed, leaped into the air, and came down stiff-legged at the end of the run, his head between his braced forefeet, and then he whirled as if on a peg and darted back the other way. He bucked criss-cross, jumping from side to side, and he interspersed this with samples of all his other kinds of bucking thrown in. That the doctor stuck on the saddle was a miracle beyond belief. Of course he pulled leather shamelessly throughout the contest, but riding straight up is a good deal of a myth. Fancy riding is reserved for circus men. The mountain-desert is a place where men stick close to utility and let style go hang.

And the doctor stuck in the saddle. He had set his teeth, and he was a sea-sick greenish-white. His hat was a-jog over one ear—his shirt tails flew out behind. And still he remained to battle. Aye, for he ceased the passive clinging to the saddle. He gathered up the long quirt which had hitherto dangled idly from his wrist, and at the very moment when the piebald had let out another notch in his feats, the doctor, holding on desperately with one hand, with the other brandished the quirt around his head and brought it down with a crack along the flanks of the piebald.

The effect was a little short of a miracle. The mustang snorted and leaped once into the air, but he forgot to come down stiff-legged, and then, instantly, he broke into a little, soft dog trot, and followed humbly in the trail of the black stallion. The laughter and cheers from the house were the sweetest of music in the ears of Doctor Randall Byrne; the most sounding sentences of praise from the lips of the most learned of professors, after this, would be the most shabby of anticlimaxes. He waved his arm back to a group standing in front of the house—Buck Daniels, Kate, the lantern-jawed cowboy, and Wung Lu waving his kitchen apron. In another moment he was beside the rider of the stallion, and the man was whistling one of those melodies which defied repetition. It simply ran on and on, smoothly, sweeping through transition after transition, soaring and falling in the most effortless manner. Now it paused, now it began again. It was never loud, but it carried like the music of a bird on wing, blown by the wind. There was about it, also, something which escaped from the personal. He began to forget that it was a man who whistled, and such a man! He began to look about to the hills and the sky and the rocks—for these, it might be said, were set to music—they, too, had the sweep of line, and the broken rhythms, the sense of spaciousness, the far horizons.

That day was a climax of the unusual weather. For a long time the sky had been periodically blanketed with thick mists, but to-day the wind had freshened and it tore the mists into a thousand mighty fragments. There was never blue sky in sight—only, far up, a diminishing and lighter grey to testify that above it the yellow sun might be shining; but all the lower heavens were a-sweep with vast cloud masses, irregular, huge, hurling across the sky. They hung so low that one could follow the speed of their motion and almost gauge it by miles per hour. And in the distance they seemed to brush the tops of the hills. Seeing this, the doctor remembered what he had heard of rain in this region. It would come, they said, in sheets and masses—literal water-falls. Dry arroyos suddenly filled and became swift torrent, rolling big boulders down their courses. There were tales of men fording rivers who were suddenly overwhelmed by terrific walls of water which rushed down from the higher mountains in masses four and eight feet high. In coming they made a thundering among the hills and they plucked up full grown trees like twigs thrust into wet mud. Indeed, that was the sort of rain one would expect in such a country, so whipped and naked of life. Even the reviving rainfall was sent in the form of a scourge; and that which should make the grass grow might tear it up by the roots.

That was a time of change and of portent, and a day well fitted to the mood of Randall Byrne. He, also, had altered, and there was about to break upon him the rain of life, and whether it would destroy him or make him live, and richly, he could not guess. But he was naked to the skies of chance—naked as this landscape.

Far past the mid-day they reached the streets of Elkhead and stopped at the hotel. As the doctor swung down from his saddle, cramped and sore from the long ride, thunder rattled over the distant hills and a patter of rain splashed in the dust and sent up a pungent odor to his nostrils. It was like the voice of the earth proclaiming its thirst. And a blast of wind leaped down the street and lifted the brim of Barry's hat and set the bandana at his throat fluttering. He looked away into the teeth of the wind and smiled.

There was something so curious about him at the instant that Randall Byrne wanted to ask him into the hotel—wanted to have him knee to knee for a long talk. But he remembered an old poem—the sea-shell needs the waves of the sea—the bird will not sing in the cage. And the yellow light in the eyes of Barry, phosphorescent, almost—a thing that might be nearly seen by night—that, surely, would not shine under any roof. It was the wind which made him smile. These things he understood, without fear.

So he said good-bye, and the rider waved carelessly and took the reins of the piebald and turned the stallion back. He noted the catlike grace of the horse in moving, as if his muscles were steel springs; and he noted also that the long ride had scarcely stained the glossy hide with sweat—while the piebald reeked with the labour. Randall Byrne drew thoughtfully back onto the porch of the hotel and followed the rider with his eyes. In a moment a great cloud of dust poured down the street, covered the rider, and when it was gone he had passed around a corner and out of the life of the doctor.

CHAPTER XXXVII. THE PIEBALD CAPÍTULO XXXVII. O MALDO

The morning of the doctor's departure witnessed quite a ceremony at the Cumberland ranch, for old Joe Cumberland insisted that he be brought down from his room to his old place in the living-room. A manhã da partida do médico presenciou uma cerimônia e tanto no rancho Cumberland, pois o velho Joe Cumberland insistiu que ele fosse trazido de seu quarto para seu antigo lugar na sala de estar. When he attempted to rise from his bed, however, he found that he could not stand; and big Buck Daniels lifted the old man like a child and carried him down the stairs. Once ensconced on the sofa in the living-room Joe Cumberland beckoned his daughter close to him, and whispered with a smile as she leaned over: "Here's what comes of pretendin', Kate. Uma vez acomodado no sofá da sala de estar, Joe Cumberland chamou sua filha para perto dele e sussurrou com um sorriso quando ela se inclinou: "Aqui está o que dá fingir, Kate. I been pretending to be too sick to walk, and now I can't walk; and if I'd pretended to be well, I'd be ridin' Satan right now!" Eu estava fingindo estar doente demais para andar, e agora não consigo andar; e se eu fingisse estar bem, estaria me livrando de Satanás agora mesmo!" He looked about him. Ele olhou em volta.

"Where's Dan?" he asked.

"Upstairs getting ready for the trip." "Trip?" "He's riding with Doctor Byrne to town and he'll bring back Doctor Byrne's horse." "Ele está cavalgando com o Dr. Byrne para a cidade e ele vai trazer de volta o cavalo do Dr. Byrne." The old man grew instantly anxious. O velho ficou instantaneamente ansioso.

"They's a lot of things can happen on a long trip like that, Kate." She nodded gravely.

"But we have to try him," she said. "Mas temos que experimentá-lo", disse ela. "We can't keep him here at the ranch all the time. And if he really cares, Dad, he'll come back." "And you let him go of your own free will?" "E você o deixou ir por sua própria vontade?" asked Joe Cumberland, wonderingly. perguntou Joe Cumberland, admirado.

"I asked him to go," she answered quietly, but some of the colour left her face. "Of course it's going to come out all right," nodded her father. "Claro que vai dar tudo certo," assentiu seu pai. "I asked him when he'd be back, and he said he would be here by dark to-night." The old man sighed with relief.

"He don't never slip up on promises," he said. "Ele nunca falha em promessas", disse ele. "But oh, lass, I'll be glad when he's back again! "Mas oh, moça, ficarei feliz quando ele voltar! Buck, how'd you and Dan come along together?" Buck, como você e Dan ficaram juntos?" "We don't come," answered Buck gloomily. "Nós não vamos", respondeu Buck tristemente. "I tried to shake hands with him yesterday and call it quits. "Tentei apertar a mão dele ontem e desistir. But he wouldn't touch me. He jest leaned back and smiled at me and hated me with his eyes, that way he has. Ele se inclinou para trás e sorriu para mim e me odiou com os olhos, daquele jeito que ele tem. He don't even look at me except when he has to, and when he does I feel like someone was sneaking up behind me with a knife ready. Ele nem sequer olha para mim, exceto quando precisa, e quando o faz, sinto como se alguém estivesse se esgueirando atrás de mim com uma faca pronta. And he ain't said ten words to me since I come back." He paused and considered Kate with the same dark, lowering glance. Ele fez uma pausa e considerou Kate com o mesmo olhar sombrio e baixo. "To-morrow I leave." "You'll think better of that," nodded Joe Cumberland. "Você vai pensar melhor sobre isso", assentiu Joe Cumberland. "Here's the doctor now." "Aqui está o médico agora." He came in with Dan Barry behind him. Ele entrou com Dan Barry atrás dele. A changed man was the doctor. He was a good two inches taller because he stood so much more erect, and there was a little spring in his step which gave aspiration and spirit to his carriage. Ele era uns bons cinco centímetros mais alto porque estava muito mais ereto, e havia um pouco de elasticidade em seus passos que dava aspiração e espírito à sua carruagem. He bade them good-bye one by one, and by Joe Cumberland he sat down for an instant and wished him luck. Ele se despediu deles um por um e, por Joe Cumberland, sentou-se por um instante e desejou-lhe boa sorte. The old ranchman drew the other down closer. O velho rancheiro puxou o outro para mais perto.

"They's no luck for me," he whispered, "but don't tell none of 'em. I'm about to take a longer trip than you'll ride to-day. But first I'll see 'em settled down here—Dan quiet and both of 'em happy. S'long, doc—thanks for takin' care of me. Até logo, doutor, obrigado por cuidar de mim. But this here is something that can't be beat no way. Mas isso aqui é algo que não pode ser batido de jeito nenhum. Too many years'll break the back of any man, doc. Muitos anos quebram as costas de qualquer homem, doutor. Luck to ye!" "If you'll step to the door," said the doctor, smiling upon the rest, "you'll have some fun to watch. "Se você der um passo até a porta", disse o médico, sorrindo para os outros, "você vai se divertir assistindo. I'm going to ride on the piebald." "Him that throwed you yesterday?" "Ele que jogou você ontem?" grinned Buck Daniels.

"The same," said the doctor. "I think I can come to a gentleman's understanding with him. "Acho que posso chegar a um entendimento de cavalheiro com ele. A gentleman from the piebald's point of view is one who is never unintentionally rude. Um cavalheiro do ponto de vista do malhado é aquele que nunca é involuntariamente rude. He may change his mind this morning—or he may break my back. One of the two is sure to happen." In front of the house Dan Barry already sat on Satan with Black Bart sitting nearby watching the face of his master. And beside them the lantern-jawed cowpuncher held the bridle of the piebald mustang. E ao lado deles o vaqueiro de mandíbula de lanterna segurava a rédea do mustang malhado. Never in the world was there a lazier appearing beast. Nunca no mundo houve uma fera de aparência mais preguiçosa. His lower lip hung pendulous, a full inch and a half below the upper. Seu lábio inferior pendurou, uma polegada e meia abaixo do superior. His eyes were rolled so that hardly more than the whites showed. Seus olhos estavam revirados de modo que pouco mais do que os brancos mostravam. He seemed to stand asleep, dreaming of some Nirvana for equine souls. Ele parecia estar dormindo, sonhando com algum Nirvana para almas equinas. And the only signs of life were the long ears, which wobbled, occasionally, back and forth. E os únicos sinais de vida eram as orelhas compridas, que balançavam, ocasionalmente, para frente e para trás.

When the doctor mounted, the piebald limited all signs of interest to opening one eye.

The doctor clucked. O médico cacarejou. The piebald switched his tail. O malhado trocou o rabo. Satan, at a word from Dan Barry, moved gracefully into a soft trot away from the house. The doctor slapped his mount on the neck. O médico deu um tapa em sua montaria no pescoço. An ear flicked back and forth. Uma orelha sacudiu para frente e para trás. The doctor stretched out both legs, and then he dug both spurs deep into the flanks of the mustang. O médico esticou as duas pernas e então enfiou as duas esporas bem fundo nos flancos do mustang.

It was a perfectly successful maneuvre. The back of the piebald changed from an ugly humped line to a decidedly sharp parabola and the horse left the ground with all four feet. A parte de trás do malhado mudou de uma feia linha corcunda para uma parábola decididamente afiada e o cavalo saiu do chão com as quatro patas. He hit it again, almost in the identical hoof-marks, and with all legs stiff. Ele acertou de novo, quase nas mesmas marcas de cascos, e com todas as pernas rígidas. The doctor sagged drunkenly in the saddle, and his head first swung far back, and then snapped over so that the chin banged against his chest. O médico caiu bêbado na sela, e sua cabeça primeiro pendeu para trás, e depois virou de modo que o queixo bateu contra o peito. Nevertheless he clung to the saddle with both hands, and stayed in his seat. Mesmo assim, agarrou-se à sela com as duas mãos e permaneceu sentado. The piebald swung his head around sufficiently to make sure of the surprising fact, and then he commenced to buck in earnest. O malhado girou a cabeça o suficiente para se certificar do fato surpreendente, e então começou a empinar a sério.

It was a lovely exhibition. He bucked with his head up and his head between his knees. Ele corcoveou com a cabeça erguida e a cabeça entre os joelhos. He bucked in a circle and in a straight line and then mixed both styles for variety. He made little spurts at full speed, leaped into the air, and came down stiff-legged at the end of the run, his head between his braced forefeet, and then he whirled as if on a peg and darted back the other way. Ele fez pequenos saltos a toda velocidade, saltou no ar e desceu com as pernas rígidas no final da corrida, a cabeça entre as patas dianteiras apoiadas, e então girou como se estivesse em um pino e disparou de volta para o outro lado. He bucked criss-cross, jumping from side to side, and he interspersed this with samples of all his other kinds of bucking thrown in. Ele dava bucks cruzados, pulando de um lado para o outro, e intercalava isso com amostras de todos os seus outros tipos de bucking. That the doctor stuck on the saddle was a miracle beyond belief. Que o médico preso na sela era um milagre inacreditável. Of course he pulled leather shamelessly throughout the contest, but riding straight up is a good deal of a myth. Claro que ele puxou couro descaradamente durante toda a competição, mas andar direto é um mito. Fancy riding is reserved for circus men. A equitação extravagante é reservada aos homens de circo. The mountain-desert is a place where men stick close to utility and let style go hang. O deserto da montanha é um lugar onde os homens se apegam à utilidade e deixam o estilo de lado.

And the doctor stuck in the saddle. E o médico preso na sela. He had set his teeth, and he was a sea-sick greenish-white. Ele tinha cerrado os dentes, e era um branco esverdeado enjoado. His hat was a-jog over one ear—his shirt tails flew out behind. Seu chapéu estava puxado sobre uma das orelhas — as caudas de sua camisa voavam para trás. And still he remained to battle. Aye, for he ceased the passive clinging to the saddle. Sim, pois ele cessou o apego passivo à sela. He gathered up the long quirt which had hitherto dangled idly from his wrist, and at the very moment when the piebald had let out another notch in his feats, the doctor, holding on desperately with one hand, with the other brandished the quirt around his head and brought it down with a crack along the flanks of the piebald. Apanhou o longo canhoto que até então pendia preguiçosamente em seu pulso e, no exato momento em que o malhado havia dado mais um passo em suas façanhas, o médico, segurando desesperadamente com uma mão, com a outra brandiu o canivete em torno de sua cabeça e a derrubou com um estalo ao longo dos flancos do malhado.

The effect was a little short of a miracle. O efeito foi um pouco menos que um milagre. The mustang snorted and leaped once into the air, but he forgot to come down stiff-legged, and then, instantly, he broke into a little, soft dog trot, and followed humbly in the trail of the black stallion. O mustang bufou e saltou uma vez no ar, mas se esqueceu de descer com as pernas rígidas, e então, instantaneamente, ele partiu em um trote de cão pequeno e suave, e seguiu humildemente na trilha do garanhão preto. The laughter and cheers from the house were the sweetest of music in the ears of Doctor Randall Byrne; the most sounding sentences of praise from the lips of the most learned of professors, after this, would be the most shabby of anticlimaxes. As risadas e aplausos da casa eram a música mais doce aos ouvidos do Dr. Randall Byrne; as frases de louvor mais sonoras dos lábios dos mais eruditos professores, depois disso, seriam o mais pobre dos anticlímax. He waved his arm back to a group standing in front of the house—Buck Daniels, Kate, the lantern-jawed cowboy, and Wung Lu waving his kitchen apron. Ele acenou com o braço de volta para um grupo de pé na frente da casa - Buck Daniels, Kate, o caubói de mandíbula de lanterna e Wung Lu acenando com seu avental de cozinha. In another moment he was beside the rider of the stallion, and the man was whistling one of those melodies which defied repetition. Em outro momento estava ao lado do cavaleiro do garanhão, e o homem assobiava uma daquelas melodias que desafiam a repetição. It simply ran on and on, smoothly, sweeping through transition after transition, soaring and falling in the most effortless manner. Simplesmente corria sem parar, suavemente, varrendo transição após transição, subindo e descendo da maneira mais fácil. Now it paused, now it began again. Agora parou, agora começou de novo. It was never loud, but it carried like the music of a bird on wing, blown by the wind. There was about it, also, something which escaped from the personal. He began to forget that it was a man who whistled, and such a man! He began to look about to the hills and the sky and the rocks—for these, it might be said, were set to music—they, too, had the sweep of line, and the broken rhythms, the sense of spaciousness, the far horizons. Ele começou a olhar em volta para as colinas, o céu e as rochas - pois estas, pode-se dizer, eram musicadas - elas também tinham a extensão da linha e os ritmos quebrados, a sensação de amplitude, a distância horizontes.

That day was a climax of the unusual weather. For a long time the sky had been periodically blanketed with thick mists, but to-day the wind had freshened and it tore the mists into a thousand mighty fragments. Por muito tempo o céu fora coberto periodicamente por espessas brumas, mas hoje o vento havia refrescado e rasgou as brumas em mil fragmentos poderosos. There was never blue sky in sight—only, far up, a diminishing and lighter grey to testify that above it the yellow sun might be shining; but all the lower heavens were a-sweep with vast cloud masses, irregular, huge, hurling across the sky. Nunca havia céu azul à vista — apenas, lá em cima, um cinza cada vez menor e mais claro para testemunhar que acima dele o sol amarelo poderia estar brilhando; mas todos os céus inferiores estavam varridos com vastas massas de nuvens, irregulares, enormes, arremessando-se pelo céu. They hung so low that one could follow the speed of their motion and almost gauge it by miles per hour. Eles penduravam tão baixo que se podia acompanhar a velocidade de seu movimento e quase medi-lo por quilômetros por hora. And in the distance they seemed to brush the tops of the hills. E ao longe pareciam roçar os cumes das colinas. Seeing this, the doctor remembered what he had heard of rain in this region. It would come, they said, in sheets and masses—literal water-falls. Viria, diziam, em lençóis e massas — literais quedas d'água. Dry arroyos suddenly filled and became swift torrent, rolling big boulders down their courses. Arroios secos de repente se encheram e se tornaram torrentes rápidas, rolando grandes pedregulhos em seus cursos. There were tales of men fording rivers who were suddenly overwhelmed by terrific walls of water which rushed down from the higher mountains in masses four and eight feet high. Havia histórias de homens atravessando rios que foram subitamente dominados por terríveis paredes de água que desciam das montanhas mais altas em massas de quatro e oito pés de altura. In coming they made a thundering among the hills and they plucked up full grown trees like twigs thrust into wet mud. Ao chegar, eles fizeram um trovão entre as colinas e arrancaram árvores crescidas como galhos enfiados na lama molhada. Indeed, that was the sort of rain one would expect in such a country, so whipped and naked of life. De fato, aquele era o tipo de chuva que se esperaria em tal país, tão açoitado e sem vida. Even the reviving rainfall was sent in the form of a scourge; and that which should make the grass grow might tear it up by the roots. Mesmo a chuva revigorante foi enviada na forma de um flagelo; e aquilo que deveria fazer a grama crescer poderia arrancá-la pelas raízes.

That was a time of change and of portent, and a day well fitted to the mood of Randall Byrne. Aquele foi um momento de mudança e de presságio, e um dia bem ajustado ao humor de Randall Byrne. He, also, had altered, and there was about to break upon him the rain of life, and whether it would destroy him or make him live, and richly, he could not guess. Ele também havia mudado, e estava prestes a cair sobre ele a chuva da vida, e se isso o destruiria ou o faria viver, e ricamente, ele não podia adivinhar. But he was naked to the skies of chance—naked as this landscape. Mas ele estava nu para os céus do acaso – nu como esta paisagem.

Far past the mid-day they reached the streets of Elkhead and stopped at the hotel. Muito depois do meio-dia, chegaram às ruas de Elkhead e pararam no hotel. As the doctor swung down from his saddle, cramped and sore from the long ride, thunder rattled over the distant hills and a patter of rain splashed in the dust and sent up a pungent odor to his nostrils. Quando o médico desceu da sela, apertado e dolorido da longa viagem, trovões ressoaram sobre as colinas distantes e um tamborilar de chuva espirrou na poeira e exalou um odor pungente em suas narinas. It was like the voice of the earth proclaiming its thirst. And a blast of wind leaped down the street and lifted the brim of Barry's hat and set the bandana at his throat fluttering. E uma rajada de vento desceu a rua e levantou a aba do chapéu de Barry e colocou a bandana em sua garganta esvoaçando. He looked away into the teeth of the wind and smiled.

There was something so curious about him at the instant that Randall Byrne wanted to ask him into the hotel—wanted to have him knee to knee for a long talk. Havia algo tão curioso nele no instante que Randall Byrne quis convidá-lo para entrar no hotel — queria que ele ficasse de joelhos para uma longa conversa. But he remembered an old poem—the sea-shell needs the waves of the sea—the bird will not sing in the cage. Mas lembrou-se de um velho poema — a concha do mar precisa das ondas do mar — o pássaro não canta na gaiola. And the yellow light in the eyes of Barry, phosphorescent, almost—a thing that might be nearly seen by night—that, surely, would not shine under any roof. E a luz amarela nos olhos de Barry, quase fosforescente — uma coisa que quase podia ser vista à noite — que, com certeza, não brilharia sob nenhum teto. It was the wind which made him smile. These things he understood, without fear.

So he said good-bye, and the rider waved carelessly and took the reins of the piebald and turned the stallion back. Então ele se despediu, e o cavaleiro acenou descuidadamente e pegou as rédeas do malhado e virou o garanhão de volta. He noted the catlike grace of the horse in moving, as if his muscles were steel springs; and he noted also that the long ride had scarcely stained the glossy hide with sweat—while the piebald reeked with the labour. Ele notou a graça felina do cavalo em se mover, como se seus músculos fossem molas de aço; e notou também que a longa viagem mal havia manchado a pele lustrosa de suor — enquanto o malhado fedia com o trabalho. Randall Byrne drew thoughtfully back onto the porch of the hotel and followed the rider with his eyes. Randall Byrne voltou pensativo para a varanda do hotel e seguiu o cavaleiro com os olhos. In a moment a great cloud of dust poured down the street, covered the rider, and when it was gone he had passed around a corner and out of the life of the doctor. Em um momento uma grande nuvem de poeira desceu a rua, cobriu o cavaleiro, e quando ela se foi, ele passou por uma esquina e saiu da vida do médico.