09 - Alcatraz - The Stampede

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter nine of Alcatraz by Max Brand. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain. The Stampede, the Gray Mayor
made no effort to draw away when Alcatraz sprinted up
beside her. She gave him not so much as a
toss of the head or a swish of the tail,

(00:22):
but kept her gaze on the far western mountains. For
she was still sick with the scent of blood, and
she maintained a purposeful, steady lope. It was far other
with the Stallion. He kept at her side with his
gliding canter, but he was not thinking of the peace
and the shelter from man which they might find in

(00:43):
the blue valleys of Yonder Mountains. His mind was back
at the slaughter of Mingo Lake, hearing the crack of
the rifles and seeing his comrades fall and die. It
was nothing that he had known the ban only since morning.
They were his kind, they were his people, They had
accepted his rule, and now he was empty hearted, a

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king without a people. The Gray Mare, the fleetest and
wisest of them all remained, but she was only a
reminder of his vanished glory. Remembering how Cordova had been served,
might he not find a way of harming those men
even as they had harmed him. He slackened to a

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trot and finally halted. His companion kept on until he neighed.
Then she came obediently enough, but swinging her head up
and down to indicate her intense disapproval of this halt.
When Alcatraz actually started back towards the place where the
cowpunchers had dropped the pursuit, she threw herself across his way,

(01:49):
striving to turn him with bared teeth and forting heels.
He merely kept a weaving course to avoid her, his
head high and his ears back, which was a manner
the mayor had never seen in him before. She could
only tell that she was less than nothing to him.

(02:11):
Once she strove to draw back by running a little
distance west and then turning and calling him, But her
winnie made him not so much as shake his head.
At length, she surrendered and sullenly took up his trail.
He roved swiftly across the hollows. He sneaked up to

(02:32):
every commanding rise, as though he feared the guns of
men might be just beyond the crest. And these tactics
continued until they came in view of a small row
of black figures riding against the sunset. The gray halted
at once, rearing and snorting for the sight brought again

(02:52):
that hateful smell of blood. But her leader moved quietly
after the cowpunchers. He was taking the man trail. It
was arduous work, frisking from one point of vantage to another,
never knowing when the great enemy might turn. They could
make Death speak from the distance of half a mile

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under shelter of the hills. They might even double back
to close range. They might be luring him by the
pretense that he was unseen. In such maneuvers, the mare
was a dangerous encumbrance, for though she had fallen into
the spirit of the thing at once and never uttered
even the faintest whinny, yet it would be far easier

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for the men to hear and see too than to
detect one. Alcatraz strove to drive her back, sometimes whirling
with teeth bared, and rushing at her, sometimes half rearing
as though to strike. But on such occasions she merely
stopped and regarded him with eyes of mild amazement. She

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knew perfectly that he would never touch her. With two
or hoof. She also knew that this was dangerous folly,
this badgering of terrible man. But since Alcatraz was not
wise enough to follow her, she must even follow him.
In spite of his folly. She stayed half a dozen
lengths in the rear, trembling with excitement. For now they

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passed the verge of the desert, and now they entered
a man made road, bordered with shining fences of men.
What retreat was there if men closed in from the
front and rear. Yet she went on with dainty and
uneasy steps. As for Alcatraz, he pressed up boldly close
to the riders. For now the twilight grew thick, and

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it was hard to make out the glimmering forms before him.
Twice he paused, Twice he went on. There was no
real purpose in this following. He dared not come too close,
and yet he hoped to harm them. He continued, rung
by a confusion of dreads and desires. He was beset

(05:05):
with signs of man. Even in the darkness. Over the
well watered fields of the ranch, he heard the lowing
of cattle, and now and again the chorus of sheep
in a nearby pasture land was reawakened when the bell
of the leader tinkled. They were all hateful sounds to Alcatraz,

(05:25):
and every step he made seemed to consign him the
more definitely to the power of the great enemy. In
spite of his boldness, he lost sight of the riders
among the deeper shadows of the ranch buildings, and he
stopped again to consider. The gray mare came beside him
and begged him back with a call softer than a whisper.

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But he merely raised his head the higher and stared
at the huge outlines of the sheds and barns. To Alcatraz,
every one of them was a fortress, filled with danger
that might leap up at him. Yet he must not
turn back, after having come all this distance. Surely he
went on. The road opened into an unfenced semicircle with

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corrals on every side, And from one of these enclosures
a horse neighed, and there was a brief sound of
many trampling feet. Some of his own kind were playing there.
Alcatraz forgot his hatred a little forgot man. He went
straight to the corral and put his head over the

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top bar, snorting softly curious and frightened. At once, six
beautiful animals came towards him. He was one of their kind,
so they came close. The scent of the wildness was
already on him, and they shrank away. Surely, some sinister
genius had directed Alcatraz to one of the most valuable

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points of attack on all the ranch. For these were
the six rude mayers, for whose purchase Mary Anne Jordan
had cleaned out her bank account. The Stallion did not know,
of course, He did not even recognize them as his
competitors in the race. All he felt was that there

(07:15):
was something charmingly remembered, something half familiar about them. The
boldest came near, and he touched noses whereat. She whirled
with a little squeal and lashed out at him, But
her heels were carefully aimed wide at the mark, and
Alcatraz merely tossed his nose plainly. She was a flirt.

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He pressed a little closer to the fence and urged
friendliness with a conversational whinnie. They were not a verse,
coming towards him with eyes that glimmered in the darkness,
retreating often and coming on again, until he had touched
noses with them all. It was extremely pleasant to Alcatraz,

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and hardly less so because the gray mare came and
shouldered him rudely. Then a voice spoke from the barn
which opened off the corral. What's all that damned nonsense
with the mayor's yonder? Alcatraz crouched for flight. Another voice answered,
they'll mill around every night for a while till they

(08:21):
get use to the new place. That's the way with them,
crazy hot bloods, no horse sense, the voices deep hearted.
The shrinking of the stallion had made the mayors WinCE
away in turn, but they came back now and resumed
the conversation where it had been broken off. He was

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careful to introduce himself to each one. He was greatly
tempted to jump the fence and talk to them at
closer hand, but he knew that it was a great
folly to risk his neck in a group of mayors
before he had made out whether or not they were amiable.
If they were cross tempered, he might be kicked to

(09:02):
death before he could escape. The investigations brought entirely favorable returns.
They were very young, these coals horses, and hence their
curiosity was far stronger than their timidity. Before long, every
one of the six Necks was stretched across the top rail,

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and when Alcatraz turned his back on them, they winnied
uneasily to call him back. If that were the case,
why did they not jump? He went back and showed
them how simple it was if they really wanted to
escape and come out with him into the wind and
under the free stars of the mountains. Such offense was

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nothing to that powerful jumper. He walked calmly to it,
reared and sailed over. That sent the mayors scampering wildly
here and there about the corral, And though they came
back again after a time, they seemed to have learned nothing.
When he jumped out again, not one of them followed.

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Alcatraz stood off and eyed them in disgust. When he
was a yearling, he felt he had known more than
those big, stupid, beautiful creatures. But plainly they wanted to
get out with him. The wild horse is to the
tame what the adventurous traveler is to the quiet man
who builds a home. And from the gray mare in

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Alcatraz the six were learning many things. The scent of
the open desert was on them. The sweat of hard
running had dried on their hides. Their heads were recklessly proud,
and this tall stallion jumped the fence as though there
had never been men who made laws which well trained
horses must not transgress. Plainly, he wanted them to come out.

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They were very willing to go for a romp, but
they knew nothing about jumping as yet, and all they
could do was to show their eagerness to be out
for a run by milling up and down the fence.
If that were the case, there were other ways of
opening corrals, and Alcatraz knew them all. He tried the

(11:13):
fence with his shoulder, leaning all his weight. More than once.
He had smashed time rotted fences in this manner. But
he found that these posts were new and well tamped,
and the boards were strongly nailed. He gave up that
effort and went about looking for a gate. Gates were
not hard to find. The gate is that part of

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a fence under which many tracks and many scents go.
It is also a section which swings a little and
rattles annoyingly in a wind. Upon the top board of
that section, there is sure to be the thick scent
of man where his hands have fallen. Alcatraz found the
gate under the weight of his shoulder. It creaked but

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did not give. He took the top rail in his teeth,
while the mare's stood back, wandering in a high headed semicircle,
and the gray kept nudging at his flank, saying, very plainly,
enough of this nonsense. These gangling creatures, all legs and foolishness,
are not of our kind. Oh, my master, let us

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be gone. But Alcatraz heeded her not. He shook the
gate back and forth. There are three kinds of fastenings
for corral gates. One of them squeaks in strains when
it is pulled against. It is made of wire that
leaves a bitter taste of iron and rust in the
mouth when it is touched. Wire is often very difficult,

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but with teeth and prehensile upper lip, it may usually
be worked up high. Finally it will fall over the
top of one of the posts with a rattle, and
then the gate is open. Another kind of fastening rattles
very much when the gate is shaken. This means that
a loose board unites gate and post running in a slot,

(13:07):
and the only way to handle such a gate is
to take the loose board by the end and draw
it back as far as possible. Then the gate always
swings open of its own accord. There is a third
kind of fastening. Manuel Cordova used it. It consists of
a padlock and chain. Where this is found, one had

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better leave the cursed thing untried, for it will never
be broken or removed by the first shake of the
gate and the corresponding rattle. Alcatraz knew that the sliding
board fastened it. He sniffed for it and found it
very easily. For always the lash board is one of
the heaviest. With a man sent, He found it and

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worked it easily back. It caught on a nail. He
tugged again, and as he tugged, he quivered at the
sound of a human voice, and shrank as though the
familiar whip of Cordova had cut him. They're a little
restless to night, But aren't they DearS, Shorty queried Maryanne
kind of dear, said the cowpuncher, but maybe they're worth

(14:14):
the price for all his surliness. However, Shorty was her
best ally wait to see lady Mary begin to but
isn't that a horse beyond the corral, a gray horse?
I think it is, but it can't be. Why not
there isn't a gray horse on the ranch? And oh

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for the gate of the corral creaked and then swung wide.
They could not see Alcatraz for the bay mares stood between.
Don't move, don't speak, whispered the girl. It's that stupid
Lucas man. I told lee Hervey that he was too
careless to take care of the mares. And the first
thing he's done is leave the gate unlatched. I'll steal around.

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And at the first sound of the voice, the gray
mare had drifted deeper into the safety of the night Alcatraz.
With a careful effort, pulled open the gate, and the
wind aiding him blew it wide. And now the soft
whinny of invitation to the mayor's cut into the words
of Mary Anne. She went around the corral, bending low,

(15:23):
skulking in her run, for once the mayors got out
the gate, they might bolt like crazy things and come
to harm in the murderous barbed wire fences. Shorty was
hurrying around on the other side. Before she had taken
half a dozen steps, the neigh of the stallion, deafeningly loud,

(15:44):
brought her to a halt. With her hands clasped, she
saw the mare's start under the alarm call and rush
for the gate. In a moment, their hoofs were volleying
down the road, and the wail of mary Anne went shrilling.
Lee Hervey, Hervey, They're gone. Lee Hervey in the bunk house,

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pushed away his cards and rose with a curse. That's
what comes of working for a woman, he growled. No peace,
no rest, work day and night. And if ye ain't
kept workin', you're just kept worried. It's hell. He clumped
to the door and cast it open. Well, he called

(16:25):
into the darkness. Every one out, cried Marianne. The Maors
have broken through the gate and stampeded. End of chapter
nine