Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-08-18

When Clancy's body was found il
was taken into Las Cruces and buried
in the little graveyard where the
girls forefathers for generations
back had been buried. Through it
ell the girl did not break down as
most women would. People said
she w cold, though at evening
she would come with her beads and
pray by the new made grave until
darkness came.
One day she was missing; no one
knew whittier she had gone. Soon,
though, rumors returned that she
was in the different frontier towns
among the Americans as one of the
public dancing girls. She was beau
tiful and had no lack of lovers. She
seemed to be without fear, and no
matter how desperate the men with
whom her lot was cast, she never
quailed. The Americans called her
La leona-the lioness.
Where men squandered the money
gained by robbery and murder in
wild orgies, in which men fought
and killed each other like mad ami
mails, she was always cool and unex-
cited. The wilder the crowd, the
worse the men who composed it, ap-
parently the more she enjoyed it.
Her beauty was SO great that many
men, even among the Americans,
offered TO make her a wife, but she
only smiled and refused all with
gentleness that made them wonder
that one in her position could display
it. When she was at the height of
her popularity she disappeared. No
one knew whittier, although some
said she had left to join band of
desperadoes near the Arizona line.
Wherever it was, nothing was seen
of her for months, and then one day
she returned home, but only
shadow of her former self. At first
her father would not permit her to
enter the house, whilo her mother
cried and embraced her as if she had
returned from the dead. Then the
father, too, relentod. Perhaps, he
thought, it would after all be for but
a short time, and it would be better
that she should die at home than as
an outcast. She seemed impassive
and Indifferent to all. When night
came she went to the little grave
yard and prayed over the grave that
still was the newest.
Where she had spent the months
of her absence she never told. To
all questions she gave an evasive an
swer. 1t was said by some that her
return home was due to the breaking
up and scattering by the authorities
of the band of desperadoes with
whom it was rumored she had con-
sorted. Stung by the rumor, her
mother had oLe day asked her to
deny it, but the girl had only dropped |
her head on her mothers breast and
sobbed as she had never done since
the day she had seen Clancy's body
consigned to the earth.
Several times she had received |
but from whom no one
knew Even to her mother, who
alone spoke to her, she declined to
tell. One day she received one of
these messages, and that night after
she had gone to her lovers grave she
went to the house of the sheriff,
who was the only officer that dared
to follow Clancy's murderer. When
she returned he was with her, and
passing through the dimly lighted
patio she led him to her room and
placed him where he could not be
seen in the. darkness, and then she
lay down in her bed and waited in
the darkness as the hours passed
until there was tap at the window.
The house was so quiet that it seemed
to echo like pistol shot, but she
arose, and going to the window
opened it and let man enter, who
threw his arms about her and kissed
her passionately and spoke regret
fully of the time they had been sepa-
rated
The room was very dark, and as
she led him from the window toward
the bed where the other man crouch
ed hid she could almost feel her heart
beat. The man whose arm was
around her waist noticed her trem.
Bile and drew her more closely to
him. When they reached the bed
she drew herself gently from his arm
md lay down. She fancied that she
could hear the man who was con
,ealed breathing as she lay between
lim and the man who had Just en-
'ered. The air of the room seemed
% stifle her, as if laden with death.
Then she turned and spoke to the
nan who had entered, telling him to
light match, so that he would not
make any noise by striking the fur
liture, and when he demurred that
t might not be safe she answered
iim that as the village was asleep no
me could see him. For moment
le hesitated, and then he struck a
match and the tiny spark grew into
blaze, showing the room plain and
listinct. Only for an instant, though.
or then there leaped out across the
'ed on which the girl lay jet of
ire, and the man who held the match
ell to the ground without groan.
The air of the room grew thick
With the smell of powder, and
through the house could be heard
oices calling in alright, but in the
Dom no one stirred or uttered
vord The oirl vas xvooda,.;nc, 10 !