Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1894-05-26

some wandering morse or Sheep RUBBING
stealthily along the wall Then Cleofas
remembered the unbolted door, AS she
rose to bolt it it swung open cautiously,
and head was trust ina hideous shaved
head, set ON thick, fat neck. On the
hard, cruel line Of the lower jaw there was
the white cicatrix of wound, which drew
up the lip with a sneering twist. To sink
down in a crouching limp heap and throw
her reboso over her face was the girls in
stinctive act. Through it's folds she
watched breathlessly. 1t was Cuyas, the
murderer who had beaten his wife to
death in rage. Cleofas had seen him
pass through the streets of Albuquerque on
his way to prison. He had escaped from
Santa Fe and come over the mountains in
desperate flight.
The convict, fearing only an enemy from
without, closed and bolted the door, and
where Cleofas was fattened against the
floor threw himself heavily down in front
of the dead fire. The chain still fastened
to one wrist clanked sharply, and the man
jerked at it savagely, with an oath.
Even in the deadly fear that made her
skin prickle like thousand fiery needles
and her limbs feel leadlike Cleofas was an
Ortiz still.
II will not die like miserable sheep"
thought she, "nor will kneel and beg fol
mercy as the little wife did, and vainly.
No; shall say, Murder me if thou wilt,
thou coward, and may thy wretched soul
burn in hell forever.
But the convict's head had rolled heavily
onto his breast and he slept, his breath
coming in long waves of exhaustion. Hops
grew in the heart of the motionless spec
tate : the corner.
- ~ Mother" she prayed, keep mo
as mouse. Let me live as if lived not
and save me for the little madre's sake"
An hour rolled OIL. Through the win
stiff, was cold, was impatient.
HE will sleep ON and on, like the pig
and wolf that he Is, she thought indig-
nantly, land 1 must wait his pleasure to
be killed and eaten. Or he will wake and
go far away and be free-he, the wicked
one. 1t shall not be. Dear Jesu, help"
With her eyes fixed on the face of the
convict, the girl began to fold back her re-
bose and the twisted blankets. When her
limbs were free, with one quick, silent ef-
fort, she stood upright. Never once remov
ing her gaze, she followed the shadow Of
the wall, cropping catlike, her very breath
suspended to the faintest f1utter of her
throat.
She has reached the door, and still the
murderer sleeps. But at the slight noise
of the slipping bolt he stirs and turns
With stifed cry, the girl throws up one
slender arm to hide her eyes from the
dreadful death she believes so near. An
instant's silence follows. Fatigue and sleep
weigh on the man, body and spirit. Gle
ofas throws herself against the door; it
swings out with her into freedom.
Appolyer Longley' dreams had been full
of enchanting visions of coquettish girls
appearing under different forms, but all
bearing tho name of Cleofas. So restless
was he in consequence that he had risen
early to try the. famous counter irritant of
the chase.
To have the real Cleofas run into his
arms, to have her point gaspingly to flee
ing figure few yards away and to bring
his rifle to his shoulder were all parts Of a
lively and interesting moment.
His voice rang out with pleasant firm
ness:
Hold on, pard."
The man ran on. A little squirt of opal
smoke rose on the air, and the figure be-
came crumpled brown bundle on the
brown earth.
"I'll go bring him in, Miss Cleofas, +" said
Longley cheerfully, and then he caught
the girl about the waist and carried her
tenderly into the house. Forthwith Cleo
fas' speech had failed, and her eyes shone
darkly in face as white as milk.
4 Il
1t was 80 amply surveyed miles from
tho sheep shearing at Grants to San Mig
uel, but Longley's tough little Navajo
pony couldn't sleep nowhere else" but in
the all outdoors corral of Don Vicente-at
least so his master said. But this Satur-
day night the shearing was finished The
last scared, homely, jagged little sheep
had escaped the shearers and was huddled
under the lee Of the mesa, for when the
Lord tempers the wind to the shorn lamb
he forgets New Mexico, and the top Of
Mount Taylor supplies an Icy variety.
The great brown bags of fleece were tied
and marked and piled on the platform for
the castbound freight. The shearers were
eating and drinking monstrously about
their campfire on the malpais across the
Pucrco.
Appolyer had good seasons wages In
his belt, but his spirits were low as he
turned his tired pony loose in the corral at
the Ortiz ranch.
END 1 said they WASH gritty" he NUT
tiers, lend she knows it, end Of course she
won't hev me. Laws! wuddent either !"
The door opens and Cleofas comes out.
''Oh, 1t is the Senior ,Tawm," she cries,
not very loudly. 1T is very nice luck for
you to be here. 1t is fiesta"
''Hullo! Is that SO? What forS" STAN
mers Tom, who has never been called
Tawm before.
"My cousin, Luz, she marrying JUAN"
said Cleofas, looking down.
"A wedding! Oh, Lord!" groaned Long
ley.
"You just like Spanish girl, Senior
Tawm? No grit nor"
Longley turned his head sharply. There
was the dawn of o great hope in his face.
why, Clcofas, darlin,'' his voice
cracked and broke.
"You not ask me marrying your" whis-
percd Cleofas.
1t was always matter Of discussion In
after years where the courage of Clcofas
came in, but Appolyer Longley never had
any doubts. - Dorothea Lunmis in San
Francisco Argonaut.