The Portland daily press., 1894-05-01
stepped over the sill. Then he turned sui,

dado''
Cleofas sprang from her seat ON the
/ hearth like an arrow from tense string.
Her eyes shone with anger and fun.
sCuidado thou!' she cried and swung
the door to with a crash, forgetting even
to push home the rude bolt of buckskin
and wood. Folding her reboso tightly I'M
der her chin, she crept under the blankets,
and the flames as they danced revealed
only for1nless shadow, from which came
the soft. regular breaths of sound sleep.
Suddenly Cleofas awoke. Her cheek
flushed again at the memory of Juan's
speech.
mo grit That is the queer word the
Senior Longley have USE" Cleofas smiled
again and murmllred as she rolled over on
her side for a fresh nap And yet it is
who will grind him.
The girl had not slept long, but they
had danced late, and already pale morn
ing was abroad. Suddenly there came a
slight scratching at the door. The girl sat
up in the shadow listening for a moment
and then lay back again sleepily. 1t was
some wandering horse 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 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
without a glance toward the dusky corner
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
IT will not die like miserable sheep"
thought she, s'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. Hope
grew in the heart of the motionless spec
tator in the corner.
''Holy Mother" she prayed, keep me
as mouse. Let me live as if lived not
and save me for the little madre's sake"
An hour rolled on. Through the win
dow the day was broadening. Cleofas was
stiff was cold, was impatient.
HE will sleep ON and on, like the pig
and wolf that he is, 2" she thought indig-
nantly, land I 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 eff
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 futter 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 a 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's dreams had been full
of enchanting visions of coquettish girls
appearing under different forms, but all
bearing the 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
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
+
1t was 80 amply surveyed miles from
the 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, ho1nely, 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 eastbound freight. The shearers were
eating and drinking monstrously about
their campfire on the malpais across the
Puerco.
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 said they wash It gritty, " he mutt
tiers, lend she knows it, end of course she
won't hey me- LaWsi I wuddent either. "