The herald., 1895-01-19
THE QUICKSAND.

that rough frontier country. He had
carried off pretty Spanish wife from
the Chihuahua region years before, had
brought her to the rocky Californian
coast and had purchased settlers claim
and an old adobe house built by a Span
ish hidalgo half century ago.
Here he farlned, raised cattle on the
unused government lands and kept a
sort of rude hotel for several mountain
trails joined at that point the broad
highway which led from the county
seat, 20 miles south, to the northern
settlements in the pineries He had five
daughters, too, the youngest, Theresa,
known as Tessa, girl of II. That add
ed to the attraction, and almost every
night the dark eyed, half Spanish girls
sang and danced, and old Stoner man
aged to hear all the news that was
afloat, and somehow most of the loose
coin of the region ultimately found it's
way into his pockets. He was q deep
one, that same Ephraim Stoner, quiet,
sly and patient, secret i'll his methods
and deadly in his blow.
Stoner's> wife and his four elder
daughters were uneducated and in
complete subsection to his will, but
Tessa had more brains and energy than
all tho others pnt together and quite as
much beauty, so that the old Texan
ranger took certain pride in her and
had even allowed her to attend dis
tant school for two years.
This midnight, when, as have said,
the story begins, a person of prying
disposition might have discovered sew
eral interesting performances in progress
around the Stoner adobe. On the north
side of the house, quite in the shadow,
Tessa was leaning from her window,
conversing in low tones with blond,
fair haired and sturdy young man on
horseback.
"Tom, you do not know my father.
He is not the careless, warm hearted
man you suppose. l must admire his
ability, but that is all. l warn you,
Tom, there never was more dangerous
man. He may be where he hears every
word you say, but if he is he will not
speak to you or to me about it, but ii
he knew that you cared for me he would
me. He wants me to marry for money"
Tom Warren had once been the school
teacher in the mountain district, miles
away, where Tessa had been one of his
pupils. Thrown upon his own resources
from his childhood, he had developed q
strong, earnest character and was al
ready so popular in the county that he
had just been elected sheriff, although
the youngest man on the ticket
While Tessa and her lover were talk
ing a scene of far different nature was
being enacted on the south side of the
old adobe, which overlooked a deep ra-
vine and a camp of five or six men in
o field below For several years these
men had spent their summers there, os-
tensibly hunting, fishing and exploring
the country with their dogs and guns.
Every one knew them, and most persons
liked them. Tessa did not.
Stoner, though it was midnight, sat
in the moonlight on an old rawhide
chair, outside the door, smoking his
! pipe and meditating-a tough, sinewy,
grizzled night owl of man.
"That internal knuckle head at the
camp ought to have reported before
now," he thought to himself as he
smoked.
A man came out Of the brush and
spoke deferentially:
"Capt'n, good eveninf
you're late. ="
"Dick was shot"
"Well?"
"Just as the driver throwed off the
box. Shot by passenger in the neck
and shoulder. "
| "He mustn t stay here to get us into
trouble. Take a boat and carry him to
the point and leave him in the cave
! there.
eyes, oapt'n.
"How much was aboard?'
"About So, 900 for the Josephine min
ers."
"Send it over the cliff before morn
ing, and I'll divide it up soon, but you
be extra careful. That new sheriff is q
smart one"
"All right, capt'n," and the man
went back to the camp.
A moment later, just as Stoner was
going back into the house, there was
the slow thud of a horses hoofs, and
Tom Warren, the young sheriff, rode
down the trail, around the corner of the
old adobe building into the main coun-
ty road that lay to the west. He had at
last yielded to Tessa's entreaties to "go.
go, this minute, Tom
Impossible as Stoner was, he felt q
little startled by the sight
"Where in the devil did you come
from, sheriff? Anything up in this part
of the country"
"Oh, no, not particle. I've been
visiting my old school in the mountains
and took the short trail home, down
| Cayucos.' "
This was plausible enough, for there
was blind trail that entered the can"
yon just east Of the angle of the house.
Stoner felt little relieved.
Wont you put up and stay with us
all night?"
''No Mr.. Stoner, I must go down to
Kestral to see friends there It's only an
hours ride.
"That settles it," thought Stoner.
"Plenty of stout fellows to use rs sher-
ifs deputies there. He has probably
stumbled on traces aud is going for
help" He sat and smoked and slipped
his hand back under his coat. easy tt