The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-04-10

W. l'atuSinS ~ tiucctibii, Siic went Ill
side, put on some clothing swiftly
came out and ran to the corral, wher,
she saddled aud mounted her father:
horse. Then she wheeled 10 the side
OF Domingo, handed him pistol and
placed two in her own belt. Domingo
laid his hand on her arm.
Have YOU thought?" he asked.
YES" was the firm reply.
"If you go with me now you can moi
return"
al know"
ayes, yes" she said, impatiently
let Us he gone.n
Just then the goats, aroused by TN,
unusual stir ut so early an hour began
TO move restlessly. This seemed to re
mind Domingo of something. lie
spoke hesitatingly.
"Armeda, 1 did not go after tn,
goats"
''i know. 1t does not matter They
were not lost. You have been tc
Manaliilo. | tried to keep you away"
'They Were not lost? Good We
are quits, Them
With this the outlaw bent toward
his companion and drew her toward
him and kissed her on the lips. Then
they settled themselves well in their
saddles, laid the reins loosely on the
neck of their horse and rode toward
the coming dawn.
For long time they rode silently,
neck and neck. When the read streaks
of the approaching day began to show
across the bare, brown plain the girl
looked about her and shuddered. Do
mingo saw and spoke:
at is the only chance. They dare
not follow here"
ITS the Malpais the Evil Place -
she said.
Then they rode forward steadily and
calmly into the place of horror
''He is long way off," said the
leader of the regulars, halting and
watching the moving specks ahead of
him; one cannot tell here how far.
Distance cheats the eye-it lies 20 one -
He shaded his eyes with his hand,
and looked a long time toward the cas-,
and again the west, from which they
had come.
ave will CO." he said, after little ;
81 am ashamed to give up, but it Is
just as well-he is safe-I make no
doabt OF that"
He nodded meaning in the direction
of the riders. Just as safe," he added,
"as though he had rope around his
neck.
''But the girl >" asked one of the
ba nj.
The leader only shrugged his should
ers in answer and set his face to the
west.
When the fugitives, looked back and
could see their pGrsuers no longer, they
rested little. Domingo unslung the
leathern water-bottle from his shoIld-
er, which had not been touched until
now, and gave Armcda a drink.
Then lac made motion as if swal-
lowing some himself, and poured Il
little of the water into the palm OF his
hand and moistcned the mouths of the
horses with it.
The midday sun rose high overhead,
and as they rode on through the long
afternoon, on through the schorching
desert, Oh through the terrible MIalpais,
it beat down upon them merciiessly.
The wind that came across the drea-
~ vast was blown straigh Int n from 4
fiery furnace. The air shimmered with
heat, and the bright metallic glitter
upon the polished lava burned upon
their eyebaIls and made them reel, sick
with dizzy faintneSs.
Once Armeda swerved from her sad
die and would have fallen, but was
stayed by her companions hand. He
gave her more water To drink.
And when the moon came up again
they yet rode-riding for life. They
ro lie now from something more terri
bic than the regulars. Bat they rode
slowly, uncertainty, and the miles
stretched longer and longer; the water
was all gone now, and their mouths
became dry and plrched and cracked
so that they could not talk.
But the outlaw touch the girl gently
now and then, and she answered him
with look of supreme content. She
was willing to accept that which the
saints should will.
Finally her horse stumbled and fell,
and could not rise again. Domingo
eau ght her i'll his arms.
Leave me, and ride" she whisper
ell.
Bu he only raised her to his own
saddle, and the good Juan bore them
both forward.
At last he, too, fell. Then Domingo
laid the girl on the ground, and, kneel-
iny besides his horse, called him by
every endearing name, conjured him
by all the dear saints 10 rise and carry
them out of the black horror-out from
that cursed place that had been named
for the father of all evil--the Evil
place.
But the Malpais clutched their lives
the more.
He rose and lifted the girl in his
arms and made forward a. best he
could. Weakly, blindly, staggering
and sometimes falling, but always for
ward, with a strength born of despair.
"Leave me,~ the girl whispered
again, 'and save yourself"
But Domingo knew the awful jour-
ney was almost done. Before him, in
the white moonlight, a mountain peak
loomei dimly. How far it was he
could not tell, but somewhere between
him and il was water.
If he could only keep on little long
er they would be saved.
But even in the moonlight there does
distance cheat the eye-does it still liz
to one. Whenever he raised his head
and looked across the plain 10 the
mountain it seemed 50 far off so unat-
tainable. that his heart sank.