Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-09-14

Wneso yVu wAa liecs Liui. rruniise me
that You will obey me and not act until
give the word"
~ promise. And now
He moved toward her, but with
one hand she checked his advance;
with the other she pointed to the west
ward ~ II designating our hiding place.
At tho same time the sound of horses
hoofs. carefully stepping. came family
to my ears, moving toward us from be-
hind. We turned and could detect, ut
not q great distance away, the dark
forms Of men and horses advancing
among the mesquites and yuccas. II
was not at us, but mt them, that Lupita
had pointed. The two dusky figures
standing together by the tent pauscd .
moment in an attitude Of attention,
then melted away In the shadows
For Felix and me there was no time
10 lose in getting back TO the station.
Crouching low and moving noiselessly
we crept in the shadow Of the building
up to the corral, passed round 10 the
farther side Of the wall, scaled IL and
took our position in the darkness Of the
shed. There, with rifles in hand, We
awaited the development Of affairs
As has already been said, the corral
stood in the rear Of the house, which
formed part of its front wall But the
sides Of the inclosure, which was q
square in shape. were longer than the
length Of the honse, 30 that the corral
wall extended about 25 feet easterly
from the easterly end Of the building.
Between the house and its easterly cor
ner was the corral gate, and in the cor
ner the shed began. Il was primitive
structure built against the easterly wall
Of the corral. It's open front command.
ed full view Of the interior Of the cor
raj and the back Of the house. An empty
freight wagon stood in the end Of the
shed ut the corner, and, climbing into
that, we could easily look over the cor
ral wall 80 as to view the easterly end
Of the house and its one window. Thus
we fully commanded the two entrances
to the room occupied by Carmen. We
had spread our blankets upon the wagon
bottom NO that in moving about we
might make as little noise as possible,
and, standing in the darkness, behind
the drivers seat. we were completely
hidden from the observation Of any one
outside the shed
Scarcely had we taken our places
when, coming round the easterly cor
per, along the outer face Of the wall, q
dark figure, which W, ,Ncognized as the
man called Miguel, stole swiftly to the
window and tapped thrice on the sash.
So still was everything about that we
could hear-perhaps rather feel-that
some one was moving within the ROOM
The moon shone full upon the window,
and. directly from the inner darkDess,
there appeared against pane the dusky
face, the black eyes Of Dolores, gleam'
ipg a recognition Us size nodded with
finger on her hips The visitor outside
the window vanished, returning the
same way he had come. Slowly and
noiselessly the back door Of the house
opened, and the mufiled form Of Dolores
emerged into the corral and fitted to
the gate. She lifted the great wooden
bar, pushed the gate partly open, slipped
through the opening, shut the gate
lightly behind her and passed quickly
from sight round the corner Of the wall.
Some Of the horses and mulC< lying
about the corral lifted their heads as
she went past them, but none arose OF
showed signs Of disturbance.
Silently we clu;ched cur weapons,
waiting for what was 10 come. But
there was no occasion 10 use them as