Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1899-02-02

the swarthy constituents of the group,
and with never word to one of them,
straight through their midst and the
doorway beyond, went Blake, catching
the three peppers, "the wife of my
brother" and the brace of palpable cut.
threats at their loopholes So unexpect-
ed was the move that it had not even
occurred to one of the creatures at the
door to mutter a word of warning. So
engrossed were the three in their scru-
tiny that Blake's entrance was unheard.
True, he had discarded boots and
spurs and his feet were incased in soft
Apache moccasins. The floor. too. was
earthen, but he made no effort at
stealth, and in the gloom and shadow
of the low rooted room it was for mo-
ment difficult to distinguish the human
| figures against the opposite wall. 1t
was his ear that first gave warning, for
low, yet distinct, he heard the words:
'If he'd taken any horse but that
roan,. or knew less about riding, we'd
"a caught him 30 miles out, and he'd
never a caught Nevins. Dash dash the
whole dashed blue bellied outfit and be
dash dash dashed to their quadruple
dashed souls!" and the concentrated
spite and hatred of the speaker Kissed
in every syllable
'Tain't a question of what we could
not do. What can we do? He's got the
money. and plenty of it, cached some
where about the old camp, and $500 of
it's mine. That's what l want. | don't
care a d-p what they do with him SO
long as they don't send him to prison.
where we can't nail him That's what
that bloody court will do though, and
know it,
How d'you know, - fiercely demand.
ed the other, :" Mess you've been in the
army. which you swear you haven t?
Where'd you desert from? Come. own
up now, and, turning for an instant
from his peephole. the speaker became
suddenly aware of the silent form of
Lieutenant Blake.
None of your dashed business' be-
gan the other. when harsh "Shut up!'
brought him around in amaze, and he,
too, confronted the dark figure standing
like a signpost between them and the
violet light beyond the open doorway
1nstinctively the hands Of both men
sought their pistol butts, but Blake
made never move. The woman, look
ing around for the cause Of the sudden
silence caught sight of the statuesque
intruder and, with low cry, threw
her shawl over her head and, bending
almost double, with outstretched. crop
ing hands, scurried to where the mis-
sion made blanket hung at the doorway
of the bedroom and darted through the
aperture like rabbit to its form, the
folds of the heavy wool falling behind
her
And still the tall lieutenant neither
spoke nor moved. His revolver hung at
his right hip, his hunting knife slept
in its sheath. but his hands sat jauntily
OH his thighs The stern, set look of
his clear cut face had given place to
something like grin of amusement
First at one, then at the other, of the
two bewidered worthless he gazed,
looking each deliberately from head to
foot as they lowered there, both irreso
lutte and disconnected, one of them yisi
bly, trembling
1hOAo "aS q uOOA way !ouuluS 1uGO tu0
room in which was set the table for
stage passengers of the better class, off
GERS and the few ladies who had ven
tured to follow their lords into faraway
Arizona, or the gente fine, which in
cluded amazons whose money could pay
their way pretty much anywhere and
was made pretty much anyhow But
that room was empty, and the one be-
You'd it, the bar, had only one or two
occupants. too far away to see what was
going on
There were doorway and a swinging
screen Of dirty canvas just beyond the
loophole lately occupied by 'the wife
of my brother, a doorway that gave
oil the corral, and to each of these each
silent tough" had given quick, furtiva
glance, but not a step was taken How
long the strain of the situation might
hs"e lasted there is no saying 1t was
III by the sudden lifting of tina,
dirty canvas screen, as sudden and por-
ceptiblo start on the part of each Of
the confronted men and the quick en-
trance of the engineer For another
second or two no word was spoken,
Loring's eyes were evidently unable at
the instant to penetrate the gloom
Then he recognized Blake, then gradu.
ally the two men at the wall, and then
at last Blake spoke.
There are your followers, Loring.
A moments careful scrutiny; then a
nod of assent was Loring's answer.
"Now, then, you two" said Blake
Eve suspected you before. Now more
than suspect you. You, the long vii
lain. warn never to come nosing
about our camp again, and you, the
shorter, I'll trouble to come into camp
forthwith. No, don't draw that pistol
unless you want dozen bullets through
you. Half a troop is right here at my
back Your soldier name was Higgins,
and you're deserter from Grants bat.
terry, New Orleans.
For moment there was a silence
broken only by the hard breathing Of
the two cornered men; then came q
flash, sharp report, piercing scream
as the 1.-the Mexican girl sprang forth