Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-01-07


desperadoes at that perilous moment
and thrown her arms around him unless
unless she was the girl he had been
making love to in broken Spanish dur
ing the fiesta at Tucson: He would not
have let Loring know where he was 60
ing or why for good deal But once
away from him Blake was alone, with
no one to interpose objection. and he
went.
In three minutes he had made his
cautious way to the westward willows,
and his heart began beating in spite Of
his determination to be guarded and
even suspicious, for there sat the little
senorita alone That fact in itself should
have opened his eyes and WOULD have
done so year or two later, but Blake
was still a good deal of boy and in
another moment he stepped quickly to
her side and almost swept the ground
with his broad brimmed scouting hat as
he bowed low before her. Instantly the
song ceased, the guitar dropped with an
AOlian whine upon the sand, and as
Blake stopped to raise it she sprang to
her feet, half stified Cry upon her lips.
With smiling self assurance he bowed
instrument to the little hands that were
half appraised as though to warn him
back, but she began coyly retreating
from the bench on which she had been
seated and he quickly followed, muir
muring protest and reinsurance in such
Spanish as he could command, declar-
ing he had never yet had opportunity to
thank her for deed Of daring that per
haps had saved his life Che knew it
hadn't-the long legged, nimble tongued
reprobate), and trembling, timOrous,
sweetly hesitant, she fingered, she even
let him seize her hand, and only family
strove to draw it away. She began even
to listen to his pleading She shyly
hung her pretty head and coyly turned
away and furtively peeped across the
starlit level toward the ranch, where
two dark forms, serape shrouded. were
lurking at the corner Of the corral They
had come crOuching forward a dozen
yards when something, some sudden
sound, drove them back to shelter, and
in the next moment Blake heard it, and
the girl, too, for, like a frightened
fawn, she darted away and went sour
rying to the rear entrance of the ranch,
horsemen, "Gringos evidently, who
came Looping in on the Yuma trail, and
at his voice the foremost leaped from
saddle and called:
lis it Lieutenant Blake? We've come
with dispatches, sir, from Yuma. And
christening his saddlebag the trooper
placed a packet in the officers hand
Come this way, said Blake briefly,
leading toward the light and inwardly
bemOaning an i'll wind that had blown
him far more good than he dreamed. 4
few strides took him to the door of the
ranch The dispatches were for the
president of the late court at Camp
Cooke, for Turn bull, for Loring and for
himself Sending the courier to camp,
he tore open his Order-a brief letter of
instructions to furnish such escort as
night be deemed sufficient for the safe
conduct of Lieutenant ColoneIs Vance
and Turnbull to Tucson Then be wait.
ed to hear from them With .;@!lcho
eagerly scanning their faces, the TWO
veterans had opened and read their or
ders, then looked up at each other III
evident surprise. Presently they arose,
and begging their host to excuse them
tow, stepped into the lighted bar be-
You'd. Another court had teen convened,
another officer was to be tried, and the
two who had Officlated as seniors at
Camp Cooke were directed to proceed at
once to the old Mexican capital for
similar duty there.
Before sunrise, escorted by a dozen
troopers, Vance and Turnbull were Oh
their way, their farewell words to Bake
being all injunction to see LOrlng and
his precious charges safe to Yuma City
AS long as he lived Gerald Blake was
destined to remember the Saturday that
dawned upon them as the little party
rode away southeastward. Even the
men seemed oddly depressed. Neither
to Iurnbull, to Loring nor to Blake
had this detachment suggested itself as
possible. What with having to send
large portion of his command forward
on the Yuma road so as to provide com
paratively fresh horsemen to accompany
the stage with its relays of mules
Blake found himself at reveille with
just Is men all told, awaiting the COM
ing Of that anxiously expected vehicle
He prayed that it might bring at least
one or two officers from Grant or Bowie
He vainly sought another peep at or
word with Pancha; hat, though Sanchc
was everywhere in evidence, grave,
courteous, hospitable, imperturbable,
though one or two ranchmen rode in
and out during the morning. and thera
was little gathering, perhaps half e
dozen men and "Mozos'' apparently
awaiting the coming of the stage at
noon, the women kept out of sight At
10 the old lorgnette was brought to
bear On the eastward trail; but, to the
apparent surprise OF the loungers, l
o'clock came and no stage, and so die 4