Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-10-03

| as he came to her and took her unre-
slstingly in his arms. He kissed her
gravely and tenderly, put her from him,
holding her at arms length and gazing
ct her face as though he wished to re-
impSess each lineament upon his mem
DRY, dropped his hands by his side and
said; Good night"
Without word or backward glance,
she turned and went from him. her
head dropping, her hands crossed in
front of her. her eyes heavy with UNI
shed tears.
The mans next act ons We're charac-
| ter!stc. He bolted the door. removed
his coat and lifted various heavy arti-
Giles of furniture with his left hand. put
ing much strain upon II. He doubled
his fist. drew il to his injured shoulder
and shot II four or five times in rapid
succession and with all OF his force
This caused him to vince slightly with
pain. yet he smiled. Nearly as good
as new" he muttered. 1t will do"
Next he examined his weapon, remov-
ing each cartridge from its chamber
and substituting 1t with a fresh one
from the belt He looked at the watch
which he had been permitted to retain
and saw that the hour was half past
midnight. He drew from under the
mattress of his bed a bundle OF Mexi-
His face, sometimes shown by the
can cigars, doubtless purchased for him
by Quirino, lit one. extinguished the
lamp and threw himself into a chair.
his long legs stretched in front of him.
burning end OF the cigar, was free from
care and reminiscent in expression.
Now and then ne smiled happily Evi
IDENTIFY he was thinking of his love A
single bar of light from the setting
moon came through the window and
hung upon the opposite wall From
outside came an occasional whir made
by the wings OF the down STOPPING
nighthawk.
Half past one and the cigar was
smoked out The moonlight had gone
from the wall and the world was black.
Weston rose, buckled on his pistol, felt
that 1t rested lightly in the holster.
damned his sombrero down upon his
curls and stepped lightly to the door.
Once in the hall, his feet made no more
noise than those Of cat He reached
the front door, felt for the catch. found
1t and pressed it. The door swung
mo- .iessly open. On the previous night
he had attended to the hinges with a
bottle of oil and feather. A second
later he was on the porch. with the
door shut behind him. Here he paus-
ed and sent his keen glance rowing.
Nothing living was in sight. From
the section occupied by the huts OF the
Mexicans came the shrill barking OF a
a dog. The rancho dogs he knew were
kept chained at night In the rear Of
the house because OF their disposition
to kill things. He turned to his left,
stepped Off the porch and hurried
stealthily away. His route took him
by the bachelors quarters. He could
hear the snore Of the healthy young
ranchmen inside and he smiled. AS he
reached the far end OF this house, how
ever. and turned its corner TO begin his
rapid walk to the river, the figure OF a
man suddenly doomed five feet In his
front. II was Maude. always a light
sleeper, who was wondering about with
bitter memories. The men saw each
other at the same instant. An excla-
nation came from the Englishman, but
no more. He was hurled backward as
II struck by a falling tree. Weston's
pOWcilul kIlp Wdb Oh HlS Ill Odl anu
his knee was on his chest Cutlery was
impossible With inconceivable speed
the fugitive. with disengaged hand,
jerked from Under his pistol belt the
silk scarf which he wore, then, releas-
ing his hold on the throat. wrapped the
silk about his half unconscious victims
head and mouth, tving 1t tightly
Maude himself wore afeathern belt and
this was used to truss his arms and
legs together In minute at most he
was lying bound. silent and helpless.
Weston looked down on him with a
grim smile, painting slightly.
Il believe you're the man who shot
me-" he said. but I've no time to even
up the score. and she wouldn't like it
The next moment he had disappeared
in the darkness, running swiftly and
lightly, ahead OF him showing dimly
the dark range OF the Mexican hills.