The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-18

! turned upon Melquiades, Piney and a
! greaser from down on the Rio.
with his arm around the waist Of the
! girl and a scoWl on his face as dark as
| the gloss of her curls Lopez stood mo-
| tiOnless, glazing at the greaser who
crouched like a tiger just ready to spring.
A moment Of silence so deep you could
cut it, and then with snarl the greaser
Ieaped straight for the throat Of his rival.
the knife in his hand bleaming bright in
the light of the lamps.
The point of his weapon plowed its
way through the side of Lopez, but bull
let full into his face shattered the nerve
OF the greasert and he sank on his knees,
his blood staining red the white dress of
the one he had loved and had died for,
MS fast chilling lips touching softly the
hem of her garment.
with his smoking revolver still clasped
IN his hand, Melquiades jerked the blood
dripping knife from his quivering flesh
and flung It with sheer of contempt at
the motionlesS form of the greaser Then
turning his glittering eyes on the boys
in the room he swore he would shoot out
the heart of any galoot who dared to
make love to the fairy.
At his words a dozen reVolVers were
flashed, and he backed his way into a
corner with a CLEAN in his eyes that pro-
claimed he would make his bluff good.
But Piney dash of red on her cheeks
as bright as the red on her dress, de-
manded he put up his weapon.
For moment he gazed in Ter eyes the
scowl on his face giving way to smile,
then he quiVered an instant and sank in
a heap on the floor.
For q month after that he was loco
with fever, dealing out to his nurses all
kinds Of wild talk Of a fairy with eyes
that laughed into his like the star SPAN
gled night laughs in the faces of ripples
that dance on the Pecos But when the
fire got out of his veins, and the w--eels
or his Uranium ceased their revolving,
he never once mentioned her name, al
r nff nd y-od
ingly out Of the window to where her
home stood on the banks Of the old
| Phantom.
Autumn stampeded and winter
froZe to death on the prairies while
Melquiades tossed on his bunk with his
pain never soothed by the presence Of
Piney. She had no time to waste on
a wounded cow-puncher while the plain
and the valley were dizzy with boys who
could dance and could ride and make
love in the moonlight
''The wild flowers held up their pity
ing. heads. when Melquiades, pale-faced
and crippled forever, dragged himself
down to the banks of the river. Great
were the wounds in his flesh, where the
knife of the greaser had chawed at his
vitals, but greater than these was the
wound in his heart for little by little,
he had learned OF Pfney's betrothal to
Jose Oumondo.
he dragged himself onward, hearing
the murmuring ripples, and watching
the moonlight asleep on the water. and
suddenly, through the gloom and the
silence there came to his ears the
sobbing voice of a woman. He listened
a moment, then onward he hurried with
all the strength that was left him.
He found her at last, lying fat on
her face in the grasses, her wonderful
eyes dripping wet with her tears, her
misty and tragical tresses unkempt and
unbraided, falling patheticaIly over her
shoulders that shook with her anguish.
INV h0p cid oy,I fo1 I,f-
hand on her head, but spoke not a
word. A moment she glanced in his
face, then, like a child, clutched his arm
and buried her face on his shoulder.
"A long time they sat on the bank of
the Pecos, and little by little, she told
him the story of Jose's desertion, of her