The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1902-11-14
could easily have explored almost any

could easily have explored almost any
part Of the ranche-house at night,
since no guard was kept, could have
re-possessed himself Of his weapon
without trouble and might have ever
ridden away on their best horse If he
had SO chosen. The fact that he had
not done so gave them rather a kind
ly feeling for him, which was ex-
pressed by Glynn in the sentence:
II never liked the way in which he
was captured and the fact that he has
stolen nothing proves that he was not
such a rascal after all"
81 beg pardon" said Allyn, "but I
can't endorse his honesty. My new
sombrero, which I left hanging on the
d~eer-horns in the hallway, is missing.
I'd much rather he'd taken Deveraux's
horse"
This was at breakfast and a guilty
flush stole to the cheek of Lois. She
could have told a good deal about the
sombrero if so minded and she looked
at Allyn kindly as if she intended to
make it up to him in some way. She
heard of the mishap to Maude with
a certain secret satisfaction. She told
herself that there was poetic justice
in the fact that having attempted the
role of assassin he should be stricken
for it and afterward trussed ignomini-
ouly like a sheep. The incident gave
her a new idea of the muscular power
and quickness of the absent one and
she would not have been a girl If she
had not invested him with god-like
bravery and strength. When mex she
saw Maude she looked at him curl
ously and found him looking at her
with equal intentness. This made her
uneasy, but she was too high-spirited
to show it palpably. She wondered
how much he knew, how much he sus-
pected and whether his presence in
the path of her lover on that night had
been intentional or accidental. His
first remark showed plainly the direc-
ton in which his suspicious ran:
"Allyn tells me, Miss English, that
the cattle thief Weston decamped with
his sombrero. Their w heads must
be of a size, a fact which you may
have noticed"
Il am not likely to have noticed
it," she said coldly.
ooh, I thought hat probably in your
daily, earnest, kindly, almost wifely.
attentions to the wounded bandit you
may have observed a similarity of
cranial development between him and
our rattle-pated young friend"
II did not"
"Nor did 1 for that matter, though
it is true that l saw Weston but once
after he was shot and then when he
was making his escape"
"You had no time for extended OBJ
servation?" she questioned malici-
ously.
Maude flushed darkly and his sharp
teeth came together with a click.
II see well in the dark, as l have
told you,' he answered, but 1t was the
sombrero which fooled me. / believed
the man to be Allyn. The brim OF 1t
was pulled down over his face. as
Allyn often wears 1t. There Is a
marked difference in their height.
which for the moment escaped me.
Before l perceived my error I was
struck in cowardly fashion,"
cit vas a straight shot two hun
dred yards away" she quoted. 1.-THE
man must have eyes like a CATS"
whats that you're saying?" he
asked sharply.
Merely an excerpt from the rawlings
Of the fugitive when delirious from
his wound" she replied. "He declared
over and over again that the man
who shot him in the dark was two
hundred yards distant and must have
possessed abnormal vision"
(To be co~ntipued.)