Ellsworth American., 1904-05-11
The Holdup at
Antelope's Run
nv cURRAN r. GREENLEY


pony a breathing space. A rim of sill
yer grew and widened along the east.
and as Gerald watched the moon
swung up the sky and the south wind
came rushing cool and sweet against
his hot brow. How like 10 that night
three years ago. when they had stood
together meath the palms at st. Au-
sustinei In place of the loneliness of
plain and sky-the Dream City. jewel
crowned. the gray old fort. the SHIN
mering meon sAvered sca--and Mar
garet One night in a mans life, when
she had answered Yes to the story
he told, out there on the crumbling
walls of san Marco. He remembered
how they had watched the little blue
clad figure as 1t toiled up with the
fateful message, tbs message that
dashed the sweetness from the orange
scented night, hushed the music of the
sea- leaving him alive to only the sense
OF ruin-utter ruin!
Three hours later he WAS on the way
to New York. leaving only brief note.
81 cannot hold you to your promise.
am a beggar." He knew now the
wrong that he had offered her woman
hood But then, with the old man who
had been more comrade than father.
lying with bullet hole through his
brain, there seemed no other way. 1t
had been a maze. commencing with the
pitiful funeral. with himself as a sole
mourner; then the long days when ev-
cry hour disclosed the wrong that had
been done to women and helpless chill
dren. A very madness of speculation
had possessed his father. and the
worthless paper seemed to grow into
mountains of guilt and shame. Settle
ments, judgments. foreclosures. and
there came a day when he stood with
barely enough left to take him west
out OF sight Of his kin.
Five long years. They were filled
with life and movement and afiash
with barbaric color wrought In strange
pattern of border warfare, night raids
when Comanche and Apache were
"out." But the Blue Star ranch had
prospered. The cattle had thriven and
grown from scattered punches into a
great herd, of which Gerald was half
owner. Tomorrow they would start
on the long trail to the market places.
The black pony shifted the air sus-
piciously at rustic In the dried sage
grass. A shadow came out from
among the shadows and stood upright.
and as the blanket slipped from her
shoulders Gerald saw that it was
Juana, the Mexican wife Of Comanche
Jake. He knew the woman. Only
a week before he had come TO her
rescue Just in time TO save her from
Comanche Jake's bowie knife. and now
spoke to her kindly. You. Juana?
What is the matter now? Is Jake after
you again?"
Juana crept still closer. "senorl
Senior. For the love of Our Lady, call
out your men and ride TO Antelope's
run. They"-with Il twist of her hand
toward the distant tepee in the mes
quite-"they are over there-half Il
dozen like Jake, all mad with the mes
cal-and they go to rob the Anguilla
stage when 1t passes Antelope's run.
Senior. they will kill-they'll kill me
when they find I've told. but Caracas
above and told how he got a mes
sage while at Angullla in cipher from
a pal OF his in Santa Fe, and it said
there was government gold a-comin'
through and that there was Il woman,
too. who was rich and had money
along with her. They've got it all
planned how to do for the driver and
the guards, and Caracas Johnny is to
have the woman. Senor, for the love
of the mother that bore you, get out
your men and save her or kill her. It's
twenty miles to Antelope's run, but
Jake and the boys won't start till mid
night and they'll be drunk with the
mescal.''
And how about you?" asked Ger
aid
Juana gathered her blanket closer.
"Senor. If you letsJake come back, he
will know / told you. Then God and
Our Lady have mercy" And the squat
figure slipped away into the night.
He did not question the truth OF
the woman's statement. There was
work for the Blue Star outfit at Ante
lope's run. 1t worried him that this
should have come Just as they needed
all their best men for the big drive,
out where woman was at stake there
could be no question of cattle.
Ten minutes of hurried galloplng to
and fro and Gerald led off his cattle
force, leaving a half dozen, out the
gate. AS they shot up the Santa Fe
lil ms "atch showed IL o'clock by
the moons rays
The swift ponies lay down to their
work and the earth rolled back be-
meath their hoofs as they rode in the
quick cavalry trot over miles of sage
grass and white sand, past prairie dog
towns, where the alert tenants whisk-
ed out Of sight like so many small
ghosts, past the dry arroyas like white
scars on the face of the plain. On and
on Here a bunch of mesquite. gnome-
nke in the spectral light, elumps of