Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1906-04-19
DOWN BY THE
RIO GRANDE
By CURRAN RICHARD GREENLEi
Copmialsf. 1910. IMP c. EdstmeEt
Copyright. i9oe. mr.. c. Eastmert

| The long gray adobe walls of the
hacienda lay batl Il in the culver OF
yellow light Alleyae watched Mar
garet's face for sign of truce, but the
| shadows came and went between The
| vines that dlaped the patio as the i'll
| terminable Sabbath afternoon dragged
| away and Margaret remained buried i'll
| her book. And all about u beggarly
| horse t.lief." he murnured to himself
rs he sat up straight and sent the pile
| of magazines crashing to the floor.
| There was look of consciousness
about the back of that shapely brown
| head that held itself so persistently
| averted. but Alleyne deemed it wiser
not to reopen the subject OF Miguel.
over in the CORA, things wore Il de-
serted air. TwAor three men lounsed
In the shade of ;he high wall. .Allcyne
| yawned and looked 1T his watch and
mt n faint movement of the figure in the
rocker. Margaret, r. Crack-ack-
| ack, Somewhere away to the west
three shots rang out in rapid success
sion. pause and then three more.
Over In the corral the lounging fig
ures sprang TO life. and an instant later
three ponies We're galloping III the di-
rection of the shots. Alleyne dashed
into the house. reappearing with the
field glasses They've got him" He
was peering Mt collections of black
dots on the edge of the horizon.
Il lat
| upon his arm.
THE mischief" Alieyne ierled the
| glasses down Il forgot YOU were
here" Under her steady gaze his
/ color changed. Yes. If you will have
| the whole CHASTITY truth and cannot be
! persuaded to stay out of it, its that
scoundrel Miguel
Margaret shrank away from him
with low cry of distress. The look
In her eyes went straight to Alleyne's
| heart, and his voice softenod to ten
| der pleading as he tried to draw her
to him Little woman, you cannot be
| the judge of these matters and you
cannot shield horse thief. | could
| have told you this morning, but pre-
| ferred to let you think me bit hard
| on Miguel than to shock you with the
| truth There have been some queer
happenings lately both here at the
| Alaho and at Jose's. Last night
bunch of ,Iose's best ponies came up
| missing, and the boys have been trail
ing him since sunrise"
''John Alleyne do you mean to let
those savages of yours murder man
here on the Alaho just for the sake of
few bronchos?" Margaret faced him
sternly, and Alleyne lost his hard kept
patience.
you forget that there are mems
| laws to be considered as well aStGod's,
| and out here on the fringe of the world
| tho code knows no greater crime than
| lifting a broncho and the lifting or
many bronchos aggravates the case. st
is not Il question IN which my wife
may meddle." And Alleyne strobe to-
ward the corral, while Margaret pick
ed up the glasses.
The wind blown stretch Of bare
brown mesa told her nothing of the
tragedy brewing behind its crest She
watched Alleyne until her eyes ached.
4 clatter of hoofs and a voice call
ing her name brought her to the door,
where a half broken cayuse snorted
and paved. AStride of him sat Bright
Eyes, Miguels Indian wife, the brown
baby swung to her back. There was n
queer ashen pallor on the woman's
stolid face as she slid from the pony's
back one hand clutching at the deer
skin thong that held the papoose.
white man got Miguel Miguel he
die" Here she pointed TO her throat
and made Il Gasping sound. white
squaw much hurree Miguel he no die.
SabeT"
Margaret covered before the awful
pleading in those savage eyes Not
a question in which my wife may med
die" John had said, but there was no
time to weigh scrupleS and five min
utes later strangely assorted pair
rode into the face of the setting sun,
and the rough little cayuse strove to
keep pace with the swinging stride of
the Hindoo mare. Ear ahead black
dot moved against the sky that Marga-
ret knew to he Alleyne. glimmer of
consequences flashed across her mind,
but the sweet young mouth only grew
a little tirmer rs she struck the trail Of
many horses and knew the goal to be
In sight.
On and on, sagebrush and prickiy
pear, the yellow sand beneath and
overhead the blue melting into the
evenings violet crown-nature's own
smile upon the scene that swept into
view, where men and horses were
grouped around the impassiye figure
wrapped in the ragged poncho that
lounged in careless grace against the
white SCARED trunk OF a large mes
quite Nfargarets eyes went instinc-
lively 70 the lariat knotted about the
bronze throat 1t was not the FIRST time
that Miguel had felt It there, but Rusty
Pete himself held the end OF this one.
The voices huShed instantly, and to Il
man the wide sombreros were lifted as
Margaret slipped from the saddle and
stood looking from one dark face to
another. An awful sense Of self en-
4. ~