Connecticut western news., 1906-07-19
Senorita Rita
 By IZOLA FORESTER Convrirht IQOR hv Rnhv nnnnlna
Copyright, 1906, by Ruby Douglas

''So you are going home, senor?" The girl looked straight ahead at the wide sweep of level prairie pasture, her red lips parted in a smiled most tantaliz- ing annoying smile Carruthers thought as he caught a glimpse of it sideways.
 Perhaps" he. returned moodily. "I have stayed too long already"
 "You do not like Texas, senorT
 "You did not call me senor last week." He bent toward her slightly. but she did not turn her head. "You called me--Jack."
 She laughed and flashed hasty glance at him from her soft, dark eyes.
 That was a long time ago-last week-but I will call you 1t again if you wish, Mir. Jack" ...
 Carruthers did not notice the conces- sion or her gay scorn. He stared out to where the cattle browsed-a sea of still, brown waves, hundreds of them, motionless and peaceful In the morn ing sunrise Here and there on the outskirts stood a figure of a horse with a silent rider watching the grazing herd. Carruthers' gaze swept over the mass until 1t rested on one herder at the extreme north. Even with the dis tance of nearly a mile between them he knew what the figure looked like, knew that 1t was watching them as he was watching it. It was not q pleasant knowledge.
 "You have changed your mind, Seno- rita Rita," he said bitterly, "since Ra- mon came to the ranch. I was very happy-in Texas-until your old sweet heart appeared"
 Rita laughed again, deliciously, warm ly, with full enjoyment of his mood.
 You are not tired of Texas, MT. Jack" she said merrily. You are tired of me-ah, yes, I say you are. You love me so madly, so entrancingly, until somebody else comes who also loves me so madly, so entrancingly, too; and then all at once you are jealous and distant and dissatisfied, and, presto. now, this minute. you say you will leave Texas, you will never, never come to the Fortuna ranch again. You are-what did you call me the day cried when Pep broke his leg akid, that is 1t. You are a big, foolish kid, MT. Jack. When a man loves he does not sulk and ride away. He stays and fights. Seew She held up her hand and snapped her small tanned fingers sharply in the air. "I would not give that for the silly kid lover who rides away. Ramon Is a Mexican, but he Is hpoxy hA Aoht hx,A lof 1xi, know the least bit loved hip he would carry me off on his horse way, way south over there to Mexico. You would not carry me away to your home like that, would you. Mir. Jackr
 T would carry you to the end of the world" retorted Carruthers.
 But not to your homeT she persist ed.
 T have no home," said Carruthers. "When I came here to Texas I meant to stay even before met you"
 But you are rich. Ramon says you could buy all of the Fortuna for pas time if you cared for 1t. And the For tuna is the richest ranch within hun dred miles of the border. There is no cattleman so rich as my father in Mex ico."
 She lifted her head with the little tilt of pride he knew well. Senorlta Rita Riaz heiress of the Fortuna, could well afford to lift her head a trifle higher than other girls. But to Carruthers the motion brought merely regret. He knew the truth about the Fortuna knew what every Texan as far as San Antonio would know within a week. that old Diabio Riaz had squandered his wealth in gambling; that not a thing on the Fortuna was unmort- gagged save his daughter, and even she, 1t was rumored, was pledged to Ramon Doranda in return for his promised as- sistance when the crash came
 Carruthers might have given the same assistance and claimed the same reward, but something within him re voIted against making the hand of the girl he loved the stake in a transaction over old Riaz's gambling debts. If he could win her, If he could hold her promise freely from her own lips, then he felt free to buy up the whole For tuna when the crash came and lay it at her feet. But she must be free to  say yes or no. And she would say neither. She would only laugh.
 Have you told Ramon you would marry him?" he asked, with sudden curtness. The uncertainty was mad dening to him.
 "Why do you ask?' she answered teasingly.
 "Rita," he pleaded, "be serious. If you do not
 She raised her arm with a sudden, imperative gesture and pointed to the herd.
 "Lookv' she cried. "They are stam- peding"
 Carruthers looked. The brown sea had suddenly stirred to life. Undulat- ing, swaying, branching out loosely at the edges, 1t was lurching toward them There seemed to be nothing rapid or swift about its coming. Carruthers thought, almost idly, of how 1t resem' bled the swing of a bunch of race horses rounding the end of the field when the movement was so concerted so deliberate, that 1t hardly seemed a movement. The herders were riding here and there in confusion. They
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