The copper era and Morenci leader., 1912-03-01
~pIeaa. do moi caIi me that,.-


 "Please do not call me thati',
 "But you said it didn't make any difference what called you" ....
 q though it didn't then. but 1t does now"
 "Oh, see; we are already on new footing. Yet I must call you some thing"
 She hesitated just long enough for him to notice it. Either she had no substitute ready at hand, or else doubt ed the advisability of confiding her real name under present circumstances to one so nearly stranger.
 You may call me Hope.'
 "A name certainly of good omen," he returned. From this moment I shall forget Christie Maclaire, and re- member only Miss Hope. All right. Neb; now turn over a chair, and sit your man up against it. He will rest all the easier in that position until his gang arrives
 He thrust his head out of the door, peering cautiously forth into the night, and listening. A single horse, prob ably the one Hawley had been riding, was tied to a dwarfed cottonwood near the corner of the cabin. Nothing else living was visible
 'I am going to round up our horses, and learn the condition of Hawley's outfit" he announced in a low voice. T may be gone for fifteen or twenty minutes, and, meanwhile, Miss Hope, get ready for a long ride. Neb, stand here close beside the door, and if any one tries to come in brain him with your gun-stock. I'll rap three times when I return"
 He slipped out into the silent night, and crept cautiously around the end of the dark cabin. The distinct change in the girls attitude of friendship to- ward him, her every evident desire that he should think we'll of her, to- gether with the providential opportu- nifty for escape, had left him full of confidence. The gambler had played blindly into their hands, and Keith was quick enough to accept the ad- vantage. It was a risk to himself, to be sure, thus turning again to the northward, yet the clear duty he owed the girl left such a choice almost i'm perative. He certainly could not drag her along with him on his flight into the wild Comanche country extend ing beyond the Canadian. She must, at the very least, be first returned to the protection of the standardization along the Arkansas. After that had been accomplished, he would consider his own safety. He wondered If Hope really was her name, and whether it was the family cognomen, or her given name. That she was Christie Maclaire he had no question, yet that artisr1c establishment was probably merely assumed for the work of the concert hall. Both he and Hawley could scarcely be mistaken as to her ident1- ty in this respect, and, indeed, she had never openly denied the fact Yet she did not at all seem to be that kind, and Keith mentally contrasted her with numerous others whom he had somewhat intimately known along the border circuit. It was difficult to as- sociate her with that class; she must have come originally from some excel lent family East, and been driven to the life by necessity; she was more to be pitied than blamed. Keith held no puritanical views of life-his own ex- periences had been too rough and democratic for that-yet he clung te- naciously to an ideal of womanhood which could not be lowered However interested he might otherwise feel, no Christie Maclaire could ever find entrance into the deeps of his heart, where dwelt alone the memory of his mother.
 He found, the other horses turned into the corral, and was able, from their restless movements, to decide 4I- .1-- extinguished, glowed duily at the farther corner of the enclosure, and he crawled close enough to distinguish the recumbent forms of men sleeping about it on the ground. Apparently no guard he'd been set, the fellows be- ing worn out from their long ride, and confident of safetly in this isolated spot. Besides, HawleS had probably assunTed that duty, and told them to get whatever sleep they could. How ever, the gate of the corral opened be- side their fire, and Keith dare not venture upon roping any of: their ponies, or leading them out past where. they slept There' might be clippers in the cabin with which he could cut the wires yet if one of. the gang awoke, and discovered the herd absent. it would result in an alarm, and lead to early pursuit. It was far safer to use their own ponies. He would lead Hawley's horse quietly through the water, and they could mount on the other shore. This plan. settled, he went at it swiftly. riding the captured animal while rounding up the others, and fastening the three to stunted trees on the opposite bank. Everything within the cabin remained exactly as he had left it, and be briefly l explained the situation. examing Flaw ley's bonds again carefully while do- ing so. te ..