Gunnison news-champion., 1913-08-01
CHAPTER xxu.
a Deepening Nysssry.

S7-r ' n XXI.
q Deepening Mysssey.
Startled and beW lidared as tlamlin
was BY this sudden Eevealmea;. he at
enee eomprohsnded the embarrass
ment of his can position. tie eoula
not confess al he knew. certainly not
the fact that the girl had met him Sc
aretiy and had vanished while he Was
endeavoring 10 turn aside Mrs. Du-
pont. hie must protect her at ali haz
ards. To gain time. and elf-control.
he replied with a question:
Did not C0nBors drive them Sovp
sir?"
Yes. the four Of them
"Ahe Major Mcdonald knew thea
thai he was ordered E,astg"
No. the order came by Telegram
later. A orderly was sent down about
ten sslsck. But. see here, Sergeant,
am - bureau Of lnfOrwatiOa. II VOC
have saythins TO report. nahe N
bsisl"
na0stn glanced st the face Of the
OtAss. Ne knew little about hin. e.
cept tAof he had the reputatioa Of -
ing . capable cfscer.
= vta. SIR" he responded quickly;
"yos nay never have heard Of the Of
fair. but ! was With Mise Mcdonald
during . little Indian trouble out on
the treil few months ago."
The eAicer nodded.
Il heard about that; Gaskins brou~ht
her in."
We'll. ever since she has seemed
grateful and friendly. You know how
some women are; well, she is that
kind. Tonight she came to me. be
cause she didn't seem to know whou
else TO go to. and told me Of some trou
bic she vas having realise. Captain
Kane that 1t may seem q bit strange
to you that . young lady like Miss Me
Donald. an officers daughter, would
turn for help to an enlisted man, but
] am telling You only the truth, sir
You see, she got it into her head
somehow that was square, and-and
well, that I cared enough to help her. "
wait a minute. Sergeant" broke in
Kane, kindly, realizing the others EN-
tarrassmsnt, and resting one hand on
his sleeve. "You do not need to apollo
eize for Miss Mcdonald. know some
thing Of what is going on at this post
although, damn me II I've ever got on
to the straight facts. You mean that
/ Dupont woman"
"Yes, she's concerned in the matter
but there are others also"
why couldn't the girl tell her 70
ther2"
That is where the main trouble lies
Captain. Major Mcdonald seems to
be completely under the control OF
Mrs. Dupont. He is apparently afraid
Of her for some reason That is what
Miss Molly spoke to me about. We
were on the side porch at the hotel
talking while the dancers were at sup.
pert was the only opportunity the
girl had to get away-and Mrs. Dupont
and her husband came into the par.
lor-"
'Her husband? Good Lord. thought
her husband was dead"
'He isn't. He's a tin-horn gambler
known in the saloons as Reb,' a biz
duffer, wearing a black beard"
Al right, go on; | don't know him. "
We'll, ! stepped into the room to
Keep The two apart. leaving the girl
alone outside. We had a bit of talk
before l got the room cleared, and
when | went back to the porch. Miss
Molly had gone"
"Drappsd over the railing to the
ground"
That's what ! thought at the time,
sir. but what happened TO her after
that? She didn't return TO the hotel !;
she vas not at the dance hall, and
hasn't come back to the post"
The he'll you say, Are you sure?"
y an; ] searched for her high and
low bsfore I left, and she could not get
in here without passing the guard
house
Kane stared into the serreants face
a monent. and then out across the %
rade ground. A yellow light winked
n the Colonels Office, occasionally
blottsd out ~ the passing figure OF a
sentry. The Slhcer came to q prompt
deois on
The 'olA man 10 over there yet.
grubbing a sn@e papers Come on
over. ana tell hin what you have told
me ! believe the lass viii turn up ell
right, but II does look rather queer
The Colonel and the Post Ad;rts-
were IN the ffttlA office N-r~- ---
one q papers. son omcers glanced
=. resentins ths in.-rruption. - Kane
entered. Hsmlin foIlo~ins. The for
ner erplsined the situation briefly,
nile he conmandant leaned bocA In
= ehsir. his Keen eyes studying tie
oUlEer maA-