Rocky Ford enterprise., 1913-05-30
CHAPTER I.
Tho Bonanza kIna.

cramped and stiffened by 1t, and too
uncomfortably enwrapped against 1t,
to speak. Silence as complete as that
which lay like a spell on the land
scape brooded over them. At the
last stopping place. Chinese Gulch,
scattering of houses six miles behind
them on the mountain road. they had
halted at the main saloon. and whisky
and water had been passed to tho
driver and to the burlier figure on
the back seat. The watchers that
thronged to the saloon door had eyed
the third occupant Of the carriage with
the intent, sheepish curiosity OF the
isolated man in presence Of the stran-
ger female. Afterward. each one was
voluble in his. impressions Of her face,
pale in the smoky lamplight. and the
hand that slid, small and white, out
of its loose glove when the warming
glass was offered her.
Since then both she and her COM
panion had leaned back in their sew
eral corners and preserved an un-
broken silence.
The surrey sped swiftly along the
road which wound in spectral pallor
over the shoulder of the foot-hill, now
dipping into the blackness of ravine.
then creeping up bare slope. where
the horses hoofs dug in laboriously
amid loosened stones. The solemn
loneliness of the landscape. family
revealed by the light Of large, clear
stars, seemed to find appropriate ex-
preston in this frosty. smoke-breath-
ing stiffness.
rtl~ xta ha rIr
moved, and turned a face. all OF which
was hidden save the eyes, toward Its
companion.
Hungry" Queried a deep bass
voice; the inquiring polysyllable shot
out suddenly over an upturned bull
wark Of collars.
'Fearfully." came the answer in a
mufled feminine treble. that suited
the more diminutive bulk.
Get move on. Jake" to the driv-
er. This girls most famished."
Hold your horses" growled the
other man; we're Just about there"
At these words the woman pricked
up her ears. and. leaning forward.
peered ahead. As they rounded a pro-
truding angle Of the hill. huddle Of
roofs and walls spotted with lights
came into view, and the sight drew
her hand forward with an eagerly
pointing finger.
$50 that's Rocky Bari" she cried.
Have we really got there at last?"
The driver chuckled.
That's Rocky Bar all right. Now
get your appetite good and ready"
mo need" she responded gaily;
baap dy and WAITING for bnurc
was beginning to think that you'd
lost your way"
Mel" with an accent of incred-
ulous scorn. "Ah. get out! How does
1t come, Governor, that Bill Cannon's
girl don't know no more about these
parts than a young lady from New
York;"
"She's never been up here before"
said the man on the back seat, begin
ming to untangle himself from his en-
folding rugs. I've brought her up
with me this time to show her some
of the places where her pa used to
work round with the boys. long before
she was ever thought Of" :.
A loud barking of dogs broke out
as they approached the first detached
houses of the settlement. Shapes ap-
peared at the lighted doorways, and
as the surrey drew up at the hotel
balcony crowding of heads was seen
In the windows. The entire popula-
tion Of Rocky Bar spent its evenings
at this hospitable resort. in summer
on the balcony under the shade of the
locust trees, in winter round the office
stove, splitting and smoking in CHEEKY
~ pvtf nj 10 hn
event Of Rocky Bars day was over.
The eight stages. the passengers Of
which dined at the hotel. had long
passed onward on their various routes
up and down the mother lode" and
into the camps Of the Sierra. That the
nightly excitement OF the "victualing
up" was to be supplemented by a late
arrival in a surrey, driven by Jake
Mcveigh. the proprietor of the San
Jacinto stables, and accompanied by
a woman. was a sensational event not
often awarded to Rocky Bar. even in
the heyday of summertime.
The occupants of the office crowded
into the doorway and pressed them
selves against the windows.
The hotel proprietor, an ancient
man with loosened vest, and trou-
sers tucked into long boots. dispersed
them as he ushered the strangers into
the Office. That they were travellers
Of distinction was obvious, as much
from their own appearance as from
the fact that Jake McVeigh was driv-
ing them himself, in his best surrey
and with his finest team. But Just
how important they were no one
guessed till Mcveigh followed them
in, and into ears stretched for the IN
formation dropped the sentence. half
heard, like a stage aside:
ITS Bill Cannon and his daughter
Rose"
ITnon the pronrietor II had an cleo