Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-10-16
Copgfishf. IslI by Frank A. Munsey1
Continued from last week

they still watched e~xpectantiy for the
road, the evening quickly passed.
They had no opportunity for CONVEX
sation. for the trail was too narrow
to permit of their riding side by side.
Bud was thinking not only of the dan
gers that surrounded them, but of this
errand on which he was engaged. and
what the end of 1t meant to him.
First the slanting rays of the SUI
struck fire from the high yellow crags,
then the fire faded and the sky glowed
an opal-blue; then, through dark blues
and puppies the heavens turned 20
black above them and all the stars
came out. Thousands of frogs made
the canyon resound with their throaty
n and strange animals crashed
through the brush at their approach.
but still Hooker stayed in the saddle
and Gracia followed on behind.
If she had thought in her dreams of
an easier journey she made no COM
ment now and, outside of stopping to
cinch up her saddle, Bud seemed hard
" to know she was there. The trail
was not going to suit hint edged
of too far to the southland yet, In the
tropical darkness, he could not search
out new ways to go.
At each fork he paused to light a
match, and whichever way the mule
tracks went he went also, for pack,
mules would take the main trail. For
two hours and more they followed on
down the stream and then Hooker
stopped his horse.
You might as well get down and
rest a WHILE" he said quietly. This
trail Is no good-it's taking us south.
Well let our horses feed until the
moon comes up and I'll try to work
north by landmarks"
~s0kh-aFe We lest7" gasped Gracia,
dropping stiniy to the ground. but Of
course we are" she added. I've been
thinking SO for some time"
ooh, that's all right" observed
Hooker philosophically; Il don't mind
being lost as long as l know where
I'm at. Well ride back until we get
out of this dark canyon and then I'll
lay a line due north"
They sat for a time in the dark.
ness while their horses champed at
the rich grass and then, unable to keep
down her nerves, Gracia declared for a
start. A vision of angry pursuers rose
up in her mind-of Manuel del Rey
and his keen-eyed rurales, hot upon
their trail-Rnd 1t would not let her
rest.
Nor was the vision entirely the re-
suit of v Imagination, for they
mad lost half the advantage of their
start, as Hooker well knew, and IL he
made one more false move he would
find himself called on to fight. AS
they rode back through the black
canyon he asked himself for the hun
dredth time how it had all happened
why, at a single glance from her,
he had gone against his better judg-
ment and plunged himself into this
tangle. And then, finally, what was
he going to do about It?
But he knew what he was going to
do about 1t. He knew he was going
to take this girl through to Gadsden
and to Phil; and his loyalty was such
hat he would not admit, even to him
self, that Phil did not deserve her.
Alone, he would have taken to the
mountains with a fine disregard for
trails. turning into whichever served
his purpose best and following the
lay Of the land. Even with her in his
care 1t would be best to do that yet,
for there would be trailers on their
track at sunup. and 1t was either ride
or fight
Free at last from the pent-in canyon,
they halted at the forks, while Bud
looked out the land by moonlight. Dim
and ghostly, the square-topped peaks
and buttes rose all about him, huge
and impossible except for the winding
trails. He turned UP a valley between
two ridges. squirting his horse into q
fast walk.
From one cow trail to another he
picked out q way to the north, but the
lay Of the ground threw him to the
east and there were no passes between
the hills. The country was rocky,
with long parallel ridges extending to
the northeast, and when he saw where
the way was taking him Bud called a
halt till dawn
BY the very formation he was being
gradually edged back toward For
tuna. and it would call for fresh
horses and . rested Gracia to outstrip
their pursuers by day. II the rurales
travelled by landmarkss heading for the
northern passes in an effort to- out
ride and intercept him, they might
easily cut him OF at the start: but II
they trailed him-and he devoutly
hnnad they wnnld-fhen they would