The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1915-04-22

ana shOt quick, searching glance
At the face of the chauffeur.
Straight ahead, my mani" she said.
Make for the nearest pass through
those hills yOnder, and don't delay
unless you are anxious for trouble. on
you go!"
The car began to move. She swept
the three men In the desert a mocking
bow, jumped into the body of the car
and slammed the door
They made no effort to plead their
cause and secure passage even as far
as the edge of the desert; doubtless
they knew too well the futiIity of that.
she thought, as she settled back in a
seat, chuekling with the memory of
those three masks OF dismay unmiti-
gated
II was not until five minutes later.
when she Strengthened up from making
Alan comfortable that she realized
what had made them so content to
abide by her win.
Then she heard their voices lifted
together In long, shriII howl that was
quickly answered by fainter yeIIs from
distant quarter Of the desert, then
by pistols popping and flashing some
two miles away, then by a growing
rumble Of galloping hoofs.
The night glasses in the car afforded
her flashes of body Of several horse
men-some six or seven, she Judged
making at top speed toward the spot
where Marrophat, Hicks and Jimmy
IL enh fhau
had built and lighted.
Half a dozen sentences exchanged
with the chauffeur advised her that
these were horsemen from the town
OF Mesa who had charged themselves
with the duty OF avenging the death
of Hopi Jim Slade.
A sardonio chuckle from within
Trine's gag goaded the girl into sui
! len fury.
Exacting his utmost speed from the
chauffeur under penalty of her dis
pleasure, she set herself to revive
Alan.
With the aid of such stores of food
and drink as the car carried, this was
quickly enough accomplished
Strangling with an overdose OF
brandy too little diluted with water,
Alan sat up, grasped the conditions
in a flash, and gained further informa-
| ton as he devoured sandwiches and
emptied canteen.
The mountain pass. was now, he
Judged, mile distant. The light on
the hillside according to the chauf-
feur was that OF a prospector who
had camped there temporarily. There
was nothing, then, to be feared from
that quarter, but solely from the rear
where the horsemen having picked
up Marrophat and his companions.
had instituted hot pursuit, and were
now strung out in long, struggling
/ line, three horses carrying double the
farthermost-perhaps mile and
half away-one with a single rider
the nearest, well within three-quar-
tiers of a mile.
Nobly mounted, this last came on
like the wind, gaining on the motor
car with every stride; for his horse
was trained to such going, whereas
the car at best could only labor heav-
lily in dust and sand.
None the less. 1t had won o point
within a quarter of mile from the
pass before the horseman got within
what he esteemed the proper range,
AMI opened fire.
He fired thrice. His first shot winged
wide, his second by illchance ripped
through a rear tire Of the car, thus
placing upon IL an additional handi-
cap. while his third sought the zenith
as his hands few up and he dropped
from the saddle, drilled through the
body by Alan's only shot.
A long-range pistol duel was In
progress before the car had covered
half the remaining distance to the
pass.
By the time it entered this last
which proved to DO narrow raVine
with towering side Of crumbly earth
and shale and broken rock, the pur>
suit was not hundred yards behind
while the firing was well-nigh contin'
uous.
Two hundred feet above the trail
two men we're working with desperate
haste at some mysterious business
though none noticed them.
Only the chauffeur was aware OF a
woman running down the hillside at
AN angle. to intercept the car several
huaareA yGs@ EsAm the mouth OF the
pass.
AS II drew near tbs spot whore snv
paused, waving both hands fraatio&s'y,
the head &C tia ssrsuina party sweyS
into the mouth of the ravlnv.
AT the same time the chauffeur no.
, ticed that the two men on the hillside
were following the woman pellmell,
throwing themselves down the slope
: with gigantic leaps and bounds.
And then a great explosion rent the
: peaceful hush of night-that till then
had been profaned by the patterinR
cracks of the revolver fusillade.
AS the roar of dynamite subsideo
l the entire side of the hill shifted and
slid ponderously down, choking the
} ravine with debris TO the depth OF