The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1915-01-01

.,, voo do. her father loaned. IN
have your life .,,n
ma flourish of her weapons gained
instant obedience -
She stepped up on the running poarc
and shot q quick, searching giancs
az the face OF The chauffeur.
estraight ahead, my mani she SAID
make for the nearest pass lhroueu
nose hills yonder, and don't delay
unless you are anxious for trouble. on
you go!" a swant
The car began to move. She swept
the three men in the desert mocklns
bow, jumped into the body OF the car
and slammed the door
They made no effort to plead tneir
cause and secure passage even as lar
as the edge OF the desert; douptiess
they knew too well the futility OF .laN
she thought. as she settled back III
seat chuckling with the memory oi
those three masks Of dismay unini1s
gated. -.
II was not until five minutes later,
when she Strengthened up from maksns
| Alan comfortable that she reaiizeu
what had made them so content W
abide by her will. -,
| Then she heard their voices iliteu
together in a long, shrill howl that was
quickly answered by fainter yells from
a distant quarter of the desert, tnen
by pistols popping and flashing SONS
two miles away, then by growing
rumble of galloping hoQfs.
The night giassas in the car afforded
her flashes of a body of several horse
men-some six or seven, she judged
making at top speed toward the spot
where Marrophat, Hicks and Jimmy
waited beside beacon which tney
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 sardonic 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
| b,o,,5,, 80 Ii+tIa diIutoj with water
Alan sat up, grasped the conditions
in flash, and gained further informa
ton as he devoured sandwiches and
emptied canteen.
The mountain pass was now, he
judged, a mile distant. The light on
feur, was that Of prospector who
had camped there temporarily. There
was nothing, then, to be feared from
that quarter, but solely from the real
where the horsemen, having picked
Z up Marrophat and his companions,
had instituted hot pursuit, and were
now strung out in long, struggling
line, three horses carrying double the
rthermost-perhaps a mile and Q
half away-one with a single rider
the nearest, well within three-quar
tiers of 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, it had won % point
within a quarter of a 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 ill-chance ripped
through rear tire of the car, thus
placing upon 1t 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 tbs
pass.
BY the time it entered this last
which proved to be narrow ravine
with towering side Of crumbly earth
and shale and broken rock, the pur
suit was not a hundred yards behind
while the firing was well-nigh contin
uous.
. Two hundred feet above the trail
! two men were working with desperate
. haste at some mysterious business
though none noticed them.
Only the chauffeur was aware Of q
woman running down the hillside al
an angle, to intercept the car several
hundred yards from the mouth Of the
] pass.
AS it drew near the spot where she
paused, waving both hands frantically
the head Of the pursuing party swept
into the mouth of the ravine.
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 great explosion rent the
peaceful hush of night-that till then
bod hoon nrofopad Nv Az ~.4.,