The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1915-01-12
,saA by Louis Joseph v.nos

me car DeSan 10 move. Sne swept
the three men in the desert 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 we'll the futility of that,
she thought. as she settled back in a
seat. chuckling with the memory OF
those three masks of dismay unmiti-
gated
1t 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 will.
Then she heard their voices lifted
together in a long, shrill howl that vas
quickly answered by fainter yells 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
waited beside a beacon which they
had built and lighted.
Half 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.
Trine's gag goaded the girl into a 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 fash. and gained further informa-
tion as he devoured sandwiches and
emptied a canteen.
The mountain pass was now, he
Judged. a mile distant. The light on
the hillside, according to the chauf-
feur, was that of a prospector who
had camped there temporarily. There
was noShing, 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 a long, struggling
line, three horses carrying double the
MISUNDERSTANDING a mile and a
half away-one with a single rider
the nearest, we'll within three-quar.
ters 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 to a 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 ill-chance ripped
through q rear tire of the car, thus
placing upon it an additional handi-
cap. while his third sought the zenith
as his hands flew 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 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 a
woman running down the hillside at
an angle, to intercept the car several