The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1915-07-16

dropped back, permitting Marrophat
to lead the way with Texas.
As deliberately she set herself to
work upon the bandits susceptibility
to her charms.
Within an hour she had him ready
to do anything to win her smile.
In that first rush Of golden day
thwart the land, the party came quietly
into the town Of Mesa, riding slowly in
order that the noise Of their approach
might not warn the fugitives, who
Hopi asserted confidently would still
be sound asleep in the accommoda-
tions offered by the towns one hotel.
1t was to be termed q town only in
courtesy, this Mesa: q struggling
street of shacks, ramshackle relics of
what had once been a promising com.
munity, the halfway station between
the railroad and the mining camps
secreted in the Businesses of the Paint.
ed hills-campe now abandoned, their
very names almost faded out Of the
memory of mankind.
Midway in this string Of edifices the
hotel stood-a rough, implanted. wood
en- ediice, mainly veranda and bar
room az to its lower floor.
jealousy judith watched the win.
dows Of the second floor: and she
alone Of the four detected the face that
showed for n brief instant we'll back
in the shadows beyond n Of the bed
room windows face that glimmered
momentarily with the pallor of a
ghosts against the background Of that
%obscurity, and then was gone.
Her eyes alone, indeed, could have
recognized the features Of Alan Law
in that fugitive glimpse.
Two sentences exchanged between
Hopi Jim and q b~lear-eyed fellow
whom he reused from sodden slumbers
behind the bar sealed their confidence
with conviction: the three fugftives
were in fact guests Of the house, oc-
cupying two of the three rooms that
composed it's upper story.
In the rush that followed up the
narrow stairway, Judith led withssuch
spirit that not even Marrophat sus.
pected her revolver was poised solely
with intent to shoot from his hand his
own revolver the instant he leveled
it at 8 human target.
Closed and locked doors confronted
them; and their summons educed no
response; while the first door, when
broken in by a whole-souled kick, dis.
covered nothing more satisfactory
than an empty room, its bed bearing
the imprint of a woman's body, but
that woman gone.
From the n window, looking down
the side of the house, Texas announced
that the woman had not escaped by
jumping out.
r So it seemed that the three must
have had warning Of their arrival,
after all; and presumably were now
herded together in the adjoining room,
which looked out over the veranda
roof, waiting in fear and trembling
for the assault that must soon come
and in fact Immediately did.
But it met with more stubborn re-
sistance than had been anticipated.
The door had been %barricaded from
within REINFORCED by furniture
placed against it. Four minutes and
the united efforts of four men (includ-
ing the bleary loafer of the barroom)
were required to overcome its inert re-
sistance. But even when it a down,
the room was found to be as empty as
the first.
Only the fingers of two hands grip
ping the edge of the veranda roof
showed the way the fugitives had
flown; and these vanished instantly as
the room was invaded.
Followed a swift rush of hoofs down
the dusty street, and a chorus of bias
phemy in the hotel hallway: for Ju.
dith had headed the concerted rush
for the staircase and contrived to
block it for a full half minute by. pre-
tending to stumble and twist her
ankle.
In spite of that alleged injury, she
never limped, and wasn't a yard be-
hind the first who broke from the
hotel to the open, nor yet appreciably
behind him in vaulting to saddle.
Well up the road a cloud of smoky
dust half obscured the shapes of three
who rode for their very lives.
The pursuit was of in a twinkling
and well bunched-Marrophat's mount
leading by a nose. Judith second, Kopi
Jim and Texas but little in the rear.
And in the first rush they seemed to
gain; moment by moment they drew
up on the flying cloud Of dust.
Judith heard an oath muttered be-
side her and saw lMarrophat Jerking a
revolver from its holster. The weapon
swept up and to a level; but as the
hammer fell, Judith's horse caromed
heavily against the other, swinging It
half a dozen feet aside, and DETECTING
the bullet %hopelessly.
The shock of collision was 80 great
that Marrophat kept his seat with DIFF
iculty. He turned toward Judith .
face livid with rage.
simultaneously. az IL taking the shot
- the signal for . fusillade. Judith
saw Alan lean back over hk horses
rump and open fire.