The Benson signal., 1916-09-30


the Mexican camp. At this point Dor
othy takes hand in the negotiations.
Dorothy rose, pale-faced, her eyes
alight with blue fire, like two tur-
Quoises f1ame-backed.
Indeed, shall take no further risk
in this matter. You will go, father;
you do owe it TO him. 1 shall go with
you, and we shall take the Bell"
Wilkes stared at her, uncertain
whether he had heard Alright.
''You-you-you go? Not by a long
shot, Miss Dorothy? Why. it'd be sheer
murder-no less! Have you both lost
your minds?"
The girls lips were well-nigh color
less; but Wilkes, who knew men, knew
when he saw the tense lines in her
face that she had passed the dividing
line between common sense and i'm
pulse.
"But how?' he asked. How can
you take the Bell"
$50 that no one can detect it? Have
no fear-wait."
She disappeared with the Bell into
her own room. A moment later she
returned. her face flushed with excite
ment, her eyes luminous, standing, a
veritable picture, in the golden square
of sunlight that lay upon the floor.
"Come!" she said imperiously to
her father. Come! We have no time
to lose. You will keep these two men
in safety till we return"
Wilkes gave up, muttering his dis
content as he turned away. shaking
his gray head.
Amt you got no sense, Upton?
Don't you know that what you plan Is
plumb madness? I've got great mind
to pull a gun ON you an not let you
go one STEP"
For answer Dorothy shook her head.
She would not betray her father be-
fore them all. What she knew must
forever remain hid.
NO" she said again quickly; "he
went for us and we owe it to him.
Whatever shall be said of us, no man
shall say that we Uptons do not pay
our debts. have the Bell where none
can ever find it. Come, father!"
Like @ man In q dream, Upton fol-
lowed her out the door. The rest Of
the party morosely eyed the two as
they walked down tho hill, the girl
golden-haired, trim-habited; the stur.
dy. square-shouldered figure of the
miner plodding heavily at her side.
Silently they passed down the slope;
still speechless they crossed the ariojo
beyond the alamOs-the cottonwOOds
where Wilkes and Manuel had made
their capture that morning.
AS they approached the lines of the
besiegers they were greeted with
yell from the outpost. Twenty men
surged forward to seize them, but were
swept back by an officer, who sprang
forward, machete in one hand, his
low-swung sombrero in the other.
Back, perros!" they heard him cry.
at is Senior Upton himself who desires
speech with ell general. Is it not so mi
amigo?"
Upton nodded carelessly.
About the cook-ires one or two
women moved lazily. The whole
camp was asleep in the sunlight as
Upton and Dorothy entered the house.
For "a second the two stood at gaze,
the glare of the sun still binding
them. But when their eyes had become
accustomed to the cool. darkened in
swore softly. There before them, his
arms tied at the elbows behind his
back, stood Kynaston under charge of
Q. guard of four men. Behind table
sat the blind priest, smiling quietly,
and the squat-fgured. bull-necked gen.
eral, who was in q furious rage.
"And you dare to tell me that you
do not know where it is, when the
padre here says that he is sure you
know its whereabouts"
Just then Upton stepped forward.
IT have the Bell" he said quietly
IF you let Kynaston go, as you prom
ise, you get it; otherwise not"
"Ha-ha!" The general uttered a
nasty laugh. "I'll hold you till l get
1t. anyway" He waved his hand care
lessly in the direction of the young
American.
"Take him out and shoot him." he
ordered in an ofhand way.
"You bloody villain! You worse
than dog-you wretched. yellow cur!
You horse thief, robber. villain. ban
dit, murderer! You conscienceless,
perjured blackmailer! You dirty,
double-crossing cheat! Snide! Crook!
CRATER! Tin-horn!"
Upton was blazing. raving mad
angry. I)espite the blood he had lost
from the gunshot wound, his face was
nery red The veins stood out, knot
ted, on his head: his hands were gro.
ping furiously about his empty hol-
ster.
els your word nothing?" he raved.
Here you promised to free Kynaston
u gave you the Emerald Dell: come
down to ar~s ngs the details; you seize