The Snowflake herald., 1917-11-16

FUSED to take their periEs seriously
Now her smile chased the frown from
her husbands face.
''Well, perhaps I'll have breakfast
with them," he laughed.
''Silly. I won't let you CO." she told
him, firmly; and, reading the express
sion in her face, he felt dizzy won
der. "We'l find a nice secluded spot {;
then We'll sit down and wait for night
to come. Wen pretend we're having a
picnic"
Dolores sighed at the suggestion.
"That would be heaven, but there can
be no sitting down for me-"
Garcia, who had been standing in his
stirrups scanning the long, fat road
ahead, spoke sharply: "Caramba !!
Here come those very soldiers now!
See"
Far away, but evidently approaching
at smart gait, was body of mounted
men. After one look at them Dave
cried:
Into the brush, quick! !" He hurried
his companions ahead of him, and
when they had gone perhaps a hun
dred yards from the road he took
Juan's repeater, saying: ride in a
little way farther and wait. I'm going
back. If you hear me shoot, break for
the river. Ride hard and keep under
cover as much as possible" Before
they could demonstrate he had wheeled
Montrosa and was gone
This was luck, he told himself. Ten
miles more and they would have been
safe, for the Rio Grande is not a diff
ficult river either to ford or to swim.
He dismounted and made his way on
foot to point where he could com
mand view, but he had barely estab-
lished himself when he found AIaire at
his side.
"Go back" he told her. But she
would not, and SO they waited together.
There were perhaps a dozen men in
the approaching squad, and Dave saw
that they were heavily accoutred. They
rode fast, too, and at their head gal
loped a large man under q wide
brimmed felt hat. It soon became evil
dent that the soldiers were not uni
formed. Therefore, Dave reasoned,
they were not federals, but more prob
ably some rebel scouting band from
the south, and yet He rubbed his
eyes and stared again.
Dave pressed forward eagerly, in
credulously; the next instant he had
broken cover with shout. Alaire was
at his side, clapping her hands and
laughing with excitement.
The cavalcade halted; the big man
tumbled from his saddle and came
straddling through the high grass, wav-
ing his hat and yelling.
"Blaze! You old scoundrel p Dave
cried, and seized one of the ranchman's
palms while Alaire shook the other.
"Say! We're right glad to see you
all, Jones exclaimed. eve reckoned
you might be havin' a sort of unpleas-
antness with Longorio, so we organized
up and came to get YOU
The other horsemen were crowding
close now, and their greetings were
noisy. There were the two Guzman
boys, Benito Gonzales, Phil Strange,
and a number of Jonesville's younger
and more adventurous citizens.
In the midst of the tumuIt Benito in
quired for his wife, and Dave relieved
his anxiety by calling Dolores and Fa-
ther O'Malley. Then, in answer to
the questions showered upon him. he
swiftly sketched the story of Alaire's
rescue and their flight from La Feria.
When he had finished Blaze Jones
drew deep breath. "We're mighty
glad you got out safe, but you've
kicked the legs from under one of my
pet ambitions. l sure had planned to
nail Longorio's hide on my barn door.
Yes, and you've taken the bread out of
the mouths of the space writer's and
sob sisters from here to Hudson's bay.
Miz Austin, your pictures in every
newspaper in the country, and, believe
me, it's the worst atrocity of the war"
"War!" Father O'Malley had ioined
the group now, and he asked. HAS war
been declaredY
"Not yet, but we've got hopes" To
Alaire Blaze explained: eEIlsworth's
cr11s