The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1917-07-03
LOVERS LEAP.

garden.
LOVERS LEAP.
Peltfng across country at a round
pace, jOying in the free swing Of the
unjaded animal beneath her, drinking
In delight with every deep-drawn res
piratiOn Of the clean, cool air of early
morning, Patria swung wide arc
through trackless fields before, some
twenty minutes after leaving the ha-
cienda, she drew rein to rest and
breathe her horse.
It was then that sound Of distant
firing was carried to her on the wings
of the wind which was moving from
/ the quarter wherein lay the hacienda.
Definitely frightened, she swung her
horses head about and spurred him
down the main road, but hun
bred yards or so short of the junction
with the road to the bridge at the bor-
der checked the animal again and sat
still, listening to the growing rumble
Of many hOofs.
Fearing lest she he caught in this
rush of i:5rserlen, she jumped down
and led her mount into the shelter of
the roadside trees, then secuted on
afoot for little distance to a point
whence she commanded Il view of the
fork in tie roads.
There she saw, first an, oxcart,
counterpart of that which she had
passed il her motorcar the previous
afternoon, stalled by an accident to
one of the wheels, which the Mexican
driver had just succeeded in repairing.
Al instant later cloud of Mexican
horsemon sweet Up the road from the
hacienda and paused at the fork. The
leader, burly rufIian, STOPPED long
enough beside the cart 10 QimoniSh
the driver in accents that carried
clearly to the girl--falaidar as she
was with SPANISH:
"Hurry that ammunition across the
river before the Gringoes get here-if
You set any value on Your skim"
That was all; but the sight of the
captive lying unconscious across the :
horse ridden by one of the Mexicans-
figure all too readily identified by
the girl as that of her betrothed-was
enough to decide Patria's course of ac-
ton.
The raiding party swung on at top
speed for the bridge. The driver of
the oxcart picked up his gOad and !
prodded his beasts to the best pace
they could make. Patria ran back to
her horse, fulnbling in tie pockets of |
her riding coat and finding there the
envelope Of an old letter.
With the soft-nosed bullet of load
ed cartridge for a pencil using the |
saddle for desk, she eontrived to
scrawl simple message on the back |
of the envelope:
Mexieans with Capt. Parr prisoner
crossing border by bridse-safe and
trailing them-rush heip-P. G.
Folding and tuc.sing the envelope in
to the bride, Patria turned the horses
head hOmeward and slapped it's side
with the fiat Of her hand. Surprised
and indignant, the animal snOrted and
off. Without giving it an
other thought the girl set off after the
Oxeart.
She was,somewhat surprised to find |
that 1t had made such progress:
obliged to overtake it ere it came with
In sight of the bridge, or else give up
her foolhardy scheme, she succeeded
In the nick of time, with none to spare.
An instant before the cart, numbering
in haze of dust, left the shelter Of |
the woods that cloaked the road, the
girl labored up behind it and, unseen
by the terrified driver, climbed aboard
and buried herself in the mass Of
straw that hid the cases Of ammuni-
ton.
Then, half-choked with dust and
suffocating with lack Of air and heat. +!
as the sun beat down upon the straw, (
she resigned herself to enforced mac
ton that endured for many hours.
The cart had successfully negotiated
the passage Of the bridge and won to
= considerable distance beyond 1t
when fusillade In the rear embol-
dened the girl to lift up her head. be-
meath the straw, and gasp in a FEW
breaths Of clean air while reconnoiter-
Ing.
The cart was then on rising ground.
The bridge across the arroyo lay be-
meath 1t and some distance back. She
could see the main body Of the Mexi-
cans which, ambushed the Charming
A few fell In the charge. Her heart
bled for them, but her grief on their
account was trifle compared with her
anxiety for Donald. He was already
far ahead Of the oxcart, escorted by
Zelaya and picked guard. So much
she had gathered from a conference
at the bridge, when the cart paused
for further instructions; and more, she |
had then learned that the cart was to
proceed with all speed to receiving I
depot in the hills where Zelaya was 10 |
III Z,