American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1917-08-31

courtyard unlnjured, and firing fast. :
Immediately the defense of the ha-
cienda resolved itself into a series OF
hand-to-hand encounters. Parr, crouch
ing behind the well sill, had two troop
ers shot down at his side before he was
enveloped in a rush, borne bodily from
his feet, disarmed and m~an-handled.
Fighting as he had W. fought be-
fore, he struggled clear for an instant
flung Off the raiders who chung to
him like wolves to the TANKS Of a stag,
and found his feet again, half his cloth
ing ripped from his body, his hands
empty.
In that abbreviated breathing spell
he saw the patio as a panorama Of in
ferno, a pit of smoke and flame where
in men weltered and writhed like rep
tiles in a furnace. High above him
he caught a glimps Of Bess Morgan,
kneeling before her bedchamber door,
on the gallery, and defending the
stairs. a revolver in either hand, dead
" determination in her look.
Then Parr was assailed from be-
hind. A dubbed rifle descended on
his skull with murderous force. He
rocked blindly for an instant, then
pitched forward into unconscious night.
That proved the elimination Of the
attack. With Captain Parr %insensible
and a prisoner, the leader of the raid
ing party ordered a retreat in good
time to escape the charge Of the Chan
ming c%owpunchers through the rose
garden.
LOVERS LEAP.
Pelting across country at a round
pace, joying in the free swing Of the
uniaded animal beneath her, drinking
in delight with every deep-drawn res
piration of the clean, cool air Of early
morning, Patria swung a wide arc
through ~trackless fields before, some
twenty minutes after leaving the ha-
cienda, she drew rein to rest and
breathe her horse.
1t was then that a 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 a hun
dred Yards or so short Of the junction
with the road to the bridge at the Dor
der checked the animal again and sat
still, listening to the growing rumble
Of many hoofs.
? Fearing lest she be caught in this
! rush of horsemen, she jumped down
and led her mount into the shelter OF
! the roadside trees, then secuted on
! afoot for a little distance to a point
whence she commanded a view of the
e fork in the roads.
There she saw, first, an oxcart
a counterpart of that which she haC
A passed in her motorcar the previous
afternoon, stalled by an accident t.
f one Of the wheels, which the Mexican
driver had just succeeded in repairing
An instant later a cloud Of Mexical
horsemen swept up the road from tn
hacienda and paused at the fork. TIL
d leader, a burly %ruffian, stopped lon
enough beside the cart to admonis
a. the driver in accents that carrie
clearly to the girl-familiar as sh
was with Spanish:
is Hurry that ammunition across tn
k river before the Gringoes get here
you set any value on your skim
oil That was all but the sight of I'll
Ia captive lying unconscious across tn
ID horse ridden by one of the Mexicans-
le a figure all too readily identified b
the girl as that of her betrothed-ws
10 enough to decide Patria's course Of a
lg ton.
of The raiding party swung on at &c
speed for the bridge. The driver
NC the oxcart picked up his goad an
an prodded his beasts to the best pa
they could make. Patria ran back
her horse, fumbling in the pockets
10 her riding coat and finding there Il
~ envelope of an old letter.
~ With the s~oft-nosed bullet Of a loa
ed cartridge for a pencil, using d
no saddle for a desk, she contrived
W scrawl a simple message on the ba'
n of the envelope:
rs. Mexleans with Capt. Parr prison
tut crossing border by brldee-safe a
trailing them-rush help-P. c.
Folding and tucking the envelope
no to the bride, Patria turned the hors.
The head homeward and slapped its 81
a with the fiat of her hand. Surpris
and indignant, the animal snOrted a
Off scurried off. Without giving it {
as other thought the girl set of after I
red oxcart.
md She was somewhat surprised to f
PUP that 1t had made such progrei
obliged to overtake it ere it came wi
an in sight of the bridge, or else give
leir her f"oolhardy scheme, she succeed
aid, in the nick of time, with none to spa
of An instant before the cart, lumber.
Of I'm a haze of dust, left the shelter
his the woods that cloaked the road,
vas girl labored up behind it and, uns'