The Snowflake herald., 1917-09-14


Of oarlocks. Seeing that the stranger
did not seem to take his hint, Lewis
raised his voice menacingly:
"That's your road back yonder. It's
a right good road, and I'd advise you
to travel fast"
But this suggestion was also ignored;
in fact, it appeared to amuse the man
addressed, for he, too, laughed. He
turned, and the women noticed that he
carried a short saddle gun. They saw,
also, that at least one of the men at
his back was similarly armed.
"Now, what's the hurry?" The
stranger was chuckling. Suddenly he
raised his voice and called loudly:
Hello, Dave! Is that you-all?"
The answer floated promptly back:
"Hello, Cap! Sure it's u.s."
"Have you got him?"
1t was Blaze Jones' voice which an
swered this time: "You bet!"
Paloma Jones was trembling now.
She clung to Alaire, crying, thankfully:
Its the Rangers! The Rangers !"
Then she broke away and ran out into
the moonlight, trailing her absurd fire.
arm after her.
"Now, boys" the Ranger captain was
saying, Il know most every one of you,
and we amt going to have the least
bit of trouble over this thing, are we?
reckon you-all are friends of Ricardo
Guzman. and you just couldn't wait
TO iin6 out about MIN, eh?"
Alaire, who had followed PalOma
was close enough now to recognize. the
two Guzman boys as members OF the
Ranger party. Lewis and his men had
drawn together at the first alarm; Lon
gorio's MeXicans had gathered abour
their leader. The entire situation hao
changed in a moment, and the Ranger
captain was in control of it.
Soon Dave Law and Blaze Jones
came up over the river bank; they
paused, stricken with surprise at find
ing a score of people where they had
expected no more than four.
Blaze was the first to speak. "What's
all this?' he cried. de peered near
sightedly from one to the other; then
his huge bulk shook with laughter: !:
"Say, do my glasses magnify, or is
this an open lodge meetin'?"
dad! Oh, dadv Paloma scurried
to him and flung herself into his arms.
"What you doin' here, kid?" the father
exclaimed. "Why, you'd ought to be
home and abed, long ago. You'll catch
your death of cold. Is that gun lOadedY
Dave Law was even more amazed
than his companion. Recovering from
his first surprise, he took a position
beside his superior officer. Captain
Evans did not seem at all troubled by
the disparity in numbers. One Ranger.
or two at the most, had always been
sufficient to quell Texan disturbance; !;
now that there were three of them,
he felt equal to an invasion of Mexi-
can soil, if necessary. In consequence,
he relaxed his watchful vigilance, and
to Dave he drawled:
"We've got most of the leading citi-
Zens of the county, and reckon some
body in the outfit will be able to iden-
tify Guzman."
There's no trouble about that, sir.
We found him. Pedro and Raoul can
make sure" The sons of Ricardo Guz-
man stepped forward promptly, and
Law waved them toward the boat land
ing, where the two helpers were wait
ing with Ricardo's remains.
Despite the Ranger captains easy
assumption of command, the strain
of the situation had not subsided, and
Longorio drew swift attention to him
self when he said:
"It is fortunate that I chanced to
learn of this matter. You have done
me a great service, Senor Law, for /
came to Romero purposely to examine
into the death of this unfortunate man.
But l could learn nOthing nobody
knew anything whatever about the
matter, and so / became convinced that
it amounted to little. Now-beholdi
l discover that / was deceived. Or
perhaps there still may be a mistake"
Blaze Jones thrust his daughter
aside ana advanced toward the speak
er. "There's no mistake" he declared
belligerently. 'I don't make mistakes
when I go grave-robbin'. Don Ricardo
was shot by your men. He had five
thousand dollars on him, or he should
have had, and he was an American citi-
zen. Your Colonel Blanco covered the
body, but he'll have a hi of a job
coverin' the facts. It's time we came
to showdown with your murderin'
outfit, and l aim to see if you've got
government in your country"
"Heaven guided my hand" devoutly
breathed the general. ut is regret
table that you used this means when
word to me would have served the
purpose. fort is no trivial matter to
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