The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1917-10-04
After the officer left. Dupon,

After the officer left. Dupon, s,,-
cd across the table at her aud begaL
to scratch his head.
"You and Mr.. Van burned n lot OF
coal oil last night. lie didn't git far
enon;h along TO ask you to hitch up
with him. did he?"
a red blush famed In the girls
checks. without looking UP, she muir
INJURED Il rcgrctful mo"
Guess he figures he'll wait and see
II Hardy Is going to bust us up. Like
MS not he'll skip back east If Hardy
gifts sore and chokes Off our hold on
the miuc.'
"What do you mean? He'd send
Reggie away. The stiT, solemn old
fogy-l hate him !"
Easy, easy, girl !" soothed Dupont.
"No use plunging when you're hitched
to the s%nubbing post. Just now he's
got us ropcd. He'll have us all hog
tied II we go TO bucking. We've got
TO make him think we're gentled."
"Whnt If we net toward him as we
feel?"
you don't savvy about that mine.
Wv 'NAh AN'S'A ~ hA lAt'
honest for developing 1t, AZ you know.
Well, we let Mr.. Van In on IL. Then
Nogen up and gifts killed. That makes
Il half and half between me and Mr..
Van, according to all that's fair and
square. But do you believe Hardy will
look at 1t that way7 Not by a-con-
siderable. He'll talk about 1t being the
tribes, just because It's on the reser-
vation."
II see!" The girls e-es flashed. ana
her nostrils dilated. HE will rob you
and Reggie Of n fortune-yet you wish
lac TO be nice to him !"
"You bet I dol Can't you git the
polntf He amt going to be bluffed
into quitting. That means we got to
make friends with him or lose the
mlne.'
"Oh! So that Is it?"
yep. Worst OF IL Is he's one Of
them there fellows what stand SO
straight they lean backwards. We
talked to him about how 1t would help
the tribe If he joined us In opening the
mine. He was mighty oflish. Guess
we'll have to give him Nogen's third to
get him into our camp"
"What a shame! The mine is yours
and l;oggic's. lie hasn't lone a thing
toward developing It,"
II know. But he's the agent. He's
got us roped. He can rob US Of our
mine If we don. make friends with
him. Now do you savvy?"
The girls thick black eyebrows met
in a frown OF vexatlon. IF he is q
man whose friendship must be bought,
| do not wish to be pleasant TO him."
ITS business, Marie. There amt
no two ways about It. Mr.. Vans hang
Ing fire, awaiting to see If we lose
the mine. II we do, he can't afford to
marry no poor girl of n reservation"
VERY well. / shall make myself
agreeable to Captain Hardy. But wait
until ain free to pay him out for IT."
"N0m dun CHEN !" muttered Dupont
nj sight of her Strengthened lips.
That's the Injun In you. Don't let
him see YOU look that way till after
we git the mine cinched."
81 0m not n fool, mon PEREZ"
Dupont shook his grizzled head du-
biously.
But ut midday, when Hardy came
over for the noon dinner, Marie re.
ccivcd his courteous greeting with a
graclousness that soon l%ightened the
pensive severity of his look. Before
the end Of the meal they were chatting
in a manner that brought a twinkle
into Dupont's cunning eyes.
The girl proposed n ride up the val.
ley. Hardy was greatly pleased. He
had already graSpcd the simple details
~ the agency business, and now, pend.
ing the absence OF Nandervyn and Red
bear, had nothing TO do except instruct
the police in his ideas of cleanliness
and discipline.
Marie never looked more charming
than when on n horse. She took her
new friend for n long ride around one
of the mountains. Every cliff and
rock and piney slope was familiar to