The Irish standard., 1917-06-09

rugged to trick the credulOuS retina. De
Spain, in the saddle in front of the
barn, his broad hat brim set on the
impassive level of the western horse
man, his lips seeming to compress his
thoughts, his lines over his forearm,
and his hands half-slipped into the
| pockets of his snug leather coat,
watched Page with his light wagon and
horses drive away.
Idling around the neighborhood of
the barns in the saddle, De Spain saw
him gradually recede into the long
desert perspective, the perspective
which almost alone enabled the watch
er to realize as he curtained his eyes
behind their long, steady lashes from
the blazing sun, that it was a good bit
Of way to the foot Of the great out
post of the Superstition range.
De Spain's restlessness prevented his
remaining quietly anywhere for long.
AS the morning advanced he cantered
out on the Music mountain trail, think
ing Of and wishing for sight of Nan.
The deadly shock of Pardaloe's story
had been dulled by days and nights of
pain. His deep-rooted love and his
loneliness had quieted his impulse for
vengeance and Overborne him with q
profound sadness. He realized how
different his feelings were now from
what they had been when she knelt be-
fore him in the darkened room and, not
daring to plead for mercy for her uncle,
aad asked him only for the pity for
herself that he had seemed so slow
70 give. Something reproached him
now for his GOODNESS at the moment
that he should have thought of her
suffering before his own.
1t was while riding in this way that
MS eyes, reading mechanically the
wagon trail he was aimlessly following
for no reason other than that it
brought him, though forbidden, little
closer to her-arrested his attention,
He checked his horse. Something, the
trail told him, had happened. Page
had stopped his horses. Page had met
two men on horseback coming from the
gap. After a parley-for the horses
had tramped around long enough for
from the trail and struck across the
desert, north; the two horsemen, or
one with led horse, had started back
| FOR the gap.
All Of this De Spain gathered with
out moving his horse outside circle of
thirty feet. What did it mean? Page
might have fallen in with cronies from
the gap, abandoned his job, and start
ed for Sleepy Cat, but this was unlike
ly. He might have encountered enc
mics, been pointedly advised to keep
away from the gap, and pretended to
start for Sleepy Cat, to avoid trouble
with them. Deeming the second the
more probable conclusion, De Spain,
absorbed in his speculations continued
toward the gap to see whether be could
not pick up the trail of Pages rig far
/ Their on.
| Within a mile further surprise
awaited him. The two horsn1cn, who
had headed for the gap after stopping
Page, had left the trail, turned to TIE
south, down a small draw, which would
screen them from sight, and set out
across the desert.
No trail and no habitation lay in the
direction they had taken-and it
seemed clearer to De Spain that the
second horse was a led horse. There
was story in the incident. but his in
terest lay in following Pages move
ments, and he spurred swiftly forward
to see whether his messenger had re-
sumed the gap trail and gone on with
his mission. He followed this quest al
most to the mountains, without recov-
ering any trace Of Pages rig. He
halted. 1t was certain now that Page
had not gone into the gap.
Perplexed and annoyed, De Spain,
from the high ground on which he sat
his horse, cast his eyes far over the
desert. The brilliant sunshine flooded
1t as far as the eye could reach. He
scanned the vast space without detect
ing sign Of life anywhere, though
none better than he knew that any
abundance Of it might be there. But
his gaze caught something of interest
on the farthcst northern horizon, and
|
A soft brown curtain rose just above
the earth line against the blue SKY. To-
ward the east it died away and toward
the west it was cut off by the Super.
stition peaks.
De Spain, without giving the weather
signs much thought, recognized their
import, but his mind was filled with
his own anxieties and he rode smart
ly back toward Calabasas, because he
was not at ease over the puzzles in the
trail. When he reached the depression
where the horsemen had, without any
apparent reason, turned south, he halt
ed. Should he follow them or turn
north to follow Pages wanderings? Il
Page had been scared away from the
gap, for time, he probably had no in
formation that De Spain wanted, and
De Spain knew his cunning and per
SiSfonco wo11 onO,,oh m no confident