The Mena weekly star., 1917-05-31

l
 Do you know what 1t means for me to undertaken"
 1 q have pretty stiff idea"
 Did you get it direct from the party who sent it2"
 1 T can't talk all night. Take 1t or leave it inst where it is."
 1 De Spain heard him close. He closed his own instrument and began feverishly signaling central. This is lO1. Henry de Spain talking" he said brislSly. You just called me. Ten dollars for you, operator if you can locate that call quick !"
 There was q moment of delay at the central office. then the answer: Ut came from 234-Tenison's saloon" "Giye me your name, operator. Good Now give me %, and ring the neck off the bell"
 Lefever answered the call on No. 9. The talk was quick and sharp. Messengers. were instantly pressed into service from the dispatcher's of- flee. Telephone wires hummed. and every man available on the special agents force was brought into action. Livery stables were covered, the pub ] lie resorts were put under observation, horsemen clattered up and down the street. Within an incredibly short time the town was rounded up, every outgoing trail watched, and search was underway for anyone from Nor gan's gap, and especially for the send CT of the telephone message.
 De Spain, after instructing Lefever, hastened to Tenison's. His rapid questioning of the few habitues of the place and the bartender elicited only the information that a man had used the telephone booth within a few min utes. Nobody knew him, or. if they did know him, refused to describe him in any but vague terms.
 Outside, Bob Scott in the saddle waited with led horse. The two men rode straight and hard out on the sinks. The sky was overcast, and speed was their only resource. After two miles of riding, they reined up on ridge, and Scott, springing from the saddle, listened for sounds. He rose from the ground declaring he could hear the strides of a running horse. Again the two dashed ahead. The chase was bootless. Whoever rode before them easily eluded pursuit.
 Undeterred by his failure to over take the fugitive, De Spain rode rap idly back to town to look for other clews. Nothing further was found to throw light on the message or mes senger. No one had been found any where in town from Morgan's gap i; whoever had taken a chance in de- livering the message had escaped un- detected.
 Even after the search had been abandoned the significance of the in- cident remained to be weighed. De Spain was much upset. A conference with Scott, whose judgment in any affair was marked by good sense, and with Lefever, who, like a woman, reached by intuition a conclusion at process of thought. only revealed the fact that all three. as Lefever con- fessed, were nonplused.
 'It's one of two things" declared i Lefever whose eyes were never dulled by late hours. "Either they've sent this to lure you into the gap ana get you, or else-and that's great big Or else'-she needs you. Henry, did that message-I mean the way it was worded-sound like Nan Morgan"
 De Spain could hardly answer "It did, and it didn't" he said finally. But" his companions saw during the pause by which his lips expressed 1 the resolve he had finally reached that he was not likely :o be truned 1 from it-"I am going to act just as If the word came from Nan and she l does need me-" More than one scheme for getting quickly into touch with Nan was pro- posed and rejected within the next ten minutes. And when Lefever, after comforting with Scott, put up to De Spain a proposal that the three should ride into the gap together and de- mand Nan at the hands of Duke Mor- gan, De Spain had reached another | conclusion.
 q know you are willing to take more than your share, John, of any game I play. In the first place, 1t isn't right to take you and Bob in where am going on my own personal affair. And I know Nan wouldn't en- joy the prospect of an all-around fight on her account. Fighting is horror to that girl. I've got her feelings to think about as well as my own. I've decided what to do, John. I'm going In alone"
 "You're going in alone"
 "ronight. Now, I'll tell you what I'd like you to do if you want to: ride with me and wait till morning, out side Fl Capitan. If you don't hear from me by ten o'clock, ride back to Calabasas and notify Jeffries to look for a new manager"
 "On the contrary. if we don't hear from you by ten o'clock, Henry, we will blaze our way in and drag out your body" Lefever put up his hand to cut off any rejoinder. Don't dis cuss 1t. What happens after ten o'clock tomorrow morning, if we don't hear from you before that, can't pos sibly be of interest to you or make any difference" He paused, but De cnain eau that ha was not done