The Elbert County tribune., 1917-09-14
THIRTEENTH EPISODE
Wings of Death.
ALARMS AND EXCURSIONS.

II was midafternoon of Sunday un-
commonly warm. even for that season.
when Bud Morgan, on his saddle and
bridleless horse, found his way-less
consciously than guided by the instinct
of the homlng plgeon-to the hacienda
of Patrin Cummings rancho.
None witnessed his arrival. Because
It was a day of rest, no house servants
were in evidence, busted with their nc
customed weekday tasks. Mrs. Pills
bury was in her room, mapping away
the hour of the siesta. Her son, Rod
man, general superintendent of the
Claiming ranch properties. had ridden
off soon after breakfast on some idle
errnnd. Pntria and Donald Parr were
alone in the library. coming n great
Typographical map of the nelghborinS
country.
Not sound disturbed the peaceful
hush of the hacienda other than their
1ow-pitched accents. before they heard
the rumble of approaching hoofs and
this was a noise so ordinary and com
monplace that they were not even
aware of it.
1t required the shuttle of uncertain
footsteps on the graveled walks of the
gardened patio TO distract them from
their engrossing occupation.
Patria looked up first from the map.
glancing inquisitively out of the win
dow. 1t was her cry of pity that drew
Donald's attention. Following the di-
rection of her gaze. he saw the wound
ed and semidemented man at pause in
xs.fxl l.II - ri. x,,f%
lessly round him, bloodied and
CHASTITY figure, vision as incongru-
Gus to that time and place as an ap-
partition from the grave in kinder
garten.
Jumping up. Donald ran out, wound
his arms round Morgan, and helped
him into the library.
Thus 1t was that for upwards of an
hour, the tale Bud had to tell, of
terror and tragedy. of a homestead
burned, a mother and child muir
dered,, sister kidnapped by raiders
from across the border. was known
only to Patria and Donald.
When he had finished speaking and
bowed his wounded head on arms fold
ed upon the library table, there was
nothing more said by anyone for many
minutes. The two stared at each 9TH
er across the shoulders of the man in
speechless CONSERVATION and bewilder-
meDt.
"what are you going to do?' Patria
demanded presently.
Donald said: "First of 'all. get Bud
20 bed"
"But-Bessr' the girl protested.
eve will, of course, start an expedi-
ton to rescue her as soon as we dare"
"Darew
at would be worse than useless to
let our boys cross the border by day
light. You know well enough how in
stantaneously-alm Mexicans
can spread news by their under
ground telegraph Unless we wait till
nightfall and smuggle our men across
unseen, we might as well telegraph
Zelaya or Huroki, or whoever is re-
sponsible for this atrocity, to prepare
TO receive u.s."
"And in the meantime-what hap
pens to Bess? Oh, / cannot under
stand how you dare suggest waiting
here till dark -
Because I am determined to res
cue her-and because l feel sure no
harm will come to her"
"How can you say that?"
81 am sure that this is a move die
tated by Huroli. You know how per-
sistently his spies have haunted this
noighborhood and how consistently
they have failed to find out anything
concerning our preparatlons-nl ex-
cept those three who died suddenly of
finding out too much" Parr smiled
grizzly. then once more was grave.
mot one had seen anything or lived
tc tell the tale of what he saw. There
fore Hurod has done this thing-I
would stake my life on it--in order
TO get hold of somebody presumed to
be in your confidence--somebody from
whom he can persuade the information