The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1920-08-13

ness IN winch ner Ulnu began 10 Crap
pie with the situation. These outlaws
would never dare to take her life
There was no occasion for them 70 re-
sort to so desperate deed And
why should Lacy desire to take her
life? Most assuredly he did not, or
the act would have been already accom-
plished. The very fact of her hav-
ing been transported such a distance
was sufficient evidence OF his purpose.
The conspirators merely suspected her
mission in Haskell; they were afraid
she knew more Of their plans than she
really did. The telegram. stolen by
Miss La Rue, had convinced the lead
ers thar she might prove dangerous if
left at large, and they determined to
hold her helpless until their scheme
had been worked out and they were
safely beyond pursuit That was UNI
doubtedly the one object of her capture.
Lacy had no knowledge that MendeZ's
band was at the rendezvous; he sup
posed them 10 be on a cattle raid to
the south, with only man or two of
his own left as guard over Cayendish.
Cavendish Her mind grasped clear
~ now the fact that the man was not
dead 1t had not been his body found
in the Waldron apartments, but that
of some other man substituted for
purposes of crime Cavendish himself
had been lured westward, waylaid in
some manner and mode prisoner, as
she and Westcott had suspected.
Through the cooperation of Lacy
he had been brought to this desert
den, where ne could be held indefinite
~, with no chance Of discovery
if necessary. She had heard of such
places as this, read of them, YET never
before had she realized the possibility
of their real existence. 1t all seemed
more like a delirium of fever than
an actual fact. She rubbed her eyes,
gazing about on the rock walls, scare
~ sure she was actually awake Why,
one might ride across the desert, and
pass by within a hundred yards of its
rim. and never even be aware of the
existence of this Sunken valley. Yet
these men must have made use of ii
for years, as a place to hide stolen
cattle, and into which to retreat when
ever pursuit became dangerous.
Those huts without were not new
ly built, and this underground cavern
had been extended and changed by no
small labor. What deeds Of violence
must have happened here; what
scenes Of unbridled debauchery this
desert rendezvous must have wit
messed. She shuddered at the thought,
comprehending that these cells had
never been chiselled without a pur-
pose and that she was utterly be'p-
less in the hands of a band of thieves
and cutthrOats, to whom murder
meant little enough, if it only served
their ends. Mendez, no doubt, was
brute and monster vet it was Juan
Cateras whom she really feared-he
was cruel. Shiny, seeking to hide his
hatefulness behind that hideous smile;
and he had already chosen her for
his victim. Who would save her
Mendez? Lacy? She did not know;
and somehow neither of these was the
name which arose TO her lips almost
in the form of prayer; the name she
whispered with a faint throb of hope
in its utterance-Jim Westcott
The big miner was all she had to
rely upon; he had been in her mind
All through the long ride: he arose
before her again now, ami she well
coined the memory with conscious
throb of expectation. Those people
back there could not conceal for long
her absence from him; if he lived he
would surely seek her again.
Her womanly instinct had read the
message in the mans eyes; she was
of interest TO him, he cared: it was
no mere ordinary friendliness which
would bring him back; no. not even
their mutual connection with the case
of Frederick Cavendish. Her eyes
Frightened. and flush of color crept
into her cheeks. She believed in him,
in his courage-he had appealed TO
her as a man.
Suddenly she seemed to realize the
yearnng of her own heart. her utter
faith in him. He would come. he
must come; even now he might have
discovered her sudden disappearance.
ard suspected the cause He would
never believe any lies they might tell
that she had departed without
word. without mesSage-he would
find ont the truth somehow: he was
not the kind to lie down. to avoid
danger when it confronted duty-and,
besides. he cared. She knew this.
comprehended without question: there
had been no word spoken, yet she
knew.
Suddenly the girls slender body
grew taut, and her thin, white, deli
cate hands clutched the granite wall
back of her. and into her gray eyes
crept the light of terror, a terror that
was new and strange to her. a name
less clutching fear that her varied ex-
periences in the city had never
brought her, an insidious, terrible
fright for her bodily safety. Her deli
cate ears. strained under their spun
brown covering of hair-there was no
doubt of it; she heard footsteps in
the passage way. Juan Cateras with
his leering, lustful smile was coming
back
The uncertainty was of scarcely an
instant. The key turned in the lock
and the door opened. Cateras. smil- |