Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-05-04
THARON OF LOST.VALLE
!. BY TIvGLE Il. ROE
,,,o, of "The Maid Of the Whispering Hs" "The Heart
of Night Wind" etc.
By TIlvCIE Il. ROE

a slow dark flush spread over the
man g race. He laughed, however, and
IN reaching for her hat caught two of
her fingers. whether purposely or not
| Tharon could not tell
| Admirable hospitality in the last
frontier" he said. But perhaps ]
| ferent."
l. You make me ashamed" said Tharon
straightly, but Lasts amt takin'
chances these days. You may belong to
| government, an you NAV belong to
| Courtrey, an I'm against 'em both"
she walked with him to the door
stepped out, as IL with some thought to
soften her unprecedented treatment of
the. trim figure of him In it's peculiar
garb, the proud carriage, the even and
| easy compartment under insult.
From his saddle he united a package
WIN ,ycu please take this?" he asked
lightly holding 1t out. Just on general
But she shook her head.
can't take no favors from you when
I've just took stand against you, can
n" she asked in turn.
We'll, OF all the ridiculous----"
The man laughed again shortly, tossed
whirled. and rode away without a back.
ward glance
Tharon stood frowning where he left
her until the brown horse and its rider
wfn Iere wen down along the levels toward
Then a sigh at her shoulder recalled
her and she turned to see the wistful
dark face Of Paula gazing raptly in the
He was SC handsome, senorita," said
the girl, TO be so hardly dealt with"
q, ,Haula, said the mistress bittngly,
VIII you remember who you're talkin'
,. Pomos under tn Rockface?"
Saints forbid :" cried Paula in
stantly.
Then keep your sighs for jose an
mind your manners. Pick up that bun
Swiftly and obediently the girl did
as She was told unrolling the wrapper
from the package.
She brought to light the meal sack
Which waI Tharon had dropped that day on
A, slow flush stained Tharon's cheeks
the house.
When the riders came in at night she
toid them In detail about the whole af-
fair, for Lasts and it's men were one
their interests the same
They held counsel around the long
table In the dining room under the hang
ing lamp, and Conford at her right was
spokesman for. the rest.
Hes somethin' official, all right, I
make no doubt, Tharon," he said when
ne had listened attentively. but what or
VINO l don't know. ] heard from Dixon
about him comm into Coryan that day,
an that he had rode far. No one knows
MS business, or what he's in Lost Valley
Tor. He's some mysterious"
Hes goin' to stay, so he told me-"
went on the girl. "goin' to build a house
ride. But how'll he live? What an
ernment."
What's he mean by that?"
Search me-"
Wasn't there nothin' about him differ.
ent? Nothin' you could Judge him by?"
"Yes, there was. He wore somethin'
on his breast, a sign, a dull.like thing
with words an letters on It,"
"So?" said Conford quickly, what
was was 1t like, Tharon? Can't you describe
Can with a pencil" said Tharon, ris-
ing Come on in"
She went swiftly to the big desk In
the other room and rummaged among it's
drawers for paper and pencil These
things were precious in Lost Valley.
Jim Last had had great stacks of
paper, net. glazed sheets with faint lines
upon them, made somewhere in that
mysterious "below" and brought in by
pack train. 1t was on one of these
with the distinctive words Lasts Hold
ing printed at the top, that the thirty
men had signed themselves into the new
law of the valley.
To Tharon these sheets had always
been magic invested with grave dignity.
Anything done upon them was of i'm.
port, irrevocable.
Thus had Jim Last inscribed the semi
yearly letters that went down the Wall
with the cattle, or for supplies
Now she spread a shining pad under
the light, sat down in her fathers chair
and began, carefully and minutely, to re-
produce the badge that meant authority
OF sort, yet was not a sheriffs star
The riders, clustered at her shoulder
watched the thing take shape and form
At the end of twenty painstaking min
utes Tharon Strengthened and looked up
in the interested faces.
color!"
And this was the shield with its un.
known heraldry which Conford took up
and studied carefully for a long time.