Charlevoix county herald., 1920-06-04


asst; amt seen nuthin' Of 'em since"
"What became of LacyT
"He's down In his saloon; he sed
you showed up, an asked fer him,
,er tell yer that's whar he'd be-"
HE told you thatf He expected me
o show up, then"
81 reckon as how he did," and Tim
mons grfnned In drunken good humor.
He's pretty blame smart. Bill Lacy
g.; he most allars knows whut's goin'
,er happen" He leaned over the desk
md lowered his voice. IF yer do
iunt him up, Jim," he said confiden.
tally, "you better 60 heeled."
Westcott laughed. The first shock
If the discovery of Miss Dbnovan's
disappearance had passed. and he was
himself again. He must. have time to
:hink and arrange some plan and,
lbove all, must retain q clear mind
Ind proceed cOolly.
"An right, old man." he said easily.
I'll try and look out for myself.
haven't eaten yet today. What can
vou find me In the larderw
Although feeling the need Of food,
Westcott entered the dining-room Of
he Timmons' house more DESTROYS Of
being alone than for any other pur-
pose. He realized that he was sud-
ienly brought face to face with most
serious condition, and one which must
De solved unaided. So Bill Lacy ex.
,ected him2 Had left word where he
vas to be found? What was the prob
able meaning Of this? Westcott did
lot connect this message directly with
he strange disappearance OF Miss
Donovan. Moore must have recog.
aized him during their fight, and re-
ported to his master who II was that
lad been discovered listening at the
window. Realizing the nature Of that
conversation. Lacy naturally antici.
pated being sought the very moment
Westcott came to town. That was
what this meant. All right, he would
hunt Lacy as soon as he was ready
10 do so; and, as Timmons suggested,
would go "heeled."
But the girl7 What had really be-
come Of the girl7 Westcott drew the
brief note from his pocket, smoothed
put Its creases and read the few
words over again. The writing was
unQuestionably feminine, and he could
recall seeing nothing Miss Donovan
had ever indited, with which 1t could
be compared. But would she have de-
parted, however hurriedly, without
leaving him some message? Uncon-
sciously he still held the letter In his
hand when the waitress came In with
bis breakfast. She glanced about to
make certain they were alone and
leaned over, her lips close to his ear.
els that the note they say that New
York young lady leftT
"Yes, Sadie" In surprise. "WhyT
swell, she never wrote 1t, Mr.. West
cott," hurriedly placing the dishes be-
fore him. that's all. Now don't yer
say a word to anybody that I told
yer; but she didn't 60 East at all she
wus took In a wagon down the desert
"You saw them? Who7"
"Well, I don't Just know that, 'cept
1t was Matt Moore's team, an he wuz
drivin' 1t. / didn't see the others so
es to be sure. Yer see Us help sleep
over the kitchen, an bout one o'clock
I woke up. thought heard a noise
outside, an got up an went to the
winder. I couldn't see much, not
'nough so could swear to nuthin';
but there was three or four men out
there Just across that little gully, you
know, an they had a woman with 'em.
She didn't scream none, but she was
tryin' ter git away; wunst she run,
but they caught her. I didn't see no
wagon then; It was behind the ridge,
I reckon. After a while II drove of
down the south trail, an little later
three men come up them outside stairs
back into the hotel. They was mighty
still bout 1t, too"
"You couldn't tell who they wereT
They WANT like nuthin' but shad.
ders; It was q purity dark night. Say,
did you ever hear tell Of q Mexican
named MendezT
"Well, rather; he's q cattle thief, or
worse. Arizona has a big reward out
for him, dead or alive"
That's the gink, I bet yer; has he
got a hangout anywhar round this
countryf
"Not so far as I know. What makes
you suspect thisr'
Sadie leaned even closer, her voice
with excitement, evidently
convinced that her information was Of
utmost Importance.
you know the Teller they call En-
right, I reckon he's a lawyerr
Westcott nodded.
"Well, he was DOM most Of the talk
In, an I was foolin' round the side
board yonder, pretendin' ter clean 1t
up. Nobody thought was In ear dis
lance, but I got hold ov word now an
then. He kept tellin' 'em bout this
Mexican, who's friend Of Bill Lacy.
an ] judge has a place whar he hangs
out with his gang somewhar I'm the bis