The Holbrook news., 1921-05-27
CHAPTER vrr-contInued.

CHAPTER VII-continued
 -6-
 Yet it was actually true; impossible As it seemed. it was nevertheless an incOntroveTtible fact. He had never spoken to her a single word of love he had never even kissed her. and still. before both God and man, she was his wife. The strangeness of the situation bewildered him. Why, he did not even know who 'she was what right she had to claim the family name under which he had married her; what strange story of crime might shadow her history It was all mystery, mystery in which he was becoming deeply involved Calkins had evidently been hiding her from some fate. but whether of good or evil, could not yet be determined. This present abduction, beyond question, had to do with that concealed past, perhaps with some happening before she was even born. These fellows were not robbers; their raid was not intended for any such purpose; they had touched nothing, even the horses were left undisturbed in the corral, and the moment they gained posses sion of her they had hurriedly depart ed. It had all been carefully planned, with Macklin to choose the time, and then executed quietly. Their only mis- take was in leaving him behind alive. But for that one error no one ever would have known what had occurred .of e., sured of safety. believing the dead would tell no>tales. that they had left behind no evidence of their crime, the outfit was riding carelessIy across the lonely prairie. seeking somewhere a safe rendezvous.
 Shelby refined his horse to the left and sought a water hole he remem- bered. himself drinking first, and then standing by while the animal quenched its thirst Leaving the buckskin there, with rein trailing on the ground. he climbed the steep side of a butte. and swept the distant horizon with a field glass. It was a trackless waste, drear and deserted of all life. Not a thing that moved crossed his range of vision; and, at last, he snapped the fieldS glasses back into their case slipped down the steep face of the butte. and silently remounted
 The sun was some time past the meridian, and he felt convinced those he followed could not be far from the trail he was endeavorfng to locate. He came upon it in less than an hour. leading straight down narrow val ley. whose general course was directly west. He dismounted. and studied the tracks with care. This was his party beyond doubt-five horses. one with a split hoof.
 An hour later he found where the party had halted. made a fire among some rocks, and prepared food. He studied every sign with care, hoping for some message of guidance from her; but there was none Either she had been too carefully watched by her captors. or had given up in despair any thought of rescue. Doubtless she believed him dead also; perhaps had even witnessed the blow struck, but if not would assuredly have been in- formed of what had happened. The stamping of the ponies hoofs indi- cated that the party had remained in that spot for some time. in no hurry to proceed. Shelby studied the foot prints, satisfying himself that four were Indian, and one white. unques- tionably Macklin. With only five horses this meant that the girl rode with one of the men, probably the Kid. He discovered where she probably was sitting during the meal a torn piece of crumpled sacking bearing mute testimony that her hands had been bound. and released so that she might eat. The fellows were evident ly unafraid of her any longer, and had not tied her up again when they resumed the journey.
 It was nearly sundown when the trail he followed swerved to the right up a steep bank. where the ponies hoofs slipped in their struggle to at tain the top. Shelby gave the buck skin his head, and the game little devil went scrambling up. until they came forth on flat plain above. Shel- by dropped his rein, and climbed to a higher point of rock, lying concealed behind it's summit, while he swept the scene below through the field glasses. He never had been there before, yet he knew about where he was; this must be Dragon creek, and not far below would be Wolves hole, of which he often had heard-a famous hiding place for cattle thieves and border