The Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Ark.) 190?-current, 1922-11-30


Strangers" She Said.
any good stock. AS boss thieves these
rebels have got 'em all beat That
outfit IL waitin' till It's Late. Nothin'
TO II but head south for the Rio For
lorn. It's on the border line, but It's
country where these rebels amt been
yet"
"If's hike to Beldin's ranch. An
II we get there In daylight some
0reasef will see the girl before Beldin'
ean hide her. It'll get talked about.
The news II travel to Casifa like sage
balls before the wind"
~Shore we don't ride into Rio For
lorn In the daytime. Let's slip the
packs, Jim. We can hide them OF In
the cactus an come back after them.
With the young man ridin' we"
The whispering was interrupted by
. Loud ringing neigh that whistIed mp
from the arroyo. One Of the horses
had scented the travellers on the
ridge top The Indifference of the
Mexicans changed to attention
Laid and Lash turned back and led
the horses into the first opening on
the south side of the road The packs
were slipped, securely tied and hidden
in a mesquite clump. Laid strapped
a blanket around one of the horses.
His next move was to take off his
chaps.
"Gale, you're wearin' boots, an by
liftin' your feet you can beat the cac-
tus" he whispered. But the-the-
Miss Castaneda, she'll be torn all to
pieces unless she puts these on.
Please tell her-an' hurry
Dick took the chaps, and, going up
to Mercedes. he explained the situa-
ton. She laughed, evidently at his
embarrassed earnestness, and slipped
out of the saddle.
"Senor, ehapparejos and are not
strangers" she said.
Deity and promptly she equipped
herself. and then Gale helped her into
the saddle, called to her horse. and
started off. Lash directed Gale to
mount the other saddled horse and
go next.
Dick had not ridden hundred
yards behind the trotting leaders be-
fore he had sundry painful encoun-
tiers with reaching cactus arms. The
horse missed these by narrow mar
gin. Dicks knees appeared to be In
line, and Ii became necessary for him
to lift them high and let his boots
take the onslaught of the spikes.
Ladd pursued zigzag course south
ward across the desert trotting down
the aisles, cantering In wide, bare
patches, walking through the clumps
of cacti. Gale became chilled TO the
bone, and his clothes were damp and
cold. His knees smarted from the
wounds of the poisoned thorns, and
his right hand was either swollen
stiff or too numb to move Moreover,
he was firing. Mercedes must be made
of steel. he thought, to stand all that
she had been subjected to and yet,
when the stars were paling and dawn
perhaps not far away, stay in the
saddle
So Dick Gale rode on, brewster for
each mile, and more and more giving
the horse a choice Of ground Once
when he, thinking to fight his weari-
ness, raised his head, he saw that one
of the horses I'm the lead was riderless.
Ladd was carrying Mercedes.
1t seemed that hours passed, though
he knew only little time had elapsed,
when once more he threw off the spell
of WEAKNESS. He heard dog bark.
Tall trees lined the open lane down
which he was riding. Presently in the
gray gloom he saw low. square houses
with fiat roofs Ladd rode on for
perhaps quarter OF mile, though
1t seemed interminably long to Dick.
A grove Of trees doomed dark In the
gray Of morning. Ladd entered 1t and
was lost In the shade. Dick rode on
among the trees. Presently he heard
voices, and soon another house, low
and fiat like the others. but so long
he could not see the farther end, stood
up blacker than the trees. AS he dis
mounted. cramped and sore, he could
scarcely stand. Lash came alongside.
T.