Mexico weekly ledger., 1922-06-22

ADN can't your
The mans loud Rufraw brought {
4oep flush 70 the girls face. Sh,
glazed herself directly between hin
and the lamb.
He's mlne,s she insisted. ~Het
aFswnsd urs II I hadn't jumped intC
ne drink an pulled him out"
Her words made the farmer certain
wAere the creature came from.
Dead or alive. he's minei" he en-.
claimed.
Besides eoyeting the lamb, be hated
ne souatter girls way Of fondling ami,
mals. When he got her. he deter
1lned, he would take all Of that kind
e nonsense out Of her.
With one sweep Of his mighty hand,
As thrust her aside, and. whipping ont
his knife, he cut the rope that held
Nanny Hopkins to Poliy's arm. Then,
IN spite ef the girls frantic cries and
her desperate fighting against It, os-
car picked up the lamb.
Pollyop screamed frantically. for
from the look on his evil face, she saw
instantly what he intended to do. BE
was going to kill Nannyopi Again she
Jew at him, but he was tall and strong
and held the lamb aloft in the air,
high out Of her reach. With n rough
saith be pushed the girl from him so
.rcughly that she fell When Polly
scrambled up, he had the lamb In one
hand and a large stone In the other.
"0scarI" she shrieked. {
She dropped to her knees, clasped
Wee Jerry In her arms, and shrouded
his face and her own In her curls.
When she dared look up again, Oscar
had thrown the dead lamb on the
ground.
There" he gritted, "that's to teach
y0u a lesson, Miss Poll Hopkins. And
now TIL open your eyes to something
else"
As he crossed to her, she tried to
struggle to her feet; but her legs were
weak, and she was sick over the quiv-
ering body there In the road. In an
other minute Oscar had snatched her
Into his arms.
she shrieked again and again; and
yerry's loud cries followed, as she
fought desperately with the burly
farmer.
Once out of sight Of the Red Cross
poster and the little group in front Of
H. Percival checked his horse. Bay
Dexter shook his head and champed
his bit In disapproval. He was &C.
castOmed to mad, harum-scarum gal
Tops, and he loved them; but this
morning, especially since the pause by
the fence corner, he had been com-
relied to mog along like a worn-out;
old nag.
His master raj thinking, really and
seriously thinking. Happily born and
me heir to an immense fortune, his
way through life SO far had been
snarked out for him. He. had gone to
war ca~relessly, In a mood OF hot pa!
eziotism and BECAUSE it was the thing
20 do. Over there he had done his
sAare and gained. especially from his
asench comrades, an inkling Of life's
vital purpose. He had decided that.
when he returned, he would do some
tAinS worth while, something to make
sAs world a little better because he
bad lyed Az 1t.
Now ne was home; and almost the
6rst day had come to him this appeal.
H smiled ruefully at the recollection
ce Poliyop's plea. He had promised to
hAlp the squatters, and he meant to do
i Suppose 1t did bring him into con.
aict with Marcus MacKenziei He
knew how to fight, and a good fight
WA not bad fun.
Family from the direction ne had
Eiaden, the sound Of cries came to his
ears. Idly he wondered what the row
was. Some squatter man disciplinlng
Aas wife, he decided: but he could not
stand to have a woman beaten!
he vaulted into the saddle and raced
back over the road. 1t was not long
before he located the place where the
screams came from. Then Bay Dex-
ter had an opportunity to show all the
speed he had.
The sight OF Pollyop writing in the
strong arms of a man he did not recog-
nixe made Perciyal see red. He was
on his horse with one leap, and two
Icing strides took him to Oscars side.
One blow from hispowerful knuckles
in the farmers face staggered Bennett
and freed Polly SO quickly that she
fali to the ground. Instinctiveiy she
crawled out Of the way OF the battling
men. The blow that had released her
had done no damage to Bennett ex-
capt to aggrayate his rage. He recoy.
cred himself and confronted his assail-
ant, dripping oaths like ram from d
ci0udburst.
Bennett took the offensive, his fists
flying like fiails. He wanted TO ret
his arms around the other fellow, To-
trip him and make the fight a rough
and tumble on the ground, but PEREZ
raj avoided the rush, and struck as
Bennett went BY. Again and again
Bennett tried 70 come to close quar-
1srs. But he could not; neither could
BE- NIT bis elusive opponent. At Length
be hesitated, distressed aa much by
his own Efforts as the blows he had
received.
Then Percivai stepped III, and quick
~ II was all over. Two weli.pianted
tilunps laid Bennett like q log on the
ground.
Robert busted or his hands. picked
nee Jerry up, and handed him To Ills
azsker.
TDid be hurt YOU, Poily7v be querled,
and her answer WAS positively gleefui
Mary 4 BIT. SIR. an I reckon the BIZ
AEL t.1