The Adair County news., 1922-03-07

Itrue meaning. But now IL became very
real, and he was positively surprised
to learn the strength of hold she al
ready had upon him.
His mind would linger over a thou
sand little womanly peculiarities
which somehow had unconsciously i'm
pressed -him-the soft glow IN her
eyes, the wistfulness Of her smile; the
slight dimple in her chin; the pulslng
Of blood in her cheeks; the round firm
ness of the white neck; the peculiar
gracefulness of her walk; the name
less attractiveness of poise, all came
back now in odd fascination. He was
not aware before that he had even
noticed these things, but now their
memory dominated him, caused his
pulses to quicken. He had known lit
tie of women since bOyhood, and never
before had he encountered on terms
of intimacy this type of woman. She
had been a revelation to him even in
his blindness, but now, under the spell
Of memory, she had suddenly changed
to an inspiration. His wife, Olga
Carlyn, his wife, He said the words
over, as though he recalled dream,
the sound of the words causing the
startled buckskin to cast back an evil
eye at his unconscious rider.
Yet it was actually true; impossible
as it seemed, it was nevertheless an
incontrOvertible 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. 1t 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. 1t 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.
or dreamed Of her fate. And now, as
sured Of safety, believing the dead
would tell no tales, that they had left
behind no evidence Of their crime, the
| outfit was riding carelessly across the
lonely prairie, seeking somewhere a
safe rendezvous.
Shelby reined 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. 1t was a trackless waste, drear
and deserted of all life. Not thing
that moved crossed his range of
vision: and, at last, he snapped the
| field 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 endeavOring to locate. He
came upon il in less than an hour
leading straight down a narrow val
ley, whose general course was directly
west. He dismOunted. and studied the
tracks with care. This was his party
| beyond a douht-fve 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-
Gated 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.
1t was nearly sundown when the
trail he followed swerved to the right