Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1923-09-05
A Romance
By Zane Grey
Copyright by Harper and Brother,

c, VI SloneS In the rear
Sne turned to see Helen sliding down
oank with perplexed and trouhlad
COWBOY Ambrose sternly and hero
icaliy prepared to carry her hack 70
the others. He laid hold of her In q
rury, with eyes blazing, Helen wbis-
| pered:
Let go of me! Majesty what doos
this fool meanY'
Madeline laughed. She knew Helen
and had marked the whisper. when or
| dlnarlly Helen would have snol,en i'm
perlously, and not low. Madeline az.
planned TO her the exigency Of tha eit.
uatlon. Il might run, but I'll never
scream" said Helen. With that Am
prose mad to be content to let her stav
however, ne found her a place some
what farther back from Madeline's no.
sltlon, where he said there was less
danger of her being seen. Then no
sterniy bound her to silence, tarried
moment to comfort Christine, his wife
actlng as maid to the ladies, and re-
turned TO where Madeline lay con-
cealed. He had been there scarcely a
moment when he whispered:
near hosses. The guerrillas are
comm"
Madeline's hiding place was well
| protected from possible discovery from
below. She could peep over kind of
parapet, through an opening in the
| tips of the pines that reached ND 70
the Cliff, and obtain commanding view
OF the camp circle and it's immediate
surroundings. She could not. however
see far either to right or left of the
camp, owing to the obstructing foliage
| presently the sound Of horses hoofs
quickened the beat of her pulse and
caused her to turn keener gaze upon
the cowboys below.
Although she had some fnkling of
the course Stewart and his men were
to pursue, she was not by any means
prepared for the Indifference she saw.
frank was asleep, or pretended to be.
Three cowboys were lazily and uncon-
cernedly attending to campfire duties.
such as baking biscuits, watching the
ovens, and washing tins and pots. The
elaborate set Of aluminium plates, cups,
etc., together with the other camp fix
lures that had done service for Made
lines party, had disappeared. Nick
Steele sat with his back to a log. smok-
ing his pipe. Another cowboy had Just
brought the horses closer into camp,
where they stood waiting to be sad
died. Nels appeared to be fussing over
| q ork
arctic. Monty had apparently nothing
to do for the present except whistle,
which he was doing much more loudly
than melodiously. The whole ensem-
BILE gave an impression of careless in
difference.
The SOUND Of horses hoofs grew
| louder and slowed its beat One of the
| cowboys pointed down the trail, toward
which several of his comrades turned
their head for moment, then went
On with their occupations.
Presently shaggy, dusty horse
bearing lean, ragged, dark rider rode
into the camp and halted. Another
Mexican riders came in single file and
stopped behind the leader.
"Buenos dias, senor," tremendously
said the foremost guerrilla.
By straining her ears Madeline
heard that voice, and she recognized
answered the greeting in Spanish, and,
waving his hand toward the campfire,
added in English, "Get down and eat"
The guerrillas were anything but
slow In complying. They crowded to
the fire, then spread in little circle
and squatted upon the ground, laying
| their weapons beside them. The cow
boys were not cordial in their receI-
ton Of this visit, but they were hos
pitable. The law of the desert had
always been to give food and drink TO
wayfaring men, whether lost or hunted
or hunting.
"They appear to be friendly enough"
whispered Madeline. Ambrose, tell
me-explain to me-the real thing"
"Sure. Gene thinks they're after
you ladies-to carry you off. But
Gene Oh, Genes some highfalutin
In his ideas lately. Most Of us boys
think the guerrillas are out to rob
! that's ALL"
Whatever might have been the Sc
cret motive of Don Carlos and his men,
they did not allow 1t to interfere with
hearty appreciation Of generous
amount of food. Then, as each and
every one began to roll and smoke the
inevitable cigarette Of the Mexican
there was a subtle change in manner.
| They smoked and looked about the
| camp, off into the woods, up at the
crags, and back at the leisureiy cow
boys. They had the air OF men waiting
for something.
"Senor," began Don Carlos, address
ing Stewart. AS he spoke he swept
| his sombrero to indicate the camp
circle.
Madeline could not distinguish his
words, but his gesture plainly indi-
| cotad question In regard to the rest