The Winslow mail., 1923-08-17
A Romance
By Zane Grey
Copyright by Harper and Brothers

slight rafting of stones in the rear.
She turned to see Helen sliding down
! bank with @ perplexed and troubled
cowboy. Ambrose sternly and hero
icaly prepared to carry her back to
fury, with eyes blazing, Helen whis-
pered:
''Let go Of me! Majesty, what does
this fool mean?'
Madeline laughed. She knew Helen,
and had marked the whisper, when or
| dinarily Helen would have spoken i'm
periously, and not low. Madeline eX-
planned to her the exigency Of the sit
uation. 81 might run, but I'll never
| scream" said Helen. With that Am
brose had to be content to let her stay.
However, he found her place some
what farther back from Madelines po-
sition, where he said there was less
danger of her being seen. Then he
sternly bound her to silence, tarried q
moment to comfort Christine, his wife,
acting as maid to the ladies, and re-
turned to where Madeline lay con-
cealed He had been there scarcely
| moment when he whispered:
81 hear hosses. The guerrillds are
| comm"
MadeIine'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 up to
| the cliff, and obtain commanding view
of the camp circle and its immediate
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 tnkling 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 log, smok-
| ing his pipe. Another cowboy had just
| brought the horses closer into camp,
where they stood waiting to be sad
| died. Nals appeared to be fussing over
| pack. Stewart was rolling a Gig
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 a moment, then went
On with their occupations.
Presently a shaggy. dusty horse
bearing lean, ragged, dark rider rode
into the camp and halted. Another
followed, and another. Horses with
Mexican riders came in single file and
stopped behind the leader.
"Buenos dias, senor," tremendously
said the foremost guerrilla.
By strainlng her ears Madeline
heard that voice, and she recognized
1t as belonging to Don Carlos. Stewart
| 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-
tion 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 highfalutfn
| 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 ofDon Carlos and his men,
they did not allow 1t to interfere with
hearty appreciation of "A generous
amount Of food. Then, as each and
| every one began to roll and smoke the
inevitable cigarette of the Mexican,
there was subtle change i'm manner.
They smoked and looked about the
camp, off into the woods, up at the
| crags, and back at the leisurely 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 hut his gesture MAINLY in0i-