The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-08-22

doors were closing on MN tnat mad
once been opened wide. He looked
up. Well, one had to sleep. Even
paupers. But at the door of the bed
room he looked back and raised his
clenched hand toward the unheeding
darkness outside.
"You got dad, damn you," he
said slowly. "Now let's see if you
can get ME"
For Ted that night always re-
NAMED a memory of racing, waking
thoughts; a nightmare of fantastic
dreams. His life, the life that had
been forever taken away, passed be-
fore him in confusion: the days of
poverty on the streets of Denver,
the better days of college. the days
of wealth. Like bright, brief pic
lures in the darkness the pageant
of his yesterdays passed.
He turned the hot pillow. At last,
throwing back the covers, he went
to the window and lighted a cigar
cite. So his father had trusted too
much-trusted life, and people, and
himself. Then life had let him down.
Life-and Morales. Yet, strangely,
the word evoked not the austere face
of the Spaniard, but the ivory-pale
features of the girl. Elusive and
haunting, she seemed to smile-but
with a smile not wholly gay. Adela
Morales. That, too, was past. Past
before it had begun.
He may have slept. Suddenly he
found himself sitting bolt upright,
looking on the first red shafts of
light that crept over the desert.
That ache of loneliness had gone,
and the long fight of the night had
left him with a new sense of mas
terry. The path ahead lay clear. He
was to carry Onto face whatever
the future might bring.
A breeze from the window famed
his cheeks, bringing the promise of
spring and the faint fragrance of
jasmine. He breathed deeply. know
ing the black night had forever
passed, and with it the blackness of
his pain. All life lay before him,
bidding him build again. He would
look a hostile world in the face and
carve a place for himself. And then
his lips tightened-he would come
to grips with the forces that had
meant his fathers ruin. And in
some unreasoned way he felt that
this too was part of his fathers
plans.
A servant brought fruit and cof-
fee, and half-hour later Ted found
Bob on the porch, listening in
amused silence to a very wrathful
major. The old soldier was embel-
fishing his talk with the hand-pieked
profanity Of ten army generations.
As Radcliffe approached Bob
smiled up At him. THE major has
news for US. Tell him. Blount."
"It's about that damned Mexican
captive. He got awayi"
"But the fellow was wounded"
protested Radcliffe. "He eouldn't
have got awayP
"Of course he couldn't. Not alone.
He had help. Someone was keep.
ing watch. All night someone must
have kept watch--even while we
were out there he may have had his
eyes on US. Sweet piece of business
eh? The guard looked in at mid.
night and saw the greaser's boots
sticking out beneath the blanket
He flashed on the light and the fel.
low lay there all quiet, with his eye.
closed. Every two hours after that
the guard looked in and the boot.
were still there. And this morning
those damned boots were still there
but, by the Lord, that Mexican
wasn't. He had taken them off,
stuck them neatly outside the blank
ct, and vanished. Somebody came
for him, smashed the lock, and car.
ried him away" Again the old col.
died called down eternal maledie.
tons on his fortune. HE was our
best bet, that peon-our only bet
And now he's gone. Vanished. And