The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-08-11
PROLOGUE

masked rider halted.
Just ahead, just beyond the fringe
of shadowy mesquite that skirtcd the
deserts edge, two dusty wagon
tracks led out over the mesa. They
were all that marked the Yuma
Verdi road, those tracks, and for
fifty miles of cactus and sand they
were all that recorded the turbulent
existence of an international bound
airy line. But now, like faded, dis
carded ribbons, they stretched, lone
ly and indistinct, across the desert.
then dropped abruptly over the edge
of the mesa.
Minutes passed. The tall rider
sat motionless-a brooding statue,
silvered with moonlight. Only the
eyes moved-eycs that glittered
restlcssly through the mask, tire
lcssly searching that velvet darkness
ahead. A ftful night wind crept like
4 sigh among the mesquite. Once
the horse paved impatiently at the
sand. and once he raised his head to
catch some faint, elusive message.
Silence. An endless silence while
the twisted shadows of the mesquite
heightened before the sinking moon.
Toward the far-off Mexican foot
hills coyote howled. Again silvery,
moon-drenched silence, while the
long minutes passed.
Abruptly, in the same startled Sec
ond, both horse and horseman raised
their heads. Out of the desert night
rose sound, far off and indistinct.
From formless, pulsating murmur
it rolled nearer, until at last the
sound resolved itself into the muf-
fled tread of galloping horses.
Only then the quiet figure in the
moonlight moved. A touch of the
rein, and the horse stepped forward
into the sheltering mesquite, where
again they froze to immobile
statues, lost in that shadowy obscur-
ity. Gently the mans hand dropped
for an instant to the black auto
matte at his side. The barrel was
still warm. His knees clasped the
horse more tightly. His 1.-THE figure
had taken on a new tenseness, and
he leaned forward with coldly eager
eyes.
In the moonlight ahead the night
had become dirnly peopled with gal
Looping horsemen, swinging down to-
ward the mesa's edge. Mexican cav
airy on patrol. They rode in loose
ranks, two abreast, talking in low
tones. Little whirling pools of sand
rose beneath their pounding feet,
then died, and in another minute the
sound of their hurried passing faded
As the last sombreroed figure melt
ed back into that night of silence
the solitary horseman left the shad-
ows and rode slowly to the nlesa's
rim. Leaning far out in the saddle
his eyes followed their steep descent
to where, almost directly beneath
him, the trail turned and plunged
steeply downward. There the littls
cavalcade had halted.
In a tight circle they were clus
tered about . huddled figure tina
lay face downward in the road. Gu
of the stiffness the angry hum o
many voices rose to the solitary
riders ears, and beneath the masl
his teeth cleaned in brief smile
He bent forward, watching. TIVE
men had slipped from their horse
and raised the limp form in the road
way. For a moment their leade
looked at the face. then formed tn
word lopez A SILVER ran through
the group. The night seemed t
grow suddenly chill. Uneasily eacl
man peercd into the darkness as !
it now doomed suddenly menacine
Then from above burst laugh
wild and jeering, and for brief in
slant the horsemen below saw out
lined against the desert sky the tai
form of masked rider. Leisurel
his gloved hand rose in a derisiv
gesture, and again that jeerine
knocking laugh foated down.
A rattle of stones as the hors
swerved back, and now the dust
edge of the mesa cleaned white an
empty beneath the moon.
CHAPTER I
On that same moonlit deser'
49, A. -