Evening star., 1936-03-08
Continued from page eishf

Dbl Il oIH dRuSp IOtulIiS lACu IWO
guns Tor her husband in grim eff
cheney, was the first to see this
CHASTITY thing. She rolled from beneath
the wagon and raised her voice and
screamed, Look she cried above
the roar of guns. Look! Look! Hold
fire! It's Caution Pendergast!'
Then Ellen Pendergast saw too and
dropped the gun she held, and came
as near to swooning as she had ever
done in all her sturdy life For yonder
in the flying mass, so close that she
could see her face. her girl was riding
with the savages. Upright on the
Captains stallion. her arms bound
behind her. her long hair streaming on
the wind, her wide skirts billowing,
Caution Pendergast circled with their
foes!
In the forefront of their ranks. di-
rectly exposed to the bullets of her
friends, she was forced to play as das-
tardly part as one could picture. A
shield and a buckler, she rode with
them, and everywhere she passed, the
firing lessened, so that wave OF still
ness went round and round the be-
leaguered train. And the racing horde
came closer with every turn.
Captain Sillard's face was chalky
white above his close brown beard.
Spare the girl if possible" he said
at every point. Shoot behind her
always"
''Oh, God" her mother said aloud,
only miracle can save her now,
beg that mracle"
And little John began to whimper
for the first time
At that moment Will Dallas, some
miles away on the rolling plain, had
the strangest feeling he had ever expe-
rienced. 1t seemed as if suddenly
hand from the dim distance ahead
clutched his heart in a grasp of steel
and drew him forward. so that he
actually leaned over his saddle bow.
1t was impossible - yet the voice of
Caution Pendergast cried out Of the
sunlit stiffness: will! Oh, Will"
Instantly he raised his hand to those
behind him and set his horse to lope
The whole long double column fol-
lowed and they began to eat up the
distance.
Long before he knew he should be
seeing anything, the scout was rising
on his thighs and scanning the horizon
for the white tops of wagons. for the
familiar cloud of dust that travelled
with every train. or for that most
sinister thing of all, smoke But there
was no smoke and the dogged hope
within him strengthened.
The horse which Captain Sparks
had given him was good and he set the
pace as fast as possible, riding directly
in the wide trace now where so many
wagons had rolled to the West that
year. Once they passed signs that every
rider knew and did not care to look
at, wide spaces OF trampled ground,
black heaps of ashes, the bones of
cattle and the broken shafts of arrows.
The men were quiet for the most
part. but here and there they talked in
low tones. And all the time that
strange drawing feeling was in Will
Dallas heart. the voice of a girl
sounded despairingly in his spiritual
ears.
He knew. as we'll as if he saw her in
the flesh, that Caution Pendergast was
in deadly peril. His always lean face
was Indian-thin, his black eyes
narrow. Not all the hours he had
ridden had taken toll of him like the
constantly recurring memory of her
sweet lips, open and soft as she slept
in her tall wagon, nor the look of her
eyes when he bent above her at
parting. AS the landmarks became
more and more familiar of the place
where the train should be, he began to
rise more and more often, his dark