Evening star., 1940-05-12

70 ambush Jim, Anne @ fears s 0insf for Jim'a msn
W. ~ %s.si; ss'ys a,% Sss ,1as e
Kennedy. discharaed BY i Nos Mosely and and
then beaten up b. Jud. tells Jim that
S:R n.n 81; . .sss. sS. u x. 'm asm s1 s5.s &.
haf.mle'ssly. 'a suddenly he reslises hs
met Jesse Lamprey ana & reveals ais that Iass
she elopsd with him at Massilion. He
dsssr deserted her and she tells him she
5, + a.s Sc h mem .san :,d vo1nd.d Jim j.
Dut @ feccyers: Anne knows now she Is in
Gsf sIsft, W. W,naan; Jim shs goes to visit Hen.
old trunk nnds. letters she suspects re-
late to the land-grant feud.
CHAPTER Xxx.
1T is important that I get an
honest translator and one who
understands both Spanish and Eng.
lish thoroughly" Anne told Henri
eta. There is chance that Don
Jose or his wife in their letters may
say something about his land grant.
am going to sit there while they
are being translated to make sure
none OF them are taken"
1t turned out that 1t. Window
knew an old gentleman named An
tonic Castro who exactly filled these
requirements. He translated the
letters out loud while Anne sat and
listened. In spite of the somewhat
nowery language there were homely
touches and flashes of emotion that
wiped out the intervening years.
This was especially true of the
letters sent by Donna Maria to her
husband. It was as II she had
written them yesterday. Her bones
had been dust since long before
Anne had been born. but the sweet
ness, piety and love Of this Spanish
lady stood out from those faded
pages with startling vividness.
The letters Of Don Jose were
brusquely masculine. They were
objective-dealt with affairs local
and national. Most Of them held
orders to be given some of the nu-
merous subordinates who were man
ayers or foremen Of his ranches. A
paragraph of one brought Anne to
sharp attention. It read:
In answer to the question raised
by Senor Torres, you may tell him
that he has no need of a paper
from me to make his title valid. As
you know, I have relinquished the
great grant made to me by his
majesty for services rendered in the
wars. I have more land than I can
use-more than any of our sons
will need as range for their cattle.
The grant is an agricultural one
and have no mind to turn farmer
IN my old age. Nor is the land fit
for anything except as a range for
stock. Have Miguel explain to
Senor Torres that by not complying
with the conditions of the grant I
am releasing 1t back to the king"
Paragraph Is Vital.
Anne had Castro read the para
graph q second time and once again,
slowly, while she wrote it in English
word for word. ID"
There could be no doubt of the
ehect OF this plain statement on
the land-grant claims. In his own
handwriting old Don Jose had
written that he no longer held a
valid claim to the estate. All that
was necessary would be to prove the
authenticity of the handwriting in
court. This ought to be easy, since
the don had left his bold, stin
signature on so letters and docu-
mentS.
Anne walked back to the old
house, a strange excitement in her
blood. She wrote at once to Jim
Silcott and asked him to come to
Santa Fe by the first stage. The
reason she gave was that she had
run across letter written by Don
Jose Gandara which seemed to her
to have vital bearing on the land
grant case.
Jim Silcott proposed that Anne
join him in an immediate visit to
D. L. Stratton, the lawyer in charge
Of the legal fight in behalf of the
Armijo claimants.
Il believe this letter will win our
case for u.s." he told her jubilantly
1T confirms in the don's own words
the claim we have always made,
that he not only slept on his rights,
but actually relinquished them"
A warm glow poured through her
II do hope so. We ought to win
with this, if there is any justice
in the courts"
Jim Is Optimistic.
II think we'll get fair play" Jim
said. 'Mosely doesn't control the
United States courts. OF course
technicalities sometimes decide
suits. But this letter certainly helps
US a lot"
Through the narrow streets they
walked side by side to the Office of
the lawyer. which was in a low
adobe building a stones throw from
the plaza. Jim liked the way Anne
walked, with ease and grace, shoul-
ders and hips in a straight verti-
cal line and her back fiat.
Anne was disappointed at the
GOODNESS with which Stratton re-
ceived the news of the letter. He
showed interest, but very little en-
thusiasm. The lawyer was a neat
little man Immediately dressed. He
wore long, black mustache, per-
haps to make up for the thinness
Of the hair, which was carefully
draped in long strands over the bald
head. Before speaking he seemed
to weigh and measure his words.
"The letter may be quite useful
II admitted as evidence" he ad-
mitted gusfdedly.
Anne would have no such tepid
reception Of her discovery.
Il should think 1t would blow up
Mr.. Mosely's case. Don Jose ad-
mits 1t Is not his land. He says he