Evening star., 1940-09-14
CHAPTER XII.

mere L dIIl-WdltlllS lOl you az
Chuckomovi as I promised" Craig
said.
Brick, sitting there staring at him,
seeing the cr.nkles rush to the cor
ners of his eyes, seeing how roughly
his dark hair curled, seeing his fine
mouth curve into smile, knew
that she was not sorry that he had
returned. She knew that this had
been the thing for which she had
been waiting for two days, her heart
hammering wildly each time a car
came to stop at the entrance of
the lodge. And, too, she knew that
the decision which she had mate to
marry Carl was no defense against
this meeting. Craig was stronger
than any defense she would be able
to build against him, but she said
as quietly as she could, I'm going
to marry Carl-tomorrow. perhaps" +"
She searched his face for the ef-
feet that might have upon him, but
curiouSly he seemed neither sur
prised nor disappointed. He began
picking up the bundles beside her
as if he had not heard, but she
knew he had because he said,
Ordinarily when the girl a man
loves breaks such tragic news as
that to him he would grab his hat
and stalk off blindly' toward the
river or the nearest cliff. But I
have no such intentions of doing
that. I must talk to you some
where along where we will not be
interrupted. Where can that be?"
Her thoughts whirled rapidly,
madly. The sundeck is always de-
serted at this hour of the day. The
stairway from the south end Of the
main lounge leads to it."
Good. I'll take these things in
to the cook and come to you there
Immediately"
He did just that, but his face
was sober. his eyes deadly serious
Did Carl tell you what happened
at the corrals the other night?"
His eyes were on her red hair, her
sensitive face, lingering on her lips,
more committing than kiss.
mo, We have not discussed it
yet"
Bound to Hurt Brick.
He held out pack Of cigarettes,
but when she shook her head he
took long time about lighting his.
Brick. what I am going to tell
YOU is bound to hurt you some.
You would not be a woman if it
didn't. I perhaps would be more of
a hero If I left certain things un-
told, but magnanimity is not one
OF MY more noticeable traits" He
dragged deeply on his cigarette. IF
Carl Jamison had known that you
had no money at the time you were
running around with him in New
York last winter I doubt very much
II he would have come flying off
out here this summer, getting in
every ones hair. In fact, I doubt
seriously If he would ever have
asked you to marry him"
IF that is what you wanted to say
to me" she began sharply.
That is only the beginning of
what I'm going to say" he broke in.
apparently Carl wanted you all
right-what man wouldnt-but he
also wanted your money"
Her green eyes were burning pin
points of fire but she did not speak.
"A few months ago Carl had a nice
little fortune put away for him.
self. but he wasn't contented to let
it stay that way. He wanted it to
increase, rapidly. He saw the stock
market as a way to help it do that
so he bought stocks-lotS of them
not outright, but on the margin.
When the bottom began to fall out
OF things as trouble increased in
Europe, Carl had to pay and pay
until he couldn't pay any longer.
He lost most of his stocks, but he
had been efficiently foresighted. He
had engaged himself to a girl who
had plenty of money, who could
replace what he had lost so he
decided that 1t was time he came
West to marry her because he had
no relish for the thoughts Of recoup-
ing his fortune in the slow, hard
way. But when Carl landed at
Chuckomovi he found two million
dollars on the loose. At first Carl
was bewildered. He was not above
chucking you for fortune like that,
but he was human. Naturally he
preferred a pretty woman with
money to homely one with a lot
more money"
Bricks Face White.
Bricks face was white, her red
gold hair a halo, her eyes dark,
green pools. She could not know
that in that moment she was lovelier
than Craig had ever seen her be-
fore. Nor did she detect his hesita-
ton, his indecision about go; g on
when he was hurting her so.
Perhaps you had thought that
Molly and Carls concurrent plan
for trip to the Grand Canyon was
a coincidence. When I learned
about it-because Molly talked too
much-it was all I could do to keep
from putting dent in him. In fact,
the only way did keep myself from
doing just that was to persuade
Molly to go to Chiricahua with me-
I was sorry then-I am sorry now
that I had to lead her to hope GER
tain things for her and me before I
could get her away from Carl, but I
hated worse seeing him hurt you"