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Show I sss siSSSMslislllstMsMs?eMss?ssssslslllsSllllllSSSSSSSsssssss a. 111 i i WlMWlWWIIWlimilillWIWIIIIMIMMtllllllilllWtlWtW The Strange Case of By Randall Parrish Author of Copyright by Randall PwrUk 1 1 f litttitittiir" - - aMim a i o o mm m iMMy- - del will be pais a thousand dollars for something I can't make out what, only it has to do with prisoners. Lacy says he'll be there to confer with him some time tonight" 5 "Lacy write Itr t "Tes; at least he signed It" ; "Welt If Lacy alms to meet Mendei tonight, he ought to be along here soon after, nightfall. How'd It do to hide Id these sand hills and wait? ' . "We can do that, Dan, If we don't hit any trail," said Westcott leaning over, his hand on . the other's knee, ."but, If. we can get there earlier, I'd rather not waste. time. There's no knowing what a devil like Mendez may do. Let's take a scout around, any-how.; .,- - ,.; :. f ... ., ' ' , They started, the one going east, th other west, and made a semicircle ua-ti-l they met, a hundred yards or so, south of the spring, having found noth-ing. Again they circled out, plowing their way through the sand, and all al once Brennan lifted his hand Into, the air and called. Westcott hurried ovef to where he stood motionless, staring down at the track of a wagon wheeL It had slid along a slight declivity, and left a mark so deep as not yet to bi obliterated. They traced It for thirty feet before it entirely disappeared. - '"Still goln' south," affirmed the man shaU gazing In that direction. "Don'l look like there's nothln out there, bul we might try. Let's saddle up." It was a blind trail, and progresi was slow. The men separated, riding back and forth, leaning forward In thi saddles, scanning the sand for th slightest sign. Twice they encoun-tered an undoubted wheel mark, and mm almost a blur In the gathering gloom, shot across the narrow opening. The shotgun spoke, and the wildly leaping figure seemed to crumble to the floor-- Its lower half had reached shelter, but head and shoulders lay exposed, re-vealing gray hair and a white mus-tache. Cavendish sprang erect, all caution forgotten. "It's Mendez," he cried. 1 got the arch-fien- d of them " - A rifle cracked and he went plunging back, his body striking the girl, and crushing her to the floor beside him. There was no cry, no groan of agony, yet he lay there motionless. She crept across and bent over him, almost dumb with fear. "You you are shot?" she made her-self speak, r. "Yes ; they've got me," the utterance of the words a struggle. "It's here In the chest; I I don't know how bad; perhaps If you tear open my shirt, you you might stop the blood." She could see nothing, not even the man's face, yet her fingers rent the shirt asunder and searched for the wound. It was nof bleeding greatly, and she bad no water, but not knowing what' else to do, she t6re a strip from her skirt 'and bound It hastily. He never moved, or spoke, and she bent her head closer. The wounded man had lost consciousness. Alone, In the dark, she crept on her knees to her place behind the barri-cade. ' Her hand touched the empty gun he had dropped, and Bhe reloaded It slowly, only half comprehending Its mechanism. The revolver, every cham-ber filled, rested on the upturned edge of the bed ; her lips were firmly pressed together. Quietly she pushed forward the barrel of the shotgun, and waited. CHAPTER XIII. - A Needle In a Haystack. The little marshal of Haskell had the reputation of being as quick of wit as of trigger finger. Startled as he was by that sudden apparition appearing before them In the dark road, and at being addressed by a woman's voice, the mention of the name Cassady gave him an Instant clue. There was but one Cassady In camp, and that &4U vidual's reputation was scarcely of a kind to recommend him In the eyes of the law. If any woman sought that fellow In this spot, It was surely for no good purpose. Bren-nan leaned forward over his saddle horn, lowering bis voice confidentially, and managing to achieve a highly meritorious brogue. "Sure, Ol'm Cassady," he admitted grouchlly. "How lver come yer ter guess thotT" "You were expecting to meet Mr. Enrlght, weren't youT That was what BUI Lacy told you. He was to ex-plain to you Just what you were to do." Brennan mumbled something indis-tinctly, now thoroughly . aroused to the situation. "Well, Mr, Enrlght couldn't come, and Lacy is over across the creek yet, hunting down Ned Beaton's murderer, r am Miss La Rue," she hurried on, insthroctloris long with ye then them. All ther word thet lver ceme ter ate. wus ter saddle bop, ride down here an' mate this man Enrlght I dont aven know fer shure whar ol Mendez Is likely 'nough be be In Mexico." "In Mexico I" Indignantly. ."Of course not Lacy said you knew the trail. It's a place they call 'Sunken valley' out there somewhere,", and Brennan could barely distinguish the movement of her arm desertward. "It's across that sand flat" - i "Shoshone V V "Yes; I couldn't remember the name. That's all I know about It only Lacy said you'd been there be-fore." .. vv'. J..;;. "Shure, miss," assured the marshal softly, clearly realizing that he had already gone the limit and that any further questioning must lead Inevit-ably to trouble. "If It Is Sunken val-le- y I'm ter ride ter, thet's alsy." "Then It's good night" ..... She vanished up the side trail, as though the wind had blown away a shadow. Brennan gathered . up his reins, straightening his body in the soddle. He glanced back toward the dim shade of his companion, chuck-ling. "Some bit of luck that Jim." . "Doesn't seem to me we know much more than we did before," Westcott answered gloomily. "Onlythat this chap Mendez la at a place called Sunken valley. 1 never heard of It; 1. did your : "No; I reckon it's no spot the law has ever had any use for. - I've sup-posed all along them Mexican cattle thieves had a hidden corral somewhar in this country; but nobody has ever found It' yet. Right now, thanks to this Mls's La Rue, I've got a hunch that we're goln' to make the discov-ery, and put BUI Lacy and ol' Mendez out of business But there's no sense of our gassln' here. We got a right smart bit o' rldln' to do afore day-light." . "How about the note she gave yout" "We'll wait a while to read that. I don't want to strike no light just yet Maybe It had best be kept till day-break." The men rode steadily, and mostly J In silence, a large part of the way side by side. The animals they bestrode were fairly mated, quite capable of maintaining their gait for several hours, and needing little urging. The night gloom enveloped them complete-ly; their strained eyes were scarcely able to trace the dim outlines of the ridge road, but the horses were desert broke, and held closely to the beaten track. Then Westcott's pony, which carried by far the heavier load, be-gan to show signs of fatigue. They drew up, and the marshal dismount-ed, searching about blindly In the darkness. "Too d n dark," he .said, coming back, and catching up his rein. "A cat couldn't find anything there; but there's firm sand. Walt a minute; I've got a pocket compass." He struck a match, sheltering the sputtering blaze with one hand. The light illumined his face for an In-stant, and then went out leaving the night blacker than before. "That's south," he announced, snap-ping the compass case shut, "and this blame wind Is southeast ; that ought to keep us fairly straight" "The ponies will do that; they'll keep where the traveling Is good. Shift this bag back of your saddle, Dan. You ride lighter, and my horse Is begin-ning to pant already; that will ease him a few pounds." The transfer was made," and the two men rode out into the rear desert urging their animals forward, trust-ing largely to their natural instinct for guidance. They would follow the hard sand, and before long the scent of water would as certainly lead them directly toward the spring. . Yet it was not long until dawn be-gan to turn the desert gray, gradually revealing Its forlorn desolation. West-cott lifted his head, and gazed about with wearied eyes, smarting still from the whipping of the sand-gr- it On every side stretched away a scene of utter desolation, unrelieved by either shrub or tree an apparently endless ocean of sand, In places leveled by the wind, and elsewhere piled Into fan-tastic heaps. The breeze slackened somewhat as the sun reddened the east, and the ponies threw up their heads and whinnied slightly, Increas-ing their speed. Westcott saw the marshal arouse himself, straighten In the saddle, and stare about bis eyes still dull and heavy. "One h 1 of a view, Jim," he said disgustedly, "but I reckon we can't be a great ways from that spring. We've been rldln' right smart" "It's not far ahead ; the ponies sniff water. Ah I there's a bunch o green ahead; that'll likely be. Badger springs." Assured they were beyond pursuit, the two unsaddled and turned the ponies out to crop the few handfuls of wire grass whloh the sweet water bubbling up from a slight depression had coaxed Into stunted growth. There was no wood to be bad, although they found evidence of several camp-fire-and consequently they were obliged to content themselves with what they could find eatable In their bag. Except for a few sentences neither spoke, un-til Brennan, having partially satisfied his appetite, produced the note given him by Miss La Rue, and deliberately slashed open the sealed envelope. "In the name of the law," he said grimly, hauling out the Inclosure. "Now we'll see what's the row. Holy smoke I It's In Spanish 1 Here, Jim, do you read that lingo?" "I know words here and there," and Westcott bent over the paper, his brows wrinkling. "Let's see; It's not quite clear, but the sense Is that Men-- wnwstewsiwiM CHAPTER XII Continued. '. 13 "No, It's over there, and I am afraid I didn't touch him either ; It was all so sudden I got no aim. Do you hear those voices? There must be a dozen of the band outside already." He looked up at her, his glance al- - most vacant, and she could but per-ceive how his chin shook. "What shall we do?" "Do I" She gripped his shoulder. "Are you a man and ask that? We wUl fight I Did you Imagine I would ever surrender myself Into the hands of that devil after what has hap-pened? I would rather die; yes, I will die before he ever puts hand on me. And what about you, Mr. Caven-dish? Are you going to He there mop-ing? Answer me1 I thought you were a gentleman." k .i,: The words were like a blow In his face, and under their sting he stag-gered to his feet;' scarlet blazed in both his cheeks. "You have no right to say that to me," he said angrily. "I'm not that kind." "I know it," she admitted, "but you lose your nerve; this isn't your game. Well, It Isn't mine either, for the mat-ter of that. Nevertheless It has got to be played, and we're going to play it together. Those fellows will be at that door presently just as soon as Mendez tells them who are Inside here. They'll try us once and, If we can beat them back, that will give us a breath-ing spell. Two of us ought to bold them for some time." There was a shouting of commands without In Spanish, punctuated by oaths, the meaning of which the girl slone understood. She leaned for-ward, her eyes on the door, the cocked revolver held ready. She had meant what she said to Cavendish; to her mind death was far preferable to any surrender to that Infuriated Mexican ; she expected death, but one hope yet buoyed her up Westcott. He would come; she had fulth In that and he would find she had fought to the end, even If he came too late. She burled her face In her hands, stifling a sob that shook her body, yet when she lift-ed her head again there was no glim-mer of tears In her eyes and her cheeks were crimson. She waited mo-tionless, scarcely seeming to breathe . ' the statue of a woman at bay. All this was but for a moment, a mo-ment of swift thought, of equally swift decision. The next Cavendish stood beside her, grasping the shotgun, no longer a victim of weakness, his eyes meeting hers eagerly. "I could only find twelve cartridges," he exclaimed, "but I know how to use those." He took a step forward and held out his hand. "Forgive me, Miss Donovan," he pleaded. "Really I do not know what makes me like that, but you would make a man out of anybody." Her firm, slim fingers met his eager-ly, her eyes Instantly glowing In ap-preciation. t "Of course I forgive you," she ex-claimed. "Your fear la no greater than my own. I am a woman and drea2 tl' sort of thing. All that gives me courage Is the knowledge that death is preferable to dishonor," her voice lost Its firmness, "and and my faith In a man." "You mean In possible rescue?" Her eyes lifted to his face. "Yes, Mr. Cavendish It may prove all imagination, yet there Is one a real man, I am sure who must know of my plight before this. If he does, and lives, he will come to me. If we can only defend ourselves long enough there will be rescue." A bloy struck the outer door, and was repeated, evidently dealt by the butt of a gun ; then the two, standing silent and almost breathless within, heard Mendez' voice.. "SenorUa, and you also, Senor Cav-endish," he called, his words intended to be conciliatory. "It is of no use that you resist We are many and armed. If you surrender and not fight I pledge jou protection." The girl glanced at Cavendish. "You answer him." "What shall I say?" he whispered. ."The man lies; he will keep no promise once we are In his power. Be-sides they have not yet found Cateras. . When they do there will be no thought ef mercy." "Then we will fight It out?" "I shall; I will never give myself mto the hands of that creature." "SenoB," and Cavendish stepped islde to the protection of the logs, "we rill not surrender. That Is our an-swer." . "Fools I" he called back, his voice rising harsh above the growling of others. "We will show you. Sllva, Felipe, quick now; do what I told you. We will teach these Americano dogs a lesson. No, stand back I Walt until I speak the word." A faint glimmer of light through we of the log crevices caugln Caven-dish's attention and lie beni down, his ye to the crack, on hand granplng the barrel of his cnn. Stella watched him motionless ami silent, her f:ice t) pale fieir jctr'iln. ) , -- ui lino':) n tlifflnti mi) there," he said finally, his words bare-ly audible, and his eye still at the - slight opening. "All Mexican except two they look American. Most of them are armed. Ah I Walt I The fellows have searched the cells and discovered Cateras. Do you bear that yell? It will be a fight to a finish now. Here come two men with a log that's their game, then ; they mean to smash In the door." He straightened up, casting a swift glance about the apartment All hesi-tancy, doubt had left htm now that the supreme test had come. He was again capable of thinking clearly and acting. "Miss Donovan,", be burst out, "we can never hope to hold back those men here In this room. We shall be In bright light as soon as the door la battered down and then, If they crush in the window also, we shall surely be attacked from two sides.". "What will be better r she asked. "The back room ; It Is dark, with no windows, and there are strips nailed between the logs. We can force that heavy wooden bed across the door and hide behind it. We ought to hold them there as long as our cartridges last, unless they set the cabin afire. Good God! They have begun already. Three more blows like that and the door goes down. Come; It's our only chance." It was the work of a moment ; It had to be. The Inner room was so dark they had to feel their way about blindly, yet those splintering crashes on the outer door, Interspersed by the shouts of the men, spurred both to hurried effort. Nor was there much to be done. The heavy bed was thrown upon Its side and hauled and. pushed forward until it rested against the door jambs, the mattress and blankets so caught and held as to form protection against bullets. Breathless the two sank to their knees In the darkness be-hind, their eyes on the brightening daylight of the room beyond. Already a hole had been stove through the up-per panel of the door, the surround-ing wood splintered. Some one fired once through the jagged opening and an exultant yell followed from with-out "No firing 1" the voice was Mendez', Tising sharply above the other sounds. "I don't want the girl shot you fools. Take that other log around to the window. They'll surrender fast enough once we're inside. Now, an-other ene. Here, five of you swing her!" With a crash the remaining wood gnve way, the end of the log, used as a battering ram, projecting Into the room. Over the shattered door, now held only by one bent hinge, a half-doze- n forms swarmed Inward, the quick rush blocking their passage. Cavendish pulled trigger, the deep boom, of his shotgun echoed Instantly by the sharper report of the girl's re-volver. She fired twice before the swirling smoke obstructed the view, conscious only that one man had leaped straight Into the air and an-other had sprawled forward on hands and knees. Cavendish pushed home a fresh cartridge and the smoke cloud lifted just enough to permit them to perceive the farther doorway. A Mex-ican lay curled up In the center of the floor, his gun a dozen feet away; an-other hung dangling across an over-turned stool, but the Opening was va-cant. Just outside a fellow, wounded, was dragging himself out of range. "Great Scott 1" exclaimed Cavendish, excitedly. "Every shot counted. Here, load up quick. They'll try the window next Get downl" The warning was not an Instant too soon, the hasty volley largely thud-ding harmlessly Into the thick mat-tress, although a bullet or two sang past oid found billets In the logs be-hind. 3avendlsh returned the fire, shooting blindly Into the smoke, but the girl only lifted her head, staring Intently Into the smother, until the cloud floated away through the door. The attackers had again vanished, all semblance of them, except those two motionless bodies. - "Looks as though they had enough of It" he said 'grimly, "and have de-cided to starve us out" "Oh, do you think sot I heard a noise then." . He heard It also, his glance return-ing Instantly to the front, his form stiffening into preparation. For a mo-ment neither could determine the meaning of the sounds. Then he cocked his gun, the sharp click echoing almost loudly In the stillness. "Trying the wlndw this time," he murmured. "Do yon hear tha.T Be ready." The two knelt motionless, peering over the edge of the bed Into the dim twilight, seeing nothing, each with fin-ger on trigger tc.se, expectant Then, without warning, t"e flyldg figure of a man leaped across the doorway Into the security of the opposite wall. It was' done so quickly neither fired, but Cavendish licked his parched Dps with a dry tongue. "I'll get the next one who tries that trick " he muttered. "It Will be easier th.'in partridge shooting." A minute two passed, every nerve h(M a second flying form The Light Illumined His Face for an Instant once traces of the whole four wheels were plainly visible. These could b followed easily for nearly a quarter ol a mile, but then as quickly vanished aa the wagon came again to an outcrop-ping of rock. Yet this was assured the outfit hffd headed steadily south-ward. This was desperately slow work, and beyoad that ridge of rock they discov-ered no other evidence. An houi passed, and not the slightest sign gave encouragement. Could the wagon have turned In some other direction? In the shadow of a sand dune they halted finally to discuss the situation. Should they go on? Or explore further to th west? Might It not even be better tc retrace their way to the springs, and rait the coming of Lacy? - Brennan was . for turning back, arguing the uselessness of going fur-- tner, ana the necessity of water for the ponies.' . "Come on, Jim," he urged. "Be sen-slbl-we've lost the trail, and that's no fault o' ours. An Apache Indian couldn't trace a herd o steers through this sand. And look ahead thar I It's worse, an' more of It" I'm for stalking Lacy at the springs." He stopped sud-denly, staring southward as though he had seen a vision. v "Holy . smoke I What's that? By God It's a wagon, Jim; an' it come right up out of the earth. There wasn't no wagon there a second ago." For a moment both meii suspected that what they looked upon was a mirage Its actual existence there in that place seemed Impossible. Yet there was no disputing the fact that yonder In the very midst of that deso-lation of sand a wagon drawn by straining horses was slowly . moving directly toward .them. Westcott was first to grasp the truth, hastily Jerking the marshal back to where the tired ponies stood with drooping heads be-hind the protection of the dune. Westcott lay outstretched on the far side of the dune, his hat beside him, and his eyes barely able to peer over the summit, ready ffT report ob-servations to the marshal crouched below. -- (TO BE CONTINUED.) It uunu v. ..sickly Neltt ir Fired. almost breathlessly, "and I've brought you Lacy's note, which you are to give to that Mexican Pascual Mendte,. You understand? You are to give It to him, and no one else. Lacy said you could kill your, horse, if neces-sary, but the note must be there by daylight tomorrow. Here take It." Brennan thrust It Into an Inner pocket, and cleared his throat There was no small- - risk In asking questions, yet unless he learned more, this In-formation might prove utterly use-less. The note to Mendei meant little until he discovered where that bandit was to be found. "Shure now, miss," he said insinuat-ingly. "Mr. Lacy must hev' slnt more WHY DRUGGISTS RECOMMEND . SWAMP-ROO- T - ? " - .? t; i ?.. v-- For many years druggists hare watched ' ith much interest the remarkable record naintained by Dr. Kilmer's Swamp-Itoo- t, the great kidney, liver and bladder mcdi- - , line. ""' It is a pbysioian'a prescription. Swamp-Ro- is strengthening medi-cine. It hslpi the kidneys, U--vt and Mad-- ( der do the work nature intended they should do. . Swamp-Roo- t has etood the teat of years. It is sold by all druggists on its merit and It should help you. 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There could be no better lesC?uiony of (he value of this remedy for these trou- - ' bles than the. fact that Its use for the last fifty-fou- r years has extended Into many thousands of households all over the civilized world and no Indication of any failure has been, obtained In all that time wherw medicine could effect ellef. Sold everywhere. Adv. How's This? HALL'S CATARRfi MEDICINB Will . do what we claim for It cure Catarrh or Deafness caused by Catarrh. We do not claim to cure any other disease. HALL'S CATARRH MEDICINE Is liquid, taken internally, and acta through the blood upon the mucous surfaces ol the system, thus reduClng the Inflamma-tion and restoring- - normal conditions. ' AU Druggists. - Circulars free. i , F. J. Cheney & Co., Toledo, Ohio. Cutlcura 8oap for the Complexion. Nothing better than Cutlcura Soap daily and Ointment now and then as needed to r.,ake the complexion clear, scalp clean and hands soft and white. Add to this the fascinating, fragrant Cutlcura Talcum and you have the , Cutlcura Toilet Trio. Adv. Important to Mothers Exenlne carefully every bottle of CASTOKIA, that famous old remedy for infants and children, and see that it Bears the In Use for Over 80 Years. Children Cry for Fletcher's Castoria Sure Relief fSESS 6 Bellans -- Ur-)7 Hot water RSlldl Sure Relief BELL-A-S FRECKLES PSggS CMum " Easy to Please. " .1 ''. The two sisters weredlseusslng the merits of a new diamond engagement ring which had made Its appearance on the finger of the elder girl. - Just then Malzie, their twelve-yea- r old 'sister, came In. "I don't know how the rest of yor feel about It," she said, "but I , would be satisfied with a piece of string on my engagement finger if a real man put It there." London Answers. " v' Speaking Universally. Since he had been to France he was very fond' of airing his slight knowl- - ." edge of French. On leaving his friend one-enl- ng said: "Au revolr!" . "What do you mean?" asked his friend. "I. mean gowd-by- e 'nu revolt"" Is 'good-by- e' In the French language," said the would-b- e linguist. "Oh, I see," retored his friend. ."Well, carbolic ncld to you 1" "What on earth does that mean?"" " "Carbolic, acid means 'good-by- In any language," was the reply. . His Chief End In Life. . I There lived in an English town a wealthy but exceedingly '.tight';' old lady, who kept very few servants and paid them as little as possible. ' , A.iong these was an underfed, mis- - ' eraWe-lookin-g lad of fourteen, who an-swered the door, did the dishwashing, waited at table, weeded the garden, washed the dcx and a few other things. , One day a visitor asked this lad: "Well, my boy, and what do you 'jo' around here?" ' "I do a butler, a kitchen maid and a gardener out of a Job," replied the boy gravely. Artificial Light Best. "Theyt8ay that crops grow better under electric lights." "Ope crop certainly does wild oats." Jud Tunkins. Jud Tunkins says the fact that most of the family I8 out to the moving pictures or the caberay Is all thai keeps the flat from being overcrowded. Safety Flret After a dreadful experience In which a small boy was locked In the trath room, accidentally, the family had an emergency bell installed and also had the door equipped with a night lock like that on the front door. Then they hung the extra key on the wall outside the room where any would-b- e rescuer would be sure to see It The emer-gency bell was placed convenient to the bath tub, as many serai-Invall-or the aged have been known to faint from the contact of hot water. |