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Show THE GRANTSVILLE his head down till he curled like a porcupine. Gale, game as be undoubtedly was, cornered, felt perhaps recollections of Calubasus and close quarters with the brown eyes and the burning face. What they might mean In this little room, which De Spuln was crossing step by step, was food for thought Nor did De Spain break his obstinute silence until their burst of rage had blown. Youve arranged your marNow pull riage, he said at length. it." My cousins ready to marry me, and shes goiu to do it tonight, cried Gale violently. Duke, towering with rage,, looked at De Si min and pointed to the hall dooi "You hear that I Get out of I house he cried, launching a my vicious epithet with the words. "Tills isnt your house," retorted De This house is Nuns, Spain angrily. not yours. When she orders me out Ill go. Bring her down, he thundered, raising his voice to shut off Duke, who had redoubled his abuse. Bring her into this room, be repeated. ' Well see whether she wants to get married. If she does. I'll marry her. If she doesnt nnd youve been putting this up to force her into marrying, so help me God, youll be carried out of this room tonight or I will." lie whirled on her uncle with an accusYou used to be a man, ing finger. Duke. Ive taken from you here to. night what I would take from no man on earth but for the sake of Nan Morgan. She' asked me never to touch you. But if youve gone into this thing o trap your own flesh nnd blood, your dead brother's girl, living under your own protection, you dont deserve mercy, and tonight you shall have what's coming to you. Ive fought you both fnir, too fair. Now before 1 leave Its my girl or both of you. Nan if Music :: :: i Mountain b r FRANK H. SPEARMAN Author of WHI8PERINQ SMITH" (Ooprilf ht hr CharlH Bcriboorh Soaa) CHAPTER XXIII-lContinu- ed. 15 De Spain Buspreted nothing of whut they were talking about, but he was uneasy concerning Nan, anil was not to be balked, by any combination, of his purpose of finding her. To secure information concerning her was not possible, unless he should enter the house, and this, with scant hesitation, he decided to do. lie wore a snug-fittin- g leathern coot He unbuttoned .this and threw It open as he stepped noiselessly up to the door. Laying his hand on the knob, he paused, then, finding the door unlocked, he pushed it slowly open. The wind, rushed in, upset his calculations and blew open the door leading from the hull Into the living room. A stream of light in turn shot through the open door, across the hall. In stantly De Spain stepped Inside nnd directly behind the front doAr which he now renlized he dare not close and stood expectant in the darkness. Gale Morgan, with an Impatient exclamation, strode from the fireplace to close the front door. As he walked Into the hall and slammed the front door shut, he could . have touched with his hand the man standing in the shadow behind It. De Spain, not hoping to escape, stood with folded arms, but under the elbow of his left arm was hidden the long muzzle of his revolver. Holding his breath, he waited. Gale's mind was apparently filled with other things. He did not suspect the presence of an Intruder, and he walked bock Into the living room, partly closing the second door. , De Spain, following almost on his heels, stepped past this door, past the hall stairs opposite It, and through a curtained opening at the end of the hall Into the dining room. Barely ten feet from him, this room opened through an arch into the living room, and where he stood he could hear all that was said. Who's there?" gruffly. said Nobody, ' Duke demanded Gale. Go on, Druel Druel talked softly and through his nose : I was only going to say It would be a good idea to have two wit- nesses. "Nltn, suggested Gale. You couldnt Duke was profane. keep the girl in the room if sle hud Nita to help her. And I want it understood, Gale, between you and me, fair and square, that Nan's goin to live right here with me after this mar-rlag- e till Im satisfied shes willing to go to you otherwise It cant take place, now or never. De Spain opened his ears. Gale felt the hard, cold tone of his crusty relative, and answered with like harshness: What do you keep harping on that for? Youve got my word! All I want of you Is to keep yours understand? Come, come, Interposed Druel. There's no need of hard words. But we need two witnesses. Whos going to be the other witness? Before anyone could- answer De Spain stepped out Into the open archI'll act way before the three men. is the second witness, he said. With a common roar the Morgnns De Spain, bounded to their feet standing slightly sidewise, his coat lapels flapped wide open, his arms akimbo, and bis hands on his hips, faced the three In an attitude of readiness only. He . had' reckoned on the Instant of Indecision which at times, when coupled with apprehension, paralyzes the will of two men acting together. Under the circumstances either of the Morgans alone would have whipped a gun on De Spain at sight Together, and knowing that to do so meant death to the one that took the first shot from the archway, each waited for the other; that fraction of a Insecond unsettled their purpose. stead of bullets, each launched curses at the intruder, and every second that passed led away from a fight De Spain took their oaths, demands and abuse without batting an eye.-There for the second witness, was all he repeated, covering both men with short glances. Druel, his face muddily white os the whisky bloat deserted it shrunk Inside his shabby clothes. De Spain with each epithet hurled at him took a dreaded Mep toward Gals, and Druel, In the line at fire, brought his knees up and m He was standing near Druel.. Without taking his eyes off the other mnn he caught Druel with his left hand by the coat collar, and threw him halfGet upstuirs, way across the room. you old carrion, and tell Nan Morgan Henry de Spain Is here to talk to her, Druel, frightened to death, scrambled Into the hall. He turned on De Spain. I'm an officer of the law. I arrest he you for trespass and assault, shouted, shaking with fear. Arrest me?" echoed De Spain contemptuously. You scoundrel, If you dont climb those stairs, Ill send you to the penitentiury the day I get back to town. Upstairs with your message I" It isnt necessary, said a low voice in the hall, and with the words Nun appeared In the open doorway.. Her face was white, but there was no sign of haste or panic in It; De Spain choked back a breath ; to him she had never looked in her silence so aweinspiring. He addressed her, holding his left hand out 1th his plea. ' Non," he said, controlling his voice, "these men were getting ready to marry you to Gale Morgan. No matter how you feel toward me, you know me well enough to know that all I want Is the truth: Was this with your consent? t Slie.stepiMHl Into the line of fire between her cousin and De Spuln as she answered: No. You know I shall never marry any man but you. This vile bully she turned a little to look at her angry cousin has Influenced Uncle Duke who never before tried to persecute or betray me into Joining him in this filing. They never could have draggl'd me Into it alive. And theyvi kept me locked up for three days in a room upstairs, hoping to break me down. Stand back, Nan. If De Spains words of warning struck her with terror of a situation she could not control, she did not reveal It. No," she said resolutely. If anybody here Is to be shot, Ill be first. Uncle Duke, you have always protected me from Gale Morgan ; now you join hands with him. You drive me from this roof because I dont know how I can protect myself under It Gale looked steadily at her. You promised to marry me, he muttered truculently. Ill find a way to make you keep your word. A loud knocking Interrupted him, and, without waiting to be admitted, Pardaloe, the cowboy, opened the front door and stalked boldly In from the - halt If the situation in the room surprised him, he gave no evidence of It And as he walked in Nan disappeared. Pardaloe was drenched with rain, and, taking off his hat as he crossed the room to the fire, he shook It hard Into the blazing wood. What do you want, Pardaloe?" snapped Duke. Pardaloe shook his hat once more and turned a few steps so that he stood between the uncurtained window and the light The creeks up, he said to Duke In his peculiarly slow, steady Some of Satts boys are trying tone. to get the cattle out of the lower corral." He fingered his hat looked first at Duke, then at Gale, then at De Guess theyll need a little Spain. help, so I asked Sassoon to come . over' Pardaloe Jerked his head Indies tlvely toward the front Hes outside with some of the boys now. Tell Sassoon to come In hers I thundered Gale. NEWS, GRANT8VILLE, UTAH, De Spains left arm shot out. Ilold on, Pardaloe; pull down thut curtain behind you ! Dont touch that curtain, Pardaloe 1" shouted Gale Morgan. Pardaloe, suld De Spain, his left arm pointing menacingly and walking Instantly toward him, pull that curtain or pull your gun, quick. At that moment Nan, In hat and coat, reappeared in the archway behind De Spain. Pardaloe jerked down the curtain and started for the door. De Simin lmil backed up again. Stop, PardaMy men are outside loe, he called. that door. Stand where you are," he ordered, still enforcing his commands with his right hand covering the hoI leave this room lster at his hiii. first Nan. are you reudy?" he asked without looking at her. Yes." Dont Her uncle's face whitened. leave this house tonight, Nun," he suld menacingly. Youve forced me to. Uncle Duke." Don't leave this house tonight 1 cunt protect myself In it." Dont leave this house most of ail. Lie pointed at De with that man! Spain with a frenzy of hatred. Without answering, the two were retreating of the dining into the room. Nnn, came her uncles voice, hoarse with feeling, youre Buying goodby to me forever." 1 am only No, uncle, she cried. to do." I have what doing I tell you I don't want to drive you from this roof, girt. A rush of wind from an opening door was the only answer from the dark dining room. The two Morgans started forward together. The sudden gust sucked the flame of the living-roolamp up into the chimney nnd after a brief, ' sharii struggle extinguished It. In the confusion It was a moment before a match could be found. When the lump was relighted, the Morgans ran Into the dining room. The wind and rain poured in through the open north door. But the room was empty. Duke turned on his nephew with a choking curse. This, he cried, beside himself with fury, Is your work I" The uiut tarings above the ai tains now grew rapidly louder, sad while the two hovered over the Are, a thunder squall, rolling wildly dum the eastern slope, burst over the pg. Nnn knew even better than her companion the fickle nature of a range storm, nnd understood uncomfortably well how a sudden shift might, at moment, lay their entire pulb open to Its fierceness. She warned De Spain they must lie moving, nnd, freshened by the brief rest, they set out toward it, and Nan, rifle in hand, slid safely down to the end of the lenn-twjiere De Spain helped her to the ground. He directed her how to make a zigzag advance toward the pine, and, above all, to throw herself fiat and sidewise ufter every shut and nut to fire c, often. In this way they advanced slowly hut sufely to the disputed point and then understood the horses were gone. A fresh discharge of shots came ui , from two directions seemingly front the house aud the stable. A moment 111 Cnpitnii. later they heard sharp firing fur down They had covered more than batf the gup their sole avenue of escape. the distance That separated them frost They withdrew to the shelter of a the cliff, when u second thunderstorm large rock familiar to Nan even in the seeming to rush in from the dewrt, dark. While De Spuiu was debuting burst above their in ads. Drenched in his mind how to meet the emer- - with rain, they were forced to draw geucy, site stood at ids side, ids equal back under a pmjeiling rock, la u-h- e knew, In courage, during nnd re-- other moment the two storms, and answered Ills rapid quea-- lug in the gait, rushed together. As If tions as to possible gateways ofnn unseen hand had touched a t bones unpe. The rain, which had been sand granite springs above the ga abating, now ceased, but from every every slender crevice spouted a fissure in the mountains cmne the roar stream that shot foaming out Irons of rushing water, and little openings die mountainsides. The sound of smw-o- f rock uud waterway that might have in., waters ijise in a dull, vast rear. offered a chance when dry were now brokcu by the unseen boom of distant out of the question. In fact. It was fulls, launching huge masses of water Nan's belief that before morning wa- Into caverns fur liclow. The ter would be running over the main wind tore nnd swirled among trail itself. the crowded peaks, and above all (he Yet," said De Spain finally, "before angry sky moaned and quivered lu the morning we must he a long way from rage of the elements. this particular spot, Nnn. Sussoon It was only the lulls between Ike litis posted men at the neck of 'the sharp squalls that enabled them to ilo. would lie first the thing gui) thats tlu. trail before daylight. When cover I'll tell you," he said suddenly, us LI Capitan the when ufter long uncertainty and anx- they paused before of the seemed night fury largely to ious doubt one chooses an alternative and hastens to follow it Uetrent is have exhausted Itself, hut the overthe thing for us. Nan. Lets make for charged air hung above the utounand like ans moaning trembling Muslc mountain and crawl into our lightcave till morning. Leferer will get bruised and stricken tiling, Then ning, playing across the inky heaven in here some time tomorrow. blazed in constant sheets from end we cun connect with him. to end of the horizon. Under it sit When they got to the mountain trail two refugees, high on the the itself they found their wuy swept by a looked down on the flooding mad rush of falling water. gai. No use, Nun, said De Spain. Their flight wns almost ended. Only There isnt any olher trail, Is there? sheer cliff ahead blocked their the She told him there was no other. And this will run all night Henry," descent to the aspen grave. Hardly a moment passed after they bad site said, turning to him nnd ns If started until tlu eastern sky lightened to wanted of a she question thinking before the retreating storm, and with usk, how did you hnppen to come to the first CHAPTER XXIV. glimmer of daylight the two so? I when wanted ine tonight you were at the beginning of the narrow I came because you sent for me," foothold which Flight. lay fur half a mile beDe Spain, catching Nans nnn, spoke he nnswered, surprised. tween them anil safety. But I didnt send for you. hurriedly, and they hastened outside The face of Capitan present What We must get lie stopped, dumfounded. toward the kitchen. a sharp convex. Just where midway, unNan? demanded do he buttoned us mean, she you away quick, he said is thrown forward in this keen I got yoifr message on the it her coat. And, kqqjylng how she suf- easily. the trail runs out almost to a angle, fered in what she was doing, he drew telephone last night, in my office at and the mountain Is se her into the shelter of the porch and Sleepy Cat from a mnn that refused vertical that it appears to nearly caught her close to him. Ill take you to give his name. overhung the iloor of the valley. I never sent any message to you, straight to Mrs. Jeffries. When you They made half the stretch of this are ready, you'll marry me ; well make she insisted in growing wonderment. a misstep, but tbe with angle our peace with your Uncle Duke to- I have been locked in a room for udvnnce forhardly a part of the way wne gether. Great God I What a night! three days, dearie. The Lord knows a climb, and De Spain, turning once This way, dearie. I wanted to send you word. Who ever to speak to Nan, asked tier for her No, to the stable, Henry I Where's telephoned a message like thut? Was rille, that he might carry it with bia It a trap to get you In here? your horse?" own. Wlint their story might hare He told her the story of the stren- been had she given it to him, none Under the pine, and yours, too. found the pony, but I couldn't find uous efforts he had made to discover can tell. But Nan, holding back, rethe Identity of the messenger nnd fused to let him relieve her. The your saddle, Nan. No I know where its hidden. Lets how he hud been balked. dreaded angle which laid haunted De said Nan at lust. "It couldnt Spain all night was safely turned oa get the horses. Just a minute. I stuck my rifle un- lmve been a trap. It must have been hands und knees, ami, as they rounded It toward the east, clouds scudding der this porch. lie stooped nnd felt a friend, surely, not an enemy. below the stringer. Rising in a moHenry, every time sbe repented over tlie open desert broke and shut ment with the weapon on his arm, the his inline De Spuln cared less for tiie light of dawn against tlio beetling two hurried around the end of the wbnt should hnppen in the rest of the arete. De Spain turned In some relief to house toward the pine tree, They hud world, what ore we going to do now? und We ail here cant murmur a night tills stay when almost reached point to the coming day. As he did unlike the sounds of the storm made take wbnt they will greet us with in so a gust of wind, sweeping Hgafnst the morning. the sheer wall, tipped him sfdewix De Spain halt his companion. He answered her question with an- and lie threw himself on Ids knees to What is it? she whispered. He listened Intently. Without speaking, other: Wbnt about trying to get out avoid tlie dizzy edge. His rille, which Cap! tan?" lay under his hand on the rock, he took Nun nnd retreated to the cor- by of in It slipped from reach. In tlie next inherself. Site started ner of the house. There Is somebody spite stant lm heard it bouncing from rock be would certain death, in that pine, he whispered, Henry." waiting I dont mean at the worst to try to rock, five hundred feet below. for me to come after the horses. SasGreatly annoyed mid humiliated, he soon may have found them. Ill try ,to cross It till we get u glimpse of It out, anyway, before I take a chance. daylight But It's quite a way over regained his fret and spoke with a there. The question Is. Cun we find laugh to renssurc Nun. Just as she Stand back here, Nan. He put her behind the corner of the a trail up to where we want to go? answered not to worry, a little singI know two or three," she an- ing scream struck their wars; somehouse, threw his rifle to his shoulder, thing splashed suddenly close at hand und fired as nearly as he could in the swered, if they are only not flooded. ' darkness toward and just above the The storm seemed to have passed, against tlie rock wall; chips scattered hesitation an Without Instants the darkness was Intense, and iietween them. From below, the but pine. a pistol shot answered from the direc- from above the northern Superstitions sound of a rifle report cracked again. se tion in which be had fired, and In came low mutterings of thunder. Com- the face of the cliff. They were that so amused, startled, completely another moment a small fusillade fol- pelled to strike 'Out over the rocks to stood motionless. lowed. By the Almighty, muttered get up to any of the trails toward El they Under flre,i muttered De Spain. De Spain, we must have our horses, Capitan, Nan, helped by De Spain We'd belter keep Nan. Stay right here. I'll try driving when he could help, led. the ascent He looked at Nan. those fellows off their perch. toward the first ledge they could hope moving, he said. "Come whoever is She caught his arm. What are you to follow on their dangerous course. shooting can follow us a hundred In front of De The point at which the two climbed yards either way. going to dor Run in on them from cover, wher- almost five hundred feet that night Spain a fourth bullet Btruck the rock. ever I can find It, Nan, and push them up Music mountain Is still pointed Nan," lie muttered, Ive gut you Into buck. Weve got to have those horses. out In the gap. No person, looking a fix. If we cant stop Unit fellow, If we could only get away without at that confused wall, willingly be- he Is liable to stop us. Cun you see a fight I" lieves It could ever have been scaled anything? he asked, waiting for her This is Sassoon and his gang, Nan. in the dead of night Torn, bruised to come up. She was looking straight "Henry ! You heard Purdaloe. These are not and exhausted. Nan, handed up by her your people. Fve got to drive 'em, or lover, threw herself at last prostrate down Into the valley, nnd laid her band on the ledge at the real beginning of on De Spain's shoulder. "Is there anywere gone, Nan. "Then I go with you." their trail, and from that vantage point thing moving on the ridge over there see just east of Sassoons? do can't Nan, yon it, whispered they made their way along the eastDe Spain, his eyes bent on the point De Spain energetically. A chance ern side of Music mountain for two miles before they stopped again to Nan Indicated, drew her forward to e bullet She spoke with decision : I go rest dip In the trail which, to one stretched with you. I can use a rifle. Better It was already well after midnight flat, afforded a slight protection. He both of ns be killed than one. Help A favoring spot was seized on by De made her lie down, and just beyeed me up on this roof. Ive climbed it Spain for the resting place he wanted. her refuge chose a point where the a hundred times. My rifle Is In my A dry recesrf beneath an overhanging path, broadening a little and rising Inroom. Quick, Henry. wall made a shelter for the fire that stead of sloping toward tbe outer Ills continued objec- he Insisted on building to warm Nan edge, gave him a chance to brace Overruling tions, she lifted her foot to his hand, In her soaked clothing. It was danbetween two rocks. Flattened second on foot De like a target In midair, he threw there her both to Spains realized, start put a fire, gerous, shoulder, gained the sloping roof, and but they concealed the blaze as best his hat down to Nan, and, resting scrambled on her hands and knees up they could and took the chance a one knee, waited for the shot that to the window of her room. A far-ochance that more nearly than any that should tumble hhn down El Capitan or peal of thunder echoed from the moun- had gone before, cost them their betray the mnn bent on killing Mar. (TO BE CONTINUED.) tains. Luckily, no flash had preceded lives. j j meet-sourc- e, 1 j i storns-ludc- n semi-darkne- ss j m mne-tuinsid- e, 1 knife-edg- e, nmt-ter- ," 1 I Mas-se- lf ff |