Show the atel desert moon my mystery as t I 1 by KAY CLEAVER STRAHAN 0 0 by bi doubleday dorm doran cos co s ine ind service 1 SYNOPSIS barn stanley wealthy owner ot of the b 4 desert aloon ranch informs big lit housekeeper mary elnel who tella tells tile th story that hie former clr fes twin daughtery daugh tera van dan lelle and nd estirl to are coming to 10 ib lie ranch to alve alv heir mother being dead and an d their or father daniel can balano who had been the CHUBS cause of barn sams dlvore div oc ina bl b Is wire w its in th the penitentiary sum bag bab adopted a boy john now flow gra grown wn to manhood and a cirl bin bl artha twenty one physically healthy but weak minded mris lira oil marthas martha nurse nure lives with them Il hubert lubert ilan hand a wanderer and Chad chadwick caud caufield id johns johne wartime buddy are he other members of the ati I 1 it louie ou as h hold d CHAPTER 11 II continued 2 until after tie he canie came I 1 find not realized how flow little reul real laughing any of us as had fafone done wo we had bill open been happy enough and contenul con content tenil but we had never neer been much amused lie ile us 08 lie ile nindo made lie iia laugh lie took tile tho leni layer off the lie oll old grand erand ianno dilana and played it ob we had never before lapard it t tie ile spoke places ind snug funny songs until we ile held sides with lie IB was a and add a mimic besles ne could collid imitate nil all of our voices to a T martha adored him tie lie played with tier he r by tile the hour lie ie made two dolls mike blike and vat int for tier and he would let them sit eit on her knees while he ninde them tali tall for her at the h 6 en eno 0 of when ha began to talk about leaving sam offered film a hundred and fifty a month to 0 o atily on lie sold like liu bert annd had sold 11 for tor flying II 11 tins sam told chad laughbo Inu glied ant and shook hla his head fiend double it then sam urged 1 I 1 have you leave the plat pint and for three hrco hundred a month to BO why I 1 any it to have you yet stay blind had never would take any rett lar money from sam rut but tie lie stayed on lie ile called anisef blin in isef self tile the gueft 11 0 for short oat but some of the others sold jt stood for gush glish ilin polly olly I to twit alro folh ni may not cot tie be I 1 item altern ture cure I 1 i dont lon banow 1 hut but a 0 person parson of nature is x int is ant to have around tile the house the tha girls got hero here on friday the eighth of M tiny nm nud aud I 1 rode down to in these diio to 0 o meet them abill iahn john tool the truck down to brinig up P their heir ting gage 1 dont know what there thera la about riding in ra a train crain that kurns tolls ba lighty lity und iid supercilious 1 t lut there to IB soul something ethIng 11 alint tit lues A person who would baright be right herti hearty ty and curnan on hla his awil own two feet f ct alls ails in R n ear nr yin win daw and abit looks looka out tit nt the platform people ugilt if they were kom something ething he wanted tinted to be careful not inot to step on by tile the time line I 1 had hh I passed fifty or more windows and hao reached where the girls were standing I 1 was nas so BO heated dp up I 1 coullet coull nt find tand a word to scy say hitt blit I Ilen leased aed to 0 o meet you which warnot the truth one of them sivil lipil reat sweet and add said maryt upon my soul you changed at nit nil in sixteen years anil and made as if to kiss me I 1 did at once the other one gave roe ine a n jerky nod and anc stood flood there watching wat ehing the train pull out until sam wio aji bad heen poking along behind nie me managed to catch up ehtle U ara she exclaimed gnash inn and standing on tiptoe and put tins net her hand band on tits tile shoulder oho aldera dem and tipping her pointed chin up to hlin him you dear to have ual I 1 had that you were the big aeziman gest dmd in the tie world worl ano now nov I 1 see wab right ca abou I 1 it II anni kiss tier her ny nit she ghe hod had ex pecked 14 him in to a lie ile putted patted tier her fiands took then them down off it hl nis sho uldena and held field them a i before he be dropped the them and rented hed to tc ebale hinnir with the twin who tind kissed me I 1 well now tie he build billip til Is sure brent rent tattle girls all grown up tip to I and coming tr te see bee alie their old ld 0 unile o he aft hitten on an fitial untie uncle ball bait ja though nugh he was on more thell onile than I 1 was na ahk ti of at you te P which bowl lets leta get gel you aiu sorted out car so eo I 1 earil cnn vall call you by name I 1 get fiet you all mixed alo u when you were little aykes tykes tell one briw tile the other you wont have that hint trouble any more said tile the one wh ano 0 had nodded at me 1 1 a oin m lil firl 1 ile anil and that arlin litt kilo itil pu puss ss la in 1111 people never get bet cont confused used eliout us any longer 1 the population ot of had eme come running ling to the de deficit riep licit tit of course burce when the tru in Atop pei and at lust last gering gerina his any among tir males females and dogs here annie john latac Un brielle when she ot of him who ti Is it nian thing than to ward air h kebl pretty je litle ae leartris We Artris ain as nw nov corduroy cor durol suit gult and tit bin shann new leather putters puttees put teea tees and tila his new sixteen dollar sombrero Bom brero ue he had even gone so BO adir as to button up op the collar of his brown fla isnoel shirt ille 11 e 1 sam answered beaming with pride Is my BIS hay bay john bow thrilling I 1 chirped Oa gabrielle brielle it Is like living in a clu cinema enia it danny and off she obe went sort of skipping along file tracks racks to meet him when they met john gave tier about the isiline anine attention that a pas gives elves the ticket cli chopper opper at the gate ente in a city depot when tie be sues sees the train lie he ts trying to catch moving slowly out through the yards ile he pulled off 07 hla his bat with i bow but he be passed her walking very fast I 1 thought that bo be ovas so eo flustered that ho he did not know what he was doing lie ile knew ile ie was headd straight for donny lie ile had bud been in the freight since long lone before the train curne cunie in sizing up from anro a safe dis distance tunce the girls earls arrival then he had bed sneaked out the brick tine it wy way ur up pas past I 1 the station house and around it and buck back again to give the appearance of favl having ang just thal minute got into ittia tall john I 1 said bild when lie reached danny and me and stopped like ilke he find juat u st been lassoed from the rear this Is Ditt ilelle john dropper his bin hn hm in tile alkali ackal I 1 dust dast his rew new bat and reached oil out find took both of Drin dannys nys hands in his I railing op tits his knees in front of at her would not ciuch show showier ter 1 I 1 lie he produced 1 I I 1 heard you I 1 lauah a ugh to me it barely madek made sense b but she seemed to find it t interesting and Impo important ideally eally It Iten lly slie she laid ald and sort of trilled it full of meaning inclining population lation was to close in around us I 1 pulled nt it joints johns sleeve hut I 1 declare if a freight voine come along forcing those two to get olt off tile the tracks track st they might have been standing andine st there yet gazing bailing into each others eyes eye I 1 I 1 was home riding beside jnnny in the sedan beuan aben gabrielle a out again at conle annie jernark tf of sams no mi remember tier that hut she had heen been tile the only one ne who lind doli flonc any laughing when we had met dnn oy had only sullied sallied so if flint latich was what hod put john clear of oft his heno hend tie ho hill picket picked th wro wrong g jwj twin n CHAPTER III I 1 I 1 I 1 the secret the first minute I 1 heard that alint the tie girls deroco were ieng to iq me desert aloon I 1 questioned tny iny self fia as to what reason any ever hadford hod for coming coining t to the ranch or for 0 w writing riling to tile rancho ni tim the answer was waa to got money I 1 tried tiled to think lint flint they would silly a rev few months long enough to pill themselves in sums sams good graces ock liln him for a tidy sum and leave lint but they had not been on tile the birwe two days before 1 I ii anew new that lint there wan something far less simple something and si sinister nt ohp root of this visit of theirs to the desert moon on the evening of their arrival tile the gl gerta ala had packed titi their trunks in their bedrooms belr ioma the next nest ami sang funny song until we hold held out our sides with laughing the bays their trunks to tin tho attic going through tile the upper hall inter that satine morning I 1 saw one of tile he empty drawers that ani fitt into their ahelf new tangled trunks lying beside the door to hie file attic stairway J tinte clu caulter lter I 1 keil it up and dorried t ups alra I 1 in till all good ath till I 1 W wear so ana shoes around tile the house and tile llie stairs are thickly litch ly chrite so tile lie kerls who were up there did not nol henr hear ine eom com ing before I 1 gui to the turn in ID the stair a I 1 heard vue of them thein ally 1 I 1 ara am sure suri that there Is 3 no no use in search las U W house in the first place tie be never cover could have gotten it into the house without being seen you are too sure cure of everything when you are unsure ot of anything the other girl answered and I 1 thought since the voice was 1 uder and some how richer that it was gabys stop being sure and try belog being sensible wo we must find cud it we hav very little time lime how do you know whether he could have brought it t into the house or not there Is a back stairway root fool that I 1 was I 1 kept right un on going up tip the stairs it took me a while to develop the poll prying eavesdropping sneaking and generally destil cable character that I 1 did develop later inter mia ivio you girls gosp something 1 asked danny jumped from being abeln startled but gaby never turned a heir hair only a trinket of dans she said ald she never bucked it af all I 1 gave them the trunk drawer and came back downstairs wracking my brain with questions who was the lie he who hod had or who tind find not cot gotten so methin into the house the something tint flint they and had very little time to in which to find 11 and lands landa allva what was the lie I 1 resolved to say nothing but LJ 0 atch those biose two girls like a hawk w from then on I 1 did so but it was three weeks before 1 heard anything more nt at nil all though I 1 saw a grent great deal it was luring during these three weeks that danny kind find john announced their engagement my own opinion Is that they got themselves engaged the first five fhe minutes they were alone together hut flat that they chev had gumption enough ao to writ for ten days before telling it sn gave them tits lila ti blessing lessing that la in to say eny tip he said that thai liny any agreement they wanted to make was all right with film it if danny na was sure she would he to live on in the thene desert moon and it if they would wait a year to ip DP married they agreed to this the year of waiting wat ting reluctantly the only people who were downright pleni pleased sed wilh decision were 0 gaby aby ant anil myself 1 for certain reasons of my own aaby ally she wits choosing to consider herself also tu in love with john she miloe no bones about tier her feelings I 1 did not to do its as john did and set all of her open advances toward ll 11 him ni down to sister salli I 1 believe that flint site eho really tho light aishe was in love inva with john joh n until I 1 hid bid in the ho clothes closet that evening and heard ranny danny and her talking together gabys actions that evening toward toward john nad anti lieen so flown downright right disgusting lis gust sitting on the arm of his and trying to to coax coal illin him out of the lie house to see tile ho mountains by moonlight and hanging herself around hla his neck when file fiey danced together and so go on flint I 1 had find a notion danny might have n little conversation ready for her when she rould could get her alone 11 I 1 had waited about ten minutes when I 1 heard the door doir of gabys room open I 1 was so tickled I 1 all but soui when I 1 heard that dixon danny y haid conle conic in with tier instead of go ins ing on down the hall kr IG her own room evidently they had find begun their con vcra ver ullon sallon in the hall for gabys first words were jealous q I 1 my dear ann till 1 I 1 dont know rut bill it Is silly for or yell to net acl na as you do john Is in love with alth ine why should you try to taki him uway from me when you dont want him yourself are you sure of yes to I 1 arm am his 1119 good looks ing binate you and so does its cation like the fortune tie be Is to lutter lt but you would never be galls fled lal to 0 o marry him und and live right here for the remainder ina inder of your life IN no 0 1 1 would not id marry him it if he have a penny it Is you who are always thinking about tits ills fortune but I 1 allow him to bury himself and his beauty ant and charra in tills this godforsaken forsaken country id gel ge him han out into tile the world and nare blin take its his place there with tits his ability rind energy and with me to help him what a place it might bet for you to have him Is waste waste vda Y a dont know anything about love never learn i 1 I 1 tell you yen I 1 cant benr bear it it fair she began to cry hollow sounding sobs that flint seemed to 0 o catch la her throat and wrench free rep from it it 1 I ain sorry batly I 1 tove love john tie lie means tu to me pea peace ce and security and decent alving the I 1 want most for my life why sauld should I 1 risk it alir aill Vow wurdy nril I 1 coward I 1 vence pence anti and security I 1 tie lie means life to me all i of it full and complete love and passion and adventure nilen lire and attain ment for him and for roe me tofi tm do you think IU ill stand by and allow you to lieve hint him to bury ills his wonder in your pence peace and smother tits his ties with your security and decent lIv livings 1 I think danny answered alint you will have love to john rind and I 1 love ench each other and we are rr going to keep each other you nor anyone esin change that suppose suppo I 1 should lell teli john wy why we come here you wont to do that you ton cant harm ne me without harming your yourself pelf but bat it you threaten that flint just once more I 1 will go straight to john and tell him aim the truth you prom promised isea 11 1 I broken my promise I 1 alcant sli ali ant if you dont cut but you must know that hint I 1 nay any interest left ift in the thing thine what about your desire for revenge that desire was wag yours not mine I 1 never considered that side of it at nil all coward quitter stool pigeon that fair gaby ill help tf if ican 1 inn I 1 have been helping 17 I 1 1 I wont hinder in any way cut but the time la Is short now cow remember member Ke that danny there was a new tone in gabys voice sweet like and appealing I 1 did not trust it for a minute but I 1 think danny did forshe for she answered gently yen yea dear forgive me lets be again friends I 1 could hear beat the treachery in that Us as plainly as I 1 could hear the words I 1 think danny did not henr hear it for she answered 1 I do want to be friend onby I 1 do truly only please dear wont you leave rny my man alone and help roc me and you wont tell him anything of course I 1 wont tell caby it Is really kour your secret now not mine and ill help you all I 1 can revenge out of all that crazy conversation the one word kept pestering me like a faucet did people revenge other people or hove revenge on oil them or chot I 1 looked it up in the he dictionary clous in luring in return for |