OCR Text |
Show THE BULLETIN, BINGHAM, UTAH czziV:r By George Agnew Chamberlain . CHAPTER XV 17 Joyce sprang from bed, ran to a great rosewood wardrobe and snatched out her polo coat As she slipped into it there came a knock on the door. Dirk opened. Don Jorge entered, led by Leonardo and closely followed by Luz and Adan. "You don't have to tell me what it was, Maxie," said Joyce. "Let's go to the roof." Dirk and Leonardo, one on each side, fairly lifted Don Jorge along and presently the whole party emerged into the light of a late moon, climbing almost darkly into a star-spangle- d sky. They gathered in a huddle against the frontal para-pet and waited in expectant silence. "It's foolish to stand so close to-gether," remarked Arnaldo present-ly, and as he spoke there came a flash, another boom, but no howl-ing shell only an earth-shakin- g thud and then an opaque column of dust where the flash had shown. Silence again a long silence, broken at last by Don Jorge. 'Tell me, somebody, what you saw; I heard, but for the love of heaven, give me eyes." "Let me snpnlr " aM Flirt "Pit was on his way before the words were out of her mouth and she turned into Don Jorge's study. "Maxie, there's a chance the guns won't get the range of the house at alL Even if they do, the one thing to look out for is fire. For-tunately there's lots of water and plenty of people to carry it. Do you think there's any reason I should stay?" "Reason?" repeated the blind man, bewildered and a little shocked by what sounded like a threat of desertion. "No, senorita; it is well you should withdraw from danger." "I?" gasped Joyce, "I withdraw from danger? Maxie, are you try-ing to make me laugh?" Color swept into Don Jorge's cheeks and his sightless eyes wa-tered at the corners. "Ah, chica, my beloved child, forgive a blind man for his mistake. Where is it you intend to go?" "Mr. Van Suttart and I will start for Mexico City as soon as it's light enough to see." Adan Arnaldo, who had scarcely listened and was silting with head hanging despondently, suddenly determination. "I need a cold bath. I've got to dress, eat" She hurried from the room. The horses were saddled, Joyce and Dirk ready, but with the break of day came heartbreaking disap-pointment. It was Leonardo who brought the bad news. Descending from the ramparts he reported that Dorado's following had almost dou-bled overnight. That wasn't the worst of it; secure by reason of their numbers for the first time their riders had dared pass to the northern side of the barranca. Here was the picture: straight out from the eastern gate was the great ditch with the rope bridge gone and the howitzers, temporarily silenced, in its depths. Beyond near and yet so far was Pancho's abandoned flivver. What need had Dorado to guard that section? None. Had his men stayed on the south side, as had been their invariable custom, faster horsemen might have ridden around them, but he had been too clever. They had deployed on the near side of the chasm in two broad fans, well out of range, almost three miles to the east and west of the hacienda. There they waited like vultures for the moment when fire inai Was ciuac (iu, wujrkc, they wouldn't have Jumped they'd have ridden into the gorge head down. But now that they've had a chance to look at It come on." He whirled Tronido, headed him straight for the barranca and began to lift him with knee, hand and voice. Rayo was beside him, stride for stride. They rode together he and Joyce were together. (Hit of the tail of his eye he felt rather than saw her figure, tense where it ought to be tense, light where it ought to be light crouching into the saddle, passing its message of courage to the horse beneath: "Are you afraid? No. Neither am I!" At 15 yards from the brink the horses seemed to get a first inkling of what was coming and at 20 a mysterious change took place in the rhythm of muscle and stride. They were gathering themselves, feeling the sod, digging in for the mighty leap. Then the rush that peculiar hurtling where heart muscle and bone make their bid to slap the impossible in the face. Thunder and Lightning they hit the take-of- f side by side and soared. Joyce had a sensation of flying, abyss above, abyss below. Rayo's hind feet, ev-- W Ik or ruin should drive its inmates into the open. Dirk turned away, not caring to see what must be in Joyce's eyes. "Well," he murmured, "I guess the game is up." "Wait," said Joyce. "Come here, Dirk. Come quite close, so nobody else will hear. Look in my eyes, Dirk. How far can a horse jump?" He stared at her and the longer he looked the more did a bar of steel seem to form between her eyes and his. "I don't remember the rec-ord, Joyce," he said quietly, "but it's well over the width of the bar-ranca at the spot where the bridge used to be. Shall I help you up?" "Please," said Joyce. He bent his knee and she mounted Rayo; an instant later he was astride Tronido. They tried to walk the horses across the great court and through the zaguan, aut the mysterious seismograph of sympa-thy between horse and rider made the beasts toss their heads and mince sidewise toward the gate. Adan Arnaldo came running after them. "Where are you going? What do you think you're doing?" erything gathered under, made the I level with only half an inch to spare. He was over! But not Tronido. Before Dirk had time to know terror he was con-scious of dark blots in the chasm where it widened on the left the guns surrounded by a pale sea of upturned faces, fixed in astonish-ment. Then he knew, he saw what was coming. The blood in his veins turned cold, ceased flowing, as he felt the last vain wrench of the back between his legs. Tronido's hind hoofs missed the top by a full foot, but simultaneously his knees and chest crashed against it, catapult-ing his rider to safety as the great horse fell backward, screaming, to his death. "Dirk, oh, Dirk!" cried Joyce. She reined Rayo down, turned and started to dismount. "Don't! Don't. get off," shouted Dirk springing to his feet and tak-ing a firm grip on her stirrup leath-er. "Ride for the flivver. Don't mind me; I know what I'm doing. You can't shake me at any pace. Ride!" She headed eastward along the barranca but missed the gully she sought and had to turn back. It was course you know it's artillery, Max-ie, but I can tell you more than that. It's howitzers a battery of them firing from the bottom of the barranca. Since the elevation even of a howitzer has certain inexorable limits, the first shell passed over us and the second the one you just heard hit the lip of the gorge. It's my bet there won't be another fired before daylight" "Why not?" asked Don Jorge. "Because Dorado has to do one of two things, both of them difficult He must either move the guns far-ther away along the bed of the bar-ranca or remove the wheels to get a sharper angle, and dropping the carriage is a tedious operation." "You know a great deal for one too young to have been in the war," said Don Jorge, comforted. "Plattsburg," murmured Dirk. He was interrupted by a carbine volley resulting in a splatter of bul-lets against the wall beneath them. They retreated in haste, all but Le-onardo who hurried to the southern bastion to direct a counter offensive. Safe below, Joyce drew Dirk aside. "Things look black, Dirk, and there's nobody I want to talk to but you not even Maxie and certainly not Adan. Artillery, cannon the one thing I can't answer!" "It's a tough one," admitted Dirk. "I felt so sure," mourned Joyce; "now I feel helpless and a fool." Suddenly she lifted her eyes to his face. "By the way, that bit about the battery of howitzers. Who told you? How did you know?" "I guess you're no fool after all," said Dirk; "nothing gets past you." He took out the ambassador's let-- Tbeir Riders flad Dared to Pass to the Northern Side of the Barranca. straightened and rose to his feet. "Me, too!" he cried fervently. "But how?" "I'm sorry, Adan," said Joyce "You're going to be terribly dis-appointed. You don't ride very well, and besides, there are only two horses fast enough to do the trick. Of course it will have to be a race of wits and speed between us and Dorado's outfit." "Never mind, Adan," said Joyce. "Open the eastern gate, will you?" "No!" shouted Arnaldo. Joyce turned to Tobalito and raised her quirt. "Open the gate!" she commanded. "Open!" He obeyed; the bar tumbled and one leaf swung back. Joyce was the first to rush through, Dirk hard at her heels; already they were at a full gallop a near bolt. "Joyce!" he fairly screamed. "Stop! It isn't fair! For God's sake, Joyce, give the horses a chance!" For the first time he laid quirt to Tronido. The gallant beast took it well. Seeming to sense what was wanted, he laid belly to ground and drew level on the right of Rayo just as the barranca came into full view. That was all Dirk asked. He began to ride Joyce off, slowly at first then with firmer pressure. Now they were galloping in a wide cir-cle, giving the horses and them-selves opportunity to steady down. Dirk could talk and be heard. Dirk, now on the other-side- , who spied the tattered top of the car. He let go, fell, rolled to his feet and shouted after her: "Joyce! Here we are! Come back!" It took her almost a minute to turn the horse and in that time she caught two glimpses of many riders, one group converging from the east, the other from far to the west. Pres-ently they would stream together in a single furious charge toward the one point Dorado had not dreamed he need guard. She dismounted, dug the key to the flivver from in-side her glove and handed it to Dirk "We'll have to hurry," she said, "the riders are coming fast" "Much good it will do them," he muttered as he switched on the ig-nition, "there isn't a horse in the bunch could make it." "You're being a little stupid, dear, aren't you? Perhaps not a horse, but a bullet can. What shall I do with Rayo?" (TO HE COXTlKUEn) ter and handed it to her. "Read that, Joyce; and it's bad news for me any way you take it If I stay I'll have a black mark against me the rest of my life; if I desert you I'm a skunk I'd smell in my own nostrils." Joyce glanced through the letter, then read it again, word by word, phrase by phrase, the color in her cheeks steadily heightening. Her breath began to come quickly; sud-denly she crushed the paper into a ball and held it in her closed fist as her wide eyes stared through Don Jorge shook his head doubt-fully. "Too far," he muttered, "Toluca is too far. You don't know our campesinos; they won't have to ride, they could walk you down." Joyce hesitated whether to men-tion the flivver; out of consideration for Adan, poor exile, she decided not. "You'll have to leave it to us, Max-ie," she said finally. "We'll surely find a way." "Even so," said Don Jorge, "1 don't understand. Say you do reach the city, what then?" Again Joyce hesitated before she answered. "Maxie, by the ambas-sador's letter to Mr. Van Suttart, we know General Onelia has be-come minister of war." "Onelia," murmured Don Jorge, frowning; then he cried out, "One lia!" "Yes," said Joyce; "perhaps-perh- aps " She stopped, her lips trembling. Arnaldo moved forward and something in his pose seized her at-tention. Most men she had known threw up their heads when they came to some crucial decision, but not Adan his sank between his shoulders. "It is good you should try to get to Mexico City, but don't go blind. Margarida Fonseca, Gen-eral Onelia you think you know them, eh?" Dirk and the wall beyond. "Joyce, oh, Joyce," he begged, "don't take it like that! I'll write him, I'll" "Write to whom?" she interrupted sharply. "The ambassador, of course." "The ambassador?" said Joyce. "Oh, that! Why, I wasn't even think-ing of your part of it. Onelia," she breathed, "General Onelia!" Her brows gathered in a tight frown. "Onelia wasn't minister of war when he sent me down here or-dered Pancho to drop me into the lion's den, and then clear out! There's something crooked, some-thing I don't understand. Listen, Dirk, there's a perfectly good fliv-ver, as you know, the other side of the barranca. I have the key to it. Tomorrow today since it's almost dawn you and I are going to Mex-ico City." "You're crazy!" cried Dirk. "How are we going to cross the barranca -f-ly?" "We'll ride around it ten miles down and ten back." "While Dorado and his men twid-dle their thumbs?" "Stop!" cried Joyce, her blue eyes almost black. "If you can't help, keep your mouth Oh, Dirk, darling, I'm sorry. But our horses are faster so much faster. Doesn't that make a difference? Doesn't it? There must be a way there must!" "Sweetheart, I was nearly a skunk, and now I'm surely a rat! But don't worry; I'm cured. Take a bath, eat, change into your rid-ing togs. I'm off to sock a feed of oats into thf horses." "I love you when you talk like that," said Joyce. "I'm glad to promise I'll do exactly as you say except I must jsee Maxie first." Dirk "Why, of course," said Joyce, but the sudden doubt in her eyes belied her words. "No, no," said Adan. "I'll tell you. Together those two arrange to have Dorado driven out from La Barranca yes. You think it is for you, but they leave you all alone, abandon you. Why? To make trou-ble for my friend. General Sebas-tian-minister of war. It was al-most certain you would get killed, but no matter to them. Even with-out getting killed it seems you've made enough trouble to put that old fox Onelia into Sebastiano's shoes." "Oh!" gasped Joyce, cheeks and eyes flaming, "now I see it all! Thanks,- - Adan; you've cleared up the one point that was bothering me. Oh, I'll get even 1 11 " She broke off and her face, so illumined by emotion, hardened to a look of Producers of Maple Syrup, Sugar Only in the United States and Can-ada are maple syrup and maple sug-ar produced. Not only is it purely an American industry, but it is a very old one, and like the cultiva-tion of tobacco and the tomato, one that we took over from the aborigi-nal inhabitants. The earliest ex-plorers found the Indians making sugar from the sap of maple trees in the St. Lawrence valley and else-where in the Northeast; and when the Indians found that the white newcomers liked the maple prod-ucts, they were the first to produce them in quantities for trade. Wllhelm Fired His Porter Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia once returned from a canter through the palace grounds to find that the door-keeper was not at his post: "The porter is fired!" cried the king in momentary anger. His courtiers were silent, for they knew that the king never retracted an order, even if given in a sudden burst of tem-per. In such cases he usually re-pented privately, but did nothing about it It so happened that they were fond of the old doorman, as well as of the king. Next morning one of his adjutants entered the monarch's rooms and asked, "Your majesty, is the porter to be laid off for one or two days?" To which Friedrich Wilhelm immediately re-plied, "For one day," and returned to his papers smiling. India, China Ink Oldest The oldest known ink Is India or China ink, probably made in China as early as 1200 B. C. It is made of lampblack or ivory black and glue or a gum and stored and marketed in dry cakes or sticks. In the Ori-ent, the dry ink is rubbed in a dish with a little water, and a brush or a reed stylus is used for writing with it. It has a rich blackness and is permanent Use of Term Jingoism The term jingoism, denoting ag-gressive military policy, was orig-inally applied to a group of British politicians who in 1877-7- 8 wanted the government to take sides in the Russo-Turkis- h war. The chorus of a popular song of that time in-cluded the words, "We don't want to fight, but, by Jingo, if we do we've got the ships, etc." The Ice Cream Soda It isn't known who first made the ice cream soda in Its present form. Snow-coole-d beverages were known to the Jews, ancient Greeks, and Romans. Records show that In Rome a certain Quintus Maximus Gurges, nicknamed the Glutton, wrote a recipe for a similar prepa-ration in one of his books. flow to Tell Mule's Age One way to tell a mule's age is by his teeth. On the edges of the incisors are groves or cups that wear away as the animal advances in years. Another way the ages of mules are determined is by the cavernous spaces above their eyes. These sunken places do not fill out when an old mule is fattened. HOTEL (.oi DENT --2j2;f' n the JJVjJwRfc IHhs? Teachers Wanted wTTTT-- i Special to leach,., a mcrcial ,ubj,ct. j l!if ;. 25c l: t polFltTy 1 Everywhere Su eI 'I (NSTRUcfioir f IK YOU I.IKE PAINT - Write for ?&! I Give aKe ami oceun.C' f Inc.. Dept. WN, MigJ-f- r J ALCOHOLISM Cure Rccom rl i hTd wit hTT-- "' I or Narcotics under V Dsrei SIHO 8. Ilth E. SALT uff I OFFICE EQUIPMEN NEW AND I KKlTdMkTnrr tsy.pelw. rmite.rssH, addin,""' i.:x.A"'jg J ATHLETICGQOF CHEAT WESTERN ATHLETK I I niforma. Bat. ;0VM B f Vollyballa, Athletic hoa T 1 Idaho sriHHu, m ppiy & ICE CREAMFRElzi I SODA FOUNTAINS ICE Cto i TEK FREEZERS and Ice C f Rar rixturcs. Stools, CanW lahles Also reconditioned 1. CO. ki Sli Post Office Place . . 4 motorcycles' fas HARLEY PARTS-AcceMo- ,i, Uied fc Motorcvcles Write (r HOPSE OF HOPPER, Ml E It j FARMER ALMANj f MacDONALD S farmer m V 138 "Now Rracly".-- Pr 1 Atlas Printing Co. . . n;nl: V FURNITURE I Now 9 x 12 carpet ruir SH.9S:!i f- - coal ranite $35.00: Um4 aelar m Bet $.')9.50 : Used uurirtl n 4 Bargain Basement Wnttrn tt 4" I3S South Stale ... Si J PHOTOS i New Sensational, 8 glossy prims A 2 professional enlareemena i J; print 3c ea. Star Film CompiB.Pi jL, WNU Week No. iSM - it i-- a a r'y bus ft HOLLYWO0D-G- M If BOULDER t YELLOWSTONE-- Pi GLACIER PARK-- Ca v( "The National Parks h Western Air K 2 Loi Ana-tle- Lmv''u 1 Idaho Fall, P"""" I Butte. Helena. Cwlft J, 1 I 'I PINTS fl J QUARTS CODE NO. 313 L z ST CODE NO. 312 ill yj ttingl IH A BLEND Of STRAIGHT WHKI.$ I f 111 ISUMDIO BY FRANKFORT CI5TIIU,IS By Frankfort Distilleries, Inc., Louisville and Baltimore NEW r M. H. THOMPSON W j Manager i Salt Lake City'. ffrg l! Hotel, LocauOtJJ y THE BELVfltf j" 'Sill fO 1 ! Mam" N The BOyM f U APARTMENT; I i Carried Coffin With Her " How many know that Sarah Bernhardt, the great actress, car-ried her coffin with her for years before she died? It was made of rosewood, says London Answers Magazine, and had handles of solid gold, being placed at her bedside every night on a trestle made espe-cially to hold It Speed of Sound, Bullet The National Bureau of Standards says that the speed of a bullet may be either greater or less than the speed of sound. The speed of sound In air is about 1,100 feet per second. A pistol bullet may travel as slowly as 700 feet per second and the bul-let from a rifle may reach the speed, of 2,000 feet per second. No Grace In Short Grace Scottish grace at mealtimes was a lengthy affair in olden Scotland, es-pecially at a bountiful feast. In con-trast to the short form used by the neighboring English. As a Scottish elder once said when present at a great English dinner, "Siena grace for sicna dinnerl " Mall on Ancient Trail One of the most remote roads over which the United States mails travel is an ancient horse-trai- l down into Havasu canyon in the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, where there is a Supal Indian vil-lage. The trail is older than rec-ords of modern history. Dancing Bears Ruled Out Dancing bears of Rumania are to "sit out" the rest of their dances. A government decree issued in Bucharest forbids the bruins being exhibited. The order is the result of complaints that gypsies were cruel to the beasts when training them. Names for the Great Dane Although thousands of American dog fanciers know the great dane by that name, Germany (the home country of the breed) calls it the deutsche dogge. English-speakin- g peoples have ignored this name, and in Italy the Great Dane is known as the alano. Early Use of Gunpowder Although gunpowder was invented by the Chinese as early as 600 A. D., they used it only for fireworks dis-plays and it was not put to military use until centuries later when the Moors introduced it into Spain. So says "A Modern Book of Wonders." 100-M- Visibility From Site Visibility at Cabrillo National Monument, where California was first sighted by a member of the Caucasian race, is frequently so clear that with the naked eye visi-tors may discern Catalina island, 100 miles away, says the Depart-ment of the Interior. Police Must Be Feminine Policewomen recruited in Prague must have height, strength, skill at sports. Jiu-jits- u will be one of the chief items in their training, but it is emphasized that they must pos-sess "a completely feminine out-look on life." How Giraffe Battles Lion The giraffe has never killed an-other animal except in self-defens-he is strictly vegetarian, and he can travel at the rate of 30 miles an hour and the meek animal can even give a large lion a good trounc-ing by adroitly kicking him. Sponges and Art or Diving Sponges were responsible , for man's development of the art of div-ing. Ancient Olympic diving cham-pions were men Word "On" Is Frequently Mispronounced; "Again" Next in Order for Carelessness the higher levels of personal vocab-ularies that include more than 2,000 words. For example, here are a few stick-lers for your tongue if you have a vocabulary running up to 5,000 words: Literature, extraordinary, enve-lope, drama, detail, recess, route and subtle. What common words do we Amer-icans mispronounce? The olrice of education has helped to compile a list of the dozen words in common use that are most abused. Strange as it may seem, the two-lett-word "on" is the most fre-quently misused word on the list. You might think that almost anyone could pronounce this preposition correctly, but thousands say "un" or "en" and the word is just about number one in the battered Amer-ican vocabulary, observes a Wash-ington United Press correspondent. Number two is "again." Folk in this country apparently like to pro-nounce it like something left over from the prosperity days before 1929; as or they may short-en it to The rest of the list runs: toward, interesting, accept, address, prefer'-able- , drowned, perform, automobile, attacked and forehead. For correct pronunciations, con-sult your dictionary. This is the court of last appeal in case you get into an argument. Remember that the first form given in the diction-ary is the preferred one. All these words are supposed to be in the vocabulary of a person who knows at least 2,000 words. Tins fact is based on numerous studios of the frequency with which words are used in speech, in newspapers in magazines, in books and on the air waves. Of course, other words may be .pronounced a higher percentage t:mes. but such words belong lo 1 Being an Opt "A man kin be o : 'f ' optimist," said Uncle E; simply goes through Sfc : self gold bricks." Children Fear Snakes Only When Misinformed Is the fear of snakes born in us? Science says not. No child fears snakes unless he has been previous-ly frightened about them. When we are too young to remember, we catch the fear from older persons, asserts a writer in the Detroit News. Among many absurd ideas is that a snake stings with its tongue; that a milk snake milks cows; that a hoop snake rolls; that any snake has power to "charm" and that a swallows her young. : There is some slight evidence for the last statement, although the fact that a snake when cut open is found to contain young is no sign she swal-lowed them. Some snakes are vivi-parous (bearing their young alive) while others are oviparous (egg lay-ing). The several kinds of garter snakes, water snakes and the little brown snake give bith to living your.g. The black snake, milk snake, and the grass snake are among the egg-layin- species. |