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Show JderpressUre By George Ag new Chamberlain wNusrvic II hewn timbers, he knew the daily washings of gold were stored. The other two were open to such air as was available and matted heaps of hay showed they had been used as habitations. What interested him most, however, was the shaft he had surmised must exist. He found it on his third excursion and to his delight de-light discovered it was not vertical but ascended at a slant, showing whoever had sunk it had lacked a mechanical hoist. No doubt it was cluttered with debris, but where men had once passed a man could pass again. Here was a road to freedom, ready-made, but reflection forced him to admit it could lead only to recapture or starvation in the desert; without a horse waiting at the exit it was useless. He reverted to the idea which had developed in a flash to the size of a full-grown oak trade La Barranca for possession of Joyce. He had no illusions as to the cash value of the hacienda. Discovery of the bootleg gold diggings might have impressed a novice, but not an old-timer who happened to know Mexican law establishes es-tablishes the subsoil as the inalienable inalien-able property of the state. Aware of the general situation as well, he was convinced tragic trouble and no conceivable gain would be Joyce's inevitable lot should he fail in his intention to rescue hpr. will. stirred hitysenses at he continued, 'It's differed tonight You ask for silly, meaningless music music with no soul You don't come with me. You stand to one side to see how fast I can run up and down the piano without losing my breath. No; I won't play any more. I'm a man, not a whippet chasing an elec-1 trie rabbit for you to laugh. Good-' night, senorita. You are very beautiful, beau-tiful, but this evening you happen not to be a woman." CHAPTER XII The bullet which passed through Dorado's leg and traversed the heart of his horse was steel-jacketed; had it been soft-nosed the wound would have been serious, possibly fatal The heavy-set general suffered suf-fered far more from the shock of his fall than by reason of the hole through his thigh, " nevertheless he considered his condition grave enough to appeal to Blackadder for advice and aid. He released him from the batea and installed him as nurse a change equivalent to a transfer from one galley bench to another since, needless to say, Pepe was in the vilest of tempers. Blackadder had often been called upon to act as surgeon in far more desperate cases amid surroundings fully as primitive. He procured a and from there to Mexico City." He paused. "Of course, If you should try any double-crossing In the way of holding us both for ransom you'd lose the hacienda in the end and perhaps your life." Dorado thought for a long time, his eyes half closed lest Blackadder read his mind. What fools these gringos were they still believed in honor among thieves! He pictured first La Barranca, most desirable of all haciendas as far as he was concerned, con-cerned, then Joyce whom two flashes had revealed to be as lovely a girl as he had ever seen. At the moment he honestly believed he could be happy with either as long as he lived but with both? Mere anticipation caused moisture to gather at the corners of his loose mouth. "In exchange for freedom and the senorita," he announced finally, "you make olTcr of La Barranca. So?" "That's it," said Blackadder. "I accept. The matter of your escape to Mexico City is not difficult to arrange. Near the hacienda there is a rope bridge which saves many miles. I have a car In Toluca; I shall send for it and hide It by night in an arroyo. I'll have horses at the bridge when you arrive with the senorita and I myself will be there to wish you both Godspeed. It remains re-mains only to agree on a signal announcing an-nouncing you are ready." "That's the trouble," said Black-adder, Black-adder, scowling. "How do I know just when I'll be ready since I may ITER X1"-Continued -13 Ced into Joyce's boudoir 4d the open door of the -lorn. Then he retraced his T strolled to the opposite " flv to behold more empti-f empti-f ;Xuptly he knew the truth llv as if he had watched Adan down the narrow Toward a certain spiral 4 heart contracted with Ice it caused him to halt ;fcks in more senses than lie was he headed? Where "feady arrived? jLction had been correct; i taken Adan to the roof. Jierged Into a translucence ld have been blinding had " i dimmed by the impalpa-h impalpa-h dust of the night she ''toward her companion with rlath. His face was amia-live amia-live but apparently his Jwere blind. She felt dis-then dis-then an impulse to laugh jerself. She restrained it, A feeling of sadness. The of his expression dum-fer. dum-fer. Was it credible he jr moon nor stars nor that Ible torch of snow rising ; t pale blue of heaven? rTope!ess,y she led the way , pet and sat down, sensing I,'-If he followed unwillingly, i she had shivered and Sut his coat around her tonight it was Adan who the cold but she had no nd him. Since he was armly dressed than she the cold which affected come from within him-as him-as silent; not morose yind suffering. If he saw the stars and the Nevado 4s with a calculating and g eye that strove to di-indeur di-indeur to the size of a irop for future reference, jeater, he was city, and . tLtin; furthermore such - I this, with snow-capped 4 to the Sleeping Woman Measure, were the every-'iu-carne of his existence. movement toward his iet. At least they could ft Joyce; she must say must, must! She turned i tand felt her Jaw drop a an was knotting his silk M f at the back of his neck, 'jjt in such a manner as to I and mouth against the ! J$e night air. :jnost choked. "You don't , do you?" she managed ing or unwilling. Dorado himself gave an opening. "Bueno, cabron, it is now the third day and you write no letter. Tomorrow I think perhaps I send have to carry the girl out against her will?" "So?" murmured Dorado curiously. curious-ly. "But let's not worry over such small difficulties. The moon is in its third quarter; before it rises there are two hours of darkness. When do you wish to start?" "Today. Now." "Beno. Tomorrow night, and the next, and the night after that, I shall spend the two hours immediately imme-diately preceding the rising of the moon at the bridge on the north side. Be careful how you cross it." "I know all about rope bridges," said Blackadder. "What about your leg?" "You are a good doctor. It is quite nearly well. Today I can walk. I will show you; I shall go now to choose your horse and give orders." Blackadder took advantage of his absence to descend to the brook as though to wash his hands but in reality to recover his passport and wallet. Half an hour later, accompanied accom-panied by three guards armed with carbines, he was riding downstream toward the switchback path which had caused him such agony a few days before. Since it was the only exit from the barranca through all its length they were obliged, once the level of the prairie was reached, to ride all the way back around the camp before starting down the other oth-er side. Before they made the turn, however, he noticed a peculiar depression de-pression masked by a patch of thorny acacias. Deliberately he passed to windward of it and caught a faint odor of smoke; so, he thought, had he risked the shaft here is where he would have come out. But that was not to be his only discovery. An hour later, chancing to glance across the barranca, he saw a sight that first puzzled, then amazed him. Three lorries were wending their way over the plain from the general direction of Toluca. Tolu-ca. That in itself was not surprising; surpris-ing; what astonished him was their freight each was loaded with a howitzer. At first he had thought they were boilers; but no, there was no doubt about it, they were howitzers. He questioned the men but got only shrugs for his pains and a little farther on they came to a halt. (TO BE COXTISLED) one finger." "Listen, Dorado," said Blackadder, Blackad-der, "you and I have seen a lot of each other and we ought to be able to talk straight from the shoulder. shoul-der. You occupied La Barranca for several years. Wouldn't you like to lay your hands on it again?" Dorado straightened too suddenly, groaned and settled back. "Go on," he ordered. "You talk, I listen, then I tell you." "You know who threw you out, don't you?" "That Pancho Buenaventura," cried Dorado, turning purple, "and his butcher-boss. General Onelia." "No, no," said Blackadder impatiently. impa-tiently. "Didn't you see a girl? Don't you know anything about her?" "Girl?" repeated Dorado, his eyes suddenly wide. "Yes, I see one girl. Verry nice girl. Who is she?" "The daughter of Cutler Sewell, the man from whom you stole the hacienda. He's dead and she owns it." "Me, steal!" cried Dorado, enraged. en-raged. "Pepe Dorado steal! No, no. That gringo, he abandon La Barranca." "Just so," said Blackadder, "exactly "ex-actly the way you abandoned it five or six days ago, exactly the way the present tenant might be urged into abandoning it again. Get it, or do you want half an hour to think the thing out?" "Si, si," murmured Dorado thoughtfully. "You tell me some more now." "Here it is the whole thing in a nutshell. I lied when I said I don't speak Spanish and again about being be-ing a prospector. I'm Miss Joyce Sewell's guardian acting for her stepmother. We don't want her to stay at La Barranca at any price. When you held me up you did yourself your-self a bad turn because I was on my way to drag her out. If you want the place, help me do it now." "How?" "Give me a horse. Send guards to watch me all the way into the hacienda." "Then what?" "Sooner or later I'll snake the girl out and La Barranca will be once more abandoned and at your mercy. The only thing that stumps me is how to get away to Toluca ye , I do," replied Adan in ' ies. "Much better than ran the place." lyce caught her breath, i," she said presently, d him, didn't you?" as it? A shooting party?" : a roughhouse. We $vn a carload of girls and ds of men. Don't let's it." Abruptly his voice iding. "Let's go down to I want to play for you J m like last night." '! with a sense of relief ie to which were added ' Jre poignant emotions elf-pity, disappointment, nly three, and a sort of smay composed of anger and at the world in gen-'irk gen-'irk in particular. What o with it? Nothing. That !e was angry at him and - : seemed a perfectly good ; s she hurried along the eading for the drawing -' saw him leaning on the s ? ice lifted toward the vis-cif vis-cif sky. going to play," sha said Want to come along?" anks," said Dirk even V. "I'm going to bed." cr urging Adan played tous music - rollicking umbas and a galloping n i and when he tried to languorous tango or a iltz she broke in with a no! something fast, fast-llng fast-llng J'lly." She was measuring him by his 'frd. yet giving him no !! Practice the whole al-h's al-h's art. He could have ut nothing more. Sitting J n's agile fingers flying ' s, he became readable, r eyes. He was hand--nat.ircd, shrewd, kind-i kind-i fearless-an ideal mas-monies-. Quite suddenly lm the piano and faced s hard. rt tike me tonight." he s- 1 do. Adan." stam-e. stam-e. "f course I do. What fay that?" said Adan, somewhat at finding himself in a 'mes and cues he had n if he had f-the role of the unde-Xu!dn't unde-Xu!dn't quite believe n CJuld he conceive he 1 .d himself cast as a e didn't take his. eyes off .1 'ace before him. But T or danger may have "That's It," Said Blackadder. couple of cotton jumpers, soft and ragged with wear, requisitioned a precious bar of soap and washed them out with his own hands. Then he boiled a kettle of water, tossed in a handful of salt and was ready. With a mighty grip he pressed the wound both ways from the inside out until the blood showed bright and clear of impurities. He took surly satisfaction in Dorado's howls of pain and a subsequent torrent of imprecations as the outlets were bathed with hot brine and then bandaged. Almost hourly thereafter the patient would insist on having the dressing removed. With plenty of salt water on hand Blackadder felt no fear of infection but resented such frequent interruption since he was busy with affairs of his own. Keeping his ears and eyes wide open, a single day sufficed to give him an accurate idea of the layout of the camp; since nobody thought he knew Spanish all talked freely in his presence.' It was situated at the northeastern extremity of the barranca where the chasm pinched out against sheer cliffs at whose feet burbled the spring which supplied the brook with water. At night all the so-called miners nothing but enslaved peons picked up at random were herded into the depths of the two drifts opposite the one occupied by Dorado and himself. The riders then spread their petates in the airy entrances, forming a solid layer of bodies over which a fugitive would have to fly like a bat to escape. In addition two men with shotguns stood guard day and night at the right-angle turn downstream. So much for the exterior; by night, when sleep seemed to have a fair hold on his patient. Blackadder would slip away for subterranean exploration. Darkness was his greatest handicap. Matches were scarce, candles there were none nor any lantern. Again inventiveness backed by experience to say nothing noth-ing of a knowledge of capillary attractioncame at-tractioncame to his aid. Luxuriant Luxuri-ant castor oil shrubs grew in the shadow cast by the southern wall. He gathered a quantity of the berries, ber-ries, crushed out their oil into a discarded dis-carded tomato can and rolled a Strip off a bandage into a wick. Coiling Coil-ing it in the tin he let one end hang over the side, lighted it and found himself provided with a tiny but lasting beam of light By its aid he was able to explore the cavernous reaches behind Dorado's Do-rado's dwelling. There were three inner rooms besides his own. In one. sealed with a locked door of |