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Show U H n U lu K li i K tu D U ss;sr- By George Agnew Chamberlain """"" i SYNOPSIS Joyce Sewell, on the eve of her twentieth twenti-eth birthday, rebels at her lot. dependent on her detested stepmother. Irma. and full of tragic memories of her mother's murder twelve years before and her father's death six months ago. Irma calls in Helm Blackadder. an admirer, to help her persuade Joyce to marry rich, young Michael Kirkpatrick. Mike, sent up to Joyce by Irma and Black-adder, Black-adder, demands a showdown on his proposal pro-posal and is rejected. Joyce realizes that La Barranca, a Mexican hacienda which her father had owned, legally belongs be-longs to her. Later, she receives a letter let-ter enclosing a warrant on the United States Treasury for $10,000 compensation for her mother's murder at La Barranca. Bar-ranca. She confers with Mr. Bradley, a banker and only remaining friend of her father's. She confides that she wants to make a secret journey to Mexico. Bradley Brad-ley arranges all details for her. She departs de-parts by plane undetected. Dirk Van Suttart, second secretary of the American Ameri-can embassy in Mexico City, gives Joyce a chilly reception and she loses her temper. tem-per. She finds a Mexican woman lawyer. law-yer. Margarida Fonseca. who takes her to General Onelia, right-hand man to the Mexican minister of war. Margarida Marga-rida reminds Onelia that the usurper of La Barranca is his dangerous enemy. General Dorado. The two make plans to send Joyce with a few picked men under Pancho Buenaventura to drive Dorado Do-rado out. Adan Arnaldo, -a young man who runs El Tenebroso, a night club, knows Dorado's present whereabouts, so they take Joyce there that night, where she notices Dirk. General Dorado arrives, ar-rives, and in the course of sudden gunplay, gun-play, the lights go out and Joyce is left alone. Adan Arnaldo whisks her out and takes her home. The following morning Joyce drives off to Toluca with Pancho. Back in Elsinboro. Joyce's disappearance dis-appearance has been discovered. Black-adder Black-adder upbraids Irma, but succumbs to her helpless charm and plans to marry her. Blackadder gets the secretary of state to wire the embassy at Mexico City to locate Joyce. Dirk is delegated for the search. Dirk, getting no information infor-mation from the lying Onelia, goes to El Tenebroso and interviews Arnaldo. Arnaldo bids Dirk follow him. Meanwhile Mean-while Joyce and Pancho reach La Barranca. Bar-ranca. Pancho and Eusebio, one of his band, leave her and at dawn climb the wall. Suddenly shots ring out. CHAPTER VI Continued 7 She sprang through the first zag-uan zag-uan and ran across the second court. She reached the second zag-uan, zag-uan, entered the inner patio and plunged through odorous blooms to trip and all but fall over a dead body. Here also everything was silent si-lent not the stillness of peace, the silence of terror and death. Every door on the lower floor was tightly sealed. She dashed up one branch of the double stairway which led to the balcony above. Fury still possessed pos-sessed her to the exclusion of all fear. Murder was being done on her account murder before her very eyes. Again shots pierced the silence, but they were rhythmic, punctuated. punctuat-ed. They came from the formal dining room. She dashed along the balcony and entered upon a scene so astonishing it brought her to an instantaneous halt. Her eyes were riveted on a figure as hideous as a gargoyle which stood as if crucified cruci-fied against the wall beneath one of the sconces. She recognized the visage of General Gen-eral Dorado, now twitching with terror ter-ror as the rhythmic shots shattered ohe by one the lusters dangling over her head. Two other men were in the room, Eusebio and Pancho, both seated. The jumpers were gone, disclosing what had caused the bulges bandoliers still half full of cartridges. Eusebio was rolling a cigarette, Pancho was doing the shooting and Dorado, wondering why he was being spared, had his glittering glit-tering eyes fixed on his tormentor. "Pancho!" cut in Joyce's voire between two shots. "You lied. You promised Gen " . In one movement Pancho sprang up, snatched off his big sombrero and swung it backward at a venture, ven-ture, striking her across the mouth. For an instant Dorado stared at her with unbelieving yet consuming eyes, then his paralysis passed and he made a leap for the nearest door. With a double bloodcurdling yell Eusebio Eu-sebio and Pancho were after him. Half knocked off balance by the rush of their passage Joyce was yet able to reach the balcony in time to watch the pursuit through the patio, across the visible section of the great court, through the zaguan at its far side and out by one of the gates into the limitless freedom of the prairie. Joyce turned, went out and descended de-scended to the patio with a firm step. She must do something, summon sum-mon aid. But first she wished to orient herself, revisit the spots she knew best. She glanced toward her one time playroom and saw that the huge key was on the outside of the lock. A moment later she had turned it and thrown open the door. She stood transfixed. It had become be-come a stable a pig-pen. Two horses turned their heads and stared at her as though startled and three fattening hogs, penned in one corner, grunted low as if only mumbling. mum-bling. She closed the door hurriedly hurried-ly and stepped back against a bush. The bush moved and she thought it was because she had touched it but the next instant her ankle was seized in an unbreakable grip. She looked down and saw a brown hand, a brown hairy arm. She opened her mouth and screamed but no sound issued from her throat. She dragged back with ill her might. Another hand came forward and then appeared the shoulders of a man. She tugged more furiously than ever. The other oth-er hand added its grip to the first. Now she could see his waist, the whole body, his shattered and bleeding bleed-ing thigh. He looked up and instantly in-stantly she knew he was asking for no aid. The single thought in his eyes was as clear as if he had shouted shout-ed it. He wished to pull her down, transfer his grip from her ankle to her throat and kill her before he died all this for mi General Dorado. Do-rado. Then her voice came back not her familiar grown-up voice but the voice of-memory uttering a cry of the past. "Luz! Luz! Luz!" CHAPTER VII Dirk followed Arnaldo around the crowded dancing floor, retrieved his" overcoat and hat and a moment later lat-er the two men sprang into the same car that had rescued Joyce from the same spot four nights before. be-fore. Adan barked a direction and the tone of his voice was sufficient to send the chauffeur tearing along through one street after another, skidding around corners and ignoring ignor-ing lights until he drew up with a squeal of brakes at an apartment house shrouded in darkness. On the third floor he stopped at a door, at! J Mil -i "He's Dead," Said Several of the Crowd in Unison. lighted a match to examine the name card, then rang the bell with one hand and knocked with the other. oth-er. "Who is it?" asked a deep voice presently. "What do you want?" "It's I, Margarida Adan Arnaldo. Arnal-do. Open the door. Something terrible ter-rible has happened." The latch clicked and the door swung back, revealing Margarida Fonseca. "What do you want?" asked Margarida. Mar-garida. "Information." "Take your hand off the gun. Do you think I'm an idiot?" "Oh, I wouldn't shoot; I'd just tap over and around your brains harder and harder." "If I weren't amused I'd scream for help." "You'd get it all right; the police po-lice are downstairs." "What police?" "Why do you suppose I'm running around with -a gringo secretary of embassy?" countered Arnaldo. "Don't you know a friend when you see one? Answer my questions and tell the truth or you'll go to jail in a nightgown." "For what?" "Abduction of a minor." "What is it you wish to know?" "Where is the girl?" "She's gone to La Barranca." "What for?" "La Barranca is undoubtedly her property; I had to admit that much. Since I explained why the courts can do nothing she has gone there to plead with General Dorado to hand it back to her." "I don't believe it!" said Arnaldo. "She told me she never wanted to see Pepe's horror of a face again." Margarida smiled pityingly. "I'm the one who's telling the truth. The girl is at La Barranca. I swear it by every hair on the head of my dead mother." . "Where is La Barranca?" Dirk asked. "I mean how do you get there by what road?" "The road to Toluca," said Arnaldo Ar-naldo out of a half daze. "The hacienda haci-enda is southwest of Toluca. Once you've passed the city all you have to say is La Barranca to the first man you meet and he will point out the trail." "How do you know so much about La Barranca, Adan?" asked Margarida Mar-garida curiously. "For my sins I A'ent to one of Pepe's shooting parties," said Arnaldo, Ar-naldo, still in a half daze. Dirk rose. "I'm leaving for Toluca To-luca in half an hour," he stated. "What about it, Arnaldo? Any chance of your coming with me?" "No," said Arnaldo, snapping out of his daze. He turned to Van Suttart. Sut-tart. "Sit down." Dirk obeyed. "What do you suppose I'm thinking about? Do you know Dorado? No. Well, I do. We're too late too late by hours. To make the trip would be a mere sentimental gesture." "Just the same I'm going," said Dirk. "To take a fall out of a windmill," wind-mill," asserted Arnaldo impatiently. "Have you any idea what a Mexican Mexi-can hacienda is like?" "No." "It's a fortress. Don't be a fool. If you insist on making a journey to bring back the remains wait until un-til you can take a hearse and a troop of cavalry along with a battery bat-tery of seventy-fives to help you. If your ambassador can't get them, come to me and I'll see what I can do." "No," said Dirk. "You don't understand. un-derstand. He gave me a job and if I tried passing the buck back to him he'd be through with me for keeps and I wouldn't blame him. Do you mind dropping me at my place?" Joyce stared down in horror at the wreck of a man at her feet. Reason told her since he was mortally mor-tally wounded she must be stronger than he, yet she was not all her strength had turned to water. From the waist up he "was terribly alive. His right hand was still clamped on her ankle so tightly that circulation had almost ceased and with his left he had managed to seize her skirt. Rather than have it dragged off her she sank to one knee, straining her head back from the sight of his face. "Luz!" she cried in a last despairing despair-ing wail. A bar clattered on the far side of the patio, a door opened .and the figure fig-ure of a woman stepped forth. She was ageless as are all peons once the bloom of youth has passed, but strong with the toughness of rawhide. raw-hide. Her leathery face would have been expressionless had it not been for the brilliance of cavernous black eyes. The instant they beheld Joyce their expression underwent a startling star-tling transformation. It did not occur oc-cur to her she was staring at the babe she had nursed at her breast; what she thought she saw was that babe's mother to the very life. She dashed to the rescue, screaming scream-ing as she went: "Senor Maximili-ano! Maximili-ano! Julio! Leonardo! Plutarco! Ri-quieta! Ri-quieta! Nataniel!" As the last cry for help left her lips she sprang through the air to pounce like a cat, claws out, on Joyce's assailant. Heedless of the shattered hip which was uppermost she dug knowingly under his other thigh and presently tugged into view a sheath knife with a glittering blade a foot long. Gripping the handle han-dle with both hands she raised it on high. The man promptly gave up. He released his hold on Joyce, rolled over and with a sigh of relief exposed his breast to descending death. But he counted without Joyce. She seized Luz's wrists and wrenched them upward. "No, Luz, no!" At Luz's call doors had opened on every side and people were coming com-ing on the run. As the wondering group gathered Luz looked up, her face distorted in bewilderment. An instant later she dropped the knife, threw herself on her knees, bowed her head to the ground and began kissing Joyce's feet with a fervor interrupted only by elucidating wails. "Joycita! Cita! Ciquita! My baby! ba-by! At my breast my own breast!" She looked up at the crowd through streaming eyes.. "Our baby has come back to" us!" Joyce lifted her up and kissed her tear-wet cheeks. "Luz! Oh, Luz! But we can't talk now; we must get a doctor." "What for?" asked Luz. "This poor man we must try to save him." "He's dead," said several of the crowd in unison. "Wait!" called a sonorous voice. "Wait for me." Joyce looked around and memory, not quite sure of itself, stirred in her breast. An imposing figure was approaching along the gallery of the patio with carefully measured steps accompanied by the regular thump of a rubbentipped staff. "Who is he?" aske Joyce hurriedly. hur-riedly. "You have forgotten Don Jorge, Senor Maximiliano?" asked Luz. "Because he became blind," she explained, "they left him life." "Of course," said Joyce, remembering. remem-bering. "Maxie, the superintendent. But blind!" Luz stepped forward, caught Senor Maximiliano's free hand and kissed it with respect. She explained the baby of long ago had returned. He let fall his staff, reached out and laid hands on Joyce's shoulders. "Maxie," she breathed, "I used to call you Maxie." He wrapped his arms around her and held her close for a long moment mo-ment of silence. "The babe is become be-come a woman," he rumbled, "but she will always be a child to me. Welcome back to your home and to our hearts. Leonardo!" "Senor," answered Leonardo, stepping forward. "Summon the people; let them greet their mistress." There was no need for Leonardo to issue a call since men, women, and children were already swarming swarm-ing into the precincts of the inner patio. They came from the outer court, the tienda and the scattered houses beyond the gates. Silently, their black eyes staring in wonder, they passed before Joyce, each pausing with bent knee to kiss her hand. A toddling infant closed the long procession, 500 strong. Joyce snatched up the baby, and faced the throng. "As this child is one of you," she called, "so am I. Boundaries divide di-vide peoples; they can't divide the human family. Love me and I will serve you; serve me with faith in your hearts and I will love you." She turned to Senor Maximiliano and laid her hand on his arm. "Was that all right, Maxie?" "Your father might have spoken the words," said Don Jorge, "and I know no greater praise. But I am confused. Let us go inside you and Luz and I and talk." Don Jorge Maximiliano de la Sierra Si-erra was a gentleman, a scion of a collateral branch of the family which had originally owned La Barranca. Bar-ranca. Seated in the little room which had been her mother's boudoir, with Luz standing before them, Joyce told DOn Jorge of her father's death and the dreary years culminating with the arrival of the warrant for $10,000. Then, interrupted by several sev-eral sharp questions, she gave him the exact facts as to what had happened hap-pened in the week sinfe she had returned re-turned to Mexico. "Let's say farewell to the past," said Don Jorge, "and face the present. pres-ent. What you have told me about Onelia troubles me profoundly. Why did he accede to your request? Why did his men kill Dorado and then abandon you?" "They didn't," said Joyce quickly. "What!" cried Don Jorge, straightening in his chair. "Are you sure, my child?" "Quite sure, Maxie. Didn't I tell you Onelia told Pancho Buenaventura Buenaven-tura that Dorado mustn't be killed at any price? They chased him away I saw them with my own eyes but they didn't kill him." (TO BE CONTINUED) |