| Show s the land of broken promises by DANE A stirring story author of of the mexican th hajen wa fool cac revolution lavin A omitta 1914 ta amk A munci CHAPTER continued up along the hillside and after the fugitives they ran with vengeful eager becs racing each other or the higher aground and the first shot at the rebels first alyarez on bis white horse would be ahead and then as they en countered rocks the yanula would barca to the front it was a race and at the same time it was a rout for at the first glimpse of that oncoming ady of warriors the cowardly follow tal ot bernardo bravo took to their beels and fled out over the rocks no jno matter bow scared can hope to out a raqul and the pop pop of told the fate of the first luckless for the after a hundred and sixty years of guerrilla warfare never waste a shot and as ravage yells and the crash of a sud den volley drifted down from the rocky heights the joen who had been be aalf eged in fortuna knew that death was abroad in the bills fainter and fainter came the shots ass the pursuit led on to the north and a hooker strained his eyes to follow ax huge form that intuition told him vas amago he was wakened suddenly aiom siom ata preoccupation by the touch of como unseen band he was in the tapen with people all about him spanish refugees americans arlum juhant miners and their wives but touch made him forget the battle above him and instantly think of gracia jio turned and hurried back to the where copper bottom was kept dmd there be found her waiting with after fter roan all saddled and she abal ledged him with her eyes the sun gleamed from a pistol that she held in her band and again from her golden calr buthe saw only her eyes so brave and daring and the challenge 40 mount and ride only for a moment did he stand be boie soie her gaze and then he caught up hiis tiis cadalo and spoke soothingly to bis they rode out of the corral together closing the gates behind ittem and passing down a gulch to the abcar all the town lay silent below them as they turned toward the west wi pass the time had come well be knew ibe dangers that lay between them and the american line dangers not for him but tor her in the bills and and on the cactus covered were thousands ot men with whom he would not be safe for an costant to stant and against whom be must finard her that she might be delivered easely to phil and he loved her then fos he bad not believed it possible to jove a woman he loved this woman bat be was attempting to save for another man a pardner who had at the best been reckless of every who had been unfaithful to ev 07 promise and across the border da man was waiting for the woman abad hooker loved that he take her ao him was a more severe test of his than any to which he bad been subjected that he be eatrue to the trust ehe reposed in never entered his mind for a mo baneat with a strong mans love for boar he thought only of how he was to conduct her safely out of the dangers surrounded her fiddlers fidd lers miners and refugees men women and children every soul in was on the hill to see the last 0 o the battle it had been a crude but bravely ended and some ablog in the dramatic suddenness of victory had held all eyes to the elodio bud and gracca passed out of down unnoticed and as soon as they fiad rounded the point they spurred on ehl they gained the pass 1 I knew you would cornel said Cr acla smiling radiantly as they yazeed at the fork sure answered hooker with bis fiord humored smile count me in on which way does this trail so do you know it goes west twelve miles toward replied gracca confidently find then it comes into the main road abat leads north to nogales and gads aen that sounds about right tor us replied bud Gads dens the place we want to bead for and we want to get fuhere mighty quick too it them rebels will let us an I 1 guess that s what they 11 have to do whether they want to or not ahey rode on together for some als fittro the girl oblivious of be dangers which surrounded her nas cooker watching carefully for ev ear en of difficulty what it there up here inquired sad pointing at a fainter trail that fed ott toward the north this coun try la new to me don t know eh freo t we followed that trail wed awa into them rebels anyway BO we as well go to the west la your saddle all right we 11 hit it up then id uke to strike a road before mark they hurried on following a well fasted trail that alternately climbed and descended into arroyos antal finally it dropped down into a canon where a swollen ruined and babbled and while they still watched expectantly for tha road the evening quickly passed they had no opportunity for conversation for the trail was too narrow to permit of their riding side by side bud was thinking not only of the dan gers that surrounded them but of this errand cm which be was tn and what the end of it meant to him first the slanting rays of the eun struck fire from the high yellow crags then the fire faded and the sky glowed an opal blue then through dark blues and purples the heavens turned to black aboe them and all the stars came out thousands of frogs made the canyon resound with their throaty songs and strange animals crashed through the brush at their approach but still hooker stayed in the saddle and gracia followed on behind if she bad thought in her dreams of an easier journey she made no corn ment now and outside of stopping to cinch up her saddle bud seemed hard ly to know she was there the trail was not going to suit him it edged off too tar to the south and yet in the tropical darkness he could not search out new ways to go at each fork he paused to light a match and whichever way the mule tracks went he went also tor pack mules would take the main trail for two hours and more they followed on down the stream and then hooker stopped his horse you might as well get down and rest a while he said quietly this how to waken her even that was a question trail is no good its taking us south well let our horses feed until the moon cornea up and try to work north by landmarks oh are we losta gasped gracca dropping stiffly to the ground but 0 course we are she added I 1 ve been thinking so or some time oh that s all right observed hooker philosophically I 1 don t mind being lost as long as 1 know where im at well ride back until we get out of this dark canyon and then III lay a line due north they sat for a time in the dark ness while their horses champee champed at the rich grass and then unable to keep down her nerves gracca declared for a start A vision of angry pursuers rose up in her mind of manuel del rey and his keen eyed hot upon their trail and it would not let her rest nor waa the vision entirely the result of nervous imagination for they had lost bait the advantage of their start as hooker well knew and it he made one more false move he would find himself called on to fight As they rode back through the black canyon be asked himself for the bun dreith time bow it had all happened why at a single glance from her be had gone against bis better judg ment and plunged himself into this tangle and then finally what was be going to do about ita dut he knew what he was going to do about it he knew he was going to take this girl through to gadsden and to phil and bis loyalty was such that he would not admit even to him self that phil did not deserve her alone he would have taken to the mountains with a fine disregard for trails turning into whichever served his purpose best and following the lay of the land even with her in bis care it would be best to do that yet for there would be trailers on their track at sunup and it was either ride or fight free at last from the pent in canyon they halted at the forks while bud looked out the land by moonlight dim and ghostly the square topped peaks and buttes rose all about him huge and impassable except for the winding trails he turned up a valley between two ridges spurring bis horse into a fast walk from one cow trail to another he picked out a way to the north but the i n J A lay of the ground threw him to the east and there were no passes between the hills the country was rocky with long parallel ridges extending to the northeast and when he saw where the way was him bud called a halat till dawn dy the very formation he was being gradually edged back toward fortuna and it would call for fresh horses and a gracia to outstrip their pursuers by day it the traveled by landmarks heading tor the northern passes in an effort to out ride and intercept him they might easily cut him off at the but it they trailed him and he devoutly hoped they would then they would have a tangled skein to follow and he could lose them in the broken country to the north so thinking be ut grass among the rocks spread aown their saddle blankets and watched over the browsing horas while gracia stretched out on the bed after a day of excitement and a night of bard rid ing there Is no call for a couch of aown and as the morning star appeared in the east she slept while bud sat patiently by it was no new task for him this watching and waiting tor the dawn for weeks at a time after a hard day s work at the branding he had stood guard halt the night sleep was a luxury to him like water to a moun tain sheep and so were all the other useless things that town bred people required people like gracia people like phil they were different in all their ways to ride to baht to find the vay there be was a better man than phil but to speak to a woman to know her ways and to enter into her life there he was no man at all she trusted to bis courage to protect her and that he could do but it was to a man such as phil she would give her love phil could not love her more than he did but phil s ways could be more attractive to her his adventurous life with his father had not been such ae to cultivate the little niceties that appealed to women it was only his privilege to serve but he gloried in that privilege now as be watched beside her as she slept and his vigil but strengthened his res to see her safely through to ahll he sighed now as bo saw the first flush of dawn and turned to where she slept calm and beautiful in the solemn light how to waken her even that was a question but the time bad come to start already from fortuna del rey and his man killing would ae on the trail he would come like the wind that dashing little captain and noth ing but a bullet would stop him for his honor was at stake nay he had told bud in so many words she Is mine and no man shall come between us it would be hard now if the should prove too many tor him it a bullet should check him in their flight and she be left alone but how to wake her he tramped near as he led up the unwilling mounts then as time pressed be spoke to her and at last he knelt at her side say he called and when that did not serve he laid his hand on her shoulder wake up he said shaking her gently wake up its almost day even ai be spoke he went back to the phrase of cow camp where men rise before it Is light but gracca woke up wondering and stared about her strangely unable to understand I 1 why what Is it she cried then as he spoke again and backed away she remembered him with a emale oh she said Is it time to get up where are we anyway about ten miles from fortuna an hooker soberly too close we ought to be over that divide he pointed ahead to where the val ley narrowed and passed between two hills and gracca sat up binding back her hair that bad fallen from its place yes yest she said resolutely we must go on but why do you look at me so strangely don t know mumbled dud dlan t enow I 1 was say let me get them sad die blankets will you he went about bis work with em barr assed swiftness on sad dies and bridles coiling up ropes and offering her his hand to mount when he looked at her agalia it was not strangely hope you can ride he said we got to get over that pass before any body else makes it after that we can take a rest As fast as yon please she an steadily don t think about me but what will happen it they get there farst she was looking at him now as he searched out tho trail ahead but he pretended not to hear one man in that pass was as good as a hundred and there were only two things he could do shoot his way through or turn back he believed she would not want to turn back CHAPTER kev though the times had turned to war all nature that morning was at peace and they rode through a valley of flow era like knight and lady in a pageant the rich grass rose knee deep along the hillsides hill sides the desert trees were with the kenderest ten derest green and twined with morning glories and in open glades the copples and sand verbenah verbenas ver benas spread forth masses of blue and gold already on the trees the mocking birds were singing and bright flashes of tropical color showed where cardinal and yellow throat passed the dew was still untouched upon the grass and yet they hurried on for ama to tham J itell of evil and they thought only to gain the far pass beyond that lay comparative safety but no man knew what dangers lurked between them and that clett in the mountains del key and his or bravo and hla rebels might be there in fact one or the other probably was there and it BO there would be a fight a fight against heavy odds if he were alone and odds that would be greatly increased because he must protect gracca to the west and north rose the high and impassable mountain which had barred their way in the night across the valley the flat topped fortunas threw their bulwark against the dawn and all behind was broken hills and gulches any one of which might give up armed men far ahead like a knife gash between the ridges lay the pass to the northern plains and aa their trail swung out into the open they put spurs to their horses and galloped once through that gap the upper country would he before them and they could pick and choose now they must depend upon speed and the chance that their way was not blocked somewhere in those hills to the east bedardo bravo and his men were bidden or perhaps they were scattered turned by their one defeat into roving bandits or vengeful laying waste the ranches as they fought their way back to chuhua bua there were a hundred evil chances that might befall the fugitives and while bud scanned the country ahead gracca cast anxious glances behind they are coming she cried at last as a moving spot appeared in the rear oh there they arel good I 1 breathed hooker as he rose in his stirrups and looked why boodt she demanded cu they s only three of em answered bud 1 I was afraid they might be in front he explained as she gazed at him with a puzzled smile yes she said but what will you do it they catch us they won t catch us replied hook er confidently not while I 1 ve got my rifle aha he exclaimed still look ing back now we know all about it that sorrel Is manuel del reys and will you kill him challenged gracca rousing suddenly at the name hooker pretended not to hear in stead he cocked his eye up at the eastern mountain whence from time to time came muffled rifle shots and turned bis hors 0 o go there was trouble over thore to the east somewhere alvarez and his still harrying aba retreating rebels and some of it might come their way with rel rey behind them even though in sight he was the least of their troubles and could be easily cared tor with a rifle shot it they could not distance him hooker knew that the two with him would not continue the pursue if their lead er was out of the way BO that it would not be necessary to injure more than i one man ah how I 1 hate that man raged gracca spurring her horse as she scowled back at the galloping del i rey and his men who were riding onward rapidly all right observed bud with a quizzical smile have to kill him tor you then she gazed at him a moment with eyes that were big with questioning but the expression on his rugged face baffled her I 1 would not forget it she cried impulsively pul na after all I |
