Show Di Dice e of Destiny By JACKSON GREGORY II Copyright l I CHAPTER CHAPTER XI XI Continued Continued 10 10 Dempton's pale lips opened but no words came forth A little shiver ran through him We have learned everything Dempton Dempton Demp Demp- ton on Stanway went on In his whispering whis- whis voice Even to the hiding hiding- place ilace There Is the door He pointed point- point ed Hi to the panel with the thumb thumbprint thumb print upon tIpon It I think that we can send rou pou ou to the penitentiary for a long time Mth very little trouble Will you talk bow how Dempton 1 Dempton hesitated denial upon his Ups lips growing fear in his eyes What do you want to know he asked In Ina a shaking whisper I I 1 Oh my ply God Godl 1 This has gone further already already al aI- al- al ready ready- I want to know how many men are with Torre in this thing There There there Is Juarez Juarez and and and It Dont be a fool as well as a cow- cow Iud ird Dempton muttered Stanway You are such a petty little thief that nobody is going to want to prosecute you if you help us now There is Torre and Juarez and you Who else else I I 1 I dont don't know Dempton licked his dry lips and swayed between Vidal and l as though he were going goin to o fall Oh I 1 was a fool fool fool- Granted But tell what you know while you have the chance How many Seven I 1 think chattered Demp- Demp ton on Seven besides Torre and Juarez rive Five inside two outside with the horses Outside queried Stanway Yes To ride away leading extra horses so that it would sound like a number of riders were racing for the border To leave the trail which you followed follow d south The Theother other five to do 10 dohe the he work Inside And Abd De la Guerra was never to be betaken betaken betaken taken from the house No It seemed safer this way There was every hazard In It It- It Simply because you happened to tobe tobe toe be e at the rancho returned Dempton with a little flash of bitterness Had there here been only the senorita it would have lave been easy to have worked on her love Jove ove for her grandfather And Torre Killed a man a 8 month ago In San Antonio Antonio s Is running away from the gallows With the money he expected to o make mike from this he could buy the silence of the one man who can identify Identify identify iden Iden- him as the murderer It was his only chance Juarez Is actually a 8 rebel captain Torre w was as to give him his share Then Torre was to have a 8 commission In n the rebel army He looked to distinguished d favors favors fa fn- vors when the rebels fought their way into power Now Now Now- Now what Now if he goes Into Mexico l the rebels will shoot him as a traitor That was another chance he was tak tak- ing He was to give five thousand dollars dollars dollars dol dol- lars to the cause For that they let him ilm have Juarez Juarez- and the other men He Ele was to give his life If he lied to them if he tricked them or or-if or if he failed He could never get across the border order without their spies a finding him Then Gaucho returned with word that everything was ready Vidal at Stanway's command bound Dempton securely once more hand and foot and tossed togged him to the bed as one might toss a sack of wheat The men had kicked off oft their shoes and boots and stood eager and expectant Stanway his revolver in his right Fight hand pressed with the left thumb upon the spot in the paneling where another thumb had pressed There was a 8 little click and the panel panel panel pan pan- el slid back into the wall showing howing a narrow doorway a narrow passageway beyond There were candles burning there their steady flames c casting sUng a clear yellow light Each man keep three feet behind the man in front of him whispered Stanway We must have room Vidal Gaucho come just behind me He stepped through th the door into the two two foot foot wide hallway which ran along inside the wall its tr trend nd eastward eastward eastward east east- ward and downward There were no steps but the slant led quickly under the foundations foundation's of the great adobe building Stanway passed the first candle set into a niche in the rough wood wall Already he felt that he must be below the l level vel of the floor when he came to the second candle Here Here the flame was less steady a little breath of air playing with it He turned a corner the hallway opened up suddenly into a 8 small rough walled rough walled room some eight or ten feet teet square Across the room was a heavy barred door in the center of the floor was a couch and on the couch a man was lying upon his back his hands clasped behind his bis head a cigarette between n his lips Ups Stanway was In the room noiseless In his feet Vidal at his side Gaucho was entering when the theman man m. heard turned quickly and saw v m. m He ITe sprang to his feet But nut the cry rising to his lips was t i choked back in his throat by the hard I hands of the rancher The struggle ended almost as soon as It began But some sound of the brief scuffle must have penetrated to the other side of the oak door Before the rest of the vaqueros could crowd Into the the little little lit lit- tle room the door had been Jerked open a dark bearded face showed at atthe atthe t the crack i There was a snarled curse the door slammed shut and there was the sound I of other bars lifted across It upon the theother theother theother other side I Your axes I shouted Stanway leaping to to one side to make r room om I Vidal you take one ane Get it down quick 1 But even to the attack of the great arms of VIdal and another of the cowboys cow boys the great thick door stood defiant as the swift seconds fled by From the other side came the sound of quick snapping voices of scurrying feet the sound of a cry which tingled through Stanway's blood and sent Vidal with redoubled vigor to the onslaught on the door At last the door fell Stanway and Vidal side by side leaped through There was another hall wider than the first shorter At the end end of the hall another door studded with nails barred upon the farther r side Evidently there had b been en a second guard here evidently In n the next room were th the they prisoners De la Guerra 1 I shouted Stanway Teresa I 1 I There was no answer no sound Smash in n the door I he yelled Quick 1 I Gaucho go upstairs Tell l m l S I i 1 1 I H He Turned a Corner them what has happened Let them watch out Order the first man who appears to be shot If he makes a move toward a gun or er to escape Run Gaucho I 1 Before Gaucho had turned to obey before Stanway's echoing words sank into silence there came ame from beyond the door an exclamation of terror a sudden sullen cry and the reverberating crack of a revolver Then brief silence again for a moment moment mo mo- moment ment which seemed long and the blows of two axes ripping and tearing at the oak planks of the door CHAPTER XII The Senor Again With splinters flying shocked upon Its heavy hinges the gre great t oak door was open Stanway slipped through Vidal his deep chest panting from his herculean labor ax as still gripped In an ln enormous hand came after him his fellows crowding after them A large room this time some thirty feet square furnished well blankets scattered morsels of bread and meat showing that here Torres Torre's men had been A glance showed that the room was empty of human occupants a second sec sec- ond glance found one man lying close to the wall walt limp and inert a red stain upon his breast Stanway ran to him stooped stood straight with a little grunt of tion It was not any anyone one of the De la In laGuerra laGuerra Guerra household Shot accidentally by one of his fellows fellows fellows fel fel- lows he muttered Or else De la laGuerra laGuerra laGuerra Guerra has got his hands on a revolver revolver revolver ver 1 I IA A door at the far side of the room stood open a candle still burned brightly upon a little stand There had hild been no time time- lost in leaving I hear men yonder I VIdal's VI VI- dals dal's big finger pointed through the open door Come compadres I They ran with him crowding together to to- geth gether r. r Again there was 8 a hallway this one far down under the main floor and so wide that three men might pass abr abreast act through it There came a sharp j turn the footsteps were louder loude- men f JJ were WE're running toward them And then us several se men shot Into view Stop I cried Stanway loudly his land tand knocking VIdal's weapon upward upward up up- ward It is Gaucho and his men I Where are they cried Gaucho excitedly excitedly ex ex- ex- ex The master The senorita You did not find them You did not meet them In a sharp cry cr from the rancher We met no rio one t l Gaucho answered a look of wonder in his eyes Then there is s another door They have fooled us Cornel Come They cant can't get out of the house They turned rushing back toward the room they had just quitted And at the instant Stanway plunged back through the doorway he knew where were these men of Torres For Tor he heard Torres Torre's voice shouting loudly just above his hf'S head where he had already judged the drawing room must be he knew that through some other passageway the men they had thought to trap had made their way there and he remembered that his own orders had been for one man only anly to watch over the bound Torre and Juarez Nunez I Castro I Torre was callIng callIng calling call- call Ing his tones ringing out clear the tones of command calling for haste for swift obedience There is one man here only anly Kill him I Ah I There was the crack of a revolver a cry the sound of a body falling Now and again Torres Torre's voice rang triumphant Cut these damned ropes Castro I You Tou others free Juarez Watch the doors Guard the passageway passageway passage- passage way By the lord of hell well we'll win this game yet I They are too many panted a dissenting dissenting dis s dis- dis voice e. e We We- We Coward vard and fool i cried Torres Torre's echoing voice Give me that gun Now listen I have found where the theDe theDe theDe De la a Guerra banco Is l I Its It's just yonder yonder yonder yon yon- der der in the old mans man's bedroom Its It's full of gold And then then then- watch the doors amigos I Then cross the border with our pockets full I There came answering shouts th the noise of heavy furniture being dragged across the floor and piled at the door dood Torres Torre's voice giving commands t- t But where is the master a v vaquero va- va They quero whispered anxiously They have killed him I And the senorita 1 cried Gaucho They ran about the room seeking a sign of that other passageway which had led these men directly Into the drawing room room We W had ad better etter go back command commanded I ed Stanway crisply after after- a short search which showed nothing We can break down the door Into the room where they are Gaucho Mentor VIdal Vidal VI- VI dal you men stay here so that they cannot play seek hide-and-seek with us again Pardon senor You fare are are very kind I 1 already owe owe you much But now I Ishall Ishall Ishall shall take care of these bandits It was the old Spaniard Senor Don Antonio de la Guerra his fash old fash fashioned black black coat faultlessly clean of a aspeck aspeck aspeck speck of dust his fine white mustache curled nicely his eyes glowing very brightly for a moment gentle and full of gratitude e as they r rested sted upon the rancher then very hard as they turned toward the ceiling His Hla vaqueros cried out sharply at atthe atthe atthe the sight of hl him n standing there so unexpectedly unexpectedly unexpectedly un un- un- un expectedly in their midst From him they looked to the slender form of the I white fl girl at the door of a little closet which De la Guerra had suddenly sud sud- suddenly denly thrown open You senor I cried Stanway astounded as as- Not hurt I senor De la Guerra lifted one white hand showing for a moment the revolver in it At your attack I seized this One man I 1 quieted Inthe In Inthe Inthe the rush I 1 got Teresa Into the closet there She too Is unhurt And now new V Again his fine old face hardened his eyes were burning black pools of merciless merciless merciless mer mer- ciless rage He stepped across th the room set his hand to a 8 spot which his hla thumb found readily and a narrow door flew fiew back showing a stairway TO BE DE CONTINUED |