| Show acme ward of robbers I 1 roost I 1 s 0 W 0 chapman WWII service CHAPTER XII continued 24 he yelled into tile the mouth piece and when diegas excited oc at cents can camo back to him he bo cloud diego recognized hla voice and to tofek no note of its his profanity volubly la mingled spanish and english be gasped out tits tale at first barker Dar liei refused to believe it regularly nil the night through his fits spies lind had reported ench each of thern them with tile the assurance that go ahead and stel la were asleep at bridgets nonsense diego he raged you re loco its somebody Bome body else those thosa other duha dubs are here at bridgets no loco senor you think I 1 know not the hombre who have trick me yesterday 7 no ko senor noll no I 1 I 1 well ill and out and it if not here bere whitt tire they doing they make adeep bleep solloi all hut but tho the black roan man who stands on tile the watch the black ainan what black ruan man 1 I 1 know not senor never have 1 seen him before well anu you get at them how many men have bate you jou diego explained that it would be easy The senor remembered the big lide that the great wolf wol hound bound had bod dug beneath the back of the barn the time that he found himself shut up therein ulieno bueno abe hole had veen been filled with loase earth easy to dig out it opened between the black tunu man and ana the sl coper cut but yes the earth was of a great looseness of a surety ills hla nico could remove it un hoards and slip through unseen ile he himself would lend lead them inspire ln In spite of his wounded arm wounded so cruelty cruelly by chef knife of the senor the senor understood that there were knotholes knot holes through which one gould could tob serve band and learn when the best offered the senor could imagine but the lie no m more ore time for never mind all that lie brorein bro keIn you yon get those birds I 1 get the two men any way you like but gt get them ada au get tile the girlton girl too but dout dont hurt hurl her herand and then you light out for the lhoost with herand the others whether dead or alive alave fall call tile me up when youre ready to stara and let me roe know now get busy the earpiece on tile the hook nod rushed out of ozithe ofhie up the rond road toward Bridgets ll lleras ewas dono done forso fares was concerned ned but if diego gut got that girl tie fie wight might yet force her to marry him and escape with her to the cast he fie would stake allou alli ou the chance would cast his lot openly with will the padre was at ahat was wasphy why lie he hild had not been at the ranch tile the morning before it if her had luck luch he might yet win lologo also hurried swiftly he called led his men most ot whom were upland up and about by this time and led them to the barn where swiftly but cautiously they re excavated the hole bell belletite etith the barn sill what colpe they stude by the arata ruin pling of the horses so BO close beside and by the sound of their on ion the lie oats in their caesar continually shifting fits gibb galze from right toi fore and from fore to 16 left and baek back to right less lese often of ten over his hie und tind when he did look hl directing liegl passed clear over the ground a nl most at tile his feet feel even when at last flie file surf itee caved softly in he tild did not notice the cavity any more than ho he noticed auy any other depression in the andu nillar earth and diego truth to tell guve gave him bin little time little rr tor i observation the tilt nio the lie hole clear the hlex mexican letin was down club in hand writhing through once only he had to stop deterred by a touch from tile the man ul at the knothole caesar looked bath word then when i n caesar turned away to search the distances before 1 film alego slid through sprung sprang upward and ran cv forward over the few Int intervening erten ing feet in the air his elu club brose rose held in his left hand rose and came down and without even a grunt the unsuspecting negro slumped to the ground an in stant later theother ranch hands fol plowing lowing through the hole ln in quick sue cession lung bung themselves bodily upon A ithe sleeper tile tiie struggle was brief biter for do ahem it wits wis very brief with ailin diego j had find ordered hla his men to anke no chances and lie opened his hl eyes only to see a n dull dese descending ending when it struck life for litin filin ended Stel stella fil awakened by tile struggle squirmed aside jus in time to dodge tile dounve of two and to snatch tit it her pistol but befaro she could tire fire wua was overwhelm overwhelmed tiled bel leath tile the weight of in III whale grip sit she tumid found deroulf utterly bpI pless the whole thing wits a matter m uter of seconds wen diego who baid turned promptly awny front froni caesar sur confIde tit that ills fits tit lind had none gone hoine was only just in line fline to see the lie five later diego alid 1 hl Is ann were off go 10 allend and caesar had bern been filing across their saddles with their lintins and feet dished together ben bendatti their horses bellies bild stella with tier lier heinds pipii tie be hind tier had beati forced to mount a borsi that was led hy by RIKO alego surveying ills hta work felt well sails fled lie did not know that tin while lie he was telephoning to barker 00 abend tind revived in answer to stel lna lits frenzied appeals opp enla nor chilt stella stopped hy by thy thip coining of tile alexi enns hod find slipped into on go attends land tile hie tiny penknife with which she lind find been trying hocut tits his bonds CHAPTER XIII for nn at hour or more diego and tits his helpers trotted northward lending leading or shepherding their three captives olego diego exultant over his success tind and forgetting tile anin of tits his wound in tile the joy of tits hla triumph over the man who hud had outwitted him twenty four hours bufore chatted volubly with tits ills moil men boasting not without vit hont reason of the lie skill with which lie he had bad planned and carried through the attack on the supposedly unconscious men bound to their horses homes lie he heaped epithets and derisive comments stella was not one to abandon hope readily but she wits was very near to abandoning it now not one reasonable glimmer of hops hope could she see am true she had given go ahead her own penknife and had seen his hand close over it and slie she hod had been able to note that tile the mexicans had not discovered it and taken it away from him dut But that it could avail him any tiling thing seemed impossible it was wag too small sm all too fragile whatever spark of hope still lay in her breast was waa wholly unreasonable and was based werely merely on what she had seen oo go ahead do before and not anany on any way out of tile the trouble that she could tm ngone the horses had started on the upgrade lending to the crest of the first swell over which oo go ahead had fol lowed her tile the day before As they climbed stella turned in her hei saddle and swept the country behind with her eyes hoping against hope that she might see eee something it f no more than n trail of dust showing that friends were on their trall but she saw noab ing As she faced back to the trout root how flow ever a sudden outcry close behind her made tier turn once more just to in time to see go abenes horse rearing and fighting t the bridle rela elih which his big mexican captor captol antonio held faliu As site she watched she saw blin tear himself tree sad and race away furiously across the sandy slope apparently trying to throw off the help helpless legs form that was lashed to BO securely across his bis back so boj sudden so unexpected was the outbreak that fur for a moment the three Alexi mexicans cans stored stared openmouthed open mouthed then at dlugos command antonio spurred out jut after the burdened horse rope cope in heart Int kinmouth In mouth stella bad dutched tile the struggle longing to gu go to go bald hut but restrained from do lawso powerful krusp aupont heri bridle but when afar off fou the chose had taken antonto antonio far she abud burled trum his bis place ind and feh Dl dlugos Dle egos goB grip momentarily relax site she drove their her spurs into her horses sides and strove to break loose she failed of course her hands were tod tightly bound and dirgos grip relaxed as it wits was still too tarm the brief struggle ended in the only way it could end so also ner her pleis ale to be allowed to no go to G go help bulled diego who tind had hesitated for a moment whether to go to Anton loe help or not instantly decided against it IL in pleaded dud A moment later the horr horses ses passed the crest and evin even the field of the serui struggle gle was hidden brou frou tier her guze gaze an hour lifter cr erting the ond end swell beyond which lay skeleton valley stella saw barker and wado wade and tile the bandits at the bottom gesturing impatiently to to her captors arker ba spurred out to meet them all aa they raced down bliwn the slope lie fie glanced at stella and nodded then lie he stared n t ca esa rs hl a c leface lc face a u d t it en in les ing go ahead he be turned olego diego olego diego did col inot wait welt to be quest questioned ionel tie he understood what hla his master wonted bly he explained TO BE BB CONTINUED |
