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Show Flame o! the Border a. h SYNOPSIS H-.-kir.x death fy throwing herself from lb summit of Ins Mna, to scaps dishonor at the hands of a drunken desperado. Sonya Savarin allows al-lows herself to be rescued by her suddenly sud-denly sobered and repentant attacker. The lrl la a eelf-appolnted physician to tha Navajo Indians, living on an Arizona sheep ranch with her brother Herge, bis wife, Mia, and their small daughter. Bah. For a year she has beanengaited to Rodney lllake, wealthy New Yorker, but her MMl wltn "' friendless Nuvajos and she evades a wedding Sonya pulls Mttle Moon, wife of Two Fingers, a Navujo, through the erlsls of an Illness. Two Fingers Is deeply grateful, lllake returns to New York, declaring he will give Honya elx mora months and then demand she kasp her promise to marry him. Sonya again meets the man whons advances aha had repulsed on !.ons Mesa. II tells her he bitterly regrets his action. Sonya la affected, but unforgiving She hears rumors of a Border bandit "El Capltan Diablo," who crucifies his "double-crosners" and vaguely connects him with her attacker. CHAPTER III Continued 5 "No, maybe not - knowln' you, I know not. Rut I think you were wrong, Honya, even so. Whatever might hnve happened to you would have been outside out-side your power to prevent, no fault of yours. An' think what a ghastly waste It would have been -your broken brok-en body at tin? Mesa's foot your kindly kind-ly soul gone from this earth which needs such so bad. No," she finished, shaking her head, "you should not have tried to kill yourself." "Well," the girl lnuglied, "I didn't, so Hint's that. And, Myra, I wish you could have seen his face. I never saw drunken man get sober so fast In my life." "What did he look like?" asked Myra My-ra curiously. "Was he a cowboy?" Sonya considered. "Well, he was dressed like one, yet I wondered what outfit ho could work for, since we're all sheep over there, you know. And he was good to look at Tall and slim hipped, with the By VINGIE E. ROE Copyright. Doubleday. Doran & Co.. lao. WNU Servlc out of men beholding, hard, cynical as they might he. He was known among the ranchers half satirically, half affectionately, as the "Holy Chuck line Rider." since he had no money ever, and could not have spent it If he had. They put him np and fed his burros, and listened quietly, quiet-ly, these dark, hard-riding men of cattle cat-tle camp and sheep camp, while he told them of their sins and the Hope of the World that never died. How much of It went In he never knew, since they are a silent lot. but It was not his Job to know. That was to give the Word, that only. So now Sonya watched him. smiling a little In gentle sympathy, and recalled re-called the stories of his goodness and his unbounded courage which she had heard. A strange little old man. filled with undying zeal, his spirit a flre of evangel, like those amazing padres who had walked the West in an earlier day, he commanded the respect re-spect of all who came In contact with him the gentle, mad old Sen-ant of the Lord. And presently Myra took them out In the sandy yard to sit about the doorway and rest with the dying day. After the manner of women In far places, she began to draw from him the news of the country. The sun went down entirely, and the vast spread of the sandy levels clothed themselves in royal purple beyond be-yond a painter's dreams. The world was a lovely place, the Servant said In his soft old voice, fit footstool for the feet of God. There was no evil In It of Itself. Only man made evil. Man, with his greed and his cruelty. Beelzebub was abroad In the land Beelzebub and his henchman. He had seen them with his own eyes, he the Servant of the I-ord in humble places. They traveled together by Piffle! She was getting old herself! It was the night and the silence of the vast country under Its great stars. What were rumors of a Border bandit to her? A dark renegade who crucified his douhle-crossers ! Nothing. She would forget the chill It gave her. She'd be all right by day. And so she was, visiting with Myra, laughing and happy, watching the Servant ride away, his saddlebags bulging with Slyra Little's generous gifts of food. She stayed two days at the Black Sheep and left early on the third, much to Myra's dissatisfaction, who held her hand as she leaned from Darkness' saddle and talked till the last minute. CHAPTER IV i The Spots of the Leopard. At the home ranch Sonya found two air mail letters from Rodney Blake which completed her entire return to the commonplace. She smiled as she read them, and for the first time it seemed as if there might be a charm or two In the great city he depicted so colorfully. She rode over to Chee wash to see Two Fingers and Little Moon the next day and found the Indian woman up, and about the simple matters of her hogan. her rug, and her family. It gave the girl a thrill to see her so, the flush of joy that such vindication vindica-tion of her work always brought. There was something in the knowledge that she had saved a life that made her one with the great work of creation crea-tion itself. She was poor as the goods of this world went, they were all fairly fair-ly so, Serge and Mia and; little Babs, but she felt very rich inside her, arrogantly ar-rogantly rich, and she could smile up at the blue heavens with a secret sense of fellowship. So she left her last instructions with the little family at the hogan, patted the cheek of the youngest round-eyed child, and rode away erect in her saddle sad-dle and pretty well satisfied' with her- self and the world at large. It was In this mood that she came under the tall face of Lone Mesa. As she swung round Its southeastern side, she decided to go up. The trail, cut into the sheer face by those long dead Inhabitants of the puebh, went up from here, angling sharply, and SO' steep that none but the level headed dared to make It. She was such, and so was the good horse under her. though they had both sweated in a cool day the first time they had attempted at-tempted it. It was a stiff and slow climb, but presently they gained the top and scrambled up through the small defile that was the steep trail's end. As they went forward Sonya felt the surge and thrill she always felt at sight of the vast reach of the world about her, spread out so far below. Taking off her hat, she sat long in contemplation, con-templation, her hands and the hat resting rest-ing on her pommel. For a long time she sat so, then reined away toward the right. She would circle the mesa, look at the silent white houses with their flat roofs, still amazingly Intact, look at the great stone basin which was nearly near-ly always sweet with water caught in the yearly rains. Presently she left the ancient tank and went on toward the north, circling the huddled houses, and was turning eastward around them when she stopped dead still. A horse stood there in the blue shadow of the silent walls and a man sat on his haunches smoking a cigarette. cig-arette. The horse was golden as a raw ingot, and the man was bronzed and lean. The light of his bare head shone in the cool shade. He looked up, and Sonya looked down, and the girl's eyes dilated with a swift excitement. excite-ment. "So!" she said coldly, her lips suddenly sud-denly tight. "You come here again?" The man arose, a single motion beautifully correlated. Sonya. not conscious of what she was doing, sat looking at him, and strangest long blue eyes I ever saw. Odd eyes that could change In a second. sec-ond. They were fierce at first, like a hawk's, reckless and selfish. They made me furious Just to look at them And then, when he saw I was In dead earnest about about this thing they turned perfectly terrible with anxiety, like a man's who sees a child dying and can't help, If you see what I mean. Well, anyway, It's ancient history, his-tory, and I hope I never lay eyes on him again, the good-for-nothing. And now tell me about yourself. How's I he ranch going?" And Myra fell Into the usual train of trivial happenings which had filled the recent months, as the afternoon wore away and the sun went down the west. It was twilight when they came out Into the ranch yard, and some one was coming Into the round stockade corral where the big tanks shimmered with their sweet waters from the well under the windmill. This was a strange creature If ever there was one, that sat wearily on his little gray burro, loading another and hazing a third ahead of him a thin, stooped figure In rusty black garments that bore about them something of the dignity dig-nity of chancel nnd sacristy. A wlde-brlmmed wlde-brlmmed black hat sat squarely on the head of long white hair that fell In dusty ringlets to his shoulders. The tired burros drank as If famished, nnd the master stopped off the one he rode, standing patiently beside it while It slaked Its thirst. Myra laid down her pan and went toward this newcomer, her hand extended. ex-tended. "Hello, sir," she said, "We're glad to see you. There's plenty of feed In th' barns yonder. Put up your stock an' come on In. Supper'U soon be ready." "Good day, my daughter," said the old man, shaking hands with her. "I'm glad to be here, too. The road Is long sometimes. I've come from Juniper Tank today." "Whew!" whistled Myra. "That Is a long trail, an' a hard one, especially for burros." "Oh, they do well, my little fellows. They're true servants of the Word, never complaining, always willing.. Their reward Is certain, I'm sure. If I weren't, I'd be unhappy: they are so patient, so gentle." He looked at Myra anxiously with his faded old dark eyes. Presently She Left the Ancient Tank and Went On Toward the North. night, and danger waited on them, death and danger and disaster. It had struck Just across the Border in that stark form hung upon a cross. It was no common thief who rotted there In the windy sun, but one who had betrayed his master. Beelzebub himself, that master, dark and cold and wicked as Infernal fire. He was a power and a force not to be reckoned with or questioned. Though several hundred miles lay between the Border Bor-der and this sheltered spot, still the finger of the Wicked One could reach even here. The old man had seen shadows. shad-ows. Many shadows. Chief of them the Master's blue-eyed henchman. No good stayed where the Blue-eyed One went by. He had heard of him across the Line last year, the tall one with bronze-colored bronze-colored hair who was always seen when disaster was to follow. A sign and a symbol of disaster, this tall one with the wild eyes. And he had seen him three days back riding down the trail to Red Rock canyon on a horse of solid gold. So did the Wicked One mount his followers. Well, It was growing late, and he presently he looked up at her, a straight look, humble and still. "I like the mesa," he said. "It's so high and austere, so far from from ! everything." At the contact of his glance the 1 strange tense feeling which this man's presence had caused at every meeting took hold on Sonya. It was not fear It had never been nor repugnance, nor the anger which had stirred her, but a little of all shot through with something which she could not define, a sense of prophecy, a forecast of destiny. It chilled her within and sent a wave I of fire across the chill, and for a wild moment she felt as if the solid rock I were falling away beneath her. Then ' she caught herself together severely ' I and lifted Darkness' rein, and the man ! spoke again. "Please," he said, "please, Miss Savarin, don't go away. I'll go right gladly." He reached for the bridle of the golden horse and drew it to him, hesitating. hesi-tating. "I know I've got no right even to speak to you," he said, "or look at you after after that day up here, but If I was to be hung for it next second I couldn't help It. And I don't want to cause you another minute's trouble or unhapplness. If this here mesa's a favorite place of yours, I'll never come again. Don't stay away yourself. It's too sweet to be "lost." "Rut you'd lose it," Sonya said I against her will. 1 TO UB CUJTLN'UD "Sure," said the woman hastily, "sure they'll be rewarded. Just as sure as anything." The Servant smiled relievedly. "I knew you'd understand, Mrs. Little," Lit-tle," he said. "Some people don't. They smile when I tell them that. Now I'll go put up." A little later they all sat down to a Simple meal, and Sonya studied him with careful glances. She had heard i so much about him. Where he had come from, the country coun-try did not know, or where he made his habitat, or If he even had one. In rain and shine, summer's heat and winter's cold, he rode the lonely stretches on his tiny mounts, carrying his Bible and his first-aid kit. Many a life he had saved In emergency; many a difference he had patched up; many a bit of courage he had put in some failing heart They called him far and wide the "Servant." shortened short-ened from "The Servant of the Lord." and he had no other name hut Unit fantastic soubriquet. He was very old, and the rigors of his life had leaned him to the bone; its pitiless suns burned his wrinkled skin to the color of old leather. But there was In bis face a flame that shamed Uie evil was tired. The old were always tired. So he would find his blankets and sleep, If his friends permitted. He rose and bowed with a lean grace, vague remnant of some forgotten forgot-ten time, and went away toward the camp he had made with his packs and his weary burros, and Sonya Savarin sat still In every atom of her body with a strange stillness. It seemed as If a hushing hand had been laid upon her spirit, something cold and sinister come down upon her like a cloud. Evil seemed to fall with the night and the old man's words, and presently she shivered and wrapped her arms across each other as if to shut It out. Then she shook herself and listened to Myra. who was saying how mad the Servant was. A strange old creature. Gentle and kind and quite, quite mad. so Myra thought. But Sonya thought he was somehow akin to her in this quixotic crusade against suffering. Only he had added sin as well. And he seemed to have a vlslot. It was this prophetic vision, fitting so closely with her own sense of disaster dis-aster concerning certain things, which seemed to fall upon her with so chill j a touch. |