Show talt aab A 4 ar aru 10 7 my I 1 CHAPTER I 1 I 1 the Canne ziano I 1 knew that evening to in april when sam barn got cot borne from It attall and come camo stamping snow into toy my kitchen his good food old red white while and blue face ace stretched cd long and an wide in its usual trin irrin that thai ba be had brought some come bail bad mews bews 11 1 I bad a letter today he be said from the e eneziano une ziano twins I 1 am like bolot a tot oj of folks who say my that they are not superstitious superstitions who just happen to think wat that it to a bad luk luck lu k to walk tinder a ladder more afore than likely the shivery creepy oens atlon I 1 felt when sam said eald that was due to the cold he brought in with him and woo was dot due to the tact fact that those words of hla his were the forerunners forerun nera tor for all of the grim mysteries and thi the tragedies that made the desert moon ranch before the end of july a place lot horror how much do they want fantl I 1 questioned no mary they want to come here to live danielle Dan Jelle wrote the letter she be says they want to come here and rest indefinitely she says she ones longs for it with all her soul or something like ilke that Da darcelie Danl rdelie elip I 1 said always was the best of the two you ton going ta 0 o let rubem come jamr barn anything g else for we me to do dot not a thing for you be of others those girls arbou ara no yn of yours youra let me see cleat years jears old when they were here in makes them twenty four years yeara old eld now cow according to my figures why a couple of women twins ag J re gating forty eight years should decide cide to come here and reef their souls at your expense Is beyond yond me 1 I have plenty so has henry ford why dont they go rest their souls with him got via as roach much claim on him as they have bare on you yon none leave those thase girls rest their souls right there where they are sam no 1 11 dont know wary mary I 1 guess iril write them a letter and tell them to come along lots lota of room I 1 argue any more bout about it for twenty five years yeara I 1 had bad been housekeeper ouse keeper of ct the desert moon 2 end and had bad learned during that orne that there was only one concerning sum sam or the place on lon which I 1 could never hope to have lany any say bay so trying to argue with sam about anything that nod nad t to do to JIM aty any way with deliale when she aho was margarita ditale stan sann ley joy or when she was margarita dilate Can nenno wi ana about as aa senal sensible ble a as hoisting a parasol for d protection la in the tha midst of one aria of air our nevada mountain mount cloudbursts margarita ditola was waa of french canadian Cann dlan parentage a dark big beruty tier tather father kept a gambling hole in county la in the early days her der mother had bid run away train from a convent after atiq had bedtime ti a nun dun to miry marry him the girl had ome of th the ivion ban some odthe nf the runaway and some adonte of the rambling house proprietor in n her lt it made a queer combination cheo ahe wil was eighteen years old ab be came cams from carson cargni to visit lily trooper over ove r on oa the ehret ila dan to franb about sixty miles from here sam bum met her there she and and sum slim were married two weela weeks later she was a lot younger than sam but even then tie he was the richest man ln n the valley with every nn wedded woman for a hundred miles around setting getting ler her gap cap jrr fur him whether margarita married him f for or his wealth or whether it was was to ap spite to the other girls who would have liked to marry him I 1 brint know all ail I 1 know to f that never had A 4 balte eulove of love fot or him shik she stayed with him bim though aud acted decently en enough ough for two years yeara until dan came t to 0 the much and got ft a job on it aa cowpuncher cr it way was during those two years that ram barn hullt this ranch bouss tot fur her rams barns lead anti ami silver allyer mine had just come la in and there was not anything from marble Ote places to teak wood wod floors that thai wua too grand tor for what Al orgarita called the stanley tuan slon she left atall it all the file elegance mud bod the luxury arid and she broke her marriage vows tor for love of this cowpuncher that 1 I guess guem to ll fair and full enough of maw marta rita alta I 1 dont bome her I 1 quit folks for things a good ninny many years yeara ago when after bring firlow three chinese cooks to in six weeks I 1 decided that if 11 we were to live healthy nd whole some come id have to tate take ovet over the job of coo cooking kling as welt well a for the reer moon ranch and set about it and jearner to cook tn in other words when I 1 become a creator anys lf agot I 1 got to 1 know creations and so quit mamlok all ail of tb them em if I 1 forget to put the soda la in the bour milk pan eakers it their faultily they dont ripe they are a 09 1 J made them margarita was we a aidi m t the he her tie j sup suppose iwae either had haddis mis own good reasons reason for iti turning out such auch a mem or else ile he wan waa tired or flustered or maybe was waa just expert exper n the rond to something bit bet ter when la ile did it IL I 1 should explain i I 1 suppose wish ing tt to be ca as honest a lin blela ui spite of the fact that I 1 aw aco writing a mys mya tf terii sj i story that Canue ziano had haa a god g od education he e talked poetry and played the violin heard L ihlia playing down tn in the outfits ol oza say day and bad sam bar invite him up op to the house to play she accompanied him blin on the erchil piano that sam had bud bought tat lot her bet I 1 before long dan Canne ziano waa spending a good part of his bis utne time at the heing being nob odys fool soon saw bow the land lay but he be accor dirig to his custom then anti and now cow kept bis big mouth shut and bis eyes open sure enough one evening they tried to elope together sam went after them anti and brought them back the three of them nod about halt an hours talk together then thea bain herded down ao to the outfits quarters and I 1 suppose told the men to keep him there for there abere he stayed until not 11 sam bain was ready for or him again the next nest warning morning sam started to the county sent ile he readied reached there that hat evening the following morning he got his divorce lit it came hark baek to the desert moon on the third morning rith 11 hix ll divorce and with a preacher tie ile sent for bainn elt lano and stood i by while the preacher married margurit stanley to daniel decent and regular according to the laws law of bf nevada there it should have ended it because sam never got over baving loving so when olne years later she come came bark back to th the desert moon with wn twin girls danielle Dan lelle and gabrielle and said raid that Canne ziano had deserted her end and the children sam bain took them all right in I 1 dont know yet whether of not they took him in certainly be did not show much an oprise when in about ten days Canne riano put in an appearance sam allowed him to get a good start with his th threats reata and then he took him across his bla knees and gave him a sound spa spanking citing and passed him over to margarita to dry hla his tears and washed his own hands and went fishing that evening he had bad one of the men op at and take the bholi kit and ea caboodle boodle of to in time to catch the eastbound east bound train I 1 am ashamed to say that sam save gave them money I 1 dont how much A tady sum soul ill be bound for shortly after we fe heard that had opened the durst driest gambling ambling house south of the mason and dixon line in new orleans Orlon ns sam wanted to keep the children ile he offered to adopt theta them margarita would not consider it when margarita died in france seven yours years after she bad paid us her blackmailing visit sam the ninny wrote to and again offered to adopt the girls I 1 and give them a good home homa on the tha desert moon ue he got it a ing insinuating lines for izi an anaker answer Canne zinno had hla his own plans for his daughters who had developed into rare beauties but if sam was soft with the women he was not soft with tie llo had up here and broke about three years ago tie had left suddenly utter having seen been sam and no on one else less beaming beagin a but quite an broke as be had been when he hod had chui coui lm 1 I thought may bo sam was waa forgetting that side bide of at the family and tant this ihla might be a good time to lo remind him 1 I Is 0 plAun planning 6 to come on inter r ta too enill resta rest 1 I 1 kad ached just at present he la Is in san quen tin ito serving a three years term danielle Dan lelle say ay tot foi what deviltry ills ilia terms up op this summer sn nimer poor pilot tittle little girls sam went on 1 I we i any idea of been bee n th through rough al these yeara yeam 1 I reckon out cut I 1 agreed B but ut they abreut tittle girls any more sma seems queer to tie ate with all the beauty their father was wan brai bragging ging about thal neither of them has married awen ty four la Is getting along ril ill bet saw saro answered it Is because they have never had any decent 0 opportunities considering the life that had bad to lead eod and all I 1 think it speaks pretty welt well for them that they have come through b straight and clean instead ot of asking ask ing him how tie be knew that I 1 said ald be willing then to have johni john marry one anew of them I 1 jolin joan sams adopted soak BOO was the awe apple of sania eye ue he would have the ranch and sams sam fortune other dependents provided for when sum slim died whether or no t the girl hip h married would be contented to live on the ranch and help john carry it on and keep up op its ita traditions malting it one of the proudest spots in nevada was waa a thing to sam he be waited so long answering my question that I 1 was wn sure I 1 had hit bit the falln nail n the head john he anally said gold la Is 0 old id enough to tate take care ut of himself with that he turned nod and went out of my not nit giving mea me a chance to ay that though A haft had lived alved through fifty sla six pe years am I 1 had bad never jet seen a man at the ape he had just men I 1 knew that it if these van can netla tio girls came to the desert aloon they would aring trouble with them I 1 was waa right A merciful merel fu oene ho 0 thanked that thal for a time at least the knowledge knon ledge of how bow terribly right I 1 cas was spared me I 1 am not an admirer ada of men look ing inc at any man I 1 tind find myself thinking what a pity it was he had to grow UP op since as aa a little helpless child he would have bare ninde niada a complete sam gain la Is dlf different ferent there to is some boma ot of the child left in sam jost ila aa there ia if I 1 think tri in any good man or bakay cleaver strahan 0 by Du dubler bldr jrsn ct co tat jul bak turnac a little seas ning ot at simplicity city really la Is all it 11 aru amounts to but there to Is a quality about sam that makes a person tee feet that he set se ou out t early in u life to follow the recipe for or being a man and that be has made a thorough job of it vba why be as a young youn man ami with a pretty fair education and a tidy sum bum of money left film in by bv ills fits father who had bad been a well thought of lawyer in massachusetts cume come out here to nevada pike up tits his homestead laud land and settle content for or the file rest of tits hla life tins has alotaya been rn more 0 re or less lesa of a mystery to me unless you yon take sams explanation of it tie lie says when his bis father died it t left him without it a relative whom he knew of in the world jle was twenty years old and he owned a set FRI I 1 he left suddenly after having seen been sam and no one else of roving toes and an imagination he went to seeking r romance 0 and gold finding neither he be came down here to nevada tie he staked out his hundred and sixty acres acres with boulder creek tumbling nR und roaring through theta them tie lie baill built his cahan lie ile hired help and built bulit fences nod and dug dite lips and planted ciopa and bought stock he bought more land ile ele hired more help dug more ditches planted bigger crops bought more stock ue baa been doin Ing that regularly ever slam since and of ourse i he located the lead and oil allyer yer mind on blia property that made add e him millions mill lons it it mode mad e him a cent before it played out but in n spite of the money that old lady luck os as he called hla his mine bitne madr mad for huh him sam never gave eav hla his heart beaff to IL 11 it was wac the tha desert noon moon ranch that he be loy loed ed and the money tie be made from it that tha I 1 he be was proud of that was was why when tiie honor of the ranch went under during those terrible weeks i last summer er sam all but went under with it pter fler bl argarita left the place from her visit of 1009 taking the twins with her he r sum ram went mound around for a week week or two with his head cocked to c d to i one side clde as an tf if hi he was listening listin trig for soi something I 1 knew went be was miss inc and I 1 was not surp surprised when one e day daf be told me he had bad de decided ec aided to send to san an Fran Fratic clavo leco ind and get a couple of children and adopt them Us he wi wrote ote to i a big hospital la in san francisco and got cot in touch with a trained nurse nuree who would be willing to come up ap and lire on the ranch and take care ot at the two children childre ii tie he had bad tier her go to fin an orphans home and select the children and bring them with her when she bhe came the nurse came early in septem ter ber with two brown eyed children named vera and alvin sam sain at once named renamed re them john tie he sold said was waa the only name for or d boy and mary the only name for a girl out but since my name mary hu he would let the little alil have martha which meant according to sam hosa boas ot of the raich 11 the nurses name came was mrs mis ollie ricker richer I 1 dont know how old she ebe was then 1 know anuw how old she la Is now she never talked I 1 do not mean that she neier never chatted or gos sloped I 1 mean mean that she never said one word it if she abe c culcol uld possibly avoid it at the end of sixteen years of dally daily association with mrs mr 9 R 1 c k er that la Is up ap to the time of the second second murder on the desert moon monti I 1 knew exactly as much about her post past life as yon on know at this minute john at that time was nine years old ue he was wag as bright and as up op standing and as aa handsome as any little fellow to be found anywhere a r I 1 may as well wet say any now that this description of john at nine years old Is as good a description as I 1 can give of john at twenty five it if you yon will draw hla his height up to six feet and put on weight accordingly the fron the orphanage gave marthas age as alve years but even 1 who knew less about children than it wag waa decent for any woman to know loon saw that something was wrong she walked well enough but bill she could scar scarcely eely talk at all her be ways and her habits were those thos of a two year old intent infant yet she was far too large for that age before she had been with us a week I 1 knew that martha was not quite right in her mind mrs airs ricker nicker knew if it too tier her excuse was that stio she had bad chosen martha because she was so pretty that she had had no opportunity to judge adge her other characteristics she instated insisted that she thought with proper care martha would develop normally I 1 knew better sam knew it too out but when I 1 begged and besought beg ought him not to adopt her he brought out an argument good and conclusive forham tor him it if 1 t l dont adopt her and cake talie citie |