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Show wwmmmm mm mm faM "The Fighting Trail" mJ Episode 7 "The Lion's Prey" "Now that wo havo changed our positions, I'll nsk you my dear girl, just aa I wns asked, will you bo eo kind as to turn over tho other half of tho chart? I would not caro to tako any hold stops, but, I might ro-j mind you, you aro holding Bomotklng which would warrant my risking almost al-most anything to obtain." liwjti, .is ho rodo at a rapid gait down tho trail, looked back onco or twice to assure himself that all was well at tho barn. Ho did not fear leaving Nan alono with Von Block, for tho prisoner had been securely bound and could scareoly, movo ho thought, lot alono escape Suddenly, ns ho rounded 'nnothor turn In tho trail, his horso stopped short. Gwyn's hand, almost automatically, auto-matically, reached down to his hols-fitcr. hols-fitcr. Hut a fow feet ahead, riding lolsuroly nlong tho trail was Cut-Dcop Cut-Dcop Ilawls, tho man Gwyn was on' his way to town to meet tho man, In fact, that Von Week had confess-j confess-j ' oil, hold tho other part of tho chart I to tho cinnabar mlno. j Itawls' horso stopped almost as abruptly as had Owyn's, but Its rider rid-er was not as alert. When ho llfl- ' , od his eyes to seo what had caused rvj$ tho unoxpoctod halt, ho found lilm-j nclf looking directly Into tho business busi-ness end of Owyn'a rovolvor. Ho started, surprised ond frightened, I and obeyed Owyn'n command to dismount. dis-mount. Tloluctnntly Ilawls allowod Owyn to romovo his rovolvor from his bolt nnd then, from tho bosom of hli shirt, ho extracted tho half of tho chart. Qwyn took It from him, glanced at It to mako suro that ho had obtained what ho doslrod and not a blank shoot of paper, and put : H In his pockot. Thon, ordering' Itawls to walk-irhcad, ho turnod his ,.IlvJorso, about JUHJadroT slowly back toward tho barn whero ho had left Von Week and Nan. j ' When ho arrived within about a hundred yards of the barn, Gwyn dismounted and approached tho dilapidated di-lapidated structuro from tho side, keeping Itawls alvvnjs In front of htm, covered with his rovolver. A fow feet from tho door, Gwyn stopped stop-ped and Hstoned. Ho could hear tho threatening volco of Von Week addressing Nan. At first ho could not hear what tho agent of tho Central Cen-tral Towers was saying, and thon tho words reached his ears plainly. Thero was a sarcastic sneer In tho tono. I "You can toll your frlond, Mr. I Gwyn, that I was very sorry I could not wait until ho returned, but lm-1 portant business mado It Imporatlvo i for mo to leavo Immediately." 'Tortunatoly, I arrived boforo you , loft, so you can negotiate your busl- ness with mo directly." Gwyn bald as ho strodo across tho threshold 'and beheld Von Week backing slowly slow-ly toward him whllo Nan sat holp-lossly holp-lossly upon tho box whoro tho pris-'onor pris-'onor hnd been tied. Von Week wheeled In astonishment. Gwyn's roturn was tho last thing ho had ox-Ipected. ox-Ipected. In his hand ho held Nan'a gun, and ho attempted to turn qulck-1 qulck-1 ly and firo upon Gwyn, but discovered discover-ed that, upon facing tho door, ho I was In a direct lino to recelvo firo from tho Kasterner's own weapon Ho had boon covered first, and thero was nothing for him to do but to meokly surrender. Itawls, standing with a scowl in tho doorway, regarded regard-ed tho wholo scono In disgust. Ho Boomed roady to pounco upon Von Week and thrash him for having told Gwyn that ho had tho chart. Gwyn ohtalnod tho remaining half of tho map from Von Week without trouble folded It and placed it very carefully In his pocket with tho other, oth-er, nnd ordered th tontral rowers' 9 representative- and Ilawls out of tho barn "Tho two of ou," ho said curtly land with a sternness that mado I both Von Week and Itawls heed his J words, had bettor get on jour horses hors-es and ride out of town. It you ,want to bo perfectly safe, my advico is that ou keep on riding een then " I Dejectedly, and realising that they had been defeated, Von I)U;k and his confederate mounted and rodo down'the trail toward the town of Lost Mine. Gwjn and N'nn watched watch-ed them until they had disappeared jfrom view and then turned their attention to tho map Tho two , portions, placed together, made i clear chart of tho location of Cordoba's Cordo-ba's cinnabar mine Nan and Gwyn now that they had procured tho ! chart, decided to find tho exact lo-.cation lo-.cation without further loss of tlmo. j ( Haltoriiian, in New York, Gwn explained, ex-plained, would coon bo requiring , more of the cinnabar to contlnuo tho 1 manufacture of tho oplosio, and, If they did not hurry their operations, opera-tions, the whole nation would suffer. So, replacing the chart In his pocket, Gwyn led the way, and together they rodo along tho trail to a point , whero a group of threo pine- trees, marked on the map, showed they wero approaching their destination. Hut Gwjn, in oercoinlng Von Week nnd Ilawls, had forgotten that thero remained another of tho outlaw band with which he had to cope. Drant tho third confederate, had remained in tho mountains searching for the mine when Ilawls had loft him to return to tho town, where ho had Intended to meet Von Week. Now, as Gwjn and Nan approached, Drant was but a short dlstanco away. Ho was attracted by tho sound of their horses, nnd saw them coming up the trail. As they halted by the pines to consult the chait, he hid nnd do-elded do-elded to watch thorn. Tho two dismounted, dis-mounted, fastened their hoises and commenced tho dangerous undci taking tak-ing of fording the river which separated sep-arated them from tho entrance to tho mine. Drant, creeping cautiously behind tho underbru.U which hid him, followed. Outside, tho limbs of tho pines creaked in tho mountain wind with n dry, crackling sound. It was very dark and very lonesomo in tho thickness thick-ness of tho forest, but Impenetrable blackness or the solitude of tho hills reached neither tho eyes nor Into tho feelings of the llttlo gathering In the brilliantly lighted room of the Lost Mino hotel. John Gwjn and Nan i Law ton were conversing both happily happi-ly and seriously with a tall, robust Individual, a strnngor to Gwyn. Tho stranger whoso features, despite his Jovial tones and Jocular manner, wero firm In their expression of sternness and determination, was William Casey known to tho community com-munity ns "mil," a strong, sturdy, Irish-American who had come to Lost Mino a few years previous In I search of his fortune and was still searching. "We located tho mlno this afternoon," after-noon," Gwyn said, and his smllo reflected re-flected tho enthusiasm rovealed In his voice. "It is now imporatlvo that I arrango for tho Immediate development de-velopment of tho mlno and tho shipment ship-ment of tho cinnabar to New York. Tho organization which I am representing repre-senting Is eager that no tlmo bo lost, nnd tho days that havo been consumed con-sumed by our strlfo with tho Central Cen-tral Towers, In tho form of Von Week, havo been precious ones. Wo must catch up now. "Mr. Casey, slnco you aro at the head of tho vlgllanco commltteo hunting down tho murderers of Don ' Carlos and YaquI Joe, tho developments develop-ments of tho futuro will depend vory much upon you." I "My warrants," replied Casey, i "call for only Itawls and Drant. Von Week, for somo reason beyond my Jurisdiction, is not Inclu U 1 " "If you get tho men ou uro uiUi It's a pity that I didn't hold Ilawls when I hnd him Von Week will bo practically holpless to intcrforo with ub," Gwjn said. "As soon as operations aro begun I am going to Install you as manager of tho mlno. Nan tells mo that you havo had a great deal of oxperlenco along theso lines and aro Just tho man I need. I hopo that by that tlmo, Nan will bo my wlfo. Wo plan to bo married within tho noxt few weeks, you know." During tho fow months that Immediately Im-mediately followed tho llttlo town of Lost Mlno enjoyed tho greatest boom In Its history. It was fairly alive with busy, bustling humanity, hurrying to nnd fro, oach absorbed with his own Important mission. Tho vlllago, from tho town proper to tho mine, lost, ns It was, amidst tha wilds of thA unottIed and dismal Sierras, resembled a busy ant hill with thousands of scurrying ants, sot i in tho center of an open field. And prosperity camo with tho now life. Tho opening of tho mlno had created a demand for men, and tho majority of tho town's idlo population , was employed In tho task of taking tho cinnabar from tho mine aud preparing prepar-ing It for shipment to tho K.ist. As a result, the neighborhood was scattered scat-tered over with llttlo wooden houses, built in tho quickest and cheapest manner possible. Gwjn and Nan, who had been married as they had planned, lived In a picturesque cabin but a short dlstanco from tlib main shaft of the mine. Their wedding had been one of tho most important nnd surely tho gayest, ovout of tho j ear. Practically tho cntlro town had turned out at tho Lost Mlno ho-tul, ho-tul, and finin that tlmo on, tho young couple had been tho most popular folk In town I Casey, soon after his appointment as tho head of tho lgliance committee, commit-tee, had tnk n up his duties with nn ardor that was not merely Inspired bj his desire for woik. IIo had boon stimulated bj a natural lovo of a fight, nnd the problem of ridding Lost Mlno of Drnnt and Itawls and putting a stop to the outrages caused by Von Week offered many opportunities oppor-tunities for him to satisfy tho love. Ho had rounded tho threo men, as well nB a goodly number of confederates confed-erates who had joined thoiu, In i llttlo hut in tho mountains, only to loso them again when they escaped by tho iiibc of swinging to tho limb of a treo through a ti.ip door In tho roof, nnd malting their getaway In tho daik. Finally, however, Casey's persistent artlvitles and his apparent appar-ent determination to round up tho gang, so frightened tho fugitives that thej- hnd disappeared and evidently evi-dently had decided that tho healthiest healthi-est thing to do was to attend to their own affairs nnd allow Gwjn tto cany on his plans unmolested. Tor a tlmo one of Von Week's now confederates, known ns "One-Lung" and notorious as a former Now York gunman, continued to annoy tho joung engineer, but he, also, finally vanished and nothing more was heard from him. (To He Continued) |