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Show lUKIDFR PRFSJl JRFl cxzzzr By George Agnew Chamberlain WNUSrv Cll.vri'KU XI t'onllmifd Lille Li-lle sUuu-ivl Into Joyce's boudoir and passed the open door of the drawing room. Thou he retraced his stops and strolled to the opposite corner only to behold more emptiness. empti-ness. Abruptly he knew the truth as certainly as if he had watched Joyce lead Adan down the narrow passage toward a certain spiral stair. Mis heart contracted with such violence it caused him to halt in his tracks in more senses than one. Where was he headed? Where had he already arrived? His deduction had been correct; Joyce had taken Adan to the roof. As they emerged into a translucence which would have been blinding had it not been dimmed by the impalpable impalpa-ble golden dust of the night she turned toward her companion with caught breath. His face was amiable amia-ble and alive but apparently his open eyes were blind. She felt dismay dis-may and then an impulse to laugh aloud at herself. She restrained it, aided by a feeling of sadness. The impassivity of his expression dum-founded dum-founded her. Was it credible he saw neither moon nor stars nor that distant double torch of snow rising against the pale blue of heaven? Rather hopelessly she led the way to the parapet and sat down, sensing a drag as if he followed unwillingly. Last night she had shivered and Dirk had put his coat around her shoulders; tonight it was Adan who quired to .he cold but she had no wrap to lend him. Since he was far more warmly dressed than she it seemed the cold which affected him must come from within himself- He was silent; not morose just silent and suffering. If he saw the moon, the stars and the Kevado at all, it was with a calculating and compressing eye that strove to diminish di-minish grandeur to the size of a stage backdrop for future reference. He was theater, he was city, and he was Latin; furthermore such eights as this, with snow-capped Popo added to the Sleeping Woman for extra measure, were the everyday every-day chili-con-carne of his existence. He made a movement toward his breast pocket. At least they could talk, thought Joyce; she must say something must, must! She turned her head and felt her jaw drop loose. Adan was knotting his silk handkerchief at the back of his neck, arranging it in such a manner as to mask nose and mouth against the perils of the night air. Joyce almost choked. "Ycu don't like it here, do you?" she managed to murmur. "Oh, yes. I do." replied Adan in muired tones. "Much better than when Pepe ran the place." Again Joyce caught her breath. "That's so," she said presently, "you visited him, didn't you?" "Once." "What was it? A shooting party?" "Oh, no a roughhouse. We brought down a carload of girls and , , two carloads of men- Don't let's talk about it" Abruptly his voice turned pleading. "Let's go down to the piano. I want to play for you play for you like last night" She rose with a sense of relief and escape to which were added several more poignant emotions chagrin, self-pity, disappointment, to name only three, and a sort of confused dismay composed of anger at herself, and at the world in general gen-eral and Dirk in particular. What had he to do with it? Nothing. That was why she was angry at him and somehow it seemed a perfectly good reason. As she hurried along the balcony, heading for the drawing ; room, she saw him leaning on the rail, his face lifted toward the visible vis-ible patch of sky. "Adan is going to play," sha said crisply. "Want to come along?" "No, thanks," said Dirk even more curtly, "I'm going to bed." Under her urging Adan played only boisterous music rollicking marches, rumbas and a galloping passo libre and when he tried to slip into a languorous tango or a dreamy waltz she broke in with a cry: "No, no! something fast, faster fast-er something jolly." She was studying him. measuring him by his own standard, yet giving him no ; chance to practice the whole aJ- j chemy of his art. He could have his piano but nothing more. Sitting there, with his agile fingers flying over the keys, he became readable, clear to her eyes. He was hand- some, good-natured, shrewd, kind- I hearted and fearless an ideal master mas-ter of ceremonies. Quite suddenly he rose from the piano and faced her, his eyes hard. "You don't like me tonight," he stated. "Why. yes, 1 do. Adan." stammered stam-mered Joyce, "of course I do. What makes you say that?" "No, no," said Adan, somewhat bewildered at finding himself in a role whose lines and cues he had totally forgotten if he had ever known them the role of the unde-sired unde-sired He couldn't yet quite believe it. r.!uch less could he conceive he might sobn find himself cast as a 1 pursuer if he didn't take his eyes ofl the flushed face before him. But some inkling of danger may have stirred his senses us he continued. "It's different tonight. You ask for silly, meaiiiiiKless music music with no soul. You don't come with me. You stand to one side to see how fast I can run up and down the piano without losing my breath. No; I won't play any more. I'm a man. not a w hippet chasing an electric elec-tric rabbit for you to lau;h. Good-niKht. Good-niKht. senori'a. You are very beautiful, beau-tiful, but tins evening you happen not to be a woman." CHATTER Xll The bullet which passed through Dorado's leg and traversed the heart of his horse was steel-Jacketed; had it been soft-nosed the wound would have been serious, possibly fatal. The heavy-set general suffered suf-fered far more from the shock of his fall than by reason of the hole through his thigh, nevertheless he considered his condition grave enough to appeal to Blackadder for advice and aid. He released him from the batea and installed him as nurse a change equivalent to a transfer from one galley bench to another since, needless to say, Pepe was in the vilest of tempers. Blackadder had often been called upon to act as surgeon in far more desperate cases amid surroundings fully as primitive. He procured a "That's It," Said Blackadder. couple of cotton jumpers, soft and ragged with wear, requisitioned a precious bar of soap and washed them out with his own hands. Then he boiled a kettle of water, tossed in a handful of salt and was ready. With a mighty grip he pressed the wound both ways from the inside out until the blood showed bright and clear of impurities. He took surly satisfaction in Dorado's howls of pain and a subsequent torrent of imprecations as the outlets were bathed with hot brine and then bandaged. Almost hourly thereafter the patient would insist on having the dressing removed. With plenty of salt water on hand Blackadder felt no fear of infection but resented such frequent interruption since he was busy with affairs of his own. Keeping his ears and eyes wide open, a single day sufficed to give him an accurate idea of the layout of the camp; since nobody thought he knew Spanish all talked freely in his presence. It was situated at the northeastern extremity of the barranca where the chasm pinched out against sheer cliffs at whose feet burbled the spring which supplied the brook with water. At night all the so-called miners nothing but enslaved peons picked up at random were herded into the depths of the two drifts opposite the one occupied by Dorado and himself. The riders then spread their petates in the airy entrances, forming a solid layer of bodies over which a fugitive would have to fly like a bat to escape. In addition two men with shotguns stood guard day and night at the right-angle turn downstream. So much for the exterior; by night, when sleep seemed to have a fair hold on his patient, Blackadder would slip away for subterranean exploration. Darkness was bis greatest handicap. Matches were scarce, candles there were none nor any lantern. Again inventiveness backed by experience to say nothing noth-ing of a knowledge of capillary attraction at-traction came to his aid. Luxuriant Luxuri-ant castor oil shrubs grew in the shadow cast by the southern wall He gathered a quantity of the ber ries. crushed out their oil into a discarded dis-carded tomato can and rolled a strip off a bandage into a wick. Coiling Coil-ing it in the tin he let one end hang over the side, lighted it and found himself provided with a tiny but lasting beam of light. By its aid he was able to explore the cavernous reaches behind Dorado's Do-rado's dwelling. There were three inner rooms besides his own. In one, sealed with a locked door of hewn timbers, he knew the dully washings of gold were stored. The other two were open to such air us was available and matted heaps of hay showed they had been used as habitations. What Interested him most, however, was the shaft he had surmised must exist. He found It on his third excursion and to his delight de-light discovered it was not vertical but ascended at a slant, showing whoever had sunk It had lacked a mechanical hoist. No doubt it was cluttered with debris, but where men had once passed a man could pass again. Here was a road to freedom, ready-made, but reflection forced him to admit it could lead only to recapture or starvation In the desert; without a horse waiting at the exit it was useless. He reverted to the Idea which had developed In a flash to the size of a full-grown oak trade La Barranca for possession of Joyce. He had no illusions as to the cash value of the hacienda. Discovery of the bootleg gold diggings might have impressed a novice, but not an old-timer who happened to know Mexican law establishes es-tablishes the subsoil as the Inalienable Inalien-able property of the state. Aware of the general situation as well, he was convinced tragic trouble and no conceivable gain would be Joyce's inevitable lot should he fail in his Intention to rescue her, willing will-ing or unwilling. Dorado himself gave an opening. "Bueno. cabron, It Is now the third day and you write no letter. Tomorrow I think perhaps I send one finger." "Listen. Dorado," said Blackadder, Blackad-der, "you and I have seen a lot of each other and we ought to be able to talk straight from the shoulder. shoul-der. You occupied La Barranca for several years. Wouldn't you like to lay your hands on it again?" Dorado straightened too suddenly, groaned and settled back. "Go on." he ordered. "You talk. I listen, then I tell you." "You know who threw you out, don't you?" "That Pancho Buenaventura," cried Dorado, turning purple, "and his butchcr-boss. General Onelia." "No. no." said Blackadder impatiently. impa-tiently. "Didn't you see a girl? Don't you know anything about her?" "Girl?" repeated Dorado, his eyes suddenly wide. "Yes. I see one girl. Yerry nice girl. Who is she?" "The daughter of Cutler Sewcll. the man from whom you stole the hacienda. He's dead and she owns it." "?ile. steal!" cried Dorado, enraged. en-raged. "Pepe Dorado steal! No. no. That gringo, he abandon La Barranca." "Just so," said Blackadder. "exactly "ex-actly the way you abandoned it five or six days ago, exactly the way the present tenant might be urged into abandoning it again. Get it. or do you want half an hour to think the thing out?" "Si, si." murmured Dorado thoughtfully. "Y'ou tell me some more now." "Here it is the whole thing in a nutshell. I lied when I said I don't speak Spanish and again about being be-ing a prospector. I'm Miss Joyce Sewell's guardian acting for her stepmother. We don't want her to stay at La Barranca at any price. When you held me up you did yourself your-self a bad turn because I was on my way to drag her out If you want the place, help me do it now." "How?" "Give me a horse. Send guards to watch me all the way into the hacienda." "Then what?" "Sooner or later I'll snake the girl out and La Barranca will be once more abandoned and at your mercy. The only thing that stumps me is how to get away to Toluca and from there to Mexico City." Il paused. "Of course, If you should try any double-crossing In the way of holding us both for ransom you'd lose the hacienda In the end und perhaps your life." Dorado thought for a long time, his eyes half closed lest lilaekailder read his mind. What fools these gringos were they still believed in honor umong thieves! He pictured first La Barranca, most desirable of all haciendas us far as he was concerned, con-cerned, then Joyce whom two Hashes had revealed to be us lovely a girl as he had ever seen. At the moment he honestly believed he could be happy with either as long us he lived but with both? Mere anticipation caused moisture to gather at the corners of his loose mouth. "In exchange for freedom and the senorita," he announced finally, "you make ulTrr of La Barranca. So?" "That's it." said Blackadder. "I accept. The matter of your escape to Mexico City Is not difllcult to arrange. Near the hacienda there is a rope bridge which saves many miles. I have a car in Toluca; I shall send for it und hide it by night In an arroyo. I'll have horses at the bridge when you urrive with the senorita and I myself will be there to wish you both Godspeed. It remains re-mains only to agree on a signal announcing an-nouncing you are ready." "That's the trouble." said Black-adder, Black-adder, scowling. "How do I know just when I'll be ready since I may have to carry the girl out against her will?" "So?" murmured Dorado curiously. curious-ly. "But let's not worry over such small difficulties. The moon is in Its third quarter; before It rises there are two hours of darkness. When do you wish to start?" "Today. Now." "Beno. Tomorrow night, and the next, and the night after that I shall spend the two hours immediately imme-diately preceding the rising of vie moon at the bridge on the north side. Be careful how you cross it." "I know all atKmt rope bridges." said Blackadder. "What about your leg?" "Y'ou are a K' d doctor. It is quite nearly well. Ti-d.iy I can walk. I will show yuu; I shall go now to choose your horse and give orders." Blackadder took advantage of his absence to descend to the brock as though to wash his hands but in reality to recover his passport and wallet. Half an hour later, accompanied accom-panied by three guards armed w.'.h carbines, he was riding downstream toward the switchback path which had caused him such agony a few days before. Since it was the only exit from the barranca through all its length they were obliged, once the level of the prairie was reached, to ride all the way back around the camp before starting down the other oth-er side. Before they made the turn, however, he noticed a peculiar depression de-pression masked by a patch of thorny acacias. Deliberately he passed to windward of it and caught a faint odor of smoke: so. he thought had he risked the shaft here is where he would have come out But that was not to be his only discovery. An hour later, chancing to glance across the barranca, he saw a sight that first puzzled, then amazed him. Three lorries were wending their way over the plain from the general direction of Toluca. Tolu-ca. That in itself was not surprising; surpris-ing; what astonished him was their freight each was loaded with a howitzer. At first he had thought they were boilers; but no, there was no doubt about it they were howitzers. He questioned the men but got only shrugs for his pains and a little farther on they came to a halt I (TO BE COST1WEDJ |